Assalamu’alaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh
Bismillahir- Rahmanir-Rahim
1. Opening
Friends who are blessed by Allah, On the theater stage of this world, the title “wise” is often attached to those who are eloquent with words or hold high positions. Yet in the sight of Allah SWT, true wisdom is not about theory. Wisdom is a steadfastness of the soul that is bound by three strict regulations in daily conduct .If we wish to be acknowledged as wise by the Creator, then these three main conditions must be firmly embedded within us:Do not love the world: Move the world from the heart to the palm of the hand, because this earth is only a stopover, not an eternal residence.Do not take worldly people as intimate friends: Keep emotional distance from those whose hearts have become heedless and enslaved by their desires.Never hurt a fellow believer: Commit to always being patient and safeguarding togetherness in the ranks of those who sincerely seek His pleasure.Psychologically and sociologically, a person’s character is determined by three things: his life orientation, his closest social environment, and how he treats others. Someone whose world resides in his heart will always be anxious, and that anxiety will peak if he is surrounded by toxic friends [the worldly]. Islam provides a scientific therapy to cool our souls, which is by turning our gaze toward the Hereafter—a realm free from arrogance and corruption.
Allah SWT affirms the reality of the Hereafter in the Qur’an:
تِلْكَ الْآخِرَةُ نَجْعَلُهَا لِلَّذِينَ لَا يُرِيدُونَ عُلُوًّا فِي الْأَرْضِ وَلَا فَسَادًا ۚ وَالْعَاقِبَةُ لِلْمُتَّقِينَ
“That home of the Hereafter We assign to those who do not desire exaltedness upon the earth or corruption. And the outcome is for the righteous.”[QS. Al-Qaṣaṣ: 83]
Regarding the importance of choosing close companions and the prohibition against hurting fellow believers, Allah SWT also gives a very clear instruction:
وَاصْبِرْ نَفْسَكَ مَعَ الَّذِينَ يَدْعُونَ رَبَّهُم بِالْغَدَاةِ وَالْعَشِيِّ يُرِيدُونَ وَجْهَهُ ۖ وَلَا تَعْدُ عَيْنَاكَ عَنْهُمْ تُرِيدُ زِينَةَ الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا ۖ وَلَا تُطِعْ مَنْ أَغْفَلْنَا قَلْبَهُ عَن ذِكْرِنَا وَاتَّبَعَ هَوَاهُ وَكَانَ أَمْرُهُ فُرُطًا
“And keep yourself patient with those who call upon their Lord in the morning and the evening, seeking His face. And let not your eyes pass beyond them, desiring adornments of the worldly life, and do not obey one whose heart We have made heedless of Our remembrance and who follows his desire and whose affair is ever in neglect.”[QS. Al-Kahf: 28]
The beauty of the character of a wise person is perfected by the saying of Rasulullah ﷺ which defines the identity of a true Muslim:
الْمُسْلِمُ مَنْ سَلِمَ الْمُسْلِمُونَ مِنْ لِسَانِهِ وَيَدِهِ
“A true Muslim is one from whose tongue and hand other Muslims are safe.”
[HR. Bukhārī and Muslim]
2. Lessons and Message
Let us reflect on a moving incident from the time of the pious predecessors [salafus ṣāliḥ]. There was a scholar who was slandered, reviled, and insulted in public by someone influenced by worldly people. Instead of retaliating with anger, the scholar went home, took a basket of the sweetest, freshest fruits.He went to the house of the person who had insulted him, knocked on the door, and handed over the gift while weeping softly. The slanderer was shocked and asked in shame, “Why are you bringing me a gift, when I have hurt you?”The scholar answered with tears falling, “I weep because I am sad thinking of your fate in the Hereafter. By insulting me, you have transferred the reward of your righteous deeds to me for free. I bring this fruit as a form of thanks, and out of pity because you have harmed yourself just to satisfy your desires.” How saddening to see the ignorance of the slanderer, yet how moving to see the ocean of wisdom in the heart of the scholar.
So we can remember these three conditions of wisdom in a relaxed and thought-provoking way, let us use an analogy about “Smartphone Apps.”Imagine our soul is a sophisticated smartphone with limited memory. An unwise person is one who fills his phone with junk apps [like love of the world]. He downloads heavy games, gossip apps, and groups full of drama. The result? His phone becomes sluggish, overheats quickly, drains the battery, and easily freezes when used for important things.The situation gets worse because he is close friends with people who love sending virus files via Bluetooth [like being intimate friends with the worldly]. Every day his phone gets infected with viruses of mental stagnation, until finally they damage his internal system and cause his phone to automatically send harsh spam messages to other contacts [like hurting fellow believers].Funny and tragic, isn’t it? Our life becomes error-prone not because our “specs” are bad, but because we wrongly manage our “inner apps”!A wise person will do a factory reset. He deletes the “love of the world” app that makes him sluggish, he uninstalls friendships with “carriers of the heedlessness virus,” and he installs an antivirus security system so his tongue does not spew abusive spam at fellow believers. That way, the “signal” of our connection with Allah will remain on a smooth 5G network!
3. Conclusion & Closing
Friends, the profound moral message from these three regulations is an invitation to cleanse our hearts before the dawn of the Hereafter rises. Being wise is not measured by how cleverly we debate in social media comment sections, but by how strictly we guard our hearts from the poisons of the world. Let us practice these three conditions starting today: position the world only in the hand so we are not blinded, choose a circle of friends that always brings us closer to Allah, and guard our tongues and fingers so they do not carve wounds in the hearts of fellow believers.
May Allah SWT grant us all clean hearts, tranquil souls, and mature us into His wise servants
. والله أعلم بالصواب
الحمد لله رب العالمين
Wassalamu’alaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh.
Abu Sultan Al-Qadrie
