Omar Suleiman – Social Justice – Episode 39 – Without Justice, There Can Be No Peace

Omar Suleiman
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The Prophet peace be upon him has created a reputation for bravery and generosity, and the concept of "Logans" is the fruit of the Prophet's peace be upon him. The importance of peace and justice is emphasized, as it is the source of peace and the foundation of Islamic rule. The negative impact of drug use and the need for peace and justice in order to achieve peace and peace in the real world is discussed.

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			It's hard to believe honestly, we're getting to the last two of this series. It's been a very long
time since we've had this series. And as I said last week, I wanted to move away from the discussion
about the particulars and go back to the concepts sort of wrapping up everything that we've studied
over this last year, and some we started this class A little over a year ago. So all the particulars
that we've talked about economic justice, environmental justice, different forms. And if you
remember, we started off the first five to seven, I believe the first five to seven classes on
concepts and sort of framing how justice operates in Islam, and today, or tonight, and next week,
		
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			we're going to go back to that. So framing really now with all of those particular issues in the
rear view. So we've gone through so many of them. So now, how do we bring it all together? And I
think there are a few questions that come to mind. And we'll address these questions within the next
two weeks. The first one is the emphasis on justice versus the emphasis on peace.
		
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			Most of the time, movements for justice are actually shut down in the name of peace and
reconciliation, right, where basically one party, usually the oppressed is compounded in the burden
that is placed upon it and told to forego its rights for the sake of the greater picture. And there
is less responsibility and burden placed upon the party that has the greater power in that
situation. Okay. So usually in the name of peace, justice, is actually done an injustice. All right.
Also the concept of how gradual reform should be, should reform the rapid, or should it be gradual,
so how gradual should reform be?
		
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			We tend to have an absolutist mentality in regards to this, so to speak about it in regards to the
graduality and the way that the Prophet peace be upon them operated in that sense. Another one is,
you know, obeying unjust law, right? Or obeying an unjust ruler? That's a question that comes up
many times and unjust authority. At what point do you cross the lines of disobedience, if you will?
Alright. And the last one is priorities in morality and dealing with with justice, or dealing with
morality. And what I mean by that is that well, many, particularly religious folk, particularly
Muslims will say, Well, why are we dealing with this issue when we also have to deal with that
		
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			issue? And so how do you prioritize amongst issues in regards to seeking about a more just society?
So these are the questions that I hope we'll actually be able to tackle within the next two weeks.
And this week, in particular, what I want to focus on is this concept of justice and peace.
		
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			It's a very famous slogan, no justice, no peace, right? And I want to actually give that a firmer
understanding beyond just the slogan and beyond just, you know, the protest motto, what does this
actually mean? no justice, no peace, right? And of course, no justice, no peace. verbatim is not
taken from the Quran or from the Sunnah of the Prophet peace be upon them. But at the same time, it
does have a basis and I want to talk about it from that regard. And I think that Islam probably
speaks to that idea, more so than any other system theological OR, or NOT theological. Islam really
does highlight this idea of retributive justice and the concept that there can be no peace without
		
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			justice. So how do we understand this? So I started off with ahaadeeth an incident that took place
with the Prophet peace be upon him. It's narrated from Earth monument. maroun. May Allah be pleased
with me says that while the Prophet peace be upon him was sitting in the courtyard of his house in
Mecca, as man passed by the prophet peace be upon him and he smiled at him. The Prophet peace be
upon him, smiled back at him and told him Why don't you sit down? So this man is walking on the
streets and the Prophet peace be upon him says Why don't you come join me? Why don't you sit down
with me? So he said, Sure. So he came, and he sat with the Prophet peace be upon him facing him. And
		
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			while he was talking to the Prophet peace be upon him the Prophet peace be upon him looked up to the
skies so in the middle of this conversation at some point the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him
lost focus, if you will, on the conversation and started to look up. And as the Prophet peace be
upon him did that
		
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			are smarter than Maroon said that I said to the Prophet, peace be upon him, I've seen you do
something I've never seen you do before.
		
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			Why because the Prophet peace be upon him had a reputation. What was his reputation, his reputation
that was what was when he spoke to you? He faced his entire body towards you. He was not
distractible. Alright. In fact, the prophet peace be upon him once had a ring and he looked at his
ring a few times in conversation and he felt bad
		
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			He said, You know, I feel like I'm looking at this ring too much. So he took the ring and cast it to
the side. So imagine if the Prophet peace be upon him had a cell phone, right? And what that would
mean in terms of distractibility in terms of conversation. So the Prophet peace be upon him had the
habit of turning to you fully when he spoke to you, giving you his ear, not removing himself until
you finish speaking to him, giving you his full undivided attention. So this was unlike the Prophet
peace be upon him to look up in the middle of conversation or to seem distracted. So as monster I've
seen you do something that I never saw you do before. And the Prophet peace be upon him said that
		
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			the angel Gabriel, Gabriel, just came to me so he descended upon me with a verse.
		
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			So jabril brought the Prophet peace be upon him revelation at that moment, and he said, What did he
say to you? So he recited in the law yet Moreover, gladly will assign what eater it will corba
Vienna and in fact shall he will, monetary will does he come to the Quran, the verse which is which
which translates to, Verily Allah commands justice and doing good or performing excellence, right
beauty in the La Jolla mobile it would sound so Allah commands you would justice as well as showing
excellence, okay. In the law, you want to be somewhat at the quarterback and showing generosity to
your relatives, while young hmm and in fact, shall he well in one carry well, belly and he forbids
		
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			you from indecency and wrongdoing and tyranny. So God commands you with three he commands you with
justice, with excellence and with generosity to your relatives, and he forbids you from indecency
and wrongdoing and tyranny and I'll talk about the difference between indecency and wrongdoing in
this context, okay, fresh out with one cup, we are able to come to the Quran, he admonishes us so
that you may pay heat. All right, so this verse was revealed to the Prophet peace be upon him at
that moment, this hadith is narrated.
		
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			It's narrated in Abbey hatom, and some, you know, in Kathir comments on the chain and he says that
it is a good Hadith meaning it's a sound narration. Now, this verse in particular from the Quran
		
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			is considered so comprehensive. Okay? That even Massoud the great scholar,
		
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			and the companion the Prophet peace be upon him says this is the most comprehensive verse that was
ever revealed to the Prophet peace be upon him that the entirety of the religion is encompassed in
this verse. The entirety of faith is encompassed within this verse. And by the way, it's chapter 16,
verse 33, for those that want to take notes sorted out off chapter 16, verse 33, so it's the most
comprehensive verse of the Quran, and it is the most it contains the entire faith within within it.
And by the way, this is also the verse that was popularized to be mentioned in every single sermon
every single hopa by Ahmed bin Abdulaziz Rahim Allah added the last of the rightly guided Holika the
		
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			last of the rightly guided caliphs that he started to mention this verse or recited every single
hope but to Jumana every single Friday sermon, so it continued after Ramadan bin Abdulaziz Rahim
Allah tada as a as a tradition amongst the scholars that they would recite this verse in the end of
the hope by the end of the Friday Sermon the way that we do over here, okay, so the verse again says
God commands you have three Allah commands you have three in the law yet little bill idly, but Exxon
will, the corba He commands you to do justice, he commands you to show excellence, and he commands
you to be generous with your relatives. And then he forbids you from three fascia with one cup with
		
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			a belly, he forbids you from
		
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			translation here is indecency, wrongdoing and tyranny. he forbids you from indecency wrongdoing and
tyranny and he admonishes you, so that you may pay heat. So what does this have to do with the
concept of justice versus peace? And this is really what I want to focus on in Charlottetown. For a
while, well, first and foremost.
		
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			God does not command you with anything, except that he himself does it in his capacity. Allah does
not command you to show mercy while he shows cruelty, right? So Allah is our hammer raha mean, he's
the most Merciful of those who show mercy. All of the mercy that we show in this world is only a
fraction of the mercy of Allah that He descends upon us so Allah Himself chose mercy, okay. Allah
does not command you to do justice, but then he himself the unjust, right or be an oppressor. In
fact, Allah says, Oh, my servants in the heroine to Luma and NFC, which Allah who bainer Mahatma,
but that's available. Oh,
		
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			My servants, I have forbidden oppression for myself and I have made it forbidden amongst you.
Meaning no one could restrict God. But Allah chooses for himself that oppression is not befitting to
the creator of all. So he's the most just so when he commands you to do justice, he himself performs
justice. Okay? So Allah does, Allah Himself is the Most Merciful in the most unjust. And this is
also something that Mmm, no claim, and I'm sure I mentioned this in one of the first classes and no
claim, may Allah be pleased with them. He said that the three components of Fitts law, have your
natural disposition. Again, the three components of your natural disposition, meaning every human
		
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			being is created with three things, a sense of tawheed, which is monotheism, so a sense of a belief
in one God, that we believe in Islam, that a child naturally has a belief in a higher power, they
believe in a lot, they believe in God, right? They they're born with that natural Islam, that
natural belief in God and submission to God. And that if a child was left alone in the desert with
no other external influences, that they would not truly develop a relationship where they would know
that there is a God, a one god that sees them, and they would connect. So that's Fitts law, that's
your natural disposition. You believe in the oneness of God, you are born with a sense of justice,
		
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			and you are born with a sense of mercy. There are interesting experiments that have been done, you
know, or tests that have been done to actually show that children have that sense, right? When
children watch cartoons, someone sent me this long, and he was a doctor, I'm not a doctor, as you
can probably tell, but he sent me this long study that was done on children and like the way
children reacted to cartoons when they saw a clear wrongdoer and the victim in the cartoon and how
children identified, right or felt a sense of injustice, even if they were watching, you know, an
oppressor in the form of a fictional animal, okay. Children naturally have that. And then someone
		
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			says, Well, you know, I see many human beings that don't show any justice, show any mercy, and have
no sense of belief in God. That is the nature versus nurture argument, what you are born with,
versus what is nurtured inside of you. So you are born with a natural sense of monotheism, a natural
sense of justice and natural sense of mercy. Also, the very first notion of justice, as we said
early on in this class, is justice with a law justice with God Himself. And this is really, because
the rights of God are greater than the rights of any one upon you. And Savannah, Marina, may Allah
be pleased with him, he says something very beautiful. He says that in this context, first and
		
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			foremost, interpreting either an axon justice and excellence. So axon is beauty. It's excellent,
it's a higher standard, Justice is the minimum standard. Excellence is a higher standard. So he
said, the context of justice added an axon here, what it's referring to, is that in regards to God,
at least, when you are alone, when it's just God that sees you, at least you show him the same
amount of regard in private that you do in public. The mere, the bare minimum, so if you are, if you
only honor the sight of God upon you, when other people are around, but then you disgrace that site
when you're alone, then that's not just with Allah. So the first sense of added with God, the first
		
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			sense of justice was with God is that you have a consistency in the way that you honor his sight and
honor his rights. You don't transgress in private, you don't transgress in public, and the standard
you have in public is at least consistent with the one that you have in private otherwise, it's
hypocrisy, right? Otherwise, if there is a discrepancy there, then it leans towards hypocrisy. So he
said, that's either, he said, ehsaan excellence is that your private relationship with Allah is even
better than your public relationship with Allah. Meaning when you are alone, you honor the sight of
God even more, you stand up in secret prayer, you perform acts of secret charity, you privately
		
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			fast, you privately do things that would show him that you asked for his sight and his sake alone,
that no one else interferes with that relationship that you have with Allah. Okay. So he said,
That's excellent. That's excellent. And that's what the prophet peace be upon him taught as well.
That when he, when he when he explained a son excellence in worship, he said that you worship Allah
as if you can see him. And if you can't see him, then you know that he sees you. You worship a lot
as if you can see him. And if you can't see him, then you know that he sees you. Meaning when you
stand in prayer, even when you're all alone and private, not you know, the sight of other people's
		
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			irrelevant. You worship him as if you can see him. And if you can't see him, then you know that he
sees you. So that's excellence in worship. They said first, you interpret this in regards to
		
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			The way that you the way that you deal with Allah And then he said and in regards to sin so again
those those words get awkwardly translated sometimes well you inherited fascia you will carry well
that Allah forbids
		
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			you know fascia which, which basically means indecency. Okay, one cap, which is a wrongdoing, and
Buffy, which is tyranny. So how do we understand those things? So he goes on to explain that alpha
Hush, alpha, which are the first indecency that God forbids you from. He said that these are the
things that are forbidden from Allah, that what you do privately or that what you do publicly. So
it, you know, it's not necessarily private, and not necessarily public, which is why Allah says in
the Quran in the Mahabharata, the alpha hashmatullah hora minha, on a bottom that God has forbidden
in decency that which is public of it, and that which is private, so it's any act of of sinfulness
		
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			and decency, whether it's public or private. One car
		
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			is a greater level of sin, it's when you proudly boast about your sin. Okay, when you are shameless,
to the point that you proudly boast about your sin. So it's like the opposite of the standard of
worship in terms of justice and excellence. You are even more aggressive in your disobedience of God
or more boastful and proud of it in public. Well, buzzy. And the last thing which is tyranny is in
regards to the creation of Allah that you are unjust to the creation of God or that you wrong. The
creation of Allah subhanho wa Taala. Okay, so one alumnus is the Arabic translation of an ability
which is to to oppress people. So getting back to the over, you know,
		
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			or I should say, the underlying principle here. So where do we get no justice, no peace from this?
How does that make sense? And is this truly an Islamic concept? So there's a saying from Martin
Luther King, Jr, which is a very powerful, saying, he says peace is not the absence of tension, but
the presence of justice. Peace, is not the absence of tension, but the presence of justice. Is does
that does that islamically hold up actually, it is, in the, you know, in the deepest meaning, and
the most accurate meaning of the text? How do we explain that? Well, first and foremost, what's the
word for peace? In Arabic, and it's not? So now, peace, right? That armonico peace beyond two so the
		
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			word is Salah. What does the word Salaam peace actually mean in the Arabic language?
		
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			Does anyone know?
		
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			Now you're talking about the definition of Islam. I'm talking about Salah I'm talking about the word
peace
		
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			makes it whole. So the word peace actually means freedom from chaos and the Arabic language. Freedom
from chaos. Really interesting. Alright, freedom from chaos. I'm not just making that up. All right.
The Prophet peace be upon him said a Muslim woman. Sorry, man was the Mona melissani. He was a
Muslim. A person who practices Islam, which comes from Salaam peace is the one from whom people feel
safe from his tongue and from his hand. People feel safe from his tongue in his hand. So people feel
at peace from his tongue and his hand. When you say a Salaam Alaikum peace beyond to you. That means
no harm will come to you from my direction. Okay, so the word Salaam in the Arabic language means
		
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			freedom from chaos. That's why the word saline
		
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			means free from sickness free from harm, which is the intense version of setup, saline. A person who
is saline is free from flaw free from harm. Okay. And that's why Paradise is called data set up the
place of peace because it's free from any imperfection. It's free from anything that would disturb
the peace. It's perfect. Okay, it's perfect by virtue of its freedom from disruption that is Marina
de la one. In LA Salama, they will not hear it any disturbance. No one's gonna bother you. And Jenna
and paradise. All right. It's all Salaam The only thing you hear is peace. meaning you're good here.
You don't have to worry. In general, you don't have to worry in Paradise and that's why the scholars
		
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			mentioned actually, the true peace only exists in paradise because in Paradise, there will be
perpetuity with no end complete satisfaction with no need and perfect honor. With no humiliation and
perfect health with no disease. Okay, so Paradise is perfect in that sense, and allows name one of
God's names is
		
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			Salam. Okay, the source of peace and why is he s Salaam because he is completely free from any
defect or flaw. So Allah is a Salaam, he is the peace because he's free from any defect, or flaw. So
in the very nature of the word peace, peace means the absence of harm. All right, in the definition
in the Arabic language, and in the Islamic epistemology, it means free from harm. Alright,
		
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			so back to the concept, and there truly be the alarm in the presence of volume, can there truly be
peace in the presence of injustice? All right, from an Islamic perspective? Of course not. That's
why the Prophet peace be upon himself, the Muslim, the one who practices Islam, as a religion as a
faith and of course, by extension, the peace of it. The peace that comes with that are those whom
people feel safe from their tongues in their head, meaning people know that a Muslim will not harm
them. A Muslim does not harm. Okay, a true Muslim does not harm that's how the Prophet peace be upon
him described. So going back to the verse and the Hadith, of course, which is the long Hadith which
		
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			which gives the context of the verse, okay.
		
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			The lesson is you cannot have axon without other you cannot have excellence without justice. Okay.
As the scholars mentioned, Aladdin and father, Justice before benevolence, Justice must come before
benevolence, Justice must come before excellence justice is the standard before peace and a society
of beauty. Okay, a society of excellence. Why because ugliness prevents true beauty from ever
entering. Okay, ugliness prevents true beauty from ever entering. And that's why a lot of
prioritizes just this before, Asana before excellence, because this is the bare minimum, it has to
start with a sense of added, okay, so when people's rights are being taken away, you don't move to
		
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			embellishment of privilege. you fulfill the rights, you restore, what disturbs the peace. And that's
the priority in Islam for society, is how do you restore people's rights and put everyone back in a
position where then the embellishment can take place and the beauty can take place. And this is a
deep concept in Islam, a very deep concept in Islam. Even at an individual level of spirituality,
one of the great scholars named Phil Dale, filleted, he said that he prioritizes in his remembrance
of Allah, so in his declared his remembrance of God, he said, he prioritizes his default over to his
father seeking forgiveness, over words of glorification and praise he prioritizes seeking
		
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			forgiveness, to fought over words of tests via praise and glorification. He said, because if you
have a garment, and the garment is dirty, you clean the stain, you don't accessorize the garment. So
you start with undoing What's wrong, before you embellish? What is quote unquote, right and
accessorize it. So that's true on an individual level of spirituality. It also refers to the society
and even above the cousin of the Prophet peace be upon him, the great scholar of Quran had been
abuzz, he said, how's this how this verse refers to society? He said I did, which is justice is to
remove ugliness from society.
		
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			Son excellence is to promote virtue,
		
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			either is to remove ugliness, justice, is to remove ugliness, son, excellence is to promote virtue.
Okay, so the priority is remove the hindrances. Remove the things that do not allow for peace to be
realized in its true sense, theologically, spiritually, a societal sense. Okay. So this is this is
how we understand, we understand the two, or we understand our notion of justice versus peace. This
also, this also means that in regards to restorative justice, in regards to restorative justice, you
do not tell someone who is facing an injustice, that you should relinquish your rights and accept
your injustice.
		
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			Okay.
		
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			ie show excellent show. Excellent. You don't tell someone that you should let go of your rights, and
instead show essential excellence. I'm gonna talk about that in a moment. Instead, you placed them
in a position to show a son, you placed them in a position to show excellence. All right, so this is
where we get into some deep theological
		
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			jargon By the way, all right, Islam course, we see ourselves as the continuation or the, you know
that we attribute ourselves to the true Abrahamic way of you know the true Abrahamic way. There's
this debate in Abrahamic theology, if you will. Is it an eye for an eye, a tooth for tooth? Or is it
turned the other cheek?
		
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			All right, is it an eye for an eye? Or is it turned the other cheek? It would be inappropriate to
suggest it would be inappropriate to suggest that God sent to prophets with opposing moral messages.
		
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			So it would be inappropriate to suggest that Isa that Jesus peace be upon him was refuting Moses
peace be upon him. Instead, what's the reconciliation between the two? Because he saw it his setup
Jesus peace be upon him, did not turn the other cheek when he saw injustice in the temple, and he
flipped tables on the money chambers. All right, money changers. All right, that was not turning the
other cheek. All right, that was a radical, a Saudis, radical Jesus peace be upon them. So that's
more of an eye for an eye type thing, right and making sure that justice was being served in society
or sorry, snob, was not passive about everything. So turn the other cheek, can be grossly exploited
		
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			as can be an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.
		
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			And Islam, we actually say that they both hold true. They both make sense. How do they both make
sense?
		
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			A person whose eye has been taken as the right to have an eye for an eye.
		
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			But you want to place that position that person in a position to where they choose after being given
the choice to have retribution. To instead choose benevolence, I'm going to say that again.
		
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			The standard in society is that retribution
		
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			has to be the choice of the one who's been wronged.
		
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			But what you try to promote is virtue and benevolence so that that person after being in that
position with no pressure where they get to make the choice, instead chooses to show benevolence.
I'm going to highlight this a little bit more, okay.
		
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			In Islam, there is a sauce, which is retribution. And then there is Apple, which is part of
		
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			the sauce is established, retribution is established when there's any wrongdoing. All right, or the
smallest matter of finances all the way to the greatest, the greatest transgression of murder, the
family is empowered in the sense of when someone's murdered, the family is empowered to make a
choice.
		
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			theologically, at least, of course, this is the way that it was applied in the time of the Prophet
peace be upon them whether or not they would choose for the person that committed the murder, to
also have their life taken. But after they're given that choice, they're encouraged to instead
forgiven pardon.
		
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			So basically, you're encouraged to quote unquote, turn the other cheek. But
		
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			at the very minimum, you have to be given the right of the eye in return for the eye. So Islam
actually does not see a conflict between those two messages.
		
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			But instead sees them both, to actually be in harmony with one another. That added, which is what
Moses what most is now speaking about, Justice has to be established. A son, which is pardon an
excellence and beauty is what is to be encouraged. But Sun is the standard you hold yourself to
		
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			pardon and excellence and forgiveness is a standard that you hold yourself to. It's not something
that you force on someone else. I'm gonna talk about this from the poor Anne in a little bit. All
right. And if you don't, if you if that's not really registering with you, yet, you uphold everyone
else's standard to either meaning everyone else standard to justice, you yourself when you're in a
position of power, and you make a decision between justice or retribution or forgiveness, you choose
out of seeking that higher forgiveness and that benevolence of God, you choose benevolence because
you're engineered in that way to want more from Allah. So you show more to people than what's
		
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			expected. But you have to be in that position. So society has to place the one who was wronged in a
position where they get to make that choice of whether or not they show Exxon, they show excellence
or whether they show justice. So it is just justice that those who have been wronged get to make the
choice whether or not to show benevolence from a position of power, but you cannot shove a son down
their throat without putting them in that position of power first. So what does that mean? This has
implications
		
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			In marriages, this has implications in disputes, financial disputes. This has implications in
regards to oppressed peoples by a state authority. This has implications in regards to literally
life and death in Islam, that the one who is wronged always should be put in a position to where
they have the choice of retribution or not. And then they are reminded that should you instead show
benevolence, expect more benevolence from Allah? All right, should you show our full pardon and
benevolence, expect even greater pardon and benevolence from Allah? Where do we take this from? It's
actually in the Quran in surah assura, which is chapter 42. And I'll just go through very quickly,
		
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			I'm not going to go through the full Tafseer of this the full explanation, but it starts chapter 42
from verse 39, one levina, either a Saba huemul buzzing about you, homie unforseeable, those who
when they are oppressed, they defend themselves. So a lot of praises. Self Defense, if you will, all
right, those who when they are oppressed, they defend themselves. Why because if you're oppressed,
and you don't defend yourself, in some capacity, you enable an oppressor to oppress someone else.
And that, in fact, is a greater injustice and cruelty to society as a whole. You don't enable
oppression.
		
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			Alright, which is why even in the case that you showed benevolence, the oppressor has to have the
tools of oppression removed from them.
		
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			That's what Malcolm X was talking about.
		
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			What he found in the deep theology, if you will, of a person having the Liberty if you realize about
Malcolm X, by the way,
		
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			Malcolm never used violence. He never used violence, he never hurt anybody who never used violence.
But Malcolm found it wrong, that we should, as the oppressed people commit to non violence, out of
principle, when those who use violence against us are refusing to commit to it, the burden should be
placed on those who are showing cruelty from a place of power, not those who are being oppressed. So
Malcolm did not was not calling for violence. He never once not even in the Nation of Islam days,
never actually called for violence never said, Go hurt people or go attack people in the streets.
Not one incident of violence can be attributed to Malcolm X, not even him secretly pushing people to
		
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			go do something and the FBI monitored Malcolm X for over 10 years. But what did Malcolm say? I am
all for non violence. But it's wrong to ask us to commit to it. If we choose to commit to it as a
means of strategy, it's different from committing to it as a principle when those who are oppressing
are not committing to that principle. All right. I believe Malcolm was actually right in that
regard. All right.
		
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			Why Allah says when Medina either assawoman, buddy homie and Basilan, above you, homie, unpossible,
those who when they are struck with oppression, they defend themselves. And this is what he says. He
says, what does that say he didn't say to mythical her, Southern Africa will have a Jew who Allah in
the hula, you're humbled by the mean. And a lot then goes on to say, and the retribution for an evil
act is an evil one like it, the retribution for an evil act is an evil one like it, but whoever
parties and instead makes reconciliation, then his reward is from Allah. Indeed, Allah does not love
the oppressors. I'm gonna say that again. Allah says the retribution for evil is an act that is to
		
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			the exact measure an eye for an eye, but the one who pardons and who makes right and chooses
reconciliation instead, let him then depend on a lot for the true reward. A lot does not like the
wrongdoers. Now, what's the what's the what what happens sometimes when you set that standard of
ehsaan what happens is that those who choose retribution sometimes are blamed and looked down upon
which defeats the purpose. So what is the law? Go back to? What do you mean impossible abandon the
good mihika, Ola Kamara, him and Sabine and those who avenge themselves when they are oppressed.
		
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			They have upon them no case for blame. You cannot fault the oppressed when they choose retribution.
You can set a standard of alpha and sand pardon and reconciliation and beauty. But at the same time,
don't fault the person who actually asked for their rights. Okay? And then this is what Allah says,
In Nima subito, Allah Lavina The only moon and NASA We are the owner of the belated happy hula ecola
Hamada. When this is so powerful, he says the blame should be upon those who who oppress people
		
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			and show tyranny upon the earth without rights. So basically shift the blame towards those who
actually oppress, not those who asked for their rights to be fulfilled to them. What happens is that
a lot of times
		
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			A person who is already oppressed is burdened
		
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			by being told, Let it go, let it go, let it go, let it go, let it go, let it go. And if they don't
let it go, then they get the blame and stuff.
		
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			Okay. There's a saying that I think is very powerful. It's not a Hadeeth. It's not a thing. It's it
was a it was a famous speech by Jesse Williams at some award show where he said, if you don't have
an established critique of my oppression, you don't have a right to an opinion on my resistance. If
you don't have an established critique of my oppression, you don't have a right to an opinion on my
resistance. This is exactly how we should approach oppression.
		
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			You put the blame on the oppressor. You put the oppressed in a place where they truly have the right
to retribution or to show a son an excellence. And then when they are truly in that position.
		
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			you promote virtue by saying, should you show benevolence, expect greater benevolence from Allah,
God will show more mercy to you if you choose mercy in that regard, okay. And so it comes back to
this idea once again.
		
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			No justice, no peace, you set the standard of added and then you move on to peace. We said that's
restorative justice. Right? Now I want to and by the way, I'm going to attribute this Imam z check
it actually in his book, scattered pictures. It gets called scatter pictures.
		
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			noms he, he has a book but this is actually a portion of the book where he actually writes about no
justice, no peace. And he and he says somehow some of the scholars mentioned this. So he started he
says the social aspect of Justice has been beautifully summarized by him and ought to be, he says
discussing the relationship between two words that are usually translated as an added justice and a
twist, which is distributive justice. distributive justice locust. locust means distributive
justice. So when a law says obviously to Allah commands you with distributive justice, he says
justice is the basis of all human relations, relations and the foundation of Islamic rule. And
		
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			that's why Allah says in the Quran in chapter 57, verse 25,
		
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			that Verily, We have sent our messengers with clear proofs. And we have revealed onto them the
Scripture and the balance in order that they lead people with justice with this. Okay, so they lead
people with distributive justice, and amendment Malati. May Allah have mercy on him, he continues as
one of the things that reforms worldly affairs is the principle of distributive justice. It
facilitates amicable relations between people and genders, obedience to divine law and brings about
the prosperity of nations. It is the basis of a thriving economy, strong families and stable
government. Nothing devastates the land nor corrupts the mind as quickly as tyranny. That is because
		
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			there are no acceptable limits to regulate tyranny. For this reason, even taymiyah may Allah have
mercy on him sees the responsibilities of Islamic government emanating from a single verse in the
Quran. So I've been Tamia said that the the duty of an Islamic government, if you will, or Islamic
governance structure is what Allah says in certain Aesop, verse 58, that's chapter four, verse 58,
God enjoins you and to add to the Ummah not that you deliver the Trust's to their rightful
possessors, what either How come from being a nurse, and if you are called to judge between people
and tech will be added that you judge with justice. So it starts off with distributive justice
		
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			before restorative justice. What that means is that the duty of a person that's in authority, or in
a position of power, is to try to make sure that everyone is in a fair place first.
		
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			And then restoring justice comes within
		
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			taking things back to their original framework.
		
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			All right. This is why just to frame this in a very practical way or in a very contemporary way,
it's unfair to talk about immigrants coming into the United States without talking about what the
United States has done to the lens that those immigrants flee from.
		
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			You got to start off with what power did to those places and put people in horrible positions. It's
unfair to expect the crime rate to be the exact same level with people in poverty. And people that
are in the top 5%.
		
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			We In fact, do it the opposite. we punish heavier people that are poor and people that have that
find themselves in difficult situations resort to crime, we punish them with a heavier hand right?
		
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			That's why the war on drugs goes after poor people's drugs.
		
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			Otherwise, if we were talking about the opioid crisis or narcotics, the police would be busting down
doors in North Dallas all the time, but it's poor people's drugs and it's a heavier hand with poor
people and punishing. It starts off with distributive justice. That's just, that's what alumni means
when he says, this specific type of justice, then restorative justice, then once you restore
justice, you encourage and promote virtue and benevolence.
		
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			Because if the whole world settled for an eye for an eye, then we'd all be blind, right? So you have
to have a son promoted, virtue promoted, but the end of the day, without added, there can be no
father. Without justice, there can be no benevolence, in the true sense without justice, there can
be no true peace. The very word means Salam means free from injustice. So we ask a lot to grant us
peace in our hearts, allow us to have calm serene, a heart that is free from defect, free from any
fatal flaw, and to allow us to be instruments of justice and instruments of axon of peace We ask
Allah never allows to be in the camp of those who oppress or who are wrong, or show injustice,
		
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			either by our actions or by enabling someone else in the state of