Bilal Philips – Discussion With The Youth
AI: Summary ©
The importance of worshiping Islam is emphasized, along with the use of "ma'am" in religion and avoiding harming behavior. Shaping one's appearance, avoiding shaming, and avoiding harming behavior are emphasized. The transmission of Arabic language and non-M-thirsty people in dressing is emphasized, as well as avoiding accidents and smoking. The historical context of "ma'am" and its significance in religion is also discussed, along with the historical context of "monster."
AI: Summary ©
So then carrying on and he was happy to understand everything that he laid on the dean
phrase due to a lot of Peace and blessings and his last prophet muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, and all those who follow the Prophet righteousness, until the last day.
Before we get into questions, as you're thinking about what questions you'd like to ask, and actually would have been better, better, if you had made a list of questions from home and brought them here with you, you know, rather than trying to remember what questions you want to ask, for the moment,
I just
live are just a few words, as you're putting your ideas together.
That
hamdulillah No, Allah has left you with
a consciousness of Islam.
Whatever degree it may be.
And
it's something that if from your youth, you are able to
develop
islamically throughout your youth and into your
later years,
then it only makes, of course, your later years, that much better.
Ultimately, we are here for a short period of time.
And our purpose ultimately, is to worship Allah.
Although at the age that you are, there seems to be a lot more things important to you than worshiping Allah.
The fact of the matter is that
most of these things which tend to
take your attention, or rob your, your enthusiasm,
are things which
you will do for a period of time, and then you'll get tired of doing them and you go on to other things,
you have to
make sure that there is a part of yourself, which is not going to change,
which will continue to be throughout your whole life.
And it is going to determine whether
whatever you engage in whatever activities you're involved in, whether these ultimately will benefit you or not.
And that, of course, is Islam. This is what it's supposed to make you different from the other members of the society, though, you might feel that the best thing for yourself is to blend in, and to be like everybody else, nobody knows you as being any different. The fact of the matter is that you are different.
You are different.
There is a different goal that you have from the other,
the other members of the society. And fundamentally, you should be Muslims first.
Whether you're a Muslim Student, in high school, or Muslim students in university, or college, you should be Muslim. First.
You shouldn't be a student, who happens to be a Muslim
students who happens to be a Muslim, he could have been a Christian or a Jew, or an atheist, and it wouldn't make any difference all the same.
The fact of the matter is that you are Muslims first, and you shouldn't be that should be reflected in your way of thinking, and the way in which you carry yourself in your character.
Because Islam is primarily character.
It's not necessarily
how much you have memorized, how many Hadees you know,
but how your character is in relationship to the teachings of Islam. Because all of the various principles of Islam are geared towards developing a particular type of character.
Those
are the five things
are things that we do on a regular basis that we might think are
more ritual that we do it because our parents say to do it, et cetera. The goal of the salon really is to make us better people. And in any society, ultimately, those people who are admired those people who are held in high esteem are the people who are the good people.
And then, we no matter how popular certain individuals may be at one time or another, ultimately those who the society as a whole admire are those people who were good people who after they die
when
people write stories about
them, you're not fine, you know,
stories that are terrible. When they were alive, nobody knew what they were actually doing. But after they died, then they, it's fine to writing stories about them, you find actually, the lies are very corrupt. For example, JFK,
Kennedy,
and his wife while they were alive, I mean, there were, you know, the
classical example of a wonderful family. JFK was the president of the United States.
But now you read the books as they're writing about him now. him and his wife, Jacqueline
Kennedy,
they were involved in drugs and adultery, and you know, all kinds of wild, their lives were corrupt.
So they are fundamentally though, on the outside, they were, you know, well liked, etc, etc. And they did send, you have casted for some good principles. Fundamentally, they were not good people.
They were not good people. And history will expose them.
So those, so and this will bring them down in the eyes of the mass of people. So ultimately, the good people are those who are good, not only externally, as on the exterior, but who are good,
both externally and internally.
Those How can a person be good internally, it appears God.
Because as long as a person feels that he or she is not responsible, nobody knows what they're doing, then the temptation is to do what they shouldn't do.
So it is only with the consciousness of God, but it personnel will never feel. Nobody knows. Allah knows,
Allah always knows.
So something you can escape as a Muslim, then you cannot feel any circumstance, that you're all alone, and nobody knows what's going on.
Because of that, then you will judge and question any kind of action you're going to do. As a young person, when you're going out with your friends, or in school, you have homework to do, you have tests to prepare for whatever.
Whenever you're doing these things, it should be done with a consciousness that Allah is aware of what you're doing,
you have homework to do is try to do it to the best of your ability. Because Allah said, in the law, you
cannot allow love from each and every one of you. If you do something, you do it to the best of your ability, you don't plot and plan well, you know, I have a friend who's good at this, I'm gonna copy his notes afterwards, I'll just copy.
Because though, you might fool the teacher, you can,
you can pull him off.
And you're copying of the notes, he's only harming you. In the end, your copying of notes is only harming you is why a lot refers to things as being self oppression. You know, those who oppress themselves, because in the end, you hurt yourself
by not doing homework by cheating. You know, all of the negative practices that students young people get involved in, all of these things ultimately hurt themselves. Because we get hurt a lot. We might hurt other people also. And in the end, it will come back to hurt on the Day of Judgment.
So very important, that we make use of the times and allies given us as young people use that are given us
that we don't destroy it, we don't waste it, use it to our own benefit.
So having said that, just a few words now.
Any questions you'd like to ask regarding
your situation, or the been religion, anything?
This is your time
for the next
hour.
Okay, so good question. I mean, should the most of the news
dress, as you say, quote unquote, normal? Or are you supposed to, you know, wear something on your head, whatever. Well
In terms of beard, because you meant something on your head and a beard, if you're at the age where you're starting to grow a beard, then you should avoid, you shouldn't shave.
Because shaving is prohibited
and told us to grow our beard, trimmer mustaches, distinguish ourselves from the pagans.
So, that is something compulsory going over the beard. Now, other than that,
it is better
to distinguish yourself from the others. Now, that distinction
could be by wearing some kind of cap on your head.
Or it could be
by not following the fashions which you shouldn't do anyway.
You know, as a Muslim,
you should not be fashionable.
Meaning that you change the fashions of the fashions change, you got to be in with fashion. Whichever way it goes, you're going.
Because, in the end, what that shows is that you have no personality,
you're a robot,
you know, you're you've been programmed by the media, and whatever they want you to do, you're just like a slave to that you're a slave to fashion. And what you don't want to do you want to be yourself, you want to have your own distinct personality.
And you can terms of your character, you can distinguish yourself, but in terms of dresses, continue to dress, the most important distinction should be ready in character. And this is where you should distinguish it. Meaning that when you're hanging out, or you're with your friends, at school, whatever, non Muslim, and they're all swearing, everything all every second word is a swear word about this. And rather than the cursing, if you don't,
you will distinguish yourself by the fact that you don't engage in that.
And usually that that advise them also not to do the same.
And though it may, it may be, they may think it makes them feel big or good or whatever, it's tough, whatever. But in fact, this is not being tough and big, you know, anybody can do it. And when you look at the the society as a whole, you see that those who speak like this, these are the dregs of the society.
These are the lower elements of the size of people whose intelligence is limited. And the only way they can express themselves is by using curse words, you know, or by physical means getting into fights, you know, any little thing they're ready to jump up on, you know,
this is really a sign of low intelligence.
It's not a sign of strength, or courage or, you know, being hit or whatever, no, this is the reality. So, from the point of view of character,
the Muslims should distinguish himself or herself from the others, by way of their character, and they don't engage in the negative practices of the other youth. It doesn't mean that they isolate themselves to the point where they don't communicate with anybody else, they may move with them, but they are not
sharing in all of the things that they do, what is negative, what is harmful, etc, and they should avoid these things, and I encourage the others also, to avoid them. But back in terms of the dress again, there, there are some principles of the Islamic dress code.
One, that as Muslims, we shouldn't wear garments, which have pictures of animals and things like this.
Pictures of animals
whether ancient or recent,
also, our garments should be as nails the garments should be loose, not showing the region between the navel and the knee, this should not be described by the garment.
If one wears the kind of garments that under certain circumstances do describe this area, then one should wear some kind of top which comes down and covers to the point of the knee. So that so that that area is covered. Because if you make the law
and when you go into
the average person here, you know wearing these kind of pants, when you go into jewelry, look at that person, look at a person when they go into what's happening here.
See what happens to your pants etc. How it exposes your private parts.
And you all know that one of the conditions for follow up
is that the hour or the private parts between the navel and the need be covered.
So according to some scholars, making salein, these kind of paths is not valid.
You invalidate your Salah by exposing your private parts deliberately
is not something that has happened and you didn't know, if we were praying, you know,
just accidentally your belt burst and your pants fell down, okay?
You can pull it back up, we carry on, it's a lie, it's okay, it's a lie, it's not broken, because this is something beyond your control. But now, when you put on these pants, and you know, look at all your friends, when they bend over, it enhances you to see what you see, you know, clearly, that's the same thing happening to yourself. And it means if you put on his pants and go and print them, you're deliberately wearing clothes, which you know, will expose your private parts in your prayer. So in that case, some scholars hold prayer is not valid, at least, the value of your prayer has been diminished.
You know,
we could say that, you know, if we say, okay, your prayer isn't invalidated.
For sure, the value of the prayer will have been diminished.
So, as I said, in terms of Islamic dress,
it's not saying that you must wear a Chihuahua, and homies or so but
you should your clothing, as males here your clothing should conform to Islamic standard. That is, if you're wearing pants, and should either be very loose, so loose that when you go into servitude, when you bow for record, your private parts are not exposed or not formed and shaped by your clothing. Or you wear a loose top, wearing a top which is so long, you know that it comes down to cover that region. So when you bend etc, you are covering either one or the other, then the other principle, of course, is that the pants should be above the ankle,
it should not go the style now is to have it down, you know hanging down below the ankle, and that is fashionable, etc. The Islamic
code is above the ankle. And though when you if you wear your pants above the ankles, you know, people may look at you, this character is out of style is nothing. But at the same time, if you if you think about it, if you're able to do that, and not be fazed by the fact that the style is below the ankles, then that you're a better person, you're a stronger person, you know, you have character, right? If you're the type of person, if somebody sees you, you're passive of the ankle, you know, they say that all you feel so embarrassed. And so then it's sure what kind of you're weak catcher, you know, you don't have personality, your personality is very weak. person with a strong
personality is one that they can stick by their principles. It doesn't faze them, you know. And the reality is, you know, as I've pointed out before,
if next year the style becomes above the ankle, then guess what, those of you that are wearing below the ankles were above the ankle, you know, so just shows where you're at, you know, if not above the ankle is not issue about wearing above the noise issue above about fashion. Ultimately, are you a slave to fashion? You know, do you worship the fashion designers. And when you look to see who is behind the fashion, right? You go and remove the behind the curtains, he was behind the curtain sending these people out on the stages with all these flashes, you see that there are a bunch of homosexual, you know, corrupt, sick individuals. These are the leaders of fashion. And that's who is
who represents your profits, as is happening, they have become your profits. They're the ones telling you to wear this and you're gonna wear that wherever the other, you're gonna wear that.
If next year, they tell you to wear a bra in your head, you're gonna wear a bra in your hand, you know, you're gonna be in fashion.
This is the reality, you have to decide for yourself, where are you?
You know, is that what you are? You're just a slave to these corrupt individuals who did in determining fashion? Or are you your own self, your own person where you can decide for yourself where you want to be in life.
So
in terms of the Islamic dress, said,
Muslims, young people should be distinct from
not that you necessarily want to become like a clown. You know what I'm saying that you're gonna wear a clown suit so it really makes you stand out, you know?
A big green turban
No, it's not Islam. So if you want to tell it, the other thing that you know that Islam is a thing that you have to appear in that fashion. But the point is that whatever of dress that you wear, it should be in accordance with Islamic standards. It shouldn't have pictures, images, it shouldn't have symbols of the cross and things like this, which are associated with other religions. And it should be above the ankles. for males, it should not expose the private parts for both males and females.
In terms of written questions here, can you please comment on the permissibility or impermissibility of rock music? Can you perhaps give us a personal example of use to this and how you stopped? Well, the fact of the matter is, I not only use Listen, I used to play you know, I played rock, music, different versions of it in.
In the 70s, I used to play in nightclubs, played guitar and sang along with the group. And
after becoming Muslim, actually, nobody told me that it was Haram.
So I continued to play in nightclubs in Toronto. I played in Malaysia, Vancouver. And
after becoming a Muslim,
in the nightclub, I found myself
as if I were in a different world, you know, the other members of the group that I played in, they were all taking drugs. And in the nightclub, everybody's hiding something, you know, and I'm the only one who is saying,
and though physically speaking, I'm there playing along with everybody else. I'm observing the circumstance. And it became very clear to me how sick that circumstance was, and that there was no way I could really be a part of this.
So far, it's another world altogether than where I was. By myself, I decided to stop I sold all my equipments, and my records and things got rid of it.
But later on, I found out after study that, according to Simon's teachings, that music rock music as we know it, when stringed instruments are Haram,
and
I knew
that the effect that it has on people, you know, is a very strong effect, and that it is overwhelming. And it is addictive.
It is so strong, that a person can remote recall at an instant, you know, any song that they heard 10 years ago, whatever, you know, the song is still there, complete all the words, everything, you know, just because it has sort of taken a spot in your heart, and it fills up the hearts.
And ultimately,
when we read the Koran, we read the Sunnah, this also goes into our hearts.
And both cannot coexist and occupy the same space.
The more music you listen to, the less space that you have for spiritual matters for the dean
for the choir.
And ultimately, the
music, which a number of scholars refer to as the Koran of shape on
which it is,
which occupies a space it will display
displays, the face will displace the face, it will, it will overwhelm us, eventually, we think that it's not affecting us, we're only listening to it while studying, it helps me study and all these other things. But the fact of the matter is that see the way the brain is, where our systems are, that when you keep feeding data like this into the system,
it starts to change. But the change is not instantaneous. Not that you listen to, you know, some song and all of a sudden you're going out in the street and you know, doing the thing that the song says to do, but it works on your subconscious.
And the more of this information that comes in,
eventually starts to change your character and your behavior.
And for sure, it will take you away from a lot
for sure.
Because if it were able to bring you closer to Allah, then Islam would not have prevented it. It is something which takes us away from Allah. This is why it is fundamentally forbidden.
So for a Muslim, to get away from it, it means one, getting rid of all the records, the CDs and all this stuff.
That's the first step. Because you can't keep these things around you, and say, I'm going to stop. Because anytime you, you feel the desire, you can easily take it and pop it into the tape recorder or whatever, CD player and listen to it. So you try to remove the obvious
products which can keep you trapped from around yourself. And you try to listen to more Koran.
Try to learn Arabic, so that when you hear the Koran, it has more meaning to you. You're not just hearing Arabic music. Because sometimes people also get into the crime that could become Arabic music, instead, you get into other boxes,
three and the different reputation, but you're getting into the music of it, and not really getting into the crime.
So it's important that as we try to
build ourselves
through listening to the crime, more, now we also strive to understand Arabic, to better understand what the law is saying to us. And also, it's good to be around other people who
are themselves
away from this.
Because if you hang around people who are you know, listening to music all the time, every time you're with them, they just, you know,
listen to the tape recorders or whatever, it's always around you, then it's very easy to get sucked back into it. But you need to strive to develop, you know, other friendships, you know of people who are not into it, who are trying themselves to get away from it. So together, you can help each other escape the trap.
Please clarify the proper behavior of brothers and sisters who do Islamic work together is it allowed for mixed group projects like in schools?
Well,
the
school circumstance that we're in is a circumstance where males and females are together in class anyway. So the issue of mixed or not mixed is something which is
already already there, this is what you're living, if you have to do an Islamic project.
And there are males and females involved. There is no harm in working together on it. But at the same time, one just has to be careful that that the project, you know, doesn't go beyond the activities of that project into flirting and these kind of things.
It's not illegitimate, for you to want to get married.
If your intention is marriage, then there are certain channels that can be
gone through. And that we should know as young Muslims, that this is the only way. If a person wants a relationship with a girl, then this marriage
and
marriage doesn't necessarily have to be when you're 21.
Marriage can be earlier, if your families are
positive. Islam encourages early marriage anyway. Other than that, if you're not thinking about marriage, then
you should
deal with each other, where you have to start a project, you know, as you would with your sister, you know and not as you would with a girlfriend.
So
to whatever degree it is possible, that Islamic projects in the school, the done
the boys doing a certain segment of it and the girls doing a certain segments of it and avoiding the loose mixing with each other, then it is better to avoid it. But where it is impossible, and you work together but you work together, maintaining the Islamic principles in terms of how you deal with each other, that, you know you don't turn it into a flirting party circumstance.
How do we address the issue of homosexuality
to fellow Muslims and convert due to some that pity them?
Well,
they can be fitted
people who are drug addicts, they can be pitied. We should pity them.
We know they're in the wrong. What they're doing is incorrect.
should feel sorry for them. Sorry for them in the sense that it is unfortunate that they have gone straight. If there's any way that we can guide them back to the past, we try to same thing with homosexuals, we can pity them. Because that means that they have gone astray, not pity them in the sense that, oh, what you're doing this, okay and the society is hard on them know what they're doing is not okay to sick. It is a sickness,
a spiritual and a mental sickness.
This is the fact. And it is not something which is inborn. Like they like to try to promote now that you know, people are born homosexual. people choose to be homosexual.
Because if people are born homosexuals, then it means that the law has made people a certain way, and then punish them for being that way.
Analyze that just
just like a lot didn't make people, you know, fornicators,
adulterers, a lot didn't make them that way. We all have different inclinations. But we all have the ability to control those inclinations, and to live according to
the laws that God has said.
Are we accountable for our thoughts? No, we're not from us. Elon said, that we are not held accountable for our thoughts. As long as we don't speak on them, or act on them.
Is horoscopes completely forbidden?
If it's regarding the character of an individual and not the future prediction, but just some coincidental aspects of character taken
from the hardest book scope? No. horoscopes are completely forbidden.
There's nothing about character and no, because you see, when they tell you about character, okay, you are a Taurus, it means you have this kind of character, right? Somebody else has a cancer, they have that kind of character. And what do they do with that? They say, because you are tourists with this kind of character, and that person, the cancer with that kind of character, you cannot get married. You can't work with this person. Because you have different talents. This is nonsense. This is not because they're telling you ultimately about your future.
So, the system, the Hearts Club system, is one which is rooted in unfortunatelly.
The fact that some aspects of it may address issues of character, don't change the system as being a fortune telling system, and even the character information, which is false anyway. Just because you are born, we have 10 people born on the same day.
Are you going to say they all have the same character because they're born on the same day? That's nonsense. That's total nonsense.
And practice tells us this is not the case.
And as I said, the bit the they use this birthdate information as a basis for determining what's your supposes character is, in order also to determine what your future should be? Is it permissible to wear the hairstyle in fashion in connection to clothes fashion, like the lower half of the head to the neck is shaven cut about one to two millimeters in length. And the above is long, but to say that it is not really shaving? Quite, it's true, it's not really shaving.
But
again, it is
imitating the ways the fashion of the disbelievers,
you know, if they tell you to shave a line down the middle of your head in the end, and then there you are doing today you might laugh at it.
But tomorrow when it becomes the style, then we see you doing it then I can say
this is the this is the reality. You know
that again, when we become a slave to fashion, whether it is here fashion, clothes, fashion, you know, this takes away from ourselves this weekend. We should only be slaves to Allah This is what Islam means that we are only slaves to Allah. So the things that we do, the decisions that we make, are ones based on reason and logic and not a slavery to any fashion or ideas especially of the disbelievers.
If your family is non practicing, how can you bring them back to the practicing? Well,
the best thing of course, is to be the best kind of Muslim that you can be
You can show them how Islam has changed your life and made you a better person, perhaps it will cause them to reflect, you can try to bring videotaped Islamic lectures into the home, which they may hear at different times, and which may encourage them to
reflect and to change. You know, we've tried to bring some to the media bring some new inputs into the home, that may help them may guide them.
And we can also directly advise them. But
we should remember that for 13 years in Mecca,
Prophet Muhammad wa sallam invited his family
and no member of his family
who was older than he was accepted Islam.
So, it is the nature of older people not to want to listen to younger people. Okay, this is their nature.
So don't be surprised if after you've explained things in full detail, you know, all the fine points have been clearly explained to your parents or your uncle's, your aunts, whatever, and you think they should be completely convinced that after all of that, they still don't agree,
you know, your job is only to convey to them in the best way possible. And then you have to leave it, if they accept it Alhamdulillah if they don't accept it, Mashallah, it is the will of Allah. So, really, the best thing is to try to convey to them as much as you can, through all the different means, also your, your,
your friends, who may have parents who are practicing, you try to, you know, bring the families together so that the parents who are practicing can have interaction with the parents who are not practicing. And this may be a means of conveying Islam, to those parents.
So, we try whatever means we can, and in the end, we have to be patient, leave it up to a law, we don't give up on them. Because, because they won't listen to us today. Or tomorrow, or the day after, that doesn't mean that I may not listen to us at a later point in time. For myself, I accepted Islam in 1972. My parents didn't accept Islam until 1994 22 years later.
And I would talk to them about Islam, through all that fear.
So what it means is that, to say that you don't give up as long as they're living, it's possible for them to change and to accept. So you have to constantly try to pass that information on to them. But as I said, it has to be done in the best way. You can't get upset and start shouting and you know, become offensive, become disrespectful. Because even though your parents may not be practicing Islam, they still have certain rights over you, which you should fulfill.
Of course, they ask you to do something which is haram, something which is forbidden, then you're not to to obey them, should not do it. But as long as whatever they're asking you to do is halal. Then you should
obey them. They're still remain your parents
having non Muslim friends
not necessarily preferring them over the Muslims, Is that wrong?
Well, the point is having non Muslim friends is
acceptable Islamic law, it's possible to have non Muslim friends but islamically speaking, one best friend should not be a non Muslim, one's closest friends, the ones who one relies on etc. They should not be non Muslims
are close friends, our best friends those who depend on etc. These should be Muslims.
playing the piano as an instrument haram Yes.
Even if it does not keep you from doing what you must do as in praying, yes.
The piano is a haram instrument. As I said, the effects of these musical instruments is not immediate. It doesn't mean a person plays the piano today and they stop playing praying tomorrow. But the point is that these instruments affect affect the person subtly. The music affects the person subtly affects the subconscious mind and eventually changes the conscious
Mind, but it's maybe a very gradual process. And all you have to do is look at the lives of the great musicians.
The corruption that is in there is clear evidence
of the harm that can come from it.
Taking into consideration that we do everything, for
a lot of sake, when we help another brother Muslim or sister Muslim, or not, and listen, sometimes we do it to please that other person
if we're doing it for the sake of a law,
and we're also doing it because it is pleasing to that person, there is no harm.
Meaning, if somebody wants you to do something for them,
and you do it for them, in order to please them, but you are doing it remembering a lot that what you have been asked to do is something which is acceptable islamically and this is something you're doing, it's remembering a law you're doing it not in a way which goes against Islam, then you are rewarded for it.
If you do it without remembering a law, you didn't think of a law or anything, but you just did it was a good thing they asked you to do, then you're not rewarded for that act as being an act of worship, but there is no sin against you. If you did it to please somebody
alone.
Okay, inshallah, we'll stop here for the Salah, and
will continue after the loss of the horn Sharla
micros
hamdulillah Robert alameen
Salatu was Salam ala rasulillah Karim?
Allah Allah was Javi minister Nebuchadnezzar Medina
question if my family is not practicing, or in the case of the Convert, parents are non Muslims. And I'd like to be religious. Am I old enough to live alone? No age given?
So it's difficult to determine, are they old enough to live alone.
But
I don't think I don't think that,
you know, we can't really set the age limits in terms in any case, you know, if a person in their
efforts to practice Islam at home is under such pressure as stopped them from practicing, and another family can take them in, then islamically it is legitimate to leave one family and go and stay with another family.
And there is no special age limit set of course, in this country, there may be laws, which govern who can do what. So these harsh laws also to be taken into account.
And
one should not just automatically simply because once parents are not practicing, or their parents are not Muslims, one should feel automatically Well, I can't live in this circumstance, you know, again, you know, we have to we still have responsibilities to parents. And we shouldn't just cast those aside simply because they're not practicing Islam or they're not Muslim. The responsibilities are there. And as long as they are not stopping
a person from practicing Islam, I mean, they're not Islamic or whatever. As long as you are able to practice your Islam within that environment, then you shouldn't consider you know, running away from home or leaving your home etc. But we're a circumstance is so oppressive, that one is being prevented from practicing, then it's preferable to find some other family. One is still a youth young person, once you try to find another family, which one can go and stay with? And also the legal implications should be looked into before one makes such a step.
How can one know whether or not he
should get travelling privileges for prayer is it by measuring a distance
or as you mentioned before the prayer by city,
the traveler when a person sets out on the journey,
what is known to be a journey
under normal circumstances in a given community
that
gives the person the right to take the confessions which Allah has given with regards to shortening prayers, which are four units to two. And joining the door and author, Mark urban Asia.
It is not really a measure of distance, there are different opinions held by scholars according to the distance and the fact that they all differ.
And there are Hadees referring to different distances but without specifying them.
Scholars, number of scholars have held that it is according to intention. When a person sets out
on a journey,
one takes his or her toothbrush, clothes in a bag, you know things that the things that we do for journey are well known.
When you say a distance,
you know, 10 miles in New York City, you may go from one borough to another borough on the subway and you've traveled 10 miles, I mean, has this person considered himself or herself with traveling? No.
They just go into the masjid
by subway. So it's really your intention. And the principle of
shortening prayer and joining it comes into effect when one leaves the outskirts of the city.
Once you are still inside of the city, then you don't start to shorten and join before setting up your journey. Once you have left the outskirts of the city, then you may now shorten and join prayers.
If God knows a person is going to * or heaven, what is the purpose of making that person live on earth?
Actually, I wrote a book called The purpose of creation. And this is planned in extensive detail in it.
I can just say briefly,
that it's not a question of if God knows who is going to heaven and *, God knows who's going to heaven in *.
But
we live out the life
on Earth.
So that on the Day of Judgment,
no one who is going to * will feel that they were dealt with unjustly. This is a manifestation of a loss attribute of justice.
Because if Allah created us and put us in Paradise, no one will argue with a law, why he put us in paradise.
But everyone who is put in * would question would argue, why are we being put in *? And if Allah said to us, well, you would have done this and you would have done that. We would say no, no, we wouldn't. Why would anybody want to do that and end up in *. If we know there's a heaven and a *, We sure will do the things that will take us to heaven. So
Allah allows us to live out our lives. So when we stand before him on the Day of Judgment, no one will be arguing with the law. Why is he putting them in *, everyone will know that they are going to help because they put themselves in *. They have done the deeds, they have chosen the deeds to take them to * instead of the deeds that take them to paradise.
And for those who are going to heaven, when they live out this life, and go to heaven, ultimately, by the grace of Allah, this makes them even more thankful, because they know in terms of the deeds that they did in this life, that we're allowed to hold them to account, deed, for deed, like one good deed against one evil deed, then no one would have entered paradise, that it is only by the grace of a law, that a law multiplies our good deeds 10 times and more, that our good deeds erase our evil deeds. So we end up in Paradise, by the mercy and grace of Allah.
Because men and women according to the Hadith of the Prophet, tell them not to dress similarly, then is wrong for a woman to wear.
pants. Many people also say that women wearing pants
show the shape of their legs, Is this true? Well, I think if women are wearing pants, you know, whether it shows the shape of their legs or not is quite obvious, if the pants are, are tight enough, then the legs will show, if the plants are so loose as not to show the shape of the legs, then such pants would be legitimate.
So the issue is not necessarily wearing of pants or not wearing pants, but one, whether the pants expose their outer
and to F The pants are in a design, which are traditionally males, then this is also not permissible in that they're dressing like males.
However,
having said that this is in a public circumstance, in the privacy of a person's home, between the husband and wife, etc. You know, these
don't necessarily isn't applicable in the sense that if a woman was around the same size as her husband, and she decides to wear his pants in his home, there's no harm, as Tom doesn't say that forbidden for her to wear his fancy. Right? Of course, for him to put on her dress, you know?
Because women wear pants, you know, traditionally, were hair him putting on her dress or study put on her clothes. I mean, it does say it's I would say something.
Because men and women.
Is it acceptable for Muslim brothers and sisters and university MSA to work together in planning organizing activities, such as Islamic Awareness Week? I think we answered this question in terms of the etiquette, etc. We said the best thing is that there be a committee for the brothers, the committee for the sisters, that they organize amongst themselves separately, and where they need to cooperate, then the person was representative of the brothers, they could communicate with the representative sisters, to that degree, and where the project is presented and some aspects have to be presented by the sisters, then that aspect should be separate, as much as possible from that of
the brothers.
is smoking considered intoxication if he asks why smoking is haram.
Not necessarily because it's considered intoxication. And it is considered a form of intoxication. But fundamentally, it is haram because of the fact that one who takes it is
taking is is engaging in an act of suicide. Suicide is defined as taking something some substance, which one knows, will kill the person has the ability to kill them, whether the person takes it and it doesn't kill them or not.
You know, this is not the issue. The issue is that if you know that this glass of poison
can kill you, for you to take it is an act of suicide, whether you take it in small amounts,
a little bit every week. And at the end of the year, you drop dead, because it has accumulated its effects in your system. Or you take it as one photograph. And one instance and you die from it. It's also
and smoking, we should understand that smoking, though there was a ruling that smoking initially was mukou by some of the scholars when the issue of smoking which the Turkish state the Ottoman Empire, back in the 16th century, when it reached their 16th century, the scholars
ruled it to be mcru based on certain principles, because you have to understand that the issue of what is true and what is haram is not an arbitrary decision that you know, I feel it's more cruel. So it's more cruel you feel is haram. So it's Haram. No, it is based on law, Islamic law, and there are principles of Islamic law which govern it. As such, it's preferable that one to properly understand this should get some grounding in Islamic law, they don't have doubts about it. inshallah, in the coming sessions, we will look at the issues, the basic fundamental issues of Islamic law with regards to how things are determined to be Haram, how they determined to be, you
know, mcru, and etc, etc, we'll be looking at that, in the next couple of days in our last sessions on fit, we'll look at it in some detail. But for now, it's enough to say that when the scholars looked at the issue of
the issues of actually those brothers that have a clear cough, you know, that are, you know, coughing and we know that this coughing does spread germs, it would be better for you to sit at the back. So to minimize, you know, the contagion, you know, and also to minimize the
disturbance to crime.
The issue of
the issue of
smoking being Haram, as I said, is
based on the fact Originally, the scholars rule is to be makrooh.
Because when they analyze the effects of smoking on the individual back in the 16th century, the only effect that they could find was that it caused bad breath.
The smoker is well known, they have all these products on the market that you spray in your mouth as a smoker to minimize that bad breath. So that's all they could see from his bad breath. So they then went back to the city to look and see what is the ruling in Sharia and revelation from Quran and Sunnah, which addresses things which cause bad breath. When they went into the Sharia. What they found was problems SLM has said, those people who eat raw onions and garlic, do not come to our Masjid.
Pray at home.
Don't come and pray in the masjid.
Why? Because, of course, in the end of their prayers, we turn to each other things that are a little more awkward to law. The person has been chewing raw, onion, raw garlic, it was very offensive, it would make prayer very uncomfortable for people. So people were told to stay home, meaning they're gonna miss the reward of 27 times increased prayer. It's not that it's Haram.
Because we didn't say your prayer is invalid. We said prayer is invalid and it meant eating onions and garlic is haram. But he said you pray at home meaning that you pray at home, you don't get the additional reward of praying in the masjid. So it means mcru anything, which will stop you from getting the maximum reward for different apps will be classified as mcru. So based on that principle, they made the ruling that smoking was mukou. Although some scholars even from that time ruled that it was Haram, there were some,
but the majority held it was mcru. However, in the late 70s 7980, when the Surgeon General of the United States after a number of years of research on smoking, announced that it has now been conclusively proven that smoking causes cancer.
And we know that cancer causes death. Now the Islamic ruling had to change. Scholars now have to go and look at smoking from a different perspective that smoking causes cancer, cancer causes death. This now is under the category of things which cause death. And we know a lot of that in the Quran. Well, not too big acuminata. Luca, don't throw yourself into describe destructions forbidden to kill yourself from Moses Elon said whoever killed himself in his life, will find himself in the next life killing himself over and over and over again.
So suicide is haram.
More important,
suicide fundamentally is haram. Therefore, the scholars then ruled that smoking is haram. From the point of view of it being an act of suicide. It is also the person asked and intoxicants from the point of view that that
term for intoxicants in Arabic is covered.
And Omar rajala, one who said, I'm hammer, hammer,
hammer is whatever veiled the mind, which covers the functions of some of the minds, and how your mind functions, some distortion has taken place. So anything with a veil that's functioning is classified as common, and we know a person when they first smoke if they took an unfiltered cigarettes, well, this is the real cigarette now as it is unfiltered and smoked it sold the whole cigarettes or smoked a pack of cigarettes, they would be in such a state,
we would have to classify them as intoxicated. You know, commonly police in the summer when the roads are dry. If they want to quickly test if you're intoxicated. Before they use breathalyzers, they used to take the chalk and draw a line on the pavement and tell you to walk that line is put one foot after the other on the line, they see you're putting one foot over here and the other foot over here, and then they classify as intoxicated and take you away. And for sure, I personally smoke the very first time they smoke, they did that they would not be able to walk that line, smoking and the ability to smoke, something that you develop gradually. When you first start to smoke. Nobody
takes the first cigarette and goes no way. You did that you excuse me coughing, your head would be spinning off. What you do is you take a little bit, you know, or you start with menthols. You know mentholated cigarettes with the big filters, new work.
weigh up, you know until you become you know, Philip Morris man, you know, camels man, whatever. This is what you do. So what happens because what happened when you initially when you inhale, your system is rejecting this, your lungs are fighting against, that's what's causing you to cough everything else. But what happens is that by taking it gradually, you see you numb the the nerve endings etc inside of your lungs, you you beat them into submission so that then you can take your photograph and nothing happens.
Smoking is also forbidden from the point of view of it being squandering. Because if a person spends, what is the average cost of a pack of cigarettes?
How much is the average pack of cigarettes cost?
$3. Okay, $3. If we multiply that person smokes a good smoker, he's smoking at least two packs a day. Right? The good smoker
benefiting the cigarette companies, two packs a day at $6 a day multiply that times 365. What do we get?
What was the mathematician?
What's the number
830. Now you better go back to mathematics class.
6365
is over 2000 from 2000 plus dollars. The point is that if you were to take if you saw somebody
give up.
If you were to take if you were to take $2,000 if you saw somebody take $2,000 bills, you know $100 or whatever, roll them up to 2000 and then light it up. What would you say about this person, this man is mad, take that money away from him. He doesn't know how to use his money. You know, this is what you would say. But in fact, when a person is smoking, that's what he's doing is burning up $2,000 a year.
Just destruction because it's of no benefit to the body. It's just pure wastage. And Allah says in the Quran, in the mobile arena, can only one share of in the squandering, dispense with the blows away are among the brethren of the devils in Cana, shefali obika flora, and Satan was a disbeliever in his Lord. So, smoking is forbidden on many counts. Included also is the count that is harms your brother Muslim, because this is scientists tell us doctors tell us that secondary smoke the smoke, which is coming off the end of the cigarette is much more harmful than the smoke that you're taking in which has been inhaled, which is a filter. So that secondary smoke was coming in people who live
around you who are in contact with you, they are being harmed by it. And problems as Alan said, and Muslim men Saleemul Muslim una mainly Sangha de that the Muslim, a true Muslim is one from whom the other Muslim is safe from the actions of his tongue and his hand. So for one to be smoking and deliberately harming other Muslims, this of course is classified as Haram. So it's haram from many, many cups. So those of you who are smoking, please be aware that what you're doing is a major sin. It is on this on a similar level, to taking alcohol, smoking marijuana, you know, though the effects of alcohol and marijuana may be more obvious. And we can say this is haram, the smoking of
cigarettes of tobacco is equally Haram. It is an equal major sin. And the only way for you to free yourself from this is to turn back to a line repentance for the sin that you're involved in.
And make a commitment to a loss of stop and stop.
Not gradually.
Because you try to do it gradually. It's very easy for you to fall back again how many people have been gradually quitting for the last 510 years. You know, you want to do it. You it is a it's an issue of mind over matter.
You are the controller of your own body.
If you if you want to do it, you can do it. Or we have a calculation of the exact amount of a two pack or a habit is $2,190. Thank you.
Anyway, the point is that
it is something that we should feel inside our hearts is wrong. If you don't feel that it is wrong. You've heard it is her arm, the evidence is all in front of you. If you don't feel this is there's something wrong with you. You don't feel bad about it. Then this is telling you the state of your face.
This is telling you the state of your Eman.
When that which is haram, which is hated by Allah is pleasing to you, you still enjoy it. You don't feel bad about it, then it means that your Eman is on the lowest of levels no matter what you're doing, no matter what you're doing in terms of other options, etc, etc. When you love
and don't feel remorse Don't feel bad about doing the things which are displeasing to Allah, then it means that your faith is in really rough shape.
In Islam, the Quran says Adam was the first man but archeologists have found skeletons of humans dating before Adam, please comment on this, who said they found those dating before the Adam point who says when Adam was created, so we can say these skeletons were finding was before either, you know, let's not make these assumptions the wrong assumption in the first place. Right? Secondly, the skeletons are finding who says that there were humans. You said there's skeletons of humans who said they're humans. They said they're humans that makes them human.
These skeletons that are being found, right? How do we know that? They're humans? Yes, they will give us a picture of what this guy look like, even to the color of his eyes. You know, and from two teeth they found, right? And they give you the whole shape of the body, how he walked everything from duty. Be careful, you know what is being presented to us to science? I mean, how many times just read about the Piltdown Man
read about the Piltdown Man. And you will see some of the hoaxes of science, read about the Nebraska man. You know, as you have the Neanderthal man, you also have the Nebraska man, but Nebraska man was based on a single tooth. They had a whole individual what he looked like and everything. And then some years later, they discovered it was the tooth of an extinct pig.
Wasn't even human. Okay, so before we start to jump to conclusions about these bones, what they find, you know, what these bones mean, and whether they were human or not, you know, Allah knows ultimately the truth of the matter. But we have apes around here around around living in our own time. And these apes, some of them, will hunt together, see, because they tried to say, Well, how do we know what is a human from what is not a human? You know that human beings they have this sense of
intelligence that they will do things together, they make tools and all this kind of thing. This is not to say
that they were not apes of an earlier period of time, that made crude tools possible.
It's quite possible.
But to say that we have skeletons of humans before Adam, this is an incorrect statement. What we know is that when a law created Adam, when a law created man, he was a man.
He was it was a man from the very beginning, he was not a half man, half a
cousin to the ape.
He was a man having all of the basic faculties of a human being, he had the very first man whom Allah created. And we see among human beings much variation and these theories that they have about the early men etc. These theories are changing, changing a lot. Now, they just recently I read in Time Magazine, they found some
some skeletons from skull bones and things of the Java man who was supposed to be from another
line that ended before the homosapiens appeared who was supposed to be modern man. But then they found that these
new these new findings of these skulls were in a strata of earth which was which had other bones of people have in the same level of the homosapien. So now, you know, this has caused a big stir amongst them, that in fact, these people didn't really die out as they thought, but they were living alongside the homosapiens series are changing all the time. So let us not be fooled, thinking that what we have received from Revelation has been disproven by science, because what we have in our hands is a lot of theories. Some bones and the fact of the matter we still don't know
if smoking is haram Wouldn't it also be haram to eat oily foods, which may cause heart attacks?
It sounds like a die hard smoker doesn't want to give up.
gotta fight excuse we're
gonna go down in flames. Okay.
The point is,
any food,
take into excess can be harmful Water, water, take into excess
can kill you. If you drink enough water, you can drink enough water until the pH balance in your system changes and you die. Water. So the issue is not about oily foods can cause heart attacks, no oily foods in and of themselves don't cause heart attacks. If people eat excesses of oily foods,
then it can cause heart heart attacks, depending on their lifestyle, if they have very active lifestyles where you know, like in many of the people in the third world where they're, you know, working and you know, from morning till night, they can eat all the oily foods, it doesn't affect them. But when you live living a sedentary lifestyle, where you're the couch potato, you know, watching television from, you know, evening until the next morning, your lifestyle is just to get in your car, you just sit in front of the television, then of course oily foods, you know, many other foods can harm you in excess,
which is much different from smoking.
Smoking for one is not a food, there is no benefits from smoking period. So, you can compare smoking to food, for example, sugar, sugar is halal, it is permissible. But if you as a diabetic,
were informed that if you take sugar, it will make you comatose and die, then sugar for you become paralyzed.
So, where the medical profession identifies a point of harm for you as an individual, then this can be this that substance which will cause harm to you, beyond that point becomes haram for you to take this deliberately. However, in the case of smoking, smoking is a cause of cancer. For people in general, it is something Haram, it is haram because fundamentally it is not beneficial for you it is harmful to you and known to kill. So we don't compare smoking, to
to other foods. Similarly, some may say, Well, there are people who smoke all their lives, and they live to 110 years old. You know, we have some people that a woman there in China, she's about 115 years old, she has a cigar everyday.
Look at her, she didn't die.
This is a sign from a law that ultimately death is in a lot of hands.
We don't we don't decide whether we do something or not do it on the basis of exceptions to the rule. You know,
you don't jump out of an airplane without a parachute and say insha Allah, I will survive.
No, there are people who have, you know, gone out of the airplanes, the parachutes didn't work, and they survived for 50,000 feet. Yes, it happens. But 99% of those who come out at 50,000 feet die, they're splattered on the ground, they have to scrape them up afterwards. Okay. So on that basis, we used to say I'm trusting in a lot and jumping out the airplane without a parachute. This is suicide. Similarly to smoking 99% of those people are smoking die, get cancer rots part of their bodies, and they die from it. So if we were to say, well, based on that 1% who doesn't die from it? I'm smoking and trusting in a lot that is suicide.
Well, we have five minutes
and 500 questions
What can we do here?
Sleeping on your stomach?
Yeah, don't sleep on your stomach.
Putting up Quranic ideas on the wall in your home permissible as long as one doesn't believe that they're going to protect them from harm or bring good for them. If putting up the eye on the wall, you're believing it's gonna bring good luck to your home, then you're in trouble ticket down.
The girl has a period can she go to the mosque? If there is a speech like today for instance? Well this is not a mosque This is a masala so it's permissible for her to come here and listen, but to a mosque for her to come and sit in a mosque. It is not permissible she can come in to get something and leave but to come and stay in it no it's a masala masala means it's a place which is temporarily designated for prayer. It is not a mosque prayer is established here five times a day and it is owned by the Muslim community. This is a rented location, which the owner can say tomorrow my Salama and we all have to pack up and leave. Is there a particular time of night and day a Muslim guy or
girl should be active
homebuy
there's Hobbes
said that parents should bring their home their children in the home at the time of mothering. Because at this time the evil forces
become very active, they come out into society become active, you know, after the passing of the time, then they can let them go again. So, as a general practices be preferable that Muslims not be out on their own, especially in around this time. And in terms of time after that.
It depends on the family depends on the reason why the person is out, etc.
Some people say you can only shorten your prayers for three nights, obviously, 16 days well, as long as one is on a journey.
One is permitted to shorten the prayer is based on the practice of the Sahaba Anna Sydney Malik was in Syria for two years, during which he continued to shorten his prayers.
I borrowed amounts
from the bank for school. Right now I'm studying part time working the same time, I can't pay all of it at once. Because I don't have the amount that I was paying it little by little. At the same time, I will be paying interest. I think this is all I can do. What would you suggest,
though? I know I will never borrow again. Well,
of course, paying interest is what I'm signing that that
that contract of interest was in itself Haram. And we should ask a lot forgiveness. If we've ended up in situations like that. Try to clear our debts as quickly as possible, and then not return to it.
What about brothers with feet stink? Should they rather stay at home too?
Many people say that wearing the face veil is mandatory. Why do they say this is the truth.
There is evidence that the women in the town of Alfonso Salaam also cover the faces. And on the basis of this and other evidences, some scholars have taken the position that is compulsory, but the majority of scholars hold that it is recommended and up to the woman to choose.
In the ayah that says tells your wives or daughters to be the ones to cast their outer garments does this mean we should read your Bible over our loose clothing? record rubab should be worn out the garment is part of proper Islamic dress. That if a person wears a dress, which is so loose, that it may be looked at as an outer garment, then this can stand in its place as long as it is not, you know flowery and colorful and attractive in and of itself like the way her dress because that would be her finery which is supposed to be covered as a rocker in the other verse about putting on the the Kumar putting it over the bosom and that nothing should be seen of their finery except that
which must be so it shouldn't be in there close. If one doesn't have to do is here he or she allowed to hold touch read the Quran. Yes it is permissible but preferable that one has to do when you come to the masjid for Salah to Juma Do you have to pray for a kasana and you have to Raka for coming to the masjid. Why did you quiet a view when you come into the masjid whether for Juma or any other time is to Raka before sitting down for sitting down in the masjid. It is required that you pray to Raka beyond that, Moses Allah has made recommendations specifically for Juma when a person comes to the masjid early and they pray whatever lies within for them to pray and there they get certain
rewards, rewards are increased. So, there is no set amount that one may pray coming before Juma adopt is haram. Even if done for the purpose of medical research,
autopsy may be permissible where there is a necessity where there is doubt you know that the person has been murdered whatever in order to determine the causes of the person's death when there is doubt it is permissible, but where it is
for experimentation purposes. Then islamically speaking you know, this may be done with animals or it may be done with the bodies of non Muslims.
And there are many there are many available on the market.
What is better for the woman praying at home or in the mosque where this? Where do we get half an hour? What about Juma prayer isn't mandatory for men to come? Or is it better to pray at home? It's better for women to pray in their home but it's permissible for them to pray in the masjid.
They're rewarded in prayer
In a massively rewarded printing at home, the reward they get in the home will be the same as they would have gotten if they came to the masjid. And this is a concession for women, because the basic location for them is the home
allowed to bring a non Muslim to the masjid. Yes, you are
permissible in front of us a long time non Muslims came at him in the masjid even prisoners of war, non Muslims were tied to the pillars of the masjid.
What is the point of view about dinosaurs? They did exist
about the different forms of Vicarage Your time is up.
If one side is mandatory prayers after the age of puberty, what must one do?
mean a get started late.
If one didn't start at the time that they should have, I mean, it's become compulsory once you reach puberty, but actually wants you to be praying even before that it's very important for parents. You know that children are taught that Professor Selim said they should be taught prayer at the age of seven and spank for it by the age of 10. So by the time they reach puberty, this is a part of their basic lifestyle. But if somebody, for whatever reason, didn't start their prayers when they reach puberty, and later on started, they should ask about forgiveness for what came before and