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All Praise is due to Allah: We Praise Him: We beg assistance of Him:

We ask Him for forgiveness. We have faith in Him: We have reliance
.on Him

We fly for refuge unto Him (to deliver us) from the mischief of our
minds and from the evil consequences of our actions.

Whomever Allah directs shall not go astray: and whomever He allows

to go astray, no one can guide.

We profess that there is nothing worthy of worship except Allah, and

we further profess that Muhammad is His Servant and His Messenger.

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Cannibal case shocks Germany

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Friday, December 13, 2002 Posted: 8:44 AM EST (1344 GMT)

From www.CNN.com ROTENBURG-AN-DER-FULD, Germany -- German police are

watching home videos made by a man who apparently killed and ate a man after
advertising for a willing victim on the Internet.

Prosecutors say the 41-year-old suspect, who has confessed to the crime, is not being treated as insane.

The accused cut off part of the victim's body by mutual agreement because they wanted to eat it together,
police said in a statement.

The suspect then killed the man -- a 42-year-old from Berlin -- with deep cuts to the neck and chopped the
body into pieces that he froze and later ate, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors have named neither the victim nor suspect. Both men were computer technicians, German
newspapers said. Police believe the killing happened in March last year.

Police arrested the man, who lives in Rotenburg-an-der-Fulda, near Kassel, in the German state of Hesse,
after he posted an Internet ad seeking another male volunteer to satisfy his appetites.

Kassel prosecutor Hans-Manfred Jung told Reuters news agency the man was in custody and was regarded
as capable of standing trial.

"The deed appears to stem from cannibalistic and homosexual tendencies shared by both men," police said
in a statement.

Officers were searching the suspect's home -- an 18th century manor house -- on Friday, and said they had
found frozen human flesh and bones as well as video recordings of the crime.

Neighbors said they found the story difficult to comprehend. One said: "It was sort of clear to us that he had
a different perspective on life than we did but he was a normal person, to speak to him, to drink a glass of
beer with him, just like you and me."

CNN's Stephanie Halasz said the case, which had shocked the country, was dominating the tabloid press.

Some newspapers had talked to psychologists in an attempt to try to understand the crime, she said.

Bild newspaper described the crime as the most bizarre crime of modern German criminal history. "A man
was led to the butcher's block, and eaten," it said.

It is Germany's second headline-grabbing murder case this year after a young couple was jailed in January
for killing a friend and stabbing him 66 times in a Satanic ritual

Astfigullallah, May Allah protect us from becoming like this

Then We reduced him to the lowest of the low, (5)

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Now I am sure everyone is disgusted, sickened, and appalled by such an

gruesome, evil act, strange act of cannibalism.

So you might ask the question what this story has to do with Islam, and this
khutbah. The following hadith will answer this question. Imam Asbahanee relates
from Rasullah, that on the day of Judgment:

A person who backbited another Muslim the body of that person will be placed
before him. And it will be said to him eat just as you ate of his flesh in the world.
And then the person who backbited will be forced to eat.

Therefore I want to continue today from our Khutbah from last time on the topic
of gheebah.

So imagine being force fed something that you would hate to eat, what will you
do, you will make face, you will scream, you will pant, but to no avail that person
who backbited will be forced to the corpse of the one they backbited on
according to this hadith.

So brothers and sisters in Islam just like that sick german canbalist who ate the
flesh of his sick volunteer, the sin of backbiting is a form of canabilism in Islam.
And this is what Allah Tala’ has compared to in the Quran in 49:12:

O you who believe! Avoid suspicion as much as possible for suspicion in

some cases is a sin. And spy not on each other, nor speak ill of each other
behind their backs. Would any of you like to eat the flesh of his dead
brother? Nay, you would abhor it...But fear Allah, for Allah is Oft-

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Returning, Most Merciful (Al-Hujurat 49/12).

So based on the sayings of Allah in Quran and Rasullah- Backbiting is haram; it

is one of the major sins and repentance, touba must be sought for this sin. There
is no other opinion in Islam.

So as we talked about last time our Beloved (SAW) define gheebah when he
said to his campanions:

RasulAllah said to his companions, "Do you know what gheebah is?"

They said, "Allah and His Messenger know best."

He said, "It is to mention something about your brother (in his absence) that he
would hate."

It was said, “What if what I say about my brother is true?”

He sal Allaahu alayhi wa sallam said, "If what you said about him is true then you
would have backbitten him, and if it is not true, then you would have slandered
him (buhtaan)" (Muslim).

So brothers and sisters in Islam backbiting is simply saying something in

absence of your brother or sister that they dislike. Therefore the scholars mention
that if we remark about someone’s, height, weight, color, complexion, looks, how
they walk, how they talk, demeaning their dress, anything that they dislike then
we fall into backbiting which is a form of cannibalism.

Now what happens is that many times we make excuses for our backbiting we
say things like well, I have the courage to say it to his face. Another excuse that
we come out with is that I am only saying a story, or incident, or a fact. All these
are not valid excuses for gheebah according to our scholars. Again gheebah is
simply saying something that is true about some in his absence that he dislikes.

Zik-rooka-akhaa-ka-be-maa-aykroo-kah mentioning something about your

brother that he dislikes.

So the problem is that we take the sin of gheebah to lightly. Many time you will
find that we pray, fast, eat only zabhih meat, do all kinds of good deeds but yet
we fall into this sin of gheebah.

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Part of the problem of us being so desensitive, and desensitize to gheebah in this

age quote “modern age”, and predominately non Muslim country where
backbiting is not consider a big deal. I am mean I sure you hear at work, or
school, “Oh you know what that person, is such and such a person”, “Oh you
know what I saw of such and such a person”, “Let me tell you what I heard about
such and such a person”, “That person is so ugly”, “That person is so
overweight”. And people laugh, and joke about backbiting and do not give it a
second thought. I mean even the most educated and elite of this society we live
in does not consider backbiting a big deal. A couple of days ago Senator Orin
Hatch was talking about and remembering the late Ted Kennedy and he said in a
town (meaning DC) where backbiting is a big part of this business, you did not
hear much negative talk about Ted Kennedy

But again Islam has set a high moral bar by the wisdom of Allah on the gheebah.
And again gheebah is a form of cannibalism.

And if we look at our Scholars, the Sahab, our Beloved Prophet was very
sensitive to the sin of gheebah.

Imam Dawood Athi (Rahmatullah-ulh, May Allah have mercy upon him) one day
he was walking along a path and all of a sudden he fell down unconscious. When
Imam Dawood awoke from passing out, the people asked him what happened.
Imam Dawood said I saw the spot that in the past on one occasion I had spoken
ill of someone behind their back. And all of a sudden I was hit by a vision of the
day of judgment when I will be standing in the court of Allah, and that person will
demand compensation, demand retribution for the backbiting, when I saw that
vision I fell unconscious.

So look at the pious people how sensitive that they are about even if they commit
this sin one time, they are so sensitive to it, yet we are not.

In another example that I heard in a lecture on the subject of Gheebah. One

Imam saw in his dream that a huge individual was sitting, and he had infront of
him with a plate of pork, and that person said to me eat! The Imam said to him
how can I eat that pork. The man said eat this pork, like you ate the flesh of that
person you backbited, and then the man forced fed the Imam the pork.

The Imam reported that for 30 days after he woke from that dream every time he
ate he felt that taste of that pork in his mouth. So again look how sensitive these
pious people are to gheebah, that if they only do gheebah once look what a
shock it is to their conscious but we commit this all the time and we are
insensitive to it.

Interestingly enough when I was researching on this topic I came across many
articles that mentioned that firefighters who have been in fire where people
where burning report that the smell of burning human flesh smells like pork. So

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Subhana-Allah look at this dream of this Imam and being forced to eat pork
because of one instance of gheebah and look how firefighters report that actual
burning human flesh smells like pork.

Look at the example of our Beloved Rasool, one of the wives of Rasullah Safiyah
who was jew before converting to Islam, did not have a mount, and Zainab bint
Jahsh had a spare mount, so Rasullah asked Zainab to give her extra mount to
Safiyah. Zainab said in the absence of Safiyah “Shall I give my camel to this
Jewishess” Rasullah SAW turned away, and did not speak to Zainab bint Jahsh
for 2.5 months.

Another example of Rasullah’s observing gheebah, It is related in a hadith that

Rasullah had order fasting a particular day and had asked the people not to
break it without his permission. So one man came and ask out of exhaustion that
he break the fast. Rasullah give it to him. A second man came and also
expressed exhaustion form thirst and hunger to break the fast, Rasullah gave
him permission. Then a man came and said Rasullah there are two women who
have fasted all day and they are to shy to ask you directly to break their fast.
Rasullah ingnore the man. That man later returned and ask the same request.
Rasullah order that the women be brought before them and he order that two
bowl be place infront of them. Rasullah said to both of them vomit. The women
said ya Rasulllah we have fasted all day, how can we vomit. Rasullah said,
vomit. Then the women vomited flesh and blood and Rasullah said, The
onlookers were astonished. Then the Prophet, on him be peace, said: "These
two women have been Fasting from what Allah made lawful to them, and have
broken their Fast on what God, Exalted is He, made unlawful to them. They sat
together and indulged in backbiting, and here is the flesh of the people they
maligned!"'

Hadith by Ibn majah on the man who committed zina and admitted to
Rasullah(SAW)

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May Allah grace you and us with the blessings of the grand Qurr’an, and
may it benefit us and you with the verses and with wise commemoration, for
He the Almighty is Generous, Noble, Sovereign, Benign, Compassionate,
and Merciful.

PART II

So we have been continuing on the subject of backbiting, and talking about the
enormity, kabir sin that backbiting is, and how the pious generations took it so
serious, and how we could end up aouzbillah min zhlik (May Allah protect us
from this) if we backbite being forced fed the dead corpse of the person(s) we
backbited in the hearafter, and that if we fall into this sin we must, we must make
toubah.

So we see how serious the pious people, the sahib, and our Beloved (SAW) took
the sin of gheebah.

Now one the major characteristic of gheebah is that it is so easy to do. I am

saying someone is too short, too tall, too white, too black, cricket teeth, has a
stutter, any kind of disability said in a negative way in their absence turns into
gheebah. So our Beloved Rasool (SAW) told us:

That whoever believes in Allah and the day of judgment, should not be mean to
their neighbors, treat their guest with honor, and say something good or be
quiet.

Uqbah Ibn Aamir narrates:

I said, "O RasulAllah! What is salvation?"

He sal Allaahu alayhi wa sallam said, "Hold your tongue! Make your house
spacious for your guest. And cry over your (own) faults” (Tirmidhi)!

May Allah give us tafeeq to follow the Quran and Sunnah of our Beloved (SAW).

Now some may think well, it is so hard to stop, and it is so easy to backbite, and I
cannot stop, and we end up doing it all the time, so what is the point of making
toubah. But if we think like this then we fail to realize on Allah Tala’ Mercy, or
perhaps. Allah Tala tells in 73:20:

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Allah says: "And seek forgiveness of Allah. Indeed, Allah is Forgiving and Merciful." [al-
Muzammil (73):20]

And also remember the saying of our

Beloved(SAW):

Al-Bukhaari (7507) and Muslim (2758) narrated from Abu Hurayrah that the Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said that his Lord said: “My slave commits
sin, then he says, ‘O Allaah, forgive me my sin.’ Then Allaah says, ‘My slave has
committed a sin, but he knows that he has a Lord Who forgives sin and takes away sin.
So I forgive My slave.’ Then he commits sin again, and says, ‘O Allaah, forgive me my
sin.’ Then Allaah says, ‘My slave has committed a sin, but he knows that he has a Lord
Who forgives sin and takes away sin. So I forgive My slave.’ Then he commits sin again,
and says, ‘O Allaah, forgive me my sin.’ Then Allaah says, ‘My slave has committed a
sin, but he knows that he has a Lord Who forgives sin and takes away sin. So I forgive
My slave.’ …”

The scholars mentioned that we should not be using the forgiveness of Allah as
an excuse to sin, but rather we should not despair in Allah’s Mercy and
forgiveness, and be sincere in our toubah.

Ibn Abi Dunya narrated with his isnaad that ‘Ali said: “The best of you is every tempted
one who repents (i.e., every time he is tempted by this world, he repents).” It was said,
“What if he sins again?” He said, “He should ask Allaah for forgiveness and repent.” It
was said, “What if he sins again?” He said, “He should ask Allaah for forgiveness and
repent.” It was said, “What if he sins again?” He said, “He should ask Allaah for
forgiveness and repent.” It was said, “For how long?” He said, “Until the Shaytaan is
defeated.”

So we cannot despair about the mercy of Allah Tala’

Now one might ask the question what about times when gheebah is permissible,
or are there times where gheebah is permissible.

And the answer to this is “Yes”, but there are very very few times and the
conditions upon them are rigid. Inshallah next time we will talk about the very few
times where gheebah is allowed.

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