Tariq Appleby – The Believer’s Shield
AI: Summary ©
The speakers emphasize the importance of reforming language and protecting one's EMR, avoiding criticizing the Prophet sallama for his actions. reforming teaching practices, learning to be honest, and finding tools to remove tumor are emphasized, along with the importance of educating parents on everything they know. The responsibility of parents is emphasized, as it is crucial for children to be educated on everything they know.
AI: Summary ©
If
so what is he done? as a Muslim? He says that I have the right to read into this is a new interpretation. And this is my new interpretation. How long is it going to be? And I don't know, someone told me recently that they heard the following. Please feel free to confirm or deny this, that they are Muslims today who believe that as long as the alcohol that you consume, does not cause you intoxication, it's permissible. So if I go out with a few of my colleagues, and I had one or two beers, and I'm still very sober, then there is no issue in depth. It is only once I have my third or my fourth gear, my fourth beer. And once I start to feel a bit tipsy and a bit drunk, that's when
you know, I've now I've not crossed the threshold and the boundary of now, now step into what is impermissible. Have you heard this before?
And also, I heard from someone in Cape Town, that rebar is only How long? If it is exorbitant? If the percentage of interest that's being paid on a loan is more than a certain percentage, let's say 25%, or 50%. Once it reaches that level, it's impermissible. But if I lend you 1000 Reagan, and I only want you to pay me five, bring it back. That's fine.
Right, that's fine. weaken the Rebbe, there's no issue there. Because it's it's it's small, it is a tiny percentage, not an issue. And before we know it, all of the all of the teachings of Islam will be subject to this kind of interpretation. And where is this coming from? Is it coming from from non Muslims? No, it's coming from within the Muslim community itself. And these are the people that are seeking to destroy whether they know it or not. Sometimes they have good intentions.
Let's go back to the issue we discussed earlier, the age of Ayesha. Why do we find a few months ago I was I was online. I was on social media. And I saw all these people posting videos and articles about the age of Asia. Why would these Muslims so eager to discuss this particular issue? Because they believe that by reaching the conclusion that I shall was 18 or 20 years old, when the Prophet consummated his marriage with her, they have protected the honor of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. So they have a good intention. Don't you agree? They have a really good intention. The intention is not to distort what we find in the text of the Quran and the Sunnah, but they want to
protect the profits of the law. It was an honor. And so they try to what's the word I'm looking for? They have a revisionist, you know, interpretation of this hadith in Sahih Bukhari and it's in Sahih, Muslim, and in many other books of Hadith, that the Prophet married Ayesha when she was six, and he consummated his marriage with her when she was nine. But yeah, it's something that's very important to do discuss, if we don't get an opportunity to talk about it later.
Just put this year.
That in Islam,
the age of of consummation is the age of puberty. For some girls, that will be at the age of nine, and for others, it will be 12. For others, it will be 14. And if you look at many of the states in America right now, not even other countries, but just in America, like Maine and Massachusetts and other places, the age at which a girl or a boy can have consensual sexual * is 12 or 13, or 14. And why? Because that is and what's the what's the, what's the justification, what's the reasoning behind that particular statute, because that's the age the average age at which children reach the age of puberty. So the separation between child and adult in many European and Western
countries is still set at the age of puberty, and I saw the love line has started menstruating when she was nine. And that's why the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam brought her into his house, the prophet waited three years for Chateau de la vida, from the time that he married her to the time that he consummated his marriage to her. The Prophet waited three years to do so. But no one talks about these things. No one mentions, you know, all of these outside factors. But instead what happens is we want to re interpret the Sunnah and the Quran and give it a new spin. But we don't talk about this issue holistically and completely by having all the evidence from us if we are going
to criticize the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam for his marriage to Ayesha, then we have a long list of European and Chinese emperors who married young girls
And if we were to start, if we're going to open up this discussion from this perspective, then we are not going to end from a historical point of view, because then we will have literally hundreds of examples throughout history. So we have to be very careful that when we discuss this issue, we discuss it with all the evidence in front of us, not out of emotion. And that's another thing that I want to talk about a little bit later. The next thing that I want to talk about is the fact that when people say that Islam needs to reform that we need a new understanding. They say that we need to free our minds, we need to become free thinkers. Have you heard this before? We need to become
free thinkers, we need to get rid of that hefty and weighty, traditional and traditional interpretation of Islam. We need to you know, bring Islam and I love this one. We have to bring Islam into the 21st century.
Have you heard that one before they have to bring Islam into the 21st century, Islam is still stuck in the seventh century. And I say to this inner Lila, he was in La Jolla, Roger, because well, I hear these words are a masiva a calamity. And I'll tell you why. Because Allah subhanho wa Taala says it's sort of to lie either. Le oma acmella coup de la ku. Today I have perfected your religion for you. today. What day was this? The day of alpha during the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam sphere well Hajj, what year was that? In the year 651, or the 632. Allah subhanho wa Taala revealed that the deed was perfected, completed, the name of Allah subhanho wa Taala requires no abrogation,
no change, it does not need to be brought into the 21st century. But instead, I say the following the 21st century needs to conform with the book of Allah subhanho wa Taala. And with Islam, if you really pay attention to the social, political and economic problems the world is facing, it is because we have abandoned revelation. We've abandoned the Quran and the teachings of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, the financial crisis in 2008. What is at its core
Riba
the wiping out of billions in savings and pensions and people to this day, eight, nine years later, or longer, maybe not now, 11 years, these people are still destitute, unable to provide for themselves because they pensions were raised during that financial crisis. What's the reason? Because we refuse to believe a loss of a hand or dollar when he tells us in the Quran that whoever indulges in the Riba, Allah and His messenger will declare it will declare war against them. And it is one of the most unjust things to see how people are being oppressed. For those of you that follow American news, I don't know why we are so and I'm as guilty as everyone else. But we are obsessed
with American news on TV. Right? When I know more about Donald Trump that I know about Cyril Ramaphosa, whether there is the president of South Africa, right? I know more about what he's tweeted and what he said that I know about the president of my own country. And I'm sure, maybe, for some of you this might apply to your prime minister as well. But the point I want to make is that America is a is a very good gauge to see why it is important for us to return back to the book of Allah subhanho wa Taala and the Sunnah of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, the level of exploitation in that country is beyond belief, the way that poor people are being treated,
regardless of the color of their skin is unbelievable. The racism, you know, the institutional racism, the institutional discrimination, all of these things that Islam openly and clearly prohibits, and strives to change. We don't have this and in our communities as well, we need to strive towards this. And that's another topic for another now the discussion for another day. The last few things I want you to remember is that in Malaysia, attacks against Islam, sometimes they are, they are covert, you know, they're not as open and as brazen as they are in other countries. Because if you in France, they are ready to publish cartoons about the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa
sallam and if you if you in America, they're going to have a competition you know on cartoons and drawings of the Prophet satirical you know, cartoons they call them, but that won't happen in Malaysia. Can you imagine? Can you can you imagine an artist or journalists coming together to write a short story about the prophet and into depict him in a in a very despicable you know, an insulting way won't happen. It won't happen in Malaysia, what happened in Indonesia, it won't happen in Saudi Arabia or any other majority Muslim country. But if you are living in the West, it will happen. So over there, it's over. It's open. But you're in Malaysia, it's COVID. In Saudi Arabia, if you're an
atheist living in Saudi Arabia, you grew up as a Muslim but you left Islam later.
If you're not going to speak openly against things you are going to focus on, on other aspects of the religion. For instance, what's very popular right now in the in the atheist Arab world is to talk about Sahih Bukhari and why Sahih Bukhari is unreliable and why that book should not be trusted. And why the author was guilty of this or that or why the book should not be should not be considered to be reliable. Because what they do when they do that is our The only way that you and I understand how to pray and how to fast and how to pay out czaka. And when to pay out Zakah. And on what to pay out second, where does this come from?
It comes from the Hadeeth what is the most authentic collection of Hadith? So hey, Pachauri.
This morning, I was teaching a class to a group of students. And we went into great detail regarding the isnaad system in Islam. And we don't have the time to get into that now. But I will recommend an excellent book that deals with this issue in great detail. It is not necessarily a defense of Islam. It's a PhD thesis that was presented at the University of Cambridge in the UK, written by an Indian scholar, right. So he's a traditional Islamic scholar that he did his PhD at the University of Cambridge, it is called early studies in Hadith literature, I highly recommend this book, this book was so good was so important that it is one of those rare books that was translated from English
into Arabic, what's the know? We translate from Arabic into our languages, right? But this book was so powerful, so important that it was commissioned to be translated from the English into the Arabic The author is mmm as me the book is called early studies in Hadith literature. Have you read this book, your understanding, not only of Hadith, but also the caliber and the position and the status of Sahih. Bukhari will be very different than it is right now, you gain a new appreciation for the efforts of the lemma of Hadith. Anyway, we move on to the last issue that I want to cover you in this particular section. And that is that social media is the most effective tool for spreading this
battle and this falsehood in Muslim communities. When I told you when I was growing up, I didn't I didn't hear anything about Islam any any attacks, any doubts, any misconceptions? You know, my, you know, my non Muslim teachers, my Christian teacher wasn't coming to class in high school and say, you know, you Muslims, you believe x, y and Zed. And you know, this is why that's wrong. And the Quran, you know, there's a problem here in the Quran. And your your Prophet did this. Not once. Not once, did I have any of my teachers or even my friends who were not Muslims? Did I have them ever talk to me about some, you know, some doubt or some misconception or some issue that they found
problematic in Islam. But today's Subhanallah each and every one of us, if you are on social media, then you are bombarded with these things. You have easy access to it, you wake up in the morning, before you've even prayed fudger you've already read a headline that says that Islam is the main cause for terrorism in the world today. And that's, that's a headline in your news feed. That is someone an article that someone posted on Facebook, you following someone and they talking about this issue, or you receive your YouTube notifications, you know, the channels that you are subscribed to, and there's one about Islam, Islam, this Islam that the Prophet Mohammed, this, you
know, some aspect of Islamic law, why hijab is not important. Why hijab is, you know, it's the it's the product of a, what do we call the?
No, the Arabs? Excellent, thank you. We discussed this on Friday night. Apparently, Malaysia now is under, you know, the assault of Arab What did they call it?
Right, you are being turned into Arabs, you know, whether you know it or not, you know, very soon, I don't know, you can eat the homeless, you know, daily, you know,
I mean, if that is the version of Arab nation that they talking about that I welcome it. But if they mean that we are going to adopt certain cultural practices that they have, under the guise of it being Islam, and yes, there is a danger of that happening. But let's not confuse hijab with Arab culture, or growing a beard with Arab culture. And we're still let's not one day confused, praying five times a day with Arab culture, because then we have truly misunderstood the separation between Islam and culture. So this is very important. You know, if you are a Maasai warrior, just before going to battle you would, you would, you would pierce the the vein of one of your bulls, and you
would let that flow into some, some milk and you would drink that before going into battle. That's someone's culture. Is that islamically? permissible?
No, why?
Because it's how to consume blood in Islam. So just because someone's doing something, and those people happen to be Muslims, they practicing something, it doesn't mean that Islam as justify that for them, or even encourage them or taught them how to do that. That's a very important distinction that we need to make. Like if I come to your home and you burning road, hungry, that's a good smell. But if you say that burning or old is the only way that Allah and His Messenger told us how to perfume our homes and ourselves, then we have problems. Now you'll miss that your understanding is a bit misguided. So we need to make that separation, we move on in sha Allah, Who to Allah to the next
thing that I want to ask, why should you any one of you care about these issues?
You're not? I'm not interested, you say, I'm not a chef. I don't have a background in Islamic Studies. Why should I care if Islam is being attacked? If people are doubting all those existence, if there are Muslim youth who no longer want to force in the month of Ramadan, because they don't see that Islamic sense to them, Islam is outdated, or they were abused by the stars when they were a child, you know, physically beaten for not being able to read the Quran. So they now have a dislike in their heart for the for the pasta than for and for the and for Islam, because they believe that Islam somehow, you know, was what caused that will start to beat them. And I've had many Iranians
not only in Malaysia, but around the world with examples like this. Well, so but I returned to my original question, why should you care?
To protect your EMR? Yes, excellent. What else?
Why should you care?
To protect your aqeedah? What about protecting our children
because as parents, as parents, we want to protect our children from every harm and from and from every evil, don't we, if we see our children too close to, you know, the balcony edge or to you know, some, you know, something dangerous, then we rush to, you know, to fool them to safety to get them safe again. But what if the very man is under attack? What if the very, the very purpose of the creation, not the physical well be because someone might, you know, be physically impaired in some way, but will still be able to be successful in there often. But if you throw away your deed here in this world, then it doesn't matter what other things you enjoy in this world, as Allah says, not for
our farmers, Zaha itinerario, the hidden agenda for pedophiles, whoever is kept away from the fire of jahannam. And he's made to enter the you know, the gardens of Jenna, that that person is deed is successful. So the Islamic measurement of success is not in wealth and property etc. But it is in the ability to earn gender and to protect yourself from the fire of Johanna. So we have a responsibility. Also, the last thing that we can add to this and why should bother why it should it should be of importance to you is because all of you, regardless of your qualifications, or your background knowledge, you can be a part of the counter attack or the defense. Every one of you. If
you learn something today, in this lecture that is beneficial, you have an atheist friend that doesn't believe in Allah and I see something that you believe will be beneficial for your atheist friend, if I mentioned a reference that you know, you want to read and you start reading that that you share that with people face to face on your social media, etc. And people benefit from that, then you are a part of the solution. You are part of the defense of Islam. And Eamon and you all can do that. You don't have to have a PhD or degree in Islamic Studies and have ijazah and have a license to teach Islam. You don't need these things. If you have a solid understanding backed up
with evidence that you can share with others. And sometimes Oh, you will lie. I don't know about you. But my personal experience is that sometimes I will share a book that I've read that I felt was beneficial with my claws. So what my friends, they'll read it, they'll come back to me and they'll say, Hello, that book really helped me.
A while ago I had a an interaction with with a teenager who's going through some difficulty. Now many of you might not agree with this book. Many of you might not even agree with the title of the book. But the book is beneficial for many people that find themselves in a position of hopelessness. Should I mentioned the book I'm I'm, I'm inclined not to. Because the last time I mentioned it, people took offense just because of the title. All I will say is that it starts with the subtle art of some of you have seen this, and some of you have not, and I'm not gonna say anything more. All right. The book is written by a by a non Muslim
Right, it starts out with the subtle art of fast, I'll just give you the author's name without having to finish the title Mark Manson. Right. Mark Manson is the author. He's got two books, and many people that I have counseled and spoken to, when I suggest these books and they end up reading them, they do benefit a lot because it gives them a new perspective on what it means to be successful, what it means to be happy. Because sometimes, I have found that when you tell people Allah says, or the Prophet says, They seem to act as if they shut down. So I thought I would present this particular my particular view point on this issue from a different perspective. And then when
the person feels ready, we will then come with the perspective from an Islamic point of view, because most of what is in that book is something that we can agree on. As, as Muslims, I'm not endorsing the book fully. But keep that in mind. Before I forget, there is another book that I find for for anyone that wants to do more research and wants to know more about how to prove the existence of Allah how to prove that the Quran is the speech of Allah how to prove that the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam is a prophet of Allah, etc. The best book that I found in English is the book by Hamza torches called the divided reality. The book is called the divine
reality. And it's available in bookstores, it's a Kinokuniya, our corner, bookstore, etc. You can also obviously order it online, this is a great book, it has helped me to reframe the way that I discuss it in issues, and I hope inshallah huhtala it will benefit you. Now, one more thing that I want us to consider. And this is this, this, these guidelines are going to be good for anything you might be going through right now, whether it is what we are discussing, or even a personal problem that you might have.
Can they be any good? Can they be any higher in what is happening today in the world in how Islam is being attacked? Ie all the positives, or the any things we can take away from what's happening? Any benefits? What do you think?
Yes, we'd like to mention some of these benefits.
You will find those who are inquisitive, trying to figure out what is it
trying to prove that we are wrong?
Okay, that's brilliant. So it will I'll use what you say. And I'll take it from two perspectives, from the perspective of a person who's not a Muslim who years something doubtful about the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasallam. That person goes now is like, Oh, I didn't know that about the Muslims. So they go out and they do more research and then they learn more things that ultimately lead them towards Islam. Okay, I'll give an example of this. One person was discussing the issue of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam son dying, and the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. On that same day, before we talk about what he did. On that same day, there was an eclipse of the sun. So
the people said that the sun there is an eclipse because of the death of the Prophet, son. But the Prophet came out into the masjid. And he stood in front of the people. And he said, that indeed, the sun or the moon is not eclipsed because of the birth or the death of air of anyone, but rather, it is from the signs of Allah subhanho wa Taala. So whenever you see it rushed to the prayer.
So he said that that's what convinced me that the Prophet was truthful in his message, I became a Muslim based on this. Why? Because if the Prophet was an imposter and a liar, he would have used this to submit his status in his community as a prophet of Allah. Ah, see, look at what happened because my son died. You know, Allah has now shown you aside, this means that I'm a prophet. He didn't need that. Abu Bakr radi Allahu Allah who believed in the Prophet sallallahu, alayhi wasallam without seeing a miracle Why?
He as a man I know for 40 years, he's never lied to me once I've never heard him tell a lie. Now he's telling me that he receives revelation. There's something there. You understand. That's even before he heard the Quran. If as you know, if someone for 40 years, they've never told you a lie, not a half lie. Not a quarter lie, not a white lie. They've never been dishonest in their lives. And the whole community knows that about them. When the Prophet stands on Safa, and he tells them if I told you there's an army behind this mountain, poised to attack you, would you believe me? What did they say? Yes, manager of the IRA come in Kathy, we're not we've never heard you tell a lie. We've
never experienced you telling a lie. And how old is he at the time 43. This is after three years of secret dharma. Right. So this is powerful. And going back to that book. He discusses this in great detail the divine reality, but coming to the Muslim now, the Muslim years old
I saw your logo and how was 900? I really, I didn't know the Prophet married the nine year old. Let me read some more. And then they read and then they realize that this issue is an issue of Hadith. Oh, I don't know anything about Hadith. Oh, this authentic hadith and inauthentic Hadith is how they saw he died if he didn't know that need to do more reading, what other books are out there? You know and then as you as you as you begin to go through that process, if Allah guides you, you start to have more certainty in your email. But if Allah subhanaw taala does not guide you and my daughter for myself and for you is that Allah subhanho wa Taala always keeps us steadfast and keeps our feet
firm. May Allah subhanho wa Taala guide us to the hub wherever it might be. Ma Allah subhanho wa Taala protect us from falling into misguidance. But one of the benefits of these attacks against Islam is that that it reinvigorates in the Muslim community a need to study a need to do research and need to not be complacent when it comes to learning about their religion. If we think about Malaysia and South Africa and many, perhaps most Muslim communities, did any one of you raise your hands if you did when you were a child? Did any one of you discuss the Islamic proofs for the existence of Allah? When you went to the gamma classes in primary school, or you went to the
afternoon madrasa or the Saturday or Sunday school for Islamic studies? Did you talk about the Islamic the Quranic proofs for the existence of Allah? Or why Allah subhanho wa Taala should be worshipped? Or why we worship Allah alone, and we don't associate partners with him? Did you discuss why the Quran is the book of Allah and how you can go about proving that it is the book of Allah? We didn't discuss this, what did we discuss?
Fear and barcia into lease? That's what we call it in Cape Town, either how to butcher the Koran and to to lease Arabic.
So that's all you know, you don't have to take Well, do you know how to pray, you can read the Quran with Tajweed. You can write, you know, Arabic, and you can read some Arabic and that is sufficient. But I think it's apparent to us it was apparent then, even though we didn't really pay attention. But it was very clear then. And it's very clear now. And it's even clearer now, because of how exposed we are to these attacks, that this is not sufficient, that it is not enough for us to focus on these things. This is why when the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, when he encouraged when he instructed the companions to teach new Muslims their religion, what did he say?
Did he just say teach him the Koran? No, the profit added to that directive, the following was a houfy D and give him an understanding of his religion, understanding, not just memorization, not just recitation, understanding.
Now is the time of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, there was not a need for us to engage in a lot of philosophical debate. Why? Because the Arabs as a nation, they were not a philosophical people, they were not like the Indians and the Greeks and you know, the Egyptians with a law, you know, 100,000 year, okay, not 100,000, but 100, you know, years or 1000 years of, you know, intellectual tradition and academic writing, etc. So they didn't need that, in fact, it's easier to talk to someone who's fitara, whose natural inclination has not been corrupted than it is to talking to a person who has a PhD in philosophy.
Because that person has shown many other things that from which they look at, you know, and lenses that they, you know, they look at the world through that it's very difficult to talk to them about simple concepts. I mean, one day we can have, you know, I think Donald Trump is the best example of this, even when, even when he is presented with evidence, even when something is absolutely clear, there is not a third opinion, right, one plus one is two will lie, I guarantee you that man can convince his followers that one plus one is five, and they will believe him and they will follow him in that and they will attack anyone who says differently. This is the world we are living in. Now.
To be honest, we have been living in this world for 1000s of years. Whenever there is someone that comes to power that has a following, they are able to manipulate the people you know how they see fit, then this is something else we'll have to talk about. Now. One last thing I want to discuss in this section is the following.
We pointed out that there seems to be a weakness in the way that we are learning and the way that we are what is being focused on the priorities. But one of the things I've also noticed is that we need to reevaluate how we are giving Dawa hamdulillah you see now we have these cameras here. You know it's being live stream I assume. You know, I have my laptop in front of me, Masha Allah now we think we are advanced in our, with this is these are these are tools. I'm not
Talking about that. I'm talking about what it what is it that we teach? And I'm sure about I let me talk to the men for a second. When you go to the Friday football, are you always leaving the masjid? inspired, motivated, educated? Do you feel that you've been intellectually and spiritually uplifted? Or do you feel me will lie to be honest with you sometimes even when I understand the basic points of of the hood, Bob, because I don't understand Bahasa Melayu. But I understand Arabic. So when I hear the ayah, and I hear the Hadith, and he quotes certain or lemma, you will quote the Arabic statement of Mr. Musharraf translated into Bahasa, so I see where he's going. But then when I leave
the when I leave the masjid, I'm not necessarily inspired the Prophet when he gave the football and that's the second thing that we want to talk about. So number one is in terms of of content. And number two is in terms of delivery.
The Friday hood, sounds like someone is reading a speech at a at a funeral.
You know, is it is mono tone, it is boring, it sounds like someone reading. So when I asked the young people the other night, I said, How can we make the hood bubble exciting. So one man shouted, write your own hood bar. From the back. He's like, write your own hood. One, one younger, one teenager said talk about things that we are dealing with. I said like what you said, I don't know stuff that's happening in our lives. So I gave an example. And I said, Okay, dating.
Young man comes to me 16 years old, he has this mad crush on this girl at a school. You know, every time he sees her, he's got butterflies in the in his tummy. You know, he dreams about his, you know, writing imaginary love letters to her. So what does he do? He's a Muslim boy. She's a Muslim girl. Then she might even have mutual feelings, you know, for him. What do we do? What is he do? But there's no football out there. There's no football about the phenomenon is no good by explaining what those feelings mean. Is it? I mean, is it okay if I have a teenage boy and I like a girl? Is that wrong? Should I feel guilty? Should I feel spiritually you know, guilty? Is that okay? Okay,
but what if I if I send a WhatsApp message is that okay? What if we meet for a movie? Is that okay? There was talking about that. Instead, as one lady said yesterday in a class, we find that most of the students have knowledge that do it.
It seems as if they are coming across the US being preachy, don't do this. Don't do that. Stay away from that. Be aware of this and it's all fire and brimstone as they say the Christian will fire and brimstone that's it. But we are we are the Jannat We are the the cool drinks that one will drink in gender, ways the reward for being a good Muslim. What about telling them the story of use of Allah His Salaam is being seduced by a beautiful woman, she's wealthy, she's influential. She's the wife of his master. And she wants to seduce him. He's a young man. He's 18.
And, you know, he, what does he do? Does he respond to that? No, he doesn't. What about this in the in the hygiene seven people will be under the shade of Allah that they have judgment. One of them is a man who is invited to Xena by a beautiful woman with status. I like to use the example in my in my teenage courses. I use the example of a celebrity
if a beautiful like I tell the boys you know the girls doesn't matter. Handsome, beautiful actor actress invites you to the hotel room they come to KL knocking you see some of the boys are really like
like they imagining this alone will stand well over addictive. But the point I want to make here is that you are invited by someone like that to Xena. And what do you say in Nia hoffa, la Indeed, I feel Allah subhanho wa Taala that I will not respond to your invitation, not because I'm afraid that I will get called to the I'm afraid that people will judge me or I'm afraid of the Papa Razzi or, or any of those things. What I fear is that Allah subhanho wa Taala will know of that, that he will hold me accountable, that it will impact my D and it will impact my success in the year after. And that's why I won't respond. So these are the kinds of meanings that need to be installed in the
hearts of young people instead of telling them and making them feel guilty for the way that they feel, especially when it comes to romantic situations.
And so we need to focus on how to read to read not read, not repackage, but we need to reevaluate the way that we are teaching our young, our young Muslims and the way that we as older Muslims, people that are no longer are no longer Shabaab.
I was very disappointed many years ago when I discovered that the majority of our lemma placed the limit of the youth at 33.
Why was I disappointed? I was devastated because I was 36. At the time.
I say couldn't I have discovered this a little earlier, but that is the view. If you are older than 33, you are no longer a young person, by the definition of the scholars, you no longer are sharper, you have moved into a more mature level now. So for those of us that are no longer Shabaab, right, we are older than 33. It is important for us to realize that we also need to reevaluate the way that we are currently studying Arabic.
Islam sorry, the point I want to stress before moving into the next topic. And that is that on a Sunday morning, once or twice a month, I teach a class at someone's home. And in that class, we are developing a framework for Islamic study. I did not want the clause to be a clause on Tafseer I did not want to have the clause be about fifth, I didn't want the clause to be on Hadith. I wanted us to look at the history of the Quran, and the history of the sinner and the importance and the status of the Quran and the Sunnah, and why we as Muslims believe that the Quran and the Sunnah are the primary sources for our belief, our knowledge and our action. Because once you lay down those
foundations, then it makes it easier to talk to someone about any other topic. But if someone does not believe, for instance, you know, climate change is a hot topic today. You cannot talk to someone about climate change, and about what we can do to you know, to prevent it or to to stop it until that person believes that there is such a thing as climate change. You can't debate anything with anyone until you are that person on the same page regarding regarding the issue. Okay, so we both agree that climate change exists, but you and I disagree as to how we are going to bring, bring about change. Right now we can have a discussion. But if we first That's why, to put that into
perspective, there is no point my dear brothers and sisters talking to someone about the age of eyeshadow de la vida. If that person doesn't believe in Allah doesn't believe in the concept of prophethood doesn't believe that the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam is a prophet. Don't talk about the age of Ayesha, until you've established those first three things. There's no point it is a useless conversation. Few tile is a better word. You cannot talk to someone you cannot defend the Prophet. If the person you are defending the Prophet against doesn't believe that he's a prophet, then you might as well start by pointing out and proving that he's a prophet. That would be
a better place to stop. Like when someone talks to you about the inheritance system in Islam. You like oh, yeah, but you see, you gotta understand x, y and Zed. This person doesn't even believe that the Quran is those is the is the word of Allah.
They believe in God, but they don't believe that Islam, that the Quran is the word of God. So why would you want to talk about the inheritance, inheritance is in the book that they reject, you first have to establish the existence of Allah, the, you know, reliability of the Quran and its status in Islam, then you can talk about inheritance. And that's a big mistake that we make. All right. Now let's move into some other things that I believe are important. The first of these things that we want to discuss is what leads people to leave Islam. What causes young people and older people to start having doubts about the deen?
So we get to divide these factors into two main categories. The first category are the external factors that lead people away from Islam. The first of them is social media. And we can see that a lot of the doubts that I personally deal with, when I asked the person where did you read that Whatsapp, Facebook, Twitter, I saw this on, you know, someone's Insta story. They were doing a short, you know, discussion about this issue. YouTube channels, small articles that people said them on social media, this is where they have they got access to these doubts. So social media is a factor when it comes to people leaving Islam, or they are having doubts about Islam, number two
popular culture.
And I'm talking about music, and movies, and magazines and TV series and all of these types of popular culture. What we find now and I don't know if you've noticed this, how many movies have come out in the last 20 years about God or about the Prophet
It's all about sound religious, you know phenomenon. Many, whether they are comedies, whether they are drama, whether they are, you know, action, drama fantasy, but how many of these movies depict a law of God, as a man, as a woman?
The angels are shown to be, you know, sinful and they disobey God and they become fallen angels TV series in with Jana and Johanna are depicted, what that what that does is it if you are young Muslim, and I'll just give you one example, and we'll move on
vampire movies and zombie movies are all the rage these years, right? So that's, that's very popular. So when I was in I lived in India for one year. So when I was doing a course, we were teaching the children about the different cards that they should say, in the mornings and the evenings. So one of the cards that I taught them to say before they go to bed is to read idle could see, before you go to sleep, you should read. Allahu La ilaha illallah wa Yoku, you know, until the end of the ayah. And then Allah will protect you from from the Sheltie until you wake up in the morning. So one boy, is it chef chef chef? I said, Yes. He said, Well, that would it also protect me
from the vampires.
So that is when I realized the profound effect that TV and the movies have on the minds of young people. Because in his mind, even though you could tell him that vampires are fictional, you could try to prove to him that they don't exist, in his mind as a young boy who's not 10 years old. That's a reality by old son asked me a few years ago, when he was much younger, right?
He asked me, he said, Avi, Avi, who's stronger Iron Men, or the Prophet Mohammed.
Okay, because in his young mind, Iron Man is out there somewhere. Right? He doesn't know like, we know that, you know, that's a fictional character that you know, people draw or they put in a movie, it isn't. It doesn't know that yet. So what happens is, it makes it very difficult for us to talk about what Islam really is, and what it really isn't a people's hearts and minds already polluted with other beliefs and other foreign, you know, foreign influences. That brings us to the third issue. The third factor that comes from without, from from outside that influences people, and these are foreign beliefs and cultures. And one of these ideologies is secularism, the idea that we must
separate between religion, and but let me let me summarize secularism, just in two words, this just in two phrases, really, it is removal of God as the foundation of morality and replacing it with human beings.
That is the simplest definition of secularism that I can give you.
We take a lot out of the equation, and we put ourselves into the equation as the foundation of what is right and what is wrong. We could say the separation between the state and church, we could say that the masjid and and the state we could say that, but that's part of the problem. The real problem is that in syncretism, we do not believe that Allah subhanho wa Taala is the foundation and is the source of knowing what is right and what is wrong. morality, ethics, they don't care doesn't come from Allah, it comes from you and me, we decide we agree that murder is harm, that it's not permissible to do this. Oh, it is okay to do that. We will decide. And as we have seen the kind of
the kind of legal, what can we call it? The legal confusion that has rained in the western and eastern worlds since the French Revolution?
Sometimes the thing is halau when it's hot, or when did they change it again? Oh, that didn't work. You know that tax law is a bit. It's a bit unclear, you know, let's have an amendment and, you know, we'll have an amendment of the amendment and it's very confusing. Why because you have made imperfect beings the foundation of legislation, and Allah subhanho wa Taala, the one whose knowledge and wisdom is perfect, and rules revelation is complete. we've ignored that completely. There is no longer important. We don't need Allah subhanho wa Taala if we had the time, and I don't think we will, but if we had the time, we would have got into a discussion about the the dangers of
secularism in the Muslim world, and you hear it all the time. You hear it in Malaysia, you get in America, you get in South Africa, that we need to restrict Islamic law to the Sharia codes, personal law.
But when you read the Quran, do you see that the Quran is only about marriage and divorce and inheritance whatever
As the Quran speak about my dear brothers and sisters,
everything Yes. And that's, that's, that's a perfect word. The Quran covers every conceivable topic that human beings could be interested in. If you want to know what Allah says about backbiting, there's an ayah about that. You want to know what Allah says about business transactions and loans visit they are about that. You want to know Allah subhanho wa Taala says about marriage or reconciliation between couples, husbands and wives. They are it sort of Nisa regarding that issue. You want to know how to give Dawa to Christians and Jews. The Quran covers that as well. Whatever the issue is, this is why one of the scholars of Islam, he says, No one and I want you to challenge
what I'm about to tell you. And I don't want you to say, Oh, that's a martial law. It's a nice statement. One of the scholars says, No one brings any doubt about Islam to us, except that in the Quran is a clarification of that doubt. I'll say it again. Anything that someone brings as an attack against Islam, the Quran has the answer to that attack to that doubt to that misconception. The only problem that you and I have is our ignorance. That is our problem. Our only our only the only drawback that we have as a community is that we are not knowledgeable of the book of Allah so that we are in a position to, to discuss it and to argue against it. One of the most amazing scholars
that I have, I've had the pleasure of reading is Chef Mohammed Amina shell TT is a Mauritanian scholar. Right? Has anyone here traveled to Mauritania before?
Okay, so we should all make the intention to we should travel there for a few months in sha Allah. Just as a side note, there was a college that opened a few years ago, it was called the Center for the creation of scholars. Right, Marquez, taquile Allah or something similar. So the Center for creation and the development of Alabama, it was a 17 year program,
a 17 year program for creating Alabama. Today people graduate from an A an online course that six weeks, and they consider themselves to be to be our lover, these are the times that we are living in will protect us. But this will lie. You know what, what are the preconditions for entry into this particular college was that you already memorize the Quran?
So what are these people doing in 17 years? If you ask, it's a good question, the covering everything, it shows you the the depth of knowledge, and the focus is on memorization there.
The focus is on,
on memorization, that wherever you go, you take your knowledge with you, and share Mohammed amidation Katie, they say about him that whenever anyone asked him a question, it was as if all of the books were open in front of him, you know, like in a computer simulation, and he could just he would sometimes people would ask him questions. And then he would say to one of the students, okay, go to that shelf over there. All right, the third volume of that book, page 187. Right, I think it's on the right hand side, if my memory serves me correctly,
the third volume of a 15 volume book and you know what page it's on and on what side of the page and if it's at the top at the bottom, in the law here in LA Roger. So behind the law, this is where we need to be at when it comes to when it comes to being able to speak about our religion. So what I'm what I'm trying to instill in myself or remind myself in you about is the importance of seeking Islamic knowledge. leave no stone unturned in learning as much about Islam as you can. One of the main reasons why we are in this position we are in right now is because we lack a detailed understanding of our Deen and Alhamdulillah. We are seeing changes around the world. We are seeing
many movements and many, you know campaigns to increase awareness and knowledge and that's great. But you as an individual need to be a part of that. There is no use talking about the amazing Islamic colleges here in Malaysia or in South Africa. What good work and what amazing graduates they produce. Are you one of them? That's the question you need to ask yourself today. Are you a person enrolled and engaged in these Islamic educational programs?
memorize the Quran, learn how to read it, learn Arabic, learn the basics, the fundamentals of Islam, improve your knowledge. And if that's the only thing you take away from today's lecture, I hope that that is the only thing you take away the importance of seeking knowledge for yourself as an individual, but we move on. So we have this
Foreign beliefs and cultures that influence people. And the example that I gave to previous classes and audiences is, you know, when you go to Japan, they people come back and they say, you know, the Japanese or they have everything except Islam. Have you heard that before, they will lose things in the Muslims, which is the one that gets me the most, the Japanese are more Muslims and the Muslims. But without a mind, you confusing me. My point is that that statement shows how we think of ourselves, which is the next point I want to make, we have an inferiority complex. So these two things, the influence of foreign beliefs and ideologies like security ism, or the development and
the technological advancement of other nations, and how, you know, Germany and Japan, martial law, look at them, they're not Muslims, but look at what they've achieved. So we say to ourselves, well, perhaps the reason for that is because we are Muslims, is because we still hold on to these outdated beliefs and practices, it is because we still connect it to an ideology or a belief system. That was that was discussed in the in the seventh century. And that shows a weakness in on so many different levels. But it also shows us the one of the byproducts of colonialism is that a one of the things that we can say about colonialism is that it has been very successful in one of its take its stated
objectives, and that is the destruction. And the the
destruction perhaps is the only word I can think of right now, of the Muslims.
Belief in Islam, or his confidence in his religion, they that they did this in India, they did this in Malaysia, they did it in so many other countries like Algeria, Tunisia, and many other places. I'm not only talking about the British, but every way they go, this is one of the stated objectives to take the Muslim away from Islam, Indonesia is another perfect example of that.
That's why why have we been struggling with this? The so called thing called, you know,
can you be a secular Muslim?
To me, that sounds like saying a sober drunkard.
I don't know I go, you know what, I'm a married bachelor, you know, a married bachelor and a secular Muslim. You know, that's, to me, that sounds like it's the same thing. Allah knows best. The last thing I want to mention, you know, these external factors is that the easy access that we have to sit, let me explain. If you are sitting on a regular on a regular basis, if you and I, if we are disobeying Allah subhanho, wa Taala. Every day, if we're not fulfilling the commands of Allah, what typically happens is when doubts do come our way, we find it easier for ourselves, to believe in them and to accept them, because we don't have the strength of faith to be able to, to resist them.
And because it's so widely available today, you can gamble online, * is available online, you can download apps on your phone to find a date. And that date will have no strings attached, it will only be for the purpose of Xena. You can order alcohol and drugs on the internet and the Darknet you can do all of these things. And so people's EMR is being eroded, so that when the doubts come, they do not find any savvy hot coats of mail, there is nothing to protect them from those doubts. And in my experience.
Not this is not every every person that I counsel, but for many of them, the reason why they have this is because they are currently living a life of sin.
Chef, you know, I'm drinking, I'm drinking regularly, okay, that's a problem. But you know, I'm also having problems about you know, some some aspects about the sadhana or the Quran, or, you know, some some issue in Islam. So he's got the drinking problem. And he's also got the, the doubts problem that another person says, you know, Chef, I, you know, I, that we actually need to discuss this in the next section. And that brings us to the internal reasons inside of ourselves, and also in our communities. So let's focus on the first, raise your hand if you converted to Islam as an adult.
One, so everyone else myself included, we were born into a Muslim families. All right. So growing up, we didn't think deeply about what it meant to be a Muslim, right? Because you don't need to your mom or your parents or Muslims or uncles and aunts and cousins, and every single person is a Muslim, you know, even growing up, we were not practicing Muslims. But we used to have this thing at our school with Muslims versus non Muslims or to be more specific Muslims versus Christians. We even to get a level higher, where we call that the Crusades. Right so the Muslim armies against the Christian armies and what we used to do was beat
I'm up at school. So the Muslims are beating up the Christians. And you wouldn't want to go to the toilet and get stopped, you know, by a group of Christian school boys, because then they beat you up, and then you wait for your opportunity to beat them up. And what's funny about all of that is none of us were praying.
We were defending the religion, some some distorted version, or some distorted idea. But the thing is growing up, we did not have conviction, we did not know why we believe what we believe we cannot back it up with evidence, we cannot have a proper discussion. I'm not talking about, you know, like a professor, when we couldn't say, Well, yeah, five or four reasons why I'm a Muslim. These are my beliefs. And this is why I believe in Allah, and this is why I believe in the Quran, and this is why I believe that the Prophet Mohammed is a prophet of Allah. And this is why I believe in such a thing as miracles, etc, etc. You can say that because no one focused on that. How many discussions Did you
have with your parents about the names and attributes of Allah when you were a child?
How many bedtime stories were about the prophets and the Sahaba?
I don't remember any by parent, my mother would read our stories, but I don't remember any stories about Ibrahim and no head masahisa or about the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wasallam. So what we have right now is we have Muslim generation of the generation, they are practicing Islam with no foundations whatsoever. And the only reason why they do so is because it is required from the community. A few years ago, I was on a plane. Now this is just one manifestation of this problem that I'm talking about. I'm on a plane. I'm flying from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, to Johannesburg, South Africa. I get off the plane and is a lot of black is black everywhere. What do I mean by that? A lot
of women that are wearing the full niqab and abaya that they're all very common in Saudi Arabia. So they are literally three quarters of the plane This is during the June July period when it's you know, it's it's basically vacation in Saudi Arabia. So we fly back for our vacation going back home.
I get on the plane a few Oh, you know, get my get to my seat as I fall asleep. A few hours later, I wake up and I,
I year, the statement, you know, you know, cabin crew prepare for landing, like, Okay, that was quick. So I look around and I'm like, Am I in the right place?
Because none of those women will wearing a bias anymore. They're most of them are not even wearing scoffs what's the phenomenon that I am? What's the issue that I want to get to by using this example, it is that a lot of us are practicing Islam, because it is expected from us on a cultural level. We are expected by our family members and about so by societal societal reasons, that's why we do what we do. And if they will, no pressures on us from the society or from family very, it's very unlikely that we will be practicing any of this, if you did not feel if a young man or woman did not feel that they parents or their cousin or they friends will see them at the mall with a
boyfriend or girlfriend, then they would just you know, go there freely, openly walk hand in hand and said now what do you need to do? The boyfriend books, the tickets, then he tells her it seat number so and so he goes there first? And he's checking in? Is anyone looking? Am I actually telling you how to do it? That's wrong, right? It's wrong. It's wrong, I just remember. But because of societal norms, you know, I have to go through all of these loops or through all of these hoops to get to what you want to achieve. But if you were living in a more open society, or if we didn't have to worry about this, then do we have enough conviction as Muslims do is our taqwa and our Eman so
strong for us to avoid falling into the sense and more importantly, the doubts. Number two, and I don't know if you agree with this, but that is the issue of personal problems. Many people, they are going through certain issues in their lives. One of my friends left Islam. Why? Because his Christian girlfriend did not want to convert to Islam so that they could get married. So what did he do? He left Islam. And then he became a Christian, got baptized and then married. This the woman of his dreams. So because of a personal issue, you know, something is happening in his own life. Another girl that I know her father is an Islamic scholar or was an Islamic scholar. He did
something that you know caused some scandal in the community and that caused a family to break up. So as she grew older,
She grew more distance from the religion. And then she finally announced to the family and to everyone else, that she's no longer a Muslim. So something starts out as a personal problem, or it is an individual issue. And when the doubts come, they find fertile ground to exploit those personal problems that the person might have. And many times the easiest scapegoat, and the quickest thing to blame is Islam.
Islam is the reason for this, if only I wasn't a Muslim, I will not be having these problems. In fact, one that is what one boy told his parents, they told me that the reason why he's suffering from mental health problems is because he's a Muslim, if he was not a Muslim, and he didn't have to worry about halal and haram and this and that, then he would not be suffering from anxiety and other mental health conditions. It's the deen that made him like that. So obviously, now when he reads about what science says about Islam, and what science can prove, and evolution, what do you find that he's more than willing to accept that now, I always knew it. Now I have evidence, I can reject
Islam, and I can leave Islam because of that. The second thing that I want to focus on the third thing rather, the third, the third internal factor is what it is the fact that people are weak and we are weak, not people, but you and I, we are weak and our a bother. Specifically, they're a bother of the heart. They're a bother of the heart. What are some of these examples that I want to share with you? In terms of our Yaki? We've already stated that there's a weakness in that our certainty. Number two, how many of us is how many of us take the time to contemplate the greatness of Allah subhanho wa Taala? How many of us are thinking about the rain when it falls? How many of us when we
go scuba diving and snorkeling, do we look at the creation of a lion say so behind Allah butter barakallahu accidental quality? exalted Is he the one who is the best of creators, look at what he has created, how many of you where you are in biology class and you look at how complex the cell is, you look at the DNA and the RNA, you look at the mRNA you look at the flagellum, you look at all of these different parts of the cell and you say Subhana Allah, this is Allah, because we have been conditioned into believing that a vida is Allah Akbar, opening the Quran in reading, giving charity Osaka going on overall in hajj. And that's it. But we do not focus on their Eva of the heart we we
think when we think about the our love for Allah, and I hope in his mercy and our fear of his punishment, or in alta workqueue, how much do we trust that Allah Subhana Allah to Allah will take care of us, one of the greatest advices that my father gave me ever, my father passed away in Ramadan, May Allah forgive him and have mercy on him and grant him gender, and all of our deceased family and friends.
But you know, it's only after someone dies, will you think about what you've benefited from that person. And for those of you whose parents are still alive, perhaps another benefit. And if this is the second, only, the second thing you'll take away from this lecture today is, number one, the importance of you pursuing Islamic knowledge. And number two, if your parents are alive, be the best that you could be for them, and serve them in every way that you you know how that is easy for you. Because now I regret that I was not there for my father when he was sick, I regret that I was not there to take care of him and help my brothers there to deal with that burden themselves. So I
regret these things. So I don't want you to have those same regrets. If your parents are alive, take care of them. Don't waste this opportunity. Because when they when they leave this world, that is when we think about what we could have done. Don't be a person who says I could have I would have I should have be I will do it. Now I am doing it now and I will do better. So but my father told me that my son, because I was worried about how I'm going to earn a living from my from my teaching, because, you know, most people when they think about what I'm doing right now, they do not associate it with prestige and with honor and with financial security. You know what I mean? A funny funny
thing that happened to me a few few years ago, yeah, in Malaysia. At the time, I was driving a proton saga, you know, the 1989 model, a classic, you know, Malaysia classic. So I was driving this car at the time, it was the car that I could afford. And I gave a lecture at someone's home in Bukit damansara so after the lecture, I walked out towards my car and the host followed me to my car. So outside, you know, in the street because people were coming to attend. They were all these beautiful cars, you know, BMWs and mclarens. And you know, Masha Allah, and the car that was parked in front of my car was a Range Rover Evoque and I was in love with that car. I still am. Right. So it was a
it was a beautiful black
Color was amazing. And so I started to praise, you know, the call and tell my host how beautiful the color was. And then he looked at me, he said, Oh, shucks, also like, nice cause
I was like, What are you talking about? It says, ss, if someone would look at you and say, Well, okay, you know, you are a different breed of human being, you know, different species, you don't, you know, you're not attracted to the dunya in any way. And this is, this is unbelievable. My point here is that, when it comes to when it comes to the issue of
the workqueue, my father told me, my son, if you do it for the sake of Allah, Allah will never abandon you. And that has been true for 20 years.
And I hope, I hope I'm sincere, Allah knows best. But I hope that when I teach, and I gave Goodbye, and I, you know, I give advice, and I'm doing it for the sake of Allah. But for the last 20 years, no matter how bad things have become, my children have never gone to bed, you know, with empty stomachs. I've never lived on the street, I've I've never really struggled. You know, I struggled more before I went to study because we grew up very poor than I did as a, as a student or as a graduate. My father said, if you do it for the sake of Allah, Allah will never abandon you. And that has been true. So this is based on the issue of the workqueue, which is reliance and trusting Allah
Subhana, WA, tada, these are actions of the heart. So if we and you and I are going to protect ourselves from falling, and being, you know, being affected by doubts, then we will need to strengthen the Battle of the heart, as we will strengthen outsider and azekah, and our charity, and our recitation of the Quran and Allah and all of those other aspects of Islam and worship, that we are taught that we were taught from the time that we were that they know that we were young children. So going back to those internal reasons. The fourth reason why we find that these attacks are finding fertile ground, is because if we look at the Muslim community right now, there seems to
be a weakness in three things. The first is Islamic research. How many Muslim anthropologists Do you know?
How many Muslim biologists have you know? Yes, something for you to do research on when you leave. How many Muslim practicing Muslim I must add practicing. Because as I was watching in a lecture by Stephen Weinberg and Richard Dawkins a few days ago,
you know, Steven Weinberg, he won a Nobel Prize in the 1970s for his work on particle physics or something. And he was working with a Pakistani, maybe Muslim, who apparently when they met was told, you know, actively drinking alcohol, right, he had a bottle of whiskey in his desk drawer. He was asked by the author, which means that he believed that Mirza Ghulam Muhammad was a prophet after the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, and we consider that to be disbelief. So even though the ladies say that we are Muslim, in reality, they beliefs or are Islamic, because we believe that the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam is the final prophet. There's no one often so I'm
gonna say practicing Muslim.
How many practicing Muslims have won the Nobel Prize? For any science? You know, any science category? Ever? How many?
Do some research later? Okay. After Salaam, the Pakistani scientists, perhaps it doesn't qualify? That's debatable, or rather not debatable. From my point of view, it's not debatable, but how many practicing Muslims are on that list? You do it. So we are we are unable to provide extensive answers from a scientific position given by people whose understanding of Islam is correct. And who are who are practicing Muslims, you understand? This is a problem. So to the young people who are still in high school, primary school at university, I say the following. It is important that you, you dedicate yourself to Islamic knowledge and a deep knowledge of worldly of all the sciences, geology,
biology, physics, whatever it might be. But you need to have that so that when you speak, can you imagine if someone is a Nobel Prize winner in physics, and then that person is a practicing Muslim with extensive knowledge of Islam, and that person speaks about the existence of Allah? Why does Richard Dawkins or other people get so much gets so much traction in the community?
Not just our communities but around the world. Richard Dawkins is not a philosopher. He's not a theological theologian, is a biologist, but when he speaks people, listen to him talk about religion. What is it about him that people are attracted to
his qualifications
He's his background. He comes from a scientific background. So therefore, we believe that he must be speaking with authority, he must be speaking with evidence, because he's an academic. Now imagine you were that academic. And you were a person who believed in Allah, and you are a person that knew biology, or physics, or chemistry or whatever other topic or subject it might be. And you then spoke about Islam and you defended Islam, that would be powerful. That's what we need to see. We need to get rid of this weakness that we have in science, this weakness that we have in knowledge, specifically, our general knowledge. Here's a quick question for you to test your general knowledge.
What is the capital of South Africa?
Pretoria, Pretoria is the capital of South Africa Alhamdulillah brings great joy to my heart that you knew that because most people say Cape Town or Johannesburg, right, but
anyway, the last point I want to make here is the following that right now our young people have so much free time on their hands, that they are not spending it in anything that is beneficial. What in fact they are doing is playing games, spending time on social media, giving themselves ample time to be influenced about regarding the doubts about Islam. Yes, it's something to think about. One of the poets he mentions in a in verses of poetry, the following that
youth wealth, and free time, are the three most destructive things that could happen to a young person, being young, having money and having lots of free time. And if you think about the youth that are going astray in our communities, they seem to have a combination of those, those three things. They're young, they teenagers, early 20s, they have money, they don't have to be billionaires or the children of billionaires, but Alhamdulillah
in the future, sometime, that the Islamic definition of being wealthy is what
I mean, one definition we could use is saying that if you have socketable wealth, you are wealthy. Another definition, which is a bit less than that, is that if you have enough money for today and some left over for tomorrow, then you are rich.
Every day is 200 ringgit, but you have 300 if you are a wealthy individual, and how many of us have that?
Do we know? We all struggling a lot of stuff anyway, well, I'll make it easy for us. So understand that these three things affect the youth. And that's why for us as parents, and for all they themselves their creative. What's the answer to that question? Allah asks the question, and sort of twofold. And if they meaning us as human beings, have they be created from nothing? Or are they themselves the creators? What's your answer to this karate question? Did you create yourself? No. Well, you created from nothing, did you just spontaneously and randomly appear on the dunya? know, what third option would there be?
If you've been created, that's what Allah subhanho wa Taala is drawing our attention to without explicitly mentioning it? It's like a rhetorical question. There's only a third, a third option that remains that you be created while to identify the creator will take more information, but at least one can say that I am not here as as a result of random processes in the universe. Because if I told you that my laptop exists on this table because of random processes of the universe, with any one of you believe me?
No, because it clearly appears that this thing has to be designed and manufactured. And so you are as well, this is why I want you to read a book called signature in the cell. It discusses in the first half of the book, The origin of life on earth. And he proves with great detail because his background, his PhD is in the philosophy of science. So he discusses from a philosophical and scientific perspective, why the theory of evolution cannot adequately adequately explain the origin of life. Evolution helps us to understand the development of life on Earth, like how it went from a single celled organism to what we what we experienced today, but it doesn't explain how life came
about at the beginning.
If you think by reading the book, inshallah, Tada. The author is Steven Mayer, and the book is called signature in the cell. All right, then you need to connect your thinking about the creation to the Quran, and IV to recommend that you read sudo to nahal, the surah of the B in relation to this issue, because the first few ions of the surah tells us look at
Look at livestock, look at the sun, look at the moon, look at the sky, look at the earth. Look at how Allah subhanho dice created the donkey and the horse and the mule, and you benefit from them. And they you they provide transport, look at the oceans and what the oceans have provided. So many examples, look at the rivers, look at the mountains, illustrate our attention to the creation. So thinking about the creation brings you to think about the Creator. And you have to connect that thinking to your reading of the Quran. And every time you come across an idea in which Allah mentions he's blessings upon us, then your your demand is increased number number three. The third
way you can protect yourself against these doubts by their brothers and sisters, is to buy books on the topic to buy books about, you know, the believing in Allah and preserving one's faith, I would suggest that your focus should be on the following topics that books on Islamic belief, I will recommend the eighth volume book by a chef over asheboro. And I know many of you just rolled your eyes Now when I say eight volumes, like
oh my god, eight volumes, yes, eight volumes. But it is perhaps the most detailed discussion of Islamic beliefs you know, in English, so if you want to know about a law, and about the Prophets, and the messengers, and the books and angels, and the last day, and other etc, many other topics, this is the perfect series for you to read. Most of these books are available online. And I highly recommend that you start reading deeply about this when it comes to the frog.
Chef Homer is another book that I want you to to read is called the history of the Quranic text. The history of the Quranic text by m m SME is the same author that I mentioned earlier, when we spoke about studies in early Hadith literature, studies in the literature, the same author. All right. And then the last book that I feel that you must read is the book I also mentioned before, it's called the divine reality by Hamza sources, okay, these books are essential, they are many, many more available in English, but I don't want to overburden you, because I know how enthusiastic you are about reading. And I know that you will come back to me and asked me to recommend more books. This
is true, am I right? This is a reflect this is an accurate reflection of reality I made to either it is number four, what is the fourth way in which you can protect yourself and you can prove that you can develop a shield is by watching lectures that increase your EMR and answer these questions. And I will only recommend one lecture and that is the lecture by by shefali DRC called the purpose of life. It was a lecture that he delivered in Australia to a group of mainly non Muslims, people that were not Muslims. And he delivered a lecture on the purpose of life. And he answers a lot of those fundamental questions. Why am I Why do I exist? Is there a god? And if God exists, how do I know
that He exists? Etc, etc. Right? And he discusses it from from a long lecture, it's about two or three hours. But you can, you know, break it down into bite sized pieces for yourself. Then
number five, and this is one of the most powerful ways for us, especially those of us that were born into Islam is to watch videos, and interviews by people who have converted to Islam.
You go on YouTube right now, you're literally going to find hundreds of lectures, there need to be in many languages. In fact, my wife who is a revert, she was part of a documentary in which so she spoke German in the documentary and that they had the subtitles. Then there was a French woman, she spoke about her journey to Islam, there was a woman from Switzerland, and so on and so forth. People around the world, different different ethnicities and nationalities. But that's just one example. But online Subhanallah young people, old people, husbands and wives, husbands and wives and the whole family, they all accepted Islam, why did they become Muslims? If we are, if we are going to
strengthen our conviction as Muslims, then it will help us to understand how people that the blood come from our from our same background, what it was that motivated them to become Muslims. It's very inspiring sometimes the stories of Allah and it really gets you thinking about how much of Islam you take for granted how much of the beauty of Islam you have not yet experienced or even realized. And they are dozens of stories like that.
different people, different backgrounds, I'm sure you will benefit. Then number six is focusing on the actions of the heart, focusing on the worship that we have in the heart loving Allah, fearing Allah opening and all those mercy, trusting Allah completely increasing amounts of submissiveness to a loss of a handle of data and uncertainty in His revelation. And of course, we do all these things together, it will have a more profound effect. Now, that was the first six points and the point is six points under the first point, if that makes any sense. We move on, though, and I'll just go through them very quickly, because we are running out of time. And we saw one time for question and
answers, I think. So the second of these ways to protect yourself against adults is by developing a critical mindset, asking questions, not falling for logical fallacies. Evaluating the evidence, asking the person to explain their premises their definitions, developing a critical mindset, absolutely essential. Typically, we spend time in the course I discuss this in more detail, we discuss 10 logical fallacies that you as a thinking person need to be aware of one of them is the ad hominem attack, attacking the person. This happened to me when I started practicing Islam. I would tell my friends, communists go to the masjid, they will say, you, you, you are the one who's
inviting us to demonstrate you that we're doing x, y and Zed with us yesterday. No, no, no, no, no, no, we don't want to go to the machine for you. So who are they attacking? Why are they rejecting my invitation to go to the mosque?
Because they are attacking my credibility and my integrity. But they're not focusing on that the message that I'm giving them is independent of Tarik Appleby. And it is from Allah and His Messenger, do you understand? So one of the ways people reject the truth is by attacking the messenger, attacking the person bringing the message and not really focusing on the evidence, but that's number two, critical mindset. Number three, increasing your Islamic knowledge. I spoke about this before. Number four, identifying the sources of your knowledge, and what you know, and you feel confident is acceptable. You cannot, for instance,
you can't have a debate with an atheist, if you believe that the Quran and the Sunnah of the only sources of knowledge, and he says that science is the only source of knowledge, can you have a debate like that? Because you will be saying, Allah says in the Quran, and then he is like, but I don't accept that as, as proof. And then he'll say, but, you know, Albert Einstein said, or some, you know, some will contemporary physicists said, and then you will say, but I don't accept that that person is an authority. I don't accept what they have to say. So you know, that's a that's a futile debate, you have to agree and identify what the sources of knowledge are they just wanting
our the, I want to mention, because we're not going to be able to talk about Islam in science today. But it's something to think about
all the any points at which science and Islamic knowledge converge.
I'll give you two of them. Number one, that Islam and science both agree on the importance of observation, as an example,
when we want to start the fast of Ramadan, what are we required to do? cite the moon, you understand? So it is now observation and reliance on our senses is a valid form and source of knowledge in Islam as it is in in science, then also in science as it is in Islam. There is a reliance on testimonial evidence, because if I am a doctor, and I sent a blood sample to the lab, to check for certain diseases or for certain conditions, then I am dependent on the testimonial evidence of the lab technician, am I not? Because unless I do the test myself, that is the only way that I will know, on an individual basis, from my perspective, that it's reliable, but I trust that
the person who works in the lab is trustworthy, and that they have integrity and that they their their findings will be true. So both Muslims and scientists, Muslim scholars and scientists both rely on testimonial evidence, the Sunnah of the Prophet Salam it was set up as an example of that. How do you know that the Prophet said the following words, none of you truly believe until he loves his brother, what he loves for himself? How would you know? Because I tell you that my chef told me who chef told him when chef told him the chef told him that on a simpler monocle the Allahu anhu said that the prophet SAW the lava and he was upset. What is that? testimonial evidence? That's a
Sunnah
Right, I testify that I heard this from my teacher. And he testified that he heard it from his teacher. And it goes back to the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. So instead of looking at the ways in which science and Islam are different, look at the ways in which they are similar. And work from that point of view, we are the points of convergence, it's much more, it's much more fruitful, if we take that approach, instead of assuming that there is an inherent contradiction between the two. Is that clear? Alright, so we move on now to number five,
which is simple, and which is obvious. And these common sense, if you do not have the proper Islamic knowledge, then stay away from the sources of these doubts. Stop following these people on social media, unsubscribe from the YouTube channels, don't read articles by people, you know, show immunity and hostility towards Islam. Just stay away from that leave groups in which doubts of you know, like, on WhatsApp is a group of Muslims. And there are all kinds of Muslims in there. And some Muslims are a little bit more liberal if I can use that word than others. And so they're like, Okay, this ayah doesn't mean that this idea doesn't mean this. And you in our group, you either give Dawa,
if you know if you have knowledge, or you leave, which is safer for you.
So number six, understand the priorities of knowledge. What this means is do not talk about the intersection between Islam and science until you know your Islam understand the priorities of knowledge. There are many people right now that are delving deeply into theories of knowledge, epistemology, and philosophy of logic, but they cannot read the Quran, nor do they understand it, which is more important, but yet they are now engaging in the history of science, the philosophy of science, etc, etc. So they are, they are digging into, you know, deep, deep issues, but they don't have the basics yet. So you make sure that you have your priorities in a row. And number seven, and
I'll end with this today we have
the seventh of these ways that you can shield yourself from the doubts is to turn to Allah subhanho wa Taala sincerely, and to say yeah, a lot. Like Allah tells us in the Quran
he had a ton of a lot, do not cause our thoughts to go straight off the you have guided Yes. Do not cause our house to go astray after You have guided us. If Allah subhana wa tada has guided you to Islam as an adult. Well, hamdulillah praise Allah, if Allah is chosen for you to grow up as a Muslim fell hamdulillah but now we should all make do and we should supplicate to Allah and ask him, oh, a lot don't cause us to go straight off the you have guided us a lot. You have guided us through this religion that you have chosen as the religion. So then our feet and our hearts never go astray, that does not deviate from the spot is the Nelson alto stuffy guide us to the St. Paul, this needs to be
out there. This needs to be out cool to Allah subhanho wa Taala that you have the love you have granted us this, you know, many, many, many people when they become Muslims. And I'll just share this with you. One of my friends who became a Muslim in his 30s he started practicing. And he was crying and I couldn't understand why he was crying, was he crying because he was happy. But then he explained it to me, said I can't believe that I've wasted more than 50 years of my life not being a Muslim. Because what he's concerned about, that he's wasted, you know, these decades of his life, because he was a drug addict before a drug dealer. You know, he was involved in breaking an entry
part of a gang he was, you know, not so not only was he living a life of sin, but obviously that didn't really matter much because he wasn't yet a Muslim. But then he became a Muslim. And then he was like, oh, what have I done? How much of my time Have I wasted? One of the things that he told me about was later, he was he was having one of those cravings that, you know, recovering drug addicts or or want to have. And what happened was that he got up one night, and he just opened up the front. And he saw the greeting from Slovakia that he was doing it in sign up. And he didn't know what he was reading. But he was so overwhelmed. Enemies just started crying and the sun up and he didn't
know why because he didn't understand the Arabic but he was just overwhelmed. Then after he finished the Salah, he took a translation and he was lying down on his bed, and he was reading the translation and that's when he cried even more. But you know why, what, why he was crying, but just not only because of the meaning, but because again of that realization that he had wasted so much of his life. We could have been enjoying the words of Allah subhanho wa Taala as he was enjoying them now.
Having access to Revelation that much
Create a speaks to me is the art that I can read. And Allah subhanho wa Taala is addressing me. Yeah, you will levena Manu, oh, you have believed you who believe who's Allah talking to abubaker and Oman, Isaiah and have saw, yes, is also talking to you. And
so that is what we mean by developing out our EMA and our conviction. And these are the best ways to protect ourselves from falling into the dots. I hope that perhaps one day, we could have a continuation of this, because this is only the first third of what I wanted to cover, or what I cover in the course. Of course, we don't rush. I just I don't want to read my slides. And they're not going to just have send them to you. Maybe with an audio, you know, file with it. But there are things that we need to discuss, what do you do, after the doubt becomes realized?
How do you deal with that now? Like I've already I've got doubts now about the profits of the law while he was Adams actions, after the Battle of the trades with the Prophet executed hundreds of Jewish men and boys. Yes. And now,
you know, what do I do? Let me just answer that, in case I leave you as adult. But once that happens, you need to have certain tools at your disposal certain, you know, instruments that you can use to surgically remove that tumor from your heart, that that needs to be removed, but to answer the doubt, so that I don't leave you with one. Why did the Prophet execute hundreds up to 700 of the Jews have been vocal Eva?
What was the reason?
Why did the prophets of the law it was executed because the Prophet was anti semitic. The Prophet hated Jews, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam was bloodthirsty Are these the reasons now, because these people allied themselves with the population, the Confederates, the fight the Muslims and broke an open treaty, a clear treaty between them between themselves and the Muslim community, they were supposed to not only Pro, not only were they supposed to protect and fight with the Muslims, but obviously by offering to support that the fight with the enemies of Islam, so not only did they abandon the prophet in the fight to defend Medina, but worse than that, they allied
themselves with the enemies of Islam to attack the Muslims from within the city. And so as a punishment, the prophets, Allah La vida, he was executed them, all the men, and all of the boys that were pubescent, so they will all execute it, and the women and the children were, what they can ask, but they can essays or Excel, I'm not sure now don't quote me on that last spot. My memory is a bit fuzzy on that last detail regarding the men and the women and the children. Okay, so you can double check in the books of the CLR. But people, if that happens to you, then you need to study what the scholars of Islam have said. And most importantly, when it comes to these historical issues
regarding the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam spend a lot of time trying to understand the context read before read within the weed often, and that's going to help you and that's going to make and that's going to prevent you from having a broken and misguided understanding. Okay. So these are my these are, you know, my points I hope that inshallah Allah they will be of benefit to you. But don't forget what I said earlier, seeking knowledge and becoming more knowledgeable as a Muslim is your greatest priority. And so I hope and I make dua, that Allah subhanaw taala grounds me and you sincerity, if loss of beneficial knowledge and the kinds of actions that do justice, to that
knowledge that we have gained particle level vehicle was set up with la de la boca to do we have any questions, any issues that require explanation, or clarification? Yes, I believe that Liverpool will win the Premier League this season. That is my that is my belief. So you can quote me on that.
What else, South Africa will also win the Rugby World Cup. That is also as also join in case anyone wanted to ask a question about that. But on a serious note, are there anything any questions that we need to ask? I'm disappointed that my family didn't make it yet? Or maybe they owe you? I don't know. I was hoping that I could introduce you to my children. And then you could then you would realize why I'm doing so bold.
All right. Are they any questions? Nothing? Wow. Yes.
Well, I need to set up
Get your permission and also advice. Sometimes when we want to
do this knowledge
sometimes
we parents sometimes think sometimes we will be over protecting
the way this is how its lobbyists and things like that. But the same times when they go out, for example, they're more exposed to other things surrounding
myself etc. But there's a narrow point of view which may be given by the they are expected to, or some people say that maybe you just let them explore and just
there's so much to unpack there.
So we'll begin at the we'll begin at the beginning, the first thing that we need to make sure of when it comes to our children. So let's start, we'll get to the point where they already teenagers or young adults, so let's talk if your children are much younger, it is important that you install many of the points that I mentioned today that they understand why will Allah is they know him, though, these days and his attributes they know about Islam, they have a good understanding of Islamic history, Islamic law, they understand why the Koran is the speech of a law and so on and so forth. Okay. The second thing is that you should not encourage your student or your children to get
another view. Now, I know at this might be circular circular argumentation, but you know, bear with me, because I'm assuming that everyone Yeah, we are all on the same page. If not, then of course, it's a problem. But if we take we take it for granted that the ayah in the Quran, where Allah says Wabi
Sabi de la yo Kabbalah means then whoever seeks a deed other than Islam, it will never be accepted of from him. If we take that as reality as we should as Muslims, then we will never I will never encourage bias by children to go out into the world and explore Buddhism and Christianity and Judaism. You know, spend some time with an agnostic group or with an atheist. And then like in the, in certain cultures, and I'm in this, I'm gonna go out on a limb here, if I'm wrong, please correct me now. That the Amish in America, the Amish, the Amish, they are now they the youngsters before they make the transition as adults into the Amish life, that they allow them to go out into the
cities and to live a life other than the Amish life. And once if they want to come back, they come back if not, they remain outside. But once you come back, you have to be committed to that lifestyle. Do we do that without Should we do that with our with our own children?
But yeah, my son Yes, 10,000 ringgit go backpacking in Cambodia and Thailand, go to all the full moon parties, you can, you know, drink and do as many drugs as you can have as many you know, relationships with the opposite * as you can. And when you come back, inshallah, we're going to start praying five times a day. Now, we shouldn't do that, you know, we shouldn't expose them, or even encourage them to look at other points of view. The third thing that we need to focus on is that whenever our children are influenced by these things, it is incumbent, it's necessary for us as adults to make sure that we help to address that, that we don't say, Oh, they will outgrow it.
inshallah, no, you need to be proactive when you know that your sons and your daughters have certain beliefs or they've adopted certain positions about Islam or Islamic issues. And they are obviously wrong. As a parent, you cannot say that, oh, you know, they grow they'll which was the one day cholo they'll see my personal experience with this is that if parents leave this issue unaddressed, it just manifests into apostasy.
This is unfortunately my experience, if we just left the issue, let them do that, then go into law make up their own mind is a big difference between forcing someone to pray and being very active in trying to convince them to pray. I mean, I immediately in reality, I told my eldest son once I told him, my boy, because I noticed that he was doing Sala like, you know, he didn't know I was watching him. So you know, sometimes children pray like you know the up Don't touch the ground back to town, kind of Salah was looking around and you know,
you're doing his own thing. I started told him after he was finished, finished with his sada doubtful that he ever began. But I said to him, my voice will lie. He you can pray however you want. In fact, you don't have to pray, don't pray. He looked at me like
he's confused. You're supposed to be the chef. So I said you don't pray is I said, Why are you? So I said, because you don't pray for me, my boy. Your Salah is not for me. It's not for your mother. It's not for your grandparents. It's for no one but yourself. You worship Allah.
Have a hand with Allah with swallow or any other act of worship, because it benefits you. It doesn't benefit. I'm responsible as a parent to make sure and I remind you, and I command you to pray. But I cannot make you pray. And even if I've made you pray, and I forced you, and I threaten you, and you prayed, but you hated a law and you hated your son I in your heart that will be countered to what I'm supposed to be doing.
To be encouraging you, it makes no sense that Okay, so my advice to end of offering your question is that we have a responsibility towards our children, that we give them the proper knowledge that we help them deal with the adults that we advise, encourage, and come on. Ah, there we go, I was actually talking about you.
I said, that's my wife, Jessica. That's my daughter, Hannah, who is strangely quiet.
We continue what we say.
So the reality of the situation is that we have a responsibility towards our children. And Allah will ask us about them on the Day of Judgment, we are responsible for them. So we must make every effort to protect them, advise them, educate them, like a lot of parents, they asked me to speak to their, to their children. Now, that's something that I can do, and I don't mind doing that. Okay. But at least the parents are concerned enough that they want they, they want the children to be able to speak to someone who can perhaps answer, you know, the questions and the doubts. Now, I don't profess to have knowledge, you know, of every of every aspect I, you know, I I'm ignorant of so
much. But if I can help, then I help. And so as a parent, typically, like, our daughter is not very well my wife to to get to the doctor Anya, we are concerned about the physical well being and we also need to be equally concerned about the spiritual well being. Okay, so I hope I've answered that question. Are there any other questions?
No. Interesting. hamdulillah All right, dissolvable Ah, hello, thank you for having me. I hope that this will not be the last time that we see one another. But if we never see one another again, then
I hope that I hope that when we do see each other again, if it's not on the dounia we get to see each other in general to feel those in the company of the Prophet Mohammed Salah. Love it. He was a Salaam Alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh