Six Pieces of Advice

I'll recite to you some of the sayings of Shuʿayb that were mentioned in the Qur'an. In these two ayat^**, Sayyidunā Shuʿayb has six advice — pieces of advice — that he is giving everyone. I'll read the ayat. He said:

Yā qawmi a-raʾaytum in kuntu ʿalā bayyinatin min rabbī wa razaqanī minhu rizqan ḥasanā. O my people, tell me: if I have a clear evidence from my Lord, and He has given me good sustenance from Himself. I wish not, in contradiction to you, to do that which I forbid you. I only desire reform so far as I am able, to the best of my power. And my guidance cannot come except from Allah; in Him I trust, and unto Him I repent. And O my people, let not my shiqāq cause you to suffer the fate similar to that of the people of Nūḥ, or Hūd, or Ṣāliḥ; and the people of Lūṭ are not far from you. And ask forgiveness of your Lord, and turn unto Him in repentance; verily my Lord is Most Merciful, Most Loving.

In these three ayat, there are six pieces of advice. Number one: I wish not, in contradiction to you, to do that which I forbid you. Shuʿayb is saying: I do not want to do something that is contradicting my words. If I say something, I must do it. And that is a very important quality of the believer, and the opposite is a quality of the hypocrites. They say things, and they don't act upon them; and they say things, and they do the opposite.

And this is a very, very dangerous thing. Because the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) says in the authentic hadith that in the Hellfire there would be a man who's running around his intestines; he is running around them. So the people of the Hellfire will come to him, and they would say: you have harmed us. And then they would tell him: weren't you in dunyā telling us to do good, and you were preventing us from doing evil? This man used to do amr bi-l-maʿrūf and nahy ʿan al-munkar: he used to enjoin the people to do good, and he would forbid them from doing evil. Why was he punished? He would tell them: because I used to tell you to do the good, and I wouldn't do it; and I used to prevent you from doing evil, and I would do it. And that's his punishment.

Sayyidunā Shuʿayb is saying: wa mā urīdu an ukhālifakum ilā mā anhākum ʿanh. I do not want to tell you something, and then I don't fulfil it and do it. I'm applying the same standards on you that I apply on myself. I'm doing the same thing that I'm telling you to do.