for that would upset him.” Agreed upon.

[Explanation]

Among the etiquettes that Islam promotes and encourages is what al-Nawawī—may Allah have mercy on him—drew attention to in his Riyāḍ al-Ṣāliḥīn under the chapter entitled “The Prohibition of Two People Confer­ring Privately to the Exclusion of a Third.” He supported this with the verse: “Secret counsels are only from Satan,” meaning that such whispering originates with Satan. Allah, exalted is He, then clarifies what Satan aims to accomplish through these private talks: “to grieve those who believe; yet he cannot harm them in the least except by Allah’s permission.”

Whenever Muslims passed by them, some of those people would draw one another aside and whisper in secret, conversing among themselves merely to distress the believers, who would think, “These people must be plotting evil against us,” or the like. Indeed, the enemies of the believers—hypocrites and disbelievers—are ever keen on doing what saddens and harms them, for that is exactly what Satan wants from the enemies of Allah: he seeks by every means to grieve the believers, both directly and through his allies. Allah the Exalted says, “and he cannot harm them in the least except by Allah’s permission.” Whoever places his trust in Allah and relies upon Him will not be harmed by anyone, just as the Prophet ﷺ said to Ibn ʿAbbās: “Know that if the whole nation were to gather together to benefit you with something, they would not benefit you except with what Allah has already written for you.” Thus, they whisper among themselves solely to distress the believers.