Yasir Qadhi – Wisdoms of the Quran #16 You Sure Youre Pious
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The importance of not assuming someone is a pious or a sheikh figure and links their information to their partner is emphasized. Personal information should not be praised or categorically stated, and it is crucial to not share it with others. The importance of forgiveness is emphasized, and pray for forgiveness is emphasized. It is also important to not give up on one's hopes and hopes for p obtaining.
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Today's Quranic wisdom, Surat Najm verse 32. It's
a very profound ayah that has so many
meanings to it.
Do not ascribe
piety to yourselves.
Only Allah knows who truly has piety and
taqwa.
Of course, the concept of dazkiyah,
it is why Allah revealed the books and
sent the prophets. Qadaaflahamanzaqaha,
The one who purifies his soul has been
successful.
The one who has sent the prophets,
He sends the prophets to purify.
So the goal of Islam,
the goal of the prophet shalallahu alaihi wa
sallam, the goal of the Quran is tazkiyah.
Yes, it is a goal, but let nobody
assume
that another person has arrived at the goal.
It is a goal that you aspire for,
but you do not claim for yourself or
for other people.
Tuzakku
anfusakum.
So, again, time is limited. Let's derive multiple
benefits. 1st and foremost,
at at the lowest level, we are told
in our religion
to be careful
about praising people too much to their face.
Our prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam warned against this.
He saw a man excessively praising taref, excessively
praising somebody.
And he said, Are you breaking the back
of your brother? This is an Arabic expression.
Are you trying to destroy him? And he
said in another hadith,
If you see somebody
excessively flattering another person,
throw dust on him. Again, this is an
Arabic expression, show displeasure.
Don't be happy at this. So at one
level we are told, be careful in your
adjectives, in your praising of somebody to his
face. Why? Because you are playing with his
sincerity,
because you're inflating his ego. If you must
praise, praise behind his back. Or if you
must praise to his face, make du'a rather
than say about him. Say, may Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala bless you even more. May Allah
Azawajal guide you this and that. Make du'a
rather than praise him because this is all
from Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. So at one
level, be careful in excessive praising. Another meaning,
Falatuzakku
alfusakum.
Be careful
that you do not assume
another person is actually muttaqih,
and then you link your iman to that
person. And this is a very slippery slope,
and this is a very, very dangerous chapter.
Do not link your
to somebody else. Whether it is a person
in your community whom you think is pious,
whether it is a sheikh figure, whether it
is a person of spiritual nature, be very
careful
because if you link your iman to another
human,
when that human slips, your iman might slip.
And that is your fault, not on that
person. You're the one who linked your iman
with another person. Ibn Mas'ud radiAllahu an, famously
remarked,
if you must take a role model, then
choose a role model that is already gone,
because the living, you can never be sure
about them. You can never be sure. And
how
often have we seen, brothers and sisters, that
people of weak iman, people who don't understand
this reality, they link their Islam with another
human being. Whether it is a sheikh, whether
it is a Sufi sheikh, or an alim,
or a murabbi, or a righteous person, it
doesn't matter. Do not link your iman with
the living person in front of you. Your
iman is based upon Allah, the Quran, the
sunnah, the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam. Salam, if
you link your iman to another person,
you have created a bigger image of that
person, and you have made this person bigger
than that person really is, then when you
find out the reality, oh, this person's a
human being. And he might do a regular
slip up, a regular messing, a regular sin
that everybody else does. But since you have
made him bigger and he falls in your
eyes, in reality, it's not just gonna be
his fault, it's gonna be your iman that
is tested. Imam al Shafi'i remarked, Imam al
Shafi'i remarked, never
have I raised somebody
above the level that he deserved, except that
when I found out more, I ended up
lowering him below the level he actually deserved.
In other words, it's human nature. You pump
somebody up, then he makes a small mistake,
you're gonna end up pumping him down. And
that's the problem on you. So be careful,
O brothers and sisters. Falatu zaku an fusakum
Only Allah knows who has taqwa. And if
you must say something about somebody, because sometimes
we do have to say things about other
people, somebody comes and says, Oh, I wanna
do business with this person. Oh, this person
has proposed to my daughter. What do you
know about him? So you must say, then
we learn from the sahaba and tabi'un.
We say,
this is what I know about this person,
and Allah knows
the truth. This is My judgment.
I have never seen him, you know, do
anything wrong. So you put it on yourself,
and you do not say, he is a
pious person, because you do not know. If
you must, and sometimes you must, there's nothing
wrong with that. Sometimes you have to praise
somebody for a reason. If you must, then
you praise in a manner that we learn
from the Quran and sunnah. I have never
seen anything except good from him, and Allah
knows the truth. That's how we praise in
the sharia.
A third level,
this ayah came down. Why? Allah says in
the Quran, surat an nisa alam tarahilal ladina
yuzakkuna and fusahum balillahhu yuzakkimanyasha.
Have you seen the people? They are constantly
praising tazkiyah of themselves.
The verse came down because the yahud and
nasara, and they still say this, they would
say, we are God's chosen.
We are God's children.
We are the elite.
And Allah says, haven't you seen these people
praising themselves in this manner? No. It is
Allah who chooses, not you. So understand,
you choosing somebody and praising somebody means nothing
in the eyes of Allah. So this is
another meaning of this aya, that no doubt
we find comfort when large groups of Muslims
praise other Muslims. This is a sign, but
it is not 100% certain.
Only Allah knows the truth. So this is
yet a third meaning. A 4th meaning, falatusakku
anfusakumhu
aalamuibana
taqah, is that even when a person dies,
be careful how you talk about this person.
Hadith is Sahih Bukhari, one of the greatest
sahaba Uthmani bin Madhoon. Uthmani bin Madhoon. The
first sahabi
who died in Madinah and was buried in
Baqir. And his legacy, another long lecture about
him. Everybody knows what how much he has
done. And he passed away in the 1st
years of the hijrah in Madinah. And he
was buried in Baqir, the 1st Sa'abi to
be buried in Baqir. And the Prophet SallAllahu
Alaihi Wasallam himself helped in the burial. And
he visited his wife, and the wife was
crying. And she said, Ushidullah.
I call Allah to witness
that Allah Azzawajal
aqramahullah,
that Allah has honored my husband.
And of course, she's emotional. She But the
way she phrased it, this is certainty.
Allah has honored my husband. And the prophet
salallahu alayhi wasalam had to gently correct her.
Wama yudriki,
and how do you know this for certain?
And she was shocked. She said, You Rasulullah,
my husband, everybody knows his legacy, everybody listen
to this all Muslims. That hadith is in
Bukhari. He said, wallahi wa ana rasulullah
ma adri mayuffaalobiwalabikum
He said, I swear and I am Rasulullah.
I do not know what Allah will do
with me or with you.
Of course, we know what Allah will do
with him. Of course, we know. He is
akramur, he is the khatabanabiawumursari.
But there's a way you phrase it, and
you do not categorically
state when somebody dies, we have to be
careful and say, oh, he has been forgiven.
No. We say, we hope insha Allah he
has been forgiven. We pray that And there
are signs, no doubt. Our prophet salallahu alaihi
wa sallam told us when the ummah comes
together praising somebody, this is a sign. When
the janazah illa is large, this is a
sign. So we take comfort in the signs,
but we do not make certainty
and say so and so, Allah has forgiven
him. No. Falatozakku
alfusakum huwa aalamoo bi manitaqah. And one other
point here.
Falatusakoo
alfusakum.
Don't think you yourself are pious.
Never let shaitan come and you start thinking,
Oh, I have achieved. I am praying
every day in the masjid, and I am
fasting every day, and I'm giving charity. Allah
is saying, be careful.
Be careful that you start having a huroor,
you start having your own sense of pride.
And if you want to know what happens
when you have huroor, look at Iblis.
Iblis, his legacy, his story, for millennia,
more than we can imagine,
he was actually worshiping in the ranks of
the angels, and he acted like an angel,
and he worshiped like an angel, and his
piety
outwardly was the piety of angels. And everybody
thought he is of the ranks of the
angels. Yet, when push came to shove and
the test came, what happened?
His huroor got the better of him. He
thought he was pious.
And when Allah chose Adam over him, that
belief made him so arrogant that it caused
his destruction.
So, O Muslim,
never ascribe piety to yourself.
Always hope for piety, aspire for piety,
pray that you are pious, and be confident
that if you try, Allah will make you,
but never be certain. There's a difference between
optimism, which is Islamic, we want to be
and we hope, versus
certainty, which is not Islamic. And the last
point, brothers and sisters, the context of this
verse is actually optimistic.
Surat Najm, this ayah. Allah says
that the the righteous are those who they
avoid doing the major sins, but sometimes they
may fall into minor sins.
Allah is vast in his forgiveness.
Allah mentions in this ayah, so do not
think you are pious. Allah knows who has
piety.
In the ayah
regarding major and minor sins,
Allah is saying, so don't think you're pious.
I know your sins and I am forgiving.
Meaning,
you can have some minor sins and still
be pious.
The context of the verse, optimism.
The context of the verse, you try but
don't certify yourself. You try and you strive,
and don't worry, illa lamam. Even if you
make mistakes, Allah is forgiving. You can still
achieve piety, but do not ascribe it to
yourself, merely hope for it. So brothers and
sisters, the Quranic wisdom is very simple. We
want to be pious. We make a dua
to Allah that we are from those who
have qataflhamanzakah,
but we never ascribe it to
and in that hope,
and in that aspiration
is, insha Allahu Ta'ala, the actual
getting of piety. And whoever certifies he's pious
has certified he is not pious, if you
get my point. We ask Allah
for ikhlas and tazkiyah, and insha'Allah will continue
tomorrow.