Live Q & A – A Young Muslim Guide – Grill The Imam

All right, let's see if that is better my shot lot. Okay, thanks for letting me know that the sound wasn't coming through I appreciate that. Let's start again I said I'm Monica, Maura McCullough, he or what occurred to Alhamdulillah wa Salatu was Salam ala rasulillah, some of my body was sending on that. So welcome. It's a pleasure Alhamdulillah to have you guys connecting together with us. And in sha Allah, this is going to be a regular kind of occurrence that we'll have it. Usually it'll be a set format, where I'm going to be covering a particular topic related to some of the questions that come in, there will be other sessions where we have like a cat food competition, and we're kind of

competing with each other with some of the questions. I'm open to any questions about all topics, it doesn't just have to relate to what you are doing in the online program.

Those are ones that I'll be able to filter through as we go along. I would love for you to use the telegram service and, you know, send your message through the live stream. And that way I can you know, I've already received a couple here, Mashallah that we're going to look through. There are other questions that have come in through other ways. I'm happy to take those as well and shot love, but it's nice and immersive. When we're all together. Once we're comfortable with each other a little bit, and I kind of have vetted everybody in a way that kind of I know ages and things like that, then I can start opening up the group discussion. Because I want to make sure that I we're

focused is really about interacting with each other and then getting ourselves into groups and maybe using some group, zoom activities, and things like that into the future in sha Allah. So the aim of this in sha Allah is that you can send your questions

Through the q&a button at the bottom there, if you see the q&a tab, there's a little box and it's got q&a click on that. And then you can type in your question. And that kind of gives you the ability to kind of ask something or follow up on a question that's been asked by others in sha Allah.

This is a stream that you'll be able to access, you know, today, tomorrow, next week, a month from now I like to keep these up and running. And there's others that you will see from previous sessions that we would have had, if you're able to go back and date like that. So these are always going to be there for you. So if you miss a session, you can always go back and watch it. And anytime you do have any extra questions, feel free to put them through. In sha Allah, I like to take a lot of the questions live, but then to build subject themes that we're going to discuss. So actually, two of the questions that I already got are about getting to know someone issues that relate to a slam make

or halau introductions in dating and things like that. Some of those are asked from a younger and others a more mature audience, but I tried to kind of get those kinds of questions, put them together into a place. And then I can do a whole 2030 minute discussion on it in sha Allah. So if you put a question and it doesn't get asked, live, it could be that there's many others that came through. But it could also mean that it's something that's going to be part of what I call a special event where we talk about a special theme. And insha Allah, that that's something that you'll experience that I hope in shuttler, you'll take part, some of your questions, some of the comments

that you have, will be put forward in that in sha Allah. So as I said, the times are going to have more of an increase to them for the live sessions. This is kind of the raw framework at the moment, we have a lot of people coming out of the US. So people in Eastern Standard Time, Central Standard Time, New York, and, you know, Chicago, and so on. And therefore this session is primarily catered towards them Friday night at 6pm. Over there, it's something that they can access or watch later. I know Today's a different kind of day being September 11. So we'll expect more engagement in the coming week. And

then there's another session later on in my night, which is the next morning, which is catering towards London, it's at 3pm London time, Dubai time 4pm you know, Mecca time, so it's for that region of the world. And then we will have another session, I'm still looking as how many people Sydney, Melbourne, you know, that kind of thing, to cater for an appropriate time for them. Likely on Sunday and another session on Tuesday, and the Wednesday session is my general q&a that I do for an Islamic channel for an Islamic TV service, that would be a benefit to you because it's live question and answer and I hope that it could be something that you enjoy as well in sha Allah, lots

of very different kinds of questions that asked there. So what's really meant well, Grilli, a man came out from an idea that happened maybe four or five years ago, I was invited to Oxford University. And they said, CEF, you know, there's a lot of questions about Islam. And we want somebody who's willing to take any question, they asked anything, and give an honest response or say, I don't know. And this is going to be open to the Oxford students, professors and so on. And we'd like to call it grill the Imam so we get more people involved. So I said, Okay, happy to be barbecued in sha Allah. And it was a really positive event, it was a really well received event. And

it's something that kind of stuck with me grilling them, sometimes you just want to ask what you want to ask and just get it out there and see if there's an answer similar to what you have in your mind or what you've heard from others, or maybe something that gives a little bit more depth and a little bit more

understanding. So let's see how we go with that in sha Allah. Let's see how that kind of gels together. And let's see how you kind of experience it. And I hope in Chatelet, it's positive, so those of you who are listening now, you are welcome to start sending in more of your questions if you have questions that you would like to send in, and we'll get started with some of the questions that I've already received via email and via, you know, via other means, and some of the ones that have come through the the service popping up on my screen just now Mashallah. So feel free to send them it doesn't let other people know who you are. It doesn't let other people

you know, find

you know, your address, and that's why it's like a double blind thing. And I like to use a separate program to the one that we have on my website and shot law. So this is part of Yeah, hey Abraham.

Calm puberty. And it's for those who are going to see it through zoom or other means you're able to watch it through there as well in shot loss. But the primary purpose is to kind of see it through the website. And to engage in that sense. All right, a few questions that I kind of wrote down, that I received through email and different means is chicken flavored chips. How long? that's always an interesting question. Well, it depends, well, what's the seasoning and what's the flavoring. So, some chips, especially some of the more expensive brands, they will actually use real chicken broth, they will use real chicken you know,

kind of origins, they will use things like that to make to season the chips. Now, if that is the case, then the chicken needs to be halal. It needs to be cooked in a Hello place or Hello, way, without including other meats or other things that are are not right. Generally speaking, other and most packages of chips that, you know, say chicken seasoning, if you read the packages, some of them are actually even vegan. Some of them are, you know, vegetarian and so on. They don't actually have any meat product in it. So it will depend on the type. But yes, it they can be halal. And most of the time they likely are, but some of the time they are not. So you do want to be careful with that.

How can be sure of what you want to be into the future? Now, that's a really interesting question. And that's something that isn't easily answered by somebody who doesn't know you well. And it's not about what other people are going to ask you to be. So that's the first thing, there's always going to be a lot of pressure, whether from parents, whether from society's expectations, whether you know, people are going to want you to be what they think is right for you. Most of the time, they kind of have it in the right there, they kind of you know, when they see some of your strength, and they know which way you're going, once you get through about halfway through high school, they kind

of say, Oh, you know, you would make a great mechanic, you would make a great, you know, nurse, you would be an awesome teacher.

So take those suggestions,

to heart, take it something as something that you do think about, and it isn't, especially if the people saying it to you are genuine and sincere. But second to that, you do want to investigate different professions, and you do want to think about, hey, what would it be like, if this is something that I did the rest of my life effectively for some people working the next 50 years of their life, you know, if you start work at age 18, and you kind of continue in that same thing, you're going to you know, you're going to work in retail, you're going to be selling clothes, for example. And or, you know, you're I'm going to open a coffee shop, or I'm going to be a juice bar

owner, or whatever it is that you want to, you know, you're thinking you're doing well, do you want to? Are you sure you want to commit to that? Five or six days a week? You know, 7am? Till, you know, five 6pm? Ah, and every day, is that going to be the kind of thing that you aspire to? Now, why do I say that, because a lot of people they choose careers based on, you know, what they see of others, oh, wow, that guy, he's works in that job, look at the car, he drives, or look what he, you know, what you can afford, and so on. But that isn't always what's going to be most important in life. And as you're finishing up your high school studies, that's something that you do want to kind of think

about, do I want to do something like this the rest of my life. So my initial studies really don't relate to a lot of what I'm I'm doing at the moment. And I studied, you know, geology and geography and geochemistry. And so Pamela, I'm very far away from the physical and material Natural Sciences at the moment. I'm not involved in environmental management, environmental engineering, I'm not doing anything like that at all I'm teaching, you know,

in different capacities in the humanities, that doesn't mean that it's not something that was worthwhile studying, of course, it's worthwhile studying. So study, and what you want to do, don't always have to be one in the same thing and they can be separate from each other. And you can continue to build

you know, careers that are viable. So I I'm a very, very strong supporter of taking a moment and experiencing a workplace visiting a workplace, speaking to people where

Doing it understanding you know what, what people are doing and and why they're doing it and what joy do they get, you want to do something that you enjoy doing. And that's why I'm doing what I'm doing now with you, I love Subhanallah teaching young people about Islam, I love talking about the formative years and how to grow strong and take over what I'm doing and be seated my place and lead a future community in Sha mops villa.

So I hope you enjoy your evening coffee or morning coffee, such as I am in sha Allah or cup of tea.

So that's a really important question, how can you be sure you can never be shorter. And some, some have a lot, there's nothing wrong and changing one career into another and, and working for someone while also building your own business, which is something that you know, I've done and continue to do, I think three rules that kind of relate to that is, you'll never get, you know, wealthy or independently.

Secure financially, if you just simply work for people, if it's, you know, if people are controlling yourself, you're always going to have that need of somebody else who kind of pays my way. But your aim, of course is to go forward to try to produce something for yourself, where it can be a revenue stream, even when you're not working for others. And that's something that's very liberating, because it gives you a little bit of free time. The second thing that's important is to love what you do and to love learning more about what you do. And the more you become an expert in something, the more you are in demand. And that's really important, don't just be a jack of all trades. You

know, if you're just a handyman, then you'll always be a handyman, but if you're a plumber, then that's a set, you know, that's a specialized thing. If you're a plumber for high rise buildings, that's an even more specialized thing. If you're a, you know, plumber for,

you know,

factories, that's an even more specialized thing. So the more specialized you are, the more in demand you're in the fewer there are people who do what you do. So you get a higher, higher status and income for that. Number three,

any work that is halal is worthy of your effort. Don't ever look down at a particular job, or you know, as a Muslim, you you you're there's no such thing as Oh, I'm you know, I can only do this kind of thing. And so Pamela, if you look out into the world, you will see that there's a lot of really decent smart people who are doing a lot of things that maybe go beyond or less than what they were trained for. But due to the circumstances of life, or due to them enjoying that more than the not nothing wrong with that. My wife's a really good example of that she's a solicitor and attorney using American vernacular. But she her dream is to open a coffee, a law, a law based coffee bar,

which is an incredible kind of business idea. I think, eventually, hopefully we get there in sha Allah, where people can come in, get a cup of coffee, but they can also schedule a time to visit with a volunteer lawyer who can assist some of the weak or poor people in communities with assistance. It's something in sha Allah, that you can kind of see how, you know, you want to do something you love, but at the same time, it can be of great benefit and also financially provide good security.

Alright,

so this was a question that came up a couple of times from some of our young ladies about women and women's rights and I could see that this is going to be a major theme that I'll probably put together and I'll get Dr. Amina Matt to make a short video about it you know, women's rights and entitlements and for those of you who are watching Dr. Amina mess contribution, you know how wonderful Mashallah she is in that regard. So I'm gonna let her speak about that, but I'll give a few thoughts about it now.

women's rights and men's rights are equitable and equal and in equitable between us and equal in the sight of Allah subhana wa Tada. So it's important for us to kind of understand that as, as Muslims, we value the the mother, the daughter, the sister, you know, the end. And, you know, our our female counterparts who the prophets, I seldom said that they are Schuchat, horribly jazz, they are the tween set of men. So you know, even the way the word of the prophet Isaiah limits, it's very powerful.

That's a very powerful state.

In Chicago, if a regional shift means the half, so they are the half of society half of what everybody needs to be whole. So you can't have a functional society without a functional male base and a female base. Now, ironically, of course, the male base cannot be functional unless they're nurtured by the female base. So one of the ways that I kind of wanted to address this was speaking about profit, moose. And so what does that have to do with women will profit ruleset is the byproduct of strong women, his mother, who gave birth to him, right, who Allah loves so much that Allah returns moosehead to her so that she's not upset when, you know, she said him into the Nile.

Imagine the strength of his mother to save him and to, you know, to put up that resistance against the tyranny of Pharaoh and say, Well, I'm not going to let you I'm not just going to give you my son to murder.

Number two Mussa, sister, Miriam, who has the courage to approach the Palace of Pharaoh, when she sees that Moses has arrived there and says, You know, I can help you find someone who would secretly breastfeed him, since you've saved him and you're not going to kill him. Number three is Moe says adopted Mother asiyah, the wife of a child, you know, who's an incredibly strong woman. Number four, is a MOO says wife, who he sees out in the desert feeding and shepherding the sheep and Rams on her own, because her father is an elder and an ailing man. You know, they're just so many strong women around Moosa that when you actually study the story of Mossad as salaam, you're not studying the

story of the Prophet of Allah. Alone, you're actually studying that behind every strong man are many, many women who have made him and shaped him into who he is. And that's why a lot every time you read the story Moosa, he emphasizes the role of his mother, in she being the one who preserved them and nurtured him and raised him. And that's why as he is so important than the sisters mentioned, and his wife has mentioned that along the way.

So I want you to understand that this is

not just, you know, it's not a new concept. When the world was dark with oppression against women, Islam was the first of them to give liberty. Islam is the one that allowed women to buy and sell without a male proxy. Islam is the one that allowed women to inherit, you know, she can inherit directly. Islam is the one who gave the autonomy of marriage and divorce without compulsion. It's a part of the contract of marriage, that the man and the woman get married without anybody having put pressure on them. Islam is the one that gave the right of a woman to have the dignity of a job to honor herself and restrict what she doesn't want people to see of her by the dictate of a law.

Right. And, you know, that's so much beauty and all of those different guides so much more. So I'll leave a little bit of that for doctor I mean, I'll get her to do a wonderful video and to contribute to an online session with you guys, in the coming weeks in sha Allah. So of course, it is not wrong for women to have wonderful entitlements and rights.

A couple of questions that have come through the telegram

At what age do you think is good for marriage if a person is mature, at a young age, and so on?

Well, the prophets I seldom didn't get married until the age of 25. Right? You know, there's the thing is, are you going to get married really young,

or don't get married until you're older and mature and you save lots of money in this and that both of them are wrong right? Now, because the Prophet married at the age of 25, we should wait until 25 doesn't make a decision. And we know that many of the daughters of the prophets I send them many of the cousin Ali ever be alone and they got married younger 1718 for the age of 40, most likely 18.

The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam is a standard in that in choosing the balance age. So every society has its considerations. You will find that in most societies, the minimum age,

the minimum age is 18 years old, and in some places they will have with like parental support and parental permission. 16 and 17 years old with a court order such as here in Australia, that the court would decide is this you know, functional is their family support and things like that. But certainly, I would say that you want to have a good relevant

life experience, you want to have family support in that decision, you want it to be something that is going to empower you moving forward. And that you want that the person that you are connecting with and being recommended to, or has been recommended to you and that you found yourself in, in the hell out process, that it's not clouded by just lust or emotion or Oh, I, you know, I'm in love, or I just want to get away from my current kind of situation. You know, while I just don't, I'd hope I'm just not, you know, you know,

in good terms with my parents, and sadly, a lot of people they kind of make that mistake where they jump out of one particular

bad situation into a worse situation because they were trying to escape something. So in your mind, you want to find

the better half in a lot of your of your life, who will lead you or she will lead you to that which is pleasing to Allah subhanho wa Taala. A good age, I would, I would say, is just coming out of high school entering first, second, maybe even third year university where you kind of connect with people in a more mature way you kind of begin to think about your profession, your jobs, you kind of have a little bit of a more planned out approach, I would say early, early 20s

is a good place to kind of start thinking about that. And if that isn't where you're settled yet, if that's isn't where you you feel that that's the right place, then down the road, we pray that Allah subhanho wa Taala helps all of us find the right person, but certainly it shouldn't be something that a person jumps into.

In that way.

We're going to talk next week at this time about dating.

And what Hello means of introductions and why, you know, at 10am, a young man and a young woman just be friends. You know, we're just friends. And that's it. And is that allowed and tolerable in Islam? And what are the ways it can be or at what are the things that we should avoid in that in sha Allah? So myself and Dr. Amina, we will talk about that together in sha Allah.

Final question, I never like to go over 30 minutes, by the way in these sessions, because I don't want you to be held captive for that. Even when you see the short videos in the online Islamic school that I have, or in the puberty program that you're doing, they're always three to five minute sessions and it's you know, something short in that sense.

Alright, right, is it how long to be vegan? Mashallah.

Is it haram to be vegan? So let me define what it means to be vegan vegans different to vegetarian. Vegetarian is somebody who eats vegetables,

and is able to tolerate things like eggs. And you know, other other things that come from animals vegan is somebody who cuts out anything that that has any relationship to animals, and they see the use of animals as being something that is cool. And something that is unacceptable. Now, in that sense, in that mindset, to have that mindset that for human beings to have consumption of animals, is not right. as Muslims, we believe that it is halal. And what is halal is what Allah has determined, not what we

not what we've constructed for ourselves in that sense. Now, that doesn't mean you're, you have to eat meat, you can practice being a person who is entirely plant based, there's nothing wrong with that. But you cannot then come and say in hedge, you cannot mean quarterback, or in the days of read, there's no poor band or the day of not how you shouldn't slaughter an animal and share it with the poor. That would be wrong for you to then say, it is immoral to fulfill that act of worship, because it's an act of worship, the ritual slaughter of a particular animal, to share it with other people and to use it for the betterment of a lot in society is assumed to have the properties and is

commanded by Allah in the Quran.

So to have the mindset that this is cruel, unacceptable, this is unworthy, then this is a wrong belief and a wrong philosophy and nonsense. But to be a person who says I don't want to eat or consume me, I don't want to be a person who wears leather.

Nothing wrong with that as long as you are not seen to be in condemnation of those who are doing that which is lawful.

And some have a lot of times there are people who go a little bit beyond what is balanced in that sense. And it is because they are passionate and they have a great love for, for animals and some have a lot. I'm a cat owner and a cat. You know, I love animals and my family and

obviously Cruelty to Animals doing things in an unethical way. All of that is condemned level in Islam. But that, of course, does not mean that we would look down upon a person who has a barbecue or who wears leather and so on. That would be unacceptable by our standards as Muslims, can a person practice a sense of

abstinence from something that other people are permitted. Yes. Can they make it as a religious practice? Don't so you wouldn't say, you know, by me being vegan, it is something that's gonna that makes me a better person in front of God in that sense, and other people who consume me that they have a lower status, the answer would be no to that regard. All right. I pray that Allah subhanho wa Taala blesses you increases you adu and then shot low. We connect many more times. Yeah, through the Yahoo brahim.com website. There's many other things that are coming along the road in sha Allah. We're hoping to launch season three or Season One, two and three and I'll introduce you to that as

we move along. I'll be sending some more emails out about Kahoot sessions and all these different kinds of things that I hope inshallah you will really really enjoy the evening the heat dialer does akmola an affair, where a seller walakum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh Wolfie and then Illa and they look forward to seeing you again later on today in sha Allah or tonight or next morning depending where you are in the world, which is 10am New York time 10pm Perth time and 3pm London time in Shama, Santa Monica my ruin