A Guide for the New Muslim Part 4
Date:
Channel: Jamal Zarabozo
File Size: 47.32MB
Related
- Riyadul Haqq – Al-Ḥudaybiyah – The Truce Of Victory – PT 01
- Taimiyyah Zubair – Taleem al-Quran 2010 – Juz 01 – L013C
- Mirza Yawar Baig – Ramadan Reminders – Day 4
- Moutasem al-Hameedy – In The Wake Of The Quebec Mosque Shooting
- Mufti Menk – UK 2008 – Challenges faced by the Ummah
- Mohammed Faqih – The Sacred Months of Islam 1
- Bilal Ismail – Yassarnal Quran – Part 2 – Lesson 21
AI Generated Summary ©
The importance of the Muslim relationship with Islam is emphasized, including the negative impact of actions taken and the physical world and strong bond between humans and their creator. They stress the need for strong stance on human rights, witnessing and committing to a commitment to the rule of law, understanding the rules and actions associated with Islam, following the Prophet's teachings and following the court's rules. The speakers also emphasize the importance of the word "IT" in relation to the length of time it takes to think about time, and the importance of the length of time in relation to the number of days spent.AI Generated Transcript ©
Bismillahirrahmanirrahim
hamdulillah salat wa salam ala nabina, Muhammad,
Muhammad and
shall in today's lecture, we want to discuss
becoming a Muslim.
What is the process by which one becomes a Muslim? And what are some of the actions that would you take in relationship to becoming a Muslim. And we also want to discuss or start discussing
some of the laws related to the Muslim and his life prior to Islam.
So, first of all, in Islam, the Muslim has a direct relationship with a lot.
There's no intermediaries, you don't go to a piece you don't go to anyone other than Allah subhanaw taala, you pray, you pray directly to Allah.
So you already feel this immediate relationship. And when you hear how all the data describes it, well look at that it says, Why.
And one of my slaves asked you concerning me, then tell them I am indeed new. I respond to the invitations of the supplicant when he calls upon me. So let them obey me and believe in me, so that they may be may be led. Alright. So here's our data very beautifully. It's telling us
that no one we call upon all the time without Allah subhanho wa Taala is there he knows, he hears is close to us. And so there is already this direct relationship between the human being and Allah subhana wa. So whenever, whenever a human being is a neat,
whenever he's facing difficult circumstances, he turns directly to God. He turns directly to God without having to put his trust and reliance or relying upon anyone other than God.
And in fact, when he wants to know the revelation from God, when he wants to read the revelation from God, he turns to the words or the revelation to the stem from Allah subhanho wa Taala Quran.
Similarly, in all of his deeds, the individual nodes that Allah subhana wa tada is not only seeing and knowing what he's doing, but even knows the interactions of his heart, and what is his intention.
And he knows that if he's doing something sincerely for the sake of Allah, then Allah subhanho wa Taala knows it, and will be pleased with him because of that act. No matter what kind of act it is,
you know, any kind of obligation or any kind of deed that you perform in this world, if it is a good deed, the property and you are doing it because you want to please Allah subhanaw taala, then as the prophets are mentioned, in the Hadith, even that, even that port, so even that morsel of food that you put in your wife's mouth,
even this, if you're doing it for the sake of Allah trying to please a lot, even that you will be rewarded, and Allah subhanho wa Taala will be pleased with you.
Even the, even the mundane actions, even for example, sleeping, at some scholars mentioned, if you go to sleep, with the intention, that you are resting in order to revive yourself, so that you can get up and work again for the sake of Allah, even the sleep, even the sleep becomes a way that you become pleasing to Allah.
So as you go through life, you can make even the most mundane activities, something that is pleasing to Allah. You know, he wants to mention that there are some people who they take these activities and they make them act of worship or a lot while other people unfortunately, turn the ritual acts of worship and make them distant to customary meaning and sex.
People, for example, go to the prayer, and they go to the prayer just as Okay, I'm a Muslim, I grew up as a Muslim or Muslim culture, we go and we pray, and it doesn't have any meaning to them. So they have turned these very important ritual acts of worship into just customary daily activities and so forth. Well, and so therefore, the law is great obviously.
And on the other hand, there are the human beings who not just go to the prayer, realizing what it is, but actually every action that they perform or thinking about Allah know, remembering Allah and they're doing it. Doing these actions, even mundane actions even remove removing something harmful from the road, helping a brother out smiling at someone. They are doing this because they know that they're
pleasing to Allah subhanaw taala. And so therefore they're always having this relationship with Allah.
And this bond between them and all of our data becomes very great. Even the even the physical world around us, when we read the Quran, Allah subhanaw taala points out many, many aspects of this physical world. And nowadays women people tend to highlight the, you know, the scientific miracles of the Quran, and so forth. But there is another very important aspect, for example, and all this man, what that is talking about the shadows, and how he brings about the shadows and so forth. When you read these passages, as one author wrote,
when you read this passage, and sometimes you know, your level of knowledge of what is going on, doesn't increase, but your consciousness of what's mine without his role, and the fact that these things are being are occurring, because actually, this is what Allah subhanho wa Taala is creating and making, this makes you conscious of all the time with that. So you look around you and you see all these things around you. And again, they make you more conscious of electronic data, and they develop this strong relationship, and remember to align with Allah that leads you throughout your life.
And finally, to get as many points we could discuss with respect to
savings, and exceptional features of exam, but I'm just going to mention one, one last one, and that is that Islam
honors humankind in the proper manner.
For example,
and indeed, we have honored the children of Adam, and we have carried them on land and sea, and have provided them with lawful good things, and have preferred them above many of those, whom we have created with a marked preference. When you read the revelation from Allah subhanho wa Taala, you realize that human beings, for example, are not in some kind of battle against nature that needs to be conquered, nor are human beings descended from apes,
nothing but animals, nor is there anything inherently evil in the physical world. Nor are human beings tainted with some kind of original sin that follows them everywhere, nor are human beings yet some kind of machine for economic profit and production of goods and so forth.
No, you look in the Quran, you see, as I said, Allah Subhana, WA tada has made this feature, a special creature that all looks fine with that is made with a very special purpose, have some special responsibilities upon his shoulders.
And along with that, as we mentioned in that verse, Allah, Allah is honored this creature, in many ways, has subjugated much of this creation to this creatures on this planet, Allah says,
He is subjected to all that is in the heavens, and all that is in the earth. It is all as a favorite kindness from him, barely in it are Signs for people who think deeply by His grace and mercy of giving us this message. Our China data has shown us that the extremes that people go to are absolutely wrong. Like most people think of human beings, just as some, you know, the result of some big bang and evolution and there's nothing, there's no purpose really delighted. They're just like animals, or that they have this original sin, and so forth. And similarly, those people who raise human beings above the level that they deserve, we hear a lot about human rights nowadays. And the
relationship between Islam and human rights and so forth,
what rights really should a human being have, if you give a human being any kind of rights, and any kind of freedom and the freedom to do anything, what will be the result?
result will actually be hard. That's why every every one who studies human rights knows that there has to be some limits to freedom. We know that humans can't be left alone, just to do anything.
They're really less effective, even those who talk about human rights. The real human rights actually are those that have been given to human beings by the Creator.
And among those human rights, among those things, that the human being that the human being has been granted. And it's also one of those things that humans could never think of their own, is described in the ideas of the process in which the seller has described the rights of Allah upon His creatures and the rights of his creatures upon Allah.
And that shows you that the reason
worth of human beings.
And this is the true honoring the proper honoring of human beings. that avoids any kind of extremes. The poet's I sent him was talking to one of his companions in lab. And he asked what do you know what was right is over his servants and was replied Allah and His Messenger no best. So the prophets I send him for him. I was right, the point is servants, is that they worship Him alone, and do not ascribe any partners to him. That is God's right upon us. We as human beings don't have the right to worship anything and put ourselves above Allah subhanho wa Taala, make ourselves into birds or make other human beings into government on top of that, right? So this is the right drama has upon us, we
worship Him and worship Him alone and do not describe any of them. But then the prophet SAW Selim said, Oh my god, do you know what the right of the servants upon Allah is? If they do that? No, look at this. Let's create it this
alert doesn't have to give us any rights at all, if he doesn't, if it doesn't want to. But humbler in His justice in his mercy, and his kindness and his wisdom, Allah has given us rights.
And the most important right is this one that the province that sentiment is about
to fully fulfill loves right upon us, that has given us a right.
And that right is the processing of the right of the servants upon Allah is that fuel not punishment, right of the service upon Allah, if we do not worship anything with a lots of data, then we will get this, this is the most important and the greatest right that we could ever ask for.
Hamdulillah, Allah subhanho wa Taala has made the door wide open, and very easy for anyone to become a Muslim.
There are virtually no obstacles to becoming a Muslim hamdulillah in order to brace Islam, there's no need for any clergy or baptism or special ceremony as your honor, as you all know, because
I think you've all gone through it. It is simply the testimony of faith. You say, I bear witness that there's none worthy of worship except Allah. And I bear witness that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah.
Simply upon uttering these statements,
you enter into the beautiful brotherhood and sisterhood of Islam, which as we said, stretches from the time of Adam, peace be upon him until the ages.
Let us discuss a little bit about this testimonial of faith.
And what it means and what are some of its requirements.
Later, inshallah, we're going to discuss about the belief in a loan and some aspects of that. So I just want to highlight really some of the requirements of this testimony of faith.
First, you're bearing witness to the truth of
Shahada what we mean by Shahada in Arabic, you're you're really bearing witness to something, you are bearing witness to the truth of something. And so therefore, it must be a public Proclamation. You cannot keep it hidden within yourself.
But you have to actually make a public proclamation of this.
It seems pretty clear that, for example, if there's no obstacles like someone is, someone could be under a fear of death or something of that nature. But otherwise, if there's no obstacles, to declaring one's faith, and making a public proclamation, the Shahada, then just to have it in your heart and say, I'm a Muslim, and just keep it within your heart without proclaiming the faith and in reality, you are not a Muslim.
And this proclamation, and this profession by the tongue of the faith plays a threefold role.
First of all, it is a statement of fact when you say I should online, I live there witness that there's nothing worthy of worship except the law.
You are testifying to the fact that you recognize the truthfulness of this statement.
So for example, like when you give when you give a testimony and a court of law, this testimony you are you're saying that what you're testifying to, as far as you know, it is the truth. So it is it is similar to again, the same words being used to had witness testimony. So you're saying that, as far as you know, this is the truth. Secondly,
though, it is not just a statement of fact, but it is also a statement on your part of a commitment.
You're accepting a commitment to the ramifications of this statement.
In other words, you're not just saying that there's none worthy of worship except God, but you're saying that I'm accepting this as the truth and intending to implement what it implies in my life.
So you are you are admitting that you are going to adhere to the requirements, and the guidance of what this testimony implies.
And then, thirdly,
by this public proclamation of faith, you are thereby also joining the fold of the Muslims,
and accepting therefore, the rights and the responsibilities that fall upon someone who is part of this brotherhood and sisterhood.
Because Islam is not just a religion for an individual, and he just goes off and worships by himself.
Actually, Islam is for the individual, and it is also for the society and the for the community. And so therefore,
when you become Muslim, you are also entering into the community of Muslims.
And there are going to be some rights that you have upon other Muslims. And you also don't have some responsibility towards the Muslims. But this cannot be known. Or this cannot come about unless you make a public proclamation of your faith that you're now you're now a Muslim.
Now, many people know that the key to Paradise is this statement of Lyla heilala, that there's none worthy of worship except Allah.
This is the key to paradise.
But unfortunately,
some, even some Muslims, not just new Muslims, but even some Muslims who have been muslims for a while, they simply rely upon this statement.
And they believe that as long as they've said it, nothing will harm them afterwards.
Simply because of this mirror statement of the testimony of faith, they think that they will enter Paradise.
And as I said, even among Muslims who have been muslims for a long time, and in fact, if you go to the Muslim world, this is probably a common belief in many parts of the Muslim world.
As long as someone says they that ally is a Muslim, and he will go to Paradise and nothing, nothing is going to harm him whatsoever.
This actually is not true. In many ways.
The mere saying of this statement is not sufficient for salvation. And in fact, Allah subhana wa tada speaks to us in the Quran, about the hypocrites.
hypocrites were people during the time of the problem homosassa them
who were outwardly showing Islam but inwardly they were not having any belief.
Or they were not true to their Islam. And they would come to the processing them and they would tell the Prophet system that we know that you are the Messenger of God.
And all this run with that and described them in the Quran that the hypocrites will be in the lowest depths of the hellfire.
So they say shadow Nadler, they testify to the fact that there's none worthy of worship except Allah.
But their testimony is not accepted by all the spammers.
In fact, some of the some of the early scholars they pointed out that yes, this statement of Lyla and law is the key to paradise.
That's true, no one can doubt that. But like any key, you know, it has to have the proper ridges on you cannot just stick any key in any lock and expect the locked open
with the key itself must be proper.
And so therefore, they talk about what are the conditions? Or what are the prerequisites of this statement of the testimony of faith to be acceptable to Allah subhana wa.
Now, let me and let me be clear on this point,
obviously, when you declare your Islam and you and you say the testimony of faith, you enter into Islam, you become a Muslim by law, you become a Muslim. So everyone will recognize you as a Muslim, as I said, you will have the rights of a Muslim and upon your shoulders will be the responsibilities of a member of the Muslim community. But you know, in reality, this is not the most important question.
The most important question is what is going to happen to you when you meet Allah subhana wa?
And is this testimony that you have given Is this something that will be acceptable to all us men with that, because if it is not acceptable to Allah, then nothing else really matters?
And so going through the headaches of the process and the statements of the process and amend the verse of the Quran, the scholars have spoken about what are the conditions
that this testimonial faith must meet for it to be acceptable to unlisted?
in alpha, so for also for a new Muslim,
or someone who's just about to embrace Islam, these are also important to understand that
conditions.
Now, some of these conditions, the exact or the complete ramifications of them may take you some time to grow into them, you may not be perfect with respect to them right now.
But inshallah you have the foundation of them, you may not complete them, but you have the foundation of them, that is the important aspect right now for a new
gun, I cannot overemphasize the fact that as a new Muslim, you know, you should expect to grow and Islam, you should look forward to, you should look forward to much greater feelings of Islam and belief in your heart, as you become Muslim longer, as you live longer in Islam and so forth.
So, yes, it may be the case that you did not completely fulfill all of these, but at least you know, what are the goals, what you have to fulfill? Or what is the mindset that you have to have, and inshallah, if you have that proper mindset, then you understand these these points, inshallah you will eventually fulfill them properly.
So the first condition of the testimony of faith that the scholar has mentioned,
is that of knowledge,
knowledge.
In other words, one has to have the basic understanding of what is meant by the declaration of faith.
I bear witness that is none worthy of worship except Allah.
What does that mean? Who is Allah,
Allah is the one who sent the problem is us and him who revealed the Quran and so forth, you have to have some basic understanding of anytime you give a testimony in court, for example, you have to have some knowledge of what you're seeing. If you witness something, you have to have knowledge of what you witness, I saw this, he was that person. So
similarly, with this testimony, you have to know for example, that Allah is not the Trinity or Allah is not Jesus or something of that nature.
So this is this is obviously very basic, is obviously very basic, but it is still very important. You have to give the testimony of faith with proper knowledge.
And the prophets I send him said, Man, Matt, well, yeah, the more and the whole, a lot, a lot different agenda. Whoever dies, knowing that there's none worthy of worship, except Allah shall enter Paradise.
Now, by the way, these different IDs, the processing, or these different statements from the Quran, or from the Hadith,
you have to take them in their totality, because they, they complement one another, and they explain one another. So this is not the only Hadith of the Prophet SAW Selim about the law and the law and what it takes to intergender. And so
don't think, for example, well, I know that I know that fact. So therefore, I can just rely upon that, because there's also other conditions that the processor was mentioned. And which we'll also discuss.
The second condition is certainty.
And certainty is the opposite of doubt. And uncertainty, obviously.
And what this means, basically, is that in your on your heart, and in your mind, you have to be certain about the statement of Lyle Allen Hamilton,
you don't have any doubt about the truth of this statement.
It's not okay. I'm not really sure about it. But I'll go ahead and become Muslim, and make the testimony of faith. And so this is not what is required of you. This is not what is actually requested of you. What you have to have certainty now there's different levels of certainty. And as you grow in Islam, and as you know, the Quran better as you know, the sooner the better. As you understand things better actually, your level of certainty actually increases.
But there must be a level of certainty that you are
that you are convinced that this is the truth. And so that is why you are accepting you're making the statement because you are convinced this is the truth.
And you are free of doubts about the truth of the statement.
As Allah subhanho wa Taala describes, this is to be a real believer, you have to remove these doubts from your heart There's a lesson with Alice's in
the true believers are only those who believe in Allah and His messenger and afterward does not.
And the prophets I send him also said
that no one meets Allah with the testimony that there's none worthy of worship but Allah and I am the messenger of Allah. And he has no doubt about that statement, except that you learn to practice.
Here the problem so cinema as I alluded to earlier here, the promise of cinema is mentioning another condition is not just that you say let alone you know that that's true. But here also the
Silliman saying that if you say that without any doubt about it, then you will enter Paradise. And in fact, one of the key descriptions that Allah subhana wa tada gives in the front of the hypocrites is the fact that their hearts are always wavering and always in doubt. So
it's third condition of the testimony of faith is acceptance.
In other words, you must accept what this testimony implies. Now, this should be obvious, right? If you know what the testimony means, and you are certain that it is true,
if you are certain that it is true, then you should be willing to accept all of the implications of this testimony outside. And to be a real Muslim. To be a real Muslim, you have to have this condition, you have to accept whatever this testimony of faith implies. Whoever refuses to accept any of the implications of the testimony of faith, even if he knows that the testimony of faith is true and uncertain about it will still be a disbelief.
Sometimes this refusal to accept is
the result of pride or envy or some other reasons. But these diseases are so dangerous that they can actually cancel the validity of your testimonial faith.
So what this means, for example, is that the Muslim believes in whatever is stated in the Quran, and whatever is stated by the processor.
As we said earlier, you don't have the right to pick and choose, but by your testimony of faith by your saying, I accept this testimony. This means if you are accepting whatever it implies, so whatever a lot is messenger of said this means that you are going to accept Allah subhanaw taala says in the Quran, as we quoted earlier,
Jr.
Do you believe in part of the book and reject part of it? And what is the reward of those who do so except disgrace in the life of this world, and on the Day of Resurrection, there'll be consigned to the most grievous doom. And also and what that also says, well, America.
It is not for believing men or believing woman, when Allah and His Messenger have decreed a matter to have any option in their decision. And whoever disobeys Allah and His Messenger has the straight and plain error. So if Allah subhana wa tada is His Messenger have decreed a matter of they've made a decision about something, they made a statement about something, then they choose close.
And it's just a matter of accepting whatever loves messenger have decided.
And closely related to that, then is the fourth condition of submission and compliance.
Again, if you know that something is true, if you know that testimony is true, and you accept what it implies, then you also have to apply it in your life you have to submit to it. You have to comply with it.
Here we're talking about the actual physical enactment by doing the properties that are related to Islam and related to
this testimonial. And obviously, this is again, this is what Islam means right? You're going to submit to all this man with data you're going to enact what a lesson on what data as ordered.
So let's find what data tells us in the forum for example, what I need
to
turn on to him repentant and surrender unto Him.
And Allah subhana wa tada has made it a condition of faith that one submits to the command of Allah and His messenger. Allah subhanho wa Taala says that
So
what's no by your Lord, they will not truly believe until they make you talking about the process of them, the judge of what is in dispute between them and find within themselves, no dislike for that what you decide, and they submit with a full submission.
Whatever the purpose of cinema is decided, we accepted completely, we submit to a completely.
And this is part of requirements of our faith. This is what it means to be Muslim, to submit to Allah subhanaw taala.
So this intention, and this desire to submit must be part of your testimony of faith. Okay, this doesn't mean that if you commit a sin, all of a sudden you're canceled your testimony of faith, or this doesn't also mean that a Muslim therefore is never going to commit a sin and how could he possibly commit a sin?
This is not what is referring to here. Yes, it is possible that Muslims commit sins, we know that Muslims commit sins. So cinema has made this very clear to us in different occasions, we as human beings, we as human beings, we commit sins we commit, there's
but
the key though, is that we always have the intention. And we always understand the obligation that we have to submit roles.
So even when we commit sins, we know that this sin is wrong. And we don't have the right to commit sins.
Now saying to ourselves, that we have the right to commit sins, then we are negating our condition of faith, then we are negating this condition of the shadow of the testimony of faith.
We have to accept what the testimony implies, and we have to submit to it. In other words, we have to have the desire and intention to submit. If we should slip, sometimes, we realize that this is wrong, and we don't have the right to do it, we should try to correct ourselves and go back to the proper submission to Allah subhanaw taala. But at all times, we recognize that it is an obligation upon us
concerning which we have no other choice but to submit to Allah subhanaw taala.
The fifth condition
is truthfulness and honesty as opposed to the policy of dishonesty.
And what that means is when you when you make the declaration of faith, you are saying it honestly, you're not lying when you say it, you're not hiding something else in your heart, you're not being a hypocrite, just trying to get some advantage, but you actually believe you're honest to yourself, you're honest to the others. When you say it, is not a matter of deception or anything of that nature. So the province has said and told us that no one bears witness the fact that none is worthy of worship except Allah. that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah subhanaw taala he
did not. He says that sincerely from his heart. No one says that sincerely from his heart, except that Allah makes the Hellfire have been
the sixth condition is purity. or making this testimonial stating this testimonial faith solely for the sake of Allah and with that.
In other words, you should not become a Muslim.
And you should not make this testimony of faith for any other reason or for anybody else's sake.
You do it only for the sake of illustration with that.
And you're seeking only to serve Allah subhanho wa Taala and to worship Allah subhana wa
as always run with Allah says in the Quran
worship Allah making religion pure for him.
And Bossa Sanam also said in the la hora mala Nariman para la ilaha illa. Allah Yep, Wb radica, which Allah, Allah has forbidden for the Hellfire anyone who says there was none worthy of worship, except a lot, and says that desiring the face and the pleasure of Allah subhanaw taala.
The seventh condition is love.
In other words, the person who makes the Shahada has to have a love for the shirt.
He doesn't just believe in it, he doesn't just recognize it as the truth but in his heart, he has a love for the Shahada, and what it implies. So it is not a kind of mechanical thing that you are Muslim. Just here I said, the statement of faith and here I'm going to pray and I'm going to fast and so forth, without any feelings in your heart towards the Shahada
towards this belief, towards this religion towards Allah subhana wa tada and His Messenger
know there has to be love in your heart for this. You have to love what it implies. What Lyla Allah is all about
and Unreal
Ultimately you have to love Allah subhanho wa Taala above anything else.
Allah subhanho wa Taala, for example, says in the Quran,
one lady,
yet of mankind of some who take unto themselves objects of worship, which they set as rivals to Allah, loving them with a love like that which is due to a lonely
However, those who believe or stature and the love of Allah.
And another passage, Allah subhanho wa Taala says,
say, if your father's, your sons, your brother, and your wives, your tribe, the wealthy have acquired merchandise for which you fear that there'll be no sale, or the drawings that you desire are dear to you. If any of these are dear to you, then online is messenger and striving and is Wait, then wait till Allah brings us command to pass. And Allah guys, not the wrong doing folk,
actually online is messenger and striving for the sake of Allah subhanho, wa Taala. All of these things in your heart should be above even your closest relatives, the wealth of this world and so
but the point, again, is that when you become Muslim, you know, it's not some kind of dry, mechanical thing, that you don't have any feelings towards Islam and what Islam is, and what Islam is all about, towards Allah subhanho wa Taala. And what it means to worship Allah and towards the poet's, I sort of know has to be love in your heart for this
innate condition, which, again, some scholars may not consider this a condition at all. But
part of the testimony of faith is obviously therefore you reject any other object of worship other than
the testimony of faith has two aspects to it, a negation and an affirmation. And in the Arabic language, the way that this is structured, this is the strongest one of the strongest forms of making an affirmation. First you c'est la Ilaha. There's nothing worthy of worship. There's no kind of God whatsoever there. No, there are no Gods whatsoever. Illa except Allah.
When you make this testimony of faith, you're denying that anything else has the right to be worshipped, you're rejecting the idea that you will worship anything other than all of us.
We discussed that point earlier, but it is clear in the Quran many times over that Allah subhana wa tada speaks about
rejecting all false deities and accepting Allah subhanaw taala, for example, this one with dialysis, and he took
10 seconds
or
10 seconds
on his own.
And he who rejects false deities, and believes in Allah, so both together rejects false deities, and believes in Allah, he has grasp from handhold, which will never break.
And finally, by the way, with respect to this testimonial faith, it doesn't necessarily have to be in the Arabic language or it doesn't really even have to be with specific terms.
Yes, usually when someone becomes Muslim, for example, they'll make them say it in Arabic and English. And I assume that the reason they're doing it that is, is that it is very clear exactly what they what they mean. And this is the point actually, as long as the statement made is very clear, unambiguous, that this is what you mean, this is sufficient to become Muslim. And so therefore, if you adhere to those words that are usually said, and if you say them in Arabic and English, then there'll be no ambiguity that this is exactly what you mean. But
In reality is not actually a requirement that it be said in Arabic or that it be said, in specific terms, as long as it is unambiguous and clear that this is exactly what you mean, then that should be sufficient. So that is concerning the the testimony of faith and how inshallah, we can make sure that this testimony, the statement that we're making, which is the foundation of our Islam is inshallah acceptable to Allah subhanaw taala.
At least at the foundational level, at the basic level, every Muslim has to meet these requirements.
Some of them he might grow in,
but at least at some minimum level, he has to meet all of these requirements, such that inshallah, when he meets Allah, He will really meet Allah subhanho wa Taala as a true Muslim, because the Shahada is the entrance into Islam. And without it, you are not a Muslim. And without it being done properly. And when I say done properly, I don't mean the actual ceremony or the actions that you took to become a Muslim. But I'm talking about what is in your heart, and what is in your mind
with respect to the shot,
if you don't do it properly. And this applies, by the way to new Muslims, that applies to people who grew up as Muslim, right, someone could grow up in a Muslim society. And because his parents were Muslim, he grew up as a Muslim, but he's never taken Islam seriously. And he's never taken the Shahada seriously, and he might, he was he's been taught to shadow and he says the shadow but in reality, maybe he meets none of these conditions.
So we have to make sure inshallah, that we meet all of these conditions, and it is important for us, maybe even to go over them every now and then in our lives, to refresh ourselves and refresh our relationship to these conditions to make sure that inshallah
all of these conditions are being met. Because, again, as we said, this, this shatter This is the key to paradise, when Carlisle Allah de halogen, whoever says, Allah will enter Paradise at the process of sin.
But as we said, This also means with its proper condition.
So this is a key,
if we can do this foundation properly, inshallah the rest will come.
But if we're failing in this foundation, then the rest will not be proper.
Now, with the testimonial phase, there are certain actions that are sometimes described,
that the person should do either before he does the testimony phase or afterwards, and so forth.
So this will be our first discussion of some of the, what we can call the the laws of Islam, or some of the, the, the,
and I want to, you know, part of the the goal of these lectures are not just to give you information that that you may be needed, at the time of becoming Muslim or just after becoming Muslim, but also to shala set you on the path to make your Islam easier to make sure that as you grow on Islam, and as you as you intermix with Muslims, and as you read about Islam, you're understanding what's going on.
inshallah, that is my goal, I hope inshallah we're achieving some of those goals.
So now we're going to talk about certain actions, as I said, that are usually associated with this act of making the testimonial faith to enter into Islam.
And so these are the first this is the first time that we've encountered some kind of laws in Islam. And so therefore, I want to
begin actually, by introducing you to some aspects of Islamic law.
Now, it might seem kind of out of place right now, but inshallah These are some aspects that you're going to have to learn sooner or later you're going to come across them sooner or later shall have the sooner you learn about them, and the better you understand them, shallot, the less confusion
and that's just the less confusion But hopefully, the better the understanding will be the future.
So let me speak a little bit about the nature of Islamic law and the development of something known as stuck.
So we have we have the Quran and the Sunnah of the promises.
And within the Quran and the Sunnah the process and they are some very specific laws and some very specific ordinances. And the meaning of these ordinances are very clear. And there's no question about what they imply.
And these form the foundation of the of the religion.
Our progress we said also, the law of Islam is meant to apply
To for all times and places.
So therefore there are some issues in which
the text of the Quran and Sunnah gives us some guidance directs us to certain paths that will inshallah lead us to the correct conclusion about this issue.
But in the Quran Sunnah Allah subhanho wa Taala has not laid down every law
related to the religion, but instead and Allah subhanaw taala is mercy. This is really part of the mercy in the convention of listening with data
that certain laws have not been mentioned in detail. Because in reality, certain laws might be different given different times and places. This is part of the flexibility again, as I said, of Islam, and so therefore, it is a requirement upon the scholars of Islam sometimes to derive certain laws from the Quran.
And I'll have this Alhamdulillah our Muslim scholars throughout the ages
have exerted themselves to understand the principles of law, the principles of Islamic legal theory and how to apply the guidance of the Quran and Sunnah under under various circumstances.
And all the kind of effort that has been done in this field if you shall get the chance to study this field
is truly remarkable.
So what happens sometimes is that if something is not explicit in the Quran and Sunnah, then scholars have to resort to what is known as personal reasoning or
you have to make what is known as HDL.
And this process in itself, by the way, is is actually an act of worship but as a way of pleasing Allah subhanho wa Taala
if you exert yourself to understand the Quran and Sunnah and, and to see how the production applies to new circumstance, this is actually a praiseworthy act. Allah subhanho wa Taala will be pleased with you if you do this sincerely. And you do it within the means. In other words, you're qualified to do it and you do it within the proper means I'll listen, I know what data will be pleased. Even if you come to a mistaken conclusion. Allah subhanho wa Taala will still be pleased with the efforts that you made as the professor cinema has told us either hackerman hakam, which data to mazhab by the
way, the hacker knows which data to
follow who
promises him said the judge or someone who's deciding an issue, exerts, exerts himself and comes to a correct conclusion, he shall receive two rewards
or his exertion and for coming to the correct conclusion, any of exerts himself and comes to an errand conclusion, he shall receive one word.
Now, this does not mean that any By the way, any juris conclusion, and he just he had as is clear from this heading, he may be correct or he may be incorrect.
So his conclusion does not become an ultimate authority.
Okay, everyone's personal judgments, no matter how great a scholar everyone's personal judgments actually have to be evaluated in the light of the Quran.
And if it is found that a human being a great scholar has made a mistake, and has come to a conclusion that contradicts the foreign center, then we respect that score, we continue to show him his respect, but we but we know that he is a human being and it is possible for him to make a mistake. And we reject in a very kind and proper manner we reject what he said. And we follow the Quran. So the ultimate authorities are always the Quran and some, no human being can come to any judgment that can overrule or be considered stronger than the foreigners and so over this found that someone
has made a mistake, then human beings make a mistake as I said, this head it makes it very clear that human beings can make mistakes. And so therefore, you know, we were still respecting individual for him, we appreciate his efforts. But we follow the Quran isn't this is what is obligatory upon us. And the Quran, Allah subhanho wa Taala as obliged us to follow the process to follow the Quran and has not obliged us to follow any human beings after the problem.
Now, what happened in the history of Islam though, is that certain scholars were well known for their scholarship.
Allah subhana wa tada blessed them with an influence
that actually led to the development of what they call the schools.
In many cases, it was just historical incidences that occurred that led to particular schools.
Becoming dominant, and becoming and lasting, becoming dominant and lasting, while other schools kind of died away for various reasons.
So it led to really four major schools being the dominant schools. And these are the four major schools that continue to be dominant today. And so therefore, anytime you study Islam, anytime you go to the mosque and ask a question,
or even hear lecture in the mosque, there's a good chance you're going to hear reference to these four different schools. So you might as well as I said, you might as well learn them earlier. So when you hear them, you know what they're talking about. And you also know what these schools are. These are schools that as I said, they were developed by human beings. And because of historical circumstances, they became the strongest and the most influential of many schools, actually, that existed early in Islam. And they lay down the foundations, you know, these, these scholars did their best to determine what Allah subhanho wa Taala wants from us under different circumstances. And they
lay down the foundations of the methodology of how to derive new laws under different circumstances. And they also gave their opinion on many different issues.
And as I said, these first four schools in particular became the dominant schools. And they are one of the ones that you need to be familiar with.
The first school is known as the Hanafi school.
And the Hanafi school is named after the scholar Abu hanifa,
who live from the year at after the hedgerow.
through the year 150.
It was an early scholar who lived in Iraq.
And his school nowadays is predominant in many parts of the Muslim world, including Turkey, Pakistan, India, and Afghanistan. And the Muslim states that used to form part of the Soviet Union.
I would say the vast majority of the of the people that you meet from those parts of the world are going to be following at least their family, you know, now the influence of the schools by the way, in a great extent, to a great extent. Maybe it's not as much as it used to be. But in general, you'll find that the people from these areas are going to be following what is known as the Hanafi school.
The second school is known as the medical school medical school, named after Malik even as
Maliki bananas lived from 95 to 179, after the hedgerow
and Malik even lived in Medina. So he lived in the city of the province of Salem, and he lived there throughout his life. And as you see, he was born in 95, after the hicieron other words, which is 85, after the death of the prophet SAW Salem.
So this is he grew up in a city in which was still relatively close to the time of the system, and having the knowledge passed on from the time of the processor. Today, his school is most popular in North Africa, and Sub Saharan Africa, and for years it was the predominant School of analysts or Muslim Spain.
A third school is known as the chef a school. The chef a school is named after Mohammed Idris Shafi
who live from 150 to 204.
And Shafi was from the Polish tribe which is the same tribe as the problem is awesome. And he lived and studied in numerous places finally settling in Egypt.
Today, his school is the most influential school in Malaysia and Indonesia and some parts of the Middle East.
And the fourth school is the hanbali School.
hanbali School is named after Ahmedabad Hanban,
who live from 164 to 241.
And he was in Hamburg lived in Baghdad and he was known to be a great school of Hadith.
And if his as we said, the you know the narrations of the problem. So some some people are specialized, and Hadith some people are specialized in driving laws or the known as phip. And some scholars are both special specialize in both prep and Hadeeth and so forth. And, and in particular, though,
while being recognized as a scholar, was also recognized as one of the greatest scholars of Hadith. This school is predominant nowadays and Saudi Arabia.
Now unfortunately, what happened in the history of Islam?
these scholars, these different scholars, they are they were trying to see what is
required and what is demanded of Muslims to act and behave in a way that is pleasing to Allah.
So they're trying to derive laws from the Quran and from the similar processes.
But what happened unfortunately, as Muslim civilization kind of decayed, these schools became very rigid, and even became very antagonistic.
You find chef is competing against Hana fees, and so forth, even to this day, unfortunately, among some people, they make these schools very rigid, they look upon their school as being the best school, and all the other schools are inferior to their school.
And so they have this kind of bigotry, bigotry, towards their their school of thought. And this is not what the original scholars obviously intended. And if this leads to some kind of division in Islam, and especially any kind of hatred or opposition among the followers of these different schools, obviously, then this is not what was intended by the original scholars. And this is not a good thing in Islam at all.
But to benefit from these schools and to benefit from what the scholars have said, and to benefit from their experience and their knowledge and their greater knowledge than what we have, and to learn from them. Of course, this is something that every every Muslim should do, you should go to all of these scholars and try to learn from what all of these scholars and all of these schools have contributed to Islam. They all contributed a lot to Islam. And we should try to benefit from what they have done, rather than try to set up tokenistic schools. And actually, there's a relationship between all of these, all of the schools, Imam, Abu hanifa, for example, and EMA Malik.
They were pretty much contemporaries.
But for example, Abu hanifa, one of his major students, his name is Mohammed aminul has an issue buddy.
And Mohammed, Hassan Shivani went to Medina to study with him a medic, and he took from illness medic.
In my medics important collection of Hades, my medic compiled a book called a motto. And one of the most important students who passed and what the down even down to our generation is Mohammed Abu Hassan Shivani, the student of Abu hanifa
and one of Mr. Malik's important students, who benefited obviously a lot from him. Mr. Malik was Imam Shafi. He was a student of a medic.
And after leaving Medina he traveled and he ended up and Baghdad in Iraq. And he met with
Mohammed Al Hassan Shivani. He debated with them or the headquarter you know, they had meetings together, and they obviously benefited from one another.
And in Baghdad, also one of his students,
one of the sheffy students who praised him very much and who said, we would not understand if it were not for a mama Shafi was
the the founder of the so called founder of the fourth school.
So there is actually a relationship between these four images, enamels, a close relationship and respect between these four imams. And we should try our best to benefit from what they did, and what their students did, and what their followers have done throughout the years.
But the point is, maybe I've gotten a little bit away from the point, the point is that when any kind of issue comes up in Islamic law, in which there is a difference of opinion,
many times you will find reference to these four schools, you'll see you'll you'll hear, for example, the Hanafi school says this, the medical school says this, because in each of the schools, there is some in some cases, there is some historical differences in their rulings. And there is sometimes some different approach and how to drive laws. So there are some reasons why they have some differences among them.
And when the score is different is it is important that we always keep in mind that our ultimate goal is to obey Allah and to obey the messenger to follow the Quran. And to follow the Sunnah of the processor. That is our ultimate goal.
We shouldn't accept, for example, an opinion just because we liked that scholar, and we want to follow that score and everything that he said and so forth. This is not this is not the proper intention. Now, if we have believe in a scholar, and we have confidence in scholar, then we may wish to follow the scholar and think that he's better than other stories, so therefore, we have more confidence in it.
But at the same time when we do that we should not be biased against other scores.
We should not say no, my score was the only one who knows and you
scholars are all weak and so forth or something ridiculous
of that nature. So, we have to inshallah, we have to have respect for all the scholars,
and when there is a difference of opinion, our ultimate, our ultimate desire should be to follow what is correct according to Bronson.
And that may lead us now, as a new Muslim for example, you may not have the tools,
you may not have the tools obviously to, to discern who necessarily is correct and who is incorrect. And so, therefore, you will follow those scholars who you respect, you respect them, because of the knowledge because of the behavior because of the character, you see them as true Muslims. And you see that other people, other schools respect their knowledge and you will follow will follow them and inshallah Allah subhanho wa Taala will, will accept that from me. But even when you do that, even when you're following the scholars in what they're saying, your ultimate desire, obviously, is always to follow a line is missing. So even when you're following the scholars, the scholars, and
what they're telling you, your hope is that what they're telling you is correct in the sight of Alyssa and with that, and that is why you're following them, because you believe that they are giving you something which is correct, according to the Quran, you're not following them just because of who they are, and make them like into priests, whatever they say you're going to follow. But you have the hope and confidence in them, that what they're saying is correct according to Quran as long as you always have that intention in your hearts. inshallah, as that as your guide, inshallah, you will be led to what is correct and what is proper.
Let me also introduce you to some terms, that also you're going to be hearing often in
which form a part of the study of
Islamic jurisprudence, jurisprudence.
Basically, in Islam, when you study the Quran, and Sunnah, you can see that there are different weights given to act different actions, different deeds.
And the scores in describing these have come up with five categories.
And again, this is this is what the scores have described, the terms are basically from the scores. But in reality, the sources water, the foundations, you can see it in the Quran says that there are different weights given to certain deeds. And so therefore, the terminology may have come later. But the reality of these things can be found in the Quran. And so therefore, when when judging an action, the scholars basically we'll categorize that action into one of five categories.
They'll say, for example, let me give you the what they are in English first, and then we can worry about how they're described in there. So they'll say, for example, that this action is either obligatory or recommended or permissible or disliked or forbidden, that's five categories,
is either obligatory and think about any data, if you think about any deep, basically, it's going to fall into one of these shades of
rulings, right.
Either it's going to be obligatory or it might be forbidden, or somewhere in between. And that's basically what these what these rulings are covering. So if it is obligatory, or mandatory, the term that is used for that.
Again, for all of these categories, actually, there's a number of terms but most common terms for example, for obligatory as far or wide
and obligatory as the word implies, in English, this means it is something
required of them.
In other words, if he doesn't do it, he is committing a sin.
Not to do the obligatory deeds, this means you are committing a sin.
So second rack comes comes recommended, or praiseworthy, or beloved to Allah.
So, these are less than they are not required, they're less than required, but they are still good actions to do. their beloved to Allah, they are recommended.
Some of the words that you may hear for this in Arabic or Mr. Hot
or Sunnah. This is the word This is the use of the word so not used in a different manner than describing the example and the life of the prophet SAW said, here just means a praiseworthy wait. This is closer to its lexical meaning. Another word you might use is Mandarin.
Now, the way
the way most legal theorists when they talk about this category,
they define it as same for example, if someone does it, then he will be rewarded by a lot. He's doing a good deed. And if he doesn't do it, he is not committing a sin.
So in this category, if you do
It is good, if you don't do it, you are not committing a sin.
Now, this is a very legalistic way of looking. I think it's good to emphasize that if you do these deeds, you're doing something that is pleasing to Allah.
And you don't want to miss any opportunity of doing actions which are pleasing to Allah.
So it is within your means it is not a hardship upon you, it's not difficult for you try your best to perform this as they will, inshallah always bring you closer to Allah subhanaw taala.
third category are those actions which are permissible.
from other words,
from the from the point of view of the law, there is no special week given to them, they're not necessarily recommended. And at the same time, they are not blameworthy. So they are simply in the middle there permissible, implying there's no sin, if you do them, and there's also no special merit. If you do them.
You can do them if you want, they're not. Okay. So for example, let's say like you want to buy a car,
the Sharia, the Islamic law is open, if you want to buy a Ford or Mercedes or whatever, whatever in between those two,
this is something permissible to use left open for you. There's no special reward for buying a Ford or buying Toyota or something all that is permissible, and it's left open to you. And the term usually used for this category is mobile.
That means premise.
Now, even these permissible actions as we said before, you can do them in such a way that you are doing them with the intention that they are legally permissible, and you do not want to displace a lesson without and so therefore you make sure that they are at least legally permissible.
And you do them with the proper intention and there might even still be you might still be rewarded by Allah subhana wa tada for doing this kind of action.
And the fourth category are actions which are dis disapproved of,
or disliked by Allah subhanho wa Taala. And they're called macro,
macro
and
analogous to the definition of the of the recommended x. Here, they say that if you do it, you're not committing a sin. But if you leave it for the sake of Allah subhanho wa Taala, then you will be rewarded.
So it's the opposite of a recommended act. If you do what they say it's not a sin, but if you leave it, it is better. And another word and also if you leave it, you're doing something that is pleasing to Allah subhanaw taala. So, to avoid these acts, it is pleasing to Allah subhanaw taala. And then the final category of course, is the prohibited or the forbidden acts and these are known as haram
and these are actions if you do them, you are committing a sin.
Among these actions, even among these actions, there are different levels they are the great sins and the minor sins. But in any case, they are all acts which are displeasing to Allah subhanaw taala and are sinful.
So, unfortunately, at this point, we've come to the end of the time for today's lecture.
And inshallah, next time we will start with a discussion of those actions that are usually described as being related to the act of embracing Islam.