Based upon the book (Major sins) written by Imam Dhahabi
Abdurraheem Green – Major Sins – Part 7
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AI: Transcript ©
We begin by praising Allah we praise Him, we seek His help and we ask for his forgiveness and we take refuge with the love from the evil of ourselves and from the evil consequences of our evil actions. Whomsoever Allah guides, no one can misguide. And whosoever Allah leaves to go astray, no one can guide and I testify that
Allah alone is worthy of our worship and that Mohammed May Allah peace and blessings be upon him is the Messenger of Allah, his true servant, my dear brothers and sisters, as salaam aleikum wa rahmatullah wa barakato. In the last discussion, we mentioned some of the evil effects of our evil deeds. Certainly, those people who came before us, those early generations of Muslims, who learned their religion, from the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam who learned the religion from the companions of the Prophet, may Allah be pleased with all of his companions. They understood this reality that when we disobey Allah, we suffer. When we abandon obedience to Allah subhanaw taala. We
face the consequences of that. And that is why they themselves, when they used to find that some bounty, some blessing that they used to experience had been taken away from them. Some victory
had been deprived from them, they did not look to, well, maybe we need some more soldiers, maybe we need some more equipment, maybe we need some more. No, they would think, what sins have we committed? What haram things we began to do that we did not do before?
Which Sunnah of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam have we abandoned in order for us to be experiencing such a difficulty? And that is how we should think my brothers and sisters, you know, when we are going through this topic of major sins, please let us all of us and I start with myself. Let all of us Let's think, first of all, about ourselves. Don't think on the topic of major sins? Oh, yes, I know such and such like that. And I know this and that, like the first, let's start with ourselves, let's busy ourselves with looking in our own hearts.
Instead of busying ourselves looking for the faults of others and looking at the faults of others, let us begin with self purification, self correction, because in that process of self purification, and self rectification is true piety. And it's a mistake that many people make. Many people think that piety and righteousness is through saying lots of extra prayers, and doing lots of extra fasts and making lots of extra Vicar of Allah subhanaw taala, and giving lots of charity. And of course, these things are truly excellent and important, but they are nothing compared to the importance of abandoning sin, of abandoning disobedience to Allah. True righteousness, true piety, and true taqwa
is primarily, first and foremost in abandoning sin. And that's what I need to talk about in this session, is this very important concept that many people sadly, have forgotten, have failed to comprehend and have misunderstood. So I'm going to discuss a Hadith of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, which Eman unknowingly, he included in his collection of 40 Hadith, and it's well known that in this collection of 40 Hadith are some of the most important sayings of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam around which the understanding of our religion this beautiful religion of Islam, this
Way of Life, the only way of life indeed that is acceptable to Allah
is based upon the sayings of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. So, this narration was reported by Abu huraira Abdur Rahman, even soccer. Of course we know Abu huraira and he reported from the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, and it was collected by Bukhari and Muslim. And what the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, the meaning of what the prophet said, is what I have forbidden you from stay away,
for I have a bit new stay away from it. And what I have ordered you to do, do as much as you can.
Verily, certainly the people before you were destroyed only because of their excessive questioning. And they're disagreeing with their profits.
So this, my dear brothers and sisters is very, very important Hadith. Now, before we begin to explore it, and we begin to discuss it any further, we need to start by saying that every command and every order, and every prohibition has its importance, no one should understand by what I am going to talk about today. That's not doing what the prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam has told us to do is insignificant. But the emphasis clearly in the saying of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam, is upon abandoning the evil. And this is what the scholars understood because they understood this from this Hadith, that the way the Prophet talk sallallahu alayhi wa sallam the way
the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam talks about prohibitions was completely different from the way that he talks about the righteous actions. Because the Prophet Sall Allahu alayhi, wa sallam, he said very clearly
what I have the billion you stay away from. So this is a very clear, emphatic statement, if I forbidden you from something, you stay away from it. But when he talks about the things that he has ordered, he is telling us to do as much as we can.
And it's very interesting that in the understanding in the, in the understanding of Islam in the jurisprudence, that we find that there are many situations where the things that we have been ordered to do, there is an allowance for us, there is ease for us, in difficult circumstances. For example, when we are traveling, we are allowed not only to shorten, but if we are on the path, and when we are traveling, certainly we are also even allowed to combine our prayers. So there is an allowance to shorten and to combine. Similarly, when we are ill, when it is raining, there is an allowance to combine the prayers and certain situations. Also we find that's the case with fasting.
When we are traveling, we are allowed to break the fast even in the month of Ramadan. In fact, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam told us there is no piety
in fasting under that type of hardship. So this is something we find in our Deen that in the things that we have been ordered to do, there are many different allowances that we have been given, due to hardship. Whereas when it comes to the prohibitions, when it comes to the things that we have been ordered, to keep away from and to abstain from, then the situation is different. In reality, prohibitions can only be transgressed against in the case of absolute necessity. So only in the case of severe necessity, are we allowed to transgress the prohibitions. So this is what we find. For example, eating of pork, eating of pork is allowed under very, very extreme circumstances,
literally, life or death circumstances. And here's a good example of how in many righteous deeds, the things that we have been ordered, there is ease and time of difficulty, but in the case of prohibitions, it moves to the level of dire necessity before there is a type of allowance for us in that, and that again shows us the difference between the prohibited acts and the acts that are
Encourage so this is why the scholar said that it is more important to remain away from forbidden acts than it is to perform ordered deeds. Of course, this is not an excuse to leave the good deeds and the things that we have been ordered. But it just shows that this is the level of priority. And it's not an excuse for laxity. And we must be careful, we must be stringent when it comes to avoiding the forbidden acts. And as we find of some of those people who came before us, for example, Sahil Eben Abdullah at to stare, he said, the righteous and wicked do righteous deeds, the righteous and wicked, do righteous deeds, but only the truthful. Avoid the sense Think about that. Both the
righteous and the wicked do righteous deeds, but only the truth ones avoid that since
the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam also said, protect yourself from and you will be the true worshiper or the best of the worshipers amongst the people. So the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, and this is what he said, and he said this to Abba Pereira. As far as I remember, protect yourself from the forbidden acts, and you will be the one who worships or love the most of the people. So the one who worships I love the most the person who is on the highest level of being the abbot, the worshiper, the servant of Allah subhanaw taala is the one who keeps away from the forbidden things. So what you find brothers and sisters, and you do find this, that a person may be
very, very strict and doing acts of obedience, and even they are strict in doing recommended deeds. So for example, that you find they are very conscientious about using the miswak. And they are very conscientious about dressing in a certain type of dress, and maybe, you know, making sure they wear a hat on their head. And you know, they grow their beard, and they wear hijab, and of course, all of these things, amongst the things that Allah subhanaw taala has ordered us with. And of course, that is a very, very good thing. But you find sometimes these people, of course, not all of them, but there are people like that very conscientious and doing the things that have been ordered. Even you
might find they are very strict even about some of the recommended deeds, but they don't care about dealing and haraam. They sell alcohol, they sell in decent magazines, they sell cigarettes, they may even deal in drugs, they may be dealing in the river in interest. They may be involved in many many unlawful activities. Even though they are doing these righteous deeds, you may even find they are making Hajj, but they don't care about. In the case of some women, they make Hajj and they don't even care about displaying their beauty. So it is very strange that a person is very conscientious in doing these acts of worship. But they are not conscientious about keeping away from the forbidden
things. And look at this beautiful saying of Abdullah bin Omar, the son of Omar bin al Fatah, he said a beautiful saying he said to return one sixth of a Durham illegally gotten
is preferred to spending 100,000 Durham's in the way of Allah subhanaw taala. Let's repeat that to return one sixth of a Durham that is illegally gotten. So to leave alone and to keep away from haraam earnings even to the amount of one sixth of a Durham is better than spending 100,000 Durham's in the way of Allah subhanaw taala. Look at Abdullah bin Omar,
a companion of the Prophet son of the second Riley guide qualified of the Muslims, a person who is so strict in following the Sunnah of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam, but he understood how important it was to keep away from the forbidden things. And this is especially true in this respect concerning wealth, which is one of the issues that we will be talking about, as the sessions progress. The importance of
Our earnings being Hillel. But it's generally true, what he said about the prohibited deeds. And let's look at the same of Hassan al bursary. He said, the worshipers of Allah do not worship in any way better than avoiding what Allah has forbidden. The worshipers of Allah do not worship Allah in any way better than avoiding what Allah has forbidden. This is showing and emphasizing the huge importance and again, look at the understanding of these pious people from the early generations of the Muslims, how they understood the deen how they understood this beautiful religion of Islam. They understood that the best worship the best way of being pious, the most pious of the people were
those people who kept away from those things which Allah subhanaw taala had forbidden. And let's now look at the same of Omar bin Abdulaziz. It's very beautiful thing he said. He said tequila.
taqwa is not pray. taqwa, by the way, is often translated as the fear of Allah.
But taqwa does not just mean the fear of Allah. A person who has taqwa is very conscientious about protecting themselves from Allah's punishment. In fact, it's from the word taqwa comes from the Arabic word for shields. And so a person who has taqwa is shielding themselves from the punishment of our last panel, utter Allah. So he's saying, taqwa is not praying during late at night, and fasting during the day, and mixing between halal and haram. But taqwa is to fulfill what Allah has obligated and to avoid what Allah has forbidden,
if, in addition to the goodness. So this is very important, my dear brothers and sisters, it is re emphasizing the importance of this series of talks. So I am really encouraging you, I hope through these lectures that have all been on these sessions that have all just been introducing our subject, it's taken us this long, just to introduce the subject and all of it is with the intention and the purpose to make us understand the reality of sin, what is sin? What is the meaning of sin? And in this particular lecture, what is the punishment for indulging in sin. And of course, in this
particular session, right now, we are reminding ourselves of the importance of keeping away from forbidden actions. And its relation to having taqwa and to righteousness, and to piety. So what we really find from all of these sayings of the Prophet sallallahu, Alayhi, wasallam, and the sayings of those pious people who came before us, that the truly righteous person, the person who truly fears Allah subhanaw taala is the person who keeps away from those forbidden deeds. So how important it is for us how essential it is for us to know and to understand and to comprehend and to study, and to research what those forbidden deeds are. And it's not only then my brothers and sisters,
about knowing in the sense of information, because that's a sad thing. Sometimes what we do is we just, you know, we almost study for the sake of studying, we almost learn for the sake of learning, but we're not really learning with the intention that this is something that we are going to implement, this is something that we're going to act upon. So it's only right that inshallah we should try to explore that Avenue, and those different techniques of keeping away from those evil things. And we emphasize again, my brothers and sisters, that are what we have been saying, does not mean that you should be lacks in doing the good deeds, it doesn't mean that you should be lacks in
performing deeds of righteousness, but you should understand that the priority and the goal and the aim and the objective is of course, to keep away from sin. Even my brothers and sisters, please think about this very deeply. Allah subhanaw taala and we mentioned already that in the Quran, Allah sometimes
explains to us the wisdom and the benefit and the reason behind ordering us with certain deeds. So the reason Allah subhanaw taala, for example, ordered us to establish a Salah what is the reason Allah subhanaw taala ordered us to establish a salah and Allah tells us in the core and the meaning of it is that the salon establishing a salon keeps you away from fascia and mockery keeps you away from the evil since it keeps you away from the
disobedience to Allah subhanaw taala the open sins and rebelliousness Okay, so this is the benefit of pray. This is one of the reasons why we pray. One of the reasons why we establish a Salah is to keep us away from sin Subhan Allah. So think about that. So this righteous deed itself, its purpose is to keep us away from sin. Fasting Ramadan, what does Allah subhanaw taala What does it tell us is the reason for fasting Ramadan, the unlock code, that you may acquire taqwa and what is taqwa taqwa means to do what Allah has ordered you to do and to keep away from those things that Allah has prohibited you from. So even the purpose and we will be talking about that, of course, when we are
discussing these issues, because amongst the major sins that we'll be discussing, a major sin is to abandon assala abandoned Ramadan, abandoned cart abandoned Hajj. So abandoning those righteous deeds is itself a huge and major sin, we'll be talking about how major it is. So brothers and sisters is not an encouragement to be lacks in doing righteousness, and verily as the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasallam good deeds, wipe out evil deeds, good deeds, wipe out evil deeds. So if you've done something evil, then one of the ways to repent for that and one of the ways to wipe them out is by doing good. But do focus and do concentrate and do understand the importance of keeping away from
evil, that the righteous people that truly righteous and the most righteous of the people and the people with the most taqwa are those people who keep away from sins. And that is why this topic is so so, so important. And don't be like those people who say, Oh, I treat the people well, I am good with them. I incarnate with everybody and they don't fast and they don't pray and they don't obey Allah subhanaw taala and their excuses, that the religion is all being about good to people and being nice to people. These people are truly deceived by Satan. No, you should obey Allah. Keep away from the sins. This is the righteous path. And this is what we encourage you with myself with and
next time in Sharla. Brothers and sisters we will be getting the topic of shirk, insha Allah until then as salaam alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh