Mohammad Elshinawy – Divinely Sheltered – Reflections on Surat Al-Hujurat 03
AI: Summary ©
The speakers discuss the importance of Islam and the Prophet sallal, as well as the need for unity in the community of Muslims. They stress the importance of credibility, acceptance of rumors, and faith in one's experiences and perception. The speakers also emphasize the need for leaders to be mindful of news and not be afraid of people. They stress the importance of faith in one's actions and experiencing one's satisfaction.
AI: Summary ©
salam ala Rasulillah Allah Allah He was happy to drain we begin the name of Allah All Praise and Glory be to Allah and mais finest peace and blessings be upon His messenger Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam and his family in his companions and all those who adhere to his guidance. So welcome back to divinely sheltered is what we call this study of Surah Al gerat. So that her gerat Is the surah of the Quran that summarizes for us, Deb will read our thought we said the manners and the etiquettes of engaging different relationships, in a nutshell, the relationship with Allah and the relationship with his creation Subhana Allah
and how that shelters us through these divine instructions in each of those relationships from miscarrying them miss handling them, okay.
We are at the sixth area when Allah azza wa jal says yeah, you have Latina Amano, Oh, you who have believed in Jaya ACOEM firstly, upon being Abba, in fact about a year No. If there were to come to you, a facet, you know a facet.
I'll come back to it. Let's just see a mischievous person, a sinful person Fine.
Be never in with some big news. fettered by ya know, then verify it first. Verify the news first.
And to see boo go man be Jehovah let him for two spirit who Allah am for Altona demean so that you do not harm a people based on
no grounds based on lack of substantiation Bucha hella out of ignorance.
Well, and
for those who are MF, ultimate, demean and then become regretful over what you did. Of course, regret in this case is not going to help. It will not change things many times and it will not excuse you because you are neglectful in verifying. But let's take this one step at a time. There's a story behind this oh you have believed if there come see you a fast if a like mischievous person with some big news, verify it first so that you don't act against others ignorantly
one of the people that the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam had appointed to collect Zika money from the various tribes that were committed to Zika because they were Muslims. So one agent of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam went to a people to collect their Zika late and so the people were waiting to hand over there's a cat to be brought to the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam when the agent did not come in time, they said something is wrong. The Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam might be upset at us, we have to go in unison together and deliver it to him ourselves quickly. And so they gathered themselves and they walked out in a large strong group. You know, they're carrying
money also. So I want you to imagine the, you know,
early Arabian form or version of the armored truck, they had weapons with them. Okay, you know, the armored trucks with the weapon with the money inside that delivers it. Okay. So we're on their way, the agent of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi salam who was coming to them, but late saw them,
saw them in their armor, artillery, right. And it so happened that pre Islam, there was some hostility, some tensions between his people, and between them.
So he automatically assumed they're back to their old ways. They're coming out to harm me and they're coming out to declare their refusal to pay zakat. They knew I was coming and they come out with their weapons. And so he went back to the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam and he said this group of people, men our Onizuka they refuse to give me this occur.
Naturally what's going to happen? All the sincere, passionate,
young
protective of their Deen so have a right are going to get fired up about this.
And so Allah subhanho wa Taala sent down this idea to address that incident to address that situation. And any situation that arises in our life that can be compared to it. He said, You know, this news that came to you of political dissent, basically, right, that they're supposedly rebelling against the state and taking up arms and refusing to pay the dues aka just
Because this man came to you and said that you should not be hasty you must verify first. You know, there's something also to think about here, the ISS if there comes to you a facet,
the word facet, generally speaking means like a rebellious sinner, a flagrant sinner, like a facet. Usually, if you commit a major sin, you become a festive, so committed of major sin, or as if an adverse or the Allahu Anhu has said that if you are persistent upon any one minor sin, like you're just chronically doing it, that would make you festive as well. Okay. But festival is not always a major sinner, it could be a Catholic altogether. And it could be a little bit less than a major center, right? The reason I'm telling you this, is because this man could not have been an untrustworthy person. Like he could not have been an open rebellious sinner. How do we know that?
He's, he's the collector of the Prophet SAW, Selim is the one who entrusted him with bringing money back to Medina. Right. And so he's not a pure facet. And yet, the Quran was saying, Be careful when you get your news from someone you can't rely on. In other words, credibility varies.
He was reliable when it came to his financial integrity. Right. But he is not reliable when it comes to reporting about people that between him and them was beef between him and them is problems. Sometimes a person can be reliable in certain respects, and not reliable in other respects. And the Muslim is supposed to be able to realize have that nuance have that maturity and how they discern?
Especially like one of the hardest things to be reliable in is the issue of Fitton, the issue of drama, the issue of fights between people, because you know, when there's hatred, and Mitzi envy tensions between people, that is one of the strongest factors that will cause your your honesty to crumble. You don't you don't like someone, if you just assume something about them quickly, that evolves or devolves into certainty.
If I hate you, and I hear a rumor that you committed X haram, you say, yeah, for sure, you'll believe it right away. You'll drop your filter. Why? Because I hate you. So I'm going to drop my filter. Right? And the opposite is also true when you love someone, and you're presented with hard facts about them. I don't care. It's not true. It's a real fake video, as they call them nowadays, right?
And so, credibility is different credibility. Being credible, for one thing doesn't necessarily mean you're credible for something else. This is an important lesson in that if this was a man that was of the utmost trustworthiness, when it came to money, he was not considered trustworthy enough when it came to reporting about a certain people, and about a matter of this magnitude.
And so it doesn't mean that if you're not a pure sinner, you get believed automatically. No, it depends on what we're talking about, like, you know, even Islamic law, the scholars of Islam have always been more lenient. When it came to the credibility of men to be a witness for a marriage contract, as opposed to the credibility of a man testify in court. It's a completely different process, completely different benchmark.
If I were to come to you and ask you, you know, is this the Imam of the Masjid? I don't need to vet you too much. I mean, the likelihood and you know, the consequences of you being wrong, not that big of a deal. I believe that any general Muslim, he tells me Chicago man is the man of the Masjid. But if someone's gonna come to me and say Imam Mahadevi has arrived.
It's like, no, hold on just one second. All right. It's a completely different rubric. We need to understand that, especially when it comes to major issues. And this idea in general, when it comes to a faster for be net bet, the word the net bat suggests big issues, right? Like, I'm not saying I never eat, I'll leave. What are they asking about? It's about the great never, so never are like big news, important issues, especially issues that affect the unity of the Muslims, the community of the Muslims. I remember I was in a community once and there was like, huge hostility
Believe it or not between the sisters.
And so one guy was trying to win me over and get me to like to arbitrate and stuff and step in because like, you know,
I'm the Khalifa that's gonna fly out of town and in 24 hours, I don't know what he thought I was going to be able to do, right. But he came to me and started basically demonizing one of the sisters to me, in this problem
So the amount of detail he shared with Mathematica listen, I'm gonna be honest with you, there is no way you know this much granular detail firsthand. So you must have gotten this probably from your wife,
not you.
So he got very offended. And he said to me, and my wife is not trustworthy. I said, with all due respect, I don't trust your wife, because I don't trust you. Well, I don't trust you. Because in fits, and I don't trust me, like, I don't trust my own opinion. So I'm not going to trust yours, let alone your wife's about someone she has hostility with. It doesn't work like this. Our Quran taught us differently, when it comes to major consequential issues when it comes to fit. And in particular, you want to have like a really tight valve, like a super stringent filter, because it's huge. And the tighter the issue, the more strict you want to be. That's why in the tightest issue, which is
what the issue of Deen, how did our scholars of Hadith, transmitting the words of the Prophet SAW said of them? How tight was their filter?
It was sort of guilty until proven innocent, not guilty in the sense that they would call a Muslim a liar. Because you would not allowed to do that. But they're saying this is like the words of Rasulullah sallallahu? Is Allah. This is what makes something mandatory on humanity, someone's wealth or blood becoming hattons Law, right? So how am I going to obligate someone with Allah, which means restrict them in a certain way, unless I'm sure that Allah actually revealed to His prophet that I have a right to impose that rule on him. Right? It is a huge deal. And so they would say it has to be a person with proven credibility, and then not just that proven credibility and proven
accuracy, because there's two different things right, you could not be lying, not know that you're lying. But you're also not able to be very accurate in recalling the Hadith. And then there has to be a consecutive chain of the likes of this transmission of, you know, credible and accurate from credible and accurate from credible and accurate. That's what they did. You know, even interestingly, we don't have too much time for this. But
you know, when the scholars of Hadith, we're talking about narrating from an innovator,
that, again, you can be faster from one respect, but not from another Right. Like, I'm not saying that they're saying that these innovators, sometimes we're not for cell. So the coverage, for example, the coverage were a deviant sect that arose at the end of the time of the sahaba. Right. The whole adage would consider major sins to be covered to be disbelief, right. And based on that they called Achmed have not found out their level I know and they're not even a bit Oliver Delano to be too far. But if the biller right,
you will find inside her body and elsewhere narrating from the coverage, they said why they said because the whole adage, due to how strict, overly strict they were, they were extremists, they were radical extremists, they would never lie.
And so therefore, as deviant as they were, in certain respect, this panel look at also the nuance look at the tolerance also, and the understanding of our scholars, we can accept the Hadith from him from the hostage, because he would not lie, but then hold on, they said, but we will still exclude any Hadith that has to do with his ideology. Because that could flaw you know, cognitively like I don't want to psychologize this, but you can miss here and Miss remember and reconstruct your memories when you have an interest in doing so. Right. So he can miss understand the Hadith. And mis recall a hadith not deliberately, but because it would serve the interest of propagating, you know,
his his ideology, his theology, his belief system. So, just I want to show you how methodical and how thorough and how they careful they were, in fact checking in verifying, and that is from this Quranic paradigm that we are so blessed to have?
And so how do we apply this to our life? Don't repeat everything you hear.
WhatsApp has destroyed the world. YouTube has destroyed the world, right? You know, even if something is likely true, but you don't have to, like weigh in on it then don't
like I'll give you an example. That comes my way a lot. Do I believe that there are lingering prevailing tendencies of racism the United States? Absolutely. But can I confirm that every incident that flies my way every time someone starts live streaming, some incident, right, some altercation with law enforcement?
In the middle of the incident that I actually know that this was, you know, unjust, excessive force. I can't know that. So why do I have to?
Does that make sense? I don't have to weigh in on these things. So you may not necessarily have to you then you should not if you're if you
don't have to, you should be careful, because bigger issues wider issues are more consequential and as a Muslim, I should be better than the next person at filtering advanced check at fact checking and confirming and verifying.
And the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam told us, we have been very minimal KTV and you had the time equally miasma, it is enough of a lie.
It is enough lying mean to destroy a person, for a person to relay all that they hear.
In other words, rumors, just to repeat them, to pass them along is a lie on the words of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam. And so when a rumor comes your way, Allah says Tibetian verify. But what is verify mean this verify mean? You know?
Go check if the rumor has been disproven. No, that's not what it means. It means the rumor the default the principle is that the rumor is not proven until enough evidence arises to prove it. So the rumor is not you know, right until proven wrong. The rumor is unestablished until proven right. And what proven right means is a ladder depending on how consequential you want that much more verification. I hope this is clear. Any questions on this?
Okay, move on now to the next idea so that you don't assault people out of ignorance and then become regretful over what you have done the next idea what Allah mu and Nephi come Rasul Allah, and know that amongst you, in your midst is the messenger of allah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam.
What does that mean?
What does that mean? Know that amongst you is the messenger of Allah?
Is Allah subhana wa Taala can't be telling them something they know something they can sense is not telling them he exists. He's telling them no, what this should entail that the Messenger of Allah is amongst you.
What What should it entail?
First I have the surah what should it entail?
Yeah, you have Latina Amano LA to cut them over in a de la hora. So they don't step forward ahead of Allah and His messenger.
Know that amongst you as the messenger of allah means you have your reference point on how to deal with this news. So these two ideas, one of them is talking about how the importance of confirming the news, but even if it turns out to be confirmed, then you need a reference point as to how to deal with it.
Without those two things, a community will crumble.
So he says Subhan Allah was I know that amongst you is the Messenger of Allah, allow you to configure theory, Minal Emery or any tomb where he sallallahu alayhi wa sallam to obey you, in many matters, you would go through a great deal of hardship.
And in other words, when news comes your way that provokes your passion, sometimes it's your heart is in the right place. It's coming from the right place, you're getting defensive about Islam, defensive about the Muslims defensive about justice, when there comes to this news that you know provokes you, and stimulates your emotions and stirs your your passions. You need to be careful, is this news that is provoking me true. But then after that, what is the reference point? Because that's what when the man came back with the news, the agent of the Messenger of Allah, there's a cat collector, the sahaba. As I said, they flared up, they got fired up and they wanted to retaliate.
But how are you going to retaliate?
You need to go back now and see, what does my leadership say? A lack of respecting leadership will undermine any organized work, because leadership more often than not, whether we admit it or not, they know better, they're closer to the context. And they are the ones in charge because if every one every you and your like minded fellows, groups of three groups of five are all going to independently figure out how to retaliate how to how to react to how to remedy then this is chaos, isn't it with Allah azza wa jal is religion, legislate chaos, you know, the Arab, the primitive Arab. The tribalistic, feudal out of at least knew this much within their tribe. They would feud
with other tribes, but within their tribes they used to say, I'll try to remember it.
They used to say Al Assad in Villa ca Eden Yeah.
Azimo whom Elphaba Alban
Jaco whom Asad 1000, Lions without a leader
will be defeated by 1000 foxes. You know, foxes are like they're pushovers or they're scared. Nobody will be defeated by 1000 Foxes if they have one line to lead them.
In other words, there has to be leadership and leadership. Even if it's sub optimal, it's better than nothing at all. If it's not the best form of leadership, it's still better than nothing at all. You know, even the Hadith many he will debate on like the authenticity of the Hadith, where the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, obey the Emir obey the leader. We're in alpha Malak wa jalla wa Raghava rock, obey the emir, even if he takes your wealth, takes your wealth or flogs your back. Some will say the high he's not authentic, fine. But there's so many Hadith like it,
that enjoined them to be patient with unjust rulers. But what does that mean?
Well, what do you think it means? It doesn't mean like we're all supposed to lay down? Let you know, the me to finish us all off? Clearly not. But isn't it possible? Isn't it possible that you can be more knowledgeable than the Muslim judge? You could be a great scholar. And then so you believe that you had no, he had no right to penalize you and make you pay the ticket, for example? Right? Or you believe that he was flawed in his assessment that my testimony was invalid. And so I'm getting whipped. Right? That's what's meant that just because you've arrived independently at a conclusion that the upper management, right, the leadership was wrong, doesn't mean you go rogue, because then
the community falls apart. This is what it has to mean.
And so
this, of course, needs to be
emphasized more and more with the youth, you know, because the youth are, are more easily provoked. Many times they say that the elders, you know, you're you're too slow, or you're too lazy, you're too cowardly, when it could be simply that the elders know better, that we need to confirm first, we need to calculate first the consequences of reacting in certain ways. You know, honorable Kappa, Radi Allahu Allah when he became the Khalifa, there was, you know, a war with Persia happening. And he said as one of his commanders,
Abu Zubaydah, McAfee, and I will obey the McAfee led the Muslims in what was known as the Battle or the tragedy of LGC. Just remains the bridge, because they had arrived at a crossroads with the Persian army. And there was a bridge between them and Omar had given him specific advice, to not be hasty and not make any big decisions without messaging me first, get back to me, so that we can decide together. So, I will obey the McAfee was provoked by the Persians, they said they sent him a message, are you going to come over to us and fight? Or are we going to come over to you? Right? And so he said, I will not be the last man to respond to a challenge. We fear no one but Allah, we live
for shahada in the path of Allah subhana, Allah to Allah. And so he took his army across the bridge, they cut the bridge.
And whoever survived, they were trampled by the army of elephants that was later used in that big battle that everyone knows God to see. And so our Amara della Juan has a famous statement where he says, people will never succeed when blinded by their fervent for shahada for martyrdom, right, sometimes passion without prudence can destroy you.
And so this is the gist of the second area know that amongst us the Messenger of Allah, you have a reference point, even if you confirm the news, it doesn't mean you are the best to calculate and the one allowed to decide how to react to this news. But then Allah subhanho wa Taala I have seven minutes left. Allah subhanho wa Taala said
well I can Allah have the Eco Eman had the Messenger of Allah obeyed you just given into your you know your fire Enos, you would have went through much difficulty where like in Allah had the LA commune Iman but instead you are very fortunate that Allah has made faith beloved to you
was a Jana houfy. Apolo become and decorated faith in your hearts beautified faith in your hearts.
So he's talking about to talking about the Sahaba or the Allahu Anhu. Do you remember in the beginning of the Surah, Do not raise your voice over the voice of the Prophet. And then Allah celebrated those who lowered their voice right? The senior leading earliest Sahaba who understood it best here it's
happening again, be careful with, you know, loosely circulating news. And then he's speaking again now about those who had the full faith to recognize the messenger of allah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam and not press him into stepping out of the Quranic methodology or trying to write Allah saying that Allah did you a favor by making faith beloved to you, and beautifying it in your heart.
You know, that means also that faith is is something that you enjoy, right? Something you experience something that you taste, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said that Kapama Iman, it's like Muslim, right? He has tasted faith. The one who was pleased with Allah's is lower than Islam is religion. And Muhammad sallallahu alayhi salam is his messenger. And you know, that taste when you experience it when you taste it. That is, you know, the higher levels of faith, that is the complete faith, not everyone gets the same dose of that experience. Some people have such strong faith, such strong faith
that they would prefer to die over relinquishing that faith.
Then the Prophet SAW Selim say three qualities whoever has them has tasted the sweetness of Eman sweetness of faith
for Allah and His messenger to be more beloved to them than anyone else, to love people not loving them except for Allah and to hate to return to disbelief after Allah has saved them from it the same way they would hate to be thrown into a fire.
And he said In another Hadith, Allah Salatu was Salam. That at the end of time, the Hour will not commence until a man walks by the grave of his brother and says, I wish I was there instead of him. Meaning what I wish I can die, before I lose my Iman. He's not wishing for death, out of despair of life. He's wishing for the safety that death will bring once the examination ends. I wish I can stop, you know, wondering if I'm going to live till my end with iman. That is how much enjoyment they had in their Iman. That is how much they experience and tasted there. Amen.
And these are people whose heart is filled with the love and awe of Allah subhanho wa taala. That doesn't mean whoever doesn't have this, you know, doesn't have Iman, like some people say, but I don't taste the sweetness of iman Does that mean I'm not a believer? No, this is not true. I mean, by the way, you do taste it, you just may not realize that you taste it. Like May Allah forbid, if you were outside
of faith, you will realize that you are enjoying the fruits of faith, experiencing them. Like can you imagine? I mean, it's hard to imagine. But can you imagine living your whole life not knowing who your father is not knowing who your mother is not knowing where you came from? Not knowing anything about your, your parents, your grandparents or ancestors? People there are people out there right, that live their whole life trying to find out who their parents are. Right? Can you imagine not knowing who your God is? subhanho wa taala. You don't have that that's something you taste as a believer whether you realize it or not. That's security, that enjoyment of knowing who your Lord is,
knowing who your messenger sallallahu alayhi wasallam. Okay. But I want to say that faith is levels, it is levels. The Scholars say the least level of faith is those who obey Allah
out of fearing his punishment. Okay, that's that's Eman. If I fear Allah so much, that I'm obeying Him, this is a human. Right. But they said there's a higher level, that second level, is you obeying Allah,
out of hope for his reward? Is that a higher level or not? It is, because, you know, not everybody does that. You know, like, like an employer gives up promotions, or just like treats his employees well, and gives us some positive reinforcement, some compliments. And so people that have self respect or dignity or some gratitude or whatever, they'll you know, they'll they'll treat they'll do well with that. Some people even if you treat them well, they only come with the threat, right? So that's the least level that's like the threat that keeps them in check. But some people even if there was no threat, the fact that I'm being rewarded for my good work is enough, even without a
threat. That's a higher level. Right? They said there's a third level, which is to obey Allah subhanho wa Taala out of love. Because Allah has been so good to me.
Right? Like, it's not even about what he gives me for my obedience. Forget it. He has already given me so much. Right? Every step you take in every breath you take and right that me and my brother, were just talking about this. Some of us who like who maybe had some symptoms recently and you realize oh, subhanAllah like this is I've never thought about this before.
This is actually a
luxury that is not being calculated here. Right? So they are so immersed in how Allah has been so good to them that they obey him.
Even if he would not have promised them reward no they already loved him. It's out of love for him due to how good he has been with them. Okay. They said there's another level of iman, a fourth level of Eman also the love of Allah is love. Allah has degrees. They obey Allah out of love, but love for Him for who He is. Even if he doesn't do anything for us, even if, in other words, a person that is just lost in adoring Allah, Allah is befitting of being obeyed every you know ounce of greatness every speck of beauty in the skies in the Earth and the Sun in the stars. All of this is a product of a Jamil the most beautiful Subhan Allah to Allah so out of adoring his beauty I obey Him. He is
deserving of being obeyed. He is deserving of my devotion out of his beauty and perfection. That is the height of Eman May Allah grant us that.
And so the idea is here, if a person faith is beloved to them and beautified in their heart, would they disobeyed the messengers also love no right? That is no that among us the Messenger of Allah if he were to given to you, you would go through hardship. But faith is beautiful in your heart. Faith is beloved to you, meaning that's why you obey him. What kalraj ala kumoko froyle forsook our ASEAN Hola ecomo rashi Dune, and he made hateful to you cough disbelief for so this is the ordinary use of forsook now which is sins and sins are you hate gopher and fullsuit and sins and Sen. Sen here is not sins because for Zuko sin so they said cin here is this obedience even when it's not sinful? was
when Allah instruct you to do something at times it's mandatory at times recommended right? So this is the times you these people that have so much Iman that even if it's not haram right even if it's not mandatory, I'm I'm in it. I love Allah so much, right? I don't want to give up any of it. They hate to give up on anything, miss out on anything, departs from anything that is pleasing to Allah Subhana Allah to Allah, Allah Iike homo Rashi. Dune, those who live far away remember far away in their rank, not
home, they meaning only these people it's exclusivity home, or Rashi. Dune. They are the ones that are firm upon guidance.
And that's a big subject. Maybe I'll defer it for another week. But so Russia, Russia in Arabic is the heavy boulder. So Rashi Dune is like a moto Dune is likely rightly guided by Russia doing means those who are firm upon their guidance. And the context here is clear. They don't waver with rumors, their emotions don't overtake their religious commitments. The years don't erode their faith. They are Russia dune. How did they become a Russia dune? That's for next week in sha Allah Subhana Allah We have Nick shadow Hola. Hola. Hola, esta foto Canada Willie. Zach Lowe Phaedra