Only God Can Judge Me

Only God Can Judge Me






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Introduction:
We have heard the phrase,"Only God Can Judge Me" predominantly in  Facebook & Twitter . And, there is a lot of misconceptions about it. Another, common phrase  that people like to use "Don't judge me, just because I sin differently than you ". 

SubhanAllah, it is ironic ,when you are actually saying this. It is because, now you are judging them too. The other party might not be judging you but just advising you sincerely because they care & love you. Or,they simply enjoining the good and forbidding the evil. And, we know that Allah(swt) has commanded us to do good deeds and forbid evil as we are the best of the nation. Allah (swt) put this Ayat even before mentioning about Eeman. 

So why is it so?

And let there be [arising] from you a nation inviting to [all that is] good, enjoining what is right and forbidding what is wrong, and those will be the successful. [3:104]

The nations before us, they will take right & wrong but they will only apply to themselves. And, they do not encourage others to do good things and forbid evil.This is the trait of the previous nations.
Secondly, it is a part of our Faith & Eeman . If we don't enjoin good and forbid evil , we are not completing our Deen/Eeman. Lastly, just imagine that if we do not enjoin good and forbid evil, 
our society will be chaotic,  due to a lot of murders and other crimes. It is because as the one who did the crime  might say "who are you to judge me & only God can judge me"
So, whom to start with?
The first one that we are responsible to enjoin good and forbid evil is actually OURSELVES.
Most of us give excuse to not listen to people advises because we might think they are rude, or they are not delivering it properly. But, scholars have said even if the message is not delivered to you properly, look at the message alone and don't discount it. 

There are two main reasons on why you do not want to listen to people advises:
1)It is because you don't like their delivery of the message
2)Or, you don't like the person who is advising you.

Do take note that, Allah(swt) will ask us about our actions after we have heard the advises from the people. Hence, we should always analyze on what the people are advising us. Omar Ibn Al Khattab (RA) used to thank Allah when people are advising him. And, he will be very happy when people are advising him
But ,there is another part of coin:
In Islam, we do have etiquette to put ourselves in the position to advise others.

1)Your intentions should be clear and it should only be for Allah(swt) only:

-There are some brothers/sisters will like to advise just to attract attention. This can be seen predominantly in social networking sites. they will not do anything for Deen except to criticize others as they say it is easy to be critic. 

-Anyways, before you advise others, ask yourself this question for whom you are doing it , is it solely for the sake of Allah or for other things. The key point here is to check your intentions. 
-Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) used to care about others and that is his reason on why he enjoined good and forbid evil . There is even a testimony from Allah for his intention.

Then perhaps you would kill yourself through grief over them, [O Muhammad], if they do not believe in this message, [and] out of sorrow. [18:6]

 Allah is saying that you might even die because they are not accepting the message, this is how Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) truly care about others to the one whom he is making Dawah too. So, when we are making DAWAH , we should have those traits too.

2) Make advise privately:
-In Facebook , we can see that people are not advising privately. Instead, they will put the advise somewhere where the whole world can see it. And, this might not let the person to listen to what advise that you saying. You might want to give various reasons that by doing so, you are actually care about the person etc. However, if you truly want goodness for this individual,you will say to them privately. 
-The default for making Dawah is that you want to conceal the sins of your fellow Muslims and thus, they will understand that you are caring about the him/her. And,we all know in a Hadith that Allah(swt) will conceal the faults of the ones who conceal the faults of his brothers/sisters.The scary part of this Hadith is that each and everyone on of us have faults even if you are best scholar etc. So, we should make an effort to conceal the faults of others.

-Another scary hadith: One who goes to expose the faults of others, Allah will expose the faults of this person. And, this person will be ruined. 
-Let's be honest, when we are criticizing others,  we won't look at our own issues, the status of our souls etc.

Fatwa Hammer:

Have you heard that people just smash the people whom they are advising with fatwas . And , people in the past used to be very careful when they talk about Islam, they will think about themselves in the position between Jannah & Jahannam. 
-Imaam Bukhari , in his chapter have the title which is  Knowledge precedes speech & actions. So, you should have knowledge before you say it to others.
Some people when they give advises  they will say that I heard my sheikh said "This.."etc.But, we would have never researched more about. There is always a possibility of the Hadith being weak.

Personal Story:
Fiqh of chilling: some people have misconceptions about it . But you will never know about it until you have attended the seminar. 

Assumptions:
*Don't make ASSUMPTIONS before you are making Dawah. And, this is especially hard now , as we are  are hearing a lot things that's are not even proven truth in social media.So as a Muslim, who possess good moral value, we should check the facts. Then,make reasonable judgement. And, then talk to them personally. 

#Prophet Muhammed(PBUH) gave three levels when we are forbidding evil and enjoining good:
(1st level)You should either stop it with your hand, if not able to do
(2nd level) Do it with your tongue, if not able to do
(3rd level) Do it with your heart. 
*PS: Some people have misconception that the ability here is referring to physically disabled person. However, that is not only view that we should see the Hadith. The scholars in the past have also interperted ,the "ability" which mentioned in this Hadith means weighing goodness and evil while we are making Dawah. For example, a person should think whether his advise will produce more goodness or more evil, and then from there , he should evaluate which is the best level. 

Conclusion:

Allah(SWT) will question you on what you do with the message even if you don't like the person or you don't like the way the person advised you. Don't discount the message just because of the messenger or the way it delivered to you rather evaluate the message. 

Yes, its part of our Eeman. And, at the same time we should also understand the rulings and apply it.


So, we should strike a balance here while making Dawah.


And, Allah(swt) knows best.

Notes are taken from Sheikh Saad Tasleem lecture. If, there is any shortcomings on the articles,it is based on our shortcomings and Shaytaan and NOT ON THE SPEAKER. If, you have benefited from this articles, please pray for us and #SHARETHEKHAYR.