"The Muslim is the mirror of his brother" Explanation of the hadith of Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him)
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The Shaykh : And the chapter we are about to discuss is: "The Muslim is the mirror of his brother" This is a chapter of which we Muslims, men and women, are in the greatest need today. And the truth, and I say the truth, is that the Muslims' turning away from this single hadith is what entangles them in many moral problems. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) says in the second hadith of this chapter, because the hadith before it contains obscurity; in the second hadith he says:
From the narration of Abu Hurayrah from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him):Al-Adab Al-Mufrad 239 .
This is a great hadith, whether in its beginning, in its first part, which is his saying (peace be upon him): The meaning of this hadith is: It means that the relationship of a Muslim with his Muslim brother must be such that he seeks his help to ascend to the degrees of perfection because of his Muslim brother. How is that? Because it is the nature of man, and the nature of the soul that commands evil, the heedless and very heedless soul, that it does not see its own faults but only sees the faults of others. A person does not notice his own fault for two reasons: the first reason is his bad disposition, and the second reason is that even if he is righteous, he is unable to, does not feel, and does not sense his fault. Therefore, he must see his faults in his mirror. What is his mirror? It is his Muslim brother. And how is the Muslim brother a mirror for his Muslim brother? It is through advice. When I see a person in front of me and I see faults in him while he is heedless of them, I must advise him. If I advise him, he will notice his fault and hasten to correct it. Today, because the Muslims have turned away from the manners of their Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and his directives, among which is this hadith: the mirror of his believing brother, our reality today is that instead of some of us taking others as a mirror to discover faults that there is no way for him to know about them himself, this reality is inverted. So if I advise someone, he says, "Look after yourself," or "You are criticizing me," or "I am not the one you like, I am such and such." So advice has been inverted; the mirror, which was supposed to be clarifying and illuminating, has become a dark mirror. Enjoining good and forbidding evil has become a cause for preferring grudges, hostility, and hatred. This is from the side of the one who advised because of the mirror of his Muslim brother; that is, the Muslim who saw the other's fault and advised him, the one advised returned the blame to the advisor, so he did not benefit from his mirror, his Muslim brother who advised him. This is from one side. From another side, the matter may be the exact opposite of this. I may see a fault in a person and criticize him, not to advise him, but for the sake of criticism, dissection, and denunciation. This is also not permissible. Is this the treatment of a Muslim toward his Muslim brother? Absolutely not. The believer, my Muslim brother, is the mirror of the Muslim; he sees his fault through him. Therefore, instead of one of us evading accepting the advice of the other, he should say the words of the Rightly Guided Caliph who addressed the people and said, meaning: "May Allah have mercy on a man who points out my faults to me" This is the perfect Muslim, because he knows that the faults contained in the human soul are more than this person can be aware of or discover, and rather, his brother who meets him discovers them for him. So he must advise him and protect him. Therefore, he (peace and blessings be upon him) said in the completion of the hadith, after his saying: Al-Adab Al-Mufrad 239 meaning his companion and friend he guards... he (peace be upon him) guards his lost property...
The one who slanders him unjustly and falsely, the one who ate a meal, meaning the one who resorted to this forbidden cause to attain something trivial from the debris of this world, his reward is that Allah will feed him from it from Hellfire on the Day of Resurrection. Likewise, the one who was clothed with the garment of a Muslim, meaning he obtained a garment because of his encroachment on the honor of his Muslim brother and his slandering of him in his absence, Allah the Exalted and Majestic will clothe him from Hellfire. And the one who stood up for a Muslim in a position of showing off and seeking reputation, meaning he stands up and speaks publicly among people, exposing him contrary to what is in him, pretending that he is a man with control and authority, or that he is a man who does not care about people and does not fear, while he is speaking the truth, but in reality he is speaking falsehood. So the one who stands in such a position of showing off and seeking reputation, displaying it before people and slandering his Muslim brother, Allah will stand him in a position of showing off and seeking reputation on the Day of Resurrection, meaning He will expose him before people just as he exposed that Muslim, and He will reward him for it with evil and torment him with a painful torment. Such a position of showing off and seeking reputation is what the Imam al-Bukhari narrated in his *Sahih* from Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas that 'Umar ibn al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) sent for him. Sa'd was a governor; Sa'd was a governor in Kufah appointed by 'Umar. Some people came and complained to 'Umar. What was this complaint? They said, "He does not pray well with us." Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas is one of the ten promised Paradise. An unjust, oppressive, and false complaint came to the Commander of the Faithful, 'Umar ibn al-Khattab, that this our governor does not know how to pray with us. So 'Umar ibn al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) sent for him, and he came. He said, "The people say such and such." Sa'd said, "By Allah, O Commander of the Faithful, I will not spare any effort to pray with them the prayer of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him); I will lengthen the first two rak'ahs and shorten the last two rak'ahs." And 'Umar ibn al-Khattab added to the investigation by sending men from his side to the location of Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas's governorship to inquire about the news of the people. What do you think of Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas? The majority praised him well, except for one person who said, "If I must express my opinion, I say: he is not just in distribution, meaning he attributes injustice in giving." When Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas heard this, he said, "O Allah, if he is a liar, I invoke three supplications against him: O Allah, lengthen his life, make him poor in his old age, and do not let him die until he is tested in his religion, or as he said." The narrator of the hadith says, "I certainly saw him as an old man, his eyebrows having descended over his eyes, walking in the streets, winking at the young women, at a great age, Allah knows best, eighty or ninety years old, winking at the young women, flirting with them as the wicked youths do. This is from Allah answering Sa'd's supplication against that person. Why? Because he raised his voice to testify falsely before people and slander him, so he stood in a position of reputation and showing off, and Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas supplicated against him, so Allah the Exalted and Majestic answered his supplication and afflicted him with old age, weakness, and tested him, so he would wink at the young women...
From the narration of Abu Hurayrah from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him):
A believer is the mirror of his brother. A believer is the brother of another believer. He protects him against loss and defends him behind his back.
المؤمن مرآة أخيه والمؤمن أخو المؤمن يكف عليه ضيعته ويحوطه من وراءهThis is a great hadith, whether in its beginning, in its first part, which is his saying (peace be upon him):
The believer is the mirror of his brother, or in detail, what follows after it
المؤمن مرآة أخيه أو بالتفصيل الآتي بعدهThe believer is the mirror of his brother.
المؤمن مرآة أخيهThe believer is a mirror for the believer
المؤمن مرآة المؤمنA believer is the mirror of his brother. A believer is the brother of another believer.
المؤمن مرآة أخيه والمؤمن أخو المؤمنHe covers up his brother's faults and conceals what is behind him.
يكف عليه ضيعته ويطوه من ورائهThe one who slanders him unjustly and falsely, the one who ate a meal, meaning the one who resorted to this forbidden cause to attain something trivial from the debris of this world, his reward is that Allah will feed him from it from Hellfire on the Day of Resurrection. Likewise, the one who was clothed with the garment of a Muslim, meaning he obtained a garment because of his encroachment on the honor of his Muslim brother and his slandering of him in his absence, Allah the Exalted and Majestic will clothe him from Hellfire. And the one who stood up for a Muslim in a position of showing off and seeking reputation, meaning he stands up and speaks publicly among people, exposing him contrary to what is in him, pretending that he is a man with control and authority, or that he is a man who does not care about people and does not fear, while he is speaking the truth, but in reality he is speaking falsehood. So the one who stands in such a position of showing off and seeking reputation, displaying it before people and slandering his Muslim brother, Allah will stand him in a position of showing off and seeking reputation on the Day of Resurrection, meaning He will expose him before people just as he exposed that Muslim, and He will reward him for it with evil and torment him with a painful torment. Such a position of showing off and seeking reputation is what the Imam al-Bukhari narrated in his *Sahih* from Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas that 'Umar ibn al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) sent for him. Sa'd was a governor; Sa'd was a governor in Kufah appointed by 'Umar. Some people came and complained to 'Umar. What was this complaint? They said, "He does not pray well with us." Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas is one of the ten promised Paradise. An unjust, oppressive, and false complaint came to the Commander of the Faithful, 'Umar ibn al-Khattab, that this our governor does not know how to pray with us. So 'Umar ibn al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) sent for him, and he came. He said, "The people say such and such." Sa'd said, "By Allah, O Commander of the Faithful, I will not spare any effort to pray with them the prayer of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him); I will lengthen the first two rak'ahs and shorten the last two rak'ahs." And 'Umar ibn al-Khattab added to the investigation by sending men from his side to the location of Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas's governorship to inquire about the news of the people. What do you think of Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas? The majority praised him well, except for one person who said, "If I must express my opinion, I say: he is not just in distribution, meaning he attributes injustice in giving." When Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas heard this, he said, "O Allah, if he is a liar, I invoke three supplications against him: O Allah, lengthen his life, make him poor in his old age, and do not let him die until he is tested in his religion, or as he said." The narrator of the hadith says, "I certainly saw him as an old man, his eyebrows having descended over his eyes, walking in the streets, winking at the young women, at a great age, Allah knows best, eighty or ninety years old, winking at the young women, flirting with them as the wicked youths do. This is from Allah answering Sa'd's supplication against that person. Why? Because he raised his voice to testify falsely before people and slander him, so he stood in a position of reputation and showing off, and Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas supplicated against him, so Allah the Exalted and Majestic answered his supplication and afflicted him with old age, weakness, and tested him, so he would wink at the young women...