His Eminence Sheikh Osama Bin Abdullah Khayyat ?may Allah protect him?delivered this week’s Friday Khutbah titled “Interconnection between Tongue, Heart, and Limbs” in which he spoke about a person's tongue, heart, and deeds by referring to some verses quoted from the Holy Qur’?n "And of mankind there is he whose speech may please you …" [Al-Ba?ara: 204]. He warned the believers against such a conduct and depicted in detail the major personality traits characterising these violators of Allah’s commands.

Praise be to Allah Who perfected the Religion for us, completed his favours upon us and privileged us by sending us the Master of the Messengers. I praise Him (?) for we eternally owe Him gratitude. I bear witness that there is no deity worthy of worship save Allah, the unquestionably self-evident Sovereign and the All-True; I bear witness that our Master and Prophet Muhammad (Sallallahu Alayhi Wa Sallam) is Allah’s Servant and Messenger sent as mercy to the entire universe. O Allah! Bestow Your Salat (Graces, Honours, and Mercy) upon Your Servant and Messenger Muhammad (Sallallahu Alayhi Wa Sallam), and be pleased with his family, all his Companions, the tabi'în (the contemporaries of the Companions of the Prophet ?Sallallahu Alayhi Wa Sallam? after his death), and on all those who righteously followed them till the Day of Judgement.

Servants of Allah! Fear Allah and remember that you are going to meet Him and stand before Him: "The Day when man shall remember what he strove for." [Al-Naziât: 35]

 O Muslims! While there are amongst people those who sacrifice their own lives to win Allah’s satisfaction (thus proving that they are pure-hearted, sincere in speech, devout in action, committed to the pursuit of good deeds, and good-intentioned in all their activities). Conversely, there are others who seek to impress their interlocutors by using eloquent discourse which delights them and appeals to their senses, -especially when they unfailingly resort to swearing by Allah that they are being sincere in their speech, claiming that their inner feelings correspond to their outer verbal expression. Nonetheless, their deeds fail to conform to their speech, disproving their claim.
 
This category of people exists in all nations and in every epoch of history. Their extremely negative impact on, and imminent threat to, society is proportionate to the degree of rhetorical expertise in a given community. Thus, if they succeed in fascinating individuals or small groups with their spellbinding rhetoric in a given era, they will manage to deceive the entire nation with their rhetorical manoeuvres in subsequent eras.

In this particular respect, the Holy Quran unequivocally and extensively exposed the (deceitful) nature of these people. Through portraying their distinctive traits, it stressed the idea that pure verbal declarations of intention remain pointless, unreliable, and groundless if not reinforced by actions. Allah (?) says: "And of mankind there is he whose speech may please you (O Muhammad Sallallahu Alayhi Wa Sallam), in this worldly life, and he calls Allâh to witness as to that which is in his heart, yet he is the most quarrelsome of the opponents" "204" "And when he turns away (from you "O Muhammad "Sallallahu Alayhi Wa Sallam"), his effort in the land is to make mischief therein and to destroy the crops and the cattle, and Allâh likes not mischief" "205""And when it is said to him, "Fear Allâh", he is led by arrogance to (more) crime. So enough for him is Hell, and worst indeed is that place to rest!." "206" [Al-Ba?ara: 204-206]

Servants of Allah! The first sign which betrays the hideous nature of these people and proves their insincerity ?voiced in their sugar-coated lies and artificial rhetoric?resides in their aggressive obstinacy, persistence in quarrelsome argument, and conflict with anybody who sympathises with them. These people, as some scholars pointed out, “are only experts in worldly talk aimed at fascinating and deceiving the audience, claiming that their hearts are in concord with Allah and that they are guileless.”

Allah (?) has unequivocally described them when portraying the salient features of their conduct. Not only do they refrain from performing prayer (five times a day), abstain from paying zakât (i.e. mandatory alms-giving), consume alcoholic beverages, rush to obscenity and all types of immorality, and exploit illegal money, but also consider themselves more pious and virtuous than the believers who devoutly observe taqwa. They claim that despite their amiable façade, the inner souls of such devout people are corrupt by erroneous beliefs.
 
However, the laws of Allah’s governing His universe and His right guidance revealed in His Book have demonstrated that the sincerity of faith and the pure-heartedness of loyal worshippers are at the roots of good deeds and sincere, useful speech.
 
The second sign is that these people are actively and resolutely involved in wrongdoing through committing highway robberies, terrifying travellers, terrorising Muslims or waging wars against them, inducing conflicts and stirring dormant disputes, fomenting mutual antagonism, hatred, and hostility, severing whatever bond Allah commanded to be firmly established, shedding blood remorselessly, plundering and slandering.
 
All such evil deeds forebode the lift of abundant favours from the earth, the dissipation of farming and cattle resources, and the annihilation of the fundaments of life. This is why Allah does not approve of all such acts. He abhors all evildoers however eloquent their speech might be, for the evil nature of their deeds testifies to the malevolence of their hearts and the fallacy of their pretentions.
 
O servants of Allah! Another feature proving the corrupt nature of these people is their resistance to truth and repugnance towards advice. Whenever they are advised to remember Allah and fear His punishment, they feel astounded and therefore overreact furiously. They suddenly fall prey to Satan’s enticement to persist in wrongdoing and to maintain their ill-founded position, which prevents them from regaining their state of rationality.

That is the very essence of arrogance which Prophet Muhammad (Sallallahu Alayhi Wa Sallam), the Messenger of right guidance, iteratively explained and warned against in his Hadîth reported by Imam Muslim is his Sa?î? Book ?the wording is his? and by Abu Dawud and Al-Tirmidhi in their Sunan Books on the authority of Abdullah Ibn Mass’ud (?) who reported that the Messenger of Allah (Sallallahu Alayhi Wa Sallam) had said, “No one whose heart contains an ounce of arrogance will enter Paradise.” A man then remarked, “Everybody would like to wear good-looking clothes and attractive shoes.” Prophet Muhammad (Sallallahu Alayhi Wa Sallam) replied, “Allah is the epitome of beauty and therefore likes beauty; arrogance is rejection of truth and disdain of people.”

Thus, the arrogant person combines two evils: his systematic pursuit of sin as well as his superiority complex over whoever advises him to reform and mend his ways in an attempt to help him regain moral rectitude and to save him from an otherwise fatal destiny. His arrogance may induce him into committing further evils. Some scholars say, “Every corrupter is inclined to consider as repulsive whoever advises him to be righteous and encourages him to fear Allah, for he considers the adviser’s act a kind of slanderous vilification deliberately addressed against his person in public so that people would concentrate on the evils which he strives to hide with his spellbinding rhetoric and fascinating eloquence.”

The corruptors’ hatred of righteousness and its advocates may be so vicious that they would find them so unbearable and feel so resentful of them. They would go as far as trying to harm them even when they are not subjugated to their adjuration; they consider their consistent appeals to uphold good and forbid evil a good-enough endeavor to lay bare their ill intentions and practices and to set off their vile deceptions. Therefore, not only do corruptors detest advocates of goodness and hate even the mention of their names, but also seek to expose their mistakes and pitfalls in order to demean them and damage their reputation. However, they would resort to fabrications, distortions and misinterpretations where verity and truth fail them.

No wonder then that Allah has threatened such people with serious retribution, severe and everlasting pain in Hellfire on the Day of Judgment.

Fear Allah –O servants of Allah– and beware of charming words that are not endorsed by good deeds, or claims, slogans, approaches and perspectives that are not substantiated by truthful and conclusive evidence.

May Allah benefit you and me with the guidance of His Book and the Sunnah of His Prophet (Sallallahu Alayhi Wa Sallam)! This is said, I ask Allah, the Almighty, the Exalted to forgive my sins, yours and those of all Muslims; He is truly Oft-Forgiving!