What is Islam
Date:
Channel: Mufti Menk
File Size: 30.46MB
Episode Notes
A public lecture from the Island of Grenada on some important aspects of Islam explained to an audience diverse in faith.
AI Generated Transcript ©
Salam aleikum wa rahmatullah wa barakato. And Peace be upon you all. I mean
Bismillah R Rahman r Rahim in the name of the Almighty, Most Gracious, Most Merciful Alhamdulillah All praise is indeed due to the creator nourish, the one who cherishes, provides protects cures the one in whose hands lies the absolute control of entire existence. We praise Him, we glorify Him, we send blessings and salutations upon all the messengers whom he sent, from the very beginning all the way to Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam May the almighty bless all of them, they were indeed sent to us to remove us from darkness and to bring us to the light to improve the quality of our lives and to end to improve
our relationship with the one who made us and to improve our relationship with the others whom the same maker has made. So blessings upon them and their companions, and may you all be blessed, and your offspring to come up to the end. May Allah Almighty bless us all. I mean, my brothers, my sisters in humanity, my brothers, my sisters in faith,
honorable dignitaries who are here. Indeed, I am absolutely humbled to be standing in this beautiful hole
in your island, beautiful country sounds so romantic, doesn't it? Mashallah. In this little island of Grenada,
when I said Grenada,
you won't believe my wife messaged me and told me it's Grenada. So can you please tell me is it Grenada?
It's Grenada. It's got nothing to do with a bomb. Right? Okay. So I think she was saying you with a beard, don't ever say Grenada? I said, No.
I heard people say Grenada from Grenada. That's why I said that. But it's a beautiful place. May the almighty grant you peace and serenity forever and ever. I mean,
my brothers, my sisters, we were all created by a maker. And I'm addressing obviously, as a believer, you may have people who don't believe obviously, we coexists. And we may have differences of opinion, it does not make us enemies. This is the diversity that we talk about. People ask me sometimes that you know, the extremism that's going on across the globe, what are you doing about it, and I say, I travel the world a lot of the times at my own expense, talking to Muslims, telling them what Islam is all about, and telling the non Muslims what Islam is, so that they know the mainstream Muslims are all peace loving, beautiful people who contribute towards the nations they
live in and have done so for a long, long time. So don't let the few who make it seem otherwise con you.
So there is an effort. And this is a part of the effort. And this is why I say even if I disagree with you, it's a sign of the diversity, it does not mean I will harm you or I should harm you or you should harm me, not at all. If that's the case, we would be harming each other because every one of us is different from the other.
So remember this and this is why I started by saying, as a believer, and as believers, we believe we were created some supreme deity made us okay. If we believe that a supreme deity made us say, I believe he made me I have to believe he made you that makes me Your brother, in the sense that the Creator who made me and you is one, just like if I were to share parents with you, it would make us siblings, we are actually connected because we have one maker
whether you're Jewish, or Christian, or Hindu, or anyone else or Muslim, you were made, according to those who believe you were created by created by the same one, the same maker, it goes beyond that extends to animals, the dogs in the pigs in the monkeys, the goats and the sheep and the cows, the buffaloes and so on, go to the marine life Mashallah I saw some of the most blue Deep Blue Waters I actually put it up on Instagram saying Mashallah beautiful. I've traveled the world. I've been to Maldives, I used to think it was the most beautiful place on earth
Subhana Allah until I came here,
so Han Allah.
So I've been promoting this place in the last few hours.
Amazing, amazing. But I'm being honest, all of those creatures have been created by the Supreme maker. So it does not mean that because you do not consume pork or bacon, you're allowed to harm a pig. No, you're not allowed to be towards a pig harmful because that pig has life, you don't consume it, you may not want to have to do much with it. But you respect the life of that animal given by the same maker who made you. That's what makes me Muslim. That's what makes me Muslim.
When the Prophet peace be upon him,
spoke about a man who was very thirsty. And before I say, let me tell you, that we being created by the almighty believe that there is an ultimate goal and that is paradise. The Christians share this with us, the Jews do, and so many others who belong to diverse faiths do believe that there is a paradise, the eternal life to come. And we believe when you do good here, you will receive in return of that, and sometimes you will receive just by the sheer mercy of your maker, paradise, but you have to try, try by being good. So I want to achieve the paradise How will I achieve it, the prophet peace be upon him was once asked that those who will be in Paradise, what would be their features,
what would have got them to paradise, he said two things very clearly the koala, he was no holo key, he says, the consciousness of their maker. Number one, you're conscious of your maker, it leads you to being a good person. And secondly, the greatness in character and conduct.
When you're a beautiful person, a pleasure to interact with an honest individual, a person who helps others, the Almighty says, I continue helping, or in fact, the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him says the almighty continues helping those who are engaged in helping others Amazing, amazing. And this is why to earn paradise, you can actually earn it through your character, your conduct, there was a man and this is a very important point I'm about to raise. Many Muslims read this Hadith, a deep meaning the quotes of the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him and his life. So they read it and they don't realize how to extract the gems, the jewels, the lessons from it. So I want to remind
you, there was a man who was very thirsty on a hot day. And he saw a well, so he decided to go down into the well and drink some water, he drank the water. And he emerged from the well, when he emerged he noticed a dog. Now Muslims would know that the relationship between a Muslim and the dog has lots of rules and regulations. You know, you have a dog for security, you have a dog for farming, you may have a dog to guide a blind person, etc. But there are rules and regulations pertaining to how you should keep the dog what you should do, etc. The Muslims know that.
So there was a dog that this man saw, to be honest, if you were to see Muslims, in the presence of a dog,
they probably would run away.
The Muslims know that they would run away because they don't want to be licked by the dog. Because if you are licked by a dog, you need to wash that portion before you can actually pray. It's just a ruling it's jurisprudence. So in order to avoid all of that they would run but this narration states and it is it is authentic because it's reported in all the major books of Hadith. All the major books that quote these quotations of the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him, and there is a chain of narrators that is absolutely authentic. So he saw this dog and he says, you know that the Hadith says for either can Boone yell Hell, yeah. kulu thirimanne alaba. He saw these are the words of the
prophet SAW Selim explaining he says, He saw this man saw a dog panting and sniffing into the sand with its news, out of thirst in search of water. So the man looked at the dog and he says luckily Bella has been killed. Meanwhile, Apache mithila McCann at Bella Remini he says, I see this dog is as thirsty as I was prior to me descending the well but the dog cannot go down. Let me go down. So he decided to go down a second time for who not for a human being.
Not for a pretty kitten.
Not for a beautiful pet of his but for a stray dog.
He went down and we
What did he do? He filled his shoe with water. It's like a leather sock they used to wear. It's called a hoof, mela hufa Houma and he filled his leather sock with water, he brought it up and he made the effort to quench the thirst of the dog. So the almighty loved his deed so much that he forgave him, in essence, granted him paradise. I pause there
do you think the faith that teaches you to be kind to a dog, and you know, a dog can be a swear word and a dog can actually be a pretty word. If you say, doggy, it's actually something sweet. And if you say dog, that means you're swearing someone. So it's the same thing, right? So he has got up and he has seen this dog. He decided to quench his thirst and this is what he received in return. Do you think that faith can teach you to be violent against fellow human beings who are far better and superior to dogs? The Almighty speaks about it. While I call the governor on Bernie. Indeed, we have honored the children of Adam, we have honored them, we have raised them in Surah two teen in the
Quran, Allah says Lakota fall upon
us and Avi, Sangeeta can when we challenge you or mankind, we have created mankind in the best of postures, which means your eyes, your nose, your lips, your fingers, your nails, your hair, everything else you can never ever come up, it's a challenge from the makeup, you cannot come up with a better place to position them than the Almighty has. And I've always said, think of your ears. Is there a better place to put them than where they are right now? Would you like an ear in the front here? You know, would you like a nose on the side? Would you like to kiss someone from the back? You know? So the Almighty is saying he has fashioned you in the best possible way he has
raised you above all other creatures, in posture, and in the mind, in the sense in the brains that you have. So do you think the one who gave paradise to a person for being kind good helping assisting quenching the thirst of a dog would actually call
for harming human beings,
not at all, rather, quench their thirst, you will have a greater reward than he who quench the thirst of a dog. Rather reach out to them in a beautiful way and see how the almighty reaches out to you. This is mainstream Islam. This is what we've been taught since we were born.
And this shall remain to the end. Because it's our duty to keep spreading the message and to keep reminding people when an earthquake happens when a natural disaster strikes. It is our collective duty to reach out to one another.
Subhan Allah, it's amazing. You might hear me saying Subhana Allah, that's a statement glorifying the Almighty.
So my brothers and sisters, I start off by saying,
you know what we are brothers and sisters, we are part of one family,
no matter what faith you've chosen.
So Islam,
we are all taught, and I'm sure a lot of us have heard it means peace, it stands for peace, he teaches peace, it is peace, it gives peace etc. It means peace. Islam means peace. That's what it means. And Islam is Islam means submission. In essence, we are taught that when you submit to the Almighty, you will achieve peace, supreme peace, not just peace in one aspect of your existence. But throughout in this world and the next the almighty doesn't promise you that if you're righteous, you will have millions and billions and you will have the best car and the house and the best in terms of wealth. No, but he does say if you're righteous, you will be content. It's all about contentment.
So one might say, well, too many rules and regulations in Islam. You know, you have to do this, you have to do that. I always give an example of the best of colleges in the world. They have more rules than the worst of colleges, don't they?
You might think what is he on about when I was young?
I went to a private school.
It was arguably you know, you always have one or two who say we're the best. We're the best. I believe the one I went to was the best. Okay. It was called St. John's College. Still they're still a really good school.
And they have rules. They had rules and regulations governing
the socks you hear.
I promise you the color the tint of the blazer you have the way your tie shall be everything
Absolutely everything your hair needed to be above your ears above your collars. You needed to have this and that and so many rules. I was once penalized because I didn't have a garter. Do you know what's a garter
a garter is a little piece of an elasticated piece that keeps your sock up, you know, and they told me to write
a punishment, the one of the prefect said, I want you to write the importance of Goddess, the history of Goddess, I said, Okay.
And that day, you won't believe it, my dad's motor vehicle, it was cold, and he had bought some seat covers, and they were this fluffy seat covers, they had a cover for the steering. I sliced that into two, I joined the two together. And I said in my little essay, that there is a gutter for cold weather known as the Russian gutter. And I stapled it on to this punishment, I'm just going back to something because I'm recalling it. Going back to what I'm saying is, by the way, they mentioned me, I had an honorable mention in the assembly of a beautiful essay. So it was it was worth it anyway, I say this because the rules and regulations was so many. They made the school better sometimes when
we don't have rules and regulations. Every faith has rules and regulations. Every religion has rules and regulations, do's and don'ts, commandments, every religion does, and so does Islam. And there are reasons why. There are reasons why rules and regulations are there. If we know them, we will appreciate them. If we don't know them, we probably will not appreciate them. And then generally you have two types of people who don't believe in what you believe. One is those who tolerate you, they respect the difference of opinion, and they live with you. They try to understand your explanation. And they continue and the others are those who consider you an enemy sometimes they begin to lie
about you. And this is what Islam prohibits. The Quran says and this is a beautiful verse. I love it. I love it. Allah subhanho wa Taala says Sumida, while I a gentleman come Shanna, and akumina Allah, Allah, Dino De leeuw
toccoa. The Almighty says your dislike for people should never make you become unjust towards them as a result, rather be just even with those whom you may dislike for that is closer to piety.
So if I don't like you, for example, you don't like me? Maybe my beard is a little bit too big. You don't like me? It's fine. But don't be unfair to me. Don't be unjust to me. And guess what I'm taught the same.
I cannot be unjust. I cannot be unfair, just because perhaps I had a misunderstanding with you. I need to stand firm for justice. So when some people don't like the faith of Islam, they begin to search for things, look for things, walk things, turn things around, and then say this is what Muslims believe that what Muslim that's what Muslims believe, you know what? Ask and keep on asking. I promise you if Islam was a religion of violence, there wouldn't be anyone else on Earth. I mean, from 1.2 billion people, if everyone was taught to kill, kill, kill, you know, I don't know what would have happened.
That's not true. And meaning it's we should not be doing that.
Islam spread across the globe. And I can tell you, in many places, it actually spread through the character and conduct of the people.
Take a look at the history of Far East Asia. It's common knowledge. Indonesia, the largest Muslim population, how did Islam spread there? It spread because business people came in, they were honest, they were dignified. The Prophet Mohammed says, when you are selling something, be honest, be open, transparent, don't hide. If you want the blessings of the Almighty, then you've got to say, Look, I'm selling you a motor vehicle. It was damaged here and there. It has a little bit of a problem with the CV joints. But I'm just being honest with you, rather than say, never been damaged, never been damaged. And the next thing you have a YouTube clip somewhere down the line, people showing
that particular car having been at a panel beaters, how does it feel? How does it feel? Don't you'll feel cheated? So you're meant to be honest, when you deal in business, people will look at you. And they will say, wow, what is the driving force behind this honesty, this integrity?
If it is your faith, well done.
Wow. So this is how Islam spread in Far East Asia. Now one might say, what about all the wars that took place? That's a question. You know, I've been given 45 minutes, I think I'm going to
Eat into the q&a time a little bit. But it's fine, don't worry, I'll be answering your questions. And presuming perhaps, that people may have had in their, in their minds. So
there are so many things I could talk about. But I've chosen to say what I'm saying now for a reason, because there are so many things happening on the globe right now. People want answers. Does Islam teach violence? Does Islam promote coexistence? What is it talk about? Why? Why all the wars at the time of the Prophet peace be upon him? Let me explain. If you know of the countries that have had wars of independence, is that a good thing or a bad thing? Who did they fight and why did they fight? You can't say
you guys are killers. I read your history. And I've seen what you've guys you guys have done. Well, someone came in and took my land my property do I not have the right to stand up and defend myself and try and get my land back. And the day I do it's called Independence Day, and I celebrated throughout Allah, the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him began to spread the message of Islam to his own kith and kin in Mecca. And as a result, some of them accepted those who are close to him, those who knew him, his friends, and so on. And some of them did not. They rejected those who are a little bit more distant. But rejecting was one thing, they began to harm persecute. They killed some of the
companions, they usurp their wealth, drove them out of Mecca, they had to go to Medina.
They were refugees, but they always have their sights on Mecca to get back. And anyone who had harmed them in the process of that long period in Madina munawwara like, for example, the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him, he sent messages, he sent ambassadors to various parts of the globe. And there were three types of people who reacted to these ambassadors. Some of them accepted the message. Some of them did not accept the message, but they honored the ambassador and refused and said, Listen, you know what this man has called us towards Islam. We don't want to accept it. But anyway, you can go back that was also fair enough.
But those who harm the ambassador, and in some cases, killed the ambassador, what happened to them, the Muslim army marched on to them as a result of of this.
So when they got back their land, when they had the wars, people started saying, Okay, these Muslims are warriors from the beginning, they were fighting, that's not true. They were long periods of beautiful peace. But every now and again, especially nowadays, we have a problem. Sometimes, for political reasons, when people would like to see a larger following of this, they may pretend, like the evil we're doing is actually the call of your faith.
And they try to convince you, they will not be able to convince you if you have some knowledge, they won't. But when you don't have sound knowledge, and that's why we're here to let you know,
when you don't have sound knowledge, they may, they may use verses of the Bible verses of the Quran verses of anywhere or statements and quotations of people totally out of context, in order to convince you to support them in their political agenda.
And then the religion looks bad, but it's got nothing to do with our faith. We disassociate ourselves from those type of people.
This is something we need to understand.
You know, I had a brother
Christian who told me he says, Look, I've come across a quotation of the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him. Do you know what it says? And I knew what it was because I just read the first few words. It says amin to unaka dilemna satire kulu La ilaha illAllah for either Aloha, Asana mini Dima, Amal home.
It says, I've been ordered to fight the people until they declare that there is none worthy of worship besides Allah, and that Muhammad is His Messenger. If they say that, then their wealth and their lives are totally protected, except by it's right, it's right meaning if you have stolen if you have murdered, then the law will deal with you. Okay? So I looked at it and I said, What's the problem? He says, Look, your Prophet says, you have to fight the people until they declare there is none until they accept Islam basically. I said, Do you know when he said this?
There was a companion who had in the state of war, they were in a war in the state of war. The Prophet Muhammad says that Allah declared wakatipu fees or been in in arena Yoko de Luna Kamala data do fight in the cause of the Almighty those who have fought you and do not transgress the limits.
So he was asked, What do you mean do not transgress the limits, he said, even in the case where it is a legitimate war do not harm a woman or a child or an elderly person, or he
who puts the weapon down, or he who raises a white flag or he who enters his home, or the priests and the monks in the monasteries, or those who do not destroy infrastructure, or the ecosystem, etc. All this was prohibited even during legitimate warfare. So there was one companion who had gone ahead, and he was about to fight, someone who was a warrior. And this man says, Hey, don't fight me. I'm a Muslim. I say la ilaha illAllah. Muhammad Rasul Allah, which means I bear witness, there is none worthy of worship, besides my maker, and I bear witness that Muhammad peace be upon him is the final messenger, this man, unfortunately, this companion, he took the law in his own hands, and he
decided to fight this man until he eradicated him. When the Prophet heard of this, he was so upset, he was visibly angry. And he says, even in the case of war, the war Subhanallah is declared closed. Now I'm obviously explaining to you the way the war is completed or finished, when one of a few things happen. One is, one side is victorious. The other is when there is a truce. The other is when people have laid their weapons down, they've decided, you know what we don't want to fight the war stops. And when a person for example, in Islam, there is one extra thing. When a person declares that they are your brother in faith,
even in legitimate warfare, you have to stop. You can't harm him. Not at all. I'm talking of legitimate warfare.
So the Prophet Mohammed told us man, we are ordered to fight until they say la ilaha illa. Allah, if they said it, you're not allowed to harm him. Was he talking about killing everyone on Earth, yet there were Jews and Christians in Medina, in his own myths, they lived up to the point of his death, when he passed away, he had given a Jewish businessman, his armor as collateral, because that man had given him some food. They were visitors, guests who had come to his house, the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him, and he didn't have money to pay for the merchandise for the food that he wanted. So he gave him his armor and told him, I will send you the money.
Wow.
And this was right at the end of his life, there were Jewish people and Christians living in Medina.
They were respected, they will lead to live and fulfill and practice what they had to. That's what it was. So these verses and these statements that seem to be promoting violence and promoting hatred, we need to understand the context within which they've revealed they've been revealed.
If you have a war, for example, that is taking place somewhere in the world, and the commander happens to be a national of your country, for example, just an example. And he says fire. What is he talking about firing the weapons, right? He says fire. That's the word. If we were to write down what happened during the war, and later on, teach it, teach it later on to our children at the colleges and schools and the universities. Can they say, oh, Commander, Malcolm said, fire So guys, let's get up and start firing. There is a context. There is something that happened.
This is an instruction that took place, you know, people say,
and they ask a question, what is Jihad?
Now, when I was at school, I was taught that Jihad when I was at school, I'm talking of a Christian college, I went to a Christian College. When I when I went to the college, I was taught that jihad is a holy war. And I said, No, it's not. And the teacher says, That's what it says in the book. I said, but I have a Muslim. And I know that's not what it means. But that's what it says in the dictionary. I said, but I'm a Muslim. And I know that Jihad means a struggle.
How many of you speak Arabic? Can you put your hand up?
Would you agree with me Jihad means a struggle,
to struggle to strive to exert an effort, but Lusa that's what it means by God, to make an effort to do something. So for example, I mean, I'm going to say it this way, but you know, those who don't know the meaning of jihad probably might think something else. It was a Jihad for me to get to Grenada. Do you know that? What I mean, it was a struggle. I had to fly from one nation to another to a third to a fourth. Imagine people here it was a Jihad this man's on a Jihad Come on. You've got to
Know what it means I promise you go and look up that word in the Arabic dictionary and see what it means I swear.
It's a struggle.
That struggle is very broad, it could be a struggle to rectify yourself a struggle sometimes to become a better person, a struggle to obey the commands of the Almighty, you know, we have five prayers a day at times when you might want to be sleeping, but you've got to get up. That's it.
And this is why the Muslims say, Wow, it was a Jihad to get up this morning, meaning it was a struggle, it was hard. It was difficult, you know? So yes, there comes a context when it is used to mean to exert your effort to defend yourself. And sometimes it does refer to the fighting itself.
But that's not always the case. And let me explain when it comes to this term, there is
if we're using it in the context of meaning fighting, there are rules and regulations governing how when, where, and the exact system,
you cannot just take a verse and say, right, that's the verse, and I'm implementing it here without looking at the context of Revelation, without looking at whether it is applicable in my situation or not, you know, you cannot do that.
And this is something that a lot of the extremists happen to be using against us. And you have a lot of ignorant Muslims. If I were to ask the Muslims in this crowd, how many of you have read the Quran, every one of them will put their hands up. But if I were to ask you, how many of you have read the translation of the Quran? Let me try that. How many of you have read the translation of the entire Quran, put up your hand? Muslims.
I can count the hands, you see the guilt.
I am here to encourage you to learn. Because when you learn, you will learn the context, nobody will be able to con you. No one will be able to just show you a verse and say, guy, do you know what this means? You know, one of my friends was telling me, you know, the Christians are worse than the Muslims. I said, No, they're not. I said, you know, what, how can you say that? Why are you saying that? He says, Have you seen just google just Google?
I said, Google what he says,
verses of hatred in the Bible. I said, I don't even want to do that. He says, trust me is nothing like what's in the Quran. It goes beyond your imagination. I said, I won't do that. And I don't believe there must be a context if there are verses. Anyway, I have read the Bible several times, by the way. But there is a context, there is a context where every verse, you have to understand it according to its context. If I were to go to a priest, and I have a few who are friends of mine, if I were to go to bishops and talk to them and say, you know what explained to me this verse, they will have an explanation for you. The same way, when when a non Muslim sees a verse in the Quran,
they should come to guys like us and say, What does this mean?
And we will explain it to them. We will tell them, do you know what this is what it actually means.
But something said is the Muslims themselves haven't gone into this. So I'm encouraging you to expand your knowledge of your faith
and learn from the correct sources. You need to understand you know, we live on a globe.
And
this globe is diverse, like I said, at the beginning, we have people of all faiths and we've had them from the beginning.
We've had differences. Go back to the verses of the Quran, we the Allah Almighty is saying oduro l as a bilayer. of bakeable Hekmati. ivatan has an
87. A lot of mighty says, code towards the path of your maker.
Code towards the path of your maker, with wisdom,
with wisdom, and with beautiful speech, beautiful speech, and present your arguments in the best possible way. That's what the Almighty is saying. What that means is you will talk to each other about each other's differences, you will present your opinion they will present their opinion in the best possible way you should be doing it. The Quran doesn't say that. You know what? You should just kill those who you don't agree with.
I promise you, my forefathers. And most of your guys's forefathers In fact, I can say all of your forefathers I'm talking about the Muslims here.
At some stage, we're not Muslim.
Someone somehow some way spoke to them, had a chat with them or something happened. And they decided, you know what? We're going to be Muslims.
Do you agree?
If the teaching was kill them, I wouldn't have been here today.
I wouldn't have been here today. The reason is my great great granddad would have been gone a long time back. Someone would have just come and say you, are you Muslim? No. out. How can we say this? It's absurd. It is ridiculous. It is unacceptable. I want to give you another example towards the end of the life of the Prophet peace be upon him and why I say towards the end because that is absolutely valid. Nobody can say, Oh, the rules changed later on. No, listen. There was a battle known as the Battle of haber. Okay.
And
Ali Vitali, who was one of the companions of the Prophet peace be upon him was given the flag on that day and he was told to get down into this fort of Hyde Park. And the Prophet stops him right at the end that says, hang on. You know what he says? What law he let Ania de Allahu be cordial and wide and he will come in harmony now. You're going in? Yes, it's a war. Yes, they're going to fight you. But I want you to know that I swear by the almighty if he has used you to guide even one person it's better for you than anything material of value that this world has to offer you. At that time. It was known as promoting Nam hombre Nam was the red camel, the red camel. Today maybe if you like
Mercedes, it's equivalent to the S Class, right?
So if someone says it's better for you than the S Class, Mercedes, to do what if you will use to guide someone which means your aim is not just to go and kill people, but it's to guide them. It's to teach even during a war This was uttered imagine during times of peace.
May the almighty guide us, honestly, getting back to Islam. We know a lot of us would know Islam is based on five pillars, number one, in Islam. We were taught that we shouldn't be taking risks when it comes to worship, because you were created you all your worship, and you dedicate every act of worship to he who created you. What do you call him in Hebrew? It's it's Hello him or Aloha. In Arabic, it's Allah it refers to Alma Lu meaning the worshipped one. So you are worshiping he who is the worship one and who is he? He is Rob means.
The one who created the one who cherishes, nourishes, sustains, provides protects and cures. The one who has control of everything is called Rob. So when I start my prayer, I say Allahu Akbar. Now you know the term Allahu Akbar. Today, the media has made it sound and sadly, some extremist groups have made it seem like just before or after perpetrating a crime. Allahu Akbar, have you heard that? In actual fact, all Muslims say Allahu Akbar hundreds of times a day. Allahu Akbar means the worshipped one is the greatest. That's what it means. The worshipped one is the greatest. And if you don't want to translate the word Allah, you can say Allah is the Greatest. So who is the worship one, I'm only
allowed to worship he who made me. So in essence, oh, you who made me You are the greatest. That's what I'm saying. When I say Allahu Akbar, no one can argue with that he who made me is the greatest.
So when do I say that? When I start my prayer five times a day, when I make my movements in my prayer, I say Allahu Akbar, what does that mean? You who made me the greatest, that's what I'm saying. I will not render an act of worship to anyone or anything besides my maker, be it a prophet, be it a saint, be it a tree, be it anyone else. My acts of worship are solely and only rendered to the one who made me and I am taught to put my head on the ground in the position known as prostration, solely for he who made me so when we get onto the ground, Can I ask one of the Muslims? What do we say when we get to the ground in the position of frustration? Can someone tell me
so Pandora, bl Allah, do you know what that means? Glory be Praise be a certain type of praise. Okay, glory be to my Rob. Rob means the Creator, glory be to he who made me and I told you, Robin is made up of three letters, it means it's around bah, bah, bah, boom, it's Arabic. It means the one who made you and the one who has absolute control of you, he gave you whatever you have from the beginning. So this is why we say nareesha cherish your sustainer provider protector cure. I'm sure you've heard that in that order. Right. So that's the term Robin. So you are saying Glory be to my Rob, who is the highest and at the moment, I'm right at the bottom.
At the moment, my head is in his lowest position for he who is the head
Who made me? So when we as Muslims get down in frustration, we're only allowed to declare the praise of he who made us no one else because I'm not allowed to risk my existence by rendering an act of worship to someone besides my maker. So that's the first pillar of Islam, La ilaha illAllah La ilaha illAllah.
What does it mean?
What does it mean? La ilaha illa Allah.
I'm sure the children who learn would know it means there is no God,
worthy of worship besides Allah, what that means is, there is none worthy of worship besides he who made me besides the worship, the worship one, like I told you earlier, so Subhana Allah, the first pillar of Islam is to declare that there is none worthy of worship, that means I will not worship anyone besides he who made me and I bear witness that Muhammad peace be upon him is the final messenger of the Almighty. That's the first pillar. So I've declared it. The second pillar is the five daily prayers, I acknowledge that I will pray in a certain way. So now you have people who say, well, in Islam, why do you have to pray in Arabic?
Why can't I pray in any language? I will explain to you and tell you look, there are two things. One is supplication. That is prayer as well. When a Christian says let's pray, generally, he clasped his hands, and he or she would then begin to say a prayer. When Muslims do that they can do it in any language. If you were to supplicate to call out to the Almighty, you can do it in any language. We're taught that even if you don't utter the words, and they're just in your mind, the Almighty knows it. In fact, he knows your problem better than you do.
I spoke a few days ago in Ghana, and as I said, that the prophet Job May peace be upon him was unique. Au alayhis salam, he was unique. Why? When he had a problem, he said, Almighty, you know, I've been afflicted, and you are most merciful. He did not say what affected him. And he didn't say what the solution was. He just said this misalnya baru, want a hammer Rahimi, that's all harm has come in my direction, and you are most merciful, which means now you know what to do. That's it. Amazing. So, when you're calling out to the Almighty, it can be any language, but the five daily prayers the word prayer is an English word that does not really translate Salah, which it actually
is, Salah means it is a set of movements, words that commence in a certain way and end in a certain way. That's Salah Why? I give you an example. Why tell you why.
If you take a look at the Quran, earlier, someone made mention of us having memorize the book cover to cover full stops and commas included. That's true. I'm one of them. And I promise you, we recite it completely from the beginning to the end. And generally very, very few minor blunders, if any, and you will be corrected immediately because there'll be so many people in the gathering that would know that you're wrong. So I tell you what, in order to preserve that book, The Almighty decided one of the ways was that everyone who prays the five daily prayers needs to make an effort to learn the Word of God in the language it was revealed in so that it remains intact. So when you become a
Muslim, you have to spend a little bit of time learning in Arabic, the small chapters of the Quran, in order that it's not lost. So you How many of you here know
three chapters of the Quran, minimum, and Fatiha.
At least last the whole world I had. And alcocer in Atlanta, Kolkata, if you know these three chapters of my heart, put up your hand very high.
Almost everyone, thank you. But when I asked how many speak Arabic, just a few put up their hands. So do you see what has happened? If I were to read the Word of God and make a mistake in it, everyone here would be able to correct me so well done, you contributed towards the preservation of the Word of God by memorizing at least a small portion in the Arabic language. Wow.
Wow.
Every one of us, that was our duty, it's not difficult. It's very easy. It takes you a day. So now you need to make an effort to understand a little bit I tell you, if you take a look at the Bible, and you take a look at the Torah or the 10 mode, and you ask the people, where is the original manuscript for example, it's just an example. There will be a discrepancy among the Christians among the Jews as to where exactly or what exactly is the original manuscript Aramaic Hebrew at
cetera. I don't wish to get into that debate. All I'm saying is when it comes to the Koran, we don't have that debate. Because you go to China, I cannot speak Chinese. I cannot besides Niihau. I cannot say anything else, right?
So I cannot communicate. But if I were to stand in prayer, and they were Chinese men behind me, and I were to say Alhamdulillah Hara bill Allah moon, what will you say?
Did you hear that everyone says al amin, which means you're wrong.
How did you know that you knew it, because well done, you've contributed towards the preservation of this book in its original form. So that's one of the reasons why the five daily prayers has to be in the Arabic language. But when it comes to supplication, when it comes to the prayer before you eat, after you eat, etc, when you want to call out to the almighty for anything, trust me, you can speak in a dialect that is very, very Caribbean. And today, I learned that even it's not enough to say Caribbean every island has a different dialect. Is that true? Wow. I don't know. I don't know to be honest with you. At least I can understand what you guys say. I come from Zimbabwe. You can hear my
accent, right? It's I hope it's clear.
So So panda lights, amazing how we have these accents. You can call out to the Almighty, He understands your Grenadian accent, he understands it well. Even if you make up some lingo of your own, he knows it. You can talk to him in whatever language you want. But the five daily prayers has to be in English. Another question people ask. Now let me get to the Pillars of Islam. I spoke about the second one, that's prayer. The third one is
arms to the poor. When I say arms, I mean like a charity. So if you have wealth, you're a wealthy person, you have to give to those who are poor, you have to reach out to them. It does not belong to you, it belongs to the Almighty. This is why when the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him, sent one of his companions known as magne Jebel to a place known as Yemen, he told him, You will meet a group of Christians call them towards God. Now this is telling him that you know what, you will propagate your faith. And I think it's the right it's a human right to propagate, to talk to say what you believe to interact, to talk and to listen to others, they have the right just like you have the
right Remember that? If I have the right to say, guys, you know what, I believe that Allah is one I believe Mohammed was the messenger May peace be upon him, I believe Jesus was a messenger May peace be upon it, you have the right to say that someone else has a right to say, you know what, dude, I disagree with you, well, they have the right to that you cannot say what? Disagree with me. You cannot do that they have an equal, right. And human beings just like you remember that. So when he sent a lot of new Java to him, and he told him, call them towards the Almighty, call them towards and then he mentioned the pillars. And he says, to me, or near him, what what do alpha tourists do
for him when it came to the charity, he said, teach them that there they have there is a duty they have regarding their wealth, from the wealthy, it should be given to the poor. So that's one of the pillars of Islam. You have to be charitable, you have to learn to give. Okay, another pillar of Islam is fasting, fasting during the month of Ramadan, I'm sure the non Muslims across the globe would know come Ramadan.
People who are not even proper Muslims become proper for a little while, right? A guy who drinks and does everything. He says, Hey, don't do that. And Ramadan. Just wait, when we see the new movement, come back to the club. You know, that's not how it should be. But that's what they're doing. That's what's happening. It shouldn't be the case. Ramadan is a month to improve yourself to become more conscious of others. And this is why people become charitable in Ramadan, you've stayed away from food and drink from dawn to dusk, and guess what has happened. You've become compassionate, you start thinking of those who don't have the food at all, your health improves, you become conscious
of the Almighty. If I could stay away from legitimate food that there was nothing wrong with then I can surely stay away from the few things that the Almighty is prohibited if I could stay away from sexual desires. And by the way, people don't know that during daylight hours of Ramadan, you're not allowed to be intimate with your spouse. It's not just about food and drink. It's also about intercourse, about sexual relationships. So during daylight hours, you don't eat, you don't drink and you don't have sexual relations. That's what it is. Why, if I can stay away for 12 hours from my own spouse for 30 whole days, then definitely I will be having enough control to stay away from that
which is totally an abomination, or that which is adulterous, or fornication because I appreciate that the Almighty is bestowed upon me something really great. So if you can control yourself, it's all about restraint. If you can control yourself for such a long period of time from that which is legitimate lawful, then surely when you see something
unlawful, it's going to be so easy for you to just walk away. Wow. You see the logic behind it one of the reasons. So that's the fourth pillar. The last pillar of Islam is the pilgrimage the Hodge, we've got to go back because it's an Abrahamic faith, just like the Jews and the Christians Abrahamic religions, we have to go back to the roots. And we have to appreciate the sacrifice of the Prophet Abraham.
So we go for the Hajj, to Mecca. And we reenact what happened to the Prophet Abraham in a nutshell.
Those are the five pillars of Islam.
Now, there is something known as the six pillars of faith, the six pillars of faith, you see,
a Muslim is a person who has these five pillars, you're a Muslim, believe in these, you're a Muslim.
But a min min is one who believes in his heart certain things. So I can declare with my tongue something, but maybe I don't necessarily have it in my heart, what you declare people can see what you believe people cannot see.
So we are taught that there are two aspects.
One of them is Islam. If I'm giving charity, if I'm staying away from food, if I'm praying, people can see all of these things. But you need to believe, what is the belief, we believe that the belief structure of Islam was the same structure from the time of Adam, coming down to Moses and Aaron, and all the prophets that came? Jesus, everyone brought exactly the same set of belief in belief, all the face or one? That's what we say. So this is why when someone says, When did Islam start? People say, Oh, that was the Prophet Mohammed came to the Arabian Peninsula in the year 570. In all honesty, Islam started right at the beginning with Adam alayhis. Salam, people say, but he wasn't a
Muslim. No, you don't understand. He submitted to God Almighty. So he's known as a Muslim, because the six pillars of faith were always intact. From the beginning, they never changed. You know, when you have rules of jurisprudence, they differ between the Jews, the Christians and the Muslims. So the Jews may not be allowed to eat the hind quarter of an animal, for example, they may not be allowed to have a fat, they may not be allowed to do work on a Saturday or not on the Sabbath and so on. That's jurisprudence. That was the law, the Mosaic Law, as time passed, the Christians have a different set of it, the Muslims have a different set of it. Those laws are not as important as the
laws of belief.
When you believe so what do you believe? six elements and this is the common factor between all the faiths, okay? It is supposed to be?
Number one, I believe that God exists. He's one, I believe in one God, right. And I believe in the messenger, the messenger, meaning whoever was the messenger at the time, whether it was Adam, whether it was Jesus, if I lived at the time of Jesus, I would have had to declare that he is the messenger I follow totally. If I lived at the time of Abraham, the same thing would apply regarding Abraham, may peace be upon him. I am living at the time of Muhammad peace be upon him. So I believe he was the messenger that does not negate what the others brought. Okay, so you believe in one God, that's it. Number one, first pillar of belief. The second one, I believe there are angels. These
angels have been given tasks by the Almighty, and they do not disobeyed. One of them is the Archangel Gabriel, and there are others responsible for different things. So believe in the angels, all of them thought that their angels from Adam going all the way down. Jews and Christians will share this melodica Cujo, I believe that their heavenly box the Almighty sent down scriptures, everyone believes that I have to believe that I have to believe in the Bible, the Torah, and the Talmud, the Quran, the Psalms of David, I may not agree with what is present today, but in essence, I agree these books are heavenly, they have come down to the profits that they will reveal to and I
have to acknowledge that at least. So the books melodica Koto, then Russell, I believe that they have been profits from the beginning coming all the way down, Adam, Noah, you say the names all of them, we believe in them, we have to revere respect every one of them. When you hear the name of any one of them, you are not allowed to just say the name without saying after it, peace be upon him or upon them. So if I say Jesus, I have to say alayhis salam, it means May peace be upon him. If I say Moses, may peace be upon him. I'm not allowed to insult any one of them, no matter who they are. Moses, Jesus, Aaron, David Solomon, lot, no matter who they were. I'm not allowed to insult them.
Never I have to say May peace be upon them. So that's the fourth pillar of belief. Okay. Allah melodica kootu Russell
I believe in the last day, I believe that there is a day of judgment, I believe that there will come a day when I will be answerable for everything I have done.
Don't you agree all faiths have a lot of this in common?
You believe in accountability, there's going to be a judgment day beyond that there is heaven and hell, there might be a big dispute as to who's going to go to heaven and who's not going to go to heaven, etc. Do you know what let the almighty judge the reason is he's kept a day known as
right at the beginning, he says Maliki a woman, D. We all know this verse of my heart because it's in the opening verses of the Quran, Owner of the Day of Judgment.
The problem with us is we have little days of judgment every other day. And we are judging this one and that one, that when we become gods on our own, and we say, this guy's going into the fire, you know, the last time I heard that I told about the brother, you can only know that if you're there.
So he was quiet. He was quiet. It reminds me of a day when there was an uncle who was telling me, you know, in the nightclub, I saw this and I saw that and I said, But Uncle, what were you doing there?
It was Muslims. Obviously. It's, we are quite restricted when it comes to
drinking alcohol and, you know, the the nightlife is extremely restricted. We are taught as Muslims that if you have nothing better to do, if you have nothing better to do after that night prayer, go to bed.
That's what we are taught.
make babies Wow, Mashallah. Okay.
Subhana Allah, what is meant here is, if you were to if you were to look at sinful behavior in all faiths, I'm talking about the Semitic face. A lot of sin happens at night. Remember that? So Muslims are taught, get to bed, save yourself, the drugs, and the alcohol and everything else, and the unwanted pregnancies and whatever else there is just go to bed. So Pamela,
I see some of the young people are just looking at me if I said something wrong, guys.
Okay, so we we are accountable for what we say what we do everything there is a heaven and the hell and I was telling you that we should allow, we should understand that the Almighty is the judge, He will judge he knows best. He has issued warnings. The Bible has those warnings, the Quran has the warnings. The Torah has those warnings to say those who are evil, they will face the consequences of their deeds.
It doesn't mean that there is a merciful Lord, so we are not allowed to issue a warning from him. And it doesn't make us bad if we say there is a warning upon those who have who do commit evil acts, etc. So that's the warning of the Almighty. What he does as a result is up to him. He says I can forgive you. He is merciful. We do believe it. It's like your dad sets out rules and regulations. When you perpetrate one of those crimes that are hung on the fridge. For example, at your house, your dad might say don't do that again. And he you might get away with it. Because he loves you. It's very possible or he might decide to perhaps put you in the naughty corner for a little while,
you know, that's your little help. For example, I know my kids hate the naughty corner, they do anything to get out of it.
So the last pillar the sixth pillar is something known as cuddle. cuddle means decree destiny.
What that means is we believe we have to believe in our hearts, that good and bad fate comes from the Almighty and I will accept it as it is. So if you are diagnosed cancer, to save yourself from depression, may the almighty grant you que se amin
to save yourself from depression, you need to believe Look, I tried my best. This is from the Almighty, there is nothing much I can do. Now we're going to do whatever I can. But that's one of those things, you cannot become depressed. Look at the end of the day, we all have to go we have to die whether you're healthy or not. You have to go people go when they're healthy. If someone passes away from your family members, they have to pass away one day your spouse is going to die or you're going to pre pre deceased you're going to die before them or you might die together it has to happen one day. So to prepare yourself for these things, the Almighty has ordained upon us to believe that
good and bad faith comes from the Almighty.
Something really nice has happened. Oh, that's from the Almighty. Now, some people mix this up by saying you know my
sustenance is written, sustenance, meaning my wealth. What I'm going to get materialistic items is written it's decreed by the Almighty, that part of the statement is correct. It is decreed. So then they say well, I'm going to sit at home and wait
It in that case it was written that you are going to be foolish. So nothing's going to come in your direction. Simple, you know, the the holly former peace be upon him or should I say all the allow and maybe Almighty be pleased on him? It is reported that once they brought a thief to him
and that brings me to something interesting. I'm sure you must have heard of Sharia, okay? And people say, Oh, that's barbaric man, you just chop people's hands. Trust me, that's not what it is. Sharia is a penal code is a penal code whereby it works in a unique way, in a unique way, if someone steals you don't just chop their hand off as people claim.
The judge would issue a punishment that is deserving. But the limit known as a dude had had means the extent the maximum sentence could be the amputation of a limb, it could be that's the Sherry. So it depends who stole what they stole, where they stole from, what was the condition of their mind? What was the person whom they stole from? Is there any form of doubt in the Sharia, when a limit is exercised? It can only be exercised after there is no room for doubt.
No room, you know, if you go to the Roman Dutch laws, for example, the courts, they will say beyond reasonable doubt, I'm sure you've heard that statement before beyond reasonable doubt. beyond reasonable doubt, yes, you can punish someone you are allowed, even in Islam, you can actually send them to jail, you can actually do it depends what the judge decides, but you cannot amputate a limb.
Based on beyond reasonable doubt know, the fact that there is a slight doubt the limit saved, the life is saved. So it's more of a deterrent than anything else. That's what it is. It's more of a deterrent than anything else. So that was just a little clarification. But going back to the time of the holiday, are we speaking here about destiny and what's written decreed.
There was this man who they brought forth in front of the belief, and he had stolen and he was supposed to be punished. But he was clever.
So he says, You're punishing me but don't you believe in destiny? He says, Yes, we believe in destiny. Well, if you believe in destiny, it was predestined that I was supposed to steal. So how can you punish me?
Now that's a legitimate argument, isn't it? So the Caliph Omar says, Well, I tell you what, it was predestined that we were going to punish you as well.
There goes, the reason I raised this is because we cannot use the issue of predestiny. To become lazy. We have to do our best. And then we understand the rest. Surrender to it. Some people work very hard, they only earn $10. At the end of the day, some people work for two hours, and they earn a million dollars. Some people make one phone call, and they earn $10 million. Oh, that is different. That is all different. But there is an effort required what the almighty decides to give you. That is something else. So my brothers and sisters, I've been speaking for one hour,
three minutes, and 16 seconds.
Like I said, you know, we're speaking about Islam. And I have decided to speak about it from this angle. I've tried to bring in mainly the issue of not just coexistence, not just tolerance, but respect of one another.
There is a difference between tolerating and respecting.
We should be respecting one another. As human beings, you have rights, just like the others have rights. And you need to fulfill these rights. That's the core message. When you're kind, the Almighty will give you a reward. When you reach out to people, you will see the positive effects of that reaching out in your life. And
in the Hereafter,
you will see the positive effect of the goodness that you do in the lives of your children as well.
The torch that you pass on needs to be the torch of goodness. And therefore, protect yourselves from ideologies that preach otherwise. Remember, we are here as human beings for a long, long time, and we are here as Muslims for a long time. We have coexisted for years we have respected each other for decades for centuries. So remember to preserve this, remember to understand it if someone is to propagate. That is a different issue. You propagating, you are teaching you are preaching. Don't let that
lead to hatred. Don't let that lead to you becoming violent. Don't let that lead to you becoming intolerant? Not at all. So I hope the few words I've said have enlightened the Muslims in our crowd and the non Muslims as well. And once again, I say I really thank you for giving me the time here for making the effort to come and listen to what I had to say. I'm sure you would agree it's a message of peace and goodness, I'm sure you would agree. It's a message that is palatable and acceptable to those who have a sound mind. And I'm sure you would understand that our mission is to travel the globe to explain exactly what I've done today to tell people live together with each
other, learn to respect each other, learn to fulfill each other's rights and inshallah we will all contribute not just towards a better Grenada, but inshallah A Better Globe aku cola masala Allahu wa salam ala nabina Muhammad wa salam aleikum wa rahmatullah wa barakato. Peace be upon every one of you once again, Zack Aloha.