Actions Based on Intentions

It is a tricky one because sometimes we become confused and our nafs and the shaitan, they get the better of us. We have our own anger due to our own issues and our own egos. But then we rationalize that by saying that we are hating this person for the sake of Allah.

A person who is a sinner and is struggling with the sin. Then we are not supposed to hate the sinner, we are supposed to hate the sin. Allah says in the Quran:

Meaning disbelief, disobedience, and transgression crossing the limits set by Allah, and sinning. These are something that we should hate. But Rasulullah showed us through his example that how he extended his love to the sinners. It is like a person who is sick, you have hatred for the disease but not the sick individual.

You have compassion for the sick individual who is struggling with the disease. We have people who chewed the liver and body parts and organs of his beloved uncle. But what do we say? May Allah be pleased with her.

The one who killed him and ripped open his body, but the one who killed him, Wahshi ibn Haram, we say, Rasulullah extended mercy and compassion towards such sinners who killed his uncle, who killed his beloved brother, and his most beloved companion. This is how much love Rasulullah extended towards those who are sinners, if they made the intention to repent. Of course, there is one exception to this, that if a person has inaad on his kufr, and is very blatant and openly promoting the kufr, and the zulm, and the transgression, and is proud of it, is promoting it, then we have Allah does not love the wrongdoers, does not love the disbelievers.

Then we do not extend love to such people. In due process, they have to be opposed. But those who are struggling with sicknesses, of course we should have full compassion for such people.

And on top of it, if someone has repented from it already, then we seek refuge in Allah, holding that person to task for a past sin, itself is a major, major sin. Rasulullah has said:

(Jami' at-Tirmidhi, Hadith 2327)

The one who has repented from a sin is like the one who never had a sin.

So we have to really look down deep. Are we hating a person due to our own nafs and desires, or for the sake of Allah? One beautiful example of that is, One person, one Yahudi, he cursed Rasulullah and said very nasty things concerning Rasulullah in the presence of Sayyidina Ali. And Ali, out of love for Allah, and hatred for the sake of Allah, he was overcome by passion, and as Mashallah, he was a very strong individual. He was the Fatih of Khaibar, the conqueror of Khaibar, the one who picked up the gates of the fort of Khaibar, and removed it from its hinges, and allowed the Muslim army to take over the fort.

He grabbed this Yahudi, wrestled him down to the ground, put him down on the ground, and sat on his chest. And was about to beat him. And when this Yahudi was down on the ground, he couldn't move, he couldn't defend himself.

Then a moment of desperation, he just spat on the face of Ali. Just spat on his face. Could not physically hurt him. Ali, instantly he just got up, and left him alone.

People who observed this behavior were very shocked. They said that you had him down on the ground, he was totally at your mercy, you could have even inflicted more pain upon him, and then the only thing he did was spit on you, you could wipe the spit. It's degrading but it's not hurting you.

Why did you abandon him and leave him? So imagine the level of control, fine tuning of the intention, that Ali said, Initially, when he cursed Rasulullah, I expressed my anger solely for the sake of Allah. With no personal grudge against this person. But then when he spat on my face, I was filled with an urge of retaliation. Because he had defiled me, he had defaced my face, he had spit on my face.

And I felt that urge of retaliation and revenge. I was filled with the urge of revenge. And I realized that if I strike him now, this will not be for the sake of Allah.

This will not be for defending the honor of Rasulullah. This will be for my own reason. This will be for my personal desires. So instantly I got up and left him alone.

There are so many examples of this. Quickly, if I can wrap up one more last example. Umar, he saw that there was a gutter.

Water was flowing into the courtyard of Masjid Nabawi. And waste water from a nearby apartment. Not only the rain water, but other water as well that was dirty.

So he got very mad. Who dare defiles the house of Allah, the sacredness of the house of Allah, the Masjid of Rasulullah. And he ordered that it be demolished. And it be broken and removed.

Thereafter, Abbas, the uncle of Rasulullah. He came back from a journey or he was away. And he saw that the gutter that comes out of his house was broken. And it was removed.

He became very upset himself that who did this. And he was told that Amirul Momineen passed the royal order that it should be removed. And that's why it was removed.

But he was no small personality that did not have his own level of respect. He was the uncle of the Prophet of Allah. He was Abbas. He came to Umar. He had the courage to come and face him. And he said that, Did you make any proper investigation about my gutter? Do you know that who it was approved by? Just like today, if you have a construction, or rehabbing your home, or building something, even a deck you want to make, patio, fence you want to make on your own land, in the land of the free, you have to get permission.

And you have to get the permits. So if some inspector comes and destroys your fence, destroys your deck, and says there's no permit, then you come and say, I have a permit from the county. I have a permit from the village.

He said, do you have any idea who has given permission for this gutter? This gutter was built not in your Khilafat, nor in the Khilafat of Abu Bakr. This gutter was built during the era of Rasulullah with his express permission. And you have destroyed it.

So Umar became so sad. He would immediately stop and control himself whenever the order of Allah was presented. And all the Sahaba had this nature.

He said, I seek forgiveness from Allah. I was completely unaware. Whatever anger I had, I had it for the sake of Allah, for the masjid. Now if I understand I did a wrong thing, I need to rectify it.

And he said, he came there by the gutter, and he bowed down into a position of ruku' and he asked Abbas that you climb on my back and you stand on my back and you place the gutter back in its position. You replace the gutter back in its exact position. He said, there's no need for that.

There's enough people who can do the work. You do not have to bend down. He said, I must bend down.

This is the mere token I can do of redemption for my grave mistake and blunder. Because I made a blunder, I did not know that it was given permission by Rasulallah. Whenever water is flowing down into the courtyard, we can make some rudimentary system of allowing that to flow out without harming the masjid. We can do other ways of going around the problem.

But this gutter was given permission by Rasulallah. I will go into ruku' position. You have to come on my back. And he kept on insisting until that is exactly what Abbas had to do.

The khalifa of the time, the one who was overseeing the expansion of the Muslim empire in all directions, who simultaneously at one time was conquering both the Roman empire and the Persian empire, the one whose name would strike terror in the hearts of the kings of the time. He went into a ruku' position so Abbas could climb on his back and fix the gutter. This is a sign of hatred for the sake of Allah.

Whatever hatred was for the sake of Allah initially, and when it was explained, then he retracted from his position. So may Allah give us the reality that our love be for His sake, our hatred be for His sake, we give for His sake, we withhold for His sake, and that we have complete iman. May Allah give us all the reality before we meet Him, so that we acquire this haqiqat of iman.