Breaking the Heart of a Believer: Mufti Abdul Wahab Waheed | Reflections from Surah Al Munafiqun

The Leader of the Hypocrites: Abdullah ibn Ubay ibn Salul

There was a man by the name of Abdullah ibn Ubay ibn Salul. Abdullah ibn Ubay ibn Salul, who was the leader of the Munafiqoon. He was — you can call him the gang head or the gang leader. Everyone else was his — they were his people and he was the leader of the Munafiqoon. He was also in this convoy, in this caravan.

When he heard this, he couldn't believe it. This guy was like, what? You allowed a slave or a servant to hit you? You allowed this kid, this person who is worth nothing in society, and you're a leader of Khazraj? You allowed this guy to hit you?

To help you understand who he was — Abdullah ibn Ubay al-Munafiq, of course he later on became a hypocrite. But before the Prophet came, in those nine tribes of Khazraj, in those nine tribes of Khazraj in Aws and Khazraj, he was the leader of the biggest tribe. And they had decided — Aws and Khazraj were unable to agree upon a single personality for over a century. But they had decided, at that time before the Prophet came to Medina, that this man would become the king. We're turning into a monarchy. And this man, Abdullah ibn Ubay, would become the king of Aws and Khazraj. So there would be no more governors. Everyone would be beneath him. And he would be the supreme leader of the entire city of Medina.

And Sa'ad ibn Ubadah, who was a great sahaba — one of the sahabas who was in charge of the Prophet coming to Medina — when the Prophet came to him and asked him: now why does this guy treat me so badly? Why does he treat me with such arrogance? The Prophet felt it. That this Abdullah ibn Ubay was always rough with the Prophet, he was always arrogant with him, while the Prophet was always soft with him.

He asked Sa'ad ibn Ubadah — he went to his house and asked him — what should I do with this guy? Like, I don't know how to deal with him. The Prophet is seeking what? Counsel. Seeking mashura. What should I do?

Sa'ad ibn Ubadah said: Hey, O Prophet of Allah, let me tell you something. We had already cast our votes and the ballot had been sealed and the name had been taken out — this person was to become the president of Medina. All that was left was the actual stamp of a president for him. He had already won the election, he had already become the president. All that was left was his inauguration. And in between his inauguration and him becoming the president, guess who came to Medina? You came to Medina. And you became the leader of Medina.

So you can imagine the amount of hostility and jealousy he has for you, because he was going to become the supreme leader of Medina. And in another narration, Anas ibn Malik says that the women of Medina had already sewn the cloak of kingship and had created the crown of a king. They had already made it and were just waiting to put it on him. And in between that time, the Prophet came to Medina. So he felt like he was stripped of his due honor and his due status because the Prophet came to Medina. So he had this natural hatred towards the Prophet — but the Prophet never retaliated against him.

The Speech of Abdullah ibn Ubay

This man is coming from this background. He was a leader of Medina, and someone had hit his fellow tribesmen. He says: hey, this is why I told you — and he uses specific words:

That these Muhajirun have overpowered us. We the Ansar — this is our city. These guys have taken over our city. I told you that they shouldn't come to our city. It's like immigrants coming to a community: oh, these immigrants came and took over everything. They took all our jobs. They took over our economy. This is Abdullah ibn Ubay. That's him. Whoever says the same thing — that's Abdullah ibn Ubay also. He's the one who said they've overpowered us, they've taken over all of our economy.

And then he says — and he's telling this to the Ansar, giving them a pump-up speech because they just had a small skirmish — he says:

(An Arab proverb cited in the context of Abdullah ibn Ubay's speech — "Fatten your dog and it will eat you.")

Which is a very low, derogative, demeaning statement. سَمِّنْ كَلْبَكَ means: you fattened up your own dog so your dog could eat you. سَمِّنْ means fat. He's telling the Ansar: you allowed these guys to come into the city, and you did what to them? You fed them. You gifted them. You gave them. You hosted them. You honored them. You gave them everything. You fed the dog and you made him fat so that he could come back and attack you. That's what you did with these guys.

And then he says to the Ansar Sahabas:

He says: do not spend a single dime on the Prophet ﷺ and those around him until يَنفَضُّوا — until these guys leave our city. Until they leave and disperse. Who is he referring to? The Muhajirun. Until the Muhajirun leave — of course he's referring to the Prophet too, but he can't say that openly because that would make it too apparent. He says: don't spend a single dime on them until they leave our city, and then we'll support the Prophet. When they leave, then we'll support him.

And then he says:

Which means: certainly the ones who are honored will remove the ones who are disgraced. And when that happens, then we'll serve the Prophet ﷺ. He is referring to himself as الْأَعَزُّ — the honorable — and he is referring to the Prophet and the Sahabas as الْأَذَلَّ — the ones who are disgraced.

So he gives this big pump-up speech to the Ansar Sahabas: you guys are the ones who did this to yourself. You guys brought this upon yourself. You should have never supported him in the beginning. I told you, I was supposed to be there. And you were the ones who took these guys in. And this is what you get. This is in return for what you did for these Sahabas.

Zayd ibn Arqam: The Boy Whose Heart Was Broken

So he gives this speech, and there was a young kid. And it's so interesting — this young kid, his name is Zayd ibn Arqam. Some say he was nine years old. He was hiding behind his uncle the entire time. And when he heard this speech, his blood boiled over. And as a kid, he ran to the Prophet ﷺ.

You think Abdullah ibn Ubay was caring about a kid there? You think he cared? Like — a kid is there, it's not a big deal. If there's a kid next to us and we're talking, that kid's not going to remember anything anyway. He doesn't have an iPhone or an iPad. He's probably just counting the stars. Nonetheless — there's a kid there. That's it.

This kid runs to the Prophet ﷺ. And Umar and Abu Bakr are next to the Prophet ﷺ, as they always were. And he tells the entire story to the Prophet — from the beginning all the way to the end. That this guy said: لَا تُنفِقُوا عَلَىٰ مَنْ عِندَ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ حَتَّىٰ يَنفَضُّوا. He said this. And he said سَمِّنْ كَلْبَكَ يَأْكُلْكَ. He was talking about you in a negative way. And he's going off.

The Prophet ﷺ stays quiet. Again, he hasn't exposed these people. Umar r.a. gets up and says: Ya Rasulullah, this is too much. This guy — I gave him one chance, two chances, but this is too much for me. I can't handle it. Ya Rasulullah, let me go, I'll take care of him. And I don't think in any way this is a negative thing — because this is what you call open treason. This man was literally amongst them and he committed treason. In any society in this world, treason is always dealt with great severity. It's a grave punishment for a person who commits treason.

The Prophet ﷺ says: Umar, sit down. Sit down. What will people say if you go ahead and do that? They will say that the companions of Muhammad have started fighting with each other. So don't do it. Just relax. Even though I know that something is going on — but don't do it.

And then the Prophet calls him. This is a Sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ — and it is a Sunnah for any person who has been given any information: don't ever come to a conclusion until you hear the other person's side. If you do, that is a sign of a foolish person, because only a foolish person can be fooled by one side of the story. There have to be two sides heard completely — even when it comes to a munafiq.

Even when it came to a munafiq, the Prophet did what? He called him. He said: come here. Abdullah ibn Ubay came. And the Prophet asked him: did you say this? Did you say this? And he said — what? No. They're just lying.

The Prophet ﷺ says:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 33; Sahih Muslim, Book 1, Hadith 211)

A sign of a hypocrite is three: إِذَا حَدَّثَ كَذَبَ — when he speaks, he lies. He's a pathological liar. It just flows off his tongue like water flows off mountains. He just lies. وَإِذَا اؤْتُمِنَ خَانَ — and when he's been given a trust, he breaks the trust. He can't keep someone's secret. And the third: وَإِذَا وَعَدَ أَخْلَفَ — when he gives a promise, he always breaks the promise. Both narrations come: وَإِذَا خَاصَمَ فَجَرَ — when he gets into an argument, he starts cursing, he gets very loud and he can't control himself.

Of course, if a person has these qualities it doesn't mean they're a munafiq — these are signs of hypocrisy. So we learn from this how to ease those qualities out of our lives. It doesn't mean you're a munafiq if you get angry quickly. Learn how to work towards leaving that quality. وَإِذَا وَعَدَ أَخْلَفَ — when he gives a promise, he always breaks it. Oh man, I didn't mean to. Well, I don't care if you meant to — you still broke your promise. That's a sign of a munafiq.

So this guy lies — straight up, no regret. Like there's no way. And the Prophet said: okay, I believe you. And he let them go.

And this kid — this kid is sitting there, completely embarrassed. Utterly embarrassed. He's like: what? قَدْ كَذَّبَنِي وَصَدَّقَهُ — The Prophet didn't believe in me, and he believed in him? Imagine — if one of my students comes to me and plucks up the courage to actually talk to me, and someone else says they didn't do it, and I say okay, you're right — for that kid, it's like: I took so much courage to come to you. The kid was actually defeated in many ways.

And this is when Allah chose to expose the Munafiqoon. Because at this moment, what happened? How did I start? Someone's heart was broken. Someone's heart was broken. Allah said: that's it. There are two times where Allah exposes us — when we expose ourselves, or when we break someone's heart. This kid's heart was broken. How could the Prophet not believe in me? And so Allah acted.

The Son Confronts His Father

The Prophet ﷺ and the Sahabas head back to Madinah. And this kid — the entire time — is like: oh man, what happened? Where did I go wrong? And as the Munafiqoon are getting back into Madinah, the son of Abdullah ibn Ubay — whose name was also Abdullah — is standing there at the outskirts of Madinah. And he sees his dad coming. And he stands right in front of him. He picks up his hand and says: hey, stop. Stop.

The father says: you're my son. And in some narrations it says that he actually took out his sword. He says: don't move, don't move an inch closer. The father says: what? I'm your dad. The son says: did you say that the honorable will remove the disgraced? Did you say that? The father says: yeah, I said that. He says:

These Sahabas had the himmah — the power of iman — of lions. He says: I promise you, you will not enter the city until you say that I am the disgraced one, and the Prophet is the honorable one. Until you say that, you're not moving. And if you move forward, your neck is off.

So the father looks down, and he says: أَنَا الأَذَلُّ وَهُوَ الأَعَزُّ. He makes him say it.

This is where Allah says — your sons, your family, your parents, your wealth, all of your belongings — they cannot become more beloved to you than Allah and His Prophet.

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 15; Sahih Muslim, Book 1, Hadith 69)

No one can become a true believer until I become more beloved to them than their own family members. And the Sahabas lived that. They lived it.

Abu Bakr's father said to him: O Abu Bakr, in the Battle of Badr, I saw you and I let you go. Abu Bakr said: O father, if I saw you, I would not have let you go. You came to attack the Prophet. And my Prophet is more beloved to me than anything else.

Mus'ab ibn Umayr — in the Battle of Badr, he saw his brother. His brother was tied in chains, and he walked by him and said to the Sahabas holding him: make his chains a little tighter. The brother said: I'm your brother. Mus'ab said: no. Make his chains tighter, because his mother is a very wealthy woman — she'll give you a big ransom. Make it tighter. The brother said: I'm your brother. He replied: you're not my brother. You came to attack my Prophet. How can you be my brother?

So their relationships were built upon iman. You can't attack the Prophet ﷺ. You can't say anything negative about him. His sha'an — his honor — is untouchable for us believers. If a person even looked at the Prophet in a negative way, it was trouble for him in front of the Sahabas. Not in a forceful way, but in a natural, emotional way.

So nonetheless, he says it, and he is disgraced by his own son in the Prophet's presence. The Prophet was watching this. And he said to Umar: did I not tell you? Let it be. It will take care of itself. And now his own son has embarrassed him — so it's better than you going out and trying to embarrass him.

Allah Reveals Surah Al-Munafiqun

Now as the Sahabas get back into Madinah, this kid is still disturbed. Allah sends down an entire surah talking about this kid. And that surah is what we know today as Surah Al-Munafiqun — the surah in which the Munafiqoon were exposed. And they were exposed in light of this incident in which a kid's heart was broken. Not even an adult — a kid. How important and precious are the hearts of believers? That Allah, even though He had hidden these people for the first two years, now exposed them. And they were not normal individuals — they were people who were honorable in their communities.

So Allah revealed Surah Al-Munafiqun, which starts off as:

When they came to the Prophet, they said: we testify that you are the Prophet of Allah. We testify. But then:

They swear by Allah that they didn't say it. But they were lying. وَاللَّهُ يَعْلَمُ إِنَّكَ لَرَسُولُهُ — Allah knows that he is a Prophet. And Allah also knows — وَاللَّهُ يَشْهَدُ إِنَّ الْمُنَافِقِينَ لَكَاذِبُونَ — that these people who said that were lying. And now they are exposed. Because who is Allah talking about? Those same people who swore wallahi you are a Prophet.

So when this surah was revealed, the Prophet ﷺ — being the best teacher the world could ever see, so emotionally in tune with his companions — when this surah was revealed upon him, he did not tell anyone what was revealed. They saw that wahi came down and he didn't say it to anyone. And he told the Sahabas: go get me Zayd ibn Arqam. Go get me that kid.

And this kid is coming — oh my God, man, the Prophet ﷺ is calling for me. And this kid comes and the Prophet ﷺ brings him near him, holds his head, and he says to him: you are the first person who will ever hear this surah. Because it was revealed because of you. It was revealed because your heart was broken.

And he recited:

Allah has supported your cause and He has exposed those people. And the Prophet ﷺ smiled, and this kid smiled. Oh wow! Finally, Allah came to my backup and He took care of these Munafiqoon. And the kid went back. Abu Bakr says: what happened? He says: Allah granted me innocence. Allah granted me innocence. Why are you smiling? They all wanted to know what happened. And then the Prophet called everyone and read the entire surah.

Qualities of the Munafiqoon in Surah Al-Munafiqun

The surah continues, where Allah speaks about some of the qualities of the Munafiqoon. Allah says:

Them becoming Muslim was so that they could be protected in that community. It was actually a political move for them to become Muslim. Islam for us doesn't come because we become more accepted in society. That's not why we're Muslim. Islam is not there for us because people now start to look at us just because we're Muslims. No. Islam comes because Allah is happy with us. If it looks good, Alhamdulillah. If it doesn't look good — then so what? We still gotta do it.

(Sahih Muslim, Book 1, Hadith 270)

The Prophet ﷺ says: Islam began as something strange and it will return to being something strange — and glad tidings to those people who look strange; who are not following the tides of the waves, but rather they're hitting the tides right back. So these guys became Muslim because it looked good. It was what we call a fad and a trend to become Muslim. We don't dress the way we dress or pray Salat the way we pray because it's a fad or a trend. We do it because it's something we need to do.

So they did it so Allah could protect them. فَصَدُّوا عَن سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ — and they deviated people from the path of Allah.

Allah continues and He says:

This is the sign of the Munafiq — that they became believers and then they disbelieved, because they couldn't handle the Prophet being honored. They couldn't handle it. فَطُبِعَ عَلَىٰ قُلُوبِهِمْ — since they did that, Allah put a seal on their hearts. Allah sealed their hearts because they believed and then they left it. And that's also a very scary thing for us. If Allah gave us the opportunity and the blessing of doing something good, and we intentionally and willingly forsake that goodness — what if it doesn't come back? What if Allah doesn't give us the ability to pray Salat again? What if it doesn't come back? This ayah is not for the Mushrikun of Mecca. It's not for the Jews of Madinah or the Christians of Mecca. It's for those who believed but got deviated and left.

The Munafiqoon on the Day of Judgment — Surah Al-Hadid

And Allah on the Day of Judgment speaks about these Munafiqoon — in Surah Al-Hadid — where people will be raised from their graves and they will run towards the caller, and there will be no light because it will be complete pitch darkness. When there's no light they will look around and say: where are we going?

Allah will bless believers with light on the places of their wudhu — wherever they made wudhu, Allah will give them light — or some say wherever they performed sujood: so their knees, their feet, their hands, their forehead. Wherever they performed wudhu or where they performed sajdah, it will illuminate with light, and that light will allow us to be guided towards Allah. So the Munafiqoon will also be with us — because they were also with us in this world — and they'll say: hey, you've got some light. Where's my light?

So the Munafiqoon will say — and these are not Mushrikun, these are Munafiqoon, they thought they were believers — they will say to the believers: نَقْتَبِسْ مِن نُّورِكُمْ — come here, give us some light too. Give us some light because we can't see. We're together, you know what I'm saying? Give me some light. Imagine, like you invest in the same stock, and one guy becomes a millionaire — what happened to my stock? I had the same stock! I thought I had the same stock. You were shooting blanks and he had real money. He wasn't playing — he had real cash. And you were just playing along with him.

As this is happening, a caller will say:

ارْجِعُوا — move back. فَالْتَمِسُوا نُورًا — find your own light. Allah says: find your own light. Don't come here. And a wall will come in between them and will block them off from each other. بَاطِنُهُ فِيهِ الرَّحْمَةُ وَظَاهِرُهُ مِن قِبَلِهِ الْعَذَابُ — on one side there will be mercy, and on the other side there will be a punishment which is awaiting.

And while this is happening — there's a wall in between — the Munafiqoon will start screaming from behind the wall:

They start screaming: أَلَمْ نَكُن مَّعَكُمْ — were we not with you? This is a very scary ayah. Were we not with you — i.e., we prayed Eid together, we were there for the things that you went for. And the answer will be: قَالُوا بَلَىٰ — yes, you were definitely with us. وَلَٰكِنَّكُمْ فَتَنتُمْ أَنفُسَكُمْ — but you deviated within yourself. You lost your own path.

How did you lose your own path? وَتَرَبَّصْتُمْ — you procrastinated. The sign of a munafiq is that he always procrastinates. And that's why they say the munafiq prays Asr at the last time of Asr — because the munafiq generally procrastinates. وَتَرَبَّصْتُمْ means you procrastinate a lot. It's not a good quality for us when it comes to Salat and things of goodness. And then: وَغَرَّتْكُمُ الْأَمَانِيُّ — you put yourself in loss, you deceived yourself because of your hopes — one day this will happen, one day that will happen. It's not going to happen.

The Physical Description of the Munafiqoon

Now let's finish off this verse. Allah then says to the Prophet — before He was speaking about the Munafiqoon in the third person, now He speaks directly to the Prophet:

These are qualities of a Munafiq. O Prophet of Allah, when you see them — and by extension, to all of us — تُعْجِبُكَ أَجْسَامُهُمْ — you are amazed by their bodies. Ibn Abbas says: عَبْدُ اللَّهِ ابْنُ أُبَيٍّ وَسِيمًا جَسِيمًا صَبِيحًا — Abdullah ibn Ubay was handsome, large, and striking. You want them to be on your side. You want them to be your supporters. وَإِن يَقُولُوا تَسْمَعْ لِقَوْلِهِمْ — and when they speak, you listen to what they're saying, because you're trying to bring them close, so you always listen to them.

And in the tafsir of this ayah, Ibn Kathir mentions something very interesting — behind-the-scenes stuff. He says: in the masjid of the Prophet ﷺ, in the first row — that first row was always filled with Munafiqoon in the beginning. And he says that they actually had pillows along the walls. Can you believe this? In a masjid that did not even have light, they had pillows, so that when the Prophet spoke they leaned against those pillows — they sat back.

So that uncle who leans against the wall — don't worry, he's not necessarily a munafiq. But it's a sign of what? An arrogant person. That's why the Prophet ﷺ says: don't ever eat leaning. Eating on a chair is okay, but leaning back becomes a sign of an arrogant person. Someone of honor is talking to you and you're just like: yeah, what's up, man? That's not a sign of a good person. It's a sign of an arrogant person — not being able to give proper attention to someone of your stature is a sign of arrogance.

These guys would just lean back while the Prophet's talking — imagine looking at the Prophet like that. That's what it means.

Abdullah ibn Ubay at the Minbar

And in one narration — one of the most interesting ones — it mentions that before this took place, before they were actually exposed, every single Jumu'ah, Abdullah ibn Ubay al-Munafiq was what we would call the announcer in the Masjid. Every single time, before the Prophet would come and stand for Jumu'ah, guess who would stand up before him? This man. He would grab — there was no mic, of course, but for example — he would grab the mic and he would say to everyone: this is the Prophet who came to you. Listen to him and obey him. This is your Prophet who came to you from Makkah.

That is what we call the epitome of a two-faced Munafiq — he's not even hiding it. He's doing the exact opposite, because these guys try to overcompensate. That's what the Prophet ﷺ says: don't overly praise people. That's called Madah. Madah is not Hamd. Hamd is الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ — praise which is befitting to the personality. Madah is overly praising someone, which is not befitting of anyone's personality. Allah never used Madah because Allah can never be overly praised — Allah used Al-Hamd.

You know what Madah is? When you're trying to get a job and you go to your boss and say: oh my God, you know what perfume are you wearing? Man, that must be something expensive. And the boss is thinking: man, I didn't even shower today. I don't know what this guy is talking about. That's called Madah — overly praising, when you're praising someone because of an incentive. They're overcompensating because they're always afraid.

So Allah continues. This man would stand on the member of the Prophet — the only person in Madinah with the status of standing on the member of the Prophet — it gave him so much respect and honor. But it didn't work out, because Allah had written it for him. Nonetheless, so after this took place, he stood up again like it was his norm. And Umar was sitting there — he grabs his kameez, he pulls him: hey, after this day you're never standing here again. So just sit down. And when Umar speaks, you stay quiet. The man goes: okay, no problem. And he goes and sits down. After that day he never stood up again.

Every Scream They Think Is Against Them

And it wasn't long after that — he actually passed away. But before finishing the actual story, Allah continues and says:

And a sign of a Munafiq is that he always feels that every scream — every time something goes wrong — he feels they're going to be exposed. Like: oh, you know, if in our school we randomly call the kids into the masjid, if a kid is doing something wrong, guess what he's going to be scared — oh my God, I knew it, they had cameras, I knew it man, like I shouldn't have done it. This is what it means: يَحْسَبُونَ كُلَّ صَيْحَةٍ عَلَيْهِمْ — every single time wahi would come down, they'd think: oh my God, I hope we're not exposed yet. That's literally what it meant. They thought every wahi was against them.

Too Arrogant to Seek Forgiveness

Allah continues and says — when this entire surah took place, this incident, and they're exposed, like everyone knows you're a munafiq — people came to them and said:

Come, come man — the Prophet will seek forgiveness for you. Just go to the Prophet. Just humble yourself a little bit. Why are you so arrogant? You made a mistake, you messed up, you openly lied to the Prophet — but go to the Prophet, the Prophet will ask Allah for your forgiveness. لَوَّوْا رُءُوسَهُمْ — they would turn their heads. Me? Seek forgiveness? Nah. They would turn their heads, they would broaden their heads, they would show their pride just by the way they moved. And Allah says: وَهُم مُّسْتَكْبِرُونَ — they were just arrogant.

Ibn Qayyim says: generally, a thought never gives you a sin — generally a thought never becomes a sin until it actually takes place. But the only thought which is a sin in itself is arrogance. So it's not even the act — it's the thought in itself. This is the only thing in life where just by thinking it, it becomes haram for you and it's sinful.

The Sahabas asked the Prophet: what is kibr? What is pride? And for all of us, this is a jami' — a complete definition of pride. He says:

(Sahih Muslim, Book 1, Hadith 265)

When you deny the truth — like these guys, وَهُم مُّسْتَكْبِرُونَ, they denied the truth, they couldn't do it — and number two, وَغَمْطُ النَّاسِ — they will always look down upon people. The Ansar — we are the ones who brought the Prophet! They will always look down upon people. And if that happens because of your nationality, or your job title, or your achievements in school — that's still kibr. Doesn't matter why it happens. It's still going to be kibr, because you're looking down upon people.

The Death of Abdullah ibn Ubay and the Prophet's Response

So they continue, and Allah now says — as this guy passes away:

O Prophet of Allah, We gave him a chance. We told him: come seek forgiveness. Now — if you seek forgiveness or if you don't seek forgiveness, it won't make a difference anymore. It's too late. The ship has sailed, the train has left the station.

And this shows you the premium form of love the Prophet ﷺ had — even for this person. He still tried to seek forgiveness for him. He still tried, because this man passed away a few days after this. Even this man — who at every opportunity became an enemy of Islam, not a hidden enemy, who took 300 people and withdrew them, who made the Ansar and the Muhajirun get into a fight, who said don't spend money on these guys because they're disgraced — the Prophet knew all this. But when he passed away, the Prophet still — despite all of the above — attempted to seek forgiveness for this man. He attempted to go pray janazah on him.

The ayah says:

It says: if you seek forgiveness for him 70 times, Allah will still not forgive him. The Prophet ﷺ said: I'll do more. SubhanAllah. I'll do more. And Umar said: no, no, you can't. You just can't do it.

And Umar r.a. says: there were two times in my life where I regretted that I felt I had overstepped the Prophet. Two times in my life where I felt I had overstepped my status — the Prophet is the Prophet after all. One was in Hudaibiyah, where I kept questioning the Prophet about why we didn't go to Makkah. Allah gave him that, in the end. The second one was this incident, where I told the Prophet you can't go, and I came in front of him — and in some narrations he says: I grabbed his kameez.

So the Prophet said: don't pray janazah on him. Why? Because Umar — if the Prophet prays Salat upon him, that person would be forgiven instantly. So while Umar is trying to ask the Prophet and begging him: please don't go — the Prophet says: no, no, I'm going to go pray janazah because Allah gave me an option. And then Allah says: no, no — no option. Allah says: don't ever pray janazah on them. Forget praying janazah — don't even pass by their grave. Don't even go near their grave.

Because this man harmed someone. He harmed the Prophet ﷺ, and then he broke that kid's heart. And he was exposed — exposed by Allah.

Despite all of this, the Prophet — when Abdullah the son came to the Prophet at the end of the day — a son is a son; despite the crime of the father, a son still loves his father — he started crying when his dad passed away. And he came to the Prophet. He said: can you please help me? The Prophet took off his cloak — the cloak he had on — and gave it to him and said: shroud him in this. Shroud him in my cloth.

And some muhaddithun say that the Prophet was paying back a favor that this man had done for him in his life — because he didn't want a Munafiq to have a favor upon him during his lifetime. When Hamza passed away, they say that the only cloth large enough to cover Hamza was the cloth of Abdullah ibn Ubay — because he was also very large, as Hamza was. So the Prophet said: I don't want this to come back to me in the akhirah. Take it now and shroud him in it. That's another version of looking at it.

The Treasures of the Heavens and the Earth Belong to Allah

Nonetheless, the surah continues. Allah finishes this entire passage by saying — all the treasures of the world belong to who? To Allah.

Spend or don't spend — they'll be alright. They don't need you. They don't need your expenditure.

Sometimes we think that what we are doing is what keeps everything going. My father would give an interesting example. He said: sometimes we think — there's an ant, right? An ant when it sleeps, it sleeps on its back. So another animal asked the ant: why do you sleep on your back? Why don't you sleep straight? The ant said: I'm making sure the sky doesn't fall, so I'm sleeping on my back so the sky doesn't fall on top of me — I'm keeping it up for all of us. I got you guys. This is the ant. The lesson we take from that is: sometimes we think we're holding up the entire world. No, no, I got it. Allah says: I don't need it. Who needs it? We need it.

This is why a beautiful du'a of Abu Bakr r.a., which he would constantly make:

O Allah, do not ever deprive us of the goodness that You have in store because of the evil that we have in store. Don't deprive us of Your goodness because of us. Keep giving it to us because You are kind. We don't have anything, but You have everything.

So just like these Munafiqoon — the son of a munafiq — he thinks it's what? He thinks it's him doing everything. It's me. Allah says: وَلِلَّهِ خَزَائِنُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ — Allah has the treasures of the world. If Allah wants, He does it with you. If Allah wants, He does it without you. And this is the reality of it. Every single one of us is expendable. We're expendable. We move — guess what? The Deen still moves on. It doesn't stop because of us. It doesn't matter who we are — it doesn't stop. The Prophet ﷺ himself passed away, and the Deen? Carried on.

Carried on. So we have to become people who: (a) do our best to avoid individuals who can harm other people around us; and (b) make sure we're not amongst those people. We don't have those qualities — of lying every time we speak, of breaking people's promises, breaking people's trust, not being loyal in whatever relationship we're in. Not being loyal.

The Prophet ﷺ said:

(Sahih Muslim, Book 1, Hadith 284)

Whoever deceives us is not from amongst us. The Prophet ﷺ walked up to a sahaba who was selling rice and put his hand inside of his bucket, and he felt water at the bottom. He said: مَنْ غَشَّنَا فَلَيْسَ مِنَّا — whoever deceives us is not from amongst us. Because that's a sign of a munafiq — lying to each other, deceiving each other, breaking each other's hearts.

The last one: وَإِذَا خَاصَمَ فَجَرَ، وَإِذَا وَعَدَ أَخْلَفَ — he breaks his promises, and when he argues he loses his entire temper. فَجَرَ means he starts swearing, cursing, being loud. A sign of a believer — a sahaba asked the Prophet ﷺ:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 6116)

Give me advice and keep it concise. And the Prophet ﷺ said: لَا تَغْضَبْ — don't become angry. The guy said: no, no, I'm talking about real advice. Tell me about tahajjud. The Prophet said: لَا تَغْضَبْ. Don't become angry. And the Prophet repeated it three times.

A munafiq gets angry fast because he's overcompensating. He's always afraid, he's always worried. So he just gets angry to try to overcompensate and diffuse the situation. But a believer finds his own way because Allah is going to back him up anyway. Like Zayd ibn Arqam.

Fear of Nifaq — But Never Despair

May Allah bless all of us and grant us the ability to avoid these wretched qualities of the Munafiqoon and to bring into our lives the qualities of believers, and to make an effort to bring those people to Islam. But we don't know who's a munafiq. We should all have fear of nifaq, but we should never believe we are munafiq. We should fear nifaq, but we should never fear that we are munafiq. We always have high assumptions of Allah. أَحْسِنُوا الظَّنَّ بِاللَّهِ — have high assumptions of Allah. Like: Allah, take care of me. But always have that fear.

I'll end with this. Abu Bakr r.a. walked outside of his house. And as he walked outside, Hudhaifah ibn al-Yaman r.a. — the great sahaba who used to keep the secrets of the Prophet ﷺ — was also walking out. As they both walked out, they met each other on the street. They said: where are you going? I'm going to meet the Prophet. Why are you meeting the Prophet? أَنْكَرَتْ قَلْبِي — I feel like I have become a munafiq. نَافَقْتُ — I feel like I have become a munafiq.

They say: Abu Bakr r.a. said this. So they go to the Prophet and say: Ya Rasulallah, we believe that we have become munafiq. The Prophet smiles at them. Imagine — Abu Bakr was a munafiq? Na'udhu billah. Then what are we? He says: you're not. No way you're munafiq. They say: Ya Rasulallah, when we're with you, we feel like we're on cloud nine. And then we go back home with our families and we don't feel the same way.

The Prophet ﷺ said: if you were always at the same level that you were with me, you would have angels coming to say salam to you. So you're not always going to be at that level. Levels of iman don't make us munafiq. We can be high, we can be low. Ramadan comes — you're supposed to have high iman. If someone comes to you and says: oh my God, Ramadan — that's what you're praying? That's a sign of a believer. It's not a bad thing — it's a good thing. Yes, don't stop there — but that's a good thing, because you have iman. It goes low and it goes high. That's not a big deal.

And Umar r.a. would go to Hudhaifah ibn al-Yaman — who was the person that the Prophet told the names of the Munafiqs — Umar would go to him and say: Yo bro, am I in that list? Just tell me — am I in that list? Don't tell me the names because I know it's a secret. All I want to know is: am I in that list? He would say: O Amir al-Mu'mineen, how can you be in that list? How can you be in that list?

So there's fear of it — but there's never hopelessness when it comes to Allah. May Allah give us that balance and give us the ability to continue progressing with our faith. As-salamu alaykum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh. We'll see you all next week insha'Allah.