Abdurraheem Green – Major Sins – Part 4

			handily below the mean Allahumma salli ala Muhammad wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa sallam, our dear
brothers and sisters, all praises, certainly due to Allah. We ask a lot to send his peace and
blessings upon his final messenger Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, we ask Allah subhanaw taala
to guide us and protect us from the evil of our selves, and from the evil consequence of our evil
actions. Certainly, whoever Allah guides, no one can misguide. And whomsoever Allah leaves to go
astray, no one can guide. And I testify that alone is worthy of worship, and that Mohammed sobre la
la he was Salam is his servant, and His Messenger. My brothers and sisters, I want to pick up from
		

			where I left off last time, and we were talking about Muslims, we were talking about the idea or the
concept, that within every sin is the potential for some benefits. within every good deed, there is
the potential for some harm. But the sherea the wisdom of Allah's guidance, is that his wisdom and
his guidance is always directing us towards the maximum benefit and the minimum harm. And that is
something based upon Allah has perfect comprehension of the human needs. Allah can see what we
cannot see. Allah understands what we cannot understand. Allah knows what we cannot know. And that
is why we must always put a lot of guidance above our intellect. It's not that we subject what Allah
		

			subhanaw taala has taught us in His wisdom, and see, dismiss agree with my intellect or not, no,
because the true intellect will always understand that Allah's wisdom is perfect, and ours is
limited. That By the way, does not mean that we don't try to comprehend and to understand the wisdom
behind Allah's guidance, and behind Allah subhanaw taala prohibiting us from certain things. In
fact, that is something very essential and very important. And as we've mentioned already, some of
those things, Allah has told us the reason why and he mentioned in the Quran, or the Prophet
sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, he detailed for us why this particular thing is prohibited. And they
		

			may, by the way, be other reasons as well. And sometimes Allah did not tell us, and he left it for
us to explore. So this here, for example, is the role of the intellect and we should not feel shy in
employing our intellect in trying very hard to understand why our last monitor has prohibited
certain things. And inshallah, that's what we will be trying to do. We haven't started even the
topic yet of what are the major sins because we're exploring the whole concept of sin itself. And
one of the things that we want to start doing in today's episode is having a brief look at the
concept of sin in other religions. So having had quite a good study and a good look at the concept
		

			of sin. In Islam, we now want to look at the concept of sin also in other religions, but before we
do that, in short, a lot there are a few important points that I want to mention. And it is in a
sense going over some of the things that we have already been talking about. Now, we have mentioned
we mentioned it again, that's a loss of Hanover to Iowa has not prohibited something for us just to
make our life difficult. And, you know, I will probably keep saying this again and again. And I know
I have to keep saying it brothers and sisters. Why? Because you know what, that's exactly what
shaytan wants us to think shaitaan wants us to think that Allah is, you know, spoiling our fun. Or
		

			Allah doesn't want you to do this and do that because he doesn't want you to have fun. And you find
that the army of shaytaan propagating the same
		

			idea. Are you religious people, all you people, you know, you just have no fun in your life. Of
course, that's just totally ridiculous. But that's the idea that somehow obeying God keeping away
from sin means having no fun in your life, and that these things are just spoiling all your fun, and
all these boring things that you do. And this is the idea This, of course, this is exactly what how
shaytaan would like us to think. But that is not the case at all. That is not the case at all. The
reality is that when Allah said, don't do this, it's because it's going to damage you. And even if
there's some good in it, that good is not enough to outweigh the harmful effects. And so, there are
		

			two aspects that I want to explore. And two dimensions that I want to explore, in respect to since.
And this is a little bit to do with the issue of intention. And I'm sure as all of us know, the
Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam he said, in the Malou, beneath it, every single action is judged
by its intention. So this issue, or this topic of intention, is very important. And it's also of
course, important in respect to sin. Because in Islam, something can only really be a sin, when it
is done intentionally. You can't sin by mistake. Because if you are truly ignorant of something, in
reality, that ignorance is an excuse. And I want to say, and it's important to understand, unless
		

			you are ignorant, on purpose, to be purposefully ignorant, is not an excuse. Some people shaytaan
has really fooled them. And they say, No, I will not seek knowledge, I will not learn, I'm not going
to watch piece TV and find out things and then when I find out things, Allah will ask me about it.
This is just shaytaan fooling you, okay? tricking you. Because that itself is so serious that even
some scholars said, thinking like that is an act of disbelief, according to some scholars, to
purposefully remain ignorant is actually covered. It's actually this believing in Allah subhanaw
taala. And anyway, it's not an excuse, Allah will not accept it from you, that you stayed ignorant
		

			on purpose. But no, if you are ignorant of something, and although you have sought knowledge, and
you're trying your best to follow others guidance, but you don't happen to know that something is a
sin, then you are not going to be accountable for that. Why? It's very simple, because in a sense,
sin by definition, is a purposeful and an intended act of disobedience to Allah Subhana Allah, so
you can't sin by mistake, you sin, because you know, this is something Allah subhanaw taala has
prohibited. And then you go ahead and you do it. This is part of the mercy of Allah Subhana Allah,
that he is not going to take us to account on the Day of Judgment, and he is not going to punish us
		

			on the Day of Judgment, for something that we didn't know. And also for something we did out of
forgetfulness, there are things that you know, you forget, maybe you forget to pray, maybe you
forget too fast, maybe there are things that you genuinely forget that this is something you should
not do. And if it is done out of genuine forgetfulness, then Allah subhanaw taala is not going to
account you for that. And this is part of the great mercy of Allah subhanho wa Taala. And also,
there may be things that you do when you are sleeping, or when you are unconscious, or you are in a
state of madness, for example. So when you don't have control of your cognitive facilities, when
		

			you're not in control, and your mind is really not operating on the normal rational level, then you
know, the pain is lifted, you're not accounted. And so this proves that pot of sin must be
intention, you must know that this is forbidden. And then you must do this act of disobedience to
Allah subhanaw taala in the knowledge and the understanding that this is something that Allah
Subhana Allah has forbidden. So this is very, very important. If you do something Haram, something
that Allah has prohibited for you, and you don't know that it is forbidden. That doesn't mean that
you will escape necessarily the harmful consequences of that. And that, by the way, goes back to the
		

			issue that I was making. Allah has told us not to do things because those things are bad for us. So
for example, you may not know
		

			That let's just say if it was possible, but for the sake of argument, imagine a Muslim didn't know
that alcohol was Haram. Or maybe they didn't know that. Some other intoxicant was how long? Does
that mean, if they drank that alcohol, or they took that intoxicant. Maybe they smoked some
marijuana or they took some heroin. And for whatever reason, they didn't think that thing was Haram.
Does that mean they won't get drunk? Does that mean they won't get intoxicated? Does that mean that
they won't suffer from the harmful effects? Of course, it doesn't mean that. No, of course not. And
this is the point is that the sin has two levels. One level is where you are committing an actual
		

			act of disobedience to Allah. And that is a sin in itself, that is going to harm your relationship
between you and Allah Subhana Allah to Allah, because it's a purposeful act of disobedience. But
that doesn't mean you won't suffer from the evil consequences of doing a bad thing, even in
ignorance. If you do something bad, you're going to suffer the worldly consequences of that bad
thing, especially for example, if we look at Hinduism, and Buddhism, and to a lesser extent, but
also in a similar way, Confucianism, if we look at those religions, they actually have a very
different are not very different, but they do have a different concept of sin than the one that we
		

			have been talking about, because in Hinduism and Buddhism, and in a different sense, also
Confucianism, which is the ancient and main philosophical tradition of the Chinese people, in fact,
many people in Southeast Asia are very influenced by Confucianism.
		

			The concept of sin is not disobeying the law of God, it is not disobeying Allah subhanaw taala. No
sin in certainly in Hinduism, for example, is something against dharma. Dharma is it's a difficult
concept or even a word to get hold of, but it is, in a sense, a natural way of living it is, it is
something that is the natural order of things, it's presumed that there is a natural order, and
natural way that things are. And when you transgress that natural order, when you transgress that,
the way that things are, then this, in a sense, is sin. And also, the concept of sin is linked with
the concept of karma. Karma means it's the idea that what you do has consequences. Everything that
		

			you do has consequences. And actually, whatever word you call it, this is definitely a universal
truth. Everything you say everything you do has the consequences. In English, we have a saying that,
that says what goes around comes around, what goes around comes around or another saying is what you
give out, you get back. So this is a type of universal truth, that everyone at some time or another
in their life, is going to either suffer the evil consequences of their evil actions, or benefit
from the good consequences of their good actions. And if you've been listening, almost every time
when I start my lectures, I say, I take refuge with ALLAH, from the evil of myself, or we take
		

			refuge with Allah from the evil of ourselves, and from the evil consequence of our evil actions.
That is because evil deeds have evil consequences. So that is the concept you find in Hinduism. And
Buddhism, really, a person is only sinful in the sense that when they have broken the law, and the
law has caught up with them, and the law has punished them, then this is in a sense, sin. So it's
almost This is why this whole idea of losing face losing faces is important, because in that way,
your inadequacies and your deficiencies and your lack of virtue and your lack of propriety is
exposed in front of people. And that is in a sense, the sin almost it's the sin is getting caught.
		

			Now, Confucianism very much encourages the development of noble characteristics and virtue. So that
is also something very, very important. And in all these religions without doubt, there is a very
strong concept of evil so similarly
		

			The concept of evil is definitely there. But that is really very much tied to what we were talking
about is that evil deeds have evil consequences, which you can experience. Now, from the Islamic
perspective, the weakness of that the deficiency of that is that it relies totally on human
experience, and the human intellect, and the human experience, either individually or collectively,
and from the position of the Muslim and from the Judaic position in the Christian position as well,
we would argue, that is a limitation, because human beings, by necessity, are unable to comprehend
the vastness and the complexity of our affairs. And we believe that actually, we are in desperate
		

			need of the knowledge and the guidance of our Creator. And indeed, God, our Creator of law has
rights on us. Everybody has rights. So, without doubt, universally, in every religion and every
philosophy, if there is a concept of sin, no one would dispute the concept that oppressing another
human being or depriving someone of their rights is a wrongdoing. It's a transgression, it's an
evil, everyone has to be given their rights. So giving people their rights is something that is a
universal truth. And the golden rule, you will find it in every religion, every philosophy, you find
it in Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, and of course, you find it in Judaism and Christianity, and
		

			you find it of course, in Islam, the golden rule, and you'll find it in secular philosophies. The
golden rule is, Do unto others as you would have them do unto you treat other people the way you
would like to be treated. This is the golden rule, almost you will find almost without, you find
this universally, everywhere. So other people should be treated the way that you would like to be
treated. This is the minimum base level of morality that human beings should be expected to
implement in their lives. So when you oppress people, when you deprive people of their rights, we,
again universally acknowledged that to be wrong. But how about our Creator? How about God? How about
		

			the one who created us? Doesn't God have rights? Doesn't the one who gave us life doesn't the one
who fed us and clothed us, doesn't the one who forgives us our sins, doesn't the one who guides us
with His perfect knowledge and perfect wisdom, doesn't God also have rights. So if we are not giving
God what is due to him, then that is surely a great evil. Just as if you don't give your parents due
respect, universally, it's considered to be a great evil, just as you don't give your teacher due
respect universally, it would be considered to be a great evil. So surely, we must give the creator
his jewel song, and that we must give the rights to Allah. And this introduces us to the first of
		

			the greatest of the major since the greatest of the greatest sins. And this is a very, very subtle
introduction to the topic of shirk the topic of making partners with God, of making something equal
with God, of claiming that some creative thing has some of the power or some of the knowledge or
some of the wisdom or has the ability to forgive sins, or to control aspects of the universe, or to
give to some creative thing, an act of worship, and subservience or glorification or praise, that
actually only the creator alone is deserving of. This is considered to be in the religion of Islam,
the greatest sin of all, there is nothing that is worse than that. There is nothing that is worse
		

			than ship. And that is going to be the topic of our first
		

			major sin. The most major of all the major sins is of course, making partners with Allah, making
shift with Allah subhanho wa Taala. But before we get there, we've touched upon it, we started to
look into it. We've discussed some aspects of it, but before
		

			We get there, we do want to discuss some other aspects as well about sin. Now, one of the beautiful
things about our religion is that there is a principal or there is a rule in the religion of Islam.
And that rule is the scholars have derived this rule from the text of the Quran and I will read the
proof of that and show you where you can find it in sha Allah. And it's in Surah Anam, which is the
sixth surah in the 100 and 45th. So that's 145 ayah 145. Allah Subhana Allah says, The meaning of
witches in English say, I find not in that which has been revealed to me anything forbidden to be
eaten by one who wishes to eat it, unless it be carrion, or blood poured out, or the flesh of swine,
		

			for surely that is impurity, or meat which is slaughtered as a sacrifice for other than Allah. But
whosoever is forced by necessity, without willful disobedience, nor transgressing jus limits, for
him, certainly your Lord is all forgiving, Most Merciful. So there are so many benefits we can get
from this one, I have the Quran, but what we want to look at here is a basic principle that scholars
understand. And that is, I find not and that which has been revealed to me anything forbidden to be
eaten by one who wishes to eat it, actually, the scholars took this and understood this in a general
sense. The general sense is that everything is allowed in worldly things, whether it is food,
		

			whether it is drink, whether it is enjoyment, whether whatever you can think of in worldly things, I
don't mean religious things, but in worldly things, the basic rule is everything is allowed, except
that which has been specifically and expressly mentioned as being forbidden. So if anyone wants to
say, this is forbidden, this is forbidden, they have to prove from the Quran, or from the saying of
the Prophet, or they have to have derived from it, that that thing is forbidden. So they need what
we call a proof and an evidence to establish it. This is a beautiful thing. In reality, in general,
handle, everything is halal. Everything is good, everything is lawful. We don't find anything
		

			forbidden, except those things which have been expressly mentioned by Allah subhanaw taala, or by
the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, or it has been understood to be forbidden, through pass or
through an illogical deduction. So that is something very, very important. And it's very
interesting, by the way that the next ayah goes on to mention. And unto those who are Jews, we
forbade them fat of the ox and the sheep, except that which adheres to their backs, and to the end
trails, or is mixed up with bone, and we recompense them for their rebellion. And verily We are the
truthful. So actually, this is important in Judaism, there are things that have been forbidden, even
		

			though the benefit is more than the harm in that thing. And as we know, this thing is not forbidden
for us in Islam, but it was forbidden for the Jews, because why? Because of their rebellion, and
their transgression. So for them, there are some things that are forbidden. And that is a test. And
they don't take into account whether there's a benefit or a harm note. If it is forbidden, it is
forbidden. It's a test from God. And that's it, not like in our condition in Islam, as we have been
discussing. But that's all there is time for today. So until our next session, Salaam Alaikum
warahmatullahi wabarakatuh