Suhaib Webb – The Greater Good Gleanings From alQawai’d alSughra of alIzi alDin ‘Abd alSalam (part one)
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Bismillah Alhamdulillah. O salaat wa salaamu alaasi alaayhi
wa alshabihi
wamanwala.
I hope I hope everybody is doing good.
I hope everybody is okay, not overwhelmed. I
know I know sometimes Fridays can be tough,
and and,
you know, we're a little bit
exhausted,
so to speak.
So we ask Allah
to facilitate
and make things easier for each and every
one of us. Inshallah.
So we're gonna start now. I'm gonna read
his text in Arabic and then translate it,
Inshallah.
And, we'll have some some discussions, hopefully, well
warranted, and we should finish around 8:50,
8:45,
if there's any questions, Insha'Allah. And then tomorrow.
I don't think we'll take 4 hours. That
may be
exhausting
for people, but we'll see
how people how people feel.
So again, let's kind of contextualize.
We're talking here about what are known what's
known as Al Masalih.
Maslaha means a benefit.
And Islam
divides these benefits into 2.
What's related to the hereafter
and what's related to this life.
So
and And we're now going to read,
perhaps maybe for the first time,
that I know of,
the text is going to see
English.
So bear with me also
as I try to stumble
through this with you Insha'Allah.
Is really an incredible scholar,
a person of incredible principle,
who while he was in Egypt
became so frustrated with the mamalik,
who were at that time
ruling Egypt. Mamalik means slaves.
So he said to them you know
you're still designated of course, we have to
put this in the context of where we
are now.
He said, you guys are still designated as
slaves so how can you be the sultans
of Egypt? I'm leaving.
So he started to leave Cairo.
And as he was leaving,
the governor of Cairo who was Mamlik
came to him and said,
take me to the market and purchase my
freedom
if that'll make you stay.
So
he went to the market with the aristocracy
and he bought their freedom,
and then he sold their freedom if you
will. So his nickname is Bay'ol Mamalik,
and that was because they were very corrupted.
So throughout his life,
he's a person who took, like, principled stances.
It's very rare today to find people like
this.
Sheikh Sadeq Alokhayani in Libya
is someone who's taken principled stances.
May Allah protect
him.
He says
So he begins his discussion
talabi almihifidaraim.
He says in clarifying what is maslaha
and what is mafasid,
right.
Musaleh, you know, like Amil Usaleh Hat, the
same word. Amil Usaleh Hat righteous deeds.
So Al Musaleh are those things that are
going to bring good into society and good
into our lives.
And mafasid are those things that are corrupting
agents
that bring corruption.
He says
This is actually one of the major axioms
of Islamic law
but he's just writing it. He says
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
sent
prophets
and messengers
and revealed
books.
To establish
what's good in this life
and good in the hereafter
and to protect
from anything that would corrupt them.
And one of the things that we can
gain from reading a text like this, I
mean, Izzie ad Din 'Abdu Salaam
lived in the 7th century
after Hijri. He dies around 660.
One of the things that we get from
this is that we are now forced to
address
the furnishings of postmodernity
coupled with this gumbo of Eurocentrism
that Islam is backwards,
that religion is incapable,
and that in particular Muslims lack the sophistication
to be what we would consider domesticated
for modern life.
But when we run into this ancestor
who's breaking it down like this,
suddenly we're like,
wow, man, we were some amazing freaking people,
man.
Like, We
had some incredible people in our community, and
we still do,
So I also feel that studying
classical text is somewhat therapeutic.
And it's important to note that Isaiah al
Din al Salam is a Sufi.
Like, he was
a jurist,
was a brilliant theologian,
he was a political activist,
he stood against a corrupted government,
and he's Sufi.
So he said Allah
Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala sent prophets
and revealed text
to establish good in this life and the
next. Can anyone here think of a famous
dua that we all learned
that teaches us to seek good in this
life and the next life?
Anyone know that dua that would support this
idea?
Exactly. Exactly. Right?
Okay. Now
if anyone can even type the dua in
the box for people, I'm sure they would
appreciate it. Right? Our lord give us good
in this life and give us good in
the next.
We have a very beautiful statement
that says
that you should seek Dunya in a way
that it doesn't harm your
hereafter.
And seek the hereafter in a way that
doesn't harm your dunya.
SubhanAllah.
Yeah. But mysticism, najneen would be kind of
a Barnes and Nobili type term. You know,
Sufism tends to be married at the hip
with Islamic law.
But the kind of gentrified
form of Sufism is one that has
untethered itself from law,
but early Sufis, someone like him
are going to see that Sufism has to
be
shine through the door of Muhammad salallahu alaihi
wa sallam.
Thank you Busra.
Then he says
then he begins to define what is called
and means pleasure.
So so the meaning of
in in language
is pleasure.
Or something that leads to pleasure.
Or happiness.
Right?
Or something that causes happiness.
Masha Allah, here you can see the expanding
idea
And also if you think about what he's
saying,
he's not only saying that Maslaha
is found in the observance of religious liturgy,
But Maslah is also
how people feel in our community.
Do Muslims feel happy
as Muslims?
Do Muslims feel
happiness
around one another?
A young woman that has to go to
a mosque and ask herself, I wonder if
they have a place for me even to
pray.
Are we achieving the maslaha for her?
Are we now organizing as a community
to ensure that she experienced Ladha wal Farha?
So now you can see why we're reading
this book, man.
Because it's not simply about, oh, this is
so cool. There's like this Sufi guy and
he's a legal theorist and he wrote about
maslaha.
Maslaha is a man
mandate that makes sure
not only am I worshiping Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala,
but that I make sure people in the
Ummah
find value in this.
So he defines it, he says,
and this, of course, is a legal definition.
So Maslaha means pleasure.
Or what leads to that pleasure. So now
think about the policies in masjids or the
policies in Islamic centers.
Or what happened for example in a masjid
a few years ago in New York City,
where during Taraweeh,
an individual got up, started yelling at the
women, telling them that that their problem, telling
them that they shouldn't be in the mosque.
If we just take this definition
that is happiness and pleasure in what leads
to it.
If someone is truly thinking about Iqamat al
maslaha,
establishing the religious
benefit in the lives of people,
would they eliminate
the structures that cause pain in the Ummah?
Absolutely.
So as I said earlier,
the experience of you reading this text with
me should be one that dilates you
in a positive way.
And feel free to differ with me even
though I'm right.
I'm just joking.
I'm just joking.
Then it says walmafsada
a corrupter
is pain,
is pain.
So the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam
Siri Abdul
Abdul Salam is saying
is pain or what leads to it or
causes it.
Or depression and anxiety
or what causes it. Now here he's not
talking about of course,
issues of mental health, he's talking about things
that cause this,
Right? Things that make this happen.
And he says the sharia
doesn't differentiate between
small maslaha
and great maslaha
and small masada and great masada, meaning
it defines them as such. It it differentiates
from them in the sense of like approach.
Right? Like you you may find someone doing
something wrong. If you stop them, it creates
a greater wrong so you don't stop them
like the guy who urinated in the prophet's
mosque.
But what he means here is it's designation
as this is Maslaha,
this is Maslah.
So he says that's why, you know, you
have this statement.
Whoever does Adam's weight of good will see
it. Whoever does Adam's weight of evil will
see it.
And Adam or what's greater than that.
He said, Allah commands us to try to
be excellent in all things that we do.
Every good is considered a charity.
And to say a good word is charity.
And to meet someone
while you're smiling
is and to remove something from the road
or to help someone in the road
is Maslaha.
So here we see
Abu Salam
expands the beneficial maslaha
to the most insignificant acts of good,
to the greatest acts of good.
And the same thing for evil.
He says Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
has encouraged us
to seek
and to work for what is going to
be good for our hereafter.
Those people who do good, who have faith
and do good deeds,
they are going
to experience Jannah in the Hereafter
and delight.
Allah says
that the rewards of Allah are better for
those who believe
and do good.
Who believes and does good will not fear
or have anxiety
in the hereafter.
Those who work hard to be devout to
us, we will guide them.
Allah says this is the paradise which you
have inherited because of how you lived your
lives.
So of course Islam frames
the maslaha of the hereafter,
achieving good in the hereafter for ourselves
and others
as a priority.
And he says Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala does
this by praising
the acts which lead
to pleasure and happiness in the hereafter.
Praising the one who does those acts
and what he has established for the beautiful
awards
for those who do those acts
and the gifts that he will give them.
And the same thing applies to doing mafasid
which will harm our hereafter.
That Allah
shames those people, it denounces those people,
mentions punishment,
the opposite of
the opposite of pleasure and Farha
awaits such people in thereafter.
He says in the Quran,
you find synonyms
for the word maslaha and maaf maslaha. Again,
what does maslaha mean if someone can type
it for people?
Good or benefits.
What does maslaha mean? Evil,
right, or corruptors.
So he says
Thank you, Sabrina.
He says that in the Quran, Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala uses different words to talk about
this concept
of Maslaha and masala.
So for example, something which is beloved, something
which is loved by God and the messenger
is maslaha.
Something which is repulsive is
makru
is mafsarah.
Something which is called hasanat is understood to
be maslaha.
What's called sayyat is understood to be maslah
evil. Hasanat is like a good deed. Sayyat
is a bad deed,
and so on and so forth.
Then he mentioned something really interesting as a
side point.
Yeah. Yeah. It means it means, of course,
in this context, Safia more than the,
kinda standard Arabic idea. Right? Self interest.
Maslaha here means
what is going to bring the good
in your life and others, like in a
broader way.
But in and not even in colloquial Arabic.
Right?
In what is good for me?
Thank you for sharing.
He says and
out of etiquette
He said out of etiquette,
we should never talk about acts of worship,
even if they're difficult
with words
that imply they're
manifested.
It's like really nice.
Here he's making kind of a side point.
He says, out of etiquette,
right, since we now introduced, like, here's the
word here's the word here's the synonyms for
each. He
says,
He says that, you know, when you talk
about worship,
if it's hard or difficult,
you should not
use words that would imply that act of
worship is a masat,
is evil or bad.
So like Ayuzu Billah, Ramadan is coming. You
know sometimes we hear people talking about Ramadan,
Ayuzu Billah,
like I heard someone say like man, I
hate when Ramadan starts
'Ozbillah'. You know, or like prayers just like
such a prayer
is just like so bad for me. No,
Let's not add up.
Actually,
mafsada, its root is fasada.
Fasada,
what's called mastarmimi?
And masari is called mastarmimi, but I don't
want to make it too hard for people
here.
He said even though
Even though Jannah is surrounded by difficulties, right,
and hardships, like you know, we have to
be very, very careful. He's sorry. He says,
He says, you know, out of etiquette, you
should never talk about acts of worship and
devotion
in with words that imply like it's it's
bad. And you should not talk about evil
and sin with words that imply it's good.
It's like nice.
Then he goes into a very important discussion.
He says,
That
causing benefit
and preventing harm
has different types,
different types of intensity,
different types of
different parts, if you will.
But I don't like the word parts even
though he used the word aksam
because the implication here is
different levels.
So now what he's going to introduce to
you after talking about kind of the purpose
of Islam and Sharia
and then, you know, the idea of Maslaha
and Masala, Aladdha wal Aram
you know, pleasure or pain and what causes
them.
And then talking about how Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala
has divided this into those which are related
to this world and those which are related
to the hereafter and then encourage us to
make you know the Maslaha of the hereafter
our focus. Because if I believe that the
Maslaha of the dunya
are greater than the maslaha of the hereafter,
this is where I'm gonna disobey Allah.
But if I know that the good in
the hereafter
far outweighs
this world
then I'm going to be able to maintain
focus
and balance. You can see kind of where
this is headed.
Now he's gonna talk about the different types
of maslaha
is with
in the context of this life and the
next life.
And he says,
the first is called
a Necessity.
A Necessity.
Imam al Shatibi says,
Imam Shaltabi says that Masari, which are necessities,
are those which we cannot live without.
Life will cease.
So without them, we die.
Or without them, religion won't be able to
function.
So this is called
For example, food,
that's why Islam allows you to eat pork
if you're gonna die.
We have a great axiom in Islamic law
that says if somebody is facing necessity, they're
allowed to engage in the forbidden.
So the first type of maslaha
is conditioned
on the existence of the things I need
intrinsically
to function.
Whether physically,
emotionally,
psychologically
and then related to religion.
So for example in religion that's why Imam
Asuti said every city has to have one
mufti because without a mufti it's farbulkifaya.
How can people live?
How would I know? It'll be complete chaos
like we see now.
People don't respect the people of knowledge anymore.
They just run over them.
That's why there's this hadith, it's not strong,
it says the Ummah will treat its ulama
like Bani Israel treated his prophets. Ola, it's
true.
So scholarship
is a necessity.
Masajid,
to
have a masjid,
to have a mu'ad then these are necessities
for people to function in their religious life.
So number 1
is the thing that we have to have
in our lives,
like our health.
The second is called al *,
and the Hajji means a need.
Something that I could live without it but
it would make life better.
For example, like air condition
or have a nice carpet in the masjid,
hadi, hadi, yet.
And the last is called tahsinet
al takmilli, which means I don't have to
have it, you don't have to have it,
but you know it just kind of makes
things
perfect.
The cherry on the ice cream.
So the sheikh is saying that the
the benefits of this life and the next
are resting
on these
three kind of foundational things. What's a necessity
for me to experience happiness?
What's a necessity
for me to be able to
work on my hereafter,
what's not a necessity but may make my
life better,
make my worship better but not a necessity,
and then finally,
you know, like rubber socks. I don't have
to have rubber socks,
but mashallah be nice.
And then he begins to explain them. He
says,
He said the first thing that you want
to have in front of you individually
before we start to talk about the public
good we have to talk about the individual
good. The first thing that has to be
in front of you
is what is a necessity for you to
experience pleasure in the Hereafter,
and that is
establishing the obligations
and avoiding wata haram.
And if you think about what the Sheikh
is saying, you can see the intersection
of his legal training with his tasawwuf.
So he says
that
the necessity
related to the Hereafter
is obeying
This
is establishing
the mandatory
acts
and leaving the Haram.
So if you think about what we're doing
today through this kind of journey through Islamic
legal philosophy
as you start to encounter some of the
fitna in the currents
of the western world,
you'll remember
that the necessity is obeying Allah
for the hereafter.
My laddah, my farha,
my happiness, my pleasure
ultimately in the hereafter is in obeying Allah.
And he says the
second type of maslaha related to the hereafter
is observing the sunnah.
Right.
So isha is Duroori.
The 2 raka after or 4 raka after
isha.
*. And he also talks about
And what that means is the signs and
representations
of the sacred
in our lives
because that's going to if we're if we're
furnished with the reminders of the sacred around
us it's going to encourage us to be
better. Alhamdulillah.
But you could enter *,
you could enter heaven, right, without praying
the
Perhaps.
But you can improve your Jannah. I can
improve my Jannah, insha Allah,
by praying them.
What that means are those things which the
prophet salallahu alaihi wa sallam encouraged us to
do but without emphasis.
For example, according
to most of the ulama,
having someone write the contract is considered.
We're gonna talk about it later on. They're
gonna say no. No. For the, how you
have to write the contract down? Of course,
now you have state law that governs this.
But that's Takmili.
Says examples of
necessities related to your worldly life are food
and drink,
shelter,
clothing, and he mentions nikah. Although there's a
difference of opinion about this, but what he
means is like if nobody gets married and
nobody has kids, right,
Civilization would cease. We could also add to
this healthcare.
Okay.
What just happened?
Where did we just go now? Isn't that
a public policy issue right now? Isn't there
a public health crisis in America?
What does
how does that help inform us about things
like
health care,
education.
Why would some Muslim stop girls from going
to schools
if knowledge is one of the So
now we can see that what we're getting
here briefly tonight, and of course this is
introductory
class. Right?
Is something that's gonna allow you to evaluate
at a broader level
the policy actions of Muslim states, Muslim actors,
and even Muslim groups or Muslim organizations
or Muslim centers,
Muslim leaders,
or yourself.
He says, and those things which are like
think about this in the lens of predatory
capitalism.
He says that the lowest level
of
related to dunya
are things like a huge house.
Great tasting
food,
amazing tasting drinks.
If we look at predatory capitalism,
we can see that Islam and the west
don't get along.
Because this is a priority,
it ain't about having a fat crib,
caviar,
a Bugatti,
and a 75,000
inch flat screen television.
That's Takmidi.
What comes first?
What comes last?
The crib.
It doesn't mean those things are bad either.
That's not what he's saying. What he's saying
is,
what are
my and your
priorities
in the shade of Islamic law.
That's all he's saying.
So one of the things that I like
to do when we read this part is,
do I treat what's like a necessity as
a necessity?
Absolutely, but of course, Sabrina, I'm not talking
to the whole world. I'm living in the
West. So
I'm very careful
and I appreciate you asking that to speak
to where I'm at.
I don't like to speak about things I'm
not
aware of.
But if we look at the history of
the economy,
and we look at the destruction of the
walk system
by the West.
The bankrupting of the wakk system in the
Muslim world.
Thanks, Bushra.
There is certainly
something to be said about
the aggressive
economic policies.
Just look at Iran.
That, you know, the west
engages in
to suffocate people.
We had to create their own vaccine because
they couldn't purchase vaccines because of sanctions.
I'm not saying they're perfect, but I'm saying,
like, medicine?
Doesn't medicine follow under a?
Isn't that right? The vaccine and look, we
see America. Why is the vaccine free?
As I said today in the Khukba, you
can't support gun control in Compton
and not care about gun control on the
Gaza Strip.
Nobody wants to talk about that. Can't support
gun control in Inglewood
or
East Brooklyn,
but then you're about no law and order
and no gun control
in Afghanistan
or Syria
or Iraq
or Yemen.
You can't be a neoliberal
and care about gun control,
but do you have no problem with McDonough
Douglas
selling weapons of mass destruction
to people that are bombing the Yemenis into
pieces?
So now if we take the idea of
maslaha
and we apply the human life
as the major maslaha
of Islam, then we can understand why many
of the ulama
consider nuclear weapons
absolutely forbidden.
Absolutely forbidden.
So where we're headed with this hopefully by
tomorrow
is it's gonna be like,
I never knew that Islam was like this.
And you're gonna feel invigorated
to inject
yourself perhaps into places
in different ways.