How to Deal with the Burning of the Quran Q&A

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I said I want a camera to Allah who have bought a car to have what hamdu Lillahi wa wa Salatu was Salam o Allah Mala Nabi Javad. I'm sorry, it's been a while since we've done our regular q&a s and inshallah we'll be resuming our usual series insha Allah to Allah. And again a reminder that anybody who wants to ask a question you may email me at ask why Q at Epic Masjid dot o RG once again ask why Q at Epic messenger, that's one word dot orgy. And once again, I keep on reiterating that please understand I do not answer emails, I'm the one that reads the emails and I choose that which is going to be more benefit to the broader society. So please understand, I simply do not have the time

to answer individual emails. But if your question is of a public on my nature, something that others will benefit from, then I potentially will choose and ask it. And so today, we're going to be choosing quite a number of emails, I'm going to lump them all together, a lot of people have emailed from around the world, asking about a modern, you know, sad incident that has occurred, and that is the the incident of the Islamophobic incident of iStockphoto LA, burning miss most have, you know, in front of a Muslim embassy in a western land. And around the same timeframe that this happened. Also, there was the issue of a professor here in America displaying a picture of the Prophet system

in class and that and then she was fired for this and this causes a very large national conversation, Muslims, you know, pitted against others and whatnot. And so all of these emails, inshallah will just be lumped together and generic question that what should Muslims in the West do some generic advice, what should Muslims in the West do in the face of such blatant Islamophobic acts in the face of religious hostility? Now, before I begin, this question is being asked from within an answered from within a western world, a nation state paradigm I am not discussing with Muslims in the Middle East or Pakistan or other Muslim countries should do for those countries ask

your own ruler, Ma. So please understand, this is a question that is being asked by Muslims living in the West. And it is being answered by myself who is born and raised in the West. So we're answering it based upon our socio political circumstances, because this is something that varies from time to place to culture to civilization, and there is going to be number of points in response. Let us begin by stating that historically, religiously, theologically, Allah subhanho wa Taala has told us about this reality. And our Prophet system has lived through a much worse reality. So don't think that this is new. Don't think that this is something that is unprecedented. It is

explicitly mentioned in the Quran that this is going to happen. Allah says in surah, Allah Imran, at the very ending the second to last page, lead to Blue Nephi and Wiley Cuomo and full sequence, you're going to be tested in your wealth and in your families and your children and your cells or in your wealth. One at a smart Runa Minh Alladhina O'Toole Kitab, Amin, publikum, Wamena, Latina, Usha Rocco, and then Kathira and you are going to hear both from the People of the Book who held the book before you the Jews and Christians and from the machinery Kuhn, much that is going to hurt you are then cathedra What a smart Runa you're going to hear this is going to be verbal, they're going to do

things and try to provoke you and say things that's going to hurt you. And what does Allah say? We're in dust Spirou what over in Nevada come in as mill or more. And if you are patient and you have Taqwa of Allah subhana wa Taala then this is the height of good mannerisms. This is the essence of what is required find the daddy come in as Middlemore to show patience and to show ultimate restraint in the face of such blatant hatred. This verse came down by the way in Medina, by the way So FYI, this is a med den Universidad Emraan and ALLAH SubhanA wa Tada and there's a context behind it. In fact, there's a number of stories mentioned about this that some of the groups have the hood.

You know, they said very, very nasty things to Abu Bakr Siddiq to other Muslims, about the Prophet system about the religion and ALLAH SubhanA wa Tada revealed this verse here. And in fact, if you look at the entirety of the CRO from the beginning to the end, you find various incidents and the prophets of Saddam response.

handed in different manners. And again, I want to say very clear here that we're not discussing Islamic law today. And even those interpretations of Islamic law that are valid and legit and universal and unanimously agreed upon, they don't apply in the Western world. But even before we get there, even before we get there, this notion that every single type of speech that we might find offensive is treated in the same manner is disproven explicitly from the Quran, and from the CRO of the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wasallam we have multiple incidents of blatantly Islamophobic sentiments being expressed to the Sahaba and directly to the face of the Prophet salallahu idea he

was sending, and the response varied from time to place to person to context, it's not all the same, a number of famous companions, their parents, their mothers, even boats, I didn't WL cos and Abu Huraira in late Medina Sadler in early Makkah, and Abu Huraira, in the very last year of Medina, their mothers were extremely abusive towards the process of explicitly, they would say extremely nasty things to their children in order to hurt their feelings. The purpose was blatantly Islamophobic. And the both of them came crying to the Prophet system hurt, they didn't curse their mothers spit in the face of their mothers slap their mothers, they didn't do anything of this

nature, they're hurt that why is my mother wanting to hurt me so much. And they both come to the Prophet salallahu it he was selling him. And in both cases, you know, dua is made and they eventually ended up converting to Islam. Subhanallah What a beautiful story we learned from this. And again, you know, blood brothers and sisters, especially those that are on one strand and there may be wanting to criticize or whatnot. I'm not giving filthy rulings here, I'm giving you an incident or the Syrah I'm giving you straight from the zero the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam that this occurred in late Medina, a bowrider, comes crying to the process and says, Yeah, rasool

Allah is gone, I can't bear this anymore. My heart is breaking. My mother has said things about you about you, we are a soul Allah that is bringing pain to me. And he's crying to the process and the process of raising his hands and says, Oh, Allah guide the mother of a boho Dara and O'Hara goes back, and lo and behold, she has converted to Islam. Now, again, please, I'm not justifying or legalizing or, or validating stuff with Allah, I'm simply telling you that every single instance is not treated in the same manner. And somebody who says something, you know, the mother will hit it, for example, is not treated like you know, cab, even Ashraf and others, the way cab was dealt with

was very different than the way the mother of woreda was dealt with. Why do Muslims think about this reality, and this is in Medina, of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam how much more so we need to understand that this is going to be a reality of history. And again, no validation, I'm simply telling you, when you have different faith traditions living together, what is going to happen, Allah says in the Quran, while at the Super Lydian a their own hamdulillah have a su Bula are the one believer in, don't mock their idols, if you do so, they will mock Allah, and they will curse Allah without any knowledge they're going to do so unjustly. Allah is telling us to have a modicum

of outer respect, not that we actually respect the idols, but there is a way that you discuss. So we of course, the irony is that we would never do anything like this to any other faiths civilization ever, we would never do this. It's so Subhanallah in its own way, sad, but it is also dignified. They can do everything and you know, we are angry at what they're going to do. But in response to this, we shall never go to one other icons, we shall never go to how can we make fun of any of their profits, there are profits, and even if even if there were people of another, you know, paganistic tradition and whatnot. Still, the Quran tells us that don't say things against their false gods.

Because what's the point in doing that you're going to inflame them infuriate them, and they will only know how to respond to your hatred with hatred. So the first point is that historically, as your brothers and sisters, the Quran says it's going to happen theologically the Quran predicts is going to happen historically, it has happened throughout all the times. I mean, throughout history, we've always had incidents of this nature. And there's I gave a lecture at another, you know, not to this, I don't have time to go here now. But when the Muslims conquered holdover, and people began converting to Islam, the Spanish began converting to Islam, there was a series of very famous

incidents that are called the martyrs of kotoba, where Christian monks and priests would go into the streets right in front of the masjid after slaughter Juma and loudly shout out very, very nasty things, you know about Allah and His Messenger intentionally trying to provoke the Muslims and they wanted to draw attention to themselves Subhanallah it's nothing new and this is a phenomena that actually is is studied and it is, it has been much has been written about, you know, that phenomenon with regards to this point. So the point being that Allah has told us it's going to happen, the prophet system

himself dealt with it. So it's nothing new. Our second point here is that you know, whenever anything of this nature happens, whenever anything of this nature happens, it is Islamic, and it is a part of our iman. And it is a sign of our Taqwa that our hearts are hurt or hurt, we should feel a type of inner anger and jealousy. Nobody should make you feel guilty about this. When somebody says nasty things about those whom you love about your parents, regardless of what the law says, regardless of legality or not, you are going to be hurt, to not be hurt. When Allah and His messenger are slandered, well, Allah he this is a danger to one's Iman right, when the Quran is

burnt in order to desecrate it, and you know, it is being done to desecrate it will Allah your heart should feel a sense of just you know, your hair should be standing on end, and you should feel a sense of genuine anger, this is a feeling and that is Iman, what you do with that feeling will vary from time to place. And generally speaking, my advice in the western world is that we should respond to such blatant acts of Islamophobia with statements of wisdom we should preach, how we feel, if they have the right to say some things, we also have the right to respond to those things. Now the wording of those responses, the people who say them the proper way and manner to get across it, you

know, the level of outrage and and the words that are used, this will vary from incident to incident. It's not a blanket statement. And every single community and every you know, nation, you know that every Muslim I've ever met the Muslims, every nation should come together and discuss amongst themselves, their leadership, their organizations, you know, their activist should come together and figure out what is going to be the best wording to use in this particular situation in order to create a positive perception rather than a negative one. Also, the notion of protests should also come up. Again, I cannot give you a blanket, you know, a statement because as I said,

All of this goes back to the Islamic notion of pros and cons, what is called Masada and Mufasa. And so whether there should be protests in various European countries in America outside the embassy or whatnot, this goes back once again, to

the specific incident, and community activists and leaders of every single Land of the Muslims coming together and discussing what is going to be the wisest. And it varies. If a nobody anonymous, you know, person who doesn't have any track record of he is not he's not somebody who's known, does a one off act of hate. It's not the same as if a mainstream elected politician who is respected by large groups of the country, you know, makes an Islamophobic act or something, it's not the same thing. So we weigh the pros and cons, we look at all of the factors. And we assess what is the most judicious mechanism of responding, verbally, protests, economic boycotts? Again, this is not

something that I can give I have a longer, you know, q&a on this very q&a series about the permissibility of ICANN economic boycotts, as a principle, as a principle, there's no question that this is a type of soft pressure. Now, when is it judicious to use this is a whole different scenario. So if a country has a public policy of Islamophobia, then perhaps it's a very different thing than if you no one, you know, minor person does something in the country, to penalize the entire country, the people themselves might not like this person, but it is not against the law, they can do nothing. Again, you have to weigh the pros and cons when it comes to economic boycotts.

But the option is there, the the the tool is there, whether we choose to use this tool or not depends once again, on the pros and cons of the situation. So this is the second point, there should be some response, what that responses come together and discuss amongst the leadership and weigh the pros and the cons. The third, one of the things that I can definitely suggest everybody does, and we can do this on our own social media platforms. I do this all the time, every single time something like this happens, you know, I do this myself, and that is do your research, do your homework, ask the specialists and point out the hypocrisy and the double standards of these types of countries and

the laws of these countries. And I guarantee you, I guarantee you, you will always find double standards, you will always find blatant hypocrisy. So what might be allowed quote unquote in one land, you will always find similar things that are not allowed. And even if by the way the law might allow them, the people will not allow certain types of speech certain types of outrage are is not good.

Way to be allowed. And for example, in Sweden, in recently, three years ago, a certain government body banned over 15,000 public social media accounts, because they were far right. And they were spreading according to this agency, they were spreading hatred of minorities and of immigrants. And they were using language that was deemed to be demeaning of minorities, some of which was Islamophobic language. And they were using, they were spreading hatred. And there was a fear that this might incite, you know, violence. So this entity, the government entity, banned these social media accounts, they censored them. They said, these are preaching hatred. Many would say that's a

welcome thing, a good thing, guess what happened? These people went public, and they raised a hue and cry that How come we don't have the right for free speech? How can we are being banned if we want to criticize, you know, other peoples and whatnot, how come the government is coming and taking our accounts away? So social media became this this this, you know, play thing between those who wanted to ban hate speech versus the broader society, and guess what these racists won in the day, and this government body without going to court silently withdrew and gave them all their accounts back to continue spewing their hatred. Now, the point being that, why was why was some monitoring

being done. And these 10 15,000 accounts are being banned by a government body that understands, hey, we don't want these rules. We don't want these far right, people, we don't want them spewing hatred. And yet, when it comes to something like this, you know, there there is that claim automatically without any court case, without any burning, that you can go in and do something like burn a masjid burn a must have in front of, you know, a Muslim embassy. So you will always find this, you know, you're always going to find these aspects of, of hypocrisy in any society and culture. And we pointed out so this is the third point that I can advise everybody to do. The fourth

point is that it is important for us as well to understand when something is really meant to be Islamophobic and insulting. And when it is something other than this. Not every single act is the same. In fact, we know this about the Quran burning when it comes to burning the most have Subhanallah if a pious Muslim takes an old copy of the must have, and it is worn and torn, and he's read it a gazillion times. And you know, now he cannot use it anymore. If he burns the most half it is an act of worship right here. And the same act when it is done by a far right islamophobe. In order to insult the Muslims, it becomes the height of blasphemy and Cofer. So neon intentions are

important to bring in and we look at the context we don't just react you know emotionally. In fact, if you read the Quran, brothers and sisters, inevitably you will read statements that if you cut off the beginning and end it can easily be misinterpreted as you know very negative statements you will read for our own saying, I am your Lord, you will read you know IBLEES accusing ALLAH SubhanA wa Tada of misguiding him. All of these are in the the Quran here. The point is that, you know, the Quran itself tells us that when you argue with the people have the book, argue with them God at home, in the best of manners. Now, I asked you visualize this verse in action. A group of Muslim

scholars and a group of Christian clerics are going back and forth as per the commandment of the Quran. What will the cleric say? Are they going to be politically correct when the clerics are defending Christianity and refuting Islam? The Quran says, argue with the Christians and the Jews argue with them in a wise manner. Allah is telling you if you're qualified, then have a debate with them in a good manner. Okay, I asked you by Allah, when a learned Christian comes and he wants to defend his faith and refute our faith? What do you expect him to say? Do you not understand he will utter words that are deemed to be blasphemous by us? What will he say about the Quran? What will you

say about the Prophet system, and Allah is saying respond back in a manner that is wise. So in the context of a debate, in the context of a back and forth, it is understood that your opponent will say things that are very hurtful and painful and you are required to defend your Faith in a manner that is best Allah Himself has sanctioned this back and forth. My point being, I bring this up because a lot of people are brought up the question of what happened here in America for those who are not aware. A college professor, a university professor, was teaching a class about Islam. She brought up the controversy about what happens when you show the images of the Prophet salallahu

alayhi wa sallam, and she made a disclaimer in the class that you know, I'm going to show some images. Some people might find it offensive, but I'm doing this for educational moment to show you

there's diversity of thought within Islam. And then she said, I'm gonna the images I'm going to show you were drawn by Muslims themselves from another sect not Sunni Islam. And she showed these images in class. By and large, these images, they're all drawn by Muslims, you know, again, whether you like it or not, whether I am a Sunni Muslim, I don't agree with these images. But let's again, factually speaking, there are non Sunni movements, you know, she and others, she and others because there's others as well. That's not only allow, you know, drawing the process and um, they embrace and if you go to any museum in the world of Islamic art, you will find paintings in there that

Muslims have drawn, not my strand of Islam, not the strand that I think is correct. But you cannot negate that these Muslims do exist. So she showed those images drawn by people who said the Kadima prayed five times a day. And according to their understanding, these are images that will bring love. These are images that, you know, they're supposed to make you draw closer to the concept of the Sunnah of the Prophet sallallahu Sallam and loving him. And in this context, then some Muslims objective and objective one thing led to another she was fired in this regard. Now, I stayed here that for the record, I don't agree with showing such images. I think it is haram to do so

personally. But on what basis am I going to ban a college professor to say that it is haram, she's an American college professor, what am I going to say that is going to be a an effective mechanism. Also, without a doubt in the context of what happened here, you cannot equate what she did with the Quran burning in Sweden, she did it in an academic environment, wanting to show the diversity of thought giving an adequate disclaimer, I personally disagree. But you cannot equate this as an act of hate. It's really not an Islamophobic act, per se at all. And there are other things involved as well that most people who got into this controversy and commented had no clue of them is the way how

administrations to treat their their faculty that are not tenured. And this is something I know personally, as well that, you know, when you're not a tenure track, Professor, you are really treated like manual labor, and you're really disrespected, and there's no rights. And this lady was actually non tenure track. And there was probably more to it at stake than just this issue. Perhaps the universities are using it as an excuse to get rid of the contract. Because again, I know those tensions because I was in that world for a period of time. And most people on the outside had no clue that it was very likely that the university had no care about Islamophobia. But rather, they

were just wanting to get to to get rid of the contract and move on. And they jumped on this for their own agenda. My point being that my this fourth point here is that we need to be wise enough to differentiate when is something Islamophobic. And when is it not Islamophobic, even if a knight might not be justified. I don't like the fact that the image of the process and were shown, if I could, I would not do that. But I can't in this country that we live in, in the society we live in. As a professor, she has that right to do. And within the context of what she's doing, you understand where she is coming from. It's literally like trying to teach about, you know, anything that this

Salman Rushdie affair, right? And suppose if you don't know this, the modesty affair that somebody who wrote a very Islamophobic you know, book back in the 80s, as a professor, I have had to teach about the Sumatra, the affair. My students in university had no idea who some undersea was and what the affair was, what this luxury affair was. I had to summarize the book, Satanic Verses to them right now is this Islamophobic kind of Muslim commerce style for Allah chef Yasser, you mentioned Salman Rushdie, his name, and you mentioned The Satanic Verses, and you summarized it for the class, you have to look at the context. I'm teaching the students about an incident that happened in 1980

and 1989. I'm teaching them the realities of how the Muslim community galvanized you know, the pros and cons of what happened, you know, the effects of this, you know, historic, because I've taught class, if you're not aware, I've been a university professor. And I've taught classes to the, you know, normal, some students on campus. And as a part of that I have to do teach a lot of things. So I've talked to the history of, you know, Muslims in the west and various things that have happened. And so for example, I've had to teach about this incident about Khomeini's fatwa about other things that took place. Can somebody come and say, Oh, because you summarize this, you are agreeing with

it? SubhanAllah? No. So we also have to be a little bit more wise here, brothers and sisters and not lump everything together. And my humble assessment, what happened in this American University, even if I personally as a Muslim don't like it, it is in a completely different category, a completely different category. And in fact, we should not use the word Islamophobia and I did not personally agree with the firing of this professor. It should have been handled in a different manner, and we cannot equate this with the oran burning that took place in Sweden or anything that is blatant of this nature. We do need to look at context, as I said, and this is something that the Quran itself

clearly indicates, as I explain, when it comes to the verse of, for example, Musa della are going back and forth, Allah Himself sanctions are debate, a closed debate between scholarly people in this debate, it is understood that statements are going to be said that are clearly heretical, that are clearly blasphemous. What do you expect a Christian priest to say about, you know, the profits of someone who is debating, he is going to say things that we will find extremely offensive, it's our job to then defend academically, that the way to defend is not to punch him in the face, right? The way to defend is not to ban the preacher from a debate that is private, Allah has said, have a

debate with them and make sure that you know, you do it in the best of manners. So Allah has allowed this to take place, because that's the only way forward in this regard. So context does matter. Like I'm saying here, this is my fourth point in this regard. The fifth point is that in all of this, we should always look at the long term goal. We don't want to exacerbate the situation. We don't want to cause a backlash that is even more painful than the original incident. We don't want to create a negative perception of our faith of our Lord of our book, and most importantly, have our Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam that will damage Islam more than the initial incident. And most

importantly, we don't want to cross the lines of the Sharia or that Allah subhanaw taala has laid down. And I've said this multiple times over and over again, vigilante justice, or violence against such people in the lives that we live in, is not something that any on him worth his salt can give a fatwa for. It is not allowed in any circumstance to become judge, jury and executioner even endowed with Islam. And in a land that is not the DAO to Islam, there is nothing that can be done. And if one does so, then one is disobeying the commandments of the Shetty, I because the backlash against the Muslim community will be more, you know, will exacerbate the situation and bring about more harm

than any initial aspect that took place. And subhanAllah destroy reminded me of something almost a decade ago, the infamous you know, Charlie Hebdo, cartoons, extremely, extremely vulgar, extremely derogatory. And what happened after that, when a group of people, you know, invaded and killed and massacred and brought in weapons and whatnot, and they shed blood in this regard? What was the result of all of this? The backlash, the perception, the media? And of course, what do you expect them to do? Was this the wisest course of action? Do you think that by doing this, you have defended the honor of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam Is this the way to defend the owner of the

Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam in the long run in the short run, so again, brothers and sisters, we need to be very clear in this regard, that we the goal, when it comes to responding to these issues, is not just a reactionary emotionalism, the goal really, is to think long term, and to minimize the damage. And I said this back then, you know, 1015 years ago, 10 years ago, when the Charlie Hebdo took place, I send it back to them. And when I said it, and I, you know, I don't like to mention these types of things, because it is awkward. But, you know, for the record, you know, when I gave my husband that I gave after Charlie Hebdo, and I said that what they did with the

Charlie Hebdo cartoons did was evil and vulgar. And they have to answer to Allah and you know, we, we despise what they did. And if they have the right to do it, we have the right to speak against them, and tell them call them preachers of hate and whatnot. But then I also said, what these people did in killing them, what these people did, and attacking what these people did, and bringing, you know, the violence that they did, it has damaged Islam, and it has damaged the image of the Prophet system and the honor of the process. And more than those cartoons I said that, and I meant it. And I still mean it in the broader society, in the world that we live in, the people go about their day,

and these cartoons are not going to shape their impression of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam. But when five Muslims take the law, or their version of the law into their own hands, and these five Muslims commit these acts of violence, those five Muslims will actually shaped the perception that millions of people have about our Prophet system. I said this factually. And because of this, this radical group known as ISIS literally announced that people should go and assassinate the preacher meme or yours truly, and call was made to go and kill what type of version of Islam is the SubhanAllah? What fanaticism right. We all love the Prophet salallahu idea. He was said we all

love the Quran. But when you let your emotions go without being checked by the law, then those emotions can easily lead to a type of fanaticism that the average person the average Muslim recognizes to be something that

is completely an Islamic. So my fifth point here is that whatever you do, don't just react for the one step think 10 steps ahead, think what will be the long term response to what we are doing. And this leads me to my sixth point there seven points. As usual, I try to summarize in seven points, a lot of things. My sixth point is that all Muslims don't presume that any one group of people are the final experts in what to do. A lot of people ask me, so I'm giving you some response. But listen to my sixth point. Don't just ask rule AMA and preachers don't just asked people who are trained in Islamic law. That's one group of people you should be asking but along with that speak to other

experts speak to lawyers speak to lawyers who understand the laws the constitution of the country, speak to community activists speak to Muslim politicians or Muslim sympathetic politicians, speak to those engaged in PR and understand that all of us have to come together to craft the best solution. Religious clergy need the benefit of political activists and political activists need to understand the concerns of the religious clergy and come together we will be stronger for the Ummah, I have said one of my pet peeves, I've said this in so many talks and lectures, and every time something like this happens, I'll continue to say it, that unfortunately, we see a divide that is unhealthy in

our own ranks a divide between the religious the outwardly pious, pious, pious artistic folk, the Masjid going folk, the clergy, and between those Muslims who are proud to be Muslims, but they might not be as religious in their own lives, and they're active in politics are active and PR they're active and, and these groups have the greater clout, they have the greater understanding of society, whereas the masjid the going folk are the default and backbone of the Ummah, the two need each other, right, these Muslim politicians, these Muslim PR these Muslim entertainers, you know, they might be popular in broader society. But generally speaking in the Muslim world, amongst the pie

artistic folks, they're not that popular amongst the, you know, people that are frequenting the masjid, they're not that popular, for obvious reasons. Each one needs the other, we have to break down this animosity and understand that for the greater good, we have to learn to cooperate together. And these experts are going to be better positioned to tell us what to do, depending on our circumstances. Here in America, for example, it is impossible to ban such type of activities and speech unless there is a radical change in the Constitution. And in the fundamental Bill of Rights, which hasn't happened for many, many, many, you know, decades. Unless the Bill of Rights has

changed. There can be no law. And so it's therefore sometimes, you know, when I hear some Muslims say, oh, we should ban this and whatnot. I mean, again, with utmost love and respect, it simply shows that and sometimes these are American Muslims, or say this, that they don't know their own constitutional law, they don't know know their own Bill of Rights. In America, you cannot ban any type of speech per se, that is going to offend other people that people will find offensive. In fact, you cannot ban the burning of any books, you know, in our in this country, the Constitution, the Supreme Court allows you to burn not just the Bible to burn the the flag of America, you can

burn an American flag in America and not go to jail. So the laws are very different in this land, there is never going to be a political ban unless those laws are radically changed. And they're not going to be in the foreseeable future change just because we want them to be changed. However, that is not the case in Europe. In Europe, it is a fundamentally different lens, there is no constitution, there is no Bill of Rights, the way that it exists in America. And in Europe, there are many different models, a vast majority of European countries ban what they call hate speech. So hate speech is banned, technically. So the lawyers of those countries need to work how can we

include burning of the most half within hate speech? This is a legal you know, issue. You getting angry and shouting on the street is not going to bring this legal reform, get some constitutional lawyers hire them paid the best lawyers in the country, those where it is allowed to ban certain types of things and say, hey, if hate speech is banned, in so many these European so many of these European countries, well then what do we need to do to make the burning of the Quran also qualify as a hate speech? Because right now, in no European land, does burning of a book constitute hate speech, but you know, in some lands, you can change this within the system. So rather than just

getting angry at me or other people whom you think are ultra soft, get involved, some actual activism, get involved with actual lawyers, get involved and speak to those that know the inner realities of of law and ask them what can we do what can we not do? I'm telling you point blank as an American

You can't do anything legally in America, you just can't legally there is nothing that can be done to ban this type of stuff. But what you can do is socially create awareness. That's a whole different. That's a whole different category, we're going to come to this point in the final point here. But in Europe, that's not the case, around 15 European countries have criminalized Holocaust denial. Now, this is a very sensitive topic. I've said this multiple times I visited Auschwitz and how, you know, I've seen myself the horrors of the Nazis, I've seen myself the realities of what took place and the remnants of their, you know, camps and whatnot. And I have said multiple times

that, you know, what happened was an atrocity of the highest magnitude. And if I had been alive in 1930s, you know, Germany as a Muslim, and what was happening was happening, I would expect Allah to reward me, if I were to hide the innocent people, including the Jewish people of that time. If I were to hide them and protect them, I would expect Allah to reward me because what happened was an injustice. Now, what happened afterwards in philosophy in Israel is a different type of injustice. But the Nazis, what they did was the height of injustice. I've said this a lot of times here. That having been said, we also point out, why is it a criminal offence in 15 European countries, you will

be fined and or go to jail. And people have gone to jail for saying things about the Holocaust that were deemed to be offensive. Now, as Muslims, we say with utmost respect, look, we also don't want to make fun of people who died. It's very rude and cruel to do so. We also don't want to, you know,

support people that are denying the Holocaust. But with respect, may we ask, why is this speech criminalized? And speech that is equally if not more offensive to another religious minority is deemed to be free speech? We have to we have to point out the double standards legally. And those 15 countries Why aren't there massive movements to decriminalize the Holocaust, you know, banned denial, why is there no freedom fighters saying I want to have the freedom of speech to do so? You don't find anything of this nature? So don't you see for us as Muslims, when we see this double standard, the sheer blatant hypocrisy, can't we not? If you're not going to ban the Holocaust

denial, you're going to say that's, you know, a criminal offense? Well, then may we will keep it a criminal offense. I'm actually all for it. Let's keep it a criminal offense, but then add as well, to insult the profits of Saddam add as well to burn the most half intending to show disrespect. Why can't we add that to your list as well? If you were to do so well, Allahu Allah rasool Allah. And as I say, it's something I know. Well, I know we as well want this holocaust ban, you know, denial in place, we don't want people to make fun of dead people. We don't want people to mock the 6 million that died. But add some things that are precious to us as well. And we will say you're being

consistent and fair. And we will uphold we will also uphold that ban about the Holocaust. But if you're going to pick and choose, and you will make one faith and one group sacred and not another, don't you expect us to point out your hypocrisy is Don't you expect us to be at the forefront and say, Hey, what is going on here? Why is one thing allowed and not the other? So this is my sixth point here. And that is that. Be country specific. bring in experts, bring in lawyers, bring in community activists, bring in PR personnel, bring in politicians, Muslim politicians, and Muslim sympathetic politicians. And please, for the love of God, Muslims, please don't just ask your chefs

about something of a political nature. I am telling you, as a chef, I'm telling you as a person of Islamic law, don't just ask a person of Islamic law about something like this, ask him along with many other people and the community has to come together, as they said and form a more wise solution. This leads me to my seventh point, final point to shallow data. And that is that all of this hatred, and all of this bigotry and all of this Islamophobia should motivate us motivate us how it should motivate us to work to eliminate that misconception and hatred will lie the only reason that such people are allowed to do what they do and are supported by large groups of people is

because the broader society does not know our Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, they don't know who he is, if they knew who he was, they would not allow their own people to do this. Dear Muslims, take the anger that we feel the hurt that we feel the frustration that we feel, take it and channel it so that broader society is made aware of the reality of what it means to be a believer in Allah of the reality of who our Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam was, if they truly knew him, Wallahi even if they didn't embrace Islam, the least is that they would support us in our rights to protect our Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam rather than look at this one

deranged individual standing in front of an embassy doing an act that is sec religious rather than looking at this one person as the cause, I urge you to look at this person as a symptom of a far greater disease. And I'm going to be blunt here, Allah protect me and might get me into trouble in some lines or whatnot. Because I've already had issues when I say these type of blunt statements, but Allah He, I don't understand why, technically, I should get away with that as freedom of speech. But I will say this, these acts, they indicate a society that has no conscience society, I'm saying this as a person who genuinely cares about all of these societies, for a person to openly mock God,

or a book of God or a messenger of God, and the rest of society to applaud. And to consider this to be an act of bravery, is an indication that that society has lost its spiritual consciousness. It is the symptom of a dead heart, spirituality has gone from the hearts of these people. The sad truth is that these societies no longer have a sense of all of the Divine, they have lost all respect of the sacred.

And the same societies, if you dare, if you dare criticize aspects of sexuality, of licentiousness, of hedonism, of the pleasures of the body, if you dare defend the reality, the historic reality of marriage, if you dare point out the vulgarity and the abomination of unnatural unions, the same society that is more than happy to mock God and His messengers will call you a hate preacher. They will want to ban you, as they have banned me in conferences and other places of this nature. And maybe even in a few years, in a few years, there's legislation being passed, you might go to jail. In some European countries, again, in America, that's not possible as the law stands. But in Europe,

this law is already being discussed and debated the potential to jail somebody if they dare point out the abomination and the unnaturalness of unions that go against the historic nature of marriage and the biological reality of male and female, if you dare mention this, just to mention it. Perhaps in a few years, you might go to jail. Where's the Free Speech over here? Wallahi. I say this as a token of sadness, that a society that embraces such hedonism and licentiousness, while criminalizing any type of moral preaching, and a society that pushes you to mock God and His messengers, and to burn the holy books, whatever it might be, whether it's the Bible, whether it's the Quran, whether

it's the New Testament, whether any holy book, a society that laughs and rebels, because Subhan Allah, no Muslim Wallahi we don't believe in Hinduism or Buddhism. Well, Allah, He, no Muslim would go and burn their books in order to insult them, because that's not what our religion has taught us. That's not the way we deal with disagreements. We don't burn or hurt, or we shouldn't maybe some stupid person does this, you should be told this is an Islamic, but as a law, as a clergy as respected people, this will never happen. So for a society to embrace this brazen, challenging of sanctity of sacredness, while at the same time, criminalizing morality, criminalizing decency, when

I say that, unions should only be between normal biological opposites. Subhanallah it is possible I am called a preacher of hate. And when a person burns holy books and insults Allah and His Messenger SallAllahu Sallam that person is called a defender of free speech. I say, well, law, he the flip has script and the good has become evil, and the evil has become good. And this is a sad, sad, sad reality. And a damning indication of the reversal of what used to be a pure heart because these societies once upon a time, few 100 years ago, genuinely respected God genuinely respected religiosity, perhaps again, in their fanaticism, they went too far, but there was a genuine respect

and, and all of the sacred Well, all of that has gone and in its place, instead of deifying. God, they have deified their lusts and desires. Instead of showing respect to the icons of God. They're showing respect to the worst manifestation

sins of hedonism and licentiousness and far harsher, and loss fullness, the most unnatural desires, that is what is being sanctified. And if you dare criticize those unnatural desires, it is quite literally as if you have criticized their gods. And that is why they want to cancel you as instantaneously as possible. The same societies that champion freedom of speech, even if the law allows certain freedom of speech, look how quickly they will cancel you socially, politically, maybe even legally, if you don't live there, and myself and others have known this reality that we have been banned from conferences, academic conferences, because of a hook by might have given about

marriage about something of this nature, and the conferences Oh, you are considered to be a hate preacher, because you think love should be, you know, between a husband and wife, just because I'm preaching love between a husband and wife, this becomes for them hate speech, and people who are burning the Quran, and people who are making fun of God in His Messenger, they become champions of free speech, I say this is a sign of a dead heart, a dead society, spirituality has died amongst them. And so my final point here is that there should actually be a level of sadness and compassion. Look at the reality of these people, they have lost their way. And if we are not going to understand

this and attempt to guide them, in this world of complete insanity, when up is down and down is up when right is wrong and Wrong is Right, when they've lost sense of what should be sacred. Rather than making God and His icon sacred. They made the worst loss of mankind sacred. In this society, if you and me are not going to stand up and gently and with wisdom, preach the truth, and be icons of virtue, and demonstrate the reality of what it means to be religious and an irreligious world, to respect the divine in a world that has lost all respect for the divine, to be people of faith in a world that mock faith. That's my job and your job. And it's not an easy task. It's not an easy task.

But this is the only task that we are tasked to do, it is the most important task. And so my final point to myself and all of you, brothers and sisters, when you see such things take place, along with the anger, there should be a sadness, a genuine sadness about how lost spiritually, these modern societies are and that sadness should create in us an incentive to be shining role models to be pillars of light to be beacons of wisdom and spirituality and humanity. The world has lost its bearings completely, its moral compasses gone. Allah has blessed us we have the moral compass, we have to show them that compass, some people will never accept, but some are searching for that

compass. We have to demonstrate it for them. And when we do so insha Allah to Allah that will be our way of contributing to defend the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa salam O Muslims, stop being reactive. Every time something happens every time and Islamophobic incident, we just are reactive, reactive, reactive, stop being reactive. Start being proactive, start planning, not one year ahead. 10 years ahead, 100 years of it, start spreading love of the messenger sallallahu alayhi wa sallam amongst the people such that they would never want this to happen and they would stop one of their own. Who does it work actively to raise awareness of who that man was whom Allah said, We have sent you as

Rama attended al Amin, and when you do so, then society will genuinely begin to respect and will genuinely themselves not allow members of their own to do what we are doing and the religion of Islam. Insha Allah to Allah will always be protected by Allah, Allah azza wa jal promised us in the Quran, legal hero Aladeen equally well Okay, hello Catherine. Well at the outset of the Zulu that within a healthy Allah is the One who has sent our Prophet Salah Salem with the correct religion and this religion and the message of the Prophet and shall indeed prevail, even if those who hated hated Allah shall protect his religion. It is our job to do the best and the wisest to defend that

religion. May Allah subhana wa Taala bless us all to be those role model ambassadors and to be emissaries of piety and God consciousness and mercy Zack Mala who later on until next time, Saramonic rahmatullahi wa barakato

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