Aʿqal

Bismi Llāhi r-Raḥmāni r-Raḥīm

Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam is making the ummah to wake up, to be careful, to not be cheated. Our Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam says, “لاَ يُلْدَغُ الْمُؤْمِنُ مِنْ جُحْرٍ مَرَّتَيْنِ‏”, “Lā yuldaghu al-mu’minu min juḥrin marratayn”, “The believer is not stung from the same hole twice.” Meaning the mu’min, believer cannot be bitten by a snake from the same hole twice. Of course, in old times there were many snakes. If someone was bitten from one hole on earth, he would be careful. But this means from everything, not only snakes.

We cannot find a snake to bite us now. But there’s what’s more dangerous than snakes. There is shayāṭīn, evil ones. They are trying to take everything from you: money, land and many things. For this, be awake, Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam is saying. And look after yourself. What you have, you must keep it because it is a gift from Allāh ﷻ; especially īmān. Don’t leave it for people who cheat you and take your īmān. You must be awake. Don’t be cheated. Many people say, “We were looking here, hearing and from this and that. After that, we left the right way and went to many different ways. But there’s no benefit. They are only teaching the bad thing.”

And you must be careful. As Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam was also saying to one Bedouin who came to the mosque of Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam. He left his camel outside the mosque. He prayed and went out looking for his camel so that he rides it camel and goes. He didn’t find it. He was looking here and there. And he was complaining to Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam “My camel! I just left it here and now it disappeared.” Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam asked him, “When you put it here, did you tie it?” “No, I came here to a holy place. I thought it will stay here and not go anywhere.”

For this, Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam said to him, “اعْقِلْ وَتَوَكَّلْ”, “Aʿqil wa Tawakkal”, “Tie it, then rely upon Allāh ﷻ.” First, make sure – Aʿqil means tie it. “Aʿqil wa tawakkal”. After this, depend on Allāh ﷻ. If you tie it and they took it and left, you have the right to complain. But now, you didn’t do what must be done and you are complaining; this is your fault. But also, from the mercy of Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam, this Bedouin found his camel later. Many people don’t know the end of the story; what happened. They only say that he lost his camel. But that is also [important]. Everything in Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam’s life is a big lesson for us. And especially this word of Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam, Aʿqil. “Aʿqil wa Tawakkal”. Aʿqil means tie. And it also means to you use your brain, use your mind, use your wisdom. It comes from Aql which means brain.

So, you must be using your brain. Allāh ﷻ did not create it only to eat and live. Animals also can do so but they don’t have the will to do what must be done, and not to do what mustn’t be done. Only a little bit – Allāh ﷻ has given them a brain to eat, drink and to be aware of what’s dangerous. Allāh ﷻ gave them this. But for human beings, Allāh ﷻ has given them a brain to look after themselves and after their families.

Many people now also are cheated by people every time. People cheat them saying, “I will make this. We will make that.” After that, they cheat them and take their money, and they are not doing anything. This also is their responsibility. Who has this thing, must look if it is good or not good. Because Allāh ﷻ also gave you a ni’mah, favor from Allāh ﷻ. He ﷻ gave you this, so you must be careful. Don’t make cheaters, crooked people take your money. When you do this, if you are clever, you will not give this money for crooked ones. And it will be good for this crooked one before you: for him not to make ḥarām, eat ḥarām and feed his family and children with ḥarām. After that, when they eat ḥarām, they will be bad people. And you will be a little bit responsible also because you gave them this money and they ate ḥarām.

This is very important. Awliyā’u Llāh and ṣaḥābah were not eating ḥarām at all. Especially Imām ‘A’ẓam Sayyidinā Abu Ḥanīfah. He was never going to an invitation. When people invited him, he was never going to eat outside or anywhere. Even the hadīyyah (gift) also, he did not accept it at all. They were like this. Many people were swearing, “We are not doing ḥarām. This is very ḥalāl, you must eat. Please eat from this.” Never; he never ate. Many awliyā’u Llāh, many ulamā’ were very careful to not put one piece in their mouth because they don’t want to eat ḥarām. One of them was eating, and after that, he was vomiting. He said, “What is this? From where is this coming?” He thought it was from his house. They said, “Somebody sent this for you.” So even his body didn’t accept anything. This is very important for people to look for the good, clean thing to feed their children. If they are cheating people and they are happy with it, “Today, oh, we cheated one idiot. We took a thousand pounds and he didn’t know.” And they brought kebab, brought burger, brought many things to their house. But this is not food, this is poison that you feed your family. Anybody likes to bring poison to feed their children? Not poison, but even old food, they do not give to their children.

For this, from the beginning of the ṣuḥbah we said, Aʿqal. Be clever. Use your brain. Not everything you get is benefit for you. Many things are poison for you, that will kill you, that will harm you. This is Allāh’s ﷻ rule. Why is He ﷻ saying, “كُلُوا مِمَّا فِي الْأَرْضِ حَلَالًا طَيِّبًا”, ‘Kulu mimma fi l-Ardi Halalan Tayyiban’, ‘eat from whatever is on earth [that is] permissible and good.’ (Qur’ān 02:168). Eat ḥalāl and clean. This ḥalāl gives you power, gives you health, gives you happiness. Ḥarām gives the opposite. It gives you illness, gives you sadness, gives you every bad thing for you and your family. After this, you will regret and say, “What happened to these children, what happened to this family. My family are miserable. They are not good. We are wondering from where this is.” Don’t wonder. Just feed them good and you will be safe, in shā’a Llāh. There isn’t anything else. Of course, without knowing, Allāh ﷻ forgives us. But if you insist and you know that this ḥarām, be careful.

Be careful and give what you get even if without knowing all these people. Because we have another place where nothing is kept secret. Everything will be openly shown on the Day of Resurrection. And people will see what this man or woman had done. The angel will say to these people, “This man cheated you. He stole from you. He made badness to you.” “Oh, this man! I thought he is my friend. I thought he is a good man.” They say, “No, this is what he had done for you. So, you have the right to take from his good deeds.” So, they will give him. In this dunyā, when he is in this life, he can save himself by asking forgiveness from these people whom he cheated and made bad things for. If he left this for ākhirah, it will be a big problem for him. As we said, everything will be clear there.

And when they do something, as Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam is saying, there will come men with good deeds like mountains, big mountains coming with them to the scale. And after, as we said, somebody comes and they say, “Give this. You had done bad things to this man, to this woman. Give from your deeds.” Other coming, other coming; that coming, this coming. After that, all these good deeds, which are like a mountain, will be finished. They will be finished, but still, there are many people in queue, whom he cheated and took their money without them knowing. So, there are no good deeds left. What will happen? He’s bankrupt. Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam says, they say, “Take the bad deeds from these people whom he cheated and put them on him.” This becomes minus now. Other one, other one, other one; he will become full of sins. After this, they send him to take what he deserves. He thought he is a winner and he is happy. But in ākhirah, nothing goes without justice. Everybody takes their right. After that, this goes to that side, other goes to the other side.

For this, we are saying, be careful to not make these people suffer in ākhirah. This is more important than what you lose. If you want to be merciful to these people, don’t let them do what they like to, what their ego and shayṭān is ordering them. Shayṭān is only ordering them to take them to hell. But the Muslim must be merciful towards his Muslim brother. Give him naṣīḥah. If he doesn’t understand with naṣīḥah, warn people from him, “Be careful of this man. He is not a right one. He is harming himself first before others. So be careful. Don’t make him harm himself.”

In Istanbul, there is big bridge, the Bosphorus. People go there to jump down. So, you see the police and people coming, 100 people, 200 people blocking the streets causing traffic. Traffic becomes worse, very bad. What is this? There is one who wants to jump to kill himself, but people are trying to save him. This is what happens. So, we must be careful for these people to not harm themselves. Be careful. Because shayṭān now is teaching people to do this. And they are very “Cesur” (brave/daring), not afraid. These people are becoming, more and more, not afraid. So, you must not let them to harm you and harm themselves.

This is also from Islām’s order. When ḥarām is growing among society, the curse is coming on them also. For this, we must be careful. It is not, “We are Muslim, we are merciful. Ok, we can leave him,” No. You must tell people. Even when you tell, there are still many things happening. But Allāh ﷻ is seeing. Nothing can be a secret.

For this, Allāh ﷻ gives the mu’min light with his good, ḥalāl thing. But without it, there isn’t any light; coming darkness, coming badness. May Allāh ﷻ save us from these people. May Allāh ﷻ give hidayah (guidance) for people. Because belief is becoming less and less. People are making the ḥarām ḥalāl, and the ḥalāl ḥarām. Even those who are praying. This is also very important.

For inheritance, Allāh ﷻ is showing in the Qur’an what must be given when somebody dies. When one dies, you must give everybody his right. They say, “الْمَوْتُ حَقُّ و الْمِيرَاث حَلَال”, “Al-mawt ḥaqq wa l-meerath ḥalāl.” Death must happen for everyone, and inheritance is ḥalāl. So, this is also important. Not only the crooked people who cheat you. If some of you also have inheritance with your family, you must make it with justice. And when it finishes, everybody must say for the other, “Ok, I am happy.” You must only ask happiness for each other. And asking forgiveness, if anything is a little bit less or more to be barakah for them. If you are not doing this, it will be cursed and it will not be good.

Many times, with Mawlānā Shaykh, I saw many people asking what’s not a right for them. And Mawlānā was saying for them, “Look, you have your health. It is better than anything else.” Once the richest one in one country, Mawlānā told her many times, “Look.” She was complaining, “My father-in-law left his money to this woman, to that boy.” And they have, alhamduliLlah, good money, millions. Mawlānā Shaykh was saying, “Your health is more important.” And many times, I was a witness for this. She was complaining, complaining.

After one year, SubhanAllah, she had cancer. After 6 months, she passed away. And this is also a karāmāh of Mawlānā. She was, alhamduliLlah, rahmatuLlah ‘alayha, a very good lady. But when money was coming and she – This is because a man or a woman; anybody can give their inheritance to anyone in life. There’s no problem for this. Just or not just; it is ok, it’s not ḥarām. But after this, especially that they have a law, the Roman law: they can take it again from you. Any law, any inheritance, anything: they are not looking at it, they can take it. But when they take this, they take this from the people who own it. They steal it from them or take it by force. And this will not be good for you.

I saw many things with Mawlānā like this. Even Muslim mūrids, when it comes to money, to benefit themselves, they forget Allāh ﷻ, they forget sharī’ah, they forget Prophet ﷺ. They say, “Our country’s law doesn’t accept this. We can go to court. We can take it quickly.” This is not good. But another thing also. When people have inheritance but they do not give their brothers and sisters. This is also ḥarām. They take the right of these people, so it will be ḥarām also. What they eat will also be poison.

So may Allāh ﷻ make us, as we said from the beginning of the ṣuḥbah, “Aʿqal”, be clever. Don’t be stupid. Don’t be idiot. Who does this is an idiot. He is stupid. May Allāh ﷻ make us not be stupid, in shā’a Llāh. Wa min Allah at-Tawfiq.

• Mawlana Sheikh Muhammad Adil ar-Rabbani 

10 February 2025/ 11 Sha’ban 1446

Smethwick Jamia Masjid – Smethwick, UK