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Silence: A lost Sunnah
Picture this:You are invited to a
wedding party and you are sitting in the midst of uncles that are talking about
Islam, politics and the economy. One goes ” The present crises in our countries
is because America is destroying us.” The other goes “Of course all bad you see
is because America has its agents as our leaders!”. Conspiracy theories, rants
surround the conversation. Then all of a sudden after a long debate between two
uncles a point comes up about Islam. MashAllah then all of the gathering
becomes a gathering of the great fuqaha of our times. They start quoting the
Quran and the hadith even though they don’t know Arabic , they still insist
that this is what they read and know it is the truth. Now the debate shifts to
the translation. “Oh I read this translation and it says so and so!” The hadith
says so and so. Then all of a sudden other people start pouncing in on the
debate and offering their own ijtihaad. Before you know it it is time for Isha.
Some of them are so caught up in the moment of the discussion that they become
emotional to the point that they neglect their prayers. And after all this debate
now its time to eat and be filled. So now the focus is more on the food rather
the discussion. After filling the tank the debate is ended with handshakes and
the place left for some other group for the future to repeat the above process
with variations. Picture another scenario: You are
going to the Jummua’h Khutbah and the Khateeb happens to be a person who does
not have a beard is wearing a Morrocan jilabiyya. On top of that he is
supposedly very successful in secular life and he is talking about Greek
philosophy and how Islam are one and the same thing. He is talking about
Aristotle. Aristotle said “this this”. He is portraying Islam is all peace.
Islam is all peace brother. The result is you have a confused youth and a
confused gathering. When you go to the Jummua’h khuthbah you want to be
rejuvinated. It is said the Prophet(SAW) would get red when delivering the
khuthbah to emphasize a point so that the people could understand the gravity
of what he was trying to convey!. Today people go on the minbar and they don’t
even quote a single Quranic verse or a hadith. They use Greek philosophy and
personal reasoning to explain issues that relate to us. So I went up to the
Imam and said to him here is a great book on how to deliver a khuthbah. Please
let meknow what you think. His response ” Brother please don’t come to my
khutbah!”. The cloak of Islam cannot be sold
for anything.If we cannot say the truth we must act on this Hadith: Abû
Hurayrah relates that Allah’s Messenger (peace be upon him) said: “Whoever
believes in Allah and the Last Day should speak a good word or remain silent.
And whoever believes in Allah and the Last Day should show hospitality to his
neighbor. And whoever believes in Allah and the Last Day should show
hospitality to his guest.” [ Sahîh al-Bukhârî and Sahîh Muslim ] So how many of us practicing this
Sunnah. If you cannot speak the haqq dont distort the meanings to fit your
thinking. Because my aql and your aql and every aql on the face of the planet
wether its a human or Jinn cannot understand Allah’s Hikmah(Wisdom) and His
Kalam i.e. Quran. If you don’t know just say you don’t know and be silent. Why
is it so hard for us to be silent? I have seen many great scholars who prefer
to be silent then talk. They don’t talk much. However when they open their
mouth all others are silent and must listen. Why so? They have something called
Ilm that Allah has Blessed them with out of his Mercy. One sentence can cause
us to go the Hellfire and one sentence can cause us to go to Jannah. So we must
think before we speak. We must be on guard.We must discipline our tongue to use
it as less as possible and use it ONLY when we are qualified
to. I remember once I was on a trip
with a Shaykh and he saw some youth making fun of certain aspects of Islam. The
Shaykh got upset and got up and said: “Let me narrate to you a story of Imam
Ahmed. He said once Imam Ahmed was sitting in a gathering and they were
reciting a verse from Surah yusuf
يُوسُفُ
أَعْرِضْ
عَنْ هَـذَا
وَاسْتَغْفِرِي
لِذَنبِكِ
إِنَّكِ
كُنتِ مِنَ الْخَاطِئِينَ
. V28; at that same moment a person by the name of Yusuf walked in and they
were on this verse. All of them started laughing. Imam Ahmed got up and said if
you do not all get up and renew your shahada now I will impose the hadd of Rida
on you!” Food for our thought. Also we must be very careful when
we are watching humorous shows. They have alot of things that must be taken
seriously. Like the Christians or Jews we do not make fun of our religion. We
do not! Allah has forbidden us from doing so in the Quran. This happened to me once when I
was in college. I was sitting reading the Quran. There was a Christian who
happened to be sitting with me. My laptop was on but I had not turned down the
volume. The athan software started. This Christian he looked around and figured
out it is coming from my laptop and he initiated a smile which became a mocking
comment which I wish not to reproduce here. I asked why do you smile and say
this? He said this is something funny. How can you listen to this five times a
day! Audhubillah! And interestingly I had just read this ayah 10 minutes before
this incident! I pray to Allah to forgive us, I
ask Allah to help us guard our tongues and I ask Allah to enter us into
Firdausul Ala! Possibly related posts:
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