Mohammad Elshinawy – Prophetic Clarity & Social Justice
AI: Summary ©
The importance of the Prophet salallahu and the need to be mindful of his actions is highlighted, as it is crucial to not allow negative influence on one's actions to cause disagreements on the fundamentals of justice. The speakers stress the importance of not being afraid of the current crisis and the need for a strong application of justice. They also emphasize the importance of pursuing justice and not backfire in a negative way, while emphasizing the need for a clear understanding of morality and protecting people from oppression and interfere with negative behavior.
AI: Summary ©
Salam aleikum wa rahmatullah wa barakato. Villa hamdulillah salatu salam ala Rasulillah Allah Allah He was a drain to begin the name of Allah who will praise and glory be to Allah and may find his peace and blessings be upon His messenger Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, and his family in his companions and all those who tried his path, just like a low paid on everyone for being with us.
I asked Allah azza wa jal at the onset of this evening's talk, to show us truth is truth. And to enable us,
to pursue it, to enable us to adopt it to enable us to commit to it
until we breathe our last and I asked a lot to allow us to see falsehood as falsehood.
And give us the ability to avoid it gives us the ability to denounce it gives us the ability to push back against it.
Until we read our last Allahumma, I mean,
so this evening's reminder, in sha Allah will be a
few short minutes of complementary nature to complement today's cultiva.
Because I am quite fearful, that whoever hears either or may,
may jump to some very different conclusions than those I intended. And I asked Allah to forgive me if I was mistaken in my choice of dividing it into two talks.
But the idea is the subject of the hour, and the may have of the hour. In particular, we all know what the whole world is talking about, of the the murder of, of George Floyd, at the hands of that police officer, and everyone on the right side of history is demanding justice. But even among them, those that are demanding justice, they are demanding justice in different ways. There are disagreements with many people that I believe many of which are people of integrity, and groups have integrity, with their hearts in the right places, but they disagree on Outlook on perspective. And, as I tried to mention at the end of the hotbar, that we should, number one, make sure we are
understanding this role, this active role, we must play as part of the home of the Prophet salallahu, alayhi wasallam, towards social justice
in a way that is informed by our sacred texts first, and then the proper application of those sacred texts.
By consulting the specialists are those most informed about how these would manifest on the ground, applying them in a certain way would unfold on the ground. And
I think this is extremely important to reiterate, at least, here and now that we must always differentiate between the fundamentals and their applications. And so we are agreeing many times and don't realize it on the sanctity of life on the demand for justice, but disagree on the applications of that, based on our assessment sometimes of how the application would be helping or harming the cause the cause that we're in agreement on, and so just never allow the difference in application to cause you to disagree on the fundamentals or lose sight of those who are not disagreeing with you on the fundamentals. This is extremely important.
Your cause is one your causes the greatest cause the cause of justice is a cause that Allah azza wa jal committed himself to and it is just so profound that Allah azza wa jal Allah the Most High said to us Yeah, you better do my servants and your authentic hadith could see in the haram to volume Allah and FC. I have forbidden injustice even upon myself and made it forbidden amongst the one with another. So do not fall into injustice. There is no exception to the comes to justice. But the applications are a very different story. And so much mayhem has ensued. And there's a great deal of blurriness and fog regarding how to actualize This is justice. And I am going to repeat the Hadith I
entered the hobo with and then add on it now in sha Allah Tala, which is the Hadith and so anybody where the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam spoke about blurriness spoke or confusion and fog and chaos at the end of time and he said that Kunal fita, noon, there are going to be tribulations may have confusion, lack of clarity. He said, I'll call you to see her final minute. Call him those who stay put who sit down in it are better than those who stand and those who stand in it are better than those who walk meaning walk towards it. And those who work towards it are better than those meaning are better off than those who rushed towards it. Whomever go seeking it out, it will seek
him out.
Meaning they will be
putting themselves in harm's way. And harm's way here means what means putting their religion in jeopardy their religious commitment in jeopardy. So a person needs to try their very best to rein in their emotions with prudence and to complement their prophetic passion, the passion of the Prophet salallahu Alaihe salam for justice, with prophetic clarity This is extremely important. And he said, Sal, Allahu alayhi wa sallam from unwanted mljet and Elmira then familiar with whomever can find a refuge or a sanctuary or away from the chaos, whoever can escape the chaos, let them do that. And so this obviously is not talking about quietism, whoever's reading, that is Miss reading this hadith
and Miss reading the, the legacy of our Prophet salAllahu alayhi wasallam. It's not even talking about passivity. Because sometimes you don't have a sanctuary you have no choice but to take a stand. And so the issue is, when you consult those best informed, as we said, and then you have a certain conviction, then you feel like you have no choice. Sometimes you have no choice but to act on that conviction. When you do so, do so without being headstrong, in what sense, do so without being absolutely positive that this application of the pursuit of justice is the correct application. And to highlight that, I want you to consider one Hadith of the Prophet sallallahu
alayhi wa sallam, and then some factors after death in sha Allah, regarding the current crisis, just as an example, the disaster and the uproar, and the rightful rage over the murder of innocent so
this hadith of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam that he would make. He's the one that lived his life, embodying justice calling to justice successfully, unlike so many others, successfully actualizing justice across the board, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, the ability to do that, he recognized that it came from Allah and not from him. He at times felt confused sallallahu alayhi wa Salam on the timing on the method by which
change was going to be secured. Now, because it changes from moment to moment. There was a time for example, when the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam received verses to not speak about certain issues. And there were other times when he did not just speak about those certain issues he took matters into his own hands. And so to know which application not selectively choose or choose based on our biases, and go find some evidence in the Quran and Sunnah that confirm our biases. This is a gift from Allah. And so the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam who received the Quran and was the Sunnah at times, even he, as I showed him, the one who says in this hadith that I'm prefacing when
he was confused about a matter when he was seeking clarity about matters, once again, think of it in the capacity of social justice of the greatest projects that his blessed life sallallahu alayhi wa sallam was invested in when he was confused and sought clarity. He would say, he would call upon Allah and say, Allah who robbed algebra, ILA mica II that way Seraphim O Allah, Lord of Gabriel, and Michael, and it's Rafi, another of the great noble Angels
felted SML it will, owner Originator of the heavens and the earth and Ally Mel Arabia, shahada, Knower of the unseen world. And Tata Docomo VENA iba DECA FEMA can no fee here telefoon you are the one who judges meaning passes perfect judgment. You are the one who judges between his servants in that over which they dispute a De Lima have to defer fee him and they'll have to be Ivanek guide me to that which has been disagreed over. Regarding the truth, by your permission you allowed for this disagreement to happen. You allowed for this to happen. Now allow for me to be of those guided to the right decision in the fog guide me to
the right choice in this disagreement that has occurred by your permission regarding the truth. He said in negative demand Tisha de la Seraphin. Mr team, you are the one who guides whomever he wishes to the streets back.
Okay, so what can be gleaned from this hadith is beautiful, that we should all be making because this is the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam saw the possibility of him making mistakes in the application of the revelation in his
pursuit of justice and guidance and truth, then we should certainly by greater virtue, feel
compelled to learn this dirt and to make it incessantly to always ask Allah to guide us in the disputed matters over which people differ. Think about that. He's saying the words of this day are also very telling, Oh Allah, You are the Lord of Gabriel, You are the Lord of Michael, You are the Lord of Israel feed the angels, as great as they are, they are still directed by Allah subhanho wa taala. They don't have the type of agency or will to choose the way we have. And so consider that the greatest prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam is remembering and invoking Allah in the light of the fact that the greatest angels who cannot make mistakes are directed by Allah and that is why
they cannot make mistakes. So me even from the greatest prophet, I still need your direction, Oh Allah,
so that I don't fall into these Miss applications.
And then he said, Originator of the heavens and the earth, Allah azza wa jal is the one that does things right the first time around, he is the one that does not
exercise trial and error. He is the one that created the heavens and the earth in perfect fashion, meaning perfectly livable, perfectly sustainable for life fashion, the first time around without a precedent without a blueprint without a prior model. Oh Allah, you're the director of the greatest angels, you're the one who originates things does them right from the first time around. And you are the one who guides whomever you will, whomever you don't guide, they have no guidance. All of us are misguided except those that you guide us these words are very telling. These words are able to unlock for us the humility we need to consider and listen and analyze. And then he says, guide me to
the right choices on these matters over which people dispute because you need to know that that
it's not just about saying the right thing, as we started talking about justice in principle, who disagrees on that, who in their right mind, who with a conscience will disagree on that. But how to see justice as justice and how to properly pursue justice in a way that would not backfire sometimes into greater injustice. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said to us in a hadith for example,
McKenna Umino Billa who will Yomi fkT for the Apple higher on LDS whoever believes in Allah and the Last Day must say that which is good or must be silent?
Mmm hmm. No, we Rahim Allah he says that what does it mean to say that which is good or be silent? He says that means that the Sunnah the example of our Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam is for you to wait and listen and analyze something we don't do anymore, right? Until you are sure there is greater benefit. That's what he said, a preponderance benefit in speaking, he said, If there's greater harm in speaking, or he said, listen to this equal benefit and harm in your assessment, to speaking of remaining silent, then the sooner is to be silent. Because when he said, if you have something good to say good means it has become clear to you that the greater good isn't me speaking.
That's when you should speak. And that's it's very, very difficult, right?
Aside from the fact of highlighting
the discrepancy in the pursuit of justice in the demand of justice, in the repercussions and consequences between different ethnic groups,
the inconsistency in vindicating the rights of justice for certain communities in particular, the African American community, aside from highlighting that
and may Allah forgive me if I fall under virtue signaling whatever that is, I learned that term a few days ago, I have not said anything about how to actually go about this. Because in the past week or two, I have told people I need to understand the situation better, I would not want I'd rather be the last person on board the right train, than to be leading the leading the train in the wrong direction. I don't want to fall into eating my own words and not respecting expertise. Sometimes you saying the right thing at the right time isn't even the right thing? Because someone else should be saying it because recognize that representation is also huge.
And so the factors are so many also you need to realize that under what platform you say it and what are the implications of of your correct words
to the particular audience you're speaking to how will it be used? Sometimes you saying the right thing could in fact be distracting from the duty of the hour? Something that is theoretically correct. You know, for I'll give you one quick example before I close
Many people argue and I'm this could very well be correct. Take it with a grain of salt
If you don't accept it, but it does seem to make a degree of sense, if you believe it is totally ridiculous, then you should reconsider that things are not as clear as you think, once you put emotions aside, and you listen to your critics, for your blind spots, that when people say black lives matter, they are not detracting from the value of life of others, they are highlighting the fact that the BS lives melt matter as well, as opposed to the other lives who automatically are recognized as sacred life. Another example is when people
say, we have to have equality among humanity, and inclusivity. For All. This is certainly a good call. But what is understood by that because, for example, us as Muslims, we kind of do differentiate, we don't accept bullying for everyone, we don't accept
violence against anyone discriminating from people's
rights to,
to earn a living and have security in society and their social welfare and all of these things. But that doesn't mean we believe in the equality of human behavior, we believe it may quality of human beings, and some people tried to melt that all in one pot with a beautiful term of equality and inclusivity. But we as Muslims may agree with the term not realizing what is intended by it by most of those who use it, or most of those who may hear it from us. We believe in human beings in the quality of human beings, Allah created all people equal, irrespective of where they came from, irrespective of their skin tones, all of that, right. But we don't believe in the quality of human
behaviors, right? We believe that there's a code of morality that God approved of, and a code that we need to warn people against for their welfare in this world and the next.
I tried to hopefully, pull us from the abstract to a little bit of the application to realize how much we need to be on the right side of history, but with prophetic clarity, and until you don't know something, then you duck in private and ask Allah for clarity until he shows you your duty in public. And we will continue to learn and continue to look to those who best understand our sacred texts and best understand
how to apply those sacred texts in light of the dynamics of a very complicated, very agenda filled, very entangled, very politicized world. Nevertheless, in an election year, May Allah bring justice to the oppressed, and allow us to be an instrument for his justice in this world. May Allah azza wa jal protect us from oppression and injustice, and inconsistency and in approving of all of that Allahumma Amin May Allah guide our tongues to speak when there is greater benefit in speaking and protect us from the lust of uttering words that could send us in their destructive directions in this world and the next Allahumma Amin Zach Lavine, everybody will leave it there