Responsibility (mas'uliyya)

Sheikh Omar Abdelkafy presents responsibility as a field of its own beside worship and transactions, and defines fiqh as the precise understanding of small and great matters. ¹ He says that responsibility is both individual and collective, that Islam does not accept passivity, withdrawal or renunciation, and that the Prophet ﷺ is the model for understanding responsibility. ² He holds that every person carries responsibility according to his place, young or old, husband or wife, father or son, student or employee. ³ He addresses everyone: responsibility covers adults and children, men and women, students, employees and officials, and each person must take it up. ⁴

The Sheikh says that a wife's patience with her husband is a form of responsibility. He claims that faith has two halves, patience and gratitude, and that a patient wife may gain paradise through her patience (needs_source: the speaker's statement on the two halves of faith is not sourced in the recording). ⁵ He holds that a father who tells his children never to lie while lying to callers sets them a bad example, and that children must study hard to excel and carry their family's banner. ⁶ A woman who works from home, and who is a caller, says she is responsible for her child and her mother, and asks how to set her priorities between morning and afternoon. ⁷ He says that God gives children as a trust, that the believer must raise them on the Book of God and the Sunna of the Prophet, and that this is part of gratitude for the blessing. ⁸ He cites a hadith on responsibility for those in one's care, and applies it to fathers, wives and children. ⁹ He cites a hadith on responsibility for those under one's charge, and applies it to a child who spends his father's money on what displeases God. ¹⁰

The Sheikh recounts that Umar sent away a man who came seeking office; later he found the man on all fours with his children on his back, and Umar said that one who is not merciful at home cannot be merciful to the public (needs_source: the story is not sourced in the recording). ¹¹ He describes an employee who thinks a matter is not his responsibility because the managers handle it, and says that this way of thinking leads to passivity. ¹² He says that whoever takes bribes or falls short in his duty brings shame on his family and tribe, and that a lack of responsibility produces such disasters. ¹³ He says that zakat is a duty, that the trust also covers office and administration, and that a manager is answerable for those under him. ¹⁴ He recounts that Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz, on taking office, asked people not to praise him and not to approach him with flattery. ¹⁵ He says that blessing and office depart from leaders who do not fear God, or who use their posts for their own gain, and that the weak must have their rights restored to them. ¹⁶ He says that provision comes from God, not from a government department or a salary clerk, and cites a Qur'anic statement that provision is in heaven (needs_source: the sura is not named in the recording). ¹⁷

The Sheikh says that the bad conduct of Muslims distorts Islam in the eyes of others, and that responsibility includes showing the greatness of Islam to distant Muslims and to non-Muslims. ¹⁸ He says that Muslims are described as the third world, asks what holds them back, and holds that the absence of responsibility at every level, great and small, is the cause. ¹⁹ He says that when women feel responsibility their societies benefit, and that the question for each person is what he has offered his religion. ²⁰

The Sheikh says that scholars warned against four things: speech, looks, steps and thoughts. He cites a hadith about the night journey concerning a word that cannot be taken back once it is spoken (needs_source: the hadith is not named in the recording). ²¹ He holds that a person should cut down his sins as far as he can and not open new doors to evil, because Satan works on humans as well as on jinn. ²²