Abdur Rahman ibn Yusuf Mangera – Umar ibn Abd al Aziz
AI: Summary ©
The history and transformation of Islam have been highlighted, including the loss of religion and the rise of the spoke community. The importance of finding a person with the "ma'am" factor is emphasized, as it is the Hereafter. The speaker discusses the difficulty of people linked to Islam and the importance of reading books and taking on a sustained study. They mention a course on Islamic Essentials and a course on Deen's Deen's Deen's Deen's Deen's Deen's Deen's Deen's Deen's Deen's Deen's Deen's Deen's Deen's Deen's Deen's Deen's Deen's Deen's Deen's Deen's Deen's Deen's Deen's Deen's Deen's Deen's Deen's Deen's Deen's Deen's Deen's Deen's Deen's Deen's Deen's Deen's Deen's Deen's Deen
AI: Summary ©
Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh.
This recording has been produced by White Thread
Press, fulfilling the educational and spiritual needs of
contemporary Muslims.
Asalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh.
Many people feel that Muslims are
under attack and so they are in different
areas, in different areas of the world nowadays.
We see that Muslims are under attack and
not just Muslims are coming under attack but
Islam itself has come under attack.
People are trying to discredit Islam, spread false
propaganda and to try to throw as much
dirt onto this religion of Allah subhanahu wa'ta
'ala as much as possible.
But Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala says وَأَنْتُمُ الْعَدَوْنَ
إِن كُنْتُمْ مُؤْمِنِينَ You will remain elevated and
lofty if you are believers, if you are
true believers, believer in the true sense of
the word.
This is not the first time, not at
all, this is not the first time that
Islam has come under attack.
Not just Islam but every religion has come
under attack.
If we look back in history, if we
look at the current situation of the other
religions, as Muslims our belief about the religions
that Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala revealed to mankind,
let's take the religion of Isa a.s.
Today it's in the form of Christianity.
The religion of Musa a.s. Today it's
in the form of Judaism.
We as Muslims believe that these religions underwent
great changes and transformations to such an extent
that they ended up in the form that
we see them today.
And we as part of our faith believe
that they are incorrect and they have changed
the original teachings that were revealed upon their
prophets, upon our prophets.
Musa a.s. is our prophet.
It's blameworthy not to say Isa a.s.
We respect these prophets more than maybe their
own so-called adherents do.
So it's not just Islam but all religions
have undergone great attacks and normally wherever there's
haq, there is batil.
Wherever there is batil, haq comes through.
Unfortunately, and this is through the wisdom of
Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala, that no other religion
has been able to sustain these attacks except
Islam.
And this is why Christianity is today in
a totally different color than it used to
be.
When Isa a.s. comes back, the Prophet
sallallahu alayhi wa sallam in a hadith relates
that one of the main functions that he
will perform will be that he will break
the crosses and he will kill the swine.
This is one of the greatest blows that
could happen in Christianity and most of the
Christians will understand and become Muslim.
This is one of the main functions of
Isa a.s. So it's in a totally
different color.
If Musa a.s. was to come and
see Judaism, then again it would be a
great shock and surprise of what has my
religion become.
Totally different from what it used to be.
Islam has also been attacked from within and
from outside, externally and internally.
But alhamdulillah it has been able to sustain
and to preserve its pristine purity.
There will come times when there is a
downhill slump and then Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala will send someone to revitalize the faith,
to revive the faith called the Mujaddid.
There is a hadith which is related by
Imam Abu Dawood in his Kitabul Malahim and
Bayhaqi has also related this hadith that the
Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala will send for this
ummah at the end of every century or
at the peak of every century of every
hundred years someone who will come and revive
this faith.
And among these revivalists of Islam were the
likes of Imam Shafi'i, were the likes
of Imam Ghazali and other scholars who have
been enumerated in the books by the scholars.
Allama Suyuti has actually written a whole book
on this subject about the Mujaddidin and he
has a poem which mentions the names of
all of the revivalists of the Islamic history
until his time.
In other words you can say that Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala sends at the most
opportune time, the most appropriate time someone that
comes and revives the faith when everybody is
thinking that all is lost.
When people think that all is lost this
is the end of Islam.
Islam is being effaced of the face of
this earth and eliminated and exterminated throughout the
world.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala sends someone to
revive his faith.
Among these were the likes of Hassan Basri,
Rahimahullah, Umar Ibn Abdul Aziz, Rahimahullah, Imam Ghazali,
Rahimahullah, Abdul Qadir Jilani, Rahimahullah, Ibn Al-Jawzi,
Rahimahullah, Izz Ibn Abdul Salam, Rahimahullah, Sheikh Al
-Islam Zakaria Al-Ansari, Rahimahullah.
So over the time people have come up
who have been able to elevate this religion.
Sheikh Abul Hasan Ali Al-Nadawi passed away
a few years ago may Allah grant him
peace in his grave.
One of the greatest scholars of this century.
He wrote a series of books in Urdu
which were translated into Arabic and into English.
Three volumes of this work has been translated
into English under the title of Saviors of
Islamic Spirits.
It's really a good idea to get this
book and read this after reading the seerah
of Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam.
It's very necessary for every Muslim that he
reads the seerah of Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa
sallam.
There are so many lessons to be gained.
Reading fiqh is good and beneficial.
Reading the different subjects and sciences of Islam
is good and beneficial.
But sometimes the benefits which are gained from
reading the biography of Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa
sallam do greater benefit and provide insights into
how to practically apply the laws of Islam
in one's life.
Every page of the biography of Muhammad sallallahu
alayhi wa sallam, every day and minute of
his life provides us insight into how to
become the true human being in this life
and how to gain salvation in the hereafter.
No other biography can provide us with such
a source and treasury of information and of
practical benefits.
So each person here, whether old or new
Muslim, must get a good seerah, a reliable
seerah of Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam and
read this and then try to internalize the
message.
Following that we should read about the khulafa,
the four khalifas, the sahaba, men around the
messenger.
A book has been written on this subject
about the sahaba.
There's hayat al sahaba, there's hikayat al sahaba,
there's the stories of the sahaba.
There are numerous books written on this subject.
Thereafter, a good book to read would be
the Saviors of Islamic Spirits because it covers
some of the greatest Muslims and luminaries of
Islam that lived after the four khulafa.
And when I talk about Islam being attacked
from within and from outside, obviously other religions
will attack Islam.
And one of the main questions after the
events that took place two years ago, one
of the main questions that were asked by
the reporters, just to cause greater fitna, that's
what the newspapers do, they cause greater fitna,
they get the juicy stories.
So one of the main questions that I
had posed to me was, what does Islam
say about other religions?
Where are the people of Christianity, of Judaism
and other religions, where are they going to?
Are they going to * or where are
they going?
So obviously they want you to commit and
they want you to say that everybody else
is going to *, just like every religion
believes that others are going to * except
those modern man-made manipulated religions where each
church has a special twist to it that
caters for the inhabitants of the area and
any new person that comes in it accommodates
for that person's ideology and view and lifestyle.
Islam is not like that.
There is a special way of Islam.
So the answer that I would normally give
is that this is not a question that
needs to be answered nowadays because Muslims have
been able to coexist with many others, even
when Muslims were in the dominant position and
ruling, the minorities were given great justice and
they were never abused as Muslims are being
abused today under other regimes and under other
systems.
In fact under their own so-called Muslim
systems that are being influenced by non-Muslim
influences.
So let us look at how we can
coexist and live in peace in this world
and be able to for me to share
the beauty of my faith with you rather
than worrying about what I believe is going
to happen after you die and after I
die because it's going to be too late
to then say hey I won.
Although the Muslims will say that.
Because the Muslims will say أَفِيدُوا عَلِيْنَا مِنَ
الْمَاءِ أَوْهُمَّا رَزَقَكُمُ اللَّهُ قَالُوا إِنَّ اللَّهَ حَرَّمَهُمَا
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has made that
prohibited on you.
And then the Muslims will say didn't you
find what Allah promised you to be the
truth?
So that will happen.
But if we look in history, Islam was
also attacked from within.
The different heretic groups, the Bati Knights, the
Qadariyya, the Jabariyya, those who believe that a
man has no control whatsoever, Allah is pulling
the strings of person has no free will,
therefore he should not be punished.
Those who believe that an Insan is مخيّر,
Insan has full ability to do everything and
Allah doesn't even know what this human being
is going to do until he does it.
So Allah doesn't even have that knowledge.
There were extremes of this case as well.
So there were many heretic groups but none
of them were able to sustain themselves.
Islam, the true Islam, I don't like to
use this word Orthodox Islam because then that
means there's non-orthodox as well, but this
is what the Jews have done.
So I don't like to use this term
but the mainstream of Islam has always preserved
itself and there's always been a revivalist.
So do not ever feel that we have
lost everything.
Do not ever feel that.
It is us who have to remain strong
and attach ourselves to Islam and hold on
to the rope of Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala.
Because Islam will endure.
Islam will remain strong.
Islam will be able to shine its light.
They want to extinguish the light of Islam.
They will not be able to do so.
Allah will allow it to endure even though
they dislike it, they abhor it, they detest
it completely.
Now if we fall into the same problems
through the propaganda that we see and that
we listen to and that we read and
we become confused about our own religion because
we don't have insight into the life of
Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, into the life
of those who followed him والذين تبعوهم بإحسان
رضي الله عنهم ورضوا عنهم those who followed
him in goodness and virtue, the Khulafa and
then the other saviors of Islamic spirits, the
great luminaries and the role models that we've
had in the past.
If we don't have insight into their lives
and how they dealt with different situations, then
we will be at loss ourself.
We will only have ourselves to blame.
Islam cannot be blamed.
Islam is not becoming weak.
It is the Muslims, those who proclaim to
follow the religion who are becoming weak.
It is not Islam that becomes weak.
And I'll give you an example of how
things can turn around in history in less
time than four years of a presidential term
of this country.
Despite being the major superpower of the world
today, acclaimed, understood and accepted by all, by
enemies and friends alike, in a four-year
presidency, the president cannot solve the issues of
this world.
He cannot bring peace to the different areas
of this world.
He cannot eradicate poverty.
Let us not talk about the president.
No system today except Islam has an answer
to any of this.
They've all tried.
Communism has tried.
But it left great carnage, toil, problems, confusion
and ethnic cleansing.
We've seen the examples when it was dismantled.
Democracy cannot do that.
Democracy is not the final thing.
Islam is the final thing.
And Islam will prevail.
You will remain lofty.
You will remain lofty if you are true
believers.
So Islam will always endure.
The light of Islam will never be extinguished.
It will never weaken.
The Muslims will undergo Islam.
So I want to speak about one personality
of history, who in two years and five
months, not even two and half years complete,
but two years and five months, was able
to bring such a change in the world,
that today whenever we speak about Africa, whenever
anybody speaks about Africa, immediately what comes to
mind is poverty.
You know whenever we mention Africa, what comes
to mind is poverty.
That's how they have been kept, despite the
great mineral resources, despite the diamonds of South
Africa.
I can never understand until today why one
company is allowed to mine all the diamonds
of South Africa, the Oppenheimer, the De Beers
company.
I've still not been able to understand that.
There are great minerals in Africa.
They could have so much resources, but they
have been kept in such a way that
today when anybody takes the name of Africa,
immediately what you think about is poverty.
But would you believe it, that there was
a time that there was nobody in North
Africa who was poor enough to accept zakat
money?
Do you know that Africa in its history
had a time that in North Africa, when
the collector of Umar ibn Abdulaziz rahimahullah was
sent to collect the zakat, after collecting the
zakat from the people of North Africa, the
area that was under Islam, he tried to
look for people to give this zakat to
because the prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam told Muaz
ibn Jabal radiallahu anhu, that take the sadaqah,
take the zakat from the Agniya and return
it to their Fukara.
So the superior thing to do is to
actually give one's zakat to those who are
in need from one's own family and tribe
and relatives because of this hadith of the
prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam.
So trying to act on this, trying to
find a recipient, someone who qualified to take
zakat, somebody who did not possess the quota
or the quantum the minimum amount, the nisar
of wealth to qualify for zakat, he could
not find anybody.
And this was in two and a half
years of the rule of Umar ibn Abdulaziz
rahimahullah.
You'll be fascinated if you read and turn
the pages of the life of Umar ibn
Abdulaziz, you will be fascinated from where he
came, from the situation of the Ummah at
that time, what the Umayyads, what the Umayyad,
Banu Umayya had made the Khilafah into and
what the Muslim world was undergoing and the
change that he brought in two and a
half years, you'd be surprised.
And that will give you then inshallah the
hope and that will then give you the
pride inside that yes, it can happen.
It's not a loss.
It doesn't have to have 15 years or
20 years to make the change.
Everything is in the hands of Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala.
Obviously during the time of the Khilafah, especially
in the time of Abu Bakr radiyallahu anhu,
besides the small insurgents of those who went
away from Islam into apostasy and decided to
personalize their religion by saying we won't pay
zakat but we'll be Muslims and Abu Bakr
radiyallahu anhu managed to quell these insurgences.
Then Umar radiyallahu anhu's time was a great
prosperity, great stability.
A lot of the land was taken at
his time.
Islam spread far and wide at his time.
Then in the time of Uthman radiyallahu anhu
was when the problems began and Uthman radiyallahu
anhu when he was besieged in his own
home by the insurgents, he told them that
you must not raise the sword because if
you are to use the sword then it
will never be put down again.
Until today the sword has not been raised
against the Muslims.
Muslims have not fought each other and if
you use the sword today then this door
will never close.
You will be opening a very * door.
But they used a sword and they had
him martyred.
They killed Uthman radiyallahu anhu in his house.
One of the worst times that we've had,
one of the worst times, one of the
most saddening times that the Muslim Ummah went
through.
Thereafter comes a time of Ali radiyallahu anhu,
again no stability.
Now the Khawarij are against him.
He is having a difference of opinion.
Muawiyah radiyallahu anhu both have pious ambitions and
goals but they cannot see eye to eye
and they have an issue.
This is from the wisdom of Allah subhanahu
wa'ta'ala radiyallahu anhum wa radu anhu.
Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala is pleased with them
and they are pleased with Allah.
They are both from among the great Sahaba.
Ali radiyallahu anhu being the cousin of the
Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, the son-in
-law of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam.
Muawiyah radiyallahu anhu being the scribe of the
Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam who would write
the Wahi and the revelations as they would
come down because he was literate.
He knew how to read and write.
He was also a brother-in-law of
the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam.
His sister was married to the Prophet sallallahu
alayhi wa sallam.
Both very high-ranking Sahaba.
Then the issue with Aisha radiyallahu anha and
Ali radiyallahu anhu.
So that was extremely, Ali radiyallahu anhu in
his Khilafah went through a very unstable time
due to these issues and then with the
Khawarij as well.
And then came the time of Hassan radiyallahu
anhu.
Then he gave it to Muawiyah radiyallahu anhu.
Now in the time of Muawiyah radiyallahu anhu
he brought back stability.
He brought back stability and again the expansion
continued and Islam began to spread again.
And then after came his son Yazid ibn
Muawiyah and then came the very horrendous incident
of the martyrdom of Hussain radiyallahu anhu.
That incident itself is so horrendous, it's so
sorrowful, it's so grievous that subhanallah, when you
read that you feel like this is nothing
what is happening today.
Where someone can actually kill in cold blood
the grandson of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa
sallam.
And the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam had
talked about them so greatly and mentioned their
virtues and merits that they are the Raihan
of Jannah and Sayyidaa Shababi Ahlul Jannah.
That they will be the leaders of the
youth of paradise and yet somebody who calls
himself a Muslim, a governor of Islam is
able to command his death.
It's one of the most sorrowful incidents.
So we've had these incidences in the past.
We think what we're going through right now
is worse than anything we've had before.
No, I mean the Tartars, what they did,
what the Mongols did to Baghdad is much
worse than what happened today.
Although what happened now is extremely bad and
we condemn the looting and the destruction that
took place.
We condemn this, no doubt about that.
But what happened there was worse.
What happened to cities in Afghanistan totally razed
to the ground.
That a handful of survivors come out after
the Tartars had overrun that city.
So now what happens is from the time
of Yazid and then into Marwan, the Caliphs
of the Banu Umayyah, they shifted their total
attention to collecting the taxes, collecting the money
from the people and filling up the baytul
maal and using the baytul maal as their
own bank accounts.
So they would spend freely and give to
their people and their relatives and they would
insert the wealth of those who it rightfully
belonged to.
They would confiscate people's properties and bring it
under their own jurisdiction.
They would benefit from this.
They were insanely in love with the pleasures
of this world.
They took to drinking, they took to singing
and music and dancing and poetry and all
of the haram acts that you would think
about.
This is what happened in the time of
the Banu Umayyah.
There were scholars at the time which kept
the people stable because from the government side,
from the ruling elite, it was all corruption.
I'm talking about Marwan and then his sons
Abdul Malik Ibn Marwan, then Sulaiman Ibn Abdul
Malik, Hisham Ibn Abdul Malik, Waleed.
Now it says about Abdul Malik Ibn Marwan
that before he gained a khilafah from his
father, when his father was a khalifa, he
had studied fasaha.
He was a very knowledgeable person.
He was a great scholar in his own
right in certain sciences in terms of fasaha,
in terms of balagha, in terms of share,
in terms of Arabic, the language.
He was on a very high level and
he said he had a great love for
the Quran.
He would recite the Quran very often for
hours on end and it says that the
day his father died, he was sitting in
the haram and he was reciting the Quran.
He was making tilawah of the Quran and
فَهَنَّؤُهُ بِالْخِلَافَةِ They gave him the glad tidings
of khilafah that you are now khalifa after
your father Marwan.
So he put the Quran in front and
he said هذا فِرَافُ بَيْنِي وَبَيْنِكِ This is
the time of separation between me and you.
They changed.
So this was a great time of problem
and toil and the people had to endure
this but الحمد لله.
There were scholars at that time.
سيد التابعين, the leader of the Tabi'een,
سعيد بن المسيب رحمه الله.
There were the likes of حسن بن المثنى,
سالم مولى بن عمر, سعيد بن المسيب, عروة
بن الزبير.
This was Aisha رضي الله عنها's nephew, the
son of زبير بن العوام and أسماء بنت
أبي بكر, أبو بكر رضي الله عنها's grandson.
عبد الله بن زبير's brother, one of the
great scholars of that time, قاسم بن محمد
بن أبي بكر, أبو بكر رضي الله عنه's
grandson.
These people tried to keep the stability.
So although there was this tension towards the
lustful aspects of this world, on the other
hand, these scholars were keeping the masses and
they had greater respect.
One day, هشام بن عبد الملك went to
the Haram to perform his Tawaf and there
were a large amount of people making Tawaf
and he could not find a way to
get to the حجر الأسود, to kiss the
stone.
So he sat on the side to wait.
Suddenly, somebody comes in.
It is the son of حسين رضي الله
عنه, علي بن الحسين, زين العابدين and everybody
just moved out.
Everybody just made room for him.
He went direct to the حجر الأسود and
he kissed the stone and هشام بن عبد
الملك is just looking on.
I am the governor and they don't have
any respect for me and this person comes.
So he knew who it was but feigning
ignorance, he said who is this?
So there was none other than فرزدق.
Those who've studied Arabic poetry will know that
فرزدق is one of the greatest of the
Arabic poets and you have to study Arabic
classical literature.
Impromptu poetry, he made up a poem on
the spot praising زين العابدين and this is
a poem which has gone down into the
classics of Arabic literature that you would have
to study this if you studied the literature
of that period.
The first two couplets are, pebbles and paths
of Makkah affirm his virtue.
The house of God knows him well as
do the environment around him.
He starts with that and هشام بن عبد
الملك just had to listen to him.
So there was a great respect for the
scholars but eventually the situation deteriorated to such
a level that now they needed reform.
It was not enough to just have the
scholars try to reform the masses because the
influence and the power that the ruling body
of the Umayyads had and the force that
they had, it became too strong.
So now they needed a change in the
actual government and this could only happen through
miracle because all of the children of these
people were doing the same thing.
They would make their own children khilafah, they
had made it into a monarchy that each
person will be succeeded by his son and
then his brother and then his brother and
if there were no more brothers then he
will go into their children.
So now it was only a miracle that
could actually change the situation and Allah subhanahu
wa'ta'ala brought this miracle.
When Sulaiman ibn Abdul Malik was about to
die, his children were too young.
He tried all he could on his deathbed
in his ill state to dress his children
up in large garments, loose-fitting garments, you
know high-heeled shoes or whatever they had
at that time to make them look big
enough so that they could be sworn into
the khilafah, they could be taken as the
khulafa but to no avail.
They were not accepted.
So while he was in this state of
utter confusion and not knowing what to do,
Raja'a ibn Haywa, one of the great
scholars that you can attribute the virtue of
this to Raja'a ibn Haywa that he
said the right thing at the right moment.
He said your cousin, your cousin Umar ibn
Abdul Aziz, he's appropriate for this.
So Sulaiman having nobody else to turn to,
keeping it within the family said Umar ibn
Abdul Aziz will become the next khalifa.
Now Umar ibn Abdul Aziz was a grandson
of Marwan but he was from another brother
so the khilafah had run in his cousins,
in Abdul Malik's children, Abdul Malik's children Hisham
and Sulaiman.
So he was a cousin and he was
supposed to go into the grandchildren of Abdul
Malik in terms of Sulaiman's children but because
there was nobody, he said Umar ibn Abdul
Aziz.
So he was part of the Umayyads in
a sense.
From father, Marwan was his grandfather but his
mother's side, he was related to Umar r
.a, Amirul Mu'mineen, Umar the Great, Umar Farooq
and the story about that is actually very
interesting that if you remember there's a story
that's told about Umar r.a that once
while he was doing his nightly rounds, he
came across this incident between a daughter and
mother where they used to sell milk and
the mother was trying to dilute the milk
with water and the daughter said no.
So the mother said that the khalifa is
not looking.
So the daughter said well Allah is looking.
So Umar r.a, he had his son
marry her and he made dua that may
Allah rise from them someone who can rule
the people and from his children this was
the great-grandmother, this woman that he had
his son marry, this was a great-grandmother
of Umar ibn Abdul Aziz.
So maternally he was linked to Umar r
.a. So he was from both families, from
the Farookis as well as from the Umayyads.
So that gave him a great position as
well.
Now before he became khalifa, he was the
governor of Medina, Medina Munawwara and at that
time his state was totally different.
The only thing that could show any kind
of indication of his future, of what he
was to become was just his pious and
just attitude.
Otherwise in terms of clothing, in terms of
the sense he used, he was on very
high aristocratic grounds.
In fact they would know by the scent
that he would leave trailing behind that Umar
ibn Abdul Aziz has passed by, the governor
of Medina Munawwara has passed by, the expensive
perfumes that he would use, the fine clothing
that he would wear.
So he had indulged in that sense.
And by the precedent of the other Umayyads,
what was expected after any one of them
became the khalifa, was that they increase in
this indulgence and they spend more of their
resources on this.
But he went totally the other way, totally
the other way.
He took off his fineries, so much so
that he was left with one garment.
In one Jumu'ah prayer he arrived late
and upon inquisition they found that he was
washing the only shirt that he had, the
only garment that he had and he was
waiting for it to dry and that's why
he came late.
He did not leave enough money for himself
to perform a Hajj.
He did not leave enough money to perform
a Hajj.
Once he asked his personal finance minister, if
you can call it such, that do we
have anything?
He had two dirhams.
Then when more came in and his servant
told him that now you have enough, he
said, no we have looted the people too
much in the history for me to be
able to benefit from this.
This needs to be returned to the people.
He took away the great estates and the
great possessions and land and properties that the
family, the extended family of the Umayyads had
taken from the people and he returned it
to the people.
One day his daughter came to visit him
and the children that were with her had
their hands on their mouths and he inquired
us to the reason for that.
What is wrong with your mouth?
What is wrong with their mouths?
He said the reason is that we don't
have enough food in the house.
All we had was pulses and onions and
we don't want you to be irritated by
the smell of this.
So this is why they are doing this.
Umar Ibn Abdul Aziz rahimahullah began to weep
and cry.
He said I would rather see you in
this state.
He cried.
He wept and he said that I would
rather see you in this state than to
have to answer on the day of judgment
as to where I received my money and
where I spent my money.
He would exhort his governess.
So before when the setup had been that
don't mix church and state, you know this
time I hate to use it but this
has become an anecdote.
Don't mix church and state.
It was the Khulafa would do the indulgence.
They would just make sure they protected the
borders of Islam and it was the ulema
and their responsibility to reform the people.
Umar Ibn Abdul Aziz took it as his
own responsibility to reform the people and this
is when change can happen.
It is when it comes from the top.
The prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam said that there
will always be a group of people.
There will always be a group of people
who will be the upholders of the truth.
At all times even in the worst times
that this ummah will experience, there will always
be people who will be they may be
a minority but they will always be these
people.
So they've always been there but he took
it as the state religion to implement it
and the first change he made was in
himself.
Today if anybody else can make this change,
if any one of our leaders can make
this change within themselves then the change can
filter down to the rest of the population.
This is where the biggest problem lies.
This is where the biggest problem lies.
That if the top can change and obviously
the people can change as well.
It has to work both ways but if
the top changes and if there is Islamic
rules and if there are Islamic ahkam and
laws to be followed then many of the
vices will be eradicated and piety will be
spread and will prevail.
In two and half years just see what
Umar Ibn Abdul Aziz was able to acquire
and achieve.
So he shed himself of all of these
royalties and his greatness.
In fact it said that when he would
be using the lamp, the candle, for if
anybody came with an issue of government or
someone that came to him with a complaint
or a request or something.
If it was not a private issue meaning
if it's not a personal issue then he
would use that lamp at nighttime.
But as soon as the person began to
ask about him and say how's your health,
how's your family, he would extinguish that lamp
and light his own lamp and say that
I cannot use the lamp of the people,
lamp of the Muslims for the sake of
my own personal discussions.
When Abu Bakr Ibn Hazm who he had
made the governor of Medina, one day in
the time of Sulaiman Ibn Abdul Malik, the
previous Khalifa, he had written a request that
he needed more candles to be able to
work at night and some extra pieces of
paper.
Paper was rare in that time so he
had put an order that we want paper
and by the time he got to the
Khilafah through all the governors and everything Umar
Ibn Abdul Aziz was the Khalifa.
Umar Ibn Abdul Aziz wrote him a letter.
He said do you remember the time when
you used to wander around with nothing in
darkness?
Can you not spare some of your own
lamps for this task that you have to
have a ready supply at your disposal?
And he told him to write with a
thinner pen and write more in smaller writing
and write less and only the most important
aspects and not to burden the people with
extra information so that he could get more
information onto less paper.
This was to conserve the, because we're going
to be asked about this.
And this was just following Abu Bakr radiyallahu
anhu and Umar radiyallahu anhu.
Abu Bakr radiyallahu anhu, you know the story
when he was not able to run his
own business anymore.
He had been a successful businessman when he
was not able to run his business anymore
and after he became Khalifa, the Sahaba decided
that he should get a stipend.
He should receive a stipend from the Baytul
Mal.
So he took the minimum amount.
It was permissible for him to take a
decent amount but he took the minimum amount
because this is Zuhd and Thaqr.
This is considered abstinence from this world and
the love of the hereafter.
So he decided that he would, his wife
wanted to cook a sweet dish but they
didn't have enough.
After a number of months went by he
sees a sweet dish on his Dastarkhan, on
his plate, a sweet dish.
Where did this come from?
So his wife said I managed to save
up small amounts, pennies basically from our stipend
from the last so many months that I've
been able to make this sweet dish.
So he went to the Baytul Mal the
next day and he said this is how
much my stipend needs to be decreased because
we have proven that we can live on
this.
So this is not something for us today
in this time of indulgence and in this
lifestyle of Costco, you know, for us it
doesn't make any sense.
We think that these people are going overboard
but truly only they know the pleasure of
living this way.
Only they know the beauty and the pleasure
that they gain from the connection of Allah
subhanahu wa'ta'ala and the promises that they
have in the hadith of the Prophet sallallahu
alayhi wasallam about the hereafter.
Our indulgence is buying the big cans and
the big cases and the big crates and
half of it we throw away and we
waste.
So for us it's different.
We sometimes don't understand this.
So he decreased everything.
His wife's jewelry he gave back because he
said you got this because his wife was
from the Umayyad family.
She was one of the daughters of one
of the princes and he said you got
this from the Baytul Mal.
Your family gave it to you from the
Baytul Mal.
It is not rightfully yours and he gave
it back.
So this was the miracle that Allah subhanahu
wa'ta'ala showed that when the time needed
for the actual khilafah, the ruling body to
change, it changed and Umar ibn Abdulaziz was
made the khalifa and in two and half
years, he only ruled for two and half
years because he was poisoned by a slave
commissioned by his family because they saw that
he's stripping them away of everything.
The big salaries and the big stipends that
they would receive from the previous khilafah, he
stopped this all.
He would have been given the same amount
as everybody else.
So they saw this to be a big
threat to their family.
So they had somebody poison him.
So he died after two years and five
months.
But look at the change he bought.
Before people were talking about poetry and dancing
and indulgences and the different temptations of this
life.
In two and half years, what he managed
to do that people on the streets began
to speak about how much Quran they had
memorized.
When you would meet somebody on the street,
the discussion that you would have is I
have memorized this much in the last year
and how much have you memorized and this
is how many qada prayers that we've been
able to make up.
Those prayers that we've missed before since the
time of adulthood, since the time of maturity,
this is how many we've been able to
make up.
How many have you been able to make
up?
So I mean when a populace, when the
inhabitants of an area can speak about these
are the subjects of their discussion, then you
can just imagine the piety that was prevailing
at that time.
Just in two and half years, total switch
from what the discussions used to be before
that to what it had become later on.
His life totally fascinates me.
When we look around and we think that
we need a superpower to change the world,
it is one man.
It is one man who is selfless, who
can give the sacrifice, obviously guided by Allah
subhanahu wa'ta'ala with the tawfiq of Allah
subhanahu wa'ta'ala, but who is able to
give up the luxuries of himself and give
up the high salaries for himself and to
have concern for the ummah.
This is what we need.
So if we cannot be, maybe one of
our children, but we have to set the
example.
We have to set the example.
The mother of Imam Bukhari was not a
model.
The mother of Imam Bukhari was not someone
who had gone flaunt herself in front of
men.
The father of Imam Bukhari was not somebody
who would be committing vices.
He was not somebody who will be taking
the biggest leeways.
The mother of Imam Bukhari, Imam Bukhari was
born blind and Imam Bukhari's mother cried so
much to Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala and prayed
so much to Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala that
she saw a dream in Rasulallah sallallahu alayhi
wasallam.
They've had a glad tidings that go your
son's sight has been returned and when she
went back in the morning she sees that
her son's sight had been returned.
And then we see what Imam Bukhari did
that every masjid has Sahih Bukhari.
He's one of the greatest scholars of hadith.
So things can change.
It takes a little on our part to
make that change and that difference.
This is where Salahuddin Al-Ayubi came from.
This is where Nuruddin Al-Zangi came from.
This is where Hassan Al-Basri came from.
This is where Umar Ibn Abdulaziz came from.
So the change can happen at any time.
It just needs our turning to Allah subhanahu
wa'ta'ala.
Any one of us could be chosen.
Who knew Umar Ibn Abdulaziz, the governor of
Medina in this great finery and this great
scent and everything would become the savior of
Islamic spirits for that time and age.
He told his forces.
He says your enemy, the Romans, the Persians,
they are better equipped than you.
They are better prepared than you.
The only force you have against them is
your Iman, your connection with Allah subhanahu wa'ta
'ala.
You must fear disobeying Allah more than you
must fear your enemy.
You must have greater fear of disobeying Allah
because when you disobey Allah, Allah forsakes you.
You become mahroom.
You're not muwaffaq anymore.
You become deprived.
You're not divinely guided because كَمْ مِنْ فِئَةٍ
قَلِيلَةٍ غَلَبَتْ فِئَةٍ كَثِيرَةً بِإِذْنِ اللَّهِ That how
many of a small group were able to
overcome larger groups through the command of Allah,
through the permission of Allah.
So that's not an issue in the sight
of Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala.
So he would tell his forces, this is
something which you must be most concerned about,
more concerned about avoiding sins than about your
enemy.
Allah will take care of your enemy.
You do for Allah what he wants you
to do and Allah will take care of
the rest.
That's our job.
When somebody came and told him that many
people had started entering into Islam in his
time, when they saw his just rule and
his selfless attitude and his sacrifice and the
change from what it used to be to
what it became, many people started entering into
Islam.
He wrote letters just as the prophet sallallahu
alayhi wasallam did to the different rulers of
the world.
He wrote letters to the Rajas of India
and some of them embraced Islam after seeing
the change that he had brought.
In India they became Muslim, some of the
Rajas became Muslim in his time.
So what he did was he abolished all
the unnecessary and the unjust taxes that his
predecessors had put upon the people, certain exports
and import taxes and different taxes that they
had put it upon the people.
He abolished them except those which Islam allowed.
So now when so many people came into
Islam and he abolished all the taxes, there
was a very small revenue coming in from
the small amount of jizya and maybe the
zakat money and everything.
So someone came and told him that if
you abolish all of these taxes we won't
have any revenue.
He said look the prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam
was not sent as a collector of taxes,
he was sent as a prophet.
As long as I am doing and fulfilling
the obligations of Allah and implementing his ahkam
and his laws on this earth, then we
do not care whether we get a dirham
or whether we have to cultivate our own
lands and begin to do the farming ourself
tomorrow.
Because it's following the laws of Allah.
Nowadays with this whole aspect of democracy, this
whole interest based system and you know the
word interest is actually just a new word
for usury.
Usury sounds bad, so they started calling it
interest.
Just like they're trying to change gambling in
Las Vegas into gaming, they call it gaming
now.
Gaming casinos, you don't call it gambling anymore
because gambling is bad.
So when you do gaming people are gonna
go there, you know, because it didn't sound
as bad.
And the prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam said this
about khamr.
He said they're just going to change the
name and they're gonna call it something else.
It'll be the same thing, the reality will
be the same, but we're so obsessed with
names that we think it's something else.
So despite this whole system of interest, people
come and ask these questions about interest, but
try to understand the fundamental aspects of interest.
That despite this whole system of capitalism, despite
all of these loans that the World Bank
extends to Africa and to the third world,
it's ridiculous.
They will never be able to pay back
because of their interest.
It's not really helping them.
You're actually forcing them to become your slaves
because they want, they take your loan and
then they're indebted to you for the rest
of their life and the life of those
who come after them.
They're at the mercy because the interest is
just so much.
So this whole system of interest is where
the money rises to the top and nothing
is given to the people at the bottom.
Because for example, if I want a loan
of a hundred thousand dollars to start a
business, then I need to have a decent
credit rating.
You know this whole thing about credit rating
in this country and now they're capitalizing on
that by saying that your credit rating will
be stolen, so you need to buy all
of these protections.
They make money everywhere you go and people,
subhanallah, they lose their tawakkul in Allah and
their reliance in Allah, so they stop paying
all of these different insurances.
They don't even know what they're paying to
tell the truth.
If you don't have reliance in Allah, this
is what's going to happen to us.
So to be able to receive a hundred
thousand dollar loan, I need to have a
decent credit rating.
So I already need to be of certain
stature in terms of my financial position.
Now I'm going to be charged maybe 7
% think it's a wonderful rate, you know,
locked in rate or 8% whatever it
is.
What I manufacture, I'm going to add the
cost of my interest that I have to
pay into the goods.
Now who's going to buy these goods?
It's going to be the common people.
They're going to pay 7% more for
their products that they buy because this person,
this manufacturer had to get his money on
loan.
So he had to increase the price if
he didn't get it on loan and somebody
else, a wealthy person or the bank, the
Islamic Bank partnered with him as a business,
then they wouldn't have to absorb that 7%.
So the benefits are passed down.
So when you talk about inflation, it's based
on this really weak and incorrect system from
the beginning.
So now it's the poor people, it's the
person on the street, the regular consumer who'll
buy those slippers that this person manufactures, he'll
have to pay that extra percentage.
This person gives 7% to the bank,
the bank pleases everybody and attracts people to
put money in the bank by giving you
2 or 3% and giving you only
CDs and DVDs and we get really happy
by the 2% that we're getting.
Now instead of putting money in the bank,
what Islam encourages is business.
Find a person, do mudaraba, which means find
a person who has the ability to work,
who has the skills but has no money.
You give him the money, have a share
in the profits and go into business together.
Don't put your money in the bank and
let them benefit from it.
That is who will benefit.
If this manufacturer, the one who got $100
,000, if he has to absorb a bankruptcy,
the bank will just do something and change
their rates the next day and again the
money will come in or they will be
insured.
So the insurers will pay them the money
and where does the insurance get their money?
Again, from the common folk on the street.
So always the money is rising up.
You know, it's very sophisticated, very complicated and
you have to really think about it.
This is why, you know, the ulema don't
speak against interest because they don't understand this
and you know, they would rather live in
the woods or in the jungle or something.
No, that's not the reason.
The reason is that there is a inherent
flaw that we cannot see, that a common
person does not see and he gets happy
because of the 1 or 2% that
we get and because of the ease.
This is a system where money rises to
the top and the poor person at the
bottom remains poor and those venture capitalists who
have enough money, they're the ones who are
buying more and this is the whole flaw
of the system.
It has not been able to change.
We're giving big AIDS packages to Africa.
You think it's going to change anything?
You need somebody like Umar ibn Abdulaziz who
in just two and a half years, not
even a four-year presidential term, no.
Two years and five months bring so much
changes that there is not a person in
the Islamic area of Africa to be able
to accept zakat.
This is phenomenal.
I mean just think about this.
Nobody to accept zakat.
So after two years and five months, Umar
ibn Abdulaziz is poisoned by a slave through
his family and the way he died is
also, it's also very different.
He told his family to leave.
He bathes and puts on his clothing and
he tells his family to leave, to leave
the house and when they come back in
afterwards, he has passed away and it's related
in some reports that when he was eventually
taken to the graveyard and he had been
buried, a note came through the air and
settled on his grave and when they read
it, it said Baratum li Umar ibn Abdulaziz
minan naar.
That there is freedom from the hellfire for
Umar ibn Abdulaziz rahimahullah.
You want this kind of a death?
You know to read about the deaths of
these people, to read about the death and
how they died and what was their last
words and the pleasant way that they died
which is called husnul khatima which we should
be asking for and we should be seeking
protection from suul khatima.
We read about these and it will give
us inshallah the vigor to curb ourself, to
curb our indulgences, to become stronger in our
faith and to make the change because each
one of us can make a change.
If each one of us is waiting for
somebody else to make a change, it's not
going to happen.
The day that I begin to think that
I need to make a change and it
will make a difference even if it's within
myself and my family, this will be a
major breakthrough for all of us.
But the attractions in this country are so
great that it's difficult.
When I first came into this country three
years ago, someone told me this country is
really good for Islam.
I thought about it for a while and
I thought yes, but for the minority who
wants it to be, for the minority who
cannot in their countries keep a beard or
wear a hijab, they in this country can
do that.
But for the majority, this is a melting
pot and this is not something what the
Muslims say.
This is the American culture.
This is all about a simulation, the American
civil religion.
It's about all being together in a simulation.
You have to toe the line.
You're either with them or...
Everybody knows this, come on.
I'm not saying who said that, I'm just
saying that.
That's Allah.
You're either with me or you're not.
That's Allah who say that.
Allah.
Fudail Ibn Aiyaz, since we're talking about the
great luminaries, once he told Harun Rashid, when
Harun Rashid told him, subhanAllah, you are a
great zahid, he told, Fudail Ibn Aiyaz told
Harun Rashid, no, you're a greater zahid than
I am.
Why?
Because I am just doing zuhd from this
world which is worth nothing.
Zuhd means abstinence, right?
Abstinence, to abstain.
I'm only abstaining from this world and this
world is not worth even the wing of
a fly in the sight of Allah.
هذا الدنيا لو تعدل عند الله جناه بعوذة
ما سقى كافر منها شربة مما the Prophet
ﷺ said.
So if this world was of as much
value as the wing of a fly, if
Allah held it in such value, he would
not give a disbeliever a drink of water,
one sip of water to drink, because of
his disobedience to Allah.
But he has no value for this world,
it's a hereafter وَإِنَّ الْآخِرْتَ لَهِيَ الْحَيَوَانِ The
hereafter is the true life.
So he said, you're a bigger zahid, because
your zuhd, Harun Rashid's zuhd, is from the
hereafter, so you're abstaining from the hereafter by
going towards the world.
And my zuhd is small, I'm only abstaining
from the world because of the hereafter.
Now you know we may laugh at this,
but who knows what the position of Harun
Rashid was.
You know, for us, we think that Harun
Rashid must have been some, okay, there may
have been some bad points, but subhanAllah, some
of the things that he did, and on
one occasion when he went to, he was
in Hajj, and he said, take me to
somebody, I have a trembling in my heart,
I have turbulence, I need to speak to
someone pious that can remind me about Allah.
So they took him to this great muhaddith
in his tent, he spoke to him for
a while, he did not receive the contentment
that he wanted, the tranquility that he wanted.
So he asked this muhaddith, do you have
any needs?
He says, yeah, I have this much debt
or whatever.
Harun Rashid told his assistants to give him
that many dirhams and take care of his
debts.
Then he said, take me to somebody else,
I have not been quenched.
He took him to another person, again a
very famous name, and again he did not
feel what he wanted, again he asked him,
do you have any debts, do you have
any needs?
And he gave him the dirhams.
Then they took him to Fudail Ibn Iyad.
Number one, Fudail Ibn Iyad did not come
out of the house.
So when the assistant said, the Amir is
commanding you, you have to listen to the
Amir, that's when he opened the door and
he stayed inside in darkness.
Harun Rashid came in, and Fudail Ibn Iyad
began to admonish him, you have been put
in a position of trust, you have been
given the administration of the people's affairs, you
will be asked about this tomorrow, any injustice
that you have done, you will be questioned
about this.
And Harun Rashid just breaks down into tears
and cries and says, tell me more, tell
me more.
And Fudail Ibn Iyad is just giving him
admonishment, advice after advice, correction after correction, and
Harun Rashid feels good.
Then he asked him, do you have any
needs?
He said, I have no needs.
Then he went back and he sent money
through his assistants to Fudail Ibn Iyad, and
Fudail Ibn Iyad said, oh you tried to
buy me with this, I don't need any
of this.
And he sent it back.
So, you know, when do we cry?
You know, we may laugh at Harun Rashid
and Fudail, I mean, their status, Fudail Ibn
Iyad's status, obviously, is way different.
But what I'm trying to say is that
Harun Rashid, I mean, people of the past,
sometimes some of the Rawis, their narrations are
considered da'eef because of some issues about
their life.
Some of the scholars will tell us that
don't condemn them because of that.
Because they may have been in a high
level of poverty.
Because you have to remember the Prophet sallallahu
alayhi wasallam says, in a very popular hadith
narrated by some of the major collections, the
best of you is my generation, then those
who follow them, and then those who follow
them.
So the Sahaba's time, the Tabi'een, and
then the Tabi'ut Tabi'een.
And then in some other narrations, it said
that then people will come who will bear
witness before swearing, and who will swear without
being asked to, meaning they'll be ready to
swear an oath on Allah without any issue
whatsoever, without any call or demand or any
need whatsoever, even in falsehood.
So the light of prophethood is becoming further,
the fitnas are becoming greater, and the Prophet
sallallahu alayhi wasallam warned about this, that when
people went to complain to Anas ibn Malik
r.a about the fitna of Hajjaj, he
said that worse times are to come.
So times will become worse, but each person,
as long as he takes guidance from these
stars, and from these great people of the
past, then times will be easy for us.
Everybody is afflicted.
Pious people are also afflicted.
You hear about the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam,
and the trouble and the hardship he went
through, and even on his deathbed, he says
innalil mawti sakarat, innalil mawti sakarat, that verily
there are pangs of death, there is a
feeling of pangs of death.
So when we say that pious people, laa
khawfun alayhim walaahum yahzanoon, as Allah says that
there will be no fear on them, and
they will not grieve, they also receive trouble
and hardships in this world.
But the difference between a person who is
linked to Allah, and a person who is
not, is that the person who is linked
to Allah, is like sitting in a glass
cage, a glass house, observing all of these
turmoils, but he's feeling in bliss, because he
knows that Allah is taking care of him.
And a person who is not linked to
Allah, when he is afflicted in calamity, he
feels totally lost, that it's all upon me,
and he tries to do something about this,
and does not know which way to turn.
So if his car burns, if his car
is stolen, and he only had liability insurance,
now he'll get fully comp, he'll get the
full insurance, or now he'll get a brand
new car, because the second hand cars break,
and give you too much trouble, so I'll
go and buy a car on interest.
They become more engrossed, and this is a
trial that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala tests
people with, and we need to get closer
to Him.
So yes, pious people, and people who are
linked to Allah, if we link ourselves to
Allah, there will also be hardship, like the
Prophets, Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam said, that the
people who will have the greatest of trials
will be the Prophets, and then those who
are closest to them, and then those who
are closest to them.
So if we want to be anything close
to the piety of the Prophets, and the
Sahaba, we will be tested, but we will
not grieve, and we will always feel that
Allah is looking after us, and Allah is
taking care of us.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala give us the
ability to follow the great people of the
past, because we try to throw them behind
our backs, but Imam Malik said, لا يصله
آخر هذه الأمة إلا بما صلحت به أوله
that the later generations of this Ummah cannot
gain success, except by the way the predecessors
gained success.
We have to follow their path, because they
had more direct connection and observance of the
Sahaba, and of those people who were with
the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala give us the
ability to read the Seerah of Muhammad sallallahu
alayhi wasallam, and the Khulafa Ar-Rashideen, and
the great people that followed them.
وآخر الدعوان أن الحمد لله وبالعالم جزاكم الله
خيراً for listening.
For more lectures and publications, please visit our
website at www.whitethreadpress.com, or email us
at info at whitethreadpress.com.
And as always, your du'as are greatly
appreciated.
وعليكم السلام ورحمة الله وبركاته The point of
a lecture is to encourage people to act,
to get further, an inspiration, an encouragement, persuasion.
The next step is to actually start learning
seriously, to read books, to take on a
subject of Islam, and to understand all the
subjects of Islam at least at their basic
level, so that we can become more aware
of what our Deen wants from us.
And that's why we started Rayyan courses, so
that you can actually take organized lectures on
demand whenever you have free time, especially for
example the Islamic Essentials course that we have
on there, the Islamic Essentials Certificate, which you
take twenty short modules, and at the end
of that insha'Allah you will have gotten
the basics of most of the most important
topics in Islam, and you'll feel a lot
more confident.
You don't have to leave lectures behind, you
can continue to listen to lectures, but you
need to have this more sustained study as
well.
JazakAllah Khayran, السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته