Ebrahim Bham – The community
AI: Summary ©
The speakers discuss the responsibility of individuals to address issues related to the environment and community, emphasizing the importance of social interaction and community involvement. They also share examples of issues such as a recent incident where a man was killed by a woman and is being blamed for his actions. The speakers stress the importance of community health and sharing good values, emphasizing the need for faith-based cooperation and community engagement. The speaker also addresses the impact of Islam on people's lives and the importance of showing appreciation for everyone in community. The speakers emphasize the need for community engagement and interaction to overcome fears and strengthen relationships, and address issues such as COVID-19 and the need for community engagement and interaction.
AI: Summary ©
My dear respected elders and brothers,
Allah
has given us different
irrespective of the situations that face us.
So we are going
to come before almighty Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
alone.
Says Allah Ta'ala in Surah Mariam Waqulum Ati
He Yo Mal Qiyamati. Each
and everyone will come before almighty
Allah alone. Will
bring you in front of him
alone the way you were born alone.
So that's an individual
responsibility. We have to
account to Allah with regard to our complying
with the commands of or
not. And there there will be no justification
and excuses.
You can't go and say the environment wasn't
good or the ulama didn't tell me this.
Each and everyone will have to reply and
account to Allah with regard to his deeds.
So that is an individual responsibility.
However, we are also, you and I, we
are also social beings.
We interact with one another. We live in
a community. We live in a society.
We live in a neighbourhood.
What do we do with regard to the
neighbourhood, the society,
the community that we are part of? We
also have a responsibility
to the community and society
that you and I are living in. Nabiya
Kareem has emphasized this in a hadith in
A Muslim who interacts with people.
And in in an interaction,
there is going to
be some form of inconvenience.
Many of times we have to listen to
people in a community, in a society.
So when you are interacting with people,
when you bear the patience and bear with
patience the inconvenience
that you get in interaction,
He is better than a Muslim
who doesn't interact and he doesn't have to
bear
patiently the inconvenience of people. Now you hear
many a times people saying me, I just
stay away from people. I don't get involved
in the community affairs. Unnecessary turmoil. But look
at this hadith. Nabiya Karim Sawsim said it's
better for you to interact even if you
have to bear in patiently the inconvenience
of people They're not interacting with people. And
Nabiya Karim saasoolam in Islam has taught us
great amount of
concern for the community and the welfare of
the community.
I give you one small example. You see
when we're reading Tahajjud, even if you're reading
2 rakats, nafil namaz alone, where they'd be
in the inner corners of your home, and
you are reading, you read Surafatiya.
In Surafatiya, we make a dua.
Anyone who knows little bit of Arabic will
know that Ihina is a plural form. It's
not a singular form.
Oh, will Allah guide us upon the right
path.
You ask yourself a question, you are making
salat alone. You are making dua to Allah
alone between you and Allah, but you are
making dua for the collective.
Oh, Allah, guide us all upon the right
path. So we are we are supposed to
have the concern
for people both
with regard to
physical wellness
and spiritual wellness. We all know the hadith
that Nariya Kareem SAWSLEM had said, you are
not a believer.
If you eat to your full
and your neighbor next door or your neighbor
in your
area,
He is dying from hunger. You are not
a believer.
What type of believer you are eating to
your full and your neighbor is dying of
hunger? Or he is in poverty, he cannot
even have money with regard to his need
or with regard to his food?
What type of believer? You are not a
believer. In the words of Nabiya Karim sauslama,
you are not a true believer.
Similarly with regard to the aspect of worrying
about the spiritual welfare of the people whom
you are coming into contact with.
Allah had to tell our beloved Nabi al
Kareem
in Surah Kahaf that we are recommended to
read on the day of Friday on Jumah.
Oh prophet of almighty Allah, what are you
why are you putting yourself through such a
burden
that the people are not bringing iman?
You can take a view the way you
and I, we take this view. They We
don't want to bring iman, so what about
it? We are not responsible for them. We
are not responsible for the people who are
not reading Salat. Why must we worry about
them? They are gonna go into their own
cover.
Didn't do so.
Had to tell
you are putting yourself through such great burden
that people are not bringing him on. That
means Nabiya Karim Sahaslam used to take it
so seriously.
In Surah Yassin, there's a very amazing
incident, and I like to make mention of
this. You see, so Allah Ta'ala
makes mention that Allah Ta'ala sent Ambia to
a particular place, to a particular city.
If the city was known as Intatiya.
Today, it is known as Hatay, which is
on the Turkey Syria Syria border which is
filled with Syrian refugees. I went to the
place. I even went to the cover of
the person whom I'm going to relate to
you about.
So the was
rejected by the people.
So this person was an ordinary person.
He was a carpenter by trade.
A person came running from the outskirts of
the city. Came to the city and said,
oh, people listen to the prophets.
They are telling you something that is good.
They telling you to worship Allah.
What is wrong with you that you don't
worship the one who created you?
And they they martyred him. They killed him.
They killed him because of him telling them
to obey Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala and obey
the prophets.
So because they killed him, he Allah
because he was a mother, put him into
Jannah.
And while he was in Jannah, you know,
while Allah made mention,
Enter into Jannah.
And in Jannah, he's making this call.
You and I read Surah Yassin quite frequently.
Can we ever think about this message?
A person who was killed by his people,
martyred by his people,
and he's telling Allah. Oh, Allah,
show the people how you gave me respect
by me obeying you and you obeying the
prophets.
After being killed by the people, he is
still worried about their welfare.
Oh, will Allah give them hidayat.
Show them
what you gave me for following the Ambi
alai musalla to us salaam. Do we have
that type of concern with regard to our
neighborhood, with regard to the people who are
in our neighborhood, with regard to the people?
Allah has told us with regard to being
part of a neighborhood
and fulfilling the rights of neighbors. Nabiya Karim
Sawsim has said, nah, Adi, there are 3
types of neighbors.
One neighbor, he has got 3 rights up
over you.
He is your neighbor,
He is your relative, and he's a Muslim.
Three rights.
One neighbor is one who has 2 rights
over you. He is a Muslim and he's
your neighbor.
One neighbor has he has one right over
you. He is your neighbor even if he
is a person from a different faith.
Our ulama and our scholars
have made mention that Nabiya Tarimsa wasalam had
said that Allah
emphasized
upon me the rights of neighbors to such
an extent
that I thought that he's gonna make them
part of the estate, part of one's inheritance.
Now, can you imagine? As it is with
our families, we're having so much problems.
If the neighbors were part of our inheritance,
what would have happened?
What would have happened then? But
said that
Abujaed Rahmullah says, Abujaed Rahmullah says, Abujaed
Rahm Salallahu Alaihi Wasallam.
He was slaughtering a sheep. That time it
was a very rare thing to slaughter and
have meat on your table.
So as he was slaughtering the sheep, he
told the people, when you distribute the meat,
see to it that you first give a
portion of the meat to the Jewish neighbor.
See to it that you give the first
portion of the meat to the Jewish neighbor.
Do we have that type of understanding of
our deal? Nabiya Karim saw us aslim one
day went to visit a Jewish youngster who
was sick right and Nabiya Karim saw aslim
went to the end result is different but
look at the first result went to visit
the Jewish non Muslim person who was sick
in the neighborhood
And Nabi Karim went to visit him. Nabi
Karim said become a Muslim.
Accept in me as a prophet. And he
looked at his father. His father was a
person from the previous scriptures who knew that
Nabiya Karim Salson was the last prophet because
it is made mentioned in the previous scriptures.
He said
follow what Abu Karim has to say. Nabi
Karim saw Islam. He became a Muslim and
Nabi saw Islam expressed happiness.
But we say follow the sunnah. How many
of us have gone to visit a non
Muslim in our neighborhood who was sick?
But yet the Nabi of Allah did it.
And now in this particular regard, we show
that we are supposed to be part of
a neighborhood. We have to show our with
regard to it. Nabiya Kareem saw
Islam played a lot of emphasis upon harmony
in a neighborhood.
When Nabiya Kareem saw Islam came to Madina
Nabiya Karim SAW Salam reached a path with
everyone in Madinah even the Jewish tribes the
Ansar tribe he made a he
made a path
47 crosses in the bet. How we are
going to live in a neighborhood?
And all with regard to neighborhood,
our neighborhood, you know,
betterment
long before community police police problems became popular.
Nabiya Karim saw some had a pact in
Madina. How are we gonna love these neighbors?
Nabiya Karim saw some, you know, created a
situation of harmony within the neighborhood.
Nabiya Karim saw some played a lot of
emphasis
with regard to harmony
of a neighborhood. Nabiya Karim saw a shalom
showed us that the well-being of society
was paramount in the in
the teachings
of. Let me give you one small example.
Was the leader of the Monafiq,
leader of the hypocrites.
Knew him because
told him that he's a leader of the
hypocrites.
One day someone wanted to kill Abdullah in
Ubein.
Wanted to kill Abu Lab in Ubein because
of the inconvenience he caused to Nabi Karim
Sarsilm. His own son wanted to do it.
Nabi Karim Sarsim told his son Abdullah. His
name was also Abdullah. Abdullah, don't kill your
father. You Rasula, look at what and what
he has done. He caused us so much
harm. He pulled away the most some of
the people on the eve of one of
the greatest battles in which Muslims were under
threat. The battle of Wuhad. He
falsely, you know, created rumors against Aisha radiAllahu
ta'ala. What and what didn't he do?
Oh Abdullah don't kill him. Why Rasulullah?
He performs salat with us.
He is with us in the masjid.
For whatever reason he is coming to us
in the masjid, don't do this.
People will say Muhammad kills his own companions.
Do we keep that in mind with regard
to our neighborhood with regard to the people
who are coming to our masjid and in
this particular regard Nabiya Kareem
was foremost with regard to the society's,
you know, problems. One day there was a
noise in Berenah and Munawarra. Nabiya Kareem saw
someone to go and see the noise. People
came out of their home with apprehension and
what they saw. Nabiya Karim saw Islam was
on a horseback.
And he said, oh, people of Medina, I
went to go and see the source of
noise. There's nothing to worry about.
We talk about the sunnah this is not
the sunnah of nabi sah al salam. There
is a noise in the in the city,
in the neighborhood, there is apprehension,
there is a threat, there is a fear.
The prophet of all mighty Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala is first to go and see what
is the what what is with regard to
that particular field. So in this particular way,
we and part of and the part of
the well-being of society
is to seek collaboration
and to seek
genuine cooperation with people who are in the
neighborhood even if they are different
faith faith groups.
There's even in that we bear in Alakarai
said in the Quran that cooperate
cooperate with people on goodness and rightness and
piety.
Now no one is saying that in our
cooperation with people of other faiths we must
compromise our religion.
No. We
we hold fast onto our religion.
We believe in our religion to be the
only truth.
But there are many issues with regard to
a community and society
which are society based,
which are not necessary faith issues.
Issues like security,
like crime there's a need for us to
gather together with people of different groups and
different spectrums
to be able to face
the onslaught against people of all faiths.
Look at the situation today in the world
with regard to LGBTQ.
Look at the situation with regard to,
family values.
Here there is a need for us that
we gather together with regard to faith,
family values, with regard to morality, with regard
to taking a stance against immorality,
with regard to cleanliness, and we do so
without endorsing any other faith. We do so
on the basis of,
you know, our neighborhood.
That is part of our responsibility.
1 of our great, you know,
scholars as a Mufti Mahmutzab Rahm Tullahi who
is in Baridi also in South Africa. He
made mention. He said, if there is a
snake in the vicinity just give an example
where in India, they used to have this
type of situation
that there's a snake in a in a
in a in a gully. He said if
I have a non Muslim neighbor, if I
get it up together with him to kill
that snake because it is a causing harm
to the facility
and to the gully or to the to
the street. He say, what is wrong in
that?
So we have to be part of a
neighborhood. It's important for us to be able
to see this And historically,
wherever Muslims went in the past go and
look at our history.
Wherever we went
wherever we went,
we created such an impact in the societies
and the communities that we were part of.
That people became Muslims because of
the role that we played because of the
contribution that we made because of the that
we displayed because of the honesty and integrity
that we showed.
People became Muslims because of that. So look
at Malaysia. Malaysia wasn't conquered by any, you
know, Muslim army. Go and look at the
whole history. There was no conquering of Muslim
army that went into, you know, Malaysia and
Indonesia but yet Indonesia today is the biggest
country with the greatest amount of population in
the Muslim world. How did they become Muslim?
Because of the honesty,
integrity, conduct of Muslim business.
Brothers, you and I, especially you people are
in neighborhood where they are you interact with
people of, you know, non Muslims. Have you
ever thought that the way Muslims in the
past made such an impact upon other people?
We can make an impact. Why are we
always on the defensive?
Why are we always saying that we are
going to be
we are going to be
changed by other people's faith? So what after
40 50 years of being a Muslim? Are
you gonna be changed by other people? Is
that the confidence you have in your own
faith? When are you going to go on
the attack?
If a soccer club only go on the
defense, it's gonna lose.
But if you are going to show people
the beauty of your religion, you will become
confident about your own religion.
In Spain, the Muslims went because the people
they had called the Muslims
that they were being oppressed.
So the Muslims came as saviors to Spain.
And they remained there for 800 years.
The day they cut off their taluk and
relationship with the people of the land.
The way you and I sometimes are doing
in our country.
That's the time the people of the land
expel them,
and they started killing them because they stopped
relating with the people. They were not worried
with regard to the issues of the people.
How much are we worried with regard to
the issues of our country?
This what what is that? I was living
last. It was some 7,000,000 in unemployed people.
What is our contribution with regard? We cannot
resolve it. But can we show any sort
of raham? Can we show any kindness? Can
we show any compassion?
What a beautiful statement that we said when
Allah blesses you with some nahmaat instead of
putting up high fences, make your table long.
He's put put on up high fences and
remaining in gated communities. I'm not saying anything
wrong if you are doing it for security.
But is that the only reason that we
are going to go and stay away from
people and not worry about the affairs of
people? One day the discontent of the poor
people are gonna come upon you even in
gated communities.
If you don't play a role with regard
to what is happening in the country
and if you don't play a role with
regard to the issues of the country, when
are we gonna show the people the beauty
of Islam? When are we gonna show people
that Islam is for justice?
We see it what one of the financial
aspects from the greatest that Islam teaches us
about finance is wealth must not circulate amongst
only few people. The interest system is based
upon that the wealthy becomes more wealthy and
the poor becomes more poor. Allah has given
us a solution. What are we doing with
regard to that solution?
What are we doing with regard to it?
And this is the reality. The media today
is portraying us
as people who are not concerned about people,
people who are only worried. I'll give you
a personal example just 2 3 years ago,
2 2 3 weeks ago,
you know, my family member, in fact my
niece, told me one day out of great
concern, she went into a new area and
there was a community group. So, in that
community group, someone posted
that muslims are coming into this neighborhood.
Muslims believe they are obliged to kill non
muslims. Be aware.
SubhanAllah.
Now so she said please do something. So
I did a 5 minute clip and I
told her put it in that community group.
Right? So in that community group, one is
I refuted the distortions of the Quranic ayats.
I gave them the examples. Whatever has been
quoted, it is distorted.
What is the Quran? Allah tells
Allah does not prevent you with regard to
those non Muslims
who do not fight with you, who do
not expel you from your homes that you
must be kind to them and the word
used with regard to kindness is
which in the hadith, Nabi Karim sala Islam
used for kindness to parents.
The same word to non muslims who are
not hostile to you.
I quoted that and I even quoted an
example.
You thank Allah that the majority of the
muslims don't believe what you are saying.
Otherwise, the crime that we're having in South
Africa would become a walk in the park.
If 2,000,000 Muslims believe they have to kill
every non Muslim, what would happen here in
South Africa?
So but now, what I'm trying to say
is, are we going to remain in isolation?
How are we going to tackle this type
of perceptions?
If you remain in isolation are you going
to tackle those perceptions?
So if you remain in your own particular
hankar, I'm not saying anything wrong in the
hankar or in your own particular type of
niche. Are you going to be able to
tackle those perceptions? In isolation you can't tackle
perceptions.
You have to interact. And interaction I'm not
saying you must assimilate.
Interact with confidence.
Confidence with our teachings.
How does Sahaba went? And they told people
with regard to it. Let me conclude. 1
of our greatest scholars,
has made mention of something which is so
so important for us in our situation in
South Africa. We're coming to an elections to
make dua lata'alabri khair with regard to it
and I've quoted and I even protest that
that portion in which he made He say,
to live in an enclosed environment
simply content with your prayers and fasting
without worry to the people and society you
live in,
never introduce introducing them to the higher Islamic
values
and your own personal qualities,
then beware
if there is any religion,
religious
or sectarian
or community violence that flares up in your
community.
In such a situation
because you have remained aloof from the people,
you will not find safety or protection.
Your safety and protection is showing people your
values. Your safety and protection is not remaining
in isolation.
It's showing and interacting with people, showing them
the beauty of Islam. And of course, Islam
stands for justice, stands for kindness,
stands for compassion. How Are we gonna raise
to that challenge?