Jamal Zarabozo – A Guide for the New Muslim Part 10
AI: Summary ©
The importance of treating neighbors properly and being kind towards them is emphasized in the discussion of the Sharia point of view. Visits to Muslim houses are encouraged, and strong spiritual faith is crucial for achieving spiritual goals. Visits to Muslim houses are encouraged, and individuals are advised to be aware of legal frameworks for asylum claims and litigation. Consent is also emphasized, and individuals are encouraged to share love and support in Islam.
AI: Summary ©
Bismillah
Alhamdulillah wa salatu salam ala nabina Muhammad
wa
ala sharika What should one do?
Today Today inshallah we want to continue our discussion
of the Muslim with relationship to other members of society
and the law we've already finished a number of important categories.
Let us speak about now how a Muslim should interact with his neighbors
with his or her neighbors.
Actually, the issue of being neighborly
is a very important issue within Islam, we can see that it has been stressed in many texts of the Quran, and the Sunnah of the prophet of Islam. So for example, Allah subhanaw taala says, verse that we quoted earlier why
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worship Allah and join none with him in worship and do good to parents and kinsfolk and orphans and the poor, and the neighbor who is near of kin, and the neighbor who is a stranger, the companion buyer site the wayfarer, you meet and those leaves homie right hands possess.
Rarely Allah does not like one who was proud and was.
here as we spoke about before, here's a general command from Allah subhanho wa Taala imposing upon us the obligation of being good to our neighbors, whether or not those neighbors are related to us or not.
That has been significant, it is obligatory upon us to treat them well to have good behavior towards them.
Actually, the power system is emphasized as I said, proper behavior towards the neighbor and many of his statements for example, the process and him said, When can you get me nobility, William with acid for your Chrome jar.
The promises seldom said whoever believes in Allah and the Last Day should be courteous and generous to his neighbor.
So the prophets I said, I'm staying in the correct belief, whoever has the true belief in Allah subhanaw taala and the correct belief in Allah subhanaw taala in the Hereafter, then he should be fine and courteous and generous to his name.
And in fact, the prophets I said him even said that the angel Gabriel Ali Salim kept advising the promises, kept telling the promise of cinema about
doing well to one's neighbor and so forth to the to the extent that the problems are seldom thought that the neighbor is going to get a share in the hit in the in the inheritance of the individual that shows you how, how much it was emphasized that you must do well to one's neighbor, as if it is like one's close relative who is deserving share in the inheritance.
And the professor said, of course, not only spoke about acting in a positive manner towards one neighbor, but also the process Adam spoke about not harming one's neighbor not bringing harm to the individual who's living close to
him said when can you give me an ability William will acid for the job.
Again, tying the relationship and the behavior towards one's neighbor into belief in Allah subhanho wa Taala. And the last day the promises and observed were believes in Allah and the Last Day should not harm his neighbor.
We have the positive command of being courteous and generous to your neighbor and then you also have the negative command of not bringing him harm. And in fact, in another Hadith, the poster Sallam
said in perhaps what we could say stronger words, the prophet swore by Allah will lie, lie, lie, lie, lie Liam. The brother Selim swore by Allah,
swear by Allah three times he said by Allah, he does not believe by Allah he does not believe by Allah does not he does not live. They asked him who is that and the prophet SAW Selim said, the one who from whose affairs his neighbor is not safe. Another Hadith for example, the prophet SAW Selim was asked about the woman who perform lots of prayers and fasted and give charity but used to harm her neighbors by her speech.
And the prophet SAW Selim said the dead woman would be in the hellfire. On the other hand, the prophet system was asked about
A woman who did not fast or prayer giving charity, in other words did not do these actions excessively. But
in other words, did not do these actions, perhaps beyond what was obligatory upon her, but at the same time, she did not harm her neighbor. And so therefore, the prophet SAW Selim said
that she would be in paradise.
You think about how society is made up, if you think about this issue of being courteous and kind to one's neighbor.
If this kind of belief, this kind of attitude spread through society as a whole, this means actually, that all of society would be in a good state, because almost everyone, there are some people who live around the middle of nowhere without any neighbors around. But almost everyone is somebody else's neighbor.
And so if if this attitude
is nurtured and developed in the in the members of society, then everyone basically is going out of their house and treating the people around them in a good in a good manner.
And this should have this will have a cloud, of course positive ramifications and will help everyone treat everyone in a better way.
So in particular, actually, this has been part of the Islamic heritage, we can say for something that is very well known in the custom customs of the Muslims, that they help their neighbors when they are there, when they need assistance. They visit them when they are sick, they check on their on their welfare, they greet their children to make sure that their children are doing well. They try not to harm them, they don't make noise, for example, that harms the neighbors, they don't leave filth out in front of the house that harms a neighbor having to pass by that filter every day. This is how a Muslim should behave.
Unfortunately, I'm not saying that this is how Muslims always behave. And especially by the way, when Muslims move into the United States, and they accept, for example, to live within this culture. as I alluded to earlier, some of the some of the laws of Islam or some of the rules, or some of the guidance of Islam, is related to the culture in which you're living.
And so therefore, when a Muslim moves into this country has to realize that now he's part of a different culture.
And maybe, for example, back home, where he came from, to allow his children to run and make noise, or to be up until very late at night, with guests and children and making noise. And this kind of thing, maybe in the culture that they're from, there was no problem with it. For example, in some cultures, the structure of the houses are different, you hardly hear anything going on in the house next door. But here, maybe the same Muslims Now move here, and they're living in an apartment where they have neighbors upstairs, downstairs and to the right and to the left. And these paper walls that they have here, you know, the Muslim has to think about these things, is he harming his
neighbor? And now what does the What does the neighbor consider to be something harmful or not?
These things Muslims have to take into consideration. As I said earlier, you know, this has been actually a characteristic of Muslims throughout the centuries that they are very generous and very kind to the neighbors. In fact, still, many Muslims, when they come here, and they visit here, or they live here for a while, they still, for example of the practice of when they cook something, they go and give part of what they cook to the neighbor, and this is actually established in the center of the process.
Unfortunately, you know, for many of their neighbors here, it might be something strange, but actually, from what I've seen, and from those people have done it, most of the neighbors actually enjoy it and think it's nice, nice thing to do, and so forth. As I said, this has always been part of Muslim culture.
Now, obviously, living in this non Muslim society, obviously, many of our neighbors are going to be non Muslims. So how does that affect how we're supposed to behave towards them? Well, the scholars throughout the history have spoken about the neighbors.
And they divide them into three categories.
And basically, when they divide them into three categories, actually, all three of these categories have the rights of being a neighbor.
However, some of them just have more rights than others. So for example, you might have a neighbor who is a Muslim, and he's also related to. So therefore, he has the rights of a neighbor upon you as the rights of being a fellow Muslim. And he also has the right of the fact that he's related to you.
And then you might have a neighbor who is a Muslim, but he's not related to he has those two rights. Or you might have a neighbor who is not a Muslim, and is not related to you. And, and this neighbor, though, still has the rights of being a neighbor over you. You still have to be kind, you still have to be generous, you still have to make sure that you don't harm them in any way. So So from the Sharia point of view, there is no distinct
whatsoever
with respect to the neighbor as to whether that neighbor is a Muslim or not, you have to treat them properly. You have to respect them, you have to make sure that you do not do anything with respect to your property and the way you live that brings harm to neighbor.
Sometimes scholars recently, for example, what is known as the permanent committee for scientific research in Saudi Arabia, they were asked, actually about this question about how to deal with non Muslim neighbors.
Should we accept gifts from them, should we exchange gifts with them and so forth. And they stated in response, that you should treat Well, those people who treat you well, even if they're a Christian or non Muslim,
if they give you a permissible gift, you should respond in kind. The process of them accepted a gift from the leader of the Romans who was a Christian, he also accepted a gift from a Jew. And Allah subhanho wa Taala says in the Quran, so then they bring us this verse in the Quran, that we mentioned earlier, which is like the general principle
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Allah does not forbid you from dealing justly and kindly with those who do not fight against you on account of your religion, or try to drive you out of your homes. Verily, Allah loves those who deal with equity and just,
it is only with respect to those who fight against you on account of religion who have driven you out of your homes, or helped to drive you out that Allah forbid you to befriend them. And whoever befriends them are from among the wrong doors. So again, the principle is
that even though the individual is a non Muslim,
even though your neighbors are non Muslim, they have rights upon you. And in particular, if they treat you well, and they're not showing any animosity towards you,
or towards your religion, and displaying some kind of hatred towards your religion and trying to affect you negatively with respect to religion, then it's obligatory upon you, to treat them kindly and to reciprocate, they treat you nicely you reciprocate by also treating them nicely. Even if they mean for example,
another contemporary scholar who passed away not too long ago, he said, there's no harm in meeting the needs of a disbeliever if it does not contain any action, which is forbidden,
obviously, so he was being asked about a neighborhood who was a non Muslim, and meeting their needs, obviously, you cannot do something, you know, if they send you out to buy beer for their party, obviously, you're not gonna, you're not gonna do something of that nature. But he continues by saying, as the neighbors as the neighbors have rights upon one another. And He further points out that this might even be a reason that will lead him to accept Islam, especially nowadays, when situation in the West Islam, of course, is being pictured in a very negative fashion. And the reality though, is the most, most people in the West still don't know anything about Islam. Or even
worse, what they think they know about Islam perhaps is not even true, and they have not had much interaction with Muslims.
So Muslims behave in the proper way according to our laws.
The Muslims behave in the proper way. With respect to these not non Muslims. The end result is that this should have a very positive effect on bringing them to Islam and letting them know about Islam. Even there's another one on scholar also, who also passed away not too long ago
said that the Muslim must be neighborly towards his non Muslim neighbor, the Muslim must be neighborly towards his non Muslim neighbor. If your neighbor is good to you, you do not harm him. And you may even give him charity if he's poor, or give him a gift. If he is rich. You admit you may also advise him concerning what is good for him.
All of this may lead to him to want to learn more about Islam and become a Muslim. And this is also because neighbors have very great rights upon
so giving a gift and in fact if your neighbors for if you want to give them charity soda is no
harm and giving charity to your neighbor even if your neighbor is anonymous.
So as I said, this is this is actually an emphasize aspect of Islam.
When you think about Islam, Islam wants to wants to improve all of society, but does not do it as some kind of theoretical level, some kind of abstract level, but actually begins with the individual, and the relationship of the individual with his own self, and the relationship of the individual with other members of his family. And going from there, the relationship of the individual towards his neighbors, those people who are closest to them physically. Now, we also need to speak about for with respect to the convert to Islam, that no Muslim, what should be his relationship visibly other Muslims.
Because in reality, by embracing Islam,
you have now joined.
As I mentioned earlier, you have now joined a great brotherhood and sisterhood that is made up of all of the believers and all of the Muslims around the world and throughout all time.
You are now part of this brotherhood and sisterhood.
There's really only one goal that this brotherhood and sisterhood should have. And that is the worship of Allah subhanho wa Taala. It should all be working together and helping one another, trying to assist one another to bring each member of the society closer to us.
And when a person understands this fact, and sees each other with in this light that they are trying to please Allah subhanaw taala and get closer to Allah.
Then there develops a bond between them that actually is the greatest bond that you can imagine in this world. It is even much stronger than the ties of kinship and the ties of blood.
fathers and sons, brothers, they can fight they can even kill one at one another every now and then.
But those who are truly, truly trying to please Allah subhanaw taala
and following the same path of the promises and not deviating from that path, these are the people who have the closest bonds towards one another that you could ever imagine. And in fact, Alyssa Hannah with data,
points this out in the Quran upon speaking about the companions of the Prophet,
Allah subhanho wa Taala says,
The journey
he has united their hearts.
If you had spent talking to the prophet SAW Selim, if you had spent all that is in the earth, you could not have united their arts, but Allah has united them, certainly he is all mighty, all wise. So that kind of coming together of the hearts that is based on this, this faith and is blessed by Allah subhana wa Tada.
You know, even if you try to bribe people, or give them everything of this worth to try to bring them closer together, it would not be possible to bring them closer together. And then the effect that this imagine has the effect the effect of this faith has and how Allah subhanho wa Taala via this faith brings the hearts of the believers together.
And all of a sudden with Donna also says what?
And hold fast all of you together to the rope of Allah and do not be divided among yourselves.
And remember all those favor upon you.
For your enemies. Now he's talking about the companions, the process of them, some of them are from different tribes. So they actually oppose one another. Allah subhanaw taala therefore says for your enemies, and he joined your hearts together.
You brought the hearts together even though they had enmity between them. Previously,
this faith removed all of that. And because of that, Allah subhanho wa Taala brought their hearts together, so that by His grace, you became brothers, you became true brother and you were on the
Have a pit of fire and he saved you from it. This alarm makes clear his science to you that you may be guided.
This is the kind of bond and this is the kind of brotherhood that you have
entered into by becoming a must. And again if we look if we look at other places in the Quran, Allah subhanho wa Taala emphasizes what kind of relationship should be between believes.
Allah subhana wa tada says, for example,
the believers, men and women are helpers and supporters and friends of one another.
enjoying what is good and eradicate What does he offer the prayers and pays a cut and obey Allah and His messenger? Surely Allah will have his mercy on them. Surely Allah Almighty always.
The believers, men and women are supposed to be helpers, supporters and friends and protectors of women.
When you embrace Islam, actually, it is not just you as an individual, now you're going to save your soul and so forth.
But in reality, you have joined a community of believers.
And you are supposed to behave in a certain way with respect to them, and they are supposed to behave in a certain way with respect to
and that manner of behavior is as I've been alluding to, the relationship of brotherhood and sisterhood. In fact, Allah subhanho wa Taala says, the believers are nothing else but brothers.
And Allah subhanho wa Taala describes the believers as being merciful among themselves. Allah says,
hammer is the Messenger of Allah, and those who are with him are severe against this believers and merciful among themselves.
And in many Hadith the prophet SAW Selim has told us how we should be. For example, in one Hadith the prophet SAW, Selim said, the believer with respect to another believers like a building, one portion strengthening the other,
one portion strengthening the other. This is how we should behave among ourselves. Another Heidi state states, the parable of the believers with respect to their love, mercy and compassion for one another, is left is like that of the body. If one of its limbs is hurting, the remainder of the body is afflicted by sleeplessness, and fever.
So you have feelings for your fellow Muslims,
if they are living in misery of their suffering, you yourself, also feel it.
Because you realize that you have some responsibilities towards them, that they are like your brother, or your sister, your mother and your father.
In fact, they're, as I said, even in reality, in some sense, their ties are even closer to you. Because they have the same goal, and they have the same purpose in life.
So when you enter into Islam, as I said, You entering into a very great brotherhood and sisterhood. And obviously, this means that there are certain rights and obligations upon you with respect to the other members of the committee.
And one of the necessary aspects of this Brotherhood is to have love
to have love for the other Muslims.
What is the basis of this love? The basis of this love is the fact that have been alluding to already
is that
the other Muslims are also people who are trying to worship Allah subhanaw taala.
They have accepted the fact that
there's none worthy of worship except Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah and they have dedicated their lives to that purpose.
And so therefore, Allah loves Eman and loves the believers.
And if Allah loves them and is therefore declaring them to be something good, something that should be loved
in the believer also is going to love it.
And the stronger the believers faith,
the stronger the believers faith
Greater his love for the other believers will increase you'll understand. You know, because this perspective will change, you'll understand
that we are nothing but a community of people who should be and who are trying to work for the sake of Allah subhanho wa Taala and trying to worship Allah subhanaw taala and trying to please Allah subhanaw taala.
And so therefore he should get to a state where he loves for his brother what he loves himself.
In fact, this is one of the signs of real Eman. The promises seldom said that you may know how to have a buddy, I think he might have been enough
that none of you truly believes none of you has the complete and correct and sound belief until he loves for his brother, what he loves for himself.
And of course, this love is not just some kind of abstract thing and is not put into practice in any way or fashion whatsoever.
So another aspect of this
another necessary aspect of this brotherhood
that actually should result from this love for one another is mutual support an aid and assistance.
If your brother or sister is being oppressed or wrong or hurt or needs help,
or is in dire circumstances,
then you should be willing to come to their aid.
For them by any means that you can either buy wealth or or at the very at the very least give them some good words and maybe pray for them, you know, that Allah will help them and so forth.
And even to the extent sometimes, of being willing to risk your life and your wealth, to help one another, and to support one another, and to allow every one of us to worship Allah subhanaw taala in the proper manner. So therefore listen to what Allah says in the Quran.
And what is wrong with you that you do not fight for the sake of a love for those who are weak, and Ill treated and oppressed among men, women and children
whose cry was cry out to Allah is our Lord rescue us from this town, whose people are oppressors,
and raise for us from you, one who will protect and raise for us from you one who will help.
These people are turning to Allah and asking a lot to help.
They're pleading and seeking Let's help.
And along turn is asking the other Muslims that basically look these are your brothers and sisters in the faith. These men, women and children are being wrong and oppressed. These are your brothers and children and faith. And so Allah subhanho wa Taala is, as is asking us what is wrong with it? Why is it? or How could it be that we are not willing to help and assist them in some way.
Just as I said, this bond of brotherhood becomes a very strong bond. It is supposed to be a very strong bond. So you cannot imagine for example, you're seeing your child or your brother or your sister or your mother, or your father in the road in front of you, and they're hurt and they need help and you just walk by and it's not mine, it's not my business. You wouldn't do it.
And similarly, if you see someone who you know is a Muslim, and this person is dedicating his life
to worship Allah subhanho wa Taala in the proper manner and so forth.
And that person needs your needs your help and assistance and you can see that there are in pain and suffering. And you just walk by and say yeah, it's not my business.
This doesn't seem like the proper way to behave obviously as is clear from his personal Quran. Third essential aspect of the systemic Brotherhood is to have mercy and tenderness towards one another.
beyond a simple love for one another, one also has to feel in the hearts as we said, for what the other people are going through as the Hadith that I referred to earlier. The Parable of the believers with respect to their mutual love and their affection and their affection and fellow feeling. Is that like a body
with any limb of its ex then the whole body aches with fever and sleeplessness. Or you cannot sleep if your leg is hurting so much that you're in so much pain, it becomes difficult for you to sleep.
So when one part of the Muslim
Brotherhood sisterhood is afflicted
The other spirit.
And there is another also necessary component of this brotherhood. And this goes back to the fact that I mentioned earlier
that Islam is something practical and starts with the individual and builds upon the individual such that the society is made good and in fact, inshallah the whole world is made good.
And so part of this
part of this brotherhood,
another necessary component of this Brotherhood is that we have what we could call perhaps common acts of courtesy towards one another.
We put this belief in this brotherhood into effect, with some very basic deeds, that when we see each other, we make sure that we will at least fulfill these deeds.
Because in general, you know, if someone is kind towards one another, and every time, for example, you see an individual and he goes out of his way to say hi to you, and how are you doing and making sure you're okay and smiles at you and so forth.
You know, just automatically you start feeling positive towards this person, that person makes you feel good and shows you respect and kindness every time you meet.
So similarly, in Islam with respect to the brothers and sisters of Islam,
the prophet SAW cinemas guided us to certain acts.
And the prophet SAW Selim has described these acts
as the right of a Muslim upon another Muslim, is that happen Muslim, Muslim is
the process Selim said that the rights of a Muslim upon another Muslim are six. And he described them, he said, when you meet him, you offer ingredients.
When you meet him, you offer him Greetings, when you see your fellow Muslim
should say,
the greeting of a cinema cinematic Peace be upon you.
Actually, many cameras are actually very good on this point. Sometimes, you know, the, the new Muslim is more fresh in his face than the older Muslims.
And also, they actually feel now that they're part of this new Brotherhood in every Muslim, they say they're like saramonic. Like.
And unfortunately, as I said, this, this is a proper way to behave actually. But unfortunately, not all Muslims.
Not all Muslims feel the same way. I remember when I was
freshly a Muslim, I guess I could say,
I entered into this mosque and the people of this mass were from a certain part of this world.
And they are not very open people, I guess I can see.
No, so here I am a new Muslim. I'm entering this mosque for the first time and I'm like, so don't worry.
People, you know, no response from the Muslims and say, no response whatsoever. They look at me like you know, what's wrong with this person coming in? So don't worry.
I'm, you know, I'm filled with or, you know, I'm part of this brotherhood looking my brothers in here. So I don't like nothing.
And this goes back to what I said in the first lecture, you know, don't expect every Muslim to behave to behave properly.
Important thing for you is to make sure you do what is right. So whether they responded to my greeting, or whether they looked at me as something strange, I know the time delay when you see a Muslim, it is right upon you to greet him. So you say is that I might.
So that's the first of these common acts of courtesy. When you meet someone, when you meet a Muslim you greet
when he invites you to a feast you accept.
When you invite you to a feast you accept. Some scholars say in particular, this was referring to the wedding feast. But in general, think of the idea that if someone invites you, you know, he's going out of his way I want you to come in and join us for dinner or something. So it is it is polite. Obviously it is common courtesy that you accept his invitation. Now, obviously, if for some reason you cannot make an action in maybe you have some other
agents that you have to attend to that is obviously something else.
But the general of your brother or sister in Islam invite you you should except when you seek your counsel, when he seeks your sincere cancer counsel, you give it you give it to him.
Here, here, this shows you what kind of relationship we should have towards other Muslims.
When they seek your sincere counsel, if they ask you about something, what should I do? What do you think? I don't know what my situation so forth. You give him your sincere counsel, you give him truly what you think is best for him.
You leave all other motives out. All you do is care about him and what is best for him and so therefore you speak to him, honestly. And you guide him to what is correct.
When he sneezes. This is another one of the rights of the Muslims when he sneezes and says that hamdulillah you say to him, may Allah show mercy to
sneezes
says hamdulillah you say to him, may Allah show mercy
or to the etiquette of being a Muslim?
You might have heard that, by the way, sometimes you might have been in a group and someone sneezed and he said, Hamdulillah, and everybody said something to him. Well, this is, this is what they did. And this is part of this is part of the proper etiquette between
when he falls, Ill you visit.
When he falls, Ill you visit them, obviously, when he falls, Ill, you show your concern for him and you go and you visit him. Of course, you make sure you don't visit them in such a way that you bring him home or something of that nature.
But you show your concern you go and visit him and see how he's doing and make up for him you pray for him is over. And when he does, you follow his funeral procession.
This brotherhood actually even extends to beyond death. Other personnel is already dead doesn't mean okay, now I can forget about him.
What's his right is still upon you that even though now he's dead, you follow his funeral procession.
Obviously, this means that just because he's dead doesn't mean that all those rights upon you come to an end. You don't have to speak badly about him or or something of that nature. But you continue to respect the individual in the proper way, even though he has passed away. Beyond this, as I said, Islamic law is very practical, and shows us many ways that we could increase our closeness to one another.
Example, one of the ways is that
you spread the slum, you say peace, you say the greetings to another.
The province I sent him even told us let alone agenda had to me know what took me know how to have boo, the process and him said, you will not enter Paradise until you believe you will not enter Paradise until you believe. And you will not really believe until you love one another.
You will not really believe until until you love one another. And he said Shall I not inform you of something, which if you do it, you will then love one another. And he said spread the peace among yourselves. And the prophet SAW said, I also told us that we should exchange gifts. If we exchange gifts, this will also increase the love for one another. And you should visit one another, this should also increase the one that love one another. So this is another example.
Actually all print maybe all of the parts of the shittier, you could find this kind of example where there's a goal in Islam, the goal is to bring the Muslims together and and make them a true unified brotherhood and sisterhood. But that goal is not just some kind of theoretical concept that we have to figure out, Okay, how we're going to achieve that, and what's the best way to achieve that. But at the same time, at the same time, that's the goal is very clear. Also Allah subhanho wa Taala
via the revelation that he sent an example of problem homicide cinema has shown us very practical ways that we can meet these goals.
And inshallah, if we apply them properly, you know, if Muslims behave properly towards one another, I'm sure Muslims would like each other, much more than they do now.
And they would really feel like oh, this person is my brother.
Because this person is always behave properly towards me.
When he sees me, he greets me, and he's always very kind to me, when I'm sick, he checks upon checks on me.
And of course, obviously, by the way, the relationship between the brothers and sisters also means staying away from all of those net negative things, doesn't back by me, doesn't spread lies about me, you know, doesn't slander me and so forth.
If Muslims really applied these kind of things, then obviously, obviously, we could have the kind of relationship and the kind of brotherhood and the kind of society that we saw reflected in the example of the problem as I said, him and his companions.
Now, of course, obviously, there's not just Muslims in this world, and especially living in a non Muslim society.
We have to interact and deal with a large number of nuns.
So let us speak a little bit about the relationship between Muslims and non Muslims.
And I think it's very important to begin with the fact
so that everyone can understand this. It's important to begin with the fact that really a Muslims life, Muslims entire life should revolve around
the proper belief in God.
And he is all about the fact that he's trying to worship God is trying to encourage others to worship God. And he believes that what is best for everybody is that they should worship God.
And that God has commanded this and has sent His messengers and has sent books and has given very clear proofs
and has even instilled in human beings that
idea. And the human nature, the idea that they are, that they should recognize God and that they should worship God.
And so Muslims relationship and attitude towards others has to be related to this fact that the Muslim has a strong belief in God and believes that in every aspect of our life, we should worship God.
So obviously, a Muslim cannot really feel complete affinity
and complete brotherhood and closeness with those people have turned their back on them.
Or those people who associate partners with God and so forth.
I mean, it is just natural that there's going to be some difference between
at least or especially when the person's demand really is strong.
And he realizes that these people are willingly and knowingly turning their back on God.
So at the at the, at the onset,
there is going to be some difference between these two kinds of people.
There's going to be a lack of complete affinity and togetherness, and a feeling of brotherhood between these two people, because of the fact that Muslims life revolves around this belief in God and the worship of God.
And he puts God and God's likes and God's commands above his own personal feelings and emotional feelings. And so
now at the same time,
even though, even though this is going to be the case between a Muslim and a non Muslim, and this is I think, going to occur naturally. Now, for many new Muslims, they may not feel it right now, you know, they may feel the same towards Muslim and non Muslim. But I think as the mind gets stronger, they will realize what it is that I'm talking about.
We cannot look at someone, let's take
an extreme case like a devil worshiper, for example, you cannot look at a devil worshiper and say, Oh, this guy's just as close to the friend of mine as my fellow worshipers of God.
Even though this feeling might be in the heart, or this recognition might be in the mind of the Muslim,
this does not in any way, give the the Muslim have the right to deal unjustly and improperly towards an unjust
under all circumstances,
under all circumstances, the Muslim must deal justly and properly, according to the laws of the Sharia, with respect to any number,
whether they aren't egotistic towards the faith, or whether they are not antagonistic to the faith, you still deal justly towards them.
Yes, it might be the case that sometimes Muslims will have to go to war against non Muslims as happened even during the time of processing them. But even then, even while fighting, they dealt with them in the proper manner, according to what is just and according to the laws laid down in this video.
And, in reality, probably the majority of the people you meet in the United States. You know, even with all of this negative propaganda about Islam, the majority of the people that you'll meet in the United States, do not actually have this antagonistic attitude towards Islam, they are not trying to fight you. With respect to Islam, they might have some general idea that Islam is some evil thing out there somewhere, but when they meet you, and when they interact with you, they are not actually seeing Muslims themselves necessarily as as evil and so therefore, they do not deal with you in
antagonistic fashion.
And in fact, as as Muslims have rights upon you also non Muslims have some specific rights.
And this has been,
this has been discussed by many of the scores.
First of all, the non Muslims have the right upon you
that it is part of your obligation and really, we can see it as part of the Muslim obligation as a whole, to call them to the way of Allah, to call them to this Blissett that
Muslims, as we said, should stand for justice. To stand for truth, should stand for what is good
and it is part of our hope to bring goodness to everyone.
It is part of our attempt to bring goodness and justice and righteousness to everyone that we would like to convey to them.
We would like to convey to them this religion of Allah subhanho wa Taala and let them see Islam truly as it is. As I said, this is actually part of our obligation. It is an obligation upon us as a Muslim community, to bring Islam to us.
And we should always have this feeling in our on our hearts.
Do we want others to become we should desire that they know all this and handle it to Allah.
You understand who all this $100 and they begin to worship Allah subhanaw taala
this was the example set by the promises
and more than in more than one case in the Quran, Allah subhana wa tada speaks about how the process of grief over those people who rejected the message.
Allah subhanho wa Taala says For example,
perhaps you would kill yourself or Mohammed and grief over their footsteps. They're turning away from you.
Because they do not believe in this narration. In other words, they do not believe in the Quran, the processor will kill himself over grief, that these people are rejecting the message.
And in fact, the prophet SAW Selim described how
some of the most difficult circumstances that he faced from the disbelievers and Mecca.
During that time, angels came to him and they said if you want,
if you want, we can bring the mountains of Mecca down upon these
even though these people are causing the mission, the message of Islam and the promises that him and his followers, so much harm. You know, nowadays, unfortunately, some Muslims they react
immediately and they really they go to extremes unfortunately.
But here we see the prophet SAW Selim was facing so much harm from these people, the angels came, said look, we can wipe them away. Just we'll bring them the the
mounds of Mecca down upon them, destroy all of them.
But the prophets I seldom refused.
And, in fact, the prophet SAW Selim not only refused, but he said, Well, are juwan Newbridge a loman of slavery him when yambol the law after all, you should be here.
The prophet SAW Selim said In fact, I hope
that also Hannah would die that was will bring out a people from their descendants, who will worship Allah alone and not describe any partners.
Imagine this. This was the example from Hamas Islam.
Yes, these people are doing it. You know, when you listen to what the Bible says Adam said, he's basically saying yes, these people are doing all of this. And in reality doesn't look like there's much hope for these people.
But the process enema said did not, did not say destroy these people as there's not much hope for these people.
But actually, the prophets I seldom said I hope from their descendants, Allah subhanho wa Taala will bring out some people
who will worship Allah alone and not describe any partners to
should always have this desire to bring goodness to others.
We don't just look at non Muslims as our enemy and they are before and this and this, but actually,
we should look at them as someone who needs the guidance from Allah subhanho wa Taala.
And we may have the opportunity to bring it to them.
And in one second, this person who is now a non Muslim, and one second, well, maybe that's an exaggeration, what in whatever time, he may go from being a non Muslim opposing Islam to someone understanding Islam and converting to Islam. So therefore, our brothers and our sisters in Islam.
So this is the way of the problem is to call people to Islam.
And if we want to follow the way the problem is asylum, the way of the promises is not to drive people away from Islam
and to destroy them by any means, but to call them to Islam as Allah subhanaw taala says,
say, oh Muhammad, this is my way. I invite unto Allah with sure knowledge, I in whosoever follows me also must invite others to allow us your knowledge.
This is the example this is the way of the promises or to call to call people
call people to
the best thing we could imagine if we give this message to others and they see it clearly and honestly
and inshallah the light into their heart and they become
this will be great for us and it'll be great for them and inshallah to be great for society as a whole.
Second obligation towards disbelievers is that we must as I say,
We must treat them properly and justly.
For example, Chef obliges me because he was asked specifically about non Muslims living in Muslim society.
But basically, the principles are general the same, he says that the Muslim may not wrong the other person with respect to his life will their honor, if that non Muslim is a citizen of the Islamic State or has attained other means of protection,
you must fulfill the other's rights, you may not wronged him with respect to his wealth by stealing from him by deceiving him or by cheating him, you cannot harm him with respect to his body by beating him or killing him, or fighting him. His protection
from the state guarantees his safety from such things.
So we see that, for example, in the example of promises element in the lives of the companions, it is permissible for Muslims to interact with non Muslims, we can buy things from them, we can sell to them, we can rent from them, and so forth.
Even on a social level, we can interact with them, such as, for example, they might invite us to eat, we can eat with them, and so forth.
But in reality, though, because especially nowadays, because our religion,
some of the commands, our religion is so different from what they have, this does put some stress on us that some of our relationships sometimes have to be a little bit limited, limited between Muslim and anonymously.
So for example, a Muslim cannot drink doesn't drink alcohol. And also, a Muslim is not supposed to sit at a table in which alcohol is being served. And in general, actually, even if that specific thing weren't the case, in general, Muslims are not going to like to be around people who are consuming alcohol.
And so unfortunately, many of the gatherings that you if you're invited to even at work, you know, many of the outside of the work environment, when they have gatherings, there's going to be alcohol, most likely there's going to be alcohol.
And even if there is an alcohol, also, when you when you mix with non Muslims, many times what they talk about from Islamic perspective is not necessarily very good, they might be speaking about, you know, sexual matters, or speaking about
individual members of the opposite *, or might be just on the other side of the room, and so forth. So all of these, all of these kinds of things,
all of these kinds of things will make the situation very difficult for for Muslim.
So therefore, by nature, it's going to be natural, that is going to restrict his interaction with non Muslims usually. And when he does interact with non Muslims, it'll be usually those who he has
some kind of background with them has struck up some kind of friendship, such that he can explain to them you know, look, you know, that I'm a Muslim, and as a Muslim, you know, these kind of things that that you do and these kind of actions, they're not, they're not something that I feel comfortable with, I cannot join them and so forth. Usually, they will understand and therefore when you interact with them, they'll make sure for example, they invite you someplace that makes sure that there's no alcohol and so forth.
The idea is to be good towards them, and to respect them and shala they will also be good and respect you as well. And when you behave in this fashion, as I said, when you behave in Islamic fashion, you are many times setting the example of a Muslim
and this can have an effect upon them.
And if I can listen to what Donna even refers to this truth, this reality, in the Quran, Allah subhanaw taala says,
The good deed and the evil deed cannot be
repel the evil with a deed that is better. If you do that, then rarely the one between you and him there is some empty, he will become as though he was a close friend.
Many times it is the behavior that has the greatest effect upon others.
In conclusion, we can say as has been said, it is obligatory upon Muslims to deal with this believers in an Islamic fashion with proper behavior. As long as they are not fighting the Muslims, one must fulfill one's trust to them, must not deceive them, was not betray them or lie to them. If there is a discussion or debate between them, one must argue with them in the best manner and be just with them in a dispute. This is in obedience to all those command points.
Are you not with the people of the Scriptures unless it be in a way that is better, except with such as the wrong
it is sanctioned for the Muslim to invite them to do good to advise them and to be patient with them. At the same time while being neighborly and polite to them, this is so because Allah subhana wa tada has said,
by the way, we load with wisdom and fair preaching and argue with them in a way that is better. And Allah has also said, speak good to the people.
And as we said before, you can even give charity to them, you can assist them in different ways. Especially you know, especially if all of these things are done
with the intention of letting them know what Islam is, and this is how a Muslim is supposed to behave, and letting them see the true Islam, obviously, and obviously it is these are just the right things to do. But obviously, if they're done especially with that intention,
they are because they're there. Therefore even more proper and the results inshallah may be even better in the long run. Chela will have to stop on this point.