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Ep. 5: Is It Enough To Only Be From The Righteous? | Guidebook to God
It’s not enough to just secure our own faith. In order to attain the heights of righteousness, we must also care about the faith of others. Check out today's content to see how we can reach higher levels of faith by examining our interactions with others.
Transcript
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings. Salih versus Muslih. What does that mean? Salih is to be pure, righteous, a good man, a good woman, to be a person of substance, to be a person who practices what they've come to learn, to be a person who says, I hear and I obey, to be a person who attempts to be good in their conduct, in privacy and in public life, to be a person who is a good person. To be a person who is righteous, mashallah. May Allah make all of us minassaliheen. But is that enough? And should that ever be the place that we attain our completion or do we seek to go past it? And to be minalmusliheen, to be a person who helps others become salih. Salih and muslih. Salih is where you're content, alhamdulillah, for you, yourself, your home, your family, to do that which is right. And that's a beautiful thing. And may Allah make us minassaliheen. But that's not enough. That's not the path of the prophets. The prophets of Allah were not just sent to be good people. See, as being a good person is a wonderful experience, but you will not ever attain the heights of iman, the heights of righteousness. You will not complete your ethics and your morality unless you care for other people. And Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala tells us in the Qur'an an ayah that was misunderstood and that Abu Bakr as-Siddiq radiAllahu anhu re-invited the sahaba even to understand it in its correct way. Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala says near the end of the fifth chapter, surah al-ma'idah, la yadurrukum man dalla idha ihtadaytum. It won't be of any harm to you if others are led astray if you remain upon hidayah, guidance.
And Abu Bakr radiAllahu anhu said, qad anzaltum hadhihi al-aaya ala ghayri manziliha. You have brought this verse in a place that was not meant to be understood. It wasn't meant to be, hey, to hell with everyone. As long as I'm going to jannah, as long as I'm doing what's right, as long as my wife and my children and my home and my family are upon it, I don't care about anyone else. That actually is not the understanding of the ayah. The understanding of it is that eventually on the day of judgment, everyone will be according to their own deeds. So even your wife who you care for, she's going to try to take from your good deeds. She's going to try to take from your hasanat. And she's going to try to put her sayyiat upon you. And on the day of judgment, you won't be wronged by Allah if you have not done what was wrong. If a person, you haven't wronged them, you will not have any zulm. No oppression will befall you. But this does not mean that in this life we turn away from other people and say, you're on your own. I'm doing my own thing that is pleasing to Allah. Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala records many of the prophets of Allah in the Qur'an. One of the most famous of them, of course, is Shu'aib. وَمَا أُرِيدُ إِلَّا الْإِصْلَاحَ مَا اصْطَطَعْتُ I only wish for you, my people, to provide islaah, to help you rectify your affairs. The Prophet ﷺ, he was sent as al-maahi, the one who removes hardship from people, the one who removes sinful behavior, the one who corrects people. We're not just people of those who do good deeds, but we are people of those who recommend the good to others. يَأْمُرُونَ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ وَيَنْهَوْنَ عَنِ الْمُنْكَرِ وَيُؤْمِنُونَ بِاللَّهِ We are people who enjoin what is good upon ourselves and others. We forbid and we hold back people from that which is sinful and munkar and open vulgarity.
And we have a demonstratable belief in Allah. That is the height of our iman, that we seek the good for other people as much as we seek it for ourselves. Why else did Allah send us messengers and prophets who walk the earth and the lands to call people through their habit and example? Why are we encouraged to bring people to the masjid, to make ourselves in jama'ah? Why don't we pray in our homes and fast as individuals? Why do we give our zakah and encourage other people to good? Why is it that the Prophet ﷺ said that the one who establishes a good deed, that other people see them doing it and they follow them in that like regard, Allah ﷻ will give them the reward of everyone who followed them without depleting the reward of those who have done good after them. Salih versus muslih, the essential element of being a righteous person is that you use that righteousness to lead people towards Allah ﷻ, to invite people towards good. And the Prophet warns us ﷺ in the hadith of the ship of salvation. It's a hadith narrated by Imam Muslim with the Prophet ﷺ said, the example of people of giving and commanding what is good and forbidding what is evil, the people who have led people in righteousness and in calling them to righteousness, It's like the example of people who drew lots, who had a lottery as to who would be able to be given a good seat on a ship. So imagine the ships of the past, there was the under bowels of the ship. Under the ship there's no windows, there's no fresh air, there's no fresh place to go to the toilet and things like that. You're stuck in the bottom of the ship. So when they would come to set sail, everyone would pull out a straw.
If you had the short straw, you were in the bottom of the ship. If you had a long straw, you sat at the top of the ship. So the Prophet ﷺ said, the majority of people are put in the under carriage, in the under part of the ship. And very few people are allowed to sit on the space of the top of the ship, where they have open access to air, fresh water, fishing and are able to enjoy themselves. He ﷺ says, eventually as the ship sets sail and as people have moved on in their life, the people in the bottom of the ship, they begin to quarrel. And they quarrel with the people above them and they say, give us access. And the people above them, if they're not wise enough to help them and to lead them to that which is good, and if they leave them to their own devices, if they show oppression to them, if they turn away and disregard them, the people in the bottom of the ship eventually will say to themselves, how about, نخرق فيها خرقا Let's drill a hole in the bottom of the ship. We'll get our own water. We'll get our own air. Not knowing that this will be disaster. فإن تركوهم هلكوا وهلكوا أجمعين If the people at the top of the ship are not smart enough to help those under them, the people of knowledge above them, the people of deen, the people of practice, the people of righteousness, the people of being الصالحين If they leave the majority of people without seeking to call them to the truth, leave them to themselves, they're going to drill a hole in society. They're going to cause sinfulness to permeate amongst all of us that it will bring drowning to everyone. هلكوا وهلكوا أجمعين Those on the top will be as drowned and as in peril as those in the bowels of the ship. What a vivid example given to us by the Nabi Muhammad صلى الله عليه وعلى آله وصحبه وسلم Let us translate our life to being from those who are صالح
but also seek to bring صلاح, happiness, contentment, rectification, enjoining what is good, forbidding what is evil, recommending people to good, recommending to them a path of righteousness, teaching and educating and sharing and charitableness upon them, inviting people in a way that is pleasing to Allah ادفع بالتي هي أحسن To turn back insult with favor, to give good comments, not to be critical and hypocritical in our dealings of others, not to have a haughty presence where you think that you're smarter or better or more righteous or more learned, that I know more and I practice more and I wear hijab and she doesn't and I have a beard and they don't and I go to the masjid and they don't I know more of the Qur'an, where are they going to be with Allah? To have a presence of heart that your righteousness is also predicated, not just on the outer but the inner feelings of your heart and the genuineness and sincerity of purpose in dealing with others. May Allah open our heart to being from those who are صالح, to being from those who are committed to a path of righteousness, seeking that which is good, seeking to obey Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَ تَعَالَى to lead our families and our communities to it, but more importantly and equally along with that is to use our leverage of righteousness towards inviting other people to the truth. May Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَ تَعَالَى make us callers unto الخير as He sent us Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم نبي الخير صلى الله عليه وسلم صلى الله عليه وسلم Your brother Yahya Ibrahim والسلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته
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