30. FAKE NOT YOUR SERMONS
I gave a deep thought over some events taking place during the assemblies of preaching and sermons {majalis al-n>a’if, which laypeople (‘aii’dm) and the ignorant ones (juhhai) among the learned believe to be acts that draw a person near to Allah.
While in fact, such acts are rejected in religion and keep one far from Allah. Examples of these acts are what the Qur’an reciters do when they recite the Qur’an in a tone similar to singing (ghina), and the preacher chants poetry (ash’ar) of the madman of Layla causing some to clap their hands and some to tear apart their clothes assuming what they do is something that draws them closer to Allah!
It is known however that these tones work like music causing the ‘self (,nafs) to be in a state of beatitude and the mood to reach ecstasy, therefore exposing the ‘self to what brings forth corruption and evil is a great mistake. Hence, people of authority should monitor the assemblies and sermons of preachers [to prevent them from embracing or advocating such practices], and, particularly, those who you find amongst them in cemeteries where they [recite the Qur’an for money] as they provoke sadness and grief in people; so womenweep more and in return, they get paid more.
They do so because if they commanded women to be patient (bi’l- sabr) that would be something not of their liking, and so they would rather opt to be paid. All these practices stand against the teachings of Islam.
Ibn ‘Aqil said: ‘I attended a gathering to console a man whose child deceased. The Qur’an reciter recited there,
“Oh, my sorrow over Yusuf.” [Yusuf (12): 84]
so I said to him, ‘This is nothing but a form of moaning over the deceased using the Qur’an, which is not permitted!’
Some preachers would talk about knowing and loving Allah, making tailors and the common people who do not even know the pillars of prayer (salah), tear off their clothes claiming such an act means they love Allah, Most High.
The best of the worse amongst them is he whose hallucination makes him imagine seeing someone whom he assumes is the Creator, therefore his longing (sbawq) for Him after hearing about His Greatness (‘a^rna), Mercy (rabma) and Beauty {jamat) drives him to cry and weep, while, in fact, what they imagine and hallucinate is definitely not the worshipped [Allah] because He cannot be imagined by any mind (kbiyal).
In addition to all that, dealing with the common laypeople is difficult (sa’b) as they hardly benefit from the bitterness of the truth (murr at-baqq). The preacher is ordered not to exceed the limits of what is deemed correct in religion, and not to expose the audience to what mav corrupt them. Rather, he should seek the most suitable means to attract them to what benefits them and rectifies their affairs in the best manner, which is an art that requires skill because some laypeople are touched by the eloquent speech, while others are touched by the metaphoric and indicative type of speech, and yet others are touched by the effect of poetry (sh’ir).
The most in need for the eloquence of speech is the preacher in order to meet the needs of all types of people he encounters. Yet he still needs to address the necessary required knowledge and to preach to the laypeople about the permissible things that will suffice them, just as a person adds salt to the food—to attract them to [overlook concessions and] opt for acts of worship that takes patience (sabr), effort and to show them the true path.
Imam Ahmad Ibn Hanbal attended the sitting of Al-Harith Al- Muhasabl and the words of the latter made him cry. He then said, ‘1 dislike [for people] to attend this sitting.,8n He however cried because the words said necessitated the eyes to shed the tears.
A group of the righteous predecessors (salaj) noticed that storytellers (qussas) only focused on narrating stories that soften the hearts and so used to prevent people from attending their gatherings.
However, given the circumstances and condition of laypeople today, to prevent them from attending these gatherings is not right because people in that era were preoccupied with learning knowledge and so they considered these kinds of gatherings (of story tellers) would distract people from learning the knowledge of their religion. Since most people today do not seek knowledge. Sermons and gatherings of such preaching are the best thing to benefit laypeople as this will help them avoid sins (dhi’b). It will encourage them to repent (tawbah) and turn to Allah.
It is not entirely the fault of laypeople because shortcoming in all this lies with the preacher who should fear Allah in what he preaches.
Source: ( al-Hafiz Abu’l-Faraj ibn al-jawzl [d. 597AH] “CAPTURED THOUGHTS being” a translation of his masterpiece ‘Sayd al-K hatir)
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