Yasir Qadhi – Can Islam Adapt – Shariah – Cancel Culture & Living with Purpose
AI: Summary ©
The conversation covers various topics including learning to connect to schools, finding a Sahaba to resonate with them, finding a sharia, and the negative impact of recent protests on society. The potential for "monarch" culture in Australia is discussed, with the possibility of "monarch" culture being a future presence. The potential for "monarch" culture to return to Australia in the future is also discussed, with the possibility of "monarch" culture being a future presence.
AI: Summary ©
You need an Abu Huraira, you need Muaz
Ibn Jabal, you need Uthman Ibn Affan, you
need Abu Bakr, you need Khalid Ibn Al
-Waleed, you need an entusiast.
Our grandmother used to wear that type of
hijab with this fabric.
And this you have, I don't want to
be too explicit, you have those schools that
want to just go to the past and
follow one particular school of law.
One of your talent is connect it to
the Ummah and connect yourself to scholars.
So you need to know what's Haram and
Halal and then go and shine, go and
flourish, go and do something.
Assalamu Alaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh.
Welcome to Faithfully Invested, a podcast powered by
MCCA's income fund.
Today we have an extremely special guest.
He's probably going to kill me for saying
it, but I would like to welcome Dr.
Yasir Qadhi to the podcast.
Assalamu Alaikum Sheikh.
Assalamu Alaikum.
How's the trip to Australia so far?
I can't complain, Alhamdulillah.
It's been five days, Alhamdulillah.
Beautiful.
So we're here to get you in a
bit of trouble, asking you some questions.
No, just kidding, Inshallah.
I would also like to welcome, because this
is the first podcast.
My name is Brother Suhail and this is
Brother Adam Al-Zunati.
We both are very excited to be bringing
you this broadcast, Inshallah.
Moving forward, expect this once a month.
Inshallah, we will try to keep ourselves, you
know.
I think we've got some pretty big names
lined up, but definitely Dr. Yasir Qadhi is
out first.
Yeah.
And the most important name, so JazakAllah Khair
for giving us the time.
Alhamdulillah, I wasn't aware this was the first
podcast.
I'm very honored to be your very first
guest.
Alright, Bismillah.
I'm going to hand the mic over to
Brother Adam, because he's going to hit you
with some quick fire questions.
Bismillah.
So besides the Prophet, which prophet resonates with
you the most?
These types of questions are very profound, actually.
You want a rapid response, but I can't
give you a rapid response, right?
Which prophet resonates with you the most?
Obviously, the Prophet Ibrahim A.S. is a
role model for all of mankind.
So I have to say that immediately, his
life story, the struggles that he went through,
he's a role model for all of us.
Let's not ask more, because it's quick fire,
yeah?
Okay.
Actually, you know, I was watching a video.
There's a quick thing that popped up recently
with Sheikh Hamza Yusuf.
And he was saying that we're the only
religion, the Abrahamic faiths, that actually have Asalat
al-Birahimiyya.
The other Abrahamic faiths, or monotheistic faiths, do
not have a prayer purely for Seyyid Ibrahim
A.S. Anyways, which Sahaba resonates with you
the most?
Again, these are questions that are unrapid.
Okay, two or three come to mind immediately.
First and foremost, I mean, you know, my
father called me Yasir.
And so there's no doubt, even as a
child, you know, the story of Yasir and
Sumayyah and Ammar always resonated with me.
Because obviously, that's one of the reasons why
it's healthy to name your children after iconic
figures, because they have a role model to
look up to.
In terms of lifestyle and reputation and background,
I mean, no doubt, Mu'adh ibn Jabal
as being, as our Prophet ﷺ said, that
when the ulema are resurrected, Mu'adh ibn
Jabal will be leading them on the Day
of Judgment.
And I pray that Allah ﷻ blessed me
to be in that.
And so he is indeed a role model.
In terms of eloquence and whatnot, Amr ibn
al-'As is somebody that, you know, he has
a very interesting history as well.
And so I kind of do resonate with
that as well.
So yeah, all of these things, I mean,
all of these put together, there's no one
particular figure.
Every Sahabi brings something unique to the table.
Because they always say, you know, when it
comes to Sahabas, they show or they represent
an element of human beings or human nature.
The diversity of humanity and the diversity of
talents and the diversity of fields.
I mean, if you've listened to my lectures,
you know this, right?
That the Sahaba show us that you don't
have to be only one track, you know.
There were those Sahaba that they weren't scholars.
The majority of them weren't the types of
ulema.
They didn't give fatwas.
They didn't memorize the Qur'an.
But they were activists, you know.
You needed an Abu Huraira.
You needed Mu'aytha ibn Jabal.
You needed Uthman ibn Affan.
You need Abu Bakr.
You need Khalid ibn al-Walid.
You need an entire diversity.
Hassan ibn Thabit, that is the poet.
So you have an entire diversity.
And each one is bringing something to the
table.
So whatever your talent and field is, you'll
find a Sahabi that kind of sort of
resonates with you in that regard.
As a Lebanese person, Amr.
Obviously, so Amr Ali.
Oh, definitely.
We'll go to the next person.
Actually, you touched a lot of Sahaba.
The poet.
Hassan ibn Thabit.
Hassan ibn Thabit.
When you spoke about him in the seerah,
about how I think it was during the
battle of Uhud, where he went with the...
And it was sort of a given that
people knew that he wasn't going to come
fight.
The battle of Khandaq, yeah.
The battle of Khandaq, sorry.
Yeah.
The battle of Khandaq, yeah.
So it was...
And I got a lot of questions from
my son about this one.
You know, why didn't he go fight?
Isn't that part of the...
So I sort of said, let's listen to
Dr. Yasser and see what Yasser is saying.
And the way he explained it, mashaAllah, was
on point.
It resonated with us a lot.
Especially for the brothers that don't have those
characteristics, you know.
Or don't have that...
It just shows a rule.
Yeah.
Like, even if you're a Sahaba or you're
a prophet, we're human beings at the end
of it.
To be an outlier doesn't mean you're astaghfirullah,
negative or nasty, as long as you stay
within the limits.
Hassan ibn Thabit was an outlier in some
areas, but he was number one in other
areas.
That was the point.
This is the one that's going to get
him into trouble.
No, no, no.
Not the story from Nasirah.
But this is the question that we want.
Let's just jump straight into it.
I reckon we need to get you into
trouble here.
Drum roll.
You ask.
Melbourne or Sydney.
Melbourne or Sydney.
You have experience.
What if I say I just came from
Brisbane and mashaAllah, what a breath of fresh
air.
And the golden coast.
And mashaAllah, the weather, the people.
MashaAllah, what are you going to say about
that?
I was in Brisbane too.
I don't believe anything he says.
I just landed in Melbourne, and I'm shivering.
Like, what happened?
Where did I just come from?
Our weather is very bad here.
Suhail, actually, and Mubasher went up with brother
Ayman as well from MCA.
They attended the conference.
So, I don't know.
And our team in Sydney was also, I
suppose, they also part of the IFAM conference
that happened beforehand.
So, I'm glad I was with them.
We got the team up there to see.
And they all came back saying Brisbane weather
is like 10 out of 10.
Amazing, yeah.
So, let me answer your question.
The baklava is better in Sydney.
The coffee is better in Melbourne.
Nice.
You can't deny that.
He just dodged the question.
That's what he did.
It is what it is, man.
I can't help it.
I love it.
You're right.
Everything has something to offer.
SubhanAllah.
I guess we'll just jump straight into the
questions, inshaAllah.
The main body.
From what I've seen and what I've understood
watching TV and TV shows, I hear a
lot about Texas being a very redneck state.
What's it like as a Muslim growing up?
I'm guessing you grew up in the US.
Between Houston and Jeddah.
I grew up in Jeddah as well a
little bit.
So, actually, a number of brothers in Australia
asked me this question about Texas.
And I think just like we have stereotypes
about Australia, you guys have stereotypes about Texas
and other places, right?
I already got a text message from one
of my friends.
Have you seen any kangaroos yet in Sydney?
You don't see them on the streets.
Have you seen one of those spiders that
fall off the roof?
What is it?
The huntsman spider or something?
These stereotypes, you understand the reason why they
go viral is because they're atypical.
They're not the typical narrative, the typical story.
As somebody born and raised in Texas, I've
lived in Texas 20 years.
Houston, Austin, Dallas, these are metropolitan cities.
What you're seeing is the cartoon characters and
the westerns that are more rural areas.
And I'm sure they're still around here and
there.
But metropolitan cities, no, there's no issues.
Alhamdulillah, I've rarely faced any.
Obviously, you do face here and there, especially
after 9-11.
But I have not faced any impediment in
my personal life, per se.
Nobody just comes up and says things to
you.
I had a friend visit recently from England.
He was terrified to see people walking around
with guns, for example, right?
But that's the norm.
It's not that big of a deal to
see a gun because it's an open license
state, which means you can carry it and
it's not a problem to carry it.
I mean there's no extra violence in Texas
compared to other states.
It is what it is.
But you do own a pair of cowboy
boots, yeah?
No, I don't.
He's killing my dreams today.
Can I ask a more in-depth question?
Of course, let's just delve into it.
I want to get into a really deep
question here.
Powers of the essence?
And yeah, I want to know to what
level can Islam accommodate in different times and
places in relation to the Sharia?
So, to what level can Islam accommodate different
times and places or accommodate to different times
from a Sharia perspective?
Yeah, so obviously the Sharia of Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala is meant to be applied
in all times and places.
Allah says in the Quran, لِكُلِّنْ جَعَلْنَا مِنْكُمْ
شِرِعَةً وَمِنْ هَاجَةٍ We have given to all
of you a Sharia and a way of
life.
And Allah Azawajal says, ثُمَّ جَعَلْنَاكَ عَلَى شَرِيعَةٍ
مِنْ أَمْرِي فَاتَّبِعْهَا Then we have made you
upon a Sharia of the matter.
Follow it and do not follow anything else.
And Allah's commandments can never ever change.
When Allah Azawajal has said something, وَتَمَّتْ كَلِّمَةَ
رَبِّكَ صِدْقًا وَعَدَلًا Allah's speech has been perfected
in truthfulness and in justice.
So when you say the Sharia, obviously the
Sharia is meant to be a comprehensive lifestyle.
Every minutiae of our life, the Sharia tells
us, what to eat, how to dress, our
livelihoods, haram and halal, marriage, divorce, inheritance, everything.
So Allah has sent down the Sharia.
But then the Sharia has within itself the
mechanism to apply to different societies in slightly
different manners.
This is not the Sharia changing.
This is the application of the Sharia.
And that's why one of the maxims of
Fiqh, Fiqh has many maxims, there's five that
are called major maxims, the qawa'id al
-kubra.
One of them says, الْعُرُفُ مُحَكَّم that the
culture of the region is going to play
a very important role.
The culture is seminal.
The culture is going to be definitive where
the Sharia is silent.
So where the Sharia is silent, culture plays
a role.
So here now in modernity that we see,
we are struggling to come to terms with
the radical changes taking place in society.
I don't want to go too deep in
this podcast, but gender, gender roles, men and
women, what should they do in a marriage,
and how much of this and that.
So many differences, how we live our lives
compared to how our grandparents lived our lives.
I'll give you a non-controversial example to
make you understand what I'm saying.
The Sharia has said, for example, that men's
awrah needs to be covered, women's awrah needs
to be covered.
This is the Sharia.
Okay.
So men have to cover between navel and
knee.
Women have to cover the whole body and
the hijab and everything.
جيد Did the Sharia dictate the color, the
dress, the fabric?
No.
So if in some societies, the hijab style
has now become accustomed to a certain level,
right?
Now the very same culture migrates to Australia,
right?
And now our daughters have to interact with
broader society.
There are some interpretations of Islam.
I'm giving a very simplistic example.
They're going to say, Oh, see, our grandmother
used to wear that type of hijab with
this fabric and this style and this color.
And our grand mufti back home says, this
is the fiqh that we should do, right?
Now, I will humbly, humbly come along and
I'll say not just me, many, many ulama
because they're competing strands here, right?
I'm giving an example that's non-controversial.
I'm going to humbly come along and say,
Ya Akhi, Allah didn't reveal the specifics of
the cloth and the cut and the style.
And so if in Australia, we rethink through,
Astaghfirullah, not the hijab because you cannot think
through the hijab.
We rethink through and say, Yo, in this
culture and society we live in, if a
sister wears a loose skirt or even a
loose pants and loose jacket or loose and
has a headscarf.
And in this society, it might be yellow
or red or blue.
Whereas back home, maybe it's only black, right?
Now, I'm giving a simple example, but the
concept is I'm trying to say, right?
Now, somebody comes along and say, Oh, Astaghfirullah,
this guy has changed or reformed.
Say, No, Ya Akhi, there's no reform in
Allah's law.
No one has the right to reform the
sharia.
But when I come and say, the Grand
Mufti's idea back home, that you have to
only wear black, that can be reformed.
This is not reforming sharia.
This is saying, al-urfu muhakkam, okay?
Now, this, of course, is a very simplistic
level.
In a more deeper level, and this is
a conversation that can be had here, and
this is not at the micro, this is
at the macro level.
At the macro level, at times, the sharia
has indeed come with a system of laws
that is meant to be governed, right?
But, of course, in modernity, there is no
nation state that is applying the sharia in
totality.
In fact, a deeper philosophical question, a very
deep question that is being discussed at higher
levels, can you even apply the full sharia
in a limited nation state?
The reason why the sharia has come with
a hierarchy of Muslim and Ahlul Kitab and
dhimmi, right?
It's a different system of governance, where if
you're Muslim, you have these rights.
If you're not, you're dhimmi and whatnot.
Whereas the nation state, everybody has to be
equal if you're Australian citizenship.
That's the concept of the nation state.
So, at some level, the laws that are
applicable in the sharia and the laws that
should be in the nation state, we have
to figure out how do we reconcile?
And nobody's actually done this.
Look at the world around you.
There is no nation state that is applying.
So, now we have a bit of a
conundrum, right?
Nobody can change the sharia, a'udhu billah.
But the question arises, suppose...
We're not talking about Australia, Canada, England, because
it's not our job to bring about a
revolution.
Our job is to preserve the deen.
But I'm talking about Muslim majority countries.
Let's say Pakistan, okay?
My ancestors are from Pakistan.
Now, let's be very blunt here.
The majority of sharia laws are not applicable
in Pakistan.
They're not happening.
They're not being applied in Pakistan.
Suppose a Muslim parliamentarian, suppose an Islamic party
comes into power, right?
How much can they apply of those classical
laws?
My position is this is a good conversation
that needs to take place.
I don't have an answer.
Let me give you another example you understand.
So, suppose...
I'm not sure about Pakistani law.
I'm just giving an example.
Suppose that in the laws of the country,
premarital zina is not penalized.
Suppose, I'm just saying, I don't know.
I'm just giving an example.
In our sharia, premarital zina gets the punishment.
You're going to be lashed.
You're going to be what?
Suppose in a Muslim country, that's not...
Now, we know that if we were to
do this from 0 to 100, the people
are going to say, we're not going to
have this time.
Look at Afghanistan.
Look at other places.
What if a Muslim party were to say,
okay, if we find two people premarital, we'll
fine them $1,000.
It's like a...
It's better than nothing.
Right now, it's fully free.
I'm just giving an example.
Don't quote me on the example because I
don't know if it actually applies.
I'm giving an example.
Right now, it's totally free.
And people understand they're not going to go
from 0 to 100 overnight.
Suppose a Muslim party, an Islamic party comes
in and they start changing.
You know what?
We want to make sure there's no alcohol
being sold and we're going to criminalize.
Not to the head punishment or 80 lashes
or whatever, but that's not going to work.
It may be for the people, but we're
going to give a penalty.
$1,000 fine if we find you drinking.
My question is, is that better than nothing?
Or do you want all or nothing?
I humbly state and ask the ulama far
bigger than me, I would say that is
better than nothing.
So can we, for the time being, because
here's the point, any type of stuff we
do, it's not Astaghfirullah, Astaghfirullah to substitute the
Sharia.
No, it's a program to eventually apply the
Sharia.
Right?
So I would humbly submit that, and this
is a hypothetical question because it's not relevant
to me, but if I have such a
discussion with other people, bring it up.
Hey, does Islam say that the guy, you
know, premarital zina should be...
I say, yes, Islam does say that.
Yes, Islam.
Are you going to apply it in America,
Canada?
No, we're not supposed to apply to America,
Australia, Canada.
Okay, how about Muslim-majority countries?
None of them apply it.
I say, you know what?
It's up to them.
Let's them discuss and let them see.
But the ideal, without a doubt, the ideal
that eventually you should get to in a
Muslim-majority land, without a doubt, the full
ahkam of the Sharia.
But how do you get from here to
there May I humbly say, wisdom dictates you
work bit by bit so that you take
the people with you.
When you do this, you bring their iman
up, you do this more, you bring their
iman up until you finally...
When a person does this, this is not
astaghfirullah, a rejection of Allah's laws.
It's just a wise way of how to
achieve the ultimate.
So it's like realistically moving forward.
Exactly.
So we had, obviously, Ayesha Radhan, when she
spoke about the implementation of the Sharia when
the religion was being brought up.
Perfect, exact example.
Ayesha Radhan exactly said, what the philosophy I'm
trying to say is this, that our mother,
radhiAllahu anha, said the first verses of the
Qur'an did not deal with this is
haram, and drinking is haram, and gambling is
haram, because if Allah began with that, even
the sahaba would have rejected.
Rather Allah began with building iman, talking about
jannah, and naar, and iman, and yawm al
-akhir, and what not.
When iman became strong, then Allah revealed, you
know, don't drink and what not.
Now, in our times, drinking is always going
to be haram.
But suppose an entire society is guilty of
drinking, and a Muslim majority party wins, if
you were to implement that law in a
modern nation state, in a democracy, you're going
to get voted out the next day.
So is it better to start slowly, and
while you increase the law, you also increase
the shuyukh and ulama, increase the iman.
Then you increase the law, then you increase
the iman.
Is it better to do this?
I believe it is.
But if somebody disagrees, that's fine.
But what I'm doing is not istaghfirullah, rejecting
the shariah.
I'm not calling for istaghfirullah.
Nobody can reform Islam.
That's ridiculous.
Nobody can reform the shariah.
But it's how do we apply the shariah
at the macro level.
This is a very good question.
I don't have answers, and it will change
from time to place.
And then as for the micro level, as
I explained with the hijab issue, again, it's
not changing the shariah.
This is the shariah.
The shariah allows you at the micro level
to fine-tune and to rethink through that
which is not, and these are technical terms,
qatiyat, yaqiniyat.
That which is certain, that which has the
red line, the ummah agrees about it, there
is no controversy.
Immorality is going to be immorality.
Haram is going to be haram.
So there is no fine-tuning in that
regard.
But where there's a gray area, ambiguous area,
the shariah did not come with specific tasks
of the husband and wife, okay?
Who's going to take the trash out on
Tuesday?
I don't know if you guys are taking
the trash out.
Who's going to put the...
Alhamdulillah, that's his problem.
Whatever it might be, the shariah didn't dictate
it.
Okay?
So in this area, if we really go,
suppose my grandfather did something, and the sheikh
of his time said something, am I allowed
to fine-tune if the shariah is silent?
In my humble opinion, and again, it's not
me.
These are two big schools.
You have...
I don't want to be too explicit.
You have those schools that want to just
go to the past and follow one particular
school of law, one particular narrow.
This is it.
It's been enshrined in stone.
And there are many ulama in our great...
I don't mind mentioning Sheikh Qardawi is the
greatest alim that represents, but he's not the
founder.
He represents an idea.
That idea predates him by thousands of years,
hundreds of years, and I am somebody who's
very sympathetic to that idea.
So when I or somebody else says, we
need to rethink through those laws.
We are not talking about the shariah of
Allah.
We are talking about the opinions of men
that go back a hundred, two hundred years
that are based upon their time and place.
And Australia is a different time and place.
So I hope that's inshallah clear.
It does.
And I think actually one of the lectures
I heard you speaking, I think it might
have been in the seerah actually.
You're actually calling for both bodies or both
people sitting on each side of the spectrum
to show like not too much of a
level of mutasib in their thought.
And to have that sort of level of
like, we understand where this party is coming
from and we understand where the other party
is coming from.
And so to sort of like not cause
tensions between the two groups.
Yeah, so again...
Calling for like a wasad, you know, sort
of a...
So those people who want to stick to
the past opinions, I understand they're worried about
what is called the floodgate argument.
They're worried if we change a little bit,
it's going to change a lot.
But I understand and I respect that.
At the same time, those that are trying
to bring another sense of practicality, their goal
is not to destroy Islam.
Their goal is to allow the next generation
of Australian Muslims, you know, a vision and
a philosophy of law that is actually conducive
to them.
Because what the fear is, is that this
version is not going to be applied by
all of these people.
And then neither does the sharia require this
version.
That's what I'm trying to say.
In my humble opinion, that's my opinion, but
you have the right to disagree that the
opinions two, three hundred years ago are not
all of them applicable in Australia.
Who's going to decide?
That's a very deeper question.
And it requires ulama.
So when you find an alim who has
a track record, when you find a reputable
scholar like Sheikh Qardawi, like Fulan, like Allan,
when you find great ulama, even if you
disagree, isn't it safer to keep your tongue
and protect it rather than say something that
might bring you Astaghfirullah, displeasure when you're slandering
or whatnot.
So I know a lot of people don't
like Sheikh Qardawi.
Respectfully disagree.
Say, you know what?
It's his view.
And I have another group of scholars.
No problem.
No problem.
But to open the door to slander or
to accuse his niya or to say that
Astaghfirullah is trying to destroy Islam.
A'udhu billah, a'udhu billah.
And the same goes for those that are
following the same paradigm.
I'm being simplistic.
There's more than two, but these are two
examples of schools.
They have precedence for 1,200 years.
And they're going to continue to have.
So there's no point being so nasty to
another Muslim.
You might actually end up getting your hasanat,
giving them over to somebody else.
Just be careful in this regard.
Yes, I remember there was a video that
surfaced of a person within the community doing
something.
I'm not going to go into development.
I'm not going to develop on that further,
sorry.
But they did something that was against the
deen.
And the person was caught on film and
it was basically spread.
And people were like slandering the person's name.
And they were saying things that you shouldn't
be saying about another believer.
And I remember speaking to my mate and
I'm like, maybe that person did something haram
and they did something wrong.
Like, it is what it is.
It was caught on film.
But don't you feel like Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala is also giving them a way
out by making all these people speak about
them and in a way, alleviating the sins
that they've committed?
Yeah, I've spoken about this negative cancel culture
and this entertainment online.
It's really sad and it's not, I don't
think it's healthy for the future of the
ummah.
At least these segments of the ummah that
people should not be so obsessed with the
mistakes or the pseudo mistakes of others.
You will not build your own iman by
putting down other people's iman.
You will not build yourself up by putting
other people down.
Concentrate on one's own and if you disagree
with another person, leave them and find the
people you agree with.
Simple as that.
It's just, I find it problematic to be
honest.
And khayr, it is what it is.
I mean, at the end of the day,
it's their lives.
They have the, I'm very happy Allah will
judge me on the Day of Judgment.
I'm very happy I'm going to face Allah
Azawajal and not any of these other entities
and what not.
Allah is indeed Ahkamul Hakimin and Allah is
Arhamul Rahimin.
So, if you are sincere in what you
do and inshaAllah ta'ala if you are
qualified to do what you are doing, Allah
Azawajal will reward you.
So, yeah, I mean, my generic advice to
all the brothers and sisters is concentrate on
yourself and your maqam in the eyes of
Allah.
This is really, try your best to not
give your deeds to other people for no
reason.
I have few deeds as it is.
Why would I want to give them to
other people, man?
Just keep your tongue silent from other people.
It's just the best thing to do.
But anyway, it's their business.
If people want to gift me or anybody,
then I'll take it.
I'm not going to...
I think it's called tall poppy syndrome.
That's what it's called where they like to
cut the other person down to make themselves
feel taller.
I want to ask, why is there a
level of controversy surrounding Dr. Yasir Qadhi?
And I guess it feels as though somewhat
the more popular you are, the more scrutiny
you're under and the more scrutiny you face.
So, why is this level of controversy?
SubhanAllah, I mean, that's a very blunt question,
Allah musta'an.
I mean, from...
Look, you can answer this from multiple ways.
Obviously, let's begin with the spiritual.
At the spiritual level, every person who faces
any calamity, one person should realize it's time
for introspection.
There's no doubt that every pain or suffering
that happens to a person should cause this
person to think about your own past, your
own relationship with Allah Azawajal.
Allah says in the Quran, وَمَا أَصَابَكُم بِمُصِيبَةٍ
فَبِمَا كَسَبَتْ أَيذِيكُمْ وَيَعْفُوا عَن كَثِيرٍ Any musibah
that happens to you, it's because of the
things you have done.
And inshaAllah, through it, Allah will forgive many
things.
So, I pray that, no doubt, at spiritual
level, it is painful that what is happening,
but I pray that inshaAllah, it is a
cleansing mechanism.
I pray it's a cleansing mechanism.
That's at the spiritual level.
At the sociological level, this is pretty standard
explanation.
I mean, the more popular or the more
famous a person is in any field, the
more people also can hate on him as
well.
It's a human nature thing.
You know, it's just look around you.
There are people that are like any famous
person.
It's just like it becomes easier to also
pinpoint negatives or whatever it might be.
And I think in my case, there's also
a bit of a historical issue that 20
years ago, I used to follow a different
strand and a different interpretation and I created
a bit of a fan base in that.
And now that I've moved on from that,
respectfully, I've never mentioned any of the people
by name, but I believe there are certain
things that were mistaken theologically about that movement
that I have had to move on from.
And because this movement was a bit more
focused on minutiae and fiqh issues and aqid
issues and whatnot, I think it's human nature
that there has to be a discrediting.
It's again human nature that it's a bit
harsher.
The strange thing is pretty much everything that
I feel I say, lots of other people
are saying it as well.
Nothing new per se.
I don't have any fiqh position except that
I can quote you great ulama that have
held it.
I don't have any mainstream people or anything
except the other ulama that have held it.
For some reason, I find my views seem
to get extra attention even though I'm not
the one saying them.
You get my point.
They're not emanating from me.
They're not starting from me.
Allahualam, I think it's simply because one of
the reasons could be the historical factor that
this particular movement is not happy with these
views.
Even if the views were found by great
ulama, these ulama were not a part of
the movement.
Now that I am saying them, there's this
notion that it needs to be extra discredited.
Allahualam, I'm just trying to historically analyze because
I am sometimes surprised.
Much of what I hear people criticizing me
for are fairly mainstream views.
Sometimes Ibn Taymiyyah himself says them.
Sometimes Imam al-Shafi'i.
Sometimes Abu Hanifa.
This is a mainstream fiqh position.
The level of negativity or hatred and entire
video created over...
Even this issue of, again, thinking about Islamic
law, if you really listen to it, it's
actually very mainstream.
Very mainstream.
Sharia does not change.
But the application changes from specific time to
place.
But the way it is twisted and then
made out to be, I don't know, could
be just a defense mechanism.
But in the end of the day, it
does sadden me that this drama is caused
online.
I would do try to minimize it.
And no doubt, no doubt, nobody's perfect.
I have no doubt I've made some mistakes
in the wordings I've used and the best
way to phrase it, ask Allah's forgiveness for
any mistake in this regard.
And I hope in the end of the
day that the good that a person does
is more than the negative mistake.
That's really the goal.
We learn from our mistakes and pray that
the positive contribution is more than any negative
mistakes.
May Allah have mercy upon us all.
Because we all have things we're not proud
of that we've done in the past.
May Allah, you know, on the day when
it matters the most, may you forgive us,
inshallah.
I think I wanted to move on to
maybe a lighter topic.
I know that in the Brisbane leg of
the conference, you spoke about how there were
six or seven sahaba only that were hafiz
or that were scholars that were able to
do fatawa within the group.
Is that correct?
Or am I paraphrasing?
During the lifetime of the Prophet ﷺ, very,
very few sahaba were delegated with iftah.
And even after his passing, the number of
muftis and the number of hufadh was minuscule
compared to the number of actual sahaba.
So the scholars that were known to give
iftah amongst the sahaba were literally, any less
than 10, 15 that were of that caliber.
And the number of hufadh is debated, but
many say that they were never more than,
in the lifetime of the Prophet ﷺ himself
told us four or five names, right?
And even after his passing, it wasn't something
that was the norm that they did.
And the reason that I brought this up
is to demonstrate that the ways to worship
Allah are many.
And ilm is definitely one of them and
definitely one of the most important and one
of the most blessed knowledge and the scholars
are the backbones of the ummah.
They're always gonna keep the ummah in check.
But a reason I brought up in the
Brisbane talk is that the average Muslim sometimes
feels that if I don't become an alim,
then I'm not worthy to do anything for
the ummah.
Like it's subconsciously the only way to contribute
to the ummah is by becoming as alim.
But I'm trying to explain historically from the
time of the sahaba up until our times,
the percentage that were ulama is a minuscule
percentage.
And that's the way it's supposed to be.
Everybody should be connected to an alim.
Everybody should listen.
Everybody should get their fatwas from ulama, no
question.
But you cannot expect society to all become
academics.
That's not any civilization and society.
So my point in saying this, it was
to actually say, listen, if you choose ilm,
fine.
If not, excel in what you're doing and
contribute in other ways because the ummah needs
you to contribute where you shine the best.
Right?
Again, going back to the sahaba.
We needed an entire diversity of people.
People that were living their lives, people that
were businessmen, people that were scholars, people that
were warriors, people that were poets, people that
were politicians.
You needed an entire diverse group of people.
No civilization can function in one field.
That's not how any civilization functions.
So whatever your field is, whatever your passion
is, whatever your talent is, connect it to
the ummah and connect yourself to scholars.
So you need to know what's haram and
halal and then go and shine, go and
flourish, go and do something.
You know, I say this in America all
the time.
The one person who brought the greatest izzah
to us as a Muslim American community, the
one he gave us most, you know, izzah
that we could possibly have is no alim.
It's Muhammad Ali the boxer.
The name of Islam became a household name
and there was a genuine respect given, you
know, to and when he passed away, all
of America came together talking about Cassius Clay
became Muhammad Ali.
He embraced Islam.
He went through the nation.
Then he discovered orthodox Islam.
There was genuine raw admiration.
He wasn't any alim, but he gave what
no, none of us could possibly have given.
That was his field to be.
Now he was a Muslim.
He was a proud Muslim.
That's what we need.
He didn't shy away from being a Muslim.
He wore it on his sleeve.
He always said it, you know, in the
name of Allah, whatever it is, he's proud
to be a Muslim.
That's what we need our youth to understand
is that find your field, your forte, your
niche.
What are you good at?
And what do you have a passion for?
Once you find that, it'll take you a
few years, maybe a few trial runs.
You might fail in your 21, 22.
That's fine.
No problem.
Okay, keep on rising up, finding another field,
doing something else, entrepreneurs, business, talent, whatever it
might be.
We need, you know, good people, even in
the arts and entertainment, as long as they're
halal, you know, we need them because Muhammad
Ali is arts and entertainment.
Are you into it?
That's why you did that?
No, no, because I'm a part of entertainment.
You are?
MashaAllah.
What do you do?
Juggle?
Just kidding.
You already know.
Just kidding.
Do you have something similar in Australia?
SubhanAllah, as you talk about Muhammad Ali, we
think about who we have in Australia that
has led the way for us to practice
Islam a lot more easily.
And they're the people that haven't compromised on
their deen.
Exactly.
People that are in the spotlight.
I'm not giving him a shout out or
anything, like, you know, I look up to
his brother significantly.
I think he's done a massive service to
our community.
Even at MCCA, as an embassador at Bashar
al-Qadhi, who we'll meet later today, inshaAllah.
Brother Bashar, he's a three-time premiership player.
It's the equivalent of the Super Bowl.
He's won the Super Bowl three times, Western
Richmond Football Club.
And the amount of things he's brought to
Australia and to Aussie rules football, from an
Islamic perspective, amazing.
And it's giving us the capacity as Muslims
in Australia to practice our Islam.
And now, I think a lot more brothers
and sisters will be more comfortable praying out
in public than previous.
Absolutely.
In his, sorry, but in his goodbye speech
to the Football Club and to AFL, he
actually made sajda.
In front of the entire media, in front
of his entire team.
That was so profound.
So profound, Yannis, how...
No, so I'm saying, so imagine if we
had people like this, right, in entrepreneurship.
Imagine if somebody, you know, does something amazing,
contributing to some type of, you know, pharmaceutical
drug that's going to solve your cancer, whatever
it might be.
Somebody's doing something for the community and he's
proud of being Muslim, not compromising his or
her values.
That is a contribution to the ummah.
And do it for the sake of Allah.
In your niyyah, have a good niyyah.
And in your lifestyle, follow Islamic laws.
You are doing what we need you to
do.
Simple as that.
So, don't assume the only way you can
contribute to the ummah is by leaving everything
aside and going and studying 10 years overseas.
No.
One out of 10,000 needs to become
an Ahlul.
The rest of the 9,999, they need
to contribute in different ways.
Can I ask, Sheikh, because this is something
I struggle with myself.
I know I may be exposing myself a
little bit, but all for the good reasons,
inshaAllah.
It's umm, when you get caught in autopilot
and things become a little mundane and life
starts to move and feel like it's one
massive day.
And this is something that I feel like
a majority of people in this day and
age are feeling.
They're feeling like everything's just moving very quickly
and you can't even catch time to be
able to find your feet or your religious
feet.
That's what I like to say.
what advice would you give to those brothers
and sisters who are kind of in that,
you know?
So, elaborate.
What do you mean by autopilot?
Like, do you mean they're not doing anything
other than their worldly dunya wisdom?
So, you feel like you're praying five times
a day, but you feel like it's kind
of a, it's mechanical.
It's not really like...
Okay, so what you're saying is you're lacking
the spirituality.
That's what you're trying...
Is that what you're...
Yeah, it's a bit of that and it's
also a bit of umm, like, there's umm,
there's been a bit of a plateau religiously.
Like, you're trying to get better and then
you can't really get there.
So, yeah.
Like you were saying, spiritually.
Okay, there's multiple things to deconstruct with this
regard.
First and foremost, let's be positive side.
There are specific times and places and things
you should be doing to give you that
extra energy boost, that pack, right?
That extra, you know, charging.
And that's what Ramadan is meant for, by
the way.
And that's what Hajj and Umrah is meant
for.
Okay, you're literally, it's meant to be that
big boost, you know?
Or the, you know, the therapeutic and the
shock, you know?
Yeah, exactly.
Like, you're supposed to like, go pop out
of it.
That's what Ramadan is exactly meant to do
this.
Every single year, you're supposed to rise up
higher.
You know, that's the whole point.
So there should be that shock and awe
that you get out of it.
So there are things you should do to
yourself.
Try to go for Umrah, try to go
for Hajj, like that.
But I want to flip the script here.
I want to say, you know what?
Sometimes, as long as autopilot is on good,
there's nothing negative per se about it.
As long as you're doing what needs to
be done and there's no trauma happening to
you, that in and of itself is a
blessing that you should appreciate.
The very fact you're doing the rituals, praying
five times a day, raising your kids.
In other words, life is good.
Thank Allah for life being good.
Don't look at the negative side.
In and of itself, having a routine, as
long as there is the bare minimum, the
connection is there, the salah is there, the
ibadah is there, there is a huge amount
of positives.
And that's why the Prophet ﷺ would ask
for aafiyah, for a life that is not
full of extra trials and tribulations.
So look at it also that let's try
to increase the positive, but also in and
of itself, it is not negative to be
on autopilot and there's nothing exciting spiritually happening
as long as there is the amount of
connection with Allah ﷺ there.
May I also say, you also need to
discover in that mundane routine that in fact,
you are doing much.
When you raise your children upon Islam, this
is your legacy.
This isn't autopilot.
There is nothing better you could be doing
than being a father to your children.
Nothing better.
To ingrain in them a sense of pride
in their heritage, in their Islam and what
not.
Have love of what it means to be
a parent of role.
This is not autopilot.
This is investment.
So you have to be careful here that
shaitan doesn't come to you.
Once again, going back to your previous question,
I'm not doing enough.
What are you doing?
Oh, I'm just raising five kids or whatever.
That's what you're doing.
What do you mean you're not doing enough?
You're protecting those five kids, you're making them,
you're taking care of your wife, you're having
a family, you're contributing to Sunday school.
That is what we need you to do.
So be careful that shaitan doesn't cause you
to just not even appreciate your autopilot is
actually the lifesaver for 20, 30 people around
you.
You see what I'm saying?
So look into this reality of shaitan messing
with you and making you feel.
No.
Sometimes, I'm knowing that if you're having a
decent lifestyle, that is the best thing you
possibly could be doing.
There is nothing wrong with that in this
regard.
So again, all these things need to be
added.
SubhanAllah, when you say that, it just reminds
me of, I think it was Dr. Omar
Suleiman when he said that we are worshippers
of Allah but not the feeling.
And if we keep searching for the feeling,
that's a blessing from Allah, but it's not
guaranteed.
And if you're praying for that and you
don't get it, that means you're worshipping maybe
isn't for the right reasons.
Or maybe I'm paraphrasing.
I don't know exactly what he said.
He's obviously a good friend of mine.
But yeah, the concept is 100% valid.
A lot of times, the Western world we
live in, it wants to prioritize the feelings
over the productivity and over the actions themselves.
And for us, the feelings are okay, good
and whatnot, but we're not searching for that
spiritual epiphany, per se.
If it comes, it comes.
If it doesn't, it doesn't.
We are searching for Allah's rida.
And Allah's rida will be given to what
you talked about, the way you described this,
you know, auto-drive pilot going on here,
mashaAllah, right?
As long as, as I said, productivity is
being done, the rites are being done, the
rituals are being done, the obligations are being
done, you will achieve Allah's pleasure.
What more do you want?
You see what I'm saying?
We have to wrap it up?
I want to wrap it up with one
last question.
You had a question too?
No, no, I was going to let him
finish.
I wanted to ask, you know, this is
your third time to Australia.
Yeah.
Okay.
How have you seen the growth of the
Islamic community in Australia?
And I think as an organization such as
MCCA, we're very community oriented.
We're community oriented.
So for us, the community is our bread
and butter.
That's our lifeblood of MCCA.
If it wasn't for the community, we simply
wouldn't exist.
So how have you seen the growth of
the Islamic community in Australia?
How, I guess, do you see the Islamic
community of Australia, Muslim community of Australia, in
your opinion, So this is my third visit
to Australia.
My first visit was literally over 20 years
ago.
I was actually still a student doing my
master's in Medina when I came.
And then I came seven, eight years ago
and then I'm coming now for the third
time.
I mean, in these 20 years, the Muslim
population of Australia has almost tripled, I've heard.
I mean, unbelievable.
Like how quickly the Muslim community is growing.
SubhanAllah, you know.
And I feel that Australian Muslims are situated
in a relatively unique situation.
There's a lot of positives, a lot of
potential.
And I'll mention a few of them that
come to my mind.
Number one, you guys have a percentage of
Muslims concentrated in three, four, five cities that
is phenomenal.
We don't have that in America or Canada,
right?
Overall, your Australian Muslims are around 4%
right now, right?
And within like 10 years, it'll probably come
close to two digits, okay?
That is...
In that case, you will have surpassed any
Anglo-Western country.
I mean, America is less than 1%.
Canada is very low as well.
England right now is more than you, but
if you continue at these rates of immigration,
because again, the Australian government is very open
to immigration and immigration is just massive.
In the last 10 years, Muslims have doubled.
In the last 10 years, in the last
20 years, you know, almost tripled.
So that's what I'm saying.
Your community is growing at an exponential rate.
So very soon, within not just your lifetimes,
within a decade or two, you might potentially
be in two digits and you are primarily
concentrated, as you know, in three, four cities.
We're not the bulk of Australia.
So in portions of Sydney, you know, the
entire zones are like almost Muslim basically, right?
All the public schools, I was shocked to
hear there's over what, 25 public schools in
which basically, basically everybody is a Muslim, right?
That's non-existent in America.
Public schools, for the community, where basically everybody
is of our faith, so they can even
accommodate Eid and this and that, that's phenomenal.
Phenomenal.
And I was just in Brisbane, again, entire
districts, 30-40% Muslim, you know.
Melbourne, I heard as well, you have certain
pockets here and there.
This is phenomenal.
So you are blessed in this regard.
Number two, you are a fresh batch of
immigrants.
I.e., if I were to ask in
tonight's audience how many immigrated to Australia, probably
80% would raise their hand.
Right?
Probably.
80% would say, and maybe 20%
are born here.
Correct?
Would you agree with that statistic?
Maybe even a bit more.
Okay.
70-30, okay.
That would not happen in America.
That type of statistic, you guys are still
very high.
Now, that has positives and negatives, but I'm
talking about the positives.
What the positives are, because you are relatively
a new community, you have the luxury and
the option of drawing on a blank canvas.
You can dream magnificent dreams.
There's no protocol.
There's no bureaucracy.
There's no internal establishment to fight.
Okay?
If you all, if, that's the big if
now, if you can all come together, get
aside your ridiculous backwards differences of sectarianism and
ethnic divides, the potential you guys have, unbelievable.
We have nothing like this in America and
Canada right now, because you're brand new.
You haven't built your full infrastructures yet.
You know you need to build your schools,
your visions, your projects.
You're just doing it right now.
Right?
So, if your community can have the maturity
to come together, you know, in some areas,
40, 50, 60% of the people say,
hey, we're going to build a magnificent center
for our youth.
We're going to have a vision of Islam
in Australia 100 years from now.
There's nothing to stop you from that vision
except your internal discord.
There's no bureaucracy.
There's no other establishment.
There's no nothing.
The sky's the limit.
So, this is an amazing potential that you
guys.
Another thing that I've noticed here, subhanAllah, again,
because Australia is a different country, overall, I've
noticed that, you know, the federal and local
government seems to have a much stronger direct
association.
I think it's also because you have fewer
people here, right?
There's a much more direct contact.
You know, we don't have that level of
contact in America.
We don't.
So, you actually are much more connected to
the state and the federal or the government
levels of, you know, politicians and of laws
and whatnot.
And there's direct access that I didn't see.
I've been here five, six days just hearing
the stories of how easy it is and
whatnot.
I think you guys have a massive potential.
Are there negatives?
There are negatives as well.
And I think one of the biggest negatives,
you still have a massive ethnic divide.
You guys need to work on that.
This is not Islamic.
You should be proud of your ethnicity without
having an antagonism towards others.
It's okay to, like I like my Pakistani
cuisine culture, my kurtas, you know.
No problem.
But the minute I say that, you know,
somebody else that is not Pakistani is not
as good as me or I'm not going
to cooperate with him because he's Arab or
whatnot.
We have an Islamic cause, not a Pakistani
cause, not a Lebanese cause, not a Bengali
cause.
No.
We have an Islamic cause to come together,
right?
And then, of course, the very awkward issue,
I'm not going to go into detail, but
we have to be long-visioned, not narrow
-minded and bigoted and sectarian.
We have to save Islam and not a
strand of Islam.
Islam is above one narrow madrasa or school
or malhab or sect or firqah.
You guys have to think a hundred years
ahead.
Everybody who says the kalima, who lowers his
head to Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala, there's
an element of Islam in them and frankly,
if the differences are trivial, which they generally
are, you have to learn to come together
for the greater good.
It is a cancer to start hating other
Muslims, man.
Wallahi, it's a cancer.
It's destructive.
You're too few in number, three, four percent.
I mean, it's more than us, but three,
four percent.
Now, you're going to start saying, oh, this
guy prays like this versus this.
He says, I mean, out loud, he goes,
he follows this.
All mainstream groups and wallahi, the bulk of
the ummah is mainstream, man.
If you love Allah, you want to follow
the Prophet ﷺ, you want to follow our
great ulama of the past, whether it's Imam
Ghazali ibn Taymiyyah, you know, Shaukani ibn Hajar.
These are all mainstream ulama, man.
All mainstream.
Let's learn to live.
You're not going to solve the sectarian differences
in Lebanon or Saudi Arabia over here in
Australia, are you?
You're not going to.
So then, let's learn to live together and
come together for the sake of our children
and that will require a mature discourse, which
unfortunately, I think, frankly, this is one of
the things that Australia needs to work on.
I think you need to work.
But khair, I think the overall positives are
much more and you have the potential to
do...
Oh, one other...
I have to say this is one other
thing.
You have a massive potential in...
Since you're the newest kid on the block,
you can look at what the other kids
have done and that's us.
You can learn from Canadian Muslim experiences, American
Muslim experiences, British Muslim experiences, and you can
see the positives and negatives and then take
the good and avoid the bad.
That's a beautiful way to wrap it up,
inshaAllah.
And I remember you said something at the
Brisbane tour, again, to bring it back.
The actions that we have in the next
30 years will shape the next 300 for
our generation.
That is my firm belief.
What we do in the next 30 years
in terms of our vision and laying the
foundation because we are that unique generation.
We are fully acclimatized to our past and
also to where we are now.
We'll shape Islam for the next 300.
Every one of us has a role to
play.
Every one of us has something to contribute.
Aim high.
Think a hundred years ahead.
And remember, Allah has blessed you to be
at a time and a place.
Maximize your potential.
Do as much as you can and ask
Allah to bless you.
May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala May Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala unite the Ummah.
Yeah, yeah.
Sorry, bro.
No, look.
Thank you so much.
We know that when they talk about giving,
they say that the most valuable commodity is
time and we really appreciate you giving us
your time.
And we know how busy you are.
SubhanAllah.
If you ever do decide to come back
to Australia in the near future, you're always
welcome back on the couch.
We'd love to have you.
Like, comment and subscribe, please.
We're starting the faithfully enlisted train so we're
waiting for everyone to hop on board after
this, Inshallah.
So make sure you show us some love
in the comments and show Dr. Yasir some
love, Inshallah.
We'll put all of his links below.
And Salaam Alaikum.
Salaam.
Al Fatiha.