Jamal Badawi – Moral Teachings of Islam 6 – The Lawful And Unlawful

			In the name of God the benevolent the Merciful, the creator and Sustainer of the universe, peace and
blessings forever upon his servant and messenger Muhammad amin, I bear witness that there is no god
worthy of worship except for the one true God. And I bear witness that Muhammad is the Messenger,
and servant of God, I greet you all of the viewers of Islam and focus program with the universal
greetings of peace. The greetings that have been used by all of the profits from Abraham, the
Prophet Muhammad peace be upon all of them assalamu Aleikum, which means peace beyond to you. Today
we have our sixth program in our series on the moral teachings of Islam. And more specifically,
		

			we'll be continuing with the discussion that we started last week dealing with the characteristics
of the moral code of Islam. I have joining me on the program as usual. Dr. Jamal betawi of St.
Mary's University, brother Jamal Assalamu alaikum.
		

			I wonder if perhaps you could just take a few minutes to go back to recap, the main points that we
covered last week in our introduction of the program where we started dealing with the
characteristics of the moral code.
		

			Perhaps you can do that easier and faster by referring back to the
		

			the chart we used last time.
		

			The first four points basically, we covered one was the question about the goals and objectives of
Islamic moral code. And we indicated that the main purpose of the Islamic moral code is to build up
an authentic personality which lives by faith in God, which is nourished by Divine Love, which
accepts responsibility as the trustee of godliness. And then we said from the aggregate of those
personalities, possessing those qualities, you can have a community of believers, which are there is
the good and forbid evil. The second main point was a discussion of the relationship between the
Islamic moral code and faith. And we said that the Quran makes it clear that one cannot pay lip
		

			service to faith or simply repeat, I believe, or I do. But there are other as the Quran always puts
it, mmm Mohammed Salah had those who believe and did good deeds, that there's always correlation
between belief and good deed. And that the acid test of faith is that that faith should be
translated into reality into concrete actions, including following the moral code. The first point
was the relationship between the moral code and worship.
		

			Again, we said that these are not necessarily contradictory things they should go hand in hand, but
neither can replace the others. In other words, a person cannot claim to be possessing good moral
qualities while his or she is neglecting the duties towards God in terms of acts of worship. But on
the other hand, one cannot get busy in the ritualistic performance of acts of worship. While the
moral behavior in other areas of life does not seem to be consistent with that, these are both wrong
interpretations, but both faith or moral code and worship should go hand in hand.
		

			The fourth and last point we can discuss last time was the extent of stability of the standard moral
code. And he said that, if we mean by the moral code, the foundations, the objectives, the basis of
general principles, then these principles are not subject to any change by any human being because
they are not time bound. They are broad principles that are applicable at all times, that God out of
his infinite wisdom, and his knowledge of the past, present. And future has already prescribed these
things. So we have no right to claim more expertise than garden say while this is out of date. But
in some other details or applications extension of application, we could do that without violating
		

			those principles.
		

			I'd like to move on then in our discussion and move on to another area which is next on your chart
that has to do with the extensive coverage of Islamic wonder fractions that explained for us which
aspects does it emphasize? Well, to put it in a very brief way, very comprehensive when you talk
about
		

			The moral code in Islam,
		

			it is not a kind of code that is confined to personal behaviors, spiritual aspects or limited
compartments of human life. It encompasses the entirety of human life. Not only this, the moral code
in Islam is not a separate compartment, you don't say Alright, this is economic life, this is
political life. And this is more life. There's nothing like that. In Islam, the best way to describe
it is that it is fused. See, the moral code of Islam is fused into all aspects of life, whether it's
on personal, social, economic, or political level, there is no distinction in Islam whatsoever.
Between so called religious life and secular life, people sometimes say businesses business while
		

			mortality, keep it for yourself or keep it for your simple, that's not the case in Islam. Everything
ties together and is clearly integrated. For the Muslim, it doesn't make any sense. For example, to
pray, try for a couple of week, a couple of hours per week or per day, and then pre try on God's
creature for the rest of the week or that. So that doesn't make any sense. If a person really is
expressing his faith in God, his commitment to his moral code, then it doesn't matter whether that's
in the temple, or a place of worship, or at home at work in any other place. In other words, the
moral code is not really something that a person leaves at the doors of the place of worship, but
		

			it's kind of all over. That's what I use the term he used in the various aspects of life. Another
aspect in terms of coverage, which I think would be of interest also, is the fact that the moral
code in Islam covers and entails everybody. There is no particular group or class of people who may
be exempt from
		

			the implementation or obligation to follow that model. Just to illustrate that I'll give you a brief
story that happened in the lifetime of Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him, he was in debt. And his
creditors was a fellow who was a little bit too rough and rather impolite. And he came to the
Prophet peace be upon him in front of the companions. And he started talking to him very harshly
that you people are not paying us, you know, you.
		

			You people are your summary is always like that you don't pay which is due on you. So one of the
companions of the Prophet got very angry at this route treatment of the Prophet, and he's just
started getting jumpy to punish him. So the Prophet, Muhammad peace be upon him said, Wait, both of
us need something better than what you intended to do. That is attacking democracy, we both need
		

			your advice, you should advise him to ask politely, and he should advise me to be patient and to pay
him his job, right. So when we talk about motor code that does not only cover all aspects of life,
but it's covered also all individuals who claim to belong sincerely to that community of believers,
nobody is exempt from this moral obligations.
		

			Now, one of the difficulties that is often race and many people find that the various moral codes
that exist tend to be very general, and the lack
		

			of specificity and the gender sometimes it's been suggested that they're a bit vague.
		

			How does the moral code of Islam respond to this kind of difficulty, when Unfortunately, this is not
the case in the moral code of Islam. And that's based on a very simple reason, that as we mentioned,
the previous series, I think, a year ago, we're discussing, for example, the concept of prophethood,
and that all prophets carried basically the same message. And that Islam in the final form, or as
completed through Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him was really culminated and specified and made
more concrete and more clear, so that it provides clear guidance to humanity.
		

			So on the basis of that, you find that in the case of moral code of Islam,
		

			there are lots of examples lots of illustrations, both in the Quran, the Word of God, scriptures, as
well as the saying deeds and approval of Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him to show exactly how that
moral code can be implemented. In other words, in Islam, it does not simply say to the follower, be
good, be virtuous, be moral, well, just like a motherhood statement, but it says Be good, and that's
how you could be good, be virtuous, and this are x, y, z x, that could help you become more
virtuous.
		

			I have a chart here that also shows the unique way that Islamic jurisprudence deal with this
specificity or clarity of the moral code. Not only
		

			Talking about what is permissible and what is not permissible or what is lawful or unlawful. But as
you see in the chart here, there are five degrees. In fact,
		

			the first line here which is the baseline, are the things which are called an Islamic jurisprudence
MOBA
		

			which I translated as permissible.
		

			That's the baseline, okay. permissible are things which are not specified as being particularly
mandatory or required or even recommended, nor are they regarded as the testable or
		

			forbidden or unlawful.
		

			For example, in person by likes a particular type of food, which is permissible after all, there is
no explicit prohibition, a person likes gardening or carpentry or whatever, you cannot say that it
is religious requirement or that it is forbidden. That's permissible. And then if you start going up
one degree, that's known in jurisprudence as must have are commendable, and Act, which is not
obligatory, which is not mandatory on every Muslim, but it is highly recommended highly commendable
is the person who is
		

			an example of this person, for example, fasting more than the minimum requirement in Ramadan or
having additional prayers beyond the minimum, five daily prayers which are prescribed is doing
something, Mr. Hubbard commendable.
		

			If you go along that continuum upwards, the highest really, in terms of obligation is the current or
mandatory and these are the bare minimum, the acts which are mandatory or obligatory on anyone
claiming to be a sincere and true Muslim. An example of this would be the minimum five daily prayers
fasting during the month of Ramadan unless the person is sick, or there's another reasonable excuse.
		

			The the mandatory duty on the Muslim to support his family financially, emotionally and otherwise,
the duty of the ruler to be just I'm not only talking about duties in terms of worships duties,
which are mandatory in a variety of aspects of, of life. Now, if you get down below this baseline,
the permissible you go down one step, and that is called macro or the festival. This is something
that the Islamic law, it is not absolutely forbidden. It's not really something constituting a
measure of moral sin. But it is detestable, it's highly discouraged. with apologies to those who
smoke from a Muslim point to for example, smoking is not as
		

			unlawful, for example, as drinking or other intoxicants. But it is a detestable act for reasons that
we can discuss a little later when we come to discuss the various contents of the moral code of
Islam. Going down below that that's the lowest X ray or the most forbidden act or the Haram or
unlawful, that is the things which are regarded as major sins, the things which are regarded in
Islamic jurisprudence as absolutely prohibited, that
		

			they constitute something that this kind of strictness and trying to avoid them, including things
like for example, killing,
		

			adultery, things like, again, drinking or in other intoxicants, something that's absolutely
forbidden. So this is a beautiful example,
		

			on the fact that even when you talk about the do's and don'ts, it's not just black and white, it's
not this or that, there are also degrees even, for example, if you move on the degree here are the
continuum.
		

			Above the permissible, there are things which are commendable, highly recommend double, and then it
becomes very close to being absolute requirement. And things which are
		

			the testable, there are degrees again, you keep going down down until you make something highly
testable to the point that becomes very close, or merged really, with the unlawfully. So in that
sense, like I said, Islamic jurisprudence is quite rich with more specific examples. Of course, some
people might say, well, that's the specific order. Of course, it's not the specific, but when it
says too vague, I'd rather have a clear guidance than vague,
		

			these Western. Right, right. We're looking at the unlawful end of the chart as you just described.
		

			Like to get a comment from you in terms of the main philosophy behind regarding certain things.
		

			or certain kinds of things or certain kinds of actions is being unlawful? I mean, what's the
foundation? The foundation? The philosophy behind it? Yeah. Well, first of all, it was important to
emphasize that in Islam, nothing is regarded unlawful or forbidden, by way of depriving mankind from
something that they can have the enjoyment of, because as I mentioned before in previous programming
This is the Quran indicate that God made subservient the entire thing the entire universe whatsoever
is on earth and whatsoever isn't heavens, these are all made subservient to us. So the notion that
this is simply depriving mankind is not necessarily true.
		

			Secondly, nothing is regarded as unlawful or forbidden.
		

			Simply because of some kind of taboo, some mysterious taboo without really getting into
		

			good reasoning behind it. There's nothing serious about it. And certainly, in Islam, also, nothing
is regarded as unlawful by way of punishing us or punishment of mankind. At least not after the
Islam Islam was completed by the advent of Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him. The Quran indicates,
however, that in the past, in the law, or Divine Law revealed prior to the advent of Prophet
Muhammad, peace be upon him given to other prophets. There were cases where certain wholesome and
lawful things were forbidden to people by way of punishment because of their intransigence, or,
		

			or neglect.
		

			Just to document that, for example, in Quran in chapter
		

			six, verse 146, it talks also about the fact that God punished some of the people in before Islam
because of their infection by forbidding them even good things, just punishment by with punishment.
		

			But when it's not, when the prohibition or not on the basis of deprivation, taboo, or punishment,
what is it? Well, instead of using my own words, and answering it, I get you the answer directly
from the Quran in chapter seven, verse 157, describing those who followed the last prophet of God,
profanities be upon him It says,
		

			Those who follow the apostle, the unlettered Prophet, whom they find mentioned in their own
scripture, in the law, in the Gospel, for notice here, he commends them what is just and forbids
them what is evil, and allows them as lawful, what is good and pure,
		

			and prohibits them from what is bad, and impure. He releases them from their heavy burdens, and from
the yokes that are upon them. So it is those who believe in Him, honor Him, help him and follow the
light which is sent down with him. It is they who will prosper. See the key things, and dissertation
as you could easily tell that there is a basic rule of benefits, exactly benefit the things that are
permitted, because they are wholesome, and pure things that are forbidden, it's simply because they
are bad that there is no yolks, they actually are one interpretation of the yolks that the overseer
mentioned, is that if there was any punishment prior to Islam, by forbidding lawful and fewer
		

			things, by way of punishment that has been removed, anything that's good is permissible, everything
that's evil, is is is not
		

			permissible, of course, many times
		

			it might take us as humanity, a long time, sometimes an awful long time, before we can discover what
exactly is impure and bad about certain types of foods, which is prohibited or some other action,
like smoking or drinking. But even then, a true believer would not say, All right, I'll wait until
such time that this is proven to accept a believer would have full confidence and trust in God, that
He would readily accept this rule and say, right, I know that I'm if I'm forbidden from something,
because because of that, not because I punished.
		

			I guess that would lead us into
		

			the next question, which is, you know, how one could identify those things which are, are lawful or
unlawful? I think in particular, those things that are are unlawful because those are the things
that we should try to avoid. Is there some kind of methodology that can be used and learning about
the unlawful there are a number of rules in this and this is a very interesting book and this I
could drive at least this part from it and you could refer to it also in some other points. It's
called and Helen will Haram in Islam. That's an Arabic by Dr. Youssef.
		

			qaradawi which means the lawful and unlawful.
		

			And he summarizes in the first few pages of the book very beautifully, some of the basic rules in
terms of the methodology of determining the lawful and the unlawful, beautifully collected together.
But that just gives some of those salient rules that would be relevant our topic, but the first rule
is that a general rule is that everything is regarded as permissible, unless there is a clear
evidence that it is not permissible. In other words, everything is regarded as lawful unless there
is a good evidence that it is otherwise.
		

			The evidence actually comes from the Quran. For example, in chapter two, verse 168, it says, Yeah,
you have natsuko MyMathLab, or the HoloLens or even all mankind eat from what is there on Earth,
Helen, lawful and good.
		

			So the basic rule is to start from things being permissible rather than the other way around,
doesn't say right, everything is not permissible unless something specified to be permissible. No.
		

			It's the reverse. Everything is available.
		

			The Quran for example, also in chapter five, verse 119, it talks also about God has having
		

			have already specified certain things which are unlawful or forbidden.
		

			Now, coming back to the essence of your question, how exactly how do I know for example, as a
believer
		

			in Islam, whether something is unlawful. Now, there are two primary sources. And one secondary
source of that.
		

			The most important primary source for knowledge of what is lawful and unlawful is the word of God.
That's the ultimate. For the Muslim the Word of God is contained in the Quran which was revealed to
Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him that's the Quran was dictated to him word for word.
		

			In that sense, then
		

			the idea is very simple, that since the Quran
		

			is the word of God, and since God is the only creators sustainer, and the only Lord of the Universe,
then he alone has the right to determine what is lawful and unlawful.
		

			That's for example, why you will find in the Quran in chapter 42, verse 21.
		

			Addressing people who follow codes of life other than those prescribed by God, it says do those
people have associates who have prescribed to them laws that God has not allowed? So the ultimate
rights for legislation, whether it's moral code or otherwise belongs to God alone,
		

			a second primary source is called sydnor. These are the sayings the deeds and approval of Prophet
Muhammad peace be upon him because according to the Quran itself says minute avarice will of Allah
whoever obeys the Messenger of God, he is obeying God because the Prophet was not speaking out of
his own whims or ideas. It is also another type of Revelation. The only difference from that and the
Quran is that the Quran is word for word revealed to him and the Sunnah,
		

			the meaning is revealed to him and he is his own words and this are kept totally separate. So the
prophetic tradition, if you will, is another primary and important source also what is lawful and
unlawful.
		

			And then I mentioned also there is a secondary source, which actually is based on both of these two.
That is, with the passage of time, centuries after the foreigner is revealed centuries after the
prophetic tradition was recorded. Some new questions may come like euthanasia, like new drugs that
were not known before or whatever. In this case, one cannot again decide without any foundation,
whether these things are lawful or unlawful. He has to go back to the things that are specified and
see if there is any analogy example. The Quran specifically mentioned, intoxicants are what people
interpret to be wine for example, Jenkin. Now if there's new things called hashish or LSD, LSD or
		

			any other things, it is quite possible for Muslim jurists to understand this role is to say right,
it is analogous to wine because it has the same effect the same harm as the scriptures talks about
So, this is also haram by analogy.
		

			So, in terms of analogy or extension of application, it must be based on what the two primary
sources are,
		

			or have specified specified already. Now, related to this also, we should be careful to notice that
anything that is very likely to lead to something which is unlawful is also unlawful. For example,
if adultery is regarded as unlawful, then * for example, which is very likely to encourage
adultery,
		

			also regarded as an offer,
		

			it should be added in this point that even points which are not very clearly whether they are
directly related to unlawful. If there is doubt, it is better, at least for the person to keep away
from doubtful situations in order just to avoid falling inadvertently in something which is, is not
permissible, because a very beautiful defect prep shouldn't interrupt you this is a very beautiful
idea on this particular point about
		

			exactly are you referring to the Hadith where the Prophet peace be upon him says that Allah has or
God has prescribed things as clearly lawful other things as clearly unlawful, but in between, there
is a gray area, yes. So whoever wanted to protect his faith, you should keep away from those gray
areas. And those who fall in those gray area may gradually fold into the right and permissive and
it's a beautiful documentation of the point.
		

			The other thing, of course, is not to play any legalistic tricks. Or to claim that because of my
good intention, I did something wrong, because good intention does not justify wrongdoing with a
Muslim does not accept the Robin Hood. approach, robbing the rich to pay the for its test is wrong.
It's wrong both ways, whether you have good intention, or bad intention. There are also other things
to be added, like the exceptions in the case of absolute necessity. And what's the limitation of
that, but that perhaps can be discussed. When we get to the contents of the moral code. It's
		

			not how about the other side of the coin making lawful things unlawful, or unduly restricting the
things that are permissible, just as bad? See,
		

			of course, one can understand easily why to make things which God made unlawful lawful, is
infringement on the power of God that God say don't do it. And sometimes, you know, you can do it,
and add all kinds of ifs and buts. This is definitely wrong. And should add here that, in fact, in
the matters of lawful and unlawful in Islam, in Islamic jurisprudence, nobody has the right whether
individual scholars, groups of scholars, religious institution, can or ruler has any right to
consider the things that are very clearly specified in the scripture of Islam, or the prophetic
tradition, or very clearly based on both of them. It's not a matter, like you mentioned early that's
		

			based on relativism, that everything is relative. Because you start tampering with this, you've got
nothing left. And you get this religious or political bodies playing around with very clear
scriptural text, and putting themselves above the authority and power of God, this is not acceptable
at all.
		

			But the same principle also applies to making things which are lawful and unlawful
		

			to forbid things that God made available to people, especially by that I refer to make things
absolutely and irrevocably
		

			forbidden. To clarify this.
		

			You refer, for example, to the Quran in chapter 10, verse 59, you find again, there is blaming or
rebuking people who, on their own wins, make things as lawful and unlawful without scriptural
evidence. The same thing is repeated in chapter six, for example, verse 138, a brief citation, which
is even more direct that you find in the Quran. In chapter five, verse 87, yeah, you had Latina
woman that has a multivitamin, and a lot of them well, I thought that Oh, you who believe Nick, not
unlawful, the good things which God has made an offer for you, but commit, no access for God loves
not those given to accesses. So as we are forbidden to loosen moral codes, we are also forbidden
		

			from unduly restricting ourselves in something that God has made available, there are only one
exception to that perhaps, suppose for example, in a given situation, adjust government determines
that moves or certain types of waves is an endangered species and say, all right, nobody shall hunt
or fish this time. That could be applicable, but they cannot say for example, it's a mortal sin to
eat.
		

			In other words, it's a different kind of story altogether. It cannot be forbidden in the religious
sense. That by the same way that you eat pork, for example, as an aside, which is forbidden, but it
could be done as a temporary measure only for valid causes, but otherwise, what is permissible, is
permissible.
		

			Okay, well, we'd have to stop it at that, brother. we've exhausted our time for today. We want to
thank you for watching our program. Come back next week.
		

			We'll continue our discussion. And perhaps we'll begin to look at some of the content of the moral
code of Islam.