Shu'ab al-Iman (al-Bayhaqi) 6276

Translation

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He said: Maʿrūf al-Karkhī was by the Tigris and we were with him, when some young men passed by in a boat, singing and beating the tambourine. We said to him: O Abū Maḥfūẓ, do you not see these people on this water disobeying Allah, Mighty and Majestic? Supplicate against them. He said: So he raised his hand to the sky and said: "My God and my Master, O Allah, I ask You to make them joyful in the Hereafter, as You have made them joyful in this world." His companions said to him: We asked you to supplicate against them, and we did not ask you to supplicate for them. He said: "If He makes them joyful in the Hereafter, He will accept their repentance in this world, and nothing will harm you." Imam Aḥmad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: Of this category is the saying of Allah, Mighty and Majestic: {يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا لَا يَسْخَرْ قَوْمٌ مِنْ قَوْمٍ عَسَى أَنْ يَكُونُوا خَيْرًا مِنْهُمْ، وَلَا نِسَاءٌ مِنْ نِسَاءٍ عَسَى أَنْ يَكُنَّ خَيْرًا مِنْهُنَّ، وَلَا تَلْمِزُوا أَنْفُسَكُمْ، وَلَا تَنَابَزُوا بِالْأَلْقَابِ بِئْسَ الِاسْمُ الْفُسُوقُ بَعْدَ الْإِيمَانِ، وَمَنْ لَمْ يَتُبْ فَأُولَئِكَ هُمُ الظَّالِمُونَ يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اجْتَنِبُوا كَثِيرًا مِنَ الظَّنِّ} [al-Ḥujurāt: 12], up to His saying: {لَحْمَ أَخِيهِ مَيْتًا فَكَرِهْتُمُوهُ} [al-Ḥujurāt: 12]. "This verse includes the prohibition of mockery and ridicule, and the prohibition of slander (lamz), which is backbiting and disparagement. The meaning of {لَا تَلْمِزُوا أَنْفُسَكُمْ} [al-Ḥujurāt: 11] is: do not slander one another. The prohibition of calling one another by nicknames is that a person abandons calling his companion by the name his father gave him, and gives him a nickname with which he wants to disgrace or humiliate him, and calls him by it. Then He said: {بِئْسَ الِاسْمُ الْفُسُوقُ بَعْدَ الْإِيمَانِ} [al-Ḥujurāt: 11]. So He made clear that doing these forbidden things is wickedness after faith, and faith requires continuing to hold people in their proper esteem and not objecting to what is found in a person with what does not befit him. Then He said: {وَمَنْ لَمْ يَتُبْ فَأُولَئِكَ هُمُ الظَّالِمُونَ} [al-Ḥujurāt: 11], that is: they are the ones who wrong themselves by driving themselves to the Fire and the painful punishment. Then He said: {يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اجْتَنِبُوا كَثِيرًا مِنَ الظَّنِّ إِنَّ بَعْضَ الظَّنِّ إِثْمٌ} [al-Ḥujurāt: 12]. He meant that thinking ill of a Muslim is like defaming him, slandering him, and ridiculing and mocking him; He forbade it and told that it is a sin. He also forbade spying (tajassus), which is following his affairs in his private moments and inside his house and investigating them, for if that reaches him it grieves him and distresses him, so exposing him to it is a kind of harm for which there is no justification and no permission. He elaborated on this. He said: Then He forbade backbiting, saying: {وَلَا يَغْتَبْ بَعْضُكُمْ بَعْضًا} [al-Ḥujurāt: 12], that is: do not mention him in his absence with what would distress him if he were present and heard it. He likened backbiting to eating the flesh of the dead, because the dead person does not feel his flesh being eaten, just as the absent person does not feel his honor being stripped. It is not fitting for a Muslim to [unclear] a Muslim, nor to be harsh to him in speech, nor to expose him to distress, nor to slander him falsely. Hadiths have been narrated on this, and we shall bring, God willing, what we have at hand of that, with additions suited to it, by the grace of Allah, Mighty and Majestic."

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