Sadullah Khan – 13th Post Witr Talk Ramadaan 14442023

We continue our theme

moral guidance from everyday experiences.

We begin by reflecting on a verse of

the holy Quran where allah subhanahu wa ta'ala

in surahun nisa

speaks about those who are actively involved

and then those who are purely critical of

those who are involved, those who may not

be involved but who are armed critics,

they are not equal.

Do Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala

rewards each one according to the efforts and

the deeds and Allah says

Here Allah speaks about those who strive

whether it be on the battlefield or whether

it be in the promotion of the faith,

a promotion of goodness, or in the charity,

or in the efforts of enhancing the community,

or striving and struggling for what is good

and just,

never can those who are sitting back and

observing be equal to those who are directly

involved

in the engagement.

And in this competitive verse,

Allah makes reference

to those among the people of faith who

strive actively

in comparison to those who may not strive

actively.

And, of course,

excused are those who are unable

to be able to engage because of some

other impediments.

But Allah certainly prefers

those who are actively engaged

over those who surpassively

doing nothing.

I wish to focus on the armchair critics,

of which there are very many.

Because in today's ever connected world,

easily accessible to social media,

where anybody can be in touch with everybody,

criticism

is

very cheap and criticism is everywhere.

And those who are tend to be most

critical

are those who are not to be found

when

serious work is to be done, but, of

course, they're ever vociferous

in finding words and time for condemnation

and for criticism.

If you spend any time at all on

the social media or on the blogosphere,

you will you will find multitudes of critics.

Critics who are skilled

at turning the smallest nonissue

into the biggest issues of the day.

Not only that,

since social media is a global phenomena,

the critic can convey his or her criticism

to the whole wide world

on the world wide web

at the press of a button.

You see,

it is very easy to be a critic,

but it's far more challenging

to be an activist.

Activists are like builders.

Negative critics, of course, criticism is important, but

I'm talking about negative critics.

Those, they are like demolishers.

Activists are like builders,

negative critics are like demolishers.

It takes builders a decade

to build a city.

It takes demolishes 1 bomb blast to destroy

a city. You can rebuild a city

in a month. You can't maybe build it

in a day,

but you can destroy it in a moment.

As I mentioned,

it does not

mean that we don't accept or are not

open to criticism.

Not at all.

There are those who provide constructive

criticism and this is very important. We need

this in our lives,

which is highly appreciated.

They are those

who ensure that they provide advice

without deliberately causing resentment.

There are those

who say something because it may benefit.

They don't just merely say something to fine

fold, but rather say something

in order to perhaps make a correction

to find a resolution

or to find ways

and avenues of improvement.

But when we do give criticism,

even if it's legitimate criticism,

Sophia Nasser

one of the great jurists

and luminaries of Islam, Sophia Nathoori advised us.

He said,

It is necessary for any person

who desires

to give advice, to correct, to rectify, to

do what is right, to advise what is

right,

to have three characteristics and qualities.

It is necessary for a person

who desires to establish what is right and

forbid what is wrong, to rectify, to correct,

to improve

that

in giving his criticism or his

perspective or his advice, he must be kind

in the way he does it or she

does it, must be knowledgeable about a matter.

Sometimes people give criticism out of ignorance,

and they must be just and fair in

how they do it. They can't criticize you

for something which you do, but not themselves

or anyone else for doing the same thing.

Because sometimes

criticism,

negative criticism is purely for finding.

So be kind,

be knowledgeable,

and just

when you rectify

any person,

whether you approve or disapprove,

be just, kind, and knowledgeable.

We learn from all of this

that our criticism should always be constructive,

and constructive criticism can only come truly

when it emanates from a sincere heart.

It must be conveyed in a positive manner.

A manner which wishes to uplift rather than

to insult,

to improve

rather than to condemn,

to inspire

rather than to belittle. May Allah grant us

the capacity

to take criticism when people give it to

us

and take it in good faith. But at

the same time, more importantly,

when we give criticism,

make sure we are knowledgeable, kind, and just

in how we convey it and in what

we say, but also may Allah

to grant us that it emanates from a

sincere and a pure heart, so that the

person you're advising is improving

rather than feeling insulted.