Reduced Concepts #02 Islam, Tawheed, and the Followship of the Prophet
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Channel: Adnan Rajeh
Series: Adnan Rajeh - Reduced Concepts
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AI Generated Summary ©
The speakers stress the importance of understanding Islam's principles and values, including belief, values, and principles. They stress the need to reform and address one's values to achieve equity and equality within communities. Personal growth and personal development are essential, and reducing "back-to-school" and "back-to-school" words used in clothing is essential. Pr practicing Islam is essential for building meaningful relationships with others, and acceptance and acceptance in society is essential.AI Generated Transcript ©
The, for the series will be shared at
the end. I'm still
in the
process of building them, so I I usually
wait until the last minute, and I never
get these things done beforehand. But I will
share them for whatever that's worth. It may
not be worth much, but,
if you want to access it, then I
I will offer them. I have no problem.
Today is the 2nd episode within these 7
episode series of reduced concepts or reduced values.
And,
the fur yesterday was a
slightly more academic
approach to the topic. My my goal was
to prove the concept,
to prove that, this is something that not
only religious speakers believe to be the case,
but also sociologists throughout time have believed the
same thing, that civilizations and nations, communities, societies,
when they when they start to collapse or
then they start,
declining,
it usually is preceded by the loss of
their values. They lose their values and their
principles and the concepts that built them. And
this is something that Muslims have known for
a very long time, which is why the
prophet, alayhis salatu wasalam, emphasized with those first
13 years the principles and the values of
Islam. That's why you don't find a lot
of in the first 13 years of his
of his.
You can can you can pick up on
all these points by just studying the nature
of the teachings that exist within this the
Meki Surah. The Meki Surah are are strictly
value driven Surahs. They're principle based. You don't
find
You don't find that in any Makki Surah.
Actually, if you do find a Surah that
has,
you are safe to conclude immediately it's a
Madani Surah. It's a hallmark. Like, you can
and there is no exception to that rules.
There's not one
all across the board. And this is just
something that shows you a little bit of
how Islam was built. The the the sequence
of the Quran that you carry in your
hand is one thing. The sequence of revelation
is a very different thing, which gives each
surah 2 dimensions. I love the fact the
fact that that's the case. I find it
to be actually much more interesting. I remember
having discussion with a Muslim once, and they
were very, yeah, even concerned that the Quran
was
sequenced in a way that is different than
the revelation. But, actually, it what it's it's
it's quite enriching,
to the Quran itself. The fact that this
verse that you're reading, this is where it
exists in the book if you were to
pick up the book and start reading, which
is what people will do. You're not gonna
pick up the book if you're non Muslim
or you're someone who wants to accept Islam.
They're not gonna pick it up and start
reading from the end of it and reads
beginning. It reads from the beginning. So the
sequence of the verses of the Quran have
meaning. And then the the when this verse
was revealed also has another meaning. And then
what it does for you is a 3rd.
So those are the 3 dimensions for the
the ayat of the mushalf. And
since we know that and and sociologists seem
to agree with that as well, it's worth
it's for us to take a little bit
of time and look at some of our
values and and wonder what exactly have we
done with them and how do we view
them, understand them, and is there a way
for us to rectify maybe the way, I
mean, the method through or or the lens
through which we see these, the the these
concepts that, are were extremely powerful, made the
the world of difference for the sahab and
for the prophet
and for the people who came later. And
for us, maybe we don't feel feel it
to be as powerful, but that can change,
and that's
the the the purpose of this, of this
series. So today, we're gonna talk about 3
things. We're gonna talk about Islam as a
faith, as a as a religion. We're gonna
talk about the concept of tawhid, and we'll
talk about the fellowship of the prophet alayhi
salatu wa sallam. I will touch on, yeah,
any maybe a few non Islamic or non
specifically Islamic concepts throughout the series. I'll talk
about freedom. I'll talk about ethic. I'll talk
about stuff like that. But the but the,
the bulk of the, of the concepts and
the values that I'm talking about within this
series are Islamic.
Because if I were to do it outside
of the, you know, the realm of religion
or of of faith or out outside of
Islam,
7 episodes would definitely not be enough, and
this would require, like, a couple of, I
mean, a month or 2 of us going
through, you know, any different values and how
they've changed over over over the course of
time.
But my my interest is to talk about
our understanding of our own deen. And if
you if you if you pick up on
the method that I'm using,
to to to analyze these these concepts of
these topics, then you can do that for
everything else in your life, on your own.
And you can pick up on maybe some,
some some reductions or limitations
that have occurred to, to important, important values.
So we'll start with the first one. We'll
talk about, about Islam.
So
when we talk about Islam, I'm gonna I'm
covered with 4 points. I'm gonna talk about
the problem of, ritual limitations or limitation to
rituals. I'm gonna talk about the concept of
reform. I wanna talk about the
space of practice itself with where where Islam
is supposed to be practiced, and then I
wanna talk about purposes and objectives
in terms of Islam having purposes and objectives.
So when we when we say the word
Islam, when you define it in English, you
define it as religion.
And
what does religion actually mean? If you go
and look it up in the in the
dictionary, religion, it means a,
a set of acts of worship for a
super,
human being. That's how they define it in
in the the Merriam Webster. I guess how
they define Now then that's fine, but that's
not really what is that is if you
are to understand it as a deen. Like,
if you're gonna call it deen, which is
what we call it in, in Arabic, the
name of it, it's really to translate deen
to religion, you know, there's a problem there.
A part of the reduction of our concepts,
in my opinion, comes from language. A part
of it comes from language, and I'll point
that out as much as possible throughout this,
course.
Not language just the fact that we speak
English. No. No. Even in the Arabic in
in in the Arabic world, in the Middle
East, there's been a reduction in there's been
a change in how we understand our own
language. Meaning, we we now and as Arab,
when we speak the language, we assign meanings
in our minds to words that are different
than the meanings that were assigned to those
words in the in the past when those
words were used or when those words were
coined by Islam or by the prophet
by the Quran. So we have a pro
language is definitely a a a a an
an an an aspect of, of our reduction.
I'll point it out as we go along.
For us, when we say the word religion,
religion is a word that is used by
people who live in the west.
The the Judeo Christian
and tradition will use this this word quite
often. But that's exactly what they mean by
that the Merriam Webster definition of it, which
is just acts of worship that, are are
for a superhuman deity.
For us as Muslims, deen when you say
the word, deen,
meaning it's what you've chosen as is in
terms of principles and ethics and behaviors that
you are going that you owe Allah
You owe Allah. Where did I get that
from? What do you what do you call
a loan in Arabic?
Deen. It's say it's the same root. So
the concept of deen within it is the
meaning that something is owed. Something is owed.
So when you say this is my deen,
you're saying this is what I owe you.
This is what I believe to be what
I owe you from my life, from myself,
in terms of my behaviors, my thoughts, and
my values, and my principles. This is what
I owe you. And that's why we use
the word deign to explain to explain or
or to use the word religion. So when
you take the word Islam and you
when we limit it to rituals,
when we say that Islam,
we go to the hadith and we, you
know, say
Ramadan And we take those 5. And so
those are the, you know, the the the
the pillars of Islam.
Now that's what the scholars said, but they
had a different understanding of what that meant.
They
had a different understanding of what that meant.
Yes. They were the pillars of Islam. What
Islam is used as a word to describe
the practices or the ritualistic
of the deen. When you go and actually
study that whole hadith, hadith of Jibril, he
breaks down our deen into 3 categories. He
talks about Islam, iman, and ihsan. He talks
about 3 categories of our deen, and then
he used Islam to describe the one is
more that is more ritualistic, and then he
gives an explanation of that.
When we decide to break down or limit
Islam to rituals, we we cause a huge
problem for ourselves within our deen. Because the
question comes after that, does that mean there
are no other obligations within Islam aside within
our deen, aside from rituals?
And that is a hard of course, there
are.
It's very clear. You don't even need me
to explain that to you. You already know
that there are a number of of of
behaviors that are for sure obligatory.
And if you are not to do them,
then you're going to get in trouble. Aside
from
and performing your salah and your for
example,
Someone who does not perform that does not
enter Jannah, period. Now that's a pretty, strong
statement to make.
If this action was not obligatory, then that
hadith would not exist altogether. Right? I'm gonna
share with you this is just,
I mean, it's it's 4 3 or 4
a hadith, just for you to, to look
to look at. Where the sahaba would perform
bayah with the prophet
The word is when they pledge, when they
offer a pledge, which is what deen actually
means to me. What what whatever you pledged,
that's your deen. Right? When you read and
you hear what what they said, you'll find
it with an Jabrim Abdullah. We'll use the
word, at the end of it all, he'll
say Muslim.
Meaning, he pledged to to be someone who
will continue to offer
to accept it and offer it to the
Muslims around him. This is the part this
is the pledge that he offered. If it
was not a farilah, then he wouldn't be
able to offer it. It. Hakim and Izam,
the prophet
performed
that he will not fall except from a
standing position.
Meaning that you'll never you'll never humiliate himself
himself. He'll never sell out,
to the enemy. He'll if he falls, he'll
fall from a standing position. Yeah. And he'll
he'll start he'll he'll fall with dignity, integrity,
and holding on to his deen.
Walid sorry.
I don't know why they why they look.
Look. Look. Look. Look. Look. Look. Look. Look.
Look. Look. Look. Look. Look. Look. Look. Look.
Look. Look. Look. Look. Look. Look. Look. Look.
Look. Look. Look. Look. Look. Look. Look. Look.
Look. Look. Look. Look. Look. Look. Look. Look.
Look. Look. Look. Look. Look. What can you
read from this? You can read nothing from
it.
I paid money for this PowerPoint. I paid
actual money for this, and this is what
they do. And I'm and this is their
support that they offer the Arabic language. Look
at this. It's no. You can't read a
word of it. And we and Abu Adam
al Islam, it says that the prophet, alayhi,
salatu, alayhi, salatu, salam offered
It was actually the the was on something
that that was beyond even the the the
rituals. It was based on, accepting accepting leadership
and not actually fighting for leadership unless there's
a clear reason. I mean, there is an
undisputed
reason that this has to be removed. This
person is a kafir, an open kafir. The
women had the with the prophet,
and you find it in the Quran.
The same word. These are the Bayas that
they offered. And the reason that I'm using
this is that if Islam was just rituals,
it was just acts of worship, which is
how many people are led to believe Islam
is. So what what we're led to believe,
that's all Islam is just a bunch of
rule rituals, acts of worship,
then you miss out on the majority of
Islam what Islam is. And you and you
and you fail to see that not only
is Islam beyond that, there are questions
and they're gonna be outside of that realm.
You're going to be asked about you you
You'll be asked about the time that you
spent.
When you think about those early questions,
these early questions
none of them are really ritualistic in nature.
Like, none of them actually have rituals in
them. You're gonna be asked about your time
and about your wealth and about your behavior
and about your shabab, your youth.
So
so for us to lead ourselves down that
that that path of Islam being
a set of rituals, it takes us away
from the ability to see Islam as a
way of life.
See Islam as a general as a worldview,
as a general perspective.
How we see the how we view the
world and how we view our relationship with
the world around us. That is what Islam
is. Islam is the method through which you're
going to serve Allah
here on earth with everything that it covers.
Because Islam goes into every detail of your
life. It doesn't really leave any aspect of
our lives without it pointing it out and
being a part of and and and being
involved in.
Let's point out the concept of reform for
a moment. If you were to remove reform,
Islam, from Islam or from any ideology, by
the way, any any any movement or any,
any way of thought,
it becomes toothless.
It has no edge anymore. This is what
those who would like the status quo want.
And I'm saying this because we live in
a world where that that that struggle continues.
The struggle of power is always
how the world. Whatever you see the world
to be today is just the consequence of
the result of the struggle of power that
existed over the last maybe couple of of
decades, and whoever ended it came out as,
as triumphant.
Islam from based from the design
is a way of thought or a way
of life that has within it the concept
of reform.
Meaning, it looks,
it assesses the status quo, it assesses the,
the situation of of of of what what
people are how people are living, and then
it actually goes after changes that need to
occur. Islam is not interested
in Muslims being focused
or being in a position where they just
want to preserve themselves,
and they're just happy to be within their
small silos or to be compartmentalized
within societies.
When the Sahaba tried to do this during
the prophet alaihis salatu wa sallam's life and
they tried. When the Sahaba didn't want
to
be a part of the
the rulings. Was was was impermissible
within Islam, Yani, the first 13 years and
only became a later in Madinah. A lot
of the the Sahaba were not thrilled about
that. They didn't want it.
They didn't want to to engage in in
combat or fighting.
The reason was that they were happy with
how things were. They weren't interested in the
world around them. The if they were able
to, you know, to take care of their
own community and if they were happy with
that. And the prophet
had to teach them that that wasn't going
to be the case, which is why they
went within the 1st year and a half
the 2nd year of his of his hijrah.
They went after the caravan on the day
of Badr.
And that argument that I make every year
for you that they didn't see it at
the beginning. They were in their minds, we
don't need the wealth. We don't want the
wealth. Who cares about the money? We don't
Allah has given us a better place to
live. We are with you. We are now
safe. Why do we go after our wealth?
No. It's about not about the wealth. It's
about it's about righteousness.
Islam stands Islam is a reformative,
way of thought. It's a it's a deen
that brings reform.
And a part of that is that you
refuse you refuse oppression.
There's a complete refusal of oppression. If you
remove refusal of oppression,
then you're basically slowly removing
we come back to the same problem we
talked about at the beginning of this, of
this course. The The problem is when you
take a value that is extremely, extremely valuable
valuable and important and and has substance to
it, and then it ends up just a
skeleton
because this the actual meat of it doesn't
exist anymore. It's not, it's it's not functional.
In Islam, if you remove Islam from it,
if you move from the message of Islam
reform, then it stops functioning. It stops working.
Because now what is Islam going to do
for us if we come to a situation
where there is persecution and oppression and it
leaves it as it is, which is what
dictatorships want for Muslims to be. Most dictatorships
have no problem with there being ulama and
there being people who practice Islam and there
being as long as they don't say anything
about the status quo, as long as you
don't speak about the politics, as long as
you don't point out that maybe there's some
degree of corruption somewhere or nepotism. There's a
surah in the Quran al Surah Tuhud. I've
done at least 2 series on of on
this surah alone within this city, and I
find it a surah that's extremely important for
us to learn because it talks about reform
as the critical point within the message.
The critical point within the message of Islam
is reform. If you remove it, nothing's left
of it. And it goes over the stories
of of almost all of the prophets that
we know. It talk it tells us the
story of Nuh alaihi salam, and Hud, and
Salih,
and Luq, and Ibrahim, and Shu'aib, and Musa.
Seven prophets
within one surah, which is very rare. We
don't have that actually anywhere else. It doesn't
go into
into depth in all of them, but it
points them all out because each of these
prophets
had a different
path of reform ahead of them. They had
to deal with a different type of corruption
during their lives. Nuh alayhi salaam was was
faced was facing nepotism
and racism in his time. That was the
the type of corruption that he was dealing
with. The people around him were willing to
believe in him, but they didn't like the
people who are following him. They didn't want
to be associated with them. They didn't want
to have it put them in the same
space. They didn't want to, you know, stand
in line equally with them. They didn't like
that.
And we're going to accept you and follow
you when you have these people follow you.
They didn't want that.
So he had to deal with him himself,
his son, yeah, and he drowned. That's why
he had that story in the, in in
the Quran. It was his son. You would
think that of all people, Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala will, you know, cut him some slack
after, you know, almost a millennium of taking
care of people. Just get his son for
him. No. Your son was a disbeliever. He's
not going to make it. There's no this
was the this is what Nuhal alayhi sala
had to deal with, who the alayhi salaam
was dealing with
with people who had who had,
the tendency of oppression, with the the people
who had the tendency of arrogance because they
were powerful, because they were strong. Salah was
dealing with entitlement,
and and and indifference or oblivions. Musa alaihi
salam was political corruption. Shoaib alaihi salam was
financial corruption. Lut alaihi salam was ethical corruption.
Right? Ibrahim alaihi wasalam was did his his
his problem was was was challenged with weakness
and the lack of followers. Meaning, it was
in time where he had where he had
no one to support him. Each of these
prophets had to deal with a certain type
of corruption that they had to bring some
form some form of reform to the people
that he was that they were talking to.
And if you remove reform from Islam, then
not much is left of it. It has
to challenge challenge the status quo. It has
to it has to challenge corruption. It has
to
achieve
equity and equality within communities. Because if it
doesn't, then what really is it designed to
do?
If if it doesn't do that, then what
is it what is it doing?
What is it offering you?
You say, well, it's offering me a spiritual
connection to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Exactly. So
you just reduced it to that. This is
what I'm trying to argue, that you've just
reduced it to that.
That's your choice. If you want to reduce
it to just that, that's up to you.
That's not what it is though.
Just so it's clear, that's not what Islam
is. That's what you want it to be
for you. No problem. That's not what Islam
is though. I as a as a dean,
that's not what it's there to it doesn't
function that way. Actually, it doesn't work well.
Meaning, if you choose it just as a
spiritual connection, it's not gonna work. You're going
to be very
you're going to be extremely disappointed at the
end. Not just because
there are aspects of Islam that you did
not practice, and there is a a spirit
of Islam that you did not carry. But
also, it doesn't really function for you as
a person in this life.
If you have the perfect setup where you're
not going to be trialed with heavy trials
in your life, it still won't work for
you. There's still going to be something missing
within it.
And
I think what we're seeing today happening, Diani,
overseas to the people of ASE is a
good makes a good argument for what I'm
trying to explain to you. Makes a pretty,
in my opinion, pretty good argument. I don't
mean to meet to to push this any
further. It's because of the lack of reform
that was happening right now was happening. It's
because of the lack of that peace. That
Islam became
became
became timid.
It was domesticized domesticized. That's what it turned
into. It was it's now a domesticated pet
for people. It's nice and quiet. The people
who follow it don't make any noise. They
don't say anything. They don't push. They don't
challenge. They don't object. They don't do anything.
They just stay nice and quiet so that
we can continue to do whatever we want.
What does that result in? That results in
in this, wheel of destruction
rolling over the majority of the countries that,
have been the center of the Islamic world
for for 1300 years.
What's left?
And
Sham and Iraq
and, and Musa and Libya and Tunis. When
you think about, these are the centerpieces of
where this where Islam was for a very
long time. It's where the knowledge was, where
it's where the the unity was, the strength
was, and what's left of it now?
A remnant of again, we a shell of
what it once was. And I believe that
shell,
is is just a mirror of the shells
that are our values today.
And if you want that to go back
to something different, then maybe you start here.
You start with fixing fixing these values and
filling them up. Maybe we stop seeing Islam
as,
as just rituals.
Or we look at Islam and we and
we decide to remove reform, you know,
out of the equation.
Where is Islam practiced?
This is a good question.
This is something that governments make very sure
that the answer is very clear of where
Islam is practiced.
Islam is practiced within these four walls. It's
not where Islam is practiced. Islam is practiced
outside of them.
You come here and you connect with Allah
to be granted the strength to practice it
outside of these walls.
Everyone's an angel in here.
We're
all spick and span in here.
Super duper. No problem.
Well, at least for the majority of the
time. When you work in Maseshid long enough,
you have a different opinion at the end.
But generally speaking, some people come here, best
behavior.
Cleanest clothing, everything is just where it needs
to be. Islam is you come here so
that you can strengthen your connection, so that
you can understand more profoundly, so that when
you walk out of the door, you have
the capacity to practice Islam appropriately. Islam is
practiced in hospitals
and in workplaces and at schools and in
political hallways and on the street.
It's practiced
within your relationships that you have with people
around you, within the world view that you
have towards others.
The idea that, you know,
Islam is in the masjid. Yeah. That's where
you practice your deen. Outside is something different.
It's extremely problematic.
It's extremely problematic. This is this is the,
Yani.
This comes from
this this miss again, this reduction of what
Islam actually is. I believe that this concept
was driven politically over, Yani, over the last
couple of decades. I believe it was driven
politically. But I believe a lot of us
have accepted it, and they like it. They
prefer that prefer it that way. Islam is
in the Masjid. Outside, it's a whole different
thing. And if that's the case, then, again,
we're just we're we're taking away from Islam
what it's designed to do. Islam is designed
to make sure that your interactions are halal.
It's designed to make sure that there are
boundaries for relationships. Design Islam is there to
make sure that we're not going to abuse,
or oppress or mistreat people as we deal
with them as employ as people who have,
have have have
a superior position or an inferior position, yeah,
or equivocal.
And that's and that's what Islam is supposed
to be seen as. So right now, when
we when we conceptualize Islam to be in
the Masjid, which I see that a lot.
I see a lot of parents teach their
kids that. You know, they they teach their
kids that. Right? They bring them here and
they expect them to is where and when
outside, no. It's not.
It's practicing Islam out. It's just Hinduism. They
bring them to the Quran program. They bring
them to this. This is where you learn.
And then outside, there's no reflection of that
outside. What's the point if there's no reflection
of what you learned here outside? Honestly, there's
0 point of this whole story. I mean,
it's completely useless. It's meaningless if Islam is
not gonna be reflected outside of the Masjid
within your daily life. And we see that
a lot.
Actually, the number one, Yaqeen, when they did
a, a survey and I shared this in
a in a in 2 in in the
course of 2 a couple of months ago.
I shared their survey. And their survey basically
was was asking what is the number one
reason for people to or what are the
what are the reasons for people to leave
Islam? And it's an article that I shared
at the time. You can look it up
actually online where they surveyed around 600,
Western Muslims, most of them living in the
states, but they surveyed them. And and I
and I the reason I shared it because
I didn't see the first reason coming. Like,
it's a reason, but I didn't see it
to be number 1. Like, it it took
me by surprise. Number 1 was the practice
of people who claim to be religious.
The practices of people who claimed to be
religious. That was the number one repeller.
The person who stands in the first line,
the,
the attire and everything is but then this
person owns a, a business or a shop
or this person and and and the way
they treat people out there is a completely
different story.
They they're
you know, they they lack that,
that integrity in in terms of their their
work relationships. Yes. In the Masjid, they're standing
in the first line, but that actually causes
a problem for people
because that's reinforcing this thought. That Islam is
just in these walls. Outside, it's a it's
it's a jungle.
Outside is a different law. Whatever you can
take, take for yourself. Don't care about anyone
else. Someone who wants to pray in the
first line.
Yeah. I this is what I'm what I'm
trying to explain.
Cuts off 5 people and then double parks
to come and play first line.
What what it what is this?
The
the lack of sensibility in this behavior is
is, is is is striking.
I don't understand it. I don't get it.
Actually, the playing in the first line does
not it's just like an FYI.
I may even say this. I I thought
it would have some point. Doesn't mean that
you pray in the first line. No. It
means it means that you came early enough
to earn a spot in the first line.
Right? And even you play at the end
because you are yeah. You were you were
helping people, you had to go to the
bathroom, you had children, you get the urge
of the first line if you were here
in time to get the first line. If
you came, at a time where you could
not make it to the first line and
you walk across people and you move them,
you ask for space, you get the idea
of which line you deserve to to to
to, you know, to pray in and the
of,
and the sin of all the people that
you bothered to make it upfront. That's how
this works. You understand the difference?
I'm trying to explain to you how when
the values are reduced. When first line. Halas.
First line. I have to pray the first
line. See, we don't understand what this means.
We don't get it.
Don't understand. What it means is that you
come early enough to earn it. And then
if you're standing in the first line and
there's a Hajji behind you and you say,
you get the alijah of praying in the
first line and the alijah of allowing this
person to do something they wanted to do.
You get you got both. And if you
came late and you made your way upfront,
when you didn't deserve it, you weren't one
of the imams or the person who should
be standing upfront, you know, obviously some people
need to do that, then you get the
ajur of praying in whatever line you deserve
and the of of all the people that
you bothered making up making it up there.
There's an example for it. See, even in
the Masjid, we don't even practice it properly.
But if we actually accept the, the notion
that Islam is to be practiced within within
these walls only
and this not being seen as a training
ground,
as a training ground so people can practice
Islam outside.
Yeah. It's a problem. It's a problem because
when we don't when we refuse any form
of cross gender interactions in a masjid,
then we are saying what we're trying to
say,
if we understand the concept
of what Islam is, that there should be
absolutely no interaction outside either because this is
the training ground for what people are going
to do outside. So if we completely refuse
any interaction and we put walls and we
say, do not speak with one another, do
not there has to be no interaction whatsoever,
then that should be the reality outside. And
since that's not the reality outside, well, then
why why are we doing that here?
Why why are we not training people to
to deal with one another in a respectful
manner? To learn how to lower their gaze,
to learn how to speak professionally, to learn
how to stay away from behaviors that are
flirtatious or disrespectful, inappropriate.
If we don't do that here, then when
and where are we going to do that
if not in the masjid?
This place if if if we see Islam
to be practiced only here, it's a problem.
This is a training ground for Islam to
be practiced outside of here.
Does Islam have objectives and purposes?
Does it have goals for the community and
individual? Does it?
I think it's safe to say that everyone
will answer this question by saying yes.
But does that reflect in the way that
we actually understand
our rituals and understand our deen? Do we
actually see our Islam as aiming towards something
that is meaningful, that is trying to achieve
a purpose or do we not see that
piece altogether? That is reflected more in our
studies of us, so I'm not gonna get
into it in too much detail. But I
do want to challenge your your way of
seeing things here.
Because when you study Islam, you have to
understand that every every ruling that he gives
every law, every teaching is designed to achieve
an objective
for the human being as an individual and
for the collective, for the community, for the
for the nation as a whole. And if
we don't understand what it is or we
don't comprehend what it is trying to do,
then we will, for sure, miss, represent it,
and we will mispractice
it. We won't do it appropriately because we
don't understand what it's trying to actually achieve.
And to think that it doesn't have any
objective or purpose is even a bigger problem.
To look at Allah subhanahu wa'ala's teachings and
see them to be empty from meaning and
emptying from purpose, empty from purpose, and empty
from from having an objective and a goal
to help people, that's even a bigger problem.
You're actually teaching people to accept doing things
that are completely meaningless,
to have no to have no logic to
them, to have no end goal for them.
That, on its own, is extremely dangerous for
the mind.
If I teach my child to continuously behave
in ways that serve no purpose whatsoever,
There's no goal of doing this. Just do
it because you because because you were told
to do it. That is putting this person
on a track of accepting
more and more of that. More and more
of it. Islam is not like that. Maybe
other faiths are like that. Maybe. I don't
know. But Islam is not.
Islam is not like that. Everything that is
within within our deen is
is a a quote I want you to
read and think about.
This is my,
line of work.
Growth, just for the sake of growth, that's
what cancer cells do.
That's what a cancer cell is.
If I could speak to cancer cells and
negotiate with them and ask why are you
growing? What are you trying to achieve?
Just more growth. Yes. And then when then
what?
That's it. I want to eat up this
person. I wanna eat up all their cells
and grow until there's nothing left to eat
up, then I'll die.
That's what cancer cells are. They're insane.
There are cells that have gone rogue and
lost their minds. And you try to reason
with them, you can't reason with them, so
you try to kill them with chemotherapy or
get the immune system to do it for
you or ruin their receptors. You try to
find something to to help the body kill
them off because they are they're ruthless
and they're useless.
Islam, does it grow just for the sake
of growth? Do we perform dawah just for
the sake of getting more people? And then
what? We axe we do more to get
even more people? And then they for what?
What's the point? Is there a point? Do
you have the answer for what the point
is? Or is there no answer for what
the point is? And if the point is
the fact that they make
it amazing, is there a point in dunya?
Or is the point only
Is the point just something that they're they're
they're aiming for on the day of judgment,
or is there a point in dunya as
well?
And the answer is yes, of course, there
is. And, yes, Islam does have purpose. And
Islam is extremely purposeful in everything that has
within it, and that has to become a
part of the conversation that we have when
we look at our deen. So when you
talk to your children,
be careful how you answer questions to them.
If you don't have a good answer, don't
answer it. If you don't have if you
have if you don't have the answer, don't
offer an answer that is meaningless of why
they're doing certain things. If you answer something
that's empty, you are if the child has
any degree of, you know, of self respect
and intelligence and you offer a meaningless answer,
you will send them away from Islam. If
they accept your meaningless answer, if they accept
the meaningless purpose of or the purposeless
answer of why they're doing something, and they
accept it and do it, then you should
be worried about this kid's critical thinking process.
You should worry about this kid's in yeah.
I mean, what they why are you accepting?
Why am I telling you? Why am I
giving you no reason to do this and
you're still doing it? You're a kid. You
should you should have had you should you
should be able to ask more. You should
be wondering why is it that you're doing
this. So be be aware as a parent.
Be careful from because a lot of these
lack of when these concepts are reduced, they
they start at home. A lot of them
do. They start at home. We just they
get used to the fact that I just
do it. There's no reason to do it.
It makes no sense, but my mom said
I had to do it, so I have
to do it or I I don't get
my allowance or I'm grounded or whatever. That's
not a good reason to do things.
So, yes, it is
purposeful. Yes. It has reform in it. It
must be practiced outside of the masjid masjids
or training grounds. And, no, it's not just
rituals. It's way more than rituals. And that's
how I want you to make make sure
you see Islam as a as a deen,
as a whole. Alright. Let's talk about Duhid.
Now this is a separate lecture that I
give within the introduction course. It's a long
lecture. I'm not gonna, y'all,
go through all the details of it. I'm
gonna try and summarize it for you in
a way that's meaningful.
If I were to ask you if I
were to, you know, if you were to
stop someone on on the street and just
say, what is the most important if you
were or summarize Islam in one word. Just
instead of Islam, give it one word. Then
I think almost unequivocally across the board, at
least among scholars, maybe maybe people will have
different words to use, because of their lack
of understanding. But scholars will say,
100% that is that is what that is
that's the most important part of what Islam
is is is
When I was a kid, I used to
wonder, well, why? Why
of everything? Why is
it
in
the
He will not forgive if you come with
lack of tawhid. He will forgive anything less
than that. No problem. Actually, this is very
uplifting. Everything can be forgiven. Just one thing.
Right? That's perfect. That's actually very good That
everything can be forgiven except one thing. But
then one thing, maybe we take a look
at it. What is that one thing? It's
still Eid. It's the concept of monotheism.
But why is it that important?
I believe in 1 god, you believe in
2. So what does that matter? How does
that matter?
Shouldn't something else be that level of importance?
Maybe murder?
Maybe maybe, you know, persecution of other human
beings, maybe?
Come with whatever you want. Don't come with
that because that won't be forgiven.
But he chose, subhanahu wa ta'ala, tawhid.
And I find it really weird
when we when we when we accept that
and we don't understand why it is that
we accept that. And then tawhid becomes just
a word.
Tawhid today, in my opinion, is is just
now a word that you say.
Because there's no I I have no intention
of belittling,
the aspects of that I'm like, I'm not
here to belittle the importance of saying that
the, the word or the dhikr
of Not at all. I'm just here to
challenge whether
we have limited this concept to this word
only. Most of the time when you reduce
a concept to something, you reduce it to
a a part of it that exists.
You reduce it to something that exists. Like,
I'm not saying that the word of tawhid
is not important. No. It's a part of
it. But it's been reduced to just that
and we've lost them, you know, the bulk
of what tawhid is. And I want you
to take a moment and and and think
with me, why is tawhid so important? Does
it have any practical applications? Or is it
strictly a belief?
Is it just something that we believe? It's
like saying,
you believe, yeah, that there there's
a purple planet somewhere outside.
I believe. I don't believe.
But how how important is that belief?
We can we can we can, you know,
basically,
divide into 2 groups, the people who believe
in the existence of a purple planet and
the people who believe that doesn't exist. But
what does it do? Does it do anything?
Does it have any any effect on people's
lives of any sort? Not really. Right? Doesn't
really. It doesn't matter. Who cares? Tawhid,
does it have implication?
Does it does it actually do something? Does
it does it have application in life? Or
it's just we're just dividing people based on
you believe in 1 God, the rest believe
in 2 or 3 or 4 or 0,
like all the other numbers. From 0, skip
1, and then go from 2 to, to
infinity, and then the group that believes in
1, and then we just have 2 groups.
And it has no does it is it
that is that how we see it? It's
just a strictly belief?
And should this answer not be
like that like very, very clear,
like a a a default reaction answer? Of
course. No. This is why. This is why
is so important. This is why
is more important than than is the most
important aspect of our deen.
And the way I explain it is through
something called the red lines concept. This is
how I this is how I break it
down so you can understand it because it's
very important because Tawhid, most important part of
our deen,
time and time and
Just come with to me with no shirk,
and I will yeah. No matter how much
sin you come to me with, I will
find forgiveness for you. I will I will
I will parallel forgiveness for you in terms
of your sin. Just don't come to me
with shirk. Well, that's,
You put it in the, in in in
in in the,
scale and the other, the other hand of
the scale goes flying because of the weight
of it.
Why is it so important?
Because of the red lines concept.
In our lives, there are red lines, things
we don't do. We don't just cross that
line.
Murder. Or trespassing against people's wives, trespassing against
people's wealth,
kadib, laiin,
zina, fahaisha.
All these lines.
There are a lot of them, but there
there's a number of them that are sung.
Those lines, who draws them?
Who who draws those lines for you to
say that you're not allowed to cross that
line and go onto the other side? You're
not allowed to do this this behavior
or act in this in this manner.
This question is what we have to ask.
Who draws the lines? Why are they drawn?
Who's allowed to give exceptions to these lines,
allow you to cross them every once in
a while? These are the questions you have
to ask. As a person coming to the
world, why why do I have these lines
to begin with? The west decided that, the
lines that they had were drawn by meh.
By man. By a person.
And if since it's drawn by a person
well, there's a couple of things here. He's
just a person, so
not necessarily better than me or us. If
I'm not gonna be vain myself, I'll make
a group of academics and highly educated people
say, well, that person who drew these lines,
I mean, they're they're human. We're human.
I I shouldn't be held to a line
drawn by another human being. We can we
can discuss them.
Not just by a human, but a human
who who is not omnicious. He does not
have full knowledge, so they must have missed
something. Maybe some of these lines that they
drew were appropriate for a certain time, but
now things have changed and they didn't know
that this change was going to happen. And,
plus, these lines don't apply to us anymore.
And why did they draw the lines? Were
the lines drawn just to control people or
the lines drawn
with a different goal?
Right? So these are the questions that the
western world asked, and that's the answer they
offered. It was done by a man who
was not that knowledgeable
and doesn't really didn't really know that these
things were gonna happen in this, modern era,
and it was done for control. So they
got rid of the lines. So every couple
of years, they pushed the line a little
bit. Yes. A little bit. Just like that
every year.
You start,
ever seen pictures of the 19 twenties in
the states?
There there are pictures that go back to
the 19 twenties from from New York and
parts of the world. And you take the
same pictures today, and you see there's a
lot aside from the high buildings.
Then again, I mean, it's it's something we'll
talk about from a value perspective whether that's
actually important or not. But you see the
way people, you know, carry themselves, the way
they they they address one another, the way
they're addressed, there's been there's been a shift
of, these lines have been shifted slowly over
time, pushed and pushed and pushed because we
don't believe in the sanctity of them. We
don't believe in the sanctity of the one
who drew them. We don't believe in the
omniscience of the per of the one who
drew them. We don't believe in the purpose
of why they were drawn to begin with.
Tawhid is the opposite of all of that.
Tawhid
means that your source
of ethics and values
is 1.
That's what means.
That your source of your values and your
ethics is 1. That line was drawn by
the almighty himself, the omniscient one. The one
who knew all that was going to happen,
the one who was all wise, and the
one who was not interested in controlling you
for the sake of control, but rather what
he wants, subhanahu wa ta'ala, is to offer
you the ability to live your life to
its fullest, for you to achieve the your
your greatest potential within your existence. So that
lying there becomes sacred because it wasn't drawn
by a person. It was drawn by the
almighty. So no one touches it. So if
you pick up a Muslim and parachute that
person into any place in the world and
any time,
you can move the scale of time, take
it, and then drop them. These lines will
apply.
Is
haram.
Is haram.
All these lines.
You can drop them anywhere. This person will
behave
theoretically
speaking, the same way. Why? Because he's
That is what means.
So if you're if you if you
say, I believe
in that's what that means.
It means that your source of ethics and
values
is 1. It doesn't change. It doesn't it's
it's never going to change. See, constants a
constant source will lead to constant values, will
lead to
constant ethics and behaviors, and variable multiple sources
will lead to variable ethics and values and
variable behaviors, later on. It's a very simple
it's a very simple equation.
If I have variable sources, then I'll find
someone to give me an exception within my
situation. This, by the way, has nothing to
do with, with with the rulings and laws
and jurisprudent,
practices.
Within fiqh, it's different. I'm not talking about
fiqh here. I'm not talking about
versus
versus how do I pray if,
if I'm in this situation or if I
have a catheter in or if I'm sick,
can I break my fast or if I'm
traveling, what can I these are issues of?
These are based on these are jurisprudence laws.
You come and you ask a shaykh, and
he offers you the different opinions that exist
in this issue. You listen to the arguments,
you take what makes more sense to you,
you follow your madhav. This is not a
problem. You can take you can take, you
know, rulings or or opinions that are more
lenient, that serve your you and your life.
These are they're not equal to ethics and
values. Ethics and values are something different.
Just so that it's clear, because I find
Muslims don't know the difference.
Muslims don't know the difference between an ethic,
a value, a principle,
and a a law of jurisprudence.
They're not the same thing.
They're very different from one another and you
have to be able to differentiate them or
you're gonna suffer. You're gonna struggle with your
life. Like, when we talk about
is saying only only speaking honestly. Yeah.
And,
the design of a masjid, for example, of
how it looks or where exactly the
goes or or how
exactly we're we're determining the or how we're
determining the beginning of Ramadan or the or
the beginning of Eid. These are issues of
jurisprudence. These are feck. No problem. Scholars will
differ upon these. They always have. They always
will. You'll have different opinions. Not a problem.
On the other hand, and I find this
to be one of the hallmarks of reduction
of values within the minds of our Oomba,
is where this is an issue that we
will fight, you know, but but
we will go at this with with all
of our might.
Nail and tooth after it to try and
fix it. And then the same person will
openly lie,
will openly tell a lie that everyone knows
that with a lie openly, just just a
belligerent clear lie to others. They will lie
to their children, lie to their spouses. The
same person who's fighting me over this is
married in secret to another woman. He's lying
to his the whole community and to to
including his children and his
wife. He's lying to everyone. But, no, the
qiblah has to be better than this and,
calculations for Ramadan.
This is where I start looking for a
shotgun. This is where I I this is
not like this is not yeah. This is
something yeah. There's something clearly problematic with with
with life that way, with not knowing a
difference between any, a jurisprudent
ruling. This is a issue of fiqh. Scholars
sit down and they try to interpret text.
And they try What does
he mean by that? What does he mean
once we have telescopes? What does he mean?
I know that Alaihi Salat would only say
things that would be suitable for a long
time. What does he mean? Does it mean
only this or that? I'm not saying one
is right and one is wrong. I honestly
like sighting. I do. People don't I like
it because I think it connects us to
your universe. You look up for a while
instead of staring at your bloody phone all
day. You look up and then look for
something. It's actually beautiful to try
But I don't doesn't matter to me because
it's issue of fiqh. We can we can
we we can afford to differ on it.
We can afford to differ on this. No
problem. We can't afford to differ on honesty.
We can't teach people to lie.
Tell them I'm asleep or tell them I'm
out of the house. Yeah. Tell your kid
to yeah. Teach your kid to lie. Why
not? And then wonder why he lied to
you.
Then wonder why he lied to you. What
do you what do you you taught him
to lie yourself. What are you talking about?
Nowhere to draw them.
A Muwahid is someone whose values, ethics, and
principles
are drawn
not in the sand, but are drawn by
the almighty himself, in
rock. They're stable. They never move. They never
change.
Today,
a 1000 years from today,
in the future or the past, zina will
always be haram,
and qadr will always be haram, and lying
will always be haram. Always. It doesn't matter
where you put you. It's always going to
be.
And that's and that's what the tawhid means.
That's what it has to mean. If it
doesn't mean that, then understanding what I mean
by a shell of what it used to
be. This This is what I'm trying to
explain to you that, yes.
Great. But what does that mean? That's what
it used to mean to them. That's why
it was a big deal.
That is why it was a big deal.
That's why the Sahaba accepted it. That's why
the people who were who wanted to keep
the status quo didn't want it, because it
frees people. It frees you from the governance
of everyone and anyone else. No one can
tell you that something halal is haram or
something haram is halal because you get that
source from the almighty himself, and those are
clear lines.
That's a dangerous person who takes his his
his,
his directions from from a sacred source and
not from someone who is wealthy or has
status. That's
the they don't they don't like that guy.
You're
not, you're gonna be a handful. You're gonna
be a headache
because you're gonna say, why are you,
promoting
zina?
Why are you promoting this, this haram? It's
always been like that. Why are you promoting
it? Why are you why are you continuously,
you know, shoving it down people's throats? Why
are you showing it to people as if
it's okay? Why are you giving it different
words? Why are you calling it something different
now?
Why are you calling them spirit, drinks?
Spirit drinks?
Even though for someone who never believed never
believed in god never will, who finds that,
corny and dumb. Spirit drinks. I don't think
you do with spirit at all.
This is this is how you ruin your
liver and you beat your children and you
lose your job and you end up homeless
and sick and miserable. It's It's how you
ruin your legacy and make sure that you're
like
it spirit.
But that's where, Mu'head comes in and and
sees things differently.
So, the oneness of the source of values
and ethics means people have a set of
values that do not change and cannot be
corrupted. That's what means. That sentence, that's what
is. Yeah? Gives people the only chance they
have to uphold values. The only chance we
have to uphold values in the long run
is through. That's it. You remove
values will will fall.
It's a matter of time. Just give them
time. Iberis is very good. He he in
terms of planning, he's like, no problem.
Give it a couple of centuries.
Just make sure every year, you just push
it a millimeter.
Couple of 100 years, it'll be way over
there. And now we've opened a whole new
realm of haram that people don't even see
to be haram anymore. They think it's totally
fine. They defend it. They marjorize themselves when
they die defending it.
When, really, that stability is what tawhid means.
Tawhid, we don't lie. We don't steal. We
don't inflict harm. We don't oppress. We don't
fornicate. Don't intoxicate ourselves or recreational. We don't
cheat. This is what tohid is. This is
what it results into.
Take a Muslim, drop him anywhere. That's what
we'll do.
That's what he'll do. He may look around
for
jurisprudent ways to make his life easier. He
may look for fatale that will allow people
to function
better, especially if they're in situation. If the
sun, yeah, and he doesn't, set until 11
o'clock at night and then it comes up
again at 2, you'll find ways to allow
people to fast in a in a in
a method that won't kill them. But these
won't change because these,
the source of them is
put those ones in. Those won't change. No
one dares touch them. Who dares remove a
line or move a line that Allah
himself?
The final piece of today's,
episode is the fellowship of the prophet alayhis
salatu wa sallam. I did a full
one of these on that specifically.
So not last year, but the year before,
I think, or maybe the one before. It
was called intellectual fellowship of the prophet, alayhis
salaam. It's a 7 or 8 it's a
7 episode series with 8 points, within them,
where I talk about what I think that
means to follow him, Isn't that the the
goal? Let me talk about 3 things here.
Appearances and recommendations and the words the word
sunnah. So what is our goal? Our ultimate
goal
alayhis salatu wa sallam. That's our ultimate goal.
Isn't that the goal of everyone sitting here?
What what is what are we trying to
do? We're trying to be more similar. Men
and women, paying more similar to him alayhis
salaahu alayhi wa sallam. Right? That's what we're
trying to do. That's our goal. So when
you take that okay. Let let's let's let's
break that down a little bit and see
what that means. What is that going to
mean? So if it's if it
if it's just
to dress like he dressed alayhis salatu wa
sallam, well, that seems pretty simple.
I'm not even sure that requires any effort
at all aside from any as as one
of my teachers said,
Mashecha today is meaningless. All you have to
do is have enough money to go to
Surah Hari'ah.
There was a, there was there was a
there's a suk in the Mash called Hari'ah.
And in it, you go and you can
just, you can buy a turban that is
maybe that needs 3 people to help you
hold up and you can buy, like, bejuba
and everything. Can be sha'a sha'a sha'a sha'a
sha'a easy. You can be sha'a very easy.
You just walk in. By the time you
walk out, you're masha'Allah, alhamalufulun. As long as
you have, like, a nice good beard, you're
fine. Yeah. And your people will come and
kiss
your hand and ask you for a fatwa
and ask you for a blessing.
Again, do I belittle
the importance of emulating him
in his appearance?
No. Right? I'll get that out of the
way. No, I don't.
You see this?
Every year, I I have to go I
have to walk for 3 kilometers,
so around or maybe a kilometer and a
half, within Victoria Hospital from a building to
e building. And I have to sit there
waiting. So someone trains me on this huge
piece of equipment
that I put on and I look like
I am I'm I'm going to outer space.
I look like an astronaut. It takes like
a 15 minute to put on and it's
a it's a device that I have to
turn on so that it pumps air, so
that I don't shave my beard every year
so that they can can do the n
95 mask testing. Every year, I have to
take
carry this to lug this huge piece of
equipment across Victoria Hospital, sit there and go
through this long training again of how to
put it on. I have to put it
on my and then show that it's done
and then put it back again in and
take it and I have to hold on
to it. And if it gets broken, I
have to pay for it just so I
don't. So I I I respect the appearances
of the prophet
I respect it very much and I think
it's important. My problem is if his son
if if followship of the prophet
is reduced to that. Are you are you
understanding what I'm trying to talk about here
today? Please, this is important because if I
get comments of, oh, he's saying that this
is not I'm going to, yeah, I'm going
to freak out. Yeah. Yeah. I'm not I'm
not saying that, the the word of tawhid
is not valuable. I'm not saying that practicing
Islam and Masjid is not important. I'm saying
that if you reduce Islam to that, if
you reduce it to it, if you limit
it to that, then we have a problem
because you're missing out on the bulk of
what all this stuff is.
That is what I'm saying. Yes.
To wear the and to put and to
have
the is being similar to him
in appearance.
We love that. We love to be similar
to him in appearance. There's nothing wrong with
that at all. There's nothing wrong with that.
But what about is that really the bulk
of it? Is that the bulk of it?
Is it to look the way he looked
or is it to think the way he
thought, alaihis salatu wa sama?
Right? Isn't that what you what what you
would want?
To be able to process the world the
way he processed it?
The question that you ask yourself, how would
he have dealt with it? Isn't that the
question you want to answer?
That requires
a galabia
or does that require a full
revamping of your thought process?
If it was just a galabia, that's very
that's that's easy. It's cheap. I gotta make
sure everyone did it. That's not gonna change
the way you behave or deal with with
with with life around you. It's something else
that's gonna be required.
Yeah. Here's the these are just the
the titles of the of the episodes that
I I ran back, when I did this
series
in,
2 years ago. I talked about his his
his, his planning, his broad horizons alayhis
salaam. His
his international vision of what Islam was going
to be, his connection to nature
You can go back and listen to these
episodes around, like, 45 to 50 minutes each.
His logical approach to everything, his methodological empathy.
Like, his empathy was not based on on
on what he liked, and it was it
was methodological. It was based on on principle.
His civilizational perspective, he saw he looked at
Islam as something that was going to build
a civilization. That's why I think this this
topic is important. The depth of his love
and his commitment to righteousness, alayhis salaam. When
you say the word sunnah, right,
what what do you what is it what
does the word sunnah mean?
What does it mean?
Go to the Quran. What is this word?
Allah's way. Allah's
way. The word sunnah. Yeah. It's
the way.
That's what we're his way
What was his way? What is someone's way?
Let's
step away from him
as the the pinnacle of, of role models
and just take a a random human being.
Right?
Brother Muhtar, I want to I want his
sunnah.
I want to be like him in life.
Is the first thing I go to is
where do you get those socks, brother Muhtar?
Was it Costco? Okay.
And what what type of jacket was that?
Is that the first thing I think about?
I'm not saying that I won't think about
that, but is that the first thing I
think about? When I say that's Muhtar's way,
I'm choosing the word Muhtar because
it's as well. So it kinda works both
ways.
Or do I look at the values this
person carried? The ethics, the behaviors, the way
they dealt with the the people around them,
how they viewed the world.
When we when we limit when we limit
this yeah. The word sunnah to
actions
that are did I did I make another
okay. Very good. Very good. So I'll come
to this. When we limit the word sunnah,
when we limit it from what it actually
means, which is how he lived his life
to appearances or to aspects of behavior
that don't really impact
the spirit,
the soul,
or the community that you live in, then
the question becomes, well, what exactly are we
doing here?
And it belittles his legacy
And it makes people feel that do you
understand how wise he was?
How
wise he was? How
like, you see the prophet
as an as an intellect,
like, as someone who's extremely intelligent,
someone who had a philosophy regarding life, and
someone who was extremely wise and offered advice
that is priceless,
or do do we not see him that
way? He says this is the hadith and
you have to practice it because that's
everything he said, we just see it as
mystic and completely disconnected from reality. It it
it actually builds in the minds of youth
a a real disconnection from him, alaihis salatu
wa sama, where they feel that they can't
relate to him. When alaihis salatu wa sama
was someone of of high intellect who who
observed and analyzed and thought profoundly and had
a philosophy and he taught it to people
and he practiced it himself. He could be
he he practiced that which he preached alaihi
sallahu alaihi wasallam.
But you see him that way, and you
see that to be his sunnah,
or is the focus on on
appearances. Is his sunnah, alayhis salaam, just the
fact that he prayed 2 rakas before fajr?
Or is his sunnah that
was the field that allowed him to carry
this message and stand up against the oppressive
forces of the land. Which is it?
Is it both? It's probably both. But if
he reduced it to that thing, then
I I take I I think that's a
problem.
I really do. I think that's a problem
if you reduce the word and he the
his sunnah alayhi salatu onto the word nafila,
meaning something that's recommended. An extra action. An
extra action.
Walking in with your right right right foot,
drinking when you're sitting down. I'm not saying
these things are not important. We follow them
all the time. We teach the kids. Okay.
You come to the message like this. You
say this. I'm not saying you stop doing
that. But is that the bulk of his
sunnah? Is that his way? Or is it
when you see someone walk walking into the
door, you stop, you cold the door, you
allow them to enter before you? Or you
see someone who needs service to you immediately,
your first feeling is how do I serve
this person? How do I help them? What
do I do to make their lives easier?
Yeah. Is which is a sunnah? Is it
sunnah that or is it sunnah? What's the
point if you walk in your first hand,
your first foot, and you said and
you push someone else out of the way
on the in the meantime? What's the point?
Else out of the way on the in
the meantime.
What's the point?
There's there's no point for life. It's it's
useless because his sunnah, alayhisrat
wasalam, would really to be to show humbleness
and love and service to someone. When they
came, they would hold he would hold the
door. That's what he would see, he there
were no doors back then, alayhis salaam.
The people who taught me, the people that
I know emulate him, alayhis salaam,
within substance, that's what they did.
They held the doors for people, and they
served and they and they poured cups of
water and they picked up shoes and put
them put them in yeah. So you have
a long lehiyah. A few kids yell in
the masjid and you scream at them and
you kick them out.
So what? So you you you're
following a sunnah? You don't even know what
a sunnah is. You have no idea what
a sunnah is. So you have a long
beard and it's, you put the
And you are wearing your and it's nice
and and everything is perfect, but then you
scream at people in a masjid and you
kick them out and you're not welcoming them
and you don't feel they can feel that
they're a part of of of this work,
and you don't make sure that you're, yeah,
you're empowering them and and then embracing them
when they come to you, then what what
do you understand of his sunnah
A man peed in his masjid.
You understand
what that requires
to pull down your pants and pee in
a masjid.
Imagine that.
And Ali Asad was said, when the Sahaba
were going to go ahead and say something,
he say, no. No. Leave him. Let him
finish. You can't you can't cut him.
You're a man. You know you can't cut
a guy who's in the midst of it.
You have to finish. Let him finish. And
then he went to him and he said,
this is not what the masid is for.
The man
himself,
He didn't come. He didn't hit me. He
didn't come. He didn't hit me. He didn't
yell at me. He didn't chastise me.
This is not what the Masjid is for.
Poured water on it, cleaned it up. So
he did.
And the Arabi became a faqih. He learned
his deen and he because the prophet
that's his sunnah. That's his sunnah. You want
his sunnah? That's his sunnah. The sunnah are
are people who are,
have open hearts
and love Allah and want others to love
Allah and will help people along their road,
help them along their path. Even if they're
far away, if they can get them one
one step closer, then great.
If you get them one step closer, then
then then great. That's amazing.
Ever you ever heard the story of,
a man came to a Abid, someone who
was not
telling him, I after
told him, I don't pray any other prayer
but fajr. But the abid got very upset
and the worshiper and
what Islam is this? So the guy stopped
praying altogether.
A year later, he would go pray fajr
again. But this time, you'd you'd be lucky
he ran into a alim,
someone who understands the sunnah
and told him this. He told him the
story.
So he advised him, and then he went
to the Masjid where that guy went the
first time. He came out to the, and
he said, he came to you with one
prayer. He left with 0.
He came to me with one prayer. Now
he has 2. I'm gonna send him to
you next time and see if maybe you
can get him to do 3.
Maybe maybe try to get him to do
3.
There's a, cultural story that, I don't know.
I don't think it's real, but I think
it's just a it's for, you know, for
reflection. The young man will come into a
masjid
lost people get lost in life. People get
lost. People feel
alone and empty and upset, and life can
be difficult sometimes. So they came into a
masjid. This is where they should be able
to go safely.
Came into a masjid. He he'd never been
in one before. He was poking out stuff
on a on a shelf, and
he knocked something down. He broke a basin.
And the the guy came in.
And he's
the guy got, you know, very, self conscious.
He left. He left the Masjid.
He goes to a shisha place down the
road. He sits there. The guy brings him
an argibi. He goes like this. He kicks
it. He breaks it.
The guy
said,
bring bring on the house. Another one on
the house. So now he's there at the
shisha every day. He doesn't come to the
masjid.
Yeah.
He'll go there every day. He won't come
here.
You wonder why.
You wonder why. You understand how do you
understand his
sunnah, alayhis salatu, when you study him, when
you study his life? What do you you
say, ittabi'us sunnah, what do you mean? What
do we mean? What are we trying to
do? Is it the number of raka'at that
he prayed? Is that it? It's the number.
Seriously. It's the number whether it's 8 or
20. That is the sunnah. That's your understanding
of it. Do you understand that we fought
over this for, like, a 180 years?
Numbers, that's a sunnah, so it's not the
content of the prayer. It's not the substance.
It's not the. It's not the hadur. It's
not the amount of Quran that was made.
It's not the joy of the Quran that
was recited. No. It's just the number.
Again, I'm not saying the number is not
valuable.
I looked for his numbers, either 8 or
13. We take we then we do 13
here. He that's what he prayed
You take even that you take it from
him But is that the the the essence?
Is that the substance? That's what we is
that what a sunnah actually means?
And that's what I mean by reduced concepts.
We take the followership of the prophet alayhis
salatu wa sallam.
I advise you the following. I advise you
to take it all.
Don't
take the things that I pointed out that
this these concepts reduced to as lesser.
Don't take the idea of Islam being practiced
in the Masjid as something that is not
good. No. Practice Islam in the Masjid. Don't
take the fact that the hate is reduced
to a dhikr of
No. Dude
all day long. Do it a 100, 400,
a 1000 times a day. It's It's very
valuable. It's the most important, most beautiful thing
you'll ever say. Don't take the the the
appearances of his sunnah, alayhis salatu wa sama,
as something not important. No. Do those, but
make sure you're understanding the bigger picture and
you're working towards the other ones as well.
Equally, with the same amount of velocity and
you're offering them the same the same amount
of
of of attention and you give them the
same degree of importance and significance so that
we can actually go back to being with
the Sahaba were,
when they followed
him
They truly followed him. They actually wanted
it's the ones who followed him in every
other way that started focusing on appearances.
Ibn Almir started to look. He liked to
eat,
pumpkin
or zucchini, so he ate pumpkin and zucchini.
He walked when he walked
down this road, he would take any a
right beside this tree, so he would do
that. But this is a person who followed
him in every other aspect of his life
He did that first before he started looking
for the little details to kind of perfect
his craft, to do it exactly like him,
alayhis salatu wa sallam. So when you prioritize,
what do you prioritize?
No? You prioritize the appearance and you prioritize
the values that he carried alayhis salaam in
his life. And that's what I wanted to
share with you today. I'll end with that.
For those who want to ask any questions,
I'll sit around for another 10 minutes. You're
welcome to ask any questions you want. I
will
we'll try and make this a little bit
shorter tomorrow. We'll we'll aim for 40:45:45
get it I'll get it right inshallah tomorrow.
get it I'll get it right inshallah tomorrow.