Abdullah Hakim Quick – The New Muslim Corner – Christmas And New Years Eve
AI: Summary ©
The sh pattern of sh arc in Islam is discussed, including the use of "has" in clothing, the sh pattern of sh focuses in worship, and the sh pattern of sh focuses in worship. The sh pattern of sh focuses on the use of clothing and garments, including shians and talismans, and the use of various shrooming forms in Christian culture. The upcoming Christmas celebrations include the use of plants to protect against winter storm damage, the use of shines and their use in giving gifts, and the importance of protecting oneself from sh houses and sh Yochism. The class is the final one for December and will be given a date in the new year. The importance of protecting oneself from sh houses and sh Yochism is also emphasized.
AI: Summary ©
Alhamdulillahi Rabbil Alameen, wa salli wa sallim ala
Sayyidil Awwalin wal Akhirin, Nabiyyina Muhammadin, wa ala
alihi wa sahbihi, wa barak wa salam.
All praise is 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, his family, his companions,
and all those who call to his way
and establish his sunnah to the Day of
Judgment.
My beloved brothers and sisters, assalamu alaykum wa
rahmatullah.
So alhamdulillah, we've reached the final class in
this section for the year 2024.
And in our discussion, the New Muslim Corner,
we emphasize the fact that every person has
a faith.
There's literally nobody who doesn't have some connection
or some understanding of a higher power, however
they want to determine that or explain it.
But every human being has that because we
are weak creatures, we live and we die.
And I remember some years back, a group
of Marxist-Leninists, they had actually come from
China, and they were reading the Red Book.
At that time, the Red Book was very
important in revolutionary circles in the 60s and
70s.
And there was a strange picture of them,
but they had the Red Book, and they
were kneeling almost in a type of prayer
position at the grave of Karl Marx.
And Karl Marx was the ideologue for the
Marxist-Leninist theory.
And you could take that picture and put
in a Hindu, a Buddhist, a Christian, even
some Muslims at certain places.
It was reverence for this person because in
the Marxist-Leninist theory, they have dialectical materialism,
where they believe that change has to come
about.
Change is in the universe, and everything goes
from a lower level to a higher level.
That's the dialectic, that's the change.
Okay, but what is this power?
What is this change that dominates everything in
the universe?
So whether you call it dialectical materialism, nature,
whatever you call it, people recognize a higher
being.
And so the basis of our approach to
people who are embracing Islam is that they
should correct and authenticate their faith.
So that means that everybody has a faith.
And it's not like you throw away your
culture, you throw away your religion, your tradition,
everything.
No.
But what we need to do is to
correct it, to make sure that the sources
of this faith are authentic and correct, and
to try to get on the straight path.
And that means that there may be some
cultural differences between people, even when they practice
Islam.
But as long as the essence of the
faith is the same, then their Islam is
going in the same direction.
And that is based on tawhid.
That is based upon the unity, on monotheism,
the belief in the creator of the heavens
and the earth, that we believe that Allah
sent prophets and messengers to every nation and
to every tribe.
Prophets came to India, China, Europe, Africa, the
Americas.
At one point in time, somebody came teaching
about the belief in the creator.
And we also recognize that with the rapid
spread of Islam, within 100 years reaching the
four corners of the earth, that people came
into Islam with different understandings and cultures and
are still coming into Islam.
And that really is one of the important
foundations of how we approach our lessons to
separate Islam from culture.
And to recognize that we all have cultures,
but the filter that filters out the negative
elements, that is our Islam.
And our tawhid, we understood in this particular
way of approaching it, is based in three
parts.
And that is tawhid al-rububiyah.
And that is that Allah is one in
His rule.
That there is one Lord, one Sustainer above
all.
Secondly, tawhid al-asma' wa-sifat.
And that is that Allah is one in
His names and descriptions.
There is none like Allah.
So this is the basis of how we
look at oneness.
And thirdly, tawhid al-uluhiyah or tawhid al
-ibadah.
And that is Allah is one in divinity
and worship.
There is no partner for Allah.
And so that is the basis of our
discussion.
And we realize that the antithesis of this
is shirk.
So instead of monotheism, believing in one God
unity, there also is polytheism.
And that is a multiplicity of gods.
And the essence of polytheism is that the
person does believe in God.
But they also believe in lesser powers in
order to get to God.
And so that is where the shirk actually
comes in with the lesser powers there coming
to the Creator.
Yeah, on that side.
Coming to the Creator.
And so this, the human being then instead
of praying directly to Allah, prays through a
partner to get to Allah.
Okay, so that is the essence of our
understanding of shirk.
And we found out that that is the
greatest sin that anybody can commit.
And it is one of the key issues
that Muslims should be striving to understand all
throughout their life.
And not to fall into this.
So within the areas of Tawhid, we looked
at shirk in the different sections.
So we looked first at Tawhid al-Rububiyah.
That some people commit polytheism in their concept
of the Lord.
Okay, the Trinity and whatnot.
We learned shirk in the names and descriptions.
Some people take the names of Allah and
make them gods.
Like the Arabs took the name Al-Aziz
and they made Uzza, who was one of
their so-called gods.
Tonight we want to look at Tawhid or
shirk in Ibadah.
So how does shirk manifest itself in worship?
This is a big topic.
It could take up the whole year of
classes every single week.
But I want to look at one aspect
of this which relates to the conclusion of
our understanding of the Christmas season.
And that is shirk in Ibadah.
And one of the forms of shirk in
Ibadah is the wearing of certain special garments.
Talismans, like an amulet or talismans.
Reading un-Islamic chants.
Seeking protection or gain or benefit from these
different forms.
So it's like objects.
People put power in the objects.
And the Prophet ﷺ said, verily, spells, talismans
and charms are shirk.
So he identified that people who put power
in spells, casting spells on other individuals or
having special bags or symbols or whatever.
These can be forms of shirk.
So these talismans, even amongst Muslims.
Some Muslims had fallen into shirk in Ibadah.
And they even took the Qur'an itself
and they put it in pouches.
So this is something that you will find
in many Muslim countries as a matter of
fact.
You will find people get involved in this.
And putting the names of Allah or writing.
And they put it in a pouch or
they hang it over their door as a
means of protection.
So this pouch or this symbol is looked
upon as having the power that only Allah
ﷻ has.
So that's where the polytheism is coming in.
That is where the shirk.
And it is reported that the Prophet ﷺ
found some of his companions with these tamima,
these amulets.
And he would go and tear them off
their necks.
He also would go to the horses and
camels.
Because they would tie this talisman also on
the camels and the horses.
And he would take it off.
You find this in many cultures.
Here in this part of the world, some
people believe in the four-leaf clover.
Or you'll see many people, they drive in
their car and they have like a cross
hanging there.
What's that?
The blue circle of course is the one
that the Turks use that as the tangiri.
Well, that's from their times of ignorance.
Okay, and so they also have like a
horseshoe.
These are some outdated things, but it used
to be in this culture.
Symbols and people would hang these things and
put them over their doors.
And try to seek power from these different
objects.
And believe in these objects.
And it turns into a form of superstition.
And so that leads us into the time
that we are at now in the winter
solstice.
And we are feeling it here in Toronto
now.
The last couple of days has been bitterly
cold.
And we're really entering into the time of
the winter solstice of the northern countries.
And you could imagine, or could we imagine,
living in this temperature without central heating.
And being exposed to the environment.
This was a terrible time.
Things got dark.
The days are short.
The nights are long.
And if you're living in a place with
no lights, just a little candle.
Or a little fire that you make.
This is a very serious time.
And so people then made obeisance.
They made reverence to different objects.
And to any way they could to get
out of the danger of the winter solstice.
Because every year, if you had a large
extended family, then every year somebody in your
family is probably going to die.
Or else become extremely sick.
Now, unfortunately, because of the spread of different
viruses and illnesses, we also find in our
families somebody will become extremely sick during the
winter season.
So within this winter season, in Europe and
many countries, they had different ceremonies.
Even the Greeks, who have some change in
their temperature, but they had a Bacchanalia that
we found out in this season for Bacchus,
the god of wine and sport.
And then the Romans had the Saturnalia for
Saturn, the god of time.
And in the northern countries, they had the
Feast of the Twelve Nights, where they celebrated
also during this time.
The Druids, far in the north.
So there were a number of nature-based
celebrations that went on at this time of
year.
So this is what the culture was like
when the teachings of Isa came into Europe.
And these teachings, through Paul, had already been
slightly changed.
And so these teachings began to spread.
And somehow, with the contact of a major
monotheistic religion and polytheistic religions, there was an
intersection, there was a mixing of the religions,
and something new comes out of it.
And that is what Christianity has become.
It's that new, strange type of way of
life.
So we're right in the middle of it
now.
And in the next few weeks, it'll intensify
and intensify until it reaches December 25th.
That, we learn, is supposed to be the
birthday of Christ.
But even the Christian theologians agree that Jesus,
Isa Alayhi Salaam, was born in the warm
weather.
He was not born in the winter.
So this is the solstice time.
And in all of the different ceremonies in
the north, there usually was some kind of
tree or some kind of image in it
that had evergreen.
And we can notice this ourselves because we
live in a fairly green city, and the
green is dying now, just about, although with
the change in weather, the grass sort of
pops back up and goes back down.
But the evergreen trees are alive.
So there's certain plants that don't die in
the cold.
They stay alive.
So just imagine now, if you base your
religion on nature, on the movement of nature,
okay, then those trees, those plants that are
still alive, something's different about them.
So the people then believed that they could
get some of the power and authority from
these plants and put it in their homes,
and maybe this would protect them from the
cold, the disease, and the calamities of the
winter.
And the Germans, in their homes, of course,
a fireplace is one of the key places
of your home because you've got to stay
warm, okay?
So, and the Norsemen, far in the north,
whose goddess are Bertha or Hertha, right?
So they had special ceremonies in their homes
around their fireplace.
And in a typical home before, of course,
our houses have now changed because now we
have like open concept homes with your kitchen
and your living rooms.
Like before, you have your living room and
then it's around a fireplace because that's going
to be your heat, okay?
And so the chimney was very important.
And it is through there that we learned
that many of the people believed that this
celestial being, Santa Claus, would come down the
chimney.
And Santa Claus that we recognized is not
Jesus, has nothing to do with his image,
and nothing to do with the name because
the name was originally Saint Nicholas, who was
a bishop in Turkey.
It was then at that time Asia Minor,
Anatolia.
Thin, but he was the patron saint of
children, okay?
So therefore, somehow they took his name.
But the image that they used was the
image of Saturn.
And there was an interesting picture that I
found, and it had a picture of Saturn
on a sleigh, and he's a well-built
man with a beard, and it's being pulled
by winged snakes.
Now snakes cannot fly, okay?
But he's flying in a sleigh.
That has been changed because of the North
now, and the mythology that comes to us
is that Santa Claus is in the North,
and he uses reindeers.
So the reindeers is a type of deer
that you find in the North, especially in
Russia and Scandinavian countries.
And so Santa Claus is using the reindeers,
and somehow because of his power, they fly.
And so he flies around the world bringing
gifts.
Okay, this is the image that we get.
Now, the shirk that comes in, remember our
tawhid, remember the shirk in the ibadah.
The shirk that plays itself out inside of
this, sometimes unknowingly to people, is that they
would give special powers to these green plants,
these plants that stayed alive.
Okay, one variation of it is the holly
or the holland, the home plant, right?
It comes out of the oak, and it's
these evergreen leaves.
So you would put holly over your door.
Sometimes you would have like circular forms of
it, and this would then bring in power
to your home.
It's an amulet, the same way that the
Prophet, peace be upon him, said it's a
form of shirk, right?
This tamima.
Okay, so this is holly.
And there was also another one called mistletoe.
It's a little bit different looking, and they
believed the mistletoe had fertility powers, so that
if you put that mistletoe up, that if
you needed a baby, the mistletoe can help
you in that.
And so you'll find in a traditional home
in the Christian world, you'll find the Christmas
tree, the holly, the mistletoe, all of these
plants.
And on the top of the Christmas tree,
of course, is a light.
You always have a big light.
That's the sun, because of the sun god.
So all of these ancient religions are actually
incorporated within the Christmas ceremonies that we see.
And because of this, even the Christian church,
this is in 1647, when the Puritans took
over the Parliament there in England, they banned
Christmas.
They banned it, because they had known St.
Nicholas from Germany.
St. Nicholas in Germany was the devil.
When they drew pictures of Satan, they would
draw Satan with red, and having a beard,
and having these supernatural powers.
And in Germany, they would actually frighten their
children and tell them, in the winter, if
you go outside, right, then Nicholas is going
to get you.
Nicker is going to get you.
Satan is dressed in red.
So this is shocking now, that an image
that was once the devil is now becoming
a god-like figure.
But if you look at Christmas itself, and
you look at the image of Jesus, humble
servant of God, a prophet, walked around most
of the time without shoes, gave to the
poor.
Think about what Christmas is now.
Christmas is an orgy of materialism.
People are getting drunk.
They're fighting.
All types of things are happening during this
Christmas season.
When they say, you're invited to the Christmas
party, for most cultures here, that's not, you're
not going to pray.
You're going there to drink, and to be
involved in many different type of activities.
So therefore, the Puritans banned it.
But the Puritans couldn't, didn't last.
They didn't last.
They reached America too.
They were in the area of Boston.
The Puritans were there as well.
But they didn't last, and eventually it was
overcome with the materialism of the 20th century.
And so Christmas as we know it has
now overcome everything, and people are in a
state of frenzy.
And as we go towards December 23rd, and
because of this, we're not going to be
having classes for the next two weeks or
so, based upon the weather, because it's insanity
as we go toward Christmas.
And so the frenzy really begins.
That weekend before the 23rd or the 25th,
that's when you really get insanity in the
marketplaces.
But now they added on.
They have the 26th, which is Boxing Day.
So Boxing Day is another sale.
Of course, they have Black Fridays, and that
now, you know, it's all materialism, right?
But they have Boxing Day, which originally was
in England, and Samuel Papyrus, from his diary,
it was a Christmas gift, it was a
box that was given to servants.
You have servants in your house, errand boys
who come to your house.
Just like we have postmen.
Some people give a gift to the postman
during this time, so they would give a
special box during this time.
So it was a day of goodwill.
Okay, so they call it Boxing Day.
Okay, but now it's changed.
Boxing Day is like the Boxing Day sale.
So people will flood the markets, thinking that
they can get everything cheaper in the marketplace,
not realizing that the storekeepers put the price
higher than it normally was, in most cases,
and then brought it down to what it
should be.
But you think you're getting a discount.
The point is the confusion that happens during
this time.
And because of the puritans, and because of
pushback that happened in the church, the followers
of the Saturnalia, the Bacchanalia, the lovers of
Santa Claus, the lovers of materialism, they couldn't
enjoy themselves on this night because the pushback
they were getting from the Christians.
Okay, so what they did was, is that
they shifted their holiday, they shifted their merriment
and their drunkenness and confusion to New Year's
Eve.
And New Year's Eve, the end of December
going into the first of January, and it
used to be called Hogmanay.
Hogmanay.
Now we know the New Year's Eve, and
the New Year's Eve is when this special
time and that you have, especially in New
York, you have this image, you have a
tower, and everybody's waiting for the year to
end.
And there's lights and celebrations all over the
year.
Now, what is the problem with this?
The problem is deception.
And a lot of Muslims get confused.
We're confused about the culture that we're in
because the people are saying, it's Christmas time,
just enjoy yourself, take a drink, go to
the party, just enjoy life.
This is like a false type of image.
And so where the deception comes, it's hidden
in plain sight.
Okay?
And look at what this is.
September is from the Latin, septum, this is,
September is the 8th month.
Right?
9th month, sorry, September is the 9th month.
October, okay, you have September 7th.
Right?
October, like octagon, 8th.
That's the 8th month of the year, right?
November is the 9th month.
Count with me.
And December, from Latin, is the 10th month
of the year.
Now, what is December in our calendars now?
It's the 12th month.
You see the deception?
It's actually the 12th month because the new
year began according to their pagan calendar, the
new year began in March because that is
when the spring comes.
And that is when your change from winter
into spring then comes about.
If you're following nature, it makes sense because
on the end of December, January, we're in
the middle of the winter and really the
worst part of the winter is going to
hit us in January.
So this is not rebirth.
It's not a new year.
In February, we're going to get blasted with
cold.
March is when it changes.
Okay?
So, this was named, according to sources, for
the pagan god called Janus.
And this is an image, one of the
images they make for Janus.
And Janus is the two-faced god.
So Janus shows you a face of spirituality,
innocence, and then there's also a face of
deviation and wickedness.
Okay?
So this is a dual personality.
And this is the image, this is what
comes about in the ceremonies, not only Christmas,
but it comes in January as well as
we move into this time of paganism.
Okay?
So this is the trick.
The trick is the New Year's Eve where
the people will wait.
This is New York City.
The people will wait for that magic time
to be there.
But when you see, they will kiss, they
will drink alcohol, all types of things happen
because that's Hogmanay.
They used to give it the name Hogmanay.
But they've changed it now to New Year's
Eve.
So this is the trickery that we are
actually living in within this society.
And what we have to recognize is that
the Qur'an itself, which is the final
revelation, which is to correct the books that
came before.
In Surah Al-Ma'idah, Allah ﷻ is
telling us, this is verses 75 to 77.
This is how powerful the Qur'an is.
It says, The Messiah, son of Miriam, is
but an apostle.
Right?
He's not God.
Apostles before him have indeed passed away.
And his mother was a truthful woman.
They both used to eat food.
Now this might sound very simple language here.
But this is deep.
Because remember, many of the Jewish rabbis, they
called her a filthy woman, a liar.
How can she have a son without a
father?
The Qur'an is saying she was truthful.
Okay?
Then it says that Jesus and Mary both
used to eat food.
What does that mean?
If you eat food, you're hungry.
That means you're a human being, right?
This is a deep sentence.
Because God is not going to have to
eat food.
You see?
So it's talking about the humanity of these
two individuals.
And it continues, See how we make the
communications clear to them.
Then behold, they are turned away.
And it continues, Say, Do you serve besides
Allah that which does not control for you
any harm or any profit?
And Allah is the all-hearing and the
all-knowing.
Then Allah says, Say, O followers of the
Book, especially the Christians, Be not unduly immoderate.
Do not go to extremes in your religion.
And do not follow the low desires of
people who went astray before and led many
astray and went astray from the path.
You see?
This is deep verses here.
So it's saying, Don't go to extremes in
your religion.
Don't follow the Saturnalia.
Don't follow the Bacchanalia.
Don't follow the pagan religions.
Because these people have gone astray and they've
led people astray.
And so the Quranic teachings are clear here
where Muslims should stand.
Also the fact that Shaitan himself, there's no
compromise with the devil.
The Quran says, Surely Shaitan is your enemy,
so take him for an enemy.
Halloween, they want to enjoy.
They want to dress up like Shaitan.
The Quran then says, He only invites his
party to be companions of the burning fire.
Another verse, Shaitan has no power over practicing,
true practicing believers.
Right?
And another part, And surely you will have
no authority over my servants, except those who
put themselves in the wrong to follow you.
So the teachings are clear.
We are in this season.
Protect yourself as much as you possibly can.
Try to educate your families.
Get involved in alternative activities.
Doesn't mean you hide away and don't do
anything.
Make alternatives so children can enjoy themselves.
So families cannot get caught up in materialism.
So I want to open up the floor
for any questions that anybody has.
This is the end of our Christmas season,
New Year's understanding.
And we connected with polytheism or shirk in
Ibadah, in worship.
So the floor is open for any questions
that anybody may have concerning these celebrations.
Okay.
So what's the last sentence?
Right.
So to follow his message, that's what the
Qur'an is about.
The last testament revealed to humanity is the
Qur'an itself.
Because we believe in the Torah, to Moses,
the Psalms, to David, the Gospels, to Jesus.
The Qur'an is the protector and the
final version of the books.
So you want to follow the Gospels?
It's right there in the Qur'an itself.
That's the solution.
And we believe that there is some truth
inside of these texts.
But once we know history, we can separate
the truth from falsehood.
Question?
Floor is open for any discussion.
Anybody has any final questions?
Floor is open.
Right.
Yes, the question is, how do we protect
ourselves from shirk?
Especially like in Mecca, you have the black
stone there and people go overboard.
Sometimes when they get close to religious places.
That is keeping the Tawhid.
Once you have the Tawhid in your mind,
the example of Umar ibn Khattab, one of
the great companions, radiallahu anhu, that when he
came to the black stone, and it is
the sunnah to kiss the stone.
And he said, I am only, you are
only a stone.
He pointed toward it.
He said, I am kissing you because it
is the way of the Prophet Muhammad peace
and blessings be upon him.
So he made it clear that it is
only a stone.
That is not, there is no religious authority
or power that comes out of the stone
itself.
It is all in reverence of Allah subhana
wa ta'ala.
So once we have the Tawhid together, if
you use these three levels of Tawhid, once
you have that, then you can avoid falling
into some of the problems that even Muslims
fall into.
Because that confuses people sometimes when Muslims go
overboard when they are dealing with religious places.
When I first had come into Islam, somebody
told me that there is so much spiritual
power around the Kaaba.
Everybody is going around, right?
So therefore it is so powerful, nothing can
fly over the Kaaba.
Because there is too much power.
So I went to Mecca and I am
sitting there in front of the Kaaba.
Okay, and I looked up and these pigeons
flew on the top and they were sitting
there looking at me.
Pigeons, right?
So where is the power?
The pigeons looking at me.
This is, as a Muslim who said that,
wrong understanding.
It is the wrong understanding.
So the floor is open for any final
questions.
Anybody has?
Yeah.
To Christmas.
Wishes?
You know, we can say, you know, seasons,
greetings, whatever.
But actually the Merry Christmas thing that is
something connected with the paganism.
So there are general ways of answering without
saying the Merry Christmas itself.
You know, we recognize people that are being
kind.
You can't be evil and mean.
You know, this is like Scrooge they call,
like wicked people and you know like that.
No.
You know, recognize it.
But we have to stay out of the
paganism as much as we can.
Any other final questions that we have?
So inshallah we will be, this class is
the final one, you know, now for December.
And then inshallah in the new year we'll
be coming back.
Two or three weeks we'll let you know
on the WhatsApp.
We'll let you know when the classes will
begin again based on the weather and based
on how the schedule is going here, you
know, in the institute.
So may Allah have mercy on all of
us and protect us during the season and
bring us back together in a source of
peace.