Brothers and sisters! There is a hadith that says:
لَا يُؤْمِنُ أَحَدُكُمْ حَتَّى يُحِبَّ لِأَخِيهِ مَا يُحِبُّ لِنَفْسِهِ
“None of you [truly] believes until he loves for his brother that which he loves for himself.” Another hadith tells us:
لا يَبْلُغُ عَبْدٌ حَقِيقَةَ الإِيمَانِ حَتَّى يُحِبَّ لِلنَّاسِ مَا يُحِبُّ لِنَفْسِهِ مِنَ الْخَيْرِ
“The servant does not reach the reality of faith until he loves for the people what he loves for himself of goodness.” There is another hadith related to this topic that says:
مَنْ أَحَبَّ أَنْ يُزَحْزَحَ عَنِ النَّارِ وَيَدْخُلَ الْجَنَّةَ ، فَلْتُدْرِكْهُ مَنِيَّتُهُ وَهُوَ يُؤْمِنُ بِاللَّهِ وَالْيَوْمِ الْآخِرِ ، وَيَأْتِي إِلَى النَّاسِ مَا يُحِبُّ أَنْ يُؤْتَى إِلَيْهِ
“Whoever loves to be delivered from the Hellfire and enter the Paradise should die with faith in Allah and the Last Day, and should treat the people the way he would love to be treated.”
These Prophetic traditions lay down a significant principle for the behavior of people towards each other. As for Muslims, a true Islamic community is built upon love and compassion between its members. This can only arise when barriers to brotherhood are removed. These barriers can come from divisions based on race, ethnicity, color, and economic status. They can also arise from extreme affiliations to different schools of thought or religious groups or madhahib such as the Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi’i, Hanbali, Ja’fari, Ahl ul-Hadith, Salafi, Sufi, or even sects such as Sunnis and Shias. Other barriers that contribute to division between Muslims are diseases of the heart such as arrogance, jealousy, greed, selfishness, hatred, and so on.
We should not hold any hatred for Muslims in our hearts. It’s a very sad thing to imagine that communities become polarized through following different scholars, and even within like-minded communities there are differences and quarreling. When we deal with Muslims in the community, we should deal with them in the best possible manner. One of the ways to do this is to choose the best words in our conversation. Good words minimize disputes and confrontations.
وَقُلْ لِعِبَادِي يَقُولُوا الَّتِي هِيَ أَحْسَنُ إِنَّ الشَّيْطَانَ يَنْزَغُ بَيْنَهُمْ إِنَّ الشَّيْطَانَ كَانَ لِلْإِنْسَانِ عَدُوًّا مُبِينًا
“And say to My servants that they should say what is best. Satan stirs up discord among them. Surely, Satan is an outright enemy to man.” (al-Isra’, 17:53)
وَقُولُوا لِلنَّاسِ حُسْنًا
“And speak kindly to people.” (al-Baqarah, 2:83).
وَقُولُوا قَوْلًا سَدِيدًا
“And say what is right.” (al-Ahzab, 33:70)
A behavior that we should be watchful of is arrogance. Arrogance means having or showing an exaggerated opinion of one’s own importance, merit, and ability, while looking down upon others and looking at oneself as better than others. A hadith tells us:
لاَ يَدْخُلُ الْجَنَّةَ مَنْ كَانَ فِي قَلْبِهِ مِثْقَالُ ذَرَّةٍ مِنْ كِبْرٍ
“No one who has the weight of a seed of arrogance in his heart will enter Paradise.” Isn’t it unfortunate that arrogance is rampant even among the Muslim lands in the form of racism and ethnic pride? As Muslims, we need to be humble.
To be able to live by the hadith that is the topic of today’s khutba, as Muslims, we should not be jealous of other Muslims. A jealous person does not like to see others happy, successful and prosperous. One must realize that being jealous of others is actually being displeased with Allah for his bounties upon that person. Allah in His infinite wisdom bestows upon who He wills what He wills. We have to be able to deal with the situation by being grateful for what He has given us and being patient on what has not been given to us. It is not blameworthy for one to ask Allah to give him what has been given to another person, but it is blameworthy to wish for it to be taken away from that person. According to Prophetic traditions, there are only two cases or two categories of people that could be envied. One tradition says:
لَا حَسَدَ إِلَّا عَلَى اثْنَتَيْنِ رَجُلٌ آتَاهُ اللَّهُ هَذَا الْكِتَابَ فَقَامَ بِهِ آنَاءَ اللَّيْلِ وَآنَاءَ النَّهَارِ وَرَجُلٌ آتَاهُ اللَّهُ مَالًا فَتَصَدَّقَ بِهِ آنَاءَ اللَّيْلِ وَآنَاءَ النَّهَارِ
“There is no envy but in two cases: a man whom Allah has given this Book (the Qur’an) and he stands to recite it by night and day, and a man whom Allah has given wealth and he spends it in charity by night and day.” Another tradition says:
لَا حَسَدَ إِلَّا فِي اثْنَتَيْنِ رَجُلٌ آتَاهُ اللَّهُ مَالًا فَسُلِّطَ عَلَى هَلَكَتِهِ فِي الْحَقِّ وَرَجُلٌ آتَاهُ اللَّهُ الْحِكْمَةَ فَهُوَ يَقْضِي بِهَا وَيُعَلِّمُهَا
“There is no envy but in two cases: a man whom Allah has given wealth and he spends it rightly, and a man whom Allah has given wisdom and he acts according to it and teaches with it.” Scholars say that wisdom refers to knowledge of the Qur’an and the Sunnah.
It is from the blessing of Islam that we have attained whatever good that exists within ourselves. Thus we should wish the same for other Muslims. In fact we should wish for them to be better than us, just as parents love their children and wish their children to be better than themselves. At the same time, we should also be constantly striving for our own self-improvement. It is not enough to merely wish for something which is good for other Muslims while we ourselves are deficient and not striving to be better Muslims ourselves.
One important concept that is emphasized from the teachings of the hadith about cultivating love for fellow Muslims is brotherhood. There are many Muslims in the world today, but unfortunately many of them, if not most, are weak in faith, except those whom Allah has bestowed His mercy upon. Many of these weak Muslims commit sins regularly and violate the principles of Islam. However, it is not appropriate to dissociate ourselves from them. This will be counterproductive. In fact, even people with the minimum level of iman should be regarded as brothers in Islam. If they were to commit sins, we should love for them to leave the sinful acts. We should love them and care for them the way we love ourselves, so that they are guided towards the obedience of Allah (SWT).
One of the ways to do this is by giving nasihah to them. Giving nasihah or sincere advice to the Muslims includes guiding them to what is best for them in this life and the hereafter; teaching them about their religion and other things that they may be ignorant about; helping them in times of need, providing what is beneficial for them, encouraging them with kindness and sincerity to do good and forbidding them from doing evil. When we advise others, we should do it in a good way based on our love for them and not to seek personal interest. When advising others, it is better to clearly mention that we are advising them because we love them and care for them. If an advice is specific to an individual, it should be done in private so as to avoid offending the person.
We also have to be merciful towards other Muslims. Showing mercy and respect to each other is among the many noble teachings of our deen. The Prophet (SAW) said: “He is not one of us who does not show mercy to our young ones and respect to our elderly.” We should also be aware of the Prophetic saying:
مَنْ ضَارَّ ضَارَّ اللَّهُ بِهِ وَمَنْ شَاقَّ شَاقَّ اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ
“Whoever harms others, Allah will harm him. Whoever is harsh with others, Allah will be harsh with him.” In fact we are taught by the Prophet (SAW) even to remove harmful things from the path of the Muslims.
اعْزِلْ الْأَذَى عَنْ طَرِيقِ الْمُسْلِمِينَ
“Remove harmful things from the path of the Muslims.” A hadith tells us:
الْمُسْلِمُ مَنْ سَلِمَ الْمُسْلِمُونَ مِنْ لِسَانِهِ وَيَدِهِ
“The Muslim is one from whose tongue and hands the Muslims are safe.” It is narrated that once a man asked, “O Messenger of Allah, what is Islam?” The Messenger of Allah (SAW) replied:
أَنْ تُسْلِمُ قَلْبَكَ لِلَّهِ وَيَسْلُمُ الْمُسْلِمُونَ مِنْ لِسَانِكَ وَيَدِكَ
“That you surrender your heart to Allah and that the Muslims are safe from your tongue and hand.”
One of the first manifestations of piety after iman is to have kindness, sympathy and mercy towards others. According to a hadith, “He who is deprived of kindness is deprived of good.” There is another hadith that says, “Whoever relieves a believer from one of the hardships of this world, Allah will relieve him from one of the hardships of the Day of Judgment. And whoever eases a difficult circumstance (for the believer), Allah will make it easy for him in this life and the Hereafter; and whoever covers a believer, Allah will cover him in this life and in the Hereafter. Allah is at the assistance of the slave (of His) so long as the slave is at the assistance of his brother…”
أَقُولُ قَوْلِي هَذَا وَأَسْتَغْفِرُ اللَّهَ لِي وَلَكُمْ وَلِسَائِرِ المُسْلِمينَ وَالمُسْلِمَاتْ فَاسْتَغْفِرُوهْ إِنَّهُ هُوَ الْغَفُورُ الرَّحِيمُ
الحمد لله رب العالمين والصلاة والسلام على سيد المرسلين وعلى آله وأصحابه أجمعين
Brothers and sisters! The frequent recitation of Bismillahir-Rahmanir-Rahim before reciting a surah of the Qur’an, or before starting to do something is also a reminder for Muslims to embody the divine values of love, mercy and compassion within themselves. Pious believers have the right attitude. They love doing good to others not for worldly gains or praise, but for the sake of pleasing Allah (SWT). This notion is beautifully reflected in the ayah, which speaks of true believers as saying,
إِنَّمَا نُطْعِمُكُمْ لِوَجْهِ اللَّهِ لَا نُرِيدُ مِنْكُمْ جَزَاءً وَلَا شُكُورًا
“We only feed you for the sake of Allah. We do not desire from you any reward or thanks.” (al-Insan, 76:9-10)
Cultivating love with Muslims also calls for mutual consultation within the Muslim community. Describing some of the characteristics of believers, the Qur’an says,
وَالَّذِينَ اسْتَجَابُوا لِرَبِّهِمْ وَأَقَامُوا الصَّلَاةَ وَأَمْرُهُمْ شُورَى بَيْنَهُمْ وَمِمَّا رَزَقْنَاهُمْ يُنْفِقُونَ
“And those who respond to their Lord, pray regularly, conduct their affairs by mutual consultation, and spend out of what We have provided them.” (ash-Shura, 42:38)
The Islamic way of life requires that the principle of consultation should be used in every collective affair, big or small. If it is a domestic affair, the husband and the wife should act by mutual consultation, and when the children have grown up, they should also be consulted. If it is a matter concerning the whole family, the opinion of every adult member should be solicited. If it concerns a tribe or a fraternity or the population of a city, and it is not possible to consult all the people, the decision should be taken by a local council or committee, which should comprise the trustworthy representatives of the concerned people.
The hadith that is the topic of today’s discussion can be practiced at many different levels and different ways. Through practicing this beautiful hadith, the seeds of love and brotherhood can be implanted within our ummah, while we’ll be protecting ourselves from contempt, pride, suspicion, selfishness, and other evils. When we show someone that we understand them, we bring instant comforting relief and peace to that person. This should be all the more within believers themselves.
May Allah guide us to what is best and grant unity to the Muslim Ummah. May Allah bless each one of us with a desire to love for our brothers and sisters in faith and humanity what we love for ourselves, and may He bless us with physical, mental, and spiritual health and sound hearts.
