Allah is characterized by concealment

Allah is characterized by concealment

Translated by: Alamgeer Usmani.

Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, no secret is hidden from Him, both hidden and open are equal to Him, and evidences of His greatness and majesty are quite clear, and I bear witness that there is no god but Allah alone who has no partner. Kingdom belongs to Him; praise belongs to Him and He is powerful over everything.

يَا من لهُ سترٌ عليّ جميلُ هل لي إليكَ إذا اعتذرتُ قبولُ أيّدتني ورحمتني وسترتني كرَماً فأنتَ لمن رجاك كفيلُ وَعصيتُ ثمّ رأيتُ عفوكَ واسعاً وعليّ ستركَ دائماً مسبولُ فلكَ المحامدُ والممادح في الثنا يا مَن هو المقصود والمسؤولُ

(O He who has a beautiful veil over me,

may You accept my apology if I apologize?

You have supported me, had mercy on me, and covered me.

surely, you are the sponsor for those who beg you.

I disobeyed You and then I saw your forgiveness is vast.

And veil of Your mercy has been over me.

Every kind of praise belongs to You

O He Who is our goal and the guardian)

And I bear witness that Muhammad is the servant of Allah and His Messenger and the best of people. May Allah ’s prayers and peace be upon him and his family and companions.

After that,

Brothers in faith:

One of the greatest things that nourishes the tree of faith in the heart with its various branches, like fear, hope, repentance, love, veneration, trust, and good thought, is the knowledge of the Most Beautiful Names of Allah and worshiping according to them, as it is the greatest things which increases the faith and weakens the plot of Satan.

﴿ وَلِلَّهِ الْأَسْمَاءُ الْحُسْنَى فَادْعُوهُ بِهَا ﴾ [الأعراف: 180]

“For Allah there are the most beautiful names. So, call Him by them”.

Al-Sa’di said: The saying of Almighty “So, call Him by them” includes the supplication of worship and the supplication of questioning.

And our talk, today, is about one of the names of Allah is mentioned in the Sunnah of the Prophet.

On the authority of Ya’la ibn Umayyah, may Allah be pleased with him, that the Messenger of Allah PBUH saw a man washing in a public place without a lower garment. So, he mounted the pulpit, praised and extolled Allah and said: Allah is characterized by modesty and concealment. So, when any of you washes, he should conceal himself. Narrated by Abu Dawood and An-Nasa’i and authenticated by Al-Albani.

There are two narrations in pronouncing the word “Sateer”: First: with the kasra of seen and with the Tashdid of taa maksoora.

Second: with the Fatah of Seen and with the Kasara of taa without Tashdid.

And it has prevalent on the tongues of many people “Ya Saatir” or “Ya Sattar” which is not mentioned in the Sunnah, even if it is close to the meaning of “Sateer”.

وهو الحَيِيُّ فَلَيسَ يَفْضَحُ عَبْدَهُ عندَ التَّجَاهُرِ مِنْهُ بالعِصْيَانِ لَكِنَّهُ يُلْقِي عَلَيْهِ سِتْرَهُ فَهْوَ السَّتِيرُ وصَاحِبُ الغُفْرَانِ

He is the Living, so He does not expose His servant

when he openly disobeys him

but he throws His veil over him.

He is characterized by concealment and Most Forgiving.

Al-Bayhaqi said: “(Satir) means that he covers his servants a lot, and does not expose them openly. Likewise, He wants His servants to conceal the fault of each other, and to avoid what disgraces any servant. And Allah knows best”.

Brothers in faith:

It is Allah ’s grace that He conceals His servants a lot and does not expose them, even though, the servant commits sin and needs his Lord extremely. Rather, he cannot disobey his Lord except with the grace of Allah which He conferred upon him, like hearing, sight, tongue, heat, money or others, and our Generous Lord, in spite of being extremely need-free from creatures and their obedience, honors His servant. So, He conceals his faults, and does not impose punishment on him.

And He has created the causes of concealment for him and opens the door of repentance for him, so He guides him to do repentance, pardons him, forgives him, and even rejoices in his repentance.

﴿وَهُوَ الَّذِي يَقْبَلُ التَّوْبَةَ عَنْ عِبَادِهِ وَيَعْفُو عَنِ السَّيِّئَاتِ وَيَعْلَمُ مَا تَفْعَلُونَ﴾ [الشورى: 25]

“And He is the One who accepts repentance from His servants and forgives evil deeds and knows whatever you do”.

﴿ َألم  يَعْلَمُوا أَنَّ اللَّهَ هُوَ يَقْبَلُ التَّوْبَةَ عَنْ عِبَادِهِ وَيَأْخُذُ الصَّدَقَاتِ وَأَنَّ اللَّهَ هُوَ التَّوَّابُ الرَّحِيمُ ﴾ [التوبة: 104]

“Have they not come to know that Allah is He who accepts repentance from His slaves and accepts Sadaqat, and that Allah is Most-Relenting, Very-Merciful”.

And our Lord, Glory be to Him, hates if His servant commits a sin and then publicizes it, rather Allah the Almighty commanded him to repent and seek forgiveness. Severe rebuke has been reported regarding uncovering and declaring of disobedience.

Abu Huraira narrated: I heard Allah's Messenger saying:

“All the sins of my followers will be forgiven except those of the Mujahirin (those who commit a sin openly or disclose their sins to the people). An example of such disclosure is that a person commits a sin at night and though Allah screens it from the public, then he comes in the morning, and says, 'O so-and-so, I did such-and-such (evil) deed yesterday,' though he spent his night screened by his Lord (none knowing about his sin) and in the morning he removes Allah's screen from himself” Narrated by Bukhari and Muslim.

Ibn Battal said: In disclosing the sin, there is a dissepiment of the rights of Allah and His Messenger and the righteous believers.

Allah characterized by concealment, Glory be to Him, does not uncover the veil from His servant when he commits sin the first time until he goes to excess in sins.

It is narrated on the authority of Al-Faruq, may Allah be pleased with him, that he said to a thief who apologized that it was the first time: “you lied, Because Allah the Almighty does not punish His servant the first time”.

Allah ’s concealment in the Hereafter would be greater than the His concealment in this world. The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said: “Allah will bring a believer near Him and shelter him with His Screen and ask him: Did you commit such-and-such sins? He will say: Yes, my Lord. Allah will keep on asking him till he will confess all his sins and will think that he is ruined. Allah will say: 'I did screen your sins in the world and I forgive them for you today', and then he will be given the book of his good deeds. Regarding infidels and hypocrites (their evil acts will be exposed publicly) and the witnesses will say: These are the people who lied against their Lord. Behold! The Curse of Allah is upon the wrongdoers” (11.18). Narrated by Al-Bukhari.

Oh Allah, oh the One who is characterized by concealment, protect us, o the most Forgiving, forgive us, O the Most Merciful, have mercy on us, O Repentant, accept our repentance, O Guide, O Possessor of Majesty and Honor, guide us.

Second Sermon

Praise be to Allah.

Afterwards,

It is no hidden that belief in the names of Allah, Glory be to Him, and knowing them produces many effects on the servant.

Here are a series of effects of belief in Allah ’s name, the “Concealing”.

Among them: Allah ’s love for His servants, Glory be to Him, who is most Merciful to His servants, who conceals their faults and does not hurry to give them punishment, despite He has power and He is need-free.

Among them is: the modesty of Allah Almighty, who sees his servant disobeying Him, but conceals his faults and calls him to do repentance. So, the servant also should feel ashamed from his Lord, who sees him in all circumstances and is not hidden from Him anything of his servant.

One of the effects of faith in the name of Allah the “concealing” and, at the same time, it is a reason of Allah ’s concealment: to adopt the quality of concealment for Himself and for creatures, because Allah is the “concealer” and loves concealment.

On the authority of Ibn Omar, may Allah be pleased with them both, he said: “The Messenger of Allah (s.a.w) ascended the Minbar and called out with a raised voice: ’O you who accepted Islam with his tongue, while faith has not reached his heart! Do not harm the Muslims, nor revile them, nor spy on them to expose their secrets. For indeed whoever tries to expose his Muslims brother’s secrets, Allah exposes his secrets wide open, even if he were in the depth of his house”. Narrated by Al-Tirmidhi and classed as hasan by Al-Albani.

And it is narrated in Bukhari and Muslim” and he who conceals (the faults) of a Muslim, Allah would conceal his faults in the world and in the Hereafter”.

The believer conceals the faults of others and be faithful to them, and the hypocrite reveals and expose the faults of others.

When a Muslim conceals the faults of others, it does not mean that he has left to forbid him and advise him. Rather, he continues to give him sincere advises and conceals his faults, even though he does not stop.

Such things are not included in forbidden backbiting rather they are from obligatory faithfulness, as it is decided by the people of knowledge.

الذمُ ليس بغيبةٍ في ستةٍ متظلمٍ ومعرفٍ ومحذرِ ولمظهرٍ فسقا ومستفتٍ ومن طلبَ الإعانةَ في إزالةِ منكرِ

“(dispraising is not backbiting in six cases: for the one who is oppressed, for introducing someone, for the one who warns from someone. It is also permissible to backbite a person who commits evil acts publicly, and it is permissible for that person who seeks fatwa (Islamic ruling), and it is also permissible for a person who asks for help to remove an evil.)

Among the effects of faith in Allah ’s name the “Concealing” and, at the same time, it is a reason for attaining Allah ’s concealment: is to supplicate and ask for His concealment in this world and the hereafter. The Prophet, peace be upon him, used to supplicate:” O Allah! conceal my faults and keep me safe from the things which, I fear”.

“Human faults” means: defects, shortcomings, and everything that displeases one to be exposed, and safeguarding from uncovering the private parts is included in that too.

Among the reasons for Allah ’s concealment is to adopt sincerity and to avoid being showing off. The prophet PBUH said: "He who lets the people hear of his good deeds intentionally, to win their praise, Allah will let the people know his real intention (on the Day of Resurrection), and he who does good things in public to show off and win the praise of the people, Allah will disclose his real intention (and humiliate him)”. Narrated by Bukhari and Muslim.

Honorable people:

It is the duty of the servant to strive against himself in order to keep himself away from sins:

﴿ وَذَرُوا ظَاهِرَ الْإِثْمِ وَبَاطِنَهُ إِنَّ الَّذِينَ يَكْسِبُونَ الْإِثْمَ سَيُجْزَوْنَ بِمَا كَانُوا يَقْتَرِفُونَ ﴾ [الأنعام: 120]

“Leave outward sin and inward sin. Surely, those who commit sin shall be punished for what they used to commit”.

And whoever commits any sin, he must cover himself with the veil of Allah, and rush to do repentance, and he must do a lot of good deeds.

Then send peace and salutations...

((The content of the sermon is taken from the book “Fiqhul-Asmaul-husna” written by: Al-Badr” and from the book “wllilahil-Asmaul-husna” written by Jaleel along with various additions).