Chapter on the Prohibition of Looking Down on Muslims: Allah the Exalted said

The reader: In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and may peace and blessings be upon our Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family and all his Companions.
He (may Allah have mercy on him) said: “Chapter on the Prohibition of Looking Down on Muslims. Allah the Exalted said:

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. And do not insult one another and do not call each other by [offensive] nicknames. Wretched is the name of disobedience after [one's] faith. And whoever does not repent - then it is those who are the wrongdoers.

يا أيها الذين آمنوا لا يسخر قوم من قوم عسى أن يكونوا خيرا منهم ولا نساء من نساء عسى أن يكن خيرا منهن ولا تلمزوا أنفسكم ولا تنابزوا بالألقاب بئس الاسم الفسوق بعد الإيمان ومن لم يتب فأولئك هم الظالمون

[Al-Hujurat 49:11]

And He the Exalted said:

Woe to every scorner and mocker

ويل لكل همزة لمزة

[Al-Humazah 104:1]

From Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him), that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said:

It is sufficient evil for a man to look down on his Muslim brother.

بحسب امرء من الشر أن يحقر أخاه المسلم

Sunan Ibn Majah 4213Sahih (Darussalam)

Narrated by Muslim.
And from Ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him), from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), who said:

He who has in his heart the weight of a mustard seed of pride shall not enter Paradise.

لا يدخل الجنة من في قلبه مثقال ذرة من كبر

Sahih Muslim 91c

So a man said, “But a man loves for his garment to be good and his sandal to be good.” He said:

Verily, Allah is Graceful and He loves Grace. Pride is disdaining the truth (out of self-conceit) and contempt for the people.

إن الله إن الله جميل يحب الجمال الكبر بطر الحق وغمط الناس

Sahih Muslim 91a

Narrated by Muslim.”

The Shaykh : In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
The author al-Nawawi (may Allah have mercy on him) said in his book *Riyad al-Salihin*: “Chapter on the Prohibition of Looking Down on a Muslim”. Looking down on a Muslim means despising him, mocking him, ridiculing him, belittling his status, and the like. This is forbidden because it involves aggression against your Muslim brother, whom you must respect and hold in the highest esteem, for he is your brother, and the believer is the brother of the believer, as the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said. Then the author (may Allah have mercy on him) cited as evidence the saying of Allah the Exalted: . Allah addressed the believers with , and addressing the believers is proof that what is recited to them is among the requirements of faith, and that lacking it or contradicting it is a deficiency in faith. Also, beginning the ruling with the call indicates attention to it, for the call means alerting the addressee to what is being conveyed to him. He says: , and the men are , and the women are the females. Mockery may be of his appearance, mocking the appearance of this man, or it may be of his build, mocking his build for being short or tall, or large or thin, or the like. Mockery may also be of his speech, imitating his speech in ridicule and mockery, as some fools do, imitating the voices of some reciters or some scholars in mockery and ridicule, and may Allah protect us from that. It may also be in treatment, mocking him in how he treats people, and likewise in his gait. The important point is that anything involving mockery of your brother falls under this verse. . Allah the Mighty and Majestic made it clear that those who were mocked may perhaps be better than them in the sight of Allah and in the sight of the servants of Allah. For this reason He said: . This is regarding the men. . This is regarding the women. , meaning do not defect them. And His saying: . It is known that a person will not defect himself, but because the believers are brothers, your brother is like yourself. So His saying: means do not defect your brothers, but He expressed it as “yourselves” to make it clear that your brother is in the position of yourself. Just as you hate to defect yourself, hate to defect your brother. . One of you gives another a nickname in mockery of him. It may be, for example, that his tribe is attributed to a tribe that has something of a disliked nickname, so he attributes him to it, or his tribe has something of a funny nickname, so he attributes him to it, and the like of what constitutes giving nicknames. means that if you do that, you are among the open sinners. And . When a person defects his brother or mocks him or the like, he thereby becomes an open sinner. This indicates that mocking the believers, defecting them, and giving them nicknames are all among the major sins. means if he persists in this and does not repent to Allah the Mighty and Majestic, then he is a wrongdoer. Then the author mentioned another verse, which is the saying of Allah the Exalted: . And “Woe” is a word of warning that appears in the Qur'an in several places, all of which convey warning and threat to whoever does this. , meaning he defects others, sometimes by poking and sometimes by backbiting. Backbiting is with the tongue, and poking is with the limbs. The pocker and backbiter is threatened with this woe, and may Allah protect us from that. Then the author mentioned hadiths, and the discussion of them will come, if Allah wills, in the next lesson.