Yasir Qadhi – Processing Our Pain & Anger in Light of Recent Events
AI: Summary ©
The speakers discuss the importance of shaping behavior and protecting privacy during a lecture on the topic of "ma'am" and "monster" to avoid false accusations. They stress the need for shaping behavior to fit in with Islam's values and avoid apologizing for accidents and mistakes. The importance of shaping behavior is emphasized, and the need for education and learning about one's values is emphasized. The speakers also emphasize the importance of avoiding shaming and apologizing for mistakes, avoiding fraud, and following strict policies to protect privacy.
AI: Summary ©
We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to
guide us and to guide all of us
to say the truth, to speak the truth,
and to act upon the truth.
Brothers and sisters, this is a very sensitive
and difficult topic.
And it deals with the reality of how
we as a community face the failures or
the alleged failures of our leaders, our community
leaders, our preachers, our teachers, our du'at,
and those whom we look up to.
Now, obviously this talk is happening in the
context of incidents or an incident that has
taken place.
But my goal is to present guidelines that
are beyond just one incident because inshallah this
lecture will be viewed maybe years down the
line.
My goal is to teach you the usool,
that is called the qawa'id, the maxims.
It is how we analyze and what we
do.
Not just about one specific issue, but rather
we set the template so that inshallah ta
'ala we are prepared, we understand.
So everything I'm saying today, please understand, it
is a generic talk, even though of course
there is a specific context that many of
us are aware of.
We begin by setting up the theological belief,
the aqeedah that we have.
That aqeedah is no human being is infallible
after the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam.
This is a matter of aqeedah.
Only the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam is
ma'soom.
He is the qudwa.
He is the role model.
We don't believe in saints in the way
of being sinless.
We don't believe in Popes.
We don't believe in infallibility.
We don't believe in anyone that is absolutely
pure and cannot commit a mistake.
Only the prophets, all of them are ma'soom
and ma'soom means that they are a role
model and they will not commit any major
errors.
Even the companions, we should know as a
matter of aqeedah, even the companions, when we
say the companions are adul, there's the technical
term, trustworthy, what this means, the companions when
they speak about Allah and his messenger, they
will not lie.
No scholar ever said that just because you
see the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, you
become sinless.
No scholar ever said this and the sahaba
did not have this attitude as well.
And we know from, if you know your
history books, even amongst the sahaba sins occurred.
So sinlessness, Isma, is only for the prophets
of Allah.
And that's why Allah says in the Qur
'an, Fala tuzakku anfusakum huwa a'lamu biman
ittaqa.
Do not ascribe piety to each other.
Only Allah knows who has taqwa.
Do not ascribe piety.
You may ascribe ilm.
You may ascribe generosity.
You may ascribe outer realities.
You cannot ascribe taqwa.
Oh, that guy is muttaqi.
How do you know?
How do you know somebody's inner state?
That's why Allah says huwa a'lamu biman
ittaqa.
This is a powerful verse.
Only Allah knows who has true taqwa.
So this is the foundational premise.
We need to teach our kids this.
We need to understand this as well, that
no human being is infallible after the prophets.
And that's why Ibn Mas'ud radiyallahu ta
'ala famously remarked, Do not take any role
model that is alive.
If you must take, when he said role
model, he meant like absolute unconditional.
Obviously, you have to take some role models
in your daily lives to be inspired.
But when he meant here, he said like
absolute unconditional.
Do not look up to anybody without any
sense of unconditional trust unless he has already
passed on.
A dead scholar, a great shaykh that has
passed by, go ahead and idealize him.
Ibn Mas'ud said, As for the living,
no one can guarantee how they are.
Ibn Mas'ud said this, as for the
living, you do not know.
This is the realities Allah knows.
You cannot have unconditional trust in a living
person.
Only Allah knows their inner, sara'ir, inner
realities.
Now, there's no question, brothers and sisters, that
those who tread on the prophetic path, those
who walk in the footsteps of ilm, those
who become community leaders and teachers, those who
become preachers and ulama and duat, those who
take on the mantle of scholarship, and especially
the mantle of the Quran, there is no
question that their responsibility is much higher.
And the bar that is in their lives
is much more.
They have chosen this field, and this field
is not an easy field.
It comes with many privileges, but it also
comes with many warnings, wallahu musta'an.
It comes with many perks and blessings, but
it also comes with many dangers.
And this is something that needs to be
said to our youth and youngsters, that all
too often, many of them go down this
path for the wrong reasons.
If you go down this path for the
wrong reasons, you will end up doing nothing
but damage to yourself and damage to the
deen.
You cannot go down the path of scholarship,
and the path of ilm, and the path
of religious mantle, unless truly there is an
attempt to be ikhlas.
As for achieving ikhlas, only Allah is the
one who grants it.
But you try, you try your best to
be, to have that ikhlas.
Our Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam said, hadith is
in Sahih Bukhari, he was sitting with Abu
Huraira, and he said, O Abu Huraira, do
you know who are the first people to
be thrown into Jahannam?
Abu Huraira said, I don't know who is
the first three people.
The first three people to be thrown into
Jahannam will be the shaheed, and the alim,
or in one version, qari of the Quran,
and the one who gave his wealth in
charity.
And Abu Huraira's face changed, like what?
How is this?
Then the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam said, each
one of them will be brought forth in
front of Allah.
And on the Day of Judgment, Allah will
ask them, what did you do?
And each one will boast, Ya Allah, I
fought for your sake, and I died for
your sake, and I became a shaheed for
your sake.
And the qari and the alim will say,
Ya Allah, I spent my life memorizing the
Quran, teaching the Quran.
I spent my life preaching ilm.
And the generous one will say, Ya Allah,
I gave so much wealth to the fuqara
for your sake.
And each one of them, it will be
said, Allah will say to them, you lie.
You lie.
You did not do it for my sake.
You did it so that people call you
shaheed, and they called you.
You did it so that people call you
qari, and they called you.
You did it so that people call you
generous, and they called you.
Go get your ajr from them.
There is no ajr with me on this
day, and they will then be thrown into
Jahannam.
This shows when you tread the path for
the sake of Allah, but it's not for
the sake of Allah.
This is a dangerous, dangerous gamble.
Listen, O Muslims, if you earn money for
the sake of dunya, Allah will not punish
you.
There is no punishment.
Go ahead and earn money for the sake
of dunya.
Go ahead and earn money for the sake
of a good qari.
There is no punishment.
But when you desire fame for the sake
of Allah, but it is not for the
sake of Allah.
When you take on the mantle of Islamic
scholarship, of Islamic ilm, of Quran, and your
niyyah is not for Allah, then you are
polluting yourself, destroying yourself, and destroying society.
So realize this dangerous reality, that the people
of ilm do have a higher responsibility.
And that higher responsibility becomes even more so
when sometimes, some amongst them, they use that
disparity, that power differential, to get something that
is unethical, to do something that is immoral.
When an abuse occurs, in our terms it's
called spiritual abuse.
And there is something called spiritual abuse.
Spiritual abuse means that you are invoking some
privilege you think you have to misguide somebody,
to take advantage of somebody who otherwise would
not have been taken advantage of had it
not been you are wearing the mantle of
scholarship, you are wearing the mantle of Quran.
So people might not understand.
And there is a higher responsibility in the
eyes of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
While every single sane adult is responsible even
partially for a sin that they do, and
I say this bluntly because all too often,
sane adults are given off the hook just
because they're sitting in front of a person
of knowledge.
No, a sane adult, if you're insane or
mentally unstable, that's a different thing.
If you're not an adult, that is a
different thing.
Aqil baligh, while an aqil baligh or an
aqil baligh bears some responsibility for anything they
do voluntarily, still it is not 50-50.
It is not 50-50.
And the one of ilm, and the one
of supposed taqwa, and the one of supposed
Quran, without a doubt bears a bigger responsibility,
especially, a'udhu billah, a'udhu billah, if
they misguided, mistaught, if they perverted the Quran
and Sunnah, the teachings of this faith, and
especially to somebody who might not have known
any better.
There is no question that that is a
higher blame, a much higher blame, than even
a robber or a criminal stealing somebody's money
with force.
There is no question spiritual manipulation and perverting
the deen for the sake of one's own
passions, without a doubt, is a higher crime
in the eyes of Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala.
And obviously, this crime is compounded.
If, if a minor is involved, there is
no question that this crime is greatly, is
greatly abbreviated, or is greatly made much more
in the eyes of Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala.
And that is because the minor obviously does
not bear any responsibility.
When a minor is taken advantage of, by
unanimous consensus of the scholars of Islam, the
minor is ghayr mukallaf.
The minor does not bear any blame.
It is the job of adults to protect
the minor.
So when adults, a'udhu billah, abuse a
minor, when a person of knowledge abuses a
minor, there is no question that the level
of punishment, the severity of a'adhaab will
go up if this is something that actually
happens.
And without a doubt, if it does happen,
if this has been substantiated, then we as
a society should show absolutely no mercy to
anybody who has perpetrated any type of grievance,
any type of abuse against somebody that is
absolutely innocent in this regard.
Now brothers and sisters, the issue comes as
we're aware, that every once in a while,
scandals happen.
In our community, in other faith communities, scandals
happen.
This is the reality of life.
Meaning, scandals are a reality of life.
Whether it's amongst extended family and friends, whether
it is amongst community leaders, businessmen, politicians.
But of course, when a scandal happens involving
a shaykh, an alim, a qari, a mufti,
there is no question that that scandal has
a different connotation.
There's no question.
It's not the same.
It has a much more painful connotation.
If a scandal happens to an average person,
that's bad enough.
If a scandal happens to a rich man,
we understand that happens, not justifying it.
If a scandal happens to a politician, all
politicians, scandals happen to them.
But when a shaykh or an alim or
a qari or somebody that has the mantle
of Islamic scholarship, when a scandal happens in
their life, there's no question that it shakes
so many people.
Hearts and minds, imans are shaken to the
core.
And this raises the awkward reality.
What exactly should we do in this regard?
And here is where, may Allah protect all
of us, I hope to give some guidelines
to move beyond simplistic blaming.
Because the first reaction is the emotional reaction
of wanting to blame someone or something.
This is the first reaction that happens.
When a crime, when a tragedy happens, it's
human nature.
You want to blame someone or something.
And we see this reality every time a
scandal happens, whether it's political, whether it's business
related, but especially when it's related to the
people of ilm, then people start blaming the
wrong entities.
We have even, for example, may Allah guide
all of us, but some of the one
gender will blame the entirety of the other
gender.
They will literally say, all men are like
this.
And they will blame all men.
And of course, that is absolutely wrong.
The Prophet ﷺ is a man.
The greatest scholars of Islam primarily have been
men.
But there is an anger.
The anger might be legitimate, but it is
manifested in a wrong way.
And as you know, some strands of radical
feminism, this is their notion that they really
want to say that all men are evil,
they cannot be trusted.
As well, when a shaykh is involved, then
unfortunately, so petty, sectarianism gets in.
And this is so wrong.
So every time a shaykh of one firqah,
one strand, you know, a scandal happens, all
the other strands jump up.
Ah, look, we told you.
But when it's of their own strand, then
it doesn't work that way.
We're all equally human.
No one strand is more guilty than other
strands.
This is the reality.
And we need to be careful.
Stop pointing fingers at other strands when everybody
is equally guilty in this regard.
The version of Islam you follow is not
going to make you an angel.
You're still going to be a human.
Regardless of whether you're Sufi, Salafi, Barelvi, Deobandi,
Tablighi, Ahli Hadith, it doesn't matter.
You will have scandals in all of these
strands and more.
Doesn't matter.
So stop pointing fingers just because it's not
of your group.
As we're all aware, it happens in other
groups as well.
And of course, other blames are done as
well.
Institutes are blamed as a whole.
There's also the awkward reality, which we don't
have time to get into today.
But one of the things that is being
blamed in our times especially is the commercialization
of Islam.
And this is a deeper topic.
And it needs to be discussed perhaps at
a later talk or khatira.
And I understand the criticisms.
I fully understand.
I have been involved with the da'wah
scene for 30 years.
And much of my da'wah is outside
of the commercialization.
And much of my da'wah is within
institutes that are paying honorariums.
I understand the criticism.
But I do believe this criticism is misplaced.
Because without some element of commercialization, the da
'wah cannot go to the level that it
has gone.
I understand that ideally, ideally, everything should be
free.
That's the ideal.
But the fact of the matter is in
the world we live in, things that are
free are not valued, number one.
If I were to have free, it would
have literally one-tenth of the impact.
And number two, to travel and to go
places and to bring people that are a
bit far from the deen, you do need
to bring them to ambiances, places, halls that
will cost money.
This is the reality.
So I understand the criticism.
I'm saying bluntly, much of that criticism is
semi-valid.
But the response is not to destroy public
da'wah or preaching da'wah at a
mass level.
The response is to modify it, to bring
in guidelines.
I myself, as you're aware, have been preaching
and teaching multiple times.
I say to anybody who wants to come
visit me, come to Dallas.
But if you want me to go to
your community, if you want me to fly
all the way there, then I'm not going
to, if I were to do that, I
would not have any, you know, place in
this community anywhere else.
And because of the commercialization of the da
'wah, I have, alhamdulillah, personally managed to preach,
I estimate, at least six, seven hundred thousand
people for the last 25 years.
Massive hall.
Even this weekend, I taught 3,000 people
across four different cities.
But there's positive and negative.
That's not going to happen.
You know, I was in Long Island, 1
,500.
I was in Toronto yesterday, two days ago,
2,500 people.
This is not going to happen.
You know, teaching the seerah, three-hour class
about the seerah.
So I understand the criticism of the critic,
but I also say that you want to
have advanced ilm, okay, have your private halaqat.
But for the average Muslim who just wants
a two, three-hour, you know, dose of
Islamic iman, spirituality, there is a lot of
benefit in having these institutes that go and
send teachers and they have mass conventions, you
know, 5,000 people, 10,000 people.
So I don't agree with this level of
criticism.
Another criticism is the quote-unquote celebrity culture
of the shuyukh.
And this is also semi-valid.
Believe me, I know.
I am somebody who has been accused of
this.
I know I exemplified Allahumma usta'am.
But I have said many times, we never
aim for this.
It was not our goal.
This is just something that has happened.
And now the reality is that there are
certain people that, may Allah protect us, wherever
they go, people want to take selfies, people
want to get their autographs.
I understand.
What should we do?
Should we say to everybody, no, get away
from us.
I don't want your picture.
You know, even this weekend, I must have
given at least 20 autographs.
People come up to me.
I'm asking you bluntly, those critics and whatnot.
Should I be rude and say, sorry, get
away from me.
I'm not going to give you my autograph.
Especially, I make a distinction.
Children come, bismillah, no problem.
And if adults come, I say, akhi, I
only do this for children.
I say politely as a joke.
But one adult insisted, no, no, I want.
What do you want us to say?
So again, I hear the criticism.
I say this bluntly.
I'm not Shahrukh Khan.
I'm not.
But, if you were confused, I'm just saying.
But what do we do when people want
some type of prestige or, you know, they
treat us in this manner?
Should we be rude to them?
This is not something we aim to do.
And I understand the criticism of the critic
that, oh, you guys are creating a celebrity
culture.
And you are correct that there are problems.
But the solution is not.
And again, I'm being blunt here.
I'm not worthy of it.
Wallahi, I'm not saying this semi-humbly.
I'm not worthy of it.
But if you go to one of these
conventions, you find two, three, four hundred young,
you know, teenagers, college students.
They're going away from their TikTok, from their
drama, whatnot.
And they're attending an Islamic lecture.
And they are in awe of the speaker
and preacher.
Isn't this level of awe towards scholarship something
positive?
I'm not worthy of it.
But from their perspective, isn't it better that
they have somebody of ilm?
Now the question comes, what if that guy
is corrupt?
And the response is, so then let's work
on trying to make sure that the people
that are involved are not corrupt.
Because in the end of the day, I
have studied in many places.
And where I studied, I have met some
of the greatest scholars who were treated like
celebrities by their own students, by the students.
I have been in such gatherings.
And I'm not, astaghfirullah, comparing myself to them.
But when you were in those gatherings, I
have seen with my own eyes 4,000,
5,000, 7,000, you know, students and
awam even, you know, when one of these
shuyukh would come to the haram in Mecca
or come to the haram in Medina, literally
surrounded by throngs of people.
You cannot eliminate the love that people have.
And here's where we need to teach our
youth this blunt reality.
And that is, and listen to me carefully
now, when you love a preacher, when you
love a shaykh, when you love an alim
or a qari, understand you are loving two
things, one of which is infallible, and one
of which is fallible.
And you need to be mature enough to
differentiate between the two.
When you love a preacher, what you really
have fallen in love with is the religion
of Allah through this preacher.
What you have really fallen in love with
is the deen of Allah.
So separate the love of the deen from
the love of the instrument that led you
to the deen.
And understand if the instrument falls, then your
love of the deen should not fall.
Understand this point.
And we need to be blunt about this.
May Allah protect all of us.
You have many of you listen to my
seerah.
If somebody respects and admires, you know, the
seerah lessons that he has heard, understand what
you respect and admire is the person that
the seerah describes.
And as for the middleman, may Allah forgive,
may Allah accept, but the middleman cannot, the
conduit, the vessel cannot actually exemplify the seerah
that he teaches because nobody can exemplify it
other than the person who is the seerah.
And we need to be blunt and educate
our youth in this regard.
So when a shaykh or alim collapses, when
a zillah happens, when a tragedy or a
scandal happens, then yes, wallahi, it's painful.
I get it.
But the level of maturity should be common
that that should not lead ideally to a
crisis of faith.
Ideally, it should not lead.
Because realize what you fell in love with
was not this intermediate.
It was not the vessel.
It was not the key.
It was the message behind the person.
It was the content and that content is
divine.
The Quran, the sunnah, the seerah, that content
is the deen of Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala.
And therefore, even if, you know, a qari,
you fell in love with his voice and
whatnot, even when something might have happened, don't
forget what you actually, what affected your heart
was the tilawat of the kitab of Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala.
So separate the qari from what he recited
and separate the ilm from the one who
taught the ilm.
And yes, it does require a level of
maturity, but we need to be blunt in
this regard, because people are fallible, but the
deen is infallible.
The instruments are fallible, but what is taught
is infallible.
Therefore, this is the one of the most
important things that needs to be said over
here.
Therefore, the fall of a preacher should not
lead to the fall of what the preacher
preached.
This is this distinction over here.
At the same time, after all has been
said and done, still, we as a community
need to be very clear about our own
guidelines.
There are reasons why the sharia has forbidden
what it has forbidden.
The sharia has put into place many guidelines.
Now is not the time to talk about
all of them, but especially one of the
main guidelines that we have to observe in
our lives, even outside of ilm, but especially
when it comes to ilm, is khalwah, being
alone with a person of the opposite gender,
being alone with any time there's temptation.
It should not ever be done alone.
The Prophet ﷺ said, never should a man
be with a woman alone.
If they are, then shaitan is a third
of them.
So especially, especially teachers, any type, even non
-religious teachers, doesn't matter, people of influence, people
of power, especially them, they should never be
alone with a person of the opposite gender,
such that these types of conversations, one thing
can lead to another.
There should always be proper decorum.
There should always be adab that is observed,
that is an Islamic nature.
And when there is no khalwah and everything
is in public, then this really minimizes the
potential dangers.
Also, one of the things that needs to
be done, the awkward and very, you know,
sensitive topic as well, and that is we
need to educate our children about the reality
of sexual crimes, predatory nature.
This is what, and it's not just, by
the way, for religious preachers.
Actually, actually, statistically, the number one, if you
like, candidate or the number one cause of
molestation is extended family and friends.
This is statistically well known.
And so we as a community think this
is taboo.
We don't talk about it.
In this country, in this country, it is
estimated one out of four or one out
of five children is molested in this country.
And fact of the matter is, and I
know it's so taboo, but in our countries,
back home, it is higher.
One of the reasons we don't want to
talk to our children about this.
When the children are not educated, then it
becomes easier.
We have to be firm in this regard
and make sure that they are aware what
is right and what is wrong so that
inshallah we have another mechanism of checks and
balances.
Now, before I conclude, I want to finish
off on some of the more awkward topics
in this regard.
And that awkward topic, and I ask you
to please be mature in this regard and
to understand I'm not talking about a specific
case.
The specific case, if it has been verified,
has a very different ruling because minors are
involved and vulgar things have happened.
So there is no mercy and there is
no, you know, there's no two opinions on
this regard.
So I'm not talking about that case.
I'm talking about generally the awkward reality.
Please listen to this.
May Allah protect all of us.
This is a mature conversation and I'm asking
you to not be emotional.
Not all sins are the same.
And one of our biggest problems is we
lump sins into one category.
No preacher is absolutely infallible.
Actually, you should all know this.
No preacher is absolutely infallible.
There is a spectrum of sins.
And if you come across a sin by
any person, even a preacher, even a shaykh,
even an alim, there is, there's a category.
So let's begin with one category that is
on the very minor side of things.
A personal private sin that does not affect
anyone in the community.
That is a sin between this person and
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
It's not affecting any predatory behavior.
Nobody else is being harmed.
You come across, you find that somebody, whether
shaykh or not, because here's the point.
While it is true that shuyukh have a
higher responsibility, at the same time, when it
comes to personal private sins, shuyukh have the
same rights as other Muslims.
Because shuyukh are also Muslims in the end
of the day.
So if you come across a personal private
sin, for example, in my opinion, smoking is
definitely not something that should be done.
It's very vulgar habit.
Let's just leave it at that.
Suppose you come across a shaykh that is
smoking.
What is the way forward?
Should you go and tell the whole community,
oh my god, I found this guy, he's
smoking.
He's supposed to be giving khutbas, but he's
smoking in his house, for example.
Even if you think smoking is haram, in
the end of the day, that is a
personal sin.
And you should advise, you should tell him
to fear Allah if he also believes, because
there is a minority opinion that smoking is
a different, I'm just giving an example that
you get the point here.
Any personal private sin, there's no question that
it is not befitting, but there is an
element of the rights of the Muslim which
includes covering up the personal private sins.
The exact opposite example is, astaghfirullah, predatory behavior,
grooming behavior, child abuse.
There is no question that there is no
covering up allowed.
You must expose, and you must warn, and
you must take precautions.
The problem comes in the middle, there's a
lot of gray areas.
In the middle, there's a lot of more
awkward areas.
And here is where it's not sometimes crystal
clear what is the best way forward.
And I'm sorry to be explicit, but because
we have to face this reality, let me
give you one or two generic examples.
And again, I'm speaking about generic examples, right?
There's no question that we do not approve
of secret marriages.
This is not ethical, and it is not
befitting.
It's not something that is good.
But suppose somebody, you find out they have
a secret marriage, meaning all of the conditions
have been met.
Two adults, consenting adults, we're not talking astaghfirullah,
children is nothing.
We're talking about adults, they're both aware what's
going on.
All the conditions have been met, the mahr
has been given the shurut, whatnot.
This is an awkward question, and I'm sorry
to be blunt, but it needs to, you
guys need to think about this, because I
don't have an answer to this.
What if you do come across a secret
marriage?
Is this a sin that needs to be
exposed?
Is this some, and again, there's no predatory
behavior, I'm making the conditions, there's no minors
involved.
It's very clear that both of them are
full baligh and aqir, they understand, and for
whatever reason, for whatever reason, they have said,
let's not tell other people, we have the
two witnesses, the wali knows, the people who
need to know know, and let's just keep
it, you know, without making much publicity about
it.
Okay, this is an ambiguous area.
And some people get very sensitive, like, no,
he must be exposed.
Exposed for what exactly?
For what exactly?
What did this person do?
And I'm sorry to be blunt here, but
sometimes we go to extremes.
There was somebody that came to our masjid
from another country, from another country, and he's
very publicly married to multiple wives, another country,
not American.
And I'll be blunt here.
We got such harsh backlash from so many
of one gender.
How dare you invite this person?
But why?
What did he say?
And if you look at all of this,
because he's encouraging people to have multiple wives
in his country, in his country, back home.
Now you tell me, that's exactly what I'm
saying.
This ambiguity here, that there is this notion
that we're not going to have somebody that
we don't agree with their views in this
regard.
Well, it's a gray area here when you
might not like this person saying his views
or his jokes or whatever, but we made
a judgment call that we didn't find anything
un-Islamic in this.
You might not like it, but this is
our judgment call in this regard.
Same goes for other things that are of
an ambiguous nature, that there is a judgment
call.
And here, again, allow me to be blunt
because my goal is not just for publicity.
Astaghfirullah.
My goal is not to be celebrity, Sheikh.
Wallahi, my goal is to teach you lessons
that are going to be valuable even after
I die.
People criticize me.
I don't care.
I want the knowledge that I teach to
benefit generations to come.
I want to teach you the usool and
the qawa'id so that inshallah later on
you will benefit.
Listen to this carefully.
It's okay to disagree about these ambiguous areas.
You don't have to convert everybody to your
opinion.
Meaning, to be very blunt, very blunt.
If a Sheikh has done something ambiguous, you
know one of these things that are, I'm
not talking about grooming, I'm not talking about
child molestation, I'm not talking about blatant haram,
something that is gray.
And you say, that's it.
I'm not going to listen to him again.
I'm never going to forgive him.
And your friend says, yeah, but what's the
big deal?
He still gives a good lecture about Quran,
seerah, hadith, tafsir, fiqh, aqeedah.
I don't mind.
He can do that.
It's okay.
Neither of you two is right.
Neither of you two is wrong.
Allah didn't oblige you to listen to a
particular preacher.
If you don't like me, don't listen to
me.
But if somebody wants to listen, and you
know, and I have, mashallah, so many critics.
Whatever issue you want, you'll find somebody to
criticize me.
Too this, too that, too linear, too strict,
whatever it might be.
If you don't agree with me, no problem.
Wallahi, on the day of judgment, Allah will
not ask you which preachers you listen to.
You will not earn jannah by listening to
Yasir Qadhi, nor will you, audhu billah, go
to jahannam if you don't listen to Yasir
Qadhi.
If you don't like a preacher for whatever
reason, some people don't like me because I
speak too fast.
Good for them.
Good for them, mashallah.
Others don't like me because I drink too
much water when I teach the seerah.
I have a problem with ice water.
They can't stand it.
Okay, no problem.
And others have much bigger issues.
I know, I'm just giving tip.
No big deal.
Alhamdulillah.
It's okay.
Don't listen to me.
But if somebody else wants to listen, you
can try to convince them he drinks too
much ice water, whatever it might be.
Okay.
And if the person says, I don't care,
it's okay to disagree.
And I'm being very blunt here.
Why do you expect everybody must follow your
assessment of somebody else?
Why are you putting yourself as judge, jury,
and executioner when it comes to ambiguous areas?
Once again, I know my words, people are
going to say, no, I'm not talking about
child molestation.
I'm not talking about predatory behavior.
I'm not talking about clear-cut haram.
I'm talking about those ambiguous areas that might
not be noble, but they're also not evil.
Isn't that ambiguous?
And then the same philosophy, and I will
go there, may Allah forgive and protect all
of us, the same philosophy for somebody that
actually might have done a sin, but it
seems they have moved on.
The same philosophy applies that they have done
something wrong and they have then clearly moved
on.
Some people might say, and again, I'm not
talking about like heinous or abhorrent sins, because
again, there's a level of fitrah that is
disgusted at certain sins, but I'm talking about,
let's suppose a very disgusting sin, let's say
sharaab or something, or even like drugs or
something like this, right?
And it's discovered that somebody was doing this
or whatnot.
Then clearly, inshallah, obviously has repented and rehabilitated.
Now, somebody says, no, I'm never going to
listen to him because I used to think
he's a good man.
At the same time, he was smoking weed
or something like this, whatever it might be.
Okay, don't listen to him.
No problem.
It's okay.
And the one who says, okay, he had
a mistake.
I think he's made up for that mistake
and I can listen to him now.
That too is permissible.
Again, agree to disagree in these gray areas.
And if you understand this point, you will
understand much of the drama going on in
other cases going on in this timeframe.
Again, we're not talking about predatory and grooming
behavior.
So, bottom line here is that in this
gray area, you make your judgment call, you
can follow it and allow others to make
their judgment call as well.
Now, before I finish off, I want to
make it very clear as well, that we
at Epic take this amanah very, very seriously.
And we at Epic are very cognizant of
the responsibility the community has given us.
We have very strict policies in place.
Of those policies, the entire masjid, every single
room, including our offices, all of the shiur's
offices, and all of the classrooms have constant
24-hour cameras.
Those cameras, they record and they're put onto
a hard drive.
No person has access to them, but they're
recorded.
So, if there is need for access, then
with the police or whatever, they will be
there for the storage to find.
But this is well known, all of us
know this.
Even in my office, everybody's office, we have
cameras, no privacy.
Also, as a policy, as shiur and the
Quran teachers, all of us, we do not
allow one-on-one private doors closed with
any person of the opposite gender.
We're very clear in this regard, and it's
not something that we ever allow.
Also, our shiur, especially myself and all of
our shiur, we do not do counselling.
Because counselling is one of the biggest doors
of danger.
When you spend hours talking about problems with
somebody, it's very easy for feelings to develop.
Very easy.
And one of the biggest problems that we
have seen is when people who are not
qualified to be counsellors become counsellors.
You want to be a counsellor, you have
to train.
You have to train to become a counsellor.
And just because you graduated from a madrasah
doesn't make you a counsellor, a therapist.
That requires special training.
And if you do that training, do whatever
you want.
But as a shaykh, the average shaykh who
hasn't done special training should not be counselling,
marital counselling, divorce counselling, therapy, because that's where
so many problems happen.
So we have a strict policy that too
is not allowed.
So to summarise and to conclude, all Muslims,
no scholar is infallible.
No preacher is sinless.
It is the religion of Allah that is
perfect and infallible.
We have to teach our children and youth
this.
And yes, those who preach Islam, without a
doubt, they have a higher responsibility.
And the community should come together to police
them.
There should be protocols in place to ensure
that minimal damage is done.
But still, and I'm sorry to say this,
policies cannot protect a very evil person.
No matter how much policies you have, no
matter how many checks and balances you do,
you cannot stop a shaytanic individual.
And this is a reality that everybody should
know.
That's why there's a day of judgment.
That is why there's a qiyamah.
Because sometimes no matter what you do to
a perpetrator of such an evil, it's not
going to be justice in this dunya.
They have to wait for justice in the
hereafter.
So be reasonable when you demand policies.
Yes, wallahi, reasonable policy put into place.
But you cannot stop the waswasa of shaytan
completely.
And you cannot make a complete free, crime
-free society.
O Muslims, there were people who drank in
the time of the Prophet ﷺ.
There was * that happened, hadith is sahih
in Sunan Abu Dawud, in the time of
the Prophet ﷺ.
People killed each other in Medina.
Murders happened because that is life.
That is reality.
You cannot completely prevent 100%.
The goal is to minimize.
The goal is to enforce.
And when such things happen, la hawla wa
la quwwata illa billah, there is no sympathy
for actual perpetrators.
Also, by the way, one thing needs to
be said.
Actual perpetrators.
Until that verdict is done, it's best to
not be definitive.
Alleged.
Until.
Once we know it happens, then it happens.
But until it is done, because we also
have known.
I'm not talking about this case again.
But we have seen in the past.
Allegations happen and then it turns out to
be exaggerated.
All of you have lived through 9-11.
SubhanAllah, how many people were charged with the
most crazy crimes.
This and that and whatnot.
And all turned out to be completely false.
Again, I'm not talking about any one case.
I'm being generic here.
That Allah says, fatabayyanu, fathbutu, find out, be
firm.
Once we verify, then yes.
But before verification, let's keep it alleged.
Let's say, and we leave Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala to be the final judge.
In the end, brothers and sisters, Allah has
promised to protect the religion.
And this religion will be protected.
This is a guarantee from Allah.
So Allah's religion is protected.
And the individual people are not guaranteed to
be protected.
We hope Allah protects us.
We ask Allah for aafiyah.
We ask Allah for sathir.
We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to
conceal our faults, to forgive our sins.
We ask Allah to elevate our ranks.
We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala we
come together as a community.
We do not allow injustice to occur.
We do not allow safe space to evil
people and perpetrators.
We ask Allah to give us compassion with
wisdom and justice and to guide us to
the truth and to be united for his
sake.