Ali Ataie – Confident Muslim The Answers We Seek Are in the Qur’an & the Sunnah
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AI: Transcript ©
All praise belongs to Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala,
the Lord of the worlds, the one and
only true God,
the most compassionate, the merciful.
There is nothing like him whatsoever,
yet he is the all hearing and the
all seeing.
And peace and blessings be upon our master
Muhammad
the final messenger of God,
the seal of the prophets, the commander of
the righteous,
the leader of the messengers, and the beloved
of the Lord of the worlds.
Inshallah,
the verse that is going to set the
tone for this Khutba
is in Surat Al Nisa
verse
59, which Allah
says,
Oh, you who believe, obey Allah and obey
the messenger,
and those in authority over you.
And if you should dispute
among yourselves in anything,
refer it back to Allah and His messenger.
If you believe
in Allah in the last day,
That is better and it provides the best
outcome. So this is our broad method as
Muslims.
So it's very clear. We've been given clear
guidance
alhamdulillah, by Allah in matters of dispute,
in anything,
as the Quran says.
We refer it back to Allah and His
Messenger. In other words, the Quran and the
Sunnah.
Both of these are mass transmitted
and providentially
protected
revelation. These are wahi, any words that authentically
escaped
the blessed lips of the messenger of Allah,
sallallahu alayhi wasallam,
is revelation. It is.
The prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam said, nothing comes
out of this pointing to his blessed mouth
except the truth.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said,
That the prophet
never speaks from his Hawa. He never speaks
from his caprice or desires.
It is no less than wahi, than revelation
given to him. He is taught by 1
exalted in power.
Imam Shafi'i said that this religion
is essentially Ital Allah, Wakala Rasool.
That's essentially the religion. Allah said, the Messenger
said. Allah said, the Messenger said. This is
our foundation.
We find all of our answers,
all of them in the Quran, in Sunnah,
not in the so called zeitgeist,
not in the current
spirit of the age, not in the cultural
trends of our time,
or what happens to be popular or currently
influential.
Allah and his messenger,
the Quran and the Sunnah
are mass transmitted
revelatory
tradition,
which is trans historical. In other words,
it stays relevant for all times, peoples, and
places.
How do we worship Allah
The answer is in the Quran and Sunnah.
What is iman? What is kufr? The answer
is in the Quran and Sunnah. What is
lawful and unlawful?
The answer is in the Quran and sunnah.
How do we answer atheists or materialists?
How do we answer Christian polemicists?
How do we answer post modern liberals, the
the woke crowd?
The answer is in the Quran and Sunnah.
How do we deal with,
immorality?
How do we,
conduct ourselves around the opposite gender?
What are the theological virtues that constitute good
character?
How do we run ourselves both on the
micro and macro levels?
That is to say, on the level of
the individual and on the level of society.
The answer is in the Quran in sunnah.
If you dispute in anything, refer it back
to Allah and His messenger. If
you truly believe
in Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
and in the last day. 10 ayaat later
in verse 69, Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says,
SubhanAllah. And whoever obeys Allah and the Messenger,
they will be with the ones who have
the favor upon, the favor of Allah
upon them.
From the Prophets,
and the truthful,
and the martyrs, and the righteous. What a
beautiful fellowship.
This is what we are working toward as
people of iman,
as people of faith.
Not blind faith,
not faith without evidence,
faith that is supported by reason, by evidence,
by proofs.
The Quran says, tilta ayaatul kitabal mubeen.
The verses of the Quran are called signs.
The Quran itself is called Kitab Mubin, an
evident book.
The Quran says,
The, unbelievers from the Ahlul Kitab and the
Mushrikeen,
they're not going to break away from their
kufr until Al Bayyina comes to them. Who
or what is al Bayyina? Rasulun
min Allah,
a messenger from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. The
Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam is called al
Bayyina.
He is clear and convincing evidence.
His sunnah speaks for itself.
And when you say, aman2 billah,
you are essentially saying that you have made
your soul safe
by means of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
Because Aminah is a causative verb. It means
to cause safety. It is more intelligent
to find safety and security
through God, through Allah,
who is the all powerful sovereign king of
the universe,
than it is to find safety and security
through human beings
or philosophies or governments.
One of Allah's names is Al Mu'min. This
does not mean the believer when referred to
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. It means the one
who causes safety
and that is intelligent.
That is rational.
We believe because it is intel because it
is intelligent to believe.
And we are people who work toward.
We seek Allah's
This is very strange for many modern people.
This is for them, for many of them
just nonsense. And that's fine.
We should take pride in our estrangement.
The people of Dunya, they mock and laugh
at the people of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
And this is what they do. And they've
been doing it for 1000 of years.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala tells us people who
are steeped in sin,
they laugh at the believers.
And when they,
and when they pass by the believers, they
wink at each other.
On one occasion, a Mustahesi
named Ubay ibn Khalaf,
He came to the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam
in Mecca and he picked up some bone
or decomposing bone
and he said, do you really believe that
is going to resurrect this bone on some
day, some yomul qiyama? And the prophet said,
na'am, alahumulna'am.
And he took the bone, this man and
he crumpled it up and he threw it
over the head of the Prophet shalallahu alaihi
wa sallam. The Quran was revealed
to the Prophet shalallahu alaihi wa sallam on
account of this occasion, on account of this
sabab.
But the Ibra, the lesson is general.
And he propounds for us a parable, and
he forgets his own creation.
And he says, who's going to resurrect decomposing
bones?
Say, the one who gave them life the
first time will surely raise them up again.
He is well acquainted with every type of
creation.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala creates from existing matter.
He creates ex nihilo from nothing. He fashions.
He refines.
As monotheists, we have a robust world view
that answers questions
of cosmology, of ontology,
of teleology,
biology, psychology. Our world view is coherent.
It is comprehensive. It is time tested and
totally relevant.
But for the people of Dunya, people who
worship their own nafs
and Hawa,
we are a for
them, an object of mockery and ridicule.
But that's okay.
Here's the reality. The joke's on them.
On the day of judgment, the believers will
laugh at the kufar. There's going to be
a reversal.
If you mock us, we will mock you
for your mockery.
And this is really a warning to them,
and we should pray for people sincerely.
Right? We should want the guidance of all
of humanity. We should want guidance for people.
The prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam had a deep
concern
for the guidance of his people. Fala'alakabahiunafsakaalaatharihim.
Illa mute minu bihadal hadithi asafah. Perhaps you
will worry yourself to death over them because
they do not believe in this message.
The point is don't allow human beings
to dishearten you about your religion.
At the end of the day, their opinions
will not matter.
They will not judge you. Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala is the judge on the yomul qiyama
and Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala knows our innermost
thoughts and secrets. Walatahinu walatahhzanu
wa antumu aalawna incuntum mumineen. Do not falter
nor grieve. You are uppermost
if you are believers.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is telling us the
reality of things.
You are the best Ummah for humanity.
Why?
Because we call to the good and we
prohibit the evil. There's good and evil, objective.
Good and evil. And we believe in Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala.
And if the people in the book had
believed, there would have been better for them.
From them, there are believers, but the majority
of them are transgressors.
In another,
So hold fast to Allah your master. How
excellent a master
and how excellent a helper.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is our mawla in
the absolute sense.
For other people, their absolute mawla is Isa
Alaihi Salam or or Karl Marx
or or Charles Darwin.
So let people mock. Let them laugh. We
should pity them. We should really feel sorry
for them.
They're tying their own nooses. They're digging their
own graves, as it were. People often ask
me, why is Islam under such attack?
You know, people go down these YouTube
rabbit holes,
channel after channel after channel of anti Muslim
content.
You know, what does Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
say? Read Quran.
Say, the foul and the good are not
equal even if the abundance of foulness
should amaze you.
Fataqullah,
fear Allah.
Oh people of intellect,
the people of, Ulul al Bab, the people
of Lub, the people of deep essential understanding
in order to prosper because it's an illusion.
The name of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam
is written on the awraq of the trees
of Jannah. This is the reality.
On the arash of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
it says la ilaha illallah Muhammadu Rasulullah.
Put things in perspective.
So my answer is always the same. Islam
is under attack because Islam is true.
That's why,
as I said in the past,
we are the last line of defense
in all of this postmodern madness
where the very the very foundations
of logic and reason and science and metaphysics
are being turned upside down.
And the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam, he told
us about these things. It is related.
At Imam Atirmidhi that the prophet sallallahu alaihi
wasallam said, in that Islam
That this religion al Islam, it began something
as something very strange, khareed. And then it
became sort of normative, normal.
Right? And then it's going to return again
and become very strange.
So glad tidings to the strangers. He's a
mushrikeen of the Quraysh. They thought the Muslims
were strange.
These people are hadith. No drinking, no fornicating.
Worship only 1 God who is unseen,
whom we can't represent by iconography. No images,
no statues.
Belief in some day of judgment,
fasting, charity, modesty, dietary restrictions, very strange.
The prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam said,
a time will come upon the people when
a person among them practicing his religion with
perseverance
will be like one who clutching onto a
cinder.
Abu Dawood and Tirmidhi. He told us, sallallahu
alaihi wasalam, imagine holding a cinder or a
piece of hot coal.
You juggle it in your hands
so it doesn't burn you. And then you
drop it because it gets too hot. Eventually,
you give up. It becomes too difficult.
No. Keep juggling.
Life is too short. Waspru
waspru. Persevere.
Persevere. Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala is with those
who persevere.
The The prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam once said
to the Sahaba, there will come a time
when the unbelievers will invite each other to
the killing of the Muslims,
like they're inviting each other to a banquet.
You know the hadith is very well known.
One of the companions said, minqildatun yoma'idin You
Rasulullah.
Are we very few in number on that
during that time? Bal antum yoma'idin kathiron
No. You're going to be many, many, many.
But you're like the froth or the scum
on the ocean.
You see, the pre modern way of thinking
was strength in numbers.
The larger your numbers, the more manpower you
had, the more strength you had. That's why
in pre modern times,
it was an acceptable
and necessary practice to to take war captives
and integrate them into your society. This was
absolutely crucial
for the survival of of any nation. It
was all about numbers.
But in our modern world, it's not so
much about numbers anymore, it's about influence.
As a faith community, we often boast about
our numbers, 1,500,000,000
whatever.
But we constantly underestimate the power of influence.
We tend to get stuck in this old
world mentality. I'll give you an example. There's
a certain community who is very,
let's say, proud to be who they are.
You know who I'm talking about.
This community is a fraction of the population
of the world.
In contrast,
traditional Muslims,
traditional Christians, Protestants, Catholics, Eastern Orthodox,
and Jews, Orthodox, and Conservative make up about
half of humanity.
Yet, in the month of June, virtually every
government building in the Western world, the airports,
state parks, they raised the flag of this
proud community.
That is power.
The raising of the flag indicates
conquest.
They have conquered these lands with their ideology,
with their influence.
But this is not some oppressed minority.
They present themselves as oppressed because they are
a minority, but oppression is a lie.
They are in power. Criticize them to your
own peril,
and good luck finding a job afterwards.
And and, you know, people talk about
freedom of speech.
It's kind of a sham. You know, in
today's world, you can get fired from your
job for making a comment in a personal
you wrote to your friend because one individual
from a certain community found it offensive.
It hurt their feelings.
That is power.
The French philosopher, Voltaire, is believed to have
said, to learn who rules over you, determine
who you're not allowed to criticize.
Some say, well, Voltaire didn't say that. Okay.
That's fine. Whoever said it,
still true. It doesn't contradict what I said
earlier that the religion is kallallahuqala rasool because
the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam said, wisdom is
a lost property of the believer.
He takes it wherever he finds it.
Your livelihood,
food on your family's table
can be taken away
because of your personal religious convictions.
So where do we where do we have
freedom of speech then? In our closets at
home?
And go inside my closet and and whisper
to myself?
But even there, if your neighbor heard you
say something
that a certain community found offensive,
he can expose you on social media and
cancel you.
In other words, ruin your life.
At least in a place like Saudi Arabia,
there's they're they're honest and upfront about this.
You do not have freedom of speech. They
do not tolerate slander and blasphemy against prophet
Muhammad salallahu alaihi wasallam because that destroys the
social cohesion
of their society.
When sacred religious symbols are mocked and denigrated,
then anything can be mocked and denigrated.
This leads to civil unrest and violence, and
there is a difference between academic inquiry,
the critical analysis and blasphemy,
and denigrating something. There's a big difference. We
are not offended by people
being rigorously
academic. We actually encourage it. We want people
to use their brains.
However, in the West, college students are taught
by their neo Marxist professors
that using logic and reason are quote,
white ways
of engaging the world.
In other words, when white people use logic
and reason, they are being racist,
as if logic and reason are the exclusive
possession of white people. What what is the
subtext here? The subtext is that quote unquote
people of color, like brown and black people,
like most of us,
we're too stupid to use logic and reason.
This is called CRT,
critical race theory, yet another brainchild of cultural
Marxism, another horrible idea among the mother lode
of horrible ideas. This is what university education
is now. You can drop a $100,000
on an education that teaches your children that
white people are inherently evil
and yet also superhuman
in their intelligence.
It doesn't end there. You'll also be taught
about radical feminism.
Right? Gino centrism, Gino supremacy.
They will be taught that every man,
regardless of race, without exception,
operates in the mode of predation.
This is where the discourse is leading. Every
man is a predator.
And their solution is not to reform men
and make them more virtuous.
Their answer is to emasculate men.
Testosterone is toxic.
They wanna make men more like women.
But Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala made us men
and women.
The Quran says, walayi said, vekrukaluntha,
the male is not like the female. And
there's a reason for that. There's a great
wisdom behind that, that we can demonstrate
through logic and reason and science. Men and
women compliment each other.
Women are more emotionally intelligent than men. Men
are more analytical and stoic than women.
Women are more nurturing than men. Men are
more protective and physically stronger than women.
Our definition of marriage works,
and it's worked for 1000 of years.
But people in rebellion against Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala and who worship their own Hawa,
like many of these professors in the liberal
academy or talking heads in our woke media,
for them, traditional marriage is characterized
more and more as * and slavery.
And we are people who view the world
through reason and revelation.
Aqal and Nafal. Allah gave us 2 eyes.
Not just reason, not just revelation. Reason and
revelation.
Nurun ala Nur.
There are people who reject both
and view the world through their own passions.
They worship their Hawa and believe in no
higher authority
than themselves.
So these people are miserable and they want
us to be miserable
but only in the remembrance
of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala are hearts made
tranquil.
So it's no longer about numbers And today's
Zeitgeist, it's all about influence.
There are millions of young people who call
themselves,
quote, unquote, social media
influencers.
I'm a content creating influencer.
These are full time job.
These are people who barely know how to
think. They don't know basic grammar. They don't
know basic facts of history. Yet under the
guise of peace and love and tolerance, love
is love,
they convince the next generation of Muslims
that their own parents,
the mother and father who raised them in
Islam,
who loved them, who cherished them, who would
have sacrificed their lives for them. They convinced
them that their own Muslim parents
are hateful, misogynist,
racist, arrogant, oppressive bigots.
They convince Muslim youth that they should hate
their parents
and everything they stand for.
And then these sentiments are reinforced by their
high school and college, teachers and professors who
rage against traditional value systems and traditional religions.
So now the question is,
how what can we do as individuals?
Let's turn to the Quran. Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala told us what to do in such
circumstances.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala revealed these ayat on
the occasion of fazwat badr. But again, the
salient point is taken from the generality of
the wording, not the specificity of its occasion
of revelation.
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says,
Oh you who believe,
when you
meet a force, be firm.
Stand your ground.
Don't be a pushover.
Don't be wishy washy.
Don't let people intimidate you and bully you.
Walatanaza'u
fatafshaluwatadhabarihurku
musbiru
innallaha ma'asabireen.
And
obey Allah and his messenger and do not
fall into dispute lest you fail and your
rih, which literally means wind, will depart from
you. The exegetes here they say Allah's protection
will depart from you and be patient.
Persevere. Allah is with the patient.
And I'll end with this.
Notice Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala said, make remembrance,
make dhikr.
The greatest form of dhikr is the prayer.
When Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala spoke to Musa
alayhi sallam he said, innani anallaha
illa ana faabudni
wa'athimis salati li zikri.
I am Allah. There's no God but me.
So worship me
and establish the prayer
for my remembrance.
So let me tell you why I think
we fail nowadays. And this is, you know,
this is an obvious one of the obvious
reasons.
Many Muslims have left the prayer.
This is a major tribulation of our times.
And you might say, what does leaving the
prayer have to do with our current crisis?
And the answer is everything.
Because we don't just believe in physics,
we believe in metaphysics.
We believe in Allah There's
a metaphysical equation in the Quran. La inshaqartum
laazidanakum
If you are grateful I will increase you.
Gratitude equals increase.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala ordered us to pray
but we prioritize ourselves over the command of
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. This is in gratitude.
This is in gratitude.
We have Muslim college students investing hours and
hours of their time going out and shouting
slogans
in the streets and some protests rather than
standing in prayer
to Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. Is Allah not
in charge? Who has all power? Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala. The actual function of the the
actual function or rational of the prayer is
given in the Quran.
Iwanmunkar.
Indeed the prayer prevents from indecency and sin.
Even if the prayer begins as something that's
more perfunctory just going through motions.
If you have to pray with with with
wudu at 5 different times during the day,
engaging in indecent and sinful acts becomes much
much more difficult.
And at some point you will change.
The prayer is transformative.
Trust the process.
This is from Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
It's tried and tested. Do not leave the
prayer. As salat or imaduddin.
The prayer is a quintessential pillar of the
religion.
According to Imam Ahmad, leaving the prayer is
kufr. You leave Islam by leaving the prayer.
This is his opinion
and there's strong support for it. The prophet
sallallahu alaihi wasallam said baynal kufri waliman tarkus
salah.
Man tarkus salah fakad kathara.
Between,
between,
disbelief in in iman is is abandoning leaving
the prayer. Whoever leaves the prayer has disbelieved.
Think about it. Why is Iblis a kathir?
Why is shaytan a kathir? You might say
shaytan doesn't acknowledge Allah as his lord, as
his rub. He sure does.
When Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said in fafrooj
mimafainnaqarajeem
wa innna alaykalalalati
ilayomadeen.
What did he please say? Father, rabbi fa'andirni,
rabbi fa'andirni
ilayomi yuba'athoon.
Oh my Lord,
Oh, my lord. Give me respite.
Everyone move up insha Allah.
I'm getting a message. Move up.
You might say Iblis doesn't fear Allah. On
the day of Badr, what does shaitan say
to the mushrikeen?
Akhafullah
wallahushadeel
Iqab. I fear Allah. I see what you
can't see. He saw the angelic hosts on
the day of the battle of Badr. I
see what you can't see. I fear Allah.
Allah strict in retribution.
Shaitan knows that Allah is God and the
prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam is a messenger of
God. But the religion is not called Al-'am.
It's not called Al Ma'arifah. It's called Al
Islam. It's called submission. You must submit
mind, body and soul. So why is shaitan
a kafir? Because he disobeys Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala, make sajdja to Adam.
Wakanaminat
kafireen.
He refused
and thought he himself greater. Istaqbara means to
find your to deem yourself greater.
When one does not pray, when one does
not perform the salah, one is deeming one's
desires
above that of Allah's command.
You might say well everybody sins, everyone disobeys
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala in some way. Does
that make them all kufar? The answer is
no it doesn't. But the prayer has a
special
unique Maqam with Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
Abandoning the prayer is to abandon on the
major
pillars, the arkan of the religion. If we
establish the prayer, Allah
will establish us. Insha'Allah Ta'ala.