Friday Sermon: Do not ridicule or belittle your brothers and sisters!, By Murtadha Gusau

In the name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Giver of Mercy

All praise is to Allah, we praise Him, we seek His help, we seek His forgiveness and we seek refuge with Allah from the evils of our own souls and the wickedness of our deeds. no one can mislead him, and whoever Allah allows to go astray, no one can guide him to the straight path.

I bear witness and testify that there is no deity worthy of worship in truth but Allah, alone, without any partner. And I bear witness and testify that Muhammad (peace_be_upon_him) is his servant and messenger. As for what's next:

Dear brothers and sisters! Allah Almighty created human beings and elevated some above others. And He caused some to serve others as a test and use one another's services. Allah Almighty said:

"It is We Who have divided among them their livelihood in the life of this world and have raised some of them above others in degrees [of rank] so that they may use themselves each other for service. But the mercy of your Lord is better than all that they accumulate. [Quran, 43:32]

And these advantages in worldly affairs do not require a high status before Allah Almighty. On the contrary, people are distinguished before their Lord on the basis of Iman (faith) and righteous actions. Allah Almighty said:

"Indeed, the most noble among you with Allah is the most aware of Allah." [Quran, 49:13]

For this reason, people should behave towards each other with good manners. So the strong should not ridicule the weak. And leaders should not make fun of their followers. And the rich should not humiliate the poor.

And Allah Almighty has forbidden to imitate the ignorant in dealing with each other through ridicule, insults and mockery. Allah Most High said:

"O you who believe, let no people make fun of [another] people; perhaps they are better than them; nor let women ridicule [other] women; may -be are they better than them. And do not insult each other or call each other by [offensive] nicknames. Wretched is the name [i.e., mention] of disobedience after [his] faith. And he who does not repent - then they are the wrongdoers. [Quran, 49:11]

Respected servants of Allah! Wallahi ridiculing people is reprehensible behavior which describes the behavior of some hypocrites and disbelievers. And Allah mentioned that they ridiculed the believers, blamed them and belittled them. The disbelievers of the people of Prophet Nuh (peace be upon him) ridiculed him and the believers who followed him. Allah Almighty said:

"And he built the ship, and whenever an assembly of the eminent of his people passed by him, they ridiculed him." [Quran, 11:38]

And this was the behavior of the disbelievers of all nations. They ridiculed their Messengers as Allah Almighty told us:

"But no prophet would come to them without them laughing at him." [Quran, 43:7]

As for their ridicule of the believers, Allah Almighty said:

"Ornamented for those who disbelieve is the life of this world, and they ridicule those who believe." [Quran, 2:212]

As for the hypocrites, they most ridicule the messengers of Allah and their followers and what the messengers came with truth and guidance. Allah Most High said:

"And when they meet those who believe, they say, 'We believe;' but when they are alone with their wicked, they say, 'Indeed, we are with you; we were only scoffers. Quran, 2:14]

And since ridicule comes from the behaviors of some of the disbelievers and hypocrites, then it is not befitting a Muslim to imitate them; so that he ridicules his Muslim brother, or blames them, or calls them names that belittle and belittle them. Allah Almighty has forbidden us. And the Prophet (peace_be_upon_him) said:

“A Muslim is the brother of a Muslim: he does not oppress him, betray him, nor despise him. Taqwa (the conscience of Allah) is here [and he pointed his chest three times]. It's bad enough for a man to despise his Muslim brother. [Muslim]

That is to say, it is bad enough to have contempt for your Muslim brother.

And ridiculing people stems from arrogance in the heart of the ridiculer. And seeing himself above the ridiculed. So he doesn't see that he owes them the rights to...