Solve Mistakes PDF

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TheProphetsMethodsforCorrectingPeoplesMistakes

SheikhMuhammedSalihAlMunajjid
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Introduction
BismillaahilRahmaanilRaheem.IntheNameofAllaah,
MostGracious,MostMerciful
Praise be to Allaah, Lord of the Worlds, Master of the
DayofJudgement,Godofthefirstandthelast,Sustainer
of heaven and earth, and peace and blessings be upon
HistrustworthyProphet,theTeacherofmankind,sentas
aMercytotheworlds.
Teachingpeopleisoneofthegreatestgooddeedswhose
benefitsspreadtoothers.Itisthedaiahs1andeducators
shareoftheheritageoftheProphetsandMessengers.
Allaahandtheangels,andeventheantinitsnest
and the whale in the sea will pray for the one who
teaches people the ways of good. (Reported by al
Tirmidhi; Sunan alTirmidhi, Ahmad Shaakir edn.,
no. 2685. Abu Eesa said, this is a saheeh ghareeb
hasanhadeeth).
Therearedifferenttypesandwaysofteaching,withdif
ferent means and methods, one of which is correcting
mistakes.Correctingmistakesisapartofeducation;they
arelikeinseparabletwins.
Daiyah:OnewhocallstothereligionofIslam.(E)
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Dealingwithandcorrectingmistakesisalsoapartofsin
cerityinreligion(naseehah)whichisadutyonallMus
lims.Theconnectionbetweenthisandtheconceptofen
joining what is good and forbidding what is evil, which
is also a duty, is quite obvious (butweshouldnote that
the area of mistakes is broader than the area of evil
(munkar),soamistakemayormaynotbeevilassuch).
Correctingmistakesalsoformedapartofthewahy(reve
lation)andthemethodologyoftheQuràan.TheQuràan
brought commands and prohibitions, approvals and de
nunciations and correction of mistakes even those on
thepartoftheProphet(peaceandblessingsofAllaahbe
upon him). So it included rebukes and pointing out of
mistakes,forexample(interpretationofthemeaning):
(The Prophet) frowned and turned away. Because
there came to him the blind man [AbdAllaah ibn
Umm Maktoom, whilst he was preaching to one or
some of the chiefs of Quraysh]. But what could tell
you that perchance he might become pure (from
sins).Orthathemightreceiveadmonition,andthat
the admonition might profit him? As for him who
thinks himself selfsufficient. To him you attend.
What does it matter to you if he will not become
pure(fromdisbelief,youareonlyaMessenger,your
duty is to convey the Message of Allaah). But as to
himwhocametoyourunning,Andisafraid(ofAl
laah and His Punishment), Of him you are neglect
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ful and divert your attention to another. [Abasa

80:110]
Andrememberwhenyou(Muhammad)saidtohim
(ZaydibnHaarithahthefreedslaveoftheProphet)
on whom Allaah has bestowed Grace (by guiding
him to Islam)and you (too) have done a favour (by
freeing him), Keep your wife to yourself and fear
Allaah. But you did hide in yourself (what Allaah
had already made known to you i.e. that He will
give her to you in marriage) that which Allaah will
makemainfest,youdidfearthepeoplewhereasAl
laahhadabetterrightthatyoushouldfearHim
[alAhzaab33:38]
Not for you (O Muhammad) is the decision;
whether He turns in mercy to (pardons) them or
punishesthem;verily,theyarethezaalimoon(poly
theists, disobedient, wrongdoers, etc.). [Aali Im
raan3:128]
Quràan was also revealed to correct the mistakes of
some of the Sahaabah in some situations. When Haatib
ibnAbiBaltaah(mayAllaahbepleasedwithhim)made
themistakeofwritingtothekuffaarofQurayshandin
forming them of the direction in which the Prophet
(peaceandblessingsofAllaahbeuponhim)headedona
military campaign against them, Allaah revealed the
words(interpretationofthemeaning):
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Oyouwhobelieve!TakenotMyenemiesandyour
enemies (i.e., disbelievers and polytheists, etc.) as
friends,showingaffectiontowardsthem,whilethey
have disbelieved in what has come to you of the
truth,andhavedrivenouttheMessengerandyour
selves(fromyourhomeland)becauseyoubelievein
AllaahyourLord!Ifyouhavecomeforthtostrivein
MyCauseandtoseekMyGoodPleasure,(thentake
not these disbelievers and polytheists, etc., as your
friends). You show friendship to them in secret,
whileIamAllAwareofwhatyouconcealandwhat
you reveal. And whosoever of you (Muslims) does
that, then indeed he has gone (far) astray, (away)
fromtheStraightPath.[alMumtahinah60:1]
Concerningthemistakemadebythearchersatthebattle
ofUhud,wholeftthepositionwheretheProphet(peace
and blessings of Allaah be upon him) had commanded
themtostay,Allaahrevealedthewords(interpretationof
themeaning):
until (the moment) you lost your courage and
fell to disputing about the order, and disobeyed af
ter He showed you (of the booty) which you love.
Among you are some that desire this world and
some that desire the Hereafter [Aali Imraan
3:152]
When the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be
uponhim)stayedawayfromhiswivesinordertodisci
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plinethem,andsomepeoplespreadrumoursthathehad
divorcedthem,Allaahrevealedthewords(interpretation
ofthemeaning):
When there comes to them some matter touching
(public) safety or fear, they make it known (among
the people), if only they had referred itto the Mes
senger or to those charged with authority among
them, the proper investigators would have under
stooditfromthem(directly)[alNisa4:83]
WhensomeoftheMuslimsfailedtomigratefromMak
kah to Madeenah with no legitimate excuse, Allaah re
vealedthewords(interpretationofthemeaning):
Verily! As for those whom the nagels take (in
death)whiletheyarewrongingthemselves(asthey
stayed among the disbelieverseven though emigra
tion was obligatroy for them), they (angels) say (to
them): In what (condition) were you? They reply:
We were weak and oppressed on earth. They (an
gels) say: Was not the earth of Allaah spacious
enough for you to emigrate therein? [alNisa
4:97]
When some of the Sahaabah believed and repeated the
rumoursofthemunaafiqeenaccusingAaìshahofsome
thing she was innocent of, Allaah revealed aayaat con
cerningthislie,including(interpretationofthemeaning):
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Had it not been for the Grace of Allaah and His

MercyuntoyouinthisworldandintheHereafter,a
great torment would have touched you for that
whereofyouhadspoken.Whenyouwerepropagat
ing it with your tongues and uttering with your
mouths that whereof you had no knowledge, you
counted it a little thing, while with Allaah it was
verygreat.[alNoor24:14]
ThenAllaahsaid(interpretationofthemeaning):
Andwhydidyounot,whenyouheardit,sayIt
is not right for us to speak of this. Glory be to You
(O Allaah), this is a great lie? Allaah forbids you
fromitandwarnsyounottorepeatthelikeofitfor
ever,ifyouarebelievers.[anNoor24:1617]
When some of the Sahaabah argued in the presence of
theProphet(peaceandblessingsofAllaahbeuponhim)
andraisedtheirvoices,Allaahrevealed(interpretationof
themeaning):
O you who believe! Do not put (yourselves) for
wardbeforeAllaahandHisMessenger,andfearAl
laah.Verily!AllaahisAllHearing,AllKnowing.O
you who believe! Raise not your voices above the
voiceoftheProphet,norspeakaloudtohimintalk
as you speak aloud to one another, lest your deeds
may be rendered fruitless while you perceive not.
[alHujuraat49:12]
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When the caravan came at the time of the Friday khut

bah, and some of the people left the khutbah and dis
persedtoengageintrade,Allaahrevealedthewords:
And when they see some merchandise or some
amusement, they disperse headlong to it, and leave
you (Muhammad) standing [while delivering the
Fridaykhutbah].Say:ThatwhichAllaahhasisbet
terthananyamusementormerchandise!AndAllaah
istheBestofProviders.[alJumuah62:11]
Manyotherexamplesalsoindicatetheimportanceofcor
rectingmistakesandnotkeepingquietaboutthem.
TheProphet(peaceandblessingsofAllaahbeuponhim)
was guided by the Light of his Lord in following the
principle of denouncing evil and correcting mistakes
with no compromise. From this and other reports the
scholars (may Allaah have mercy on them) derived the
principle: it is not permitted for the Prophet to delay
speaking up and explaining mistakes from its appropri
atetime.
Understanding the Prophets methodology in dealing
withthemistakesofthepeoplehemetisofgreatimpor
tance,becausetheProphet(peaceandblessingsofAllaah
beuponhim)wasguidedbyhisLord,andhiswordsand
deeds were supported by revelation, and confirmed or
correctedasneeded.Hismethodsarewiserandmoreef
ficacious, and using his approach is the best way to get
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peopletorespondpositively.Iftheonewhoisinaposi
tiontoguideandteachothersadoptsthesemethodsand
thisapproach,hiseffortswillbesuccessful.Followingthe
method and approach of the Prophet (peace and bless
ings of Allaah be upon him) also involves following his
example, for he is the best example for us, and this will
leadustoagreatrewardfromAllaah,ifourintentionis
sincere.
Knowing the methods of the Prophet (peace and bless
ings of Allaah be upon him) exposes the failure of the
manmademethodologywhichisfollowedeverywhere
onthisearthandprovestothefollowersofthatmeth
odology thatitisafailure.Muchofitisclearlyadevia
tion that is based on corrupt theories such as absolute
freedom,oritisderivedfromfalseheritagessuchablind
imitationofonesfathersandforefathers.
We must point out that the practical application of this
methodologyinreallifereliesheavilyonijtihaad(study
ing the situation and attempting to determine the best
approach) to a great extent. This involves selecting the
best methods for a particular situation. Whoever under
stands peoples nature will be able to notice similarities
between real life situations and situations described in
thetexts,sohewillbeabletochoosethemostappropri
ate method from among the methods of the Prophet
(peaceandblessingsofAllaahbeuponhim).
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This book is an attempt to study the methods of the

Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) in
dealingwithmistakesmadebypeopleofdifferentlevels
andbackgrounds,amongthosewholivedwithhimand
withwhomheinteracted.IaskAllaahtomakeitsuccess
ful and free of mistakes, to benefit my Muslim brothers
and me through it, for He is in control of all things and
Heisabletodothis,andHeistheGuidetotheStraight
Path.
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PointstobeNotedwhenDealingwithMis
takes
Before we embark on our discussion we should note

some issues and considerations that we should bear in
mind before and when dealing with and correcting the
mistakesofothers.
SinceritytowardsAllaah
Whencorrectingthemistakesofothers,itisessentialthat
ones intention be to earn the pleasure of Allaah, not to
demonstrateonessuperiorityortoventonesangerorto
impressothers.
AlTirmidhi (may Allaah have mercy on him) reported
from Shufayy alAsbahi that he entered Madeenah and
sawamanwithpeoplegatheredaroundhim.Heasked,
Who is this? They said, Abu Hurayrah. [Shufayy
said:] So I approached him and sat down in front of
him. He was speaking to the people, and when he fin
ishedandtheyhadgoneaway,Isaidtohim,Iaskyou
by Allaah, to narrate to me a hadeeth that you heard
from the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of
Allaahbeuponhim)andunderstoodfully.AbuHuray
rahsaid,Iwilldothat,IwilltellyouahadeethIheard
from the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of
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Allaah be upon him) and understood fully. Then Abu

Hurayrahbegantogasp,andremainedinthiscondition
until he recovered, then he said, I will tell you a
hadeeth that the Messenger of Allah (peace and bless
ingsofAllaahbeuponhim)toldmeinthishousewhen
therewasnooneelsepresentexceptmeandhim.Then
Abu Hurayrah began to gasp again, then he recovered
and wiped his face, and said, I will tell you a hadeeth
thattheMessengerofAllah(peaceandblessingsofAl
laahbeuponhim)toldmeinthishousewhentherewas
no one else present except me and him. Then he
gasped,thenherecoveredandwipedhisfaceandsaid,
I will tell you a hadeeth that the Messenger of Allah
(peaceandblessingsofAllaahbeuponhim)toldmein
this house when there was no one else present except
me and him. Then Abu Hurayrah began to gasp se
verely, and his head fell forward, and I supported him
with my shoulder for a long time, then he recovered,
andsaid:TheMessengerofAllaah(peaceandblessings
ofAllaahbeuponhim)toldme:
When the Day of Judgement comes, Allaah will
comedowntojudgebetweenthepeople.Andevery
nation will be kneeling in submission. The first
people to be called forth will be a man who had
learnedtheQuràanbyheart,amanwhowaskilled
for the sake of Allaah and a man who had a lot of
wealth. Allaah will say to the reciter [of the
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Quràan], Did I not teach you that which I had re

vealed to My Messenger? He will say, Of course,
My Lord. Allaah will say, What did you do with
what you were taught? He will say, I stayed up at
night and during the day (to recite it). Allaah will
say, You have lied, and the angels will say, You
havelied.Allaahwillsay,Youonlywantedittobe
saidthatsoandsoisareader,anditwassaid.The
onewhohadalotofwealthwillbebroughtandAl
laah will say to him, Did I not give generously to
yousothatyouwerenotinneedofanyone?Hewill
say, Of course, O Lord. Allaah will say, What did
youdowithwhatIgaveyou?Hewillsay,Iusedto
give it to my relatives and in charity. Allaah will
say, You have lied, and the angels will say, You
havelied.Allaahwillsay,Youonlywantedittobe
said that soandso is generous, and it was said.
ThentheonewhowaskilledforthesakeofAllaah
will be brought and Allaah will say to him, What
wereyoukilledfor?Hewillsay,Iwascommanded
to fight in jihaad for Your sake so I fought until I
waskilled.Allaahwillsay,Youhavelied,andthe
angels will say, You have lied. Allaah will say,
Youonlywantittobesaidthatsoandsowascou
rageous,anditwassaid.ThentheMessengerofAl
laah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him)
struck my knees and said, O Abu Hurayrah, these
three are the first people for whom the Fire will be
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heated on the Day of Resurrection. (Sunan al

Tirmidhi,no.2382,Shaakiredn.AbuEesasaid:this
isaghareebhasanhadeeth).
Iftheintentionofthepersongivingadviceissincere,he
will earn reward and his advice will be accepted and
actedupon,bythepermissionofAllaah.
MakingMistakesisPartofHumanNature.
said:
EverysonofAdammakesmistakes,andthebestof
those who make mistakes are those who repent.
(ReportedbyalTirmidhi,no.2499,andbyIbnMaa
jah, who narrated this version alSunan, ed. by
AbdalBaqi,no.4251)
Bearingthisfactclearlyinmindwillputthingsintotheir
proper perspective, so the educator should not expect
peopletobeperfectorinfallibleorjudgethemaccording
towhathethinkstheyshouldbe,andthenconsiderthem
to have failed if they make a big mistake or err repeat
edly. He should deal with them in a realistic manner,
based on his knowledge of human nature which is sub
ject to ignorance, negligence, shortcomings, whims and
desiresandforgetfulness.
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Understanding this fact will also prevent an educator

from being greatly shocked by the kind of sudden mis
takethatcouldleadhimtoreactinaninappropriatefash
ion. This will remind the daiyah and educator who is
striving to enjoin what is good and forbid what is evil
that he too is a human being who could also make the
samemistake,soheshoulddealwithhimonafootingof
compassionratherthanharshness,becausethebasicaim
istoreform,nottopunish.
Butthisdoesnotmeanthatweshouldleavepeoplewho
aremakingmistakesalone,orfindexcusesforthosewho
are committing sins on the basis that they are only hu
manorthattheyarejustyoungsters,orthatthemodern
age is full of temptations and so on. We must denounce
theactionsandcallthepeopletoaccount,butatthesame
timewemustevaluatetheiractionsaccordingtoIslam.
Sayingthatsomeoneiswrongshouldbebasedonshari
evidence and proper understanding, not on ignorance
andthatfactthatonehappensnottolikeit.Muhammad
ibn alMunkadir reported that Jaabir prayed wearing
only an izar (lower garment wrapped around the waist)
tied at the back [the reason for this is that they did not
havetrousers,andtheywouldweartheirizartiedatthe
back because this was more concealing when they did
rukoo and sujood. [Fath alBaari, alSalafiyyah edn.,
1/467], and his other clothes were on a clothes hook.
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Someonesaidtohim,Areyouprayinginonegarment?
Hesaid,Ionlydiditsothatsomefoolishpersonlikeyou
would see me. Who among us had two garments at the
time of the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of
Allaah be upon him)? (Reported by alBukhaari, al
Fath,no.352).IbnHajar(mayAllaahhavemercyonhim)
said:WhatismeantbyfoolishhereisignorantThe
purpose was to explain that it is permissible to pray
wearing only one garment, although wearing two gar
ments is preferable. It is as if he was saying, I did it on
purpose to show that it is permissible, so that one who
does not know could follow me in that or he could re
bukemesothatIcouldteachhimthatitispermissible.
Thereasonwhyhisanswerwassoharshwassothathe
couldteachthemnottorebukethescholarsandtourge
them to look into shari matters themselves. (alFath,
1/467)
Themoreseriousamistakeis,themoreeffortshouldbe
madetocorrectit.
Effortstocorrectmistakesthathavetodowithaqeedah
shouldbegreaterthanthosetocorrectmistakesthathave
todowithetiquette,forexample.TheProphet(peaceand
blessings of Allaah be upon him) was intensely con
cerned about dealing with and correcting mistakes that
hadtodowithshirkinallitsforms,becausethiswasthe
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most important matter. Examples of this follow. Al

MugheerahibnShubahsaid:
Therewasaneclipseofthesunonthedaythat[the
Prophets infant son] Ibraaheem died, and the peo
ple said, This eclipse is because of the death of
Ibraaheem. The Messenger of Allaah (peace and
blessingsofAllaahbeuponhim)said:Thesunand
themoonaretwoofthesignsofAllaah,theydonot
become eclipsed for the death or life of anyone. If
youseethem(eclipsed)thencallonAllaahandpray
to Him until the eclipse is over. (Reported by al
Bukhaari,Fath,1061).
Abu Waaqid alLaythi reported that when the Mes
senger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be
uponhim)wentouttoHunayn,hepassedbyatree
belonging to the mushrikeen that was called Dhaat
Anwaat,onwhichtheyusedtohangtheirweapons.
They said, O Messenger of Allaah, make for us a
Dhaat Anwaat like they have. The Prophet (peace
and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said, Sub
haanAllaah!Thisislikewhatthepeople ofMoosa
said,Makeforusagodastheyhavegods.Bythe
OneinWhosehandismysoul,youwillfollowthe
ways of the people who came before you. (Re
ported by alTirmidhi, no. 2180. He said: This is a
saheehhasanhadeeth)
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According to another report narrated by Abu Waaqid,

they went out from Makkah with the Messenger of Al
laahtoHunayn.Hesaid:
Thekuffaarhadalotustreetowhichtheywerede
voted and on which they used to hang their weap
ons; it was called Dhaat Anwaat. We passed by a
big, green lotustree, and we said, O Messenger of
Allaah, make this a Dhaat Anwat for us. The Mes
upon him) said: By the One in Whose hand is my
soul,youhavesaidwhatthepeopleofMoosasaidto
him,Makeforusagodastheyhavegods,andhe
said,Verily,youareapeoplewhoknownot.Itis
thesamething,andyouwillfollowthewaysofthe
people who came before you, step by step. (Re
portedbyAhmad,alSunan,5/218)
ZaydibnKhaalidalJuhanisaid:
The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of
Allaahbeuponhim)ledusinSubh(Fajr)prayerat
alHudaybiyah just after it had rained in the night.
Whenhefinished,heturnedtothepeopleandsaid,
DoyouknowwhatyourLordsays?Theysaid,Al
laah and His Messenger know best. He said, This
morningoneofMyslavesbecameabelieverinMe,
and one a disbeliever. As for the one who said, we
havebeengivenrainbytheGraceandMercyofAl
laah,heisabelieverinMeandadisbelieverinthe
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stars; andas for him who said, we havebeen given

rain by suchandsuch a star, he is a disbeliever in
Me and a believer in the stars. (Reported by al
Bukhaari,Fath,no.846)
IbnAbbaasreportedthatamansaid,
O Messenger of Allaah, whatever Allaah and you
will.Hesaid,AreyoumakingmeequaltoAllaah?
[Say instead:] What Allaah alone wills. (Reported
byAhmad,alMusnad,1/283)
Ibn Umar (may Allaah be pleased with them both) re
ported that he caught up with Umar ibn alKhattaab
whowaswithagroupofpeopleandwasswearingbyhis
father. The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of
Allaahbeuponhim)calledthemandtoldthemthatAl
laah had forbidden them to swear by their forefathers;
the one who wanted to swear an oath should swear by
Allaahorelsekeepquiet.(ReportedbyalBukhaari,Fath,
6108)
Note: Imaam Ahmad reported in his Musnad: Wakee
told us that alAmash told us from Sad ibn Ubaydah
whosaid:IwaswithIbnUmarinacircleandheheard
amaninanothercirclesaying,No,bymyfather.SoIbn
Umarthrewpebblesathimandsaid,ThisishowUmar
used to swear, and the Prophet (peace and blessings of
Allaahbeuponhim)forbadehimtodothisandsaidthat
itwasshirk.(alFathalRabbaani,14/164).
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AbuShurayhHaaniibnYazeedsaid:
AdelegationofpeoplecametotheProphet(peace
andblessingsofAllaahbeuponhim)andheheard
themcallingoneofthemAbdalHajar(slaveofthe
stone). He asked him, What is your name? He
said, Abd alHajar. The Messenger of Allaah
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said,
No, you are AbdAllaah (slave of Allaah). (Re
portedbyalBukhaariinalAdabalMufrad,no.813.
AlAlbaanisaidinSaheehalAdabalMufradthatit
issaheeh,no.623).
Taking into account the position of the person who is

strivingtocorrectthemistake.Somepeoplesadvicemay
bemorereadilyacceptedthanothersbecausetheyhave
astatusthatothersdonot,orbecause,unlikeothers,they
have authority over the person who has made the mis
take,forexample,afatherwithhischildorateacherwith
his student or a government official with the one whom
heisinspecting.Onewhoisolderisnotlikeonewhois
younger, a relative is not like a stranger, a person with
authority is not like one with no authority. Understand
ing these differences will make the reformer put things
into perspective and evaluate them properly, so that his
rebuke or correction will not lead to a greater evil. The
position of the one who is rebuking and the esteem in
which he is held by the one who has made the mistake
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are very important in judging how strong the rebuke

should be and deciding how harsh or gentle the tone
shouldbe.Fromthiswelearntwothings:
Firstly,thatthepersontowhomAllaahhasgivenstatus
or authority should use that to enjoin what is good and
forbid what is evil, and to teach people. He should un
derstandthathehasagreatresponsibilitybecausepeople
willacceptmorefromhimthanfromotherpeopleusu
allysohecandomorethanotherscan.
Secondly, the person who seeks to enjoin what is good
andforbidwhatisevilshouldnotmisjudgethesituation
and put himself in a higher position than is in fact the
case and behave as if he has qualities that he does not
have,becausethiswillonlyputpeopleoff.
madethemostofthepositionofrespectthatAllaahhad
given him when he was rebuking and teaching people.
He did things that would not have been appropriate if
they were done by anyone else, examples of which fol
low.YaeeshibnTihfahalGhiffaarireportedthathisfa
thersaid:
IwasaguestoftheMessengerofAllaah(peaceand
blessingsofAllaahbeuponhim),oneofthepoorto
whom he played host. The Messenger of Allaah
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) came
outtocheckonhisguestsduringthenight,andsaw
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me lying on my stomach. He kicked me and said,

Dontlielikethis;thisisthekindoflyingthatAl
laahhates.
Accordingtoanotherreport:
Hekickedhimandwokehimup,andsaid,Thisis
how the people of Hell lie. (Reported by Ahmad,
alFathalRabbaani,14/244245.Alsoreportedbyal
Tirmidhi, no. 2798, Shaakir ed.; by Abu Dawood in
Kitaab alAdab in his Sunan, no. 5040, adDaaas
edn. The hadeeth is also in Saheeh alJaami, 2270
2271)
ThismethodofrebukingwasappropriatefortheProphet
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) because of
hispositionandstatus,butitisnotappropriateforordi
narypeople.Itisnotalrightforanypersonwhowantsto
rebuke another for sleeping on his stomach to kick him
whilst he is asleep and wake him up, and then expect
himtoacceptthisadviceandthankhimforit.Thesame
applies to hitting a person who is making a mistake or
throwingsomethinglikepebblesorwhateverathim.Al
thoughsomeofthesalafdidthat,itwasbecauseoftheir
particular status. Some stories of this nature follow. Al
Daarimi(mayAllaahhavemercyonhim)reportedfrom
Sulaymaan ibn Yassaar that a man called Sabeegh came
to Madeenah and started to ask about the ambiguous
textsoftheQuràan.Umarsentforhim,andhehadpre
paredsomedatepalmbranchesforhim(tohithimwith).
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[Umar] asked him, Who are you? He said, I am the

slave of Allaah, Sabeegh. Umar took hold of one of
thepalmbranchesandhithim,saying,Iamtheslave
of Allaah, Umar. He kept hitting him until his head
began to bleed, and he said, O Ameer alMumineen,
enough! [The ideas that] were in my head have gone!
(Sunan alDaarimi, ed. by AbdAllaah Haashim Ya
maani,1/51,no.146).
AlBukhaari (may Allaah have mercy on him) reported
thatIbnAbiLaylasaid:HudhayfahwasinalMadaaìn
andaskedforadrink,andagrandeegavehimavesselof
silver. He threw it at him and said, I would not have
thrownit,butItoldhimnottodoitandhedidntstop.
forbade us from wearing silk and brocade, and from
drinkingfromvesselsofgoldandsilver.Hesaid:
Thesearefortheminthisworldandforyouinthe
Hereafter.(alFath,no.5632)
AccordingtoareportnarratedbyAhmad,describingthe
same incident, Abd alRahmaan ibn Abi Laylaa said: I
went out with Hudhayfah to one of these areas, and he
asked for something to drink. A grandee brought him a
vessel of silver and he (Hudhayfah) threw it in his face.
We said, Be quiet, be quiet, if we ask why he did it, he
might not tell us. So we were quiet, and a little while
later he said, Do you know why I threw it in his face?
We said,No. He said, I had told him not to doit. The
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Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be

uponhim)said:
Donotdrinkfromvesselsofgold.
andMuaadhsaid,Donotdrinkfromvesselsofgold
or silver, and do not wear silk or brocade; these are for
them in this world and for you in the Hereafter. (al
Musnad,5/396)
AlBukhaari narrated that Seereen asked Anas to write
him a contract of manumission, as he had plenty of
money, but Anas refused. Seereen went to Umar (may
Allaahbepleasedwithhim),whotoldAnastowritethe
document,andAnasstillrefused,soUmarhithimwith
a whip whilst reciting the words (interpretation of the
meaning):
give them [slaves seeking emancipation] such
writing [of a document of manumission], if you
know that they are good and trustworthy [an
Noor24:33]
sohewrotethedocumentforhim.(AlFath,5/184).
AlNisaaì reported from Abu Saeed alKhudri that he
was praying when a son of Marwaan came in front of
him,sohecheckedhim,andwhenhedidnotgoback,he
hithim.Theboywentoutcrying,andwenttoMarwaan
and told him what had happened. Marwaan asked Abu
Saeed, Why did you hit the son of your brother? He
said, I did not hit him, I hit the Shaytaan. I heard the
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uponhim)say:
Ifanyoneofyouisprayingandsomeonewantsto
passinfrontofhim,lethimstophimasmuchashe
can, and if he refuses then fight him, for he is a
devil.(alMujtabaminSunanalNisaaì,8/61;Sa
heehSunanalNisaaì,no.4518)
Ahmad (may Allaah have mercy on him) reported from
AbulNadr that Abu Saeed alKhudri was suffering
fromasoreleg,andhisbrothercameinandsawhimly
ingwithonelegcrossedovertheother,sohehithimon
the sore leg, making it hurt even more. He said, You
hurt my leg! Didnt you know it is sore? He said, Of
courseIknew.Hesaid,What madeyoudothat? He
said, Did you not hear that the Prophet (peace and
blessings of Allaah be upon him) forbade us to sit like
this?(alMusnad,3/42)
MaalikreportedfromAbulZubayralMakkithataman
proposed marriage to another mans sister, and he [the
brother]toldhimthatshehadcommittedzinaa.Newsof
this reached Umar ibn alKhattaab, so he hit him or
nearly hit him, and said, Why did you tell him? (Mu
wa a Maalik, no. 1553, report of Abu Musab alZuhri,
ed. by Bashshaar Maroof and Mahmood Khaleel.
MuàsaasatalRisaalah).
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Muslim reported in his Saheeh from Abu Ishaaq who

said: I was with alAswad ibn Yazeed in the Great
Mosque, and alShabi was with us. AlShabi told us
aboutwhatFaatimahbintQayshadsaidabouttheMes
sengerofAllaah(peaceandblessingsofAllaahbeupon
him) not providing housing or an income for her. Al
Aswadtookahandfulofpebblesandthrewthemathim,
saying,Woetoyou!Youtalkaboutsomethinglikethis?
Umar said that weshould not leave the Book of Allaah
and the Sunnah of our Prophet (peace and blessings of
Allaahbeuponhim)forthewordsofawomanwhowe
cannot be sure has remembered things properly or not.
Womenhavetherighttoaccommodationandanincome.
Allaahsays:
andturnthemnotoutoftheirhomes,notshallthey
(themselves) leave, except in case they are guilty of
some open illegal sexual intercourse [alTalaaq
65:1].(SaheehMuslim,no.1480)
AbuDawoodreported,withanisnaadinwhichtwomen
are maqbool, that two men entered from the doors of
Kindah, when Abu Masood alAnsaari was sitting in a
circle. The two men said, Is there any man who will
judge between us? A man in the circle said, I will.
AbuMasoodtookahandfulofpebblesandthrewthem
at him, saying, Shut up! It is disliked to hasten to
judgement. (Reported by Abu Dawood, Kitaab al
Aqdiyah,Babfitalabalqadawaaltasarruilayhi)
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WeshouldalsonotethattheProphetsrebukingofsome
of his closest Companions was, on occasions, harsher
than his rebuking of a bedouin, for example, or a
stranger. All of this has to do with wisdom and proper
evaluationinrebuking.
Makingadistinctionbetweenonewhoerrsoutofigno
rance and one who errs despite his knowledge. One of
thestoriesthatillustratethisclearlyiswhathappenedto
Muaawiyah ibn alHakam alSalami when he came to
Madeenahfromthedesert,andhedidnotknowthatitis
forbiddentospeakduringthesalaah.Hesaid:
WhilstIwasprayingbehindtheMessengerofAl
laah(peaceandblessingsofAllaahbeuponhim),a
man sneezed, so I said Yarhamuk Allaah (may Al
laah have mercy on you). The people glared at me,
so I said, May my mother lose me! What is wrong
withyouthatyouarelookingatme?Theybeganto
slap their thighs with their hands, and when I saw
that they were indicating that I should be quiet, I
stoppedtalking(i.e.,Inearlywantedtoanswerthem
back,butIcontrolledmyselfandkeptquiet).When
theMessengerofAllaah(peaceandblessingsofAl
laah be upon him) had finished praying may my
fatherandmotherbesacrificedforhim,Ihavenever
seen a better teacher than him before or since he
didnotrebukemeorhitmeorputmetoshame.He
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justsaid,Thisprayershouldcontainnothingofthe
speech of men; it is only tasbeeh and takbeer and
recitation of the Quràan. (Saheeh Muslim, Abd
alBaaqiedn.,no.537).
Theignorantpersonneedstobetaught;theonewhohas
doubtsneedstohavethingsexplainedtohim;thenegli
gentpersonneedstobereminded;andtheonewhowill
fullypersistsinerrorneedstobewarned.Itisnotrightto
treatonewhoknowsaboutarulingandonewhoisigno
rantofitinthesamemannerwhenrebukingthem.Treat
ingonewhodoesnotknowtooharshlywillonlyputhim
off and make him refuse to follow your advice, unlike
teaching him with wisdom and gentleness, because an
ignorantpersonsimplydoesnotrealizethatheismaking
amistake.Itisasifheissayingtotheonewhoisrebuk
inghim:Whydontyouteachmebeforeyoulaunchan
attackonme?
The one who is making a mistake without realizing it
maythinkthatheisright,soweshouldtakethisintoac
count and deal with him tactfully. Imaam Ahmad (may
Allaah have mercy on him) reported in alMusnad from
alMugheerahibnShubah:
Allaah be upon him) ate some food, then got up to
pray.Hehadalreadydonewudoobeforethat,butI
brought some water for him to do wudoo, He re
buffed me and said, Go away! I felt upset, by Al
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laah. He prayed, and I complained to Umar about

what had happened. He said, O Prophet of Allaah,
alMugheerah feels hurt by your rebuff, and he is
worried that you may be angry with him for some
reason.TheProphet(peaceandblessingsofAllaah
be upon him) said: I see only good in him, but he
brought me water to do wudoo after I had eaten
somefood,andifIhaddonewudoothen,thepeo
plewouldhavefollowedsuit[i.e.,theywouldhave
thoughtthattheyhadtodowudooeverytimethey
hadeatensomething].(alMusnad,4/253)
We should note here that when the Prophet (peace and
blessings of Allaah be upon him) pointed out the mis
takesofthesegreatSahaabah,itdidnothaveanegative
impactonthemorputthemoff;rather,ithadapositive
effectonthem,andhavingbeencorrectedinthismanner
by the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon
him),theywouldremainanxiousandworried,watching
theirbehaviourandfeelingconcerneduntiltheycouldbe
surethattheMessengerofAllaah(peaceandblessingsof
Allaahbeuponhim)waspleasedwiththem.
WemayalsonotefromthisstorythatwhentheProphet
(peaceandblessingsofAllaahbeuponhim)pointedout
alMugheerahs mistake, he was not angry with al
Mugheerahhimself;hedidthisoutofmercytothepeo
ple and to explain things clearly to them, so that they
wouldnotimposesomethingonthemselvesthatwasnot
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waajib and that would cause them a great deal of hard

ship.
Makingadistinctionbetweenmistakesstemmingfrom
an honest effort to find out what is right (ijtihaad), and
mistakesdonedeliberately,outofnegligenceorbecause
ofshortcomings.Thereisnodoubtthatinthefirstcase,a
person is not to be blamed; indeed he will earn one re
wardevenifheismistaken,solongashisintentionwas
sincereandhetriedtoreachtherightconclusion,because
said:
Ifarulerjudgesandstrivestomaketherightdeci
sion, and his decision is correct, he will have two
rewards, and if his decision is wrong, he will still
have one reward. (Reported by alTirmidhi, 1326,
Shaakir edn. Abu Eesa alTirmidhi said it is a
ghareebhasanhadeethinthisversion.)
Thisisadifferentcasefromonewhoerrsdeliberatelyor
becauseofshortcomings.Inthefirstinstance,theperson
should be taught and advised; in the second, he should
bewarnedandrebuked.
The ijtihaad which may be excused should be done on
the part of one who is qualified, not one who gives fat
was without knowledge and without taking circum
stances into account. This is why the Prophet severely
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denouncedthepeoplewhomadethemistakeinthecase
ofthemanwiththeheadwound.AbuDawoodnarrated
in his Sunan from Jaabir (may Allaah be pleased with
him)whosaid:
Wewentoutonajourney,andoneofthemenwith
us was struck in the head with a stone and started
bleeding. Then he slept and when he woke up he
needed to do ghusl (he was in state of janaabah or
impurity).Heaskedhiscompanions,Doyouthink
Icouldgetawaywithdoingtayammum?Theysaid,
Wedontthinkyouhaveanyexcusebecausewater
isavailable.Sohedidghusl,andhedied.Whenwe
came to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah
be upon him) and he was told about this, he said,
They have killed him, may Allaah kill them! Why
did they not ask if they did not know? The cure of
theonewhodoesnotknowistoask(SunanAbi
Dawood, KitaabalTahaarah, Baabalmajroohyata
yammam; alAlbaani classed it as hasan in Saheeh
AbiDawood,325,andindicatedthattheextramate
rial[notmentioned]addedattheendofthehadeeth
isdaeef)
saidthatjudgesareofthreetypes,onewillbeinParadise
andtheothertwoinHell.ThetypethatwillbeinPara
dise is a man who knows the truth and judges accord
ingly. A man who knows the truth but judges unjustly
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will be in Hell, and a man who judges between people

without proper knowledge will also be in Hell. (Sunan
AbiDawood,no.3573;classedassaheehbyalAlbaaniin
alIrwa, 2164). The third type is not regarded as having
anyexcuse.
Anotherfactoringaugingthedegreeofrebukingispay
ing attention to the environment in which the mistake
occurred, such as whether it was an environment in
whichtheSunnahisfollowedorbidahiswidespread,or
how prevalent evil is, or whether there are ignorant or
overly lenient people, whose opinions are widely fol
lowed,issuingfatwastosaythatitispermissible.
Agoodintentiononthepartoftheonewhomakesthe
mistakedoesnotmeanthatheshouldnotberebuked
Amr ibnYahya said: I heard my fathernarrating from
hisfatherwhosaid:WewereatthedoorofAbdAllaah
ibn Masood before the early morning prayer. When he
came out we walked with him to the mosque. Abu
MoosaalAsharicameuptousandsaid,DidAbuAbd
alRahmaancomeouttoyouyet?Wesaid,No.Hesat
down with us until [Abu Abd alRahmaan] came out.
When he came out, we all stood up to greet him, and
Abu Moosa said to him: O Abu Abd alRahmaan, ear
lierIsawinthemosquesomethingthatIhaveneverseen
before, but it seems good, alhamdu Lillaah. He said,
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Andwhatwasit?Hesaid,ifyoulive,youwillseeit.I
sawpeopleinthemosquesittingincircleswaitingforthe
prayer. In every circle there was a man, and they had
pebblesintheirhands.Hewouldsay,SayAllaahuakbar
one hundred times, and they would say Allaahu akbar
one hundred times; then he would say, Say Laa ilaaha
illAllaah one hundred times, and they would say Laa
ilaaha illAllaah one hundred times; then he would say,
Say Subhaan Allaah one hundred times, and they
would say Subhaan Allaah one hundred times. He
asked,Whatdidyousaytothem?Hesaid,Ididnotsay
anythingtothem;Iwaswaitingtoseewhatyouropinion
would be and what you would tell me to do. He said,
Whydidyounottellthemtocounttheirbaddeedsand
guarantee them that nothing of their good deeds would
bewasted?Thenheleft,andwewentwithhim,untilhe
reached one of those circles. He stood over them and
said, What is this I see you doing? They said, O Abu
Abd alRahmaan, these are pebbles we are using to
count our takbeer, tahleel and tasbeeh. He said, Count
your bad deeds, and I guarantee that nothing of your
good deeds will be wasted. Woe to you, O ummah of
Muhammad,howquicklyyouaregettingdestroyed!The
CompanionsofyourProphet(peaceandblessingsofAl
laah be upon him) are still alive, his garment is not yet
wornoutandhisvesselsarenotyetbroken.BytheOne
inWhosehandismysoul,eitheryouarefollowingaway
thatismoreguidedthanthatofMuhammadoryouhave
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openedthedoorofmisguidance!Theysaid,ByAllaah,
O Abu Abd alRahmaan, we only wanted to do good.
He said, How many of those who wanted to do good
failedtoachieveit!TheMessengerofAllaah(peaceand
blessings of Allaah be upon him) told us thatpeople re
cite Quràan and it does not go any further than their
throats. By Allaah, I do not know, maybe most of them
are people like you. Then he turned away from them.
Amr ibn Salamah said, I saw most of the members of
thosecirclesfightingalongsidetheKhawaarijontheday
ofNahrawaan.(ReportedbyalDaarimi,alSunan,no.
210,ed.byAbdAllaahHaashimalYamaani.AlAlbaani
classeditsisnaadassaheehinalSilsilatalSaheehahun
der hadeeth no. 2005. See Majma alZawaaid by al
Haythami,1/181).
Being fair and not being biased when correcting those

whomakemistakes
Allaahsays(interpretationofthemeanings):
And whenever you give your word (i.e., judge be
tween men or give evidence), say the truth [al
Anaam6:152]
andwhenyoujudgebetweenmen,you[should]
judgewithjustice[alNisa4:58]
The fact that Usaamah ibn Zayd was the beloved of the
Prophet(peaceandblessingsofAllaahbeuponhim)and
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the son of his beloved [Zayd] did not stop the Prophet
(peaceandblessingsofAllaahbeuponhim)fromrebuk
ing him most sternly when he tried to intercede regard
ing one of the punishments (hudood) prescribed by Al
laah. Aaìshah (may Allaah be pleased with her) re
ported that Quraysh were concerned about a woman
whostoleatthetimeoftheProphet(peaceandblessings
of Allaah be upon him), at the time of the Conquest of
Makkah.Theysaid,
Who will speak to the Messenger of Allaah (peace
and blessings of Allaah be upon him) about her?
Who will dare to do this other than Usaamah ibn
Zayd,thebelovedoftheMessengerofAllaah(peace
and blessings of Allaah be upon him)? She was
brought to the Messenger of Allaah (peace and
blessingsofAllaahbeuponhim),andUsaamahibn
Zayd spoke to him concerning her. The face of the
MessengerofAllaah(peaceandblessingsofAllaah
beuponhim)changedcolourandhesaid:Areyou
intercedingconcerningoneofthepunishmentspre
scribed by Allaah? Usaamah said to him, Pray for
forgiveness for me, O Messenger of Allaah. When
evening came, the Messenger of Allaah (peace and
blessings of Allaah be upon him) stood up and ad
dressed the people. He praised Allaah as He de
serves to be praised, then he said: The people who
came before you were destroyed because if one of
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theirnoblesstole,theywouldlethimgo,butifone
oftheweakamongthemstole,theywouldcarryout
thepunishmentonhim.BytheOneinWhosehand
ismysoul,ifFaatimahthedaughterofMuhammad
weretosteal,Iwouldcutoffherhand.Thenheor
dered that the woman who had stolen should have
herhandcutoff.(Thehadeethwasreportedbyal
BukhaariandMuslim;thisversionwasnarratedby
Muslim,no.1688).
According to a report narrated by alNisaaì from
Aaìshah(mayAllaahbepleasedwithher),shesaid:
A woman borrowed some jewellery, claiming that
shewantedtolendittosomeoneelse,butshesoldit
and kept the money. She was brought to the Mes
upon him). Her family went to Usaamah ibn Zayd,
who spoke to the Messenger of Allaah (peace and
blessings of Allaah be upon him) concerning her.
The face of the Messenger of Allaah (peace and
blessings of Allaah be upon him) changed colour
whilst Usaamah was speaking, then the Messenger
of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon
him) said to him: Are you interceding concerning
one of the punishments prescribed by Allaah?
Usaamahsaid,Prayforforgivenessforme,OMes
senger of Allaah. In the evening, the Messenger of
Allaah(peaceandblessingsofAllaahbeuponhim)
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stood up, praised Allaah as He deserves to be

praised,thensaid,Thepeoplewhocamebeforeyou
were destroyed because if one of their nobles stole,
theywouldlethimgo,butifoneoftheweakamong
themstole,theywouldcarryoutthepunishmenton
him.BytheOneinWhosehandismysoul,ifFaati
mah the daughter of Muhammad were to steal, I
would cut off her hand. Then he ordered that the
womanshandshouldbecutoff.(SunanalNisaaì,
alMujtabaa, Dar alFikr edn., 8/73. Classed as sa
heeh by alAlbaani in Saheeh Sunan alNisaaì, no.
4548).
TheProphetsattitudetowardsUsaamah(mayAllaahbe
pleasedwithhim)indicatesthathewasfairandjust,and
thatIslamcamebeforeloveofpeopleinhisview.Aper
son may put up with the personal faults of whoever he
wishes, but he has no right to be tolerant or biased to
wards those whose mistakes transgress the limits set by
Islam.
Sometimes,whenarelativeorfriendmakesamistake,a
persondoesnotrebukehimashewouldapersonwhom
hedoesnotknow,soonemayseeunIslamicbiasordis
criminationinhisdealingsbecauseofthis,andaperson
mayturnablindeyetohisfriendsmistakewhileharshly
criticizinganotherperson.
[AnArabpoetoncesaid:]
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If you are happy with a person, you do not see his

mistakes,butifyouareangrywithhim,youseethem
all.
Thismayalsobereflectedinthewayinwhichactionsare
interpreted. An action on the part of a person one loves
willbetakenoneway,andthesamedeedonthepartof
anotherpersonwillbetakenquitedifferently.
Alloftheaboveappliesonlywhencircumstancesarethe
same, otherwise there could be different considerations
aswewillseebelow.
Being careful lest correcting one mistake leads to a

biggermistake.ItisawellestablishedfactthatIslamal
lows the lesser of two evils in order to repel a greater
evil.Soadaiyahmaykeepquietaboutonemistakelest
sayingsomethingleadtoamoreseriousmistake.
kept quiet about the munaafiqeen and did not execute
them, even though their kufr was wellestablished. He
bore their insults with patience, lest people say, Mu
hammadiskillinghiscompanions,especiallysincetheir
true nature was not known to everyone. The Prophet
(peaceandblessingsofAllaahbeuponhim)didnotde
stroytheKabahinordertorebuilditonthefoundations
laidbyIbraaheem,outofconsiderationtowardsQuraysh
whowerestillnewinIslamandtooclosetotheirrecent
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jaahiliyyah. He (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon

him)fearedthatitmightbetoomuchforthem,soheleft
it as it was, with part missing,and the door set highup
and closed to the masses, even though this contains an
elementofzulm(wrongdoingoroppression).
Beforethis,AllaahhadtoldtheMuslimsnottoinsultthe
gods of the mushrikeen, even though this is a form of
worship, because this could lead to people insulting Al
laah,whichistheworstofevil.
Adaiyahmaykeepquietaboutawrongaction,ordefer
rebuking,orchangehisapproach,ifhethinksthatbydo
ingsohewillavoidagreaterevilormistake.Thisisnot
consideredtobeshortcomingornegligencesolongashis
intention is sincere and he does not fear anyone except
Allaah, and it was only concern for the best interests of
Islam,notcowardice,thatstoppedhimfromsayingany
thing.
Wemaynotethatwhatcausesagreaterevilwhenrebuk
ing for one mistake is zealousness which is not checked
orcontrolled.
Understandingthehumannaturefromwhichthemis
takesprang.Therearesomemistakeswhichcanneverbe
fully eradicated, because they have to do with the way
Allaahhascreatedpeople.Itispossibletoreducethema
little, but going to extremes in dealing with them will
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leadtoadisaster.Suchisthecaseofwomen.TheProphet
(peaceandblessingsofAllaahbeuponhim)said:
Woman was created from a rib, and she will not
behave consistently towards you. If you enjoy her
company, then enjoy it despite her crookedness. If
youtrytostraightenheryouwillbreakher,andher
breakingisherdivorce.(ReportedbyMuslimfrom
Abu Hurayrah (may Allaah be pleased with him),
no.1468).
Bekindtowomen,fortheywerecreatedfromarib,
andthemostcrookedpartoftheribisthetop.Ifyou
trytostraightenit,youwillbreakit,andifyouleave
italone,itwillstaycrooked.Sobekindtowomen.
(Reported by alBukhaari from Abu Hurayrah. Al
Fath,no.5186).
Ibn Hajar (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: The
wordstreatwomenkindlyindicatethatyoushouldtry
toputthemrightgently,becauseifyougotoextremes
intryingtostraightenthemyouwillbreakthem,andif
you leave them they will remain crooked What we
learn from this is that we should not leave them
crooked if they go beyond the natural expected short
comings and commit sins or neglect duties. What is
meantisthatwecanleavethemcrookedwithregardto
permissible matters. We also learn from the hadeeth
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that a gentle approach wins people over and opens

their hearts. It alsotells us todeal withwomen bybe
ingeasygoingwiththem,andtobeartheircrookedness
with patience. Whoever insists on putting them right
will not benefit from them, and as a man cannot do
without a woman to enjoy the pleasure of living with
herandtobehissupportinlife,itisasifhesaid:you
cannotenjoyhercompanyunlessyouputupwithher.
(Fath,9/954).
Makingadistinctionbetweenmistakesthattransgress
the limits of Islam and mistakes that only affect other
people.If Islam is dearerto us than our own selves, we
must defend it and protect it and get angry for its sake
more than we get angry for our own sakes and defend
our own selves. It is a sign of not having religious feel
ings if we see a man getting angry for his own sake if
someone insults him, but not getting angry for the sake
ofAllaahsreligionifanybodyinsultsit;atmost,wemay
seehimfeeblydefendingitinanembarrassedmanner.
often used to forgive those who made mistakes in their
interactions with him, especially the hardhearted Bed
ouin, in order to soften their hearts. AlBukhaari (may
Allaah have mercy on him) reported in his Saheeh that
AnasibnMaaliksaid:
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IwaswalkingwiththeMessengerofAllaah(peace
and blessings of Allaah be upon him), and he was
wearing a Najraani cloak with a stiff collar. A Bed
ouin accosted him, grabbing his cloak in such a
manner that the collar left a mark on the Prophets
neck,andsaid,OMuhammad!Givemesomeofthe
wealth of Allaah that you have! The Messenger of
turned to him and smiled, then ordered that he
shouldbegivensomething.(alFath,5809).
Butifthemistakehadtodowithsomeissueofreligion,
thentheProphet(peaceandblessingsofAllaahbeupon
him)wouldbecomeangryforthesakeofAllaah.Exam
plesofthiswillbegivenbelow.
Therearesomeothermatterswhichshouldalsobeborne
inmindwhendealingwithpeoplesmistakes,suchas:
Making a distinction between major mistakes and mi
nor mistakes, just as Islam makes a distinction between
majorsins(kabaair)andminorsins(saghaair).
Makingadistinctionbetweenapersonwhohasatrack
recordofmanygooddeeds,whichwillmoreorlesscan
celoutthesignificanceofhismistake,andasinnerwho
transgressesagainsthimself(bydoingevildeeds).People
mayputupwithactionsonthepartoftheonewiththe
good track record that they will not put up with on the
partofothers.ThisiswhathappenedtoalSiddeeq(Abu
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Bakr), as the following story illustrates: Asma bint Abi

Bakrsaid:
We went out with the Messenger of Allaah (peace
and blessings of Allaah be upon him) as pilgrims,
and when we reached alArj, the Messenger of Al
stoppedtorest,andwestoppedwithhim.Aaìshah
(may Allaah be pleased with her) sat beside the
beuponhim),andIsatbesidemyfather.Theriding
beastsharedbyAbuBakrandtheMessengerofAl
was with a slave belonging to Abu Bakr. Abu Bakr
satdown,waitingforhimtocatchup,andwhenhe
caught up, the camel was not with him. Abu Bakr
said, Where is the camel? The slave answered, I
lost it yesterday. Abu Bakr said, One camel, you
lostit?andstartedtohithim.TheMessengerofAl
smiledandsaid,Lookatwhatthismuhrim(person
in a state of ihraam for Hajj) is doing. Ibn Abi
Rizmah said, The Messenger of Allaah (peace and
blessings of Allaah be upon him) did not do any
morethansaying,Lookatwhatthismuhrimisdo
ing,andsmiling.(ReportedbyAbuDawoodinhis
Sunan, Kitaab alManaasik, Baab alMuhrim
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yuaddib ghulaamahu. Classed as hasan by al

AlbaaniinSaheehSunanAbiDawood,no.1602)
Makingadistinctionbetweentheonewhomakesmis
takesrepeatedlyandtheonewhoismakingamistakefor
thefirsttime.
Making a distinction between the one who frequently
makesmistakesandtheonewhorarelydoesso.
Makingadistinctionbetweentheonewhomakesmis
takesopenlyandblatantly,andonewhotriestocoverup
hismistakes
Payingattentiontocaseswhereapersonsadherenceto
Islammaynotbestrongandhisheartneedstobeopened
tothereligion,soweshouldnotbetooharshwithhim.
Taking into account a persons situation as regards
statusandauthority.
Theconsiderationsthatwehavementionedabovedonot
contradictthefairnessandjusticereferredtoearlier.
Rebukingayoungsterwhomakesamistakeshouldbe
done in a manner appropriate to the childs age. Al
Bukhaari(mayAllaahhavemercyonhim)reportedthat
alHasan ibn Ali took one of the dates that had been
given in charity, and put it in his mouth. The Prophet
(peaceandblessingsofAllaahbeuponhim)saidinPer
sian,
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Kakh, kakh, do you not know that we do not eat

thesadaqah(thingsgivenincharity)?(Fath,3072).
AlTabaraani (may Allaah have mercy on him) reported
fromZaynabbintAbiSalamahthatsheentereduponthe
uponhim)whilsthewasperformingghusl.Shesaid,
Hetookahandfulofwaterandthrewitinmyface,
saying, Go away, foolish girl! (alMujam al
Kabeer, 24/281. AlHaythami said, its isnaad is
hasan,alMajma,1/269)
From this it is clear that a childs tender years do not
mean that his mistakes should not be corrected; indeed,
correctinghismistakesisgivinghimthebestupbringing,
as it will be imprinted in his memory and will benefit
himinthefuture.Thefirsthadeethshowshowachildis
taughttofearAllaahandrestrainhimself,andthesecond
hadeeth shows how he is taught good manners, how to
seek permission to enter, and to refrain from looking at
theawrah(thatwhichshouldbecovered)ofothers.
Another brilliant example of correcting children is the
story of the young boy Umar ibn Abi Salamah. Al
Bukhaarireportedthathesaid:
IwasayoungboyunderthecareoftheMessenger
him),andmyhandusedtowanderallovertheplate
(atmealtimes).TheMessengerofAllaah(peaceand
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blessings of Allaah be upon him) said to me: O

youngboy!SayBismillah,eatwithyourrighthand,
and eat from what is directly in front of you. This
remained my way of eating from that time on. (al
Fath,no.5376)
WemaynotethatwhentheProphet(peaceandblessings
of Allaah be upon him) advised that young boy who
made the mistake of letting his hand go everywhere in
the food, his words were short, brief and clear, which
madeiteasyforthe childtorememberandunderstand;
the effect on the boys heart lasted for a lifetime, as he
said, This remained my way of eating from that time
on.
Exercising caution when advising nonmahram

women,sothattheadviceisnottakenwrongly,andso
that fitnah (temptation, trouble) is avoided. No young
manshouldusetheexcuseofspeakingtoyoungwomen
inordertocorrecttheirmistakesorteachthem.Howof
tenhasthisledtodisasters!Whenitcomestocorrecting
women,alargeroleshouldbegiventoahlalhisbah(re
ligiouspolice)andolderpeoplewhocouldhelpthemin
thisregard.Thepersonwhoisseekingtoenjoinwhatis
goodandforbidwhatisevilmustactinaccordancewith
whathethinkswillbetheoutcomeofhisrebuking.Ifhe
thinksthatitislikelytobeofbenefit,heshouldspeakup,
otherwise he should refrain from speaking to ignorant
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women who may make false accusations against him

whilst still persisting in their wrongdoing. The state of
thesocietyatlargeandthestatusoftheonewhoisseek
ingtoenjoinwhatisgoodandforbidwhatisevilplaya
fundamental role in the success of his efforts to rebuke,
conveythemessageorestablishevidence.Thefollowing
storyillustratesthis:
ThefreedslaveofAbuRaham,whosenamewasUbayd,
reported that Abu Hurayrah met a woman who was
wearing perfume, heading for the mosque. He said, O
femaleslaveofalJabbaar(theCompeller),whereareyou
going? She said, To the mosque. He said, And you
haveputonperfumeforthis?Shesaid,Yes.Hesaid,
IheardtheMessengerofAllaah(peaceandblessingsof
Allaahbeuponhim)saying,
If any woman puts on perfume and then goes out
to the mosque, Allaah will not accept her prayers
untilshedoesghusl.(ReportedbyIbnMaajah,no.
4002;seealsoSaheehIbnMaajah,2/367).
According to Saheeh Ibn Khuzaymah: A woman passed
by Abu Hurayrah and her perfume was overwhelming.
Hesaidtoher,
Where are you going, O female slave of al
Jabbaar?Shesaid,Tothemosque.Hesaid,Are
you wearing perfume? She said, Yes. He said,
Gobackanddoghusl,forIheardtheMessengerof
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sayingthatAllaahdoesnotaccepttheprayerofany
woman who goes out to the mosque with over
whelming perfume, until she goes back and does
ghusl. (Saheeh Ibn Khuzaymah, no. 1682. In his
footnote, alAlbaani said, it is a hasan hadeeth. See
also alMusnad, 2/246. Ahmad Shaakir classed it as
saheeh with this isnaad in his footnote to al
Musnad,no.7350)
Notoccupyingoneselfwithputtingthesymptomsright
whilstneglectingtodealwiththecauseofthemistake
Notexaggeratingaboutthemistake
Not going to extremes to prove the mistake happened
ortryingtoforceanadmissionofguiltfromtheonewho
madethemistake
Allowingenoughtimeforcorrectingthemistake,espe
ciallyinthecaseofonewhohasbeenaccustomedtodo
ingitforalongtime,whilststillfollowingupthematter
andcontinuingtoadviseandcorrect
Notmakingtheonewhomakesthemistakefeellikean
enemy, because the aim is towin people over, not score
pointsagainstthem
Now wewill move on to our discussion of the methods
used by the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be
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uponhim)whendealingwiththemistakesofpeople,as
recorded in the saheeh ahaadeeth narrated by the schol
ars.
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TheProphetsMethodsofDealingwithPeo
plesMistakes
1 Hastening to deal with peoples mistakes and not

puttingitoff.TheProphet(peaceandblessingsofAllaah
be upon him) used to hasten to deal with peoples mis
takes, especially when it was not right for him to delay
doingsoatthemomentwhenthiswasneeded.Histask
was to explain the truth to people, teach them to do
good,andwarnthemofffromdoingevil.Sohehastened
tocorrectpeopleonmanyoccasions,asisseeninthesto
ries of the man who was not doing his salaah properly,
theMakhzoomiwoman,IbnalLatbiyyah, Usaamah,the
threewhowantedtogotoextremesinworship,andoth
ers.Thesestorieswillberelatedinthecourseofthisdis
cussion,inshaAllaah.
Nothasteningtodealwithmistakesgoesagainstthein
terests of Islam and misses out on the opportunity to
strikewhiletheironishot,asitwere.
2 Dealing with mistakes by explaining the ruling
(hukm). Jarhad (may Allaah be pleased with him) re
portedthattheProphet(peaceandblessingsofAllaahbe
uponhim)passedbyhimwhenhisthighwasuncovered.
said,
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Coveryourthigh,foritispartoftheawrah.(Su
nanalTirmidhi,no.2796.AlTirmidhisaid,thisisa
hasanhadeeth).
3ReferringpeoplebacktoIslamwhentheymakemis
takes,andpointingouttothemtheprinciplethatthey
are breaking. When someone is indulging in a mistake,
theIslamicprincipleisfarfromtheirmindsandislostin
theclamourofthemoment.Insuchcasesreiteratingthe
Islamicprincipleand announcingitloudly canbeanef
fectivewayofstoppingthepersoninhistracksandmak
inghimwakeupfromthestuporthathasovertakenhim.
When we look at what happened between the Muhaaji
roon and Ansaar, because of the flames of fitnah stirred
up by the munaafiqoon, we will see an example of how
usedthistactic.AlBukhaari(mayAllaahhavemercyon
him) reported in his Saheeh that Jaabir (may Allaah be
pleasedwithhim)said:
WewentoutonamilitarycampaignwiththeMes
uponhim),andsomeofthemuhaajiroonwentwith
him too, and they were very many. Among the mu
haajiroonwasamanwhowasveryplayful(ajoker).
He shoved an Ansaari (in jest), and the Ansaari got
very angry with him and called others to support
him,saying,OAnsaar!TheMuhaajircalledout,O
Muhaajireen! The Prophet (peace and blessings of
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Allaah be upon him) came out and said, What is

this call of the people of Jaahiliyyah all about?
Thenhesaid,Whatisthematterwithhim?Hewas
told about how the Muhaajir had shoved the An
saariinjest.TheProphet(peaceandblessingsofAl
laahbeuponhim)said,Leaveit,forit(tribalism)is
evil.(alFath,3518).
AccordingtoareportnarratedbyMuslim,hesaid:
Letamanhelphisbrotherwhetherheisanwrong
doer or the victim of wrongdoing. If he is a wrong
doer, he should stop him, and if he is the victim of
wrongdoing, he should come to his aid. (Saheeh
Muslim,no.2584).
4Correctingmisconceptionsthatareduetosomething
not being clear in peoples minds. In Saheeh al
Bukhaari, Humayd ibn Abi Humayd alTaweel reports
that he heard Anas ibn Maalik (may Allaah be pleased
withhim)saying:
Threepeoplecametothehousesofthewivesofthe
Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon
him), asking about how the Prophet (peace and
blessings of Allaah be upon him) worshipped.
When they were told about it, they thought that it
waslittle.Theysaid,Whoarewe,comparedtothe
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him)? All his sins, past and future, have been for
given. (They thought that the one who does not
knowthathissinshavebeenforgivenneededtogo
to extremes in worship and do far more than the
him),inthehopethattheirsinsmightbeforgiven).
Oneofthemsaid,Asforme,Iwillprayeverynight
fromnowon.Anothersaid,Asforme,Iwillfast
fortherestofmylifeandwillneverbreakmyfast.
Thethirdsaid,Asforme,Iwillhavenothingtodo
with women and I will never marry. The Messen
gerofAllaah(peaceandblessingsofAllaahbeupon
him) came to them and said, Are you the people
who said suchandsuch? By Allaah, I am the one
whofearsAllaahmorethananyone,butIfastandI
breakmyfast,IprayandIrest,andIgetmarried.
MuslimreportedfromAnasthatagroupoftheCompan
ions of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be
upon him) asked the wives of the Prophet (peace and
blessings of Allaah be upon him) about what he did in
secret. One of them (those Sahaabah) said, I will never
marry women. Another said, I will never eat meat.
Anothersaid,Iwillneversleeponabed.[TheProphet
(peaceandblessingsofAllaahbeuponhim)]praisedand
thankedAllaah,thenhesaid,
Whatisthematterwithsomepeoplewhosaysuch
andsuch? But as for me, I pray and I sleep, I fast
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and I break my fast, and I marry women. Whoever

turnsawayfrommySunnahhasnothingtodowith
me.(SaheehMuslim,no.1041).
Herewemaynotethefollowingpoints:
The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be

upon him) came to them and addressed them directly;
whenhewantedtoteachallthepeople,hedidnotrefer
tothembynameorexposethem,hemerelysaid,What
is the matter with some people? In this way he was
gentle with them and covered up for them whilst at the
sametimeactinginthecommoninterestbyteachingeve
rybody.
Thehadeethdescribesfindingoutabouttheaction
ofgoodpeopleandseekingtoemulatethem.Investigat
ingsuchthingsisthesignofasoundmindandeffortsto
improveoneself.
Thisreportindicatesthatwhenitcomestouseful
mattersofreligion,ifitisnotpossibletolearnthemfrom
men,itispermissibletolearnthemfromwomen.
There is nothing wrong with a person talking

abouthisdeedssolongasthereisnoelementofshowing
offanditisforthebenefitofothers.
We also learn that going to extremes in worship

may cause a person to get bored, which in turn could
lead him to stop worshipping altogether; the best of
thingsarethosethataremoderate.(seealFath,9/104).
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Mistakesgenerally come about as a resultof mis

conceptions; if the ideas are put right, mistakes will de
crease. It is clear from the hadeeth that the reason why
those Sahaabah adopted those concepts of extreme wor
shipandmonasticismwasthattheythoughttheyhadto
go beyond the Prophets actions in worship in order to
attainsalvation,becausehehadbeentoldthatallhissins
wereforgiven,buttheydidnothavethisadvantage.The
Prophet(peaceandblessingsofAllaahbeuponhim)set
them straight, and told them that even though he was
forgiven,hewasthemostfearingofAllaahamongman
kind, and he commanded them to follow his Sunnah in
worship.
A similar thing happened to another Sahaabi, whose
name was Kahmas alHilaali (may Allaah be pleased
withhim),whonarratedhisstory:
I became Muslim and came to the Prophet (peace
andblessingsofAllaahbeuponhim)andtoldhim
thatIhadbecomeMuslim.Istayedawayforayear,
during which I became very skinny, and when I
came back, he looked me up and down. I said, Do
younotknowme?hesaid,Whoareyou?Isaid,I
am Kahmas alHilaali. He said, What happened to
you? I said, After I saw you, I never spent a day
withoutfasting,andIneversleptatnight.Hesaid,
Whotoldyoutotortureyourself?Fastthemonthof
patience [i.e., Ramadaan], and one day of every
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month besides that. I said, Let me do more. He

said, Fast the month of patience and two days of
everymonthbesidesthat.Isaid,Letmedomore,I
amableforit.Hesaid,Fastthemonthofpatience
andthreedaysofeverymonthbesidesthat.(Mus
nad alTayaalisi. Reported by alTabaraani in al
Kabeer, 19/194, no. 435. Also in alSilsilat al
Saheehah,no.2623).
Some misconceptions may be based on how one judges
peopleandregardsthem.TheProphet(peaceandbless
ingsofAllaahbeuponhim)wasverykeentocorrectthis
and put people straight in this regard. In Saheeh al
Bukhaari, there is a report from Sahl ibn Sad alSaaidi
whosaid:
A man passed by the Messenger of Allaah (peace
andblessingsofAllaahbeuponhim),soheaskeda
man sitting by him, What do you think of this
man?Hesaid,Heisoneofthenoblestofthepeo
ple. By Allaah, if he proposes marriage he deserves
to be accepted and if he intercedes he deserves to
have his intercession accepted. The Messenger of
said nothing. Then another man passed by and the
beuponhim)askedthemanwithhim,Whatdoyou
think of him? The man said, O Messenger of Al
laah, he is one of the poor Muslims. If he proposes
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marriagehedoesnotdeservetobeaccepted,ifhein
tercedeshedoesnotdeservetohavehisintercession
accepted,andifhespeakshedoesnotdeservetobe
heard. The Messenger of Allaah (peace and bless
ingsofAllaahbeuponhim)said,Thismanisbetter
than an earth fullofmen like the other man. (al
Fath,6447).
According to a report narrated by Ibn Maajah: a man
passed by the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings
of Allaah be upon him), and the Prophet (peace and
blessings of Allaah be upon him) said (to his Compan
ions),
What do you think of this man? They said, We
think that he is one of the noblest of people. If he
proposes marriage he deserves to be accepted, if he
intercedes he deserves to have his intercession ac
cepted, and if he speaks he deserves to be heard.
TheProphet(peaceandblessingsofAllaahbeupon
him) said nothing. Another man passed by and the
him)asked,Whatdoyouthinkofthisman?They
said, By Allaah, O Messenger of Allaah, he is one
of the poor Muslims. If he proposes marriage he
doesnotdeservetobeaccepted,ifheintercedes,he
does not deserve to have his intercession accepted,
and if he speaks he does not deserve to be heard.
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him) said, This man is better than an earth full of

men like the other one. (Sunan Ibn Maajah, Abd
alBaaqiedn.,no.4120)
5 Dealing with mistakes by repeatedly reminding

peopletofearAllaah
Jundub ibn AbdAllaah alBajali reported that the Mes
him)sentagroupofMuslimstofightsomemushrikeen,
and they met in battle. One of the mushrikeen was am
bushingindividualMuslimsandkillingthem.Oneofthe
Muslims wanted to catch him out and kill him. [Jundub
said:]WeusedtothinkthatthatmanwasUsaamahibn
Zayd. When he raised his sword, the mushrik said La
ilaaha illAllaah, but he [Usaamah] killed him. A mes
senger came to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Al
laah be upon him) and reported to him about what had
happened in the battle. When he told him about what
had happened to the mushrik who said Laa ilaaha ill
Allaah, the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be
uponhim)sentforUsaamahandaskedhim,
Why did you kill him? He said, O Messenger of
Allaah,hehadcausedmuchgrieftotheMuslims,he
killed Soandso and Soandso, and he named a
number of people I attacked him and when he
saw the sword he said Laa ilaaha illAllaah. The
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be upon him) said, And then you killed him?
Usaamah said, Yes. He said, What will you do
whenLaaillahaillAllaahcomesontheDayofRes
urrection?Hesaid,OMessengerofAllaah,prayfor
forgivenessforme.TheProphet(peaceandbless
ingsofAllaahbeuponhim)simplysaid,Whatwill
youdowhenLaailaahaillAllaahcomesontheDay
ofResurrection?Hedidnotsayanymorethanthat.
(ReportedbyMuslim,AbdalBaaqiedn.,no.97).
AccordingtoareportnarratedbyUsaamahibnZayd,he
said:
Allaahbeuponhim)sentusoutonamilitarycam
paignandwereachedalHaraqaatnearJuhaynahin
themorning.[Duringthebattle]Icaughtamanand
he said, Laa ilaaha illAllaah, but I stabbed him.
ThenIfeltbadaboutthat,andImentionedittothe
him).TheMessengerofAllaah(peaceandblessings
ofAllaahbeuponhim)said,HesaidLaailaahaill
Allaahandyoukilledhim?Isaid,OMessengerof
Allaah,heonlysaiditbecausehewasafraidofmy
weapon.Hesaid,Howcanyouknowwhatisinhis
heart?Howcanyoubesurewhetherhewassincere
ornot?HekeptrepeatingthisuntilIwishedthatI
hadnotbecomeMuslimuntilthatday[becauseem
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bracing Islam wipes out all sins that came before

Translator].(ReportedbyMuslim,no.69)
Oneissuethatmaybeincludedundertheheadingofre
mindersisremindingpeopleaboutthepowerofAllaah.
Anexampleofthisfollows:
Muslim (may Allaah have mercy on him) reported that
AbuMasoodalBadrisaid:
I was beating a slave of mine with a whip, and I
heard a voice behind me saying, Listen Abu
Masood! but I did not pay any attention to the
voice because I was so angry. When the voice got
nearertome,IrealizedthatitwastheMessengerof
Allaah(peaceandblessingsofAllaahbeuponhim),
andhewassaying,ListenAbuMasood,listenAbu
Masood! I dropped the whip from my hand (ac
cording to another report: the whip fell from my
hand out of respect for him). He said, Listen Abu
Masood,Allaahhasmorepoweroveryouthanyou
haveoverthisslave.Isaid,Iwillneverhitaslave
again.Accordingtoanotherreporthesaid:Isaid,
OMessengerofAllaah,heisfreeforthesakeofAl
laah.Hesaid,Ifyoudidnotdothis,theFireofHell
would blow in your face, or the Fire would touch
you.
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According to another report also narrated by Muslim,

theMessengerofAllaah(peaceandblessingsofAllaah
beuponhim)said:
CertainlyAllaahhasmorepoweroveryouthanyou
have over him. Sohe freed him. (Saheeh Muslim,
no.1659)
AbuMasoodalAnsaarisaid:
I was beating a slave of mine when I heard some
one saying from behind me, Listen, Abu Masood,
listen, Abu Masood. I turned around and saw that
itwastheMessengerofAllaah(peaceandblessings
of Allaah be upon him). He said, Allaah has more
power over you than you have over him. I never
beat any slave of mine after that. (Reported by al
Tirmidhi, no. 1948. Abu Eesa said, this is a hasan
saheehhadeeth).
6 Showing compassion to the one who is making a

mistake. This applies in the case of those who deserve
compassion, who feel remorse and show that they have
repented,asissometimesthecasewhenpeoplecometo
askquestionsandfindout,asinthefollowingstory.Ibn
Abbaasreportedthatamanwhohaddivorcedhiswife
byzihaarandthenhadintercoursewithhercametothe
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said,
O Messenger of Allaah, I divorced my wife by zi
haarthenIhadintercoursewithherbeforeIoffered
kafaarah (expiation). He said, What made you do
that, may Allaah have mercy on you? He said, I
saw her anklets in the moonlight. He said, Then
do not go near her until you have done that which
Allaahcommandedyoutodo.(AbuEesasaid,this
is a hasan ghareeb saheeh hadeeth. Saheeh Sunan
alTirmidhi,no.1199)
AbuHurayrah(mayAllaahbepleasedwithhim)said:
WhilstweweresittingwiththeProphet(peaceand
blessings of Allaah be upon him), a man came to
him and said, O Messenger of Allaah, I am
doomed!Hesaid,Whatisthematterwithyou?He
said, I had intercourse with my wife whilst I was
fasting.TheMessengerofAllaah(peaceandbless
ings of Allaah be upon him) said, Are you able to
setaslavefree?Hesaid,No.Hesaid,Canyoufast
fortwoconsecutivemonths?Hesaid,No.Hesaid,
Do you have the wherewithal to feed sixty poor
persons? He said, No. The Prophet (peace and
blessingsofAllaahbeuponhim)saidnothingmore
aboutthematterforawhile,andwhilstweweresit
ting there like that, a large basket full of dates was
brought to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Al
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laah be upon him). He said, Where is the one who

was asking? The man said, Here I am. He said,
Take this and give it in charity. The man said,
Whoispoorerthanme,OMessengerofAllaah?By
Allaah,thereisnofamilyinMadeenahpoorerthan
mine. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah
beuponhim)smileduntilhiseyeteethwerevisible,
then he said, Feed your family with it. (Reported
byalBukhaari,Fath,1936).
This person who had made a mistake and came to ask
about it was not joking or taking the matter lightly. He
felt remorseful and guilty, as is clear from his saying I
amdoomed.Forthisreason,hedeservedpityandcom
passion. The report narrated by Ahmad (may Allaah
havemercyonhim)makesthemansstateevenclearer:
AbuHurayrahreportedthataBedouincame,hitting
his cheeks and tearing out his hair, and saying, I
am sure that I am doomed! The Messenger of Al
saidtohim,Whatmakesyoudoomed?Hesaid,I
had intercourse with my wife during Ramadaan.
He said, Can you free a slave? He said, No. He
said,Canyoufastfortwoconsecutivemonths?He
said, No. He said, Can you feed sixty poor per
sons? He said, No, and mentioned how poor he
was. A large basket containing fifteen saa of dates
wasbroughttotheMessengerofAllaah(peaceand
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blessings of Allaah be upon him), and the Prophet

Whereisthatman?Feedthepoorwiththis.He
said, O Messenger of Allaah, there is no one in
Madeenahwhoispoorerthanmyfamily.TheMes
upon him) smiled until his eyeteeth were visible
andsaid,Feedyourfamily.(AlMusnad,2/516.Al
FathalRabaani,10/89)
7 Not hastening to tell someone he is wrong. Some

thinghappenedtoUmarwhichhehimselftoldabout:I
heard Hishaam ibn Hakeem ibn Hizaam reciting Soorat
alFurqaanduringthelifetimeoftheMessengerofAllaah
(peaceandblessingsofAllaahbeuponhim).Ilistenedto
his recitation, and he was reciting it differently to the
waythattheMessengerofAllaah(peaceandblessingsof
Allaahbeuponhim)usedtoreciteit.Inearlyinterrupted
hisprayer,butIwaiteduntilhehadsaidthesalaam,then
Igrabbedhimbyhiscloakandsaid,Whotaughtyouto
recite this soorah I heard you reciting? He said, The
upon him) taught me to recite it. I said, You are lying!
The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah
be upon him) taught me to recite it differently. I took
him to the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of
Allaah be upon him) and said, I heard him reciting
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Soorat alFurqaan differently than the way you taught

me to recite it. The Messenger of Allaah (peace and
blessingsofAllaahbeuponhim)said,
Let him go. Recite, O Hishaam. He recited it as I
had heard him recite it. The Messenger of Allaah
This is how it wasrevealed. Then he said, Recite,
O Umar. So I recited it as he had taught me. The
beuponhim)said,Thisishowitwasrevealed.This
Quran was revealed with seven ways of recitation,
soreciteitinthewaythatiseasiestforyou.(Re
portedbyalBukhaari,alFath,4992).
Amongtheeducationalmethodswelearnfromthisstory
arethefollowing:
Tellingeachonetoreciteinfrontoftheotherand
approvingtheirrecitationwasmoreeffectiveinconfirm
ingthatbothwerecorrectandneitherwaswrong.
When the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah

be upon him) told Umar to let go of Hishaam, this was
preparing both parties to listen in a calm manner. This
was an indication that Umar (may Allaah be pleased
withhim)hadbeentoohasty.
Apersonwhoisseekingknowledgeshouldnotbe
too hasty to condemn any opinion that differs from that
withwhichheisfamiliar;heshouldfirstbesureofwhat
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he is saying, because that opinion may turn out to be a

validscholarlyopinion.
Another relevant point is that one should not hasten to
punish someone who makes a mistake, as we see in the
followingstory:
AnNisaaì (may Allaah have mercy on him) re
portedfromAbbaadibnSharhabeel(mayAllaahbe
pleased with him) who said: I came with my (pa
ternal) uncles to Madeenah, and we entered one of
thegardensofthecity.Irubbedsomeofthewheat,
and the owner of the garden came and took my
cloakandhitme.IcametotheMessengerofAllaah
(peaceandblessingsofAllaahbeuponhim)asking
forhishelp.Hesentforthatmanandtheybrought
him to him. He said to him, What made you do
that?Hesaid,OMessengerofAllaah,hewentinto
mygardenandtooksomeofmywheatandrubbed
it.TheMessengerofAllaah(peaceandblessingsof
Allaahbeuponhim)said,Youdidnotteachhimif
it was the matter of him not knowing, and you did
notfeedhimifitwasthematterofhimbeinghun
gry.Givehimbackhiscloak.AndtheMessengerof
orderedthatIshouldbegivenawasqorhalfawasq
( measure of wheat). (AlNisaaì, alMujtabaa, Ki
taab Aadaab alQudaat, Baab alIstidaa; Saheeh
SunanalNisaaì,no.4999).
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Fromthisstorywelearnthatweshouldfindoutthecir
cumstancesoftheonewhoismakingamistakeoracting
inanaggressivemanner,sothatwemayknowtheright
waytodealwithhim.
We may also note that the Prophet (peace and blessings
ofAllaahbeuponhim)didnotpunishtheownerofthe
garden,becausehewasintheright,buthehadhandled
thematterwrong.Hepointedouttohimthatthewayhe
had dealt with someone who knew not better was inap
propriateinsuchcircumstances,thenhetaughthimhow
tohandlethematterproperly,andtoldhimtogiveback
thegarmenthehadtakenfromthehungryman.
8 Remaining calm when dealing with peoples mis

takes especially when being too harsh could make
matters worse and do more harm than good. We can
learn this from looking at how the Prophet (peace and
blessings of Allaah be upon him) dealt with the mistake
made by the Bedouin who urinated in the mosque, as
wasreportedbyAnasibnMaalik,whosaid:
WhilstwewereinthemosquewiththeMessenger
him), a Bedouin came and stood urinating in the
mosque. The Companions of the Messenger of Al
said, Stop it! Stop it! But the Messenger of Allaah
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Donotinterrupthim;leavehimalone.Sotheyleft
him until he had finished urinating, then the Mes
upon him) called him and said to him, In these
mosquesitisnotrighttodoanythinglikeurinating
ordefecating;theyareonlyforrememberingAllaah,
praying and reading Quràan, or words to that ef
fect. Then he commanded a man who was there to
bringabucketofwaterandthrowitoverthe(urine),
andhedidso.(SaheehMuslim,no.285).
The principle which the Prophet (peaceand blessings of
Allaah be upon him) followed in dealing with this mis
take was to treat the man gently, not to be harsh with
him.AlBukhaarireportedfromAbuHurayrah(mayAl
laahbepleasedwithhim):
ABedouinurinatedinthemosque,andthepeople
got up to sort him out. The Messenger of Allaah
(peaceandblessingsofAllaahbeuponhim)saidto
them,Leavehimalone,andthrowabucketofwater
overit.Youhavebeensenttomakethingseasyfor
people,nottomakethingshard.(Fath,6128).
The Sahaabah, may Allaah be pleased with them, were
very keen to denounce the bad thing they had seen and
to keep their mosque clean and pure, as is indicated in
thevariousreportsofthishadeeth,whichdescribethem
asshoutingat him,gettinguptosort him out,rebuking
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him and hastening to deal with him, or telling him to

Stop it! (Jaami alUsool, 7/8387). But the Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) was think
ingofthelikelyconsequencesofthetwooptionsstop
pinghimorleavinghimalone.Iftheytriedtostophim,
forcing a man to suppress his urination could do him
harm,andifhewasunabletostopbutmovedawaybe
cause he was afraid of them, the impurity would be
spreadoverawiderareaofthemosqueandonthemans
body and clothing. The Prophet (peace and blessings of
Allaah be upon him) had the farsightedness to see that
leaving the man alone until he had finished urinating
wasthelesseroftwoevils,especiallysincethemanhad
already started doing it, and it was a problem that they
would be able to do something about by cleaning it af
terwards. So he told his companions to leave him alone
andnottointerrupthim.Hetoldthemtoleavehimalone
because this was in the better interests of all and would
wardoffaworseevilbyputtingupwiththelesserevil.
ItwasalsoreportedthattheProphet(peaceandblessings
ofAllaahbeuponhim)askedthemanthereasonforhis
action. AlTabaraani reported in alKabeer that Ibn Ab
baas(mayAllaahbepleasedwithhim)said:
A Bedouin came to the Prophet (peace and bless
ingsofAllaahbeuponhim)andpledgedallegiance
to him in the mosque. Then he went away and
started to urinate. The people wanted to stop him,
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but the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be

uponhim)said,Donotstopamanwhenheisuri
nating.Thenheaskedhim,AreyounotaMuslim?
He said, Of course. He said, What made you uri
nateinourmosque?Hesaid,BytheOneWhosent
you with the truth, I thought it was just like any
other place so I urinated in it. The Prophet (peace
and blessings of Allaah be upon him) called for a
bucket of water and poured it over the urine. (Re
ported by alTabaraani in alKabeer, no. 11552, vol.
11, p.220. AlHaythami said in alMajma: its men
arethemenofsaheeh,2/10).
Thiswisemannerofdealingwiththeproblemhadafar
reachingeffectontheBedouin, asisclearfromhisreac
tion.IbnMaajahreportedthatAbuHurayrahsaid:
ABedouinenteredthemosquewheretheMessen
him)wassitting,andsaid,OAllaah,forgivemeand
Muhammad, and do not forgive anyone else. The
be upon him) smiled and said, You are narrowing
something vast. Then (the Bedouin) went away to
thefurthestpartofthemosque,openedhislegs,and
begantourinate.Afterhehadlearntbetter,theBed
ouinsaid,Hegotup,maymymotherandmyfather
besacrificedforhim,hedidnotrebukemeorinsult
me.Hejustsaid,Wedonoturinateinthismosque;
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itwasonlybuiltfortheremembranceofAllaahand
forprayer.Thenhecalledforabucketofwaterand
poureditovertheurine.(SunanIbnMaajah,Abd
alBaaqiedn.,529;SaheehIbnMaajah,428).
IbnHajar(mayAllaahhavemercyonhim)mentionedin
his commentary a number of things we learn from the
hadeethabouttheBedouin,amongwhicharethefollow
ing:
We should be gentle when dealing with one who

is ignorant and teach him what he needs to know with
outrebukinghim,solongasheisnotactingoutofstub
bornness, especially if he is one who needs to be won
over.

uponhim)waskindanddealtnicelywithhim.
The idea of taking precautions against impurity

(najaasah) was wellestablished in the minds of the Sa
haabah,whichiswhytheyhastenedtodenounceitinthe
presenceoftheProphet(peaceandblessingsofAllaahbe
upon him) without first asking his permission. The idea
of enjoining what is good and forbidding what is evil
wasalsowellestablishedintheirminds.
We should also hasten to remove anything objec

tionablewhenthereisnothingtostopusfromdoingso,
because when the man had finished urinating, the
Prophet(peaceandblessingsofAllaahbeuponhim)is
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sued instructions that the place should be cleaned with

water.
9 Explaining the seriousness of the mistake. Ibn

Umar, Muhammad ibn Kab, Zayd ibn Aslam and Qu
taadahreported(thefollowingiscompiledfromtheirre
ports) that during the campaign of Tabook, a man said,
We have never seen anyone who loves food and tells
liesmorethanourreciters,oranyonewhoismorecow
ardly on the battlefield referring to the Messenger of
Allaah(peaceandblessingsofAllaahbeuponhim)and
his Companions. Awf ibn Maalik said, You are lying!
Youareahypocrite,andIamgoingtotelltheMessenger
of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him).
Awf went to the Messenger of Allaah to tell him, but
found that Quràan had already been revealed concern
ingit.ThatmancametotheProphet(peaceandblessings
of Allaah be upon him), who was riding his camel, and
said,OMessengerofAllaah,wewereonlytalkingidly
andjoking,justtopasstimeonthejourney.IbnUmar
said,ItisasifIcanseehimhangingontothereinsofthe
Prophets camel, with the stones hitting his feet, saying,
Wewereonlytalkingidlyandjoking,whilsttheMes
him)wasreciting(interpretationofthemeaning),
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Say:WasitatAllaahandHisaayaat(signs)andHis
Messenger that you were mocking? [alTawbah
9:65],
nomore,noless.
Ibn Jareer reported that Ibn Umar (may Allaah be
pleasedwithhim)said:DuringthecampaignofTabook
a man said in a gathering, We have never seen anyone
who loves food and tells lies more than our reciters, or
anyonewhoismorecowardlyonthebattlefield.Aman
who was present said, You are lying! You are a hypo
crite, and I am going to tell the Messenger of Allaah
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), and
Quràan was revealed. AbdAllaah ibn Umar said, I
sawhimhanging on tothereinsoftheProphetscamel,
kicking up the stones and saying, O Messenger of Al
laah,wewereonlytalkingidlyandjoking,andtheMes
him)wassaying(interpretationofthemeaning),
Say:WasitatAllaahandHisaayaat(signs)andHis
Messenger that you were mocking? [alTawbah
9:65].
(Tafseer ibn Jareer alTabari, 14/333, Dar alKutub al
Ilmiyyah,firstedn.,1412.Itsmenarethemenofsaheeh,
except Hishaam ibn Sad, from whom Muslim did not
reportexceptasacorroboratingreport,asinalMeezaan.
It was also reported by alTabari with his isnaad, and
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there is a corroborating report with a hasan isnaad re

corded by Ibn Haatim from the hadeeth of Kab ibn
Maalik.SaheehalMusnadminAsbaabalNuzool,p.71).
10Explainingtheharmfuleffectsofthemistake.Abu
ThalabahalKhashanisaid:WhenevertheMessengerof
Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him)
brokehisjourneyinaplace,thepeoplewoulddispersein
the valleys and mountains. The Messenger of Allaah
(peaceandblessingsofAllaahbeuponhim)said,
Your dispersing in these valleys and mountains is
from Shaytaan. After that he never stopped any
wherebuttheyallstayedclosetogether,somuchso
thatifacloakwasspreadoverthem,itwouldcover
them all. (Reported by Abu Dawood (may Allaah
have mercy on him), in his Sunan, 2286; classed as
saheehbyalAlbaaniinSaheehSunanAbiDawood,
no.2288).
untilyouwouldsaythatifyouweretospreada
cloth over them, it would cover them. (Ahmad, al
FathalRabbaani,14/44).
HerewemaynotetheProphetsconcernforhisCompan
ions, which was the leaders concern for his troops. The
armys dispersing when they made camp was a trick of
theShaytaantomaketheMuslimsscaredandtoleadthe
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enemy to attack them. (See Awn alMabood, 7/292).

Dispersing in this manner would make it hard for one
partofthearmytocometotheaidofanotherpart.(See
DaleelalFaaliheen,6/130).
We may also note that the Companions of the Prophet
(peaceandblessingsofAllaahbeuponhim)obeyedhim
inwhateverinstructionstheyreceivedfromhim.
Another example of how the Prophet (peace and bless
ings of Allaah be upon him) explained how serious and
dangerous a mistakewas is to be seen in the hadeeth of
alNumaanibnBasheer,accordingtowhichtheProphet
Straighten your rows (for prayer), or Allaah will
makeyoudivided.(ReportedbyalBukhaariinhis
Saheeh,Fath,no.717).
MuslimreportedinhisSaheehfromSammaakibnHarb,
whosaid:IheardalNumaanibnBasheersaying,The
upon him) used to straighten our rows strictly, until he
realized that we had got the message. One day he came
outandwasabouttosaytakbeerwhenhenoticedaman
whosechestwasstickingout.Hesaid,
OslavesofAllaah,straightenyourrows,orAllaah
willmakeyoudivided.(SaheehMuslim,no.436).
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AlNisaaì reported from Anas (may Allaah be pleased

withhim)thattheProphetofAllaah(peaceandblessings
ofAllaahbeuponhim)said,
Makeyourrowsfirmandclosetogether,andmake
your necks in a straight line, for by the One in
Whose hand is the soul of Muhammad, I see the
shayaateen (devils) coming among your ranks as if
they are small black sheep. (alMujtabaa, 2/92.
ClassedassaheehbyalAlbaaniinSaheehSunanal
Nisaaì,no.785).
Explainingbadeffectsandnegativeconsequencesisvery
important whenitcomestoconvincingpeoplethatthey
are making a mistake. The consequences may affect the
person himself, or they may spread to other people. An
exampleoftheformeristhereportnarratedbyAbuDa
wood(mayAllaahhavemercyonhim)inhisSunanfrom
IbnAbbaas(mayAllaahbepleasedwiththemboth),in
whichamancursedthewind.Muslimsaidthatamans
cloakwassnatchedawaybythewindatthetimeofthe
Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him),
and he cursed the wind. The Prophet (peace and bless
ingsofAllaahbeuponhim)said,
Donotcurseit,foritonlydoesasitiscommanded,
and if a person curses something that does not de
serve to be cursed, his curse will come back upon
him.(AbuDawood,no.4908;SaheehAbiDawood,
no.4102).
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An example of the latter was narrated by alBukhaari

(mayAllaahhavemercyonhim)inhisSaheehfromAbd
alRahmaanibnAbiBakrahfromhisfather,whosaid:A
manpraisedanothermaninthepresenceoftheProphet
(peaceandblessingsofAllaahbeuponhim).According
to a report narrated by Muslim: a man said, O Messen
gerofAllaah,thereisnooneotherthantheMessengerof
Allaah(peaceandblessingsofAllaahbeuponhim)who
isbetterthanhiminsuchandsuch.(SaheehMuslim,no.
3000). [The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be
uponhim)]saidtohim,
Woetoyou!Youhavecutyourcompanionsthroat!
You have cut your companions throat! several
times, then he said, If any one of you insists on
praisinghisbrother,lethimsay,Ithinksoandso
issuchandsuch,andAllaahknowstheexacttruth,
and I do not confirm anyones good conduct before
Allaah, but I think him to be suchandsuch, if he
knows that this is the case. (2662, Kitaab al
Shahaadaat).
AccordingtoareportnarratedbyalBukhaariinalAdab
alMufrad, Mihjan alAslami (may Allaah be pleased
withhim)said:
untilwhenwewereinthemosque,theMessen
him) saw a man praying, prostrating and bowing.
TheMessengerofAllaah(peaceandblessingsofAl
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laahbeuponhim)saidtome,Whoisthis?Istarted
topraisehimandsaid,OMessengerofAllaah,this
issoandso,andheissuchandsuch.(Accordingto
another report also in alAdab alMufrad, he said,
Thisissoandsoandheisoneofthebestpeoplein
Madeenah in prayer.) He said, Be quiet, lest he
hear you and you destroy him. (Saheeh alAdab
alMufrad,137;alAlbaanisaid,itishasan).
AlBukhaari reported that Abu Moosa (may Allaah be
pleasedwithhim)said:
upon him) heard a man praising another man and
going to extremes in that. He said, You have de
stroyedhimorYouhavebrokenthemansback.
(Fath2663).
explained that exaggeration when praising someone is a
mistakewhichcanhavebadconsequences.Itmaymake
thepersonwhoispraisedfeelproud,sothathisheartis
filledwitharroganceandselfadmiration,andherestson
his laurels or starts to show off because he enjoys the
praise so much. This in turn may lead to his utimate
doom,whichiswhattheProphet(peaceandblessingsof
Allaahbeuponhim)meantwhenhesaid,Youhavede
stroyed him, or You have cut the mans throat, or
Youhavebrokenthemansback.
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Moreover,ifapersongoestoextremesinpraisingsome
one, and says something he is not certain of, or affirms
something he could not possibly know, or maybe even
tells lies or says something to please the person he is
praising,thiswillbeadisaster,especiallyifthepersonhe
is praising is an oppressor or wrongdoer. (See alFath,
10/478).
Generally speaking, it is not forbidden to praise people.
praisedsomepeopleintheirpresence.Animportantex
planation of this topic is to be found in Saheeh Muslim,
where there is a chapter entitled Baab alNahy an al
Madhidhaakaanafeehiifraatwakheefaminhufitnatun
alalmamdooh (Chapter: Prohibition of praising others
if it is exaggerated or if there is the danger of fitnah for
the one who is praised). (Kitaab alZuhd walRaqaaiq,
SaheehMuslim).
The person who sees himself as falling short will not be
damaged by praise, and if he is praised he will not be
come arrogant, because he knows his own true nature.
Some of the salaf said: If a man is praised to his face,
lethimsay:OAllaah,forgivemeforwhattheydonot
know, do not hold me responsible for what they say,
and make me better than what they think. (Fath,
10/478).
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11Practicalteachingoftheonewhoismakingamis
take. In many cases practical teaching is more effective
thantheoreticalteaching.ThisiswhattheProphet(peace
andblessingsofAllaahbeuponhim)did.JubayribnNu
fayrreportedfromhisfatherthathecametotheMessen
ger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon
him),whocalledforwater,thensaid,
Do wudoo, O Abu Jubayr. Abu Jubayr started
withhismouth,andtheMessengerofAllaah(peace
andblessingsofAllaahbeuponhim)said,Donot
startwithyourmouth,OAbuJubayr,forthekaafir
starts with his mouth. Then the Messenger of Al
called for water, and washed his hands until they
wereclean,thenherinsedhismouthandnosethree
times,washedhisfacethreetimes,washedhisright
arm up to the elbow three times, and his left arm
three times, wiped his head and washed his feet.
(ReportedbyalBayhaqiinalSunan,1/46;alSilsilat
alSaheehah,no.2820).
WemaynoteherethattheProphet(peaceandblessings
of Allaah be upon him) deliberately put this Sahaabi off
from doing an incorrect action by telling him that the
kaafirstartswithhismouth;themeaningmaybethatthe
kaafir does not wash his hands before putting them in
thevessel(IwastoldthisbyShaykhAbdalAzeezIbn
Baaz when I asked him about the interpretation of this
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hadeeth),andthatthisisnothygienic.AndAllaahknows
best.
12 Offering a sound alternative. AbdAllaah ibn

Masoodsaid,WhenweprayedwiththeProphet(peace
and blessings of Allaah be upon him), we used to say,
Peace be upon Allaah from His slaves, peace be upon
soandso.(AccordingtoareportnarratedbyalNisaaì,
he said, Peace be upon Jibreel, peace be upon Mi
kaaeel. AlMujtabaa: Kitaab alTatbeeq, Baab Kayfa al
Tashahhud alAwwal. See also Saheeh Sunan alNisaaì,
no.1119).TheProphet(peaceandblessingsofAllaahbe
uponhim)said,
Do not say, Peace be upon Allaah, for Allaah is
The Peace (alSalaam). But you should say, Al
Tahiyyaatu Lillaahi walsalawaatu waltayyibaat,
alsalaamu alayka ayyuhalNabiyyu wa rahmat
Allaahi wa barakaatuhu, walsalaamu alaynaa wa
alaa ibaadIllaah ilsaaliheen. If you say this, it
will include every slave of Allaah in heaven or be
tweenheavenandearth.[Thensay:]Ibearwitness
thatthereisnogodexceptAllaahandIbearwitness
thatMuhammadisHisslaveandMessenger.Then
choosewhicheverduaayoulike,andreciteit.(al
Bukhaari,Fath,835).
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Anotherreportthatdealswiththistopicwasnarratedby
Anas(mayAllaahbepleasewithhim),whosaidthatthe
Prophet(peaceandblessingsofAllaahbeuponhim)saw
somesputuminthedirectionoftheqiblahandthisupset
himsomuchthathisangercouldbeseenonhisface.He
stoodupandremoveditwithhishand,thensaid,
Whenanyoneofyoustandsuptopray,heistalk
ing to his Lord. His Lord is between him and the
qiblah,sonooneofyoushouldspitinthedirection
oftheqiblah;heshouldspittohisleftorunderhis
feet.Thenhetooktheedgeofhiscloak,spatonit
and rubbed part ofit against another partand said,
Or do like this. (Reported by alBukhaari, Fath,
405).
AnotherexamplewasreportedbyAbuSaeedalKhudri
(may Allaah be pleased with him), who said: Bilaal
came to the Prophet with some goodquality dates, and
askedhim,
Where is this from? Bilaal said, We had some
poorqualitydates,andIsoldtwomeasuresofthose
foronemeasureofthesesothatwecouldgivethem
to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be
uponhim).Whenheheardthat,theProphet(peace
andblessingsofAllaahbeuponhim)said,Oh,oh!
Theessenceofribaa,theessenceofribaa!Donotdo
that. If you want to buy, sell your dates for some
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thing else, then buy it. (Reported by alBukhaari,

Fath,2312).
Accordingtoanotherreport,onedayaslavebelongingto
brought him some fresh dates, but the Prophets dates
were dry, so the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah
beuponhim)said,
Where did you get these dates from? He said, We
bought a measure of these for two measures of our
dates. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah
beuponhim)said,Donotdothis,becauseitisnot
right.Sellyourdatesfirst,thenbuywhateverdates
youwant.(MusnadAhmad,3/67).
Butinthecaseofsomedaiyahsandpeoplewhoseekto
enjoin what is good and forbid what is evil, we notice
that there is a shortcoming in their methods when they
denounce some of the mistakes that people make. They
only point out the mistakes and denounce them as
haraam, without offering an alternative or explaining
what must be done if one makes a mistake. It is known
that the method of Islam is to offer alternatives to make
up for any benefits that may have been gained through
the haraam practice. When zinaa (fornication, adultery)
was forbidden, marriage was allowed and prescribed;
when ribaa (usury, interest) was forbidden, trading was
allowed; when pork, dead meat and the flesh of every
creature that has fangs or talons were forbidden, the
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meat of properlyslaughtered cattle and other animals

was allowed, and so on. If a person does fall into error,
Islam shows him the way out, through repentance and
expiation,asisexplainedinthetextsonkafaaraat(actsof
expiation).SothosewhoseektocallotherstoIslammust
follow the shareeah in offering alternatives and finding
acceptablewaysout.(Anotherexampleofofferinganal
ternativeistoquotesaheehahaadeethwhichwillreplace
daeefandfabricatedahaadeeth).
It is worth pointing out here that offering alternatives is
somethingthatdependsonwhatispossible.Sometimesa
mistake may be something that has to be stopped, but
thereisnorealisticalternative,eitherbecausethegeneral
situation is bad and people are far removed from the
shareeahofAllaah,orbecausetheonewhoisseekingto
enjoin what is good and forbid what is evil cannot re
memberwhatthealternativeisallhewantstodoisde
nounce the mistake and change it, even if he has no al
ternativetooffer.Thishappensagreatdealinthecaseof
financial dealings and investment organizations, which
emerged in kaafir societies and were brought, complete
with all their Islamically unacceptable features, to Mus
limsocieties;theMuslimshaveshortcomingsandweak
nesses that prevent them from creating Islamic alterna
tivesandapplyingthemeverywhere.Sothoseshortcom
ings and weaknesses remain, even though the divine
methodology contains alternatives and ways out that
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could alleviate the Muslims hardships, and there are

somewhoknowthisandsomewhodonot.
13 Guiding people to that which will prevent them

from making mistakes. Abu Umaamah ibn Sahl ibn
HaneefreportedthathisfathertoldhimthattheMessen
him)wentout,andtheytravelledwithhiminthedirec
tion of Makkah, until they reached the ravine of al
KhazzaarnearalJuhfah.SahlibnHaneefdidghusl,and
hewasawhitemanwithahandsomebodyandbeautiful
skin. Aamir ibn Rabeeah, the brother of Banu Adiyy
ibn Kab looked at him whilst he was doing ghusl and
said, I have never seen anything like what I have seen
today, not even the skin of the virgin who is hidden
away![referringtothewhitenessofhisskin].Sahlfellto
theground(hehadanepilepticfit).TheMessengerofAl
laah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) came
anditwassaidtohim,
DoyouwanttoseeSahl?ByAllaah,hecannotraise
his head or wake up. He asked, Whose fault is
this? They said, Aamir ibn Rabeeah looked at
him.TheMessengerofAllaah(peaceandblessings
of Allaah be upon him) called Aamir and rebuked
him angrily, and said, Why would any one of you
kill his brother? If any one of you sees that his
brother has something he likes, let him pray for
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blessingforhim.Thenhesaidtohim,Batheyour
self to help him. So he washed his face, his hands
uptotheelbows,hisknees,thesidesofhisfeetand
insidehisizaar(lowergarment)inavessel.Thenthe
him)said,Pourthatwateroverhim.Sohepoured
the water over his head and back from behind, tilt
ing the vessel, and Sahl went with the people and
there was nothing wrong with him. (AlMusnad,
3/486. AlHaythamisaid, the men of Ahmad arethe
menofsaheeh.AlMajma,5/107)
According to a report narrated by Maalik (may Allaah
havemercyonhim),MuhammadibnAbiUmaamahibn
Sahl ibn Haneef said that he heard his father saying:
AbuSahlibnHaneefdidghuslinalKharraarandtook
off the garment he was wearing. Aamir ibn Rabeeah
was looking at him, and Sahl was a white man with
beautiful skin. Aamir ibn Rabeeah said to him, I have
never seen anything like what I have seen today, not
eventheskinofthe virgin!.Sahlfellill onthespot and
becameseriouslyill.TheMessengerofAllaah(peaceand
blessings of Allaah be upon him) came and was told,
Sahlhasfallenill,andcannotgowithyou,OMessenger
of Allaah. Sahl told him what had happened with
Aamir, and the Messenger of Allaah (peace and bless
ingsofAllaahbeuponhim)said,
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Why would any one of you kill his brother? You

should have asked for blessing for him. The (evil)
eye is real. Do wudoo to help him. So Aamir did
wudoo, and Sahl went with the Messenger of Al
laah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him),
and there was nothing wrong with him. (Al
Muwatta,hadeethno.1972).
Whatwelearnfromthisstoryis:
Theteacher(i.e.,theProphet(peaceandblessings
of Allaah be upon him)) got angry with the one who
causedharmtohisMuslimbrother.
He explained the harmful effects of the mistake

andthatitcouldleadtodeath.
He pointed the way to that which would prevent

harmbefallingaMuslim.
14 Not confronting people directly with their mistakes

and addressing the issue in general terms may be suffi
cient.AnasibnMaaliksaid:
uponhim)said,Whatisthematterwithsomepeo
ple who raise their gaze to the heavens whilst they
are praying? He spoke so harshly about them that
hesaid,Theyshouldstopdoingthat,orelseAllaah
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will take away their sight. (Reported by al

Bukhaari,Fath,hadeethno.750).
When Aaìshah wanted to buy a slavewoman whose
namewasBareerah,herownersrefusedtosellherexcept
with the condition that she would still be connected to
them. When the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah
be upon him) found out about this, he stood up to ad
dressthepeople,praisedandthankedAllaah,thensaid,
What is wrong with men who impose conditions
which are not mentioned in the Book of Allaah?
There is no condition that is not mentioned in the
Book of Allaah but it is invalid, even if there were
one hundred such conditions. The decree of Allaah
ismoretrue,theconditionslaiddownbyAllaahare
more binding, and wala (connection, loyalty, alle
giance) is to the one who sets the slave free. (Re
ported by alBukhaari (may Allaah have mercy on
him) in numerous places in his Saheeh. See Fath,
5636).
Aaìshah(mayAllaahbepleasedwithher)said:
upon him) did something and made it permissible,
but some people felt that they were above doing
that. News of this reached the Prophet (peace and
blessings of Allaah be upon him), so he addressed
thepeople.HepraisedandthankedAllaah,thenhe
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said, What is the matter with people who think

themselvesabovedoingthethingsthatIdo?ByAl
laah,IknowmoreaboutAllaahthantheydo,andI
fearHimmorethantheydo.(Fath,6101).
Abu Hurayrah reported that the Messenger of Allaah
(peaceandblessingsofAllaahbeuponhim)sawsputum
in the qiblah of the mosque, so he turned to the people
andsaid,
What iswrong with one of you that hestands fac
inghisLordandspitsinfrontofHim?Wouldanyof
youlikesomeonetofacehimandspitinhisface?If
any one of you wants to spit, let him spit towards
his left, under his feet, and if he cannot do this, let
himdothisandalQaasimdescribedhowhespat
onhisgarmentandrubbedonepartofitagainstan
otherpart.(SaheehMuslim,no.550).
AlNisaaìreportedinhisSunanthattheProphet(peace
and blessings of Allaah be upon him) prayed Salaat al
SubhandrecitedSooratalRoom,butgotmixedupinhis
recitation.Whenhehadfinishedpraying,hesaid,
What is the matter with people who pray with us
butdonotpurifythemselvesproperly?Suchpeople
aretheoneswhomakeusgetmixedupwhenwere
citeQuràan.(SunanalNisaaì,alMujtabaa,2/156.
Itsmenarethiqaat,butalHaafizsaidaboutAbdal
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Malik ibn Umayr that he wasthiqah but his mem

orychangedandhemayhavefabricatedreports).
Ahmad (may Allaah have mercy on him) reported that
AbuRawhalKalaaisaid:
Allaah be upon him) led us in prayer and recited
Soorat alRoom, but he got mixed up in part of the
recitation. He said, The Shaytaan made us get
mixed up in our recitation, because of some people
whocometotheprayerwithoutwudoo.Whenyou
cometopray,dowudooproperly.
He also reported from Shubah from Abd alMalik ibn
Umayr,whosaid:IheardShabeebAbuRawhnarrating
fromamanfromamongtheCompanionsoftheProphet
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) who said
that theProphet(peaceandblessingsofAllaahbeupon
him) prayed Salaat alSubh and recited Soorat alRoom,
andgotmixedup,andhenarrated(thesamehadeeth).
(It was also reported from Zaaidah and Sufyaan from
AbdalMalik.AlMusnad,3/473).
There are many examples, all of which indicate that the
identity of the person who has made the mistake need
not be exposed. This indirect approach and avoiding a
direct confrontation has a number of benefits, including
thefollowing:
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1.
Itavoidsanegativereactiononthepartoftheper
son who has made the mistake, and prevents him from
beingtemptedbytheShaytaantoavengehimselforde
fendhimself.
2.
It is more acceptable to people and is more effec
tive.
3.
It conceals the persons mistake in front of other
people.
4.
It increases the status of the educator and makes
theadvisormorebeloved.
Itmustbepointedoutthatthismethodofusinghintsto
convey a ruling to a person who has made a mistake,
without exposing him and causing him embarrassment,
isonlytobeusedwhenwhathehasdoneisnotknown
tothemajorityofpeople.Ifmostofthepeopledoknow
what he has done, and he knows that they know, then
thismethodwouldbemoreinthenatureofarebukeand
scolding, and exposing him in the most hurtful manner.
The one who has made a mistake would most likely
rather be confronted directly than be dealt with in this
manner. Among the factors that can make a difference
are: who is giving the advice, in the presence of whom
theadviceisbeinggiven,andwhethertheadviceisgiven
in a provocative and aggressive manner, or in a kindly
andgentlemanner.
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Indirectmethodsofteachingpeoplemaybeofbenefitto
theonewhohasmadethemistakeandtoothers,ifthey
areusedwisely.
15 Provoking public opinion against the one who has

madethemistake.Thismethodisonlytobeusedinvery
limited circumstances, when a great deal of thought has
beengiventothematter,toavoidanynegativeescalation
of the situation. There follows an example of how the
Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him)
usedthismethod.AbuHurayrahsaid:
AmancametotheProphet(peaceandblessingsof
Allaah be upon him) and complained to him about
his neighbour. The Prophet (peace and blessings of
Allaahbeuponhim)said,Goandputupwithhim.
The man came back two or three times, then the
him) said, Go and put your belongings out in the
street.Sohewentandputhisbelongingsoutinthe
street.Peoplestartedtoaskhimwhatwasgoingon,
sohetoldthem,andthepeoplestartedtocurse(the
neighbour), saying, May Allaah do suchandsuch
to him. Then the neighbour came to him and said,
Put your stuff back, you will not see anything else
from me that you dislike. (Reported by Abu Da
wood, Kitaab alAdab, Baab fi Haqq alJiwaar, no.
5153;SaheehAbiDawood,4292).
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This method has an opposite counterpart which is used

inothercircumstancestoprotectpeoplefromthepublics
harm,aswillbeexplainedbelow:
16AvoidinghelpingtheShaytaanagainsttheonewho
ismakingamistake.UmaribnalKhattaabreportedthat
atthetimeoftheProphet(peaceandblessingsofAllaah
beuponhim),therewasamancalledAbdAllaahwhose
nickname was Himaar (donkey), who used to make the
upon him) laugh. The Prophet (peace and blessings of
Allaahbeuponhim)hadhimwhippedfordrinkinghe
wasbroughttohimonedayandtheProphet(peaceand
blessings of Allaah be upon him) gave orders that he
shouldbewhipped.Oneofthemenpresentsaid,OAl
laah, curse him! How often has he been brought [to be
punishedbecauseofdrinking]!TheProphet(peaceand
blessingsofAllaahbeuponhim)said,
Donotcursehim,forbyAllaah,allIknowofhim
is that he loves Allaah and His Messenger. (Re
portedbyalBukhaari,Fath,6780).
Abu Hurayrah said: A drunkard was brought to the
he ordered that he should be beaten, so some of us hit
him with our hands, others with shoes and garments.
Whenhewentaway,amansaid,MayAllaahputhimto
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shame!TheMessengerofAllaah(peaceandblessingsof
Allaahbeuponhim)said,
Do not be a help to the Shaytaan against your
brother.(ReportedbyalBukhaari,alFath,6781).
AbuHurayrahalsosaid:
Amanwhohadbeendrinkingwasbroughttothe
him) and he said, Beat him. Some of us hit him
with our hands, others with shoes and clothes.
Whenhewentaway,someofthepeoplesaid,May
Allaahputyoutoshame!TheMessengerofAllaah
Do not speak like this. Do not help the Shaytaan
againsthim.(AlBukhaari,Fath,6777)
ThentheMessengerofAllaah(peaceandblessings
of Allaah be upon him) said to his Companions,
Rebukehim.Sotheyturnedtohimandsaid,You
didnotthinkofAllaah,youdidnotfearAllaah,you
did not feel ashamed before the Messenger of Al
laah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him).
Then they let him go, and the Prophet (peace and
blessingsofAllaahbeuponhim)said,Say,OAl
laah, forgive him, O Allaah, have mercy on him
and some of them added similar sentiments. (Abu
Dawood, Kitaab alHudood, Baab alHadd fil
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Khamr, no. 4478, 4/620. Classed as saheeh by al

AlbaaniinSaheehAbiDawood,no.3759).
Whenhewentaway,someofthepeoplesaid,May
Allaahputyoutoshame!TheMessengerofAllaah
Do not speak like this, do not help the Shaytaan
againsthim.SayMayAllaahhavemercyonyou.
(ReportedbyAhmad,2/300.AhmadShaakirsaid,its
isnaad is saheeh. AlMusnad, ed. by Ahmad Sha
akir,no.7973).
WhatwelearnfromallofthesereportsisthatiftheMus
lim falls into sin, he is still basically a Muslim and still
basically loves Allaah and His Messenger, and this
shouldnotbedenied.Itisnotpermittedtoprayagainst
him in a manner that helps the Shaytaan against him;
rather we should pray for him and ask Allaah to guide
him,forgivehimandhavemercyonhim.
17Askingthepersontostopdoingthewrongaction.
Itisveryimportanttomakethepersonstopthewrong
deedsothatitdoesnotgetanyworseandsothatthere
isnodelayinthedenunciationofevil.Umarreported
that he said, No, by my father. The Messenger of Al
laah(peaceandblessingsofAllaahbeuponhim)said,
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Stop!WhoeverswearsbysomethingotherthanAl
laah, is guilty of shirk. (Reported by Imaam
Ahmad, 1/47. Ahmad Shaakir said, its isnaad is sa
heeh.No.329)
AbuDawoodreportedinhisSunanthatAbdAllaahibn
Busr (may Allaah be pleased with him) said, A man
came stepping over the necks on the people (in the
mosque)oneFriday,whilsttheProphet(peaceandbless
ingsofAllaahbeuponhim)wasdeliveringthekhutbah.
said,
Sitdown!Youarecausingadisturbance.
AlTirmidhi reported that Ibn Umar said: A man
burped in the presence of the Prophet (peace and bless
ingsofAllaahbeuponhim).Hesaid,
Keep your burps away from us! The ones who fill
their stomachs most in this world, will be the ones
whoremainhungrylongestontheDayofResurrec
tion. (Abu Eesa said, this is a ghareeb hasan
hadeeth with this isnaad. Sunan alTirmidhi, no.
2478;alSilsilatalSaheehah,no.343.)
Theseahaadeethshowadirectrequesttothepersonwho
ismakingthemistaketostopwhatheisdoing.
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18Explainingtothepersonwhoismakingamistake
how to put things right. The Prophet (peace and bless
ings of Allaah be upon him) did this in a number of
ways,includingthefollowing:
Drawinganindividualsattentiontohismistakesothat
he could put it right himself. An example of this is the
reportnarratedbyAbuSaeedalKhudri(mayAllaahbe
pleased with him), who said that he was with the Mes
him),andTheProphet(peaceandblessingsofAllaahbe
upon him) entered and saw a man sitting in the middle
of the mosque, clasping his fingers together and talking
tohimself.TheProphet(peaceandblessingsofAllaahbe
upon him) gestured towards him,but hedidnot notice.
SoheturnedtoAbuSaeedandsaid,
If one of you is praying, he should not clasp his
fingers together, because this clasping comes from
theShaytaan,andyouareinastateofprayersolong
as you are still in the mosque, until you go out.
(Reported by Ahmad in his Musnad, 3/54. Al
Haythami said in alMajma (2/25): its isnaad is
hasan).
Asking the person to do something again, correctly, if
this is possible. Abu Hurayrah (may Allaah be pleased
withhim)reportedthatamanenteredthemosquewhilst
the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah
beuponhim)wassittinginafarcorner.Heprayed,then
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hecameandgreetedhimwithsalaam.TheMessengerof
Allaah(peaceandblessingsofAllaahbeuponhim)said,
Wa alayka alsalaam, go back and pray, because
youhavenotprayed.Sohewentbackandprayed,
then he came back and greeted the Prophet (peace
and blessings of Allaah be upon him), who said,
Wa alayka alsalaam, go back and pray, because
you have not prayed. On the second occasion, or
subsequently, the man said, Teach me, O Messen
gerofAllaah.Hesaid,Whenyoustanduptopray,
do wudoo properly, then face the qiblah and say
Takbeer (Allaahu akbar). Then recite whatever is
easy for you of Quràan, then bow until you are at
ease in rukoo, then stand up until your back is
completely straight. Then prostrate until you are at
ease in sujood, then sit up until you are at ease in
your sitting, then prostrate again until you are at
ease in your sujood, then sit upagain until you are
at ease in your sitting. Do this in all your prayers.
(Reported by all; this version reported by al
Bukhaari,Fath,6251).
WeshouldnotethattheProphet(peaceandblessingsof
Allaahbeuponhim)usedtopayattentiontotheactions
of the people around him so that he could teach them.
AccordingtoareportnarratedbyalNisaaì:
A man entered the mosque and prayed, whilst the
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beuponhim)waswatchinghimandwedidnotre
alize. When he finished, he turned and greeted the
beuponhim),whotoldhim,Gobackandpray,for
you have not prayed (2/193 Saheeh Sunan al
Nisaaì,no.1008).
Amongthequalitiesoftheeducatoristhatheshouldbe
awareoftheactionsofthosewhoarewithhim.
1.
Itisapartofeducationalwisdomtoaskaperson
who has made a mistake to redo his action, so that he
cannoticehismistakeandputitrighthimself,especially
whenitisanobviousmistakethatdoesnotbefithim.He
mayhavedoneitoutofforgetfulness,sothiswillremind
him.
2.
Ifthepersonwhohasmadeamistakedoesnotre
alizeit,itmustbepointedoutandexplainedtohim.
3.
Giving information to a person who is interested
and has asked about it himself is more effective and is
more likely to be remembered than handing it out to
someonewhohasnotmadeanysuchenquiries.
Themethodsofteachingaremany,andtheeducatorcan
choose whichever are best suited in any given circum
stances.
Anotherexampleofaskingapersontorepeathisaction
correctlyisgivenbyMuslim(mayAllaahhavemercyon
him)inhisSaheeh,wherehereportsthatJaabirsaid:
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Umar ibn alKhattab told me that a man did wu

doo,butmissedanareaonhisfootthesizeofafin
gernail.TheProphet(peaceandblessingsofAllaah
be upon him) saw him and said, Go back and do
yourwudooproperly.Sohewentanddiditagain,
thenheprayed.(SaheehMuslim,243).
A third example was narrated by alTirmidhi (may Al
laah have mercy on him) in his Sunan from Kildah ibn
Hanbal, who said that Safwaan ibn Umayyah sent him
with some milk, yoghurt and daghaabees [an edible
plant] to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be
uponhim),whentheProphet(peaceandblessingsofAl
laahbeuponhim)wasatthetopofthevalley.Hesaid,
I entered upon him, and I did not greet him with
salaam or ask permission to enter, so the Prophet
Go out and say Alsalaamu alaykum, may I en
ter? (Reported by alTirmidhi, no. 2710. Al
Tirmidhi said, a ghareeb hasan hadeeth. The
hadeeth is also in Saheeh Sunan alTirmidhi, no.
2180).
Askingthepersonwhohasmadethemistaketocorrect
it as much as he can. AlBukhaari (may Allaah have
mercyonit)reportedfromIbnAbbaasthattheProphet
(peaceandblessingsofAllaahbeuponhim)said,
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Nomanshouldbealonewithawomanunlessheis
amahram(closebloodrelativetowhommarriageis
permanentlyforbidden).Amanstoodupandsaid,
O Messenger of Allaah, my wife has gone out for
HajjandIhavesignedupforsuchandsuchamili
tarycampaign.Hesaid,GobackanddoHajjwith
yourwife.(alFath,5233).
Putting right the consequences of the mistake. Al

Nisaaì(mayAllaahhavemercyonhim)reportedinhis
SunanfromAbdAllaahibnAmrthatamancametothe
said,
I have come to pledge allegiance to you and to
make hijrah (migration) to you. I have left my par
entsweeping.Hesaid,Gobacktothemandmake
them smile as you made them weep. (AlMajmaa
7/143. Classed as saheeh by alAlbaani in Saheeh
SunanalNisaaì,no.3881).
Offering kafaarah (expiation) for the mistake. If some

mistakes cannot be corrected or reversed, then there are
otherwaysofferedbyIslamforwipingouttheireffects.
One of these ways is kafaaraat or acts of expiation, of
which there are many types, such as kafaarat alyameen
(expiation for swearing an unfulfilled oath), and expia
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tion for zihaar (a jaahili form of divorce in which one

saystooneswifeYouaretomeasmymothersback),
manslaughter, having intercourse during the day in
Ramadaan,andsoon.
19Denouncingonlythemistakewhilstacceptingthe
rest.Itmaybethecasethatnotallofwhatapersonsays
or does is wrong, so it is wise to limit our denunciation
only to that which is wrong, and not to generalize by
condemning everything that is said or done as being
wrong. This is indicated in the report narrated by al
Bukhaari(mayAllaahhavemercyonhim)inhisSaheeh
fromalRubaybintMuawwadhibnAfraa,whosaid:
upon him) came and entered, and sat down on my
bedthewayyousatdown.Someyounggirlsofours
beganbeatingonthedaff(handdrum)andsinging
songs eulogizing those of our forefathers who had
beenkilledatBadr.Thenoneofthemsaid,Among
usthereisaProphetwhoknowsthefuture.He[the
him)]said:Donotsaythat;saywhatyouweresay
ingbefore.(Fath,5147).Accordingtoareportnar
rated by alTirmidhi: The Messenger of Allaah
(peaceandblessingsofAllaahbeuponhim)saidto
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her: Do not say this; say what you were saying be

fore. (Abu Eesa said: this is a saheeh hasan
hadeeth.SunanalTirmidhi,Shaakiredn.,1090).Ac
cordingtoareportnarratedbyIbnMaajah,hesaid:
Donotsaythis;nooneknowsthefutureexceptAl
laah. (Sunan Ibn Maajah, Abd alBaaqi edn., no.
1879.ClassedassaheehbyalAlbaaniinSaheehSu
nanIbnMaajah,no.1539).
There is no doubt that this kind of treatment makes the
personfeelthattheonewhoisstrivingtopointoutmis
takes and correct them is fair and just, and this makes
himmorelikelytoaccepthisadvice.Thisisincontrastto
some of those who want to denounce errors, but get so
angry with the mistake committed that they go to ex
tremes in their denunciation and condemn everything
done and said by the one who has made the mistake,
good and bad alike. This makes the person reject what
theysayandrefusetofollowtheiradvice.
In some cases, the mistake consists not of the words
themselves,buttheoccasionorcontextinwhichtheyare
uttered. For example, when somebody dies, one person
maysay,AlFaatihah,andeveryonepresentwillrecite
it.Theybelievethatthereisnothingwrongwiththisbe
cause what they are reciting is Quràan, not words of
kufr. It has to be explained to them that what is wrong
with this action is thinking that we should recite al
Faatihahonsuchoccasionsasanactofworshipwithout
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anysharievidencefordoingso,whichistheessenceof
bidah. This is what Ibn Umar (may Allaah be pleased
withhim)pointedouttoamanwhosneezedbesidehim
and said, Alhamdu Lillaahi walsalaam ala Rasool
Illaah (Praise be to Allaah and peace be upon the Mes
senger of Allaah). Ibn Umar said, I could say Al
hamdu Lillaahi walsalaam ala Rasool Illaah, but this
isnothowtheMessengerofAllaah(peaceandblessings
of Allaah be upon him) taught us. He taught us to say
Alhamdu Lillaahi ala kulli haal (Praise be to Allaah
whatever the circumstances). (Sunan alTirmidhi, no.
2738).
20 Restoring rights and preserving positions. Muslim

reportedthatAwfibnMaaliksaid:
AmanofHumayrkilledoneoftheenemyandwanted
to take his possessions as booty, but Khaalid ibn al
Waleed,whowasinchargeofthecampaign,prevented
him fromdoing so. Awfibn Maalik came to theMes
upon him) and told him about it. He asked Khaalid,
Whatstoppedyoufromgivinghimhisbooty?Khaalid
said, I thought it was too much, O Messenger of Al
laah. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be
upon him) said, Give it to him. Then Khaalid passed
by Awf, who pulled his cloak and said, Did I not do
whatItoldyouIwoulddowithregardtotheMessen
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him)?TheMessengerofAllaah(peaceandblessingsof
Allaah be upon him) heard him and got angry, and
said,Donotgiveittohim,OKhaalid!Donotgiveitto
him,OKhaalid!Whydoyounotleavemycommanders
alone? The likeness of you and them is that of a man
who is asked to take care of camels or sheep, so he
takes care of them, then when it is time for them to
drink,hetakesthemtoatroughandtheystarttodrink,
andtheydrinkthecleanwaterandleavethedregsbe
hind. You take the clean waterand leave the dregs for
them [the commanders]. (Muslim bi Sharh al
Nawawi,12/64)
Imaam Ahmad transmitted a more complete version of
thisreportfromAwfibnMaalikalAshjai,whosaid:
We went out on a military campaign on the border of
Syria, and Khaalid ibn alWaleed was appointed as our
commander. A man belonging to Humayr came and
joined our band, and he had nothing but a sword, no
other weapon. One of the Muslims slaughtered a camel
and that man kept trying to snatch something until he
managedtograbapieceofskintheshapeofashield.He
spread it on the ground and cured it until it was dry,
thenhemadeahandleforit,likeashield.Wemetwith
theenemy,whowereamixedgroupofRomansandAr
absfrom(thetribeof)Qudaaah.Theyfoughtusfiercely.
Among them was a Roman on a palomino horse with a
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goldencoloured saddle and a goldplated belt, and a

swordofsimilarmaterial.Hestartedattackingandchal
lenging the people, and that Madadi man kept dodging
aroundtheRomanuntilheapproachedhimfrombehind
and struck the horses hamstring with his sword. The
Roman fell off, and the man followed that with a blow
from his sword that killed him. When Allaah granted
themvictory,themancameaskingaboutthebooty,and
thepeopleborewitnessthathehadkilled[thatRoman],
soKhaalidgavehimsomeofthebootyandwithheldthe
rest. When he came back to Awfs band, he told him
aboutit,andAwfsaid,Gobacktohimandlethimgive
you the rest. So he went back, but [Khaalid] refused to
give it to him. Awf went to Khaalid and said, Do you
notknowthattheMessengerofAllaah(peaceandbless
ingsofAllaahbeuponhim)ruledthatthebootyshould
gototheonewhokills?Hesaid,Ofcourse.Hesaid,So
what is stopping you from giving him his booty? He
said, I thought it was too much to give to him. Awf
said, When I see the Messenger of Allaah (peace and
blessings of Allaah be upon him) I am going to tell him
about this. When he came to Madeenah, Awf sent the
manandhecomplainedtotheProphet(peaceandbless
ings of Allaah be upon him). The Messenger of Allaah
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) called
Khaalid,whilstAwfwassittingthere,andsaid:
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OKhaalid,whatstoppedyoufromgivingthisman
his spoils of war? He said, I thought it was too
muchforhim,OMessengerofAllaah.[TheProphet
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him)] said,
Giveittohim.[Khaalid]passedbyAwf,andAwf
pulled on his cloak and said, Wasnt it enough for
you what I told you about the Messenger of Allaah
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him)? The
be upon him) heard him and got angry, and said,
Do not give it to him, O Khaalid. Why do you not
leave my commanders alone? The likeness of you
andthemisthatofamanwhoisaskedtotakecare
of camels or sheep, so he takes care of them, then
whenitistimeforthemtodrink,hetakesthemtoa
trough and they start to drink, and they drink the
cleanwaterandleavethedregsbehind.Youtakethe
clean water and leave the dregs for them [the com
manders].
WemaynoteherethatwhenKhaalidmadeamistakein
his decision (ijtihaad) to withhold the large amount of
bootyfromthekiller,theProphet(peaceandblessingsof
Allaahbeuponhim)commandedthatthemattershould
beputrightbygivingthebootytoitsrightfulowner,but
he(peaceandblessingsofAllaahbeuponhim)gotangry
when he heard Awf (may Allaah be pleased with him)
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making insinuations about Khaalid and poking fun at

himbysaying,
Did I not do what I told you I would do with re
gard to the Messenger of Allaah (peace and bless
ings of Allaah be upon him)? and pulling on
Khaalids cloak when he walked past him, so he
Donotgiveittohim,OKhaalid.
This was for the purpose of reinstating and reinforcing
the position of the commander and leader, because up
holdingtheleaderspositioninfrontofthepeopleserves
anobviouspurpose.
Butthefollowingquestionmayarise:Ifthekillerhadthe
right to the booty, how could he deny it to him? Al
Nawawi(mayAllaahhavemercyonhim)answeredthis
querywithtwopossibleoutcomes:
Eitherhegavethebootytothemanlateron,andhede
layed it as a punishment to him and to Awf for saying
what they said to Khaalid (may Allaah be pleased with
him) and showing disrespect to the commander and the
one who had appointed him; or the one who had the
righttotakeitgaveitupwillinglyanddonateditforthe
Muslims,andthepointofthiswastomakeKhaalid(may
Allaahbepleasedwithhim)feelbetterforthepurposeof
upholding the position of leaders. (AlFath alRabbaani,
14/84)
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Furtherevidenceconcerningrestorationofthepositionof
the person who has been wronged comes in the report
narratedintheMusnadofImaamAhmadfromAbuTu
faylAamiribnWaathilah,thatamanpassedbyagroup
of people and greeted them with salaam, and they re
turnedthegreeting,butwhenhehadgone,oneofthem
said,ByAllaah,IhatethismanforthesakeofAllaah.
Theotherspresentsaid,Whatabadthingtosay!ByAl
laah,wearegoingtotellhim.Getup,OSoandSoone
ofthepeoplepresentandtellhim.Sotheirmessenger
caught up with him and told him what had been said.
The man went to the Messenger of Allaah (peace and
blessingsofAllaahbeuponhim)andsaid,OMessenger
ofAllaah,IpassedbyagroupofMuslimsamongwhom
wasSoandSo.Igreetedthemwithsalaamandtheyre
turned the greeting, and when I had left, one of them
caughtupwithmeandtoldmethatSoandSohadsaid,
By Allaah, I hate this man for the sake of Allaah. Call
himandaskhimwhyhehatesme.SotheMessengerof
Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him)
calledhimandaskedhimaboutwhatthemanhadsaid.
Headmitteditandsaid,Ididsaythat,OMessengerof
Allaah.TheMessengerofAllaah(peaceandblessingsof
Allaahbeuponhim)said,
Why do you hate him? He said, I am his
neighbour and I know him very well. By Allaah, I
haveneverseenhimprayanyprayerexceptthepre
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scribedprayerwhicheveryone,goodandbadalike,
prays.Themansaid,Askhim,OMessengerofAl
laah,hasheeverseenmedelayinganyprayer,ornot
doingwudooproperly,ornotdoingrukooandsu
joodproperly?Hesaid,No,thenhesaid,ByAl
laah, I have never seen him fast at all except this
month which everyone, good and bad alike, fasts.
He said, O Messenger of Allaah, has he ever seen
me breaking my fast during [that month], or doing
anything to invalidate my fast? The Messenger of
askedhim,andhesaid,No,thenhesaid,ByAl
laah,Ihaveneverseenhimgivingtoanyneedyper
sonorspendinganyofhiswealthforthesakeofAl
laahexceptforthischarity[zakaah]whicheveryone,
good and bad alike, gives. He said, Ask him, O
MessengerofAllaah,haveIeverwithheldanypart
of the zakaah or kept it back from the one who
asked for it? The Messenger of Allaah (peace and
blessingsofAllaahbeuponhim)askedhimandhe
said, No. The Messenger of Allaah (peace and
blessings of Allaah be upon him) said, I dont
know,maybeheisbetterthanyou.
Immediately following this report in alMusnad, it says
the following: Yaqoob told us, my father told us from
IbnShihaab,thathewastoldthatamanatthetimeofthe
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uponhim)passedbyagroupofpeople.Hedidnotmen
tion Abu alTufayl. Abu AbdAllaah said: I heard that
IbraaheemibnSadreportedthishadeethfromhismem
ory and said concerning Abu alTufayl that his son
Yaqoobnarratedfromhisfather,buthedidnotmention
Abu alTufayl. I think he is mistaken, and the report of
Yaqoobissaheeh,AndAllaahknowsbest.(AlMusnad,
5/455.AlHaythamisaid:themenofAhmadarethiqaat.
AthbaatalMajma,1/291).
Itisveryimportanttomaintainapersonspositionafter
he has repented from his mistake and set matters
straight,sothathewillremainontherightpathandlive
anormallifeamongpeople.Itwasreportedinthestory
oftheMakhzoomiwomanwhohadherhandcutoff(for
stealing), which was reported by Aaìshah (may Allaah
be pleased with her), that she repented properly later
on, and she got married and used to come to me and I
wouldtelltheMessengerofAllaah(peaceandblessings
ofAllaahbeuponher)whatsheneeded.(SaheehMus
lim,no.1688).
21Addressingbothpartiesincaseswheretheblameis
shared. In many cases, the blame is shared and the per
son who makes a mistake may himself have been
wronged, but the blame is not to be shared equally. In
this case both parties must be addressed and advised.
There follows an example. AbdAllaah ibn Abi Awfaa
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said: Abd alRahmaan ibn Awf complained about

KhaalidibnalWaleedtotheMessengerofAllaah(peace
and blessings of Allaah be upon him). The Prophet
DonotupsetanyofthosewhowerepresentatBadr,
forevenifyouweretospendgoldequaltothesize
of Uhud, your deeds would not equal theirs. He
said, They insultedme first, and I responded. The
him)said:DonotupsetKhaalid,forheisoneofthe
swords of Allaah sent against the kuffaar. (Al
Haythamisaid:themenofalTabaraaniarethiqaat.
AlMajma, 9/349. See also alMujam alKabeer by
alTabaraani,hadeethno.3801).
22Askingthepersontoforgivetheonewhowronged
him.AnasibnMaalik(mayAllaahbepleasedwithhim)
said: The Arabs used to serve one another when they
were travelling, and Abu Bakr and Umar had a man
with them who was serving them. They fell asleep then
woke up, and he had not prepared any food for them.
One of them said to the other, This man sleeps too
much.(ThisisinTafseerIbnKatheer,DaaralShabedn.
According to the version quoted by alAlbaani in al
SilsilatalSaheehah,no.2608,).Theywokehimupand
said,GototheMessengerofAllaah(peaceandblessings
of Allaah be upon him) and tell him that Abu Bakr and
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Umarsendtheirsalaamstoyouandareaskingforfood.
He (the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon
him))said:
Send my salaams to them and tell them that they
havealreadyeaten.Theygotworried,sotheycame
upon him) and said, O Messenger of Allaah, we
sent word to you asking for food, and you told us
thatwehadalreadyeaten?Whathaveweeaten?He
said, The flesh of your brother. By the One in
Whosehandismysoul,Icanseehisfleshbetween
your teeth meaning the flesh of the one about
whomtheyhadbackbitten.Theysaid,Askforfor
giveness for us. He said, Let him ask for forgive
ness for you. (AlSilsilat alSaheehah, no. 2608. It
was attributed to alKharaaiti in Masaawa al
Akhlaaq and to alDiya in alMukhtaarah. Ibn
Katheer mentioned it in his tafseer of Soorat al
Hujuraat,7/363,DaralShabedn.)
23 Reminding a person of the good qualities of the

onewhomhehaswronged,sothathewillregretwhat
hehasdoneandwillapologize.ThisiswhattheProphet
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) did in the
situation that arose between Abu Bakr and Umar, may
Allaah be pleased with them. AlBukhaari (may Allaah
have mercy on him) reported in his Saheeh, Kitaab al
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Tafseer,thatAbulDardasaid:Therewasadisputebe
tween Abu Bakr and Umar. Abu Bakr made Umar an
gry,sohewentawayangry,andAbuBakrfollowedhim,
askinghimtoseekforgivenessforhim,buthedidnotdo
that, and he shut his door in his face. Abu Bakr turned
aroundandwenttotheMessengerofAllaah(peaceand
blessings of Allaah be upon him), and we were sitting
withhim.TheMessengerofAllaah(peaceandblessings
ofAllaahbeuponhim)said:
This companion of yours has gotten involved in a
dispute.ThenUmarregrettedwhathehaddone,so
hecame,gavethegreetingofsalaam,andsatdown
by the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be
upon him). He told the Messenger of Allaah (peace
and blessings of Allaah be upon him) what had
happened. The Messenger of Allaah (peace and
blessings of Allaah be upon him) got angry, and
AbuBakrstartedtosay,ByAllaah,OMessengerof
Allaah,Iammorewrong.TheMessengerofAllaah
Are you going to leave my companion alone? Are
yougoingtoleavemycompanionalone?Ihavetold
the people: I am the Messenger of Allaah to all of
you, and you (all) said, You are a liar, but Abu
Bakrsaid,Youaretellingthetruth.(Fath4640).
AlBukhaari also narrated this story in Kitaab al
Manaaqib (the Book of Virtues) in his Saheeh, from
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AbulDarda, who said: I was sitting with the Prophet

(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) when Abu
Bakr came along, holding the hem of his garment up in
such a way that his knees could be seen. The Prophet
Your companion has gotten involved in a dispute.
[Abu Bakr] gave the greeting of salaam, then said:
There is something between me and the son of al
Khattaab. I upset him, then I regretted it, and I
asked him to forgive me, but he refused, so I have
come to you. He said, May Allaah forgive you, O
AbuBakr,threetimes.ThenUmarregretted(what
hehaddone),sohecametoAbuBakrshouse,ask
ing,IsAbuBakrthere?Theysaid,No.Sohecame
uponhim)andsignsofangerweresovisibleonthe
Prophets face that Abu Bakr felt sorry. He knelt
downandsaid.OMessengerofAllaah,byAllaah,I
was more wrong, twice. The Prophet (peace and
blessingsof Allaahbe uponhim) said, Allaah sent
metoallofyou,andyou(all)said,Heisaliar,but
AbuBakrsaid,Heistellingthetruth,andhelped
mewithhisselfandwithhiswealth.Areyougoing
to leave my Companion alone? He said this twice,
and Abu Bakr was never hurt after that. (Fath, no.
3661).
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24Interveningtocalmpeopledownandputastopto
thefitnah(discord)betweenthosewhoaremakingmis
takes. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be
uponhim)didthisonanumberofoccasionswhenfight
ingwasabouttobreakoutamongtheMuslims,sohein
tervened, as was reported in the incident of the slander
(alifk) against Aaìshah (may Allaah be pleased with
her).Shesaid:
Allaah be upon him) stood up that day and asked
forsomeonetodealwithAbdAllaahibnUbayyfor
him,whilsthewasontheminbar.Hesaid,OMus
lims!WhowilldealwithamanwhoIhaveheardis
attackingmewithregardtomyfamily?ByAllaah,I
know nothing about my family but good, and they
havementionedamanaboutwhomIknownothing
butgood,andhehasneverentereduponmyfamily
except with me. Sad ibn Muaadh, the brother of
BaniAbdalAshhal,stoodupandsaid,OMessen
ger of Allaah, I will deal with him for you. If he is
from Aws, I will strike his neck [cut his head off],
andifheisfromamongourbrothersofKhazraj,tell
us what to do, and we will do it. Then a man of
Khazraj stood up; Umm Hassaan was his cousin
from the same clan, and he was Sad ibn Ubaadah
the leader of Khazraj. Before that he was known to
be a righteous man, but on this occasion a spirit of
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tribalismtookholdofhim,andhesaidtoSad[ibn
Muaadh], You are lying! By Allaah, you will not
kill him and you will not be able to kill him. If he
wereoneofyourpeople,youwouldnotlikehimto
be killed! Usayd ibn Hudayr, the cousin of Sad,
stoodupandsaidtoSadibnUbaadah:Youarely
ing!ByAllaah,wewillkillhim!Youareahypocrite
defending the hypocrites! The two parties of Aws
and Khazraj got so angry that they nearly began to
fight whilst the Messenger of Allaah (peace and
blessings of Allaah be upon him) was standing on
the minbar. The Messenger of Allaah (peace and
blessings of Allaah be upon him) kept smoothing
thingsoveruntiltheycalmeddown.(Agreedupon.
Fath,4141)
went to Bani Amr ibn Awf to reconcile between them,
andstayedthereforthatpurposeuntilthetimeforoneof
the congregational prayers came, as is reported in al
Saheehayn and in a report narrated by alNisaaì. Sahl
ibn Sad alSaaidi (may Allaah be pleased with him)
said: A dispute arose between two parties among the
Ansaar, to the point that they were throwing stones at
oneanother.TheProphet(peaceandblessingsofAllaah
be upon him) went to reconcile between them, and the
time for prayer came, so Bilaal called the Adhaan and
waitedfortheMessengerofAllaah(peaceandblessings
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ofAllaahbeuponhim),buthedidnotcome.Sohemade
the iqaamah (call immediately preceding congregational
prayer)andAbuBakr,mayAllaahbepleasedwithhim)
led the prayer (AlMujtabaa, Kitaab Aadaab al
Qadaah, 8/243). According to a report narrated by
Ahmad,SahlibnSadalSaaidisaid:Someonecameto
beuponhim)andsaid:BaniAmribnAwfarefighting
andthrowingstonesatoneanother.SotheMessengerof
Allaah(peaceandblessingsofAllaahbeuponhim)went
out to them to reconcile between them (AlMusnad,
5/338)
25 Showing ones anger about a mistake. When the

Prophet(peaceandblessingsofAllaahbeuponhim)saw
or heard about a mistake, he would show his anger, es
pecially if it had to do with mattersof belief (aqeedah).
This includes indulging in disputes about alqadar (di
vinedecree)andtheQuràan.InSunanIbnMaajahthere
is a report from Amr ibn Shuayb from his father from
hisgrandfather,whosaid:
Allaah be upon him) came out to his companions,
whoweredisputingaboutalqadar,anditwasasif
a pomegranate seed had burst on his face, i.e., his
face was red with anger. He said, Is this what you
were commanded to do? Is this what you were cre
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atedfor?AreyouusingsomepartsoftheQuràanto
contradict others? The nations before you were de
stroyedbythis!AbdAllaahibnAmrsaid:Inever
felt happy about missing any gathering with the
be upon him), but I was happy about missing that
gathering. (Reported by Ibn Maajah, no. 85. He
said in alZawaaid: this is a saheeh isnaad and its
menarethiqaat.ItsaysinSaheehIbnMaajah:hasan
saheeh.No.69).
AccordingtoIbnAbiAasiminKitaabalSunnah:
Allaah be upon him) came out to his Companions,
andtheyweredisputingaboutalqadar,onequoting
oneaayahandanotherquotinganotheraayah.Itwas
as if a pomegranate seed had been thrown in his
face[becauseitwasredwithanger].Hesaid,Isthis
what you were created for? Is this what you were
ordered to do? Do not use parts of Allaahs book
against other parts. Look at what you are com
mandedtodo,anddoit,andwhatyouareforbidden
todo,avoidit.(AlSunnahbyIbnAbiAasim,ed
ited by alAlbaani, no. 406. He said: its isnaad is
hasan).
Another example of the Prophet (peace and blessings of
Allaahbeuponhim)becomingangryatthedenialofone
ofthebasicprincipleswaswhathappenedinthecaseof
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Umar(mayAllaahbepleasedwithhim),withregardto
sources. Ahmad (may Allaah have mercy on him) re
ported in his Musnad from Jaabir ibn AbdAllaah that
Umar ibn alKhattaab came to the Prophet (peace and
blessings of Allaah be upon him) with a book which he
had got from some of the People of the Book. The
Prophet(peaceandblessingsofAllaahbeuponhim)got
angry.Hesaid,
Are you confused about it, O son of alKhattaab?
By the One in Whose hand is my soul, I have
broughtyou[theMessage]pureandwhite,sodonot
ask them about anything, lest they tell you some
thing true and you reject it, or they tell you some
thing false and you accept it. By the One in Whose
hand is my soul, if Moosa (peace and blessings of
Allaah be upon him) were alive, he could not but
follow me. (Musnad Ahmad, 3/387. Classed by al
Albaaniashasanbecauseofcorroboratingreportsin
alIrwa,no.1589).
The hadeeth was also narrated by alDaarimi, may Al
laah have mercy on him, from Jaabir, who said that
Umar ibn alKhattaab came to the Messenger of Allaah
(peaceandblessingsofAllaahbeuponhim)withacopy
of the Tawraat (Torah), and said, O Messenger of Al
laah,thisisacopyoftheTawraat.[TheProphet(peace
and blessings of Allaah be upon him)] did not say any
thing.[Umar]begantoreadit,andthefaceoftheMes
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senger of Allaah changed [i.e., he was angry]. Abu Bakr

said,Mayyourmotherloseyou!Doyounotseetheex
pressionoftheMessengerofAllaah(peaceandblessings
ofAllaahbeuponhim)?Umarlookedatthefaceofthe
uponhim)andsaid,IseekrefugewithAllaahfromthe
anger of Allaah and the anger of His Messenger (peace
and blessings of Allaah be upon him). We are content
with Allaah as our Lord, with Islam as our religion and
withMuhammadasourProphet.TheMessengerofAl
laah(peaceandblessingsofAllaahbeuponhim)said,
By the One in Whose hand is the soul of Muham
mad, if Moosa were to appear among you and you
followedhimandleftme,youwouldgoastrayfrom
thestraightpath.Ifhehadliveduntilthetimeofmy
Prophethood, he would have followed me. (Sunan
alDaarimi, no. 441, alMuqaddimah, Baab maa yu
taqqaa min Tafseer Hadeeth alNabi (peace and
blessingsofAllaahbeuponhim)waQawlighayrihi
inda Qawlihi (peace and blessings of Allaah be
upon him). The editor, AbdAllaah Haashim Ya
maani, said: it was also narrated by Ahmad with a
hasanisnaad,andbyIbnHibbaanwithasaheehis
naad).
AmongthecorroboratingreportsisthehadeethofAbul
Darda, who said: Umar brought some pages of the
TawraattotheMessengerofAllaah(peaceandblessings
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ofAllaahbeuponhim)andsaid,OMessengerofAllaah,
(theseare)somepagesoftheTawraatwhichItookfrom
a brother of mine from Bani Zurayq. The face of the
uponhim)changed,andAbdAllaahibnZaydtheone
who was shown the Adhaan in a dream said: Have
you gone mad? Do you not see [the expression] on the
face of the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of
Allaahbeuponhim)?Umarsaid:Wearecontentwith
AllaahasourLord,withIslamasourreligion,withMu
hammad as our Prophet and with the Quràan as our
guide. The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of
Allaahbeuponhim)relaxedandsaid:
By the One in Whose hand is the soul of Muham
mad, if Moosa were among you, and you followed
him and left me, you would go far astray. You are
my share among the nations and I am your share
among the Prophets. (Al Haythami said in al
Majma: It was reported by alTabaraani in al
Kabeer, and it includes Abu Aamir alQaasim ibn
Muhammad alAsadi, and I have not seen anyone
giving his biography, but the rest of its men are
mawthooq.AlMajma1/174).
We may note from these reports that the educator (the
Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him))
hadsupportfromtheotherpeoplepresentwhentheyno
ticed how his expression changed and took their stance
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basedonwhattheysaw.Thereisnodoubtthatthiscom
binationofeventshadagreatimpactonthepersonwho
wasbeingreprimanded.
Theprocesswentthroughthefollowingstages:
Firstly, the anger that welled up in the Prophet (peace
andblessingsofAllaahbeuponhim),sothathisexpres
sionchangedevenbeforehespoke.
Secondly, [Abu Bakr] alSiddeeq and AbdAllaah ibn
ZaydnoticedthisandpointeditouttoUmar.
Thirdly,Umarrealizedhismistakeandhastenedtoput
it right and to apologize for what he had done, seeking
refugewithAllaahfromtheangerofAllaahandthean
gerofHisMessenger,andreaffirmingthebasicprinciple
ofbeingcontentwithAllaah,HisMessengerandHisRe
ligion.
Fourthly, the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be
upon him) relaxed and calmed down when Umar re
tractedandrealizedhismistake.
Fifthly,theProphetscommentconfirmedandreinforced
this basic principle by reaffirming the obligation to fol
low the way of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Al
laahbeuponhim)andwarningagainsttakinganyother
sourceofguidance.
Another example of the Prophets anger when he saw
something objectionable was reported in Saheeh al
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Bukhaari(mayAllaahhavemercyonhim)fromAnasibn
Maalik, who said that when the Prophet (peace and
blessingsofAllaahbeuponhim)sawsomespittleinthe
mosque in the direction of the qiblah, he was so upset
thatitwasclearlyvisibleonhisface.Hewipeditwithhis
handandsaid,
When one of you gets up to pray, he is talking to
hisLord,orhisLordisbetweenhimandtheqiblah,
soheshouldnotspitinthedirectionoftheqiblah,
but to his left or under his feet. Then he took the
edgeofhisgarment,spatonitandrubbedpartofit
against another part and said, or he can do this.
(Fath,405).
AnexampleoftheProphetsangerwhenheheardamis
take that led to wrongdoing was also reported by al
Bukhaari, from Abu Masood alAnsaari, who said: A
man came to the Messenger of Allaah (peace and bless
ings of Allaah be upon him) and said, O Messenger of
Allaah,Iamgoingtogolatetotheprayertomorrowbe
cause of soandso, who makes the prayer too long for
us. I never saw the Prophet (peace and blessings of Al
laah be upon him) more angry in his rebuking than on
thatday,whenhesaid,
Opeople!Someofyouareputtingothersoff.When
anyofyouleadsthepeopleinprayer,lethimkeepit
short,foramongthemaretheelderly,theweakand
thosewithpressingneeds.(Fath,7159).
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Anotherexampleisforthemuftitoshowangertowards
thepersonwhoisaskingquestionswhenhestartstonit
pick in a ridiculous fashion. Zayd ibn Khaalid alJuhani
(mayAllaahbepleasedwithhim)said:ABedouincame
to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon
him)andaskedhimaboutlostpropertythathefinds.He
said,
Announce it for a year. Remember the description
of its container and the stringwith which it is tied,
andifsomeonecomesandclaimsit,anddescribesit
correctly, give it to him, otherwise, utilize it. He
said, O Messenger of Allaah, what about a lost
sheep?The Prophet(peace and blessingsof Allaah
be upon him) said: It is for you, for your brother
(i.e., its owner), or for the wolf. He said, What
about a lost camel? The face of the Prophet (peace
and blessings of Allaah be upon him) became red
(with anger), and he said, You have nothing to do
with it. It has its feet, and access to water, and can
eattrees.(ReportedbyalBukhaari,Fath,2436).
The educator may show anger in proportion to the mis
take at the time when the mistake is made, or when he
seesorhearsit,insuchawaythattheangermaybeseen
inhisfaceorrecognizedfromhistoneofvoice.Thisisa
sign that his heart is alert to wrongdoing and will not
keep silent about it, so that the others present will feel
afraid of making the same mistake. Speaking out when
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youareangrycanhaveagreaterimpactthanremaining
silent and waiting until things have cooled down, be
causethentheimpactofyourcommentswillbelost.
Ontheotherhand,itmaybewisetodelaycommenting
onaregrettableincidentorseriouslymistakenwordsun
tilallthepeoplehavebeencalledtogetheroruntilatime
whentheymeet,becauseoftheseriousnessofwhatisin
volvedorbecausetherearenotenoughpeoplearoundto
understand and convey the information to others. There
isnothingwrongwithaddressinganindividualimmedi
atelyanddelayinggeneraldiscussionofthematteruntil
later.AccordingtoSaheehalBukhaari,AbuHumaydal
SaaidireportedthattheMessengerofAllaah(peaceand
blessingsofAllaahbeuponhim)appointedsomeone(to
collect the zakaah). When he had finished his work, he
cameandsaid,
O Messenger of Allaah, this is for you, and this is
whatwasgiventomeasagift.Hesaid,Whydont
yousitinyourparentshouseandseewhetherany
one brings you a gift or not? In the evening, the
beuponhim)stoodupaftertheprayer,pronounced
theShahaadahandpraisedAllaahasHedeservesto
be praised, then he said, What is wrong with an
employee whom we appoint, then he comes to us
and says, This is for you and this is what I was
givenasagift?Whydoeshenotsitinhisparents
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house and see whether anyone brings him a gift or

not? By the One in Whose hand is the soul of Mu
hammad,nooneofyouunlawfullywithholdssome
thing from us, except he will come on the Day of
Judgement carrying it around his neck: if it is a
camel, he will bring it bellowing, if it is a cow he
will bring it mooing, and if it is a sheep he will
bring it bleating. I have conveyed (the message).
Abu Humayd added, Then the Messenger of Al
raisedhisarmsohighthatwecouldseehisarmpit.
(Fath,6636)
26 Turning away from the one who has made a mis

take,andavoidingargumentwithhim,inthehopethat
he may come back to the right way. AlBukhaari (may
Allaah have mercy on him) reported that Ali ibn Abi
Taalib (may Allaah be pleased with him) said that the
upon him) came to him and Faatimahs (peace be upon
her,thedaughteroftheMessengerofAllaah(peaceand
blessings of Allaah be upon him) one night and said to
them,
Are you not praying? Ali said, O Messenger of
Allaah, our souls are in the hand of Allaah. If He
wants to bring us back to life (from sleep), He will
do so! The Messenger of Allaah (peace and bless
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ings of Allaah be upon him) went away when Ali

saidthattohim,andhedidnotrespondtoitatall,
but Ali heard him as he was walking away, slap
ping his thigh and saying, But, man is ever
more quarrelsome than anything. [alKahf 18:54
interpretation of the meaning]. (The words of Ali
could be understood in different ways. See alFath,
7347).
27Rebukingtheonewhohasmadeamistake.Thisis
whattheProphet(peaceandblessingsofAllaahbeupon
him)didwith Haatib(mayAllaahbepleasedwith him)
when he heard that he had sent word to the kuffaar of
Quraysh, informing them of the Muslims intention to
head for Makkah to conquer it. The Prophet (peace and
blessingsofAllaahbeuponhim)askedhim,
Whatmadeyoudothat,OHaatib?Hesaid,Ibe
lieve in Allaah and His Messenger and I never
changed, but I wanted to make some gesture to
wardsthemthroughwhichAllaahmightprotectmy
family and my wealth. All your other companions
havesomeonetherethroughwhomAllaahwillpro
tect their families and their wealth. [The Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him)] said:
Hehasspokenthetruth,sodonotsayanythingbut
good to him. Umar ibn alKhattaab said, But he
has betrayed Allaah and Messenger and the believ
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ers! Let me strike his neck [cut off his head]! [The
him) ] said: How do you know? Maybe Allaah
lookedatthepeopleofBadrandsaid,Dowhatyou
like, for Paradise is guaranteed for you. Tears
welledupinUmarseyesandhesaid,Allaahand
HisMessengerknowbest.(Fath,6259)
There are a number of important educational points we
learnfromthisstory:
1 The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon
him) rebuked the Sahaabi who had make a serious mis
takebyaskinghim,Whatmadeyoudothat?
2 Enquiring as to the reason that motivated him to
makethemistakeundoubtedlyhasaneffectonthe way
inwhichheistreated.
3Thosewhohaveanexcellenttrackrecordarenotim
munefromcommittingmajorsins.
4 The educator must be openminded in dealing with
hiscompanionsmistakessothattheycontinueprogress
ing on the straight path. The aim is to reform them, not
alienatethem.
5Theeducatormustappreciatethemomentsofhuman
weaknessthatmayovercomesomeofthosewhoarewith
him,andheshouldnotbeshockedbyaseriousmistake
onthepartofonewhoisadvancedorsenior.
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6 Defending one who deserves to be defended even

thoughhehasmadeamistake.
7 If a person who makes a mistake has agreat deal of
good works to his credit, this should be taken into ac
countwhenevaluatingthelevelofhismistakeanddeal
ingwithit.
28 Blaming the person who has made a mistake. An

obvious mistake cannot be ignored; blame must be di
rected at the person who has made the mistake, and he
must be rebuked from the outset, so that he will realize
that he has made amistake. AlBukhaari narrated in his
Saheeh that Ali (may Allaah be pleased with him)said:
I had a shecamel from my share of the booty of Badr,
and the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon
him)hadgivenmeanothershecamelfromthekhumus.
When I wanted to marry Faatimah, the daughter of the
upon him), I made an appointment with a goldsmith
from Banu Qaynuqaa to go with me to Idhkhur. I
wanted to sell him the two gold bracelets and use the
moneyformywaleemah(weddingcelebration).WhilstI
was gathering together the saddles, sacks, ropes and
othergear,mycamelsweresittingbesidearoombelong
ingtooneoftheAnsaar.AftercollectingthethingsIhad
to collect, I came back and found my camels with their
backs cut open, their sides stabbed and their livers re
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moved. I could hardly bear to look at this scene. I said,

Whodidthis?Theysaid,HamzahibnAbdalMuttalib.
He is in that house drinking with one of the Ansaar. I
went to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be
upon him), and Zayd ibn Haarithah was with him. The
knew something was wrong from my expression. The
said:
Whatisthematterwithyou?Isaid,OMessenger
of Allaah, I have never seen anything like today!
Hamzah attacked my two shecamels and cut their
backsopenandstabbedthemintheirsides.Heisin
ahouse,drinking.TheProphet(peaceandblessings
ofAllaahbeuponhim)calledforhiscloakandput
iton,thenhewentwalking,andZaydibnHaarithah
and I followed him, until he reached the house
where Hamzah was. He asked permission to enter,
andtheygavepermission.Theyweredrinking,and
laahbeuponhim)startedtohurlblameatHamzah
for what he had done, but then he noticed that
Hamzahwasdrunkandredeyed.Hamzahlookedat
laahbeuponhim).Helookedupathisknees,then
at his navel, then at his face, then he said, You are
no more than a slave to my father. The Messenger
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him)realizedthathewasdrunk,soheturnedonhis
heelsandwewentoutwithhim.(Fath,no.3091).
Thishappenedbeforedrinkingalcoholwasforbidden.
29Shunningtheonewhohasmadeamistake.Imaam
Ahmad (may Allaah have mercy on him) reported that
Humayd said: AlWaleed came to me and a friend of
mineandsaid,Comewithme,foryouareyoungerthan
me and you know more about hadeeth. He took us to
Bishr ibn Aasim. AbulAaliyah said to him: Will you
tellthesetwoyourhadeeth?Hesaid,UqbahibnMaalik
toldus,AbulNadralLaythisaid,Bahz,whowasoneof
his group, said: the Messenger of Allaah (peace and
blessings of Allaah be upon him) sent an expedition to
attacksomepeople.Amandriftedawayfromthepeople,
and one of the (Muslim) expedition followed him with
his sword unsheathed. The man who had wandered off
said,IamaMuslim,buttheMuslimpaidnoattention
to him, and struck him and killed him. Word of this
reachedtheMessengerofAllaah(peaceandblessingsof
Allaahbeuponhim),andhespokeoutangrilyagainstit.
Newsofthisreachedthekiller,andwhilsttheMessenger
of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him)
wasdeliveringaspeech,thekillersaid,OMessengerof
Allaah, by Allaah he only said that to protect himself.
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turned away from him and the people around him, and
continuedwithhisspeech.Themansaidagain,OMes
senger of Allaah, he only said that to protect himself.
againturnedawayfromhimandthepeoplearoundhim,
andcontinuedwithhisspeech.Themandidnotputup
with that; a third time he said, O Messenger of Allaah,
byAllaahheonlysaidthattoprotecthimself.TheMes
him)turnedtohim,anditwasclearfromhisexpression
howupsethewas.Hesaid,
Allaah scorns the one who kills a believer. three
times. (alMusnad, 5/289. See also alSilsilat al
Saheehah,2/309)
AlNisaaì (may Allaah have mercy on him) reported
from Abu Saeed alKhudri that a man came from Na
jraantotheMessengerofAllaah(peaceandblessingsof
Allaah be upon him), wearing a ring of gold. The Mes
him)turnedawayfromhimandsaid,
YouhavecometomewithanemberfromtheFire
of Hell in your hand. (AlMujtaba, 8/170; Saheeh
SunanalNisaaì,4793).
Ahmad reported a more detailed version of this from
Abu Saeed alKhudri: a man came from Najraan to the
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uponhim)wearingaringofgold.TheMessengerofAl
laah(peaceandblessingsofAllaahbeuponhim)turned
awayfromhimanddidnotaskhimaboutanything.The
manwentbacktohiswifeandtoldheraboutit.Shesaid,
There has to be a reason for that. Go back to the Mes
him).Sohewentback,andthrewawayhisringandthe
garment he was wearing. When he asked permission to
enter, it was given to him. He greeted the Messenger of
Allaah(peaceandblessingsofAllaahbeuponhim),who
returned the greeting. He said, O Messenger of Allaah,
you turned away from me when I came before. The
uponhim)said:
YoucametomewithacoalfromthefireofHellin
your hand. He said, O Messenger of Allaah, I
camewithalotofcoals.Hehadbroughtsomesuits
of clothing from Bahrain. The Messenger of Allaah
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said:
What you have brought is not going to help us in
anyway(withregardtotheHereafter).Itisnomore
usethantherocksofalHarrah,buttheyareluxuries
ofthisworld.Themansaid:Isaid,OMessenger
of Allaah, explain this to your Companions, so that
theydonotthinkyouwereangrywithmeforsome
reason.TheMessengerofAllaah(peaceandbless
ingsofAllaahbeuponhim)stoodupandexplained
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this, and said that the problem had been with his
goldring.(alMusnad,3/14).
According to a report narrated by Ahmad (may Allaah
havemercyonhim)fromAmribnShuaybfromhisfa
ther from his grandfather,the Prophet (peace and bless
ingsofAllaahbeuponhim)sawoneofhisCompanions
wearing a ring of gold, and turned away from him. The
Sahaabithrewitawayandputonaringofiron,and[the
Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him)]
said,
This is evil, this is the jewellery of the people of
Hell, so he threw it away and put on a ring of sil
ver,andtheProphet(peaceandblessingsofAllaah
be upon him) said nothing. (alMusnad, 163. Al
MusnadeditedbyAhmadShaakir,no.6518.Hesaid
itsisnaadissaheeh).
30Boycottingtheonewhohasmadeamistake.Thisis
oneoftheeffectivemethodsusedbytheProphet(peace
and blessings of Allaah be upon him) especially when a
very serious mistake was made, because of the far
reaching effect that a boycott has on the person con
cerned.AnexampleofthisiswhathappenedtoKabibn
Maalikandhistwocompanionswhostayedbehindfrom
the campaign of Tabook. After the Prophet (peace and
blessings of Allaah be upon him) had ascertained that
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they had no valid excuse, and they had admitted it, as

Kabsaid:
TheMessengerofAllaah(peaceandblessingsofAllaah
beuponhim)forbadetheMuslimstospeaktoanyofthe
three of us who had stayed behind. So the people
avoidedusandtheirattitudetowardsuschangedsothat
eventheearthIwaswalkingonlookeddifferenttowhat
Ihadknown.Westayedlikethatforfiftydays.Asformy
twocompanions,theyresignedthemselvesandstayedin
their homes, weeping, but I was the youngest and the
most determined, so I used to go out and attend the
prayers with the Muslims and go around in the market
places,andnoonewouldspeaktome.Iwouldcometo
be upon him) whilst he was in a gathering after prayer,
and greet him with salaam, asking myself whether he
hadmovedhislipsinresponseornot.Iwouldpraynear
him,stealingglancesathim.WhenIwouldturntopray,
he would turn towards me, and when I would turn to
wards him, he would turn away from me. When the
peoples harshness had gone on too long for me, I went
away and climbed over the wall of the garden of Abu
Qutaadah, who was my cousin [son of my paternal un
cle] and the dearest of people to me. I greeted him with
salaam, but by Allaah he did not answer me. I said, O
Abu Qutaadah, I ask you by Allaah, do you not know
that I love Allaah and His Messenger? He remained si
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lent, so I repeated what I had said, pleading with him,

butheremainedsilent.Irepeateditagain,pleadingwith
him,andhesaid,AllaahandHisMessengerknowbest.
My eyes filled with tears and I turned away and went
andclimbedbackoverthewall
WhenfiftynightshadpassedsincetheMessengerofAl
laah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) had
forbiddenanyonetotalktous,afterIhadprayedFajron
themorningofthefiftiethday,andIwasontheroof of
our house, whilst I was sitting as Allaah has described,
withmyownselfconstrainedtomeandtheearth,vastas
itis,constrainedtome[cf.AlTawbah9:118],Iheardthe
soundofsomeoneshoutingfromthemountainofSalat
the top of his voice: O Kab ibn Maalik, rejoice! (Fath,
4418).
We learn many great lessons from this story, which
should not be ignored in any way. We read about some
oftheminthescholarscommentariesonthisstory,asin
ZaadalMaaadandFathalBaari.
AnotherindicationthattheProphet(peaceandblessings
of Allaah be upon him) used this method was narrated
byalTirmidhifromAaìshah,whosaid:Nobehaviour
wasmorehatefultotheMessengerofAllaah(peaceand
blessingsofAllaahbeuponhim)thanlying.Ifamantold
liesinthepresenceoftheProphet(peaceandblessingsof
Allaahbeuponhim),hewouldremainupsetaboutitun
tilheknewthat hehadrepentedfromthat.(AbuEesa
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said: this is a hasan hadeeth. Sunan alTirmidhi, no.

1973).
AccordingtoareportnarratedbyAhmad:hewould
remainupsetwithhim(alMusnad,6/152)
According to another report: If it happened that one of
the members of his household told a lie, he would keep
turningawayfromhimuntilherepented.(Reportedby
alHaakim.SaheehalJaami,4675).
Itisclearfromthereportsmentionedabovethatturning
awayfromthepersonwhoismakingamistakeuntilhe
givesitupisaneffectiveeducationalmethod,butinor
derforittobeeffective,thepersonwhoisforsakingand
turning away from the other must have some status in
theeyesofthelatter,otherwiseitwillnothaveapositive
effect, and may even give the person something to be
happyabout.
31 Praying against someone who stubbornly persists

in making a mistake. Muslim (may Allaah have mercy
onhim)reportedthatamanatewithhislefthandinthe
presenceoftheProphet(peaceandblessingsofAllaahbe
uponhim).Hesaid,
Eat with your right hand! The man said, I can
not He said, May you never be able to! Nothing
wasstoppinghimexceptpride,andheneverraised
ittohismouthafterthat.(No.2021).
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According to a report narrated by Ahmad: Iyaas ibn

SalamahibnalAkwareportedthathisfathertoldhim:I
heard the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of
Allaah be upon him) telling a man called Bisr ibn Raai
alEer, whom he saw eating with his left hand, to eat
withhisrighthand.Hesaid,
Icannot.Hesaid,Mayyouneverbeableto!And
his right hand never reached his mouth after that.
(4/54)
AlNawawi(mayAllaahhavemercyonhim)said:This
hadeeth shows that it is permissible to pray against the
onewhogoesagainstasharirulingfornogoodreason.
It also demonstrates enjoining what is good and forbid
dingwhatisevilinallmatters,eveninthematterofeat
ing.(SharhSaheehMuslim,13/192).
We may also note here that the duaa against him was
not for something that would help the Shaytaan against
him,itwasforsomethingthatwasmorelikearebukeor
tellingoff.
32 Turning a blind eye to some mistakes and being

content to just hint about them, out of respect to the
personwhoismakingthemistake.
:And(remember)whentheProphetdisclosedamat
ter in confidence to one of his wives (Hafsah), so
whenshetoldit(toanother,i.e.,Aaìshah),andAl
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laahmadeitknowntohim,heinformedpartthereof
and left a part. Then when he told her (Hafsah)
thereof,shesaid:Whotoldyouthis?Hesaid,The
AllKnower, the AllAware (Allaah) has told me.
[alTahreem66:3interpretationofthemeaning]
AlQaasimi(mayAllaahhavemercyonhim)saidinMa
haasinalTaweel:
And remember when the Prophet refers to Muham
mad (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him). To
one of his wives refers to Hafsah. A matter in confi
dence means that she was not allowed to disclose it, or
whatheforbadeforhimselfalthoughAllaahhadallowed
it.Whenshetolditmeansthatshetoldthesecrettoher
companion(Aaìshah).Allaahmadeitknowntohim
means that Allaah told him what Hafsah had told
Aaìshah.Heinformedpartthereofmeansthathetold
herpartofwhatshehaddivulgedasarebuke;andlefta
partmeansthathedidnotsaysomeofit,outofrespect
toher.
ItisnotedinalIkleel:Theaayahindicatesthatthere is
nothing wrong with speaking in a secretive way to one
whomyoutrustsuchasaspouseorfriend,andthatheor
sheisobligedtokeepthesecret.Theaayahalsoindicates
goodtreatmentofwives,gentlenesswhen rebukingand
refraining from seeking out every fault. (Mahaasin al
Taweel,16/222)
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AlHasansaid:Nonoblepersonwillpickoneverylittle
fault.Sufyaansaid:Turningablindeyeistheactionof
noblepeople.
33 Helping a Muslim to correct his mistake. Abu

Hurayrah(mayAllaahbepleasedwithhim)said:
WhilstweweresittingwiththeProphet(peaceand
blessings of Allaah be upon him), a man came to
him and said, O Messenger of Allaah, I am
doomed!Hesaid,Whatisthematterwithyou?He
said, I had intercourse with my wife whilst I was
fasting.TheMessengerofAllaah(peaceandbless
ings of Allaah be upon him) said, Are you able to
set a slave free? He said, No. He asked, Can you
fast for two consecutive months? He said, No. he
said, Can you feed sixty poor persons? He said,
No.TheProphet(peaceandblessingsofAllaahbe
uponhim)saidnothingmoreaboutthematterfora
while,andwhilstweweresittingtherelikethat,the
him) was brought a large vessel full of dates. He
said, Where is the one who was asking just now?
The man said, Here I am. He said, Take this and
give it in charity. The man said, O Messenger of
Allaah,isthereanyonepoorerbetweenalHarratayn
[i.e., in Madeenah] than my family? The Prophet
(peaceandblessingsofAllaahbeuponhim)smiled
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so broadly that his eyeteeth could be seen, then he

said, Feed it to your family. (Reported by al
Bukhaari,no.1936).
AccordingtoareportnarratedbyAhmadfromAaìshah
(may Allaah be pleased with her), whilst the Messenger
of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him)
was sitting in the shade of a large tree, a man came to
himandsaid,
I am burnt, O Messenger of Allaah! He said,
Whatisthematterwithyou?Hesaid,Ihadinter
coursewithmywifewhilstIwasfasting.Aaìshah
said: this was in Ramadaan. The Messenger of Al
saidtohim,Sitdown.Sohesatdownattheedge
of the group of people. Then a man brought a don
keyonwhichwasavesselofdates,andsaid,This
is my sadaqah (charity), O Messenger of Allaah.
TheMessengerofAllaah(peaceandblessingsofAl
laah be upon him) said, Where is the burnt one
whowasherejustnow?Themansaid,HereIam,
O Messenger of Allaah. He said, Take this and
giveitincharity.Hesaid,TowhomshouldIgive
itexceptmyself?BytheOneWhosentyouwiththe
truth, I do not have anything for myself and my
children.Hesaid,Thentakeit,sohetookit.(al
Musnad,6/276)
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34Meetingwiththepersonwhohasmadethemistake
to talk it over. In Saheeh alBukhaari it is reported that
AbdAllaah ibn Amr said: My father married me to a
womanfromagoodfamily.Heusedtocomeandcheck
on his daughter in law, and ask her about her husband.
She would say, What a good man he is. He has never
slept in our bed or disturbed us since we got married.
When this had gone on for a long time, hementioned it
to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon
him),whosaid,
Letmemeetwithhim.SoImetwithhimafterthat,
and he said, How often do you fast? I said, Every
day. He said, How often do you complete the
Quràan? I said, Every night. He said, Fast three
daysofeverymonth,andcompletetheQuràanonce
a month. I said, I can do more than that. He said,
Fast three days every week. I said, I can do more
than that. He said, Dont fast for two days, then
sfast for one day. I said, I can do more than that.
He said, Observe the best kind of fast, the fast of
Dawood, fasting one day then not fasting the next,
andcompletetheQuràanonceeverysevendays.
I wish that I had accepted the dispensation of the Mes
him), because when I became old and weak I started to
readoneseventhoftheQuràantomyfamilyduringthe
day,andwhateverIreadduringthedaymakesiteasier
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tocompleteitatnight.IfIwanttohelpmyself,Idonot
fast for a number of days, then I count the number of
daysIdidnotfastandfastthesamenumberofdays.Ido
not want to give up something that I promised the
Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) I
woulddobeforehedied.AbuAbdAllaahsaid:Some
ofthemsaidinthree,andinfive,andmostofthemsaid
inseven.(alFath,5052)
A report narrated by Ahmad describes the matter more
clearly and contains important lessons: AbdAllaah ibn
Amr said: My father married me to a woman from
Quraysh.WhensheentereduponmeIdidnotapproach
herbecauseIwassoenthusiasticaboutworshippingAl
laahbyfastingandpraying.AmribnalAascametohis
daughter in law and asked her, How do you find your
husband? She said, He is the best of men, or he is like
thebestofhusbandsamongmen.Hehasneverdisturbed
usandhehasneversleptinourbed.Sohecametome
and told me off. (Ibn alAtheer said: according to an
otherhadeeth,AbdAllaahibnAmribnalAassaid:So
my father came to me and told me off. AlNihaayah
3/200).Hesaid,Imarriedyoutoawomanfromagood
family of Quraysh, and you are neglecting her (i.e., not
treatingherasawife)andyouaredoingsuchandsuch.
ThenhewenttotheProphet(peaceandblessingsofAl
laah be upon him) and complained about me. The
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Prophet(peaceandblessingsofAllaahbeuponhim)sent
formeandIcametohim.Hesaidtome,
Do you fast during the day? I said, Yes. He said,
Do you pray (qiyaam) at night? I said, Yes. He
said, But I fast and I break my fast, I pray and I
sleep, and I go to my wives. Whoever turns away
from my Sunnah has nothing to do with me. He
said,ReadtheQuràanonceamonth.Isaid,Ican
domorethanthat.Hesaid,Readitonceeveryten
days.Isaid,Icandomorethanthat.Oneofthem
either Husayn or Mugheerah said, Read it every
threedays.He[theProphet(peaceandblessingsof
Allaahbeuponhim)]said:Fastthreedaysofevery
month.Isaid,Icandomorethanthat.Hekeptin
creasingthenumberuntilhesaid,Fastonedayand
donotfastthenextday.Thisisthebestoffasts,the
fastofmybrotherDawood.
Husayn said in his narration of the hadeeth: then the
said:
Everyworshipperhasatimewhenheis motivated
andkeen,andaftereverysuchtimecomesatimeof
slackening, where he either follows the Sunnah or
follows bidah. The one whose slackening follows
Sunnahisguided,buttheonewhoseslackeningfol
lowsbidahisdoomed.
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Mujaahid said: When AbdAllaah ibn Amr grew old

and weak, he would fast for several days at a time, so
thathecouldgrowstronger,thenhewouldbreakhisfast
forasimilarnumberofdays.Hewouldreadhisportion
oftheQuràaninlikemanner,sometimesreadingmore,
sometimesreadingless,sothathewouldfinishtheentire
Quràan in seven days or in three days. After that he
wouldsay,IwishthatIhadacceptedthedispensationof
be upon him), for it would be better for me than what I
chose for myself, or I left him saying that I would do
somethingandIwouldhatetodosomethingelse.(Al
Musnad,2/158.AhmadShaakirsaid:itsisnaadissaheeh.
TahqeeqalMusnad,no.6477).
Amongthethingswelearnfromthisstoryare:
1.
upon him) understood the cause of the problem, which
wasthat[AbdAllaahibnAmr]wasexhaustinghimself
inworshiptothepointthathedidnothavetimetotake
care of his duties towards his wife, so he was falling
short.
2.
Theprincipleofpayingdueattentiontoeveryone
whohasrightsoveroneappliestoanyonewhoispreoc
cupiedwithmattersofworship,suchasastudentwhois
giving so many lessons, or a daaiyah who is so busy
withhisdawahthathiswifecomplainsofmistreatment.
Thiscanleadtoalossofbalanceincarryingoutdifferent
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actsofworshipanddividingonestimeamongallthose
whoaremakingrightfulclaimsonit.Sothereisnothing
wrong with the teacher reducing the number of lessons
he gives, or the daaiyah reducing his activities so as to
allowhimselfenoughtimetotakecareofhishome,wife
andchildren,andgivethemtheirrightsasregardsguid
ance,companionshipandeducation.
35Speakingbluntlytoapersonaboutthemistakehe
ismaking.AlBukhaari(mayAllaahhavemercyonhim)
reported that Abu Dharr said: There was an argument
between me and another man. His mother was a non
Arab,andIsaidsomethinginsultingabouther.Hemen
tionedthistotheProphet(peaceandblessingsofAllaah
beuponhim),whoaskedme,
Didyoutradeinsultswithsoandso?Isaid,Yes.
Hesaid,Didyousaysomethinginsultingabouthis
mother? I said, Yes. He said, You are a man who
still has something of jaahiliyyah in you. I said, I
said what I said because I am getting old. He said,
Yes, but they are your brothers. Allaah has given
you power over them, but whoever is given power
oversomeone,lethimfeedhimashefeedshimself,
clothe him as he clothes himself, and not give him
moreworktodothanheisable.Ifhedoesgivehim
toomuchwork,lethimhelphim.(Fath,6050)
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InSaheehMuslimitisreportedthatAbuDharr(mayAl
laahbepleasedwithhim)said:
Ihadanargumentwithoneofmybrothers.Hismother
was nonArab, and I said something insulting to him
about his mother. He complained about me to the Mes
him). When the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah
beuponhim)metme,hesaid,
O Abu Dharr, you are a man who still has some
thingofjaahiliyyahinhim.Isaid,OMessengerof
Allaah,whoeverinsultsaperson,peoplewillinsult
his father and mother. He said, OAbu Dharr, you
areamanwhostillhassomethingofjaahiliyyahin
him. They are your brothers2, and Allaah has given
you power over them, so feed them as you feed
yourselfandclothethemasyouclotheyourself.Do
not give them more work than they can do, and if
you give them too much to do, then help them.
(SaheehMuslim,no.1661).
spoke in this straightforward and open manner to Abu
Dharrbecauseheknewhewouldacceptit.Suchablunt
approach can be a useful method that saves times and
energy, and gets the point across in the easiest manner,
Itseemsasifthemanwasadervantoraslave.(e)
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but it shouldonlybe done when it is appropriate to the

situationandthepeopleinvolved.
Thisdirectapproachmaybebetternotusedifitwilllead
to something worse or if it means that a greater interest
will not be achieved, for example if the person making
the mistake is in a position of power and authority and
wouldnotacceptsuchfrankcomments,orifadirectap
proachwouldcausetoomuchembarrassmenttotheper
sonwhoisdoingwrong.Itshouldalsonotbeusedifthe
personisextrasensitiveandislikelytoreactbadly.Un
doubtedly adirectapproachwillbetoomuchforaper
son to take if it is made in a spirit of confrontation and
withtheaimofcausingembarrassmentandshowinghim
upatthetimewhenhiscriticappearssuperior.Similarly
itisessentialtobecautiousaboutusingindirectmeth
ods whose multiple negative effects may outweigh the
benefitsofadirectapproach,becausetheymaymakethe
wrongdoerthinkthattheonewhoisadvisinghimthinks
he is stupid or that he is playing about, or because they
may offend him because he thinks he is making snide
remarks.Thiswayofpointingoutwhatisrightmaynot
beeffective,becausewhatisbeingsaidmaynotbeclear
to the person addressed, so he will keep on making the
mistake.Generallyspeaking,peopledifferwhenitcomes
toacceptingadvice,andtherightapproachwilldifferin
eachcase,butagoodattitudeindiscussingmistakesand
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guiding people will also have the greatest effect in

achievingthedesiredgoal.
36 Persuading a person that he is making a mistake.

Engaginginadiscussionwithawrongdoerwiththeaim
ofconvincinghimmayleadtotheremovaloftheblinds
overhiseyesandbringinghimbacktotheStraightPath.
AnexampleofthisisthereportnarratedbyalTabaraani
(mayAllaahhavemercyonhim)inalMujamalKabeer
from Abu Umaamah (may Allaah have mercy on him),
whosaidthatayoungmancametotheMessengerofAl
laah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) and
said,
O Messenger of Allaah, give me permission to
commitzinaa(fornicationoradultery).Thepeople
shouted[athim]and[theProphet(peaceandbless
ings of Allaah be upon him)] said, Stop it! The
be upon him) said, Let him calm down. Come
here.HecameandsatinfrontoftheMessengerof
Allaah(peaceandblessingsofAllaahbeuponhim),
who said to him, Would you like it for your
mother?Hesaid,No.Hesaid,Likewise,people
donotlikeitfortheirmothers.Wouldyoulikeitfor
your daughter? Hesaid, No. He said,Likewise,
peopledonotlikeitfortheirdaughters.Wouldyou
like it for your sister? He said, No. He said,
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Likewise, people do not like it for their sisters.

Wouldyoulikeitforyour(paternal)aunt?Hesaid,
No. He said, Likewise, people do not like it for
their (paternal) aunts. Would you like it for your
(maternal)aunt?Hesaid,No.Hesaid,Likewise,
people do not like it for their (maternal) aunts.
Then the Messenger of Allaah(peace and blessings
of Allaah be upon him) put his hand on his chest
and said, O Allaah, forgive his sins, purify his
heart and make him chaste. (AlTabaraani, al
Mujam alKabeer, 7679 and 7759. Additional mate
rialisincludedbetweensquarebrackets).
37Makingapersonunderstandthathisflimsyexcuse
isnotacceptable.Somepeoplewhomakemistakestryto
offer madeup, unacceptable excuses, especially when
they are caught redhanded. Indeed, some of them may
appeartobestammeringwhentheygivetheirflimsyex
cuses,especiallythosewhoarenotgoodatlyingbecause
theyarebasicallygoodatheart. Howshouldtheeduca
tor act when he comes across a situation like this? The
followingstorydemonstratesthebrilliantattitudeofthe
whendealingwithoneofhisCompanionsinasituation
ofthisnature.Thestoryalsoshowsushowtheeducator
should persistently follow up until the person gives up
hiswrongattitude.
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Khuwwaat ibn Jubayr (may Allaah be pleased with

him) said: We made camp with the Messenger of
atMaralZahraan(aplacenearMakkah).Icameout
of my tent and saw some women talking amongst
themselves.Ilikedthem,soIwentback,gotoutmy
trunkandtookoutahillah(asuitofclothes).Iputit
on and came and sat with them. The Messenger of
came out and said, O Abu AbdAllaah!! (i.e., he
was reprimanding him for sitting with those non
mahremwomen).WhenIsawtheMessengerofAl
laah(peaceandblessingsofAllaahbeuponhim),I
got scared and started stammering (trying to come
upwithanexcuse).Isaid,OMessengerofAllaah,
mycamelgotlostandIamlookingforaropetore
strainit(i.e.,hecameupwithafalseexcusetojus
tifywhathehaddone).Heleft,andIfollowedhim.
He threw his cloak at me and went in among some
araaktreesanditisasifIcanseethewhitenessof
hisbackagainstthegreennessofthearaaktrees.He
answered the call of nature and did wudoo, and
turned (to me) with the water dripping from his
beardontohischest,andsaid:OAbuAbdAllaah,
what happened to your lost camel? Then we con
tinued on our journey, and whenever he caught up
with me, he would say, Assalaamu aleika Abu
AbdAllaah. What happened to that lost camel?
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When I realized this, I hastened on to Madeenah

and avoided the mosque and gatherings where the
him)waspresent.Whenthishadgoneonforalong
time, I tried to go to the mosque when no one else
was around. I went to the mosque and started to
pray,buttheMessengerofAllaah(peaceandbless
ingsofAllaahbeuponhim)cameoutofoneofhis
apartments and started to pray two short rakahs. I
mademyprayerlong,hopingthathewouldgoaway
andleaveme.Hesaid,Makeitaslongasyoulike,
O Abu AbdAllaah, for I am not leaving until you
finish.Isaidtomyself,ByAllaah,Ishouldapolo
gizetotheMessengerofAllaah(peaceandblessings
of Allaah be upon him) and make him happy.
WhenIhadfinished,hesaid,Alsalaamualayka,O
Abu AbdAllaah. What happened to your lost
camel? I said, By the One Who sent you with the
truth,thatcamelhasnevergottenlostsincethetime
I became a Muslim. He said, May Allaah have
mercyonyouthreetimes,thenhenevermentioned
it again. (AlHaythami said: alTabaraani reported
itwithtwoisnaads.Themenofoneofthemareall
saheehapartfromalJarraahibnMukhallad,whois
thiqah. AlMajma, 9/401. Upon referring to al
MujamalKabeerbyalTabaraani,4/203,itbecomes
clearthatthereportfromZaydibnAslamistalking
about Khuwwaat ibn Jubayr, who said, We made
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camp In the biography of Khuwwaat (may Al

laah be pleased with him) in alTahdheeb it says:
Zayd ibn Aslam reported mursal from him. In al
IsaabahitsaysthatKhuwwaatdiedin40or42AH,
and in alSiyar it says that Zayd ibn Aslam died in
136AH;onthisbasisthereisabreakintheisnaad).
This is a brilliant study in training and the use of wise
strategies to achieve the desired result. We may also
learnthefollowingpointsfromthisstory:
1.
Apersonwhohascommittedasinwillfeelshyof
arespectedleaderwhenhecatcheshimout.
2.
The way the educator looks at and questions a
person even though it may be very brief will have a
greatimpactonhim.
3.
Not discussing a false excuse at the time of hear
ing it even thoughit is clearlymade up and turning
awayfromthepersonmaybeenoughtomakehimreal
izethathisexcuseisnotacceptable,whichwillmotivate
himtorepentandapologize.Thisiswhatweunderstand
fromthephraseheleft.
4.
Thegoodeducatoristheonewhomakestheper
sonwhohasmadeamistakefeeltooshyofhim,sothat
hetriestohideawayfromhim,butatthesametime,his
needforhimmakeshimwanttocometohim.Thenthe
lattertakesprecedenceovertheformer.
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5.
The change of attitude towards the wrongdoer is
basedinthiscaseonthewrongdoersadmissionthat
hewaswrongandhisgivingupthethinghehaddone.
If the educator or leader is held in high esteem by his
companions,thenifherebukesoneofthemortells him
that he has made a mistake, this will have an effect on
him. The leader should pay attention to the interests of
otherswhenrebukingoneofhiscompanions,sothatall
maybenefitfromit.However,thisshouldnotmeanthat
he should ignore any negative effect on that particular
individual.Thatcanbedealtwithanditseffectslimited
in many ways, even though a third party, as al
Mugheerah did when he asked Umar to be a mediator
whilst at the same time explaining the situation and af
firminghowhighlytheleaderthinksofthefollower.
38 Paying attention to things that are inherent in hu

mannature.Anexampleofthisisthejealousyofwomen,
especially in the case of cowives, some of whom may
make mistakes that, if they were made by anyone else
undernormalcircumstances,wouldbetreatedquitedif
ferently. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be
upon him) used to pay special attention to the issue of
jealousy among his wives and the mistakes that were
made by them as a result, and the patience, justice and
fairness with which he handled the matter are plain to
see. An example of this is the report narrated by al
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Bukhaari(mayAllaahhavemercyonhim)inhisSaheeh
fromAnas,whosaid:
uponhim)waswithoneofhiswiveswhenanother
oftheMothersoftheBelieverssentabigvesselfull
offoodtohim.ThewifeinwhosehousetheProphet
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) was
present struck the handof the servant, and the ves
sel fell and broke in two. The Prophet (peace and
blessings of Allaah be upon him) picked up the
pieces and put them together, then he gathered up
thefoodthathadbeeninthevesselandsaid,Your
motherisjealous.Thenheaskedtheservanttowait
until he was given the vessel belonging to the wife
inwhosehousehewas,andhesentthewholevessel
tothewifewhosevesselhadbeenbroken,andkept
the broken vessel in the house of the one who had
brokenit.(Fath,5225)
AccordingtoareportnarratedbyalNisaaì(KitaabIsh
rat alNisaa), Umm Salamah brought some food in a
vesselbelongingtohertotheMessengerofAllaah(peace
and blessings of Allaah be upon him) and his compan
ions,thenAaìshahcamewrappedinagarment,carry
ing a stone, which she threw and broke the vessel. The
Prophet(peaceandblessingsofAllaahbeuponhim)put
thetwohalvesbacktogetherandsaid,
Eat,yourmotherisjealous
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twice, then he took Aaìshahs vessel and sent it to

Umm Salamah, and gave Umm Salamahs vessel to
Aaìshah.
AccordingtoareportnarratedbyalDaarimi(Kitaabal
Buyoo, Baab man kasara shayan fa alayhi mithluhu)
fromAnas,hesaid:
One of the wives of the Prophet (peace and bless
ings of Allaah be upon him) sent him a vessel in
which was some thareed [a dish of sopped bread,
meatandbroth],whenhewasinthehouseofoneof
hisotherwives,whostruckthevesselandbrokeit.
him) started to pick up the thareed and put it back
into the vessel, saying, Eat, your mother is jeal
ous
Womensjealousyisaninherentpartoftheirnature,that
maycausethemtodobadthingsandpreventthemfrom
seeingtheconsequencesoftheiractions.Itwassaidthat
whenawomanisjealous,shecannotseethebottomofa
valleyfromitstop.
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Conclusion
Following this exploration of the Sunnah and the meth

odswhichtheProphet(peaceandblessingsofAllaahbe
upon him) used in dealing with peoples mistakes, we
shouldconcludebymentioningthefollowingpoints:
1.
Correctingmistakesisobligatoryandveryimpor
tant. It is part of naseehah (giving sincere advice) and
forbiddingwhatisevil,butitshouldberememberedthat
Islam is not only about forbidding what is evil; we are
alsocommandedtoenjoinwhatisgood.
2.
Education and training are not merely the matter
of correcting mistakes; they also involve teaching and
showing the basic principles of religion and the rules of
shareeah, and using various methods to establish these
concepts firmly in peoples minds and hearts, by exam
ple, by exhorting them, by telling stories, by discussing
incidents,etc.Fromthisitisclearthatsomeparentsand
teachersarefallingshortbyconfiningtheireffortsonlyto
addressing mistakes without paying due attention to
teaching the basics or dealing with mistakes before they
happenbyinstillingthatwhichwillprotectpeoplefrom
committingmistakesinthefirstplace,oratleastreduce
theirimpact.
3.
Itisclearfromtheincidentsandstoriesmentioned
abovethattheProphet(peaceandblessingsofAllaahbe
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uponhim)useddifferentapproachesindealingwithdif
ferent mistakes. This is because circumstances and per
sonalities vary. Whoever understands this and wants to
followsuitmustcomparethesituationheisdealingwith,
withtheseexamplestofindtheonethatmostcloselyre
semblesit,sothathecandeterminethemostappropriate
approachtouse.
WeaskAllaah,mayHebeglorifiedandexalted,toguide
usandprotectus,tomakeusopenersofgoodandclos
ersofevil,andtoguideothersthroughus,forHeisthe
AllHearing,theEverNear,Whoanswersprayers.Heis
theBestofsupportersandtheBestofhelpers,andHeis
the Guide to the Straight Path. May Allaah bless the
Unlettered Prophet and all his family and companions.
PraisebetoAllaah,theLordoftheWorlds.
________________________________________

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ful and divert your attention to another. [Abasa

Had it not been for the Grace of Allaah and His

When the caravan came at the time of the Friday khut

This book is an attempt to study the methods of the

Before we embark on our discussion we should note

Allaah be upon him) and understood fully. Then Abu

Qur`aan], Did I not teach you that which I had re

heated on the Day of Resurrection. (Sunan al

Understanding this fact will also prevent an educator

most important matter. Examples of this follow. Al

According to another report narrated by Abu Waaqid,

stars; andas for him who said, we havebeen given

Taking into account the position of the person who is

are very important in judging how strong the rebuke

me lying on my stomach. He kicked me and said,

[Umar] asked him, Who are you? He said, I am the

Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be

Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be

Muslim reported in his Saheeh from Abu Ishaaq who

laah. He prayed, and I complained to Umar about

waajib and that would cause them a great deal of hard

will be in Hell, and a man who judges between people

Being fair and not being biased when correcting those

stood up, praised Allaah as He deserves to be

If you are happy with a person, you do not see his

Being careful lest correcting one mistake leads to a

jaahiliyyah. He (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon

that a gentle approach wins people over and opens

Bakr), as the following story illustrates: Asma bint Abi

yuaddib ghulaamahu. Classed as hasan by al

Kakh, kakh, do you not know that we do not eat

blessings of Allaah be upon him) said to me: O

Exercising caution when advising nonmahram

women who may make false accusations against him

1 Hastening to deal with peoples mistakes and not

Allaah be upon him) came out and said, What is

and I break my fast, and I marry women. Whoever

The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be

There is nothing wrong with a person talking

We also learn that going to extremes in worship

Mistakesgenerally come about as a resultof mis

month besides that. I said, Let me do more. He

him) said, This man is better than an earth full of

5 Dealing with mistakes by repeatedly reminding

bracing Islam wipes out all sins that came before

According to another report also narrated by Muslim,

6 Showing compassion to the one who is making a

laah be upon him). He said, Where is the one who

blessings of Allaah be upon him), and the Prophet

7 Not hastening to tell someone he is wrong. Some

Soorat alFurqaan differently than the way you taught

When the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah

he is saying, because that opinion may turn out to be a

8 Remaining calm when dealing with peoples mis

(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said,

him and hastening to deal with him, or telling him to

but the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be

We should be gentle when dealing with one who

The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be

The idea of taking precautions against impurity

We should also hasten to remove anything objec

sued instructions that the place should be cleaned with