Avoiding the dangers of Self-Righteousness Title: Avoiding the dangers of Self-Righteousness Reference: Tafsir of Surah An Nisaa , Verses 49 Category: Tafseer/Khutbah Quran: Alam tara ilalazeena yuzakuna anfuasahum, balillahu yuzaki man ya shaa, wala yuzlamuna fateela The ayah has a general mean and then see the application of the Ayah. Haven't you seen those who praise themselves, but Allah knows who is worthy of praise indeed. And Allah does not do injustice That means Allah knows that people do injustice…… Quran and the message of the prophet, is firstly a human message, a message that is acceptable to human beings regardless of their culture and background… Honestly, truthfulness, speaking the truth, even against yourself, sincerity The one that came with these rights was Adam, they were then revived by the prophet and then Umar radiallahu anhu…. Umar said, since when have you enslaved people and they were born free …. Who has given you the right to think you are different ??? Islam tells you to accept people and be merciful to people regardless of who they are …. Just because some mulsims do backbiting and have ill feelings for others, it doesn't mean islam encourages these… The muslim is a fellow brother of a muslim, he does not even belittle him… What is self righteousness??? It means that you think that you are more worthy or righteous than others…. At the beginning of the dawah, who came with the prophet ? Jafar Radiallahu Anhu was the first ambassador sent to Habasha… The people who tried to rebuttle him said he follows a man who is a liar, and tried to belittle them in many other ways… But the very people that were enslaved and Islam freed became masters of the world. Bilal Radiallahu anhu , a dark east African man… As he was not an Arab, he use to say "As hadd" in Adaan instead of "Ash hadd"…. So people use to complain about him. The prophet said and what the hadith above means is that if your muslim brother makes a mistake, you compliment him, not expose him… Hadith: "Every son of Adam is a sinner, but the best of sinners are those who repent to Allah" Hadith: "The example of the Mumin to his fellow mumin is like bricks" It means construction not destruction….. So they complained about Bilal and he Sallalahu alaihi wa alihi wasalam said "The seen of Bilal is Sheen in the court of Allah…. Imam Shafi'i said "your tongue should not mention the deficiencies of others, because your filled with deficiencies and other people also have tongues. If your eyes show you deficiencies in others, close your eyes and say, oh eye, others have eyes and they are watching me. And live in peace with others and those who commit transgressions against you, greet them". Islam does not believe in democracy but in Freedom, because Freedom means that you are enslaved to Allah and nothing else… Ali Radiallahu Anhu sent Malik Ashtar, and gave him leadership of Egypt, but before he let him go, he said to him "People to you are two kinds, either they are equal to you in creation, or he is a brother to you in the deen". Where do we stand as Muslims? We take this briefcase full of beautiful values and offer it to Humanity. A Muslim walks and interacts with everything.. The Sahaba saw everything , even trees walking to the prophet sallalahu alaihi wa alihi wassalam… They also saw the crying of the tree that kept weaping before the beloved.. If he did not hug it, it would have been crying until the day of Judgement. When the prophet came to Madinah, all of the Sahaba wanted him to come to their home. Abu Ayub took his luggage and said my home. The prophet said , don't worry about the camel , it will stop where it is ordered to stop. Allah says about the people of Firaun "the earth and heavens did not cry on them". It means the heavens and earths will cry on the Mumin when you leave this world… When you recite Surah Ka'af on Friday or recite the Quran, a light is lit from heavens to the earth…. Allah ordered you to make Salah and Salam on the beloved, but is Allah in need of your Salah and Salaam or is the prophet needy ? What is the point then? You help yourself when you put yourself in connection with Allah and his Messenger. When the man came to Usmaan and Usmaan said to him, "how dare you come to my gathering and you have the smell of adultery in your eyes?" The man replied "is there a prophecy after Muhammad?" He replied "no, it's the Firasa of the Mumin that he sees the truth." We worry about bickering and backbiting and so forth, we will be accountable for everything. Not a word you say, but you are actually accountable for and it is written for you. How do people praise themselves? There are three ways a person praises themselves….. 1) The deeds This is actually good, Allah says, he is successful he who does the deeds to praise himself. You do Zakah, Hajj, aiming to please Allah…. If you try to please people, you will never succeed. The shaykh gives the hadith where the prophet sallalahu alaihi wa alihi wasalam spoke of the Salah and being purified from it. 2) Praising for the Haqq I missed this bit………. 3) Praising oneself When you are asked for Charity, you say "Alhamdulilah, I gave it yesterday"… Nobody asked you about Yesterday ….. Zahid (detached from duniya and attached to Allah). He is always in dhkr, the king invited him to his sons wedding after Isha. He replied "I have a meeting with my lord after isha, who is more important to me". Self praising results from two things, ignorance and guroor Ostentation (thinking our better than others) and it comes from Iblees. One thinks they are better than others in rights and responsibilities. This leads to Oppression of yourself and others, and you judge other hearts. The shaytaan will influence them, and their hearts will be darkened, and they will not be able to see, as their hearts will be blind and Allah mentions in the quran, that the heart is blind, not the eyes… We have to have this pure heart (Qalb Saleem)… If there are any faults in the postings above, they are due to myself and not from the original khutba of Shaykh. May Allah(subhanahu wa ta alaa) continue to elevate the Maqam of our shaykh and their Noble family and give us all the ability to benefit from their wealth of knowledge and wisdom, and forgive me for my shortcomings. Ameen __________________ عابد محمود From Ubayy Ibn K'ab RA. "The believer has four characteristic. If he is afflicted by any misfortune, he remains patient and steadfast. If he is given anything, he is grateful.If he speaks, he speaks the truth. If he passes a judgement on any issue, he is just."