Religion & Freedom – Kamal El-Mekki
Kamal El-Mekki – Religion And Freedom
AI: Summary ©
The speakers discuss the importance of religion and freedom, as it is the only way to achieve absolute freedom. They also discuss the legal framework for submitting to Islam and the restrictions on human freedom. The speakers emphasize the importance of practicing Islam and avoiding thoughts of willful or disobeyment. They also touch on the use of cotton and the importance of practice in one's life. The segment concludes with a mention of a MC announcement and a question-and-answer session.
AI: Summary ©
He will not be here. I'm about Can everyone hear me? Okay? Fantastic. Okay, it's very nice to be with you here. This is my first time in Penang and today we actually went to three different states in one day because we flew in the morning from from carentan to to KL and then from kale back here all in one day. And in my interest here especially is to find out what strange foods you guys have. Because in Kelantan, I tried the booboo. And
it wasn't that bad. I think chinchilla is four times worse than boo boo. I will take a bath with Buddha before each inshallah. So let's see what exciting foods you guys have here in Sharla. All right, so first of all, thank you for coming, because I understand what it means when you give up a portion of your evening to attend the lecture. But the Prophet sallallahu Sallam said whoever seeks a path towards knowledge alone will facilitate a path towards paradise for them. So ask Allah azza wa jal to facilitate a path towards paradise for all of you.
Now, our lecture is we're talking about religion and freedom. And I want to start with something the George Bush,
the President, the last George Bush, he said, After 911 when he was asked by reporters, why did they attack us? And he said, because they hate freedom.
Yeah, it was a very, very dumb answer, you know. And, of course, everything he said was dumb anyways. But he said, they hate freedom. And then, some professors and people at university started to repeat that we were attacked, because some people hate freedom. And there were so many things wrong with this answer and so many things wrong with this explanation. The first thing is Muslim scholars explained, there is nobody on earth who hates freedom. Just show me one person, one religion, one individual on this planet, who hates freedom, they would like to be in a jail house somewhere or chained up to a wall where they can't even scratch their own nose, who hates freedom,
that's the first thing. The second thing, who hates freedom so much that they want to attack someone who's free. And the third thing, who told you You are the freest people on earth.
These are just assumptions people make. So if someone hates freedom, they're gonna attack America. Maybe they should attack some other place, maybe not America. And and
I remember, I would always meet people in the United States. And they would say, I'm sure you enjoy your freedom here. So listen, before coming here, I came from Africa. Now that's freedom. You know what I'm talking about. So like, you want to assume that you're more free in America than you are in Africa. But in in Africa, nobody tells you what to do. It's a mess. I wish there was some lack of freedom there. Some more organization and structure, but nobody tells you what speed to drive. Nobody tells you to pay taxes, nobody tells you to do anything. So perhaps if someone hates freedom, they should attack Africa, not attack America. And that's the thing when you, you keep telling
people that they're free. Even if you take away some of the freedoms, they keep believing that they're free. And typically, people in the Western world there, they live in a very regimented and very restricted type of lifestyle. I was talking to someone in, in in Virginia, the Washington DC area, and I was telling him about Islam. And the first thing I explained to him what the word Muslim means. And I told him that the Muslim is the one who submits to his Lord to his creator. So he interrupted very quickly, he said, I have a problem with submitting, I have big problems with submitting to anything.
And I immediately told him, but you do submit all the time every single day? And he quickly said, Yes, you're right. Because that's you can't live in the West. And tell me I have a big problem submitting, you're submitting all the time. Everything you do is based on submission. You get in your car, and you all the laws of driving are based on submission, stop at the red light, stop at the stop sign, go at this speed, you can go at that speed. You have to stop when everyone else stops. That's all submitting to laws of society. So who can argue that oh, I don't like to submit. And I want to be free to do whatever I want. I want absolute freedom. And that's the first thing one
establishing this law.
Is that there's, there's no such thing for human beings as absolute freedom.
Because
human beings, we, we have restrictions. absolute freedom only applies to Allah Subhana. Allah xojo is the only one that has absolute freedom. Why? Because he is all powerful. And he's all knowing Allah subhanaw taala is all powerful, he can do whatever he wants. And he knows what has happened, what is happening and what will happen in the future, and various different outcomes in the future as well. So because of this, and because of these descriptions, Allah subhanaw taala has absolute freedom. And there's absolutely no way that human beings could have that same thing. It's just absolutely impossible. We're limited in terms of our knowledge, we're limited in terms of our power
and our abilities. And that's why in the Quran, Allah says, will La Jolla follow Masha, and Allah does whatever he pleases. But who on this planet can do whatever he pleases? And pick whoever you want. Even if it's the richest person, even the most powerful person on earth can they do whatever they please know, they don't know they can't. It's absolutely impossible for them. So someone says I want to do whatever I want to do. And I also want to do whatever I can do. So if I can do something, I'll do it. Yeah. Like someone might oppress someone. And so why did you do that? So because I could, I could do it. So I did it. But you know, something, even Allah subhanaw taala. And we said,
he is all powerful, and nobody restricts Allah. Nobody tells Allah you can or can't do this. But even Allah subhanaw taala, who is all powerful, and he can do what he pleases. He also doesn't do everything he can do. What does that mean?
Allah doesn't do everything he can do. For example, Allah has the power to be unjust, true or false? Allah can be unfair to you, yes or no? He can. But does he do that? No. And Allah subhanaw taala said, No, basically in the Hadith, and also in verses of the Quran, in Allah, Allah
or in the Hadith, in the Haram to avoid mud and FC. What Allah says, I made injustice, prohibited and haram upon myself, or that Allah decreed mercy upon himself. So that means Allah subhanaw taala, if you wanted to, he could have been unjust, but he made it so that you will never be unjust to anyone. So Allah subhanaw taala is not doing everything he can do. Why should a human being who's limited, then decide that if I can do it, I'll do it. I want to do it because I can. That doesn't make any sense. Allah subhanaw taala didn't have the same conditions for himself.
The other thing is that the scholars say, How do we know that Allah can do injustice, because he praised himself for not doing injustice, meaning, if you praise someone for not doing something, they must have been able to do it. Let me give you a simple example. So someone is paralyzed. May Allah protect all of you and your family, but someone is paralyzed, sitting in a chair. And then one person comes in insults this paralyzed person and stops him severely. And then I tell you the story, so the brother was paralyzed, was being insulted by this other person. But Mashallah, their brother who was paralyzed? He never laid a hand on him. He didn't hit the other guy. Would you think that's
praiseworthy? He's paralyzed. He can't hit him if he wanted to. So you cannot praise someone for doing something they're not able to do. Someone is chained up, someone comes in slaps him. And so will I control myself, I'm not gonna hit you back. You're chained up Habibi. You have no way of hitting him back. So I'm not going to praise you will let Mashallah that brother controls himself very well. Now, I think he's controlled by the chains. He has no control over the situation. So when someone is praised for not doing something, that means they're able to do it to begin with. So Allah subhanaw taala praised himself for having mercy for being just that means he could have been unjust,
but as we all know, that is not befitting of the greatness of Allah subhanaw taala. That is not the fitting of the majesty of a lot. And he only does things that be fit his greatness at one time, and might be slightly off topic. But one time, someone asked me, isn't God capable of doing whatever he wants? So yeah. He said, Well, can you have a son if you wanted to? If God wanted to have a son? Why can you have a son? Who are you to stop him? And the answer of course,
That Allah will only do things that be fit his greatness and His Majesty. So I asked this person back said, Can Allah lie?
And he was quiet. Can God steal from someone? And he was quiet? Can God murder someone not kill? Murder is different. Murder is an unjustifiable homicide. Can you do that, and the person was quiet, said, Listen, so God only does things that be fit his greatness and His Majesty, and be getting and having a son, that's good for me and you, because we grow old, and our children take care of us. And we die and they continue our name, and our memory. But this is not the case for a law or for God. And that's why it's not a good thing. In his case, it does not be fit the greatness of Allah subhanaw taala.
So we're saying that as creative beings, we're limited. And this limitation does not allow us to be absolutely free, as many people claim to be, oh, I don't want to follow any religion, because religion restricts you, and I want to be able to be free, we're going to explain how this is wrong, this thought, and this idea and a little bit in Charlottesville yet. So we said that your as a creative being, you are limited, that's one. And on top of that, you're under the control of the Creator, true or false, you're under the control of the Creator. You can't do as you please, because you're not able to will everything. So your life is a combination of things within your control, and
things beyond your control. So right now, anyone in this room can get up and leave and walk out, that's within your control. That's a decision that you make, but not every decision that you make, will come true, exactly. unless Allah allows for it. So no one can say, Well, I'm gonna get up and leave this room, and I'm going to get home and find $10 million in home at the house, I will get a good luck. Let me know when you find nothing. Yeah, it doesn't work like that. Or someone say I'm gonna get up and leave this room gotta drive back home, and I'm going to get home safely. That's not within your control. Now look, keep your old safe. But it's not within your control, or someone will
say I want to die with later on as an old man from natural causes, with my whole family, children and grandchildren around the bed. And I will say some romantic words of wisdom to them and then die.
Good luck with that when the bus hits you.
So that means
that means that we are not able to will whatever we want. And even what we will, what we decide to do is contingent upon Allah azza wa jal allowing us to do it or not allowing us to do it. And that's it. That's the situation. And you can't deny that right.
So that's why Allah subhanaw taala, whenever he will, something, he just says to it, corn, fair, corn, B and it becomes immediately, but none of us have that ability. Humans don't have that.
So human freedom is limited because of a number of things so far that we've covered number one, because human knowledge is limited and human power is limited. So you can have unlimited freedom. The second thing, because our will, is can, whatever we will is contingent upon Allah subhanaw taala allowing it to happen or not allowing it to happen, we don't have the ability to say B, and it becomes like a laws with you. So again, that limits from what people claim to be absolute freedom, nobody has that. And
also very logically, because and this is a third point, because we are governed by the laws of nature, and societal values and societal norms. How are we governed by the laws of nature, someone wants to fly? And that's a type of freedom, isn't it, being able to fly the fly, but you're governed by the laws of nature, you're not a bird, you're not able to do that. So that restricts you, just naturally, laws restrict you, you can jump up and not come down. The law of gravity restricts you, so naturally, you're restricted. So these people will claim to, to want absolute freedom. And it's not making any sense at all. And they know from their life from their daily routine that they don't
have access to that and they're not able to do that. And we said then societal values also restrict you. actions of other people. restrict restrict you Why? Because they might object to what you want to do. I made a decision in life, but other people in society will object to it. Why would they object because it might be not in their best interest for you to do it, or harmful for them for you to do whatever you want to do. And we have customs and traditions that govern you. Mind you, these customs and traditions that stop you and restrict you. They're not even enforced anywhere.
They're not enforced, but you're still restricted by them just by the idea existing out there restricts you. And as human beings, we're social beings, we're affected by each other in that way. So even those who claim to be free,
even those who are free and claim to be free, they are free within this context, meaning they are free, within what Allah allowed them to do. They're free within their limits of power. They're free within their knowledge. They're free within the rules of society, and they're free within the rules of nature. So you see already these three people how they're so restricted. So within the circles, now they've got some degree of freedom.
Now, on top of all that,
now, they're free in the sense that they can do good, or they can do evil. And Allah subhanaw taala gave us this, this option, and he mentioned it in the Quran, Allah subhanaw taala says, For mansha for human woman, Sha filioque, for whoever, whoever decides wherever wills, then let him believe and whoever wants to let him this believe this verse shows you that you have the option to do both, you have the option to believe in Allah, and you have the option to disbelieve in Allah. So when someone argue with you, am I supposed to be using this one or this one?
This one, okay.
And someone argues with you that, you know, you've chosen a religion, therefore, you're you're not free. And I chose to not have a religion. So I'm free. They both made a choice. Right? This verse said, that this person decided to believe this person decided to not believe so if you decided to not believe how are you more free than me? I decided to believe we both made a decision. Yeah, it's not like my I was born to believe. And then you're free. And you were made your own decision to not believe. Now both of us made a conscious decision to either believe or not believe. So we're already on the same playing field. Why do you assume you're more free than I am? Because you chose to not
believe and I chose to believe I chose to believe in Allah Israel. It was like, like, I wanted to disbelieve, but something just forcing me to, to pray and why am I praying, something's forcing me to obey Allah and be practicing Muslim. No, I made the choice. It was a conscious choice, conscious decision.
So we said, then, Allah doesn't force you to either believe or not belief. But you are held responsible for your choice in front of Allah in front of God. And in front of other people, whatever choice you make, you're held responsible, also in front of other people in society. And so that's why if you were to kill someone, society would punish you. And then you would have to deal with a loss of anti Allah on the Day of Resurrection as well. So one thing I want to stress is that freedom to act doesn't mean that you don't abide by any laws, and that you don't follow anything.
And we said, That's not possible. We cannot have anyone on Earth, who does not abide by any laws, or follow anything at all. That's why once again, just the idea of absolute freedom doesn't make any sense. You cannot not abide by any laws almost no, I can abide. I cannot. I don't have to abide by any law. I'm going to go and live just in the middle of the winter wilderness, open green pasture. No one's gonna tell me anything. I'm gonna make my own laws. Actually, I'm not gonna have any laws. Sorry, you're gonna have a lot of laws. Some of them are just gonna be biological. You're gonna sleep and wake up, someone's done. I'm not even gonna sleep. Good luck. Yeah. Or I'll do whatever I
want. I want to fly to the mountaintop, I'll flatten Well, what are you smoking? That's not how life works. So even if you live in the middle of the wilderness, you're still going to be restricted by some laws. So freedom to act doesn't mean that I don't abide by laws. For example, you come to a traffic light, what do you do? You stop? It's true. At some level, you stop because you're told to stop at a red light. But also as thinking human beings, we also convinced ourselves that it's a good idea to stop at the red light. Do you agree? I hope so. So it's a good idea to start with the red light.
First, you were told, but then you convinced yourself. So if I stop at a red light, does that mean I have no freedom? And I've been restricted by society and I've been oppressed. So every time I stop at a red light when it turns green, I feel relieved, but I feel really bad and dirty. Like, look, I stopped at the red light. I'm still restricted by this issue. And this bothers me every day that I stop at red lights. Does it bother you? So you abide by this law?
But do you feel that it restricts your freedom? No. So we said freedom doesn't mean that you don't abide by a law, you can abide by laws, follow laws, and still be free to, and you're also free in your decision to act upon these laws or to decide to follow or not to follow.
So
we said that your actions can be willful, yet you abide by the laws of society, and you abide by the laws of religion, you know, what I mean, by your actions can can be willful, because many people assume that if you're a religious person, then all your freedoms have been taken away. And you only do it because the religion said so? No, I'm saying, we're saying one more time your actions are willful. So I will fully obey the laws of society, I will fully obey the laws of religion, how does that take away my freedom? I am free to willfully abide by them. I'm also free to disobey them. So how does religion take away freedom? You understand, like on a philosophical level, it doesn't make
any sense to say, Well, I don't want to follow a religion, because that will restrict my freedom, okay, but I was free to leave this religion. And I was free to join it. And now I joined it. And now I'm free to not follow its laws, but I made a willful conscious decision to follow them. So I'm free in making that decision. So how does religion restrict my freedom, then? You understand? And I know the other meaning that people intended we're getting to that in a second and Sharla.
We want to, and here it is, we want to argue that those who say that,
that religion restricts your freedom, or I am more free, because I don't follow a religion, is this really realistic to say that I am more free, because I don't follow a religion, but you do follow laws, and you are free to willfully follow these laws? Yeah, because I made a free choice to stop at the red light, I could have gone and then dealt with the consequences. But I was free to stop there. So being free to do something, it's being free to do it or being free to not do it. So I'm free to make a choice, that I don't want to consume alcohol. And I'm also free to make a choice that I want to consume it. So what is the non religious person think that the one who consumes it is free?
Because he willfully decide to drink it. But the one who willfully decided to not drink it is not free? They both willfully decided it? Are we clear? That's why I don't like philosophy. Sometimes it goes in a circle.
But we both made a conscious decision, we both willfully decided something, we both are restricted by certain laws, whether there be human or divine. In the end, you're not any more free than I am. Because you don't have a religion. I want to argue the opposite. We all understood this point. But if we take it further, we will see that the religious person is actually more free than the one who has no restrictions, or they think they have no restrictions. First of all, let me comment from a psychological standpoint. And psychologists say that not having structure in your life actually doesn't free you. It actually shackles you more when you don't have a routine. And you don't have a
system it shackles you. For example, someone might say, let me quit my job, because I want to write a book. So they'll quit their job. And they will not write anything for months, just moping around the house, wake up, do this, go come back, watch TV, watch the news. Oh, I'll go fishing it to open my creative mind. And then everyday you're fishing and nothing happened. And not even catching fish even on an embarrassment. At least catch some fish. The point is, they psychology will tell you if you have a schedule and a regiment, though there's more of a chance of you writing that book. So I go to work from nine in the morning until 5pm. And then with Malaysian traffic, I come home at 9pm.
Okay, I'm kidding. So by the time you get home, I have my routine, I've got my meal. And I even have now the time where I write the book, I have a specific time slot for writing. That's more structured than when I wake up whenever I wake up, brush my teeth whenever I brush my teeth. And then whenever I sit down and write the book that's not structured. And actually religion creates structure.
Actually, interestingly, in the Jewish religion, the word for prayer means is the same word for order. See that? The word for prayers, the same word for order. And even our prayers are Salawat they create a structure in your life in your daily life in you and you they help you create a routine as well. And actually that helps people do what they want to do more. So
When they have structure, then versus when everything is just a complete mess. And we're saying that the person who's religious, who made conscious decisions to stay away from things is more free than the one who wants to do whatever they please, because and as Muslims, y'all understand why, because the one who does whatever they please, within the context that we explained, this person in the end becomes a slave to their desires. This is a concept that Muslims are very familiar with, right? Someone becomes a slave to their desires. So you are first arguing that I'm free to drink wine, and you're not free, because you decided to not drink it. I am more free than you because I decided to
drink it. Okay, drink it, then he drinks. And then what happens? Of course, not all the time, but just in certain scenarios, they become addicted to it, they become an addict. So now how free are you? Now let's bring you in that religious person, person that made the 10 that 10 years ago decided to not drink, we bring you who decide to drink 10 years later, you're addicted to it, your life is tied to it and your life is miserable. And now you're arguing you're free. People becoming addicted to all kinds of things, any kind of, you know, desire, people come become addicted to it, and they become enslaved to it. Even though in the beginning, they thought they were free to choose this
thing or not choose it. You see how and it actually can backfire on on people. And that's exactly the difference between human beings and animals, that animals they desire something they do it immediately. they desire to eat, they eat, they don't fast, abstain from eating, no giraffe goes on a diet, or maybe elephants should go on diet more than giraffes. hippopotamus should go on a diet. They just eat whenever they want to eat, and they want to sleep, they sleep. They want to relieve themselves. You've probably all seen this at the zoo, very embarrassing. They just relieve themselves, you know, and other things, we're not going to get into details. They just do whatever
they want to do, because they have no self control. And that's the difference between humans and animals. It's not physical differences. When we were in school, they should teach us the difference between humans and animals, the opposable thumb. Really, that's the only difference between me and zebra, this.
No, that's a physical difference. The difference between humans and animals and animals don't exhibit self control, and humans can control themselves. And that's what we learn in Ramadan. When we abstain from eating and drinking from sunup to sundown, that's physical. But we also abstain from bad words from lying from all kinds of things, we learn self control, and that what sets apart humans from animals, such humans apart from animals, as we were saying, when we're discussing the the sin of Xena fornication, the scholars talked about how it's such a dangerous sin, because it takes away the me yet, and the Me and Me human being, it takes away the human side of the human
being. How, because they say, even animals when they mate, most animals have a season, some in the in the winter or the fall. And it's that long day breeders short the breeders, some only mate when the female is ovulating. And if she's not appealing, they don't go near her. And almost a with the exception of one animal in this whole world that scientists are disagreeing about. But no animal will mate with a pregnant female.
No animal will ever mate with a pregnant female. But do you understand? So now the human being will will commence in our foreign aid with a woman who's pregnant. They don't care. Animals don't do it. So that's why the scholar said it makes you lower than the animal.
And most and again, most animals, the pregnant female if a male comes near her, she'll go crazy and attack him savagely, from even little mice and rats and rodents and hamsters to all types of animals will not accept that whatsoever.
And that's why the human being should be superior to that not act beneath the animal, and then becoming a slave to their desires. You control your desires as a human being, you are not controlled by them. And part of that is the conscious decision to stay away from them. So it's not like we're blindly following something because God said so in the Quran. No, we understand the wisdom and the benefit of staying away from something as well. And then we are free to make that choice to follow that rule. And we're also free to break that rule if we want to. But either way, you have to face the consequences. You're free to consume the alcohol drink and you will face the consequences and
you're free to abstain from it and you get your consequences in the sense of reward as well. Are we clear on that? Okay, so now sometimes within itself
You will find people, let's just call them for the for lack of a better term, non practicing Muslims who talk about how,
you know, Islam, there are many rules, or it's strict. And this is one thing that you will find to be true in Sharla for the rest of your life. And that is, the more you study Islam. the more you'll see how flexible it is, the more you don't know about it, the more you think it's absolutely difficult, and everything is haram, everything is prohibited. But the more you study it, the more you see that it's a flexible religion. And actually, there's a scholars explained. Islam is strict, when it comes to issues of belief, but more much more relaxed when it comes to issues of fit of jurisprudence, okay, of prayer and acts of worship and things like that. And example, if someone has
some doubt, whether Allah is one, or two or more, is that acceptable at all in Islam? Is this person even Muslim? Let's be realistic. If someone doesn't even know if Allah is one or two, can they be Muslim? And part of being Muslim is to testify that there's one God, and Mohammed says, Hello, Mrs. Messenger. So if you doubt any of these, are you Muslim? No. Now, don't worry, we're not making theater of anybody we're saying in general, don't go and point to people in general. No. So Islam is very, very strict when it comes to issues of belief. Issues of belief, Islam is very strict. If someone has doubt, if there is more than one God or not, that's not acceptable. But if I have doubt,
when I come up from record, the bowing position, should my hand go here? Or should my hands go here? If I have doubt, there is not a big deal. Okay, don't worry about it. You can have that doubt. And it's not a big deal. And you can clarify and ask a chef and do whatever they tell you. No big deal here. You find it to be a lot more relaxed when it comes to issues of practice, and dealings and acts of worship. But it's very strict when it comes to issues of belief. But the more you won't know that unless you study the religion. The more you study it the more you'll see this easy. Many people think there are more haram things in Islam than halal things especially youth because youth the way
we teach them about Islam we tell them this is haram and if you do this you go to the Hellfire and that's also prohibited by the way and that's prohibited to And don't you dare come near that and so they think wow, Islam is a bunch of things that are haram
and that's when he asked you are there more highlight things that are haram? They'll tell you more haram for sure. Most things I learned this from my father. Everything is haram. Okay. And so with us we do this exercise and I've done this before and it's even on YouTube, I'm doing it but we'll do it again here. Let's list now put your hands up and call out material that's haram
Okay, so I'm hearing silk but silk is not even heroin for everybody. It's just haram for men so silk is prohibited for men in Islam. All right, what other material is haram?
What
materials
Well, I don't know what I'm hearing
what materials are haram so and put their hand up given material that's haram
Okay, thank you so pigskin even dogs can Yeah, there we go. I've got this nice dog skin jacket I just bought.
Haha, congratulations. So Alright, fine. So so anything made from his skin or something like a dog or a pig? We've got silk. What other material?
There's one more very common one. I think some people were saying it. Gold. And even that just for men. All right. So then, what else is haram?
Huh?
Yeah, but the material is still valid. Yeah, I stole your cotton shirt. It's haram because I stole it. But the cotton is still hot. See? That's it. We're done. All the rest is done. Because now what happens? People get creative. What goes Oh, a T shirt with a face on it. Now the materials to hold on? That's another story. A t shirt with bad words. Okay, yeah, but the materials held on. So now everything else is permissible. And how many things are that we've got cotton. We've got wool. We've got polyester. We've got nylon, we have 60% nylon. 40% polyester. 70%. Can we keep going or should we stop? I think we should stop right? All right. What kind of drinks are prohibited in Islam?
Alright, alcohol. That's one.
Blood. That's two.
What else?
From all the drinks in the world, just two things.
Just two things. How long to drink
Anything
urine and wait that's why I was waiting. I was waiting for every time someone has to say urine. Is that a drink?
Do you ever go to the fridge? Yeah, let me get some it would you like some urine? I don't like you when it's warm. It's better cold this
started drink. Yeah, you do with youth beer. Okay, that's alcohol, wine. So alcohol Habibi, vodka. Yeah. Okay, so alcohol, whiskey, we're done. So then every other drink is Helen.
So there's actually a lot more things that are permissible, but we kind of think that more things are impermissible because we love to focus on these Muslim favorite word is haram. We love this word so much we don't even say how can we say with a frown with a lot of drama brother
that's all you're gonna tell me to explain something to me. haha
that's the speech. Mashallah brothers.
We love the Hara. Oh, my goodness. You know if you deal with us the questions they asked you about Hello. What do you add? What is this? What kind of question is that? used to come up to me and say it's public school? haram? What do you mean public school? The walls are what? What is public school? Is it a pig or something? or public school haram?
One get to take your hat off. Imagine I said yes, you will still take it off. So when he asked me this question, imagine a young man comes to me. Is it haram to take off your hat? I tell him Yes, young man, it's haram to take off your hat. Five minutes later, he's gonna take it off. Because this doesn't make any sense. I have to keep an eye on all the time. Wash your hair just slowly under it like that? Don't you ever take it off? What will happen if you take it off? All kinds of weird questions, because that's how they understand Islam. And that's why whenever we deal with youth, the first lesson is usually about the purposes of the Sharia. You understand the wisdom behind why Allah
said do this, or don't do that. It's not just a list of random things you can and can't do. But there's a wisdom behind it. There's a bigger picture for your own betterment and for the betterment of society. Once you understand that you don't see Islam as a list of things you can't do anymore. You see the wisdom behind why I don't do something? Yeah. And sometimes Allah will tell us to do something, we look at it, we examine it, we find it to be 100%. Good. Like or hate worshipping Allah alone. If you look at the hate, it's 100%. Good, true or false? Is there 1%? Bad into hate? No. So that's why when Allah commands is to toe hate, it's clear why we should follow that. And we obey.
Then we look at chick, worshiping something besides Allah or something else along with Allah, it's 100%, bad drawer false.
Very bad chick, is there 1% good and should?
Absolutely not. So when Allah says, stay away from Sure, stay away from worshipping any god besides Allah, we stay away from it, and it makes sense.
Then you find some things that have good and bad in them. But Allah told you there is more bad than good. So when Allah makes it prohibited, we can understand the wisdom behind that. A famous example is
alcohol. Many times you hear it in a medical journal study that shows if you drink one glass of wine
a day, it's good for the liver. First of all, it's not the alcohol is good for the liver. It's the antioxidants and the other things that are good for the liver. But we know this, we don't need a medical journal to tell me this. Allah said this 1400 years ago in the Koran, that there is good in it. But the bad outweighs the good. Even now, if we take a step and think if we pause for a minute, the all the livers in the world today, are they being helped more by alcohol or damaged more? And you know, the answer damaged more. So we know that there's some type of good but the harm is more so it's clear for us to stay away. And then sometimes, a low command is to do something, and we cannot
necessarily see the wisdom. And notice I'm saying the wisdom not the reason. Many times people confuse the reason with the wisdom. So he asked us he asked Muslim sisters, why do Muslim women wear hijab? And they start to start to tell you so the woman hides her beauty and so that she does not looked at as an object. All these are not the reason is only one reason that is
sisters. What's the reason Muslim women wear hijab?
Now
the brother is going to answer this question. This is your question. Yes, sister.
Oh, okay. Actually here. Yes.
Okay, that's a wisdom behind wearing hijab. What's the reason? Okay, what's the reason? Is it like basically some sisters got together and said, I think we should take a cloth, cut it and just wrap it around their heads. That's why it was the woman wear hijab. They had a meeting, a conference and they decided to put it on.
Is that is that what happened? I wasn't invited. So maybe you can tell me now. Okay, what What's the reason?
It's really, really easy. It's basic, basic, basic, like, three year old, huh?
Allah said, so that's the reason you wear hijab. Allah said wear hijab? What's the wisdom? You wear hijab? What's the wisdom behind Allah telling you to wear hijab? Now you can give me 1001 different wisdoms. What's the reason people pray? Allah said, Pray, what are the benefits of prayer? Oh, I can write a book on it. Right? So the wisdom and the reason are two different things. So now
I know the reason why we circumambulate the Kaaba when we got mixed off in Mecca. with it which direction? Is it clockwise or counterclockwise? counterclockwise? What's the reason? That's how it was taught to us by Allah and His Messenger sallallahu sallam, what's the wisdom behind going counterclockwise versus clockwise? This is the fourth category. Sometimes we don't necessarily know the wisdom. But as long as I have the reason I'm okay. But for the most part Hamdulillah, Allah always tells us and lets us know the wisdom behind why we do something. But there are a few cases wherein we don't, and then it becomes a test of your submission.
Because some people tried to give you wisdoms. Why were circumambulate counterclockwise, but they don't make any sense because they say the Earth turns counterclockwise. So what? The Earth can turn counterclockwise or turn clockwise? Sound like, Oh, it's easier to go with the earth. It's easier. If I go this way, I can do go fast this way. After like, push? No. They told you, oh, because the heart is on the left. who studies medicine in here?
Yeah, the heart is not really on the left, the heart is kind of centered, but it leans tilts towards the left, the loudest part is here towards the left. So that's why they'll tell you, but it's not really that. But so what? Imagine the heart was at the tip of your left finger all the way to the left here. Why can't make a right turn because my hearts to the left. That has nothing to do with it. So what's the clear wisdom, why we go counterclockwise around the Kaaba, there isn't one. But I know the reason. It's not like it was gonna leave us blind. I know the reason why we do it. And if I don't have the wisdom, specifically, I still do it because that's the idea. We're submitting to the
Creator. And that's the pilgrimage journey. All of it is about submission. Historically, it started with submission true or false. when Abraham on Instagram left his wife and his infant son in the middle of a desert because Allah said so. And he that he submitted and he turned away immediately and started walking away. So his wife doesn't know what's going on. She's asking him Who are you leaving us to? In the middle of a desert? There's no water, nothing. So then she asked Allah who America bajada did Allah commanded to do that? And when he said yes, what did she do? She submitted immediately this the history of the story was on submission. And then when you go to that journey,
it's on submission. Some people try to get fancy and I don't I don't greet the black stone is just a stone. Really all had you stones man. You make the Love Around the Kaaba made of stones. You go up and suffer Mandala which is small hills, what are hills, piles of stones, you greet the black stone. And then you take the jamara which are pebbles, water, pebbles, small stones, and if you don't find you throw your shoes right
now, but that's what people do.
People like insulting in the mail lockers, you? There's nobody there. At least left.
Anyways. But the point is that, so these Muslims would think, Oh, it's so strict. First of all, we're saying only issues of believers strict. Other issues. There's a lot of flexibility. But the more you learn, the more you'll see how flexible it is. Yeah, I don't want to give some examples in case that that some kind of official Malaysian stance and look, this guy just make fun of her anyways.
And there's more tons of more things that are permissible and there are things that are not permissible. But people kind of think the opposite. And that is actually the essence of the servant and creator relationship. A lot creates you. You're the creation and he's the Creator. And that's the essence of the relationship many times we're giving that away in the streets in Washington, DC
Someone will say, Yeah, I'd like to become Muslim. I like this idea. Alright, I'll become Muslim. But then he gives us the conditions. But
I don't want to pray. And I'll keep eating pork. And I'll keep consuming alcohol. So now what is the Muslim who said the Muslim is the one who submits to the creator? So he's Let me read. Let me say his sentence one more time. He's saying, Yes, I'm willing to submit to the Creator, but I don't want to pray to Him. And I'm not gonna stop eating pork. And I'm not gonna stop drinking alcohol, but I'm willing to submit
doesn't really look like it. That's not submission, because Allah commanded us yeah, you know, the whole roof is Cilmi
for all you who believe enter completely enter into totality into Islam. None of this 98% 75% 100% so you can't tell me? Yeah, I'll become Muslim, but I don't want to do this, this and that. And that's why even that this phrase of non practicing Muslim is paradoxical. It's it's an oxymoron. It's weird to say that I am a non submitting submitter. I think what kind of sense is that me is willing to find some other word for that. Yeah. I'm a non practicing Muslim. Or people euphemized it, you know, they find some euphemism, some nice word to replace it. You know, we have this in our area in Virginia sisters who don't want to say, I'm open.
We can see it's all in the open. What do you mean? I mean, you're open. If you say I'm open, you're saying the ones who wear hijab or what then close minded then? Yeah. Anyways, so
the idea about being a slave of Allah and we should probably wrap up, don't you think?
Should we wrap up at some point? No.
Okay, but let's just this doesn't take long. Let's talk about this. The idea of being a slave of Allah.
In the Arabic language, the word, it has two meanings. It means a worshipper. And it means a slave. And some people sometimes one time I said slave, and someone tells me servant servant servant, the slave is too much now Habibi, slave. I will explain why slave is even more accurate. Because so we said the word has two meanings in Arabic abdomens worshiper, and it means slave? How do we know which one is being used? When Allah subhanaw taala is mentioning me and you get a bad D. Here a bad here, slaves of Allah. When the Prophet lamb when illogical uses it, referring to the profits and loss of limb, it means in the sense of worshipper? Subhana Allah de as for the Abbe de
Glory be to the one who took his abs on a night journey up to here, Muhammad Sallallahu Sallam does it mean worshipper or slave? Here? It means worshipper. And whenever Allah refers to the prophet SAW Selim in the Quran as his app, it means his worshiper. Why? Because worshipper is the higher level. And the greatest thing you can be is a worshipper of Allah subhanaw taala. So when Allah is mentioning his messengers, the last sort of Lord SLM, he's mentioning him as his worship or the highest level, because it would have no value to refer to him as his slave, just like, meaning has possession, just like I miss possession, your his possession, the trees, the buildings, the jinn,
everything belongs to Allah. So what's the value of of bundling the profits or selling with everything else? So the higher level is the worshiper and that's why he always refers to him in that sense. Now, the other sense, we said slave means that you're actually owned by Allah.
And some people find this difficult to swallow, that Allah actually owns you. You don't own yourself, Allah owns you. And many people think, no, I own myself, and I can do whatever I want to do, as long as I don't step on the toes of the majority. No, it doesn't work like that. Allah subhanaw taala actually owns you. That's why you look at the Sharia. And it goes into very specific details as to what you can and cannot do with your bodies. Why? Because you don't own your body. It's rented. Yeah. When something is rented, you don't own it. You don't have the right to make changes. But Allah gave you certain changes. So if I rent a car, I go to a rental place, and I rent
a car for two days. The car is white, but I wanted to rent a blue car. So I go to the paint shop and I painted blue. A rental Can I do that?
It doesn't make sense on many levels. Number one, you only have it for a short period of time. And realistically your body you have it for a short period of time. The second thing you don't own and how can you change the color? This was like with our bodies, we don't own our bodies. There's that's why there's certain things we can't do. For example, you cannot put a tattoo on your body. Okay, you cannot disfigure all to your face and less than certain any look
Really bad situations. But as long as I don't like my nose, I want it to be a little like this. And then you go, you know, Michael Jackson your nose or something.
By the way, did Michael Jackson become Muslim? Yes or no? Who says yes? You said yes. Anyone else say yes, he became Muslim.
Allah knows best. So you're not sure.
Is anyone here sure that he didn't become Muslim?
This was a question I used to plague me for a while. And I actually confirmed from a journalist who has a friend journalist who interviewed What's his name? Jermaine Jackson. Jermaine Jackson is Muslim. Mainstream Islam. Not some crazy. What's the other thing a Nation of Islam, mainstream Muslim? And she directly asked him, did Michael Jackson become Muslim? He said no. He showed interest in Islam, but he never became Muslim. This is from his own brother. Still, he wore niqab, but that doesn't mean he became Muslim.
Some of you don't know what I'm talking about, is a picture of him wearing niqab because he didn't want to be bothered. So he's wearing the cup. But that doesn't mean he became Muslim. Anyways, I don't know how we got to Michael Jackson. What were we talking about before that? Yeah. So you get his finger your face? Why the route? Why Islam going to these rules because you don't own your body. So no tattoos, you can kill yourself. It's haram to kill yourself. It would make sense if I own myself I could kill myself, but you don't own yourself. You can't kill yourself. Just like you don't own anyone else. You can't kill them. You don't own yourself. You can't kill yourself. Islam goes
into great details into what kind of hairs you can and cannot remove from your body. Yeah, and that's why for women, you're not allowed to shave your head bald.
And good luck getting married. If you do that.
You're not gonna get married. If you're
there's a brother somewhere out there like I would like a sister who has no hair whatsoever chama Bismillah
anyways, but of course by the standards drop right as they get more desperate is a brother, this is a true story. He said I'm not going to marry any woman unless she's wearing full niqab full memorizing Quran and everything. Then he's just an accomplice. Okay. Then some months passed. Then he said hijab? What's wrong with hijab? Bismillah hijab is okay. also find me someone who wears hijab. After all, months past a year past he said, maybe even if she's not wearing hijab, but there's hair in her, she prays later on, she puts on the hijab. And then after a while, he just said just female.
Female will work with the rest later.
Anyways, so let's wrap up here, okay, so don't keep you here all night.
Slave shows actual ownership. That's where the profits are lost a limb, taught the companions to not say this is my slave. Why? Because slave means actual ownership, and you don't own anybody. So he taught him to say, this is my boy, this is my girl, because you don't own anyone, only Allah owns us. So Allah owns our bodies. And that's why we can and can't do certain certain things with our bodies. And that's why we're not free to do as we want with our bodies, another restriction. But here's the thing. So some people think this restriction applies to Muslims, or to religious people only. And you have a philosopher who said that to be a slave. To be free in the Hellfire is better
than to be a slave in paradise. This man thinks that if he goes to the Hellfire, he's gonna go as a free person. I mean, first of all, what a crazy idea that you were imprisoned in the Hellfire, but you were free, more free than the guy drinking the juice up there. Are you crazy? That guy is free, but he thinks that you can be a slave of Allah or not a slave of Allah. But on a level, everyone and everything is a slave of Allah, whether you obey Allah or not, you're a slave of Allah. And if you look into that Maryam, it's powerful, sort of Maryam in the Quran, Mary chapter of Mary, Allah Subhana, Allah says, in kulu, Memphis summer work you will have in your money,
strong, everyone in the heavens, and the earth is going to come as a slave to Allah. And it's so appropriate to be in sort of medium. Why? Because they're claiming Jesus to be the Son of God and the other God. And he's saying, including Jesus, He will come as a slave of Allah. And if he's a god, he can be a slave. And it's really, really powerful. So whether you obey Allah or not, you're still a slave of Allah. And on the Day of Judgment, you're going to be a slave of Allah. It's not like they're going to be free people in the Hellfire and slaves in paradise. And that was really, really wrong estimation and bad judgment.
say I'd rather be as free in the Hellfire, which there's no such thing rather than a slave in paradise. No such thing everyone is a slave of Allah subhanaw taala so whether you obey Allah subhanaw taala or not, you're still coming as a slave. So that means the wise person makes the investment now in their time in being a worshipper of Allah subhanaw taala so they can get the best out of this world being freed from the shackles and the best out of the next world with Allah subhanaw taala and I think it's appropriate to stop here. And if there's time obviously, we're more than open to there's time so our MC will announce but we'll do some question enter Salah Hobart
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