ICICE AL-NOOR MASJID KHUTBAH FOR FRIDAY 28TH JUNE, 2019

BE CONCERNED ABOUT YOUR FAULTS AND OVERLOOK PEOPLE’S FLAWS

Summary of today’s sermon:No infallibility or immunity from sin for anyone apart from the Prophets.Don’t say people are perished.Be like a bee, don’t be like a fly.Stay away from faulting people so that Allah will keep them away from your faults.

Integrality is for Allah alone and there is no infallibility for anyone other than the Prophets.  As for human beings, they do things right and they sometimes do things wrong. And no man is free of imperfection. And anyone who thinks he is always right, and others are wrong, and he does not cease to criticize and expose their weaknesses, such attitude is on its own a form of weakness. And anyone who has it should strive to free himself from it. If a person is preoccupied with his own faults, he would definitely not notice other people’s fault. This is because a person is required to reform himself and he will be questioned about it before being asked about others.

Abu-Hurairah narrated: The Prophet (ﷺ) said: “When a man says people have perished, he is the one who has suffered that fate the most”.

Imam Nawawi said: The Muslim scholars have consensually agreed that the disparagement in the Hadith is about he who says it because of showing disrespect to people, degrading them, humiliating them and giving himself preference above them.

Al-khattabi said: it means a man will continue to castigate people and stating their weaknesses and he continue to say: the people have become corrupt and they have perished etcetera. So if he does that, it is he who has suffered that fate the most, because of the gravity of sins he gets from going after their faults and that might lead him to pride and seeing himself as being better than them.

Ibn Abdil-bar said: The meaning of this in the view of scholars is that the person says this disparaging people and belittling them. But if he says that while he’s grieved and sorrowful while fearing the consequences of their actions, then this is not part of the meaning of this Hadith. The differences between the two things is that: In the first case he says that while he is pleased with himself, having some elements of pride, envying anyone above him and belittling anyone below him. While in the second case he cautions himself rebuking it without being pleased with it.

Just like the crow or the fly, when you sit with some people he has no other business other than castigating people. He would say: Mr. A did this, Mr. B has this fault and Mr. C has committed this crime etc. and he sees nothing except faults.

And the scholars have likened such person to crow that passes by a beautiful garden which has fruits and trees all over it, but the crow gets into it and does not come out except with warms, or like the fly, it never perches except on dirt, then spreading germs and microbes.

On the contrary, some are like bees they only perch on beautiful flowers. May Allah make me and you part of them.

“The Messenger of Allah (s.a.w) said in this regard in the Hadith narrated by Ibn Umar and related by Attirmidhi: “’O you who accepted Islam with his tongue, while faith has not reached his heart! Do not harm the Muslims, nor revile them, nor spy on them to expose their secrets. For indeed whoever tries to expose his Muslim brother’s secrets, Allah exposes his secrets wide open, even if he was in the innermost of his house”.

Among the statements made by predecessors on the effects of occupying with people’s faults are as follows: Indeed the souls of the pious generation among the companions and their descendants have been constantly attached to Almighty Allah and they concentrated on their souls which were their greatest enemies for the sake of Allah. And they stayed away from any unwanted issue struggling to refining and purifying their souls because they understood that sanitizing of one’s soul is the utmost responsibility of an individual to maintain constant relationship with Allah. They were even afraid of intruding into other people’s faults to prevent themselves from being victims of such. Imam A’mash said that he heard Ibrahim saying: “I used to see things that I hate; nothing prevents me from exposing it except the fear of being a victim of such fault”.

In another statement: “They used to prohibit excess looking at someone just the way they used to prohibit excess talking “.

Here is Umar nurturing the Ummah on the pulpit saying: “May Allah have mercy on someone who informs me about my faults”. Those special people knew that what can cause harm to you is your fault and what will make you uncomfortable is your sin not someone else.

Rabi’ bin khaitham was asked: Why didn’t you gossip people? He replied: “I am not pleased with my condition talk less of intruding into people’s faults”.

‘Aun bin Abdillah said: I don’t see someone who interferes into others faults except the one who has carelessly forgotten himself.

Ibn Seereen said: “We used to say that the most sinful one among people is the busiest one in mentioning people’s faults”.

Imam Fudail said: “No one will love leadership except he envies people and transgresses, policing people’s faults and hate to hear anyone being mentioned for goodness”.

Malik bin Dinaar said: “It is enough as betrayal for someone to be loyal to the betrayers and it is also enough as being bad for someone not to be pious so as to belong to the righteous”.

The issue becomes worst when this bad act takes place within the Islamic scholars, preachers and the pious one.

Ibn Mubarak said: “Whosoever disgraces the scholars has missed his hereafter. And whosoever disgraces the leaders has missed his world. And whosoever disgraces his brother has missed his dignity”.

Some of them said: “The predecessors didn’t consider prayer and fasting as the only act of Ibaadah, but they considered abstinence from people’s faults as an act of Ibaadah too”.

Ibn Abbas (RA) said: “If you want to mention your friend’s faults, start with yours”.

Umar (RA) said: “Always remember Almighty Allah, because it is a medication. And be warned about mentioning people’s faults, because it is a disease”.

Ibn Umar (RA) said: “There were people in the city of Madeenah that had faults, but they overlooked other’s faults, so Allah concealed their own faults. And there were another set of people in Madeenah without faults, but they were busy exposing other people’s faults, so Allah exposed their hidden faults and they were known with these faults until they died.

The lesson of the Sermon: Concentrating on people’s faults at the expense of one’s faults is a great sin which urgently needs to be cured.