Shaykh Muhammad An-Ninowy's khutbah on Avoiding the dangers of Self-Righteousness

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
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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."