Articles

Punishment for backbiting

Posted on by westernmuslimuk

Backbiting is something that is so commonplace these days. Whether it is talking about the actions of our friends or the faults of our family members, it is something that people do without hesitation. This is not something to take lightly. In fact, Allah (SWT) has described this act is in the Quran in very graphic detail:

Surah 49 Verse 12: And do not spy or backbite each other. Would one of you like to eat the flesh of his dead brother?

Definition:

Talking about a person in a manner, which he/she would not like – even if it is true.

Hadith: Abu Hurairah (RA) narrated that the Prophet (SAW) said: “Backbiting means talking about your brother in a manner which he does not like. It was said to him: What is your opinion if the fault I mentioned about my brother was true? He (SAW) said: If what you said about him was true, then you have in fact backbitten him, and if that fault found is not to be true, then it is slander.” Hadith Reference: Sahih Muslim, Book 45, Number 91.

Potential Causes:

Desire to “fit in with the crowd”

When a group of people are backbiting about a particular person, people tend to join in instead of prohibiting this act. If this situation ever arises, remember the following verse from the Quran:

Surah 43 Verse 67: Close friends, that Day, will be enemies to each other, except for the righteous

Desire to laugh at someones expense

A backbiter might enjoy mocking a person behind their back, however they have committed a grave sin.

Hadith: Abu Hurairah (RA) narrated that the Prophet (SAW) said: “A Muslim is the brother of a Muslim. He neither oppresses him nor humiliates him nor looks down upon him.” Hadith Reference: Sahih Muslim, Book 45, Number 40.

Desire to “listen in” but not participate

A common misconception is that it is only the person that is backbiting that is committing a sin.

Hadith: “Whoever is present while a Muslim is humiliated before him, and is able to assist him [and yet does not], Allah will humiliate him before [all of] creation.” Hadith Reference: Ahmad in al-Musnad, 3/487 and Suyuti in Al-Jami` As-Saghir, 2/510, #8375.

If we hear backbiting occurring, we should always try to stop it. In fact, Allah (SWT) mentions how good this act is in the Quran:

Surah 23 Verses 1-5: “Certainly will the believers have succeeded: They who are during their prayer humbly submissive And they who turn away from ill speech And they who are observant of Zakat And they who guard their private parts.” 

Potential Punishments:

Here a few reasons to stop backbiting altogether.

Displeasing Allah

Allah (SWT) mentions the following verse in the Quran:

Surah 104 Verse 1: Woe to every slanderer and backbiter

This verse illustrates that it is not mankind that are cursing the backbiter, nor the angels, but Allah (SWT) directly!

Punishment in the Grave

Scratching ones face with nails of copper in the grave.

Hadith: Anas ibn Malik (RA) narrated that the Prophet (SAW) said: “When I was taken up to heaven I passed by people who had nails of copper and were scratching their faces and their breasts. I said: Who are these people, Jibrail (AS)? He replied: They are those who were given to back biting and who aspersed people’s honour.” Hadith Reference: Abu Dawud, Book 36, Number 4860.

Losing Good Deeds

On the Day of Resurrection, the person who has been backbiting may have to pay for this sin with their good deeds.

Hadith: Abu Hurairah (RA) narrated that the Prophet (SAW) said: “Do you know who is poor? They (the Companions of the Holy Prophet SAW) said: A poor man amongst us is one who has neither dirham with him nor wealth. He (the Holy Prophet SAW) said: The poor of my Ummah would be he who would come on the Day of Resurrecton with prayers and fasts and Zakat but (he would find himself bankrupt on that day as he would have exhausted his funds of virtues) since he hurled abuses upon others, brought calumny against others and unlawfully consumed the wealth of others and shed the blood of others and beat others, and his virtues would be credited to the account of one (who suffered at his hand). And if his good deeds fall short to clear the account, then his sins would be entered in (his account) and he would be thrown in the Hell-Fire.” Hadith Reference: Sahih Muslim, Book 45, Number 77 (Alternative Reference: Sahih Muslim, Number 2581 or Book 32, Number 6251).

Backbiting
Backbiting

Sincere Repentance:

When seeking forgiveness from backbiting, four conditions must be met.

1.) Stop committing the sin

2.) Sincerely regret committing the sin

3.) Make practical effort to prevent committing the sin again

4.) If the sin involves another person, seek their pardon and forgiveness

Hadith: Abu Hurairah (RA) narrated that the Prophet (SAW) said: “Whoever has wronged his brother, should ask for his pardon (before his death), as (in the Hereafter) there will be neither a Dinar nor a Dirham. (He should secure pardon in this life) before some of his good deeds are taken and paid to his brother, or, if he has done no good deeds, some of the bad deeds of his brother are taken to be loaded on him (in the Hereafter).” Hadith Reference: Sahih Bukhari, Volume 8, Book 76, Number 541.

The scholars have said that an alternative to number four is that you make dua for the backbitten person and return to the same gathering where the backbiting took place and speak highly about the backbitten person. This is further explained in the below lecture by Majed Mahmoud. 

Final Points:

Satan loves Backbiting

Remind yourself that you can lose your good deeds from backbiting and that it will please Satan, whilst displeasing Allah (SWT).

Surah 17 Verse 53: And tell My servants to say that which is best. Indeed, Satan induces [disagreements] among them. Indeed Satan is ever, to mankind, a clear enemy.

Humble Yourself

Instead of discussing the faults of others, why don’t you look internally and ask yourself questions such as: “Have I recited the Quran today?” “Have I read any voluntary prayers today?” “Have I repented to Allah (SWT) today?”

Angels are Documenting

Always remember that the angels on your left and right shoulder and writing everything that you say and do.

Surah 82 Verses 10-12: And indeed, over you are keepers, Noble and recording; They know whatever you do.

Reward for avoiding Backbiting

Hadith: Abu Musa (RA) narrated that the Prophet (SAW) said: “Some people asked Allah’s Apostle, “Whose Islam is the best? i.e. (Who is a very good Muslim)?” He replied, “One who avoids harming the Muslims with his tongue and hands.” Hadith Reference: Sahih Bukhari, Volume 1, Book 2, Number 10.

Hadith: Sahl bin Sa’d (RA) narrated that the Prophet (SAW) said: “Allah’s Apostle said, “Whoever can guarantee (the chastity of) what is between his two jaw-bones and what is between his two legs (i.e. his tongue and his private parts), I guarantee Paradise for him.” Hadith Reference: Sahih Bukhari, Volume 8, Book 76, Number 481.

Why should we help others?

Posted on by westernmuslimuk

As much as we like to admit it or not, there comes a time in our lives when we are faced with a dilemma; should we help out someone that we do not like or not?  We could ask ourselves, “does he deserve my help after what he did to me?”, “I don’t like her anymore so why should I bother?”, “they humiliated me in front of my friends, so I have no reason to help” etc etc.

We at Western Muslim UK feel that the Muslim Ummah truly need to learn how to swallow their pride and truly embrace the act of forgiveness, as well as helping one another out.  Let us tackle these three areas one by one.

Unity
Unity

Pride:

It is very clearly stated by Prophet Muhammad (SAW) that: “Never can the person who possesses a speck of kibr (pride) inside his/her heart enter Janat.”  Why should we act superior or arrogant against one another, when it may risk us being purified in the Hell fire?  This World is all but an illusion and feeling arrogant because we aced an exam or have a new Parker pen, is really not worth it in the grand scheme of things.

Also, the origins of pride come from a place of feeling as if we are better than someone else.  Firstly, this quality is not something that Prophet Muhammad (SAW) encouraged, as he saw everyone as equal and secondly, it is not a quality that Allah (SWT) likes.  In fact, Imam Ja’fer As-Sadiq (A.S) is reported to have said: “Whenever he/she has kibr (is proud), an angel says – ‘Be humble, lest Allah (SWT) should disgrace you’.” Ask yourself, is feeling arrogant because we went to a good school or University really worth the wrath of Allah (SWT)?

The most effective cure to remove kibr is to remember death as often as possible.

Forgiveness:

One of the best qualities that a person can have in the eyes of Allah (SWT) is forgiveness.

There are countless verses from the Quran that we can quote about how beneficial forgiving one another is (e.g. Surah 5 Verse 13, Surah 3 Verse 134, Surah 41 Verses 34-35 etc), however we feel that a story from Prophet Muhammad (SAW) really illustrates this point.

One day Prophet Muhammad (SAW) was gathered with his Sahabah and said that “a man of Paradise is coming.” The man that appeared seemed very ordinary. One of the Sahabi was very curious to know what was so special about this man, so went to stay with him for three days.  After this time, the Sahabi could not work out what was so special about this man and asked him directly.  The man pondered for a while and said: “There might be one thing — before going to sleep every night I forgive everyone and sleep with a clean heart.”

For more information on this story and for strategies on how to get Allah’s (SWT) forgiveness, watch the video below:

Togetherness:

We feel that Surah Al-Asr defines this concept perfectly! We could write a whole article on the teachings of Surah Al-Asr alone, but in summary it talks about how time is running out and how we should use our time wisely in order to do everything that we can to ensure we get into Paradise InshAllah.  Ask yourself, “are you really utilising every hour in the day to learn more about the Deen, or are you wasting time on the new Grand Theft Auto game?”

Surah Al-Asr talks about four key attributes, that all need to be encompassed together:

1. Believe in Allah (SWT)

2. Do good things

3. Encourage others to do good things

4. Be patient

It is number three that we wanted to focus on, as it is very easy for us to be self centered, however Islam teaches us to help one another, as ultimately we are all tied together.  So do not let someone suffer alone without helping them, for example with exam revision, as you never know, you could be the one in need of help next!

The above concept is perfectly summarised in the Nouman Ali video below:

Finally, we have come across a lot of people who exhibit qualities, which demonstrate the polar opposite of togetherness; that of being envious/jealous of our brothers and sisters.  For example, hating someone for being popular or for getting a promotion at work.  This is strictly not allowed.  In fact, The Prophet (SAW) warned against the ill consequences of envy upon the envier, saying: “Beware of envy, for indeed envy consumes one’s good deeds like fire consumes wood.” [Sunan Abî Dâwûd]

Conclusion:

We at Western Muslim UK feel that the Muslim community really do need to remove the negative character traits from ourselves (such as jealousy, pride, hatred etc) and replace it with positive character traits (such as patience, forgiveness, unity etc) and hopefully this will help us on our journey of attaining Paradise InshAllah.

We would like to close with a verse from Anas ibn Malik (RA), where he explains that Prophet Muhammad (SAW) said that: “None of you truly believes until he loves for his brother what he loves for himself” [Sahîh al-Bukhârî and Sahîh Muslim]. A hard place to get to, granted, but one which is so beneficial.

What will people think of me?

Posted on by westernmuslimuk

We were having an interesting discussion at Western Muslim UK on what people think about us.  This is something that we are sure has crossed everyone’s minds at one point or another. For example: What will X person think of me if I talk to her, what will Y person think if I don’t agree with him, what will Z person think if I take that job?

However, have you ever tried changing your perspective to: “What will Allah Thallah think of me if I do XYZ?”

We feel that it is a useful exercise for all Western Muslims to try this.  Stop worrying about what your friends, families, co-workers etc think of you and start thinking about how your actions will help you in achieving the ultimate goal, which is undeniably Jannat-Ul-Firdous, InshAllah.

What will people think of me?
What will people think of me?

This simple change in perspective has countless benefits for this World and the hereafter.  For example:

  1. No stress or worrying about what other people think of your actions/decisions
  2. Increased confidence
  3. Higher productivity; with less time contemplating about other people’s opinions, you’ll have more time to invest into the things you enjoy
  4. No doubting yourself
  5. Removal of negative energy
  6. Increased chance of obtaining Paradise InshAllah

If you really can’t help but reflect upon what others think of you, put it into perspective. So what if that is what they think, why are you making their opinion of you more important than your own opinion of yourself? Don’t dwell on it.  Chances are, it is all in your head anyway and they are not even thinking half of the things that your mind is telling you they are.

In conclusion, we at Western Muslim UK feel that you should not worry about what others think of you, you should be more confident within yourself and SMILE! 🙂