Zakir Naik – How can we Unite Despite the False Scholars and Leaders Misguiding the Muslims
AI: Summary ©
The postmaster discusses the misinformation and division in Islam, citing examples from media reports and interviews. They emphasize the importance of the umighin time and the lack of knowledge in social media. The segment touches on the history of the use of social media, including the pros and cons of the trend of spreading false information, and the roles of individuals in the decision-making process. The speaker emphasizes the importance of learning from the largest number of known apologists and finding common ground with the audience, praying to Islam, and unity in the times of the Prophet.
AI: Summary ©
As-salamu alaykum, dear President Zakir.
I am Mahmood from Toronto, Canada.
I am a postgraduate student of Life Science.
Muslims today are divided more than ever before.
And most of us are being misled by
constant propaganda and false celebrities who distort Islam
but pose as Muslim scholars.
My question to you is, how can we
get united Muslim Ummah as envisioned by our
Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam?
Another question is, are we currently living in
the same situation as the Jahiliyyah days before
our Prophet, peace be upon him, came?
Or are we comparatively in a better or
a worse of times?
I would appreciate your valuable, knowledgeable responses and
guidance for the Ummah.
JazakAllah.
The two questions, question number one is that
we are being led by false propaganda and
false information by celebrities and many people who
pose as Muslim scholars.
And the second question is that how can
we have a united Ummah envisioned by Abdullah
ibn Khatam sallallahu alaihi wa sallam?
And the third part of the question is
that are we in the times of Jahiliyyah
before Prophet Muhammad, are we better or are
we worse?
I find the first question is concerned that,
I do agree, there is a lot of
false propaganda, there is a lot of people,
there are many celebrities opposing Muslim scholars and
Muslim Ummah is divided.
Coming to the question of Muslim scholars, of
course, that reminds me of the Hadith of
the Beloved Prophet, peace be upon him, in
which Imam Bukhari has mentioned in his book,
Adab al-Mufrad and Sheikh Albani has classified
it as Hassan.
He said that now, one of the Sahaba
says, that now is the time where there
are many Fuqahas and few speakers.
There are very few beggars and there are
many people who want to give charity.
But there will be a time when there
will be very few Fuqahas and many speakers.
There will be a time where there will
be many beggars and few people who would
give in charity.
And there are various of the Hadith in
which the Prophet said that there will be
a time where people who will not have
knowledge will start speaking about Islam.
And I do agree with you that, you
know, at the time of the Prophet, the
Sahaba, Dawah, mainly one to one, or when
there was a talk, people used to gather,
few people, 10, 20, 30, 40.
Rarely, there were large gatherings like Hajj, Ulwida,
etc.
And as time went on, most of the
knowledge was spent either by Sheikhs in the
Durus or giving talks in public directly, one
to one.
And even in my childhood, when I was
in school, when I was in college, I
remember the days that we used to go
to listen to talks of religious speakers or
scholars.
And at that time, maybe in the 90s,
etc., in the late 80s, we found that
the videos became popular.
And besides hearing talks, which became less, we
used to get knowledge from the video cassettes
or from audio cassettes or from books or
scholars.
So as time passed on, besides one to
one Dawah, the print media advanced, the audio
media, the video media.
But in 2000s, you know, the social media
came up.
Internet came in the late 90s, and social
media, Facebook, in 2006.
And in the 2000s, it started in 2010,
and now we are in 2024.
And the social media has expanded so much
in the last two decades, in the last
20 years, phenomenal.
And we find that any Tom, Dick, and
Harry can address the full world on the
social media.
There is no expense required.
He takes his mobile phone, a smartphone, records
it, and uploads it.
He may have few views.
He may have hundreds, thousands, or even million
views.
But to address to the world has become
very easy.
Because of the social media, the pros and
cons.
There are pros is that, okay, you can
spread the Deen faster.
The cons are that even the fayyash and
the wrong things spread faster.
And even those people who want to distort
the religion or want to spread wrong things
become easier.
So as far as the brother's question is
concerned, that now there is, Huma is divided.
And you have many celebrities who pose as
Muslim scholars, and I do agree with you.
But now, because of the social media, most
of the people, unfortunately, that come on the
social media, they are more targeting how many
viewership they get.
How many followers do they get?
How many subscribers do they get?
Rather than delivering the message.
And unfortunately, this trend has even crept amongst
the Muslim speakers.
I'm not talking about the non-Muslim, what
they're doing wrong.
But even amongst the Muslim dais, or the
Muslim Islamic speakers, most of them, I wouldn't
say all, are more bothered about how many
views they gather on the videos, how many
subscribers they have, how many followers they have
on the social media, and what's happening by
this trend.
It's happening to the non-Muslim also in
this other social media.
But unfortunately, even amongst the Muslim speakers, what's
happening is that instead of the knowledgeable people
guiding the society, the society is guiding the
knowledgeable people.
So those people who come, they are more
bothered on what the society likes.
So they tailor their talks according to society,
not according to what is required by society.
So you know what, when we consult the
experts of social media, they say, okay, if
you want more views, I mean, you're an
Islamic speaker, but you make a video on
how to cook.
So when you start making a video on
how to cook biryani, maybe you'll get a
million views.
And what they're saying is a fact.
Because you know, people like to know things
which are different, not only talks, talks.
So, and you may find that the experts
of social media will tell you, okay, you
play maybe with a cat.
You know, the largest pet amongst humanity is
cat.
So if you play with a cat, you'll
get more views.
So unfortunately, not all, but many, can say
most of them are guided by the society
on what they want.
So they're changing their matter on what is
wanted by society rather than what is required
by society.
And this trend is very dangerous.
And coming to your question of Muslim scholars,
I would say that based on the Hadith,
that the Fuqahs are very few.
According to me today, the scholars are only
a handful, maybe a hundred or maybe a
couple of hundred, not more than that.
Not like the previous days where there were
many scholars, you know, every country had, mashallah,
tens and hundreds of scholars.
Now, in the full world, if you have
to name, you'll hardly be able to name
a hundred scholars, leave aside more than that.
And that's the reason when someone asked me
many years back on this Ask Dr. Zakir,
and I named a few of the scholars,
they were a handful.
And never do I consider myself to be
a scholar.
I consider myself to be a student of
knowledge.
And I consider myself to be a da
'i.
And the role of the da'i is
that he should acquire knowledge from the scholars
and make it common to the masses.
Acquire the knowledge from the scholars and make
it palatable, make it digestible, make it acceptable
for the ummah or for the non-Muslims.
So the roles of people like me who
are da'is, we are not scholars.
We don't pose like scholars and I don't
consider myself to be a scholar.
I'm a student of knowledge.
And I consider myself to be a da
'i.
We have to read the books and hear
the videos and read the articles of the
scholars, books of Quran and Sahih Hadith, and
make it more compatible, more palatable, and more
digestible for the audience.
So my role is to get the information
from the scholars and make it more acceptable
to the masses.
Coming to your second question, that what should
be done to envision the idea or thought
of Prophet Muhammad, sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, of
one ummah?
The only way we can do it is
that we should stick to the Quran and
Sunnah.
We should stick to Quran and Sahih Hadith.
So if the full Muslim ummah sticks to
the Quran and Sahih Hadith, as Allah says
in the Quran, in Surah Al-Imran, chapter
number three, verse number three, وَاتَسِمُوا بِهَبْ لِلَّهِ
جَمِعُوا وَلَا تَفْرَكُوا Hold strongly to the rope
of Allah and be not divided.
The rope of Allah is the glorious Quran
and the authentic Hadith of the beloved Prophet.
So if the Muslim ummah unites together and
are not divided only on the basis of
the glorious Quran and on the Sahih Hadith,
we will be one united ummah.
The only way we can be united is
under the manner of the glorious Quran and
Sahih Hadith.
And regarding the last part of the question,
that are we now in the times of
Jahiliyyah before the Prophet or are we better
or are we worse?
Of course, the time of the Jahiliyyah before
the Prophet, I would say worse than now.
We are better than that, but we are
deteriorating.
The time of the Prophet, the time of
the Sahabas, the practice of the Muslim of
the Sahabas, you know, after the Prophets, after
the Anbiya's, the best generation was the generation
of the Sahabas, the companions of the Prophet,
the Khulafa Rashidin, the Sahabas, they were the
best.
As the generation that keep on coming later
and later, we find that we are getting
away and away from the Deen.
And now we are more than 1400 years
away from the time of the Prophet.
And of course, the times have deteriorated, the
going more down and down, but yet I
feel we are yet better than the Jahiliyyah,
the days before the Prophet.
And we pray to Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala that may he give us the wisdom,
the hikmah, and the courage and the patience
that all the Muslim Ummah be united.
You know, the non-Muslims, they are so
much against the Muslims.
There is no way that we Muslims can
differ.
We should leave aside our small differences and
unite together on the banner of Quran and
Sayyidina.
And see to it that when we deliver
the speeches and talks on Islam, see to
it that the message you give gets a
person closer to Allah and his Rasul.
See to it that they get closer to
Allah and Rasul.
So that, inshallah, all of us, we pray
to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, that all
of us, all the Muslim Ummah, we will
enter Jannah for those, inshallah.
Ameen.