Yousuf Raza – Ramadan Nights 2021 Day 11
AI: Summary ©
The speakers emphasize the importance of acknowledging and denying biases for success in society, privacy, and marriage. They stress the need for acceptance and clarity in life, and the importance of practicing and learning about one's worth. The segment touches on the negative impact of social media on society and the importance of trusting people, including the deification of oneself in Islam and the need for people to trust leaders. The speakers emphasize the importance of actions and their impact on others, including the deification of oneself in Islam and the need for people to trust leaders.
AI: Summary ©
من شرور أنفسنا ومن سيئات أعمالنا من يهده
الله فلا مبلل له ومن يضلله فلا هدية
له ونشهد أن لا إله إلا الله وحده
لا شريك له ونشهد أن محمد عبده ورسوله
أما بعد فإن خير الهديث كتاب الله وخير
الهدي يهدي محمد صلى الله عليه وسلم وشر
الأمور محتثاتها وكل محتثة بدعة وكل بدعة ضلالة
وكل ضلالة في النار يقول سبحانه وتعالى في
كتابه الكريم بعد أن أقول أعوذ بالله من
الشيطان الرجيم بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم وَآتُوا النِّسَاءَ
السَّدُقَاتِ هِنَّ النِّحْلَةِ فَإِنْ ضَيْبَنَا لَكُمْ أَنْ شَيْءٍ
مِّنْهُ نَفْسًا فَكُلُوهُ هَنِيءًا مَرِيءًا صدق الله العظيم
رب شهد صدري ويسر لي أمري وحفظ لقطة
من لساني يفقه قولي اللهم انفعنا بما علمتنا
وعلمنا ما ينفعنا وزدنا علمه اللهم أرنا حقيقة
الأشياء كما هي اللهم أرنا الحق حقا ونزقنا
اتباعه وأرنا الباطل باطلا ونزقنا اجتنابه آمين يا
رب العالمين Before I do go on, I
think a couple of disclaimers that probably should
have been given at the very beginning are
in order right now So basically, whenever we're
talking about any text Whenever we're reading any
text, whenever we're teaching any text, whenever we're
studying any text There's going to be necessarily
biases on the part of the teachers Every
single individual has biases I'm biased, you're biased,
any other teacher would be biased Now there's
two ways of There's a way of absolutely
denying those biases That hasn't worked out Whether
that is with respect to religious teaching Or
that is with respect to university teaching or
scientific teaching For any scientist to claim that
their product or whatever it is that they're
teaching or whatever it is that they're presenting
Developing as concepts or research or data or
research analysis Is absolutely free from bias, 100
% objective It is laughable, it is ludicrous,
any such claim Even more ludicrous are the
claims of religious teachers When they would say
that their teaching of the text Quran or
otherwise is wholly God's word Or nothing of
their own biases or nothing of their own
inclinations Is entering into the conversation or the
discussion Now, that was the Khawarij mentality That
is where all the problems of the Khawarij
Taken to an extreme, that's a Khawarij statement
And it's very prevalent, unfortunately, in our teaching
today In looking to present this and what
we spoke about in Surah Ali Imran In
the very beginning, presenting an opinion as the
opinion and then fixating ourselves on it It's
incredibly problematic So not only are our teachings,
mistakes are a given There's going to be
mistakes, there's going to be errors at different
levels There are given, biases are also given
We are going to be biased in whatever
it is that we're talking about, inevitably As
far as I'm concerned, the best that we
can do is be informed That our biases
need to be informed as much as possible
Educated as much as possible, learned as much
as possible Our methodologies, the way we approach
a text needs to be refined as much
as possible So as to be in the
right direction So whatever it is that we're
teaching is in the right direction Number two,
we need to be conscious about our biases
We need to be aware Denying that I
don't have any biases at all is infantile
So bearing these two things in mind The
first comes with a sub-point that, and
that's part of the methodology That on a
lot of occasions, our biases are not only
inevitable, they're necessary They are important, they're significant
And we owe it to our biases to
be more emphatic in their favor Because in
a way, those are our unique gifts That
we have to represent in a way only
we can And that has opened doors So
many doors in the past Throughout this 14th
century tradition And so not only being informed
of them, educated about them, conscious about them
We need to be, part of that methodology
is to take them forward in a manner
in which You owe your audience, your students,
whoever is reading you or listening to you
That you are emphatic about it So this
is, having said all of that Where does
the mutual corrective come from?
Where does the corrective come from?
The corrective comes from those listening Those participating
Who sit with as much openness as they
can So that they question So that they
bring in from their own experiences Even from
their own biases Their informed understanding as well
Their conscious understanding as well The direction which
their biases take them To bring them on
the table as As a mature way of
carrying the discussion forward So there is a
mutual corrective as the discussion proceeds Our biases
would be contradictory And in bringing those contradictions
on the table We are growing as a
group As a dialogical group And that dialog
is how we get closer and closer To
the most relevant understanding To the most, to
the truest understanding that we can possibly get
to So I hope that that dialog It
exists within a people of a field But
then the people coming from different fields especially
They are going to bring something more special
to the table And it will It will
help move the discussion forward It will help
move the discussion forward This mutual corrective for
a community of Empires is incredibly important And
I think we are almost cultivating that right
attitude That sees this and that is open
to it In any case, with that we
move along We spoke about the first three
ayats of Surah Nisa I'm going to add
one point to The discussion that we had
on the third ayah I'm going to add
one point to the discussion that we had
on the third ayah With all of my
biases and everything There is one of the
reasons And again a popular Manifestation within people
who are passionate About a Polygamist practice themselves
in this day and age And that is
One of the things that we see in
particular societies where it doesn't work Or hasn't
worked Or seems to be counterproductive Is that
it is a Frustration of meaning And by
that I mean frustration of Not living up
to so many Meaning opportunities that social responsibility
does Put on you and that frustration Is
displaced And manifests itself as sexual frustration And
that would express itself In Advocating This
particular practice despite Seeing the results that it
is bringing In one's immediate family So suicidality
That has been seen repeatedly In clinical practice
And in the practice of Mental health It
is devastating And to insist On
this practice Despite those Catastrophic results And to
rationalize That insistence On saying that it is
The women's fault for not being able to
cope with Something which is a religious obligation
upon them to accept And then taking it
forward From there To Making it a social
cause altogether There is a Lot to be
said about it And what makes the discussion
so much more complicated Because I was given
a recommendation after yesterday That this should be
made like a small clip And put on
YouTube Because more people need to know this
There is a danger there And that danger
is that the response The standard response that
is going to come Is going to look
to Rationalizing the entire practice Is going to
begin with citing The sunnah of the Messenger
of Allah And that is common practice A
famous scholar would be Called to criticism in
recent times And he would say In the
past few decades For marrying a 10-year
-old girl And when that criticism is carried
out Then the response Or the defense that
comes in Immediately begins With presenting
For the Messenger of Allah's example One reading
of the Seerah As the only reading of
the Seerah Entertaining no fallibility in that reading
Entertaining No Room for how the cultural
Practices have evolved So much A lot of
them towards growth and improvement A lot of
them because of Islam Because of the Messenger
of Allah Not taking those factors into consideration
at all And defending Sicknesses By throwing The
most sacred of personalities Under the bus And
you don't want to trigger that You don't
want to be a part of that And
give women their Marriage da'war graciously But
if they give up something Willingly Then you
may consume it As you please So the
Marriage dowry That the husband owes the wife
Again, given every single decision Every single relationship
Involves vulnerabilities Most apparent and most manifest And
most prevalent in a marital relationship Which is
going to be the most intimate Given that
this most drastic change Or the most Adjustment
Is required on the side of the woman
The insecurities Are going to be necessarily greater
And those Insecurities That of maltreatment That of
not being honored and respected and loved To
a certain extent They may be dispelled They
may be contained Never eliminated At the outset
By what the mahr The marriage da'war
The amount of money that is settled Between
husband and wife That may to a certain
extent Provide that level of security Which is
going to go a long way To put
that Relationship On a good start We know
that If those insecurities get very pathological And
they do tend to get very pathological They
can be very debilitating And they can make
the process Of developing a healthy relationship Which
is so integral All the more difficult All
the more complicated All the more complicated Or
there may be a failure altogether So the
more that is done The better it is
And if somebody feels secure enough If somebody
feels That this is not going to Help
them in any way Or that giving it
up If a woman in particular Feels that
that is not something that they want Or
it wouldn't add to Helping them in any
way And they want to give it up
Then that is their exclusive right And they
are free to do that And do not
entrust The people with learning disability Your wealth
Which Allah has entrusted you In order to
support them Provide them with it and close
them So another segment of the society Segment
of our population A very important, very neglected
segment of our population Those with mental disabilities
They are born with They are born with
What is popularly understood as mental retardation They
are not going to be as sharp As
the rest of the population For them to
be able to manage themselves They are going
to be dependent For them to be able
to manage their economic affairs You can't expect
them to do that You can't expect them
to be dependent Just leave them be Let
them take care of their own inheritance Or
whatever wealth that is their portion On their
own That is not empowering them That is
further disabling them So they are dependent on
account of Their inherent incapacities Mental disabilities To
regard them, to take care of them To
make sure they are not exploited Is a
social responsibility Immediately a responsibility of those Closest
to the particular individual And then of course
the broader society As well Use it to
provide them And speak to them appropriately They
may be learning disabled They may be mentally
* But you don't need to have An
IQ In the top 1 percentile To be
able to decipher That you are being treated
Condescendingly That you are being looked down upon
That you are being blamed That you are
being ridiculed That there is a treatment That
is inhumane You don't have to be very
intelligent To pick up on that The lowest
of IQs The severest of mental retardations Can
pick up They may not have the intellectual
capacity To pick up But they have the
emotional capacity To pick up that they have
been mistreated Abused All kinds of abuse Physical
abuse for sure An animal can pick up
That they are being physically abused Sexual abuse,
yes They can pick it up And they
are more vulnerable To both these forms of
abuse More than the rest of the population
Emotional abuse, yes They are fully capable Emotionally
To perceive that they have been abused That
they have been bullied That they have been
discriminated They are fully capable Emotionally Intellectually, they
don't have the capacity To process it How
could people with a higher IQ With no
mental disability Be such idiots Be such So
abusive That they can't process You can be
super intelligent And you will have difficulty processing
that That is just downright evil And it
results In all kinds Constitutional or physiological Baseline
intellectual disability In its own place It is
made worse By this abuse Whatever intellectual capacity
they do have They are not even able
to live up to that So whatever growth
they are capable of Whatever self-sufficiency They
can develop eventually More delayed than most people
Nevertheless they have that capacity Even that they
won't be able to do Because of the
emotional abuse And one of the ways they
are emotionally abused Is that they are expected
to perform Especially in this cutthroat schooling system
Like other kids Their age Why aren't you
studying hard enough Why aren't you producing the
same results They just simply can't But the
parents do not want to accept That as
intelligent as they themselves are That their child
could have learning disability That their child could
have That they could be intellectually compromised This
unanalyzed Unaddressed pathology in most parents For where
they want to live Their unfulfilled dreams Through
their kids and through their children All of
the things that they couldn't do In their
childhood and teenage and school They want to
corner their children Manipulate them, exploit them strategically
So as to fulfill their unlived dreams Without
even realizing it It is abusive as it
is Generally speaking But when it comes to
intellectually challenged children It throws the situation out
of the roof It throws the situation out
of the roof So as to be able
to identify the beauty In their humanity In
who they are As learning disabled people Or
whatever other handicap they may have Not having
this ability to perceive that Catastrophic results Catastrophic
results Speak to them In the best possible
way In the most appropriate way وَبْتَلُوا الْيَتَامَةَ
حَتَّى إِذَا بَلَغُوا النِّكَاحَ And test the orphans
Check them for maturity Until they reach the
age of marriage Until they attain The age
of marriage فَإِنْ أَنَسْتُمْ مِنْهُمْ رُشْدًا Then if
you find them having a sound judgment فَادْفَعُوا
إِلَيْهِمْ أَمْوَالَهُمْ Hand over their properties to them
وَلَا تَأْكُلُوهَا إِسْرَافًا وَبِذَارًا Do not consume it
wastefully in haste So when somebody is physically
capable of marriage Has attained to puberty Does
not necessarily mean they're ready for marriage So
the soundness of their judgment is to be
tested Generally, more specifically Because we're talking about
A vulnerable community of orphans This is more
in place for them And why is it
more important To mention this for them Because
it may well be that It is in
the interest of the one Looking after them
To not hand over their properties to them
To just continue to ignore Their marital rights
By simply saying they're not ready Without having
adequately given them an opportunity To prove that
they are ready Whatever that test entails, that's
been left open However you're going to examine
them To see that they're ready When they
are ready, let that happen وَلَا تَأْكُلُوهَا إِسْرَافًا
وَبِذَارًا Do not consume it wastefully in haste
Anticipating that they might grow up So you
want to finish it all off In the
worry that once this guy grows up I
don't have any access to this money anymore
وَمَن كَانَ غَنِيًا فَلْيَسْتَعْفِفْ And whoever of the
guardians of the caretakers If they're rich, if
they don't need the little stipend Or the
portion that they take from the orphans Property
or wealth, if they don't need it They
should just abstain from taking that compensation as
it is وَمَن كَانَ فَقِيرًا فَلْيَأْكُلُ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ And
if the person is poor, they don't have
enough For ends to meet, and they're taking
care of an orphan And if they take
a portion of that, that's perfectly fine But
only to a reasonable extent فَإِذَا دَفَعْتُمْ إِلَيْهِمْ
أَنْوَالَهُمْ And when you hand over their property
to them فَأَشْهِدُواْ عَلَيْهِمْ Bring in witnesses over
them وَكَفَىٰ بِاللَّهِ حَسِيبًا And Allah is enough
to call to accounts And these, to be
honest, ayat Seem to be fairly fictional Given
that in our society Having the orphans get
a portion of their property when they're ready
It would be a rare sight It would
be a rare sight For the most part,
it's been devoured It's been one way or
the other Women orphans more so than male
orphans Their portion in property What are you
talking about?
So what this ayah has to say And
the way our society carries itself Muslim societies
carry themselves There's a gulf, a huge gulf
لِلْرِّجَالِ نَصِيبُ مِمَّا تَرَكَ الْوَالِدَانِ وَالْأَقْرَبُونَ And there
is a share for men from what parents
and relatives leave behind وَلِلْنِّسَاءِ نَصِيبُ مِمَّا تَرَكَ
الْوَالِدَانِ وَالْأَقْرَبُونَ And women have a share from
what their parents and relatives leave مِمَّا قَلَّ
مِنْهُ أَوْ كُثُر Be it little or abundant
Both male and female have rights of inheritance
نَصِيبَمْ مَخْرُوذَ It is a legally designated share
وَإِذَا حَضَرَ الْقِسْمَةِ But if they are present
at the time of division of inheritance قُلُوا
الْقُرْبَاءِ وَالْيَتَامَةِ وَالْمَسَاكِينَ Relatives other than the inheritors
or orphans and the helpless فَارْزُقُوهُمْ مِنْهُ Give
them from this as well وَقُولُوا لَهُمْ قَوْلَ
مَعْرُوفَ And say to them the most appropriate
words at those times وَلِيَخْشَ الَّذِينَ لَوْ تَرَكُوا
مِنْ خَلْفِهِمْ ذُرِّيَّةً رِعَافًا خَوْفُوا عَلَيْهِمْ So if
you're not careful in how you treat the
more underprivileged relatives or orphans or those who
are dependent if you're not careful as to
how they're addressed or how they're treated how
they're accommodated how they are respected how they
are empowered if you're not careful of this
you should fear people doing that should fear
that if they were to leave behind weak
offspring how would they be worried about them?
Place them in how your children or how
you would want your children to be treated
when you're dying or dead and they're at
the mercy of the society that's how you
should look at the people who are at
your mercy فَلْيَتَّقُوا اللَّهُ And so they must
observe the taqwa of Allah وَلْيَقُولُوا قَوْلًا سَدِيدًا
and be upright and absolutely straightforward in speech
إِنَّ الَّذِينَ يَأْكُلُونَ أَمْوَالَ الْيَتَٰمَا ظُلْمًا Those who
devour the wealth of the orphans unjustly إِنَّمَا
يَأْكُلُونَ فِي بُطُنِهِمْ They are only devouring a
fire into themselves into their bellies وَسَيَصْلَوْنَ سَعِيرًا
And they will burn in a blaze يُثِيكُمُ
اللَّهُ فِي أَوْلَادِكُمْ Allah exhorts you concerning your
children لِلذَّكَرِ مِثْلُ حَذِّ الْأُنثَيَيْنَ share of the
boy will be twice that of a girl
فَإِن كُنَّ النِّسَاءَ فَوْقَثْنَةَيْنَ But if there are
daughters only, two or more فَلَهُنَّ ثُلُثَاءَ مَا
تَرَكَ For them is two-thirds of the
inheritance وَإِن كَانَتْ وَاحِدَةً فَلَهَا النِّسْقَ But if
she is only one then she will if
there is only one of them then she
will get half of the total inheritance وَلِأَبَوَيْهِ
لِكُلِّ وَاحِدٍ مِّنْهُمَا السُّدُسُ مِمَّا تَرَكَ إِن كَانَ
لَهُ وَلَدٍ And for one's parent, to each
one of them is one-sixth of the
inheritance If he had children فَإِن لَّمْ يَكُلْ
لَهُ وَلَدٍ But if he has no child
وَوَرِثَهُ أَبَوَاهُ And his parents are going to
inherit the whole wealth فَلِأُمِّهِ الثُّلُثَ His mother
gets one-third فَإِن كَانَ لَهُ إِخْوَةٌ But
if the deceased has brothers فَلِأُمِّهِ السُّدُسُ Then
his mother will get one-sixth مِنْ بَعْدِ
وَصِيجَةٍ يُصِيبِهَا أَوْدَيْنِ After fulfilling the terms of
the last will and payment of all debts
أَبَأُكُمْ وَأَبْنَأُكُمْ As regards to your parents and
children لا تَدُرُونَ أَيُّهُمْ أَقْرَبُ لَكُمْ نَفْعًا You
don't know which of them are of more
benefit to you فَرِضَةً مِّنَ اللَّهِ Allah has
issued this ordinance This is obligatory, mandatory from
Allah Mandated by Allah إِنَّ اللَّهَ كَانَ عَلِيمًا
حَكِيمًا And for sure Allah is ever-knowing,
ever-wise وَلَكُمْ نِصْفُ مَا طَرَكَ أَزْوَاجُكُمْ And
you will inherit half of what your wives
will leave إِنْ لَمْ يَكُلْ لَهُنَّ وَلَدٌ If
they don't have a son فَإِن كَانَ لَهُنَّ
وَلَدٌ But if they have a son فَلَكُمْ
الرُّبُعُ مِمَّا طَرَكْنَا Then you will inherit one
-fourth of what they leave مِنْ بَعْدِ وَصِيَّةٍ
يُصِينَ بِهَا أَوْدَيْنِ After fulfilling the terms of
their last will And payment of all debts
وَلَهُنَّ الرُّبُعُ مِمَّا طَرَكْتُمْ Whereas they will receive
one-fourth of what you leave إِنْ لَمْ
يَكُلْ لَكُمْ وَلَدٌ If you do not have
a son فَإِن كَانَ لَكُمْ وَلَدٌ And if
you have a son فَلَهُنَّ ثُومٌ مِمَّا طَرَكْتُمْ
Then they will inherit one-eighth of what
you leave مِنْ بَعْدِ وَصِيَّةٍ يُصِينَ بِهَا أَوْدَيْنِ
After fulfilling the terms of their last will
And payment of all debts وَإِن كَانَ الرَّجُلُ
يُرَثُ كَلَالَةً أَوْ امْرَأَةٌ But if a man
or a woman whose inheritance is in question
Neither has ascendance nor any descendants وَلَهُ أَخٌ
أو أُخْتٌ But has a brother or a
sister فَلِكُلِّ وَاحِدٍ مِنْهُمَا السُّدُسُ Then each of
them will inherit one-sixth فَإِن كَانُوا أَكْثَرَ
مِن ذَٰلِكِ But if they are more than
that فَهُمْ شُرَكَءُ فِي الثُّلُثِ Then they will
share one-third مِنْ مَعْدِ وَصِيَةٍ يُصَابِهَا أَوْزَيْنَ
After fulfilling the terms of the last will
And payment of debts غَيْرَ مُضَار Without causing
loss to the inheritors وَصِيَةً مِنَ اللَّهِ Mandated
by Allah وَاللَّهُ عَلِيمٌ حَلِيمٌ And Allah is
Knowing and Forbearing تِلْكَ حُدُودُ اللَّهِ These are
the hudood of Allah وَمَنْ يُطِعِ اللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ
And whoever obeys Allah and His Messenger يُدْخِلْهُ
جَنَّاتٍ تَجْرِي مِنْ تَحْتِهَا الْأَنْهَارُ He will admit
him to gardens beneath which rivers flow خَالَدِينَ
فِيهَا They will live in them forever وَذَلِكَ
الْفَوْزُ الْعَظِيمُ And that is the great success
وَمَنْ يَعْصِرْ اللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ Whoever disobeys Allah and
His Messenger وَيَتَعَدَّ حُدُودَهُ And crosses the limits
Imposed by Him يُدْخِلْهُ نَارًا Allah will enter
him into a fire خَالَدٍ فِيهَا To live
in it forever وَلَهُ عَذَابٌ مُحِينٌ And for
him is a humiliating punishment So this entire
The couple of ayat That we spoke about
The couple of ayat That we spoke about
With respect to Or simply just translated Most
of this just goes over my head To
be honest And how it's all working It's
simple mathematics But fairly complicated for me But
there are books and books And books that
have been written As to how this works
As to how this is supposed to work
And the idea being As judicious A settlement
as is possible Within the confines Or within
the boundaries that have been stipulated The main
Issue that people had I don't think that
requires much Of an explanation to be honest
Why do males get more Why do females
get less Idea being that the responsibility For
the whole household And the dependence within the
family Is to be managed from what the
male Is inheriting It is not for personal
pleasure It is for taking care of the
responsibilities Of everyone else Including the women Under
the care Of that particular man Whereas whatever
share The woman is receiving Is entirely for
her It is entirely for her She is
not bound or responsible To extend that Or
share that Or spend from that For the
caretaking Of the rest of the family So
it is pretty much A personal pocket money
Or personal wealth To be She is not
accountable In any way for what she does
With it, neither is she required to But
of course Out of the goodness of her
heart And a personal sense of responsibility They
look to Contribute and help out That's perfectly
fine And understandable Nevertheless The responsibility And therefore
the greater portion Falls on the men وَلَأْتِي
يَأْتِينَ الْفَاحِشَةَ مِنْ نِسَائِكُمْ As for those of
your women Who are Who commit Immorality Which
is adultery Or fornication فَاسْتَشْهِدُوا عَلَيْهِنَّ أَرْبَعَةً مِّنْكُمْ
Then take evidence Of four witnesses Among yourselves
against them فَإِنْ شَهِدُوا فَأَمْسِكُوهُنَّ فِي الْبُيُوتِ And
if they testify to their guilt Then confine
them To their houses حَتَّى يَتَوَفَّاهُنَّ الْمَوْتُ أَوْ
يَجْعَلَ اللَّهُ لَهُنَّ سَبِيلًا Until they die Or
Allah ordains for them Some other way So
this is particularly If married women Would commit
Or would engage in Extramarital affairs Extramarital sexual
affairs And It is It is Possible for
there to be That number of witnesses Four
witnesses For this particular Interaction having happened Right,
so these are earlier Instructions Surah Noor has
not yet been revealed And so in this
it's Lock them up in a house Don't
let them get out Until Allah Reveals Another
recourse or Ordains some other way for this
For now this is the way Forward or
they just die In that state وَالَّذَان يَأْفِيَانِهَا
مِنْكُمْ And the two who commit The same
act فَآذُوهُمَا Punish both of them فَإِنْ تَابَٓا
وَأَصْلَحَ But if they repent and improve فَأَعْرِضُوا
أَنْهُمَا Then leave them alone إِنَّ اللَّهَ كَانَتْ
تَوَّابًۭا الرَّحِيمَ Allah is At-Tawwab And Merciful
The one who accepts People's repentance and turning
to Him and Merciful إِنَّمَا التَّوَبَةُ عَلَى اللَّهِ
لِلَّذِينَ يَعْمَلُونَ السُّوءَ بِجَهَالَةٍ Repentance is accepted By
Allah for those who commit A sin out
of Ignorance or Just driven Overwhelmed by emotion
And the two Concepts or the two understandings
of Jihad are very interrelated that the more
Knowledge You have or the more understanding You
have the more you're capable Of containing Your
instincts Overwhelming or overpowering you If that Does
happen and then you do come to a
Recognition, Realization and You're willing to repent Then
Nothing better Allah loves the people of Tawbah
Allah is Tawbab وَمَا يَتُوبُونَ مِنْ قَرِيبٍ And
they repent Soon فَأُولَئِكَ يَتُوبُوا اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِمْ These
are the ones Allah will turn towards them
As well وَكَانَ اللَّهُ عَلِيمًا حَكِيمًا And Allah
is ever knowing Wise وَلَيْسَ تَتَوْبَةُ لِلَّذِينَ يَعْمَلُونَ
السَّيْجِئَاتِ But there is no repentance for those
who continue To commit sins حَتَّى إِذَا حَضْرَ
أَحَدَهُمُ الْمَوْت Until death Confronts One of them
And then that person says I repent now
for sure وَلَا الَّذِينَ يَمُوتُونَ وَهُمْ كُفَارٌ And
there is no Repentance for those who die
While they are still disbelievers أُولَئِكَ أَعْتَدْنَا لَهُمْ
عَذَابًا أَلِيمًا These are the ones, we've prepared
for them A painful punishment يَأَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا
You who have believed لَا يَحِلُّ لَكُمْ أَنْثَرِثُ
النِّسَاءَ كَرْهَا It is not lawful for you
To inherit women Forcibly وَلَا تَعْضُلُوهُنَّ لِتَذْهَبُوا بِبَعْضِ
مَا آتَيْتُمُهُنَّ And do not force them To
take away a part of what You have
given them Do not try to If you
have settled On a mahr A dowry or
a portion Of inheritance That is owed to
them Don't take that away from them Don't
corner them into giving that up إِلَّا يَأْتِينَ
بِفَاحِشَةٍ مُبَيِّجِنَا Specifically in the case of a
marriage It is the mahr And if However
they commit A clear immorality It is a
clear Extramarital interaction That they've had An extramarital
sexual interaction That they've had Then the case
is different وَعَشِرُوهُنَّ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ وَعَشِرُوهُنَّ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ With
that Exceptional circumstance out of the way The
default is To live with them in the
best possible manner With the most Kindness Possible
فَإِن كَرِهْتُمُوهُنَّ Even if you don't like them
Again so a level of Love Which Is
to be Exercised, practiced Expressed Even if the
emotional Attachment Is Lacking The possibility of it
Has been Identified in the very beginning You're
required to do that with respect to Allah
As well There are actions that Allah wants
you to do And There's كَرَهَة If you
don't like it أَسَنْ تَكْرَهُ شَيْئًا وَهُوَ خَيْرُ
لَكُمْ It may well be that you don't
like something but it is Good for you
The last time this phrase was used it
was in Baqarah It was with respect to
A commandment that was Specifically Ordained For the
Muslims in Medina To now stand up Take
arms And now it is coming back فَإِن
كَرِهْتُمُهُنَّ Even if you don't like them فَعَسَىٰ
أَن تَكْرَهُ شَيْئًا It may well be that
you dislike something وَيَجْعَلَ اللَّهُ فِيهِ خَيْرًا كَثِيرًا
Allah brings about Through it a great deal
Of good So to open your eyes To
this To be able to see the beauty
In this The myth Of romantic love The
myth that Because of which People are falling
in and falling out of love Like They're
getting in and out of an elevator And
then getting in And getting out of a
relationship Like they're getting in and out of
an elevator That this Romanticized This Dramatized Projection
of what love Is supposed to be And
the natural ups and downs In a relationship
are simply not Accommodated in those Overly exaggerated
Absolutely emotional Conceptions of love And romance Their
The Social ills The devastation That immature conception
is resulting In all over the world Not
just a western or an eastern society All
over the world Where people come to definitive
conclusions Especially after the honeymoon period is over
That oh my god I'm not attracted to
you Oh my god I don't love her
or I don't love him And so either
if it is A typically eastern Society In
which you are There is no option for
an exit In such a situation Probably beneficially
so But then Having come to that conclusion
And Then resorting to Maltreatment Resorting to not
fulfilling each Other's rights Resorting to the Carvering
of Resentment and hatred And how that results
in a toxic Household environment Simply because of
a Of an immature conception And a failure
to Recognize How relationships Work And just on
the basis of that Concluding that you can't
get along The toxicity ensues Or if it
is a more Open The possibility of a
divorce Is open This conception or this Understanding
results in Frequent or Premature Decisions of bailing
out On each other, of not giving that
Relationship an adequate chance Either of the two
extremes Would result Based on this very popular
Dangerously Popular myth of romantic Love, an absolutely
Emotional conception Not only of how love works
But also how Human beings work And if
you have that attitude You're Damned, not just
with respect To a marital relationship But with
respect to any Relationship Even if it is
with your career Or with God, because the
moment It requires something of you That you
don't feel like doing You're not going to
want to do it And That means you
want to stay in your comfort zone That
means there's no growth And that means Mediocrity
Is what you're going to settle for And
that's the culture we live in A culture
of Mediocrity Where our professional, spiritual Marital Family
Intellectual All Of these engagements We have settled
For mediocrity We're okay being mediocre We're okay
just making it Work It's a compromise And
just average to below Average performance is the
best we can Muster because our heart's not
into it Because we cannot Wrap our heads
around the conception عَسَىٰ أَن تَكْرَهُوا شَيْئًا وَهُوَ
خَيْرٌ لَكُمْ It may well Be that you
dislike something Emotionally your heart is not into
it But it is good for you So
keep going وَإِنْ أَرَدْتُ مُسْتِبْدَالَ زَوْجٍ مَكَانَ زَوْجٍ
But if you do decide To Remarry To
divorce one And marry somebody else وَآتَيْتُمْ إِحْدَاهُنَّ
قِنطَارًا وَآتَيْتُمْ إِحْدَاهُنَّ قِنطَارًا And you've given the
first of them A heap of wealth فَلَا
تَأْخُذُوهُ مِنْهُ شَيْئًا Then don't take anything back
from it So first This myth Of romantic
love Is burst But even if that doesn't
work Or the situation has become such That
it is The toxicity is beyond repair Staying
together Is more of a hurdle In the
growth of all of those involved Not just
the husband and wife But the wider family
as well Especially the children If that is
what the conclusion has come down to And
a divorce is necessary It has Become the
best option And the husband is looking to
Remarry Somebody else Already And he wants to
do that By taking away Whatever dower Whatever
haqmeh That he had given the first wife
And letting her go I can see her
going But I can't see my money going
If that's the attitude Then That's Unfair I'm
appalled for Trying to take that from her
In whatever abusive or exploitative way To emotionally
blackmail In so many different ways Even spiritually
blackmail All kinds of blackmail Have resorted to
in such situations Allah's name is going to
be used Rasulullah's name is going to be
used The examples of sahabiah Are going to
be cited Just to get their money back
وَآتَيْتُمْ إِحْدَاهُمْنَا قِنْطَارًا فَلَا تَأْخُذُوا مِنْهُ شَيْئًا Don't
take anything back from it أَتَأْخُذُونَهُ فُهْدَانًا وَإِطْمًا
مُّبِينًا We take it back through slander By
just By accusing them By fabricating lies Your
Greed Becomes so overwhelmingly Powerful over you That
slandering Becomes justified By being Egregiously sinful against
them Becomes justified وَآتَيْتُمْ إِحْدَاهُمْنَا How could you
do that?
How could you take that back from them?
وَقَدْ أَخْضَىٰ بَعْبُكُمْ إِلَىٰ بَعْبُ You have given
yourselves to one another The intimacy that you
have shared The closeness that you've shared Physically
How could you then resort To these How
could you be such aliens to each other
After you've shared so much Love وَأَخَذْنَا مِنْكُمْ
إِثَاقًا غَلِيْظًا And they have taken a solemn
pledge from you This is a social contract
وَلَا تَنْكِهُ مَا نَكَهَا آبَاؤُكُمْ مِنَ النِّسَاءِ And
don't marry the women Your father is married
إِلَّا مَا قَدْ سَلَفْ Except what has already
happened So that was a practice As egregious
as it is It was a practice In
the pre-Islamic Arab community It was frowned
upon More than frowned upon It was detested
By the more Cultured part of that same
community To be honest You can't say that
all of pre-Islamic Arabia Was okay with
that practice It was still called A detested
practice Or a detested nikah Nevertheless it was
prevalent So the Quran comes in and says
No more of that And if that does
or has happened Let it go Okay It's
going to be too complicated To absolutely demonize
Even something like that now إِنَّهُ كَانَ فَاحِشَةً
وَمَقْدَاءً And that's the word It was known
as the nikah Which is maq Which is
egregious Certainly it has always been an obscene
And hateful act And an evil practice حُرِّمَتْ
عَلَيْكُمْ Forbidden to you for marriage أُمَّهَاتُكُمْ يَوْمَاتُكُمْ
وَبَنَاتُكُمْ يَوْمَاتُكُمْ وَأَخَوَاتُكُمْ يَوْمَاتُكُمْ Your father's sisters
وَخَوَاتُكُمْ Your mother's sisters وَبَنَاتُ الأَخِي And daughters
of the brother وَبَنَاتُ الأُختِ And the daughters
of the sisters وَأُمَّهَاتُكُمْو الَّاتِي أَرْضَعْنَكُمْ And your
foster mothers وَأَخَوَاتُكُمْ مِنَ الرَّضَاعَةِ And your foster
sisters وَأُمَّهَاتُ نِسَائِكُمْ And your mothers-in-law
Foster meaning By being nursed By breastfeeding wa
-ummahaatu nisaaikum And your mothers-in-law wa
-rabaaibukumu allathee fee hujoorikum min nisaaikumu allathee dakhaltum
bihinna And your stepdaughters, under your protection, who
are born from your wives with whom your
marriage has been consummated.
They may not be your daughters, but they
are the daughters of the women you have
consummated your marriages with.
fa-illam takoonoo dakhaltum bihinna fa-laa junaafa
AAalaykum But if you have never consummated your
marriage with them, then there is no sin
upon you to marry them.
wa-halaailoo abnaaikumu allatheena min aslaabikum And it
is prohibited for you to marry the wives
of your real sons.
wa-an tajmaAAoo bayna al-ukhtayn And that
you simultaneously marry two sisters at the same
time illa maa qad salaf Except what has
already happened.
inna Allaha kana ghafoora raheema Allah is ever
-forgiving and ever-merciful.
wal-muhsanaatu minan nisaa And so are forbidden
married women.
illa maa malakat aimanukum Except the maidslaves whom
your right hands possess.
So the issue of concubines very quickly again
comes under severe criticism for those that privileged
class in the 20th, 21st century looking back
from their chairs of criticism at a society
and civilization, a culture which is 14 centuries
prior to theirs and casting definitive judgments on
the religion of truth or scripture being revealed
by God and a prophet of truth and
ethics and morality and all of that coming
in and sanctioning allowing even advocating this practice
of slavery and then concubines on top of
that.
So it is unfathomable.
It is inconceivable for the privileged critic to
see how that is even possible.
The privileged critic needs to step outside of
their bubble for a second just for a
second and realize what it is.
What is it that they're criticizing that there
are so many criticisms that there are so
many social evils and ills within your own
society within your immediate society within the 21st
century that the best of your minds have
no clear consensus on as to how they're
going to proceed forward with it or what
is the right opinion about them.
There is so much of a spectrum as
to what should or should not be done.
Ethics is a conundrum.
It is crazy.
You just have to take one course to
realize what's going on within the science.
Itself.
And for you to become a moralizer to
start moralizing people of a society 14 centuries
ago where do you get that from?
Especially considering that this privilege that you do
enjoy today in a slavery-free society that
you're living in it was made possible precisely
because of these revolutionary institutions 14 centuries ago
that in that culture and civilization see, even
if this eradication of slavery, the value in
it the incredible human achievement that it is
even if that is seen and appreciated 14
centuries ago to keep the material cultural conditions
in consideration and try to institute that drastically
you can say for sure that had that
effort been made it would have been a
drastic failure.
It would have been a drastic failure that
as deeply rooted as that practice was in
the Arabian society to make that the top
priority at that time simply the principle of
Tawhid and how that principle over decades and
centuries to come as to what emanates from
that principle as a value in relationships in
community building what it has the power to
do over time that would have been lost,
that would have been compromised.
So to lose sight of that and to
expect in your high-mindedness that it shouldn't
have happened just to be able to realize
the exploitation and vulnerability or the possibility thereof
within this institution of slavery it was inconceivable
prior to Judeo-Christian Muslim scriptural values it
was impossible and every scripture every scripture when
it comes and the commandments and the priorities
that it brings is in keeping with the
practicality of the times pushing it to the
limits to its revolutionary limits.
Yes, but not being idealistic to the point
of suicide for that campaign itself or for
that movement of Tawhid itself.
It wouldn't do that.
The material conditions of people the reality in
front of the Prophet is kept into consideration.
Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam having a conversation with
Aisha RadhiAllahu Ta'ala Anha telling her that
he would have wanted that the Kaaba be
upon the original dimensions as Ibrahim Alayhi Salaam
had kept it.
That's his ideal conception.
But he said your people are not ready
for that.
He lets it go and he lets it
go.
Given the situation of the Arabs for them
to simply accept Bilal RadhiAllahu Ta'ala Anha
for the status and the honor that he
had been given and similarly the status and
honor that liberated female slaves had been given.
It was an incredible achievement and that sets
the stage for the continuous process that this
that the establishment of this religion is that
that requires necessarily decades and centuries after Rasulullah
Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam that it was too premature
to have that expectation at that time that
for the time it was necessary.
It was necessary that through the to leaving
this door open a relationship with female slaves
of how the generations that extend from these
interactions, they would not be they would not
be slaves forever.
For now, there is an interaction, a sexual
interaction between the privileged class of the society
and the underprivileged slave class of the society
which is bringing them that for the child
they extend from a child of that relationship
is mother comes from a slave class, father
comes from a privileged class, the child carries
that identity forward and it is decades and
centuries of that of this door being left
open that allows for a Mamluk dynasty a
dynasty of Kings, rulers that were traditionally
culturally racially slaves where in the world this
is far before Barack Obama far before Barack
Obama.
It became possible in a monarchy not even
a democracy in a monarchy for a Mamluk
dynasty to actually establish itself and remain established
for a considerable period of time as we
see it within the Islamic world.
We didn't have the problems of that that
America did that America did that the eradication
of slavery.
I don't remember that when you draw parallels
of what was going on in the United
States that you have similar problems within Muslim
India at the same time in history.
We didn't have those issues.
I may be mistaken and it may be
my ignorance of history, but I'm putting this
out as a hypothesis as an educated guess.
We didn't have those problems in Turkey.
We didn't have those problems to that extent.
Those are your problems.
Stop projecting your guilt onto us.
We were okay there.
Pretty okay.
We managed it pretty well.
We should be proud of ourselves for doing
that.
Don't bring your white privilege, your university privilege
with that critical judgmental moralizing lens for which
you blame religious people ironically and pass these
absolute judgments.
You have no right.
You have no right.
Where was I?
Okay.
وَالْمُحْسَنَاتُ مِنَ النِّسَاءِ إِلَّا مَا مَلَكَتَ عَيْمَانُكُمْ كِتَابُ
اللَّهِ عَلَيْكُمْ وَأُحِلَ لَكُمْ مَا وَرَاءَ ذَلِكُمْ And
all other than that is lawful for you
and تبدَغُ بِأَمْوَالِكُمْ that you seek them after
presenting the dowry and that you pursue this
course given the appropriate dowry, the wealth that
you owe them.
مُحْسَنِينَ غَيْرَ مُسَافِحِينَ Keeping them in chastity, not
merely to have sexual pleasure.
I do believe there is more to مُحْسَنِينَ
than just chastity.
Although that is what the translation says.
The institution of marriage being not just a
means of sexual satisfaction.
Although that being a very important pillar in
the relationship, it should not be the only
aim out of that relationship.
فَمَا اسْتَمْتَعْتُمْ بِهِ مِنْهُنَّ فَآتُوهُنَّ أُجُرَهُنَّ فَرِضًا So
to those with whom you intend to enjoy
your marriage, give them their marriage gifts as
decided وَلَا جُنَاحَ عَلَيْكُمْ فِي مَا تَرَاضَيْتُمْ بِهِ
مِنْ بَعْدِ الْفَرِضَ And there is no blame
upon you if you make any changes with
mutual agreement, even after the settlement.
إِنَّ اللَّهَ كَانَ عَلِيمًا حَكِيمًا And Allah is
ever-knowing, wise.
عُدْ بِلَهِمْ مِّنْ شِيطَانِ الرِّجِيمِ وَمَنْ لَمْ يَسْتَطِعْ
مِنْكُمْ طَوْلًا And if any of you cannot,
or anyone cannot afford أَنْ يَنْكِحَ الْمُحْصَنَاتِ الْمُؤْمِنَاتِ
To marry three believing women فَمِمَّا مَلَكَتْ أَيْمَانُكُمْ
مِنْ فَتَيَاتِكُمْ الْمُؤْمِنَاتِ Then let them marry a
believing maid from which your right hands possess
وَاللَّهُ أَعْلَمُ بِإِيمَانِكُمْ Allah knows very well about
your condition, the condition of your faith, of
your iman You are part of the same
community Again, this is paving the way Doors
that are being opened that were inconceivable prior
to this Slave community, free community Community, one
community Marry them with the permission of their
family or their people And give them their
due dowry in a proper way مُحْصَنَاتٍ غَيْرَ
مُسَافِحَاتٍ وَلَا مُتَّخِذَاتِ أَخْدَانٍ Provided they are held
in honest wedlock And not to indulge in
prostitution openly or secretly So there is this
practice in which the slave population would be
engaged And so in order for these relationships
to take place The boundaries are being drawn
around that That's no longer a possibility Don't
do that anymore And since that practice was
prevalent There was a greater apprehension associated with
marrying into the slave community at that time
That is being addressed فَإِذَا أُحْصِنَّ فَإِنْ أَتَيْنَ
فَاحِشَةً But if they happen to commit fornication
despite being in wedlock فَعَلَيْهِنَّ النِّسْفُ مَا عَلَىٰ
الْمُحْصَنَاتِ مِنَ الْعَذَابِ Their punishment would be half
of that of a free woman And why
is that?
It is because that practice was prevalent in
where they're coming from So it would be
more difficult for them to conform to these
boundaries As compared to free women And so
this distinction is kept That their punishment would
be half Given that background that they hail
from Now, after a couple of years of
this conditioning, if you will Or this chance
to adjust to the new ways This is
updated in Surah Al-Nur And the punishment
across the board became the same فَعَلَيْهِنَّ النِّسْفُ
مَا عَلَىٰ الْمُحْصَنَاتِ مِنَ الْعَذَابِ ذَلِكَ لِمَنْ خَشِيَ
لْمْعَنَةَ مِنْكُمْ This permission is only for those
of you who fear to commit the sin
of adultery وَأَن تَصْبِرُوا خَيْرٌ لَّكُمْ But it
is better for you to practice self-restraint
وَاللَّهُ غَفُورٌ رَحِيمٌ And Allah is forgiving and
merciful يُرِيدُ اللَّهُ لِيُبَيِّنَ لَكُمْ Allah wants to
make things clear for you Again, the question
of what does Allah want from us With
all of these boundaries and instructions And do
this and don't do this Even though as
we've already seen That's a very small percentage
A very very small percentage of the Qur
'an As we go on, this percentage is
going to be even smaller We're in the
Madani Qur'an And the portion of ayat
that deal with do's and don'ts Is relatively
to the Meccan Qur'an Which is two
thirds of the Qur'an The Madani Qur
'an has more of that Although, even still,
given the entirety of the Madani Qur'an
It is still a small fraction Nevertheless, the
question arises, why?
What is the intent of Sharia?
What is the intent of these boundaries?
Allah wants to make things clear for you
وَيَهْدِيَكُمْ سُنَنَا الَّذِينَ مِنْ قَبْلِكُمْ Allah wants to
guide you to the practice of the people
before you First thing, you need to be
educated About what needs to be done The
boundaries that are being established around you And
then the way of the people before you
The way of the people before you is
A spiritual potential that you carry within you
They've done it before They're your ancestors You
are their inheritors Their sunnah, their legacy Is
an ingrained potential within you It is biologically
more possible for you Because they've done it
before Because they've performed it before It is
culturally more possible for you Because of what
they've struggled and sacrificed for وَيَتُوبَ عَلَيْكُمْ And
ultimately, He wants to turn towards you Allah
wants to turn towards you وَاللَّهُ عَلِيمٌ حَكِيمٌ
And Allah is Knowing and Wise In turning
towards the sunnah of the people before In
being clear on all of what Allah is
clarifying to you Your worth, your inner worth
That deserves nothing less than Allah That worth
is expressed, actualized وَاللَّهُ يُرِيدُ أَن يَتُوبَ عَلَيْكُمْ
And Allah really wants to turn towards you
Of all the things that He wants, this
is what He wants the most So you
turn towards Him, He turns towards you You're
like running towards each other You recognize that
potential within yourself Ultimately, He wants to accept
you Ultimately, He wants...
And again, the Adamic paradise The paradise prior
to the tree Or eating from the tree
In that paradise, this recognition, this gnosis The
clarity is missing It is some vague, some
inexpressible Some unrealizable, unconscious proximity
With the Divine What the process after the
tree of life And then the clarity that
that brings The sunnah of the previous people
and living that The maturity and growth that
that brings And for that, when you turn
back to Allah and Allah turns to you
That relationship, ultimately that's what Allah wants That's
what Allah wants Allah wants mature, grown individuals
Of the community in paradise Fully grown, fully
articulate Fully conscious Fully aware of themselves and
of Allah That's the party That's where it
gets...
That's what He wants With you not having
grown to the potential And essentially to grow
to that potential, your own choice is indispensable
Your sacrifices, your errors, your sins They're indispensable
Because in each of them, you get to
learn And the more you learn, the more
you know Him, ultimately The more you're familiar
with Him The more you're hereafter The more
the post-akhirah or the post-qiyamah paradise
The more real that is The more enjoyable
that is The more genuine that is The
more...
the degree or the quality of that experience
It is going to be inconceivably different From
the quality of the paradise experience Prior to
the quote-unquote fall The rise after the
fall Is not the rise to the same
what it was before That would be regression
This reunion of Allah and His people It
is going to be of a completely different
nature Completely different flavor And after all of
this And what this dunya is marred with
Is undertaken The joy, the happiness,
the pleasure And the mutuality of it رضي
الله عنهم ورضوا عنهم It's going to be...
والله يريد أن يتوب عليكم Allah wants to
meet you Allah wants to reunite with you
Why is that so difficult for you to
understand?
Why can't you see that?
Why can't you feel that?
His desire to meet you Why can't you
swallow that?
Why do you have to be so self
-denigrating?
Self-depreciating?
Self-humiliating?
That you can't see that If He finds
you worthy Why can't you find yourself worthy?
Allah wants to reunite with you It's that
simple وَيُرِيدُ الَّذِينَ يَتَّبِعُونَ الشَّهَوَاتِ And those people
who blindly follow their lusts Or really they're
overwhelmed by their...
Again, that instinct which is a part of
them Becomes all of them And that's the
guiding principle of their life That's what they
want What do they want?
That for themselves and for you أن تَمِلُوا
مَيْلًا عَظِيمًا That you go tremendously astray You
have a date with Allah They want you
to stand Him up Not be there for
Him Leave Him waiting يُرِيدُ اللَّهُ وَيُخَفِّفْ عَنكُم
Allah wants to make things easy for you
It'll be easier to reunite with Him Or
you Or Him With you If you just
take these The clarity that He's giving you
And the sunnah that He is presenting in
front of you يُرِيدُ اللَّهُ وَيُخَفِّفْ عَنكُم Allah
wants to make that journey easy for you
وَخُلِقَ الْإِنسَانُ بَعِيفًا And man, the human being
is created weak Is created weak It is
from these From this ضعف From this weakness
Growing to that strength So that reunion happens
And keeping that ضعف or that weakness In
consideration He wants to make the path easier
and easier for you Taking these lessons and
the clarity And the sunnah of the people
before you Is going to allow for you
to avail the ease Or the facilities that
He's offering يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا So you
who have belief لا تَأْكُلُوا أَمْوَالَكُمْ بَيْنَكُمْ بِالْبَطْلِ
Do not consume one another's wealth Illegally Unlawfully
إِلَّا أَن تَكُونَ التَّجَارَةَ Only in business أَن
تَرَضِي مَنْكُمْ With mutual contempt وَلَا تَقْتُلُوا أَنفُسَكُمْ
Do not kill literally yourselves But talking about
killing each other But you're so close to
each other That killing another is killing yourself
The death of humanity for sure إِنَّ اللَّهَ
كَانَ بِكُمْ رَحِيمًا Allah is ever merciful towards
you It's the exact opposite direction That you
can possibly go to Exploiting the other Doing
away with the other Allah wants to turn
towards you Reunite Develop this beautiful relationship And
you're taking human to human relationship To this
heinous level Don't think that's the way to
reunion with Allah As that prevails that You're
making that reunion any easier for yourself You're
becoming less and less human Less and less
worthy In that process وَمَنْ يَفْعَلْ ذَٰلِكَ Whoever
does that عُدْوَانًا وَظُلْمًا Based on transgression and
injustice فَسَلْفَ نُسْلِهِ نَارَهُ We will throw him
into the fire وَكَانَ ذَلِكَ عَلَى اللَّهِ يَسِيرًا
And that has always been easy for Allah
When He wants And then if this is
what He has to do He will إِنْ
تَجْتَنِبُ كَبَاءِ رَمَاتٌ هَوْنْ عَنْهِ If you avoid
the major sins from what you have been
forbidden Again, we spoke about that obsessional religiosity
That nitpicky, hair splitting Going into the To
the minutest detail And rigidly holding on to
them As to how you get so lost
in Sharia That that's all there is to
your life That you lose the bigger picture
How that Sharia relates With your social responsibilities
With your prayer, with your spirituality With your
family life With everything else How the balance
is the key Balance is where that Tawheedic
relationship with Allah And the manifestation and expression
of that And the rest of your dimensions
As individuals and in your community Is supposed
to express itself You forget that when you
zoom in so much Into the nitty-gritty
of Sharia Of Halal, Haram All you see
is that All you see is that That
the obsessionality and that Passionate desire to reunite
with Allah Becomes pathologically channeled Considering that The
only way you can become worthy of Him
And that reunion with Him Is if you
are sparkling clean That every ounce Of deficiency,
weakness Fallibility is cleansed from you Allah says
hang on Before you go down that pathological
route That diseased religiosity And understand that this
diseased religiosity When it is socially prevalent It
becomes a means Of developing diseased religiosity It
becomes a means of developing The actual diseases,
diagnostic categories Of obsessions and compulsions And obsessive
-compulsive disorders In individuals It is an ideological
factor It is an ideological factor That so
much of what we see In OCD clinically
Is a reflection Of this irrational Pathological Socially
sanctioned religiosity That
is being addressed The sentiment or the Principle
that is to be borne in mind إِن
تَجْتَنِبُ كَبَائِرَ مَا تُنْهَوْنَ عَنْهِ If you avoid
the major sins from which you have been
forbidden Everyone knows those You can count them
on your fingers Of one hand, pretty much
Give or take one or two إِن تَجْتَنِبُ
كَبَائِرَ مَا تُنْهَوْنَ عَنْهِ نُكَتْفِرْ عَنْكُمْ سَيْجِعَاتِكُمْ We
will remove you from the rest of your
sins The rest of your errors We will
cover that up for you وَنُدْخِلْكُمْ مُدْخَلًا كَرِيمًا
We will admit you to a noble entrance
Your nobility is still going to be there
How much more liberating do you want this
to be?
How much more breathing space do you want?
Make sure you're away from the big ones
Try your best on the little ones Don't
get obsessive with them Don't get impractical with
them A lot of them are inevitable Don't
worry, we'll take care of them The noble
or the nobility that we promise you That
we think you have inherently That's sustained Another
way that we get waylaid Or from that
path of reunion with Allah Is by zooming
in You don't just zoom in on the
nitty-gritty Or the minute details of sharia
That's not the only zooming in we do
And losing sight of the bigger picture We
zoom in on our inherent laws In comparison
to others Some people are taller Others are
shorter Some people have a predisposition to being
heavier It is more difficult for them to
lose weight than others Color of our skins
So many differences In intellectual capacities In physical
appearances It becomes a problem To be obsessed
with what we constitutionally don't have Simply don't
have To sit on that Becomes pathological It
becomes a serious obstacle In the path of
our spiritual growth وَلَا تَتَمَنَّوا مَا فَضَّلَ اللَّهُ
بِهِ بَعْضَكُمْ عَلَىٰ بَعْضٍ Do not desire in
what Allah has exalted some of you over
others Particularly in a cultish following of religion
Not having those attributes or abilities That the
charismatic cult leader does have Intelligence, eloquence The
whole bundle Not being okay with not having
that And to be fair Not being okay
with the process That is necessary to acquire
that To want it now So there's two
things Things that you can get but it
requires a journey A long one And you
see people who have traveled that journey And
are at the other end of it You
want it now Or there are things that
other people have That you simply cannot have
No matter how much you try No matter
how long a journey you take up You
cannot وَلَا تَتَمَنَّوا مَا فَضَّلَ اللَّهُ بِهِ بَعْضَكُمْ
عَلَىٰ بَعْضٍ Do not desire in what Allah
has exalted some of you over others لِلْرِّجَالِ
نَصِيبُ مِمَّا اكْتَسَبُ Of these differences Are differences
in gender So for men They will be
rewarded according to what they earn Where does
it boil down to?
The differences Who's gotten what in more In
terms of strength In terms of role in
society At the end of the day what
matters is what they do with it That's
where their growth is coming from And that's
where the reward is coming from So someone
is smarter That's not a full stop That's
a comma They're smarter or a semi-colon
What did they do with it?
You can't put a full stop there They're
smarter, oh my god, I'm not They're stronger,
full stop Oh my god, I'm not What
did they do with it?
Did they take it to where it was
supposed to be taken to?
He's a man She's a woman Relax That's
مِمَّا اكْتَسَبُ It's what they do with it
Yes, that's in your control So do Act
And understand that even within that action Your
capacity is built over time Through a journey,
through a process وَلِلنِّسَاءِ نَصِيبُ مِمَّا اكْتَسَبْنَا And
women will be rewarded according to what they
earn As a result of their action وَسْأَلُوا
اللَّهَ مِنْ فَضْلِهِ And so, ask Allah for
His fubar Rather than being envious of each
other To an extent Envy is reactionary It
is going to be there It is what
you make of it It is what you
make of it Denying it and then that
envy acting under the hood That's dangerous That's
dangerous Being aware of it and then containing
it And focusing on what it is that
you have to do That's the struggle And
in that process, asking for Allah's fubar And
we know asking for Allah's fubar Entails doing
your part in acquiring that fubar If it
is something that can be acquired إِنَّ اللَّهَ
كَانَ بِكُلِّ شَيْءٍ عَلِيمًا And Allah is ever
-knowing of everything These differences in society, in
individuals It is what makes you unique It
is what makes individuals unique It is what
results in the diversity in creation Which allows
for the development and evolution of society If
everyone was the same Then there would be
No difference in perspective Or no spectrum Nothing,
no polarity Across which people have to Relate
with each other The greater the polarity across
which you relate The more fruits that come
out of that relationship And for that, these
dynamics Have to be set up What greater
polarity is there Than the dynamic between Allah
and the human being And it is in
overcoming this polarity In what he is and
has And who we are And don't have
And yet he's looking to relate and come
closer And we're looking to struggle and come
closer And what comes out of this struggle
Allah knows How important that is This disparity,
this polarity And how immature recognition This is
how you compliment each other And this complimenting
Is fruitful There is fruitful generation Novelty comes
from this complimenting Growth comes from this complimenting
The society becomes more than what it was
before There is creativity In this complimenting Which
would otherwise not be there If this disparity
is removed If you have absolute equality In
everything That ugliness, that boring And
for all we have made Inheritors to what
is left By parents and relatives As for
those with whom you made A firm agreement
You gave them your word And the way
of doing that was shaking on it Your
right hands So give them their dues Definitely
Allah is ever Over everything a witness Men
are responsible for women I don't see what's
wrong with that Men are responsible for women
That's an additional responsibility What's there to be
jealous about?
What's there to be How it's manifested How
it's expressed And how it has been exploited
It is how a lot of women Have
had to suffer But what's messed up Is
when women who haven't had to suffer They
start playing victim And they start carrying the
narrative To the absolute other extreme And misogyny
Is replaced with androgyny And either way Misogyny
Or androgyny It is misanthropic So what do
these words mean?
Misogyny is hatred of women Androgyny is hatred
of men And being misanthropic I think that's
the right way of using it Is hatred
of humanity Either of those attitudes devolve Into
the hatred of humanity Or the cause of
humanity Or how these disparities Especially in gender
Being able to overcome these maturely In a
Tawheedic fashion The way Allah wants to relate
with human beings And how human beings should
look to relate with Allah Across the disparity
How beautiful relationships Should ensue from there Beautiful
children Beautiful physically, psychologically Intellectually, aesthetically,
socially Even when so many of those children
Will be deprived In those maybe intellectual Maybe
physical, maybe aesthetic Maybe social dimensions But because
there is so much diversity Within a human
being So much multiplicity of potential Within a
human being Being less than one Doesn't mean
that they are less altogether In that Accounting
for that Taking that into consideration And then
moving a step forward To complement that Allows
for their uniqueness And the beauty that emanates
from there To really express itself So this
This relationship And how it was supposed to
be How it is still supposed to be
And how your Feministic slogans Or slogans of
feminism Need to evaluate themselves Need to be
reflective about themselves So as to not Carry
the narrative to another extreme There is injustice
There has been injustice Gross injustice But that
does not justify A reactionary injustice That does
not take away from Feminism The beauty of
what this relationship is supposed to be like
Of how the genders are supposed to interact
In society In marriage or otherwise It can't
take away from that The society is dependent
Not on men Not on women But the
relationship between men and women The growth of
this community is dependent Not on the powerful
Not on the weak But how And powerful
in any domain And weak in any domain
But the society is dependent on the relationship
Between the powerful and the weak Between the
economically privileged And the economically deprived Between the
socially privileged and the socially deprived It is
Dependent And any lens Which looks at deprivation
In a particular domain As an absolute inferiority
That lens Results in the formation of cults
And disease cultures Rather than communities And
those Diseases of culture and the diseases of
society Are far more cancerous Destructive Than any
physical disease Than any mental disease Or in
physical and mental diseases Or illnesses or deprivations
Whatever it may be Beauty, growth Can emanate
from Life can and does emanate from Life
can only emanate across these polarities And disparities
But when That life-giving nature Or life
-giving potential of the Tawhidic relationship is lost
The pathologies That result from there They spread
to death And darkness in the society Yet
the power of the Tawhidic Relationship is such
That when realized and actualized It can even
draw life from The death that the Ignorance
Of those fragmented Perceptions Has resulted in Men
are responsible for women Because Allah has exalted
Some over others And also because Men are
required to support them From their wealth So
women Righteous women are those who are obedient
Guarding In In their Guarding In their husband's
absence Allah would have them guard As for
the ones Whom you fear rebellion from And
this is rebellion In the sense of Outright
rebellion That the Hafizat is not happening Hafizat
of what?
Guarding their chastity First
advise them There is a possibility That something
like that may be Happening or may end
up happening Counsel them And then leave Sharing
the bed with them Send out a message
And then strike them But if they start
Obeying you Then don't look For any other
action Against them Again You can take this
Out of the general context of The beauty
and the relationship That is being exhorted to
As an isolated ayah And it is pretty
difficult to swallow Impossible to swallow But if
there is a more mature And if this
is used Ayahs like these are used To
justify and rationalize Impulsive Diseased expressions of anger
Then the task becomes Even more difficult Exploitative
expression On the part of Diseased men Who
without consideration Without any recognition Are Expressing their
anger and taking it out And displacing it
on a weak And exploiting and abusing Someone
who is so intimately tied to them And
therefore vulnerable before them If these ayahs are
then used to rationalize That pathology That abusiveness
You have a very tough task in front
of you You have a very tough task
In front of you But given the larger
structure And the very strict conditions In which
this becomes Indispensable If those conditions are not
taken into consideration And as far as I
can see it Of course there is no
I do not have any authority at all
In matters of fiqh Or even a beginner
level reading But I think Ruhuzahunna needs to
be taken very very seriously As far as
I can see it I may be wrong
It extends to Extramarital sexual interactions As the
only condition I may be wrong Don't hold
me to it But I think that needs
to be looked into But if they start
obeying you Then do not look for any
further action against them Allah has always been
high and great Allah's being As powerful As
much power as that depicts Has never let
for him To exploit and abuse You're living
in the attributes of Allah Enacting them By
being more mindful Of those relationships وَإِن قِفْتُمْ
شِقَاقَ بَيْنِهِمَا But if you fear of breach
In marriage of a couple فَبْعَثُوا حَكَمًا مِّنْ
أَهْلِهِ وَحَكَمًا مِّنْ أَهْلِهَا Then appoint an arbitrator
from his family And an arbitrator from her
family إِنْ يُرِيدَ إِسْلَاحًا If both of them
desire reconciliation Involvement of a third party becomes
inevitable When the two arguing or fighting In
a couple have become blinded In anger, in
rage, in hatred In resentment There's far too
many blind spots On account of all of
these emotions To see where they themselves are
going wrong Where the self can't see where
they're going wrong All they're able to see
is where the other is going wrong And
same on the other side Arbitration becomes necessary
A third party involvement becomes necessary As unbiased
as possible And so one from his side
and one from her side Becomes a fair
adjustment But as we typically stand Our society
and our The maturity in our relatives Or
their lack of understanding as to how to
carry These marital disputes is such That if
it's going to lead To further problems That
involving one from her family and one from
his family And they're not the most mature
and wise people And they're going to fuel
the The gossip That is going to emanate
from these interactions Probably not a good idea
You have to be sure that the The
Hakaman is really Has hikmah And knows how
to go about it The maturity, the expertise
to deal with it يوفق الله بينهما Allah
will bring both of them together again If
they really do desire to be back And
you can have that desire despite that emotionally
overwhelming state That you're in And if that's
there, that is the most important ingredient To
marital reconciliation And explosifies Incredibly Words
are said and things are done From which
you're like, oh my God, there's no point
of return But if there is that intent
on the side of both Then you see
magic That the relationship Returns to not just
normal But better and stronger than ever before
يوفق الله بينهما Allah will bring them back
together again يوفق الله بينهما Allah has always
been knowing and aware So enter into the
ibadah of Allah And fulfilling all of this
ولا تشريك به شيئا And do not commit
shirk with him How So much of social
Ill And pathologies Are an expression of a
polytheistic Practice Or attitude A non-tawhidic
way Of looking at each other At the
world, at reality At relationships وبالوالدين احسانا And
nicely treat Your parents in the best possible
In the most beautiful manner In the character
In the treatment And the relatives And the
orphans And the helpless ones And the neighbors
Whether near or far Again, all of these
relationships Within the community Because they're relationships They're
vulnerable to each other's harm Mind them, guard
them Expression of your tawhid Foremost Would be
in how you carry these relationships وَالصَّحِبِ بِالجَنْبِ
وَابْنِ السَّبِيلِ Your fellow travelers as well as
travelers in general وَمَا مَلَكَتْ أَيْمَانُكُمْ And also
those who are your slaves إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَا
يُحِبُّ Allah does not like مَن كَانَ مُخْتَالًا
فَخُورًا Those who are proud and boastful There's
two manifestations of arrogance One is this Condescension
with which you look at those who are
Who do not have in one domain or
the other What you have And then another
manifestation of arrogance Refusing the ayat of Allah
And how the both are intricately tied The
ayat of Allah take you closer and closer
to tawhid And then believing in tawhid And
establishing that relationship with Allah Allows for you
to not be arrogant And condescending towards other
people Those most closest to you And most
vulnerable to you Before you And you're able
to empower them The way your tawhid and
Allah Through your acceptance of tawhid empowers you
الَّذِينَ يَبْصَلُونَ And those who are stingy وَيَأْمُرُونَ
النَّاسَ بِالْبُخْلِ And enjoying people to be stingy
as well Where does stinginess come into the
whole picture?
Not willing to give Your selfishness As it
manifests from your stinginess It manifests itself in
your interactions with others When you're not willing
to forgive When you're not willing to give
time When you're not willing to accommodate When
it is all about you In stinginess, your
money You want to hold on to it
and not give from it In arrogant and
muqtal-an-fakhura attitude Proud and boastful There
is so much else that you have At
your disposal and your privilege That you're not
willing to give from to others Who don't
have as much as you do And so
you look down upon them They're both inherently
self-centered positions Narcissistic positions to hold You
can be narcissistic in your relationships And therefore
that leads to exploitation and manipulation of others
You can be narcissistic with your wealth And
that can lead to selfishness and stinginess And
so those who are stingy وَيَأْمُرُونَ النَّاسَ بِالْبُخْلِ
And enjoying people to be stingy as well
This enjoying people to be stingy Can take
institutional and organizational level That you're so *
-bent In rationalizing your narcissism And your stinginess
That entire philosophical structures Organizational foundations Can be
based on just this sentiment Or just this
trait This personality trait And how it breeds
a culture of selfishness How it breeds a
culture Of unjust social stratifications and exploitations وَيَأْمُرُونَ
النَّاسَ بِالْبُخْلِ The straight out example that comes
to mind Is the big pharma As to
how the bukhul That is the essence Of
those egregious criminals Who are engaged In filling
their coffers And how that breeds a culture
of stinginess And selfishness And that's just one
example There is so many others As you
can pick out that are representative In your
own fields وَيَكْتُمُونَ مَا آتَهُمُ اللَّهُ مِنْ فَضْلِهِ
And they hide what Allah has granted them
out of His grace The one thing they
don't want to pay the taxes literally And
then there is a tax On every privilege
that you have Which is more social, which
is more moral Which is more intellectual In
which there is a right of others That
you're not willing to share But you're denying
them وَأَعْتَدْنَا لِلْكَافِرِينَ عَذَابًا مُحِينًا And we have
prepared for such ungrateful people A disgraceful punishment
What would we be looking for with amassing
all of that And not sharing greatness More
and more greatness More and more wealth More
and more power More and more reputation Allah
says they will be humiliated The higher they
want to go The lower Allah is going
to bring them وَالَّذِينَ يُنفِقُونَ أَمْوَالَهُمْ رِآءَ النَّاسِ
And those who spend but to show off
to people That even if there is some
charitable Pride to their projects Even if they
are giving out free samples Even if they
are Maybe even sustaining orphanages What's a million
dollars when you're Minting billions And why do
you want to support orphanages And all these
wonderful causes All over the world رِآءَ النَّاسِ
To show people For one thing you're going
to get tax cuts Those are tax exempt
projects And for another thing It puts an
image out in front of the world Oh
my god these are such nice people And
the people hired for those charitable projects Are
going to be the nicest people The ones
with the highest moral standards And they become
the faces And they're giving their long winded
speeches About how grateful they are to X,
Y, and Z Owners of The most destructive
organizations in the world And how many families
have been blessed Because of their generous donations
Oh my god And Behind that Charity Of
a million dollars A million dollars is a
lot Millions of dollars is so much more
How that is justifying Sanctioning and hiding Billions
of dollars of worth of abuse and exploitation
And how those kind faces Of the managers
of their charities A lot of time religious
people Community leaders, genuinely nice people But naive
How behind that hides The evil face of
the Firauns That are in charge of these
corporates These anti-environment, anti-humanity corporates Those
genuinely committed to inquiry scientists Are they're utterly
dependent On these Firauns And the genuine pursuit
of truth And the truth on their part
is exploited Is the face behind which These
Firauns now hide Firaun doesn't have to come
out All guns blazing in his pomp And
he can so conveniently So conveniently Hide behind
the naivety Of religious people, of charitable people
Of philanthropists Of incredible And
those who spend their wealth To show off
to the people They do not believe in
Allah Nor the last Allah is not getting
fooled by their charities We are We even
collect donations for them We give them donations
So there is this sanctioning of Of really
community destroying wars On one side From these
reputable global organizations And then there's these mental
health campaigns That they're running on the other
side What a joke What a joke The
same corporations that are responsible Or the same
countries that are responsible For the death of
millions Are going to present Another face of
themselves The nice people of their community And
put them up front as Ethicists As Teachers
Putting up wells Charitable hospitals The
Bani Israel And how they killed each other
And then drove each other out of their
houses And allowed for them to be captive
By their enemies And then they're sending out
ransom money To free them What the *
And we fall for it Alright And you're
bad for calling it out You're too critical
about everything You're too pessimistic Go to *
And they believe neither in Allah Nor in
the last day And he to whom Shaitan
is a companion What an evil companion he
is What harm would they have suffered Had
they believed in Allah On the day of
judgment And genuinely spent from what Allah Has
granted them And Allah is already Fully Knowledgeable
about them Allah knows them very well Without
a doubt Allah does not Impose any injustice
Does not Meet with the slightest injustice Anyone
The slightest To the extent of a tiny
particle But if it is a virtue done
by anyone He will multiply it many folds
And he will personally give a great reward
For it And it will be when we
shall bring a witness From each community And
we shall bring you Ya Rasulullah to testify
against these This was that ayah Abdullah bin
Mas'ud I believe that it was him
Is asked to recite By Rasulullah ﷺ Ya
Rasulullah the Qur'an was revealed to you
You want me to recite it to you
He's like I like listening to it And
he recites surah Nisa And he comes to
ayah number 41 And he looks up and
Rasulullah ﷺ's eyes Are streaming with tears And
he's saying Stop, stop, stop No more Contrast
that with how How I enjoyed reciting the
Qur'an It was so good It was
so much fun I enjoy listening to Qur
'an so much It is so soothing It
brings me so much peace Ayah And that
is true in its own place It does,
of course it does And it should And
it's brilliant That we're able to experience that
When was the last time the burden of
responsibility Became so much that we're like that's
it I can't take it I need a
break I need a break from the responsibility
That this entails And how damning Me living
up to my responsibility Is going to be
for so many others Literally with his own
hands Rasulullah ﷺ doing his job well Stealing
the fate of So many That I did
my job And they still didn't listen It's
their fault now And that's what they deserve
* for God to them He had to
wrestle with that Every day On
that day Those who disbelieve and disobey the
messenger They would desire That they would be
leveled with the earth Only if they could
be leveled with the earth And they will
never Be able to hide A single word
from Allah We resume From where we left
off 7th Ruku Ayah number 43 You
who have believed Do not approach prayer When
you are intoxicated Until you know What it
is that you're saying So much about prayer
Is about reflection Is about understanding Although that
is not all there is to prayer It
is a very important aspect of prayer And
a state of intoxication Does not allow for
that Presence Or that attentiveness And this is
As we said before as well A gradual
weaning off Rather than Rather than Going cold
turkey For a society For people who Will
have a lot of people Who are Addicted
to alcohol Because alcohol is an addictive substance
And if its use is prevalent In a
society Going cold turkey Is not only impractical
It is going to be fatal A lot
of people Will have If this was the
first requirement When they became Muslim To Quit
alcohol They would have died Outright without any
Doubt there would have been A good segment
of the people Who would have died Because
that's how addictive alcohol is And going cold
turkey By somebody who For a very long
time Who in increasing quantities Is addicted For
them to go cold turkey Is pretty much
Signing their death warrant And so not having
that Not being that Dramatic or fanatic The
prohibition of alcohol Since it was a prohibition
for a For a society was more Was
more gradual And you can argue that Beginning
of Medina was probably The right time to
have that done The Sahaba have shown That
commitment already in Badr and All of that
so why not just Go ahead with it
That even still It is being Gradually prohibited
And that gradual prohibition Makes sense biologically More
than anything Else يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ أَعُونُوا لَا
تَقْرَبُوا الصَّلَاةَ وَأَنتُمْ سُكَارًا حَتَّى تَعْلَمُوا مَا تَقُولُونَ
Until you know what you're saying ولا جُنُبًا
Neither approach the prayer When you require The
ghusl The complete ghusl إِلَّا عَابِرِي سَبِيلِي Except
when you're traveling حَتَّى تَغْتَسِلُو Until you do
the ghusl وَإِن كُنْتُمْ مَرْضًا أَوْ عَلَى سَفْرٍ
If you're sick or traveling أو جاء أحد
منكم من الغائض Or one of you has
used the toilet أَوْ لَا مَسْتُمُ النِّسَاءُ Or
you have had sexual contact with women فَلَمْ
تَجِدُوا مَآءًا And find no water فَتَيَمَّمُوا صَعِيدًا
طَيْجِبًا Then do tayammam with some clean dust
A lot of the There has been a
discussion with respect to أَوْ لَا مَسْتُمُ النِّسَاءُ
The inner touching of women There are those
who would take it Who mean not sexual
contact But any form of touching Within husband
and wife And how that Results in the
wudu Breaking And there have been some pretty
funny memes That have emanated from there As
to how this difference of opinion As to
how this one category of Will not take
this To mean that And that your wudu
Does not break every time you Touch your
wife Or a wife touches a husband And
how difficult that Would be to sustain But
then there is a legitimate opinion From a
legitimate scholarly tradition That it does So it
makes for a good Good interaction which Can
have a humorous side to it as well
فَتَيَمَمُوا صَعِيدًا طَيْجِبًا Then do tayammum with some
clean dust فَمْسَحُوا بِوَجُوهِكُمْ وَأَيْدِيكُمْ And rub your
faces and hands with it إِنَّ اللَّهَ كَانَ
عَفُوبًا وَخُورًا Allah has always been lenient and
forgiving Why do you have to be so
rigid أَلَمْ تَرَأَيْ لَلَّذِينَ أُوتُوا نَصِيبًا مِنَ الْكِتَابِ
Didn't you see those who were given a
share Of the scripture يَشْتَرُونَ الضَّلَالَ They barter
it away for error وَيُرِيدُونَ أَن تَضِلُّوا السَّبِيلُ
They want you to lose your way as
well وَاللَّهُ أَعْلَمُ بِأَعْدَائِكُمْ Allah knows your enemies
very well وَكَفَى بِاللَّهِ وَلِيجَى And Allah is
sufficient as a friend and a protector وَكَفَى
بِاللَّهِ نَصِيرًا And Allah is sufficient as a
helper مِنَ الَّذِينَ هَادُوا From among the Jewish
people Are those يُحَرِّفُونَ الْقَلِمَ عَن مَوَضِعِهِ Those
who distort words Out of their proper place
وَيَقُولُونَ And they say سَمِعْنَا وَعَصَيْنَا We listen
and disobey وَاسْمَعْ غَيْرَ مُسْمَعْ And listen and
may you not be able to listen وَرَائِنَا
لَيْجَمْ بِأَلْسِنَتِهِمْ And رَائِنَا They say by twisting
their tongue And pronouncing it رَائِنَا Being derogatory
towards the Prophet Calling him their shepherd وَطَعْنَا
فِي الدِّينِ And they defame religion That this
attitude that they have Of playing around with
the words And disrespecting Scripture and the Prophet
himself Just depicting an attitude Of this How
this is not to be taken seriously at
all And how that leads for The defamation
of religion وَلَوْ أَنَّهُمْ قَالُوا And had they
said سَمِعْنَا وَعَصَيْنَا We listen and we obey
وَاسْمَعْ And please listen وَنظِرْنَا And have patience
with us لَكَانَ خَيْرًا لَهُمْ وَأَقْوَامًا It would
have been better for them And more appropriate
وَلَكِن لَعَنَّهُمُ اللَّهُ بِكُفْرِهِمْ But Allah has cursed
them Because of their refusal to accept the
truth فَلَا يُؤْمِنُونَ إِلَّا قَلِيلًا So with few
exceptions They will not believe يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ
أُوتُوا الْكِتَابُ You to whom the book has
been given آمِنُوا بِمَا نَزَّلْنَا Believe in what
we have revealed Now مُصَدِّقًا لِمَا مَعَكُمْ It
confirms what you have with you مِن قَبْلِي
نَطْمِسَ وُجُوهًا Before we obliterate faces In the
form of a punishment Or we take away
all hope فَنَرُضَّهَا عَلَىٰ أَدْبَارِهَا And turn them
towards their back Bring them to an end
Turn them The way they're dead أو نَلْعَنَهُمْ
كَمَا لَعَنَّ أَصْحَابَ السَّبْخ Or we curse them
as we cursed The people of Sabbath وَكَانَ
أَمْرُ اللَّهِ مَفْعُولًا And Allah's command is Always
Executed The people of Sabbath Who we mentioned
And most of what has just come We
spoke about in Surah Baqarah Or Ali Imran
in different ways And some of this, especially
the people of Sabbath Are going to be
referred to in Surah A'raf إِنَّ اللَّهَ
لَا يَغْفِرُ أَيْن يُشْرِكَ بِهِ Definitely Allah will
not forgive If a partner or an equivalent
Is ascribed to him وَيَغْفِرُ مَا دُونَ ذَلِكَ
لِمَن يَشَاءُ But everything other than that he
will forgive For whoever he wants وَمَن يُشْرِك
بِاللَّهِ And whoever does shirk with Allah فَقَدِفْتَرَأِثْ
مَنْ عَظِيمَ He has invented A highly sinful
Lie أَلَمْ تَرَأْ إِلَى الَّذِينَ يُزَكُّونَ أَنفُسَهُمْ Haven't
you seen Those who claim themselves to be
pure In these God-like claims of being
so Sinless Thoughtless وَلِلَّهُ يُزَكِّي مَنْ يَشَاءُ Rather
it is Allah Who purifies Whom He wills
Again These claims to purity These claims to
absolute purity You Will find A minority expressing
that perhaps But for the most part You
won't find anyone saying I am absolutely pure
But That is effectively what they're saying without
using The words Now sentences will begin with
Or even sermons will begin with We are
not perfect But And then the entire Um
Talk about how They do think that they're
perfect And everybody else is not Um It's
pretty comical Only because it's so tragic And
comedy is the only relief We get from
the tragedy of the situation A lot of
times But this Attitude Of making of putting
yourselves On a pedestal This attitude of cult
Leaders And then As a consequence spiritually Blackmailing
those Who are listening to you and following
you So that it becomes so impractical For
them Either they have to deceive themselves The
way the cult leaders have In Claims of
absolute purity And Such high mindedness No Sin
whatsoever attitude Or They are just Dissolving in
guilt Or Not being able to clear Themselves
off or clean Themselves off Of Natural Difficulties
along The path It was Allah who purifies
Who he wants or who wants to be
Purified it is Allah's prerogative No injustice Even
to the extent Of a thread of a
date stone Will be done to them Look
at how they invent lies Against Allah And
sufficient is that As a manifest thing Haven't
you seen those who have been Given a
portion from the scripture They believe in superstitions
And false gods And they say about the
disbelievers They are more guided And on the
right path than those Who believe That their
conception of monotheism Or scripture has become so
Degenerate That they find it easier to relate
With polytheists Than they do with The people
of the Quran It's ludicrous You would imagine
That there is more in common Given that
they're all Abrahamic Faiths But how degenerate The
understanding of faith Can be That practically Practically
You look like Christians Your culture is Like
Hindus And your attitudes Are such that You
put the Jews to shame That's how degenerate
A Muslim community can get Across the board
You have more in common If a society
If a culture is manifesting The same degenerate
practices Or socially Exploitative practices Of a polytheistic
Society Then what good is their claim To
scripture and monotheism And Tawheed What good are
those words These are the people Allah has
cursed And whoever Allah curses You will never
find anyone to help them They have a
share in sovereignty If that was the case
They would not give people A speck of
a date stone Or are they jealous of
the people Because of what Allah has granted
them Out of his They want to control
his Who gets truth And who doesn't They
want to dictate And we have already blessed
The family of Ibrahim And we blessed them
With a great kingdom Allah brings it all
together The scriptural gifts That of knowledge And
that of power together And how this going
hand in hand Is so much more important
Than just Cutting one off From the other
And cutting One off from religion And one
off from politics Is like cutting off one's
tongue Whoever is doing the Juday Whoever is
doing Whoever is parting it completely They have
nothing to say to each other At all
They have nothing to say to each other
But some of them believe in it While
others are averse And * is sufficient To
burn And those who refuse to believe In
our signs Soon as we will throw them
In the fire Every time their skins are
Roasted We will replace it With a fresh
skin So that they taste the torture Allah
is ever mighty and wise Do you feel
the anger Do you feel the wrath Do
you feel the disappointment This is how These
egregious crimes This is the kind of commentary
It elicits from Allah The kind of response
that he gives A conscious anger A conscious
expression Of how he has been let down
Whereas those who believe And act righteously We
will admit them into gardens Beneath which rivers
flow They will live therein forever The pride
The happiness These are my honored guests My
people They are in our purified spouses And
we will admit them to a thick Pool
Shade Allah commands you That you deliver What
you've been entrusted with To the ones who
are entitled To the ones who are qualified
To the ones who are able And capable
And worthy of that Trust If you're Breeding
a society In which this respect Is not
given You're breeding Chaos You're breeding chaos In
which anyone who is anything Can claim Whatever
You're social media scholars You're google doctors Good
boy Everyone is an expert And a teenager
Is giving his commentary On affairs of Global
Disagreement Pretty incredible The kind of culture we
have bred I really don't care I learned
this in my elevals I read them on
a blog I was on wikipedia I read
a paper My God.
Allah commands you to give what you've been
entrusted with to those who are qualified, entitled
to it.
وَهِذَا حَكَمْتُمْ بَيْنَ النَّاسِ And when you judge
between the people, هِن تَحْكُمُوا بِالْعَدْلِ Judge justly.
positions of power, authority, speciality, they should go
to the people who deserve it.
And justice should be a prevailing norm in
the society.
إِنَّ اللَّهَ نِعِمَّا يَعِذُكُمْ بِهِ Without a doubt,
Allah gives you the best advice.
إِنَّ اللَّهَ كَانَ السَّمِيعًا بَصِيرًا And Allah has
always been hearing, always watching.
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا You who have believed.
أَطِعُوا اللَّهَ وَأَطِعُوا الرَّسُولَ وَأُولِي الْأَمْرِ مِنكُمْ Obey
Allah and obey the Messenger and those who
have been given authority.
Respect for authority.
Anarchy?
Not good.
Absolute chaos?
Not the order of the Qur'an.
فَإِن تَنَازَعْتُمْ فِي شَيْئٍ But if you have
a disagreement on some issue, فَرُدُّوهُ إِلَى اللَّهِ
وَالرَّسُولُ Then refer to Allah and the Messenger.
And we have an entire chapter on this.
We have an entire tradition as to how
that's supposed to be done, as to what
that brings into discussion, what that brings into
consideration.
إِن كُنْتُمْ تُؤْمِنُونَ بِاللَّهِ وَالْيَوْمِ الْآخِرِ If you
really are true believers in Allah and the
Last Day, ذَلِكَ خَيْرٌ وَأَحْسَنُ تَأْوِيلًا That will
be better and ultimately more suitable.
أَلَمْ تَرَى إِلَى الَّذِينَ يَزْعُمُونَ Have you not
seen those who have a claim أنَّهُمْ آمَنُوا
بِمَا أُنزِلَ إِلَيْكَ وَمَا أُنزِلَ مِنْ قَبْلِكَ That
they truly believe in what has been revealed
to you and what was revealed to before
you.
What was revealed before you.
يُرِيدُونَ يَتَحَاكَمُوا إِلَى الطَّاغُتِ Yet they like to
go to Tawhids to get judgments in their
disputes.
If they allow revealed scripture, they say they
believe in it, in the Quran, in the
scripture before it, they claim Islam altogether.
Yet, when that same Islam that they have
submitted to rules against them or their desires,
they would rather have some other standard of
judgment, whether politically, socially or personally.
Then really, who's God?
Your own self?
When it's convenient, you go to the Quran.
When it's not, you go somewhere else.
This arbitrary standard that you've taken up, this
randomness that you have allowed yourself of convenience,
I'm calling it balance between deen and dunya,
that's funny, how does that work?
That is precisely the deification of yourself that
you engaged with Islam or committed yourself to
Islam to purify yourself of, to honor that
self in where it belongs, rather than having
it transgress its boundaries and play God.
The higher the level at which this happens,
the bigger the chaos and injustice.
وقد أمروا أن يكفروا به And they've been
asked to denounce tawhid, that which is in
rebellion, that which is essentially non-tawhidic and
incompatible with tawhid.
ويريد الشيطان أن يضلهم ضلالا بعيدا And Shaytan
wants to lead them far, far astray.
وإذا قيل لهم And it is said to
them, تعالوا إلى ما أنزل الله Come towards
what Allah has revealed.
وإلى الرسول and the Messenger.
رأيت المنافقين You will see the hypocrites يصدون
عنك سدودة Turning away from you in aversion.
فكيف إذا أصابته مصيبة So see how they
behave when they got stricken by a calamity
بما قدمت أيديهم As a consequence of their
own actions.
ثم جاءوك Then they came to you يخلفون
بالله Swearing by God إن أردنا إلا إحسانهم
وتوفيقا That they desired nothing but good conduct
and reconciliation.
أولئك الذين يعلموا الله ما في قلوبهم It
is these people that Allah knows exactly what
is in their heart.
فأعرض عنهم Stay away from them وعظهم But
admonish them.
Give them a chance.
وقل لهم في أنفسهم قولا بريغا And speak
to them affectionate words which may penetrate their
hearts.
So specific incidents that took place in the
time of Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم Where
the munafiqeen would refuse to conform to the
authority of Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم After
having already attested or testified that they are
going to accept it.
And then when it didn't suit them, they
went elsewhere.
And then in going elsewhere When there were
repercussions and consequences that went against them They
come crying back and saying Why were we
treated this way?
Or why was any sort of justice executed
against us?
وَمَا أَرْسَلْنَا مِنْ رَسُولَنَا We did not send
any messenger إِلَّا لِيُطَاعَ بِإِذْنِ اللَّهِ Except to
be obeyed with the permission of Allah.
وَلَوْ أَنَّهُمْ إِذْ ظَلَمُوا أَنفُسَهُمْ جَاءُوك Had they
come to you when they were unjust to
themselves فَاسْتَغْفَرَ اللَّهِ And sought Allah's forgiveness وَاسْتَغْفَرَ
لَهُمُ الرَّسُولِ And Allah's messenger would have requested
Allah to forgive them لَوَجَدُ اللَّهَ التَّوَّابُ الرَّحِيمَ
They would have found that Allah is oft
-relenting and merciful.
They did as egregious a crime as they
did Allah would still, as a part of
that overall process In which tawbah is essential
Allah would embrace them, take them back.
فَلَا هُوَ الرَّبِّك But no, I swear by
your Rabb لَا يُؤْمِنُون They will not believe
حَتَّى يُحَكِّمُوكَ فِي مَا شَجَرَ بَيْنَهُمْ Until they
accept you as a judge And all that
is disputed among them.
Again, the audacity of the people who think
that they are That they find disagreements in
religion Why?
Because if there's a disagreement in scholars So
let's jump straight to the hadith Ooh, ooh,
ooh We jumped straight to the hadith But
you know what?
There's disagreement in hadith Let's jump straight to
the Quran Ooh, ooh, ooh We've jumped straight
to the Quran Now we will have a
unanimity Guess what?
That didn't work Geniuses The more the rungs
of the ladder That are necessary for you
to access the Quran The more you take
them out and throw them away That they
create differences Ooh, these differences that you can't
deal with, idiots The more difficulty you put
yourselves in And you're idiots because you don't
realize That this hasn't worked For those who
tried this before It's gonna work for you
At the end of the day, the same
attitude Of trying to control the Quran Dictate
to it arbitrarily I am the judge I'm
not gonna give Rasulullah that right I am
not gonna give the people who are with
him that right I am not gonna give
those who are associated with those I am
going to cut off And between me and
Quran I am the sole authority Cutting myself
off entirely from all forms of tradition And
other aspects of knowledge See what good that
does to you Seriously, I mean, what kind
of immaturity falls for that?
Repeated, you fall for it once, fair enough
Seemed pretty attractive when it was done for
the first time It didn't work The more
the people that claim this The more fragmentation
they fall into Those who cut off from
the scholars And went straight to the Quran
and Hadith Because Quran and Hadith is the
essence There's no fragmentation there Don't you see
how many more fragments there are Of those
Quran and Hadith trumpeteers?
What about those who skipped Hadith altogether And
went straight to the Quran?
Don't you see how much more fragmentation there's
there?
To the point that they started off like
that And ended up making claims of prophethood
That was the logical consequence of that attitude
Good luck trying to pull that off Allah
has put so many beautiful ayats as ropes
Or strands of rope wound around each other
And how they complement and explain each other
better And you want to take away one
strand Then take away the other strand And
then take away the third strand And take
away the fourth strand What do you have
left?
You and a hollow structure Words that you
can play around with as you please See
if that results in anything better Than the
chaos that has resulted over Whoever has tried
to do that in the past فَلَا وَرَبِّكَ
لَا يُؤْمِنُونَ They will not believe حَتَّى يُفَكِّمُوكَ
فِي مَا شَجَرَ بَيْنَهُ Until they accept you
as a judge And all that is disputed
amongst them ثُمَّ لَا يَجِيذُوا فِي أَنفُسِهِمْ حَرَجًا
Moreover, they don't find any discomfort in their
hearts مِمَّا قَضَيْتْ أَسْتُوا What you decide for
them وَيُسَلِّمُوا تَسْلِيمًا They submit completely Let's end
here We will complete the passage tomorrow وآخر
دعوانا عن الحمد لله رب العالمين