Note: The Alislam Team assumes full responsibility for any errors or inaccuracies in this translation of the Friday Sermon.
Friday Sermon Delivered by Hazrat Mirza Bashiruddin Mahmud Ahmad (ra) 30 November 1923 Published in Al-Fazl, 4 December 1923
Topics: Husn al-Zann, Good Opinion, Social Harmony, Islamic Ethics
After reciting the tashahud, ta'awwudh, and Surah Al-Fatihah, Huzur(ra) addressed the gathering as follows.
There are certain things in this world that are considered trivial, yet in practice they are of the greatest consequence. Some principles are so fundamental that when they are explained, the listener's heart does not register their importance — either because he fails to appreciate their significance, or because he has heard them so often that they have lost their weight in his mind, or because he is simply unacquainted with them. For these reasons, such a principle produces only a slight and fleeting impression, as though something ordinary has been said. People's hearts reject being moved by it, and yet, upon closer reflection, one finds that the very machinery of this world runs upon it. Were it to be abandoned, ruin would descend upon the world.
Among these small principles that are in reality great, I draw the attention of my friends to one principle to which I have already drawn attention on several occasions before. I say with regret that it must be called laziness, heedlessness, or the habit of not pondering matters of importance, that it has not been given due consideration. The peace of the world depends upon it. When it is kept in view, peace prevails in the world. Yet because people have placed this principle under the heading of morals and manners, they do not turn their attention to it. Rather, on the contrary, they regard this very virtue as a cause of ruin. Whereas it is not a cause of ruin at all — it is a cause of progress. The machinery of world peace runs on it.
What is this thing that is of such great importance? It is husn al-zann — thinking well of others, entertaining a good opinion. No other quality is mocked and ridiculed as much as this one. There is no one in this world who would prefer murder and plunder over anything else. Even you can hear murderers themselves say that killing is an evil thing. Consuming the wealth of others is considered wrong. And there will be many who are themselves traitors yet condemn betrayal. Many will call lying an evil, while numerous among them are habitual liars. But in contrast to all of this, husn al-zann — good opinion — is something that is genuinely good, yet you will mostly hear people speaking against it. And yet the very ones who speak against it will often themselves be practising it, with no real reason for bad opinion in their own lives — yet they will still complain against husn al-zann, and at some point or another they will be compelled to rely upon it themselves.
No other virtue has been trampled upon with such disregard. And yet I believe that the entire system of nations, all forms of mutual relations, run upon this single virtue.
Courts of justice cannot remain just if this principle is abandoned. Friendship and kinship cannot survive without it. A husband entrusts the entire management of the home to his wife. If he were to suppose that his wife is faithless and disloyal, the household could not be maintained. Similarly, if a person forms a friendship but then concludes that this friend is in reality an enemy, that person can never find a true friend. If a master is afflicted with the disease of believing that his servants are neither loyal nor capable, his whole enterprise will fall into disorder. Likewise, if a servant were to think that the person he is about to work for will not pay him his wages, he would never be able to take up employment at all.
In short, bad opinion destroys every endeavour. If a labourer is to work, he does so with the good opinion that this employer will pay him his wages — but if he holds a bad opinion, he would go home empty-handed in the evening. Only that labourer can provide labour who holds the good opinion that his wages will be paid. It is true that sometimes his money may be withheld, but in the majority of cases his expectation will prove correct, and he will act accordingly. Likewise, the person who employs a labourer — if he too entertains the suspicion that this labourer might prove treacherous — will find himself unable to hire any labourer at all.
If a magistrate were to hold the bad opinion that every accused person who comes before him is certainly guilty — that he must have done something, that no one would lodge a false complaint — hundreds and thousands of innocent people would hang from the gallows. Conversely, if the magistrate were to hold the bad opinion that all those who bring accusations are liars, then many thieves, robbers, murderers, and usurpers would go free, while those who had genuinely suffered harm would be ruined, with no recourse whatsoever. A magistrate can only dispense justice if he approaches both sides with a good opinion, then reflects carefully upon both sets of testimonies — only then can he arrive at the truth. The government has granted the accused the benefit of the doubt, and courts that do not function on this principle cannot reach justice. If courts operate with bad opinion, many liars will go free and many innocents will be punished.
In short, in communities, governments, courts, friendships, family ties, and in all other departments of commerce — the prevalence of husn al-zann is far greater than that of bad opinion. All these systems run on husn al-zann. If in these matters good opinion were replaced with bad opinion, every system would collapse in disorder.
The Islamic Shari'ah has founded its affairs upon the exercise of good opinion even in those situations where there exist some grounds for bad opinion. A hadith relates that during a battle, a Muslim attacked a disbeliever. In order to escape the attack, the disbeliever took cover behind a tree. The Muslim compelled him to move away from the tree. When the disbeliever saw that there was no way to save his life, he recited Lā ilāha illallāhu Muḥammadur Rasūlullāh. Some have written that since the disbelievers used to call Muslims ṣābi'ī — "Sabians" — he declared, "I am becoming a Sabian," meaning in other words that he was declaring his acceptance of Islam. The Companion (ra) did not understand this and killed him. When the news reached the Messenger of Allah (saw), he became so angry that the narrations record he had never been so angry before. The Companion submitted: "O Messenger of Allah, he was lying and was becoming a Muslim only to save himself." And the Prophet(sa) said: Hal shaqaqta qalbahu? Hal shaqaqta qalbahu? Hal shaqaqta qalbahu? — "Did you split open his heart? Did you split open his heart? Did you split open his heart?" — No matter how great a murderer he had been, no matter how much harm he had caused to the Muslims, when he declared that he was becoming a Muslim, how did you come to know that he was lying?¹
When one looks at the outward circumstances against that person, the Companion's position appears correct. But those who think so are disregarding both reason and morality. And those who engage in deep study know how, sometimes like lightning, circumstances can be transformed completely. Hazrat Umar (ra) had left his house with the intention of killing the Holy Prophet(sa), and yet how did he become a Muslim on the way?
Consider: could it be impossible for a man who is a great warrior, and against whom an eighteen-year-old youth comes forward with a sword and launches such an attack that this mighty warrior cannot defend himself — could it be impossible that the thought should enter that warrior's heart that this is not human strength, but some other power that is with these people, and that with this very thought he should become a Muslim? If there is no bad opinion, are there not such exceptional circumstances that would decide in that person's favour?
The circumstances of Hazrat Umar (ra) are these: he had left his house with a sword intending to kill the Holy Prophet(sa). A man asked him on the way and he disclosed his intention. That man said: "First take heed of your own household — your sister and brother-in-law have become Muslims." So he went and knocked on the door. It so happened that a Companion was there and was reciting the Holy Quran. They were frightened. When Umar (ra) entered, he insisted on seeing what they had been reading. At first they evaded him, but at last he became severe — to the point that he struck his sister and blood flowed from her body. Then she said: "Do whatever you will, we have become Muslims." He asked to see the Quran, but they said: "You are in a state of ritual impurity, you may not touch it." He was made to bathe, and then the Holy Quran had such an effect upon him that tears came to his eyes and he became a Muslim.²
Was it not the case that for Umar (ra) — who was among the most intense of Mecca's opponents, and who had left his house with the very intention of killing the Holy Prophet(sa) — circumstances arose on the way such that he became a Muslim all at once? If something like that could happen to Umar, can the same not happen to another disbeliever?
Therefore, no system can function without acting upon this teaching. No community can work in unity. Beyond that, kinship, love, friendship, trade, governance — there is no affair that can proceed without husn al-zann. It is a pity that there are many who do not exercise good opinion and do not benefit from it as Islamic commandments require. There are many who themselves practice bad opinions and then place the blame on others.
I have stated this today as a reminder. Today I draw your attention only to this extent of detail; if God grants the opportunity, I shall draw your attention to this matter again next Friday. This is a matter of tremendous importance, and if one reflects upon it properly, many benefits can be derived from it. If you wish your community to progress, then abandon bad opinion and begin to act with husn al-zann. Even if you see apparently adverse circumstances, do not entertain bad opinions. Look — that Companion entertained bad opinions regarding a person who had killed Muslims and who was striving with all his might to escape his sword, and yet despite all that, in the end declared his acceptance of Islam. The Companion acted with bad opinion toward him, and yet, look at how greatly the Messenger of Allah (saw) was displeased with that Companion. You have far less grounds for bad opinion against any person, yet you still entertain it. If you reflect, this bad opinion is such a calamity that it draws upon one the displeasure of Allah and His Messenger. Cultivate within yourselves the habit of husn al-zann. If you disregard husn al-zann, there will be no progress in your community.
May Allah grant you the ability to understand this great virtue, and may your lives be shaped in accordance with it.
(Al-Fazl, 4 December 1923)
Footnotes
¹ Sahih Muslim, Kitab al-Iman, Bab tahrim qatl al-kafir ba'd an qala La ilaha illallah —https://readhadith.app/hadith/sahih-muslim-132
² Sirat Ibn Hisham, Vol. 1 — Account of the Conversion of Umar ibn al-Khattab (ra)
Related Resources