Mufti Menk – Interfaith Relationships

Yeah Assalamu alaykum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh A warm welcome once more to open lines at nine. Well, I'm going to be with you and I am Jamil Wallace and this morning I have guest in the studio in fact, I need to say it's for me an honor and a privilege to have to be in the presence of these guests. And guests. These obviously move to a smile mink now listeners of the voice of the cape immediately identifies with the movie because there is a series of programs we've run on it. Let's first greet my guests jiamusi AsSalamu Alaikum and welcome to the voice of the cape. aleikum wa salam o Rahmatullahi wa barakaatuh the Peace and blessings of Allah subhanho wa Taala upon yourself

and all the listeners out there and from our side at the voice of the cape to you move teeth and your accompaniment here and to our listeners we say Juma Karim jumma Mubarak Baraka la vaca Masada la carta comically Fatima Allah keep us blessed and happy at all times. Relief captain and no strange place to you but you've just visited our shows. I just had to find that originally you are from Zimbabwe, our neighbor? Yes Mashallah. I was actually born in Zimbabwe, and I was brought up there and my studies, the initial studies were all in Zimbabwe. and thereafter force for tertiary studies. I shifted to Saudi Arabia in the University of Medina. And from there I'd actually gone to

India to specialize Yes, Masha Allah, I believe the topic under discussion, interfaith relations. My little bit I want to add this sometimes we as Muslims, well, let's talk about the cape them, let's talk about my community. We have a little bit of a skewed perception around interfaith relations, but I'm willing to leave that to you. I think it's extremely important for us to look into the subject and comprehend it and understand it from the Quran and the Sunnah of Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam. The very fact that Allah says gulia Al Kitab, say O Muhammad, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, people of the book, The Quran, the very fact that it has addressed the People of the Book

already confirms and acknowledges their existence and already engages in dialogue with them,

you know, addressing the People of the Book, as well as seeking answers and clarification. And from this, we learned that as Muslims, we must always question if you do not question you will never know. Some people are Muslims, they do not understand certain concepts of belief in Islam. And it just becomes a question in question mark in their minds, and they never question so that they can find out. So when confronted or faced with someone else, you know, who asks about these Islamic beliefs, you find that generally the Muslims don't really have answers. So in order to solve that, and in order to combat this type of a problem, we need to educate ourselves as Muslims and for this

reason, the first verses of revelation we all know, we're ikara, which means read. And reading is closely connected to education. In fact, if you are educated, you will be able to read and if you read, you are regarded as educated to a certain extent, and you can go further, not only reading but asking questions and finding out azula sallallahu alayhi wa sallam in the literal sense, could not read or write meaning he was unlimited. But he was far more well educated than even those who could read and write because he was granted revelation by Allah subhanho wa Taala. So it is extremely important, especially in today's times that we understand that we should never look at the non

Muslims as our enemies.

Because each non Muslim out there is a potential Muslim. And we must understand in Islam, we have four categories of Dawa, that are meaning the call towards Islam. The first category is to work on those who hate Islam and the Muslims, the enemies of Islam, to work on that enmity, so that we can reduce it, just by reducing the enmity of the enemies of Islam. We've already achieved something so our aim is not to convert and it was never to convert. And the aim of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam also was not to convert, and I proved this from verses of the Quran.

We are loss of Hannah Hua to Allah says anylogic.

Your mission is only to convey the message. That's it. So the mission of the Prophet was only to convey the message sallallahu alayhi wasallam in another verse, Allah subhanho wa Taala says, In Ocala handyman, Babbitt, Allah King, La Jolla demon.

You will never guide whomsoever you wish, but the Almighty will guide whomsoever He wishes, meaning guidance is in the hands of a law. All we've got to do is to convey the message. Now by conveying the message the first category of people we are aiming at are those who are

have been fighting Islam, those who hate Islam? Surely they hate it because of a few reasons. And we need to ask ourselves, why do they hate Islam, we will find that one of the reasons or the prime reason is because they are ignorant of what Islam teaches. So we need to minimize that ignorance. And we need to try and enlighten them, and educate them. But it's not easy to educate someone who does not want to know something about that particular thing. A person does not want to be a doctor. And suddenly you speak to them about medicine, they will turn away. But the second problem we have is, the Muslims today are not exemplary. Which means sometimes people get the wrong picture of Islam

because of the actions of the Muslims themselves. And this is a very big disaster in our day, in our day and age at the moment, we've always got to try and be as exemplary as possible. And if we happen, you know, human nature, we commit sin, we commit error and mistakes, we must make it clear that this is not Islam, it's human nature, it's actually human error. It's mistake, it's a sin.

And it's amazing how if you look at Christianity, we respect Christianity, and we believe it is a heavenly religion. The same applies to Judaism, we respect it and believe it's a heavenly religion, we do have our differences. And very, very intellectually, if I can put it very, very,

in a civilized manner, we will put across our differences, and we will educate the masses as to what our differences are not in order to create hatred, but in for educational purposes. You know, when we study the theories in science, and you have two conflicting theories, at times, we studied both of them, and we experiment both of them so that we could actually understand which one is more correct than the other and so on, but not in order to create conflict. Sometimes Muslims believe and sometimes Christians also fall into the same trap, where they believe that we are trying to, you know, win people over in a very confronting, confronting manner. And we it creates a problem, it

creates a disaster, it creates a conflict between two religions that are both very, very heavenly, so to speak. So Islam does not teach and it does not advocate confrontation, it only advocates the dissemination of the beautiful teachings of this religion. So I was saying, The twofold problem that we have today, one is the ignorance of those who hate Islam, which we need to deal with. And the other is the fact that the Muslims themselves are not really contributing so positively. I'm talking of the masses today, in that they are not exemplary Muslims. And this is our struggle. At the moment, every one of us should try to be better Muslims. And remember, the only way we are going to

be better Muslims is if we educate ourselves about our own religion. There was a time many years ago, when children used to ask questions and parents or teachers used to say, Hey, don't ask, but that time is gone. Islam. We are taught to ask in Nima Shiva will IE a swallow, definitely the cure of ignorance is to ask questions. If you are not going to ask you will never learn La Jolla. I feel even there is no modesty when it comes to knowledge in the sense that you can't say, I didn't ask because I was feeling shy. That is a non starter in Islam, we reject that. We will not accept someone who says I didn't ask because I was shy, we should ask in a very polite manner, but we need

to ask regarding what we do not know. May Allah subhanho wa Taala make it easy for all of us. So that is the first category of people, the enemies of Islam, we want to defuse that enmity or reduce it even a little bit. And that will be a very great achievement. Then we have the second category of people, those who are slightly closer they don't hate Islam, but they don't like it either. Which means it's okay you know, they say look, Islam is a religion, the Muslims are free to do what they want and you know, they okay people, and we are not Muslims. for that category of people. We'd like to draw them slightly closer by trying to show them that it's not just okay, but Islam is a good

religion. So we want to shift the word Okay, to the word good. And this is what we need to do. And again, primarily one of the main ways we will be able to achieve this is by us leading in an exemplary life. Why do I say this because as I mentioned moments ago, someone does not want to study medicine and you are giving them a lecture in medicine, they will disappear. But if for example, they get sick, and you are a doctor and you try

Meet them, they will never forget that medicine plays an important role in their lives. So, as a Muslim, for example, someone is stranded and you say a good word, even if you don't have money to give them or if you don't have something material to give them, you say a good word, say words of support, go and visit your neighbors and speak to them, you know, in in a good manner, many of us would visit our neighbors when we've got a problem, and some of the children will visit the neighbors when the ball is actually kicked next door. But that's not the only time we should be visiting. At any occasion, sometimes on the days of eat, even if your neighbors are not Muslim, we

they have rights, they have rights over us as Muslims, we need to be good to them, we need to share some of the goodness with them. You know, the Hadith the Prophet peace be upon him teaches us that whenever you are making food, if you can add a little bit more so that you can give the neighbors even if it is just a bowl of soup or something. So this shows that we need to be good to them so that they can see the benefit rather than listen to it. Seeing is much more effective than listening to you know, people can come on television and radio and express how good Islam is. But then the actions across the globe do not really assist that at times, and we do know of conspiracies and so

on. But I feel we cannot harp on conspiracy, conspiracy, these people are planning these people are plotting. I mean, how have we operated to present a positive image of Islam, that's what we need to look at. I do not have control over what he does. But I do have control over what I do. To a great extent. So if we are going to be good to these people, automatically, it's going to be a call to words Islam. We are not saying a call into Islam, because that's not our aim, or we are aiming to deliver the goods. The rest is in the hands of the Almighty. We are going to portray to them what is Islam and thereafter the rest will actually come from God Almighty himself Allah bless that he will

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if we continue further to the third category, those who are on the verge of becoming Muslims. Now they say Islam is a very, very good and Islam is a religion that really I'm interested in. The third category of you know, people that you get around is this and what we need to do to them is help them into the fold of Islam, that is the third category and these people are non Muslim. So I was saying at the very beginning that every non Muslim is a potential Muslim. If we look at the non Muslims with enmity, what are we going to achieve? We are never going to be able to achieve anything at all because the the people that we expect to come in to Islam are those whom we hate. And that is a non

starter it shows a warped

understanding of looking at others in Islam when Prophet peace be upon him was sent with the message no one was Muslim, and had he hated everyone and fought them. No one would have ever entered the fold of Islam. And I think we will continue with this just after the break inshallah. My guest with me the esteemed move the Ishmael mink, and right after this we'll be continuing or Mufti will be continuing the discussion in sha Allah.

Once more a very warm welcome to open lines at nine and my guest in the studio the steamed Mufti Ishmael mink, and as I said early on, immediately rings a bell with many of our listeners with the envelope this discussion this morning. And I think very, very appropriately, interfaith relations with Do you want to just carry on with liftoff insha Allah

Rahim, In the name of Allah, most Gracious, Most Merciful. Just prior to the break, we were mentioning the categories of people that are around us, and that we as Muslims should acknowledge and should assist. I was mentioning the first category, the enemies of Islam, whom we would like to reduce their enmity. And I did say Our aim is not to convert, it's to reduce the enmity if we've reduced enmity, automatically, we've achieved a lot, then you have

the those whose enmity is now reduced, and they acknowledge the goodness of Islam, or should I say they acknowledge Islam as a religion, we want them to come a level higher than that. And we'd like to introduce to them the goodness of this religion so that they can begin to feel that it is not just a religion that is acknowledged, but it is a good religion. And the third category of people are those who are on the verge of entry into Islam, we make it easy for them, we try and explain to them and as they declare their Shahada, we should also educate them the follow up is extremely important. And at times, they may ask us questions that sound a little bit silly sometimes, but

remember, nothing is silly when it comes to

Asking questions. That's what we believe as Muslims. And the fourth category that I'm going to mention now are those who are Muslims, those who are Muslims like myself and yourselves

to improve, we will always need to educate ourselves without education, there is no improvement if I don't know, what is expected of me, how what am I going to do? How am I going to do something that is expected when I don't know what it is? So this is common sense. So these are the four categories. Whenever we speak, we should bear these categories in mind. And it is very, very important that as Muslims when we handle ourselves, in public, and even in private, we make sure we are as exemplary as possible. And I'd like to draw your attention to the fact that Islam does not make a person a nun, or does not make a person who is either in the religion or out of the religion. Islam is a way

of life, it governs the way you smile, the way you talk, the way you look, the way you walk, how you assist people. In fact, it governs how and what you cook on a daily basis. It's amazing.

And these beautiful teachings of Islam are really, really

meant to be learned and put into practice and shared with others. And getting back to now this interfaith dialogue. I was mentioning that Islam has acknowledged the existence of other religions by addressing them in the Quran. So many places in the Quran, Allah says, Yeah, Al Kitab Oh, people have the book, oh Jews or Christians.

In fact, in some places Allah has actually mentioned the fire worshippers and various other people who have different beliefs, and Allah engages them in discussion. kuliah elkie Tabitha Hello, ella kalimat in Salah in Benin, Albania, como People of the Book, come on to a common platform, that platform which is common between us and yourselves, Alana and Buddha Illa Allah we should not worship any dietary besides one, one meaning there is one creator. So if a person does not accept, for example, the concept of Trinity as Muslims, we don't accept the concept. We should not be hooligans to come out and start swearing those who do because in that case, we are not civilized.

The Quran says while at the SU Bula. Deena the owner, mein de la fere Subala had one belay, do not sway mock blasphemy or joking jeer, about those who are calling out to Gods besides Allah, because in turn, they will then mock swear, joke and cheer about Allah? And who would have caused it, we would have caused it. So we should engage people in dialogue, understand, and Islam has the answers to every question, believe me, if you study Islam, and if you study the various let's take, for example, crucifixion, the concept of Trinity, the concept that Jesus is the Son of God, these are concepts within the Christian faith. If you take these they are free to, to to, to believe whatever

they want to believe it's a free world we are living in, in, for example, in this case, in South Africa, which is a beautiful country that caters for every religion, we cannot impose anything on anyone. But through dialogue, we will be able to understand each other better. And we will be able to put forward what we believe and why we believe it. Now, whenever I look at Muslims who appear to be hooligans, mela Savers, I always feel these people are not educated. They haven't learned learned what religion is all about. They did not look into the beginnings of Islam, or the beginnings of the advent of the Prophet Mohammed May peace be upon him. Because he came down he respected the people,

they were idol worshipers, and idol worship is far more distant than Christians and Jews to Islam. And yet, he looked at them, and he smiled, when they were bad to him. He was good to them in return. And he always tried to be very helpful. He persevered. He continued, if you take a look at one of the incidents in the life of the Prophet peace be upon him where he went too far if they beat him up, but he raised his hands and he says, he called out to the Almighty saying, I am the one who is weak. These are my people, guide them, guide them they don't know. And last night, I was speaking about the concept of godhood in Islam, and I made mention of the fact that you know, in Islam, we do

not take risks when it comes to home we worship.

One would say, for example, a Christian may say, Lord Jesus except my prayer. In Islam, we say, oh you Who is the owner of

The acceptance of prayer, accept my prayer. Oh, you who can hear me accept an answer my call, one might ask. So who are you calling out to? I am calling out to whoever created me, whoever he is, that's who I'm calling out to. Because I cannot take a risk. We do not say, oh, Muhammad, I worship You, I dedicate my life to you. We say, Oh, you Who has created me, I dedicate my life to you.

We do not say, oh, Mohammed Have mercy on me. After I die, we say, Oh, you whom I'm going to return to upon death Have mercy on me when I get to that stage.

On the other hand, you'd find Christians may call out to Jesus, at times, they may call out to God the Father, and so on. We would feel as Muslims that though they have the right to do that in terms of the freedoms of today. But we feel that with us, the reason why we wouldn't do that, and we wouldn't agree with it is because it's a very big risk. No one can guarantee me that Jesus is waiting for me on the other side, though I respect him. And in Islam, he's a revered Prophet, and we must say, peace be upon him, as soon as we say his name. If you do not say Jesus, peace be upon him, you will be doing a great injustice.

So we respect him, but at the same time, we respect him, knowing that he is not the owner of Have mercy, he is not the owner of cure. According to us, if you notice the words I'm using today, I'd like everyone to learn from these words, how to address these issues, when we do address them, we do not disrespect anyone. And I know when I was in Malawi, and would you know, the radio station in Malawi was teaching

Islam and they were saying that Jesus is not the Son of God. So the some of the Christians were very angered, and very upset. And they began to say, the Muslims should stop teaching that Jesus is not the Son of God. And I said, we're ready to do that. We are absolutely ready to do that right now on condition that the Christians stopped teaching that he is the Son of God, because to ask a Muslim to stop teaching that Jesus is not the Son of God is equivalent to asking the Christians to teaching that he is the Son of God. And obviously, that cannot happen. So on this side as well, it won't happen.

But we must not say it in a way that we offend others, intentionally we present our beliefs, we present that which we are convinced about, without actually, you know, bless feeding others and calling them names, and swearing them and so on. So, as I was mentioning moments ago, that in Islam, when it comes to like the concept of Trinity, and so on, they are discussions. And, you know, say for example, I know of young children that I've taught, when when we speak to them about Jesus, being the son of God in Christianity, they would question little children question. And they say, look, does that mean God doesn't like women? How come he doesn't have a daughter? Now? What answer

Am I going to give? I don't think anyone could actually really answer that. And that's a question of nature, an innocent child, a little girl, asking a question, Well, God had a son, who and why didn't he have a daughter? And, you know, this might anger some Christians, but in reality, it's a question that's come up from a little child. So if a little children can ask questions, I feel these questions need to be answered. And this leads to this monotheism that the Muslims believe in one one God, and that's why the Quran calls on the Christians and the Jews saying, look, let's come to the concept of godhood. And let's agree that there is one supreme power, don't add a second and the

third and so on. And from the concept of belief, the Jews and the Muslims are closer than the Christians when it comes to the concept of godhood because they believe in the Abrahamic monotheism that we believe in as well. And

you know, more strictly speaking, the Christians do believe in that monotheism. But there is a history of how this concept of Trinity had crept into the Christian church, as though the Christians themselves argue it within you know, their own circles. But we are not here to argue and to present those arguments. I am here today to explain to you that if you do not educate yourselves in a civilized

manner, do not expect progress. And we as Muslims are taught never to create insecurity, and never to destabilize a place in terms of peace and serenity. Just because of your beliefs, you know, people come out and say, we are Muslims, and we're gonna fight you and so on. That is, those are pagan beliefs. those beliefs are non Islamic and Islamic and totally unacceptable. We must live in harmony and peace. Let me take you through the life of Muhammad peace be upon him. When he signed treaties with the Jews, even towards the end of his life, he dealt with the Jews and the Christians. And he spoke to them with utmost respect, he sent messages to them, they sent messages to him and so

on.

And really, he only fought those who fought him. And that is why the Quran says, in many places, the Quran has said fight those who fight you.

And when the Quran speaks, like I know, there is a point of clarification that sprung to my mind right now. And I'd like to mention it for the benefit of all the listeners, at times you get people of other faiths who come to Muslims and say, Look, your Quran preaches violence. And if you tell them where they will open a verse, and they will show you look, the Quran says, fight the non Muslims around you fight the disbelievers and the infidels around you. And then they show you that and the people say, Oh, and I don't really have an answer. That is because you are not well versed in Islam in the Quran. The Quran has, how about Roman Kabbalah? The Quran has the news of that which

has happened before us. Which means there was a war which was recorded in the Quran that took place and many wars are recorded in the Quran, the Battle of offered is recorded the Battle of better several other battles. So now, when they were when the Muslims were attacked by the non Muslims, they were waiting for divine instruction before they could retaliate. Then when the instruction came, fight, the infidels in front of you and around you. It was not speaking of a command for us today. It was a recorded history telling those people at that particular time who were being killed and slaughtered to say, now you're allowed to retaliate, who the NLRB levina yakata Luna de

la lemo. Allah says in the 17th chapter, that those who have been fought Up to now, we give them permission to defend themselves because they are oppressed until the point of that verse, the Muslims were not allowed to even lift a finger against anyone, they weren't allowed to do it. So today, I find that a lot of people come. And they speak to the layman, and sometimes they are professionals in their religions. They speak to the lay Muslim on the street, and they actually say, you know, Islam teaches violence. And here's the first look, go and read this verse. And they'll show you a verse and now we are very apologetically go and look at this verse, not realizing go to

the professionals who know what the Quran is all about. They'll tell you listen, open the books of history, and you will find recorded history. That doesn't mean that that particular religion teaches violence in the same way. The Koran has history in it. And this is the history of the Muslims, we cannot say that it's a command for me and you today to kill those around us. And even if you look at Islam, it is not understood in that way, because of the Prophet peace be upon him to the point of his death, was dealing with Jews and Christians who were living around him and even the Arabs who had not accepted Islam, and who were idol worshipers. And he, for as long as they were at peace with

him, he was at peace with him, the minute they started something he had the right to defend, and that right to defend was decreed in the Quran from God Almighty, and it's recorded. And that record today, if someone tackles us and attacks us, and we retaliate, and someone writes it into the book to say, this man said, Look,

you know, I'm trying to think of words that were used in recent history where they say, you know, burn them and and, you know, fire at them. Say, for example, the commander of the army says, fire at them, that fire at them will be recorded in history. That doesn't mean that everyone who reads that history must now fire at those around him or her it's history. So we should not be allowed to be used against our own religion due to ignorance. And we must also realize that Islam has given so much importance to interfaith dialogue that an entire chapter of the Quran is named after the Virgin Mary. Maria May peace be upon her, the mother of Jesus made peace be upon him. And if Islam did not

accept and acknowledge this dialogue, why would it have had

And an entire chapter

and another thing is,

in some of the sutras Allah subhanho wa Taala has said in fact there is a surah called Surah Al kafi rune which means the surah at the chapter connected to the disbelievers it's a very short chapter made up of a few verses. And in it Allah says Lacombe no como Leah de, you have your religion, and we have ours. And this is the pillar cornerstone of coexistence. If we are not going to understand this verse, we will be fighting each other. Allah would have said we have our Deen and that's the dean you've got to accept. But that's not what he said. He said we have ours and you have yours. We will follow ours. You follow us in a dignified, civilized tolerant manner. May Allah subhanho wa

Taala grant us understanding my guest in studio is the link visiting the shows

and movies expanding for us on interfaith relations. We'll be back after this.

Well, it's very warm welcome to open lines at nine once more. And as I said, my esteemed this guest in the studio Mufti Ishmael mink, and I'm sure like me, you are enthralled by a move this discussion on interfaith relations with the

smilla rahmanir rahim In the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, Most Merciful once again, it's continued with what we were saying. And I have explained today that Islam is a very, very broad religion, which caters for one and all. And the the Islamic concept is based on mutual respect, you respect me, I respect you. In fact, Islam goes a step further and says, if someone disrespects you, it does not mean you should just respect them. But you should deal with the problem. So if someone for example, let's take a look at the cartoons that were, you know, the cartoons that were published in Denmark, and we know about what happened.

We all know that, yes, it was something very bad. And sometimes I know recently, I was asked by a group of Christians that you know, you always preach

tolerance. And why didn't you tolerate the cartoons, you know, and I said, Look, the cartoons do not serve any purpose besides bless feeding and angering, that's all because they do not depict anybody's belief. You know, if someone says Jesus is the Son of God, and someone else says that he is not the Son of God, it is their belief, so they can't afford to get angry with one another. But if someone just starts swearing, and starts mocking and making a fool of someone else, then I think that there is a loophole in modern day constitution, and the modern day interpretation of the word freedom of expression. It's a very big loophole, because as civilized as we are, we still don't

realize that we have interpreted the word freedom of expression wrongly, so that it actually caters for people to incite violence. And we are satisfied with that. So, though it was totally wrong, we as Muslims also have to admit that the hooliganism that followed in some parts of the world was also totally wrong. Yes, we had the right to so in a civilized manner, express our views like what happened in Cape Town, I was actually following it. And we were proud of the, the demonstrations and what had happened because they were all within the limits to express that look, we are hurt. And this is something unacceptable. And we do not want it to repeat itself. But at the same time for

those who began to, you know, bomb and fire, you know, smoke up places and burn things and kill innocent people and so on. That is totally unacceptable that hooliganism is probably worse than the cartoons.

And the times people can use these things to make a fool of Islam and the Muslims if you studied the world media, what it did is, it shifted concentration from the core and the crux to an aftermath and to the reaction, and it basically the outcome of the entire cartoon episode. According to the Western prevalent media, was the hooliganism of the Muslims. They didn't even discuss the issue of whether the cartoons were, you know, barbaric and unacceptable and blasphemous or not. At the latest stage. They didn't discuss that they only harped on something so we need to make sure that we have a balanced approach. I am not saying sit back, relax and let people trample all over. No, but I am

saying when someone disrespects we should react in such a way that we do not show them that we are disrespectful as well. We need to be civilized we are Muslims. Look at the prophet may peace be upon him. There was a lady every day when he passed a certain le

She would throw dirt. And literally, you know, the dung of cows and the times even human, you know, stool and that on him as he passed, and he was in the early stages in Makkah, and he did not retaliate, because he realized that gnome, and I've got to show this woman goodness. And imagine how irritating it is today if someone splits out on us, but in our path, we probably take a gun and shoot the guy.

It shows how much intolerant we are today. And the Prophet peace be upon him. What had happened then is one day this thing didn't come. He would clean his clothes and wash them later on. And you know, and he passed the same alley every single day. I know there's a narration which says that Muslim must not be bitten from the same hole twice. But for whatever reason, he decided to pass he had divine revelation. He passed and one day didn't come. So he knocked on the door. And he heard a voice saying you may come in and as he went in,

this woman was shocked. What do you want? She says, No, you know, my dear mother, I, you have been given me a gift every day. Now look at these words. These are heavenly words. I know we cannot compete. And I'm not telling you this so that you can compete, but just to open our eyes to show you how tolerant he was of others who bless him to him. In person. They didn't just draw a cartoon, but they in person which is much more serious. He did not resort to hooliganism, but he said, Look, every day you give me a gift, and today didn't come. So I felt your health might not be well, you might be sick. So I thought, let me just visit you and wish you well. Now this is a non Muslim,

we're going to a non Muslim to wish her well, an elderly lady, how many of us would ever think of our Christian neighbors and go to them and say, Look, you're not well, and we wish you well and get well soon, those statements or Islamic statements. There's nothing wrong with that. In fact, it's as soon as it's part and parcel of following the footsteps of the Prophet. So when he went in, she was shocked. She was dumbfounded.

And she says you are a prophet of God. That's it. She declared it straightaway. And at that moment, it was such a touching time she turned and she says, I really apologize for what I've done all these days, I didn't know that this is what Islam was all about. Which means today, a lot of the non Muslims fall in the same bracket. They don't know what is Islam, they hearing all the negative pitches. And you know, something, if you study news, what is news? when we were children, we were told that all the bad in the globe is news. And I know that's a wrong definition. But say for little children. It's right. Do how many good things are mentioned in the news, very few. Most of it is bad

so many people died there is there was a bus crash there was an accident there was this there was that so many people had miscarriages so many people have aid so many people are sick. So many people have cancer, all the bad things in the world are mentioned. So whenever the bad things of Islam make headlines, you should know that that is what the news is all about. It's bad. I guess in studio with me the highly respected Mufti Ishmael mink back to the markets and after that we'll continue and also wrap up the program.

With a warm welcome once more to open lines at nine and by now I'm sure you know who's in the studio with me. The highly respected Mufti Ishmael mink in the movie expounding to us on the importance of interfaith relations and just when I wrap up, he will be with us for the weekend in Cape Town and I'll be sharing with you at all the venues where he will be appearing inshallah, Mufti

Bismillahirrahmanirrahim once again In the name of Allah, most Gracious, Most Merciful. Just prior to the break, I was mentioning the visiting of the non Muslims and the impact it has had in the time of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasallam May peace be upon him and the fact that we too if we have neighbors who are non Muslim or at times our parents, sometimes our children, sometimes our you know, in laws and so on, we should know that Islam does. In fact Islam encourages visiting them within limits when I say within limits, uh, you know, islamically we're not meant to be drinking we're not meant to be partaking of, you know, haram that which is not slaughtered in an Islamic

manner and so on. So with bearing in mind all these limits, we visit them we pay our respects for example, if someone is a non Muslim

and the son happens to be a Muslim and the day this person dies, the son should be going to his his mother who's just lost the father and you know, expressing condolences and sympathies. We do not make do out of

motherf er, but we make every other statement of sympathy and condolence, I'm sorry, we share your loss, and we share the loss, we sympathize, I'd like to express my condolences. These are Islamic statements to non Muslims. The same applies when someone is sick, you know, get well soon and so on.

The reality is a lot of Muslims don't know this, and why, and I'm going to end on this note, inshallah, because we are not educated, for example, people say, Look, I'm not allowed to attend the funeral of non Muslims. Yes, well, who are those non Muslims, do they have a connection with you, if not, they will look at you as a gatecrasher. And if you do, then when you go there, make sure you do not take part in religious activity, which means when the ceremony religious ceremony is being undertaken, you will stand on the side and watch. The same happens, a lot of Christians come into our graveyard sometimes. And when we are reading our Salatu, janaza, they don't take part they stand

on the side, but they just watch, because the fact that you were present, if they if say, for example, it's your own father, who was a Christian who died, the fact that you were imprisoned will so will present will soften the hearts of so many of those people. And you would never have believed and Didn't I say at the very beginning that one of the aims of calling towards Islam is calling towards Islam by softening or reducing the enmity of the enemies. And just by standing there, looking at people and smiling, you did not take part it is forbidden to take part in the religious ceremonies, because we respect the difference. But that's not our religion. We allow them to have

their faith, we have ours, we will not mix the two. But we have to live together. And in order to live together, the more we understand one another, the better we will be able to live together. And I hope today this morning, I've learned and I hope I can put into practice what I've said. And I hope everyone else has learned a thing or two and I ask a lot to accept whatever I've said. And really and truly I wish I and I hope and I pray we can have a very good relation with the non Muslims as well, based on respect, mutual respect, understanding and tolerance. Just a common law Jazakallah here I thank you all for having listened in today. Well, that is a Mufti Ishmael mink of

the I would just want to add on and say, may Allah guide and protect you on the shores of South Africa, particularly in Cape Town and are you going to have a very hectic weekend? And may Allah grant you and widen your brace for you and have you in our midst for many, many more years to expound and teach us about the holy teachings of the Holy Quran. shukran once more very cold and I wish you and say to you, well, salaam alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakaatuh salam aleikum wa rahmatullah wa barakato.

Let's quickly share with you the program where Mufti will be appearing today friday the 30th of June, Mufti will be performing the Juma at the Waterloo road, the Waterloo road Masjid in kenwyn. And then he after his shot, Mufti will be at Masjid to Salaam that since as we commonly know, it is an Athens or a mosque. That's off the Shah. Now Saturday that's tomorrow, the first of July, between mercury and Isha Mufti will be at mastery to Robbie importance as we share Ebrahim Gabriel's ease, and in tomorrow night of the Shah, he will be at mosquito miftah in length here Sunday, the second of June after the word Mufti will be at the Jamia Masjid in naughty street in the strand and then

between mercury and Isha on Sunday. He will be at Mercy do Ramadan in Hanover Park, the information year will also be at your at our reception. If you want to make use of it inshallah, for myself Jamil Wallace, I say to you have a pleasant day. A Juma Karima jumma Mubarak to you and I greet you. As I said, you were Salam Alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh