Give Credit Where Credit is Due - 6/29 - 30 Verses For 30 Days 2022

Salamun ʿalaykum wa rahmatu Allah, and welcome to our sixth clip of the month of Ramadan. We are going to discuss verse number eight from Surah Al-Ma'idah, Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala says:

“Ya ayyuha alladhina amanu, kunu qawwamina lil-Lahi shuhadaʾ bi 'l-qist, wa la yajrimannakum shanaʾu qawmin ʿala alla taʿdilu” (5:8). O you who believe, when they come to you and they ask you to give your testimony. You have witnessed something and people are now asking you for your side of the story. “Kunu qawwamina lil-Lahi shuhadaʾ bi 'l-qist” (5:8). Make sure that what you utter is a speech of truth and justice. So you can't change the events, you can't use your own biases and change what had happened, just because you like someone or don't like someone.

And then the verse continues, it says: “wa la yajrimannakum shanaʾu qawmin” (5:8), don't ever allow the bad feelings that you have towards someone, the background you have from this person, the interactions that you have had with this person in other situations and other scenarios, don't allow that to come and now change the testimony that you are giving in this moment. And this is very important.

There are times, and all of us - I'll give you examples of how we deal with this on a personal level. There are times where we might be asked about our side of the story. And maybe, because this person has done wrong things outside of this situation - in this situation they are innocent, in the situation they are asking us about, they are innocent. But outside of this, they might have done some wrong things, or maybe there's some bad blood between us, whatever the case might be. The Quran says you have to be careful not to allow that bad blood and that feeling that you have towards this person, it can not move you away from justice.

In other words, you can give blame where blame is due. You also have to give credit where credit is due. In this scenario, if the person is innocent, or in this scenario, if the person did a good thing, you can't just forget about the good that they are doing because of the bad that they have done. People in this world, they are not white and black. There's a lot of gray. And you have to be able to differentiate and separate the good that they have done from the wrong that they have done.

Otherwise, if you look at the wrong that they have done, and now they ask you about anything else, and you tell them, no, this person is a terrible person, he's a bad person. The Quran says you can't do this. The Quran says don't allow your feelings to get the best of you. And when they ask you about a certain scenario, and this person in this situation is completely innocent, then because of the bad feelings you have about this person, you now change the story and say, well, yeah, this person is like this, he probably did it anyways.

So, to wrap up what the verse is saying: you give blame where blame is due, but you also have to learn to give credit where credit is due. And when you are giving credit, just because you don't like this person doesn't mean it allows you to take the good that they have done and smear it, or change it, or make them forget about it, or make it look bad. No, you have to be able to separate. This person might have done wrong things otherwise, but now, in this situation, they did something good. And when people ask you, you say, you know what, in this situation, I completely agree with what this person did, and they deserve credit.

And this is important. Why? Because if you look at life from this perspective, then you will start to learn to see the good in people. Because everyone has bad, everyone has something bad. You will only be able to remain sane in this world if you are able to also see the good that people bring to the table.