Abdullah Smith delivering khutbah on 1-30-15

Three Things That Will Save You and Three Things That Will Destroy You

Brothers and sisters in Al-Islam, the Messenger of Allah was given by Allah جَوَامِعُ الْكَلِمِ - and that is the ability to say words or to use sentences that are very short and have the ability to use a few words but yet those words contain great meanings. The Messenger of Allah had the ability to say one short sentence that carried the meanings that could be written books and volumes in order to explain the one short sentence that the Messenger of Allah said.

When we look through the sunnah of the Messenger we find it filled with these pearls of wisdom from the speech that the Messenger of Allah spoke that was very short as it relates to how many words he used but contained great meaning. One such example is the statement of the Prophet:

(Reported in various collections)

"There are three things that will save you and there are three things that will destroy you."

The Three Things That Will Save You

He said as it relates to the three things that will save you: the fear of Allah in private and in public, to speak the truth when you're happy and when you're mad, and to take the middle course as it relates to you spending your money when you are poor as well as when you are rich.

First: Fear of Allah in Private and Public

If we were to look around, every one of us right now we're in a public setting, and we would find that the believers in this public setting would not even think about doing something that is displeasing to Allah. However, what about when we are in private? What about those times when no one is around to watch us? Our friends aren't around to see us, our uncles aren't around to see us, our wives aren't around to see us, our children are not around to see us. Will we fear Allah in those times? At the time when no one knows what you're doing except you and Allah knows better, will we fear Allah at those times?

The Prophet said:

"Fear or have shyness from Allah in the same way that you would be shy from a righteous man from amongst your people."

Do we not think that Allah knows what we do when we're alone? Two o'clock in the morning, three o'clock in the morning, and there's no one around. We look to our right, we look to our left, we don't see anyone. Do we not believe that Allah sees us? Do we not believe that Allah hears us? Every text message that we send, Allah knows about it. Every picture that we look at on our computers and on our phones and on our tablets, Allah knows about it. Every conversation that we have with someone, Allah knows about it. Everything we think about, Allah knows about it. So the thing that will save us is that we fear Allah in public and in private.

Second: Speaking the Truth in Happiness and Anger

The Messenger of Allah said of the things that will save us: كَلِمَةُ الْحَقِّ فِي الرِّضَا وَالْغَضَبِ - to speak the truth when you are happy and when you're angry. Because sometimes when we are happy with someone or we're happy with a certain situation, something that is good for us, something that brings us pleasure, it may cause us to keep quiet about what we know to be the truth or for us to change or try to reinterpret what we know to be the truth because we're happy with the current circumstances. We don't want it to change, so we don't speak the truth that which we know to be the truth because we're happy with what's going on.

Likewise, when we're angry, our anger at someone or at something or at a circumstance will cause us not to speak the truth because we don't like a certain circumstance or we don't like a certain individual. We don't like a certain masjid, we don't like a certain city or a certain place - it will cause us not to speak the truth. But that which will save us is our ability to say what we know to be truth even when we're angry, because our anger does not cause us to go outside of being just, because what we don't like doesn't cause us to go outside of being just.

Allah says in the Quran:

"And do not allow for the animosity between you and a certain people to cause you to be unjust. Rather be just - that is closer to being pious." We cannot allow our feelings of joy to prevent us from standing up for the truth, just like we cannot allow for our feelings of anger to prevent us from standing up and speaking the truth. This is what will save us.

Third: The Middle Course in Poverty and Wealth

The Messenger of Allah said in mentioning the third thing from the things that will save us is الْقَصْدُ فِي الْفَقْرِ وَالْغِنَى - to take the middle course as it relates to your spending when you're poor as well as when you're rich. We take the middle course when we're poor, meaning we don't have much money. We're not stingy, we don't hold on to the money, we don't hold on and being stingy to our wealth because we feel like if I put this money in the sadaqah box, I'm not going to have money to pay my phone bill. If I give a dollar to this man who says he's hungry, I'm not going to have food to put in the mouths of my children. We should not be stingy even when we're poor.

The Messenger of Allah at his times when he didn't have much wealth to give, he would still give what he had. Do we not remember the hadith in Sahih al-Bukhari when the woman with the two daughters came to the house of Aisha asking for some food? Aisha went and looked and searched the house. The hadith says she went and searched the house and all she could find was a date. She searched her whole house and found nothing but a date, and she gave it. She gave it. The woman took the date, split it in half, gave one to one daughter, the other half to another daughter. She praised Allah, thanked Aisha, and she left. This was the way of the companions of the Messenger of Allah - that their poverty did not keep them from giving. We have to take the middle course.

Likewise, in times of richness, we cannot be people who just splurge and spend. However, well I have hundreds of thousands of dollars in the bank, I'll just take my money and I'll throw it on the floor and walk on it, or I'll lay it all over the bed so I can sleep on it, or I'll sew it together and use it as a table cloth. Our wealth should not drive us to splurge and spend our wealth in a way that's displeasing to Allah, but rather we should be upon a middle course that no matter what situation we're in, whether we're poor or whether we're rich, we're spending our money and giving our money in a way that Allah is pleased with, because this is one of the things that will save us.

The Three Things That Will Destroy You

As it relates to the three things that will destroy a person: a person's obedience to his stinginess, the following of the desires, and for every person who has an opinion to be impressed with his own opinion.

First: Obeying Your Stinginess

He mentioned that there are three things that will destroy a person. He said in mentioning the first thing: شُحٌّ مُطَاعٌ - a person obeying his stinginess. Because the soul calls you - the wealth that you have in your hand, it's hard to just give it away for nothing. There's no return on investment that we can see, so you see it leaving and it's going to be difficult. So your heart tells you no, hold on to the wealth. What if you're going to need it 10 years from now? What if your children are going to need it 20 years from now? What if your grandchildren are going to need it 50 years from now? Your heart calls you to these different types of things and these different types of thoughts.

But from the things that will destroy a person is if he's obedient to the stinginess. He doesn't give his wealth, he doesn't give his time, he doesn't give his expertise because he's being stingy. The stinginess is not just with your money - it's also with your time, your intellectual abilities. What if I go down to the masjid and I give the brothers some of my expertise, and then they take that from me and then they use it to go make money? So I'll keep it with me and I'm not going to help. Or my time - I'm not going to give my time for the sake of Allah because I want to sit down in front of the television and enjoy my TV programs, so I'm not going to give my time for the sake of Allah. I want to do this and I want to do that - all these different things and reasons why we're being stingy with our time, we're being stingy with our money, we're being stingy with our intellectual abilities. The Prophet said this stinginess and submitting to our stinginess is one of the things that will destroy us.

Second: Following Your Desires

The Messenger of Allah in mentioning the second thing that will destroy us: وَهَوًى مُتَّبَعٌ - the following of desires. We as human beings are created with desires - things that we want. We want power, we want wealth, we want success, we want, we want, we want, and we want. And the more that we get, the more that we want. Our desires call us, but the Prophet said that following our desires, chasing behind our desires, is one of the things that will destroy us.

We will find a person that is so engulfed in the following of his desires that he will put the commands of Allah to the side. He will put the prohibitions of Allah to the side because all he sees in front of him is his desires, and what he desires comes first. This will destroy a person so much so that it is possible for a person to follow their desires in such a way that he starts to worship his own desires. Allah says in the Quran:

"Have you seen the one that has taken his desires as a deity that he worships?" There are those from amongst the people, those amongst human beings, that have their desires - they put those desires in front of what Allah has commanded. They have worshipped their desires. There are people who take their desires and they put those desires in front of what Allah has prohibited. These are those who worship their desires.

So now we have to ask ourselves, we have to ask ourselves every time that we're chasing something that we want: Am I just simply following my desires? Am I pushing Allah's commandments and his prohibitions to the right and to the left to make room for my desires? Am I worshipping myself and my own nafs, or am I worshipping Allah? We have to ask ourselves these questions, because following our desires is from the things that will destroy us.

Third: Being Impressed with Your Own Opinion

The Messenger of Allah said in mentioning the third thing that will destroy us: وَإِعْجَابُ كُلِّ ذِي رَأْيٍ بِرَأْيِهِ - and for every person that has an opinion to be impressed with his opinion. Now the Messenger of Allah did not mention or did not say that what will destroy us is us having an opinion, because every single person has an opinion. What he mentioned was every person who has an opinion being impressed with his opinion - thinking that he now has come up with some great intellectual idea that he's come up with something that his own brain was able to formulate this idea, and this is something wonderful, and he becomes impressed with his opinion.

Because what happens at this point when a man becomes impressed with his opinion, he becomes مُتَعَصِّب - he becomes he takes favoritism over his opinion and he refuses to see things from a different perspective. He refuses to listen to good advice. He even refuses to hear the truth when the Quran is being recited to him, the speech of the Messenger of Allah could be spoken to him. Someone could be saying to him the Messenger said, Abu Bakr said, Umar said, and they say no, no, no, but my opinion. This is what being impressed with your own opinion leads to.

It is possible for your own opinion to lead you to the rejection of the speech of the Messenger, and may Allah protect us. I've even seen individuals - I have seen individuals who I have talked to personally who have rejected the speech of Allah in his book because of their own opinions. I remember one time being in the masjid and the person was speaking about a topic, rejecting something that was from the Quran. I went and brought the mushaf and I told this individual, "This is not from my opinion, this is not from the speech of men, this is from the speech of the Creator." I opened up the surah, I showed him the ayah. He said, "I don't" - he said, "I reject that." He said, "I reject that." This is what being impressed with our own opinions leads to.

All of us have an opinion and it's okay, because Allah gave us intellect. Allah gave us intellect. However, we can never allow ourselves to believe that our intellect is so special that now we are impressed, so much so that it leads us to the rejection of the Quran and the sunnah, because this is one of the things that will destroy us.

Conclusion

So I say to myself first and I say to all my dear beloved brothers and sisters in Islam that our Messenger was given جَوَامِعُ الْكَلِمِ - the ability to say a few words that carried great meanings, and this is just one of the small examples that our Messenger of Allah said. Three things that will destroy us and three things that will save us.

As for the three things that will save us: the fear of Allah in public and in private, to speak the truth in times of pleasure or in times of being angry, and to take the middle course in times of poverty and in times of richness.

And the three things that will destroy us: our obedience to our stinginess, following our desires, and every person who has an opinion being impressed with his opinion.

We ask Allah to guide us and to establish our hearts firmly on iman. We pray that Allah accept from us all our good deeds and our righteous actions. May Allah forgive us and pardon us all of our sins and our mistakes. We ask Allah to guide our children and to guide our families. May Allah protect the Muslims all over the world, give them safety, shelter and security. May Allah give strength to Islam and the Muslims.