Haitham al-Haddad – The surprising reason Muslims condemn the Assisted Dying Bill
AI: Summary ©
The upcoming bill on religious and religion is a private member's bill, and it will go through various stages of scrutiny. The importance of preserving property for the long term is emphasized, along with the need to communicate with parliament to encourage their MP to support the bill. There is a suggestion to run a campaign to promote the bill, and viewers are encouraged to share their thoughts and comments.
AI: Summary ©
This is a Shari'a obligation.
We must communicate with our MPs.
Why?
Because we are preserving the properties of Allah,
instead of asking yourself, oh, maybe Allah doesn't
love me.
I am telling you, my dear brothers, my
dear sisters, Allah loves you more than others.
The person who is not suffering from calamities,
the challenges, this is the person who should
himself.
Even if we say that Allah is punishing
them, Allah is punishing them in this dunya
because Allah likes them.
The people who are suffering, Allah loves them
more than us.
Allah has chosen them.
Now, some people say, but we talk about
if the person is evil.
That's why Islam said full stop.
It is not subject to approval or not
approval.
Do you want a value-based civilization?
Try always to remind yourself.
In one hadith, brothers and sisters, please listen
to this.
Please take this.
Please pass it to every Muslim.
The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said.
So this Friday, 29th of November in the
UK, there's an important second reading of a
bill.
Yusuf, tell us what it's about.
It's known commonly as the assisted dying bill.
What's it about, Yusuf?
Yeah, so the terminally ill adults end of
life bill has been submitted by, as a
private members bill by an MP called Kim
Ledbeter.
And so this bill for the first time
is seeking to allow people to end their
lives, especially people who are in the last
six months, their lives, they are in, they
are terminally ill.
And so they can say to the state,
look, I want to end my life and
doctors and the courts will allow them to
end their life.
And so there's been a big push over
the last few years for that to happen.
Lots of these, lots of these proposals have
failed, but now they're pushing this through this
week in the second reading bill.
And so it's a really interesting one in
that MPs will not be told how to
vote, rather they'll be told you can vote
according to your own conscience.
So then it means that we have some
ability to convince them of our perspective.
Yeah, yeah.
Sorry, just to understand a bit of legal
structure.
So this is the second reading.
Okay.
And this means that it will become a
law after what?
Yeah, if you can explain this.
So the second reading, yeah, so the second
reading is that, even though it's called second
reading, it's the first time it's officially being
read and debated in parliament.
So what happens, because it's a private members
bill, because the government isn't pushing it through,
it's an individual who is an MP, then
what happens is that they will start a
discussion about it.
If, what could happen is MPs who don't
want this bill to go through can just
talk for a very long time and talk
it down, which means that the time ends
and the bill doesn't go through, or at
the end they will have a vote.
And if the majority of MPs say it
shouldn't go beyond the second reading, then it
will never be, it will never be, it
will never go through the debate stage or
the scrutinizing stage.
The next stage will be, if it goes
through that line by line, the bill will
be read and discussed and amendments will be
made.
But if MPs vote against it, it will
not go through to that next stage.
So this is the first real stage that
it goes through in parliament for it to
have any chance of becoming a law.
Okay.
And if it goes through on Friday, what
will happen?
What will be next?
So the next stage it will go through,
it will go through like a scrutiny.
So they'll go through that committee stage where
they'll look at the bill line by line.
Yeah.
This is what, yeah, committee stage, like any
special committee made to scrutinize this.
Yeah.
If it goes through second reading, if it
goes through second reading, it's more likely to
go through.
If it doesn't go through second reading, it's
going to fail.
No, no, no.
So what do you mean by second reading?
This reading?
Yeah.
So it's been read once in parliament, just
as in like a.
I mean, if it goes through on this
Friday, okay, what will happen next?
So it'll go through the various stages the
bill has to go through.
So it'll go through different stages of scrutiny
by MPs.
People will suggest changes to it, safeguards.
This is another key point, which is that
the masses and Muslims can still, yeah, have
an influence, can still have a say that,
okay, we want this or we don't want
this.
That's right.
So this is very important for all of
us to understand.
So it doesn't mean that, well, we are
helpless, hopeless.
That's right.
Okay.
But the interesting thing is, that's an interesting,
important point that, you know, with every other
type of bill that the government puts forward,
the government will say to its MPs, to
its backbenchers, you have to vote yes or
no.
You have to, or you have to vote
in this way.
But because this is a private member's bill,
the government has said, we will not tell
you how to vote.
So a lot of MPs, they don't know
how to vote yet.
They're still unsure.
So if they get lots of people contacting
them before Friday and saying, we don't want
you to back this bill, this is a
very dangerous bill.
The state will be allowing for people to
be killed.
It's not the role of the state to
do that.
Then it's more than likely that MPs will
vote against it.
But at the moment, they're open to your
views as their constituents.
Okay.
I mean, this is the closest we've ever
been to this happening.
I mean, I remember when I was in
school, this used to be a think piece
of debate 25, 30 years ago.
And it's always kind of been just brushed
off, brushed off, brushed off.
But now this is the closest I've been
because Keir Starmer, you know, he coming in,
he promised that there would be a debate
on this or allow the private member's bill
to pass.
So we've never got to this stage before.
And so it is feasible that this could
actually happen.
But Sheikh, as an Islamic jurist, as a
scholar, what are your thoughts?
Do you think we should even care about
this?
You know, if it's just, for example, you
know, something that's happening out there?
Why does it concern us?
Okay.
Yeah.
Jazakallah khair.
I will talk about it from an Islamic
perspective.
But we also need maybe towards the end
to talk about how and what we can
do.
Yeah, especially from now until Friday, is that
we can maybe quickly email our MPs.
And yes, encourage them.
What should we say to them?
Yeah, exactly.
We'll talk about it.
But let us not forget about this point.
And maybe, Brother Yusuf, maybe we need a
campaign.
Yeah, to make sure that the Muslim community
is aware of this.
Okay, first of all, Bismillah r-Rahman r
-Rahim, first of all, as a concept, we
need to understand a very fundamental concept that
Allah is the one who gives life.
Allah is the one who takes life.
No one else is allowed to take the
life of any, not human being, but any
living being, even animals.
No one is allowed to kill animals without
the permission of the one who gave them
life.
Life from an Islamic perspective, it is the
property of Allah.
He created death, and He created life.
This is, it is up to Him.
Now, uh, He allowed us, for example, to
slaughter their, to slaughter basic, some animals.
He allowed us to, uh, to kill those
who harm others with conditions.
Yeah.
So, He is the one who is allowing
us, telling us when to take the life,
and when not to take the life, sorry,
when to take the life.
And the original principle is, we cannot interfere
in His will.
Life is so sacred from an Islamic perspective,
whether it is alive, the life of a
human being, or even the life of an
ant.
Okay, of course, the life of the human
being is more sacred than the life of
animal.
But I just want to highlight that the
concept of life is so sacred.
And that's why Allah condemned those who kill.
Yes.
The one who gives life as if He
has given life to what?
To the entire humanity.
Okay.
So, and of course, killing a Muslim, this
is even of a higher status, and the
life of the Muslim has even more sanctity.
That's why Allah says, وَمَنْ يَقْتُلْ مُؤْمِنًا مُتَعَمِّدًا
فَجَزَاءُ جَهَنَّمُ خَالِدًا فِيهَا وَغَضِبَ اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَلَعَنَهُ
وَأَعَدَّ لَهُ عَذَابًا أَلِيمًا Now, the second point
is, what about the individuals themselves?
Do they own their life?
And the answer is no, they don't own
their life.
So no one can say, okay, I agree
that life belongs to Allah and others are
not allowed to kill or to take the
life.
Take the life means killing.
It is from an Islamic perspective, it is
the same.
Now, can I take my life?
And we say that it is the same
principle.
Life is not your property.
Life is the property of Allah.
Okay, that's why from a Sharia, okay, committing
suicide is a grave sin.
And the Prophet ﷺ said, whoever killed himself
by stabbing himself or by throwing himself from
a mountain, he will keep stabbing himself on
the day of resurrection.
He will keep throwing himself from the mountain
on the day of resurrection as a punishment
for himself because he has done it for
himself.
Even to the level that this scholar said
that the one who kills himself, the imam
of the Muslims and the dignitarians are not
allowed to pray janazah on him, other than
the imam will pray on him, just a
simple imam in the masjid.
But the leaders of the Muslim community, they
don't do that to show the gravity of
what he has done or what she has
done.
Doesn't it matter why they kill themselves?
I mean, in this, like, for example, it
doesn't matter.
It doesn't matter whatsoever.
Yeah, even what if someone says, you know,
this person is really suffering a lot.
And we will come to that.
Yeah, we will come to that.
Okay, now, let us move to the third
point, which is what you mentioned, Salma.
Sorry to cut you, but I just want
to go in a structured way for people
to understand the whole thing.
See, for us, my dear brothers, my dear
sisters, life is a gift from Allah to
invest for our akhira.
So, listen, brothers and sisters, the more the
person, the Muslim, yeah, the more the Muslim
is living, is the better for him in
the akhira, even if he is suffering, or
she is suffering, generally speaking.
Okay, so now, the more a normal person
is living, he will pray more, he will
say la ilaha illallah, he will give sadaqa,
he will make istighfar, etc, etc.
Yeah, the normal Muslim.
And that's why the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa
sallam said, khairukum man qala umruhu wa hasuna
amalu, the best of you who has long
life with good deeds.
Now, this is if he is not suffering.
Now, the person, the Muslim who is suffering,
the Muslim who is suffering, he will still
do istighfar, tawbah, etc.
Yes, even if he is not doing istighfar
and tawbah, his suffering is what is a
removal of his sins.
Yeah, the more he suffers, the more he
will enjoy his akhira.
And maybe in other words, can we say,
he will wish that he was suffering even
more?
That's why, that's why, excellent.
That's why the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam
said that on the Day of Resurrection, the
people who used to be tested, they will
wish in the akhira if their bodies were
cut.
Yeah, by scissors.
Yeah, by scissors.
Which is that they were tortured more and
more and more because they will see great
rewards coming to them.
And then when they inquire, we didn't do
these good deeds, they say, because you were
suffering.
Now, listen, brothers and sisters, as we are
talking in a very structured way, there are
two types of responses to suffering.
Yeah, sorry, three types.
Sorry.
Okay.
Positive suffering, positive suffering, which is the person
is suffering and he says, I accepted that
from Allah, although he has pain.
Yeah.
And he might say, well, I am in
pain.
Like many people in Gaza now.
And Allah says, those when they are reflected
by a musiba, they say, they say what
they should be saying according to Sharia.
Yeah.
And they can get even more reward by
saying, Allah give us reward for the musiba
that we are witnessing and give us better
than it.
Okay.
Now, so this is the first time, which
is what these are the best people.
And the prophet said about those people, the
best of people after the prophets.
Yes.
Who are the those who are suffering more
and more.
And the person will be afflicted with masaib
according to his level of iman.
If his level of iman, this is the
statement of the prophet.
If his level of iman is high, yes,
he will be tested more, he will have
sabr more, he will have more reward.
Yeah.
Okay.
Now, so these, we can describe their reward
more and more, but this is the first
type of people just because of that.
Now, the second type of people who do
not have active patience.
Yeah.
Which means they are in neutral.
They are in neutral.
They have, they are suffering from certain masaib.
They don't respond.
They don't respond in the best way according
to Sharia.
Yeah.
They don't say, their hearts are not happy
or content with Allah, with what Allah has
given them, but they are accepting it.
So those people still will be rewarded.
And some scholars said the minimum is many
of their sins will be, will be wiped
out because of their suffering.
Yes.
Even if they're not like conscious.
Even if they are not conscious, even if
they, as far as they are living, even
if they are not conscious.
Yeah.
In fact, the fact that they are not
conscious, this is another rahmah from Allah.
Yeah.
And even if they did not respond in
the best way, because Allah is just yes.
And Allah doesn't, uh, doesn't afflict person or
doesn't punish a person twice in the dunya
and in the akhira.
So if Allah, and that's why we say
brothers and sisters, please listen to this.
If you are afflicted by a masiba, yes,
by something that is annoying you, harming you,
instead of asking yourself, Oh, maybe Allah doesn't
love me.
I am telling you my dear brothers, my
dear sisters, Allah loves you more than others.
The person who is not suffering from calamities
and, and challenges.
This is the person who should be question
himself.
Okay.
I hope that this is, this point is
clear.
If you are afflicted by calamities, it means
that Allah, even if he's punishing you, it
means that he loves you because he wants
to punish you in this life.
And he doesn't want to punish you in
the hereafter.
And on the day of resurrection, you will
be thankful to Allah that he punished you
in the dunya, not in the hereafter.
This is even if we say that this
is a punishment and yeah, brothers, this concept
is totally different from the non-Islamic concept.
The non-Islamic concept, when the tsunami came,
Oh yeah, this is unfair for those people.
Even some people say to what is happening
to our brothers and sisters in Gaza, this
is unfair.
You cannot say about anything that Allah has
done.
It is unfair.
I'm not saying it is okay.
It is painful.
But those who are afflicted by the calamities
that they didn't do for themselves, Allah caused
it for them.
Even if we say that Allah is punishing
them, Allah is punishing them in this dunya
because Allah likes them.
So that's the second type of person.
The first type of person is someone who
says, they're rewarded for that, they're given extra.
Yeah, positive in his sabr.
Yeah.
The second person is of a lower stage.
He is neutral.
Yeah, he is neutral.
But I want to emphasize the point that
I just mentioned that it doesn't mean that
Allah hates him or Allah is angry at
him or Allah, even if we say that
Allah is angry at him, but Allah likes
him.
That's why Allah is punishing him in the
dunya and not in the hereafter.
Because, sorry, I'm emphasizing on it.
I know because so many people, almost when
I go to Islam Channel or Islamica or
any program of the QNA, people ask about
this question.
How do I know that Allah loves me?
Why Allah is punishing me, et cetera, et
cetera.
Yeah.
And knowing this helps the person to have
contentment and sabr and that will move him
to what?
To the first category, which is the best
category.
Yeah.
The category of the prophets and yeah, ashaddun
nasi bala'an al anbiya'a thumma Okay.
Now the third level is a person who
was afflicted by a musiba, by calamity, by
a challenge and he's why, yeah, Allah, you
have done this to me.
This is his response.
Look at what some scholars said.
I don't want to mention all the views
about some scholars, but look at how they
were accurate.
They said that his rejection or his frustration
that he's showing to Allah, he will be
punished for it.
Yeah.
Okay.
He may, he may be punished for it
or he may be sinful for it.
May.
I cannot confirm, but he will be rewarded
for what?
For his suffering.
Look at this justice and critical, you know,
thinking because Allah is just, he, this person
is suffering.
Yeah.
Allah will remove some of his sins for
suffering.
This person is not accepting it.
He will be what?
He will be sinful for that or likely
to be sinful for that.
That's why we say to people, yes, you
are going to be afflicted by the musiba
anyway, by the calamity anyway.
So try to have sabr.
And by the way, I would like just
to mention one point if you don't mind.
Okay.
Which is the more sabr you show, the
more or the greater reward you will get.
That's why I say to any person who
is going through cancer or any other, or
death of, of, or killing or et cetera,
we say to them, try always to remind
yourselves in one Hadith brothers and sisters, please
listen to this.
Yeah.
Please take this and please pass it to
every Muslim.
The prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, the
one who is remembering a calamity, just remembering
it and saying, yes, the calamity has gone
or it has started long time ago.
And now he is remembering it.
Whenever he remembers it and says this, Allah
will give him the same reward.
He gave him when he initially said, look
at this.
So that's why the people who are suffering,
Allah loves them more than us.
The people listen to this brothers and sisters,
the people who are suffering.
Yes.
Allah have chosen them, especially if they gave,
if they respond in a positive way, of
course, as the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam
said, you should not wish to suffer because
you don't know how to respond.
Yeah.
Okay.
Now, so this means brothers and sisters, we
have a different paradigm from the non-Islamic
one, which means that suffering for us is
a positive thing that is happening to us.
Therefore, if a person is suffering, when we
take his life, what are we depriving him
from?
From khair, from goodness, from the love of
Allah.
And a few days ago, one brother, he
told me about his father, his organs failed
and the doctor said that we should give
him a high dose, blah, blah, blah, et
cetera.
Yeah.
I said to him, brother, first of all,
if you do this on the day of
resurrection, your father will complain against you.
Why did you deprive him of this khair?
And brother, do you want Allah to love
your father or not?
Of course, yes, I want Allah to love
my father.
He said, as far as he is suffering
and he is alive, Allah is showing him
love.
Allah is showing him love.
Now, the only thing is that, uh, that
this love of Allah will turn to be,
you know, the opposite of love.
Allah dislikes this person when this person moves
from Islam to kufr because of what?
Because of suffering.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So he, the person is committing kufr because
he is suffering.
Yeah.
And that's why we warn people.
We say to them, okay, if you just
move to kufr and start insulting Allah and,
okay, not complaining, insulting Allah and claiming that
Allah is unjust, et cetera, you will be
still suffering and you will lose the reward
and the love of Allah in the dunya
and in the akhir.
That's why euthanasia in Islam is not allowed.
And you remember the case of Tafida.
Yeah.
We said, yeah, it is a public case.
We can speak about it.
We said that it is not allowed whatsoever
for her family to approve.
Okay.
Taking her life.
And it is not allowed for any family,
brothers and sisters.
I'm making it clear.
It is not allowed for any family, any
father, any son, anyone to sign the removal
of the life support machines or medicine or
no resuscitation.
Yes.
For any of his relatives, it is not
allowed for him or her because they are
number one, don't forget number one, they are
what?
Taking the property that belongs to Allah.
Number two, they are depriving the person from
a lot of khair.
Okay.
Now they might say, sorry for that.
I'm just giving, because so many people are
calling and we accumulated experience about this.
Now some people say, but what about if
the person is evil?
Yeah.
What about if the person is evil?
If the person is evil, some of his
sins will be removed.
Some scholars listen to this.
Some scholars said, even the kafir, the disbeliever
who is suffering, Allah will remove some of
his sins.
So the punishment for him on the day
of resurrection will be less.
Yeah.
Okay.
Now, even apart from this, suffering is ni'mah
because the person might repent, might go back
to Allah.
And we have seen this many times.
What is better than, okay, it is better
for the person to, okay, to suffer.
Let alone brothers and sisters that there are
other external benefits, which is human beings see
that this life is not about what, what
enjoyment and just, you know, relaxation.
And no, this life, as Allah says, Allah
created this life to test, to test the
human beings.
This life is a test for everyone.
And this brings me to the second point,
which, sorry, another point, which is the concept
of taking your life and the concept of
taking, what is it?
Extremely ill people's life.
This is a non-divine concept.
Yeah.
A non-akhirah concept.
This was manufactured by the people who really
don't, don't, don't, don't respect Allah, even if
they believe in the existence of Allah, but
they don't believe in the, in the, in
the magnificence of Allah.
Yes.
Okay.
They don't give Allah his due respect.
That's why they don't care in taking life.
Yeah.
Of, of, of the creation of Allah.
And, and, and this brothers, this means for
them that their life is not sacred, is
very cheap.
That's why we see, yes, if I may
just, this is another political dimension of this.
Okay.
We see that if non-Muslims fight or
a non-Muslim is fighting a Muslim, the
killing among non-Muslims is far greater than
killing between, even if Muslims fight.
If Muslims fight, okay, it doesn't mean that
they are good Muslims anyway.
It doesn't mean that they are good Muslims
anyway.
So they, they, that's why they are fighting
and they will do bad things.
But as far as they are classified as
Muslims, they will still have some, you know,
limits.
Yeah.
But once non-Muslims fight, yeah, that's why
America in the second world war, dropped two
nuclear bombs.
Yeah.
And the number of people, the number of
people who were killed in the second world
war, and mainly they were non-Muslims.
And that was even before these, you know,
biological weapons, chemical weapons before the, what is
it?
They call it the smart, what is it?
Missiles, et cetera, et cetera.
Yeah.
That was in 1945.
Okay.
So it is all with the classical weapons.
More than 50 million people were killed.
Yeah.
Humanity.
If they don't see that Allah is watching
them and Allah owns the life, then there
will be no mercy in their life and
life in their life and life for them
is, doesn't have any sanctity.
Yeah.
That's why Islam said full stop.
Life is not yours.
Okay.
It is not subject to approval or not
approval.
It is, what is it?
To terminate ill people.
What is it?
To give them the choice to take their
life because they are extremely ill.
They are suffering.
The minute we open the door, and we
have seen it in many countries.
Emotions.
In some countries.
The minute we open that door, then after
some time we have euthanasia.
After some time we will, because the sanctity
has been removed.
So what we'll see that they will allow
their relatives to sign forward, taking their life
later on.
What is the benefit of a disabled person?
He is a disabled person.
He is, what is it?
What is the word?
In order to look after disabled people, this
liability, like a burden to the state or
their family or something.
Okay.
So actually, okay.
It is better to get rid of them
because of this financial liability, et cetera, et
cetera.
Where are we going to stop killing?
And that's why we also say once the
fetus receives the ruh, and the ruh has
been blown after 120 days, even some scholars
said after 90 days, it is not allowed
to abort the children because he or she,
they are living beings.
Yeah.
You are not allowed to take their life
whatsoever.
These scholars discussed that, okay.
If the mother is pregnant and this might
cause her to die, then there is another
discussion because now there are two lives.
There's always edge cases.
Yeah.
Okay.
But these are extreme cases, not just because
the fetus is ill or he is going
to be distorted or born with syndromes, et
cetera, et cetera.
That is not allowed whatsoever.
Yes, Sheikh.
I mean, I was thinking of this also
as the broader on the civilizational kind of
lens as well, that we don't want to
just kind of get over this reading or
this building here or there, but we actually
want to make an impact on a civilizational
level.
And there's things that, like you've mentioned, that
in modernity, it's unquestionable that in the modern
period, this has been the bloodiest period in
human history, full stop.
And that's partly because of the removal of
sanctity and the implanting of a different philosophy
with regards to human beings that we're just
pleasure seeking, pain avoiding kind of robots, animals.
We're just collections of molecules.
There's no meaning, there's nihilism, meaninglessness.
And it's just, you know, killing someone is
basically just a rearrangement of their molecules.
So this has accompanied, you know, the industrial
scale killing and slaughter and so forth.
So there's that element we need to...
That's why it is just an ideological, it
is an intellectual.
Don't look at it just as a matter
of fiqh or a matter, a micro, look
at it from a macro perspective, exactly what
you said.
There's also, so I just had three things
in my head.
There's that, the kind of bringing back a
sense of sanctifiedness or sanctity to life.
Number two, there's one of the reasons, I
think the respect of elders, right?
Because the elderly have been pushed away because
they're not economically, quote, unquote, you know, productive,
they're a liability.
And, you know, lots of people are saying,
right, Yusuf, that this bill is going to
put pressure on elderly people.
They already do it now, you know, and
they end their own lives because they feel
pressure, they feel guilty.
They feel that they are a burden.
They feel that they are a burden, okay,
on their children, on their families, on the
system, on everyone.
And see, imagine, imagine, yes, that the elderlies
now, they are walking in the streets and,
you know, or pushed by, you know, push
chairs, uh, what is it?
Wheelchair.
Wheelchair.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And, uh, wheelchair, sorry.
And they know that people are looking at
them and they say, hang on, why didn't
you sign for, you know, this and to
take your life?
Imagine what kind of feeling they will have,
what kind of feeling of an elderly person
living among his children, or he's living by,
in the care home, and he says, oh
no, yeah, my children, uh, and they, as
we know, they will be very sensitive, isn't
it?
So they will say, oh, my children are
visiting me now.
No, my children, are they asking themselves, why
doesn't my father, he just, he's causing us
so much headache and so much pain and
so much, why doesn't he sign for killing
himself?
And they might, out of this sensitivity, even
if they are not severely ill, because of
their psychological trauma that they are going through
due to this, they will say, listen, listen,
come, come, just finish it.
It's the slippery slope, right?
Yusuf, that's the, that's the kind of one
of the arguments people have been using.
What's your experience been in terms of the
reactions to this bill?
I think in terms of, there's a, it's
really interesting, because I heard on the radio
yesterday that somebody was calling into a radio
station, and they said, look, I'm, and they
were talking about this, there's a minister in
parliament called Shabana Mahmood, she's a justice secretary,
and she was saying that I'm opposed to
this bill on religious, on the religious basis,
but also because they, the state should preserve
life, it shouldn't end life, and she was
attacked by lots of people who said, look,
how can you impose your religious perspective on
us?
So secular perspectives can be imposed on anybody.
The other MP attacked her, who?
And he said, yeah, should not impose her
religious beliefs on, on us.
But the interesting thing was, there was somebody
who called into the radio station, and she
said, look, I'm an atheist, I don't believe
in God, but I believe life has value,
and I support Shabana Mahmood, I don't believe
this bill should be passed.
And it's really interesting, because people who you
think will ordinarily vote for it, like Wes
Treating, Wes Treating is the health secretary, he's
opposed to this, Bridget Phillips and the education
secretary, these are all on the left of
politics, they're part of the Labour Party, but
they are opposed to it.
So the thing is, I think one thing
is really important to note is that MPs
at the moment are unsure about how to
vote.
So anything, any communication that we can get
to MPs before Friday, will tilt the balance
of that, of that view, like they may
be thinking, should I vote for it?
Should I vote against it?
If they receive lots of people, lots of
communication saying vote against it, then they're more
likely to vote against it.
If all they receive are emails from people
saying you need to vote for it, it's
about, it's about ending pain, it's about allowing
people to die in dignity, then they will
vote that way.
So I think it's a real opportunity for
us to engage with this, with our MPs,
and to convince them to vote against it,
inshallah.
Can you maybe please cut this, and we
need to run a campaign quickly, yeah?
Yeah, we already have that, Yusuf wrote an
article on Islam21C and there's links there, how
to, you know, what to do exactly, and
we'll share it around again, inshallah.
What I'd say is that, you know, some
people are saying, is there a template letter?
I would say it's better for you to
write two lines to your MP, just say
I oppose this bill, this is not good,
it will lead to elderly people feeling like
they have to end their own life, vote
against this bill, that's more impactful than sending
a template letter to your MP.
Yeah, okay, Yusuf, from experience, what you mentioned,
I know that is better, but it won't
work.
I'm telling you, it won't work.
Can you suggest, yes, maybe ten models, okay?
Each one is two or three lines, two
or three lines.
Get Chad GPT to...
And, okay, let people choose those in their
emails, one of those, whatever they like, and
you tell them you can edit, and just
take it and send it to your MP,
and tell them how to, you know, they
put their postcode, etc., etc., in order to
contact their MP.
This is what we need to do, yeah.
Yeah, okay.
And just make it clear, I want to
make it clear, and please do cut this,
that we must, we must communicate with our
MPs in order for them to oppose this
bill.
This is a Shari'i obligation.
Why?
Because we are preserving the properties of Allah,
jalla wa ala, life is the property of
Allah, jalla wa ala.
We don't want people to start owning what
Allah, jalla wa ala, has, or the properties
of Allah, jalla wa ala, which is death.
Khalaq al-mawtah created, He created death and
life, yes, in order to test you.
So, my dear brothers and sisters, we are
obliged to do whatever we can to do
to oppose this bill, and we have a
very golden opportunity on this Friday, just simply
a few lines, as brother Youssef said, we
need to, few lines to be sent to
our MPs to encourage them to oppose this
bill.
Because if we stop it from now, alhamdulillah,
we stop it for, insha'Allah, long time
later.
If we don't stop it, then we will
start bearing the consequences of it.
We need to wrap up soon, but just
to complete the kind of civilizational point, in
terms of our da'wah on a macro
level, you mentioned that we want to bring
back meaning and sanctity to life itself in
the wider population.
We want to make sure that elderly people
are respected, right, to nurture this, that don't
look at them as a, and we need
different campaigns for this stuff, Huzoor, don't look
at them as a burden, but look at
them as ahlul barakah, look at them as,
you know, in fact, an asset, okay.
And I think the third thing, the third
thing I was thinking was one of the
motivating things for bills like this is people
aren't having enough kids, and there aren't enough
people now to pay for the healthcare, pay
for longer, you know, retirements and pensions and
stuff like that.
So, on a civilizational, macro level as well,
we need to ensure that people are, they
say they have something called a reproduction rate,
the R-rate, you know, for the population
to sustain itself, every woman has to have
2.1 babies per woman or something like
this.
And many economically developed countries are way below
that and lowering, and like a reduction of
like half, yeah, like 0.5, it doesn't
mean that it's going to be a steady
decline, it means within two, three generations, you've
got only half the people left, you know,
so that's a huge, a small reduction in
the R-rate leads to, after two generations,
like a big reduction in the overall population.
And I think, yeah.
Sorry, as you are talking about the civilizational
perspective, see, here there is a fundamental question,
even, you know, regarding what is happening in
Gaza, yeah.
Do we want a value-based civilization?
Or do we want a quote-unquote, yeah,
if the word civilization will be correct, yes,
a baseless civilization, a civilization with no values?
This is a fundamental question.
The second fundamental question, the values, are they
values for themselves, or are they values because
of materialistic, okay, materialistic gain?
So far, most of the non-divine values,
they are, sorry, most of the non-divine
civilizations, they, the source of their values is
what?
Materialistic, materialism, yeah, as we say, simply dunya,
either power, fame, money, self, self, selfishness, enjoyment,
desires, etc., yeah.
These are the deriving forces for those civilizations.
These are the real values.
Now, do we want civilizations based on those
values, or do we want civilizations based on
ethical values?
Sometimes even the ethical values are not Islamic,
not necessarily Islamic values, but the core of
those ethical values are fitrah-based values, which
are the same as the Islamic values, the
core, not the details of that, yeah, because
Allah, Jalla A'la, says, fitrah Allahi laki
fatara al nasa alayha, la tabdeela li khalqillah.
People have fitrah, good fitrah.
So, if we want to preserve those values,
I think we are going to preserve the
civilization.
But, of course, just because of time, there
is a big debate, can those non-divine
values, non-divine values, and also non-materialistic
values, values that are not based on divine,
values that are not based on materialism, can
they survive without religion, without the true religion,
Islam?
This is a big debate, yes?
So, anyway, this is maybe another time we
need to discuss this.
Can a civilization have values and sustainable values
that are not based on Islam or on
the current religion?
In general, in brief, we want to push
at least for a value-based civilization, or
at least for the UK, a value-based
society.
JazakAllah Khair, Sheikh.
Sheikh Haytham, for your time, we need to
wrap up now.
And JazakAllah Khair, Yusuf from Muslim Family Institute,
MashaAllah, we look forward to you sharing those
kind of template lines for everyone to send
to IMPs before Friday.
And JazakAllah Khair and to you at home
for watching.
If you like this podcast, as usual, give
a like and a share.
Let us know in the comments below what
you think.
If you agree, disagree, maybe if you're from
a different background as well, Yusuf was saying
lots of non-Muslims even have passionate views
about this.
And check it out in the description below.
We'll put a link to how you can
contact your MP.
Make sure you do that before Friday.
Message your MP and let them know that
you'll be looking and you'll be hoping that
they vote in the right way, inshaAllah.
Until next time, Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh.