Exegesis of Surat al-Hujurat, verses (3-6), and other selected verses, and what is derived from the verses.

The Shaykh : Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and may Allah send prayers and blessings upon our Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family and his Companions, and upon those who follow them with excellence until the Day of Judgment.
As for what follows:
This is the one hundred and eleventh session of the Open Door sessions, which take place every Thursday, and this is the fifteenth day of the month of Rajab in the year 1416.
We begin this session by discussing the saying of Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He, in Surat al-Hujurat: This verse refers to a group of people who came to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), and with them were some rough, boorish people who did not measure things by their proper measure. They would call out to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) from behind his chambers, meaning the chambers of his wives, raising their voices in doing so, wanting the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) to come out to them. Allah says about these people: meaning: they do not have intellect. The intellect intended here is the intellect of sound judgment, because intellect is of two kinds: the intellect of sound judgment and the intellect of legal accountability.
As for the intellect of sound judgment, its opposite is foolishness, and as for the intellect of legal accountability, its opposite is insanity. For example, if we say: "A condition for the validity of ablution is that the one performing it is of sound mind and discerning," the intellect intended here is the intellect of legal accountability. And if we say: "A condition for disposing of wealth is that the one disposing of it is of sound mind, meaning the intellect of sound judgment that manages affairs well," the intended meaning of His saying here: is: they do not possess the intellect of sound judgment. Because if they did not possess the intellect of legal accountability, they would not be subject to blame or censure, since the insane person lacks intellect and is not subject to blame or censure, and this is clear. And His saying: implies that some of them do possess intellect, and that he did not raise his voice, but rather he was well-mannered with the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him).
Then Allah, the Exalted, said: meaning: from your house, and speak to them about what they desire, in that they should observe proper conduct with the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), and their need will be fulfilled, because the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) never had anyone come to him with a need except that he fulfilled it, if he was aware of it. He is the most deserving of the people of the poet’s saying:
"He never said: " No " ever, except in his tashahhud *** Were it not for the tashahhud, his "No" would have been "Yes" "
is an indication that Allah forgave them and had mercy on them. This is from the generosity of He, (Exalted and Majestic is He), that He forgives and has mercy. And Allah, the Exalted, informed us in His Book: meaning: except for shirk (associating partners with Allah) So everyone who commits a sin other than shirk, no matter how great it is, is under the will of Allah; if He wills, He will punish him, and if He wills, He will forgive him, as long as he does not repent. If he repents, there is no punishment, due to His saying, the Exalted: .
Here we said: The verse indicates that Allah forgave them and had mercy on them. Where do we take this indication from? We take it from the fact that Allah concluded the verse with His saying: And this indicates that He forgave them and had mercy on them. Therefore, the scholars said regarding the saying of Allah, the Exalted, about those who wage war against Allah and His Messenger and strive to spread corruption in the land, that their reward is: The scholars derived from this verse: that these corrupters who wage war against Allah and His Messenger, if they repent before being overcome, the punishment is dropped from them. They argued by the fact that Allah concluded the verse with His saying: meaning: He has already forgiven them and had mercy on them. This is a point that a student of knowledge should pay attention to in the verses: that concluding a verse after mentioning a ruling is an indication of what is implied by the names with which the verse was concluded. For this reason, a man recited: , and a Bedouin man present heard him, so he said to him: "Recite the verse again." He recited it again and said: , he said to him: "Recite the verse again." He recited it again and said: He said: "Now – meaning: now I have hit the mark –" Then he gave the reason, saying: "Because if He had forgiven and had mercy, He would not have cut off [the relationship], and forgiveness and mercy are not compatible with cutting off, but He, the Mighty, ruled and cut off."
So reflect on this understanding, for it is very beneficial for you.
The point of this is that His saying, the Exalted: indicates that the verse shows that Allah forgave them and had mercy on them.
Then Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He, said: , His saying, the Exalted: Ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "When you hear Allah say:

O you who have believed

يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا

[Al-Baqarah 2:104]

then lend it your ear – meaning: listen to it – for it is either good that you are commanded to do, or evil that you are forbidden from doing " Because this is a call, and a call with the noblest of attributes, which is faith So who is the open sinner? The open sinner is the one who deviates in his religion and his honor, and its opposite is the just one: the one who is upright in his religion and his honor.
Who is the open sinner? The one who deviates in his religion and his honor, and the just one is the one who is upright in his religion and his honor, and he is the opposite of the open sinner. So if an open sinner who deviates in his religion and his honor comes to us, meaning: that he is persistent in sins, leaving off the obligatory duties, but he has not reached the level of disbelief, or he deviates in his honor, not caring about himself, walking among people with a boorish gait, speaking with a raised voice, and bringing with him the affairs of his household to parade them in the markets, and the like of that which contradicts honor, then this, according to the scholars, is not justice.
In this verse, Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, says: It is a report, meaning a report among reports, and it is from an open sinner. Let us apply this issue to reality: A man who shaves his beard came to us. The one who shaves his beard is an open sinner, why? Because he is persistent in the disobedience of Allah and His Messenger. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: And this man did not let his beard grow, but rather he shaved it. So this man is among the open sinners because he is persistent in disobedience. He brought us a report; do we accept it? No. Do we reject it? No. We do not accept it because of his open sinfulness, and we do not reject it because of the possibility that he may be truthful. For this reason, Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, said: and He did not say: "So reject it," and He did not say: "So accept it," but rather it is obligatory upon us to verify. And in a reading: and they are close in meaning. The meaning is: that we should be certain. So if someone says: "Then there is no benefit in his report," we say: No, but there is benefit in his report, and that is that it moves the soul, so that we ask and investigate, because if it were not for his report, it would not have moved us from our stillness. But when he brings the report, we say: Perhaps he was truthful, so we move and ask and investigate. If reality testifies to the truth for him, we accept it, due to the presence of a sign indicating his truthfulness, otherwise we reject it.
And His saying, the Exalted and Sublime: implies that if a just person comes to us, we accept the report. But there is a detail in this according to the scholars, indicated by the Qur'an and the Sunnah. For example, testimony in zina (unlawful sexual intercourse): if a man who is just in his religion and upright in his honor comes to us and testifies that so-and-so committed zina, do we accept his testimony? No, even if he is just. Rather, we flog him eighty lashes, because he falsely accused this innocent man of zina. And Allah, the Exalted, said: and we do not accept his testimony ever, and we rule that he is an open sinner, even if he was just, until he repents.
Two just men testified against Zayd that he committed zina. Do we accept their testimony? No. Three? No. Four? Yes, because Allah, the Exalted, said: , and He said, the Exalted: If three men come to us whom we know to be trustworthy and just, and they testify to zina against a person, they are liars in the sight of Allah, not accepted, and as I told you, we flog each of them eighty lashes.
All right, a man came and testified against a person that he stole. Do we accept his testimony? No, two men are necessary.
A man came and testified that he saw the crescent moon of Ramadan. Do we accept his testimony? Yes, we accept it, because the Sunnah came with that. Abdullah ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) said: .
A man who was wealthy was struck by a calamity, then he came to ask for zakah (the obligatory alms), and he brought a witness that he was wealthy and was struck by a calamity and became poor. Do we accept the testimony of one person? No. Do we accept the testimony of two? No, three are necessary, because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said to Qabisa: and he mentioned among them: meaning: from those of sound mind.
So the result is: What is our position regarding the report of the open sinner? What is it? Suspension until the matter becomes clear. As for the non-open sinner, there is a detail: we may not accept the report of less than four, as in the case of zina, or three, as in the case of the man who was wealthy and was struck by a calamity and then came to ask for charity; we do not accept from him until three testify. Two men, in the case where a person testifies to a limit of theft, we do not accept except two men.
It is possible to accept one man with the oath of the claimant, as if a person claims against another that he owes him a thousand riyals, and we say to the claimant: "Bring evidence." He says: "I have one man." If he brings the one man and swears with him, we rule for him with what he claimed.
And on this basis, the report of the just person has a detail as you have heard, and in other things as well, the place does not allow for mentioning them.
Then Allah (Mighty and Majestic) explained the wisdom behind our being instructed to verify the news of the wicked person. He said: This means: We commanded you to be cautious so that you would not strike a people out of ignorance. For a person who rushes in without verifying may transgress against others based on the news he heard from the wicked person. He may dislike them and speak about them in gatherings. Then, when it becomes clear that the wicked person’s news was a lie, he becomes regretful of what he did.
In this verse is evidence that it is obligatory for a person to be cautious about what he transmits of news, especially when there is bias and fanaticism. If news comes to you about a person and you do not trust the reporter, you must verify it and not rush to judgment. For you may rush and build upon this false news, and then regret it later. Hence, the warning came against talebearing, which is transmitting people’s words from one to another to cause corruption between them. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) even said: — meaning: a talebearer. It is also authentic from him (peace and blessings be upon him) that he passed by two graves being tortured and said: He walks among people transmitting news to others to cause corruption among people.
Of this type are the fatwas attributed to some scholars which they never spoke at all, or they spoke the opposite of what is attributed to them. For some people may understand a word from a scholar in a way other than what the scholar intended. A scholar may be asked a question which he imagines to be different from what is in the questioner’s mind, and then he answers according to what he understood. Then this man comes and spreads this statement which is not correct. How many statements have been attributed to distinguished scholars but had no basis? Therefore, it is obligatory to verify what is transmitted from scholars or others. Especially, as I told you earlier, especially in this time when biases have increased and fanaticism has increased, and people have become as if they are walking in darkness. And here ends what we intended to say about this verse. We move to the questions, and we start with the brothers who are not from this country, because may Allah reward them with good, they endured difficulties and hardships, so we start with them. The questions will be in turn, yes? We start with the right side.