Speak Good or Keep Silent

Now that Ramadan is in full swing,

all of us have experienced something of the hardship of fasting.

For those of us who have decided to quit caffeine, you've gone through the headaches. You've gotten used to the hunger, you've gotten used to the thirst.

You've gotten used to having your sleep schedule, completely up ended. So now you're taking naps at strange times and doing what you can to tuck it in here and there throughout the day.

Every single one of us sacrifices in Ramadan.

That's what the season is about. It's about sacrifice.

Now, wouldn't it be a shame

if all this sacrifice and all this hard work that each and every one of us is doing? Wouldn't it be a shame if it all went to nothing? And if it was all wasted,

is it possible?

Can it happen?

Yes, it can happen. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said Malema the other owners off while MLB Felisa de la he had a tone B and the other Atlanta overshot.

Whoever doesn't stop false speech and false actions. Allah subhanho wa Taala does not need him to stop eating and drinking.

What is false speech?

In explaining this hadith, the URL among the scholars they mentioned several things lie,

conjecture. I took my suspicion.

Whoever doesn't avoid saying with things with their tongues, saying these things are acting according to them then Allah subhanaw taala does not need you to fast.

Allah does not need you to stop eating.

He doesn't need you to stop drinking, You're tiring yourself for no reason.

And what that means is clarified in another version of the same Hadith or Robert saw MLA Salah who means so yeah, I mean, he ill jour.

Perhaps a fasting person will not benefit anything from their fast except hunger.

So if you're fasting, but if you're still involved in lying, if you're still involved in conjecture and suspicion, et cetera, it may well be

that the only thing that you're getting out of this Ramadan is hunger.

That's because the purpose of fasting is to increase Taqwa as Allah subhana wa Tada said in Surah tillbaka Yeah, yo holla Dena Amma no katiba Alec Matsuyama Kamakoti ballerina mean, publikum la la comunidad tekun. O you who have believed decreed upon you is fasting, just as it was decreed upon those before you why, so that you could obtain tequila, so that you could obtain righteousness so that you could become righteous. The purpose of fasting is that we become righteous hunger and thirst. They're meant to make us look inward. They're meant to make us think about our lives and our actions and our statements and what we're doing and take account of ourselves. It's not meant to

turn your attention to your neighbor. It's not meant to turn your attention to other people and see what they're doing wrong. You should not have energy left over for that. We have a saying in English. Idle hands make for the devil's work. That means if you're not getting busy with what's good, you're gonna get busy with something that's bad. In Ramadan, we shouldn't be too busy. With ourselves, we should be too busy trying to secure our spot in Jannah to fall into these types of false speech, that take away the value from our fast

this Ramadan. Some of us are not eating food, but we're eating something far worse. We're eating the flesh of our brothers and our sisters and Aslan.

Yes, backbiting, talking about someone behind their back. This is equivalent to eating the flesh of your brother or sister and faith. One time the Prophet alayhi salaatu surah he was traveling with Abu Bakar and Rama

and the culture at that time, if you were traveling to the desert, there would be better winds and you could stop wherever you had to stop for the night and they would put you up. They would give you a room in their tent. They will give you a meal. This is what was understood as the minimum hospitality everybody did it. So this happened they were staying with

The Bedouin in the desert. And they woke up the next morning.

And Abu Bakr and Ahmad, they saw that their host was still asleep.

He hadn't made any food. He hadn't prepared a breakfast for them.

And so I will work remarks. He says, This guy sleeping, just like he's at home. Basically, he's blaming him for sleeping too much. And so Abu Bakr and Omar will come up, and they said, go to the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, and see what you can prepare for us to eat. So he did, he went to the Prophet alayhi salatu salam, and he gave to them, and he told them what Abu Bakr and Omar said, and the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said back to that man, the Bedouin, he said, Go back and tell Abu Bakr and Omar they've already eaten.

Tell them they've already eaten.

And so he goes back, the Bedouin goes back to Abu Bakr and Omar and tells them this, and he's confused. He doesn't know what's going on. He tells them I said Saddam to the Prophet. I asked him about what I should make. He said, you've already eaten.

And I will Abu Bakr and Omar became very afraid.

So they ran to the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam

they knew this wasn't good. They knew they had made a mistake.

And when they got to the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam they asked him, there are so Allah, what did we eat?

You said that we ate what did we eat?

Call us on Allahu alayhi wa sallam, they left me a key corner. While in fcbd in Nila are left now who Boehner and B coma. He said you've eaten the flesh of your brother.

I swear by Allah, I can see his flesh stuck in between your teeth.

The analogy of eating someone else's flesh is a very powerful analogy. It's very powerful because it's very disgusting. We have a natural aversion to this thing. It's horrible even to think about. And that's how Allah subhanaw taala wants us to feel. He that's how he wants us to feel when we even consider talking about someone else behind their back.

And the second reason that it's powerful to describe it as eating someone else's flesh, is that it communicates an aspect of what's really going on. When we talk about other people behind their back. We're eating away at their honor.

We're eating away at their reputation.

We're eating away at their dignity.

And the honor and the reputation of our brothers and sisters is one of the most sacred things on Earth. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said letter has to do what Taneja Chu what?

Walter Debreu Wallah Bow Bow Comala ba ba that work corn or whatever Allah He Atlanta Do not be jealous of one another. Do not out bid one another. Do not harbor hatred against one another, do not bear enmity towards one another. Do not enter into a business deal when someone else has already entered into it. And B fellow brothers and slaves of Allah. Then he said sal Allahu alayhi wa salam, Al Muslim or full Muslim a lie of limo Walla Walla caribou, at Taqwa Hoonah while you share with us Ultraheat salata Murat the has been really in the has been really in Mina Shari and yeah, Tara fo holy Muslim. He said Allah He salatu salam, a Muslim is a Muslims brother. He does not wrong him. He

does not abandon him. He does not despise him. Piety. Taqwa is here and he pointed to his chest three times on it. He said that to a sudden

the spies in your Muslim brother is enough evil for any single man to do.

And then he finished the Hadith and he said it he said that was Sudan. Call loosely, me al mainstreaming haram demo. One man who were arable who everything about a Muslim is sacred to another Muslim, his blood, his wealth and his honor,

meaning that it is haram for another Muslim to violate them. And during the last pilgrimage, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, he addressed the masses. Some say it was 100,000 believers 100,000 believers on a day read and Rasool Allah He sallallahu alayhi wa sallam caught up on NASA and NASA for Kalia.

Yohannes a yo yo man had audio yo mon haram. Cada au Bella didn't have other audio better don't haram pada au shahada Palu Schaffung haram. He said Alayhi Salatu Salam o people, which day is this? They said it's a sacred day.

He said, What land is this? They said it's a sacred land. He said What month is this? They said it's a sacred month. So he said on a he said out to a salaam pada in DMS calm What am word are calm. We're out on duck O'Malley comm haram and her whole drama to me calm had feed Bella decom had a fishery come harder than certainly your blood and your wealth. And your honor, our sacred just as this Day of yours is sacred. In this sacred land of yours, in this sacred month of yours,

Allah subhanaw taala also refers to talking about other people behind their backs. He also describes it as eating their flesh. And so loads of Herat, Allah subhanaw taala says yeah, yeah, hallelujah. I'm an OG attainable because Iran may not have been in Nevada Vani ism. Oh, you who have believed avoid much assumption. Indeed. Some assumption is sinful Walter justice who was a young tobacco combat other you able to Camilla Paula, like Murphy, he made Sanford Zachary tomo and don't spy on one another and don't talk about each other behind each other's backs. Would you like to eat the flesh of your dead brother?

You would hate it. What taco Allah in Allah had to WEBO Rahim And fear Allah. Indeed, certainly Allah is Accepting of repentance and he is merciful. This verse is incredible. It's amazing because Allah subhanaw taala takes us on the steps that we usually go to or go through before we talk about someone behind their back. The first step he says, Yeah, you want to live in a tiny Polka theatre, the middle one. The first step is assuming the worst. It's suspicion. Suspicion often involves attributing motives to somebody else. Did you see what he did? Oh, look, he's trying to do that. Oh, look, he's really trying to do this. This is the behavior of Iran. Allah subhanaw taala tells us in

solos a shout out when Musa Alehissalaam came to him and brought him the message. What was ferons response? He immediately tried to attribute motives to Musa he said on a little melody holder in the Hala sir Hayden Allium, you're either a your creature coming out of the Combi serie some other type moron. He said to his henchmen or his his posse around him. Certainly this guy, he's a big magician. All he wants us to take you away from your land, and to kick you out from your land by his magic. So what do you think that we should do? This is the same type of behavior that the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wasallam. Corrected Osama in zayde for the famous story, Osama bin Zayed he's in the heat of

battle. He's chasing somebody down. He's about to lay down the sword on his neck. And then the person says a shadow Allah Allah, Allah shadow Allah, Muhammad Rasul Allah.

And who Salah kills me swings with a sword, and he kills him.

And he comes back to the Prophet Allah, He said to Sudan, and he tells him what happened. And the problem is all of a sudden he tells him, he says, Why did you kill him when he said the Shahada?

And Osama probably Allahu Anhu. He said, I thought he was just saying it to get out of being punished or to escape my sword.

And the Prophet alayhi salatu salam said, Did you open up his chest?

Did you open up his chest to see what was inside?

And He repeated it so much, that Osama says Wallahi I wish that I had not entered into Islam before that day.

Meaning that he wished that he could enter into Islam again so it could wipe out everything that he hadn't done before.

You can justify it however you want. The shaytaan loves to justify things for us. You can call it concern. You can call it nusseibeh. But you are kidding yourself. You are deluding yourself. If it was not see how you would say it to their face.

You would have told that person to their face instead of going behind their back.

The first step is assumption and suspicion. The second step in the I want to just assume

and don't spy on one another

don't investigate, don't look for evidence to confirm your suspicion, or to confirm your assumption. Well, I've never seen him doing this. Well, I noticed that he doesn't do this or that he does this. Yeah. Hey, are you Hola?

Are you a Samir? We'll see you.

Are you at our Olivia Ella Lehman severe?

Do you follow him around 24 hours a day?

Are you one of the angels on his shoulders?

This is the opposite of what the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam told us to do what not to love no baton fish out his sahih al Bukhari, under the man who called her Allah He said,

to have the vehicle en su either channel firewall, even alley. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa salam forbade investigating and spying on one another in order to affirm a negative assumption that you hold about them if the majority of what you see from that person is good.

The third step in the area while I have talked about the combat

is brings us to the actual action of talking behind somebody else's back this is haram. There's no other way to put it. It's haram. This is eating the dead flesh of your brother or sister in Islam. Now somebody could say, well, what if it's true?

Even if it's true, it's haram. We have a straight from the mouth of the best of creation, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, he said to the Rona Mel Aviva Do you all know what Reba is? All new? Allahu wa rasuluh Adam They said that Allah and His Messenger know best

then he said all or a salad slam Vic Roca Hawk Beam A Accra. He said mentioning your brother with something that he doesn't like.

He'll fri and Kathy asked him at all. Someone said what if what we said about them is true. For call Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi salam in canopy he meant a kudu for Cardiff tempter. Well, elimina comfy, the audit per hectare. He said, If what you said was true, then that is a lever that is talking behind someone else's back. And if what you said about them wasn't true, then it's even worse than that it's slander.

To talk about someone behind their back, it demonstrates one of two things First of all, cowardice. We said before he say it to their face. If you have the courage, if you think you see something, say it to their face. And the second thing it demonstrates is a lack of sincerity or heat cream, if you really wanted the benefit for your brother, if you really wanted them to fix themselves when you talk and say it to somebody else. Or would you go up to that person and explain to him and seek clarification. Let's not kid ourselves, let's not fool ourselves, which is why at the end of the Hadith, the Hadith that we talked about with Abu Bakr and Omar, when they're traveling, listen to

how it ends. They asked the Prophet alayhi salatu salam forgive.

They asked the prophets forgiveness, and he refuses

he wants to

call that festival fildena

Odd who have sadly established like OMA

instead the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam told them you go back to him and ask for forgiveness Akoto we had our stock rally where the company's happens in in Cali them the stock flow in the whole the whole Rahim.

Alhamdulillah Sani was shook Allahu Allah to 51 in annual Shawanda Allah wa to luxury can I tell the militia and he was said to be on our side and Mr. Hamlin up the Hora su a diary that we will do any sallallahu alayhi wa our early he was happy he was when he was suddenly motor Sleeman Kathira

hamdulillah Ramadan has a blessed month. And we experienced that blessing every single day at this machine. We have more and more people showing up people we haven't seen before and it's a blessing and we're happy and we hope that everybody feels welcome. But we need to step it up in one particular way. Something that I've become aware of that everybody needs to know is that there is a problem that some people in our community do not feel welcome here. It's a fact. Some people when they come to the Iftar is particularly they do not feel welcome here. Now I know the 99% of the people in this room.

We have nothing to worry about. But we need to change our attitude from, I'm not doing anything wrong to I'm going to make sure that nobody's doing anything wrong. If you see something, you have a duty to step up and stop it, or you have a duty to step up and fix it. We have some people that make that make mean comments to other people.

And if tars Yes, we do, we have some people who treat other people like their servants. Yes, we do. We have that. It happened. It happened last year. And it has happened this year. We have people that let other people sit off by themselves isolated and alone, when they come to the masjid and they don't happen to know anyone, or they don't have anyone from their ethnic group.

And we have people whose kids are doing these things, too. So all we're asking is a step up in our responsibility. If you see it happen, it's your responsibility to stop. If you see it happen, it's your responsibility to say something, don't let anybody come out of here. Leave these doors, thinking that that is an attitude that we condone. As a community. This community this messy does not belong to any one person to any one ethnic group, to anyone in group or clique. This is your committee. This message is for you to cut every skin color, no matter where you're from, no matter what language you speak. This is your method, and I don't care how much money you give.

I don't care how much money you give.

And I don't care what your family is, or your profession or anything. This machine is a laws mess cheap. And if you think that the messy depends on you, then Allah azza wa jal I swear by Allah, He will replace you with somebody better. I swear by Allah, He will replace you with somebody better.

That is not acceptable in this message.

The message is for the believers, male, female, children, black, white, brown, yellow and everybody deserves to feel welcome in the message