Abdullah Hakim Quick – Living Islam #10

			krisha the football show here life.
		

			This Mila her mother Rahim al hamdu Lillahi Rabbil alameen wa sallahu wa sallam Allah see and our
lien will academe Nabina Muhammad wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa barik wa sallam. Our praise are due to
Allah, Lord of the worlds and peace and blessings be upon our beloved Prophet Muhammad, the master
of the first and the last, and his family, his companions and all those who implement the Sunnah and
established us in their lives to the Day of Judgment, my beloved brothers and sisters, to our
friends, our colleagues, our students, Salaam Alaikum, wa rahmatullahi, WA better cat,
		

			Allah subhanaw taala has again blessed us with another opportunity to reflect upon our present
situation,
		

			the crises that we are going through, and to try to find an Islamic way out. And this is important
for Muslims today to be very practical, to take the theoretical knowledge that we have, and put it
in a form that can be used by our community. And we find ourselves in unprecedented times. In a
sense, we find ourselves in waters that Muslims have never been living in for centuries.
		

			In the 20th century, going into the 21st, we found that hundreds and 1000s if not millions, of
Muslims, migrated out of the Muslim world. They left the traditional doorless slum,
		

			and settled in the lands of people who in many cases do not even believe in Allah.
		

			But the crisis, our internal crisis in our nation, and the necessity, made it permissible for them,
and in some cases made it absolutely necessary for them, to leave the lands of Islam, and to go into
the lands of disbelief and secularism.
		

			And with the rise of the new technologies in the world, with cyberspace now, covering the minds of
people all over the planet, we have become, in a sense, a global village. And so the challenges that
the world are facing is our challenges that Muslims are facing as well.
		

			The challenges that our Alma has found itself in some of the most difficult we have ever faced
within our history.
		

			But with the mercy of Allah subhanaw taala
		

			with dignity, the creativity that Muslims have had, in order to come up with solutions. In the most
difficult situations, there's always hope.
		

			And so looking at the challenges that Muslims are facing, in terms of how we have been moved, in a
sense out of the Muslim world, you could call it a type of forced migration.
		

			And I remember being in a session with a great Sudanese scholar, Sheikh Jaffa, Czech Idris, and that
he was trying to find some sort of justification for Muslims who are living in Canada and the United
States. And he came and he honestly said to the people, I can't find any justification for you being
here. It's not enough to want to have a supermarket that's filled with food. It's not enough to have
running water 24 hours a day, or electricity 24 hours a day.
		

			This is unprecedented. In looking at the sources the shack found that Muslims left the Dar Al Islam,
for diplomatic reasons. They also left for business reasons. They left to call to the good and
forbid evil.
		

			But in 99% of the cases, when they finished their limited activities, they return to the lens of
Islam.
		

			And so when Shia Jaffa
		

			made his fat, why, in the sense that I can't find any real justification for you. The people were
not satisfied. And they went to his room. And they bothered him all night and the next day he came
back to the conference, and he said I changed my fat Why?
		

			Because now you have proven to me the reasons why you are coming. It is so dangerous to live in some
of the Muslim countries. That is valid reasons to live.
		

			There is sometimes better
		

			opportunities in Europe and the and the Americas to practice Islam than in some of the war torn,
oppressive, so called Muslim regimes. So there is a justification. But we have to make sure that our
intention is to continue with our Islam had to hold on to the rock.
		

			And so this is a forced migration that has happened. And after the major conflicts that we see the
famines in Yemen, the crisis in Syria, the destructions, in different parts of the Muslim world, we
are seeing Muslims jumping in literally jumping into the Mediterranean and fleeing to European
countries. And this forced migration has pushed Muslims who traditionally lived in the farming
areas, into urban, sprawling developments, large cities, and urbanization has its benefits, in that
you are able to contact people quickly. But it also had its dark, it has downside, in that you're
forced into a box, and you're forced to change literally your lifestyle, you may have grown up in a
		

			village, you may have grown up in a wide open area, in an area that Muslims were dominant in. And so
to call the man to dress in Islamic clothing, to eat halal food, these things were understood to be
normal. But to do this, in non Muslim areas, in many cases, is a struggle. And we find today that in
Switzerland, in places like this, they are banning the hair job, they are making a difficult and now
saying that the French wants to even ban halau food.
		

			So this is an ongoing struggle, and what is causing in our younger generation. And it's natural for
young people to want to be with the majority. It is a loss of traditional values.
		

			And so our concepts of halaal, and around our concept of modesty, our concepts of the limits between
male and female, the respect for adults, the care for the youth, the nurturing of our elderly
people, it's being lost. And we are literally in a crisis. And hundreds of families are seeking
assistance from their leaders and their teachers and their scholars to try to deal with these these
tremendous value losses that are happening.
		

			It's leading to a number of very critical challenges. One is illegal substance abuse, that drugs,
alcohol are pouring into the lives of our young people. In some Muslim countries, you'll actually
find this in the regular halaal stores. And I remember traveling in one of the Muslim countries,
with a friend of mine, we were setting up a tour. And we went to a hotel.
		

			And we were informed that this is the hotel, our hotel.
		

			And we went to the hotel and we sat down in the restaurant and checked out the halau menu. It was
halau. But we looked in the corner, and there was a bar serving alcohol. So we said to the brother,
how can you say this is Hello when you're serving alcohol?
		

			And he said no, I mean, our business is based on tourism. So your food is Hello, if you don't want
to drink, don't go over to the bar.
		

			So the traditional values, the traditional system that would not have allowed alcohol inside of a
restaurant, or a home or an Islamic establishment is now changed because of this forced migration
and the loss of traditional values. It is also causing our young people to change their
relationships. And one of the most harmful, hurtful realities is unwanted pregnancy, that there are
many young Muslim women
		

			who are becoming pregnant.
		

			This is causing a family crisis. And so we need to have some practical guides to come out of this.
How do we think as Muslims because we're literally faced with new issues every day. And so we need
to develop a type of Islamic consciousness, a type of ability. It's a type of HD hat This is a
religious decision. You
		

			may have to make decisions on your feet, there may be food that you're coming in contact with. There
may be circumstances. And so by having an understanding of Islamic jurisprudence, what we call fic.
And that is our understanding, not just a theoretical one, but a practical one. This can help us to
solve some of the issues that we are facing. And so, based upon the writings of the great scholars,
Imam Al ghazali, Rahim Allah, who was not only a great Imam of spirituality, but he was a fapy. He
was the master of feck of Baghdad of the Islamia, probably one of the greatest universities in
Islamic history. And his Mustafa is one of the principal books in Jerusalem. So these are the
		

			foundations of your understanding, how do you live as a Muslim? What are your foundations as a
person living amongst these principles, and these have been made very available by present day
scholars like Shaq, Yusuf al qaradawi.
		

			And amongst these principles are the following. Let's look at some of these. So we can develop a
practical way of thinking. And this is a way of looking at the world itself. Number one, that the
basis of all things is permissibility, as little Asha, Alabama,
		

			when young people are learning about Islam, or people are embracing Islam, the first thing that
teachers usually say is don't do this. And don't do that. Some new Muslims even told me that they
got a list of 25 don'ts before they got to do. And so it looked like Islam is like a negative way of
life. And maybe because so many things are haram around us, it appears like we are negative. But the
basis of Allah's creation, in the way to look at every issue is that the basis is permissibility.
It's Hello, before it becomes her.
		

			And that's important when you're facing an issue. Because it gives you a positive way of looking at
the the substance or the product that you're dealing with.
		

			The second point that we discussed in the previous class is that prohibition of things is due to
their impurity, and their harmfulness. And so Haram, the things being made Haram, there is a reason
for this, the pig lakmal kunzea, being made haraam is not because the pig is not a creation of
Allah, the pig is had it serves a purpose in terms of dealing with waste and garbage within a
society. But it's not for us to eat.
		

			And when we look at the body of the pig, scientists have found that the majority of the body is
actually fat. And that because of the amount of impurity coming into the body of the pig, that there
are special mechanisms in the body to release past there are special mechanisms that make the meat
of the swine impure for us to eat. Also the swine flus and and and the diseases and the viruses that
come along with our bodies such as this makes the pig what we call digest I'm the pig itself is
haram. And you can look at the different
		

			substances and products that are Haram. You look at gambling, gambling in itself is harmful. Look at
alcohol and drugs and how much it is it is impure and harmful in itself. And you can continue to go
on and find how haram actually is a great benefit to us in our life, but it's not the basis of
everything. But now getting to the finer points of this and this is what the youth have to face
		

			whatever is whatever leads to her arm is her arm itself. And this is an important principle that a
solid fit because if something is leading you down that path then you need we need to stop it the
promise of solemn said dogma you rebook Illa mala you rebook lead, leave that which is doubtful for
that which is not doubtful.
		

			An example of this, for instance, is in many Muslim countries. And here you have a picture of a so
called halaal beer. And there are different forms of beer.
		

			And wines that have zero alcohol content.
		

			What is happening in many places is that it's leading Muslims down a path of following the western
concepts of enjoyment of wine and beer when they eat. And this is literally you can see this is an
Indonesia are mentioned, there's actually a beer a product, and it says on it halau in Arabic, and
it's beer. So this is an oxymoron beer in itself, in what we know, a beer to be has has reached that
alcoholic level. But now you're putting on halaal. And technically speaking, it is zero alcohol. So
it could be argued, but in many cases, it's leading you down a path. It's leading you to harm and I
remember one of my friends from California. We were living in Medina, and this is back in the 70s.
		

			And the old Medina and the Yemenis used to have these outdoor restaurants and there's attached type
of bench that you sit upon. And people would would drink their their tea and eat their food, and
they would smoke shisha.
		

			And they started to serve a zero content, beer, it had zero alcohol. But it wasn't a regular beer
bottle and set up and we walked by the restaurant one day and saw our brother sitting there with
this beer in his hand. Now,
		

			for the average person, for a person who has never lived in a society like this.
		

			This might be nothing, they're just trying something different. But for a person who may have been
alcohol, an alcoholic in his past, who comes out of a society, this is reverting is literally
turning back on his Islamic lifestyle. And so we caution the brother, because him sitting there with
that beer bottle in his hand, relaxing, just reminded us of our past and remind
		

			our brother, that this could lead again to something that is horrible. So take it as a principle. If
something is leading you into harm, it may be yours you're smoking, maybe even a cigarette might
lead you into her. Maybe even smoking vapor might lead you into this smoking habit. shisha itself,
that many will say there's nothing wrong with shisha. But again, it's harmful to the body. And it's
been proven to be harmful, but it might lead you into smoking hashish that this is dangerous in
itself.
		

			Another principle in was solid fick in a very practical sense, is that falsely representing haram as
halau is prohibited.
		

			You can't represent something that is haram. It is hollow and is a strange phenomenon going on. It's
popped up in Algeria.
		

			And hopefully inshallah, you know, it's it's not going to make a trend. But there is literally a
company that says lemmo kunzea halau. And this is a picture of the cat itself, that shows the pig
and the halaal sign. And it's saying multiple other tilicho. Islamia. So it's saying that the pig
has been slotted in an Islamic way. So they took the pig and they said Bismillah Allahu Akbar, to
make it Hello, but the pig is Nigel's Hind.
		

			So you can say Bismillah AR you want, it does not make that more sincere, hello. And just the
representation of this, in itself is prohibited. And you have to remember that when something is
prohibited, it actually causes sin, and could be harmful to the human being in the next life.
		

			Another important principle that comes out of this,
		

			and that is that not only just falsely representing her arm, but by giving her arm things, nice
names. And so this is a phenomenon that's been going on especially recently, and it's spreading
internationally. We're on the street, they have nicknames for dangerous drugs. And many of our youth
get caught up in some of these names, and actually fooled into thinking that the drug may actually
be
		

			beneficial, and in some cases permissible. I'll give you some example. And these are some of the
drugs which the youth know about the people on the streets and at vn is one of the
		

			drugs being taken. They call it candy
		

			value some value in which supposed to bring comfort to a person but it will ease your pain to the
point where you can become a drug addict. They call it jelly or they call it eggs
		

			DMT
		

			they call it the spirit molecule.
		

			ketamine, which is a drug on the street, they call it jet. It's got to take you off like a jet
plane.
		

			LSD lysergic acid that takes you on a psychedelic trip, and takes you totally out of your
consciousness. And that would be described as karma. It's called by some electric Kool Aid.
		

			PCP, which is not so common today. But when I was in Medina,
		

			I can recall this is back in the 70s. That PCP was coming out of California.
		

			And they called it angels dust. And it was a type of taking the embalming fluid use for dead bodies
and snorting it up your nose. So they call the angels dust and Purple Rain out. I remember, the
brothers said, Can you give us a fatwa? So I went to my chef effect. And I said to him, we need a
fatwa on this drug. And he said, What is the name? And I said, I'm terrible. melodica, like Angel
Dust, and he said, heart, let me have some of this. Then I described to him what PCP does the
individual. You take the PCP and your body and they strip off their clothes, and they run down the
street, and they don't know what hit them till the next day. He said, No, this is a hammer. And this
		

			is her.
		

			Cocaine, which is a famous drug on the street. It's called candy or snow. So somebody might walk up
to you and said, Would you like some candy? They're not talking about Snickers bars or chocolate
		

			may be talking about cocaine. crack cocaine, which is a cheap form of cocaine is called tornado.
		

			And heroin, which is a very dangerous substance.
		

			In itself, a well known street drug is called brown sugar.
		

			There is also of course, the marijuana and marijuana is is has become a big test for our young
generation, because it is been made permissible by the society itself. And there are literally
cannabis stores that are opening up along the streets. And one might say, okay, cannabis in itself
is a drug. But what about alcohol? Because the alcohol, the shops have been opened up
		

			for years in our society, and even during the COVID-19.
		

			The alcohol shops were actually considered to be essential
		

			for Canadian society, and so they remained open.
		

			But what about cannabis shops, which are now opening up again, something that's going to lead you
all the way into something haram according to assume that it's harassment in itself. And marijuana,
even though somebody may prescribe this to you, as a means of a psychological easing of pain, if it
leads you because how it is used,
		

			the street culture surrounding the smoking of marijuana, the social life that's connected to it. The
other drugs like hashish and opium that marijuana can lead you to would make it around in itself,
even if they call it Mary Jane. So Mary Jane isn't sound nice sounding Canadian name.
		

			But that could be leading you to help us
		

			MGM A, which is a dangerous drug, it was called ecstasy.
		

			And this drove people crazy when they went to the nightclubs in the discotheques taking this this
drugs even though ecstasy people, young people want ecstasy in their life. But this is a dangerous
drug.
		

			The methods frenzied amphetamines, these drugs, it was called speed and people young people have
need for speed. And they want to always do things fast. This is the generation of getting
everything's done fast a snapshot it's it's it's do everything fast.
		

			But methadone isn't
		

			dangerous drug and speed. When a person is on meth, they have one of the most dangerous forms of
addiction that is known to mankind.
		

			And so regardless of the speed, avoid these drugs,
		

			fentanyl, which is a big street now, street drug, which is widespread throughout society, they call
it a patchy or they call it dance fever, or they call it jackpot. And so they're given fentanyl,
these different names and the drug cartels are actually producing fentanyl in Mexico and other
countries the same way they produce cocaine because it's outstripping, even cocaine and crack in
some parts of the streets, we have heavily in Vancouver, of course, in the United States, it's
reached Toronto and Montreal, you will find that on all the streets. Now, we have to recognize the
fact when we're dealing with drugs, that there are there are reasons and there are times when drugs
		

			can be of benefit, especially during operations when your tooth is being extracted, then you need to
take some drugs, to ease the pain, to take away that feeling. When you're having an operation, you
need to take the drugs. And that is permissible because of the necessity of the operation itself.
But that does not mean that you because you like that feeling. And the next week or the next month
and you felt depressed, you wanted that same soft feeling that the drugs gave you in the dentist
office, this is a different situation. And so there is a use for drugs, medicinal Lee, and it needs
to be prescribed by a doctor, preferably a Muslim doctor, or a doctor who is sensitive to Islam, and
		

			to how Muslims look at the world.
		

			This is very important. Because the young people in some cases are being swept up you remember peer
pressure, that peer pressure. And that is the influence of the society itself. Peer pressure can
come from the friends or it can come now online. Or it can come right on your cell phone. Peer
pressure is coming out of the movies, it is coming out of the television, it comes out of the styles
in the dress. And so this can influence young people to want to test something. And unfortunately,
many of these drugs if you test it even once, you can become addicted very seriously addicted to the
drug. So we need to street proof our youth. We need to let them know what's happening. And young
		

			women who are going out they think that they're going to their friend's house, there's a party there
and they said oh, it's okay even sometimes so called Muslim parties. And you know, and they and they
are passing out drinks to the people. They have * drugs, that they can literally put into
the drink. And it cloaks itself and the young girl the woman can pass out and not know what hit her
or what happened to her until the following day. And so, nice names do not make permissibility
		

			and even good intentions. Do not make things that are haram acceptable. We are in very dangerous
waters now because there's an economic recession on the horizon. By good intention does not make
something halau that is power. And I can never forget being in one of the Masters I finished Juma.
One of the brothers came up to me and said brother Abdullah, please I need a fatwa. I just won the
lottery.
		

			And I have $25,000 in my head. What should I do? He said, I'll give the cat I'll pay two and a half
percent. I'll give to the charities. What can I do and I told him clearly I cannot make permissible
that which is impermissible. Haram is haram. I can't make it halau even though you want to do
something good. And so a person can't go on the lottery.
		

			And say I'm doing this in order to be able to pay the cat.
		

			So I will gamble. Well, I will steal and this is the classical story of Robin Hood.
		

			Robin Hood, the story from Europe, of a person who was forced to steal, and he would steal from the
rich to give to the poor. And so Robin Hood may have been a victim of his circumstance. But a person
who steals who makes the intention to steal, cannot come after their intention, and they're involved
in it and say, Okay, I'll make it good, by giving to the poor.
		

			That is not the Islamic way of doing things. If we are forced to do certain acts that we don't
normally do, there is a permissibility for this, if it is dorada, if your life is in danger, there
is a permissibility. But good intentions, do not make haram things acceptable.
		

			And you cannot give it an Islamic name.
		

			The reality is, Haram is haram. And it is by nature harmful to us. Remember the principle when
things are made Haram, it is not because Allah subhanaw taala is being mean, or just wants to punish
us in this world, we're actually being protected from issues that could be harmful to our bodies,
harmful to our lives, harmful to our future generations. And so it is a mercy, the halau lifestyle
sort of sets limits around us.
		

			And people today are finding out that Islamic lifestyle is actually a preferable lifestyle. People
are now covering their faces were being more modest in their dress they are they see the limits with
people.
		

			They're not touching each other the way they used to touch. And they're being more considerate of
elderly people. So there's many aspects of the Islamic lifestyle, that are actually coming to
fruition today in the world, because of the will of Allah azza wa jal onto the societies. These are
some of our principles, and we not we need to start to learn to think on our feet, and to have our
younger generation think on its feet, as well.
		

			So I want to stop here at this point, and open up the floor for any questions that you may have may
have. I've mentioned a number of things, and looked at a couple of issues. So the floor is open for
any questions that you may have about these issues.
		

			I don't see any questions here at this point?
		

			Did you see any questions there?
		

			Okay, so we have to, we have to remember
		

			the importance of all school was solid fit. That is the basis of our understandings that we need to
be equipped with an Islamic understanding. Because what is happening in the world is precedent, the
world is going through tremendous changes with the technologies and with the names. And by having a
strong foundation, it gives us an Islamic outlook on the world. And that is so important for our
younger generation today. To have that balanced outlook,
		

			to be able to think on their feet to make decisions. Sometimes they don't have the ability to ask
their parents, they don't have the ability to go to a scholar, and they have to make a decision. And
this hits all of us. And whatever level of society we are living in today, we have to remember that
Allah subhanaw taala has blessed us
		

			as the basis of everything being permissible. But within that permissibility there are things that
are Haram. And we need to know these things, to survive the crises that are coming at us in the 21st
century. So I leave you with these thoughts. If you have questions, write them down for next week in
sha Allah. And I pray that Allah would bless your families and our society in these very difficult
times that we are going through and that Allah subhanaw taala can help us to make the right
decisions to think on our feet for Allah subhanaw taala and get the best in this life and the
hereafter. So I leave you with these thoughts.
		

			And I asked a lot to have mercy on me Anu was Salam. aleikum wa Rahmatullahi wa