FIRST SERMON
All praise and thanks are due to Allāh, Lord of all that exist. 1 bear witness that none except Him has the right to be worshipped, with sincerity in the religion. 1 also bear witness that Muḥammad is Allāhs slave and Messenger and His truthful and trustworthy Messenger. May Allāhs peace and blessings be on Muḥammad, his progeny, his Companions and all those who followed them perfectly until the Day of Resurrection.
Dear brothers and sisters in Islām! We are in the second week of our Islamic Hijri calendar and today being the second Jumat we shall be examining in our Khutbah some despicable acts which are capable of creating discord, enmity and hatred among the Muslims, especially during this month of Muharram when all wrongdoings are totally forbidden. Recall that last Jumat we talked about the sacredness of Muharram and the great need for us to desist from wronging ourselves by engaging in evil acts that tend to corrupt relations between people when they are already good and pleasant. These acts are not honourable in the sight of Allah and totally condemned and criticized in both the Qur’an and the Sunnah of the Prophet (SAW).
Allah praises the manners of our beloved Prophet Muhammad (SAW) in the Qur’an so much so that we have been enjoined in the strongest term to emulate him and also take him as our role model. Allah (SWT) says:
“And surely you are on an exalted standard of character’’. (Q. 68:4)
“Indeed, in the messenger of Allah you have good example to follow for him who hopes to meet Allah and the Last Day and remembers Allah much. (Q. 33:21)
Indeed, the life of our Prophet Muhammad (SAW) is a practical example of how the most noble of manners can be embodied in reality. He (SAW) summarized his mission in one statement when he said:
“Indeed I was sent to complete and perfect noble manners”
There is a strong emphasis on noble manners in Islam, with many verses from the Qur’an and sayings from our beloved Prophet (SAW) outlining noble manners and good conduct and requiring us to implement these good manners in our daily lives. Islam came to guide our interactions with other human beings and the world around us, in order to prevent transgression, corruption and oppression. Islam came to protect the individual and society and to put an end to all forms of injustice and evil.
Dear servants of Allah! One such evil that Islam came to eradicate is a set of evil traits that tend to coexist and are a cause of great harm in society; these traits are summarized in the Qur’an when Allah says:
And do not follow or obey the worthless one who swears oaths lightly, [the one who] habitually belittles and mocks others behind their backs and spreads gossip, [the one who] habitually stands in the way of good and virtue, the sinful transgressor’’. (Q. 68:10-12)
Allah not only forbids these actions, but also very clearly forbids us from listening and obeying such people.
In the first instance, Allah speaks about the one who swears much (mahin) while using the names of Allah, albeit falsely and unnecessarily. And he does so because he knows he is a liar and is deceptive. Because he knows this about himself and yet persists, he is therefore worthless and not to be respected. Such a person will do anything to deceive people into trusting him. He will lie, construct false allegations against others – all this to serve himself and his ego. Such measures are taken by these narcissistic individuals because they are aware of their own lowliness and that others should not trust them. And therefore, a worthless person of that sort will stoop down to the level of spreading slander and gossip about others and he will stab the honour and reputation of others either directly or indirectly, in their presence or in their absence.
Ibn Abbas said in regards to the one who goes around spreading gossip and slander about others that the Prophet (SAW) once passed by two graves and he said,
“Verily, these two are being punished, and they are not being punished for something major. One of them was not careful about protecting himself from urine. The other one used to spread gossip”.
In another narration, Hudhayfah said, I heard the Messenger of Allah saying: “the slanderer will not enter into Paradise”
And today many Muslims not being aware of the consequences of this evil act indulge in it in abundance, especially through avenues such as face book and other social media outlets, these ego-centric individuals can spew their hatred with relative ease under the presumed anonymity provided by any fake online identity that they chose for themselves. Such people have sick souls and evil intentions and fulfill the meaning of verse 10 from Suratul Baqarah which states:
“In their hearts is a sickness and so Allah has increased their disease, and for them is a painful torment for the lies they used to make’’. (Q. 2:10)
May Allah protect us all from being among such a despicable variety.
أَقُولُ قَوْلِي هَذَا وَأَسْتَغْفِرُ اللَّهَ لِي وَلَكُمْ وَلِسَائِرِ المُسْلِمينَ وَالمُسْلِمَاتْ فَاسْتَغْفِرُوهْ إِنَّهُ هُوَ الْغَفُورُ الرَّحِيمُ
I say this and ask Allāh for forgiveness for me and you, so invoke Him for forgiveness, for He is the Most Forgiving, the Most Merciful.
SECOND SERMON
الحمد لله رب العالمين والصلاة والسلام على سيد المرسلين وعلى آله وأصحابه أجمعين
All praise is due to Allāh, the Lord of the Worlds. May the peace and blessings of Allāh be upon our Master Muḥammad, his pure family, companions, and all those who follow them in righteousness till the Day of Judgment.
Dear worshippers! As for the act of mocking and belittling others, and slighting people whether directly or indirectly, in front of them or behind their backs – this is something which has been explicitly forbidden in Islam. It has been criticized and forbidden multiple times in various surahs of the Qur’an. Allah (SWT) says in the Qur’an:
‘ O you who have believed, let not a people ridicule another group of people, perhaps they may be better than them; nor should women ridicule other women, perhaps they may be better than them; and do not insult one another and do not call each other by names perceived offensive by the other. There is no title worse than ‘disobedient to Allah after having accepted belief’; and whoever does not repent then indeed they are the wrongdoers’’. (Q. 49:11)
As mentioned previously in Suratul Qalam verse 11, such people who mock and make slights of others are also described as people who spread gossip and slander. Such people aim to destroy human relationships, severing ties between people and absolving feelings of good-will. And it is not only a very low thing to instigate, but also propagating such evil and being receptive to it is also forbidden. And our beloved Prophet Muhammad (SAW) used to prevent anyone from conveying to him any message about his companions which may change something in his heart towards them for the worse, he (SAW) said:
“Do not convey any such thing about my companions to me, for I like to meet you with a untainted heart”.
Our beloved Prophet Muhammad (SAW) asked his companions once:
“Shall I tell you who is the best of you?” “Yes” they replied. He said, “Those who when you see them you remember to glorify Allah.” He went on to say, “Shall I tell you who is the worst of you?” “Yes,” they replied. He said, “Those who go about slandering and spreading gossip, who ruin ties between those who love one another, those who desire to lead the innocent into wrong action and fault”.
O Servants of Allah,
In verse 12 of Suratul Qalam, as mentioned previously, such people who swear oaths lightly, who mock and belittle others and who spread gossip – such people are mentioned alongside those who act as barriers in front of good deeds and virtue. Such narcissistic, ego-centric people make efforts to prevent others from seeing virtue in anyone else and from engaging in any kind of good activity that is being led by anyone else. They do this to satisfy a perverse sickness they have in their hearts and Allah described such people as being sinful transgressors. And with such an evil goal dressed in the guise of piety and religion, it is no surprise that such people will resort to all of the aforementioned dirty tactics of gossip and rumours and making false oaths.
Dear brothers and sisters in Islam! The sins that were mentioned are not trivial and since they are actions which destroy societies and sow hatred, distrust and prevent the spread of good, Islam has prohibited them very strongly and there is severe punishment for those who propagate such evil. So let us clean our hearts and our actions and let us make sure that when we are on facebook, on our phones and dealing with others, that we are not destroying ourselves by being deceitful, spreading evil or acting as a barrier to virtue. And seek forgiveness from Allah, O you who believe, so that you may attain succes.
May Allah forgive our sins and protect our hearts from hypocrisy and low character.
O Allāh, please confer Your blessings and grant peace upon our Prophet Muḥammad (SAW), his family and all of the companions. May Allāh have mercy on our deceased parents teachers friends and relatives and gather them with the righteous. May Allāh make their dwelling with the ones upon whom Allāh has bestowed favour of the prophets and the steadfast affirmers of truth, O the Most Gracious the Most Forgiving.
©Dr. Mubin Olatoye Raji