The Evil Suspicion of People - Four Rules for Treatment

Peace be upon you. Evil suspicion, that disease which has spread in the Ummah, corrupting relationships and opening the gates of evil. How much evil suspicion has occurred among women in families: "So-and-so does not respect me," "She intended mockery with her smile," "She did not congratulate me on my brother's success because she envies us." Thus, women respond to the whispers of Satan, without honest intentions, without softening hearts, without considering circumstances, without seeking excuses. The end result is the corruption of relationships among men, the severing of family ties, the occurrence of divorce, and the scattering of children—among the great matters of the Ummah.

How much evil suspicion has occurred in the fields of jihad, so that Muslims are preoccupied with fighting each other instead of their enemies, hopes of victory are lost, the weak pay the price, and the enemies prevail, with other factors contributing to the setbacks, no doubt. Therefore, my brothers, we will pause with a great verse from which we can derive rules for treating this phenomenon. Allah the Almighty says: {O you who have believed, avoid much assumption. Indeed, some assumption is sin.}

The First Pause: Preventing Evil Suspicion from Occurring Initially

You must prevent evil suspicion from occurring in yourself initially, not let it happen and then try to repel and treat it. {Avoid much assumption.} A Muslim whose outward appearance is good, you hear someone accusing him of evil without evidence, what should be your immediate reaction? Our Lord taught us and said: {Why did the believing men and women not think good of themselves and say, 'This is an obvious slander'?} And He emphasized it afterward with verses, saying: {And why, when you heard it, did you not say, 'We will not speak of this. Exalted are You, [O Allah]. This is a great slander'?}

Thus, the chattering tongues are silenced, their evil is hidden, and you cut off the fitnah from its root. The appropriate reaction is not to go to your brother who was mentioned with evil and say to him, "It is said about you such and such, what is your response? What is your answer?" This is an important point, my brothers, for we know that spreading rumors about Muslims is forbidden, but some of us think that the right thing is to confront the Muslim with what is said about him to verify, and this is not always right.

Every blessed person is envied, and the more good a person has, the more enemies he has. If we ask the good people to respond to what is attributed to them, their efforts will be exhausted in responding to this and denying what was said, their hearts will be troubled, and they will be preoccupied with what they are doing of good and benefit to people. We can find out without spreading rumors, and without letting suspicion lead us to belittle people and backbite them and disregard their rights.

The Second Pause: Evil Suspicion Without Evidence is a Forbidden Heart's Work

Allah the Almighty forbade us in this verse from mere suspicion, even if it does not lead to action. {Avoid much assumption.} He did not say, "Avoid the action resulting from evil suspicion." So, evil suspicion without evidence is a heart's work that is forbidden in itself, like other heart's works such as hating Islam or loving the enemies of the religion.

Al-Ghazali, may Allah have mercy on him, said: "Know that evil suspicion is forbidden like evil speech, just as it is forbidden for you to speak to others with your tongue about the faults of others, it is not for you to speak to yourself and have evil suspicion about your brother."

The Third Pause: Evil Suspicion is the Key to Evils

We sense from the verse that evil suspicion is the key to evils. After forbidding it, Allah said: {And do not spy or backbite each other.} If a person has evil suspicion about his brother, he will spy on him to confirm his suspicion and will belittle his sanctity and backbite him. Likewise, the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, said: "Beware of suspicion, for suspicion is the worst of speech, and do not spy, do not backbite, do not envy, do not turn away from each other, do not hate each other, and be brothers in the service of Allah."

All these matters that our Prophet, peace be upon him, forbade are originally born from evil suspicion, which leads you to search for the faults of your brother, provoking his enmity if he discovers that, causing hatred, and destroying the structure of the Islamic society and weakening it before its enemies.

Having evil suspicion about your Muslim brother makes you belittle him, and belittling is a door to the sanctity of blood and wealth. Look at the saying of the Prophet, peace be upon him: "It is enough evil for a man to belittle his Muslim brother," what did he say afterward? "The blood, wealth, and honor of every Muslim are inviolable to another Muslim."

The Fourth Pause: Taking People at Face Value and Having Good Suspicion

This is a very important rule: taking people at face value may lead to the escape of many who have committed forbidden acts from punishment, but we are nevertheless commanded to do so, and its benefits are greater than its harms at the societal level. The concern that drives many to have evil suspicion and betray others as a precaution is their fear that the perpetrator of the forbidden act will escape punishment and corrupt the society.

Allah the Almighty says: {O you who have believed, avoid much assumption} why? {Indeed, some assumption is sin.} Notice that He commanded avoiding much for the sake of some, and on this concept, there are many examples, including:

1. The Prohibition of Following Up on Mistakes

First: The hadith narrated by Muslim: "The Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, forbade a man from entering his family at night to spy on them or seek their mistakes." A man returning from a journey may think to ensure that his wife has not been unfaithful to him, so he does not inform her of his return time to surprise her at night and ensure whether she has been unfaithful or not, or to ensure whether she has let into his house someone he dislikes from her relatives or neglected the care of his children, i.e., seeking their mistakes. All this, even though nothing suspicious has appeared to him from his wife, but he wants to do that as a precaution. It is not permissible for him to do that, my brothers. Is it not possible, even if in a small percentage, that his wife may be unfaithful to him? Yes. And yet, preserving the feelings of the wives and showing good suspicion of them and trust in their morals should be prevalent in society to raise their status in reality, even if it leads to the non-disclosure of the infidelity of a small percentage of them, for its benefits are greater than its harms.

2. Taking the Appearance of Uttering the Testimony

Second: In the hadith of Bukhari, when Usama bin Zayd, may Allah be pleased with him, intended to kill the fighting polytheist, the polytheist said, "There is no god but Allah." But Usama killed him, and this reached the Prophet, peace be upon him, who said to Usama, "O Usama, did you kill him after he said, 'There is no god but Allah'?" Usama said, "O Messenger of Allah, he was only seeking refuge," meaning he said it so that I would not kill him, not out of conviction. The Prophet, peace be upon him, kept repeating, "Did you kill him after he said, 'There is no god but Allah'?" This man was a polytheist fighting the Muslims, and it is actually more likely that he said it seeking refuge. If Usama had not killed him, he might have infiltrated the Muslim society and corrupted it. And with all this, taking those who utter the testimony at face value is of greater benefit to the Muslim society and humanity. So how about your Muslim brother who prays and fasts for many years?

3. The Prophet's Dealings with Hypocrites

The third evidence: The hypocrites would speak ill of the Messenger of Allah and his companions, then they would fear that this would reach the Prophet. One of them would say: "He believes in Allah and believes in the believers, and mercy to those of you who have believed." That is, he only blames those who accept from people if his acceptance leads to believing their false testimony against a person, thus causing injustice to this person. As for the Prophet, he has committed himself to goodness, so he hears about you what displeases him but overlooks it, and you come to him showing goodness, so he accepts your outward appearance. He does this because he believes in Allah who commanded him to do so, not out of belief in you, but his belief and reassurance of the believers. He believes the believers. And among you, O hypocrites, some will believe later, so the Prophet's patience with him is mercy. "And mercy to those of you who have believed." As for those who harm the Messenger of Allah, they have a painful punishment. Do these hypocrites escape punishment when the Prophet has taken them by their outward appearances? Then how about your Muslim brothers who did not harm the Prophet as these did?

4. The Requirement for Testimony in Adultery

The fourth evidence: Notice the requirement that Islam has set for testimony in adultery. If three pious people see a man and a woman committing adultery, it is forbidden for them to spread that, for four are required. The adulterers will escape punishment, but protecting the society from false accusations against the chaste is more beneficial than punishing these two adulterers. If the door of accusation were opened, the chaste would be accused. So we say to those who think ill of others out of caution: What are you afraid of? That some who commit a forbidden act will escape punishment and corrupt the society? The benefit of taking the outward appearance and thinking well is greater in spreading love and reassurance among Muslims and in closing the doors of the devils.

It may be said: But we are in a time when evil is rampant. Yes, and yet notice that in the examples we mentioned, we took the outward appearance of hypocrites and those who were recently disbelievers and enemies. How do we bring out the best in people by thinking well of them? How does thinking ill reflect on the psychology and way of thinking of the person? How do we help people to think well of us? Someone says: I thought well of someone, and it brought me misfortune. Are there cases where thinking ill is permissible? How is thinking well of the subjects in the Islamic state? This is what we will discuss in the next talk, God willing. Peace be upon you and the mercy of Allah.