Kamil Ahmad – Instilling Yaqeen – Lesson #12 – Addressing Common Doubts – Legislations of Islam
AI: Summary ©
The speaker discusses the use of "has" in Islam, acknowledging that it is important to decouple them from negative experiences and address root causes of issues with women's perception. They stress the importance of understanding the "has" in one's life and not accepting them as negative experiences. The speakers also discuss the history of slavery and its impact on society, as well as the importance of protecting individual and community rights and avoiding false assumptions and false words. They emphasize the need for acceptance of certain terms and a strong legal system to prevent criminals from spreading evil behavior. Finally, they discuss the importance of learning and acting in order to achieve a clean heart.
AI: Summary ©
Bismillah R Rahman r Rahim Alhamdulillah lillahi Rabbil alameen wa salatu salam aleikum Nanak Milani, Allahu Allah, Allah He urged me. While early he was so happy woman today we had a Mr. Navi sunette de la Yomi Deen and Abed a Salam aleikum wa rahmatullah he AlLahi wa barakato.
Welcome to our latest class on instilling your clean and this will be our last and final class for this course and for this
series of lectures that we have been going through.
In the previous class, we started addressing some of the common doubts
and allegations concerning Islam.
In a previous class, we looked at those dealing with the foundations of Islam.
And in the class Previous to that, we looked at those doubts and allegations concerning Allah subhana wa Tada. So what is left for us to discuss are those doubts
and those allegations concerning
the legislations of Islam.
Concerning the laws that Allah subhana wa tada has legislated, that are present in the Quran. And in the sooner that basically we refer to as the laws of the Sharia, the Sri Radha Allah subhanho wa Taala sent this governing system, this law system that Allah subhanahu wa tada sent for us.
And, in reality, there are many, many questions, objections and doubts concerning the legislations of Islam. And the nature of our lectures is that we can't really cover everything, it'll be impossible to do so.
And the previous classes where we gave rules, and guidelines for dealing with doubts, should be sufficient for any Muslim, to be able to deal with whichever kind of doubt comes across.
And so anytime you come across a doubt, or an accusation concerning Islam, By now, you should be able to decipher each doubt. And each objection, you should be able to read through these accusations and pinpoint the errors in the arguments that are used.
And so all we want to do is give examples on how to deal with these, with these doubts. And the examples that we're choosing are the most common examples, the most common and widespread doubts that are out there.
And so today,
we're going to look at three
very, very common
doubts shewhart and allegations against Islam, concerning the legislations of Islam concerning what Allah subhanho wa Taala has legislated concerning the laws that can of Islam.
These three are
Rick, which is slavery,
which are the divine punishments that Allah has set in the Sharia,
for criminals, of various crimes.
And the third is
the issue of women in Islam.
And so let's look at each one of these and basically break down
the allegations and address them he didn't allow him to hide.
But before we do this,
it's very, very important to understand that those who find issue
with the stance of Islam on many of these things,
whether it be on the topic of the punishment in Islam, or the topic of women, or Jihad
For example, or slavery as we're going to talk about
the reason why many people they object to these laws and legislations is because they have a Western, liberal secular worldview,
whether they realize it or not.
And so yes, even a Muslim, he will have these objections in his mind, but why
we have to go down to the root cause, to find out, why would a Muslim
have issue
with the laws that Allah has decided, for example, for women,
or the laws that Allah subhanho wa Taala has decided, for example, concerning the Hadoop punishments,
we have to get down to the core the root cause What is it?
What we find
is that 90% of the time, it is because
these Muslims, they have adopted a Western, liberal, secular worldview.
And so they have this lens that they're looking at Islam through this lens.
If they were to remove that lens, they would have absolutely no problem with any of these cam with any of these legislations. And so the only reason they start doubting certain aspects of Islams cam and legislations
is because to them.
It goes against what they perceive as being equality,
or freedom,
or justice,
a perception that is completely Western in nature.
And so Western civilization, and where it has reached today,
when it comes to the concept of freedom, the concept of
equality, the concept of justice, they have a perception of it.
That goes contrary to the Islamic perception of these things.
And so without going off on a tangent here,
we have to get our perception of things in our minds and our soul, right? We have to get from the very foundation, because the reality is that many of our youth
have had their minds colonized without realizing it,
which is why
we have many of them trying to strike a middle path
between
this between
the customs and the norms of Western society. And on the other hand, what is Sam teachers? Because for them, there seems to be a contradiction
between these two worldviews.
They realize there is an issue here.
And so they're trying to look for a middle path.
They're trying to look for a middle path. And so, to put it simply, to put it simply,
a Muslim
is one who submits wholeheartedly
to what Allah Subhana who what Allah has decreed and legislated.
That is the definition of a Muslim.
The very meaning of Islam and Muslim means one who submits.
It's one who submits.
And so, a Muslim is one who submits to everything that Allah has decreed and legislated.
Whether they can make sense of it or not,
whether they can see the wisdom in what Allah has legislated or not.
They accept it wholeheartedly.
And a Muslim is not
he is not one who objects
to what is clear cut from Allah subhanho wa Taala or his messenger
or Muslim is not one who objects
to anything
that has come from Allah subhanho wa Taala and from his messenger as long as we know
That Yes, without a doubt, this is something that Allah has said. And this is something that the messenger sallallahu alayhi wa sallam has said,
then the Muslim doesn't object to it, contrary to what they teach in western academia.
And so anyone who has ever taken a course on Islamic Studies
in a Western University, the very first thing that they teach you is to be objective.
You have to be objective. You cannot
study Islam or anything else.
Unless
you approach the texts of the Quran and Sunnah
with an objective mind,
don't accept it. First study it. doubt its authenticity Don't
you know put yourself in the shoes of a skeptic.
You have to be skeptical. You have to know
what's being, what you're being taught, and what these texts are teaching you.
And then, after studying it, decide for yourself, do you want to accept it or not?
This In short,
is Western academia when it comes to the study of Islam. And the unfortunate reality today is that many Muslims
have decided to take this route of studying Islam from orientalists from these Western universities, and in western academia.
Allah subhanahu wa tada in the Quran has given us the standard
with regards to who are true believers
is the one who
subjugates himself
and simply accepts
wholeheartedly or is it one who objects
so lots of parenthood Allah says in Surah Nisa,
Salah warabi Kayla, you mean Luna?
Had you had chemo? kaffee Masha jobina
a lot takes an oath.
That by Allah
or Allah subhana wa tada says, No.
Allah says no, by your Lord. So a lot takes an oath here by himself. Now what a beaker by your Lord. They will never be believers.
They will never be true believers
until they accept you as the judge in their disputes.
And then Is that it? No, a lot continues. De melaye G doofy and fusi him how Rajon min na kobita
Lima, Lima, then after that, after they have proved to you all messenger,
as the judge in their disputes,
then
they find no resistance within themselves
against your decision
and submit wholeheartedly.
And so this is not only in the time of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam
but rather, this will continue until the day of judgment, whoever hears something that a lot where his messenger have legislated
or he ends up in a dispute with someone concerning what is the truth and what has been legislated. What has it not?
Then he hears a hadith from the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasallam.
And then this is a test of his email.
Will he object to what the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam has judged and legislated?
and say, You know what,
what the prophet SAW Selim is saying doesn't suit our times.
What he's saying
it's not really
rational.
What he's saying maybe was for his time, but not for our times. What he's saying goes
against the concepts of equality and freedom and justice, as I understand these concepts,
that's always a test of your man. Or, as soon as you hear it, will you simply submit
and not find any resistance in your heart from what the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam has said?
And so when we look at
these terms, equality, freedom, justice,
the question that we have to ask ourselves is, whose narrative Are we going to go by?
And so sometimes we think that
these concepts of equality, freedom, justice,
that there's only one definition, and there's only one interpretation of it.
Yes, there is one definition for these terms, but how these terms are used and applied, that
is where we differ.
And so for example, equality means treating similar cases similarly,
and treating unlike cases does similarly,
equality means to treat similar cases similarly,
and to treat unlike cases, this similarly.
So, now, the question is, who decides,
what is similar and what is dissimilar? You have two things
are the equal
and therefore, they should be treated equally
or are they not equal, therefore, they should not be treated equally.
And so that's where the problem arises.
According to the Western perception of equality,
according to their perception of equality.
Everyone one is equal across the board, and there's no differences between them. And therefore, everyone should be treated completely in all ways, in every single case.
Like, let's look at the definition of freedom.
Freedom means to give every single human being the right to live as they want. Or it means preserving human interests,
preserving human interests.
Again,
who defines what human interests are?
Again, according to
the Western perception, and here, we're talking about the western liberal secular perception of freedom.
According to that perception.
Human interests basically mean that every single human being should be able to live as they want, without any without any restrictions.
On the other hand,
Islam says, preserving human interests.
This is something that Islam comes and legislates. But who decides what human interests are?
Islam tells us that we human beings don't decide what human interests are. But rather it is a creator, lots of hands on with Allah Who decides that the same with justice, who decides what justice means, and what laws are considered as fair and just
we Muslim say that Allah subhanahu wa tada is the one who decides that
but Western society,
their perception of justice is that we human beings decide what is just and what is not just.
And so we need to fix our perception of such terms. We can simply accept
the interpretation of these terms
according to how they're interpreted for us.
But rather, we have to
To be critical,
we have to be critical. And so look at how ironic it is that on the one hand, they tell us that we need to be critical of Islam.
We need to be critical and skeptical about what Sam teaches. But they'll never tell you to be critical and skeptical
of their worldview
and how they interpret
terms like equality, freedom, justice, and so on so forth.
They say no,
these
are universal.
You have to accept them as they are.
It's also unfortunate that Muslims today
they will be critical of Assam, but they won't be critical of
of these definitions and how they're being interpreted.
We also need to realize another thing. And that is
that many who object to Islams legislator legislations.
They do so because of what the West has gone through.
In its dark history of oppression, and subjugation of different kinds of people.
It's always when they, when they hear
when they hear the term slavery, for example,
what comes to their mind
is how
is how Westerners treated slaves until only a few decades ago.
So when they hear slavery,
they associate it to
the unjust, oppressive slavery that
they were involved in.
And so when they hear slavery and Islam permitting slavery, right at once,
you know, this question mark comes up, how can Islam allow slavery
when they hear a fighting in the name of religion, for example,
what comes through their mind is how
the church in Europe
used religion
to fight unjust wars, the crusades,
how the Christian elite in Europe,
they subjugated their people, and they put their people to trial and they killed so many people execute executed so many people
unjustly.
So when they hear a fighting in the name of religion, and they hear that this is associated with Islam,
an image comes to their mind.
Likewise, when they hear of women being treated, or not being treated,
as equal to men,
what comes to their mind
is their own past.
Where, until 100 years ago,
women were treated as second class people in their own society.
And they were not given many of the rights that are given today.
And so when they hear, you know, what Islam treats women differently than men, again,
that is what comes to their mind. And so
this is another reason why these doubts
come to the minds of certain people, whether they be non Muslims, or whether they be
Muslims.
It's because of a certain perception that they have.
First of all, it's a certain worldview, a certain perception of things like equality, freedom, justice, and then secondly, it's because
of have a Western experience with things like slavery, subjugation, execution, fighting wars, treatment of women, their own experience of that.
And so, this is something very, very important to put to the forefront before we before we start addressing
some of these doubts
And so the very first note that we want to address today
is the question of slavery.
So Islam permits slavery
and it encourages us. So this is the doubt.
So we're going to try to summarize each of these doubts quickly in sha Allah, Allah mentioning the main points, not delving too deep into it, because in reality, each one of these doubts requires an intensive
lecture on its own, and we don't have the time for that. So we're just going to mention the points, summarize them, one by one, be it in the light.
So concerning the topic of slavery, firstly,
Islam affirms that Allah subhanho wa Taala, created man fully accountable
and enjoined certain duties upon Him, to which reward and punishment are connected on the basis of man's freedom to choose.
A law created each and every single human being,
and gave him
free will,
to choose his path
concerning where he will end up in the era.
And so no human being
has the right to restrict this freedom or take it away.
No human being has a right to restrict this freedom or take away that choice unlawfully.
And Whoever dares to do that, then he is without a doubt a transgressor.
Secondly,
when Islam came,
there were many causes of slavery.
At the advent of Islam,
slavery already existed
in humanity.
It is something that has been coming from 1000s of years.
It's not something that when Islam came, introduced slavery.
And so when Islam came, slavery existed.
But also, there were many ways in which a person becomes a slave.
Such as through war.
Prisoners of War are taken as slaves
or
due to debt.
Certain people, they fall into debt, they're not able to pay off their loan. So these people end up becoming slaves
or through kidnapping,
and rains.
Also through poverty, poor people, they ended up becoming slaves.
And so when we look at how slavery spread throughout the world, especially in the later centuries,
let's say if we were to look back at the last 300 years, or the last 400 years, 300 to 400 years,
especially when
the Europeans
discovered and colonized the New World, the Americas.
We find that slavery spread rapidly,
unlike ever before.
And we find that the only way people were falling into slavery
was through one way
and that was through kidnapping
and reading certain countries,
certain towns,
coming with their artillery
and their weaponry and subjugating the people and forcing them into slavery.
And this is not something that we need to even you know, delve into this something
Well known
of how millions not just 1000s, or hundreds of 1000s, but in the millions, how Europeans went to continents like Africa, and kidnapped, literally just kidnapped people who were otherwise free men and women.
They were not slaves, they were kidnapped
and forced into slavery.
Thirdly,
when Islam came,
it limited the sources
of slavery
that existed before.
And so when the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam, came,
Islam legislated
that there is now only one way in which a person can end up becoming a slave.
And that is through warfare,
where
the Muslims
are fighting against their opponents who are preventing them from spreading the religion of Islam.
And so as a result, they are fought against if the Muslims when they take, they take the prisoners of war, and they have the decision to either make them into slaves or to free them through ransom.
And so
in those days, this was very common. This was, as we said, one of the ways in which people would become slaves. So when Islam came, it limited it to only this way.
So a person cannot become a slave through kidnapping, for example,
or through poverty,
or because of because he's drowning in debt,
or any other way.
And even then, what did we say? That these prisoners of war
in other civilizations, prisoners of war, were either killed immediately,
or they were enslaved by Islam brought two more options.
And that is the unconditional release of slaves,
or ransom, or ransom.
And these come, we don't have time to cite the ayat and talk about them. But they're there. They're in the Quran. And
thus, we can see, and we can understand the limited ways that can lead to slavery. And so Islam did not abolish it altogether. Because
these prisoners of war,
they were opposed to the truth of Islam.
And
there, they were preventing they were preventing Islam from spreading.
It's all they deserve.
They deserve such
such an end. They deserve such an end.
Fourthly,
when Islam came, it changed the way in which slavery was dealt with.
And so slaves
in those days,
and even afterwards, until only a few decades ago.
Apart from what Islam legislated in other societies in other civilizations, slaves were not considered human beings.
slaves were not considered human beings, and they were treated worse than animals.
And this continued,
this continued
in Western societies until only a few decades ago.
What about Islam?
How did Islam legislate the treatment of slaves
and this is very, very important.
To understand, because now what we're doing is we're separating
that barrier.
And what did we say earlier? That people who have these doubts, they have them one of the reasons is because they associate terms like slavery to what
they already know what they have read about,
in western civilization, the treatment of slaves in the Americas.
As soon as they hear slavery, that's what comes, comes through their minds.
But now let's look at what does Islam teaches about the treatment of slaves?
Firstly,
Islam command us
to treat slaves fairly.
And to guarantee them certain rights that are human rights.
And so Islam, elevated slaves
to the status of human beings, whereas previously they were not considered even as human beings.
And so what did the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam Say for example,
he said, referring to slaves, he said, they are your brothers, whom Allah has put under your authority.
So if Allah has put a person's brother under his authority, then let him feed him from what he eats. And let him clothed him from what he wears.
Imagine
a master
has a slave and the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam is telling him,
make sure your sleeve each what you eat, make sure he wears what you wear.
And then the process goes on, he says,
and let him not to overburden him with work.
And if he does overburden him with work, if he does happen to overburden him with work, then let him help him.
This is what Islam teaches about slavery. We have to get our mind clear. What is slavery in Islam and what is slavery in western civilization. It's not the same.
How were slaves treated when they were brought to the Americas
overburdened with work, tortured, until many of them died.
But look at what the prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam is teaching us
don't overburden them with the work? Why? Because at the end of the day, they're human beings. They're not animals, that you overburden them with work, even animals, Islam teaches us to treat them fairly and, you know, to not overdo animals even.
And then the process of them said, if you do happen to overburden him with work, then get into the work with him yourself, help him.
Secondly, what does Islam teaches about treating slaves, preserving their dignity, preserving their dignity and their honor? Because at the end of the day, they're also human beings. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, Whoever accuses his slave of something that he is innocent of.
He will be flogged on the Day of Judgment.
Unless he he's, unless what he accused him of is actually true.
And the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam said, Whoever slaps
or beats his slave.
The punishment for that is that you free him.
Imagine,
imagine you may have gotten angry with your slave, you happen to slap him on the face, or you happen to beat him.
The expiation of that you have to now free him.
Again,
compare that
to the perception of slavery in the minds of the people.
fifthly
as we've already explained,
there were many sources of slavery.
There are many different ways that people became slaves when Islam when Islam came,
and then Islam
legislated that there's only one way now that a person can become a slave.
So when Islam came, there were many different ways in which people used to become slaves.
Whereas the ways of freeing slaves in Islam are numerous. There's only one way that you can end up becoming a slave. But there are many ways in which you can become free again.
This is from the mercy in the compassion of Islam. Islam does not encourage slavery,
but rather, Islam encourages freeing liberating slaves.
And so
there are so many different ways in Islam that have been mentioned in the Quran that have been mentioned in the Sunnah, ways in which we can free space. One example is the example I just mentioned. If you happen to slap or beat your slave, you have to free them.
Other examples?
Allah mentions in the Quran concerning accidental death, or accidental murder,
where somebody dies, you didn't intend to kill him, but he dies.
What is the expiation for that you free a slave.
And many other examples of where the punishment for something is that you free a slave
of we heard,
and other many other examples. Also,
as the month of Ramadan is coming,
the expiation for a person who has sexual relations with his wife.
While he is fasting, the expiation for that is that he has to free asleep,
and so on and so forth.
Also,
one of the things that Islam legislates concerning slaves is something known as Al Khattab
which is basically a concept where it's manumission, where
a slave can by his own freedom, he makes an agreement, a contract with his master, that I'm going to work.
I'm going to work
and make an income and this money,
I'm going to pay it to you.
And this is basically me buying my freedom.
Where do you have that in any other religion, in any other civilization, in any other human manmade ideology.
In addition to all of that,
Islam has encouraged us to free slaves for no reason at all.
We've mentioned many ways in which slaves can become free because of
because of certain things that somebody does.
But on top of that,
Islam encouraged us to free slaves simply for the sake of a lot and for no other reason. It's a good deed, that a person goes and frees a slave.
That you go by the slave. You buy him and then you free him for no reason just for the sake of Allah subhanho wa Tada.
And so in short, this is this is how we answer this doubt concerning slavery. Moving on to the second part.
Islam has legislated who do punishments which go against human rights and freedoms.
In Islam, we have what are known as alpha dude. These are certain punishments for certain crimes.
So for example,
for apostasy, someone who leaves Islam, there's execution
for
murder, there's execution for Xena
for committing either fornication or adultery. In the case of fornication, the punishment is being flogged 100 times in the case
adultery, being stoned to death
for theft,
as long as all the conditions are there, you cut off the hand,
and so on and so forth. These are what we call a Hadoop, the Hadoop punishments.
And so people look at this,
and they think this is barbaric. And this goes against human rights and freedoms, and so on and so forth.
And so let us look at this and address this. Firstly,
Islam is a complete way of life,
that covers all aspects of human life. It's not an individualistic religion.
So it's not just the individual,
that he worships Allah.
And that's it. No,
there are laws that govern societies.
There has to be laws that govern the entire society.
All of these laws.
All of these laws
are for one goal. And that is to protect rights. These punishments are for one goal, and one goal only. And that is to protect rights, which rights, three rights. The first
are individual rights,
you as an individual, are not allowed to harm yourself.
And so
if you drink, you're harming yourself.
And so there's a punishment for somebody who drinks.
The same with drugs.
Also, if you commit suicide, Islam prevents us from committing suicide. Right? These are individual rights that Islam came to preserve these individual rights, you can't say, this is my body.
Let me do what I want to it. No, Islam teaches us that these bodies belong to Allah.
And he wants us to protect the right of this body.
Second,
or the rights of others.
We have to have laws that will protect the rights of others, so that no one transgress is against the rights of others.
And so that's why we have the laws, the punishment for murder,
and also the punishment for theft.
And also the punishment for Xena to protect the rights of others. And the third, which is the most important, right,
and that is the right of Allah Subhana who with Tyler the Creator,
the only one who deserves to be worshipped.
And so
we have punishments
for those
who transgress against the right of Allah subhanho wa Taala to be worshipped. And they come in the way of Allah, and the religion of Allah. And an example of that is the punishment for for apostasy. And we're going to talk more about apostasy in a little bit.
So whenever anyone steps on one of these rites, there needs to be a penal system, a penal code,
there has to be
a law in place to punish those who transgress.
Secondly,
no one knows what laws and legislations are better for us human beings, besides the one who created us.
So now we address why these particular
punishments
Why couldn't it be something else, like a jail term for example?
Or any other kind of punishment?
Why does it have to be bloodshed
and so on and so forth. So to answer that we say
that we human beings have tried and tested and failed.
trying to come up with a suitable
penal code that will deter criminals,
from transgressing against the rights of others.
And the rate of a law as we said,
we human beings have tried time and time again,
to come up with laws
that will protect the rights of others. Don't we constantly fail?
Look at the rates of crime.
In Western society.
The highest crime rates are in Western societies. Why? Because the punishments are too light, too easy.
A person he can kill someone knowing
that it's not a big deal, I'll just go to jail for 25 years.
And then I'll use the
the law and the appeal process to find my way out.
This is just one example.
And so the laws that we human beings make, they don't deter
the criminals and the ones who want to transgress against the rights of others.
So who will decide what why what laws and legislations and punishments are suitable?
The one who created us?
Allah subhanho wa Taala knows us better than our own selves. He's the one who created us, therefore he knows what is suitable for us and what is not. And so when such stringent laws and punishments are in place, that is when we see that people are deterred, when you know, okay.
If I intentionally murder someone, I'm going to be executed.
Or if I commit Zina, this is the punishment. Or if I steal, my hands are going to be chopped off.
That's it, this will deter you.
And then the crime rate
will come tumbling down.
Thirdly,
when it comes to the punishment for apostasy, let's look at this particular issue.
Let's look at this particular example of the Hadoop punishments.
There are many but let's look specifically at
the punishment for apostasy. Why? Because the claim is that you can't
punish someone for simply deciding to change his religion. Because this goes against human rights, the human right to choose freely.
So when it comes to the punishment for apostasy, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam said in clear terms,
men bed delayed the man bed della Deena who fuck to do that whoever changes his religion kill him.
And the process that I'm setting another Hadith, that we're not allowed to kill anyone, except for three reasons he mentioned among them,
among them,
the one who abandons his religion and abandons the community of the believers.
And so when it comes to this punishment, regarding apostasy, we need to understand it in perspective.
Firstly,
not just anyone,
not just any non Muslim, in a Muslim society is executed. This is the perception some people have when they hear
when they hear about how Islam treats those who
decide to practice another religion in a Muslim society.
Some Westerners, they're afraid to go to a Muslim country because they think just if they go there, as non Muslims, they're going to get killed.
So this is the wrong perception First of all,
and so, not any non Muslim is executed.
But rather,
it is those
who freely and willfully after being a Muslim
then they leave Islam
And so there are certain conditions
in place, it's not just whoever leaves his religion, whoever leaves Islam, and that's it. We get him and we kill him. No.
That's not how it is, first of all,
number one, the apostate is one who was a Muslim his whole life. And then he decides to openly declare disbelief.
And this could be in beliefs, or in words or in actions.
So he holds beliefs.
And he proclaims these beliefs
that
I can worship an idol.
There's nothing wrong with it, that I could commit.
And that Allah is not one or that Allah does not exist. These are beliefs or words. He insults the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, for example, or he insults Allah
or he says something insulting against the deen of Allah
or inactions, he desecrates the Quran, for example, and so on and so forth. So there are certain things that cause a person to
to basically become an apostate, not everything causes a person to become an apostate. So we have to, we have to realize there are certain things.
Secondly, that this person is an adult.
And he has a sound mind.
He has sanity, he's not insane.
And that he leaves Islam, out of his own freewill, he's not being forced to do so.
Certainly, that his case is brought before a judge in a legitimate court.
And then only the judge can pass a verdict in his case.
Not only that, but even if he is found guilty. And now the verdict is he should be executed,
he still has a chance. And that is that if he is found guilty, he's given a grace period of three days
to basically turn back to repent to Allah
and to save his life.
And so, this is the first thing we have to understand we have to put
the issue of Apostasy and the punishment into perspective. Secondly, after we have understood this, we see that there are many wisdoms
and many reasons for why Islam legislates such a tough punishment in the case of Apostasy.
Firstly,
by having such a punishment in place, we are preserving the sanctity of Islam in society. And so every society, every state, every culture, they have
certain things.
You can't go there.
They have certain red lines that you cannot cross.
That's it. You can't cross these red lines. If you do, the punishment is going to be severe.
The punishment will be severe.
And so imagine even in a Western society like this, where they talk about freedom of speech,
and the value of freedom of speech so much. There are certain red lines even with regards to freedom of speech.
And so for example, they have laws
concerning anti semitism.
You can't criticize the Jews.
Or you can't, for example, speak about the Holocaust. You can't be critical of the Holocaust, for example.
So these are red lines, you can't go there. Likewise,
in an Islamic State,
the deen the religion of Islam is something sanctified It is something sacred. It's a red line you can't cross it.
Secondly,
by having such
a tough punishment for apostasy Islam preserves the social cohesion of society.
Everyone in society
are okay.
There are social cohesion.
But when
A person announces that he is leaving Islam.
It breaks that social cohesion.
And he starts
to implant the seeds of confusion and turmoil in the hearts of members of society.
And so the believers, they were upon the fitrah. And then this person comes and starts clouding the fitrah of the people.
So to prevent
these doubts from spreading,
and these lines concerning Islam, from spreading, and concerning a lot, or a lot does not exist.
In order to prevent this disease from spreading,
you have to have a tough punishment in place.
If you don't,
then people will be free to cause others to doubt when they never had doubts before
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apostate what he is actually committing is the crime of treason, as many, many scholars they have compared apostasy and the punishment for it to what is known as a crime of treason. In many states, in the world, there's a very, very tough punishment for treason. treason is where you ally with the enemy of the state, and other country, or to share secrets of the state with, with the enemy.
And so
in many countries in the world, the punishment for that is execution.
Likewise,
the apostate, he is committing the same crime, because he is changing his loyalty to the believers,
and to the Muslims, and given his loyalty to the disbelievers and their enemies of Islam.
And that's why he is actually more dangerous. Then
a disbeliever, who is let's say, a Christian, born a Christian, or born a Jew or whatever, who is living in a Muslim society. He is more dangerous than that.
He is more dangerous than that, because he was a member of the society and then went against went against them.
And so he initially accepted the laws that were in place, and then and then he transgressed unopposed.
Contrary to the disbeliever, who was already born like that,
and so in short, this is how we can This is how we can answer
the question concerning the Hadoop punishments. We move on to the last and final
doubt, and allegation concerning the legislations of Islam, and that is concerning women.
And so the common myths, and the common allegation is that Islam degrades and oppresses women.
And so the very first thing we say here is that Islam came at a time
1400 years ago, when women were degraded, and considered to be nothing.
When Islam came, the status of a woman in society, whether it be in the Arab society, or any other civilization at that time,
they were considered as being nothing.
Look at the many examples of how pre Islam Arabs looked at women and you should treat women
female infanticide,
which is to bury their female newborns. This was widespread
and a lot talks about it in the Quran.
No inheritance rights. Women they never used to have any inheritance rights among the Arabs. Women were forced into prostitution.
They were forced to strip naked and make the offer on the Kaaba
and so on and so forth. women had no rights whatsoever. They were degraded and they were considered as being nothing they had no sense
whatsoever.
Secondly,
when Islam came,
it elevated the Status of Women
giving back their due rights that they deserved, and placing them in the place where they belong.
And so Islam put an end to several crimes and in justices that were done to women, it put an end to infanticide, as we said, is to bury newborn females, just because they were female, to bury them alive, isn't putting into
Islam legislated that women could inherit, and that they could own assets.
Islam legislated that a woman's wealth was her own property, and no one had the right to take it from her.
And so according to Islam, no matter how wealthy a woman was, even if she is a millionaire, when she gets married,
it is the responsibility of the husband, to provide for her, to close her, to protect her, to provide her with sustenance.
And not only after marriage, but even before marriage, that responsibility is upon her father, her brother, and so on and so forth.
This is how Islam came in elevated the status of women. And so several verses in the Quran were revealed, commanding, believing men to be kind, just and pardoning and so on and so forth to women. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam also guided us to treat women in the best of ways, he sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, how you can hire only
the best of you, or those who are best to their families, meaning their wives.
And so
if all of this is true,
then the question comes. And so for example, you have a non Muslim to dealing with and they say Islam,
degrades women oppresses women. And then you bring all of this that I mentioned, how Islam actually elevated women, and you tell them that look at what Islam teaches.
Look at what Islam teaches concerning fair treatment of women, giving them their due, right, and so on and so forth. But then they say, you know what, if that's all true, then why do we have
equality between men and women?
Why do we have certain laws in place that make women
have a lower status to men,
or that don't treat men and women equally?
And so to answer this, we say,
first and foremost,
Islam elevated the woman
to where she belongs.
And so to elevate her beyond where she belongs.
And so
she was all the way down here before.
And then Islam elevated her status to here.
Whereas Western society, she was down here, they elevated her to here.
And then they elevated her to an even different level.
We say to elevate her to a higher level than where she actually belongs, is actually true injustice.
And it is the real meaning of transgression. It is the real meaning of oppression to women.
And that is because justice means
to put something where it belongs.
That's the true meaning of justice, to put something where it belongs, when you
bring something below where it belongs, or higher than where it belongs, then that is oppression. That is a real meaning of oppression. And so
a woman is not equal to a man in many different ways, in the way men and women were created, with different features, with different bodily features.
different emotional features, they are different. And no sane person
will admit that no, men and women are the same bodily and emotionally.
Every sane person, every sane human being knows the difference between men and women, that they have different features both bodily and emotionally. And so they have different roles to play. And so to give women features and roles that don't belong to their nature, is actually injustice to them.
That is actually injustice to them, to make her
beer a burden,
that is too much for her to bear. That's injustice, to say, no women should go out and should work just like men work.
When the type of job that you're giving her is not suitable for her,
it's more than what she can bear. This is called oppression and injustice and transgression, transgression.
And so
once we understand this, we understand that No, they are not equal
in many different ways. Secondly,
is there happens to be clear injustice to women,
that is attributed to Islam,
then we need to distinguish between what Islam actually teaches versus what some Muslim cultures may be involved in concerning the mistreatment of women, and so many, many cultures out there in Muslim countries, they have gone back to how women were treated before Islam, not giving her her inheritance, right, for example,
or,
you know,
what they call honor killings,
killing a woman, because she brought this honor to the family.
So these are cultural practices, we need to distinguish and look, you know, what does Assam teach and what?
What are these practices. And so we say, Don't judge Islam, by the Muslims and their practices, but rather judge Islam, judge the people, Judge Muslims, by Islam. So, read Islam, see what Islam teaches.
And then compare that with how Muslims are practicing Islam.
In conclusion, Islam gives respect to women at every stage of her life, whether she is a daughter, whether she is a wife,
and when she becomes a mother.
And I'm not going to really get into that we have plenty of
areas in the Quran or Hadith concerning concerning this honor that women have in Islam. Their evidence of how Islam, honors and treats women are too many to mention. But the fact is evident.
The fact is evident.
And what is
so amazing, is that
in spite of the accurate accusations made against Islam today, and its treatment of women. What do we find?
We find
that the number of women accepting Islam today
exceeds greatly the number of men accepting Islam
Subhan Allah Think about
all of their efforts to discredit Islam, and to try to expose Islam as being oppressive and degrading to women.
All of that effort has gone to waste, because their whole purpose of that is so that people don't enter into a seminar especially women. But it is more women today who are accepting Islam than men.
Because the answer is the reason is very simple. And that is that they are attracted.
They are being attracted by their Fedora
their way of life.
We're in Western society.
The woman has gone outside of her fifth row.
And she is being she is suffering because of that, emotionally, mentally.
And she's looking for something that brings her back to her fifth fight, and she finds it in Islam. And that's why so many of them are accepting self today. And so with that, we conclude this class, and we conclude
this course, and these series of classes, instilling your claim, I asked Allah subhanho, wa Taala, to make all of us to have benefited from what we have learned, and to make what we have learned to be a source of your theme for us concerning Islam.
That what we have learned, really, really implants certainty in our hearts concerning the truth of Islam.
But
what's more important than all of that is not just information,
but application.
And so, the only way that you're going to truly achieve your clean in your heart certainty conviction in your heart is not just by learning information, and then not not leaving Islam in your life.
But rather, the only way you will be able to build your clean is by learning and then acting, worshiping Allah subhanho wa Taala. You have to now
strengthen your relationship with Allah.
And act do acts of obedience and good deeds. And that is how your your clean, will solidify in your heart We ask Allah subhana wa tada to help us to achieve that was a law who was setting lemma eyeland Amina Mohammed while early he was so happy he was a limited Sleeman kathira