for some people—may Allah protect us—take offense the moment they see a man holding fast to the Sunnah.
He then cited two hadiths.
- The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “A Muslim is the one from whose tongue and hand the Muslims are safe, and the muhajir (emigrant) is the one who abandons what Allah has forbidden.”
A Muslim is the person from whose tongue the Muslims are safe, meaning he neither curses, reviles, insults, back-bites, nor carries tales about them. He has restrained every verbal plague that harms people, so they are secure from his tongue. The Muslims are likewise safe from his hand: he does not strike them, steal from them, ruin their property, or commit any similar aggression. Such is the Muslim.
This description does not imply that no one else is a Muslim; rather, it emphasizes that such conduct is part of Islam. In reality, a Muslim is anyone who submits to Allah outwardly and inwardly, yet this kind of wording is sometimes used to spur people to a particular deed even though others who fall short of it are still Muslims.
As for the muhajir, he is the one who abandons what Allah has forbidden. Everyone knows that a muhajir originally means someone who leaves a land of disbelief for a land of Islam in order to practice his religion. However, hijrah can also mean that a person forsakes whatever Allah has prohibited: he utters no unlawful word, commits no unlawful act, and neglects no obligatory duty. Instead, he performs what is obligatory and avoids what is forbidden. Such a person is the muhajir, for he has abandoned what Allah has forbidden.
- The second hadith is the Prophet’s saying: “Whoever would love to be kept away from the Fire and admitted into Paradise, let death overtake him while he believes in Allah and the Last Day, and let him treat people in the way he would love to be treated.” His phrase “whoever would love” is an interrogative meant to arouse eagerness, for every single person desires to be spared the Fire and enter Paradise—because whoever is kept away from the Fire and admitted into Paradise