Saad Tasleem – If You Have No Shame Do as You Like

			I want to start off in sha Allah to add up by telling you the story, you are part of the story of a
well known sinful person. This is a man who lived in the second and third century of the Islamic
calendar. And his name was Abdullah, even Muslim, Carnaby. Some of you may know who he is, some of
you may not. But basically, in his younger life, he lived in the town of basalt in Iraq. And in
Iraq, in the town of Basra, he was known to be like the town, drunkard, right? So they would often
see him stumbling about town drinking, you know, kind of out of his mind and this and that, and a
lot of people would just when they would see him and his friends, they're like, Oh, the hooligans or
		

			whatever, they would just ignore them. And so one time, a Dilla, who must know, metal TinyMe. He's
in the marketplace. And he sees a crowd of people gathering around someone. And in his drunken
state, he gets very curious. And he stumbles over to the crowd, and he starts pushing people aside.
And he's like, Who are you talking to? Is this why is everybody so concerned with this individual?
Who is this? And a few people in the crowd, they shout out, they say this is sure about?
		

			And he says, Woman sharp? And he says, and who is sure about? And they say this is sharp, but I
mean, had Dutch? And they say, and he says and who is sure about
		

			hijab? Who is that? And they say to him, I had this shirt, but I had this this is the famous scholar
of Hadith. sure about, like, people are like, how do you not know who this is? And he goes, Okay, he
goes unto death. He says, you're on what I did. And now you know, he's stumbling. And you know, he's
kind of slurring his words. And then he turns to him like he's now this is basically like, this is a
beloved misnomer, and share it by talking to one another in a crowd of people. And he goes, if
you're a more head did you guys saw had Disney? He goes, if your head diff, give me a hadith telling
me a hadith.
		

			And now Subhan, Allah does great scholar scherbak. Judge, he looks at this guy, he's like, half out
of his mind, he's suffering all over the place. He's like, What am I going to say he goes montem and
us have the Hadith. He goes, You're not from the people of Hadith. Meaning in order to, to, for me
to transmit a hadith to you. In order for me to narrate a hadith to you, you have to be in a better
state of mind, right? You have to have some high level of character, you have to be someone who has
a certain level of morality. And it is very evident from your behavior right now that you're not
from the people of Hadith. And then
		

			at the love Eman must amount. He says to him, he goes had dittany IDNA he goes, give me a hadith or
and he says or I will strike you, man. I'm gonna beat you up. And so finally,
		

			Cheryl had judge he gets quiet for a while. And then he begins to say to him, it goes head death,
Anna. And so I know that Barry
		

			Abbey Barlow. He goes, it has come to us it has been narrated and sorry, I'm being rude. Instead, it
has come to us from monsoon, who narrated narrated upon the rebury who narrated upon
		

			even Mr. Rude. Call Allah, Allah rasool Allah, He said, Allahu Allah, He said, No. He said that the
Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, either allow him to stay, he fell SNECMA shit.
		

			He says to him that the prophets of Allah who I didn't use, send them said, if you have no shame,
		

			then do as you like, or do as you wish. And
		

			the law
		

			says that when I heard these words, it struck me like an arrow in my chest. He said I was left
speechless. He says, as it felt like I was knocked to the ground. And so when hearing these words,
the words of the prophets and the lights and them being told to him that if you have no shame, be
don't feel shyness. If you feel no shame, then do whatever you like, you're gonna make a scene in
the marketplace, you're gonna walk around drunk, you're gonna abuse people, cuss people out,
whatever you have no respect for a scholar had either whatever, you lack shame, then do as you like,
		

			and so he says, This really got to me. He says, I ran home. I took all my bottles of wine and I
poured them out. I locked the doors. I told my mother if anyone comes to see
		

			Give me any of my friends come to see me, tell them that I don't want to see them. And he sat in
that state for a while. And then he pondered and thought about a situation. And he said, What am I
doing with my life? I want to be like, sure, but I want to be like him. I want to be a carrier and a
narrator of Hadith. And so he asked the people of his town he said, Mo, he's he asked them, he said,
Who is the most knowledgeable person in the world today?
		

			And they take and they say to him today, the most knowledgeable person is probably Imam Malik.
Whereas Imam Malik, he's in Medina,
		

			sent out the law.
		

			He travels all the way to Medina. And he studies with Imam Malik. And he becomes one of the students
of Imam Malik. And he studies and he studies and he studies until he feels like he's gotten
everything he needs to from Imam Malik. And then he asked the people of Medina
		

			who is the second most knowledgeable person on the face of this earth.
		

			And they say to him, sure, Abba.
		

			He says Sherpa for Muslim for me at all. They say yes. So he rushes back. You know, it wasn't a
short flight back then. It took a long time. But he rushed back, he came all the way back to Iraq to
Buffalo to study with sharp, even had Dutch. And as he arrives in bussola, he starts looking for
sure but, and he finds out that Sharma has passed away.
		

			However, we find that Abdullah,
		

			even must have gotten to be continued on to study and today he's considered one of the great
scholars of Islam. And he narrated from many different scholars. Obviously, he narrated Hadith from
Imam Malik, I believe he has about 100 130 or so narrations mentioned Sahil Bukhari but when it
comes to his teachers, amongst them, they have listed Imam Malik and others, but also amongst his
teachers, they have listed Sherpa Did he study with sharevault?
		

			Yes or no?
		

			No, he didn't sit with Cher Abba. He didn't study with him. But he did learn one Hadith, from
Sharapova. And so under his teachers, it says, sharp. And the idea that he narrated, it's been
mentioned either lambda stay for snap my shit. If you have no shame, if you don't feel shy, then do
as you like. Now, my brothers and sisters, I share this story with you. Because a lot of times, one
of the ways that we are tricked by the shape Bong
		

			is that we feel that if we're going to sin, we don't want to be hypocrites. Right? And I know a lot
of times, you know, we're told that the dangers of living a hypocritical life and having a double
life. And indeed, that is something which is extremely dangerous. And indeed, that is another
spiritual problem. I believe a lot of it was talked about. But there's another side to the story as
well, or the other side of the coin. And that is living a life where a person says, Look, I don't
care. If I'm going to sin, I'm going to sin, I'm not going to hide my sins. I know hypocrite. And
similarly, sometimes I've had Allah you you see someone who's backbiting someone, someone else, and
		

			they use the same argument. They're like, you know, why are you backbiting this person? They're
like, I don't care. I'll say to their face. Hey, like that doesn't make a difference. That doesn't
change the sin from being backbiting, to not being backbiting. Now, actually, if you see it, say to
their face, it might be considered abuse. So now you have a sin upon another sin by May Allah
protect us. Backbiting is simply the salesperson I'm telling us to say about someone, something that
they wouldn't like, right? Whether you say to their face or behind their back, or you say, you know,
you mentioned it on Facebook or Twitter or whatever it may be, doesn't make a difference. If you say
		

			something about them that they don't like that because backbiting, whether you're proud to say it or
not. Whether you feel good about saying it or not, doesn't make a difference in this sin. As a
matter of fact, when we publicize our sins, when we boast of our sins, when we talk of our sins,
when we tell others of our sins, this is an indication of a larger spiritual problem. And that is a
lack of HIA that is a lack of shame and modesty with Allah subhanho wa Taala first and foremost
		

			the prophets of Allah who I knew he was sending them said couldn't know material Alpha. He said all
of my own money can be forgiven or all of the sins of my own my can be forgiven, inland moja Haroon,
except though
		

			Those who publicize their sins and the prophets civilize them said the example of that person who
publicizes their sin is the person who goes in the night. And they commit a sin, and Allah covers
them, meaning Allah doesn't expose their sin, their sin was done privately. And then in the morning
time this person wakes up. And he begins to tell the people last night I committed such and such
sin. Last night, I did this and I did that when it is Allah who Subhan Allah to Allah Who had
covered up the sin. And in the morning, this person exposes their own sin. Why do I say that? Why do
I say that hiding our sins is a good thing. hiding our sins can be a good thing. It's a good thing.
		

			If we hide our sins, out of regret. It's a good thing if we hide our sins because we feel the weight
of our sins. And that is why I always differentiate between positive regret and negative regret. And
that's not an official term. That's just something I came up with. So don't go Google that or
whatever. But positive regret for me is regret or shame. That leads a person to repent to Allah to
repentance, and to seek Allah's forgiveness. Meaning a person feels bad about their sin, they feel
regretful and then they turn to Allah and seek Allah's forgiveness and Allah's help and getting over
that sin. Negative regret, is not good, as it says negative, right? Negative regret. Negative regret
		

			is very oftentimes from the ship on negative regret is when a person feels so bad about their sin,
that they either lose hope, or they stopped caring
		

			person feels so bad. And then the ship bomb comes to them and says you're just a bad person. You're
just a bad Muslim. Why do you even bother?
		

			Allah is never going to forgive you, you're never gonna get past the sin, you're never going to be
able to get rid of this bad habit or this bad behavior or whatever it is you do. When a person feels
so bad, that they give up they lose hope, in their own ability and even more severe that are more
dangerous than that is losing hope in the ability of Allah has paddler data to help them. That's why
I often tell people that if you have lost hope in yourself, then least have hope. In Allah. If you
don't believe in yourself, you don't if you don't believe in your own abilities, if you don't
believe in your own capabilities, then have belief and believe in Allah is ability to help you
		

			have firm faith, that Allah has the capability to help you because Allah is capable of anything. And
that is what we're talking about when we talk about positive regret, that a person feels bad a
person feels some type of shame. And you know, subhanAllah this is a problem that our scholars have
talked about for a very, very long time. But in this day and age, this problem is almost compounded
because of our friendly internet, right? Because we have so many avenues and so many ways of
publicizing our sins, publicizing our faults, and Subhan Allah, how many times have we met someone
and I can at least tell you personally, I've this happened to me quite a few times where I meet
		

			someone who you know, finds Islam at some point in their life, or they start practicing Islam, or
they become more spiritual. And then they want to change their life or something. And they're like,
wait, but I have a whole history of public sinfulness. And it used to be like, back in my day, this
may come to you as a surprise. I'm probably a lot older than a lot of you. But back in my day, you
know, like, I'll tell you Look, when I did stupid things, I'm just handed like, eternally grateful
to Allah to Allah, that like, we didn't have YouTube and we didn't have MySpace and things like
that. Alright, some of you know this, but I used to be in it. I used to I used to be in a band
		

			before I accepted Islam, a punk rock band and music that most people wouldn't like anyway, right?
Besides the fact that it's music. And one of the things that till this day I made I make shook up to
a was kind of data is that this was this is free YouTube. Because I know for a fact that first thing
that would have happened is somebody sees me here on stage outside the same one. Let's see, let's
see what's going on about you know, this was on on YouTube. And then at some point, they'd come
across like a track that we recorded or something or whatever. And remember this, ALLAH forgives,
Allah forgives very easily. It means nothing to Allah is Allah to Allah to forgive.
		

			But people are not the same. It is very difficult for people to forgive.
		

			People may even forgive you
		

			But things will remain in their home in their hearts.
		

			And that is why sometimes a person may commit a sin, and they hide their sin. And they feel bad
about it, and they make Toba and no one finds out about that sin, and the sin is between them and
Allah subhanho data, and Allah forgives them, and they're done.
		

			But on the other hand, a person commits a sin publicly, and they publicize that sin and they repent
to Allah.
		

			And Allah subhana, Allah forgives them, but the people don't forgive them. And that is why one of
the ways this this this, this this ruling that I found in some of our books have bought in some of
our older books have bought which i i found to be very strange, because in this modern time, it
seems very strange when someone would commit a sin that would that would become widespread and white
known. Let's say you know, in like a Muslim society or whatever someone commit Zina, right, and
there's Zina is publicized, that everyone finds out that they commit Zina or whatever, and then they
make Toba or they've done a sin that people have been affected by sometimes apology would say part
		

			of your Toba is to move somewhere else. And you know, as a as a student reading this, I'd be like,
Why? Right? Like, why would you have to do that. And the reason is, because this is pre internet,
right? Pre social media, and we're now a person can move to a place where, you know, they don't have
to deal with people who will shame constantly shame them for the sin that they've committed. Right,
and that sin goes back to being between them and Allah, Spanish Allah, and they have hope that Allah
will forgive them. And inshallah to out of the last point that I want to mention is this.
		

			Our hiding of our sins as long as it is done for the right reason, Jhala data is a good thing. It
means that we care, it means that we care about this sin and we regret what we have done and we want
to turn back to Allah has power to Allah. Also, it is the responsibility of all of us for one
another, to help one another. When we are struggling.
		

			The default unfortunately, now is become that when something happens, we want to talk about it.
Right? I noticed Pamela sitting in gatherings. And I just simply the difference in sitting in
gatherings when I was studying in Medina versus sitting in gatherings. Now. I remember sitting
amongst scholars and students, a lot of times what was understood in our gatherings was that a
default state of a gathering is that what is shared within the gathering stays within the gathering.
This is what is known as Mount Natal. Imagine this, the security or the responsibility, or the or
the or the or the trust, of the gathering that we're sitting in. So the default, by the way, and
		

			some of you may not know this, as a Muslim, the default of a gathering is that if something is
mentioned in a gathering, that it's not to be shared outside. Unfortunately, the default now for us
has become that the default is we share things with other people, unless someone says, Hey, listen,
I know I told you this, but don't tell anybody. Right? And even in that case, we'll have someone
say, Well, did he really really mean that? Right? Does she really, really mean that? And so somehow
to Allah, as a Muslim, we're supposed to feel safe with one another, not only the messages, and I
know most messages get a lot of slack. Right? That messages, you know, are had to come in
		

			environments that are, you know, very judgmental of people. And you know, people can't go there. And
so when somebody wants to repent, and they want to get close to God or whatever, they they're
judged, and they're shamed at the masjid, and so on, so forth. And yeah, that happens.
		

			But forget about the message, eat like our regular everyday life, our family and friends and handle
what is the state that we're living in, where our family and friends, we can't feel safe around our
family and friends,
		

			that our friends are the one who will expose our faults and expose our sins. You know, there's a
hadith that I remember studying or reading for the very first time which, like shook me to my core.
And I want to share this hadith with you. And this is the Hadith of the Prophet sallallaahu Salam
and in which he said, man, but I will not do it he Muslim that the one who follows a person's faults
are basically what this means is seeks out a person's shortcoming seeks out a person's faults to
better Allahu Allah, that Allah will seek out this person's faults. Woman that by Allah who I will
alter your motto, and the one who Allah has there's their faults sought out by then that person will
		

			be ruined.
		

			Why? Because Allah knows all of our faults. Allah knows all of our shortcomings. If every one of us
were fully exposed, our sins were put out there. None of us would be able to stand one each one
another. We'd be ashamed to talk to one another because the reality is we're all human beings and we
all commit to
		

			sins, and it is the mercy and blessing of Allah subhana data that Allah keeps our sins hidden, that
Allah protects our sins for us. And all Allah, us from us. All that is required from us is that we
ask Allah whose patented data to forgive us. And we are grateful to Allah Subhana Allah data for
exploring for covering up our sins.
		

			And the least that we can do is be that support for one another, to be that person, for our brothers
and our sisters and our families and our friends and our communities, that when someone is going
through a problem, that they can feel comfortable coming and talking to you, even if you have
nothing to add,
		

			even if you have no advice to give to them. All you have to offer is just be a person that can
listen to them. All you have to say is look, I can't imagine what you're going through. But I'm glad
you felt comfortable talking to me. That's all you have to offer that is in a great service. So I
ask Allah subhana wa Tada to raise the status of our communities to raise the status of the love and
honor and respect that we have amongst one another so that we feel comfortable with what with one
another. So not only that, we cover each other's weaknesses and faults, but that we can inspire each
other to become better Allahumma I mean, Allahu Allah Subhana Allah humo bionic eye shadow we're now
		

			in a heightened and a stealth field going to relate. We're just gonna sit on one equal