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Sins We Commit When We’re Scared and Vulnerable | Khutbah
Shaytan has a way of exploiting our fears, and we tend do things that are out of character when we’re feeling vulnerable. Here is how the Prophet ﷺ taught us to pray and act when we find ourselves in that state.
Transcript
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings. Dear brothers and sisters, last week we talked about this powerful du'a, this supplication that the Prophet ﷺ taught us to have to remove our anxiety, to remove our fear, to remove our grief. And we talked about how simple it is. And we talked about some of the distinctions where the Prophet ﷺ taught that young man to seek refuge in Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. From al-ham, which refers to anxiety about the future, al-hazan refers to grief about the past. From inability and laziness, al-ajz means when you don't have the strength, you actually are fully incapable of doing anything for yourself. Wal-kasal, which is when you have the ability but you don't have the will, laziness, the inability to do though you have the means. And the Prophet ﷺ mentioned al-jubni wal-bukhul, from cowardice and from stinginess, those two things where you hold back either your courage or you hold back your wealth out of fear of what you will be letting go should you spend from yourself in courage or should you spend from your wealth in generosity. And then min ghalabat al-dayni wa qahri al-rijal, from the burden of debt and from being subjugated to man. Now I'm going to venture to say that the last part of this hadith is actually the most misunderstood part of this hadith even though it's the most easily identifiable part of the hadith. People know what it feels like, anyone who has been in debt knows the misery of debt. And may Allah ﷻ allow everyone that is suffering from the burden of debt to be relieved of it. Allahumma ameen. We know what it's like to be at the mercy of another person and how humiliating that can feel to have your stakes rest upon whether or not someone else is going to show you some mercy.
To be at the mercy especially of someone that you don't particularly like maybe or an enemy or someone that just makes you feel little. No one likes to be in that situation. May Allah ﷻ make us always independent of his makhlouq, of his creation. Allahumma ameen. However, when the Prophet ﷺ was seeking refuge in Allah from these things, he was not seeking refuge in Allah from these things because of the worldly consequences of these things. Which is very powerful. If you look at the hadith, the Prophet ﷺ is really seeking refuge in Allah from su'l akhlaq, from bad characteristics, from bad traits. He's not looking at the worldly consequences of these things as much as how those worldly circumstances lead to akhira consequences, consequences of the hereafter. Meaning if I am lazy, I'm not doing what I need to do to better my situation in the hereafter. If I am stingy, then I'm not spending in a way that will elevate me in the hereafter. If I am cowardly, then I am not showing the courage that I will be asked about on the day of judgment. That these are things that have akhira-oriented consequences, hereafter-oriented consequences. Now, what about debt? The Prophet ﷺ was a man who could easily never have a debt. There's probably no one in the society of Medina that did not need to worry about debt like the Prophet ﷺ. Not even Abdurrahman ibn Auf radiyallahu ta'ala anhu or Uthman ibn Affan radiyallahu anhu. Why? Because if the Prophet ﷺ had a debt, all he had to do was this, and then everybody would pay off his debt. Who would not respond to the Prophet ﷺ saying, I have a debt?
Yet in his humility ﷺ, he died in debt. But not ghalabat al-dain. So I'm going to make this distinction first. There's a difference between owing someone $3,000 or $300 and owing them $100,000 or $200,000. There's a difference between a debt that is crushing you for years and years and years and years, and a debt that, you know, it's smaller, it's more manageable. And the Prophet ﷺ's debt was manageable debt. And that's from his wisdom ﷺ that though he lived a life of poverty, he did not ﷺ take on debts that were not manageable. So till the last day of his life, he used to, for example, ﷺ do business with some of the people of the book in Madinah. He actually owed, he pawned his shield ﷺ to a Jewish neighbor at the day of his death. He was managing those types of relationships with society and teaching the ummah how to transact. But ghalabat al-dain refers to a debt that is insurmountable, that's just really over your head. But he could have even done away with that too, right? So guess who was surprised at why he seeks refuge in Allah ﷻ from debt so much? Aisha ﷺ. She said to the Prophet ﷺ, Ya Rasulullah, I'm amazed at how much you do isti'adah, you seek refuge in Allah from a dain, from debt. Like it's, on one hand, you can easily do away with it. On the other hand, the Prophet ﷺ does not take on unmanageable debt. Ya Rasulullah, I'm surprised how often this comes up in your dua. And the Prophet ﷺ said, Innahu man ghareema, that when a person is in debt, haddatha fa kadhab.
When they speak, they'll learn how to lie. Wa wa'ada fa akhlaf. And when they make promises, they'll start breaking their promises. What a powerful hadith. He's our teacher ﷺ. He's saying that the greatest consequence of debt, and being in a compromising situation, in a vulnerable situation, is not the humiliation when you get that phone call or when you have to meet your debtor, and the debtor starts to become rougher with you. It's that you might take on the akhlaq of nifaq, the characteristics of hypocrisy, to get yourself out of that situation, and you might get good at it. You might actually get good at it. So yes, brother, insha'Allah ta'ala, you know, Oh, I was waiting on one thing, and then you make up stories about why you're late, on paying the person back. You make up stories to delay. You start lying and getting good at lying. You start making promises and breaking those promises more frequently, and so you take on half of the characteristics of a munafiq, of a hypocrite, while trying to get yourself out of a worldly situation. Do you see how profound that is from the Prophet ﷺ? That he's saying, Ya Aisha, I'm not doing this because I want people to, I don't like the feeling of having my ego bruised a bit in this world, or some of what comes with that. It's because when people become accustomed to compromised and vulnerable situations, then eventually they start to compromise of their deen, and they start to compromise of their akhlaq, of their religion, and of their characteristics to get out of those situations. And that's why the Prophet ﷺ, in another profound hadith, an Ali raza'allah ta'ala anhu, that the Prophet ﷺ told a man, shall I not teach you some words that if you say them,
Allah ﷻ will take care of your debt, your deen particularly, your debt. Even if it is like a mountain, qala alayhi salatu was salam, Allahumma akfini bi halalika an haramik, wa aghni bi fadlika an man siwak. Again, Allahumma akfini bi halalika an haramik, wa aghni bi fadlika an man siwak. O Allah, suffice me with your halal, with your lawful, so that I don't resort to the unlawful. Akfini bi halalika an haramik. Let me have enough halal so I don't fall into haram. That's my reason, not because ya Allah, give me more halal income so I can have a bigger house, so I can have a nicer car. It's okay to ask Allah for those things, but my main concern is that I don't want to be in a situation where I have to dip into haram. And your fadl, wa bi fadlika, and this is a hard one to translate, and bestow upon me your favor, your bounty, so that I don't need anyone but you. Allahu akbar. An man siwak. I want to keep needing you, I just don't want to need anyone else. Why am I bringing this to the discussion for us? When you see those ahadith where the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam teaches us to seek independence. You know, he made the sahaba take bay'ah to him, allegiance to him. Allah as'alu nasa shay'a, that I will never ask anyone for anything, even if one of our whips or something in our hand fell, when we were on top of our horses and camels, we would get down and get it ourselves so that we don't ask someone else to get it for us. It's a mindset. It's a mindset. That al mu'min al qawiy, that the strong believer is better than the weak believer. It's a mindset that you seek a position of strength. Al yad al uliya khayru min al yad al sufla, to be the giving hand, the upper hand is better than being the lower hand.
It's a mindset for a community. Rabbana la taj'anna fitna lilladheena kafaru. Oh Allah, don't make us a fitna, a tribulation for those who disbelieve. They see us in weakness, they think that they're beating us, and because they think that they have power over us, then they feel even more invincible and immune to having to believe in Allah, because look, we're crushing the believers. We seek positions of strength as individuals and as communities, first and foremost, so that we don't resort to that which is displeasing to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Because Allah knows that sometimes when we're vulnerable and we're compromised, that's when we will compromise our faith, and that's when we might do things that are very dangerous. And there is no greater example. It's one of the least flattering stories of a sahabi that you will find, that I'm about to share with you. But it's shared in our tradition for a reason, and it's actually shared by the man who is guilty. Hatib ibn Abi Balta'a radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu. Hatib was one of Ahl al-Badr, the veterans of Badr, the cream of the crop of Islam, the best that you can think of of the companions. And when the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam was about to go to Mecca for the conquest of Mecca, Hatib looked around and he didn't have tribesmen in Mecca. He didn't have family in Mecca, meaning if things go wrong, there's no one from the kuffar, the disbelievers in Mecca, to say, okay, we'll protect him. We know this was a bad fallout, but at the end of the day, these people put tribe over creed. We'll protect our tribesmen and we'll take care of them. Hatib had no one in Mecca. And in his moment of feeling vulnerable, like I'm going back to Mecca, I don't have anyone. He did something horrible, horrible. What did he do? The Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam confided in a group of companions about his plans to go to Mecca. Hatib took those plans, wrote them in a letter, called one of the disbelieving women and gave that letter of the plans of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam to go to Mecca to deliver to the heads of Quraysh.
That's treason of the highest order, right? I mean, that's really corrupt. That's the highest order, right? I mean, that's really compromising the mission, compromising the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam, putting the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam in a very bad situation. And this is a person of Badr, a veteran of Badr. And so the woman takes the letter, she puts it in her hair, she wraps up her hair over it, she puts her khimar on top, and she makes her way. Jibreel alayhi salam comes to the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam and tells him what Hatib did. So the news from the heavens comes that there is a letter in the hair of this woman, and she's in Rawdat Khakh, a very particular garden. Right now, Ya Rasulullah, send someone to go stop her and get that letter back. The Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam calls Ali, Miqdad, and Az-Zubair radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhum, and he says, go to this particular place. There's this woman, she looks like this and that, and she has a letter in her hair with the news of what I plan to do in Mecca. Make sure that you get it from her. So they go quickly to that garden, they find the woman, they tell the woman, give us the letter. She says, I don't have a letter. Ali radiyaAllahu anhum says, look, we can do this the easy way or the hard way. We really don't want to do this the hard way. Give us the letter. She takes it out from her hair. She's not even Muslim, takes it out from her hair. She gives them the letter. It comes back to the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam. If you are Hatib right now, I mean, you could deservedly be killed. You almost put the entire community at risk because of your own compromise, your own vulnerability, your sense of insecurity. Shaitan played with his head in that manner. So the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam calls Hatib. Amir al-Khattab radiyaAllahu anhu is standing next to the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam. Ali, Miqdad, Zubayr are there. And the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam says, Ya Hatib, what did you do? Hatib says, Ya Rasulallah, I thought about all of you and you have people in Mecca to take care of you. If things go wrong,
this person has his tribesmen. And I wanted to have a hand with Quraish in case things did not work out so that I would be protected too. And Ya Rasulallah, I knew that Allah would give you victory in any way and that they were not going to be able to overcome you. I mean, it sounds contradictory, right? But he's saying to the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam, but Ya Rasulallah, Wallahi, I did not do that out of any allegiance to Kufr, out of any wanting disbelief, or out of any getting out of Islam. It was a moment of weakness. I regret it. I hate that I did it. But Ya Rasulallah, don't think I did that because I'm Abdullah ibn Ubayy ibn Salun and I want to undermine Islam. I want to hurt Islam. I got weak. Shaytan got me in my weak moments. The Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam hears his excuse. Umar ibn Khattab says, Ya Rasulallah, let me take care of him. That's Umar's answer. And he's right, right? I mean, in the sense that justifiably so. This is treason. The Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam looks at Hatib and he says he's telling the truth. And he said, Ya Umar, it might be that Allah looked to the people of Badr and said, Do as you will. Do as you will, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has forgiven you. And so Allah has forgiven you. Oh Hatib, seek Allah's forgiveness and go back. Subhanallah. The Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam could have killed him and he would have been justified. He didn't do that salallahu alayhi wa sallam. What was Hatib radhiyaAllahu anhu thinking? He got weak. And sometimes when we get vulnerable, that's when Shaytan finds his easiest way into our heads. That's when he finds us in our low points. In our low points. When the money is tight, haram money becomes so tempting. When we feel like we've been wronged, it becomes so easy to wrong someone else.
Right? Isn't that how a lot of injustice perpetuates in society? Someone wronged me, so I'm going to wrong somebody else. That's how cycles of abuse take place in families, entire families. My parents abused me, I'm going to abuse my children too. Because Shaytan preys on those moments of insecurity and vulnerability. However, let me just put one thing aside with Hatib radhiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu. No one of us ever went to Badr. So Hatib committed a grave crime, but he had a grave, a great deed on his scale that's unlike anyone else. So we don't count on getting the forgiveness that Hatib radhiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu got, but we learned the lesson of Hatib. And we learned the lessons from these ahadith. That first and foremost, when we make dua to Allah, Oh Allah, Oh Allah, put us in a position of strength. It's not because we enjoy arrogance. If that's your intention when you're making the dua, because I don't want to be talked down to, I don't want to feel less. That's not the right intention for these duas, dear brothers and sisters. When you supplicate to get yourself out of these situations. And by the way, when a person ends up in a situation of weakness, regardless, that we're not a people who believe that those who are wealthy, Allah loves, and those who are poor, Allah hates. No, you're being tested with your position of strength. Others are being tested with their position of weakness, but you seek a position of strength so that you don't find yourself in a position of compromising your faith. Recognize the tricks of shaitan when he comes to you and tells you, you're weak, you're in debt, you've been wronged, it's your turn. It's okay, a little bit of this, a little bit of that. And for those of you who have never been in that situation, may Allah keep us all out of that situation. Make that the intention for the dua of that Allah protect us from being in a position of being overburdened by debt or subjugated to men.
Not because it's going to hurt my ego, but because it might hurt my akhira. I might develop bad qualities and characteristics and traits I don't want to develop. May Allah protect us from ever resorting to haram as a means of curing our harm. May Allah protect our character, protect us in this life, elevate us in the next life. Arabic Arabic Arabic Arabic Arabic
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