Sadullah Khan – 2nd Post Witr Talk Ramadaan 1444 2023
AI: Summary ©
The speaker discusses the concept of freedom in Islam, which is linked to honorability and the harm principle. They also mention the harm principle, which is the promotion of responsible freedom to do things as desired, but not to cause harm to others. The speaker emphasizes the importance of being aware of the consequences of actions and the consequences of others in the context of human beings and global warming.
AI: Summary ©
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.