# Silence In The Face of Sin | Servants of the Most Merciful Ep. 8

**Author:** Dr. Omar Suleiman
**Series:** Servants of the Most Merciful
**Published:** 2026-01-27
**YouTube:** https://youtu.be/glImKu_zpAI
**URL:** https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/servants-of-the-most-merciful/servants-of-the-most-merciful-ep-8-silence-in-the-face-of-sin
**Topics:** Acts of Worship, Sharia

## Description
Ibad ar-Rahman are not only those who refrain from sin themselves, but those who refuse to normalize it in their presence. Dr. Omar Suleiman reflects on Surah al-Furqan (25:72): “They are those who do not bear false witness, and when they encounter falsehood, they pass by it with dignity.” In...

## Chapters
- 0:00 The definition of al-zur
- 5:59 The sins that you legitimize and normalize
- 10:29 Sins: If you can’t stop it, don’t join it
- 15:44 What if there’s no halal alternative?
- 20:35 False speech and false testimony
- 25:40 How you fall into bearing witness to al-zur
- 31:05 How do you react to sins around you?
- 38:35 How to challenge backbiting
- 47:02 If you can’t purify the world, don’t be tainted by it

## Transcript
**[0:00]** Silence in the Face of Sin Silence in the Face of Sin Alhamdulillah Rabbil Alameen, we are now in the eighth halaqa of the ten qualities of Ibadur Rahman.

**[0:19]** I ask Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala to make us amongst them. Allahumma Ameen. And tonight's halaqa is by far one of the most practical in terms of our day to day life. You know, a few classes ago we talked about this idea of people who don't commit shirk, and don't commit murder, and don't commit zina.

**[0:40]** And it's like these are such major sins that they're not things that we can ever think about doing. And we talked about the importance of casting those sins into the proportionate. Looking at the way that we commit minor acts of murder, minor acts of shirk, minor acts of zina.

**[0:56]** Out of fear of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala that we would fall into the major acts themselves. But today's ayah is one of the most consequential in terms of the day to day of our lives. And we ask Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala to protect us. Allahumma Ameen.

**[1:11]** Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says, وَالَّذِينَ لَا يَشْهَدُونَ الزُّورَ وَإِذَا مَرُّوا بِاللَّغْوِ مَرُّوا كِرَامًا Allah says, those who do not bear witness to az-zoor. And az-zoor loosely translated is falsehood.

**[1:27]** So let's just give it its broadest translation first. Those who don't bear witness to falsehood. And if they happen to come across vain speech, then they pass through that speech with dignity.

**[1:42]** Now SubhanAllah the word, لَا يَشْهَدُونَ, those who do not bear witness. There's actually a really interesting hadith. It's a famous hadith. Part of it is at least where the Prophet (ﷺ) was with al-Bashir ibn Sa'd. رضي الله تعالى عنه And Bashir ibn Sa'd wanted to give a gift, a special gift to his son al-Nu'man ibn Bashir.

**[2:02]** رضي الله عنهما And when he was about to give that gift to his son, al-Nu'man ibn Bashir, the Prophet (ﷺ) said, Have you given something like it to your other children? Have you given something like it to your other children?

**[2:17]** And he said, No, Ya Rasulullah, this is just a special gift for me to my son. Now, by the way, al-Nu'man ibn Bashir is the famous one of the children. He is a noble and royal companion of the Prophet (ﷺ). But the fact that he was giving him something and not giving his sibling something,

**[2:36]** the Prophet (ﷺ) said, فَإِنِّي لَا أَشْهَدُ عَلَى جَوْرٍ I refuse to bear witness to an injustice. اعْدِلُوا بَيْنَ أَوْلَادِكُمْ Be just with your children. Be fair with your children.

**[2:51]** لَا أَشْهَدُ عَلَى جَوْرٍ I will not bear witness to al-jawr, which is any type of injustice. So, لَا أَشْهَدُ means that I refuse to bear witness. I refuse to bear witness to this injustice.

**[3:09]** I refuse to bear witness to falsehood. The question is, what does it mean to bear witness to something? Is it saying, أَشْهَدُ أَنْ لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ وَأَشْهَدُ أَنَّ مُحَمَّدًا رَسُولُ اللَّهِ And that's it. What does it mean to actually give shahada to something, to bear witness to something? Now, I want to first and foremost contextualize this in the ayat about Ibadur Rahman,

**[3:25]** about the servants of the most merciful. And notice a few things about the sequencing thus far. First and foremost, Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala begins or Allah Azawajal took us to how people conduct themselves in their private lives.

**[3:41]** How people conduct themselves in their private lives, Ibadur Rahman. How they deal with their personal transgressions. How they deal with the fear of sin. How they deal with people that do things to them on an individual level. إِذَا خَاطَبَهُمُ الْجَاهِلُونَ قَالُوا سَلَامًا

**[3:56]** So, you know, when the ignorant approach them, then they say, سلام. So, Allah took us from how people deal with their individual circumstances in their private lives to now how Ibadur Rahman carry themselves in the arena of public discourse.

**[4:11]** In the arena of public discourse. Now we're coming to the realm of the public. Okay, so that's the first connection that some of the Mufassireen make in terms of the benefit of the sequencing. Another connection that some of the Mufassireen make, and I'm combining a few of their interpretations, but it's beautiful, subhanAllah, when you think about it.

**[4:31]** The first set of ayat are how they respond to sins against them. How they respond to sins against them. إِذَا خَاطَبَهُمُ الْجَاهِلُونَ قَالُوا سَلَامًا They walk with humility.

**[4:47]** They're approached by fools. They deal with vile people or people that are petty and people that are trying to get them off of their deen. How they respond to sin. The second part of the ayat dealt with how they deal with their own sins.

**[5:05]** So how they respond to the sins of others towards them, and now how they deal with their own sins. So the fear of Ibadur Rahman, the fear of the servants of the most merciful, in regards to the sins that manifest from them. And this is what allowed them to be able to overlook the sins committed towards them,

**[5:25]** is that they are more concerned with the sins that emanate from them than the sins committed towards them. This is why I can be so forgiving because I want to be that forgiven by Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. This is why I can be so humble because I am approaching Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala like a humble slave.

**[5:42]** This is why I can tolerate your nonsense because Allah Azawajal bears with my nonsense, right? And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala tolerates me. So what makes me more tolerant is my desire to be more tolerable to Ar-Rahman.

**[5:57]** There's a direct connection, right? So the first set of ayat, how we deal with sins towards us. The second set of ayat, how we deal with our sins towards the most merciful. And there is a deep connection there. And now the third set of ayat, and this is the most noble.

**[6:15]** How we refuse to let others be aggressed upon. To let sin be carried out against others in our presence. So we don't just hate sin for ourselves, nor do we just hate the sins that come from us. We hate to watch sin from one person to another.

**[6:32]** And we refuse, we refuse to observe it in silence. And it's one of the signs of the Day of Judgment is not just the plentifulness of sin. We talk about societal collapse and the signs of the Day of Judgment. What are they? Murder, open murder, vanity, zina, adultery and fornication, and riba.

**[6:54]** And then the eventual collapse of riba. The eventual collapse of a system of usury, right? These are the signs of the Day of Judgment in many ways. The major signs of the minor signs. The major signs of the minor signs revolve around these three concepts, right?

**[7:10]** The return to shirk of course being the first one. I shouldn't have missed that. So the things that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala condemned about jahili society, about the society of the days of ignorance, they return towards the Day of Judgment. And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala warns us about the consequences of these sins in that regard.

**[7:32]** And now there is a second theme to this. It's not just that those sins return. It's that the Prophet (ﷺ) said, the best of us on those days are the ones that walk to those that are committing adultery and say,

**[7:48]** you guys mind taking to the aisle? You mind consuming your alcohol elsewhere? Would you mind not being on my feed? Can I just scroll past you? Not interested? So there is no concept of an-nahi anil munkar, to forbid evil.

**[8:04]** Once an-nahi anil munkar disappears, forbidding evil disappears from the mandate of this ummah, the ummah has lost its identity. The ummah has lost its identity. So it's not just enough to not oppress. It's also to not bear witness to oppression in silence.

**[8:23]** And so this is where we are today. So, وَالَّذِينَ لَا يَشْهَدُونَ الزُّورَ, those who refuse to bear witness to falsehood. So this is the second way that the ulama talk about this, you know, this transition.

**[8:39]** The third way that the ulama talk about this, and it's connected, but it's a category of itself, that the believers are not just concerned with their own honor and dignity, but they're concerned with the honor and the dignity of other people as well.

**[8:56]** The believer is concerned not with their ego, but their honor and dignity in the sight of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. They want to be honored and dignified in the sight of Allah, and they're also concerned about the honor and the dignity of others as well. And so this is as well a sign of Ibadur Rahman.

**[9:15]** Now, the amazing thing about this ayah also is that there is no commission of sin in either of these two categories. That's obvious. If you're sitting in a gathering and someone is backbiting the other, right,

**[9:34]** you would say that the best of them, the best of them is the person who just stayed silent. He didn't engage. No one's going to say you sat there, because the standard of society has been lowered so much, right,

**[9:49]** that person would be automatically absolved for simply not participating in the domain. So this ayah is not about the commission of sins. This ayah is about what sins you bear witness to. This ayah is about the sins that you tolerate.

**[10:05]** This ayah is about the sins that you legitimize with your presence. This ayah is about the sins that you legitimize with your presence. This ayah is about the sins that you quietly normalize, right,

**[10:22]** by not showing in any way, shape, or form an aversion towards these sins. And of the most obvious sins that represents the collapse of society in terms of what you shouldn't normalize is az-zoor.

**[10:39]** Az-zoor. Those who refuse to bear witness to falsehood. Now here's something really interesting. Az-zoor, which is loosely translated as falsehood, it's particularly in the Arabic language a falsehood that produces an injustice.

**[10:57]** So the three of you that are taking notes out of the mashallah 1000 plus, falsehood that produces injustice is az-zoor. Falsehood that produces an injustice.

**[11:12]** Who can tell me what the greatest injustice is? What's the greatest injustice? إِنَّ الشِّرْكَ لَظُلْمٌ عَظِيمٌ Shirk, right, is a mighty transgression.

**[11:27]** It's an injustice. It's a falsehood that you associate a partner with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and it produces an injustice that other than Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is worshipped. So some of the ulama, they say az-zoor in this ayah is ash-shirku billah.

**[11:42]** And they even say لَا يَشْهَدُونَ الزُّورَ. They do not bear witness to az-zoor. يَعْنِي يَجْتَنِبُونَ أَعْيَادَ الْمُشْرِكِينَ. They avoid the festivals of the pagans. They avoid the festivals of idol worship.

**[11:59]** Which you can think about in a Meccan climate, okay, especially in jahiliyya like subhanallah, what a fitna. You don't have salatul jumu'ah. You don't have a masjid that can convene you. There's no convening of the believers in Mecca yet. And the most sacred masjid in the world has hundreds of idols all around it and people making tawaf around it naked.

**[12:22]** And drinking alcohol and oppressing and committing all sorts of lewdness. You talk about a fitna of being a Muslim at the time and you're being persecuted for being a Muslim. Right? لَا يَشْهَدُونَ الزُّورَ. They refuse to bear witness to the idol worship.

**[12:37]** Meaning what? I'm not going to sit there while other than Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is being worshipped. While the idol worship is happening and the sacrifices are happening to the idols and act like this is all alright. No, I can't do that. I'm not going to sit around with people as they're drinking their alcohol and pretend that there's nothing wrong with the alcohol being drunk.

**[12:55]** I'm not going to sit there while people commit zina and say it's okay, I'm not here for this part of it. I'm here for the dinner being served. I'm not here for the other part of this, the other elements of this. I'm here for the dinner right now. Right?

**[13:10]** The sacrifice or you know, my family's this or this or that. So this was a challenge to the believers. لَا يَشْهَدُونَ الزُّورَ. And it's also a rahma. A rahma, a mercy. Why? Because the stage that the Muslims were at, this is still early Mecca.

**[13:25]** They did not have the power of inkar. They didn't have the power of forbidding the evil. So لَا يُكَلِّفُ اللَّهُ نَفْسًا إِلَّا وُسْعَهَا. Allah does not burden a people beyond their scope. مَا كَلَّفَهُمْ بِالْإِنْكَارِ. He did not burden them with having to forbid the evil because they were not in a position to forbid evil.

**[13:44]** Which shows you that there is a difference between a Muslim that lives as a minority, for example, in a country where they can't even say anything. There is no way to demonstrate objection to that evil. And a Muslim that's in a position where they could forbid the evil.

**[13:59]** There is a difference between those two contexts, those two social contexts. But Allah did give them one threshold. You can't stop it. Don't join it. You can't do anything about it. Don't permission give with your presence.

**[14:14]** And so a Muslim comes and says, listen, in my career, I can't get ahead unless I attend this party and that party. Don't attend the party. Allah Azawajal will bless you with something else. Look, I've got to wine and dine.

**[14:29]** In the nature of what I do, they serve alcohol and we've got to have alcohol. And I'm not going to drink the wine. I'll let them drink. I'll have apple cider. MashaAllah. No. Allah will bless you with something else. But I'm not being dismissive of the hardship here. I understand for some people this has major, major implications.

**[14:46]** But no, absolutely not. You know, I can do this part and I can do that part. No. اتَّقُوا اللَّهَ مَا اسْتَطَعْتُمْ. Fear Allah as much as you can. That means that there are certain things that will happen around you. But don't sit at the table.

**[15:02]** Right? Don't normalize with your presence. We're talking about these types of sins. We're talking about, again, a Meccan context. And if someone was to say, but we can find a fatwa, what I say to them, and with all due respect and love and honor,

**[15:19]** to those ulama with whom I would disagree, with all due love and respect and honor, they are above me in their ilm. But from a building resilience perspective, none of us, anywhere in the world,

**[15:35]** are in a position as harmful and as dangerous as the early Muslims of Mecca, and Allah Azawajal gave them this threshold. We have to learn that sometimes there is no halal alternative.

**[15:50]** That sometimes it's just bare sacrifice. And that's okay. By the way, it's one of the, not to go on a rant. Some of you are like, I wish he was still sick from last week. Not to go on a rant. But think about this for a moment, dear brothers and sisters.

**[16:07]** As we're raising our children as Muslims in societies, even in a Muslim society where it's becoming more difficult because they see the way that everybody else can do this. And it's like, how come they can do this and we can't do that? We have a temptation to always find the badeel, to find the alternative.

**[16:24]** Sometimes there doesn't have to be an alternative. Sometimes it just has to be that we don't do these things because we're Muslim and alhamdulillah we have something to look forward to. أَلَا تَرْضَى لَهُمُ الدُّنْيَا وَلَنَا الْآخِرَةُ We have the hereafter, they have this world. Sometimes there is going to be no badeel.

**[16:39]** Sometimes you don't have to take the alcohol and make it بدون alcohol, without alcohol, and turn it into the exact same look and the exact same thing so that we can feel like we're still participating in what they're doing. Sometimes there doesn't have to be a Muslim, there doesn't have to be an Eid Christmas tree.

**[16:56]** It's okay. We have our a'yad, we have our festivals, we have everything Allah عز و جل made halal for us. We have so much, but we also have to renew in ourselves the spirit of sacrifice, and that's okay. It's okay to just have bare sacrifice.

**[17:12]** Don't make your kids hate Islam, but don't make them averse to sacrifice either. Some sacrifices are good to teach them sacrifice. Sometimes the product is boycotted, deal with it. We're going to show solidarity with our brothers and sisters in Gaza.

**[17:28]** It's the least that we can do. So Allah عز و جل gave them here a task. لَا يَشْهَدُونَ الزُّورَ Don't attend the festivals of the mushrikeen. Don't sit there and permission give, even in a state of intense violent persecution against Muslims.

**[17:46]** Don't sit there and participate in these things which are not from our deen. So the first meaning of az-zoor is shirk. Some of the scholars said it means major sins in the context of these a'yad, because major sins collapse.

**[18:02]** A sense of truth and morality and justice in society. Some of them said it's all forms of immorality and like it's a very general term. So the word zoor is used in the most general term. And some of them used it to a specific legal definition of zoor.

**[18:20]** قَوْلُ الزُّورِ which is false testimony. To falsely give testimony. Which is basically slander and usually attached to an oath. So some of them used the term zoor here to refer to the most specific form of or legal form of the word az-zoor.

**[18:40]** And the reality here is that the underlying theme here, these aren't competing definitions. The underlying theme here is falsehood that produces an injustice. Falsehood that produces an imbalance. Falsehood that leads to an oppression. And Allah عز و جل pairs az-zoor with shirk in the Qur'an.

**[18:59]** قَالَ تَعَالَى فَاجْتَنِبُوا الرِّجْسَ مِنَ الْأَوْثَانِ وَاجْتَنِبُوا قَوْلَ الزُّورِ And so avoid the filth of the idols and avoid the filth of false speech. Some of the scholars said shirk is a lie about Allah. Zoor is a lie about people.

**[19:17]** Shirk is a lie about Allah. Right? قَدْ جِئْتُمْ شَيْئًا إِدًّا You bring a lie about Allah. Zoor is when you bring a lie about someone else in the process. And so that's the most specific form of zoor.

**[19:34]** And the most dangerous part of a society is when a society can no longer distinguish haq from batil anymore. When it loses its moral compass to the point that it can't distinguish truth from falsehood. And so when you forward an AI video and you didn't do your proper verification, that's zoor.

**[19:56]** That's spreading qawl az-zoor. And society can no longer tell truth from falsehood. And that's why the Prophet (ﷺ) said, أَلَا وَكُلُّ شَيْءٍ خَلَا اللَّهَ بَاطِلٌ The most truthful form of poetry ever told is that everything other than Allah is falsehood. It's batil.

**[20:17]** So when a society loses its standard of haq, when it loses its standard of truth and it can no longer distinguish truth from falsehood, as it relates to belief or as it relates to the affairs of people, that's when society completely collapses and we ask Allah ﷻ to protect us. Allahumma ameen.

**[20:32]** So this is az-zoor in the general sense. Let's talk about az-zoor in the specific sense. The Prophet (ﷺ), he said, shall I not tell you of أَكْبَرُ الْكَبَائِرِ, the greatest of the major sins? Hadith Abu Bakrah, radiAllahu ta'ala anhu.

**[20:49]** Not Abu Bakr, Abu Bakrah. Al-Thaqafi, radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. أَلَا أَدُلُّكُمْ Shall I not tell you about, أَوْ أُخْبِرُكُمْ Shall I not inform you about, أَكْبَرَ الْكَبَائِرِ The worst of the major sins. So he said (ﷺ), الشِّرْكُ بِاللَّهِ

**[21:05]** First and foremost at the top, to associate a partner with Allah ﷻ. The second thing he said, عُقُوقُ الْوَالِدَيْنِ Disobedience towards the parents. Then he said, then he sat up (ﷺ). So he was reclining (ﷺ).

**[21:22]** He was having a conversation with his companions as he was reclining (ﷺ). He sat up. أَلَا وَقَوْلُ الزُّورِ أَلَا وَشَهَادَةُ الزُّورِ

**[21:47]** You see how you're all looking at me like, when's he going to stop? That's what the Prophet (ﷺ) did. Abu Bakrah said, he kept on repeating it. Now the habit of the Prophet (ﷺ) as a teacher is to say something three times. He kept on saying, and beware of false testimony.

**[22:02]** Beware of false testimony. Beware of false testimony. Beware of false testimony. Abu Bakrah says, until we were looking at him and we were waiting for him to stop. صلى الله عليه و سلم صلى الله عليه و سلم

**[22:18]** الصَّادِقُ الْمَصْدُوقُ الصِّدِّيقُ الْأَمِينُ I mean, he is the trustworthy, the truthful one. صلى الله عليه و سلم Look at the aversion. And he's doing this like a father to his children. He wants them to remember this.

**[22:34]** Be careful. Don't lie about people. Don't lie about people. Don't lie about people. Don't lie about people. Imagine like a parent talking to their child like, look, you're going to make mistakes in life. Don't lie about people. People's reputations, people's honor, people's wealth,

**[22:52]** people's families are at stake. When you tell what you think is an innocent lie about them. أَلَا وَقَوْلُ الزُّورِ أَلَا وَشَهَادَةُ الزُّورِ Can you imagine? The Prophet صلى الله عليه و سلم standing up and saying this and so you're looking at him like, when's he going to stop?

**[23:07]** Some of the ulama of hadith, they actually try to use the Arabic language to see like what was the threshold of the Arabs to how many times the Prophet صلى الله عليه و سلم would have said it. 40 times, 50 times repeating the same sentence until Abu Bakrah was like, we were just hoping he'd stop.

**[23:23]** صلى الله عليه و سلم That is to impress upon us how severe false testimony actually is because it's a lie that produces an injustice. You ruin someone's family.

**[23:38]** You ruin someone's reputation. You have an adverse impact on someone's earnings, on someone's finances, right? You punish an innocent person. All of these things fall under the umbrella of qawl az-zoor. And you know what's so scary about this, subhanAllah?

**[23:56]** Qawl az-zoor used to be in a courtroom. You know what qawl az-zoor looks like now? It's screenshots. It's videos out of context. It's forwarding something you didn't verify. SubhanAllah, I was recently reading,

**[24:12]** if you look at the tafsir of [Al-Hujurat 49] which is plastered, subhanAllah, it's actually plastered. Those of you that are new to Minaretain, allow me to give you a tour. Surah Al-Hujurat is written behind me on the walls. Beautiful, right?

**[24:27]** And one of the things that people, when they read the ayah, إِنْ جَاءَكُمْ فَاسِقٌ بِنَبَإٍ فَتَبَيَّنُوا If a fasiq, if an evildoer comes to you with news about someone, verify it. So when someone comes to you, you say, are you saying he's a fasiq?

**[24:42]** Are you saying he's a fasiq? You know, some of the mufassireen say, just by virtue of the person bringing you news about someone else, they automatically are a fasiq in that moment. They're an evildoer in that moment. Because النَّمَّامُ لَا يُصَدَّقُ

**[24:59]** A person who carries the news about other people should never be believed. They are fusaq at that moment. Even if he's a Muslim, even if she wears hijab, even if he's someone that prays in the masjid with you, even if he's a shaykh,

**[25:14]** still a fasiq in that moment. When he starts carrying people's news about others, when you start carrying news and tales, nameemah, you destroy societies, destroy people. So the point here is qawl az-zoor here

**[25:30]** is so much more than let's go before a hakim, let's go before a judge and bear witness to things that we thought we saw or we thought we heard. And the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم or rather Allah عز و جل is not saying those who don't speak zoor,

**[25:46]** this is tough. وَالَّذِينَ لَا يَشْهَدُونَ الزُّورَ They don't even bear witness to it. May Allah make us from عباد الرحمن. When I was reading the tafsir of these ayat,

**[26:01]** the hadith that kept coming to my mind was أَلَا إِنَّ سِلْعَةَ اللَّهِ غَالِيَةٌ The prize of Allah is expensive, it's Jannah. Because the standard that's being set here is very high. It's very high. It's not enough for you to just not pass garbage around about people.

**[26:19]** It's not enough for you to just not lie about people. What are you attending? What are you legitimizing? What are you consuming for fun? What are you giving an extra view to online? Think about it.

**[26:35]** So لَا يَشْهَدُونَ The assumption is that عباد الرحمن do not tell lies anyway. They don't lie. يَشْهَدُونَ means they don't sit for the lie. They don't sit for the falsehood. And they show visible aversion to the falsehood.

**[26:51]** Now it's also important that Allah عز و جل does not just forbid the outcome. Allah سبحانه و تعالى talks about the process. So like in Surah Al-Hujurat لَا يَسْخَرْ قَوْمٌ مِنْ قَوْمٍ If you get used to putting people down that's your first sign of a disease. Right?

**[27:06]** السُّخْرِيَةُ Then Allah سبحانه و تعالى says اجْتَنِبُوا كَثِيرًا مِنَ الظَّنِّ Surah Al-Hujurat Again it's behind me on the wall. Right? Leave off negative assumptions. First you look down on people. You mock people. You have the habit of sukhriyah making fun of people.

**[27:21]** Haha look at that person. Haha did you hear about that person? Putting people down. Secondly, you start to assume evil things about them. Oh I wonder. إِيَّاكُمْ وَالظَّنَّ إِنَّ الظَّنَّ أَكْذَبُ الْحَدِيثِ It's the worst of speech. Beware of it.

**[27:36]** Inside of you. It's fully an internal conversation. Yeah look at her. Sure. That person always loves to do this. He always loves this. So الظَّنُّ You didn't cut off the poison root there. Then تَجَسُّسٌ

**[27:51]** Spying What does spying look like now? Let me go search online. Let me go see if I can find this. Let me go see if I can start connecting dots. I wonder. Oh now I'm connecting dots. وَلَا تَجَسَّسُوا Then what happens? I got to tell somebody.

**[28:06]** Guess what I found out. وَلَا يَغْتَبْ بَعْضُكُمْ بَعْضًا Then you start to backbite. Gossip You get into the gossip train. Right? And then what's worse than even gheebah is nameemah Slander البُهْتَانُ

**[28:21]** Gheebah is when you say something that's true but in falsehood. It's true about a person. What you said about them. But it has the end of falsehood. It comes from a place of falsehood. Nameemah is that it's false.

**[28:37]** What you're saying is actually false. It doesn't matter if you thought it was true when you said it because if you didn't go through the process of verifying it you spoke falsehood. You spoke a lie. What's the proof? The Prophet (ﷺ) said بِحَسْبِ امْرِئٍ مِنَ الْكَذِبِ

**[28:53]** It is enough of lying for a person. A person can meet Allah on the day of judgment as a full kadhdhab a liar. Why? أَنْ يَتَكَلَّمَ بِكُلِّ مَا يَسْمَعُ If they just say whatever they hear. I would not have known that I told a single lie definitively

**[29:10]** but the fact that أَنْ يَتَكَلَّمَ بِكُلِّ مَا يَسْمَعُ that I say everything I hear that I pass everything that's forwarded to me بِحَسْبِ امْرِئٍ مِنَ الْكَذِبِ That's enough lying on the day of judgment. Like I will have a scale of lies. May Allah protect us. So Allah عز و جل talks about the process.

**[29:27]** The process not just the outcome. Cut off the diseased roots. وَالَّذِينَ لَا يَشْهَدُونَ الزُّورَ So how did you get there? By jokes? By assumptions? By curiosity? By being just someone that likes gossip

**[29:43]** that entertains gossip for fun? So عباد الرحمن are people that interrupt the process early on. And they do not lend themselves to falsehood in their presence. Alright?

**[29:58]** So the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم He mentioned مَنْ رَأَى مِنْكُمْ مُنْكَرًا Whoever amongst you sees an evil فَلْيُغَيِّرْهُ بِيَدِهِ Let them change it with their hand. Meaning if I can physically change it if I can stop this then let me do so.

**[30:13]** فَإِنْ لَمْ يَسْتَطِعْ فَبِلِسَانِهِ If you can't do it then with your tongue. فَإِنْ لَمْ يَسْتَطِعْ Then what? And if you can't do it Then what? فَبِقَلْبِهِ Then in your heart and that is the weakest of iman that's the weakest of faith. You know what that hadith means? That hadith means

**[30:28]** if I can't stop it, leave. Not sit there and hate it in your heart. Leave. Exit the conversation. Exit the WhatsApp group. I don't have the courage or I don't have the position to say something about this. I'm out.

**[30:43]** I can't challenge this friend of mine because of some kind of dynamic. I'm not gonna hang out with that person. I can't tell them that I don't wanna hang out with them. I'm gonna make an excuse every single week every time they ask me Hey, you wanna go out? I'm busy. Find something to say.

**[30:59]** But hate it in your heart. Don't sit there and engage it. And subhanAllah to further strengthen to further strengthen what Allah عز و جل is saying in this ayah وَإِذَا مَرُّوا بِاللَّغْوِ مَرُّوا كِرَامًا

**[31:15]** And if they happen to stumble upon idle speech الله مَرُّوا كِرَامًا They move on with their dignity. They move on with their honor intact. إِذَا مَرُّوا بِاللَّغْوِ مَرُّوا كِرَامًا So not only

**[31:31]** are they uncomfortable if it pops up in front of them. Someone starts talking about somebody else. Someone starts saying something in the group. Someone starts getting into some sort of not only will they leave but if they happen to come across something nope because in the public domain

**[31:48]** you will naturally be exposed to things that are harmful. You're not looking for it. You're not planning for it. It's just foolishness that automatically confronts you. SubhanAllah Again the people of Mecca were living in a society of Jahiliyyah.

**[32:04]** الله أكبر Like what would it have been like to live in that society of corruption and immorality the most hated اللَّهُ نَظَرَ إِلَى أَهْلِ الْأَرْضِ مَقَتَهُمْ عَرَبَهُمْ وَعَجَمَهُمْ إِلَّا بَقَايَا مِنْ أَهْلِ الْكِتَابِ Like the most repulsive of people

**[32:19]** and their behaviors and you're a small group of Muslims and you've got to pass through this every single day. What are you seeing when you walk out your house in Mecca five years after the revelation to the Prophet (ﷺ) What's coming to your house? Like what are you walking into in your home? It's all there

**[32:35]** always confronting you. وَإِذَا مَرُّوا بِاللَّغْوِ مَرُّوا كِرَامًا Let me get out of here. I want nothing to do with this. So, they're not looking for it. They're not intending it. They're not searching for it. But they happen to see it. They happen to come across it.

**[32:51]** And Allah عز و جل says مَرُّوا كِرَامًا They leave with their dignity intact. The Qur'an is so beautiful and so precise. They don't go dirty themselves by engaging it in any way.

**[33:08]** Sometimes, dear brothers and sisters, this is a gathering physically. Sometimes it's a comment section. Sometimes it's a workplace conversation that you just stumbled into. Sometimes it's your family table.

**[33:24]** You've got to set a different culture as much as you can. Get up and go use the bathroom when they start backbiting and don't come back till they're done. Grandma or grandpa started talking about somebody change the subject. Say, hey, did you hear about what happened here? And eventually people will catch on

**[33:40]** that you just don't engage that stuff. You're not interested in nonsense. And when people bring it up in front of you, you know, subhanAllah, there was an imam. May Allah bless him. I won't say his name because I didn't seek his permission.

**[33:55]** He was giving a khutbah and he just gave like that just sound advice. He said, when someone says, speaks foolishness in your presence, make them feel stupid for doing so without saying a word. Without saying a word. Let them see.

**[34:10]** Sometimes your most powerful response is your visible discomfort. What? Why are you talking about people? Why are we doing this right now? You don't have to say anything. Anyway, change the subject. Sometimes it's your,

**[34:25]** someone should feel lowly when they engage lowly behavior in your presence. If someone is comfortable sinning in your presence, that, dear brother and sister, is an indictment of you.

**[34:42]** People should not feel comfortable in your presence committing those sins. People should want to say, you know, like, you know, like, you get, you get into like the car, like if someone says,

**[34:58]** عَفْوًا شَيْخٌ الدُّخَانُ, starts trying to hide the cigarettes, I'm glad you were ashamed. I'm actually glad you were ashamed of yourself. Because if you pulled out a cigarette and started smoking in the car while I was with you, then that's an indictment of me. That means I have no karama.

**[35:13]** I have no dignity. You should have felt ashamed. I got in your car and a certain song popped up and you started scrambling to turn it off. I'm not going to say, no, brother, it's okay. I'm glad you felt shame. I'm glad that my presence made you feel ashamed. That's مَرُّوا كِرَامًا.

**[35:28]** Ibadur Rahman should feel, they should carry themselves with dignity, not condescending behavior. By the way, like you don't have to say a word, but you carry yourself like a respectable Muslim, people will start to be ashamed to sin in your presence. You walk in the room, they got something on TV that they watch.

**[35:44]** Whoa, let me change that. Because sister so and so and brother so and so isn't with that stuff. They don't like it. Let me not talk about certain things in their presence. You want to demonstrate a certain type of religiosity, not an arrogance.

**[36:00]** Ibadur Rahman, you walk the earth lightly. SubhanAllah, isn't there a difference between someone who shames you by their goodness and someone who shames you by an abusive tongue? Huge difference.

**[36:15]** When someone's just so good that like, oh, and that person who's good should not say, no, no, no, it's okay, brother, sister, I'm cool. Go ahead and keep doing what you were doing. Keep it going. No. I smile. You smile. Keep it moving. I'm glad you felt ashamed. Let's move on. Let's keep it

**[36:37]** going. They pass with dignity. They don't enjoy backbiting. They don't enjoy the level. They don't, they show visible discomfort. And if they're in a position to even challenge it and

**[36:52]** to defend their brother or sister, let them do so. And what did the Prophet (ﷺ) say? This hadith is a golden rule of life. This hadith is a golden rule of life. Pay attention, especially the younger people in here.

**[37:22]** Whoever pleases people by disobeying Allah, Allah will be displeased with that person and Allah will cause the people to be displeased with that person as well. Meaning what? You're really fun when we're talking about somebody else. Do you know what happens? I know when you're with other people,

**[37:40]** you're talking about me. Because, whoever carries other people's news to you know that they carry your news to other people. Whoever talks about other people in your presence know they talk about you in other people's presence.

**[37:55]** So you like the messy person when you're being messy, but you can't stand the messy person when you know that that messy person is not with you and they're being messy about you. And so eventually no one likes that person. No one likes a person who spreads falsehood. No one likes a person, that person ends up with no friends. That person ends up hated and despised

**[38:14]** and untrusted and Allah doesn't like that person. And whoever displeases the people by pleasing Allah, Allah is pleased with that person. Allah

**[38:33]** will cause the people to be pleased with that person too. So the first time like I did something in your presence and you said with all due respect, no it's not okay. Why are you talking about that person? That person's a good person. Let's move on, let's not talk about other people.

**[38:51]** May Allah give us the strength by the way to challenge backbiting in our gathering. It's so rare, what a rare quality. I think the people that do that are automatically awliya of Allah in this day and age. Seriously, like let's not talk about people. She's a good sister,

**[39:06]** he's a good brother and show some firmness too. I'm not okay. For me, I'll take your garbage, but I'm not going to take your garbage about other people. Cut it out. Stop. I will not bear witness to a falsehood. I will not bear witness to

**[39:23]** this injustice. So initially when you do that, people won't like you. You're the religious, you're the not fun person in the group. You're the person that can't get along. You're the person we can't take to certain gatherings. You're the person that we can't be ourselves around,

**[39:38]** but you know what happens later on? 20, 30, 40 years pass, you're the brother, you're the sister with integrity that everybody loves. Because you didn't mess with anybody's honor, you didn't hurt anybody in the process, you carried yourself with dignity. You were always dignified.

**[39:57]** Allah was pleased with you and Allah caused the people to be pleased with you as well. It's such an incredible hadith. SubhanAllah, I know I've shared this in other settings, but this ayah reminds me of my mother. May Allah have mercy on her. My mother had a few strokes

**[40:17]** before she passed away over the course of a decade and a half. One stroke caused her to be very hard of hearing. So she was almost deaf. One stroke caused her to have speech issues. So she had a very hard time communicating. So SubhanAllah, she would go to gatherings and she would say,

**[40:37]** Alhamdulillah, Allah tested me with my hearing. Because when I sit in a gathering and people start backbiting, I have no share of it. And she used to say, Wallahi, she would say, I could tell from their faces that they just started backbiting. I was sitting in a gathering and I can tell by the

**[40:57]** darkness that overcomes the room, like a cloud that overcomes the room, the darkness that overcomes the room that they just started, like the noor goes away, the light goes away, you can see the the snarkles, you can see the smirks when somebody else's name is brought into the conversation

**[41:13]** and people start eating into the meat of their brother or sister. So she'd say, Alhamdulillah, I go to gatherings and I come out and I feel safe because I don't participate in that stuff and I can't even hear it anymore. And she would praise Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala

**[41:29]** for that. Okay. So when you pass through these gatherings, when you pass through immorality, when you come across immorality on your feed, maintain your dignity,

**[41:45]** come out of it honored, not lowly and disgusting. The way that Allah Azawajal describes these people, some of the scholars, they also mentioned SubhanAllah that in here, Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala is putting down the people of Mecca, the kuffar of Mecca, because

**[42:06]** this was a culture, it was a dis-culture. You know what a dis-culture is? Like the poetry where you put people down. All right. Like you can just imagine like people in Mecca like releasing albums against each other. People were proud when they put other people down, like I won,

**[42:22]** I won, I got you. I put that person down. I put them in their place. And so Allah Azawajal was actually showing them, you are not people of karama. You're actually not honorable people. When you engage in these immoralities, you are not honorable people. And so here,

**[42:37]** مَرُّوا بِاللَّغْوِ, مَرُّوا كِرَامًا. In conclusion, dear brothers and sisters, the ulama mentioned that karama, مَرُّوا كِرَامًا means not engaging. Number one, not engaging the sin. Number two, not attending to the sin, not engaging, not attending.

**[42:57]** Number three, not amplifying, not amplifying the sin. So what's the benefit, for example, if you were sitting and you didn't engage it, but then you left and when you went home and you talked to another group of people, man, I was sitting with this group of people and they started talking about this person and then they said this, this, this and that. What are you doing?

**[43:17]** Don't amplify it. Don't share it. Or I'll tell you another one. Hey, did you hear about that video that that person just made? Hear about that tweet that that person just tweeted out? Hey, did you see that? Saw that post? And what that post said? What are you talking about? Hey, did you hear what

**[43:35]** they're saying about this person? Don't follow the process in any way. The next thing that the ulama mentioned is not joining the pile on, right? So don't, don't add an insult to a body of insult

**[43:56]** or add to falsehood. And the last thing that they mentioned is to not repeat something that you have not verified or something that is harmful, even if it's true. Something that you have not verified

**[44:13]** or something that is harmful, even if it is true. Look, our deen upholds certain standards in society. You may mock this, but think about the beautiful outcome. The Prophet (ﷺ)

**[44:31]** taught us that it is permissible. He is as-sadiq al-ameen, the trustworthy, the truthful one. It is permissible to lie to your brother or sister for the sake of reconciling them. I can go to two people and I can say, Omar, Muhammad. I can go to Omar and I can say, Hey, Muhammad actually loves you.

**[44:54]** And he actually said that he wants to reconcile with you. And he's actually interested. And I know this because of a conversation and I could be completely exaggerating what actually happened. Muhammad could have actually called him all kinds of names and said, I never want to talk to him again. But I go to Omar, I say, listen, Muhammad's softening up to you and he actually wants to

**[45:11]** reconcile. Omar says, really? Yeah. All right. I go to Muhammad. Hey, Omar is also, Omar said, I love Muhammad. We go way back. Let's get this over with. I reconcile between two parties. What's the societal outcome? A society built in harmony. That the Prophet (ﷺ)

**[45:28]** not only said is not condemnable. He said it's rewardable. On the other hand, the Prophet (ﷺ) said to repeat something that is true to someone else. Omar, Muhammad said this about you and it's true. Prophet (ﷺ) said,

**[45:46]** لَا يَدْخُلُ الْجَنَّةَ نَمَّامٌ. That person will not enter Jannah. I mean, it doesn't get more severe than that. Some of the scariest hadith are where the Prophet (ﷺ) actually doesn't elaborate any further. لَا يَدْخُلُ الْجَنَّةَ نَمَّامٌ. That person will not enter Jannah. They

**[46:03]** cause so much havoc and falsehood on earth, split people apart, ruin things. And in the name of what? Loyalty. Hey Omar, I'm just telling you because you're my guy and I want you to know what Muhammad said about you. No, I'm destroying people. By the way, there are exceptions to this rule,

**[46:22]** right? Because there could be someone that's committing a harm that's actually interfering in exceptions. But always qualify an exception with someone who actually knows the texts and can give you a proper diagnosis. Because if you want an exception bad enough, you'll always make everything an exception. You'll find an exception to every rule in backbiting, every rule in slander,

**[46:41]** every single rule in falsehood bearing. You can always find an exception if your heart is diseased enough and wants to find an exception. Or if you're hurt enough and you want to find an exception. The last thing that I'll say dear brothers and sisters and inshallah I'll conclude here. Because we're getting to a turning point now with Ibadur Rahman. Allah Azawajal is telling us

**[47:05]** about a people who even when they cannot purify the world around them, they refuse to be tainted by it. Even when they can't purify the world around them, they refuse to be tainted by it. And

**[47:21]** what a powerful lesson in this day and age. When certain standards like genocide seems to be collapsing, at least do not be tainted by the collapsing of those standards. I understand

**[47:37]** everybody else says this. I'm not going to say it. I understand if every single person does this, I'm not going to do it. So I can't change every single person around me. That doesn't mean that I have to do it. So even if you can't purify the world around you, then you have to

**[47:57]** refuse to be tainted by it. And that is enough to qualify for this exclusive group of Ibadur Rahman, servants of the most merciful. Protect yourself. Protect yourself from the lowered standards of other people. Maintain your standards. Maintain your dignity. And do not even find entertainment.

**[48:21]** You know someone challenged me and I'll end with this subhanAllah. Because someone challenged me years ago. And he said when you walk into, and this will resonate with Muslims maybe that live in a western context or you know certain areas or whatever it may be, right?

**[48:39]** When you walk into a restaurant and there's a bar right next to you, are you still bothered by it or not? Or have you just accepted like, does it still bother you or not? Do these things bother you or not? At the very least,

**[48:59]** I shouldn't like it on the inside. I have to tell you the story because it's an important one, since I already picked on the smokers. And I hope no one will smoke a cigarette on the way home inshAllah. And you can take from what I'm saying what my fatwa on smoking is, all right? Now how many of you have heard of Malcolm X, Al-Hajj Malik Al-Shabazz Rahim Allah Ta'ala?

**[49:17]** Okay, looks like that's got to be our next 10-week series. Malcolm X, Al-Hajj Malik Al-Shabazz Rahim Allah Ta'ala, converted first to the Nation of Islam. In prison he was called Satan. Malcolm was called Satan in prison before he became part of the Nation

**[49:37]** of Islam, which is a group that is not an orthodox group of Islam at all, right? Has beliefs that are incomplete, that undermine the foundations of Islam, all sorts of things. But it has some beautiful elements of discipline, some beautiful social elements of discipline to it. Beautiful, uplifting,

**[49:58]** truly revolutionary. Revolutionary. Malcolm started to wear a suit. This guy, I mean he didn't graduate, he didn't even pass middle school. A suit cleaned himself up. You join the Nation of Islam,

**[50:15]** you make an honest living, honest living for yourself. You even got to sell newspapers in the street, right? You stand up for certain noble things in society, like there are some incredible social reforms that were made by the Nation of Islam. Despite the major issues in aqeedah, major issues in

**[50:30]** aqeedah, right? I don't minimize those at all, but I want you to pay attention to something which really blew my mind. How many of you have read the autobiography of Malcolm X or heard of the autobiography of Malcolm X? I actually want to see hands by the way, so I know some of you just don't like to raise your hands. All right, how many of you have, how many of you know that Malcolm

**[50:49]** wrote a diary? All right, Malcolm started writing a diary in 1964 when he landed in Egypt on his way to Hajj. He almost died in Egypt from food poisoning, right? I'm not going to say anything about

**[51:05]** Muslims right now because I know that I'm putting myself in dangerous territory. No, I'm just joking, right? But he almost died in Egypt, maybe from the kushari or something like that. Something hurt Malcolm's stomach. He started off his diary in Egypt. Malcolm then started to write in his

**[51:20]** diary about his Hajj, and there are certain things he wrote in his diary that he did not write in his autobiography, okay? And subhanAllah, the first time I read Malcolm's diary, Malcolm said, the thing that shocked me most in Mecca were the people smoking cigarettes.

**[51:46]** He said, what alcoholism is to the west, cigarette smoking is to the east. And look what he said, which just totally blew my mind, and you'll understand why it ties to what I'm saying right here. He said, when I was a member of the nation of Islam, we could not smoke.

**[52:05]** And then I converted to pure, orthodox, Ahlus Sunnah Islam, and I'm in Arafah and people are smoking around me. It's twisted. It's like, wait, everything else was going forward, but now I went backwards.

**[52:20]** What happened? Why do I bring this up? Not to pick on the smokers, but may Allah help you quit smoking. And by the way, Ramadan is a great time to quit smoking, because if you could not smoke from Fajr to Maghrib, right, then you can avoid smoking for the rest of your life inshaAllah ta'ala.

**[52:37]** Right, but here's what I want you to think about. What happens when you look around and everybody else is doing it? There are some great Muslims who smoke cigarettes. They're good Muslims. They're good Muslims. It's one 'ayb. It's a shameful thing, right? It's a blot, but it has to remain a blot.

**[52:59]** And the mindset that Malcolm is talking about is that when you look around and everybody else is doing it, then there is a level of acceptability that bears fruit in your heart. And that's the danger of regressing times where morals are slowly, slowly unpeeled.

**[53:21]** That you have to protect your heart from moral decay, from accepting it as normal, whether it shows up in your feed or whether it shows up in your street. May Allah protect our hearts, protect our streets, protect our communities, protect our families.

**[53:38]** And may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala allow us to be a people of integrity who maintain their dignity even in the worst of spaces. And may Allah Azawajal allow us to avoid all of that which compromises our deen. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala make us firm upon it and count us amongst His 'ibad. Allahumma ameen.

**[53:56]** Jazakum Allahu khayran, inshaAllah ta'ala. I will see you all next week. Wassalamu alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh.

## Other Episodes in "Servants of the Most Merciful"
- [Du’a for Marriage and Children | Servants of the Most Merciful Ep. 10](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/servants-of-the-most-merciful/servants-of-the-most-merciful-episode-10-dua-for-marriage-and-children.md)
- [How To Really Revere the Qur’an | Servants of the Most Merciful Ep. 9](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/servants-of-the-most-merciful/how-to-really-revere-the-quran-servants-of-the-most-merciful-episode-9.md)
- [How To Wipe Out Your Sins | Servants of the Most Merciful Ep. 7](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/servants-of-the-most-merciful/how-to-wipe-out-your-sins-servants-of-the-most-merciful-episode-7.md)
- [Understanding Major Sins in Islam | Servants of the Most Merciful Ep. 6](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/servants-of-the-most-merciful/understanding-major-sins-in-islam-servants-of-the-most-merciful-ep-6.md)
- [What Your Spending Habits Say About You | Servants of the Most Merciful Ep. 5](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/servants-of-the-most-merciful/what-your-spending-habits-say-about-you-servants-ep-5.md)
- [How Believers Protect Themselves from Pride | Servants of the Most Merciful Ep. 4](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/servants-of-the-most-merciful/how-believers-protect-themselves-from-pride-servants-of-the-most-merciful-ep-4.md)
- [Those Who Bow When the World Sleeps | Servants of the Most Merciful Ep. 3](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/servants-of-the-most-merciful/those-who-bow-when-the-world-sleeps-servants-of-the-most-merciful-ep-3.md)
- [Training Your Temper and Responding to Insults | Servants of the Most Merciful Ep. 2](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/servants-of-the-most-merciful/training-your-temper-and-responding-to-insults-servants-of-the-most-merciful-ep-2.md)
- [Those Who Walk on the Earth Humbly | Servants of the Most Merciful Ep. 1](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/servants-of-the-most-merciful/those-who-walk-on-the-earth-humbly-servants-of-the-most-merciful-ep-1.md)