By Sheikh Saud Al-Shuraim – 03 Thul Qa’dah 1435

His Eminence Sheikh Saud Al-Shuraim -may Allah protect him- delivered this Friday khutbah titled “Warning against Blaming Others”. He spoke about the phenomenon of laying the blame on one another among the Muslim community. He cited evidence from the Holy Qur’an, the Prophet’s Sunnah, and the tradition of earlier Muslim generations dispraising this habit and cautioning Muslims against adopting it. The Sheikh explained the difference between laying the blame on others and the act of blaming. He also explained how it is in contradistinction with the notions of advising others and reconciling between them.

Praise is due to Allah! We praise Him, seek His assistance, ask for His forgiveness, and repent unto Him. We take refuge in Him from our own vices and evil deeds. He whom Allah guides (to the right path) will never be misguided (by anybody else); he whom Allah leads astray will find none to guide him.

I bear witness that there is no deity (worthy of worship) except Allah alone with no associate, and I bear witness that Muhammad is the Servant and Messenger of Allah.

“O You who Believe! Fear Allah (by doing all that He has ordered and by abstaining from all that He has forbidden) as He should be feared. [Obey Him, be thankful to Him, and remember Him always], and die not except in a state of Islam (as Muslims) with complete submission to Allah.” [al-Imran: 102]

“O Mankind! Be dutiful to your Lord, Who created you from a single person (Adam), and from him (Adam) He created his wife [Hawwa (Eve)], and from them both He created many men and women and fear Allah through Whom you demand your mutual (rights), and (do not cut the relations of) the wombs (kinship). Surely, Allah is Ever an All¬Watcher over you.” [Al-Nisa’: 1]

“O You who Believe! Keep your duty to Allah and fear Him, and speak (always) the truth.” “He will direct you to do righteous good deeds and will forgive you your sins. And whosoever obeys Allah and His Messenger (SAW) he has indeed achieved a great achievement (i.e. he will be saved from the Hell-fire and made to enter Paradise).” [Al-Aḥzab: 70-71]

Now then!

O People!

It is clear for every sensible person who studied our current conditions thoroughly that the successive calamities and dismal afflictions which have befallen our Islamic Ummah today while its wise members were inadvertent. He realizes that the frequency of such disastrous events is not something abnormal, nor is their advent an exceptional kind of incidents and calamities which do not come in succession without prior notice or causes that ignite them, thus leading to their outbreak amongst us or in the vicinity.

In fact, regardless of the type and magnitude of such events, all of us are not exempt from responsibility. We, directly or indirectly, are all implicated in their occurrence. This is because the Creator, sublime be He, says:

“And whatever of misfortune befalls you, it is because of what your hands have earned. And He pardons much.” [Al-Shūra: 30]

A conscious and successful nation is that which seriously takes such happenings into account, examining their causes and seeking remedies for them. At the same time, it protects itself against a dangerous and incurable disease which makes things worse and therefore aggravates the calamitous situation. Most societies suffer from such a disease whenever they encounter successive dismal calamities and afflictions, as it has strongly resisted treatment: it is namely “the disease of blaming one another”.

Yes, indeed. It is blaming one another which does not subdue tribulations but instead makes them worse. It is blaming one another which emerges after every instance of failure, loss, or ordeal. It is used to compensate for failure and escape the acknowledgement of faults, the feeling of remorse and the determination not to repeat such faults in the future.

Yes, indeed. It is blaming one another which aborts all such endeavours, whereas Prophet Muhammad (May Allah’s Salat and Peace be upon him)did prescribe for us what could prevent this disease from reaching alarming proportions when he said, “All Adam’s offspring (all humans) err. Yet, the best amongst those who err are the ones who seek repentance.” [Reported by Imam Ahmed and Al-Tirmithi]

In another hadith, he (May Allah’s Salat and Peace be upon him) also said, “I swear by Him in Whose Hand lies my soul that if you were not to sin, Allah would then eradicate you and create other people who sin but soon seek His forgiveness and so, He forgives their sins.” [Reported by Imam Muslim]

Blaming one another, O servants of Allah, is a negative form of criticism. In reality, it is neither positive, gentle chiding nor appreciated reprimand. It is rather some sort of selfishness and egoism, as each individual will lay all the blame on the other, although both parties are at fault. It is essentially self-conceit, escaping responsibility, and laxity in doing reform. This is reminiscent of the Arabic proverb saying, “She has accused me of being affected by a disease she herself is incubating, and then she slipped away.”

Blaming one another, O servants of Allah, is closer to dispute than it is to advice and reconciliation, because disasters normally lead to the joint search for some remedy whereas mutual reproach aborts any solution in its embryonic stage. It reflects one of the aspects of a society’s failure to deal with the calamities and catastrophes befalling it. It often consists in finding fault with someone else while the accuser himself is also responsible for such fault.

For this very reason, blaming one another is not commended in the Book of Allah (the Holy Qur’an). In fact, blaming one another is not similar to the usual act of blaming. While blame is directed by the party offering advice to someone found at fault, blaming one another takes place when both parties at fault lay the blame on each other. Here lies the reason why both parties remain blind to correction.

The greatest victory for the enemies wishing the Ummah every misfortune is when they notice their adversaries in a wretched condition blindly blaming one another, thus demolishing the bonds of unity within their same society. Their malicious joy rises with the ummah’s vociferous mutual blame to the degree of ecstasy.

This is why wise people in all communities must distance themselves from this disgraceful attitude which blinds consciousness and blocks perception. In certain cases, blaming one another may miss the target and, as the saying goes, it might gouge the eye of the shot game without killing it. Thus, blaming one another may widen the gap between people to the point of accusing others of betrayal as regards religion, honesty, and moral integrity. This situation will deteriorate until it reaches the point of non-return where it would be impossible to achieve unity, mutual affection, compassion, and a sense of shared responsibility inside the very same Muslim society.

On the unity of Islamic Ummah, Prophet Muhammad (May Allah’s Salat and Peace be upon him) said, “Facing their adversaries, they act as one hand.” [Reported by Abu Dawood, Al-Tirmithi, and Ibn Majeh]

O Servants of Allah!

Disparaging the fact of blaming one another should never mean the renunciation of exchanging advice and rectifying faults, guided by a spirit of dedication to the servitude of Allah, to leniency, clemency, and shared devotion to the cause of the True Religion:

“And say to My slaves (i.e. the true believers of Islamic Monotheism) that they should (only) say those words that are the best. (Because) Shaitan (Satan) verily, sows disagreements among them. Surely, Shaitan (Satan) is to man a plain enemy.” [Al-Isra’: 53]

Once we become aware of this -O servants of Allah- we will then realize how responsible we ought to be amidst such numerous trials and tempestuous turmoil that are wrecking our Ummah like raining pebbles would or even worse.

Hence, blaming one another becomes but an act of further aggravating the situation, avoiding admission of one’s mistakes, giving too much attention to trivialities while overlooking matters that are indeed worthy of attention, just as one would focus attention on the less serious dimple leaving aside the much more precarious tumour.

In fact, it is an obligation on every one of us to look into the adversities befalling our Ummah and try to find out the nature of their causes: whether it is moral, religious, cultural, educational or a mixture of all of this?! Then, we may proceed to find the proper cure based on the diagnosis of such an ailment, otherwise blame will take over and will thus render futile any effective therapy and cause to wither away our sense of responsibility as a whole. In such case, the outcome will certainly be nothing but wretchedness.

May Allah bless the soul of Malik Ibn Dῑnar who was sitting exhorting a group of people around him who were so moved by his words that they started to cry! Then he turned around to look for his mus’haf (the Qur’an), but he did not find it. He then said: “All of you are crying, so who stole the mus’haf?!”

O Servants of Allah! Such is the condition of those blaming one another, for by so doing all sense of responsibility is lost and there can be no confession as to one’s mistakes and, consequently, the situation gets out of control. Allah ‒to Whom belongs Might and Majesty‒ says:

“When a single disaster smites you, although you smote (your enemies) with one twice as great, you say: “From where does this come to us?” Say (to them), “It is from yourselves (because of your evil deeds).” And Allah has power over all things.” [Ᾱl Imran: 165]

May Allah bless you and me by the Glorious Qur’an and make its verses and wise sayings beneficial to you and me! This is what I have said. If it is correct, it is so thanks to Allah, but if it is wrong, it is my own fault and Satan’s. I ask Allah to forgive my sins, yours, and those of all Muslims, so ask Him for forgiveness and repent unto Him, for He is Most Forgiving, Most Merciful!