Hatem al-Haj – ADB028 Al-Adab Al-Mufrad – Chapter on Smiling

AI: Summary ©
The importance of laughter, sensitivity to natural phenomena, and protecting captives is emphasized in the context of the Prophet's teachings. The importance of focus, purpose, and being present in the moment in achieving success is emphasized, as it is a natural evolution for humans. The importance of protecting all slaves during difficult times and setting them free is emphasized, as it is a natural evolution for humans. The importance of consulting with friends and leaders is emphasized, and the importance of showing love and support to people is emphasized. The importance of du ton, du ton, du ton, du ton, du ton, du ton, du ton, du ton, du ton, du ton, du ton, du ton, du ton, du ton, du ton, du ton, du ton, du ton, du ton, du ton, du ton, du ton, du ton, du ton, du ton, du ton, du ton, du ton, du ton, du ton, du
AI: Summary ©
In the name of Allah, the most gracious,
the most merciful.
To proceed.
Imam al-Bukhari, may Allah have mercy on
him, said in his book Al-Azab al
-Mufrad, Chapter on Smiling.
Ali ibn Abdullahi said, Sufyan said, Ismail said,
Qais said, Jarir said, The Messenger of Allah,
peace and blessings be upon him, has not
seen me since I entered Islam, except with
a smile on my face.
The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be
upon him, said, A man from the best
of Yemen enters through this door.
Upon his face is the face of Malak.
And Jarir entered.
Jarir said, Since I embraced Islam, the Messenger
of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him,
never saw me without smiling at me.
And the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings
be upon him, said, A man from among
the best of Yemen will enter through this
door.
On his face is the radiance of an
angel.
Then Jarir entered.
Then Jarir entered.
That's Jarir ibn Abdullahi al-Bajali.
Jarir ibn Abdullahi al-Bajali.
Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, used
to say, Jarir is the Yusuf of this
Ummah.
Because he was tall, and he was very
handsome.
Like, very handsome.
That's why the Prophet, peace and blessings be
upon him, says that he has like, the
radiance of an angel on him.
And they didn't try to wait for, like,
I don't know if it's okay here, but
people usually refer to men here as handsome
versus beautiful.
In Arabic, it's beautiful.
It's jameel.
Rajul jameel, mra'atun jameela.
They don't make that distinction.
They don't have a problem with beauty, I
guess.
They didn't have a problem with beauty.
And it was not, in any way, non
-masculine to talk about beauty, even in men.
But these are, you know, some of the
things that, some of the concepts that we
may have lost to some extent.
So, Jarir ibn Abdullahi al-Bajali, you know,
came in the 10th or the 9th year
after the hijrah of the Prophet, peace and
blessings be upon him.
So he was clearly one of the companions
that were lost to, you know, one of
the companions that were late in conversion.
And when he came to see the Prophet,
peace and blessings be upon him, he stopped
by before he entered the masjid of the
Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, and
changed because he was, like, he was coming
from a long travel.
And so he wanted to look his best
when he meets the Prophet, peace and blessings
be upon him.
And this is basically good decorum.
You want to be doing this.
There is no problem in this.
Yes, Allah does not look at your images
or shapes and sawarikum wa as-salamu alaykum
and your bodies, but looks at your deeds
and your hearts.
But then you want to be presentable and
you want to look your best, particularly if
you're coming to meet the Prophet, peace and
blessings be upon him, for the first time.
And Jarir was known for his nobility.
It has been reported, although it's like one
of Marasil al-Shaabi has been reported that
the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him,
said about Jarir or in the context of
Jarir's arrival, إِذَا أَتَاكُمْ كَرِيمُ قَوْمٍ فَأَكْرِمُوا When
someone, like a person who is noble among
his people, known for nobility among his people,
come to you, then treat him with nobility,
treat him with respect and generosity.
أَكْرِمُوا Be generous to them.
It's a part of the larger concept of
إِذَا أَتَاكُمْ كَرِيمُ قَوْمٍ فَأَكْرِمُوا So you place
people in their proper place, I guess, which
means that it does not mean that you
transgress anyone, does not mean that you disrespect
anyone, but people who have a position among
their people, they are known for their wisdom,
they are known for their leadership, they are
known for their accomplishments, then you treat them
as such, with respect for their accomplishments.
And Jarir was an accomplished man, he was
Sayyid Qawmi, he was the leader of his
people, then you treat them with that in
mind.
Now the point in the hadith that Imam
al-Bukhari wanted to mention the hadith for
is the Tabassum of the Prophet ﷺ.
He never seen him except that he smiled
to him.
In fact, we know that there are three
different degrees of laughter, or ضحك, ضحك comes
in three different degrees.
And Jarir is one of the people who
actually told us that the Prophet would laugh
sometimes, not only smile, but would laugh sometimes.
So you have a Tabassum, you have a
ضحك, and you have القهقه.
قهقه Whatever.
القهقه So these are three different layers of...
By the way, are these Indian numbers?
So it's controversial.
Some people say these are Indian numbers, not
Arab numbers or Arabic numbers.
But, you know, I've read like a paper
on this.
They've shown the Indian numbers from that time,
and they look quite different.
So it appears that these are Arabic numbers
that Arabs of the East used.
These are Arabic numbers that the Arabs of
the West use.
So these are Western Arabic numbers.
These are Eastern Arabic numbers.
You know, some of the scholars have used
both numbers in their books.
Sometimes they use these, sometimes they use those.
So these are all Arabic numbers.
These are Eastern, and these are Western.
Were these inspired by the Indian numbers?
It's possible, you know, but they don't look
exactly like the Indian numbers.
Anyway, so these are three different layers of
ضحك or تبسم.
تبسم, that is smiling.
ضحك, which would be translated as laughing.
How do you translate قهقه?
I guess loud laughing.
Hello.
Okay.
So what did the Prophet ﷺ do, and
what did he advise against?
He did much of this.
So much of this that, you know, Abdullah
ibn al-Harith, you know, another companion said,
I've never seen anyone smile more than the
Prophet ﷺ.
So this warm, comforting smile.
Basically to, you know, induce comfort, peace, tranquility
in the environment.
This warm, comfortable smile that used to not
leave the face of the Prophet ﷺ.
So then you have ضحك.
Did the Prophet ﷺ laugh?
Many times they say that the Prophet ﷺ
did not laugh.
They mean by this قهقه, the loud laughing.
As Aisha said, قَتَتْ دُوَ لَهَوَاتُ Until you
can see the back of his throat.
The لَهَوَات would be the uvula.
You know the uvula?
That little tongue that comes down from the
soft palate in the back of your throat.
That is, you know, and actually in the
pictures when they wanted to depict قهقه, they
show someone with like a wide open mouth
and they show their uvula.
You know, right?
They do that.
So anyway, so this would be قهقه.
The Prophet ﷺ did not do قهقه.
He did a little bit of this within
the proper context and he did much of
that.
Much of تبسم, a little bit of ضحك,
no قهقه.
That is, certainly قهقه is not haram unless,
you know, it would not be haram necessarily.
It is discouraged.
Unless you're doing this in the context of
mockery of people and so on.
But I'm talking about, you know, without anything
haram in addition, you know, without any additional
haram, قهقه would not necessarily be haram but
it would be discouraged.
As we will see now, inshallah.
So then the next hadith says, حَدَّثَنَا أَحْمَدُ
بِنَ عِيسَىٰ قَالَ حَدَّثَنَا عَبْدُ اللَّهِ بِنْ وَهْبٍ
قَالَ أَكْبَرَنَا عَمْرُ بِنِ الْحَارِثِ أَنَّ أَبَن نَظْرَ
حَدَّثَهُ عَنْ سُلَيْمَنَ بِنِ يَسَارِ عَنْ عَائِشَةٍ زَوْجِ
النَّبِيِّ ﷺ قَالَتْ مَا رَأَيْتُ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ سَلَّمَ
ظَاحِكًا قَطْتَ حَتَّ أَرَى مِنْهُ لَهَوَاتِهُ إِنَّمَا كَانَ
يَتَبَسَّمْ قَالَتْ وَكَانَ إِذَا رَأَى غَيْمًا أَوْ رِيحًا
عُرِفَ فِي وَجْهِهِ فَقَالَتْ يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ إِنَّ
النَّاسَ إِذَا رَأَوْ الْغَيْمَ فَرِحُوا رَجَاءَ أَن يَكُونَ
فِيهِ الْمَطَرُ وَأَرَاكَ إِذَا رَأَيْتَهُ وَعُرِفَتْ فِي وَجْهِكَ
الْكَرَاهَةُ فَقَالَ يَا عَيْشَ مَا يُؤْمِنِّي أَن يَكُونَ
فِيهِ عَذَابٌ عُذِّبَ قَوْمٌ بِالرِّيحُ وَقَدْ رَأَى قَوْمٌ
الْعَذَابَ مِنْهُ فَقَالُوا فَهَذَا عَارِضٌ مُمْطِرُنَا عائشة, the
wife of the Prophet ﷺ said I never
saw the Messenger of Allah ﷺ laugh laugh
such that I could see his uvula or
the back of his throat he would only
smile she added, whenever he saw clouds or
wind it could be noticed on his face
so I asked, O Messenger of Allah when
people see clouds they rejoice, hoping for rain
yet I see that when you see them,
you appear distressed he said, O Aisha what
ensures me that it does not carry punishment
a people were punished by the wind when
they saw the punishment they said, this is
a cloud bringing us rain this is a
cloud bringing us rain so two things in
this hadith Aisha first speaks of the Prophet
ﷺ not laughing to the point where she
can see the back of his throat so
this type of laughter the Prophet ﷺ did
not laugh this way but then he said
his laughter was only smiling so we said
that people did say that the Prophet ﷺ
laughed laughing is when you produce a sound
that not everybody in the room would hear
kahkaha is when you produce a sound that
everybody in the room would hear laughing like
the best you don't produce any sound you
don't produce any sound and the best does
not come with any sound so the Prophet
ﷺ did laugh sometimes but that was not
frequent and then we say if someone says
the Prophet ﷺ did not laugh and someone
says the Prophet ﷺ laughed that he saw
the Prophet ﷺ laugh who do you believe?
you believe both but did he laugh?
yes because the person who says the Prophet
ﷺ did not laugh is telling about their
own experience they've not seen the Prophet ﷺ
laugh could someone else have seen the Prophet
ﷺ laugh?
yes and then in this case we take
the musbit the one who is affirming not
negating the second issue here in this hadith
is the fact that the Prophet ﷺ wanted
us to be sensitive to natural phenomena not
take things for granted not take the mundane
phenomena for granted because they look at the
fires now in California so you do not
want to take and these things happen all
the time so these things it's not like
these things happen all the time and affect
thousands and sometimes millions of people tsunamis and
things of that nature so the Prophet ﷺ
wanted us to be sensitive to the changes
in natural phenomena and not take everything as
mundane and routine and just take the things
for granted that sensitivity is important for the
life of your heart your heart will stay
alive you will stay conscious of Allah ﷻ
and of the actions of Allah if you're
not seeing them as sort of mundane natural
phenomena but the acts of God if you
see everything as the act of God you
will see the willfulness behind everything because these
are not mundane unwillful phenomena these are all
the acts of a willful agent Allah ﷻ
but this does not mean that the Prophet
ﷺ did not like rain when rain came
down the Prophet ﷺ used to go out
and walk in the rain he loved the
rain and he loved to walk in the
rain and he rejoiced in this then the
next chapter is Bab al-Dahik chapter on
laughter this
is a Hasan hadith so it's not sahih,
it's not da'if it's in the middle
Abu Huraira reported that the Prophet ﷺ said
reduce laughter for excessive laughter kills the heart
كثرة الضحك تميت القلب he did not say
ضحك يميت القلب he said كثرة الضحك excessive
laughter kills the heart or causes the heart
to die certainly people who are completely insensitive
they laugh a lot and people who laugh
excessively their character is basically condemnable to
all reasonable people particularly when the laughter is
combined with mockery or putting down others and
so on which is often the case but
the Prophet laughed so some laughter would be
okay excessive laughter is not okay قهقه is
discouraged laughter that includes mockery of others or
putting people down or causing people discomfort is
certainly not okay and then the next hadith
he said لاتكثر الضحك فإن
كثرة الضحك تميت القلب the same thing Abu
Huraira reported that the Prophet ﷺ said do
not laugh excessively for excessive laughter kills the
heart then this
is a beautiful hadith it's a powerful and
beautiful hadith Abu Huraira said the Prophet ﷺ
came out to a group of his companions
who were laughing and talking he said by
the one in whose hand is my soul
if you knew what I know you would
laugh little and weep much then he left
causing the people to weep Allah revealed to
him Oh Muhammad why do you make my
servants despair the Prophet ﷺ returned and said
أبشروا which means rejoice or be hopeful وسددوا
which means aim at your target hit your
mark be precise seek perfection and all of
that وقاربوا and come as close as you
can come as close as you can to
your target come as close as you can
to your target so there are many things
to learn from this hadith the Prophet ﷺ
Allah wanted to show us that the Prophet
ﷺ was ma'soom protected by divine guidance so
is the Prophet مفتقر إلى الله for this
guidance is this guidance inherent to the Prophet
ﷺ or he is مفتقر in need of
Allah for this guidance does he need Allah
like everybody else Allah keeps on reminding us
you know عَبَسَهَا تَوَلَّى أَنْ جَاءَهُ الْأَعْمَى you
know he frowned and turned away when the
blind man came to him Allah keeps on
reminding us that even the best of creations
and the most perfect of them you know
the prototype of the عَبْد that Allah created
the whole creation for for the عبادة for
his service is still in need of divine
guidance in need of divine correction as in
this hadith so after the Prophet ﷺ sort
of you know blamed the sahaba for their
laughter Allah said to him why are you
causing despair to my servants and then the
Prophet went back and said to them be
hopeful or receive glad tidings سَدِّدُوا وَقَارِبُوا aim
at your target and come as close as
you can so the Prophet is معصوم معصوم
comes in the passive voice right فَعَبْ or
مفعول it's an adjective in the passive voice
he's protected protected by God he's guided by
the divine and he is like everyone else
in need of divine guidance and divine protection
so that's one thing that we learned from
this hadith another thing that we learned from
this hadith is the Prophet ﷺ humbleness and
humility the Prophet ﷺ went back to the
sahaba to basically share with them the good
news after he you know sort of rebuked
their laughter he came back and shared with
them the good news and the statement of
the Prophet ﷺ that he shared with the
sahaba is is a way of life in
and of itself that is منهج للحياة أَبْشِرُوا
وَسَدِّدُوا وَقَارِبُوا وَسَدِّدُوا وَقَارِبُوا so be hopeful
be hopeful is the context it's the overall
context within a context do this within a
context of hope, not a context of despair
within a context of hope, positivity optimism, not
despair سَدِّدُوا aim at your target that is
basically pursuit of perfection, excellence you know be
as precise as you can aim at your
target and try to hit your target focus,
be attentive try to hit your target وَقَارِبُوا
recognition of human limitations recognition of human imperfection
yes, often times you may not hit your
target you may not hit the mark but
come as close as you can مَا لَيُدْرَكْ
كُلُّ لَيُدْرَكْ كُلُّ that which cannot be attained
in its entirety should not be abandoned either
so you try to get as close to
your target as you can you try to
get as close to your target as you
can so this is an invitation to excellence,
precision perfection, this is a recognition of human
limitations all within a context of be hopeful
be hopeful next is بَابُ
إِذَا أَقْبَلْ أَقْبَلَ جَمِيعًا وَإِذَا أَدْبَرَ أَدْبَرَ جَمِيعًا
a chapter when he approached or you know
he approached fully and when he turned away,
he turned away fully so he said, Imam
Bukhari said أَدَسَنَ بِشْرُ بِنَ مُحَمَّدِ قَالَ أَخْبَرَنَا
عَبْدُ اللَّهِ قَالَ أَخْبَرَنَا أُسَمَةُ بِنَ زَيْدُ قَالَ
أَخْبَرَنَي مُوسَى بْنَ مُسْلِم مَوْلَبْنَةِ قَارِضُ مَوْلَبْنَةِ قَارِضُ
عَنْ أَبِي هُرَيْرَةِ رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُ رَبَّمَا عَدَّسَ
عَنِ النَّبِيِّ صَلَى اللَّهُ سَلَّمْ فَيَقُولْ عَدَّسَنِيهِ أَهْدَبُ
الشُّفْرَيْنِ أَبْيَدُ الْكَشْحَيْنِ إِذَا أَقْبَلَ أَقْبَلَ جَمِيعًا وَإِذَا
أَدْبَرَ أَدْبَرَ جَمِيعًا لَمْ تَرَ عَيْنٌ مِثْلَهُ وَلَنْ
تَرَاهُ Abu Huraira sometimes narrated about the Prophet
ﷺ saying he who informed me or narrated
to me this was the one with long
eyelashes fair sides who when he approached approached
fully and when he turned away he turned
away fully no eye has ever seen the
like of him nor will it ever see
the like of him so the Prophet had
long eyelashes so this is a sort of
you know this is not they used to
love the Prophet so much that they would
even comment on his eyelashes so he says
أَهْدَبُ الشُفْرَيْنِ شُفْر is the منبت الشعر in
the eyelid it's the place where eyelashes grow
but anyway it refers to the long eyelashes
that he had certainly this would be a
mark of beauty they consider this to be
a mark of beauty particularly among women but
even among men they would consider it to
be a mark of beauty so he says
حَدَّفَنِيهِ أَهْدَبُ الشُفْرَيْنِ شفر or شفر but شفر
is more common than شفر إِذَا أَقْبَلْ أَقْبَلَ
جَمِيَعًا وَإِذَا أَدْبَرْ أَدْبَرَ جَمِيَعًا So the point
in this hadith is إِذَا أَقْبِلَ أَقْبِلَ جَمِيَعًا
وَإِذَا أَدْبَرَ أَدْبَرَ جَمِيَعًا When he came or
when he approached, he approached fully and when
he walked away or turned away, he did
this fully.
This is about what?
This is about focus, about purpose, about paying
attention to what you do, about being fully
present in the moment, you know.
So he walks, you know.
So he doesn't turn around like this.
He doesn't multitask.
He's not like holding, you know, like a
soda and like a sandwich and walking and,
you know, talking to people.
No, you know, paying attention, present in the
moment.
That's being mindful in every action.
So if he is going to speak to
someone, he's not doing this, you know.
So he walks up to the person and
he addresses them.
He approaches them with his entirety, with an
entirety, focus.
Now I am talking to this person, nothing
else.
So I'm not looking after the, you know,
mountain behind them or the garden.
No, I'm talking to this person.
So I focus completely on my conversation with
this person.
When I turn away and mind my other
business, I turn away fully and completely.
So this is about focus, paying attention, you
know, perfection, and being present in the moment.
You know, mindful eating.
You know, why we don't eat while we're
walking and stuff.
Just do everything mindfully.
When you want to eat, sit down and
eat.
Then he says, So he said the one
consulted is trusted.
This Abul Haytham is Abul Haytham Ibn Tayhan.
He said
to
him, فقال النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم, This
is another beautiful hadith.
Abu Hurairah reported, the Prophet ﷺ said to
Abul Haytham, Do you have a servant?
He replied, No.
The Prophet ﷺ said, Then when captives are
brought to us, come to me.
You know, yes, the enslaved captives, you know,
and we've talked before about why was that
so?
And basically, the fact that everybody did that,
and the difference is the treatment of those
captives afterwards.
And how Islam even gave them access to
freedom eventually.
So he said this to Abul Haytham Ibn
Tayhan when he went to visit Abul Haytham.
So the Prophet ﷺ came out of his
home, and he found Abu Bakr.
And Abu Bakr used to be like, you
know, shy person, reserved person.
So the Prophet ﷺ came out because of
hunger.
Abu Bakr came out because of hunger.
But when the Prophet ﷺ asked Abu Bakr,
What brought you out?
He said, I came to look at the
Prophet ﷺ and just like fill my eyes.
And then Umar came out.
What brought you out, Umar?
Umar certainly was, you know, he said hunger,
you know.
So Umar ﷺ, hunger.
So he told them, well, let's go to
Abu Haytham.
And then they went to Abu Haytham.
He brought them dates.
And then he wanted to slaughter, or he
slaughtered like a goat for them.
The Prophet ﷺ said to him, Don't slaughter
the one that, you know, the milk goat.
Avoid milk goats.
So he slaughtered a goat for them.
So the Prophet noticed that Abu Haytham was
doing all of this by himself.
Him and his wife.
And that was somewhat unusual.
Particularly for someone like Abu Haytham who was
somewhat well off.
So he said to him, Do you have
a servant?
He said no.
And then he said to him, When captives
come to us.
Later the Prophet ﷺ received two captives without
a third.
Abu Haytham came and the Prophet ﷺ said,
Choose one of them.
He said, O Messenger of Allah, You choose
for me.
The Prophet ﷺ replied, The one consulted is
trusted.
That's the point in the hadith.
The one consulted is trusted.
The one consulted is trusted.
So you have to take it seriously.
When you give counsel to people, you must
give good counsel to people.
When someone asks you about anything and you
don't have enough knowledge, say, I don't have
enough knowledge.
Don't give them bad counsel.
Just refrain or make dua for them.
Share your empathy.
But don't provide them with bad counsel.
So the one consulted is trusted.
He said, Take this one.
For I saw him praying.
Take this one for I saw him praying.
So praying means he is more competent?
Not necessarily.
But at least it means that he is
conscious of God.
Is this in and of itself an advantage?
Of course.
Then competency will be another advantage.
There are many other advantages that you would
be looking for.
But at least the Prophet ﷺ is telling
him about his gestaltish appraisal of the two
servants.
He said, I saw this one praying.
Which means that he's God conscious.
Then take this one because he is conscious
of God.
But then the Prophet ﷺ said to him
what?
He said to him, Take this one for
I saw him praying.
وَاسْطَوْسِ بِهِ خَيْرًا Which means, Treat him well.
Be good to him.
Treat him well.
Be good to him.
So when Abul Haitham returned home, his wife
said, You will not fulfill what the Prophet
advised you unless you free him.
So وَاسْطَوْسِ بِهِ خَيْرًا Take good care of
him or be good to him.
The wife, you know, and that's, you know,
المرأة الصالحة, the righteous woman.
الدنيا متاعه خير ومتاعها المرأة الصالحة So, life
is an enjoyment and the best enjoyment is
the righteous wife.
The righteous husband as well.
The righteous spouse in general.
They help you.
So, she reminded him of the sort of
the highest ethical standard.
And she have come to know this from
what?
From the Prophet.
From, you know, Islam.
From the Prophet ﷺ.
As if Islam had pointed this out to
them.
Had pointed them to the highest ethical standard.
This is the highest.
Yes, it is permissible.
It is legal to have slaves.
But, you know, the highest standard is basically
emancipation.
So, she said to him, you know, you
will not fulfill what the Prophet ﷺ advised
unless you free him.
So, he said he's free.
The Prophet ﷺ remarked, who did this before?
We went over this once before.
Abu Dharr, when the Prophet ﷺ gave two
slaves to Abu Dharr and Ali and said
to Abu Dharr, you know, take good care
of him.
Abu Dharr freed him.
And he said, he came back to the
Prophet ﷺ and asked one of the slaves,
he said, you know, you told me to
take good care of him.
So, I freed him.
So, they understood that ultimately that is what
they are being pointing to.
But that did not mean that the Sahaba
who had slaves or the Prophet ﷺ had
done something suboptimal or inferior.
Suboptimal or inferior.
Because when you say that this is the
highest ethical standard and this is ultimately what
we should be pursuing eventually, it does not
mean that at this point all slaves must
be enslaved so that we can be ethical.
No.
That gradual approach is in and of itself
the best approach.
Because as we said before, you know, captives,
like if you free captives, they regroup and
fight you back.
Right?
Which is something that happened a lot.
You know, Salah ad-Din used to free
captives in his fights with the crusades and
he used to be blamed for freeing a
lot of captives because they regrouped and fought
back.
So, rich or the light-hearted, didn't they
kill all the, you know, the basically legions
of Akka?
Because you can't basically keep them and feed
them.
Like you can't imprison them and feed them.
During those times, how could you keep like
2,000 people and feed them?
If you can't afford food for your own
troops, how would you afford food for the
captives?
So, what are you going to do with
the captives?
Set them free, regroup and fight back?
Imprison them and feed them when you can't
feed your own troops?
What are you going to do?
The enslavement of captives was an incentive to
preserve their life.
Was an incentive to preserve their life.
Because otherwise, pragmatically, practically speaking, the other options
are what?
Set them free and they then fight back
or imprison them.
Not practical, not doable.
So this was an incentive to preserve their
lives.
So then, but they were, it was clear
to them, it was clear to the Sahaba
that stawsi bihi khayran, take good care of
him, would ultimately mean emancipate him when they're
ready.
Because not all slaves are ready to be
freed.
Not all captives are ready to be freed,
particularly when it comes to women.
Defend for yourself during these times when the
masters themselves may be subject to hunger and
poverty and need was not easy, defending for
yourself.
Anyway, you will not fulfill what the Prophet
advised you unless you free him.
So he said he's free.
The Prophet ﷺ remarked and look at the
remark of the Prophet ﷺ as well when
he saw this interaction between the man and
his wife.
He said Allah has not sent a prophet
or a caliph without having two groups of
confidants.
One who enjoins good and forbids evil and
another who spares no effort in leading them
astray.
Whoever is protected from the evil confidant is
indeed protected.
You know, the quality of leaders often is
determined by their batana, by their surroundings.
So if leaders have, and good leaders would
be keen on having a good batana around
them, a batana that would remind them of
Allah, a batana that will give them good
counsel and that's how good leaders, and that's
what the Prophet ﷺ was aware of and
sensitive to.
So he's talking here about prophets needing good
batana.
Prophets.
Not, you know, not anyone.
He says Allah has not sent a prophet
or a caliph without having two groups of
confidants.
One who enjoins good and forbids evil and
another who spares no effort in leading them
astray.
Whoever is protected from the evil confidant is
indeed protected.
So the prophets need good confidants.
Our Prophet had the best.
The best of generations.
كُنتُمْ خَيْرَ أُمَّةٍ أُخْرِجَتْ لِلنَّاسِ He were the
greatest generation to be brought forth for humanity.
And Abu al-Haytham ibn Tayhan and his
wife, and look at the wife also.
She is a good batana.
She is basically a good confidant because she
appointed him to basically the highest ethical standard.
Next, the Bab al-Mashura or the chapter
on consultation.
قَالَ حَدَّثَنَا صَدَقًا قَالَ أَخْبَرَنَا ابْنُ عُيَيْنَا عَنْ
عُمَرِ ابْنِ حَبِيبِ عَنْ عَمْرِ ابْنِ ذِي نَارِ
قَالَ قَرَأَ ابْنُ عَبَّاسِ وَشَوِّرْهُمْ فِي بَعْضِ الْأَمْرِ
Ibn Abbas recited and consulted them in some
matters.
Consulted them in some matters.
Now, does the ayah say وَشَوِّرْهُمْ فِي بَعْضِ
الْأَمْرِ No, the ayah says وَشَوِّرْهُمْ فِي الْأَمْرِ
Not شَوِّرْهُمْ فِي بَعْضِ الْأَمْرِ So, how come
Ibn Abbas is reciting شَوِّرْهُمْ فِي بَعْضِ الْأَمْرِ
consult them in some matters?
They used to do this as a قراءة
تفسيرية.
They used to, you know, read the Quran
and sort of insert words to explain concepts
or to interpret the recitation.
It's قراءة تفسيرية.
And why did Ibn Abbas say this?
Because a person who is indecisive would be
consulting about old things and that is wrong.
There are things that are clear.
So, you don't consult people about things that
are clear, that are definitive.
You know, شَوْرْ صَدِيقَكَ فِي الْخَفِيِّ المُشْكِلِ وَقْبَلْ
نَصِيحَةَ نَاصِحَ الْمُتَفَضِّلِ So, شَوْرْ صَدِيقَكَ فِي الْخَفِيِّ
المُشْكِلِ You consult your friend in that which
is subtle, ambiguous, uncertain, but basically, you're going
to hajj and you have the ticket and
you have you know, you made all of
your preparations, you took precautions and everything is
good.
And then you consult people.
Should I go to hajj?
Why are you consulting?
I mean, you're consulting people just to basically
keep you back or no, you should not
be consulting in that which is clear.
You should be consulting in that which is
ambiguous, not definitive.
And that's you know, they say مَنْ أَدِيمَ
مَنْ إِسْتَشَارُ وَلَا خَابَ مَنْ إِسْتَخَارُ The one
who consults people will not regret, and the
one who consults God through istikhara will never
lose.
So, you want to be consulting, but you
want to be consulting in some affairs, not
all affairs.
And you want to be decisive when it
is clear.
When the matter is clear, you want to
be decisive and focus, move on, and aim
at your target.
Then he said حَدَّثَنَا أَدَمَ بِنِ أَبِي إِيَاسِ
قَالَ حَدَّثَنَا حَمَّدَ بِنِ زَيْدَ عَنِ السِّرِيِّ عَنِ
الْحَسَنِ قَالَ وَاللَّهِ مَا استَشَارَ قَوْمٌ قَطْ إِلَّا
هُدُو لِأَفْضَلْ لِمَا قَالَ بِحَضْرَتِهِمْ ثُمَّ تَلَى وَأَمْرُهُمْ
شُورَ بَيْنَهُمْ الحسن said, by Allah, no people
ever consulted each other without being guided to
the best course available to them.
So usually there is actually like a nice
game in leadership programs, they share this with
people.
one day we should play this game.
It's a very nice game.
Basically they tell you if you're stuck on
a ship in the middle of the ocean
and a boat and they give you a
list of things that you can a list
of things that the boat is sinking so
you'll be on your lifeboat I guess.
They give you a list of things that
you can have with you on the lifeboat
and they tell you to choose so everybody
will choose separately and then people in groups
will choose together and then they compare what
people chose separately to the correct answers and
the correct answers is determined by the experts
you know, coastguards and stuff like this.
So determined by the experts invariably the individual
choices will be inferior to group choices individual
choices will be inferior to group choices this
meaning is said here except that they will
be guided to the best course available to
them available to them so group choice here
now certainly we're not talking about experts and
non-experts we're talking about non-experts coming
together, you know two minds are better than
one or two brains but certainly one expert
may be better than everyone so that has
to be taken in consideration as well you're
not talking about experts and non-experts you're
talking about comparable people but people also should
listen to the experts because an educated judgment
is usually better than an uneducated judgment then,
next is chapter, the sin of giving unsound
advice Arabic
Abu Huraira reported the Prophet s.a.w.
said whoever attributes to me what I did
not say let him take his seat in
the hellfire whoever is consulted by his Muslim
brother and gives advice contrary to sound judgment,
has betrayed him, has betrayed him, and whoever
is given a ruling without knowledge, its sin
is upon the one who gave the ruling.
So وَمَنْ أُفْتِيَ فُتْيَ بِغَيْرِ ثَبْتٍ This particular
hadith, من أُفْتِيَ فُتْيَ
بِغَيْرِ ثَبْتٍ Whoever was given
a fatwa without thabt.
Thabt here, this is the way Bukhari reported
it.
But the way of Imam Ahmad and most
others, this is not a very common variation.
But the variation that is much more common,
بِفُتْيَ The ba' moves from here to here.
بِفُتْيَ غَيْرِ ثَبْتٍ Or
thabt.
Thabt or thabt.
So whoever is given a fatwa of someone,
so thabt here would be بَيِّنَ أَوْرْحُجَّ Proof.
من أُفْتِيَ فُتْيَ بِغَيْرِ ثَبْتٍ Whoever is given
a fatwa without proof, without evidence, without proof,
بِغَيْرِ ثَبْتٍ بِفُتْيَ غَيْرِ ثَبْتٍ Thabt with a
fatwa of non-thabt.
Thabt is العالم, a thabt, you know.
So the scholar who knows what he is
saying, thabt.
So you are given the futya of someone
who is not verifying.
Or thabt.
Thabt, you know, بِفُتْيَ غَيْرِ ثَبْتٍ means incorrect
fatwa.
Because thabt would mean صَوَاب or correct.
Thabt would mean verifying scholar.
Or thabt in this context would mean بَيِّنَ
أَوْرْحُجَّ Proof.
Anyway, so all applies.
So if you are given a fatwa that
doesn't have evidence to back it, if you
are given a fatwa of someone who is
not knowledgeable, or if you are given a
fatwa that is incorrect, knowledgeable person give an
incorrect fatwa, then in all these cases, the
ism or the sin will fall on the
person who is given the fatwa.
Does that mean أَمَّنَهَا فِي رَأْبِ تَعَالَمٍ وَإِطْلَىٰ
سَالِمٍ which would translate into hang it on
the neck of a scholar and be safe?
So can you hang everything on a scholar's
neck and be safe?
No.
If you're, if you basically, certainly if you
ask someone who is ignorant, then you're, that
is certainly, you're not safe at all.
But even if you ask a scholar and
you know deep in your heart that he's
given you an incorrect fatwa, you're not safe,
you're not safe.
You're safe if you ask a scholar and
you're not confident that he's given you a
wrong fatwa.
You know, scholars are disagreeing all the time,
and you ask a scholar, you know, they
are, they are good, you know, you trust
them, they give you a fatwa, you hear
another fatwa that another scholar is given, and
they're disagreeing, and you're not confident one of
them is wrong, you can take whichever fatwa
you want.
You're not confident one of them is wrong,
you can take whichever fatwa you want, and
in this case, it will be the responsibility
of the one who gives the fatwa, not,
not your problem.
بِكَسْ لَا يُكَلِّفُ اللَّهُ نَفْسًا إِلَّا وَسَاعَهَا Allah
does not burden a soul beyond its capacity.
And al-Muqallid, who is unable to sort
out, you know, right from wrong, or the
weak from the strong, they should not be
liable.
They should not be liable.
Then, the next chapter is بَابِ التَّحَابِ بَيْنَ
النَّاسِ Chapter Fostering Love Among People.
The point in the previous hadith is, was
about what?
If your brother consults you and you give
them an unsound counsel or advice, then you
have betrayed them.
Of course, you know, that's a given.
The next, بَابِ التَّحَابِ بَيْنَ النَّاسِ For Fostering
Love Among People.
قَالَ حَدَّثَنَا إِسْمَعِيدَ بْنَ أَبِي وَيْسِ قَالَ حَدَّثَنِي
أَخِي عَنْ سُلَيْمَانَ بْنِ بِلَاءٍ عَنْ إِبْرَهِيمَ بْنِ
أَبِي أُسَيْدٍ عَنْ جَدِّهِ عَنْ أَبِي هُرَيْرَ عَنْ
النَّبِي ﷺ قَالَ وَالَّذِي نَفْسِي بِيَدِهِ لَا تَدْخُلُوا
الْجَنَّةَ حَتَّى تُسْلِمُوا وَلَا تُسْلِمُوا حَتَّى تَحَابُوا وَأَفْشُوا
السَّلَامَ تَحَابُوا وَإِيَّاكُمْ وَالْبِغْضَةَ وَإِيَّاكُمْ وَالْبِغْضَةَ
فَإِنَّهَا هِيَ الْحَالِقَةَ لَا أَقُولُ لَكُم تَحْلِقُ الشَّعْرِ
وَلَكِن تَحْلِقُ الدِّينِ حَدَّثَنَا مُحَمَّدُ بِنْ عُبَيْتِ قَالَ
حَدَّثَنَا أَنَسِ بْنِ عِيَادِ عَنْ إِبْرَهِيمِ بْنِ أَبِي
أُسَيِّدِ مِثْلَهُ أَبُو هُرَيْرَ رِيْبُورْتِدْ The Prophet ﷺ
said, By the one in whose hand is
my soul, you will not enter Paradise until
you believe, and you will not believe until
you love one another.
Spread peace among yourselves, and the greeting of
peace, Yani.
And you will love one another.
If you spread the greeting of peace, you
will love one another.
Beware of hatred, for it is the shaver.
I don't mean it shaves hair, but it
shaves away deen, religious commitment, faith.
Similar narration by Muhammad ibn Husayn from Anas
ibn...
There is a similar narration from Muhammad ibn
Husayn from Anas ibn Ghiyad.
Anyway, so the point in this hadith is
about the Prophet ﷺ said, you will not
enter Paradise until you believe, you will not
believe until you love one another, and you
love one another, spread the greeting of peace.
You know, acknowledge people.
You know, because that brings about love.
Acknowledge the presence of people, and spread the
greeting of peace, that brings about love.
وَإِيَّاكُمْ وَالْبِغْضَةِ بِغْضَةِ is what?
That is hatred.
Severe hatred.
So you have البُغْض, البُغْض, you have البَغْض,
and you have البِغْض with كَسْرَةَحْتِ الْبَاء.
You know, so بِغْض.
So بِغْض and بَغْض are severe بُغْض, severe
بُغْض.
بِغْض and بَغْض are severe بُغْض.
So beware of hatred because it's the shaver.
It doesn't shave the hair, but it shaves
a face.
It shaves a face.
So this is extremely, extremely important, and it's
extremely important also, particularly for du'a, because
du'a could become resentful and hateful because
they feel that they are entitled to obedience,
you know.
So when I basically invite my people to
do this or to do that, I should
be entitled to obedience and then I'll start
to hate them, start to hate the community,
hate the society, hate the world, and so
on and so forth.
You should continue to give du'a, continue
to correct and to reform and to advise
and to counsel people from a place of
love, not a place of hate.
Of course you will hate sin.
Of course you hate sin and you hate
the sinful.
But this particular sinful person is a different
story because this particular sinful person is still
subject to salvation and what he needs of
you is your empathy most of the time.
Most of the time.
Well, sometimes you need to deter people from
wrongdoing by being assertive in your inkar, your
denunciation of your sin.
And those are particularly the people who are
defiant, wealthily defiant, and you know, aggressors.
Next is the Bab al-Ulfa.
How do you translate al-Ulfa?
Action, friendship, friendliness, maybe friendliness, right?
Friendliness?
Ulfa?
Friendliness?
Yeah, maybe.
Al-Ulfa, friendliness.
Narration.
This is a daeef hadith, but Abdullah ibn
Amr ibn Aas reported, the Prophet ﷺ said,
The spirits of two believers meet even over
a span of a days journey, though one
has never seen the other.
There's much discussion about, you know, the meeting
of spirits in hayat al-barzakh, the life
in the grave.
The life in the grave, for us Muslims,
is not vanishment.
All of us agree.
As Muslims, not vanished.
The souls do not get destroyed.
What decomposes is your body.
Your soul does not decompose.
Your soul exists.
And then some people, you know, have a
conception of the life of the grave that's
a little bit more animate than others.
You know, that, you know, the spirits are
a little bit more involved.
And, you know, it depends on, like Kitab
al-Ruh libn al-Qayyim, for instance, if
you read Kitab al-Ruh libn al-Qayyim,
you see a lot of action happening, you
know.
Some of it is traceable to the Prophet
ﷺ.
Some of it is traceable to the Sahaba.
Some of it is traceable to people after
the Sahaba.
Safarini talks about this concept, like when you
see that people keep on reporting, you know,
ru'a and dreams about they've seen so
-and-so in the grave, and, you know,
or someone who's dead and they see a
dream and things of that nature.
And he said that when these things are
corroborated by Allah of righteous people, that's fine.
You know, that's fine.
These things are not definitive.
Definitive.
You have to understand.
You have to have epistemic clarity to figure
out the difference between definitive and certain from
the non-definitive, the speculative, and uncertain.
So that's fine.
Many people report certain things or certain experiences
or certain ru'a or dreams.
They corroborate one another.
That's fine to hold this in a place
in your mind that will not compete with
the definitive that comes from Allah and His
Messenger, but without dismissal.
You don't need to dismiss them, because they
could be subject to isti'naas.
Isti'naas, like when you use sort of
like non-definitive evidence or corroborative evidence and,
you know, you just put it in a
place in your mind that's a little bit
lower than.
And even what comes to you from Allah
and His Messenger, is it all one undefined,
undifferentiated category?
No.
There are things that come to you from
Allah and His Messenger through mass transmission.
There are things that come to you from
Allah and His Messenger through speculative reports or
narrations.
There are things that come to you from
Allah and His Messenger with certain implications.
You know, their implication is certain, definitive.
There are things that come to you from
from Allah and his messenger was with uncertain
implications.
So this hadith we were talking about earlier,
لَا يَمْنَ عَنَّ أَحَدُكُمْ جَارَهُ أَن يَغْرِسَ حَسَبَتَهُ
فِي جِذَارِهِ So no one of you should
prevent his neighbor from placing his timber or
his beams on his wall.
We said that the majority of the scholars
are not acting upon the apparent implication of
this hadith, that you're prohibited from disallowing your
neighbor from inserting or placing timber on your
wall.
So how could you think that the implication...
To many people, this is straightforward, and that's
why when you get into discussions with people
who don't have any fiqh taste and lack
understanding of fiqh, it becomes quite frustrating.
It's quite frustrating because there is so much
that they need to learn first before they
can understand the topic at hand.
So are we saying that this hadith is
definitive in its implication, yet Abu Hanifa and
Shafi'i and Malik didn't really understand...
They were defiant or something?
Non-compliant?
No.
So that is why you have to humble
yourself and understand that your understanding is limited.
Anyway, so yes, do people meet each other
after they die and they are involved somehow,
watching over us and stuff like this?
This would be a different topic to discuss
in some detail.
Inshallah, maybe we go over Kitab al-Ruh
al-Ibn al-Qayyim one day.
But there is certainly...
This is a phase of our existence.
It is not vanishment.
It's a phase of our existence.
And there are certain things that Ahl al
-Sunnah agree on.
So al-Qabir al-Rawda mar-Riyadh al
-Jannah wa hafra man hafra al-Nar.
Ahl al-Sunnah agree on this, that there
is joy and torment in the grave.
Ahl al-Sunnah agree on this.
But how involved you are in the visitation
that happens between the people and stuff like
this, some of it is not definitive or
certain.
Next is, he says, حَدَّثَنَا عَبْدُ اللَّهِ بْنِ
مُحَمَّدٍ قَالَ حَدَّثَنَا سُفِيَانًا عَنْ إِبْرَهِيمِ بْنِ مَيْسَرًا
عَنْ تَوُوسٍ عَنْ إِبْنِ عَبَّاسٍ قَالَ أَنْ نِعَمُ
تُكْفَرُ وَالرَّاحِمُ تُقْطَعُ وَلَمْ نَرَى مِثْرَ تَقَارِبُ الْقُلُوبِ
the conditions of people.
Blessings are denied.
Ties of kinship are severed.
And we have not seen anything like the
closeness of hearts.
We've not seen anything like the closeness of
hearts.
And that's how your dawah will be effective.
When you're close to the person that's receiving
the dawah, you're much more likely to be
effective.
Much more likely to be effective.
لَمْ نَرَى مِثْرَ تَقَارِبُ الْقُلُوبِ We have not
seen anything like the closeness of hearts.
Then he says, حَدَّثَنَا فَرْوَةً And also the
closeness of hearts will make people more amenable
to listening to your good counsel and to
your advice.
The other dawah that you disagree with, you
do not want to push them away.
You don't want to push them away because
they are too strict, they are too loose,
they are too this or that.
If the hearts stay close to each other,
there will be a room for a fruitful
constructive discourse.
Once the hearts turn away from each other,
the intellects will not be able to bridge
that gap.
There is an emotional gap that cannot be
intellectually bridged.
Have you ever seen people like argue on
Facebook?
And then, you know, it could happen, you
know, it can sometimes happen when someone is
so impartial that they will put aside their
feelings and listen to the truth, the objective
truth.
But most of the time that doesn't happen.
99% of the time that doesn't happen.
So, you know, the closeness of the hearts
would be important for constructive discourse.
Then it says, حَدَّثَنَا فَرْوَةَ إِبْنِ أَبِي الْمَغْرَاءِ
قَالَ حَدَّثَنَا الْقَاسِمُ إِبْنِ الْمَالِكَ عَنْ عَبْدِ اللَّهِ
إِبْنِ عَوْنَ عَنْ عُمَيِّرِ بْنَ إِسْحَاقِ قَالَ كُنَّنَ
تَحَدَّثْ إِنَّ أَوَّلَ مَا يُرْفَعُ مِنَ النَّاسِ الْأُلْفَةِ
عُمَيِّرِ بْنَ إِسْحَقِ We used to say that
the first thing to be removed from people
is Ulfa.
Ulfa, we said affection, harmony, cohesion, friendliness, friendship,
and so on.
قَالَ بَابُ الْمِزَاحِ Let's just try to finish
this so that, yeah, can we?
We probably can't.
We can't finish باب المزاح because then we
will have باب المزاح مع الصبي also joking
with children.
So maybe we can defer باب المزاح chapter
on joking.
So مزاح or مزاح مزاح is the act
of joking.
مزاح are the jokes.
So next time, Inshallah, we will talk about
باب المزاح the chapter on joking and jokes.
مزاح and مزاح قُلْ قَوْلِ يَا أَظَىٰ أَسْتَغْفِرُوا
وَإِذَاكُمْ سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَىٰ مُحَمَّدُكُ شَيْءٍ وَلَا أَنْ اسْتَغْفِرُكَ
وَأَتَوبُ إِلَيْكَ And then 10.10, Inshallah, is
when we come back for our Q&A
session.