One man behaves terribly, and suddenly: "Men are like this."
A woman wrongs someone: "Women are like this."
A scholar makes a serious mistake, and the conversation quickly becomes about how "the scholars" cannot be trusted.
A ruler makes a bad decision, and every ruler is now corrupt.
Someone from a particular country treated you badly, and before long millions of people you have never met are being spoken about as though they were involved.
We do this far too easily.
And sometimes there is an even more basic problem:
We have not properly established what happened in the first place.
A clip appears. A screenshot gets forwarded. You hear one side of an argument.
That is enough for a conclusion.
Allah ﷻ says:
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا إِن جَاءَكُمْ فَاسِقٌ بِنَبَإٍ فَتَبَيَّنُوا أَن تُصِيبُوا قَوْمًا بِجَهَالَةٍ فَتُصْبِحُوا عَلَىٰ مَا فَعَلْتُمْ نَادِمِينَ
"O you who believe, if a sinful person comes to you with news, verify it, lest you harm people out of ignorance and then become regretful for what you have done." (Surah al-Hujurat 49:6)
And Allah ﷻ says:
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اجْتَنِبُوا كَثِيرًا مِّنَ الظَّنِّ إِنَّ بَعْضَ الظَّنِّ إِثْمٌ
"O you who believe, avoid much suspicion. Indeed, some suspicion is sin." (Surah al-Hujurat 49:12)
Even when the original story turns out to be true, your tongue still has limits.
The Prophet ﷺ explained Gheebah as mentioning your Muslim brother with something he dislikes.
The Companions asked what if what is being said is actually true.
He ﷺ replied:
"If what you say about him is true, you have backbitten him. If it is not true, you have slandered him." (Sahih Muslim 2589)
During the Mi'raj, the Prophet ﷺ passed by people with copper nails scratching their faces and chests.
He asked Jibril about them and was told:
"They are those who used to eat the flesh of people and attack their honour." (Sunan Abi Dawud 4878)
Now add generalisation to that.
One Muslim may genuinely have done something wrong. But what did the other thousand, hundred thousand or million people have to do with it?
Allah ﷻ says:
وَلَا تَزِرُ وَازِرَةٌ وِزْرَ أُخْرَىٰ
"No bearer of burdens will bear the burden of another." (Surah al-An'am 6:164)
Being a bad husband is evidence against that husband, not against every man.
The mistake of a scholar does not make every scholar responsible for it.
A ruler can be wrong in a particular matter without that establishing that every ruler is corrupt.
And whatever somebody from a certain country did to you, people who have never met either of you are not guilty by association.
It is reported from Hasan al-Basri رحمه الله:
"The believer keeps watch over himself and holds himself to account for Allah." (Al-Zuhd li-Ibn al-Mubarak 307)
That is where the attention needs to return.
Before writing "they are all like this", ask whether you have even verified what happened.
Are you speaking about what you actually know, or filling the gaps with suspicion?
And if one person genuinely did wrong, hold that person responsible.
Do not make innocent Muslims carry somebody else's blame.
A comment may take ten seconds to type. The words still enter your record.
The honour of Muslims is not cheap.
Do not meet Allah carrying words against people you never knew for things they never did.
Team AMAU
www.amauacademy.com
