The Trust of Our Limbs: Accountability on Judgment Day

Jumu'ah Khutbah — Mawlana Abdul Ahad

The Accountability of Our Limbs on the Day of Judgment

Allah mentions in the Qur'an:

The mufassirūn have mentioned regarding this ayah that on the Day of Judgment, every single limb — Allah will address every single limb, and that limb will respond in accordance to how the person's deeds were in the dunya. So Allah mentions that the hearing that Allah has given us — our ears — they will be questioned about what they heard in the dunya. The heart, what passed in the heart, what remained in the heart, what do we fill our hearts with — that will be questioned also by Allah on the Day of Judgment. And Allah mentions about the eyes, وَالْبَصَرَ, that these will be questioned about what they used to see.

Our Limbs Are an Amānah from Allah

Allah mentions that He created insān, and He took them out:

He created human beings, He removed you and He took you out from the wombs of your mothers, not having anything, and He gave you hearing, He gave you sight, He gave you a heart. Allah granted these as what? As an amānah.

Everything that we have is an amānah. Allah mentions:

Every single thing — an amānah, a trust — which Allah has bestowed upon a human being, it belongs to Allah at the end of the day. If you give something to one of your companions and your friends, you expect them to look after that trust. You expect them to look after that amānah which you had given them.

All of our limbs, everything which Allah has given us — this is an amānah, this is a trust from Allah. If you are given a car to drive that doesn't belong to you, generally you will drive it in a more safe manner, because it doesn't belong to you. You don't want to get into a car accident. You're just not going to floor the pedal and just drive and accelerate. You'll brake slowly, you'll speed up slowly also. When it's your own car, people drive crazy here on North Avenue — they drive however they want to drive.

When you have the cognition and recognition that whatever we have — our limbs — they don't belong to us, then you use them in a careful manner. When a person understands that a child doesn't belong to me, it belongs to Allah, they understand not to abuse the child. They understand not to always reprimand the child by yelling at the child and beating the child. That wife that you have — Allah didn't give you that wife, or the husband that a wife has, that you don't own them. That is a blessing Allah has given to you, and Allah has taken away anytime He wants to.

The Eyes — Their Purpose and Their Sins

Similarly, the limbs that we have — and specifically the eyes which Allah has granted us. These eyes are a means of recognizing the bounties of Allah, seeing the creation of Allah. In numerous places in the Qur'an, Allah talks about: Do you not see the mountains? Do you not look at the camels? Do you not see the trees? Do you not look at the heavens and the skies? What's the purpose of that? So when you see that, you reflect upon the Creator. Because:

In every single thing is a sign that indicates to the oneness of Allah. The مَخْلُوق — why is it رَبُّ الْعَالَمِينَ? The عَالَمِين is all the different roles, because the عَالَم, from عَلَم — it's a sign, it's a token, it's a symbol, which indicates and points to Allah, the Creator.

But the sins of the eyes have become so rampant and so common in this day and age. And the Prophet ﷺ, at that time, over 1400 years ago — when the accessibility to sin was not easy — in that time, he mentioned numerous ahādīth and gave strict warnings about the usage of the eyes. Allah Himself mentioned in the Qur'an:

Allah links the eyes with the heart, with the chest — that He knows the deception of the eyes, and what the hearts conceal. It's because the eye has a direct impact upon your heart. That is why even ulamā will mention: when you're reciting Qur'an, it is better to recite whilst looking in the muṣḥaf, because looking into the muṣḥaf also is an ibādah. It has an effect upon your heart. Looking at your parents with a smiling face, smiling at your parents, or looking at your children or your wife in a loving manner — there's reward for that, and that has an effect upon one's heart.

Similarly, if a person, on the opposite, vice versa — they look at things which are impermissible to look at — it has an effect upon the heart also. And Allah mentions:

The eye snatches glances where a person is not able to be seen. It's very quick to catch a quick glance at something inappropriate. But Allah even knows that. And that's why even ulamā would mention: if a person has difficulty controlling their glances and eyes, do murāqabah and contemplate over this ayah.

Allah knows the deception of the eyes. No one will know what I'm doing at 12 AM at night. No one will see when I'm walking, when I'm driving — I look at that billboard, I look on the sidewalk at the opposite gender. But know that Allah is seeing those quick glances which you are stealing. So Allah has mentioned the correlation between the eyes and the heart itself.

The Hadith on the First and Second Glance

The Prophet ﷺ has mentioned in the narration of Sahih Muslim:

(Sahih Muslim, Book 39, Hadith 5)

Don't follow up one glance with another. You have the first one but you don't have the other.

Some people may think — they take this hadith in the wrong context. If you know there is the opposite gender present there, you know that she is there or he is there — that doesn't mean you get to take a glance. This is talking about an accidental glance. You are walking, you don't know there was a female, or for the opposite, you don't know there is a male. And you just happen to look there, and you found out — oh, it was a female or it was a male. Then you are supposed to lower your gaze. Not that "I already knew, so I get the first one, and then I'm supposed to lower my gazes after that."

Nor does it indicate that your first glance is extended. Your first glance is not one minute. As soon as you figure out within a fraction of a second — you see her or you see him — you are supposed to lower your gazes.

The Ahkām of Lowering the Gaze in Sūrah an-Nūr

And when you look in the Qur'an, Allah has emphasized the ahkām of separation between men and women, and all the different precautions that have been taken — specifically in Sūrah an-Nūr. In Sūrah al-Mu'minūn, Allah mentions the different صِفَات of those believers that will be entering into Jannah. Amongst those صِفَات, one of them is those that safeguard their private parts. Allah just mentioned the quality — He didn't elaborate on the rulings regarding it. Then in the next sūrah, in Sūrah an-Nūr, Allah elaborates on all the different ahkām pertaining to this.

Sūrah an-Nūr itself starts off with the rulings: if a person were to commit zinā, if a person were to commit fornication, what is the ruling of that individual? What is the punishment that they will get? Then Allah mentions after that those ayāt — O you who believe, do not enter into someone else's house other than yours without seeking permission.

The Prophet ﷺ has mentioned in a hadith:

Seeking permission to enter into one's house — what is the purpose of that? Why is that necessary? لِأَجْلِ الْبَصَرِ — because of the eyes. If you just decide to walk into anyone else's house, you're going to see things that you're not supposed to see. Even for example in your own house — sometimes you're married, you have a sister-in-law that's coming to visit. Now if you just decide to open the keys without knocking and informing, you might see them uncovered without wearing proper hijab. So that's why the Prophet ﷺ has mentioned that one of the ādāb of entering a house, even being your own house, is that you seek permission before entering it.

Then after Allah mentions this, and the ahkām pertaining to that in Sūrah an-Nūr, He mentions lowering the gazes for the believers — addressing the males, and addressing the females. Even though the majority of the Qur'an, whenever Allah addresses the believers, He addresses them totally as one whole. He doesn't separate the males and females. But here Allah mentioned to the Prophet ﷺ:

Tell the believing men to lower their gazes. ذٰلِكَ أَزْكَىٰ لَهُمْ — that is more pure for them. إِنَّ اللّٰهَ خَبِيرٌ بِمَا يَصْنَعُونَ — and Allah is well aware of everything which they do.

Then Allah addresses the females:

Tell the believing females to lower their gazes also from the opposite gender, and safeguard their private parts.

Now why does Allah mention these two together? Because your eyes are like a camera. As soon as you see something, you take a picture of it. That picture could cause different desires inside you. And that desire is what leads to a person committing fornication. So Allah has mentioned that you safeguard your glances, because that leads to a person committing fornication.

Lowering the Gaze Brings the Nūr of Imān

Then after that Allah mentions:

And that's one place in the Qur'an where Allah mentions this name of His — Nūr. The reason why ulamā mention is that, what's the correlation there? If a person lowers their gazes and safeguards their eyes, then insha'Allah, Allah will grant them the nūr of īmān inside their heart. You want the nūr of īmān? You want the taste of ṣalāh? You want the taste of fasting and all of these different types of ibādāt? Learn to lower your gazes.

And this is a sin not only our youth are involved in, but the elderly, the adults, young children — everyone is involved in this sin. That's why in Sūrah an-Nūr, right after the ayāt of lowering the gazes and how a woman should dress, Allah says:

All of you believers, do repent back to Allah together. Everyone. Why? Because everyone is involved in this sin. This is such a sin that everyone is afflicted by it. And now in this day and age, with everything which we have on the computers and the phones, this has been multiplied. And the sin has just been multiplied for all the sins in our account as a result of this.

The Hadith on the Rights of the Streets

The Prophet ﷺ himself mentioned to the ṣaḥābah:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 2465; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2121)

Be careful about sitting in the streets. So the ṣaḥābah said: مَا لَنَا بُدٌّ يَا رَسُولَ اللهِ — we don't have any choice, we have to sit on the streets, we have majālis there. So he said: فَإِنْ أَبَيْتُمْ فَأَدُّوا حَقَّ الطَّرِيقِ — if you have to sit in the streets and the sidewalks, then fulfill the rights of the sidewalks. So the ṣaḥābah asked the Prophet ﷺ: what are the rights of the sidewalks, what are the rights of the streets? So the Prophet ﷺ mentioned amongst one of them:

Lowering your gaze. Safeguarding your eyes from impermissible things. In the time of the ṣaḥābah, they didn't have the type of clothes that we have. And additionally, when the ayāt of hijāb and burqa and jilbāb and all those ayāt were revealed, they still lowered their gazes. In this day and age, we're living amongst people in a society where it's much more difficult to lower one's gazes because people are not dressed appropriately.

There are so many rulings that Allah has given in order to protect both of the genders — that the dress code itself for men and women, the separation, and even on top of that, if you happen to have an interaction that is necessary with the opposite gender, then you lower your gazes.

The Effect of Lowering the Gaze on Marital Love

Why do these fights come about within families? Why is a man cheating on his wife or vice versa? Many times, they never safeguarded their glances in the first place. Because if you always safeguarded your glances — you never looked at something impermissible — automatically, when you see your wife, or the wife sees the husband, who do they consider to be the most beautiful? Their wife or husband. It's logical. If you're not glancing at other genders and things which are impermissible for you, when you get married, when you look at your wife, you're going to consider her to be the most beautiful. When the wife looks at the husband, if she is not looking at other males, then who will she consider to be the most beautiful? Her own husband.

But now, you get sick and tired of looking at them. Why? Because your glances are going everywhere else. This is the reason why Allah has mentioned to lower your gazes. Then you'll see that the love will actually fruit and become beneficial between the spouses.

Cures for Safeguarding the Gaze

So Allah — this is a sin which has afflicted the entire society. There are different cures that ulamā have mentioned for a person to safeguard their glances. There are different types of murāqabāt of certain ayāt. As mentioned in the beginning:

A person should do murāqabah of this ayah — thinking about, everyday, anytime your eyes want to look at something else, know that Allah is watching you right at that moment. And He can take your eyesight away if He wants, because that's an amānah, that's a blessing Allah has given. If He wants, He can take that away from you.

Thinking about the punishment that Allah has stored in Jahannam for a person that doesn't safeguard their glances. If you want to be able to see Allah on a daily basis in Jannah, how can you acquire that when you don't safeguard your glances? Allah is the Creator of the entire dunya, the Creator of the entire universe. Everything which we may deem to be beautiful — He created that beauty. Now imagine how beautiful the Creator is.

Everyone likes to see beauty. You have those wallpapers on your computers — the scenic wallpapers, like the different mountains and different sceneries. Why? It looks appealing to your eyes. Like that, if you look at and safeguard your glances, insha'Allah, that will be a means for a person to have the reward of being able to see Allah on a daily basis in Jannah.

So may Allah give us the ability and tawfīq to safeguard our glances.