Nazim Mangera – Importance of Unity and 4 Causes of Disunity in aCommunity
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AI: Transcript ©
My dear respected brothers and reverend elders and
sisters in Islam.
There's a YouTube video which has been seen
by more than 60,000,000
people. How many?
60,000,000.
It has been viewed more than 60,000,000 times.
And the title of this video, it's called
Battle at Kruger.
So you might wanna go home and watch
it. And and, brother, are you watching it
right now? I'm not without you. Okay.
Alright. Let's save it for later.
Okay.
So it's titled battle at Kruger. So in
this video, which has been watched
more than 60,000,000 times, a few buffalos,
a father and mother, walking with their baby
child.
And they're walking on the plains, on the
riverbank.
And then suddenly what do what do they
see? They see that there are some lions.
They started to attack the father and the
mother and the child. So you've seen that
the beginning of the video that the father
and mother, they took off and they left
the baby child behind, and that's what it
looked like and that's what it seemed like.
So then what happened was that the lions,
they started attacking that small little cat, small
little baby buffalo to such an extent that
the buffalo jumped into the water. So on
one side, this baby buffalo is being attacked
by lions. It was recorded in Africa.
So on the other side, next thing you
know, there's some crocodiles
trying to attack the baby calf or the
baby buffalo from the other side. So on
one side, it's being attacked by lions, and
the other side, it's being attacked by crocodiles.
And then there's a fight between both of
them. And eventually, this baby buffalo, it comes
out of the water, and it's still on
the riverbank, and the lions are, you know,
attacking it here and there. And then suddenly
you see from the other side,
there's, like,
10, 15, 20 buffalos. They're all coming together,
and they're all united.
And eventually, they start pouncing on the lions,
and then this baby buffalo is saved.
So what do we learn from here? We
learn the importance of unity.
We learn the importance of being together.
That in unity, there's strength.
In unity, there's power.
In unity, there's love and affection.
And in disunity,
there is breaking of hearts. In disunity, there's
hatred.
In disunity, there's animosity.
So that's why as a community, it is
so important for us to realize the importance
of being united.
Now in this gathering and in this hall
here,
there's people from so many different countries.
And what I will do is that I'm
gonna start asking around.
And you can start saying yourself one after
another which country you're from, and I don't
want you to repeat the country again. So
if your country has been mentioned,
then, you know, don't try to prop up
and bump up your country by saying it
twice or 3 times. Okay? So let's start
here. Which country are you originally from? I
know you might be born in Canada, but
your relatives or or your parents, where are
they from?
K. Palestine. Palestine.
India. India. Pakistan.
Pakistan.
Habesha. Habesha, Ethiopia.
Any other country here? Bangladesh. Bangladesh.
South Africa.
Bangladesh. Bangladesh. Probably somebody already said
Bangladesh. Where? No. Sudan.
Kurdistan.
Kurdistan
in Iraq. Yeah. You're you consider yourself from
Iraq or not? Yeah.
Political question.
From where? Somalia. Somalia.
You already said it, brother.
What are you smoking, yo?
Anybody else?
No. Where?
Fiji.
Fiji. Ghana. Ghana.
Burma. Burma.
Syria.
Syria.
Yes.
Canada. Canada. Since when?
Anybody else? Any other country here?
So
we see here that in this gathering, there's
people from so many different countries,
and we have, original Canadian here, the the
real true one.
So we have people from so many different
countries,
and we dress differently. We look differently.
We eat differently.
So there's so many so many different ways
of doing so many different things, and this
is natural.
But as a Muslim community,
our community in this country is one of
the most diverse
religious communities in all all North America.
That when you look at the people of
other religions, you know, everybody's from the same
country, same background.
So it's simple to regulate or it's simple
to pass on advice and it's simple to
do things in that church or that synagogue
or that temple. Why? Because Arabic is all
the same. But when it comes to a
masjid, we have people from so many different
countries who have, for example, different tastes.
Some people, they like to eat food which
has a lot of chilies.
But then our Arab Arabic brothers, their biggest
enemy in the world is the chilies and
hot peppers
to such an extent that they say in
Arabic
that
The translation of that is that the Arabic
people, they're not scared of the elephants. And
that's true because for those people who are
glued to their TVs
or to the Internet watching Al Jazeera or
what happened, for example, in Tahrir Square,
They will know that the elephants and, and
the camels or the camels and other animals
that attacked the people there in that Tahrir
Square made out of Tahrir. And they actually
they weren't scared, but rather they jumped on
the those animals and everything else. So the
the person jokingly is saying that the Arabic
people, they're not scared of
elephants, but what they're scared of chilies and
hot pepper.
So that's why when we cook food in
our community, we have to make make sure
that at least there should be some dish
which has no chilies inside. And also, we
should keep in mind that the children who
are born here, they're not used to all
this biryani or this, hummus or this and
that. They're more used to the pizzas and
things like that or the new Muslims. So
we have to cater towards them as well
as much as possible.
But the point here is that when we
are united,
then it benefits everybody in that community as
the Arabic poet says.
The poet
says,
that when many hands get together,
then the oppressor can be stopped and prevented
from his oppression.
But when will that happen?
That will only happen when in the battlefield
all the hands get together and they're all
united.
So my dear respected brothers and reverend elders
and sisters in Islam, we need to realize
the importance
of being united in our communities. Even though
we have so many differences,
we have so many variances. Allah mentions
in the Quran
that indeed all the believers,
they're all brothers of one another.
They're all sisters of one another. Irrespective of
which country you're from, it doesn't matter what
your background is. It doesn't matter what your
color is. Islam is a colorless religion. Islam
doesn't not prefer one color over another. Islam
doesn't prefer one race over another.
So Islam is something which has united us
all, and that is why we are here
today. We are all here because we are
all Muslims.
So we need to keep that in mind
when we interact with others, when we deal
with others. That in the eyes of Allah
Subhanahu wa ta'ala as Allah mentions in the
Quran,
that the most beloved
person in the eyes of Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala, be they male or female,
is the one who fears Allah the most.
So just because I speak a certain language
or I'm from a certain country or or
my colors is of a certain complexion,
that does not mean that I am beloved
to Allah. It doesn't matter who you are.
It doesn't matter where you're from. If you
fear Allah the most, then you are the
closest to Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. So my
dear respected brothers, we see in another verse
of the Quran Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
explains to
us that hold on to the rope of
Allah and
do not be disunited.
The rope of Allah
here means literally we can understand the importance
of a rope.
That a rope, it is a combination and
it is made out of small little strands
of thread.
When small little strands of thread, they're put
together,
they're attached together, they're united together, then it
becomes a rope. And that rope is strong.
It's powerful. It's hard to tear up that
rope. But that rope itself, it's a combination
of those small threads. So those small threads
themselves, we can just pull it apart and
rip it apart and tear it apart, and
they're not strong on their own. But when
those threads, they come together, they turn into
a rope. But the scholars of Islam, they
mention here
means the Quran of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
And do not be divided and do not
be disunited.
So my dear respected brothers, as a community
which is comprised of people from so many
backgrounds and so many so many colors and
so many races and so many nationalities, It
is vital and it is extremely important for
us to be united even though it might
not be easy. But we need to keep
in front of us the benefits and the
rewards from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala about being
united.
The prophet salallahu alayhi wasallam, he gives a
parable and an example, and he says,
That the parable and the example of 1
Muslim with another Muslim
is the example of the strength of a
wall.
There every single believer and and the Muslims
united together, they're like a wall. And one
brick strengthens another brick till that whole wall
is constructed in front of them. So similarly,
we as Muslims, when we are united, then
we are like a wall. And as I
say in English that united
united,
we stand,
divided we fall.
United, we stand,
divided we fall. All these different countries which
we mentioned right now, that should not be
a reason to be divided amongst ourselves. It
doesn't matter what country we're from. It doesn't
matter which language we speak.
We need to realize that we are all
believers in Laila Hidal Law, Muhammadu Rasoolallah. Islam
has united us, and it is the people
of the world today who are trying to
disunite us. They say that you're from this
country, and this person is from this country,
and that's why you should be disunited.
That's why you should be enemies with each
other. That's why you should hate each other.
No.
We keep in front of us the teachings
of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and the teachings
of the prophet Muhammad salallahu alayhi wa sallam.
And we throw back and we throw away
and we discard all these things which could
disunite
us. We throw away all these things which
could cause hatred and animosity amongst each other.
So we should never feel that I'm better
than the other person because I speak a
certain language. My color is this color and
that person is a different color, so that's
why I don't like that person. I will
not get along with that person. No. Allah
mentions in the Quran
that all human beings
pay attention, listen attentively.
We have made you of males and females.
For what purpose?
For what reason?
When we made you into nations and tribes
so that you recognize each other,
so that you know each other.
Because if everybody was the same color,
if everybody was the same from the same
country and or or the same background and
spoke the same language and did everything the
same, then it would be hard for us
to differentiate one from another.
So these differences by Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala,
they're not there so that
so that you are disunited
from one from another.
No.
So that you recognize each other so you
know each
other. But who is the closest? Who is
the most beloved to Allah in.
But sadly to say we have disunited ourselves
because of small, petty reasons, because of political
reasons.
And it's not only disunity
because of one language or another,
but we have disunited ourselves from right from
the country which we come from.
For example, I'm from originally from India.
And in India, there are many states.
But there are certain people from certain states
in India who feel that because I'm from
this state, I'm better than the people who
are from a different state.
Or for example, in Pakistan, there are 4
different states.
And one state feels that because I'm from
this state, I'm better than someone who's not
from my state.
Or, I I'm the true Arab
because I, because I'm from this country. Those
people, even though they speak Arabic, but they're
not the true Arab people.
So this is how we disunite ourselves. And
it it's not limited just to breaking up
that country into different states or different provinces.
But then we break that same state
into different different groups as well. That from
the state which I'm from, there are certain
people who are from the northern states, from
the southern states. Those who are from the
southern part, they're better than those people who
are from the northern part. And then we
break that down even into more groups, more
deficient,
that from the southern states, from the southern
part of the state, I am from this
city. So the people of this city, they're
better than the people of that city. And
then in this city, I'm from this neighborhood,
and the people of my neighborhood are better
than the other neighborhood.
And then in that neighborhood,
I'm I'm the coolest guy around. I'm the
lone one standing on Mount Everest.
So look how much we have disunited ourselves.
Look how much we have divided ourselves,
that we started off on a country level,
then a state level, then in that state,
we divided ourselves to such an extent that
at the end, eventually, I'm the lone one.
I'm the best one around, and nobody else
is good as me. So my dear respect
to brothers and remembered elders and sisters and
family.
We see that the beautiful teachings of the
religion of Islam, they're all trying their utmost
and trying their best to create unity.
The purpose of the teachings of Islam is
to create this brotherhood and sisterhood.
And that's why we see, for example, the
importance of when we're buying something
that we should be truthful, we should not
be lying, or that when we lend somebody
some money or something, then we should go
easy on the person. So for example, these
types of teachings are for what purpose? To
create
unity, to create love and affection,
to strengthen the bond of the community.
Or when it comes to the the character
and the morals, the of the teachings of
Islam, all those teachings of Islam, they're there
for what purpose? For the purpose of creating
unity amongst the community that say these things.
Do not say these things. Tell the truth.
Do not tell a lie. Do not backbite.
Do not spread rumors. Do not gossip.
Do not say bad things about people behind
their backs. What is the reason for that?
When we act upon certain teachings, it unites
the community.
And when we go against certain teachings, then
it disunites the community.
For example, the prophet
says that we should when we see somebody,
we should say salah and we should be
the first one to greet each other. So
what is the purpose of that? It creates
unity. It strengthens the bond between each other.
We should give gifts to each other. That
once again unites and strengthens the community.
When somebody is sick, we should go and
visit the sick person. For what purpose? For
creating unity.
For creating the brotherhood
about worrying each other. When somebody passes away,
we should attend the funeral.
We should try utmost to go to the
graveyard and the cemetery as well. Once again,
for what reason? For creating unity,
for bringing the whole community together. And that
is why we see that the prophet
throughout his whole life,
he tried his utmost and tried his best
to make sure that the community is united
and is together. And that is why we
see that
with the prophet
there were people from different countries.
For example, Bilal al Habashi. Bilal the
Mu'anil of the prophet
the one who would call out that. He
was from Ethiopia.
We have Suhib Arumi.
Suhayb radiAllahu anhu, he was Roman.
And we have Salman al Farsi.
Salman radiAllahu anhu was Persian from Iran and
from that side of the world. So we
see that the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam
around him, there were people from different backgrounds,
different nationalities,
different countries, different tribes,
and he made his utmost and tried his
best to make sure that the community was
always united. Why? Because when the community is
united,
so many great things can be done together.
And when when the communities are split, when
the communities are divided,
then there's friction,
there's hatred,
and then there's
disunity. And because of that, there's so many
harms and ills which affects communities which are
disunited.
We see once at the time of the
prophet sallallahu alaihi wa
sallam, one person from the Muhajidim,
he struck out and he hit somebody from
the Ansar. Muhajidim, those who migrated from Makkah
to Madinah. He hit somebody from the Ansar,
from the people of Madinah. So the Ansari
person said that,
and he called his the Ansar and the
helper brothers. And then the Muhajireen
he said,
that, oh, Muhajireen, come and help me. So
the prophet
heard these announcements.
Just like how sometimes we make such announcements
today that we try to rile up and
we try to get together people from our
country or from our race or from our
background for wrong reasons. So this was happening
amongst the prophet salallahu alaihi wa sallam. So
he said that what's going on here? So
they said that one person from the Muhajir
hit somebody from the Ansar, and the
Ansari said, You al Ansar, and the Mujahideen
said, You al You al Muhaajideen.
So the prophet
said,
that do not say this. Do not make
these calls.
Do not try to rise up each other
on the basis of countries or backgrounds or
races or nationality
and and language. Why? Because all these things,
they're putrid. They're they're nasty. They're filthy. They're
dirty.
So when we try to raise up each
other, sometimes in our masjids that, hey, you
know, we're from same same country. You know,
let's get together against this person who's from
this country, who's not from our country or
something like that. All these things are disliked,
and they break up the cohesion in the
community.
And that's why the Urdu poet says about
the importance of having the worry and concern
about every person in the world. The Urdu
poet says
which means that it doesn't matter who is
stuck in whichever country of the world. It
doesn't matter who is injured in whichever part
of the world.
That I have the worry and grief and
concern
of every single person wherever they are living
in the world, and the whole world's grief
and worry and concern is in my heart.
So if somebody is something is happening in
in a country far off,
in the other part of the world, and
we might not be from that country.
But just because we're not from that country,
it doesn't mean that we don't care about
what is going on there.
We are all united
by our religion. We are all united because
of Lailahilaha illallah Muhammadu Rasoolallah. So if somebody
in the furthest part of the world is
injured, is hurt, is oppressed, then that worries
us. That saddens us. That puts us to
grief and sorrow.
Just because somebody is from a different country,
a different background, and different language, it doesn't
mean that we disregard that person, we forget
about that person, and we don't care about
that person. No.
We we worry about every single person.
Why? Because today, I worry about somebody else.
Tomorrow, I might need the help. Tomorrow, something
hap might happen to some people in my
country or my background or my language, and
I will need other people's help.
So we all need to be united. We
all need to worry and have a concern
about,
about not only ourselves and people of our
race, our background, but other people as well.
And that's why the prophet
he mentions in a beautiful hadith that.
That the parable of the Muslims
and the parable of the believers
is like the parable of 1 person.
All the Muslims, their example is the example
of 1 person. That if that person's one
eye is hurting
and is injured or something,
the whole body is affected. And the whole
body experiences grief and sorrow. So if one
limb, one body part of mine is
affected, that doesn't affect just that body part
and that limb, but it affects my whole
body.
If I have a headache, that headache is
not only affecting my head, but it's affecting
my whole
body. So similarly, the Muslims and the believers
in
if somebody is injured, somebody needs help, somebody
needs assistance, it doesn't matter which country they
live in, it doesn't matter how far they
are living from us, we do not forget
about them. We do not overlook them. We
do not say that, oh, forget it. You
know, that person is from a different country.
I'm not from that country, so it's fine
with me. No, my dear respected brothers. That's
why we see that in the teachings of
Islam, there's a strong theme
runs through the teaching of Islam
about the importance of community
and about the importance of being united. That's
why we see that, for example, the congregational
prayer. The prayer in congregation in Jannah.
It's more blessed and you get more reward
when? When you pray in congregation.
If you perform on your own, you only
get one reward of that salat, of that
prayer. When you perform in congregation,
that reward is multiplied many times.
So why did it happen? Because you made
an effort to make a community.
You made an effort to
unite. And we see the importance of, the
congregational prayer. We see the importance of Jummah
prayer
that, for example, in in all the many
of the Arabian countries recently,
wherever their people had united together to go
against the government or something, when did what
day did it start off from? Friday. It
started from Friday. It started after Jummah prayer.
It started because everybody was united. Everybody was
together.
So it happened in Tunisia.
It started on Friday. It happened in Egypt.
It started on Friday.
Now the joke was that
Gaddafi got scared.
That, you know, he's he was watching that
in other places. It all started on Friday.
So the joke was that he's gonna send
out a proclamation, and he's gonna make an
announcement
that from today onwards, there's no Friday in
our country. We jump from Thursday till Saturday.
So Friday, the Jummah prayer, that's when the
whole community gets together. And that's why if
there's a main masjid in your locality
and there are other masjids, you get more
reward for performing prayer in in a congregation
where there are more people.
So what do you understand from this? The
importance
of unity and community.
The importance
of trying our utmost and trying our best
to bring everybody together.
So Islam is not a religion of, being
isolated from the community. Doing my own stuff,
living on my own, only worrying about myself.
No. Islam is a religion that is explicitly
social.
The importance of community
is everywhere reinforced in the practice of the
teachings of Islam.
And even if you look at the word
community,
it is made
comprised of the word unity,
c o m
n and then u n I t y.
There
can only be a community
when there is unity in community.
So my dear respected brothers and remembered elders
and sisters in Islam. We understand the importance
of unity in a community, but at the
at the same time, we have to realize
that there will be differences of opinion, and
that is fine. Why? Because Allah has made
people differently.
We see in the classroom that there are
some students who get straight A's and some
students try their utmost and try their best,
but they cannot get straight A's. So Allah
has created differently and we will have differences
of opinion.
Our opinions
can vary and they can be different.
But the hearts should not be disunited. Our
opinions
and our methods of doing
things, they could be different. But our hearts
should always be united.
Our hearts should always be together.
I should never feel that, hey, this person
gave an opinion. It's different from my opinion,
so he probably doesn't like me. That's why
he gave that opinion. We should never think
that way. Allah has created people differently,
but our heart should not be disunited.
Today, we believe in freedom of expression
as long as everybody expresses what I express.
Yeah. Alright?
We believe in the in freedom of expression,
but as long as everybody has expresses and
says the same things which I say.
We believe in freedom of thought
as long as everybody thinks like me.
We believe in freedom of ideas as long
as everybody's ideas are same as mine.
No, my dear respect, brothers. This is wrong.
Opinions can differ.
Opinions can be different, but our hearts should
always be united.
Allah
mentions
in the Quran
that if you were strict and if you
were harsh
in your interactions and your dealing with others,
then people would have run away from you
and they would have fled from you.
So if we are hard hearted, when we
are harsh, we are strict when we deal
with others, then people will naturally be disunited
from us, and they will not unite with
us. So it is very important that we
are soft. We are gentle.
We are kind, we are soft hearted.
If people under us, if they make a
mistake, we should forgive them.
And make seek forgiveness for them. Make dawbah
for them. Ask Allah to forgive them.
And also make sure you seek consultation and
make mashallah with them and ask them for
their opinions.
So if we want community to be united,
these are important points
that we have to deal softly with people.
We have to deal gently with people. We
should forgive people's mistakes.
We should seek forgiveness for them. And also
seek their opinion. Ask them for their opinions.
We shouldn't try to do things on their
own on our own.
And
so
when we want unity in a community or
even in a family, we need to ask
each other, take each other's consultation,
ask each other's opinions. So it's very important
as
even for the husband and wife that they
need to consult with each other.
If we want unity in a community, then
we need to keep the beautiful teachings of
the prophet
So now we see the importance
of uniting even if there is disunity in
community, how important it is that once the
prophet sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam tried to explain
the importance
of making an effort to unite people,
that some people from Baniyah,
between them there were some disagreements
and they had quarrels and fights and arguments
amongst themselves. So the prophet
went with some of his companions
so that he could unite them and bring
them together to such an extent that he
was about to miss his congregational prayer as
well. So he realized the importance of uniting
the community and making effort to such an
extent that he nearly missed his congregational prayer.
So we need to keep this in mind
as well that if it is possible for
us to bring the community together one way
or another, then we should make every effort
to, to bring communities together and to unite
communities
and to build up that social cohesion
in the community.
And we see that the prophet
warning us about the harms of being united.
He
says,
That the Prophet says that, Should I tell
you something which is better than the reward
of fasting and prayers and charity?
And they said, For sure tell us. And
then the Prophet
said, Trying your best in making
an all out effort to unite the community,
to stay and remain together. Why? Because when
there is disunity, when people are split and
when people are apart, then this will this
is something will shave away a person's religion.
When you're disunited,
many times people, they stay away from the
masjid. They don't feel like coming to the
masjid or, you know, they don't feel like
doing religious activities.
And it furthers in a way to such
an extent that they totally
isolate themselves from the rest of the Muslim
community.
So
the importance of,
keeping unity together we see here that the
prophet
says that you get even more reward than
fasting and performing salah
and then spending in the path of Allah
And the prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam once
mentioned to Abu Dharrwatiallahu alayhi min
ahamarawalaaswada.
Ila and tafduraahu be taqwa. Remember Abu Dharr.
It doesn't matter who you are, but you
are not better than someone who is red
or who is black except that if you
have more taqwa than that person.
So they would mention the color red, but
the color red was used to explain
the beautiful complexion, whitish, reddish complexion of the
person. So they would use the word red.
So the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam said
that you're not better than one color or
another color except that if you have more
taqwa than the person.
So my disrespect, brothers, we need to ask
ourselves that are we in security
complex? Do we feel that,
my race, my language, my country, my background,
it is better than the other person's background
because they are not the same as me?
Are we in that thought? Are we in
that complex or not? If we are, then
we should make tawbah and istighfar internally,
and we should seek repentance from Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala. Otherwise, this thought is from shaitan.
Once there were some Muslims
from different countries that were in the same
vehicle, and they were trying to cross the
border.
So the border guard asked that, well, what's
your background? And he mentioned 1 Muslim country.
And then he asked another person, he mentioned
another Muslim country. And then he mentioned another
Muslim country. And the 4th one said another
Muslim country. The 5th one said another Muslim
country. The guard at the border was so
surprised,
and he was so, you know, so happy.
And he was thinking that how did this
happen that people from so many countries, all
of you guys in the same vehicle?
How did this unity happen?
Well, my due respect, brothers, we know what
is the cause of this unity, what has
brought all of us together tonight.
It is our belief in.
So let us keep this in front of
us. Islam has united us all. Islam will
unite us
as mentioned in the Nasheed
of brother Dawood Wornsby. He mentions that Islam
will unite us all. So we need to
keep this in front of us. But now
sometimes what happens is
that naturally when, you know, people from different
races, different backgrounds, different cultures, community. And this
is very important for us to pay attention
to. One of the most one of the
biggest reasons why
communities sometimes get split across North America
is because of fiqh.
Fiqh is the method of carrying out different
things of Islam like how to perform our
prayers, how to fast,
how to, go for pilgrimage, to perform Hajj.
So
sometimes this disunites communities.
Why? Because we do not differentiate between halal
and what's haram and what's wajib, what's sunnah,
what's nafil, what's mustahab, what's muba.
All these are technical terms,
and everything's not haram.
There's more to Islam than just haram.
Each each category, it has its own level.
It has its own importance.
If something is haram, that's different than something
that is, for example, that
is disliked.
If something is halal
or or something that's followed, that's mandatory, that's
different than something which is malak, which, you
know, you could do if you want to
and you don't have to if you don't
feel like it. But we don't differentiate between
that.
And because of not differentiating,
communities get disunited.
And then there's fights and there's arguments
between the brothers and between the sisters in
the community.
For example, the prayer.
One person feels that, you know, I'm correct
because I follow this shift, and he has
this much knowledge, and he's this and he's
that. And because of that, every single person
on the road should be following my sheikh
and nobody else. And what he says is
correct, and everybody else is wrong. And my
sheikh says that I need to put my
hand in my prayer.
I need to put it in this certain
place, in this certain way. And whoever doesn't
do it this way, they're all wrong.
Now this will when we have this thought
and we make these comments, this will disunite
a community.
Why? Because we have not understood the differences
of opinion.
There have been differences of opinion for over
a 1000 years.
And suddenly I or my Shaykh in the
year 2011,
somehow I feel that
something dawned upon me, something opened up in
front of me or some some link came
up in Google. And because of that, I
am right. And everybody for 1400 years have
been wrong.
Now my dear respect, brothers, when we have
this thought, when we deal with, Islamic issues
in this manner, this will disunite communities. There
are valid differences of Islam. And we find
and we find more than one hadith about,
for example, where to where to place our
hands when it is performed prayers.
We find different teachings, for example, how to
call the.
There are certain people who call in a
certain way. They repeat some things in a
certain number, and there are some people who
do not do that. And there is nothing
wrong with that.
But what's wrong is when I feel that
I am right and everybody else is wrong.
Now how would you feel
if the imam,
is performing the salat in one way, one
method?
And whoever is not doing it like the
imam, if the imam says that I am
right and all of you people who are
not performing salat like me, all of you
are wrong. So you need to change your
method of prayer.
What will happen? It will disunite the community.
So this is one of the main reasons
why communities are disunited.
Because we feel that my method of doing
something is right and all the other scholars
of the world, thousands and thousands of scholars
over 1400
years, you know, they weren't smart or they
didn't know or they are all wrong. And
I am right and my scholar is right.
My Sheik is right. Everybody else is wrong.
But you respect your brothers, this is the
wrong way of looking at things. Things. We
need to understand
the valid differences of opinion, and we need
to learn how to be tolerant towards each
other's opinions.
Now there are many scholars in the world.
For example, when we stand for prayers,
there are some of us, mashaAllah,
that since we were small, when we would
stand up for prayers, you know, we would
touch our feet with the person next beside
us.
Now there are many people of the world
that since they were small, they were taught
that you don't have to do that.
You don't have to touch your foot with
the foot of the next person.
And this is not some new opinion.
If you look
at many of the scholars of the world,
of the history of Islam, they have said
that you don't have to touch the foot
of the next person. And they understood the
hadith in a certain manner in a certain
way.
So now if I as an imam or
if I if if I see somebody who
is standing beside me and he is not
touching my foot, if I start stomping and
stepping on that person's foot,
that is wrong. Or if somebody is touching
their foot with my foot and I try
to move it away as
if there is some disease or something wrong
with that person's foot, then this is wrong,
my dear respected brothers. We need to be
tolerant.
And sadly to say as Muslims, we are
not tolerant today.
You know, we complain about how other you
know, how non Muslims treat us or how
the media treats us. But even we amongst
ourselves, we are so mean with each other.
We look down upon each other so much.
So my dear respected brothers, it is very
important that as a community we are tolerant
towards the other opinion.
But obviously, there has to be some basis
in that. For example, if somebody comes to
Murad and starts performing their salat but does
it in the opposite way, They can sit
down first and then go in sashda and
then go in ruku and then stands up.
You know, we are gonna say this is
wrong. Why? Because nobody holds this opinion.
There is no,
religious pious scholar who has ever held this
opinion. So if some if there's no basis
at all for some action, then obviously we
don't accept that. But if there is some
basis, then we need to realize to be
able to accept it.
And the correct version of Islam,
is not is not limited to a certain
country,
the correct version of Islam. It's not limited
to a certain country that only the people
of this country, they have truly understood Islam
and nobody else has.
Why? Because Imam Bukhari, rahmanullah, Imam Muslim, Imam
Abu Dawood, Imam Girmidi,
Nesayib, Nimajah,
the 6 famous compilers of these hadith,
if we look at their history,
not one of them
were born in an Arabic speaking country.
Imam Bukhar, Imam Muslim, Imam Tirmidi Abu Darwud
Nasayim Bin Majin. All these 6 compilers of
famous books of hadith,
not one of them were born in an
Arabic speaking country.
Does that mean somehow
that their books are not valid enough or
they are not authentic enough?
So my dear respected brothers, the religion of
Islam is not confined to the understanding
of the scholars of a certain country.
If you understand the Arabic language irrespective of
what your background, what your race is, you
know, you will be able to understand the
religion of Islam correctly,
or, you know, you translate it and you
explain it to others in the native language
of that country.
One of the first reasons or one of
the main reasons why communities are disunited
is because of fiqh, because of the method
of how to perform salah and things of
that nature.
Now we can understand the harms of disunity.
For example, somebody asked the imam that, oh,
imam,
when I stand up for prayers, where should
I be placed in my hands?
Now if the imam is not tolerant,
if if the imam is not somebody who
is uniting the community,
this is what the imam will say,
that the way I'm doing that is correct
and all the other ways, that is wrong.
And they're wrong because the hadith never reached
the scholars of that, of that background or
of that opinion. And because the hadith never
reached them, so that's why they have this
wrong opinion. They are wrong. You should not
be doing it that way. You should be
doing it the way I'm doing.
This will disunite the community if the imam
speaks like this.
Why? Because the the opinions which we act
upon today, they're not based on one person's
opinion centuries ago.
They're based on the opinions which are refined
over centuries.
So if I'm doing something today
and I come across a teaching of the
prophet Muhammad salallahu alayhi wasalam
and my action is contrary to that,
I will leave my opinion and I will
stick with the hadith or with the teachings
of the Quran.
And we find this in the books of
fiqh
that sometimes the scholars will say that, you
know, this opinion is there of these scholars.
But because it goes against the hadith, we
will leave this opinion and they will strongly
oppose that opinion on the basis that it's
contradicting the hadith.
So the first way that the imam can
respond is that, you know, what I'm doing
is right. Everybody else is wrong and they
are wrong because, for example, the hadith never
reached it. And sadly to say it, sometimes
there are famous scholars on the Internet, you
know, who answer questions like this and who
cause disunity,
who are not tolerant enough to accept other
people's opinions.
And then the second way of answering is
that what I'm doing is correct
and the person doesn't talk about the imam
or somebody who is answering that question. He
doesn't mention the other opinions
and totally ignores the other opinions.
The third way of answering the question, for
example, is where shall I place my hands,
is the way I'm doing it, I feel
that is correct. But the other opinions,
they are correct as well
according to their scholars.
So I don't belittle. I don't mock.
I don't I don't make fun of other
opinions if they are opinions
of pious religious scholars.
So it's very important that the imam in
a community is somebody who unites the community.
Otherwise, you know, it's very, very easy for
our masjids to be broken down into
this masjid is of a certain race, of
a certain language, of a certain country, and
we don't want that happening.
So one reason why communities are disunited today,
sadly,
is because of the issue of shifa.
The second reason why many communities are split
today across North America
is because of the moon sighting issue,
because of the moon fighting issue.
There are 3 famous opinions. One is that,
we follow whatever is taking place in Saudi
Arabia.
That is one opinion.
The second opinion is the ISNA opinion
that as long as it is citable, as
long as you can see it, that is
enough to start Ramadan and to finish Ramadan
and for the Hajj days. And the 3rd
opinion is that if it's seen
in these countries in North America and and
neighboring countries.
Now if you look at it, all three
opinions,
they have their pros and their cons,
their the good aspects of it and the
wrong aspects of it. There's no one opinion
which we can say that that is a
correct opinion and that everybody else is wrong.
It's you can't say that.
For example,
in the opinion of, you know, for example,
when we say local moon sighting, but that
local has stretched over so many countries and
it's spread over so many continents now that
it's not even local anymore.
It's spread to over, you know, more than
one continent, and people accept opinions from different
countries.
So it is not a matter of your
own town or your own city, but it
spread to so many countries. And then if
we look at the opinion, for example, of
Saudi Arabia,
that in Saudi Arabia,
you know, people have such strong eyesight that
even the astronomers cannot see the moon with
the binoculars.
But people see it in that country, some
people.
So what they are doing, it's not wrong
because the prophet says if somebody said comes
and says that they have seen the moon,
you have to accept their you have to
accept their evidence.
So even if all the astronomers
of the world are saying that it's not
possible to sight the moon, they will still
sight the moon and they will accept that
sighting.
So Islamically it's correct, but for us in
this day and age of 2011, it is
very hard for us to accept this.
Because all the astronomers
who can predict what will what will happen
50 years from now, and how the moon
will be, and how the sun will be,
and what time there will be solar eclipse
and lunar eclipse, and they can talk from
now to the minute.
Now if the same people are saying it's
impossible to say it and people still see
it, you know, and the decision is made.
So Islamically,
what they're doing is correct. But when we
look at modern day technology and everything, it's
hard for us to accept that.
Or or the 3rd opinion is the Islam
opinion that even if it's not cited by
anybody, even if somebody doesn't see it, as
long as it's there, even if if there's
clouds there, you know, they accept that opinion.
But at least the moon is
there. No. At least they decide when the
moon is there. If it's not there, then
they don't decide on that day. So communities
are disunited.
But what we have to realize is that
all three opinions,
they're correct in their own method, in their
own way.
And when a community,
when a Masjid organization
decides on one of these three opinions,
then we should go with that.
Because it's not like if I don't follow
ISNA or if I don't follow Saudi Arabia
or if I don't follow the local moon
sighting, then I'm sinning. It's not
that. We cannot say that somebody is sinning
if they follow or if they do not
follow one of the 3 opinions.
So we need to be tolerant,
respectful,
accepting, and appreciative
of other opinions
as long as they do not contradict the
teachings of the Quran and the Hadith
and as long as they're not openly going
against the Quran and Hadith. At the end
of the day, it all boils down to
interpretation.
At the end of the day, it's how
we how how scholars interpret things.
And there's nothing wrong with having differences of
opinion. I mean, you go to one doctor,
you have some sickness, and you're kinda going
to ask the doctor, you know, why is
this sickness? And they'll mention one reason. You
go to another doctor for the same sickness,
they'll prescribe you something else. You go to
a third one, and they'll say something else.
And they will all contradict each other.
So similarly,
in Islam as well, there are differences of
opinion that's natural because people are created differently.
But as long as it's not contradicting, you
know, the teachings of the Quran and the
hadith, then we should be accepting of that
opinion. So that's another second reason why many
communities are disunited.
A third minor reason why some communities are
disunited in North America
is because of the issue of the Taravi
prayers and how many numbers.
What is the ada al rakah? That how
many rakahs of the Taravi prayers are there?
Are there 8 rakahs or 20 rakahs?
Now in 1 masjid, there is a huge
disagreement in huge fight in 1 masjid.
That one group is saying there's 8 rakats
and nobody's allowed to pray more than 8.
And the other group is saying that, no.
We're gonna pray 20.
So they took their issue and their matter
to a scholar.
So when the scholar heard this disagreement,
the scholar said that, no. Why don't you
do this? After Isha prayer,
lock down the masjid and close the masjid
and shut the masjid.
So they they said that, Isha, why are
you telling us this?
So the scholar replied that unity of the
community,
unity
and being together, that's wajib and that's followed,
and that's mandatory.
That's compulsory.
Being united in a community, that's compulsory.
And the Tarawee prayers,
they are sunnah.
It's not mandatory. It's not faruk. It's not
wajir. It's not compulsory.
It's a sunnah of the prophet
So because of a sunnah, if the whole
community is gonna be disunited,
it's better if you just shut down the
So once again, why does this happen? Because
of being intolerant,
because of not being
wide enough, and not being accepting enough of
other opinions which are different than mine.
Everybody doesn't have to think like me. Everybody
doesn't have to talk like me. Everybody doesn't
have to dress like
me. But nowadays, in Canada and the US
and Western countries,
they make this comment that, you know, Muslims
are not assimilating enough.
But nobody has truly said what they mean
by that statement. What do you mean when
you say that Muslims are not assimilating enough?
It's impossible for everybody to dress the same.
It's impossible for everybody to look the same.
And those who are racist,
they'll always find one reason or another to
find some flaw, some mistake, and to point
out your mistake or to hate you. The
haters will always find one reason or another
to hate you.
So when the general public is saying that
Muslims are not assimilating enough, what do you
actually, really, truly mean by that? To dress
like you?
To talk like you? To eat like you?
To look like you?
Why is that important? Why is that necessary?
What's wrong with people looking differently? What's wrong
with people dressing differently? What's wrong with people
talking differently? What's wrong with people eating differently?
So back to this point here is that
if people have if there is a difference
of opinion,
let us be smart enough.
Let us be emotionally strong enough to be
able to accept the other opinion.
And the 4th reason why communities are disunited
and this even happened
in my community
just a few months ago.
And this community here is famous for this
issue
because it has gone national and international,
the issue of the barrier
and the curtain
between the males and the females,
that how important is it to put a
barrier and to put a curtain or to
put the separation between the males and the
females.
This is a major issue which is taking
place in many Masjids across North America today.
Even in our Masjid a few months ago,
this happened.
Well, we know that, as Sheikh Fayaz mentioned
today, that in the Masjid of the prophet
sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, there was no barrier.
There was no separation or anything like that.
That is the original ruling,
and everything else is secondary.
Everything else is secondary. But at the same
time, as mentioned previously as well, that at
the time the prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam for
example, the males and the females, they would
finish the prayers together, but then the females
would leave the masjid. And then the
prophet would send somebody to make sure that
everybody the females had gone back home. And
then after that, the males would be able
to would be allowed to get up and
go and do whatever they wanted to. And
also their entrance to the masjid, the doors
to the masjid, it was separate. The males
had one entrance. The the females had another
entrance.
But the default ruling is that there was
no separation. There were no barrier for whatever
reason.
So we cannot
push an issue because of our emotional reasons
and because of
how we feel
if it does not have any basis in
Islam.
We understand the importance of it. And why?
Because we also want to show our children,
our youth, and our teenagers
about the importance of segregation in Islam.
That when there is no segregation in society,
when everybody is intermingling today we see today
in in the high schools that in America,
every single year,
3,000,000
teenagers are affected with sexually transmitted diseases.
Every year, 3,000,000 youngsters and youth.
Every year, there is 1,000,000
girls who are becoming pregnant, and they're teenagers
every single year. And many of them end
up in abortion.
So why does this happen? Because of no
segregation.
Look what's happening at the workplace.
There was a survey done of thousands of
people, and more than 60%
of the people in that poll, they said
that they cheated and they had an office
affair.
Why did this happen once again? Because of
no segregation.
So Islam
emphasizes,
on the point of segregation,
but that has to be based on the
teachings of Islam. And if there's a reason
and and we see today all across North
America, so so many masjids are different from
other masjids. For example, in our masjid,
you know, there's a big prayer hall. It
fits about like 400 people.
So right in the prayer hall, there's a
curtain which goes from the back of the
masjid to the front of the masjid in
the same prayer hall. And then the sisters
pray there and the males pray, on the
other side of the curtain. So right in
the prayer hall, there's a curtain going right
across. And then in some masjids,
for example, you have just walls and they
cannot see anything.
They cannot, you know, there's no videos, no
screens, or anything. And then in other masjids,
there is no separation. There is no barrier.
The males are in the front.
Brothers are in the front. Sisters are in
the back. So they're doing that way. And
then some other masjids, they have a barrier
made out of wood or whatever else. It
looks really good and it's up to the
waist or something, and that's about it.
So there's so many different forms,
the separation and this and this barrier, and
so many masjids across North America.
So as a community, especially when you will
be building
the new masjid, you have to keep this
in mind. What is the best thing for
your community?
What will unite the community?
And if some sisters want it one way,
you have to cater to them as long
as it's based on the teachings of Islam.
If some sisters want it a different way,
you have to cater to their wishes and
to their demands.
So we cannot base the decisions
on our own emotions. For example, there are
some people who say that, you know, you
should not be mentioning the names of females
or the name of your wife in front
of males.
So this is based on person's emotions
or their thoughts or their feelings.
But this is not based on any teaching
of Islam.
You know, personally myself and other fellow classmates,
we look for this issue that we find
anywhere in the teachings of Islam which tells
us that you are not allowed to mention
the names of females in front of other
males. And we didn't find any evidence for
that. So sometimes things are based on our
emotions, on our feelings.
But Islam is not based on our feelings,
how we feel, how we want something to
be known. It is based
on sound, authentic teachings.
So my dear respected brothers and reverend elders
and sisters in Islam,
we need to keep the beautiful
teachings of prophet Muhammad salallahu alaihi wa sallam
and the beautiful pristine teachings of the religion
of Islam in front of us. We need
to act upon it. We need to be
united as a community. We have people in
this gathering
in our communities from so many different countries,
so many different backgrounds, so many different races,
so many different languages.
Let not these differences let it not be
the cause of us being disunited.
You know, naturally, we will feel inclined
to talk to people of our own background,
or with our people of our own race.
There's nothing wrong with that. But at a
minimum, we should be saying salaam
to everybody.
We should we say salaam to people who
we know, we recognize,
they're from our race, from our background or
they're not. Why? Because Islam has united us
all. So I make du'a to Allah
that may Allah give us all the tawfiq
to understand
and to realize how important it is for
us to be united in a community and
how beneficial it is. And we may we
all realize
the harms and the detriments
and the ill effects of a community being
disunited.
We should always read
that whenever I say something, I should make
sure that that will be the cause of
uniting the community. I should not be saying
anything which will cause disunity in the community
because why? That same statement, either it can
enter me to paradise or that same statement,
it can take me into the hellfire. Why?
Because with that one statement, I brought the
community together, and with one sentence, I disunited
the community.
So if we know that I'm going to
be the cause of disuniting the community, I
stay quiet. I don't utter my opinion. I
keep my opinion to myself
for the greater good, for the greater cohesion,
for the greater unity in the community.
So I make Duwah to Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala that may Allah utilize all of us
to be the cause of Muslims being united,
and may Allah
not make us from those who are the
cause of disunity
in Muslim communities across North America.
Ameen Jazakamullah Khayr.
We love
And again, may Allah to
become a united Ummah. It is only as
a united
Ummah that we can be an effective,
productive,
and a religious Ummah and truly fulfill the
honor that has been given to us by