Ramadan Reflections (2025)
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The Prophet ﷺ’s Tears and the Warning of Jibreel (as) | Ramadan Reflections
The Hadith of Jibreel (as) was a warning—a sign of divine justice. The tears of the Prophet ﷺ were a plea—a sign of mercy. Dr. Omar Suleiman explores the weight of both complaints—and what they mean for us today.
Transcript
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings.When Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala mentions the hypocrites and He mentions them in the lowest levels of hellfire, is Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala talking about the Muslim who feels like they may have some discrepancies in their lives between their private lives and their public lives? Or is Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala talking about the disbelieving hypocrites? Who is Allah Azza wa Jal talking about in that ayah? The disbelieving hypocrites, that the lowest of the disbelievers are the hypocrites amongst them, those that would pose to be Muslims. They knew they weren't Muslims, but they would pose to be Muslims so that they could wreak havoc within the community. That's called nifaq i'tiqadi, creedal hypocrisy. The lower level of hypocrisy is nifaq 'amali, is hypocrisy in our deeds, which is the hypocrisy that the companions feared for themselves, that I wasn't the same person around the Prophet (ﷺ) as I was when I was at home. That I couldn't, the very famous hadith of Hanzalah (رضي الله عنه), going to Abu Bakr (رضي الله عنه), and the fear that perhaps I'm a hypocrite because I don't maintain the same level when I'm with the Prophet (ﷺ) than when I go back home. And certainly as believers, we should all fear that type of hypocrisy. Because al-Qadi Abu Layla (رحمه الله) says, I met a hundred of the companions of the Prophet (ﷺ), kullum yattahimu nafsahu bin nifaq. Every single one of them was accusing himself of being a hypocrite. Not that type of hypocrite, but a lower degree. However, you would accuse yourself, even when you read the ayat about the major hypocrisy, you would take benefit because you know that this is a microcosm of the most dangerous behavior, and you want to cut it off at its roots so that you never fall into that deep level of hypocrisy. So even though Allah (ﷻ) is talking about the worst type of hypocrisy,
which is the hypocrisy of a disbeliever who poses to be a Muslim, and they are the lowest in hellfire, still even the highest believers, being the companions of the Prophet (ﷺ), found benefit to glean from that so that they don't exhibit even a small part of that behavior. How many of you have heard the hadith where the Prophet (ﷺ) mentions some of his followers who will come to him on the Day of Judgment, and he knows their names, may Allah protect us, and then a barrier is erected between him and them at the hell, and the Prophet (ﷺ) is asking Allah (ﷻ) why, and then he is told (ﷺ), you don't know what they changed after you, how deprived, what a miserable person he is who changed the religion after me. How many of you have heard this hadith? Only three of you? Tarawih is tiring. I get it. It's not a fundraiser by the way, so I wasn't going to ask you to give money for raising your hand. But SubhanAllah, that hadith should cause every single person, fear, to fall into an innovation. May Allah protect us from al-bid'ah. Why? Because an innovation puts a barrier between you and the sunnah of the Prophet (ﷺ), and so we want to make sure that we're following the Prophet's (ﷺ) way, and that there's a correctness to our creed, and that's what's maintained the integrity of this religion over 1400 years, is trying to find the way of the Prophet (ﷺ) and adhere to it (ﷺ), so that you don't fall into that. The primary targets of that hadith, if you took all the narrations together, and I won't go into too much detail, but if you took all the narrations together, it becomes clear that the primary intended people that are being spoken about here are those who would apostate after the death of the Prophet (ﷺ), those who would follow Musaylimah al-Kadhdhab and the false prophets,
meaning people that met the Prophet (ﷺ) became Muslim, but they were weak in their iman, and when the Prophet (ﷺ) died, they followed false prophets. They followed Musaylimah al-Kadhdhab, which was a major fitnah in this ummah, a major trial in this ummah. However, everyone should take benefit from that hadith, and ask Allah (ﷻ) for protection, because a bid'ah that is minor might become a bid'ah that's major one day, and there is bid'ah that is mukaffirah and ghayr mukaffirah, there is a bid'ah that becomes disbelief, and a bid'ah that's not a disbelief, right? But the idea we still benefit from, you'll understand why I'm getting to this insha'Allah Ta'ala, in my 30 minute khatirah, I'm just kidding by the way, alright? The third thing, the Prophet (ﷺ) in Surah Al-Furqan, when he complains and he says, إِنَّ قَوْمِي اتَّخَذُوا هَٰذَا الْقُرْآنَ مَهْجُورًا It's one of the most terrifying ayat by the way. رَحْمَةً لِّلْعَالَمِينَ The Prophet (ﷺ), a mercy to the world, and he complains, and he says, Oh my Lord, my people have abandoned this Qur'an. They've taken this Qur'an as something to be abandoned. This to me is a terrifying ayah by the way, SubhanAllah, because you know who Rasulullah (ﷺ) is. The Prophet (ﷺ) who will be doing shafa'ah, who will be interceding for the major sinners of his ummah on the Day of Judgment. A mercy to the world. And the Prophet (ﷺ) complains, and said they did not take the Qur'an seriously, they abandoned the Qur'an. Now, the primary intended audience here, according to the stronger opinion in tafsir, is actually talking about the disbelievers. I'll tell you why. Surah Al-Furqan is a Meccan surah, and if you read Surah Al-Furqan, the beginning of Al-Furqan is talking about the mockery of the disbelievers towards the believers, and it ends with Ibadur-Rahman, and how they respond to the disbelievers. Surah Al-Furqan comes in Mecca.
There was no hypocrisy in Mecca. There was no nifaq in Mecca. The believers that believed in the Prophet (ﷺ) were clinging on to every ayah of the Qur'an. And the word qawm can refer to his people (ﷺ) outside of the religious sense. So for example, when the Prophet (ﷺ) was being struck in Uhud, and he said, اللهم اغفر لقومي فإنهم لا يعلمون Oh Allah, forgive my people, they don't know any better. So qawm is different from ummah in that sense. Okay? So this ayah is referring to, as Mujahid (رحمه الله) said, the disbelievers, he said, أَيْ أَعْرَضُوا عَنْهَا when they rejected it, or يَنْهَوْنَ عَنْهُ بِقَوْلِهِمْ that they rejected it, or they deviated from it, when they said that, هَذَا سِحْرٌ مُّبِينٌ that this is magic or sorcery from the Prophet (ﷺ). That that's the intended meaning of this. The people that the Prophet (ﷺ) was around, and the distinguishing feature of the Messenger (ﷺ) from his people, the main distinguishing feature was, he was the one who the Qur'an descended upon, who revelation descended upon. And they rejected him because of that revelation, not because of his character (ﷺ). They rejected him because of that revelation. So the primary intended audience of this ayah that the Prophet (ﷺ) is complaining about is the disbelievers. Some of the scholars said it could be referring to the hypocrites that come later on, which may be the case. There's an argument to be made there because sometimes the Qur'an speaks about a future condition not yet seen in the ummah. But it appears, and Allah knows best, the primary intended audience are the disbelievers who truly abandon the Qur'an fully. Fully abandon the Qur'an. However, is there benefit to understanding the levels of Hajar, the levels of abandonment of the Qur'an? Yes. And the ummah should accuse themselves, as a Muslim, I should look at that, and I should, I mean, if that ayah doesn't give you goosebumps, SubhanAllah, like really, really frighten you.
The Prophet (ﷺ) complaining about you on the Day of Judgment, not taking the message that he brought seriously. I don't know what will. Now, again, this refers to, and you know, Umayy ibn Khalaf is, there's a story with him and the Prophet (ﷺ) spitting at the Prophet (ﷺ), buckling to peer pressure. The ayah afterwards mentions a person then complaining, يَا وَيْلَتَى لَيْتَنِي لَمْ أَتَّخِذْ فُلَانًا خَلِيلًا I wish I didn't follow this person. I wish I didn't go with this friend, this companion. But what does this mean for us? Hajar of the Qur'an, to abandon the Qur'an, primarily comes in two ways. Either abandonment by not acting upon it, or abandonment by not reciting it. And I want you to ask yourself a question, a serious question. Have you abandoned the Qur'an for 11 months of the year? And that's something for you to ask yourself. And this is a month of tawbah. But if you really ask yourself, have I abandoned the Qur'an in terms of its recitation throughout the entire year until Ramadan? Because while you're turning the page in Ramadan, you shouldn't just be turning the page physically. You should be actually reconnecting with the Qur'an at a deeper level. Because abandonment, again, is in action or in recitation. And as Muslims, we should ask ourselves, are we guilty of this Hajar? Are we guilty of a lower level of this abandonment of the Qur'an? The last thing I leave you with is the complaint of Jibreel ('alayhi as-salam). Those are the complaints of the Messenger (ﷺ). The complaint of Jibreel ('alayhi as-salam) is the famous hadith where the Prophet (ﷺ) took three steps on the Minbar. The first step he said, Ameen. The second step he said, Ameen. And then finally he said, Ameen, three times. It's an authentic hadith in Al-Hakim and others. And they asked the Prophet (ﷺ) what happened. He said, Atani Jibreel. Jibreel ('alayhi as-salam) came to me. He made du'a against three people. I'll paraphrase. Three people. The first one,
the one who Ramadan comes upon and leaves and he's not forgiven. What a loser. Jibreel knows what a beautiful and blessed month this is. تَنَزَّلُ الْمَلَائِكَةُ وَالرُّوحُ فِيهَا بِإِذْنِ رَبِّهِم مِّن كُلِّ أَمْرٍ He is one of the most praiseworthy aspects of Laylatul Qadr, that he comes down, he sees a different vantage point of the Rahmah of Allah in Ramadan. Jibreel, you know, what we hear about, Jibreel ('alayhi as-salam) is a part of that procession that's clogging up the heavens. And Jibreel ('alayhi as-salam) is saying, how bad do you have to be to miss the mercy of Allah in this month? May Allah protect us from being amongst them. Allahumma ameen. How would you do that? There are two levels. One, either by disobeying Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala and they're certainly included in this du'a by not abiding by the basic conditions of the month. But the second one is someone not taking advantage of the month. And that's a lower level of missing out on the full bounty and mercy of the month of Ramadan. The second one, the one with whom I am mentioned and whose presence my name is mentioned and they don't send salawat upon me (ﷺ). I'm gonna tell you something. It's one of the most disappointing things when you're sitting with Muslims and the name of the Prophet (ﷺ) is mentioned, the Prophet. Or even by the way, when someone says Sayyidina Muhammad and they don't say (ﷺ). Saying Sayyidina does not do away with saying (ﷺ). I don't care if your sentences get awkward. I don't care if you have to break 20-30 times. Send your salawat on the Prophet (ﷺ). The Prophet (ﷺ) said أَتَدْرُونَ مَنِ الْبَخِيلُ A stingy person. What a stingy person. The man who was sent ('alayhi as-salatu was-salam) with a message that gave you life. And you don't have the decency to say (ﷺ) every single time his name is mentioned.
It's fard within a setting to say it the first time his name is mentioned. And many of the ulama said after that it becomes mustahab the second, third, fourth, fifth time. But as much as you can, send salawat on your Prophet (ﷺ). And do it with love. Do it with a heart of gratitude. Do it with someone who longs to be with the Messenger (ﷺ). Don't just do it because you're forced to. Do it because you truly appreciate the bounty that this man came with (ﷺ) and the mercy that's encompassed in his sending (ﷺ). And the third one, a person whose parents, either both of them or one of them reaches old age in their presence and they don't enter Jannah by that parent. SubhanAllah, people don't know the blessing of their parents usually until their parents are either old or they're dead. And you don't know that you will live to see both of your parents, right? At the end of the day, what an amazing opportunity. There is a natural, a natural fitrah that kicks in even if you're not a religious person. When you see your parents aging, to show them love, to show them honor. Allah has made the path of Jannah so easy for you through them. Now again, what's the level? There are degrees of abandonment of the parents. And we live in a society that's, that is, I mean, has taken full liberty with the abandonment of parents. And I hope that never becomes the culture of the Muslim communities. You know, when people talk about, by the way, the Muslim world and how backwards the Muslim world is, I say this without any hesitation. Take almost any country in the Muslim world and compare it to the Western world and the treatment of the parents and I'll take the Muslim world any day, any country, no matter how bad it is and how backwards it is. That's one thing for the most part. Alhamdulillah, the culture is still preserved. The throwing away of the parents, we don't do that in our community. Alhamdulillah, Rabbul Alameen. But there are levels here. There are levels here. Why do I mention this?
Do not find yourself on the receiving end of a complaint of the messenger (ﷺ) or of a complaint of the messenger to the messenger (ﷺ). And, you know, think of it in your own way. Practical example. You have someone and you've warned them 300, 400 times and you gave them, you say, hey listen, don't go with that person, it's going to be bad for you. Don't go with that person and you incentivize. Don't get in the car, don't do it and then they still go with them anyway and something terrible happens. Usually, you don't feel sorry for someone who's been sufficiently warned. You don't, in terms of human interactions. Why do you feel sorry for yourself? Are we giving ourselves too many excuses to fail? Or has Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala given us too many excuses not to fail in His mercy? May Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala join us with our Prophet (ﷺ) fil firdawsil a'la and not make us amongst those who are complained against by him or by the one who was sent to him. And may Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala who sent them both be pleased with us when we meet him. Allahumma Ameen. JazakumAllahu Khayran Wassalamualaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh
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