Jamal Badawi – Social System of Islam 3 – Human Brotherhood And Equility 3

			The Name of God, the beneficence, the Merciful, the creator and Sustainer of the universe, peace and
blessings upon his servant and messenger Muhammad forever. I mean, I bear witness that there is no
god worthy of worship except the one true God. And I bear witness that Muhammad is the messenger in
servant of God, I greet you of course with our usual greeting, the universal greetings of peace, a
greeting which has been used by all of the profits from Abraham through the prophet Muhammad, peace
and blessings be upon them all. Assalamu Aleikum, which means peace be unto you. Today we continue
with our new series dealing with the social system of Islam. We have our third program in this new
		

			series, we'll be continuing our discussion of the concept of human equality and brotherhood in
Islam. I'm your host, Ahmed Rashid. And I have joining me as usual on the program, Dr. Jamal betta,
we have St. Mary's University, brother Jamal Assalamualaikum. Ronnie,
		

			I wonder if you could very quickly highlight the main points that we touched on in our second
program in this new series dealing with human human equality and brotherhood. Could you just quickly
summarize the main points we touched on last week. In the second program, we continue the discussion
of the
		

			common origin of mankind, particularly we quoted one of the passages in the Quran dealing with the
story of creation. And we try to analyze the story with the emphasis that it makes on the
trusteeship of mankind on Earth, the dignified position of the human race, and the fact that since
they all come from the same origin, either clay, which was the stuff from which Adam was created, or
from a fertilized ovum, for subsequent generations, they all have the same origins. So there's no
room really, for claiming haughtiness or
		

			being too proud, Visa v treatment of other human beings.
		

			We emphasize also that the Quran emphasizes in many verses, the address to mankind at large, using
the term and ness, mankind without necessarily addressing Muslims or believers, again, because of
this unity of origin, unity of purpose of creation, and unity in terms of ultimate destiny of
mankind.
		

			We indicated also that the Quran does not recognize superiority of any individual over the others,
or any group of people over the other by any criteria that people may consider, except for one
divine criteria and that is taqwa and Arabic which means being God's conscious equality, which
relates to
		

			say, good deeds, moral characters, and being beneficent, to the rest of mankind. I just concluded
that with a little remark that I read afterwards, which is quite interesting. In one of the
commentaries on the Quran, by Lucy, he said, there are some creatures which are created for
		

			others that were created for heavens, others which are created for both. I said that
		

			the animals were created for Earth, angels were created for heavens, human beings are created for
both Earth and Heavens, that since a human being is like animals in terms of his or her basic carnal
desires,
		

			his like engines in terms of intellect and worship fullness of God.
		

			And as such, if God created the human, without that spirituality or intellect, he would have not
been capable of truly worshiping God. And if He created him, without the carnal desires, life would
have not started on earth and there would have been no civilization. So this is one interesting way
of putting the proper perspectives of the human physician and his nature, his or her nature on
Earth.
		

			Now, last time, he referred to several citations from the Quran on this
		

			aspect of human equality that we've been discussing. In addition to the citations that you refer to
last time, I'd be interested if you perhaps could give us some idea of what the attitude of Prophet
Muhammad peace and blessings be upon him what his attitude was, on this issue of human equality.
		

			Well, hammock peace be upon him in the seventh century.
		

			That's in the Christian era. In a time where the world was dominated by what might you might call
religious establishments, I'm not referring to one place or another, over the word different faiths.
Religious establishments used to be the dominant force in the world. And many of the clergy seem to
claim an authority which was almost like divine authority. Yes, they presumed themselves to speak or
to be spokesman for God.
		

			Well, the Islamic attitude, the attitude of the Prophet is that why and jurists and scholars are
deserving of respect, that they have the right and like anybody else to try to understand and
interpret the scriptures. But they cannot equate their own interpretation with the Word of God. They
cannot claim that they are speaking directly for God outside of the specific divine revelation that
has been revealed to them. So this is one thing that was demolished. That's why in Islam, there is
no such concept as, for example, church, not just in terms of a building, but just as a concept of a
group of people or scholars or religious specialists who alone have the right to interpret what the
		

			Scriptures and tell people as if it's just a Revelation, Revelation is just what is given to the
rest of it and commissioned prophets. It has commissioned from God.
		

			This is one thing that was removed the religious * by a group of people. Another thing that
he emphasized that this kind of equality should not only apply to people who are in religious
positions, but also it applies to prophets themselves. He himself even as the last prophet of God,
the seed of all prophets, he forbade people to over adore him and Buhari For example, He warned
people not to over adore the Prophet because he said over adoration could lead to deification, that
after the Prophet dies, people might even believe in Him
		

			as divine or something of that sort. So he won't people against fall in this in this particular
chat. And he said, when you say about me anything, say, Abdullah, who is to say he is the servant of
God, and His messenger that was regarded as the greatest title of honor to be a servant, and
messenger of God, rather than falling into deification, for example. The other thing that he tried
to teach people is that the basic equality of human race means that a human being should never
kneel, or bow down in front of any other human being, if there is one, to kneel to, or to bow down
to, is the Lord's of all human beings, regardless of their status, even the prophets. He didn't want
		

			people to nice to him even on the tour guide. Indeed, in one tradition that was narrated in Abu
Dhabi, and the committee, he said, Whoever Have you feel so happy and proud that people are standing
up and respect for him, let him take his seat and help in his personal character. Whenever he came
to a place where people were sitting in his staff pushing people around to get the, in the
forefront, he just said, whenever a place was available, again, emphasizing this basic human
equality. The The other thing also that he tried to demolish his own false facades of aristocracy,
aristocracy, based on on wealth, or claim superiority by by race, or color, or nobility of descent
		

			and all that. Let me give you a couple of citation to that effect. In one narration, in one
narration of Hadees narrated in Tabori. He says, God does not look into the nobility of your
descent,
		

			nor does he look into your lineage.
		

			Nor does he look into your bodies with a stronger theater for whatever. No Does he look into your
properties, but he looks into your hearts and whoever he continues, whoever has a pious heart, God
will have compassion on him. You are all the children of Adam. And the most beloved of you in the
sight of God is the most pious or the most of you who is God conscious. And another beautiful
narration also
		

			reported in absolute and utter music.
		

			He says, Let them stop. Those people who are boasting about their parents who died. Maybe those
parents that's unbeliever are the fuel of the hellfire. And then
		

			continued, he says that you people have been released, or God has released you. From the shame of
the days of ignorance. That's an anti Islamic days or pre Islamic days. He says that God has removed
this shame from you, and the posting of parents, because people are two types, either a pious
believer, or a miserable crook or deviant. And then he continued, he says, You all belong to Adam
are you all descend from Adam, and Adam is created from clay. So what's the point of this false
pretense of, of superiority, in the the last pilgrimage, or the Third World privilege as known,
Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him shortly before his death, right to emphasize this point again
		

			reiterated, and one of his sayings, he says, all mankind, your God is one,
		

			your your father is one low, there is no superiority of an Arab, over a non Arab, nor have a red,
which means also white, over a black except by virtue of taqwa of being God conscious or being a
pious person. This is a very, very important declaration, if you will, of human rights, the
declaration of equality of birth races under the same God descended from the same parents. This kind
of teachings were not just words, they were translated into the life and behavior of Prophet
Muhammad, peace be upon him. Just to give you one indication of this, among his closest
		

			companions are those were the earliest embrace Islam, you have all kinds of people, you have some
novel herbs, are rich like a buck. And you have a lot more work for, like Abdullah Martin, a very
famous Companion of the prophet who was very poor and blind.
		

			In addition, you have so hype, who was a Roman,
		

			sell man, who was Persian, and Bilal, the muslin, or the one who used to be the personal caller, or
prayers for the Prophet was very close to the Prophet, he was from Ethiopia. So you get a cross
representation of varieties of races and socio economic status of people, all regarded equally as
one brotherhood around the Prophet peace be upon him. Not only this, that we find also, in the early
stages of his mission, that the rich and powerful among the crocheted herbs used to tell him
Alright, we can follow you, but why do you keep the company with those poor and downtrodden people
in lower social classes? And then he definitely refused that, actually, one time, he said, Oh, God,
		

			let me live as a poor person, die as a poor person, and resurrect me in the day of judgment in the
company of those who are poor. He was only echoing what the Quran emphasizes that one should not be
lured, like, for example, in chapter 18, verse 28, that one should not be lured by the glitters of
life and aristocracy. But one should keep patience and perseverance in the company of those who are
sincere and who are seeking to please God.
		

			What about the position now people who are non Muslims? Is there any indication in Islam as to
whether or not equal treatment is to be accorded to non Muslims as well as to Muslims? For sure. And
the evidence for that is both implied and implicit. It is implied in the, for example, some of the
points that were raised in the second program this year is that the Quran in many cases, not only
addresses all Muslims are all believers, it addresses all mankind. Yeah, you harness all mankind,
which again, implies clearly, that in a matter of basic human rights, in matters of basic human
compassion, and treatments, the address is not just giving to Muslims, that you must be speaking to
		

			each other. But that is, yeah, you harness all mankind. So this is one implied evidence. But there
are lots of explicit evidence also that we find in the Quran, the Word of God, in the prophetic
tradition, as well as in the behaviors of early Muslims were through to the face and who really
understood and implemented the teachings of Islam. Now, in the Quran, for example, in chapter four,
verse 92, it talks about the case of involuntary manslaughter,
		

			just like accidents, similar thing, and it says if the person who was involuntarily killed
		

			was a believer, then the penalty for the person who did that actually caused his
		

			There are two things. One is to a free to free a slave. And secondly is to pay some compensation or
consolation money to the family of the disease. And then in the very second verse, it says that if
the person who was killed, was not available was not a Muslim, but he belonged to people who have
peaceful relationship with Muslim they have some kind of Treaty, then the penalty is, with the
surprise, to free a slave and to pay also compensation and consideration money to the family. Which
means the penalty in both cases is exactly the same regardless of the identity of the person who was
involuntarily killed. And this stands in great contrast to some to many of the mistaken notions that
		

			some people may have about Islam, because of distorted literature in this country. And in the West
in general. I was flying from Montreal to Halifax last week, and sitting by me was an airline
captain, he was vacation.
		

			And we were talking, we just we chatted, and then he said, I have one problem with Islam. I said,
What's that? He said, I was led to believe that Muslims believe that if you go and kill somebody
who's not a Muslim, then that's okay.
		

			I said, Subhanallah Brother, you have not been led to understand, you have been misled to understand
that and they start with expensive. So here is the Quran itself. The basic scripture of Islam
showing that again, the treatments would be basically the same and the sanctity of the life and
property and honor of a non Muslim should be the same as accorded to the Muslim. Another example
that we find very brightly expressed in one of the prophetic tradition, one Prophet Muhammad peace
be upon him, he said, many others immediate pocket.
		

			That is, whoever hurts or injures or being able to become injured or unjust. To a non Muslim who's
living under Muslim protection or have some peaceful coexistence with Muslims, is hurting me, that's
hurting me a profit, which means that the Prophet made the sanctity and the respect of the human
rights and justice to a non Muslim, even living under none, under Islamic rule,
		

			in regard to this kind of injustice, as injustice done to the Prophet himself, just equated with the
sanctity of the person of Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him. In terms of examples from early
Muslims, who clearly understood this principle, and tried to implement it, we find that a case of
Amara, the second Elisa kid has known in English after the Prophet when he was walking in the
streets of Medina, and he found a blind, old Jew, begging people.
		

			Then he took him to his home, gave him some provision, and then he called the person who was in
charge of the Muslim Treasury. And he said, Look after this person, and people like him, we would
not be fair to them, if they pay taxes in their use, and then we neglect them when they are in need.
And he ordered that he would be paid a regular salary, something by two men or the Muslim Treasury.
And another occasion when he was traveling in Syria, he found some lepers, apparently, they were, I
think they were probably Christians, because at that time, they were not too many Muslims, that were
many Christians. And he immediately again, ordered from Muslim Treasury that a monthly or whatever,
		

			you know, regular support would be paid to those people. In another instance, and most of these are
reported in a book called alpha Raj written by abusive
		

			that
		

			harlot, for example, one of the early heroes of Islam, when he was in one territory, he made a
treaty with the people that if any person becomes old, regardless Muslim or non Muslim, if any
person becomes old, or had some kind of disaster in his life, that he lost his property, or was rich
and became poor, that the tax code just because Muslim, Becca, which is a religious duty, non
Muslim, equivalent to that, by way of
		

			providing for the expenses of the state, that this tax would be alleviated, that the person would
not, would not be required to pay any taxes, and that he and his children would be supported from
the Muslim Treasury. This is all these are only examples of many other examples that you can find in
Islamic history. That's why I was really surprised to read in a recent book written by a famous
orientalist, Wilfred Cantwell Smith, very famous writers on world religions and he wrote also on
Islam
		

			that he says that Muslims in a book by the way, called towards
		

			Word theology. This was just published this year. And he says that Muslims are implies that Muslim
really should re examine or rethink
		

			the Sharia or Islamic law, so that they should realize that God does not only want us to regulate
the relationship between us and him or between him and us, or just between the community of
believers or
		

			but it should also take into account the relationship between believers or between the Muslims and
non Muslims outside of the boundaries of Islam. And that said, surprised me a great deal. Because I
think a professor like Smith,
		

			I suppose he should know better, that in Islamic law, there is a whole body of literature, dealing
with the organization, or regulation of relationship between Muslims and non Muslims, by insinuating
that Islamic law does not consider this, I think it's it's a grave
		

			mistake that I think needs to be corrected, there is a whole there is a volumes and upon volumes,
instead of dealing with the relationship with people who are not Muslim, living under Muslim
protection, those who with treaties with Muslims, and all other aspects of what we might call today,
international relationship.
		

			Now, we talked about some instances where the Quran refers to mankind in general, I understand that
the Quran also addressed itself only to the believers to the Muslims and many verses, I'd like to
have you explain that because I think many people may be confused by this and think that this
somehow undermines the concept of broader human Brother, brother.
		

			There is not the least conflict between both. Because when the Quran for example, addresses that
believers to perform certain religious duties pertaining to their faith, there's no sense addressing
the entire mankind. Of course, the Quran at times says all mankind worship your Lord, but in
general, but when it comes to say, perform your five daily prayers, there is no sense of addressing
somebody who does not believe in that face and say you have to pray five times a day, or when it
addresses people, for example, too fast as a religious deity, that particular Muslim fest. Again,
there is no sense of directing that to all mankind. So in terms of specific religious duties, there
		

			is no need to address the entire mankind if they wish to do it fine, because the Quran, establish
the rule that
		

			there is no compulsion in the matters of faith or religious practices. Now, when the Quran talks
about brotherhood of faith, he does not present that it does not present that as a substitute of
broader human brotherhood. It is actually a brotherhood of faith within the boundaries of brothers
and larger human brotherhood to make sure you see when we talk about the Brotherhood, of Islam, or
brotherhood of believers, we're not talking as some people may think that this is a kind of
shamanistic, or exclusive this type of religious brotherhood. But it only considers the believers
not only the believer is entitled to the respect and sanctity of basic human rights, but it can
		

			consider all others, not as
		

			any lesser group of people who are deserving of disrespect and sanctity. I'll give you an example of
some of this previous notions and how Islam tried to correct it. For example, in chapter three,
verse 75, in the Quran, it condemns an attitude of some people, before Islam, we used to say for
example, or believe that it was God's will, or God's revelation, that you cannot take usury from a
coreligionists but for others, you can the Quran condemned that attitude and indicated again, that,
you know, moral behaviors is not contingent on whether the person you're dealing with is a Muslim or
non Muslim. So the Quran condemned it in that particular chapter. So in brief, then when we talk
		

			about the Brotherhood of faith in Islamic context, we're really talking about something which is
consistent with human brotherhood, within the boundaries of human brotherhood and supportive in
fact, of human brotherhood because once you get brotherhood among the festival, you can also that
could spill over by establishing relationship with non Muslims as well. This does not negate of
course that
		

			human brotherhood
		

			cannot be enhanced further, when people agree together. are united also in matters of
		

			There's no question about that. Ideally, that could be the case, believing in one God believing in
one basic message, believing in one final prophet, the follow up believing in one final scripture
preserved, believing in a set of principles enshrined in those scriptures. Sure, it can help. But
the Quran itself teaches Muslims tolerance. And in one verse in the Quran, it says that if God
willed he would have made all mankind one group.
		

			So, like we mentioned in the last question in the previous program, it's a kind of mosaic that God
wanted. So one has to know how to live with this music and how to establish cordial relationship
with others, on the basis of basic human brotherhood and equality, so there's no conflict at all
between both types of brotherhood. I'd like to examine for a minute, this whole question of
brotherhood and faith, sometimes we hear about distinctions that are made by some people between one
who perhaps, whose parents perhaps were born into a particular faith or somebody who one parent may
be a member of that particular faith or another instance where you have people who embrace a
		

			particular faith or who are converts to a particular faith and sometimes there's some subtle
distinctions that are made between these various categories.
		

			What is the position of Islam regarding such distinctions? Okay, I'd like for us to comment on the
term convert. I think that if it may apply to other face, I don't think it applies to Islam. A
person who accepts Islam is not really converted to Islam, some people might be surprised to hear
that. The reason is being that the word conversion itself might give the sense also of changing
nature, the nature of things. Whereas the Quran describes Islam as Frederick a law he that he fought
for an SLA that's in chapter 30, verse 30, that it is the natural, innate nature that God created
humankind, we defined before Islam
		

			etymologically speaking that Islam means to submit to the will of God and follow his past. In that
sense, then the entire mission of all of the prophets throughout history has been nothing but Islam.
So every child is born with this yearning towards his creative knowledge of God and knowledge of
this kind of spirituality.
		

			breathed into him, the Spirit of God as the Quran
		

			presented now on the basis of that, then when a person becomes a Muslim, the way a Muslim looks at
it is not really being converted to Islam is simply embracing Islam and being embraced by Islam, he
is going back to his or returning to his nature. In fact, in one discussion is suggested to in one
talk to a group of brothers, that a better term perhaps would be a revert to Islam, rather than a
convert to Islam, or returnees somebody is returning back to his pure and
		

			pure natures of knowledge of the one God. Now, this is as far as the question of conversion is
concerned. But now, whether there should be a distinction, like you said, between somebody who is
born to both parents of the same face, and somebody who becomes a believer later, or becomes
available only through one parent was in the fifth,
		

			the Islamic attitude is that there should be absolutely no distinction in that respect.
		

			A person should never feel strangers. In fact, in Islam, when a person becomes a Muslim, you don't
have to go to a priest because there is no peace within Islam. After all, you don't have to have a
person allowing your giving that status is something between you and God. And that's again a
reflection of this basic human equality, that why should we have some human beings who alone tell
you that now you're admitted to the face now you're excommunicated from the face. There's nothing
like that in Islam. Because faith is basically between the person and his creator. Nobody has the
right to dominate, he can explain he can help you but nobody has the right to make you a believer or
		

			to deprive you from belonging to face this belongs to God.
		

			The the final indication I can give him this in the Quran. In chapter nine, verse 12. It talks about
people even who fought Muslims who are the ardent enemies of Muslims. And instead it says the entire
welcomes so that our executive team when they defend and established prayers, say they report to us
they are your brothers and face as if nothing happened before.
		

			We'll have to leave it at that for today.
		

			We want to invite you back next week we will continue with our new programs in the series. Thank you
for watching Assalamu alaikum peace BMT.