Tom Facchine – The Islamic Cure for Overconsumption – Tom Weekly

Tom Facchine
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AI: Summary ©

The speaker discusses the concept of "ingerence" and how it is linked to personal and cultural reasons such as the belief that men should be
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AI: Summary ©

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			We live in such a throwaway culture and
		
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			such a disposable culture that Islam has so
		
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			much to educate people about sustainability and about
		
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			proper consumption and not overly consuming or not
		
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			taking too much.
		
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			Of course there's the famous hadith of the
		
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			Prophet ﷺ who saw someone using a lot
		
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			of water to make voodoo and he told
		
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			him to, you know, calm down, to not
		
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			use that much water and the Prophet ﷺ
		
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			reiterated even if you were in a river,
		
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			even if you were in a running stream,
		
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			you look around and it seems like you
		
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			can't even possibly waste water in that situation
		
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			and the Prophet ﷺ is saying to only
		
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			use what you have to.
		
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			Of course these are people, the companions and
		
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			the Prophet ﷺ that lived without refrigeration, without
		
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			storing up food.
		
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			There were times when the Prophet ﷺ would
		
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			wake up and ask his wife Aisha, do
		
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			we have anything to eat?
		
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			And she would say, no, we have nothing,
		
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			zero.
		
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			And then he would say, okay, I'm going
		
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			to fast.
		
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			You know, Abu Bakr only had one or
		
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			two pieces of clothing.
		
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			In the fiqh books they talk about the
		
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			permissibility of men praying in one piece of
		
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			cloth, in one garment, because some people were
		
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			so poor they didn't have more than one
		
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			cloth.
		
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			Or you hear people dying and being buried
		
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			and there's not enough cloth to cover them
		
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			in their graves.
		
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			If you cover the head and the feet
		
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			come out, you know, this is not just
		
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			for lack of options.
		
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			We saw that as Islam spread and grew
		
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			and the companions, they, you know, conquered lands
		
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			and more money came in, that that ethic
		
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			continued of really only using what you need.
		
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			That's why hunting for sport is not permissible.
		
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			You're not allowed to just shoot creatures and
		
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			not eat them.
		
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			You know, everything that we consume has to
		
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			be tied to a purpose.
		
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			And it's really fascinating because they have this
		
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			term that's called planned obsolescence.
		
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			So if you've paid attention that some things
		
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			that were made in the 60s and the
		
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			70s, you know, they were made to last.
		
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			You know, those big tanks of cars with
		
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			the real metal and tables and drawers, you
		
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			feel like that thing is, it's really heavy
		
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			and it's, but it's also not going to
		
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			go anywhere.
		
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			It'll be there for 70, 100 years or
		
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			more.
		
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			And now everything is cheap.
		
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			You've got Ikea furniture, which is just like
		
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			wood pulp that's stuck together with glue.
		
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			And, you know, it can't even barely hold
		
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			a shelf of books without collapsing.
		
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			You know, we live in a throwaway disposable
		
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			culture.
		
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			They've made everything, whether it's the phone and
		
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			technology, the cars, so that it will stop
		
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			working.
		
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			They've planned it so that it will stop
		
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			working.
		
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			They've made it so that it will break.
		
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			They want it to break so that you
		
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			can buy a new one.
		
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			It's crazy.
		
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			But that is what happens when you have
		
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			society that's completely secularized.
		
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			It's decoupled from any type of divine guidance.
		
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			Then that becomes logical.
		
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			If you want people to buy more, you
		
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			only care about GDP.
		
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			You're going to look at GDP and make
		
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			an idol out of it and think that
		
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			this is the reflection of whether a nation
		
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			is prosperous or happy or not.
		
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			Guess what?
		
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			It's not.
		
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			Then it only makes sense to make throwaway
		
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			stuff because then people are going to make
		
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			more, buy more.
		
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			There's going to be more stuff.
		
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			That's what our society wants us to have,
		
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			more and more stuff.
		
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			There's retail therapy.
		
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			You start feeling sad and you go buy
		
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			something.
		
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			Muslims should have a lot to say about
		
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			this, that we should be on the front
		
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			lines when it comes to demonstrating to people
		
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			how to be happy and thrive with less.
		
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			You don't have to be constantly buying stuff.
		
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			You don't have to constantly update your wardrobe
		
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			or get new things.
		
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			You can actually be perfectly fine with the
		
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			things that you already have or even, here's
		
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			a crazy idea, less than what you currently
		
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			have.
		
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			And part of this is super important if
		
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			you want to take it to another level,
		
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			to understand where all of your things come
		
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			from.
		
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			A vegetable, a piece of fruit, you have
		
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			no idea where it comes from.
		
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			Does it come from New Zealand?
		
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			Does it come from South America?
		
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			Does it come from Europe?
		
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			You have no idea.
		
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			Thousands of miles, tons of oil and gas
		
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			was spent and who's the person who raised
		
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			it?
		
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			How does he pay his workers?
		
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			Does he pollute the atmosphere?
		
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			You have no idea.
		
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			It's a society built on convenience.
		
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			You just go into the store, you've got
		
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			an alienated relationship to it, you just buy
		
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			it and that's it.
		
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			It's been commodified completely.
		
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			I would issue a challenge to anybody.
		
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			I'd be happy to do this challenge with
		
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			you.
		
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			Imagine if you went through 2025 only buying
		
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			things that could be grown or produced within
		
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			the state that you live.
		
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			That would be incredible.
		
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			Now whether you realize it or not, you
		
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			would be following in the sunnah of some
		
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			of the great scholars and wise people of
		
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			Islam such as Imam Nawawi, Rahimahullah, who he
		
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			moved from his village to a larger city
		
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			in order to teach and he didn't even
		
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			trust the food that was around him in
		
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			that big city so he had his father
		
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			send him food through the mail from their
		
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			farm because he wanted to be sure, absolutely
		
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			sure where his food came from, that he
		
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			knew it was halal, how it was raised,
		
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			the conditions it was raised in.
		
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			Now imagine you did that for your clothes,
		
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			your furniture, your paper products, with everything.
		
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			To me, that's Islam and that is Islamic
		
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			and that's something that we should be trying
		
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			to promote.
		
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			We don't just operate off of convenience.
		
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			Is it more convenient to go to Walmart?
		
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			Yes, it's more convenient to go to Walmart
		
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			but Mr. Walmart doesn't live in your city.
		
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			Mr. Walmart doesn't live in your town.
		
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			You don't know how Mr. Walmart treats his
		
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			employees.
		
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			You don't know if he pays them fair
		
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			benefits.
		
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			So we have to do better.
		
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			Islam is all about ihsan, about trying to
		
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			do not just the bare minimum but the
		
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			best that we can and so this is
		
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			something that we should share with society.