I'm Not Lying; I'm Only Joking
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Creator: Muhammad Alshareef
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Identifier: http://www.khutbah.com/en/soc_issue/lying.php
Language: en
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Subject: character
Title: I'm Not Lying; I'm Only Joking
Created on: Tue Jan 29 11:05:15 -0500 2008
Updated on: Tue Jan 29 11:05:15 -0500 2008
Version: 1
Abstract: ... Ka’ab Ibn Malik radi Allahu anhu then remained silent and Abu Qutada radi Allahu anhu said, “Allahu ‘alim.” He said Allah knows best if you really love Allah and His Messenger. And Ka’ab Ibn Malik, when he heard this, he went off the fence and he started crying. On the fortieth day – and the boycott lasted for fifty days - the Prophet sal Allaahu alayhi wa sallam commanded that they separate from their wives. Before this, the King of Ghasaan from the Romans had sent a letter to Ka’ab Ibn Malik. Ka’ab Ibn Malik was in the marketplace when he saw a man come, a traveler, and then everyone was pointing at Ka’ab. That traveler came to Ka’ab with the letter from King Ghasaan. The king says in the letter, “The news has reached us that your companion (RasulAllah sal Allaahu alayhi wa sallam), has turned away from you. Come to us. Allah subhaanahu wa ta'aala did not make this earth as a constriction and a discomfort for you. Come to us and we will give you comfort. We will give you honor.” When Ka’ab Ibn Malik radi Allahu anhu read this letter he said, “By Allah, this is another test from Allah subhaanahu wa ta'aala.” And then he made a circle and a pit of fire, and then he took that letter and he threw it in the fire. So, now on the fortieth day, the Prophet sal Allaahu alayhi wa sallam had sent out the message that those three people should separate from their wives. And Ka’ab Ibn Malik radi Allahu anhu immediately said, “Shall I divorce my wife, or should I just separate from her?” And they said, “No, the Prophet sal Allaahu alayhi wa sallam said separate from her.” One of the other two companions was old in age, and so his wife came to the Prophet sal Allaahu alayhi wa sallam and she asked the Messenger of Allah sal Allaahu alayhi wa sallam for permission to remain with her husband and serve him because he was too poor to have his own maid or to have his own servant. The Prophet sal Allaahu alayhi wa sallam granted her permission. He said, sal Allaahu alayhi wa sallam, “But do not allow him to come near you.” And then she said, “By Allah, he has not stopped crying since the day this began. By Allah, he has no desire for anything of which you are speaking of.” That shows you that these people were yearning for the mercy of Allah subhaanahu wa ta'aala and yearning for the tauba of Allah subhaanahu wa ta'aala, until the fiftieth day came. In fact, Ka’ab Ibn Malik’s relatives told him to go to the Messenger of Allah sal Allaahu alayhi wa sallam and ask that his wife serve him like he granted permission for the other companion. And Ka’ab Ibn Malik said, “By Allah, I am younger than that man and I am more capable, and I am afraid of what the Prophet sal Allaahu alayhi wa sallam may say if I ask such a thing.” He said, “By Allah, I am not going to ask for that” – that his wife remain with him. So on the fiftieth day, Ka’ab Ibn Malik radi Allahu anhu was praying Fajr on one of the roofs and as he completed his Fajr prayer, a rider came running and he was calling out. He said, “Glad tidings Ka’ab Ibn Malik! For verily Allah subhaanahu wa ta'aala has forgiven you. Allah subhaanahu wa ta'aala has forgiven you.” Ka’ab Ibn Malik radi Allahu anhu immediately did sajdah for Allah subhaanahu wa ta'aala and for the tauba of Allah subhaanahu wa ta'aala. Very often, I remember Shaykh ‘Uthaymeen rahimahullah would say this, that in the time of Hajj, when people commit mistakes in Hajj, the easiest thing for a person is, if he is told that he has to ask for forgiveness from Allah and there is no material penalty. In such a case, the person would say, “Oh! Only ask for forgiveness? OK, that is no problem.” But you will see the way the companions asked for forgiveness from Allah subhaanahu wa ta'aala and how they yearned and spent their time hoping for the reward, the mercy, and the forgiveness of Allah subhaanahu wa ta'aala. When Ka’ab Ibn Malik radi Allahu anhu heard that Allah had forgiven him, he did sajdah to Allah subhaanahu wa ta'aala. And then, immediately when he completed his sajdah, he took off his clothes and he gave it as sadaqah to that man who had come with the good news. When he walked into Madinah, and this is all from his happiness, the people came to him and they congratulated him for the forgiveness of Allah subhaanahu wa ta'aala. Indeed, it is something that a person should be congratulated for. Nothing from the material world is equal to Allah subhaanahu wa ta'aala forgiving you. When he entered the masjid, from the Muhaajireen, only one person, Talha radi Allahu anhu, stood up and shook the hand of Ka’ab Ibn Malik. And he said, “By Allah, I will never forget the deed that Talha radi Allahu anhu had done” – that he had stood up and hugged him and gave him glad tidings. Then, the Prophet sal Allaahu alayhi wa sallam said, “Have the glad tidings of the best day of your life since the day your mother gave birth to you.” So, Ka’ab Ibn Malik radi Allahu anhu smiled and said, “Ya RasulAllah! Is this forgiveness from you or is it from Allah subhaanahu wa ta'aala?” And he said, “Rather, it is from Allah subhaanahu wa ta'aala.” Then, Ka’ab Ibn Malik radi Allahu anhu, and remember he was poor, he said, “And from my tauba, I will give all my wealth as sadaqah to Allah subhaanahu wa ta'aala. Everything I have, because of my happiness that Allah subhaanahu wa ta'aala has forgiven me, I am going to give everything to Allah, everything for the sake of Allah subhaanahu wa ta'aala.” And the Prophet sal Allaahu alayhi wa sallam said, “No, rather keep some of it with you.” And then Ka’ab Ibn Malik radi Allahu anhu said, and in fact this is the main point here, he said, “From my tauba and the fact that Allah subhaanahu wa ta'aala has forgiven me, from this day forward I will never tell a lie. I will never say a lie from this day forward.” In fact, in the end of the narration, Ka’ab Ibn Malik radi Allahu anhu explained that Allah subhaanahu wa ta'aala had saved him because of the truth that he had told in the beginning. And Allah subhaanahu wa ta'aala has never tested somebody, with the truth and telling the truth, more than he tested Ka’ab Ibn Malik radi Allahu anhu. As for those people who lied to the Prophet sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam, Allah subhaanahu wa ta'aala revealed verses about them. In Surah Al-Munaafiqeen and in other surahs, Allah subhaanahu wa ta'aala says: Verily, they are impure, they are filthy, those people that have lied to the Prophet sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam, and their end is Hellfire as a reward and a compensation for what they used to do. Allah subhaanahu wa ta'aala says in these verses that they keep swearing to you and telling you, “to leave [them] alone.” Allah subhaanahu wa ta'aala says, “Leave them alone, for they are impure and that they are going to Hellfire,” and that Allah subhaanahu wa ta'aala hates them. So, Ka’ab Ibn Malik said, “Those were the people who had lied to the Prophet sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam.” As for those people who told the truth, Ka’ab Ibn Malik and his two companions, Allah subhaanahu wa ta'aala revealed: Allah has already forgiven the Prophet and the Ansar and the Muhaajireen... (At-Tauba 9/117) And He continues and in the next verse Allah subhaanahu wa ta’aala says: And Allah (subhaanahu wa ta'aala) has forgiven those three who didn’t make it to the battle [of Tabuq]… (At-Tauba 9/118) So, Allah subhaanahu wa ta'aala revealed in the Qur’an that He has forgiven Ka’ab Ibn Malik radi Allahu anhu and Allah subhaanahu wa ta'aala commands Ka’ab Ibn Malik and everyone else: O you who believe, fear Allah, and be with those who are truthful (At-Tauba 9/119). PART II Dear brothers and sisters, this story of Ka’ab Ibn Malik – and it’s a story from the Seerah – is a story that we should all frequently go over because you will see that in every paragraph there are lessons for the Muslims to learn. From the way Ka’ab Ibn Malik radi Allahu anhu acted, to the things that he fell into, we, as followers of these companions and followers of the person that they were following, RasulAllah sal Allaahu alayhi wa sallam, can learn much about what we should abstain from. Lying - Lying is a major sin. And in fact, it’s one of the biggest major sins that a person can do because of all the things that it leads to. And, in certain cases, scholars have said that lying, when it deals with the Prophet sal Allaahu alayhi wa sallam (making halaal haram and haram halaal), may actually lead to kufr. Imam An-Nawawi rahimahullah says in Kitaab Al-Adhkaar, the proofs from the Qur’an and Sunnah are clear and apparent that lying is one of the ugliest sins that a person can do. And he says, sufficient is a deterrent from lying that the Prophet sal Allaahu alayhi wa sallam said: “The sign of the hypocrite are three things [one of which is] if he speaks, he will lie…” So, the fact that lying is the sign of a munaafiq, should be sufficient as a deterrent for a believer, a mu’min, someone who believes in Allah and His Messenger. If one speaks and he is thinking that he is going to lie, he should remember that this is a sign of his hypocrisy in the deen. In another hadith, Abdullah Ibn Mas’ud radi Allahu anhu reports that the Prophet sal Allaahu alayhi wa sallam said: “This thing (sidq - truthfulness) leads to piety.” If you want to know about a good Muslim, and how to become a good Muslim, the Prophet sal Allaahu alayhi wa sallam said, being truthful will lead you to be a good Muslim, will lead you to piety. And that piety leads to Paradise, and we all want to go to Paradise. ... [Full Article...]
