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The Scholar Who Pretended He Couldn't Hear | Daily Reminders
Sh. Omar Suleiman reflects on a stories from the past that showed a great deal of compassion and sensitivity. We can learn from these companions by being compassionate and sensitive to each other as we go through these difficult times together.
Transcript
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings. Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh everyone. Audhu billahi minash shaitanir rajim. Bismillahir rahmanir rahim. Alhamdulillahi rabbil alameen. Wa la'adwana illa anzalameen. Wa ala akibatu lil mutaqeen. Allahumma salli wa sallim wa baraka ala abduhi wa rasulika Muhammadin salallahu alaihi wa sallam wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa sallim. Tasliman kathira. A couple of quick things inshallah ta'ala. Number one, if you saw on Yaqeen's Facebook page or Instagram or on Twitter or on our website, Alhamdulillah we just released a free e-book which has du'as for protection and anxiety and worry. So I hope that all of you are able to benefit from those supplications inshallah. And if you got a chance to attend the virtual khutbah, emphasis on the virtual part and on the part that you still have to pray dhuhr. And it's not a replacement but just a means of keeping us going. We talked about a scholar that I really love and we talked about his quote when he was asked how he built his trust in Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. How he built the structure of his trust. So I actually wanted to, if you get a chance go watch that khutbah. I wanted to share a story about how he actually got his name. So his name is Hatim al-Assam. Al-Assam actually is the one who can't hear. And of course we pray for our brothers and sisters, our deaf brothers and sisters. And honestly I miss being able to have a sign language interpreter. Please do support organizations like Muhsin which care for our brothers and sisters with special needs. But Hatim al-Assam is unlike the many scholars of our tradition that actually had disabilities that were indicated by their name. So a lot of times you hear about a scholar, Al-A'mash being a great example, someone that actually had a disability and that was indicated by their name. His story is actually a lot more different. Hatim al-Assam was a great scholar, a great sage.
And one day he finished giving the khutbah in the masjid. And as he finished his khutbah, he exited the masjid. And there was an old woman that was excited to see him and ask him a question. As she approached him to ask him the question, when she saw him, and obviously he was a great scholar of his time, so her excitement got the best of her and she was elderly. And when she saw him, she broke wind in a very, very loud way. So she passed gas and it was very loud. And she was extremely embarrassed when she did that. And Hatim al-Assam, immediately seeing the embarrassment that she had when she loudly passed gas, partly due to the excitement of seeing him, he pretended to not hear. So he said to her, excuse me, can you raise your voice? And he started to do this to indicate that he was hard of hearing and he needed her to speak at a very loud voice so that he could hear what she was saying, thereby pretending like he didn't actually hear her with that moment that was so embarrassing to her. And in order to keep it going, so he kept the conversation going and she spoke at a very loud voice so that he would be able to hear her, even though he could hear her before. In order to not make that woman feel bad, Hatim al-Assam, not just for that moment, held that image of one who was hard of hearing, but everyone in the immediate circle of that woman, Hatim al-Assam, made sure that they did not break the news to her that he actually had heard or that he didn't have any hearing problems, that he would have heard what happened in that moment. And subhanAllah, you think about that and that beautiful sensitivity that he had. And so he gained the nickname Hatim al-Assam, the one who couldn't hear, even though he could hear. And you think about the beautiful incident there, the nature of that incident and how these people went above and beyond
to show good character and to demonstrate ihsan and excellence and compassion. Sometimes that means being sensitive to the person you're speaking to and the person that's in front of you and making sure that you don't embarrass them, you don't humiliate them. And you even try to play off a situation where they're embarrassed or they're humiliated. And there's an incident that took place, by the way, in the time of Umar ibn al-Khattab radiAllahu ta'ala anhu, where a large group of companions were together, or tabi'een as well, companions and people from the second generation. And there was a smell in the room and Umar radiAllahu ta'ala anhu, recognizing how embarrassing it would have been for the person to get up and make wudu, made everyone go and make wudu, including himself, so that man would not be singled out. Okay, so they didn't know what the source of it was, but everybody get up and let's go make wudu so that we don't make that person feel humiliated. There's so much to take right now in terms of benefit and blessing as we're overexposed to each other's lives through social media. And it's very easy to offend. It's very easy to stumble upon something that you weren't meant to stumble on. It's very easy to see someone in their embarrassing or humiliating moments, and it's easy to pile on. It's easy to share. It's easy to do something to indicate or to even worse, to further complicate the situation of someone that's in an embarrassing or humiliating situation. And so what can we take from this great scholar, Hatem al-Assam, in that he was so concerned with hurting the feelings of that woman or letting that woman be embarrassed, that he immediately went above and beyond to make sure that she did not feel like she was even heard in that embarrassing moment of hers. And so how I think about how much it would have crushed her, right? Had he said something or indicated some sort of disgust when she did so, but instead, you know, he showed ihsan, he showed excellence.
And so he wasn't just an excellent worshipper, but he was excellent in his character. And that's something that we can all take inshallah ta'ala. Again, if you didn't listen to the khutba today about his amazing advice on trust in Allah and vulnerability, please do get, you know, take the opportunity inshallah ta'ala to go and click on the link and check it out inshallah ta'ala. And we pray that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala grant us that excellence in worship, that excellence in character, and that excellence in trust that Hatem al-Assam rahim Allah ta'ala demonstrates in these different areas of his life. Allahumma ameen. Jazakumullahu khayran. I'll see you all tomorrow inshallah. Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh.
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