Deadly Sin of Harming the Innocent
| Khatib : | Sadullah Khan |
| Khutbah No: | 267 |
| Khutbah Date: | 03/14/08 |
Allah instructs us … Heed not the type of despicable person,
وَلَا تُطِعْ كُلَّ حَلَّافٍ مَّهِينٍ هَمَّازٍ مَّشَّاء بِنَمِيمٍ مَنَّاعٍ لِّلْخَيْرِ مُعْتَدٍ أَثِيمٍ
always ready with oaths; a slanderer, going about defaming others; hindering good efforts, transgressing beyond bounds, deep in sin.[Q 68: 11 -13]
Human beings err and among our errors is disobedience to Allah. These often manifest as wrongs against our own selves, against the obligations we owe to the Creator and most often the duties we owe to creation, more particularly the responsibilities we have as human beings towards human beings. There is a Prophetic tradition that captures the reality that all human beings err كل ابنى آدم خطاء and he went on to add the redeeming fact that the best of those who err are those who repent.
Among the wrongs we commit is the notion of the kabā’ir /major sins and one of the classical Islamic scholars, Imam adh-Dhahabi has compiled a book listing the major sins in his Kitāb al-Kabā‘ir. Among these major sins are two which are linked to headlines this week…
Killing of Archbishop
The Chaldean Catholic Archbishop of Mosul (Iraq), Paulos Faraj Rahho was kidnapped on Feb. 29. and yesteday, his dead body was recovered. We do not know who was behind the killing of the Archbishop but the assumption by the media is that there was a religious motive by some Muslims to have him eliminated. Whatever the truth may be; the killing of a religious leader and any attack on a place of worship is completely contrary to the fundamental teachings of Islam. I wish to highlight two Qur’anic directives here:
1.The taking of any innocent life is considered as the killing of the entire humanity [Q 5:32] and you can’t get many sins more major than that.
2. Worshippers and places of worship should be protected. [Q 22:40]
Detention of the Doctor
JURIST Guest Columnist Peter Erlinder of William Mitchell College of Law,
attorney on appeal for Dr. Sami Al Arian, says that
the treatment accorded the acquitted but still detained academic Palestinian
activist from Tampa - now on hunger strike and in danger of irreversible renal
failure at a federal prison hospital - is abuse of power amounting to torture
taking place in the United States itself under the aegis of the Bush
Administration and its "war on terror"...
In December 2005, a Tampa jury acquitted Dr. Al Arian of “terrorism” charges.
After hearing 6 months of evidence, including 80 witnesses; hundreds of hours of FISA wiretaps culled from 425,000 conversations recorded over 10 years; testimony of Israeli intelligence agents; heart-wrenching testimony of Israeli suicide bombing victims; graphic video of suffering bombing victims; and more than $50 million in taxpayer money being thrown at the case, the jury refused to find any of the defendants guilty of anything! Two years later he is still in prison, and today in the 12th day of a hunger-strike because the administration refuses to honor a May 2006 promise to release and deport him. Unless he receives proper medical care within days, he risks irreversible renal failure and. His incarceration is a politically-motivated assault which is against the constitution and the very rule of law. Dr Sami al-Arian must be released!.
Law enforcement agencies exist to protect citizens rather than harass or discriminate against them
I wish to highlight two Qur’anic directives here:
- Condemnation of those in authority who mistreat people [Q42:42]
- as well as the injustice that accompanies it [Q 14:42-43]
These falls under the category of two major sins titled as البَغِي / mistreatment of people, as wellas غشُّ الامام الرَّعِيَّة و ظلمُهُ لهُم /misuse of political power by denying the rights of those under your authority.
Shame of Suspicion - another Sin
Islam seeks to establish its society on a clear conscience and mutual trust,
not on doubt, suspicion, accusation, and mistrust. Hence the Qur’an mentions …
يَا
أَيُّهَا
الَّذِينَ
آمَنُوا
اجْتَنِبُوا
كَثِيرًا
مِّنَ الظَّنِّ
إِنَّ بَعْضَ
الظَّنِّ
إِثْمٌ
O you who believe! Avoid(indulging
in) suspicion as much (as possible): for suspicion in some cases is a sin. [Qur’an 49:12]
Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) advised us …
إياكم
والظن فإن
الظن أكذب الحديث
Be careful of suspicion for suspicion
could be the worst lie.
Given the basic assumption that people are innocent, mere suspicion should not be allowed to cause an innocent person to be accused. We should realize that the moment there is suspicion about a person's motives, virtually everything that person does becomes tainted. All seems infected that the infected spy, as everything looks yellow to the jaundiced eye. Wise ones have said, Suspicion is far more to be wrong than right; more often unjust than just. It is no friend to virtue, and always an enemy to freedom, justice and happiness.
Believers’
Duty
We must constantly remind
ourselves that Muslims must care for others because “You are the best nation
set up for humanity" qualified by "[because] you enjoin that
which is good, you forbid that which is evil, and you believe in God” [Q3:110] . Whether it be the killing of the Archbishop in
Iraq or the detention of a doctor in America; Muslims must care because that is
their mission on earth. Both the Qur'an and hadith literature abound with statements stressing the utmost importance of caring for
others. When Surah ad-Duha (chapter 93) was revealed: during the Makkan period, when the Muslims were under siege and their lives and livelihoods were
in constant danger because of their faith; yet God instructs the Prophet
Muhammad (pbuh) and (by implication) the rest of the
Muslim community to "treat not the orphan with harshness, nor repulse
the petitioner (unheard).” It was the Muslims themselves who needed help
and support, yet still, God reminded them to help those in need.
As people of Faith, we have the duty of commanding good and forbidding
evil. We thus engage ourselves, as social beings, in improving ourselves and
working towards being instruments in improving the world we live in. We must be behind whatever "good" and stand
against whatever evil/injustice. If we fail to "enjoin what is good and forbid
what is evil," then how could we qualify to meet the Qur‘anic standard for being [Q3:110] the “best
community set up for humanity.”