Navaid Aziz – How to navigate through the mistakes of scholars

			Salam Alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh My dear brothers and sisters, welcome to another episode of
Tez kiya Tuesday, inshallah and this week's episode we're going to be talking about how to deal with
a mistake that a scholar makes that has become publicized. And hamdulillahi Rabbil alameen wa
sallahu wa salam, ala nabina, Muhammad Ali, he was here as mine and my bad. So let us start off with
understanding the reality on the ground. And that is living in the day and age of social media.
Everyone's deeds become publicized, everyone's deeds become publicized, particularly those that live
in the limelight, any mistake that they make any error that they commit, it will become publicized.
		

			And that is why we're seeing more and more in this day and age, the downfall of scholars due to
mistakes that are being documented and then publicized. So what is our role as laymen and what do we
do in this sort of situation? So firstly, let us start off by making the obvious disclaimer that all
of our scholars are human beings, all of our scholars are human beings, and they are prone to
mistakes, they are prone to error, and they are prone to sin, they are prone to sin. May Allah
subhanaw taala protect us all and forgive us all for our sins, and shortcomings me in Europe. So now
once you understand this, everything else should naturally fall into place, everything else would
		

			naturally fall into place. But before we get into the nitty gritty details, let us look at some of
the principles that the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam teaches us Firstly, that all of the
companions of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam are trustworthy and those that attended but
cannot be criticized thereafter, due to the mistakes and you know, errors they made, even after the
death of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam. Historically, you know, there may have been
mistakes that companions made, but we do not criticize them for their mistakes due to their great
achievements and due to their great level of sacrifice for Islam, Allah subhanaw taala has already
		

			forgiven them. Now such principles from the companions are the Allahu anhu man the Prophet
sallallahu alayhi wa sallam further extend to the great moms so you have the legs of your mama honey
for the likes of Imam Malik the likes of emem Shafi, Humbert and other than them, mela Spanos ALLAH
forgive them and have mercy upon them. These great imaams they had reached reached such a high level
of scholarship, that even if they made a mistake, perhaps in their filk, maybe in there a HELOC, due
to their high scholar, high caliber of scholarship, they were forgiven and they are over looked. And
once a person reaches such a high level of a mama, such a high level of scholarship and leadership
		

			in Islam, then the small things that they do, are no longer held, they are no longer held
accountable for not in the sight of Allah subhanaw taala. Obviously, those things still have to be
done. But in terms of their students and their followers, criticizing them and history criticizing
them. That is what we're referring to, of the local mobile article, Himalaya actually establishes a
very beautiful principle that I think is very relevant in our day and age. And that is, we always
look at an individual's track record, those individuals whose track record is pristine, and is good,
and they're known to serve Islam and the Muslim community, then even if they make a mistake, we
		

			don't mention that mistake. Whereas if an individual's track record is evil, of calling people to
evil, than even if they do something good, we don't mention the good that they do. Now, how exactly
do we apply this and this is what I want to say that look at the track record of the scholar him or
her self, if they have a proven track record of serving Islam and serving the community, then
understand that yes, they will be prone to mistakes and they will be prone to errors. And they
should be given the chance to apologize and rectify those mistakes and errors. And not every mistake
that is made by them should be publicized, not every mistake made by them should be publicized. In
		

			fact, unless there is abuse towards an individual towards an organization towards a community. The
general rule is it should not be publicized. people's sins should not be publicized, we should not
be publicizing our own sense, nor the sins or mistakes of other individuals, we should not be doing
that. Now let us make a distinction between different types of mistakes. There are those mistakes
that are black and white mean that there's a clear right and a clear wrong. And then there's those
mistakes that fall within the spectrum of a whole bunch of gray where there's a valid difference of
opinion. So the latter are mistakes that we may make in filk in jurisprudence, and there's a wide
		

			array of opinions on these matters. And there's a lot of room for flexibility and people should not
be criticized necessarily for their fixed opinions, unless it is an absolute to blatant error unless
it is an absolute blatant error where they are going against consensus now on other issues that are
black and white. So these are pretty much issues in our pida in our
		

			creed in our theology, where issues are pretty clear, and black and white, then in those sorts of
situations, we should still give people the benefit of the doubt if they have that proven track
record. And we should find someone that knows them personally, to approach them and ask them, Hey,
can you please explain this statement? Can you please explain this action. And in sha Allah, if
they're good people, they will explain you know why this happened, or what they meant? Was it a slip
of the tongue was it an error in judgment, what exactly happened, and if they own up to it, and they
apologize, and they rectify, then they should be forgiven, and it should be overlooked. And this is
		

			something that should not be discussed any further, this is something that should not be discussed
any further. Now, at this point, I also want us to understand different movements that exist out
there, those movements that wants to separate us from our scholars. So you have certain movements
that feel scholars are backwards, and they don't understand our times, and we ourselves are able to
distinguish between right and wrong. And therefore we don't need our scholars, these individuals
have their own agenda in separating the community from their scholars, you have other individuals
that are ideologically motivated, in terms of promoting their own ideology, this can be their own
		

			madhab, this can be their own arcada. This can be their own school of thought. And they want to
separate you from the mainstream scholars to boost up their own scholars and to boost up their own
ideologies. And then you have other individuals who are just clear troublemakers, they just want
attention and they thrive upon that attention. And they will do anything to distract you from giving
your attention to where deserves to bring it to something else, where your attention is not worthy
of their of their Well, your time is not worthy of their attention. Right. And that is what is
happening in this day and age. So you have to make sure that you're not falling into any of these
		

			traps, where you're intentionally being separated from your scholars, we're intentionally being
separated from your scholars. We examples throughout history, where you know, during the time of the
companions or the Allahu anhu, certain companions spoke out against Isola della who Anka India. So
some of you may know that I showed your loved one our mother, the mother of the believers, she was
falsely accused of being unchaste. She was falsely accused of being unchaste. And this was a huge
ordeal that the oma went through at that time during the time of the companions, and certain
companions fell into that mistake and into that error, where they jumped the gun and they didn't
		

			remain quiet and didn't wait for revelation to come down. Eventually, Revelation did come down, and
those that were sincere, they apologized and they sought forgiveness from Allah subhanho wa Taala,
the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam and I shall do LaWanda, even some of them may have taken
years to apologize, but they eventually did apologize. And this shows us that when an individual is
sincere, they will always apologize and they will always put their ego aside. And this is something
our scholars need to be given the opportunity to do that if they do make a mistake, they are given
the opportunity to apologize and to rectify, if a scholar refuses to apologize and refuses to
		

			rectify and refuse to recognize their mistakes, then this is a sign of a greater problem, this is a
sign of a greater problem. And those are the scholars that I would suggest that we do not listen to,
and we do not give them time of day and we do not support them, when even when their errors are made
clear to them. They do not rectify them. May Allah subhanaw taala protect us from arrogance and
subduing ourselves to our egos Allahumma. Me. So now let me share these concluding remarks. My dear
brothers and sisters, it's inevitable that every couple of months, there's going to be a new uproar
on the internet, a new scholar is going to be exposed. And I put that in quotation marks for a
		

			mistake that they've made. What do we do at that time? What do we do at that time? Let us talk about
ourselves because that is who we will be questioned about on the Day of Judgment, we're not going to
be questioned about anyone else other than ourselves. So the first thing that we want to do is that
when there's an uproar on the internet, let's try to remain silent. Let's try to remain silent until
things become clear and wait things out let people make clarifications that people apologize. Let us
not be from those individuals that aid in the splitting up of the oma that aid in spreading gossip
that aid in spreading backbiting and slander, let us try to refrain let us try to refrain. Number
		

			two, also understand that once you follow a particular scholar, you follow them due to their
adherence to the truth. You don't follow them for who they are. And the truth is always more beloved
to us than any individual than any scholar. Now why do I make this point very explicitly I make this
point because sometimes we may love a scholar too much where when they make a mistake
		

			We end up having a crisis of faith. And that should not happen. My dear brothers and sisters, we
should not be having a crisis of faith due to anyone else's downfall. If someone makes a mistake,
this should not impact our, our own Eman. Yes, we follow our scholars in what they say that is true,
and we don't follow them and that which is false, and we love them to the degree that they follow
the truth. And once they stop, then we don't follow them or love them to that degree any further. So
always make sure that you're not getting overly attached, where your own faith is tied to the
success or failure of that scholar, something that helps is listening to a wide array of scholars
		

			listen to a wide array of scholars and taking different perspectives as a collective inshallah the
scholars will not let you down as a collective, there's in sha Allah huhtala the scholars will not
let you down, then let us move on to making dua for them. As you may know, or may not know the
scholars, particularly in this day and age, particularly in North America, in western countries,
they're at the forefront of protecting the Muslim communities, they are at the forefront of
protecting our Muslim communities. So what we want to see is their success because when they
succeed, inshallah the oma succeeds, and if they fail and downfall, then there is a great harm and
		

			danger to the oma at that time. So I would also recommend that let us make dua for our scholars that
Allah subhanaw taala protects them, that Allah subhanaw taala grants them sincerity, that Allah
subhanaw taala allows them to follow the Sunnah of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasallam, that Allah
subhanaw taala protects them from any evil and harm and hazard and jealousy and envy that may exist
in and around them. I mean, and these are some of the eyes that we should be making along with their
do, I do have a topic and success. Moving on to number four, which is the issue of social media. And
this, I know it's going to be very difficult to because anytime something's happening on the
		

			internet, we want to be a part of it, we want to be a part of it. But what I want to remind myself
in you over here is let us look at the accountability in front of Allah subhanaw taala. So when an
issue does arise, we have to ask ourselves, do I sincerely care about this issue? If I do sincerely
care about this issue? Do I have something positive? to comment and to share is not positive? Let me
not share it. If it's not verified? Let me not share it. I haven't given the opportunity to an
individual to clarify, let me not share it, and then move on to the next point where let's just say
all of it is positive, you have clarified, you have waited? Is this the best way to actually go
		

			about it? Or is there someone better that can do this? Or is there someone better that can do this
and let someone else that is perhaps better or closer to the individual take this responsibility.
Again, at the end of the day, on the day of judgment, we will not be asked about other individuals,
we're only going to be asked about ourselves. And anything that we type, anything that we share on
the internet is going to be held against us on the Day of Judgment up and unless it is done
sincerely, and for the right reasons. And it was beneficial to the people as opposed to being
something destructive. So one of the best things that we can do when chaos arises, and it inevitably
		

			will arise again and again and again in our lifetimes is to remain silent, to ask Allah subhanaw
taala protect us and our Muslim scholars and the community at large and to thank Allah subhanho wa
Taala that we are not the ones in the limelight, who are constantly being followed and perhaps
constantly having their mistakes exposed. That is a big trial from Allah subhanaw taala so the fact
that Allah subhanaw taala has not put us in those positions. Let us thank Allah subhanaw taala for
it. I pray this video has been beneficial and that Allah subhanaw taala makes it heavy on our skill
of good deeds that Allah subhanaw taala unites this oma and does not allow us to be a cause of
		

			division in the oma that Allah subhanho wa Taala protects our scholars, keeps them sincere keeps
them following the Sunnah of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam and protects them from envy,
jealousy and hatred amongst themselves among from the outsiders that are there and anyone else that
wants to see their downfall or the downfall of Islam and the Muslim community. Allah amin does
welcome locker and for tuning in to panic alarm we'll be having a shadow Allah Allah Allah and astok
Furukawa to buoy Lake wa salam alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh