FRIDAY LEARNING ZONE FROM WESSEX JAMAAT
10th Rabi’ al-Awwal 1428 AH / 30th March 2007
No. 13
‘DHULM’ A CAUSE OF TROUBLE ON QIYAMAH DAY
It is stated in Ahadeeth that people will be raised in state of nakedness on the day of Qiyamah. However, there will be some people who will be covered with the Noor of some of their virtuous deeds they had performed in this life, and among them will be those who did NOT commit DHULM (injustice) against anyone in this life. Regardless of whether the DHULM is physical, mental, psychological or even spiritual.
THE KINDS OF DHULM
The Holy Prophet (saww) has said, “Injustice is of three kinds: Injustice, which Allah will never forgive; Injustice, which Allah will forgive; and injustice, which He will not leave”. Then explaining each of the three Dhulm, he (saww) said: “The Injustice, which He (SWT), will never forgive is Shirk, which means ‘to associate partners to Allah’; The injustice, which He (SWT) will forgive, is what is between man and his Lord; And the injustice, which He (SWT) will not leave, is what is between the people among themselves”. (Meezan al-Hikmah)
Therefore, it is very important that we respect and observe each other’s God-given rights. There are certain actions, which Allah (SWT) has explicitly called them as DHULM (Injustice) in the Holy Quran, and the doers of those actions are DHALIMEEN meaning ‘those who commit injustice’. One of such actions is calling of Nicknames that are insultive and humiliating.
Allah (SWT) says: “And do not defame one another, nor insult one another with nicknames. After believing, it is bad to give evil name (to another). Those who do not repent are certainly unjust”. (49:11)
Islam prohibits Muslims to call one another with bad and ugly names. Rather to call anyone with a name that makes him / her unhappy is also unlawful. For example If a person is short, don’t call him ‘Shorty’; If a person is one-eyed, don’t address him as ‘One-eyed’ OR as ‘Aandhro’; If a person is bald, don’t call him ‘Baldy’. Islam prohibits this! Instead, either call one another with proper names OR names of honour and respect.
In the days of one of our Imams (as), a man came to him whose name was unknown to our Imam (as). The Imam (as) asked him, “O Sa’d! How are you?” (Moral Values of Quran). Sa’d means ‘lucky’ or ‘happy’ or ‘fortunate’. See how wonderful and a nice name our Imam (as) chose to address the person. So we must abstain from giving and calling bad names to others!