"Does Good Bring Evil?" The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) remained silent until I thought revelation was coming to him, then he began wiping his forehead and said:
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The Reciter: Isma'il narrated to us, saying: Malik narrated to me from Zayd ibn Aslam from Ata' ibn Yasar from Abu Sa'id al-Khudri, who said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: It was said: "What are the blessings of the earth?" He said: A man asked him: "Does good bring evil?" The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) remained silent until I thought revelation was coming to him, then he began wiping his forehead and said: He said: "I am." Abu Sa'id said: "We praised Allah when he revealed that." He said: Sahih al-Bukhari 6427.
The Shaykh : This hadith contains signs of the signs of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). He said: which is the adornment of this world, because the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) explained it himself when it was asked: "What are the blessings of the earth?" He said: A man asked him: "Does good bring evil?" because the adornment of this world and abundance of provision are good, as Allah the Exalted said: [Al-'Adiyat 100:8] The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) remained silent until we thought revelation was coming to him, then he began wiping his forehead. This could mean that revelation was coming to him, as the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) would sweat profusely when revelation came to him, even in the middle of winter. It could also mean that revelation did not come to him, but this question had a great impact on him. When something comes to the soul and has a great impact, a person is affected and sweats, as happened to Malik ibn Anas (may Allah have mercy on him) when a man said to him: "O Abu 'Abd Allah, 'The Most Merciful has risen above the Throne.' How did He rise?" He lowered his head, he lowered his head until sweat covered him, meaning: sweat appeared on him, his skin became moist with sweat. Then he raised his head and said: "The rising is known, the how is unknown, belief in it is obligatory, and asking about it is an innovation." The narrated report from him is: "The rising is not unknown, the how is not conceivable, belief in it is obligatory, and asking about it is an innovation." But the first one is the famous one from him, and this is the one with a chain from him. In any case, I say that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) may have had revelation come to him as the Companions thought, or it may be that due to the intensity of the impact of this question, he experienced what other humans experience. The important thing is that he said: He said: "I am." Abu Sa'id said: "We praised Allah when he revealed that." meaning he did not hide himself, because the fact that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) remained silent and began wiping his forehead might cause some people to be afraid to say "I am the questioner" for fear that something might be revealed concerning him that would expose him or rebuke him. For this reason, Abu Sa'id said: "We praised Allah when he revealed that." meaning when he said this statement, we praised Allah. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Allah is the Greatest. Means have the rulings of their ends. Good does not come except with good, and the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) told the truth. This is a consistent rule, established by the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him): Good does not come except with good, and evil does not come except with evil. Then he said: Jami` at-Tirmidhi 2374Hasan (Darussalam) "Green" means: that it is alive, moist. All souls desire it, just as a beast desires green grass. "Sweet" in taste, so it is beautiful to look at because it is green, and sweet in taste. If it is beautiful to look at and sweet in taste, souls will rush to it. Then he said: Sahih al-Bukhari 6427 In some narrations: Sahih al-Bukhari 2842 It is said that it ate what?
The Reciter: The grass.
The Shaykh : The grass, but it ate and died, it died from it. Whatever kills by overeating or nearly kills. Then he said: meaning the one that eats calmly and does not eat everything in front of it, because the one that eats everything in front of it might eat something that? kills it, kills it. But the one that eats the greenery, which eats only what benefits it, and the greenery is soft, without hardness. This one eats until its flanks are stretched, stretched means: expanded, and the flank is the lower part of the belly, meaning when it is completely full. From where?
The Reciter: From the greenery.
The Shaykh : From the greenery, not from everything that comes, not from everything it sees of the spring, until its flanks are stretched, it faces the sun, chews its cud, belches, and urinates. This is because when it is full and its flanks are stretched from fullness, it goes out to the sun, faces the sun, then chews its cud. And you see beasts chewing their cud. This chewing, by the permission of Allah, facilitates digestion. So it belches and urinates. Then what is harmful from this food it ate comes out. By what? By urine and belching. What remains now? The beneficial part remains. Its body is free from the greenery, so it returns. For this reason he said: "Then it returns and eats again," and so on. It takes precaution and does not eat except what benefits it, then it discards the rest which has no benefit, then it returns and eats. So it benefits fully from the spring. As for the second one that eats everything it sees, among what it eats is what kills, by overeating or nearly killing. He (peace and blessings be upon him) said:Sahih al-Bukhari 6427 May Allah send prayers and peace upon him. "Sweet" means and "green," but perhaps the narrator forgot or it is in other narrations, because at the beginning of the hadith he says: Sahih al-Bukhari 6427 Allah is the Greatest. Wealth is a source and a destination, a source and a destination. It must be that its source is by right, and its destination is by right. If you take it by other than right, it will not benefit you even if you spend it in right. If you take it by other than right, it will not benefit you even if you spend it in right. And if you take it by right and spend it in other than right, it will not benefit you. Good. And if you take it by falsehood and spend it in falsehood, it becomes more harmful and severe. And if you take it by its right and place it in its right, it becomes good. So people are divided into four categories regarding wealth:
A group that takes it by its right and places it in its right.
And a group that takes it by falsehood and places it in falsehood.
And a group that takes it by falsehood and places it in right.
And a group that takes it by right and places it in falsehood.
Who is the safe one? The first one, who takes it in its right and places it in right. So you, my brother, must be moderate in acquiring wealth and moderate in spending wealth. If we assume that a person took wealth by right, let us say he is an employee who performs the job completely, without reducing it in hours or work, so he took the money. This is taking by right. But he spends it in falsehood, in forbidden matters, he spends it in forbidden matters. Perhaps he spends it in other than forbidden matters, but he is extravagant in spending. We say this is taking by right and placing it in other than right. And it decreases from the right by the amount it decreased, meaning as a corresponding retribution. So a person must organize his affairs in wealth in terms of acquisition, spending, and financing. And by this we know that whoever is given riba (usury or interest) profits and takes them, they will not benefit him. Why?
The Reciter: By other than right.
The Shaykh : Because he took it without right, he took it without right. And as you know, the matter of usury or interest is grave. So if he takes usurious interest, even if he puts it in charity, or in repairing mosques, or in repairing roads, it will not benefit him. Rather, he has disobeyed Allah (Mighty and Majestic) in taking it. And if he manages to get rid of it by spending it on public projects, he is like one who becomes contaminated with impurity and then tries to purify his hand of it. A person stands and beats dung with his hands, then says to people: "My hands are contaminated with dung." What do we say to him? Go wash them. But better than that is to say: Do not approach the dung at all, do not approach it at all. Why? Because you are taking it. And this is a waste of time, and it also entails many harms that follow from it. Among them is that whoever sees him taking it will say, "This is lawful; so-and-so took it and so-and-so took it," and they do not know that he spends it on other matters. In any case, this is not the place to elaborate on this issue, as it may come to us, if Allah wills, at another time. But my intention is that a person who takes money without right does not benefit from it if he spends it righteously, because the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) only praised the one who took it with his right and placed it in its right place. And the one who took it without right is like one who eats and is not filled. The one who takes without right, glory be to Allah, is like one who eats and is not filled. And this is a proven fact. If a person becomes accustomed to taking money without right, he becomes, may Allah protect us from that, insatiable, insatiable in the pursuit of money. Even if millions come to him, his heart is poor, his heart is poor, until if he were to take all the wealth of people, it would be because, as the Messenger said, he is like one who eats and is not filled.
Indeed, the greatest thing I fear for you is what Allah brings out for you of the blessings of the earth.
إن أكثر ما أخاف عليكم ما يخرج الله لكم من بركات الأرضThe adornment of this world.
زهرة الدنياWhere is the questioner?
أين السائلGood never brings forth but good. This wealth (of the world) is (like) green and sweet (fruit), and all the vegetation which grows on the bank of a stream either kills or nearly kills the animal that eats too much of it, except the animal that eats the Khadira (a kind of vegetation). Such an animal eats till its stomach is full and then it faces the sun and starts ruminating and then it passes out dung and urine and goes to eat again. This worldly wealth is (like) sweet (fruit), and if a person earns it (the wealth) in a legal way and spends it properly, then it is an excellent helper, and whoever earns it in an illegal way, he will be like the one who eats but is never satisfied.
لا يأتي الخير إلا بالخير إن هذا المال خضرة حلوة وإن كل ما أنبت الربيع يقتل حبطاً أو يلم إلا آكلة الخضرة أكلت حتى إذا امتدت خاصرتاها استقبلت الشمس فاجترت وثلطت وبالت ثم عادت فأكلت وإن هذا المال حلوة من أخذه بحقه ووضعه في حقه فنعم المعونة هو وإن أخذه بغير حقه كان كالذي يأكل ولا يشبعThe Shaykh : This hadith contains signs of the signs of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). He said:
Indeed, the greatest thing I fear for us is what Allah brings out for us of the blessings of the earth.
إن أكثر ما يخاف علينا ما يخرج الله لنا من بركات الأرضThe adornment of this world.
زهرة الدنياAnd indeed he is, in love of wealth, intense.
وإنه لحب الخير لشديدWhere is the questioner?
أين السائلGood does not come except with good.
لا يأت الخير إلا بالخيرIndeed this wealth is green and sweet
إن هذا المال خضرة حلوةand all the vegetation which grows on the bank of a stream either kills or nearly kills
وإن كل ما أنبت الربيع يقتل حبطا أو يلمIndeed it is like what grows on the banks of a stream which either kills or nearly kills
وإن مما أنبت الربيع ما يقتل حبطا أو يلمThe Reciter: The grass.
The Shaykh : The grass, but it ate and died, it died from it. Whatever kills by overeating or nearly kills. Then he said:
Except the one that eats the greenery.
إلا آكلة الخضرةThe Reciter: From the greenery.
The Shaykh : From the greenery, not from everything that comes, not from everything it sees of the spring, until its flanks are stretched, it faces the sun, chews its cud, belches, and urinates. This is because when it is full and its flanks are stretched from fullness, it goes out to the sun, faces the sun, then chews its cud. And you see beasts chewing their cud. This chewing, by the permission of Allah, facilitates digestion. So it belches and urinates. Then what is harmful from this food it ate comes out. By what? By urine and belching. What remains now? The beneficial part remains. Its body is free from the greenery, so it returns. For this reason he said: "Then it returns and eats again," and so on. It takes precaution and does not eat except what benefits it, then it discards the rest which has no benefit, then it returns and eats. So it benefits fully from the spring. As for the second one that eats everything it sees, among what it eats is what kills, by overeating or nearly killing. He (peace and blessings be upon him) said:
This worldly wealth is (like) sweet (fruit)
وإن هذا المال حلوةThis worldly wealth is (like) sweet (fruit), and if a person earns it (the wealth) in a legal way and spends it properly, then it is an excellent helper
إن هذا المال خضرة حلوة من أخذه بحقه ، ووضعه في حقه ، فنعم المعونة هوA group that takes it by its right and places it in its right.
And a group that takes it by falsehood and places it in falsehood.
And a group that takes it by falsehood and places it in right.
And a group that takes it by right and places it in falsehood.
Who is the safe one? The first one, who takes it in its right and places it in right. So you, my brother, must be moderate in acquiring wealth and moderate in spending wealth. If we assume that a person took wealth by right, let us say he is an employee who performs the job completely, without reducing it in hours or work, so he took the money. This is taking by right. But he spends it in falsehood, in forbidden matters, he spends it in forbidden matters. Perhaps he spends it in other than forbidden matters, but he is extravagant in spending. We say this is taking by right and placing it in other than right. And it decreases from the right by the amount it decreased, meaning as a corresponding retribution. So a person must organize his affairs in wealth in terms of acquisition, spending, and financing. And by this we know that whoever is given riba (usury or interest) profits and takes them, they will not benefit him. Why?
The Reciter: By other than right.
The Shaykh : Because he took it without right, he took it without right. And as you know, the matter of usury or interest is grave. So if he takes usurious interest, even if he puts it in charity, or in repairing mosques, or in repairing roads, it will not benefit him. Rather, he has disobeyed Allah (Mighty and Majestic) in taking it. And if he manages to get rid of it by spending it on public projects, he is like one who becomes contaminated with impurity and then tries to purify his hand of it. A person stands and beats dung with his hands, then says to people: "My hands are contaminated with dung." What do we say to him? Go wash them. But better than that is to say: Do not approach the dung at all, do not approach it at all. Why? Because you are taking it. And this is a waste of time, and it also entails many harms that follow from it. Among them is that whoever sees him taking it will say, "This is lawful; so-and-so took it and so-and-so took it," and they do not know that he spends it on other matters. In any case, this is not the place to elaborate on this issue, as it may come to us, if Allah wills, at another time. But my intention is that a person who takes money without right does not benefit from it if he spends it righteously, because the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) only praised the one who took it with his right and placed it in its right place. And the one who took it without right is like one who eats and is not filled. The one who takes without right, glory be to Allah, is like one who eats and is not filled. And this is a proven fact. If a person becomes accustomed to taking money without right, he becomes, may Allah protect us from that, insatiable, insatiable in the pursuit of money. Even if millions come to him, his heart is poor, his heart is poor, until if he were to take all the wealth of people, it would be because, as the Messenger said, he is like one who eats and is not filled.