By Sheikh Saud Al-Shuraim – 21 Rajab 1434

His Eminence Sheikh Saud Al-Shuraim – may Allah protect him-  delivered this Khutbah titled: Danger of Forgery and Fraud in which he spoke about a certain type of people who tend to boast about what they do not actually possess; he also spoke about the danger of forgery and people deceit, both in speech and action with the purpose of earning people's praise for something that one does not really have. The Sheikh cited evidence from the Qur’?n and the pure Sunnah disapproving of this type of people and their practices.
 
Praise be to Allah, praise be to Allah! He is the First (nothing is before Him) and the Last (nothing is after Him). He is the Evident (He made Himself known to us but kept Himself invisible) and the Hidden (whose existence is unquestionable but cannot be seen). He has created everything and then proportioned it, and He has measured (preordainments for everything even to be blessed or wretched), and then guided (i.e. showed mankind the right as well as the wrong paths, and guided the animals to pasture). In His hand is the sovereignty of everything, and He protects (all), while against Whom there is no protector . Praise be to Him (?)! I thank Him, repent to Him and ask Him His forgiveness; I bear witness that there is no deity worthy of worship except Allah with no associate, and I also bear witness that Muhammad (Sallallahu Alayhi Wa Sallam) is Allah’s Servant and Messenger; Allah sent him very shortly before the Hour (i.e. close to the day of Resurrection) as a bearer of glad tidings, and a warner, and as one who invites to Allâh [Islâmic Monotheism, i.e. to worship none but Allâh (Alone)] by His Leave, and as a lamp spreading light (through your instructions from the Qur’ân and the Sunnah – the legal ways of the Prophet) . May Allah send His salat and blessings upon him, his virtuous and pure family, his wives – the mothers of the faithful-  his Companions, the Tabi’in, and all those who follow them in righteousness till the Day of Judgment!

Having said that, I advise you and myself to fear Allah (?). You should know that this life is but a temporary passageway, not an eternal abode, and that Allah has appointed you His vicegerents in it so that He sees what you do. Therefore, he who fears Him is guided; and he who disobeys Him should only blame himself: "Whosoever does righteous good deed, it is for (the benefit of) his ownself; and whosoever does evil, it is against his ownself. And your Lord is not at all unjust to (His) slaves." [Fussilat: 46]

O People!
An honest believer is kind-hearted, good looking, and has neither rancor nor envy. He wears his heart upon his sleeve and has a natural disposition for goodness.

(The Sheikh quotes a line of poetry):
Whatever trait an individual may harbour within,
Will not be hidden from people, even if he should think so.

His good words, his countenance, and his whole being are sufficient to disclose his nature and to translate his thoughts, for the tongue is the mirror of the heart and, as the saying goes, “each vessel filters what it contains.”

Besides, it is more becoming of you, O Muslims, to be seen by people as you are without any embellishment, staining, or forgery. It is also more becoming of you not to pretend the provision of that which you do not have or withhold from anyone that which you possess. Let people see you as you would like to see them so that you would not end up holding grudges one against the other.

Know your own worth before trying to know the worth of others; do not ever wear what is not yours, nor adopt a title other than yours; do not act like a lion while Allah has created you a gentle lamb, and do not claim to possess what you have not been granted, for you would be like someone wearing two garments of falsehood.

Al-Bukhari and Muslim narrated a Hadith from Asma'a – may Allah be pleased with her? that a woman came to the Prophet (Sallallahu Alayhi Wa Sallam) and said: “‘O Messenger of Allah! I have a co-wife; would it be a sin if I pretend that our husband has given me something which he actually did not? The Messenger of Allah (Sallallahu Alayhi Wa Sallam) said’: The one who pretends to be given something which he was not is like the one who wears two garments of falsehood.”

Allah is great! How great this Hadith is! Allah is great! How relevant it is to our reality!
Interpreters of the Hadith construed it as follows: anyone who pretends to have what he really does not in order to earn others’ praise will be reprimanded as will be the one who wears two false garments.

O Allah! How odd things have turned out to be today seeing a great many people of this type in our communities! Just notice how many of them are dressed in apparels and engulfed in covers that are not theirs! You would see the poor pretending to be rich, the miser generous, the foolish wise, and the frivolous knowledgeable. Each one of those is boasting a credit which he, by no means, possesses. By so doing, he sets himself on a par with a cat pretending to be a ferocious lion, or a small bird that forgot its own size and pretended to be an eagle. This is – by Allah? vainglory. We seek refuge with Allah from its evil consequences.

People will only look askance at those pretending to have what they have not been given. They certainly disapprove of them and scorn them even though they may not make it explicit to them. The least they will do is speak ill of them in their backs. Indeed, one of the most wretched follies on the part of such people is when they forget that the others know all about them even before they boast of possessing what they actually do not.

However, what leads such people to this folly is their dissatisfaction with what Allah had granted them, their hunger for false praise, and their tendency to boast and conceal the truth either by forgery or fraud, both of which are equally despicable.

Ali (RA) said: "I am indeed astonished by an evil person getting angry when he is told that he is evil, and by a person feeling content when he is described as being good while he knows he is not".  

O servants of Allah! A true believer does not lie; however, a person pretending to have what he has not been given has not given people a reason to believe him. This is lying which is rejected by the Sharia, and had been rejected even before that simply by common sense. An example to this effect is what Abu Sufi?n (RA) said prior to embracing Islam while having a conversation with Hercules about the Prophet (Sallallahu Alayhi Wa Sallam): “I swear by Allah that if it were not for shame of being known as lying, I would have lied about him".

It is lying and fraud which have deceived societies socially, politically, scientifically, and economically, and in all other spheres of life.

How often have we seen people ascending in wealth and status at the expense of others as if they were pioneers; and how often have we seen people claiming certain achievements which actually belonged to others, or placing their names on books written by others, or claiming to have certificates and scholarly positions which are not theirs. Verily, they have been blinded by pretending to have what they have not been given. They were driven by their fame, position, or business to adopt a scholarly, political, or tribal title even though it is not theirs.

People know that they have pretended to have obtained those titles thanks to their business, fame, or position in order to make up for their shortcomings and their disgrace, and to satisfy their vanity that is never content with reality and the truth.

(The Sheikh quotes three lines of poetry):
If a tradesman is called a doctor,
And a rich man is named a sheikh,
If every fool starts theorizing,
While his going astray is clear to all,
That, by Allah, is a sign of an ordeal
And a pathetic trait in people.

Al-Farouk (Omar) (RA) said: "He whose intention is good in (telling the) truth, even about himself, Allah will suffice him for his affairs with people; and he who beautifies himself (of titles, fame, or position) with what he does not really have, Allah will disgrace him".

An example of those who pretend to have what they have not been given is Arruwaibidah, a worthless person pretending to be a smart jurist by speaking about public affairs, or pretending to be a physician, or a scholar, but always abstains from supporting the truth for the sake of gaining false appraisal and a fallacious grandeur.

Those cheated and deceived did not know that ‘not all that glitters is gold’, not every white material is a piece of fat, nor every black stuff a piece of coal. A truthful person is one whom people believe in time of ease and distress, weakness and strength, past and future.

In the two Sahih books (that by Imam Bukhari and that by Imam Muslim), it is narrated that some hypocrites during the era of the Messenger of Allah (Sallallahu Alayhi Wa Sallam) used to stay behind (i.e. in Madinah) when the Prophet (Sallallahu Alayhi Wa Sallam) went to Ghazw (to fight the nonbelievers); they felt happy to stay behind without joining the Messenger of Allah (Sallallahu Alayhi Wa Sallam). However, when the Prophet (Sallallahu Alayhi Wa Sallam) returned, they apologized to him, swore to him and liked to be praised for what they did not do.

Thus Allah revealed: "Think not that those who rejoice in what they have done (or brought about), and love to be praised for what they have not done, – think not you that they are rescued from the torment, and for them is a painful torment." [Al-Imran: 188]

May Allah bestow His blessings for you and for me in the Holy Qur'?n and benefit us from the verses, the Dhikr (remembrance of Allah) and the wisdom therein. I have said what I have said; if it is true, it is thanks to Allah, but if it is wrong it is because of me and the accursed Satan. I seek forgiveness from Allah. He is All-Forgiving!