Nadim Bashir – Don’t Judge Me
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AI: Transcript ©
He have lived here from the day 1
of this masjid. We know him.
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala have tested,
him and his entire family.
All of his children
requires
kidney
transplant, and
this is something that
it's not in anybody's control. I mean, there's
if if it was money, it was something
that
there will be many people that will step
forward to do this, but
they require O positive.
Their blood group is O positive.
If anyone you have the O positive and
you're willing to take
this opportunity,
please reach out to me or any of
the board member or our imam,
then I'm gonna connect you, inshallah, with the
family.
It's o positive. Anybody listening online,
this is East Plano Islamic Center Masjid here
in Plano, Texas.
We are looking for
a donor, a kidney donor with the o
positive.
There's a family, they're young
son
and daughters. They're very young. They're all requires
the kidney transplant. Zazaqqalakaer. Assalamualaikum.
There's a lot of request for duas. So
I'm just gonna make a one general du'a.
We ask Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
that all those who are sick in our
community. May Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala give them
Also,
everyone who has passed away, may Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala have mercy upon them. There is
one sister who has just texted me right
now. Her name is Sarah Sayed. She's requesting
dua for her father who just passed away.
His name is Sayed Ahmed. We ask Allah
to have mercy upon him and all those
who have passed away. May Allah
have mercy upon them, enlighten their grave, and
give the family.
I ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala that just
as he has gathered us here today on
this day of jama'ah, may Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala gather us along with our families in
the companionship of Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam and
his sahaba Aminirubalalamin.
Brothers and sisters,
as a Muslim community,
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala wants us to thrive.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala wants us to thrive
externally
and internally.
In order for us to thrive internally,
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has given us
a set of standards.
A set of laws.
A set of practices
that are highlighted
throughout the entire Quran.
That these are the things that you must
observe in your community
in order to keep the hearts united.
And these are the things you must stay
away from
because these are the things that are the
sources of destructions
in your community.
It does not matter how big of a
community we have, but if the hearts are
united,
then we will be able to move forward.
We will work in unison.
We will we will work in, as a
collective unit, and we can do much for
our community.
But if there's a lot of people in
the community,
but there is no heart, their hearts are
divided,
Then no matter how big of a community
we have,
our impact will be very very less.
Amongst the many things that Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala has mentioned in the Quran,
things that we should do and things we
should not do, today in this khutbah, I
want to highlight only one particular thing, insha'Allah,
and really expand on this one issue that
we have today in our Muslim community, and
that is the topic in the subject is
judging each other.
Passing a verdict
regarding each other.
First of all, is that when we talk
about the concept of judgment,
why is a judge called a judge?
Because first of all, the judge has a
certain level of authority,
And I want you to keep this word
in mind, authority. Because I'm gonna come back
to this. But the judge has a certain
level of authority, and what they do is
that they listen to both sides of the
story. They reflect on the situation,
and then they pass a verdict.
If there's only one,
only one who has
the true authority to be judgmental,
it is only and only Allah
Allah
has that authority
to be a judge, and that is why
we all know, and I've said this before
in my khutbas,
that on the day of judgment, Allah will
not just only be the judge, but he
is judge, he is jury, and he is
executioner.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is everything in this
dunya and in the akhirah.
So when we talk about interacting with each
other, and often we are always judging each
other. First of all, we have to understand
that this is a right.
Listen to me very carefully when I say
this. Judging each other
is a right that belongs
only to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Yes, we're
human beings. Yes, we might judge each other
here and there. But that is when we
need to understand our position, and we need
to realize that what we have done, or
what we have probably thought about others may
not be the right thing. So today, quickly
inshallah, I want to talk about 4 things.
Four things that can lead us to being
judgmental towards others.
First of all is that a person who
is judgmental towards each,
to someone else is because usually of their
ego.
Ego is called takabbur. Takabbur is a component
of 2 things. Number 1 is,
as the prophet alaihi sallam says. One is
to belittle someone else. To think that they
are inferior
to you.
Why? Because you look at them, they may
not have a beard. You look at them,
they may be wearing different clothes. You look
at them, they might be living a certain
lifestyle,
and right away you pass a judgment regarding
them. Why? Because you think, we might think,
that we're more righteous than them. We might
think that if I was in their position,
I would not be doing what they're doing
today. And so that is why we think
that often we are better than them. And
often,
these kind of people who have an ego
in their heart, their hearts are filled with
takabbur.
Often,
they don't even look at their own flaws,
but they are focused on the flaws of
others.
Or
what they may do is,
something that someone may have done a long
time ago,
they will usually recall that situation,
and they will hold them to that standard.
Let me give you an example.
When Musa alaihis salam was in
in in Misra,
he was a young man. He went outside.
He saw 2 people fighting,
and unintentionally
unintentionally,
he tried to simply push that person. He
tried to shove the other person. What happened
is that as Allah
recalls in the Quran,
Musa alayhis salam either pushed him, shoved him,
something happened, but Allah
decreed that this person would die because of
that one hard push.
And Fir'aun sent all of his army, all
of his police officers,
his secret intelligence, and so forth, to go
and capture Musa alaihis salam. Musa alaihis salam
is approached by a young man who tells
him that you need to leave these these
people, and go to a different land. That
is when he went to Madyan. There's a
story that takes place in Madyan, which I'm
not gonna get into right now. But on
his way back,
on his way back, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
he gives
Musa alayhi salam
He makes them a Prophet, and then he
sends them to, Bani Israel. And he sends
them to Firaun. And Musa alaihis salam knows
very well. He's very scared of going and
approaching,
Firaun.
But when Musa alaihis salam actually went to
Firaun,
think about the judgmental
nature of Firaun.
Look at how sarcastic he is in judging
Musa alaihis salam. Musa alaihis salam accidentally
took the life of 1 person.
But on the other hand, this tyrant
had killed so many babies,
so many children, and yet he had the
audacity
to sit there and question Musa alaihis salam.
And look at the words
he used that is highlighted in the Quran.
Quran. A very sarcastic remark made by, made
by Firaoun. And look at the way he's
trying to call out Musa alaihis salam.
This is a sign of judging someone else.
A person who overlooks their flaws,
and is focused on the flaws of others,
or like in the case of Musa alaihis
salam, something that happened so many years ago.
Now Fir'aun is bringing that back up, and
he's trying to judge him.
Musa, when that happened, when the when this
incident happened,
That Musa, and now this Musa, are 2
different people. But you see, the nature of
a judgmental person is that you want to
recall the past, not understanding that this person
may have changed by now, but you wanna
talk about the past, and hold them to
that standard. This is something that often happens
in our community. How often I have heard
that, Oh yeah, this person, he did something
a long time ago. Who knows? Yes, today
the society knows about that one person. They
may not They may know about the sin
of that one person, but that person who's
being judgmental,
should be thankful to Allah
Because they have skeletons hanging in their closet
too. They have done things too, that they
are so ashamed of, that if the community
found about them But Allah
has hidden that sin of theirs. So instead
of being judgmental towards others,
rather we should make dua for them. Rather
we should make dua to make everything easy
for them, and we should not judge them
or their character for what they have done.
And this is a sign of ego, and
a sign of takabur.
The second thing that often happens is, when
it comes to being judgmental towards others,
is that we often
are in a state of comparison.
We always are trying to compare ourselves with
others, and the reality is, brothers and sisters,
whenever
you go into comparison mode,
every other person is wrong, and you are
always right.
This is what happens when you When we
began to compare with each other. When Iblis
rejected the order of Allah,
And Allah asked him,
Why did you not fulfill my order? He
says,
I am better than him. See,
Iblis here, shaitan here is comparing.
Not reflecting on the order of Allah, but
he's trying to compare himself to Adam alaihis
salam, and he says,
Brothers and sisters, the reality is that when
we begin to compare ourselves to others,
shaitan will always
make us blind to our own flaws.
We will forget about ourselves. As Allah says
in the Quran,
You are so obsessed about giving advice to
others, Passing Or you might passing You might
be passing a judgment towards others,
but you have forgotten about yourself,
and you read the Quran. Allah
is telling us, This is what This is
the nature of Bani Israel, and this is
the nature of every single mutakabit.
So this is why. When it comes to
comparison, there's nothing wrong in comparing ourselves to
others, but we compare ourselves to others. When
it comes to dunya, we look at the
people who are inferior to us. When it
comes to our deen, we look at the
people who are superior to us, and we
always ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala for tawfiq.
The third thing,
when it comes to being judgmental is that
we always are looking for perfection.
Think about this for a moment. We beg
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala often for his mercy,
but we are very quick in passing judgments
regarding others.
We beg Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala for his
leniency,
but we are very quick in being harsh
towards others.
While Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala demands
our very best,
we demand perfection from others.
What When Allah
gives us time
to transform ourselves, to get better,
we as a people, we don't give people
a second chance.
You see what the problem is?
How we are, and what we demand from
Allah
What we ask from Allah. If we are
asking Allah for mercy, I need to show
mercy towards others. If I am asking Allah
for leniency, I need to show leniency towards
others. If Allah is demanding our best, we
should be demanding from others their level best.
And if Allah
is giving us a chance to reform ourselves,
then we need to give other people a
second chance.
This is what makes a person humble. Today,
it is the complete opposite.
Brothers and sisters, we have to understand
that just like we as Muslims, we are
diverse
in the way we are. Our language, as
Allah says in the Quran,
Allah has created us different ethnicities,
different backgrounds,
different cultures,
different foods that we like, different cuisines, and
so forth.
Likewise, just like we are spiritually
Just like we are different in terms of
our culture,
likewise, spiritually we are different from each other.
We all are on a different journey to
Allah
Some of us are going fast when it
comes to their spirituality.
Some are going very slow. Some are going
at a moderate pace, but we cannot demand
perfection from everyone.
Because at the same time, when we are
demanding perfection,
then we are gonna eventually become judgemental towards
others. Judging others does not help anyone.
Instead, it instead of bringing us closer, it
will divide us as a community.
Judging a person makes a person selfish.
It is for our own personal satisfaction
in a way that we feel good about
ourselves,
while completely blind to our own flaws. So
this is number 3 is that often we
are judgmental
because we are demanding perfection from others. And
number 4, why are we judgmental towards others
is because we are too quick and jumping
to conclusions.
I wanna share with you a story. I
read in a book. This is not something
that happened to me, but I read in
a book. There was an author, he was
writing about his own personal experience.
He says that one day I was sitting
in a train,
and all of a sudden, everyone is quiet.
As you all know, when you talk about
trains, everyone minds their own business.
Everyone is their own is in their own
thing. Even if you see something very strange
and very,
you have this nature that you just simply
ignore it and you mind your own business.
A person came inside the train and he
brought few children with him.
And these children
were creating a very chaotic situation.
Running around, causing a lot of noises.
And the father, he was just sitting down
there with his head on his head,
his hand on his head, and he was
in a deep state of thought.
So now imagine if you saw the same
situation,
you would
immediately We would immediately jump to the conclusion
that this father is a terrible father. This
father has not taught his children about public
mannerisms,
public,
you know, public, etiquettes and so forth. This
is what we would think about that person.
So few people left that train. They were
very disgusted.
Of course, they were judgmental towards that person.
So this person who was sitting next to
that father,
he told him
that, sir, I think you need to really
calm your children down. Your children are creating,
like, you know, a chaotic situation over here.
And this man says, he replied,
you're right. You are absolutely
right. My children aren't making noise. But he
says that you have to understand what I'm
going through right now. He goes, just right
now, before I came I came onto this
train, I found out
that my wife,
the mother to my children, has just died.
And I have no idea
how to handle that situation.
I don't know what's the future ahead for
me. And my children, they were crying.
But they don't know how to deal and
handle their negative emotions. So this is why
they are doing what they are doing. And
this author, he was he was an author.
He writes that as soon as this man
told me what this What he is going
through personally,
immediately,
I change and I change my paradigm.
I change my way of thinking regarding this
person. At one moment, I was very critical
of him. But now, I'm very sympathetic towards
him. Brothers and sisters, we often see so
much going on in our community, and we're
very quick in passing judgments,
not realizing,
and we don't know what is the situation
of that person. We have no idea what's
going on in that life's
In the life of that person. What is
their circumstances?
What's going on in their personal life? What's
going on in their financial life? Their social
life? Their family life? But we are very
quick in passing judgements. Brothers and sisters,
this is where we learn. When it came
to Rasulullah
sallahu alaihi wasallam,
never would he look at a situation, and
he would make a judgement regarding someone. But
he would always go to them, talk to
them, ask them,
you know, communicate with them. He would learn
the situation,
and then he would provide his own input.
Brothers and sisters, this often happens in our
community, and we need to stop this. So
I ask Allah
that he makes us from amongst those whose
hearts are clean. And we ask Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala to make us from amongst those
that we are not judgmental towards others, but
rather may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala make our
community
a one that is a judge free zone,
one that is based on compassion and harmony.
And I ask Allah
to continuously keep our hearts united as a
community.
There's another issue that I really want to
highlight and talk about, which has become a
very major problem in our community.
So recently, I was scrolling on social media,
and I came across,
you know, as you all know, the Olympics
have come and they are gone.
But all of us know
the opening to the Olympics.
It was a very
it was disrespectful on so many different levels.
And not only that, but it was a
clear promotion
of the woke culture.
So one Muslim brother
went on social media and simply said
that these are things that are outright wrong.
Is that brother right? Absolutely. He's right.
And he wrote that this is a promotion
of the woke culture and the LBGT culture
and and so forth. And is he right
in his assessment? He's absolutely right in his
assessment.
And then you have a Muslim woman
who then said,
brother,
you should not judge anyone.
Allah has created everyone differently.
We need to understand when We got a
major problem today in our community.
If someone is doing something that is wrong
or you see something that is wrong,
the prophet
says, you stop it. Either you stop it
physically, you stop it verbally, and if you
cannot even do those things, then at least
make sure you know that in your heart
it is absolutely wrong. Your heart cannot accept
that it is right.
When a Muslim stands up and says,
this is wrong.
And the very first reaction
is,
don't judge me.
Let me make this very clear. That person
who's saying, don't judge me,
they don't care about being judged.
What that what what that is, it's a
defense mechanism.
Basically, that person is saying, I don't want
you to tell me what wrong and right
I'm doing. You need to leave me alone,
what I'm doing, and you need to mind
your own business.
Yes, the person who's making the remark
should not feel in their heart that they
are superior than them, or they are gonna
go to jahannam for example, and so forth.
They should not pass that kind of judgment.
But if a Muslim comes forward, and they
are fulfilling
their responsibility
as a Muslim
of promoting good and preventing
evil,
then they That person should not be should
not be given the response,
don't be judgmental.
This often happens. You see someone doing something
that is wrong, you call out the wrong.
All you're doing is, you're calling out the
wrong. And the reaction is, brother, sister, don't
be judgmental.
Let me make this very clear. The person
who's saying that don't be judgmental,
they are the ones who are committing the
major wrong. Because when you say, imagine I'm
the one who's doing something that is wrong.
Someone comes to me and tells me, Yeah,
imam. You're doing something that is wrong. And
I say, Don't be judgmental.
I don't know what's in their heart. Only
Allah knows what's in their heart. But me,
clearly, shaitan has made me feel that I've
pushed a person away, and I have the
authority and the liberty to do keep on
doing the wrong that I'm doing. But not
realizing that if there's anyone who's a clear
if there's anyone clearly who has
in their heart, it becomes me. Why?
Because that person was telling me something that
was right, and I was suppressing the truth,
which is a characteristic
of
We need to stop this.
This happens so often
that when you look at something that is
wrong, and someone says, don't be judgmental. You
see someone is doing something that's wrong, right
away someone will write on social media, you
should not be judgmental. No one is being
judgmental here. But we need to have the
liberty
to fulfill our Muslim obligation
which is promoting good and preventing evil. And
this is By the way, it goes everywhere
all the time on social media. And I'm
sorry for my language, this is the most
stupidest thing that I've ever heard.
It goes everywhere all the time. And guess
what? If you keep on using this sentence,
don't judge, don't judge. You see someone that
is criticizing someone else, and rightfully they're criticizing,
and they're saying don't judge. That person is
part of the problem too.
So this is why we need to stop
this.
Otherwise, guess what? No one will be allowed
to tell anyone what is right and what
is wrong. Khalas, we stay quiet and we
don't fulfill our Muslim obligation because this one
sentence that brother and sister, don't judge me.
You have no right to judge anyone else.
This is
a problem, a major problem today in our
community, and it needs to stop. If someone
is gonna come to you, if you're doing
something that is wrong,
wallahi, it happened to me here in the
masjid.
I was doing one thing wrong one time.
And a brother came to me. I'm not
gonna be judgmental about it. I'm not gonna
become defensive about it. I was one time
talking to a brother,
when I sometimes I tell people, Go outside.
One time, I was talking to a person
very quietly, and a person came to me
and said, Can you, you know, can you
please step outside? Wallahi that person was right.
I'm not gonna defend myself if I'm doing
something that is right. Just because I'm the
imam, it doesn't mean that I don't have
fallacies. We all are humans. We all have
weaknesses. But if someone's gonna come and tell
me, I'm not gonna tell that person, don't
be judgmental. I need to listen to what
they're trying to say. And if they are
right, they are right. And if they're wrong,
you simply handle it, the situation
accordingly.
But we need to stop this. And if
we see this, we need to reprimand this
immediately.
I ask
Allah
that first of all, he does not make
us from amongst those who are judgmental,
but at the same time we ask Allah
to not make make our hearts like the
hearts of the mutakabileen and those who have
the kabur amirubalalamin.
Straight lines fill in the gaps.
Brothers in the back, in the back, please
come inside.
In the back two rooms, please make sure
the rows are straight. Sisters, please make sure
the rows are straight. If there's any sisters
inside the multirubus hall, please come inside the
main hall.