see his brother subjected to gloating; it equally clashes with the Almighty’s words: “Those who harm believing men and believing women for something they did not commit have surely burdened themselves with a slander and a manifest sin.”

The compiler then brings the hadith of Wathila ibn al-Asqaʿ, in which the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said: “Do not gloat over your brother’s misfortune, lest Allah show him mercy and afflict you instead.” In other words, when someone taunts his brother about some fault or calamity, Allah may well have mercy on the one who was mocked—curing him of that condition and removing it—then test the mocker with the very same affliction. This occurs frequently. Hence another report—its authenticity is debatable yet its meaning accords with the first—states: “Whoever reproaches his brother for a sin will not die before he himself falls into it.” So refrain from shaming the Muslims and from gloating over them, for the matter over which you gloat may be lifted from them and visited upon you.