Commentary on the 40 Hadith of al-Nawawi
An in-depth commentary on some of the most comprehensive statements of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him).
Prerequisite: NONE (all topics are independent of previous sessions)
Required Text: Commentary on the 40 Hadith of al-Nawawi by J. Zarabozo
Time: Sundays 4:35 - 5:30 pm PDT (will move to 4:40-5:45 after May 15, 2010)
Overview of the Course: Selections from the 40 Hadith
Required Textbooks
Jamaal Zarabozo. Commentary on the 40 Hadith of al-Nawawi (the new edition should be available from www.al-basheer.com, if not now then very soon, Allah willing)
Grading:
Final Exam 100% or 90% (One final, May 30, one week before last week of class)
Pop Quiz 10% at the discretion of the instructor
Basic Outline of the Class
Topic 1: Hadith #13: “None of you truly believes until he loves for his brother what loves for himself”
Topic 2: Hadith #20: “If you feel no shame, then…”
Topic 3: Hadith #21: “Say, ‘I believe in Allah and then Stand Firm and Steadfast to that’”
2010-04-04 Class Notes
On the authority of Abu Hamzah..... “None of you truly believes until he loves for his brother what loves for himself” Recorded by Bukhari and Muslim.
The meaning is very comprehensive. We will take a look at some of the other authentic narrations of this hadith, since they shed some more light on this hadith. Maybe the prophet made this statement at different times with different wordings or maybe some of the sahaba did not record some of the wordings.
" ... what he loves for himself out of goodness (minal khair)" from Musnad Ahmad
The addition is minal khair, out of goodness. Discussion about how the shaitan can mislead the sinners to attract others to perform the same sin. So it is clarifying that it is khair that we should love for his brother.
this demonstrates how muslims should interact with one another,
Some of the hadiths that Nawawi records before this is pertaining to the outward deeds of Islam e.g. the 5 pillars, al-Birr, husnul khuluq. In this hadith he talks about imaan and the completeness of imaan.
Another narration:
Haqeeqat al Islam - condition for completeness of Iman
Now on to the importance of the hadith.
The excellence of Islam. When we contrast iman with islam, Islam means outward deeds.
New Testament (Injil): Do unto others and as you would like them to do to you
Neitzche says why would you force your likes onto others, maybe they dont like what you like.
Ancient greek phlosopy avoid doing what you would blame others of doing.
Do not do to others what would anger you if done to you.
Buddhism: puting oneself in the place of another, do not kill or cause another to kill
Confusianism: never impose on otherswhat you would not choose for yourself
Hinduisms one should never do to others which one regards injurious to oneself.
Judaism love your neighbor as yourself.
The hadith is relating this golden rule to Iman. Tying it into Iman is a very important concept
You want others to treat you nicely, so treat others in a way that they would like to be treated. Discussion about literalism.
Let's talk about the narrator - Anas Ibn Malik - described as the servant of the messenger of Allah. He has that great title because Anas ibn Malik's mother brought him to the prophet when he was 10 years old and she dedicated him to the service of the prophet. He spent 10 years in the company of the prophet. When the prophet dies, Anas ibn Malik was 23 years old. He was one of the sources of the hadith.
Prophet made dua for him that he would live long, have many children, have wealth and grant him jannah. 120 children and grandchildren. Spent most of his life in Damascus and Basra.
He was the last of the sahaba to die in Basrah in the year 93 Hijra. He is one of the most prolific narrators of hadith.
None of you truly believes - it is negation. Prophet could be or is denying Iman as a whole for anyone who does not love for his brother what he loves for himself.
He could have said none of you have complete iman if you do not love for your brother.... However he did not use that wording.
The way the prophet used the negation should have an impact on us. It should inspire us to complete all of the requirements of iman. It is to emphasize the completeness of iman and completing all of the characteristics of iman. Iman is not simply the articles of faith, that is not all there is to Iman. This hadith clearly shows us that actions of the heart are also part of Iman.
At no time, should any muslim take this hadith lightly. A sign for us that we have taken this principle lightly. Have we ever asked ourselves whether we love for brothers what we love? How seriously we take our Iman? How serious are we about our Iman.
Iman increases and decreases. Understanding this point is significant. There is a common belief among many Muslims that you either have Iman or not. However Iman is not binary. It is very volatile. We should be aware that it increases or decreases. Sometimes some of us are dragging ourselves just to perform our fard actions, this should be a reminder that Iman increases or decreases. When we have increased iman, we are not burdened by doing good deeds.
Abu Dharr was asking to be put in a position of authority. Prophet(saw) found abu dharr to be weak for the position of leadership, he said, ".....I love for you what I love for myself" Prophet is implementing this hadeeth. He advised abu dharr to never be incharge of 2 people and the wealth of orphans. He's giving him sincere advice. We discussed about deen an-naseehah. Essence of the deen is sincere and good conduct toward others. The result of that hadeeth would be to love for others what you love for yourself.
In Ihya, al-ghazali gives a story about a man whose house was infested with mice. He was told that he should get a cat. His reply was, if the mice hear the cats meow they would go to the adjoining house and I do not like for them what I do not like for myself.
Important principle, when you really love for others what you love for yourself, you'd always be thinking about what negatve reprucussions your act would have on others and how it would harm others.
Unfortunately, a characteristic that we as muslims have lost. Tarbiyyah has a lot to do with this. Lots of children are brought up as being masters of the house, of the school, of the masjid. Do you think such kind of a child would think about others when he grows up? they were never taught to think about it their whole life, how can they do it now? Same thing with the issue of parking in the mosque. There was an emergency and had to take someone to the hospital, AbdulAziz told Sheikh that when he told the man that there's an emergency and you need to take the car out. The brother just said, I have to pray it will only take 5 minutes, what's the hurry. Is this the kind of love we have towards our brothers?
This is a reflection of our imaan and a reflection of our tarbiyyah.
2010-04-11 Class Notes
Prophet is describing the one of the conditions for complete and true imaan - to love for your brother what you love for yourself.
Prophet said: Parable of the ummah or community is like the body, when one part of the body is hurting then the entire body is hurting.
We need to have the internal feelings for our brothers. So that when our brother is hurting we have feelings for him.
One characteristic that goes against this hadith is the disease of hasad or envy. If someone has hasad or envy then it shows that their imaan is complete. If your brother has something and due to envy you want it to be removed or destroyed.
Should you love for your brother to be in a better state than you are. How did some scholars come to this conclusion?
A common desire is that you would like to better than others, therefore then you should like for your brother better than what you have since this is what you love for yourself.
If you love that people be ...
If you love for them to be below you. Is this a proper interpretation of the hadith.
Most of the scholars say that it is sufficient to hope for others to be at the same level and not above you. There could be higher level of Imaan when you hope for your brother to be above you.
Healthy competition in matters of deen does not contradict this hadith.
However there are some conditions to it:
1. If your brother out competes you then you don't feel grudge or envy towards your brother
2. It must be done for the hereafter and not for this world
Arrogance should not enter your heart when you competing with your brother for good deads
Competing in good things does not contradict this hadith.
Quality of Al Ithaar
Al Ithaar is the willingness to sacrifice for the sake of your brother.
Allah swt says Hashr verse 9 : ... they give them preference over themselves, even though they were in need ...
وَالَّذِينَ تَبَوَّءُوا الدَّارَ وَالْإِيمَانَ مِن قَبْلِهِمْ يُحِبُّونَ مَنْ هَاجَرَ إِلَيْهِمْ وَلَا يَجِدُونَ فِي صُدُورِهِمْ حَاجَةً مِّمَّا أُوتُوا وَيُؤْثِرُونَ عَلَىٰ أَنفُسِهِمْ وَلَوْ كَانَ بِهِمْ خَصَاصَةٌ ۚ وَمَن يُوقَ شُحَّ نَفْسِهِ فَأُولَٰئِكَ هُمُ الْمُفْلِحُونَ
Muhsin Khan: And those who, before them, had homes (in Al-Madinah) and had adopted the Faith, love those who emigrate to them, and have no jealousy in their breasts for that which they have been given (from the booty of Bani An-Nadir), and give them (emigrants) preference over themselves, even though they were in need of that. And whosoever is saved from his own covetousness, such are they who will be the successful.
People themselves are in need but they still put the preference of others over themselves.
Prophet was in need of a garment but he gave it to a sahaba.
Prophet was putting his life on the line for the sake of defending others when he went out to find what was commotion?
Sacrificing for the sake of one's brother. Are there some limits?
If you have dependents and it is your obligation to meet their needs. And you cannot sacrifice their needs. You can ask if they are willing to sacrifice. You can sacrifice your needs. But if others have the right, then you cannot sacrifice their needs unless they sacrifice themselves.
You do not have the right to sacrifice in such a way that it negatively affects the practice of your deen.
When Abu Bakr gave away all of his wealth and Umar gave away half of his wealth. The prophet did not disprove of their actions because he knew about their belief. But when somebody else came and promised his wealth, the prophet asked him to hold on to some of his wealth for him and his family. Because he did not want that individual to be reduced to begging. And his imaan was not at the same level as Abu Bakr and Uthman.
What about of making Ithaar with respect to the acts of ibaadah?
For example you let somebody else take the remaining spot in the first row or do you try to take it for yourself?
Some ullema say it is ithaar in such a case, because they say it goes against the command to compete in the matters of the hereafter.
Hadith of the prophet: If the people knew about the rewards of praying in the first row, they would draw lots. And also about the rewards of making adhaan.
Ibn Qayyim does not like ithaar in these matters. He has two different view - allowing ithaar would lead to laziness and not performing the deeds.
So if two people are willing to do the action of adhan or standing in the first row, then you can make ithaar.
If the alternative is that you would get into a fight or argument about performing the good deed, then it is preferable to perform Ithaar.
You have the right to come back to the spot that you have vacated for temporary purpose.
2010-04-18 Class Notes
Hadith: Muslim is one from who hand and tongue other muslims are safe.
All of the commentators of this hadith, the mention of the word muslimun is not meant for just for muslims. It is more common case or emphasized case. It does not mean that the non-muslims are not going to be safe from the hand and tongue of a muslim. So it is not meant to restrict if just for muslims.
Al Birr and Al Wala
However the hadith we are discussing, in general most of the scholars do not take the same approach for this hadith. They dont say akhi mean everybody, like how they do it for the other hadith. Why? What is the major difference between the two hadith?
There is a big difference in shareeah between what is known as al birr (piety) and al wala (love and support).
Al Birr is to act righously and justly to others.
Allah swt says in the Quran - Surah Mumatahana verse 8
لَّا يَنْهَاكُمُ اللَّهُ عَنِ الَّذِينَ لَمْ يُقَاتِلُوكُمْ فِي الدِّينِ وَلَمْ يُخْرِجُوكُم مِّن دِيَارِكُمْ أَن تَبَرُّوهُمْ وَتُقْسِطُوا إِلَيْهِمْ ۚ إِنَّ اللَّهَ يُحِبُّ الْمُقْسِطِينَ
Sahih International: Allah does not forbid you from those who do not fight you because of religion and do not expel you from your homes - from being righteous toward them and acting justly toward them. Indeed, Allah loves those who act justly.
Muhsin Khan: Allah does not forbid you to deal justly and kindly with those who fought not against you on account of religion and did not drive you out of your homes. Verily, Allah loves those who deal with equity.
Muslim is just and fair even in the cases of fighting. Note deception is part of war but treacherousness is not allowed in war, you act that you are harmed and then attack the opponent.
Everyone should be safe from Muslim's tongue and hand. Even being at war with disbelievers doed not allow muslims to misbehave towards his opponent.
Asma bint .. mother came to vist her, who was a mushreekin. She asked for advice from the prophet and he said, "yes, establish ties with your mother". Treat your parents well and if they strive against you to worship something other than Allah, they do not obey them, but behave towards them with justice and righteousness.
Allah swt says in the Quran, Surah Mujadilah verse 22
لَّا تَجِدُ قَوْمًا يُؤْمِنُونَ بِاللَّهِ وَالْيَوْمِ الْآخِرِ يُوَادُّونَ مَنْ حَادَّ اللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ وَلَوْ كَانُوا آبَاءَهُمْ أَوْ أَبْنَاءَهُمْ أَوْ إِخْوَانَهُمْ أَوْ عَشِيرَتَهُمْ ۚ أُولَٰئِكَ كَتَبَ فِي قُلُوبِهِمُ الْإِيمَانَ وَأَيَّدَهُم بِرُوحٍ مِّنْهُ ۖ وَيُدْخِلُهُمْ جَنَّاتٍ تَجْرِي مِن تَحْتِهَا الْأَنْهَارُ خَالِدِينَ فِيهَا ۚ رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُمْ وَرَضُوا عَنْهُ ۚ أُولَٰئِكَ حِزْبُ اللَّهِ ۚ أَلَا إِنَّ حِزْبَ اللَّهِ هُمُ الْمُفْلِحُونَ
Muhsin Khan: You (O Muhammad SAW) will not find any people who believe in Allah and the Last Day, making friendship with those who oppose Allah and His Messenger (Muhammad SAW ), even though they were their fathers, or their sons, or their brothers, or their kindred (people). For such He has written Faith in their hearts, and strengthened them with Ruh (proofs, light and true guidance) from Himself. And We will admit them to Gardens (Paradise) under which rivers flow, to dwell therein (forever). Allah is pleased with them, and they with Him. They are the Party of Allah. Verily, it is the Party of Allah that will be the successful.
In all circumstances you behave well towards them.
Is it possible to live in modern civil society and behave well and co-operate but still have hatred in their heart?
Yes. Tolerance does not mean acceptance. Sheikh gave an example of Boulder and the divisions in society between democrats and republicans. But still they behave with civility with their neighbors.
Even though you do not have love in the heart for the mushreekun, it does not mean that you cannot behave towards them with civility and with proper behaviour.
In the hadith that we are studyiing is the matter of heart. And hence it applies only to your brother and not to the mushreekun. We will talk about brotherhood in Islam in a moment.
Brotherhood of Humanity
There are some scholars such as Nawawi who say that Akhi covers all of humanity. This is a minority opinion amont the scholars.
Now we are discussing Imam Nawawi's opinion wrt 9/11 aftermath. Some of the speakers quoted Imam Nawawi but they performed tadlees. They quoted Imam Nawawi that they should love for the non-muslim brother what they love for themselves but did not mention the following. Imam Nawawi said that the muslims wishes and loves for his non-muslim brother to be guided to Islam.
This feeling of the heart was an example set by the prophet. When prophet was asked by Ayesha, did any day come upon you that was more difficult than the day of Uhud. Prophet referred to the time when he presented himself to the different tribes of Quraish and they all rejected him. The angel JIbrael came to the prophet and said to him, that Allah has heard you and we can bring down the two mountains surrounding Makkah. He said, leave them for I hope among their descendants would be people who would worship Allah. (This hadith does not mention Taif and the dua, according to sheikh that narration is weak).
Prophet set this example of dawah and hoping that people would follow the straight path.
He grieved for the disbelievers and hoped that they would save themselves from hellfire.
The whole point of jihaad is that people will accept Islam, accept truth and save themselves from hellfire. This is what Imam Nawawi was referring to, to have hope for the non-beleivers to become Muslims.
What shareeah proof is there that there is hatred among believers and non-beleivers.
Surah Mumtahanah verse 4
قَدْ كَانَتْ لَكُمْ أُسْوَةٌ حَسَنَةٌ فِي إِبْرَاهِيمَ وَالَّذِينَ مَعَهُ إِذْ قَالُوا لِقَوْمِهِمْ إِنَّا بُرَآءُ مِنكُمْ وَمِمَّا تَعْبُدُونَ مِن دُونِ اللَّهِ كَفَرْنَا بِكُمْ وَبَدَا بَيْنَنَا وَبَيْنَكُمُ الْعَدَاوَةُ وَالْبَغْضَاءُ أَبَدًا حَتَّىٰ تُؤْمِنُوا بِاللَّهِ وَحْدَهُ إِلَّا قَوْلَ إِبْرَاهِيمَ لِأَبِيهِ لَأَسْتَغْفِرَنَّ لَكَ وَمَا أَمْلِكُ لَكَ مِنَ اللَّهِ مِن شَيْءٍ ۖ رَّبَّنَا عَلَيْكَ تَوَكَّلْنَا وَإِلَيْكَ أَنَبْنَا وَإِلَيْكَ الْمَصِيرُ
Muhsin Khan: Indeed there has been an excellent example for you in Ibrahim (Abraham) and those with him, when they said to their people: "Verily, we are free from you and whatever you worship besides Allah, we have rejected you, and there has started between us and you, hostility and hatred for ever, until you believe in Allah Alone," except the saying of Ibrahim (Abraham) to his father: "Verily, I will ask for forgiveness (from Allah) for you, but I have no power to do anything for you before Allah." Our Lord! In You (Alone) we put our trust, and to You (Alone) we turn in repentance, and to You (Alone) is (our) final Return,
There are numerous texts that distinguish between al birr and al wala. If we refer to brotherhood with non-beleivers, then we should clarify it, it is wrt the brotherhood of humanity and not of Islam.
Bond of brotherhood in Islam
You should love those who are pious as opposed to those who are faseequn. However there has to be some minimum love between brothers in Islam.
Part of that Iman and brotherhood is described in the hadith of Nawawi which we are studying. To love for your brother what you love.
You love the sahaba more than others
Friendship
If friendship means having good relationship with others. Muslim should try to educate and inform them about Islam. If you become close friend with a non-muslim. It is going to lead to some awkard situations
Marriage to Christians or Jews
Distinguish between shareeah love and natural love
Discussion about the sahaba after migration.
They still had love for Makkah even though it was inhabitad by the mushreekun.
2010-04-25 Class Notes
Hadith #20 from 40 hadith of Nawawi
On the authority of ... if you feel no shame then do as you wish. Recorded by Bukhari.
It is an authentic hadith, it is yet another hadith from the collection of nawawi that emphasizes one of the characters of a muslim. Islam is about the worship of Allah swt, however it gives great emphasis to behaviour, character.
The inward aspects of your worship, no one can see it. They can only see your outward behaviour, how you deal with other human beings. Your relationship with others has to reflect la ilaha illalah.
If your character does not reflect it then there is something deficient in your beliefs and in your practice of Islam.
Scholars praise this collection because it emphasizes the khuluq.
In this particular hadith, it emphasizes one fo the characteristics of islam which is of al haya. We can see it more clearly in this age then others. It existed in previous ages too. One of the way they tried to destroy islam by weakening the ikhlaq of muslim since it is difficult for others to convince a muslim to not believe in Allah or the rasool. By weakening their ikhlaq, you would have the same effect as weakening their iman. They can meet the goal by destroying the islamic characteristic of haya, you can get them to do virtually anything.
Al-Hayaa
Haya is the concept of self-respect and modesty and behavior. Once you remove it from an individual you can get them to do anything.
A woman rock performer in the 80s, she was popular but she was modest or shy. She did not do what others did. But they worked on it little by little, until it is gone. And then they can get you do anything.
This is something very effective in the media nowadays in the past 20-30 years. If you grew up in US watching TV, there was a TV show called Dick Vandyke show. Dick is playing a married person, but in this show they were not allowed to show the married couple in one bad. This was about 45 years ago. And when sheikh was young, there was a performer by a show called Cher and this show caused controversy because she used to wear tight clothes and one day she showed her belly button and caused a huge controversy. But if you compare now, there's no comparsion.
THey have broken down the modesty and haya of people so much, people don't get shocked or doesn't have any effect on them. 15-20 years ago in Saudia, just to have a woman reporter doing the news was never allowed and now it's common and now they even have a saudi version of "Big Brother". Shock and dismay has gone because what they have found is you can strip away people's hayaa, slowly and surely and when you strip away someone's hayaa, Prophet (saw) has said the hadeeth (we're covering). When people loose hayaa they can do anything.
This quality is one of the most important quality for a muslim. Aisha narrated that the foundation of noble character is al-hayaa. We'll be covering this concept in great detail in this hadeeth.
Reasons why they do it, one of the reasons, if you're controversial, people will turn to it and generate revenue. There's no such thing as bad publicity. Some were shocking on purpose. After shock becomes acceptance. HBO is coming out with a new series that will show what they haven't done yet (sheikh will not disclose :) ).
Globalization is another important issue that muslims are not taking as seriously as they should be.
Hadeeth is from Abu Masood (from al-Khazraj). He has also a distinction because he's known as al-badri. He did not take part in battle of badr but he lived close to Badr. He was one of the 70 people who made the 2nd oath of allegiance and took part in number of battles and died in the year 41 or 42 (AH). 9 of his hadeeth are reported in bukari or muslim. Here the Prophet (saw) is telling us something that has been passed on from the previous prophets. So we know that Allah has sent the Prophets to all of the different nations of the world. The Prophet is making it very clear, not much has come down from the earlier prophet but one of the thing that has come down and has left a mark in the society is the concept the Prophet is about to make.
Scholars say that this is a sign that earlier Prophets used to speak about hayaa. The differences b/w the prophet was related to ahkaam, but the aqeedah/akhlaaq was consistent amongst all the Prophets. BTW, sometimes the differences in ahkaam are related to akhlaaq. E.g concept of ihtiraam (showing respect to one's elders), this would be one of those concept that would be there throughout the prophets but how you demonstrate that may change from Prophet to Prophet. They give as example, yaqub/yusuf -- sajdah as an act of respect to another human, an act of ihtiraam. But in our shariah, we cannot prostrate towards someone. No longer acceptable. Akhlaaq is consistent, but implementation may differ.
In general, are the laws of people before us, are they laws also our laws? should we follow them? suppose we find something in earlier texts but our text is silent about. Do we have to follow it? Sometimes mufassir is deriving ahkaam straight from the story of yusuf. (I lost audio, please complete what he said)
They use it as evidence that a gift can be binding without the knowledge of the gift receiving party from the story of Yusuf in the Quran. Is the shareeah hujjah upon us is the basic question?
Important statement or principle from the prophet, do as you wish, is an imperative statement. There are a number of interpretations or meanings of it. One of the interpretations is that it is not a command, instead it is a warning. It is tahdeel and not amr (command). Similar to what Allah swt says to the disbelievers in Fussilat verse 40, it is a warning,
Parents do it when talking to their children, go ahead and do that, but what is left out is, but beware of the consequences.
Allah swt is saying if you are going to loose al-hayaa then go ahread and do as you wish and you will see the consequences, Allah swt will recompense you.
It is a threat as we see in Fussilat verse 40 (اعْمَلُوا مَا شِئْتُمْ)
إِنَّ الَّذِينَ يُلْحِدُونَ فِي آيَاتِنَا لَا يَخْفَوْنَ عَلَيْنَا ۗ أَفَمَن يُلْقَىٰ فِي النَّارِ خَيْرٌ أَم مَّن يَأْتِي آمِنًا يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ ۚ اعْمَلُوا مَا شِئْتُمْ ۖ إِنَّهُ بِمَا تَعْمَلُونَ بَصِيرٌ
Muhsin Khan: Verily, those who turn away from Our Ayat (proofs, evidences, verses, lessons, signs, revelations, etc. by attacking, distorting and denying them), are not hidden from Us. Is he who is cast into the Fire better or he who comes secure on the Day of Resurrection? Do what you will. Verily! He is All-Seer of what you do (this is a severe threat to the disbelievers).
Fiqh perspective of the statement: If I use commands, it could be a threat or warning or command etc. It is not definitive in its context it is not dhanni dhalalah.
Some scholars say that it is a strongest opinion, next time we will discuss other opinions whether it is amr or tahdeel.
2010-05-02 Class Notes
إِنَّ الَّذِينَ يُلْحِدُونَ فِي آيَاتِنَا لَا يَخْفَوْنَ عَلَيْنَا ۗ أَفَمَن يُلْقَىٰ فِي النَّارِ خَيْرٌ أَم مَّن يَأْتِي آمِنًا يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ ۚ اعْمَلُوا مَا شِئْتُمْ ۖ إِنَّهُ بِمَا تَعْمَلُونَ بَصِيرٌ
Allah swt is aware of everything you do, so go ahead and do whatever you want to do. This is one of the opinion. A second interpretation: The words are in the form of an imperative but what they mean are a statement of fact. This is taweel, they say that the amr is a statement. They say that if a person has no haya then he will do whatever he wills.
The quality of haya keeps an individual from doing sinful or lewd acts. It is an internal mechanism to prevent him from these sinful deeds. If a person loses it, he has lost his moral compass. If you can strip away haya you can make them do anything
Ibn Al Qayam's writing are important but sometimes he takes his arguments to logical conclusions so we have to beware of it.
Ibn Al Qayam says that once a person commits a sin then his haya will be decreased and then as you progress you will loose more haya and continue to do more of those acts.
You get to a point where you don't care about other people's opinion. This is an essence of haya. It gets to a point, where a person starts to brag about his lewd acts.
WHen a muslim slips and does wrong deeds, he should repent and he should wish that these acts should not be publicized and he himself does not go ahead publicizing it.
Hadith: All of my nations will be forgiven, except those who did their sins publicly and they ... A person has done a deed in the night and Allah swt has concealed his deeds and in the morning he uncovers Allah swt concealment of his deeds.
Here they did not do the act publicly but they bragged about it which is akin to doing the act publicly.
A person who loses haya, his soul is going to order you to do more these acts.
Another interpretation
Al Khattaabi says that your soul is going to order you to do these deeds, and hence it is considered an amr because your nafs or soul is ordering you to do these deeds.
Abu Ubaid and ... like this argument because of their understanding of the arabic language.
Third interpretation
What is meant by amr here is permission.
Amr has different levels - obligation, recomendation, threat or permission.
Surah Al Jumuah - Go out and seek the bounty of Allah swt. All scholars understand the amr here to mean permission, it does not necessarily mean that you have to go and do work after friday prayers.
Here it means that if you are contemplating doing the act and if you say that I don't feel shame for doing that act, specially if it is coming from some one who is pious and one who has taqwa, then that is a sign that it is a good act and you go ahead and do it.
The prophet was giving us a key, that if you analyze the act and you do not feel any shame then it is permissible to do the act.
This interpretation is favored by .....
Definition of Haya
Haya is a quality that every muslim must possess. Hadith: Every religion or deen has a characteristic quality, the quality that is characteristic of a muslim is haya.
Lexicographical definition:
Modesty or feeling of shame
Islamic definition:
Feeling of change in an invidual that would drive a person away from evil deeds
Shrinking away of the soul from evil deeds
Ibn Hajr - it is a characteristic that keeps individual from evil deeds and prevents an individual from fulfilling the rights of others.
Haya has both positive and negative elements. Any kind of act that is your duty towards others you will do it. Starting with the rights of Allah swt
Haya and life has the same root. One who has no haya, his heart is dead and does not recognize what is evil.
It is more than shame, it is your moral conscience. You should do things that are right and stay away from things that are wrong. ANd you should do ....
If a person looses moral conscience, he doesn't even care about his own worth.
If hayaa is alive in your heart, then he is bothered by it until he can undo the wrong he has done.
This quality of hayaa is one that distinguishes human beings from animals. Obviously if you loose hayaa you become animals. Animals for most part care of their survival. Humans can also drag to this level.
Natural and acquired component to hayaa.
Some people are naturally inclined to it. The way that quality manifests itself might not be completely islamic. They have feeling of modesty and shyness, which keeps them from doing these deeds. They feel bad about these deeds. However it has to be geared with an Islamic perspective. Some people might feel it is hayaa but it is not hayaa according to islamic perspective.
Even those who have it, they should build upon it. Those who dont have it, should know the value of hayaa and should work to acquire it and build it.
There is relationship between hayaa and riyaa, and hayaa and nifaaq which we will discuss later.
Abu Hatim says it is obligatory for a rational person to train himself to have hayaa throughout his life.
In order to acquire hayaa, you need to have intention to acquire hayaa and knowledge of this property. It is consistent with acquiring or developing our khuluq which we discussed earlier.
There are many hadith about having good khuluq, part of khuluq is having proper relationship with Allah swt and others. Such as being in the company of people who have good khuluq because if you have bad khuluq you will stand out and you will figure out ways to control and change your khuluq, such as foul speech.
2010-05-09 Class Notes
Al Haya and respect to elders and teachers
The way the youth deal with parents and teachers is very different today as compared to 20-30 years ago. This has changed a lot. Media and sitcoms have contributed to it. Youth don't care what they say in front of the teachers and parents. There is complete disrespect for any kind of authority. Even in Islamic centers, the youth will treat visiting sheikhs in a lackadaisical manner. There are specific dua that you can make to ask Allah swt to guide you to the best ikhlaq.
How to instill Hayaa?
1. Feeling of Allah swt's presence
Feeling of Allah swt's presence, if you are aware of Allah swt's presence and be aware that the actions that you are doing improper will create a feeling of hayaa.
Ar-Razi mentions it in his tafseer. If you know everything about somebody, then you probably would not want to do anything with him. Similarly, Allah swt knows all of your deeds and yet it is his rahmah that he allows us to come closer to him. So are you going to use the bounties that Allah swt has given you and you have no shame that you are planning to use this bounty to do something that is displeasing to him. For example, eyesight, he has granted you this blessing, are you going to use this bounty to do things that are displeasing to Allah swt? If you don't have time to reflect on these things, then it will have an impact on your khuluq. If you want to change your khuluq or develop hayaa then you need to have an intention to improve yourself.
The person who knows Allah swt and his attributes, the one who is more conscious of these things, he will be more aware of his actions in the sight of Allah swt.
ibn Hajar said that thinking about allah swt produces hayaa wrt allah swt, because an intelligent person would be shameful to use the bounties given by Allah swt to do acts that are disobeying Allah swt.
ibn Qayam said that if person knows that if an individual knows that Allah swt is watching him, then he will not do acts that are displeasing.
Your hayaa wrt Allah is related to your closeness to Allah swt. It is one thing to be aware of Allah's bounties, but the closer you are to Allah swt, the higher the esteem that you have for Allah swt. When you are in front of somebody whom you respect you become overwhelmed with hayaa in front of them.
2. Concept of reckoning yourself - Muhassabah
You wiill feel ashamed and ask yourself how could I have done these acts and it will develop hayaa and next time before you do this act, you will say that I dont want to do a shameful act in front of Allah swt.
You will remember the shame if you reckon your act, then it will remind you that not to do the shameful act. Remorse turns your act into shame.
3. To think about the consequences of loosing hayaa
Take a look at the society to see what happens when you loose hayaa. If you have imaan, you will be disgusted by the society. One of the reasons why alcohol is haraam, is that it makes you lose your inhibitions, you lose your hayaa. They start doing things that they wouldn't do if they had not consumed alcohol. Alcohol is more effective than hypnosis to get people to do things. You dont have to go that far, you just have to see people who dont have hayaa.
Reflecting on what happens when you dont have hayaa would be a motivating factor for increasing your hayaa. The more you increase your hayaa, you will be protecting yourself.
4. Being among the saliheen and you yourself showing hayaa to them.
Ibn Qayam made the following point. The one you benefit from does not have to be from a scholar, sometimes it is just from some very simple people, non scholar, who might have this hayaa then somebody else.
Being simple does not mean that you don't have imaan. Prophet has told us that a person who has imaan and if he swears by Allah then Allah swt will fulfill his promise. Imaan and fame have nothing in common.
5. Dua taught by the prophet
Oh Allah guide us to ..... Sahih Muslim
Oh Allah you have made my physical being good so make my khuluq good
Oh Allah I seek refuge from evil deeds and evil desires... Sunan al Tirmidhi
It is a very powerful tool for the believer.
What is al khajal and what is the difference between hayaa and khajal?
Al Khajal is more like embarrassment, it will be reflected on peron's body and face. It will occur when somebody is doing something or immediately afterwards. Whereas hayaa will occur before you do things that would lead to be shamed. It is not embarassment, it is shame for doing an act that is wrong. Hayaa is a controlling factor that keeps you from doing an act. Hayaa is closely related to Iman. Hayaa is judging an action and acting upon this feeling to stay away from the displeasing act. If you have less hayaa you may feel khajal. For example some people are shy to meet people or greet them or meet them, this is not hayaa, it is khajal. Hayaa and khajal are two different things.
Difference between hayaa and riyaa
Riyaa is acting to show off. How can they be related? if you do something or don't do something out of riya/haya. Combination. Think about this for the next week and how can they be conflicted, what's the relationship and what do you do if you feel there's a conflict.
2010-05-16 Class Notes
Continuing ... if you feel no shame then do as you please... we are discussing concept of hayaa and contrasting it with some other well know characteristics.
Contrasting Al Hayaa and Al Riyaa
Ar-riyaa is a disease where you do not do a deed for the sake of Allah swt but the purpose of the deed is to gain the approval of others or to please others.
Lexical meaning of ar-riyaa: You refrain from doing actions because of the reproach or blame that action might bring upon you. You do not do an act because you fear the reproachment of others.
Both hayaa and riyaa might lead you to avoid an act for example zina. You might pray because you want other to see that you pray. The end result might be same. But as the scholars says what distinguishes an act is what is in the heart and what is the driving force.
Once the person realizes that there might be conflicting interests, then he might work on himself to gain purity for the sake of Allah swt.
If someone does an act out of riyaa, he has given preference to human beings over Allah swt, and his hayaa wrt human beings is dominating his hayaa wrt Allah swt. Riyaa is the anti-thesis of having hayaa with respect to Allah swt.
If the driving force behind that action (or inaction) is simply riyaa then that (in)action is a blameworthy action. If the driving force is ikhlaas and hayaa together then that person would be rewarded for his hayaa and his ikhlaas and his hayaa is in the proper place.
Suppose the driving force behind his (in)actions is little bit of hayaa and little bit of riyaa. What will be the value of such (in)action?
Suppose someone is praying for the sake of Allah swt and he notices that somebody is watching him and then he strives to improve his prayer to impress the audience?
Riyaa is shirk asghar. This kind of action does not completely void your action. Most of the scholars agree that you will be held responsible for the portion which is defective. However if the only intention is riyaa then the action is void.
What about natural hayaa, it is not hayaa for Allah swt or riyaa? Then this act will not be rewarded by Allah swt. It is a reminder that our actions have to be geared towards Allah swt.
Public and private actions.
Some actions are public so that you can be part of the muslim community but it is for the sake of Allah swt. Salah in jamaat is a public action. Being in company of other muslims. As long as the driving force is correct then there is no problem.
Self reflection - you have to perform introspection to make sure that your actions are purely for the sake of Allah swt.
Relationship between Riyaa and Nifaaq (Hypocrisy)
There are different kinds of nifaaq. Nifaaq al ittiqadi which takes you out of the fold of Islam, you are intentionally showing to others that you are Muslim but in reality you have disavowed Islam. Nifaaq al amli such as purposely breaking trust, etc where you do acts that are reflection of munafeeqoon, they may lead you to the precipice but they do not take you out of the fold of Islam.
Shaitan will try to mislead you that you have done some action out of hayaa but he whispers that you are doing it out of nifaaq. This is a tool or trick of shaitan to doubt the intention of any individual who tries to do good deed even the prophet. Shaitan includes the human shayateen. If you listen to this argument then you will stop doing good deeds which is the goal of the shaitan. This kind of argument will affect you.
Human shaitan will make this statement of every pious person. What is the response that will defeat the shaitan as well. They claim to know your intention, only you know your intention, so what they claim is not true. A person can reflect on this. Shaitan's arguments are false and they are there to trick us.
An act that is mubaha for one individual and it might be rewarded for another individual who has good intention.
Hayaa and the relationship between sexes
Hayaa can be a driving force for the relationship between sexes. You could turn the natural hayaa into hayaa wrt Allah swt. So you are converting a natural act into an act that will be rewarded by Allah swt. Some people are born with it naturally but it has to be developed into hayaa wrt Allah swt.
When people think of hayaa they focus solely on relationship between sexes however it is just one part of it, it is related to all of the actions. Next time we will talk about hayaa in the act of Iman. We will study hayaa from the hadith source. Concept of hayaa itself is absent from the quran and it shows us that Quran and Sunnah go together and if you do not study the Sunnah then you will miss it completely. You have to study Riyadh us Saliheen that will touch upon many of the topics. Not everything Allah swt discusses in the Quran that is essential for us to study, you have to study hadith to be aware of it.
2010-05-23 Class Notes
Reminder there is an exam next week.
Allah swt gave us kitaab and hikmah and they are meant to be studied together. There are many aspects that the prophet did not discuss that are found in the Quran.
Three hadith
(الحياء والإيمان قُرَنَاء جميعًا، فإذا رُفِعَ أحدهما رُفِعَ الآخر) Hayaa and Iman are two companions that go together, if one of them is lifted then the other is also lifted.
الحياء شعبة من الإيمان Hayaa is part of Iman
Iman has 70 or some branches, the strongest of it is .... the slightest of it is removing branch from the road and hayaa is part of Iman.
Hayaa is definitely part of Iman. Some of the scholars say that both hayaa and iman have similar effects on the individual. Iman is going to effect your behaviour and you will stay away from what Allah swt has prohibited. If you have hayaa for the sake of Allah swt then it will have the same effect as Iman will lead you to stay away from things that are prohibited.
That is the reason why prophet tied hayaa and Iman so tightly together. Having hayaa is one of the obligations of Imaan, the branches that prophet describes is the obligatory parts of Iman.
For Iman to be complete, you have to fulfill the obligation of hayaa. We should not take it lightly, since it shows we are lacking iman, if we dont have hayaa. If you dont have hayaa then you dont have iman.
Once you get woman to loose hayaa and then it becomes easy to lose their Iman. If the shaitan can get them to break the barrier of hijaab then it might lead to other things such as leaving prayers, being lax in what they drink. The west realized that it could be used to attack the muslim woman.
Prophet praised the positive qualities of hayaa in numerous hadith and this is corroborating evidence for what we are discussing here.
Lewdness does not appear in anything but it blemishes it, and hayaa does not appear in anything but it enhances it.
Hayaa does not produce anything but goodness.
Every religion has a particular manner and characteristic, and the characteristic of Islam is hayaa.
One of the characteristics of the prophets is hayaa.
Hayaa is one of the attributes of Allah swt. Prophet said: Verily ALlah swt has great attributes of hayaa and concealment and he loves hayaa and concealemnt.
Hayaa of Allah swt is not based on fear of any one else but this is a characteristic that ALlah swt has raised for himself. If somebody raises his hand and his hayaa will keep him from not responding.
We will see that our hayaa is also not based on fear of any one else.
Some scholars have gone to an extreme. Can we have attributes of Allah swt, are we supposed to emulate the attributes of Allah swt that we can? What is the correct position? Where does it say that we should emulate Allah swt? Obviously there are some attributes of Allah swt that we cannot emulate but what about those attributes that we can?
A statement from Ibn Qayyim. He has this tendency that we should try to emulate Allah swt within our means and abilities. He once wrote that whoever has attributes of Allah, that attribute will lead the person by that tight reins, it will allow us to enter paradise and .... he will become beloved to Allah and that is because.... he is generous and he loves those who are generous, he is ... he has hayaa and he loves those who have hayaa ... he is odd and he loves those who pray witr (odd).
Sufis have taken this argument and taken it to an extreme. So we have to be careful when we try to emulate allah swt and try to avoid shirk.
We need to have hayaa wrt Allah swt. It is missing in those who have natural hayaa and they should try to do it for the sake of Allah swt.
What is the right of hayaa?
Sahaba said that we have hayaa and the prophet said: This is not what is meant, the hayaa towards ALlah is for a person to be mindful to his heart and what enters into it and the stomach and bodily parts close to it and remembers death and disintegration whoever has that has hayaa towards Allah swt.
Surat Al Israa verse 36
We have to sustain from something that is halaal. It is one of the main aspects of having proper hayaa. Remembering death is a reminder that nothing is permanent and that we have to return to Allah swt. Hayaa has component of not doing things that are not proper towards Allah swt.
Living for this duniya rather than akheerah is a sign of lack of hayaa.
Prophet said: Allah has more rights .... than people do
What is not part of Islamic hayaa?
One of the weaknesses of natural hayaa is that it will lead a person to be silent when there is a need to speak out, or lead a person to compromise when he should stand firm.
Fear of people should not keep him from speaking up when wrong is being done.
Hayaa should not keep us from doing things that Allah swt asks us to do. Wrong concept of hayaa keeps muslims from doing what is required for us to do. For example some people are shy in praying in front of others at work. This is not hayaa, they are afraid of people or do not want to be ridiculed by others. Even among Muslims we have this problem, muslims are afraid of being ridiculed by other muslims. This is not hayaa. This means your hayaa towards Allah swt is weak.
Ibn Al Qayyam also discusses hayaa wrt Allah swt. This is in a commentary on a sufi text. The first level is close to the concept of ihsaan. One level of hayaa is built upon the knowledge that Allah swt is seeing you or you are interacting with Allah swt, this will create a level of hayaa. The more conscious you are of Allah swt, the greater will be the level of hayaa. The next level of hayaa is to do with the closeness and desire to love Allah swt.
2010-06-06 Class Notes
The golden rule becomes an important obligation of your belief, Iman.
Imam Nawawi wanted the mankind to be guided to Islam.
Love from the heart is restricted by Islam, akhi means Muslim brother and love for them to have what you love. The second hadith is concept of harm and here muslimun does not mean just muslims, it means everyone, because no one should be harmed by the hands of a Muslim.
Iman decreases or increases ... how does this hadith support the idea that Iman increases or decreases?
THe abd does not reach the complete reality of iman until he loves for his brother what he loves for himself, this introduces the concept of level. However in this hadith, if you do not love for your brother, does not mean that you do not have imaan, it is not a negation of iman but a negation of the completeness of iman. It is not that you have or do not have iman, this means there are different levels of iman and if you have different levels, then your iman can increase or decrease. Since iman fluctuates, you could be at a low level but still within the bounds of iman.
Hayaa’ is one of the attributes of Allah. Does that prove that it is a quality or characteristics that humans must themselves have?
There are many attributes of Allah swt, and there are no hadith that encourages us to emulate these attributes? There are fabricated hadith too. So this as an concept is not supported by any evidence from Quran and Sunnah. But for specific attributes we do have proofs, such as hayaa.
When we speak about Hayaa, we know it brings nothing but goodness from the statement of the prophet. A sahaba was belittling his younger brother for hayaa, arabs of the time did not think to be a quality that they desired. Why? Scholars emphasize the most because it could lead a person to not speak when required to do so, not defending the rights, it is not part of the Islamic hayaa. Because the basis of hayaa starts with Allah swt and it does not allow you to not speak up or defend something when the situation requires you to do so. Your hayaa wrt Allah swt will keep you from inaction. So if you have hayaa wrt humans then you might restrict or weaken the hayaa wrt Allah swt. This was a weakness they saw when somebody had hayaa wrt others.
Hayaa should be relegated to its proper position
An arrogant person and one who has hayaa wrt attaining knowledge will not attain knowledge. For an arrogant person, it might be difficult to learn from somebody younger than him, it will keep him from achieving his potential. For person to gain knowledge, you have to ask questions, Ayesha (ra) said the women of Ansar did not use hayaa to refrain from asking questions. You still have proper manners and respect to the shayukh and ulema. Sometimes people don't have manners and do not realize the jobs or goal of an aleem. The ultimate goal of an aleem is not just to pass on knowledge, the ultimate goal is tarbeeyah. When somebody asks him a question, he may not give everything that he knows, he tailors it to the level of the person. Aleem has to know how to tailor the information for the person asking the question.