Note: The following transcript was generated using AI and may contain inaccuracies.
My brothers and sisters, remember:
وَلَقَدْ خَلَقْنَا الْإِنْسَانَ وَنَعْلَمُ مَا تُوَسْوِسُ بِهِ نَفْسُهُ وَنَحْنُ أَقْرَبُ إِلَيْهِ مِنْ حَبْلِ الْوَرِيدِ إِذْ يَتَلَقَّ الْمُتَلَقِّيَادِ عَنِ الْيَمِينِ وَعَنِ الشِّمَالِ قَعِيدٍ مَا يَلْفِظُ مِنْ قَوْلٍ إِلَّا لَدَيْهِ رَقِيمٌ عَتِيدٌ
وَوُضِعَ الْكِتَابُ فَتَرَى الْمُجْرِمِينَ مُشْفِقِينَ مِمَّا فِيهِ وَيَقُولُونَ يَا وَيْلَتَنَا مَا لِهَذَا الْكِتَابِ لَا يُغَادِرُ صَغِيرَةً وَلَا كَبِيرَةً إِلَّا أَحْصَاهَا وَوَجَدُوا مَا عَمِلُوا حَاظِرًا وَلَا يَظْلِمُ رَبُّكَ أَحَدًا
Everything that you said to people will come and will be shown to you. Do not be a muflis. There's a hadith of the Prophet ﷺ. He said: يَا مَعْشَرَ مَنْ آمَنَ بِالْلِسَانِ وَلَمَّا يَدْخُلُ الْإِيمَانُ فِي قَلْبِهِ لَا تَغْتَابَنَّ الْمُسْلِمُ Do not backbite the Muslims. وَلَا تَتَبِّعْ عَوْرَاتِهِمْ Do not follow the mistakes and shortcomings of people. The Prophet ﷺ then said: فَمَنْ تَتَبَّعْ عَوْرَةَ أَخِيهِ تَتَبَّعَ اللَّهُ عَوْرَتَهُ Anyone who follows the mistakes of his brother or his sister Follows another sister's mistakes and looks for it, going online, finding something here and there to drag it all together and staple it together. Remember that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will bring out your mistakes, even the private things that you've done that nobody was aware of, only you. The narration mentions Allah will bring it out to the public, and you'll be exposed. And we're all together. So remember that. When you speak, be gentle with yourself. Think of yourself. The person you're going to harm, trust me, is yourself. And we're all together, brothers.
And as I want to take this opportunity, I want to advise all of you brothers: When it comes to social media, my brothers, stay away from social media. If you believe in Allah and the Day of Judgment and you want to be protected, insha'Allah ta'ala, stay away from social media. Avoid it. A lot of brothers are on social media, on what’s it called? Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and all of that, and they stay away from it. Avoid it. Stay away from debates and arguments. I want to mention some advice of the Salaf regarding these issues—debating online and the things it causes. So bear with me, insha'Allah ta'ala, because I find this issue very prevalent, very common, right? Let me mention some of the statements of the Salaf regarding these issues of debates. Insha'Allah, you could write it down, insha'Allah ta'ala. Ask Allah to give us Tawfiq and Anas Sadad. Write this advice down, insha'Allah ta'ala. Abad Ibn Abad Al Khawass gave an advice, and I think this advice touched my heart. Honestly, I was shocked when I read it. He said the following:
My brothers and sisters, please remember this. Wallahi, hold on to this advice. He said: Do not suffice yourself by claiming that you are holding on to the sunnah verbally without acting upon the sunnah. Attributing yourself to the sunnah and saying, “I am from the people of the sunnah” without acting upon the sunnah is lying in your speech whilst you are forsaking actions. Look what he then says after that: Do not shame a person for being an innovator. Do not shame a person for being an innovator. Why are you doing it? You want to adorn yourself? Because the person becoming an innovator and the people of innovation becoming corrupt is not going to increase your righteousness. You proving this person is a very evil innovator and this person has fallen off and he has deviated is not going to increase you in righteous deeds. It’s not going to make you—it's not actually going to increase you being from the people of the sunnah. Are we all together? Remember that statement.
Another statement: It is not permissible for a person to attribute to a person to innovation verbally or by action. Saying, “This person is…” There are conditions for it. Do not, do not, do not say those statements until you are certain that you are sure. Shaykh Salah Al Fawzan, look what he said here. I want to read his statement to you here. Very powerful what he said about people speaking about people and saying that this person is an innovator and this person is من أهل السنة. Shaykh صالح الفوزان حفظه الله said: لا ينبغي لطلبة المبتدئين It is not permissible for the beginner students of knowledge وغيرهم من العامة And the general mass, which is the majority of the people on social media, أن يشتغلوا بالتبديع والتفسيق To preoccupy themselves with this person being a مبتدئ and this person being a transgressor. لأن ذلك أمر خطير This matter is a very serious matter.
الله أكبر وهم ليس عندهم علم These beginner students of knowledge, they don’t have knowledge and understanding in this topic. وَدِرَايَةً فِي هَذَا الْمَوْضُوعِ They don’t know this topic and this issue. وَأَيْضًا هَذَا يُحْدِثُ الْعَدَاوَةَ And on top of that, this will increase animosity and hatred. وَيَزِيدُ الْبُغْضَاءَ بَيْنَهُمْ It will increase hostility between them. فَمَا هُوَ عَلَيْهِمْ؟ So, what is upon us? فَالْوَاجِبُ عَلَيْهِمْ This advice is given to us, the beginner students of knowledge. الْوَاجِبُ عَلَيْهِمْ الِاشْتِغَالُ بِطَلَبِ الْعِلْمِ They should busy themselves with seeking knowledge, my brothers. وَكُفَّ أَلْسِنَتِهِمْ Hold your tongues from this issue, عَمَّا لَا فَائِدَةَ فِيهِ From that which has no benefit in it for you, بَلْ فِيهِ مُضَرَّةٌ عَلَيْهِمْ وَعَلَىٰ غَيْرِهِمْ Rather, it brings harm to you and others. أَنْتَ لَا تَجْلِبُ فِيهِ خَيْرًا You won’t bring any good in this issue, بَلْ تَجْلِبُ فِيهِ ضَرَرًا You will only bring harm.
وَنَحْنُ جَمِيعًا سَوِيًّا يَا إِخْوَةَ We are all together, brothers. الْجُمْلَةُ التَّالِيَةُ الَّتِي أُرِيدُ أَنْ أَذْكُرَهَا The next statement I want to mention is:
سُبْحَانَ الله، أَبُو الدَّرْدَاءِ رَضِيَ اللَّٰهُ تَعَالَىٰ عَنْهُ He heard a man one day insult him. This is very relevant for people on social media. تَجِدُ أَحَدًا يَكْتُبُ شَيْئًا عَنْهُ فِي فِيدِيُو أَوْ شَخْصٍ عَاقَلَ شَيْئًا فِي سَوْشَال مِدِيَا Someone comments on something he said on social media, and he responds, and some of them are foul. بَعْضُهُمْ فَاحِشُون فِيمَا يَقُولُونَ Some of them use vulgar language in their responses, hiding behind names like Abu or Umm (anonymous). تَذَكَّرُوا أَنَّ اللَّهَ يَرَاكُمْ Remember that Allah can see you. سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَىٰ Everything you write and everything you say will be brought to you on the Day of Judgment, and you will be dealt with. انظُرُوا مَا قَالَهُ أَبُو الدَّرْدَاءِ رَضِيَ اللَّٰهُ تَعَالَىٰ عَنْهُ Look at what Abu Darda (may Allah be pleased with him) said.
إِذَا شَتَمَك أَحَدٌ فَمَا الَّذِي عَلَيْكَ كَمَنْ يَحْمِلُ إِرَثَ النَّبِيِّ مُحَمَّدٍ If someone insults you, what is upon you as a person now carrying the inheritance of the Prophet Muhammad? يا إِخْوَةَ My brothers, don’t you know that when people look at a person of knowledge, they see you as the one who carries the inheritance of the Prophet? إِنَّهُ يَرَاكَ جَالِسًا فِي مَقَعَدِ النَّبِيِّ صَلَّى اللَّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ They see you sitting in the Prophet’s chair. فَفَهْمُوا وَزْنَ مَا عَلَيْكُمْ Understand the weight on your shoulders and the way you carry yourself when speaking to others. قَالَ أَبُو الدَّرْدَاءِ رَضِيَ اللَّٰهُ تَعَالَىٰ عَنْهُ Abu Darda (may Allah be pleased with him) said:
إِنْ كَانَ مَا قُلتُهُ عَنِّي حَقًّا فَاغْفِرْ لِي، وَإِنْ لَمْ يَكُنْ فَاغْفِرْ لَكَ If what you said about me is true, may Allah forgive me for it. If it’s not true, may Allah forgive you.
فَإِنَّا لَا نُكَافِئُ مَنْ أَصَلَّاهَ فِينَا بِأَكْثَرَ مِنْ أَنْ نُطِيعَ اللَّٰهَ فِيهِ I am not going to disobey Allah by wronging you or speaking foul words in return.
Look at Ibn Taymiyyah, my brothers. This man went through a lot, and he even died in prison. Look at what he said:
قَالَ: I have an open heart and chest for anyone who opposes me. هَذِهِ تَصَرُّفَاتٌ وَاللَّهِ، تَرْبِيَةُ الْعُلَمَاءِ These are statements, Wallahi, the education of scholars.
Anyone who disobeys Allah and exceeds his limits, فِي تَكْفِيرِي In making takfeer of me, أَوْ تَفْسِيقِي Or tafseeq (labeling me as corrupt), أَوْ إِفْتِرَاءٍ Or making false accusations, أَوْ عَصَبِيَّةٍ جَاهِلِيَّةٍ Or pre-Islamic tribalism, فَأَنَا لَا تَجَاوَزُ حُدُودَ اللَّٰهِ فِيهِ I will not exceed the boundaries of Allah in dealing with him.
You find online that someone says something bad about you, أَنْتَ خَارِجِيٌّ، كَافِرٌ، مُرْتَدٌّ You’re a Khariji, a disbeliever, an apostate. فَحَقُّ اللَّٰهِ عَلَيْهِ فِي هَذَا But just because he says that doesn’t mean you can call him an apostate too.
Hani, my brothers and sisters, remember this: As long as you live, the one who is gentle in making tabdee' by default is also gentle in making takfeer.
Li'anna they both fall under the same category. Which category do they fall under? Baabul asma'i wal ahkaam. It’s not possible that you stay away from takfeer when your tongue is very long when it comes to tabdee'. Both of them have what? Shuroot and mawani' (Conditions).
Why are you so gentle here? Why are you so fearful and precocious here? And here you're just making tabdee' on everybody. And I’m not the person who said this. Shaykh al-Islam ibn Taymiyyah said it. Rahimahu Allah ta'ala. That tabdee', takfeer, and tafseeq are all under that category of baabul asma'i wal ahkaam. Remember that.
However much a person says, “I don’t do takfeer, I don’t do takfeer,” If he's lenient on tabdee' then the principles of the problem here are present here as well. He just doesn't know.
Are we all together, brothers? So look at what Shaykh al-Islam ibn Taymiyyah said. Anyone who disobeys Allah and exceeds his limits and makes takfeer of me and makes takfeer, I’m not going to disobey Allah in him. Bal adhbitu ma aqoolu huwa af'alu.
This is what I want people to look at. I’m going to restrain my speech and action. Is that what we find online? Billahi alaykum, is that what we find a lot of Muslims doing online? Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raj'oon. This is hisaab yawmul qiyamah. Ibn Taymiyyah said, bal adhbitu ma aqoolu huwa af'alu. I’m going to hold off what I say and what I do.
Hayya wa azeemuhu bimizanil adl. And I’m going to scale it on a scale of justice. Wa aj'aluhu, and I’m going to make it mu'tammam bil kitabi aladhi anzalahu Allah, wa ja'alahu hudal linnasi haakiman fee makhtalafu fee. And I’m going to base it all on Allah’s words, subhanahu wa ta'ala, and the messenger. That’s what's going to govern me, not my emotions. Honey, this is ajeeb.
Another thing, my brothers and sisters, is there’s no husnul dhan. Somebody said something. Did he mean that? Did he intend that? There’s nothing. No husnul dhan for this individual.
Maymoor ibn Mihran said, "There is not a statement that has reached me regarding a particular person. A statement reached me from this person that he said, except he said, I wish that there is a reason." That’s what I’m holding on to. If he says to me, lam aqul, “I never said it,” I never want any evidence for him. It is more beloved to me, look what he said, than 80 witnesses testifying that he did say it. Lam aqul, “I did not say that.” It is more beloved to me than 80 witnesses.
Maymoor ibn Mihran is saying this. Maymoor was a katib to Umar ibn Abdulaziz. He was Umar ibn Abdulaziz’s writer.
And we all together are brothers. These statements, my brothers and sisters, are what is missing from us. I’m going to conclude with this last final point.
And that is, anyone, if you ever find anybody who’s following up people’s mistakes every week, is out and he’s responding to another person. I know this person did this, I need to correct him. Remember this.
And hold on to this, my brothers and sisters. Bakr ibn Abdullah al-Muzaniyyu, rahimahullah, he says, idha ra'aytumu ar-rajula if you find a person muwalla'an bi'uyubin nasi he’s following up people’s mistakes. Sometimes you're like, where did you find this from, habibi? It’s like, yeah, I watched his video four years ago that he did in minute 30, he watched the whole video and the videos before that and the whole, just to find one mistake in it.
Wallahi, you think I’m making this up. Wallahi there are people who do that. They watch videos, they listen to people.
Yeah? Just so they can find a two-minute mistake or idha ra'aytumu ar-rajula if you see a person muwalla'an bi'uyubin nasi he’s following people’s mistakes nasiyan li'aybihi and he forgets his own mistakes. Wallahi, every single one of us is an ayb walking, we are fault that's walking. I don’t understand when I look at other people, I honestly look at myself and I say to myself, Abdurrahman, wallahi say alhamdulillah Allah is concealing your mistakes, say alhamdulillah Allah is hiding what you really like. Anyone who follows up the mistakes of the people and forgets his own fa'alamu anaw qad mukkira bihi, remember that person is deceived. Ahh, he’s deceived.
Fudaym Iyyad said, ma min ahadin ahabbal ri'asa anyone who wants leadership, remember this, he wants to be known, he wants to come out, he wants a position, he wants to be known, he wants ri'asa (power, leadership), the first trait Fudaym Iyyad said he comes with is what? Illa hasad. Hasad goes in his heart wa bagha, straight after that he transgresses on this person wa tatabba a'yuban nas and then he starts to follow the people’s mistakes wa kariha an yudhkara ahadun bikhayr and he does not like hearing any good about this person. La ilaha illallah, Fudaym Iyyad is like he’s living today, sah?
First, so he wants ri'asa, he wants leadership, what does he want? Leadership. So what does he do? He has hasad towards the people, okay that’s number one. Then what does he do? He transgresses, now the hasad cannot stay for too long, it was cooking inside him, now it becomes transgression and then he starts looking for the person’s mistake. What did he say here? What about here? He follows up the person’s mistakes wa kariha an yudhkara ahadun bikhayr and he actually does not like the person to be mentioned with any good. It hurts him to find a person who’s doing good. Are we all together, brothers?
And wallahi the truth of the matter is this deen and I said this before, it needs a lot of people to work for it. Trust me, one thing I can tell you is this deen, the doors for it are so much, there is no reason for us to feel like it’s crowded. Every single person who’s calling to the path of Allah with knowledge, with righteous actions, with salamatul mu'takat, wallahi it brings happiness and joy to every single person who’s on that path. The salaf used to say, if you hear a person who’s calling to the sunnah, who’s propagating knowledge, who’s holding himself the way that the person of knowledge should hold himself, if you hear of that person, what do you do? Send to him a salam, say my salam to you is may Allah increase you in good and khayr.
My brothers and sisters, I have stories of shaykh abdul aziz ibn baaz, wallahi that man, wallahi his seerah is something else. Shaykh abdul aziz ibn baaz alayhi rahmatullah, I’m going to mention a final story and I’m going to conclude there. There was a man by the name of muhammad al ghazali. Shaykh muhammad al ghazali he was a contemporary man, he wrote a book, may Allah forgive us and forgive him, which he said many mistakes in there. He came to Saudi Arabia and shaykh abdul aziz ibn baaz welcomed him. The students were shocked to find shaykh, this shaykh, by the way, shaykh muhammad al ghazali he is a mulhid (if you look at his statement, a mulhid means he left the fold of Islam), that’s what hafiz al muhajir says. Shaykh abdul baaz, what did he do? He welcomed him into his office, sat with him, spoke. Muhammad al ghazali was thinking, what’s happening here, was expecting a response tough. When the opportunity came, shaykh ibn baaz in a most gentle manner said to him, "I read your book, I came across your book, I saw some akhtar here, I think it should be corrected." The way in which shaykh ibn baaz dealt with him, he said, wallahi shaykh, any places you have a concern for, let me know and I will correct it. Shaykh muhammad al ghazali was invited to a place to eat asha that night. He came very late. He came very late. When he came late, the people who invited him said, “Why did you come late?” He said, wallahi, I was in another world, I was in front of a giant, shaykh abdul aziz ibn baaz.
We all together, brothers? You can find that biography in the kitab Sirat al Shaykh Abdul Aziz ibn Baaz by shaykh muhammad ibn ibrahim al hamid. I’ll tell you something shocking, that same shaykh muhammad al ghazali, shaykh al albani, what did he do to his book? He took that book of his, shaykh al sunnah, shaykh albani did takhreej of it. He worked on his book and did takhreej of his book. Whatever hadith he agreed with, hatta forget something else, yusuf al qardawi’s kitab al halal wal haram. Shaykh albani made a takhreej on that book and he called it ghaya tul maran correcting the hadith which are daif and the hadith which are sahih. We all together, brothers?
What I mean is this, a person can fall into a lot of mistakes. You correct the mistakes, and that’s what you’re looking for. You want these mistakes to go. Is that not what you want? Is that what you’re looking for? Why are you going to take the most dimwitted method? Why are you going to take the most disrespectful method? So it’s clear that you’re not doing it so this munkar can go or to get this person back to their senses or for this not to spread. Are we all together, brothers? What are you doing it for? You’re purely doing it because it’s something within you, something within you. You’re doing it for yourself and you’re lying about saying this is for the deen of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And somebody like that ibnul jawzi spoke about it before in his book, the deceptions of iblis, min talbisi iblis. He says, from the deceptions of iblis is that he fools those people by thinking that they are defending the deen, but in reality they’re doing it for who? Themselves.
From the deceptions of shaytan.
Last point, and this story touches me a lot. Al imam Ahmad was asked about a man by the name of muhammad ibn kurayb al hamdan. He said to him, “What do you think about this man?” He said, “He’s a reliable man, an honorable man.” He said, Ahmad, he criticizes you. And then he said, “What can I do? A righteous man, Allah tested me with him.” A poet once said about imam Ahmad, what did he say about him? Ahmad was a symbol of who? Ahlul sunnah. The time he was there, everyone made him a symbol. All together, brothers? You supported Ahmad, it was known. You were against khalq al quran, if you didn’t support Ahmad, you were for the concept of khalq al quran. It was just a reality there at that time. He didn’t say, “What did he say about me?” What did he say? He emphasized on the point, he’s a righteous man. I’m going to end it there.
One last point, they asked him about his father. They asked him about his father, “Can we take hadith from your father? How is his memorization?” His dad, he said, “My father, his memorization is what his memorization is, and he is not the best.” He has to fear Allah in the concept of who? He can’t say, “Take my dad’s hadith” because his dad’s memorization was very weak.
Are we all together, brothers? What does that show you? This was not personal for them. It wasn’t like, “This is my father, I’ve got a different ruling for him and everybody else, I have a different ruling for.”
I ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala that He forgives us for anything I’ve said or any mistakes that came from me. Subhanakallahumma wa bihamdik, ashadu an la ilaha illa anta, astaghfiruka wa atubu ilayka.
