Explanation of the author's statement: From Abu Sa'id (may Allah be pleased with him), a marfu' report: "Indeed, among the weakness of certainty is that you please people with the anger of Allah"

The Shaykh : And from Abu Sa'id (may Allah be pleased with him), a marfu' report, meaning traced to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), who said: Indeed, from the apparent, the "min" here indicates partiality, and his saying: weakness is the opposite of strength, and it is said "dafa'a" and it is said "du'ifa," and both mean the same thing with the anger of Allah, this "ba" is for compensation, meaning that you make the compensation for pleasing people what? The anger of Allah, so you exchange this for that. This is from the weakness of certainty, and certainty is the highest degree of faith, and it may be intended to mean knowledge, as you say, "I am certain of this thing," meaning I know it with certainty that doubt does not affect it. Correct, this is from the weakness of certainty, because if you please people with what angers Allah, then your certainty is weak, for you feared people more than you fear Allah, or not? If you had more fear of Allah, you would not go about pleasing people with something that angers Allah, but you thought that if you pleased people now, you would be safe from their harm and secure. In reality, you are not safe from their harm, for the outcome is for whom? The outcome is for the pious. So if you fear Allah and follow His pleasure, the outcome will be for you. An example of this: A man is with a person of high status and honor, and he knows that this person of high status and honor is engaged in one of the sins. He says to him, "This matter is fine, this is permissible," and he makes the matter easy for him, even though this is angering Allah. This is angering Allah the Mighty and Majestic. How do you make the forbidden things easy for him just to please him? And this is what the Muslim community is afflicted with now. You find a person coming to another person saying nothing but praise, and the one being praised may be devoid of it, but the thing that involves blame is not mentioned to him. This is an error. This is from hypocrisy, and this is not from sincere advice, nor from the signs of love. Sincere advice to a person is that you point out his faults so that he may avoid them and guard against them. As for the place of praise with intelligence, he does not need you to tell him, because his actions speak for him, so there is no need to inform him. Yes, if the situation requires that you inform him of this to encourage him in what he did, and he is safe from arrogance, then there is no harm in encouraging him. So the result is that, unfortunately, this hadith applies to many people now. Many of them this hadith applies to. You find him pleasing people with the anger of Allah the Mighty and Majestic. Second: Praise, we said previously that it is describing the praised one with perfection along with love and exaltation, but here it is not a condition that it be with love and exaltation, because it includes praise. You praise them for the provision of Allah, meaning the gift of Allah, meaning if they give you something, you praise them and forget the Causer, who is Allah the Mighty and Majestic. The meaning is that you make all the praise for them, forgetting thereby whom? The Causer, who is Allah the Mighty and Majestic. This is the place of blame, because this one who gave you is nothing but a pure cause, and the Giver in reality is Allah the Mighty and Majestic. And the explanation of that is: What is in the hand of the one who gave you, from whom is it? From Allah the Mighty and Majestic. He did not create it, but it is from Allah. So if it is decreed that Allah turned his heart so that he gave you, that too is from Allah. So the will and the power to give are all from Allah the Mighty and Majestic. And there is no doubt that it is from the weakness of certainty to praise this person for the provision of Allah, forgetting the praise of the Lord the Mighty and Majestic. But if in your heart is that Allah the Exalted is the one who bestowed upon you by directing this provision through this man, and you thanked the man for his kindness, then this is not included in the hadith, and it is not from the weakness of certainty. Rather, this is from the Shari'ah, by the saying of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him): So the hadith is not to be taken at its apparent meaning in every aspect. Yes, the intended meaning of praise is that you praise them what? Absolute praise, forgetting the Causer, who is Allah the Mighty and Majestic. If that is the case, it is from the weakness of certainty, as if you forgot the original Bestower, who is Allah the Mighty and Majestic, to whom belongs the first blessing. We said that this is also foolishness, because the reality of the matter is that the one who gave you is Allah. This one who gave you, the human who gave you this thing, did not create what he gave you. So Allah is the one who created what is in his hand, and He is the one who turned his heart toward you so that he gave you. Do you see now? This is a man with a child who is seven years old. Yes, so he gave his child a thousand dirhams and said, "Take this and give it to so-and-so." Who is praised in the original sense? His father or the child?
The student: His father.

The Shaykh : His father. So if you praised the child only, that would be considered foolishness, because the child is nothing but a messenger. And on this basis, we say that if you praise them for the provision of Allah, forgetting what is due to Allah the Mighty and Majestic of praise and commendation, then this is what is from the weakness of certainty. But if you praise them as being a cause among the causes, and that all praise is for Allah the Mighty and Majestic, then what is it? It is truth and correct.
He said: And this is the opposite of the first. You praise them, and that is you blame them for what Allah has not given you. For example, a person came to someone who is distributing dirhams, and when he passed by, he left what he gave him and stood up to curse this one who has... the unjust, the tyrant, the doer, he blames him. This is a mistake, because what Allah willed happened, and what He did not will did not happen. So do not blame him for something that Allah the Mighty and Majestic withheld from you by His wisdom. Rather, if these people have fallen short in a duty upon them, then yes, blame them for the falling short in the duty, not for the fact that they did not give you. For example, if this person is the owner of the public treasury and he is giving to the deserving, and you are among them, and then he withheld it from you for a personal reason, you blame him, not because he did not give you, but because he fell short in the duty. But as for the decree, do not blame him, because if Allah the Exalted had decreed that, the causes by which this thing would reach you would have existed, but Allah did not decree it. So do not blame them for what Allah has not given you. But I say to you now, blame them if they have fallen short... in leaving the Shari'ah, or in not doing what the decree requires? We say, in leaving the Shari'ah. As for what the decree of Allah did not require, do not blame them, because blaming them in reality returns as blame to Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He.