Hatem al-Haj – ADB016 Al-Adab Al-Mufrad – Chapter on Mercy consists of a hundred parts
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AI: Transcript ©
Bismillah, alhamdulillah, salawat salamu ala alihi wa sahbihi
wa man wa ala, summa amma ba'a
to proceed.
We continue with Imam al-Bukhari in his
book, Al-Adab al-Mufrad.
And I think we finished chapter 51.
So, we will start from chapter 52, hadith
number 90, no, we'll start from chapter 53.
Babu man la yarhamu la yurhamu, or man
la yarham la yurham, whoever does not show
mercy will not be shown mercy.
Qala al-Imam al-Bukhari rahmahu Allah ta
'ala, hadathina Muhammad Ibn al-'Alaa, qala hadathina Mu
'ayyata Ibn al-Hisham, aan Sayban, aan Firas,
aan Ghati, aan Abi Said, aan al-Nabi
shallallahu alayhi wa sallamu ala qal, man la
yarhamu la yurhamu.
Abu Sayid reported that the Prophet shallallahu alayhi
wa sallam said, whoever does not show mercy
will not be shown mercy.
Whoever does not show mercy will not be
shown mercy.
and this is basically the most, you know,
absolute statement in this regard, and it basically
makes the mercy of Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala, which he said, وَرَحْمَتِي وَسِيَعَتْ كُلُّ شَيْءٍ
and my mercy encompasses all things, it makes
that huge mercy, enormous mercy of Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala contingent upon you having mercy
for his creations.
You having mercy for his creations.
مَنْ لَا يَرْحَمْ لَا يُرْحَمْ قَالَ حَدَّثَنَا مُحَمَّدٍ
بِنِ السَّلَامِ قَالَ أَغْبَرَنَا يَا أَبُو مُعَاوِيَةٍ عَنِ
الْأَعْمَشِ عَنِ زَيْدِ بِنِ وَهْبٍ وَعَنِ أَبِي ظَبْيَانِ
عَنْ جَرِيرِ بْنَ عَبْدِ اللَّهِ قَالَ قَالَ رَسُولُ
اللَّهِ صَلَى اللَّهُ سَلَامًا لَا يَرْحَمُ اللَّهِ مَنْ
لَا يَرْحَمُ النَّاسَ جَرِيرِ بْنَ عَبْدِ اللَّهِ said
the messenger of Allah ﷺ said Allah will
not show mercy to the one who does
not show mercy to people to the one
who does not show mercy to people and
keep in mind that here you know in
the hadith the mercy is not limited to
the believers the mercy is general general beyond
basically humanity so مَنْ لَا يَرْحَمُ لَا يَرْحَمُ
he who does not show mercy will not
be shown mercy so if you don't show
mercy to a cat you could be in
the * fire as the Prophet ﷺ indicated
you know about the woman who locked up
the cat and did not feed her so
if you're not showing mercy to the cat
you will be you will be doomed to
the * fire this is the concept of
mercy in Islam and the most the widest
basically hadith مَنْ لَا يَرْحَمُ لَا يَرْحَمُ it's
the most brilliant expression shortest جَعَامِعَ الْكَالِمِ in
truth he who will not show mercy will
not be shown mercy and it doesn't talk
about mercy to you know believers, disbelievers humans,
non-humans it's a general statement, an unqualified
statement then Imam Bukhari said وَعَنْ عَبْدَةَ عَنْ
ابْنِهِ أَبِي خَالِد عَنْ قَيْسٍ عَنْ جَرِيرِ بْنَ
عَبْدَ اللَّهِ قَالَ قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ ﷺ مَنْ
لَا يَرْحَمُ النَّاسِ لَا يَرْحَمُهُ اللَّهُ just another
phrasing مَنْ لَا يَرْحَمُ النَّاسِ مَنْ لَا يَرْحَمُ
النَّاسِ لَا يَرْحَمُهُ اللَّهُ another phrasing to emphasize
it جَرِيرِ بْنَ عَبْدَ اللَّهِ reported that the
Messenger of Allah ﷺ said whoever does not
show mercy to people Allah will not show
mercy to him or her قَالَ الْإِمَانُ بُخَيْرِ
رَحْمَهُ اللَّهُ وَعَنْ عَبْدَةَ عَنْ هِشَمْ عَنْ أَبِيهِ
عَنْ عَائِشٍ رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهَا قَالَتْ أَتَى النَّبِيَّ
صلى الله عليه وسلم نَاسٌ مِنْ الْأَعْرَابِ فَقَالَ
لَهُ رَجُلٌ مِنْهُمْ يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ أَتُقَبِّرُونَ الصِّبْيَانَ
فَوَاللَّهِ مَا نُقَبِّرُهُمْ فَقَالَ رَسُولُ اللهِ صلى الله
وسلم أَوَأَمْلِكُ إِنْ كَانَ اللَّهُ نَازَعَ مِنْ قَلْبِكَ
الرَّحْمَةِ وَأَمْلِكُ إِنْ كَانَ اللَّهُ عَزَّ وَجَلَّ نَزَعَ
مِنْ قَلْبِكَ الرَّحْمَةِ Hadith number 97, Aisha said,
some Bedouins came to the Prophet ﷺ, one
of them asked, O Messenger of Allah, do
you kiss your children?
By Allah, we do not kiss them.
The Prophet ﷺ replied, what can I do
if Allah has removed mercy from your hearts?
Which tells you that mercy is not only
an abstract quality, but it shows on your
day-to-day behavior.
It's not only abstract quality somewhere in the
heart, but it is translated all the time.
And even simple acts like kissing one's children
as an expression of that mercy is indicative
of the presence or absence of mercy in
the hearts.
Then Imam Bukhari said, حَدَّثَنَا أَبُو النَّعْمَانِ قَالَ
حَدَّثَنَا حَمَّادَ بْنِ زَيْدَ عَنْ عَاسِمَ عَنْ أَبِي
عُثْمَانِ عَنَّ عُمَرَ رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُ اِسْتَعْمَلَ رَجُلًا
فَقَالَ الْعَامِلِ إِنَّ لِي كَذَى وَكَذَى مِنَ الْوَلَدِ
مَا قَبَّلْتُ وَاحِدًا مِنْهُمْ فَزَعْمَ عُمَرُ أَوْ قَالَ
عُمَرُ إِنَّ اللَّهَ عَزَّ وَجَلَّ لَا يَرْحَمُ مِنْ
عِبَادِهِ إِلَّا أَبَرَّهُمْ This is hadith number 99.
Abu Uthman reported that Umar once appointed a
man as a governor.
And the man said, I have so and
so number of children and I have never
kissed any of them.
Umar responded by saying Allah Almighty will only
show mercy to the kindest of his servants.
So this is a beautiful chapter.
Chapter 53 is about mercy and about the
fact that Allah would not show mercy to
those who show no mercy.
And the centrality of mercy, the centrality of
mercy in the Islamic value system cannot be
like overemphasized.
You're seeing how Allah Almighty making his mercy
contingent upon how we show mercy to others.
You've seen how in general the expressions are
and unqualified.
The expressions are to include mercy to all
things, to all beings, is being merciful to
all beings.
As the Prophet ﷺ said, There is charity
in every good, in every act of kindness
towards a living creature.
Now someone may say, didn't Allah Almighty say,
أَشْدَعُوا عَلَى الْكُفَّارِ وَحَمَعُوا بَيْنَهُمْ Didn't Allah Almighty
say, لا تَجِذُوا قَوْمًا يُؤْمِنُونَ بِاللَّهِ وَلْيَوْمِ الْأَقْرِي
وَأَدُّونَ مَنْ حَضَّ اللَّهُ وَالرَّسُولَةَ وَلَوْ كَنُوا أَبَاعَهُمْ
وَأَبْنَاعَهُمْ وَأِخْوَانَهُمْ So didn't Allah say that the
Prophet ﷺ and those who believed with him
are stern with the disbelievers, أَشْدَعُوا عَلَى الْكُفَّارِ
stern with the disbelievers وَحَمَعُوا بَيْنَهُمْ merciful toward
one another doesn't that restrict mercy to the
believers didn't Allah say لا تَجِذُوا قَوْمًا يُؤْمِنُونَ
بِاللَّهِ وَلْيَوْمِ الْأَقْرِي وَأَدُّونَ مَنْ حَضَّ اللَّهُ وَالرَّسُولَةَ
وَلَوْ كَنُوا أَبَاعَهُمْ وَأَبْنَاعَهُمْ وَأَخْوَانَهُمْ وَأَشِيرَتَهُمْ Did
Allah say that you will not find the
people who believe in Allah in the hereafter
show affection to those who حَضَّ اللَّهُ وَالرَّسُولَةَ
who oppose Allah and His Messenger even if
they are their fathers or sons or brothers
or kinfolks doesn't that limit mercy in this
case?
It is transient.
It's transient limitation of mercy.
It's suspended if someone is حَضَّ also is
not being done justice by English the word
حَضَّ is not being done justice by English
because حَضَّ does not simply mean oppose although
oppose would be the translation for حَضَّ because
it comes from opposition or taking the opposite
side and this is close to حَضَّ حَضَّ
comes from the word حَضَّ what is حَضَّ?
Boundary, border, you know a boundary, a border
is a حَضَّ an edge is a حَضَّ
so حَضَّ means what?
to take the opposite edge from Allah and
His Messenger or to be across the border
from Allah and His Messenger it entails more
than simple opposition it entails, it basically in
Arabic it would infer aggressive defiance and opposition
aggressive defiance and opposition so whenever they translate
it as opposed I guess this is the
best that they can come up with but
it's still not sufficient to indicate what the
word means of course someone who is مُحَضَّ
لله ورسوله in Badr, take Badr as an
example they killed their fathers and sons or
attempted to kill their sons so they were
willing to kill their fathers and their sons
in Badr these are مُحَضَّ لله ورسوله these
are clearly in great and aggressive defiance to
Allah and His Messenger these are the people
who kicked them out these are the people
who took over their homes and these are
the people who tortured them and massacred some
of them in Mecca so those are مُحَضَّ
لله ورسوله of course does this apply to
any disbeliever?
no I don't think it applies to any
disbeliever I don't think that مُحَضَّ لله ورسوله
would apply to any disbeliever and I think
that the governing ayah here is لَيَنْهَاكُمْ اللَّهُ
عَنِ الَّذِينَ لَمْ يُقَاتِلُكُمْ فِي الدِّينِ وَلَمْ يُرْقِجُكُمْ
مِنْ دِيَارِكُمْ disqualifies this and qualifies whatever came
about Ibrahim and his people Allah does not
forbid you to be just and kind to
those who did not fight against you to
basically sway you away from your religion or
to drive you out of your homes so
those who did not fight against you because
of your religion Allah does not forbid you
from being just and kind not just only
just but also showing better to them which
is kindness more than justice so that is
the qualifier that is the qualifier of any
report in this regard going back to Badr
these sahaba did not show affection to the
people who violently opposed Allah and his messenger
but once وَضَعَتَ الْحَرْبَ أَوْزَارَهَا once the war
has ended did they have captives?
they had captives what did they do to
the captives?
the prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم would give
two or three of them to each one
of the sahaba to take home with them
to take home with them as captives they
are tied so they are in shackles or
they are tied so they are captives to
take home with them and he used to
say أحسنوا إليهم you know treat them kindly
treat them kindly then it was reported that
they used to favor them over themselves when
the time for food comes if they didn't
have enough food they would basically prioritize the
asrah over themselves these are the sahaba who
were just you know shortly before fighting them
and striking at their necks but now that
they have captured them as captives as prisoners
of war you see how prisoners of war
are kept in concentration camps that is why
when you talk about war like if you
don't have complete conceptualization of what war used
to be like what the sahaba did how
they behaved what happened in the aftermath of
the war you can't really compare war to
war it's just like apples and oranges so
the prisoners of war they took them to
their homes and they would feed them before
they feed themselves until they were released so
that is why Allah SWT commended the sahaba
in the Quran when he said وَيَطْعِمُونَ الطَّعَامَ
عَلَى حُبِّهِ مِسْكِينًا وَيَتِيمًا وَأَسِيرًا وَيَطْعِمُونَ الطَّعَامَ they
give food despite their need for it عَلَى
حُبِّهِ despite their desire or love for it
meaning here despite their need for the food
عَلَى حُبِّهِ مِسْكِينًا وَيَتِيمًا وَأَسِيرًا مِسْكِين an orphan
and captives وَكَانَ أَسْرَاهُمْ يَوْمَئِذٍ مِنَ الْمُشْرِكِينَ and
their Asra even if it is not directly
related to Badr but the Asra that they
had during those times were Mushrikeen there was
no Muslim Asra certainly there are different interpretations
but that is the dominant interpretation you could
say that this would apply to prisoners in
general it would apply but it primarily applies
to the Asra of the disbelievers and it
likely refers to how the Sahaba used to
favor and prioritize the captives over themselves in
food so now is that not mercy?
these are the very people that you were
fighting against yesterday you were fighting against this
morning now you have captured them and now
you are favoring them over yourself in food
the very same people they haven't converted, they
are still the same people so it shows
you that there is an undertone of mercy
that you will need to suspend sometimes suspend
not basically the mercy in your heart but
suspend the expression of that mercy in your
heart because if you are at war you
just can't basically exhibit that mercy during the
battle in conflict so it has been suspended
but quickly after the war ends it's resumed
you are showing mercy to them when Allah
SWT so forget about the disbelievers and keep
in mind all of these hadiths talk about
mercy to all people that they are unqualified
the Prophet SAW said may
he be doomed and may he be a
loser the person in whose heart Allah did
not place mercy for humanity mercy for humanity
but you may also say you know that
you may also say
that is the prescribed fixed punishments in Islam
a sign on this mercy being restricted so
didn't Allah say and let not pity overtake
you concerning their punishment stop you from punishing
them the fornicator and the fornicatress who lash
them 100 lashes and let not mercy overtake
you or pity overtake you concerning their punishment
or concerning what Allah had prescribed is mercy
being suspended here it's still in your heart
but let not that mercy you have to
keep it you're keeping it but let it
not prevent you from applying the punishment of
Allah SWT but as you punish you're keeping
it when the Prophet SAW it's reported by
Abu Dawood that when a man was brought
to the Prophet SAW to punish him or
drinking wine and they kept on beating him
he said beat him so they kept on
beating him they beat him with their hands
their clothes their sandals whatever it is that
they had at the time because it was
not like necessarily lashes so then one of
the people said akhzak Allah as they were
beating him one said akhzak Allah may Allah
disgrace you that is when the Prophet SAW
intervened and said what la taqul hadha don't
say that don't give assistance to the shaitan
against your brother say instead oh Allah forgive
him oh Allah grant him mercy so you
have it is it still there or not
you know the expression the demonstration of that
mercy is being suspended with regard to establishing
the haddah of Allah the mercy is being
suspended when it comes to you know the
conflict, the battlefield but then right after you
have this mercy Abu Darda when they conquered
Cyprus and Abu Darda may Allah be pleased
with him saw the people who were captured
in Cyprus that they were being separated and
they were crying as they were being separated
so he sat down alone and cried and
someone came to him and said why are
you crying on a day when Allah SWT
had just given victory to his believers and
then Abu Darda said to him why
so he said to them warn to you
how insignificant people are in the sight of
Allah if they disobey him this used to
be a nation like a strong and powerful
nation with sovereignty and when they abandoned to
the or they abandoned to the they ended
up in the state that you observe so
you do have mercy like that is never
terminated it is suspended basically or the expression
of it may be suspended at certain times
but it is still there it is still
present at all times so that is mercy
to Al-Kuffar, mercy to Al-Usa that
we have it will certainly not prevent us
from and it should not because then it
would be misplaced mercy is always good but
you can't misplace it because when you show
mercy to the Al-Kuffar you allow them
to in the battlefield if you stop fighting
in the battlefield and you show basically mercy
you allow them to dominate and to cause
corruption and mischief and that is not showing
mercy to the rest of Ibadillah that is
not showing larger mercy and if you have
principled utilitarianism it is the greater good for
the greater number and the greater good for
the greater number is an indication of mercy
like you want to be as merciful as
you can to as many people as possible
you want mercy to be shared among as
many people as possible and if someone who
steals like someone who works hard for the
entire month and then someone comes at the
end of the month and steals their earnings
they need their livelihood and you show mercy
to the thief you are not showing mercy
to the victim and you are not showing
mercy to many victims to many potential victims
that will be victimized because of the laxity
of your punishment or because they are not
deterred by your punishment so here this is
you know the hadood are in and of
themselves an expression of mercy so you want
to basically have mercy for the larger number
you know the greater you know good for
the greater number principled utilitarianism god give sort
of divinely guided principled utilitarianism is the proper
name for the islamic value system islamic ethics
divinely guided principled utilitarianism is the proper name
for islamic ethics and it is rooted in
mercy you wanted this mercy for as many
people as you could share share it with
next is chapter number 54 it's an important
chapter it's a beautiful chapter and it has
glad tidings reading glad tidings so allah subhana
wa ta'ala the chapter is mercy consists
of 100 parts reading reading
reading reading reading
reading
reading it's a milestone 100 hadith we finished
so abu huraira reported that the messenger of
allah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said allah almighty
has divided mercy into 100 parts he kept
99 parts for himself and sent one part
down to earth it is because of this
one part that creatures show mercy to one
another to the extent that a mare will
lift its hoof away from its fold so
that it does not trample on it.
So basically it's talking about and when we
say 99 and 1 what do you get
out of this you know the number so
is the mercy of Allah 99 times bigger
than the mercy of all the creations?
No this you know numbers have been used
in the Quran and the Sunnah that is
that difficulty with people who like are like
not flexible so there are different language games
you know Wittgenstein's language games different language games
like if you are sitting in a math
class and you use numbers you have to
use numbers precisely but when you say that
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala shared with us
one and kept one you know the rest
of the 100 for himself this is basically
to impart this is basically to convey a
point to make a point make a point
not necessarily that mathematically Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala has 99 times more mercy than us
Allah has infinitely more mercy than us Allah
is infinite in his qualities and his qualities
cannot be basically compared to us quantitatively quantitatively
the qualities of Allah cannot be compared to
ours quantitatively so we can't say you know
uh that this quality of God or that
quality of God is you know how many
times bigger than ours so this is basically
to convey like to underscore a point that
all of this mercy that all of this
mercy that the creations have including the animals
and how the animals show mercy to their
own offspring all of this is nothing compared
to the mercy of God subhanahu wa ta
'ala that is why Hamad ibn Salama said
if I were to choose between Allah and
my parents to audit my records on the
day of judgment I would choose Allah I
would choose Allah because he would be more
merciful to me because he would be he
would be more merciful to me just think
about it this is the understanding of Hamad
ibn Salama this is the understanding of a
great scholar from the righteous predecessors would you
have said the same thing like would like
if you sit down with yourself would you
have said the same thing would you have
thought the same way as Hamad ibn Salama
and if you wouldn't then it means that
you know your perception your conception of God
is uh impaired uh if someone asks you
would you choose your mother to audit your
records on the day of judgment or Allah
your mother or Allah what would you say
you should certainly say Allah and
if you if you don't say Allah then
it's it's uh then you you do need
basically to rehabilitate your relationship with him and
your your connection with with him subhanahu wa
ta'ala then Imam Bukhari talks about Kitab
al-Jar we're done with you know and
as we said Imam Bukhari did not have
kutub he had only abwab uh but the
the kutub are not from him just for
for the you know a better classification categorization
for us uh so the book on neighbors
or Kitab al-Jar uh he said chapter
the recommendation to be kind to uh neighbors
he said sallallahu
alayhi wa sallam hadith number 101 Aisha reported
that the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said
Jibreel may Allah bless him and grant him
peace continue to urge me to treat neighbors
kindly until I thought he would make them
heirs or he would give them part of
the inheritance he will give them part of
the inheritance so from here we will be
talking about al-jar and we will talk
be talking about kindness uh to al-jar
or the neighbor and uh what what is
al-jar what is al-jar al-jar
is your neighbor and the closer gar jar
has more rights on you than the farther
away jar in surat al-nisa it says
al-jar al-nisa so worship allah and
do not ascribe partners to him and be
kind to the parents and be kind to
your relatives al
-jar al-junub the
wayfarer is but these are related to how
do you translate that the jar was also
a relative the jar was related to you
al-jar al-junub the jar who's not
related to you just the jar not related
to you and it was although it is
not a hadith it's not an authentic hadith
it's not a hadith but uh there are
the so
your neighbor who is related to you who
is muslim and related to you has three
rights over you and your neighbor who is
not related to you but muslim has two
rights your neighbor who's not muslim and not
related to you has one right if he's
related he will have two okay so uh
is the jar that is related to you
is the jar that's stranger or not related
to you is there another explanation interpretation in
the other interpretation although the first one is
the dominant one but the other interpretation is
that is the jar that is closer to
you the jar is the jar that's farther
away from you so next door or two
doors that is the jar al-qurba seven
doors away that is al-jar al-junub
that's farther away from you junub comes from
the side or you know like uh so
uh so you may say it means farther
away or it means unrelated can be both
what is the sahib al-janb the companion
by your side companion by your side means
what next to you on you know like
yeah no no no we're talking yes you
know sitting next to you on the bus
uh a flight you know to los angeles
five hours of so he's your jar for
five hours allah subhanahu wa ta'ala you
know made it a point to include in
kindness to that person that is sitting next
to you just for a short while uh
so he has a particular recommendation here in
the quran which tells you what it's an
important concept like you have to you know
really like success in life if you want
prosperity and success of life uh it is
very easy and it it you will not
be frazzled and you will not be anxious
if this is your goal uh because like
i said uh you may have a good
career you may not have a good career
you may get married you may not get
married your marriage may fail or may succeed
you may have good children you may not
you know if you have good children they
may live or you know god forbid uh
and and so so it's just like the
variables are too many the unpredictable is too
many too many things and you will always
be anxious and frazzled if you don't set
yourself a goal in life that is uh
independent of all of this so you know
if you set yourself a goal in life
to fulfill your obligations towards your creator and
his creations and as you basically realize your
potential and goodness and purge your heart of
vices is that achievable in all circumstances achievable
in all circumstances achievable in all circumstances right
it's it's not dependent it's not dependent on
any circumstances like if you are free or
captive if you are um if your marriage
works out or not if your career works
out or not to fulfill your obligation towards
your creator and his creations and realize your
potential and virtue and purge your heart of
vices achievable in all circumstances and if this
is your ultimate goal and you're working consistently
consistently towards it then you're unstoppable you're really
unstoppable nothing can stop you from reaching your
goal and then you come to the end
of your life and just celebrate the life
of goodness and not a life of mediocrity
mediocrity is bad mediocrity is bad you should
take what we have given you a strength
mediocrity is bad don't be content with mediocrity
in any regard in any respect mediocrity in
your career mediocrity in your religious mediocrity in
your relationships just don't can be content with
mediocrity try to reach your potential realize the
potential the potential in every relationship the potential
in every virtue uh that that you can
attain so this is it uh so like
if you see that you are here and
there are different circles you know you are
this and there are different circles different circles
that surround you so this circle is you
know your family your immediate family this is
the circle for your neighbors this is the
circle for your co-workers this is the
circle for your uh basically um compatriots this
is the circle for your uh faith community
and so on these are different circles that
surround you and you are in the middle
of all those circles and your obligation here
is to do your best towards those that
come into the circle anyone that comes into
your space will leave that space you know
satisfied uh honored uh you know have has
been treated kindly has been treated fairly anyone
that comes in any space around you where
you know all the spaces all the circles
you know a circle of neighbors circle of
relatives every circle certainly your spouse would be
at the heart of you know that circle
immediate family uh so anyone that comes into
your space will be treated kindly and uh
justly so that's what it is saying now
that not that companion for four hours on
your uh basically way to texas he's sat
next to you for four hours he came
into your space for four hours you would
want to have done the best by him
or her it doesn't mean like you know
improper mixing but that means like doing your
best and being kind and the kindest thing
is basically to encourage them somehow to ask
you about the dean and then to talk
to them about your dean because you know
to give them some exposure to islam would
be the kindest favor uh you could basically
bestow on them so at all of these
circles uh and when it comes to the
jar in particular since we're talking about the
jar here the they used to say or
the companion before the the journey or yeah
you choose the companion before the journey well
and choose the neighbor before the house you
know so sold
his this is reported in this were in
several books um
okay i'm blanking out on the book but
abu jahm al-alawi was one of the
tabi'in and saeed ibn al-aas was
his neighbor and saeed ibn al-aas is
something like this um so not like a
sahabi and not like a sahabi that had
the real companionship with the prophet but he's
either someone who saw the prophet or had
like a brief sohbah as a child but
saeed ibn al-aas uh was abu jahm
al-alawi's neighbor and so abu jahm al
-alawi needed to sell his house so he
sold his house for 100,000 dirhams and
then when they were finalizing the contract and
they gave him the money he said he
then rejected the money this is the money
that he had asked for then he pushed
the money back and and said if you
give me a hundred thousand dollars for that
for the house uh what am i what
are you giving me for uh the neighborliness
of saeed ibn al-aas what are you
giving me for you know saeed ibn al
-aas being your neighbor they said to him
we didn't think that al-jiwar has a
value that basically being a neighbor of someone
um has a monetary value so they
refused to say to sell the house and
he said how could i leave uh you
know the the jiwar saeed ibn al-aas
someone who uh if if i if i
am absent he asks about me if i
am present he is kind to me if
i am in need he supports me if
i don't ask he asks uh if if
i need anything uh to support me and
if i leave my house he looks after
it and and then he just kept on
talking about what you know saeed ibn al
-aas and saeed ibn al-aas was a
great figure a great person um so he
kept on talking about him and uh until
saeed ibn al-aas heard of the whole
story heard that he got basically a buyer
and the buyer offered him the money that
he asked for and he refused to complete
the transaction because he feared that he will
not be able to find the neighbor like
his neighbor so saeed ibn al-aas sent
sent him the 100,000 dirhams as a
gift uh just to keep the house and
to get the money that he needed so
it shows you what kind of a neighbor
he was uh so anyway you know this
uh this concept of good neighborliness is also
a central concept in islam because islam is
about fulfilling your obligations to allah to the
creator and his creation then under the same
chapter foreign hadith
102 abu shurayh al-khuza'i reported that
the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said whoever
believes in allah and the last day should
be good to their neighbor whoever believes in
allah and the last day should honor their
guest whoever believes in allah and the last
day should speak good or remain silent and
this is a very popular hadith most of
you must have come across this hadith before
and the point in the hadith is whoever
believes in allah and the last day should
be good to their neighbor then imam al
-bukhari said chapter number 56 the neighbor is
right foreign
abu shurayh al-khuza'i reported that the
prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said whoever believes
in allah and the last day should be
good to their neighbor whoever believes in allah
and the last day should speak good or
remain silent or remain silent and the last
day should be good to their neighbor foreign
Hadith number 103, al-Maqdad ibn al-Aswad
r.a reported that the Messenger of Allah
s.a.w. asked his companions about fornication,
and they replied, It is unlawful.
Allah and his Messenger have made it unlawful.
He then said, It's less severe of a
crime for a man to fornicate with ten
women than to fornicate with his neighbor's wife.
Then he asked them about theft, and they
said, It's unlawful.
Allah and his Messenger have made it unlawful.
He then said, It is less severe for
a man to steal from ten houses than
to steal from his neighbor's house.
So that social dependencies, you know, versus individualism,
versus crude individualism, and keep in mind, synthesis
is always good.
We're not all against individualism.
There has to be a degree of individualism,
and you have to respect that individualism to
a certain degree.
But Islam teaches us also that there are
dependencies.
We come from a certain family.
We live in a certain neighborhood, and we're
part of that neighborhood.
We're part of that family.
We're part of that society that we, you
know, like you're part of so many things,
and you should recognize yourself as part of
these things, you know.
So you are an individual.
You are an accountable, independent individual, but you're
also part of your family.
You're also part of your neighborhood, and proximity
matters.
Proximity matters, and in addition to the obligation
of kindness to all people, there is also
the concept of trust and betrayal.
A neighbor trusts their neighbor.
If the neighbor cannot trust their neighbor, you
know, so the Prophet ﷺ talked about zina
and sariqa, talked about fornication and theft.
A neighbor should feel safe, you know, with
regard to his irb, his honor, and with
regard to his property.
Should feel safe with regard to his honor
and with regard to his property.
If you violate that trust, if you betray
that trust, the impact of that betrayal is
humongous, huge.
So that is why the Prophet ﷺ said,
to fornicate with ten women would be easier
than to— which were great crimes, but would
be easier than to do this with the
wife of your neighbor, because it is a
betrayal of trust, and it basically befalls the
whole society into corruption, great, great corruption.
And it emphasizes this other point.
If that is who you are, and here
are the circles around you, this part of
the circle is not like this part of
the circle, is not like this part of
the circle, you know.
The closer that circle is, the more the
proximity brings about more rights, creates more rights,
more responsibility, proximity.
That is why your brother has more rights
than your cousin, you know, and your sister
has more rights than your cousin.
So the closer they are, the more proximity,
the more rights.
The same applies to neighbors.
The same applies to the neighbor.
You should be kinder to your first-door
neighbor than you are.
You should be kind to your first and
second-door neighbor, third-door neighbor, but you
should be kinder to your first-door neighbor.
So proximity makes, you know, more rights and
creates more obligations on you that you should
be observant of.
And if you don't observe this, then you
may want to ask whether you are sincere
or not.
Like if you're nice to your coworkers and
not nice to your husband or wife, then
you want to figure out if that niceness
is basically opportunistic or sort of
not genuine or not for a good cause,
not for Allah, you know, not for the
sake of Allah.
You're not being kind for the sake of
Allah, but for the sake of particular interests
or motives that are suboptimal or inferior.
So proximity is of extreme importance, and the
Prophet ﷺ drives this home here by making,
you know, stealing from your neighbor worse than
stealing from ten others, fornicating with your neighbor's
wife worse than doing this with ten others.
Then the next two are, you know, this
is quick, and it basically underscores the importance
of this right, the right of the neighbor.
Chapter begin with the nearest neighbor.
Hadith 104, Ibn Umar reported that the Messenger
of Allah ﷺ said, Gabriel kept advising me
to treat my neighbors well until I thought
that he would order me to make them
heirs or to give them part of the
inheritance.
Gabriel kept advising me to treat my neighbors
well until I thought that he would order
me to make them heirs or to give
them part of the inheritance.
So Hadith 105, Mujahid reported that Abdullah ibn
Amr asked his servant, did you give some
of the meat, they slaughter the sheep, so
he kept on asking his servant, did you
give some of the meat to our Jewish
neighbor?
I heard that the Messenger of Allah, and
he would repeat it, he repeated it.
So apparently the servant was like a procrastinator
or something, so he kept on repeating it,
have you given some of the meat to
our Jewish neighbor?
Then he said, I heard the Messenger of
Allah ﷺ say, Gabriel kept advising me to
treat my neighbors well until I thought that
he would order me to make them heirs
or he would give them part of the
inheritance.
And here, this is also authentic Hadith, and
it basically confirms the concept that neighborliness is
extended to all people.
Neighborliness is extended to all people.
They have one right if they are neighbors,
they have two rights if they are related,
they have three rights if they are Muslim.
One, two, or three rights.
But if they are neighbors who are not
related and not Muslim, they have the right
of neighborliness.
And of course, you know, that brotherhood in
humanity, or brotherhood in humanity in general.
But in terms of specific rights that are
earned by specific relationships, they have that right
of neighborliness.
That would bring us to the end of
this session, inshallah.