Sikander Hashmi – Verify Before Believing & Sharing Friday Message
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AI: Transcript ©
We begin by praising Allah
The
our designer,
our creator,
the designer and creator and sustainer of the
universe,
of everything that it contains,
our protector,
our nourisher.
And we begin by sending peace and salutations
upon his beloved messenger,
Muhammad, son of Abdullah
This week,
brothers and sisters,
we have been deeply shocked
by the terrible events,
terrible blast that took place
in Beirut and Lebanon
that has taken
many lives
and has and has caused
widespread destruction.
Something that
is,
we are, of course, not used to seeing
and something that is terrifying. If you actually,
you
know, see the video, see how it transpired,
and the magnitude
of the blast of Huddl love.
It was,
incredibly terrifying,
to see the impact and, of course,
the impact that it has had
on our brothers and sisters, on the residence,
of Beirut
and the the area of the blast actually,
very large area.
We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to,
forgive our brothers and sisters who have returned
to him. We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
to heal those who have been injured.
We ask Allah
to ease the pain and suffering
of those who have been affected
in any way. And our deepest
condolences
to our Lebanese brothers and sisters,
especially those who have been impacted by the
terrible disaster,
whose family members and loved ones and friends
have been impacted
by this terrible tragedy.
Of course, there are many, videos
circulating
of the blast and of its devastating impact.
In the past,
you know,
news of such events
would take days,
even weeks,
perhaps months to reach other parts of the
world.
Right? In the past and there were instances
where,
such, blast,
happened in the past. This was very, very
large,
in terms of its impact, in terms of
the amount of ammonium nitrate that that blew
up,
but there have been other incidents,
other tragedies in the past.
But in the difference was that in the
past,
news would take
days
with weeks,
sometimes months to reach other parts of the
world.
But today,
it takes mere seconds.
A video is recorded,
is shared on social media,
and can virtually reach nearly every corner of
the world in an instant.
And, of course, there can be a number
of benefits in this. Right? In the case
of tragedies such as this one,
people are able to find out about it
very quickly,
and that can then enable them to mobilize
help and offer support,
contact loved ones or those who are,
in the area can reach out to their
family members, to their loved ones who are
not in the area and mark themselves or,
you know, tell them that they're safe, mark
themselves on as safe,
on some social media platforms as well.
And,
in this case,
of course, we should be offering our support,
first of all, or Duaa,
but also, financial support or any other support
that we can offer. So, inshallah,
part of today's collection,
here,
at our, for those attending Friday prayers, inshallah,
we'll be going towards,
relief for those who are who have been
impacted and there are many people. Thousands of
people who have been impacted, tens of thousands,
potentially, who have been impacted by this class.
Houses, you know, entire neighborhoods levels,
or severely damaged in a population in a
country
where there were already
increasing hardships,
with regards to the economy, and financial,
economic well-being of the people.
So this is a devastating blow, for the
people there,
that came, of course, so suddenly.
Many people, of course, have lost loved ones
or injured.
So the impact of it is is is,
widespread.
Therefore, inshallah, we should try our best to
offer whatever support that we are able to
offer,
as brothers and sisters in faith and also
as brothers and sisters in humanity inshallah.
Now because of social media,
the potential impact of sharing news
is greatly increased,
whether positive or negative. So we just discussed,
you know, some of the positives in terms
of being able to help others, enable, in
terms of being able to provide
support. But while there are benefits, there are
many risks
and dangers as well.
And the question
becomes that when we come across a piece
of information,
on the Internet,
through social media or on a website
or on YouTube,
what if the information is false? Right? In
this case, we know that this last occurred,
it is not false. We
know, through numerous, you know, reports, reliable reports,
we know that it happened, and there's no
doubt about the fact that it happened. Right?
This is,
to the point of certainty.
But in other cases,
generally speaking about news that we find being
forwarded to us or video clips that we
find on YouTube,
or even, you know, news stories on on
news websites,
the question is that what if the information
is false?
What
if we are being presented fake news?
What if people believe
the false information?
What if people believe the fall the the
fake news
and act accordingly?
So if we if, us, hopefully, but if
someone
were to perpetuate a lie
or perpetuate a half truth
and people acted accordingly,
what would happen as a result?
Now as believers,
we must be concerned
about
passing on information.
We must be concerned about the sharing of
news.
We are people
who should be concerned
when we are formulating an opinion,
right, which can
direct future actions.
And what should be our concern?
Our concern should be that am I receiving
information which is accurate?
Am I passing on information
which is true and accurate?
Haris ibn Abi Durar was the father of
Jawairia radiAllahu anha, the blessed wife of the
prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam.
He came to the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam,
and he accepted Islam
and he pledged to pay the zakat. Now
as we know, zakat is the obligatory pillars
of Islam of the 5 pillars and obligation
upon all those who have the minimum amount
of wealth
required. So he pledged to pay the zakat,
and he promised to go back to his
people, to the Ban al Mustaleq,
and call them towards Islam
and to collect the zakat from them as
well. And he requested from the prophet that
the collector be sent at a particular date
to collect the zakat from him. So the
idea was that he was gonna go back
to his people, invite them to Islam,
and they accepted Islam. He would one of
the things that he would do was that
he would collect the zakat from them and
a messenger,
would come a representative from the prophet sallallahu
alaihi wa sallam would come and would collect
the zakat from their people.
And the date was set, but when that
person
would arrive,
not gonna be able to stand there. There
was
it's not gonna work for me.
So
he requested a collector
to come
to, to collect the cat
from them. Now when the date came
when the date came, no one showed up.
No one showed up and
he became concerned. So Harith ibn Abi al
Haram became concerned that perhaps the prophet sallallahu
alaihi wasallam
is
displeased.
Perhaps the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam
is displeased
because it was highly unlikely that the prophet
sallallahu alaihi wa sallam will not keep his
promise because the date had been given or
a date had been selected that a collector
would come,
and then, you know, that didn't happen.
Now it turns out that the prophet
had actually sent
a companion by the name of Walid ibn
Khuba to collect the zakat from Baran Mustari.
Now on his way there, a thought came
to him.
Some of the commentary
of the Quran say it was was from
Shaytan. It was an evil inclination, evil thought
from Shaytan
that
these are people, the Banu Musaleb, are people
who are old enemies. So there was enmity
between Walid ibn Uqba and the Banu Mustaleb
in the past
before their acceptance of Islam.
So this thought came to him that perhaps
they might kill me. I am actually going
to these people with whom I had enmity
before,
so it is possible
that they might
kill me. Now according to one narration, he
returned to Medina, to the prophet
saying that the that,
hadith ibn Abi al Durar and the had
refused to pay the zakat and that they
wanted to kill him.
He came back according to one narration, and
he said that they had refused to pay
the zakat and that they wanted to kill
him. And in other versions, it is said
that he did go to the tribe, and
they were expecting the envoy of the prophet
sallallahu alaihi wa sallam to come. Right? Because
it was the determined date for the collection
of zakat.
So they came out
to welcome
the envoy
who was, in this case, Walid ibn Uqba,
and to show respect.
But when he when Walid ibn Uqba saw
that, he suspected that they may have come
out to kill
him on account of old hostilities.
So they had these he had these preconceived
notions. He had these fears, possibly. That's what
we understand a lot of best.
That they were going to harm him on
account of these old hostilities, this old enmity
that they had.
So he returned instantly, went to the prophet
and told him that his,
suspicion was that they're not willing to pay
the zakat and that they wanted to kill
him. So you see in this case, that's
not actually what happened, but that was his
fear or that was what he was, you
know, his mind was going towards. And he
accepted that as
or at least he presented that as facts
to the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam.
Now, of course, this was very concerning to
the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam. Some narrations we
find perhaps that he was very angry that,
you know, how could this happen that there
was this accept this, agreement
that, you know, Hadith ibn Abi himself had
accepted Islam, had promised to collect this attack
and to send it.
So, you know, how is it possible?
So the prophet
sent Khaled Nwaleed,
be allah, in a group with him to
confront the Muslim and to find out what's
going on and to take care of them.
Right? If they're refusing to pay the zakat,
alhamist,
alright, or as the agreement had been made
and, they they are not doing so,
then there has to be some action taken
against them.
So the prophet
and a group with him to take care
of this matter.
Now on the other hand, how does Ibn
Abi and his group have left to visit
the prophet
to find out why no one had come?
Because on the one hand, you see this
misunderstanding is is is coming into is is,
you know, manifesting itself. That Harish ibn Abid
Al Arab and some of his people coming
to meet the prophet
to inquire about why no one has come
to collect the zakat. And on the other
hand, Farid Abu Nawawi being sent by the
prophet
to, take care of Harit ibn Abid Duraar
and the Burial Musa to find out what
had happened,
and to, take care of the matter.
So either they met one another on the
way
and they found out the hadith had been
sent for them.
And,
they said that Walid had not come,
or perhaps they camped outside the area. I
mean, Al Khazim and Waleed camped outside the
area
and sent some informants
to find out their condition, you know, are
they still practicing Islam or what is the
situation?
And they found that they were regular in
their prayers, and there was nothing contrary to
indicate that they had rebelled or nothing to
indicate that they had left Islam.
So there was this, the the the, you
know, this communication or there was there there
was, this, investigation
which revealed
that what had been told to the prophet
was not actually the case. And the commentators
of the Quran
say that this is when
Allah
revealed this verse in Surat al Fajarat.
That all you will believe.
If a sinful person brings you a
if a sinful person brings you a report,
verify its correctness.
Verify its correctness,
lest you should harm a people out of
ignorance
and then become remorseful
on what you did. Right? So
verify.
Right? This is the key term here, verify
its correctness. When news comes to you, when
you come to learn of a piece of
information,
then verify its correctness,
lest you should you end up harming a
people out of ignorance. So if you believe
fake news
and you act according to this fake news,
you may end up harming others.
And then when you find out, you may
become remorseful on what you did.
Right? Afterwards, when you realize, oh, this was
fake news. Oh, this was false information.
Oh, this was half truth.
This was not fully correct information, and I
acted upon it. Then you will feel remorseful
about it, perhaps.
So Allah
is warning us, be careful
about the news that you accept and especially
the news that you act upon and you
pass on.
And particularly when it has
the potential to harm others. Right? If it
just harms yourself, if it's something which is,
you know, not of great consequence,
okay, then perhaps it's not, you know, as,
as serious.
But when especially you're taking action that impacts
others,
when you are taking action that impacts others,
then you have to be especially especially careful.
Now the Sahabi,
here was referred to Wadi w Ubuduqwa was
referred to as
a,
was referred to as a,
sinful person. How was he referred to? He
was referred to as a sinful person
because that particular action was incorrect and sinful.
Now the sahaba, the companions of the prophet
were not perfect. They were human beings. They
made mistakes.
But when they did so, they repented to
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. And Allah tells us
in the Quran that he is pleased with
them. Allah
is pleased
with all of them.
So that's the case for a Sahabi.
So what about the news that we find
today that we get from people today, especially
when they are, you know, openly sinful,
and they are not believing in Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala. You know, what type of, what
level of care,
what level of concern should go towards
such news
when it comes to I mean, this was
revealed and Allah said,
in referring to this incident that actually involve
the companions of the prophet,
who were the best of the people of
our generation.
Of course, after the prophet, alayhi, was prophet
the companions who are around him are the
best of the people of this.
And this is what the prophet
or rather this is what Allah is telling
us
with regards to what happened, this mistake that
was made by this particular Sahabi in this
particular incident. So you can imagine what level
of care or what level of,
warning would be given with regards to news
that's received from people who are definitely not
at that level.
Right? Who
are
are, you know, openly disobedient to Allah or
openly sinful or who openly do not believe
in Allah
The prophet
said,
the prophet
said that it is enough lying for a
man, for a person
to speak of everything that he hears. In
another narration,
That it is enough sin for a man,
a person to speak of everything that he
hears. So the prophet
is telling us that to just relay what
we are hearing or what we are coming
across,
right,
is actually
a sinful act or can very well be
a sinful act and could lead to a
person to become a liar. And Imam Anawi,
he
says that usually a person hears
truth and lies.
What happens?
Usually, a person hears
truths
and lies. There's no person in the world.
Right? Highly, highly unlikely that a person will
only hear truth.
That a person will not hear any lies.
Because your ears, what you're hearing,
your eyes with which which you're reading,
right,
they're getting all types of unfiltered messages. Right?
You're getting all types of information.
Right? You're hearing all types of
speech.
Right? All different types of news coming from
different sources.
So he says that usually a person hears
truths and lies. So if he speaks of
everything that he hears,
if a person speaks of everything that he
hears, he is lying by telling of things
that did not happen,
and lying up by speaking of something other
than the way it happened,
and he does not have to do that
deliberately
in order to be regarded as telling lies.
So a person doesn't have to have intent.
What do we learn from this? That the
intent
to lie or to spread falsehood
does not have to be there for a
person to be considered a liar.
That is a very important point. Right? Now
that doesn't mean we go and we pinpoint
people and say you're a liar. You're a
liar. You're a liar because you do this.
But this is for ourselves to be careful
that a person doesn't have to have evil
intentions
in order to be regarded a liar. A
person could be simply narrating what they hear,
simply forwarding what they receive in terms of
messages,
simply retweeting,
reposting
without verifying,
without any evil intent, and still be considered
a liar.
Islamically,
it'll still be considered a liar simply due
to their lack of diligence
and verifying and filtering the news that is
coming to them. Right?
Simply by repeating
whatever is coming to them, simply by sharing
what is coming to them to them, a
person could be considered
a
liar. Umar ibn Khattab, radiAllahu anhu, said that
beware of fitna. Beware of temptation fitna trials
for a word at the time of fitna
could be as devastating as the sword.
Be aware
beware of temp of fitna,
of trials, temptations,
for a word at the time of
for a word at the time of a
trial, a widespread trial,
could be as devastating as the sort. Meaning,
a person could relay information which is false,
could relay information which is not fully correct,
Right? Information which is a lie, and that
could lead to devastating impacts which could be
as devastating,
as harmful as
death, as injury that is caused by a
sword or a, you know, a a weapon.
So when the stakes are high, one misunderstanding,
one incorrect word could prove to be
devastating.
And Hassan al Basri
he said that the believer reserves judgment until
the matter is proven.
What is the trait of a believer?
That the believer reserve judgment
until the matter is proven.
And until the matter is not proven, a
believer does not jump to conclusions. This is
from the characteristics of the believer. This is
from the qualities of the believer, until Hassan
Abbasid,
that a believer should reserve judgment,
should not make the judgment until
a matter is proven. So my brothers and
sisters, the reality today is that we see,
we hear
many things,
right,
when it comes to our news feed.
When it comes to
our feed on whichever, you know, social media
platform that you're using, when it comes to
articles and videos and pictures that are being
forwarded.
You look at WhatsApp. What is your WhatsApp
filled with?
Forwarded message. Forwarded message. Forwarded message.
For the sake of all of my brothers
and sisters, when you get a message, don't
just select forward. Select every single on your
personal list on your list, every single group
on your list, and you send send.
Boom. You'll unleash.
You unleash a message. You unleash the video
to hundreds of unsuspecting people.
More than half of them are probably getting
annoyed.
We are forwarding these messages. Forwarded message. Forwarded
message. Forwarded message. Please keep the messages to
yourself. And before you forward,
make sure that what am I forwarding? What
am I posting? Is that actually true or
not? What if it is not true?
What if it is not true?
Then what?
According to the hadith of the prophet
right, could be simple.
And according to what we heard right here
from
right, you find out that it could be
considered liar. Right? And even according to what
the prophet
said. Right? By posting news, sharing news, and
clips, and videos, and articles,
which are not verified.
Right? So
there are many things that we're gonna come
across in today's time. Right? Because we live
in the age of information,
but we also live in the age of
misinformation and deception as well. Just as information
has become more accessible,
misinformation has become easier
to proper to propagate,
and deception has become easier to do as
well. Right? When it comes to video editing,
when it comes to video editing, when it
comes to the doctrine of images, It's very
easy. Right? Even a kid today can doctor
an image,
to make a picture look like something that
that it actually isn't.
Videos can be changed very easily. Right? People
can be made to say things which they
have not actually said.
Right? It's extremely,
extremely easy today. Right? We see it all
the time when it comes to production. Right?
Movies and videos and all types of things.
Okay? So it's extremely easy today. So be
extremely, extremely careful.
Right? So you're gonna come across news. You're
gonna come across theories.
You're coming across opinions about various matters. Right?
No matter what event happens in the world,
there will always be some
news that you're gonna find about it. Some
opinion that's gonna be shared. Opinions that are
gonna be shared as facts.
Right? Falses which are going to be presented
as facts. Half truths which are gonna be
presented as facts. Right? Headlines which will misrepresent
what the actual act article actually says. Headlines
that will be clickbait.
Right, to get you to click on videos,
and then the video actually won't be seeing
what the are the headline or the the
title was saying. And all of the stuff
is happening. Right? What happens today?
Read the headline and we share. We don't
read the article. Right? We say that somebody
has said something based on an interpretation that
is offered in the article. You actually see
what the person said. It's actually not what
they said. By the way, this is not
a new phenomenon.
This is not a new phenomenon. Okay? You
know, many people are engaged in plummets
and debates and discussions in various matters, including
in religion.
And they take at face value what a
person has said about their opponent.
But if you actually read what the opponent
said in their books, if you actually read
the context in which they had said something,
you may realize that actually they were seeing
something really different, or that was probably not
what they intended intended.
But because it was to the advantage of
their opponent
to take that out of context or to
present it in a different way, that's what
they did. Right? Unfortunately, this happens and this
happens a lot in the past, and it
continues to happen today, but it just had
a greater scale today because of the ease
of access
for information and or misinformation.
So you're gonna come across theories, opinions about
various matters, right, about every matter.
Even if it's something as terrible as this
explosion in Beirut, in Lebanon,
you're gonna find theories.
Right? You're gonna find different theories. You're gonna
find different opinions, even videos
that will claim to show something. Right?
Not saying that it's necessarily
false,
but what I'm saying is how do you
know that it's true?
What has happened is definitely true because we
see it. There's multiple people reporting it. There
are people on the ground who have seen
it has happened. It's completely verified. There's no
doubt about that. But the reasons.
Right? Who did it? Why was it stored
in that way? Who was behind it? What
may have caused it? Right? Those things,
right, whether it's the explosion in in Beirut,
whether it's the coronavirus pandemic,
any incident you take. And sometimes I'm amazed.
School shootings. Any incident you take, there's always
gonna be people who are gonna come up
with some theory.
There's always gonna be people who are gonna
come up with some theory. In some cases,
they may be true. I'm not saying that
it may not be true. But the point
is
that how do you verify that it is
actually true? You base it on opinions. You
base it on video, on pictures.
What if the pictures are false? What if
the videos are doctored?
What if the statements that our people are
making are not true?
Right? Know that there are many people with
different agendas.
There are many people with different agendas. It
has always been. But sometimes,
matters may appear to be clear. Other times,
they may appear to be confusing.
So be vigilant
and be cautious
because those with no morals, and there's many
people out there, especially on the Internet,
who have no morals,
They don't think twice
before posting and spreading lies.
It doesn't matter to them. It's fair game.
They have no morals. As a believer,
even people of other faiths who are practicing,
who have morals and ethics, they will think
twice. They'll say, okay. You know, maybe I
shouldn't post this. Maybe it's, you know, it's
not true. I should be careful. You know,
I may be taken to account.
You know, I may have some a face
have to face some consequences.
You know? So people of faith, especially believers,
you know, will be careful about things. But
there's many people, unfortunately, without any morals, and
they're not gonna think twice
before posting and spreading lies.
And sometimes they may even justify it because
for them, the the the ends justify the
means.
As believers, the ends do not justify the
means. K. You may be working towards a
very noble goal, but you can't lie your
way, commit your haram
commit haram along the way so that you
get to your justified goal. As believers, that's
not that doesn't work for us. But there
are people for whom that works.
They think that my objective is very noble.
I'm trying to achieve something which I believe
is very noble, something very good. And therefore,
I'm it's okay if I lie, if I
cheat, if I do whatever I need to
do to get to my objective. So there's
many, many people like that. And they don't
think twice about sharing lies, about posting rumors,
about spreading falsehoods.
And then there are many people who will
believe anything that they see, anything that they
hear. So brothers and sisters, if you're unsure,
take time
to figure out before you spread any information
or news.
Talk to trustworthy persons, experts.
Don't just rely on clips and videos and
he said and she said. K. Because this
creates
confusion and potentially is spreading lies.
And don't also rush to form an opinion
and share.
Rather be the person who spots fake or
doubtful news in its tracks.
Don't be a repeater or broadcaster of anything
that comes to you. Stop it in its
tracks. No one's putting a gun to your
head and seeing you have to forward your
message to all your friends.
Who's forcing you?
Is anybody forcing you to forward all the
messages to your friends? Maybe it's a chain
letter. All of a sudden, said person saw
a dream and mentioned in that way, and
they said if you don't forward it to
a 10 letter or 10 people, then this
is what's gonna happen, that's gonna happen. Yeah.
Brothers and sisters, it's all fake.
Don't be so gullible about what what what
is sent to you and just believe everything
that is sent to you.
Think. Talk to people.
Ask. And if nothing, then don't don't don't
rush into it. Nothing's gonna happen, insha'Allah.
Prophet
reported to have said that
Patient deliberation is from Allah and haste is
from shaitan.
So don't,
allow yourselves to fall into shaitan's trap, you
know, rushing into judgment,
passing information
that is unfair unverified,
you know, without verifying it with someone who
is trustworthy,
or or truthful. And thus running, falsehoods, be
very careful about this. And it's also note
realize that it's not necessary
to formulate an opinion on every matter.
It's not necessary to formulate an opinion on
every matter.
Right? If you have doubts, it's possible. Sometimes
we do have doubts. You hear a story,
say, yeah. I'm not sure. I'm not too
sure about this. K. But maybe you don't
have any proof or you have very little
proof or the proof that you have is
not, you know, is very flimsy. It's not
it's not real proof. Then keep it to
yourself.
You can have doubts. You keep it to
yourself. You don't have to broadcast it. You
don't have to share it to others. The
prophet said
famously,
What should he do?
That whoever believes in Allah in the last
day, let him speak goodness or remain silent.
Speak good or remain silent. You don't have
to say everything. You don't have to share
everything. Right? You can keep it to yourself.
Stay quiet. If you're not sure, if you
have nothing good to say, keep it to
yourself. Stay quiet. May Allah
protect us from falsehood and its evil effects.
Allah
save us from being used to perpetuate falsehood
and lies.
Allah enable us to be fair and to
correct our judgments. Ameen.