The intended meaning of «الذكر»; “the Reminder” in His words: ﴿إِنَّا نَحْنُ نَزَّلْنَا الذِّكْرَ وَإِنَّا لَهُ لَحَافِظُونَ﴾; “Indeed, We Ourselves sent down the Reminder, and We shall certainly preserve it,” is not Islam, but the Book of Allah, as interpreters have explicitly stated without any disagreement among them, and it is clear that Islam is not limited to the Book of Allah, but rather it includes the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him and his family. Therefore, Allah has only guaranteed the preservation of His Book and has not guaranteed the preservation of the Sunnah of the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him and his family, in the sense of his hadiths. This is the opening through which Satan entered to alter Islam. He made following ahad reports fair-seeming to people until he distracted them from the Book of Allah with such reports, and then he introduced into them whatever he wanted, leading people astray from Islam by them while they thought they were guided. If Allah had wanted, He would have preserved the hadiths of the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him and his family, as well so that no falsehood or error would enter into them, but He willed to test people to see how they would act.
Yes, the Sunnah of the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him and his family, is not ahad reports narrated from him under the name of hadiths, but rather it is his actual words and actions, and its knowledge is preserved with his caliph. Therefore, it can be said that Allah has also preserved the Sunnah of the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him and his family, by appointing a caliph for him. However, people have abandoned his caliph and become distracted with hadiths, thus straying from his Sunnah. Therefore, Allah has not wronged them, but they themselves are wrongdoers.
This is regarding the Sunnah of the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him and his family. As for the Book of Allah, they became distracted with hadiths; therefore, they did not ponder on it nor act upon it, and in this way, they abandoned the entire Islam and remained on nothing of it, as was promised before, when it was said: «يَأْتِي عَلَى النَّاسِ زَمَانٌ لَا يَبْقَى مِنَ الْإِسْلَامِ إِلَّا اسْمُهُ»; “There will come a time upon people when nothing will remain of Islam except its name.”
Based on this, the reason Islam is not performed in our time is not due to the Quran and the Sunnah not being preserved so that one might question whether Allah has been able to preserve His religion. The Quran and the Sunnah always remain preserved. However, people have fallen short in knowing and acting upon them, and this is the reason for Islam not being performed.
As for those who died before knowing this, they were a nation who passed away, and Allah knows best their end. If He wills, He forgives them, and if He wills, He punishes them. If He forgives them, He does so out of His grace, for He is the Most Forgiving, the Most Merciful, and if He punishes them, He does so because of their negligence in knowledge and action, and He has not wronged them in any way. Pharaoh asked a similar question to yours when he heard the invitation of Musa, peace be upon him; he said: ﴿فَمَا بَالُ الْقُرُونِ الْأُولَى﴾; “Then what about the previous generations?” Musa, peace be upon him, responded in a similar manner to our response to you; he said: ﴿عِلْمُهَا عِنْدَ رَبِّي فِي كِتَابٍ ۖ لَا يَضِلُّ رَبِّي وَلَا يَنْسَى﴾; “Their knowledge is with my Lord in a Book. My Lord does not err nor forget.” Allah has said about them: ﴿تِلْكَ أُمَّةٌ قَدْ خَلَتْ ۖ لَهَا مَا كَسَبَتْ وَلَكُمْ مَا كَسَبْتُمْ ۖ وَلَا تُسْأَلُونَ عَمَّا كَانُوا يَعْمَلُونَ﴾; “They were a community who passed away; for them is what they earned, and for you is what you earned. And you will not be asked about what they did.” Therefore, you should leave their matter to Allah and focus on your own matter; because death is very near, and it could make your end like theirs, or even worse; because they died before the invitation of Mansoor reached them, while you will die after it has reached you, and these two are not the same; as one of his companions informed us, he said:
«سَأَلْتُ الْمَنْصُورَ عَمَّنْ مَاتَ مِنْ أَهْلِ الْقِبْلَةِ قَبْلَ أَنْ يَدْخُلَ فِي هَذَا الْأَمْرِ، فَقَالَ: مَنْ مَاتَ مِنْهُمْ وَلَمْ يُبَيَّنْ لَهُ مَا أَنْزَلَ اللَّهُ فِي الْحُكْمِ وَالْمُلْكِ فَأَمْرُهُ إِلَى اللَّهِ، إِنْ شَاءَ عَذَّبَهُ وَإِنْ شَاءَ غَفَرَ لَهُ، وَمَنْ مَاتَ بَعْدَ أَنْ أَتَاهُ الْبَيَانُ جَاحِدًا أَوْ شَاكًّا أُدْخِلَ النَّارَ خَالِدًا فِيهَا، وَلَا يُقْبَلُ مِنْهُ عَدْلٌ وَلَا تَنْفَعُهُ شَفَاعَةٌ وَلَا هُمْ يُنْصَرُونَ، قُلْتُ: أَصْلَحَكَ اللَّهُ! وَمَا أَنْزَلَ اللَّهُ فِيهِمَا؟ قَالَ: أَنْزَلَ أَنَّهُ يَحْكُمُ لَا مُعَقِّبَ لِحُكْمِهِ، وَأَنَّهُ يُؤْتِي الْمُلْكَ مَنْ يَشَاءُ، مَا كَانَ لِلنَّاسِ الْخِيَرَةُ فِي حُكْمٍ وَلَا مُلْكٍ، ﴿سُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ وَتَعَالَى عَمَّا يُشْرِكُونَ﴾»; “I asked Mansoor about some of the people of Qiblah who passed away before entering this affair, so he said: ‘Whoever of them passed away while what Allah has sent down about judgment and dominion was not explained to him, his affair rests with Allah, if He wills, He punishes him, and if He wills, He forgives him, and whoever passed away after the declaration was brought to him while he was a denier or doubted, he has gone to Hell and will remain there forever, and no compensation is accepted from him, nor does intercession benefit him, and they will not be helped.’ I said: ‘May Allah set your affairs straight! What has Allah sent down about those two (i.e. judgment and dominion)?’ He said: ‘He has sent down that He alone shall judge and none shall violate his ruling, and He gives the dominion to whomever He wills, people have no choice in judgment or dominion. Glorified and Exalted is Allah above what they associate with Him.’”
The website for the office of Mansoor Hashemi Khorasani
The section for responding to critiques