Don’t Expose Yourself!

Imām Al-Bukhārī and Muslim رحمهما الله have both narrated a ḥadīth from Abū Hurayrah رضي الله عنه that the Prophet ﷺ said:

'Every one of my Ummah will be forgiven except the open sinners; indeed an example of sinning openly is that a man commits a sin at night, and then enters the morning with Allāh having concealed that sin for him, and says, “O so and so! Last night I committed such-and-such a sin!” He slept with Allāh having concealed him, and wakes up exposing the veil of Allāh from himself.' [1]

Committing sins is one thing, committing sins openly is another. If a person commits a sin, he has disobeyed Allāh, which is a grave thing considering all the favours and blessings Allāh has granted him. However, to sin openly is far worse, as it is open defiance of Allāh’s wishes.

In this ḥadīth the Prophet ﷺ warned against sinning openly, saying that every sinner will be forgiven except one who sins openly. There are many ways one can sin openly, like drinking alcohol, taking drugs, public disorder, etc. These are the most obvious forms of open sinning, however the Prophet ﷺ has alerted us to another form, as is clear in the ḥadīth.

It is noted often that many brothers and sisters are fall foul of this evil, and boast or disclose the sins they have committed in private to their friends. Worse still, with the increasing use of social media, the disclosure is even greater if one considers the amount of people that have access to these mediums. Merely tweeting or updating your Facebook status to something like ‘I’m listening to … track’ is enough to make you from the open sinners. Now depending on the amount of followers or friends on the network, if they comment, share or forward this post of yours, the audience to your sin becomes greater. Furthermore, if someone is ‘inspired’ to listen to what you are due to your post, you will have led them into that sin; and so too everyone that is drawn to discuss that sin with you.

This person could also fall under the following warning of the Prophet ﷺ:

‘…And whichever caller calls towards sin will be burdened with the burden of sins of the people [who erred due to him], without their burdens being lessened even a little.’ [2](Mālik)

May Allāh grant us all the correct understanding and guidance, and keep us safe from all types of sin. Āmīn.

[1] لفظ البخاري: حَدَّثَنَا عَبْدُ العَزِيزِ بْنُ عَبْدِ اللَّهِ، حَدَّثَنَا إِبْرَاهِيمُ بْنُ سَعْدٍ، عَنِ ابْنِ أَخِي ابْنِ شِهَابٍ، عَنِ ابْنِ شِهَابٍ، عَنْ سَالِمِ بْنِ عَبْدِ اللَّهِ، قَالَ: سَمِعْتُ أَبَا هُرَيْرَةَ، يَقُولُ: سَمِعْتُ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ يَقُولُ: " كُلُّ أُمَّتِي مُعَافًى إِلَّا المُجَاهِرِينَ، وَإِنَّ مِنَ المُجَاهَرَةِ أَنْ يَعْمَلَ الرَّجُلُ بِاللَّيْلِ عَمَلًا، ثُمَّ يُصْبِحَ وَقَدْ سَتَرَهُ اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ، فَيَقُولَ: يَا فُلاَنُ، عَمِلْتُ البَارِحَةَ كَذَا وَكَذَا، وَقَدْ بَاتَ يَسْتُرُهُ رَبُّهُ، وَيُصْبِحُ يَكْشِفُ سِتْرَ اللَّهِ عَنْهُ

[2] وَحَدَّثَنِي عَنْ مَالِكٍ أَنَّهُ بَلَغَهُ أَنَّ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ قَالَ مَا مِنْ دَاعٍ يَدْعُو إِلَى هُدًى إِلَّا كَانَ لَهُ مِثْلُ أَجْرِ مَنْ اتَّبَعَهُ لَا يَنْقُصُ ذَلِكَ مِنْ أُجُورِهِمْ شَيْئًا وَمَا مِنْ دَاعٍ يَدْعُو إِلَى ضَلَالَةٍ إِلَّا كَانَ عَلَيْهِ مِثْلُ أَوْزَارِهِمْ لَا يَنْقُصُ ذَلِكَ مِنْ أَوْزَارِهِمْ شَيْئًا (رواه مالك)

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