Yasir Qadhi – Mawlid Celebrate or NOT – Isha Khatira

			across the country and across the world today,
		

			there is going to be the standard debates that take place around this time of the year about this
super sensitive and controversial topic about mold or millet. Now, I want to make the disclaimer,
today's discussion is not meant to provoke more controversy, it's not even meant, frankly, for the
elders in the audience. It is meant to educate our youngsters, it is meant to provide for them a
framework in a slightly different manner. Because my goal is really to protect Islam in the next
generations. And to make sure that these types of differences are situated in the broader picture.
For the academic stuff, I have spoken in a lot of detail about this topic. You can go online, you
		

			can Google the reality of it by yourself or you have an hour and a half lecture academic, it goes
over the differences in a very different matter. That's not today. If you want to talk about the
history of this celebration, I have a three part series online. The history of the molded by Yasser
Kalia have three part series 30 pages article online, it's not a blog, you can just log on read it.
This is not the academic talk. I want to speak to the elders and say to them, that not talking about
the sensitive topics is not going to help the future. Our children are well aware, if you log on to
Facebook or Twitter today even told him that I'm no longer part of that social domain, I guarantee
		

			you, you will find this post there this post there and our children are connected to this media. And
they are seeing students of knowledge people have knowledge attacking one another. The one says this
is big. The other says no, it is blood. The one says this, The One says that. So today's talk is not
meant to get into the academics, you want the academics go and listen to those other lectures.
Today's talk gonna bring in three separate points. So that inshallah Tada we take a step back and
look at the bird's eye view, look at it from a different angle, I'm going to bring in three separate
subjects or three separate topics. The first of them, believe it or not, is Psychology. What has
		

			psychology got to do with aqidah? Actually quite a lot. And if you listen to many of my lectures,
you will know that I bring in other disciplines to explain social phenomenon. This is something that
we need to be open minded about, in psychology, in anthropology, in the study of cultures in the
study of human beings, I'm going to teach you a concept, then I'm going to come back to the issue of
Molad. This concept is independent, emotive, it's a historical it is an observed phenomenon. It is a
reality that has been observed by different anthropologists, cultural scientists, psychologist, it
has many different names of them, it is called you can Google these the narcissism of small
		

			differences, it is called the banality of trivial differences, it is called the law of trivialities,
these are certain terms given to it. What is this banality of differences? What is this narcissism
of small differences? Scientists have observed listen to this carefully. Any two groups of people or
even any two individuals, the closer they are, listen to this carefully. The bigger they make the
trivial differences between them.
		

			I want you to observe and absorb this reality. This is a phenomenon that transcends religion, ethnic
differences, political differences, cultural differences, corporate differences and politics. We
observed this differences, the narcissism of trivial differences, it means when two groups or two
people are very close, instinctively, it is easier to exaggerate small differences. Why?
Psychologists say for some people, this is a defense mechanism, you have to define yourself against
your closest competitor, you have to define yourself against those that are actually in the grand
scale of things the closest to you. Because the biggest threat to your pure independence does not
		

			come from people far, far, far away. The biggest threat from your pure identity comes from those
that are overlapping, but just slightly different. So this is an observed phenomenon that we see
across the spectrum. And that's why for example, sometimes, usually, the most worst racism is
actually between one ethnicity where one person comes from versus another person, one tribe of this
country versus the other tribe. There's a level of visceral hatred to the close tribe than even the
farther tribe. For example, one of the most common manifestations of this is in political groups
that aspire to the same goal, but they're bickering amongst them. You would think the two of them
		

			are
		

			The worst enemies, right even though they have the same goal, the same overall, but because they're
two separate groups because they have two separate slightly different agendas, you will find them
hating on one another sometimes to the point of it causes them to lose track of the actual goal and
open your eyes to the reality of political activism. You know this to be the case. This phenomenon
also explains a reality that we all know it is easier for any faith based community, it is easier
for a masjid to have an interfaith dialogue than to have an interfaith dialogue. We have had
Christians and Jews right here speaking to you. Nobody batted an eyelid brutally honest, I'm just
		

			explaining to this law. If I were to invite somebody of another felucca and bring him here, the
backlash that will be caused would be along with that. I'm not saying I want to do that. Dorie,
don't throw tomatoes at me yet, but I'm just explaining to you the banality of trivial differences.
We have had Christian pastors a few weeks ago, right here, and the whole crowd was thanking
mashallah, thank you for coming this and that explaining to us about we have had Jewish we have had,
and everybody understands we've never had a non Sunni have a pleasant dialogue with a Sunni here.
It's far more awkward. Why is it more awkward? One of the reasons the banality of trivial
		

			differences, that psychologically in order to have a defense mechanism against the other, in fact,
the closer that other is, the more visceral the reaction is, if you understand this point, brothers
and sisters, then flutter back to our example.
		

			The groups that celebrate the moated, and the ones that don't celebrate the moment, they have a
shared common identity in mainstream Stalinism.
		

			Each group studies, the authors and the aroma of the other, you cannot become an alum of one of
these groups without having studied the books of the other group. Our books of Hadith are the same.
Our books of fear are the same. Our books of Lucca are the same, our books of Tafseer are the same,
really, we have almost the same heritage. But we differ on minutiae. So when you bring in this
psychological reality, you will help to cope with the reality that you know, sometimes these trivial
differences are exaggerated, because the real, quote unquote, threat to those who want to maintain
what they view as a pure identity, right? Because again, here's the point, do you consider this to
		

			be 100% Pure identity, well, then who's your real threat, those that are 90%, and only 10%
different. So there's a human construct, there is a psychological observed phenomenon, to make a
small difference bigger than it needs to be, keep this point in mind to the next generation. That
was the first point I brought in some psychology. Second point, I want to bring in history. And by
history, I mean, this is a really deep topic, and I'm afraid I'm not going to give you too many
examples, because it is a deep topic, but you will have to trust me that this is my opinion, take it
or leave it. And this is my expertise, the history of ideas, my actual masters, PhD intellectual
		

			history, how movements how theologies evolve. One thing that we all noticed when you when you do a
deep dive in this field is the following in every generation, a controversy comes and you have a
spectrum of opinion,
		

			it takes a while for that spectrum to become solidified. And the next generation or even the
generation after that will then come to terms with this diversity, and you will have a spectrum that
is tolerated. Okay, this differences, okay. And then a spectrum that beyond the toleration, this
begins in the era of the Sahaba and every subsequent generation new controversies, a spectrum, then
we decide, okay, this much will allow this much will cut off that we decide. So every generation is
negotiating the spectrum of diversity of the previous generation. That's a deep idea. I cannot give
you too many examples, because it's gonna get very deep, very, quite quick. I'll give you some
		

			simplistic examples, even from the time of the Sahaba Believe it or not, by the way, even in the
prophetic era, when the process was alive, differences were very, very, very few. Why? Because you
can't have a difference when the process is amongst you and the afterlife, you go to him directly,
but even in his lifetime, we saw the kernel of human intellect trying to derive from the Quran from
the Sunnah and having two different opinions. For example, the most famous example is the incident
of the brutal Quran Allah when the Prophet sallallahu sallam said, do not pray us, sir, until we
reach the final formula, and I've gone over this in detail. I don't have time to go into it now. One
		

			group of Sahaba they were about to hit Muslim. One group of Sahaba was literal, and they said, okay,
the process said, Don't pray us. This means we will make our sort of cover. We're not going to pray
us a mockery.
		

			was going to come we're not going to pray us. We're going to walk all the way to the new Corolla and
then because they were delayed the goal the process and said this Advil her time had they obeyed him
immediately they would have reached by the corridor before Maghrib but you know, the news took a
while to spread, it took an hour or two by the time they left the city it was late my acid was
already there. So on the way to Bonnaroo credo you have hundreds of Sahaba and the sun is setting
the processor is already waiting for them Bernal Cordova what do they do half of them took the
literal Hadith do not pray Assam Hollis Let it go Let it go called ah we will pray after maghrib
		

			we're going to play out so they did that the other half said no the point of the process and when he
said it to her was hurry up and make your way to market but we got late put our armor on took a
while. So the goal was to make haste. We didn't make haste. We should pray answer because we know
we're supposed to pray ourselves and then we'll meet up the process and pretty much live with him.
So half of them prayed. Half of them didn't pray ask them.
		

			What is the afterlife here if they laughed in the firm in the console war in the trying to extract
from the Quran and Sunnah. And the Prophet system did not get angry at either of them. The goal was
the same the NIA was the same, they had an empty laugh. And then we have another incident Asuna
Timothy where the prophet system heard the Sahaba start talking about some advanced issue of Qatar
some issue of of one of the most complex issues of Islam predestination one group is quoting versus
another group is quoting another series of verses each one is not the the Hadith does not tell us
what aspect by the way. So we don't know. The hadith is does not tell us what exactly but they were
		

			arguing over a theological point. And the prophets ism came out angry at them. And he said, Is this
what I've commanded you to do? You fight one another over these concepts. You take an idea, and each
one is trying to that he warned them. He said this is how the previous owners were destroyed too
much fighting over these abstract issues. What's the benefit in this? This hadith is interamente. He
warned them to stop going down this path. And he did not take sides. Another interesting point two
in his lifetime, we have the beginnings. Of course after he saw Saddam left this world, the Sahaba
did have differences. They had a lot of filthy differences, our Messiah here, where do they come
		

			from? The bulk of these differences go back to the sahaba. They not only have they had political
differences, these political differences were so severe, sometimes they went to war and later
generations that you know what, we're going to ignore that war. They're one group. Obviously when
that is happening, there's not one group, there's two groups, but it took a while one generation you
know what, let's just not talk about it. They're one group takes a generation, and they had even
theological differences amongst the Sahaba you have the beginnings of slight theological
differences. For example, one of the Sahaba said that when the process of went up to Israel on
		

			Mirage, he saw Allah subhanho wa taala, who and another Sahaba our mother Aisha, she said no he did
not see Allah He saw the veil of Allah. Each one had two different opinions. One Sahabi claimed he
saw Allah the other Sahabi claimed neither our mother claim nor he did not see Allah also amongst
the Sahaba there is a difference over can you go to the cupboard and have a conversation with the
person in the grave? Does the dead person hear you if you go to the pub, and you say a Salam
aleikum, and you know, make dua what not everybody says you can go to the cupboard and make dua
everybody says that to Allah. The question is, does he know Can he hear this is amongst the Sahaba
		

			you have some Sahaba said he had can other Sahaba said he cannot the issue of wearing a Quranic
amulet, a chronic Jani Tavi is we call it an order at that time, right, chronic AYATUL kursi
whatnot. Right? We have authentic narrations from the Sahaba that they did it. And we have authentic
narrations that some of them others discouraged against it. So we have a spectrum of opinion from
the first generation. And I can go on and on the second, third, fourth generation new controversies
come a spectrum of opinion occurs, then the next generation has to decide which level of difference
can be overlooked and which level we say, Oh, that's too far. So it's a constant negotiation in
		

			every single issue. Therefore, History teaches us that you can have a controversy that might be
considered a big deal at one time. And then a few generations later, they say okay, well, let's let
it pass and consider them to be acceptable. And by the way, the format that I have is an example of
this because once upon a time there were more than format that have our karate of the Quran or
example of this once upon a time and then more than seven in healthcare. And I can give you many
more examples. I don't want to confuse you. But this is a historical fact. And if you want advanced
stuff, you go listen to some of my library chests and whatever is over there. So I brought in
		

			history. So I'm going to bring in three things number one was psychology, number two, history number
three context. So what So what does this do with our motor issues or mold issues? It is possible
that some people in previous generations
		

			Jones made this a big deal, just because they made it a big deal. We don't have to make it a big
deal. History teaches us that you can renegotiate. And this has been done for many issues. Why can't
we do it for another issue? And then the third thing I want to bring in is context. Context. What do
we mean by context? Context causes us to rethink how important the controversy is. A controversy
might be real. But the context makes this controversy trivial. Let me give you a simple example. We
all understand somebody's drowning, and you know how to swim you can help him. At that point in time
do you ask what is your athlete, the brother?
		

			What do you say about this theological position, and based upon that I'll jump in and help you or
not, context dictates that you don't care at this point in time. Now, I'll give you an extreme
example. But I'll quote you a scholar that many people deemed to be very Hardline. I don't see him
that way. But many people do shareholder some even Taymiyah many people save and Tamia was a
hardline cleric had. That's their view. Let me tell you one thing about Ibn Taymiyyah. It is true.
It is true, he wrote about the motive against the motive. It is true that he looked at some other
groups within Satanism as having major differences. He didn't like some other groups. But he has the
		

			passage in a book of his in which he says, this other group that I don't like, if they are living in
a land of non Sunnis, though those who don't like the Sahaba, whatnot, those group, we will consider
them to be Sudanese, and we will ally ourselves with them. And we will be one against people who
don't respect the sahaba. Now, even Taymiyah, says this about a Sunni group that he didn't like
living amongst non Sunnis, what then do you think when we are living amongst non Muslims? What do
you think when we're living amongst non Muslims? Should we take but the point he's trying to say is,
if I were living in those lands, I would not be having this debate with these people. That's what
		

			he's saying himself. But because we're not we have the luxury of concentrating on these differences.
I'm going to do that. So even tell me whatever you want to say about him, he understood the context.
And by the way, when the Mongols came, he allied with the very groups he intellectually refuted
against in books, he did not like some groups, when the Mongols invaded, there was no enough, we're
all one hand against them. So context allows us to rethink through how important differences are,
therefore, in 2023, America is the biggest threat we face. Who celebrates the motive versus who
doesn't Wallahi No, look around you, brothers and sisters, our quantity of Muslims in this land is
		

			less than 1% of this less than 1%, the percentage that are praying five times a day, and wanting to
be good Muslims is probably what, probably what 50%, if that, of that 50% of 1%, the percentage that
actually wants to study academic Islam, and wants to be aware of these different Medina have
different federal different positions is probably less than 10% of the 50% of the 1%. Or you point
zero 1%. So here we are in this land, point, zero 1% of us are interested in these abstract, and
we're going to cut each other's Islam and emaan we're going to put each other down, we're going to
say you're not a good Muslim, you're not a move to there, this Subhanallah I will do Billa What
		

			foolishness is this. So I conclude with this simple point. And this is my opinion, sisters and
brothers, especially the youngsters, you will always find, you will always find clerics who want to
foment hatred, who want to preach a narrow version of hack versus button. And I warn you it's very
alluring, slippery slope. It makes you feel good, but Wallahi it is dangerous, it is dangerous.
Before you look at the differences with your Muslim brother. Look at what you have in common. And
when you discover that what you have in common is 95% of a shared heritage. Then Billahi Allah Allah
Allah is this what you want to fight and bicker over? Is this what you want to have in your heart
		

			and enmity against so my position about the motive? You know it and you see it? What are we doing in
this question, you know it and you see it, but at the same time in my heart, there is nothing of
hatred or animosity against any mainstream Muslim who has a tradition of great aroma. He has an
entire galaxy of stars of aroma he's looking up to and so do I. So why should I come and hate a
person for wanting to show something in a way that I don't necessarily want to do it myself? What's
the big deal in light of the banality of differences in light of history in light of our context,
live and let live
		

			And if you want to really get involved in these abstract and detailed issues, find a group of
dedicated serious students of knowledge. Take them aside, teach them advanced stuff. And when you
get to this issue, teach them your views. But even you when you teach them your views, make sure you
don't teach them to hate or look down upon the other side. Make sure you explain what you think is
right. And realize, you know, what, it's been 1000 years we've been debating these issues. 1000
years we have been debating these issues. What was the point? Where did we gain what was the benefit
and all of this, you're not going to change the course of Islamic history, these differences will
		

			remain and last. So we should learn from all of these issues, psychology, history and context and
live and let live. Choose your position. Follow your scholars and move on to the bigger issues. And
whatever you do, do not divide the community. Do not preach hatred. Do not foment sectarianism do
not teach a Muslim to have in his heart hatred or looking down upon another Muslim will Allah He the
rights of Islam are far more than this. And when you find those preachers that are obsessed with
these trivial differences, my humble advice is up to you don't follow such people, because you will
always find people who want to bring the OMA together. We are all the parts of the OMA of the
		

			Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, both groups they want to show love in different ways. Why don't
you look at the fact they want to show love? Why don't you look at that in common? How can you hate
somebody who wants to show love to the Prophet system? You might not agree with how he's doing it or
that person might not agree that you're not doing it. But look at in the hearts each one what do
they want to do? They want to love with the Prophet system that love that is our means to Jannah
that love that's going to bring Shiva on the Day of Judgment, the love even if you make a mistake in
that love, Allah azza wa jal will bless you for that love. So live and let live you understand your
		

			position and let the other group do its own. May Allah subhana wa Tada Allah was the wisdom to
transcend these differences and be united for the sake of Allah under the OMA of the Prophet
sallallahu alayhi wa sallam Zack Kamala Harris and Amari when I was able to catch up
		

			in LA Mussolini now almost Lima Do you want meaning Mina team will quantity now look on it the more
slowly been our slaw the Ponte was sloppy Reno was sloppy a lot the one before she you know
		

			what unfortunately no one was watching I think one downside Dino one downside the party was on me
and I was all in
		

			one heavy Lina photo gentleman wasn't happy a lot he was good enough. Guess
		

			what the guilt or? I don't know hula?
		

			nauseam Eileen.