Sadullah Khan – 2nd Post Witr Talk Ramadaan 1444 2023

We commence our theme

for the blessed month of Ramadan,

and we continue

moral guidance for everyday experiences.

There is an incident

documented in the Judaic Midrash

where it is said that a group of

people were traveling in a small boat.

1 of them took a drill

to make a hole beneath his seat, a

hole into the floor

of the boat.

And his companions were concerned and said, what

are you doing?

And why are you doing what you are

doing?

And the man said, it's not your business,

none of your concern.

I'm drilling under my seat, not under yours.

This attitude

is increasingly common

in our self indulgent world

where there's so much focus

on personal rights

rather than on moral responsibility.

So much emphasis

on individual freedom,

freedom to choose our actions,

rather than awareness

of the consequence

and the social consequence

of our deeds.

Now in the Arabic language, this notion of

freedom or,

the word translates as free but also as

honorable or noble in a way.

And therefore, the notion of freedom

is also linked to the notion of honorability

in Islam.

Freedom does not exist in a vacuum.

They do not function

without limits.

Freedom also has both a positive

and negative aspect,

and it includes the freedom to do something

as well as the freedom to avoid doing

something. Now,

there is something referred to as the harm

principle, the harm principle.

People are free to act

as they wish,

provided that the action does not cause harm

to other people.

You see, there's a saying,

you have a positive right to move your

hands,

but I also have a negative right not

to be hurt.

Or jokingly, they say, you have the freedom

to swing your first,

but your freedom to swing your first ends

where my nose begins.

So for us as human beings, as

as the best of Allah's creation by the

words of Allah himself,

human beings are ethical beings with moral intelligence,

and this is very important.

We are ethical beings with moral intelligence.

And freedom in Islam

means freedom to do good,

not freedom

just to do anything.

Freedom in Islam

is not freedom from moral obligation.

Freedom from

though I have the capacity and the ability

to choose to do so, but if I

say freedom in Islam, it does not include

my right or my freedom to be able

to do so.

In Islam,

there's a promotion of responsible freedom,

a type of freedom that

protects the other, a type of freedom that

benefits the other. And that's why in hadith

by Imam Al Bayhaki,

Rasoolullah said the famous words

All the creation are part of those who

are dependent upon Allah. And of all the

dependence of Allah,

the best of you are those who are

best to the rest of Allah's dependence. Whether

it be human beings or plants or whatever

it may be, you are an instrument of

goodness and an agent of goodness.

If we look at the world around us,

let's look at the idea of drilling a

hole into a boat which can sink.

The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment

consisting of 1300

researchers

from 95 countries,

did a study over a 4 year period.

And they found that the human abuse of

environment

through pollution,

through deforestation,

through indiscriminate

exploitation of resources

has caused irreversible

change.

Global warming is only one of it. Has

caused irreversible change that are degrading

the natural process that support life on earth.

And this will impact

our livelihood,

impact the rate of hunger,

increase the rate of poverty,

and, of course, affect

health care and the health of human beings.

The World Conversation the World Conservation Union, in

their latest reports,

said the way human beings are allowing the

earth to be treated

by

2030

5, they expect that 25%

of mammals,

20% of reptiles,

11%

of bird species,

34% of fish,

and 13% of all plant species

may fame may phase some form of extinction

or are threatened with permanent extinction.

You see, all it takes for evil, for

corruption, for danger to thrive is for good

people to allow others. Let them drill their

hole. It's their business.

Now Now this story which we find in

the Jewish tradition of the Midrash is more

detailed in the hadith of

al Imam al Bukhari. Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wa

sallam said,

people on a ship

is upper level and lower

level, and the people in the lower level

wanted easier access to water.

So they thought

instead of going upstairs for the water, let's

go,

and get the water from the

sea itself.

And then the Rasul said,

if you had left those people downstairs

to drill the hole,

they would have drowned and you would have

drowned.

And if you prevented them from their drilling

that hole at the bottom of the boat,

they would have been saved,

and you would have been saved.

The moral guidance we gain from all of

this

is to be aware of the consequence of

the actions of ourselves

and the actions of other people, the consequence

of actions.

And to realize that if we allow

inconsiderate

people to drill a hole in the boat

of society,

the entire community may drown.

Let us not become

passive victims

of what we allow to happen in our

society.