Suleiman Hani – Reviving Islamic Knowledge in a Secular World – Session 11 – The Revival of the Ummah
AI: Summary ©
The conversation discusses the impact of secularization on people across cultures, including the rise of modern university systems and the church. It also touches on the concept of "monthood" and the importance of finding information and forgiveness in seeking knowledge and learning to be clear about one's own religious beliefs. The conversation also touches on the negative impact of media and entertainment on society and the importance of educating people about their values. It is emphasized that change in the educational system is necessary to remove naturalism and shift towards a moral stance, as well as the ability to contribute to educational systems through program education. donating to schools and organizations is also highlighted as a blessing and honor.
AI: Summary ©
Bismillah alhamdulillah wa salatu wasalamu ala rasoolillah wa
ala alihi wa sahbihi wa man wala Today
we are talking about the second trait or
characteristic that needs to be focused on when
it comes to Organizations and especially at the
societal level to preserve the ummah and revive
the ummah as well.
It's multifaceted and there are two Angles to
this it is the topic of education and
ilm but from different perspectives when we talk
about the University systems in the United States
of America and many Western countries We're talking
about secular higher education for the most part.
We are not talking about religious universities for
the most part since the rise of secularity
and the separation of religion from politics from
Institutions from power you find that universities have
become more and more secularized and because they've
become more secularized There were studies and there
are studies about the trends and as well
there were some agendas some plans in place
to see how to increase or maximize the
Efficiency and the speed of secularization that has
impacted many people all around the world in
these university settings So the modern university setting
today that is mostly secular, of course originally
all universities they are intertwined with Religion they
have been impacted by religion universities themselves come
from religious people religious backgrounds and the university
experience Now has become a type of initiation
for adulthood.
So many children become young adults and youth
and they go on to high school secondary
school in some countries and then they go
on to College slash university and here this
is a stage of their adulthood at least
from the secular perspective It's seen as their
next Level or their next degree of Development
now, they are supposed to grow.
They're supposed to inquire.
They're supposed to be skeptical They're supposed to
question and they're supposed to exchange ideas with
people from all walks of life including their
professors their classmates and other people in their
student clubs and here the Objective from the
secular sense here.
The students is supposed to then become more
open-minded rather than narrow-minded This is
one of the many objectives of these universities.
And of course this goes across cultures ethnicities
languages and Religions, I want to share a
few things about this and these are really
crucial But every time we share this a
lot of Muslim parents and others say it's
so alarming.
It's so alarming that this is the reality
there are experts and theorists secularization theorists There
are many of them.
I don't want to mention all of them
by name, but they believe the education and
educational settings Were the most important way to
increase secularization The educational setting meaning the universities
mostly and then high schools and of course
after that you have all public education They
felt that this would be the best way
to increase secularization There's no faster way to
change civilization over 10 20 30 years than
through all the education Systems and the curricula
and so on and so forth So they
felt that this theory of secularization would be
fast-tracked through that So this means number
one for us institutions of learning.
We cannot ignore their role in influencing Aqidah
a worldview in influencing thoughts behaviors habits Inclinations
temptations and so on and so forth.
And so there are a number of things
we can mention about this There there's an
entire study about specifically about secular higher education
institutions colleges and universities Their foundation in how
they teach all of the pretty much humanities
and sciences We know number one has a
different Epistemology and epistemology is the theory of
knowledge.
How do you know what you know?
We have in Islam for example, we have
the belief that we utilize our minds and
I'll be rationalism But we also utilize empiricism
science sense experience But we also depend on
testimony when people report things we also believe
in wahi revelation that nobody could access revelatory
knowledge to the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam
and Number five we believe in the fitrah
But for the most part the fitrah the
natural disposition for the most part secular universities
Their foundation in all of the humanities and
the sciences is naturalism It is the removal
of God from the equation You can't in
a class today at any local university University
of Michigan Wayne State anywhere else You can't
be talking about cells and Anatomy and you
cannot be talking about physics and cosmology and
be discussing that God is the one who
created this that God is The originator of
these laws of nature that God is clearly
seen through the intelligent design.
That's we find in DNA as an example
or the way that the body operates or
the fact that An organism that reproduces cannot
come from nothing and cannot come from an
organism before it that did not reproduce So
you can't talk about God in these classes
because the classes are teaching you the empirical
results.
This is the theory This is the method.
This is the result.
These are not classes on the philosophy of
science, which in those settings Yes Religion is
discussed in a divinity school religion is discussed
But for the most part the sciences biology
and other topics are taught with a naturalistic
Worldview naturalism is the belief that there are
no supernatural things There is no discussion on
God or angels or anything of the unseen
so naturalism obviously most people who incline to
that to our atheist or agnostic and the
second thing to keep in mind is The
use of science as the end-all be
-all as a tool for everything So the
one who's walking around with this toolbox sees
that science should be able to answer everything
if it cannot Then it will give you
its best explanation if it cannot one day
it will discover it but not today And
this is why many atheists will ignore the
conversation that They cannot answer many of the
questions of life and where the world came
from the universe and its origins all of
this they will Say maybe one day we'll
discover it rather than saying well clearly It's
been created fine-tuned perfected as many scientists
have stated This is the reason they believe
in God the science the more you delve
into it the stronger your belief system Anyways,
so the Western secular setting is atheistic by
definition That is the default that you do
not bring God into the equation And I'm
not saying this is all classes all universities
But this is the default in most of
these institutions another thing to keep in mind.
Is that morality?
Value based systems are removed from the discussion
and they've become very subjective.
You can argue your case.
In fact most public High schools in this
country and even they start in middle school
most public education Curricula will have the students
doing what's called critical thinking but the critical
thinking is you arguing your case for something
moral and You could yes Technically bring in
your religious beliefs but you're supposed to argue
these moral things that many of these students
do not have any knowledge of and you
are supposed to Try to use your rationalism
for it rather than present.
Let's say an Islamic case for it So
this is something that's important to keep in
mind because it is part of the secularization
Process.
What's the problem here the main problem?
given the rise of secularity in public education
Compared to any other time of history.
It's it's pretty much at its highest You
will find that westernization Western thoughts secular beliefs
are being exported not just affecting students here
They're being exported because the Western universities are
technically seen as the most advanced in the
world The most productive in research the most
impactful highest ranked as you know And so
they are seen in this kind of like
limelight.
They are seen in the spotlight that these
are the best institutions So as they export
their branches to Muslim countries as well like
in many Muslim countries you have branches of
Ivy League schools and people are taking these
classes and they're studying and they're learning the
same thing that American students are learning But
what studies have found is that these settings
here in the u.s And the ones
that are exported have also resulted in what's
called religious illiteracy Students who are graduating in
the United States of America whose belief systems
have completely eroded So they don't have much
knowledge of religion their own religion or others
and they also with religious illiteracy They also
tend to be more intolerant towards people of
religion students graduating today in the United States
of America more than any other time and
its history are more intolerant towards people who
outwardly are religious and That could include towards
Muslims Jews Christians or others.
It has increased more than any other time
in American history compared to other Generations and
the last thing I want to share about
this There is a theory.
It's called the belief liberalization theory and there
are seven things seven Things the students may
become if they are to attend a secular
setting for a long time And if you
think of these seven you find from an
Islamic perspective, of course, this is extremely alarming
And of course later on we'll have to
talk about what is the solution that we
can't just ignore all Public education settings or
university.
So what is the solution?
What are the Possible things that could happen
to students who are constantly in environments that
are secularizing their minds and their worldviews I'll
mention seven based on this theory.
The first is that students may become more
Unorthodox so less in line with their original
religious beliefs.
The second is more Naturalistic again, they'll stop
believing in supernatural things in anything beyond The
Empirical or the observable the third is they
become more uncertain about faith or they are
more likely to have doubts about their own
religions number four is they may become more
reserved and Less likely to try to talk
to other people about their own religious beliefs
feeling like you shouldn't bring up your religion
to other people whether you're trying to convert
them convince them or not number five students
may become more inclusive in the sense that
They now believe all religions could be equally
true or all subjective truths that everyone just
has their one opinion.
It's all the same number six is they
become more individualistic rather than believing in authority
hierarchy family and Dynamics that tend to be
associated with religious groups and finally number seven
They become more independent or less tied to
an institutional religion for their identity So less
likely to rely on a house of worship
a community a congregation and so on and
so forth Of course from our perspective of
most as Muslims We know this and this
is extremely extremely alarming and from my own
experience in my own situatedness Obviously with dealing
with many students all across the country and
those who went through different experiences We find
that most people change in their university years
most students who reach out for help most
parents who reach out for help It's during
the formative years of development and these seven
examples of change Secularized change are just seven
of many There are many other stories and
examples and people who reach out and the
parents are like what happened I literally did
everything I could for my son or my
daughter and I didn't see a single red
flag I didn't see a single concern before
they got to college even while they were
in college Yes, they were more distant because
they were studying and they were busy or
they moved and they lived Far away from
their parents I had no idea that this
would influence their belief system this much and
Everyone to a varying degree may Allah protect
all of our sons and daughters all around
the world Allahumma Ameen So the theory here
is that students who tend to who attend
secular Institutions tend not always but tend to
also be impacted affected by the pluralism the
diversity of religious beliefs that makes them erode
their own certainty and conviction now We shift
over now to the topic of ilm because
if institutional settings Universities and high schools and
schools in general are the means of affecting
worldviews and shaping people's minds We go back
to the foundation of what is ilm for
us.
How important is it?
We know that ilm is the thing that
should be preserved.
It should be accumulated It should be acted
upon ilm that is beneficial is the main
thing the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam made
dua for and he was commanded to make
dua for Sorry in the Quran وَقُرْ رَبِّي
زِدْنِي عِلْمًا We know this ayah and it's
the only ayah in which the Prophet sallallahu
alayhi wa sallam was told to ask for
more of Something وَقُرْ رَبِّي زِدْنِي عِلْمًا Oh
my lord increase me in knowledge the Prophet
sallallahu alayhi wa sallam used to make dua
anytime He made dua by the way, we
should always wonder why and we should act
upon it very quickly So the Prophet alayhi
salatu wasalam would make dua اللهم يسألك علما
نافعة Oh Allah ask you for beneficial knowledge
و رزقا طيبا و عملا متقبلا And pure
sustenance accepted actions He used to also tell
the sahaba to ask Allah to protect them
from useless knowledge اللهم يعوذ بك من علم
لا ينفع Oh Allah I ask you to
protect me from knowledge that does not benefit
سبحان الله this was this dua was made
over 1400 years ago and now psychologists are
saying with the Overwhelming amount of information that's
useless They call it intellectual junk that people
are taking in and taking in and taking
in and it's affecting their ability to Like
read an entire book to learn to have
structured knowledge Unless they are in a classroom
setting forced to read and study and even
then many students look for shortcuts or cheat
The reality is that the reality is that
intellectual junk those headlines those small tidbits of
info or reels videos which are harming people's
ability to Listen for more than 30 seconds
because of how fast-paced some apps are
People are losing the capacity the patience the
discipline to learn something to study something in
detail and you'll find In many masadid you
will find in many Islamic institutions Sometimes the
complaint comes up that we have so many
institutions so many resources so many YouTube series
That people are not able to complete any
of them So they start a million of
them, but they don't finish a single one
in Ramadan now We have a good problem,
which is that everyone complains.
We have so many Islamic series.
I don't mean Allah must and the TV
shows that people are released in Ramadan.
What a horrible time for it But the
Islamic series that now we're released in Ramadan
people are saying I don't know which one
to follow because there are too many And
I like all these topics Hamdulillah my advice
finish an entire one stick to one and
finish it and if you know you're going
to finish two or three anyway Yes, I'm
gonna consume more but we look at what
people consume and we find now we have
to put in filters We have to actually
review ourselves We have to make sure our
phones are not filled with apps that distract
us so that we are learning more beneficial
things and not Taking in that which is
useless the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam also
gave us good news Whoever sets upon a
path seeking knowledge Allah will make their path
to Jannah easy This hadith means as you
learn about Allah as you learn about the
akhira You will find number one Baraka in
your time in your efforts in your aim
in your Ibadah Number two as you seek
knowledge the Malayika are making dua for you
And even it's mentioned in the hadith even
the fish in the depths of the ocean
are asking a lot to forgive you obviously
Well, I can left that have caught on
a test.
We don't understand their test Yeah We won't
understand there is still a lot and of
course the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam mentioned
the one who's seeking knowledge Is in the
path of Allah and if they died in
that in that path of Allah subhana They
were rewarded meaning magnificently We also know from
this hadith authentic narration Sunan Abu Dawood the
one who's seeking knowledge.
They're in that phase.
They're in that journey It's a lifestyle He
said sallallahu alayhi wa sallam The superiority or
the difference between the one who has knowledge
al-alim well Abed is like the difference
he said between myself and the lowest person
in the ummah and so we should always
be Raising the standard for ourselves.
You don't have to be all or none
some people like well I'm not going to
be a scholar does that mean we don't
learn as a way of life Of course
not you don't have to be ailing for
you to be seeking a in for you
to be Living this lifestyle of always reading
and learning something beneficial a lot of people
today are consuming They are reading things, but
a lot of the things that they're reading
are not structured so they don't end up
having depth They have scope they know about
a little bit of all about a lot
of random things tidbits here and their news
They're watching so much news, but they're not
learning a topic They're not studying something that
will help them to maybe interpret that news
to process something that's happening to talk about
their father their afterlife He bad Akhlaq whatever
it may be that they need in that
phase of their lives So we have one
ayah that will cover today inshallah just one
verse that kind of gives us the outline
It is the command of Allah subhanahu wa'ta
'ala and this command helps us to to
be revived It's a preventative measure against harm.
It's a command for families.
It's a command for Islamic organizations masajid.
It's a command for institutions that are Affecting
policymaking it's a command for Islamic governments and
societies And this is the one ayah in
surah muhammad where the Prophet where Allah subhanahu
wa'ta'ala tells us Faa'lam, it's a
command to the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam
and to the ummah Faa'lam, annahu laa
ilaha illa allah No, seek the knowledge of
laa ilaha illa allah wa astaghfir li dhanbika
wa lil mu'mineena wal mu'minat wallahu ya'alamu
mutaqallabakum wa mathwakum No, O Prophet that there's
no God worthy of worship except Allah and
seek forgiveness For yourself and for the believing
men and women and Allah knows your movements
and places of rest O people So it's
a command to the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa
sallam Faa'lam, faa'lam annahu laa ilaha
illa allah First we say it is a
blessing It is something we should be grateful
for that Allah gave us the ability to
know things to learn things Al-'ilm, the ability
to comprehend and process many neuroscientists talk about
conceptual learning or conceptual thinking and how remarkable
it is that human beings have this capacity
nothing else we observe have as much Conceptual
thought as us.
So when you think of conceptual knowledge and
thinking this affects Here's an example.
You think of the color red and you
know what red is without it having to
Exist in a specific object, but in the
real world red is not an individual thing
that exists It's it's an identity an attribute
of things you think of a cat and
you can think of cats in general You
can think of your specific cat from childhood.
So the very ability to think this way
is a blessing faa'lam No, so the
ability to know is a blessing that has
to be used in a manner that is
pleasing to Allah So therefore our knowledge itself
is a responsibility Al-'aql is a responsibility and
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is testing us
with this and of course, he does not
Oppress any of his creation wala yadheemu rabbuka
ahadah If someone cannot comprehend something or they
have never come across something that will help
them This is not somebody we're talking about
in terms of accountability.
We're talking about those who are able to
know al-'ilm is Guidance, it is protection.
It is shifa.
It is resilience.
It is sabr in times of hardship.
Where do people turn?
They turn to the things they already know.
They turn to the ayat of the Quran
They turn to the dua that they remember
they've been learning.
They turn to the saying inna lillahi wa
inna ilayhi raji'oon What else do people
turn to other than what they know and
if they don't know they're going to turn
to alternatives and alternatives may be Very problematic
and we find today many people ask and
I receive this question often.
What are the main reasons people might become?
atheist or agnostic or Secularized one of the
main reasons that people go astray is because
they don't really know who God is fa
'alam annahu la ilaha illallah They have the
wrong idea of God and because they have
the wrong idea of God Everything built upon
the wrong foundation is going to be problematic
and alhamdulillah as Muslims We have access to
the names and attributes of Allah that we
should study often reference often every family should
be teaching their children at a young age
the names and attributes of Allah and how
to live upon them and with them and
how to Make dua with them as well.
Fa'alam annahu la ilaha illallah.
La ilaha illallah is the heaviest thing La
ilaha illallah is why the heavens and the
earth exists.
It's why we were created.
The prophets and messengers over 124,000 of
them were sent all of them with the
same message of la ilaha illallah So think
of this reality you are living upon la
ilaha illallah How much of a blessing it
is that we're Muslims?
How much of a blessing it is that
we're guided?
Many people raised by Muslim parents do not
realize or appreciate the blessing of having Islam
as a head start that they didn't have
to go looking for it in a society
that makes it Difficult in an era that
makes it difficult with all the confusion and
misconceptions and lies about Islam and the truth
in general So we talk about la ilaha
illallah There's a man who will come on
the Day of Judgment With 99 scrolls all
of these scrolls as far as he could
see and every one of these scrolls is
filled with sins And he's going to be
asked on that day.
Do you deny any of these actions and
he recognizes them?
He says no my lord, and he'll be
asked.
Do you have any excuse?
Do you have any good deeds with you?
The man will be in a state of
fear and he'll say no and then it
will be said to him Yes, indeed You
have some good deeds with us and you
will not be wronged with regards to your
good So one parchment will be brought out
one more scroll will be brought out and
it will contain la ilaha illallah It will
contain the full shahada ash hadu an la
ilaha illallah to the end of the shahada
So the man will say my lord, what
is this one?
Parchment this one like lifestyle this one deed
compared to all these 99 scrolls of sins
And it will be said to him you
will not be wronged Meaning there will be
justice As we mentioned last week in the
lecture now there's no wrongdoing on this day
So all these scrolls the 99 are placed
on one side of the scale and la
ilaha illallah The entirety of the shahada is
placed on the other side And of course
la ilaha illallah outweighs these 99 the point
of this hadith there are many benefits from
it the point of this hadith number one
Judgment ultimately is to Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala If you punish them by Allah they
are your servants if you decide to forgive
them you are the Almighty The all-wise
your wisdom is perfect So no one will
be punished if they don't deserve it and
Allah's mercy will be extended on that day
The second benefit of this hadith is the
weight of la ilaha illallah By the way,
this hadith does not mean someone just said
it once and then they just committed kufr
or 99 major sins or they kill No,
that's not what we're saying But the scholars
say this hadith proves how powerful and heavy
the shahada is if you live upon it
if you die as a believer That is
extremely extremely weighty in in Predominating over any
kind of sinfulness another benefit from this Is
the reminder that the shahada at least protect
someone if they are a believer at least
protect someone We've had many people say well,
you know, my salah is not good.
What's the point or they say I'm not
praying I'm not doing any ibadah and then
they'll ask me And so instead of taking
a step back take a step forward rather
than saying, you know, my salah doesn't have
any khushu So what's the point of praying
and then not praying learn to have more
khushu and salah learn to pray your five
prayers So always move forward rather than back
But this is a reminder of the benefit
of all believers Wa fee kullin khair as
the Prophet shallallahu alaihi wa sallam says there's
good in the fact that everyone amongst the
Muslims believes in Allah another of the virtues
of this is the The fava in the
Dozens of virtues of la ilaha illallah as
the best dua and dhikr you can possibly
make and then the fifth is to emphasize
The scale on the Day of Judgment is
never going to be Unjust it's never going
to be unfair Then you should think about
like this man who sees all his sins
in 99 scrolls You should think about what
you have and what you don't want to
see on that day And this is why
one of the tabireen He said if you
don't want to find a sin in your
record on the Day of Judgment then abandon
it today Whatever you don't want to die
upon Abandon it today If you don't want
that scroll set out in front of you
and you're being questioned by Allah Then get
rid of it today.
Don't leave it as a lifestyle.
Don't procrastinate Sufyan al-thawri rahimahullah He says
there is nothing heavier on the back of
the devil meaning There's nothing that bothers him
more than than for someone to live upon
la ilaha illallah May Allah Subh'anaHu Wa
Ta-A'la allow us to really live
upon it Wastaghfiru li dhanbika walil mu'mineena walmu'minat
Seek forgiveness start with yourself Make dua for
yourself for forgiveness and for the believing men
and women including your family your loved ones
the righteous There's a beautiful narration Many scholars
say it's authentic in which the Prophet sallallahu
alayhi wa sallam gives us a means of
good deeds that affects the entirety of the
Ummah living and dead and Could be like
a quadrillion hasanat if you will or more
And he said sallallahu alayhi wa sallam whoever
asks Allah for forgiveness for the believing men
and women Will have a reward on behalf
of every believing man and woman in other
words if you say Allah forgive Allah maghfir
lil mu'mineena walmu'minat walmuslimina walmuslimat al-ahyaa'i
minhum walamwat In any variation of this dua
Allah forgive the believing men and women those
who are living those who have died Think
of the billions of hasanat What's amazing about
this dua is most times what gets people
is that like I don't want to say
clickbait But that title like how to make
a billion hasanat in like 10 seconds So
people like oh, let me click on this.
I remember actually when I was like, maybe
17 or 18 years old I had made
like a YouTube video at that time There
are very few Islamic videos and I was
trying to get people to benefit from it
So I think I had called it something
like that as well Like how to get
like a quadrillion hasanat and that video was
going viral I'm like subhanAllah as I got
older and I started studying more It's interesting
that one of the incentives for people is
the hasanat part, you know Like when you
say like how to make a million dollars
in a week or something ridiculous And so
everyone's like, okay How do I do this
or every other book that says how to
quit your 9 to 5 and you know
chill on the beach and Retire early and
all of that so everyone will buy it
because they're dreaming of something specific I'm not
saying not to dream and not to work
for things There are different avenues, but what
you find more interesting and more of an
incentive if you really think about it beyond
the billions of hasanat Is The impact that
it has on all the other believers Can
you imagine knowing that on the Day of
Judgment?
One of the reasons a lot of your
say at are gone is because all the
other Muslims from the beginning to end of
times We're making this doa that right now
There are Muslims around the world making this
doa and Allah subhanAllah in his generosity is
erasing some of our sins Such a remarkable
thought about Allah's generosity for the ummah and
when you make this doa the angels also
saying the same for you The same for
you and that means something that applies to
you whether it's a forgiveness of your sins
or protection or healing So this is a
doa we should be making all the time
and it keeps us connected to the ummah
and it keeps us also Thinking about how
much benefit there is even for us.
We are in need of this doa We
are in need of making this doa again
You can make this doa in any language
any variation that you can think of Oh
Allah forgive the believing men and women those
who are living and those who have died
Allah forgive the believing men and women those
who are living and those who have died
And it's a reminder for us that connects
the ummah as well.
All of this subhanAllah is one ayah Anyways,
there was a question that came up and
the tabi'een would talk about this verse
and the order the priorities فَاعْلَمْ أَنَّهُ لَا
إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ The ilm comes first and
then you have وَاسْتَغْفِرْ لِذَنْبِكَ وَلِلْمُؤْمِنِينَ وَالْمُؤْمِنَاتَ and
then the other verses that continue on So
one of the tabi'een Sufian bin Uyayna
he was asked rahimAllah about the virtue of
ilm And he said don't you hear that
Allah subhanAllah starts with فَاعْلَمْ أَنَّهُ لَا إِلَٰهَ
إِلَّا اللَّهُ So he says the ilm comes
before the amal Why you can't do an
act of worship if you're doing it wrong,
or if you don't know what to do
So this is why we teach we teach
we teach our children what to do But
as well even as we grow we're constantly
learning because that ilm will lead to more
amal I remember one time last Ramadan in
the last 10 nights in the last basically
10 mornings after fajr prayer I decided last
minute like we would go through one chapter
of riyadh as-salihin on the topic of
فَضَائِهِ آيَاتِ الرَّسُولِ وَفَضَالِ القُرْآنِ It was a
very short notice thing and I'm like you
know most people after fajr last 10 nights
because they stayed up most of the night
They're going home.
They're going to work.
They're gonna nap an hour or two So
I'm like maybe nobody will benefit from this
But we'll try it and people started showing
up more people would show up and the
youth started coming to the masjid after fajr
prayer or at fajr prayer for this and
what I found interesting is that it's something
so simple You're talking about the you know
the blessings of ayatul kursi خواتي سوت الباخرة
المعوذات قُلْ هُوَ اللَّهُ حَبِّينَ One-third of
the Qur'an سُورَةُ الْمُلْكِ Every night and
people started to now share their experiences and
say these are acts of worship we never
knew about and now we're practicing every single
day.
I had somebody recently come up to me
and say years ago you taught us about
سُورَةُ الْمُلْكِ before we sleep or at night
sometime now I recite it with my family
every night, my children recite it and so
sometimes the reason there is more عَمَل is
only because you put in some time or
you invested in the عِبْد and it leads
to multiple Sunan throughout the day multiple عِبَادات
that protect us and benefit us as well.
Knowledge in Islam is considered to be a
نور beneficial knowledge is a نور, a light
from Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَ تَعَالَى and it's given
to those who are sincerely seeking it and
want to act upon it the only intention,
the main intention with seeking beneficial knowledge is
to get closer to Allah and to act
upon it.
It should never be it's actually prohibited in
the hadith to argue, you're just learning something
Islamic so you can argue with people and
be very argumentative number two to show off,
number three to make money off of it.
It should be because علم should be for
you to practice how do I get closer
to Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَ تَعَالَى so it purifies
the heart because that intention is sincere and
there's a بَرَكَة in the time that you
put towards it so knowledge is a light
in a world of many darknesses.
The opposite of علم or someone who has
knowledge is جهل, ignorance and ignorance is mentioned
in many hadith in fact always in the
negative sense ignorance is one of the signs
of the day of judgment, that it will
increase the ignorance that increases is not about
worldly sciences, it's not about technology and AI
and everything else this ignorance is referring to
religious ignorance and the Prophet ﷺ mentions that
it will start to disappear at the end
of times but the scholars say it's not
going to disappear overnight based on the many
narrations it's a gradual process but when it
starts to disappear, it's going to disappear by
the death of the scholars and the fact
that there are not people replacing those scholars
with the same level of knowledge and practice,
and so with every generation after those scholars,
Allah knows when this will happen you will
find eventually the people who take over and
have influence, and I'm using this word influence
very cautiously they are the people, the Prophet
ﷺ they are ignorant leaders this is what
the translation is ignorant leaders, they will be
asked questions and so they will issue religious
rulings without knowledge, they have no knowledge of
Islam but they will issue religious rulings they
will go astray and lead others astray, now
this sign of the Day of Judgment, many
people are looking at it and they say
well who are the leaders so in their
mind they're thinking of political leaders dictators and
tyrants but who looks to the religious sorry,
who looks to the dictator and the politician
for their religious knowledge, that's not the case
people don't see them that way people look
to scholars but in our times, this has
also shifted over to influencers, anyone with influence,
anyone who can lead and I don't mean
influencers in a negative harsh way, I mean
someone with social media following anyone could technically
be considered a leader in this context who
is able to issue a religious ruling and
they have no knowledge as the hadith mentions
and they will be astray and lead others
astray, and this is a warning for us,
be cautious where you take your knowledge from,
be cautious where you take your knowledge from,
if you insist that's for a medical issue,
you're going to go to somebody who studied
for years and they're proficient you're not going
to go to basically the doctor for like
a baking recipe, you're not going to go
to the baker for a mechanical issue in
your car you're not going to go to
the mechanic for financial advice in stocks unless
that's also their specialty, so likewise with religious
matters, take your knowledge from the right places,
make sure it's institutions that are credible, it's
people who are part of Ahlus Sunnah, they
are endorsed by other scholars, they work with
other scholars, they live and work with the
community, they are not always putting down everyone
else and claiming they are the only people
upon the truth, so you will find many
signs and symptoms of good and bad, may
Allah protect us Jahil, ignorance, can lead to
extremism, can lead to ta'asob, it can
lead to extremism that is obviously violent, it
can lead to extremism in joining specific groups
and movements, whether they are just you know,
movements that are spiritual political, violence, non-violence,
it doesn't really matter, the point is that
when people are ignorant, it's easy for them
to get brainwashed or sucked into cults, it's
easy for them to get sucked into innovative
practices they'll start to do things that are
not part of Islam even though there are
tens of thousands of people doing the thing
that they're doing now so they think there's
a social proof for it, what else?
someone with ignorance may misinterpret Islam, so they
start to now have an issue with an
Islamic matter because they are misinterpreting, misunderstanding it
the third possibility is they may actually become
distanced from Islam altogether, distanced from Allah, because
of Jahil, because of ignorance, may Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala protect us, we are all
required to learn the minimum standard of ilm
that we need to practice Islam properly and
so if somebody, for example a six year
old does not need to know the fiqh
of zakah a ten year old probably doesn't
need to know it either but generally speaking,
whenever you get to a point in life
where something applies to you, you are then
required to learn about it as much as
you can or to have a reference point
you're always going to scholar or council XYZ
and you're asking them for fatawa and you're
following taqlid, you're not fatwa shopping, you're not
just looking for whatever works best, you're looking
for what is most truthful, most correct and
of course, alhamdulillah, we live in a place
in which we have these days access to
so much information, and when I say information
I don't mean googling fatawa, rather going to
scholarly councils in North America which applies to
us here, and looking at the fatawa that
are based on the urf of Islam, based
on the issues we deal with, based on
financial transactions and jobs and homes and all
of that so this is something we are
required to do it's not an excuse for
someone to say, ya Allah, I did not
know how much zakah so I didn't give
you can't even do that with secular things
like taxes, you can't say I didn't know
I was supposed to give taxes, you have
to give taxes and so, and of course
aside from the fact that this is a
legal matter we're talking about the religious issue,
the laws of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala,
the rights of other people make sure you
are learning the things you need to practice,
I've always said this and I don't shy
away from saying this one of the needs
that Muslims have in this era, but especially
living as minorities, is to learn the proofs
of Islam fully, to learn why Islam and
to teach their children as well you cannot
possibly be living in a secular society and
not know the case for Islam and why
is it Islam and not something else and
this means that we have to continuously develop
and learn because the reality is these are
the issues most people are struggling with, old
and young, it's not just the university students,
so we learn the things that are necessary
to learn in this time to navigate society,
we learn more about Islam and politics, what
does Islam say about any political philosophies and
strategies, what do we need to change society
for the better in the country that we
are in, so these are things that we
take advantage of, may Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala grant us consistency finally I'll say this
it is crucial now that we talk about
ilm and its importance and how it preserves
and protects, we talk about institutions of learning
like schools, it is crucial that children who
are going through school systems for 5, 10,
15 years, 18 years until they're in university
and college that we pay attention to their
foundations and I believe with full conviction based
on not just my experiences but their research
I believe with full conviction that a Muslim
child in the United States of America who
is put into a public school for the
first 12 years of their lives 12 grades
until they start college and they are given
the equivalent of maybe 1st or 2nd or
3rd grade level of Islamic knowledge by the
time they finish high school their Islamic knowledge
is rudimentary, it's very basic because it was
once a week it was a couple of
reminders from their parents, a couple of lectures
here and there that they attended it was
a couple of conferences in which at a
young age you don't really retain much, it's
just the environments of social gathering or that's
if the kids are even in the lectures
to begin with and so if you have
12 years of secularization and the equivalent of
1 or 2 years of Islamic knowledge, the
foundation itself of Islamic knowledge is extremely weak
by default and I know this sounds alarming
but the reality is it is alarming, we
are dealing with many people after the 1st
generation, 2nd generation losing their faith or disconnected
from Islam and if the children are slightly,
barely connected to Islam in a loose sense
and they maybe will pray maybe, sometimes, you
will find the generation after that loses their
faith and this has been the case for
many families unless and until we find cases
in which people are focusing on the formative
years of development, I'm not saying this to
sound pessimistic at all because Alhamdulillah there are
a lot of positive things happening a lot
of good cases, a lot of Islamic schools
a lot of programs, a lot of parents
who took care of their children throughout these
years even though they were in secular settings,
there are many people who have gone through
secular environments who are not impacted at all
or impacted very little, there are many students
who MashaAllah, they've been attending classes and institutes
and learning on their own they have this
passion, especially middle school and high school, a
lot of studies show that's when the passion
and the identity starts to develop more in
terms of a connection to Islam high school
being one of the most formative years so
with that in mind someone could technically go
through a secular setting but because of everything
else they're doing and their families are doing,
outside of those settings they're protected for the
most part and someone could be going to
an Islamic school and they lose their identity,
it's very possible and that could be because
of external things as well that the parents
thought this is the solution that will solve
everything so they just threw them in the
Islamic school maybe the parents weren't practicing Islam
properly, maybe the outside of school environment, the
friends were extremely horrible friends maybe after that
the parents weren't really involved or before that
they weren't involved obviously there are many factors
and I don't want to oversimplify and reduce
it to just one thing but there's no
doubt in this era, in this time with
all the issues that are happening, the trends
changing in the United States, the things that
are being forced upon schools and forced upon
parents and forced upon students to hear about
literally as young as first and second grade
about their gender, about their identity about a
number of other things in terms of ethics
it is necessary for parents to protect their
children that's a right that they have, the
children have and that might mean for some
parents homeschooling or co-op or Islamic schools
so we've seen a lot of parents in
the United States look for other families in
the area with children at a similar age
and every now and then they'll have them
learning together different topics they will combine online
with in person with external or extracurricular activities
but you have to find what works best
for your child realizing that the most important
thing is their Iman the most important thing
is their worldview, ultimately beneficial knowledge is a
Sadaqah Jariyah and it's you learning and you
practicing and teaching everything you give to others
you teach to others, it may be the
reason you have millions more Hasanat on the
Day of Judgment the last thing I want
to say about this is what about the
organizations, Islamic organizations, how does this apply we
talk about society and schools but Islamic organizations,
one of the interesting discussions on the culture
of an organization is the values that trickle
down from the top bottom and so what
are the values that the leadership has in
any Islamic organization today it could be a
Masjid, it could be a Dawah organization, an
institute and so you will find generally speaking
when there's an emphasis on knowledge, when there's
an emphasis on growth and training, it could
be anything, an example of this in many
Islamic organizations many people have no experience with
businesses, with non-profits, with specific areas maybe
in that particular context and this is very
common in Dawah organizations and Masajid that people
are doing good work but it's not necessarily
the most professional so you'll find a lot
of inefficiencies and there are organizations that are
doing very professional work but what I'm saying
here is an example of a good value
is for them to constantly be training to
be learning, to bring in experts in different
fields and to train the board of those
Islamic organizations so they can continue learning because
most people they have a proficiency in the
technical, the accounting, the administrative human resources but
then you need to make sure the growth
is there the development is there, frequent reminders
we find many Masajid alhamdulillah they have in
Islamic organizations when we consult them they have
not just trainings every quarter or two or
every year for the members of the team
but they will have as well developments and
standards for everyone who volunteers for the organization
because they are kind of the face of
that organization the Masjid, the youth group, whatever
it may be, so they're all learning, they're
all growing, they will start their reminders, their
gatherings with something beneficial to keep them connected
to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and then
at the societal level how does this get
implemented if you have an ideal Muslim government
generally speaking knowledge of the sacred must be
commonplace not hidden, so this is why we
disagree with secularism, by default there's two types
of secularism there's the European and the American,
the secularism that separates basically makes religion private
like hide it in your home we don't
believe this is the most efficient thing obviously,
we believe the government has moral beliefs, the
government and politicians everywhere, in every single country
in the world are passing laws based on
moral stances and moral stances come from religious
beliefs and so if people don't have a
religious belief who's going to pass what moral
stance some countries it will be authoritarian, dictatorship
in other countries it's going to be so
called democracy but in reality it's corrupted and
people are just buying out politicians as is
the case in the United States as we
see so what is the value based system
here in an Islamic ideal society knowledge of
the Akhirah knowledge of Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala should be commonplace masajid should be commonplace
musallaz in pretty much everywhere and this is
the case Alhamdulillah, but it has to be
common even in media, in public education it
has to be in social based programming for
youth, for adults combined with leisure, combined with
the values that people talk about and useless
knowledge is not allowed to be rampant and
common in an ideal Islamic society because it's
harmful and there are many industries, if I
were to ask you I'm sure we could
all list maybe 50 different examples, different types
of industries or examples of harmful types of
knowledge or information that if we had an
ideal Islamic society we would not want that
to be permissible or to be permitted and
of course this includes generally speaking the music
industry and all the toxic things that it
has done and harmed many youth this includes
the gossip industry just talking about people and
following their lives and stalking is so useless
even from a secular sense, everything is sinful
and this includes of course a very different
approach to what kinds of movies and TV
shows are allowed in an ideal Islamic society,
if we went back to the time of
or we brought forward to our times somebody
like Umar ibn Abdulaziz what would we be
okay with in our communities, in our societies,
in our homes I'm giving the example of
Umar RadhiAllahu Anhu because we spoke about him
last week on the topic of Adin we
know that we would have to drastically change
some things because the values the moral stances,
the ethics in the current system the current
movies and TV shows are extremely damaging, they're
extremely harmful and sometimes we don't notice the
secularization process, we don't notice the immorality, the
fahsha becoming more widespread, so knowledge that is
beneficial, educational systems would need to be changed,
we remove naturalism as a default stance from
the sciences and the humanities and bring it
back to its true basis, and there are
also amazing ways to teach chemistry to teach
biology, to teach anatomy to students, Muslim students
while emphasizing as we teach Allah Subhanahu wa
ta'ala, we emphasize his signs his ayat,
we emphasize the laws of nature and the
philosophy of science as well from an Islamic
perspective, and finally a reminder for all of
us, wherever we are able to contribute to
the development of structures professionally in terms of
Islamic schools and Islamic based programs, Islamic institutes
we should contribute, and that includes our masajid
with their youth programs, that includes our da
'wah organizations one of the most amazing experiences
Alhamdulillah in this country because of how open
it is in da'wah and how much
has happened in the last 20 years, I
always like to give this example because I
witnessed it first hand 20 years ago Sheikh
Muhammad Al-Sharif started Al-Maghrib Institute here
in the United States when English, Islamic studies
was not common, he wanted to he studied
marketing, went overseas studied Sharia, came back, he
wanted Islam to be taught with Ihsaan, and
he wanted to be taught very professionally at
a high standard, and powerpoints and activities, and
the most advanced educational learning theories and this
was his sincere intention and this is what
he developed, and Alhamdulillah now 20 years later
you have over 250,000 students who benefited
from the institute, and it's been growing for
the last few years, Alhamdulillah and it's a
blessing and honor for me when I saw
the rise of the institute 20 years ago
now to be a part of it, Alhamdulillah
but one of the things that happened in
the beginning was you guys remember those projectors
that you needed the smaller basic projectors that
you needed to have a powerpoint that's the
first class that was taught by Al-Maghrib
they needed to put a projector in the
basement of a Masjid, and so eventually somebody
said, I want to buy the projector that
you're going to use for these Islamic classes,
and they ended up using it maybe for
thousands of students, that one person who found
that one opportunity in terms of Sadaqa Jariyat,
he's very smart he bought a projector, fast
forward, there are many examples, but fast forward
literally like 10 years later, around 2012 or
2013 I think somebody went to one of
the HQ staff of Al-Maghrib Institute and
they said, I want to buy all the
cameras that you guys will be using to
record classes that's my donation, like I don't
want to donate to the scholarships, I don't
want to donate to the travel, I just
want to donate the cameras and they bought
like the best cameras at the time the
best lenses and all of that and they
got the reward of maybe over 100,000
people benefiting from those recordings and so people
look for the da'wah institutions and try
to find how do I impact them, and
there are many examples like this Alhamdulillah, I
can't count the number of times somebody has
come to me and said I know that
you travel and you guys have all these
projects, how can I donate to one of
these projects, there's a brother on a funny
note and I will end here, there's a
brother once who said to an Islamic institution
he said I want to sponsor all the
flights of the mashayikh who travel for da
'wah conferences, and he's like I'll pay for
all their flights to get to the event
and so the people who heard it said
to get to the event and back home,
right?
He's like no, no, I just want them
to get to the event, they find their
own way back home, Allahumma Astaghfirullah, he wanted
the ajr to bring them there but not
the ajr to bring them back, and it
was a reminder for me when I saw
this, subhanAllah the khair is so abundant in
our ummah that people are looking for these
projects, and I always tell people don't shy
away from your local masjid from other organizations
that you know of, if you feel like
you're looking for that sadaqah jariyya, you want
it to be specific go to the masjid,
go to the institutions and say I want
to donate for this kind of project is
there something similar to it that I can
be a part of, and you'll find inshaAllah
ta'ala a lot of opportunity for sadaqah
jariyya may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala put
barakah in our Islamic institutions and schools and
educational systems and protect us, and allow us
to be amongst those who seek beneficial knowledge
to get closer to him, and to revive
ourselves, to revive our families, to revive our
organizations and to revive the ummah at large
ilm, knowledge, changes civilizations, and this is why
one of the worst atrocities when people attack
and invade lands and colonize is they destroy
the educational settings, they destroyed all of the
universities of Gaza, they destroyed every single place
of learning, and you'll find the students now
are looking, and they are some of the
brightest students in the world they're looking for
these opportunities that many times students in other
parts of the world neglect, may Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala keep us grateful and bring
down his justice and his relief to our
brothers and sisters in Gaza and all around
the world, Allahumma ameen Jazakumullahu khairan