Mohammad Elshinawy – Judging People The Fine Print
AI: Summary ©
The importance of a priceless rulebook for measuring human behavior is highlighted, along with the need for clear behavior to avoid mistakes. The speaker emphasizes the importance of avoiding morality and verifying one's actions to avoid mistakes. The need for history to be a reference for future generations is also emphasized, along with the importance of avoiding Yo Accounts and avoiding false accusations. The importance of history as a source of reference for future generations is also emphasized.AI: Transcript ©
Brothers and sisters, should Muslims be in the business of judging others judging people?
First and foremost, to think through this question together this afternoon, is judging people to begin with, even avoidable, humanly possible to avoid and escape passing judgment and reality it isn't. We all pass judgments and we all accept judgments being passed in more ways than we realize. We all are happy that there are product reviews out there to guide our purchasing decisions. We are all grateful to find out someone's true colors, before we get stuck in a relationship or a partnership with them.
We are all
seeing it justified to warn against the criminal before others are harmed by him. So we all do this, we all assume the role of judge and jury not just in the courts, but then in the court of life in day to day life around the clock. 24/7 this happens.
And this in a sense, is not just unavoidable, but useful. You see, judging good from evil is built into our fitrah built into our nature as human beings as an automatic means of protecting ourselves and protecting those we care about. And the only thing remaining is how do we do this correctly? How do we do it right and how do we not overdo it? Revelation came to show us how Allah azza wa jal says in an Zelina illogical keytab I've been happy with that Kuma vein and Naseby maraca Allah, we have revealed the book to you with the truth in truth, so that you may be able to judge between people through what Allah has shown you subhanahu wa taala. And so yes, not every issue is a moral issue.
Some issues are just personal personality types, personal preference, cultures, norms, that's fine. But when it comes to morality, Allah has revealed to us a flawless and priceless rulebook for right from wrong for morality.
And what I mean by flawless is that Allah spares us through the revelation from being short sighted. It's not just the evils that are crystal clear to us all are evil, do not murder, right. And it's not just the evils that are obvious and apparent because they immediately harm us like murder. But there are so many evils out there.
Whether an individual partakes in them or a society that they're more subtle than that, like cancer, they go under the radar until many times it is too late to be treated. So it is flawless in that it identifies for us all good, and all evil, not just the apparently evil and the immediately harmful. That's flawless. And as for it being a priceless rulebook, because there is no prosperity for the individual or the society without a way to measure these things. That's why Allah azza wa jal said we'll take on Minko Mattoon, he had the Runa in Haiti were marooned in Monrovia and Helena and mancha were like a woman who flew home let their rise out of you are recipients of this priceless
book.
A community that can call other suits, how can you call other students if you can't identify it, call others do it, and enjoying the good and forbidding evil and these only these are the ones that are prosperous,
and a society and an individual that does not do this is bound to be doomed. He even said sallallahu alayhi wa sallam I swear by the one in whose hand is my soul, I swear by Allah, you will promote the good and you will prevent the evil or else Allah who will cause harm, punishment torment to descend upon you in this world before the next to descend upon you fill method Runa who fella you stir jab hula comb, and then you will supplicate to Him and He will not respond to you.
But what the revelation also did
after this is remind us of our limitations when passing judgment, especially when passing judgment on human behavior on human beings. Because the human being is not just one act, you don't reduce them to a single act.
They are a combination of all of their actions.
The human being is more nuanced is more complex than to simply reduce them to a single act they perform. You see, the act of drinking wine is evil. But a person that drinks wine could even be addicted to wine or intoxicants, could have a lot of good in them. They just haven't broke free yet. So when it comes to human behavior, there are layers of limitations we have to keep in mind. The first of them is that we don't have the full picture when we're judging.
In other words, we are judging based on the exterior, and on the temporal, the temporary. We don't know what's going on on the inside the inside story, and we know that anybody can be redeemed so long as there's a breath left in them.
Because our tradition our Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam taught us through the prophetic tradition so much. He told us that a a worshiper enters the fire because of a cat, that she starved until the cat died.
And we are told, on the other hand, that there's a prostitute who is forgiven because of a dog that she quench their thirst, she gave them water, we don't know the full story. Even the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam himself said in NAMA, and Bashar were in Netcom, Dr. Simona Illya for
Albania come Allah and we met Esma while Hola Hola, como el Hannah beho, Jetty him involved. I'm just a human being. I even him Salah Harrison, I'm just a human being. And you bring me your disputes. And I judge between you based on what you said to me. And perhaps some of you are more articulate are better at presenting their case, you were more just eloquent in your speech, or better at designing a hit piece video or something right.
Some of you are better at presenting your case than others. So if I judge for you something that you know does not belong to you my limitation, then do not take it because you would be taking your share from the hellfire.
All I can judge is the exterior.
Or even the hadith of Osama the very famous hadith of Osama, if that is not enough of a warning against judging people's interiors. Osama you know, was in the Battle of America. And there was a man that was devastating the Muslims dropping Muslims left and right with his sword. They finally chased him down, he trips he falls, he says La Ilaha illa Allah and Osama says I'm not falling for that and he kills him. He goes back to the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, and the Prophet Alayhi Salatu was Salam said to him, hello, Shakta and Calbee How dare you do that? Did you open his heart? How could you do that? You think about it like the likelihood of this man being sincere. The
likelihood of him not pretending just to save his skin
is very small.
But yet there was a protocol that had to be followed. You don't know.
Even the Prophet alayhi salatu salam said the Hadith Sahih Bukhari that a man once said to his brother, wala heliosphere, Allah who like, I swear Allah who will not forgive you.
You've done too much. And so Allah said, Mandela theater Allah, Allah, Who is this person swearing about me that I won't forgive, who's advocating on my behalf, who has that jurisdiction with me? He says called LOFAR Tula who are about to Amharic, I have forgiven this person, and I have forfeited all of your deeds for saying that. And so we when we judge, we judge based on the exterior, we judge based on what's right in front of us temporarily, in terms of the dunya. But we know that we don't have the full story. We don't designate for any single person, a seat in paradise or the hellfire.
The second component here when you when we have to pass a judgment on someone, it's not doing it out of a place of gloating, or relishing in the fact that they are misguided. That's not where it's coming from. It's coming from our devotion to Allah that we judge as he judges we measure as he taught us subhanho wa Taala rights from wrongs, approval and disapproval. You know, like in the Quran, we hear that Ibrahim alayhi salam was concerned for coma loot of all people, Komodo the people of Luke, when the angels were on their way to destroy them. Allah says you Jedi don't have you told me to do Brahim Alehissalaam argues with us. It just concerned for his fellow human being
Oh Allah give them a little longer. Maybe they'll Uturn maybe they'll reform. Maybe Allah azza wa jal even praised him for it and he said Ibrahim Allah Holleyman wa
hoanib Ibrahim is Halima so forbearing like you think Ibrahim after everything he's been through, he'd say it's more than anybody like good riddance. He's so forbearing he still has room to be concerned for these people. And then Allah says he's a wah wah means he's hurt by human suffering. He wishes it didn't have to be this way. And he is Moneyball. So he comes back to Allah. And if the verdict is final, he resigned to the judgment of Allah subhanahu wa Tada. We should all be like this. It should come from a place of concern. Yes, I disapprove. Yes, I'm appalled by this or that, but I wish they could wipe their slate clean, I wish they can become better turn a new leaf out of
mercy and concern for them. As the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, all by either doing well. hacia Lamia, jalila hooter, Allah, I'll be here Ramadan little Bashar, a person is doomed and they are a loser. If Allah has not granted them any mercy in their hearts for all of humanity,
for all human beings, regardless of where they rank in terms of moral judgments, and even I shout out the Allah who has said that the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam one time the entire night he's reciting one ayah and weeping through it into as dibba home for inner harmony, bad Oh Allah, if you punish them, they are Your servants. I can't overrule you. You are the king. I'm the slave. But he's wishing it didn't happen. Right? What interfere? Let him in law can tell as easily Hakeem and if you are to forgive them, you are the mighty you are the wise. It's not my place to object, but he wishes his do it for them would be accepted. So number one, you don't know the full story. Number
two, it's from a place of concern. Number three, just because in Islam, we are told yes, judgment is inevitable. Just do it right? Doesn't mean that's all you should be doing. Number three is you should be more concerned with yourself and your flaws than anyone else. It's not like you're flawless. You are judging as a slave would judge by the ruler and the metric of his master, you are not the master, you are not the Lord. You are the impoverished slave that is anxious about his sins and more preoccupied with them than the sins of others. You know, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam says in a beautiful Hadith, you pursue a huduma or data fi INFP Wallah you will still Jeeva
fi infc Some of you can see the the speck of dust in the eye of their brother and they don't notice the tree trunk in their own eyes.
This is an inverted perspective, a destructive one and unacceptable mentality. You know, I say don't be judgmental, the mentality of judging, obsessed with judging utterly on Islamic even if necessity and Rahim Allah Mohammed Minh City in the famous savagery
he heard a man cursing and hijab and hijab was a brutal tyrant. He was a murderer. But the man was just like going off at him like you know the way people just love to sit back and just rail on politicians all day all night. We're not justifying, quote what a politician is doing. But this is not what you spend your time doing either saving the city and said to him, Listen, stop it already. Because when you meet Allah, the least of your sins will be heavier on you than the greatest of his sins. It's not gonna matter to you what he does when you meet Allah, Oh, let's get the matter is what you've done, even if it's so much less than him.
And so we don't know the full story and we are concerned with our brothers and sisters in humanity. And we are more concerned with our own indiscretions and crimes and those of others. A whole colony has our stuff Allah Allah Emanuela co
Alhamdulillah wa salatu salam ala Milena be about that shadow Allah ilaha illallah wa Hola, Che Guevara, who I shadow under Mohammed Abdullah, who went to BU Hora solo.
The fourth guardrail or qualifier when it comes to this issue of passing judgments on people's behavior is that Islamically we are not permitted to probe and investigate.
When there is no warranting of that it is not open ended. In other words, we don't seek out people's mistakes. No witch hunts whether it involves spying or not, you just don't do that. And if it comes your way, and you are obligated to investigate and be very careful about verifying.
Sometimes there are people that whose testimony you think is reliable, that you will regret grave
Li You know, Amara della Juan has that famous incident where he asked the man, I don't know you bring me someone who knows you. And then he brought him a guy. And so he asked this guy who's vouching for him? You know him? said, Yes, I know him. He said, Have you traveled with him? He said, No. He said, Are you his neighbor? He said, No. He said, Have you dealt with him with in finances monies that Nope.
Because that's how you know someone, you know, you see them where they come in and where they go out late night, or you deal with them in money where people's true colors come out, right? Or you travel with them, because you can't fake it forever. So that's where you know someone, he said to him know what, all three. So I want to say to him, do you know him from the masjid and you see him praying and always bobbing his head in recitation? He's always in the rhythm of Thilawa. He said, Yes. He says go where you don't know him.
You're assuming he's reliable and vouching for his reliability when you have not sort of reached the threshold of acquaintance with him to actually tell me that so many people you may think are reliable or linked to information you may think have a solid integrity and religious commitment and they don't
and sometimes you even want to second guess yourself. Sometimes our sense of justice which is the beautiful thing can get us to be hasty.
You know, Alabama shabby Rahim Allah. He says, I was one time with, called the Shariah. Right, who was the kadhi, like the Grand judge, the chief justice in the title of it, and one of them kept up. He said, and I was there. And a woman came, and she's complaining to her of some man or pressing her, and she's crying and crying and crying. He said, So I leaned over to the cloud. And I said to him, it's very obvious. She's been through a lot. This woman has really been wrong.
And so the thought he turned to me, should I have called the Rahim Allah and said to me,
the brothers of use of Jah who about whom Orisha and yerba Khun, they came to their father at night crying.
Don't be so quick to judge in someone's favor. In the spirit of Justice, the moment you see some tears, stay anchored. Hold on, don't be hasty. And so verification is very important. If you have to judge verify carefully. And the fifth and final point is when you do verify, and it turns out to be
guilty as charged, that does not mean you necessarily have to retaliate. It does not mean you publicly shame. It was even the preference of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam to say, my Balou acquirement Jaco Luna, Luna Kava Kava, what is the matter with people that they say X and Y and Z without naming them out? You know, the call out culture and just naming people and shaming people and canceling people? Because this of what this does is it gives people people an easier road to redemption. They're not sort of labeled and stamped indefinitely.
And that's what ultimately you want.
You don't generalize say, Oh, they've been faking it the whole time. Or you don't say oh, all people are like this. He said, Sal, Allahu Allah is kind of whoever says that is the most doomed out of them. Whoever says all the people are doing he is the most doomed out of them. Well, who I like at home and he is the one that doomed them. When he just conclusively passed his verdict on them broad brush, and there's one incident that I will close with quickly, that pulls all of this together beautifully. Everyone know ame
Rahim Allah He narrates from Abu coolabah that Abu Dhabi, Radi Allahu Akbar, the famous Sahabi. One time passed by a group of people that was that were cursing at a man because of some sins he was committing.
And so he said to them, let the soup Booyah. How come he said to them? If you found him in a well if you fell deep into a well of water, weren't you gonna pull them out? So yeah, of course we would pull them out. He said fell out a soup Booyah, come watch medulla Hala the Alpha come, then stop cursing at your brother. You're keeping him down like this. Stop cursing at your brother. And just praise your Lord who spared you? That could have been you actually, it could be you tomorrow. praise your Lord who spared you for now? So they said to him fly to boo boo boo. Don't you hate him? Like, don't you hate the sinner? You know, Hate the sin, not the sinner idea. We will not fully be able to
separate between sin and sinner, but they are not exactly the same either. how we feel about the sin we want it destroyed is not how we feel about the sinner. We want them saved. So they said to him fly to blue. Don't you hate him?
He said in nama Abhidhamma Allah Who? For interocular who for whoever. What I really, really hate is his sin. That's actually where my hate is targeted. Even if he happens to be in the way right. What I really hate is the sin and if he gives it out
He returns to being my full brother. May Allah Azza Genndy use us for the betterment of ourselves and the people around us. May Allah open up for us the doors of imparting play it upon ourselves and our loved ones and everyone within reach Allahumma Amin May Allah azza wa jal give us minds to understand the Revelation He granted us and give us hearts to accommodate the virtues he expects of us. May Allah azza wa jal forgive every Muslim everywhere and cure every sick Muslim everywhere, and may Allah azza wa jal spare and relieve and alleviate the pains of everyone suffering everywhere. Allahumma Amin
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