Sikander Hashmi – Ethical Advocacy Good Character KMA Friday Message
AI: Summary ©
The speaker discusses the confusion surrounding the decision to refuse to give the prophet sallavi alaihi a message and turn on the wrong people. The message is clear and should harm people. The speaker emphasizes the importance of verifying information and researching the origin of news, and advises against rushing to judgment and acting until it is confirmed to be true. The speaker also suggests using "medically tweated prophetic method" and " parameters" to convey the message clearly and win people over by touching their hearts. The goal is to deliver the message convincingly so that it wins people over by touching their hearts.
AI: Summary ©
Respected elders,
dear brothers and sisters,
my young
friends,
The prophet
sends a companion
by the name of
to collect zakat, to collect the money for
zakat
from a tribe
that has recently accepted Islam, the Banu Mustaliq.
And on his way so as this companion
is going to visit this tribe to collect
the zakat which was agreed upon between their
chief
and with the prophet
he has a thought that comes to mind.
So he hasn't actually arrived there yet. He's
on the way there. He's probably close to
their location.
And he thinks that you know these are
my previous enemies.
Because you see before Islam a lot of
tribes and different people had enmity between themselves.
And when the deen of Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala came and when the prophet
brought the message of Allah
to
Madinah,
those rivalries went away. That enmity that existed
for centuries
dissipated and everyone accepted one another
as brothers and sisters. This was from the
mercy of Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala.
So he's going there and he's thinking, these
are
my previous enemies.
So perhaps,
especially since they just accepted Islam recently, maybe
they're going to harm me, maybe they're going
to kill me. And according to one narration,
he returns back to Medina
without actually going to them to collect the
zakat.
Okay. So not only did he not bring
the zakat money back to to Medina to
the prophet
as he was supposed to,
but he didn't even go and talk to
them.
And according to this one narration, he told
the prophet
that they had refused to pay Zakat and
that they had wanted to kill him.
Now another narration, another version says that he
did actually go to the tribe
who were expecting
the envoy of the prophet
to come because this was as a date
that was agreed upon. So they were expecting
that someone's gonna come and we're gonna hand
over zakat.
So they came out to welcome him from
a distance. When they saw he was coming,
they came out to welcome him and to
show respect.
But
he got scared and he suspected
that
they may have come out
to kill him on account
of old hostilities.
So he returned instantly
without talking to them, without collecting the zakat,
without meeting them, to the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi
Wasallam. And he shared his suspicion with the
Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam that they're not willing
to pay zakat and that they wanted to
kill him.
So this is something that he feared
happened inside of his mind due to his
own fear, you can say his paranoia,
his, you know, past history.
But he came to the prophet sallallahu alaihi
wasallam, and he he narrated this. Now you
could expect that the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam
was quite upset.
You know, how could it be that, you
know, the leader,
Harif Abdurar, you know, who was actually the
father of Jawairi
Radiullah, one of the wives of the prophet
You
know, he was a chief of the he
had, you know, promised, he had accepted Islam
and promised that his tribe will also accept
Islam and they're gonna give zakat which of
course is one of the 5 pillars
and obligatory to give. So how could it
be that they turn and now they refuse
to give zakat and they even said that
they're gonna kill? You know, they threatened to
kill this this this this,
this ambassador, this envoy that the prophet
sent.
So understandably, he's quite upset.
So he gathers a group of companions
to send,
to take care of this group,
and confront them, you know, and take care
of business.
Because how could someone do that? How could
they
go so low to do this
and go against their word?
Now, on the other hand,
the chief,
Harith ibn
Dharar
and his group had left to meet the
Prophet
to find out why no one had come
to calat zakat as promised.
So you see what's happening here. On the
one hand, walid ibn Nawqar
he turns back. So he's coming back saying
that, no, they don't wanna give zakat, they're
threatening to kill me. And on the other
hand,
the tribe is like, what's going on? How
come this person hasn't showed up? So then
they go to meet the Prophet
Now fortunately,
this misunderstanding was cleared and bloodshed was averted.
So nothing came out of it. It was
very close. It was very close that this
group of companions that the prophet had sent
would have reached there or would have met
them along the way with the understanding that
they had refused to give zakat and that
they were willing you know, they wanted to
they were threatening to kill the the emissary
of the prophet alaihi wasallam. And it could
have been very bad. Right? Based on this
false or based on this misunderstanding.
And it was at this point that the
scholars of Quran of the CSA that Allah
revealed the verse in Surah Al Hujurat.
Verify its correctness,
lest you should harm a people out of
ignorance
and then become remorseful
on what you did,
right? The message is very clear that when
you get news,
make sure, and this is the reason for
the revelation of this verse, but it applies
to everyone.
Now, when you get news,
or believers, when you get news, verify its
authenticity,
verify
its accuracy,
lest you end up acting upon that news
thinking that it is true, but it turns
out to be false.
And you end up causing harm
to people and then you regret it and
then you feel bad, but the harm is
already done, right? In this case,
the harm was not done.
Now, this companion
is referred to as a sinful person because
that particular
action was incorrect. It was sinful to make
this assumption and to share this with the
Prophet
even though it had not occurred. It was
just perceived,
right? And this tells us that the companions,
the Sahaba were not perfect,
right? They made mistakes. They were human. They
made mistakes. They rebut, they repented to Allah
After they made the mistake,
because they're not prophets and they're not protected
from sin. So, yes, of course, they made
mistakes and they committed sins
but the key is that they turn back
to Allah
and they were remorseful.
Did the Tawba, they repented, and Allah is
pleased with them. Oh,
right? That's what we say. So,
this is the case for this Sahabi who
was in the company of the Prophet
Right? So imagine, what about the news and
the information
that we get from people today
who are openly sinful
or openly disbelieving Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala or
who we don't even know who they are.
There's complete
void in the chain of narration of the
news of the video that you're seeing on
TikTok,
the reel that you're watching,
right? That short that someone has uploaded,
right? What's the chain of narration? What's the
authenticity of it?
Who made it? Where did they make it?
What images,
what voices, what audio is part of that?
How has it been composed when it was
recorded? We don't know. Right? In many cases,
we don't know.
The prophet
said,
It is enough for a person.
It is enough lying for a man to
speak of everything that he hears.
It is enough to consider a person a
liar if they simply speak of everything that
they have heard, meaning without checking.
He says with regards to this hadith that
usually a person hears truth and lies.
So if he speaks
of everything that he hears,
he is lying by telling of things that
did not happen, and lying by speaking of
something
other than the way it happened.
And he does not have to do that
deliberately. He does not have to do that
deliberately in order to be regarded as telling
lies. It does not have to be intentional.
Right? Simply because you are passing on information,
simply because you are re sharing, reposting, retweeting
something,
forwarding on WhatsApp,
something that you have heard and you don't
know, or you have seen and you don't
know if it's true or not, right? Even
if it's not unintentional,
even then,
even if it is
unintentional, meaning even if it is not intentional,
a person will still be regarded
as telling lies. May Allah protect us all.
Said, beware of temptation or beware of fitna
for a word, a single word at the
time of fitna
could be as devastating as the sword.
A single word
can be as devastating, can be as harmful
as harm that comes
from physical pain and injury inflicted
by the sword. So So you see when
the stakes are high, my brothers and sisters,
my friends, one misunderstanding,
one incorrect word could be devastating.
Hazratullah
He said, the believer reserves judgment
until the matter is proven. A believer
reserve judgment until the matter is proven.
Now just a couple of days ago, a
high level Canadian politician found himself and is
finding himself in trouble
for rushing to judgment
with regards to that
fiery crash
on the right outside the Rainbow Bridge in
Niagara Falls,
referring to it as
a terrorist attack based on media reports.
Right? In fact, authorities have now ruled, have
now discovered that it was a tragic accident.
It was not an attack that everyone was
thinking that it might be.
And now he's having to deal with the
consequences
of rushing to judgment.
We see and we hear many things
nowadays.
And it's important that we do not act
because of it until we are sure that
it is true.
Okay. You can certainly take mental note of
it.
You can certainly
prepare for different outcomes
if it turns out to be true, if
you're in a position where you need to
do that.
But don't assume
that it is true until confirmed to be
true,
or most likely to be true.
During times of high tensions and conflicts,
misinformation
is rampant.
It is known, it is established that propaganda
is a tool of war
used by everyone, used by all sides.
So be careful
with the news,
especially
before you act, especially before you start doing
something about it.
Lest you should end up harming a people
out of ignorance and to see will come
on be Jahala.
And then you become remorseful on what you
did as Allah told us.
Secondly, my brothers and sisters and very quickly,
when speaking for justice
and advocating,
we must differentiate
between those
who are actively involved in the oppression and
the evil.
And those who may have gotten caught up
in it or who may be misinformed.
There's a difference between the 2. There's a
difference between a person who was actively involved
in perpetuating falsehoods. There is or someone who
is actively involved
in committing oppression or causing harm, spreading evil
on purpose,
knowing that it's wrong, knowing that it is
evil, knowing
everything and willfully doing that. There's a difference
between that person and the person who has
got caught up, who's not directly involved,
who's a bit of a third party, a
person who's an outsider, a stranger to this
whole situation.
And they have developed misunderstandings
or they are misinformed.
Let us know that the vast majority of
people that we deal with
who may even come across as being unsupportive
are likely misinformed.
Most of the people that we deal with
here
are probably from the 2nd category.
Standing up for justice
and advocating for the oppressed
is from amongst the missions of the prophets
of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. This was part
of their mission to establish justice.
Therefore, it is critical
that we use the divinely ordained
prophetic prophetic method of Dawah.
It is important that when we are advocating
for justice and for the truth
that we use
the divinely ordained
method
of prophetic dawah.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala tells us as we
have discussed before,
Invite to the way of your Lord with
wisdom,
first with wisdom
and kind advice,
and only debate with them in the best
man.
That's the third thing. It's not the first
thing. First thing is invite
with wisdom,
with kind advice.
There's levels of escalation. And then if you
need to debate, you do it in the
best manner.
Allah tells
us good and evil cannot be equal. So
respond to evil but that which is best.
Says to the prophet tell my believing servants
to only say what is best.
To only say that
which is best.
Because the objective
is not just to deliver the message,
The objective is not just to say it
for the sake of saying it, but rather
the objective is to deliver the message
convincingly
so that it wins people over by touching
their hearts.
The point is not just to say something.
Otherwise, we'll be going in the street, we
say, come
worship Allah. But is it gonna be effective
dawah? Do you think people are actually gonna
come and and and, you know, are gonna
get interested in Islam? No. They're gonna think
you're a bunch of fools.
Right? That's not the way. That's not what
the prophet did. That's not what the companions
did.
Right? So you have to understand the point
is not just proclaiming the message. It's not
just to speak the truth but rather to
speak the truth in a way that is
convincing,
that wins people over by touching their hearts.
A Prophet has an important mission of dawah.
So for his final message, Allah told the
Prophet
who was perfect in character.
Why? So that the message is not diluted
or tainted
with bad character of the Messenger.
Because if the Messenger has bad character,
has bad behavior,
then it
affects
the message itself. The message becomes diluted, it
becomes tainted because the one who is bringing
it
is not doing it properly in a good
way.
Similarly, my brothers and sisters, my friends, let
us be extra careful and mindful that we
maintain the best character
when advocating and signing up for issues that
are close to our hearts that are important
to us like Palestine.
Saying things politely
first
usually is more effective in many cases.
Usually, you don't need to escalate, right? If
you actually say it nicely first convincingly,
you can still be firm. But if you're
polite and
you're
kind,
that in many cases will be effective in
and of itself. As the prophet
said,
That really gentleness is not found in anything
except that it beautifies it. It is not
removed from anything except that it disgraces it.
Right? So start off gently,
then escalate gradually
as necessary.
Don't go from 0 to a100.
Don't speed directly from
0. You have an issue, it's 0, and
then all of a sudden you go to
a100.
Right? Don't do that because it's likely going
to cause more harm.
Right? Speak privately before going public. If it's
something between 2 individuals, another person, message them
privately first. Right? Try to reach out to
them 1st, talk to them 1st, email them
1st,
Give people a chance to understand
and correct their approach first. We ask
Allah to make these difficult times easy for
the entire Ummah especially for our brothers and
sisters in Palestine and Gaza. As
to relieve
the grief and the pain of this Ummah
and to bless this world with peace. We
ask Allah
to make us a source of promoting justice,
peace, and understanding
to all.