'Let it be known that Allah's people always do good deeds' (qasida 62:11)

This is the motto of this section, which is for talking about the the people of Allah who are the people who are constantly preoccupied with Allah

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Backbiting

The Prophet [PPBUH] said: (Backbiters do not enter the Paradise). Allah revealed to Moses [PBUH] [Whoever dies repenting from backbiting will be the last one to enter the Paradise, and whoever dies without repenting from backbiting will be the first one to enter the Hell].  The Prophet [PPBUH] said: (In the Day of Judgement, Allah will help those who hold there tongues from talking about people’s honour).  Abu Umar said: “Backbiting is the fruit of the poor, the hospitality of the evil, the gardens of the kings, the pasture of women, the garbage dump of the religious people, the moistened food of the human dogs”. in another narration “the dogs of hell”. 

The Prophet [PPBUH] said: (In my night travel - Esra' - I saw some people tearing their faces with their nails which were made of copper. I asked Gabriel about them. He told me that these were the backbiters). 

Backbiting is to say about your brother something he hates, even if it is true and even if it is in your heart. And yes, backbiting of a non-Muslim is forbidden as well. The Prophet [PPBUH] said: (whoever spreads a word about someone innocent to falsely defame him in the worldly life, will be thrown in the hell).  In the interpretation of [And whoso commit’s a fault or a sin, then imputes it to an innocent person, certainly bears the burden of a calumny and a manifest sin] an-Nisa' 4: 112, al-Razy said that a fault is small, but the sin is big. The fault is committed to one’s own self, and the sin is committed against others, such as injustice or murder. The fault is what should not be done and it is committed either unintentionally or on purpose, but the sin is always committed on purpose. Whoever does that bears a degrade in the worldly life and a great sin in the hereafter, so he would be dispraised in the worldly life and punished in the hereafter. Backbiting is prohibited whether it is by means of a word or a signal. The rule is whatever you use to indicate to others a defect in a Muslim is a backbiting. 

It is also prohibited to listen to backbiting. One has either to deny it if he can or leave the meeting.  If one can not do any of these, he should be busy with Dhikr, then it would not hurt him to listen or not to. The Prophet [PPBUH] said (Whoever defends his brother’s honour, Allah will protect his face from the hell in the hereafter).  In another Hadith; He [PPBUH] said: (Whoever defends his brother’s honour in the worldly life, Allah will send him an angel in the hereafter to protect him from the hell).  He [PPBUH] also said (Whoever defends his brother, when he hears him being backbitten, Allah will support him in the worldly life and the hereafter. And whoever does not defend his brother, while he hears him being backbitten, Allah will humiliate him in the worldly life and the hereafter). 

Backbiting is allowed in six cases:

First: in complaining to whoever is capable or authorized to get his rights. He would say: that person did me wrong in so and so.

Second: to change an evil, which means to tell someone who you think is capable of changing an evil that someone has done so and so, with the intention to change the evil or else it would be forbidden. 

Third: when asking for a fatwa [religious advice] but without specifying names. 

Fourth: warning or advice, for example, in the case you see someone taking knowledge from a bad or unfit person, then you would tell the student about exactly what you know of the teacher with the intent of advising him. But you should also try to give him a hint to make him discover that for himself.

Fifth: in the case of publicly sinners, such as not doing prayers, backbiting is allowed, as the Prophet said (Speak about publicly sinners with what they do, to warn people against them). 

Sixth: identification, such as describing someone as “handicapped” or this being in his title.

These six are all in one qasida verse;

[Title, Fatwa,  public evil      Injustice, warning and changing evil]

It was narrated that Dawoud at-Ta'y once passed by a place and got fainted.  He was carried home, and when he got awake, he said that he once backbited someone in that place and he thought of that man asking for his right in the Day of Judgement. 

It was once told to al-Hassan al-Bassry that someone backbited him, so he sent him a plate of dates and said to him: "I heard that you gave me of your good deeds, so I wanted to reward you".  Hatem al-Asamm said: "the backbiters and the gossipers are the monkeys of the people of the Hell, the liars are their dogs and the enviers are their pigs". 

Jesus [PBUH] once saw Satan holding honey in one hand and ashes in the other. He asked him about them. Satan told him that he put honey in the lips of the backbiters and ashes in the faces of the orphans so that people see them dirty and do not do good deeds towards them.

The Prophet said to his companions; “Do you know what backbiting is?”  They replied “Allah and his Prophet are the most knowledgeable”.  He said “to speak about your brother with what he hates”. They said “what if he has what I am saying about him?”. He- PBHU- replied “If he does, you have backbitten him, and if he does not, you have lied about him”. And this was the Prophet’s definition of backbiting. 

The Prophet [PPBUH] said to Muaz ibn Jabel [AAH]: (Would you like me to tell you about the head of our matter, its backbone and the top of  its hump)  Muaz replied: "Yes, O Messenger of Allah”. The Prophet [PPBUH] replied: (The head is Islam, the backbone is the prayer and the top of the hump is Jihad).  The Prophet continued (Would you like me to tell you about the angels of all of these?) Muaz replied: “Yes, O Messenger of Allah”.  The Prophet took his tongue and said to him (Hold this!).  Muaz said: (Are we judged by what we say?”. The Prophet replied (Do people go to the Hell because of anything other than what they say?).

Sheikh Fakhr al-Din said about backbiting:

[The tongues of the people of backbiting       are thrown in the Hell; what a poor harvest!]

He also said:

[Protect tongues from what is prohibited,

that is the source of backbiting and gossiping]

May Allah protect us from backbiting and gossiping for the safety of our tongues!

Edited by Samer al-Lail

Translated by Nahed

The People of Allah

Allah says [Surely pure religion is for Allah only] az-Zumar 39:4. Pure religion is never attained unless the ranks of religion are reached.  The ranks of religion are three, according to the Prophet [PPBUH], “Islam, Faith and Ihsan”.  The building is never complete unless all the floors are finished. Religion is like a building in the way that it has one entity but several ranks. One of those ranks is related to one’s appearance (physical worship), which is Islam with its five pillars. Another one is related to one’s heart, which is Faith (the Dkhir of the heart). The third is connected to one’s soul, which is Ihsan (the Dkhir of the soul).  Since Allah loves those who do Dhikr, not those who are neglectful, if one’s worship is physical and his heart is neglectful, he will be considered neglectful. If his heart is in a state of Dkhir, but his soul is neglectful, he will still be considered neglectful. His soul should be in a state of Dkhir. One has to be in a state of Dkhir in his totality, his parts, his physical worship and his inner being. This is what is meant to not be neglectful. Pure religion to Allah is never achieved unless the body, the heart and the soul are in a state of Dkhir.  In other words, Allah says [Verily, I, even I, am Allah, there is no God save Me.  So serve me] Taha 20:14. [Verily, I,] is a request for a spiritual worship, [even I,] is a request for heart’s worship, and [Allah] is a request for a physical worship.

The concept of religion, in Sufism, is like “a debt” and Allah is the loaner and people are debtors. The religion is never complete unless the debtor pays all his debt (body, heart and soul). To prove this, one of the Prophet’s [PPBUH] companions went to him and said “My father was saving money to go to Hajj, but he died before going to Hajj”. Another companion said to the Prophet “My father died and he used to pray for one day and stop for two days”. A third one said “My father died before he fasted what he missed in Ramadan”. Everyone of them was asking the Prophet [PPBUH] whether to do what their fathers missed, instead of them, but the Prophet did not answer. Then he said: (If your fathers had money, who would inherit them?).  They said “us, O Messenger of Allah”.  He continued (If they had debts, who would pay them?)  They said “us, O Messenger of Allah”.  He replied: (The debt of Allah is the worthiest to be paid). It is mentioned in Imam Malik’s doctrine that the son can pay his father’s debts, such as prayers, fasting and Hajj. 

In fact, Sufism is the head of religion, because it works with all the ranks of religion, Islam, Faith and Ihsan. If someone thinks that he can understand a Qur'anic verse or a Hadith, depending only on the literal meaning and physical worship (Islam), he will be misled, because one cannot realize the core of the laws of Shari'a unless he gets rid of the disease of the heart.  If he does, he will look with purity deeply into the Qur'anic verses or Hadiths and understand them very well; explanation, interpretation, meanings, signals, and ranks.

Edited by Mohamed Khattab

Translated by Nahed

Whoever wants to get more about this, can browse the pages of Sufism in the official site of tariqa Burhaniya.

The Editors Team