The Likes of That is Not Befitting From the Likes of You

Ibraaheem Al-'Aajurriyy said: "I was sitting on the step of the masjid when a man wearing two cloths passed by. I thought he was one of those people who ask (i.e., a beggar). So I said inside myself, 'If this man worked, it would be better for him (than begging).' The man went on.

When it was night time, in my dream, two angels took me by my upper arms to the masjid where I was sitting. A man was sleeping there. His face was exposed to me, and behold - it was that same man. They said to me, 'Eat his flesh'. I said, 'I didn't gossip about him.' They said, 'Within yourself you did, and the likes of that is not befitting from the likes of you (from someone with a status like yours).'

I woke up shaken. I sat at that masjid for 30 days, not getting up except for an obligation, waiting for that man so to seek his pardon. After 30 days, he passed by in those same two cloths. I jumped up to catch him. He looked at me behind him suspiciously, and I looked at him ahead of me like I want to get him. When I feared to lose him, I said, 'Hey you! Stop, I want to talk to you.'

He turned and said, 'Yaa Ibraaheem (O Ibraaheem), you speak about the believers in your heart too?'

So I fainted. I woke up and he was at my head. He said, 'Will you do it again?' I said, 'No.' Then he disappeared from my sight and I never saw him again."

NOTE: It is not a sinful to say in your heart about a Muslim, 'He's fat," or "He's ugly," etc., if it was true. However, saying this about a Muslim behind their back to someone else is gheebah and is Haraam. It is also sinful to think ill of a Muslim without a Religious excuse.

Furthermore, it is better not to say in your heart such things altogether - even if one was not sinful, as this is the way of the awliyaa' - those with enlightened, pure hearts.

May Allaah grant us a very pure heart. Aameen.