40 Hadiths on Social Justice
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Hadith #9 - Responding To Evil With Good
Most acts of injustice are perpetuated because someone failed to take the higher road. Sh. Omar Suleiman describes a narration that contains the tafseer of a verse in the Qur'an on responding to evil with good.
Transcript
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings.... So, tonight actually we're going to start off with a story that is narrated in the tafsir of a very famous ayah, which is Surat al-A'raf, verse 199. And the story of this ayah is profound because it involves many ahadith and many narrations of the companions of the Prophet, salallahu alayhi wa sallam. So, Jabir radiallahu anhu narrates, he says that when this verse was revealed to the Prophet, salallahu alayhi wa sallam, where Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, khud al-afwa wa'mur bil ma'ruf wa a'ridh anil jahiliya. I'm sorry, khud al-afwa, when Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, that take to forgiveness, this is verse 199 in Surat al-A'raf. That take to forgiveness, enjoying forgiveness, wa'mur bil'urfi, and enjoying that which is good, wa'aridh anil jahiliya, and turn away from the ignorant, turn away from the foolish. Jabir says that when this verse was revealed to the Prophet, salallahu alayhi wa sallam, he asked Jibreel, he said, O Jibreel, he said to the angel, what is the meaning of this verse, or what are the implications of this ayah, what's the ta'weed of this verse? So Jibreel alayhi salam said, hatta as'al, until I ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, allow me to ask my Lord, and I will come back with more details of this verse and what this verse means. So he went up to Allah, and he asked Allah, and then he came back to the Messenger, salallahu alayhi wa sallam, and he said, Ya Muhammad, O Muhammad, inna Allah ya'muruk, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala commands you, an ta'fu amman dhalamak, to forgive the one who oppresses you, wa ta'ti man haramak, and to give to the one who forbids you,
wa tasal man qata'ak, and to bring close to you the one that cuts you off. So there are three things, an ta'fu amman dhalamak, that you pardon the one who wrongs you. The second one, wa ta'ti man haramak, and that you give to the one who withheld from you. The third one, tasal man qata'ak, that you seek to enjoin the ties of kinship with the one who cuts you off. So if someone from a family member cuts you off, you make sure that you leave the line of communication open with that person, and you still reach out to that person, you still fulfill their rights upon you. So the Prophet, salallahu alayhi wa sallam, when he heard this, he stood up amongst the people, and he says, ala adullukum ala ashrafi akhlaqid dunya wal akhirah. The Prophet, salallahu alayhi wa sallam, said to the companions, I cannot guide you to the most noble of characteristics, the most noble of traits in this world and in the hereafter. Qalu wa ma thaka ya Rasulullah, they said to the Prophet, salallahu alayhi wa sallam, what is that, O Messenger of God? He said, ta'fu amman dhalamak, that you forgive or you pardon the one who wrongs you. Wa ta'ti man haramak, and you give to the one who withholds from you. Wa tasal man qata'ak, and you enjoin the ties of kinship with the one who cuts you off. This is a very difficult hadith, because it sounds amazing when you're giving this advice to somebody else. And it is practically impossible when you are the one being given this advice. You will find your way to escape out of any one of these things when you are in the position of the one who has been cut off by a family member, or the one who has been wronged, or the one who has had something withheld from them.
Suddenly, all of this goes out the window. However, it is very, very, very easy to do this to somebody else, or to give this advice to somebody else. There's another hadith, and there's a famous story with this ayah, actually, with the revelation of the ayah. I want to take it from there. The point of this halakhas, let you know where I'm going with this, is we're talking about social justice, is that most injustices are perpetuated because someone failed to take the higher road. So an injustice is committed, and another person comes back with vengeance, and that perpetuates a sense of injustice. And instead of holding ourselves to higher standards, we continue to justify our lower standards by saying, well, this is what was done to me. I'm going to return in like manner. I'm going to respond in like manner. So on those lines, this is a very powerful lesson that we learn from the Quran and from the sunnah of the Prophet. The famous story with the ayah is that Al-Hurr ibn Qais was one of the hufadh. He was one of the people who memorized the Quran, and he was one of the shura, one of those who Umar radiyaAllahu anhu would consult. So he was part of the shura body, the consultation body that Umar radiyaAllahu anhu would keep close to him. And he was a very young man. And Umar radiyaAllahu anhu used to always include him in his meetings. So this is actually a narration of Bukhari from Ibn Abbas, which is why it's so famously quoted. One day while Al-Hurr was sitting with Umar radiyaAllahu anhu, a cousin of Al-Hurr asked him if he could get permission to sit with Umar ibn al-Khattab. So will you let me into these meetings so that I can also sit with Umar ibn al-Khattab? And Umar was the khalifa, so Umar is the authority. So Umar radiyaAllahu anhu let him in. His name was Uyayna. And he came inside, and he immediately started to scream at Umar ibn al-Khattab radiyaAllahu anhu.
And he said to him, Ya ibn al-Khattab, beware or woe to you, O ibn al-Khattab, O son of al-Khattab, by Allah you neither give us sufficient provision nor do you judge amongst us with justice. So he made a severe accusation against Umar radiyaAllahu anhu, and it was unfounded, and it was out of place. So Umar radiyaAllahu anhu, Ibn Abbas was there, as was Al-Hurr. Umar radiyaAllahu anhu was angered by that. And Umar has the power of three things, as the scholars of hadith say. He has the power of as-sulta, he has the power of authority. He has the power of his body, he's a much bigger man than the one who insulted him. And he has the power of al-durra, he had his cane with him, he had a stick. So it could have easily just been a pick up that stick and smack him with it one time and be on your way. I mean, you were let into my gathering, a very important gathering, and you decided to hijack it so that you could throw these baseless accusations. Al-Hurr, as he saw him, as he saw the anger of Umar radiyaAllahu anhu, he said to Umar radiyaAllahu anhu, he said, InnaAllaha ta'ala qala linabihi salallahu alayhi wa sallam. Allah said to his messenger salallahu alayhi wa sallam, khudhil afwa, that hold to forgiveness, wa umur bil'urf, and enjoying that which is good, wa a'bidha anil jahileen, and turn away from those who are foolish and ignorant. He said, wa hadha minal jahileen, this is an ignorant man, just turn away from him and ignore him. So Umar radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu, he observed that, and Ibn Abbas commented, and he said that Umar radiyaAllahu anhu was a person that would always be held by the Book of Allah. Meaning that he was a person who was very conscious and aware of the Quran and of the Book of Allah, so when the Book of Allah is used, Umar radiyaAllahu anhu would observe it immediately.
As angry as Umar was, he was immediately subdued by the ayah from the Book of Allah. Suddenly he stopped. So that's a famous incident we take from that. There's also that Abdullah ibn Zubayr radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu, and this is in Al-Adab Al-Mufrat, which is a famous collection of narrations of good mannerisms and characteristics. But Abdullah ibn Zubayr used to say this on the pulpits when he himself was a khalifa, when he was in charge. He used to recite this ayah, and he used to say that by Allah, we are commanded by this ayah to accept the character of the people, and I will accept their character as long as I am amongst them. I'm going to observe this ayah as long as I'm amongst the people, because Abdullah ibn Zubayr was someone who frequently had to undergo what Umar radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu had mentioned. So what does this ayah mean, and how does it set the stage for this discussion? Scholars of Qur'an, they say that every person that you meet, or every person that you deal with, will likely deal with you in one of two ways, either with ihsan or taqseer. Ihsan is that they will do more than what is asked of them and more than what is required of them. They'll give you more kindness than you deserve, and they'll do more than what you ask of them, and they will go above and beyond for you, or they will deal with you with deficiency. You're never really going to have someone that's going to deal with you exactly the way that you deal with them. Either you're doing more, or they're doing more. So the way that many of the scholars reflected on this ayah is a very beautiful way, that khud al-afwa, that you are forgiving. You are forgiving to who? The people of taqseer or the people of ihsan? The people of deficiency, taqseer. Wa'mur bil'urfi, but the way you deal with people should be ihsan, excellence.
So first and foremost, forgive the natural deficiencies, forgive the deficiencies that come your way in the way that you deal with people. But your standard for when you deal with the people should be a standard of excellence, ihsan. Go above and beyond with the people, wa'arid anil jahileen, and turn away from the foolish, turn away from the ignorant. What that means is, there are going to be some people that even if you deal with them with ihsan, they're still going to give you a hard time. Do not let them sink you to their level. Turn away from that and do not stoop to their level. There's another hadith which is very famous, which is along the same lines of what the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam mentioned, and it also has a story to it. And I always like to look at the full context, because usually if you look at a hadith, you get the hadith bolded, you get the context which is not bolded. And in this particular hadith, you can see how the companions and how the children of the companions nurtured themselves with the traditions of the Prophet peace be upon him in their dealings. So Yusuf ibn Malik al-Makki, this is narrated in Abu Dawud, he says that, I used to write the accounts, or I used to trace the bills or the payments that were due to some of the orphans that were under the guardianship of a group of companions or a group of their children, meaning there were some orphans that were taken in and they were being taken care of, and they had an allowance or a salary that was assigned to them. So basically I used to do the accounting for that. I used to deliver that money to these orphans, and I used to make sure that everything that they deserved would be delivered to them, and that they would not be cheated. So he said that there was one orphan that was cheated by 1000 dirhams. So the person was supposed to give him 1000 dirhams, and he cheated him out of that 1000 dirhams. And the way that it's understood from the hadith is that you have these orphans that used to work, and their guardians would collect on their behalf and then give it to these orphans as well.
So this is one way of understanding the way that this hadith is going. So he was cheated out of his 1000, so basically he said that what I was able to do was I was able to get 2000 out of him. So I was able to get out of his money 2000 dirhams. So I went to that orphan, and as I gave it to him, he responded that the Prophet ﷺ said, أَدِّ الْأَمَانَةَ إِلَىٰ مَنَ اتَّمَنَكَ وَلَا تَخُنْ مَنْ خَانَكَ The Prophet ﷺ says, أَدِّ الْأَمَانَةَ Keep the trust or honor the trust of the one who entrusts you with something, and do not betray the one who betrays you. وَلَا تَخُنْ مَنْ خَانَكَ Do not betray the one who betrays you. What that means is, what he was saying is that the Prophet ﷺ taught us that just because this person stole from me, doesn't mean I can go steal from him and get 2000. You know what, you're messing with my income or my allowance, I'm going to go and I'm going to take double of what you have. Because the Prophet ﷺ said, honor the trust, أَدِّ الْأَمَانَةَ إِلَىٰ مَنَ اتَّمَنَكَ Someone trusts you with something, then you need to honor that trust, and do not betray the one who betrays you. And this is mentioned in many different narrations, and it poses many interesting fiqh issues, issues of jurisprudence as well as issues of social justice or social injustice and how we understand transactions in Islam. Because there are times that the Prophet ﷺ allows a person to take from someone when they are forbidding them from their rights. Very famous incident, when Hind came to the Prophet ﷺ and she complained to the Prophet ﷺ that my husband Abu Sufyan is shaheeh, he's a cheap man, he's a miser, he doesn't give me what he's supposed to give me,
he's not providing for me what he's supposed to provide me. The Prophet ﷺ said to her what? خُذِي مَا يَكْفِيكِ Go ahead and take what you need, and for yourself, وَوَلَدِكَ, for you and your child, but the Prophet ﷺ mentioned بالمعروف, but do it in a way that's reasonable. So just because Abu Sufyan is not spending on you, and he's not giving you your rights, don't go and try to take all of his money, and go on a spending spree, on a shopping spree, but take what you need to بالمعروف. So the right that he is withholding from you, you can go and you can take that right without any form of permission, without taking his idhn. And what the scholars mention here is that in this situation, you have a right that was already assigned, and what was happening is that that right was not being given, and the Prophet ﷺ is giving us a permission in fiqh, that when there is absolutely no grey area, when there is clearly a right that is withheld from a person, and that right can be attained, and there is no doubt about it, there are no nuances to the situation, then that person can take their right without the permission of the one who is holding it back from them. There is a difference between someone owing you something, or someone that's supposed to give you something, and you find a way to acquire that which is being withheld from you, and someone withholding something from you, so you go and you try to get something else from them. That's impermissible. Because that employs khyana, that employs a sense of deception and betrayal, and the impact that that has on society is problematic. What we also learn from the hadith of the orphan, or that narration of the orphan, when Imam Ibn Taymiyyah commented on that, he said that if someone is wronged with something, the first thing they should do is they go to the authorities to try to receive their right.
They don't try to go through some route to try to steal it back or to do something, because what that perpetuates in society is problematic. When Umar radiyaAllahu ta'ala Anhu was killed, the idea of establishing due process to make sure that the right person is killed for killing, oh I'm sorry, I meant Uthman. When Uthman radiyaAllahu ta'ala Anhu was assassinated, Ali radiyaAllahu ta'ala Anhu emphasizing that we need to make sure that the people that killed Uthman are going to be held accountable, not just unleash havoc on anyone we think was involved in the murder of Uthman radiyaAllahu ta'ala Anhu, because that would set a bad precedent in society. So the idea of not stooping to the level of your opponent or to the level of the one that wrongs you. Now if you look at the hadith of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam, first thing he said, ta'afu'u an man zalamak. You forgive the one that wronged you. What does this mean that you allow the one that wronged you to go held unaccountable? We already mentioned this early on in our series. No. Why? Because you enable that zalam, you enable that oppressor to oppress someone else. So silence is violence. We already went over this. What that means is, when you are in a situation where you have been wronged, you have different degrees of being wronged, you always establish the upper hand. You always make it a point to show a sense of ihsan, to show a sense of excellence, and to not become overcome by vengeance. Do not become vengeful. You stop that zulm in a way that no one else will be consumed by that oppression, but at the same time you don't become an oppressor to your oppressor. You do not become like the one that wronged you. You do not start to resemble them in their behavior.
You do not start to employ tactics that they employed on you. You do not go anywhere further, in any way exceed what is due to you in trying to demand your rights. And yes, even at sometimes complete forgiveness, that is the way of mercy, forgiving the one who wronged you. Establish the rights, because you don't want to perpetuate something in society where people are wrong, and they let it go so that that person continues to wrong. But at the same time, when you find yourself in a situation where you could take revenge and you could take vengeance, you forgive. Ta'fu. You pardon. Ta'fu amman dhalamak. And the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam mentioned that you spend upon those amman haramak, the one who held back from you. The scholars mention many different connotations of that. Basically, that you find yourself in a situation where you were in need and someone withheld from you. But then the tables turn, you find yourself in a situation where they are in need, and you don't treat them the same way they treated you. That's one. Number two is that in the family dynamic, there was a point in the family where one person was responsible for the other, and they did not fulfill the obligation the way that they should have. As time goes on, you find yourself in a situation of obligation. You should not allow yourself to forbid or to withhold the way that that person withheld from you. A parent with a child, for example. The roles switch at some point in life. At some point, the child becomes responsible for the parent the way that the parent was responsible for the child. Third, tasal man qata'ak, that you try to establish the ties of kinship with the one that cuts you off. What does that mean? That means that if a family member or a brother or a sister cuts you off, you still extend the hand of kindness to that person.
There is an exception to that, as there is to anything. Whereas if there is a fear that by maintaining that relationship, you will open yourself up to abuse. So someone abused another person, the abused doesn't have to go reach out to the abuser and say that I'm leaving the door open for you, because that's an exception to the rule. But all these types of things that happen, especially within families and amongst brothers and sisters, our Muslim family even, our community family, you always make it a point to leave the door open. You extend the hand of salam, you extend the hand of peace, you do not cut off your brother or your sister, even when you feel like they have cut you off. So the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam is giving us these higher ideals. What do we take from this and where do we see it exemplified in the Sunnah of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam? The most obvious of them, as far as amanah is concerned, as far as trusts are concerned, is the fact that the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam was entrusted with the possessions of Abu Jahl, of Uqba ibn Abi Mu'it, of Amr ibn al-As, of Al-Ashajf. I'm sorry, not Al-Ashajf, there's a fourth person that I'm missing here. Hopefully it will come back to me inshallah ta'ala. Al-Akhnas ibn Shuraik. The Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam was entrusted with their possessions in Mecca. They put a bounty on his head and wanted to kill him. Let's give this a present day manifestation. There's a guy trying to kill you and you have his watch. Are you interested in getting that watch back to that person in any way? Someone entrusted you with something when you were on good terms and then things fell apart. Are you really worried about maintaining the trust there or are you, you know what, you're trying to kill me, forget about your stuff, you're trying to kill me.
The Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam was entrusted with the possessions, the precious possessions of the people that had oppressed him and were trying to kill him. And when the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam migrates out of Mecca to escape their persecution, he risks the life of his son-in-law to be, his cousin and his son-in-law to be, Ali ibn Abi Talib radiyallahu anhu. He leaves him behind and says, return the possessions of everybody. Make sure that you give back their possessions. La takhun man khanak. Do not betray the one who betrays you. Do not deal with them the way that they dealt with you. The reason why I chose the title of the halaqa with a very particular sentence, it's a very beautiful sentence that you may have heard. Umar al-Muqtar, may Allah be pleased with him, was obviously the Libyan warrior who fought imperialism and one of the heroes of the last century. And Umar al-Muqtar, this is a very famous incident that happened with him, he had two Italian captives. He was able to capture two Italian captives from the Italian soldiers. And one of his generals said to him, you know, why don't we mutilate them, make an example of them. Let's kill them the way that they always kill us when they capture us, what they do to us when they capture us. So Umar al-Muqtar said, we don't kill our prisoners. We're not a people who kill their prisoners. And the man responded with, but they do it to us. And Umar al-Muqtar said the very famous statement, they are not our teachers. They are not our teachers. There's so much that is profound about that statement, especially in a recent manifestation. They are not our teachers. They mutilate our prisoners. We will not mutilate their prisoners.
We don't learn the ethics of war from them. We don't learn the ethics of transactions from people who oppress. We don't learn the ethics of family or anything. They are not our teachers. We will not become like those who wrong us, not on an individual level or on a community level. And that is so easy to do. The rhetoric of terrorist organizations, they kill our children so we should kill their children. What do their children have to do with it? You become like your enemies. You become like the shaytan of your enemy. In both cases, your shaytan and their shaytan are now in control. And you're out of the picture. They are not our teachers. We learned this from the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam when he conquered Mecca, when he came back to Mecca. As one in a position of victory. And there are some beautiful things that often get lost in the stories of the seerah because we just kind of cut to the chase. The Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam conquered Mecca. All the conversations that took place in that process, we leave it. But the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam, everything that he said had such profound wisdom to it and highlighted so much about his character. So when the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam walked into Mecca, we know that the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam said that those who are Mandakhara bayt Abu Sufyan, whoever is in the house of Abu Sufyan, that he's safe. Whoever is in their homes, they are safe. The Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam is assuring people of safety as he returns to Mecca victorious. But when the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam gathers and he's standing now on a safa and all of these people are in front of him and he is victorious. And he has this army behind him of people, by the way, who have all lost family members to those that are in front of them.
So it's not just the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam who lost Khadija and Abu Talib or Sumayya or these different great companions that were murdered and persecuted in Mecca. Or Hamza at the hands of Hind, by the way. Hind, the same woman that came to the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam and asked her about money and the rights from Abu Sufyan. He didn't tell her, get out of my face, you murdered my uncle. He actually gave her a very lenient, a very merciful response. But all of these people are in front of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam and these are the people that also abused and killed the family members of these companions behind the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam. And what does he say to them? What do you think I should do with you? Think about that. He asked them the question. What do you think I should do with you? You know? And it was asked in the form of a question. What should I do with you? What is the right course of action here? And they know, so they don't even give the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam like an answer, a real answer. They say, what, you're a noble man, you're a generous man, you're the son of generous people, you're the son of nobles. We can't say to you, well, maybe you should just go get that person and that person, leave us out of it, we didn't have to do with it, you should just take the leaders and you should execute them. Because they knew that they had no answer. But the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam says to them, idhhabu fa antumutulqa, go for you are free. And he recited the words of Yusuf alayhi salam, la tathribu alaykum al yawm, there is no blame on you today. By the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam asking them the question, Ibn al Qayyim rahimahullah says he established the hujjah against them. He established the proof against them. And this is where usuliyoon come in. Scholars who actually study the principles by which our jurisprudence is extrapolated.
Ibn al Qayyim rahimahullah said that was important for the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam to show that the standard is still there. Justice should or justice could technically be established where you could be killed and I would be justified. Islamically, morally, by any human measure. You know, you persecuted people, you ran them out, you pursued them in battle, you killed my family members, you killed their family members. You would assume that when these people come back as a big army, as an overwhelming army, they cause a bloodbath. Right? So he was establishing the hujjah. He was establishing the proof of it. Like, look, this is the standard, you know how these things go. But I'm not going to deal with you with that. Instead, I'm going to choose pardon. So it was not just flowery language. The Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam was establishing the hujjah against them first. He was establishing the proof against them first. Then the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam was telling them that they will not be dealt with with a sword or they will not be dealt with with vengeance. This also happened in a very famous incident. Ghawrat ibn al-Harith, when he saw the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam laying under a tree and the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam's sword was in the tree. I've told this story probably very recently, I think I did. And Ghawrat grabs the sword while the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam is under that tree and stands on top of him and says, Ya Muhammad man yamna'uka minni? O Muhammad, who will stop me from killing you? And the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam said without any fear, Allah. That's it. Allah is going to stop you. Ghawrat was so shocked by the confidence of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam and the certainty of the Prophet. He was not shivering and saying Allah. He looked at Ghawrat dead in the eyes as the sword is being held on top of him and said Allah. Ghawrat dropped the sword and walked back.
The Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam picked the sword up and got on top of Ghawrat with the sword. And he said man yamna'uka minni? Who will protect you from me? Right? For me it's Allah. Who's going to protect you from me? Ghawrat says, Ya Muhammad, kun khaira akhif. Be generous in your taking or in your revenge. You know, don't do it. And the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam tells him to go free. He established a proof that look, technically speaking, by any measure, you just tried to kill me. With the words of man yamna'uka minni? Who's going to protect you from me? I could have dealt with you with the exact same way. I chose otherwise. Why? You are not my teacher. They are not our teachers. When people deal with us with bad character, they are not our teachers. We should teach them good character instead of having them teach us bad character. When people deal with us in a way that is not befitting to a believer, to a good person, we don't sink to that level. Instead we defeat their shaytan and defeat our shaytan as well. Even if that involves the taking back of the rights or the pursuit of justice which is necessary. So that an oppressor cannot be enabled. We do not sink to the level of those that wrong us, whether it's with their tongue. Because if you think about that hadith as well, zulm is a very broad topic, but you don't withhold from the one that withheld from you financially. And you don't cut off the one that cut you off, which is usually a matter of words. We do not stoop to their level and we do not become the people that we hate. That is of course the story of triumph throughout our history. The triumph of Salahuddin al-Ayubi when he entered into Jerusalem. And he did not deal with the crusaders or with the people of Jerusalem
the way that he was dealt with and the way that the Muslims were dealt with when they entered into Jerusalem. Conventional wisdom was that he's going to mutilate just as they mutilated. He's going to wrong just as they wronged. That his army will rape and carry out all sort of horrific tactics of war because that's what was done to the Muslims. Salahuddin decided to do none of that. Not only did he win Jerusalem, he won the hearts of everyone that would hear of Salahuddin and his conquest of Jerusalem. He taught them and he gave them an example. He set a standard which is different from the standard amongst the people of that time. So we set different standards for ourselves. We do not allow ourselves to respond in like manner. And there are many different manifestations of this. Many different manifestations of this. But I want to share with you in ending inshallah ta'ala and closing then we'll go to our questions. And I really, this really resonated with me. And I want you to think about this very deeply. And I hope inshallah this keeps you thinking for the entire night because it should keep you thinking for the entire night. Ibn al-Qayyim rahimahullah mentions that sometimes you find yourself in a situation where someone wronged you or someone took something from you or someone berated you or something happened between you and someone else and you have no idea how did this happen, why did this happen, I don't understand. Now obviously the qadr is with Allah, the decree is with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. But the way you start to process it is you start to ask yourself did I do anything to that person to deserve that back from that person? You're framing it in that relationship. I did not treat that person this way, why was I treated this way?
And he continued and he said that every person that you meet in life, so he mentioned, you either showed them taqseer or you showed them ihsan, you showed them deficiency or you showed them excellence. He said sometimes Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala as a means of purifying you for a taqseer that you show to someone else, a deficiency that you show to someone else would have it so that another person would show you deficiency and it would balance out the scales. Or an ihsan that you took advantage of, so someone showed you ihsan and you milked it, you kept on taking advantage of it in the form of another person who would do the same with you. And all of that is a means of balancing things out. Now that does not mean that you inflict on yourself this despair and start to blame yourself when something bad happens to you, you start to excuse that wrongdoing and you start to internalize it all. What this means is you never know how Allah is working out the scales. And you think about this at least away from the major transgressions. Subhanallah, I truly feel like every time, and I know everyone that deals with this with their children, they recognize at some point or hopefully they recognize that I did something like this to my parents. That some of this, and though we like to tell our kids I was never like you, sometimes there is some manifestation of it. Maybe one day I displeased my mother and I didn't even think twice about it. Somehow in the way that Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala's Qadr works, I am made displeased by my child. That doesn't excuse the child.
But the way that the Meezan, the Mawazin, the scales work is that these things come around. And this is established, well established in the Hadith of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam that when you show Ihsan, others would show Ihsan to you. Al-Jaza'u Al-Ihsan Ila Al-Ihsan, what we spoke about in fact. This is a well established concept. So what we have to recognize first and foremost, we should never allow an injustice that was committed against us to be responded to with an injustice, whether that is in our finances or in our tongues or in a physical manner or whatever it may be. The Messenger Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, even as he suffered with the dirtiest of tactics from Quraish. You know I am going to tell you this, and Subhanallah I recently did a whole lecture on Sumayya Radhiallahu Ta'ala Anha, Bint Al-Khattab at Al-Madina Institute. I feel like she is completely neglected when we talk about the early sacrifices of people. What she went through is horrific. What Abu Jahl did to Sumayya in murdering her, in the filthiest way, the nastiest way that you could possibly murder a person and take their lives. And I am not even going to mention how in explicit detail, but taking a spear and putting that spear, murdering Sumayya by putting that spear in a way that it went through her body. Right? I mean he tortured her in the nastiest way to death. When Abu Jahl is in Badr, did the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam mutilate his body? Did the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam have anyone do that to him? No. We don't respond the way that we are treated. And this is something that is highlighted throughout the history of the Messenger Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, whether it was in battle, when he had prisoners Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, he didn't deal with them the way that they dealt with him, Alaihi Salatu Wasallam.
You always have to ask yourself whether you are taking the higher moral ground or not. You always have to ask yourself that. And so in conclusion of this, and that's it, that's the main message, that we have to constantly remind ourselves that an injustice against us does not excuse our own injustices, even towards the one that committed that injustice against us. Especially not against those that did not commit an injustice towards us. Because that's a whole other layer inshallah ta'ala which we'll talk about, which is that I was wronged at some point in my life in some way, and I internalized that and I became that type of lalim to other people. So I was abused in a certain way and so I became an abuser to other people that were completely blameless in the abuse that I received. That happens a lot as well. So we ask Allah subhana wa ta'ala to protect us from ourselves becoming wrongdoers and oppressors. And we ask Allah subhana wa ta'ala to not allow those that harm us to make us like them. We ask Allah subhana wa ta'ala to allow us to choose the higher ground in a way that does not excuse their zulm, so that it would be perpetuated against anyone else, but in a way that we also do not become zalimin, we also do not become oppressors. Allahuma Ameen. Questions? I know it's a loaded topic so... Yes.
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