Shakiel Humayun – The Atheists Blunder 3rd Sermon
AI: Summary ©
AI: Transcript ©
Some
atheists
claim
that God does not exist
because they object
to some of God's actions.
They ask,
why does God need
mankind
to follow
His commandments?
And so the blunder here
from these atheists
is in thinking
that God needs mankind
to follow commandments.
Rather,
God has sent
commandments
to humankind
because these commandments
benefit us.
They are a complete
benefit
for mankind.
Every single commandment
is set with a principle
for maximizing
benefit
and removing harm.
And so
we are the ones who need these commandments.
We are the ones
who need this guidance.
Life is complex.
We're not able to figure out at every
juncture of life
what is the right thing to do.
What is the most
beneficial
decision?
What action will allow us
to optimize
the removal of harm?
As our sight is limited,
as our hearing is limited,
so is our intellectual
capability
to analyze
life
in its full scope.
There were people who thought
that it was a good idea
to move in together
as couples
before marriage.
The idea was
that we'll get to know each other.
We'll get to know if we are a
right fit for one another.
Today, research shows
couples who cohabit,
who live together before
marriage
are less
likely to be happy in marriage
and are more likely
to end up in divorce.
Another Stanford study
shows and suggests
that this impacts
woman twice as much.
And we know the commandments in Islam
of fornication
not being permitted,
moving in together before marriage not being permitted.
All of that
is not
allowed because it's based on the principle of
optimizing
benefit and removing harm.
But man,
human beings on their own
may not have the ability
to figure that out
for every juncture
in life.
And so Islam
guides us not just how to on how
to identify
benefits and harm,
Islam also guides us in how to manage
benefits and harm.
Allah said,
Allah said that they ask you about alcohol
and gambling.
The interesting thing here is,
is that Allah could have answered by saying,
it's prohibited,
it's not allowed.
But he didn't.
He laid out what our thought process should
be to analyze
benefits and harm.
So he laid it out and he said
that
in gambling,
in alcohol,
there is great sin,
meaning there's great harm,
and there are benefits for mankind.
So what do we do when we have
a package
that is beneficial and harmful at the same
time? So that trains our thought process
by saying,
But the harm, the sin is greater
than the benefit,
and therefore it's prohibited.
So Islam
looks
at a proper
measure
of benefit and harm.
Fasting
has harms.
We become thirsty.
We become hungry.
We may suffer from fasting headaches.
We may have fatigue.
But these harms when faced with the benefits
that fasting brings such as
the development of willpower.
If you can fast
from dawn to sunset
for 30 days,
you've just
strengthened your willpower,
the ability to be more righteous,
the detox of the body.
So there are spiritual benefits,
physical benefits,
emotional benefits,
health benefits.
And when we look at all these benefits
together and compare it to those
those harms,
the benefits are greater and thus fasting is
prescribed.
The opposite is true
with interest.
Interest
has benefits.
If I lend money to people
and charge interest,
and if it's compounded interest,
I can make a lot of money. That's
a benefit.
But the harm
of it being financial oppression,
it destroying people's lives and homes
is a harm that is greater than the
benefit,
and thus Allah subhanahu has forbade it.
So Allah teaches us throughout
the fiqh. Fiqh is basically a management of
benefit and harm.
The legal rulings are basically
a management of what's benefit for beneficial for
us or harmful for us.
And if we take this further,
we can analyze benefits and harms from different
levels.
In the time of the prophet Muhammad
Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam,
Mu'azzi bin Jabal
used to lead the Isha prayer with his
people.
And one day,
he decided to recite Surat Al Baqah.
Right? The longest chapter of the Quran
in salah.
And then the prophet salallahu alaihi wasallam
told him not to do that. Now there's
a benefit
in reciting Surat Al Baqarah, the longest chapter
of the Quran. Imagine you get 10 good
deeds for every letter that's recited.
The longer the prayer, the more reward you
get. There are so many benefits.
But the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam told them
not to
recite those long chapters of the Quran, but
instead to recite chapters like,
to recite smaller
chapters.
Why?
Because there are
the elderly who join in congregation.
They may be those who are weak,
fatigue, those who may have time constraints and
need to go somewhere after the Isha prayer.
So here the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam
is teaching us to analyze
benefits from a different perspective.
That there may be something that is individually
beneficial
to me,
like Mu'ad bin Jabal Thawat, sutul Baqarah,
is beneficial. He wanted so many more rewards.
But when that individual
benefit
compromises
a public benefit,
I have to sacrifice
that individual
benefit.
So Islam trains us
to manage our emotions.
I can't look at
what is just beneficial
for me.
I have to take into consideration
my community.
I may have
a preference.
I may think that something would work for
me
and my toddler,
or me and my spouse,
or me and my friend.
And it could be a benefit.
But if it compromises
a public benefit,
Islam teaches us
to sacrifice that which requires
management of the emotion,
which requires
discipline of the emotion.
So Islam does not want us to be
people who have outbursts,
to be firecrackers,
people who want their emotion to be
represented in reality,
but rather Islam wants us to be calm
and collected,
and to follow
the principles
of benefit and harm that is managed in
Islam. Not based on my whims or my
desires,
but the benefit and harm
as defined
and laid out
by the maqasid of the sharia, by the
objectives and goals of the sharia, by usool
al fiqh, by the evidences and principles of
legal rulings,
by Al Qawad Al Fiqhiyyah,
by the guidelines and maxims
of legal rulings in Islam.
So if we ever have a question or
if we're ever questioned by anyone,
why is this part of Islam?
Why is this prohibited?
Why do you guys do
this or
perform that commandment?
There are many answers that can be given
but one answer that can be answered
for all
of these types of questions
is
an overarching
wisdom and reason for the for these
commandments and prohibitions.
Is that
we do these commandments. We perform these commandments.
We stay away from these prohibitions
simply because
it optimizes
the benefit for us,
and it removes or reduces harm from us.
That is the answer to every single question
for every legal ruling in Islam.
And to take it deeper on a different
level,
the management of these benefits and harm in
Islam is so amazing.
It's illustrated by the prophet Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi
Wasallam.
When he said to Aisha radiAllahu anha wa
anabiha,
said, oh Aisha,
if it wasn't that your people
had recently
left polytheism,
I would reconstruct
the Kaaba.
So the prophet salallahu alaihi wa sallam wanted
to reconstruct the Kaaba to build it, increase
its length to its original form as built
by Ibrahim alaihi wa sallam.
But here the prophet salallahu alaihi wa sallam
is saying that he would not reconstruct
the Ka'ba because people just left polytheism,
and they may not understand
the sanctity of the Ka'ba that you're allowed
to reconstruct it.
They may not understand
why it's being done, and it may cause
discord, so the prophet sallallahu
alaihi wa sallam did not do it.
And so from this we learn
that we reconstructing
the Kaaba is a sunnah
to do,
and it's a sunnah
not to do.
It's a sunnah to do when the time
is correct and right. And thus, decades later,
Abdullah ibn Zubayratiallahu
anha reconstructed the Kaaba as the prophet sallallahu
alaihi wa sallam wished.
But the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam during
his time did not do it.
So during the prophet sallallahu
alaihi wa sallam's time, it's a sunnah not
to do.
In the time of Abdullah ibn Zubair, it
was a sunnah to do. So the very
same sunnah
at times can be something that should be
done,
and the very same sunnah at times can
be something that should not be done.
And so
we can't take every single sunnah from the
time of the prophet Muhammad sallallahu
alaihi wa sallam
and implant that in our time and say,
this is a benefit,
this is a sunnah, without
looking at the benefit hierarchy
and how it compares to the location,
the time,
the objectives of the Sharia,
and the goals of Islam,
and other factors,
and be hyper focused on one single sunnah,
one benefit,
and drive that,
and
have this,
tunnel vision that this is the sunnah of
the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, so no
one should tell me that I could not
do it.
Because the principle says,
Because the principle is principle is that from
the sunnah,
one is not to do a sunnah
due to an overriding benefit.
So at times, the sunnah is not to
do the sunnah.
And what do these principles
do to us?
They train us to be altruistic.
They train us to be selfless.
It's not about me alone.
It's not about the individual
benefit.
I will sacrifice my preference, what I like
for the greater good,
for the common good, for the public benefit.
And so the blunder of the atheist was
not was was that they did not realize
that every commandment is beneficial for us built
on optimizing benefit and removing harm.
And it will be our blunder
that if we don't manage these benefits and
harms
as described by Islam
with these beautiful principles and guidelines,
and if we do
manage them
properly,
then our lives will become better.
Our relationships
with our families, with our communities will become
better.
We will start to have
a series
of right decisions being made based on these
principles. Now you're increasing benefit in your life.
And our life will become more productive
and more
successful.