Why Islam Teaches Complete Dignity in Private

Hey. Hey.

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Continuing in Al-Wajeez in the chapter regarding Adab al-Khala, the etiquettes of relieving oneself. We have mentioned previously the things that the Prophet Sallallahu alayhi wasallam taught us to say when we enter the restroom, when we leave. And that a person begins with his left foot when entering. One of the things that we mentioned yesterday was that when a person is to relieve himself, the sunnah is to go to a place or be in a place where a person completely is concealed. Their whole body, not just there private parts. Of course, concealing the private parts in public is obligatory, wajib. And revealing private parts in public is haram, positively haram. The Prophet Sallallahu alaihi wasallam tells us in Sahih Muslim No man is to look at the private parts of another man, nor any woman at those of another woman. However, the Prophet Sallallahu alaihi wasallam would not just conceal his private parts, but conceal his entire body when he would go to relieve himself. And this is for the purpose of preserving an individual's dignity. When you meet another human being, you are essentially largely writing into that person's mind an image of yourself. You're making a copy of yourself in that person's mind. Whatever would be added to that copy or taken away from that copy is largely hinged on what a person says, what a person does. And so, preserving a person's dignity in public, the prophet Sallallahu alayhi wasallam teaches us to keep these kinds of private private things that belongs in our home, belongs behind closed doors. And privacy is something that has levels. So, the prophet Sallallahu alayhi wasallam didn't treat all of his companions the same. There were some that were you know, more or less acquaintances. Meaning that they would see him from a distance, they wouldn't interact with him that much. He had a a closer circle, he had a very close circle. And privacy would be different in each of those levels. Privacy would be different in each of those levels. To the point where his closest companions.

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To anything that wouldn't be entirely private. And we have privacy between a spouse between spouses, right? Between a husband and wife. And then there's a level of privacy that no one is privy to. Just the person on his own, no matter who it is. These are things that are never made public, not even shared with a person's own spouse or children or parents, right? And one of the things in that realm is a person relieving himself. This is something that is very private. and there may be others as well, such as a person grooming himself, such as you know, certain things that a person does. Those things belong behind closed doors and a person is never to you know, show any other human being these parts or this aspect. And understanding this is very important. When you read the books of Tafsir especially the books of Tafsir that rely on you know, that are written before the year 600 or 700. So, the earlier books of Tafsir and the books of Tafsir that are hinged and based largely on narration. We have to understand that the companions, the Tabi'in, Tabi' al-Tabi'in, the earlier scholars, the ancient scholars, they were individuals of very few words, but their words had a lot of meanings and any derivative that you could make of those words is correct because their words were balanced. And when you read in these books, sometimes you will see something that will strike you as odd. You will think to yourself, "Why is this such a big deal? Why did they understand the verse to mean this?" But there is a lot of meaning in that and a lot of wisdom. This ties into what we're speaking about. So, for instance, one of the things that we see is that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala taught tells us in the Quran with respect to the people of Lut, the people of Shu'aib, the people of Saleh, the people of Hud, these damned civilizations, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala tells us that one of the things that was of their traits was what they do in public gatherings. And in your public gatherings, you do that which is evil and repulsive. Now, when we say evil and repulsive, what comes into mind? You think the worst things, right? Then you look at what the companions radiya'llahu anhum comment on this verse, that one of the things they were guilty of is that in their public gatherings, they would do what is evil and repulsive. The companions tell us, canu yudarratuna fil majlis. They used to pass gas in front of each other in the gathering. You think to yourself, the explanation or the understanding that the companions have of Allah Subhana Wa Ta'ala saying that these people were destroyed because of their wickedness because they used to do that which is evil and repulsive in their gatherings. The companions comment and say evil and repulsive such as breaking wind in publicly. You think how does that qualify as evil and repulsive? This is not the epitome of evil and repulsive. The companion understands that the listener and the reader understands evil and repulsive. Immediately, you understand what that is. But there are elements of evil and repulsive that have symptoms. One of those symptoms is the absence of shame. There's no more shame. There's no more discretion. There's no more dignity. There's no more honor in their behavior. Everything is a joke. Everything's funny. Everything's entertainment. Nothing is sacred. Nothing is holy. And their Nadi, the Nadi in the Arabic language, is the place where the chieftains gather in order to make the most important decrees on behalf of their nation. So at the the at the epitome.

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Of their you know, the cream of the crop, the best of them, those in charge who are making decisions on behalf of their followers in their most important gatherings, what are they doing? Breaking wind in front of each other. Joking and laughing. This isn't about a person passing gas or this is about a lack of shame. Allah is teaching us that these people had lost all semblance of shame even in the most sacred of places. And so the prophet Sallallahu alaihi wasallam teaches us and iterated and reiterated and drove home the importance of there being a high level of shame, dignity, and honor amongst the Muslimin. Even if a Even if a man is the poorest of all, even if some of the companions didn't have They were so poor that the women in the masjid were explicitly commanded by the prophet Sallallahu alaihi wasallam, do not raise your heads from sujud until the men are completely standing. Why did he say this to them? Huh? Yeah, but I mean like because they didn't have enough to cover themselves. Because if a woman there in the behind the men, if they would raise their head before the men were completely standing, they would see the aura because they are so poor, they're literally wearing rags. This is all they have. Yet, in spite of that level of poverty, they are the most dignified. The most dignified. This is what the prophet taught us. So, for this reason, when he would relieve himself, when the companions would relieve themselves, they would completely hide their silhouette and their entire body from any onlookers, even from their own spouses. Right? Even from their own spouses. And so, the prophet commanded that when we relieve ourselves, that number one, we conceal our entire body, preferably, and number two, that we only expose ourselves when we are near the place where we are going to relieve ourselves. So, the prophet would perhaps choose a place to relieve himself. He would only lift his clothing when he was close to the ground and ready to relieve himself. The most dignified. If you really want to see an image of dignity, you want to see an image of a human being in his most dignified, in his most excellent form in all ways, you read the descriptions of the prophet and his companions. Even though they didn't have food, they didn't have clothing, they went through times where they didn't have clothing, they didn't have food, they didn't have they were afraid, they were in a state of of dis- displacement. Yet, in spite of that, you see the dignity of men who might as well have owned the earth and all that is in it. This kind of dignity and hayba and integrity, this is something that can't be bought, it can't be purchased. This is something that a person can only get from the Quoran. A person may stumble upon aspects of this kind of dignity, but it can only be had in its entirety from the teachings of the Quoran and the Sunnah.

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Why do you just sit there and stare? You never knew that that's like impolite? Your whole life, you never knew that it's impolite to invade people's someone's space by staring at them nonstop for minutes and minutes on end. You never knew that. Your whole life, living in society, you go around staring at people, You know, intense.

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