By Saleh ibn Abdullah ibn Humaid – 24 Muharram 1437

His Eminence Sheikh Saleh ibn Abdullah ibn Humaid –May Allah protect him– delivered this Friday Khutbah entitled “Do Not Gloat over Your Muslim Brother’s Mishaps.” He talked about a reprehensible moral trait, namely gloating over Muslims’ mishaps. He cautioned against this disgraceful sort of conduct and cited evidence from the prophetic Hadith, the Companions’ sayings, and scholars’ statements which are meant to deter people from this ill-nature, as it is linked with envy.

Praise be to Allah! Praise be to Allah Who controls the flow of time, facilitates all affairs, and alternatesthe days and months! There is no divinity except Him. Praise is due to Himboth in the Herein and the Hereafter and unto Him all creatures shall eventually return. I do praise Him –May He be exalted‒ show Him gratitude and repentance, and seek His forgiveness. He bestows gifts, grants favours, and protects (His true servants) from all types of evil.

I bear witness that there is no deity except Allah, alone with no partner –a heartfelt and sincere testimony of faith which heals believers’ hearts; and I bear witness that our Master and Prophet Muhammad is the Servant and Messenger of Allah. He performed his duties vis-à-vis his Lord to the point that his feet get sore and swollen (due to standing in prayer for a longtime). He is indeed a thankful servant of Allah. May Allah send His profuse Salat (Graces, Honours, and Mercy), Peace and Blessing upon him, his family, his Companions –who believed in their Lord and followed His Messenger as well as the enlightening revelation inspired to him– the tabi’in(the contemporaries of the Companions of the Prophet [May Allah’s Salat and Peace be upon him] after his death), and all those who follow in their footsteps as long as evening and morning keep alternating!

Now then!

I advise you ‒ O People‒ as well as myself to adhere to Taqwa vis-à-vis Allah (fear of disobeying His commands). Do adhere to Taqwa ‒ May Allah have mercy on you ‒ for Allah’s decrees are going on (and no one can change their course), and are human souls ready to accept their fates? Calamities have lethal effects; so, are hearts aware of their adverse impact? Preordained lifespan is already fixed by divine decree; so, are people taking their precautions in preparation for His encounter? Where have senior forefathers disappeared? Where are junior offspring? Where are loyal friends? Where are alien fellowsand close friends? Where have absent people vanished and where have contemporary ones gone? All of them failed to evade the machinations of time and spare themselves the (decreed):

“Then do they wait for (anything) save for (destruction) like the days of the men who passed away before them? Say: “Wait then, I am (too) with you among those who wait.” [Yunus: 102]

O Muslims!

Islam has been revealed in order to cleanse mankind of the impurities and pathologies of Jahiliyyah (Arabic label for pre-Islamic period, roughly meaning systematic ignorance) and to restore human conduct to its primordial moral rectitude as originally created by Allah. The bond between the followers of Islam is that of religion and fraternity in faith. This bond has its distinguishing marks: true belief, love, joy, wishing good for people, contentment with other people’s happiness, avoiding whatever might spoil or disturb such bliss, including envy, hostility, mutual parting of company, mutual hatred, exchange of derisive names. It is obvious that the servants of Allah who care for and love the well-being of mankind (in general) are normally well-bred, compassionate, affectionate, friendly, truthful, and faithful.

O Brothers and Sisters!

Quite certainly, the Sharia has –thanks to its holistic perspective which encompasses all aspects of human life– provided remedies for all the possible diseases and defections affecting the human soul, including utterances, actions, emotions, and reactions. Fortunately, the availability, nowadays, of modern resources and technical devices has enhanced such a potentiality and made it realisable when it comes to facing the causes of affliction and providing efficient solutions to them.

O Muslims!

There is a reprehensible immoral trait and a disgraceful behaviour, which indicates a depraved human self and a sick heart almost devoid of love, friendliness, affection, and love of doing good. O servants of Allah! This is namely the unethical trait of gloating over somebody else’s mishaps,which is often associated with aspects of hatred, such as mockery, backbiting, slander, insult, and all types of disdain and derision by speech, action, and sign. We seek refuge with Allah from such ill-nature!

Gloating over somebody else’s mishaps –May Allah protect you– is a description, a label, and a term including denigration, deprecation, disdain, dispraise, defamation, and an offence against human integrity. It means to rejoice at calamities befalling someone for whom you have inimical feelings and to celebrate the fact that something strongly hateful befalls a person with whom you are at loggerheads. Ibn Battal says: “The enemy’s gloating over ourmishaps is heart-breaking and causes the human soul to experience unbearable suffering. It results from either enmity or envy.” Wise people once said: “Envy and gloating go together, for the envier slanders when he sees someone who is blessed and rejoices when he sees someone struck by a mishap.”

O You Gloater! O you who is afflicted by gloating! May Allah cure you from this malady and may He guide you to the right path! It seems as if you were boasting about your perfection and taking pride in your beauty, quite unaware of the fact that days are sometimes for you and sometimes against you. You seem to think that your Muslim brother, that is, the afflicted person, would have never been inflicted had you not been endowed with extraordinary God-given powers or had Allah not answered your or somebody else’s supplications imploring Him to cause him to be afflicted! This is indeed self-pronouncement of one’s integrity, arrogance, conceit, and inadvertence. Even worse, this can be a way by which Allah gradually seizes you in punishment and plans for you to get ensnared in your own misdeeds. We seek refuge with Allah from such an affliction!

Are you not aware that gloating might be a reflection of some psychological disorders which are indicative of a lack of confidence together with a bitter feeling of failure? As a result, you have resorted to it in order to relieve yourself from such areprehensible immoral trait. In fact, the gloater is deprived of all sorts of praiseworthy ethics, highmoral standards, and noble human feelings. No one rejoices at the mishaps of others unless he/she is characterised with an ignoble mind. Nay, scholars of religion affirm that gloating is one ofthe characteristics of hypocrites. In His description of the hypocrites, Allah –Sublime be He‒ said the following:

“If a good befalls you, it grieves them, but if some evil overtakes you, they rejoice at it. But if you remain patient and become Al- Muttaqûn (the pious – see V.2:2), not the least harm will their cunning do to you…” [Al Imran: 120]

O Muslims!

Our Prophet –May Allah’s Salat and Peace be upon him– sought refuge in Allah from gloating and its corollary evils. In the following authentic hadith, he was reported to have said: “O Allah, I seek refuge with You from all preordained evils, degrading misery, and the gloating of enemies(over our mishaps).”

In the Noble Revelation, Haroon (Aaron) said to his brother Musa (Moses) –Peace be upon both of them:

“…so make not the enemies rejoice over me…” [Al-A’raf: 150] That is to say, “Don’t make my enemies rejoice at my misfortune.”

In this respect, Al-Shawkani –May Allah have mercy on his soul– said: “The Prophet –May Allah’s Salat and Peace be upon him– sought refuge with Allah from the gloating of enemies and asked Muslims to seek refuge from it, due to its tremendous negative effect, to its strong impact on the human psyche, and due to the fact that human nature does avert it. Profound and constant gloating over people’s mishaps may result in excessive enmity leading to the violation of what is prohibited by Allah.” Also, Al-Manawi –May Allah have mercy on his soul–said: “Recommended supplications to Allah are those aiming at repelling enemies’ gloating, because every highly-esteemed and meditative person would find himself in a situation similar to that of an acrobat doing a tight-rope walk while his mates and enviers keep watching him in wait for the moment he slips over.”

O servant of Allah! Never gloat over your Muslim brother’s mishap, for Allah may relieve him of his affliction and afflict you, instead. Try to draw a lesson from the following Hadith: Wathilah ibn Al-Asqa’ –May Allah be pleased with him– said: “The Messenger of Allah –May Allah’s Salat and Peace be upon him– said: ‘Never rejoice at your brother’s mishap, for Allah may bless him and afflict you.’”

Never gloat over your Muslim brother’s mishapno matterhow negligent in society he might seem to you and regardless of whether his flaw is unmistakably evident or whether his shortcomings in religious or worldly mattersare undeniably clear. For gloating is indeed conducive to afflictions and ordeals. However, do implore Allah submissively, seeking His help, fearfully, and secretly out of pity for yourself and your brother, and say (supplicating your Lord): “Praise be to Allah Who spared me from the ordeal He inflicted on him! Praise be to Allah Who preferred me above many of His creatures with a marked preference.” If you ponder over such a supplication –May Allah protect you– you will realise that it is meant to prevent you from falling into the trap of gloating, disdain, mockery, and denigration of one’s brothers and sisters.

O Muslims!

Time tends to change and days alternate between people. Many a wealthy person has impoverished, a poor person has become wealthy, a notable person has become lowly, a lowly person has become a notable, a low-ranking person has become high-ranking, a high-ranking person has become low-ranking, a strong person has turned weak, a weak person has turned strong, a healthy person has turned sick, and a sick person has turned healthy. The course of time has it that when it causes certain people to be in a grave plight, it does relieve someothers. As a rule, gloaters will, in turn,meet the same fate.

Ibn Mass’ud –May Allah be pleased with him– says: “I swear by Allah that if someone mocks somebody else for having been breast fed by a bitch, he will himself inevitably be breastfed by the same bitch.” It is also narrated that Omar –May Allah be pleased with him– once said: “I swear by Allah that if I mocked a pregnant woman, I would fear becoming pregnant myself.” Ismail Al-Harawi said: “Any defect you have mentioned to mock your brother will certainlypass to you.” Al-Hasan Al-Basri –May Allah bless his soul– says: “I lived to see people who were free from defects. However, when they talked about others’ flaws, Allah madedefects in them. I also lived to see other people who had defects, but since they abstained from talking about peoples’ defects, Allah hid theirs.”

All the foregoing statements would be no surprise if we knew the hadith narrated by Thawban –May Allah be pleased with him– in which the Prophet –May Allah’s Salat and Peace be upon him– is reported to have said: “Do not harm the servants of Allah; do not mockthem, and do not seek to expose their defects. For he who seeks to expose the defects of his Muslim brother, Allah will expose hisdefectsto everyone, even to his own household.” [Narrated by Imam Ahmed]

In this very vein, Ibrahim Al-Nakh’iy –May Allah bless his soul– says: “I do notice something which I normally abhor but what makes me abstain from exposing it is my fear that the same thing might befall me later.” Ibn Al-Qayyim–May Allah bless his soul– also says: “Whoever mockshis brother for a sin will later be afflicted by committing that very sin. Thus, whenever you are told something bad about someone, just say from the bottom of your heart, ‘may Allah forgive his sins and ours’.”

O Servant of Allah! Do not have an eye on people, act as fault finder, seek to expose their private lives and defects, and spy on their secret affairs. Concentrate on your own affairs and try to mend your own defects, for on Doomsday, you will be brought to account in order to answer questions about your own self. Leave people to their Lord, for Allah will show more compassion to both you and them than you yourself could show to them or they could show to themselves.

A sincere and devout believer would treat people the way he would like to be treated by them. This is confirmed by the Hadith of the Prophet –May Allah’s Salat and Peace be upon him– which was narrated by Imam Bukhari: “None amongst you will have truly embraced faith until he wishes for his brother what he wishes for himself.” In the same vein, Ibn Rajab –May Allah bless his soul– says: “Only when someone is free from envy, rancour, cheating, and resentment can he wish for his Muslim brother what he wishes for himself.”

Part of the subtlety of this Hadith is related by Abu Al-Zinad who said: “It (i.e. the above hadith) seemingly denotes parity, but in reality it expresses preference because man wishes the best for himself, and by (supposedly) wishing the same for his fellow man, he would then be considered among those favoured.”

This is further confirmed by Al-Fudhail ibn ‘Iyadh who was reported to have said to Sufiane ibn ‘Uyaynah: “If you wish for everyone else to be like you, then you will not have carried out the advice; how could it be when you wish for them to be of a lesser status than you?!”

As for those of you, who are afflicted with gloaters, do not feel concerned with their gloating over your mishaps or their mocking you; just try to remember the stories of those people (across history) who mocked their prophets and flouted them and how the latter ended up with the upper hand. Allah –May He be exalted– said in this regard:

“And indeed (many) Messengers before you were mocked at, but their scoffers were surrounded by the very thing that they used to mock at.” [Al-An’am: 10]

Tell them:‘Just wait, for what goes around comes around, and that things in life are ever changing and fluctuating.’

Omar ibn Abdul Aziz ‒May Allah bless his soul– said: “Never have I seen an oppressor who is more of an oppressed than the envious: undergoing grief, sinning and restlessness.”

Now, then ‒May Allah protect you!

It is incumbent upon people of faith to leave aside hatred and rancour and to avoid gloating over the misfortunes of their fellow Muslims lest this would bring about division, conflict, name-calling, and aversion. How can such a vile act as gloating comefrom a Muslim who would wake up every morning to say: “O Allah! Whatever favour has come to me this morning or to anyone of Your creatures, it certainly came from only You.You have no partner; to You praise and thanks are due’!

Such instance of Allah’s remembrance is duly meant to reflect the purity of the believer’s heart, his spirit of mercy and love for all, rather than his wish for people to be afflicted with anguish, scourge, misery and misfortune. It must be pointed out in this context that overwhelming compassion simply may not mix with gloating and cruelty.

I seek refuge with Allah from the accursed Satan:

“O you who believe! Let not a group scoff at another group, it may be that the latter are better than the former. Nor let (some) women scoff at other women, it may be that the latter are better than the former. Nor defame one another, nor insult one another by nicknames. How bad is it to insult one’s brother after having Faith [i.e. to call your Muslim brother (a faithful believer) as: “O sinner”, or “O wicked”]. And whosoever does not repent, then such are indeed Zâlimûn (wrong-doers, etc.).” [Al-Hujurat: 11]

May Allah make the Great Qur’an and the Guidance of Prophet Mohammad (May Allah’s Salat and Peace be upon him) beneficial to me and to you! I say this and I ask Allah to forgive me, you, and the rest of Muslims for all our sins and wrong doings. Therefore, do ask Him for forgiveness, for He is the All-Forgiving, the All-Merciful!