Shadee Elmasry – American Muslims- Left or Right Alliance

Shadee Elmasry
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The importance of alliances and peace in Islam is discussed, along with the need for constant harm benefit analysis. The role of Islamic scholarship and leadership in protecting Islam is emphasized, along with the importance of evaluating the consequences of actions and cautioning against being too optimistic. The speaker also warns of the danger of false and incorrect fataways and the need for constant harm analysis. The speaker emphasizes the importance of mentality and results in decision making, and cautions against being too optimistic.

AI: Summary ©

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			Should Muslims have alliances or not? And,
		
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			I've always been against any alliances.
		
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			When people talk about the Muslims
		
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			align with the left,
		
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			Muslims align with the right,
		
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			I tend to think it's mostly an imagination
		
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			because you don't have what what are you
		
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			offering?
		
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			Neither do we have a massive voting block,
		
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			let's say, here in America. England. Yeah. Right?
		
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			Neither do we have a lot of money.
		
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			So is this alliance in your head?
		
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			Is it just like something you talk about?
		
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			And the reach is one way. The discussion
		
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			is one way. No no one on that
		
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			side is catering and trying to have an
		
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			alliance with our community. So when we talk
		
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			about this, I really respect an article written
		
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			by Sheikh Mateen Khan.
		
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			Sheikh Mateen Khan is one of our neighbors
		
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			in the area, and he teaches Hanafi, and
		
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			him and I do programs.
		
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			So he says, Islam and Muslims have a
		
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			long history in America and are very much
		
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			part of the legacy of the United States.
		
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			Muslims and non Muslims have worked together, lived
		
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			together, played together. We have constructed institutions of
		
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			peace and have even fought wars together. I
		
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			would say Muslims have been involved in these
		
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			things more so than
		
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			done it all together, like, as if we're,
		
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			a significant social and political body, which I
		
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			don't think that we are in the United
		
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			States, at least in England yet, maybe.
		
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			This involves collaboration with groups whose values and
		
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			teachings may be in direct opposition to Islamic
		
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			ethics, morality code, Sharia, etcetera.
		
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			So this article attempts to guide Muslim leaders
		
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			at all levels and the general Muslim public
		
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			at large in a direction with which benefits
		
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			the national interest
		
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			and protects
		
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			Islam.
		
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			Alright. Let's take a look at the. So
		
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			the first thing, there are conditions in Islam,
		
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			but ultimately,
		
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			this subject matter is.
		
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			When do I make a deal with another
		
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			group of people?
		
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			If the deal
		
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			entails,
		
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			something forbidden in Islam, then we don't need
		
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			a discussion. We know that that's unlawful.
		
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			Right?
		
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			But if it doesn't,
		
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			but I'm getting cozy with a group that
		
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			does other bad things
		
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			or un Islamic things. That's an itchy, heavy
		
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			matter. You're really just weighing
		
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			right and wrong, and you may have ultimately
		
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			at the the worst case scenario is you
		
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			believe that person is upon a misguided error,
		
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			not sinful.
		
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			Right? You take it to this is an
		
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			error of of judgment, and it could lead
		
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			to harms in the future.
		
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			Speculation.
		
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			That's all speculation.
		
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			Right?
		
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			So he says here that
		
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			we cannot be swept up in the euphoria
		
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			of nationalism
		
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			or anti establishment rhetoric
		
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			by simply following the masses
		
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			or the words of a dynamic speaker.
		
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			After the prophet's migration,
		
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			jurisprudence, and state legislation were unified under his
		
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			guidance and the guidance of.
		
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			However, since this time, the 2 have been
		
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			separated. Islamic scholarship
		
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			is has been engaged in a process of
		
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			risk management
		
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			and the defense of Islam.
		
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			Our main priority as Muslims is to be
		
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			able to live, worship, and live our lives
		
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			in a way pleasing to Allah,
		
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			and every Muslim by necessity believes that Allah
		
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			has guided us solely for our benefit.
		
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			Alright. So the role of Islamic scholarship and
		
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			leadership has been and continues to be charting
		
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			a course that defends normative Islam through constant
		
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			harm benefit analysis.
		
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			And it's been a long time that the
		
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			leaders of the of of of nations
		
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			and
		
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			Islamic Scholarships who care about the Quran have
		
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			been separate.
		
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			Right? Somebody once asked me recently,
		
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			why is it that all the operate
		
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			by calculation
		
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			if there is, but yet all the,
		
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			all the
		
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			all the Islamic
		
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			seminaries,
		
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			they all uphold moon sighting.
		
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			Like, by the book,
		
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			the argument
		
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			it it moonsighting is the default,
		
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			and these other ideas are fatawa.
		
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			Right?
		
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			And many, many, many scholars deem these fatawa
		
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			to be
		
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			false fataw, incorrect fataw.
		
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			It's a fataw, but it's it could be
		
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			right and wrong, and they deem it to
		
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			be wrong.
		
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			Well, the answer is that Masajid aren't even
		
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			run by even the Masajid are not run
		
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			by scholars. It's crazy.
		
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			Like, their executive
		
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			power of the the scholarly class in the
		
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			Ummah has shrunk
		
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			so much
		
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			that they do not even run the Masajid
		
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			anymore.
		
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			They may run their Zawiya
		
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			or their institutions
		
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			or their.
		
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			They don't even run the Masajid.
		
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			Right? And even in Islamic countries, when they
		
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			do, it's with orders.
		
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			So
		
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			whenever Masajid are now run by predominantly run
		
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			by admins administrators.
		
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			They run Masajid, not, scholars may have more
		
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			or less input
		
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			in Masajid, and Sheikh Amin runs his from
		
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			top to bottom. I mean, Mohammed in Atlantic
		
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			City.
		
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			Hamdulah, MBIC gives me a lot of space,
		
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			but, ultimately,
		
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			the vast majority
		
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			of
		
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			Masajid are just run by admins.
		
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			An admin, you can't expect him to know
		
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			the difference between a Fethullah and a ruling
		
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			and what what is the dominant opinion of
		
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			the scholars about on a Fethullah? They're not
		
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			gonna know that. They they're not can't be
		
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			expected to know that.
		
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			It's like if I ran a hospital
		
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			right?
		
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			If I ran a hospital, I've never been
		
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			through and through in the
		
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			with doctors in the field of medicine
		
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			in a way that would
		
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			satisfy another doctor. So I'm gonna make decisions
		
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			that,
		
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			just make sense to me personally,
		
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			and that will send a lot of doc
		
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			it's gonna be pragmatics.
		
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			Docs would be going crazy.
		
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			So whenever
		
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			collaboration with another group is suggested,
		
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			you have to judge
		
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			the harm and the benefit.
		
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			Alright.
		
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			The if there is some formal agreement, that
		
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			formal agreement cannot possess anything forbidden in it.
		
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			I would go even further than that, and
		
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			I would say that it's extremely
		
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			you gotta be extremely cautious even about,
		
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			I'd be extremely cautious even about sentiment
		
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			with these groups.
		
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			Showing favorable sentiment
		
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			to the right or the left or some
		
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			other group.
		
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			If you're a scholar,
		
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			if you're a leader,
		
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			your one favorable sentiment is gonna sway a
		
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			lot of people. Right?
		
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			And
		
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			then they start to soften towards
		
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			those ideas.
		
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			And I think most people, generally people in
		
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			general, tend to be
		
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			sort of like one group.
		
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			Like, they'll take the whole thing or leave
		
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			the whole thing. Very few people can etch
		
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			out. Yeah. I agree with this, but not
		
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			this.
		
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			I like what he says here, but I'm
		
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			not like most people don't do this. They
		
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			either accept him or reject.
		
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			So that you gotta keep in mind that
		
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			mentality of, of, of the people you're talking
		
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			to as well.
		
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			So he says for this, we turn to
		
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			the legal maxim,
		
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			The prevention of harm precedes the attainment of
		
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			benefits.
		
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			This particular maxim is extrapolated among other things
		
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			from the prophetic hadith. If I forbid you
		
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			to do something, then keep away from it.
		
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			If I order you to do something, do
		
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			as much of it as you can.
		
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			It is based on this maxim, for example,
		
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			that Muslims are not permitted to to make
		
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			beneficial changes to their property that might cause
		
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			harm to their neighbor.
		
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			Some benefits me, but harms my neighbor. For
		
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			example, another example of those, I can't lower
		
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			my prices
		
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			so much
		
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			in order to benefit the community
		
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			in a manner that would put my neighbor
		
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			out of business.
		
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			And then, for example, in the old days,
		
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			you used to have,
		
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			all the juicers in one area, all the
		
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			butchers that makes life easy for everybody if
		
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			they could compare all the meat or compare
		
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			all the clothes in one area. So it's
		
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			actually we're taught in
		
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			that you're not allowed to lower your prices
		
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			even to benefit society the the people
		
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			if that would cause your neighbor to go
		
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			out of business
		
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			even if you just wanna be charitable. So
		
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			that's a halal thing that you're doing that
		
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			looks good on the outside, but it harms
		
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			somebody else.
		
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			And even if it benefits,
		
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			a hundred people in their single transaction of
		
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			buying the meat, but it destroys another person's
		
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			full livelihood and livelihood is over a transaction.
		
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			Right? Livelihood is more important. So
		
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			we don't judge in Islam
		
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			you you're, a thing just by the intent
		
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			nor by the immediate image of what it
		
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			is. It's also judged
		
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			by the clear,
		
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			result that it's having.
		
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			Now if the result is speculative
		
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			and we don't know, then that's different. But
		
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			it's always good to review this and to
		
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			to to look at these of.