42128974 Brotherhood by Habib Ali

7/31/2019 42128974 Brotherhood by Habib Ali

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By Habib Ali al-JifriCopyright 2005, Guidance Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved


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The following was taken from a

lecture given by Habib Ali al-

Jifri in the blessed city of

Tarim in the majestic valley of

Hadramauwt, Yemen. Habib

Ali gave commentary on the

book The means of arrival to

the characteristics of the

Messenger (SS), by Imam

Yusuf al-Nabahani. He

expanded the topic to

encompass brotherhood and

dawah and said the following:

You can extract an important

principle of dawah from the

many names of the Prophet

(SS); which are, the essence of

dawahpraiseworthy

attributes.Without havingpraiseworthy attributes that

have been inherited from the

Prophet (SS), it is rare for a

person to have Allah (SW)

guide others by his hands.

Struggling to acquire and

inculcate these attributes into

our being is preparation for

the reality of the dawah that

must be given.From amongstthe most important of these

attributes is to love good for

others.Whoever is sincere anda true caller to Allah, and thelight of dawah becomes firm

in his heart, will want the

g r e a t e s t g o o d f o r

everyone. So how could itweigh heavy on ones heart for

people to receive blessings?

A sign that you have

begun to love good for others

is the manifestation of this

attribute in your relationship

with your brothers who are

near to you.If you see thatAllah (SW) singles out one of

your brothers with a particular

blessing, either worldly or

religious, it is incumbent that

you search deep into your

heart and find feelings of

sincere happiness for him.It isstated in a hadith, None of

you truly believes until he

loves for his brother that

which he loves for himself.Asign of this love is that you do

not become quickly angered if

your brother makes a mistake

while trying to do something

good.Rather than opposing orcriticizing him, you should

assist him in the rectification

of his mistake in a gentle

way.It is not easy to have thisattribute become firmly

planted in the heart, because

envy (hasad) is subtle, even

a m o n g y o u r

companions.However, bybeing sincere and turning toAllah Most High continuously,

this affair becomes easy.So, ifyou see that Allah (SW) has

blessed one of your brothers

w i t h u p r i g h t n e s s ,

e n l i g h t e n m e n t , o r


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righteousness, and it weighs

heavy on your heart, the cure

for this is to pray that Allah

increase him in what He has

given him.Say:O Allah, increase him!

O Allah, give him openings!

O Allah, give him Divine

success!

O Allah, guide others by means

of him!

The existence of the darkness

of envy in the soul is a sign ofnot loving good for others.IfAllah bestows a blessing upon

someone, you might say to

yourself, Masha-Allah,Allahhas blessed him with that.However, if he happens tomake the slightest mistake, you

become angered and say things

like, He doesnt know what he

i s do ing !He doesn tu n d e r s t a n d !H e s n o tbenefit ing people!Payattention to what you are

saying here. Which is greater,

the good he was doing, or the

mistake that he made?Another sign that the heart

does not desire good for othersis hastening to mention

peoples errors.This does notmean that you remain silent

about the mistakes.Rather, itis upon you to advise your

brother and strive to rectify

the fault, without diminishing

their honor.Your duty whenrectifying is to correct the

mistake, not to diminish the

stature of the one who made

the blunder.There is a bigdifference there is between the

two.From the subtle, evilaspects of the soul regarding

this, is the claim that your self

is perfect and the other is

deficient.Take for instance,when one says, I am more

knowledgeable than him.Howcould he be the one who doesthat?How could he have morestudents?Why are peoplepraising him?This is claimingthat the self is perfect.Orwhen one says, I have been

studying longer than him. I

have more sincerity than him, I. I. I.Do you know whosaid I? Pay attention! The

one who said, I, was Iblis.Iam better than him.Youcreated me of fire, while You

created him of mud.

(7:12)He (Iblis), laughs at youand makes you his student

when you say, I like he

did.You are students of theinheritors of the Prophet (SS),

not of Iblis.As for the other aspect of

seeking deficiencies in your

brother, when you say things

like, He does not know.Hedoesnt understand.He made


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a mistake in that.He didntorganize this, etc. What is

your intention in saying these

things? If your intention is to

try to rectify his mistake, may

Allah bless you because loving

good for people necessitates

this .However, if yourintention when he makes a

mistake is that you dont want

him to do something good,

sacrifice, or work hard look

into your hearts.Do you wantto stop a good action from

being done? Pay attention towhat is going on.

Also, from among the signs of

not desiring good for others, is

your desire to disassociate

yourself from your brother

and not advise him when you

know he made a mistake. Youmight avoid speaking against,

criticizing, or belittling him,

but then say things like, I

dont want to have anything to

do with the affair.Leave it toh i m . L e t h i m m a k emistakes.People will see laterthat he is wrong.This is yourintention? For your brotherto be exposed?You know thathe is wrong, yet you just leavehim? It is your duty to give

him advice.It is your duty toinform him. It is your duty to

give him a hand.It is yourduty to pray for him

secretly.It is your duty to tell

someone who will be able to

advise him if you are unable

to.However, to see yourbrother make a mistake, and

not say anything to him about

it, is treachery.This attributeshould never be in religious

people.Do not wait toimplement this attribute.Thisis a principle of dawah that

must be implemented

now.Mutual concern for oneother, giving advice to one

another, desiring good for one

another, hastening to serveone another, these are all signs

that you are sincere.And ifyou are sincere, and

implement these attributes,

Allah will benefit others

through you.

People from the western

countries come from societies

that Allah has given a type of

worldly advancement.Fromthis advancement is the

attribute of seriousness

regarding worldly affairs that

causes one to constantly work

hard.If this attribute becomessepara ted f rom your

connection with Allah Most

High, it leads to a blameworthyattribute in the soul

(selfishness) and not being

concerned with others.Wemust take the good aspects of

these societies, such as

seriousness and hard work,


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and connect them to a divine

meaning one that entails

directing them towards the

next life, not towards this

w o r ld .T he f r u i t o f implement ing th i s i s

del iverance from the

blameworthy aspect of the

self.Each one of you must feelthat all of your brothers

around you are a sacred trust

upon you.You must think ofways to help them in everyway

you can. In adapting theseattributes of seriousness andhard work, the difference

between a Muslim and a non-

Muslim is that his seriousness

and hard work is for the sake

of Allah Most High, not for the

life of this world.By focusingon this, you will be rid of

selfishness and actualize the

saying of the Prophet (SS) that,

None of you truly believes

until he loves for his brother

that which he loves for

himself.Seek this affair (of true

brotherhood) by taking five

steps of action. The first stepof action is to have a daily

litany (wird) of supplication(dua) for your brothers.Habib Umar has a specific

(dua) one can make for his

brothers, which is titled, The

Prayer of Brotherhood.[Thistranslated dua can be found on page #]

Seek closeness to Allah Most

High by supplicating for your

brothers.This is the first stepof action.The second step of action is to

devote a certain time of the

day to serving your brothers,

outside of your classes, study

t i m e , a n d o t h e r

obligations.Dont think thatby devoting a short time to the

service of your brothers will

hinder your daily routine.

Rather, it will be a means foropenings, and will benefit you

by giving you experience in

service (Khidma).

The third step of action is to

not sleep at night with

something in your heart

against your Muslim brother;

regardless of what happened,

or whether you were right or

wrong. If you are unable to

rid your heart of it, go and

speak to the person, but with

love and sincerity.Say:I feelin my heart such and such

towards you.Maybe I amwrong, but help me rid my

heart of this.The one who iscontent to sleep whileharboring something in his

heart against his Muslim

brother is treacherous.If youare unable to rid your heart of

it, unable to speak to him, or

find it hard for him to accept


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your approaching him, then go

to a third person.Go to anunderstanding, trustworthy

person that you rely on, and

tell him that you are unable to

rid yourself of what you have

in your heart against

brother.Ask that person:How do I get rid of what is inmy heart? This animosity

towards your brother is filth;

dont be content to sleep at

night with filth in your

heart.This is extremelyimportant.The fourth step of action is to

avoid speaking against any of

your brothers.Dont sayanything that your brother

would dislike if he were to

become aware of what you

said.You may only speak tothe extent that is needed to

rectify a wrong and give

advice.You must address himfirst, if you are unable to, a

third person that you know

could benefit the situation by

influencing him, or speaking to

him. But to let your tongue

loose and talk negatively about

him saying things like, So and

so did this.So and so doesntknow.So and so made amistake.So and so just wantsthis for himself.So and so justwants to be known.Whatdoes saying these things really

mean?This is backbiting

(ghibah), and completely

impermissible.

How could this be an action of

one who is preparing himself

to be from the elect of the

Ummah by seeking knowledge

and giving service to the Din?You can speak to the extentthat is necessary to rectify the

mistake, but it is not

permissible to criticize or

dishonor your brother.If youare able to gently allude to

your brothers imperfection

(Aib) to rectify the situation, itis better than speaking to him

directly. If you are able to

simply move your lips to

inform the person, it is better

than raising your voice so that

others can hear.If you canspeak directly to him, it is not

permissible to speak to another

about it.. If there is one person

that can help rectify the

mistake, then it is not

permissible to speak to two.Iftwo people can rectify the

mistake, then you cant speak

to three.You must speak tothe minimal amount of people

needed to rectify the

mistake.This mistake isconsidered to be from thenakedness (awrah) of your

brother so you should strive to

veil the mistake and not expose

it.If someone was sitting, and,unintentionally, part of his

nakedness became uncovered,


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and you happen to see this,

then you should inform

him.If he is far and you areunable to speak to him, dont

tell a person to your right or

left, or who is in front or back

of you, only tell the person

who is closest to him so that he

can tell him.When the persontells him, he will cover his

nakedness and say, May Allah

reward you. But if you were to

see the nakedness of someone

exposed, and then say to the

one next to you, Look!Hisnakedness is exposed.Andthen he says to the person next

to him, Look!his nakedness isexposed.And then he says tothe one next to him, Look!hisnakedness is exposed. Did

you rectify the situation or

humiliate your brother?Is thisan affair of our Din?Thespiritual nakedness is more

severe than the physical

nakedness regarding your

brothers honor.The fifth step of action is to

distinguish between judging

something that is from the

unseen and something that

you clearly see.There is adifference between actuallyseeing a mistake of your

Muslim brother and thinking

that your Muslim brother had

a bad intention.

For instance, one of your

brothers wears a big turban,

robe, shawl, and carries prayer

beads, and if someone wants to

kiss his hand, he sticks it out

for them to kiss.Yes, this typeof action is blameworthy.Theappropriate etiquette, as we

have seen from our teachers,

even the elderly of them, is

that if someone kisses their

hand, they also try to kiss their

hand.So to advise yourbrother regarding this is

acceptable because it wassomething you clearly

saw.But to say things like, Soand so is just showing off!Soand so just wants to be known

by people!Amazing!This isan intention that is in the

heart, so how did you see it?Itis impermissible to judge

something that is from the

unseen with a bad opinion (su

a l -dhann) .Maybe yourb r o t h e r b e c a m e

heedless.Maybe he wasnegligent.Maybe he didntpay attention. In terms of hisintentions, have the best of

opinions regarding them, even

w he n he ma k e s a

mistake.And, at the sametime, dont leave themistake.Rather, give sincereadvice and try to rectify the

situation.Another example, for instance,


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if one of your brothers is given

success (Tawfiq) by Allah to

open a school and build a

mosque, but he wants to do all

of the arrangements and the

activities himself.He doesntwant his brothers to take any

part.He wants to arrange themosque.He wants to arrangethe classes.He wants toarrange the Dawah activities.Him. Him. Him.This is amistake because he is unable

to do everything by

himself.He must consult hisbrothers and include them in

the work.However, we dontsay, So and so is selfish, he

only loves himself,so and sowants to be known by others.

The first problem is with you

not with him!Cure the filththat is in you!How could it beheavy on your heart for Allah

to bring about something good

on the hands of your

brother?What if someone toldhim, Your brother is saying

that you are selfish and that

you only want good for

yourself?Then, he says, Andhe is envious!He also doesntwant good for me!Each oneof them is judging the otherabout something that is from

the unseen.Does this establishanything?Dawah is notestablished this way.

The proper way to deal with

this situation is to offer your

service to your brother.Youshould tell him, I want to

serve you.What do you wantme to do?Do you want me tosweep the mosque?Do youwant me to clean the

bathrooms?Brother, you aredoing something good, and I

want to serve along with you in

this good.Dont tell him,You must take my

opinion!You must consultme!Dont do everything byyourself!By saying commentsof this sort, you are proving

that your desire to give service

is for the sake of yourself, not

for the sake of Allah.At thesame time, you dont say, He

didnt consult me so I am not

going to help him.He canwork alone.I dont want tohave anything to do with

it.What is this?Is this hisdawah or yours, or is it the

dawah of the Prophet

Muhammad bin Abdullah

(SS)?Wanting to give your opinion,

even with a good intention,

desiring good for your brother,is not praiseworthy in its

essence.Loving to serve iswhat is praiseworthy. There is

a difference between loving to

serve and wanting to give your

o p i n i o n , a b i g


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difference.Habib Umar oncesaid, Anyone who serves the

Din in any way, in the east or

the west, it is incumbent upon

us to serve him to the extent

that we are able.We dontsay, This is my school.This ismy way (Tariqah).This is myinstitution.This is myorganization.This is ours, andthat is theirs.As long as it isa part of the Din, done with

the correct understanding and

methodology, it is incumbent

to serve them.They arebuilding a foundation of the

Din, which is in reality, one

foundation.If someone isconstructing something and

you tell him that you want to

help, but he tells you, I dont

need you.You dont know howto build.Dont leave.Say toyourself, If he doesnt want

me to build, then I will help

him by preparing what he

needs so that he can build.Ifhe says to you, You dont

know how to mix cement

properly.You say to him,Okay, I will bring you the

cement and pour water on top

of it and then you mix it.I justwant to serve. But, if he saysto you, You dont know the

correct measurements of the

cement and the water. You

say, Fine.I will bring thecement and the water and you

m a k e t h e c o r r e c t

measurements.If he says toyou, You dont know how to

carry the cement, you will ruin

it (he is being stubborn and

just doesnt want you to

help).You say, Okay.I willclean the car that carries the

cement.If he says to you,You dont understand

anything!You are not able todo anything!You cant help!Remain quiet and leave him

until he goes inside his room

and takes his shoes off, and

then clean his shoes for himwith the intention that these

are shoes that became dusty

from serving the Din.How can we attain these

a t t r ibu te s tha t were

mentioned?How can itbecome a reality within us?First, by realizing that we arecompletely poor and in need to

serve the Din and the Din does

not need us.We should fear tomeet Allah without having

served His Din.Second, byrealizing that we dont deserve

to serve the Din, rather, we

should hope that by the grace

of Allah, He will honor us to be

from among those who servethe Din.If this becomes firmlyimplanted in your heart, Allah

will use you for the service of

His Din.But, if you believethat the service of the Din is in

need of you, and say things


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like, Leave them! They will

eventually know who I

am.They dont know how todo anything.They will try, butfail, and then come running to

me.I am the one who knowshow to do it.Does Allah needyou?Are you crazy?!Youbelieve that Allah needs

you?!The Din needs you?!Orto say, They didnt give me a

good position.I deserve ahigher position than that

which they gave me.What doyou deserve?!Or if you say, Ihave this and this.What doyou really have?! Were Allah

to expose your smallest sin, no

one would even greet you.So,we must be humble and

broken before Allah and

annihilate ourselves in the love

of service.One scholar recently took a

dawah trip and was scheduled

to give a talk at a certain

university.The people of thisuniversity had certain views

that differed from the views of

the scholar who was going to

give the lecture.When theyfound out about the ideologies

of the scheduled speaker, theycancelled the lecture.Afterthis, the students of the

scholar were upset and

complained about what

happened.But the scholarsaid, Lets go visit them.The

students then said, But they

cancelled the lecture?And tothis the scholar said, We are

not going for the lecture.Weare going to visit them for the

sake o f A l lah Most

High.When he went, theadministration was surprised

to see the scholar and told

him, Were sorry.Ourstudents have exams.We areunable to have the

lecture.But, the scholar said,I didnt come for the

lecture.I came to visit you forthe sake of Allah.Theadministration gathered with

the teachers and they all sat

together, and welcomed the

scholar, and eventually forced

him to speak.He spoke a light,gentle speech, without showing

any anger, and then when he

was leaving, the administration

walked with him and asked his

forgiveness for all happened.This is the correct way(minhaj), may Allah bless

you.May Allah give all of usopenings and prepare us to

implement these meanings and

place these principles firmly in

our hearts and make us from

the elect that adopt them andunto the presence of the

Prophet (SS). [Al-Fatiha]


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There are five steps to follow when setting out on the path of

achieving true brotherhood in the service of the Din.

1. The first step of action is to have a daily litany (wird) ofsupplication (dua) for your brothers.

2. The second step of action is to devote a certain time of the dayto serving your brothers, outside of your classes, study time,

and other obligations.3. The third step of action is to not sleep at night with something

in your heart against your Muslim brother; regardless of what

happened, whether you were right or wrong.

4. The fourth step of action is to avoid speaking against any ofyour brothers.

5. The fifth step of action is to distinguish between judgingsomething that is from the unseen and something that you

clearly see.

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42128974 Brotherhood by Habib Ali