Preparing to stand before Allah - Advice from

Preparing to Stand Before Allah - Advice from Abu Usamah

Opening

"Peace, mercy, and blessings of Allah be upon you."

"In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful."

"All praise is due to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon our great Prophet, and upon his family and all of his companions, and upon those who adhere to his Sunnah with excellence until the Day of Judgment."

Introduction

First of all, I think it's appropriate to ride on the coattails of what our brother Sheikh Shu'aib said before when he gave us a small and brief history of the pioneers from Al-Hadith who were responsible for this masjid and other masajid throughout England and other than England. I'm honored to be here in the continuation of that program.

All of those elders and pioneers who have preceded us in this noble effort of calling the creation to At-Tawheed and calling the people to the proper way of understanding and performing the Ibaadah and Al-Islam, far away from the khurafat and the shirkiyat that have been introduced by Shaykh and his followers. We ask Allah by His Name Al-Mu'min to forgive all of the deceased from those pioneers who took and embraced this responsibility, and from those people who are still alive and continue, and that Allah makes us from those people.

We ask Allah that He causes us to be raised up on the Day of Qiyamah with faces that are illuminated at the feet of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.

Hadith on Conveying Knowledge

May Allah illuminate the face of the individual who hears what I say and he relates it to the people the way that I say it. It may be that the one who hears it understands it, or the one to whom it was related understands it better than the one who heard it.

So when we take the hadith of the Prophet ﷺ and we try to be the people of the hadith, we are trying to walk in the steps of a long line of tremendous scholars and tremendous people from this Ummah of the past. We ask Allah for His help.

Brotherhood in Islam

The other thing is that I say: I met many of the younger brothers. I'm very happy that we had so many young brothers who came today, and we look at the audience and we see people from different walks of life. I'm honored to say Alhamdulillah, the Prophet has guided us to this Deen. He has made all of us brothers in this religion—the Arab from amongst us, the non-Arabs, the white, the black, and other than that.

It is from the affairs of the Jahiliyyah that the Muslims hold on to when we reject each other based upon a person's color or his geographical location. That is from the ignorance of the people of Jahiliyyah.

Hadith on Matters of Jahiliyyah

(Sahih Muslim, Hadith 934)

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: "Three things from the affairs of Jahiliyyah—my Ummah will never leave them."

There will be people in this Ummah who will always hold on to these affairs of Jahiliyyah:

1. That the people scream and wail and holler over the dead, and the dead person will be punished because of that screaming and that hollering.

2. People being proud about who their father is—"I'm so-and-so, the son of so-and-so."

3. People talking bad about other people because of where he comes from—"What? He's Kashmiri? He's from such-and-such place?"

For Allah's sake, these have come from the affairs of Jahiliyyah.

So when we come here today and we look at you brothers and we see your faces, we say as Allah has said in the Quran: I'm proud to be the brother of all of you in this masjid. I never met most of you. Many of you I have met, but because of that ayah, I feel we are brothers. I've never met you, but feel free to come up and we'll hug and we'll embrace and exchange information and we give each other our help to the best of our ability.

Leave alone the affairs of Jahiliyyah. We are already the minority in this place. We're going to further exacerbate the problem by splitting the ranks of the Muslims.

The Issue of Judgment in Islam

As it relates to what I'm going to present today, I want to remind you of this issue of judgment in Islam. It's a tremendous issue and it has a direct connection upon the theme of this conference: people preparing themselves to stand before Allah.

The single thing that will cause people the most problems on the Day of Qiyamah will come as a result of their tongues and their sins. There is no crime and there is no part of your body that will cause you more problems than what your tongues put forth.

So when people pass judgments and they relay narrations and they say things about people and they make accusations, then your tongue is a direct culprit of being responsible for the burden that the person puts on himself.

We have a lot to say, but we'll get into the crux of the issue later on tonight inshallah. I just want to share with you what is said in this hadith, and it comes to us from Ali رضي الله عنه who taught it. And we do not say: If we said Ali deserves it more, and Umar deserves it more than Ali, and Uthman deserves it more than Ali.

Main Hadith: The Story of Ali's Camel

This hadith has been collected by Imam Bukhari.

The Incident

Ali رضي الله عنه said: He came one day on his camel and he rode to the masjid on his camel, and he witnessed some of the major companions of Rasulullah had a good time, and they were drinking khamr. They were drunk and they came from a battle.

I'm going to remind you of the first point. We have 15 points and even more. I'll give you them all, inshallah.

Ali رضي الله عنه came and he went to the masjid. He left the masjid and found that his camel had been slaughtered and they cut off the hump of the camel. So the camel of Ali—one of us, we have a car, we go out to the car, we find someone damaged it.

Ali's camel was used. He had a camel. During that time after the jihad, when the distribution of the booty came, if you had a camel you would get more than the man who had a horse. If you had a horse, you would get more than the man who didn't have a camel or horse.

But think of a jihad not a jihad that you find people are calling to that has no knowledge connected to it. A jihad according to them that caused more problems and caused the kuffar to look at our religion and innocent Muslims to suffer. They allow these people to spread their imperialism when they go to our countries and they say, "We don't like your regime, we are going to change it. We want the money that you have, we are going to take it from you." Jihad has knowledge.

Ali's Response

Ali came out and saw his camel. He looked at those companions and he knew that those people did that to his camel. Ali رضي الله عنه did not take the affairs into his own hands. He did not rectify the situation with his own hands, but instead went to the authority—his father-in-law.

That's how it should be. When children fight, the oldest son and the youngest son, the oldest son jumps on the youngest son. When they bring the situation to the father, he becomes upset, and the oldest son says, "Yes, the judgment was with you, but you were wrong in that you took the affairs into your own hands. You have to bring it to me and I will handle it."

Ali said: "Wallahi, they killed my camel! They killed my camel! And you know I am married to your daughter and I don't have any money for her!"

The Prophet's Justice

Rasulullah ﷺ heard Ali's side of the story. He didn't become angry and say, "This is the husband of my daughter. This is Ali, my uncle's cousin, who was the first young person to believe in me when other people didn't believe in me. I owe him a sense of gratitude and thanks. I am on your side, Ali, whether you are right or wrong. I am on your side because I can think of a million reasons why I should be grateful to you and loyal to you."

He didn't do that. He went on his own as the leader. And this is from the humility of our Prophet ﷺ and our Messenger, that he would say to the Muslims after making salah, "Where is your little brother? I haven't seen him around."

"Rasulullah, his little brother died and he is sad. He didn't come out because he is sad."

"Abu Bakr, Umar, Ali, come with me. Let's go visit him."

Rasulullah ﷺ was a humble man to that degree. Now unfortunately, in many administrations, the leader is non-attainable. He has a barrier between him and the community, the administration.

Rasulullah went to help Ali, to find out what's going on. When he came to his uncle Al-Abbas رضي الله عنه and he asked him, "Did you do this to his camel?"

Al-Abbas, in a state of being drunk, he said: "أَنْتَ وَأَبُوكَ عَبْدَانِ لِي "

"You and your father—both of you are my slaves!"

Al-Abbas said to Rasulullah: "You and your father—both of you are my slaves!"

That statement was said by him because he was drunk, and he was saying in essence, "You have the nerve to come ask me about a camel? You and your father are my slaves!"

That's a statement of kufr. You go outside of Islam for such a statement. If one of us said right now, "Rasulullah is my enemy," you go outside of your religion. If you said such a statement of kufr, you are out.

The Hadith on Alcohol

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 5256)

When Rasulullah heard the statement of Al-Abbas, he said:

"Alcohol is the mother of all filthy things."

(Sunan Ibn Majah, Hadith 3371)

Alcohol is the mother of all filthy things. That's the hadith that we want to share with you as it relates to alcohol and its dangers.

Lessons from the Hadith

Justice and Fairness

At the top of the list, Ikhwan, it shows how Rasulullah ﷺ again heard both sides of the story and he did not allow his relationship or his position with anyone to cause him to follow his desires and give any verdict based on emotion.

When we look at Ali رضي الله عنه the people who go overboard in praising Ali and they raise him to the level that he doesn't deserve, and they love his Ahlul Bayt—we say: Wallahi, from Iman is loving the companions of Rasulullah, all of them, and Ahlul Bayt. And we hate people who don't love them.

One of the reasons why we find some of the ulama in Islam who gave precedence to Ali over Abu Bakr and Umar—one of the reasons that they used to do that is: if you look at the hadith in Islam, you will find the virtues of Ali outnumbering everyone else. He has a lot of virtues—more than Abu Bakr and Umar in terms of numbers—because he has his own virtues, and then in addition to his virtues, his two sons Al-Hasan and Al-Husayn are from his virtues. Your children are from your efforts.

So some of the scholars of the past, they said that he was a Shia. But the Shia during that time meant that they only said Ali was above Abu Bakr and Umar, but they did not curse Abu Bakr and Umar. That's what the Shia meant back then.

The point is: Ali has so many virtues. Rasulullah could have easily said, "When it was difficult for me and all of the people rejected me and said that I was insane and they did what they did, Ali never wavered in his Iman. Ali, Wallahi, I would walk through the desert on my knees for you!"

He didn't say that. He looked for the truth. "I have to find out what's going on before I can rule and judge."

Application for Us

So Ikhwan, take that example as it relates to your daughters, your sisters, especially the guardians, because it's a serious problem that we suffer from. We have the tribalism and partisanship because the man is from my city or my country or my people, or she's my daughter, whatever I hear, I'm on her side and I'm against the other person.

You have to find out what happened, and we'll explain that in further detail tonight inshallah with some examples from Dawud عليه السلام in the Quran bi-idhnillahi ta'ala.

Respecting Elders

From the benefits of this hadith, Ikhwan, for those of us who are younger in this audience, it shows us how the Messenger of Allah taught his companions how to respect the elders of the Muslims.

Ali رضي الله عنه was trained by the Messenger of Allah, so we have to look at every movement that Ali made.

The daughter of the Prophet ﷺ, Fatima Az-Zahra رضي الله عنها she was not for any and every man. Abu Bakr wanted to marry her. Umar wanted to marry her. Rasulullah said, "No, you're too old. No, you're too old." And he saved her for Ali.

She was raised up in the house of prophethood. She needs someone who was similar to her, raised up in the house of prophethood. He married her to him.

Ali's Wisdom

When he got out of the masjid and he saw his camel—his money, his property-cut up and all of its insides thrown around the place, he did not curse his uncle who was older than him. The uncle wronged him, but Ali did not say a single word to him, because now wisdom dictates: "Be quiet, Ali. Go and get the one who was above you to deal with this situation."

If Al-Abbas رضي الله عنه said what he said to Rasulullah, then what would he have said and done to Ali, who was younger than Rasulullah and also his nephew? Maybe he would have done something to him.

So Ali, Wallahi, was wise, Ikhwan. He came and he respected his uncle. And that's what I say to you brothers: Where is the respect that the Muslims used to have for those people who are older than them, those people who have preceded them in Islam, in da'wah, in the life that we live?

Hadith on Respecting Elders

He says:

(Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 2616)

"He is not from us—he is not from us—the one who doesn't have mercy upon our children, and the one who does not respect our elders, and the one who doesn't know the right of the scholar."

The imam is praying. He hears the child screaming, crying. Have mercy upon him—shorten the prayer. The child is running around in the masjid during the conference, the lecture. Don't rip his ear halfway off of his head to get him out of the masjid. Have mercy upon him.

And he is not from us, the one who does not respect our elders. And he is not from us, the one who doesn't know the right of the scholar. That's our deen. He is not from us.

Modern Example

Something happened recently in what we're living in, in these strange times. There is a brother in America who is from Buffalo, New York. It snows every year in Buffalo, and it will reach up to your chest. Every year they get three, four, five weeks out of school simply because of the snow. It's kind of close to Canada.

We have a pioneer there by the name of Sheikh Hamid. Sheikh Hamid—he's been through the gamut of every da'wah in America: black nationalism, pan-Africanism, the Black Panthers, the Nation of Islam, American Muslim Mission with Warith Deen Muhammad. And now he came to the Da'wah of truth, the Da'wah of Salafiyyah.

He doesn't have all of the knowledge in the world.

He doesn't have all of the knowledge in the world. He may not be able to quote you more than ten hadith. In his Tajweed, there may be some problems. But he was the one, by Allah's permission, who established the da'wah in his area. And then the young brothers came around him and they supported him.

In this fitnah that we're living in—the times of not respecting elders—Sheikh Hamid caught a stroke, and half of his body has been paralyzed. But he still goes to Fajr. He still puts out the monthly newspaper, and he still gives his lectures.

He has a disagreement with a group of brothers who left him. And now, I guess, they're giving da'wah in the forest to the birds and the rabbits, Allahu A'lam.

One of them wrote a letter, an email, and said to Sheikh Hamid—Sheikh Hamid is about 70 years old, Ikhwan, African American, a pioneer—the young brother wrote: "You old man! You old, stupid dodo bird! You have one foot in the grave, one foot out of the grave! You need to go and learn how to read 40 hadith, you idiot!"

Wallahi, when we read that email, we knew: This is the time of fitnah for the Muslims. Where is that respect?

As it relates to the training that the Prophet gave: "He is not from us." You can claim that you are Ahlul Hadith. You can claim that you are muttaqi. Rasulullah said that doesn't mean you are out of the religion, but you are not from those people who are truly upon the Kitab and the Sunnah.

Respect for Leadership

So you younger brothers, we have to learn something here, as well as the older brothers. Any place where the Muslims find themselves and they are organized and there is administration and there is leadership, we have to respect what people say who are in authority. And if they are older than us, even more so.

We may not necessarily agree with everything that they are saying, but the deen of Islam is not a religion of chaos and confusion. We have to respect and obey the people who are over us, except when they order us to do wrong.

So this is what we get from this hadith, and this is a very pertinent point here today.

Al-Kamal, completeness, is with Allah. I don't know much about the administration here, for example, but I know that they make mistakes like everyone else makes mistakes. But it's our job to give nasiha. It's our job not to take measures in which we are being people who are subversive in our behavior towards our fathers, mothers, aunties, people who are older than us and they oppress us.

Ali ibn Abi Talib and his camel—remember it, because Wallahi, none of you has any money that is more important to you than that camel was to Ali. But yet he controlled himself.

The Strong Person

He is not strong—the one who can out-wrestle the next guy, the one with the biggest muscles. He is not strong to us. The strong one is the one who can control himself when he becomes angry.

And that's what we saw from that companion.

The Evil of Alcohol (Khamr)

In addition to that, Ikhwan, this hadith shows us the evil and the danger of khamr.

I went to Yorkshire yesterday. We went to a masjid called Keighley. Muslims were all over, mashallah, and there are a number of communities like that in this country. And those are the ones that I'm most impressed with, where the Muslims are living close together.

We went to a brother's home before going into the masjid.

We went to a brother's home before going into the masjid. And there were some young men in the car close to the home. They had 50 Cent blaring in the car, and they were drinking. I couldn't believe it—in public, in the Muslims' community. And they were bopping their heads and they were doing their thing, drinking khamr, beer.

The brothers were with me. We noticed it. We couldn't say anything.

We had our dinner. The brother gave me the local newspaper. In the newspaper: a Muslim youth, from 17 to 24, caught and accused of killing another Muslim. Drug dealer. He was part-time security guard, part-time drug dealer.

Where we come from, security guards, they don't make that much money. But why is he still working as a security guard if drugs were worth it? It's crazy.

Because our youth are caught up into this concept of hip-hop and being cool. And that lifestyle, Wallahi, is like an oasis in the desert. These people are turning out every week, every month, these idols for our children—men and women. They come to America and they're on videos, and they're after the youth here in this country by mixing some of your music in their music.

And we're sitting around arguing with each other, and our children are becoming hip-hoppers.

"What do you want to be, Abdullah, when you grow up?"

"I want to play for the New York Knicks!"

He can tell you the starting five of all of the NBA teams.

Khamr is the Greatest Sin

Khamr is the mother of all evils.

Rasulullah said about khamr:

"Khamr is the greatest of the major sins."

As shirk is greater than khamr—as shirk is greater than khamr—but he was saying this to put emphasis, to make you aware. We all know that shirk is the greatest sin, so if Rasulullah says that khamr is the greatest sin, we're going to say, "Wow, khamr must be serious!" But shirk is greater than khamr.

Khamr is the greatest major sin, and it is the mother of all filthy things.

Effects of Alcohol

If a man drinks it, he will have relationships with his mother, with his maternal aunt, and with his paternal aunt.

Some of the ulama said: One of the ways you can understand this hadith is he'll have relationships with them simultaneously if offered the opportunity. And another way of understanding it: he may have with her or with her or with her, but he may have it simultaneously with all of them if offered the opportunity, because of the khamr.

I don't know if you brothers have heard of the fitnah in America—the man was taking pictures of his daughter in her bedroom without her knowledge, and then he took those pictures and put them on the internet. When they caught him, they found out he was addicted to khamr.

Warning Against Khamr

Whoever dies and khamr is in his stomach, he won't go to Jannah. He won't drink from the khamr of Jannah.

It is from the major sins.

It is from the major sins. Whenever a person gets caught in the snares of khamr and narcotics, Wallahi, he will do anything.

I ask all of you brothers, by Allah: Some people from the Muslims, they don't pray, they don't wear hijab, but they're still Muslims. They may be falling short in certain aspects of the religion. But when the guest comes to visit, in our culture—all of our cultures: Pakistan, India, Africa, Arabs—all of our culture teaches us to be good to the guest.

This is what the Arabs were about during the time of Jahiliyyah. I don't know if you brothers know about Hatim al-Ta'i. Hatim al-Ta'i, Wallahi, a remarkable man! But he's in the Hellfire because he didn't believe in Allah.

He's in the Hellfire. This was the culture of the Arabs. Islam came and just beautified it more for all of us.

When the guest comes, the irreligious person takes care of the guest. But because of khamr, when the guest is visiting one of us in our home—and our brother who does crack, our brother who drinks khamr—when the guest goes to prepare for Salat al-Jumu'ah, he's not thinking that his money isn't safe. The little brother on crack goes into his wallet and steals the money of the guest!

When did that ever happen to the Muslims? When? When did that ever happen?

When did the individual, that little boy in Islam, when did he forget? Wallahi, when I steal this money, I'm speaking on behalf of my father, my mother, and everyone.

If someone did that in the past, his brothers would never get married. His sisters would never get married, as a punishment from the Muslims. He steals from the guest!

But this is the danger of khamr and narcotics.

Cigarettes as an Addiction

So stay away from them. And a narcotic that we are involved in is cigarettes. It's not a narcotic like some of the other narcotics, but Wallahi, it's a narcotic.

The proof of it is: The man fasts the whole day of Ramadan, and he can't work, and he's nervous, and he's uptight, and he can't concentrate. He's just no good because that nicotine, arsenic, tar, carbon monoxide—all of that is in cigarettes. He's addicted.

As soon as the adhan is called, he doesn't drink Zamzam, he doesn't eat dates. The first thing he does is light a cigarette. He says "Bismillah."

So we recognize that breaking the cigarette habit is not easy, and we stand with you, and we ask Allah to help you, and we don't come down on you. It is a drug. People are addicted to it. It's not befitting for anyone to look at it as a small issue.

The Minhaj (Methodology)

From the most important aspects of this hadith is a minhaj issue in our deen. The minhaj is critical that we understand it so that we can be raised up on Yawm al-Qiyamah amongst those people who are successful, knowing the methodology of how to be a Muslim.

What is the aqeedah you believe in? What do you pattern your life on? Your understanding of Islam—how do you see it? Is it with superstitions? Is it based upon your intellect?

When you don't have a minhaj, you're floundering like the fish out of the water. He's flopping all over like this—no rhyme or reason to his life. Any wave that comes, he's drowned.

People, they come and they introduce in Islam deviations, new concepts, new ideas.

People, they come and they introduce in Islam deviations, new concepts, new ideas. Because he doesn't have a minhaj, he's behind every storm that comes, even if they claim that it's from Islam and it's the Sunnah and it's protecting the religion.

You gotta have a minhaj, ya Abdullah, in everything you do. You wanna be a student of knowledge? You have to have a minhaj. How do you buy books? What kind of books do you buy?

Excuses in Islam (Al-'Udhr)

This hadith gives us a very important issue in our aqeedah, the minhaj and the aqeedah of the Muslims—the Muslims who are upon the Kitab of Allah and the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah that explains this Book according to the way Abu Bakr and Umar and Uthman and Ali and the Sahabah understood this text.

And that is: Al-Abbas said a statement of kufr to the Messenger of Allah:

"You and your father are nothing but my slaves!"

That's kufr in Islam. But Rasulullah did not say, "Ya Abbas, return to Allah and come back to Islam, because you have disbelieved."

He didn't say that. "You're a kafir, ya Abbas. You said a statement of kufr. You're out of Islam. Come back to the deen."

Rasulullah taught us in this hadith that there is something known in Islam as Al-'Udhr—excuses. People have excuses.

The sister, the brother from this Ummah, they may do something that has been called and described as being kufr. They may say a statement or word while he's angry.

Someone goes to him and says, "Ya akhi, be calm. Make wudu. Sit down, ya akhi. Say: A'udhu billahi min ash-shaytan ar-rajeem. Rasulullah told you this and that."

In a state of rage and anger, he'll say, "Man, get out of here with that nonsense!"

That's kufr—to describe the Quran or the Sunnah as nonsense.

Do we say, "Oh, you have disbelieved in Allah! He's a kafir now!"?

There is an excuse that is offered to the person who is drunk. Abbas said what he said because he was not his normal self.

Examples from Fiqh

And that's why, Ikhwan, in the books of fiqh, all of the books of fiqh, no matter what madhab a person is reading—and we say if you're going to be upon a madhab, that's permissible in Islam, as long as you don't take a madhab with blind partisanship and you say, "No matter what, I'm going to take what my madhab says and leave everything else."

There are ulama who had madhabs. They were upon their madhabs. We're not gonna come and say now the madhab is haram. It's the blind following when you have the ability to make a decision—that is haram. But taking a madhab to systematically know the do's and the don'ts—a minhaj—is okay.

So in our religion, we have excuses. In the books of fiqh, the ulama wrote in the chapter of divorce, without any exception: What happens if a man divorces his wife while he's drunk? What happens if a man says, "I free my slave," while he is drunk? What happens if a man does this or that while he's drunk?

It doesn't count. He's sinning—that doesn't mean it's okay. He's sinful and he fell into the mother of all evils and the greatest of the major sins. But what he said, what he did—he's not held accountable for that.

If he kills someone while he is drunk, he is excused.

If he kills someone while he is drunk, he is excused. Of course, they're going to look into details, but that's the general ruling.

Similarly, Ikhwan, severe anger: someone may say or do something out of severe anger. He's not himself. "You're divorced," he says to his wife. But he was insane. It doesn't count. He can't divorce her when he lost his mind. It doesn't count.

Severe happiness even will give a man an excuse.

Hadith of the Man and His Camel

You all know of the man who went in the desert and his camel ran off, and he thought he was going to die. He went under the tree in the shade to die. He woke up and he saw his camel over his head in the desert, and he said:

"O Allah! You are my slave, and I am your lord!"

Rasulullah said: "He made a mistake from being extremely happy. His tongue didn't cooperate with what was in his heart."

Reference: Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2747

That's a statement of kufr—a tremendous statement of kufr. That's from the statement of Fir'awn: أَنَا رَبُّكُمُ الْأَعْلَى - "I am your highest lord" (Quran 79:24).

But today we're dealing with some people who, when a mistake is made, Wallahi, they will connect you to Fir'awn. They will connect you to those people and those concepts and those ideas that you are free from those issues.

Giving the Benefit of the Doubt

So we have the 'udhr in Islam. Concerning this 'udhr, Ikhwan, we have to give each other the benefit of the doubt, and we have to look for excuses.

That statement: "Look for—give your brother a thousand excuses." That's not a hadith of the Messenger of Allah, but it is a concept in our religion.

Question & Answer Session

We're going to stop here because we try to make the commitment of the time the brother said.

Q1: Are Scholars Allowed to Name People and Accuse Them of Being Deviant?

Question: Concerning the hadith, "Whoever doesn't have mercy upon our youth and he doesn't respect our elders"—despite the hadith, there are so many teenagers proclaiming themselves that they are on the truth and that they are real Muslim ulama. They are attacking the great scholars. Most of them, they learn Islam from the cassettes. What is your advice?

Answer:

Ali Ibn Abi Talib رضي الله عنه said about these people: He said it used to be that knowledge was just a dot. It was not a lot of speech. It was real easy. But the ignorant people got involved in the realm of knowledge, then it became a lot of speech.

And we seek refuge in Allah from the evil of the internet. Wallahi, I don't know if you guys receive—you write an email to someone, and you write at the end of it, the guy sends you back all of this. You'll say if you said "Salam alaikum" to him as opposed to "As-salamu alaikum," you said "Salam alaikum," he'll write you back and give you a long post about why "Salam alaikum" is not correct and all of these other links.

And you look at him and you say, "I'm not reading all of that! Why all of this speech?" I find it amazing that people have time for all of that. And the people living in this culture that we have—you know what I'm talking about just scroll down and say, "Wallahi, where is his life at?" And he's angry.

And that's the evil of it, Ikhwan—being a person who just takes public assistance, welfare, you don't want to do anything with your time. You'll waste your time in those kind of issues.

So those youth, unfortunately, they should get a grip. They should get a life. Make yourself more productive in terms of what is going to benefit you now and in the hereafter.

And this is a new phenomenon. Wallahi, we did not see this as rampant as we're seeing it right now. In the past, when our da'wah began to spread, the people in Al-Hadith—they started giving da'wah to Tawheed in countries like this. But they were first-generation Muslims. They didn't always know the details of this life. The children went to school and mixed with the kuffar, and the kids started to embrace the da'wah. And we saw how the da'wah began to spread and grow.

At that time, we didn't have a lot of this nonsense.

As for scholars naming people:

This is from Islam, and this is what Allah has ordered the ulama to do:

"And strive in the way of Allah as He should be striven for."

Make the real jihad. And the jihad of Islam is the jihad of the pen and it is the jihad of the tongue—talking, giving da'wah, refuting who deserves to be refuted. This is from our religion.

There were some people of the past who used to complain and criticize Imam Ali al-Madini, Imam Ahmad, for their criticizing narrations and narrators, calling them weak and so forth and so on. So those people, they made an objection: "This is slandering of these people! Their blood is haram! Backbiting is haram!" and so forth and so on.

And those imams used to respond back to people who had that faulty understanding: "This is not backbiting. This is from the deen. And this is the jihad of Islam. Because if those scholars did not say that so-and-so is a deviant and so-and-so is this and so-and-so is that, the Sunnah would never have been protected. The purity of Islam would never have been protected."

So backbiting, Ikhwan, is permissible in six instances. You go back to Riyad as-Saliheen that everyone has. That chapter, that book, in the chapter of backbiting, he brings the six times where backbiting is permissible. And one of those times is when you're removing evil. One of those times is when you're warning the Muslims of a pending, imminent danger.

Example of the Prophet's Warning

The lady came and she said, "Ya Rasulullah, Abu Jahm and Muawiyah, both of them want to marry me."

He said:

"As for Abu Jahm, he is a man who hits his women and doesn't take his stick off of his shoulder. He's a strong man with his women—it's not for you. And as for Muawiyah, he's penniless. He doesn't have any money. Marry Usama bin Zayd."

(Sahih Muslim, Hadith 1480)

They weren't present, and what was said was a strong statement. But Rasulullah was giving advice to that particular lady.

So it's permissible for the scholars to do this. It's their responsibility. And we hope and pray that if it is really a scholar and we have good expectations that they do it with the proper principles and maintaining the religion and taking care of the religion.

The Methodology of Imam Bukhari

Imam al-Bukhari was the most qualified in this chapter—criticizing narrations and narrators. But very seldom when you hear or read Imam al-Bukhari saying, "So-and-so is a liar. So-and-so is this." Very seldom.

If Imam al-Bukhari said, "So-and-so is a liar," then don't look for what anybody else said, because Imam al-Bukhari had some caution and some restraint. If a man would be a serious problem, Imam al-Bukhari would say, "Fihi nadhar" (there is something to look at in him), which means he's serious—leave him alone.

But look at the words: "Fihi nadhar. Lahu manakir" (he has some rejected narrations). And that's how our scholars were who have passed recently.

Sheikh Ibn Baz رحمه الله تعالى,if he said about a person, "He's evil," oh, we seek refuge with Allah!

Because he did not talk like that. Ibn Uthaymeen, he did not talk like that. Al-Imam al-Albani, the muhaddith of the age رحمه الله تعالى he didn't talk like that.

So this is permissible, and we say it should be done by the scholars and those people who are qualified.

Q2: Should I Save Money to Migrate or Go Abroad to Study Islam?

Question: Please, could you advise me? Inshallah, I'm currently working hard so that I can save money and build a house so that I can migrate with my family from dar al-kufr to someplace like Gambia, inshallah. Or is it better to save a lot of money and go abroad to study Islam to benefit myself and my family?

Answer:

My advice: Issues like this, the answer is going to be relative.

There is virtue in making hijrah to save your family and your children and everyone else. And there is a lot of virtue in going to get knowledge.

You have to bring the details and the specifics of your case so that an appropriate answer can be given to you. Both of them are virtuous, and we can't say until we hear what are the details, which one is the most virtuous and which one is the most applicable in your case.

Go to those people of knowledge who you trust in knowledge and put the details to them.

Q3: Is It Permissible for a Woman to Be President or Prime Minister?

Question: Is it okay to permit a woman to be president or prime minister for a country?

Answer:

This is not from the religion of Islam. This is not from the religion of Islam.

"Men are the protectors and maintainers of women." (Quran 4:34)

The men have been given the responsibility over the women. That's our deen.

وَلِلرِّجَالِ عَلَيْهِنَّ دَرَجَةٌ

"And the men have a degree over them." (Quran 2:228)

وَلَهُنَّ مِثْلُ الَّذِي عَلَيْهِنَّ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ

"Women have rights similar to those of men over them in kindness." (Quran 2:228)

But the men have rights over them. From the rights over them: we're the imam in the masjid. We are the ones who call the shots. They can't be the president.

And Rasulullah addressed the issue when he said:

"A group of people will not be successful who make a woman responsible for their affairs."

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 4425)

Now you have the Muslim today coming and he says, "Yeah, but Margaret Thatcher—she was in charge of the people's affairs and they were successful."

What success are you talking about? What success? How are you judging success? You're judging success not from Islam.

Who's the bankrupt person? "Oh, he's the one who doesn't have any money. He's the one who files for Chapter 11."

Rasulullah said: The bankrupt person to us is the one who will come on Yawm al-Qiyamah with a lot of salah and a lot of fasting, but he hit this one, he cursed that one, took his money. So on Yawm al-Qiyamah, he's going to lose all of his good deeds.

Who is the strong one? The strong one is not the one with the muscles. Mike Tyson is not necessarily strong. The strong one is the one who controls himself when he's angry.

So Islam set right some of these things that we think the wrong way. So success is making salah in the masjid. Success is what Islam determines.

So it's not permissible, even on our shura in the masjid not talking about a whole country. On our shura, the women should advise their husbands. We should hear what they need, their needs, what's going on. But to have her sit at the table of the shura, it proves that those men are weak.

Q4: About Youth Attacking Scholars Despite Hadith on Respecting Elders

Question: Akhi Abu Usamah, concerning the hadith, "Whoever doesn't have mercy upon our youth and he doesn't respect our elders"—despite the hadith, there are so many teenagers proclaiming themselves that they are on the truth and that they are real Muslim ulama. They are attacking the great scholars. Most of them, they learn Islam from the cassettes. What is your advice?

Answer:

(Already answered above in Q1)

Q5: Can Sunni Muslims Pray Janazah for Shia Muslims?

Question: Someone died in Singapore after a failure in the operation. Many Muslim Sunnis prayed for them in Singapore even though they are Shia Muslims. Is it permissible for Sunni Muslims to do janazah prayer for the Shia Muslim?

Answer:

As for the leaders of the Shia—Khomeini and those people like that—because of their knowledge and because of their position, they are outside of Islam.

But the regular Shia who are like our regular brothers and sisters who just grew up and they took their Shiaism without any research or without any knowing, we say: Allah will judge their situation. Leave them alone. They are from the Muslims, inshallah. Leave them alone. That doesn't mean that you're going to sit and listen to them and take knowledge from them. But the regular people, if the Muslim was to pray over those people with the niyyah (intention) of, "I want to get the reward"—

Rasulullah came out and he asked the people, "Who fasted today?"

Abu Bakr: "I did."

"Who visited the sick today?"

Abu Bakr: "I did."

"Who gave sadaqah to the poor?"

Abu Bakr: "I did."

"Who prayed the janazah?"

Abu Bakr: "I did."

He said:

"No person does this in a day except I guarantee him Jannah."

(Sahih Muslim, Hadith 1028)

Someone says, "I'm gonna pray over them because of that, but I hate that da'wah and I hate those people and I see them as the enemies. I'm gonna pray for myself." That's permissible.

But they're ulama, they're people giving da'wah, or you're in a place where if you pray on them, it's gonna give mixed messages—then don't pray over them.

It is from the Sunnah to not pray over the people of deviance and the people of sins. Those two issues are from the methodology.

Their affairs with Allah is with Allah.

Q6: Can a Muslim Woman Pursue Higher Education?

Question: Living in this non-Muslim country, is it permissible for a Muslim woman to pursue higher education studies if she lives at home, she doesn't compromise her Islam, and she can protect her religion, she can protect her honor and her

dignity? She doesn't have free mixing with the men. She's not a fitnah for them and they're not a fitnah for her. Inshallah, is it permissible?

Answer:

It's permissible, but it is better for her to stay in her home.

"Stay in your homes, women, and do not make the display of the times of the first Jahiliyyah."

إِذَا خَرَجَتِ الْمَرْأَةُ مِنْ بَيْتِهَا اسْتَشْرَفَهَا الشَّيْطَانُ

The Prophet said: "When the woman goes out of her home, the shaitan beautifies her."

(Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 1173)

That's in Mecca and Medina and Bayt al-Maqdis.

If the woman who is covered with the niqab and all of that, if she comes out of her home, Shaitan beautifies her. What about the woman who comes out wearing the clothes that our women come out in?

It's better for her to stay in her home.

Q7: What is the Ruling on Islamic Mortgages?

Question: What is the ruling on Islamic mortgages, i.e., the Kuwait Bank?

Answer:

Ikhwan, I don't know any bank, whether they call themselves Islamic or not Islamic, except that they're taking some riba from the people.

In many instances, the Islamic banks are taking even more money.

If a person can make an agreement with another Muslim, with a Catholic, with an organization, an institution, where he doesn't fall into the riba, it's permissible to take the mortgage.

But if he has to take the riba, it's haram.

"O you who believe, don't devour your monies between yourselves with what is batil (false), except if it is some commerce that you are pleased with, that you give each other the product."

That's permissible.

"And don't kill yourselves. Allah has a lot of mercy on you."

So when I get the mortgage and I give them the money, how am I going to pay them back? I have to pay them the premium, and then in addition to that, I have to pay them all of that riba?

It's not permissible. It's a major sin from the major sins—riba.

Whether it is from the Muslim or the non-Muslim, it is a major sin from the major sins. And it is 70 degrees. The lowest degree is like a man having relations with his mother. That's the lowest degree.

What is the 55th degree like? What is the 60th degree like?

Some of us, there is an animal in Arabic—he is called the alligator. He has an insatiable appetite. He can eat a wildebeest trying to cross the river. He catches him, he eats him. And he's sitting on the sand, and when you come, you would think you can walk by him. He'll eat you for general principle.

Muslims are like that—insatiable appetite for the dunya.

As for those who feel you are being forced and compelled:

As we are sometimes, we have to get some kind of insurance. In Jahiliyyah, we used to drive without license and we used to drive without insurance. I would tell the person who was a passenger, "Hey look, if something happens, I'm running. You can sit here if you want, but I'm leaving. If they catch you, you're in trouble."

Becoming a Muslim, you have to be more responsible. Your father and so forth and so on. Muslim imam caught without insurance—they'll make it into a big thing.

So we get the lowest insurance, liability. If I hit someone now, this thing covers it. But I'm not going to get the insurance in which, okay, if I hit a man on the bus—it's detailed insurance now. If you hit a man on 42nd Street, if you pay that much, you'll get more money back. If you hit a woman and she's above 50, then you do it. And it's very detailed now.

The Muslim says, "I'm not getting all of that."

The Muslim is a doctor, a nurse. They have to pay insurance for their business. Are we going to say, "Practice without insurance"? You're compelled.

Hate it with your heart. Just don't go overboard. Take your specific, detailed issues to the scholars of Islam. Tell them, "This is my case." And then they'll give you the fatwa. Not some general statement.

"This is my detail. Is it permissible for me to take a mortgage out?" They'll say yes. They'll say no.

Allah knows the best.

Q8: Should I Pray Asr in Jamaat at 8:15 When Asr Starts at 5:30?

Question: I live in Redditch. My local mosque prays Asr at 8:15, when Asr starts around 5:30. Should I still pray in jamaat, or should I pray on time at home?

Answer:

You should pray in jamaat if 8:15 is still Asr time. What time does Asr go out here? Maghrib comes in at 9:30.

It's permissible to pray Asr at this time, and this is not the time of prohibition. If the people of the masjid made this time an hour and a half before the end of the salah for the maslaha (benefit) of the people—it's the summertime, people get off of work, and they want more people in the masjid—it's permissible.

What is makruh and what is the salah of the hypocrite and the salah of the thief is the salah: If Maghrib comes in at 9:30, he prays 9:20, 9:25, and he prays real quick to get it in.

But this is ample time to get the salah in.

Jibreel (عليه السلام) came to Rasulullah and he prayed Salat al-Fajr, Dhuhr, Asr, Maghrib, and Isha at the beginning time. And then he came the next day and he prayed Fajr, Dhuhr, Asr, Maghrib, and Isha at the end of the time. And he said, "These are

the times of the prayers."

(Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 150)

What you pray in here is permissible.

"Verily, the prayer has been prescribed on the believers at a specific time."

As long as you pray at that time, it's permissible.

It is permissible. But it's always better, Ikhwan, to pray it earlier if that's easy for the people.

When they asked Rasulullah (صلى الله عليه وسلم), "Ya Rasulullah, what deed is most beloved to Allah?" He said:

"Prayer at its proper time."

And in another narration:

"Prayer at its beginning time."

(Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 170)

But he himself used to delay. If it was very hot, he would delay Dhuhr. He would pray Salat al-Jumu'ah before Dhuhr came in. But that's only for Jumu'ah.

Jumu'ah comes in one o'clock, he would pray 12:30. And the people will complete the prayer before the Dhuhr coming, sometimes after.

All of that, looking at what the people need.

Q9: Is It Justified to Live in a Non-Muslim Country for Dawah?

Question: I heard that it is justifiable to live in a non-Muslim country for the purpose of giving da'wah. How can a Muslim sister do this without leaving the house?

Answer:

Da'wah is one of the reasons that a person is allowed to live with the kuffar. But living with the kuffar is a major sin, Ikhwan, and it closes the door for a lot of blessings in our lives.

As we sit here, Ikhwan, we have to hate it in our hearts, living with these kuffar. And whether you realize it or not, it is impacting upon us.

أَنَا بَرِيءٌ مِنْ كُلِّ مُسْلِمٍ يُسَاكِنُ مُشْرِكِينَ

He said: "I'm free of any Muslim who lives with the mushrikeen. Their fires cannot coexist."

(Sunan Abu Dawud, Hadith 2645)

If you live with them, their fire is going to overtake your fire, your children's fire.

So there is a lot of evil living here, and some of us are just stuck. So if a person is looking for an excuse to be here, one of those excuses is da'wah, if he's really giving da'wah properly.

He sent Mus'ab ibn Umair to Medina. He sent Abu Musa al-Ash'ari and Ali and Muadh ibn Jabal (رضي الله عنهم) to Yemen. There weren't Muslims there, but they're going to give da'wah to the word of truth.

As it relates to our sisters in Islam, the world has become a global village. She can give da'wah to people who are all the way overseas by way of the internet. She can give da'wah to her relatives and the local sisters by allowing them to come to her home.

She gives da'wah in many shapes, many fashions, many forms. Just stick to what is permissible, don't compromise your religion, and she can give dawah. There's no problem.

Closing

With that, Ikhwan, we say that Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى) is free from all imperfections. There is no might nor power except with Him.

END OF KHUTBAH