Brotherhood in Islam

Brotherhood in Islam

Speaker: Khalid Yasin

Opening

(بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ - bismillahir-rahmanir-rahim)

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.

This is an informal advice, and the advice which I'm offering to you is offered on the basis of the well-known Hadith of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم where he said that the religion is advice and conformance. And when he was asked by his companions, "Advice and conformance to whom?" He said that the advice and conformance to Allah, to the Book of Allah, to the Sunnah of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلمto the leaders of the Muslims, and to the generality of the Muslim people.

(Sahih Muslim, Hadith 55)

So we know that at the least we have an obligation to each other to advise each other on the basis of what Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has ordered us, and to advise one another from the Book of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, to advise one another towards the Sunnah of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم to advise one another to obey and to conform to the leadership of the Muslims, and to advise one another in general as brothers. This advice which I'm offering to you is consistent, insha'Allah ta'ala, with this characteristic.

Introduction: The Duties of Brotherhood

I would like to title or to characterize my advice to you today as the duties of brotherhood. The duties of brotherhood are many, and I cannot expect in this setting to cover all the duties that we have towards each other as brothers, but I would like to use as a basis for my advice to you some of the ahadith from the Arba'een ahadith of Imam Nawawi rahimahullah.

I would just like to say a little bit about this collection of Imam Nawawi. I advise all the Muslim brothers, especially the emerging Muslims—those who are coming back to themselves, those who are coming back to the deen, those who are returning back to their Islamic consciousness, those who have children, and those who themselves at least want to begin their journey in knowledge upon something which is sound—I advise all the brothers to share it with their wives and their children and themselves to at least minimally read from the Arba'een ahadith as a basis to familiarize yourself with the body of ahadith. Read from them, become familiar with them, and inevitably try to memorize them.

Why?

Because this particular collection has been compiled by Imam Nawawi in a specific way to cover a number of subjects using only 40 ahadith. He has selected some of the pearls of the sayings of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم to cover, as it were, an ocean of knowledge—which is very difficult to do, to cover an ocean of knowledge with just a small book like this. In fact, many of the scholars said that volumes can be written just on each ahadith themselves. Just each one of these ahadith, a volume can be written and has been.

So I would like to use four different ahadith from the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم from this collection as a basis for my advice to you and my advice to myself.

The Muslim Condition: A Call to Return to Basics

In my estimation, and moving around the Muslim world and in examining the Muslim body and my being a part of the body, I think that one of the most serious deficiencies that we have is how we deal with each other. In every lecture I do all over the world, there are always groups of brothers who want to talk about Khilafah, about Islamic State, about the kuffar, about what should we do about the enemies of Allah, whether we should go for jihad. All of these are legitimate questions, and no one should trivialize them. We should not treat these brothers as if they are foolish, as if they are agents provocateur or something like that. No, we should treat them with seriousness because the questions are coming from a serious concern.

But the problem always for me is: how do brothers want to establish something as great as an Islamic State, something as ambitious, and how they want to elect or appoint and look for somebody to be the leader of the Muslims, when they themselves are not practicing the duties of brotherhood? They're not behaving as Muslims. We are not behaving as Muslims. We are not doing the simple duties inside of our families as fathers, as brothers, as husbands, as neighbors. We are not doing the simple things.

So if we're not doing the simple things, how do we expect to do bigger things? If someone is not able to understand simple mathematics like 9 times 9 is 81, how are they going to do logarithms? How are they going to do geometry? How are they going to do calculus? How are they going to construct a building that calls for them to do sophisticated mathematics but they don't know 9 times 9 is 81? They don't know how to divide one figure into another?

We would advise them that what they want to do is ambitious and good, but we should return back to the simple issue and recover, do those simple issues, and then build ourselves from that simple issue until we get to the more difficult ones.

So in this setting, I want to share with the brothers and also just advise myself again. And keep this in mind, brothers: I'm a new Muslim. I'm an older Muslim. I've been Muslim since 1965—we say now 37 years—trying to be a good Muslim, trying to be a decent Muslim, trying to maintain my Islamic consciousness. But still a new Muslim, because my father, mother, sisters, brothers, uncles, aunts, relatives, and other family members, they

are not Muslims. So I'm of the first generation Muslim among my family according to the category of Muslim we Muslims who fall into that category. That's who we are.

So certainly I don't have the ability to go deeply into this issue, but as it has affected me, as I have seen it among the Muslims, and as I see it here, and as I have been advised, I will do my best insha'Allah to try to deal with this subject. And I'll try to deal with it in a way that even these young boys here who are nine years old, eight years old, they should be able to appreciate it and understand it, insha'Allah.

First Hadith: Removing Grief and Seeking Knowledge

I would like to start first with a hadith, and this is a fairly long hadith that the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said:

(Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2699)

"Whoever removes a worldly grief from a believer, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will remove from him or her one of the griefs of the Day of Judgment. And whosoever alleviates the condition of a needy person, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will alleviate his condition and his needs in this world and the next. Whosoever shields a Muslim, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will shield him in this world and the next. And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will aid a servant of His so long as he aids his brother. And whosoever follows a path to seek knowledge therein, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will make easy for him a path towards Paradise. And no people gather together in one of the houses of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, reciting the Book of Allah and studying it among themselves, without tranquility descending on them, and mercy enveloping them, the angels surrounding them, and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala making mention of them among those who are with Him. Whosoever is slowed down by his actions will not be hastened forward because of his lineage."

Duties of Brotherhood Derived from This Hadith

Removing Grief from a Believer

In these words we see here, among the duties of brotherhood, the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم mentions: "Whoever removes the worldly grief from a believer."

So one of the conditions that we have towards each other is to look for anything which is uncomfortable. We should ask our brother when we meet him, look in his face, study him, and ask him: "How do you feel? How's

your condition? How's your family? How's your health? Are you working? Do you need anything?" With sincerity.

Suppose every time we met a Muslim, he asked us five or six questions like that: "How are you? How's your family? How's your health? How's your home? You need anything? You okay, brother? Alhamdulillah, if you need anything, let me know."

The brother who asked you that every time you meet him, what do you think about him? If there's something that you need, something happens in the course of a day and you don't know who to call or who to ask, if you meet that brother you will say to him, "I don't want to ask anything, I don't like to, but actually, insha'Allah, this is my situation."

But why? Because you don't feel ashamed to him, because every time you meet him he's asking you if you need something: "Don't ask anybody, call me."

This is one of the duties that we have towards each other: to look in the face of each other. Because the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said a believer is what to his brother? He's the mirror. When you look in the face of your brother, you know his situation because you know your own situation. And we should come to know each other well enough that our brother doesn't have to ask us for what he needs. We already know. We can tell by his disposition. We can tell by his demeanor. We can tell by his voice. We know because his wife may be mentioned to my wife. We know because his children play with my children. We know his situation.

So we don't embarrass him and we don't wait for him to have to ask us. We offer the need for our brother. This is one of the duties that we have: to console, to protect.

Alleviating the Condition of the Needy

The Messenger of Allah صلى الله عليه وسلم also mentioned: "Whoever alleviates the condition of a needy person, Allah will alleviate his condition in this world and the next."

To remove a Muslim brother or sister from a calamity, a situation they are in—whether it's debt, something physical, something psychological, a stress they are under, a pressure they are under—to come to their rescue and to do so in a way that no one knows their situation and that you came to help them except you, and that you keep this a secret. This is one of the duties of brotherhood.

Shielding a Muslim

The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said: "Whosoever shields a Muslim, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will shield him in this world and the next."

To protect a Muslim—what is to protect a Muslim? It means to protect him from any shame, not to allow anyone to see the fault or the shame of your brother. So if a Muslim does something which he himself is ashamed of, what should I do? Cover that for my brother. And maybe I come up to him and say, "Akhi,

subhanallah, you know, Akhi, Allah knows best, we are brothers, insha'Allah. I just want to mention something to you, and Akhi, you should try to take care of this issue."

Maybe you are the only one who knows, you the only one who saw it, but you don't reveal it to other people. But you come to your brother and you speak to him about that. And then after that, you hold this secret. And if there's anybody to speak to about it, you speak to him about it.

Or someone comes to you and mentions to you something about the brother, and you say, "Akhi, I don't know that about him." Even though maybe you know it, you say, "Akhi, I don't know that about the brother. I only know the good about the brother. But insha'Allah, Akhi, I think maybe, maybe you and I, we should go to the brother and speak to the brother."

So what are you doing in that case? You're forcing this person who came to you with that information to confront that brother himself in your presence, so it doesn't go further. First thing you did is you tried to suppress that issue. Say, "No, I don't know that about the brother." So you are putting the best construction on it. You are protecting the brother's honor. You are protecting that brother's reputation. And the second thing, you are sealing the situation before it goes to somebody else. You just say, "Akhi, why don't we go and speak to the brother ourselves together?"

The other thing: to shield a Muslim brother also is to protect him from some harm. If you know that there is some harm may come to that brother, you can protect him in different ways. You can warn him. Or if he doesn't know about it, you don't have the chance to warn him, you can simply protect him by vouching for him.

Suppose someone came to you and you the only witness of an action that a brother did, and you are asked, "Did you see that? Do you know that? Weren't you a witness to that action?" You can say in that case, "Akhi, I don't -I'm not sure of what I saw. Akhi, I don't want to be a witness to anything because I'm not certain about that. Insha'Allah, may Allah help the brother."

Maybe you're the only witness that can come forward to indict that situation. You have the right, out of protection for that brother—and Allah knows best, there is some difference of opinion about this: how serious the issue is and how many people it involves and what kind of transgression that it might have been—but the issue is to protect the honor of the Muslim, protect the reputation of the brother, protect the person of the brother.

The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said: "Allah will shield him in this world and the next who shields and protects his brother." So we know that protection and shielding the faults of a Muslim and any harm coming to a Muslim is one of the duties of brotherhood.

Aiding Your Brother

He said صلى الله عليه وسلم: "Allah will aid a servant of His, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will help a servant as long as the servant does what? He helps his brother."

Third Hadith: Do Not Envy One Another

On the authority of Abu Hurairah, hear the Messenger of Allah صلى الله عليه وسلم said:

"Do not envy one another, do not have hasad for one another, don't inflate prices on one another, do not hate one another, and do not turn away from one another, and do not undercut, but be, you, O servants of Allah, brothers."

(Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2563)

Don't look to what the other brother has and desire what he has.

In another hadith, also in the ahadith of Imam Nawawi, a man asked the Messenger of Allah صلى الله عليه وسلم: "O Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم tell me what I can do that—if I do it—Allah will love me and the people will love me."

What did the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم tell him? "Give up your desire, give up your inclination towards what other people own, and the people will love you. And give up your attachment to the dunya or your preoccupation of it, and Allah will love you."

(Sunan Ibn Majah, Hadith 4102)

And you know, it is psychologically this is the case. When you meet a rich person, a powerful person, if you comment to him about his nice house—"Oh, I think, you know, your house is nice, I think, subhanallah," "Okay, you know, you have a nice this," "Oh, I think, subhanallah, your car is nice," "Oh, I think, subhanallah, man, you got a nice wife, I think," "Okay, you know, I'm, subhanallah, your children, I think"—he doesn't want you around him. He doesn't want you around him because he knows that you'll put the evil eye on him. You're already desiring what he has, and these kinds of people, they don't want you around them.

But the people who are around rich people like that who don't care anything about them, whatever they got, they don't care about their wealth, they don't care what other people think about them, who they are, they treat them just like another guy, they tell a man, "Go sit down and be quiet, man." I have experience this year with movie stars, sports figures, people in the media, big big shots we call them. If you don't pay them any attention, you just treat them like another person, they like you. But if you chase after them and give them some feeling of what they have is valuable, they make you chase them even more.

Here, the Messenger of Allah صلى الله عليه وسلم gives us a wisdom: don't have envy for our brother, don't have hasad.

Protecting from the Evil Eye

If you look to your brother's child, he has a beautiful child, you compliment him. What's the dua when we see something? When somebody compliments something that you have, what's the dua? Tabarak Allah. Always say,

"Tabarak Allah," and remove and protect yourself from the evil eye.

Because envy happens innocently. It's a natural desire to see something that is nice that you like it and to want it, and not to necessarily want to take it from the brother, but to want to have it since he has it. The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said don't have hasad for your brother, don't have envy.

Do Not Inflate Prices or Exploit

Also, the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم–because envy leads to exploitation, it leads to jealousy, envy, jealousy, exploitation-the Messenger of Allah صلى الله عليه وسلم said: "Do not inflate prices on one another." That means don't exploit each other, don't take advantage of each other. Don't take advantage of a situation where there's a drought, so there's no water. So normally, maybe the price of a liter of water maybe it's one dollar, but there's a drought, it happens, and there's no water available, so now the man says, "Okay, it's five, it's five pounds, it's five dollars now." Don't inflate prices on each other.

And don't go next to your Muslim brother—he's selling something—and because you want to enter that market, you sit next to your Muslim brother and you undercut him. No. You go into the marketplace and you see what the basic prices are in the market, and you enter the market with respect and with dignity. You don't undercut the people, but you put your goods out and you see what the prices are, and you fix your prices similar to the prices in the marketplace. And there is some rule in Islam about this here.

And you have the faith, you have the yaqeen inside of yourself that whatever Allah wants to bring to you, your customers will come to you. You don't have to undercut.

Marriage and Brotherhood

And the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم even mentioned this about the marriage. It's haram for a Muslim brother to seek the hand of a woman in marriage when he knows that his Muslim brother makes the intent for her. Even though maybe you got the connection, you heard maybe the sister she likes you, you heard she liked you, she asked about you through somebody, but you heard your brother, he asked about her, so you stay away. This is the manner. This is the duties that we have for each other.

Love for Your Brother What You Love for Yourself

The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said:

"None of you truly believes until you love for your Muslim brother what you love for yourself."

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 13; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 45)

And Imam al-Ghazali, he said in his discussion on this particular hadith—and Allah knows best—he said that this is the lowest form of the brotherhood. To love for your brother what you love for yourself is the lowest

form. Actually, the highest form is to do what? Is to want for your brother better than what you have for yourself.

As was demonstrated by the Companions of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم when they entered Medina Munawwara, what did they do? One of the Companions of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم–and I cannot remember the name of the companion—they were put in twos, one Muhajir and one Ansari. He took his brother to the marketplace and he told him, "Brother, you can take half of my—" I'm sorry, he took him to his house.

"Brother, you share with me my house, and you share with me my property. Subhanallah, I have two wives, and you take the one which you like. Subhanallah, you and I, we will not do that. And if we did that, we'll give him maybe the older wife, you see, or the one is not so beautiful."

It's natural to give to our brother. If I have a thobe, I give him a thobe. Maybe I had that thobe, but I got a new thobe. I'm not going to give it to brother.

So the highest form of faith and the sign of brotherhood is to want for your brother not just what you want for yourself, but something more than that, to offer to your brother.

And that Muhajir, that Sahabi, he said, "No, Akhi, insha'Allah, may Allah reward you, Akhi. Please, just show me to the marketplace, insha'Allah, and just show me to the marketplace, and I will earn my money, insha'Allah," you see.

Fourth Hadith: Do Not Hate One Another

So, brothers, here the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم is saying: "Do not hate one another."

If a brother does something to you what you don't like, don't carry that on his head for the next few months. You avoid him, you speak bad to others about him, you complain to the imam about him, you complain to other brothers about what that brother did. He spoke to you rough, or he spoke to you, he insulted you, he did this, he did that.

Because what happens is this feeling that's inside of your heart against that brother, Shaytan will play on that, and he will increase it. Before you know it, not to just dislike that brother, you begin to hate that brother. And that hatred will lead to enmity. And before you know it, you'll see him as a—you'll see him as an opponent.

So when he needs help, you will leave him, you'll refuse him. And if you feel that way about him, you will send a signal to him, and how will he feel about you?

So the Messenger of Allah صلى الله عليه وسلم told us: "Do not hate each other, and do not turn away from one another."

The Three-Day Rule

The Messenger of Allah صلى الله عليه وسلم told us it's halal for two Muslims to avoid each other for how long? For three days only, isn't it?

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 6077; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2560)

After three days, the one who comes back to the other is the better one. Say, "I don't know what happened. Please come to my house for dinner, insha'Allah, because I keep-come to my house for dinner, come to my house for lunch. I don't know what's happened. I love you for the sake of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Shaytan, he came, and I think, insha'Allah, I've been thinking about this, actually, insha'Allah, please accept actually, please, you accept this gift from me. And, insha'Allah, for you also, from my wife to your wife. And please forgive me."

Maybe he was the one-maybe the brother was the one that insulted you. Maybe he's the one that created this situation. Maybe you had the right, he was in the wrong. Subhanallah, if you can override that and go back to him and see if you can resolve this, this is a tremendous accomplishment, because you have defeated the Shaytan.

The Muslim is the Brother of a Muslim

The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said: "Do not undercut, but be, you, O servants of Allah, brothers. Brothers."

The Muslim is the brother of a Muslim. The kafir is not the brother of a Muslim. He's not the friend of a Muslim.

You know, we go to school with kuffar, we work with kuffar, we live around kuffar, and we say, "That's my friend," and, "You know, I got a friend, he's a non-Muslim." Subhanallah, how you got a friend is a non-Muslim? The non-Muslims are not our friends. You have an associate that's a non-Muslim. He's a decent guy. He'd like to be with you. You guys joke together, you sit together, you eat together. But he's never your friend.

Your friends are none other than whom? Allah and His Messenger صلى الله عليه وسلم and the believers.

So we have to value our brotherhood, because if you don't have your brother, who do you have? If you're not with your brother, who will you be with? You'll be with someone other than your brother. And if you're with someone other than your brother, you were from kuffar.

And you may think at one moment that the kuffar, they have some respect for you, they have some concern for you, they have some loyalty to you. But you will find in a given situation, they have no concern and no respect and no loyalty for you at all.

But your brother, if you repair the situation, if you cultivate the situation, your brother will maintain loyalty with you. He will maintain an honor with you. He will assist you, and he will be with you. But it's something that we have to cultivate.

The Muslim Brother Does Not Oppress or Fail Him

The Messenger of Allah صلى الله عليه وسلم said:

"A Muslim brother neither oppresses him nor does he fail him."

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 2442; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2580)

We don't oppress the brother. We don't take advantage of the brother. We don't intimidate the brother. We don't cause any fright in the brother. Even we don't have a right to intimidate a brother. If I'm strong and a brother is weak, I don't have the right to cause intimidation in him.

Even we should not say to each other we're behind a wall, and I'm standing behind the wall, and the brother can't see "Boom!" Subhanallah, no, we cannot do that. This is a violation of the brotherhood. We don't have the right to cause this kind of even let's play the joke.

The Messenger of Allah صلى الله عليه وسلم made brotherhood very sacred, very important. It's the whole basis of the Muslim society: brotherhood. And when there's no brotherhood, believe it, there is no substance among the Muslims. No substance.

The Muslim brother doesn't oppress his brother. He doesn't fail him. If he makes a promise to him, he keeps the promise. And if he fails to keep that promise, he apologizes and he tries to make up for it. He's there. If his brother leans on him, he's there. He receives him. It's like in the street you say, "I got your back." When your Muslim brother says, "I got your back," that means he's got it. He's there. You can depend upon that. This is the kind of brotherhood that we're looking for.

The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said: "He doesn't lie to him."

If you ask your brother a question and he answers you, you know that you can take that to the bank. You know it's true. He's not going to lie to you.

"And he never holds him in contempt."

Taqwa and Brotherhood

The Messenger of Allah صلى الله عليه وسلم said: "Where is taqwa?"

Taqwa is inside the heart. You cannot, on one hand, have piety, fear of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, and also have a hatred for Muslims. You cannot. The two things cannot sit in the heart the same place.

The man who fears Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, thinks about Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, wants from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, asks from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, pleads towards Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala for forgiveness, for mercy, for strength, for guidance—the man who has this kind of feeling inside his heart, he's what? Muttaqi. He cannot have hatred for his Muslim brother at the same time.

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ and he pointed to his chest three times to emphasize this issue—and he said: "It is evil enough"—meaning that it's enough evidence that there is evil in a Muslim—"to have what? Contempt for another Muslim."

Because contempt doesn't happen overnight. When you develop contempt for a Muslim brother, hatred for a Muslim brother, it has cultivated. The seed was planted, and you also cultivated it and allowed it to be cultivated. So it's an evidence that there's evil in you for you to have allowed this enmity for your brother to cultivate.

Everything About a Muslim is Sacred

So what did the Prophet ﷺ end with in this hadith? He says:

(Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2564)

"Everything about a Muslim to a Muslim is haram—sacred, inviolable. Damuhu—his blood, his life. Maluhu—his property, whatever he has. Wa irduhu—his honor, his reputation, his family."

If all of us, insha'Allah ta'ala, we are...

END OF KHUTBAH