Abdullah Hakim Quick – Fusion Ali Ibn Abi Talib Ra Minarets And Thrones #6
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AI: Transcript ©
Okay.
Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim, alhamdulillahi rabbil alameen,
wa usalli wa usallam ala sayyid al awwaleen
wa al akhireen, nabiyyin wa muhammadin, wa ala
aalihi wa sahbihi ajma'een, al-Fatiha.
I'll pray to Allah, Lord of the Worlds,
and peace and blessings be constantly showered upon
our beloved Prophet Muhammad, Master of the First
and the Last, his family, his companions and
all those who call to his way and
establish his sunnah to the Day of Judgment.
As the word follows, I begin with the
greeting words of the Righteous, As-salamu alaykum
wa rahmatullah.
Alhamdulillah, we reached another milestone in our understanding
of minarets and thrones.
And that is the critical understanding of leadership
in Islam.
The relationship of the powerful, the rulers, the
umara, with the ulama.
So those who are in power, what is
their relationship with scholars?
And how does that bring about an Islamic
society to give strength and the power to
overcome the wickedness and evil that is in
the world?
Because the shaitan wa ayyadu billah has promised
to attack human beings from all sides.
And one of the big attacks naturally comes
through leadership, through governance, through power in this
world.
And so Allah subhana wa ta'ala blessed
the last Prophet, peace be upon him, with
not only superiority, divine guidance spiritually, but also
to be able to escape the torments of
Mecca and to migrate to Medina and then
establish an Islamic society there.
To be the governor, be the leader of
Muslims, the Prophet, Amir al-Mu'minin.
And this set a pace for Muslims that
was followed throughout the century.
And Islam is not just a spiritual belief,
but it is a belief, it is a
way of life that affects everything that we
do.
So that's not just how we pray, but
it's also how we do business, how we
govern our society, how we live with our
families, our relationship to neighbors, our relationship one
state to another.
And so with this understanding, the issue of
government, the issue of leadership is critical.
And in those times in history, when the
leaders of Islam were able to practice the
deen, and they had the diffusion between power
and knowledge, Islam flourished.
But when the opposite happened, and there was
a division between the leaders, leaders became towarit,
they became tyrants.
And the scholars got quiet.
Then oppression stopped in that.
And this is a dangerous area.
The Prophet ﷺ even spoke about what could
happen to the emirs.
When the emirs, when the leaders are out
of control, when they're not underneath divine revelation,
they're capable of almost anything.
And the Prophet ﷺ even said in one
authentic hadith, يَكُونُ عَلَيْكُمْ أُمَرًا أُمْشَرٌ مِنَ الْمَجُوسِ
وَكَمَا قَالَ عَلَيْهِ صَتُحُ السَّلَامِ He said, there
will be ruling over you emirs, and they
will be worse than the fire worshipers, than
the majus, so worse than people who don't
even believe in Allah, who have no mercy.
And this would come to pass.
So therefore, it is critical for us to
understand what happened in Islamic history.
It's also critical for us to understand how
this applies to today.
So how this applies to the world that
we are living in today.
And this is where we want to take
a look at what happened with the scholars,
and then also apply this to the world
that we are living in today, giving us
a reflection on not only what we hope
will happen in the present, but what we
project to happen, inshallah, in the future.
And so we recognize that the highest level
of leadership is the prophetic level, and that
is really the holistic approach to governance and
rule.
And that is where the leader is not
only powerful and effective, but also highest, also
implementing the lifestyle of Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala.
And the best examples of this happened in
the first generations.
And the Prophet ﷺ was important, he would
say, Pray on nasqarni, thumma ladheena yadunnahum, thumma
ladheena yadunnahum.
The best people are in my generation, and
the generation that follows it, and then the
generation that follows that one.
And so we get beautiful examples of how
leadership should be carried out in this first
time, and so we're calling it like a
type of fusion, a coming together of power
and piety.
And the fourth example of this is the
great Khalifa Amir al-Mu'minin ibn Abi Talib,
the cousin of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
And he is one of the prime examples
of somebody who had natural, innate leadership qualities,
who also had a type of Islamic education,
and then, through the will of Allah, was
able to put this into practice.
So Ali was the cousin of the Prophet
ﷺ, and turned up to be his son
-in-law.
So Ali's father Abu Talib is the uncle
of the Prophet.
And when the Prophet's father had passed away,
his mother passed away, he came into the
guidance of Abu Talib.
So Talib became Abu Talib, like his father
in it.
And when the Prophet ﷺ married Khadijah, or
Khadijah, she was not only a pious woman,
but a wealthy person.
So even though the Prophet ﷺ was from
Hashemite clan, they were not that wealthy.
And Mecca was going through difficult times.
And so Khadijah was one of the wealthy
people in the city.
And so when the Prophet married her, he
then came into wealth.
And our books tell us, our understanding tell
us, that Abu Talib was so poor, he
was struggling physically, that he said to Muhammad,
can you take my son Ali, take him
into your house, like raise him.
You don't become his father because he's your
cousin, but raise him in your house because
we literally can't afford this at this point
in time.
And so Ali was then raised in the
house of the Prophet ﷺ.
By the will of Allah, none of the
Prophet's sons succeeded him.
They died in their youth, in their childhood.
And so Ali, in a sense, was like
his son.
So therefore, he not only had what we
would call today Islamic education, but he had
Tarbiyyah.
And Tarbiyyah is more than just education as
we know it.
Because education today is more book learning.
It's information.
But Tarbiyyah is a type of upbringing.
So it is not just words.
You learn lifestyle, you learn so much wisdom
when you go through Tarbiyyah.
And so Ali then had this type of
Tarbiyyah.
He knew the Prophet ﷺ.
He was under his guidance before he was
a Prophet.
And then even after he had become a
Prophet.
So Ali then was a special person.
And he had a special understanding of Islam.
There is no doubt about it.
And we look to him as one of
the great companions known for his wisdom and
his character.
Again, he had this Tarbiyyah.
So as a young man, you love your
parents.
You will be very similar to them.
You'll pick up even their body characteristics, their
traits.
So Ali was like this, the Prophet ﷺ.
And so much so that the Prophet ﷺ
married him to his daughter Fatima.
So Fatima r.a, who was so beloved
by the Prophet ﷺ more than anybody.
And one time when he was talking about
Usama ibn Zayd r.a. Remember Usama, his
mother was an Amen Ethiopian, an African woman.
And the father, an Arab woman.
And they were in slavery and they came
out and became great companions.
But Usama was their son.
And the Prophet ﷺ loved Usama very much.
And in one occasion he said, ana uhibbu
Usama illa Fatima.
He said, I love Usama more than anybody
except for Fatima.
Okay, so she was the most beloved person
to the Prophet ﷺ.
So by Ali marrying her, this in a
sense is the projection, the continuation of his
legacy, of his family.
And they became known as Ahl al-Bayt.
This is the people of the house of
the Prophet ﷺ.
They have a very important place in Islamic
history.
And Ali not only combined these great characteristics,
he was also very courageous.
So he was naturally courageous.
And you'll see Ali r.a when the
battles happened.
You'll see him in the front lines.
You'll always, Ali had this, he was like
a lion when it came to opposing evil.
And so he's combining these things.
He has this courage.
He has the character of the Prophet ﷺ.
But remember now, when the Prophet came into
prophethood, Ali was there.
And it is reported that when Khadijah r
.a had accepted Islam, there was only two
people who were Muslims.
One is a woman, right?
Remember this.
And on one occasion they were praying.
And Ali as a young man, some say
seven, some say nine years old.
Very young.
And he saw them.
And he said to them, what are you
doing?
And when they finished, they said, we're praying
to the one God, to Allah.
And Ali said, I would like to learn
this.
But the Prophet ﷺ being very wise, he
said, I think you should ask your father.
Ask Abu Talib.
Like I'm your guardian.
But this is a big move that you
have to make.
This is great wisdom because even in many
societies today, they say that if a person
is under a certain age and being a
youth, that their parents' decision needs to be
there.
When they are going to make very big
decisions in their life.
But Ali had wisdom.
And he said that you're worshipping God.
You're worshipping Allah.
Allah is the one that created me.
Abu Talib did not create me.
So if I want to worship the creator,
why do I have to ask permission from
my father?
So he's not a rebellious youth like some
youth today.
They don't want to hear their father.
No, it's not that.
It's wisdom.
So he said, I want to be a
Muslim.
I want to do this, right?
As a human being, I have the right.
And so the Prophet ﷺ, he agreed.
Ali became a Muslim.
Well, he was the first male to accept
Islam, but he was a youth.
And it was Abu Bakr.
He was the first adult who had accepted
Islam.
And so the revelation is coming.
Ali is part of the house of the
Prophet.
So therefore, he is actually living through revelation.
And as a young person, he's taking in
this knowledge.
So this is not something small.
This is major.
And therefore, he had a profound understanding of
the Book of Allah ﷻ.
And some even called him Bab al-ilm.
They even say that Ali is like the
gateway to knowledge.
Okay, and you'll see that in many different
aspects of Islamic knowledge.
In our theology and our spirituality, people actually
relate to Ali as one of the chains,
the isnads of knowledge and the isnads of
spirituality.
So he is crucial.
He's a crucial person.
And one of the characteristics that he had
in terms of his knowledge, that people don't
necessarily realize sometimes, is that when it came
to fiqh, when it came to Islamic jurisprudence,
Ali was considered probably the most knowledgeable.
And when the descriptions are given of the
companions, then the Prophet ﷺ would say, aqadahum
Ali.
One who had qadah, the one who could
make judgments best amongst my companions was Ali
ﷺ.
And so let's look at some of his
areas.
Of course, again, mastery of the Book of
Allah.
And so this is now not somebody that
has to take a class in Arabic language,
or has to take a class in tafsir,
right, explanation of the Qur'an.
None of this, because he was fasih.
He was strong in his Arabic.
And Ali was one of the people who
actually wrote.
At that time, Arabic was an oral culture.
It's not illiterate.
Illiterate is the wrong word.
When you say the Prophet was illiterate, he
wasn't illiterate.
Because when we say illiterate, it means he's
ignorant.
He was unlettered.
You see the difference in the two?
So he is unlettered.
It's an oral culture.
It has just as much wisdom as a
written culture.
But they transported through poetry, you know, instead
of writing things down, they memorized everything.
And so Ali, he had both.
He had an exceptional memory.
And he was one of the early memorizers
of the Qur'an, was Ali himself.
And he understood it because he lived at
the time when it was coming.
So he could explain to you, like what
are the circumstances around these verses coming through.
He could give you interpretations of the Arabic
language and what it means in the context
of the verse.
So he was really good.
And at that time, the Qur'an was
the main source of legislation.
Sunnah is there, but Sunnah was something implemented.
And Imam Malik even, you know, used as
one of his next levels under the Qur
'an.
He said, He said that the actions of
the people of Medina, once you have the
Qur'an, and if you have the actions
of the people of Medina, it's like what
we say Qur'an and Hadith, right, like
Sunnah, because they're the people of Medina.
So what they do is the Sunnah, you
see.
So therefore, Ali then was one of the
strongest in terms of the Book of Allah.
And he was an excellent reciter of the
Qur'an.
He had excellent speaking abilities.
He was a great Teeb and very wise.
So his books, writing and his quotes are
also there.
Okay.
But in the area of Fiqh, area of
Islamic jurisprudence, not only did he have a
good mind in terms of making decisions, but
he actually developed foundations on how to make
decisions.
So this is what is called Usul al
-Fiqh.
This Fiqh, which is your understanding, but your
Usul is, how do you make a judgment
on something?
You see, so Ali's sayings, Ali's decisions, make
the basis of Usul al-Fiqh.
And also practically implementing and making fatwas and
whatnot.
And he is characterized by his fairness, justice.
He implemented balance.
He was very compassionate.
Okay.
So in terms of being a judge, he
is one of the people who the companions
depend on.
And when Abu Bakr took control as the
Khalifa, when it came time to judgments, he
would often go to Ali to help him
make decisions.
When Umar took over, Ali would also be
there to make decisions, like a chief justice.
That's what you'd call today, the chief.
In America, it's the Supreme Court.
So Ali would be the head of the
Supreme Court.
When Uthman took over, Uthman depended upon him
as well, as his type of Supreme Court
justice.
And this is very important to understand, because
as the leadership is going down, it's not
like one person seizing power and he's against
the other people.
No, they're all part of the leadership.
And Ali was a very strong part of
the Islamic leadership.
And so he naturally came into his authority.
And when Uthman was assassinated, the companions got
together, the ones who were in the selection
committee, and they chose Ali to be the
Khalifa.
So this is around 656 AD or CE.
And so Ali then becomes the Khalifa, Amir
al-Mu'minin.
And he was very serious about implementing justice
and equality.
He's really serious about this.
And he helped organize the system of governance.
But it was a very difficult time, because
as we have learned before, there was a
struggle with the Umayyads.
Remember, Uthman was from the Umayyad clan.
And they were struggling with the Hashemites also
for power in Mecca.
And so there was a tribal thing sort
of showing itself.
They also had accused Uthman of nepotism.
So different people, the ones who were making
fitna, the followers of Ibn Sabah and other
people, they said he was appointing people for
posts because they were Umayyads like him.
So that's nepotism or favoritism of your family.
So he was, Ali was very particular in
making sure that anybody who was put into
a position was the suitable person for that
position and also had piety so that people
could clearly see that it was not made
based upon tribalism.
Okay, it's not just because he's a Hashemite.
And Ali again, because people tend to look
at the fitna, at the political thing.
No, there was a lot of things happening
because as a struggle is going on for
authority, there's also people living their life.
So you need justice, you need courts, you
need leadership.
And so Ali was heavily involved in social
justice.
Okay, and especially in dealing with the poor
and the marginalized.
So this is what you'll see happening over
and over again.
That he's concerned about the poor, he's concerned
about the oppressed.
And this is with your pillar of zakat,
the pillar of the tordu, to make sure
that zakat is taken from people and it
is distributed properly.
And by doing this, you stabilize the government.
You stabilize the society itself.
Because if the society is not run properly
economically, it's confusion.
Look at the riots in the world.
And I guarantee you, when you look at
a country, they said they had a riot
in Peru.
They had a riot in Egypt.
They had a riot in different countries.
Usually it's based upon food.
It's usually based upon, remember when the grains
stopped coming from Ukraine, when people could not
have their bread, right?
When the taxes are raised, then you see
riots.
You see, if the price of gas goes
up here, you're going to see confusion in
society.
In America, they're going to start shooting each
other.
Okay, because it's taxes, it's your life.
It's how you survive.
So Ali was very much concerned in equal
distribution of wealth.
Okay, so these are qualities of your leader
now.
It's like he's setting goals.
He's setting standards for leaders.
Okay, so equality in wealth.
And one of the proofs for this, which
is left with us, and it is considered
to be one of the most important documents
on leadership.
So this is now our fusion leadership.
Some people say, okay, you just talk and
whatever.
Give me some proof.
What did he actually say?
And so there's a letter that he sent
to the governor of Egypt, Malek ibn Ashdod.
Okay, and Egypt was one of the prize
areas underneath Islamic rule.
Because remember the two great rivers.
One is the Tigris and Euphrates.
That's Iraq.
Okay, and the other is the Nile.
So this was one of the important places.
And Nile literally fed people in Arabia.
And this is not just 1400 years ago.
I can recall moving into Medina with my
family.
And this is in the 70s.
And there was a place right near our
house.
We were living in Bab al-Anbariyya, that
section of Medina.
And there was a place called Bi'atha
Misriya.
Right, so this Al-Bi'atha, this place
was like the Egyptian hostel.
It's the Egyptian, you know, hotel and their
base of operations in Egypt.
And it is said that a few decades
before, before the discovery of oil in Arabia,
the Saudis were so poor.
This is 20th century now, right?
Saudis were so poor that they used to
line up with cops outside of the Bi
'atha Misriya to get grain, to get food.
That's how poor they were.
And the Egyptians, because they had the Nile,
so even if you have a drought, it
doesn't matter because the Nile is flowing.
Egypt would literally export, send over al-Sadaqah
to Medina and Mecca, send grain, send them
dates, other things so that they could literally
live up until the 20th century.
So Egypt has always been one of the
most important areas.
Also in terms of population.
The population in Cairo itself has always been
one of the large cities, large populations in
the Muslim world.
So therefore the leader in Egypt, the governor,
he was very important.
And in Ali's time, it was Malik ibn
Ashtar.
So he sent this letter to Malik ibn
Ashtar and in it, he was talking about
the philosophy of leadership.
So this is important.
If you want to do a study, try
to get this letter of Malik ibn Ashtar
and you will see the philosophy of leadership,
how you implement justice, how the leader should
be humble and accountable to the people.
See, these are all foundations of what a
leader is supposed to be.
And if we had to choose a leader
and to bring forward leadership from our youth,
these are the qualities that are leaders.
And you'll see the leaders today are the
opposite of this.
They don't have justice.
In many Muslim countries, unfortunately, and I say
a Muslim country just because the majority of
the people may be Muslims, but in the
governance, there's no justice.
Look at Tunisia.
I don't like to mention names, but you
look at certain places where the rulers are
secular rulers and they've become tyrants.
They're not humble.
It's not accountable to people.
Ali set the pace.
So if we ought to change and inshallah,
we will change.
These are some of the qualities that I
need as a leader.
So looking at this letter, we want to
break it down because this breaks down what
Ali actually did.
And you got some proof for this.
Okay, number one, what is the purpose of
governance?
Okay, and he emphasized that government, that leadership
is a form of service.
And the Prophet ﷺ used to say, Sayyid
al-Qawm khadimuhum, that the leader of the
tribe is the servant of the tribe.
So the leader is not the sultan in
a sense of the boss over the top.
But the leader is supposed to be the
person who sacrifices more than anybody else.
He's the one at service you know, for
the whole community.
Okay, so it's not a personal thing where
you are now powerful and you have control
over everybody.
So Ali writes, he says in translation, and
this is only some snippets, some section from
the letter.
Let it be known to you Malik that
I'm sending you to a land that has
seen many governments before you, both just and
unjust.
People will scrutinize your actions, just as you
observe the action of those before you.
So people are going to watch you, right?
Because Egypt has lived under so many rules.
Go back in ancient Egyptian history, I happen
to have studied this in detail.
And the Egyptians, they united their country in
3200 BC is when they had their first
united government.
And so they had rules, dynasties of pharaohs
people coming from the outside, the Persians, Babylonians,
the Greeks, the Romans, so many coming in.
And they were not all wicked pharaohs.
There were some good leaders in Egypt as
well.
That's Ali's knowledge, right?
You see how he even has some knowledge
of history.
But he's saying there's unjust and just.
If you think that the pharaoh is just
all wicked pharaohs, you don't understand Egypt.
Okay, they were also great leaders as well.
So he's talking about this accountability.
And he speaks about justice and the importance
of justice and to avoid tyranny, right?
Where you are oppressing people because tyranny leads
to the downfall of your rulers and societies.
So now here's your letter.
Ali then says to Malik, make justice your
guide in dealing with those under your rule.
Treat them all equally for the subjects will
complain of your rule only if you commit
injustice.
And this is critical because you'll see in
the future, you know, countries or rules like,
for instance, the Ottoman Empire with the Ottomans
rule for 600 years.
How can you last for 600 years?
There's very few dynasties in the history of
this planet.
One of the reasons is that the Ottomans
for the most part, they focused on justice,
justice for all, whether you're Turkish or non
-Turkish, Muslim or other ways of life.
That's why people supported them and they were
able to stay in power and authority.
And so he shows how, that if you
don't have justice, this is where you lose
power and you lose the respect of the
people.
Very important advice.
Next, he advises Malik also to be a
compassionate person, to be humble, humble yourself.
And that goes back to the example of
the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam.
One time a person came to the Prophet,
peace be upon him, and said, describe yourself
to us.
Okay, like you say to some kings, describe
yourself.
I am the son of this person, the
son of that person from the great tribe
of such and such.
I control seven continents.
You know, I do this, I do that.
The Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam said, I am
the son of one of your women.
That's who I am.
That's a humble person.
Think about this.
He's receiving revelation from above seven heavens.
So he has enough reason to be a
very arrogant person, right?
And he says, I'm the son of one
of your women.
And when they used to come to Medina,
and there's a circle of people they're studying
or just advising, then they would look, and
if the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam was not
speaking, they would have to say, which one
of you is Muhammad?
Because he wasn't on a pedestal.
He didn't have special robes on.
He looked similar to many of the other
people.
When he started to talk, then they knew.
Because all eyes and attention were for him.
So Ali now continues in his letter.
He says, people are two kinds.
They are either your brothers in faith or
your equals in humanity.
Now, this is a really important statement.
Okay, because he's talking about not only justice,
you know, in a sense for Muslims, but
he's talking about universal justice, human rights.
And up until today, this is one of
the big things in the world, with human
rights.
Okay, so Ali is saying that the people
under you, they're either your brothers in faith
or equals in humanity.
So you treat your equals with kindness.
You don't oppress them, right?
These are universal foundations of leadership and law.
And you see, these are now in the
universal laws of human rights, the Geneva Convention,
United Nations statutes.
Ali actually set the pace for a lot
of this.
You get it out of his abilities.
Okay, and he focuses on the poor and
the vulnerable and the needy in society.
He emphasizes, and this is very important because
the Marxist Leninist people, these are the socialist
people.
One of the biggest issue for them, with
the wealthy, upper class, is that they do
not share wealth.
You have the upper class bourgeoisie, you have
the proletariat, and that is the basis of
the socialist revolution.
Okay, what does Ali say?
In his letter, he says, beware, fear Allah
when dealing with the needs of the poor,
those who have no resources, the destitute and
the handicapped.
Look at this.
This is the basis of universal law of
human rights that people follow up until today.
In the United Nations and the world.
Unfortunately, all this is being broken down now,
you know, in the present genocide in Palestine,
but this is the way the world was
supposed to be.
98% of the world's countries want justice
and they believe that the wealth should be
distributed equally amongst.
So Ali then emphasizes this and he's focusing
on some of the details of the letter
and in his other, you know, speeches and
sayings and his judgments.
He focuses on taxation.
Okay, that when the zakat comes in, when
the taxes come in, this should be distributed
fairly so that the poor people do not
have a burden to eat and drink and
live their life.
This is crucial.
Also, there are those who are handicapped, those
who are poor.
This is one of the reasons why Canada
itself stands out as one of the better
countries in the world, especially better than the
United States, because you have a type of,
you have the OHIP, you know, you have
your health, universal health, right?
You also have some special amount stipends that
are given to the, you know, pensioners, you
know, people who are handicapped.
You see, these are universal principles laid down
and set by people like Ali ibn Abi
Talib, brother.
And this is how we'll be able to
judge our leaders as we go on in
our course, inshallah.
We'll be able to judge through these universal
principles.
Remember these principles, okay?
So this is how we're going to be
able to judge as we go further along.
Another important point that Ali, RadhiAllahu Anhu, that
he emphasized is accountability, transparency.
And that's one of the big problems today
with many of the leaders.
They're not accountable to the people.
They hide themselves in palaces.
They surround themselves with the military, right?
They, you know, they don't have trustworthy advisors.
You know, they're not transparent to the people.
And some years ago, they had big revolutions
in the Arab world called the Arab Spring.
And you've seen many Arab youth in the
streets that the leader of Egypt was actually
overthrown.
And so they were overthrown.
And what were they saying in the Arab
Spring?
They said, They would say this over and
over again.
That the people want the government to come
down.
Why did they want it to come down?
No transparency.
There's no accountability.
This is one of the key reasons.
So Ali now in his letter to Malik
says, the worst of your officials will be
those who serve the unjust rulers before you.
They will provide the same services to you.
Therefore, do not employ them in your secret.
So in other words, if you take over,
you're the leader, you come into a land,
you see people who are corrupt, get rid
of them.
Get rid of them.
Bring in transparent people.
Make systems of accountability.
You see?
Systems of accountability.
And this is crucial.
What Ali had established for the leaders.
Another aspect of his leadership is that the
people who were in the military, government, remember
Omar had established government.
Except your different ministries.
And what's meant, put them into practice.
Okay?
So Ali now, he is stressing, you know,
fairness and respect for those people in the
military.
Those people, you know, who were in the
government.
And this is very crucial.
You'll see a country like Pakistan, right?
That most of the time Pakistan has been
ruled by its army.
The leaders were only just symbolic.
So he's saying establish justice amongst the military
people.
And he says in his letter, be mindful
of your army and treat them as your
family.
For they are the shield of the nation.
This is principle.
These are principles for the nation.
And if we are to establish an Islamic
country, an Islamic leadership, these should be our
principle.
Okay?
So what happens with this is that he
develops loyalty.
He develops discipline.
And this now closes ranks.
And you see that the people were very,
very loyal to Ali, even when some broke
away.
But the majority stayed and gave their life.
So he stresses that you need to follow
Islamic rules of governance.
You don't just make decisions based upon what
you think.
You're Hawa.
That means you're whims, right?
But based on divine law.
That should be the basis of decisions and
justice.
And he said, let no decision you make
be based on anger or passion.
For that is the path to misguidance.
That's really important because many times you see
leaders and kings, they base their rule on
revenge.
They base on the emotions, like a tribal
thing.
I tribe against the other tribe.
Ali, in his way of rule, sets down
foundations for the future.
And so, he was very cautious to say
that you need to watch out for volume.
Volume is oppression.
And he said, the oppression of the people
will lead to rebellion.
The way of oppressing the people for the
wronged has no defense except Allah.
Right?
Allah will come to the defense of those
who are oppressed.
Okay?
So, this is really, really important advice.
Okay?
That, you know, Allah subhana wa ta'ala.
And there's a hadith that is said, that,
you know, It taqoo daawatul mazlum.
Alaysa bainaha wa bainallahi hijab.
Prophet peace be upon him said, beware of
the du'a of the oppressed person.
Because there is no barrier in between that
prayer and Allah subhana wa ta'ala.
Ali emphasized this point.
Do not become oppressive.
Because you will be judged on the day
of judgment.
Fear Allah in how you're dealing with people.
Because you will be judged.
And this is a crucial element within the
leadership itself.
So, this letter is a timeless letter.
And these principles show the deep understanding that
Ali radiyallahu anhu that he had.
And it shows the quality of justice, humility,
accountability.
Right?
To avoid oppressing people.
To make sure you're taking care of the
poor and the needy.
To make sure you're accountable to people.
Okay?
And what's beautiful here, and this is our
witness in the future.
Is that Ali is combining scholarship.
He's combining scholarship with authority.
So far.
See, so it's not too separated.
We have the scholars over here.
And you have the sultan and the emir
over there.
He's combining.
So not only is he highly knowledgeable.
Makes good decisions.
He's also a strong leader.
He has sultan.
And that is what we pray for.
That is the highest pinnacle.
That's the highest level.
It's an ideal that sometimes we can't reach.
But it's something that we hope and pray
could come about.
And you'll see it.
We'll show some examples of this that happened
in the Muslim world.
What is significant about this is that he
was the khalifa.
He was the ruler of the whole world.
And that is something amazing.
And it sets the pace for our understanding
of minarets and thrones.
Right?
This is a fusion.
And this is what we're looking for in
the leadership.
And Ali r.a said a beautiful example.
And he died in his leadership position.
Always standing forward.
And ready to sacrifice for the truth.
And the sacrifice for justice.
So I want to open up the floor
for any questions that anybody may have.
Concerning the fusion.
Leadership of Ali bin Abi Talib.
Floor is open.
So the question is Ali was against tribalism.
And Islamic leadership is against.
How do we enforce that today?
Well this is the same issue.
Because you know if we're implementing the Quran
itself.
And the sunnah.
You know that would be our way.
Because clearly the Quran is showing us.
That you know.
The best.
That the best of you.
You know in the eyes of Allah.
Is the one who has the most taqwa.
It's not the one who's the most Arab.
Or the one who's the tallest.
No.
It is the one who has the most
taqwa.
The Prophet ﷺ said very clearly.
There's no fadl.
There's no preference.
For Arabs over non-Arabs.
Or non-Arabs over Arabs.
For white over black.
Or black over white.
Except for piety.
So this is literally implementation of the Quran.
And those who implement tribal ways of doing
things.
They're an ignorant.
And they're in Jahiliyyah.
You see they're an ignorant.
Now we will see as time goes by.
There's an example of one of the great
Khilafats.
Or one of the great rules in West
Africa.
It's a place called Bornoo.
And Bornoo is in now northern Nigeria.
On the eastern side.
Medugeri and over towards Chad.
By where Lake Chad is.
And the Bornoo dynasty was actually the rulers.
For a long period of time.
They're Muslim rulers.
Okay.
And people say okay.
Why were they so stable?
Because if the scholars see.
If there's a tribe of people.
Or a group.
Who have natural leadership qualities.
And the people are satisfied.
As the leaders.
Leadership.
And they implement Islam.
And you have ulama who can criticize them.
Then that will work.
And that stabilized Bornoo.
And I witnessed this myself.
I'm not going to say which country it
is.
But I witnessed this myself.
When I came in this country.
And I met some of the royal family.
In this country.
And they were taller than everybody else.
And they had big hands.
So and they were the leaders.
So it's almost like a wolf pack right.
It's just like the strongest wolf.
So if the wolf is just.
And follows Islam.
That's fine with us.
The problem is.
When the leader loses his power.
Who oppress the people.
Who just sees more power.
That's no good.
Okay.
So it can work.
But in 90 percent of the cases.
It doesn't work.
That's why the prophet.
He distinguished between.
Between the divine rule.
Of the caliphate.
And kingdom.
Okay.
So sometimes.
In the kingdom.
In the royal family.
There is somebody who's just.
And we're going to see some examples of
this.
And they follow the law.
They're humble.
You know they're going back to the prophetic
example.
That is fine.
But the mistake is that the person becomes
a leader.
And he's a little tyrant.
And he takes over just because his father
was the king.
Right this is the way of the secular
people.
This is what ruined.
Societies all over the world.
And we don't want this.
We want Islamic leadership.
So once you understand the principles.
Now you can see.
If a person is really.
A proper Muslim leader or not.
If they say well I'm from the prophet's
family.
And my beard is like two feet long.
My cap is really high.
But they're arrogant.
And they're not transparent.
You see.
And they're making you follow their.
Their rules and not the Quran and the
Sunnah.
That's not your leader.
I don't care what family they come from.
That's not the leader of Islam.
And this is what our younger generation.
The people who.
We're now in a transition.
All over the Muslim world.
Even in our Muslim communities here.
In the West.
We're in a transition.
And those executive committees.
Those people in leadership.
Who do not represent Islam.
Who are holding on to power.
They need to go.
And the younger generation now.
They want change.
So this group.
These people need to go.
Because we need.
What you could call.
Meritocracy.
Like merit.
Is like your abilities.
It's what you deserve.
So a meritocracy is not a democracy.
Right.
It is meritocracy.
So the one who's the leader.
Is the most suitable.
For leadership.
That's the way.
That our leaders are.
And they're suitable.
Because they implement the book of Allah.
And the Sunnah of the Prophet.
Peace and blessings be upon him.
Now.
Any questions.
Anybody has.
Floor is open now.
For any questions.
Anything else online.
So this issue of.
The question is.
What is the confusion.
With Ali.
And the whole Shia Sunni type of thing.
This is a long discussion.
And we have.
A course that we did.
Which is.
Groups.
*.
S-E-C-T-S.
And groups.
In Islam.
Or cults.
And groups.
In Islam.
And the Muslim world.
So you will see the evolution.
Of how this actually evolves.
And you can see the development.
Of how this comes about.
Ali.
He was.
The companion.
Of Abu Bakr.
When he took over.
He was a companion of Omar.
When he took over.
He was a companion of Uthman.
When he took over.
But there were people.
Who were causing fitna.
And trying to say that.
Because he is.
The son.
Like the son.
Of the Prophet.
He's married his daughter.
It's like a royal family.
Because some people.
They need to have a king.
They need a prince.
And a king.
In Persia.
They had their.
Divine rule.
The Shia and whatever.
The Egyptians had their Pharaohs.
So they needed it.
And in the Prophet's example.
And in Sunnah.
They can't find it.
So they try to make it out of
Ali.
Ali rejected it.
But eventually.
They got followers.
And then it became very extreme.
You know.
And added different things.
You know.
To Islamic teachings.
And so now you literally have a group.
That's outside.
Some of them just have a political difference.
But there's others that really went outside.
And they actually almost made another religion.
So.
This.
What we're giving you here now.
Is to show you.
What happened.
You know.
A balanced understanding of Ali.
You know.
What he actually stood for.
And what was the reality of the early
generations.
But you'll always have people who want the
king.
They want a royal family.
This is how they raised.
That's not Islam.
Islam is not based on tribalism.
It's not based on royal families.
So you'll always have that tug of war.
That goes on between the groups.
Right.
Because if you look at it.
Ali now is the cousin.
Because the Prophet had no sons.
So he's his cousin.
And he was raised in his house like
his son.
And then he married his daughter.
So the children there.
Would be the inheritors.
Although according to the paternalistic system.
Where you just follow the males.
It would be cut off.
Because there's no male.
Ali's a cousin.
But for people who want that type of
thing.
That's the closest.
That you possibly get to the royal family.
Yeah.
Right.
So what happened was.
The question is.
Didn't that actually happen?
When Ali had been.
And stabbed and poisoned.
They came to him.
He was dying.
And they said.
What about your son Al-Hassan?
Do you want him to take over?
And Ali said.
I don't say yes.
And I don't say no.
You make the decision.
You see.
If he had in his mind.
Royal family.
He said take Hassan.
Hassan was a little older than Hussein.
So take Al-Hassan now.
But he didn't.
Because he would have created a kingdom.
And they chose Al-Hassan.
Who was a good choice.
Very good leader.
Very intelligent.
Okay.
And he ended up.
Giving over the rule to Muawiyah.
Because it was a misunderstanding.
And the Muslims basically accepted Muawiyah's rule.
And everything went back to normal.
But Muawiyah made the mistake.
Of choosing his son Yazid.
Because Yazid.
And this is the Umayyads.
He was not suitable for leadership.
And that's where.
You know.
A confusion.
You know.
Came about.
You know.
In the leadership.
Okay.
But.
The basis of the rule.
That Ali.
Radi Allahu Anhu.
Had established.
Was not based on his family.
Okay.
That was a decision made by.
The governing.
The selection committee.
And it was accepted by the masses of
the Muslim people.
So that's.
That was.
That was okay.
Any other questions.
Anybody has.
Floor is open for any general questions.
So next week.
Inshallah.
We'll continue on.
Okay.
One more question.
No go ahead.
It's about.
Egypt.
When the state of Egypt.
Over.
I want to know more about that.
Was it already a Muslim country.
And.
Was Malik already.
Was he already the governor.
When Ali came into power.
Yes.
So basically.
Egypt itself.
Misr.
It was ruled by Coptic Christians.
So when the Prophet.
Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam.
Sent letters to the kings.
He sent one to Egypt.
Muqawqas.
Was his name.
The leader of the Coptics.
So they were Christians.
And.
When the Muslims now.
You know spread out.
And they realized that.
You know they were.
Coptics.
But they were ruled by the Romans.
And the Romans had attacked the Muslims.
So the Muslims then.
Liberated Egypt.
And I've read documents.
Written by non-Muslim historians.
And they said that the people of Egypt.
Considered the Romans.
To be foreigners.
Oppressors.
And when the Muslims came into the land.
They accepted the Muslims as their leaders.
Because the Muslims did not force them to
become Muslim.
And you have Coptic Christian communities in Egypt.
Up until today.
So they did not force them.
You know to accept Islam.
And they lifted the oppression.
You know.
From the Romans.
That had control that.
At that point.
The leader was Amr ibn al-As.
He was the leader.
And it was later on.
I'm not sure if there's somebody in between.
But it was in Ali's time now.
He appointed Malik ibn Ashtar.
Right so he wasn't originally.
The leader in Egypt was.
It was Amr ibn al-As.
I don't know the exact details of how
he came.
But I believe he was the one appointed
by Ali.
To be the leader.
Yeah.
Okay go ahead.
Can you talk about the Canaan empire?
Which one?
Okay.
So when I said Bornu.
This is in northeast Nigeria.
And now Chad.
In the Lake Chad region.
That is sometimes called Canim Bornu.
So the use is two.
Because Canim is one section.
And then Bornu is another section.
So this is an area.
Where there's some great kings.
Who are living there.
Kanuri people.
And other people living in that area.
There were kings there before.
And they embraced Islam early.
From when the Sahaba came across North Africa.
Some of them went south.
They say that Uqba ibn Nafia.
Even went south.
Across the desert.
So they accepted Islam very early.
It was one of the earliest.
Parts of central and west Africa.
To accept Islam.
And they had great scholars.
They were recognized by the Muslims in Cairo.
And the Muslims in Morocco.
It was a great empire.
Called Canim Bornu dynasty.
And so this is what makes up present
-day Nigeria.
It's all been lost.
When the British conquered.
They sort of merged everything.
You know, together.
But the Canim Bornu was the leadership.
In northeast Nigeria.
At parts Lake Chad.
It was a very large dynasty.
And it is said that even the Ottomans.
And other people.
They loved the Qurans.
That were written by them.
They did it on leather.
Beautiful designs.
And whatnot.
And some of the scholars from Canim Bornu.
Used to go to Egypt.
And study in the great universities there in
Cairo.
So they were connected.
Directly to the Muslim world.
And it's a very important history.
That needs to be read.
And understood.
Other question?
Yes.
So now the question is.
Were there other leaders?
Who had righteousness?
That's what we'll be covering in the next
class.
Inshallah.
Now we're going to show you what happens.
Because in some cases.
You have the scholars.
Who disagree with the leader.
So you have the leader becomes tyrannical.
And the Muslim scholars disagree.
And they stand up against the leader.
Okay.
Then you have sometimes.
When the scholars submit to the leader.
And that's when things really get bad.
Then you have sometimes.
When the leaders work with the scholars.
And that becomes a good rule also.
So we're going to look at these different
types.
And how they actually played out.
At different points in Islamic history.
And this can give us some alternatives.
For the future.
Inshallah.
In terms of how it can be done.
So next class.
Inshallah.
We will now go into a different understanding.
Of the rulers.
And the scholars.
And this is going to be a little
bit different.
But it'll show you what actually happened.
In our history.
And what we need to implement.
In the future.
Inshallah.
When you're talking about.
I think how correctly the foundation for discipline
is how to protect Muslims.
Right?
Can you talk a little bit more about
how you did that?
Are there any examples or certain decisions that
caused that?
Yeah.
So basically in the first generation.
You have the Quran coming down.
You have the sayings of the Prophet ﷺ.
You have the actions of the companions.
And their sayings.
Now in the next generation.
When Islam is spreading.
The people need to know how to pray.
They need to know what is real Islam
from false Islam.
Because you have some people who are making
their own version of Islam.
That's when they started the science of hadith.
To know what is a strong hadith or
weak hadith.
They studied the science of tafsir.
Interpretation of the Quran itself.
To explain it.
Explanation of the Quran.
And they started the science of fiqh.
Which is Islamic jurisprudence.
How do you implement Islam in your life?
Okay?
So in order to implement.
Have a system of implementing Islam.
You need foundations for this.
How do you make a judgment?
Somebody comes to you with an issue.
How do you judge?
So sometimes something will say.
You know there's good in it and there's
bad in it.
Right?
If the good outweighs the bad.
Then we'll go with the good.
So there's different.
That's where Ali's statements come in.
And because of his judgments.
They took these things to make the rules
of fiqh.
Yeah.
So in Ali's time.
It was not called usul al fiqh.
There was no usul al fiqh.
There was no hadith subject.
There was no tafsir subject.
None of it.
Because they were just implementing Islam.
It's later on in order to codify.
The teachings.
That they made disciplines.
In order to codify.
So somebody could come along now.
And they could learn the disciplines of the
Quran.
The disciplines of hadith.
Disciplines of fiqh.
Because there's no sahaba around.
There's no tabi'een.
So how are you going to learn it?
So that's the reason why it's been codified.
So somebody can actually go back to the
authentic sources.
And they can become a true scholar.
Or a true Muslim leader.
So this is how.
But in the beginning.
It is like this letter to Malik Ashtar.
It is these sayings and judgments.
That form the basis of your fiqh.
Or your Islamic jurisprudence.
So inshallah we will continue on next week.
And we're going to go into a new
phase now.
Very interesting to see.
The relationship of the scholars to the leaders.
It's part of our reality.
And we need to know this.
So when you look at the Muslim world
today.
You'll see that some of the things being
done today.
By some of the leaders has already been
done.
Already happened.
Okay so you need to know this.
In order to come out of it.
That's our intention.
And to make a new path for Islamic
leadership.
So I leave you with these thoughts.
And I ask Allah to have mercy on
me and you.
And to end our call to praise Allah
and the Lord of the worlds.
And peace be upon you and the mercy
of Allah and his blessings.