The Garden of Knowledge

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

28 Jumaadal Aakhirah 1447/19 December 2025

All praise is due to Allah, the Cherisher, Sustainer, Nourisher and Provider of the entire creation. May peace, blessings and salutations be upon our Beloved Prophet Muhammed ﷺ.

We find ourselves in a time where we are unfortunately frequent to certain bad habits such as making assumptions without having accurate information. Allah makes mention in Surah Hujarat, verse 12:

يَٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُواْ ٱجۡتَنِبُواْ كَثِيرًا مِّنَ ٱلظَّنِّ إِنَّ بَعۡضَ ٱلظَّنِّ إِثۡمٌۖ

“O you who have believed, avoid much [negative] assumption/suspicion. Indeed, some assumption is sin.”

Here the Almighty warns us from making negative assumptions as it is indeed a sin in the court of Allah. The act of staying away from negative assumption and suspicion is what we term as Husnuth Than (good thought). The Prophet Muhammed ﷺ, who was the living embodiment of the Quran displayed this character throughout his life.

An example of such is at the time of the Conquest of Makkah, there was a companion by the name of Hatib (R.A) who sent a messenger to warn his family as the Muslims were preparing to conquer Makkah. Nabi Muhammed ﷺ was made aware of this and ordered for the messenger to be stopped and summoned Hatib (R.A). At this point in time, Nabi ﷺ did not prosecute or accuse Hatib (R.A) of treason, rather He ﷺ wished to understand the full story and the reason for actions of Hatib (R.A), to which He ﷺ understood that it was done to protect his family. If it was anyone other than Nabi Muhammed ﷺ, Hatib (R.A) would’ve been prosecuted based on assumption and suspicion.

Abu Huraira (R.A) narrated the hadith of Nabi Muhammed ﷺ in Sahih al Bukhari, hadith number 6066:

‏ “‏ إِيَّاكُمْ وَالظَّنَّ، فَإِنَّ الظَّنَّ أَكْذَبُ الْحَدِيثِ ‏”‏‏.‏

“Beware of suspicion, for suspicion is the worst of speech.”

It is reported in Dar ul Manthoor (7/565) that Umar (R.A) said, do not make assumptions or think ill of the words which come from the mouth of your brother in Islam except for good.

It was once said by a pious predecessor: “If I see someone with alcohol dripping from his beard, then I will say perhaps it spilled on him, and if I see a man on top of a mountain saying ‘أنا ربكم الأعلى – I am your Lord, most high’ then I will say he’s reciting a verse from the Quran. “

There is a famous story about a man in the time of Sultan Murad IV (Sultan of Ottoman Empire between 1623 and 1640). One evening, the Sultan felt uneasy and had the urge to go out. Upon arrival in a busy area, they found a man lying on the ground dead. Everyone around did not seem to care and carried on with their lives. They assumed he was a drunkard and fornicator. The Sultan ordered for the body to be carried to his home and upon arrival at his home, the Sultan found a weeping widow that prayed for her husband and testified he was amongst the pious. She thereafter explained to the Sultan that her husband used to buy as much wine as he could and pour it down the drain to protect and save the Muslims from alcohol and wine. She further explained that he used to go to the brothel and pay them to close their doors till morning to protect the youth from indulging in fornication. As the people witnessed him purchase the wine and visit the brothel, they made false assumptions about him yet the man could not be bothered about what people thought of him. His focus and aim was to ensure that people in his community do not fall prey to the evils of alcohol and fornication.

Furthermore it is important for us to note that making assumptions leads to backbiting.

Allah makes mention in Surah Hujarat, verse 12:

وَلَا تَجَسَّسُوا۟ وَلَا يَغْتَب بَّعْضُكُم بَعْضًا ۚ أَيُحِبُّ أَحَدُكُمْ أَن يَأْكُلَ لَحْمَ أَخِيهِ مَيْتًۭا فَكَرِهْتُمُوهُ ۚ وَٱتَّقُوا۟ ٱللَّهَ ۚ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ تَوَّابٌۭ رَّحِيمٌۭ

“And do not spy, nor backbite one another. Would any of you like to eat the flesh of their dead brother? You would despise that! And fear Allah. Surely Allah is the Accepter of Repentance, Most Merciful.”

In this verse, backbiting people is likened to eating flesh of dead bodies. So if eating someone’s flesh is detestable, then backbiting is no different.

How does this affect us ? Throughout our daily engagements with friends, family and others, situations may arise where people may be making assumptions about others. There’s 2 options:

• If you are able to, inform and advise your friends and family to change the topic and steer the conversation in a different direction.
• Walk away and remove yourself from the conversation.

Furthermore Anas bin Malik (R.A) narrates the Prophet ﷺ saying:

“‏ لَمَّا عُرِجَ بِي مَرَرْتُ بِقَوْمٍ لَهُمْ أَظْفَارٌ مِنْ نُحَاسٍ يَخْمِشُونَ وُجُوهَهُمْ وَصُدُورَهُمْ فَقُلْتُ مَنْ هَؤُلاَءِ يَا جِبْرِيلُ قَالَ هَؤُلاَءِ الَّذِينَ يَأْكُلُونَ لُحُومَ النَّاسِ وَيَقَعُونَ فِي أَعْرَاضِهِمْ ‏”‏ ‏.‏
When I was taken up to heaven I passed by people who had nails of copper and were scratching their faces and their chest. I said: Who are these people, Jibraeel? He replied: They are those who ate the flesh of others (by backbiting) and who trampled on people’s honour. – Sunan Abi Dawud 4878

Beloved readers, this is a lesson for us. Let us not be amongst the sinful who are quick to make negative assumptions about our fellow brothers and sisters. Let us find out the facts before rushing to conclusions. The severity of backbiting is shown to us in the Quran and the Hadith and we ask Allah to save us from being amongst those who make false assumptions, backbite and destroy the honor of others.

May Allah accept our efforts from us and grant us understanding In Sha Allah!