Bilal Philips – Contemporary Issues Part 1 (Apostasy – Alcohol)

			Bismillah R Rahman r Rahim, the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Most Merciful. I'd like to
welcome you, their viewers, to our series, contemporary issues, slavery Kumara barakato last Peace
and blessings beyond each and every one of you.
		

			In this series or the segment of our series, we've been looking at criminal justice, the laws which
Islam applies to crimes committed in the society, we looked at murder,
		

			the punishment, we looked at adultery, fornication, the punishment, we also looked at theft, and the
punishment and we looked at homosexuality, lesbianism, etc. And the punishments.
		

			In this segment, we're going to be looking at apostasy, apostasy, which is again, an area which,
commonly in the West, people hold this up and say, hey, what kind of religion is this, if you leave
the religion, they kill you
		

			the law of Apostasy
		

			where a person who apostates who leaves the religion is executed.
		

			Again, when we look at this issue, we have to look at it within the context of world history, the
legal systems of both the west and the east, and the conditions
		

			under which the law is applied.
		

			First and foremost,
		

			since from the western perspective, religion has no place to play in the legal system.
		

			A person is free to follow a religion or not follow religion, it's not. There's no
		

			you know, law, whatever governing them. The idea of of executing somebody for leaving the religion
now seems quite absurd.
		

			However, we should keep in mind that when capital punishment for murder was abolished in England
back in 1965,
		

			it was still retained for treason and piracy, with violence, for treason, and piracy with violence.
		

			And it was also the legal punishment for setting fire to Her Majesty's ships and backyards, all the
way up until 1971.
		

			Everyone set fire to the ships of the queen, you could be executed according to law.
		

			So,
		

			this principle exists. This principle of executing people, you know, over issues of what may be
called treason exists in the West and exists in most countries, where trees is considered to be
rebellion against the state, state secrets are given to some other country at which that state is at
war, etc.
		

			Press is executed for it. This is material information, no worldly information a person gives us
information. treason, so they're killed.
		

			The other famous couple back in the United States who were supposedly gave up information to the
Russians about the Atomic Research, and the man and his wife were executed.
		

			Now, when we look in the Islamic perspective, from an Islamic perspective, what we find is that
religion from an Islamic perspective is different from religion. From a Western perspective.
		

			Islam the religion is the state.
		

			It's not it's not acceptable, there is no separate state and religion. It's all one.
		

			The state is governed by the religious principles.
		

			So
		

			rebellion against the state is rebelling against the religion, apostasy. treason is against the
religion than the state, they're all wanting the same. So
		

			apostasy represents a rejection of the law and order of the society.
		

			And as such it considers to be it's considered like an act of treason.
		

			Now, a person who abandons the faith, personally, and leaves the country, no Islamic State is not
going to send people out to hunt him down and kill him or her because they abandon the faith. But it
is really dealing with a situation within the state where people are openly rejecting the principles
of the state and undermining the social Islamic system of the society as a whole. Yes, there is no
compulsion in religion in Islam, compulsion in the sense of joining Islam, there's a verse in the
Quran and the third chapter
		

			of the Quran where Allah says
		

			Sorry, it's not the chapter in the second chapter, like craft Dean, there is no compulsion in
religion that is the person is not compelled to become a Muslim. But once a person becomes a Muslim,
then
		

			they're obliged to stick with it that this should be a serious and, and definite
		

			decision was made. In fact, if we look at when the law of Apostasy was first implemented, it was
implemented. during a period in Medina, when there was a phenomenon which developed were some of the
Jews of Medina were converting to Islam.
		

			And then, upon stating, in order to shake the faith of those who are already Muslims, they were
doing this playing with the religion. So the law of Apostasy came in order to stop this confusion
which the Jews were trying to create those who converted to Islam trying to create in the minds of
the newly converted Muslims. So it meant you became a Muslim, you had to be serious, you have to be
real, otherwise, then you would be executed. So people were no longer allowed to play with religion
create that confusion.
		

			So that was how it was initially instituted. However, the principle remains, you know, till the last
day that people within the state are obliged to stay within the religion, if they are Muslims. If
they accepted Islam, they have to remain Muslims. If they want to leave, then they need to leave the
state altogether.
		

			And we could say that the death penalty for apostasy really is for those who cooperate to the
enemies at war with the Muslim state.
		

			Or those who gather people against Islam. And to fight against the state. This is really the the
place for its application, the personal personally, doesn't pray or whatever it is home, whatever,
nobody's gonna come bring into the home to see are you praying? Are you not praying? Are you fasting
and I try some state doesn't do this unless it becomes something open.
		

			So a personal personally on an on an individual level, apostates, keeps it to himself or herself,
then the state does not go on hunt them down. We don't have Inquisition courts set up to track and
test people's faith in this type of thing. And even when a person is caught, or a person openly
makes these statements of Apostasy, etc, then they're brought before a court and asked to recant
their statements, take it back, if they recount and take it back, then they're not not excused.
		

			So
		

			as as a final statement on this, in this regard, we could say that Western civilization will execute
its citizens for giving away state secrets, something material, Islamic law will not exclude people
for that purpose. However, they will execute them for something which is far more serious rebellion
against God.
		

			That is a far greater
		

			sin or crime than rebellion against the state against the individual,
		

			individuals, human beings.
		

			So this is the way Islam looks at the issue of Apostasy and the seriousness by which it takes it and
applies the law with regards to it. And it's not for the state, you know, somebody in some country
somewhere makes statements of Apostasy, who may be Muslim is not for the state to now declare this
person to be
		

			his blood is
		

			permissible, after rewards to go hunt this person down and kill them. No, this Islamic State is not
to function this way. If a person comes to them, or is caught within them, who isn't apostate then
they're tried. There are courts of law, they have to be a situation has to be looked into. They have
to be questioned and they have the right to defend themselves.
		

			Now, that basically deals with the last of the issues of criminal law, criminal justice, from that
now we're going to shift into some of the dietary laws still dealing with laws but no longer crime
and punishment. We're now looking to diet.
		

			To some degree, it's still related to crime punishment, because the first of the dietary laws
concerns alcohol. And we know in Islamic law, there is a punishment for it. Some 80 lashes 40 or 80
lashes given to a person who's caught drunk, caught drinking.
		

			Now again, of course Western society which has taken you know drinking to be a norm.
		

			In fact, you know, people will even argue medically as doctors say that you take half
		

			A glass of wine with your meal that it helps in your
		

			digestion.
		

			Some say even lowers the chances of heart attack.
		

			However,
		

			it's fine people can say this and medicines in the West tend to be loaded up with alcohol because
that was Western tradition. When people are sick, you give them alcohol, get them into a state of
drunkenness they, they forget their trials and their problems or physical ailments, etc. That's been
the tradition of Western medicine. Whereas Islamic tradition has not been that when people were
sick, they were treated with herbs and things like this, they didn't use alcohol. This was not a
standard foundation for Western pharmacy, Islamic pharmacy otology, whereas Western traumatologist
this is how it developed. So alcohol has become a part and parcel of Western life, you know,
		

			children are born drunk.
		

			Drinking has reached such proportions.
		

			From the Islamic perspective, we say way, way the harm and weigh the benefits.
		

			If we weigh the harm and the benefits, we can see that the harm far outweighs the benefit.
		

			It has been shown
		

			that the number of lives lost as a result of drunk driving
		

			violence and heinous crimes.
		

			When people are in states of intoxication
		

			is a direct product of the widespread access to alcohol in the society.
		

			If we realize this, and we compare it to the little benefits of digestion and possibly reduction of
heart attack,
		

			this is like
		

			an elephant and a mouse on scales, we cannot compare them. The harm is far greater.
		

			In studies done in America,
		

			they pointed out that alcohol is involved in some 40%
		

			of more of the more than 50,000 annual road traffic fatalities yearly,
		

			and possibly over 500,000 injuries to persons.
		

			And then more than more than $1 billion worth of property damage.
		

			And based on published studies, Roizen summarize the percentage of violent offenders who are
drinking at the time of the offense as follows 86% of homicide offenders 60% of sexual offenders and
up to 57% of men involved in marital violence.
		

			So when we have statistics like these,
		

			how can we seek to make this permissible
		

			It's estimated that
		

			more than $2 billion
		

			is wasted
		

			as a result of
		

			health and welfare services being forced to deal with alcoholics and their families in the United
States alone.
		

			Crude projections of the annual costs of alcoholism to the national economy of the United States
range between 7 billion and $10 billion.
		

			So when we see these kinds of statistics, then we can talk about the benefits in the second chapter
of the Quran, verse 219, a lot of said there, yes. aluna cannon homily, when they asked you about
intoxicants and gambling say there is great harm in both and benefit to people. However, the harm in
them is greater than the benefit. So let's recognize Yes, there's going to be some benefit in all of
these things. But the harm is far greater than the benefit. And this is why
		

			in the United States of America, between 1920 in 1933,
		

			alcohol was prohibited. Its production and sale was banned. United States of America recognized
However,
		

			in the subsequent years following it,
		

			the these laws were repealed, repealed because of the fact that the society the will to stop this
thing wasn't really there is a drug. It is a serious drug. And people
		

			talk about you know, cocaine and other drugs but this time
		

			rug as you know, society's because it's so attached to it, it cannot deal with it as a
		

			major,
		

			drug harmful drug to society which should be prohibited totally. What you find is that ultimately
it's prohibition will not be successful in our society.