al-Salamu `Aleykum and `Eid Mubarak to all,
My wife wanted to give a lecture on morals so she asked if I could help her out, I watched some nice Arabic lecture on the subject and translated some parts of it, enjoy.
In the name of Allah we begin, and we ask him to blow from his soul into this lecture, and to bless all listeners so that the benefits reach us all.
{You have had a good example in God's Messenger for whosoever hopes for God and the Last Day, and remembers God oft.} [33:21]
Our talk will be about the morals(Akhlaq) and manners(Adab) of the master of the creations, the good example, the teacher of all that is good, Muhammad peace be upon him and his family and companions and all those who followed them in their goodness until the promised day.
A questioner will ask: “Why morals? What use is such a talk today, when the people are dying everywhere and the nation is descending further into a deep hole?”
This reality we admit, but the most painful part is that some of us view this degradation and degeneration as a mark of victory and a sign of healthiness.
They view the hatred and the loathing and the killing and the destruction that are taking place in the Muslim nation as a sign of victory for the religion, hoping to bring back the Caliphate and the glory of their ancestors…
Truly, a strange way of thinking! May Allah help us all.
What these individuals do not see, may Allah guide both us and them to a straight path, and may Allah grant them hearing because they’re deaf, and may Allah grant them sight because they’re blind…
What they do not see, and what they do not understand, is that the nation is suffering from a scary thing, a devastating thing, from a calamity.
In earlier times, many of those preachers who came on TV and spoke words of wisdom and gave advice, they used to complain with sadness, that some youth do not pray, or that they do not fast, or that they do not attempt to make the pilgrimage… Well the calamity today is greater than this.
They used to commit some sins, disregard some religious laws, forget some acts of worship… The calamity today though is much bigger as we said, the calamity is that they are renouncing the faith, leaving the religion, disbelieving in Allah and his messengers.
These people who reject God are among us in society, in the nation, and while we do not possess any statistics about their numbers yet we cannot fool ourselves because they’re no longer just a few here n there.
Of course, most of these people hide this secret and do not announce it, WHY?
Because they fear their heads will fly, Because there are some folks out there who have dedicated themselves to kill these disbelievers.
Well, what if we had some form of freedom or liberty in the Islamic world? What would happen then? What would happen is that most if not all of these atheists would declare openly their Kufr. We seek refuge in God from their atheism.
This isn’t just an act of disobedience, this isn’t just about leaving some obligatory or voluntary acts of worship, it is a complete denial of the Godly being. They will mock the prophets and the heavenly laws, didn’t I say this was a calamity?
Atheism is a terrifying thing it truly is. However, we’re not here to talk about atheists today, nor to debate the disbelievers with intellectual and philosophical arguments. We just wanted to begin with it to introduce the following question: What is the reason behind this new phenomenon? What caused this big calamity in our lands?
The ones living in the Arab world will notice that this calamity exploded during the Arab revolutions, this happened simply because the “Arab spring” gave the youth great confidence that they can do whatever they wish without fear of politicians or religious figures.
A more important question is, why didn’t the opposite happen? Why didn’t these revolutions pave the way for the youth to come back to the religion and to embrace it more firmly and strongly?
Before we answer this question we need to address a small matter,
That we shouldn’t take the stance of most of these new atheists seriously, MEANING: They’re not even qualified to utter the words they speak, most of them are youngsters, some of them haven’t even finished high school yet, some are still in university, and some recently graduated.
They’ll tell you: “I no longer believe” You say “Why?” He’ll say “Insufficient evidence, and the Qur’an is self-contradicting, and the religions are causing violence!”
The question is, when did these youngsters even study these matters? When did they establish this with deep academic research?
What is known from the history of the biggest of atheists, those who have valuable scientific and philosophical knowledge, is that men pass through a giant phase when converting from faith to disbelief, a phase called agnosticism. This is when he simply does not know which side to take and the scale doesn’t tip towards one side or the other. Then the man will research both sides of the argument, and either he leaves the religion or his faith might increase greatly.
What is also known is that this phase is long, because to prove that God is nonexistent, one must research deeply for a long time to reach the convincing amount of solid evidence required for such a step.
Evidence must be that of quality and quantity, philosophical evidence, theological evidence, scientific evidence and so on…
Even though we know that some of them may be sincere in their Kufr, yet as we said we cannot take them seriously as they do not rely on the correct evidence for their claims. Science in itself is not a sufficient evidence for an argument against the existence of God, it must always be accompanied by philosophy and so there is no scientific atheism.
And so, if these youngsters are at such an age which does not permit them to claim that they have went through all kinds of aforementioned evidence, then why did they become atheists?
We observe that these young people have abandoned faith NOT because of reasons of knowledge and science and theology, but because of psychological reasons.
Now we answer the question we posed earlier, Why have they decided to leave faith in times of freedom instead of embracing it?
One of the main reasons, is that they’re disbelieving as a reaction to a certain type of religiousness, a type of religiousness that is widespread today, a type mainly based on appearances and rituals and lacking two other important points: Spirituality and morals.
To explain the above, what is meant by appearances, is simply to wear certain types of traditional clothing and to make sure that you look almost exactly the same way our pious ancestors looked. As for ritualistic, what we mean by this is to fulfill the practices that were ordered or recommended by Allah and his Prophet peace be upon him, such as a woman making sure she prays Friday in congregation at a Masjid, or trying to make a Khatm of the Qur’an as many times as possible in Ramadan, or praying all night long and posting that on your facebook which leads to Riya’ may Allah forbid.
If we were to give an example of a city, as we believe that the average Muslim in this world is in a state of constant battle against doubts and desires and evil whispers. The city is composed of four elements, the government which is represented by the fundamental religious practices such as prayer and fasting, the second element is the economy and richness of the city which is presented by the looks and outer appearances, then the third are the walls which are the spirituality, and finally the fourth one is the army which is represented by the morals.
If the Muslim has only acquired the outer appearances and is fulfilling all of his Salat and Siyam and Tahajjud according to Sunnah and so on… Then it is as if this city has a ruler who rules with justice and a good economy, but it has no walls to surround it nor an army to defend it, then it will surely fall to any army who decides to invade it.
If the Muslim on the other hand believes that he has a strong bond of spirituality with God, and he is loved by all those around him, yet he has innovated in his faith and neglected the Sunnah… Then it is as if the army is strong and the walls are high but the city is corrupt and thus it will rot and crumble from inside out and all good deeds will not benefit them for they have forsaken the orders of Allah and neglected the Sunnah.
How else can we explain that some atheists today, were once religious Muslims? Of course their religiousness was a ritualistic one based on appearances and practices, meaning he used to have a beard or she used to wear a Hijab, they’d pray each prayer in its time and memorize parts of the Qur’an if not all of it, yet no deep connection with God or good understanding of faith.
If these people during their days of Islam had attained true spiritual power, if they had built a special personal bond with God, and felt God’s presence around them a couple of times, would they have disbelieved in Allah?
I’ll answer that by Allah the one and only, if a person were to acquire this type of religiousness, instead of settling only for the appearances and rituals, and if he held on to the rope of Allah and felt him if only once, then in this case even if all of humanity except him reject God, he shall be the only steadfast firm believer on earth.
Because his love for God and his deep connection with God will overcome all the philosophical and intellectual and scientific arguments both for and against religion, he won’t even need them in this case.
This is what we need most today, a deep and strong spiritual Islam which offers the Muslim tranquility and comfort.
Let’s clarify one important point here, we’re not against those who establish prayer day and night, nor are we against going to the Masjid and praying the congregation or memorizing the Qur’an, BUT what we’re saying is that one must not stop there thinking that he attained ultimate enlightenment only to later discover that all that he acquired was easily taken away from him when faced with doubts and weakness of faith. The ritualistic Islam, the Islam of the religious appearances is only a starting point for a Muslim and he will be greatly rewarded for it but to become a true believer one must dive deeper into his mind and soul to understand what humanity really is, what is my relationship with God and what is my relationship with his creations.
These people who claim to have been religious and then turn towards atheism had no personal conviction nor were their hearts comforted with faith, which is why the first few atheistic questions were able to shake their entire foundations and cause them to disbelieve.
The lack of spirituality was one part of this calamity, but you mustn’t be surprised if I tell you it is the smaller part, the biggest part of this calamity with no doubt are the lack of morals and the lack of manners.
I feel pity for our youth and for my religion, when these young Muslim boys and girls see the so called religious Muslims, slaughtering people in big numbers, blowing up buildings and cutting off heads, all of which is accompanied by Takbeer, Allahu Akbar and Allahu Akbar all the time! The name of Allah becomes associated with everything violent and troublesome in their subconscious, so what do you except them to do? What will be their reaction to this?
They’ll disbelieve in this religion; they’ll detest it and reject it.
The calamity of atheism has exploded in our society because the Islam of appearances and rituals is itself appearing in a vile immoral way.
The Muslims who adopt the Islam of appearances claim that they wish to guide the people who were not fortunate to have been guided until now, from singers and dancers and politicians and actors and secularists and communists and so on… However, when you talk about their person and mention them by name, you curse them, you insult them, you degrade their honor and mock them etc… How can you claim to be guiding them and calling them to Allah with such bad manners? You accuse them of adultery and want them to listen to you and accept your advice? Can you speak about morals when you have no morals? Can you speak about manners when you’ve got none?
Sadly, the youth are seeing this daily and are straying further and further from the religion. They didn’t have the chance to personally read and study and get to know the truth about the religion from its pure sources. All of this foul speech, this indecency and immorality are being spread all over the media outlets, all of it in the name of the religion yet our most of our youth haven’t had the chance to be introduced to the goodness of Islam and its message.
What is hidden under all this rubble is true Islam, the Islam that everyone must know, the beautiful religion and its blessed messenger who was always smiling, full of mercy, full of compassion.
{We have not sent thee, save as a mercy unto all worlds.} [21:107]
In Rasul-Allah (saw) is an excellent pattern, a good example and we badly need such an example in our lives today, from the preachers and the scholars and the leaders, to learn from them the noble conduct and the good morals, because a human lives for morals, he breathes morals, he is a moral being.
This is why we can’t say the human is a “moral animal”, because this morality is one of the things that set us apart from them. We all know that the distance between the desire of an animal and his willingness is virtually nonexistent. If an animal desires something and finds it readily available in front of him, he will go for it directly (like Kitty). On the other hand, the distance between a human’s desires and his willingness is long, WHY?
Morals, he desires something, he sees it in front of him but he says: “Haram”. No one can see me but still “Haram”, Allah is present and Allah sees me. A marvelous creature is this human and if it weren’t for this no angel would have been ordered to prostrate for him.
So the human desires a thing then the divine law denies him his desire… but it isn’t always the divine law which stops a human from doing what he does, sometimes the norms of society and its habits or what is known as al-`Urf, a matter that the people of a society consider a vice or a flaw, and a lot of times they’re right in condemning certain behaviors and actions, this is why in Islam we pay heed to this as Allah says:
{[O Prophet!] Show forgiveness, enjoin the `Urf(equity), and avoid the ignorant.} [7:199]
And our Prophet (saw) gave a very useful description of Ithm, a word that refers to acts of iniquity or crimes, he said (saw): “Al-Ithm is a matter that emerges in the heart but you would hate for others to know if it.”
It’s either forbidden by Shari`ah or by common decency. So Rasul-Allah (saw) is trying to a great extent to connect what is forbidden by Allah to what is forbidden by society, since human kind often agrees to what they believe is damaging to society or harmful to it.
The human acquires these morals and manners through social normalization, a sociological term referring to social processes through which ideas and actions come to be seen as "normal" and become taken-for-granted or 'natural' in everyday life. Through this the human becomes elevated above all other creatures, he becomes noble, he thinks of others and subdues his own desires and lusts for the greater good.
How then does a human baby become a moral being? Through Taqleed, through imitating and following the example of others, and he gets rewarded for it a lot of times, not necessarily a materialistic reward but sometimes a good word or a show of affection, pushes him forward and makes him more committed to following the good example.
A question arises: “The baby will follow his parents, but the Prophet (saw) is dead, how can we follow his example?”
We answer: Yes, he did die but his spiritual image is still present, his way and his traditions are so well preserved that it is as if he lives among us today, the form of his face, color of his skin, the style of his clothes, the modesty and the good character are in front of every Muslim and every non-Muslim who wishes to analyze his personality and behavior in-depth.
The scholars of Islam today know more about the Prophet (saw) than they know about their neighbors and some of their relatives. He is present in a way that can inspire us and move us in all the right directions because he is “the conqueror of desires” as Alphonse Lamartine described him [Histoire De La Turquie, Paris, 1854, vol. II, pp. 276-277]
What lowers a human’s dignity, and reduces his value more than following his desires? And Muhammad (saw) is the conqueror of desires… as the non-Muslims describe him.
Allah (swt) speaks of his noble messenger’s effort in spreading guidance by saying:
{hadst thou been harsh and hard of heart, they would have scattered from about thee.} [3:159]
What we learn from this is that the divine message would have failed if our Prophet (saw) was harsh and severe, if he had bad manners and a foul tongue. If we are to derive a benefit from the above verse, it would be:
“The greatness of an idea in itself is equal to the greatness of the morals and the character of the one transmitting it or preaching it.”
This is all due to morals and mercy as Allah says in that same verse:
{It was by some mercy of God that thou wast gentle to them} [3:159]
If those who wish to transmit a message are afflicted with bad morals, corrupt conduct and merciless hearts, then they’re bound for disappointment and they’re bound for failure.
We cannot rely only on the strength of the idea and the truth of the message for success, while thinking that our words and actions will have no effect. The Qur’an teaches us this, it’s as if its telling us: “You will not succeed except with Akhlaq.”
Our Prophet (saw) had this and how can he not have it? When Allah describes him as a light:
{O Prophet! Lo! We have sent thee as a witness and a bringer of good tidings and a warner. - And as a summoner unto Allah by His permission, and as a lamp emitting light.} [33:44-45]
He was a comforting light, a guiding light for the people, a heart-warming light of security and mercy.. unlike the opponents like to picture him.
Similarly, a woman might love a man who looks good, his features and physique are attractive, he is loved for his beauty, but once she experiences dealing with him, and hears of his reputation, she will be turned-off and repulsed. None of us disagree that the biggest value is for the beauty of the soul and not the superficial beauty, not a person who is selfish, a cheater, a liar, ugly on the inside but pleasing on the outside.
To not prolong this any further, we will provide three images of the good conduct and the beautiful morals and manners of the beloved Prophet (saw).
What Muhammad (saw) inherited from the previous great men of God, were the following words they said to their people:
{I desire not to do behind your backs that which I ask you not to do. I desire naught save reform so far as I am able.} [11:88]
Meaning when he used to forbid us from a matter, he would not go and do it himself behind our backs, rather he would be the first to commit to what he forbade more than all those around him.
Because when a person calls people to goodness, then he opposes his own words with his actions, he becomes a cheater in their eyes, a hypocrite, and they will never take his words seriously ever again rather they begin to doubt them.
Good words accompanied by good actions, from here we understand why he was so effective in his Da`wah. The closest and nearest companions of Muhammad (saw) were the most loyal and the most faithful to his teachings even after his death, when usually the closest of people to most great men discover many scandals and secrets about their private lives that causes them to lose respect and belief in them although those who see them from afar consider them perfect. Yet Muhammad’s (saw) companions were an exception.
Many great personalities and leaders attempt to appear in a certain image in front of their subjects and followers, but in their private lives they have a totally different face. As for Muhammad (saw) the closer you get to him the more you respect him and love him.
I say to all those today who have doubts regarding the messenger of Allah, who’re unsure about him as a person, you have been fooled, you’ve been fooled by weak unreliable narrations, by Ahadith quoted out of context, and you’ve been fooled twice as much by some uneducated extremists who claim to represent him and his generation.
A group of companions were aware, so they wished to know the “other-face” of Rasul-Allah, his “little secrets”, so they went to his wife Umm Salamah (ra) to ask her about his hidden secret life, guess what she replied, she told them: “Peace be upon him, what he hides and what he announces are one and the same.”
This is the truth SubhanAllah, and his wife knows most about this. He didn’t have an image in front of the camera and an image back-stage, an image on the pulpit and an image between the people, no double standards and no split personality.
This is our example, not those terrorists and Takfeeris who hate humanity and hate themselves, those people they need someone to guide them, they’re not Kouffar but they definitely are misguided oppressors who do not know Muhammad (saw) a true knowledge.
***The good morals start from home, and not only with the other people to show-off and appear as saintly in front of society, the Prophet (saw) said: “The best of you are those who treat their family as best as they could, and I am the best of you in treating my family.”
When he would see his wife washing a dish he would say: “Allow me to wash it for you” or “Leave this to me.” And he would place his knee for his wife Safiyyah so she may step on it to ride her camel, and he was so loyal to his family and so respectable and merciful towards them, that even after his wife’s death, he would have some animals slaughtered and send them to the houses of her close ones and loved ones.
Not just his family, his servants as well, Anas ibn Malik served Rasul-Allah (saw) for 10 years and he was a kid at the time, he tells us of how he (saw) treated him: “He never said: ‘Uff!’ to me at all, and when I did something, he never told me: ‘Why did you do this!?’ and when I forgot something he never told me: ‘Why haven’t you done it!?’”
A truly marvelous man, let any father or mother ask themselves today, could they ever treat their children, from their own flesh and blood, could they treat them the same way Rasul-Allah (saw) treated his young servant? I say: Impossible.
The final example and the examples are many, you can look them up in their original sources, is that he would treat the complete strangers, with respect and dignity and mercy. When he sent Mu`adh ibn Jabal to Yemen as governor, and he never saw him after that, Mu`adh would narrate: “The last order I received from Rasul-Allah (saw), when I was about to mount my horse, he told me: “O Mu`adh, Make your character excellent for the people.”
Of course the Prophet (saw) told him more than this as you can read in other narrations, but why did he make this his final advice to him?
It’s a psychological reason, it’s simply because this way he shall never forget it, he may forget a word or two that he heard from him throughout his life as a companion but it is nearly impossible for him to forget the last words he heard from his beloved.
Notice how he said “For the people” and not “For the Muslims”, this is because Allah told us to be of good moral character when dealing with all of his creations, He (swt) says:
{and speak kindly to mankind} [2:83]
`A’ishah narrated that Rasul-Allah (saw) said: “The most complete of people in his faith, is the most perfect in his Akhlaq.” Then without a doubt this would surely be his last advice for the man, as he (saw) is trying to establish a connection between faith and morals, between Iman and Akhlaq.
Do you know what this means? It means by default that those who have no Akhlaq cannot have strong faith, so when you see the person boasting about his Qiyam-ul-Layl, and boasting about his Hifdh-ul-Qur’an, yet you see his bad behavior, then know for a fact that his Qiyam and Hifdh have not benefitted him, he only wasted his time and effort memorizing and his level in Jannah shall not be what he assumes it to be.
I add, that the text didn’t say “The best of you in morals is the best of you in faith” rather it said: “The best of you in faith are the best of you in morals” this is because some Christians or agnostics may have good morals, doesn’t necessarily make them believers, rather the more strong and deeply rooted your faith is, the more your morals shall be elevated.
As for Rasul-Allah (saw), we end by saying that he is truly a prophet of God, created from the mercy and the grace of God, a good example and an excellent pattern for believers, and what we mentioned was only a sample, so let’s return to the numerous books and the countless volumes that are filled with the beauty of humanity, filled with the stories of Rasul-Allah (saw) and his pious companions.
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June 13, 2015, 06:08:32 PM