Exegesis of the saying of Allah the Exalted: "O you who believe! Avoid much suspicion, indeed some suspicion is a sin. And do not spy, and do not backbite one another. Would any of you like to eat the flesh of his dead brother? You would detest it."
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The Shaykh : Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He, said: [Al-Hujurat 49:12] Are the words here in the verse understood or not? They are understood. "Avoid much suspicion." He said "much suspicion" and did not say "avoid suspicion," because suspicion based on indications is something from which a person is free if he follows it. "Indeed some suspicion is a sin." What is the other part? It is not a sin. What is the criterion? The criterion is that if suspicion has indications, it is permissible and contains no sin. This means following up on the faults of your brothers by spying on them to seek out their slips, as some people do today, spying on their brothers to catch the slips they make. And it was reported in a hadith from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): Do we know this? Have we avoided spying? The answer is: some of us, to whom Allah has granted favor, have avoided it, and some of us have fallen into it. [Al-Hujurat 49:12] What is backbiting? Backbiting was explained by the most knowledgeable of creation regarding the meanings of the words of Allah, who is the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family), where he said: Sunan Abi Dawud 4874Sahih (Al-Albani) We say: from everything. Anything your brother dislikes to be mentioned about him, if you mention him in his absence with this thing he dislikes, this is backbiting. Have we avoided backbiting? Answer, everyone. Yes, some of us have avoided it and some have not. But unfortunately, most of people's gatherings today are about backbiting, backbiting. They backbite one another, they curse one another. The problem is also that this backbiting may be of poisoned flesh, and that is the flesh of the scholars. You find a man who does not know his wrist from his elbow speaking about a distinguished scholar, abundant in knowledge, and saying, "So-and-so said such and such, and this is a statement with no basis," and he does not know it. He does not know his wrist from his elbow. And I do not know if any of you knows his wrist from his elbow. Yes, whoever knows, raise your hand.
The student: This is the wrist.
The Shaykh : Okay, I want one person to stand up so he can show his brothers. Stand up and show us the wrist and the elbow. Whoever knows, please come forward.
The student: Excuse me if I make a mistake.
The Shaykh : It is known that he who does not make mistakes does not hit the mark.
The student: This is the wrist.
The Shaykh : This is the wrist. Where is the elbow? Huh? What is this? Rest. This is thirty percent. Whoever knows, please come forward.
The student: This, this.
The Shaykh : Okay, this is like it. Okay, I like the one in front of us. There are many in front of us now. A problem has arisen: there are many who do not know their wrist from their elbow. Yes, okay. We are looking for two verses that distinguish the wrist from the elbow. The compiler says:
"And the bone next to the thumb is the wrist *** And what is next to the little finger is the elbow, and the wrist is in the middle"
All of this is at the end of the arm. All of this is at the end of the arm. But the bone next to the thumb is the wrist, and the one next to the little finger is the elbow, and what is between them is the wrist. The wrist.
"And the bone next to the thumb of the foot is called the baw'" No, Abu 'Abd al-'Aziz, what is this? "And the bone next to the thumb of the foot is called the baw', so take hold of the knowledge" Look how the compiler says: "Take hold of the knowledge and beware of mistakes" It is as if the compiler knows that people make mistakes in this, so he says, "beware of mistakes." So who will explain this first verse to me?
"The bone next to the thumb is the wrist *** And what is next to the little finger is the elbow" Please.
The student: This is the wrist. This is the wrist.
The Shaykh : Yes.
The student: And this is the elbow.
The Shaykh : Okay, the wrist. The wrist is what is between them. Okay, good. "And the bone next to the thumb of the foot is called the baw' *** So take hold of the knowledge and beware of mistakes"
This bone next to the thumb of the foot is called the baw'.
The student: We do not see it, O Shaykh.
The Shaykh : I usually cannot do more than this. Okay, listen. I say that some people backbite the distinguished scholars, those attested to for goodness, who are small in knowledge and small in age. Do we say that this doer remembered the Qur'an or did he not remember it? Yes, he did not remember it. What benefit is there for us in reading the Book of Allah, Mighty and Majestic, and then not remembering it? If we read the Qur'an and do not remember it, the Qur'an becomes a proof against us. Yes, if we read the Book of Allah and do not remember it, the Qur'an becomes a proof against us, as the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) said:Sunan an-Nasa'i 2437Sahih (Darussalam) This is among the good that Allah the Exalted placed in this month: the revelation of the Noble Qur'an.
O you who have believed, avoid much [negative] assumption. Indeed, some assumption is sin. And do not spy or backbite each other.
يا أيها الذين آمنوا اجتنبوا كثيرا من الظن إن بعض الظن إثم ولا تجسسوا ولا يغتب بعضكم بعضاAnd do not spy.
ولا تجسسواO you who believe with your tongues but faith has not entered your hearts, do not follow up on the faults of the Muslims, do not harm the Muslims, and do not follow up on their faults. For whoever follows up on the fault of his brother, Allah will follow up on his fault, and whoever Allah follows up on, He will expose him, even in his mother's house.
يا معشر من آمن بلسانه ولم يدخل الإيمان قلبه لا تتبعوا عورات المسلمين لا تؤذوا المسلمين ولا تتبعوا عوراتهم فإنه من يتبع عورة أخيه يتبع الله عورته ومن يتبع الله عورته يفضحه ولو في بيت أمهor backbite each other
ولا يغتب بعضكم بعضاIt is saying something about your brother which he would dislike
الغيبة ذكرك أخاك بما يكرهThe student: This is the wrist.
The Shaykh : Okay, I want one person to stand up so he can show his brothers. Stand up and show us the wrist and the elbow. Whoever knows, please come forward.
The student: Excuse me if I make a mistake.
The Shaykh : It is known that he who does not make mistakes does not hit the mark.
The student: This is the wrist.
The Shaykh : This is the wrist. Where is the elbow? Huh? What is this? Rest. This is thirty percent. Whoever knows, please come forward.
The student: This, this.
The Shaykh : Okay, this is like it. Okay, I like the one in front of us. There are many in front of us now. A problem has arisen: there are many who do not know their wrist from their elbow. Yes, okay. We are looking for two verses that distinguish the wrist from the elbow. The compiler says:
"And the bone next to the thumb is the wrist *** And what is next to the little finger is the elbow, and the wrist is in the middle"
All of this is at the end of the arm. All of this is at the end of the arm. But the bone next to the thumb is the wrist, and the one next to the little finger is the elbow, and what is between them is the wrist. The wrist.
"And the bone next to the thumb of the foot is called the baw'" No, Abu 'Abd al-'Aziz, what is this? "And the bone next to the thumb of the foot is called the baw', so take hold of the knowledge" Look how the compiler says: "Take hold of the knowledge and beware of mistakes" It is as if the compiler knows that people make mistakes in this, so he says, "beware of mistakes." So who will explain this first verse to me?
"The bone next to the thumb is the wrist *** And what is next to the little finger is the elbow" Please.
The student: This is the wrist. This is the wrist.
The Shaykh : Yes.
The student: And this is the elbow.
The Shaykh : Okay, the wrist. The wrist is what is between them. Okay, good. "And the bone next to the thumb of the foot is called the baw' *** So take hold of the knowledge and beware of mistakes"
This bone next to the thumb of the foot is called the baw'.
The student: We do not see it, O Shaykh.
The Shaykh : I usually cannot do more than this. Okay, listen. I say that some people backbite the distinguished scholars, those attested to for goodness, who are small in knowledge and small in age. Do we say that this doer remembered the Qur'an or did he not remember it? Yes, he did not remember it. What benefit is there for us in reading the Book of Allah, Mighty and Majestic, and then not remembering it? If we read the Qur'an and do not remember it, the Qur'an becomes a proof against us. Yes, if we read the Book of Allah and do not remember it, the Qur'an becomes a proof against us, as the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) said: