Having Good Thoughts of Others (with Sign Language) - Shaykh Aqeel Mahmood

Khutbah al-Ula — First Sermon

Praise be to Allah. We praise Him, ask for His help, and ask for His forgiveness. And we seek refuge in Allah from the evil of our souls and from the evil of our deeds. Whom Allah guides, none can misguide him, and whom He misguides, none can guide him. And I bear witness that there is no god but Allah, alone, with no partner. And I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and Messenger.

O you who have believed, fear Allah as He should be feared, and do not die except as Muslims.

O you who have believed, fear your Lord, who created you from one soul, and created from it a wife, and He sent from them many men and women. And fear Allah, whom you ask about, and the wombs. Indeed, Allah is ever watching over you.

O you who have believed, fear Allah and say the right words. He will correct your deeds and forgive you your sins. And whoever obeys Allah and His Messenger has won a great victory.

As for what follows: the best speech is the Book of Allah, and the best guidance is the guidance of Muhammad, peace be upon him. And the worst of things are its innovations, and every innovation is a newly invented matter, and every newly invented matter is a misguidance, and every misguidance is in the Fire.

The Story of the Ifk — The Slander Against 'Aisha

On one of his expeditions, the Prophet took 'Aisha, may Allah be pleased with her, with him. And on the way back, they camped outside of the city of Medina, because the Sunnah was that he would always enter Medina during the day, as opposed to the night. When they camped outside of the city of Medina, 'Aisha, may Allah be pleased with her, lost her necklace.

And so she wandered away from the camp, looking for her necklace. And while she was away, the camp prepared to enter the city of Medina, forgetting her and leaving her behind. And when they left her behind, one of the companions, may Allah be pleased with him, was also at the back of the camp and was also delayed. He saw 'Aisha, may Allah be pleased with her, on her own, and he brought her back to the city of Medina.

And when 'Aisha, may Allah be pleased with her, came back — unassuming that anything evil was being said regarding her and her delay — she realized after a number of weeks that rumors had spread about her. And this incident is known as the incident of the ifk, or the slander against 'Aisha, may Allah be pleased with her. And this is a story which is well-known from the seerah of the Messenger of Allah.

These rumors continued to circulate amongst the companions and amongst the people in Medina, and they were instigated and started by the hypocrites. And some of the companions fell into the mistake and the error of also being involved in spreading some of these rumors. Eventually, after much distress upon the Muslims, and especially upon the Messenger of Allah and 'Aisha, may Allah be pleased with her, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala Himself sent down and revealed ayaat declaring the innocence of 'Aisha, may Allah be pleased with her. And these are the first few ayaat of Surah An-Nur.

Husn al-Dhan — The Importance of Good Thoughts

I want to talk today about one of the lessons that we can learn from this story, which is the importance of having husn al-dhan — the importance of having good thoughts of each other — and being careful of su' al-dhan — having bad thoughts and being suspicious of others.

And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, when He sent down these ayaat declaring the innocence of 'Aisha, may Allah be pleased with her, He said in one of these ayaat:

If only, when you had heard these accusations, the believing men and the believing women had thought good of one another, and if only they had said to each other: "This is a big slander — a clear lie, a clear accusation against 'Aisha, may Allah be pleased with her."

One of the greatest harms of having bad thoughts of one another, brothers and sisters, is that it can cause distress — just like it caused 'Aisha, may Allah be pleased with her, distress when she heard this slander against her. It affected her; it affected the Messenger of Allah, because it is one of his wives; it affected his family; it affected the family of Abu Bakr, may Allah be pleased with him; and it affected the whole of the Muslim community.

The Greatest Sin: Bad Thoughts of Allah

And bad thoughts can end up being one of the major sins if an individual has bad thoughts of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala Himself. One of the worst sins that a person can do — one of the greatest sins — is having bad thoughts of Allah azza wa jal Himself. And that is when a person is experiencing some type of hardship or trial in his life and he starts to show displeasure to Allah, or starts to question why Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala caused this to happen to him.

He may even start to question Allah's power: "Why didn't Allah save me from this? Why didn't Allah, the Most Powerful, avert this harm and stop this happening in my life?" Or a person makes du'a, and his du'a isn't responded to, and so he starts to question the power of Allah, the knowledge of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, and the abilities of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

And when a person thinks along these lines, he is questioning the names and attributes of Allah. He is questioning Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala's power and Allah's knowledge — questioning things which Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala possesses and what makes Him Rabb al-'Alamin. And when a person starts to question these things, his iman will decline. And when a person's iman starts to decline, he will start to leave off acts of worship. And then he will end up distancing himself from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. So when a person has bad thoughts of Allah azza wa jal Himself, it can be something detrimental and harmful to his iman, harmful to his faith, harmful to his life. And it is something which is from the greatest sins.

The Example of Imam Malik

Imam Malik, rahimahullah, during his time, whenever there would be beggars coming to him and his companions in the city of Medina — and generally speaking this is something that Muslims sometimes do — when beggars come and they ask for money, sometimes we say, "Allah will provide for you, Allah will take care of you," when we don't want to give anything.

But Imam Malik, rahimahullah, whenever beggars would come to him, he would always make other excuses. He would go out of his way to say other things — not to give money — without lying and without being untruthful. But he would never mention Allah's name. And whenever they asked him why he did this, he said: "Because I don't want to mention Allah's name after not giving anything to them, and then have them end up thinking badly of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala Himself."

And this was the extent to which the scholars were careful about husn al-dhan of Allah — to the extent that they wouldn't even want others to think badly of Allah because of the things they might say to them.

The Hadith of Safiyyah — Shaytan Runs Like Blood

When we reflect, brothers and sisters, on suspicion and su' al-dhan, and how dangerous it can be, we look at the narration of the Messenger of Allah, which was reported by Safiyyah, radiyallahu 'anha, his wife. She said that once she was with the Messenger of Allah and they were walking during the night. Two companions passed by and, when they saw them, started to walk faster. And so the Messenger of Allah rushed to them and said to them:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 3281; Sahih Muslim, Book 39, Hadith 5)

"Take it easy — this is Safiyyah who is with me. It is nobody else; it is my wife Safiyyah." And so the companions said: "SubhanAllah, O Messenger of Allah, we never expected it to be anybody else. We would not think anything bad of you." And so the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, told them:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 3281; Sahih Muslim, Book 39, Hadith 5)

"Verily, the Shaytan runs in the body of the son of Adam like blood runs through his body. And I wanted to make sure that you would not have any evil thoughts coming to you from Shaytan." Meaning, even the Messenger of Allah was aware of the dangers of a person having su' al-dhan — being suspicious of what he sees or what he hears.

Everyday Examples of Suspicion

Today, unfortunately, we live in a society where sometimes, if we see something or if we hear someone say something, the first thing we think is something evil. We become suspicious straight away of how a person behaves or what a person does — whether it is towards us or towards somebody else.

We call somebody on their phone and they don't respond. We call them a second time, they don't respond. We text them, they still don't answer our text messages. And we think to ourselves: "If you're not going to answer my phone call, at least respond to my text messages." And then we start to think he has some kind of problem. He doesn't want to talk to me. He doesn't like me. We start to become suspicious — when the simple fact may be that he lost his phone, or his phone was off, or he had other pressing needs.

A person walks past somebody, gives salam to him, and he doesn't reply. And he thinks to himself: "Why didn't he reply to me? He is supposed to reply when you give salam. Maybe he doesn't like me. Maybe he doesn't want to talk to me anymore." And the simple fact may be that something else was preoccupying his mind so much that he never even heard you.

And the list goes on. A person may not be invited to the waleemah or an invitation or a party, and he starts to think: "Why didn't that person invite me?" A person starts to become suspicious, starts to think of all kinds of things — why that person never invited him, why he didn't do this, why he didn't do that, why he said this, what he intended when he said this. And this is, as the Messenger of Allah has told us, something which Shaytan breeds up in our minds, because Shaytan runs through our veins just like blood.

The Story of Hatib ibn Abi Balta'ah

It is also reported in the Sunnah that before the Messenger of Allah conquered Mecca, he prepared his army. And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala revealed to him that somebody was going to inform the people of Mecca that they were on their way, because it was supposed to be a surprise attack. And when they captured this individual, he was from the companions — he was a Muslim.

The Messenger of Allah said to him: "This letter was found and it is signed by you. Did you intend to send this letter to the people of Mecca, telling them of our arrival?" And he said: "Yes." Some of the companions said: "O Messenger of Allah, allow us to execute him right here. He is a munafiq." And so the Messenger of Allah asked him: "Why did you do this?"

And this companion, whose name was Hatib, said: "O Messenger of Allah, the only reason why I wanted to send this letter to Mecca was because I do not belong to any tribe there. I am a muhajir. I came from Mecca, and I don't have any tribe that will support me and my family. All my family are in Mecca and no one will support them. So I was hoping that if I sent this letter to the Quraysh, they would be good to my family members — because all of you have your tribes and people who will take care of you and support you, and I don't have anybody."

And so the Messenger of Allah told the companions: "Leave him, for verily he is speaking the truth." Even though in this situation, a person would think this is somebody who is spilling the beans, betraying the Muslims, bringing the safety and security of the Muslims into jeopardy — yet even in this situation, the Messenger of Allah had husn al-dhan of his companion, and he thought good of him.

The Companion Who Drank Alcohol

Another story which shows the importance of having husn al-dhan, brothers and sisters, is of one of the companions who went by the name of Abdullah. This companion would always fall into the mistake of drinking alcohol, and each time he would drink alcohol he would be brought to the Messenger of Allah and be punished. And one day, when he was brought to be punished, one of the companions said: "May Allah curse him — he is always coming to the Messenger of Allah for the same reason."

And so the Messenger of Allah said:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 6780)

"Do not curse him, for verily he loves Allah and His Messenger." So even when companions would commit sins, the Messenger of Allah would go out of his way to think good of them — to have good thoughts of them.

The Scholars' Good Thoughts of One Another

This is something which the companions did after the Prophet, and the scholars also, brothers and sisters, would have good thoughts of each other. There is a story of Imam al-Shafi'i, rahimahullah, that when he was sick, a man came to him and said: "May Allah strengthen your weakness" — meaning, may Allah make you better. And so Imam al-Shafi'i said: "If Allah strengthens my weakness, then that is going to kill me." And so the man said: "I only intended good; I didn't actually mean that." And so Imam al-Shafi'i said: "Even if you had cursed me, I would not have thought that you intended some kind of harm. But instead say: 'May Allah strengthen your strength and weaken your weakness.'"

Even the scholars would have good thoughts of one another. They would think good of each other, and they would not think badly of one another.

Alhamdulillah and Istighfar

Another one of the scholars of the past once told his students: "I said Alhamdulillah once, and because of my saying Alhamdulillah, I then made lots of istighfar." And so they said: "How can you make istighfar for saying Alhamdulillah? Saying Alhamdulillah is a good thing." And he told them: "People came to me from my city, from my town, and they said there was a fire that took place in your town, destroying everything — nothing remained except for your shop with your possessions. That was the only thing that survived. And so I said Alhamdulillah. And then I remembered and realized the misfortune that befell the rest of the people in that town, and I felt bad and I felt guilty for thinking of myself and not thinking of other individuals. So I started to make istighfar because of this shortcoming — because I only thought about myself."

Making Du'a for Those in Error

The companions and the scholars would also go out of their way to think good of others, even if a person was doing something haram. Once one of the scholars was sitting with his students, and a group of people came and they were singing and they were dancing. And so the scholar made du'a and said: "O Allah, give them happiness in the Akhirah, just like they are happy now." And the people around him said: "How can you make du'a for these people when they are dancing and singing out on the street?" And he told them: "Would you not like Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to give them happiness in the Akhirah, just like they are happy now?"

So we see from these stories, brothers and sisters — from these narrations — that husn al-dhan and good thoughts of one another is something which is encouraged in Islam. And if a person practices it, he relieves these bad thoughts from his mind, and it frees him from possibly doing things which may be haram.

I say this, and I ask Allah's forgiveness for you and me. Indeed, He is the Forgiving, the Merciful.

Khutbah al-Thaniyah — Second Sermon

All praise is due to Allah, Lord of the worlds. And peace and blessings be upon the most honored of the prophets and messengers, the Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family and companions.

Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala tells us in the Quran and warns us against suspicion and thinking badly of one another:

O you who believe, stay away from lots of suspicion. Verily, some suspicion is sinful. And do not spy on one another, and do not backbite one another.

In this ayah, Allah azza wa jal tells us the dangers of suspicion and warns us to stay away from it — to stay away from bad thoughts of each other. And then He tells us to stay away from spying and from gossiping and backbiting. Why does Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala mention spying and gossiping after He talks about having bad thoughts and being suspicious of each other?

The scholars say that when a person starts to become suspicious of someone — maybe someone is doing something, maybe he heard this person smokes, or drinks alcohol, or is going out with a certain individual — a person will start to go out of his way to see if he is right. He may end up spying on that person. He will start to follow that person wherever he goes, just to see whether his suspicions were true.

And that person, when he is on his own and being followed unknowingly, will no doubt fall into some type of haram. In fact, a person with iman, a person with faith, will commit sins in private because he knows they are sins — he knows it is something haram. And so when someone spies on him, they will see him committing those sins — and then, after the spying which Allah has forbidden in this ayah, he will start to gossip about him to others.

So we see, brothers and sisters, the cascading effects of having su' al-dhan. A person may end up seeing someone doing something haram as a result of spying on him — which Allah has forbidden — and then end up gossiping to others about what he saw. We see the dangers of how su' al-dhan can end up becoming not just suspicion, but a reason for committing multiple sins, all from this one simple suspicion.

How to Rid Yourself of Suspicion

One of the ways that a person can rid himself of suspicion is by making sure that whenever he hears something evil about somebody, instead of contributing to it — increasing the suspicion and talking more about that person in a negative way — he instead makes du'a for that person and supplicates for him. And this is why the Messenger of Allah told us that when a person covers and conceals the faults of a Muslim in this world, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will conceal his sins and faults on the Day of Judgment.

(Sahih Muslim, Book 32, Hadith 6264)

And also, when a person hears somebody having su' al-dhan of another individual in his company, he should protect that person and say good things about him — make excuses for him. Maybe he said those things because he was stressed about something else. Maybe he never gave salam because he was preoccupied with something. Maybe he never came round because he has guests at his house. Making excuses for your brothers is something which actually increases the love that you have for each other.

And this is why one of the scholars said: "If something reaches you about your Muslim brother or sister, then come up with some kind of excuse. And if you cannot come up with a specific excuse, then say: 'Maybe he has some excuse. Maybe he had a reason for what he did.' Even if you cannot think of something specific, just give him the benefit of the doubt."

When a person has good thoughts of his Muslim brothers and sisters, it is a way of relieving stress, hatred, and anger from his heart. Because one of the reasons a person becomes suspicious of somebody is because of preconceived notions — or things which happened previously between them. Maybe there was a business deal that went bad, maybe you had an argument, whatever the case may be. Something happened between you, and then later in life, when you hear something about that person, because of those bad experiences you start to form suspicions and have evil thoughts of that person. And so when a person instead has good thoughts, it relieves him and removes that hatred from his heart.

And also, when a person has good thoughts of others, he becomes just. He starts to see things more clearly. There are no preconceived notions about how a person behaved, based on how they dealt with him previously. And so I remind myself and every single one of us of the dangers of having su' al-dhan and bad thoughts of one another, and how having good thoughts of each other will increase the love and the brotherhood between us.

Unity of the Muslim Ummah

We are living in a time where Muslims need to remain united. We need to support one another. We are living in a time where people are attacking us from every direction, regarding any issue they can find. And so it is important for us to stick together and to support one another. Because if we do not support our fellow Muslim brothers and sisters and think good of each other, then when non-Muslims start to accuse Muslims of something, we will straight away agree with them — we will not even want to defend our Muslim brothers and sisters, because we were already suspicious of them. We already had su' al-dhan of them. We already had bad thoughts of them.

So when we think good of one another, brothers and sisters, it strengthens the community. It makes us better. It makes us stronger. We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala that He removes this illness of su' al-dhan from our hearts, and that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala strengthens our communities and strengthens us as an ummah.

Indeed, Allah commands justice and good conduct and giving to relatives, and He forbids immorality and bad conduct and oppression. He admonishes you that perhaps you will be reminded.

So remember Allah — He will remember you. Call upon Him — He will respond to you. And the remembrance of Allah is the greatest of all things. And Allah knows what you do.