Sharia & Forbidding Evil

electric shocks, I don't want to come

out with a blemish on regime. It's my little man that

that was a really good speech. I was watching it from the back. And

I feel like I'm under the cleanup duty now or something.

So actually, that's what I'll do. I had a speech that I like, you know, through, I literally through the papers, it's not nonsense, I just want to maybe provide some

some

additional material that might be helpful based on what Linda said, and by the way, I mean, I really, you know, my wife's Palestinian, and she wears hijab, and when I see you know, when I see people like Linda and her,

especially, you know, succeeding in life and being so prominent and outspoken and in principle that makes me really proud. I'm very optimistic for the future. So and I was talking to her earlier about this, I'm, I'm actually I think the next four years are going to be rough for our country. But I think they're really going to be good for Muslims. I think Muslims are going to come out of these four years inshallah much stronger, much more unified with a much firmer grounding in this country.

And oh, that's nice of you to crop. Thank you. So, I know I, a lot of people have questions about, you know, forming coalitions with other with non Muslim groups, you know, some groups that, you know, have positions that we don't agree with some social issues, some economic issues that we don't agree with their lifestyles we don't agree with, and a lot of Muslims have problems with. I mean, for example, Black Lives Matters. Oh, Black Lives Matter was founded by three lesbians, so we can't work with them. That's absolute nonsense. I want to explain why this is nonsense. Okay, I mean, first of all, I and I appreciate people thinking about this, but let's not you know, let's not be

fooled by by bad arguments, okay. The Prophet lays out Salaam worked with non Muslims. And I'm, I'm not even gonna go into his uncle, I will call him. I mean, during the lottery, we don't know this, but the Battle of a HUD.

Does anyone ever wonder why the Quraysh didn't continue to attack the Muslims. After the battle had ended and the Muslims had retreated. They could have gone to Medina and attacked and maybe defeated the Muslims completely. Did anyone know why they hadn't? Because someone named Matt Abed from the Maasai tribe, a leader of the Maasai tribe, who was a mushnik. A polytheist, was actually a secret ally of the Prophet leaves us alone. And he convinced the courageous leaders don't go for another attack.

So the Prophet had alliances with machete Kuhn, even though people who are not Muslim they were mushriks.

After the Battle of after the battle, before the Battle of her name, after the conquest of Mecca, when the Prophet and the Muslims needed more Arms and Armor, the prophet borrowed Arms and Armor from slough one bin omiya one of the wealthiest people in Mecca who is still a mushnik, it was not Muslim, he was a polytheist.

And later on, became Muslim. And he said, before I there was no one hated more than the prophet of God, but because he was so fair, and just to me, he became the person that I love most in the world.

So it's the Prophet worked with non Muslims

for good causes. And there's a Eman suhaib Webb Mashallah he told me this earlier on I we were talking about it as a fascinating discussion, right? When the Prophet is going to the Treaty of hood Abo.

In the year six, six or seven of the Hydra,

he made compromise, he made a compromise with the corporation to stop to not pursue the pilgrimage that year, but to go in the next year.

And a lot of his companions were upset about this. How can you compromise with these mushriks these polytheists with our enemies, people who fight us and he said

this and so he saw he had Bacardi

la Yes. aluna Houghton you have the Mona fi ha hora, moto la Illa, Arteta, homea.

They will not they cannot ask me for any, any item, anything,

if they're going to glorify or if it's gonna lead to the glorification of God, except that I'll give them this thing.

And then, as I was reading about this today, I found in the commentary of Muhammad Abdul Wahab, on this book was added in the hour that had been

claimed.

I found this in there and I'll tell you, if you're a fan of Muhammad Managua,

you'll, you'll you'll be convinced by what I say, if you don't like him, you'll still be convinced what I say because of the most sincere

servat of person you can think of says this, then you have to exempt it. Regarding non Muslims. He says in his commentary on this idea, he says that this shows that if somebody asks for something that is beloved to God, like, I mean, we can think like justice, like peace, like helping the poor, if someone asks for something that is beloved to God, you have to give it to them, you have to help them in that matter, as long as there is not something greater evil, that will become because of that.

So as long as there's not some greater evil, that will be promoted, by helping them with this, block this cause it's good in God's eyes, you have to help them with that cause you have to join with them in that cause.

So think about this, when we think about forging alliances in this country, what are we fighting for? What are Muslims fighting for? First of all, we're fighting for our right to be here and practice our religion freely. The right of Muslims to exist in this land, to be people who are standing for the Word of God in this land. What can be greater than that? And what are people asking for from us? You know,

people who happen to be gay, want to live with us on a common cause. People who happen to be not Muslim want to ally with us on a common cause. People who we disagree with uncertain political issues, want to ally with us on a common cause. These are not

ways weightier matters than the survival of Muslims in this country as free people.

So just think about that, think about way, what you're trying to gain,

and what you're trying to prevent losing way that from the potential harms that could be caused. And in the case of Muslims in this country, 90% of the time, there's going to be something much more important for fighting for when we ally with non Muslims, even those who disagree with that any potential harm that can come from that.

A lot of times people say, you know, I don't want to take this position, I don't want to stand up for this issue, because it's going to be too controversial.

Because it's going to, you know, impede my, my career options, it's going to mean, no, it's going to cause me to be unpopular, or, you know, some people might criticize me because of this.

But, you know, the last couple of weeks have been very informative, very informative for me.

A lot of times people will say, you know, Muslims, we shouldn't talk about the Palestine issue. We shouldn't talk about this issue or that issue, these controversial issues, because these are, you know, too alienating. We're going to lose our we're gonna we're gonna lose our place at the table.

And I love this and people say, you know, if you don't have a seat at the table, then you're being eaten for dinner. I always say to them, you forgot about another option. It's called being table decoration. Okay? A lot of times Muslims have ended up during the last 10 years or so, in a being table decoration. They're in the photo, they're lending you know, they're making the cut the the picture a little more diverse with some interesting clothing and different skin tones. But what do they show for it? What do they get for it nothing was Muslims aren't used for asked aren't used to asking for things aren't using asking for respect. We're not using for too demanding our rights as

Americans. So, you know, and I mentioned a brother whom I have a lot of respect for, I have a lot of affection for and that's representative Keith Ellison. No, I I support him. He's a wonderful

politician. And I you know, I'm very proud of him as a Muslim as a person.

Keith Ellison has done everything he could to placate his critics.

He's done everything he signed everything he had to do, he made every statement he had to make to show that he was a kosher, you know, figure that he was not problematic in his political views.

And guess what? People still say that he you can look in all sorts of publications, you'll still see him accused of being a Muslim extremist when he was young, he was associated with this group once he wasn't at a you know, a fundraiser for that group. Once he said this semi controversial thing.

My proposition is, what's the point of not taking positions because you're afraid you're not going to be accepted? If you're not going to be accepted anyway? Why not take those positions? Why not stand up for something worthwhile? And by the way, if you're you're gonna find out there's a lot of people out there who agree with you.

You know, I the other the other day I was, you know, watching like channels slipping my kids wouldn't

Go to sleep. They're little kids, they wouldn't go to sleep. So of course, watch TV. And, you know, there was this performance of the wall, Roger, Pink Floyd, like Roger Waters, the wall concert. And I sat there with my two sons. And I was looking at it. And I was just so I told them, truth have a Have you Daffy and fully stinney as it see this guy, he defends Palestinians. He stands up for their rights.

There's so many people now, so many celebrities, so many scholars, so many activists, Christians, Jews, atheists, Buddhists, Hindus who stand up for the rights of Muslims to stand up for the rights of the oppressed. There's a lot of people out there doing that.

Muslims, you know, we always think we're gonna be the only ones out there standing up for people like the Palestinians, there's a lot of people out there standing up for them. And if we don't watch it, we're gonna miss the boat. You know, there are Muslims today, who take positions. For example, there are Muslims today, who work against BDS, boycott, divest sanction on the Palestine issue. There are Muslims who work against that, who try to undermine it.

And they think they're being smart and crafty, because they're going to get a seat at the table.

But guess what?

Now there's all these non Muslims, leaders in different communities respected people,

you know, thinkers, artists, who are out there defending the rights of Muslims, and Muslims are going to get left behind those Muslims are taking those positions, they're going to be left behind in history, the train of progress, the chain of justice is gonna pass them by. So we can't afford Muslims always have to be those people who are power Muna blocklists, standing up for justice shahadat, and in law testifying, bearing witness to God, these are the people that we have to be if we're not those evil, we're failing in our duty, we're failing in our duty to God, or we're failing our duty as Muslims.

So ask yourself this question. am I standing on the side of justice? Do I have the courage to stand on the side of justice? Because if there's one thing that I, I think is pretty clear now in the US, and certainly is going to be clear in the Trump administration, is that if you want to be an accepted Muslim, a good Muslim, you want to be the good Muslim, you're gonna have to strip away everything you care about, you're gonna have to compromise on every issue you can imagine, and you still might not be good enough.

We're gonna have to invent a new kind of a new level of sellout Muslim to be good enough for the Trump administration.

Is that well, is that is that worth it? Just so you get a seat at the table?

No, this is ridiculous. It's not required of us in this country.

The last thing I want to talk about,

I had a more coherent talk. But then Linda made me rethink what I was going to say. But the last thing I talked about is

what does justice mean? And this I find fascinating we look at the Sharia, the the law of God I I'm so whenever I do research on this, it just I always find something that blows my mind. I mean, really, the concern of Muslim scholars and Muslim judges for justice was so profound, so impressive.

How do we manifest this in our lives?

How do we manifest this in our lives? A couple of important principles one,

the presumption of innocence.

The presumption of innocence, people are presumed innocent, you have to bring evidence you have to demonstrate evidence that they're guilty. This is true in American law. And it's certainly true in the Sharia.

You have to bring evidence to show that people are guilty.

If someone is accused of something, it is your obligation to believe they are innocent until they're proven guilty. It's not just being open minded, you have to believe they're innocent. That is the only just thing to do.

So if someone comes and starts telling you something, oh, did you see so and so did this so and so did that so and so committed this crime so and so said this Oh, and says that? The first thing you should say is

hat botanical mean quantum so they can bring your heart to put on quantum quantum salt they can bring your evidence, bring your evidence if you're speaking the truth.

And this is a very important one of the most important principles in the Islamic tradition is, is snad mina de la la la snad, lukol manjusha Masha dia, snad, the chain of transmission, the thing that proves the veracity of his statement is part of our religion, if not for the snad whoever won it could say whatever they want it. So someone starts coming you and telling you things, oh, did you hear about this usually about that, ask them where did you get this information?

Try and find out where they got this information. I mean, this has happened to me just in the last couple of days, on stuff that's not interesting. It's you know, little academic stuff and things like that, but

people making claims about Oh, such as a scholar said this about that issue scholar said that about this issue. He said it in this book, he said it in that book. And I go, and I have to go back to the original source and you find is not as people claimed.

Don't get carried away by rumor, don't get carried away by what you're hearing, don't get carried away by the whispers of the crowd. Always try and verify go to the source. What actually happened, ask for evidence, this is this is how we can be just in our daily lives.

This how it can be just in our daily lives.

We have to finally we have to stand up for one another. We have to stand up for one No, this is very important.

It's really easy to stand up for people. After they're proven innocent. After their trials are over. After the problems of passing by after no one cares anymore. It's really easy to say

I was always with you. Can I get a selfie with you? Whatever, that's really easy to say.

You know when it's hard is when the heat is on.

And that's precisely when it matters. That's when you have to stand people. That's when you have to stand with people.

Regardless of who they are, we're always of whether you like them or not, there's a presumption of innocence. I never get another great example from the life of the prophet of high Deacon. So he had Bahati that a one of the companions I shop in case had a dispute with a Jewish man over property.

And they came to the Prophet lady's house, and I'm never disputing and they wanted him to be the judge between them. And the the Jewish man had been, you know, he had two witnesses.

Elijah had been claimed he was Muslim didn't have any witnesses. So the Prophet awarded the land to the Jewish man, Allah shopping play said, prophet of God, you're gonna give this to this Jewish man and not me, I'm a Muslim. And the Prophet said, he had evidence he had this evidence, you didn't have it?

This is procedural justice. This is following evidence, regardless of whether you you know, you're in the same camp or in the same club or in the same group as another person as one of the claimants.

Another thing,

even when people let's say, someone is guilty of something, whether it's a crime or, or just a, you know, a sin, a bad decision, a gaffe, whenever someone's guilty of something, whatever it is, it doesn't mean, we don't have compassion for these people.

You know,

one of the things I think is really important is writing letters to prisoners. And if you go to my website, which is Dr. Jonathan brown.com, I don't want to promote my website or something increased, actually, now it's good. But the point is on it, there's a link for writing letters to prisoners.

It's really, when you're in prison getting a letter from somebody is like, it's like winning the lottery. That's what prisoners telling me. It's like winning the lottery. or writing a letter saying, Hey, you know, we're thinking about you. And, you know, I saw an interesting book The other day, or I, you know, I hope everything's going well. This is a little thing you can do to really help somebody.

And there's always this and I felt that in my heart before I first did this before I first wrote letters to prisoner I always felt this, isn't it, there's something wrong, I'm writing someone who's guilty. And I'm like, but I'm gonna get it be associated with them. I'm scared to do this. And I was so happy when I got over that because you know what, just because someone's made a mistake doesn't mean they're not it doesn't mean there's not a person with rights. You know, if you make a mistake, if you if you found yourself in a bad situation, would you want everyone in the world to turn their back on you? Or would you want them to also treat you with compassion? And a beautiful example of

this in the life of the Prophet as I said, I'm just the episode of Habib, Bennati Balta

as a man who actually a Muslim, who is one of the people of bedload, who actually took message was sneaking a message to the Mexicans and betraying the Muslim community because he was afraid of his family in Mecca who's afraid that they would be harmed. And he was caught doing this.

And the Prophet had mercy on him. He said, This man is afraid for his family. So even when people make mistakes, whether it's ethical mistakes, whether it's a social mistake, whether it's a real criminal mistake, we still have to have compassion for these. This is part of Muslim justice is part of the Justice the Sharia which is the omnipresence of mercy. Even when the law is being laid out, even even when punishments are being just meted out. One has to be merciful. does not come along.