Abdur Rahman ibn Yusuf Mangera – Bangalore Tour 2018 Ups and Downs of the Muslim Umma
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Bismillah R Rahman r Rahim Al hamdu Lillahi Rabbil Alameen wa
salatu salam ala Murthy Ramadan lil iron Amin were the early he
was the he or DACA was seldom at the Sleeman Kathira on Eli Yomi
Dean, a mother called Allahu Tabata with Derrida for the Quran
in Mudgee. They will for carnal Hamid one two will Arizona in
quantum meaning sada kala Glavine.
My dear respected elders, dear Allah, Ma, dear friends, our
brothers, our young brothers as well who are here
on this evening, Friday evening, it's nice to be in your midst.
And the discussion for today is
based on our current state, people are looking around. And there are
many things going on around the Muslim world, and not just among
the Muslims around the world, but also among Muslims in the
different countries, including India. There's unfortunately to a
certain level, some people are very depressed.
Some people are giving up their faith. Some people are questioning
their faith. And there's turmoil and turbulence in the mind of
people. I'm not trying to, I'm not trying to make it sound worse than
it is. I'm trying to be as realistic as possible.
I'm not trying to make it seem like it's very bleak, because my
responsibility and the responsibility of the Obama has
always been to create optimism, not to create pessimism, not to
create despondency and hopelessness. Islam has always
been about hope. So that's why I want to discuss the ups and downs
of history. And I want to explain that
today what we're experiencing, what we're experiencing, whether
that be in India or anywhere else in the world is not necessarily
the first time that we have undergone this or not necessarily
the worst of what Muslims have ever experienced.
Throughout history, the OMA has faced many challenges because this
is not Jana, this is not paradise. This is the dunya Jana is an
entirely pure and beautiful place. And Jahannam is an entirely ugly
place. That's that's the hereafter in this world.
Things will go up and down just like with anything else. So
throughout our history, the OMA has faced many, many challenges.
There were periods of immense greatness.
But then there have always also been times of stagnation and
upheaval, countless attacks has been faced by the Muslims in which
enemy forces have conspired to bring down
or bring about its destruction and corrupt it. Even from within
cities, Muslim cities have been razed to the ground.
The Deity of Islam, Allah subhanho wa Taala
has been accused of violence.
Our scripture has been misunderstood. The Quran has been
misunderstood. Our Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam has
been scorned, called bad names. Our history has been deployed by
people. Our heritage has been maligned.
And our community has been condemned.
Our scholars have been killed and slain.
If you just look at what the British did in the Jamia Masjid to
the Chandi joke of Delhi,
then that will tell us itself but then there's so many other places
where the scholars have been killed.
It's activists have been persecuted. It's well wishes have
been silenced. Its teachings have been distorted.
It has also suffered from internal assault.
Many of its followers have many of its own followers. Sometimes
Muslims themselves have brought Islam into disrepute
misrepresented its teachings.
Mr misapplied its force
and committed in justices in the name of Islam. Muslims themselves
have done this.
Thereby they've contributed to the environment of Islamophobia that
we see today in many places.
There's more Islamophobia, expressed today than there was
maybe 50 years ago. And some of it has to do with our own people who
may misrepresent the faith and do
things in the name of Islam.
So the same people they invigorate those people who want to
annihilate Islam, they give them fuel.
So history has recorded all of this turbulence and oscillation in
great detail. And any reader of history
would not be surprised should not be surprised to be honest to see
this cycle in motion yet again.
We've had all of these happen, things happen before. And any
student of history anybody who reads history, will be able to
understand that this is not the worst of it.
Despite being taken many times, Islam despite being taken many
times to the brink of destruction, it's always reemerged
as a force to be reckoned with, always.
Islam has a amazing staying power and endurance
more than any other faith.
And I will prove that to you. This is not just the claim we're making
just because we Muslims
Alhamdulillah our Scripture the Quran still remains intact, in the
same way and uncorrupted in the same original language. Not a
letter has changed.
And our Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam is still loved
and revered as much as he ever was.
Our way of life, Islam is still faithfully adhere to by many
people across the world. It is obviously the religion of at least
1/5
of the world's population.
It is an active mechanism. Islam is an active mechanism that binds
a diverse multi ethnic community.
Across the world as one OMA, that's what we call the OMA is
Islam which binds us, for example, I travel quite a bit, anywhere I
go, and I feel that somebody is a Muslim and I say a Salam or
Aleikum, or they say salaam to me. Suddenly, you feel a sense of
peace and security or salaam Peace be upon you. Suddenly, you feel
like you share something in common. Even though the person may
not be of Indian heritage, which is my heritage. It may be from a
totally different heritage. Never seen him before.
But immediately as soon as you say salaam it has this baraka and this
blessing.
A friendly smile suddenly comes up Muslims anywhere in the world, you
can do this with
and a comfort and a sense of security comes about
Muslims are able to break bread together, eat together
with the name of Allah Bismillah.
And even eat from the same plate.
We have no problem with eating from any other Muslim. In fact,
probably any other people. We don't have that kind of racism
that we can eat with others, especially if he's a Muslim from
any background, any level of society.
For example, a few years ago, I went to a Western West African
country called Senegal.
And it was myself and two other friends of mine. Also originally
Gujarati friends. We sat down and
there were several other guests in the same house. They were from
different African countries and tribes.
And our host was obviously Senegalese African host. We only
met her about an hour earlier. We'd only met each other about an
hour earlier.
And
he put down some food, a big platter and the tradition there is
everybody eats together. So everybody wash their hands. And
with people we've just met one hour ago or half an hour ago of
different tribes around the world we started eating together from
the same plate. Where would you see this kind of harmony? So
that's why don't become despondent. There is still a lot
of faith. There's still a baraka and blessing in the OMA
Muslims Masha Allah,
the world over, they still unite
because of the formula of Tawheed La Ilaha illa Allah because we
share this. For example.
Another country north of Senegal is Mauritania. In the capital, we
went to visit an old scholar who was about 82 years old at the
time, is very old, very weak, and he's very sick, so he wasn't
meeting anybody. But when he found out that the guests had arrived
from another country, he said the only reason I have agreed to meet
with you is because of sharing La ilaha illallah our faith
our faith for us in the Muslim community around the world
opens up doors for us.
That's why
Allah subhanho wa Taala says in his eternal words,
that the believers are brothers in the moment we know
that the believers are all brothers.
The stronger the faith, though, the stronger the Brotherhood. If
you want more Brotherhood to be in the Muslim ummah, the faith needs
to increase the IMA needs to be strengthened, then you will have
more faith. And more faith means more brotherhood because you will
be willing to sacrifice more for your brother.
The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said that the believer or
the believers in their mutual kindness, compassion,
and sympathy are just like one body. That's what we're supposed
to be like. I know we have scenes today, we have situations today
around the world where it seems like this, this body is become
separated with people of the same ethnicity. Same continent, want to
separate themselves from one another, which is a really sad
case.
That's why our faith is supposed to provide us compassion, kindness
and sympathy.
People from other faiths they find it very difficult to understand.
The love that Muslims have for the prophets, they just can't
understand why we go so crazy when our prophets of Allah while he was
going to be criticized, somebody produces a cartoon and people are
ready to take to the streets and, you know, do whatever it takes in
different parts of the world. Somebody produces a cartoon in
Denmark, and the Indian Muslims on the street, Pakistani Muslims on
the streets, Arab Muslims on the street. They just think, what's
the bus? We criticize Jesus all the time, and we Christians not.
That doesn't make a difference to us. Free Speech postmodernism. Let
them say what they want.
But no, our faith, our love. This shows that there's a love. Of
course, we need to be careful how we react. I'm not justifying all
of the expressions of protests that take place not not at all.
Some people do go crazy
what we need to be, but the whole idea shows that there's still a
lot of zeal and fervor that just needs to be directed correctly.
But today, my job is to just show that we have hope.
There's a lot of hope, still, Islam is not dead.
That's why people of other faiths find it very difficult to
understand this.
Love that the the Muslims have for the Prophet salallahu Alaihe
Salam.
And the reason why there's a confusion is because they don't
know the prophets of Allah medicine.
They know our love for Him, that people are ready to be fanatical.
But they don't know the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. They
know Muslims. They know some of the bad things that Muslims do.
Some of the bad attitude that they display, but they don't know the
Prophet salallahu Salam, they know that Muslims claim that the
Prophet sallallahu Sallam is the greatest man to have ever lived.
And he was kind of he was generous, and he was loving. And
he was benevolent. He was honorable, he was dignified.
All of that we claim, but they can't see the Prophet salallahu
Salam prophets, Allah is gone. There's no YouTube videos, there's
nothing of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam that you can show
them today. The only thing we can show them
is if we try to act like the prophets of Allah Medusa.
Otherwise, it's just a claim.
And the non Muslims would look at us and say, Okay, you're probably
not supposed to be a great person.
But how am I supposed to know that? If he's a great person, why
don't you grades?
Why don't you represent him? That's why the Dawa, that
invitation to others that demonstration to others of what
the Bronx philosophy is supposed to be like, needs to be through
our personality behavior of Lord characteristics.
Otherwise, it's just a claim. And people if you're racist, there's
one in psychology it's clear psychology, that people more often
learn from somebody's behavior than they learn from their words.
If you see somebody doing something, you're more humans
generally.
The something psychology it's when you see somebody for example,
smiling, you want to smile.
Humans, the human brain reciprocate it copies it, Emmanuel
This is a study done on the brain, that when you see somebody
smiling, use, try to smile, you try to do the same thing.
When you see somebody crying, you will not smile, because it's going
to look like an insult, you will frown you will make yourself looks
at to try to show some empathy, say normal human. It's a normal
human reaction. Stop the brain is literally, that is what the brain
is actually wired to do. Unless there's exceptions to this. That's
why the Prophet sallallahu Sallam told us that one of the greatest
sadaqa is that you meet with your brother with a smile with a smile
on your face, be watching colleague and a jovial face.
And the reason for that is that when you meet somebody, if you
meet them with a smile, then you've already done half the job
of breaking down barriers of already making them feel
comfortable. If you meet somebody with a straightforward face,
right? You're wondering, there's some people who can't smile.
There's somebody you're speaking to and Have you have you spoken to
somebody with sunglasses on?
Have you spoken to anybody with sunglasses on it is very
frustrating. Because you don't know the eyes tell you so much.
So when you're speaking to somebody with sunglasses on, it's
very rude to be honest. In fact, people say that the niqab stops
people from communicating with you. This is one of the arguments.
To be honest, I think it's more difficult to speak to somebody in
sunglasses than it is to speak to a woman with a niqab. One. Because
the eyes tell you so much.
Wear sunglasses, you just wondering like, What are you
saying? Are you agreeing with me? Are you disagreeing with me? Are
you angry? Are you accepting what is going on? So the professor
loves him said show a jovial face that breaks down so many
insecurities. It provides a good response. And this is what the
brain science is telling us that people impersonate things. So
that's why we need to without behavior.
We don't have to keep saying you must. This is Islam. This is Islam
just show your behavior. They'll be curious, why do you do this?
Why are you different from everybody else?
And then they'll say, Oh, he's a Muslim. I met a Muslim yesterday
or the day before and he's also like this. That means it must be
from Islam. So this is what you call passive Dawa. It's much more.
It's much more effective than when you tell somebody
and you don't show it. We ask Allah for Tofik
that's why
the believer, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam has
this character, compassion, empathy for humanity, complete
moral rectitude. This is what the believers they look at the Prophet
sallallahu sallam, wherever Muslims are, if the prophets Allah
Islam is abused, the Muslims will generally take a stand Hamdulillah
this is this love for him is still continues.
Now.
There's a book that we published in underweight thread press a few
years ago, which was published the original book was written by
Maulana Abul Hassan Ali nadwi Rahmatullah Yanni, who was from up
from Lucknow, from takia. Kala beyond that raebareli In up, he
wrote a book in the 1940s, before the 1950s was called the saviors
of Islamic spirits, that he had our two agreements. In Arabic, I
think Khadija was that was something it was translated into
English in about the 1950s. Now, it sounds a bit archaic, because
the language has developed since then, and changed since then. So
it sounds a bit archaic. But this book, mashallah, it's is a
wonderful book, that must be a classic. Everybody should read,
especially at this time, because it answers so many questions, so
many people have read it, and this is the benefit it's had for them.
It's had the same benefit for me. What it does is that even if you
just read the first volume, it's in five volumes, or six volumes or
something, but the first volume, which spans six or seven centuries
of the great upheavals and the challenges and the problems of the
Muslim ummah, and how Allah subhanho wa Taala always supported
and brought back the Muslims from a low. It's a wonderful book, it
really helps the situation.
So we worked on this book for about 10 years to edit it, revise
it, we weren't working on it full time. We were working on it as and
when we got time with our other projects. So that's why it took 10
years, but we wanted it to be right, because we wanted it to be
in modern English so people can understand it of today. And we
want you to provide a solution. Because we saw that there's a lot
of hopelessness and despondency among the Muslim ummah because of
various different things that have happened the Prophet sallallahu
did say that a time will come when they will be fitten which will be
trials and temptations and mischief and problems and
challenges. Your Akiko Bow to her better than each one will make the
other one seem like nothing. Each one will make the other one seem
like insignificant.
The Gu fitna a fitna will come, a challenge will come like for
example the the cartoons.
And people will do something and then it will go and you think,
Okay, now we can rest. And then suddenly there's going to be
another fitna there'll be a bombing in London, God forbid,
right as there was, then it's going to all finish and then
there's something happening in France and then there's something
happening in Syria, a fitna one, one will follow the other one will
follow the other.
And the solution to this is what we're trying to look at today.
How do we deal with these things? Because these things when a fitna
comes, so many people are losing their faith because of this. What
is the point of being a movement? What is the point of being a
believer, especially when you add ignorance to the whole thing? When
you have ignorance, you don't know your history. You don't know what
it means to be a movement or a believer. You don't know who Allah
is. If we don't know who Allah is how we're going to even survive,
because Allah is who we survive through to understand Allah
subhanaw taala.
So there's a lot of despair in the Muslim world.
This book provides a lot of optimism mashallah, for example,
if you look at the situation today, how many of you have been
to Mercy Luxa probably very few, you should try to go a lot of
Indians actually go there. A lot of the Christians from India I
remember the first time I went before me it was a whole group of
Christian Christians from India, probably South India somewhere.
And they go because obviously there's the the Church of the
sepulcher, sepulcher and numerous other places related to recyle
Islam and Maria Maria salaam, that's why they go there. And
Muslims should go there. Because when the Muslims there, see
Muslims coming from other places of the world that they said, We
don't need your agenda. We don't need your funding. What we need is
you to come and show us solidarity because they feel that they are
basically struggling on their own. And it makes them feel so good
when you actually go there. And it makes them feel very comfortable
that mashallah somebody supports us. It's a wonderful feeling they
have and the other thing is that you can go anywhere in the world,
but you will only be rewarded for going to three places. You can go
to other places. But if you want Thorburn reward for every penny
you spend, every rupee you spend, and every moment use you spend is
if you go to Makkah Makara Madina, Munawwara or if you go to
Jerusalem, for Masjid Luxa, because the Hadith says that to
shut the rial Illa Illa. Allah, that
the whole point of this hadith is to show that from a religious
perspective, there are three places where you will be rewarded
for going. If you go, for example, to Abu Dhabi to see the great
white mosque of Abu Dhabi. You can go to look at the architecture but
you're not going to be rewarded extra. In fact, for you to pray
next door in your Mahala in your area locality in your Masjid is
superior and more rewarding than for you to go and pray somewhere
else. Because that's your responsibility.
But when you go to Makkah Makara Madina, Munawwara for hombre and
to see the Prophet sallallahu Sallam to visit and you go to
machine Luxa you get rewarded for that.
So, Mr. Luxa, at least we can still visit there are problems
they need every week there's a problem a new issue. May Allah
give them respite and may Allah give them strength. But if it's
under siege today,
then in the past, it was actually stripped out of Muslim control for
nearly a century.
For nearly a century, it was took taken out of the Muslim control.
From the year 1099 to 1187. It was actually lost to the Crusaders.
Muslims had no power over it. 1000s of Muslims at the time were
killed inside its sacred presence.
In fact, they were falsely promised refuge. But then an argue
of death ensued afterwards to such a degree that the Crusaders
boasted of being knee high in blood. I read that and I couldn't
from the historian I read this but I couldn't understand this that
how can you have so much blood that your horses could be knee
high in it?
It was only after visiting that I discovered the how it's possible,
because the streets in the Old City that surround the masjid, the
Masjid is on this large hilltop, right which they call the Haram or
whatever they call the hilltop. Surrounding that is a city with
walls still very intact. And there are main gates that go into the
the Jerusalem Old City of Jerusalem itself. Then there are
gates
that go into the masjid area. The large expanse of Masjid area where
Cooper to Sahara and Peabody mosque is which we call the masjid
in Luxor. But the whole thing is mostly Luxor.
So the streets are very narrow can hardly take a car in there. So
there you can understand that so many people were killed and the
blood would rise. The blood could rise quite easily. You can
understand that. In fact, during this period, there was no call to
prayer. No other than that sounded from its minarets. No Quran
recital was reverberating around its dome.
No sermon embellished his pulpit.
No forehead touched down
into the Merab.
And its walls were actually yearning for worshippers to
return.
In fact, a Golden Cross was mounted on top of the Dome of the
Rock The Cooper to Sahara a Golden Cross was put on there, and it was
renamed the templum Domine.
The Aqsa Masjid itself was turned into a palace and the adjoining
areas the marijuana the masala marijuana, it's on the site
septarian area that was all made into royal stables.
Let's look at Baghdad. Baghdad has been ransacked Baghdad shock and
awe campaigns, recent short, sharp and quiet campaigns of the last
1520 years. It's actually experienced much worse than that.
It's bad now. Especially for Sunnis, it's really bad. Because
one of the big areas of Baghdad is called out of Armenia is called
out of Armenia because Imam Abu Hanifa Rahim Allah was buried
there. Al Imam Al out of them. That's where the mausoleum is,
that's where the big Masjid is. That entire area is called, like
Fraser town is called out Hermia. Then there's Kirk. And now
unfortunately much many of the shears have taken over a lot of
the areas of Baghdad and Muslims from what I hear have been
concentrated into some one area. So there's a problem there. May
Allah bring it back. Because if you go to Baghdad, Baghdad has
been one of our greatest cities, some maybe even more than
Damascus, maybe more than bus around Kufa and there are so many
great people who are buried their amazing personalities Junaid Al
Baghdadi Mark Ruffalo, querque Imam Al aham, Abu Hanifa, Hama,
Dibner humble just so many people are buried, it's an amazing place.
So it's experienced worse before this. The tortoise. The tortoise,
after they ravaged many of the Muslim cities when they came down
and started the onslaught when they after ravaging many of the
Muslim cities in transaksi, aina. And in Hora Sun, which is
basically Persia today, and Afghanistan, and Uzbekistan and
those areas after they ravaged them, leveling each of those
cities to the ground, basically just massacring and destroying
everything
they carried on in advance to commit huge massacres, huge
massacres in the capital of the Muslim empire.
Records indicate that in those days, there was a million people
that were slaughtered in Baghdad alone.
A million people were slaughtered in Baghdad alone.
And the Hadith, the Khalifa the entire Muslim land, or lands, he
was rolled up in a carpet
he was rolled up in a carpet and beaten to death. And the reason
why he wasn't just killed outright is the tortoise the Mongols were
very superstitious people. And somebody had told them that if the
leaves blood falls on the ground, then something bad will happen to
them. So they were looking for ideas how to kill him without his
blood spinning on the ground. So they rolled him up in carpets, and
they beat him up
to death.
Now, I don't know which is worse, today's worse or that time is
worse. All I'm trying to tell you that
don't become despondent, we've had worse times before.
In fact, afterwards, the Muslims of Baghdad imagine this is the
doddle Khilafah. They were forced to participate in drinking bouts
in drinking wine during Ramadan. They were forced to do that wine
was sprinkled in their mustards and the Athan was prohibited. In
fact, I'll just tell you a story from recent times. We have a
charity in the UK, which is called Rama mercy is run by a Molana. And
I had him and he's working with in Albania. Albania has suffered
under the communists, they they know
Just communists but even the leaders whoever they were, during
the time of the communists, they had banned all kinds of teaching.
Drinking is very common. They even among those who considered to be
Muslim, and the Mufti of a particular area, under the
communist who he used to be the Mufti of the area, they made him
into the guard of a wine brewery.
He became the guard the security guard. During the communist time,
he was forced to do that.
And this is just about 100 years ago, so Alhamdulillah today, his
son is now the Mufti again, now that it's all finished, and his
other son, he's working with this charity.
And that same brewery,
has just been purchased to make it a mother. So
now imagine the beauty of that his father was forced to look after it
while he was a brewery. And now it's become a mother. So nothing
is beyond the hand beyond Allah. subhanaw. Taala is power. As long
as you work, Allah just wants to see us work, and make an effort
and not lose hope. losing hope is one of the worst things you can
do. Because when you lose hope you have no ideas lifts, you need
inspiration, to be able to do something. When you're hopeless,
your mind shuts down. Psychologically, when you're
hopeless, your mind shuts down. And a bliss wants to create
despondency. In fact, a Walesa, the meaning of that is to create
despondency and hopelessness. This is what a bliss wants from us.
Because when you're hopeless, your love of Allah your trust in Allah
diminishes, and then you can't do anything. Otherwise the believer
is very strong. If the heart is strong, if the connection to
Allah, that's how we survive.
In fact, let's talk about another time. About 500 years ago.
Imam so ut Rahmatullahi alley,
he lived the end of the eight hundreds Hijiri. Today, it's 1440
is our Islamic year. So just over 400 years ago, in around the
890 7060s. This is when Imam so ut was in Egypt, he was a scholar of
Egypt. I've actually been to his grave. It's a it's a very
prominent building. Right? He's buried there in Cairo.
He died in 911 Hijiri, which is 1505.
Right 1505 Gregorian.
And
if he died in 911, he was alive during the nine hundreds, early
nine hundreds. At that time. Do you remember about the beginning
of this mill or the ending of the last millennium in 1999, there was
this for those who know there was this whole
there was this whole concern, and paranoia that everything's going
to shut down because of the millennium bug.
Right, if those of you who should know about that, this was worse,
they felt that if it's 900, then when it becomes 1000, Islamic
Hijiri, after the profits and losses, migration, the world is
going to end.
And there were some people of that time, some scholars as well, who
wrote books in interpreting certain Hadith to show that the
world is going to end by 1000 Hijiri. Now, people are gonna get
concerned. So Imams, God did a lot of research.
And he wrote a rissalah, a small book called Al cash. And Bucha was
at her the hill oil
treaties on the passage of this OMA through the millennium,
proving that is impossible for Qiyamah to occur before 1000
years.
So at 1000 history that there will be no Kiama and we will carry on.
Now, what's very interesting,
he shows that there's no reliable narration to prove that is going
to end anything that the other scholars are quoted the week
misinterpreted, and they're not relevant. So he showed this. Now
we are, we are living for centuries after that. 400 years
after that, and a piano has still not arrived. So he was right,
obviously.
There's a lot of discussion today. You get these videos, YouTube
clips, about
Maddie being born, and that the jaal having been sighted and a
child being born with one eye
and has you know, 30 years left 40 years left. In fact, there's been
predictions that the the job will come, Jesus will come Peace be
upon me Saudi Salam. I remember the last prediction was saying
2007 Somebody did and then they
has been others as well. They all come and pass that's why once when
we had this when you're younger
you get a bit infatuated with these things because there's so
much hopelessness despondency, corruption problems, subjugation
oppression, so you feel like okay, only Maddie can also solve the
matter. But that's despondency. We have not been told anywhere that
you must wait for Maddie. In fact, I don't even want to be around
when he comes.
Do you know why? Because when Maddie comes through the hola
Juan, then the jail will come. And the jail is one of the worst fitna
that you will be awaited. Now just think of it.
For you. What is your biggest fitna?
Right, it's all men here. There's no women here. Generally for men.
The biggest fitna is women. Temptation, I mean, temptation,
where they don't want to but they commit haram.
The fitna for women sometimes is something else. Right. But for
men, this is one of the fitna, they have other fitna. Everybody
can think of their own temptation.
The GRE is supposed to be worse than that. Why do I want to risk
myself?
I want to rather die before he comes in hopefully a good states.
I don't want to have to deal with that.
So what is this idea of waiting for the journal, waiting for
Maddie to come and sort it out? Why are we trying to sort it out?
If you look around the world,
Turkey right now seems to be a beacon of hope.
Despite not having the same funding and resources as other
Muslim, some other Muslim countries have. They are when the
Rohingya happen, friends of mine who have been there for relief,
they say the biggest relief organizations there are the
Turkish ones.
Turkey has taken in more than 3 million Syrians and not just taken
them in but given them places to stay. In fact, given a lot of them
citizenship as well, which country will do that?
Most countries, they take them in, they'll put them into refugee
camps. They won't let them mix with their people because it
dilutes jobs. In fact, I've been to Turkey with a tour, an official
tour. They don't even want to call them refugees, you must call them
guests. And the term the Syrians who are in Turkey, they would do
anything for for for Turkey, because of the respect that
they've been given.
So a lot of people look at Turkey
for some kind of hope.
But the reason
that they have hope is because they're doing something they're
trying something despite not having the same resources.
You need the emaan.
And they're doing it very wisely. They're not doing it in any kind
of crude fashion. They're doing it very wisely.
We ask Allah subhanaw taala to protect and increase them, because
that's very important.
The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam in many a hadith In fact,
the Quran is Aruna Canis, sir it a Jana Musa, and so on. So I
remember when you're young and you get a bit despondent and you want
to look for the MADI so you're like wondering, and you get
excited when somebody tells you that
the child has been born and so on and so forth. And you're just
waiting for this and
I, we asked one of our teachers, and he said, Look, this is
something that Allah has kept concealed.
So you must just leave it to Allah.
Right? Our responsibility is to try to do the best for ourselves
without muddying the picture. When he comes, he comes.
But we must try to do because our own piano, our own death is going
to come possibly before that is closer to us than the coming of
Maddie.
So now what's very interesting is Imam so ut proved in his time,
that at least another three 400 years are needed before Piaba can
come. Because he shows these calculations in Hadith. I don't
want to go through them right now. But he shows these calculations
that when the gel comes, he'll be here for 40 years. And then when
so and so comes he'll be sorry, when a Saudi Salam comes, we'll be
here for 40 years, and then this has to happen. He says there's
going to be about 200 years minimum. If you look at 200 years
minimum, then from 900 200 years we'll go to 1100. So that's why he
proved that Kiama cannot come at 1000 But then he did say that it
will come at 1500
He did say that he will come at 15 How
100 years, how many years do we have left for 1500 years? Because
60 years, so get ready.
But you see, nobody knows this.
The same arguments, the same proofs that Imams God has used to
show that the Day of Judgment will go beyond the 1000, from 900.
And the events that he said will have to happen, which will take
200 years minimum, none of those events have happened yet. That
means it has to go beyond 1500.
Of course, we leave the rest to Allah. This is just to give hope,
that there's still probably a lot of time left.
And as I said, if Baghdad has fared worse, gone down like that,
and he's come back up, and now he's gone down again, it can come
back up.
Same thing.
Throughout the world, we've had problems. I mean, that's why I say
if you read as people of subcontinent, if you read the 30,
Hidatsa limit, I think it's the fourth volume or the fifth volume,
the one in which he describes SHEIKH AHMED sir Hindi Rahmatullah
Raj, Majid Al Thani.
And he shows how Akbar and what he did, how he messed up the system
and created this Dena Ilahi corrupted the whole idea trying to
amalgamate and mix and synthesize the two religions into some new
religion and how that was such a great threat to the Muslim ummah.
But Allah subhanaw taala says, which are the Vitani
Allah always helps somebody there. That's why I do not lose hope. I
see turbulence it makes me feel sad. But it just gives me him to
try to do more. Never makes me feel okay, now forget it, just go
to see wait for it to come. That's just not the answer. And that's
why we're not told when II Silas Allah, Maddie, the jaal, Kiama,
the DA, all of these things are going to come they're going to
come in the future.
Allah exclusively has this knowledge.
So
I was in my 20s when I finally read Derek Dow taglines.
And when I read it, it answered so many questions for me.
You know, from when you're 1314, you start thinking for yourself,
right, and you're not just thinking of cricket or football.
Right, because if you are obsessed by cricket or football, then
nothing matters in the world. As long as your team wins, right?
These are all these are all, you can say opium of the masses.
Religion is not the opium of the masses. This is opium. This is the
new opium of the masses.
So if that's what matters to you, and you don't care about what
happens, then then it's a different story, then he doesn't
matter for you. But if you're concerned, then this book will
answer a lot of questions in order, it's in English.
And I wished that I had read this Kitab when I was about 1314,
because I would have just had a different perspective, I would
have been more discerning more understanding of the situation.
It provided an understanding of the world events, the ups and
downs.
The ebbs and flows, as they say in order do
not shave off for us. Right. This is what it provides, it tells you
what happens to the OMA and how Allah subhanaw taala always helps.
So from it, I learned from the different people it deals with the
first 600 years and I'll quickly explain to you what I mean.
But it tells you that you must have him, you must have a lot of
trust in Allah subhanho wa taala, you must try to do your part. A
lot of people ask like yesterday, we had those questions, what is
our responsibility towards these big Muslim countries that are
fighting with each other? I said we have no responsibility towards
them except make dua
our responsibilities on an individual level.
Right? Now, imagine this, if we don't know this, and we have a
concern. Now even when you have a concern, you have to be careful.
Otherwise, the concern can actually make you despondent. So
we're going to think, okay, these Muslim countries, they're fighting
with each other or they're not doing good or whatever. What's our
responsibility?
And you sit there and keep criticizing.
And you say, what's our and you know, your help us because you
can't do anything. So then you feel despondent? I'm telling you,
it is not your responsibility, because we're not at that level,
we can do nothing. That's why in England is a whole discussion of
Brexit. Everyday the news is talking about Brexit, and I'm
like, this is a waste of time for me. Because I can't do much I can
only go and vote one day. That's it. If they have another
referendum. I'll vote again.
But that's it, I can't do anything else. So why should I even bother?
They're going to have a meeting. So the news is that it calls in
experts before the meeting. What do you think is that they're going
to say in the meeting?
Why do you care? Let them have the meeting, and then we'll discuss.
So they will wasted two, three days of common with, like, what a
waste of time.
That's why a lot of the news is despondence. It's a waste of time.
I'll give you an example. I had subscribed to The Economist,
wonderful, you know, wonderful magazine, or
what whatever you call it.
And then I didn't have time to read all of it. But two, three
years ago, so now I've got a pile. Right? This is the test. Now. What
I do is when I travel, I take a few and I and I, and I go through
it, it takes me maybe about 20 minutes to go through it. Whereas
when it was the current issue, it would take me three, four hours to
go through everything relevant, or what I thought was relevant.
Today, I read it. And it's talking about Trump, we already know
what's happened. Now all of the analysis, projections,
predictions, all done. So ignore, ignore, ignore, ignore, and you
see how much is useless.
You will see how much of this stuff is useless. There's small
issues in there which are significant, that are enduring and
forever, that will benefit you. But do a test take an old
newspaper or new old magazine Time Magazine, Newsweek, Hindus, what
is it called India Times, whatever it is, and read some back and
you'll see how much is useless. And then read something that that
you thought was relevant and see how much relevant it did have
focus on building ourselves focus on doing something productive.
Otherwise, a lot of this is just distraction.
So now, in this first book, there are
it talks about Omar Abdulaziz. He was the first Majid of the Muslim
ummah, because the prophets of Allah Islam said in a hadith of
abou doubt, that every 100 years Allah subhanho wa Taala will send
somebody to revive the deen. Now, we already gone beyond the 1400.
So whoever was the revival, and there's many opinions of who that
revival was, as already gone, we have to wait for the 1500s for the
revival, but the revival of the first year. The first century was
Omar Abdullah Abdullah says the revival of the second century was
Imam Shafi. He died in 204.
And then you got the revival of the third century, fourth century,
fifth century was Ghazali. And Imam Sood, he thinks he's the
revival of the ninth century.
Omar Abdullah Caesar mentality was probably the most comprehensive
revival in which I did, because not only was he an odd him, but he
also was the Muslim ruler of the time.
No other person after him has been a reviver and a ruler. They've
been scholars like Ghazali, etc. But they've never been a ruler as
well. He died when he was only 40 something. He was only Khalifa for
two years and some months. But the change he was able to bring in two
in two years and six months was amazing. He changed it to such a
degree with his fairness and honesty, that in North Africa
during the second or third year of his there was nobody who could
accept the cards. Everybody had been sufficed, and enriched to a
certain degree that there was nobody musta hit and entitled to
the gods to be sent back to the Beatle man.
That tells you that when you've got a righteous leader, despite
all odds, he was fighting with his own family, because they were the
ones who had confiscated many lands and use the Baitul mal for
their own reasons, when he came became the Khalif his wife, who
was 14 I've been to Abdullah Malik was a princess she was the
daughter of Abdul Malik number one the previous Khalif and a sister
of some of the Sulayman if not Abdul Malik, Walid all of them. He
took off her jewelry and everything and he gave him the
path of Allah back into the beetle man because he says that this is
where it was taken from.
Amazing work that he did. It shows you that a pious leader can do a
lot. Then it has hustle and bustle Ramat allottee that shows you
again an amazing individual who was born in a pious household
because his mother used to be a servant for one of the Mahato
minion waves of the voice of the Lord Islam. And what he was
taught, kept the people at that time very strong because of what
he preached to them. He was an amazing personality. We don't have
time to go into his history, but it just shows you that when there
was a problem in the of opulence and indulgence, Hasson Busey
Rahmatullah. Take care
The Muslim is strong.
Then you move on to another fitna that occurred.
The dominance of Hellenistic philosophy dominating Muslim
thought to such a degree that people started having confusions,
in fact, they started denying certain Hadith. This is when the
Tesla came into being more Tesla, for example, they said that you
cannot see Allah in the Hereafter, whereas that's part of our belief
that you will see Allah
and they said a number of other things will have a shot. It was
actually born among the martyrs isla. He was trained by them, he
was a mortality. He was actually a great debater. He had a lot of
qualities, and they thought that he was going to be their next main
superstar. But one day, he comes into the masjid of Basra climbs up
the member and he says he took off his garment. And he said just the
way I take this off. I also take away and remove all my previous
beliefs about Martin Zilla.
They say he saw a dream. There's other versions of he asked a
certain question to his teacher, the great Martin city and he
couldn't answer him. And I don't want to go into depth about that.
But he then became
the
opponent of the martyrs Allah and managed to destroy their ideology
or at least harm it to quite a degree.
Thereafter you have Imam Ahmed him no humble, Mr. Muhammad no humble.
This was also during the time of the mark Tesla. What they started
doing is while Munna Rashid, the son of Harun Rashid, he was not a
martyr city necessarily, but he took some of their beliefs. One of
the beliefs he took from them was that the Quran that we have is
created. I don't want to go into detail here. But we have a Sunova
Gemma throughout the ages has believed the Quran is the
uncreated word of Allah from eternity.
But they couldn't reconcile this with their thoughts. So they said
that the Quran is created, and they started an inquisition. They
started persecuting Munna Rashid was a very hasty and angry person.
So he had many scholars brought and said, Do you believe in it or
not? Some of them had to obviously say I do believe in you know, and
do some thought we'll and you know, do some
whether you call it use metaphor and so on to avoid and those who
said no, some of them he had killed, Mr. Muhammad, Muhammad
said, No, I don't believe it's right. I believe in. If you bring
me proof, then I can believe it. You can bring me any proof that
there were numerous martyrs, you know, who were brought to try to
provide improved but none of the proof was good enough. So then
finally, he was imprisoned. Then my Munna Rashid died, his brother
mutawa killed Bella took over, he was told to carry this on. So
there came a time when he was imprisoned, and then He was
whipped to such a degree that he fell and fainted. Then what
happened is,
Mark Dawson Billa also died. It's amazing how one of these like day
one after the other and then his brother mutawa kill Billa became
the belief. Now he was a good person.
So now, Imam Muhammad, you know, humble once had to have an
operation because of the flogging the beating.
It's amazing when the surgeon was operating on him.
They didn't have any anesthetic. In those days, there was no
anesthesia. So you just use other means to try to contain the pain.
He was saying while he was being operated on Allahumma Farah Lil
matassini Allahu mouthfilling Martha's now this doctor is
surprised that he is the one who put you into this pain and you are
making dua for him. Oh ALLAH forgive this mortal sin. Why? He
said because more Dustin is from the bunu Abbas, Uncle family of
the uncle of the Rasul Allah Islam. I don't want there to be a
case on the day of judgment from me against him on the day of
judgment.
Imam Muhammad Hibino humble once
some people came from afar of area, they say that the Christians
in those areas are making the offer you because you're such a
great person, he lived Islam. So you learn from all of these
things, what qualities we need to have.
There's numerous others. For me, one of the most inspirational was
Abu Hamid Al Ghazali. Which I think that anybody today if you
know anyone, yourself or anyone else who has doubts about the
faith, because of the onslaught of Atheism and agnosticism and
secularism and you are doubtful about your faith, then get the
book it's been translated into English. Imam Ghazali wrote his
own biography. He wrote his own biography and thanks Allah for
that. He actually wrote it's called Ullman peth minute dodol
which basically means they live
difference from error. He explains in a very personal, honest way,
how he had all of this turmoil and confusion and doubts in his mind
about Islam the truth and what is the truth and which group is the
right one? And he did his research on this starting from an empty
mind, and how finally his conclusion was that the way of the
Sufis was the way to Allah subhanaw taala.
Of course, when I mentioned Sufis, I don't mean exotic Sufis, or
degenerated Sufis, because what you have to remember, is what I
mentioned this point, if I have a teacher in Hadith, or thick
muscle, what I've seen, there is not much abuse that can take place
there because the relationship is generally formal. But when you
have a Sufi che be in motion, and you become worried then because of
the close relationship, because of the AKI that when the, as you call
it, and the close relationship, and sometimes it takes on a
cultish.
It takes on a cultish kind of sin. And if the the so called peer is
not a right to be, then they will abuse the relationship, and will
make you do things work for things which have nothing to do with
Islam, I've seen so many of this going on.
Because of the close relationship, it can be very easily exploited.
You can't do that in Hadith, I've seen and so on. Now, because of
the problems here. A lot of people have criticized the soul of
Sufism, and think that the whole thing is wrong. Whereas the
essence of it is absolutely right. And correct if it's done in the
right way and Hamdulillah we do have people who are doing it in
the correct way. Right. So you have to always look through the
fog and the clouds and don't just jump to conclusions.
So Imam Ghazali was the one who is considered to be the one
responsible for reviving Sufism and giving a mainstream
understanding of it, and numerous other things. I mean, his
biography is amazing, you can keep reading him. He is such a
celebrated scholar that even non Muslims in nearly every university
that is doing anything on logic or philosophy, they will have to
discuss him because he just left an indelible mark. Mashallah.
Then you have other people that he discussed is Sheikh Abdul Qadir
jeelani. How in Baghdad alone, he managed to give so many people
hope, connect so many people to Allah, this whole Pierre Marie the
system of beta, he reinvigorated and restarted because before him,
there were people who are connected to scholars, but not the
beta system. He started the beta system.
That is the beta two Tober. This is the pledge of Toba that you
give and he felt that this was the way to have Islam and religiosity
and spirituality spread around the Muslim world. Many Christians and
Jews and others would come and sit in his gatherings and they would
do that they would they would become Muslim. Many people would
do Toba And subhanAllah his his sermons even today English
translation of his quote about his lectures, you can still feel the
power in them. His his heart about his Bionz have been translated by
matar Holland, wonderful translation. And you actually feel
the spirituality coming through it because these were men of Allah.
We need to read more of this. And then there was
one of my second most inspirational person is herbal
fellowship, no Josie, the great scholar of Baghdad. He is just
mashallah scholar par excellence. In fact, we only have Facebook
now. And blogs, he started writing a blog in his time, it's called
seydel hotter, the ALMA will know it. It's a book called captured
thoughts, essentially small, small entries of just things he reflects
on and shows the wisdom and the benefit in these things. wonderful
book, and I don't think it's been translated into English.
But basically all of this shows us that the challenges that are the
man face challenges that the Muslim face is always a response
to it. Likewise, finally, you have the Crusaders who take over the
Muslim lands.
So then, Jerusalem is out of our hands. So Allah subhanho wa Taala
sends to individuals,
Notre Dame's Langley and sallahu Dena UB Rahmatullah hey you Masha
Allah, they show us
that after all of that, that happened in Jerusalem, they bring
it back. Allah subhanho wa Taala still with us, otherwise,
Jerusalem having gone was extremely disciplined, this
creating despondency for people.
So, he discusses other scholars in there like is the Dean Abner Abdus
Salam I don't want to go into that. Finally he discusses the
tortoise. That's the most amazing story
Because the tortoise as I just explained earlier, they ravaged
the Muslim lands killed a million people in Baghdad alone, other
cities of the Persia and other places they just razed to the
ground. Within two or three centuries, the four branches of
the tortoise, the Mongols, slowly one by one, they all converted to
Islam.
Today, the Mufti of Lithuania is a tartar.
He's a friend of mine. I know him. Right? He's a tartar who's living
in Lithuania. I haven't been to Tatarstan, which is actually in
Russia today. Right, but the Tatarstan is where Kazakhstan is,
and maybe they're all Amano. kazon was one of the first printing
presses for Hanafi fiqh books.
That's Kausani is in Tatarstan, which is in Russia today, mainland
Russia.
This is Allah subhanho wa taala. He gives a lot of hope. And just
to give you
a bit about the author, the author shakable has an interviewee he is
from your country. He's from our country.
He died. Does anybody know when he died?
What date? Sorry, 31st of December 1999. Amazing if that means
anything, right? A few months before that, I was studying in
Sauron pool.
And I heard that he's become ill. So overnight, we booked a ticket I
was there with my wife and my my son. So you know here when you
can't get quick ticket booking, you buy a general tickets and then
you talk to the TT inside. Right. Now, I don't know if you guys
still travel by train, but that was the days we were fatigued.
Right? And we had only so much money as students. So we got in
Hamdulillah. What happened is we got one berth sleeper nine hours
from San Antonio to Lucknow, it was overnight. So I put my wife
and son on the one berth. And I took a sheet and I put it on the
ground on that dirty ground. Right third class, and I slept on the
ground.
I won't do that again. I promise. Right? I won't do that again. But
in those days we did it. And mashallah, the next day we got
there and Maulana was told that we're here to ask for his ijazah
in Hadith. So he was doing vicar and so on. He says, Okay, come
tomorrow 10 o'clock. I got there the next day Saturday, I think I
got there and I was waiting for him. And then finally you could
see he was engaged in liquor and he was like, kept delaying it,
delaying it and I could see he was in enjoying his liquor. And
finally, he said, Okay, come in. So I read the first hadith of nine
books, Bihari Muslim, etc. And then he gave each other
Hamdulillah. Then after that, a few months, I came back after a
few months. He this was a Friday morning.
This was a Friday morning. And there's so much I don't want to
tell you his whole biography because that you know, you can
read about that somewhere else. But what happened is,
it was a Friday morning,
the 20 the 31st of December 1999. And
he woke up at about this was the Friday the 22nd of Ramadan that
year. So the 31st of December, was also the 22nd of Ramadan.
He awoke at 9am He completed his daily vicar of God and then he
recited Surah Yaseen about userid 1314 times since nine o'clock he
started reading 1314 times. Then he took a bath, and then he made
the offer for certain people by name. Then he took a bath at 11
o'clock AM changed his clothes and he was preparing for Joomla.
He asked for a copy of the Quran so he could recite now pseudo
gaff, while he was waiting for the Quran was have to be brought to
him. He started reading ERC and again,
and he had not finished this ERC now, and his soul departed.
This was about 11:50am
Just before Joe opera.
His nephew was Sheikh Maulana Muhammad Robbie. Al Hasani,
another way he led the funeral pray it was done that night.
10:15pm after taraweeh It was now the 23rd of Ramadan. So odd night
of Ramadan. 23rd of Ramadan, what a wonderful death what a wonderful
burial. And a congregation whose size was estimated to be
approximately 200,000 people came. I believe this is in takia kala
library, just distance from Lucknow. People came from far and
wide. I mean, he was a known factor, known known scholar. In
recent years, there's probably not been any other Islamic personality
whose funeral prayer has been performed in such a large number
around the world now as Hanafi is we don't do what we call jamaa
Eva, like if somebody dies in the community, we do it
solid on them if they're there, but if somebody dies in another
city in Hanafy mother we don't do Salah de la Ivana. Right. Shafi is
do it humbly is do it. So
his Salado janazah was performed in the Haramain. Both in Makkah
and Madina Munawwara on the 27th of Ramadan.
That is a gift of Allah. He died 22nd He was buried 23rd but
2425 2627 they chose to do Salado Eva
Salatin absent here you call it, and
tooth 2,700,000 worshipers performed it in Makkah Makara
2.7 million people. Did he asked for that? Did he say you must do
it? No, they felt obliged to do it. They don't do so well for too
many people. But this was kuliah
and 1.5 million worshipers in Macedonia, we in Madina Munawwara
done done his Salah Salado janazah.
So
the way the Muslim ummah to finish the way the Muslim ummah has
always survived, how do we do our little part? How do we gain
strength and not become hopeless? We need to read our history number
one, and this is one great book to start with. Right? Number two, we
need to develop some ADKAR for ourself, we need to adhere to
reading the Quran and ADKAR for ourselves the ummah of the past
Imam Hassan he has mentioned this the OMA of the past despite all of
the upheavals many of them worse than today. They managed to go
through this even though they were Mamelukes and sell jokes and uh
you bids and just constant problems Hawa ism Shah and all of
these people constantly competing with one another so much killing
going on Tatas and so on. The way they survived is they were
connected to Allah subhanaw taala they did not feel the despondency
don't major things that happened. That's why you must have some car
for example, if you get a hold of them the law it will Hyatts when
RJ Maqbool any of these books, and just read a portion every day.
Have some thicker that you do 100 Is stick for morning and evening.
100 Salawat delusory morning and evening. A part of the Quran every
day
in sha Allah that will help because it builds the hearts up in
Hans's your belief in Allah. It strengthens it. And that really
gives you a lot of hope. So don't feel despondent. Businesses may be
down, markets are down. These are just things that happen. There's
ups and downs in the market. Make dua stay strong, and maybe this
will be an opportunity as opposed to an adversity. That's why one
scholar, one older scholar I met in
Mauritania. He said no, not me han wala Wallach in Nara fita Yee ha
al Minun. And I thought Marcia was very hopeful. He says we are
seeing many challenges ahead of us. But in the fold of these
challenges rolled up, we see a lot of gifts and bounties. So stay
hopeful. And we ask Allah subhanaw taala to bless us all. Bless the
entire Muslim world, bring back humanity to the human being while
I can read that one until hamdu Lillahi Rabbil Alameen