Ali Albarghouthi – The Dangers of Zina
AI: Summary ©
The negative impact of actions that commit false accusations of sexual inappropriate, such as reckless behavior or not wanting to admit to sexual acts, is discussed in various popular misunderstandings and accusations of violence. The sh spirit of Islam is emphasized, along with protecting relationships and avoiding sin, as well as the importance of protecting one's body and avoiding touching someone illegally. It is also emphasized that individuals should not let anyone's actions lead to harm and avoid sexual interactions.
AI: Summary ©
Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar,
Allahu Akbar, I bear
witness that there is no god but Allah,
I bear witness that there is no god
but Allah, I bear witness
that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, I
bear witness that Muhammad is the Messenger of
Allah, Come
to Prayer, Come to Prayer, Come
to success, Come to
success,
Allah, Allahu
Akbar, Allahu Akbar, The
kind of world that we live in today
normalizes so many sins that they almost go
unnoticed, uncontested, accepted, sometimes even celebrated.
And one of those destructive sins that seem
to go unnoticed is the sin of zina,
fornication and adultery.
And a Muslim who understands their faith, where
their faith is dear to them, can never
be okay with zina.
Not with its practice, not with its predominance,
not even being close to it.
Because Allah had made iman on one side
and zina on the opposite.
You will see that in the Qur'an
when Allah said, The believers, those who
have iman, are successful.
And then he lists the attributes of the
believers who have that success.
And among them is those who safeguard and
protect their private parts.
Indicating here that success, that prosperity in the
hereafter and in the dunya, that iman is
tied to this act.
So a person compromises that command, a person
is no longer successful, he has no falah,
and is no longer a believer, a mu'min,
even though he is still a Muslim.
He exits from iman, he loses iman, though
he is still a Muslim.
And to that, Rasulallah said, He says, the
fornicator, the adulterer, does not commit this act
while having iman.
Iman and this act are contradictory.
He says, he does not commit it while
having iman.
In another hadith, he said, He
says, when a person commits zina, iman leaves
him and hangs above him like a cloud
or something that gives him shade.
Meaning it leaves him.
So if he repents, if he quits, if
he stops, it goes back.
And another sahabi, so that you understand, he
drew a circle.
And he said, this circle is the circle
of iman.
Then a wider circle around it, he says,
this is the circle of islam.
If a person commits zina or similar acts,
he leaves the inner circle of iman, he
goes to the circle of islam.
He is still a Muslim, but he does
not deserve the name of iman as a
praiseworthy title.
A person who commits this risks the loss
of his iman.
And when you lose something like this, you
never know if it's going to come back
or not.
And it steals from you all the beautiful
things that come with iman.
A person who commits zina, does he or
does she expect that Allah will bless their
life?
Bless their relationship?
Give them the beauty and glow of iman?
Give them serenity and peace in their life?
It is so destructive that Ibn al-Qayyim,
he said, He says, zina is the
destruction of this world and the approaching of
the day of judgment.
It's a sign.
Why does he say this?
He said this because Rasulullah said that, He
says, if illicit sexual * is public among
the people, then plagues and diseases that are
unprecedented will spread amongst them.
That's Allah's punishment.
That is if you practice this, Allah will
send a plague, will send a disease that
people did not experience before.
But you will experience as punishment.
And Rasulullah also said, Imam also said, He
says, if a people practice riba and zina
publicly and it's widespread, they are inviting Allah's
punishment.
And that punishment, if someone wonders, he says,
well how come it didn't happen yet?
Allah's punishment comes sooner or later and it
takes different forms.
It takes the form of economic decline, social
friction, diseases, mental health issues.
It's a host of punishments and Allah is
merciful.
So don't think that the punishment, because it
was delayed, that the punishment does not come.
You may be experiencing collectively the punishment of
zina and not notice it.
It's destructive, it will destroy this world.
Whether we know the reasons or not.
But we believe Rasulullah when he said this
and he promised it.
And he also said about the day of
judgment.
He said that from the signs of the
day of judgment, He says that knowledge will
shrink, meaning Islamic knowledge.
And ignorance will be widespread.
And people will drink alcohol and zina will
be public and widespread.
So the more that this spreads, the more
you understand that this order, the social order
and then the physical order that we have
is dissolving.
And when that happens, the day of judgment
is right around the corner.
So a person wants to spare himself from
punishment.
He stays away from this.
And indeed this is what Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala said in the Qur'an.
He says, وَلَا تَقْرَبُوا الزِّنَا إِنَّهُ كَانَ فَاحِشَةً
وَسَاءَ سَبِيلًا He says, do not come close
to zina.
Indeed it is indecent, shameful, immoral and it's
an evil path.
And if you ponder this ayah, you'll understand
so much about zina.
Allah azza wa jal, when He said, do
not come close to it, He understands the
allure and destructiveness of zina.
When is it that you say to someone,
don't even come close to this.
And when that thing is so dangerous that
even coming close to it is contaminating.
And when that thing is so attractive that
getting close to it will pull you and
suck you in.
So you say, always keep a distance from
you and that, because if you come close,
it will destroy you, contaminate you and you
cannot resist it.
That's true about zina.
Even if you do not commit the actual
act, if you're around, you're contaminated.
And if you're around, you will not be
able to stop yourself.
And Allah tells you what is wrong with
it, وَلَا تَقْرَبُوا الزِّنَا إِنَّهُ كَانَ فَاحِشَةً وَسَاءَ
سَبِيلًا It's immoral, it is indecent.
SubhanAllah, they said that, if you want to
insult someone and you want to truly insult
him, you always associate this person with immoral
sexual acts.
In almost all cultures.
You really want to put him down?
You associate him or his family, indecent sexual
acts.
They say that is because everybody knows in
their own fitrah, in their own culture, that
that is something shameful.
You want to stay away from it.
So a person who still has decency, a
culture that still has decency, will hide this
thing.
If a person even commits it, he never
goes public with it.
Because he knows he could be shamed because
of it.
Could be insulted and put down because of
it.
So he hides it, she hides it.
That's fahisha.
And imagine, when you put a fahisha into
your life, what is it gonna do to
you?
It pollutes you.
It takes away joy from your life.
Why do you get married?
Ask yourself.
So I want to find some sakkan and
sakinah, stability, tranquility, peace.
That's why you get married.
In a companion or with a companion that
will stay with me and take care of
me and I can rely on.
Zina doesn't give you that.
Zina is lack of commitment.
Lack of support.
Lack of fidelity.
A person who can commit this can commit
so many other evil acts.
Because if you commit the higher indecency, the
lower indecency also can be committed.
You can't trust them, you can't rely on
them.
You're always in a state of angst and
anxiety about their commitment and whether they're gonna
stay or not.
You're not gonna find stability and you're not
gonna find serenity.
And what do you think when you make
a choice like this?
They said, Allah will take barakah from your
face.
The glow of iman will depart.
Barakah from your heart.
The comfort of iman will depart.
Barakah from your life.
Barakah from your money.
Barakah from your house.
It all goes away.
And he also said, Subhanahu wa ta'ala,
Wasaa as-sabilah, it's an evil choice and
an evil path.
And some people when confronted with a choice,
they think to themselves, well, I'll choose this.
Because I like so and so.
I'm attracted to them.
I wanna find out if we are compatible.
It's easier to do this.
Marriage is complicated and difficult.
I'm in love.
I cannot get married until I do these
things.
And we ask ourselves, when these thoughts come
to our brain, is your choice better than
Allah's choice?
Do you think that if you choose that
path that Allah will bless you with that
choice?
Or that Allah will bless that love?
Rest assured that if you love someone, one
of the strongest things or most effective things
that you can do to destroy that love
is to disobey Allah with them.
If you love someone and you wanna be
with them, if you wanna spoil that relationship,
commit haram.
Because you bring the shaitan in.
And the shaitan will damage any relationship he
is brought in.
So if you honor that person, if you
respect that person, you will never compromise them
and compromise yourself, steal their iman and damage
your own iman and damage that relationship.
If you want it to blossom, if you
want peace, you go with Allah's choice, not
with your choice.
The sabil of Allah, not your own sabil,
not the whispers of shaitan.
But it's so normal.
And you find Muslims, subhanAllah, even in western
and in eastern lands, talking about my boyfriend,
my girlfriend.
What designation is this?
And if I don't do this, if I
don't go out with them, if I don't
talk to them, if I don't engage in
this, this haram, I'll never get to know
them, I'm never gonna get married.
Becomes normal.
But subhanAllah, Imam Ahmed, rahimahullah, he said, He
said, لا أعلم بعد قتل النفس ذنبًا أعظم
من الزنا.
He said, I do not know of a
greater sin right after killing someone than that
of zina.
If you ask people, almost unanimously, what do
you think about killing someone unjustly?
It's absolutely horrendous, absolutely haram, absolutely wrong.
Everybody agrees.
What do you think about zina?
If it's consensual, it's okay.
Imam Ahmed said, No.
Right after killing someone, if you commit zina,
you've committed the greatest crime.
Regardless of how people think about it.
It's the greatest crime.
And this is taken from what?
Taken from an ayah, and taken from a
hadith.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said, وَالَّذِينَ لَا
يَدْعُونَ مِن دُونِ اللَّهِ إِلَٰهًا آخَرٌ وَلَا يَقْتُلُونَ
النَّفْسَ الَّتِي حَرَّمَ اللَّهُ إِلَّا بِالْحَقِّ وَلَا يَزْنُونَ
وَمَنْ يَفْعَلْ ذَلِكَ يَلْقَى أَثَامَةً يُضَعَفْ لَهُ الْعَذَابُ
يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ وَيَخْلُطْ فِيهِ مُهَانًا See how Allah
azawajal will list these sins.
He said, subhanahu wa ta'ala, and those
who invoke with Allah azawajal, another God, another
rival.
And do not kill a hallowed soul unjustly.
And do not commit zina.
And the one who does this will face
the penalty.
Will have double the punishment on the day
of judgment and will be in it forever.
So the listing is shirk, killing someone and
then zina.
And that is exactly the same order, the
order that the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam had
explained.
When someone came to him and he said,
Ya Rasulullah, tell me about the biggest sins.
The biggest of the biggest sins.
So he said, alayhi salatu wasallam, that you
would take a rival with Allah azawajal He
says, and then what?
He said that you would kill your son
out of fear that he will eat with
you.
Out of fear of poverty.
He says, and then what?
He said that you would sleep with your
neighbor's wife.
Commit zina with your neighbor's wife.
The same order from the Prophet alayhi salatu
wasallam and then he recited this ayah that
I just recited.
So it's not something small.
And the way that we look at it
is the way that Allah azawajal looks at
it.
So if we want to save ourselves from
it, we heed Allah's command and His prohibitions.
May Allah azawajal make us of those people.
I say this, and I ask Allah for
forgiveness for me and for you, so ask
Him for forgiveness.
Alhamdulillah, my Lord of the worlds, I praise
Him a lot, He is good, He is
blessed, I pray to Him and I greet
His Messenger Muhammad and his family and companions.
What's next?
I know that a lot of things are
working against us.
There are some structural, societal elements that promote
zina and discourage marriage, promote the haram and
discourage the halal.
But despite all the obstacles, we are supposed
to resist them if we want Jannah.
And the greater the struggle, the greater that
Allah will reward you.
And the greater your reliance on Allah azawajal
is, the greater that Allah will come to
your aid.
So the first thing we say that if
you want to avoid zina, is dua.
For yourself, and anyone that you're entrusted to
raise and educate.
A person, a young man, came to the
Prophet ﷺ once, and he said, يَا رَسُولَ
اللَّهِ إِذَاً لِي بِالزِّنَةِ He says, O Messenger
of Allah, allow me to practice zina.
So the sahaba were outraged, but the Prophet
ﷺ, he said, leave him.
And he said, come close.
And he came close.
And he says, أَتُحِبُّهُ لِأُمِّكِ He said, would
you love something like that to happen to
your mother?
He says, O Prophet of Allah, never.
Not to my mother.
He says, أَتُحِبُّهُ لِبِنتِكِ Would you like something
like that to happen to your daughter?
He says, never, O Prophet of Allah.
Not to my daughter.
قَالَ أَتُحِبُّهُ لِأُخْتِكِ Would you love something like
that to happen to your sister?
He says, no, Prophet of Allah.
Never to my sister.
And then he continued, to your aunt, maternal
or paternal.
He says, never, not never to my aunt.
So he said, عَلَيْهِ الصَّلَاةُ وَالسَّلَامِ He says,
similarly, people do not love something like that.
Do not approve of something like that to
their mothers, to their daughters, to their sisters,
to their aunts.
Then the Prophet عَلَيْهِ الصَّلَاةُ وَالسَّلَامِ put his
hand on him.
And he said, اللَّهُمَّ اغْفِرْ ذَنْبَهِ وَطَحِّرْ قَلْبَهِ
وَحَصِّنْ فَرْجَهِ فَلَمْ يَكُنْ يَلْتَفِتُ بَعْدَ ذَٰلِكَ إِلَىٰ
شَيْءٍ مِّنْ هَٰذَا So he said, عَلَيْهِ الصَّلَاةُ
وَالسَّلَامِ He made a dua for him, with
his hand on him.
He said, Ya Allah, forgive him his sin.
Purify his heart and protect his private parts.
So they said, this man afterwards never paid
attention to that sin.
Never wanted that sin.
So this is a dua that you could
recite for yourself and for your children.
Ya Allah, forgive them their sin and purify
their heart and safeguard their private parts.
And you keep making that dua.
And it's interesting that the Prophet ﷺ pointed
that man's attention to what?
That you should love for people what you
love for yourself.
So if you're gonna sleep with someone, she
is someone's daughter.
Why would you do that to him and
her?
She is someone's sister.
She is someone's mother.
She is someone's so and so.
And he and they care about her.
If you truly cared about her, you would
never do that to her.
If you really cared about him, you would
never do that to them.
You would never steal their iman.
So you want to do something.
Think about the common good and not only
your own desire and your own advantage.
Because otherwise Allah Azza wa Jal will take
from you the thing that you love the
most.
As you took from people the thing that
they honor and they love the most.
So dua.
The other thing is to safeguard the entry
points of zina.
He said, عَلَيْهِ الصَّلَاةُ وَالسَّلَامُ أَلْعَيْنَانِ تَزْنِيَانِ وَزِنَاهُمَ
النَّظَرُ He says, the eyes commit zina.
And their zina is an illicit look.
And the ears committing zina.
And their zina is the illicit speech.
And the tongue commits zina.
And its zina is illicitly speaking about what
Allah hates.
And the hands, they commit zina.
وَزِنَاهَا الْبَطْشِ When they touch something unlawfully.
And the feet, legs, they commit zina.
And their zina is الخطى, walking towards what
Allah hates.
وَالْقَلْبُ يَحْوَى وَيَتَمَنَّى And the heart wishes and
longs.
وَالْفَرْجُ يُصَدِّقُ ذَٰلِكَ وَيُكَذِّبُهُ And the private parts
confirm or deny that.
Accept it or reject it.
This is a really important and beautiful hadith
from Rasulullah a.s. When we think about
zina, think about the ultimate act.
He's saying a.s. Before you actually reach
the final point, there are other acts of
zina that preceded, that lead to it.
And it begins with the eyes.
So when you're looking at haram, that's the
zina of the eyes.
So you don't wanna commit the ultimate zina,
protect your eyes from zina.
And I know that this is challenging especially
with the internet and with social media.
But we have no option.
We cannot surrender and say, well, what can
I do?
You could limit your exposure.
You could limit yourself to the righteous.
You could exclude those who disobey Allah a
.s. You could be around those who fear
Allah so that you also will imbibe the
fear of Allah a.s. But the eyes,
whenever you see yourself looking at the haram,
you restrain it.
You look the other way.
And Allah a.s. commanded that in the
Qur'an.
قُل لِلْمُؤْمِنِينَ يَغْضُوا مِنْ أَبْصَارِهِمْ وَيَحْفَظُوا فُرُوجَهُمْ Say
to the believers, lower your gaze and protect
your private parts.
And to women, He said, subhanahu wa ta
'ala, He said also, يَغْضُونَ مِنْ أَبْصَارِهِمْ They
would lower their gaze and protect their private
parts.
وَلَا يُبْدِينَ زِينَتَهُمْ And do not show your
adornment.
Because that's the thing that attracts attention.
So the eyes, protect the eyes from zina.
Protect the ears from zina.
So listening to the haram that inflames the
desire, including music, and most of the lyrics
today, and Allah knows best, they motivate, they
invite to zina.
So you have to exclude and protect yourself
from that.
Otherwise, it's going to affect you.
And then, talking obscene language, that is an
invitation to zina as well.
And He also said, عَلَيْهِ الصَّلَاةُ وَالسَّلَامُ As
we said in the hadith, if you touch
someone illegally, if you walk towards haram, that
is also an act of zina, of the
hand and the feet.
And if you protect yourself from those steps,
you'll protect yourself from zina.
And He also pointed, عَلَيْهِ الصَّلَاةُ وَالسَّلَامُ to
an important organ, and probably it's the most
important of them all, the heart.
The heart longs for, thinks about, fantasizes about.
So if a person really is going to
commit zina, what comes before that is a
conversation that he's going to have internally about
wanting to have it, and how he's going
to have it.
If you allow your heart to think, to
fantasize, to want the haram, there's almost nothing
that could stop you from committing that haram.
So you also have to restrain your thoughts.
You have to restrain your conversations that you
have on the inside.
And if you do so, with the help
of Allah Azza wa Jal, Allah will protect
you.
Finally, we say that Allah Azza wa Jal,
and you can say that spread throughout the
shari'ah, had established barriers between you and
the opposite *.
And you are supposed to keep these barriers
up, not to take them down.
So consider, how casually do you interact with
members of the opposite *.
And how that could lower your inhibitions, and
develop feelings, mutual feelings.
So if you want to talk to them,
talk to them with decency, with respect, only
as much as needed, and then stop.
And don't lower those inhibitions by exchanging mundane,
banter, conversations, jokes, just because what?
They're always around.
No.
You keep a barrier, and you keep that
respect for him and for her, if you
don't want to commit zina.
Otherwise, if you start dealing with women, or
dealing with men casually, you are going to
trespass what Allah Azza wa Jal had prohibited.
So there's a reason why there's a hijab.
There's a reason why there's separation.
Why?
Because Allah Azza wa Jal knows that we
are weak.
And Allah knows that the shaytan is there.
وَهُوَ يَجْرِي مِنِ ابْنِ آدَمَ مَجْرُ الدَّمِ Allah,
the shaytan, runs through that child of Adam,
just like blood, or in that channels.
So, we have to resist zina.
And we have to remind ourselves, and our
children to marry.
Stay away from the haram.
This is what Allah loves.
Marry early.
Grow up together.
Rather than delay marriage, and subject yourself to
fitna.
So we ask Allah Rabbul Alameen, arham al
rahimeen, to protect us from the fitna of
zina, and from the sin of zina, and
protect our children.
We ask Ya Rabbul Alameen, that You forgive
us our sins, that You purify our hearts,
and safeguard our private parts.
We ask Ya Rabbul Alameen, to forgive us
all of our sins, the major ones and
the smaller ones, the ones that we still
know about, and the ones that we forgot
about.
We ask Ya Rabbul Alameen, to give us
a sincere repentance, that erases all of our
sins.
Grant us Ya Rabbul Alameen, living hearts that
love You, and love Your Prophet ﷺ, and
rush to Your obedience, and run away from
Your disobedience.
Give us Ya arham al rahimeen hearts, that
love the believers, and love what is good
for them, Ya Rabbul Alameen.
Ya Allah, we ask You, that You send
Your relief, immediate relief, upon the people of
Gaza, and the people of Palestine, and the
people of Asham, and the people of Sudan,
and every other Muslim spot, where Muslims are
suffering, Ya arham al rahimeen.
Ya Rabbul Alameen, come to their aid.
Ya Allah, defend them.
Ya Allah, feed them.
Ya Allah, secure them.
Ya Allah, take fear away from their midst.
Ya Allah, Rabbul Alameen, to respond to the
plot of their enemies, by plotting against them,
Ya arham al rahimeen.
Ya Allah, support the people of Gaza, against
the enemies of Rabbul Alameen.
Ya Allah, support the people of Palestine, against
the enemies of Rabbul Alameen.
Ya Allah, support the people of Asham, against
the enemies of Ya arham al rahimeen.
Ya Aziz, Ya Hakim.
Ya Allah, support the people of Sudan, and
gather their hearts, against what You love and
are pleased with, Ya Rabbul Alameen.
Ya Allah, we ask You, that You gather
the Muslims, upon Your Book, and upon the
Sunnah of Your Prophet, peace and blessings be
upon him, and that You make them a
hand against those other than them.
Ya Allah, grant them glory, and victory, Ya
Rabbul Alameen.
And send Your Wrath, and Your Wrath, upon
their enemy, and Your enemy, Ya arham al
rahimeen.
O Allah, forgive us all our sins, and
return us to You, in a beautiful return,
Ya arham al rahimeen.
And establish the prayer.