Submitted by : qalamuddin on Strugle

Dilemma Of A Friend

When a friend commits a sin
“Stop! – As advising him will create a scene”
As usual my mind was playing this hymn
When I was about to talk to him

For our common good
Speak out I should *
But the word seems to stuck at my throat
I was numbed I choked

Courage let me down
I looked at him and turned around
As I do not want to offend
Oh Allah, What is my defense?

I failed as a friend
This is a common trend
The good hidden by our own hand
When sin aplenty we didn’t dare comment

As a Muslim I failed
Not that the action will take me to jail
As I didn’t remind a friend in need
That a sin he did commit!

How and why I arrived at this stage?
A weak Iman still haunting my life’s page
I fear Allah’s rage **
For my impotence to gauge ***

I pray and hope to be strong
To be able to tell him what he did was wrong
This is the deed of a true friend indeed
Oh Allah, give me strength give me what I need

In this modern world religion is a private affair
We don’t talk we don’t share
The truth and good lay hidden
Weaken by our deeds – we forget to remind and pardon

As Muslim we are all brother
I keep telling myself I should be bother ****
But when a sin is committed in front of me
All I did was just watch and see!


The sins I didn’t stop
As I fear losing a friend losing a job
Oh Allah please forgive my weakness
As I fill my days with this sadness

This is the dilemma of a friend
When wrong we tried to fend
In Islam this is the message send
As stopping a friend from a sin is just grand*****

Penned by Qalamuddin Dated 02/01/2011

* Abu Sa'id al-Khudri said, "I heard the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, say, 'Whoever of you sees something wrong should change it with his hand; if he cannot, then with his tongue; if he cannot, then with his heart, and that is the weakest form of belief.'" [Muslim]

** Al-Quran 7:165 “We rescued those who forbidden the evil and seized those who did wrong with a harsh punishment because they were deviators.”

*** What is Halal is clear and what is Haram is clear. Midway between them are things which people do not know whether they are Halal or Haram. He who keeps away from them will protect his religion and will be saved. He who aproaches them is very near to Haram, like a shepherd wandering his flock near Hima (protected grazing land), who could soon enter the forbidden area, and Allah's protected area is what He has declared forbidden

**** Al-Quran 9:71 “The believers, men and women, are friends of one another. They command what is right and forbid what is wrong.”

***** An-Nu'man ibn Bashir reported that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "The metaphor of someone who stops at the limits of Allah and someone who transgresses them is that of some people who draw lots on a boat. Some of them get the upper deck and some of them the lower. When those in the lower deck want to get water, they have to pass by those above them. Then they say, 'If we were to make a hole in our deck, we would not have to bother those above us.' If they were to let them do what they wanted, all of them would perish. If they seize hold of their hands and stop them, they will be saved and all of them will be saved." [al-Bukhari]