This khutbah was given on May 6th, 2016 at Colleyville Masjid.
Nouman Ali Khan – Giving a Good Word
AI: Summary ©
The speakers discuss the importance of Islam and avoiding harm in a social environment. They emphasize the importance of connections and being a good person for a job, as well as avoiding harm. The speakers also stress the importance of protecting oneself from harm and not giving bad advice to others. The segment emphasizes the need to be mindful of one's own survival and avoid giving bad advice to others.
AI: Summary ©
Rubbish everywhere silly Emery wahoo locata melissani okoli Paloma sabita en del multiball La ilaha illallah wa la la mina Latina Amano. Me no sorry, hot water. So Bill, what are some of the sub mineable? I mean, some
certainly saw the fourth surah of the Quran, most of it was revealed in the early part of the prophets, migration to Medina salallahu alayhi wasallam. And so the Muslim community for the first time is not under the pressure of being destroyed by a larger population. They're not a small minority. Now, there are a significant population and they're an independent community, pretty much. And even though there's the threat of the Quraysh, the people of Makkah coming and attacking at any time and still they're working out their negotiations with the Christian and Jewish communities that live in in the city of Medina. At this time, Allah azza wa jal decreed that he would reveal
introductory laws like early principles that can help the community get by. And a lot of these laws later on Allah would give the TIMA of them, the completion of them, the perfection of them, but the early stages of them were revealed in Sultan Nyssa. So this is a Muslim community that is beginning to mature, it's beginning to come together. And so Allah side fit that at this time, there are certain ethics and certain principles, certain morals that we should be very careful about. So it's so the surah is not just about laws, but it's especially about the kinds of ways people should be dealing with each other. One of the things I want to highlight before I talk about the one ayah,
from the Sula that is the subject of this football
is that in this surah, Allah went out of his way, so how long with Allah, to highlight people that otherwise get ignored in society, people that don't have any economic power, they don't have any political position. They don't have any social standing, and they're almost invisible in society, Allah made sure that as a Muslim community, we take care of those people first. And that's why from the very beginning, you know, what actually uttama so you get straight to it, even though it's called Sultan Nyssa, you go straight into the subject matter of the orphans. And then you get into the subject matter of whorfin girls in what you should do with them. And so time after time after
time in this surah, Allah azza wa jal highlights the rare cases of people that may be oppressed or left behind or deprived in some way in the society. Now the ayah that I want to talk to you about first, I won't tell you how this is connected to the larger subject of the surah. But certainly one of the most incredible pieces of wisdom that Allah gave to the Muslims to be able to deal with each other and produce a healthy functioning community. And it's not It's seriously something not talked about enough, this ayah. And what it contains is a subject that isn't talked about enough, because we don't think it has to do with spirituality, we don't think it has to do with, you know, for
example, in a bar or a worship or like the month of Ramadan is coming, we're all in in a certain zone and getting ourselves mentally prepared. But rather, this actually has more to do with the way we do business with each other, the way we talk to each other, the way we the way we interact with one another. So I'll give you a rough translation of the first manufacturer for sanitation, whoever would make I'll put it in easy English, whoever makes a good recommendation, we'll start with a base translation first, whoever makes a good recommendation, or makes a good case for somebody. Unless as the akula hoonah, Cebu minha. He's going to have a portion from it. And I'll explain what that means
in a second. But let's go through the translation of the ayah. First, when when Yeshua and Surya and whoever makes a bad recommendation and ugly recommendation, Yoku kefla minha he's going to have a portion from it as well. And then Allah says, what kind of law ghoulish a Makita again, a very shallow transition would mean that Allah has always been empowering over all things, Allah enables the strength to all things, no creature and no no thing in the earth or in existence ever has any power, except that Allah gives it its power. That's part of the meaning of the word Makita. But now let's go back a little bit. The first thing was whoever gives a good recommendation. First of all,
let's understand what the word shofar means. And we sought to Fie sarin hive out of Russia. They say in Arabic When you say something that will help somebody get something good, or it will remove harm from someone. So for example, if you call someone and say, Hey, man, I was just on the 635 traffic is horrible. Don't take the 635 you just made a shofar for them. You recommended something to them that warranted harm from them, that you got you you saved them a lot of trouble and they took some other exit or so that's a small example of just a a Santa shuffle answer could be somebody who's looking for a job. And you call a friend of yours and say, I know this guy is a good person, I think
you should consider him for a job. This is a chef aka Santa, you you pave the road of something good for somebody else. Either you blocked some harm from someone or you open the door for good for someone. And this is a this is a recommendation. Now this is actually not the meaning of shafa Hassan This is actually just the meaning of the Arabic word shefa. Joshua means you can somebody be
Have you make a case for them, or you go to somebody and say, I want to save you some trouble? You know, I want to save you some trouble. Another, like a direct example of shutdown could be somebody who's about to get fired, because they were late to work. Right. And you saw what happened, you saw that they were pulled into some other department meeting, and they weren't actually late. And they're not even being given a chance to explain, they're just fired. So you come in and say, actually, they're not late. I saw them come in early, but they were pulled into this other meeting, this thing happened, nothing happened, you explained on their behalf. And now you kept this person
from losing their job, because you saved them because you testified on their behalf. This is also a kind of shafa. But the thing about recommendations and putting in a good word and using connections, because those of you that are in the job market, you know, you can post your resume online. But that only goes so far until you have connections and somebody recommends you to somebody, and then somebody gives you a call and says, Hey, I heard about you want to come in for an interview, when it comes to jobs when it comes to marriages. When it comes to business agreements, we all go by recommendations. That's we rely on that in society. And you especially trust the recommendations of
people that are close to you. And so even things like you know, if you used to be a student of mine, and you've graduated already, and now you're going into university, you say, could you write me a recommendation letter that's also a shofar, or people leave a job and they go into a new job. And they say, could I put you as a reference, right, the previous employer, could I put you as a reference, that's also a chiffon. But the problem is Allah didn't just say shofar. He said, shefa, Asana, all of the meanings that I've just given to you, my new Illa Allah, hi. They don't give any other meaning, except when you're trying to help somebody. Either you're trying to save them from
harm, or you're trying to give them something good. That's all you're trying to do. And it's a selfless thing. It actually is not for you, it's for someone else. shafa is not supposed to benefit you it's supposed to benefit somebody else. But then what is the law doing the Quran that's unique, he actually gives it to qualifications Hassan and say, Shabbat and Hashanah and Shabbat and say yeah, which is unusual, because like your shoulder, my whole line is here says, like, you don't want a sharp
fall on your Harley for the other Feaster molinara. The Quran said something unusual when it's such
a bad recommendation. So now we need to go back and redefine because to Allah just any recommendation is not enough. It either has to be something good, or something bad. So let's go back again, when somebody is not qualified for a job,
and you recommend them anyway, because they're your cousin.
And you don't you're not honest about exactly what their shortcomings are. And you say is a good person, just give them a job, hook it up, set this up, me use my connection, I got this. And you actually even though you benefited this cousin of yours, or this nephew of yours, or whoever else, or this friend of yours, this is actually not a chef, ha ha Santa. It's not a good recommendation, because it's not based on truth. It's not based on honesty. When you're going to do good for someone, it has to be based on honesty.
A student of mine who had failed my class A long time ago, asked me to write him a recommendation letter for a university. I said I can't do it. But a style.
I studied with you. I said Yeah, you did. That's why I can't
you didn't show up for any classes. When you did you were sleeping. You failed every exam I ever gave you. What am I supposed to recommend? You admit a lie? No, stop, just we're Muslims. Muslims help each other. You know, what about the Brotherhood of Islam?
The Brotherhood of Islam is that we are honest with each other. The fact is our relationship with each other, like little slower, less of a lot more I will say a Muslim, American Muslim, the believer is the mirror of another believer, we're called a mirror to each other. When you look in the mirror, if you're dirty, you're gonna see something dirty. And when you're dirty, you're not gonna see something clean.
If you're wearing wrinkled clothes, you're not gonna see iron clothes in the mirror. You're gonna see what it is. So when you honestly recommend someone, when you honestly say good things about someone that is sharp.
And when you're saying good things about someone, but they don't deserve them. You're making it up. And this actually it goes it has many ramifications. Like for example, sometimes, you know, because of you know, people know me a few people know me. So they say, could you please recommend our organization or our project so people can donate to our project? I say, I don't know your project. I simply don't know. I don't know how the accounting works in your project. I don't know how long it's been around. I don't know what what work you've done. I can't recommend Look, why don't you investigate our project? Yeah. If I started investigating your project and become an auditor, then
invest the next project and investigate the next project. And that's all I'll be doing. But you know, I wouldn't personally I wouldn't just recommend something without knowing it first, without understanding it internally first, without experience having experienced at first I personally, you know, companies run 100 groups right?
If I haven't used that group, I'm not, I can't recommend them. I haven't been I haven't done much with them. I don't know what it's like. And I even actually, in my position, it's even more difficult because even if I did go to Hajj with them, maybe they treated me differently, because then it will be recommending later. And other people who came will be treated differently, I have to be careful, because it's a public responsibility. So the idea of recommending things, you have to understand consequences of putting a good word for someone, and putting a bad word for someone that is not to say, you dismiss other good deeds or other good works, you don't say, Well, I don't know
about those guys. Because even in English, when you say I don't know about them, it's like saying they're pretty messed up.
Right? So you have to carefully just either, you know, not say anything, or say, you know, I'm sure it's a good cause. I need to know more about it, though I don't know enough about. There's good ways of saying things. And there's good ways to indicate that you don't know enough. And there's bad ways of doing it, too. So we have to be intelligent in the way that we speak about people in the way we speak about organizations in the way we speak about businesses. Of course, Shopify is something very common now in society. Every product you buy on amazon.com has a star rating, and people are doing shefa under it, isn't it? And every every company has a review on Google, right? every restaurant
and then you know this, this some Muslims forget these principles or Crohns principles. You have a halal restaurant and one mile down the road. There's another halal restaurant, this guy is selling burgers. He says, Well, you know what I'm gonna sell burgers to I'll do half I'll take half of sales away. That's a good idea. And then he will make fake reviews of this guy's restaurant online and say don't eat there. They have roaches in their burger, this and that. So his sales can go this is shafa. You know, you're just you're creating, you're destroying somebody else's it is. You're doing that? This is your fire? I say yeah. So there is a fire Hassan FRC. Now, the other the flip side of
this is also true. When somebody does deserve a good recommendation, when somebody does deserve a good word from you, and give it to them. Don't be cheap with it. If somebody did approach and say, Well, you know, and I've seen this happen, and I'm shocked at this, I'm actually shocked at how feeble minded and how narrow minded people can become. You have somebody who is you know, who like I because I'm from boxing kickboxing example, you have people that went to medical school in Pakistan, and they graduated and they came here in their heart, they had a hard time at first they did their usmle and the became physicians, and now they're very successful. And now there are other young
students that are trying to get into med school or they're looking for recommendations, and they're looking for these people that have already made it in their career. And they see the they could recommend and they purposely don't recommend, like, you know, one day he'll be competition.
This is this is the feeble mindedness of a human being that they cannot see somebody come up, they cannot see somebody succeed. They'd rather just put down on Oh, they're not,
I'd rather not. I'd rather not recommend I'd rather not give young people a chance. I'd rather not let the next generation, you know, people come up. This is not just in one industry or another industry, this even happens within the work of Dean. Even within the work of Dean, you have somebody giving talks and code buzz and lectures, and somebody comes to them and says, What do you think of this other shape?
You know,
I would, I would be a little careful, I you know, because he sees that if I recommend the other one, I will lose some audience. I'm getting a lot of customers here. And so you'll have entire, you know, in the Muslim world and here included, you have people dedicated their only job is to and recommend somebody else. That's all they do. That's all their job is because they're like, don't go there. Don't go here, don't go there. or overly recommend and overly glorify somebody else. This is also OSHA, this is also Shavasana. This is something very, very common in our society. But now I want to get to the idea itself. Now that I've defined some of these things for you. What are the
consequences of this? When you do good shefa when you actually recommend someone who's supposed to be recommended when you actually prevent people from a harm that was that was headed their way? That's By the way, the other piece that I didn't mention, if you know, you should have said something to avoid harm to a community, then you should say something that's also
you know, there are cases where, you know, they recommend they're asking this question is asking, should we hire this construction company for our for our machine, and this construction company already overcharged somebody else. They already ran the other machine almost into bankruptcy. Then the people from that machine as we don't want to say too much, but I think you should keep looking. We should use you keep looking. There's a public responsibility. That's also a chef Asana, sometimes not recommending someone putting you know, in respectful language is also part of our civic responsibility part of our duty. Right? But it has to be done in in very careful ways. You don't
want to be one to accuse someone or put someone down without proper evidence. So unless you have first hand evidence against somebody and you know that
You know that if they go and agree to this contract or this marriage or whatever else, that there's going to be some serious harm, then you should remain silent until you don't know for sure yourself with first hand information, it's better for you not to say anything. Now, what are the consequences? If you and I become people that can actually make good recommendations, we can be principled. And you know, we can we can hold on to these principles and make the right kinds of recommendations at the right time. What happens unless as the akula hoonah, Cebu minha is going to have I translated it as the word portion naseeb I translated as portion. But there are two words in
this ayah for portion there's no see been given. And both of them are translated in the English translation as portion. But Allah azza wa jal decided one of them should be nusseibeh and the other one should be careful. So I'm going to dig a little bit deeper with you to just illustrate what what does this word mean and have them in Polish a chain, it actually means a portion of all things. For example, if you recommended somebody for a job
and you give a good recommendation, they deserved the recommendation and they got that job. Now that they get that job, everything good that happens in their life thereafter
that they're grateful to Allah for you have a portion in it,
this person got married because you got they got a job, you have a share. This person had children because they got a job, you have a share, this person was able to help their parents get out of debt, you have a share, this person was able to go to Hajj, you have a share.
This person gives other kind Ramadan, you have a share, they are doing things and you have no idea what they're doing. You just recommended them for a job this one time. And so much of the good that came as a result of that one recommendation, you are earning wealth with a law that is your naseeb with a law and have them in good English a, a portion from all things, then, you know, interestingly enough, I found out that in the Arabic language and receive the material held for Sahara naseeb, comes in the Arabic language in the meaning of a reservoir of water in the middle of the desert. Like in the desert, if somebody is traveling, they're going to run out of water. And so they're
desperately trying to find what you know, they fight I actually trying to find a seat. And a lot of times when you think it's water and you get there, it's a sob, right. It's the mirage of water, but it's not really water itself. So what the Arabs used to do to help each other is they actually used to put large rocks, they're actually called mercy to large rocks. And that's why the word unsub is used in the Quran for rocks on which animals are slaughtered. Because you have to have a large rock, they put the animal on it, and then they slaughter the animal, right that's unsolved. But the word the large rocks were used to let the traveller in the desert known there's water nearby.
In other words, this is you're in the journey, or you see a stand in front of you, you're going to travel enough and you see a rock and it gives you hope, that gives you hope, when a lie is giving us as an indication, perhaps in this ayah is that when you help somebody out, Allah will put opportunities in your future, Allah will put not just good in them and not just you know, higher for you in the market or good for you in your next life. But in your life, because you made a good recommendation, other good things are going to start happening to you. You're going to reach milestones in your life that otherwise you would have not reached.
You think you were helping someone else. What a lie is teaching you and me here is you're actually helping yourself, you're actually helping yourself. There's one day one day is gonna come, you're gonna be looking for a business partner, you're gonna be looking for a job, you're gonna be looking for entrance into university, you're gonna be looking for marriage, you're gonna be looking for somebody for your children. And those doors will be wider open for you because you help somebody else in the past, a level open up that Nasim for you. It's incredible that now we have to realize, if you go back to what I told you, in the beginning, in sort of the NASA law talks about people who
are in need, who are otherwise helpless, and some people who are looking for these things, they're looking for opportunities to open up, they really depend on the recommendations of others, otherwise, they can't get the risk. They can't move on with their life. And so Allah is telling us that actually, all of you, you and I were the ones in need. In fact, you just help somebody but actually the only one you have was yourself. But on the other side, if you do make bad recommendations, you don't like somebody that's why you didn't allow them to take a job. You can't stand this person so you spoke ill about them so they could lose their job. You know, you have
people sometimes you have people that have short tempers, right? They go to a restaurant, the server comes in, you know, serves two minutes late. And they look at their face this guy.
You don't realize this, this poor man or This woman has been working there. 16 hours now, there were two minutes late and you go to the manager By the way, you have a very unqualified staff. This person was a whole 120 seconds late is unacceptable. And you have this out for this poor guy. And this person, this man or this one was gonna lose their job because you're done.
recommendation, because your complaint because you couldn't control your temper, you just ruin somebody's livelihood. You ruin somebody like their children were depending on this, you know, and you're so entitled you don't even realize the damage that you're doing. This is this is six small things we do every day that become shafa as a small, small things, and then we do them in big matters, too. We do them towards each other too. And so what have what's the consequence of this? He says the akula who gitflow minha, the other word is used given, given instead of looking forward to something that's coming ahead of you like the rock that leads to water. gipfel in Arabic originally
is unlucky. So
it's actually the piece of cloth that is wrapped around the hump of a camel so the writer can write on top of it. Different is also used for the piece of cloth that you know, back then they didn't have suitcases, then absolutely. So if they were traveling and they were traveling with their stuff, they would wrap it up in a cloth and they would drag it behind them. They would either drag it behind them or hang it on the back of the camel. This is also actually called a Kiffin something that drags behind you something that doesn't let you go. It's like luggage that you have to carry. Ally's suggesting subhanho wa Taala and our fellow By the way, bamana guarantee the word gift will
also means are like a caffeine as a guarantor. The work of Allah comes with guarantees, something will guaranteed come with come to you. When you make bad recommendations. It's like you put this luggage on your back, that ain't gonna let you go, you're gonna pay the price for it in this life. This burden is going to be there and you're going to pay the price for it and you'll be held responsible for it. And mythical Mortazavi, sunsail, Kelby Mandel, mithila Mutasa, we something that is the equivalent, the same kind of damage you did will be done to you the same kind of damage. And the thing is, we don't realize the damage we do. We don't realize the damage we do. And then when it
is done to us, we say Where is this coming from? Why am I experiencing all this damage? All in all you and I have to do is just guard our tongue just a little bit. Guard, even sometimes it's not even about our tongue. Sometimes it's the way you make your face. Somebody says what do you think about abdelkarim?
I'm not saying anything.
When you say I'm not saying anything, you said more than enough. You said way more than enough. You know,
what can I say? You know, you will see the damage of that in your life. Protect yourself from doing this against yourself. But what I find the most fascinating about this incredible incredible is upon Allah is what happens at the end of this ayah what can Allahu Allah coolish a Makita
Allah has always been monkeyed over all things. The word Makita in the Arabic language comes from the word Good, good and some pronounce it Pete as well. My own secret Rama commoner risk. Good is actually used for food that you took as you were dying of starvation, and that one bite saved you from starvation. That one bite kept your breath going and had you not had that one bite you would have died.
Actually, a kata in Arabic is to save someone from the edge of death to survive, help someone survive from the edge of death. The same way IQ data the FTL form of the verb actually means somebody living right on the edge like they just have enough to survive. They just have enough to survive. A law's name in the ayah is McKeith. Ally's name is Mohit, which means Allah keeps every one surviving, and everything surviving. Allah gives you just enough. If you think you're not going to survive, he will be the one that empowers you. He'll be the one and that's why they say Allah Hafiz was showerhead. When we were mortal. Cobra, these are the meanings of Nokia, the one who
safeguards The one who watches over and the one who grants you capability. The one who grants you, the one who empowers you basically, is Allah, why is a blessing that subhana wa tada at the end of desire. You know, if you're on the receiving end of a recommendation, and people are giving bad recommendations to you, everybody's talking bad about you, or there's some group of people who just have it out against you. And all they do is talk ill of you. anytime they get and you're thinking that you're as a result your career is going to suffer, your business is going to suffer, your social standing is going to suffer, your family's going to suffer, right your place in the community
is going to suffer everything. Maybe I should move from here, because people are saying these terrible things. You know, I'm not going to be able to get a job anywhere with these people saying these kinds of things. At the end of it all. Allah says, good chef, or bad chef is not going to do a thing.
It's not going to do a thing. At the end of the day, the one who keeps you from starving is Allah. At the end of the day, the one who put food in your mouth is Allah. So when somebody can say bad things about you and good things about you actually the only
Only harm are good they are doing is to themselves actually.
The that's the only thing. And the only one who can do harm or good the only one who can challenge your own survival and put your survival in jeopardy is a lion. He's McKeith. He's gonna keep on giving. So don't become so depressed when you don't get the recommendation. Don't become so overwhelmed at all. People didn't say good things about me. People didn't give me a good review. Or I asked them and they didn't didn't agree, or I've heard people are actually and recommending, they're saying bad things about me. You know, the young man says, I was hoping that they would say a good word. And this has actually happened that in cases that I know, some young man says that I want
to get married and he approaches the family. And they say, well, we'll ask references, right? So they asked his roommate, and the roommate is like, oh, firsthand, they got roommates always dirty. The roommate is always dirty. He's always not making rent payments. He's always leaving a mess behind. He's always complaining. He's always watching movies. He's always making the noises always keeping the other guy up. And the guy who cleans everything up and the guy who gets up and makes a lot budget at the machine, the guy who does everything right. He's the one wanting to get married and they go and ask the roommate and the woman says actually is a horrible human being.
I will fight for my daughter, I get a restraining order. You know, I think you should save yourself.
This is a
this is an disbands depressed I'll never get married. Look at what the damage that's been done. Look at what's been said I didn't deserve this. I didn't deserve that. That should be said about me. What have I ever done to harm this person? You know, jealousy can make people do crazy things. low self esteem can make people do weird, weird thing that they don't even. I don't know. I just said it. Yeah, so what?
You know, well, that one time you didn't give me the cake you were eating
petty people, Petty people, when people have no good in them. And all they look around is what damage can they do? They look around. That's all they're looking for some people that just that's what they become. How can they hurt somebody else. That's the only time they feel powerful. The only time they feel like they've accomplished something is using their mouth, they've done somebody harm or using their mouth. They've harmed they've walked somebody's path to good. Don't become from those people. Because you cannot stop the plan have a lot to provide this to somebody else. You and I can't and you try and get in its way the burden of it only falls upon yourself it falls upon myself
melasma which will make us a people of shofar Hashanah. And at the end of the day, may Allah azza wa jal make us worthy of the shofar of the Messenger of Allah Salallahu alaihe salam on the Day of Judgment. Allah will forgive us for the badge of honor that we've done in the past and realize that we will also make use of those who if they have made mistakes with their shofar. Go back and rectify those mistakes. Monica lovely welcome, Anil Hakim, when a family where it was declared Hakeem
al hamdu lillahi wa kafa wa Salatu was Salam ala Dino Safa Susana Bali him baja tamina bien, Mohamed el amin, Allah alayhi wa sahbihi edge marine yaku la gente Kitab al Karim Banda Nakula Billahi min ash shaytani r rajim. In Allahu wa eketahuna soluna Allah Nabhi Yeah, you had the Xena amanu sallu alayhi wa sallam Ooh, Taslima Allahumma salli ala Muhammad Anwar Allah Allah Muhammad kamasan later Allah Ibrahim Ali Ibrahim al al Ameen in Dhaka hamidah Majeed Allahumma barik Allah Muhammad Ali Mohammed Kama Baraka Ibrahim Ali Ibrahim al al amin in naka homido Majeed about the law of a Hema como la if de la in the La Jolla movie
where he is in Cordoba, Vienna, and in fact, he will Moncure what a de croo la akbar wa la jolla la Motta stone, okay, Miss Sala, in the salata kanatal Mini Nikita makuta