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An-Naseehah
Shaykh Alee bin Abdur Rahman Al Hudhayfee [(Rajab 22, 1424 (September
19, 2003)]
All praise is due to Allaah, Lord of all the
worlds. Peace and blessings of Allaah be upon the Messenger, his household and
companions.
Fellow Muslims! The best admonition for the hearts is verses from the Book of
Allaah and sayings of the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him. Allaah says,
“He it is Who sent among the unlettered ones a Messenger
(Muhammad (peace be upon him)) from among themselves, reciting to them His
Verses, purifying them (from the filth of disbelief and polytheism), and
teaching them the Book (this Qur’aan, Islaamic laws and Islaamic jurisprudence)
and Al-Hikmah (As-Sunnah: legal ways, orders, acts of worship of Prophet
Muhammad (peace be upon him)) And verily, they had been before in manifest
error.”
(Al-Jumu‘ah 62:2)
Brethren in faith! Listen to some words from the Messenger of Allaah, open your
hearts to them and reflect over them. These words summarises the religion of
Islaam and encompasses the blessings of this world and the Hereafter. They also
warn against all evil things. The Messenger of Allaah was gifted in making short
comprehensive statements that entail many great and useful meanings. A single
statement from him can sum up all the teachings of Islaam, like his saying:
“Al-Ihsaan means to worship Allaah as if you are seeing him.” And his saying:
“Virtue is what the mind and the heart are comfortable with. And the vice is
something that rankles in the soul, causes hesitations in the heart and you
disapprove that people should come to know of it.” (Ahmad and Muslim)
Among the comprehensive statements of the Messenger of Allaah is his saying:
“Religion is sincerity, religion is sincerity.” The companions said, “To whom, O
Messenger of Allaah?” He said, “To Allaah, His Book, His Messenger, the
generality of the Muslims and their leaders.” (Reported by Muslim)
This above statement restricts the meaning of Islaam to sincerity, which means
whoever is sincere has performed all aspects of the religion and that whoever is
deprived of sincerity will miss in his religion an amount that equals what he
misses in sincerity.
Sincerity is one of the qualities of the Messengers, the Prophets and the
believers. Betrayal and evil intentions are qualities of the disbelievers and
the hypocrites. Allaah says about Prophet Nooh that he told his people,
“I convey unto you the Messages of my Lord and give
sincere advice to you. And I know from Allaah what you know not.”
(Al-A‘raaf 7:62)
Allaah tells us that Prophet Hood told his people,
“I convey unto you the Messages of my Lord, and I am a
trustworthy adviser (or well-wisher) for you.”
(Al-A‘raaf 7:68)
And He informs us that Prophet Saalih told his people,
“O my people! I have indeed conveyed to you the Message of
my Lord, and have given you good advice but you like not good advisers.”
(Al-A‘raaf 7:79)
And about Prophet Shu‘aib He tells us,
“Then he (Shu'aib) turned from them and said: "O my
people! I have indeed conveyed my Lord's Messages unto you and I have given you
good advice. Then how can I sorrow for the disbelieving people's (destruction)?”
(Al-A‘raaf 7:93)
Allaah also says,
“There is no blame on those who are weak or ill or who
find no resources to spend (in holy fighting (Jihaad)) if they are sincere and
true (in duty) to Allaah and His Messenger. No ground (of complaint) can there
be against the good-doers. And Allaah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.”
(At-Tawbah 9:91)
Jareer bin ‘Abdullaah narrated that he took an allegiance with the Messenger of
Allaah that I would observe the prayers, give the Zakaah and give sincere advice
to all Muslims.” (Muslim)
Aboo Hurayrah narrated that the Messenger of Allaah said, “The rights of a
Muslim upon his fellow Muslim are six: When you meet him greet him, when he
calls you respond to his call, when he seeks for your advice give him sincere
advice, when he sneezes and he praises Allaah, invoke Allaah’s mercy on him (by
saying: Yar’hamukallaah), when he gets sick visit him and when he dies follow
his funeral procession to the burial place.” (Muslim)
The Prophet also said, “There are three things about which the heart of no
Muslim should harbour any rancour or hatred: worshipping Allaah with all
sincerity, being sincere with the Muslim rulers and staying with the general
community of the Muslims.” (Ahmad and Ibn Hibbaan)
This means that the above-mentioned three qualities reform the hearts and clean
them from betrayal, cheating and filthy things. The righteous persons among the
Muslims are the ones who are sincere to Allaah, His Messenger, His Books and to
the generality of the Muslims and their rulers.
Aboo Bakr Al-Muzanee said, “Aboo Bakr (may Allaah be pleased with him) did not
excel other companions of the Messenger of Allaah with any fasting or prayers.
He only excelled them with something that was in his heart: his love for Allaah
and his sincerity to His creatures.”
Al-Fudayl bin ‘Iyaad said, “Those among us who attained excellence did not
attain it through much prayers and fasting but through magnanimous hearts, clean
minds and sincerity to the Muslims.”
Ma‘mar said, “The most sincere person to you is the one who fears Allaah in his
dealings with you.”
The meaning of being sincere to Allaah is to worship Him alone without
associating any partner to Him, to worship Him in accordance with the guidance
of His Prophet, to worship Him in total humility and love and not to ascribe any
partners to Him in all acts of worship like slaughtering, vowing and seeking for
help, protection and aid. Allaah alone should be relied on. He alone should be
sought and feared. Allaah says,
“Worship Allaah and join none with Him in worship.”
(An-Nisaa 4:36)
Allaah also says,
“And the mosques are for Allaah (Alone); so invoke not
anyone along with Allaah.”
(Al-Jinn 72:18)
Sincerity to Allaah means belief in His Attributes with which He described
Himself or with which His Messenger described Him, and to affirm all these
Attributes for Him without likening them to attributes of any of His creatures.
He should also be deemed far above all attributes that are not befitting to Him
while refraining from denying the meanings of His Attributes. Allaah says,
“Surely, His is the Creation and Commandment.”
(Al-A‘raaf 7:54)
Any Muslims who seeks nearness to Allaah by performing obligatory and
supererogatory acts of worship and keeping away from forbidden things is sincere
to his Creator.
The Messenger of Allaah said, “Allaah says: ‘Sincerity is the dearest to Me of
all acts of worship.’” (Ahmad)
Among acts of sincerity to Allaah is to love all the sayings and deeds that
Allaah loves and to hate all that Allaah hates.
Some scholars said, “The summary of the meaning of sincerity is to be sincere to
Allaah by doing only the things that Allaah loves like carrying out His
commandments and refraining from things that He has forbidden. That is the
obligatory aspect of sincerity. As for the voluntary aspect of sincerity to Him,
it is to give preference to what Allaah loves over what one loves.”
Being sincere with the Book of Allaah means to strongly love and honour it, to
exert all efforts in understanding its meaning, to reflect over it, to endeavour
to memorise it as much as one can, to constantly recite it, to implement its
teachings, to consult it for legal decision and to call people to its study and
teaching.”
Being sincere to the Messenger of Allaah means to obey him in all that he
commanded, to abstain from the things that he forbidden, to believe in all the
information he has brought, to worship Allaah only through the ways he ordained,
to support, learn and study his Sunnah, to hate those who hate his Sunnah, to
emulate him in all matters and to love him more than one’s self, property and
family. Sincerity to the Messenger of Allaah also entails that the scholars
refute false allegations that are made against the Qur’aan and the Sunnah and to
defend them.
Sincerity to the Muslim rulers means supplicating for their uprightness, loving
their being righteous and just, loving the Muslims’ unity behind them, loving to
spread their good deeds, hating to talk about their misdeeds, obeying them if
that does not lead to disobeying Allaah, refusing the revolt against them and
hating those who support revolt against them. It also entails abstaining from
cursing them, giving them sincere advice that can benefit the Muslims in their
worldly and religious affairs and doing so in gentle and wise manner.
As for sincerity to the generality of the Muslims, it means to love them as one
would love oneself, to treat the young among them with compassion and the old
with respect, to help them on the truth, to teach them, to promote virtues among
them, to discourage them from vices and to protect them against harm and
dangers.
Among the dangers that threaten the Ummah are the acts of terrorism and
destruction that took place recently in which the lives and properties of
innocent people were violated. These attacks that threatened the security and
stability of this nation are a product of the perverted ideology that the
Prophet strongly rebuked.
Therefore, it is a manifestation of being sincere to the Muslims to work towards
uprooting this vicious ideology, to warn the Muslims from adopting it and to
report whoever attempts to carry out destructive activities to the concerned
authorities in order to protect people’s lives and properties. Under no
condition should such wicked individuals be provided sanctuary. Allaah says,
“O you who believe! Answer Allaah (by obeying Him) and
(His) Messenger when he (peace be upon him) calls you to that which will give
you life, and know that Allaah comes in between a person and his heart (i.e. He
prevents an evil person to decide anything). And verily to Him you shall (all)
be gathered.”
(Al-Anfaal 8:24)
Fellow Muslims! Hold fast unto the admonition of the Messenger of Allaah that
says, “Fear Allaah wherever you are. Follow up the bad deed with a good one it
will erase it. Treat people with kindness.” This is because every good deed has
a reward and every bad deed has a consequence. Your Lord sees what each of His
creatures does and He will reward all for what they did. Allaah says in a qudsee
hadeeth, “It is your deeds that I accurately count for you and I will then give
you recompense for them. Let him who finds good recompense thank Allaah and let
him who finds otherwise blame only himself.”
Every one is going to receive the record of his deed with either his right hand
or left hand. Allaah says,
“And We have fastened every man's deeds to his neck, and
on the Day of Resurrection, We shall bring out for him a book which he will find
wide open.”
(Al-Israa 17:13)
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