{O you who believe! Let not a group scoff at another group, it may be that the latter are better than the former; nor let (some) women scoff at other women, it may be that the latter are better than the former, nor defame one another, nor insult one another by nicknames. How bad is it, to insult one’s brother after having Faith [i.e. to call your Muslim brother (a faithful believer) as: “O sinner”, or “O wicked”, etc.]. And whosoever does not repent, then such are indeed Dhalimun (wrong-doers, etc.).}
[(49):11]
In this second part we want to change up the focus a bit. In the first part we talked about the issue of not looking down on, and belittling one another. Now, we want to discuss the horrible habit that we have of desiring to defame one another. This is a sickness which has crept into many of our societies, and we need to begin to purify ourselves and our communities for this disease that some have become infected with, in these days.
How common is it that without something even having to happen, that it has become normal that we walk around insulting one another. So much so, that it is even done out of fun between friends. We have become a people that call one another out of their names. We love to attribute to people things in which we know that they are not proud of, and would like to hide from others. All of what we are mentioning now is something that we laugh about among one another as friends. The situation gets worse though, especially how we see it often, even in our own masaajid.
It has gotten to the point that one is considered to be cool, and to some, it even raises a persons status to be able to be the one that defames his brothers in the sight of everyone else. We try to be the first to not only discover something wrong with our brother or sister (someone that Allah loved enough to guide them to Islam), yet we look to destroy their reputation in the eyes of the people, because of that which we have found. Can you possibly tell me that you do not see this problem often in many of our communities.
Then it even gets worse. You will find that some people will lie, just to be able to say that they are the one that discovered the situation of this other individual. This is a horrible characteristic for a Muslim to have, especially with another Muslim. Why has trying to bring one another down become such a popular thing? Is this from this Sunnah that we claim to be upon? Rather it is the exact opposite of how we are supposed to be when we really find something about our brothers and sisters. It is even worse when we find ourselves lying to do so. Subhanna Allah.
Even before looking at our brothers and sisters faults and having bad thoughts about them, we have been commanded to make excuses for them. After all Muhammad Ibn Sireen (may Allah be pleased with him) was reported to have said “If something reaches you about your brother, then search for an excuse for him. If you do not find an excuse for him, then make an excuse for him.” It is possible that they were mistaken, misinformed, unaware of the ruling for what they have done, or any of a million different things. Yet we choose to over look all of those reasons, not only to justify thinking badly about the Muslim, but also to justify defaming them in the eyes of everyone else. How can we hold this as correct. Is this what we are pleased with for ourselves? As a matter of fact, it was the Prophet (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) that said;
“None of you truly believes until he loves for his brother what he loves for himself.”
[Reported by al Bukhari and Muslim]
Therefore, in conclusion, we need to begin being more mindful of what comes out of our mouths and what we let roll off of our tongues. This especially holds true when we are talking about the honor of our brothers and sisters. We are not in a situation where there is no repercussions to our actions and statements. We need to get past that old feeling that if someone can not beat us or harm us, that we are free to do and say whatever we feel fits the situation. We need to understand that there are scribes that are responsible for recording what we say and do. That which they are recording is going to be either a witness for us, or against us on a day in which we will be begging to have any evil that we have committed moved far away from us and either pardoned or forgiven. This is not a concept that we are making up, rather Allah informs us of these scribes in the Quran. Maybe we should take some time to reflect on His statement about this when He says;
{Man does not utter any word except that with him is an observer prepared [to record].}
[(50):18]
May Allah rectify all of our affairs and forgive us for our disobedience and shortcomings. Allahuma ameen.
To be continued…
