Safi Khan – Soul Food
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AI: Transcript ©
Okay.
Everybody.
How's everyone doing?
Some
beautiful weather this week. I hope everyone's enjoying
it. Right? It's, like, amazing. It's amazing to
me. So, like, seventies, like, all
all week long. So, you know, this was,
I was I was kind of joking around.
Not really joking. It was actually pretty weird
as well. I was literally talking to one
of our, our team members, and I was
like, you know, everybody complains about how hot
it is in Dallas in the summertime. But,
like, this is also, like, the give and
take. Right? Yeah. It's, like, hot, really, really,
like, sometimes unbearable in the summertime, but, like,
it's literally February 1st and or 2nd or
whatever. Yeah. February. And, literally, you guys are
in 70 degree weather all week. I mean,
this is, like, unheard of. So come to
that. Grass is always greener. I hope everyone
is enjoying,
their their their time in this this awesome,
awesome weather. Alright. So
we are going to continue on. And as
you guys are gonna notice this, this is
gonna be really interesting,
which is that as we continue on with
this tool,
before we would, like, cover 2
Iyad, maybe 3 Iyad every single session,
We are going to start now covering more
like 1 per session just because you can
see how in-depth the actual verse is. It's,
like, extremely dense. Alright?
And each verse from now until the end
of the series, which
shouldn't be by the time that Ramadan starts,
Each verse is filled with, like, 4 or
5 lessons
each. Okay?
And so,
literally, you know, I always say to people,
is
is incredible for multiple purposes. One of the
purposes is that it's extremely, extremely comprehensive.
It covers pretty much, like, every social issue
that a person can go through in their
life. Right? If you live within a community,
a family, you live within an ecosystem where
you have to interact with human beings. I
mean, this Surah quite literally covers every corner
possible,
and it doesn't leave anything to interpret to
the mind. Right?
And this is one of the blessings of
our religion. Right? A lot of people, they
will kind of look at other religions and
say, okay. You know, like, they talk about
God and prayer and, you know, the faithfulness
that you owe to Allah and etcetera. But
Islam has an entire salawat talking about not,
like, mocking and belittling people.
I mean, this is an incredible, incredible part
of our religion, but I think a lot
of Muslims sometimes were born into it, ended
up kind of taking it for granted.
It's, like, just normal to us, but I
want you all to know the first thing
for today is just appreciate it. Just appreciate
the extreme detail
that Allah gives us in the Quran
that is so
rare in religious text, right, in in in
in any other religion. Okay?
And so it's a point to kinda reflect
over and just, and and appreciate. So
today,
we're gonna talk a little bit about the
idea of mockery and ridiculing
people. We're also gonna talk a little bit
about the idea of,
the idea of,
perhaps, the people that a person really feels
and mocks,
the fact that they may actually be closer
to Allah than than than the person who's
doing it is. And then, inshallah, at the
very end, we're gonna talk a little bit
about the idea of when a person repents
for the the mistakes they've made, right, the
sins that they've committed,
what should be
the attitude or the behavior of the people
around them? Right?
A lot very beautifully illustrates. Right? Like, what
the expectation is of a
committed
their ways. They have kind of, like, they
have now kind of amended their ways. They
have kind of, like, made made made made,
you know, differences
in their lifestyle and changes in their in
their life. And how do we kind of
handle that as a community? Alright? So,
he begins and he says, yeah,
you
have. Again, you guys notice here, like, a
very common theme in the Surah, which is
you're a believer. Right? The standard that you're
held to is higher. You are not a
regular person. And, again, not a means of
us feeling better than other people, but a
means of us holding this really, really incredible
trust that we have, that we all carry
around with us. The fact that you are
a Muslim. Right? So Allah addresses
us as.
When you'll see in the Quran, Allah will
sometimes say.
That's when he's referring to, like, humanity as
a whole. Right? Like, everybody pay attention to
this. But this particular point or these particular
points, Allah will mention you specifically because
Allah will not say
and then follow with the the the the
the conversations that we're gonna have today because
Allah knows that when you take upon yourself
there is a standard that you carry yourself
with that the rest of humanity just doesn't.
And, again, don't feel arrogant about it. Feel
honored by it. Right? Like, because I carry
these words within my heart that I believe
in Allah and I believe in his messenger,
there's no way that I can be I
I I can have a standard lower than
other people. I have to hold myself up
high because that's the expectation of a person
who believes in such heavy reality. Right? So
Allah, he says,
Okay? He says,
don't
let a group of people and particularly, he
mentions both men and women, actually. You'll find
it really interesting to hear. Okay? He says,
let not a group of men
scoff or ridicule
or belittle another group of men. Okay? And
he says,
because perhaps the person that you're making fun
of may actually be better than you. And
then he says,
And do not let a group of women
ridicule another group of women because the same
reason, that they're the the people who are
the victims can actually be better than the
people who are the the suspects. Okay? Now
what does this mean? Okay. The prophet,
he actually, in his
tradition,
illustrates to us what it means to, like,
scoff or belittle. Okay? So he says,
He says that arrogance,
right,
the feeling of arrogance
comes from
from refusing the truth.
Okay?
Like, you live in this, like, delusional world.
That's where arrogance is. Right? Like, when a
person is arrogant I mean, everyone in here
has probably
encountered arrogance to a certain level in their
lifetime, whether they've seen it on somebody else,
whether they've caught themselves going through a moment
of arrogance in their lifetime, whatever it may
be. But I can guarantee
after that kind of moment was witnessed,
you realize how foolish that moment of arrogance
was.
Like, I really thought that this
qualified me to be better than that person.
Right? Like, I really thought that the fact
that I went to this particular school
made me better than that person. Like, perhaps
I thought that having this job made me
better than that person. Right? These are the
the the qualifiers that human beings sometimes kind
of put in their lives. Right? You guys
ever walk into, like, a a gathering and,
like, oh, my kid is going to, like,
this school, and my kid's going to that
school. Where where where's your daughter going? And
you're like,
this I'm gonna die, man. You're going to
college. Right? But whatever you said was almost
like scoff that. Right? And I remember growing
up, you know, I used to always, like,
kind of
witness these conversations,
and I these will always make me so
uncomfortable because it always leaves someone
who's an incredible person
look and feel extremely terrible about themselves. You
know what I'm saying?
And so the prophet, sallallahu alaihi, sallam, he
says
It's the refuting
of truth.
You're like this you're like a la la
land. Like, you're this, like, person who's, like,
made this false sense of reality for themselves,
and they live in that sense of reality.
They think that, like, whatever they they they
qualify as important in their life,
that makes them way better than other people.
And sometimes people use religion
in a really twisted way to make themselves
feel better than other people. Oh, yeah. Like,
I'm like a message goer. What are you,
man? You know, like, Ramadan's coming up. Right?
How many times have people heard that stupid
phrase, Ramadan Muslim? I'm like, what the heck
does that even mean, dude? Like, we're all
Ramadan Muslims.
You know what I'm saying? Like, when people
say those those those phrases, it really kinda,
like, makes me think to myself, like, oh,
hey. Welcome back, Ramadan Muslim. I'm like,
aren't you happy to see this person? Like,
aren't you happy that you're able to participate
in such an amazing, amazing community feeling? Like,
why belittle someone like that? Like, why why
why why ridicule someone like that? Why make
someone feel so much lesser because of something
like that? Perhaps that person is trying to
go closer to Allah, but you're ruining it
for them. Right?
And then he says,
and it is
belittling people.
That a part of refuting the truth is
belittling people around you,
making people feel small about the accomplishments they
have in their life. Right? Oh, hey. What'd
you do? Oh, I have to do this
and this and this.
Right? Like, oh, man. Like, must be nice.
And nowadays, you have, like, the weird, like,
kind of, like, the the the the false,
like, sense of, like, being nice. Right? Like,
oh, it must be so nice to be
so free all the time. Me? No. No.
No. No. Super busy. Barely getting to sleep.
Like, I want the entire world to come
together and just, like, applaud that person. Like,
We'll do one collective
for you.
Okay? Because you so deeply
desire that praise and, like, that that validation.
You know, that is so
when you look at the the the example
of the prophet,
you'll find something very incredible, which is he
never spoke about himself in, like, a lofty
manner no matter how high his madam was.
Right?
And it shows you the tradition of the
other prophets that came before him.
Musa, Ibrahim.
Right? You know, Yusuf alaihi sallam, Soleiman
Dawood.
I mean, these people were, like, they they
they were high up there in terms of,
like, their status and their their their their
their station
of honor, their isa, their karama. They were,
like, up there.
But never will you ever find them going
up to somebody
who they're teaching about a lot and that
person denies it, and they're like,
how dare you do you know who I
am? Like, if I can't do it, nobody
can do it. Right? I mean, this is
so it's so false.
And you'll find that tradition,
people who are confident about themselves,
they don't have to be the loudest people
in the room.
They don't have to bark the loudest in
the room. They don't have to talk about
what they do constantly because
they're so overwhelmed with gratitude to Allah. That's
what their confidence does to them. Right? People
with true confidence,
they don't have to talk about it because
they already know that Allah has gave has
given them so many blessings in their lives
that all they do is
I don't have to, like, go out and
I don't have to go out and flex.
I don't have to go out and, like,
show people that I do this. I don't
have to, like, put under, like, my my
my Instagram bio, like, this entire, like,
all heard of it? Like, you know, this
this entire thing. Right?
The people who truly,
they they know where they are. They know
their confidence. They don't have to prove anything
to anybody. This is the reality of confident
people. Right? And so the prophet said he
said,
well,
These people,
in order for them to feel better about
themselves, they have to put other people down.
That's, like, a part of their, like, self
bettering process in a really weird twisted way.
They feel like I can't, like and somehow
luck. You know, there's a very famous who
says something that's very powerful about this, that
these people who who do these things and
they feel this way, they truly misunderstand
Allah
because they feel that if somebody else is
kind of, like, similar to them, that they're
not unique anymore.
Like, oh, like, if Allah gives us another
person the same exact kind of, like, accolades
that he gave me, like, there's not there's
not enough room for 2 of us. You
know what I'm saying? So they had to
compete with that person.
But a person who who is confident with,
they know they're like, yeah.
They're like, yeah. There's, like, 8,000,000,000 other people
that have done a lot of similar things
to me. And but but but guess what?
I'm I'm happy.
I'm content.
They're absolutely like, what's contentment?
What does that mean? To be content with
yourself, to be happy in your life. What
does that mean? It means to not have
that feeling
of competing with other people and by doing
so, putting those people down. Right? And,
you know, it's really funny.
The word in Arabic,
like, linguistically,
it means to, like, bury,
to, like, basically, like, plunge something, like, underneath
the ground, to bury something underneath the ground.
Like, you are so, like, not confident in
yourself. So in order for you to look
like you're the only person standing, you gotta
basically dig other people into the ground around
you so you look like the tallest person
in the room.
And this is what the prophet describes.
Right? So
be wary of belittling other people. Alright?
And he says why?
Particularly in this Surah,
he says,
Right?
Perhaps the person that you're belittling
is actually better than you.
Like, you're out here making this person look
like a fool to the public, but in
reality, they are closer to Allah.
They're way closer to Allah than you are.
So now not only do you look foolish,
but you're actually hurting someone who Allah loves.
You know, all those people that used to
mock and ridicule the prophet
in Makkah. Right? Abu Lahab, Abu Jahl, you
know, all these people that used to kind
of, like, mock the prophet, they used to
call him well, they what did they call
him? They used to call him horrendous names.
Right? Oh, he's just like a magician, man.
He was like a poet. He's just, like,
good with, like, twisting words and blah blah,
all that stuff. When the prophet,
son passed away, okay,
when the prophet, salaam, his son passed away,
they would say about
him, Like, he's cut off.
He's cut off. Like, there's nobody that's gonna,
like, basically carry on his legacy after. They
see all the awful things about him,
but they never realized, oh my gosh. Like,
I'm
insulting a person of of of of god's,
like, love.
You know, when you see a person who's
close to Allah I I know everyone's kind
of witnesses in their lifetime. Right? Like, a
elderly person or a pious person you know
in your community. Like, what do you wanna
do with them? You're like, I just wanna,
like, get close to them. I wanna talk
to them. Right? Just kinda, like, just man,
like, just benefit from being around their company.
Right? I wanna benefit from being around them,
man. Like, they pop in a du offer
me over low her. Like, I'm gay. How
can we be married? Like, your duhaz are
so valuable. So I wanna be close to
you. I wanna ridicule and mock you
because you could be better than me. And
this is why Allah
and the prophet he says, specifically in the
narration, he says, this is particularly why human
beings have this false sense of attributing quality
to the wrong things. He says,
Inna Inna Allah. Right? That indeed Allah
indeed Allah does not look at your appearance
nor does he look at your money.
Like, God doesn't look at your appearance, your
nor
your
your money. Like, this is stuff that human
beings put stock into. Right? Yeah, man. Like,
what's your salary? What'd you start at? What
degree did you get? Oh, liberal arts.
Goodness gracious me. They lost some kind of
ones out of heal. You go like a
no. No. We we we do this to
people. I really it's really it's really sad.
And and this is so interesting because it
talks about, like, mockery because everyone has this
I'm just joking around. I'm not that big
of a deal. I I've heard people, like
it's so mean. Like, I've seen I've heard
people go up, like, graphic design made them
like, oh, that's cool. Like, so like, you
draw for a living. Like, that's really nice.
Like, why would you do that?
Like, why would you do that? Like, may
I have lots of time to look at
me the words doctor of all time?
Like, why why would you want why would
you put something up like that? So, like,
you know, we we have this tendency
where we attribute to ourselves
these false sense of, like, quality. Oh, yeah.
Like, if I do this, if I get
this degree, then I'm gonna be this person
or that person. So the prophet says,
Allah does not look at those those things,
man.
You could be the most beautiful person in
the world
on the on the outside. You could be
the most wealthy person in the world in
your bank account,
and Allah could care less.
Hulubikum
wa'aanaalikum.
Rather, Allah
will actually
judge
you. Allah will look out. Allah will will
will will see your
what's whatever's within your heart,
and whatever deeds you've done with the goodness
of your heart.
Because I'll tell you, a person can have
the world's
weight of gold
in their bank
and can be completely
robbed of any on the day of judgment.
And a person can be
very kind of low in their monetary value
in this dunya,
And on the day of judgment, you'll see
that person sitting on a mountain of gold,
and that gold is not the gold of
the dunya. The gold is the gold of
iman and the gold of their deeds.
And and and the person who used to
have those millions of their bank in the
duniya, they'll look at that person to be
looking up at them for the first time
in their life
because they used to look down at everybody
from their, you know, lifestyle, their cars, their
this, their that, their clothes. They used to
look down upon everybody around them. And on
the day of judgment, those same people will
be looking up at those who they used
to look down upon in the dunya. Right?
So don't be so quick
to pass judgment on
people around you. Okay?
And, you know, particularly here, subhanallah, Allah mentions
both men and women. And, you know, know,
something's really interesting here that the scholars they
mentioned is so powerful.
Because one of the scholars they asked, like,
why would Allah not just say, like, oh,
people. Right? All boom. Right? Don't don't don't,
you know, don't, mock or ridicule or belittle
other people. Perhaps they're better than you. Why
did Allah mention, like,
like, in men and then in women? And
you know what's so interesting? The scholar he
he said, like, one of the he said,
because men and women ridicule each other differently.
Think about what guys dig each other for.
Think about what girls take shots at other
girls for. It's not always the same.
Right? It's not always the same. There's different
qualifiers of what people put value into.
Certain men will take shots at other men's,
you know, masculinity or whatever it may be,
and certain women will take shots at other
women's ability to do whatever they do. I
mean,
it's all very specific
because Shaifan
is focused on trying to create the most
harm.
Right? So the more specific a person can
be in their
in their rudeness
and be, like, lewd and and accouth of
people, the better Shaifan is at his job.
So he specifies, oh, if this person is
struggling with this, you should take a shot
and look for that. Like, don't be generic.
Like, be specific. Go out and look for
that. Y'all know people who just, like, pick
and pry at somebody? Like, a person's, like,
you know, their their their weakness, like, a
spot that's sensitive for them. There may have
been something that they went through or, like,
a moment that they struggle with, and there's
a person who just know they just know
that part part of the body, and they're
just gonna kind of twist the knife. Right?
Because I know that's exactly where it hurts.
This is shut this is such a shame
on me trade, though.
It's such a shame on each trade
to, like, know people's weaknesses and exploit them.
And, you know,
somehow, we'll talk about this, you know, in
a little bit in our session. But
one of the the the wisdoms that one
of the Art of Matt shared is that
if you are a person who has been,
who has been made aware of another person's
weakness,
know that Allah
is giving you a responsibility.
Like, you know this person's vulnerable. You know
this person's vulnerability.
Don't abuse
it. Don't abuse it. You can actually help
this person heal
rather than hurt this person more than they've
already been
hurt. Right? And so it's so incredible.
Okay?
And then
Allah
continues, and he says
that
So the first thing he says is
Okay? And
is really interesting because it literally means, like,
do not
basically defame one another.
Do not defame one another. Okay?
Like yourselves. Don't do it don't do it
to yourselves.
And one of the scholars wrote something really
interesting here. He says, you know, this idea
of of of lambs.
Lambs is basically using your tongue to harm
other people. Okay? Anyone ever read that Surah?
It's in just. It's really short. So it's.
Allah, he says,
Right?
Right? What's that Surah all about? Allah mentions
hands and lambs.
He says. Right?
Hams
is the basically kind of, like, the idea
of, like, going after people, like, always trying
to find faults within people. And
is the actual, like, action that the tongue
does to make it happen.
Right? Spreading gossip,
spreading false rumors,
talking bad about a person's weaknesses.
This is what nems is. Okay?
Like people going around and allowing their tongue
to be the reason why they never entered
Jannah. Abu Bakr
used to walk around, and he used to
hold his tongue and used to say, hada
hada, like this right here, this right here.
And then he's like, what? When you meet
Abu Bakr, what are you doing? He said,
this is the thing that's gonna get me
into hellfire.
Like, this thing right here,
it's not gonna be like anything else. It's
not gonna be my lack of salah. It's
not gonna be my lack of, you know,
you know, you know, fasting Ramadan. It's not
gonna be my lack of pain in my
inside God. It's gonna be this and the
damage that it does.
How many times have you all witnessed in
your lifetime
relationships being broken because somebody said something about
another person?
There was no punches thrown.
There was no physical harm done.
But the word that a person mentioned about
another person completely ruined that relationship.
And the reason why Allah stresses
the damage the tongue can do
is because that damage is extremely
hard to actually undo.
You know, like, when you when you harm
a person physically, right,
like, that wound heals.
It's like a part of the miraculous, it's
like the mariges of, like, the human body.
It's part of the miracle of the human
body. But when a person
harms another person via the tongue,
that pain sometimes lasts forever.
It lasts forever.
There is a moment in which, you know,
Sayna Aisha the
beloved wife of the prophet
there
was, like, a gossip that was spread about
her.
And, again, like, this is it it it
proves to you that it's not like a
new age conundrum. Right? And it happened during
the time the prophet was alive.
That, you know, there there was,
this gossip going around some of the the
the,
the the hypocrites of Benina
that, you know, the wife of the prophet
had done certain immoral things.
Oh, like, why was she seen with that
person? Right? Like, why why did that happen?
Like, you does that sound familiar to you
guys? Like, it's like modern day. Right?
I saw her at the mall with a
guy.
Who was that guy? Right? Like, I'm gonna
make it my life mission now.
Like, Zohar? Never heard of her. What's who's
that guy? Right? Like, have you be focused
on your prayers? Like, don't worry about that
person.
Kinda like, even if that person's wrong, like,
what what why are you so why are
you super grounded about it? What are you
gonna do about it? Post some stupid generic
tweet about it? It's like, I don't know.
Like, what are you gonna do about it?
Like, that's not the way the prophet would
have addressed it. 1st and foremost, the prophet
wouldn't give that person 70 excuses.
The prophet wouldn't give would have given that
person every excuse in the book
before he assumed something that was guilty of
that person.
And then the second thing, if it was
something that was wrong, that was verified, because
we talk what do we talk about? When
news comes to you, make sure that you
verify it. Right? Make sure you make that
that you validate that it's not something that's
false because you've been ruined somebody's life without
using. Now if you validated it and verified
it, number 2 is make sure that you
are even in a position to correct that
person.
How many times everybody, like how many times
have people seen other people catching somebody doing
something wrong, and all of a sudden every
single person becomes a shade?
And then for some reason, some dumb dude
goes on, like, TikTok live at, like, 12
AM and says the woman in our lives
take pictures when the camera rolls.
It'll hit home. Right? I mean, like,
well, why I'm I'm telling you guys right
now. I'm telling you guys right now. Well,
why I mean, I had the hardest time
not going full troll mode on those videos.
Like, my wife was sitting next to me
and she saw me laughing. I was like,
what are you laughing? I'm like, please y'all
love. Give me strength y'all love.
I like people
sitting, talking about these book, lost things.
What if there are Muslims in the world
who are struggling with their salah? No. You
know, women should not take pictures on their
camera rolls. Why? Because the Apple CEO can
actually
bro, if Tim Cook looks at my personal
camera roll, Danny, you earned it, bro. Like,
that's a lot of work.
I mean, this is the extent that we've
gone to as an owner, man. Like, how
sad is it?
How sad is it? Like, the we're sitting
around circles talking about these things with people's
photo
is in question. Like, people are struggling with
things that are obligatory.
So
the prophet
wouldn't even, like he he wouldn't even go
near that. And even if you're a person
who is qualified to address it, then you
would pull that person aside
and say, hey. You know, in in the
best manner possible,
hey. Because I care about you, I wanted
just to make sure that, like, you're doing
okay. Right?
That's the way the prophet would address it.
A man, guys, a man came to the
prophet
and asked him permission.
Give me permission to commit adultery.
Literally, it was used to see that the
word that he said were as such,
and the prophet,
he told him, hey. Come sit with me.
Come sit with me. Let's talk about this.
Do you have people in your family that
are also, you know, women and, you know,
sisters and a mother and cousins and aunts.
And don't don't you and yeah. Of course,
I do, Well, then how would you feel
if a person came to me and asked
me the same question, but geared towards a
person that was in your family?
And that same man, he says,
when I entered,
you know, that question,
there was nothing more desirable to me than
the that I had in my heart. The
desire that I had in my heart. And
when I left the company of the prophet
there was nothing more appalling to me than
what I wanted to do when I walked
into his company. I
mean, you see, like, the difference that,
like,
being beautiful with your process and methodology can
do for a person? Like, what if that
person went and completed, like, their Maghrib salah
and their Isha salah and did, like, beauty
to their to their
obligatory,
prayers the rest of the night because the
prophet was beautiful in the way he handled
that situation. Right? So watalmizu
and fusakum,
Don't defame one another.
Don't defame one another. Don't take shots at
one another.
Right? By the way, means, like it like,
literally in Arabic, it means, like, yourselves.
Allah didn't say don't defame them or don't
defame, like, the people around you. He said
don't defame yourselves.
And there's a very beautiful reason as to
why.
Because
he says, one of the scholars, he says,
that
when a person,
they understand the true meaning of iman, of
Islam, what it means to be a part
of this religion, they know by defaming the
people around them, they're actually defaming themselves.
Anybody ever heard the hadith love for your
brother what you love for yourself?
So if you're okay doing that to somebody
next to you, you're okay doing that to
yourself.
Plain and simple as that.
You're okay spreading gossip about the people around
you? Okay. Sounds good. You should be cool
spreading gossip about yourself
because that's the standard of a Muslim.
That's the standard that you hold yourself to.
You should love for them what you love
for yourself. You should
hate for them what you hate for yourself.
But if you're doing that, that means that's
the standard that you hold yourselves to. Okay?
And then one of the scholars gives a
very, very beautiful, beautiful lesson here. He says,
and this is why we've derived
the maxim.
And in English, the maxim reads,
you yourself have faults,
and the people around you have eyes.
So the moment where you feel like you
can just go around picking eat like, other
people around you apart, know that those people
who are you picking apart also have eyes
that they see with as well.
And this is why there was a, you
know, famous poem. It was, like, a couplet
that was written in Farsi. Beautiful, beautiful couplet.
It said that as long as we were
unaware of our own faults,
we looked at the faults and failings of
other people.
But when we started looking inwardly at our
own faults, there remained no sinful person
in the entire dunya. You can, like, translate
that poem. It's beautiful.
Like, as long as we neglected our own
shortcomings, like, yeah, everybody was sinful
around us. Right? Oh, yeah. Like, that person
has that problem, and this person does this
wrong, and that person lacks in this and
that. Oh, yeah. All these people are problematic.
The moment that I took into consideration my
own setbacks,
I didn't have a single minute to think
about the faults of other people.
I was too concerned about my own.
And this proves another very beautiful social point
about being a human being, which is the
more you busy yourself
with your own
development
and your own maturity as a Muslim,
the less time you'll have for just, like,
nonsense stuff, man.
The less time you'll have to pick at
other people.
The more bored you are,
the more you'll notice all these other things
that are probably none of your business,
that have nothing to do with you,
that have nothing to benefit you with.
Why do you know it? Oh, I just
know it, man.
It's because we don't spend enough time looking
inwardly.
We spend way too much time looking at
other people,
wasting time, wasting days. How many times have
we woken up all day and we've neglected
things that we were supposed to do? But
because we had all that free time, we
engaged in so many things that just brought
us no benefit.
It killed our time. We're just scrolling on
Instagram for, like, 2 hours.
Oh, did you know this person did this?
And that person did that, and that person
was this, and that person was wearing that.
I mean, you know, like, that entire, you
know, I I always wanted, like, always wanted
to share this with people is that that
entire, aya in the Quran
that talks about lowering your gaze,
Allah he says,
Tell the believing men and women to lower
their
gaze. Allah never once mentions
if they're wearing this or if they're wearing
that.
Like, Allah's command is regardless of the people
around you.
Like, Allah doesn't say,
establish your prayer if everyone around you is
praying.
Nah. If no one's around you just praying,
then it's like, alright. Take it easy. You're
good.
No. No. No. The command of Allah is
to do x, y, and z.
If you are so bothered by the people
around you or you are so,
like, concerned
and not concerned in a good way, just
concerned in an entertaining, curious way,
then that means you are not doing justice
to the life that Allah has given you.
You have your own life to worry about.
You have your own deeds that will that
you'll be held accountable for.
You're not gonna be asked about that person
who is doing x, y, and z. Allah
is not gonna say, hey. You know, Mariam,
why did you, allow that Muslim woman that
lived in Valley Ranch to, like, go out
there and do x, y, and z? Allah
will be like, no. No. No. I'll talk
to her.
We we will talk I will discuss with
her
why she did certain things. Mariam,
Khadija,
Mohammed,
Amin, why did you do what you did?
And did it positively affect the people around
you or did it negatively affect the people
around you?
Okay.
And this is why, subhanAllah, you know,
very, very beautiful statement here,
that Ibn Mas'ud radiAllahu anhu he said. He
said, I would not like to even scoff
at like a dog,
lest Allah
turns me into 1.
Because I don't even have time. Like, after
these ayats came down, I didn't wanna be
little animals because Allah I was afraid that
Allah would turn me into that.
Don't be surprised. Like, what you know that
phrase, like, what goes around comes around?
Like, you look around to the faults of
other people. Just don't be surprised if Allah
allows you to fall into
that same trap. You're so obsessed with their
life, oh, Allah will give you their life.
Even most early, he mentions that. It's very,
very beautiful.
And then he said,
subhanAllah.
He says after here
that this is why,
you know,
the following was given to us, which is
the final part of this ayah where he
says,
And he says,
do not defame one another nor call each
other by
names that would be offensive to them.
How evil is it
to act or remind a person
about
their flaws and faults
after they have found faith.
And then he says, whoever doesn't repent from
these,
they are truly the ones
who are wrongdoers. Now I'm gonna pause here
for a second, and I wanted to get
a little bit of kind of feedback from
y'all and conversation going with y'all.
What are some of the harms?
Right? I'm gonna have you guys talk to
the people around you. What are some of
the harms
that can come about from a person
bringing up past
sins and mistakes
of a person
who they're around. What are some of the
harms of that? Why is that so frowned
upon in our deen?
To bring up past mistakes of a person.
Why is that something that is spiritually harmful
for a person? I want you guys talk
to the person next to you, and I'm
gonna call on some of y'all to share
some thoughts and reflections. Bismillah. Go ahead.
Alright.
Let's talk. I wanna hear some of y'all's,
y'all's reflections and some of y'all's thoughts, inshallah.
So
what are some of the harms? Why is
it so pressing in our deen
that a person doesn't
bring up the past mistakes and the past,
you know, setbacks of another person.
Let me hear y'all's thoughts inshallah. Who would
like to share?
Miss Moolah. What are some of the wisdoms?
Yes.
Yeah. Like, for the person who's made it
so far, it could derail them on their
journey. Right? Beautiful. Very good. Very, very good.
Anybody else wanna share
Why is it harmful? Yeah.
Yeah. Exactly. You know, people begin to believe.
Right? And
you know what's so sad?
You know,
I I don't know if I've ever shared
this story before here, but I've definitely thought
about it before, which is, you know, the
story of the the the 2,
the 2 men
that upon the the migration of the prophet
and Abu Bakr, they would basically be known
to, like, steal from, like, passing caravans. And
so when the prophet
he went near that area, the prophet kind
of knew about them. He had heard about
them. And so he asked he said, hey.
I know that you guys are, like, in
this area. Like, imagine going through, like, a
really, really rough part of town, and there
are a couple of guys or a couple
of people who, like, just kind of, like,
are known to, like, steal and
and and make life tough for people who
are passing through that area. And imagine, like,
a person knows about it, so they're like,
alright. You know what? I'm walking out here,
and I know you're here, so why don't
you just go ahead and come out real
quick? And so the prophet did exactly that,
and they were shot. They were, like, they
were, like, behind their little, like, boulder, and
they were, like,
what? Like, no one calls us out. We
usually, like, surprise. Right? Like, they that we
do that. And so the prophet called them
out, and the prophet says, come. Let's talk.
And they're just, like they're they're terrified
because no one's ever treated them like that.
And so he asked them,
who are you?
Right? Who are you? What are your names?
And the answer of these 2 men will
baffle you
because it proves exactly what she said, which
is that when you tell a person
long enough
that they
are x, y, and z,
they'll start believing it.
They'll start believing it even if it's not
who they are.
Like, you go and tell somebody that made
a mistake, like, 10 years ago, like, hey,
man. Like, you are gonna always be known
as this person. They'll start believing and carrying
themselves like that.
And so the prophet, he asked them who
they are, and they said,
Like, we are 2 bad people.
And that and that answer, like, it it
it bothered the heart of the prophet
that you shouldn't feel that way about yourself,
that you're a terrible person to the core.
We don't believe that actually, by the way.
Like, human beings are not born like that.
In fact, we're actually born the opposite. We're
born with fitra. We're born with, like, closeness
to Allah. There's this proximity you have with
Allah Only by, like, nurture does a person
start believing things about themselves that have nothing
to really do with them.
And so the prophet sat with them and
said, no. No. No. You're not bad.
You're not bad people. You just made a
few mistakes in your life.
Doesn't make you who you are. And when
you start instilling that in people,
you start
healing
the wounds
that a person has had to live with
for decade after decade after decade.
So very beautiful, she said that this person
begins to start believing these things about them,
that this is who I am. No matter
how much I try to improve and progress
in my life, I'll always be known as
that one person who did x, y, and
z. Right? Very good. Anybody else?
What else? What's another harm? Yes, miss Linda.
Subhanallah.
Subhanallah.
So beautiful. There's actually a very strong narration
that talks about this, where a person
who basically, you know,
denigrates
a Muslim
who has committed a sin
of which they have repented for. Right? So
they made a mistake. Sure.
Every human being makes mistakes, but they made
a mistake
and then they made tawbah.
They made it istaghfar.
They asked Allah Ta'ala for forgiveness.
Okay.
Allah takes it upon himself
that he will get the person
who belittles them for the sin that they
repented for,
to commit that very same sin and expose
him to embarrassment and humiliation
in this world and in the hereafter.
And this is found in in in imam
imam court abi's book
that a person who has repented to Allah,
they've done a mistake but they repented to
Allah and then you bring about that mistake
again to them, Allah will allow you to
fall into the traps of that same mistake.
And not only that, there will be humiliation
for you
because you decided to humiliate them.
You see how poetic this this religion is,
which is that Allah
takes into account every single thing that a
person does
and doesn't let any of that slide. Right?
And so one of the things that, you
know, we wanted
end within the next couple minutes is
when we look at other people around us,
just function
just function off of the premise
that even if you know that this person
made mistakes in the past, that this person
has repented to Allah
already.
Just function off that premise.
If you function off the premise that everybody
makes tawba every night before they go to
sleep, trust me, you'll have such a better
time in this dunya in your interactions with
the people around you
because you will no longer see that person
as this terrible human being. Now am I
saying just to automatically trust everybody regardless of
what they've done? No. No. No. I'm not
saying to be best friends with them. I'm
saying to not judge
their spirituality
based upon what they did.
Wallahi, I've met I've met some of the
most beautiful,
spiritually intact people
who may not look it to the naked
eye,
and I have met some of the most
spiritually
dirty people who on the exterior look like
they're absolutely Muslim.
So what is the goal? The goal is
to make sure
to assume of everyone
that whatever mistakes they've made insha'Allah they spoke
to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala about it.
Okay.
And this also has another meaning which is
to not like call other people by names
that they find
offensive or rude. Right? I mean, there was
a famous story, and the prophet by the
way, always used to come to the defense
of these people. There was a story of
Abdullah ibn Mas'ud radiAllahu anhu. He was a
very kind of, like, if if you wanna
describe Abdullah ibn Mas'ud, like, in a physical
way, he was a very, like, kind of
petite person. He was not like a big
human being. Right? He was not like Musa
Salam who, like, in
shows that, like, he was a massive man.
Right? Broad shoulders. Abdullah bin Musa
he was a smaller person. So one time,
Abdullah bin Musa, there was a hadith that
he climbing the tree that you get, like,
from. You know, like, the the that you
that you brush your teeth with? So he
was on the tree where those branches were,
and he was trying to, like, pick branches
off to basically kind of, like, give to
the companions. And so the narration mentions that
there was, like, a strong wind that blew,
and so a part of his, his his
his
garment
that he was wearing kinda flew in the
wind, and it exposed his legs.
Okay?
And, you know,
it's so interesting how
time has gone by,
but certain, like, cultural things will just never
ever stop being human.
Like, any chance that guys get to, like,
take shots of their boys, they will take
it.
Like, if you see, like, your boy trip
up, you'll have a girl write about how
it's an ick, and you'll have a guy
talk about how, like, it was, like, the
funniest thing they've ever seen in their life.
Right? So, like, Abdullah ibn Mas'ar'ud, like, his
garment's blowing in the wind, and so, like
I say, he's a petite person. His legs
are small. So all these Sahaba, these these
convey, they start laughing. Like, they start laughing,
and and and by the way, the Arabic
of the hadith is interesting. It denotes that
they were laughing, like, out loud, not just,
like, kind of, like, internally. They were, like,
laughing laughing. And so the prophet he looks
at, he's like, what are y'all laughing at?
And, like, yeah, Rasoolallah, we're laughing at his
shins.
Like straight up. Like this is like the
This a hadith.
You Rasoolallah, we're laughing at his legs.
And the prophet he looks at Abdullah bin
Mus'ud and he looks back at the sahaba
and he says,
by Allah
each of them will weigh more than Uhud
on the
in the afterlife,
on the scales in the afterlife.
Shut it down.
Close that door. Make fun of him now.
Right? Like, try it again. What other? Like,
you wanna make fun of his arms next?
I'll give you another example of another mountain
range. Right? Like, he just, like, closed that
door. He came at the defense. And this
was Ibn Mas'ud. Take the example of a
person like we just talked about made mistakes
in the past. There was a person by
the name of Ikrimah bin Abi Jahal.
His father was quite literally a man who
the prophet called the firaoun of my community.
And so after the prophet
came back to Makkah, Ikrimah being the son
of a man who quite literally tried to
kill the prophet on several different occasions, Ikrima
was like, alright, dude. I gotta leave.
Like, Mecca is Muslim now. Like, I just
gotta bounce because, like, they hate me.
They hate me. His wife had actually become
Muslim, by the way. So there's, like, one
thing holding him back. So he just decided
to bounce
for a period of time.
And so the prophet,
he was like, where's Ikrima? By the way,
think about this. The prophet used to notice
these absences.
You know, like, people that we don't like,
if we don't notice their absence, we're like,
they're gone, You Allah.
Allah has answered my duas.
The prophet was like, where where is he?
Like, why is he not here?
And the wife of Ikhima, she goes, oh,
yeah. He's you won't be seeing him around.
Are you kidding me? Like, what his family
did to you? You expect him to stay
back? He's terrified of you, Rasool Allah.
And she and the prophet something very interesting.
This is like a almost like culturally in,
like, in in in Mecca and Medina at
that time was a very cultural, like, honorable
moment. The prophet took off his turban, like,
something he was wearing on his head because
whatever you wear upon your head is like
an honorable thing. Right? So he took off
his his turban that he was wearing. He
gave it to her, and he said, I'm
gonna give this to you. Go find him
and show him this.
Like, I'm this serious that I wanna talk
to him.
Like, take, like, my my my gold watch.
Like like, it's, like, equivalent of that. Like,
it's like a like a collateral. Right?
Like, I want I want him back.
And when she went to get him, the
prophet, he looked at his companions, the Sahaba
that were around him. And by the way,
you don't think the sahaba had like an
ill taste in their mouth from Ikrimah's family?
Oh man, like, they were like, they he
tried to kill them.
And the prophet, he turns to his Saba
Sahaba. He says, hey. Hey. When Ikrimah comes
here, don't ever mention any of the things
that his dad did.
We don't talk about that stuff, man.
Look. If he comes and he says, la
ilaha illallah, Muhammadu su'Allah,
man. He's one of us.
He's one of us. We don't mention all
the stuff that happened in the past like
that. He might be trying to turn a
new leaf.
You do not wanna be the person
who is the hand that stops the leaf
from making its full turn.
You do not wanna be the person whose
words
blow that leaf back over on its other
side.
You wanna be the person who helps the
turning of the leaf go full circle.
Imagine on the day of judgment, Allah asks
you, this person was so close to turning
to me, but you said that one thing
to them and they decided to go back
the other way. How do you explain yourself
now?
Allah protect us.
Allah protect us.
So the lesson from the final part of
this aya is to make sure that we
are not people who fall on the wrong
side of that coin.
That we're always, like, making fun, ridiculing, mocking,
calling people by things that they don't like.
And then finally, at the very end, Allah
Ta'ala, he says,
And for those who do not repent, because
we just listed a long list of infractions.
Don't do this. Don't do this. Don't do
this. Don't do this. But even after all
that, Allah says,
Tawba Tawba Tawba Tawba.
You made a mistake with somebody,
Make
toba. Make amends. It's not too late. You're
living. You're breathing.
Don't bury yourself into the ground and say,
oh, yeah. It's too late, man. I burned
bridges with, like, 80 people in my life.
What's the point now? No. No. No. You're
still waking up the next morning.
As long as you are alive, it is
Allah's sign to you to continue to turn
back.
Don't close the door on your life before
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala does it.
Don't call it quits before Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala calls the angel of death for you.
The only people who have cursed themselves
until the end of time is
They cannot find it within themselves to say,
you Allah, I made a mistake. Please forgive
me.
As long as you can do that,
there will always be
amends
and a way to turn back to Allah
Okay?
And we'll pause here as the adhan just
came in. So it's time for We ask
Allah to protect us from being people who
belittle other people around us and elevate ourselves
at the of other people's honor and their
dignity. We ask Allah
to protect us from being people who mock
and joke and make fun of other people
to take them down. We ask Allah
to never allow us to fall into the
trap of being people
who feel arrogant about ourselves
by putting other people down. We ask Allah
to allow us to be people who speak
words of of of of goodness, of beauty
to those around us, and we ask Allah
to protect us from ever falling into the
same traps that we never thought that we
would fall into. We ask Allah
to allow us to be people of quality,
of
of beauty, of iman, and we ask Allah
to allow us to be people who radiate
what it means to be a Muslim for
ourselves and to those around us.
Just a little preview for everybody here. The
next verse is gonna be all about suspicions.
Like, you're, like, thinking to thinking like, oh,
why? Why? Why this? Why that? That's gonna
be next Thursday. I also wanted to share
one thing with you guys as well.
I don't know if you guys have seen,
we are going to be hosting a really,
really cool Ramadan,
like, prep program,
inshallah, not this Friday night, but next Friday
night on February 9th. It's gonna be a
poetry night inshallah where people will be able
to come, enjoy listening to to y'all around
you.
You know, people have
beautiful talent in this community. So come out
If you'd like to perform a piece, then
there's a form here at the bottom where
you can basically kind of, like, submit that,
you know, ahead of time. And that way
inshallah, we can kinda, like, look at it
and make sure that everything is good, and
then you can obviously, you know, perform that
piece inshallah in front of everybody if you're
brave enough to do so. But if you
just would like to attend, there's obviously free
admission for everyone who just like to attend
and be a part of the event
as well. Tell the people around you. Tell
your friends about it. We'd love to have
a packed house on Friday night on 9th.
We'll see you guys then. The RSVP link
is, rootsdfw.orgforward/poetrynight.
Inshallah. We'll see you guys next Thursday, and
hopefully, inshallah
for this event as well.