Yasir Qadhi – Ramadan 2015 – Day 15

			Kumara to LA he was about to catch you at hamdulillah salatu salam ala rasulillah. While early he
will be here, woman, why am I bad? So in today's recitation, and also a number of times in the
previous recitations, we have come across a story that is actually a very practical relevance in our
time and our society. And that is the story of the Prophet lute, either his setup the story of the
Prophet Ruth and his Salaam. Now, of course, we all understand in light of last week's ruling here
in our own country, that this story takes on even more significance for us as American Muslims. And
we need to analyze and ask ourselves, what exactly can we benefit from the story, even as we are
		

			basically navigating through the modern life here in America and the story of the Prophet lute in a
nutshell, all of us are aware of it. We've studied this, you know, since we were children, that the
Prophet Luke alayhis salaam, he is the nephew of which Prophet Ibrahim alayhis salam. And Allah sent
the Prophet loot to a city that was doing many evil things. One of the evil things they were doing
was that of homosexuality, but they had other evils as well. They were highway robbers as well,
while
		

			they were stopping the caravans and just robbing their goods for them. And they were also doing
other evil things. So Allah sent Abraham's nephew loot to this city, and he preached to them
morality, he preached to them, how to be good and righteous to worship Allah subhana wa Tada. And as
we know, they did not really listen to him. So Allah sent three angels to the Prophet Ibrahim, first
and foremost, and these angels gave the good news to the Prophet Ibrahim, that he would be a father
and a grandfather, for sure. Now who is Hakka woman? What is how kar yaku so at one day, he gets the
good news. Not only will you have a son, you will also have a grandson as well. So then the three
		

			said we're going to do in our Sunday Lacombe loot, we're going to go to the Prophet loot. And these
three angels then went to the Prophet Lord alayhis salaam. Now it is well known in our tradition
that Allah azza wa jal sends angels in the best of all fashion and manners, that the angels look
almost superhuman, they look because they are superhuman, they look as if they're from another world
the perfect embodiment of everything. And by the way, that is why when the women of use of saw use
of what did they say, when the woman and the story of use of they saw the profit use of what did
they say? Or do Madhava Bashara in her the Illa mela conquering Canyon This must be an angel. So an
		

			angel always comes in the most super human basically handsome person imaginable. So when the three
angels came, the people of the city became greedy. They became if you like, sexually motivated to go
and approach these men and Allah mentions this that word Yahoo Omaha Runa la the people came rushing
you Haroon la they're rushing to the house of the Prophet Luke it his solemn and in another verse,
what john Medina to establish your own, the people of this city came and they were happy, they were
beaming with joy. Why? Because now they have access to these superhuman entities. Of course, the
people did not know they were angels. Now he argued with them. And he tried to dissuade them. And he
		

			said, how would I play FIFA? Lots of these are my guests. Don't embarrass me, I have a
responsibility to protect them. How will I avoid the fallout of our own? These are my guests don't
humiliate me, don't embarrass me. He even offered them his own daughters in marriage if they were to
repent from their ways, or how would I bonacci who knows how come these are my daughters they are
pure for you. Meaning if you repent and you give up your ways and you become good people I will give
you my own daughters in a legitimate * if you are righteous people and they said all mad and
Fibonacci come in half they said we have no right on your daughter's we don't want your doctors we
		

			have no right on your daughter's one in Thailand. Oh man who did you know what we want? You know
what we want? And they refused and subpanel one of the most amazing verses in the Quran describes
their state. One of the most profound verses in the Quran. Allah says lamb ruka in whom Luffy
sokrati him Yama Hoon? I swear by your soul or Mohammed Allah swears by the soul of Mohammed by the
life of Mohammed. I swear by your life yada suta La La maruka in the home Luffy sokrati him Yama
hoon. They are the word Sakura means drunken, right they are lost in their in their sensual desires
and they are misguided. So Allah describes their overpowering desires as having caused them to
		

			become blind as having caused them to literally go into a type of literally Sakura, and that's
intoxication. It's as if they cannot even think straight. This is of course the people of the town
of loot. They can't even think straight because they want one
		

			thing there America in the home. Luffy sokrati him Yama hoon. They were so overcome with their
sexual desires. Allah calls them lost in their drunkenness. They weren't literally drunk. They were
drunk With what? With lust, they were drunk with lust. So we know the story that Allah saved the
Prophet, Lord, the three angels said, We are angels in now those who are bigger than LA, they're not
gonna harm Don't worry, we are angels, we have come to tell you to take your family and to leave the
city in the middle of the night, illiberal attacker in the homeless evil hammer or sababa, other
than your wife, she will be punished the way that they were punished. Now, why was his wife
		

			punished? Our scholars of Tafseer say that his wife was a person who actually agreed with the law of
the or the the culture of the people of the town. And she actually told them that there are three
guests, you will like them. So she was the one who betrayed the trust of her husband. She was the
one who went and told them, oh, we have three guests come in, take them and do what you want with
them. And that is why Allah mentions in the Quran that give the example of the wives of new and Ruth
can attack the enemy. Anybody know Sally Haney for calling that they betrayed their husbands? How
did the wife aleut betray her husband, the trust of her husband, he's a prophet of Allah, and he has
		

			guests from Allah, you don't go and you tell the people knowing and she knew what they were gonna
do. And she wanted them to do that. She wanted the sympathy of her people. She wanted them to do
that. And so Allah azza wa jal basically gave her the same punishment as them. Now some people want
to reinterpret the story in modern Islam, and they want to say what the people of loot were guilty
of was * and not consensual * between men. But this is not true. It is true that in
this particular case, they wanted to * the angels. It is true that they said give us the men we
want to do what we want to do. It is true that in this case, however, the prophet loot is very
		

			explicit in the Quran. Their crime was not just *, their crime was also consensual of the same
gender. Allah says in the Quran in the community tuner rajala Shahada mendonca Nisa nicoleta,
Tunisia was Dr. Ana, Sybil, excuse me, do you come to men and you rob the caravans. So coming to men
in and of itself was considered to be a crime. And then another verse in nicoleta turati Giada
Waterman do Nyssa do you approach men with lust instead of women? Verily, you are a group that has
gone beyond the bounds. Therefore, anybody who believes in the Quran, anybody who believes in the
Quran has to extract from this story, that it is unethical and immoral to engage in any type of
		

			sexual engagement with the same gender. This is something that there has been no scholarly
difference of opinion, the actual act of * the act of * between two men is something
that without a shadow of a doubt, is unanimously agreed upon as being forbidden in Islam. And
therefore, our ethical values do not change with time and with place and it does not matter what the
laws of a particular country say that doesn't affect the laws of our religious and ethical values.
And a law explicitly says in the Quran, Allah Yes, there will hobby to work for you boo wallow RJ
Baca catarratto hobbies say that which is hobbies and that which is that which is unhealthy and
		

			impure and that which is pure and healthy are never the same. Even if the quantity of the hobbies
amazes you. It doesn't matter how many people say alcohol is okay. It doesn't matter if they say
drugs are okay. It doesn't matter if they say premarital extramarital is okay. It doesn't matter if
they say it same * is okay for our religious values. We have them enshrined in the Quran and the
Sunnah. Now, this is our ethics. This is our religious law. As for the political reality, we as
Western Muslims, in particular, as American Muslims, we need to understand that the laws of this
land will not and should not stem from a religious scripture. This land is a land that is based on
		

			secular values. And therefore we all understand that it is in everybody's best interest that church
and state are separated in this country. We don't want the church to enforce its laws on the state,
or else some members of the church will want to ban our version of the church or Islam. Right. Do
you understand what I'm saying here, that if we were to allow those people that want to breathe
church and stay together, they consider us as well to be bad people because we don't believe in
their version of worshipping Allah subhana wa Tada. So we understand that there is great wisdom. And
as Americans, we have, of course agreed to this separation of church and state. Now, some Muslims
		

			argue that in fact, it is healthy for this legislation about same * to be passed because the
freedoms for any minority are the freedoms for all
		

			minorities. So they say that it is good for them to get these rights because this means we too can
have our rights as well. And frankly, there's an element of truth that the less the government is
involved, the freer I am in my personal life. Other people argue, however, that this is not healthy
for society as a whole, that to allow this type of same *, marriage, and promiscuity, by the way,
and pre an extra marital, and * to allow all of these things is, in fact, not good for the
body and soul. It's not good for public morality. And by the way, the same argument applies for
let's say, *, it's not just we're not just concentrating on one issue, the objectification
		

			of women, women's bodies, and how it's displayed brazenly everywhere, and the increased
sexualization of the world that we're finding in the hyper sexual culture that we're seeing more and
more frankly, many religious people, in fact, many non religious people argue, is just not healthy
for not even our children, for us, for adults, as well. And SubhanAllah. I grew up in the 80s. And
will lie if you look at the sitcoms and the shows that I would watch as a kid in the 80s. And you
compare them to what my own kids generation is watching? Well, lucky, it's as if it's coming from a
different planet. I mean, not as if the 80s were completely pure and good. But nonetheless, by and
		

			large, they were relatively wholesome entertainment. Now, if you sit and watch what is coming to
children, what law he every second minute, there's a sexual innuendo, every second joke is about
some type of inter gender or whatnot. And you wonder, why would a 10 year old girl or boy be
watching something of this nature, what is going to be benefit? So there is an alternative argument
to be made, and that also has a valid point that hyper sexualization and objectification of men and
women and the whole emphasis on the body and the look of the body and whole promiscuity is something
that is not wholesome for society? And that is something that yes, we as Muslims and all religious
		

			people agree with. Having said all of that, my dear brothers and sisters, we also have to make
another point. And that is that simply because we disagree with an action, that's premarital extra
marital, same *, it doesn't mean we have to show hatred or animosity or anger towards the people
that are doing it. Just because we believe something to be how wrong, it doesn't mean we have to
dehumanize those that are doing it. Now, let me give you a realistic example. Every one of us here
knows of a Muslim who is involved in a major sin whether taking drugs, whether drinking, whether
premarital extramarital, we all are familiar. Now if this Muslim wants to come to the masjid. What
		

			are you going to do? Will you say a stock photo while you're drinking? You can't go you're going to
be happy hamdulillah you want to come? That's good comment May Allah azza wa jal forgive you. So why
can't we understand that? Yes, even a Muslim who is engaged in this type of sin and it is a sin. And
it is a sin that does not expel one from Islam. I want to be very explicit. No scholar in the
history of our religion has ever said that simply a man committing Zina with another man makes him a
Kaffir it's Xena that is slightly worse than regular Xena. We all agree. Yes, it is not as the same
level as regulars. And it's worse than Xena. It is the Xena between men it is Luwak. That's a
		

			separate chapter in the books of Phil. But it is still a crime and a sin. It's not good for so a
Muslim who engages in this act still remains a Muslim by unanimous consensus of all the scholars of
Islam. So if such a Muslim wants to come to the masjid, and they want to come closer to Allah, why
should anybody have a problem just like the drunker just like the one don't take drugs, just like
the one who's involved in in any major sin. We do not show any hatred or animosity towards the one
who wants to come to Allah subhanho wa Taala and even learn from the Prophet Luke alayhis salaam,
what did the Prophet Lord say to his people? He is the Prophet that is surrounded by the people look
		

			at the phrasing by the in knee Li Ama decom mineral Coleen, he said, I hate your actions. He didn't
say I hate all of you. He didn't say I despise you in knee Lee, Amma alikum Minal Coleen, I don't
like these actions that you're doing these deeds that you're doing, I don't like them. So we
separate between the deed and that is unethical and immoral. And between the person who does it the
person who does it might have a lot of good, and we appreciate the good in that person. And we don't
like the bad in that person. It's not a black and white. It's not like a light switch. If a person
has a sin or a crime, we have to be nasty or mean or dehumanize them. So panel law, the worst sin in
		

			Islam, what is it my dear brothers and sisters? What's the worst sin? worshipping an idol? And what
do we learn from the Quran about the one who worships an idol if they are good to you? Allah says
lion Hakuna Allah, Allah does not forbid you from those that are not fighting you because of your
religion. Those are not enemies to you that you be good to them.
		

			You'd be nice to them and you'd be just towards them a smile, the sister in law of the Profit
System, she said, Oh my odo pseudo law. My mother pause here. Her mother is not the mother of
Arusha. Abu Bakar had married another lady then divorced her. And she was a pagan at that point in
time. So a smas mother is not an issue as a mother to different mothers as men are sisters from
aboubaker. Same father, as my mother is somebody else and she was a pagan, she said to the process
from my mother is visiting in Medina, should I be good to my mother? Am I allowed to be good to my
mother? And our process him said yes, be good to your mother? Yes. Be good to your mother. And Allah
		

			is very explicit in the Quran about pagan parents, idol worshipping parents, Allah says what? That
meet them with your son in this world was like a moment for dunya meroofer. If somebody who's an
idol worshipper, you have to treat them nicely if they're your parent, even though we don't like
idol worship, then how about a sin or a crime less than that? Therefore, my dear brothers and
sisters, Allah does not forbid us the Koran does not forbid us to be nice to be kind to people that
have sins in their lives. And the point being, we have to be role models, we want to show them the
reality of Islam. So if we have a co worker, a colleague who has this lifestyle, just because they
		

			have that lifestyle, don't think don't derive from the Quran, that I have to be mean and nasty to
them. Not at all. You have to be kind and loving to all people, unless they want to hate you for who
you are. Then there are other rulings that apply as well. My dear brothers and sisters, one second
to last point. The issue that arises that's very awkward for us as American Muslims is that the fact
of the matter is that this community, the LGBT community, by and large, is the most sympathetic to
our own plight. And they defend us the most in the media. And they are very pro Palestinian, for
example, they're very anti Islamophobia. They're talking about the double standards in the media
		

			between a white terrorist and a muslim terrorist. They're at the forefront in exposing the double
standards of the justice system. I mean, there are so many people and I have to mention one of them
that comes to mind perhaps the most, if you like brave if you're like journalists in this regard,
Glenn Greenwald is one of the most amazing journalists who's always talking about the the double
standards of our justice system over our government, the foreign policy, Guantanamo. Now these
people, they have a lifestyle that is an alternative lifestyle, and they are very, and why do they
want to sympathize with us because they see that we are also being persecuted like they were
		

			persecuted, that we're being smeared like they were being smeared. So they're helping us out. So the
question arises, can we take their help? Can we invite these journalists can we reach out to them
and the response is, my dear brothers and sisters in the Sierra we learn and I have gone over the
wholesaler in this machine, how many times that our Profit System take the help of a machinic, who
was good, who was nice, who was kind, I talked about the story of multivitamin ad I talked about so
many stories. If the Prophet Muhammad SAW Selim can take the help of an idol worshipper, and there
is no sin worse than an idol than worshipping an idol. How about the help of those who genuinely
		

			sympathize, just because I seek somebody help doesn't mean I approve everything about that person.
So there's nothing wrong, and it goes to a case by case basis, sometimes it's going to be in our
best interest, sometimes it might not be in our best interest. Also, my dear brothers and sisters,
this has to be pointed out before I conclude, and that is that, indeed, it is. troublesome it is
worrisome about the hyper sexualization of the community of the country of the world, the
promiscuity of our culture. But you know, what is very worrisome to me and to many of us religious
people, is that the fact of the matter is that unfortunately, what's happening is, what we're being
		

			asked is not just to tolerate, it's not a matter of luck. I'm dinoco. Malia Dean, if that were the
case, we're lucky it's so much easier. You have your way I have my way. Unfortunately, the way
things are heading. If I don't legitimize that lifestyle, then I am the one that is now being
intolerant, or evil, or a bigot, and perhaps is not illegal yet in America, by the way, some
European countries are even thinking of criminalizing this dissent. But in America, it won't ever be
illegal. But what's happening is, is becoming socially, if you like, ostracized, people are losing
their jobs simply because they want to affirm the historic understanding of marriage, people are
		

			being discriminated against. And this is the problem that I think we really have to be very clear
about, we have to draw the line here. We will not change our ethical and religious values. You want
us to allow this to take place. That's your business. We are not saying that it is legitimate,
illegitimate, don't force us to make it legitimate in our religion. But unfortunately, this is what
is happening. Instead of saying welcome dinoco Malia Dean, they are saying there is only one Dean,
that's our Dean, and you have to follow it. And this is where brothers and sisters we need to be
very active, very vocal. We need the help of Christians and Jews and other people who are
		

			sympathetic to
		

			The historic understanding of marriage, we need to team up with them and make sure that we are
allowed the freedom. And it's ironic the very group that was saying they are not tolerated. Now
they're becoming the intolerant against people who don't tolerate them. And the very essence of
tolerance is to tolerate those whom you disagree with. If you want it to only tolerate those whom
you agree with, there is no tolerance. So unfortunately, intolerance is now being turned against us.
And we need to draw the line over here. Bottom line, my dear brothers and sisters, this is a
lifestyle and an action that we think is unethical, that it is immoral, that it is unhealthy for our
		

			society, especially to publicize you know, it's one thing to do it, you know, that you do a sin,
anybody any sin, whether it's drinking, whether it's drugs, whether it's same *, premarital,
whatever these sins have existed in Islam, even from the beginning of time every society has them.
It's one thing to do it behind closed doors, nobody knows about it. It's another thing to show it to
our entire society and to embrace it, and to allow people to come and do it. And that is something
we will publicly say, without any embarrassment, that this is not healthy. It is not moral, it is
not good. It is not wholesome, it is harmful to society, to family, to our children, even to
		

			ourselves. It's simply not good for the soul. And final point, my dear brothers and sisters, all of
this underscores the importance that each and every one of us has to our children, to educate to
them the reality of our faith, we need to make them understand the clear line between what is moral,
what is legal, between what is Islamic, and what is allowed in the land. And that's our job as
parents, we don't stop other people from drinking, we're not going to stop other people from same
* or from premarital extramarital, but we have to teach our children our values, and we have to
teach them to navigate through the system of this land while they're being practicing God fearing
		

			pious Muslims and inshallah it is possible if we are allowed that freedom, which this country prides
itself on, unfortunately, what I'm worried about that freedom is being taken away from us. And
that's really the danger. As long as that freedom is not taken away from us in sha Allah, we can
navigate through just like we're navigating through alcohol, our children know alcohols available
everywhere we teach them not to drink. The same goes for these other relationships as well. We ask
Allah subhana wa tada to bless us with the wisdom and the Eman and the fortitude and the long term
thinking to overcome this issue. We make dua for us and for our children to protect them from any of
		

			our future motherhood. Amin Hama, botton was Salam alaykum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh