Riyadul Haqq – Preaching Piety Part 2
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AI: Transcript ©
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious,
the Most Merciful.
عَلَى النَّبِيَّ يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا صَلُّوا عَلَيْهِ
وَسَلِّمُوا تَسْلِيمًا اللَّهُمَّ صَلِّ عَلَى سَيِّدِنَا مُحَمَّدٍ نَبِيِّ
رَبِّهِ وَعَلَى آلِهِ وَسَلِّمُوا تَسْلِيمًا Continuing with the
topic of preaching piety.
I've already mentioned the need for sincerity and
for genuine concern for the people that one
is advising, preaching to, to whom one is
enjoining the good or with whom one is
enjoining the good and forbidding the wrong, etc.
So sincerity and genuine concern and compassion for
that person and wanting the best for them,
this is genuine nasiha.
This is how the Prophet of Allah ﷺ
felt for their respective peoples and their audiences
when they advised them and preached to them.
And as I was mentioning in the previous
talk, giving da'wah, giving nasiha, inviting
to good, reminding people of what's right and
commendable and discouraging them from what's wrong and
disreputable.
None of this is absolute.
It has its...
All these things have their prerequisites, their conditions,
their timings, their context and circumstances.
One has to take so many different things
into consideration.
So amongst the things to be taken, to
be considered are sincerity, a review of one's
motives and objectives and feelings.
Is one doing this out of genuine concern
with sincerity or is there an ulterior motive?
Is one's nafs playing games with one when
someone chooses to give da'wah, nasiha?
Do al-amr bil ma'ruf wa nahi
al-munkar.
I've covered a lot of these things.
Moving on, apart from questioning oneself that, am
I the right person to do this?
Do I have the right knowledge and the
right understanding?
One also needs to look at oneself.
As Allah says, أَتَأْمُرُونَ النَّاسِ بِالْبِرِّ وَتَنْسَوْنَ أَنفُسَكُمْ
وَأَنْتُمْ تَقُونَ الْكِتَابَ أَفَلَا تَعَقِلُونَ Do you
instruct people to piety and you forget yourselves?
Even though you recite the book, what do
you have no sense?
Do you not understand?
This is a very powerful verse of the
whole Qur'an.
And it reminds us that before we embark
on a project, on a journey of giving
da'wah to others, inviting others, correcting others,
rectifying other people's mistakes, doing الأَمْرُ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ وَالنَّهِيُ
عَنِ الْمُنْكَرِ enjoining the good and forbidding the
wrong with other people, we should begin with
ourselves.
We should not forget ourselves in the process.
In fact, in a verse of the Qur
'an, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala addressing the
Prophet ﷺ and informing him about modest dress
for the women of the ummah.
Allah says to him, يَا أَيُّهَا النَّبِيُّ قُلْ
لَأَزْوَاجِكَ وَبَنَاتِكَ وَنِسَاءِ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ يُذْنِينَ عَلَيْهِنَّ مِنْ
جَلَابِيهِمْ O Prophet, say to your wives and
your daughters and the women amongst the believers
that they should cast their veils over them,
their jalābīt, plural of jilbā, which is a
cloak.
So what's telling in this verse is that
Allah commands the Prophet ﷺ before instructing the
women of the believers, before instructing other believing
women, Allah tells him first to convey this
message to his wives and then his daughters
and then the believing women just as charity
begins at home in Islam.
نصيحة دعوة Inviting others to good.
Advising others to do what's right and avoid
what's wrong.
Enjoying the good and forbidding the wrong.
All of this begins at home and it
begins with oneself before anyone else.
Another thing which we need to consider when
giving da'wah and giving nusīḥah or doing
al-amr bi-l-ma'rūf wa-l
-mahī' al-mulkah is going
back to that topic of knowledge is the
question that we must always pose to ourselves.
Do I have the correct knowledge about this?
Do I have the correct understanding of this?
Do I have sufficient knowledge about this?
Not everything that we may believe, that we
may understand has to be agreed on by
others.
There may be valid opinions, perfectly acceptable opinions
based on the words of Allah, based on
the whole of Qur'an, based on the
noble hadith of Rasulullah ﷺ, based on the
teachings of the great Imams and the great
scholars of the past which other people hold
and these opinions may be perfectly valid.
Alongside our own, trying to impose one's opinion,
one's own way of seeing things, one's own
preference of practice and observance of religion is
not necessarily nusīḥah, da'wah or al-amr
bi-l-ma'rūf wa-l-mahī' al
-mulkah.
It isn't.
Even the greatest of ulama of the past,
amongst the earliest Imams, they found themselves in
situations when they had to correct themselves because
of new information that was given to them,
not much later, but there and then in
that same gathering.
And these were Imams.
Many of the ulama would refuse to give
answers on certain questions out of fear that
they didn't have sufficient knowledge and understanding of
that particular issue or that there were so
many conflicting opinions based on sound evidence that
they hesitated saying anything.
Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal, the compiler of the
largest collection of musnad hadith we have at
the moment.
Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal, who has his famous
collection, the musnad of Ahmad ibn Hanbal, this
great scholar, who was a scholar of hadith,
a scholar of fiqh, someone who has a
whole madhhab and school named after him, built
on his verdicts and opinions.
The same Imam, there is a question about
praying whilst travelling, qasr, when one truncates
and shortens one's salah once the conditions of
having travelled alongside other conditions have all been
fulfilled.
And there's one particular issue about sitting down
about whether to, what's better, whether to continue,
whether to stop at the two raka'at,
whether to, it's permissible to continue etc.
There are, there is some issue about that.
So Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal, when he was
asked about this, there are different opinions quoted
from him.
One says, this is better.
One says, the other is better.
One says, both are equal in terms of
permissibility.
And one narration, his words are, وَحِبُّوا الْعَافِيَةَ
عَنْ هَذِهِ الْمَسَأَلَةِ That I seek and I
prefer to be excused from this masalah.
He didn't even want to answer.
And these were great Imams.
Imam Malik, he compiled his muwattah, his
collection of narrations from Rasulullah ﷺ and verdicts
and sayings and the opinions of his great
teachers and the leading ulema of the holy
city of Medina.
The Abbasid ruler actually discussed with Imam Malik
that he should make his work, the muwattah,
the standard book of fiqh, of learning, of
practice which everyone must follow.
Look at the sincerity and the wisdom of
Imam Malik r.a. Even though he was
being approached by the Abbasid ruler of the
time, that this work of yours we will
make it the standard which everyone must follow.
And Imam Malik was who he was, someone
who said, I did not sit to give
fatawa, i.e. to answer questions in religion
and to give verdicts, until 70 of the
leading ulema of Medina testified in my favour,
that he is knowledgeable and worthy, knowledgeable enough
and worthy of fulfilling this role.
That same Imam Malik r.a. replied to
the Abbasid ruler that no don't do this
because people have and are, people are practicing
their faith based on narrations and teachings that
they have received from the elders, from the
ulema, from all parts of the Muslim, from
the Islamic, all parts of the Islamic realm.
Do not force people to abandon these teachings
and do not compel them to follow mine.
And that was Imam Malik r.a. So
if we think of giving nasiha, giving da
'wah, we should realise that this has to
be quite clear and categorical.
It can't be murky and ambiguous.
We should have sufficient knowledge of that issue
and furthermore, we shouldn't simply be imposing our
opinion, our preference on others.
This isn't da'wah and nasiha.
Suleyman and Dawud r.a. being father and
son, being both prophets of Allah, both recipients
of revelation, they differed.
They both differed about the same issue.
Each had his own opinion and yes on
that occasion, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala ratified
the view and verdict of the son Suleyman
r.a. But even amongst the Sahaba r
.a, there were occasions when the Prophet ﷺ
accepted the deed and the action or the
saying of one companion as well as the
other companion, even though they were diametrically opposed.
So one of the other etiquettes and conditions
of giving da'wah and nasiha is that
we should question ourselves whether I have the
right knowledge about this issue.
And even if I do, do I have
sufficient knowledge?
Are there other opinions?
Are there other valid opinions?
And that we should and that if there
are other valid opinions, how can we impose
our opinion?
I once led Jumu'ah Salah and during
the khutbah, as happens in many masjids, some
people came and they began performing nafl salah,
tahiyyat al-masjid, the prayer for the greeting
of the masjid during the Arabic khutbah and
others would come and just sit down without
performing tahiyyat al-masjid.
And some would come in and even though
the Arabic khutbah was in progress, they would
still perform salah.
And this was very visible to everyone.
People could see that these people are coming
in and praying salah during the khutbah.
Now indeed, according to the Hanafi school of
fiqh, there is no salah.
Once the Arabic khutbah begins, there should be
no salah at all.
And if someone enters a masjid and even
though they want to pray tahiyyat al-masjid,
the prayer for the greeting of the masjid,
since the Arabic khutbah has commenced, alongside the
Arabic khutbah, there is no salah, there is
no kalam, there is no speech, there is
no talking, there is no prayer.
One has to sit down and listen attentively
to the khutbah.
So indeed, that's according to the Hanafi school
of fiqh.
But some of the other imams, they have
an alternative opinion.
The other schools of fiqh have an alternative
opinion.
And each has their evidences and their arguments.
And many of these individuals performing well, all
of these individuals performing salah were following a
particular understanding and perspective in religion, were following
a particular fiqh.
So this happens regularly, but on this one
occasion, I was actually approached by a group
of people, some of whom were members of
the congregation and others were actually responsible individuals
from the management of the masjid.
And they said to me, why don't you
prevent these people from performing salah during the
khutbah?
Because remember, the majority of the congregation wouldn't
perform the salah.
Most of them would be there anyway.
The majority of those who came late would
just sit down.
There was only a few and therefore, because
of their small number and because of the
and because this wasn't well, because of their
small number, their praying salah was very obvious,
very conspicuous.
So what this group of individuals said to
me is, why don't you prevent them?
Why don't you speak about this?
And I said, no, I can't and I
shouldn't.
If they are following a particular fiqh and
based on that fiqh, they consider it virtuous,
not just permissible, but actually virtuous to perform
dhiyyat and masjid even during the arabic khutbah,
then how and why should I stop them?
Because they aren't doing it randomly.
They aren't imposing their opinion on anyone else.
One.
Two.
They aren't just doing it haphazardly or randomly.
They are following a particular fiqh that they
have followed all their lives.
And this fiqh, this understanding, this method of
observing religion is based on a school of
fiqh that has its literature, its books, its
history, its tradition, its arguments, its evidences from
the Qur'an and from the hadith.
So I shouldn't, I can't and I won't.
Unfortunately some of these individuals just couldn't understand.
They maintain their opinion that as the imam
and the khateeb, I should be stopping these
individuals from performing salah.
Of course I refuse to do so.
That is not We shouldn't be imposing our
opinion at all.
If we advise someone, even in personal matters,
we shouldn't expect them to take our opinion.
Let me relate a story of Barīrah رضي
الله عنها Imam Bukhari رحمة الله relates this
hadith that Barīrah رضي الله عنها She was
a maid and I've spoken about her in
some detail in my commentary of hadith al
-ifq, the hadith of the great lie, the
great cannon and the false accusation against Umm
al-Mu'minīn Aisha رضي الله عنها from Sahih
al-Bukhari which I commented on in detail
a few years ago.
So the same Barīrah رضي الله عنها She
became separated from her husband and her husband's
name was Mughīth So Mughīth
became separated from Barīrah رضي الله عنهم Both
of them companions and he truly loved his
wife Barīrah Barīrah رضي الله عنها for her
reasons did not wish to go back to
him and Mughīth
was pleading with her to be reconciled with
him to return to him and in doing
so, Mughīth would follow her in the streets
begging her crying with tears rolling down his
face onto his beard and this was visible
to everyone So even Imam al-Bukhari رضي
الله عنه relates his hadith that the Prophet
ﷺ said to his uncle Abbas Abbas Do
you not marvel at Mughīth and Barīrah?
Do you not marvel at the love that
Mughīth has for his wife Barīrah from whom
she is now separated?
So do you not marvel at the love
of Mughīth for Barīrah and Barīrah's indifference to
him?
Now there's some background to this story which
is that al-Abbās ibn ʿAbd al-Muttalib
Mughīth was connected to him So in his
attempt to win back Barīrah Mughīth رضي الله
عنهما he approached al-Abbās ibn ʿAbd al
-Muttalib and he requested him to intercede on
his behalf or to try and convince Barīrah
and if not Barīrah then Rasūlullah ﷺ to
approach Rasūlullah ﷺ So we learn from other
narrations al-Abbās ibn ʿAbd al-Muttalib spoke
to the Prophet ﷺ saying, why don't you
intercede on his behalf?
So Imam Bukhārī then relates that the Prophet
ﷺ did actually speak to Barīrah رضي الله
عنها and he said to her that Barīrah
why don't you go back to him?
Barīrah رضي الله عنها's words were يا رسول
الله أتأمرن O Messenger of Allah, Dean Schrute
Prophet ﷺ said in reply No, I am
merely interceding on his behalf Now imagine this
Barīrah رضي الله عنها is a maid She
spends a lot of time with Umm al
-Mu'minīn Aisha رضي الله عنها in and out
of the house She is speaking to the
Messenger of Allah ﷺ The one she regards
as her guide, her mentor, her leader The
greatest human The Messenger of Allah, the Prophet
of Allah She would do anything for him
And this is why she said O Messenger
of Allah Do you command me?
Do you instruct me?
Meaning if you do, no question I will
act on your wish As Allah says in
the Qur'an وما كان لمؤمن ولا مؤمنة
إذا قضى الله ورسوله أمراً أن يكون لهم
الخيرة من أمرهم ومن يعص الله ورسوله فقد
ظل ظلالاً مبيناً Allah says and it is
not for a believing man or a believing
woman When Allah and his Messenger have decreed
a matter That they have any choice in
their affair And whoever disobeys Allah and his
Messenger ﷺ Then indeed he has erred and
deviated a great deviation, a clear deviation So
Bareedah رضي الله عنها said to him O
Messenger of Allah Do you command me?
Do you instruct me?
What did the Prophet ﷺ say in reply?
No, I am not instructing I am not
commanding I am only interceding I am merely
interceding What was Bareedah رضي الله عنها's reply?
Her reply was إذن لا حاجة لي فيه
In that case If you aren't instructing me
but you are only interceding on his behalf
إذن لا حاجة لي فيه Then I have
no interest in him I have no need
of him Literally it means I have no
need of him But in the context, a
better translation is I have no interest in
him And she didn't return to him
She actually declined to accept the shafa'ah
of Rasulullah ﷺ and his intercession And the
Prophet ﷺ did not mind one bit Even
though he was a Messenger of Allah He
did not impose his wish He did not
impose his opinion He gave her a choice
He said what he wanted to And he
made it very clear that I am not
commanding you I am not instructing you I
am merely interceding on his behalf That was
a liberty with which the Prophet ﷺ approached
others respecting their freedom, their liberty their space,
their choice even though he is a Messenger
of Allah So how can we impose
our opinion on others and then regard this
as nasihah da'wah الأمر بالمعروف والنهي عن
المنكر Often this leads to fitnah It really
does You have a whole masjid
Masjid is full of thousands of hundreds of
people and sometimes thousands Larger masjids have thousands
of people And yet it's been observed that
some people they have an opinion as to
how things should be and that everyone should
conform to their standards, their wishes how everything
should be the way they want it Salah
should be performed in this way Adhan should
be given in that way The rose should
be formed in this manner The imam should
pray the salah give the khutbah, say this,
say that according to their wishes Others should
perform their salah in the manner that they
prefer Things in the masjid should be the
way they want Subhanallah There
is a time and a context and a
manner in which to approach all of these
things And sometimes they shouldn't even be approached
Giving nasihah, giving da'wah doing al-amr
bi'l-ma'ruf, an-nahi a'nil
-munkar isn't about...
shouldn't really be about things in which there
are valid differences of opinion based on Qur
'an and hadith Remember I'm just giving general
advice not stipulating laws and conditions But we
can learn from all of these examples The
sahabah رضي الله عنهم were seated with the
Prophet ﷺ speaking of masjids and how things
should be in the masjid Sahabah رضي الله
عنهم were seated and a Bedouin came And
he actually urinated in the corner of the
masjid to one side of the masjid A
Bedouin The sahabah رضي الله عنهم were watching
him as he was urinating Of course they
objected and they raised their voices and rebuked
him What was the Prophet ﷺ response?
He actually said, leave him i.e. for
the time being let him finish And then
the Prophet ﷺ summoned him, advised him He
told the sahabah رضي الله عنهم to clean
it up There were many such occasions when
the Prophet ﷺ demonstrated to the sahabah رضي
الله عنهم how they should correct things that
needed to be corrected This needed to be
corrected There was a way of doing it
Subhanallah We know that this has happened on
many occasions Over the years growing up I
heard about many such incidents and I witnessed
such incidents in my childhood where when in
the masjid some busybodies they
would actually discipline other children So you would
have these uncles or granddads in the masjid
and they would love to ensure that none
of the children raised their voices none of
the children ran around Out of salah Forget
in salah Out of salah And they would
slap the children drive them out of the
masjid Not their own children other people's children
other children strangers to them They would slap
them They would hit them They would discipline
them They would shout at them They would
drive them out of the masjid And this
was out of salah And if one child
one child ever fidgeted or raised their voice
during salah As soon as the imam completes
the salah and says السلام عليكم و رحمة
الله They Some of these adults themselves raise
their voices and complain very loudly and say
children should be banned from the masjid etc
Rasulullah ﷺ when he would pray salah His
grandchildren would climb on him He was once
giving khutbah and on the minbar Hasan and
Hussain came running dressed in beautiful clothes Prophet
ﷺ stopped his khutbah descended from the minbar
and picked up both of them in his
arms and said Indeed Allah has spoken the
truth إنما أموالكم وأولادكم فتنة That your wealth
and your children are but a fitnah And
the sahaba رضي الله عنهم relate that at
times Prophet ﷺ would hear the weeping of
children in homes outside the masjid What would
he do?
He would actually shorten his salah So even
when it was to do with salah even
when it was to do with salah in
congregation even when it was to do with
the masjid and even if it had to
be corrected First of all the Prophet ﷺ
wouldn't correct everything as we like to correct
today One such as in these examples Two
If it did need to be corrected the
Prophet ﷺ did it with love with compassion
with understanding with tolerance and with wisdom Even
though some of these issues were to do
with salah and with the masjid itself So
when giving nasihah when giving da'wah when
doing المعروف والمهي عن المنكر We should ensure
We should in fact ask ourselves a question
repeatedly Do I have the correct knowledge?
Do I have sufficient knowledge?
Are you not just my correct knowledge about
this one issue?
But do I have knowledge of the other
opinions on this matter because of which are
themselves based on sound evidences and on the
fatawah and the aqwal meaning the verdicts and
the opinions and statements of classical ulama because
of which I really should have no right
to object And I shouldn't see these things
as something that I actually need to correct
and rectify They aren't wrong They aren't munkar
And a lot of the time these things
don't even affect us We are not victims
of other people's behaviour We don't consider some
of these things that we want to correct
and rectify and preach to others about because
we are victims of these actions or these
deeds No Sometimes we just don't like because
we think our way is the only way
And my all that opinion all that matters
is my opinion On
so many issues I found myself in the
middle of debates between others and I'm dragged
in because they ask me You give your
opinion What do you say?
And often the debate the argument isn't about
halal and haram Some of them do think
that that this is halal and this is
haram and that's all that matters What I'm
doing is haq What I think is haq
and everything else is valid False Invalid And
yet when the issue is addressed correctly and
properly what emerges that this isn't a question
of this being halal and that being haram
this being permissible and that being impermissible It's
a question of preference And yet some people
still insist they remain adamant that no because
I think this is better even though the
alternative is permissible and completely valid because I
think this is better this is what others
should act on And they actually create arguments
debates That's fitna That's actually fitna So
to argue over or to try and preach
to others about what's better results in fitna
in fasad in strife in disharmony in discord
in argument in actually giving hurt and pain
to others inconveniencing and hurting others All of
these latter things are haram They clearly forbid
So in the pursuit of what we perceive
to be good We actually do end up
committing sins Not everything
We have to look at the time the
place, the context the audience All of these
things need to be taken into consideration when
giving da'wah when giving nasiha when preaching
to others It's not a question of Ok
I think this is haqq and that's it
There are examples during the life of the
Prophet ﷺ Another thing is if someone actually
does need to preach to someone else advise
them, correct them There's a manner of doing
it A believer should be a mirror to
another believer And if you do want to
and have to give nasiha to someone There's
a way There's a time There's a method
Most importantly privacy Abdullah
ibn Mas'ud رضي الله عنه would speak
to his companions and students once a week
Once a week he would speak to his
students and companions and give them ma'idah
good counsel, advice So they actually
used to say to him that why don't
you give us more time Why don't you
give us more sessions of preaching to us
advising us etc So Abdullah ibn Mas'ud
رضي الله عنه said no He said كان
رسول الله ﷺ يتخولنا بالموعدة That even the
messenger of Allah ﷺ would be considerate towards
us in preaching i.e. He said This
is my reason I do not want to
make you exasperated frustrated tired fatigued with my
preaching I want you to value it and
appreciate it and relish it And so I
only preach to you once a week And
he was who he was One of the
greatest companions of Rasulullah ﷺ Someone who
Umar ibn al-Khattab رضي الله عنه sent
to Kufa And actually said to the people
of Kufa along with Abu Musa al-Ash
'ari رضي الله عنه He said I have
sent these two to you Value them For
I have given you the people of Kufa
a preference of their company over myself I
wanted them to remain with me I've given
you preference of their company Value them And
when Ali ibn Abi Talib رضي الله عنه
Eventually made Kufa his capital And he saw
the flourishing of knowledge in Kufa Ali رضي
الله عنه said رحم الله ابن أم عبد
قد ملأ هذه القرية علم May Allah have
mercy on Ibn Umm Ab Under the name
of Abdullah ibn Mas'ud رضي الله عنه
May Allah have mercy on Ibn Umm Ab
Meaning Abdullah ibn Mas'ud قد ملأ هذه
القرية علم Indeed he has filled this city
with knowledge And yet despite that despite being
who he was the scholar that he was
Abdullah ibn Mas'ud رضي الله عنه would
preach to his students and companions once a
week And despite their repeated requests he would
say I do not wish to keep tying
cause fatigue exasperation frustration boredom And so I
will selectively speak to you sparingly And I
will be considerate towards you in my preaching
Just as قام رسول الله صلى الله عليه
وسلم يتخولنا بالموعظة He would be considerate towards
us in preaching So even time matters The
amount of time One and also the right
time There is a time and a place
and a context for advising for preaching You
shouldn't do it publicly Unless absolutely required Many
ulema have said If you speak to someone
privately and sincerely that's nasiha meaning good counsel
and advice But if you do it publicly
that's fadhiha meaning you're actually that's humiliation You're
disgracing them and humiliating them How is that
helpful?
Publicly rebuking them Another thing is one has
to choose one's words very carefully when giving
nasiha when giving da'wah when preaching One
has to be soft compassionate understanding, tolerant As
Allah says أُدْعُوا إِلَىٰ سَبِيلِ رَبِّكَ بِالْحِكْمَةِ وَالْمَوْعِذَةِ
الْحَسَنَةِ وَجَادِلْهُمْ بِالَّتِي هِيَ أَحْسَنُ Invite to the
way of your Lord with wisdom and with
beautiful preaching with beautiful counsel and debate with
them in the manner which is the best
That's if the matter requires debate Allah told
the Prophet ﷺ فَبِمَا رَحْمَةٍ مِّنَ اللَّهِ لِمْتَ
لَهُمْ وَلَوْ كُنْتَ فَضًّا غَلِيظَ الْقَلْبِ لَمْ فَضُّوا
مِنْ حَوْلِكَ فَاعْفُوا عَنْهُمْ وَاسْتِغْفِرْ لَهُمْ وَشَابِرْهُمْ فِي
الْأَمْرِ O Messenger of Allah It is only
through some compassion and mercy from Allah that
you are soft and relenting and lenient towards
them And had you been harsh of tongue,
hard of heart surely they would have dispersed
from a rouge i.e. the companions Therefore,
overlook them, seek forgiveness on their behalf and
actually consult them And Allah is speaking about
the companions of the Prophet ﷺ Allah testifies
that the way in which the Messenger ﷺ
was able to win their hearts, to unite
them to draw them to himself, to keep
them to win their hearts and to change
them, to mould them to make them who
they were Allah says all of this was
down to rahmah compassion and mercy from Allah
and through his soft speech, his polite speech
and the softness of his heart Because had
he been harsh of tongue and hard of
heart surely they would have dispersed from around
him That is the manner of giving dawah,
of giving nasiha of preaching to others of
enjoining the good and forbidding the wrong of
advising others how to behave If all of
this actually needs to be done in the
first place we need to determine whether we
do need to give nasiha whether we do
need to give dawah whether we do need
to correct what's wrong or preach what's right
If that has been established and it needs
to be done then we need to take
the audience, the time the context, the circumstances
into consideration We need to be observant and
mindful of all of these things We have
to do it with compassion with understanding, with
tolerance, with mercy in a beautiful way That's
how the Prophet ﷺ did it
As Allah also says وَقُلْ لِعِبَاتِي يَقُولُ اللَّتِي
هِيَ أَحْسَنُ إِنَّ الشَّيْطَانَ يَنزَغُ بَيْنَهُمْ إِنَّ الشَّيْطَانَ
كَانَ لِلْإِنسَانِ عَدُورٌ مُّبِينًا And say to my
servants that they say that which is the
best Beautiful words Beautiful verse of the Qur
'an And say to my servants that they
speak that which is the best Verily Shaytan
seeks to create divisions between them Indeed Shaytan
is for man a clear enemy We can
say the same thing My father, my grandfather
used to always relate this story to me
That a king saw a dream and in
his dream he saw that all of his
teeth had dropped out So the next morning
he called his wazirs the scholars and scribes
of his court and he said to one
of his courtiers that I saw a dream
and in the dream I dreamt that all
of my teeth had fallen So the courtier
said Your Majesty In your lifetime you shall
witness the death of all of your relatives
and loved ones So the king said What
kind of interpretation is this?
That in my lifetime I will have to
see and witness the death of my family?
Take him away Punish him He then invited
another What's your interpretation?
He said Your Majesty Out of all of
your family and relatives you shall enjoy the
longest life So reward him He said exactly
the same thing but his choice of words
matter Harun al-Rashid the
great and famed Abbasid ruler of the golden
age of the Abbasid Khilafah He was once
approached by someone who publicly rebuked him Publicly
scolded him Why did he do it?
Because according to the other person who was
doing He was enjoying the good and forbidding
the wrong Harun al-Rashid was scholarly in
his own right So Harun al-Rashid said
to him that Allah sent someone who was
far better than you to someone who was
far worse than me Allah sent his two
prophets Harun and Musa Alayhimusalam to Pharaoh And
he said to them فَقُولَ لَهُ قَوْلًا لَيْنًا
لَعَلَّهُ يَتَذَكَّرُ أَوْ يَخْشَى That both of you
or Musa and Harun say to Pharaoh a
soft word a lenient word لَعَلَّهُ يَتَذَكَّرُ أَوْ
يَخْشَى Perhaps he may take heed or come
to fear Allah So Harun al-Rashid recited
this verse and said to him to this
person that Allah even told his messengers to
speak softly to Pharaoh his enemy And then
he reminded this person that you are no
better than Musa and Harun Alayhimusalam and I
am no worse than Fir'aun that you
should speak to me in that manner even
if you were doing Although he didn't say
these words meaning even if you were doing
he said the rest but my explanation is
that yes even if he was doing Harun
al-Rashid was correct in what he said
to him And that is a great message
that Allah even told Musa and Harun Alayhimusalam
to speak softly to Pharaoh So there is
a manner in which we can approach things
Harshness Coarseness in speech Hammering away Raising one's
voice Being argumentative Debating None of these things
achieve much My
father used to quote the words of the
great scholar And what were his words?
بحث انسان قائله طاه ما النهيه طاه That
through debate and argument you can compel the
adversary to agree with what you are saying
but you will never endear him to yourself
Arguments and debates and verbal contests
may win the debates but they never win
hearts نما مسلم رحمة الله عليه relates from
أم المؤمنين عائشة رضي الله عنها that the
Prophet ﷺ said to her إِنَّ الرِّفْقَ لَا
يَكُونُ فِي شَيْءٍ إِلَّا زَانَةً وَلَا يُنزَعُ مِن
شَيْءٍ إِلَّا شَانَةً That softness gentleness is never
to be found in anything except that it
adorns it and beautifies it and gentleness is
never removed from something except that it disfigures
it and it makes it ugly So another
one of the etiquettes of نصيحة of giving
da'wah of preaching is the manner in
which one speaks and that's even if one
has to preach and give da'wah and
I'll end with this that indeed often we
don't have to just because we think something
is right we have an opinion indeed it
may be حق but not everything has to
be perfect not everything has to be in
its place as we want it to be
Imam Muslim رحمة الله عليه relates sometimes people
say that no, this is حق this is
the truth this is what's right and therefore
we should say this, correct others rectify this
Imam Muslim رحمة الله عليه relates in his
Sahih from Abu Huraira رضي الله عنه who
says Once we were seated with the صحابة
رضي الله عنهم with the companions including Abu
Bakr and Umar رضي الله عنهما and the
Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم He then rose
and went away by himself he went away
from the gathering and he wanted to be
alone so no one followed him but then
he was absent for a very long time
so we became worried so I got up
and I went looking for him and I
came to a walled garden and I saw
an opening so I squeezed myself through that
opening and I went into the garden and
lo and behold there I found the Prophet
صلى الله عليه وسلم so I told him,
O Messenger of Allah when you left us
and you delayed and you never returned we
feared for you so I've come looking for
you so the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم
had been visited by Jibreel عليه السلام so
he said to Abu Huraira O Abu Huraira
whoever says لا إله إلا الله believing in
it with his heart with conviction believing in
it by his heart with his conviction then
فَبَشِّرْهُ بِالْجِنَّةِ give him the glad tidings of
Jannah and then he gave him his two
sandals he said Abu Huraira take these sandals
it's like it's proof because if Abu Huraira
رضي الله عنه started saying that to others
they would say to him the Prophet صلى
الله عليه وسلم became absent we went looking
for him how can you claim that he
just said this to you so Abu Huraira
رضي الله عنه came out of the walled
garden with the slippers of the Prophet صلى
الله عليه وسلم the first person he met
was Umar رضي الله عنه so he said
O Umar whoever says لا إله إلا الله
believing in it by his heart with conviction
then فَهِمْ إِزْ جَنَّةِ the Prophet صلى الله
عليه وسلم said فَبَشِّرْهُ بِالْجَنَّةِ give him the
glad tidings of Jannah so Umar رضي الله
عنه thumped Abu Huraira on his chest he
actually thumped him it was so hard Abu
Huraira رضي الله عنه and Umar رضي الله
عنه asked him that what are you doing
with these sandals they're the messenger of Allah
صلى الله عليه وسلم he said to him
I've just come from him and this is
what he said to me so Abu Huraira
رضي الله عنه and he related what the
Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم had just said
Umar رضي الله عنه thumped him and he
fell down thumped him so hard he said
I fell on my posterior I then got
up and I rushed to the Prophet صلى
الله عليه وسلم and I was weeping Umar
followed I then went and complained to the
Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم that Umar had
thumped me and prevented me from saying this
so Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said to
Umar Umar did you do this he said
yes why he said oh messenger of Allah
if you say this to people sorry if
Abu Huraira goes around telling this people saying
this to the people leave people to do
their deeds as they are doing them now
because if Abu Huraira goes around saying this
then إذن يتقل الناس people will become reliant
just on this glad tiding without having to
do deeds so the Prophet صلى الله عليه
وسلم then said to Abu Huraira رضي الله
عنه don't tell people Imam Muslim also relates
another hadith from Mu'adh ibn Jabal رضي
الله عنه about Mu'adh ibn Jabal that
Mu'adh ibn Jabal رضي الله عنه the
Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said something similar
to him that whoever says لا إله إلا
الله will go to Jannah so Mu'adh
ibn Jabal رضي الله عنه said يا رسول
الله should I not inform the people so
the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم himself told
him no otherwise people will become reliant on
just this belief that by saying لا إله
إلا الله and believing in this you will
automatically go to Jannah and if people become
reliant on this they will not rely on
their deeds they will not perform their deeds
so the previous hadith Abu Huraira رضي الله
عنه was told this by Umar رضي الله
عنه and in this hadith of Mu'adh
ibn Jabal رضي الله عنه the Prophet صلى
الله عليه وسلم told him himself now question
here is what greater truth could there be
than this that whoever says لا إله إلا
الله will go to Jannah there is no
greater haq than this and yet the Prophet
صلى الله عليه وسلم the Sahaba رضي الله
عنهم in fact if a Muslim relates that
Mu'adh ibn Jabal رضي الله عنه never
related this hadith throughout his life he only
related this hadith before his death lest he
be sinful for carrying this as a secret
to his grave and not having conveyed it
to the people so the Prophet صلى الله
عليه وسلم and the Sahaba رضي الله عنهم
they took the time, the people the audience,
the context the circumstances into consideration even though
there is no greater truth than this and
I'll end with one final example I was
speaking earlier about masjids that oh this is
how things should be in the masjid it's
just one example it's not just about the
masjid we like to give دعوة النصيحة and
do الأمر بالمعروف و النهي عن المنكر everywhere
but unfortunately we see a lot of this
in the masjid as well so this is
how things should be in the masjid many
years ago many many years ago I used
to visit this masjid in another city and
I used to always complain about one individual
who would come into the masjid he'd do
this during every salah that he was in
the masjid of course he wasn't there 5
times a day but he was a regular
whenever he would come in the masjid in
front of everyone he would walk up to
the imam's place and the musalla of the
imam so you had carpets for everybody else
but for the imam there was a special
musalla he used to grab the musalla and
throw it and he used to say this
is bid'ah and he used to do
this in every salah so
they were requesting me that why don't you
speak I said it's not advisable to speak
but it really isn't like this other individual
that I was told about where this was
in a university so in the university the
Islamic society had an area that they were
given where they could pray it was a
place of prayer and worship it was carpeted
so everyone would
come they'd remove their shoes and they'd come
and pray on the carpet so this one
individual he was of the opinion that
praying salah that if you have got your
shoes on you shouldn't remove them and that's
entirely permissible to pray with your boots on
and he used to have these huge boots
as well so he was adamant that he
should pray with his boots on on the
carpet spoiling it he didn't care so any
weather he'd come out of the whole congregation
he'd be the only one refusing to remove
his shoes so almost everyone was trying to
find a way to get him to remove
his shoes but nobody wanted to speak to
him because they feared his response because he
seemed to be quite aggressive so he had
a best friend so they approached his best
friend and they said look he's your best
friend so why don't you talk to him
tell him look this is no argument or
debate about whether you should or you shouldn't
or you can and you can't pray with
your shoes on that's another debate but at
least here when this area has been reserved
for prayer and it's carpeted and it's clean
and pure and everyone with the exception of
this one individual respects these provisions can you
at least request him to remove his shoes
here so his best friend said I'll speak
to him his best friend approached him and
he spoke to him then he came back
eventually to the others who were also his
friends they said did you speak to him
he said yes but there's no hope for
him i.e. there's no hope of me
convincing him or anyone convincing him so they
said why so he said to them just
leave him he said why he said look
I'm his best friend and he didn't listen
to me in fact when I spoke to
him and I said to him you know
maybe you should remove your shoes and this
is his best friend talking to him he
turned round to me and he pointed his
finger in my face and he said I
hate you for the sake of Allah just
for requesting him to remove his boots so
I said to this the people of this
masjid that I don't think it's advisable speaking
to him if he's coming in every salah
and grabbing the musalla and actually throwing it
the sajjad of the imam the musalla of
the imam and repeatedly saying this is bid
'ah and he was also saying about the
mihrab so he pulled the musalla, the sajjad
up and away from the front because it
was in the niche in the mihrab so
he used to say the mihrab is a
bid'ah the musalla is a bid'ah
and he used to point to the carpet
and he used to say the carpet is
a bid'ah as well but obviously he
didn't do anything to the carpet so we
always well we do want to give da
'wah, nasiha and do what we think is
enjoining the good and forbidding the wrong in
many places but unfortunately this also happens in
the masjid because our ideas are things should
be this way and not that way and
they should be the way I want them
to be so let me give you the
example of a masjid and how we should
learn to be tolerant and accept that things
are the way they are we can't change
everything and sometimes indeed something might be haq
it might be the truth but is it
the better thing?
and a perfect example is of the greatest
masjid on earth Al-Masjid Al-Haram the
grand masjid of Makkah Al-Mukarramah إِنَّ
أَوَّلَ بَيْتٍ وُضِعَ لِلنَّاسِ لَلَّذِى بِبَكَّةَ مُبَارَكًا وَهُدًا
لِلْعَالَمِينَ فِيهِ آيَاتٌ بَيِّنَاتٌ مَقَامُ إِبْرَاهِيمٍ Indeed
the first house that was established for the
people is that which is at Bakkah another
name for Makkah blessed and a guidance for
the world Therein are clear signs One such
clear sign is the stand of Ibrahim the
station of Ibrahim and the Ka'bah as
many signs So this is the greatest masjid
on earth Imam Al-Khari relates Again to
give you a bit of background when the
Prophet ﷺ before prophethood before receiving the revelation
of the Holy Quran Prophet ﷺ during Prophet
ﷺ's life The Quraysh wanted to they needed
to repair the Ka'bah the house of
Allah They did so but they also vowed
according to many narrations this was in the
35th year of the Prophet ﷺ's life five
years before he received the revelation of the
Quran So they wanted to they needed to
repair the Ka'bah So they demolished its
walls and they rebuilt the Ka'bah but
they also made a vow they undertook a
vow that we will only rebuild the Ka
'bah and renovate it with halal money and
no haram money no illicit proceeds should go
towards the reconstruction of the Ka'bah As
a result of which they were unable to
complete the project satisfactorily because they ran out
of halal They had lots of haram money
but they ran out of halal So they
literally cut corners What they did is they
reduced The Ka'bah was actually rectangular So
they reduced the size of the Ka'bah
and its walls and they left the whole
portion out even though originally it was part
of the Ka'bah So they built a
short wall around it, they demarcated it that
this is originally part of the Ka'bah
and it was forever known as a Hatim
And one interpretation of the word Hatim is
that it's a broken part It actually means
a broken part So the part that was
left out and that's marked by a short
wall or stones that is the broken part
of the Ka'bah.
It's actually inside the Ka'bah because of
the shortage of funds they were forced to
leave it out We can see it today
So you have the Ka'bah as a
cube and then to one side, to the
northern side you have a semi-circle wall
and that's a Hatim So the area inside
of that Hatim is part of the Ka
'bah but not the building It's not part
of the building of the Ka'bah but
it is actually part of the Ka'bah
So that was a result of the shortage
of funds Another change they made is that
they raised the door of the Ka'bah
They had two doors one for entry and
one for leave but what they did is
they reduced it to just one door so
that they could control it and the door
they raised off the ground so you could
only enter the Ka'bah with stairs This
prevented, this enabled them to select who could
enter the Ka'bah or not and you
could only enter and exit from one door
and that is the construction of the Ka
'bah now as we see it So what
happened?
They did that five years before the revelation
of the Qur'an The Prophet ﷺ remained
in Mecca for 13 years after the revelation
of the Qur'an and then he did
Hijrah to the Medina to Munawwara and there
in the eighth year of Hijrah when he
returned to Mecca and he conquered the city
of Mecca, he was now in full command
and control On that occasion he actually said
to Aisha رضي الله عنها as Imam Bukhari
and others relate, Imam Muslim also and others
He said, O Aisha she actually asked him,
O Prophet of Allah why is there only
one door?
And raised so he explained that the Quraysh
did this so that they could select who
would be allowed entry into the Ka'bah
and the Hatim, the walls are because the
short wall on the northern side is to
mark the area which belongs inside the Ka
'bah which isn't actually part of the building
of the Ka'bah because the Quraysh, their
funds ran out.
So Ummul Mumineen Aisha رضي الله عنها actually
asked him about these features of the Ka
'bah Then the Prophet ﷺ said to her
O Aisha if it wasn't for the fact
that your people meaning the Quraysh they were
his people too He said if it wasn't
for the fact that your people have only
just very recently come into Islam I would
demolish the Ka'bah and rebuild it on
the foundations of Ibrahim ﷺ and I would
extend the Ka'bah so it includes the
left out area one I would also bring
the door down to ground level and I'd
also add another door, one for entering, one
for exiting.
I would do all of this but if
only your people meaning the Quraysh had not
only recently embraced Islam because if I do
any of this they would find it distasteful
munkar they would totally disapprove of this they
would find it very strange and unfamiliar meaning
there may possibly be consequences So the Prophet
ﷺ left it and that was in the
8th year of Hijrah.
He left it in the 9th, he left,
he did the pharaoh pilgrimage with the Ka
'bah still in that condition.
At least before the 8th year of Hijrah
one could argue that the Prophet ﷺ had
no control over what went on in the
city of Makkah but from the 8th from
Ramadan of the 8th year of Hijrah the
Prophet ﷺ was in full control of the
city of Makkah and yet the Prophet ﷺ
left the whole building of the Ka'bah
in its deficient state as the Quraysh had
built it with parts of the building missing
with the door raised from the ground, something
which he disapproved of and with the exit
door missing The Prophet ﷺ left it many
decades later Abdullah ibn Zubayr he when he
controlled Makkah he rebuilt the Ka'bah according
to the wishes of the Prophet ﷺ so
indeed the door was lowered another door was
created for exiting both doors were at ground
level instead of a cube it was rectangular
the Hatim was no longer the Hatim but
it was actually part of the building of
the Ka'bah and what other implications did
this have let me explain to you we
know that when we do Tawaf around the
Ka'bah we do Istilam of the Al
-Hajar Al-Aswad Istilam is a form of
greeting so we touch it and then as
we proceed so we start from the Al
-Hajar Al-Aswad we do Istilam and that
is the south eastern corner of the Ka
'bah approximately we then move anti-clockwise and
we reach the north eastern corner of the
Ka'bah but because the corner it's not
actually the corner because what's beyond it it's
still part of the Ka'bah it's an
empty space so we don't do Istilam because
it's not a proper corner so we don't
touch it we don't greet it but we
continue moving around the Hatim until we reach
the north west corner again that is not
a proper corner because it's still the corner
is actually the space beyond the corner it's
still part of the Ka'bah so we
don't do it's not a proper corner so
we don't do Istilam we don't greet it
and then as we continue to move we
actually reach the Arruknul Yamani the south western
corner the Yemeni corner now that is a
proper corner because all the area around the
corner externally is indeed external of the Ka
'bah external to the Ka'bah there's no
missing areas in the north east and the
north west corners so here because it's a
proper corner we greet it there is Istilam
of the Arruknul Yamani it's different to the
Istilam of the Al-Hajar Al-Aswad the
south eastern corner but there is Istilam of
a sort where you touch etc during the
time of Abdullah ibn Zubayr what many of
the Sahaba used to do is they would
do Istilam on all four corners why would
they do it?
and some of them would say لَيْسَ شَيْءٌ
مِّنَ الْبَيْتِ مَهْجُورًا that there is nothing of
the house of Allah which is to be
left meaning in terms of Istilam the corners
so they would do Istilam on all four
corners and it's actually related from the Sahaba
رضي الله عنهم some of the Sahaba that
the reason the Prophet ﷺ didn't do Istilam
of all four corners is because the two
northern corners were missing so during the time
of Abdullah ibn Zubayr رضي الله عنهم when
the Ka'bah was rebuilt some of the
Sahaba رضي الله عنهم would actually do Istilam
on all four corners, others would still only
do two because of what the Prophet ﷺ
did but the others would do all four
because the Ka'bah was rebuilt according to
the wishes of the Prophet ﷺ then what
happened?
The Umayyads who opposed Abdullah ibn Zubayr رضي
الله عنهم when they regained control of Makkah
and he was martyred, the Umayyads the Umayyad
dynasty they actually demolished the Ka'bah again
and they rebuilt it to the way it
was before during the time of the Prophet
ﷺ and then during the Abbasid times it's
been narrated that Imam Abu Yusuf and Imam
Malik both said this so the Abbasid rulers
wanted to rebuild the Ka'bah according to
how Abdullah ibn Zubayr رضي الله عنهما had
built it which was the wish of the
Prophet ﷺ but he never did it himself
but the ulama there are some narrations that
the person who said this to him was
Imam Malik and there are other narrations that
the person who said this was Imam Abu
Yusuf and it's quite possible that both of
them advised the Abbasid rulers that do not
do this to the Ka'bah leave it
as it is because you will then set
a precedent every new ruler will change demolish
the Ka'bah and build it and rebuild
it and change it according to his women
desire rather leave it as it is so
from that day onwards till today apart from
renovations and repair work the structure and the
layout of the Ka'bah has never been
changed ideally even the Prophet ﷺ wanted
the Ka'bah to be rebuilt according to
the foundations and the structure and the model
of Ibrahim ﷺ but he refrained from doing
so because of the possible negative reaction of
the people and their inability to understand and
because of the gravity of what they may
see before their very eyes the Messenger of
Allah ﷺ actually demolishing the Ka'bah and
rebuilding it because of his fear that they
wouldn't be able to tolerate this even though
they had become Muslim Prophet ﷺ left the
Ka'bah in its less than ideal situation
and position.
So when we want things to be a
certain way in a masjid imagine this.
From that day till today the Ka'bah
during the time of the Prophet ﷺ and
for decades later and apart from an approximately
10 year or less interval, the Ka'bah
till today has never been restored to the
original foundations of Ibrahim ﷺ as described in
the Holy Quran وَإِذْ يَرْفَعُ إِبْرَاهِيمُ وَإِذْ يَرْفَعُ
إِبْرَاهِيمُ الْقَوَاعِدَ مِنَ الْبَيْتِ وَإِسْمَعِيلُ And remember when
Ibrahim and Ismail were raising the foundations of
the house of Allah So Allah references that
in the Quran but the Ka'bah is
not on the construction of the same Ibrahim
and Ismail that Allah speaks of in the
Holy Quran and the Prophet ﷺ tolerated it
The whole Ummah has tolerated it till today
The Ulema and the greatest, the Sahaba رضي
الله عنهم most importantly the Prophet ﷺ himself
What greater Haq, what greater truth could there
be than the restoration of the Ka'bah
to the foundations and the model and the
construction of their forefathers Ibrahim and Ismail عليهم
السلام and the rectification and the correction of
the deficient model and construction of the pagan
Quraysh What greater Haq, what greater truth could
there be than this and yet even the
Prophet ﷺ didn't do it He left things
as they were and the whole Ummah has
left things as they are and they will
remain so and this is not the case
with a small masjid in a remote village
of the world This is the case with
the focus of our Salah our great, our
only Qibla our direction of prayer The house
in the centre of the greatest masjid on
earth the Masjid al-Haram What greater Haq,
what greater truth could there be So I
end with this example When it comes to
preaching piety giving nasihah, giving good advice good
counsel, giving da'wah inviting to good, inviting
to the truth, enjoining what's right preventing and
forbidding what's wrong, encouragement and discouragement of virtue
and discouragement of sin, when it comes to
all of these things there aren't any absolutes
The matter isn't absolute, rather we need to
take so many things into consideration as I've
explained our own sentiments our own thoughts our
sincerity our knowledge our eligibility Am I eligible?
Am I worthy?
Am I qualified?
To do Do I have the knowledge?
In fact does it need to be addressed
in the first place?
And if it does then how should I
do it?
When should I do it?
In what manner?
I pray that Allah enables us to understand,
may Allah make us amongst those who are
a good example to others and who are
able to preach to others through our own
conduct, our own piety and in a beautiful
way.
May Allah give us the insight and the
perception to realize when we should give da
'wah nasiha and enjoin what's good and prevent
what's wrong and when we actually shouldn't May
Allah give us the correct knowledge and understanding
of these issues