Omar Suleiman – How To Support Your Brother When He is An Oppressor
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Are you ministry Shakeology, Mr. Manuel Heyman handed in lacking I mean, what are one in on the line I mean we'll Arqiva to the metallian allama. Sunday was selling vertical avocado, silica Mohammed and Salalah hardy who sell them on early here or Sunday he will sell them to * kefir,
gelato just before I start with the with the advice and the reflections for today I wanted to remind everyone inshallah Tata please sign up for the the hedger programming we're going to have in sha Allah tala programming to connect us to the drama's of the boy himani snom The supplications of Ibrahim on Islam on top of what already exists. And just speaking about the virtues of hedge and then also a special series with the fellows at yaqeen. About hedge and connecting us to hedge in sha Allah tala, even as so many of us had intended to go this year or have the intention to go at some point and feel disconnected from that. So inshallah tada I want to recommend to everyone to please
sign up in Charlottetown. And you can also contribute in Charlottetown to the work by automating your donation across the 10 days more or less pans out except analyzers that allow us to welcome the hedger in the most beautiful of ways and to really strive in the most blessed 10 days of the year. May Allah countless amongst those who are accepted in those 10 days alumni, I mean, what I wanted to speak about today was this very famous Hadith where the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam says, onsala, haka, laudium and oma bloom to support your brother, whether he is an oppressor or whether he is oppressed, and the Sahaba they responded to the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, and they
said to the Prophet, sallAllahu, alayhi wa sallam, yada, yada, we understand how to support him when he is oppressed. But how do we support him when he is an oppressor, and the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, by stopping him from committing that oppression, by holding back his hand, so that he does not oppress anymore by holding his tongue so that he doesn't hurt with his tongue, whatever it may be right, but by holding him back, stopping him from his oppression, that that is a way in which you show love to that person, that is the way that you truly support him. Now, obviously, this is situated in the context in which Angelica, they were familiar with this idea of
supporting your tribesmen supporting your brother, whether he is wronged or whether he is wrongdoing, whether he is an oppressor or whether he is oppressed. And what that meant was that it's your tribe Above all, it is your kin, above all, that justice and truth are secondary to loyalty and kinship and brotherhood. And what the prophets lie Selim is showing us here is that there's actually no contradiction between the two. And so it's the brilliance of the messenger sallallahu alayhi wasallam, that he reframes the understanding of that slogan, in a way that it would stick with the people. So the idea of own sort of haka walima, an old mother wants to support your brother, whether
he is an oppressor or whether he is oppressed. In the jelly context, and the understanding of the days of ignorance was you support him no matter what, and justice and truth are secondary and relegated to a place of unimportance in favor instead of kinship and brotherhood and loyalty, and tribalism, and the prophets lie Selim is saying, No, continue to love your brother. But see rectifying your brother, and helping him understand the implications of his actions and stopping him from oppressing and putting him on the path of truth by doing justice, by him and with him, is actually your way of doing him a favor, it's actually your way of supporting him because when Islam
comes, it does not just bring a rectification of our worldly affairs, it reorients us towards the hereafter towards the alpha, and tells us that the consequences and the rewards of the hereafter are far greater than the ones that exist in this world. And so it's not just the pursuit of truth, truth and justice here is the pursuit of a loss reward the pursuit of a loss pleasure, which becomes primary now. And so if by supporting my brother by stopping him from oppressing by actually taking a stand against him for his sake, meaning for the sake of His accuracy, it obviously has, you know, rectification for society as a whole when people step in, but for the sake of His hereafter, then
I'm doing him a favor, because now the the component of the hereafter has been introduced into his thoughts and into his pursuit and this is the way that we collectively seek Allah subhana wa Tada. There's another Hadith which is a very famous Hadith where the prophets I seldom said the hadith of Tamim. It was a devotee of the allowed time and who were the prophets I said, I do not see how the religion is sincerity, and I'll see how and they said to the prophets lie Selim to who
He suddenly law when he kitabi he when he when he emitted Muslim in when I met him the Prophet slicin um said to Allah to His Book to His Messenger, to the leaders of the Muslims and to their common folk, and this is powerful because what is nasiha How to Allah is not what is not see how to the people what doesn't I'll see how to allies your sincerity and abiding by his commands his sincerity, having the purest of intentions, in responding to the call of Allah subhana wa tada and being fully obedient to Allah subhanho wa Taala with those and that guidance comes through the book of Allah subhanaw taala. So being sincere to the commands, and to the imperatives of that book to
the instructions of that book. And that book is given to us through the messenger sallallahu alayhi wa sallam who manifests it in action and interprets it and acts upon it with his son so that we can learn how to act upon it. So we're gonna see how to the prophets lie Selim is believing him, believing in Him following the guidance from Allah that comes through that book and is manifested in his son, it is Salatu was Salam. So let's see how to the prophets lie Selim. Now see how to the leaders of the Muslims and we'll see how to the common folk, is to rectify them in accordance with the guidance that we get from Allah, through the book of Allah, implemented and manifested,
explained through the way and the guidance and the wisdom of the Messenger of Allah sallallahu wasallam. And so it's nice to see how, because we're still sincere to the commands themselves because the commands of Allah subhana wa, tada are put forth, as what will rectify our affairs, both worldly and those that relate to the Hereafter, as well as our relationships. And it is what we hold ourselves to, and what we hold others to those that are beloved to us and those that are enemies, we hold ourselves to that guidance from Allah subhana wa Tada. And that's our naseeha, to a lot to the book to the messenger slice of them. And then we hold others in accordance with that, and we'll see
how to Allah subhanho wa Taala, we give now see how with that, and I'll see if that makes sense, in a way that we all become more sincere. And we all give each other sincere loving advice, with the goal of success with the goal of success in the Hereafter, and success in this world. And so it's a powerful idea. It's all encompassing, and you cannot understand the Hadeeth about supporting your brother, whether he's depressed, or whether he's an oppressor unless you understand the nature of your relationship with Allah first and the relationship that you have with rightful guidance first, so that when you are giving and I'll see how to others you are giving them they'll see how based
upon rightful guidance and only for Allah subhana wa Tada, not for any worldly aim, not for any ego. And and then you know, when you see your brother, when you see your sister, you want good for them, you love them, and you want good for them. And so where the profits will allow us on talks about the example of this oma in regards to its mutual love and concern, the way that we feel about each other, the way that we want one another to succeed is like one human body, right? It's like one human body. And so if one part of it hurts, then the entire, the entire body is afflicted with fever, and the entire body is afflicted with that illness. Now, you don't just amputate the part of
your body that is struggling. But instead you try to cure it, you try to heal it. Now often, you know, we only speak about this Hadeeth once again, in regards to you know, the affairs of global oppression. And so the the Muslim almost like one body and so when I when I hear about a group of oppressed people, in Philistine or in Somalia, or in Syria or Yemen, wherever it may be the Rohingya or yours, Kashmir, Afghanistan, Iraq, it hits me because those are my people, right? And so that's one way of understanding and one way of genuinely benefiting from the advice of the messenger sallallahu alayhi wa sallam about the example of the human body, the example of this, like the
example of the human body, but there is a another element to this, which is that I have to want good for my brother or my sister and I have to genuinely want good for my brother and my sister, whether that brother or sister is a leader or whether that brother or that sister is a an unnoticed follower, right or someone that is as common folk as it gets. I want good for that person. And if I don't want good for that person, then any and I'll see how that I give to them is going to be inherently flawed because it's not coming from the place of the interest of that person. It's coming from something else. It can't be for Allah. If I don't want that person to be better for Allah
subhana wa tada and from the same spirit
loving my brother or sister that's being oppressed, because of something worldly and wanting them to not suffer in this world. And that same spirit of wanting my brother or sister to succeed and not suffer in the Hereafter, I want to give them loving advice, I want to pick them up, I want to help them. And so it's important to understand this Hadeeth on sort of hacker, volume and oma room to support your brother, whether he's an oppressor whether he's oppressed through the lens of these two ahaadeeth. What does it mean to have an LLC how to the people, you can't have mostly how to the people, if you don't have nasiha, to Allah subhana wa tada to his guidance and to His Messenger,
sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. And then what does it mean to feel a sense of illness to feel a sense of concern, that would, that would cause a person to lose sleep at night, except for the love of that person and wanting that person to succeed and wanting that person to do so much better? What comes out of that is that again, you're going to give them I'll see how to that person for a loss of Hannah Montana, and with the guidance of Allah subhana wa Tada. So it will both come from a good place, it will be lilla. filler. And as you know, it will be for Allah subhanaw taala with a loss of Hannah Montana and with the rightful guidance of Allah, it's not going to have any worldly aim
attached to it, it's not going to have ego attached to it. And that's going to, you know, guide, the way that the means will be used to separate that person from their voting to separate that person from their oppression. Now, I want you to think about this, once again, from the other side of this coin, when you want to sincerely help someone who's being oppressed, you want to separate them from that oppression, you don't just pray for them, you don't just wish them well, you actually want to separate them, in fact, your do is an action, right, your job is an action, you want to separate them from that oppression, rescue them from that oppression. And so all of the means that you're
going to take to support that person are going to be in the interest of that person, anything that you do, is going to be for the sake of helping that person, it's not just going to be for your sake. A lot of times, by the way, you know, I think about this in terms of protest and advocacy. There are many people who would be willing to jump in the protest, but they might need something more from you, right, and that dedicated long term advocacy. And by the way, the first agent of change is due out and then everything stems from that, right. So you go to all of those different things and you do what is necessary to help them you take the ASVAB the means while having full tawakkol and Allah
subhanaw taala full trust in Allah, you take the means that are actually going to help those people get out of that situation, okay to separate them from their oppression. Likewise, when you're giving someone sincere advice, to stop them from oppressing themselves, to stop them from being violent themselves, in whatever way that is, it is the Wassall the means that you are going to take are in accordance with the goal of separating them from the volume, but in this situation, committing the loan, committing the oppression. And so it's not just going to be you know, I'm not just going to yell at you because it's going to make me feel like I did something better. I'm going to find the
right language, I'm going to find the right approach. I might even find the right messenger, maybe I'm not the right messenger to you in the first place. I'm going to do whatever I can to stop you from hurting not just others, but hurting yourself by hurting your hereafter because of the way that you're committing that vote and the way that you're committing that oppression. And this often shows by the way in regards to family affairs, right? How often do you see that sometimes the most religious of people,
you know, get caught in a situation where there's a family beef and then you know, their child is in a marriage and their child might be the one that's committing the wrongdoing in a marriage. But when divorce comes in arbitration comes they're completely unfair, right, completely biased towards their own children. It's beautiful when you see someone who's just who says, You know what, no, you know, we can't wrong. And, you know, I have to be fair, I have to be just here despite my love for my own child. And in fact, because I love my own child, I don't want them to oppress, I want to help them out of the situation. Same thing, whether it's my brother or my sister that's in that, you know,
that's at fault. It's not just that I'm going to be just in spite of my love for that person. I'm going to be just and love that person, by making sure they don't do something that might yield them some temporary benefit and advantage in this life, but is going to harm them in the hereafter. Whether it's my own child, my own sibling, my closest friend, whoever it is, I'm going to try to stop that person from doing things
are harmful to others and harmful to themselves in the hereafter. So the prophets lie some did not tell us to leave off that love that we have for people when we want to stop them from oppressing. He instead taught us to act upon that love for them in a more wholesome understanding of their interests in this life and their interests in the hereafter. So the societal implications of unchecked voting, unchecked evils that everyone gets engulfed in that evil, everyone gets engulfed in that evil. So none of us can be complacent. And then I'm incumbent, whoever amongst the season evil, let them change it with their hand, can't change it with your hand, then speak out against it.
And if you can't change it with your tongue, then at least hate it in your heart. And that is the least of faith. That means I leave the environment I leave the situation, I can't be in the presence of that evil being committed. And I hate in my heart that I wasn't able to change that environment, not that I remain in a place where I tacitly approve it. No, I hate that I wasn't able to change it. I hate that I wasn't. And I'm going to think about the ways in which I can get to a place where I can stop that. And I'm not in a place right now where I can stop it. But I'm going to strategize I'm going to pray I'm going to be sincere to Allah subhanaw taala. In wanting to sincerely remove that
wrongdoing, from society, from my own family, from my own tribe, whoever it may be. So again, the idea here is that we're never complacent, we remain sincere to Allah sincere to our brothers and sisters. And we undergo the the means or we undertake the means that are in accordance with the goal of actually separating those people from committing that voting just as we would separate people try to do our best to separate people from being the victims of violence in this life. One of the things that we find with Ibrahim is that I'm in particular, you know, we just covered the story of Ibrahim on Islam, and obviously, he's a major theme, you know, as we're going into the hedger, not all
people are spoken to in the same way. And so Ibrahim it is speaking to his father was different from the way that he spoke to his people. It's never condescending or foul, like, a snob never becomes obscene. But the way that he speaks to his father is different from the way that he speaks to his people. And so when he's speaking to his father, he says, Yeah, but he in Nicaragua and el el mal I'm yet to refer to Bernie and because they'll often say Oh, yeah, oh my father I have some knowledge in the caja any mineral some knowledge has come to me so I'm not the source of that knowledge I don't have all knowledge I don't know everything and you know nothing no, there's just
some knowledge that Allah has favored me with and that has come to me mean lol right now I'm yeah ticket that happened to not come to you fat to bear any ethical said often. So we so follow me, I'll guide you to a straight path. So Ibrahim is using many qualifiers he's he's going above and beyond to use the language that's going to be befitting to his father with the goal of guiding his father. That's not what when he speaks to his people, what does he say, to have junie? fill our Katahdin? Are you going to dispute with me concerning a lot while he has guided me, right? That's not arrogance, but Ibrahim it has Salaam has a different tone, because he's speaking to two different
peoples here two different audiences, the goal is to separate them from their idolatry and to bring them to that straight path. And the last thing I'll say here is that, you know, it's important for us to understand that usually people don't check their own cliques or their own groups, because they're afraid they'll give their opponents a one upon them. I'm gonna say that, again, because it's especially relevant in the social media age, hold your own crew, to that higher set of standards, it's very easy to find the cliques and to find the tribes and to find the people, you know, that fall into these echo chambers. And then they become groups. And so there people are always right, no
matter what wrong they do. And the other side is always wrong no matter what right? They do. And so you know what, when my guy says this, I'm going to go ahead and support him and I'm going to jump on the bandwagon. I'm going to lampoon his, his opponents, and I'm not going to check him or her and hold them to those standards. Because they're on my team and the profit slice on him is saying that the home as a team, you know, we're all one team, we can't be divided into those cliques, but it is inevitable it is inevitable that groups form it's an it's inevitable that you start to feel a certain sense of empathy towards some it's inevitable that you start to feel an affinity towards
some
it's inevitable that you that you have more personal bond that you excuse the behavior of some more than others. And this is just naturally what happens on social media, especially it's very apparent right people form into these groups and into these cliques. Who is the person who is honest enough to check their own and say, You know what, that's not okay. You know, this is this is not okay. This is your this is this is harmful. This is oppressive.
And as I said, usually people don't check their own cliques or groups because they're afraid they'll give their opponents a one up. I want you to think about this, and Charlotte's gonna end with these three things, the consequence of that the consequence of checking your own brother, your own sister who's from your group, your click, would be a loss in this world for them, right? I mean, at the very, even though, you know, last panel to Allah teaches us through the prophet sallallahu wasallam, that no one increases in humility, except that Allah increases them and honor. But let's just say like, if I check, if I, if I call out this, and I say this is wrong, this is loaded, that I might be
submitting my brother, the person that might click to a loss in this world. So the consequence of that would be a loss in this world, but the consequence of letting them persist in their wrongdoing is their loss in the hereafter. Right, so the consequence of letting them persistent their voting is their loss in the hereafter. And the consequence of supporting them in their wrongdoing is loss for both of you in the hereafter. So I'm gonna repeat the three things the consequence of this would be a loss in this world if you were to not check or if you were to check them to stop them from committing volume, you know, you might, you might disadvantage them in the worldly sense, but the
consequence of letting them persist in their wrongdoing is their loss in the hereafter. And the consequence of supporting them in their wrongdoing is loss for both of you in the hereafter. May Allah subhanaw taala protect us all. May Allah Subhana Allah protect us from oppressing or being oppressed, may Allah subhanaw taala protect us from wronging others or being wronged ourselves. May Allah subhanaw taala protect us from harming others or being harmed by others. May Allah subhana wa tada allow the hereafter to be our greatest concern. May Allah subhanaw taala forgive us for our shortcomings our inherent shortcomings May Allah some parents out allow us to recognize our own
shortcomings and to repent for those shortcomings before it becomes too late. May Allah subhanaw taala forgive us when we become ignorant of ourselves heedless of ourselves heedless of our situations, may Allah subhana wa tada allow us to be more concerned about wrongdoing and being punished in the hereafter than then being wronged and suffering in this world. May Allah subhanaw taala protect us from both the harm of this world the hardship of this world and the hardship of the next May Allah subhana wa tada forgive our brothers and sisters all over the world may Allah subhanaw taala allow us to be united May Allah subhanaw taala unite our hearts unite our ranks and
allow us to be more pleasing to Him collectively and individually a llama I mean we'll call it la masala Mubarak ibnr Mohammed Ali he will be married to Zack malachite and once again inshallah Thai please do sign up at the links below was said armonico Rahmatullahi wa barakato