Commentary on the Last Chapter in the Book Al-Murshidu Al-Mu’īn 04
Authored by: Polymath Imām Abū Muhammad Abdulwāhid Ibn 'Āshir Al-Mālikī rahimahullāh
بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
الحمد لله رب العالمين والصلاة والسلام على المبعوث رحمة للعالمين وعلى آله وصحبه أجمعين ومن تبعهم بإحسان إلى يوم الدين وبعد
Assalāmu Alaykum Warahmatullāh Wabarakātuh
Honored Brothers and Sisters on this Platform, you are welcome to this morning’s session of the Halqah where we have been commenting on the Last Chapter of the Book _Al-Murshid Al-Mu’īn_
We stopped at where the Imām rahimahullāh said
يَغُضُّ عَيْنَيْهِ عَنِ الْمَحَارِمِ يَكُفُّ سَمْعَهُ عَنِ الْمَآثِمِ
كَغِيبَةٍ نَمِيمَةٍ زُورٍ كَذِبْ لِسَانُهُ أَحْرَى بِتَرْكِ مَا جُلِبْ
يَحْفَظُ بَطْنَهُ مِنَ الْحَرَامِ يَتْرُكُ مَا شُبِّهَ بِاهْتِمَامِ
يَحْفَظُ فَرْجَهُ وَيَتَّقِي الشَّهِيدْ فِي الْبَطْشِ وَالسَّعْيِ لِمَمْنُوعٍ يُرِيدْ
_”He lowers his gaze away from the forbidden things; he precents his ears from this sinful things_
_Such as slander, fabrications, lies; His tongue more deserving of avoiding those sinful things_
_He protects his stomach from Harām; Abandoning in it’s cause what is ambiguous and doubtful_
_He protests his genitals from Harām and fears the Witnesses; While holding and walking toward a forbiddance that is sought”_
And we explained it’s meanings up to the Second Organ which he rahimahullāh mentioned
We then continue as follows
*The Third Organ* mentioned by the Imām is the tongue where he said that the tongue is more deserving of avoiding those sinful things that the ears must avoid listening to
Know o brothers and sisters, that one of the most dangerous organs of the body is the tongue
With it one may destroy himself and may rectify himself
In the Hadīth that was recorded by Imām Al-Bukhārī from Abū Hurayrah radiyallāhu anhu, the Rasūl salallāhu alayhi wasallam said
إِنَّ الْعَبْدَ لَيَتَكَلَّمُ بِالْكَلِمَةِ مِنْ رِضْوَانِ اللَّهِ لَا يُلْقِي لَهَا بَالًا يَرْفَعُهُ اللَّهُ بِهَا دَرَجَاتٍ ، وَإِنَّ الْعَبْدَ لَيَتَكَلَّمُ بِالْكَلِمَةِ مِنْ سَخَطِ اللَّهِ لَا يُلْقِي لَهَا بَالًا يَهْوِي بِهَا فِي جَهَنَّمَ
_”Surely a Servant (Of Allāh) may utter a statement that pleases Allāh about which he does not hold in high regards but by which Allāh will elevate him levels in status. And a Servant may utter a word that incurs the wrath of Allāh and about which he doesn’t estimate as high but by which he will descend in depths into the Jahannam”_
Imām Muslim and other Recorders of the Sunan recorded this Hadīth with it’s variants
For this reason, one must be very careful where he puts his tongue and must not be carried away by the sayings and the seatings of the People of Dunya who preoccupy themselves with statements and words that do not please Allāh and that does not add to their benefits in the Dunya and the Ākhirah
And in the well known Hadīth of Mu’ādh bn Jabal, radiyallāhu ‘anhu that was recorded by Imām Ahmad, the Rasūl salallāhu alayhi wasallam had said
كُفَّ عَلَيْكَ هَذَا، قُلْتُ: يَا رَسُولَ اللهِ، وَإِنَّا لَمُؤَاخَذُونَ بِمَا نَتَكَلَّمُ بِهِ؟! قَالَ: ثَكِلَتْكَ أُمُّكَ يَا مُعَاذُ، وَهَلْ يَكُبُّ النَّاسَ فِي النَّارِ عَلَى وُجُوهِهِمْ أَوْ قَالَ: عَلَى مَنَاخِرِهِمْ إِلَّا حَصَائِدُ أَلْسِنَتِهِمْ؟
_”Restrain this (organ)”_ holding his tongue
I said: O Messenger of Allāh, ‘And are we going to be held accountable for everything that we utter?’
He said: “May your mother be bereft of you O Mu’ādh, and is there a thing that makes people be thrown unto their faces or on their noses in the Nār that is more than the harvests of their tongues?”_
May Allāh grant us the ability to restrain our organs, Āmīn
Then he said, rahimahullāh *He must preserve his Stomach from Harām*
The stomach and the appetite or eating is one very critical aspect of our beings that must be well tamed and disciplined
Those who eat a lot have the higher likelihood of consuming what is Harām
Generally, the teaching of the Dīn is to consume food in very moderate quantities even when it is Halāl
And to be mindful of what we eat
This is one of the cornerstones of the Path of the student of Knowledge as is confirmed in all of the Books of Sulūk
Can’t you see that same is confirmed in the Modern sciences, that too much of eating weakens the body and causes excess deposits of fat
The situation is worse when what is eaten is Harām
May Allāh save us from that
In this the Imām also said *_Conciously Abandoning in it’s cause what is ambiguous and doubtful_*
Thus the believer must pay extra attention to what he eats
He must avoid even that whose Halāl is doubtful
There is no path to rectitude in consuming that about whose Halāl there is some doubt
Whosoever dwells on the doubtful aspects and seeks to remain in things about whose ruling there is doubt will eventually fall into Harām as is clear in the popular Hadīth of Nu’mān bn Bashīr radiyallāhu anhumā where the Rasūl salallāhu alayhi wasallam said _”Indeed what is Halāl is clear and what is Harām is clear”_ <This message was edited>
Then the Imām mentioned the preservation of the private organs, that is the genitals
The culmination of the preservation of the Appetite of eating and the appetite of the sexual organs is the rectitude of man
In the Hadīth, that was recorded by Imām Al-Bukhārī rahimahullāh from the Companion Sahl bn Sa’ad As-Sā’idī radiyallāhu ‘anhu, the Rasūl salallāhu alayhi wasallam said
من يضمن لي ما بين لحييه وما بين فخذيه، أضمن له الجنة
_”Whosoever guarantees for me a protection of what lies between his beards (and moustache) and what lies between his thighs, I will guarantee for him Jannah”_
This is because the protection of these guarantees for one a preservation of his Īmān and the attainment of the Pleasure of Allāh
Then in the Hadīth that was recorded by Imām Ahmad in his Musnad, the Rasūl salallāhu alayhi wasallam said
اضمنوا لي ستا من أنفسكم اضمن لكم الجنة: اصدقوا إذا حدثتم، وأوفوا إذا وعدتم، وأدوا إذا ائتمنتم، واحفظوا فروجكم، وغضوا أبصاركم، وكفوا أيديكم
_”Guarantee for me six things about yourself and I will guarantee for you Jannah:_
_Say the Truth when you speak_
_Fulfil the promises when you make them_
_Deliver the Trusts when you are entrusted_
_Protect your Private Parts_
_Lower your gazes_
_And restrain your hands_”
Shaykh Muhammad Nāsiruddīn Al-Albānī and Shu’ayb Al-Arnā’ūt graded this Hadīth Hasan
If you look at these six things one of them relates to the tongue while two of them relates to the Private Parts where he said protect your private parts and lower your gazes
We ask Allāh for the protection against the Appetites of our Private Parts, Āmīn
And then where the Imām says:
*_And fears the Witnesses while holding and walking toward a forbiddance that is sought”_*
What he means is to preserve the limbs of the hands and the legs as they will be called to testify against man on the Day of Qiyāmah as Allāh said in the Qur’an
حَتَّىٰ إِذَا مَا جَاءُوهَا شَهِدَ عَلَيْهِمْ سَمْعُهُمْ وَأَبْصَارُهُمْ وَجُلُودُهُم بِمَا كَانُوا يَعْمَلُونَ
_”Till, when they reach it (Hell-fire), their hearing (ears) and their eyes, and their skins will testify against them as to what they used to do”_
What is meant by their skins here, as the Ulamā of Tafsīr mentioned is all their Organs
May Allāh make this easy for us
And we will end with the Hadīth of ‘Abdullāh bn Mas’ūd as was recorded by Imām At-Tirmidhī and graded Sahih by Hākim An-Naysābūrī and Imām Adh-Dhahabī, but Hasan by Al-Albānī where the Rasūl salallāhu alayhi wasallam said
استحيوا من الله حق الحياء. قال: قلنا: يا رسول الله، إنا نستحي والحمد لله، قال: ليس ذاك، ولكن الاستحياء من الله حق الحياء أن تحفظ الرأس وما وعى، والبطن وما حوى، ولتذكر الموت والبلى، ومن أراد الآخرة ترك زينة الدنيا، فمن فعل ذلك استحيا من الله حق الحياء
_”Have true shyness of Allāh in the rightful shyness”_
He said: “We said: O Messenger of Allāh, we surely are shy and Alhamdulillāh”
He said: _”That is not what is meant but the true Shyness of Allāh is that you preserve your head and what it contains, (that you preserve) the stomach and what surrounds it, and that you should always remember death and the trials that follow it. And whosoever wants the Ākhirah, let him abandon the glitters of this Dunya. Whomsoever has done all of these has truly been shy of Allāh in the right way”_
Al-Mubārakfūrī in Tuh’fatu Al-Ah’wadhī mentioned that what is meant by preserving the head and what it contains include preserving the intellect, the brain, the sense of perception, the eyes, the ears and the tongue as they are all contained in the head
And that protecting the stomach and all that surrounds it entails protecting the stomach from consuming what is Harām and what is doubtful, protecting the private organs (the genitals), the hands and the legs too as they are all organs connected with the stomach
Thus this Hadīth encompasses the preservation of the limbs in their entirety
May Allāh count us among His True Servants, Āmīn
We shall continue from here next week inshā Allāh
Bārakallāhu Fīkum
Jazakumullāhu Khayran