Why We Need Islam
Date:
Channel: Tariq Appleby
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AI Generated Transcript ©
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an honor to be your company tonight. I also loss of a high level or Dinah the one that has brought us together tonight, together as again in the company of the Prophet Mohammed Salam it was setting them in the highest gardens of Paradise genda, two filters.
We came together tonight to talk about Islam and now need for Islam.
But before we can talk about that, and why we need Islam and what the benefits of Islam are.
I think that it is absolutely important for us to first define Islam. What is Islam? What is the word mean? So we'll start there, as it is best to start at the beginning. So what is Islam? The word Islam comes from the root letters in the Arabic language, as Lama use Nimmo Islam.
What does it mean? It means he surrendered. He surrendered and submitted himself. I want you to think of an enemy soldier on the battlefield is overwhelmed, and he is flanked by his enemy. And when he realizes that he is going to be defeated, instead of being killed, he raises his hands or he raises a white flag and says, I surrender. I give up. What does it mean? It means that he no longer exists, it means that he's going to lay down his weapons, it means that you will allow his enemy to do with him as he saw once, which unfortunately does happen on the battlefield. And people are oppressed and they are harmed. But that's just to give us the sense of where the word comes from.
I have traveled into many countries. And what I've always enjoyed doing is meeting with the youth and especially teenagers and even younger children, and especially Muslim children and asking them this question, what is Islam?
And I found in about seven or eight countries that I've traveled to when you ask children this question, most of them say Islam means peace.
So why do they believe that when I just told you that in the Arabic language, that the word Islam does not come from peace, but rather comes from submission? So why do we believe this? Well, we must look at two things. The first of these things is that us level, if you break it down even further, comes from Salima, yes. llamo to be safe, he is safe, he is safe.
And also from the second, that when you submit yourself to Allah Subhana Allah Donna, you will achieve peace.
When you have submitted yourself to the reason and the purpose, why you exist, you will achieve peace and serenity. When you realize that you have not been or that you do not exist for no reason, that you have a reason and a purpose. And we as human beings have been grappling with this question for 1000s of years. For 1000s of years, we've been asking the big questions, why is this something instead of nothing?
where it has the world come from? What am I supposed to do on earth? What is my purpose? Am I only going to be born to live a life and then die? Is that it is that the the sum of who I am and who we are?
These are the questions that we have been grappling with. And religion has always existed. And Allah subhanho wa Taala tells us something very beautiful. And we need to you know, understand this in the context of 1000s of years of history. And in our current context. Allah subhana wa tada tells us in the Koran
Amina shame Tanya Raji, one after the other equally
sooner
or later
We have seen to every nation a messenger, with a message, what's the message, worship Allah, and stay away from all from all false deities. So when you travel around the world and you read the history of religion, you find that every nation and every people have believed in a, they have believed in a god, even if they have worshipped others, or other things besides this God, I'll speak about myself as a South African, the coarser a tribe in South Africa.
They worship the ancestors. And they believe that by giving offerings and sacrifices to the ancestors, they will you know, get the good favor, and they will assist them and facilitate things for them in this life. But when you ask the causer, who created you, then they say, the great one. And if you ask them, who causes the rain to fall, they will say the great one.
And if you travel in the world, if we go back a few 1000 years, to the time of the time of the Romans, and before them, the Greeks, even though they worship many gods, who did they believe was the was the main God was Zeus and Jupiter. And if you go to ancient Babylonia and Mesopotamia, you will find that is why Ibrahim Abraham alayhi salam, what is he tell his father and his people, I am free from you, from everything that you worship, in Robben Island, except a law, the Lord of all of the creation. So that means that even in ancient Mesopotamia, the people who were shipping a loss of a high level of data, but they were worshipping others, besides Him, and if we fast forward to our
own time, now in 2014, the majority of the people on earth, they worship a God a deity. That is our reality. And I'll talk about that later in sha Allah, Allah. But Islam, the word Islam means submission. It means to surrender. Now, if that's an unrealistic meaning, what is its meaning to us as Muslims?
Most of the of the people sitting in front of me now are Muslims. So what does it mean to you and me?
And what should we call someone who's not a Muslim? If there's someone in the audience who isn't a Muslim, if he asked you tonight as we left or they asked me, What would I tell them? What is it? So the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, the Messenger of Allah, he's in his Masjid is sitting with these companions with his, with his followers. And a man in this this Masjid.
And this man has very white clothing, very black hair. There's no sign of traveling on this man. And no one sitting there knows who he is. So it's very strange. Who's this person? Because this is the Arabian desert. You know, you can't travel in that Arabian desert and stay clean, and you have a nice white, you know, garment and it's gonna stay clean. If you come from outside of Medina, you should be dirty. You should be dusty. So what does he do this man, he goes all the way to the Prophet. And he places his knees against the knees of the Prophet, places his hands on his own thighs. And then he says, Yeah, Mohammed, Mohammed. Bin nee an Islamic. Tell me about Islam. What is
Islam? So this is a strange man, asking the messenger of Islam, the prophet of Islam, what Islam is, would you agree with me that this would be the best definition ever?
Like who is going to give a better definition of the of the final messenger of Allah, the final messenger of God, who would give a better definition of what he's calling to what Islam is, then Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. So what is the Prophet say? How does he answer this question about what Islam is? Listen carefully. He says, I will Islam and Tasha Allah, Allah Illallah Muhammadan rasul Allah, Islam is that you testify that there is none worthy of worship, except a law. No one should be worshipped. No one should be obeyed, except Allah.
One no Mohammed and Rasul Allah, and that you should testify you should believe you should know. You should be a witness that Mohammed is a messenger of Allah that Muhammad was sent by Allah. That's what you need to believe. That's part of Islam.
But he didn't stop there. What okay masala and that you should establish the pray five times a day what OTS zeca. And you should pay the annual tax which is compulsory upon those Muslims who have the necessary wealth, the minimum wealth upon which they should pay this tax. What are so what, what asuma Ravana. And if you force the month of Ramadan, which is the ninth month of the Islamic year, what the hogen beta in estafa la de Sevilla, and that you perform the pilgrimage to Makkah, if you are able to do so, if you can find your way in meaning you have the physical strength and the money to get there. So the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam when he's asked about Islam, he's asked to
inform this question about Islam. He doesn't say that, you know, Islam is a religion of peace. He didn't say that. He didn't say that Islam is a comprehensive social and political, you know, system. He didn't say that Islam is a philosophy that speaks to all of the needs of human beings. He didn't give these, you know, very intricate and difficult concepts to understand, and to fathom. No, he made it a reality, something practical. And that's what Islam is, my dear brothers and sisters. Islam is a practical religion. It's more about doing an acting than it is about saying, and I'll come back to this point later when I speak about Islamic brotherhood. When I speak about the bonds
that Muslims have amongst themselves, and the love that they have for each other, and the empathy that they feel for one another, will come back to this concept that Islam is not a religion of, Oh, you know, we should do this, and we should do that, then. You know, and we, we believe these things, and we stand for justice. These Islam is not about, you know, statements, and it's not about mottos and, and the rallying calls, it's about doing things.
It's about having a belief, testifying that Allah alone is worthy of worship, and then you actually worship him. I always use this analogy, because I'm a marriage counselor. And I like talking about marriage.
I like to use this one.
And some of you might have heard this before the for those of you that haven't let me repeat my analogy.
Let me see a show of hands who's married
Mashallah, so you you will you will be able to relate with me more than our single brothers and sisters, for those of you that are not married, may Allah subhanho wa Taala grant you beautiful, handsome, you know, pious and righteous spouses in sha Allah, that will be the coolness of your eyes. And when Allah subhana wa tada brought you happiness in this life, and in the year after.
It's amazing how people say I'm used to that, more than any other job.
application that people love, to hear to say.
But listen to this analogy. So a man is married. And he says to his wife, Oh, my darling, I love you so much.
I love you so much. You know, when I'm at work, all I can think about, like, I'm just I just think about you.
And when I leaving work, all I can think about is coming back home and gazing at your beautiful face. This guy's a sweet talker.
But he says these things to her, he says these words. But when he comes home,
he is the most that you know, the most these the angry is, you know, sour person you've ever met. He doesn't smile with his wife. He screams and shouts at her. He criticizes everything that she does. He doesn't make time for her. He's not intimate with her in any emotional or physical way. And you might even physically abused his wife.
Now I asked you do you see a problem with what he says and what he does?
is a big problem.
And so when the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam says that Islam is to be a witness, to testify, to believe to know that there is none worthy of worship, except Allah, the One who created us, the one who provides for us, and that you should testify and believe and know that Mohammed is a messenger of Allah. The reason why he then continues by speaking about play, and about fasting, and about giving Zakah and about Hajj is because
Because if you believe these things, you must do these other things.
If you believe these things, then you must do, you must show that you believe, in the same way that if a wife says to her husband, I love you. And her husband says to his wife, I love you that more than those words, your spouse wants to see your love, wants to feel your love.
And so when you say I believe in Allah, and I believe in the last day, and I believe in the prophets and the angels
way, is the action that backs up this belief. Where is the action that makes this belief a reality? That makes it something sincere, and not mere words that we spout because we can all talk,
but we'll all be willing to walk. The walk this talk is cheap, as they say, people say things, but do they really need them?
One last analogy Before I continue, you know, it's very, very, very common to hear things like you know, my brother will lie you whenever you need me, I will be there will lie he I swear I take an oath by Allah that if you called me at three in the morning to ask for my help, I would be there for you. Is it a common to hear things like that?
Well, lucky, I'm there for you. I
said,
Hey, I got a puncture. And I'm on one of the highways, you know, and I can't get a tow truck to come and help me, you know, can you come and help me? Oh, you know, I'm busy now. You know, I just got home from work, you know, that happens. So then when your friend or your or your family member years that from you? What do they feel, they feel that you're insincere
Subhan Allah, but, you know, he or she said these things that they would always be there for me, they always helped me. They'd always be you know, whenever I needed them, especially when I needed them in the most difficult times, they would be there for me.
And we make this I'll tell you a funny story just to to help us understand, you know, how dangerous this is. While I was a student in Medina, of course, it's Medina, so many people would come for for Armada and for Hajj. And so the South African students was sitting, you know, and where they normally sit and gather. And a few South Africans, you know, the Hajaj or people who had come for, for for for the pilgrimage, they came into the masjid, into the mosque, and they said to us, Mashallah, you South Africans? And we said, you know, what gave us away the accent? They were like, yes. And they said, yeah, we also, we are from South Africa. They said, Are you here for the
pilgrimage? Or are you here? You know, what do you do here? So we said, No, we students. And so the man said, you know, you should come to my hotel for supper, you should come to my hotel for supper, my wife and I would love to host you to be our honor. So one of my friends looked at him and said, Can we come tomorrow night?
And the look of that man's face. You know, like when someone gets a fright, like, when you see a ghost or something, when you go completely pale. He looked like that.
And he said, tomorrow night,
you know, he didn't know what to say. And then he said, Okay, okay, okay. Yeah, I wonder if you could come tomorrow night.
And when we went to his hotel, before we were leaving, he said to my friend, that Subhana Allah, you made me realize something that I wasn't sincere when I said those words. It's a thing we say. It's a it's a conversation filler. We say things like, Oh, you should come and visit. And then I say, Can I come tomorrow? Like,
he didn't know what to do. Because you don't really mean it. You just need to, to sort of, you know, it's courteous to say it's a nice thing, you know, it's a nice gesture, but do I really mean it? So we must deeply ponder about what it means to say that I believe in a law and I believe in the Prophet Mohammed,
some of the law while he was sending them this is this is what it means to be Muslims. It means that we do we act.
And we we are people that when we talk, we are willing to walk as well. So it means that I'm going to submit myself because I believe in Allah, I believe that he has created me, I have no doubt in that.
But now comes the second part. Okay, so you believe in the law, you believe that you are created? The question that you must not ask yourself is, are you going to obey the one in who you believe
that
Islam is submission, it is to surrender to the will of Allah Subhan
Whatever it is to submit yourself to what Allah wants, not what you want. But it is to know that whatever Allah once from once for you, is the best for you. And that there is a profound and sublime realization.
Because if you believe in Allah, you don't just believe that He created you know, you believe that he is Li Li Hakeem, the most knowledgeable and the most wise, that whatever he's going to come on you to do whatever he wants from you, is the best for you.
Who is going to buy the new iPhone six when it comes? So raise your hand? Don't be shy.
It's okay. You know, I pity you iPhone users. But who's gonna buy the new Galaxy Note four when it finally comes to Malaysia?
Now what?
Okay, I'm going to buy the new Galaxy Note four itself. And when I buy it, it's going to come with a with a booklet
is it itself? instructions? A manual, a manual that's going to show me how to how to use it? Yes.
And why would I read this manual? Why would I pay attention to it? Well, let me give you an example. If I buy this Samsung, and it comes with an iPhone manual when I use it.
Also my question, would you use it? No. But if it came with the proper manual, would you read it and benefit from it? Would you definitely benefit from it?
And so it is without belief in Allah.
We believe that Allah subhanho wa Taala created us.
You can hate it the way that we are. He created the way that our minds work, our biology, our chemistry, our psychology. Allah subhanho wa Taala knows what you desire. He knows what you dislike. He knows what's good for you. What's healthy for you? What's pure for you? Allah says it's off to the boat.
Hanako no playful hobby? Does he not know what he has created? When he is the one that has knowledge of all the finer details? And he has complete understanding of all of those things? is not so
because if you believe in Allah subhana wa tada? Do you You must believe that He knows what he has created. And he is fully aware of what he's created. So when he sits down a book, the Koran, and he sends a messenger to show us what the Quran means that you must know whatever you find in it is the best for you.
That is the realization that you must have. So many times the question comes up, why do we pray five times a day? Why do women wear a job? Why do brothers get twice as much as sisters in inheritance? Why do you amputate the hands of thieves? Although these questions come up, they do. Why is alcohol prohibited in Islam? Why can't Muslims eat pork? Is all the questions
but it comes down to this fundamental principle
in the law Hanako allocated you.
He knows what is best for you. He knows what is suitable to you. For you. He knows what you need, and what you must have and what you what you cannot live without. As allowed me ask you this question as a loss of a high dollar dollar made it harder for us to eat drink?
No, but he has prohibited certain things to eat authentic.
As Allah subhana wa tada allowed us to marry
or has he commanded us to be to live a life of the monk and the nun
to live a life of absolute chastity. No is allowed us not only allowed us but encouraged us to get married. Why? Because He created us and the desire that we have for the opposite sex. That's the reality.
Allah subhana wa tada has prohibited the consumption of alcohol. Why?
Because it is one of those one of those substances that causes the most misery on Earth.
I cannot speak for Malaysia, but I'll speak for South Africa.
We have one of the highest rates of child abuse in the world. We have one of the highest rates of rape in the world. We have one of the highest rates of domestic abuse in the
And one of the main causes for this is that we have a problem with alcohol and drug consumption in South Africa. It's one of the reasons why I moved to Malaysia with my family.
Because I live very close to a drug, you know, a drug dealer, and every night they would be gunshots. And every night people would be fighting outside. And when I would leave in the morning to go for fudger, they will be boys and girls on the, you know, on in lay in the park, or high on heroin or on something else, you know, drinking and drunk. This is the reality. As the brother mentioned, you know, I used to work at a drug rehabilitation center.
I've appreciated being a Muslim for a long time. But I really appreciated it when working with those young boys and men, who had become addicts of heroin, and LSD and other drugs, that I'd see how they destroy the lives. Because with the loss of a hand or data make something prohibited when he prohibited or why there's so much good in it. Sometimes we don't see that. Sometimes we have to see the ugly, the ugly underbelly of society, before we can begin to appreciate what Allah subhanho wa Taala has given us what he has bestowed upon us this narrative of Islam, you have to see the ugliness to appreciate the opposite, as the addabbo would used to say, I'll have to shut laleli
shortly, I studied and I knew and I wanted to get to know what evil was not so that I may fall into it. Not so that I may do it, but so that I may avoid it.
And one of the people that will be under the shade of a loss of a look at these young boys masala.
One of the people that will be under the shade of a law on the day of the AMA, or the young, that young boy or girl who grew up in the worship of Allah, not you and me. Or I speak for myself, not someone who grew up, not knowing Allah subhanho wa Taala. Not not being that person who grew up drowning in his desires, doing whatever he thought was best. Making mistakes, seeing my friends get killed, seeing people die in front of me seeing my friends die of overdoses, and then realizing, hey, but if I continue on this particular path, if this is what the life that I'm going to choose for myself, then I'm probably going to end up like my friends, either in prison, or dead.
It's then that you realize, and why am I so passionate about what I do about giving lectures and teaching is because I want for them. What I didn't have when I was growing up. I started painting when I was 19 years old. And I was born into a Muslim family.
I didn't really know Islam before that. I remember when I went to go and memorize the whole app for the first time.
I was 19. And I couldn't pronounce one of the letters of the Arabic alphabet, which is the aim.
And so I decided to eight year old boy in my class and I said well, the the Baba and he said no one idea to Baba I said well, I said I said Ah, and a wig on my bed for a week. And I'll never forget this. Imagine I grew up in Islam. Major I grew up with an appreciation of who I was, and what a great bounty Allah had given me. How different things would have been. That is why I'm passionate and dedicated to making sure that my sons and your daughters and your sons and all of us that we realized before we get to an age, we we are so affected by the life that we used to live. The music that we used to listen to the partners that we used to have the toxicants that we used to consume
that our hearts it's so difficult to appreciate the beauty of Islam, because we have soiled and stained our souls and our hearts with a lifestyle that goes contrary to what Allah subhanho wa Taala is stated as upon.
That is the reality.
And the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam tells us very beautifully kulu the new Leger Island fetullah every newborn child is born upon an inclination to worship and to believe in Allah subhanho wa Taala but what happens for Abba wha hoo, your whole way down he Oh, you're not see Ronnie he Oh, you met Gianni. But it is our it's our parents, whether they are Muslims or non Muslims who these
side has shaped who we become later.
So we either become practicing Muslims, or we have no idea of what Islam is, even though we have Arabic names, or people associate us or recognize us as being Muslims, or we grow up as Christians, or Buddhists or Hindus, or we might even grow up as one of my friends grew up in an atheist home. His parents had no religion. And Rather, they openly brought up and raised their children believing telling them that there's no God, and there's no reason why you should believe in one.
Want to share with you that advice as my second point, the advice that Ibrahim alayhis salaam gave to his sons and yaku gave to his sons as well listen to this advice.
Well, we'll saw a bow on GMO Bernie, why are poor boy Yeah, Bernie, listen to this. And he brought him on his deathbed. He advised his sons in the same way that Yaqoob advised his sons on his death.
Yeah, Buddha here in no loss. No como de, oh, my dear sons, Allah has chosen that religion for you. Yeah.
He's chosen it for you.
If you were fortunate enough to grow up in a Muslim home,
has chosen the religion for you already. If you have accepted Islam, he has chosen for you as well. And if you plan to accept Islam in the future, Allah has chosen this religion for you. But that isn't it. That's half of it. Being a Muslim, and saying I am a Muslim, that's half of what needs to be done. Listen to what he says after further demo.
In
Muslim mode, so do not die, except that you are Muslims. But how do you do that? How do you guarantee how you will die?
By making sure that you live as a Muslim?
How do you guarantee that you will die upon Islam?
If you live as
if you dedicate yourself to Islam?
It is not enough, as I said earlier to say well, I'm a Muslim, thank you very much. When you go to a government office, they ask you religion very proudly. What do we say Islam? We like to deal with such pride, Masha Allah, but when the other goes along.
Stein for
a bit busy now. Don't have time for that. No. And why is this? Well, I've been so loud.
Why is this? So now Why did you have to burn like this? Isn't it so? So is this now? When it when they say to you spending the path of Allah spend on this charity? How these orphans? You know, times are tough brother. Hope to know we never did any session.
It's difficult, you know, I have so many expenses, so many things to pay.
So we use it we we is the commitment. That is why he said that no, that Allah has chosen that religion for you. So don't die, except that you die as Muslims. But how do you achieve that? live as a Muslim? live as someone who has submitted themselves to Allah subhanho wa Taala and you will find that quality and happiness. Well, lucky, I swear by Allah. When I was growing up, I was doing everything that I believed would bring me enjoyment, satisfaction and happiness.
But I have not found for myself, anything that brings such happiness as the study of this religion, and the practice of it.
Absolutely nothing.
I'll share with you a story. There was a story that one of the addicts recovering addicts at the rehab shared with me.
He said to me, you know, she had one night. I was really feeling you know, that I needed to use I need to go out and buy drugs and use them. But so what I did instead it was like 2am. So I took Kudo ablution and I started reciting Sala I was keeping the karate in my head because I couldn't recite from memory. And I started I just opened up anyway, and I got to soar to the waqia
and I started, either walk it
leisurely walk on it
Khadija Caulfield auto raffia started reciting, and he started crying. He didn't understand the Quran doesn't know Arabic, but he just started crying and crying is reading. And off to the side after the pain, he goes and he lays on his bed. He takes a translation of the karate pages to Soraka to this chapter of the Quran, and he starts to read the translation and he starts crying even more.
He said to me, and he started crying. He said, Yes, I'm 32 years old, however, I allowed my entire life to pass me by. And I've never, ever enjoyed this until now.
I've wasted 10 years of my life as a drug addict.
I've lost my wife and my children.
And now I am tasting the sweetness of the Quran for the first time, at the age of 32. He started crying and crying and crying, I to hold him and consoled him and say, Well, I this is just the beginning. And now he's memorizing the Quran. He has entered an Islamic program, a six year program, to learn Arabic and learn Islam and learn the Quran. Well, I'm not I'm not I'm not proud of anyone more than I'm proud of this man. Because I grew up with him. We used to go out together, I knew what he used to do.
And to see him now in the masjid five times a day, worshiping Allah, knowing now what he has missed out his entire life will lie in Aviv. That is beautiful. That is amazing. That is Islam.
I met an American brother a few days ago.
Though, a few months ago, he grew up in a home, his parents were atheists. But he always had this longing for something.
He didn't know what it was. So he studied at university, he started hanging out with these Buddhist colleagues and friends. But he didn't understand the philosophy. So he tried something else, and something else. And then he started going to church, because his family used to be Christians. And he thought maybe I need to go back to the religion of my forefathers. And perhaps then, you know, I'll find what I'm looking for. But then you know what, you can be proud of this. He met some Malaysian brothers at the campus.
And they said, you know, why don't you come with us? We're going to what Islamic school? And he went with them. And he was like, Wow, this is amazing. And he kept on going with them. Until finally he made the decision to become a Muslim. And he took the Shahada and now he is married to a Malaysian sister living in KL a wonderful brother, Mashallah. An amazing brother. When you see him when you meet him, you just see his face and you feel good.
You just look at him allow you the light, the Knoll on his face is so amazing. And I can tell you hundreds of stories like this, but let us continue. Ibrahim says to his sons, he is dying. He has so much to tell them for what is he tell them
Allah has chosen Islam for you will lie It's a privilege. It's an honor that Allah has given you. So don't die. Don't waste this. Don't you know squander this, this nerva this opportunity that Allah has given you. don't squander it. Don't give it up for anything or for anyone.
And if you want to maintain that if you want to hold on to that they live as a Muslim. submit yourself completely wholeheartedly to Allah. Allah says in the Quran
odorheiu fish silica Oh, you will believe into Islam completely with all of yourself, all of you. Not you know today I'll pray tomorrow I vote and dismantle you know, I'll give some charity and next month or the next six months I won't do anything or Today I'll be caring to my neighbor tomorrow I'll be you know, I'll be the worst neighbor possible. No. into completely be steadfast. Hold on to the religion with it all with all that you have with your mole is as the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said
hold on to the deed with your bowl is like you hold on to something with the with your back teeth. You don't want that to you know to leave you. You don't want to lose your grip on it. Because all eyes chosen you to be a Muslim is chosen this religion for you.
The greatest neuroma that he has bestowed upon you.
The third point
The third matter that we need to realize
is that Islam is a religion which is perfect. Allah says it's sort of either
a yokomoto Cody in
the water or the tuna is Medina. Today I have perfected your deen your religion for you. And I have completed my bounty upon you. And I am pleased that Islam is your religion. I am pleased with Islam as your religion. I have perfected listened carefully to these words, because you're going to ask me, but how is it perfect? The Muslims are not perfect. Look at them. Look at what they are doing. Killing, kidnapping, they fighting amongst themselves. I've got a Muslim neighbor, the worst person you could possibly imagine. So how is this perfect? How is this religion? Perfect. These are the arguments that you hear. These are the criticisms that we must face. We have to be honest. Well, I
need to do some deep introspection and ask ourselves. Yes, that's the reality. I remember in Cape Town, I was giving Dawa, to a Christian lady. I said to her, do you know what Islam is? And you know, she said, Yeah, you know, and then I asked, so what do you think about this? As I explained to her, you know, we spend like 1015 minutes telling you what Islam was, etc. And then I asked him, so would you become a Muslim? And I'll never forget these words. He said it in Afrikaans. And it had a more profound effect. But let me translate it for you. You know what she said?
She said, Why do I want to be like those Muslims?
I felt like crying.
She agreed with me that Islam was a beautiful religion. In theory. It sounded like it was. It was wonderful. Oh, you believe in Jesus, his we believe in Jesus, you believe that? He had a miraculous birth? I said, Yes. We believe she's like, Really? I knew that. And then I said, Okay, so would you would you accept Islam? Would you come into the religion? She said, No. I asked why? I don't want to be like those Muslims. And I knew exactly what she what she meant, without asking her for the details.
So let us look at ourselves in the Marines now, tonight, today. And ask yourself, are you a representative and Ambassador for Islam?
to people look at you and say, Oh, wow. That's what Islam is supposed to be like. That's what I read in the Koran. That's what they supposed to be. That's the kind of character they supposed to have the kind of honesty trustworthiness reliability punctuality
and see you lawful, some of you are laughing, because you know, you know, the reality
that I don't want to sad and God bless you by saying this. But rather, I want you to think about it. Think about who you are, who I am.
Because we say we Muslims.
The question is, where is the Islam?
That's the question. So Islam is perfect. That's my point. It's a religion that satisfies it's a religion that takes care of all of your needs. Let's focus on a few let's focus on five.
The first, Islam protects your intellect.
Islam encourages you to think Islamic carries you to learn. Islamic law teaches you to use your mind to ponder the heavens and the earth, to look at the sun and the stars to look at your old self was the physique of the road and in yourself, they are signs Don't you see what you see? Don't you have insight? Look at your own body, and you'll be amazed.
So how old I was reading a book recently, it's called the brain that changes itself.
Even though it was written by someone who doesn't believe in Allah is an atheist. But as I was reading this book, my faith was increasing.
by him I was increasing Why? I thought superhard Allah wanted organ in my skull. What an amazing thing that Allah has created in my in my in my body, just this brain of mine.
I'll give you one example from the book. The was a woman in the first chapter. She had an infection and they gave her antibiotics that caused her vestibular system in her ears, to sort of, you know, become non existent. It basically destroyed this
system that allows you to balance and not to feel dizzy.
And you know what? They trained her by attaching electrodes to her tongue to retrain her brain, how to deal with not having those systems in her ears anymore to balance because she couldn't stand up. Even when she would lay down, she would feel like she was falling.
But Allah has created your brain, the brain that you have in your skull, it is so amazing that it can be retrained to replace an organ that you have lost.
That's why simple something we know intuitively, that someone who has lost their eyesight, the yearning is much better. Why? Because the brain now compensates for the input from your eyes now uses those same pathways to make your ears better. Yeah, Allah, that's only the brain. That's one part of it. I am not a neuroscientist. But for me, that was so amazing. And she kept on of the author he rather mentioned so many, you know, with the hundreds of pages in this book, if you read the book, well, life is so amazing. The second thing that Islam does is protect your intellect by making that which is how long which harms your intellect by making it impermissible by by making it
prohibited like alcohol and drugs. Have you ever seen someone who has an addiction to miss amphetamine?
hamdulillah lies protected you.
The epidemic in South Africa in Cape Town, especially in my homes in my hometown is so bad, you will see big girls and boys walking in the street talking to themselves.
Have you seen that? They'll be talking to themselves. They'll be you know, they'll be just, you know, going crazy getting dressed in the middle of the road? Are they insane? Probably are but why are they insane? Why is the intellect not the way it's supposed to be because they have destroyed it by that which Allah has prohibited because they refuse to submit them selves to what Allah had revealed. They now found themselves and they find themselves in this situation.
So Allah subhanho wa Taala protects your intellect. One last way he protects your internet is by protecting it from harm by someone attacking you. And someone that you know that if you call someone listen to this carefully in Islam, if you cause someone to lose the mind by physically assaulting them by giving them a few blows to the head.
Then he says if you kill the person and the blood money, the deer is to be paid to his family as if you had killed him. That is how much importance Islam gives to your intellect that Islam equates your intellect with your life.
The second, Islam protects your honor. Why do we need Islam? We need Islam because it protects our honor. How does it protect my honor? It allows me to marry.
And it allows me to have children and my wife to have children from a marriage. And these children will have rights and these children will not be considered to be illegitimate. And these children will not be called names when they grow up. And these children will not be saved to be the children of Xena of adultery and fornication. Those I will have honor my wife will have either and my children will have other Islam it is not permissible to backbite someone to speak ill of them or to slander them or to create and to say and to speak lies about them.
In Islam, it is not allowed to accuse anyone of having having committed adultery or fornication. In Islam, we protect your Your Honor, by saying that you are innocent until proven guilty.
This is how Islam protects your honor. There are so many different other ways. This is what is prohibited. But what has Allah commanded to hold and uphold by Islam has commanded us to be truthful
because truthful people are honored. Islam has commanded us to be punctual and to keep our promises and people who have that audit. The people that you look up to. Let me ask you this question. The people that you consider you either you think highly all
do these people have good character traits. They do. You trust them. You believe them, to be honest
They are punctual. They keep their promises. And so you honor yourself by obey Allah and obey Islam, and fulfilling it and submitting yourself. That's when you're under yourself. And you can protect your, your honor, and the honor of others, by making sure that you do not fall into what Allah has prohibited. How often do we backbite? everyday?
How often do we speak ill of others, it happens at work.
We speak ill about of our employers and our bosses, we speak ill of our colleagues, we speak ill, and this is the worst for me. We backbite our children.
so naughty.
I speak to my wife, oh, you know, our son is so naughty. is so disobedient. That is so Reba.
My wife and I are still attacking the honor of our son, when we speak that way. And we don't sometimes we don't even think that we are doing that. And then we ask ourselves, why are we so why do we have such animosity? And sometimes we feel such frustration at our children is because we have dishonouring them, by speaking ill of them will speak to the teachers and will say things like, Yes, I know he is lazy, is very lazy. That guy happens, doesn't it? But Islam tells us not to speak like this, not to have this kind of attitude. If you're if you have nothing the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, Man, can you
do me?
a favor and only? Yes, both. Whoever believes in Allah and the Last Day, let him say something good. Or let him keep quiet.
That's difficult for us.
Law, that is difficult. I want to challenge you to do something for me.
When we leave, doesn't require any effort. It just requires a sense of self realization. When you're having a conversation with your friends, later, after we leave, or before we leave,
be very careful. Pay careful attention to what you say to that person.
Are you able to guarantee that you said absolutely nothing disparaging about someone else?
Nothing.
How difficult is that?
Nothing. Oh, she's late again. You know, she's always late. Things like that. Yeah, she said she was coming tonight. But you know, she's not Yeah. Oh, he said, you know, he's always lazy when it comes to these kinds of things. You know, like the Islamic lectures and that type of thing. You mean, well, and you know what the worst part is when it comes to this, people will say things like, when you when you tell him, he will lie that's wrong. You can't speak about look man like that.
Right?
You can't speak about Look, man like that. You know what, what people will some people respond by? I'll say it to his face.
I'll say to his face, which is much worse. Because when I speak ill of lokman when he's not here.
I have this already by speaking that way. But when I say it to his face, I've I've heard him and I've heard his feelings. And I've destroyed all I have damaged the Brotherhood between us. So to say to someone's face is much worse they do backbite in their absence.
So Islam protects your honor. So Protect Your Honor, and that I know of others is a question, can I speak ill of non Muslims?
The answer is no.
Because the Muslim protects his or her tongue.
Even if the person is Christian or atheist, it is not becoming of a Muslim, that they speak ill of anyone
is your Muslim brother or sister has a greater right over you.
But our tongues are meant to be for that which is good. Or we just keep quiet.
Make that who you are.
The rest all commit ourselves to that. If you have we have nothing good to say. Let us be quiet. Number three is law protects your life. This is beautiful.
Islam protects your life. How does it protect your life? It protects your body by only making permissible for you that which is beneficial for you.
While you're Halima la hiball Kaaba and the Prophet makes permissible for them. There.
Which is good for them. And he prohibits that which is, which is harmful to them.
So when we don't drink it is because we don't harm ourselves, what is the main the one of the major causes of liver and kidney disease in the world, it is the consumption of alcohol. What is the main cause for fights in public places? It is the consumption of, of alcohol. What is the main cause in South Africa, for road accidents, it is the consumption of, of alcohol. So, not only is the pro pro inhibition of alcohol about our minds is also about our our bodies, and smoking is the same.
And drugs are the same. And eating fatty foods and oily foods. Which by the way is very difficult in Malaysia to avoid these things, you know, I love Malaysian cuisine, but yet Allah,
I made just a funny, just an incident that happened. I wasn't planning to mention this. But now that this came up, I was invited to a diplomats home for aid. And he was telling me that he's embassy, the is the 10 kilo Malaysian rule that anyone that transfers to KL must pick up 10 kilos in the time they are here.
He said, I have been stationed in Iran, I didn't have that problem. I was in Cairo didn't have that problem. I was in Riyadh, I didn't have that problem. I've been here for almost three years. And I picked up seven case only three months ago, he said.
So Islam protects your body. And Islam says that if you kill another must another person, whether that person be Muslim or not, you will be held accountable, and you will be killed if it was intentional. And if it was a mistake, even then there is a penalty to pay.
That if you cause someone to lose their eyesight, you pay a full dia the full blood money. If you cause someone to use to lose any of the of the senses, you pay the full blood money, you're held responsible. You don't just get off and say no, it was it was a mistake. Sorry, it was an accident. It is now we are not allowed to hit someone in the face, which my son was very happy about.
Not that I beat my children, but I mean if I if I was to beat them, my son was very happy that I wouldn't beat them in their faces, right? But Islam protects you and your body and protects your your sense of well being. And one of the most amazing parts of that is the Muslim ban, Salima Muslim, Oda, Melissa de vida de, who's the Muslim, the Muslim, listen carefully. The Muslim is He Who other Muslims, other Muslims, they feel safe from his tongue and from his hand.
A Muslim is a person who makes other Muslims feel safe. That's another definition.
Who is a Muslim? A Muslim is a person who makes other Muslims feel safe. They secure their sense of well being. I don't have to worry about you backbiting me. I don't have to worry about you undercutting me in business, I don't have to worry that if I propose to a system, you will come and propose to
napkins it happens. It's there. I don't have to worry that if I do a deal with you, someone else will come and offer you a better price. The Muslims feel safe amongst each other. And the non Muslim should feel that way as well.
Especially those living in a majority Muslim country like this.
Not only should they see our character, not only should they see our Islam, a parent and being practice, but they must feel safe.
They must feel secure. They must feel a sense of justice.
And that brings me to point number four number four, the fourth thing that Islam protects. The fourth thing that Islam gives you that you need is that Islam protects your wealth.
Allah subhanho wa Taala has made it permissible for us to do business hamdulillah but he has made it home and impermissible to to be involved with with interest in usury and river area is not allowed us to sell those those things which have no benefit.
Like
Yes, a quick question. This is a big question. I don't expect an answer now.
Within the books of phip of Islamic law,
they say that it's
is not permissible for the Muslim to sell that which has no value. So recently on eighth, I went to visit the brother, he invited us for breakfast. I get a lot of invitations, apparently. And we went to his house for a breakfast. And I saw he had some fish and I asked him, you know, what do you feed these fish? He said, I feed them cockroaches I breeding them. He's been the cockroaches of like, why would you breed cockroaches? You know, why? Why should I try to get rid of the cockroaches? And yeah, you breeding them. He's got like 50,000 cockroaches.
And he's selling them now.
So the question that I asked that I want you to go and research. Is it permissible for this Muslim man to sell these cockroaches?
There is it is not permissible for the Muslims to cheat one another. Here's an example the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam is inspecting the marketplace. And we learned a beautiful lesson here and listen to all of our leaders around the world in the Muslim world can all learn
that they need to be involved with the affairs of the people and not sit in their ivory towers.
They need to come down into the marketplaces into the malls into the massage. Visit the people when do they visit us? elections are beautiful. When do they know us whether they visit our budgets and our malls and our stadiums during the elections. But the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam he went out and he put his hand in a sack of grain. It was dry on top. But as his hand went further down, it was wet at the bottom. And so the Prophet said burn Hashanah, fillet samina whoever cheats us is not from us. And I want to leave you with only the literal meaning of this hadith. Whoever cheats the Muslims is not a Muslim.
I just leave you with that.
That's how it should remain. Whoever cheats us is not from us.
The Muslim does not cheat, he does not defraud others. But rather, as we said earlier, he protects his own wealth, and he wants for others that which he wants for, for himself. So our wealth, we pay zakat on our wealth, Allah subhana wa tada has made it hard on that people steal our wealth. This is why we need Islam. We need Islam to protect our wealth, not only by having a government or a political system that protects it, and has system a system in place. But that you and i, you and i on a conscious personal level, we are looking after the the wealth of our brothers and sisters.
We are taking care of the property, we're making sure that they are not. They're not harmed in any way with the finances are concerned. If you can sell something to someone with making a profit without without that brother going bankrupt, to get what you want, what you are selling the inducer. But instead, the capitalist system that we have grown up with in South Africa and Malaysia, that is a part of our economy and our system makes it such that it's all at the expense of what of making a profit. It's not about searching for Baraka and blessings and white wealth, and causing and creating relationships. Well, I What happened to that. It's all about my bank balance. Now, it's not about
creating relationships. It's not about creating the customers that will come to me over and over and over again. It's about making that one business deal that will give me some money. But 10 years from now, I might like to do something else for 10 months or 10 weeks, whatever it might be.
Remember that Muslims are people centered people.
We care about ourselves, our families and our communities. It's one hole.
The last thing that Islam protects,
and this will lie he is important. And perhaps this is the end with this in sha Allah to Allah. And this is the most important that Islam protects that which is most precious to you. And that is your Islam.
Islam protects Islam.
How? How does the dean protect the dean?
By firstly making sure that we have scholars amongst us that will teach us the religion and preserve it and keep it alive? You go anywhere in the Muslim world today, you will find men and women and children who have memorized the whole book of a loss of a Hydra data from beginning to end. You go to the Muslim world now you will find that there are people who can still trace and this is it.
Malaysia before any other country, people who could say that I read the Quran to my teacher who read the Quran to his teacher all the way back to the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasallam. No one else can do that. All the statements of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam that I shared with you tonight, I am able to tell you that I added those ideas to my teacher, who read them to his teacher, all the way back to those who compiled those books. And then from them all the way to the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam. It is a religion that stresses knowledge and the preservation of knowledge and the spreading of knowledge.
And so I leave you just with that, that Islam, why do we need Islam, because just in summary, it is who we are, it is our natural inclination. And it is what we need most as people, as Winston Churchill used to say, or he said, during the Second World War, they are no atheists on the battlefield. Why?
Because at that time, you, you you call out, even though you've never believed in Allah, even though you've never believed in God, between you are going through that difficulty with you on the battlefield, and the shelves are exploding next to you and bullets are whizzing past your head, and your friends are being killed on either side.
Even though you're an atheist, you are forced by your soul by your mind, to turn to Allah subhanho data, because that is who you are.
That is what you have been created for, to worship Allah to raise your hands to him and to ask of him to be attached to him.
That's who we are. So we need Islam, because that we need it for ourselves, for our souls, and for tranquility and happiness, to feel a sense of fulfillment.
The second reason that we need Islam is that Islam protects and gives us five things, the protection of our intellect, the protection of our wealth, the protection of our honor, the protection of our, of our Deen, of Islam, it protects all of these things, and the protection of our life. Islam protects these five things, and will likely
in the future if we ever meet again. And if we ever get together to discuss topics like this, I would like to go into detail about these five things, and really explain them and how Islam has come to give us everything we need. I read a book when I was a teenager called Islam the solution to the world's problems. And I thought, Wow, that's a that's a big statement to make. You know, because I didn't know anything about Islam. I had not studied Islam before. Islam, the solution to the world's problems, economic problems, social problems, political problems, whatever they are. This is what the book said it was a booklet.
And I thought, Wow, that's a that's a hectic statement to make. You know, it's, it's it's a difficult statement to make. It takes real knowledge and guts to actually make a statement like that. But now 16 years later, not only do I believe in the title of the book,
but only do I believe it to be possible. But I believe and I know it to be true.
And I ask Allah subhanho wa Taala in ending of
that he guides all of us to Islam.
Because that's who we are now less of a hydrodynamic us real Muslims, through Muslims, sincere Muslims, Muslims that act upon what they say and what they do.
May Allah subhanho wa Taala grant us to be ambassadors for Islam. May people be attracted to this religion because they see you and me. They see who we are what we say and what we do more importantly, when Allah subhanho wa Taala keep us steadfast upon this religion and cause us to die upon it, and may hear they may hear isn't it as believe is a Muslim moon? May Allah subhanho wa Taala draw that our children grow up as Muslims? May Allah subhanho wa Taala make us make all of us of those that will be under his shade on the Day of Resurrection. And as I said, at the beginning, I say at the end, may Allah subhanho wa Taala, the Lord of the heavens and the earth, the one who
gathered Ico tonight, may he gather us again in the company of the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam genda to theodosian paradise. Baraka, Lobo, faecal May Allah subhanho wa Taala reward you all for your time and your effort was Salam Alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh