Suhaib Webb – Guidance On Boycotts

Suhaib Webb
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The speaker discusses the importance of acknowledging the obligations of the creator to remove harm and establish justice for Muslims. They explain that boycotts are a means to establish the obligation to remove harm and establish justice, and that it is an obligation based on one's ability. The speaker also provides examples of actions taken by the creator, including boycotts and the Hayid-ratty community.

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			I was asked about the ruling on boycotts,
		
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			and then I was asked based on what
		
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			someone saw a TikTok provider share,
		
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			the
		
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			idea that a boycott can only happen through
		
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			the permission
		
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			of the Hakim, the Muslim ruler. So I'll
		
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			divide this answer into 5 or 6 parts.
		
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			Pay attention. And I want to also
		
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			remind people who are giving fatwa that haven't
		
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			been trained in fatwa
		
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			that Allah
		
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			commands us clearly in the Quran not to
		
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			speak about what we don't know. Well, we
		
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			ask Allah
		
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			Ta'ala. 1st and foremost,
		
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			Allah
		
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			in the Quran and through the sunnah of
		
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			the prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam has layered so
		
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			many different texts and ideas and acts of
		
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			worship
		
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			with the idea of removing harm. Imam al
		
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			Shaltabi and al Muwaffakat
		
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			begins his discussion
		
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			noting that that kind of inference actually leads
		
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			to Tawatul Ma'anawi,
		
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			that it's so apparent in the Quran that
		
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			it's Tawatul from the Quran and Tawatul from
		
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			the Sunnah
		
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			that we have to remove anything that causes
		
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			harm. That's why Siri Abdi Laha says
		
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			that anything that comes causes harm should be
		
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			removed.
		
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			Secondly, because removing harm is an obligation upon
		
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			Muslims,
		
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			we know that obligations are based on ability,
		
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			based on the hadith of Abu Hurayrah
		
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			What I commanded you to do, do it
		
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			to the best of your ability. Therefore,
		
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			for the weak, the downtrodden,
		
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			those who have been abandoned, those who have
		
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			very little power, the only way that they
		
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			contribute to removing harm and establishing just establishing
		
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			justice are through their means that they have
		
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			control over. And one of those means is
		
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			a boycott. So
		
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			boycotting, say, Israel, boycotting American goods that are
		
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			contributing
		
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			to the genocide in Gaza is a means
		
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			to establish the obligation to remove harm and
		
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			also the obligation to establish justice so therefore
		
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			we see whatever
		
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			allows us to to complete an obligation becomes
		
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			an obligation. Therefore, the boycott, its ruling is
		
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			that it is obligatory
		
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			based on ability. In fact, some scholars say,
		
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			Aqal,
		
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			the the the lowest wajib we can do
		
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			is something like a boycott.
		
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			The third is the idea that
		
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			boycotts never happened in the time of the
		
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			prophet,
		
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			but we find through qiyas and inference a
		
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			number of texts that illustrate that. And I
		
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			may talk about that on a YouTube post
		
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			in the future because of time but for
		
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			example, Thumama when he embraced al Islam, Sayyidina
		
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			Thumama when
		
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			he embraced Islam
		
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			after he accepted Islam he he went to
		
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			Mecca to observe,
		
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			the rights of worship and then he said,
		
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			I'm going to cut off all of the
		
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			goods
		
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			coming to Mecca, even like a seed will
		
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			not come to Mecca.
		
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			He did this on his own without asking
		
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			the Messenger of Allah salallahu alaihi wasalam. So
		
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			what we understand from that is that it
		
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			is allowed to boycott or engage in an
		
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			economic boycott without seeking permission of the hakim
		
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			because Sayyidina Thummama he would have asked the
		
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			Messenger of Allah SAW before he did it
		
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			and when the Messenger of Allah found out
		
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			that he did that he did not rebuke
		
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			him for it. And we have a very
		
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			important principle when the prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam
		
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			stays silent in front of something and when
		
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			the Quran stays silent in front of something,
		
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			it stays permissible and that permissibility can become
		
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			obligatory
		
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			as I explained earlier.
		
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			Also, what he did is a form of
		
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			boycott. So,
		
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			a form of analogy as Al Baidji says
		
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			that you have this relationship between what he
		
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			did in the idea of an economic boycott
		
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			to punish those who are harming and trying
		
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			to create
		
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			a death and destruction for the Muslim Ummah.
		
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			So here I think were 4 points,
		
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			that I wanted to make on this issue.
		
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			Number 1, the establishment of justice and removing
		
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			harm is an obligation upon Muslims.
		
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			As is commanded in the Quran.
		
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			Allah says be just as closer to Taqwa
		
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			and the only means for the weak and
		
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			downtrodden and abandoned to establish justice
		
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			according to their ability. One of those means
		
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			is a boycott.
		
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			Number 3, we took the hadith of Sayyidina
		
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			Thul Ma'am, which is related by al Bukhari
		
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			and ima, Muslim radhiallahu anhuuma.
		
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			That shows that he did 2 things. Number
		
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			1, he boycotted
		
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			goods to Mecca as a means of descent.
		
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			And then secondly, he did not seek the
		
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			permission of the messenger of Allah salallahu alayhi
		
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			sallam and the messenger of Allah alayhi sallam
		
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			did not rebuke him for doing so. So
		
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			therefore, we see the evidences for the boycott
		
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			being a person's individual choice. I personally believe
		
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			it's an obligation based on one's ability. I
		
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			hope that helps.
		
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			And
		
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			my apologies for taking too much of your
		
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			time. We ask Allah to bless the people
		
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			of Waza. We ask Allah to help the
		
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			people in Palestine. We ask Allah to help
		
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			those in Sudan and Kashmir and all over
		
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			the world where the oppression is happening. And
		
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			may Allah make us allies of the Haqq
		
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			and on the right side of history. Assalamu
		
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			alaikum.