Dealing with Difficulty #29 Rumours, Slander & Hearsay

My

brothers and sisters, one of the most difficult

things to deal with is

when you hear rumors about yourself

or you hear lies that people peddle about

yourself.

At times, you don't know where it came

from.

Sometimes you don't even know what they're talking

about.

Sometimes it's a misunderstanding,

and sometimes

it's pure falsehood.

And

if you don't know where it's coming from,

how do you deal with it?

It's difficult. The help of Allah is always

needed. My brothers and sisters,

the world out there is not easy,

but at the same time, with the help

of Allah Almighty, he protects you. He guides

you. He grants you goodness

even in the face of the hardship that

you're facing.

So turn to Allah. That's the primary guidance

that we would always give.

Look into your connection with Allah and look

at ways

in which you can improve.

When it comes to this issue

of rumors

and lies

and that which is fabricated

accusation slander.

It has happened to those better than you

and I.

What would we expect?

The mother of the believers, the daughter of

the most beloved unto the prophet Muhammad, peace

be upon him, the one who was the

most beloved,

Aisha her father Abu Bakr as Siddiq most

beloved as well from the men,

She was facing

one of the challenges,

and that was a rumor

and slander

that they spread against her.

It was painful. It was hurtful.

It was prolonged for about a month. Revelation

did not come to clarify her name until

a certain period,

and then Allah clarified it. But in the

process,

people fell into several categories.

And this is what I want to talk

to you about today

regarding dealing

with the difficulty

of rumors,

falsehood,

slander,

accusation

and lies.

Allah says

Don't consider it bad for you. In fact,

it is better for you.

How would it be better for me and

how is it better even in the instance

of Aisha which

was the case being spoken about in the

Quran in Surah al Nur.

Well,

number 1 is Allah rewards you for the

Sabr. Number 2 is Allah gives you the

good deeds of all of those who

spread the rumor

or who forwarded the message

or

who were excited to talk about it.

Allah gives you their good deeds.

Allah rewards you for the sabr Allah gives

you the good deeds. Allah helps you through

the pain when you believe this is going

to come out

as something better for me at the moment.

It's tough because everyone's talking about something that

didn't even happen.

But

when I come out of it, Insha'Allah, I

will be cleansed by Allah

So you get the good deeds,

but then they start taking away your sins.

When you come on the day of judgment,

you will be super happy for having had

people spread rumor, slander, falsehood, fabrication and lies

against you.

You might say, well, it's so hard to

wait up to the day of judgement. Yes.

I agree. It's very difficult to wait because

we are human. We want to see immediate

and instant results.

But for a believer,

it doesn't always happen instantly. A believer knows

we're in it. We have to bear patience.

If it all was instant, there would not

be an act of worship known as Sabr

because everything would happen instantly.

But there's nothing instant that occurs right here,

right now. Allah gives time for those who

made the mess to undo the mess. Come

and apologize.

Come and seek forgiveness.

And then you start seeing the evil effect

of those rumors and fabrications

go back to those who spread them.

And that is disastrous in their lives.

It wouldn't make some happy,

but others would actually say, do you know

what? I didn't ask that for you, but

it's happening to you. Perhaps you might have

harmed someone. This is why we say when

your life is a mess

or your children or those loved to you,

ask yourself, have I harmed

someone else?

Have I slandered? Have I spread lies, rumor,

fabrication? If the answer is yes, maybe

this might just be the evil

of all of that. Because Allah promises in

the Quran that the evil plot

is not deserved by anyone besides the plotter

himself.

So it comes back to haunt you.

Nonetheless,

what we need to realize, Allah gives time

for them to make amends, to come to

apologize,

to undo, to remain silent. In a previous

episode, we said if you believe in Allah

and the day of reckoning, you believe there

is a day of judgement,

you would only utter that which is beneficial

or remain silent.

Rumour and slander and fabrication is never beneficial.

It's not. It's actually something worth abstaining from.

That's why that Hadith

where the accusation was leveled against Aisha of

immorality.

The Quran speaks about categories of people. The

first category were those who immediately said this

is a lie. Don't even spread it. Don't

even talk about it. It is a lie.

We know Aisha, Rabiullah, and her. She's a

good person. This is not true. When you

hear certain things about certain people, you immediately

know something fishy about this information.

It's wrong.

Sometimes when they become a people

who are known, Aisha

was of a high status.

She was a person whom the hypocrites were

waiting

to fault her,

but

they couldn't fault her.

When they had this opportunity, they said things.

Allah Almighty tells us,

the true believers said, no way. That's not

true. It didn't happen.

It's indeed a clear lie, clear fabrication.

Then there is another category of people they

neither believe nor do they disbelieve. They're sitting

on the fence. They don't know. They don't

want to know, perhaps, and so

on. And there is a third category

who spreads the tail around.

Nowadays, they just forward it.

They just click send. They just tell everyone

forwarded as received. You're still guilty because you

know what? It's a slander. It's a fabrication

on the day of judgment.

Your punishment will also be forwarded as received.

Thought about that because you forwarded as received.

Let's not go into that because we don't

want that type of a punishment. We seek

the forgiveness of Allah and let's become more

conscious because we want to deal with this

difficulty of rumors spreading. You did it. It

will come back to you or someone around

you. Or you may face other types of

challenges,

and it has to happen. Allah gives you

a time. Sometimes that time is 10:10 years.

Sometimes it's a little bit less, a little

bit more. But you know what? When the

ball rolls, it will roll back.

May Allah protect us. So

if we look carefully at this matter,

the last category is the worst. And what

is that category? The one who created the

fabrication.

The one who created the fabrication was a

man known as Abdullah ibn Ubay ibn Saluli.

He was the head of the hypocrites in

Madinah.

He created the fabrication that

this immorality occurred and I saw it and

then he spread the tale.

So those who created

that are the biggest

sinners.

They will pay the heaviest

price. Allah

says,

He will have a painful

punishment.

So there is no point in spreading rumour

about others.

If you were unable

to verify something,

then

you'd best keep quiet.

In fact, if it does not involve you,

you'd best keep quiet

Because

you know, one of the signs of goodness

of a believer is when he leaves that

which doesn't concern him.

You don't have to get to that level

of hate.

And if you have faced a challenge where

people have said this about you, the good

news is Allah will reward you and soon

Allah will clear everything up. Give it a

bit of time. Turn to Allah.

Ask Allah's help. If you want to clarify,

you may try to do so at times.

There is no point in clarifying.

You just leave it be and Allah will

open your doors like Allah has done to

many in the past in the present and

will still do in the future. May Allah

protect you and I and all of us

from spreading rumour and from being victims of

rumour and evil

forgive us all.

forgive us all.