Tariq Appleby – Dealing With Doubts And Confusion
AI: Summary ©
The speakers discuss the history and importance of Islam in bringing together the people of Africa, including the need for a campaign to reexamine people speaking of it. They emphasize the importance of learning from experiences and recounting them in a meaningful way to be successful in Islam. It is crucial to recount all experiences in a meaningful way so that others can also be successful.
AI: Summary ©
losada to a solar wind or solar who either early he was lucky to be here jurien salam wa Alaykum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh. We thank Allah subhanho wa Taala for bringing us together today. And we ask Allah subhanahu wa taala that when he has gathered us here today, he does not allow us to leave here except that all of our sins are forgiven, that he showers us with His blessings and his mercy. The topic that we've chosen for today's lecture is a topic that affects each and every one of us. Alhamdulillah Allah subhanho wa Taala has guided us to Islam. And we are thankful and grateful for this neuroma and for this blessing. But there is a campaign or there are campaigns, they are
movements, both online and on sites and in real life, where people are trying to convince Muslims that they should leave Islam, they are trying to convince them that Islam is not true. They are trying to convince them that Allah subhanho wa Taala does not exist, or that the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam was not a prophet, and so many other different doubts and misconceptions and false propaganda. So when we look at what doctors do when they are developing a vaccine, they first study the disease, and they know it's reality. And what it actually is, is it a bacteria, is it a virus? What exactly is it? Then they study its causes? What causes this disease? And how does
it spread? And who is more and who is more likely to fall victim to this particular disease. And so at the beginning of our lecture today, that's what we want to talk about. We want to talk about the nature of this problem. And so the first thing that we want to say is that in defending against doubts, we should also not forget that defense is only one strategy or tactic that we can use, but offense is also one of them to go on the offensive. And we'll talk about that, at the very end of our lecture and our time together today. What can I do to make a difference? Should I only be taking my shield? And, you know, blocking the blows? Or should I counter attack? And how exactly should we
go about doing that? And I'll give you one example from the Sunnah of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam from his life that showed us that the Prophet did not spend most of his time defending against the attacks of his enemies and his opponents, but that he focused most of his energy on inviting people to Islam. Going out even though people would actively try to block the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam from speaking, and from engaging in conversation with people that were eager to listen to the message of Islam. The Prophet did not spend most of his time defending against these people know what, what do you mean? You know, I'm Anya, what do you mean? I'm a
magician, what do you mean I'm with soothsayer, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam did not spend most of his time doing that. Most of his time was spent on actually calling people to Islam, explaining Islam to them, reading to them from the book of Allah subhanho wa Taala, from the Quran. So this is something that I feel is very important, we should not become obsessive about defense. And one of the things that we'll talk about later is this inferiority complex that we as Muslims have developed, we feel that we are in the weakened position, we feel that our position is weak, and that it has problems and holds. And so we have to shore up all of these leaks and these holes, but
the reality is that that's not the case. And inshallah, by the end of today's lecture, I hope that you will agree with me when I say that Islam makes the best case, perhaps the only case in our times for a successful, happy, contented life in this world. And truly, that Islam deals with all of the most important though all of the important issues to human beings. So let's move on.
What the first thing I want you to realize is that this campaign against Islam, it is not constructive in nature, but rather destructive. It does not seek to change people, for instance, those responsible for these campaigns against Islam, they do not come into the Muslim communities, nor do they have their campaigns online with the intent of Oh, we've identified that in Malaysia, you know, people are doing really well. And you know, these are good social programs that, you know, people are really benefiting and, you know, what we want to do is we want to improve that, we want to maximize the benefit that we already see know, they approaches
LiFi just destructive. The aim is to cause people to leave Islam. The aim is for people to become, you know, to drown in their desires. If you look at many places around the world, and we this campaign is not only directed towards Muslims, but you find that in Cape Town, South Africa, how many young people, Muslims and non Muslims, how many of them are addicted, addicted to drugs? How many of them are part of gangs in Cape Town, the idea is not to build a society but to to destroy it, and its values and its culture and its sense of itself. So I want you when you have the time to watch an interview between Maggie Hassan is a reporter journalist with Al Jazeera and Richard
Dawkins. It's available online on the aljazeera english, you know, YouTube channel, and see that at the beginning of that conversation,
when Maggie has asked Richard Dawkins, a question
you asked him a question
about, you know, Islam and atheism and the relationship between the two. So, Richard Dawkins does not give a, you know, a constructive, you know, discussion of what is atheism? What is atheism call to what alternative does it give to religion and religious, you know, teachings? No, he asked me, I said, so do you believe that your prophet went into heaven on a winged horse?
That was his response? The response was not Yes, I have certain problems with Islam and with religion in general. But my atheistic worldview teaches me the following. And I believe that my worldview will benefit mankind in the following 10 2030 ways, and then start to talk about that. No, his main, his main objective is to make you and me lose out email, Allah subhanho wa Taala. And in Islam, if asked to move away from that, and obviously it is a long discussion, and a long, you know, history behind that, but I want you to understand that this particular movement against Islam is not one that wishes to be constructive and beneficial, but rather the opposite is true.
I also want you to understand that these attacks, they come not only from outside of the oma but they also come from within the oma these attacks do not come from people that are openly you know, Islamophobic and openly, you know, anti Islam, and there are many names, and I'll try not to mention any of them today, inshallah. But there are those people that we know, don't like Islam, they hate Islam, but then they are those people from within the Muslim community that are actively seeking to cause doubt in our belief in Allah or our belief in the Sunnah of the Prophet sallallahu, Alayhi, wasallam, and closed out in our understanding of Islamic law, and one of the greatest attacks in our
times. And you see this very often now with certain,
you know, representatives in the American Congress, that are Muslims, but they are calling for the abolishment of certain aspects of Islamic law. And one example of that would be the Hadoop or capital punishment.
The fact that for instance, if, if, if a bad was to kill me, you know, intentionally, that the Islamic penalty for that crime is death. So they say that the death penalty is barbaric. And then all of the the capital punishments and corporal punishments in Islam are all barbaric. The fact that if someone is found guilty of committing Zina and fornication that this person, if found guilty, should be lashed 100 times this is barbaric war war, these people calling for the abolishment of these particular aspects of Islamic law. Is it you know, the islamophobe? Is it the enemy of Islam, the non Muslim? No, these are Muslims, people in our community, we find them in, you know, in the
parliaments of the world, and we also find them online is one personality in the English world. I won't mention his name. At the beginning, I thought he was someone that you know, understood the youth. I used to watch his videos, I was really impressed with, you know, his approach to answering certain questions. But the more I listened, the more I realized that he had an approach that was very similar to people like Richard Dawkins, although it wasn't on the same on the same level, slowly eroding our confidence in the Quran, slowly eroding our confidence in the sadhna. Slowly, you know, getting us to this understanding that there are certain aspects of Islamic law that are no
longer applicable in the 21st century. So there are people that have credentials in the Muslim community that are openly calling for certain aspects of
Islam to be to be abolished. We don't need these things anymore. We have moved past them. These are all seventh century aspects of, of Islam. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam was a man who lived in the desert during the seventh century. How could his teachings possibly have a bearing on the 21st century? This is the mindset. The mindset is that what Allah revealed in the Quran and what the prophet teaches in the sadhana was Salah was somehow limited to that time into the Middle Ages. But yes, something I want you to understand. At the beginning of sola tala EDA, Allah subhanho wa Taala says our odoban hibbeler shapeoko, Dr. Rajiv, and yoga accumold toner Gong de la como la comme
their Bertie worldly, to LA COBOL Islam de today I have perfected your religion for you, and I have completed my bounty my Naira upon you, and I am pleased that Islam is your religion. When was this ayah revealed before the death of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasallam by a few months, Allah was pleased with Islam as a religion as it was revealed at that time, in the seventh century, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam died in the 11th, after the hedgerow the year 632 whatever was perfect and complete, and whatever Allah was pleased with at that time, will remain so until the day of judgment. This is a core principle that you and I must understand. It is not the words, these are
my words. Tarik Appleby did not come to sit with you in Malaysia on a Sunday and tell you that Islam is complete that the Dharma of Allah and that what was revealed many centuries ago is enough for you. Allah himself says, Al yoba, acabo de la Coupe de la koo, your religion is complete, they are those deficiencies, there is nothing wrong, there is nothing outdated, there is nothing that will be abrogated in the future. This is it, this is perfection, this is completion. And that's that is an understanding that a fundamental understanding that if we have that, then we will start to slowly get rid of this inferiority complex that we suffer from this idea that, you know, somehow there must
be a weakness in this, you know, there is an issue, there are so many excuses, we need to make so many apologies, we need to we need to give. That's not the case. All the people that distort the message of Islam, of course they are, are the people that misunderstand the message of Islam, and then convey it. I'll give you one example of how even people with the greatest of intentions, how they make mistakes. I was at a youth gathering in Cape Town.
And I just graduated, and there was a man that was sitting next to me, he was the mob, the leader of that community. And he was much older than I was and some of my friends with as well. Most of the students were university students at the University of Cape Town, and many of them were medical students there. So one,
one woman, she raised her hand and then she said, we know that Islam, if someone is guilty of adultery, that that person will be stoned to death. I don't have a problem.
With that punishment, that's not my issue. My issue is, if a woman was, you know, was committing Zina adultery, then she fell pregnant from that affair. Will she be stowed while she is pregnant?
So that's a valid question. You know, is the judge gay to order that this woman be taken out and stoned to death even while she's pregnant? So the shift answered, and he said yes. And the reaction in the rule was, you know, it was what was not good, especially for these young Muslims. Most of them are 18 1920. What you know, what is the what is the crime of the fetus? What does the baby done to deserve, you know, this particular punishment?
So everyone was, you know, very uncomfortable. So I whispered in the chef's ear, and I told him that in Sahih, Bukhari and Muslim, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam is approached by a woman, she's pregnant, and she has committed adultery, and she wants the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam to purify her she wants the prophet to carry out the punishment of Stoli on her because of, you know, the remorse and the grip regret that she's feeling. So the Prophet salallahu idea was that delta go and give birth to the baby first. So she goes back to her family, the pregnancy continues, she gives birth to this child and she comes back with this child and she says, You're also the law
established the punishment depart be the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam says Go back to your family and we this baby so she goes back to
Her family, he weeds the baby, until finally she comes back the third time with the baby, this toddler in her arms, and he's eating some bread. And so the Prophet takes the baby and he gives it to her family. And then he says to the companion, staker and stoled her. So she was she was she was punished in this way. So, I'll tell you what, the chef's because many people are too arrogant, you know, to say, to recognize that they made a mistake. But the chef said, you know, Chef bodek has just told me that, you know, there's this evidence from the Sunnah. And then he explained it to them, and, and Hamdulillah, but you can see how even people with the best intentions, if you don't
have enough, you know, understanding or you don't have any background knowledge on an issue, you might give an answer, and it will, it will spoil the image of Islam, you know, oh, Islam, you know, polishes, even the children are liable to the punishment. So this is this is very important that some people, they have good intentions, but yet, they still create very, you know, very serious problems in the Muslim community. And this is something else that I want to say, we have a tendency in our community to say the following, that if we find that someone, for instance, let me give you an example, I'm going to use myself as a case study, but you know, may Allah protect all of us. But
just imagine now that because I'm involved with that.
And especially with the youth, you know, I shaved my beard, and then I get a few tattoos, and IPS, my ears, okay, and I saw dressing differently, you'll never see me at a job but again, and I tell you that the only reason why I'm doing this is so that I could be more appealing to the youth.
Would you agree with me? Would you say that, you know, if your intentions justify your actions? Or would you say no, that's that's a step to fall. It's one thing to be you know, to be cool. It's one thing to speak like the youth and understand where they're coming from and what's affecting them. But for you to change who you are or to do rather to do things and to give fatwa and to give you know legal answers on issues that are clearly not permissible just to please the people that would be unacceptable. So we have to be aware that many people are doing this and you go online right now you go on YouTube, you find this a lot of avina put this in, in quotation marks a lot of movies you
know a lot of shakes and j cars and stars and stars as they are out there, they're looking very cool, Mashallah, and they are telling the youth it's okay to do this and it's okay to do that. And why is it okay? Because, you know, at least you're not you haven't left the religion you know, and hamdulillah you still a Muslim? You know, Islam is all about balance in Egypt, they have to say, you know, Sally or bucho Sally Alba, you have to have some time for your Lord and some time for your heart. The problem is that 23 hours are spent, you know, on your, on your on your heart and the one hour if you spent one hour is for a lot. So the we have to be very careful that we are not
influenced by people who tell us that they only have the best intentions for the Muslims and they want to bring real change and they want to appeal to the youth. We cannot appeal to the youth or to anyone by giving up and sacrificing and compromising on our on our principles. This is something that we must realize.
I also want you to understand that this particular campaign has wonderful catchphrases. It talks about freedom. It talks about liberating, you know the mind, it talks about, you know unshackling us from the past wonderful catchphrases by telling us that if we give up certain aspects of Islam, if we reject certain aspects of Islam, we'll be liberating our binds, we'll be achieving freedom, we'll finally be able to rid ourselves of the chains and the shackles of the past and our backward culture and civilization. And to the young Muslim, and even the older Muslim. These catchphrases are very effective. Because if you think about it, if I don't know what examples we could give you in
Malaysia, but in Cape Town, I was taught that I was I was not allowed to pick any fruits of the awesome
no the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, and of course as a young person you except that they told you don't pick fruits off often you don't pick fruits of the awesome if you come home at night after 12 in the house walking backwards. If someone dies, close all the berries. I don't know why we have one of these things, but they teach it as if it's part of it's part of their religion. It's part of the Sunda they'll do these things because Muslims have been taught not to do these things. But once you start studying it
Once you start investigating and once you start doing research, what do you realize that this has no place whatsoever in Islam? All of these are superstitions, and all of them or all of these things are innovations. They have no basis in Islam. So when someone comes along and says, Are we get to liberate you and your mind and your heart from all of these superstitions that your religion teaches you? This is an avenue where many youth start leaving Islam slowly but surely. And then they start highlighting certain weaknesses in ayat.
And ahaadeeth is a very popular example and I just dealt with this recently, where a young man says I cannot believe in the Pilates Malaysian May Allah guide us all.
Isabel Asian is studying at a ritual. You know, a very good university is studying something really advanced and technical when he says that he cannot believe in the Quran because the Quran says that there was a flood during the time of new Halley's salah and today there is no archaeological evidence of such a flood.
I cannot believe in the whole
the whole every ayah in the Quran, because there's one thing here bothers me that way is the archaeological evidence waves the geological evidence that there was a flood that affected the entire DoDEA.
And secondly, all of the previous nations, they all had a myth about a great flood, like the ancient Babylonians and others, there was a great flood. So this is something that will happen. Let's allow it and we'll set it up. I'm saying Salalah alayhi wa sallam He did not say so in his message, or the message that he's pyramids forwarded to me.
But he said Mohamed must have borrowed this ad plagiarize this from these other cultures?
I don't know.
That's, that's what he believes. So what's my response to this one issue so that we can understand it as a as a case study?
The first thing we must realize is that Allah subhanho wa Taala does not focus on the flood, and what the flood where it, where it reached, and who it reached, and what civilizations it touched in which civilizations it did not touch, and whether or not miss any archaeological evidence for it. What is the point of the story? What is the point of telling us about door? Because Allah says in the Quran, they are prophets, we told you about their profits we did not tell you about. So why is Allah telling us the story of Doha alayhis salam
there are several very important lessons to derive from the story that the focus on archaeological evidence seems to be seems to be wasted. It seems to be wasted. So you're telling me that if Allah subhana wa tada gives you 100 issues in which you can have definitive evidence for this one thing that Allah doesn't feel the need to give you particular evidence for that you're going to reject. This is the first problem that we have amongst many of the youth and many people thinking about Islam. The second thing that I want to talk about is that they because Allah says in the Quran, to every nation, we have said, a prophet is a dead is a dead strange that a lot of civilizations have
the same stories.
Is it strange? It's not strange. Every single for every single people on earth has received a message and a prophet colleague named to Allah subhanho wa Taala. So why would it be strange that they have similarities? The third thing that I want to point out here, just as a case study,
the story of new Hideki Salah when you look at that story, Allah subhanho wa Taala tells us that there was a flood Did you though that many scholars, Islamic scholars, do not believe that it was a worldwide flood, but rather it was a flood that affected the people have no highlight his Salah only, and they have the evidence for that. But you don't talk about this, when you bring up this issue, you make it seem as if this is some unanimous issue that every single Muslim scholar believes. So one has to be very careful that when it comes to these doubts, we will talk about this later. Because when these doubts come up, you know, what's the last thing people do? The last thing
they do is they ask the scholars and specialists and people who know better, but what do they do? They take the doubt and they run with it. And they do not ask anyone with the knowledge and the expertise to explain it to them. Like in the example I gave you earlier about the issue of adultery and its punishment. If you study the issue completely, you will have a better understanding. Let's move on to something different from Islamic law. As one last example. Many people they say I caught you know I don't want to be a Muslim anymore because Islam discriminates against women.
Look at the example of inheritance.
A brother gets double the shape of a sister a stiff federal law. No, no, no, no. Okay, he didn't say I stuck to the law. Because as he is leaving Islam, or less and less, you know of these words, as part of his daily vocabulary. In fact, many people that I know that have slowly or have left Islam, they stopped greeting you. And that's one of the first ways you know, if you say Assalamualaikum, they say good morning, or they say hi.
And that is just one example. That's a, you know, that is a minor symptom of this disease. But let's talk about inheritance. Yes, that's true, that if I was to die, my son, Adam will get a double share, will get twice as much as his sister Hannah. That's true. And the Quran is very clear of that. But did you know that there are other cases in Islamic law and inheritance when a woman gets the same share as a man?
Like if my parents were alive, and I died? Today, both my parents would get one sixth? My mother and my father, that's an equal share? Do you know that there are cases where women get more than men? And did you know that there are cases where a woman inherits everything and a man gets nothing?
Like if I passed away today, and I only left behind my daughter, and my two brothers, do you think my brothers would inherit? No, because my daughter cuts them off from them.
So if you don't refer to the specialist and to the people of knowledge, then you will have a complete misunderstanding about the laws of Islam. So this is very, very important type. The next thing that I want to talk about to you is that this campaign against Islam is either very overt, or very covert, depending on the country, if you are living in the UK, and in North America, it's very overt it's not Donald Trump is he's tweeting on a daily basis, and everyone who supports him, and everyone would think like him, Muslims are the worst of the worst, etc, etc, Islam is a threat. And it's very clear, you don't have to, you don't have to guess what the intentions are. But in places
like Saudi Arabia, and in other Muslim countries, Malaysia, it's very difficult for people to openly come out and start attacking aspects of Islam, whether it be on a platform like the one I have right now, like, you know, giving a lecture or a public talk, or whether even if it's online, why, because you have the government, you have the government agencies, you have Isa, jakim, and jawi. And, you know, you have, you know, all these bodies that maintain at least a sense of a sense of order in these these issues, we might not agree with all of the policies will not agree, for instance, I'm able to get tolia from giants because of two reasons. One, I'm a Florida and the other than I
studied at the Islamic University of Medina. So these are two things that count against me. And so I find that it's very difficult. If I wanted to speak at a Masjid or give a hood buck, its logo, you know, I won't be able to do that. Whereas it's easier for me to get tolia from from Jamia Jackie. So that's a problem. And I respect that they have their rules, you know, Allah knows best I might disagree with him. But those are the rules, I respect that. But in another country, our our us don't have those kinds of protections. That is why this is my experience. I am not discouraging you from sending your children to study overseas. I'm definitely not doing that. But what I am saying is the
vast majority of cases that I deal with here in Malaysia, regarding people and young people that have doubts about Islam, or studying or have study at foreign universities, I'll be honest with you.
In the five years that I've lived in Malaysia, I have not dealt with one person who ever left Malaysia who came to me with doubts about the fundamentals of Islam, they have issues regarding alcohol and drug abuse, or issues with the boyfriend or the girlfriend, things like that. But they do not come to me with intellectual doubts about Islam. Jeff, no, I don't, you know, I'm having problems, you know, believing that Allah exists or that Mohammed was the prophet or the Koran is true or not of those things. So we have to ask ourselves, why is that the case and one of the reasons for that is because of this point, overt versus COVID. Because when our children leave
Malaysia to go and study outside of Malaysia, they are you know, they are open attacks against Islam, as one chef was telling me that we were studying at the University of Houston, and, you know, the chef, you know, he's got a big beard, and when he walks into the US doing his PhD, by the way
So it wasn't like a young student anymore. So the professor's an atheist. And the professor says, so you over there, you, you Muslim? And he said, Yes. How did you know? Yeah, just to be sarcastic. But anyway, the point was that the guy, the professor started attacking Islam directly at the beginning, we're just asking questions, and then slowly building up to causing now now Hamdulillah, this friend of mine, he's very well versed is a half of the iron. He's Arabic is amazing. So not only does he have a good background in science, but he's also got a solid background in Islamic Studies. So he was able to answer this question. And so after this, this interaction, the professor after the
class, he said to him, You are a danger to science, my friend, Eric, that your approach that your understanding and your approach and your understanding of your religion is going to cause problems for this sort of scientism that's going around. Okay, well, anyway, the chef is very active on is very active on YouTube. But for those of you that study Arabic, we'll talk about this later, inshallah, those of you that know Arabic, I'll tell you who the chef is. But, you know, we need to become, we need to become more knowledgeable. And one of the things that the chef said, and I just want to share that with our young without the young members of the audience, and that is to say that
the only way that we are going to be effective in Darwin are one of the ways I should say is for you, to exert yourself, and to become the best at what you do so that your voices cannot be cannot be drowned out and they cannot be silenced. You need to become worthy of Nobel prizes in chemistry and physics and medicine and literature. So that when you speak about Islam, people do not say, as they would say to me, I'll be quiet otic you you don't know anything about the sciences, which is true. It's not It's not what I've dedicated my life to. But when someone like you will, Allah has bestowed upon, you know, a great understanding of sciences and other things. And you also have a
solid understanding of Islam, when you speak.
Did you that head that carries weight, I always think about this example as a South African because they know they were Nelson Mandela passed away. They were these, you know, there were these theories that he had accepted Islam. Now he's granted he's a Muslim. But as for him becoming a Muslim, there's no evidence for that. But the point I want to make is, what if he did? And what if he actively started inviting people in South Africa and the world to Islam? Do you think that his words would have carried weight? It would have definitely no doubt, that if Nelson Mandela gave a press conference that he announced his Islam, and he explained the reasons behind these Islam, and he
invited people to Islam, many people would have accepted Islam.
The same with Malcolm X. Many people came to Islam proper, because of him. Allah subhanho wa Taala used him as a as a means of calling the people to Islam. So this is very important. Don't underestimate the platform that your intellectual and academic credentials can give you as a diary. Because we seem to have this you know, this dichotomy and it's a false dichotomy. You either a chef, or you are a professional. Is it impossible to have the two
hour big? You know, from India, he said something in a football once he said that his vision of the future is that they somewhat doing heart surgery, is there in the morning, it's a Friday morning, he's doing heart surgery, he wraps up the surgery at 12pm. He drives home, he takes a whistle, he puts on his job bar at his turban, and then he comes to the masjid to deliver the football.
So if you if you tell people that they're like, No, no, no, no, that doesn't work. You got to be a heart surgeon and a chef. Can you? Is it possible? It seems impossible, right? You got to be a half of the Quran and no Islamic law and no Arabic and be a nuclear physicist. It's impossible, right? No, it's not impossible. In fact, some of the greatest artists in Egypt right now have PhDs in you know, in physics and chemistry and medicine, etc. But they left behind that career to focus on what to focus on Islamic knowledge. They are super qualified in pharmacology and medicine and other things, but they've made focus today is to focus on Islamic knowledge and calling people to Islam.
So those things are powerful. Do not miss Do not underestimate how powerful they could be. Now, if I asked you, what is the quickest way to spread your propaganda in our times, the answer would be social media.
That is where most of the youth are being affected today social media and not only the youth let us be honest.
I saw a video once was on Facebook. And
it was just someone's someone's post. It was about reading the Koran while lying down. Okay, so is it permissible for me to just lie down here in the masjid and hold up the most half like this? You know, I'm by back and I'm reading I You should have seen the comments I stuck to the law. You know who would do this? It's so disrespectful to the Koran. No, and people would just go be crazy. And they would debates and be there were accusations at name calling. And you know, it was just became really ugly. Some people will say no, that's fine. Because the picture was of a man laying down in the masjid, holding up a copy of the Quran and reading it while like down became really ugly. So I
thought okay, maybe I should contribute here. So I posted a hadith in the group. And the idea is it Bukhari, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, he was at home. And he put his he was like down, he had his head on the thigh of his wife, I saw your love Ida and she was read he was reading the Quran. And Isaiah happened to be midst awaiting at the same time, at that time when this incident took place.
So yeah, you have a hadith that clearly shows the permissibility of, of * reading the Koran while lying down, though issue the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam did it. Now to USB. I see video of you nodding your heads. You're like, Oh, that makes complete sense. How has that brought the issue to an end? Right? Wrong?
absolutely wrong.
That did not bring an end to the debate. The debate continued.
Because now the debate we do Is Buhari a valid source of Hadeeth who was evil Buhari check sir and so said Buhari is unreliable, they are no authentic hadith in Bukhari. Oh no, this hadith has been plagiarized. Oh, my goodness, I thought we had solved the problem, we can all now move on. And focus on the meaning of the Hadith. While I'm like in bed at night, instead of watching videos on my phone, or just doing you know, nothing of real benefit. I could just read the Quran, it shows the permissibility if I come to the masjid and I'm feeling a bit tired, you know, to tie it to sit up, I take out my phone and I hold it like this and I can read the Quran, we should have been focusing on
the practical aspects. But no, the debate continued. So this is this is why also, what you'll notice is that because it's almost
anonymous, because it's not happening in real time, you know, when you and I are having a conversation, because we are concerned about facial expressions, body language, the tone of our voices, the way that we speak to one another is very carefully controlled in that social, you know,
situation, but when you are alive, the sheep become lions.
I bet I bet this brother in the UK and online, you know, he would always be if I would post something on Facebook, he would always comment you know, it's not there's the comments were not flattering, and they would be really aggressive. And so in my mind, I was building up a profile of this brother, his brother must be six point you know, you must be to beat this toll. You know, he must Mashallah looked like you know, like, like, top bodybuilder, you know, and I just thought because of the way that he's speaking online, he must be this giant of a man. And then I met him in London, and I was like,
it's you, you know, I was like, No, God, be you. You have destroyed my image of you now. And then he was lesson I want to share how will you always everything? But online is like How dare you this stuff in a lie the scholars and I was like, whoa. So this is one of the the second reason why social media is a platform in which people are easily convinced. Because you can you can project a persona. You can. Some people are not eloquent when speaking. But they are very eloquent when typing and writing, as we all have different skills. So even though you might have a conversation with that very same person, that person would be unable to convince you. But in prints online, that person is
eloquent. They're able to produce their arguments, you know, step by step, and it's very convincing. This is the second reason, a third reason why social media is so powerful, a tool for spreading negative, you know, aspects of or other, you know, highlighting negative issues is because it is it is almost ubiquitous. It's everywhere.
With every person, whether we are talking about, you know, the social media platforms, or we talking about the instant messaging apps, it's everywhere you cannot, you cannot avoid it. And even if you got yourself one of those, I mean thinking about this for a while, and I think we should all think about it, you know, going back to those, you know, that Nakia 3310s, where, you know, the other most exciting thing on these things were, that's what that snake gave us. Some of you may be too young to know, these things are low side. But some of you might know what I'm talking about. The point I want to make is that I'm not advocating that we cut ourselves off from using the internet or from social
media, but we have to understand like everything, it can be a tool for for for to build, or it can be a tool to destroy. And right now, my experience is that most most of the youth are not using it constructively. And rather, it is an avenue for them to have serious doubts about the Islam. Now, the question that we have to ask ourselves is, why is it that we should even focus why why have a lecture about all of this negativity in the Muslim community? Why should we Why should we focus on it? Because
most of the debates in the Muslim community focus on what?
Focus on fixed issues, most of the issues that we have, should we pray a Terracotta Army robot or 20? Where do you place your hands on your chest? below your chest, under your navel? is if I touch a woman? Is my window broken? Should we do could root in the future? Do you understand most of these debates revolve around these issues. But this particular campaign against Islam does not focus on the big differences. What does it focus on? It focuses on the very fundamental aspects of Islam. The existence of a loss of a hand over dialer is the Quran, the word of Allah is the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam a messenger of Allah, it's not focusing on the differences of opinion
amongst the scholars of Islam. If that was the case, that would be easy. I would spend my time doing lectures about
why the scholars differ. Getting a good understanding of that. Why is it that one scholar says that if I touch a woman by will do is broken? And another scholar says, No, it doesn't break yoga? Why? Why do they differ? Why, you know, isn't the Quran it's so clear, we'll address those particular misconceptions, those reasons, those causes. And once we have completed the, you know, the lecture, you'd say, Oh, now I understand Alhamdulillah. It's not really, it's not that it's not really a problem.
It's not really a problem. And we'll all leave your hamdulillah and we'll have greater respect for the Lama and for the differences, right? But this issue is not about that. Because Let me ask you,
if I place my hands on my chest, or if I place it under my navel, is my sauna valid?
What do you think? If I pray like this, or if I pray like that, is my sign are valid. So we all agree that our sound is valid.
But if I if I don't believe in Allah subhanho wa Taala. And you believe in Allah subhanho wa Taala. What is the scenario then you're a Muslim, and I'm not. So this is why this is so important to focus on. Because these attacks are not are not big, are not against these fake issues. But they are the very fundamental aspects of Islam as shadow Allah ilaha illallah wa shadow under Mohammed or Rasulullah, the very fundamental that that testimony of faith, it attacks that at its core, so therefore we have to be more aware of it. Now, we also need to know that the people who are most susceptible to these doubts are our youth. And who are the youth? Let's define them. They are our
children. They are our teenagers. They are young adults. And unfortunately, I no longer qualify to be from the Shabaab apparently according to the vast majority of scholars, the Shabaab, you know, the Shabaab is at 33 years old. So for those of us who are older than 33, we are no longer part of the youth May Allah grant us wisdom. But the reality of the situation is that it is our young people that are more susceptible than the older people. Although that doesn't stop many people that are older, asking me certain questions that I did not expect to come from someone in their 50s and 60s. So how behind the law really,
because of the nature of the doubt the nature of the misconception. One of those issues is the age of eyeshot of the old
By now.
So for me, the older people, this is still a problematic. It affects the youth edit the fix, and it affects older people as well. How old was Isaiah? How could the prophets Allah low it was still a barrier child? Why did he marry a child? That is so many answers so many answers to give, and I don't want to leave your big doubts and not at least giving sub answer to them. So I'll just leave you with this. There'll be at odds is, but I want you to think about this one.
Profits opponents, these enemies in Makkah, and in Medina. They accuse the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam of many things, did they not? They accused him of being an imposter, a soothsayer. A bad bad. They accused him of breaking up families. They accuse the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam. in Medina, the hypocrites accused the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam his wife of adultery, the prophet, they accused him of being insincere, or they accused him of being stingy or they accused him of being, you know,
you know, the lowest of the low and so on and so forth. When did they ever accuse him or highlight his marriage to isodiol lohardaga as a problem.
They rather the Gaddafi code, rather came up with the slider of Isola de la vida being unfaithful to the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, but they never accused the province of the law while he was alone, of burying a child and consummating his marriage to that child, you understand? So there's deeper things to talk about the social, you know, implications of this marriage. But that's something that I would like you to think about. Why did it take more than 1000 years for this issue to become an issue?
Even in the Middle Ages, when people were highlighting,
like during the crusades, any one of you if you studied the crusades, one of the things you will notice is that in Europe, there was a steady stream of booklets and leaflets about Islam, and about the Muslims. They accuse the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam of the worst things. But did they ever bring up the matter of his marriage to Ayesha? The answer is no. Because in the time of the Prophet, and in the type of medieval Christians and Jews and others, this was not a problem that existed for them. This was not something they thought about. In fact, let me give you an example of the kind of, you know, pathetic, disgusting things they said about the Prophet. They said that, but
they never accused him in his marriage to Ayesha, you know, they said that the reason why listen to this, why alcohol and pork is prohibited in Islam. Do you know why?
They said that once the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, he got drunk. And he was so drunk that he fell unconscious into a pigsty, and then the pigs ate him. And that's why the Muslims don't drink and they don't eat pork.
This was written by a fryer in the 12th of the 13th century, I don't remember the exact date now.
So this is how this is how they explained Islamic law. And that person who wrote this was also a person responsible for the translation of the Quran into Latin from Arabic. But these were the kinds of things that were being spread about Islam at the time. So my, the thing I want you to think about is that the marriage to Isola de la vida, you have to ask yourself, why is it the problem with the 20th and the 21st century, and it was not a problem for hundreds more than 1000 years before? That is something to think about? You have to ask yourself, why now? Why at this time, and why was it not a problem later, there are multiple offices is a very good course online that deals specifically
with this issue. It's run by a a, an American writer called Daniel Hachiko and he's got an organization called alaska.org. There's a lot of good courses that I highly recommend that you should enroll in there. It deals with a lot of body doubts against Islam. And obviously, being someone who has a background in philosophy and in physics, you know, and being very experienced now in the American climate of anti Islamic sentiment. These courses are even more beneficial in sha Allah who died. So I highly recommend that you visit that as a way of increasing your knowledge and protecting yourself against these doubts. All right.
Now, the next section that we want to cover is these attacks against Islam. Can they be a good thing?
Can they be good for us? Because you don't want it
The best ways to do to to develop a positive mindset is to look at the problems in your life and to ask yourself, Is there any way that I can learn something from this? Can it benefit me in some way? can it make me a better person? And so I will give you a few points that I want you to consider whenever you see attacks against Islam. Whenever you see Donald Trump tweeting things against Muslims, or whenever you read an article that has anti Islamic sentiment, or whenever someone says something about Islam that you disagree with, I want you to ask yourself, what is the higher the good that I can take from this. So here are a few things. Number one, this campaign as inevitably,
and you know, even though it's not the intention of those behind it, it has led many of us to turn back to Allah subhanho wa Taala in certainty, it has caused many of us to return to Allah with Yaki because most of us, we were born as Muslims. And we never knew how beautiful Islam was, until people started attacking Islam. And until it started, it forced us to go back and read it to find out what is the Quran say, what is the certain essay? What did the what happened in the prophets life? So you go back to the books of the CNR. And like, Wow, I didn't know that. The Prophet fought that this battle and the Prophet defended himself. Yeah. And the Prophet had this interaction with that better
one woman and you learn boy, and boy, and you're your kid, you're like, Wow, I didn't know these things. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, while the Quran is beautiful, one of my friends
Alhamdulillah, Allah subhanho wa Taala has changed his life in so many amazing ways. But he was a drug addict and a drug dealer in Cape Town. And he was trying to change his life. This was at the beginning, this was must've been about 19 years ago, rather around about the same time that I went to study. So one vacation I come home from, from Saudi Arabia, I'm sitting with my cousin, and this guy is there. And, you know, he say, he tells us, you know, I'm really struggling, but you know, what happened to me the other night, I was I was at home, and the cravings were the cravings were so bad. You know, and, and I felt that I was gonna just leave the house at 3am and go to the local drug
dealer and, you know, buy myself a fix. But I said, No, no, I'm gonna be strong. So I went to Google. And I opened up the first half, and I opened it up to sudo to waqia. And I started reading it by sight. I was I was doing 200. And then I was crying, and I didn't know why I was crying. Did you know off to the side, I was lying down and I was crying. And I opened up the translation. And then I started reading the translation of what I read in the sauna. And I was like, wow, this. So behind the low, you know, I'm almost 50 years old. And I'm only enjoying the beauty of the Quran Tao how much of my life have I wasted, only to experience the beauty of Islam and the Quran at this time
in my life? How many people have I hurt my wife, my daughter, I've destroyed their lives because of my detachment and my distance from Allah subhanho wa Taala. So he started, you know, after this, this was the beginning of an amazing journey for him. And I asked him, Allah guides him, keeps him guided, guides us, and continues to do to make him a benefit to the community. Because he left he went and he studied Arabic. And he did a six year program in Islamic Studies. And now he is actively teaching in the community in Cape Town. This was a person that was responsible for selling drugs and for misguiding, so very, but now Allah subhanho wa Taala has guided him, and he's doing amazing
work. So there's a lot of hope there. And when we go through when we are faced with these attacks against Islam, it does bring us also it invigorates a culture, of learning, of discussion and debate. Because we start asking, oh, what's the evidence for this? You know, what is it? Is it in the Koran, is it in the sooner people start, people start reading, people start studying, people start talking about these things. Number three,
it uncovers hidden talents in the community, expertise and competencies that we did not know existed. We find that there are people now because of all of these attacks against Islam. There are people like the chef I mentioned earlier who has a PhD in pharmacology. He does. He takes his knowledge of science and biochemistry and other things that he starts speaking and he says, Well, you know, the theory of evolution does not cover does not explain everything. And this is why from a scientific perspective, before these attacks against Islam, these people we did not know about them. We did not know who they were, they were not the writing or creating any YouTube videos, but now
they are
We feel a sense of, of contentment, a sense of pride that they are these people in the community. And I see that all the time with my students. You know, when I teach in Malaysia, many of my students have PhD in biochemistry, a PhD, this, you know, Doctor a specialist is that now why am I saying that is to these, these degrees? You know, are they the only are the most important thing? No, but what it comes back to what I mentioned earlier, that these people now have a platform from which to speak a platform of authority, because Tarik Appleby is not a scientist. So even if I came here, and I gave a long presentation, about the weakness of the Darwinian, you know, theory of
evolution, you know, people would be like, Yeah, he's a chef, you know, you know, these are stars, what do they know about science and biology and chemistry and these things, and that would be an approach that would be, you know, a reaction, people would reject it.
But when someone who has the credentials, then has a good understanding of Islam, they they present the same topic that I presented, how do people take it?
It's taken with what it has more authority. That's what I want to mention. And lastly, number four, it one of the good points of this, these this campaign against Islam is that it helps us to re evaluate the way that we give Dawa and I'm going to mention one thing that I feel very strongly about that is the Friday
these attacks against Islam
means that the Hatim on a Friday needs to address them, it needs to lay down the foundations. In fact, some of the content of my lecture today I delivered in a in a Friday football a few weeks ago, but not only content, also delivery, how many of you brothers have gone to the local restaurant for on a Friday for the football? How many people have you seen falling asleep there? How many people how many young people have you seen on the phones, my first job law when I moved here in 2014, I went to the local Masjid. And there was a bad reading the newspaper? Well, the kataeb was giving the the Friday seven is given the hood by them as reading a newspaper. Yeah, Allah. And then I didn't I
mean, so behind Allah, may Allah May Allah subhanho wa Taala grant us that they'll seek to learn the language. But it's been five years now. So I have no excuse. But I didn't understand the language, then I don't understand it now. But just in terms of delivery, I could understand why that man wanted to read the newspaper, instead of listening to the country.
These are things that can be fixed. These are things that can be improved. anyone, any one of us here, if you think you're not a public speaker, they are certain training methods and tips that will make you better, you might not become the greatest speaker ever, you know, getting 100,000 people to come to your lectures, but you will improve an ad hoc team can improve and get better. So number one is content and number two is delivery. And these two things are really, really important. The Friday goodbye needs to be relevant, and it needs to focus on the main challenges facing the ABA. And the delivery of that goodbye needs to be effective. One of the law of Egypt he says that if the Hooda is
done properly around the Muslim world, we will be able to reform the Muslim Oba in three months.
And then when I first heard that, I thought, Wow, that's a bit optimistic. But then I thought about it.
And I thought about the best in Kota damansara. You have more than 1000, midday every single Friday, probably 2000, maybe even more. Imagine those 2000 men, they are husbands, they are brothers, they are teachers. They are from a variety of different aspects of life, isn't it? So you have 2000 men and boys listening to it inspiring could be an amazing Goodbye, goodbye that is done properly and is about issues that affect them. And then they go home or they go back to work. And they tell their colleagues and their wives and their daughters that they suds and they tell the PA students are bad at football. What are the big messages? Well, the Hatim spoke about a lot, but I think he focused on
five things. You share that with them. They take and internalize that knowledge. They share it with others. Next week comes and the hottie gives another amazing cookbook, and so on it goes for three months. How do you think that's going to affect the community? it's going to affect the community and amazing way. So I think that we need to become more active, proactive in trying to establish this in Malaysia and around the world. You know, if you are from a different country, go back to your country. You know when you visit when you return and try to energize the Alibaba.
And he mobs and say, listen, these are the things we need to talk about. And this is how, you know, we need to engage with the people we need to improve. One of my friends, Chef Bill alisma, he runs a program in South Africa in southern Africa. It's called the mob development program, the IDP, and he's doing amazing works of hannula. They are providing training for the Imams, they are providing them with set with smartphones, with laptops with books, they are giving them a monthly stipend, in addition to the salaries that they make from the jobs as a mobs, they are coming for regular public speaking training for counseling training, and that, you know, that program is creating a new
generation of imams that will be more equipped to deal with the issues in their community. So I hope it's all low to highlight that we can establish something like that here as well. Because the Bob's Yeah, Malaysia are not perhaps getting the kind of support that they need. Because all we think about is salary. You know, we let's just pay them, you know, a decent salary. That's enough. But what about personal development? What about improving their skills as a speaker, as a mediator? One of the things that I realized when I graduated was that our university did not prepare us for give us practical skills to be people of Dawa, they gave us knowledge. Yes, Alhamdulillah, I am very
grateful that I was able to study Arabic, and get a solid grounding in the basics of Islamic knowledge. But what are the things that I regret? Okay, perhaps the university cannot be blamed for that. But what I what what I regret for myself is not establishing for myself a syllabus, or a list of books that would help me with the kinds of skills that I would need as a teacher and as a as a DI, counseling skills, arbitration skills, public speaking skills, writing skills. So how to deal with the media. How do you speak to the media? How do you answer questions? How many times has Islam been shown in the worst light possible? Because the bob is asked a question, and then he odds is
that the answer is misconstrued. It's taken out of context. But if the Bob had been given training, on how to deal with the media, and how to answer questions, that it would have been very, very different. So that's something we want to talk about. All right.
Before we move on to the last part, in the last section of our discussion, I want to talk about some of the factors that are that makes it easier for these, for these doubts to affect the Muslims, the first or the external ones. And then they are the internal ones. I'll talk about five external reasons why it's so easy and why it is, you know, it's so common for Muslims to have more and more doubts about the fundamentals of Islam. Number one, is the internet and social media. Because we are more exposed now, you know, for instance, my grandfather or great grandfather was a fisherman in Cape Town, and he did not have a cell phone. He didn't even you know, there was no internet in 1910
to 1912. So he was out there fishing for his family coming back, you know, going to the budget, having dinner with his family, and very early the next morning, he goes out to get, you know, to do some fishing. So the only outside the only information that he got about Islam, was in the local Masjid.
And all of it was positive, right? Positive reinforcement, Allah said the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said,
you fast forward 50 years, this TV and radio more Our idea was available. But now it's more common. More and more people have access to it. It's cheaper than it used to be. So people are affected. But there's not a lot of anti Islamic, especially in South Africa. The apartheid government was not concerned about whether you prayed or didn't pray. They were concerned about whether or not you were against the party. And if you were that was problematic. So there was not an Active Campaign by the apartheid government to bash Islam, and to, you know, get the Muslims to leave Islam. But Fast Forward another 40 years, we are now in the 1990s and the early 2000s, especially after 911. And
everyone has a smartphone, and everyone has access to the internet. Even if you have a dial up connection, you are connected. And now you're able to go to forums and chat rooms. And now you have you have Facebook, everyone has Facebook and Twitter and Instagram. And I don't know about those others that people used to use. But the point I want to make here is that this has now become one of the main if not the main external factor behind the spread of doubts in the Muslim community. Number two is popular culture, movies, TV music, just watch any movie right now and they will be
discussion about God or about Jesus, or about some aspect of Islam? How much LGBTQ t i double x y Zed? You know, sorry, I, I like to make fun of that because I don't know when the the the number of letters in that particular acronym is going to end. Every time I think I've lost it. It's LGB Qt on and I'm like, Yes, I got it. Finally, I can speak with some authority. Then when I read another article is I can I add an A at the end and then a plus sign. And then I'm thinking, Okay, maybe now I've got it right. But then it comes, it constantly changes. The point I want to make here is that there's so much now in movies and TV series and in music and in popular culture in general, about a
lot about the angels. How many TV series have been made in the last 10 years, about a law and about the angels and about demons and about, you know, the apocalypse and about the robot * and paradise. So when our Muslim children watch this,
and there is a character depicted on screen, and he's Gabriel, that's supposed to be gibreel. And our children are watching that. And gibreel is drinking. And he's, you know, he's got a he's got a he's got a girlfriend. And then they come to Islamic clauses, and they learn that gibreel is this amazing Angel, and he does this and he does that is like, Oh, you know,
you know, the show. He's saying this, and then I'm watching that it's very confusing. I'll give you an example. When I was in India,
I was teaching the children that they should read idol cosy before going to bed at night.
So we I tested them and you know, Allah, Allah, Allah, Allahu Allah. Hi, yo, Kai. Yo. So we memorized it, I explained it. And I told them that one of the ways they can use it to protect themselves is to read it before going to bed at night. Fine. What eight year old boy?
Jeff, Jeff, Jeff. Well, it also protect me from the vampires.
Do not underestimate the power of popular culture to shape the minds of our youth. That's the point I want to make. Do not underestimate the power of movies and TV and music to underestimate. I showed my wife a video a rap video the other day, I wanted to just to focus on the of the lyrics, because the entire video is about questioning God. And why is it that God is not intervening in the suffering of the African American population in America, we all you you're not here.
And that thinking affects Muslims as well. You look at Palestine, you look at Berber, you look at you know, Syria, and you think he all the suffering every single day you are bombarded with information. 13 people killed in an airstrike in, you know, in Syria, so many people killed in Afghanistan, so many young children dying of a chemical attack in Syria, and every single day Central African Republic every day. And so if you watching movies, and listening to music, that perpetuate that message that allies left us and abandon us, then when the doubts start coming, and people start bringing you philosophical and intellectual reasons why you should not believe in God,
or you should not believe in the mercy of Allah subhanho wa Taala, it has found fertile ground, you already prepared to make that change from just having doubt, to having certainty that this is not true. So we have to be very careful. Number three, exposure to foreign cultures and ideas. But this is mostly when we go and live and work. What I've noticed in my travels, was that many people that have left Muslim countries to move to non Muslim countries for the sake of you know, the economic migration, let's call it that they went for better opportunities. It was good economically. Alhamdulillah great. They are living very comfortable lives, but they regret what the move has done
for their children. How it has affected them that has affected a man. I had a bad it's in Australia. He was talking to me, he invited me for breakfast and he was crying, crying.
That, you know, when we first came, everything was wonderful, but children were young. But as they grew older in Australia, they have slowly moved away from Islam. So foreign cultures have that have that
you know, have that impact. Also the increase and the spread of Islam. This is not before these external factor, you know of sorry of sins, sins on now more accessible online, you know, in our communities right now. Yeah, in Malaysia, you having a debate about you know, 0% alcohol in beer. Isn't that the debate that's happening? It's, it's, it's out there. Right. Then you have people that from the Islamic perspective, say you know, it's still hot on them, and it's doubtful
And stay away from it. And that is an issue that is being debated. But there's so many other things that are accessible to the youth. And all they need right now for them to completely embrace that lifestyle, or the intellectual doubts that will, quote will allow them to say Islam is not true. And so therefore, I can live the way I want to. And so the more doubts that are available, and the more things they are exposed to, the easier that becomes, lastly, of these external factors is something that affects perhaps all of us, we've all thought about it at some point to another, why is it that the West is developed? Why is it that they have all these technological advances they have, so they
have the basic infrastructure, and then you look at the Muslim world, and you don't see that
you travel to Muslim countries, and you see all this is so backward, and they don't have this and they have medical, you know, medical services and this and that the universities are poor. And so the idea is that if you give up your Islam, Islam is the reason why you are not advanced, why you have not really reached that level, why you are not in at the forefront. Why is it that Muslims are not, you know, winning Nobel Prizes every year, because of Islam. And if you only left Islam, then you would, you would make this progress. So these are your other reasons why you need to leave Islam. And if you leave it, this is where you will be. Now, this is when I want to focus on what it
is that we can do. But before we talk about that, I also want you to understand that they are internal factors that affect us when these doubts come. One of them is weak conviction
that we are clean is weak and a loss of a high note diner. And that's the first thing I'll focus on when we talk about the practical benefits. But that's something that we can fix.
I'll talk about it how we as as young as young people, and as adults can fix it. But for our children, I will tell you that one of the most important things is number one, to talk to them about Allah subhanho wa Taala when they are children, to talk to our sons and daughters about Allah and who he is, because it is not enough for us to tell them pray fast the month of Ramadan, because the inevitable question that will come if it does not come early, it will come later. Why?
Why should I worship him? Why should I worship Allah subhanho wa Taala? Who is he? You do not want to hear this from a teenager or from a young adult?
You want your children to know that Allah is gulfood and he is he is his food and he is Rahim. But you also wanted to know that he's eligible Buta Kabira, that Allah subhanho wa Taala has control over the heavens and the earth. Then Allah subhanho wa Taala raises certain people and lowers others. He grants Allah to some people and humiliate others, etc, etc. They know all of the names and attributes of Allah, they understand it, they see they connected with the Quran. So our children grow with the Archaean in their hearts. I asked you this question. Why is it that the all the details of Islamic law only came in Medina? Why did it not come in Makkah? Why when the Prophet came
back from Iraq? The first revelation was don't drink and don't COVID Xena? Why was it It cannot be smeared on beacon lady holla Why was it that ayah and the next fall? Why was it not? Oh sleeves? Oh, people don't drink alcohol and don't commit fornication and adultery? Why? Why did the Prophet not come with do's and don'ts at the beginning?
I expected answer from my audience. It's not a rhetorical question.
Who would like to answer?
Why is it that for the first 30 years they are no detailed Islamic rulings and regulations about sila and zakka and fasting and Hajj and business and jihad. Why are these things not mentioned in mk? 13 years? 13 years what is being revealed for 13 years?
Who is Allah subhanho wa Taala? Yes.
Excellent. accetti. So to bold those foundations belief in Allah subhanho wa Taala belief in the year after belief in the concept of accountability, belief in the reward and the recompense for obedience versus this obedience understanding
Who Allah is and why we worship Him. And what about his amazing attributes his creation of the heavens and the earth, while he unfussy Kabbalah to build the road. There are signs in you do not see in the heavens and the earth, the alternation of day and night, the oceans and what is taken from the oceans, and the ease of travel on top of the seas. All of these things are established they are, they are, what's the word I am I'm trying to use. They are nourishing the hearts of the of the believers in Makkah, so that when Allah says to them, establish the prayer, pay Yasaka faith in the path of Allah with your lives and with your wealth, go on Hajj before do this do that. They say
seven, now Florida, we and we obeyed.
We have no problem with that our job. We are and we obey. So this is a very important way in which to give Dawa to our children. And it's equally important for us right now as adults, that we also now focus on on establishing that tip. Number two, social what are some of these internal factors that make people more susceptible to doubts, social and personal problems? I have issues with my parents, I have marital problems, I have financial problems. I have been bullied at school, a variety of different issues that affect people. And so when the doubts Come, I'll give you an example. Or someone I was counseling. I was in counseling him directly, but speaking to his parents,
and
he suffers from a he suffers from a mental illness.
And there wasn't a solution for him. Boy, there wasn't a medical solution for his problem. And he was struggling to treat these conditions. But then at the same time, he was doing more and more research on on atheism, and alternative philosophies and ideologies. And finally he realized that he came to the conclusion that the reason why he suffers from his mental illness is because of Islam. That's the conclusion he came to that he's social and personal problems are directly related to him being a Muslim. And so for that reason, you wishes to leave Islam. So I don't I remind myself in you that we should not underestimate the impact of social and personal problems on people's commitment
to Islam. This is why I always say, when someone accepts Islam, when they enter into into Islam, when they take the Shahada, they need to be given the support not only in, you know, accessible, you know, access to classes, they need to be given social support one of my friends when he became a Muslim, his family this owed to him, no place to live, no longer able to pay for his studies. So if we don't support him, and if we are not there for him emotionally and financially and physically therefore him yours or Ruby by house, please stay here until you are able to get on your feet, I will provide for you and you will be able to eat with me and my family every night. We are going to
find you alternative, you know, financing for your studies, etc, etc. If we are not there for people, then I have seen this with my own eyes. And it saddens me to think about the people that I've seen in Cape Town who became Muslims, but who left Islam because it big things became too difficult for them. And the only way out they could see was if they went back to Christianity so that they families could accept them back again. Oh, it was a phase, they just went through a phase it's fine.
So we have to show them that support. Number three, a weakness in a bad.
You know, I always ask parents this question when they come to me and they say, Oh, you know, my son or my daughter. They don't want to practice Islam anymore. So I asked them, What was the practice of Islam before they started asking these questions? And the answer is always the same. There's very little was limited. And I'm not only talking about sauna and fasting, etc. But I'm also talking very specifically about the actions of the heart. What do I mean? The love of Allah, that's a vida. Opening at the mercy of Allah, that's a bad fearing the punishment of Allah that's an ibid putting your trust in Allah that's a bada bing remorseful because of your sins and just feeling you know,
I've wasted by by, you know, parts of my life. I've wasted my time. You know, watching movies, playing video games, going clubbing doing this doing that I feel remorseful that removes that in about that Toba. That's it a bother. So we need to focus on
Not only on the external acts of worship, but also the acts of worship, you know, they're a by the of the heart, the worship of the heart, that sincere, that remembrance of Allah, that thinking of Allah, all of these things are important. Number five, or number four, a weakness in general knowledge and also critical thinking skills. I'll give you examples of both.
When we discussed this idea that people have, that the Muslims are inferior to the west, specifically, they also developed that we are so underdeveloped, they are making progress and we are still backward, okay. Now, the problem with this is that you do not understand history, you do not understand what has happened in the last three to 400 years in the Muslim world. If you look at a place like Indonesia, Indonesia was colonized by the Dutch for hundreds of yours. in Cape Town, South Africa, Muslims will not allow to openly express the Islam by the Dutch for more than 100 years, Islam was bad, we did not have our own cemeteries, we were not allowed to have Joba we were
not allowed to have religious gatherings. So when we say that we as a community are backward that we have not developed. If you look at South Africa, perfect example. As you know, in South Africa, during apartheid, I was labeled cape Malay, and because of being labeled cape Malay, under the eight category system, so you know, you have whites and Europeans, that's number one, then number two, you have cape colored, right, and then number three, you have cape belay, and then up before you have sort of other races, okay? So because if you're not, if you're not level one, it means you cannot go to a level one school or university. And a level one school or university is that school or
university that is restricted, and exclusive to white people, people of European descent, even though technically I am of European descent, but you know, I was a Muslim, so that didn't matter. What I'm saying is, if you don't have knowledge of history, if you don't have general knowledge, then you will fall for this fallacy you will fall for this misconception, you'll fall for this doubt that we are back with nation, but that fails to take into consideration colonialism and exploitation. And you know, the actual persecution, persecution of Muslim communities in India, you know, in the Indian subcontinent, or in Indonesia, or Malaysia, or in South Africa or in North
Africa. We're lucky if you want to know how to this is read the history, the recent history of Algeria, and the French occupation of Algeria, and you will understand what I mean when I say that a lack of general knowledge will cause us to give into this belief that Muslims are barbarian that Muslims are backward, etc, etc. If you don't have that critical thinking, let's talk about that. We like that in the community. And what's what's the perfect example of that someone quotes an ayah several quotes a hadith. We don't even have the basic critical thinking skills to ask, what is the reference?
about asking about, you know, if the Hadith is authentic, that's a secondary emetophobia. Now, people say the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said they quote the Hadith, and everyone just nods Yeah. Okay, where's the Hadith?
Is the Hadith authentic? What is the Hadith mean? What is the context of the Hadith? Or the other Hadith on the topic? How do we view that Hadith in light of the Quran? What are the scholars commented regarding the Hadith? What What is the practical implication of the Hadith? How have the scholars applied it? other practical way? These are all critical thinking questions that need to be asked but Muslims do not ask them. Someone quotes a hadith that says, Are you Muslim? Do you believe this? Okay, I'll give you an example that I use at the beginning of my of my discussion, Richard Dawkins, Maggie has said so you Muslims believe that your prophet went into the heavens on a flying
was none of the Hadith speak about the buraq having wigs and none of the Hadith which are authentic, speak about the Prophet going up into the Saba, what are the buraq? So Richard Dawkins is wrong the two aspects of what he's quoting and he believes it's coming from the soda and from the Ceylon. And if you don't fact check him while having the discussion, you will allow him to say that kind of nonsense with without any without any repercussions, and critical thinking allows us to say no, that's not true. We don't believe that. That's not how it we understand this issue. Let me explain to you what this issue is about. That kind of confidence comes from proper knowledge.
Five is a lack of Islamic knowledge,
a lack of Islamic knowledge, as most people that have doubts about Islam, I'll give you a perfect example. I'm not talking about the ability to read the Quran with perfect as read many people think that this is the sign of Islamic knowledge that is a sign, but it is not the sign. They think it is to know Arabic That is a sign it is not the sign. I am talking about understanding the fundamentals of Islam. If I say to you, what is Islam? Tell me about Islam. I want you to answer as the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam answered, if I asked you what are the fundamental aspects of Muslim belief, I want you to give me the six things the Prophet mentioned in the hadith of gibreel.
It is to believe in Allah and the angels and the books and the messages at the last day and to believe believe in color or predestination. Those are the six things to have knowledge of these things and understand that well, we don't have that. I went to the beach of the country, but I went to a calculator. I spoke to a group of young people, most of them teenagers. I said to them, what does La ilaha illAllah mean?
Allah is great. Always the Most High.
About an evil will lie about talking about the translation. I've talked about what is it been, is not worthy of worship except Allah. What does that mean? There is no deity, there is no God, there is no object of worship, that is worthy of worship except Allah, what does it mean? So when I say a lack of Islamic knowledge, don't misunderstand that I'm talking about karate memorization, and Arabic proficiency, and other you know, more detailed suelen fick and sciences of hygiene, that's part of it. I'm talking about a clear, and a very detailed understanding of the fundamentals, we like that, so we need to improve that. Number six, we have too much free time.
This is unfortunately, our reality. Because if you're on Facebook, debating with people about doubts that they have about Islam, but you don't know what I've spoken about before the basics of Islam, you know, someone's out there, and he's like, oh, but you know, the Hadith says, you know, he's quoting the Hadith. And then I asked him, okay, what are the five conditions for it authentic hadith? And that is like,
I don't understand. What do you mean, the five conditions, have you decided that we know we have a problem so that people have the free time to debate but they do not have the free time to get a solid grounding and Islamic knowledge, that's problematic. Now to end off, let me talk about seven things that I believe all of us need to focus on. If we are going to protect ourselves from these doubts, we spoke about the doubts, we spoke about why they exist, where they are coming from, we discussed a lot of details about why they are so effective, but now let us focus on how we can protect ourselves and inshallah, if ever we get together again, then we'll talk about things that we
can do to be more proactive, and to instead of being on the backfoot, we can be on the front foot and we can focus on on, you know, not only defending Islam, but really calling to Islam. Of these seven things. Number one is to increase in our Yaki, then our conviction of a loss of data, how do we do that? Number one, let us start thinking about the creation of a loss of a handle with the island. Let us think about ourselves, let us think about the sun, the moon and other celestial bodies, let us think about the the mountains and the oceans and the rivers. And I recommend that for this today, you do as a case study, you read Surah
Surah, two, run the sudo of the bee, the sudo of the bee, I want you to go and read the surah because they are those scholars who call this Surah Surah to dab the surah of blessings. If you read the blessings of Allah and all that, if you read about the diversity of Allah's creation, then you will be in a better position to increase your Eman. Number two is to connect that thinking that pondering to the book of Allah and again soldato there are many other sutras the entire soul, entire Quran calls us to this but so to the * is a case study that I would recommend that you do today. Go to the surah the chapter of the B and read what understanding it is filled with things for you to
think about regarding Allah creation. Connect your thinking with the book of Allah and voila, he you will be amazed. Number three is read books on the topic. Read books on the topic of Allah subhanho wa Taala his creation, read books about Allah subhana wa Taala why
One of the best books that I've come across, although this book specifically focuses on atheism, but I think there's a lot of good points that you can take from that is a book that was written recently by Hamza authorities. It's called the divided reality.
I, for a long time, I tried to find this book, but it is an excellent book, just because there's so many aspects that we that we, you know, we don't think about as Muslims. But if you want to come back to certainty, that we need to be able to read books on this, these other books I can recommend, but for now, the divine reality is the best that I can recommend. Then, the next point that I want to make here is listen to lectures about Allah subhanho wa Taala. Not lectures on fic, specifically, not lectures on def seen, but lectures where people talk about the names and attributes of Allah, they talk about who Allah is, niches, you know, some of one of the best lectures that I've heard was
a lecture by by Sheikh Khalid yassine, about the purpose of life. And even though the audience was majority, the majority of the audience were not Muslims. But for me, even as a student of knowledge, I really benefited from that lecture. So they are lectures that are not even dedicated, you know, to a Muslim audience, but yet they are, they are profound, and they are really beneficial. The next, the next, the next tip that I could give you to increase your yaqeen is watch videos and interviews with new Muslims.
You know, even now, my wife inspires me when, with when she you know, we talked about how she became a Muslim and her journey to Islam. You know, it makes me think that I was born in a Muslim home. And you know, I have a lot of the things that she appreciates about Islam, and I don't appreciate that I don't see that as you know, that I'm blinded to. But when you watch videos of people that have accepted Islam from around the world, it's a basics of heinola. Like this wall is details that led them to Islam.
Someone you know, used to work in Yemen, and used to hear the athon and the Assad was so beautiful. And they they went to the local Masjid and they wanted to know, you know, what, what, what is this guy calling out like five times a day, you know, what does it mean? And someone explains it to him and he's like, okay, I want to know, wall. And, you know, my wife and I were watching a video
that her friend did recently about how she became a Muslim. And I was like, wow, you know, we had a list of all the eggs. So watch these videos that you will benefit from, you'll benefit from them. And lastly, focus on the actions of the heart. Focus on your tawakkol your reliance in Allah subhanho wa Taala your love for Allah, your hope in Allah's mercy, your fear of loss, punishment, all of these things are very, very important. And then increase in your Islamic knowledge. Go you know, attend more classes, read more books, avoid the source of the doubts and perhaps this is the most important advice I can give myself in you.
Avoid the sources of the doubts as much as possible. I'm not say avoid social media, but you know, certain groups, certain individuals, certain you know, chat rooms, that are the source of many of these doubts, avoid them. You know, the places that the people that cause you to feel your emotion a lot to be weakened, so don't go close to that. So behind Allah, like in the Hadith, the hadith of Nomad, Eben Machina Bashir, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, The Hillel is clear at the heart of is clear, and between those two, they are doubtful, that is, whoever avoids the doubtful that is dead he has safeguarded his honor and his religion, his religion and his other stay away
from the doubtful people and the doubtful places and you will be you will be safe. And lastly,
I want you to focus on do I
will end with that. Turn to Allah subhanho wa Taala and say yeah, Allah increase me in my belief and my EMA and in my conviction, yeah, Allah protect me from anything that will misguide me. Yeah, Allah increase me in guidance. Yeah, Allah showed me the paths of guidance of Allah, it all stood out there was nothing so in ending off by doing for myself and for you, is that Allah subhanho wa Taala grants that our feet become firm upon Islam, Allah subhanho wa Taala increased as the beneficial knowledge by Allah subhanho wa Taala increase our certainty by Allah subhanho wa Taala increase us if those actions of the heart and the lives that will fortify us and protect us from all of the
doubts and the misconceptions that are out there waiting to misguide us. May Allah subhanho wa Taala protect our children and those will
of those that we know about Allah subhanho wa Taala as he has gathered us here today gather us again in the company of the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. regenda tofield dos barakallahu phaco was set out why they come to LA he wabarakatuh