Hatem al-Haj – ADB022 Al-Adab Al-Mufrad – Chapter on Mistreatment of Possessions
AI: Summary ©
The transcript discusses the differences between the book of Aisha and the book of Aisha, highlighting the importance of honor and prayer in life and history and the hierarchy of civilization and the importance of being patient. The speaker also touches on the impossible story and how humans are created in their image by the artist, highlighting acceptance of the impossible and balancing user experiences with the reality of the impossible. acceptance of the impossible is a key aspect of the story, and humans are created in their image by the artist.
AI: Summary ©
As-salamu alaykum
wa
rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu.
Al-Imam al-Bukhari said in his book,
Al-Athab al-Mufrad, why was it called
Al-Athab al-Mufrad?
Al-Athab is what?
Etiquette, right?
So we call it the Muslim Code of
Conduct here, but Al-Athab is etiquette, and
Mufrad, singled out, separated, because he has basically
addressed the topic of Al-Athab in his
book, Al-Sahih, but he wrote another book
where he separated Al-Athab by itself.
So this is Al-Athab al-Mufrad versus
the book of Al-Athab in his book,
Al-Sahih, versus the chapters of Al-Athab
in his book, Al-Sahih.
This is basically a collection of hadith on
Al-Athab, but separated from the other hadith.
So that's why it's called Al-Mufrad, singled
out or separated.
The difference between this and his book, it
is called book, Kitab al-Athab, still, in
his other book, Al-Sahih.
The difference between this and that is what?
There's two differences.
One, he doesn't basically require the same level
of authenticity in this book that he required
in his Sahih book.
Two, this is a lot more comprehensive in
terms of Adab or in terms of Adab
etiquettes than the chapters on Adab in his
Sahih.
So he says under the chapter of Baya
al-Khadim min al-Arab, chapter of selling
a servant to the Arabs or to the
Bedouins, the Bedouin Arabs.
Suleiman ibn Harb told us, and Hamad ibn
Zayd told us, and Yahya ibn Sa'id
told us, and Ibn Amra told us, that
Aisha complained to her, meaning
that she got sick.
Aisha asked her brother, a doctor from al
-Zud, and he said, you are telling me
about a bewitched woman who was bewitched by
her aunt.
Aisha was told, you bewitched me?
She said, yes.
She said, and why?
You will never save us.
Then she said, sell her from the evil
of the Arabs.
What for?
Hadith number 162, Aisha declared that her slave,
meaning that declared her slave free after her
death.
So you could basically do Tadbir, meaning that
your slave will become free upon your death.
So that's Tadbir.
So Aisha declared that her slave woman would
be freed upon her death.
Later, Aisha fell ill, so her nephews brought
a physician from al-Zud, either from Africa
or from al-Sindh, currently Pakistan.
So either from Africa or from al-Sindh,
these are al-Zud, and they were known
for their mastery of medicine and sorcery as
well, and things of that nature.
So they combined the two, they combined both.
So this particular physician that they reached out
to, he actually had combined both.
So the nephews of Aisha went to that
physician, and he said, you're telling me about
a woman who has been bewitched.
Her slave has cast magic on her.
So this man is now acting in the
capacity of a physician or in the capacity
of a kahan, fortune teller?
I mean, like a physician.
Okay, so they're describing symptoms to him, and
he's telling them she has been bewitched, and
he's telling them also who bewitched her.
So he's acting in the capacity of a
fortune teller, not a physician.
You know, physicians, in my knowledge, don't know
this much.
So when Aisha was informed, she said to
the slave woman, did you bewitch me?
The slave replied, yes.
Aisha said, why would you do this?
She said, you know, in here, it doesn't
say what she said, but she said that
she wanted to become free, because Aisha said,
upon my death, she'll become free.
So she wanted to hasten Aisha's death.
And that is what we've talked about last
time, right?
Whoever hastens something before its due time will
be deprived of it or be punished by
the deprivation.
So Aisha said, you will never succeed.
You know, that plot will never succeed.
Then she ordered, sell her to the worst
owners among the Arabs.
Sell her to the worst owners among the
Arabs.
You know, sharr al-arab malakatan.
Sharr al-arab malakatan, meaning the worst owners
among the Arabs.
Now, there are a few things to, you
know, address here, but like I said, I
don't want this to become a FIP discussion.
But quickly, because it is important.
Why did Aisha act upon the fortune teller's
information?
She verified.
Thank you.
So, يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ أَمَنُوا أَنْ جَاءَكُمْ فَاسِقٌ
بِنَبَأٍ فَتَبَيَّنُوا O you who believe when a
wicked person brings you news, verify, does not
mean you disregard the news.
If a fasiq, a disobedient, dishonest person brings
news to you or tells you about something,
تَبَيَّنُهُ does not mean dismiss or disregard.
And Imam bin al-Qayyim, in fact, you
know, in his commentary on this particular ayah,
makes this, like, underscores this important point.
We're not, basically, because then you will be
deprived of so much knowledge if every time
someone wicked brings you information and you say
they are wicked, you know, I don't care
what they say.
No, verify, verify.
So, and that applies, that applies in our
times a lot more than because, you know,
when it comes to credibility, when it comes
to credible people that would stand in an
Islamic court, like, as credible witnesses, there's, like,
a very few of those people out there.
So most of the information that you're getting,
you're getting from people that are not considered
credible from an Islamic perspective.
What do you do with this information?
You don't act upon it.
You verify, you verify.
Verification is not acting upon the information.
So it's, she basically verified.
She brought the slave girl and asked her,
did you bewitch me?
And she admitted.
And, you know, of course, she was surprised
that she knew.
So she figured that somehow she must have
figured out.
And she admitted.
And then she said, sell her.
So this is bay' al-khadim min al
-a'rab.
The next chapter about al-afwan al-khadim,
to forgive or to pardon the servant.
The khadim here is the slave, is the
khadim that you can buy and sell, is
not any servant.
Servants, the servants that we have nowadays are
free people, just free people.
So you don't have any power over them.
But the servants that they're talking about here
were the slave servants.
So pardoning a servant.
Al-Imam al-Bukhari, may Allah have mercy
on him.
The next chapter about al-afwan al-khadim.
Hadiths.
Hadiths.
Hadiths.
Hadiths.
Abu Umamah, may Allah have mercy on him,
reported that the Prophet, may Allah have mercy
on him, came with two boys and gave
one of them to Ali, may Allah have
mercy on him, and said, do not hit
him, for I have been forbidden from striking
or hitting those who pray.
And I saw him praying since we have
arrived.
He gave the other boy to Abu Dharr
and he said to him, treat him kindly.
Abu Dharr freed the boy.
The Prophet, may Allah have mercy on him,
later asked what happened with him, the boy.
Abu Dharr said, you commanded me to treat
him kindly, so I freed him.
So here, the Prophet, may Allah have mercy
on him, is given to these two boys,
these two slave boys, to Ali and Abu
Dharr.
And he said to Ali, do not hit
him because he prays.
And those who pray are under the protection
of Allah.
Whoever prays Fajr will be under the protection
of Allah.
I'm not quite sure it's always في جماعة.
I feel that there are some reports where
it's just من صلى الفجر.
But anyway, there are some reports just من
صلى الفجر.
Whoever prays Fajr will be under the protection
of Allah.
So let Allah not pursue you for violating
His protection.
Let Allah not pursue you for violating His
protection.
So you have to be very careful.
That does not mean that you can violate
people that are ma'soom, that don't pray.
No, you can't violate anyone who is ma'soom.
Ma'soom means inviolable.
So people who are not محارب, whether they
are ظمي or معاهد or whatever, they are
called ma'soom, inviolable.
And this inviolability applies to their blood, their
body, their property, their honor.
Three things.
Body, property, honor.
So anyone who is inviolable, you can't violate
their body, their property, their honor.
However, can sins vary in degree?
Yes.
So it is sinful to violate anyone who
is inviolable, but it is more sinful to
violate someone who is prayful.
So if someone, the Prophet صلى الله عليه
وسلم is standing here, don't strike him, don't
hit him because he prays.
And I have been forbidden from hitting those
who pray.
And then he said to Abu Dharr, treat
him well.
And Abu Dharr took it to its ultimate
conclusion.
Treat a slave person well, ultimate conclusion of
this, free him.
So Abu Dharr took it to the ultimate
conclusion and freed him.
Then the next hadith is We talked about
Abu Ma'mar.
We talked about Abd al-Warid.
We talked about Abd al-Aziz.
We talked about Anas.
He said, the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم
came to Madinah and he did not have
a servant.
Abu Talha took it in his hand and
took off with it until he entered me
on the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم.
He said, O Prophet of Allah, Anas is
a boy, a good boy.
Let him serve you.
He said, I served him in travel and
presence.
He came to Madinah to die.
مَا قَالَ لِي لِشَيْءٍ صَنَعْتُ لِمَا صَنَعْتَ هَذَا
هَكَذَا وَلَا قَالَ لِي لِشَيْءٍ لَمْ أَصْنَعْهُ أَلَى
صَنَعْتَ هَذَا هَكَذَا So Anas رضي الله عنه
reported, when the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم
arrived in Madinah, he did not have a
servant.
Abu Talha took me by the hand and
brought me to this Prophet صلى الله عليه
وسلم saying, O Prophet of Allah, Anas is
an intelligent and capable boy.
Let him serve you.
Anas was free, not a slave, but a
servant could be free.
You could have a slave servant, free servant.
Anas was a free servant.
Let him serve you.
Anas said, I served him during his travels
and at home from his arrival in Madinah
until he passed away.
He never said to me about something I
did.
Why did you do it?
Why did you do it this way?
Nor did he ever say about something I
didn't.
Why have you not done it this way?
So the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم was
not someone to sort of blame and rebuke
and his servants, his associates, people around them,
put them down.
But certainly he would correct them.
He would correct them if they make a
mistake.
He would correct people because niceness is not
the only important value in life.
There is truth.
There are many other values.
There is justice.
So there are many other values in addition
to niceness.
Because nowadays it seems that there is sort
of a little bit more focus on being
nice versus being truthful and being upright.
Uprightness is more important than niceness.
Commitment, beautifulness, uprightness, these are values that are
extremely important.
Honestly speaking, we have basically to revisit the
Qur'an and Sunnah and revisit our tradition
to know which values come first and which
values must be prioritized.
Even in our history, Ms. Kawaihi and people
who came after him who wrote on ethics,
they favored Nicomachean ethics, Aristotelian ethics.
And the basis of ethics for them were
the same as in Nicomachean ethics.
If you read whatever it is that they
wrote about akhlaq, it is basically Nicomachean ethics.
So does that mean that there is a
conflict?
There is no conflict per se, but when
it comes to prioritization, there are differences between
Islam and Nicomachean ethics.
So shaja'a and al-iftar for Aristotle,
for instance, were of usul al-akhlaq, but
piety was not.
And so that is why we have to
go back and just recalibrate everything.
And this does not mean that we disregard
or dismiss anything that comes to us from
the other.
No, absolutely not.
But we will have to do this through
our own perspective.
We will have to get this going through
our own filters.
And our highest commitment will be to the
Quran and the sunnah, the way of the
righteous predecessors and everything.
So nowadays we're also being affected by the
dominant ethical framework of our societies, of the
world, of our times, where there is so
much emphasis on being nice versus everything else.
So we will have to go back and
recalibrate and prioritize what needs to be prioritized.
Being nice is extremely important, but being upright
is more important.
So then, babu idha saraq al-abdu, or
babu idha saraq al-abdu in the slave
steels.
This is hadith 165, and it is weak.
However, the meaning of the hadith is accepted.
Although the hadith is weak in terms of
the sunnah, the meaning is accepted.
Musaddad reported that Abu Awana narrated from Umar
ibn Abi Salama, from his father, from Abu
Huraira, who said, the messenger of Allah ﷺ
said, if a slave steals, sell him even
for a nash.
And then a nash is 20 dirhams.
A nash is 20 dirhams.
20 dirhams is a nash.
Half an uqiyah.
An uqiyah is 40 dirhams, and a nash
is 20 dirhams.
That's half a nash.
Nawah is 5 dirhams.
Anyway, but what does this hadith mean?
If the slave steals, sell him.
So what about cutting off the hand?
You can't cut off your slave's hand before
stealing from you.
You cannot cut off your slave's hand because
they stole from you.
Why is this?
Part of the family.
So you can't cut off your wife's hand
if she steals from you.
And the same applies to the husband.
You can't cut off your husband's hand if
they steal from you.
You can't cut off your slave's hand if
they steal from you.
What if they steal from someone else?
They disagree whether you can cut off a
slave's hand stealing from someone else or not.
But the dominant position is, yes, you can.
You can.
They have the same spiritual obligations.
But when they steal from the master, you
can't cut off their hands.
And that's because they are, you know, part
of the family.
So when they are at your home, they
have access to your wealth and stuff like
this.
So then the advice here was, although the
hadith is not weak, but presuming that it
is authentic, and as we said, the meaning
is accepted, the advice there is, sell them.
Because you can't, basically, you will always feel
unsafe, you know.
And you can't really punish them by cutting
off their hand.
So what do you do?
Just sell them.
Now, does that mean, so why did you
give, like, a thief to someone else?
The scholars said, you have to explain.
You have, فَإِن صَدَقَ وَبَيَّنَا بُرِكَ لَهُمَا فِي
بَيْعِهِمَا وَإِن كَذَبَ وَكَتَمَ مُرِحِ مُحِيقَتْ بَرَكَةُ بَيْعِهِمَا
So when two people involved in a sale
say the truth, and, you know, clarify everything
about the sale item and so on, بُرِكَ
لَهُمَا فِي بَيْعِهِمَا then the sale will be
blessed.
And if they lie and conceal, then the
blessing will be taken away from the sale.
So in this case, you tell them, and
some people are able, capable of handling situations
like this.
Some people are capable of handling a situation
like this.
They know, and if they're willing to buy
them, then they buy them.
Next is the servant who sins.
بَابْ الْخَادِمْ يُذْنِبْ قَالَ حَدَّثْنَا أَحْمَدَ بِنَ مُحَمَّدٍ
حَدَّثْنَا دَوُودِ بِنَ عَبْدِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ قَالَ سَمِعَتُ إِسْمَائِيلَ
عَنْ غَاسِمَ بِنَ الْلَّقِيْتِ بِنَ السَّبِرَةِ or Sabra,
the different ways.
بَابْ الْخَادِمْ يُذْنِبْ قَالَ سَمِعَتُ إِسْمَائِيلَ عَنْ غَاسِمَ
بِنَ الْلَّقِيْتِ بِنَ السَّبِرَةِ I went to the
Prophet ﷺ while a shepherd was herding lambs
into the evening pasture or into the evening
dwelling.
The Prophet ﷺ said, Do not think تَحْسِبَنَّا
in the subjunctive form, not the accusative form
لا تَحْسَبَنَّا You could say لا تَحْسِبَنَّا or
لا تَحْسَبَنَّا He's saying, he said لا تَحْسِبَنَّا
not لا تَحْسَبَنَّا Probably the Prophet ﷺ was
making a point to speak in his own
dialect and it may be Laqeet ibn Sabirah's
dialect is to say تَحْسِبَنَّا versus تَحْسَبَنَّا Some
people theorize about the differences between تَحْسِبَ and
تَحْسَبَ and there may be some subtle differences
but they used them interchangeably Yet the Prophet
ﷺ liked to speak to people in their
own dialect So maybe that's the point He
spoke to Laqeet in their own dialect and
he said لا تَحْسِبَنَّا versus لا تَحْسَبَنَّا And
then it didn't say لا تَحْسِبَنَّا what?
You know But in other reports it says
Don't think لا تَحْسِبَنَّا أَنَّا ذَبَحْنَاها مِنْ أَجْلِكَ
Don't think that we have slaughtered this lamb
for you And then he explains Indeed we
have one hundred sheep And whenever the shepherd
brings a lamb We slaughter a sheep in
its place Laqeet added Among his words were
Do not strike your wife as you would
strike your slave girl And when you rinse
your nose Do so thoroughly unless you are
fasting So a lot of things need to
be explained here So this is an authentic
report Authentic report means what?
Certainty or predominant assumption?
Predominant assumption, okay So predominant assumption that the
Prophet ﷺ said that What did that mean?
The first thing is Laqeet came and the
Prophet ﷺ was not present So Aisha served
them food And then the Prophet ﷺ when
he arrived He asked if the guests have
been You know, hosted well and treated well
and so on And Aisha assured them that
they were And then the Prophet ﷺ said
to him We did not slaughter that sheep
for you We have one hundred sheep Every
time we have an extra one Like they
give birth to a lamb We slaughter one
of them Because we don't want to have
more than a hundred sheep Okay What is
he trying to say to him?
You know, like don't get it Don't feel
embarrassed Like, you know, we didn't do We
didn't overburden ourselves for you Because when you
overburden yourself for a host They may not
come back They may not come back They
feel like there's so much burden for you
And they may not come back So the
Prophet ﷺ was trying to be You know,
casual with him and say to him You
know, there's nothing extraordinary that we did This
is what we do usually Okay And then
he said to him Don't strike your wife
or hit your wife Like you hit your
slave girl So Imam Bukhari put this under
which chapter?
Al-Khadim Yuznib Al-Khadim Yuznib When a
servant who sins Because he's The Prophet ﷺ
is saying here Like you strike you or
hit your slave girl When would it be
permissible to do this?
When they commit a grave error A sin
When they commit a sin or a grave
error But then he's saying to him Don't
hit your wife Because that's a different type
of relationship You have to understand that And
this is something also for the modern man
It is something that you have to understand
That life was much different then Than it
is now And the hierarchy There will always
be a need for hierarchy in every society
You will never be able to do away
with hierarchy in a society And if you
do away with hierarchy in a society That
is basically going back to the wilderness Leaving
civilization Part and parcel of civilization is hierarchy
And that is what Allah said وَنَحْنُ قَسَمُنَا
بَيْنَهُمْ مَعَيِّشُهُمْ فِي الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا وَنَحْنُ قَسَمُنَا
بَيْنَهُمْ مَعَيِّشُهُمْ فِي الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا We have apportioned
among them their livelihoods in this dunya, in
this worldly life.
وَرَفَعْنَا بَعْضَهُمْ فَوْقَ بَعْضٍ دَرَجَاتٍ And we raised
some of you in rank above others لِيَتَّخِذَ
بَعْضُهُمْ بَعْضًا سُقْرَيَّةٍ So that they can use
one another.
So that they can use one another.
Without a hierarchy, we will not be able
to use one another.
وَرَحْمَةُ رَبِّكَ خَيْرٌ مِمَّا يَجْمَعُونَ And the mercy
of your Lord is better than everything they
accumulate or gather.
Or everything they pursue.
So وَرَفَعْنَا بَعْضَهُمْ فَوْقَ بَعْضٍ دَرَجَاتٍ We have
raised some of them above others.
So that they can use one another.
So that the civilization functions.
The hierarchy allows the civilization to function.
So you could have someone to serve you
and you serve them.
You could have a plumber to fix your
thing and a carpenter.
And there is a police officer that will
protect people and deter criminals.
And then there is the president and then
there is the mayor.
So the hierarchy is important for any civilization
to function.
And this hierarchy cannot be done away with.
So what would be the divine instruction regarding
this?
Allah warned us that وَجَعَلْنَا بَعْضَكُمْ لِبَعْضٍ فِتْنَةً
أَتَصْبِرُونَ We have made you a trial for
one another.
Will you be patient?
Be patient in what?
Will you persevere?
Will you be patient?
Patient in handling the test.
So everybody has their own trial.
The weak, they have their trial.
The strong, they have their trial.
The supervisor has their trial.
The employee has their trial.
The mentee, the mentor, the student, the sheikh.
Everybody is being tried by everybody.
Everybody.
The wife and the husband.
Everybody is being tried by everybody.
And your, you know, your report card will
be sort of presented to you on the
day of judgment.
And it will be based on how you
showed perseverance in your commitment to commitment to
haqq, to justice, to truth, to kindness, to
mercy in your treatment of others.
You've been tried by your wife.
Laqeet, actually, was tried by his wife.
The thing that is not mentioned in this
particular narration from Imam Bukhari, Why did he
say to him, don't strike your wife?
You know, like, did you ask yourself, like,
why?
So someone coming to the Prophet to visit
the Prophet ﷺ and all of a sudden
the Prophet ﷺ telling him, don't strike your
wife?
No, Laqeet, actually, in other reports had complained
to the Prophet ﷺ about his wife abusing
him, cursing him, verbally abusive.
She was verbally abusive.
And the Prophet ﷺ told him, don't strike
your wife.
I mean, even if she is verbally abusive,
don't strike your wife.
It's a different type of relationship.
And this partnership will not work if you
change the chemistry of the relationship.
So he's saying to them, don't strike.
So he was afflicted by his wife who
was verbally abusive.
He said there is something in her tongue.
Meaning that she is, like, she curses and
she is verbally abusive.
She, you know, foul speech, etc.
You know, Umar ﷺ كانت تفر منه الشياطين
The devils used to, like the Prophet ﷺ
said that the shayateen would avoid Umar.
But a man came to complain to Umar
ﷺ about his wife.
And then he heard Umar's wife yelling and
screaming.
And then the man went back, turned away
and went back.
And then Umar called him.
What happened?
He said, I just, you know, I came
to complain about my wife.
And I heard your wife screaming at you.
So I just went back.
It's like, you're not going to be much
help.
So Umar ﷺ said to him, إِنَّ لِي
مِنْهَا وَلَدْ وَلَهَا صُحْبَةً We have children together,
you know, companionship and so on and so
forth.
Laqeed said the same thing to the Prophet
ﷺ.
The Prophet ﷺ said to him, طَلِّقْنَا Divorce
her.
Don't beat her, divorce her.
So he said to him, you know, the
same thing.
That إِنَّ لِي مِنْهَا وَلَدْ وَلَهَا مَعَيْ صُحْبَةً
So we have children together and companionship and
so on.
And then the Prophet ﷺ told him, Then
you keep her, but don't strike her.
Keep her, but don't strike her.
And that's the reason why he was stressing
this point.
Now, why did he talk about this?
In particular, I don't know.
What brought the issue of, you know, rinsing
the nostrils?
Why did he particularly talk about this to
Laqeed?
I don't know.
At least I know why he was telling
him to not strike his wife.
So, you have this hierarchy.
And you should not disrupt the chemistry in
this hierarchy.
And sometimes, sometimes you have authority over others.
You have authority over your children.
قَدْ رِبُّنُوا مَعَيْهَا لَعَشْرُ عَدِمُوا وَعُلَدَكُمُ الصَّلَاةِ السَّبْحَةِ
Teach your children to pray at age 7
and strike at them, spank them, maybe, at
age 10 if they don't.
So, you have this authority over your child.
Now, does the Qur'an say, وَدْرِبُهُنَ and
strike them, also with regard to the wife?
But that is in a very special circumstance.
This is in the circumstance of nishus.
It doesn't apply to all women.
And it applies to a very particular circumstance
of nishus.
That is defined tribution by the wife.
And what is defined tribution exactly?
It is something that is really grave, that
is really, like, substantial and grave.
So, that does not apply to regular circumstances.
It applies to a very special circumstance and
only to some women, not all women.
But the relationship of this partnership, you know,
the chemistry of that relationship will be destroyed
if you hit her.
If the whole marriage will fall off the
cliff and you hit her at that time
to wake her up, to just warn her
of falling off the cliff.
And as we said, it's symbolic, it's not
severe, doesn't apply to all women, doesn't apply
to all conditions, etc.
etc.
But that when it would be permitted in
the Qur'an to avoid that sort of
eventuality of the breakdown of the family at
this time.
Defined tribution, nishus, defined tribution.
The wife, if defined tribution does not apply
to the wife only, it applies to the
husband as well.
So if a woman fears the nishus, defined
tribution of her husband, well, had she been
able to beat him, she would have been
told to beat him.
But certainly if she does, the consequences will
be quite great for her.
So then in this case, she brings in
someone to basically fix their relationship.
And if she goes to the judge and
complains, and the judge finds him at fault
that he had transgressed, he could be beaten.
The Maliki said that.
You know, she will get someone to beat
him for her instead of doing it herself.
You know, if she goes to the judge.
That's according to the Malikis.
But yeah, that's how it works, because otherwise
it wouldn't work the other way.
What are we trying to say here?
We're trying to say that if the servant
commits a grave error, you're allowed to hit
them, but this is which servant here?
Slave.
Servant.
Because a free servant, you don't have any
authority over them, and you don't have that
authority over them.
A free servant, you will have to take
them to court.
You will have to complain to court and
take them to court.
You don't have that authority over them to
hit them yourself.
Because a free servant is called ajir khas.
It is basically, we have two different types
of ajir.
Ajir is someone who's hired, like your worker,
your employee, someone who works for wages.
And the free servant is ajir khas.
You don't have any authority over your free
servant.
You can only go to court if they
transgress.
But your slave servant, they were allowed to
hit them, but this is certainly not unmerciful
hitting or anything of that nature.
And we will come to address other hadith
that seem to forbid hitting of the servants,
of the slave servants.
But this is how to reconcile between those
different hadith.
Anything else on this hadith?
So al-Aqid came.
They treated him well.
They served him food.
The Prophet ﷺ assured him that we have
not slaughtered this lamb for you.
And then he gave them two pieces of
advice.
One of them, don't strike your wife like
you strike your female slave.
And the other one is about stanchak, when
you rinse your nostrils, do so thoroughly unless
you are fasting.
The next one is about precaution with the
servants.
It says, باب من ختم على خادمه مخافة
سوء الظن On placing a seal on the
servant, not a seal on the servant himself.
A seal on a servant to avoid suspicion.
Placing a seal on a servant to avoid
suspicion means to place a seal on anything
you entrust to the servant to avoid suspicion.
باب من ختم على خادمه مخافة سوء الظن
باشر بن محمد أخبرنا عبد الله أخبرنا أبو
خلدة عن أبي العالية كنا نؤمر أن نختم
على الخادم ونكيل ونعدها كراهية أن يتعود خلق
سوء أو يظن أحدنا ظنه سوء أبو العالية
said, We were instructed to seal what was
entrusted to a servant, measure it and count
it, to prevent them from acquiring bad habits
or to avoid any of us harboring suspicion.
The next two hadiths convey the same meaning.
حدثنا أبو النعيم قال حدثنا إسرائيل عن أبي
إسحاق عن خارثة ابن مضرب عن سلمان قال
إني لأعد العراق على خادمه مخافة الظن سلمان
said, I count even the عراق plural of
عرق عرق is a bone without the meat
on it you know, after you eat the
meat the bone would be عرق I would
count the عراق plural of عرق with my
servant to avoid suspicion The next hadith is
حدثنا حجاج قال حدثنا شعب قال عن بأن
أبو إسحاق قال سمعت حارثة ابن مضرب قال
سمعت سلمان إني لأعد العراق خاشية الظن سلمان
said, I count the عراق plural of عرق
to avoid suspicion so, these three hadiths what
do they mean?
they mean that there is no conflict between
حسن الظن having good thoughts of people and
caution and in fact that Imam al-Qayyim
has a very beautiful sort of way of
reconciling حسن الظن and caution and he said
cautious people don't have time to have evil
thoughts cautious people don't have time they busy
themselves with being cautious being sort of like
someone who goes out and takes all of
their armor and weapons and so on they
are not really obsessing about who is out
there they are not afraid because they have
taken precautions they are not afraid because they
have taken precautions they are not suspecting everyone
because they have protected themselves you know, when
and this is one of the problems that
happens among us Muslims is that we are
lazy you know, a lot of us are
lazy like Allah, a lot of us are
lazy so, we fail in taking precautions and
then we blame it on people have become
so bad people have this or that you
don't try like you give someone money and
you don't write it down you get into
a transaction with someone you don't have clarity
about the transaction and you tell someone take
this money and invest it for me and
you are just too lazy look at the
contracts that they have here in the mainstream
culture and how detailed they are of course,
we don't read any of that stuff and
even among ourselves we don't bother to write
anything and we don't bother to mention any
details and then you come back and say
you know, both disputants both partners will come
back and complain because there was no clarity
there were no precautions they have not written
anything in detail so, lazy people are the
people who have bad suspicions because they deserve
to always be suspecting people because of laziness
but cautious people will have no that's why
Ibn Qayyim exactly says that he doesn't have
time or even the space in their mind
to have bad thoughts because they are busying
themselves with being what?
self-protecting with being cautious you know, with
protecting themselves so they give money to someone
they write it down they go out on
a trip they have, you know they protect
themselves they have their armor so, you have
to choose between the two the way of
the Sahaba was count everything don't be lazy
count, seal and then you protect your servant
from you know, you deter your servant from
developing a bad habit of stealing and you
keep yourself from having bad suspicions because you
know I left like 6 dirhams here on
the table there were just 6 dirhams you
don't get money out of your pocket and
you just leave it on the table and
then you come back and you know doubt
the servant or have bad thoughts about the
servant it is your own laziness that you
did not count okay, and maybe you don't
leave it on the table you just put
it in the drawer so that is what
this is trying to say that there is
no conflict between being cautious and having good
thoughts of people have good thoughts of people
and be cautious then the disciplining of the
servant باب أدب الخادم قال حدثنا أحمد بن
عيسى قال حدثنا عبد الله بن واهب قال
أخبارني مخرمة بن بكير عن أبيه قال سمعت
يزيد بن عبد الله بن قصيد قال أرسل
عبد الله بن عمر ابن عمر غلاما له
بذهب أو بورق فصرفه فأنظر بالصرف فرجع إليه
فجلده جلدا وجيعا وقال اذهب فقذ الذي لي
ولا تصرفه حديث 170 يزيد بن عبد الله
ابن قصيد reported عبد الله بن عمر sent
his servant with gold or silver and instructed
him to exchange it the servant delayed the
transaction and returned to him ابن عمر flogged
him painfully and said go retrieve what is
mine and don't exchange it it's a little
bit confusing but it should not be you
know when you exchange gold and silver it
has to be يدا بيد مثلا بمثلا يدا
بيد so it has to be equal for
equal hand to hand you cannot basically give
the gold now and get the silver in
a few days or a few weeks so
that deferment is حرام consider it usurious consider
دربة we have to presume that عبد الله
بن عمر had taught his servant this rule
you know before he went out but the
servant committed that sin you know to have
good thoughts of عبد الله بن عمر because
otherwise if the servant didn't know that this
is usually this is رِبَة why would he
be punished if he had not known it
would be unfair so to think good of
عبد الله بن عمر can عبد الله بن
عمر make mistakes yes عبد الله بن عمر
can make mistakes but we like to presume
the best of the صحابة and think good
of the صحابة and these reports these are
snippets that we're getting you know the previous
report don't strike your wife where did this
come from told him that my wife is
abusive is verbally abusive so we're not getting
the whole picture when you read the hadith
just understand that you're not getting much of
the context you're not getting the whole picture
so presume the best about the صحابة I
presume here that عبد الله بن عمر had
taught his servant how to do these transactions
the servant still went out and committed that
sin of رِبَة usually عبد الله بن عمر
afflicted him painfully and البخاري is reporting this
to say yes you could discipline your servant
and he's saying عبد الله بن عمر did
so but you discipline your servant when when
they commit a grave error after you have
instructed them after you have educated them which
servant is that we don't have those servants
nowadays like you can't flog your servant nowadays
of course because these are the slave servants
then he says and then you look at
the following hadith and you know here's the
let's go over the following hadith and then
we will talk about why people with limited
knowledge or with bias find themselves fighting with
each other all the time because if you
look at the following hadith it says قَدَّثَنَا
مُحَمَّدُ بِنِ السَّلَّامِ قَالَ أَخْبَرَنَا أَبُو مُعَوِّيَ عَنِ
الْأَعْمَسِ وَعَنِ إِبْرَهِيمِ التَّيْمِي عَنْ أَبِيهِ وَعَنْ أَبِي
مَسْعُودِ قَالَ كُنتُ أَضْرِبُ هُلَامًا لِي فَسَمِعْتُ مِنْ
خَلْفِي صَوْطًا اِعْلَمْ أَبَى مَسْعُودِ لَا اللَّهُ أَقْدَرُ
عَلَيْكَ مِنْكَ عَلَيْهِ فَالتَفَتْتُ فَإِذَا هُوَ الرَّسُولُ اللَّهِ
صَلَى اللَّهُ سَلَّمْ قُلْتُ يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ فَهُوَ
حُرٌّ لِوَجْهِ اللَّهِ فَقَالَ أَمَا لَوْ لَمْ تَفْعَلْ
لَمَسَّتْكَ النَّارِ أَوْ لَفَحَتْكَ النَّارِ look at this
hadith seems to oppose seems to oppose the
previous hadith about hitting the servant it says
أَبُو مَسْعُودِ reported I was beating my servant
when I heard a voice from behind me
saying no أبو مسعود that Allah has more
power over you than you have over your
servant or over him I turned around and
it was the messenger of Allah صلى الله
عليه وسلم I said Oh messenger of Allah
I free him for the sake of Allah
I free him for the sake of Allah
the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said if
you had not done so the fire would
have touched you or the fire would have
scorched you would have touched you or would
have scorched you so now you find two
Muslims one of them takes the first hadith
and one of them takes the second one
of them takes the hadith that indicate that
you may be able to hit your servant
one of them will take this hadith and
will say absolutely not you know the Prophet
صلى الله عليه وسلم said to the person
who hit his servant had you not freed
him you would and the Prophet صلى الله
عليه وسلم said in another hadith مَنْ لَطَمَ
عَبْدَهُ أَوْ دَرَبَهُ فَكَفَّرَتُهُ عِتْقُهُ whoever slaps his
servant on the face or beats him the
exhibition for this is emancipation is to emancipate
him this is also an authentic hadith how
do you reconcile reconciling is what we all
need to do because الإعمال أولى من الإعمال
basically to employ to give consideration to all
of the hadiths to express them over neglecting
some of them in favor of others because
if you neglect some of them in favor
of others why can't I neglect the hadiths
that you uphold and uphold the hadiths that
you neglect and then everybody will have their
own deen, everybody will have their own understanding
of the deen and there will be no
way of building momentum around the center and
having wasatiyyah and having a common ground and
having a deen at the end of the
day because everybody will have their own interpretation
because everybody will take the hadith that he
like or parts of the tradition that he
likes so in this case we will say
that the Prophet ﷺ is saying that you
cannot beat your servant without a grave error
you have to be observant of Allah's power
and Allah's, you have to be cognizant and
mindful of Allah's power and Allah's punishment if
you hit your servant unjustly, unfairly and then
if you feel that you may have hit
your servant unfairly or unjustly then the ultimate
expiation for this that will free you from
responsibility in the sight of Allah ﷻ is
emancipation but that does not mean that you
don't discipline your servant because you discipline your
own child so you can't discipline your servant
your servant, you have authority over your servant
you have authority over your child and you
discipline them you discipline people under your authority
now the free servant is a different story,
your authority over your free servant is within
the terms of the contract, it's a contractual
relationship so it's about the contract between you
and him, he delivers a certain service, gets
a certain amount of money you're unhappy with
them you complain, you take them to court
you take them to the police but so
on but your authority over the servant your
authority over the child is one that will
allow you to do the disciplining if you
overdo it if you exceed the limits if
you do it unfairly then you will be
touched by the fire or you'll be scorched
by the fire and to free yourself from
the fire you need to emancipate that servant
in fact there is a hadith where Abdullah
ibn Omar had freed a servant and then
they came in and they found that he
had just other words that you know, my
servant is free and then he said to
them I don't have any reward in this
emancipation but I beat him and it seems
to have been that servant by the way
could have been we can't be sure the
servant that he sent out to exchange gold
for silver there is another report where Abdullah
ibn Omar had beaten a servant and they
came in and they found that he had
freed the servant they had freed the servant
so he said to them I don't have
any reward in this emancipation but I heard
the prophet s.a.w. say whoever slaps
his servant or beats him the emancipation is
to free them is it the same story?
could be the same story, could it be
a different story?
it could be a different story so if
it is the same story then Abdullah ibn
Omar recognized that he unfairly beat his servant
maybe he didn't know about usury maybe he
overdid it the punishment so he recognized that
he had overstepped the bounds and then he
had to expiate by freeing that servant if
it is a different story then we presume
that the servant had been taught about riba
had committed the sin of riba and then
he deserved some disciplining now it could be
this or it could be that we just
can't really be certain now this particular hadith
the prophet s.a.w. did not did
not command him to emancipate the servant but
he just reminded him he said to Abu
Masood when you hit your servant know that
Allah has more power over you than you
have over your servant so be mindful of
Allah's punishment when you punish your servant for
an error and Abu Masood decided to free
him so could
my reconciliation my bringing things together be deficient?
of course we're human beings when we're trying
to reconcile between different reports we're attempting to
do our best could there be a different
synthesis that's better that's more complete, that's more
comprehensive of course so whenever you hear a
synthesis or like a reconciliation you're hearing an
attempt and you have to always understand this
there could be a better synthesis there could
be a more comprehensive and better synthesis but
that's at least my attempt so disciplining you
do have authority over your servant your slave
servant not your free servant in that sense
disciplining would be allowed but if it is
unjust then the expiation although it's not a
mandatory expiation and he will come to speak
about this but to free yourself in the
sight of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and
not to worry about the punishment of Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala the expiation would be
emancipation now the last part the last chapter
that we will go over is and maybe
we'll take a few minutes over so chapter
do not say may Allah disgrace or disfigure
his face he said abu
hurayra reported the prophet s.a.w. said
do not say may Allah disfigure his face
or your face may Allah disfigure your face
may Allah disfigure his face don't say may
Allah disfigure someone's face the face has we
have particular reverence for the face and we'll
come to the next hadith says hadith hadith
abu hurayra reported do not say may Allah
disfigure your face and the face of anyone
who resembles your face or Allah created Adam
in his image so that's a big one
So what does that mean?
But we will discuss the particular creedal issue
in this hadith.
But it shouldn't take away from, we all
understand that the face should be respected.
You do not say, you don't strike the
face, you don't say, may Allah disfigure your
face.
You should have respect for the face.
That even extends beyond humans to animals, as
we will come to see in the next
session, inshallah.
But Allah created Adam in his image.
Don't say, may Allah disfigure his face.
For Allah created Adam in
capital H.
Okay.
Allah created Adam in his image, capital H.
What does that mean?
What does Allah created Adam in his image?
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
So, capital H is what I believe in,
but some scholars said it's a small h.
Okay.
The scholars who said it's a small h
said, so we have three different positions among
the scholars.
It refers to Allah.
His refers to Allah.
His refers to the one being cursed.
Allah created Adam in the image of the
one that you're cursing.
In the one that you're saying, may Allah
disfigure his face.
It refers to Adam himself.
Allah created Adam in Adam's image.
Imam Ahmad said, whoever says this is jahmi,
because Adam did not have an image before
he was created.
And whoever says anything other than Allah created
Adam in his image, capital H, is jahmi.
You know jahmi, when Imam Ahmad says jahmi?
Yeah, okay.
Jahmi.
Mu'atil.
Mu'atil, negator of the divine attributes.
And that used to be sort of the
highest blasphemy in Imam Ahmad's dictionary.
So, negator of Allah's attributes.
So, Allah created Adam in his image.
Imam Ahmad said, because there is another hadith
where in the image of Ar-Rahman, there
is controversy over the authenticity of that hadith.
But, you know, there is this hadith, Allah
created Adam in his image.
But, when we say it is in Adam's
image, it's problematic.
Allah created Adam in Adam's image.
So, why does that give Adam's image a
distinction?
So, what are we saying here?
Allah created Adam in Adam's image.
Where is the distinction here?
Yes.
Okay, but why would that give so much
reverence to the face?
Why would that be?
So, what?
So, Adam was created from clay.
Adam was created in his image.
He didn't go through the process of development
and stuff from fetuses.
So, Adam was created in Adam's image right
away.
But, why would that give that distinction to
Adam's image?
Okay, so that is a bit weak.
For Allah created Adam in Adam's image is
a bit weak.
The cursed person's image.
Allah created Adam in his image.
So, why is still given a distinction?
And certainly, when you say Allah created Adam
in his image, this should go back to
the last thing that was mentioned or the
one before it.
But, going back all the way to the
cursed person would be a little bit too
far.
And then there are other hadiths also that
do not talk about, you know, that context.
You know, the cursing of someone.
So, we have this.
Allah created Adam in his image, capital H.
And then, after we have this, we will
have two groups of scholars that will disagree.
And then, some of them will say that
Allah created Adam in the image that Allah
created and he attributed to himself, Idaf al
-Tashrif, like Baytullah.
So, Allah created Adam in an image that
Allah created, but Allah sort of owned that
image, attributed to himself, to basically honor that
image.
To honor that image.
Like when you say, Al-Kaaba, Baytullah, the
house of Allah.
To honor Al-Kaaba.
Okay.
And, some of, you know.
So, mainstream humblism, athorism will say Allah created
Adam in his image and Allah's image.
But, what does that mean?
Does that mean that Allah is a human
being, like in his image?
Like the picture on the fresco of the
Sistine Chapel, the ceiling of, the fresco on
the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.
Do you know that picture, that image?
You know, the spark of life image?
Does that mean that?
Of course not.
You know, no one in their right mind
would say that.
Of course not.
And, of course not, why?
This is not because of foreign discourse.
You know, philosophical or theological discourse from outside
of our being.
But, this is because, Nothing is like him.
Nothing is like him.
So, nothing is like him would say, no.
So, what do we mean by this?
So, what do we mean Allah created Adam
in his image?
This is capital H.
The Prophet ﷺ said, تَتْقُلْ أَوَّلْزُمْرَةَ تَتْقُلْ الْجَنَّةَ
يَتْقُلُونَ عَلَى صُورَةِ الْقَمْرِ The first group of
people who will enter paradise, will enter in
the image of the Qamar, the moon.
Would you actually be like the moon?
You know, that's, Would you be like the
moon?
Would we be rounded?
You know, just like, No.
No.
We're not going to be like the moon.
But, Like the moon in some respect.
In the radiance.
Like the moon in the radiance.
So, when we say that we were created
in Allah's image, What are we saying?
And why the face in particular?
We're saying that human beings have been created
سميع, بصير, عالم, متفكر So, hearing, seeing, you
know, thoughtful.
This intelligence itself.
The fact that we can actually decipher the
universal laws.
Don't you see that Allah created Adam in
his image?
Do you see what we have, what human
beings have done?
How human beings have been able to crack
so many codes in universal laws?
Do you remember the James Webb thing?
And how we were able to take pictures
of galaxies like billions of years far away?
So, had human beings not created in his
image, Would they have been able to discover
his secrets, his laws, The secrets that he
instilled in this universe?
No.
That is human exceptionalism.
That is what is so striking about human
beings.
And that is why he said, وَنَفَخْتُ فِيهِمَ
الْرُّوحِ And I breathed into him from my
soul.
That is not to mean that we in
any way, shape, or form are part of
the divine.
But that means there is something special about
human beings.
So, when you say, you know, the creation
and ultimately the insolvent, The breathing of the
soul into human beings, Created him by my
own hands, breathed into him from my soul,
Created him in my image, Allah is telling
us that we are special.
And had we not been created in his
image, We would have not been able to
discover all of these things, Crack all of
these codes, And develop to where we are
now.
So, why the face in particular?
Because, مَجْمَعَ هَذِهِ الْمَدَارِكِ It is basically, So,
your بَصَر, your brain, your إذراك, All of
this is here.
And if you don't have this, This whole
thing is pretty useless.
So, مَجْمَعَ هَذِهِ الْمَدَارِكِ Basically, all of these
perceptions come through the face, And your eyes,
your ears, and so on and so forth.
So, Allah created Adam in his image.
If you understand it this way, It is
not very difficult to accept it with a
capital H.
It is really not very difficult to accept
it with a capital H.
And it is actually very beautiful to accept
it with a capital H.
And it tells you so much about your
exceptionalism.
And Allah stressed this so often.
نَفَخْتُ فِيهِمِ الرُّوحِ مَعْنَاكَ أَلَّا تَسْجِذَ لِمَا خَلَقْتُ
بِيَدَيِ خَلَقْتُ بِيَدَيِ Created with My Hands نَفَخْتُ
فِيهِمِ الرُّوحِ Breathed into My Soul Breathed into
Him from My Soul And created Him in
My Image This just adds to the story,
adds to the narrative.
It embellishes, beautifies, enhances that narrative about the
exceptionalism of human beings.
The Prophet wanted to make this point.
The fear of the allegorical approach So we
are accepting this as a haqiqah.
But are we accepting this as a haqiqah
that undermines the transcendence and incomparability of God?
No, we should not.
We should never.
And that's why a balanced understanding and a
balanced and refined understanding of these things will
remove all the difficulty.
We accept everything that comes to us from
Allah and His Prophet.
And we try to understand it within the
framework of the revelation in our tradition without
any influence from any external discourses philosophical discourses,
Greek, whatever, this, that.
So we just accept it this way.
But we have to have a balanced approach
to these things.
The allegorical approach, the problem with the allegorical
approach is that you would eventually end up
being like Jordan Peterson, you know.
So that is the ultimate conclusion.
The ultimate conclusion of the allegorical approach is
that God Himself, and that is not basically
to bash our great imams and scholars, that
we love them and respect them, who have
taken an allegorical approach to these issues.
No.
But I'm saying this is the danger of
the allegorical approach.
It's a slippery slope.
And when you say it's a slippery slope,
it does not mean that everyone who will
take a step on the slippery slope will
end up getting to the end of it.
But that is why we, that's why Imam
Ahmed was so opposed and averse to getting
on the slippery slope.
Because eventually the allegorical approach ends up where,
if you hear about the, you know, like
some of the statements of Peterson, this is
basically taking the allegorical approach to its final
conclusion.
The final conclusion is that the Divine Himself
is a conception, is a necessary conception to
give meaning to human beings, a necessary conception
to give meaning to humanity.
So that is not, that's not anything like
our deen.
We believe in the actual existence of the
Divine.
And we will have to do this balancing
act between accepting all the reports that come
to us and understanding them in a way
that will not contravene or that will not
violate the principle, the maxim of Laysa Kamithri
Hishay, nothing is like Him.
And the principle of, you know, the fact
that you can never imagine God, you can
never imagine God, and you will not, even
after you see Him, after you see Him,
you can never encompass Him.
In the hereafter, even in the hereafter, your
knowledge of God will never be complete because
no one can encompass God with their knowledge.
Even after you see God, in the hereafter,
your knowledge of God will be very deficient
because no one will have that capacity to
encompass God with their knowledge even in the
hereafter, even after you see them.