A Glimpse At The Best Generation Part-02

A Glimpse At The Best Generation - Abdur Raheem Green

Understanding the True Meaning of Jihad

Because when they become Muslim, automatically they will be supporting our cause. You see, these brothers really understood what is Jihad. They knew that Jihad, in fact, is to make the word of Allah the highest. This is its purpose, this is its objective. And Alhamdulillah, these brothers had a global vision. They looked at the world in a very big picture.

And they understood that it wasn't just a question only of fighting the enemy, and so on, and so forth. The whole concept is something much, much bigger than that. So anyway, this is the question, this is the way, brothers, that I have been told, in Afghanistan, in Palestine, by people who told me themselves, the way that you can help us, they said, is by giving dawah. By calling people to Islam and bringing them to Islam. So I pass on to you only their advice. We should help our Muslim brothers and we should help our Muslim sisters.

Islamic Rulings on Warfare and Targeting Civilians

I do not intend to comment on any details or methods that people say, can we use this method, can we use that method, except only to refer to what I know, the ulama that I know about have said. Including many years ago, Shaykh Abdulaziz Ibn Baz, many, many years ago, he made very clear statements about the illegality in Islam of attacking buses and airplanes and targeting any type of target that is essentially a civilian target. And he made this statement many, many, many years ago.

And this position has been confirmed by many, many scholars in Islam. And this is what I believe to be the correct position, from my knowledge, which is supported by what Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said and what the Messenger صلى الله عليه وسلم taught to his companions. In the method that is the manner of the believer, in the way that they fight in the path of Allah.

The Noble Character of Muslim Fighters

We do not fight the way the kuffar fight. We are not like them. If they rape our women, do we rape their women? If they kill my children, do I kill their children? If as the Serbs, if you know what happened in Bosnia, the Serbs used to rape 4-year-old girls. 4-year-old Muslim girls. They used to rape them and then they would hang their bloody dresses after they slaughtered them on the trees so the Muslims could see it. Do we do that back to them? Is that what Allah teaches us? No.

No, because Islam does not teach us everything they do to us we can do to them. Because we have limits. Because we are supposed to be better than the kuffar. We are supposed to be better. We have a nobility. Our deen teaches us a nobility, a sacredness. Something that, because our fight is not for us, our fight is for Allah. Our fight is to make the word of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala the highest. And part of that is our nobility.

Historical Examples of Islamic Mercy in Warfare

And so we have many, many stories and incidents throughout the history of Islam. In the beautiful way and the great manners of the Muslim fighters in the battlefield. And they displayed great honor and dignity. And the merciful way that they treated their captives. And this is why we refer to the conquest of Islam not as a conquest but as a liberation, an opening. And that is why the people used to invite the Muslims to liberate them from the Romans and the Persians. Because that's what it was exactly, a liberation. And the Muslims treated them so much better than the kuffar.

Rejecting Terrorism in All Forms

So as for these things, brothers and sisters, then we will call it exactly what it is, terrorism. We don't just say, talk about Muslims. We all know that the Americans are worse terrorists than what the Muslims could ever do. We know that. And the Jews, they are worse terrorists. But that doesn't mean that we wanna imitate them. Do we imitate them or are we better than them? We are more noble than them.

You know, that doesn't mean that we don't fight. We do fight. But we fight in the way of Allah and we fight according to the rules that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has prescribed for us.

The Lesson from the Battle of Uhud

So this is what, inshaAllah, I hope is important to understand, my brothers and sisters. After the battle of Uhud, when Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم saw his uncle Hamza, and he saw the way that the kuffar had mutilated the body of his beloved uncle Hamza, the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم was very very upset. So what did he say? He said at that time, next time in our next encounter, we will mutilate their dead.

Did Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala permit that? Did Allah permit that? No. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala did not permit that. In fact, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala then ordered the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم and ordered the Prophet and the Muslims to restrain from this barbaric act. Although the emotion at the time, the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم felt this way about his uncle. But the emotion did not rule the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم. The revelation ruled the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم. This is what is important.

Question: Wife Practicing Sunnah Despite Husband's Objections

Okay, here's a question. The sister is asking, I am a revert sister who wants to really practice the sunnah. But every time I try to practice something, my husband stops me. I am told that this is his right. Please, how can I become a true believing Muslim without practicing the sunnah? And can I practice the sunnah without interfering in my husband's rights?

Well, we will say this, is that your husband has no right to order you to disobey Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. So if what your husband is ordering you to abandon or asking you to stop is something that is extra, it is not from the fard, it is from the nawafil, or from the extra deeds, then he has the right, and you should listen to him and you

should obey him in that. Even as we know, a woman should not fast, the voluntary fast, without first seeking permission from her husband.

However, if these things that he is ordering you to abandon is from the things that have been ordered, like the prayer, the obligatory prayer, or the fasting, or the wearing of the hijab, or the niqab, depending if you think the niqab is wajib or mustahab, there is a difference of opinion about this. But if you believe that it is an obligation, then you must follow what is an obligation. If you believe it is only recommended, then you should obey your husband in that regard, and so with all of the affairs.

So your husband has the right to ask you not to do something. It's not that he has the right, but you should obey him in that matter. However, it is very sad to find that a husband would actually encourage his wife not to be pious, and not to be righteous, and not to follow the sunnah of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم. And we ask the sister to be patient, to make lots of dua in this respect, and to be kind to her husband. InshaAllah we hope that the situation will change.

Question: Difference Between Khushu and Taqwa

What is the difference between khushu and taqwa? Khushu means reverential awe. It is a condition that when you are standing in front of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, that you are standing in front of him with awe and with attentiveness. And this is what is called khushu, a type of reverential awe.

Whereas taqwa is something much more general. It is something much more general that concerns obeying Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and leaving disobedience to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

Question: Books About the Sunnah and Tabligh Jamaat

Are there any books that can teach us about the sunnah or books about sunnah also is tabligh good? Allahu Akbar. Okay. So alhamdulillah there are many. One of the best books alhamdulillah that I think I really recommend everybody inshaAllah to read it and to read it regularly concerning the sunnah of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم is Riyad al-Saliheen, which is a collection of hadith by Imam al-Nawawi. This is a very excellent collection of books alhamdulillah and we recommend that you read that. And this is one book that you could read.

As for tabligh, if we mean by this the jama'ah, tabligh jama'ah, then alhamdulillah there is no doubt that this group has achieved a lot of benefit amongst the Muslims by way of causing them through Allah's permission to leave many sins and to establish the prayer and to do many good things. But this organization also has some things that we should be aware of and one of those things is that many of them do not give knowledge its correct due and correct importance. In fact some of them are hostile to knowledge. This is a very dangerous matter.

Also they sometimes view that the way to seek knowledge is by going with them and they travel to many many different places in groups, which was fine if they were scholars, but actually often these groups of people who

travel all over the world are not people who have very much knowledge and sometimes they do not even speak the language or are able to communicate with the people in the country they are visiting. Yet whereas in their own country right next door to them or maybe even their own neighbors, they are not practicing Islam. So this is not the correct method to give dawah.

If you have some knowledge that you can benefit the people with, then Alhamdulillah you could travel to give that knowledge. But if you are just an ordinary Muslim and around you there are people who are not practicing Islam, then it is your duty to start with them and start with the people closer to you and your family and so on and so forth. And this is really the correct methodology, Alhamdulillah, to give dawah.

Question: Who Are the Ahlul Kitab?

There are some questions here. How many sects are there today within the Muslims? I have no idea about the answer to that question. Please tell me who are the Ahlul Kitab? And then tell me if the Christians of today are the Ahlul Kitab? Can a Muslim man marry a woman of Ahlul Kitab without her accepting Islam? When she dies, does she get a Muslim burial? Okay.

I think I can answer the last one that if she is not a Muslim, she doesn't get a Muslim burial. Only a Muslim is buried as a Muslim. And so to the first one, this is a very good question. The people today, can we call them Ahlul Kitab? The people who call themselves Jews and Christians? Yes. If they call themselves Jews and Christians, generally we refer to them as Ahlul Kitab. Even if they have some deviations.

In fact, if you study history carefully, you will find that most of the deviations and most of the things that are present among the Ahlul Kitab today, were present amongst the Ahlul Kitab in or before the time of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم. If you study the history, you'll find that this is the case. Okay. So generally, yes, we refer to them as Ahlul Kitab.

As for marrying a woman from Ahlul Kitab, then even the Qur'an has a condition to that. And the condition is that she should be chaste. And it is also clear that there must be something that defines them as Ahlul Kitab. There must be some core practice or some core belief that allows them to be within the framework of Ahlul Kitab. What if they are atheists and they don't believe in Allah at all? Can we still call them Ahlul Kitab? That individual? Obviously not.

So the scholars discussed about this and what is the minimum requirements and so on and so forth. So amongst them is that they should at least believe in the akhira, the afterlife. And they should believe in Allah and the books and the messengers. And generally, Christians, that's what they believe. They believe in God, although they make shirk, of course. And they believe in the messengers and the books and the day of judgment. So these things is something that is shared by the people of the book with the Jews, the Christians and the Muslims, of course. But the Jews and Christians have misguidance in regard to that. So Allahu alim. Yes, generally, we call them Ahlul Kitab.

The Example of Ansar and Muhajirun

Now this is even something happened with names that Allah approved of in the Qur'an. For example, the term Ansar and Muhajirun are terms that Allah approved of in the Qur'an and they are the Muhajirun, you know the people who emigrated from Mecca to Medina. And the Ansar were the helpers, the sahaba from Medina. And so these are people and groups of people that were praised in the Qur'an and the Prophet ﷺ praised them.

But there was one time when one of the Muhajirun had done something like a practical joke to one of the Ansar and the Ansar did not take it very well. And then everything became very heated and emotional and these groups were ready to fight each other. So the one from Ansar was saying, Ya Ansar, O Ansar, come to me. And the Muhajirun was saying, O Muhajirun, Muhajirun, come to me.

And the Prophet ﷺ came out of his house. He said, what is this call of Jahiliyyah? What is this call of Jahiliyyah? And they were calling with names that Allah approved of in the Qur'an. Ansar, Muhajirun. But they were using it in a form of Hizbiyyah, in a form of partisanship. And that is detested in Islam. That is detested in Islam. So this is a very important issue to understand, brothers and sisters, a very, very important issue to understand. I hope we clarified it or some bit of it, inshaAllah.

Question: Dealing With Those Who Label You

Okay, brothers and sisters, I think I've been through most of the questions here. Okay. There's a question here. There's a question here that says, what advice would you give someone who starts to label you a Wahhabi, etc. Especially in a conversation about fiqh issues in which there is a disagreement. Yes, this is a classic ploy of the innovator.

The innovator, when you get into a discussion, they are very often, instead of responding to the discussion, they will start calling you names. In fact, of course, this is a sign of nifaq. This is a sign of hypocrisy.

The Prophet ﷺ said:

"[The signs of a hypocrite are three: When he speaks, he lies; when he makes a promise, he breaks it; and when he is entrusted, he betrays.]"

Reminder: The Unity of the Sahaba Despite Disagreements

Okay, can the brothers next to the curtain move away? Sorry, it's a little bit late. Brothers and sisters, brothers and sisters in Islam, I would like to finish actually by reminding ourselves of something very important. Let us take ourselves back again to the Sahaba. Let us not finish this meeting here today on a note of acrimony or anything that may be hatred or dislike for one another.

We have to remind ourselves, brothers and sisters, how the Sahaba, subhanAllah, they had disagreements with each other. They had differences opinions amongst each other. SubhanAllah. Even they fought each other. Yes, even they fought each other. But you know, subhanAllah, even when the Sahaba were in camps and there was the camp of Aisha and there was the camp of Ali. And we know that Aisha had come out and there were two camps and they both had armed followers. And we know, as some of us, maybe we know the story.

But that very night, as they were waiting in their camps, we found the Sahaba were going one group to the other group from each camp to each camp, arranging marriages amongst their daughter to the other daughter. And this is the time when they are really ready to fight over some issue, yet still they're ready to make marriages between each other, one to the daughter to the other. SubhanAllah.

Because you know, if they had a disagreement, subhanAllah, it was always for the sake of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Because they loved Allah and they loved His Messenger. And they realized that they were one people. And they did not have this hizbiyah and this partisanship amongst each other. So subhanAllah, they realized that their deen was one and their aqeedah was one. Alhamdulillah.

The Example of Muawiyah and Ali

Even when Muawiyah and Ali had their disagreement and were fighting and they heard, and they heard that the

Roman emperor was about to attack, Muawiyah sent this man, this Roman emperor a letter. And said, if you attack us, I will give up my disagreement with my cousin, I will give him power and I will join him to fight you. Because they realized that there is something more important at stake.

So this was their understanding, brothers and sisters. And if we examine their lives and their stories, and we should do that and remind ourselves and read about their lives and their stories and how they strove and how they struggled in the path of Allah. But I want to finish with one beautiful story.

The Beautiful Story of Julaibib

One beautiful story from the life of the companions. And this is about Julaibib. Julaibib was a sahaba, a companion of the Prophet who was, he had some deformity in his body. He was in fact a hunchback. He was in fact a hunchback. But the Prophet ﷺ loved Julaibib very much.

And Julaibib wanted to get married. And he was a man with no tribe. I mean, today we don't have any understanding what this means, not to have a tribe. But in the time of the Prophet, when you had no tribe, you were literally a nobody. You were nothing. You were the most... Yes, the most ignorant, the most disrespected person in society. No tribe, no support, nothing. But the Prophet loved Julaibib. And Julaibib wanted to get married. He really wanted to get married, subhanAllah.

So the Prophet ﷺ he sent Julaibib to the house of such and such people who actually belonged and were on a high level in a certain tribe, a very well-known tribe. And the Prophet ﷺ knew that they had a daughter. So Julaibib came to the door and he proposed to the father about... You know, he proposed to the father that I would like to marry your daughter. And she's saying, Julaibib? If it was anyone except Julaibib, how can we accept Julaibib? He has no tribe. He is deformed. How can we accept Julaibib? And so they agreed, no. We will not marry our daughter to Julaibib.

But, subhanAllah, the daughter heard the conversation. She came to her parents and she said, Oh, my mother and father, the Messenger of Allah sent Julaibib to this house with a proposal from him and you turned it down. But anyway, Julaibib went on this jihad. And he'd only just been married. And he went on this jihad and he was killed.

Now, the battle had finished and they were counting the dead. They were counting the dead. And so they were saying, such and such died, such and such died, such and such died. They were telling Rasulullah ﷺ the name of all his companions who had been killed in the battle. And after all of that, the Prophet said, ﷺ Where is Julaibib? Where is Julaibib?

So they started looking and they started looking and they couldn't find Julaibib. So they went to the battlefield. You see, no one cared. There was nothing. They went to the battlefield and they found Julaibib had been killed. So the Prophet ﷺ went and he picked Julaibib, put him in his arms and he was crying. And he said:

"Verily, Julaibib is from me and I am from him." [Sahih Muslim 2472]

SubhanAllah. Look how Islam honored. Look how Islam honored. How Rasulullah ﷺ honored what was in society considered to be the least and the lowest of the people. But Islam gave them honor. Islam gave them dignity. Islam gave them position. Islam did not distinguish the people except in their taqwa, in their piety to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

And there are so many beautiful stories that we could find from the sahabah and from the Prophet ﷺ to inspire our hearts and to motivate us to be pious worshippers of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

Closing Remarks on Scholarly Opinions

We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, anything that I have said that is right, that is from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, from the mercy of Allah. Anything I said that is wrong is from my ignorance or from shaitan. Whatever I said, and I said an opinion about something, then I will say Allah knows best. I do not ever try to give opinion from my own mind. I will always, if I can, always find something that the ulema have said. The ulema have said.

And I don't dispute that there is ikhtilaf. But this, if I believe something is my opinion, that I believe these scholars have said the right thing, that's what I believe. You are free to choose from the scholars what you think is right. This is what I think is right. That is it. This is the opinion that I think is the correct opinion. I could be wrong. And if I'm wrong anyway, I'm only interested to follow Allah and His messenger, not to follow any scholar as someone accused me. No.

I'm not a mouthpiece for any one person. I only try to take the opinion that I believe to be the closest to the Quran and the sunnah. And if I'm wrong, believe me, anyone can write to me, give me the information, discuss with me. That's no problem. And inshallah, I will change my opinion if I believe it's correct. But Allah knows best.

Respecting Differences of Opinion

And at the end of the day, we should not hate our brother or have any problem with our brother because he follows a different opinion that is supported by evidence. If it's been arrived at by evidence and a scholar said it, then we recognize that that is a valid opinion. We may not agree with it, but we have to respect each other concerning that. Okay? And that is something very important to understand.

And if you ever heard me talking about the issue of suicide bombing, for example, and I did it here last time I came, I made it very clear. I don't believe myself that it's correct, but I do realize that in some circumstances, like in Palestine, there is a very clear body of opinion that says this and says that. And if you look at the arguments, it is very difficult to see and to really figure out which one is actually the strong one. Meaning both sides in this debate have some evidences to support their opinions. Now, I'm not advocating anything.

It is a very detailed issue. I looked at it and I came to what I think is the right thing. But if someone comes along and tells me, no, I think this is it, I'm gonna say, you're my brother. I know there's opinions, there's different of opinions, and that's it. I don't hate you for that. And so this is the way we should be with each other.

Final Dua and Conclusion

Allahu alim. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala knows best. And we only ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to guide all of us to the truth. And we ask Allah, we should always make dua to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Oh Allah, guide me to the truth of those things about which people differ. Oh Allah, guide us to the truth of those things about which people differ. Unite our hearts in love for you and following your messenger and following the way of the companions.

Allahumma salli ala Muhammadin wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa sallam.

Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh.

The Establishment of the Islamic Dawah Centre

We go back, I think it was in 1998, I think we had our first discussion about opening up a place for the youth here. And it was myself, Jalal and Waleed, who are part of the board in the center at the moment. And we always had it in us, what are we going to do for the youth? What are we going to do? And there's always a lot of talk, but no action as usual. You know, the ummah is like this. And subhanallah, like they had told me before, they've been discussing it for many years as well, like trying to get something to happen. So he says, next week, we'll all meet up.

So we got on the phone. And mashallah, we had about, I think, 24 brothers in the first meeting. The first meeting was in a factory unit. The brothers got a polyurethane spraying factory, whatever you want to call it. And yeah, we met upstairs, there's about 24 brothers. I remember we bought all these chips and drinks, and that was the most important thing, I think, at the moment then.

And yeah, we sort of sat down, we discussed what we wanted to do, how we were going to do it, we voted who was the amir secretary, all this sort of stuff. And I think we met in that place for about four weeks. And then the owner of the actual factory said, you can take your house, which is 1909 Road, you can start doing all your meetings there and use it as a center until, like you want to sell it or renovate.

And Alhamdulillah, in that place, we ended up staying there for about two years in Omar. And Alhamdulillah, we met the brothers from Islam Melbourne, and a few other brothers, we started hosting international speakers. And so we just took on from there. And I guess Alhamdulillah, we've come a long way.