Yasir Qadhi – Q&A is invoking saints shirk, charity as tax deductions
AI: Summary ©
The speakers discuss the confusion surrounding the concept of "monolithic whole" in Sunni Islam, with one speaker advising against it and suggesting researching and rethinking actions. They also emphasize the importance of avoiding false and inaccurate arguments and avoiding labels like "monolithic whole" in relation to the movement. The speakers stress the need for clear and firm principles and avoiding profitability. They also discuss the importance of following rules and avoiding labels like "monolithic whole" in relation to the movement.
AI: Summary ©
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Salam aleikum wa rahmatullah wa barakato. Al hamdu. lillahi. Wa salatu. was salam ala Rasulillah. He was it he was so happy woman who Allah. Hi, my bad. Welcome to another q&a. And today we're going to have a number of questions, the first of them, brother Nawaz, from India, he emails a very lengthy question describing certain issues that are going on in his area in his district, and mentioning some of the sectarian problems that are happening in his homeland. But in particular, there's a question that is a very relevant to us. And he mentioned that in his particular town, the majority of people follow a interpretation of Islam, in which they are encouraged to visit the graves and to
invoke the saints for their for their needs. And he is saying that recently, he has come across a new, you know, scholar, a new, he has not heard of this, you know, new group and he mentions it by name, and he has benefited from this group and online and whatnot. And this new group is saying that the practices of his culture and his people are actually shirk, and that anybody who does these types of practices of invoking the saints is in fact committing shirk. So now he is emailing me, asking that he has heard a number of my lectures and now what does he do because his family and his entire society is involved in these rulings.
Now, this is a very important a very necessary question. And it is one that requires time to elaborate on. So for those of you that will be able to listen to the longer lecture in this regard. hamdullah. That's great. If for some reason, you cannot listen to the remainder of this lecture. In a nutshell, I will conclude that this action is not something that is approved in the Quran and Sunnah. And that we should not be asking saints or the prophets of Allah some of our needs that we have, and that this is the position of the vast majority of the aroma of the past and of the President. And I will also be arguing that doing so is actually opening up the door to should,
however, if your family and if your friends are involved with this practice, then you must treat them as Muslims and consider them to be Muslims. And you should use your utmost wisdom and your utmost patience to try to convince them to give up these practices. That is the short summary. But now we're going to go into the longer, elaborate more elaborate lecture. Now for the detailed response. Actually, this, this question is particularly awkward for me to answer for two reasons. First and foremost, if you're listening to me regularly, you're seeing that I am trying my best to preach tolerance and respect of other interpretations of Islam, especially those opinions that are
followed by the for legal schools, and especially with the mainstream movements and groups of Islam. However, this particular issue, in reality, it is difficult for any one strand to accept the others, because some big words are being used. And for example, the word should is being thrown around. And so obviously, when a group accuses another of committing shirk, which is the one unforgivable sin in Islam, it's very difficult for either group to then say, Okay, this is something we can agree to disagree, and then be gentle, and whatnot. It's not like a filter issue, you know, is the saliva of the dog not just or 401 K, the cat? How much do we give, you know, we can clearly agree to disagree
on many issues of, you know, interpretation of law and the finer details of law. But what is to be done, when the question that is being asked, the differences of opinion are quite literally over Eman and kufr and Tauheed and Schilke. This is really what the question entails. And so obviously, it is made awkward because I don't want to preach a hatred of anybody who you know, lowers his head to Allah subhanho wa Taala don't want to
flame the fans of sectarianism. So as I give this response, I find it very difficult to you know, try to balance to do that, but inshallah I still hope to be able to do that. In fact, I will go so far as to state I would venture that this question of invoking the saints. This question is the single most
contentious and problematic issue in all of Sunni Islam, you know, Sunni Islam is not one unified, monolithic whole, within Sunni Islam, you have many strands, and you have many differences of opinion, legal, and even, yes, some theological issues as well. And I would say I cannot think of any issue that is potentially more problematic and more divisive within Sunni Islam with regards to this issue. Still, despite that, I will try my best in this response to preach a type of tolerance. And Inshallah, let's see it, let's see what the result of that is going to be. Also, I said this, this question is awkward for me for two reasons. Also, another reason why this question is awkward
is because, in particular, when it comes to me answering the question, so I have had a change of opinion, with regards to my own response to this question. And for many, many years of my life, more than a decade of my life, I followed one particular opinion. And in fact, you can easily look up other YouTube videos of mine from 1015 years ago, you can look up books that I have published, you know, from 20 years ago, in which I very, very clearly advocated for one particular opinion, which I'm going to come to soon, however, around a decade ago around, you know, literally a decade ago, eight, nine years ago, I went through a number of, you know, intellectual changes and rethinking
through, and frankly, this question, this question was the catalyst, and it was the main cause for me to research very, very intensely for a number of months where I would, you know, go over, you know, again, much can be said, I don't have time right now for this. And over the course of that timeframe, I myself began advocating another position, which is the position I began this lecture upon. And in fact that answering this question, almost a decade ago, in my own mind, was the primary cause that I, myself had a bit of a transformation and I went from one strand of Islam and I moved on from that, that strand, because this question for me, was one that I modified by my opinion. And
so this is a particularly
awkward question, because I'm telling you from now, that you will find YouTube lectures and you will find books of mine, in which I helped hold the position that is slightly different, it's not radically different slightly different than what I will be advocating in this particular lecture and have been advocating for around a decade. So you will find two different opinions of, of my own Inshallah, this is, you know, the reality of all people who study Islam for their entire lives and who do scholarly research that you know, over the periods of their lives, they are presented other evidences and they modify or adopt or change their opinions. And so I hope that inshallah that is
what I am demonstrating in this as well. Now, we also want to make one final disclaimer that this lecture today is about a very specific issue. And that is the issue of invoking the saints, and or the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam for our needs. This is not an issue about another topic that is called that was sold via the names of somebody so to say, for example, Oh Allah, I ask you by the right of your newbie by the hack of your newbie, that is a separate topic. So there's no that's a separate topic. Maybe another question, I will do that topic, but today's topic is to call out and say Ya Ali madad Yeah, Abdulkadir Gilani ya rasool Allah give me this, do that prevent this. So this
answer today is about a very clear cut scenario. And that is to call out to other than a law and to ask something from the being that you are calling out. And to ask something of this world or even have, you know, the next life like something that you ask him and you expect your your, your request to be responded to. Now, with regards to this question, academically speaking, just purely academically speaking, there are three primary opinions that are found within scholarly circles that claim to be Sunni, okay, three primary opinions amongst groups of Roma. And they all claim that they are and Asuna while Jamaah the first opinion, is that the action of invoking a saint to call out to
a Bing to say, yeah, so and so. Do this for me. Okay. Yeah. So and so yeah, Abdulkadir agenda. Ania Idema, the rasool Allah whatever it might be, I'm in trouble helped me my son is sick cure him, you know, I need to find a job, you know, help me find a job. The first opinion is that the mere action of doing this is in and of itself major shift, that the action is major shift. Now
At the end, so therefore the action will or would constitute something that has the potential to expel one from Islam. Now, within this first opinion, let's call this opinion one major shift, you have two sub opinions one A and one B. One A says that, therefore the one who does it becomes a mushrik. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. No way out. It's like our audible audible as somebody intentionally taking the most half out of biller and throwing it on the floor stomping on it, knowing it is the most half wanting to disrespect the most if there is no excuse unless you're threatened by death. There is no excuse to do something of this nature. So any Muslim who invokes
the dead who calls out to a saint who invokes the Prophet sallallahu Sallam group one a would say that action of theirs has expelled them from Islam, and they are no longer a Muslim. And they need to re accept the shahada, and restate the shahada, and repent to Allah subhanho wa taala, or else they're outside the fold of Islam. Okay, this is one A, one B says the action is an action of shipwreck, but the Muslim who does the action and is very unfair, very ignorant, very unaware living in a faraway land or not really having studied the Quran, not knowing the the evidences that that Muslim put simply follows what his society says, follows a misguided scholar, that we shall excuse
him out of his ignorance, and we will cut him some slack. So we'll say the action is an action of shirk. But this Muslim is excused because he's ignorant. And ignorance is an excuse, according to one be for this action. Okay, so one A, we don't excuse for ignorance, it is basically anybody who says the Kalama should know better. And if you say La ilaha illAllah. And then you call to the st. Automatically that has made you a mushrik. And then one B says, well, there are evidences that have their, you know, Mr. interpretation, and a person's mind is not fully aware, and he's an ignorant person. And so he follows his scholarly community in class. And therefore, we will make an excuse
for the ignorant person, and we will treat that person as a Muslim, even though we will state that your action is an action of shirk, and kufr. So outwardly, we treat him as a Muslim, and we consider him to be a Muslim. But in reality, we say your deed is the deed of Schick. And if you know better, and if you study the evidences, then really you have left the fold of Islam. So one be the action is sure, but the person is excused because of ignorance. Now, one beat was the position that I myself followed for 15 years of my life, and I preached and I taught, and I wrote books, defending one be some of the most advanced arguments in the English language ever written, and ever defending
paradigm one B, we're actually by yours truly. And so I'm very well well familiar with the arguments and counter arguments for that position. Now, which group holds this position, generally speaking, it is the followers of Mohammed even Abdul Wahab and the nature of the movement of Saudi Arabia and the Alia had this movement of Indian Pakistan, that this movement generally it is a very clear cut, that the action is always an action of shirk. One he says, Therefore, the person is Mushrik and one B says that the person might be excused because of ignorance. Now, again, I'm being academically historical rehear whether you agree with this or not, but it is the truth. The early followers of
Muhammad Ibn Abdul Wahab were on opinion, one eight, and the person himself was appointed pinion one eight, but his later followers and the modern school of that trend, the modern scholars of that movement, generally speaking, they're upon one beat. So this is a disconnect between the early and the founder and the early direct descendants, the grandsons and the people who are proponents of the movement, pre 1900, that, generally speaking, they were more sympathetic to one A, and that is how they dealt with their opponents, regardless of snippets and phrases that weren't Pfizer's in their books, but in reality, they treated their opponents as if they are non Muslims, if they disagreed
with their interpretation and modern followers of the school many of my own teachers are one B and one B is basically the action issue but we'll cut them some excuse out of ignorance okay. So this is the first opinion. The second opinion, which is now the opinion that I follow. The second opinion is the opinion that invoking the saints It is haram and it is evil. And it has an evil innovation, a religious innovation a bitter and it is a stepping stone to shirk. It is open
In the doors to shake, but it is not shake in and of itself. Unless that action is accompanied by a belief that you're calling out to a God. It is accompanied by a belief that you are deifying that entity that you are calling. So, opinion to says that the action is evil and haram and bitter and Mancur and the stepping stone to shirk, but it is not necessarily Schick in and of itself. And if a person has a particular athlete or belief about the one they are calling, then it becomes Shick and if they have another athlete or belief, then it is haram but it does not become in and of itself share it is dangerous. And it is something we warn against but in and of itself. It is not going to
be shirk unless the person doing it believes that they are worshipping a being that is worthy of worship that has independent powers that has the powers of a god. And this is the position of the majority of modern day. Maliki's for sure this is the Maliki madhhab and it is also many of the Hanafi scholars and really a lot of the Shafi scholars of Egypt and Syria and in the in terms of the strands of Satanism, this is the default position of the Deobandi movement as well. And it is also the position of many of the scholars of Azhar and other famous institutions, that they would say that it is haram and it is evil and it is a stepping stone to shirk, but that it is not in and of
itself shirk, unless the action is associated with a belief or it is accompanied by a belief that is going to be a belief of should and therefore the action will then also become an action of Shere Khan. As I said, I myself am now an advocate of the second position, I used to be one be and now I am very socially an opinion to
the third opinion, the third opinion, which is there, and factually speaking, factually speaking, one finds it amongst scholars in from around 700 600 years ago. It's nothing that's you know, we cannot say that this is a new opinion, I have done an extensive amount of research on this and you will actually find statements from respected soon near ADAMA, but again, factually speaking very, very small minority going back 500 years, 600 years, even one of them 700 years, and they will say that it is permissible, those scholars had permissible and some of the modern followers of that trend will say it is Mr. Hub, it is not just permissible, but it is encouraged, and it is pleasing
to Allah to ask these entities for our needs. And this is the position that is found in some Hanafi scholars in some Shafi scholars of our times, and it is predominant in some interpretations of Kosovo for Sufism, not all not all, many of the scholars of the soul, Wolf are in the second category. And some of them are in the third category. And in our times to make us understand like, you know what we're talking about. So the popular trend in our Indian Pakistani circles would be the Burrell V. trend of Islam. And so group one is like the ladies of India, Pakistan, group two is like the deobandis and group these three is like the babies and they have their positions in this regard.
Now, what further complicates the answer to this simple question of should we or should we not what further complicates this is that because this issue is so sectarian based within these strands, and because this issue has been advocated or criticized for over 600 700 years, this issue has been discussed and extrapolated upon and commented on for hundreds and 1000s of pages. And for so for the last 800 years, anything that you can possibly think of saying it has been done on any one of these camps, and it has been analyzed, it has been commented on, it has been refuted counter refuted counter counter refuted and by the way, so one of the things we need to understand is that there are
levels of advocating and refutation. There are levels, generally speaking in this q&a that I'm doing with all of you, all of these q&a series at hamdulillah have over right now 100 And what 60 or something something questions done in this regard. So generally speaking, I'm not going into that level of detail. I'm simply doing the first level and what is the first level the first level is the level that is used by the the average Muslim who wants to learn and the beginning student of knowledge which is to present the evidence is to prove the point that is level one you caught your evidence is you bring the Quran and Sunnah you bring the sameness of the aroma that is level one, of
course
level one each of these groups has done that they have proven from their paradigm, they think they have proven each one of them has advocated group one, a group one, B, group two, group three, they've all proven from their versions of understanding, they quote their particular verses, they quote their verses decode their verses. And the same with the traditions, that is level one, level two comes along, and then refutes each one of these. So level two will then come and take the evidences of the second group and the evidences of the third group and refute them. And the same goes for this and the same goes for that. And then level three comes and refutes the refutations and
also goes does a you know goes into a lot more analysis of who says what and what not. And we can go on and on. And therefore, dear viewer, I cannot confuse you in this basic lecture. This is a very basic q&a. And anything that I say in these 2030 minutes, anything that I say, can easily be taken to level two and level three and refuted and to be brutally honest, I'm able to then refute that level either, because again, I've done this research, this is my area of 14th expertise, which is Islamic theology. And I have done a lot of research and in particular, this issue, I have read no exaggeration, 1000s of pages in this regard. And I know the evidence is inside out. So anything I
say, because it is a basic lecture, those that disagree will easily be able to then latch on and then go to their level two. But of course, I don't have time nor even the energy or desire to go to my level two and level three. So we have to simply leave it at that and state that, believe it or not, every single one of these movements, has refuted the others in their own paradigm in their own ways. And
one of the things that I would advise the advanced student of knowledge to do is to if you really, really want to research, you will have to break away from reading the books of only your own farecard. Because this is one of the most common problems of the advanced students, I don't say this to the average person, the average person, you follow the show that you like an end of story, the basic student of knowledge should not go and read every single book that will confuse them the basics to the knowledge sticks with one school, Masters it and then moves on. But you see the advanced students one of the one of the mistakes of the genuine researcher is that they do not want
to read what the other schools say, from their own books, and from their own teachers, the teachers of the other school, rather what they do, they restrict themselves to what their own teachers spoon feed them. They restrict themselves to refutations that their own teachers have chosen. So their own teachers will say, Oh, those guys say x and to refute X, you say why those guys say eight you fruit a you say B and so the student feels Oh, I know all the evidence is, but the student has never actually studied with the other side, the student has never read cover to cover, they might read a snippet here and there, but they don't study cover to cover. And they don't immerse themselves in
the world view and the and the entire psychology and paradigm of the other school. And so they fail to understand the other school. Now this is not to say that all of them are correct. Obviously, there are not all correct clearly in the end of the day, the action is either shoot or it is haram and a stepping stone to shoot or it is Jasmine was to have it cannot be all three simultaneously. And neither am I advocating that what I am saying is that the advanced students have knowledge the advanced researcher should not and cannot restrict Himself to only listening to one group of scholars if they really want to understand the psychology and this is what I myself did almost a
decade ago is that I read directly from the writings and teachings the entire, you know, refutations and counter refutations and I read them back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. Whereas before this point in time, I was basically relying on one strand to tell me what they said and how to refute that. And that's not the way to, to go independent. And so doing that research, as I said, it made me realize that one A and one B is problematic. And by the way, it is problematic for multiple reasons of them is that you will have to make fear of the scholars who advocate these actions and if you know the names of those scholars, those are some very well known names, there is
no way out of it. Even if you say that the ignorant person is excused. What do you say to the audience? What do you say to them famous aroma of the strands of Islam that have advocated this and this is one of the reasons that I myself went down researching only to discover that in fact, one A and one B does not make any sense actually position two is the one that is sound and actually does make sense, which is that the action is dangerous and it is haram and it is evil, but in and of itself. It is not Schilke unless it is accompanied by a particular intention.
In and theology now, what do we do? Because you see whether we like it or not, you will find Rolla MA and not just modern aroma because we have to understand these movements but it was in the urban deism, you know, Allah Hadees they might be modern, only 120 years old, but the concepts that formed them, they go back hundreds of years, literally centuries, if not before this. So this notion of invoking the saints, the calling out to the dead, you find people in the seven hundreds, so of the hijra, literally seven hundreds of the hijra, you find people advocating all three positions, some of them said that it should in and of itself, someone that said It's haram, we should not do it and
some of this editors job is why not okay. So, what exactly you know, is to be done here, and, and again, to not go into a lot of detail, but we need to understand each one has a particular definition of worship and definition of Riba and definition of dua, and definition of Tawheed and shook. And based on their definitions, they can then advocate completely different worldviews. So for example, the first position which is the position of imminent global hub, the first position is that dua is an act of worship in all scenarios and senses, and it is a soul right of ALLAH SubhanA wa Tada. So whoever makes do out to other than Allah has committed schicke. It's a very simple, very
watertight in its own worldview, that if you say that calling out to anybody for your worldly need is DUA and dua is the right do to Allah subhanho wa taala, then one plus one equals two, so to call out to anybody other than Allah is therefore shirk, okay. So this is a position that advocated by the first school, the second school says, that no, calling out in and of itself is not necessarily shirk, rather, the shift element will come. If you believe that the one you are calling is a god is an ILA and you are wanting to worship that either there must be the intention of worship, why? Because actions are judged by intentions. And if you did not intend to worship other than Allah,
then you cannot be held liable for worshiping other than Allah in naman. Mr. Lubin Nia is a very simple, very common sense logic. And they give actually many solid examples, and of those examples is that every single ritual, every single deed, if you don't do it, you know, for the intention of Schick, it will not constitutional but it might be haram. For example, such there is the classic example right Sajida prostration, we can prostrate to an entity out of respect, and that prostration it used to be Khaled in the previous videos, such as use of and his parents, as the Quran says, who will have ruler who sued Judah they bow down and such them. And to lower the head in respect to
somebody else, is something that is still found in Eastern cultures, who was found in Western society, you know, a man would lower his head to the lady you lower your head in respect. And in the Shetty as of previous prophets, it was allowed our Sharia has come and they have said under sorry, the prophet system has said It is haram. It is not allowed. It's not sherek to lower your head out of respect to a person. It's not shirk. Nobody says this even group one does not say this, that if you lower your head out of respect, because the angels bow down to Adam, it could not be a theological shift. It's allowed by Allah for their Sharia, but our Sharia has come and forbidden it.
So if you were to bow your head to a person out of respect, you would not be considered a motion. If you go to the Far East, and everybody's bowing and you're like, oh, okay, I'll also about you're not considering the president to be a god, you that's what they're all doing. It's haram, you shouldn't do that. But it is not shitting. Now, if you bow down to the statue of a god, and you prostrate thinking that the God is worthy of respect, then this shirt, what's the difference? It's your Nia. In the first case you didn't intend to worship in the second case you didn't intend worship of a deity. Likewise, this group will argue to call out to an entity is not in and of itself should
rather only if you believe that that entity has powers and is worthy of worship and is a god. Would it be considered Schick otherwise it would be haram? And this is as I told you, my, in my opinion, the more sound answer theologically, it actually fits and makes sense. Because again, whatever I say now you can easily go to level two, that's the problem. But the point being that you can call somebody and ask somebody for something that they're capable of doing so I can call my friend
then say, Hey, can you pick me up and give me a ride? And that's obviously not sure if I can call my child and say, Can you help me with the groceries, and in Arabic, this is a type of dua. And from the perspective of group three, we're going to come to, they are saying it's the same genre, the same philosophy, the same idea that I'm calling an entity and asking that entity something that that entity can do. I don't intend worship, I don't intend that to God. And the responses that obviously Allah has not given them that power, but see the mistake of ascribing a power to an entity. That mistake if you think Allah gave that power does not constitute Schick, it constitutes a mistake. So
one cannot extrapolate that calling a dead entity for your needs is in and of itself, Schick. And again, that's much can be said here. But position number two basically says that it is held on but not chill. Position number three, as we explained, they state that asking the debt As already explained very briefly, is not very bad, and it is not dua, rather they say it is simply asking an entity something that Allah has given them the power to do, just like I gave you the examples of if I'm in my car in the garage, and I call out to my son, Hey, son, come help me lift the groceries. Nobody would say this is shit.
group three says the same philosophy. Again, I'm not equating I'm talking about the philosophy that when you call out to the saint, Allah has given the st some powers according to group three, and the st will then give you what you want. Just like my son has physical strength mashallah Tabata Kala is a young man, right? He's stronger than me. Mashallah. So I call my son to lift the groceries. group three says the same philosophy. I'm calling I'm a Hulu. group three says we're not calling a god. We're not considering this to be a god. We're not giving divine powers. We know that Allah has given that entity those powers not not it is not a god, and we are not worshiping that entity. And so they
have their evidences for doing it. And of course, I mean, I disagree with this paradigm for multiple reasons of them, is that the the undeniable reality is that the earliest of generations, the Sahaba Abu Bakr, so therefore the Allahu Akbar, the hilltop, these great companions, none of them, none of them ever called out to the Prophet salallahu idea he was setting him after he left this earth, despite the fact that there were so many problems happening. There was a drought that people died, there was a plague in Syria again, 10s of 1000s of Sahaba died. There was Civil War, over 50,000 people were killed civil war between the companions. And never once did one of the groups a Yara
suit Allah method. Yeah, so and so help me out? I'll do one. They didn't do that. Because they understood that that's not why Allah sent the messenger SallAllahu ala he was setting them, we have to really think a little bit critically, is this why our profit system was sent that US beings call other than a law in our times of need is that why? What are shady I came with, so we have to be a little bit more critical here. I know the arguments of group three, I'm aware of the thought and the various things that do that I want to talk about them in this brief q&a. But I want to ask a simple psychological question. Do you really think that this is what the religion of Islam is about? That
when we're in trouble when my child is sick, when I don't get a job, I think of previous generations and people that have gone on and invoke them from for my needs, or should I call out to Allah subhanho wa Taala and say, Oh Allah yah hoo. faria result. I'm a nun yaka. We Shafi cure my son, what is the reality of the meaning of the Kenema? So again, I mean, I think that this is something that really we need to be clear about. And also, by the way, another thing that we can say, and it is a bit of an emotional argument, it's not fully academic, but it is still something that I think should be said, that it is undeniable that in those places where such veneration occurs of the
saints, in those places, where the graves they are bowed down to and people tie things in knots and whatnot. In those types of areas, really the line between Islam and between paganism becomes very, very blurred. And that is why at these shrines and in these types of subcultures, one finds people maybe of a paganistic faith tradition, are also coming and participating. And I have visited the great land of India it is the land of my ancestors, my my all my father, my grandfather's were born in India and they migrated to Pakistan. My parents were both born in India and then came to Buxton as young children. So it is the land of my ancestors. I'm not saying this in a in a negative thing,
but I have seen
With my own eyes, multiple places, that in these locations of Muslim shrines, there are Hindus that also come and participate, but you will never find a Hindu come to the masjid and pray five times a day. But you will find in these areas, people of different faiths merging together, and it kind of indicates that they see a commonality with what is happening here, that doesn't make sense to the rest of the OMA. And that is why really, we need to be, you know, very clear and firm, we all have to have red lines. And for me, I do preach tolerance, and I do preach, definitely don't preach, you know, sectarianism, but at the same time, there must be reasonable limits, and of those limits is
that we do not invoke the dead for our needs. Now, that having been said, Remember, my position is not the position of Groupon anymore, I do not consider the action to be inherently Schick in and of itself. And by the way, the LD D, there is a very again, the evidence is used by group three, they are very similar to but not exactly the same as the psychology of those who worship other than Allah, but it is not the same. And that's a key point here, unlike what group one says, the group one says, I will explicitly state that there are evidences are the same as the evidences of the Quran, that is simply false. That is totally false. The Quraysh when they worship their gods, they
recognize them to be gods, and they recognize what they're doing is worship mana Budo, whom we only worship them, they consider it to be worship, but no Muslim ever says I am worshiping the prophets of Allah. So I'm worshipping Abdulkadir Janani or it or these other you know, the no Muslim says this or believes this in their mind it is not worship, and in their mind, it is not worship, if they don't consider it to be worship, and we believe in them and Amma Lavinia How can we consider to be worshipped? Also, Allah says in the Quran, when the Roma Allah, He ILA, and her, whoever calls out to another ILA, besides Allah shall have no excuse, on the Day of Judgment, it is very clear,
whoever calls out to an ILA. So to call out to a non Isla, I can call my son and say help me in and of itself, this is not it cannot be shooting, it could be haram. And so to call the dead is haram, because the Sharia does not allow us, but it is not sure to simply call out, if you don't consider the being that you call out to be an ILA. The Quran, again, is very clear, in this point, look at the technical language. So the point being the Quraysh. And even, you know, the pagans of our times and whatnot, the gods that they worship, they consider them to be gods, and they consider them to be icons of worship. Whereas these misguided Muslims and they are misguided, but they're also Muslims,
these misguided Muslims do not consider these entities to be gods. And they also do not consider their actions to be worship. And therefore, I don't agree with group one, two considers this to be shaken in any scenario, rather, group two is the one that is more sound, and it makes all the evidence is fit fair and square in this regard. Now, all of this having been said, and this is a very long response, but it needs to be done. That my advice, and especially our brother is writing, you know, from the lines of India, the lines of my own forefathers. My advice is that, you know, you mentioned that the majority of your family, the majority of your peoples are doing this, your own
villages doing this. So now that you have been exposed to another ideology, and it looks like you've been exposed to group one, you know, you're saying that the you know, the the Salafi movement has basically, you have been exposed to that. So realize there's a group too as well, that is the position that I'm advocating, and that is the majority position, historically, speaking simply in terms of quantity, simply in terms of the number of scholars, you will find group two is the majority, even to group one online, mashallah to articulate their presence is indeed immense. And, of course, my own respect to teachers and the scholars of Saudi Arabia. Pretty much they're all on
group one, and I respect them and I appreciate them but at the same time, the notion of considering other Muslims to be committing Schick is indeed very problematic and it is itself an opening door to danger as we have seen amongst many extremist movements. So I do not consider the action to be an action of Chinook rather I say that and by the way, even if you follow group one, and shallow to either your following group one be okay, in which case excuses are made for the average layperson and they are considered to be Muslim within the fold of Islam. So my advice to you dear brother, my advice to you is that
this action is not correct, but the people that are doing it are your kith and kin, and they are your fellow man.
slums as well. They are Muslims. And so do not begin with a hostile manner of trying to correct them throwing out adjectives like shitcan, Cofer and whatnot because it's going to turn people away, as we have seen in the last 30 years is going to turn people away. On the contrary, approach them with gentleness and with manners and approach them, not by negating what they do, but by affirming who Allah is. Not by criticizing the icons that they're underrating but by talking about the love of Allah talking about Allah is Samir Allah is Vasil. Why would you go to another entity when Allah can hear you when Allah sees you? Allah answers you, Allah is Rezac, Allah is Shafi Allah use keep on
mentioning the attributes of Allah, preach to them by affirming the power of Allah, and not by negating their doctrines. And by talking about their teachers know, how can they I mean, no Muslim is going to reject you, when you come to him talking about the power of Allah, the Majesty of Allah, the names and attributes of Allah, so approach them in this wise manner, and also approach them as well, by mentioning the fact that, you know, why did the process that have come? Did he come so that you know, other entities are worshipped? Or did he come, you know, so that we all turn to Allah subhanho wa taala. So approach them with gentleness with with wisdom, and do not antagonize be
thinking in the long term. And, you know, I realize it is an emotional issue. But we cannot increase the sectarianism between our own Muslim brethren, and especially to your brother, you are writing from a land where, unfortunately, certain strands of these polytheistic religions and the BJP party and others, they're going down the route of fascism, the route of almost genocidal tendencies, and in this stage, and in this context for us, Muslims to turn against each other, and for us Muslims to stab each other in the back. Because, you know, I mean, I have been to India many times, and I have many, you know, colleagues and friends and mentors from there. And I know for a fact that this
interests, sectarianism between this strand and that strand, it has reached such nasty levels, that friends of mine, colleagues of mine, Muslims, other strands have reached out to the BJP. And other strands have said, Oh, that guy is a fanatic. And that guy is an extremist because he preaches other than, you know, position one, or position two or position three. And so you have our own Muslim brethren, thinking that it is better to reach out to the BJP, and be against another Muslim because of this interest, sectarian hostility. Surely, we can all agree that that is ludicrous. Surely we can all agree that that is not allowed. Please do your brother even as you adopt a position.
Understand that the people who advocate these other positions are within the fold of Islam, as long as you follow one be or two or three, they're all within the fold of Islam, and treat them like fellow Muslims, and be gentle and wise with them, and realize that your job is to preach in the best of manners and the wisest of manners as that Allah subhanho wa Taala guides me new to that witchy loves
our second question today.
Our second question today, brother SHA hid from the state of Iowa emails. And he says that, is it allowed to claim your charity as tax deductions in the end of the fiscal year? And if one does so, then does it diminish the reward of the charity?
So this is a very good question. And it deals with the the notion of so here in America, for those of you that are watching from other countries, here in America, the IRS or the Internal Revenue Service, which is what we pay our taxes to, that it allows any contribution to a registered charity to diminish your taxes up to a certain percentage right. So, if you give you know X amount to a registered charity, you can claim that X amount and you will get Y amount credit and that Y amount credit will be deducted from your taxes. So instead of paying $1,000 in taxes, you will pay 1000 Minus y so it will deduce so basically, you you pay, you pay your charity, you give some charity,
and you also get some tax deduction bonus, which will save you some money. So our brother is asking that is this Halal in Islam? And number two, if it is halal, does it diminish the reward of the charity given? So it's a very good question. And the response is as follows. That, let me rephrase the question. Can you do a good deed
he'd for the sake of a worldly benefit, can you do a good deed for the sake of a worldly Bennett because in reality, you're paying $1,000 in let's say Zakat, and you might get, I mean, you know, depending on your tax bracket, everything you might get 300 $200 basically written off, you know, of that amount in your final in your final, you know, tax amount that you give. So, can you give that $1,000 and intent as well, that hey, I'm gonna get you know, two $300 taken off of my taxes, get a double whammy, get a win win situation. The response is that in our religion, we thank Allah subhanho wa Taala that you are allowed to do a good deed for the sake of a financial benefit as long
as you have the intention to please Allah. So the intention to please Allah and the financial benefit is something that is permissible. What is impermissible is the intention to please Allah and the intention to impress another human being. If you combine those two, this constitutes minor shirk and the deed shall be rejected. So if you stand up to pray, and your Nia is for Allah subhanho wa taala, but you are seeing the people around you and you want to impress them that I am praying a good Salah that sila now becomes tainted by showing off, and that will be rejected by Allah subhanho wa Taala as a minor shake as a minor shake. So this is something that is completely not allowed, you
give charity, and you give $1,000 to the orphanage, but you want to impress the people, the names are being announced so and so has given an you know, yes, it has given $1,000 Oh, it took me and you feel Yes, that's why I wanted to give I wanted the people to know I gave $1,000 Those people who do that, it will be rejected. Our Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said that Allah subhanho wa Taala says, I am the least of all beings who needs to be associated with anyone. So anyone who associates me along with another person, I leave the good deed to that other person, and he can give the reward to that person. So, Allah subhanho wa Taala does not accept any deed that is done with the intention
of pleasing another entity other than Allah. However, in Allah's mercy, Allah has allowed a good deed that is done with the intention, not to please another entity, but to gain financial reward for ourselves. That is a concession given, it's not the default. It is a concession. And there are many, many evidences for this of them is the famous hadith of our Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, in which he says that the most important or the most rightful salary that anybody can get the most rightful earnings that you can get is for teaching somebody the Quran. So you pay somebody to teach yourself or your child the Quran, the prophet system is saying that earning it is the most blessed
and the most rightful, the most important salary is the Quran teacher. Okay. Now the Quran teacher, is he not doing an action of worship to teach somebody the Quran? Yes. But you see, if we stopped paying Quran teachers who would teach our kids we thank Allah that Allah subhana wa Tada has allowed religious work to be done for a stipend. But the knee yeah has to be for Allah. And then also yes, for this type of no problem. And also, for example, Allah says in the Quran,
lace Alikum Jonathan that there is no harm upon you for seeking
it is from Allah during the Hajj. Okay, so when you go for Hajj, there is no sin on you, if you want to do a business as well, meaning what? So in those days, the Hajj was a long journey, as you know.
And people would come from all over the world as they still do, you know, in the days of hedge. And so it's the ideal place to have a market a bazaar. And so what they would do is that after the days of hedge, they would have a massive bazaar in MENA. And you would have merchants you know, from Uzbekistan and merchants from Morocco and merchants from underdosing merchants from Syria and merchants from you know, Yemen, all of them are trading goods and it's the ideal international marketplace in bazaar What better you know, time and place to do that right after hide you have a whole week or two of bazaars. And Allah subhanho wa Taala says, There is no sin on you. Because
here's the point. Suppose you are a merchant. Suppose you're a seller of hides and tans or you're a honey you know, merchant
And you're going for hedge. Now you tell me, what did it come in your mind, hey, I can take my furs, my skin's my honey. And I can travel all the way to Makkah, and there will be 10s of 1000s of people from around the world. And I can make some money and charge a higher price because back home this is a dime a dozen. But over there I'm the only merchant you know from Bihar selling this for example, right? I'm the only, you know, Jewel merchant from from Uzbekistan, I'm the only, you know, Moroccan cheaper or firm. And so he has the intention, I'm going to go for Hajj and I'm also going to do a business. Okay, what is to be done now? Is it allowed to dough girl for Hajj and also do a business?
And Allah explicitly says in the Quran, there is no sin on you. If you desire money from Allah during the Hajj. No, this isn't the hustle, Rebekah look it up yourself Surah Baqarah. So based on this dear brother in Islam, there is no sin in giving a charitable donation. And you know full well that you will declare it with the IRS and you will get a tax deduction. And you will therefore gain some benefit, you know, in that regard. Now, so therefore, there's no sin whatsoever. And anybody who says otherwise, frankly, speaking without knowledge to be gentle here, he's speaking completely without knowledge. Now, the question arises, and you ask this question, does it diminish the reward
of the charity? And the response is that that is dependent upon your intention. If your intention is 100%, you know, for that charity that you are doing, and then you declare it and you realize it's a benefit that Allah is giving you, then your reward is 100%. And if your intention is, you know, 8020 or 7030, well, then the reward will be based upon your intention in the money amount of money yet, okay? So there are people, non Muslims, they don't believe in the era, they don't believe in a higher power and they still give charity for tax deduction purposes. Clearly, they will have zero reward because they had zero intention, inshallah Muslim can never get to that level. But it is
possible that a Muslim primarily gives for the tax deduction purposes. And incidentally, for some reward, therefore, for that person, that rewards will be according to that sincerity that he had. And there are others that the tax deduction is incidental. It's not even something that motivates them. It's not there, it doesn't matter. But they realize if I give you know I can declare it at the end of the year and when the time comes, they to figure out and they calculate and whatnot and insha Allah Allah, they will get 100% of the reward, the claim or the notion of not deducting from your taxes, thinking Allah shall reward you. That's not technically correct.
You if you did it for the sake of Allah sincerely, then you shall be rewarded 100% sincerely and to declare it at the end as a tax deduction or whatnot, that will not diminish the sincerity as long as you are sincere in the beginning. So I hope that that answers your question, and that you do continue to give lots and lots of charity and continue to claim your exemptions from Uncle Sam and with that insha Allah data that we come to to the conclusion of today's q&a Until next time, Santa Monica
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