Completion of the Tafsir of Surat al-Hujurat, Verse (11), and Other Selected Verses, and What Can Be Derived from the Verses.
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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 nineteenth session after the hundredth of the Al-Bab al-Maftuh sessions, which take place every Thursday, and this is the twenty-fourth Thursday of the month of Shawwal in the year 1416.
We continue with what we previously began from the verse in al-Hujurat, which is His saying, the Exalted:[Al-Hujurat 49:11] As for mockery: it has been mentioned that it is contempt and disdain. And His saying: [Al-Hujurat 49:11] and means: with Allah, or in the future, or in reality. That is, if a man mocks another, the one being mocked may be better with Allah than the mocker, or he may be better at the same time, or he may be better in the future.
Then He said, Mighty and Majestic:[Al-Hujurat 49:11] Al-Lamz (slandering) is fault-finding, such as saying: So-and-so is dull, so-and-so is tall, so-and-so is short, so-and-so is black, so-and-so is red, and the like of what is considered a defect.
And His saying: was interpreted with two meanings. The first meaning is: Do not slander one another, because each of us is in the position of a human soul; your brother is in the position of yourself, so if you slander him, it is as if you slandered yourself.
It was also said that the meaning is: Do not slander your brother, because if you slander him, he will slander you. So your slandering him is a cause for him to slander you, and in that case, you are as if you slandered yourself. Based on this is the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him):.
In any case, the verse contains the prohibition of fault-finding among the believers. So it is not permissible for you to fault your brother with a physical attribute or a moral attribute.
As for the physical attribute that relates to creation, faulting him is in reality faulting his Creator, Mighty and Majestic.
Who created the human being? Allah, Mighty and Majestic.
Who made him with this attribute? Allah, Mighty and Majestic.
Can a human being perfect his creation, so that the tall becomes short, or the short becomes tall, or the ugly becomes beautiful, or the beautiful becomes ugly? This is impossible. So if you slander a person and fault him in his creation, you have in reality faulted the Creator, is that not so?
Therefore, if we found a built wall that is leaning and we faulted the wall, did we fault the wall or the builder of the wall? The builder of the wall. So if you fault a person in his creation, it is as if you faulted the Creator, Mighty and Majestic. So the matter is serious.
As for faulting him in his character, such as this man being quick to anger, severe in revenge, foul-tongued, do not fault him, because perhaps if you fault him, Allah will test you with the same defect. For this reason, it came in the athar: "Do not show schadenfreude over your brother, lest Allah cure him and test you" But if you find bad character in him, it is obligatory to give advice. You should contact him if you can contact him, and explain to him the defect he has, or write to him a letter in your name or in the name of an advisor, for example.
[Al-Hujurat 49:11] means: Do not address one another with bad names. So you say to him, for example: O sinner! O wicked one! O disbeliever! O drinker of intoxicants! O thief! O fornicator! Do not do this, because if you address him with a name, either the name applies to him or it does not. If it applies to him, you have committed this prohibition, and if it does not apply to him, you have falsely accused him and committed the prohibition as well.
Then He said, Mighty and Majestic:[Al-Hujurat 49:11] meaning: How bad for you to move from the description of faith to the description of open sinfulness. When? If you commit what Allah has prohibited, you become open sinners. So if a person commits one major sin from the major sins, he becomes an open sinner, and if he commits a minor sin and he repeats it and persists in it, he becomes an open sinner. So do not make yourself, after faith and the perfection of faith, do not make yourself an open sinner. This is the meaning of His saying: [Al-Hujurat 49:11] because this sentence is a sentence of exhortation that conveys blame with the letter mim, and what conveys blame is prohibited without a doubt.
We derived from this noble verse: the prohibition of mockery, and the prohibition of what? Slandering others, and the prohibition of addressing one another with bad names, and that whoever does that is an open sinner after being a believer. And open sinfulness is not just a description on the tongue; rulings are established upon it. For example, the scholars said: The open sinner is not valid to be a guardian over his daughter to marry her. Pay attention!
An open sinner wants to marry off his daughter; he does not marry her off. Who marries her off? Her brother, if she has a brother who is valid to be a guardian. Her paternal uncle, if she has no relatives or if they fear that her father, if he marries her off, the judge will marry her off.
The testimony of the open sinner is not accepted, because Allah said:[Al-Hujurat 49:6] He testifies before the judge with a right, and the judge says: We do not accept it, we do not accept it because you are an open sinner.
It is not permissible for the open sinner to be an imam for people in prayer. The open sinner who displays his open sinfulness, his adhan is not valid. All of this was said by the scholars, may Allah have mercy on them, even though there is scholarly disagreement in some of these issues. But I tell you: the word "open sinner" is not a light matter, so that a person says: the matter is easy. Instead of being a believer, he becomes an open sinner. This is not correct. For this reason, Allah blamed him and said:[Al-Hujurat 49:11] meaning: Whoever does these things, and how many are they? How many? Three. The one who does not repent becomes a wrongdoer. And injustice, as the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Jami` at-Tirmidhi 2030Sahih (Darussalam) If the believers on the Day of Resurrection have their light moving before them and to their right, these wrongdoers have no light. So one must be cautious of what Allah, Mighty and Majestic, has prohibited, because you, O servant, are a servant of Allah; you obey His command and refrain from His prohibition.
And His saying:[Al-Hujurat 49:11] If someone asks: What is the meaning of repentance? We say: Repentance is returning to Allah from His disobedience to His obedience. So if a person does not pray with the congregation, what is his repentance? That he prays with the congregation.
If a person has stolen money from a person, what is his repentance? That he returns the money to its owner.
If a person's repentance is that he sold with deception, that he deceives in the sale, what is his repentance? That he leaves off the deception, and that he returns what he gained by the deception to its owner. That is, for example, if he increased the price of the item by deception, he must return what he increased by deception to the deceived person, the man who was deceived. If he does not know him, let him give it in charity on his behalf. That is, for example, this item without deception is worth ten, and with deception it is worth twelve. How much did it increase? It increased by two riyals.
So if he repents from the deception, he must return the two riyals to the deceived man. If he does not know him, he gives it in charity on his behalf.
As for what follows:
This is the nineteenth session after the hundredth of the Al-Bab al-Maftuh sessions, which take place every Thursday, and this is the twenty-fourth Thursday of the month of Shawwal in the year 1416.
We continue with what we previously began from the verse in al-Hujurat, which is His saying, the Exalted:
O you who have believed, let not a people ridicule [another] people; perhaps they may be better than them; nor let women ridicule [other] women; perhaps they may be better than them
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا لا يَسْخَرْ قَوْمٌ مِنْ قَوْمٍ عَسَى أَنْ يَكُونُوا خَيْراً مِنْهُمْ وَلا نِسَاءٌ مِنْ نِسَاءٍ عَسَى أَنْ يَكُنَّ خَيْراً مِنْهُنَّperhaps they may be better than them
عَسَى أَنْ يَكُونُوا خَيْراً مِنْهُمْBetter than them.
خَيْراً مِنْهُنَّThen He said, Mighty and Majestic:
And do not insult one another
وَلا تَلْمِزُوا أَنْفُسَكُمْAnd His saying:
And do not insult one another
وَلا تَلْمِزُوا أَنْفُسَكُمْIt was also said that the meaning is: Do not slander your brother, because if you slander him, he will slander you. So your slandering him is a cause for him to slander you, and in that case, you are as if you slandered yourself. Based on this is the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him):
May Allah curse the one who curses his parents. They said: O Messenger of Allah! How can a man curse his parents? He said: He abuses a man's father, and the man abuses his father, and he abuses his mother, and the man abuses his mother
لعن الله من لعن والديه، فقالوا: يا رسول الله! كيف يلعن الرجل والديه؟! قال: يسب أبا الرجل فيسب أباه، ويسب أمه فيسب أمهIn any case, the verse contains the prohibition of fault-finding among the believers. So it is not permissible for you to fault your brother with a physical attribute or a moral attribute.
As for the physical attribute that relates to creation, faulting him is in reality faulting his Creator, Mighty and Majestic.
Who created the human being? Allah, Mighty and Majestic.
Who made him with this attribute? Allah, Mighty and Majestic.
Can a human being perfect his creation, so that the tall becomes short, or the short becomes tall, or the ugly becomes beautiful, or the beautiful becomes ugly? This is impossible. So if you slander a person and fault him in his creation, you have in reality faulted the Creator, is that not so?
Therefore, if we found a built wall that is leaning and we faulted the wall, did we fault the wall or the builder of the wall? The builder of the wall. So if you fault a person in his creation, it is as if you faulted the Creator, Mighty and Majestic. So the matter is serious.
As for faulting him in his character, such as this man being quick to anger, severe in revenge, foul-tongued, do not fault him, because perhaps if you fault him, Allah will test you with the same defect. For this reason, it came in the athar: "Do not show schadenfreude over your brother, lest Allah cure him and test you" But if you find bad character in him, it is obligatory to give advice. You should contact him if you can contact him, and explain to him the defect he has, or write to him a letter in your name or in the name of an advisor, for example.
and do not call each other by [offensive] nicknames
وَلا تَنَابَزُوا بِالْأَلْقَابِThen He said, Mighty and Majestic:
Wretched is the name of disobedience after [one's] faith
بِئْسَ الِاسْمُ الْفُسُوقُ بَعْدَ الْإِيمَانِWretched is the name of disobedience after [one's] faith
بِئْسَ الِاسْمُ الْفُسُوقُ بَعْدَ الْأِيمَانِWe derived from this noble verse: the prohibition of mockery, and the prohibition of what? Slandering others, and the prohibition of addressing one another with bad names, and that whoever does that is an open sinner after being a believer. And open sinfulness is not just a description on the tongue; rulings are established upon it. For example, the scholars said: The open sinner is not valid to be a guardian over his daughter to marry her. Pay attention!
An open sinner wants to marry off his daughter; he does not marry her off. Who marries her off? Her brother, if she has a brother who is valid to be a guardian. Her paternal uncle, if she has no relatives or if they fear that her father, if he marries her off, the judge will marry her off.
The testimony of the open sinner is not accepted, because Allah said:
O you who have believed, if there comes to you a disobedient one with information, investigate
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا إِنْ جَاءَكُمْ فَاسِقٌ بِنَبَأٍ فَتَبَيَّنُواIt is not permissible for the open sinner to be an imam for people in prayer. The open sinner who displays his open sinfulness, his adhan is not valid. All of this was said by the scholars, may Allah have mercy on them, even though there is scholarly disagreement in some of these issues. But I tell you: the word "open sinner" is not a light matter, so that a person says: the matter is easy. Instead of being a believer, he becomes an open sinner. This is not correct. For this reason, Allah blamed him and said:
Wretched is the name of disobedience after [one's] faith. And whoever does not repent - then it is those who are the wrongdoers.
بِئْسَ الِاسْمُ الْفُسُوقُ بَعْدَ الْإِيمَانِ وَمَنْ لَمْ يَتُبْ فَأُولَئِكَ هُمُ الظَّالِمُونَwhoever does not repent, then those are the wrongdoers
من لم يتب فأولئك هم الظالمونdarknesses on the Day of Resurrection
ظلمات يوم القيامةOppression shall be darkness on the Day of Judgment.
الظلم ظلمات يوم القيامةAnd His saying:
And whoever does not repent
وَمَنْ لَمْ يَتُبْIf a person has stolen money from a person, what is his repentance? That he returns the money to its owner.
If a person's repentance is that he sold with deception, that he deceives in the sale, what is his repentance? That he leaves off the deception, and that he returns what he gained by the deception to its owner. That is, for example, if he increased the price of the item by deception, he must return what he increased by deception to the deceived person, the man who was deceived. If he does not know him, let him give it in charity on his behalf. That is, for example, this item without deception is worth ten, and with deception it is worth twelve. How much did it increase? It increased by two riyals.
So if he repents from the deception, he must return the two riyals to the deceived man. If he does not know him, he gives it in charity on his behalf.