Abu Taymiyyah – Abstaining from bad assumptions

Muhammadin

Dear respected brothers and sisters,

what I want to speak about today

is a matter that is very very crucial,

and very very important.

What it is basically,

It is the steps and the processes that

a person goes through,

Before

he ends up falling in a Matzah, which

is very very severe.

And this process and this step that I'm

talking about,

Is the thought,

the Surah Adhan,

the bad thought that a person has for

his brothers.

Because never ever does a person wake up

in the morning,

and he says something with his tongue,

and he hasn't preceded a thought.

That's why in order for us to

stop ourselves from falling into this major problem,

we have to try and cut out the

steps,

and the processes that a person that goes

through.

Because it can lead to a very, very

dangerous and severe matter. As the Prophet Sallallahu

Alaihi Wasallam told us about the tongue.

A man, he says something with his tongue.

He says a word with his tongue, and

he doesn't give any care to it.

And because of this what happens? He gets

chucked into the hellfire because of this one

word.

And the Hadith

that talk to us about the tongue are

many.

This is not the topic that I want

to

maybe speak about in detail today.

But it's a matter that is as important.

Because if a person stop this,

he's able to control that which comes out

of his tongue.

This matter Ikhwan ifillah that is related to

the

thoughts, the assumptions,

and also the speculations.

That person begins to

build matters upon

and rulings

due to his speculation and also the assumptions.

The prophet salallahu alaihi wa sallam warned us

about it.

And he told us to be aware.

It came in the hadith

in Sahih Muslim

on the authority of Abu Hurairat radiAllahu an.

That the Prophet Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam said,

beware of the assumptions

and the thoughts.

For indeed the assumptions and the speculations

are from the worst

of the narrations.

The most fabricated of the narrations.

The thought that a person thinks about someone

else.

Also Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said in the

Quran,

O you who believe,

Stay away from the most

of the thoughts,

and the assumptions, the speculations

in the Ba'al al Bani I Islam.

For indeed some of these

thoughts,

is a sin.

In our Sharia,

we contemplate upon the Sharia, we find that

assumptions, speculations,

and opinion has no place in our religion.

Has absolute no place in our religion.

This is why Ilm, knowledge

and assumption and speculations,

they are complete opposites.

The is on one side and the assumptions

and the speculations on another side.

The food that goes through a person's head,

his opinion.

That's why Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says in

the Quran.

These people they follow

their opinion

and their assumptions.

For indeed the assumption and also their opinion,

It doesn't prevail over the half of the

truth.

And also Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says in

the Quran,

say to them, O Muhammad

Say to them, O Muhammad,

do you have any knowledge that you can

show us?

Indeed you are only people that follow assumptions

and speculations.

And it's very very sorry to say,

Haz Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala mentioned in the

Quran,

and he is the most

truthful.

As Allah mentioned, The

majority of the people, they are people that

follow assumptions and speculations.

Allah

says,

The majority of the people, they only follow

speculations and assumptions.

So that's why if one if we like

it, it's very very important

that we try and assess this matter very

very well.

Because like I mentioned before,

it is always the result of a person

having bad thoughts,

he uses his tongue to speak badly about

another person,

or him he makes a ruling.

And because of this it could be the

reason why he gets shoved into the hellfire

because

of his bad thoughts.

And it's very important that I bring examples

now so that people understand.

With examples,

the speech becomes more clearer.

If you look in Surat Al Nur,

and contemplate

on the story of Aisha Radiallahu Anha.

Never did the matter become so big

and the chaos increase.

Except

because of some of the bad thoughts

and the speculations and the assumptions

that some had about her.

And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala

He addressed this,

and he spoke about those

that had bad thought about Aisha radhiallahu anha,

in a severe manner.

We're not talking about the people that spread

their lies. They even worse. We're talking about

the people

that only had the bad thought enter into

their heads.

They only thought negative about that.

And Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala he sent down

Allah

says,

Why is it,

when you had these message,

about the believing

people. You never thought good about them.

And why do you say,

This is a click of light.

Why do you say this?

Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is talking about those

who had bad thoughts, that bad thoughts entered

into their heads.

Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala also then goes on

to say,

And why did you not?

Why is it not?

Why did you not say?

This is not from the affairs

that is suitable for us to speak about.

Here Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala is addressing

those people who fought Badaba Aisha radiAllahu anha.

Ibn Kathir, he mentions

that this is further discipline.

This is further discipline.

In addition

to the good thought a person needs to

have about the people,

That when there is someone that is known

to be upon good,

that

he doesn't allow

the bad thought to take over him

in thinking about this person.

Further discipline he says, further discipline.

Allah azza wa Jal even says,

And when you said this with your tongue,

and your mouth,

that which you don't have any knowledge about,

You see it to be something very small,

but with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala something

Another example Ikhwan.

The story of Usam ibn Zayed.

Usam ibn Zayed,

what happened?

When he killed a man who said

He killed him.

So the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam,

became really really angry. He became really really

angry, and he kept on repeating to him,

did you kill a person? I said

He said,

He only said it because he was scared

of

the

And the prophet

started saying,

I free myself from that which Usam bin

Nazeid did. He had bad thought about him.

Another example, Ikwani.

Is when a person he loses something,

or something gets stolen from him.

The Somali people they have

a saying,

saying,

The one that was stolen from,

his sin is more worse, and he falls

into more sin than the one that actually

stole.

Why?

This one he stole, maybe he fell into

one major sin.

By the way, Muhammad told me this.

And the one that was stolen from, he

doesn't know who he is, so he spreads

lies, he doesn't know mima, he accuses this

one, he says this about this one. He

might fall into 5 6 different major sins.

So this person ends up selling more than

the one that actually stole it.

Is true.

And then what did he say?

After his assumption maybe becomes clear.

Didn't I tell you? Didn't I tell you

this?

Wasn't I correct?

It was actually him that done it.

Rather the assumption even if you are correct,

you're not getting an extra bonus. You're not

getting reward for being correct in your assumption.

Bakr ibn Abdul Muzani,

what did he say? He goes,

Beware of that kind of speech.

Hey, which kind of speech?

If he was to be correct in that

assumption, that thing that you say, you don't

get rewarded.

And if you used to now be incorrect,

you get sin.

Bad thought for the Muslims.

Another example.

We find sometimes when a man speaks,

when a man speaks,

a person that is known to be upon

good,

a slip of a tongue, he maybe says

something about the sahabi

after mistake.

The people you find they try to get

what he said, and they try to give

it the worst mammal ever.

They try to give it his worst meaning.

This is also against what the salif. The

Sahabir eduannullahi alayhi used to say,

What did he say?

Do not think of a speech that was

said by your brother

to be something bad.

And you're able to give a good meaning.

Maybe this person here had a slip of

a tongue,

or he says something.

As we all know the famous hadith,

the man that lost his camel, what did

he say?

He said, O Allah, you are my slave,

and I'm

your

Lord.

He said the worst thing why he done

it out of severe happiness?

The

prophet

said. He fell into mistake due to severe

happiness.

The matter in order to resolve it, might

be a few minutes. You go after the

person and you explain to him, you clarify

to him what he said,

and then he takes it back.

But today we have people, they take this.

They put it all over the internet.

It gets translated into French, into Somali,

into Indonesian,

into every single language in order to expose

this person.

So it's upon us to contemplate upon these

matters

and to be very, very careful about it.

The other

day, someone came up to me and he

said to me, There's a Masjid over there

who has leaflets in there, they have shirk.

Shirky leafless in there.

I know the Masjid, this is just a

personal experience.

This man he is swearing,

he's spreading, he's accusing, he's saying all sorts

of matters.

Having bad thoughts,

I said to Makhi, maybe someone on a

Jummah came and he left there. Let's phone

them and let's explain to them. You stop

sinning.

We go into the Masjid, we will enter

to pray the Maghrib,

the leafless of one. The whole point is

not to expose this individual,

rather to

assess the matter and think to yourself,

why didn't this person just keep quiet?

Until the issue became clear cut to him.

Rather he sinned and he fell into all

sorts of matters.

When he could have just gone and advised

this individual,

or maybe had better thoughts in regards to

the matter.

So the last thing,

what I'm gonna do?

Because every sickness, there has to be a

medicine.

How do we go about changing this matter?

How do we resolve it?

Because the Shaitan,

the Shaitan is running through Aman.

Like the blood does through a person. Very,

very close to him, always whispering in his

ears.

What does a person do? As they say

in the English language, a person

needs to think before he speaks.

Even the prophet

said,

Whoever believes in Allah in the last day,

either

speak or keep quiet.

If the shaytan comes and whispers in your

ear, it's upon you to do what? Just

to keep quiet.

And you are forgiven.

As the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam said,

Allah forgives

the one that has bad thought,

as long as he doesn't speak or act.

So as long as you prevent yourself from

actually doing the action,

and you just keep it in your head

without speaking, without spreading, without accusing,

you are forgiven.

We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala

to make us have good thoughts for our

Muslim brothers,

and to stay away from the

having bad thoughts for our Muslim brothers,

and save us from the * fire.