Yasir Qadhi – Cancel Culture

			Today's hot today is going to be about a phenomenon that has swept the country for the last few
years. And it is something that our teenagers, especially our youngsters are involved in. And even
many of us are caught up in this. And I wanted to give it a perspective from the Islamic lens. And
that is what is known as the cancel culture, what is known as the cancel culture, all of you
youngsters are familiar with the canceled culture, perhaps the elders are not fully aware of what
the canceled culture is. The canceled culture is a unique recent phenomenon.
		

			Literally five years old, literally less than five years old, in which groups of people society
deems specific, famous people in particular, worthy of being censured or being isolated or
ostracized. So they launch campaigns, and they say, This person should lose their job, this person
should not be invited. And so large campaigns are done, and the people are canceled, the people are
taken off of the public eye. And this is a a psychological empowerment to those who typically didn't
have power. What is happening is that, especially in the last, you know, decade or so, groups that
have been marginalized have discovered a very powerful tool. And that is the internet, that is
		

			social media, groups that have been downtrodden in the past, a simple example. And again, not to be
too contentious, but as to be factual here, a simple example, the reality of molestation and sexual
exploitation right? In the workplace amongst the Hollywood elites, and whatnots people were taking
advantage, you know, of lots of actresses, for example, there is no power, what are they going to
do, they're not going to go to the police, the police can do nothing. So what has happened is
they've used this tool to come together, look at that famous Harvey Weinstein guy, right, the guy
that was well known for doing this groups of people have come together. And power is now on their
		

			side, they can now be Judge Jury Executioner against people who should be tried by an actual court,
but that's not going to happen. And so the public now has a tool that they did not have before. And
it is, as I said, a reversal of the tables were those that didn't have any power, the masses,
actually, at times are more powerful than the ruling institutions, they can literally get tenured
professors fired, they can get some of the most famous actors and actresses, some of the most famous
politicians, some of the most powerful political men on earth or women on earth, they can get them
literally ostracized, things are very interesting in this regard. So it's a social pressure, to
		

			publicly shame an individual that the public deems worthy of shaming, and then to penalize this
person, how financially or PR or even more than this, so that a message is sent, what is the
message, or rest of us society don't do like this person, all rest of you out there, this is not the
role model that we should have. Now, it really is, by the way, a very effective means of
empowerment, and it has the potential to be a force of good, but as we are all painfully aware, it
also has the potential to be a very chaotic force, and a very evil force. And it can easily be
flipped around and and has been flipped around to become a force of evil, a force of division. And
		

			unfortunately, our own youth and our own, you know, Muslim congregations are getting involved in
this canceled culture for our own internal causes. So in today's brief, Katara, I wanted to take
this psychological, sociological phenomenon, and examine it through the lens of the Sharia. What are
some of the key factors that we need to be aware of when we understand because in the end of the
day, counseling is a tool I am not saying it is all haram. But like all tools, like all effective
means, we have to look at it from the lens of Islam and not from the lens of modern culture. Right.
So what are some of the things we need to look at? First point, point number one,
		

			we have to be careful that this cancellation culture does not become our main focus because when
that happens, we fall into a very clear Islamic error. What is that error, concentrating on the
mistakes of others rather than your own mistakes? Our Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, do
not follow the mistakes of the believers let the tibia or rotten movement do not follow the mistakes
of the believers. Because whoever follows the mistakes of the believers, Allah azza wa jal will
follow his mistakes, and Allah will humiliate him even if he's covered in the privacy of his house.
One of the biggest issues of the cancellation culture is it gives you a sense of ego that
		

			I am better than that person. And I have to show the rest of the world that person is evil, and we
emphasize the faults of others in our study. I'm not saying we ignore the faults of others, but the
emphasis, my emphasis should be my sins, I should be more worried about my sins than the sins of
other people. One of the students of Imam Malik with the generation Mr. Malik, he made a famous
remark. He said, I grew up in an era where people concentrated on their own mistakes rather than the
mistakes of others. So Allah subhanho wa Taala covered their mistakes from the eyes of other people,
but my generation, they're concentrating on the mistakes of others rather than their own mistakes.
		

			So Allah is revealing their own mistakes for the rest of the people. So panelists a very profound
reality. Concentrate on the mistakes of others. Don't make it your main focus to go follow the
latest scandal, the latest gossip, the latest innuendo, the latest drama, no, we've follow our own
mistakes more than the mistakes of others. Point number one. Point number two, even if you come
across a mistake, we have to consider the Islamic principle of center covering the mistakes of our
brothers and sisters. And this is a very, very simple point will lie. It is not controversial.
Listen to me carefully, I'm going to be as explicit as I can. No matter what sin you have uncovered
		

			from your brother or sister, as long as that sin is personal, and not affecting the broad public a
personal sin, you have no right to expose that personal sin in front of the public. Now, yes, if the
person is stuck for the law, harming innocent people, that's a different category of sins. We're
talking about a personal sin. We're talking about a slip up in his own or her own personal life,
something they did in their private life that is not affecting any other people. It's not preying on
innocent people, you have no right this is the default. And the exceptions are very few.
Unfortunately, we emphasize the exceptions and not the default. Our Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa
		

			sallam said, again, these are Hadith that are so much against the canceled culture, whoever covers
the faults of his brother in this world, Allah will cover his faults on the day of judgment. And
whoever exposes the faults of his brother in this world, Allah will expose his false on the day of
judgment. And Allah of His Names as a city means he loves to cover the faults of people a city Allah
does not want to expose the faults of others. So why are you exposing the faults of other people
even if your brother your sister made a mistake made an unwise comment made a derogatory joke It's
not your business to go and tell the whole world they did that correct them privately tell them one
		

			on one but for you to post or for you to make a big issue about this. This goes against the clock of
the religion unless the crime they have done. They're embezzling money. They're stealing from
innocent people no doubt. Now you need to make you know a bigger case when it privates in the rule
is setup. Point number three, what happened as well to the concept of Amana? Or keeping the secrets
of a conversation? A lot of times these scandals that take place, they involve private recordings in
a gathering. They involve somebody taking out a phone and from the bottom of the room just recording
nobody's looking at this right. And our Prophet sallallahu sallam said that Al Majelis when a man
		

			acts when you are sitting in a gathering, this is an Amana you cannot tell what is happening and
there are two different sins, the sin of Riba, the sin of doing something bad and the sin of no
Mima, which is to take that private sin and make it public to separate sins. Suppose somebody made a
crude joke. Suppose somebody backbiting suppose somebody was racist in a private gathering that is a
sin, for you to record and then to the Mima to spread it. This is another sin separate and distinct
from the first sin and the first sin is on the one who did it. The second sin is on you for
spreading it. And that's why the sin of Libre is different than the sin of no Mima libre, the one
		

			who himself says something he shouldn't say no Mima, the one who heard
		

			a takes what you have said and goes to other people. That's an amoeba in English we call it
tattletaling. In the modern, canceled culture, we tattletale not to our friends to social media
immediately. In fact, all of you youngsters are aware there are entire TV programs on various
channels. I don't want to mention these names that are dedicated to gossip and tattletale that are
dedicated to you know, finding out the latest that somebody secretly recorded. Something happened.
Whatever happened to the fact that it's Amana? What happens in a private gathering. And our Prophet
system warned whoever eavesdrop on a person knowing that they don't want them to hear this. Allah
		

			azza wa jal will pour
		

			molten fire have Jahannam into their ear. You're eavesdropping you're secretly recording. It is not
allowed in our Shetty to secretly record again, this is the default don't quote me the exception the
1% It might be allowed the default it is not allowed. So secret recordings or no Mima or nothing
Yanni carrying the tattletale all of this is a sin on the one who does it. And that is a separate
sin from what the first person has done. And the cancel culture embraces Nina Mima and embrace his
secret recordings, which is against the Shediac point number four of the principles we need to look
at, because not one, a lot of times a slip up happens, ambiguous wording happens maybe not the most
		

			wisest phrase, a lot of times you're in a gathering and you know, maybe you know, an ambiguous word
was said, and to read in the worst rather than the best is a part of the canceled culture to
literally find the most derogatory meaning or the most nasty interpretation and to run with it
immediately. This too goes against our Shetty. We know that Huseynov Vaughn is a part of iman, we
know as the Sahaba said that find 70 excuses for your brother. And if you cannot find an excuse,
then say to yourself, maybe my brother has an excuse. I cannot think of this is what our Shetty AI
teaches us. Suppose they made an ambiguous statement, think good thoughts about it, rather than
		

			think evil thoughts about it, this is just no one. Point number five, even if it is unequivocal, a
clear mistake was made something rude, crude, or rude or racist, or something misogynistic was said
or a clear sin occurred. This is now you know, this person has done sin and you are a witness to
this. Whatever happened to the concept of forgiveness, whatever happened that okay, a person does
mess up. We all mess up. I mean, again, one of the problems and the only reason that canceled
culture is happening now is because of the proliferation of iPhones and social media, and you can
record everything and videos are everywhere. Can you imagine if everything you ever said as a
		

			teenager was recorded? Well, Allah Al Hamdulillah thank Allah that, you know, the iPhones were not
around when I first started giving my buzz when I was a fiery 1920 year old Hamza did I have enough
to deal with when I was a fiery 27 year old? I can't even imagine what I have to face if I was a 19
year old and the whole buzz were recorded because I'll give you a quote. But since I was 16 years
old, back in the day, there was no recordings back then. Was nobody had these iPhones, they wouldn't
have these recordings. I'm asking you can you imagine? If every tweet from your teenage years, every
dumb joke you made as a 15 year old if this were recorded until you're 4050 years old, we need to
		

			understand the canceled culture. Literally unearths mistakes that may be a 4050 year old made when
they were 1715 years old, a famous professor at a prestigious university engineering professor lost
their job because of an article they wrote when they were an undergraduate in the early 90s.
Somebody somehow uncovered it. He was a world renowned professor. And it was a very, it wasn't not a
very smart, you know, article, it was an undergraduate saying that men are better engineers than
women, something like this. And women should not be an engineering department. I'm not joking. This
is exactly what it was. This is back in the early 90s. You know, third wave feminism is coming.
		

			There's a debate going on that women should be teachers, men should be engineers. And this 20 year
old young man, I'm not saying he's wrong. I'm not saying he's right. He wrote an op ed in his local
newspaper. Now he's an established Professor of Engineering at a prestigious university. And he goes
guys, I wrote this and I was 19 years old, cut me some slack. No, for the rest of his life. He got
canceled, got lost of a job fired from the job, and on and on and on. There are examples that come
up every few days, every few weeks of a person who made a mistake 1520 years ago, and that's it, no
mercy from where can we Muslims take this culture and imagine how the biller if this canceled
		

			culture were applied to us when we're about to enter Jannah imagine if we were caught because of one
mistake that we made with a biller Marlo Kincaid for Docomo, how can we as Muslims judge a single
mistake made whenever it was made as a lifetime and that's why I quoted the Hadith last week or
quoted again, that our prophets Allah Salam said that the people who are have dignity and respect
cut them some slack when they make a mistake. This is a Hadith in Abu Dawood, right, that if
somebody makes an author, he falls and he's a person of Moodle, he's a person of integrity and you
find one mistake cut them some slack. This is a Hadith why? Because a person who has a habit of
		

			committing sins is not like the one who slipped up once this is a Hadith of processing is telling us
you judge a person by his overall character. The council culture is the exact opposite. They want to
find the impeccable, the elite the best, and they want to find one mistake so that
		

			They can say, Oh, this guy is totally wrong. This is not our Sharia. Even if we find a mistake,
where's the concept of Rama and Mo Farah? Where's the concept of moving on from that? So this is the
issue of forgiveness. The next issue point number six. That is the goal punishment of the Sharia? Or
is the goal rehabilitation? Do you want to just punish, punish, punish? Or do you want to facilitate
that this person learns from the mistake and comes back to be a being a better person in our Shetty.
It's rehabilitation, it's not punishment. As for the council culture, they want to just punish and
they want to feel happy that they punished a person what will punishing because of a mistake of 15
		

			years ago accomplish rather it should be rehabilitation, acceptance of a mistake. And moving on.
That is what our Shetty demands. So we have here a mob mentality. You know, if you back in the day,
you know, in this country, there will be these witch mobs, right? Somebody is accused of being a
witch, the whole city, oh, there's a witch burn, the Witch burned the witch the whole city goes door
to door saying we have to burn the witch. This is exactly what is happening with the council
culture, they discover one mistake of one person and Hello. So an entire lifetime of good is
forgotten. This is another problem of the canceled culture. The next point, I think on point number
		

			seven. Now, the next point or So point number six would be who made you judge, jury and executioner?
Really? Who puts you in charge? Did Allah subhanaw taala give you that right? That I'm going to
decide that this person should not be invited anymore? I'm going to decide this person has canceled
Who exactly are you? And who puts you in that position? Did Allah azza wa jal give you that
responsibility? So Humble yourself? And don't put yourself to be judge, jury and executioner? The
next point number seven? Who gets to decide what is a sin and what isn't? Because here's another
problem. The cancel culture has gone to extremes that are totally honest Slavic. And a person might
		

			say something that is fully Islamic, but the culture will be canceling of him. And the best example
for this is morality, sexuality, LGBT, trans, all of these issues right? The most famous author of
children's books JK Rowling, she has been canceled for saying, gasp here. There's something called a
man and there's something called a woman for saying this and she is a the only author who is a
billionaire because of her books. She was the most famous author and the most respected author and
she is a feminist. No, she herself is a self proclaimed feminist. But she says I believe in two
genders. This has caused her as you're probably aware to be completely canceled. She is not welcome
		

			on any campuses anymore. She does not have any speaking engagements. Her life has been threatened
she has armed guards at times when she goes out. So are we going to jump on the this this this
canceling culture when something that might not even be a mistake is considered a mistake? Or how
about the level of mistake again, let's be a little bit real here. Sometimes somebody makes a small
mistake. And for whatever reason, certain people exaggerate it and make it much larger than this.
For example, somebody might be caught let's say you know flirting with a lady that's not
appropriate. But then to equate flirtation with let's say * say oh, this person is molesting
		

			woman this yucky use some intelligence what is the sin that this person is accused of? Don't let
emotions cloud you what is the level of guilt that this person has? So the problem of the
cancellation culture there is no nuance black and white. And literally what the shitty I might call
a minor sin. It is exaggerated to become literally in the eyes of those that are canceling worse
than shook, they will treat a mushrik better than they will somebody who has engaged in a minor sin
because in their eyes, that minor sin is worse according to them than even the sin of Schoodic
Subhan Allah once again, we have our Sharia and we have to be nuanced and not be emotional here. So
		

			the level and gradation of should have should not have should have sin, what is the level of sin,
and the final point is shallow to under here and again, much more. But these are some points that I
came to mind. The final point here. One of the biggest problems of the cancellation culture is the
sheer level of arrogance that the person has that that person demands. The rest of the world must
agree with me and my interpretation. If you don't cancel the one who might have canceled what's
gonna happen to you.
		

			You get canceled as well. To sell solo cancellations. We have to sell solo cancellations. Okay,
domino effect. If you don't cancel the one who might have cancelled and if you have a slightly
different opinions, then this means call us you are yourself evil you are the Subhanallah and I
swear to you this mentality it is one of the most dangerous
		

			mentality is when you apply it within the Islamic circle, because this is what happens here that you
don't agree with me that my vert you know what, honestly, here's the Islamic point, right? If you
think a certain person is bad, don't listen to him. That simple. Well, Allah, it's not that
complicated. Nobody's forcing you, if you think this person is beyond the realm of acceptability,
okay? No problem. Don't listen, your friend, your colleague might disagree with your assessment,
feel free to go back and forth. In the end, they're not convinced, okay? They have the right to have
a different assessment than you. And you have no right to force your assessment on the other person.
		

			If you don't like a particular person you think a person has wronged or a person has don't listen,
but you cannot and you have no right to become judge, jury, executioner and say to the rest of the
world, all of you, you have no right as well to listen to any talk of this person. And if they do,
listen, oh, this means you must support *, you must support should you must support quote, Subhan
Allah, Allah, he again, the level and this mentality, by the way, we find it in the extreme. It's
like the hotter jackets like the ISIS, I'm not saying the canceled culture is hotter, but the
mentality of the salsola taqdeer that mentality of if you don't agree with me, then you're evil,
		

			that mentality, we find it in all extremist groups, the sign of extremism, you don't tolerate
diversity of opinion, there's the sign of extremism, right. And we find this within the cancellation
culture. So end of the day, cancellation culture wreaks havoc in society, and it causes disunity
amongst the ranks of any group. And unfortunately, it has caused disunity in our own ranks as well.
And unfortunately, if we allow this to go rampant, we actually lose the ability to think critically,
we just become like sheep following what other people say, now, is all cancellation culture wrong?
No, obviously not. We don't want to invite you know, the Abuja equivalent. We don't want to invite
		

			somebody who's in Abuja, *, somebody who's like a torture and a killer of Muslims and whatnot, we
don't want to invite them and honor them. But at the same time, let's be real here. How often do we
actually have to face somebody like this? Also, key point here, context is crucial. Context is very
crucial. Why are you sending this invitation? What is the goal? What is the setup here? I'll tell
you something that happened with us here at Epic. That was a two years ago, we invited the chief of
police tomorrow we're having the the mayor, we invited the chief of police here of Plano, right. And
we invited him I didn't invite on the board did but I was on the panel wasn't my decision. But as
		

			usual, not that I'm against it. But as usual, I become the target online just because I'm, I'm
present to you again, the same sort of cancellation is right. We invited the chief of police and the
board said you're interviewed the chief police. Okay, call us we'll interview him because there was
a whole national outrage of police brutality of what's happening of you know, George Floyd all of
this happening right hamdulillah in Plano, we've never had anything like this. And our chief of
police this one has no track record of anything like this, you know, very clean what not? And that's
what he's trying to say that play. No, we are role model. We're trying to prevent this. We put him
		

			on the spot. And we asked him point blank that hey, look, you need to explain why this is happening.
You need to explain our rights when we see this happening. It was not a nice interview. We you know,
and it wasn't nasty either, because we want to show him some respect. It was a fair interview that
we're trying to get to the root of the problem. Subhan Allah online campaign against epic Masjid
epic must Judas supporting the killing of George Floyd La hawla wala Quwata illa biLlah ya Jonnie
the level of foolishness, right? How foolish can you be you have sided with the murderers against
the innocent people. This is the problem of cancellation, that they lose rationality. Look, we, in
		

			the end of the day, we have to engage with the police. May Allah protect all of us, if your family
is attacked, your home is attacked, who are you going to call, who you're going to call? You're
going to call the police what else you're going to 911 Right? We might disagree with a lot of things
going on. In the end of the day, our philosophy, we have to work with what we have and try to make
it better. Feel free to disagree. Wallahi if you think it's a big problem to invite the chief of
police, good for you don't come Don't listen to the interview. But to then claim that epic masjid
and Yasser Ali is supporting the police murders. This is what the cancellation culture does. And I
		

			don't want to give it two more examples. But you get the the officer here that this is the problem.
Now when you bring in this notion of guilt by association, which has nothing to do with Islam, guilt
by association has nothing to do with Islam. If I'm sitting next to you, doesn't mean I agree with
everything you're saying. Even if I invite you on my platform for another cause we're inviting the
mayor here of Plano, I don't know his private life and I don't care. He's coming as the mayor. He's
coming as our elected representative. He might have some policies I disagree with. Okay, now is the
time to challenge him.
		

			Now to somebody might do a Google research Oh, this mayor has said X. And he also called He has
invited him I didn't the board did but no problem. I'm going to be her still you also call the
invite him This means he supports x. This means the so called his Mona cafard SubhanAllah. Do you
understand how foolish and how divisive and how much it is against our charity? So bottom line
brothers and sisters, the council culture the way that it has developed 90% of it 95% of his on
Islamic, there's a small kernel that once in a while, yes, if it is applied wisely, if it is applied
to actual evil people whom we universally agree, this is an evil person, and even then even then, if
		

			somebody has a different perspective of that person and advice them for another reason or cause head
you don't agree, and you say I disagree strongly, but you cannot extrapolate that that person is
agreement with the evil This is against our religion. So may Allah Subhana Allah Allah grant us the
wisdom to see the truth as truth and to see falsehood as falsehood. May Allah Subhana Allah to Allah
grant us the lack of the Prophet system, to be able to forgive to be able to cover up to be able to
have personal bond to be able to overlook to be able to not be of those who are constantly finding
mistakes and others and to constitution or on our own mistakes before the mistakes of others and
		

			inshallah tomorrow we'll see you without any cancellations in sha Allah for a very important event
here. Zack will look at the nomadic rahmatullah wa barakato
		

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