Khutba on Good Opinion

الحمد لله، الحمد لله الذي جعل بحسن الظن به النصرَ والرحمة، وجعل بحسن الظن بخلقه الألفة والمحبة، نحمده تعالى ونستعينه، ونشكره تعالى ونستغفره ونستغيثه، نعوذ بالله من شرور أنفسنا ومن سيئات أعمالنا، من يهد الله فهو المهتد ومن يضلل فلن تجد له وليا مرشدا، ونشهد أن لا إله إلا الله وحده لا شريك له، له الملك و له الحمد، يحيي ويميت، بيده الخير، وهو على كل شيء قدير،  ونشهد أن سيدنا و مولانا محمداً عبده ورسوله، وحبيبه وصفيه، بلغ الرسالة وأدى الأمانة ونصح الأمة، النبي الأمي الذي أرسله الله بالهدى والدين الحق، بشيرا ونذيرا بين يدي الساعة، صلى الله عليه وسلم وعلى آله وأصحابه ومن تبعهم بإحسان إلى يوم الدين.

أما بعد! فيا عباد الله اتقوا الله حق تقاته ولا تموتن إلا وأنتم مسلمون. يأيها الذين ءامنوا اتقوا الله وقولوا قولا سديدا يصلح لكم أعمالكم ويغفر لكم ذنوبكم. ومن يطع 

الله ورسوله فقد فاز فوزا عظيما. اتقوا الله فيما أمر وانتهوا عما نها عنه وزجر.

قال الله عز وجل في كتابه العزيز: قُلْ يَا عِبَادِيَ الَّذِينَ أَسْرَفُوا عَلَى أَنْفُسِهِمْ لَا تَقْنَطُوا مِنْ رَحْمَةِ اللَّهِ إِنَّ اللَّهَ يَغْفِرُ الذُّنُوبَ جَمِيعًا إِنَّهُ هُوَ الْغَفُورُ الرَّحِيمُ

Allah says in His mighty Book, the translation of which is, “Say: ‘My slaves, you who have transgressed against yourselves, do not despair of the mercy of Allah. Truly Allah forgives all wrong actions. He is the Ever-Forgiving, the Most Merciful.’”
Today, unfortunately, great swathes of the Muslim umma have forgotten one of the most important principles of the Deen of Allah. They have taken to viewing themselves as victims and the oppressed and have lost hope in their Lord. They have ceased to have a good opinion of Him and by ceasing to have a good opinion of Him, they have placed themselves in the circumstances in which they find themselves. They have dug their own hole. Allah says in a hadith qudsi narrated by the Prophet, 

أنا عند ظن عبدي بي

“I am as My slave expects Me to be.” If your expectations of Allah are low and you do not think that He will answer you when you call on Him or that He will grant you victory and success, then you will remain downtrodden, victimised and oppressed. But if your expectations of Him are high, then He will raise you up. We must not be like the tribe of Israel who lost hope in the Mercy of their Lord when the armies of Pharaoh were almost upon them, saying, 

إِنَّا لَمُدْرَكُونَ

the translation of which is, ‘We shall surely be overtaken.’ Rather we must be like their Prophet Musa who replied,

كَلَّا إِنَّ مَعِيَ رَبِّي سَيَهْدِينِ

the translation of which is, “Never, my Lord is with me and He will guide me.” And as result of his absolute trust in and good opinion of his Lord, Allah split the sea in two and saved his people and drowned his enemies.
We must be like our own Prophet when he was hiding in the cave of Thawr and Quraysh had tracked him to the entrance of the cave and were standing mere metres away. Abu Bakr, his companion in the cave narrates the story,

قلت للنبي صلى الله عليه وسلم وأنا في الغار: لو أن أحدهم نظر تحت قدميه لأبصرنا، فقال: {ما ظنك يا أبا بكر باثنين الله ثالثهما}

“I said to the Prophet while we were in the cave, ‘If one of them were to but look down at what is below his feet, he would see us!’ He replied, ‘What is your opinion, Abu Bakr, of two when Allah is their third.’” He had absolute trust that Allah would veil them from the eyes of their enemies.
So having a good opinion of Allah means having absolute trust in Him that He will answer your duas when you call on Him, forgive you when you ask forgiveness of Him and grant you ease when you are in difficulty.
However, such good opinion of Allah does not develop in a vacuum – one cannot spend one’s life unrepentantly engaging in wrong action and disobeying one’s Lord and then expect His Mercy and acceptance. No, good opinion goes hand in hand with right action – without one the other is simply an empty lie. Allah says:

إِنَّ الَّذِينَ ءَامَنُواْ وَالَّذِينَ هَاجَرُواْ وَجَاهَدُواْ فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ أُوْلَئِكَ يَرجُونَ رَحمَتَ اللَّه

the translation of which is, “Those who believe and make hijra and do jihad in the Way of Allah can expect Allah’s mercy.” In other words, it is only those who believe AND act rightly who truly hope for the Mercy of Allah. Others are just lying to themselves. And the relationship between good opinion and right action is one hundred percent reciprocal – the more right actions a person does, the better his opinion of his Lord, and the better his opinion of his Lord, the more right actions he does. Abu Hurayra narrated that the Prophet said, 

حُسنُ الظن بالله مِن حُسنِ العبادة

“A good opinion of Allah comes from worshipping Him well.” And Hasan al-Basri said,

إن المؤمنَ أحسنَ الظنَّ بربه فأحسن العمل، وإن الفاجرَ أساءَ الظنَّ بربه فأساء العمل

“A believer has a good opinion of his Lord and as a result does good actions, while a degenerate has a bad opinion of his Lord and as a result does bad actions.” 
Muslims, to escape this vicious cycle of victimhood that has engulfed so many of us, we must stop relying on nations, governments or people and start relying on the One to whom all power and strength belongs. We must put our trust in the One who has promised us victory and whose promise is never broken. Allah says,

إِنَّا لَنَنْصُرُ رُسُلَنَا وَالَّذِينَ آَمَنُوا فِي الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا

the translation of which is, “We will grant victory to Our Messengers and those who believe in the life of this world.” And He says, 

إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَا يُخْلِفُ الْمِيعَادَ

the translation of which is, “Allah will not break His promise.” We must follow one of the final pieces of advice given to us by our Messenger, for he said three days before he died, as narrated by Jabir,

لا يموتَنَّ أحدُكم إلاَّ وهو يُحسنُ الظنَّ بربه، ويرجو رحمةَ الله

“Let no one among you die without having a good opinion of his Lord and without expecting the Mercy of Allah.”

أقول قولي هذا و أستغفر الله لي و لكم و لسائر المسلمين من كل ذنب فاستغفروه إنه هو الغفور الرَّحيم.الحمد لله الحمد لله رب العالمين، وأشهد أن لا إله إلا الله وحده لا شريك له وأشهد أن محمداً عبده ورسوله، صلى الله وسلم وبارك عليه وعلى آله وصحبه، والتابعين وتابعي التابعين ومن تبعهم بإحسان إلى يوم الدين.

أما بعد! فيأيها الذين ءامنوا اتقوا الله ما استطعتم واسمعوا وأطيعوا وأنفقوا خيرا لأنفسكم. يا عباد الله أوصيكم وإياي بتقوى الله وطاعته وأحذركم وإياي عن معصيته ومخالفته. 

As we mentioned in the first khutba, every Muslim must have a good opinion of his Lord. But, equally, he must also have a good opinion of his fellow Muslims, for good opinion is the glue that holds families and societies together. And that means that he must always assume the best of his brother, regardless of what he sees him do or hears him say, unless it is clearly a major wrong action. Umar ibn al-Khattab said,

لا تظنَنَّ بكلمةٍ خرجتْ من مسلمٍ شرا وأنت تجدُ لها في الخير محملا

“Do not think bad a word that comes out of a fellow Muslim’s mouth when you can find a way to interpret it favourably.”
And even if you see him doing something that is clearly bad, you should still look for excuses for him. Ibn Sirin said,

إذا بلغَكَ عن أخيك شيءٌ فالتمِسْ له عُذرا، فإن لم تجدْ فقل: لعلَّ له عُذرا لا أعرِفُه

“If you hear something about your brother, make some sort of excuse for him. If you are unable to find an excuse, then say to yourself, “Perhaps he has an excuse that I do not know about.” 
It is related that Abu Ishaq ash-Shirazi, the fourth-century Baghdadi shaykh, had a very valuable turban that he would wear, worth twenty dinars. One day, he took off the turban  to do wudu and while he was doing his wudu, a man came and stole it, leaving an old tattered turban in its place. When Abu Ishaq finished his wudu, he took the turban that he found and did not notice that it was different until one of his students asked him about it while he was teaching. So he replied, “Perhaps the one who took only did so because he was in need of it.”
We do not know what is in the hearts of other people nor the circumstances in which they find themselves, so automatically assume the best and not the worst. And, similarly, our own knowledge of what is right and what is wrong is severely limited – the deen is broad and not narrow. Just because you have never seen something done nor heard of it does not make it wrong. So, beware of disapproving of others simply because they do something differently to you, and always assume that what they are doing is right and correct unless you have definitive evidence to the contrary. And even if you do have definitive evidence that what someone is doing is wrong, you must only form a bad opinion of the action and not the man since, for all you know, that one wrong action you witnessed may be far outweighed in the eyes of Allah by many other good actions, and he may have a high station with his Lord. Indeed, the best way for a Muslim to go through life is to think that every other Muslim he meets is better than himself. It is narrated that Muawiya al-Aswad said,

إخوانِي كلُّهم خيرٌ مني، قيل وكيف ذلك؟ قال: كلُّهم يرى لي الفضلَ عليه ومَن فَضَّلَني على نفسه فهو خير مني

“Every single one of my brothers is better than me.” “How is that?” he was asked. “They all see me as being better than them,” he replied, “And anyone who thinks me better than him is himself better than me.”
Sometimes these negative thoughts about others come into your head unbidden. When that happens you should make dua that he be rewarded with good. For that is sure to anger Shaytan and will give him second thoughts about filling your head with bad opinion again.
Bad opinion swiftly destroys the social fabric of a community until all that is left is  division and mistrust, since it inevitably leads to snooping and spying and thence to backbiting and slander. Allah says,

يَاأَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اجْتَنِبُوا كَثِيرًا مِنْ الظَّنِّ إِنَّ بَعْضَ الظَّنِّ إِثْمٌ وَلَا تَجَسَّسُوا وَلَا يَغْتَبْ بَعْضُكُمْ بَعْضًا أَيُحِبُّ أَحَدُكُمْ أَنْ يَأْكُلَ لَحْمَ أَخِيهِ مَيْتًا فَكَرِهْتُمُوهُ

the translation of which is, “You who believe! avoid most suspicion (opinion). Indeed some suspicion is a crime. And do not spy and do not backbite one another. Would any of you like to eat his brother’s dead flesh? No, you would hate it.” It is by bad opinion that lies and slander are able to get a foothold in society and spread with the speed that they do. If Muslims were but to assume the best of their brethren then they would never accept any malicious rumours about them as being true. And this is confirmed by Allah when He talks about the slander of adultery that the hypocrites directed against Aisha and that was doing the rounds in Madina. Allah says in surat an-Nur,

لَوْلَا إِذْ سَمِعْتُمُوهُ ظَنَّ الْمُؤْمِنُونَ وَالْمُؤْمِنَاتُ بِأَنْفُسِهِمْ خَيْرًا وَقَالُوا هَذَا إِفْكٌ مُبِينٌ

the translation of which is, “Why, when you heard it, did you not, as believing men and women, think well of yourselves and say, ‘This is clearly a lie’.”
So, Muslims, have a good opinion of your brothers and sisters and always seek excuses for them. Speak well of them and never speak badly of them. And remember that what you see in them is a reflection of what is in yourself, so if all you see of your fellow Muslims is bad, then the fault lies in you and not others. You must be like the faqir who entered the mosque and gave salams to the Shaykh and his students who were sitting there. But despite the fact that it is obligatory to return the salam when it is given to you, they said nothing. The faqir, however, automatically assumed the best of them and the worst of himself, and began to weep asking them to forgive him whatever transgressions he had committed. That is husn adh-dhann.
We ask Allah to give us a good opinion of one another and a good opinion of Him. We ask Him to unify our hearts and support us with His help. We ask Him to forgive us, overlook our wrong actions and guide us along the Sirat al-Mustaqim. We ask Him to give the promised victory to His deen.

إنَّ اللهَ ومَلائِكَتَهُ يُصلُّونَ على النَّبِي يَا أَيُها الذينَ آمنوا صَلُّوا عَلَيْهِ وسَلِّمُوا تَسْليماً. اللهمَّ صَلِّ وسَلِّم وبارِك عَلَيْهِ وعلى آلِهِ وصَحْبِهِ  أجمعين. 

وارض اللهم عن الخلفاء الراشدين أبي بكرٍ وعمرَ وعثمانَ وعلي ، وعن سائر الصحابة أجمعين، خصوصا الأنصارَ منهم والمهاجرين، وعن التابعين وتابعي التابعين ومن تبعهم بإحسان إلى يوم الدين.

اللهم اهد ولاة أمور المسلمين لما يرضيك ولاتباع سنة نبيك صلى الله عليه وسلم  وثبت أقدامهم على الصراط المستقيم وأصلحهم يا رب العالمين.

اللهم بارك على شيخنا، و على أميرنا، وعلى جميع أمراءِ وزعماء المسلمين.  

اللهم بارك على المسلمين في هذه المدينة ووفقهم لما تحبه وترضاه يا أكرم الأكرمين. 

اللهمّ أَعِزَّ الْلإسلامَ والمُسِلمينَ (3)  واَخْذُلِ الكُفْرَ والكافِرينَ، وانْصُرِ المُجاهِدينَ في سَبِيلِ اللهِ. واجْعَلْ كَلِمََتَكَ هِيَ العُلْيَا وكَلِمَةَ الكُفْرِ هِيَ السُّفْلى.

ربنا ءاتنا في الدنيا حسنة وفي الأخرة حسنة وقنا عذاب النار. 

اللهم لا تضعْ في مقامِنا هذا ذنبا إلا غفرْتَه، ولا عيبا إلا سترْتَه، ولا مريضا إلا شفيتَهُ وعافيتَه، ولا مسجونا إلا طلَّقْتَ سراحَه، ولا مسافرا في برِّك وبحرِك إلا سلِمتَهُ وغنِمْتَه.

إن الله يأمر بالعدل والإحسان وإيتاء ذي القربى وينهى عَنِ الفحشاءِ والمُنكَرِ والبغي، يعظكم لعلكم تذكرون، ولَذِكْرُ اللهِ أكبر والله يَعْلَمُ ما تَصْنَعُون. وقُومُوا إِلَى صَلاتِكُمْ يرحمكم الله