Am I responsible?

Imam Nasa’i and others relates a ḥadīth where it is mentioned that Rasūl Allāh صلى الله عليه وسلم led Fajr salah. He was reciting the Holy Qur’an and experienced some difficulties in the recitation. After salah he turned to the congregation and said to ‘Oh people! Make good your wudhu. Some of you do not complete your wudhu and because of that I was being affected in my recitation of the Qur’an’.

Thus, someone failing to perform wudhu correctly had an effect on the Rasūl Allāh’s صلى الله عليه وسلم recitation of the Holy Qur’an, even though he was the Messenger of Allāh سبحانه وتعالى and the recipient of the Holy Qur’an. This ḥadīth shows that before we question others about their behaviour and think anything negative regarding them we should pause for thought and ask ourselves what have I done to contribute to that? Am I responsible for this in any way? For example, if the Imam is making errors in his recitation during salah could it be possible that my own sins and lack of purity (physical and spiritual) may be having that effect?

We always blame the other. We never think about ourselves.We should remember that we cannot change the world as many things are beyond our control. The only person we can change is ourselves. We can change the way we react to any given situation.

[This short excerpt is based on a spiritual gathering held by Shaykh Riyadh ul Haq on 17th May 2015].

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