Yaser Birjas – Pursue That Which Is Most Righteous
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AI: Transcript ©
Alhamdulillahi rabbil alameen, salallahu alayhi wa sallam, baraka
nabiyyina Muhammadin wa ala alihi, wa sahbihi wa
sallama tasliman kathira, thumma amma ba'da.
Mawminna wa rahimahu allahu ta'ala lazab fi
kitab al-taqwa, the book on Righteousness and
Piety from Riyadh al-Saliheen, mentioned Hadith 72,
an-Nabi Tarif al-Adi ibn Hatim al
-Atta'i radiallahu anhu qal, sami'atu rasulullahi
sallallahu alayhi wa sallam yaqul, man halafa ala
yameenin thumma ra'a atqal lillahi minha faliyati
al-taqwa, rawahu Muslim.
In this Hadith, Adi ibn Hatim al-Atta
'i mentions, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam
said, he who has taken an oath, meaning
to do something, but found something else better
than that, which brings him closer to Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala, then he should do
that which is better in piety and he
should expiate for the breaking of that oath,
rawahu Muslim.
So the last part actually, addition in the
translation.
Let me explain the Hadith for you.
First of all, the question we need to
ask ourselves, if you give an oath, do
you have the luxury of breaking it as
you wish?
Like I gave an oath, wallahi I'm not
coming into your house.
And then I start smelling mashallah the biryani
coming through the door.
And you enter the house.
What happens there?
Do you have the luxury of saying, I
swear I'm not going to go into the
house and you just go ahead and just
enter the house?
You don't have that luxury.
You have the luxury of what?
Not making an oath or giving an oath.
Because there is no obligation to give an
oath.
No obligation.
Even if someone says, swear by Allah, do
you have to?
Unless it's in the court of law, that's
different.
In front of the judge.
He says, you need to swear by Allah.
He goes, I don't want to.
No, the judge has the right to force
you to do that as part of the
process.
But outside of that, no obligation.
If you make an oath and you say,
I swear to God, I'm going to do
this.
Or I swear to God, I'm not going
to do this.
Now it becomes obligatory upon you to fulfill
that, unless it's haram.
Unless it's haram.
So in this case, you're not supposed to
fulfill that.
But what about something neutral or something that
was not the best?
Like, for example, you and your neighbor had
some issues and you said, you know what,
I swear to God, I'm not going to
come into your house.
I'm not going to come into your house.
And then after a few days, you thought
about it, astaghfirullah.
He's my neighbor.
So what do I do in this case?
I say, well, I give an oath.
I can't go into the house anymore.
Or should I break that oath and do
that which is best?
This hadith speaks about that.
So the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, says,
qal man halafa ala yameen.
If you give an oath for something, thumma
ra'a atqa minha minha, fal'atil taqwa.
And you see something that is more righteous,
I mean, it brings you closer to Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala, then you should do
that.
You should do it and break your oath.
Now, can you imagine the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi
wa sallam, is actually is recommending that you
break that oath.
Why is that?
Because what's the purpose of that oath?
Is to do something righteous or prevent you
from doing something that is wrong.
But now when you see something better than
that, than all of this, it's OK to
break that oath and come and do that
which is best.
So if your neighbor says, listen, man, I
know the other day we had some issues,
but I would like to invite you for
a cup of tea.
Should I say, well, I gave an oath,
I'm not going to your house.
I don't want to pay the expiation.
No, you need to break your oath, drink
that cup of tea in his house, and
then you do the expiation of the ameen,
the oath.
You do that.
Again, remember the subject of what is what
is more righteous.
You make an oath, for example, O Allah,
I am going to go for Umrah this
year or this month.
And then, subhanallah, there's an opportunity for you
to use that money for something more righteous
and better for you.
In this case, I break the oath and
put the money where it's supposed to be
for that which is which is better.
Again, all in regard to what brings you
closer to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
That's the main measurement for what is considered
taqwa over here.
So that tells us that taqwa has the
power to override an oath.
Your taqwa has the power to override that
oath because you made that oath with the
intention of bringing taqwa to you.
Like you want to come closer to Allah
by that oath.
There is something better than that will override
that oath that you just have pronounced.
Now, when you do that, you still need
to pay the expiation for the oath.
And what is that expiation for the oath
of jama'at?
What are they?
Do you know?
If someone expiates, if wants to expiate an
oath, if you break an oath, what is
the expiation for that?
Kafara tul-e-meen, huh?
Huh?
Three day fasting right away.
No, it's not.
It is not three day fasting.
That's a very common misconception.
There are two steps.
There are two steps.
Step one, step one is to feed 10
needy people or to buy them clothes or
to free a slave.
That's step one to choose one of these
three.
To choose one of these three.
If you couldn't, if you couldn't feed 10
needy people or buy them clothes or free
a slave, if you couldn't do either one
of these three, that's when you go to
three days fasting because I couldn't do that.
Many, many people these days, every time they
break an oath, I'll fast three days.
Masha'Allah, Masha'Allah.
What about all the needy that need your
generosity?
Of course.
So I'm always doing Monday and Thursday.
So bismillah, I'll count that as well too,
insha'Allah wa ta'ala.
No, you can't do that.
So the expiation of the oath, first of
all, you have to put the effort to
find 10 people to feed them or to
buy them clothes.
And if you cannot do it yourself, give
it to one of those organizations, a trustworthy
organization that can help you with that, insha
'Allah wa ta'ala.
And then if you couldn't do that, that's
when you go to the three days fasting,
insha'Allah wa ta'ala.
May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala make us
among those who always say that was taqwa,
ya rabbal alameen, wa allahu alam.
Any question, jama'at?
So the question is,
would that hadith open the door for people
to start making their own judgment on what
is considered more righteous?
The answer is no.
We said righteous in terms of what is
what we owe it to Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala.
If you're unable to know which one is
which based on the evidence from the Quran,
the Sunnah of the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa
sallam, then ask those who are learned or
more educated than you are.
So, for example, which one is more righteous,
a jama'at?
Let's say, let's say you swore by Allah
that I'm not going to enter your brother's
house, your own blood brother's house, OK?
And then your mom tells you, I want
you to come and take me to your
brother's house.
I want to come in with me to
your brother's house.
So what do you do in this case?
Which one is more righteous, a jama'at?
To keep your oath or obey your mom?
Obey your mom.
So in this case, it's OK to break
the oath.
So that's what's righteous.
Why is that?
Because we have this in the Quran, the
Sunnah of the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam.
So it's not a matter of personal taste.
It's a matter of proof and evidence, inshallah.
Of course, I mean, it's always better to
ask someone who's more learned than you are
so you can decide that for you.
Wallah ala.
Yes, I don't
understand which.
The 60 days kaffarah.
OK, I see what you're saying.
So if there's a kaffarah, someone needs to
expiate a sin of committing an offense that
requires 60 days fasting.
Those are needs to be back to back,
which means two months back to back.
But for these three days, you don't they
don't have to be back to back.
Now, wallah ala.
If someone makes an oath to do something
haram, like cutting ties with family, with mom
and dad and so on, do they need
to make a make a kaffarah for this
for this oath?
Now, some of the ulema, as a matter
of fact, the ulema, they say that, I
mean, is not even valid to begin with.
It's not valid.
So therefore, it doesn't require kaffarah.
It requires serious and sincere tawbah.
Some ulema as well say they still need
kaffarah because regardless you made an oath by
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala for something haram
like this, you still need to pay the
penalty.
But it's greater than any penalty.
It's sinful, you mean, to begin with.
So therefore, they say kaffarah.
It's if you do something that can be,
I mean, fixed, this one cannot be fixed
at all.
The oath itself is haram to begin with.
So it requires a sincere tawbah, wallah ala.
So how does Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
hold you accountable for unintentional oaths?
That's what you're referring to is called yameen
al laghu.
Yameen al laghu is when you don't really
mean to bear an oath as much as
a moral, like a part of the language,
like what?
Someone take you from the masjid to go
to their house, to go come on in
for a cup of tea, I don't have
time, I have to go.
Wallahi, you're going to come in.
Wallahi, I'm not coming in.
Wallahi, you're going to come in.
Wallahi, I'm not coming in.
Right.
That's called yameen laghu, it doesn't count.
And people should not be even doing that,
but it's called laghu.
But yameen al muaqqada here, yameen al muaqquda,
which means the one that you really, really
by heart and mind, you make it, you
pronounce it.
That's what it means, wallah ala.
Yes.
So it's like, you know, like
if someone, if I tell you to come
to my house, you say, OK, wallahi, I'll
be there by 10 o'clock.
Right.
And then something came up, I couldn't come.
So in this case, what do I do?
Yeah, not faster, faster.
So I have the 10 people still.
Right.
So if you if you didn't, if you
don't do it, in this case, you still
are liable for that yameen.
And you just something happened like an accident
on the way there.
That's different.
Now you're going to bring me a different
scenario.
Now, what if I die?
What if this, what if that?
If there were some excruciating circumstance, that's different.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala ghafoor.
But if you didn't go because, you know
what, I'm too tired.
I don't have time for this right now.
Then you owe you owe that kuffar over
here.
Now, Ibn Abbas, Ibn Abbas has an interesting
principle.
I am worrying.
I always worry about bringing it to the
people because people, they're going to take this
over.
Oh, wow.
I will take this opinion inshallah ta'ala.
His opinion is that you are allowed to
make istithna fil yameen li sana, like you
can always always put a clause on your
oath up to one year.
What does that mean?
If you say today, I swear to God,
I'm not going to enter this person's house.
All right.
And then six months later, he invites you
over.
You remember you made that oath six months
ago, according to Ibn Abbas, if you say
inshallah, which means if Allah wills.
Now that invalidates that yameen, the binding status
of that yameen, according to Ibn Abbas.
So therefore, if you say inshallah, you're good.
The majority of the ulema, or actually all
the ulema, besides Ibn Abbas's opinion, they say
no, al istithna, that exception or that kind
of that clause should be at the time
of the pronouncement of the yameen.
What does that mean?
Look, wallahi, I'll come to your house at
10 o'clock, inshallah.
If you said at the time when you
pronounce the yameen, then it's valid.
So if you couldn't come, there's no kaffarah.
But if you say wallahi, I'm coming, halas,
wallahi, I will come, I'll be there at
10.
And then you don't show up.
You can't come next day, inshallah.
Only Ibn Abbas allows you to do that.
But don't tell me Ibn Abbas's opinion is
valid on this one.
Wallah.
Avoid the yameen as much as possible.
Last question, inshallah.
If somebody makes an oath for something that's
very impractical, like, for example, wallahi, I will
fast every Monday and Thursday in my life.
That is wrong.
You should still be do kaffarah for this
yameen and you can break Mondays and Thursdays
as you wish.
Wallah.