Verifying News and the Rooms of Society

Occasion: Transcription of an Isha khatira delivered on 20 March 2026 Source: A transcription of a video khatira by Dr. Ahmed Abouseif — Watch the original video on YouTube

Glory be to Allah, in the verses that were recited to us is a complete method for building a cohesive society. The first thing the reciter began to recite was the saying of Allah, the Exalted: ﴿يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا إِن جَاءَكُمْ فَاسِقٌ بِنَبَإٍ فَتَبَيَّنُوا أَن تُصِيبُوا قَوْمًا بِجَهَالَةٍ فَتُصْبِحُوا عَلَىٰ مَا فَعَلْتُمْ نَادِمِينَ﴾ (“O you who believe, if there comes to you a transgressor with news, investigate, lest you harm a people out of ignorance and become, over what you have done, regretful.”)^[1]. This verse awakens in us a set of human faculties, so focus with me for a moment.

Who Is the One Who “Comes”? And Who Is the Fāsiq?

The first thing we find is His saying: ﴿إِن جَاءَكُمْ﴾ (“if there comes to you”). One who comes comes from outside, even if he is one of the members of the society; but when he came with a strange matter he became as though a stranger to those who are in the same place, so the news he brought is strange.

﴿فَاسِقٌ﴾: we agreed before that the fāsiq need not be a fāsiq in his conduct, that is, morally deviant, but may be a fāsiq in his thought, in his way of thinking, his pattern of understanding matters and his ordering of priorities. For fisq in the linguistic definition is departing from the straight line, and the departure may be in thought.

And I, for example, have an excessive sensitivity; if someone speaks to me about a certain matter, such as asking me: how many rakʿas did you lead us in? I become agitated and upset, though by Allah I am a polite person, but this particular point is sensitive for me, do not touch it. Likewise one of them may become agitated if you speak with him about his father and mother, for example. So when the text came saying: ﴿إِن جَاءَكُمْ فَاسِقٌ﴾, there must be among us a knowledge of one another's natures, and an understanding of the psychological states of those who live together, so that we understand one another precisely. It is like rooms: every room is independent, with its own uses and internal components; the bedroom is not the sitting room, is not the kitchen and dining room, is not the guest room, and each has its own features, and none is fit to take the place of another; we will not go cook in the guest room while a guest is in it.

The point is that Allah says: ﴿يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا﴾, so He appeals to everyone with the word of faith: if there comes to you a fāsiq, with his brain, with his heart, with his feeling, ﴿بِنَبَإٍ﴾, and the nabaʾ in general is the urgent news that comes to you from people: new reports.

Tabayyun and Tathabbut: Two Stages

﴿فَتَبَيَّنُوا﴾, and we have a second reading: “fa-tathabbatū”. If you combine the two you see that there is an inner work that will happen within you: to analyze the data that reached your mind, and to analyze the speech: is it really plausible that such-and-such would issue from so-and-so or not?

Someone comes to me and says: By Allah, our brother so-and-so confused Sūrat al-Ḥujurāt with Sūrat Qāf. I say to him: or Sūrat al-Qamar, perhaps? No, so-and-so, may Allah preserve him, is safe from the like of this, and the two surahs do not get mixed up with each other, for the endings of their verses are distinct, and the matter is not in order, and it does not get confused for someone of his standing; so from the very start of the matter, before any talk, this talk is not sound. This is the stage of analyzing the data. Likewise a female relative comes and says to you: I saw your wife doing such-and-such. You say: This does not fit my wife's personality at all, she does not buy these things from such-and-such place. So we worked at first on the first stage: analyzing the data.

And the second matter, from the other reading: fa-tathabbatū. If the matter remains mixed and there is a possibility in it, then verification is the nearest road to reaching the truth: to ask the person concerned directly.

Who Is Described as Ignorant?

﴿أَن تُصِيبُوا قَوْمًا بِجَهَالَةٍ﴾: the ignorance here, from whom will it issue? From the doer who made the problem and about whom the news came? Or from the one who judged people without knowledge and verification? Imagine: the one described with ignorance is not the doer of the act, but the one who issued a quick reaction without confirming the talk with which the person was accused. You are the one accused of ignorance, because you did not take your time and be patient and go and look at the origin of the matters and where they went.

﴿فَتُصْبِحُوا عَلَىٰ مَا فَعَلْتُمْ نَادِمِينَ﴾: and fiʿl in the Qur'an, as we have said many times, differs from ʿamal and differs from ṣunʿ; the Qur'an says: they make (yaṣnaʿūn), and they do (yaʿmalūn), and they do (yafʿalūn). And fiʿl is the issuing of something from a person while he is unaware at the time it issues and unaware of its dimensions. As if I do something random; I am speaking now and I scratched my head; is this an ʿamal or a fiʿl? This is a fiʿl, something random with no premises and no results. So He says to me: ﴿عَلَىٰ مَا فَعَلْتُمْ﴾, I said: No, I did something great! He said: Rather, because if these huge things issue from you in this manner, you descend from your level to the level of children who do not realize what they make, or you sink to the level of one who does not realize what he does.

Why Does ﴿وَاعْلَمُوا أَنَّ فِيكُمْ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ﴾ Come at This Point?

Then comes a very strange place that I cannot fit together with the rest of the picture, and if I could leave it, it would be easier for me personally: ﴿وَاعْلَمُوا أَنَّ فِيكُمْ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ﴾ (“And know that among you is the Messenger of Allah.”)^[2]. What is the place of this sentence in this context? And after it: ﴿وَإِن طَائِفَتَانِ مِنَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ اقْتَتَلُوا فَأَصْلِحُوا بَيْنَهُمَا﴾ (“And if two groups of the believers fight each other, make settlement between them.”)^[3]. We are speaking about verifying and about harming a people out of ignorance, then we come to the two groups, so why did ﴿وَاعْلَمُوا أَنَّ فِيكُمْ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ﴾ come in the middle?

I imagine (and this is merely imagination, and Allah the Exalted knows best, and it is not an interpretation nor an indication of the verse) that it is the Messenger of Allah ﷺ to whom recourse may be had between us, and as though the verse warns me: beware of falling into this silly mistake, for among you is the Messenger of Allah. Imagine you are sitting with your brother, you have disagreed over an apartment in an inheritance, or a house in such-and-such place, or sums here and there, or so-and-so told you such-and-such; and you are both sitting before the Prophet ﷺ and he says: Tell me, men, what happened? By Allah, can you tell this empty talk before the Prophet?

A very amusing situation happened today; a little girl came in to me and I gave her an Eid gift, and I said to her: This is for you and your sister. And they have two boys, and I gave each boy half of what I gave each girl. And we laughed a great deal at the situation; the girl is happy because she took more than her brother, and she will go home to tease him. And our friend tells me that they taunt each other a great deal at home: this one took the long one and he took the short one. And we sat laughing, and I said to him: Stop, do not laugh. What are you doing? We are adults in our forties, fifties and sixties laughing at little children three years old! Look how small they are, and how their way of thinking is, how can you laugh at them? So imagine that the Lord of the worlds, glory be to Him, the Exalted, is looking upon our conduct while we quarrel over a piece of land or over nothing: this one paid me the house rent and that one did not. Imagine your size as you stand before Allah, Blessed and Exalted, and the angels bear witness against us while we do these petty silly things. So perhaps in His saying, the Exalted, ﴿وَاعْلَمُوا أَنَّ فِيكُمْ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ﴾ there is an expression of that, and Allah the Exalted knows best; and it is merely imagination, not interpretation.

And it is narrated concerning the Pond that some people are driven away from it, and it is said to the Prophet ﷺ: you do not know what they innovated after you.^[7] And here the speaker asks, reflecting: and what did they innovate? And he answers with what he sees: silliness, empty talk and children's play; they lost the great goal by comparing it with small things that are understood in their lives. What did they innovate? That they forgot his concern for which he ﷺ lived, my father and mother be his ransom, the blessings and peace of Allah be upon him.

When Believers Disagree

﴿لَوْ يُطِيعُكُمْ فِي كَثِيرٍ مِنَ الْأَمْرِ﴾ (“If he were to obey you in much of the matter”) ... ﴿وَلَٰكِنَّ اللَّهَ حَبَّبَ إِلَيْكُمُ﴾ (“But Allah has made beloved to you”)^[4], and this is the foundation of the bonds between believers. We said from the beginning: ﴿يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا﴾, so the foundation of the bonds is faith. So if we disagree and some discord and quarrel occurs, we leave the circle of referring our disputes to the Prophet ﷺ between us and him, peace be upon him, and we are before the Lord of the worlds directly, and that is a situation in which no one dares anything — exalted is Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, above any likening.

Then you see the verse: ﴿وَإِن طَائِفَتَانِ مِنَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ اقْتَتَلُوا﴾; so the matter can reach fighting while they are still believers, both of them. Why? Because the disagreement of hearts may lead to a kind of psychological conflict, and this may lead to a psychological campaign. That is why we do not suffer from differing psychologically or in temperament; differ with your friend as you wish. The only problem is that the work of da'wa stops because of this difference.

And there in Paradise He says: ﴿وَنَزَعْنَا مَا فِي صُدُورِهِمْ مِنْ غِلٍّ﴾ (“And We will remove whatever is in their breasts of resentment.”)^[5]. When does this happen? At their entering Paradise. Glory be to Allah, there was still resentment in them until the Day of Resurrection! Natural, for we are human beings carrying in our souls what we carry. So the clever, shrewd one is he who removes that from himself, does not prefer the world over the Hereafter, does not carry the concern of his own self more than he carries the concern of his da'wa which he carries in his heart and mind, and does not prefer his eagerness for his future over the eagerness of the Lord of the worlds for him.

My brothers, most of us think in this way: I want to make a “life's savings”, so that when I get a little older I find I have such-and-such and all these many things. The matter is simpler than this.

The Story of the Sick Neighbor

A brother tells the story of a man in a small apartment in Cairo, with his children in faraway places; each of them left and went his own way. He used to receive a pension, and he had to go to collect it, but he could not once, twice and three times, then his source of income was cut off and the world closed in on him. Sitting alone, ill, unable to move and finding no one to carry him. And the people in the big building may ask about one another, but they are busy.

So the Lord of the worlds, glory be to Him, the Exalted, decrees that the apartment next to his is lived in by a newlywed groom and bride, still at the beginning of their marriage, and the girl was still arranging the basics of the home, and found herself needing a little salt, so her husband said to her: Go to this neighbor next to us and knock on her door. She knocked, and heard from inside: Come in, the door is open. She entered and found him sitting, and she greeted him, and he said: Come, my daughter, sorry, take this thing. Then he asked her: Who is with you? And where is Auntie? She told him there is no one here.

From that day this man had a son and a daughter, these new neighbors; they carried him from that very day as though he had never had children before them, and as though Allah had provided him with them. They did not leave him until he died, they did not leave him for a moment of time. He ate the best food, drank the best drink, the best clothes came to him, he was warm in winter, and the world was calm for him in summer, and when they went out they took him with them gently: Take your time, Dad, and they came to say to him: Dad.

The point of this talk is that the One who preserves the lives of creation and the future of humanity is the Lord of Might, glory be to Him, the Exalted. You have seen owners of very great wealth, huge sums with big figures, wasted from their hands in a moment, and the owner sits on the dust as though he had never been anything. For honor is not in money and honor is not in children, but honor is in faith that dwells in hearts and settles in breasts. So who would sell his brother in creation for a trifle of this world?

What Stirs Up Grudges

Then our Lord, glory be to Him, presents to us after these verses the causes of grudges in souls and what stirs them: ﴿يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا لَا يَسْخَرْ قَوْمٌ مِّن قَوْمٍ﴾ (“O you who believe, let not a people ridicule another people”) ... and not women ridicule other women, ﴿اجْتَنِبُوا كَثِيرًا مِّنَ الظَّنِّ﴾ (“avoid much suspicion”) ... ﴿وَلَا تَجَسَّسُوا﴾ (“and do not spy”) ... ﴿وَلَا يَغْتَب بَّعْضُكُم﴾ (“and do not backbite one another”)^[6]. All this system of ethics is only to keep the rooms safe, with their doors, windows, furnishings, walls and so on.

So be upright, may Allah have mercy on you. I ask Allah for me and for you safety, wellbeing and good pleasure, and may you be well every year.

The Next Deal

Know that the one who profits in a deal preserves the capital in order to enter a deal after it; is this not business? So if we succeeded in the deal of Ramadan, let us be keen on the deals that come after it. And the first deal offered to us is the deal of the six days of Shawwāl, so be keen on it, seize this opportunity, and ask Allah, Blessed and Exalted, to bless us and you in this virtuous month.

--- ^[1]: Sūrat al-Ḥujurāt, verse 6. Editor's documentation: Both readings “fa-tabayyanū” and “fa-tathabbatū” are reported, and the speaker pointed to the second. ^[2]: Sūrat al-Ḥujurāt, verse 7. Editor's documentation: The completion of the verse is ﴿... لَوْ يُطِيعُكُمْ فِي كَثِيرٍ مِّنَ الْأَمْرِ لَعَنِتُّمْ وَلَٰكِنَّ اللَّهَ حَبَّبَ إِلَيْكُمُ الْإِيمَانَ ...﴾; in the transcript the wording is garbled (“la-ʿabadtum” is not correct), so I confined the body to what the speaker said. ^[3]: Sūrat al-Ḥujurāt, verse 9. ^[4]: Sūrat al-Ḥujurāt, verse 7. ^[5]: Editor's documentation: The meaning occurs in Sūrat al-Aʿrāf (43) and Sūrat al-Ḥijr (47). ^[6]: Sūrat al-Ḥujurāt, verses 11 and 12. Editor's documentation: The speaker mentioned the verses in summary, so I retained only what he mentioned of them. ^[7]: Editor's documentation: The ḥadīth of the driving away from the Pond is agreed upon, from the ḥadīth of Sahl ibn Saʿd, may Allah be pleased with him, and others, and in it: «إنك لا تدري ما أحدثوا بعدك» (“You do not know what they innovated after you”). Its context concerns those who altered, apostatized and introduced innovations in the religion. Taking “what they innovated” to mean the pettiness of quarrels is an effort of the speaker in the way of reflection and admonition, not an explanation of the ḥadīth. The transcript is garbled at this point, so the meaning was retained without quotation.