What Makes an Insult in Islam?
Islamic Prohibitions Against Insulting Muslims and Boasting About Deeds
Summary
This lecture from Zadul-Ma'ad (Provisions for the Hereafter) discusses various moral prohibitions in Islam, with a primary focus on insulting other Muslims and related character flaws. Sheikh Ali Mashhour explains that insulting is not limited to vulgar speech but includes anything said with the intention to demean another person. The lecture also covers related issues such as describing other Muslims in ways that expose their private matters, the improper use of phrases asking Allah's forgiveness, and the sin of bragging about one's worship and deeds. Sh. Ali Mashhour emphasizes that bragging about acts of worship can invalidate those deeds if done with the intention of showing off, and warns especially against elderly Muslims who recount their lifelong accomplishments in a boastful manner.
Note: This transcript was generated using YouTube's automatic captioning, with AI-assisted cleanup for readability. It may contain inaccuracies due to background noise, audio quality, or limitations of the transcription software — particularly during Arabic recitation. Listener discretion is advised; please refer to the original video for precise wording.
And one of those things is insulting another Muslim, insulting. A Muslim is not an insulting person. A Muslim is not. A person who is. kind of mocking of other people and looking down at other people. What is insulting? Here Abdul Kaim Rahim he says one of the things that the prophet prohibited that a person say or is that? A Muslim insult another Muslim. That a Muslim insult another Muslim. And what is meant by an insult? What is an insult? An insult isn't necessarily vulgarity. Doesn't have to involve vulgarity. It doesn't mean that you are vulgar in your speech necessarily Rather insulting another person is saying anything to that person that is meant to be, that is meant to be demeaning. Anything you say to another person that is demeaning or you are intention is to mean to demean that person. That is considered an insult.
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The.
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Because its will make the third person feel left out. It will make a third person maybe even think that the discussion is about him. This is some which is prohibited.
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The.
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Avon, right? And when she would see certain features of this woman, she may go home and discuss these features with her husband. She looks this. She has this kind of. This is something which is haram. And it's a type of and also it's almost telling another person's secrets, Exposing your Muslim. Why? Because a woman wears hijab because what is under that hijab is a secret. It's a secret from other people. Only certain people have the right to see that. And so, if a woman describes another woman to her husband or anyone else, it would be worse to someone else that this is something that the prophet specifically prohibited. Allah the.
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Say Why? Because it articulates that a person is not, it articulates a couple of things which are incorrect. Number one, that the person doesn't really need Allah's forgiveness. Forgive me if you want to. Another thing, it's as if he is asking Allah and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is not extremely merciful and doesn't have enough mercy to go around. What does that mean? So, if I go to ask someone for a loan or ask someone for money, they have a finite amount of money, right? They have a finite amount of funds. And so, if they give me this money, it might harm them. So, I say, you please, if you can, if you will, right? This is not the case with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. He gives and gives and gives and what he has has never been depleted from the inception of the creation of the heavens and the earth. In **** Man he and other. We have the love of.
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Swearing by Allah. Because too much of this will articulate the opposite meaning. It's as if this is not a really important thing. It's something we say all the time. It has no significance, no unique significance to it. What I want? And yes Allah.
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In Medina became the the city of lights. The lighted city. And that is the naming of the Muslims of Medina. Another that he mentions is that a person brag about his worship of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to say I fasted this much or I prayed this much And this happens often. Honestly. a person may do something for 20 years. And then say you know for the past 20 years I've never missed Every night at this time I do this and do that. is something that goes back to a person's intention. If the point of it is that they are telling their son, they're telling someone who they have an influence on in order to influence them to do something similar, then that's fine. But it's better to use the prophet as a reference. Instead of saying, I never did this, I always did this. Say, the prophet never did this. The prophet always did this. Rather being a braggart, bragging about yourself, or using words that could be interpreted as bragging, Rather, speak about those who are better than all of us, right? However, if a person does say that with the intention of bragging or showing off, this is something that could invalidate there, invalidate their deeds. So, this is something that a person has to take into account and be very vigilant of. Many Muslims. Alhamdulillah, they have a good history. They've done a lot in their lives And they may have, you know, put forth a very positive effort for the generations to come. But, many of them, many of us, we fall into this pitfall. And that is becoming a braggart with our own age, with our old age. You know, I came here at this age and I did this and all my life, I did this, and this is my work, and this is my work, and this is what I did, and I did, and I did, and this is something which not only is boastful and dismissive of the listener but it's also something that is despised by Allah. That's enough for tonight.
[Arabic recitation]