Haitham al-Haddad – A Wasted Vote Is a Vote for Genocide
AI: Summary ©
The speaker discusses the need for voting in upcoming elections and the importance of register making for April's democratic process. They emphasize the need for individuals to register and disregarding absenteeism to avoid past mistakes. The speaker also warns against disregarding the idea of a wrong candidate and encourages individuals to vote for a particular party or group.AI: Transcript ©
See, my dear imams, my dear khatibs, wallahi,
I am afraid. I don't want to say
that
you are sinful direct. I am afraid that
you will be sinful.
Sheikh, you said that voting is mandatory before.
It's wajib,
with the general election around the corner, do
you still feel that way? Yeah. Bismillah Al
Rahman Rahim. In fact, I believe that it
is more mandatory.
It is more wajib to vote in this
coming election,
2024.
Why is that? Because
this is one of
the best ways, the strongest ways to show
our opposition
to the genocide that is taking place
in Gaza, to have an influence
to how our government is running, how our
country is run. There are so many issues.
I always ask brothers and sisters,
how can
we make a change? How can we influence
the situation, the policy? Without getting involved,
without
voting, we will not have any influence.
We will be just marginalized. The prophet sallallahu
alaihi
wa sallam
Voting is one of those ways to
enjoying the good and forbid the evil and
to change the munkar. It is a mentality.
We are an active
Umma. There are so many ways of enjoying
the good and forbidding the evil, and this
is one of them. And this color said,
If you want to achieve something that is
obligatory, then
all means to that obligation
take also the ruling of obligation. We want
to stop the genocide.
How can we stop the genocide? My dear
brothers and sisters here, here, I'm talking about
as British citizen here. We can contribute towards
that
by having the right people
in power who represent us. And then when
we want them to vote for ceasefire,
they will vote for this. When we want
them to vote to stop selling weapons to
the Zionist state,
then they can do that. Not only that,
they can't support us
because they represent us. They represent not only
the Muslim community, but they represent the masses.
Yes? So that's why, my dear brothers and
sisters, stop this question. So many people,
keep asking this question. Sorry to butt in
balances, but we've got some important dates that
you need to put in your diary. Other
than 4th July, which is election day, also
known as independence day. Get it? There are
3 dates that you need to put in
your diary right now. Number 1, 18th June.
This is the deadline to register to vote.
Make sure you register and everyone in your
family over age 18. You can do so
with the link below. Number 2, 19th June.
If you don't wanna vote in person, 19th
June is the deadline to register for a
postal vote. Number 3, 26th June.
This is if you know anyone going to
Hajj, you're gonna be out of town during
the election. You can register for a proxy
vote for someone else to vote on your
behalf by this date. All the links are
in the description below please check them out.
Also the Muslim vote is in need of
mosque ambassadors
for every one of our 3,000 masajid all
over the country.
If you have a local mosque and you
wanna be a legend, then check out the
link in the description below. Sheikh, what do
you say if someone,
wants to just abstain from voting or even
go and spoil the vote out of protest
for the genocide? There is nothing called
I want to abstain from voting.
I hope that this point is clear. Abstention
from voting is
a
us imagine that there is a constituency
or a country that has 10 people. We
have party a and b.
So party a
won
4 seats and party b
won 3 seats. And there are 3
people who don't want to vote, abstain from
voting.
Now party a is winning because they have
what? Four seats. Those are 3 people.
If they don't vote, they are supporting
a to vote. So there is not that
they are on the safe side and they
don't want to commit haram. You cannot stop
from doing that. You are actually voting. So
those are 3 people who abstained,
they are actually
voting for a to win.
So if a is a very bad party,
they supported the bad party to win. So
their abstention
from voting is actually
voting. So you cannot say that we want
to be on the safe side and we
don't vote for genocide, my dear, my dear,
my dear, my dear, my dear, my dear,
my dear, my dear, my dear, my dear,
my dear, my dear, my dear, my dear,
my
is actually
a vote for genocide,
my dear brothers and sisters. Maseykh, in in
Western moral philosophy, there's there's a school of
thought that says, at least I'm not gonna
be a part of this, won't be on
my conscience if I don't vote. It's not
gonna be on my hand. Is that what
the Sharia No.
No. No. Who said this? Abstention from voting
only works
when it is taken by the masses, a
block
voting.
And hence, this disturbs the
political, political system, disturbs the election, and then
they might cancel it. But if the election
is not going to be canceled,
your abstention from voting is actually
voting to the wrong candidate.
So you are actually
more sinful if you don't
actively vote. Did you understand this brothers and
sisters? If you don't vote
because you want to be on the safe
side, as they say, you are actually
more sinful
because
you have lent your vote to the bad
party, the evil party to the wrong party.
I hope that brothers, especially young brothers and
sisters understand this. Please do understand the example
again. We have 10 people.
We have party a, party b. Party a
won 4 votes. Party b won 3 votes.
Now 3 votes
abstention.
Okay? So these 3 votes in reality,
they voted for who? They abstained, but they
made a to win. If a is the
wrong party, so these 3
who abstained,
they supported a to win. And if a
is the bad party and b
is less bad, they are obliged
by Sharia to vote for b in order
to won against a.
This is how the democratic
process
work. Or how it's seen through an Islamic
lens? From an Islamic perspective, if you
abstain from voting, you are actually indirectly voting.
So what is better?
To vote
at least before Allah
you say, you Allah, I chose
the best of the 2 evil.
Or you say, you Allah, I let the
worst evil to win, and I just abstained,
and I,
didn't do anything. Which one? What's your message
to Imams and Khatibs who say, you know,
we don't wanna get involved in politics and
we don't want to? See, my dear imams,
my dear khatibs, wallahi, I am afraid. I
don't want to say that you are sinful
directly. I am afraid that you will be
sinful.
Because what?
Because you are watching the genocide against Gaza.
You are watching so many evil things that
are taking place, so many bad things. And
what are you doing to stop them? By
discouraging people from voting or
by not talking about it, you are in
fact discouraging people from what? From voting. Because
people say, oh, the imams who should lead
us, they did not speak about voting. Therefore,
it is not an important issue. So your
abstention
from talking about it in the Khutba, etcetera,
is actually actively
promoting passiveness.
And we are an active Umna, my dear
Imams. If you are unable
to hold that responsibility,
please
don't be an imam, don't be an khateeb,
or tell the congregation,
see brothers and sisters, we are unable to
talk about it.
This is
incumbent upon you, my dear Khatibs, my dear
imams, to clarify the heart and to explain
it to people.
Thanks for watching, brothers and sisters. If you
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