Summary: In The Name of Allah The Most Merciful, The Most Kind<br> This session is based on verses 7 to 11 from Sura Mujadila.<br> 58:7<br> <br> Have you not considered that Allah knows what is in the heavens and what is on the earth? There is in no private conversation three but that He is the fourth of them, nor are there five but that He is the sixth of them - and no less than that and no more except that He is with them [in knowledge] wherever they are. Then He will inform them of what they did, on the Day of Resurrection. Indeed Allah is, of all things, Knowing.<br> 58:8<br> <br> Have you not considered those who were forbidden from private conversation, then they return to that which they were forbidden and converse among themselves about sin and aggression and disobedience to the Messenger (s)? And when they come to you, they greet you with that [word] by which Allah does not greet you and say among themselves, "Why does Allah not punish us for what we say?" Sufficient for them is Hell, which they will [enter to] burn, and wretched is the destination.<br> 58:9<br> <br> O you who have believed, when you converse privately, do not converse about sin and aggression and disobedience to the Messenger (s) but converse about righteousness and piety. And fear Allah , to whom you will be gathered.<br> 58:10<br> <br> Private conversation is only from Satan that he may grieve those who have believed, but he will not harm them at all except by permission of Allah . And upon Allah let the believers rely.<br> 58:11<br> <br> O you who have believed, when you are told, "Space yourselves" in assemblies, then make space; Allah will make space for you. And when you are told, "Arise," then arise; Allah will raise those who have believed among you and those who were given knowledge, by degrees. And Allah is Acquainted with what you do.<br> <br> Najwa<br> This session is about something which destroys Islamic work and that is Najwa. Najwa is mentioned a couple of times in this passage from Sura Mujadila. Before we start the discussion let’s talk about the essence of najwa. Najwa means secret discussions with malicious intentions. How does Najwa develop?<br> Sub-Groups<br> Essentially in any organization there is a tendency for sub-groups to develop. Let us suppose there are six people in a committee and three of them are very close friends. So the six meet every week but three of them have dinner afterwards because they are close friends. And during the dinner they discuss the same things that were discussed in the meeting and share more opinions about it. What happens then is that you have a sub-group forming within the main group because they discuss a lot more with each and their opinion becomes solid so when they come to the meeting they already have a single opinion and they are very defensive about that. And anything that comes up against their way or opinion, they deflect it. So they have becomes like a lobby. What this does is that it disperses the unity and frankness of the gathering and of the decision-making and it cuts away at shura (mutual consultation) because in shura everybody has an equal access to give an opinion and everybody shares their opinion on the same platform. They do not meet afterwards and form blocs on the outside. This forming of a bloc on the outside is najwa. The linguistic meaning of najwa is to get away from or escape from the main body and become an independent entity. So a private meeting for malicious or evil purposes is what najwa is.<br> Evil Assemblies<br> Surah Al-fath talks about najwa that is catastrophic. That can destroy Islamic work. It can destroy the Islamic school, the masjid, or any organization. Because a few people discuss things which they should not discuss so they are breaking a trust because such meetings and what is discussed in them are a form of trust. So najwa violates that trust.
