Abdur Raheem Green – Only God Can Judge Me

Perhaps I was blind to the facts. stabbed in the back. I couldn't trust my own homeys just a bunch of dirty rats. Will I succeed? paranoid from the weed and Hocus Pocus try to focus but I can't see. And in my mind, I'm a blind man doing time. Look to my future.

Cause my past, it's all behind me. Is it a crime? to fight for what is mine? Everybody's dying to tell me. What's the use of trying? I've been trapped since birth. cautious because I'm cursed and fantasize of my family in a hearse. And they say it's the white man I should fear but it's my own kind doing the killing here. I can't lie. Ain't no love from the other side. Jealousy inside Make A Wish I had died. Oh my lord, tell me what I'm living for. Everybody is dropping God me knocking on Heaven's Door. And all my memories of seeing brothers bleeds, and everybody grieves. But still nobody sees. recollect your thoughts don't get caught up in the mix.

Because the media is full of dirty tricks. Only God can judge me, Tupac is saying.

And this guy who's bought up in the streets. I've had a messed up life. I'm surrounded by gangsters by gang culture.

And fighting for my life. That is that's what it's like on the streets. You don't have a right to judge me. You don't live in my shoes. Who are you to tell me whether I'm right or wrong. That's basically what he's saying.

And I don't think that's right.

I think that's a lie. I think that's an excuse. And I think it's an excuse that a lot of you like to make as well. A lot of people out there like to make the same excuse for their lives. I'm trapped by my fate. I'm a product of my genes. I'm a product of my society. So here's my reply to Tupac. I know he's dead by the way.

Listen to pack master of rap, in your song about God, His judging you and all that. You make it sound like you got no choice being a thug, taking drugs, pimping and fighting, killing and dying. You make it sound like it's fate, etched in stone with no break. But just look around and see your brothers made a choice to change. Not to be like the others. They put their heads on the ground. Their true purpose they found to obey the true God. Allah their Creator. And he made their life a whole lot better. So Tupac, you and you're kind of just a bunch of thugs, like you said in your writing. But if you think you've got some excuse for killing and drug taking, and female abuse, if

you think just saying only God can judge me with no praying or fasting, no seeking forgiveness, no changing your life, living in peace and completeness. Cuz to you. I think it sounds to you. Like it's too much weakness. Maybe that's why you could not accept the truth, even when shown the clear bright proof

hamdulillah Al Hamdulillah

will now be left Himanshu Rhian fusina women say it I'm Elena

Maria de la who Medina will may util for a Haji Allah wa shadowgun La ilaha illallah

wa Why do hula Sri Kala were shadow Anam Mohammedan Abu rasuluh

We begin by praising Allah

We praise Him we seek His help and we ask for his forgiveness. And we take refuge with Allah from the evil of ourselves, and from the evil consequence of our evil actions. Anyone whom Allah guides, no one can miss guide, but anyone whom Allah leaves to go astray, non kin guide, and I testify that Allah alone is worthy of worship. And then Mohammed sallallahu alayhi wa sallam is his servant and His Messenger brothers and sisters against Allah

shala Mashallah. That's fantastic.

Okay, I want to show of hands, or maybe not, I don't know, who is familiar with the sing this rap by Tupac. Which this the title of this talk is named after the title of his tongue of his rap. Only God can judge me. Does anyone know it? I know many of you wrote it, you just want to put your hands up.

That means unfortunately, I'm going to have to read the lyrics of his song.

Now I just because really, brothers and sisters, today's talk is a commentary on this rap of Tupac. Because apart from anything else, people like that can have a lot of influence on the hearts and the minds, especially of the youth.

So this has become a popular saying amongst people, only God can judge me.

And we're going to examine, what does this mean? Is this a true statement? Is it true to say that only God can judge me? Or can we judge each other? Or do we have to judge each other? Or is it true that only God can judge us?

You know, what you will find, I hope, by the end of this is that you will find that Tupac was saying something that is true. But it's also false at the same time. So there is some truth in it. And there is some false in some falsehood in it. And it really depends as well, brothers and sisters. What you mean, it depends on the context of this statement. Only God can judge me in a certain context, that statement is a true statement. And it's a correct statement. in another context, it's a full statement. And it's an avoidance strategy. It's something that people use to avoid confronting truths about themselves. And my analysis of the rap of Tupac is exactly that. And I've

actually made a rap in response to his rap, but you have to forgive me I'm not a rapper. Okay. So you know, this may not be a normal abderrahim green lecture, it's gonna be like wrapping so maybe maybe I should get get Buddha Muhammad to come and do this. But anyway, you know,

he might get upset with me and said, Are you taking my slot after him? Okay, so here I'm gonna have to read two packs.

His rap, Okay, I'm gonna I'm gonna leave out the swear words.

Okay, only God can judge me Is that right?

Only God can judge me now only God baby.

Always says baby

nobody else nobody else all you got

right Get out of my business.

Perhaps is this quite a good right it's quite good. This is some of this is profound. But anyway, perhaps I was blind to the facts. stabbed in the back. I couldn't trust my own homeys just a bunch of dirty rats. Will I succeed? paranoid from the weed and Hocus Pocus try to focus but I can't see. And in my mind, I'm a blind man doing time. Look to my future.

Cause my past it's all behind me. Is it a crime? to fight for what is mine? Everybody's dying to tell me. What's the use of trying I've been trapped since birth. cautious cuz I'm cursed and fantasize of my family in a hearse. And they say it's the white man I should fear but it's my own kind doing the killing here. I can't lie. Ain't no love from the other side. Jealousy inside make them wish I had died. Oh my lord, tell me what I'm living for. Everybody is dropping God me knocking on Heaven's Door and all my memories of seeing brothers bleeds and everybody

Greaves' but still nobody sees. recollect your thoughts don't get caught up in the mix.

Because the media is full of dirty tricks. Only God can judge me. And then it goes only God can judge me baby a heart whatever it is, right?

Only God can die. I don't want to belittle it's quite a serious rap that he's got here. Okay, and, and there's another beep long beep you know? Okay, so the next part it says, I hear the doctor standing over me. Screaming I can't make it. I got a body full of bullet holes laying here naked still. I can't breathe something evils in my IV. Because every time I breathe, I think that killing me. I'm having nightmares homicidal fantasies. I wake up strangling dangling my bedsheets I call the nurse because it hurts to reminisce. How did it come to this? I wish they didn't miss somebody helped me Tell me where to go from here cuz even thugs cry. But do the Lord care.

Try to remember but it hurts. I'm walking through the cemetery talking to the dirt. I'd rather die like a man. Then live like a coward. There's a ghetto up in heaven and it's ours black power.

It's what we scream. As we dream in a paranoid state and our fate is a lifetime of hates. Dear Mama, can you save me and be peace?

Because the streets got our babies. We got to eat. No more hesitation each and every black males trapped. And they wonder why we suicidal running around straps. Mr. Police? Please try. Please try to see that it's a million BB. Stressing just like me. Only God can judge me.

Anyway, there's a there's a whole nother wrap up to that.

Which I'm not going to bother reading.

I think you get the picture, right of what he's trying to say.

What my analysis is, is that Tupac is saying,

and this guy who's bought up in the streets. I've had a messed up life. I'm surrounded by gangsters by gang culture,

and fighting for my life. That is that's what it's like on the streets. You don't have a right to judge me. You don't live in my shoes. Who are you to tell me whether I'm right or wrong. That's basically what he's saying.

And I don't think that's right.

I think that's a lie. I think that's an excuse. And I think it's an excuse that a lot of you like to make as well. A lot of people out there like to make the same excuse for their lives. I'm trapped by my fates. I'm a product of my genes. I'm a product of my society. So here's my reply to Tupac. I know he's dead by the way.

Listen to pack master of rap, in your song about God, His judging you and all that. You make it sound like you got no choice being a thug, taking drugs, pimping and fighting, killing and dying. You make it sound like it's fate, etched in stone with no break. But just look around and see your brothers made a choice to change. Not to be like the others. They put their heads on the ground. They're true purpose they found to obey the true God allow their Creator and he made their life a whole lot better. So Tupac, you and you're kind of just a bunch of thugs, like you said in your writing. But if you think you've got some excuse for killing and drug taking, and female abuse, if

you think just saying only God can judge me with no praying or fasting, no seeking forgiveness, no changing your life, living in peace and completeness. Because to you. I think it sounds to you. Like it's too much weakness. Maybe that's why you could not accept the truth. Even when shown the clear, bright proof

for your inference surprise to pack you fall because God already told us how He will judge those like you for thugs.

killers and intoxicant takers, a fire that burns hotter than embers and all your rapping and magic lack lyrics on influence the angels that God Hell's limits. worse for you is that your words live on. They misguide those who justify how they keep doing wrong. All this will add to your terrible fates. Now you're dead to repent, it's too late. It's true. Only God knows your ultimate end. His mercy is vast, and his punishment is great. It's true to pack that your judgment awaits. But for us, let's not wait

to make things straight.

What we learn from your life is that fortune and fame won't stop the angel of death from staking his claim.

Okay, so that was my

response to Tupac.

Of course, he's not alive to hear it.

Brothers and sisters.

There are lots of excuses we make in our lives, for not doing the right thing.

A lot of us like that we blame the environment we are in.

We blame the people around us.

We blame society. We blame the non Muslims. We blame everything and everyone

except ourselves.

We look to find food with everyone and everything, except ourselves.

So brothers and sisters.

And dear listeners, the point that I want to make is this

is that if you are saying, only God can judge me. And you are making that an excuse for your evil living.

And you are saying to a person

who are you to be able to judge me You don't know my circumstances. But I can find plenty of people who are like you who changed, who live better lives. So I can judge you. Because I can see that some people changed and you didn't.

You stayed evil, you stayed disobedient, you stay rebellious. That's how he that's the choice you made in your life.

You can't blame fates, and then blame God, you've made your decisions. And you're going to have to face that.

One of the good things about

what Tupac said is number one,

there's a God. He knows that God. Number two, he knows there's going to be a judgement.

Which, you know, what? Why don't people think about these things a bit more? Think about it a bit more deeply. Because if you're admitting that there's a God, and you're admitting that God is gonna judge you, doesn't this beg the question? Doesn't this beg the question? And the question is this, if there is a God, who is going to judge us, then how can this God be just

if he hasn't told us?

What is the criterion, he is going to judge us by?

Think about it.

Just think about it simply.

If I say to you, at the end of this conference, I'm going to decide what I'm going to do with you.

And just leave it at that.

You're gonna be thinking, what, what what is the basis you're going to decide on?

What is it because I'm good looking? Is it because I am white? or black or brown? Or is it because I'm rich? Or is it because I'm poor? Is it because I'm smart? Is it because I'm What is it? What is the criterion? You're gonna judge me by I need to know.

Otherwise, it's unfair. What justice is that?

So the fact that you admit that there's a God and the fact that you admit that this God is going to judge you means that this God must have given us some guidance

about what he

He is gonna judge us on

what is the criterion? What is it that God wants from us? What is it that God wants us to do? And what is it that God does not want us to do? This is the most important thing here

is that just by acknowledging that there is a God who will judge us means that we must then acknowledge that God must have given us guidance about right and wrong about what is pleasing to Him. And what is displeasing to him about how we should behave, and how we should not behave. Because without that, claiming that God is going to judge us makes no sense whatsoever.

Now, Tupac I guess, was some sort of Christian, at least he had a big cross tattooed on his back. I don't know what that means. I mean, you know, the Crusaders had big crosses, and went around slaughtering hundreds of 1000s of Jews and Muslims,

and rode their horses.

And the knees of the horses were up to

in blood, the knees of the horses of the Crusaders, when they entered Jerusalem, their horses knees, were up to in blood. That's the blood they were waiting through from the slaughter they made of Muslims and Jews in Jerusalem. And they walk crosses.

I think there was a whole bunch of knights came from Norway back then as well.

It's way this this guy whose name I don't even know, what's his name?

brevik. Yeah, I guess that's where he gets his inspiration from.

So,

the point is, there is a judgment, based upon what, what is the criteria we want to know. Now, there is a very beautiful saying in the Gospel.

And a beautiful saying that's attributed to Jesus, God knows best whether he said it or not.

And the general meaning of the general gist of this saying is, as you judge others, so you will be judged as you judge others, so you will be judged. Why do you take? Or why is it that you try to take the twig out of your brother's eye, and you forget the log in your own eye.

It's a very beautiful saying.

Now, this saying does not mean brothers and sisters, that you can't judge people.

It doesn't say that. And it doesn't mean that. But what it does imply is that the method or the manner, or the way in which you judge others, is the way that you yourself will ultimately be judged.

And that you should be concentrating on your own faults. And we have very similar sayings in Islam.

Some of the scholars, they used to say,

that blessing or what a good condition is the PR is that of the person who is so busy purifying, and looking at his or her own faults, that he or she doesn't even notice the faults in others. Again, this does not mean that you cannot make judgments about people. But it's a statement about how we should be the first one that we should judge is ourselves. The first thought that we should look at to examine is ourselves, how is it we are going to concentrate on trying to correct the people around us when we ourselves are in more need of correction.

Now, that doesn't mean and this is not the case in Islam, that if you see evil, you shouldn't try and change it. No. Even if you're doing that evil, and you know, it's wrong. You should still try to change it. If you are a father who smokes.

Does that mean because you smoke

or you take drugs or you do bad things that you won't try to stop your child from doing bad things? Of course you would. And indeed you must. Because if you fail to you or be a criminal twice over, you'll be a criminal

for abusing yourself, and you'd be a criminal, for letting other people get away with doing wrong things and not trying to change it.

So this is not about dealing with problems when they're in front of you dealing with evil when you see it manifests. And when you see people doing wrong, of course, you have to try and change it and try and correct it, and try and bring bring people to the good way in the right way. But it's about attitude brothers and sisters.

You see, what sort of person are you?

You see, here's the issue. Like I think Tupac was making excuses for himself.

He was living an evil life and doing evil things. And his statement, only God can judge me was an excuse. And it's not an acceptable excuse.

Another thing that we do is we make ourselves busy looking at the faults of others, because that's how we justify our own wrongdoing. It's about attitude.

We think of ourselves as being self righteous, we think of ourselves as being holy. We think of ourselves as being better than everybody else. That's not a good attitude to have.

That's not a good condition in which you should be.

You should always be judging yourself, examining yourself. And yes, we absolutely believe and logic proves it, that God has and must have given us guidance. So we can know what is pleasing to Him and what is displeasing to him, what is right and what is wrong, what is good and what is evil. That is why we believe that God has sent prophets and messengers, whether it was Noah alayhis salam, or Ibrahim alayhis, salam, or Isa, Jesus, may God's peace and blessings be upon him, or his last and final messenger Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. This is why Allah God, the Creator sent messengers, and that's why he gave those messengers books.

So we could read them, and study them. And we could have a clear criterion, a clear thing that determines between what is right and what is wrong. So we would know how to judge our own actions. And we would know how to judge the actions of others around us. And this is what is important brothers and sisters.

Let us examine this from another angle,

the logic of the statement, only God can judge me.

Just imagine

that some you're a businessman, you're a successful businessman, you have some money, and someone comes asking you for some money in order to start a business.

Now, let me ask you a question. Will you not make an assessment of this person? Will you not make an assessment? Will you not make a judgement? to see whether this person is someone that you want to give your hard earned money to?

You're going to make a judgment, shall I invest in this person or not? true or not.

And if you're a sensible person, and you're a just person and an honest person, you will not look at the color of the person's skin, it will not be an issue of whether this person is from your tribe or your country.

You know, you will look at the simple fact. Is this person going to help me make money or not? as a businessman?

Right?

So you make a judgment. Or for example, say you have a daughter, and someone comes

and asks for your daughter's hand in marriage? What are you gonna do?

You're gonna try and find out about his character,

about his manners, about his personality, about his Deen about his religion.

How is he really does he follow the religion properly? You will try to although you cannot see his heart but you will try to find out. Is this person sincere or not? And if you're trying to ask questions, and the person says, Only God can judge me.

You say right, we'll find someone else's daughter to marry. Right? You come he comes asking you for money. He says, Well, I need to see your business plan. Only God can judge me.

We'll go and find someone else to get money from

ridiculous how stupid is it? How stupid is that? Right? So this claim only God can judge me, right? You can see in some situations is a ridiculous claim, it's stupid.

It has no connection with the reality. Of course human beings need to make judgments about others, we have to do that all of the time.

Every time we employ someone, every time we work together with someone, every time we try and do anything, in fact, we are making some type of value judgment about the person. Now, of course, the real issue here is what is the criterion, we are trying to judge a person by, of course, if we judge a person by the color of their skin,

and we won't deal with them, because they're from a different tribe. And we just heard chef Hussein explained to us

about the teachings of Islam on this issue of race and tribe.

And that this is not a criterion that is an acceptable criterion for Allah.

The Prophet sallallahu and he was selling them said, that if a man comes to you, asking for your daughter's hand in marriage,

then you must not refuse as long as you are happy.

If you find that his Deen his religion, and his character is good. So if he has good deed, and good character, you must not refuse or there will be great evil and trials and tribulations on the earth. Subhan Allah, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam is this is knowledge from Allah, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam did not make this up from his head. This is knowledge he had from the Creator of the heavens and the earth, you may think, how is it something like that could cause evil and corruption on the face of the earth.

But that's what the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam told us.

If you refuse, that's what you will be responsible for. Meaning there is no room in Islam.

for judging people, by those criterion, we judge a person by what, what appears to them what appears to us on the outward surface of their character, and their religion.

That's what I make my judgment based upon. That's what we have to make our judgment based upon. Not those externalities, are those artificial things, that many human beings judge by how much money is he got? Wait a minute, wait a minute. Wait, how much money do you have in your bank account? What's it a card you drive?

I mean, yes, part of a man's good character is, and it's part of his Deen, part of his religion is that he should be able to maintain his wife.

That's true. But if you can maintain if if this man can maintain your wife, your daughter, I mean, Subhan Allah, it's not how much money have you got in your bank account? How much savings have you got? You know? How new is that car? No, it's not the criterion we're supposed to judge by. So brothers and sisters, how is it we judged This is the very important thing in sha Allah, we have to think about, okay.

Now there is

there is one situation that I can think of. Were saying, only God can judge me is actually right.

And it's the right thing to say.

And that is brothers and sisters. When you have done everything you can

to follow the teachings

of the Quran, and the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam or in other words, you've done everything you can to obey God.

You are sincerely doing your best, according to what you understand. And according to you, you're seeking knowledge and trying to find out the correct way and you are doing your best to follow the right way.

And then people start to judge you

People start to condemn you. People start to criticize you. That is the time when it's correct to say, Who are you to judge me, God is the judge of me. You have to sell that to yourself. In fact, that's part of what we talked about last in my last lecture, sincerity, it's very important. If you want to achieve anything,

you have to be like that. Brothers and sisters, there is a time when it's really correct. To think like that, and to be like that, just to lighten up the atmosphere a little bit. I want to tell a joke

about sincerity.

And you know about doing things for other people, you probably heard it already, which would ruin it if you have But anyway, there's this famous character in, in, in the Arab world, he's called Joe Hart. That's one of the names they give him johanne Joe Hart, they've got lots of jokes about him. Lots of stories about him. We could be here for the rest of the day telling them okay, but anyway, this is a nice story about Joe One day, he is riding on his donkey. And him and his son are trying to get from A to B. So Joe has riding on his donkey and his son is walking walking beside him. So they go through a certain village, the people of the village, they start saying, Look at this man.

He is riding the donkey like a king and he is pointed or son is walking. What sort of man is this?

So Joe, how things are there? Right. He says, okay, son, you ride the donkey. I will walk. Yeah. So they're going to go through another village. They get to the next village, they say,

look at this son. He sits in a donkey and he makes his father walk. It says disgusting. He's got no o'clock. He's got no manners. He's got no Dean. Okay, so Joe has his son get off the donkey. Right? Okay, so they're both walking and the donkey. They're just leaving the donkey by the rope. They go through another village that people say, look at this stupid man and his son, they have a donkey and they're not even using it.

In one version of the story, they carry the donkey. You know, the point being brothers and sisters, right is you're never going to please people. They're always going to have something to say about you.

They're always going to have some criticism about you. This is the reality. And it's true. We live here in Norway, and we live in UK. You know, I'm sorry to say

there are some people in these societies who will always find a way to criticize us.

It doesn't matter what you do.

They will always find a way to criticize you. Even if we relabeled ourselves and became liberal Muslims. Actually, do you ever think about what is a liberal Muslim? That doesn't even make any sense? Because the word Muslim means someone who submits to god how can you be a liberal, someone who submits to God I mean, either you submit to God or you don't? You can't live Bernie submit to God, it isn't. I think the people who call themselves liberal Muslims are so liberal. They don't even know what the word Muslim actually means. May Allah help them me. So you can become the you know what i guarantee they'll still find things to say about you. Like Joe Hart, and his son on the

donkey. So you know, the thing to do brothers and sisters, right, is to really concern yourself with what is pleasing to Allah, what is pleasing to God, what is really important is to concern yourself with purifying yourself, making yourself a better person, purifying your heart, making this connection between you and a law that I talked about in my first lecture, which if you missed it, you missed it. You should have been here when Sharla you hopefully you can watch it on YouTube or something like that. Okay. So brothers and sisters, this is very, very important inshallah. So there is the time yes to say, only God can judge me. And that time is when you know you've done your best.

You've tried your best to please Allah. You've tried your best to follow His guidance, and the people are still criticizing you, then absolutely. Brothers and sisters, it's fine to say that it's right to say that, but not as an excuse to deflect criticism from your evil actions. Not as an excuse to blame God for your choices for your choices in life.

So brothers and sisters

Be careful, please, how you talk about your Creator. Be careful about what you say in respect to Allah subhanho wa Taala.

Remember your duty to your Lord, remember your covenant, your agreement with him,

that we have been created by Allah to know Him, to worship him to love him, and to follow His guidance. And if we do that Alhamdulillah we will have real success in this life, and the true success in the next. And when we meet our Lord and our Creator, on the day that is sure, the day that is promised that they it is true, that they have judgment, yes, there is a day when we will stand in front of Allah. And he will ask us and He will judge us. And we will know about every single thing, every atoms weight of good that we have done, we will know about it. And every atoms weight of evil that we have done, we will know about it. Every atoms wait brothers and sisters,

think about that. Think about that day. And how will we be judged by Allah? By did we follow His guidance?

Were we sincere? Did we do our deeds purely and sincerely for Allah? And did we do them in the right way? According to his guidance, not according to our desires, not according to what I feel like not according to what everyone else was trying to tell us to do know, according to what God himself

told us.

And that's why he sent us a book, a clear book, and a messenger as Omar Ibn Al hottub. He mentioned about this guidance and about this Deen

that the right and the wrong the right way and the wrong way is clear. It's clear like the night and the day.

It is clear as the night and the day. This is the path and this path we have been given. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam told us what is lawful is clear and what is forbidden is clear. In between it there are some matters, that only the knowledgeable and

certain people know about it. So what do you do, steer away from those doubtful matters, keep away from them and protect your religion. It's simple, what is allowed is clear, what is forbidden is clear. And keep away from the doubtful things. This religion is easy, it is not difficult. And that is what Allah will judge us by brothers and sisters. It is so important for us to take the time to read the book of Allah, to understand the core and to understand our religion, not just coming to speeches and lectures, not just listening to machines and watching YouTube clips. But to pick up the core and the book of Allah. Read it in a language you can understand think about it deeply

contemplate on it.

This is what we must do. Brothers and sisters, it's imperative upon all of us. May Allah guide you. May Allah guide me and all of us closer to the truth as salaam alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh.

We have a question here. Yeah. Is it allowed to judge other brothers and sisters? I have heard that it is haram to look at other people's Haram. Is that true? If you judge someone, it's like, you look at their haraam. Okay.

Okay, that's a very good question.

One of the things that we have been taught

by this beautiful religion

is overlooking faults, hiding the faults of your brother and your sister, not gossiping, not backbiting, not exposing people's faults. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said that whoever covers the faults of his Muslim brother

or his Muslim sister or her Muslim sister, Allah subhanho wa Taala will cover their faults on the Day of Judgment. Please think about the Day of Judgment.

Think about

The whole of humanity assembled in front of Allah.

Think about my dear brothers and sisters, having your faults exposed in front of the entirety of mankind. Think about the humiliation of that. Wouldn't you love for Allah to hide your faults? Wouldn't you love for Allah to hide your sins? Just as you definitely would love that on the day of judgment that Allah hid your sins, you should hide the sins of your brother. You should hide the sins of your sister. You should not expose them. backbiting, you know what is backbiting? Most people don't even know what backbiting is.

And you know what, even sometimes I I've told people, I know individuals, I've told them 1015 times what backbiting is and they still come up with a different, different different, it's not my definition. This is what the prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam said. backbiting the Mima backbiting is when you say something about your Muslim brother and sister, which is true, it's true, but they wouldn't like it.

This is what happened once the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam was talking about backbiting,

how Allah mentions in the core and then it is like eating the flesh of your dead brother, can you imagine digging up a corpse and eating the flesh of a rotting corpse? That is what backbiting is like?

So one companion said, What if I say is true on messenger of Allah? He said, If what you say is true, that is backbiting, if it is false, in other words, if you lied against your Muslim brother, that's even worse, that's longer. And that's an even worse in making a lie about a Muslim.

How about some Muslims then? who go

to the media to the non Muslims in order to expose what they think in their minds is the fault of another Muslim Subhana Allah

Subhana Allah?

How dangerous is this? What Islam? is this? What Quran? Is it they are reading or probably they're not being liberal Muslims, they probably don't even read it.

Extraordinary.

So hiding each other's faults is imperative. Okay? There is an exception to this.

There is there are exceptions to this, of course. For example, if a person is an open sinner, and the person who's doing their sin openly, shamelessly in front of everybody, and they're shameless about it, it is not backbiting to mention about that person.

This person this and this, if they are doing this in openly and shamelessly or for example, if that person is seeking marriage, or that person is trying to do a business deal.

And then someone asks you about that person, you have to mention the footnotes.

But that is only between that is not to mention it openly and publicly. That is just to mention it to the person who is asking you, but otherwise generally concealing and hiding the faults of a Muslim is part of our Deen on top of that. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said a dean in the sea had the religion is sincerity, sincere advice to be sincere.

Help your Muslim brother, whether he is the oppressor or the oppressed. They said O Messenger of Allah, we know how to help him if he's oppressed. How do we help him? If he is the oppressor? The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said stop him from doing his oppression. So this is part of our Deen and Muslim murottal Muslim the Muslim is the mirror of a believer you know if you go to the mirror and you see like a big you know Mark dirt on your face What will you do you know wash it off right?

The same if you see something on your Muslim brother,

you see something on your Muslim sister something wrong, then you try to remove that wrong from them. And you do it in what way in the best way. So they will accept it with beautiful advice with love.

With love.

Because this is how Allah subhanho wa Taala he describes

the family of Islam in me No, no, we're very the believers are brothers. They are sisters.

They are like a family.

So you shouldn't correct your brother, or your sister in public, humiliating them, whether they are rulers or scholars, or ordinary people, even your children or your wife, or your husband, the husband should not admonish and correct his wife in front of the children. And the wife should not admonish and correct the husband in front of the children that alone in front of everybody else, as you see it sometimes brother shouting at his wife in front of everybody stuck for a law or even the other way around.

Right? No, you know, you take the person to the site, you advise them in a way that they will accept it. This is part of love. This is part of sincerity. So this is how the behavior should be amongst the Muslims. Okay. But if you say you can't judge them, what does that mean? You can't judge them? No, if I see a Muslim doing something haram Of course, they are doing something haram that is what I see.

And I judged them based upon what I see and what is evidence.

So I know this is haram.

And if they're doing something Haram, it is not good. It's wrong.

So yes, of course, you can make a judgement about what they are doing, and whether what they are doing is right or wrong.

But you should try to correct them in a way that is based upon love and brotherhood and kindness. So inshallah hope that explains that question.

We have a question. Is the opinion that only a law can judge based on the merger opinion that Eman is only in the heart and not actions? And are these people who follow this opinion today modern day merger?

Yes, there is a I don't mean, yes, they are. Right.

What I mean, is that there is this idea or who are the mortgagee? Anyway, the merger, a group of people who believe that eemaan is constant. And that eemaan is just a faith is something you have and that your Eman And my Eman is the same as the Imam of Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam and Abu Bakar and jabril. You know, we have all the same demand. This contradicts and that a man doesn't change it stays constant.

Yeah. So this contradicts what we know from the Quran itself, from the teachings of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, and from the understanding of all of the companions, as many as we know that they agreed that eemaan increases with obedience to Allah. And it decreases with disobedience to Allah. So Eman is something that increases and decreases. So the more you obey God, and you do it sincerely and correct me then your mind increases and the more you disobey God, then you know, your Eman decreases. But brothers and sisters, I want you for those of you who listened to my talk yesterday,

you will understand what I'm trying to say.

Because you may see from a person, the outward manifestation or outwardly you may see them doing a deed for example, a person may pray only their obligatory prayers. You don't see them praying. any extra press. Maybe you don't see them fasting a lot or giving a lot of charity.

Let me mention this Hadeeth I mentioned that yesterday I will mention it again. that a woman the companions of the Prophet asked the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam about a certain woman. They said, there is a woman who prays a lot of extra prayers. And she does a lot of extra fasting and she gives a lot in charity, but she has a bad tongue and she abuses her neighbors. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam said she is a person of hellfire.

And they asked about a person a woman, she doesn't do a lot of extra press. She doesn't do extra fasts. She gives small and insignificant things in charity. But she never speaks bad about people. The Prophet said sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, she's a person of paradise. So the point here is brothers and sisters, that your Eman increasing and what we call good deeds is not necessarily based upon the quantity. It could be, or maybe even often is based upon the quality and the quality of a deed is how it transforms you internally. And that's not something you can see really easily you can look into a person's art. Okay, you can see certain things they say bad things that you know what's

in the heart is going to show itself on the limb sooner or later. But this is not necessarily something that is easy to judge, even a person may do something bad. And I give you another example. There was a man

once the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam his companions asked the prophet to come to their house, to pray in the house. Now the reason they asked the prophet to do that is because they lived far from Medina and far from the mosque. They couldn't travel to the mosque back and forth every day. They wanted the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam to come and pray in the house. And that would give it a type of approval that they could use this as a place of prayer. So when the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam came there, and he prayed,

the people started saying or even the prophets I can't remember the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam asked way is such and such he knew that this particular companion, he lived in this vicinity.

They said, You're Rasulullah such and such as become a monastic.

The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, Don't say that.

They said your Rasulullah we never see him except he is always with the mon African, the hypocrites.

We just see him with the hypocrites.

The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, Maybe he has some business with them.

Maybe Maybe there's something that he can't help having to deal with them due to some circumstances. But the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam knew about this individual that he loved a lot, and he loved the messenger.

So this is very important, that it's not always easy just to judge a person, straight away by what you see from them.

This is a very important lesson.

So, yes, brothers and sisters, this saying, you know, only God can judge me. Again, it could be a type of excuses. I said, and I already mentioned my whole lecture was really about that a person does evil. They say all the faith in my heart, well, if you have faith in your heart will see you generally, that's the reality if you really have faith, right? You know, my beard is in my heart, my hijab is in my heart. Really?

Where did you get that from this idea that the bids on your hairy, hot or whatever, right? I mean, you know? No, I mean, okay, there may be circumstances and Allah knows best. And Allah knows best. I don't make a judgment. If I see a sister without hijab, I don't make some judgment about her stuff, or a law Look at that, you know, or a brother without a beard, or make a judgement or know why why would you do you don't know what state of knowledge they are, whether they know whether they don't know, you, we don't know what they're going through. So we shouldn't make judgments about people. Like that's not right. Just to make judgments about people. That's certainly correct. We shouldn't

do that. Yeah. But if you talk to the person, for example, and you know, Mashallah the brother works in, you know, a halal meat shop, right? And even the people that are saying, why don't you grow your beard brother, right? And he's not doing and he says, The beards in my heart, right? And you can't what possible reason is there for not him to do what the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam told him to or the same with the sister, then then you see the circumstances different, then of course, you're gonna start making a judgment about that person.

So here's the thing is that we shouldn't make snap judgments. We shouldn't be quick to judge people. We should always be people have empathy. This is very important. You know, for

giveness overlooking a false compassion, empathy is very important, trying to understand what the person is going through trying to feel what that person is going through.

So these are the type of qualities that we need to have in respect to our Muslim brothers and sisters, we have a question here about judging a Kaffir judging a non Muslim is that allowed and who is fighting you can backbiting a non Muslim you shouldn't backbite anybody

apart from anything else is that if you backed by people, you get into the habit of being a back biter.

You get into the habit of it.

And when you develop a habit, you will start to, you know, you will start to back bites.

Okay. But again, the condition of a non Muslim is similar as that if a person is not a Muslim, that's generally what we see from them and generally what we know from them however, of course, similarly, the non Muslim you don't know their states.

If all they know about Islam, is that Muslims? are terrorists, Muslims oppressed are women, Muslims, this Muslims that they're just a whole lot of bad things. Of course, they're going to think bad about Islam.

You would think that about Islam if you were they in their shoes, you definitely want

so to make a just an automatic judgment about a non Muslim,

but you don't know what is the state of knowledge, you don't know what is the state of understanding.

So, again, brothers and sisters, you know,

this is to do with empathy, this has to do with forgiving, overlooking being compassionate, being understanding, these are very essential characteristics that every single Muslim should have, this is part of our clock, this is part of good manners, good character, that we should have these qualities. Anyway, inshallah, we will talk about this subject a little bit more tomorrow inshallah, when I talk about Allah and Allah Wa, Alberto,

next question, if my husband has been unjust with me, and I tell him, my friend, is that backbiting sister is asking, okay.

It's just like a can of worms, isn't it? Really think about that.

Okay, first of all, if your husband has really been unjust to you,

first of all, has your husband really been unjust to you? I mean, unjust according to the definition of the Quran and Sunnah. Not according to your feelings or your emotions.

Then Okay, if if anyone is oppressed by anyone, husband or wife or whatever, if someone is oppressed, and they are clearly oppressed, it is permissible, it is permissible for that person to talk to others about the oppression that has been done to them. That is, that is perfectly permissible. Right?

So if someone has oppressed another person, you are allowed to talk about that oppression, but it must be limited to the oppression that was done. Unfortunately, brothers and sisters, most people do not have the self control, or the sense of justice, Allah subhanho wa Taala says do not allow your hatred of people to do them injustice. Why does Allah say that simply because when we are angry, or when we feel hatred for someone, most of the time, we can't control our tongues, and we don't limit ourselves

to the thing or the issue, which the person has transgressed against us. So what we do is then we just start saying more and more and more stuff, then we become the oppressor and we become the transgressor. So maybe a person has done injustice concerning some business transaction, but then we say, and you know, his wife is this and her son is this and he is this and he is that and he does nothing to do with the actual topic itself. So if a person has transgressed against you, you can talk about that issue and that issue alone. It doesn't give you a free and open rein to say every bad thing you know about that person.

Right, and most people can't do that.

That is probably why it is better to forgive and overlook. It's better to hide the fruits of your brother as the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam said, most of the time, that's the best thing to do, and just wait for your award when you meet Allah Subhana Allah on the Day of Judgment, because if a person has transgressed against you, or if you transgress against someone else, you will have to pay that person. If you oppress them, you will have to pay them on the day of judgment from your good deeds. And if you don't have any good deeds, you will have to take their sins if someone has oppressed you. That's why if I hear someone back bit me, or slandered me, I once heard usif went to

a Masjid somewhere once and he said, and he man and Imam Subhana Allah in this Masjid said Abdur Rahim green

says bad things about Imam Abu hanifa La hawla wala quwata illa Allah. So I said Mashallah hamdulillah Allah has someone working for me and doing good deeds for me on the day of judgments? Because you know, that man, he's gonna have to pay me, he slandered me, he's gonna have to pay me for that abuse Mashallah people working for me almost got people working for me, Mashallah. Hamdulillah, you know, I don't have to do anything, they just lie against me, and they're gonna have to pay me on the Day of Judgment, that's the way to look at it, you know?

So I could say in front of all of you today, and by the way, his name was mmm such and such from must listen, that this is what he said if I could, and I'm entitled to do that, to defend myself.

But no hamdulillah inshallah, I'll get my rewards, you know, even better than that, is to say, May Allah forgive him? May Allah guide him just to let it go? That's even better. Subhana Allah, you know, but to be like that, you have to be really smart, I'm not that special, you know,

I inshallah, work on it make dua for me in Sharla.

That was my wife, you know, that's about it. Really?

What do you do with a person that say something wrong about Islam?

you advise them, like I said,

advise them and correct them. inshallah, if the if they are saying something wrong publicly about Islam, then you may have to publicly correct them and warn against them.

Yes, you may have to do that.

So that unfortunately, you know, that's what you might have to do. So if some people went to the media, and they complained and said that, you know, and they were Muslims, then you unfortunate you might have to respond. And you might because this is for the public good, you cannot allow people to be saying wrong things about Islam or wrong things about Muslims. So, you know, it depends upon the situation and it depends upon the need and the benefits. Okay. Is it haram to judge someone by their appearance? Okay, that depends.

You know, that that really depends on their appearance and what you mean by that. So, you know,

generally No, you should not judge a person by their appearance, but I think I already talked about that with the beard and the hijab, yeah, I answered that already. inshallah

is talking with your psychologist, around.

Think I have a psychologist.

I, I, if you if you need a psychologist, you should talk to your psychologist. I think that I think there is an issue though.

There is an issue that

if the psychologist is not a Muslim,

then here is the problem. And this is really, again, very much to do with my talk tomorrow. Right?

Is that even if this person genuinely, and I'm sure they do, if that person genuinely cared about you, and genuinely had real concern about you and genuinely wanted to help you?

psychologists are limited, very limited. Number one, it's a very new science. And number two, the whole field of psychology is so close to the whole dimension of spirituality and religion.

So the crossover between what is psychology and what is spiritual

morality, there's a lot of crossover. And that's why actually, the whole study of psychology fascinates me a lot, because of the whole crossover. Now here is the problem is that a psychologist, who is not a Muslim, who does not share your belief system may advise you, even in advertently, I mean, not on purpose, but they may advise you with something that is actually wrong. Or I could even say maybe even evil. Now, they don't mean to do that. I don't say that's their intention, but they are not judging and their criterion is not the revelation that God the perfect guidance that God has sent down.

It's based upon deficient and limited knowledge. So this is exactly the sort of situation where it is very important as much as possible to seek advice and counsel from someone who is both a Muslim and who knows this field of scientific research to get the best advice as a Muslim that you can. So I would say that it's something you do have to be a little bit cautious about.

But I wouldn't say it's Haram, but it's something you have to be careful about.

That's it.

Okay, I think that was the last question Mashallah.