With the Hadith
The Disbeliever Is the One Whom the Sharia Declares a Disbeliever
We greet you all, dear friends, everywhere, in a new episode of your program "With the Hadith," and we begin with the best greeting, peace, mercy, and blessings of God be upon you.
On the authority of Ibn Umar, may God be pleased with them both, who said: The Messenger of God, may God bless him and grant him peace, said: "If a man says to his brother, 'O disbeliever,' then one of them is deserving of it. If it is as he said, then it is so; otherwise, it returns to him." (Agreed upon).
Dear listeners,
Indeed, the best of speech is the speech of God Almighty, and the best of guidance is the guidance of His Prophet Muhammad bin Abdullah, peace and blessings be upon him. To proceed:
This noble hadith guides us to how we should deal with one another and how we should judge others. The hadith begins: "If a man says to his brother," and the hadith mentions "his brother" to exclude the disbeliever who openly declares his disbelief and whom we know about... Therefore, we must be careful when we address one another, and think very carefully about what we describe others with.
The hadith mentions that whoever describes another as a disbeliever, if he is truthful in his description, then he is correct. But if his description does not match reality, then he has fallen into sin. Therefore, we must not rush to judge people before knowing the legal reality of the disbeliever, who the description of the disbeliever applies to, and whether the characteristic is verified in the person we are judging. We should not accuse people of disbelief right and left.
We must be very careful because disbelief is one of the actions of the hearts that cannot be known. So, if it is connected to an action or saying that the Sharia describes its doer as a disbeliever, then he is a disbeliever. Thus, we have regulated our judgment with the legal judgment and avoided falling into sin.
We ask God to protect our tongues from slips and keep them away from rushing to make judgments... Amen.
Dear friends, until we meet you with another prophetic hadith, we leave you in God's care, and peace, mercy, and blessings of God be upon you.
Written for the radio by: Dr. Maher Saleh