Hosai Mojaddidi – An Agenda to Change Our Condition (Session 10)
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AI: Transcript ©
I'm on a coma Smilla Rahmanir Rahim Al hamdu lillah wa Salatu
was Salam o Allah Shiva MDA, you are more saline se than our
Mowlana Where have you been on Mohamed Salah Allahu Allah. He was
salam while he was out of your cylinder Sleeman Kathira salaam Wa
alaykum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh. Welcome everyone. In
shot law, you all are doing well, you're all safe in your homes,
comfortable with your families, and everybody's in good spirits.
We just had a holiday break. So I hope you got some chance to rest
and relax, I know tomorrow is back to the grind for many of us, but
in sha Allah, we've had a good time off. And so I'm so happy to
be spending this evening with all of you just like myself it and for
spending it with me. Now for those who may be tuning in for the first
time, I am covering a text in this session or in a series in this
series called agenda to change our condition. I have the text here in
front of me it is written by Imams a check it and Shia Hamza Yusuf.
And this text is really, as the title says about changing oneself,
and working with practical steps on how to do that. And so we've
been covering, since, I mean, several different sections of the
book. But currently, we are on the second chapter, which is titled
The Heart edits treatment, we didn't get a chance to finish this
chapter. It was two weeks ago that we last met. So we are going to
finish the second chapter and possibly, if we have time today
continue into the third chapter. So with that said, I'm gonna go
ahead and share my screen, and shallot, so just give me a second.
This middle
of
Let me present.
Alright, so
now I'm going to do a quick review. Because the second
chapter, we just started at the last session. So let's just
quickly go over this, it'll be a summary. But of course, if you
want to get the more in depth reading of this text, then or of
this chapter, please look at the previous recording from two weeks
ago. So we started off with talking about, first of all, the
title, as I said, was the heart and its treatment. This is the
beginning of the chapter. And so right away, we talked about the
that action has two different modes, the heart and the limbs.
And then what the concerns are of the heart, which is establishing a
strong belief or Arpita. And then purity of intention, sincerity,
right? If last, as we say in Arabic. So we describe those two
terms in detail here. What is belief, what is sincerity? Right?
And then we further expanded on this concept of purifying the
heart, and rectifying our intentions. And then we talked
about achieving sincerity and how we can be more sincere because of
course, this is for all of us the most important thing, it's really
about the quality of what we do, right the quantity there's many
people, even the most ethical and right they can amass a lot of
deeds. But if there's no sincerity in the heart, then that's it's all
for nothing, right? So the most important objective for us is to
have sincerity when we do anything for the sake of Allah subhanaw
taala. So how can we achieve sincerity? Well, first and
foremost, we guard our tongue, we make sure that we are truthful
speaking people, we're honest people, and then we maintain
discourse in private and public gatherings. Right, so we maintain
our way of behaving publicly, and privately. And then we went on to
talk about specifically how we can protect the tongue from falsehood
dissembling right to conceal one's true motives, feelings, or beliefs
and prevarications to deviate from the truth. So how can we do this
specifically? And so this is all from the text again, I hope you
have the text in front of you, but these slides are just meant to
guide us in this conversation. So Miss Mala sorry, it's sometimes we
get a little delay there. So um, here we are. So after we talked
about that, we went into the four sources of destructive qualities
of the tongue. And so we've talked about lying and in what situations
they are permissible and what when they are not permissible and then
backbiting FIBA which of course we know is haram. And the difference
between Libra and the Mima. Colombini right. And so we talked
about that distinction. And then this is where we, we ended on this
particular slide the slide about backbiting and you know, this is
an important to
topic because unfortunately, it is so common. It's you know, human
beings are are prone to certain things more than others. And I
would say that in our time of really being able to know so much
about people's private lives, maybe more than ever before, we
have access to information about people, right, just with a click
of a button, you can know a lot about how people live, you can see
their family life, their home life, their relationship status,
you can see their work, sometimes their vacations, the events that
they go to on the weekend. So because we have so much access to
people's private lives and their choices, the way that they live
their lifestyle, it does give us fodder, right to, to speak about
them, and to judge them. And so unfortunately, this is a very
common problem that that we have in our community. And you know,
what in the world, I would say, because, you know, there's the
whole, there's a whole industry, right, that thrives off of gossip,
the tabloid industry we see it from I mean, when I was a kid,
when we saw the magazines, when we would go into the supermarket
stores, or even television shows write shows like Entertainment
Tonight, what were they but gossip shows, they were just there to
speak about what's going on with different celebrities, but really
give a lot of information, scandals, anything that was going
on. And then throughout the years, of course, that's changed, as
mediums have changed. And so now there's TMZ, and there's different
websites that people will go to, just to get access to gossip. So
it's definitely a big part of our society to talk about people to
gossip, even if though you we don't know. You know, I mean,
these are people removed from us often we don't know them
personally. There are celebrities or politicians, athletes, singers,
but still the fact that it's such a acceptable thing, and nobody
really thinks twice of how grotesque it is how despicable it
is to spend your time judging other people, then it's
normalized. And when it's normalized, you know, so on such a
large scale, then of course, you know, in private conversations
with friends and family, you start to let your guard down and not
become you know, not be aware of yourself that what you're doing is
so detestable to Allah subhana wa Tada. So, really want to talk
about why this is such an important topic of guarding the
tongue from backbiting. So, we did distinguish though in some cases
it is permissible because the harm of not mentioning certain things
could be greater. Right. So, that's the wisdom of our deen is
that it helps us to discern when certain behaviors are acceptable
and when they're not. And so, we talked at length in the last
session about the situations where backbiting would be permissible.
So again, if you wanted to get more on that, check out the
previous recording, all of it is available on the MCC YouTube page
inshallah. So now, there's four right sources, so we only got to
number two. So the third one is where we're going to talk about
next I'm just going to wait for the slide to kick in here
on this delay,
okay, and I went ahead, okay, here we go. So argumentation for its
own sake, to dispute using sophistical reasoning, right,
sophistry, what is that it's people who just like to argue even
though their arguments are fallacious, they're all based on
fallacies. There's really no truth to them, but they just like to
argue they like to wind people up and get people angry over whatever
it is, whether it's politics or some other issue, religious
debates, there are people that do this and they enjoy it, they
thrive on it, they love it, they love to, you know, prod people
just annoy them. And so this is definitely something that is
harmful and destructive to the tongue tube engage in this type of
behavior. So when you know that you are arguing a point that you
really there's no substance to it there's no you know, nothing
really serious in your heart you're not really invested in it.
But you just want to argue for the sake of arguing you just like to
like I said we're all people up this would apply to you that this
is something you really have to watch contentiousness you know
there are people like I said, who enjoy this, they may just part of
their personality type they like to pick fights or pick arguments.
So we really want to watch our behavior if this is something that
you have been told that you do that you just argue a lot in this
doesn't necessarily have to be verbal. We see now on social
media, a lot of people who use you know the plot that the various
different platforms to just incite people just to go and you know,
they call
Some trolls, that will just go and bring up things that have nothing
to do with anything. And then they move on, they go to the next
person, the next person, because they likely have, you know,
something that's going on personally with them or they're
not happy in their life. They're they're not, you know, they're not
content with their own circumstances. So it gives them
some relief to go and bother other people. And unfortunately, of
course, this would be a disease of the heart right to to go and harm
people just because you can, or because you don't you can't
contain your own emotions, of course is unacceptable, right?
This is definitely a disease of heart. But again, we have people
who do this. So now adays, it's not just verbal argumentation, but
it can be behind a screen with a complete stranger that you don't
know about. So you want to think about that, or here, for example,
to defend a religious innovation intentionally. So sometimes,
people just because they, again, don't want to lose an argument,
they may defend a position that they that they know is not true,
just because they don't want to look embarrassed, maybe in front
of a group or another person. So they will, you know, again,
advocate for something or push for something, defend something
without while knowing that it's not the correct position to have.
So there are unfortunately, again, people whose pride and their egos
get in the way. And so argumentation just becomes a
defense that they use to protect their own pride and ego, but it is
destructive, its destructive to the spiritual heart, it's
destructive to the tongue. So here are the prophesy seven reminds us
that disputation with the Quran is disbelief. So for anybody who, for
example, will come and refute clear position in the Quran, this
is covered, right? We cannot do that, if I want some kind of that
says something, we accept it without any question that it is
hot. It is true, but there are again people nowadays anyway, who
believe, unfortunately, that Islam needs a reform and that the Quran
needs a reform. And so they apply their own whims, desires,
interpretations to ideas, and they begin to dis, you know, they they
spread messages that completely disagree or are in opposition to
everything in Islam and the Orthodox positions in Islam, and
they still call themselves Muslim. So we have to be very careful of
these people, because they may claim to be Muslim, but if they
are assuming to know better or to, to think that they, their
interpretation of something that is clearly, you know, been as a
consensus about is is correct. We have to be very careful if people
like that, may Allah protect us from becoming people like that,
and may Allah have that protect us from being influenced by people
like that, we have to do our best to guard our heart and our Eman,
which is why it's so important to make sure that we take from the
correct sources from teachers who have been trained, who have the
Senate, the the chain of transmission, that you know, that
they have gone through the proper training, because nowadays,
anybody can claim to be a teacher or scholar or a chef, just because
they, you know, can read Arabic or they have, they just claim it. And
unfortunately, this is very common. I know, people public
figures who this is what they do, and they are very controversial in
certain community groups, because they will, for example, say, you
know, the hijab is not something that is farted on women, right,
and it's, and then they'll interpret the verses of the of
hijab in their own way. And it causes a lot of problems in
families and marriages, because one person may take this, this
person as an authority, and so it just causes a lot of problems. But
the clear sign for all of us is that when someone goes against the
edge of our of our scholarship, and Islam and goes against the
majority opinion on things, we should definitely see that as a
red flag, no matter what they assume, in terms of their
credentials, just know that right away, that is a sign of some
serious problem because, again, our deen has been protected and
preserved over all these centuries, because of the Senate
because we have respected this chain. And so to break from that
chain and to think that you know better and to presume that, again,
Islam needs some type of reformation or the Buddha is just
Cofer. So we stay away from that type of thinking. And we asked his
father, to protect us from that. So that was the third destructive
quality of the tongue. Now, the fourth is mirthful
jesting on serious occasions, right jesting, making light of
joking around of a serious matter. And this is something again, very
problematic in our society at large in our world at large. We
live in a time where, you know, it's a time where people really
take things that are very serious lightly. And it's, it's, you know,
memes, for example, you see all this joking, inappropriate
mockery, which is haram in Islam. All of this is very common now
very normalized behavior, you see it every day, if you open up your
email or your, you know, browser to check news, likely, you will
see some form of this, of just, you know, not really taking things
seriously or taking a very serious matter. And then, as we said,
making a joke of it, making light of it. So we have to, you know,
ask for protection from that, that there is a time and place for
everything, and we do not, you know, lose comportment lose our,
our adab in different environments are with different people in
different scenarios, just because we have this internal sort of, you
know, this impulse to joke around and so we have to regulate and
this is why it's so important to learn to regulate yourself so that
you're not caught in those moments where, you know, you're being
wholly inappropriate in a situation right. And this is
unfortunately again, very, very common. So here, the process and
reminds us right, a beautiful quality in someone's practice of
Islam is minding his or her own business, and hosting Islami,
Turku, Mallya, Annie, right? So beautiful Hadith that we should
all internalize to really try not to get involved in other people's
business, not to ask or probe or pry into the private personal
affairs of other people because it's those questions that open the
door. Oftentimes for the gossiping, the backbiting,
arguments, argumentation for the inappropriate joking, teasing,
taunting mockery of other people, right. So sometimes it's just best
to, again only to take your yourself seriously and to take the
discussions that you engage in seriously to take the the, the
gatherings that you have, or the people that you're with. And those
times where you're you're speaking or just engaging with other people
to take those moments very seriously. And to, to be aware of
yourself so that you don't, again, fall into all of these really
distract a destructive behavior. So
these are the four sources of destructive quality. So let's go
ahead and look at what's next are still on by the way, chapter two,
let me just look at the book here to let those who do have the text,
know where we are. Oh, there are actually some other Hadith here.
Let me mention
why the Abu Bakr said and this goes back to the previous slide
here, where we talked about mirthful jesting, he said, I once
heard mm after tushy say that the Joker is an ignorant fool, because
because Allah revealed to us a dialogue between the children of
Israel and Moses upon Mbps. Do you take us as the brunt of a joke as
the children of Israel and Mossad I said, I'm replied, He said this,
right. So he said, I seek refuge in Allah that I should be of the
ignorant ones. So he took this accusation from the you know,
Venezuela children, so that, that it was such an insult like that he
was seeking Allah subhanaw taala for protection from or refuge and
Allah from from being amongst the ignorant ones. So this was the
commentary of Imam of the sushi and this was on page 23, again of
the text. And then, by the way, I could also said it would seem to
me that if the answer concerns a matter related to religion than it
is ignorance, but if it was some other concern, that it is merely
speech, its ruling as its ruling, and its characteristic is defined
by what it contains. So again, just you know, discussing
the how to distinguish between something that is stated out of
ignorance or otherwise. And then he said, or then the text
continues, and it says after we've purified our hearts, from other
than Allah in our tongues from the aforementioned faults, then we
have established firm foundations for divine protection. The next
step so now again, we're this is a process right? So we're looking at
all the different steps so the next step on the journey towards
sincerity is develop.
hoping concern for the rest of our responsibilities. Among those we
should focus on ensuring the following two essentials the five
foundations of religion, the five pillars of Islam, and avoiding
mortal sins the Kabbalah and vigilantly. So, again, once we've
done this work this deep internal spiritual work, right, where we're
really trying to look at our behavior and change our behavior,
then this would be the next step is that we are
focusing on the five pillars and avoiding the Cabal which are the
the enormity of the large sentence, right? Allah Subhana
Allah says if you avoid what has been prohibited for you from the
enormities and we will cover over any wrongs. So Inshallah, if we
are vigilant in protecting ourselves from doing any of the
major haram, that Insha Allah, Allah will protect us and cover us
from other wrongs. And so then, the text goes on to say none truly
knows the mortal sins with any certainty except Allah indeed, he
has concealed them. Among the prohibited matters. However, some
of the masters of knowledge, have gathered them and codified them
for us, they tally 17 in number, abandoning the major sins makes it
easier for one to leave lesser wrongs. And that's a really
important point. I mean, if you think about it, if you're working
so diligently and vigilantly to protect yourself from the 17 major
sins, then you will Inshallah, as a byproduct of that vigilance,
guard yourself from the lesser sin. So it's really, you know, a
two for one in many cases, just be vigilant about your heart, protect
your limbs, protect your time and protect yourself and inshallah the
frivolous or the smaller deeds, misdeeds mistakes, and those will
kind of just go away as well. Right. So then
he says, likewise, the lesser wrongs, that one commits will be
removed from one's record through ritual, prayers, washings, the
Hajj and a lesser pill, pilgrimage, Subhan Allah and
that's out of the generosity and rabbit hole was part of that, just
by doing some of these ritual acts that we do in order to do other
acts, for example, we'll do it right, we know that when we make
will do that our sins are falling as the water drops, right? That is
the Mercy of Allah subhanaw taala. But how many of us really take
that into account, every time we make will do that we're actually
imagining that happening, right? So some of these things are just
given to us without us even being aware of it or having it, you
know, in the forefront of our minds, right, but it's still
happening. So Allah out of his generosity gives us all of this
mercy and, you know, and forgives us of so many sins just by doing
these things, right. And then the prompts I sent him said one daily
prayer to the next, and one Friday prayer to the next, remit, wrong
actions, as long as enormities are avoided SubhanAllah. So every
single day, that we are able to successfully complete our prayers,
one after the other after the other after the other, and then in
between, we're not engaging in any of the cabal of the larger sins or
the heavier weightier sins. Again, as the text says, most of those
things are known only to Allah subhanaw taala some of them have
clearly been stipulated for us, but truly only Allah would know,
right? So if we protect our hearts from doing those major, major
sins, from prayer to prayer, all those Ponta is removing our sins
for us. And in the same vein, is from Jamal Jamal if we do the same
thing right so somehow a lot again out of the generosity of Allah
subhanaw taala.
So,
now the next section here is on the enumeration of the enormities
Okay, so, this is where we now talk about what these major sins
are that our scholars have put it put it in you know, codified for
us and put it in this list. So the very first one the most important
one of course we know is schicke is associating any partners with
Allah subhana wa Tada. This is according to one narration, the
one send that Allah's Prophet will not forgive. And there are other
narrations, of course, it speaks also to the to the heaviness of
the sin and that it is it's at the top of the list, right? It's the
greatest sin that we can make is to in any way attribute a partner
as well as profit. Oh, so that's right away. We know this
inshallah. We all know it because
Though hate is part of our creed, inshallah we all understand this
clearly. The next is perseverance in wrongs even when lesser one.
So, this is important because when we commit sins habitually, even
when they're small, they turn into enormities. Right, so they pile up
you want to think about that. But smaller sins like grains of sand,
can eventually turn into mountains before us if we're not careful. So
we have to be careful of habituating to sin and to making,
being becoming heedless and reckless, and not taking ourselves
into account when we do sin. Toba should be part of our every single
day experience. Because we should even if we don't actively sin, we
should remember that we sin, sometimes passively, we sin when
we're unaware of it. So when we make Toba regularly, every day, we
are mindful of ourselves and inshallah that will prevent us
from engaging in sins, especially when we know that it's sinful
behavior. So really important to make sure that we don't habituate
to sins, even if they're small, despair of the mercy of online
Despair is a really important one. Because, you know, again, we live
in a time where anxiety disorders, mental health issues are on the
rise, and a lot of people struggle with,
with their circumstances and trying to, you know, just find
peace in life, a lot of problems are happening. And it's because
the nature of our world, I mean, if you look at the world, it's
just, it's become an increasingly difficult place for people to find
some semblance of peace. It's so all of these things are, are
understandable, given the intensity of our world, right,
there's a lot of evil in our world, a lot of darkness in our
world. So with that, though, there is something that has happened in
terms of this concept of despair. And, you know, it's a term that is
thrown around lightly. But we have to understand that as Muslims, we
do not despair. And it's actually considered a great, it's a haram
to have despair, because we should never lose hope and Allah subhanaw
taala. So again, people who struggle with really serious
mental health issues, we're not speaking about that. But people
who kind of go through grief or stress or some problem in life,
and they immediately default into losing hope, we would say this
would be, you know, something that you don't want to normalize. And
you certainly don't want to make acceptable just because you're
having a difficult time you want to challenge that, and, you know,
be bothered by it, and want to remove it that I don't want to
feel this way, I want to always have the best opinion of Allah
subhanaw taala not to think that my circumstances hopeless, in
dunya, or an afterthought, some people for example, sin, and they
do major sins, and then they lose hope that they will ever be saved.
This is for me bliss, was was 100%, because nobody should feel
that way. And that's why we have so many Hadith rose pot that is
reminding us over and over and over again, not to put limits on
his mercy, you know, if you can forgive a man a mass murderer, you
know that we should not assume anything about Allah subhanaw
taala. And it's his in his decision alone, right? But to have
hope, because that is a better position than to lose hope. Right?
So we're going to be very careful about that. And then also a false
sense of security from the design of Allah, this would be you know,
the opposite issue of people just assuming that everything is going
to go in their favor, just because right self righteousness is a
really serious disease of the heart arrogance of righteousness,
assuming that you kind of have it and you have made and that, you
know, it gives you this false sense of security with Allah you
we always have to, you know, find that balance of hope with Allah
but also fear and all and maintaining that respect and that,
that uncertainty, because we don't see ours or our deeds as being
good enough as worthy, right, it's a humility. It's humility before
Allah subhanaw taala. In recognizing that no matter what we
do, we could spend our entire existence worshiping all those
parts out perfectly, but it will not ever be enough to show
gratitude for all of the blessings He's given us. When you have that
understanding. Then you don't assume that
You are special or that you have some special rank with Allah, but
you always, you know, kind of
are walking between those two states, right or hanging in the
balance between those two states of hope, and fear. So those are
the four enormities of the heart, right? And this is why it's so
important to have those really deep internal conversations with
oneself to question and check in. These don't have to necessarily be
verbalized to anybody. It's really about ourselves, holding ourselves
accountable, and being truthful with ourselves, right?
So the four enormities of the tongue, are the false testimony.
So this is very serious. If you ever testify against someone or
some, you know, in a situation you find yourself but you are not
being truthful. And you potentially ruin another person's
life or livelihood. Or their you know, many scenarios would apply
to this. It's this is huge. It's absolutely haram, we have to be
people of truth and honesty, we cannot. Anyway, you know, make
claims about other people. And this is why it's so dangerous,
because, you know, there have been several public cases, right, of
people making allegations against someone. And then later on, it
turns out that they were untrue, and it was false report and all
the biller, we have to seek protection, because this is
something that people fall into sometimes because of greed, or
they have some other ulterior motive and they think that you
know, they can, they can justify doing it, because oh, you know,
it'll serve a better purpose, I'll be able to do good. But you could
there's, you could put so many different spins on it. But at the
end of the day, it's haram, you cannot bear false testimony,
accusing others of adultery. So this would kind of fall into the
same category if you are lying, but also, if you're basing it on
just suspicion, right? I mean, you may see a situation and presume
something. But without evidence, and without really, following the,
you know, the, the the rules, I guess, of situation like that,
right? In Islam, we know there has to be a certain number of
witnesses, it has to be done a certain way, before you make an
accusation publicly about someone doing something like that. But
you'll find people, again, making light of these things. And they
don't think twice, they let their emotions get the best of them.
They'll pick up the phone call, and I saw your husband, I saw your
wife or I saw somebody, whoever, it's either a gossip train that
continues or it's actually getting involved and meddling in another
person's relationship, all based on suspicion, not true facts, or
anything that could be verifiable by another witness or other
witnesses, right. So we have to be very careful of ever making those
accusations, sinful oaths, you know, again, if you're promising
or vowing to do things that are haram making oaths, you want to be
very careful, this is totally impermissible. I mean, we have to,
you know, first of all, be careful with, you know, what, what we you
know, how we use our tongue in this way, but also what our hearts
are aligning with, right? So you want to be careful that you're not
being loyal to or showing some allegiance to something that, you
know, is clearly haram. So not making oaths and vows and promises
that that are not that are that are simply haram and wrong, right.
And then magic, we know, if you're, you know, seeing people
who are promising to look into your future, or you know, their
reading cards or tea leaves, this was, you know, this is very
popular in some cultures more than others to go to people like that,
you know, and unfortunately, in many of our cultures, there's a
presumption right away that if something isn't going your way, in
life, maybe you've missed some opportunities, some things haven't
worked out for you, that it must immediately be Sahara magic. And
then that leads in some cases, ironically, it leads people to
seek out people who do seek ahead or who are who are known to dabble
in, in black magic to seek revenge or to you know, it's just it's
it's really mind boggling, but we have to seek protection from all
those paths forever and get engaging and things like that. So
those are the
the four enormities of the heart and of the tongue. So let's go to
the next slide here. I want to get through this list because I'll
leave some time for question.
shins, but, um, okay, so the next are the three enormities of the
stomach.
And so again, look at the sections and how they have separated each
section and inshallah to to get to this total of 17. Right. So right
away, of course, we know intake of alcohol or intoxicants of any
type, if you are intentionally digesting or consuming something
that you know, has been spiked or is haram or is in any way, just
not permissible, because there's some, you know, level or of
intoxicant in there. You should seek refuge from a lot. So it's
definitely haram to do that, willingly knowingly. And so that's
what the first one consuming the wealth of an orphan, how many is
in the Quran does Allah warn people of doing this, but
unfortunately, it happens, there are many people who are caught up
in this type of behavior in countries and places where there
are actual orphans, and they may have something of their own. But
also, if you think about inheritance disputes, and you
know, other matters, that get into family politics, there are people
who are out of the biller, May Allah guide them and forgive them,
but they let their greed get the best of them, and they will, you
know, scam, sometimes their own family members in those scenarios.
So it can be in both ways, you know, actual taking the wealth and
other ways just scheming and plotting to take the wealth of
someone who who again, would be categorized as an orphan, taking
interest on wealth. So this is I, you know, I'm not gonna get into
all the debates about this, because
there are different opinions on on that when it comes to Muslims
living, you know, minority Muslims living in non Muslim lands, and
there's just a lot of different opinions on on interest in
general.
But, for the most part, we all know that we should avoid it,
right? I mean, we have some of us have credit cards you might have,
take a loan here and there. And that's when you have to just, you
know, follow the positions of whichever scholars that you listen
to, or that you follow, they may have different opinions on that.
But most of the scholars regardless will always advise that
it's best to avoid any type of interest is and because it will,
you know, eat away at the baraka of our wealth. So it's best to
always try to avoid it, but the specifics of it again, you can
defer to the scholars, that you that you follow and see what their
positions are.
The enormities of the *. So this is, again, another one that
we should be very mindful of, because it's everywhere it's
happening. We live again, in a time where everything's inverted,
in terms of what's normal in society is oftentimes, haram. You
know, it's it's just it's a very strange time. But these things
having illicit relationships outside of marriage, premarital
* is so normalized in this society, nobody, very few people
think of it even as an issue. And if you are on the opposite side,
and you have conservative values, they will look at you like you're
crazy. And there's something wrong with you. And this isn't just with
adults, but you find even I work with teens. And I see what's going
on in teen culture. And it's even pervasive in teen culture that if
you haven't had sexual relations, by the time you're a senior, or
even a junior, maybe it's changed and now it's even a freshman or
sophomore. I don't know how early the pressure is to be sexually
active. But I certainly I know certainly that there is a lot of
pressure, and that you are considered weird. Or you're
treated as if there's something wrong with you. If you choose not
to participate and you want to be in or just protect yourself and be
be chaste. People will look at you like there's something wrong with
you. So this is very common. And that's why we can't have you know,
this attitude that Oh, Muslims don't do these things. No, Muslims
are absolutely doing these things. And that's why a show like Rami,
you know, this show that got very popular in one and Emmy, I think
and probably other awards. It's it's very open about, you know,
young Muslim singles that are engaging in this type of behavior.
As far as I know, I haven't seen the show. But I heard enough to
know that that is a very popular ongoing theme in the show. And so
a lot of Muslims are fans of a show by the way. It's not that
it's just non Muslims watching Muslims do these things, or you
know, depicting Muslims doing these things. It's actually very
popular with the younger Muslim American or what
Certain Muslim generation, because they likely identify with it or
they have also adopted the same attitude about these behaviors. So
we have to take it seriously that these are very, you know, their
normals are haram. And we know just looking at Sharia and the
rules and the positions about, you know, these matters where what's
acceptable, what's not, we know that premarital * is forbidden.
Of course, adultery is a whole other topic, but that would also
be included because it's illicit relations. And so Alyssa is
premarital or adulterous. And then, of course, homosexual acts.
This is now also very common, and very, it's increasingly becoming
normalized.
In society, just yesterday, on a group thread that I'm on, someone
posted, that
a sister was inquiring about how to navigate a situation in which a
young Muslim girl has come out as gay and wants to introduce her
partner to her family. And, you know, this is we hear these
stories now more and more with the younger generation, because their
generation has accepted the idea that gender, and you know, and
sexuality are fluid. And they don't believe that there's a
binary, that, you know, this is what unfortunately, they've been
conditioned to think in, you know, it's indoctrination, it starts,
sometimes very young. But we have to just open our eyes and accept
the reality that we live in a time where this is part of the
progressive social movement, the left the liberal movement, to
normalize these things as far as gender and sexuality is concerned,
and therefore,
that becomes the, you know, resounding message to everybody
that it's not a big deal, you know, you kind of just go with the
flow, do what you feel, why do you have to apply some moral lens to
it, you're born this way, you know, these are the messages that
our youth are hearing. So what that does, when you hear that
throughout school, and I working with teens, I have had to
intervene in situations where junior high school students have
had a, you know, conflict or with their gender or sexual identity,
because of these discussions happening around them with their
friends, or just with the celebrities they follow, or the
salt, you know, the singers and the different shows and programs
are watching. It's so normal. And, you know, if you really are paying
attention they had, I think it was 2015 that they call the year of
the trans, right, so the transgender year where a lot of
transgender celebrities were coming out like Caitlyn Jenner,
and then I think it's Laverne, Fox, or Cox, I can't remember her
name. But there are others as well who are RuPaul. We know right,
people who are transgender, and they became very popular during
that year of 2015. So since then, if you are paying attention,
you'll notice that there is much more representation of the LGBTQ
community in popular television, popular shows, music cartoons,
now, there's a you know, pressure to make sure that there's
representation, even if it's just a character in the background,
you'll see some times, you know, two moms, you know, pushing a
stroller or something like that it you know, in the backdrop of of a
scene in a cartoon, so the messaging is there. It's quite
prevalent, and it's continuously increasing. So you can see why
people are accepting this as being normal, even though it conflicts
with their faith values. And I have actually worked with groups,
including teens, who have a really difficult time reconciling what
the Faith says, and then having friends who are part of the LGBTQ
community, or just hearing the messages that come from the left
or the social movement that says it's all fine and respect people.
And of course, we should we should respect people regardless of their
orientation, regardless of their faith. That's just a principle of
our faith is just to treat people well and be always civil. So
that's not nobody's arguing that but I think they have a hard time
trying to reconcile. You know, how the faith is very clear about
these things. And then society says no, there's nothing wrong
with it. So
People are having a hard time with this issue, but we have to be
strong as Muslims, and be confident to stand up for our
values and our principles without, you know, getting
swept into, or pulled into any types of, of traps that may be set
up for us. You know, it's unfair, I think, in my personal opinion,
that someone who chooses to practice their faith, whether
they're Muslim, Christian, Jewish, or any other faith tradition that
doesn't accept these acts as being permissible that they are treated
as though they're bigots, and that there's something, you know,
inherently wrong with them, because they don't agree with that
particular lifestyle. I don't accept that. And I don't think we
should, I think we should just be people that say, we reserve the
right to practice our faith and to hold on to our faith values,
without having to compromise or capitulate to political agendas
and movements. And yet, in the same, you know, breath, we can
say, we respect all people's rights to, to live and to exist in
peace and harmony and not to be harmed. And that's it, leave it
at, let's just have mutual respect, you live your way, I'm
not going to bother you, and don't, and you do the same for me,
don't dictate to me what I should believe in, and don't label me as
being someone who is a bigot, or prejudice. Just because I have my
beliefs. No, because, you know, as Muslims, we treat people
Inshallah, based on the content of their character, how can you know
whether or not they're good people, and just basic civility,
we're not looking at personal choices and lifestyle choices. And
we should that should be extended to us as well, you know, just have
mutual respect for people. But going back to the topic of is it
an enormity? Yes, we believe that those acts are haram. And that's
it. I mean, that's just there's not really no dispute about it
from the Orthodox position of Islam, you might find other people
who claim that there's other positions, but Orthodoxy is
pretty. That's it, it's it is what it is. So that's the two normal
use of the * then we move on to the enormities of the hands.
Of course, these are pretty obvious, right? Killing and theft,
we know our KEBA and are haram. So males that protect us from ever
falling into those behaviors, human beings, of all stripes and
backgrounds have unfortunately found themselves in these
situations. So we should never think that we're above it, we
should always ask a lot for protection, right? From ever
falling into scenarios like that, or situations like that, where
emotions lead us to do something so heinous as to, as to kill, take
a life or to take property that's not ours, or something that's not
ours. And Allah protect us from that.
The remaining and remedies are,
let's see here. Just give me a second.
Oh, went too far.
So the enormity of the feat is just one fleeing from battle,
right. So we know that, you know, the deflectors. That's what
compromised the Muslims and ahead and other battles. So we know that
it's over time this is unfortunately it has happened
where people have deflected, they've gotten afraid or some
other reason. So this would be definitely haram. And then of the
whole body. This is, you know, a really serious one for us all to
think about.
The disrespect of parents. So, so important, again, because it's so
relevant in our time, when we see that this idea of parental
authority being constantly undermined, and parents being
presented as you know, just fools buffoons, easily gullible. This is
what a lot of our films are cartoons, even the characters in
the cartoons, you know, The Simpsons, you look at the parent,
parent, you know, characters, they're usually very dull, dull,
you know, just not very bright.
And there's a lot of undermining of the authority that happens. So
it's very common. And this is one of the signs of the end of time as
well right there. The process I'm warned us about. So we have to
look to how we treat our own parents if they are living in
Sharla. One or both. If they're still living, how do we speak to
them? Right, do we what tone of
Voice do we use with them. And it's understandable that because I
know several friends and people who are my age, who are caring for
elderly parents or parents with, you know, just really difficult
circumstances and tough personalities, and you know,
they're not, they're set in their ways, you know, some of our
parents are just really set in their ways. And they're, they're
not always willing to compromise with their young adult children.
And so I've had to, in many, many times in my life, help my friends
or other people I know, deal with calming themselves down when
they're talking with their parents, because they get so
angered easily and so frustrated, you know, it's, it's a time where
the generational gap really is common, you see, not just, you
know, because of the different circuits or times that each the
parent and the child were raised in, but also just the age, you
know, the, with age comes a lot of challenges, right, you have health
challenges, our parents are oftentimes taking medications, or
they have their own long history of trauma, PTSD, God knows, you
know, and a lot of our parents, if we're coming from cultures and
backgrounds, where they saw a lot of hardships and strife, they
likely do have residual emotional baggage from all of that. And so,
we have to bear in mind that, you know, the, to just be more as
patient as we possibly can, and to, to know how to deal with those
situations by regulating our emotions, because that's really
the only thing we can control. Right? So anyway, that's like a
larger discussion. But the point is, is just to be very mindful of
how we speak to our parents, and the,
and also how we teach our children to respect us.
Always, in my opinion, it's very effective to always attach
the, you know, the respect that our parents give, or excuse me,
our children give to us as parents to Allah subhanaw taala, that it's
really kind of that that's the trajectory, right? It's not that
we are, that all of their all their respect, should just stay
with us. But it's more it's like a conduit, right? If they can
respect us, and treat us well and be mindful of our rules and obey,
then it will make their spiritual path easier. And so framing it
that way, I think also keeps us accountable as parents so that we
make sure we don't go over the boundaries, because there are
parents who certainly,
you know, are excessive, and can be too harsh, or just take
advantage of the relationship with their kids. And because they think
that they have that right. But when you look at parenting, the
prophetic examples, what parenting and Islam is all about, it really
is about Allah subhanaw taala Our objective is to raise strong moral
agents, you know, servants of Allah subhana, WA Tada, we can't
get in their way we shouldn't get in their way. We're just a means
to an end which is in sha Allah that they have strong obedience to
Allah subhana wa Tada and we can give them that tarbiyah in our
homes, and as long as they're with us, so that's should be the
objective in sha Allah.
Okay, so the final comments here, one should avoid all the wrongs
that relate to or affect any of Allah servants, because those
wrongs can be possible can be, excuse me, impossible to rectify,
as for what remains between an individual and a lot of this is
less harmful to others and as much easier so this is an important
distinction to that any of these sins that have to do with wronging
other human beings or another person are far heavier on the
scale than the things that we do. Where we wrong ourselves, we
shouldn't do either, as best as we can, we should always guard
ourselves from either but to know that when we engage in behavior
that harms other people, this will be
likely much heavier on our scales against us. So may Allah protect
us from all of this inshallah? I mean? So I'm going to stop here.
We didn't, we did. This is the end. By the way, I'm pretty sure I
don't think there's any more after this of chapter two. So our next
session, we will, yes, we'll do chapter three here, which is
practical steps to change our condition. Okay. So let me go
ahead and stops the screen.
And I will now look to the comments to see if there's any
Bismillah
I usually don't see any side rock. You guys are just shy.
But I'm gonna look anyway.
Michelle, I can sit down but I have to lie. But I get to I see
some people. So I'm on a call. Thank you for your comments on the
Facebook page anyway. And now I will check YouTube as I always do,
I try to cover both so that I don't miss anything.
Just give me a second here. Here we go.
See if there's any questions. See,
sorry. Okay, so I'm doing um
let's see. I see comments. I'm on a calm
or they may be gone.
Okay, good comments here someone I can very nice comments. Thank you.
I see.
Have the law. I just see some some nice comments and systems and
other things, but I don't see any questions. So 100 law. Thank you.
Thank you all for tuning in. Again. It's always an honor that
you spend your evenings, Sunday evenings with us here at MCC. So
thank you so much. Inshallah, two weeks from now we will continue
the discussion with chapter three. I look forward to seeing you guys
there. We'll go ahead and end into our
sabbatical a whole behind the crescendo and that in Ireland and
stuff we're going to take along the syllabus that I'm about I
gotta say that I will never have even Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa
sallam while he was happy with seven to seven Kathira Bismillah R
Rahman r Rahim Allah Azza in Santa Fe hawser Illa letting me know I'm
in Saudi Haiti with the west so we'll happy whatever. So this
summer at hamdulillah circle Haleem Joseph Moorhead and thank
you so much.
Thank you so much. I'm looking at some of the other comments that
came in. Thank you. I appreciate your feedback, barnacle Luffy calm
and I wish you all a beautiful rest of your evening. And a great
start to your week and sha Allah may Allah protect all of you and
bless all of you and your families and loved ones to Xochimilco
hadn't have a good evening. So I want to come home to law here but
I can't