Hamzah Wald Maqbul – Khutbah Blasphemy Voting Halloween ICC 10302020
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All praises to Allah. All praises to Allah
who guided us to this, who guided us
to Islam and to iman and to his
Mubarak house on on this Mubarak hour of
this Mubarak day. And we were not to
be guided, was it not that Allah had
guided us?
Oh, Allah, to you his praise as his
commensurate with the majesty of your countenance and
the greatness of your authority. Oh, Allah, we
do not limit you with any praise we
can come up with ourselves rather. You are
the only one who knows the true extent
of your praise worthiness.
And may the peace and blessings of Allah
to Allah be upon his servant and messenger,
our master, Saydna Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam.
May the peace and blessings
and upon all of those who follow all
of their way till the day of judgment.
Brothers and sisters, today
I wish to speak about 3 matters
in succession,
all 3 of which have to do with,
something which is relevant,
to the time that we're in.
The first issue is,
that which has occupied
the news and social media of
many of the Muslims.
With regards to
a country in Europe, France,
and their dogged insistence
on blaspheming the person of the prophet, sallallahu
alaihi wa sallam.
The and the mockery of the Rasulullah
was something
that the worst
of
the antagonistic
idol worshipers of the Arabs
insisted on from the beginning of the.
And it is something that the worst of
the creation has taken,
from that time until this.
And it is important to understand this is
not a free speech issue.
As Muslims, we don't believe in unlimited freedom
of speech. And as Americans, we actually don't
believe in unlimited freedom of speech. If you
actually study the law, there are limits to
free speech even in the United States.
And the United States has some of the
most robust free speech laws,
and I support the first amendment myself, not
necessarily because we feel that anyone should have
the right to say anything that they want
to say. Even within the limits of the
United States law, there are many things a
person can say which are a sin.
However, I recognize that the government is not
a Hakam Adam or a just mediator
in
discerning what things are
within the habit of a person's,
lawful right to say and which things aren't.
And I definitely don't want the government to,
judge my religious or political ideas.
And so we will take care of those,
issues not through,
calling police, arresting people, finding people, throwing them
in jail,
but through the robust discussion of ideas.
That being said, the blasphemy of Allah, his
Rasool, salallahu alayhi wasalam, the Quran,
of everything sacred,
even if the law, because of practical necessity,
cannot be a just adjudicator,
for
what constitutes blasphemy and what doesn't.
Still, we don't ever say that anyone has
the right
to speak ill of Rasool Allah Sallallahu Alaihi
Wasallam.
Rather, we are those people who
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala made backbiting a sin
amongst us. And Allah made slander a sin
amongst us. And Allah made Muhdan a sin,
slander and and libel a sin amongst us.
And Allah made
namima, tail bearing,
taking gossip for to and from people about
people, a sin amongst us.
And
if those things are a sin for the
normal amongst us, then it is even a
a greater sin if a person does it
against their own mother and their own father.
And Rasulullah
alayhi wa sallam,
the trustee of thee.
Of thee, revelation of
Allah
subhanahu
wa
ta'ala.
And
the Nabi sallallahu alaihi wa sallam who has
more right over the believers than they have
over themselves.
Meaning what? It's false to even say that
the Nabi sallallahu alaihi wa sallam is like
your father because the maqam of a father
to his children
is not, sufficient
to describe,
his place and his position with regards to
the believer.
The believer, he has more right over the
believer than they have over themselves, and the
wise of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam
are like your own mothers.
And so just like no person in their
right mind
would mock such a person and nobody would
like in their right mind such a person
to be mocked or would go up and
still have any raira whatsoever in their heart
and affirm the right of other people to
mock the the Rasulullah of alaihi wa sallam
like they wouldn't affirm the right of somebody
to mock their mothers. So, you know, I
don't like you know, I don't agree with
them saying, you know, talking about my mother,
calling my mother x y z. But, you
know, it's the first amendment, so what are
we gonna do about it? No.
This is not a normal human reaction.
This is not a normal human reaction. It's
not normal and it's
alaihi wa sallam, we do not advocate violence
or breaking the law.
But if one person says something
utterly horrible and another person then does something
horrible to that person and we didn't tell
them to do it, I have no reason
and I see no reason to be sad
about it. It's a problem between 2 crazy
people. And like people say,
play stupid games and win stupid prizes. It's
not our problem and I'm not going to
grieve for that and I make no apology
with regards to it.
As far as we're concerned, we don't take
kindly to these things and we don't like
these things. And anyone who shows their love
of the rasul
the way that they show it is that,
Until I am more beloved to that person
than their own nafs, their own soul that
is in between their two sides. So if
ever there was a reason to be upset
about
be upset about something or at somebody or
to boycott or to take whatever reasonable and
lawful means there are in order to deter
a person from doing something. This is such
a case and we make no shame about
it. We have no shame about it and
we have no compunction about it. We don't
make any excuses about it at all. Rather
this is what our deen is and this
is what our iman is. Even said,
wa'ala alaihi wa'alaam.
Ibnu Abdul Muttalib, the uncle of the Prophet
sallallahu alaihi wa'ala sallam,
after whom I was named.
He was out on a hunting trip and
he heard that the mushrikeen of Quresh had
abused the messenger of Allah sallallahu alaihi wa
sallam and he was no longer a Muslim.
But he knew who his nephew was,
he knew he was a good person, he
knew he didn't speak ill, he knew that
he was one who
He said that he knew that his nephew
was the person who was the one who
honored the guest, and the one who would,
help the person
be the first one if someone needed help
because of the difficulties, the vicissitudes of life
in pursuing the happen, pursuing the truth, and
pursuing what is right. He was the first
one to stand up and help. He knew
this. He wasn't interested in theology and religion.
He was a hunter and a warrior. He
wasn't an intellectual.
He didn't used to talk about ideas. He
used to hunt the desert.
But he knew who his nephew was.
Just like you know who he is salallahu
alaihi wa sallam.
And when he heard that the mushrike of
Quraysh were giving him a hard time and
abusing him verbally and physically when he came
back from a hunt. He literally took his
bow and he cracked Abu Jahl in the
head.
Obviously, there's a different law in that time
and that place. And there is a different
law in this time and this place. The
maqsood is not the action but the state
inside of the heart.
That literally his love of the Rasul sallallahu
alaihi wa sallam is what made him to
say the shuhada, the master of the martyrs,
and what made him have such a high
maqam with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and what
allowed the iman to enter into his heart.
May that love enter into our heart and
may the iman that entered into that heart
follow
into ours as well.
The second thing I wanted to discuss
was
that
on Tuesday
the election is happening.
And I'm not here to endorse any particular
candidate.
Insha Allah, we hope that Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala does good by us and does good
by our home, by our people.
And by our people, not only do I
mean the Muslims, I also mean the state
of Ohio and I mean the United States
of America.
I pray that Allah ta'ala does good by
us if you don't know where the good
is.
I voted for people in the past convinced
that they're the lesser of 2 evils or
they're the better candidate,
and they showed that I was wrong.
Anyone who makes a decision makes
mistakes. The thing I want to talk about
with regards to the election is this. We
have extremism in our
community
which is engendered by lack of study and
a lack of understanding of the deen and
of the sunnah of the messenger of Allah
sallallahu alaihi wa sallam. Obviously, someone might retort
and say, well, everybody says that about whoever
doesn't agree with them. That's actually the point
I wanted to make.
Which is what? There are those in this
community
and those amongst the Muslims
who will say, Voting is kufr, voting is
shirk. It's not kufr, it's not shirk.
If anybody believes that it's kufr or it's
shirk, stand up right now and say it
right now, this Juba Khutbah is invalid because
I'm by according to your opinion, I'm a
mushray.
So there's no sin in interrupting it.
The brothers who the brothers who have said
this in the past, I've told them put
it in writing.
Deliver me a letter in writing, the takfir
of of myself and of everybody who votes
and then let's talk, then we'll take you
seriously.
It's not shirk. Shirk is to, you know,
unless you go to the ballot box and
ask it to give you, like, a child
or something like that or ask it to,
you know, forgive your sins, that's that's what
shirk is. This is not shirk.
Is it permissible or is it not permissible?
This is a very different discussion as to
whether it is shirk or kufa or not.
And let the people hold their tongues back
in fear of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
That it's from the greatest of sins to
say to your brother,
You kafir. That you should say to your
brother, O disbeliever.
Because the messenger of Allah sallallahu alaihi wa
sallam informed us that when a person does
that, it's true about at least one of
them.
The second
group which is extreme on the other side
is that voting is farther. You have to
vote
and it's not.
It's not farther to vote. It's not an
obligation to vote.
People will say, well it's an obligation to
command to that which is right and forbid
that which is evil. Yes. This is true.
Whether or not voting is going to result
in that is a is a matter of
opinion. There are too many details in the
middle that a person doesn't know and doesn't
understand.
If there is
something in the ballot,
like, should we make
murder illegal?
A person might be able to make some
sort of claim or some sort of discussion
with regards to that. Why do I mention
murder? Because murder is one of those sins
that that is
And
the the the
the reality is what?
The reality is that you have your opinion
and I have my opinion.
And the model through which we justify voting
is less
a model of Amr Bismarulf and Nahyan and
Munkar most of the time and it's more
a model of what of shura.
What is it?
That everyone gives their their their advice, and
this is a kind of quantitative analytical metric
to see which advice is
preponderant
from the people. And then decisions are made
based on that
Adabashura is
The ada bashura is that everybody give their
opinion
in truth and in sincerity from their heart
even if it's different than everybody else's opinion
around them.
So if somebody wants to vote for orange
cat,
if everybody wants to vote for orange cat
but this, you know, the next person thinks
that purple shark is going to be a
better,
candidate.
You cannot tell this person you're a sinner,
haram, this, that and the other thing. You
can argue with one another if you wish
to within a certain
relevant or within a certain proper,
set of parameters. Meaning what?
These decisions and these choices, they're not because
they're not a matter of halal and haram,
you cannot call each other names. You cannot
call each other fasid and sinner and fajr
and kafir and Salab and this and that
and the other thing. You can just say
I disagree with you, you disagree with me
and you move on.
And it's definitely not a justification to carry,
ranker inside of your heart for your brother
and for your sister. It's not the same
as somebody, you know, saying that well, because,
you know, this what this what happens. A
political candidate may have a range of opinions.
And you can always cherry pick. This person
says this about abortion, so he's evil. This
person says this about gay marriage, so they're
evil. This person says this about taxes, so
they're evil. This person said, we can always
find something to throw at somebody or another.
None of the candidates are Mas'ul They're not
divinely protected from error.
We know this.
And the calculation that people use in order
to choose who they think is best,
that calculation is also something that's different for
everybody.
So don't
make friends or enemies with people based on
who they vote for. If you wish to
discuss civilly, please go ahead and discuss.
And if somebody should say that, well, I
don't think voting is gonna make a difference.
This is also a legitimate opinion.
I personally don't even agree with it.
But it's an opinion that doesn't allow me
to say this person is a sellout, this
person is the problem with the Muslim community,
this person doesn't have imam, this person doesn't
believe in
etcetera etcetera.
Rather we discuss and we respect other people's
political opinions as long as those opinions don't
clearly clearly and ambiguously
violate the law of Allah His rasool salallahu
alaihi wa sallam. And we may disagree with
one another, so be it. Islam is a
set of beliefs
primarily before anything else. It is a lot
more. But before anything else, it is a
set of beliefs and a set of actions
which allow a person to achieve salvation on
the day of judgment. It is not primarily
a vehicle for some political interest or another,
and Allah knows best.
The third thing I wanted to mention inshallah
before,
the second khutbah and the salat
is that tomorrow is October 31st. It's Halloween.
And for those of us who were born
and raised in this country, it's a very
interesting day. It is a culturally very special
day.
You get to dress up and go trick
or treating and do all of these things.
As a child, I used to be very
enthusiastic about celebrating Halloween. I really
enjoyed it and I loved
it. And then as an adult, I grew
up and realized, wow, this is like very
haram on so many different levels.
So many different levels, we don't have a
opportunity for the cultural analysis of it right
now.
But death is not something to joke about.
Spirits and the unseen are not something to
joke about.
And many of the cultural aspects of a
lot of celebrations of Kufr
involve a certain type of loss of a
certain type of loss of shame in front
of one another and in front of Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala. That those things that are
detestable. I used to stuff for Allah, forgive
me.
I
knew no better. My parents were my father
was not Imam Ghazali and my mother wasn't
Sadah Maria. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
accept from them and raise their rank and
protect them from every evil and light that
the parents of all of the believers.
So I used to dress up like a
vampire.
Blood is not just you don't drink it.
You don't bite people on the neck. It's
very easy to understand and very easy to
know. But for some reason, magically, on one
day, that thing which is disgusting and detestable
and is haram and
is something which is only compatible with kufr
somehow becomes okay and it's not okay.
It wasn't okay for our forefathers. It was
not okay. It still isn't okay.
Now the problem is what?
Is that on Halloween, you get a whole
bunch of candy.
The problem is what? On Halloween, you get
to hang out with your friends.
The problem is what? On Halloween, there's a
lot of other stuff that's going on.
As parents, if we come to the house
and we slam the stick into the ground
and say, Halloween is haram, khalas, that's it.
There are some of us whose children are
pious enough that they will accept it. Many
of us, they will not.
Not because they're impious or that they dislike
the deen, but because they're human beings and
nobody likes to be left out. I don't
like to be left out.
Nobody likes to be left out. It hurts.
Even when you know it's because of the
habit, it still hurts.
So as parents,
this is part of our job.
That
we say that Allah ta'ala, the first that
we teach our children and we teach others
is that every blessing that you ever received
it was from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. This
is the of
da'wah from revelation. You know, calling people to
Allah. From what? From Revelation.
So when the time for saying these things
to your children occurs,
My own child,
the my own children actually, they all agreed
that we don't want to be part of
the school Halloween party last year.
But my my my my, spouse, when she
picked the children up from school, she said
one of the children was crying.
Why? It was their own choice, but why?
It still hurts when you're left out, when
you're excluded.
So when I heard that, I went to
store and I went to the the the
the the grocery store. All those candies, all
of those chocolates, all of those ice creams
that I wanted as a kid and my
mother never let us have.
I bought all of them. And I made
sure they're displayed,
on the table.
If ice cream was in the freezer, of
course.
And I told the children,
is it true one of you cried when
you had to leave your, Halloween party?
And they were ashamed. They didn't wanna say.
They're quiet. I said, it's okay. You don't
have to admit it.
But your mother told me.
I said, this day, I want you to
remember one thing, that nobody ever gives up
something for the sake of Allah except for
Allah will give them something better and instead.
That's not in this world, that's in the
hereafter. But sometimes it happens in this world
as well. So go see what's on the
table and go see what's in the freezer
and enjoy yourselves.
This is what this is how you teach
your children how to be Muslims.
If you want to throw them to the
dogs and see which one survives,
there are some people through the fada of
Allah who will make it through that process
as well. But nobody should want to do
that purposely to their children. So give them
some sort of alternative. Take them to their
friends. Take a little bit of time out
of your schedule even if you're bored if
you and if you're, tired and it's your
only day off or if it's a difficult,
give them something better. May Allah reward
you,
for having protected their iman. Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala give all the