Hamzah Wald Maqbul – Riyad Al Salihin Misplaced Concerns About Islamic Leadership[1]
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AI: Transcript ©
It's a chapter regarding
obeying
the people of authority
in other than disobedience
and the prohibition of obeying them in matters
of disobedience.
As well as those people of authority over
you.
This
is the commandment of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
that
links the obedience of
Allah and Isra'ul
to iman,
sallallahu
alaihi wa sallam. And it links the obedience
to
leaders to iman. Meaning that it's a, it's
a, an attribute of iman.
The preference for
order over disorder over chaos,
the preference for order and hierarchy
over disorder, and the understanding that imperfect order
is superior to,
a complete chaos in any case.
And order has to be
very, very, very damaged in order for it
to be,
something that that chaos is preferable to it.
It's linked to a person's iman. It's linked
to a person's faith. If a person doesn't
like this concept,
then it's as if that person's faith has
some sort of
deficiency in it, then the law knows best.
We've talked about this before many times. The
people of of command
in the affair when it comes to deen
are 2 groups of people. 1 is the
in the sense that they're the ones who
define what the deen is.
And the,
their authority is what? Is that what's haram?
They're the they're the authority in saying what's
haram. They're the authority in saying what's halal.
They're the authority in saying who's a Muslim.
They're the authority in saying who's not a
Muslim. They're the authority in saying,
where there's leeway, they're the authority in saying
where there's no leeway. So one says, well,
what if one sheikh says this and the
other sheikh says something else?
Then you pick which one of them,
is closest
to your mind, to the
messenger of Allah
inwardly and outwardly, and you follow one of
them. The one that reminds you of the
prophet
the most. But you don't have the right
to go. If 2 of them have a
difference of opinion, you don't have a right
to go and Start a 3rd, opinion. Rather,
you restrict yourself in your conception of the
deen to what the Ullamas say.
This is part of imam. This is part
of the faith and part of the of
the Muslims. This is one very flawed
understanding. People say, oh, the ones that are
so backwards. They screwed up the deen. They're
the ones that the reason that Muslims are
so backwards. They're the reason that this problem,
that problem, the other problem.
Our are backwards.
Our are this, our are that. This is
completely
a a a,
an aqidah problem. The messenger of Allah
never described the ulema as a class of
being backwards people. The messenger of Allah described
the ulema as his inheritors,
as the ones that are closest to him
in rank, as the ones that the is
supposed to take from, as the one that
the is supposed to listen to and obey,
and as the ones that will have the
highest in this world and the highest in
the hereafter.
Does that mean that one person of knowledge
that every single one person of knowledge will
be a wonderful person? No. Not necessarily. There
may be individuals that are are corrupt, but
as a class of people, the by and
large, although not without,
flaws
or without shortcomings,
they are the best what of the what
this has to offer, and that's part of
our.
The second set of people that are that
are, are meant by this
or
is the temporal rulers of the Muslims.
They do not get a chance to define
what is deen and what is not deen.
They're not allowed to define what time the
prayers are or what breaks the fast or
who you can give your zakat to or
what is the correct interpretation of this,
part of the Quran or that part of
the Quran. And we
have countries in the Muslim world. I saw
this myself, the minister of education of a
Muslim country. Doesn't matter which one it is
because it could be any of them. That's
how bad the affairs are. He once got
up and said, we designed redesigned the Islamic
studies curriculum for our public schools,
then it will now include the,
the the tafsir of all 40 Jews of
the Quran.
And so someone says, sir, you mean 30
Jews. Right?
He says, no. 40. All 40 of them.
So well, there's only 30 Jews in the
Quran. Well, however many there is, they'll be
tafsir of all of them. This is the
this is the inwardly or outwardly. This is
the the we're talking about countries with,
you know, tens of millions, 100 of millions
of people in them. Right? This is if
it's the situation in one of them, it's
a situation in all of them. So one
might say, well, my country is not that
bad. Well, it's not that far. That's not
it's not that much better.
Sad to say. Those people are not the
ones who get it get to say what
deen is and what isn't.
The definition of the yardstick is by whom?
By the.
But once
the made their definitions of what deen is
and what it isn't,
The people in temporal rulership do have the
right that they be obeyed as long as
they're not asking a person to do something
that's haram.
Right? We talked about that last time. As
they are obeyed as long as they don't
ask the people to do something that's haram.
And then further than that,
they're to be obeyed as long as they
are still
in the definition of being Muslims.
Sometimes that definition is very
is very,
very barely met, very thinly met. But as
long as they're within the definition of Muslim
being Muslims
and insert hadith, it says, as long as
they make
that they pray when the time comes in.
You don't see them from the beginning of
a prayer time to the end of the
prayer time, blowing the prayer up without any
excuse.
And Allah knows best. There was a ruler
who's not deposed. Again, there's no point in
taking names or countries because it could have
been one of any number of countries. He's
very particular. He had a very
nice, large, beautiful masjid built in his capital
city. I saw it. So it is really
a beautiful masjid, one of the most beautiful
masjids in that city.
And,
they would have the TV crews there every
jawa
to show, look, he's
he's praying.
And they would then pray play
broadcast it on national television, and there would
be the hadith underneath it.
Small it's a very minimum standard. If it's
not met, then yes. So people can talk
about this person not having the legitimate authority
to rule over the Muslims, But until this
and as long as this standard is met,
then talk of,
disobedience
in any matter other than that which is
haram, is itself haram.
And this is not an item of our
It's an item of our that the person
who believes
that that that rebelling against temporal authority
and the absence of one of these extreme
conditions,
is is permissible themself. We don't just say
that they're a sinner. We say that there's
something wrong with their, and there's something wrong
with their iman.
Iman.
Allah be pleased with both of them.
He said that I heard or he said
from the prophet prophet
that it is incumbent upon every Muslim person
to hear and to obey,
meaning to hear their leaders and to obey
their leaders, to listen carefully and to obey.
And those matters that they,
are happy with, and those matters that they
are displeased with.
And those matters that they are pleased with,
and those matters that they are displeased with.
The fact that you like an idea, or
I like an idea, or don't like an
idea is immaterial to the obligation to obey.
That you are,
obliged to hear and obey
whether you like it or whether you dislike
it. Except for if somebody is, is commanded
to do something which is haram.
Except for someone who is commanded to do
that which is haram or that which is
an act of disobedience to Allah ta'ala. And
if he is,
commanded to do an act of disobedience, then
he is obliged to
neither hear nor to obey.
So hadith both of Muslim and al Bukhari.
And again, what did we say? Who's the
one who defines what haram is and what
isn't? And
then within that definition, that set of tools
is there that that the,
temporal rulers can work within it. Now for
example, what if there's a difference, a legitimate
difference of opinion amongst
the about something that we know?
1111,
Mad Heb says that this is permissible and
the other one says that this isn't.
Okay? And you follow the of the of
the of the the impermissibility.
And the ruler follows the of permissibility and
he commands you to do that thing. Even
then, you're obliged to listen to the leader.
It's only when they leave the circle of
legitimate descent where,
you are allowed to them, say, no, I'm
not going to listen to you, I'm not
going to hear, nor am I going to
obey. And when we say legitimate descent, what
does that mean?
The deen of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and
the Sharia
is composed of a hierarchy of commandments. Okay?
The most solid of commandments, we don't call
them part of the, but rather we call
them part of the of the Muslims. Those
are those things that are all agreed upon.
If people don't believe in them or don't
accept them, then we say they're beyond the
pale of Islam or we say that there
are people misguidance and of innovation. Okay?
Beyond that, there's a a the majority of
the commandments of the Sharia fall into a
a place where there are legitimate differences of
opinion. But that doesn't mean that anyone who
comes along says I'm a scholar, and I
know what this is.
That that that person is to be heard
or that person's dissent or that person's opinion
is to be heeded. Rather, even within there,
there is a hierarchy
of of authority within scholarship and within opinions.
And part of that hierarchy of authority comes
from what
time and what people that those opinions come
from. If the opinions come from the time
of the salaf, from the time of the
Sahaba, and from the time of the Tabi'in
and the time of the Tabat Tabireen. Because
of the hadith of the prophet sallallahu alaihi
wa sallam, incumbent upon you is my sunnah,
and the sunnah of my
companions and the sunnah of of my rightly
guided successors.
And because of the hadith of the best
of,
the best of generations is my generation.
Then the generation that comes after me who
is the Tabi'in, and then the generation that
comes after me, which is Tabat Tabi'in. Because
of the prophet
numerous and repeated a hadith
testifying to the righteousness and to the solidness
of faith and understanding of those generations.
The precedents that are handed down from those
generations,
they,
supersede
any opinion that comes afterward in those matters.
Okay? If there is a an opinion, should
someone say, Amin out loud after the,
should someone raise their hands one time or
several times in the in the prayer? All
of these opinions. Right? If they come from
that generation and they weren't resolved, then we
enshrine the the dissent. And we say all
of the, the different dissenting opinions in this
matter are legitimate. People are allowed to have
a preference of one over the other. People
are not allowed to browbeat one another,
on those matters.
If they all agreed on something,
then the descent of the people that come
afterward is completely not to be heeded.
Okay? If they didn't give an opinion on
on one of those matters, then the later
they have a right to then give their
opinion regarding those issues. Or if the the
circumstances
change, then the later ulama have a right
to give an opinion on those issues. But
even then, there's a process
through which,
subsequent generations will will review the fatawah and
the rulings of the generations that come before,
and you will see they'll sift through all
of those rulings and arrive at a,
arrive at an opinion. And once a consensus
forms around an opinion,
then subsequent generations don't have the right to
revisit that issue, and they don't have the
right to,
dissent with that issue. So we have many
things. Right? We have many issues that are
like that nowadays. We said people want to
call for a reinterpretation of the Quran and
a reinterpretation
of Islam and a reinterpretation
of this, that, and the other. What does
it mean? It means we want to destroy
jettison the precedence of the Ummah that came
before us, and we don't have the right
to do that. It's established both in the
Quran and the Hadith of the prophet
that we don't have the right to to
do that rather we accept the
a Hadith of sorry, the rulings and the
understandings of the
original Muslims as being,
authoritative.
Now that being said, there are many issues
that even Salaf radiyaala ta'ala Anhum had differences
of opinion about them. Okay?
In those issues, the benefit of the doubt
is given to the temporal authority of the
Muslims, that they can choose which whichever one
of those opinions they wish to choose.
And then they
can they can enforce that on the public,
and the public is required and obliged to
obey,
that interpretation
in their practice even if they don't agree
with it, in their public practice, even if
they don't agree with it.
But they are not obliged to obey something
that is outside of that,
outside of that
realm of understanding. So for example, okay?
In the sharia,
in the sharia of Islam,
a man is allowed to marry more than
1 wife. A man is allowed to marry
1, 2, 3, or 4 wives. Okay?
Whether it's legal here or not, you could
talk to a lawyer about it. If it's
illegal here, don't do it. If it's legal,
then it's up to you if you wanna
do it or not. I would probably consult
your wife beforehand, and here's like a little
sneak preview is probably not gonna be a
good idea. Okay? But as a legal matter,
okay, as a legal matter or legal theory.
Right?
The Sharia we discussed it without regards to
our personal,
without without regards to our personal,
likes and dislikes.
We have to approach it with a type
of coolness and a type of objectivity. Right?
So there was, for example, a government in
the Muslim world. Again, what's the point of
naming which government it is? It could have
been any of them. Okay?
They outlawed
a a a man marrying more than one
wife. They said that it's outlawed. It's we
we don't give permission for it. Okay? And
then they came with a theological argument. What
is their theological argument for it? Right? The
theological argument was what? That the Quran says
that? That that Mary,
whoever pleases you from,
of of of women,
2, 3, or 4.
But if you're afraid that you won't be
able to be just between them, then then
just marry 1. Okay? And so they said,
well, it's impossible for somebody to be just
just between,
you know, more than 2 wives. So because
of that, based on the Quran, we're outlined
marrying 3 for 2, 3, and 4 wives.
Okay? What's the fly in it? The fly
in it is that this is an interpretation
of the Quran that was not there in
the time of the Sahaba, the or
the Do you understand what I'm saying? This
is a a aberrant interpretation.
Right? We're talking about precedent. It could be
about any matter. Okay? We're talking about precedent.
That the prophet had more than one wife.
If it was impossible to be just between
them in the matter in the manner that
the Quran is asking for,
then by by that you either believe that
the prophet is fallible or you don't, accept
it. So someone says
maybe it's just because he's a prophet. He
was was able to do it. Nobody else
is able to.
More than more than one wife.
More than one wife. Had
more than one wife.
Satan had 4 than 1 wife, for more
than one wife. Now the are stuck with
us too now. They can't do this.
We don't accept the first
Well, what about Sayna Ali
he had more than one wife as well.
He never the prophet
actually
made him agree that when he's married to
Fatima
that he won't marry anyone else. But after
she passes away, may Allah be pleased with
her, then he he had more than 1
wife at the same time. Okay?
There is no book that you'll find this
interpretation in,
from the time of the Sahaba, from the
time of the Tabirim, from the time of
the Tabat Tabirim. Okay? So the government doesn't
have that right to
enforce this matter on you. Why? Because the
definition of what is permissible, what is not
permissible, it is with whom?
It's with the ulama. It's not with the
government. Okay? This is one example. There could
be many examples. So you have the right
obviously to say, well, I don't wanna marry
more than 1 wife, or I don't want
my husband to marry more than 1 wife.
You can say that as a personal matter,
but as a theological matter, you can't say
that. You can't you can't,
bring any theological argument against it. And as
a matter of law, the there is no,
compulsion for,
a citizen of the Muslim state,
the sovereign Muslim state. Obviously, not ISIS, which
is not
not,
I mean, it has so many problems with
it, in any at any rate, including the
fact that it's not a sovereign state. But
you don't have any, you don't have any
authority to then impose laws like that. And
if a person even if a a law
like that is imposed, the person is not
obliged to,
obey such, obey such laws.
So it's what?
It's that that person is incumbent upon every
Muslim is what? To hear and to obey
in those things that they like and those
things that they dislike.
Except for if they're commanded to disobedience.
And if they're commanded to disobedience,
then they're neither allowed to hear nor they
nor are they, allowed to obey.
He said what? He said that we used
to be we used to uh-uh uh-uh when
we used to take the, the oath of
allegiance from the messenger of Allah
So people used to not only enter into
Islam, but when they would enter into Islam,
the religion, they would also enter into the
political,
entity that Islam represented,
which obviously, again, it's, somewhat of a
theoretical and abstract discussion for us sitting in
Rockford.
But there are places in the world where
Islam does have a political presence,
and,
so that's part of the sunnah, and that's
part of our sacred law as well. If
we're in a situation where we don't practice
it,
still it's still an act of piety to
know the knowledge and to preserve the knowledge.
So said, we
used to, when we would take, when we
take the oath of fealty and allegiance with
the messenger of Allah Sallallahu Alaihi Salam.
We would do so on and then we
would do so on the condition that we
would listen to him and that we would
obey, obey him. And when we would do
so, once we would do so, he would
add
as much as you're able to.
Meaning what? If you're, if you're, if you're
asked to do something that you're not able
to do.
Okay? One is like, I don't wanna do
it. One is like, really, I'm not able
to do it.
Then then he would give the, he would
give the assurance to the people who took
the oath with him that Allah only asked
from you what you're able to do, not
to stress out about those things that you're
not able to.
Okay? This is a very important point. Why?
Because we have, okay, we have this kind
of pain that's there in the Muslim world.
For those of you who are there in
the footbath,
earlier in the
day, the Khatib, Sheikh Amar, he,
described it very well
that people have this lack of peace of
mind wherever they are.
And there is this this trauma that's there
going through the Muslim world all over the
place. People getting killed, people getting cheated, people
people living poverty, people living in oppression,
people living without dignity. And so people, you
know, there's this this trend amongst people to
what? To blame
blame our political weakness.
Okay. What did the sheikh say? So when
you get sick, if you look at your
bank account,
and you look at your medical card, and
you look at the hospital, and you look
at the pharmacy,
and you have iman that this is what's
going to cure you, then Allah puts you
in the authority of those things. Those things
are hit and miss. Sometimes they work, sometimes
they don't.
If you put your iman in Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala,
then it will be good for you. If
he cures you, he cures you. And if
you if you even die from it, it
will
be written in your book of ajer, your
book of rewards that you were patient with
it and you'll see something on the other
side of benefit. Whereas if you put your
iman in the CVS and pharmacy and in
your health care plan and in your card,
insurance card, and then your doctor in the
hospital,
then you put your iman and then don't
expect don't expect anything from Allah on the
other side. See, we think about things just
in this world. We don't think about what
is gonna once we show up on the
other side, there's gonna be a lot of
things that are important on this side. It's
not gonna be important anymore.
But you have to think of both sides,
and you have to understand that that side
is ultimately much more important than this side
is, even if the side is not without
its importance.
So what happens is
people think of the problems in the Muslim
world, and they think that the problems, the
root of the problems is something because of
something in this material world.
Our president isn't like that. Our GDP isn't
like this. Our economy isn't like this. Our
armies don't have this weapon, these weapons. Our
soldiers are not well trained. Our children are
not, you know, engineers and and and are,
you know, scientifically
competent, technologically competent, etcetera, ad nauseam. They have
all these list of worldly things. Our governments
are not are not efficient.
Politically, we're backwards.
We don't have Muslim governments that rule.
Do you understand what I'm saying? This is
a worldly this is a worldly objection. Okay?
What is the actual reason all of these
things are happening? It's because we trusted in
the material and we didn't trust in Allah.
It's a much more simple matter of building
one's iman.
It doesn't mean that once you build your
iman, everything happens magically. But once you build
your iman, then when you go to solve
all these other problems, you'll solve them in
the correct manner.
And the proof of that is the Sahaba
that came out of the desert.
You know, completely
unfamiliar with any of the technology or tactics
or or or,
you know,
any of the,
any of the, how to of war.
And they conquered literally as far as they
could go within their limited lifespans.
Sayidna Khad bin Walid radiAllahu ta'ala, who he
never read the the the tactics and the
stratagem of Hannibal. He never read the tactics
and stratagem of the Persians
or of the Parthians or of any of
the great,
warrior people in the past. They used to
study each other. They used to be this
there's still to this day, they study the
stratagem of these stratagems of these general
generals,
great generals of, what what you call,
Alexander the Great. You know, still there are
war colleges. If you're an intelligent person,
you know, they'll send you to West Point
and make you in an office or you
study those things to this day, and it's
an ancient tradition that's unbroken.
K? He never studied any of those things.
He went up against generals who were,
people in established units. Imagine there are certain
legions in the Roman army that are there
from before the time of Sayna
They carry the same they you in that
they would carry the same battle standards, and
they had the same insignia.
All these traditions that go back centuries,
he didn't he was completely unfamiliar with any
of them, but Allah gave him victory over
his enemies.
Right? The Persian empire
spans 1,000 of years,
several dynasties of tradition.
Really, if you look at this the the
paltry amount of time it took for Zayn
al Khaz bin Walid to trample there, their
armies underfoot.
It's something amazing.
But what? They had something else together that
that's more important than those things. That allowed
them to, when they're in the situation of
having to fight a battle, to figure out
strategy and to figure out all of these
things,
and to do so on a sound basis
with a sound footing.
Right? It's what? It's iman. It's not an
impractical matter. It's not like a magic, like,
okay, like, I'm I took my shahada today,
now we're gonna go beat some Persians. Right?
What would happen in this field of battle?
Right? The Persian army was so demotivated,
they had to shackle the foot soldiers, the
the the infantry.
They had to shackle them to the battlefield.
So they're shackled to one another so that
when they marched and rose, they couldn't run
away.
Okay?
That's what Kufr.
I'm fighting for someone I don't like, against
people I don't really have a problem with.
I'm gonna fight them and kill them. Why?
So that I can get some money for
myself and enjoy.
Okay. This is a logic of Kufr. It
doesn't make sense though. Okay? What's the logic
of iman?
You're gonna fight for the sake of Allah
You
want to be there. No need to shackle
somebody. Someone who's not shackled can move around
on the battlefield much easier.
There is something that's both otherworldly and also
very practical about about iman and about its
understanding.
Now coming back to what I wanna say
about this hadith
of,
a famous tabatun,
there are people who carry this massive amount
of tension around in their hearts with them.
That there is no Muslim government, there is
no caliphate, there is no sharia.
The country that I'm from, people are drinking
alcohol and doing drugs and gambling and, you
know, you know, engaging
in and
and indecency openly, and
nobody prays and nobody does this and nobody
does that.
Ah, if only we could have a government
to force people to,
pray and to,
show some sort of morality,
that would solve everything.
What is the solution? The solution is top
down that somehow the police beats you up
for not going to salat.
Okay?
If that were to be the case, then
everyone would go to salat and everything would
be just fine.
Right? This is what again, it's a more
subtle type of trust in the dunya.
Okay?
The battle is lost not outside. It's not
lost in the government. It's not lost with
the police. It's not lost with the courts.
It's not lost with the,
army. It's not lost with the judiciary. It's
not lost with the parliament. It's not lost
with the, executive branch. It's not lost with
the legislative branch. Where is the battle lost?
It's lost in the heart.
Okay? If you don't want to,
focus on bringing that that that that that
victory into the heart,
into your own heart, into the hearts of
the people first, and you don't see a
road map in which the iman has to
be there first,
and then all of these other things, they're
not unimportant. Right?
Muslims are as a as an umma obliged
to establish
justice and obliged to establish a sovereign state
that rules according to the Akham of Allah
Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala and according to the sunnah
of the Rasool
and to have an army that goes with
that, and to have an economic system that
goes with that, and to have a political
system that goes with that. Right? But that
happens on the heels of what? Imaan entering
into the hearts of people. If you think
somehow you're gonna establish the system first and
then imaan will enter into the hearts of
people, You're completely mistaken and you've trusted the
dunya. You think that there's a dunya we
means that will solve your problem.
Whereas the means to solve your problem is
not in the dunya, it's in your heart,
it's
your and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. It's your
trust and your iman and your taqwa of
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
This is why
a person like you and me
in this room. Okay?
There are many preachers that will put upon
you and upon me the guilt trip of
why is why isn't there a
a a sovereign caliphate?
Why isn't there a caliphate? And they'll use
these hadith. Right? The hadith the next hadith
of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam. Right?
We'll see them that it has to do
with the punishment for a person who dies
without having taken without having taken an oath
of fealty with with the rulers that that
person dies the death of Jahiliyyah.
That's that's that's only there if there is
a ruler to take an oath of fealty
with. Okay. If you're in a situation where
that's not there, that's not possible.
Okay. What did the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam
say?
That that that even when the people would
take the oath of fealty with him, what
would what would he say afterward? He say,
in those things that you're able to do.
Are you able to pray 5 times a
day? Yes. Are you able to come to
the Masjid for Jama'ah as much as you
can? Yes. Are you able to fast in
the month of Ramadan without cheating and taking
shortcuts with your timings and with your and
with your all of the other things? Yes.
Are you able to teach your children how
to read the Quran?
Yes. Are you even able to teach your
children the hifal of the Quran? For most
parents, you are. It's difficult. It'll cost you
money, and it will require you to, like,
get up and, like, drive your kids around
and things like that. But the answer is
yes. You are able to do that. K?
When on the day of judgment, if you
did it, you have a right to be
proud of it. If you didn't do it,
you have a right,
as it were, to feel
bad about it. I had the opportunity that
I wasted. Okay? Are you able to establish
a sovereign state?
No. No one of you in this,
in this Masjid right now is able to
do that. In fact, if all of us
got together, we could not only not establish
a sour caliphate. Okay? We couldn't even establish
any this grocery store down the down the
street. We couldn't even make that if we
wanted to.
Right? You're a doctor. Right? Masha'Allah. Right? People
think doctors make a lot of money. You're
a doctor. Right? People think you have a
PhD.
Right? Movie. You're a college educated person. The
kids
future generation, all this potential. We couldn't even
we couldn't even make a grocery store if
we wanted to get together and do it.
I'm not joking. It's not an exaggeration. If
you look at the amount of cash on
hand and the logistics that go into being
able to buy the right amount of fruits
every day so that you don't buy too
little, that you're not selling what you need,
but you don't buy too much so it
doesn't go bad and, you know, to, you
know, understand which product to order where and
what things to put on sale and what
hours to keep open. This is stuff. Not
only do we not have the material,
material
resources to do it, we don't even have
the professional expertise to do it. We're not
even smart enough. If somebody gave us, said,
okay. Shnak's
they're they they,
you know, require this much cash. I'll loan
you that much cash for a year, and
I'll give you a building and loan you
the cash to buy the product. We we
still probably couldn't run it, to be honest
with you. It's I mean, if we really
wanted to, we could work at it and
do it one day. I'm not trying to
be negative. I'm sure,
We're all smart people. But, it's not you
know, these things are not easy. Right? So
people people, they feel they feel bad. There
are certain preachers and certain movements and certain
groups. They guilt trip the heck out of
everybody to the point where they think they're
going to Jahannam because they're they're not they
haven't established the caliphate. And then that stress
causes them to think about extreme things, to
do extreme things. I'm gonna leave right now,
and I'm gonna go join
some whack
whack job group
in Northern Iraq and in Northern Syria or
in god knows whatever other place in the
desert of Libya or in the desert of
of Mauritania and and and and and, Algeria
and Mali. And we're going to,
we're just gonna start killing people until we
make this thing happen. It doesn't work that
way. Okay, everybody
who opposes you, you killed them now. There's
only like 15 people left in the dunya.
Alright? The the 15 people who are in
the dunya who want to, have a caliphate
sincerely, you killed everybody else. Only those 20,
15, 20 people are left in the world
now. Okay? Class, you're all sitting in a
room. What are you gonna do? You don't
know anybody who knows how to run a
hospital. You don't know anybody who knows how
to build a grocery store. You don't know
anybody who knows how to build a bridge
more or less repair a bridge. The one
guy you know how to repair a bridge.
The budget to repair the bridge is so
big. You have no tax base. You're not
producing anything. You're not trading with anybody.
It's completely the whole thing is, like, all
broken apart. We love telling stories about, like,
oh, if Sayyidina Umar was here, then everything
would be amazing, and we need another salah
ad Din Ayubi. By the ummah and every
in this ummah,
there's you'll be born every minute.
Go to every country of of the Muslim
world, you will see, you'll find people of
the same
of the same,
not only
righteousness but of the same ability and talent.
They're born in this ummah every minute by
the father of Allah Ta'ala
because of the shanaf of the Nabi salallahu
alaihi wa sallam. Allah ta'ala sends people like
this to the ummah by the dozens every
day. Okay? They're born every minute. If you
put one of them in front, the people
will stab him in the back. Khalas, we
have to wait now till tomorrow, till the
next one comes, and then we'll stab him
in the back also.
Right? Okay. Fine. We're not gonna stab him
in the back. You say you're a really
good person. Masha Allah. I recognize you. I'm
not gonna stab you in the back. What
are you gonna do? Are you gonna help
him? No. Are you gonna listen to him?
No. Is anyone gonna help him? Is anyone
gonna listen to him? No. In order to
be salahdin a Youbi. Right? Salahdin a Youbi
needs to have an army. That army has
to have generals.
Those generals have to have,
mid level commanders.
Those commanders have to have foot soldiers that
say we hear and we obey, that if
you would order us to ride into death,
we'll ride into it because of because of,
the love of Allah and Israel Sallallahu Alaihi
Wasallam.
That army needs to have cooks, we don't
even have anybody we don't even have anyone
who'd be willing to cook for
those people. Enough, right? Those cooks, the food
that they cook, there has to be
a revenue base in order to give that.
Okay? We have
You know, we may not be able to
the few people are here for may not
be able to
open a grocery store, right? But we have
enough money in like one saff of this
masjid probably to open a venture capital fund,
and that's not an exaggeration. We have a
lot. Allah has given us a lot, Masha'Allah.
Right? Why is it it's like pulling teeth
out of somebody's mouth? The fundraiser is going
to be tomorrow. You know what the like,
the the the the goal, the target for
the fundraiser is something like 230,000,
$240,000
between the school and between them. It's like
pulling teeth. It's like pulling teeth. Once we
have the donors that we'll be able to
do,
you know, do the thing that builds the
masjid that is there for the people to
pray and from the army of Saladin Ayubi
we can at least say, we did our
a piece of the puzzle. Okay. When there's
critical mass, when everybody is doing what they're
gonna do, then somebody who is like that,
of that righteousness, of that piety, of that
intelligence, of that hard work, of that honesty,
of that sincerity,
then when they come in the whole thing
will be become very easy.
The whole thing will become very easy. The
one thing that this ummah is never short
of is good people. K? Umma is always
gonna be short of money.
We'll we'll never have as money as much
as the kuffar do. Okay? It just it's
not gonna happen. We'll have a lot, but
we won't, you know, economically, it it never
pile up in history. It's never gonna compile.
No either. Okay? We're not going to be
superior to other people in military tactics. Even
though the Ummah was militarily ascended for large
periods of time in history, the Ottoman Empire
for centuries, the Sahaba radiAllahu anhu all the
way through the Ottoman Empire. There were large
periods of times regionally and globally where the
on land and on sea where the Muslim
was militarily ascendant. Right? But it wasn't because
of having superior technology,
superior tactics, superior numbers. Right? Always the navies
of Genoa and of Venice were always
superior to the Ottoman navies
tactically and in terms of their technology as
well.
They say that the the the Venetian shipyards
could build a galleon,
1 a day.
Can you imagine that using like pre modern,
pre modern, fabrication techniques? They they could build
a galleon like a ship that could, like,
hold, like, 300 people and sail the open
sea and cannons and all of that stuff.
Technologically, the amount of precision and craftsmanship that
that's required to do these things is something
unheard of. It would be very difficult for
people to build ships like that nowadays. Now
because we have different manufacturing
techniques, so we build other things that are
superior militarily. But in terms of craftsmanship, I
I would doubt that they're superior to things
like that. That's what they had. It's about
5 years now. Yeah. In a worship. Yeah.
I mean I mean, the worship's that we
build now are, like,
completely like juggernauts compared to even those galleons.
But the the the point is is what?
Is that they were always a hand down,
a foot down in terms of
in terms of military,
just everything.
But what was it that that got them
forward? Right? America is a military power. Okay?
That's an understatement. America is the military power
of the world. Okay? Our doctrine is that
we should have enough military power that we
should be able to fight 2 wars simultaneously
with the next two most powerful militaries,
and we should be able to beat both
of them handily,
according to projections. And we have a military
that does that. Our budget, in order to
maintain a military like that, is more than
the next 9 countries from the top 10
countries that have military spending in this world
combined.
Okay?
Even then America is not a military power.
America is not a military power. America is
an economic power. Why is it a why
is it why is it an economic power?
Because we've convinced the people if you produce
more and if you consume more
right? If you produce more and if you
consume more, this is good for you. This
is better for you. This allows more money
to flow through our system and and allows
by the modern benchmarks of economic progress. It
allows our economy. Every one American has, like,
the economic clout of, like, 10 people from
the average,
from the average rest of the world, like
like, 3 Europeans or 2 and a half
Europeans and, like, from Africa and Asia. Forget
it. It's like one person
has the economic cloud of, like, a 100
people in terms of consumption, in terms of
income. Okay?
This is what
because the the the the the aqidah
of consumption of production
has entered into the hearts of the rank
and file of Americans. Okay? So you harness
a power that's more than just a military.
You harness the power of everybody. Okay? The
only one thing that can compete with that
is what? Is iman.
It's the only thing. It's a very practical
solution. Do you understand?
So if you think you're going to build
a government or build a military or build
something that's gonna be more powerful than what
they have, you're playing the material game against
the materialist. They will beat you every time.
It's like saying to Jordan, you know, let's
1 on 1. You know? You would have
a argument with Jordan about something, and it's
like, okay. Let's settle it with 1 on
1 bastards. No. That's like a dumb
there that's that's his game. That's not your
game. That's his game. It's not your game.
K?
If he wants to if he wants to
play with you at your game, then you
have a chance of winning. If you're gonna
play with him at his game, he's gonna
beat you every time. Okay?
So remember that even though we're reading all
these ahadith regarding the
sama'a and ta'a of leadership. Right? It's what
Okay? If the only thing you're able to
do is what? Be a good person a
good attendee to the masjid.
Right? What does that mean?
Come to the prayers on time. When an
announcement is made, don't talk. Right? It's embarrassing.
Right? Taking care of orphans and of poor
people's, the
entire Ummah. Okay?
We have a guest who came.
He's helping us to fulfill our father Kifaya.
If you don't wanna give to him, you
don't have to give to him, But at
least don't, like, pull him down. Right? He's
trying to give an announcement,
and people are talking. It's embarrassing. Right?
You're not gonna be asked, why didn't you
make a khilafa? You are gonna be asked
that person came in the name of, in
my name, in the name of my Rasulullah
alaihi wa sallam. Why why were you disrespectful
when he was here? Okay?
Why were you why these are things you're
gonna be
Right? It's a double edged sword. That's a
relief from one side, that you're relieved from
the tension of those things that you weren't
able to do in the first place anyway,
but it is it is a, an obligation
and a burden from another side that there's
so much stuff that you're able to do.
Why didn't you do it? Sure. You can't
give a $150,000
to fulfill the masjid,
whatever need for their fundraiser.
You could have given a a 1,000.
You didn't give it. Why didn't you give
it? You could have given 50. You could
have given 5. You could have given a
given a dollar. Why didn't you give that
dollar?
The the prophet made their
such that a person wanted to call for
came, gave people gave what they had, and
they were not ashamed about it. They would
give there are people who gave,
one date as sadaqa. People who gave a
half a date as sadaqa. Okay?
Why? Because they're you know, it's they were
get made fun of by the munafiqeen because
of that. They weren't giving it to show
off to people. Right? They weren't even giving
it because they think that their sadaqa is
gonna make whatever army
equipped or whatever drought or famine go away
or whatever. Right? To take care of doubts
and famines and to give victory to armies,
that's Allah's job.
Your job is what? To do your part.
My job is to what? To do my
part. Right? They would give what they what
what they had, and they left the rest
of it to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. So
that is
very important to understand. Okay? There are certain
people, they're gonna tell you that that you
don't even they don't even check to see,
can you read the fatiha properly?
Do you know the basics of of of,
of tahara, and of salah, and of siam.
People ask me such basic questions, such basic
questions. I'm talking about grown men, people who
are in their fifties and sixties. Right? Things
about those things that are obligations. The first
and most important obligation of a person is
what? Their prayer comes in the hadith. That
the first thing that the person will be
taken account for on the day of judgement
is their prayer. If the prayer is the
the accounting is straight, the rest of the
accounting will be straight.
It's good that they ask finally.
I'm not trying to say bad to them.
Right? Don't be like, oh, okay. Now I'm
gonna ask him. He's gonna judge me or
whatever. Right? The fact is that all of
us, you know, there's some misplaced priorities about
a lot of these things. And so a
person needs to go and figure these things
out
first and needs to and is obliged to
do these things and will be asked about
these things. The idea is that there are
certain there are certain
obligations that are
There are individual obligations
to pray, to fast, to pay zakat, to
make Hajj if you're able to to, you
know, raise your kids properly, not to harm
other people, you know, to earn a halal
living, to eat halal food, and to drink
halal drink, etcetera, etcetera. Right? These are called
that
every person has to take care of them
for themselves.
And then there are certain food which are
they're communally
and
a group of people from every community
should take responsibility for them and then the
rest of the people should support them in
fulfilling that responsibility.
If they do it, then the
the ajer goes to the people with to
the degree the reward goes to the people
to the degree with which they participate in
the system.
And if they don't do it, then everybody
receives the sin of it. Okay? The sin
of those things. Okay? If you're concerned regarding
the
caliphate,
if you're concerned
regarding the Islamic,
rulings and laws being
implemented somewhere. The implementation of the Sharia,
concerned about whatever
these huge transnational issues. Okay?
What do you do? 1st, rectify your own
practice. Why? Because everybody rectified their own practice,
then these things will be easy to implement.
Then concern yourself with your locality, with rectifying
the practice of your locality
because if every locality concerned itself with this
rectification,
then
these things become easy. They did not just
easy, they become possible. From being impossible, they
become possible. Right? The this the store, this
panoon,
this
concept
and this
base this this basic premise
is there in sadaqa as well. Okay. Who's
the who's the people that that you're commanded
to give sadaqa to first? Who's the one
that you that get you get the most
reward for giving them sadaqa?
Your relatives.
Right? What's the idea?
If everyone took care of their family, then
there's nobody there's no need for there's no
even need for a state, a government.
Can you imagine that? Every person took care
of their relatives in the world.
Every person took care of their relatives in
the world, spiritually,
in terms of tarbia, in terms of morality,
in party moral teachings, in terms of physical
health, in terms of economic health, everybody
every family just took care of all these
things internally.
Right? What is the government gonna do? What
is the this is this is it's a
funny thing they see people say, but it's
also precept of the law. Right? They say
If the husband and wife aren't fighting with
each other, then you can't take there's no
case to take to the judge for the
judge to do anything. The judge has no
job, he's out of a job now because
there's no dispute anymore. Right? People ask me,
Sheikh, does the wife have to, take care
of the kids or does the husband have
to earn money? I see you guys can
do whatever you want to. Your wife can
earn the money, you can take care of
the you can do whatever you want to
as long as you're not doing something haram,
whatever makes you happy. Whatever makes you happy.
Work it out amongst yourselves and do it.
Okay? If you fight with each other, then
when you divorce, the judge will say, the
husband has to do this, the wife has
to do this. Why? Because it's a dispute.
And then somebody has something has to happen,
so some ruling has to happen based on
justice, not on. Right? But as long as
everybody's taking care of everything amongst themselves, there's
no need for there's no need for,
these types of things or the need for
for these hierarchical institutions radically diminished.
Right? And the ability to then implement them
is radically augmented.
Right? But, remember these hadith of the prophet
will continue from where we left off, But
I wanted to say that we have to
remember that don't take these things out of
context,
that a person that takes the burden of
the political
follies of several cumulative, like, centuries
of of of of of of of lack
of concern. And the ummah onto their own
shoulders to the point where they think that
khalaf now let's go and start, you know,
make cell phone videos of beheading people and
whatnot. That's not that's not cutting someone's head
off is not going to build a country.
It's just going to creep people out. And
if it's not done, you know, if you
did kill someone without, without without hap from
Allah Ta'ala, which is a lot of these
people are getting killed without hap, then it's
also gonna not only ruin your dunya, more
catastrophic than that, it's gonna ruin your akhilah.
You'll go to jahannam for that. This is
the opinion of Imam Malik
that the the person who,
the person who kills another person,
the person who kills another person, Allah
doesn't forgive that person. And this it comes
in the it comes in the Quran also.
Right? The only sin that a person is
promised to go to Jahannam forever,
in the Quran is what? Is murder. Right?
And the ulema always interpreted this to mean
what? That forever is a a here in
Majaz, it's a metaphor for for for something
that seems like forever, not for literally forever.
Right? But Malik considered that what? If the
murdered person forgives the murderer, then that person
will be forgiven. Allah won't forgive it.
Right? It's an opinion. There are other ulama
that have different opinions as as well that
are legitimate too. But the fact that even
even the the Quran would use such a
harsh wording with that and the fact that
the,
ulama even they would be so afraid of
this sin, right, to take someone's life away
from them because you're messing with them both
physically and spiritually. You beat someone up, they
can say, you Allah, I was in pain.
My arm broke. I couldn't go to the
basketball game. I lost my job. And these
these are all things in the dunya. You
get over these things. You kill somebody, they
you killed their chance to make tawba. You
killed their chance to do more good deeds.
You destroy you destroyed them spiritually as well.
Right? This is not a small matter. It's
not a small matter that people think that,
like, if you just kill a bunch of
people and somehow politically you're going to achieve
your ends. It doesn't work that way. Right?
To take a life, the haqq of taking
of life is is not a small matter
in our sharia, and it has to be
weighed weighed in the, scale pans. That's not
how you solve problems. How you're gonna solve
problems is by,
embodying the change you wish to see, even
if it's in a small way. If what
happens is you do your part and and
other people do their part, change will happen.
If you do your part and nobody else
does their part, then at least
That I did it in order to have
something to say, Allah, I did my part,
nobody else helped me. Allah will at least
forgive you then as a as an excuse
in front of your lord on the day
of judgment. And at least you are an
example for other people that they could learn
what the fear of Allah is because sometimes
something you do in this life, it has
a good effect after you die. Sometimes you
say good to somebody and they will act
on after you die. Sometimes you give a
good example and people will act on it
after you die. And so that people
will will may see your example in this
world that you did it alone with such
conviction. After you die, maybe somebody will take
from it and you'll receive the reward. May
Allah give all of us so much