Zia Sheikh – ICI Neighbors Week

Alhamdulillah wa salatu wa salamu ala Rasulullah, Assalamu

alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.

Today inshallah I'm going to be talking about

the importance of friendship when it comes to

dawah and calling people towards Islam.

Statistically we found that many people have misunderstandings

and misconceptions about Islam and a negative perception

of Islam.

But at the same time, if we look

at the numbers, most of these people that

have a negative image of Islam have never

actually met a Muslim.

So what that tells us is that people

that know Muslims and are friends with Muslims

and deal with Muslims, they generally have a

favorable image of Muslims.

The lesson that we learn from this is

that we need to be very outgoing when

it comes to making friendships with people and

showing our akhlaaq.

One example that I always give is that

we often talk about the five pillars of

Islam as being the fundamentals of the religion.

But at the same time, if we look

at those five pillars, those five pillars are

mostly concentrated within ourselves or within our community.

For example, the Shahada, which is something which

is personal, our faith, it is between us

and Allah SWT.

The Salat, we either pray in the masjid

or we pray at home.

And even if we pray at work, we

pray in a private cubicle.

Fasting, it's a month of Ramadan and that

is again between us and Allah SWT.

Hajj, we perform in Mecca and only Muslims

are allowed to go there.

Zakat is usually distributed amongst only the Muslims.

So from those five pillars, we cannot see

any one of them that show that interaction

between Muslims and non-Muslims.

So when and how are we going to

have any type of interaction with non-Muslims

is when we befriend them at work or

outside.

Basically, it's important to have these kinds of

relationships so that the avenue is open for

dialogue.

Many people have a misunderstanding about a verse

of the Quran in which Allah SWT, He

tells us يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا لَا تَتَّخِذُ

الْيَهُوْدَ وَالنَّصَارَ أَوْلِيَاءٌ بَعْضُهُمْ أَوْلِيَاءٌ بَعْضٌ وَمَنْ

يَتَوَلَّهُمْ مِنكُمْ فَإِنَّهُمْ مِنْهُمْ إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَا يَهْدِي

الْقَوْمَ الظَّالِمِينَ In this verse, Allah SWT seemingly

is telling us that people of faith do

not take the Jews and the Christians as

Awliya, as close friends or allies, because they

are allies to each other, they are close

friends to each other, and whoever befriends them

is actually from amongst them.

Indeed, Allah SWT does not guide the wrongdoers.

So in this verse, actually, it seems that

Allah SWT is telling us not to befriend

the Jews and Christians.

But as with all other Qur'anic verses,

we need to understand that there is a

context and a background to a verse and

why it was revealed.

In this particular case, this verse was revealed

about the hypocrites and the munafiqeen that used

to go around to the Jews and Christians

and tell them that you need to be

allied with us just in case the Muslims

find out about us, and then once they

find out about us, then we're going to

be in problems.

So at that time, we want you to

be with us to fight against the Muslims.

So when we understand this verse in that

context, it shows us the verse in a

completely different light.

Now, keep this point in mind that if

Allah SWT is allowing Muslim men to marry

women of the people of the book, Jewish

and Christian women, as long as they are

muhsanat, fortified protected women, then how is it

that Allah SWT is also telling us not

to befriend them?

It doesn't make sense.

And also Allah SWT is allowing us to

consume from the zabeeha or the meat which

is slaughtered.

If we are sure and certain that it

was slaughtered by a Jewish person or a

Christian person, how is it that it will

be allowed if we're not allowed to befriend

them?

So if we understand these points, then it

makes us understand clearly what those particular verses

are about.

We need to make sure we are friendly

towards non-Muslims.

We need to make sure that we show

our akhlaaq and our manners to the non

-Muslims.

We need to make sure that our friendliness,

it permeates through the community and society, and

people know us and realize that this Muslim

is a friendly person.

This Muslim is a good person.

This Muslim is a generous person.

And all the negative things that we hear

about Muslims in the media, these people have

nothing to do with them.

Once we do that, and once people realize

these things, then inshallah, the way for giving

dawah becomes easy and we can invite people

towards Islam very, very easily.

I pray that Allah SWT gives us, myself,

and everyone who's watching, the tawfiq to understand

and practice what has been said and heard.

JazakAllah Khayran.

Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh.