Many may have heard the hadith in Sahih Bukhari and Muslim where the Prophet (Saws) ordered a group of the Companions to the tribe of Banu Quraydha in response to their treachery at the battle of Khandaq.

He (saws) said to them:

“Let none of you pray the `Asr prayer except after reaching the Banu Quraydha.”

Some Companions took this literally, only praying ‘Asr when they reached the tribe.

Others took it figuratively, just as an encouragement to reach there quickly, but not to miss the time.

When the Prophet (Saws) was informed the group differed however, two things happened:

1) He didn’t reprimand *either* group.

2) More significantly – he didn’t CLARIFY which was correct.

I found this last point by Shaykh Sa’eed (ra) interesting.

The Prophet (saws) could have easily said ‘This is what I meant’ or ‘Party X was correct’ ,  but he didn’t feel the need to say anything.

Let’s not use our fiqhi differences as ammunition to attack each other. Sometimes, we don’t have to even say anything if people understand a sunnah/opinion which is different to you.

Jzk to Birmingham College of Humanities and Shaykh Zahed Fettah for facilitating his visit.