So many things pull at your attention every day. How do you know which of them actually concern you?
Islamic Studies · 40 Hadith, 9th and 10th Grade · 60 to 75 minutes
Last lesson we studied Hadith 11, words that al-Hasan ibn Ali (RA), the grandson of the Prophet (pbuh), memorized from him. When something leaves you unsure, you choose what is clear and leave the rest.
دَعْ مَا يَرِيبُكَ إِلَى مَا لَا يَرِيبُكَ
"Leave what makes you doubt for what does not make you doubt."
Today's hadith takes the same idea further. Some things are not doubtful at all, and they are still not yours to carry.
Before we read anything, take this question seriously. There is no wrong first answer.
Is there a difference between asking a friend, "Are you okay?" and asking someone else, "What happened to her?"
How much of what you read, watched or heard yesterday had anything to do with your own life?
Keep your answer in mind. By the end of class you will have a way to test it.
عَنْ أَبِي هُرَيْرَةَ رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُ قَالَ: قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ: "مِنْ حُسْنِ إِسْلَامِ الْمَرْءِ تَرْكُهُ مَا لَا يَعْنِيهِ".
Abu Hurairah (RA) said: The Messenger of Allah (SWT) (pbuh) said: "Part of the excellence of a person's Islam is his leaving what does not concern him."
Scholars differ over this hadith's chain: al-Nawawi graded it hasan and al-Albani graded it sahih, while at-Tirmidhi and many early hadith scholars said it is more accurately reported without the companion's name in the chain. Either way, scholars gave its meaning great weight, as you will see in a few slides.
This is one of the shortest hadiths in al-Nawawi's forty. Read it twice. Which word do you think carries the most weight, and why?
The hadith begins with min, "part of." Leaving what does not concern you is one part of an excellent Islam, not the whole of it.
After choosing the hadiths for his Sunan, Abu Dawud said: "Four hadiths from that are enough for a person for his religion." All four that he named are in al-Nawawi's forty, the one about your brother in slightly different words:
"This hadith is a great foundation among the foundations of adab (good manners)."
How could one short sentence be enough to shape a whole way of living?
In Lesson 2, Jibril asked the Prophet (pbuh) about three levels of the deen. The highest level was ihsan.
قَالَ: فَأَخْبِرْنِي عَنِ الْإِحْسَانِ. قَالَ: "أَنْ تَعْبُدَ اللَّهَ كَأَنَّكَ تَرَاهُ، فَإِنْ لَمْ تَكُنْ تَرَاهُ فَإِنَّهُ يَرَاكَ".
The man said: "Tell me about ihsan." The Prophet (pbuh) said: "It is to worship Allah (SWT) as though you see Him (SWT), and if you do not see Him, then indeed He sees you."
Husn and ihsan share one root. Hadith 12 shows what an Islam like that looks like in an ordinary day: when you feel that Allah (SWT) sees you, you stop spending yourself on things that do not matter.
Ask yourself: if I truly kept in mind that Allah (SWT) sees everything I look at, what is the first thing I would stop doing this week?
"When [his Islam] becomes excellent, it calls for leaving everything that does not concern him: the forbidden things, the doubtful things, the disliked things, and the excess of permissible things that he does not need. None of this concerns the Muslim once his Islam is complete and he has reached the level of ihsan."
You have met the doubtful before, in Lesson 5 and last lesson. The last item is different, because it is permissible. Ibn Rajab is not calling it wrong. He is describing a person whose Islam has grown so excellent that they stop spending themselves on more of it than they need.
Ask yourself: which of these four takes up the most of my time right now?
"What is meant is not that he leaves whatever he has no interest in or wish for, by the rule of his desires and what his self seeks. Rather, it is by the rule of the Shari'ah and of Islam."
Your worship and your character. Your duties at home, at school and at work. Your health and your future. The people you are responsible for, and people you can truly help. Knowledge that benefits you.
What is haram or doubtful. Other people's private matters that you have no part in. Talk and arguments that bring no benefit. More of permissible things than you need.
So "that doesn't concern me" is never a way out of homework, chores, or a friend who needs you. Those concern you whether you feel like it or not.
قَدْ أَفْلَحَ الْمُؤْمِنُونَ ● الَّذِينَ هُمْ فِي صَلَاتِهِمْ خَاشِعُونَ ● وَالَّذِينَ هُمْ عَنِ اللَّغْوِ مُعْرِضُونَ
Certainly will the believers have succeeded: ● They who are during their prayer humbly intent ● And they who turn away from ill speech
The word translated "ill speech" is laghw. Ibn Kathir explains it as falsehood, "and this includes shirk, as some said, and sins, as others said, and words and deeds in which there is no benefit."
Turning away from laghw comes right after being humble in prayer. Why might those two belong together?
What would turning away look like in a group chat?
كَتَبَ مُعَاوِيَةُ إِلَى الْمُغِيرَةِ بْنِ شُعْبَةَ: أَنِ اكْتُبْ إِلَيَّ بِشَيْءٍ سَمِعْتَهُ مِنَ النَّبِيِّ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ. فَكَتَبَ إِلَيْهِ: سَمِعْتُ النَّبِيَّ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ يَقُولُ: "إِنَّ اللَّهَ كَرِهَ لَكُمْ ثَلَاثًا: قِيلَ وَقَالَ، وَإِضَاعَةَ الْمَالِ، وَكَثْرَةَ السُّؤَالِ".
Mu'awiyah (RA) wrote to al-Mughirah ibn Shu'bah (RA): "Write to me something you heard from the Prophet (pbuh)." So he wrote to him: "I heard the Prophet (pbuh) say: 'Allah (SWT) has disliked three things for you: "it was said" and "he said," wasting wealth, and asking too much.'"
"Most of what is meant by leaving what does not concern you is guarding the tongue from idle talk."
Most drama travels as "it was said" and "he said." Think of the last story that reached you that way. Did you know it was true? Did it concern you?
Scholars give more than one explanation of the other two things in this hadith. Today we are looking at the first one.
وَلَا تَقْفُ مَا لَيْسَ لَكَ بِهِ عِلْمٌ ۚ إِنَّ السَّمْعَ وَالْبَصَرَ وَالْفُؤَادَ كُلُّ أُولَٰئِكَ كَانَ عَنْهُ مَسْئُولًا
And do not pursue that of which you have no knowledge. Indeed, the hearing, the sight and the heart - about all those [one] will be questioned.
"Do not say, 'I saw,' when you did not see, or 'I heard,' when you did not hear, or 'I knew,' when you did not know, for Allah (SWT) will ask you about all of that."
In Lesson 1 we called every blessing an amanah, a trust. Your attention is one of them. Ask yourself: what did my eyes and ears take in yesterday that my heart is still carrying today?
قَالَ النَّبِيُّ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ: "نِعْمَتَانِ مَغْبُونٌ فِيهِمَا كَثِيرٌ مِنَ النَّاسِ: الصِّحَّةُ وَالْفَرَاغُ".
The Prophet (pbuh) said: "There are two blessings in which many people are at a loss: health and free time."
The word maghbun is used for someone who comes out of a trade with a loss, because they gave away something valuable for far less than it was worth. Free time is easy to trade away like that, because it never feels valuable while you have it.
What do people your age usually trade their free time for? When is it a fair trade, and when is it a loss?
Why do you think the Prophet (pbuh) said "many people" and not "a few"?
Think back over yesterday, from the moment you woke up. You can think quietly or jot a few words on scrap paper. Nobody will ask you to share this.
Your writing stays with you. This is between you and Allah (SWT).
An hour can pass on things you will not remember tomorrow. Ask yourself: if I added up the time, would I be comfortable being asked about it?
"It was said" and "he said" spread fastest where everyone can forward them. Ask yourself: am I adding to this, or can I let it pass?
Who said what about whom, whose parents are fighting, who failed the test. Ask yourself: is this mine to know, and would I want people talking about me this way?
Curiosity about useful knowledge is good. Some curiosity only fills the heart and leaves it restless. Ask yourself: does knowing this help me, or anyone else?
None of these are named in the hadith. They are where its meaning meets an ordinary school week.
For each card, decide together: it concerns me, it does not, or it depends. If it depends, say exactly on what. Use these three questions:
A friend posts a sad, vague story late at night: "Worst day ever."
Two people in your grade had a big fight, and the group chat wants every detail.
Your younger brother keeps getting messages in a game from someone he does not know.
You spend an hour on clips about a celebrity feud you had never heard of before today.
Your feed fills with hard news about people suffering in another part of the world.
A friend's family is going through money trouble, and someone asks you what you know.
Checking on your friend privately concerns you, because that is caring. Asking around for the details, or sharing what you know about a family's private trouble, does not. One situation can hold both.
The suffering of other people concerns every believer, and it asks something of you: dua, charity, learning, and kindness. Hours of watching the same clips can take your attention without giving any of those.
Card 3 concerns you because you are responsible for your brother, so you tell a parent or another trusted adult. The hadith does not ask you to stop caring. It asks you to give your care to what deserves it.
Take out a sheet of paper and write your three answers quietly.
Your writing stays with you.
Today we talked about knowing things that bring no benefit, and about a self that always wants more. The Prophet (pbuh) used to ask Allah (SWT) for protection from both.
اللَّهُمَّ إِنِّي أَعُوذُ بِكَ مِنْ عِلْمٍ لَا يَنْفَعُ، وَمِنْ قَلْبٍ لَا يَخْشَعُ، وَمِنْ نَفْسٍ لَا تَشْبَعُ، وَمِنْ دَعْوَةٍ لَا يُسْتَجَابُ لَهَا
"O Allah (SWT), I seek refuge in You (SWT) from knowledge that does not benefit, from a heart that is not humbled, from a soul that is never satisfied, and from a supplication that is not answered."
The word for a heart that is humbled, yakhsha', comes from the same root as khashi'un in Surah Al-Mu'minun: the believers who are humbly intent in their prayer.
Before you open an app or a chat, pause for a moment and ask: does this concern me? Leave one thing this week that does not, such as one thread, one feed, or one habit of checking.
Say this dua once a day, and notice where the time you saved goes.