Following Manhaj of Prophet and his Sahaaba leads to Success - Individually and for the Ummah



Bismillaah Al-Hamdulillaah wa salatu wa salaamu 'ala rasulullaah
Amma-ba'd

Shaikh Rabee' bin Haadee al-Madkhalee (hafidhahullaah Ta'aala) said:

"Once I was in the Prophet's Masjid in Madinah, and I remembered the statement of the Prophet (salallaahu 'alayhi wa sallam): Indeed, Madinah is a town which will swallow (conquer) other towns. [1]  

Swallow other towns, how? Because Madinah is that town which indeed conquered the entire world, and the people of that town - at that time - fit into a masjid that was not even one-fiftieth of the size of this present masjid. Consider the size of the Prophet's Masjid in Madinah today, full of people of all different types, full of people of all nations but they are like that foam which has little substance. 

Yet consider the Masjid of the Prophet (salallaahu 'alayhi wa sallam) and the town or city of the Prophet (salallaahu 'alayhi wa sallam) at that period. The masjid of the Prophet (salallaahu 'alayhi wa sallam) was small, not equaling a fiftieth of the size of his masjid today. But Allaah conquered the world with the people of that small masjid due to the truthfulness of their Eeman, their Ikhlaas to Him alone, and their reliance upon Allaah, Subhanahu wa Ta'aala.

They did not conquer the world through their own independent strength, but through victory given to them by Allaah, and the support which came from Him, as Allaah says:    
  
...And there is no victory except from Allaah. Verily, Allaaah is All-Mighty, All-Wise. (Al-Anfal, ayah 10)

Oh Ummah of Islaam, take hold of that true original belief and practice of worshipping Allaah alone without any associates or partners which is encompassed within the message of the Qur`an, that message which all the Prophets came with!  

Within the Muslim lands today there have spread elevated and venerated graves connected to worship, various false beliefs, matters of misguidance, bid'ah in the religion, and so forth. How can victory be given to you while you are in this state and condition? How can honor reach this Ummah when it has not reached a single door of the doors leading to its disgrace and humiliation but has gone and knocked upon each (door) for entrance into it? And we take refuge in Allaah from this! Nor has it passed by a single door leading to its honor, success, ascendency, and achieving nobility except that many people have turned away from it. Allaah has said:  

And hold fast, all of you together, to the Rope of Allaah (the Qur`an and Sunnah), and be not divided among yourselves... (Aali Imran, ayah 103) What is the rope of Allaah? It is the Book of Allaah and the Sunnah of His Messenger (salallaahu 'alayhi wa sallam). This is a command to the entire Ummah, but has the Ummah complied to this command?   
      
Is the Ummah today holding firmly to this rope of Allaah in its beliefs, its worship, in the methodologies it adopts, and social activities? No indeed - by Allaah - only a few of them. Regretfully, it is only very few who are those calling to this methodology of adhering to the rope of Allaah, Subhanahu wa Ta'aala. While - by Allaah - I truly understand this condition my sons, and you do not fully comprehend its reality. ..." 

Source: A Lighthouse of Knowledge From a Guardian of the Sunnah, pg. 217. 

Notes:

[1] Here is the wording in Saheeh al-Bukharee: Abu Hurairah (radiallaahu Ta'aala 'anhu) narrated: Allaah's Messenger (salallaahu 'alayhi wa sallam) said: I was ordered to migrate to a town which will swallow (conquer) other towns and is called Yathrib and that is Madina, and it turns out (bad) persons as a furnace removes the impurities of iron. [al-Bukhaaree; The Book of Virtues of Madinah]