Syed Ahmer

 Assalam Alaikum Wa Rahmatullah  Having posted the same content on Facebook, this Google blog, Twitter and WhatsApp, the scribe has learnt that most people follow this content on the other three media, and hardly anyone on Google Blogger. Therefore, from now on the scribe will stop posting on this blog. Those who wish to follow the new content can do so on Facebook  https://www.facebook.com/groups/1827355620834976 Twitter https://twitter.com/SyedAhmerNZ or by joining the WhatsApp group 'ISLAM SAYS' by clicking this link https://chat.whatsapp.com/GC6q8A1ezfcCMlrdKQCiD9 Wassalam and Jazak Allah Khair

  Seek forgiveness from all your acquaintances   The next question is, who to seek forgiveness from? Who remembers how many people’s  Gheebat  we committed throughout our lives when we were completely neglectful about it? Should we draw up a list of all of them and ask all of them for forgiveness? Hadhrat Mufti Muhammad Shafi (may Allah have mercy on him) used to say that Paradise is not cheap. If you really want to go to Paradise then you will have to make some effort for it. Draw up a list of all your acquaintances, all your friends, all your relatives, and then seek forgiveness from all of them.

 

  “Remember Me, then, and I will remember you. And be thankful to Me, and be not ungrateful to Me.” (2:152)   Dhikr  ( ذکر ) literally means "Remembrance" which is a function of the mind, but in so far as words are an indicator of what is going on in a person’s mind, the oral recitation of Allah Ta’ala’s name or a verse of the Holy Qur'an is also described as  Dhikr.  In other words, oral  Dhikr  is really beneficial only when it is accompanied by the "remembrance" of the mind. However, one must bear in mind that even a  Dhikr  with tongue only, without the heart being engaged in it, is not altogether futile. It is related that the great Sufi Abu Uthman, hearing a man complain of such a situation, remarked that one should be grateful to Allah even for this favour of having drawn at least one organ of the body, the tongue, into His service.

  What do other people say about us   The other benefit of doing this is that one finds out what other, unrelated people say about you. People who are someone’s students or disciples always praise him. They do not say anything bad about him. That is why it is important for a person to also hear what people who are unrelated to him say about him, believe about him. This knowledge is also useful. If everyone around a person keeps praising him, sometimes the person develops ‘ Ujub ’ ( عجب ) (believing oneself to be superior to others) in his heart and he starts thinking that “as everyone is praising me so I must be someone special. That is why I have so many followers”.    The treatment of this  Ujub  is to try to learn what people who are not your followers say about you, what they really think about you. This reduces  Ujub . That is why whenever someone came to Hadhrat Thanvi RE to apologize for doing his  Gheebat  he always first asked, “I will forgive you but first tell me what you ha

 

  …Strive, then, to excel each other in good deeds. Wherever you are, Allah will bring you all together. Allah is certainly powerful over everything. (2:148)    The expression "strive to excel" indicates that one should hasten to perform a good deed (whether it be  Salah  (prayers),  Sawm  (fasting), the Hajj (pilgrimage) or  Zakah  (giving of alms), etc.) as soon as one gets the opportunity to do so. It has been said that the thought of a performing a good deed is like a guest. If you honour that guest by acting immediately on that thought, it will keep coming again and again. But if you do not honour that and just ignore it, it may stop coming altogether.

  Learning about one’s own flaws   I heard it from Dr Abdul Hai (may Allah have mercy on him) that Hadhrat Thanvi (may Allah mercy on him) used to say that whenever someone says to me, “I have committed your  Gheebat , please forgive me”, then I always say to him, “I will forgive you but please first tell me what you had said about me.” The person whose  Gheebat  was committed has a right to ask what was said. He used to say that the reason I ask this is that sometimes  Gheebat  is true. It is not necessary that  Gheebat  is always wrong. So, this way sometimes I come to know about my own flaws.

 

  So, if they believe in the same way as you believe, they will have certainly found the right path, and if they turn away, then the fact is that they are in antagonism. Then Allah will suffice you against them, and He is the All-Hearing, the All- Knowing. (2:137)    This verse defines  ‘Iman’  (faith) in a very simple yet very comprehensive way. The immediate addressees of the phrase "you believe" are the Holy Prophet  ﷺ  and his blessed Companions. Thus, in matters of faith, their  Iman  has been placed before us as a model, and the verse is essentially a divine commandment, laying down the fundamental principle that the only  Iman  acceptable to Allah Ta’ala is the one which was adopted by the Holy Prophet  ﷺ  and his blessed Companions, and that any doctrines or beliefs that deviate from it in the least are neither valid nor acceptable to Allah.

  Please forgive me for anything I may have said   When we were growing up, we saw our elders that after they had spent some time with someone, when they were parting they would say something like, “please forgive me if I have said anything that may have hurt you”. It is because when people spend some time with each other it is bound to happen that one person would have said something at some point that would have upset the other. That is why it is best to get all that forgiven before parting. If you don’t, and then after a period of time you realize that you need to ask them to forgive you for something, where would you find them? Who knows whether you will ever meet them again or not, or whether you will get the chance to apologize to them or not? That is why it is important to make a habit of saying something like this at the time of parting from someone you have spent some time with. This will be inclusive of  Gheebat  and  Gheebat  will be automatically forgiven.

 

 4 .       “and make them pure”   The Arabic word  Tazkiyah  denotes purifying a thing or person from all kinds of filth, internal as well as external. The external kinds of filth are easier to understand. The internal varieties include, on the one hand, disbelief in Allah ( Kufr ), and association ( Shirk ), and, on the other hand, pride, vanity ( تکبّر ), malice ( بغض ), jealousy ( حسد ), love of worldly things ( حبّ دنیا ), etc.    Although the evil nature of such beliefs and tendencies has been fully explained in the Holy Qur'an and the Sunnah, yet in making "the purification of the people" a distinct and separate prophetic function the present verse indicates that this purification of inner-self cannot be achieved just by reading about it, it can only be learnt and internalized by practicing it under the supervision of a mentor.

  The gravity of Huqooq al-Ibad   The way of seeking forgiveness for and repenting from the sins which belong to the category of  Huqooq-Ullah  (rights of Allah), such as drinking alcohol or committing adultery, is that a person feels genuine remorse about them, begs for forgiveness from and repents to Allah Ta’ala, and makes a sincere commitment and intention never to commit those sins in the future. Insha’Allah these will be forgiven. On other hand, the rule for  Huqooq al-Ibad  (rights of people) is that they are not forgiven until that person whose rights have been violated, forgives first.  Gheebat  is also included in  Huqooq al-Ibad . So, even if a person begs to Allah Ta’ala with genuine remorse that “I have committed  Gheebat , please forgive me”, the sin of  Gheebat  will not be forgiven till the person whose  Gheebat  he had committed forgives him. That is why Hadhrat Thanvi RE has said that if a person has committed  Gheebat , then in addition to doing  Istighfar  to Allah

 

 3 .       “and the wisdom”   The word ‘ Hikmah ’ (usually translated in English as "wisdom") carries various meanings in Arabic, for example, arriving at the truth, justice, exact knowledge, etc. Various  Sahaba  (companions), who learnt  Deen  directly from the Holy Prophet  ﷺ , have used different words in describing  Hikmah  but the crux of all the different expressions is the same i.e. that the word ‘ Hikmah’  in this context refers to the Way (Sunnah) of the Holy Prophet  ﷺ  and the Hadith. 

  Do not tell him all the details of  Gheebat   Then Hadhrat Thanvi (may Allah have mercy on him) said;   “But telling him all the details of Gheebat will hurt him.”   For example, if we, at the time of apologizing to someone about any  Gheebat  we may have committed about them, start telling them that “on this occasion I had said this and this about you, and on that occasion I had said this, so please forgive me,” it will cause them unnecessary hurt hearing everything you had said about them. Therefore, you do not need to tell them everything you had said. It will be sufficient if you just say, “please forgive me if I have said anything that may have hurt you”. Allah Ta’ala makes things so easy for us. It would have been so much more difficult for us to get  Gheebat forgiven if we had to tell everyone whose  Gheebat  we have committed everything bad we have ever said about them.

 

 2 .       “teach them the Book”   ‘The book’ referred to in this verse is the Holy Qur’an. The question now arises that the Arabs prided themselves on their mastery of Arabic language. Why could they not just read or listen to The Book, like any other book, and understand its meaning? Why was it declared a prophetic function to teach them The Book? The answer is that by distinguishing "the teaching of the Book" from "the reciting of the verses" as a distinct prophetic function, the Holy Qur'an has underlined the fact that in order to understand the Book of Allah properly, it is not enough, even for those who know Arabic very well, merely to listen to a recitation of the verses, but that such an understanding can only be acquired through the teaching of the Holy Prophet  ﷺ .    (This should especially serve as a warning to those people today who do not even know Arabic language and still believe that they can understand the true meaning of the Holy Qur’an just b

  The way of apologizing for Gheebat (backbiting)   Hadhrat Thanvi (may Allah have mercy on him) said;   “If a person has committed someone’s Gheebat, then in addition to doing Istighfar (seeking forgiveness from Allah Ta’ala) he also needs to apologize to the person whose Gheebat he has committed. But telling him the full detail of the Gheebat will hurt his feelings. Therefore, just saying “please forgive me for anything hurtful I may have said”, is sufficient.” (Infas-e-Essa)   In this saying Hadhrat Thanvi RE has taught us how to seek forgiveness from a person whose  Gheebat  we may have committed.  Gheebat  pertains to the area of  Huqooq al-Ibad  (rights of people). In committing  Gheebat  a person violates the rights of another human being and, therefore, these transgressions are not forgiven till the person whose rights have been violated, forgives. If you have hurt someone physically or mentally, or have hurt them in any other way, then doing  Istighfar  and  Taubah  (repentanc

 

  1.       “who should recite to them Your verses,…”   The Arabic word ‘ Yatlu ’ (translated in English as "recite", or "read out") comes from the word  Tilawah , which signifies "to follow, to obey". However, in the terminology of the Qur'an and the Hadith it denotes the recitation or reading of the Holy Qur'an, for one who reads a Divine Book is also required to obey it fully. The word also suggests that it is obligatory to read the Holy Qur'an exactly as it has been revealed by Allah Ta’ala, and not to add or subtract a word on one's own part, not even to change the pronunciation of a word which often may, in the Arabic language, change the very meaning of the word concerned. And that is why we must try to learn to recite it as close as possible to the way the Holy Prophet  ﷺ  recited it, which involves learning the principles of  Tajweed  ( تجوید )..   This also tells us that reciting the words of the Noble Qur’an is in itself a great a

  A beginner should not engage even in permitted  Gheebat   The person who had asked this question had just started on the path to self-improvement and had just started undergoing  Tazkiyah  (purification of inner-self). So, Hadhrat Thanvi RE replied;   “Only a person who has completed his Tazkiyah should ask this question. A beginner on this path should not do Gheebat even in situations where it is permitted.”   It means that a person who has just started on the path to self-improvement, who still has to get his  Nafs  (inner-self) cleaned, should not do  Gheebat  even in situations in which it is allowed to do so. This is what Maulana Yaqoob Nanotvi (may Allah have mercy on him) have explained with an example that if a paper has been folded to one side, if you try to straighten it you will not be able to do it. The way to straighten it is to bend it in the opposite direction for a short while. Then it will become straight. Similarly, people’s  Nafs  is used to committing  Gheebat  in

 

  And, our Lord, raise in their midst a Messenger from among them, who should recite to them Your verses, and teach them the Book and the wisdom, and cleanse them of all impurities. Indeed You, and You alone, are the All-Mighty, the All-Wise.”  (2:129)   This is a prayer of Hadhrat Ibrahim (peace be upon him) the acceptance which was in the form of Hadhrat Muhammad Mustafa ( peace be upon him) being born in his progeny. It describes the main functions for which the Holy Prophet  ﷺ was sent, as has also been reported in other verses of the Noble Qur’an. 

  Revealing other people’s flaws   A person asked Hadhrat Thanvi (may Allah have mercy on him);   “Some people are engaged in committing major sins. Would revealing their flaws and sins be included in Gheebat? My Nafs (inner-self) rationalizes that if their flaws are not revealed to other people they may get deceived by them, and it is necessary to protect Muslims from being deceived.”   So, is it okay to disclose people’s sins if hiding them might mean that other people might get deceived by them? Should we commit such a person’s  Gheebat  or not? 

 

  When his Lord said to him (Hadhrat Ibrahim, peace be upon him), "Submit!" He said, "I submit myself to the Lord of the worlds." And Ibrahim exhorted the same to his sons, and so did Yaqub: "My sons, Allah has certainly chosen for you the Faith. So, let not death overtake you but as Muslims.” (2:131-132)   Hadhrat Ibrahim’s (peace be upon him) reply to Allah Ta’ala’s command to submit makes it clear that the basic principle of the religion of Sayyidna Ibrahim  and its very essence is contained in one word, ‘Islam’, which signifies total obedience and willing submission of oneself to Allah.

  Gheebat  is a voluntary act   Hadhrat Thanvi (may Allah have mercy on him) further said;   “Gheebat is a voluntary act. Its treatment is determination and continuously reminding oneself not to engage in it. If a person engages in it, he should skip one meal. That is helpful in giving it up.” (Infas-e-Essa)   What Hadhrat Thanvi RE is pointing out is that  Gheebat  is a voluntary act. It never happens without a person’s volition. If  Gheebat  was an involuntary act, it would have not been declared  Haraam  (unlawful) by Allah Ta’ala as Allah Ta’ala has said in the Holy Qur’an;   “Allah does not obligate anyone beyond his capacity.” (2:286)    Therefore, it is within a person’s control to stop oneself from committing  Gheebat . However, this does require determination and continuing reminders. A person has to make a conscious decision that from now on I will not commit  Gheebat , I will not say anything that is against Allah Ta’ala’s wishes. He should also keep reminding himself how gr

 

  And say to the people what is good (2:83)   The verse asks us to be soft and gentle when speaking to everyone, regardless of whether they are good or evil, pious or impious, or believers or non-believers. None of us who preach to other people today can be superior to Sayyidna Musa (Moses, peace be upon him),   nor can the man who we preach to be more misguided than the Pharaoh who claimed to be god. And yet the Holy Qur'an tells us that when Allah Ta’ala sent Sayyidna Musa and Sayyidna Harun (Moses and Aaron, peace be upon them) to the Pharaoh, He instructed them to use gentle and soft words (20:42).

  These are Satan’s tricks   All these are Satan’s rationalizations that he puts in human beings’ minds to make them commit bad deeds that if you do these things this way or for this reason, it will be fine.   May Allah Ta’ala save us, on the Day of Judgment when all our deeds will be weighed, and we will see our good deeds being transferred to other people whose rights we have violated, only then we will realize how greatly Satan had tricked us. We would have done a lot of good deeds, prayed Salah, fasted and recited the Holy Qur’an in the month of Ramadan, had the great fortune to perform  Aitakaf , kept waking up at night to pray, and then on the Day of Judgment we will see all of these good deeds being taken out of our account and being transferred to other people’s accounts. All our efforts would have been in vein. There will be no limits to the regret and grief we will feel at that point but it will be useless then. That is why we should not give in to this trick of Satan’s now t

 

  (Remember) when We took a pledge from the children of Isra’il (Israel): “You shall not worship anyone other than Allah; and you shall do good to the parents, and to near of kin, and to orphans and the needy. And say to the people what is good, and be steadfast in Salah (prayer), and pay Zakah” ...” (2:83)    This verse tells us that the following commandments were common to Islam and all the earlier Shariahs:  Tauheed  (the doctrine of Unity or Oneness); service to one's parents, relatives, orphans and the needy; being gentle in speaking to all human beings; Salah, and Zakah.

  Hadhrat Thanvi’s reply to this rationalization   In reply, Hadhrat Thanvi (may Allah have mercy on him) said;   “First, there is no evidence to prove that the thawab (reward for good deeds) received as a result of others doing your Gheebat will be sufficient to atone for this (demerits received as a result of doing other people’s Gheebat). It is possible that the thawab received from others stays with you and specifically your thawab is given to the people whose rights you have violated, and thawab received for others is not sufficient for deliverance. Besides that, there is no evidence for equivalence; it is possible that more thawab is taken from you and you get less thawab from others. Then how will it be sufficient for atonement?”   It means that it is possible that the  thawab  for your Salah, your fasts, your recitation of the Holy Qur’an, will all be taken from you and given to others whose  Gheebat  you have committed, and you get thawab for other people’s good deeds who have

 

  The "humbleness of heart" ( Khushu,  خشوع ) refers to humility arising out of the awareness of Allah's majesty and of one's own insignificance in comparison to it. Ibrahim Nakha’i (may Allah have mercy on him) has said:    "Humbleness of heart does not mean wearing rough clothes, eating coarse food and keeping the head bowed down. Humbleness of heart is to treat the high and the low alike in matters of truth, and to keep the heart free to devote itself entirely to Allah and to the performance of what Allah has made obligatory for you." 

  Rationalization for doing  Gheebat   A person wrote to Hadhrat Thanvi (may Allah have mercy on him);   “My Nafs (inner-self) teaches me this rationalization that people do your Gheebat too. On the Day of Judgment, the reward you get from people who did your Gheebat will be handed over to people whose Gheebat you have done.”   It has been narrated in a Hadith that if a person commits  Gheebat  about someone, then on the Day of Judgement their good deeds will be given to the person whose  Gheebat  they have done. This person wrote that that is why it comes to my mind that people do my  Gheebat  and I also do other people’s  Gheebat . The good deeds of people who do my  Gheebat will be transferred to my account, and my good deeds will be transferred to the accounts of people whose  Gheebat  I have done. These good deeds will neutralize each other so I shouldn’t worry too much about doing  Gheebat .

 

  “Seek help through patience and prayer. It is indeed exacting, but not for those who are humble in their heart” (2:45)   The Arabic word ‘ Sabr’  has a much wider meaning than the usual English translation ‘patience’, and has three connotations;   (a)     Being steadfast in refraining from sins ( صبر عن المعاصیہ ), (b)    being steadfast in obeying Allah Ta’ala’s commandments ( صبر عن الطاعتہ ) , and (c)     remaining steadfast in the face of hardship and adversity ( صبر عن المصیبہ ).

  Hadhrat Thanvi (may Allah Ta’ala have mercy on him) is saying that we have become used to saying whatever comes to our mind without thinking about it. How then do we change this habit? Hadhrat is saying that learning every new skill takes practice, so start practicing. Even after you first decide to start thinking before speak, you will not remember it. But if you keep reminding yourself, you will develop this habit over a period of time. Even if you forget to do so in the beginning, just start doing it when you remember, and just keep reminding yourself to think before you speak. Over a period of time it will become second nature to you, and you won’t have to make as much effort to think before you speak. Then whatever you say will be correct and free of sin. This is the only way to stop oneself from committing   Gheebat , telling lies, or hurting other people’s feelings.

 

  “Do you enjoin righteousness upon others while you ignore your own selves…” (2:44)   This verse condemns all those who preach good deeds to others but do not perform those good deeds themselves, who ask others to have fear of Allah but show no such fear in their own behaviour.    According to a hadith, certain people living in Paradise will find some of their acquaintances in the fire of hell, and ask them, “How is it that you find yourselves in hell, while we have attained Paradise just on account of the good deeds we had learnt from you?” Those in hell will reply: “We used to say all that with our tongues, but never acted upon what we said.”   While not following an obligation of the Shariah is a sin for both an illiterate person and a religious scholar/preacher, the latter’s sin is more severe because he does not even have the excuse of not knowing it being a requirement. The Holy Prophet  ﷺ   has said that on the Day of Judgment, Allah will forgive illiterate and ignorant people

  Think before you speak   Hadhrat Thanvi (may Allah have mercy on him) has taught us the way of using our tongue carefully that before you say anything, judge whether what you are about to say is true or not? Is it going beyond the boundaries set by Shariah? Is there any lie in it? Is there any exaggeration in it? Am I just repeating things I have heard without verifying them?   These days a lot of conflicts and disagreements happen because people make statements without thinking about them. They hear something, then neither remember it correctly, nor try to verify it, and just repeat it. This then leads to major discord within families. So, first reflect on what you have heard. Do you remember accurately what you had heard? And if you want to quote it elsewhere, quote exactly what you had heard, do not add any unsubstantiated details to it. And if you have not been able to verify it, then do not quote it as a statement of fact.

 

  “…and bow down with those who bow down.” (2:43)   This verse tells us that  Salah  should be offered in the company of other Muslims ( Jama’ah ). The blessed Companion Abdullah ibn Mas’ud (may Allah be pleased with him) is reported to have said:    “The man who wishes to meet Allah tomorrow (i.e. the Day of Judgment) as a true Muslim, should offer these (five) prayers regularly and steadfastly in a place where the call for the prayers is habitually made (i.e. a mosque), for Allah has laid down for your Prophet certain ways of good guidance (Sunnan al-Huda), and offering the five prescribed prayers with the Jama’ah is one of them. If you offer these prayers at home keeping away from the Jama'ah, you will have forsaken the Sunnah of your Prophet, and if you forsake the Sunnah of your Prophet, you will go astray. The man who goes to a mosque, for every step that he takes, Allah forgives one of his sins, adds one good deed to his account and promotes him one rank higher…”

  Imam Shafa’i’s (RE) remaining quiet before replying   It has been written about Imam Shafa’i (may Allah have mercy on him) that when someone asked him a question sometimes he remained quiet for a period of time and did not reply immediately. Someone asked, “Hadhrat! It has been so long but you have not said anything.” Imam Shafa’i RE replied;   “I am quiet because I am reflecting on whether it is better for me to stay quiet or speak.”   So, first think about whether what you are going to say is going to be beneficial or harmful for you. If it is going to be beneficial, then say it. Otherwise, stay quiet.

 

  “And be steadfast in Salah (prayer)…” (2:43)    Lexically, the word  ‘Iqamah’  means “making a thing straight or keeping it firmly in its place”. So, the word also signifies "establishing a thing or making it perpetual." Thus, the conjunction of the two words,  Salah  and  Iqamah , in the Holy Qur'an signifies, not merely offering the prayer, but performing the five ordained prayers steadfastly in the prescribed form at the prescribed hours and fulfilling all the necessary conditions (such conditions being, for example, praying in a clean space, wearing clean clothes, having done  wudu  (ablution), etc.

  If you want, you can accumulate a great amount of good deeds for the   Aakhirah   (Hereafter) with your tongue. You can do this by continuing to recite the Holy Qur’an, keep doing   Dhikr , reciting   Tasbeehat , keep saying Allah Ta’ala’s praises, and keep doing   Shukr   (expressing gratefulness to Allah Ta’ala). You can accumulate good deeds by making other people happy because saying words that make one’s Muslim brother happy is also a   Sadaqah   (charity).     On the other hand, if one uses one’s tongue in a wrong way, it can cause great harms as well, as per the Hadith I had recited above that the thing that will make people fall face down in Hell will be the words that come out of their mouth. It is because it is the tongue that lies, the tongue that commits  Gheebat  (backbiting), the tongue which hurts other people’s feelings, the tongue that says inappropriate things, and all of these acts can make people fall face down in Hell.    So, when the benefits of tongue are great

 

  “…and fulfill the covenant with Me, and I shall fulfill your covenant…” (2:40)     This verse tells us that it is obligatory to fulfil the agreement one has entered into, and it is forbidden to break one's promise.  This   injunction has been stated explicitly in another verse;   “Fulfil your agreements." (5:1)    The Holy Prophet  ﷺ  said;   “T hose who break their promises would, before being finally punished in the other world, be humiliated before the whole human race when it assembles together on the Day of Judgment, for a flag would be placed as a stigma beside everyone who has committed this sin, and the bigger the crime, the higher would the flag be.”