Praying for The Sinner, Friday Khutbah,

The Story of the Intoxicated Man

During the time of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم, there was a man who was always inebriated and he was always drunk, and he was brought to the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم on multiple occasions. This was obviously after intoxicants and khamr and alcohol was forbidden outright, so the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم ordered that he be flogged.

But on this time he was brought forth and after he was flogged, someone from the people said: اللهم العنه ما أكثر ما يؤتى به - "May Allah curse this person, may Allah curse him, how often is it that he is brought to the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم."

When the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم heard that this person who had received the punishment and he heard that people or someone had said that, the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said: لا تلعنه - "Do not curse him." And by Allah, he swears by Allah: إنه يحب الله ورسوله - "He loves Allah and His messenger."

And in another narration, the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم says: لا تعينوا الشيطان على أخيكم - "Do not assist Shaytan against your brother."

Understanding Our Reactions to Others' Sins

Brothers and sisters, many times we will find ourselves in situations where maybe it is someone that we know, maybe it's a friend - specifically I'm talking about within the Muslim community, I'm not talking about outside, I'm talking about within the Muslim context - we will find you will hear of someone who might have done something, whatever it is. And here we have to remind ourselves that all of us, all humans, we are bound to make mistakes.

And I'm not in any way or in any shape saying that this hadith of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم somehow is to be interpreted as they didn't do anything wrong because they love Allah and His messenger - no, the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم didn't say that he didn't do anything wrong. The fact that he ordered him to be flogged means that he did something wrong. But what he is telling us is that we do not know the condition of the sinner and their heart - that's what the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم is saying.

And more specifically, any Muslim who does any sin, as long as it is not manifest disbelief or shirk, any sin that a Muslim does, it does not take them outside of the fold of Islam.

When Tragedy Strikes

We hear of many times where there are events, maybe God forbid, a mass casualty event, and because of the media we hear, we see so much anti-Islam, anti-Muslim rhetoric that we hear of something happening - some shooting or whatever, God forbid - and then what is the first thing that most Muslims think in their head? We pray that it's not Muslim, we ask Allah that it's not Muslim - that's the first thing they want to think about. And when it is revealed that it is not Muslim, what do they say? الحمد لله, it's not Muslim.

There's nothing wrong with the reaction. What I'm talking about is it's easy to file the thought away when it's non-Muslim - الحمد لله, it's not Muslim, okay, not my problem. But what if something happened in our community? What if something was done? What if someone had committed some haram? That is when it becomes difficult, because we have difficulty reconciling between our emotions and how we perceive that person and judge that person.

Islam Teaches Us the Middle Path

So the message that I want to impart to all of you today is Islam teaches us to be in the middle. That when we hear or see whether it is our father, our brother, a close friend of ours, or someone who has done something wrong in the Muslim community, we should number one: not mock them nor curse them, as we discussed in the hadith of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم.

(Sahih Muslim)

And the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم did not specify if the person was sinning or not sinning.

You look at the verse in the Quran:

"Do not mock, let one group mock another group, because maybe they are better than them."

This verse does not mean that what they did is right. Even if you were just to take the verse from its general meaning at the surface level, Allah is saying that no Muslim should mock another Muslim. Why? Because they could be better than them.

How Could They Be Better?

You might be wondering: what do you mean, how could they be better? I didn't do that sin, how could they be better? It's saying it is okay to say that action is wrong, but you do not know what is the condition of their heart. Because what does Allah say? عَسَىٰ أَن يَكُونُوا خَيْرًا مِنْهُمْ - "that perhaps they are better than them" - in the sense that there could be something else that they do, there could be other actions that they are doing that elevates them over the sin that they have committed, and that action that they do is great in the eyes of Allah.

It does not negate the evil that they have committed, and it's very important for us as Muslims to not go beyond the scope of what the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم has taught us - and that we condemn the action, but we do not condemn the person to hell.

The Warning Against Declaring Someone Unforgivable

The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم tells us of two people who had an argument, and one was sinning and the other one was advising against that sin, and he got so frustrated that he says: "Allah will not forgive you, Allah will not forgive you."

And so Allah on the day of judgment, He will say: "Who is the one that takes my name?" In fact, this person says والله, he says "By Allah, Allah will not forgive a person." He says Allah will say: "Who is the person that takes my name and says that I will not forgive them? فَإِنِّي قَدْ غَفَرْتُ لَهُ - For I have forgiven that person, and I have now negated this person's actions" - the person who made that claim.

The Proper Response to Others' Struggles

Whenever you see a Muslim who is struggling, who has committed some sort of sin, the first thing that should come to your mind is to give thanks to Allah that Allah has not tested you with that sin.

Real Context Examples

So let's put this into real context. Let's say for example someone is dealing with addiction, some sort of addiction, some sort of substance abuse, like we said in the beginning of the khutbah - this man who was inebriated. The proper response of the Muslim is not to say "Wow, what a horrible person, might as well not be a Muslim."

Or we see for example, we see this same thing - sisters, maybe a sister did something wrong and then you see some reaction and they'll say like "أستغفر الله, how dare she do that, she might as well take off her hijab because she's representing Muslims." She never said that she wore the hijab and committed the sin to represent Islam.

So when you are saying something like that, you are saying it is better for her to commit another sin so that you can just say "Oh well, they're already doing that sin, so who cares if they do this sin." This is what the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم means: do not help Shaytan against your brother.

And I have seen this before where someone did something to someone and the person would look at them and say: "This person thinks they're so religious" - and yes, they did something wrong - "they think they're so religious, might as well shave that beard off, what good is the beard?" Those have nothing to do with each other.

That's literally what Shaytan will do. Shaytan will come to the person and say: "Well, you're already horrible and a sinner, might as well stop praying because you're a hypocrite." This is what the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم means by "do not assist the Shaytan against your brother and sister."

The Danger of Arrogance

It is easy for someone to look at someone else's sin and think that there's no way I could do that, there's no way I could fall so low and do that sin, that sin is beneath me. That is a form of arrogance, because you don't know how you will turn out. Maybe one day you who is accusing someone else of how horrible they are for doing that sin - who knows, maybe 20 years from now you do the same sin.

You'll hear this in our communities - something happened and they'll be like "SubhanAllah, that neighbor's daughter, I seek refuge in Allah, how dare she do that, my son or daughter would never dare to do that sin, never." And SubhanAllah, you never know, maybe Allah will test your children with that sin.

So never be arrogant thinking that you could never ever do such and such sin, because sin - no one wakes up and chooses to just do sin like "I'm gonna wake up, I'm gonna do some sinning today." It's always one step at a time, and then it keeps going, it keeps going. No one sees it, no one knows it, until it gets bigger and bigger and bigger until one day it comes out, and then you think "Wow, how did they get to that point?"

What We Should Do Instead

And so that's why the next thing that you should do is after thanking Allah that He has not tested you in it, you have to realize you have to make du'a: "O Allah, help them, guide them, make them into a better person." Ask Allah to improve their situation. It doesn't mean that we're diminishing the crime - it's to keep yourself humble.

The Prophet's Approach to Those Who Sin

The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم never looked at someone who had the desire or the propensity to do something haram and immediately shun them and shoo them away.

A man came to the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم and he said: "Messenger of Allah, I would like to make fornication, adultery, halal for me." And what was the response of the companions? Rightfully so, they all said some words to basically show how much they were so upset - that's fine. But what did the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم do?

He said: "Come, come closer." And he says: "Do you want that for your mother? Do you want that for your sister? Do you want that for your daughter? Do you want that for your aunt?" So on and so forth. And he said: "No, Messenger of Allah." And then the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم put his hand on his heart and he made du'a for him.

Giving Victory to Your Brother

So when the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم says: "Give victory to your brother either when he is being oppressed or if he is an oppressor," the companions said: "We know give victory to the one who is being oppressed, we defend the weak, we defend the victims, for sure. But how do you give victory to the oppressor?" The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم says: "It is by stopping them, it is by stopping them."

The Right Attitude

So next time when you hear, you see something haram being committed, the attitude that you should have is: "May Allah never test me with that," and "الحمد لله, Allah has not tested me in it."

Because let me tell you something: every single one of us, we have different skeletons in our closet. Don't think that you are better than someone else just because they sin differently from you.

As the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم says: "Every single son of Adam will make mistakes, but the best of them are the ones who make tawbah and repent to Allah."