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Wednesday 15 June 2011

Announcing Sins - Comment From A Reader

In my last entry a reader writes..

"Assalamualaikum bro

May Allah grant you goodness in this life and the next...

bro i dont know...maybe you are writing this to help others take heed ...since Islam is about naseeha/sincere advice, i wanted to say that it's better to keep your sins to yourself and turn in repentance to Allah.. i dont know maybe im wrong but this is what came to my mind when i read some of your entries especially this one
Abu Huraira reported Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) as saying: All the people of my Ummah would get pardon for their sins except those who publicise them. And (it means) that a servant should do a deed during the night and tell the people in the morning that he has done so and so, whereas Allah has concealed it. And he does a deed during the day and when it is night he tells the people, whereas Allah has concealed it. Zuhair has used the word hijar for publicising.
Sahih Muslim"

Walaikum Salaam Warahmatullah,
I'm glad somebody raised this. Glad because we still have people here that are willing to speak for the good. Glad because our thoughts and actions are reflections of one another. Before I begin, May Allah reward the brother with his good intentions. As that's what they are.

However, there's a small problem. 

"i wanted to say that it's better to keep your sins to yourself"

I haven't in this post nor any other talked about my sins nor have I glorified them in any way.

"i dont know maybe im wrong but this is what came to my mind when i read some of your entries especially this one"

I would be interested to hear 'what these other entries' are. As always, I'm always open minded to discussion and debate. Especially Naseeha anybody has to share. 

Here's my irk. As a more generalised point. We have a become a nation of people that point fingers. And we lack the core qualities of Muslims in this process. A reminder to myself. We point without confirming evidence. More importantly we point without listening.  

Without listening?! Who needs to listen? That's stuff normal people do. We need to get our point in first.

I didn't finish my entry off. To call what I've done a sin, lets be careful when we say things like this. I haven't  finished off what happened. To make that assumption based upon key words such as sex, women, tight dress and curvy is just nonsense. These words are not a sin. The context is not a sin.

Here's the crack. As Muslims we pretend like these things don't happen. Maybe in some people's world, it doesn't. I hate to break it to you, but this is real. And so is the context. Perhaps the next part might bring some more light. 

A super important reminder for us all to keep brotherhood and relationships intact as believers:

Hamdun al-Qassar said, “If a friend among your friends errs, make seventy excuses for them. If your hearts are unable to do this, then know that the shortcoming is in your own selves.” [Imam Bayhaqi, Shu`ab al-Iman, 7.522]

We struggle to make one excuse. +69 more please? 

“A believer is a mirror of the believer.” [Abu Dawud]

What you see in someone is reflection of what is within yourself. Super important. Especially in a marriage. A spouse reflects the qualities of their other half. If there's something wrong, look at yourself.

“None of you believes until they wish for others as they wish for themselves.” [Tirmidhi]

And not forgetting directly from the all wise, the all knowing himself:

“Believers! Leave much doubt, for most doubt is sinful.” [Qur'an, 49.12]

Why? Because we all have assumptions based on people. Even on those people that we may not even know. We may sometimes either:
  1. Look for mistakes.
  2. By default, assume they are sound and free of error. 
Both dangerous. 

If we are looking to find something wrong, we can win this game all day long. Why? Humans are by definition imperfect. Fallible and prone to making many mistakes.

By doing the opposite -In assuming they're perfect, we're opening ourselves up for doubt. We'll be sure to find something that leaves room for doubts. Allah has commanded us above to leave doubts. 

Take the middle path and remember that success alone, is from Allah.

I want to finish off with a reminder for ourselves from Surat At-Tur. In the earlier ayahs Allah (swt) talks about the proofs of qiyamah, describing the day. He continues by giving glad tidings to the believers and he talks of the rewards the believers will have in Jannah. The place of all things happy and full of smiles.
 
From V23 to V27 here's the low down. 

All the dwellers will be handed cups of pure white wine. Cheers everyone! However, it will be very different from what we know. This won't be branded nor will it be made by yukky human beings. This will be from creation of Allah. It won't contain any intoxicants nor will it make the dwellers tipsy, drunk or hungover. This will be a drink of pure pleasure. Yum! There will be servants, lots of them. These guys will be clean in appearance and beautiful like untouched pearls. Perfection.

The believers are going to gather and speak to each other. "Yo, remember the time we did [...] on the dunya" and they will continue talking about those things they did in the life of this world, and within our families. Then they will say that they were afraid of Allah and fearful of his punishment whilst they were here.

فَمَنَّ اللَّهُ عَلَيْنَا وَوَقَـنَا عَذَابَ السَّمُومِ
"So Allah has been gracious to us, and has saved us from the torment of the Fire."

He did us a favour. A favour from his compassion and his mercy. He saved us from what we feared. 

Happy place, is it not? Ah, I can't stop smiling. It makes me smile because that should be our goal insha'Allah but if we want in, we need to start reflecting. Change starts here. Change starts today. And change starts now. Time for us all to start looking within.

Truly, Allah knows best. 

Peace.

15 comments:

  1. Talk about throwing a hissy fit:D Just kidding!

    A general point - not towards anyone - everyone has an opinion and the right to express that opinion based on their perceptions whether they have accurate information or not. The responsibility of choosing whether to express it or not is up to the person alone. Some feel the need to enforce it on others and some don't. With regards to judgements and accusations, unfortunately as humans we all judge and accuse even with the best of intentions- I have done it myself in my lifetime which I'm not proud of. We all have our own minds, we all make our own decisions. I agree with 'we need to start reflecting....to start looking within'. If more people did that then life would be so much better. I was reading a post from another blogger yesterday about the attributes and qualities of Allah (swt) and what it meant to her. 99 names of Allah (swt), compassionate, merciful, forgiving, just....Sometimes we all need a reminder of the qualities we should all strive to have to become better people. Even if someone you have come across in life has made an error in judgement, surely we should be compassionate, merciful, forgiving and just.....Just an opinion.

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  2. SI - Shhhh, I'm just saying what popped into my mind. My intention is not to have have a dig. Just a reminder that popped into my head when I read it at the time.

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  3. Well I'm glad you're not having a dig because imagine how the poor reader feels now....you probably scared him off dude! hahaha :)

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  4. I'll buy him ice cream to prove it..

    Because everybody knows if you have a dig at somebody, you never buy them ice cream!

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  5. mashAllah the closing bit was...priceless. Did anyone else have a close-call with the water-works? Sniff..PS: you've got to see this if you haven't!>>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Uv7mNOaYVE

    You know,you can feel free to sorta expand on the tafsir subjects such as the above,you seem to have a talent,maybe do khutbahs.

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  6. salam bro,

    yeah, i think i agree with you on this. i don't think its wrong to use that kind of language, if the purpose is just to state the facts, not to promote that kind of behavior. i have to admit i was a bit uncomfortable reading that some girl had on a tight dress or whatever, but i think your purpose was not to like say that was good, but simply to state that that's how the world works and that's how people dress. and from the context, i gathered that you didn't want her to dress like that.

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  7. well said dude. Well said.

    To be honest when the guy's like "brother you shouldn't reveal your sins."

    I'm like woooooot? You didn't even say anything yet!

    Does this mean your not going to continue with your story? Cause that would be very cruel to start a good story and leave ppl hanging like that. LOL

    Though her approval is not needed for obvious reasons I; xxcomplicationsxx I totally agree to the post written above by monsieur soul seek.

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  8. Salaam Brother,

    Great post, but also great reminder on revealing sins. I'm inspired to add my own reminder here...let's just call this post "the great halaqa of '11" :D it's really in line with your own post soulseek: the idea of making excuses for your brothers/sisters goes *both ways*....

    I would probably get defensive too if someone called me out on committing a sin by revealing my own sins, but before I jump to the conclusion that the commenter solely wants to point fingers, I hope Allah(swt) gives me the patience and strength (if I come across such a situation) to make excuses for my muslim brother/sister FIRST -- whatever advice/reminder we send to others think of it first as a reminder to ourselves, yes?

    from what I can tell of the commenter, his/her intentions are probably to let you know how your words have come across to him/her and address that concern as a brother/sister. On that end, sure he/she has the right to say, "listen brother soulseek, i'm concerned you're doing something wrong". After all, it's our duty as a muslim ummah to help each other out!
    In this case, If I were in your position, I'd think for a second, "hmm, maybe I should choose my words carefully...after all being all-out raw and uncensored kind of contradicts the principles of hayah and moderation... maybe I'll find other ways to explain how attracted I was to a girl in revealing clothes." Even though this is YOUR blog and YOUR words+opinions, you are still responsible for how your present yourself, right?

    On the other hand, If I were the commenter, I'd want to consider this hadith before calling out soulseek in public:
    Allah’s Messenger (صلي الله عليه وسلم) said: “He, who relieves a hardship of this Dunya (world) for a believer, Allah will relieve (from him) a hardship of the Day of Resurrection; he who makes easy an indebted person, Allah will make it easy for him in the Dunya and the Hereafter; he who covers a Muslim (meaning his mistakes and shortcomings), Allah will cover him in the Dunya and the Hereafter …” [Muslim]

    If I had found something of serious concern as a commenter, I would first email soulseek and discuss it with him privately and shade him from public humiliation if what I assumed was true. Sure I might think that calling him out in public would make an example out of him for other readers, but that breaks brotherhood and makes enemies where there should be none, especially when you call him out based on a misunderstanding. Instead, I'd address him privately and directly with this concern (rather than proceed on assumption) and suggest possible ways to fix any mistakes. That's brotherhood, man.

    In this way we can make excuses for each person before jumping to action...whether by calling out through a comment or a post...and this is a reminder for myself before anyone else inshaAllah.

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  9. woahh i wrote a lot. that's okay :D

    Personally though, I didn't find anything that i've read so far on your blog that seemed to explicitly "reveal sins", however some of your language in describing your experiences are borderline...

    this was creatively written: "However, I had no idea that something so good and positive was about to become one of my biggest tests. It wouldn't *(be) long before man's greatest desire would present itself, at force."

    however, this is enough to make me slightly uncomfortable, "The day Zina walked through my door. Super tight dress. She was dressed to impress. And every single bone in my body was sexually attracted to her."

    personally, I might have left it at "Super tight dress. She was dressed to impress." because it states the facts, she was dressed in a revealing way. but what comes after is like uh, do i really need to know that? couldn't you have just said something like, "I was instantly attracted to her"...that would've been enough i think...

    but still, you haven't said (and inshaAllah won't) that you've committed a sin (since attraction is after all natural and hopefully you're not going to describe something like checking her out from head to toe -- that would be publicizing a sin)...but remember, risque descriptions can often come close to crossing the line.

    k, i think i'm done excruciatingly analyzing everything. carry on solider :D

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  10. Salam Alaikum,

    Hope you find a wife soon brother :)

    http://taaddud.blogspot.com/

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  11. Ahlam - Masha'Allah saw that a while back, this brother is super talented!

    Insha'Allah I would love to but I'm quite busy doing that stuff for my students.

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  12. y - Wsalaam,

    Jazakallah Khair for your input. I will bear that in mind. You reminded me that we all have different thresholds in what is comfortable and what isn't.

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  13. Complications - Sorry it took a while dude but I've been tied up with life. Her approval? Haha It's a brother man!

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  14. Zafra - Wsalaam,

    Firstly, I take your thoughts on things should be presented.

    "after all being all-out raw and uncensored kind of contradicts the principles of hayah and moderation..."

    This, by definition is subjective. The nature of my blog is to deliver entries as I would in person. My audience in person would be brothers. Raw.

    Now it's kind of like using slang terms in front of your parents. Mine would totally be okay with me using words like "sick" to describe something good whereas if my nephew used that in front of his mother she would discipline him for speaking like that.

    Whilst I should have been more sensitive to females reading this, I still believe its strongly subjective.

    Secondly, has one ever complimented you on how much sense you speak? Keep it up home slice!

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  15. Madni - Walaikum Salaam,

    Ameen and a nice pimp out to your blog! ;)

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