Muiz Bukhary – The Red Heifer
AI: Summary ©
The importance of the Red Heeler in Islam is discussed, including its deowed meaning and associated tokenizing of promises. The speakers emphasize the importance of fulfilling divine commands, such as the belief that the Red Heater is a ritual, and the associated health conditions required for perfect heder. The speakers stress the importance of preparing oneself, strengthening their values, and avoiding false accusations of victory. They also emphasize the need to educate oneself, strengthen their values, and prioritize small deeds in order to attain the final results.
AI: Summary ©
We begin by praising Allah
the lord of all worlds, the exalted, the
majestic.
And we ask him to send his choices
to blessings and salutations
upon the final messenger,
our beloved prophet Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi
Wa Salam, his family members,
his companions
and every single individual
who embraces the prophetic teachings with akhlas,
with sincerity
until the end of time.
My dear respected elders, brothers and sisters in
Islam,
I begin by reminding myself and then all
of you all gathered here for salatuljumma'ah
to adopt a life of taqwa.
And that is to instill the consciousness of
your maker into every single facet of your
lives.
And all believers,
you must do this if you wish to
attain victory,
if you wish to attain success
in this world as well as the next.
May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala make us all
from the people of Taqwa, and may he
make us from the victorious and successful ones.
Aave
Amin.
The topic for my sermon today
is the red heifer.
And the objective
of my sermon today
insha'allah, is to educate and enlighten.
And I must state clearly
that it is devoid of any intent
to promote
anti semitism.
So we start off by
trying to understand
what is a heifer
in the first place.
Heifers
are female cows
that have not yet given birth to a
calf.
Now where does the concept
of the heifer
or rather the red heifer originate?
It originates
from the times of Musa alaihis salatu was
salam.
Now, is the heifer
mentioned in the noble Quran?
Yes.
In fact,
the longest chapter in the noble Quran, the
longest
surah in the noble Quran, Suratul Baqarah
is named after the hefa.
And in that chapter, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
mentions
that he orders the Benu Israel,
the children of Israel
to sacrifice
a heifer, to sacrifice
a cow.
However,
we learn in that story that they keep
on asking. They kept on asking
undue questions.
They kept on asking for specific signs
and made it difficult upon themselves
to find such a sacrificial
animal.
Allah mentions in the noble Quran.
And remember,
when Musa Alaihi wa Salam said to his
people,
indeed Allah commands you to slaughter a cow.
Then they ask Musa alaihis salatu wasalam. Do
you
take us in ridicule?
In other words, are you making fun of
us or Moses?
Musa alaihis salatu sallam responds.
He responds,
I seek refuge
in Allah
from being amongst those who are ignorant.
And then the ayah goes on.
And then they say, call upon your lord,
oh Moses,
and
ask him to make it clear as to
what it is.
And then the Musa alaihis salatu wa salam,
he says that Allah says, it is a
cow
which is neither old
nor
a virgin,
but in between the 2. So do as
you are commanded.
They keep on asking questions
and ayah after ayah, it becomes more and
more complicated
for them
to find this cow. So the Quran tells
us the Quran account tells us that Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala commanded the
children of Israel to sacrifice a cow. This
command of Allah was met with hesitation.
It was met with a series of questions
seeking further clarification,
and
it serves as a lesson to us with
regards to obedience.
It serves as a lesson on obedience,
the importance of fulfilling divine commands without undue
questioning,
and the virtues
of faith and trust in Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala's wisdom.
Now, it's very important to distinguish
the Islamic context
from the Jewish
belief
surrounding the red heifer.
Now that I mentioned what we as Muslims
have with regards to the heifer
and as to whether the Quran mentions it.
This is about it. The Quran mentions the
heifer in this context at the time of
Musa alaihis salatu wa sallam. This story.
But now the the Jews,
they have a belief with regards to the
red heifer.
They believe that the red heifer or the
red cow
is a ritual,
a sacrifice
whose ashes are used for the ritual purification
of whoever had become ritually impure
in a certain way.
And one of the ways is due to
the contact
with a dead person, with a corpse.
If one of them were to come into
contact with a dead person and this happens,
a loved one passes away, a family member
passes away, you attend the the the funeral,
you participate in the burial process, you touch
a dead person, you hug a dead person,
you kiss a dead person when bidding farewell
to them.
Then now what happens? They go into the
state of ritual impurity.
And now to become pure,
there is a process.
They hold the belief
that the way to become pure is through
the sacrifice
of a red heifer.
And by extension, not only the people who
touch a corpse becomes impure, even the people
who touch the people who have touched a
corpse become impure.
So their belief is they all have to
undergo this ritual, this process to become pure
to become pure. And this purification process
is
important, is paramount for them
even to participate
in their temple services
and even certain religious activities.
So as you can see, the contexts and
the interpretations
are contrastingly
different. In Islam,
the story of the heifer emphasizes submission to
the will of Allah and the avoidance of
unnecessary questioning of the divine commands of Allah.
But today amongst the Jews,
the red heifer is part of a complex
purification
ritual,
which has implications
for their temple worship,
and also
the aspiration
that they have to rebuild
the temple.
Now, let's talk about this ritual and what
are some of the signs for the heifer.
Now, before we go into this, I want
you all to understand something.
See, for us as Muslims,
we have
noble and sacred sites.
For example, if you take,
Umrah during Ramadan, you will be reading that
record numbers
in the millions.
Last year Hajj record numbers in the millions.
So, you see millions and millions of Muslims
flocking to Makkah,
flocking to Madinah.
But now if you take,
for example, the veiling wall
for the Jews,
now that sight of theirs,
you will see comparatively
low numbers
very low numbers attending or going to those
sites.
Now, the reason the underlying reason here is
many of the Jews
believe that they are ritually impure
that they cannot go to those sites.
Why? Because they are ritually impure.
And for them to become pure,
the red heifer is crucial. The red cow
is crucial.
This sacrifice has to take place,
and then
they go through that process and come out
the other side
pure.
Now, you might be thinking also what is
so complicated about this red cow?
The red cow has to fulfill
certain conditions.
In terms of conditions, number 1, it must
be perfect in its red color.
Even one hair
or two hairs of another color will disqualify
the animal. Even the hooves of the animal
must be red, the red heifer.
It must
be 3 or 4 years old.
It must be free of any kind of
internal
or external blemish or defect,
it must not have been used for any
type of labor, it cannot
you know, you you cannot use it for
any type of labor.
It should have never been yoked. No collar
should have been put on the animal. So
you have all these very stringent conditions
that the animal must meet.
And then
once the animal meets all these conditions,
a priest would slaughter the animal outside the
camp. The blood is sprinkled
in a certain direction, and then the entire
heifer, the entire cow is to be burned
including its skin, flesh, blood, bones, dung, everything,
and there are other things that they would
put with it, cedar wood and all these
things,
and
the resulting ashes,
they would collect it, mix it with water
to create the purification mixture,
and then
the individuals who are impure will go through
the purification
process.
So, my dear brothers in Islam,
you have to understand how seriously they take
it.
The Jews have been searching eagerly
so much to the extent that they even
have an actual organization
that is tasked with finding the red heifer,
so that they can do this ritual and
become pure as per their beliefs. So over
the decades,
there are reports that this organization has been
trying to identify perfect candidates as the red
heifer.
In 1997,
there are reports, and in 2002 that they
found 2 candidates, 2 cows, but then they
were later deemed as unsuitable.
And this organization
has even been raising funds
to
use modern technology
to genetically produce a red heifer. In 2018,
this organization
announced
that a red heifer candidate was born
saying that this candidate is currently viable
and will be examined in due time to
see whether it possesses the conditions or the
or the or the qualities
for it to be the perfect heifer.
According to certain reports, my dear brothers in
Islam, the perfect cow, the perfect red cow,
the perfect heifer has not been seen for
2000 years.
Now, you have to understand the implications.
There are Jewish activists
alongside certain Christian activists
who believe
that along with the emerging
of the perfect red cow
and then its sacrifice
that will lead to the construction
of the 3rd temple.
And all of this will prompt
the coming
of the Masih.
So now to initiate this and to prompt
this, they have decided to breed their own.
2000 years, a perfect red cow was not
found.
And now, there are reports that in 2022,
5
young cows
with glossy
reddish hides
arrived in Israel
from a Texas ranch
with much fanfare.
You can Google it. It's all over the
Internet,
and you can find them now in an
archaeological
park blooming with flowering bushes
covered by a high steel pen.
And
all of these animals were under a year
old,
which means they have turned 3
and are ready for sacrifice from the year
2024
onwards.
So why has the red huff heifer become
a a a top a hot topic all
of a sudden? So there are some news
reports that suggest that this organization
has announced that the red cows are ready,
and they will either be sacrificed
between certain dates. They have some important holidays
that are coming up.
One holiday,
Passover, which will continue from the 22nd April
to the 30th April 2024,
and the other holiday, from the 11th June
to the 13th June 2024.
And if the animals are ready, they might
want to sacrifice them,
and then going to their belief,
according to their belief and going into it,
across the annals of time,
9 red cows have been sacrificed historically,
and the 10th one
will prompt the world will allow the world
to enter into
the stages of Al Masih.
So my dear brothers in Islam, as Muslims,
do we need to worry about this?
Theologically
speaking,
from our books, from the scriptures, from the
Quran and the sunnah of Muhammad sallallahu alaihi
wa sallam, we need not be worried as
there is no mention of such red heifer
sacrifice
near the end of times.
But if you were to look at it
from a practical angle,
and bearing in mind,
the situation
in Palestine
for the last
6 to 7 months,
this event
this event
can result in a very volatile
situation taking place in those lands
because one can only imagine
what numbers it would pull,
what events that the
this sacrifice would lead to because their belief
is the sacrifice leads to the building of
the next temple,
and that would lead to the coming of
Al Masih.
So one event leads to the other. So
it could result in a lot of volatility.
It could result
in a lot
of problems, in a lot of conflict. So
as Muslims, we need to look at it
from a practical angle.
And now the question arises, what should we
as Muslims do?
Number 1,
don't get carried away by ignorance.
I know it's a hot topic online
and there are so many people with questions.
Okay. Does Islam talk about the red heifers?
Is it from the Ashrat Usa?
Is it from the signs of the day
of Dayama?
There's no mention.
To our knowledge, there's no mention of the
red heifers in terms of
in terms of the signs of the day
of But
they believe in it.
And it could lead to a lot of
volatility,
a lot of
instability
in the in the
places in Palestine and wazah where there is
already so much of volatility. SubhanAllah.
Children are being carpet bombed. Children are being
massacred.
Numbers are just through the roof. SubhanAllah.
So what is our responsibility as muslims especially
during the month of Ramadan?
Look at this month my dear brothers in
Islam. We have come to the last stretch.
The last stretch.
Just think of it.
Was it not like the first sermon for
Ramadan took place
Or the sermons prior to Ramadan where the
imams were talking about welcoming the month of
Ramadan?
And here we are, last 10. SubhanAllah.
Think about the fast passage of time. Think
about the world. Look at the world around
you. We're living in dark times. I don't
mean to sound cynical but we have to
be realistic.
Dark times,
murder, atrocities,
bloodshed,
crimes, oppression,
injustice,
order of the day.
So as muslims, as believers, what are we
supposed to do? My dear brothers and sisters
in Islam,
we must prepare ourselves.
We must educate
ourselves.
The messenger of allah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam
he tells us the one of the signs
of the coming of the jail
is when
he will not be spoken about from the
pulpits.
The the the khatibs. They will not talk
about dajal.
The mention of the jal will die down.
And at a time like that, he will
come.
And people will be ignorant about the jal.
He will come with signs and subhanAllah. He's
the biggest fitna as per the words of
the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam.
And today, my dear brothers in in Islam,
it doesn't take too much
for us to cave in. 1 video on
TikTok,
1 video on YouTube and we are questioning
our faith.
So,
you know, you don't sometimes, you think you
might not need the fitna of the jal
to slip just one video is making you
slip.
One false information is making us slip. Why?
Because we don't have knowledge. We must educate
ourselves. We must learn
what is Islam telling us about the last
times. What are the hadith with regards to
this individual with regards to signs of the
day of the day of the day of
the so that we can identify
It is not just about abstaining from food
and drink,
it is a spiritual boot camp where you
educate yourself, you strengthen your iman,
you increase your knowledge, you go forward with
light, you dispel the darkness of ignorance.
So, let us use this month of Ramadan
as a stepping stone to educate ourselves,
to mend our ways,
to harness the power of dua,
to make dua for our brethren in Palestine.
Our brothers and sisters in Palestine in those
lands to make dua for Mas'idul Aqsa
making dua for the Ummah of Muhammad sallallahu
alaihi wa sallam.
So it all depends on, you know, it
can spiral in any direction. So, we must
pray for peace. We
must pray
for the easing of our affairs.
So let us use this month of Ramadan
to prepare ourselves
for the end of times, my dear brothers
in Islam.
For the end of times. Signs are manifesting
themselves left, right, and center. The fast passage
of time is a major sign,
Not from the when I say major sign,
I don't mean from the major sign to
the day of the day of the day
of the day of the day of the
day of the day of the day of
the day of the day of the day
of the day of the day of the
day of the day of the day of
the day of the day of the day
of the day of the day of the
day of the day of the day of
the day of the day of the day
of the day of the day.
Bloodshed taking place is from the signs. The
prophet salallahu alaihi wa sallam has reported said
will take place.
Meaning killing
to the extent that the one who is
killing will not know why he or she
is killing. The ones who are being killed
will not know why they are being killed,
and are we not seeing it happening?
Lies, falsehood will become the order of the
day. Is that not the case today?
All these minor signs one after the other
is taking place, pushing us
rapidly
in a very fast pace
towards the major signs.
The major signs, subhanAllah, most of us are
aware.
You have a Dajjal, you have Yajjal and
Madjoj, Gog and Magog.
You have major earthquakes that will take place
1 in the east, 1 in the west,
1 in the lands of Arabia.
You have a dukhan, a smog, a smoke
that will fill the planet.
You have a daba, a beast that will
emerge.
You have the sun rising from the west,
then you have a fire that will emerge
from the lands of Yemen.
So these are all major
catastrophic signs.
So all believers, all my congregation,
prepare yourselves.
Do not be
distracted
by this dunya
and the rat race of this dunya.
Yes. We make dua
We want goodness in this world as well
as the next for sure.
But don't prioritize
dunya.
Yes. Living a good life is fine,
but don't prioritize this worldly life. Your priority
must be the world of the next, the
life of the next, which is our permanent
and eternal abode.
So I hope this sermon served
as a catalyst to put our priorities straight
and to also educate us about what's happening
in today's world. May Allah
bless us to make the most out of
the remaining days of this blessed month,
to make the most out of this blessed
guest before this blessed guest slips away from
our fingers like sand. May Allah
bless each and every one of us to
attain.
Ameen. The night of power, the night of
decree which is better than a 1000 months.
May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala answer our duas
during these last 10 nights of Ramadan.
May he may help us to do as
many good deeds as possible during the last
10 nights of Ramadan. May he bless each
and every one of us
to attain more Ramadan in the future and
to make the most out of those Ramadan.
Amin. And just as how he united us
here in this Masjid, may he unite us
in the beautiful
and lofty gardens of Jannah in the companionship
of our beloved prophet Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi wa
Salam.
Amin Amin