Opening and Context

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. All praise is due to Allah, Lord of all worlds. May blessings and peace be upon our Messenger and Prophet Muhammad, upon his noble family, his righteous companions, and all those who follow their example. We offer boundless gratitude to Allah, the One God, Creator and Lord of all worlds. We worship only Him and seek help only from Him. We ask Him to forgive all our sins, cover our shame, accept from us our worship and good deeds, and by His mercy and will, admit us to Jannat al-Firdaws. Amin.

This is the second of ten pre-Ramadan lectures for young people, held on Wednesdays at the Muslim Youth Club. I am pleased to see so many of you here—mashallah, many more than last time. Today's topic is: "And shame is part of faith." This comes from a hadith of the Messenger Muhammad in which he teaches us about iman—our inner faith. When we speak of iman separately from Islam, they have different meanings. Islam is our external expression of faith through testimony, prayer, fasting, charity, and pilgrimage. Iman, on the other hand, is our inner faith, which increases and decreases.

The Foundations and Nature of Iman

The foundation of faith consists of the conditions and pillars of iman: belief in Allah, in His angels, His books, His messengers, the Day of Judgment, and belief that everything that happens occurs by Allah's will and decree. Iman is a feeling, a state of being that, as we have said, increases and decreases. When we are in worship, when we pray, study the Qur'an, remember Allah, and learn supplications—when our thoughts are connected to Allah, our Creator and Lord—our iman grows. The moment you begin to glorify the Lord of worlds, the moment you utter the words "Subhan'Allah," "Alhamdulillah," "Allahu Akbar," or simply cry out in your privacy, "O Allah, help me—I have no way out except through You," know that Allah has inspired you to seek His help, and that is iman.

If you ask yourselves, "How do I know I have iman?" The answer is: when you begin to mention the Lord of worlds, to glorify Him, to praise Him, to thank Him—know that you feel the sense of faith. On the other hand, when you begin to commit sin, when you speak foul words, neglect prayer, disrespect faith, and forget Allah—know that you have lost iman.

The Structure of Faith According to the Messenger

The Messenger Muhammad said in a hadith about iman that "faith is built upon seventy-some parts. The first and most important constituent part is the testimony of faith, the words of tawhid." Let me clarify: this has nothing to do with tawhid for the deceased. This is the testimony of tawhid—the pure belief in one God. The words "La ilaha illallah"—there is no god but Allah—are like a key that unlocks Paradise. There are no other teeth on the key, no other key except this one. La ilaha illallah. Yet as followers of the Messenger Muhammad, we must add that Muhammad is His servant and messenger, or in the full testimony: "There is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is His servant and messenger."

The Messenger also taught us that the weakest part of faith is to remove from the path something that troubles passersby. So if a branch blocks the way, if a stone blocks the way, if anything troubles people—when you remove it, you are affirming your faith. But then the hadith continues, and the Messenger Muhammad says: "And shame is part of faith." Notice this as a separate point. The first and most important part is the words "La ilaha illallah." The weakest is removing something that troubles passersby from the path. And then the Messenger says: "And shame is part of faith."

Understanding Shame and Its Connection to Faith

There are many interpretations here. Whoever has shame has faith. Whoever has faith has shame. In other words, if shame disappears from a person, faith disappears. Or if a person loses faith, certainly they have no shame. Now let me ask you: How would you define shame? You probably would all have something in common in your definitions. What is shame to you? Setting aside rulings for now—is shame not something we feel when we cover the intimate parts of our bodies from one another? Yes, we do not expose these parts to each other, and we feel shame about them. We have a natural, innate sense of modesty about this.

We have the account of our ancestors, Adam and Eve, in Paradise. When the cursed Satan deceived them—and the cursed Satan always deceives; he tempts us toward sin though he has no real power over us—he pushed them toward the pitfall of sin, just as he pushed our parents Adam and Eve toward it. What was forbidden to Adam and Eve? Everything in Paradise was permitted to them except one tree. I do not want this to sound trivial. That tree was a test for humanity as such. Through that tree, which is called not merely the tree of prohibition but the tree of knowledge, man learned that he cannot be divine, that he cannot be eternal. We might ask now, as we read the Qur'an: "Dear Allah, if everything in Paradise is permitted, why did You—in quotes—establish that prohibition?" Because in Paradise, which we hope to enter, and we ask the Lord of worlds for that, there will be no such prohibitions. What did humanity need to learn? And how did the cursed Satan tempt them? He said: "Adam, you and Eve—Allah forbids you this tree so that you will not be eternal."

The Test of the Tree and Human Nature

Adam, thinking intently, reasoned: "Aha, Allah created me. I have firm belief and a Lord. But this is the tree of eternity—this means I will never die." Of course, seeking refuge in Allah from this, eternity is the state of the Lord of worlds alone. But man as man—the first thing that comes into play is his curiosity. Is it not so? When your parents forbade you something as a child, you could hardly wait for them to leave so you could check it, is it not so? And even today, when something is forbidden to you, such is human nature. A person does not want to be forbidden anything; he wants to test it intentionally. We say "out of spite," do we not? Unless there is faith and God-consciousness. Unless one is aware that Allah watches, and that too is part of the content of shame. We will see that later.

Let us return to Adam and Eve and the revelation of their shame. Allah teaches us in Surat Taha: "When Adam and Eve wronged themselves, committed injustice against themselves, and approached the tree, their intimate parts suddenly became visible to them." And they, the Qur'an says, began to cover themselves with leaves from Paradise. Why? They felt shame and embarrassment. Here we can speak of two kinds of shame. One is innate—we walk in clothing. And, forgive me, when we fulfill our biological needs, we do not do so in front of one another; we go to the toilet. This is innate shame. Both believers and disbelievers have this. Those conscious of Allah and those not conscious, the good and those not good—all have it. Only, do not misunderstand me: only people without reason, without sense, lack this kind of shame.

Shame Before Allah and Gratitude

But the kind of shame that believers have—the kind that Adam and Eve felt—is shame before the Lord of worlds. They said: "All that Allah gave us in Paradise." And you young people now say this: "Allah gave me everything—He gave me good appearance." Look, you are all here young, beautiful, intelligent, you have hearing, you have sight, you can use your hands and legs, you are healthy, you have food and clothing, you go to school, to universities, you work. And then you say, and then you forget to thank Allah. That is where you lose shame. You and I both. Allah gave us everything. On one hand we do not give thanks, and on the other we violate Allah's boundaries. Allah says to me and to you: "This is fire for you, this is ruin, this is evil for you." Let us say, for young people especially, but for everyone. Do not approach fornication. Notice, Allah did not say in Surat al-Isra: "Fornication is forbidden to you." Rather, He said: "Do not even approach it." Because once you approach it, it is finished. A young person, full of strength, full of passion, full of emotion—there is no chance you will be safe. There are degrees of fornication, of course. But everything that leads to fornication is fornication as such. A kiss, an embrace, correspondence—so-called improper, immoral communication—leads to the same thing. And then Allah and His messenger say: do not approach such things, for they can lead you to ruin. Whoever guards against it, all respect to them, but few can do so unless Allah has mercy on them, as He did on Joseph. And we will place this in the context of Joseph and his story, in the story of shame and faith.

The Repentance of Adam and Eve

Thus Adam and Eve said: "Our Lord, we have wronged ourselves." They said: "O Lord of worlds, the two of us have committed injustice against ourselves. Forgive us, Allah. If You do not forgive us, we will perish, we will be among the lost." Notice here the emphasis on human accountability. No matter how much shame we have and how hard we try not to commit sin, can we ultimately avoid it? No, we cannot. But it is essential that we do not lose our shame before the Lord of worlds. It is essential that we do not intentionally violate Allah's boundaries. Do you know what can happen? It can happen that we become accustomed to sin, any kind of sin. And that becomes the path to ruin. You lose shame, you lose faith, you lose happiness, you lose human and believer dignity. And when you start down that slippery path, it is like standing on a mountainside with a frozen path below, on skis or without them—there is no chance you will stop. That is what the path to sin is like when you surrender to it. And now, when you want to climb back up that mountain—to improve your situation—you know well how much effort it takes for you to climb up that mountain to Allah's contentment. Last time we said that the goal of our lives is Allah's contentment. On that path we will stumble. But it is essential that, like Adam, we...