A Warning to Preachers with a Powerful Real-Life Story of Hypocrisy Towards Rulers!

The Egyptian scholar and hadith expert Ahmed Shaqer (may Allah have mercy on him) mentions in his book (Kalam al-Haqq, pp. 149-153) how (Taha Hussein) had received the attention and patronage of Sultan Hussein, one of the rulers of Egypt at the time. He was one of the mosque preachers affiliated with the Ministry of Endowments, an eloquent and articulate preacher named (Mohammed al-Mahdi). The Ministry of Endowments once assigned him to deliver a sermon and lead the Friday prayer at (Al-Mabduli Mosque), where Sultan Hussein would be praying. The preacher stood up, and he wanted to praise the sultan and mention his patronage of (Taha Hussein), who, it seems, had not yet revealed his enmity towards Islam at that time... So the foolish, ignorant preacher made a mistake that would never be rectified! For during his sermon, he said, "The blind man came to him, and he did not frown nor turn away," as if comparing the sultan's attention to Taha Hussein with the Prophet's (peace be upon him) disregard for the blind companion! Among the witnesses of this prayer was Sheikh Mohammed Shaqer (Ahmed Shaqer's father), who stood up after the prayer and announced to the people in the mosque that their prayer was invalid because the preacher who led them in prayer had committed blasphemy with this statement that belittled the Prophet (peace be upon him). He ordered the people to repeat the Dhuhr prayer, and they did so. This despicable preacher was close to some of the sultan's advisors... so they advised him to file a lawsuit against Sheikh Mohammed Shaqer... and the preacher actually did so. The people rose up, and a number of judges stood with Sheikh Mohammed Shaqer, including some Copts! The sheikh refused to refer the case to Al-Azhar scholars because the ruling on insulting the Prophet (peace be upon him) is known even to the ignorant and foolish! The point of contention was: (Was the preacher's statement an insult to the Prophet (peace be upon him) or not?). He insisted that the preacher was a criminal, not a victim. Then the authorities intervened in the case out of fear of its consequences and closed it before it went to trial. Sheikh Ahmed Shaqer said at the end of this story: (But Allah did not let this (preacher) the criminal go unpunished in this world before He rewards him in the Hereafter! I swear by Allah: I saw him with my own eyes a few years later, after he had been arrogant, puffed up, and relying on the support of the great and mighty, I saw him humiliated, degraded, serving at the door of a mosque in Cairo, receiving the shoes of the worshippers in humiliation and disgrace! He was so ashamed that he did not want me to see him, knowing me and me knowing him, not out of pity for him, for he was not worthy of pity, nor did I gloat over him, for the noble man rises above gloating, but I have never seen a more profound lesson and warning) This was the fate of the hypocritical preacher to the sultans, who was blinded by flattery to the point of belittling the Prophet to flatter the sultan!!... After the outcry and threats of legal action and the use of the law's sword, and the demand for "the intervention of the public prosecutor," as his followers do today, who mock religion and then unite against every caller who stands for Allah, His Messenger, and His Shariah under the pretext of "inciting sectarianism" and "sectarianism"!!! This great preacher ended up working as a guard for the worshippers' shoes against theft for a meager wage! (To Allah belongs all honor, to His Messenger, and to the believers, but the hypocrites do not know).