Don't Harm and Don't be Harmed - Mufti Menk

we will reward you for their deeds because you encourage them. And we will reward you for the deeds of anyone who got guidance as a result of what they did.

And anyone who got guidance as a result of what those who changed from that person and then changed from them and then changed from them and so on even after your death up to Qiyamah, you continue accumulating good deeds and good deeds because that's how Allah works. His mercy is such that the original person who taught the goodness will get an equal reward that is deserving by every single person who did good until Qiyamah. That's what the hadith says.

This is the reason why Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) has the highest status. While we are seated here, wallahi he is getting a reward. Can you imagine? While we are here all seated, Nabi Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) and the companions who were involved in protecting the deen and all of those who brought it down to us are getting a full reward of the fact that you and I are seated here. Imagine the reward we would get when we can encourage someone. May Allah Almighty have mercy on all of us.

So the question was if I've done something bad, will I get a sin right up to the day of judgment for the bad that was followed thereafter? I want to tell you, it's a very serious question because the hadith says whoever sets a bad example will have the sin of what they've done, the sin of the example, the sin of the people who followed it, and the sin of the people who followed those who followed them, and the sin of the people who followed those who followed those who followed them, and so on right up to the end. And you continue accumulating sin, but if you sought the forgiveness of Allah, it cuts it off. How's that? Allahu Akbar. Allahu Akbar. It chops it off. How does it chop it off? Oh Allah forgive me. I'm going to try my best to reverse whatever I've done. Forgive me. Allah says we've forgiven you and Allah chops it off. So now if you repent, then that particular line of evil is chopped off, but the good is never chopped off.

Allah's Infinite Mercy

So there are people who have videos online filled with nudity and beyond nudity, acts that perhaps, you know, they themselves are embarrassed of, immorality and nudity, whatever it may be, and if they happen to turn towards Allah and change their lives and they repent, they should try to delete whatever they can, but there will by default be some that they probably wouldn't have managed to delete it. What do you do? I know a brother who gave the rights of what he did to an external company, and when he repented and turned and came back to Allah (سبحانه وتعالى - subhanahu wa'ta'ala), he could not reverse that. And he says, look, I don't even want the money, and I don't but they own whatever happened, they own it. What do I do? And so I said, you know what, you seek the forgiveness of Allah. Will Allah forgive me? The answer is always yes. The answer is always yes.

Did you know when Allah says, I will not forgive shirk, he's talking about those who died and did not repent. He's never ever talking about the people who were alive and repented, not once. So when you say Allah does not forgive shirk, what that means is, if you died without repenting from it, but if you repented from it in your life, then you can look at the companions of the Prophet Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam), what did they believe before they accepted Islam? Were the bulk of them, especially in Makkah, not all mushrikeen of the highest order? They were, but they sought the forgiveness of Allah. Allah

forgave them. One of the traps of shaitan is that he comes to you and he makes you think, you know what, you won't be forgiven. You did too much. That's a trap of shaitan. Allah never said that. Allah said the opposite.

"Say: O My servants who have transgressed against yourselves, never ever lose hope in my mercy. Never lose hope in the mercy of Allah, for indeed He will forgive all your sins. He is most forgiving, most merciful."

That's Allah. So if you've done good and you taught good and you encouraged good, good news, you get a reward all the way. If you've done bad and you've encouraged bad and you've been a part of bad and now you've repented, inshallah, because of the repentance, you chop off the sin from accumulating, it doesn't accumulate, but there's one thing you need to try to do still and what is it? Try to do something that will result in the reversal of what you did in terms of negativity. Reversal.

Making Amends and Reversing Bad Effects

So for example, lots of immorality, lots of things that happened that were displeasing to Allah. What am I doing? I repented to Allah, number one. I deleted as much as I could, number two. Then I started creating beneficial content. You see, I'm trying to balance the thing. I started creating beautiful, beneficial content. What that will do, it will give people the opportunity to see the new you and it will give them an encouragement to say, I need to change my life too and perhaps, wow, if she could do it, I can do it and if she went through struggles, I don't mind going through struggles or he did it, I can do it, inshallah.

So this is why we say, not only should you repent, but thereafter, you should try and reverse the bad effects of what was done in the past. I give you another quick example. You are back biting about someone who was close to Allah and you said some really nasty things.

Today, I believe we're living in an age where many of us lose the reward of the good deeds that we do simply because of the click of a button. Someone swears another and we just retweet it, we like it, we comment about it, we say yay or whatever and we let it spread through our own channels or accounts and because of that, you don't realize you have attacked a friend of Allah. What happened? Your good deeds are lost to that particular person.

We're living in an age where people do a lot of good deeds but they're not conscious of how they're losing those good deeds. The gossip needs to stop, the slander needs to stop, the ill-feeling needs to stop. Learn to support each other.

Marriage and Family Guidance

I had a person today ask me about marriage and they said, you know what, the family is disagreeing and this person is not agreeing and either a mother or a father or a brother or someone and my brothers and sisters, don't be too hard. We're living in an age of hyper sexualization, hyper. The highest, it's probably gonna get worse as time passes and you're making it difficult for someone who wants to marry halal.

According to you, they're making a mistake. Talk to them, no problem. Convince them, try but if it gets beyond the point, let them be. It's halal.

I know a guy and I'm gonna say something very silly. I know a guy who said to me, you know what, I've been married so many times, I don't even know. I said, what are you talking? What are you talking? I said, that's an insult, that's haram. He said, what do you mean haram? Where? I said, it's so wrong, it's immoral. You can't do that. He says, no, I don't do haram. I just do halal and I'm thinking to myself, this guy is really absurd but he tells me, you know what, because and he's a good-looking lad, wealthy person, really, you know and I said to myself, this is mad. He says, because sometimes I get people who really want to get married to me and nothing will soothe them. I end up getting married to them and within a week, they realize what they did was totally wrong. It was the only way they had closure. I said, brother, you are nuts, literally, you are crazy. Don't ever tell me about this and I don't even want to talk to you. I said, it's unacceptable.

I don't mind if someone struggles because they couldn't get what they wanted but I do mind when you think you have a solution that is actually belittling the person even more. By the time they realize what has happened, it's true and this is why I say, my brothers and sisters, don't ever fix yourself onto one particular thing. Allah's kept so much on earth. When you fix to one particular thing, wallahi, you suffer a loss. I'm not saying don't work towards something you want. Work towards it. That's part of your ibadah of Allah. Allah wants you to work towards what you believe is beneficial for you. Talk about marriage. Allah wants you to work towards getting it.

This evening, I met a sister saying she's already 50, never been married. May Allah grant her a spouse who will be the coolness of her eyes. Say ameen. But I can tell you what, I told her it's the fact that you keep a lookout and you have the hope and you keep making dua and you keep trying, that is an act of worship on its own that can get you Jannatul Firdaus without reckoning. I have hope. Maybe I was never meant to get married, but I have hope. I kept trying, I kept looking out, I kept you know doing whatever I could in my capacity that Allah's given me which is very limited and I kept crying to Allah whenever I could. That act of worship alone, whether you were to be married or not to be married, Allah knows. But because of this act of worship, Allah says, you know what, you're a VIP. You're a VIP.

And I always tell people, I'd rather not be married than being married to an idiot who's going to cause me a lot of hardship, harm, mentally, physically, emotionally, and whatever otherally that there is. Right? I'd rather not be, but I wouldn't know. Why? Because I really think it's all rosy out there, right? If Allah's kept you in a certain way, don't just sit back and relax. Work hard but understand, Allah's got a plan for you. He's always protected you from something.

Trust in Allah's Plan

Today, another brother speaking to me about his job and I told him, and this is a fact, I told him, I said, if you lose your job because of your closeness to Allah, the first thing you need to do is thank Allah. Oh Allah, I thank you. I just lost my job. Be excited about it. Wallahi. Excited about it.

I lost my job. And then work hard towards getting another job or doing something to earn an income and Allah will test you with a certain period of sabr. You have to go through it. Allah will test you with some time in which you have to bear patience, you have to make ends meet. It might not be easy, but for as long as you have two things, sabr and taqwa, Allah will fling the doors open very soon in such a way that you will thank Him again and again and again for closing that initial door and for letting you go through this moment of struggle. Wallahi. That's the promise of Allah. He's going to fling open your door. Allah closed one door and I'm a steadfast person. That's Allah's mercy. I believe so. I'm going to thank Him.

Oh Allah, I thank you. I don't understand but I know you are my Lord. You're gonna take care of me and you're gonna do it in such an amazing way. I'm gonna continue praying. I'm gonna become a better person and I'm going to be steadfast and I'm going to keep looking and keep working as hard as I can. You will open my doors. That's conviction. Allah will open your doors. May Allah Almighty grant it to us.

So it's very important for us to realize that Allah Almighty's kept a lot of goodness on earth. Sometimes we refuse to see it because we're closed. Don't play with people. Don't belittle people. I was telling you, if I have backbitten about someone online or slandered them or hurt them or harmed them, I might not have access to that person to seek forgiveness.

Online Behavior and Its Consequences

It happens online nowadays where there are people whom we talk so much of rubbish about. We don't even know them. Firstly, we pay a price for it. I've always said that and I've seen it. You know when you see the people who write the worst comments online, wallahi their lives are already upside down in most cases. Do you know that? They are not content. If they were content in the true sense and they had iman, I promise you they wouldn't even do what they did. They wouldn't. But the fact that they're swearing and they're doing this and belittling no matter who it is, even if they're looking practicing, they are suffering souls. That's what they are. They are suffering souls. I pity them.

But the problem is they don't have access to those whom they've wronged. Not at all. One day when they realize and they want to apologize, it's going to be almost impossible. So now what do I do? Impossible. I swore this guy, I slandered him, I falsely accused him or her or whatever. It happens even among the sisters maybe. Some people say maybe more amongst the sisters. I don't know. But it's happening online and people are crying and shedding tears as a result of what you and I might have done against them online without even knowing them.

People are making dua against you day and night because of a comment or two that you left on their posts. Can you imagine? Would you like that? Well I tell you what happens. Because you have no access, the only thing you have is to turn to Allah. And when you turn to Allah, Oh Allah forgive me. And then you got to say, Oh Allah bless that sister. Oh Allah grant her ease. Give her good health. Give her Jannah. Give her a good spouse. Grant her blessed children. What am I doing? I'm compensating for the evil that I

did. I'm trying to do good now and I'm not going to stop there. I'm going to go online and I'm going to say good things about the same person. What am I trying to do? Reversal. Because I don't have access to them. That's the only way you're going to be redeemed. There's no other way. If not, you're going to face that person on the day of judgment. You're going to face that person on the day of judgment.

Personal Anecdote About Slander

I tell you something interesting again. Two days ago, one of my close friends forwarded me a comment that someone left saying they want to spit on the face of my mother. Talking about me. And this guy who's a very good friend of mine responded by saying, delete your post. You don't know this guy's mother. She's always reading the Quran. She's a very very noble person. We've known her, whatever, he wrote some nice things. And then he says, because you're going to face her on the day of judgment. And that just struck something in me. I shed a tear actually. I said, true, you can swear me as much as you want. I don't mind. I won't even hold it against you on the day of judgment. You know why? It's okay. Let it go. Inshallah, may Allah grant us acceptance. But you're starting with my mother. Come on. My mother. Now you're entering territory where it's no longer you and I. You're asking for trouble. Trust me, you don't even know who you're talking about. And wallahi, this is two days ago. I still have the screenshot. And I'm thinking, subhanallah, what did you gain? And the guy is practicing with a name that you wouldn't even believe. Looks practicing. There's no practice there, man.

How are you going to undo it? You have no access to my mother whatsoever. You don't even know her. Wallahi, whenever I see my own mom, she's about 80 something now. Late 80s. She's always reading Quran, smiling, greeting. I'm sure we've got either mothers or grandmothers just like that. And she's always interested in her and Allah. She's either in salah or Quran. She doesn't even waste time eating. She probably eats a morsel or two a day. Look who you're swearing. You want to spit at the face of my mother. What did I do? Something that you didn't like perhaps. It's okay. It's okay. Look at how suffering you are. My mom doesn't even know you.

I'm mentioning this in honor of my own mother and all our mothers. I would never do it to your mother. Even if I had beef with you. You know what beef means, right? They should have just said pork. Even if I had pork with you. Because that's the haram stuff. Okay. But anyway, even if I had beef with you, I wouldn't want to put in your mom and dad into the scene here. Because wallahi, who knows? They're innocent, man. They may be so close to Allah. And I don't want to say something I'm going to regret. And then one day when you want to seek, you're gonna have to do something on behalf of this person. You'd rather go and drill a few boreholes somewhere in a poor country on behalf of this person whom I wronged. Maybe it might do you some good. May Allah grant us ease. Because you will face them on the Day of Judgment. Wallahi, you face them on the Day of Judgment. And don't think it's gonna be easy. That day is really a tough day. And Allah mentions this in the Quran, in Revelation. He talks about it so many times to say fear the day. That your children won't avail you, your wealth won't avail you. It's between you and Allah. You need to face the Judgment Day.

Preparing for the Day of Judgment