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Dangerous Assumptions | Khutbah
Allah warns us against having negative assumptions regarding others, but why is it so harmful to our deen? How does suspicion impact our akhlaq, character, and our deeds in the hereafter? Sh. Ibrahim Hindy delves into the different types of assumptions and how shaytaan influences this sin.
Transcript
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings. He said to us, Innama bu'ithtu li utammim makarimal akhlaaq. He said, indeed, I was only sent to perfect moral character. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and his messenger, Allah sent his messenger with the goal of perfecting and illuminating what moral character really is. And so, of the message of our Prophet, salallahu alayhi wasalam, is that he warned us of behavior that undermines excellent character. And the reality is that a lack of character harms us first. A lack of character and lack of morality and ethics may harm other people and it may harm society. But in reality, and first and foremost, it harms us. And so today's topic revolves around this concept. An evil character, an unworthy character, or characteristic. That the more we engage in it, the more we harm ourselves. The more we engage in it, the more we bring pain to ourselves. The more we do it, the more mistrustful or distrustful we are of others. The more paranoid and the more hate-filled we become. And this is the character of having or holding evil assumptions about other people.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala tells us in the Quran, يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اِجْتَنِبُوا كَثِيرًا مِّنَ الظَّنِّ إِنَّ بَعْضَ الظَّنِّ إِثْمٌ O you who believe, avoid most assumptions or avoid many assumptions. For indeed some assumptions are sinful. Allah does not tell us in this verse to avoid all assumptions, but rather to avoid most assumptions. Why? The scholars say there are different forms of dhun. There are different forms of assumptions. Some assumptions for instance are almost qata'i, are almost definitive. For instance, if someone was angry with you, and in a context of being angry with you, he turns his hand into a fist, and he cocks his elbow as though he's going to throw a punch. Is it wrong for me to assume he's angry and may punch me? No, because the number of evidences to support this assumption are incredibly high. Likewise, the scholars talk about adh-dhunna al-wajib, the obligatory assumptions. Meaning there are times where we must assume things, and must delve into assumptions. For instance, if a scholar is criticizing the narrators of a hadith, he may assume certain things, make assumptions about some of the narrators in the chain of narration.
Likewise, if someone is entering into a marriage contract or a business contract, we may assume things, we may say those assumptions in order to ensure that the contract is what both of us understand. But most assumptions we make are not of this nature, let's be honest. Most assumptions we make fall short of this. For instance, you have a debate with someone, or a discussion with someone, and they say something and it sounds like maybe it's an insult, but maybe it's not. This is what the scholars call ghalabat al-dhunna. Most likely he's insulting you, but maybe he's not. There's a possibility to interpret his words in a way that's not an insult. Here we should avoid, because Allah tells us to avoid most assumptions. Then there are assumptions that are less than that. For instance, I didn't invite you to my wedding. So you start to assume, oh, he didn't invite me on purpose, or he didn't invite me because he doesn't like me, or he didn't invite me for this reason or that reason. When in the reality, maybe he just forgot to invite you. So this is a form of suspicion based on circumstance, but there's no evidence behind it. And the final type of dhunna is ad-dhunna al-wahmi, the imaginative assumptions that we make. You see a brother driving a nice car. Oh, he must be selling drugs. He must be dealing riba. He must be doing something haram. On what basis was that assumption made? There's no evidence behind it whatsoever.
Right? You see a brother with a big beard, he must be an extremist. Right? This is pure prejudice. There's no evidence. There's no reality. It's just imaginative assumptions. And most people's assumptions fall under this haram category rather than in a positive category. And so having negative assumptions or being suspicious of people or constantly delving into the intentions of other people, this is a disease of the heart. And usually this disease exists because of our own evil intentions. We tend to project our own sins onto other people. And so if you naturally backbite, if you often backbite, it's easy to assume that other people are backbiting you. If you would steal from other people, it's easy to feel paranoid that other people are stealing from you. Because of this, Ali radiyaAllahu anhu, he said, الشرير لا يظن بأحد خيرا لأنه لا يرى إلا بطبع نفسه. He said that the sinful person does not assume good about anyone else because he only looks through the prism of his own heart or his own nature. His nature is to do something evil, so he assumes other people do evil as well. Al-Mutanabbi, he said, a great poet, he said, إذا ساء فعل المرء ساء ثنونه. If the person's actions are evil, so too are his intentions, or so too are his assumptions. You know the parable I've given before, but the parable of someone who's sitting,
looking at the laundry that people are hanging outside of his house. And he looks at their laundry that they're hanging after they've washed it, they're hanging it to dry. And he says, oh, their laundry is dirty. Look at these people, they're hanging their laundry, their sheets to dry, and the sheets are dirty. But in reality, it's his window that is dirty. And because his window is dirty, every time he looks outside the window, he thinks everything on the outside is dirty. But he really needs to clean his own window. And this is the reality of most of us. Because we have evil intentions, we start to assume everyone else has evil intentions. Because we're looking through the window of our own selves. We're looking through the prism of our own nature, as Ali radiyaAllahu anhu says. And this is why the Prophet ﷺ said, in the hadith in Bukhari, he said, قَالَ إِذَا سَمَعْتُ الرَّجُلِ يَقُولُ هَلَكَ النَّاسِ فَهُوَ أَهْلَكُهُمْ He said, if you hear the person saying, if you hear a man saying, the people are ruined, how often do we hear this? People are like, everybody is so into haram, everybody is evil, everybody is this, everybody is that. He said, when you hear the person saying that all the people are ruined, فَهُوَ أَهْلَكُهُمْ He is the most ruined of all of them. Because he's judging people in the end based on his own self. And so the sign of being someone who holds evil suspicions about other people is that we're looking to ascribe hidden intentions to the things that we see. We aren't simply judging an action or a deed, but we are trying to ascribe hidden intentions and evil motives to the actions that we see. The Prophet ﷺ said,
قَالَ يَا مَعْشَرُ مَنْ أَسْلَمَ بِلِيسَانِهِ وَلَمْ يَدْخُلُ الْإِيمَانَ فِي قَلْبِهِ لَا تَخْتَابُ الْمُسْلِمِينَ وَلَا تَتَّبِعُ عُرَاتِهِمْ فَإِنَّهُ مَنَ اتَّبَعَ عُرَاتِهِمْ يَتَّبَعُ اللَّهُ عُرَاتَهُ He said, O people who believe with their tongues, but iman, faith, has yet to enter their hearts. لَا تَتَّبِعُ عُرَاتِهِمْ Do not backbite the Muslims and do not follow their faults. For whoever seeks to follow the fault of his brother, then Allah will seek out his faults. And whomever his fault is sought out by Allah, then Allah will disgrace him. What does it mean to follow the faults of a Muslim? The faults of a Muslim are his sins. So if you see a Muslim sinning, don't seek it. Don't follow it. What does that mean? Don't talk about it. Don't gossip about it. Don't be interested in it. Don't ascribe evil intentions to it. The power of this hadith, by the way, the Prophet begins, مَنْ آمَنَ بِلِسَانِهِ وَلَمْ يَفْضِلْ إِمَانِ إِلَىٰ قَلْبِهِ O you who believe with their tongues, but iman, faith, has yet to enter the hearts. Because how can the heart have iman when it has evil assumptions about others? It's an indication that true iman has not settled within the heart. And if you seek out the faults of other people, then Allah will seek out your faults. What does that mean? It means Allah will expose your faults. If you're backbiting about the sins of others and gossiping and assuming the intentions about others, then Allah will make your faults
that which people are backbiting about and gossiping about and ascribing intentions towards. And this is why some of the scholars they said, even if you see your Muslim brother with his beard soaked in alcohol, then say to yourself, maybe someone splashed it in his face. And if you see your Muslim brother screaming, أنا ربكم الأعلى, I am your Lord, the Most High, then say maybe he's reciting the Quran when it's quoting Firaun rather than he's claiming it about himself. Meaning always look to hold a good assumption about your brother and sister in Islam. Umar ibn al-Khattab radiyaAllahu anhu said, لا تظن بكلمة خرجت من أخيك المؤمن شرّا وإن تجد لها في الخير محملة. He said never assume that a word your brother has said, your believing brother has said, to be evil while there exists the possibility of a good interpretation. He says something and it sounds wrong, but maybe there's a way to interpret it positively, then do so. Don't always assume the evil intention upon your brother. Instead we tend to do the opposite. Someone says something and we say, Oh yeah, he said this, but he really means this evil thing. She said this, but she really means this evil thing. And subhanAllah, how often do we know our own intentions? How often are we in need of doing muhasabah of ourselves, of asking ourselves, what did I really intend? What was my true intention? What was my true niyyah? We have to ask ourselves this question,
if we're honest, multiple times a day. So if we don't know our own intentions, how are we able to judge the intentions of other people? يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اجْتَنِبُوا كَثِيرًا مِّنَ الظَّنِّ O you who believe, avoid most assumptions. اجتناب, اجتنب, اجتناب, means to avoid something severely. And it's interesting, the Quran only uses the word اجتناب in a few circumstances. For instance, فَاجْتَنِبُوا الْرِجْسَ مِنَ الْأَوْثَانِ وَاجْتَنِبُوا قَوْلَ الزُّورِ Avoid idolatry, the impurities of idolatry. Allah mentions it as well when He talks about alcohol, intoxicants and gambling. إنما الخمر والميصر والأنصاب والألزام رجسوا من عمل الشيطان فاجتنبوا Avoid these things, get away from it. And the scholars mention, notice that every time Allah uses the word اجتنبوا, He uses it about things that are destructive. So He uses it about idolatry. Idolatry is destructive to your relationship with Allah. It's destructive to the pure aqeedah, the pure monotheism and tawheed. And He uses it about alcohol. And alcohol is destructive to a person's mental capacity, and ability to think and make good judgment. And He uses it about gambling. And gambling is destructive to someone's wealth and money. How many people have gone bankrupt because of gambling? And He uses it about assumptions.
اجتنبوا كثيرا من الظن And assumptions are destructive to brotherhood and sisterhood. They're destructive to being brothers in Islam. If we're always assuming the worst of each other, how are we going to be brothers to one another? How are we going to be brothers and sisters in Islam if every time someone does something, we want to assume the worst about what they've done? The Prophet said, اياكم والظن فإن الظن أكثر الحديث The Prophet said, I warn you, or beware of assumptions. For indeed assumptions are the most lying of words, the most false of tales. The thing that contains the most lies are the assumptions we hold about other people. And then the Prophet continued, ولا تحسسوا ولا تجسسوا ولا تحاسدوا ولا تدابروا ولا تباغضوا وكونوا عباد الله إخوانا Beautiful hadith. He said, and do not seek each other's faults and do not spy on one another and do not contend with each other and do not envy one another and do not hate each other and do not turn away from one another. Rather be عباد الله, the servants of Allah, إخوانا, brothers to one another. SubhanAllah, the Prophet mentions all of these evil, socially destructive sins, seeking each other's faults. You know, you're looking to see, is that guy do something wrong so I can expose his sins? You know, seeking each other's faults, spying on one another, backbiting each other, contending negatively with each other, envying each other, all of these sins. But what's the first thing the Prophet told you? إياكم وظن فإن الظن أكذب الحديث I warn you about assumptions
because assumptions are the most false of tales. And it's as if the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم is telling us, what is it that leads the person to seek the faults of his brother and sister in Islam? What is it that leads the person to spy on his brothers and sisters in Islam? What is it that leads the person to have negative competition with his brothers and sisters in Islam? What is it that leads the person from hating each other, their brothers and sisters in Islam, and envying their brothers and sisters? What is it that is the root of all of this? It's the evil assumptions we hold about each other. It's because we don't stop ourselves at the beginning and say to ourselves, maybe there's a good reason he did that. Maybe I should make excuses for him. Maybe I should assume the best about him. And if we stop ourselves at the beginning, all of those sins don't happen. So the Prophet tells you, beware of assumptions and beware of all these other sins. And then in the end he tells you, وَكُونُوا عِبَادَ اللَّهِ إِخْوَانًا Be the servants of Allah and brothers to each other. How can we be brothers to each other and servants to Allah when we're not able to assume the best of one another? And so it's important that we preserve our brotherhood by always assuming the best about one another. And one of the powerful stories in this regard as well, something for us really to think about, is the story of Usama ibn Zayd radiAllahu anhu, who is fighting on the battlefield. And he's fighting on the battlefield with surely someone who's trying to kill him. But in the battle, Usama is victorious. The person drops his sword and Usama has dominance over him. And the man says, لا إله إلا الله
Now Usama is looking at the circumstances. We're fighting on the battlefield. He didn't say the shahada until he dropped his sword. Only after he drops his sword he says, لا إله إلا الله And if Usama was the one who drops his sword, he assumes, surely the other man would have killed me. So Usama does not accept the shahada this man makes, and he kills him. And he goes back to the Prophet ﷺ and he informs him of what took place. And the Prophet ﷺ tells him, أقتلته بعد أن قال لا إله إلا الله He said, did you kill him after he said لا إله إلا الله? And Usama tells the Prophet, يا رسول الله, he didn't mean it. He said it, but he didn't mean it. And the Prophet tells him again, قال أقتلته بعد أن قال لا إله إلا الله Did you kill him after he said لا إله إلا الله? And again Usama is protesting, he says, oh Messenger of Allah, but he said it, but he never meant it. And the Prophet ﷺ tells him, قال فكيف تصنع بلا إله إلا الله إذا جاءت يوم القيامة He said, what will you do with لا إله إلا الله if it comes on the day of judgment? Meaning you don't know if he said it truthfully or not. You don't know what his intentions were. And if his intention was truly to say لا إله إلا الله Then what are you going to do when a Muslim comes with لا إله إلا الله on the day of judgment? And that's a question for all of us to think about. Because there are people who are going to come on the day of judgment and they have said لا إله إلا الله And maybe we didn't kill them with a sword, but maybe we killed them with our tongue.
Maybe with our tongue we said something to harm them, to hurt them, to destroy them. So like the Prophet ﷺ tells Usama فكيف تصنع بلا إله إلا الله What are you going to do with لا إله إلا الله? And we need to ask ourselves what are we going to do with لا إله إلا الله if it comes on the day of judgment? فأقول قولي هذا وأستغفر الله وليه ولكم استغفروه إنه الوفور الرحيم بسم الله والحمد لله وصلاة والسلام على رسول الله وعلى آله وصحبه ومن ولا Allah سبحانه وتعالى tells us ولا تقف ما ليس لك به علم إن السمع والبصر والفؤاد كل هولئك كان عنه مسؤولا Do not pursue that which you do not have knowledge for indeed the hearing and the sight and the heart all of those will be questioned We are going to be questioned on the day of judgment about our hearing and our sight and our hearts But Allah tells us don't pursue that which you have no knowledge of Don't worry about other people especially about things that we have no knowledge of We don't know what's going on inside their hearts Don't be obsessed with it because in the end you're going to be asked about what? Your own hearing and your own sight and your own hearts And so it's important for us to be aware of this We know the hadith of the Prophet ﷺ When he was talking to his wife Safiyyah outside of the masjid and he had just married her And some of the Muslims see the Prophet ﷺ speaking to a woman and they start walking a little bit faster So the Prophet ﷺ with his emotional intelligence he understands what's happening
So he calls them and he tells them this is my wife Safiyyah They said Oh messenger of Allah We're not going to think evil of you You know, how are we? They said subhanAllah ya Rasulullah, messenger of Allah How are we going to think evil of you? You're the messenger of Allah We're not going to assume anything bad about you And then the Prophet ﷺ said Inna ash-shaytaan yajri minal insaan majriyad-damm He said indeed shaytaan runs through the human being like blood runs through the veins And so the Prophet ﷺ of his great moral character As he tried to make sure he didn't put himself in a situation where people were going to assume bad things about him And if he felt they might he clarified ﷺ But he teaches us this lesson He teaches us this lesson that shaytaan runs through us And that means we have to be constantly constantly guarding ourself Against shaytaan whispering in our ears What is that person doing? What do you think their intentions are? And instead we have to realize and really internalize that our brothers and sisters in Islam They are from us and we are from them And Imam al-Ghazali rahimAllah in al-Ahya he says That just like our tongues need to remain silent from the evils of our brothers Because if we speak then it's considered backbiting The heart needs to remain silent from the evils of other people And what does that mean? He says بسوء ظن Because the evil assumptions is غيبة القلب It is the backbiting of the hearts And so we ask Allah ﷻ to protect us from that
And rather to allow our hearts to have love for our brothers and sisters in Islam And to always assume the best of our brothers and sisters in Islam اِنَّ اللَّهُ مَلَائِكَةُ صَلُّونَ عَلَى النَّبِيَّ أَيُّهُ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا صَلُّوا عَلَيْهِ وَسَلِّمُوا تَسْلِيمًا اللهم صلِّ وسلِّم على سيدنا ونبينا وحبيبنا محمد اللهم صلِّ على محمد ما ذكره الذاكيرون الأبرار وصلِّ عليه ربنا ما تذوع مسك وفاح صلِّ عليه ربنا صلاة وسلام دائمين إلى يوم الدين وعلى آله واصحابه الطيبين الطاهرين وعلى أمهات المؤمنين وعلينا وعلى عباد الله الصالحين اللهم اعز الإسلام والمسلمين واعلي بفضلك كلمة الحق والدين اللهم حبب إلينا الإيمان وزينه في قلوبنا وكره إنين الكفر والفسوق والعسيان واجعلنا من الراشدين إن الله يأمر بالعدل والحسان وإيتاء القربى وينهى للفحشاء والمنكر والبغي عيذكم لعلكم تذكرون واذكروا الله يذكركم واشكروه وعلى نعمه يزدكم ولذكروا الله أكبر والله يعنى مما تصنعون عبدالله كم الصلاة
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