Road to Return | How to Come Back from Sin
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Ep. 39: It's Just a Joke | Road to Return
Words matter. The tongue of a believer should always be careful, kind, and extremely wary of joking, insulting, or bullying others. Sh. Yahya Ibrahim describes the strong terms by which the Prophet ﷺ reminded us to guard the words that we speak.
Transcript
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings. I was just joking. Can't you take a joke, SubhanAllah, that's about to cross a line of transgression between you and Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala. Being insulting, riling up others, trying to be funny and bullying others is not ever the character of a believer. A Muslim, the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam defines, man salim al-muslimuna min lisanihi wa yadih is who other Muslims are safe from their tongue and their hand. wal mu'min man aminahun nasu ala amwalihim fu anfusihim And a believer is all of humanity, not just Muslims, are safe from the believer taking of their property or harming their person. And therefore there's no such a thing, I was just joking, if it means that you've demeaned, put down, ridiculed or hurt someone. The Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam used to endure that same behavior, wa idha marru bihim yataghamazoon. When the mushrikeen would walk by or the Muslims would walk by the mushrikeen, they would nudge each other, wa yataghamazoon and tell jokes. In fact, Allah condemns in Surat al-Tawbah a group of people who were sitting and they were ridiculing some of the behaviors and the attitudes of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam and the sahaba and they said, innama kunna nakhudu wa nal'ab We were just having fun and we were just enjoying ourselves. It was just a joke, O messenger of Allah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. And Allah says, walaqad qalu kalimat al-kufr In fact, they had said a statement that made them unbelievers because they use those words in characterization, even if they claim it was just a joke. Words matter. The Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, he told us in the authentic hadith, innarajul la yatakallamu bilkalima An individual might speak a word, la yulqilaha bala
They may not pay attention to its significance, fatahwi bihi ilan naar And it will drag him down into the depth of hellfire. The Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam ordered us to be very guarding of our tongue, to be careful what we say and how we speak about others and how we make other people feel. Really it's important to say these words to ourself. How would I feel if people treated me that way? How would it feel if I was the butt of the joke? How would I feel if I was the one single doubt? How would I feel if there was a group of other people who mocked me or jeered at me? How would I feel if others were chatting about me in a secret chat? How would I feel if people posted those things about me and I came to discover them later when I came to school? How would I feel if people said it was just a joke? Can't you take a joke? Know that that's an act of transgression. You have to be careful. And it is a sin before Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la that you make an individual feel uncomfortable or to ridicule their creation or how they look or how they appear or how they speak or how they talk. Even if it is meant to be something that is retelling the truth. One day the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam was sitting with his wife Aisha radiAllahu Anha and she used to have a little bit of jealousy with another one of the wives of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam Safiya radiAllahu Anha. And Safiya was a little bit shorter than the rest and she was walking at a distance and Aisha radiAllahu Anha she said, Oh messenger of Allah, unthor ila Safiya. Oh messenger of Allah, do you see Safiya over there? Hasbuhakadha wakadha. Look how short she is. And at that moment the Prophet lowered his head and his face grew dark with anger and he turned to Aisha radiAllahu Anha and he said to her, Ya Aisha innaki khulti kalimatan law muzijat fee maa ilbahri lamazajat. Aisha you've spoken a word that if it was to be dipped in an ocean, it would pollute it.
It's just a joke is not good enough. It's not acceptable. You need to be careful with what you say and how you speak about other people. You need to be careful with what you joke about and never ever be systematic in targeting and bullying others. Bullying is a behavior that was experienced by the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam and would never be experienced by being given from the Prophet or those who believe in him. Peace and blessings be upon him. May Allah protect us from ever making another person feel uncomfortable or shamed or hurt as on account of our behavior. Allahuma Ameen.
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