Adab 1: Prohibitions of the Tongue Lecture 11 1
Line 30
Line 30 - Three Examples of Harm In the previous sentence, Mawlud said that in general all types of harm are prohibited In general we should be extremely cautious when dealing with any person. Family, friends or even complete strangers This is because, in many cases, you cannot rectify harm to other people easily, and hence sins may remain Harming people, or making it a habit to harm other people leads to oppressive and arrogant characteristics. These can become permanent qualities of a person As muslims we are instructed to be sensitive to feelings and to emotions. Whilst you may be harming them, with your words, you are also causing great harm for yourself and for your heart In sentence 30 Mawlud gives us three examples of harm before saying all types of harm are prohibited: 1. Mockery 2. Frightening (توكاف) 3. Approaching others with what they have said
Line 30 - First Example Mockery (الهزء) - This is making fun of another person in whatever form it may be. It has been prohibited in both the Quran and Sunnah: Allah says in Surah (Al-Hujaraat: verse 10) ي أ ي ہ ا ٱل ذ ين ء ام ن وا ال ي س خ ر ق و م م ن ق و م ع س ى أ ن ي ك ون وا خ ي ر ا م ن ہ م و ال ن س آء م ن ن س آء ع س ى أ ن ي ك ن خ ي ر ا م ن ہ ن و ال ت ل م ز و ا أ نف س ك م و ال ت ن اب ز وا ب ٱأل ل ق ب ب ئ س ٱل ٱس م ٱل ف س وق ب ع د ٱإل يم ن و م ن ل م ي ت ب ف أ و ل ٮ ك ه م ٱلظ ل م ون Allah commands us to not mock one another, not through words and not through actions. It could very easily be the case that they are better than you.
Line 30 - First Example In general mocking and making fun of people can encompass many sins. You could be backbiting whilst mocking, you could be doing it in front of them etc. There are many ways. You could be taking pride All of this is done normally for a type of entertainment of the.نفس We should be exceptionally careful in taking pleasure in the harm of someone else Making ourselves oppressors The Prophet of Allah used to call those around him, with the nicest of names. Once a new revert called Zaid-Alkhail, which means horse, came to him and the Prophet used to refer to him as Zaid-Alkhair, which means goodness.
Line 30 - Second Example Frightening - This is causing fright and a scare to someone. The Prophet, SAW, prohibited muslims from frightening one another. A simple example is standing behind a door and then jumping out and scaring someone. This is prohibited even as parents with their children
Line 30 - Third Example - This is a Mauritanian word which means to stop someone توكاف with something they have said. It literally translates as to cause someone to stop Example - If there are 3 people, (Adam, Bilal and Ismael). Lets imagine Adam tells Bilal something about Ismael (Adam does ghiba) Bilal goes to Ismael and tells him what Adam said (carrying those tales) Ismael goes back and confronts Adam with the original story (this توكاف last one is called
Line 30 - Third Example Confronting someone with what they have done wrong causes someone to feel: Shameless, as if they have had their veal of modesty ripped away from them That they wish they would have not been caught Anger because their sins have been publicised To rip this veil of modesty away from someone is causing them harm, and so it is prohibited A person who has done a genuine sin, much prefers to figure out what he/she has done by himself. Being exposed in front of people or even just in front of the the person he wronged, is highly shameful. In order to save him from this harm we are not allowed to confront him in a confrontational manner. We have to ensure that we approach them with such an intention so as to improve relations. If the criminal, committed a sin in the conflict, then the oppressed person should have a gentle intention in educating him on this (if it is possible without conflict, and can be done in the right way)
Line 30 - Third Example The Prophetic example: The person who has been oppressed needs to approach the oppressor in such a way as to not mention the crime itself. And with no sign of confrontation. The Prophet, SAW, used to sometimes ask very roundabout questions. What do you think of this crime, or so and so? The way in which the question was asked meant that the oppressor never knew it was him being spoken about Only once the person ad heard the comments, the person would realise that he needs to change his behaviour. His modesty was fully preserved
Line 30 - Third Example This is an incredible, as it is shows that even the oppressor has his rights and modestly protected under the Shariah of Allah. And that there is even justice even for the sinner The Prophet, SAW, used to even be kind to his enemies, and so we should take a lesson from this Someone, when someone receives harm or feels oppressed their harm. wants to cause and return more نفس This is what is called اه ل ي ة.ج Islam, came to wipe out ج اه ل ي ة and so we should be careful and be sincere in preserving the modesty of even those who've genuinely committed crimes.
A Quick Note on Anger There are a many of hadith on anger. Please refer to the separate article for a summary. Anger occurs many times for selfish reasons. We are angry when our نفس does not want/like the outcome of an event eg: clothes are ripped, food is cold, someone is late, somebody does something you do not like Many times when an angry person goes to confront someone his/her anger has no basis. It could be jealousy, to mock, to belittle, the person did not get what he wanted, or out of spite etc. It could be that the angry person feels he/she has some authority over the other person, and is hence habitually gets angry with that person In this case, there is no oppression that has occurred in the first place, and so it is really the case that the person confronting is the one that becomes the first oppressor. This is not.توكاف It is just a pure form of oppression. We should all fear being.ظالم Because all the harm that you can cause someone, will be recorded and will be dealt with on the day of judgement.