Hatem al-Haj – ADB025 Al-Adab Al-Mufrad – Book on Supervision
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The speaker discusses the importance of showing gratitude and weaknesses to leaders and individuals, as it is a clear theme in the Hadith tradition. They stress the need to show gratitude and acknowledgement of one's weaknesses to avoid wasting one's time, and to show gratitude towards others. The importance of showing gratitude and not offending one's behavior is emphasized, as it is a clear theme in the Hadith tradition. The segment also discusses the importance of avoiding false assumptions and being sensitive to culture.
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Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim.
In the name of Allah, the most gracious,
the most merciful.
Peace be upon the Messenger of Allah, and
upon his family and companions.
To proceed.
Imam Al-Bukhari, may Allah have mercy on
him, in his book, Al-Athab Al-Mufrad,
Chapter, a man is a caretaker over his
household.
All of these are Basris from Al-Basra.
Hadith number 212, narrated to us by Hamad
ibn Zayd, narrated to us by Ayub, that's
Ayub From Nafaa, from Ibn Umar, who said,
the Prophet ﷺ said, each of you is
a caretaker and each of you will be
held accountable for his responsibility.
The leader is a caretaker and will be
held accountable.
A man is a caretaker over his household
and he will be held accountable.
A woman is a caretaker over her husband's
home and will be held accountable.
Behold, each of you is a caretaker and
each of you will be held accountable for
their responsibility.
And certainly, you know, this is a very
powerful hadith and it has been reported by
several authorities.
It's reported also through very solid chains.
Aarim, for instance, each one of these narrators,
like Aarim and Hamad ibn Zayd and Ayub
and Nafaa and Ibn Umar, they get double
tawthiq, which is, they're not only thiqa, they
don't say thiqa, credible, they say, thiqatun hujja,
thiqatun imamun mashhoor, thiqatun dhabt, you know, this,
this, that.
So, thiqatun thiqa, they can repeat the word
thiqa.
So, you would be quite confident that this
hadith is coming from the Prophet ﷺ and
it has other chains as well.
And the other chains are also pretty strong.
So, it's, al-Bukhari reports it from, and
al-Ahmad reports it from Yahya ibn Sa
'id al-Qattan through another chain that's very
strong.
This is a hadith that you would be
quite confident that had come from the Prophet
ﷺ and also the matn is certainly solid
as well.
And most of you have come across this
hadith before, so in order for us to
be able to finish the book, we will
not stop at each and every hadith, but
this hadith is full of meanings that are
worth your reflection.
One of them is to, you know, every
bilateral relationship, every relationship that we have with
people, just be mindful of the third party
in that relationship, which is Allah, who's watching
over you.
So, your relationship with your son or your
daughter, your father, your spouse, your business partner,
you know, you're being held accountable, everything's being
recorded, and you will come to defend your
record at some point.
So, Musa'd narrated to us, Isma'il narrated
to us, Ayyub narrated to us, Abu Qilaba
from Abu Sulayman, Malik ibn al-Huwairis.
Malik ibn al-Huwairis is a great Sahabi.
You know, he didn't spend that much time
with the Prophet ﷺ, but we all know
him from the chapters of Salah, because he
reported certain things about the Salah of the
Prophet ﷺ that others did not report.
He spent 20 days with the Prophet ﷺ,
prayed like 100 Salawat maybe with the Prophet
ﷺ, but he reported to us some things
about the Salah that others have not reported.
So, he is important in the chapters of
Salah in the books of Fiqh.
So, Malik ibn al-Huwairis said, we came
to the Prophet ﷺ as a group of
young men, and the reason why it's not
unlikely is that young men have a better
retention.
So, they learn faster, and they're more retentive.
That's why Aisha r.a reported a lot
more than the other wives of the Prophet
ﷺ.
So, as a group of young men, close
in age, we stayed with him for 20
nights.
He thought we were missing our families.
He suspected that we were missing our families.
It started to appear on them.
Longing for their families started to appear on
them, and the Prophet ﷺ was observant.
That's the emotional smartness that many people lack
nowadays.
So, he said to them, or he asked
them about those we left behind in our
households.
We informed him.
So, maybe they left the parents, or spouses,
children, etc.
He was gentle and kind.
So, he said, return to your families, teach
them, and instruct them.
The point here, why is this being reported
in this chapter?
Teach them and instruct them.
You're responsible for your families.
Teach them and instruct them.
Teach them and instruct them.
Then he said, pray as you have seen
me pray.
When the time for prayer arrives, let one
of you call the Adhan, and let the
eldest among you lead the prayer.
Let the eldest among you lead the prayer.
Of course, the one who should lead the
prayer is the one who has the most
Qur'an.
Hadith Abu Mas'ud Al-Ansari, that we
all know.
The one who has most Qur'an, and
the one who is most knowledgeable in the
Sunnah, and so on.
But, in this particular case, the Prophet, peace
be upon him, skipped these two indicators, or
two qualifiers, to the third.
Because they were close in age.
They spent 20 days.
They were attending with him.
All of them were attending.
So, there is likely not that much variability
when it comes to knowledge between them.
They have, you know, spent the same number
of days with the Prophet, peace be upon
him, and they were close in age.
Then, Imam Al-Bukhari said, باب المرأة راعية
Chapter, a woman is a caretaker.
حدثنا أبو اليمان قال أغبرنا شعيب بن أبي
حمزة عن الزهري قال أغبرنا سالم عن ابن
عمر أنه سمع رسول الله صلى الله عليه
وسلم يقول كلكم راعين وكلكم مسؤولين عن رعياته
الإمام راعين وهو مسؤول عن رعياته والرجل راعين
في أهله والمرأة راعية في بيت زوجها والخادم
في مال سيده سمعت هؤلاء عن النبي صلى
الله عليه وسلم وأحسب النبي صلى الله عليه
وسلم قال والرجل في مال أبيه ابن عمر
said the messenger of Allah صلى الله عليه
وسلم said each of you is a caretaker
and each of you will be held accountable
for their responsibility the leader is a caretaker
and will be held accountable for their responsibility
a man is a caretaker over his household
and a woman is a caretaker over her
husband's home a servant is a caretaker over
his master's wealth he then said I heard
this from the prophet and I think the
prophet also said a man is a caretaker
over his father's wealth a man is a
caretaker over his father's wealth so he shouldn't
squander his father's wealth and should basically take
good care of it and there is not
much different about this hadith but it mentions
the servant and it mentions a man is
a caretaker over his father's wealth and anything
else about this hadith?
not much again also as a reminder that
each one of you is a caretaker so
we always have a tendency to see this
pick in other people's eyes so we're always
talking about leaders and particularly political leaders and
you know chastising political leaders for their inadequacy
for their aggression and so on that is
valid, that is fine if they deserve it
it's completely fine but often times we forget
the fact that we're also in a position
of leadership, we're also in a position of
accountability and it is a lot more important
to chastise yourself for your failures, your inadequacies
and your aggression before you have to account
in front of Allah on the day of
judgment next is Babu Mansona or Babu Mansoni
chapter whoever receives a favor should reciprocate Saeed
Ibn Ufair narrated to us so
Saeed Ibn Ufair narrated to us, Yahya Ibn
Ayub narrated to me from Omara Ibn Ghaziyya
from Shurahbil Maulana Ansar from Jabir Ibn Abdullah
Al-Ansari who said the Prophet ﷺ said
whoever receives a favor should repay it if
he does not find anything to repay it
with, let him praise the giver for if
he praises him he has shown gratitude he
has shown gratitude and then he said and
if he conceals it he has shown ingratitude
whoever claims something that was not given to
them or assumes something that is not theirs
or pretends something you know to have something
that is not theirs it is as though
he wore two garments of falsehood two garments
of falsehood and then under the same chapter
and maybe we cover some of these ahadith
and then we discuss them together Ibn Umar
said the
Messenger of Allah ﷺ said whoever seeks refuge
with Allah grant him refuge whoever asks you
by Allah, give to him and whoever does
you a favor repay him if you cannot
find anything to repay him or them with,
then pray for them until you know that
you have sufficiently repaid them and then Imam
Bukhari said in his chapter whoever cannot repay
a favor, should pray for the giver Anas
said the Muhajirun said to the Messenger of
Allah ﷺ O Messenger of Allah, the Ansar
have taken all the reward he said no
not as long as you pray for them
and praise them for it not as long
as you pray for them and praise them
for it what is the theme of the
previous ahadith you have to reciprocate you have
to show gratitude to the people who have
done you good or like a favor you
have to be you have to reciprocate you
have to show gratitude and emotional reciprocation is
important to show thankfulness, to show gratitude is
important to make it clear that I am
someone gives you like a gift you should
show pleasure you should show them pleasure with
the gift no matter how expensive or cheap
it is it is basically the gesture is
what you are being grateful to them for,
so you have to show gratitude three levels
the Prophet ﷺ said you repay them and
the Prophet ﷺ the Prophet ﷺ used to
accept gifts and reward people like reciprocate to
give them you know to give them more
to give them like a similar gift or
a better gift sometimes people are not able
to do this therefore next for them would
be to praise them for their good deeds
you speak about them, you repay them by
acknowledging their kindness their generosity their goodness you
acknowledge it in front of them yes you
could without exaggeration without exaggeration because exaggeration and
praise can be ruinous without exaggeration to acknowledge
their gift and in front of others as
well in front of others as well people
so the description of the mentioned in the
Quran is the person who remembers you know
difficulties and hardships and forgets about blessings and
favors of Allah you could be also you
could be also ungrateful with people
you always remember you always remember their inadequacies
or their aggressions because people are like a
mixed baggage like each and every person has
strengths and weaknesses has good and bad and
in order for you to have this appreciation
you need to be someone who is who
has a better capacity to recognize and to
acknowledge the good and to forgive and overlook
the bad to forgive and overlook the bad
and to acknowledge the good there are people
who are the exact opposite of this and
those are the ungrateful and so on so
unable to repay praise and the least that
you can do is to pray for them
repay, praise, pray repay, praise pray pray the
least that you can do is to pray
for them and whoever says to his brother
jazakallahu khairan I'll repay them certainly that does
not mean that you don't repay them but
it means that if you're unable to repay
them then jazakallahu khairan, a sincere and a
genuine jazakallahu khairan is is a repayment and
it is a full repayment that the Prophet
said is a full repayment so this is
how you show gratefulness by reciprocating in kindness
and second praising, acknowledging and praising the giver
and third praying for them and you should
always be keen on not being outdone in
kindness you should be keen on not being
outdone in kindness, that's why the muhajireen were
keen, you know Ansar had given them everything
they came with nothing from Mecca, Ansar had
shared with them everything and then they were
basically distressed by the fact that the Ansar
have so many favors upon them and what
are we going to do now, oh messenger
of Allah the Ansar have taken all the
reward and then the Prophet said no, not
as long as you pray for them and
praise them for it and praise them for
it and that is why you will always
find the muhajireen praising Al-Ansar, you know
there is always basically a clear theme in
our Hadith tradition the praise of Al-Ansar
by Al-Muhajireen and recognition of the favors
of Al-Ansar and the generosity of the
Ansar by Al-Muhajireen and a couple of
things about these Hadith that you know in
addition to the theme of gratefulness and showing
gratitude to people through repayment through praise, through
prayers this Hadith which says whoever seeks
refuge with Allah then grant them protection and
whoever asks you by Allah give him now
does this command indicate obligation?
anyone who asks you by Allah must you
give them what they ask for?
to some people it does by the way
some scholars it does indicate an obligation certainly
they will have qualifiers the qualifier here is
without harm, without overburdening you but to some
scholars it means what it means it means
that anyone who says who asks you by
Allah you should give them what does not
cause you harm or does not over burden
you for the majority of scholars they said
it's mustahab it is not obligatory it is
mustahab and to withhold from them is makrooh
it is not haram particularly if they are
you know they make frequent requests frequent demands
someone can ask you everyday in the morning
by Allah give me this so it can
become like burdensome so there is so where
did the scholars come up with the fact
that it is not an obligation?
because the prophet gives a command here so
there are qara'in and the qara'in
do not have to be necessarily within the
same text, the qara'in don't have to
be so intertextual or even the qawa'id
of the deen in general the principles, the
established principles of the deen can be qara
'in to basically change the implication implication of
the command from obligation which is the default
the default for commands is obligation right?
when the prophet commands something the default is
obligation now this is a controversy in and
of itself but this is the predominant position
and it is the correct position because you
know it is the prophet and you are
commanded so you are commanded to obey the
prophet obey Allah and obey the messenger so
it would be it certainly is the right
position that commands indicate obligation however there are
many qara'in that could change the implication
next is Imam Bukhari said next whoever
does not thank people Arabic so
Abu Huraira said the prophet said whoever does
not thank people does not thank Allah whoever
does not thank people, does not thank Allah.
Or whoever does not thank people, Allah will
not show gratitude towards him.
Allah will not basically show gratitude towards him.
la yashkurallahu, Allah here is al-fa'al,
it means that Allah will not show gratitude
to those who don't show gratitude to people.
Or la yashkurallaha, he who does not show
gratitude to people, does not show gratitude to
Allah.
Both are acceptable meanings.
And this is in general, this is for
people in general.
And this is for Muslim, not Muslim.
You show gratitude to people who are kind
to you, who extend any form of kindness
to you, you show gratitude to them, regardless
of their religion or regardless of anything else.
The Prophet ﷺ after Badr, he said lawkan
al-mut'im ibn adiyya hayyan wa sa
'alaniha ula'innatna la'ataytuhu iyyahum.
The captives of Badr, after the battle of
Badr, the captives, the Prophet ﷺ said had
al-mut'im ibn adiyya been alive and
asked me for their release, asked me to
release for him these captives, I would have
released all of them for him.
And that is why, because al-mut'im
ibn adiyya gave jiwar, protection to the Prophet
ﷺ when he came back from al-Ta
'if.
He gave protection to the Prophet ﷺ.
So the Prophet ﷺ remembered this for years
and al-mut'im ibn adiyya was not
a believer, but the Prophet ﷺ remembered this
for a long time and he said that.
And in fact, Hassan ibn Thabit, he had
something to say about al-mut'im ibn
adiyya.
He said, ayya'aynu fabki sayyid al-qawmi
wasfahi bidam'in wa in anzaftihi fiskubid dama
falaw kana majdun yukhalidu al-dahra wahidan min
al-nas, abqa majduhu al-yawma mut'ima.
Okay, so I guess that's what it is.
And if you look at this, so Hassan
ibn Thabit, the poet of the Prophet ﷺ,
without any disapproval from the Prophet ﷺ, eulogized
al-mut'im, eulogized al-mut'im.
And he said, and it's quite a powerful
eulogy because he said, oh my eye, cry
over sayyid al-qawm, the master of his
people.
That's mut'im, keep in mind, not Muslim,
kafir from Quraish.
Cry over sayyid al-qawm, fabki sayyid al
-qawmi wasfahi bidam'in and shed your tears,
let your tears flow abundantly.
And if you deplete your tears, if you
deplete your tears, shed blood.
And then he said, falaw ka'ana majdun,
if glory were to make any human being
immortal, the glory of mut'im would have
made him immortal.
So this is quite powerful.
Can you recognize the glory and greatness of
people that were not Muslim?
Of course you should, and of course you
should talk about it, and of course you
should acknowledge it.
You should also not be a canood in
this regard, you should acknowledge it.
Like sometimes, no matter how much you disagree
with them on different issues, like I truly,
like someone like Norman Finkelstein, for instance, you
know, of course, Norman Finkelstein is, someone can
say, is liberal, secular, leftist, he doesn't believe
in statehood, etc, etc, etc.
How could we disagree with, how could we
be in agreement with him?
Well, Khabib was not agreeing with mut'im
ibn Aday worshipping idols, but he recognized his
greatness, he recognized his glory.
So you could, you could be able, like
you should be able to recognize moral consistency,
moral consistency.
You should be able to recognize courage.
And these are things that are easy to
recognize, easy to acknowledge, easy to recognize, and
to praise people for it.
And to, you know, to show gratitude to
people for it, and to praise people for
it.
And there is no problem whatsoever, because no
matter, no matter what, you know, Norman Finkelstein
believes, you know, mut'im ibn Aday was
an idol worshipper.
And Hassan ibn Thabit, they did not prevent
Hassan ibn Thabit from saying, فَلَوْ كَانَ مَجْدٌ
يُخَلِّدُ الْدَهْرَ وَكَانَ مِنَ النَّاسِ أَبْقَى مَجْدُهُ الْيَوْمَ
مُطْعِمًا There is shahid logawi, they usually talk
about this, because مَجْدُهُ الْيَوْمَ مُطْعِمًا is, there
is like something linguistic about this that they
discuss.
But anyway, this is what Hassan said.
So, so there is a very, very powerful
recognition of mut'im's favor.
So this is it.
لَا يَشْكُرُ اللَّهَ مَا لَا يَشْكُرُ النَّاسِ He
doesn't show gratitude to people, he who doesn't
show, he doesn't show gratitude to God, he
who doesn't show gratitude to people.
قَالَ حَدَّثَنَا مُسَىٰ بِنْ إِسْمَعِيلِ قَالَ حَدَّثَنَا الرَّبِيعِ
بِنْ مُسْلِمِ قَالَ حَدَّثَنَا مُحَمَّدَ بِنْ زِيَادَ عَنْ
أَبِي هُرَيْرَ عَنْ النَّبِيِّ ﷺ قَالَ قَالَ اللَّهُ
تَعَالَ لِلنَّفْسِ خُرُجِي قَالَتْ لَا أَخْرُجُ إِلَّا كَارِهَةً
Abu Hurayra reported from the Prophet ﷺ that
he said, Allah the Most High said, said
to the soul, exit.
It replied, I will not exit except unwittingly.
I will not exit from the body except
unwittingly.
It is a reference to people's dislike of
death.
What does it have to do with this
chapter?
Nothing.
At least I don't know any scholar who
figured out why Al-Bukhari put this in
this chapter.
But you know, certainly, you notice that it
is the same chain of narration, the same
narrators, the same narrators.
Is it possibly the same hadith?
Is it possibly that the Prophet ﷺ said,
لَا يَشْكُرُ اللَّهَ مَنْ لَا يَشْكُرُ النَّاسِ وَقَالَ
اللَّهُ تَعَالَ لِلنَّفْسِ خُرُجِي قَالَتْ لَا أَخْرُجُ إِلَّا
كَارِهَةً Or it was mentioned at the same
time?
It's possible.
But no one really knows for sure why
Al-Bukhari included it here.
Why Al-Bukhari included it here.
Someone, people can speculate.
Someone could say, you know, it's ungrateful, you
know, that Allah gave you 80 years of
life and then you're basically, you didn't show
gratitude and now you're resentful of death.
Anyway, but this is what it is.
The next chapter is بَابُ مَعُونَةِ الرَّجُلِ أَخَى
Chapter on assisting one's brother.
حَدَّثَنَا إِسْمَعِيلَ بْنُ أُوَيْسِ قَالَ حَدَّثَنِي عَبْدُ الرَّحْمَنِ
بْنَ أَبِي الزِّنَادِ عَنْ أَبِيهِ عَنْ عُرْوَةَ عَنْ
أَبِي مُرَاوِحٍ عَنْ أَبِي ذَرَّ عَنْ النَّبِيِّ ﷺ
قَالَ أَيُّ الْأَعْمَالِ خَيْرٌ قَالَ إِمَانٌ بِاللَّهِ وَجِهَادٌ
فِي سَبِيلِهِ قَالَ فَأَيُّ الرَّقَابِ أَفْضَلٌ قَالَ أَغْلَهَا
ثَمَنًا وَأَنْفَسُهَا عَنْدَ أَهْلِهَا قَالَ أَفْرَأَيْتَ إِنْ لَمْ
أَسْطَطَعُ بَعْضَ الْعَمَلِ قَالَ فَتُعِينُوا ضَائِعًا أُرْصَانِعًا قَالَ
أَفْرَأَيْتَ إِنْ ضَعُفْتُ قَالَ تَدَعُ النَّاسَ مِنَ الشَّرِّ
فَإِنَّهَا صَدَقَةٌ تَصَدَّقُ بِهَا عَلَى نَفْسِكَ This is
a beautiful hadith.
Abu Dharr said that the Prophet ﷺ said,
Abu Dharr asked the Prophet ﷺ, or the
Prophet was asked and Abu Dharr is reporting,
which deeds are best?
He replied, faith in Allah and striving in
His cause.
It was asked, which slaves are best to
free?
He said, those with the highest value and
most precious to their owners.
Those with the highest value and most precious
to their owners.
He was then asked, what if I cannot
do some of the work or some of
that?
I can't do that.
He replied, assist someone who's in distress or
help someone who's incompetent.
It was further asked, what if I am
unable to do that?
He replied, refrain from harming others for that
is charity you give to yourself.
For that is charity you give to yourself.
So there are so many things to say
about this hadith, but we have more than
1300 hadith to go over, so we're still
at 220.
But look at the patience of the Prophet
ﷺ.
So they keep on telling him, okay, if
I can do that, if I can do
that, if I can do that, and he
keeps on giving them, you know, opportunities for
excellence, opportunities for, you know, drawing closer to
Allah ﷻ, proximity to Allah ﷻ.
And there are other hadith that will come
later in which the Prophet ﷺ gives, like,
more opportunities.
And sometimes they would say, if I can't
or if I just don't, you know.
So, you know, the patience of the Prophet
ﷺ, why not?
You know, why don't you?
But he still opens other doors for them.
They tell him if I can't or if
I don't.
He doesn't tell them, why don't you?
Like, you know, it's like, I can't, I
understand it.
But if you can, why don't you?
But he opens other doors for them.
And that's the beauty of his teaching and
his kindness.
So you look here at this, for instance,
you know, which slaves are best to emancipate?
And he says the slaves that have the
highest value and most precious, most needed by
their masters.
Because that is the slave who should be
freed.
That is the competent one who will be
able to fend for themselves.
Part of the reason slavery, you know, there
was like a gradual approach to emancipation of
slaves is that oftentimes, like I said before,
in the peninsula and in other parts of
the world, slaves could have not been able
to fend for themselves.
The structure of the society was such that
slaves who were emancipated were still stayed with
the masters.
They were unable to fend for themselves.
But the competent one is the one who
is ready to be emancipated because they can
fend for themselves.
The one that you basically appreciate the most,
the one who's most helpful to you, is
the one who's actually competent, and you should
free them because they are able to fend
for themselves.
And then if you look at the next
one, the next advice from the Prophet ﷺ,
dha'i means what?
Dha'i means lost, or someone lost, meaning
that, you know, he needs the directions, or
lost, meaning that he's not on top of
his act, like someone who's incompetent, someone who's
not on top of his act, someone who's
in distress, someone who has dha'i, like
he has family and responsibilities that he cannot
basically fulfill.
And this is the one that you should
be helping.
There are two ways this hadith was reported,
because dha'i, the way this would be
written in a manuscript is like this, right?
So this would be dha'i, okay?
However, it could be
sana, sana, dha'i sana.
In fact, the sort of the verbal narration
of this hadith, the oral tradition, favors sana
over dha'i.
So most of the scholars that, like if
you read, you know, with them, they will
favor sana over dha'i in the oral
tradition.
And certainly in some manuscripts, it's sana also.
So sana is favored over dha'i.
Dha'i has a place, you know, of
course, you show them the way, you help
them out if they are not on top
of their act, you help them figure out,
you know, but sana is actually better.
Because the next one is tasna'a li
akhraq, tasna'a li akhraq, or to help
someone who's incompetent.
Akhraq is incompetent.
Akhraq is incompetent.
You know, the woman would be kharka, kharka,
akhraq, kharka, incompetent.
So there is mukabala between sana and akhraq.
There is like contrast, you know, helpful contrast
between sana and akhraq, not between dha'i
and akhraq.
And this contrast is meaningful.
So why do you help a sana?
What does a sana mean?
Sana is craftsman, right?
Or sana is like a competent worker, a
craftsman, or huh?
Yeah, industrious, yeah.
So why do you need to help them?
They are usually forgotten.
They're usually forgotten because they're competent.
And people don't recognize that even competent people
need help.
So the second one, the second one, which
is tasna'a li akhraq, this is basically
to restore dignity, to restore capacity, restore capacity
and dignity.
And the first one, tu'ino sana'an,
to help a craftsman, this is to what?
Promote productivity, growth and productivity.
So you come to someone who is a
craftsman, someone who has a business, and their
business is successful.
They are industrious, they're successful.
And you tell them, how could I help
you grow your business?
That's what it means.
You know, if they need a loan, for
instance, or if they need partnership, you get
into a partnership with them.
And that is how you would be fulfilling
the recommendation in this hadith.
You know, a lot of people, a lot
of people, someone was telling me yesterday, you
know, that he had, that there were like
a few Muslim billionaires.
I don't know where these people exist.
But I keep on hearing about the, you
know, none of you guys here.
Yeah.
So inshallah.
So Muslim billionaires, they were talking to him
about what they can do.
And some of them, for instance, want to
basically cut down, and they want to memorize
the Quran.
Like if you're 45 years old, of course,
memorization of the Quran is a great thing,
of course.
But you're basically passed to excellence and greatness,
maybe in helping others, maybe in growing your
business and empowering more Muslims.
Certainly, you need to maintain your moist relationship
with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
But that is not by studying Zad al
-Mustaqna.
If you're 45 years old, you're a billionaire,
45 years old, your calling in life is
probably not to memorize Zad al-Mustaqna.
You know, I just can't say the Quran,
but because it's like, it sounds awful.
But your calling in life is probably not
to memorize Zad al-Mustaqna.
Your calling in life is probably to grow
your business and help empower more, a lot
more Muslims.
And to come together with other billionaires, your
like friends, billionaire friends, must be some, your
billionaire friends, and say to them, let's start
a big waqf, a big waqf.
Let's invest, you know, $500 million, you know,
collect money from among ourselves.
Everybody's a billionaire here.
Collect money from among ourselves.
And the person who was talking to me
was actually talking about several ones who are
all billionaires, you know, Muslims, and they're all
in New York City.
Anyway, so let us start a waqf.
And let us have a nizara, like a
hayya that will take care of the nizara
of the waqf, oversee the waqf.
Another waqf is the manager of the waqf,
or the director of the waqf, but it
should not be a person, it should be
like a hayya, it should be a group
of people, competent people, and figure out how
to help Muslim causes, figure out how to,
you know, help Muslim causes, you know, different,
create institutions that would be helpful, and so
on and so forth.
So this is the essence of the hadith.
There are many gates, and you need to
find your gate, your basically path to excellence.
Not everyone is meant to basically study qawat
al-fiqh and memorize adhan al-mustaqnah, and
all of these things are great and good,
and that's what we've been doing.
Anyway, but there are other people that can
do other types of work.
They need to have their own awrad, they
need to have to commit to their own,
the spiritual salvation, you know, survival, refinement, but
it is not always, it's, it is not
always the typical, the conventional ways that we
get to think about.
So it's not that you will have to
come to the Saturday class, and or in
the morning, and then go and read, or
something like this.
There are other ways.
And that's what the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa
sallam was telling us in this hadith.
Networking, for instance, people who mentor others, people
who, you know, provide networking for Muslim businesses,
people who mentor high school students, and show
them the way, you know, help them apply
to certain colleges, and all of these are
included under this concept.
You help someone who's industrious, someone who's competent,
you help them, you assist them, assist them
to grow more, to be better at what
they're doing, or to assist someone who's
incompetent.
And then, the final, basically, gate or path
to goodness, which is what?
That's the least you can do, refrain from
harming people, refrain from harming people.
If you can't do anything good, at least
refrain from harming people.
Chapter, people of goodness in this world are
people of goodness in the Hereafter.
So, Qabisa ibn Burma al-Asadi said that
the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, the
people of goodness in this world are the
people of goodness in the Hereafter, and the
people of evil in this world are the
people of evil in the Hereafter.
What does that mean?
It means one of two things.
Either the people of goodness in this dunya
are the people who will be considered people
of goodness in the Hereafter, therefore, rewarded, they
will be rewarded for their goodness.
They will be a recipients of goodness.
So, ahl al-ma'ruf al-dunya, meaning
the givers of goodness, you know, and ahl
al-ma'ruf al-akhirah will be the
recipients of goodness in the Hereafter.
That's one explanation.
The other one is that they will actually
be givers in both, the dunya and al
-akhirah, because Allah will allow them to intercede
in the Hereafter.
So, they, ahl al-ma'ruf al-dunya,
the people who are people of goodness in
this dunya, the people who are extending kindness
and goodness to people in this dunya, Allah
will...
you know, so the recompenses is like the
action, or is from the same genre as
the action, from the same genre as the
action.
So, for Allah to repay them from jins
al-amal, Allah will make them also people
of ma'ruf in the Akhirah.
So, they will be interceding, and we know
shafa'at al-mu'mineen, shafa'ah of the
believers.
They will be the ones who ask, where
is fulan?
Let's bring him from the hellfire, let's get
him out of, you know, the hellfire, and
let's intercede for him, and Allah will accept
the shafa'ah of the mu'mineen, and that
is how they will be recognized for their
goodness.
They'll be people of goodness also in the
Hereafter.
The next hadith also is a very beautiful
hadith.
It's da'eef, but it's very beautiful, which
is fine, because da'eef does not mean
that it's not from the Prophet ﷺ.
We know that, right?
وَاللَّهِ لَا آتِيَنَّ نَبِيَّ صَلَاٰ سَلَّمَ حَتَّى أَزْدَادَ
مِنَ الْعِلْمِ فَجِئْتُ أَمْشِي حَتَّى قُمْتُ بَيْنَ يَدَيْهِ
فَقُلْتُ مَا تَأْمُرُنِي أَعْمَلْ قَالَ يَا حَرْمَلَ يَا
حَرْمَلَ يَا حَرْمَلَ تُئْتِي الْمَعْرُوفُ or يَا حَرْمَلَ
يَا حَرْمَلَ يَا حَرْمَلَ تُئْتِي الْمَعْرُوفُ وَاجْتَنِي بِالْمُنْكَرِ
ثُمَّ رَجَعَتُ حَتَّى جِئْتُ الرَّاحِلَ ثُمَّ أَقْبَلْتُ حَتَّى
قُمْتُ مَقَامِي قَرِيبًا مِنْهُ فَقُلْتُ يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ
مَا تَأْمُرُنِي أَعْمَلْ قَالَ يَا حَرْمَلَ يَا حَرْمَلَ
يَا حَرْمَلَ يَا حَرْمَلَ يَا حَرْمَلَ يَتِي الْمَعْرُوفَ
وَاجْتَنِي بِالْمُنْكَرِ وانظر ما يعجب أذنك أن يقول
لك القوم إذا قمت من عندهم فأته وانظر
الذي تكره أن يقول لك القوم إذا قمت
من عندهم فاجتنبه فلما رجعت تفكرت فإذا هما
لم يضع شيئا So Harmada ibn Abdillah said,
I went to the Prophet ﷺ and remained
with him until he recognized me.
When I was about to leave, I thought
I will return to gain more knowledge.
I returned to the Prophet ﷺ and asked,
What do you command me to do?
He said, Oh Harmada, do what is good
and avoid what is evil.
Do ma'ruf and avoid munkar.
Do what is good and avoid what is
evil.
I went back to my mount but I
returned again and asked, Oh Messenger of Allah,
what do you command me to do?
He said, Oh Harmada, do what is good,
avoid what is evil.
And consider what you would like people to
say about you when you leave them.
Do that and consider what you dislike people
saying about you when you leave.
Avoid that.
When I returned, I realized that this encompassed
everything.
This encompassed everything.
Now this hadith is da'if but it
has amarat an-nabuwa.
It has the light, you know, the illumination
of prophethood on it.
And it is corroborated.
It is corroborated.
Corroborated by many a hadith.
You know, Sufyan ibn Abdullah al-Thaqafi when
he came to ask the Prophet ﷺ for
a good counsel, what did he tell him?
قُلْ أَمَنْتُ بِاللَّهِ ثُمَّ اسْتَقِمْ Say, I believe
in Allah and then be upright.
Just be, that's it.
Say, I believe in Allah and be upright.
اِيْتِ الْمَعْرُوفِ Do good and avoid evil.
The Prophet repeated it for him.
There is a message here.
The same message that is being given to
Sufyan ibn Abdullah al-Thaqafi.
You know, قُلْ أَمَنْتُ بِاللَّهِ ثُمَّ اسْتَقِمْ Be
upright.
You know, and he didn't explain.
Just be upright.
Do good.
Then explain.
There is a message.
And the same message that was sent, that
was given to Wabisa when he came and
asked the Prophet ﷺ about al-Birr and
al-Ithm.
قُلْ أَمَنْتُ بِاللَّهِ ثُمَّ اسْتَقِمْ When Wabisa came
to ask the Prophet ﷺ about, you know,
goodness and sin, he said to him that
al-Birr is good manners, and al-Ithm
is whatever wavers or rankles in your chest,
and you dislike for people to know about
it.
اِسْتَفْتِ قَلْبَكْ Consult your heart.
Consult your heart.
No matter how many fatwas you get from
people.
Consult your heart.
That does not mean to ignore knowledge, but
it means that when there is confusion, consult
your heart.
And all of the hadiths are pointing to
one thing.
Pointing to many, many things.
Why is the Prophet ﷺ insisting that it's
self-evident?
Why is the Prophet ﷺ telling him, اَيْتِ
الْمَعْرُوفُ وَاجْتَنِبِ الْمُنكَرِ This is someone who is
new to Islam, by the way.
Someone who just spent some time with the
Prophet ﷺ until the Prophet ﷺ recognized them,
and then he went back to ask the
Prophet ﷺ a bit more.
This is someone who comes from far away
to ask the Prophet ﷺ about a good
counsel.
And the Prophet ﷺ says to him, Be
upright.
Do good.
Be upright.
Consult your heart.
What is the message of this?
Lots of messages.
The first thing that we have to look
at is the very expression of المعروف المنكر.
Where does المعروف come from?
What does المعروف mean?
Literally.
Known.
What does المنكر mean?
Literally.
Unknown.
You know معرفة النكرة?
Definite and indefinite?
That's where it comes from.
Known.
Unknown.
Meaning what?
It refers to moral objectivity.
It refers to moral universality.
It refers to the original disposition.
الفترة.
Human فترة.
Original disposition.
It is basically telling you that Allah had
created you with the preparedness to recognize good
as good and bad as bad.
It is good is not alien to you.
It's inherent to you.
As a human being, معروف.
Good.
معروف is known.
We translate it as good.
منكر is unknown.
We understand it and translate it as evil.
What is being told to you is that
good is not alien to you.
It's inherent.
Bad is alien to you.
Evil is alien to you.
And you should, and that's why the Prophet
ﷺ says what tranquils in your chest, wavers
in your chest.
You feel uneasiness.
It's alien to you.
It is alien to you as a human
being.
Now some people would have corrupted their فترة
enough.
Then, فَمَنْ زُيْنَ لَهُ سُؤْحَمَرِهِ فَرَآهُ حَسَنَةً As
Allah ﷻ said, have you not seen Him
whose evil deeds have been adorned for Him
or beautified for them until they see them
as good.
So that is انتقاس الفترة.
That is the فترة that is upside down.
Some people could do this to themselves, but
that is not how God created you.
And what you should be working for is
to reclaim your فترة.
Basically, turn it right side up.
That's it.
Reclaim your فترة.
And certainly this is through, you know, integrity,
sincerity, integrity and sincerity.
And basically, honesty with yourself.
Like, you have to be honest with yourself
because, you know, that's the problem that we
often deceive ourselves.
We often lie to ourselves.
But if we're honest with ourselves and we
seek, you know, that integrity and that devotion
to Allah ﷻ, we will be able to
reclaim our good فترة and purified, purified from
all the corruptors of the فترة.
So this is very powerful.
But then, you know, there is another layer
also in this ḥadīth that we have to
recognize.
Another layer in this ḥadīth that we have
to recognize.
المعروف is that which is known.
That which is known.
It adds to this universality some contextuality as
well.
Some contextuality as well.
And even the Prophet ﷺ said to him,
when you leave, you know, a people, you
know, think about what you want them to
say about you and do it.
You know, and think about what you do
not like for them to say about you
and refrain from it.
So he's making the people, he's giving some
referentiality to people's thoughts.
Referentiality to people's thoughts of you.
And this is important.
This is important.
This adds contextuality.
معروف also, you know, to some extent, is
culturally dependent.
And you have to be sensitive to the
culture.
You have to be sensitive to the culture.
There are certain behaviors, certain actions, certain statements
that would not be acceptable in one culture.
For instance, you know, so the Prophet ﷺ
had braids.
He had braids.
He went into Mecca with four braids.
That was the cultural norm.
If braiding your hair becomes a sign of
something else in a particular culture, there are
scholars who recognize that you should be adaptive
to the culture.
You should be sensitive to the culture.
You should be sensitive to the culture.
There is nothing inherently problematic about braiding your
hair, but if it becomes a sign...
For instance, if shaving your hair, the scholars
usually mention this, if it becomes a sign
of...
shave their hair, you should not be shaving
your hair.
If something in particular, if a particular hairstyle
becomes known to be, you know, something that
people who lack integrity, lack morality, you know,
shave their hair or have this hairstyle, you
should avoid it.
Not because it is inherently problematic, but because
ma'ruf is called ma'ruf because of
this.
Because in addition to that universality and that
human, genuine, original disposition that is being invoked
here in the very term ma'ruf, there
is also that contextual aspect.
What people recognize as good.
What people recognize as good.
Didn't the Prophet ﷺ say, أَنتُمْ شُهَدَاءُ اللَّهِ
فِي الْأَرْضِ You are Allah's witnesses on earth.
What you recognize as good is good.
What you recognize as bad is bad.
So, didn't Abdullah ibn Mas'ud say, مَا
رَأَوْهُ الْمُسْلِمُونَ حَسَنًا فَهُوَ حَسَنًا وَمَا رَأَوْهُ الْمُسْلِمُونَ
قَبِعًا فَهُوَ حَسَنًا Whatever the Muslims perceive as
Hasan is Hasan, or as good, as good
is good, and whatever they perceive as ugly
is ugly.
Yes, so you have, you really have to
factor this in.
And this requires some degree of humidity.
This requires some degree of humidity.
Sometimes, you know, I sometimes post on Facebook.
And sometimes people have like, you know, certain
thoughts to share with me in the comment
section.
And sometimes I get tempted to say, you
know, I don't care about what people think.
I care about what, you know, Allah.
SubhanAllah, I care about Allah.
I don't care about people or so.
I keep myself saying that because that's not
humidity.
I care about what people think.
I care a lot more about what Allah
thinks.
You should care about what people think.
You should care a lot more about what
Allah thinks.
And your care about what people think should
never make you displease Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala.
You should never favor people's thoughts over Allah's,
basically, you know, over
Allah's observation of you, Allah's watchfulness over you.
You should, but should you say, I don't
care about people?
No, you should not say, I don't care
about people.
You should care about people.
You should care about people.
And you should try to not offend people.
And in fact, you know, some of the
scholars said that a person's good reputation is
the shadow of Allah's acceptance on earth.
So the manifestation of Allah's acceptance, you know,
وَوَضِعَ عَلَهُ الْقَبُولُ فِي الْأَرْضِ You know, when
Allah loves someone, He calls upon Jibreel, I
love him.
And then Jibreel calls upon the angels.
And then a person's good reputation is the
shadow of Allah's acceptance of them.
So you should not say, you know, I
only care about what Allah thinks of me.
I don't care about other people.
No, you should care about people.
You should certainly care more about Allah.
But you should also care about people.
And that's what the Prophet ﷺ was telling
him here.
So Haramala, and he said, consider what you,
consider what you would like people to say
about you when you leave them, do that.
And consider what you dislike people saying about
you, avoid that.
So he said, Haramala says, when I returned,
I realized that this encompassed everything.
Encompassed everything.
Integrity, sincerity, humility.
If you actually are able to get those
down right, you're done.
Integrity, sincerity, humility.
Integrity, sincerity, humility.
شَرْطَ قَبُلِ الْعَمَلِ The two conditions for acceptance
of any deed, الإخلاص والمتابعة, you know, ikhlas,
sincerity, and correction to follow the Prophet ﷺ
and not to innovate in his deen.
أَمْ لَهُمْ شُرْعَ لَهُمْ مِنَ الدِّينِ مَنْ لَمَ
يَأْذَنْ بِهِ اللَّهِ Not to add to the
deen of the Prophet ﷺ and to follow
his footsteps.
So الإخلاص والمتابعة, that is integrity and sincerity.
But you need to avoid Iblis' you know,
sort of Iblis' phenomenon.
Iblis' phenomenon is, he became arrogant.
He became arrogant.
And your integrity should not, and the fact
that you're working hard on yourself, could actually
make you arrogant and destroy you.
Because you may actually be good.
You may be actually, like, technically speaking, you
know, you're really trying your best.
You're like, you're going to work, you're taking
care of your family, and you're making your
five daily prayers, and you're fasting Ramadan, and
you keep on counting this, and you're coming,
you know, to study Usul al-Fiqh, or
Qa'at al-Fiqh, or something.
And a lot of things, you know, you
have checked a lot of boxes.
But then, once you start to, like self
-conceit, you know, self-conceit can destroy you
if you're not watchful.
So humility has to be added to this
mixture.
So integrity, sincerity, humility.
Then, I have a couple more.
So Mu'tamir said, I mentioned to my father
the hadith of Abu Uthman from Salman, that
he said, the people of goodness in this
world are the people of goodness in the
Hereafter.
My father said, I heard Abu Uthman narrating
this from Salman, so I knew it was
such.
I have never narrated it to anyone.
Musa narrated to us, Abd al-Wahhab narrated
to us, from Asim, from Abu Uthman, the
Messenger of Allah ﷺ said something similar.
So this hadith is a repetition.
And perhaps we should stop here.
Our next, you know, chapter is باب ان
كل معروف صداقة Chapter, Every Act of Goodness
is يقول قولي هذا استغفر الله يلاكم سبحانك
اللهم و بحمدك اشهد ان لا اله الا
انستغفرك و اتوب اليك