Ibrahim Hindy – Are You True To God
AI: Summary ©
AI: Transcript ©
We often speak about the importance of being
truthful, of being honest.
But we typically speak about this idea from
the perspective of being truthful to other people.
That if you're asked a question, you answer
it honestly.
That if you make a promise, you fulfill
this promise.
That you do not lie, that you do
not deceive.
And no doubt, Islam commands us to do
this.
And we often say, maybe often to our
children, if you lie, you destroy your credibility.
If a society lies often, it destroys its
social cohesion.
And again, this is true.
But when we talk about truthfulness from this
perspective, we're limiting the way the Qur'an
and Sunnah speaks about truthfulness.
The Qur'an and Sunnah tells us to
be honest to people, but does so from
the framework that this is the beginning of
the path.
That the path is much longer.
The idea of being a truthful person begins
with the idea of not lying or telling
fibs.
And it's a much deeper road.
So the Prophet ﷺ, he tells us, You
must be truthful.
You are obliged to be truthful.
For indeed, being truthful leads you to righteousness.
And being righteous leads you to paradise.
And a person will constantly seek truth.
He will be truthful and seek the truth
until he is written in the sight of
Allah ﷻ as Siddiq, as a true person.
A truthful person.
Realize, as you listen to this hadith, the
beginning of being a truthful person is to
speak the truth, but it's not the end.
In fact, the Prophet ﷺ tells you, when
you are truthful, it leads you to righteousness.
Meaning truthfulness itself is not righteousness.
If your entire concept of being truthful is
I don't lie to people, I don't cheat
or steal, you've limited the idea of being
true.
That's the beginning of the path.
The Qur'an and Sunnah is teaching us,
being honest and truthful to people should lead
you down a road where you become honest
and truthful with yourself.
And if you are honest and truthful with
yourself, that leads you down the road to
be honest and true to Allah ﷻ.
So the question we have to ask ourselves
today, are we true to Allah?
That's the question.
Allah ﷻ tells us, He says about the
Day of Judgment, this is a day that
those who are true will be benefited by
their truthfulness.
Allah says, يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اتَّقُوا اللَّهِ
وَكُونُوا مَعَ الصَّادِقِينَ O you who believe, be
conscious of Allah and be amongst the truthful.
Again, this is not speaking about this limited
idea of just speaking truthful words and not
lying.
No, no, no.
This is being true to Allah.
Be amongst the ones who are true to
Allah.
Are we true to Allah ﷻ?
Let's look at some verses in the Qur
'an that speak about this idea more.
Allah ﷻ says, The Bedouins said, some of
these Bedouin tribes, they said, قَالُوا آمَنَّا We
believe.
Allah ﷻ says, قُلْ لَمْ تُؤْمِنُوا Allah says,
You didn't believe.
So again, the question, are we truthful to
Allah?
Because we say we believe.
All of us say we're believers.
This group of people, when they said we
believe, Allah says, قُلُوا لَمْ تُؤْمِنُوا You didn't
believe.
وَلَكِن قُولُوا أَسْلَمْنَا Rather say you are Muslim.
Don't say you're a believer, say you're a
Muslim.
وَلَمَّا يَدْخُلِ الْإِيمَانُ فِي قُلُوبِكُمْ And iman, faith,
has yet to enter your heart.
وَإِن تُطِيعُوا اللَّهَ وَرَسُولُهُ لَا يَلِتْكُمْ مِنْ أَعْمَالِكُمْ
شَيْئًا And if you obey Allah and His
Messenger, you will not lose out the reward
of your good deeds.
Okay, so who are the believers?
Because we say we are believers.
This group of people said we're believers, Allah
said, No, no, no, you're not.
Iman didn't enter your heart yet.
So what is the definition of the believer?
For us to know if we are truthful
or not.
Allah tells you in the next verse, إِنَّمَ
الْمُؤْمِنُونَ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا بِاللَّهِ وَرَسُولِهِ Those who believe
in Allah and His Messenger.
ثُمَّ لَمْ يَرْتَابُوا And they don't waver in
disbelief.
وَجَاهَدُوا بِأَمْوَالِهِمْ وَأَنفُسِهِمْ فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ And they
fight and they struggle with their wealth and
their souls for the sake of Allah.
أُولَٰئِكَ هُمُ الصَّادِقُونَ These are the truth.
These are the truthful people.
And so you see immediately there's a recipe
here.
They have iman, they say we believe in
Allah and His Messenger, and all of us
say we believe in Allah and His Messenger.
But there's something else.
What made them truthful?
They were willing to struggle and to fight
and to sacrifice their wealth, their money, their
souls for the sake of Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala.
And this idea is strengthened by another verse.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, أَحَسِبَ النَّاسُ
أَن يُطْرَقُوا أَن يَقُونُوا آمَنَّا وَهُمْ لَا يُفْتَنُونَ
Did people think they could say we believe
and they will not be tested?
And notice the symmetry between these two verses.
قَالَتِ الْأَعْرَابِ قَالَتِ الْأَعْرَابِ آمَنَّا The Bedouins said
we believe.
And this verse Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
says, أَحَسِبَ النَّاسُ أَن يُطْرَقُوا أَن يَقُونُوا آمَنَّا
Do people just think they can say they
believe?
You think you just say the words?
وَهُمْ لَا يُفْتَنُونَ And they're not gonna be
tested?
وَلَقَدْ فَتَنَّ الَّذِينَ مِن قَبْلِهِمْ We tested the
people before them.
فَلَيَعْلَمَنَّ اللَّهَ الَّذِينَ صَدَقُوا وَلَيَعْلَمَنَّ الْكَاذِبِينَ Allah
will make clear those who are true and
He will make clear those who are liars.
Meaning you can't just say I believe.
Allah is gonna give you a test.
And you have to persevere through that test.
And you have to struggle through that test.
And only then Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى will make
clear the ones who are true and the
ones who are liars.
Then Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى gives us another set
of verses in Surah Al-Ahzab.
And this gives us an actual case study
of this idea.
Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى says إِذْ جَاءُوكُمْ مِّن فَوْقِكُمْ
وَمِنْ أَسْفَلَ مِنكُمْ وَإِذْ زَاغَتِ الْأَبْصَارُ وَبَلَغَتِ الْقُلُوبُ
الْحَنَاجِرُ وَتَظُنُّونَ بِاللَّهِ الظُّنُونَ Allah is saying remember
this army.
The Arabs gathered the largest army the Arabs
ever gathered.
10,000 soldiers to do what?
To exterminate Islam.
To kill all the Muslims of Medina.
Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى says إِذْ جَاءُوكُمْ مِّن فَوْقِكُمْ
وَمِنْ أَسْفَلَ مِنكُمْ They came from above you
and beneath you.
In all directions they surrounded you.
وَإِذْ زَاغَتِ الْأَبْصَارُ Your eyes were shifting in
fear.
وَبَلَغَتِ الْقُلُوبُ الْحَنَاجِرُ And your heart reached your
throat.
What does that mean?
Imagine the heart is beating so hard you
can feel it in your throat.
From how afraid they were.
وَتَظُنُّونَ بِاللَّهِ الظُّنُونَ And you began to make
assumptions about Allah.
You began to think different kinds of thoughts
about Allah.
هُنَالِكَ بِتُلِيَ الْمُؤْمِنُونَ وَزُمْزِلُوا زِنزَالٌ شَدِيدًا Here the
believers were tested and they were shaken greatly.
Then Allah gives you the example, how did
the people deal with this test?
وَإِذْ يَقُولُ الْمُنَافِقُونَ وَالَّذِينَ فِي قُلُوبِهِمْ مَرُضٌ مَا
وَعَدَنَ اللَّهُ وَرَسُولُهُ إِلَّا غُرُّوا Remember when the
hypocrite said, when they saw this army, what
did they say?
They said, Allah and His Messenger have promised
us nothing but delusion.
All they've done is deluded us.
The munafiqun when this happened, they started to
say, where are all these promises?
Didn't Allah and His Messenger promise us victory?
Didn't the Prophet say, we will have the
castles of the Persians and the castles of
Syria?
Where are all these promises?
Look, an army came to destroy us.
Where are these promises?
وَلَمَّا رَأَى الْمُؤْمِنُونَ الْأَحْزَابُ Then Allah tells you,
and when the believers saw the army, notice
it's the same army.
The munafiq, the hypocrite, is looking at the
same army as the believer.
The same soldiers, the same cavalry, the same
swords, the same arrows.
They're both looking at the same thing.
وَلَمَّا رَأَى الْمُؤْمِنُونَ الْأَحْزَابُ قَالُوا هَذَا مَا وَعَدْنَا
اللَّهُ وَرَسُولُ They said, this is the promise
of Allah and His Messenger.
وَصَدَقَ اللَّهُ وَرَسُولُ And God and His Messenger
are truthful.
وَمَا زَادَهُمْ إِلَّا إِمَانًا وَتَسْلِيمًا And it only
increased their iman and their submission to Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala.
They saw the same army, and they said,
this is the promise of Allah being fulfilled.
That victory only comes through the struggle.
And then Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala tells
us a few verses later, مِنَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ رِجَالٌ
صَدَقُوا مَا عَاهَدُوا اللَّهَ عَلَيْهِ From the believers
are men.
صَدَقُوا مَا عَاهَدُوا اللَّهَ عَلَيْهِ They were true
to what they promised Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala.
This is truthfulness.
فَمِنْهُمْ مَنْ قَضَى نَحْبَهُ وَمِنْهُمْ مَنْ يَنْتَظَرُ Amongst
them are those who fulfilled their promises, meaning
till death, and amongst them are those who
wait.
وَمَا بَدَّدْ وَتَبْتِينَ And they did not exchange
or try to change their religion or try
to change their promises.
They were steadfast.
Why all this?
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala tells you the
reason certain events take place the way that
they do.
لِيَجْزِيَ اللَّهُ الصَّادِقِينَ بِيُصِدَقِهِمْ That Allah may reward
those who are truthful for their truthfulness.
وَيُعَذِّبَ الْمُنَافِقِينَ إِن شَاءَ أَوْ يَتُوبَ عَلَيْهِمْ And
to punish the hypocrites if he wants or
to forgive them.
Anas ibn al-Nadr r.a was one
of these companions.
He missed the battle of Badr and he
felt upset that he missed this battle.
And he said, O Allah, if you give
me a chance, I will show Quraish what
I am capable of doing.
On the day of the battle of Uhud,
he arrived to the battlefield late.
And when he came to the battlefield, he
saw the Muslims were in chaos, running all
over the place.
He tells them, What's happening?
Some of the Muslims quit the battle, took
off their armor, went to the sidelines.
He said, What's happening?
They said, Rasulullah has been killed.
And this had been the rumor that was
spreading at this time.
Anas r.a, he said, فَإِن مَاتُ فَمُوتُ
عَلَى مَا مَاتَ عَلَيْهِ If he died, then
die for what your prophet died for.
If he was killed, then be killed for
what your prophet ﷺ was killed for.
And then he made dua.
He said, O Allah, I seek your excuse
for what these Muslims are doing.
And I am free, I am innocent of
what the disbelievers are doing.
And he went into battle.
And he fought until he was killed.
And he was wounded so much that they
couldn't tell, they didn't know who the body
belonged to.
And his sister could only identify his body
because of the birthmark on his finger.
And because of him, Allah ﷻ revealed this
verse, مِنَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ رِجَالٌ صَدَقُوا مَا عَاهَدُوا اللَّهَ
عَلَيْهِ Among the believers are men who are
true to what they have promised Allah.
فَمِنْهُمْ مَنْ قَضَى نَحْبَهُ وَمِنْهُمْ مَنْ يَنْتَظِرُ وَمَا
بَدَّلْوا تَبْدِينَ Amongst them are those who fulfilled
their vow till death.
And amongst them are those who wait.
And they did not alter their commitment at
all.
When the chips were down, when there was
difficulty, when not only was there a battle,
but he thought the prophet ﷺ had been
killed.
He was still willing to fight for the
truth.
And for Allah ﷻ.
This is no wavering in one's iman.
This is true iman.
Once a Bedouin man came to the prophet
ﷺ.
He accepted Islam.
And he joined the battle with the prophet
ﷺ.
And at the end of the battle, the
prophet took the spoils of war.
And he began to distribute it amongst the
Muslims who were fighting with him.
And he came to this Bedouin man.
He said, This is yours.
The man said, What is this?
The prophet said, This is your share.
Everyone gets a share.
This is yours.
The man said, Wallahi, ما تبعتك دي هذا
He said, By Allah, I didn't follow you
for this.
I didn't accept Islam to get something.
He said, I followed you so that I
will get an arrow over here.
And he pointed to his throat.
And I will have Jannah.
A little later on, there was another battle.
And lo and behold, the sahaba brought the
body of this man to the prophet ﷺ.
The prophet said, Ahu, ahu, is this the
same man?
They said, Yes.
And right where he pointed, exactly where he
pointed, there was an arrow.
The prophet ﷺ said, He was truthful to
Allah.
So Allah was truthful to him.
He was true to Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala.
So Allah was true to him.
Islam was spread by the prophet ﷺ and
a generation of sahaba, men and women, who
were willing to sacrifice everything because they were
true to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
They were true.
Their iman was true.
It wasn't just a word they said.
It was something they believed and they lived
to their last moments.
And this is the same kind of truthfulness
we need to have in our lives.
This is the day, the day of judgment,
that those who are truthful will be benefited
by their truthfulness.
بسم الله والحمد لله والصلاة والسلام
على رسول الله وعلى آله وصحبه ومن وعلا
In the 8th year of the Hijrah, the
prophet ﷺ sent a messenger to a Roman
Byzantine governor to invite them to Islam.
And on his way there, one of the
governor's chieftains of a Roman village intercepted this
messenger and executed him.
To kill an unarmed messenger then and now
is a war crime.
So the prophet ﷺ sent an army of
3,000 men to avenge the unjust murder
of this Muslim.
And this desecration of the norms of war.
And the prophet ﷺ appointed Zayd ibn Haritha
رضي الله عنه the leader of this army.
He said if Zayd is killed then Ja
'far ibn Abi Talib should be the leader.
And if Ja'far is killed then Abdullah
ibn Rawaha رضي الله عنه should be the
leader.
And he gave them the famous instructions of
our prophet ﷺ to go forth in the
name of Allah to fight those who disbelieve
but to not break their promises.
To not act unfaithfully.
To not mutilate bodies.
To not kill the children.
To not kill those who are worshipping God
in the monasteries.
When the Muslims arrived they found an army
of 100,000 200,000 soldiers ready for
them.
And some of them said, maybe we need
to go back.
Abdullah ibn Rawaha رضي الله عنه he said,
O people, why do you want to run
away from the thing that you want?
Either it is victory or it is shahada.
And he said, والله ما نقاتل الناس بعدد
ولا قوة ولا كفرة وما نقاتلهم إلا بهذا
الدين الذي أكرمنا الله به He said, we
don't fight people because of how much people
we have.
Our numbers.
Our power.
We fight them with our religion that Allah
سبحانه وتعالى has blessed us with.
We struggle, we fight for what is true
through our deen.
And so everybody agreed with Abdullah رضي الله
عنه And they understood, if they ran away
it would only encourage the attacking and the
killing of innocent Muslims.
So they went into battle.
Three thousand against two hundred thousand.
And the battle began.
Zayd ibn Harith رضي الله عنه the leader
of the Muslims, the flag bearer, the beloved
of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم was
struck by spears and he was killed.
And while this was happening, the Prophet صلى
الله عليه وسلم all the way in Medina,
hundreds of miles away, across a vast desert,
stepped out of his tent.
And he says, Zayd has been killed and
Jafar has taken command.
And think about Zayd رضي الله عنه He
is the adopted son of the Prophet صلى
الله عليه وسلم He was raised in the
home of the Prophet since maybe the age
of 10.
Today we talk about how traumatic it is
to witness a genocide being live streamed.
Gabor Matei who's a doctor, a Jewish doctor,
who himself was a child during the holocaust,
whose grandparents were killed in Auschwitz.
He said, Gaza is Auschwitz being live streamed
on Tik Tok.
It's traumatic to see this.
But subhanAllah, I think about this hadith, our
Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم in Medina is
seeing what's happening.
In the battle.
He's getting a live stream of what's taking
place.
And Zayd رضي الله عنه حب النبي صلى
الله عليه وسلم His nickname was the beloved
of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم from
how much the Prophet loved him.
Aisha رضي الله عنها She said, if Zayd
was alive when the Prophet was on his
deathbed, he would have made him a khalifa.
Aisha said this from how much she knew
the Prophet loved Zayd.
And the Prophet saw him die in front
of his eyes.
All the way in Medina.
The Prophet came out and said, Zayd has
been killed and Ja'far has taken the
flag.
And Ja'far رضي الله عنه fought.
They cut off his right hand.
So he held the flag with his left.
They cut off the left hand.
He held the flag with the stubs of
both arms.
Pressed against his chest.
Until he was killed.
Ja'far رضي الله عنه was the cousin
of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم.
And he was younger than the Prophet.
He was like the little kid.
And the Prophet grew up in the house
of Abu Talib, the father of Ja'far
رضي الله عنه.
The Prophet saw him, this little kid being
raised up.
Ja'far رضي الله عنه did hijrah to
Abyssinia.
And he came back late in the life
of the Prophet.
He came back after the conquest of Khaybar
رضي الله عنه.
And the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said,
I don't know what I'm more happy about.
The conquest of Khaybar or the return of
Ja'far رضي الله عنه.
And he used to say, إِنَّ خُلُقَكْ خُلُقِيْ
وَأَشْبَهَ خَلْقَكْ خَلْقِيْ فَأَنْتَ مِنِّي وَمِنْ شَجَرَتِيْ He
would say to Ja'far, The most similar
in my character is your character.
And the most similar in my creation like
how I look صلى الله عليه وسلم is
Ja'far.
You are from me and you are from
my lineage.
And the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم as
Ja'far was killed stepped out of his
tent.
And he says Ja'far has been killed.
And he صلى الله عليه وسلم began to
cry.
And then Abdullah bin Rawah رضي الله عنه
took leadership.
And he plunged himself into battle until he
was killed.
And here the Muslims didn't know what to
do.
They gave the flag to one of the
Sahaba Thabit Ibn Al-Akram.
And he held the flag and he looked
around and he saw Khalid bin Walid رضي
الله عنه.
And he knew Khalid even though he was
a new Muslim was a great general.
So he went and he gave it to
him.
There was no pride amongst the Muslims.
They gave leadership to the one they believe
deserved it.
He gave it to Khalid.
And the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم at
the same time steps out of his tent.
And he says Abdullah bin Rawah رضي الله
عنه has been killed.
And now a sword from the swords of
Allah has taken control.
And Allah will grant them victory.
And Khalid رضي الله عنه began to reorganize
the Muslims into groups.
Moving them around.
Causing dust to rise and a lot of
noise in the ranks of the army.
Such that the disbelievers thought the Muslims gained
reinforcements.
Then Khalid attacked them fiercely.
So it felt even more real that they
attained reinforcements because they're attacking.
And this army with all their 200,000
soldiers didn't want to fight.
So when they felt being attacked they started
to flee and to run away.
And Khalid رضي الله عنه returned to Medina.
The Muslims were able to say they held
their ground.
They fought.
They were not the ones to flee.
Their enemies were the ones to flee.
There are many many lessons to draw from
this battle.
But amongst them as Abdullah bin Rawaha said
in the beginning of the battle.
Muslims do not fight or resist because of
our numbers.
Because of our outward strength.
We fight and resist because of our deen.
Because of our obedience to Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala.
Because of our opposition to evil and to
injustice.
Secondly, as great as each of these leaders
were.
Zayd and then Ja'far and then Abdullah.
Every time one of them fell, another one
lifted the flag.
This is our ummah.
No matter which leader is killed, there is
always someone to lift the flag.
There is always someone to march forward.
One great Muslim dies.
Another one must and will rise up.
What shook our ummah more than the death
of Rasulullah ﷺ.
There was no musibah greater than that.
And yet, did Islam crumble or did Islam
grow?
It grew.
Because they understood these lessons.
One person falls.
The next person lifts up the flag.
Third, we understand and we learn.
That whatever we sacrifice for the sake of
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
Allah will repay you with what is greater.
Ja'far, his right arm is cut off.
Then the left arm is cut off.
Sacrifices his arms and his soul for the
sake of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
The Prophet ﷺ said, He said,
Allah has replaced his hands with wings.
And he flies wherever he wants in Jannah.
He gave up his hands, Allah gave him
wings.
In one hadith, the Prophet ﷺ says, O
people, Ja'far is flying with Jibreel and
Mikail.
He was with the sahaba.
Sacrificed that life, Allah gave him the angels.
The fourth point.
It's through tests and hardship and battle that
true iman surfaces.
The greatness of Zaid and Ja'far and
Abdullah ibn Rawaha is shown through their sacrifices
in the battle of Muttah.
And as we said in the beginning, Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala is telling you, being
true to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is
not just that you say you believe, but
that during times of tests and hardship and
persecution and battle and difficulty, that you are
firm in your iman.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala tells us, Righteousness
is not that you turn to the east
or west.
What is righteousness?
Allah gives you the recipe here.
Three things he mentions.
Three categories.
Righteousness is belief in Allah, in the last
day, in the angels, in the books and
the prophets.
Belief in Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
Just that?
No.
They gave their wealth to their family, to
the orphans, to the needy, to the travelers,
to those who are asking.
And they established salah and they give zakah
and they fulfill their promises when they promise.
Meaning good deeds.
The second category.
They did good deeds.
They didn't just say we believe, they did
good deeds.
Is that it?
No.
And those who are patient in poverty, in
hardship and in the heat of battle.
They're tested and they're patient.
These are the people who are true.
And these are the people who have taqwa.
May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala make us
of those who are true and those who
have taqwa.
Ameen.