Munir Ahmed – Stand for justice
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AI: Transcript ©
Are you
Rama?
Mention about moving.
Can we please stand up and make space
for the people behind this?
Yeah. Please stand up everybody and make the
room for the people making all the
All praise is due to Allah.
We praise
Allah
We thank him. We seek his forgiveness, guidance
and his mercy.
We seek refuge in Allah
from our bad deeds as we seek his
refuge and protection from the bad insiders.
Know that one who is guided by Allah,
they are truly guided.
1 who is left to go astray will
not find a guide or a protector or
a helper after that. And I bear witness
that there is no God but Allah, glory
be to him. He has no partners.
And I bear witness that Muhammad,
peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
is his slave and messenger.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says in the Quran,
oh, you who believe,
be those who stand up for justice
for justice
for Allah
as witnesses before Allah.
Stand up for justice of witnesses for Allah.
Whether it be against you,
whether it be against you,
standing for justice.
Actually
the whole idea of
the day of accounting is because we want
justice on the day, isn't it brothers and
sisters?
And we believe
Allah
says He created the heavens and the earth
and all that is between them.
In truth,
in justice
and Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala when He sends
His messengers and message
as Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says,
indeed we sent down our messengers with clear
signs and clear guidance
and we sent down with them
the book, the scripture, the guidance and the
balance.
Why?
In order that human beings could stand firmly
in their behavior, in their life with one
another with justice.
That's the purpose.
Justice
is the core
and the very purpose and reason. It is
with justice out of justice
that we must believe in Allah. It is
out of justice that we must be grateful
to Allah. It is out of justice
that we must live by justice in order
to gain justice
and His mercy and rahma on Yomul Qayama
and Yomul Hissab
And so Allah
here takes to to takes us to a
level of justice, which Islam and submission to
Allah,
which should come from Muslims.
They should be the forerunners of justice.
Sadly,
this justice many people think is to do
with the courts where you stand up as
a witness for justice only. This ayah is
not talking about just the the courts. He's
talking about in your everyday life. If it
be against you even,
and that's not easy, is it? Yeah. If
it be against you
and in this,
this is common amongst us. We are prejudiced
and biased. People don't want to look at
themselves
as to what role I've played in this
situation.
Isn't that right? And one of the big
problems in if it be against yourself is
nobody wants to take any part of the
blame. All the blame in this situation that
I'm facing is all on the other party.
I am the victim.
That does happen, but it's rarely the case,
isn't it, brothers and
sisters? Yeah. For us to recognize that I
have a part in this, if it be
against you means, yes, actually, I am wrong
in this,
dear brother and sister
or anyone else
I have done wrong
I accept that it wasn't you.
How often do people say that?
I rarely hear it.
Yeah. So look what Quran is teaching.
If it even if it be against you,
stand for justice.
Stand for justice.
And part of standing for justice
and I'll come to some of the other
pointers,
is that standing for justice
means
to speak out
where it is required for you to speak
out and say the truth,
not to hide it.
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
says,
Whoever hides it, the witness,
what they know,
yeah, they do
that's gonna cause problem for somebody else because
you're hiding what you know, isn't it? It's
not just an innocent situation.
Yeah.
So whoever hides it, then they are
indeed
he or she
is
their hearts are sinful
because they think I'm not doing anything. I'm
just hiding it. So it's the hearts that's
sinful.
It's your intent that's sinful.
And that's one side hiding it. The other
is actually bearing false witness,
lying,
lying about a situation
and bearing false witness to the reality.
The prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam said,
He said, shall I not inform you of
the biggest of the big sins,
the biggest of the major sins? They said,
of course, oh messenger of Allah.
Al Sallallahu Alaihi Salam.
Alishratbilla
to do shirk with Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
to associate partners with
Allah. And to be nasty and horrible with
the parents.
Opposite of is
is
to be nasty and terrible with parents.
When he said this, he was lying back.
But then he sat up.
For jealous.
And he carried on saying it.
Yeah. We thought he wasn't gonna stop.
And is it not the biggest from the
big sins after these is to is to
make false statements and to bear false witness
from the major sins and he kept on
repeating it.
The Sahaba said.
So bearing false witness from the biggest of
the major sins.
Against you,
whether it be against you or against your
parents. Oh, how difficult is that, brothers and
sisters? And here the Muslim Ummah
is confused
because on the other hand we have
Yeah. Your lord has ordained that you worship
no one but him, and you are good
with your behavior with the parents.
So how do you now bear witness against
the if it's gonna be against the parents
to be just
to be just and especially when it comes
to mothers.
And normally, we talk about
and I'm gonna give you the other side
of the equation.
It's still,
but you have to be just which takes
priority over everything.
So some people think or the prophet said
your mother your mother your mother.
The first misunderstanding
is they think that
that
the mother is 3 times more important
than the father.
This is a misunderstanding.
This is a misunderstanding.
3 times was to stress because what was
the question
from the Sahabi?
Yeah,
who has the most right of the best
and kindest and gentlest and goodest of my
behavior, if you can say.
He said, your mother.
Because the tenderness and softness of her heart,
be especially careful.
Give her the best of your character. It
doesn't mean, say, be nasty with your father.
It doesn't mean he has 3 times a
less right. This is all misunderstanding.
Repetition, prophet
3 times doesn't have 3 times value here.
It is out of It is
repetition
to stress, especially be careful with your mom.
Yeah. Doesn't mean to say don't be careful
with your dad and you can swear at
him.
No.
But despite that,
what's the Quran saying?
Saying even if it be against your parents,
speak justice. No, mom. This is wrong what
you are doing.
No, mom. You did wrong here. I love
you, but this is wrong.
That's not against being kind to parents. That
is actually being kind to parents. No, dad.
This is wrong.
This is wrong
and I have to say it.
Yeah.
And
and SubhanAllah
to the extent
that Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says when he
mentioned
in Suratul Luqman about being
grateful to him and grateful to parents, what
do we say
after that?
And if they both, mother and father, strive
to make you associate with me anything which
you have no knowledge of, do not obey
them.
Many people think this is talking just about.
Alright. They're telling me to worship an idol,
so I say I'm not gonna obey you.
It's not.
Here, it means
they say
anything.
They strive.
Some parents say, well, you know, some mother
or father say, you know, it's not so
important and they're not praying themselves. It's not
so important to pray 5 times a day.
God just wants you to be good.
Yeah.
Do not obey them. This is shirk.
Or they say something
lie and injustice,
that's shirk. Because if you give them that
place
of something which is against Islam
clearly
not through Istihad.
You give them place and give them the
priority over Allah,
then you have done the greatest of injustice.
Allah becomes before
mom and dad. He's the one who's telling
you to be good with them. Yes.
And then so even if you be against
your parents, in this regard, brother and sisters,
So mom and dad saying, oh, it's not
necessary to fast really in the month of
Ramadan. He just wants you to be good.
Do not
obey
them.
However,
give them the best of your company
in still.
What? Follow the way of the one who
repents unto me, Allah.
Allah is the source of everything then your
return is to me Allah saying not to
your parents they're gonna come to me as
well.
And then talking about if it be against
your parents,
the issue of
where divorce happens, where there's separation,
listening to one side against the other, and
not being just.
You think, oh, it's my mom,
and she's saying all kinds of falsities against
the father. I'm getting taken into it
and taking
an unjust stand against the father or the
other way around.
The father is doing all this
wrong things, and you take an unjust stand
against the mother.
Here, it's not
that she can tell 3 many,
times as lies and injustices against her father.
You accept it, then you go against it.
No.
Don't misunderstand
things.
Yeah. So if it be against your here,
be just
be just
Check.
Don't just accept anything.
Yeah. So even if it be against your
parents,
or whether it's your relatives.
Whether it be a rich person or whether
it be a poor person. Rich person, somebody
think, oh, I'm not gonna say anything against
them
because I might get some benefit. He's a
he's a rich person. He might get some
money out of them. Yeah? Or it's a
rich person,
yeah, that might might make problems for me.
Yeah. Maybe I'm employed by them, so I
can't now speak, you know, the truth.
I'll keep it. I'll suppress it or I'll
even bear false witness because the rich person
is gonna offer me money.
See what Allah is saying? No.
Allah has more right over them.
Yeah.
Now
for the poor person, it's either
either
poor person. They're already suffering, and I'm gonna
speak the truth, and it's gonna land them
into bigger trouble.
Allah is saying I have more right over
that human being. It's my creation than you.
You be just.
That's not in your control whether it's gonna
happen or not gonna happen. Yeah?
Yeah? And the idea of this also is,
yeah, as happens in our countries, the and
the poor are the ones who get all
the punishments and the rich they're having a
great time and they're the biggest criminals. Isn't
that right brothers and sisters?
So in hadith in Buhari Muslim,
famous hadith,
a woman from the
from the high class family honorable in Madinah
had made had stolen after the of the
punishment of what the stealing person is done
to them, the hand of cutting the hand.
Her family were all worried, etcetera.
Yeah. Who's gonna do some sort of, you
know, plead on behalf of us so she
can be let off?
Okay?
And probably was very angry. I haven't got
time to go over the whole hadith. But
at the end, when he addressed the people,
the prophet
said,
he said,
He said, the people who got destroyed before
you
was because of this.
They used to apply the punishment to the
weak person in the poor miskeen as we
do in our Muslim countries nowadays.
And they used to leave the one honorable,
you know, fat and rich,
influential. They used to leave that person alone.
By him in whose hand is my soul,
Prophet
said,
So this is the justice of Islam brothers
and sisters.
Had Fatima,
the daughter of Muhammad stole her, I would
have cut her hand off.
Linking this
which says similarly to the other one in
the other after saying about the rich and
the poor
that Allah is more right. Allah
says,
do not follow your desires and emotions,
which will make you swerve from justice. Here,
doesn't mean justice. It means you swerve away
from justice
and ta adilu.
And
if you
if you
bend and twist the truth
or refuse to give witness to the truth,
Then know surely Allah
is fully aware of all that you are
doing. He's watching.
Not gonna get away with it.
Yeah. So
do not let your desires and emotions here
Allah
now says, do not let
the hatred of a people or a person
lead you or tempt you.
Lead you into not being just.
Yeah. What does that mean? That means
from the other
do not let your desires or emotions.
That means,
for example,
yeah, you love somebody and you really like
them.
Yeah. So now you want to either not
give a witness for justice
or give false witness because you're biased.
Don't let that swerve you from justice,
or you hate someone, the opposite end of
the scale.
Don't let now that make you make false
witnesses against them. I don't like them anyway,
so come on. I'll alright then. I'll be
a witness.
I'll say this about them.
Or you have,
yeah, no care about somebody, neither hatred, neither
love. And because you don't care about them,
you think, oh, well, yeah, it's alright. I'll
just.
And that also applies, brothers and sisters, when
somebody comes and asks you in regards to
a person for marriage.
And you think, well, he's my mate
or she's my mate, I'm not gonna say
anything about what what he's really like.
Yeah.
That's being unjust.
You put the people and given a completely
wrong perception
of the guy who's been considered for marriage
because he's your mate or she's your mate.
Look at the consequences of what that's going
to lead to. So be just speak the
truth.
Yeah. That's
all implied in this.
Do not let your hatred of a people
make you swerve
away
from justice,
and that's hatred because Allah knows what we're
like.
Be just that is nearest
to being mindful
being being aware beware.
Be
mindful of Allah
Beware of Allah.
While talking of justice,
it's an individual level, and I especially way
up there. It's supplying to you and me
every day, brothers and sisters, in our marriages,
with our children, between brothers and sisters, between
family, between the neighbor, at school. Yeah. In
our
between family, between the neighbor, at school. Yeah.
In our marriages, especially, and especially when divorce
takes place. Yeah. The hatred and what we
see happening and ask the solicitors what's going
on in the Muslim community, the lies that
are being brought to court from either side
just to achieve a purpose.
Asafarullah,
we have no fear of Allah.
The gloves come off. Anything goes. Yeah.
Because I hate the ex wife or the
ex husband.
Yeah. This is great injustice.
There's where's god consciousness
and
being mindful of Allah gone.
About talking about justice, of course, we see
the greatest injustice taking place not around us
here, but in first thing, right in front
of our eyes
of the clear,
an injustice that all human beings, any human
being, whether Christian, Jew,
atheist, Muslim
of any walk of life with any ounce
of morality in their heart can see
that this is
tyranny,
racism,
apartheid
state of Israel carrying out genocide and ethnic
cleansing.
Yeah. There's
no two ways of looking at it. There's
only one way.
And the one who can't see it like
that, they really need to check their heart
and morality if there's anything left on that
barometer.
Isn't that right, brothers and sisters?
People say, oh, yes.
Of course, there's injustices taking place in many
parts of the world meted out to Muslim
and non Muslim.
And we stand against those
for all human beings, brothers and sisters.
But people say, what about Myanmar?
What about Sudan? What's going on? At least
the difference there is the Western powers
have said a little bit about condemning it.
They are not providing 1,000,000,000 and 1,000,000,000 of
pounds worth of support and weaponry
to carry on
blowing children, men, women
to bits
in their 1,000. And we don't know how
many thousands are under the rubble, do we?
Because who's gonna dig it up?
Yeah. That's the blatant difference that's going on
here while we make and try and support
the other places and don't forget them just
because they're not in the media. But this
blatant justice,
injustice that's going on
needs
to be reacted where we've got ability.
So justice requires and prophet
said in hadith in Muslim,
yesterday
Whoever sees
that's
an injustice
going on,
then let him or her, they should change
it with their hand.
If they are unable to do so, then
with their tongue. If they are unable to
do so, then with their heart, and that
is the weakest of faith. Weakest of faith,
many people misunderstood
this.
Some excited young people especially
misunderstood this and thought, oh, I've only got
weak faith because I'm not I'm only feeling
it in the heart.
Yeah. I need to have stronger faith, so
I need to go and take it matters
into my own hands. That's not the meaning.
As Imam Nawawi says, the meaning here is
that the least you can do is feel
if you have no ability to do anything
else because of your situation.
The least you can do is feel negativity
towards the injustice in your heart. Because if
you're not doing that, there's nothing much left
after that.
That's the warning, which is clarified in another
hadith in Sahih Muslim in which the prophet
mentioned about people coming in the future
who
They will say things,
yeah, and not do as they say, like
hypocrisy of character. And they will do not
the what they've been ordered by Allah, his
messenger to do.
Yeah.
Whoever strives and, of course, now people gonna
say, oh, he's using jihad.
They have a problem with the word intifah
that would just means uprising. You can have
that anywhere in the world from Muslim on
non Muslim.
What they want to make it sound uglier
than it actually. But even that's not a
a chronic term or Islamic term. Jihad is
a chronic term. We will never deter
and leave it to one side because we're
scared of using the word. No. We will
not. We recite it in the Quran brothers
and sisters and we will carry on because
we know the meaning.
Allah chose it for us. Whoever strives and
struggles against such people with their hands, meaning
when they have the link it with the
other hadith, they have ability,
then that person's a believer. Whoever
speaks against them or writes against them, Bili
San, that is a believer. Whoever
is against them in their hearts because they
have no other ability
because of the oppression,
then that person's a believer.
After that, meaning if you don't even feel
that in the heart,
after that, there is not even
mustard seized degree of iman left in the
heart.
That's the meaning.
And talking about
standing,
against,
that kind of injustice, I have to laud
and applaud
and say I'm amazed
by the students
in America, in UK
and other places in the west of their
campuses and the professors and the teachers.
They are a great, great example,
yeah, of bravery, of courage, and justice.
People from all backgrounds.
And I am especially
have to say our young brothers and sisters
and older ones as well who are Jewish
of faith.
Despite
the fear of being called traitors
and they're being called anti Semitic. Can you
believe it? You
know, we have a situation.
Yeah. As Muslims,
if a Muslim state is
doing that kind of tyranny, would we speak
out? We already do.
Why is it there's only one country
when you speak about its tyranny,
yeah, and its
apartheid and its racism ethic cleansing, it becomes
anti semitic.
This is a game. Don't be fooled by
it. Yeah.
This is not an attack on Judaism because
Zionism
is not Judaism.
Israel is not finding
following Judaism.
It is a racist state and apartheid state.
So I especially applaud
those who are at the forefront
from the students
and teachers and others and campuses and camp
who've lost their places in the university, who
have been arrested, who've been molested by the
police.
Yeah.
They are brave.
They are the brave people. They're standing for
justice.
Some of our brothers and sisters, Muslims
around the country
and Islamic society have asked, can we stand
with them? Because amongst them are those, of
course, they're non Muslim majority of the other
ones, and I still laud them and praise
them.
Because amongst them there are those who
are
Jews, Christians, atheists, homosexuals,
etcetera etcetera. Can we still stand with them?
Subhanallah.
Because they do all sorts of other things
as well.
And my answer is yes you must and
you should stand with them.
This is not that they are standing as
homosexual rights or lesbian rights. That's not what
the banner they're standing under. They're standing on
a under a banner,
which is the most serious thing that's happening.
Limb and heads are being blown up of
children, women, etcetera. Look what's happening in the
hospital, etcetera.
So
must stand together and support.
Yeah.
Doesn't mean we do everything in that gathering
that they do. We have our way. They
have our way, and they are very you
discuss with them. When it comes to inappropriate
music, inappropriate drinking
or or drugs. We don't take part of
it. Doesn't mean to say we swallow everything
lock, stock, and barrel because
I'm in the crowd. Now I can just
behave like no. We can you can
separate differ on that. Don't forget your salah.
Just because you come there, they're not gonna
pray.
Brothers and sisters,
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says to finish with
Cooperate all of you together here,
differ, but the best is actually
cooperate human beings, all of you.
Yeah. To all that which is good, which
is justice and
being mindful.
And don't cooperate in sin and transgression and
tyranny.
Yeah. So that's what this is about.
Cooperating
for
that which is just and good.
May Allah
keep us guided right. May Allah and and
through that, you know, is.
It's a great opportunity when mixing with those
people
to show the justice
of Islam,
the character of Islam,
what we're really about.
Yeah. If we're scared,
Islam isn't about living in a little cocoon
on an island.
Yeah.
Like a puritanical.
We are sinless, nice, pure people. We don't
interact or mix with others. This is not
Islam.
People come to Islam when we interact and
open our arms and share our values and
our beliefs and our morals.