Living Islam Between Two Extremes
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Channel: Bilal Philips
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AI Generated Summary ©
The segment discusses the importance of reinterpreting Islam to achieve spiritual goals and personal values. It emphasizes the need for moderation and guidance on behavior to avoid false accusations and harm. The segment also touches on the issue of media promotion of Islam and the need for individuals to strive towards achieving spiritual goals. The importance of practicing a sermon as a source of one's life is emphasized, along with the importance of finding one's own partner to make a positive impact on one's life.AI Generated Transcript ©
All praise is due to Allah and as such we should praise Him, seek His help and seek His forgiveness.
And seek refuge in Allah from the evil which is within ourselves, and the evil which results from our deeds.
For whomsoever Allah has guided, none can misguide. And whomsoever a law has allowed to go astray, none can guide
and I bear witness that there is no god worthy of worship, but Allah.
And I bear witness that Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam was the last messenger of Allah.
And now Stockwell Howdy, Chiquita boo la
vida Howdy, howdy, Mohammed in Salalah, while you send them?
Well, Cheryl omura musataha wakulla Mojave Desert in beta will collaborate in dolla dolla dolla Latin phenol
Indeed, the most truthful form of speech is the book of a law.
And the best source of guidance was the guidance brought by Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wasallam.
And the worst of all affairs are the innovations in religion.
For every innovation in religion is cursed.
And all cursed innovation lead to misguidance and all misguidance leads ultimately, to the Hellfire
brothers and sisters.
Today
on this Juma this football,
I would like to focus on
the concept of
Islam being a way of life.
We hear it all the time.
Islam is a way of life.
Meaning what?
Meaning that it is supposed to guide all aspects of our lives.
It determines how we should function.
The decisions that we make every day
should be guided by
the teachings of Islam.
This is a way of life, meaning it's connected to all aspects of our lives.
We live it.
We live Islam.
It is not just a set of rituals that we do at certain times, in certain seasons, in certain places.
But something which is with us 24 724 hours a day, seven days a week.
It is always with us. As long as we are conscious. As long as we are aware of the world around us, we're not in a coma.
We're not asleep,
then we are required to perceive that world to look at that world to understand that world to operate within that world in accordance with the teachings of Islam.
Islam is a way of life.
And this is something that the West just cannot grasp.
It just sticks in their throat.
Religion is supposed to be something you keep in your back pocket. for special occasions you take it out
and the rest of the time you put it away.
So this Islam 24 seven is just something it's it's extreme. in their mind that means extremists.
Islam is just supposed to be
fulfilling your personal spiritual
need that you see, you believe in a spirit. So fulfilling that need on special occasions, you use it. But keep it there, don't bring it into school, don't bring it into the workplace, don't bring it into government don't bring it into education, etc.
that is extreme.
That's how they perceive it.
But that is Islam.
That is Islam.
And that is what we need to get back to.
We have been colonized,
suppressed,
overcome,
enslaved,
exploited
all around the world. Our resources are not in our hands.
And in that process, we were also indoctrinated,
brainwashed into seeing Islam the way that they see religion.
And that is the heritage
that most of us if not all of us, have we inherited from our parents?
Yes, do your namaz. Do your salon, do your prayers.
But don't be extreme.
You have a life.
You have a life to live.
Pray on Fridays, it's good.
In the days also it's not bad time to time.
But don't be extreme.
Be moderate.
Knowing that moderation means that we live our lives in accordance with Islam. We don't go to extremes whereby we go beyond the boundaries of Islam. This is where the extremism comes. It comes when we cross the bounds, the bounds which our law has set, that's when you are extreme, either to one side or to the other.
But as long as you're doing Islam,
as long as you're living Islam, it can never be extreme.
It is not extreme.
It is the way of life which a law has prescribed for human beings.
So, this understanding
this consciousness, which is growing slowly,
in all parts of the Oman,
the awakening taking place. It may not be said in these terms, people say it in many different terms is just the terms that I chose to speak about it in.
But we all know there is an awakening.
We all feel it in all of our countries, from all the different parts of the omo that we have come. There is a consciousness now of what Islam is. That was not understood 50 years ago, 100 years ago.
It was not understood, as it is now being understood. That's reality.
However, that consciousness
has to be guided
at consciousness has to be properly guided otherwise, it gets hijacked.
hijacked by those with limited knowledge,
who have their own agendas based on their own interpretations
following the ways of other revolutionaries,
social revolutionaries, whether it's Castro, or it's mostly a tune, or Lenin or somebody out there who has done something following their example, instead of falling
Following the example of Rasulullah, sallAllahu wasallam.
They are looking in modern terms,
trying to
twist and
divert and, and warped the teachings of Islam so that they can fit into this particular channel. And that channel is a violent channel
where they begin by unleashing violence against those who they perceive as the enemies of Islam.
But shortly thereafter, you find them unleashing that violence against Muslims themselves.
In the name of Islam.
That is an extreme
expression.
It has different names in different countries.
The popular one we hear in the news now is Boko Haram.
In Nigeria,
that's what we hear. Before we heard Qaeda that was the big still we hear it from time to time.
The Islamic state of
Sharman
were supposed to be fighting for the Islamic State in Syria.
And others.
And brothers please, the doors can you close the doors please. With as open doors, hot air is coming in here and making it difficult for everybody here, the place is closed. The Masjid is full, can you just close the door and find a place? Thank you.
So that extreme wing
that chooses violence as its root,
distorting the image of Islam globally,
harming Muslims and not producing anything but destruction, corruption, and harm to the oma.
And on the other side,
we have others who have gone to another extreme that is the extremes of modernism.
The extremes of modernism
reinterpreting Islam, in modern terms, brothers, please close the door, please close the door, there is no room Close the door.
Those brothers at the door there can you just keep that door closed?
Those who feel
that Islam needs to be reinterpreted
in these modern times.
So
because there is an attack on Islam from a number of different perspectives,
they start to
compromise.
And say that
though Islam says this, you know that ancient times and we have changed now and it's not anymore because this thing of cutting off hands.
It's just cutting off heads.
Prophet Muhammad Salah, married to Ayesha,
the law of Apostasy these are the things which right now the West is focusing on big, big issues forcing trying to force Muslims to back off these rules, these laws, which are a part of our Sharia, and we find Muslims today in circles in Harvard and big discussions and you know, debates etc. You find Muslims. Oh, no, no, no, we don't really believe that. There's difference of opinion and all this kind of stuff.
That's an extreme opinion, extreme opinion to cut off a person's hand for stealing in Islam.
The Quran is not clear
off their hands. It's not clear
Of course, when presenting this, we don't present it as meat cleaver in the hand saying we should cut off the hands of all thieves. This is our way No, no, no.
There are rules, there is a legal process, evidence has to be brought circumstances have to be looked into all these different things. After all of that, then yes,
if you are found guilty, your hand will be amputated.
That's the law.
We should not be ashamed of it. Because to be ashamed of it is to be ashamed of the Quran itself.
And what does that say about someone's faith? ashamed of what Allah subhanho wa Taala has said in the Quran.
But it is the how, how do we present it, of course, reality is that no matter how you present it,
in the end,
they want us to stop it.
To cancel it.
That is the bottom line.
So
we cannot escape the attack.
But if we have control of the media, then at least we can express our point of view.
point is we don't have access to the media. This is our big problem.
We have not focused on the importance of the media in conveying the message of Islam to the world.
So we have many channels, that many Arab,
national, Pakistani, you know, Indonesian, etc, channels around the world. But what is on those channels? Nonsense.
Just nonsense. Those channels could be used for conveying Islam globally, and conveying Islam nationally. But the consciousness of the oma has not reached that point. This is reality.
There is what we would like.
And then there's the reality.
But what concerns us most and what should concern us as individuals, you and I as individuals, we cannot buy channels, which is good, it's true, we should do it. Let's go out and buy a channel. We get millions of dollars we don't have the money.
So what does the law expect of us
towards
defense of Islam, promotion of Islam.
Allah wants us to live Islam.
If all of us here for Juma
made that
spiritual commitment to a loss of ohana with Allah.
That when we leave the Juma Today
we will strive
to make Islam our way of life.
In all of its aspects what we don't know we learn
as Allah told us first and the decree in quantum law tell us those who know if you don't know.
We find out. Truly yes of course if you ask the average person, what do you need to do here? They're there. They're not sure I don't know. Find out.
But have that commitment to know.
Leave here with that commitment to live Islam. Make it real.
We will make a difference.
We will make a difference.
We might not see it right now.
This week,
this month.
But no
that we will make a difference.
So I asked the last one to Allah
To strengthen our hearts,
to firm our feet
and to give us the courage
to make that commitment to him,
as it is only the commitment to him that matters.
And we ask Allah to forgive what has gone before of our negligence, our ignorance, our malpractice, our disobedience, our sins,
and to forgive the sins of our parents, our grandparents, our families,
and we asked him
to turn those sins into righteous deeds.
Living Islam,
living Islam
means living every aspect of Islam.
And the most important aspect
about which we will be asked first, on the day of judgment will be Salah.
Salah
the last words of the Prophet sallallahu wasallam.
leaving this world
was that follow us Allah
take care of the prayer.
Look after this Allah,
Allah
how do we live?
The Salah.
Well, first and foremost, we must know what the Salah is,
we need to know
what are the goals of the salah
and what are the means by which we get to those goals.
Because if we are focused on the means,
and we don't understand the goals,
then we cannot live the salon.
So, it is worth reflecting
in order to bring our lives in conformity with this lab,
it is worth reflecting on what are the means and the goals of Salah.
The means we know
begin with will do
will do
and they proceed
to the outer movements that we learn that beer
the things that we say Al Fatiha
prostration
bowing, sitting
those are the means
those are the means
the Salah is incorporated within the bat. But those are not the goals.
Many people today have confused goals with means.
So, we think that
the goal of Salah
what we are supposed to do is we'll do and the prayer.
But that is only the means
because we think
of the means as the goal.
Then we look at it as a burden.
We look at it as a burden.
Getting up for fudger
stopping what we're doing and going to praise or an aspirin and Mahara.
Praying Asia. It's a burden
which we take off our back at those days.
times
and we will do it quickly.
Most of the times, we will do it quickly, as quick as possible.
If we catch ourselves maybe we slow down a bit, but otherwise we do it quickly
get it done out of the way finished carry on with life.
That's how we treat the salaat
as if this Allah was something we have to give a law you know these times of the day we have this burden we need to put it okay here it is a lot. Here it is. There it is there, done.
But that is not so long.
That is not the sole law, which a law has prescribed
the living Sala
that is a dead Salah.
That's a dead set of rituals that we go through daily
about which non Muslims complain.
Look at this guy.
He prays five times in the workplace is there is going is praying and
he cheats us. He doesn't pay our salaries on time.
He makes us work more than we supposed to work.
He lies
what is the Salah?
I've heard it many times from non Muslims. What is the value of this Salah? This prayer.
And I have to say, I agree with you.
I agree with you.
That Salah which that individual is making his value less
it is a value less prayer.
Virtually
maybe Allah gives them 1% or something I don't know I can't say zero, but virtually value less have no real value.
Yes, he removed the obligation of prayer from himself.
So okay, there's a valid point.
But the reward,
the impact, the effect on his or her life,
not there.
So, how can Salah be a part of a living faith?
It's just a ritual
which we are doing mechanically.
Like robots.
At those times that have been prescribed, we do it.
But that is not the salaat which was prescribed.
Allah doesn't need our Salah we all agree.
I'm sure there's nobody here who thinks Yeah, Lord needs my prayer.
If you think that then you don't know who allies
we all know Allahu Samad.
He has no need.
He depends on no one.
And all depends on him.
So that's so law is not for him.
He didn't prescribe it out of a need that he had.
That's what we do. When we tell people do this, we have a need.
They do it we benefit in one way or another.
But this is not a law. That's us human beings.
We have those needs. A law has no need.
So So law is prescribed for us
as a life changing
event
At five times a day,
seven days a week.
throughout our lives
it has been prescribed because we need it.
Our worship of a law is out of a need that we have he prescribed it, because we need to worship Him.
All of that is for what?
So that we can get
the reward
the prize,
Jenna, for which we were created.
Allah created us for Jana.
But he gave us a choice.
Some people say, well, so why did he give us a choice, Randy just put us in gentlemen be done finished.
Why? Why do we have to go through all of this?
Why didn't you just make us and put us agenda finish End of story. We could just live happily ever after finish.
People asked that question.
Because he already created angels.
He already created angels
who live happily ever after.
He didn't want to create more angels.
He wanted to create another set of beings
who would choose to be there.
So he created humankind.
And he gave them a choice
for that choice to be meaningful.
Then there had to be help
people ask if this god of yours is a good God and he's all powerful. Why did he make Hello?
is a good God? Yeah, it's a good guy. So why why am I why hell? Why make hell if he's a good God?
The question people ask.
The point is that when he created beings with a choice,
without there being hell, there is no choice.
If there is only paradise, no choice.
So then what was the point of the choice? pointless.
So for the choice to be real,
how is the natural consequence there is heaven and there is hell.
We choose which one we want to go to.
So Salah what is Salah about Salah is to help us get to heaven.
That's what Salah is all about. For us, we need it to help us to get to heaven.
Simple.
But the only Sala which will help us get to heaven
is the living Sala
the real Salah
the way of life. Sala
not the ritual Sala
then
writes at
Mt.
That is not going to do anything for us.
So brothers, sisters,
as we make that commitment
to leave today
at the end of our Juma
to leave
with a new perspective on living Islam, making Islam real.
Begin with Salah.
This is the beginning point
to make it real
and this topic is actually
A huge topic
not a topic which could be covered completely in
the Juma
are time limited.
The Prophet sallallahu wasallam left us with a simple principle
a simple principle
sufficient in and of itself
to make Sala real.
If we can just grasp its implications and try to live its meaning very simple.
He said
solu salata, Mo wa died
pray the farewell prayer
pray the prayer of one giving farewell to this life.
Every one of us knows this.
This doesn't require a special understanding special Vickery of some beauty you have to do this with your head and you have to
it is very straightforward.
And that was the dean very clear, straightforward. It doesn't involve special practices and philosophies and
you know, each and every one of us knows that if somebody told you
you only have
three minutes left in your life
only enough time to make Voodoo
and make Sala
how are you going to make that will do.
Like we do it now.
We're gonna do it like that? Surely not.
I think you all agree, we will not wait like that at all. We'll be very carefully watching that.
Everything that we do we do it so carefully. We tried to do it perfectly.
And the salon?
No, no way. He would be.
We know it. We know how we would do it.
Nobody needs to teach us this.
We just need to do it.
Of course.
It's not easy.
It's not easy.
Because we have so many distractions.
But at least
try to remember
and try to come as close as you can
to that ideal.
An ideal which is achievable. Not something which is on the moon. But you can only look up at this is something we actually can do.
So I asked a loss of hanada Allah
to help us
make our prayers, farewell prayers
to make our will do farewell boos
to make our commitment to Islam, that of one who has no other commitment in his or her life
to keep our hearts firm,
to remove the doubts
and to raise our
Children fearing a law as he deserves to be feared.
I asked a law sumanta Allah to give us long lives in righteousness
and to bless us
with righteous husbands and wives and righteous children
and to give us at the end of this world
an exit
which is pleasing to Him
where our last words are La Ilaha Illa ma