Foundations of Islam Series- Pillars of Practice - Part 2

Foundations of Islam Series: Pillars of Practice - Part 2

All Creation Knows Its Prayer

If you look at verse 41, just about the prayer. I think this is really interesting. It says, seest thou not that it is Allah who praises all beings. Whose praises all beings in the heavens. I have problem with this kind of translation.

I'm just gonna do my own here. Haven't you seen that it is Allah that all beings are praising. From the birds in the heavens and the earth.

Even the birds in flying. And everything knows its prayer. (كُلُّ قَدْ عَلِمَ صَلَاتَهُ وَتَسْبِيحَهُ - Every creature knows his prayer and his praise.)

So this is really interesting. The idea that every creature is in an act of worship. And it knows how to do that. The bird knows how it's supposed to praise. So for the Muslims, when they look at creatures. They really see that these creatures are all glorifying God.

And have a prayer that they're doing. So the praying mantis has its prayer. The cat has its prayer. You can see the cat in a state of meditation. When it's there just purring away. It goes into a really interesting state.

In fact, Zen Buddhists traditionally talk about the cat. And its meditative state. That you can learn Zen from a cat. If you wanna learn how to do Sa Zen, you watch a cat. And then that the human being is somebody who does not by nature know his prayer. That the prayer is something that is taught.

The Human Being and Consciousness in Prayer

And this relates because the human being is a creature that has intellect. That has consciousness. That it is not inspired. Or there is not an intuitive. Although many people will feel some type of desire to pray. And will pray.

And many people even outside of traditions. In this culture sometime in their life. Will attempt to pray. For the Muslim point of view. There is a way of praying. And that way involves the body.

And there is an importance of the idea of being in the body when one prays. Because the Muslims have always really avoided a type of Cartesian dualism of mind-body. And we believe in the bodily resurrection.

Although we do see that the soul is connected to the body. And the soul does disengage from the body. And in fact the Muslims believe according to the Quran that the soul even disengages during sleep. That there is a disengagement that takes place. But there is an idea that the body is also part. You know that we should not deny our bodies.

The Physical Nature of Islamic Prayer

In fact the body is part of our being. And does represent a very important aspect of our nature. And so the prayer is a physical prayer as well as being a spiritual prayer. That the body itself is being used as an act of worship. And so there is a standing. And then there is a bowing.

And then a return. And then a prostration. And each of the limbs is participating in that. In fact the seven limbs. Hakeem talked about that. The seven limbs.

And then there is an idea of putting the forehead. Right. And the nose onto the ground. Literally onto the ground. And the act of this. There is a symbolic act.

Which is elevating the heart over the intellect. That there is an idea that in the act of worship. That we are submitting the intellect. And we are elevating the heart. Because the heart according to the Muslims is the organ of cognition. And what it was created to do was to come to know God.

It was to come to know God. So this is just. I mean this is something some of the scholars have mentioned. It is not really. It is just a symbolic type of.

The Afternoon Prayer and Using the Body for Worship

And then. The prayer that I didn't mention here was the afternoon prayer. At the point that the sun. Reaches a point where the shadow. Will cast the like of a thing. Plus whatever the shadow at the meridian point was. So most people if you measure your height to your feet.

The vast majority of people what they call the you know. Two standard deviations. Right. Ninety five percent of people are going to come. Between six and a half to seven feet. Of their height.

If you have normal foot size to your height. So if you literally lie down. And put a quarter at the tip of your head. And something at your feet. And then you go. You see and measure it.

And you go one. Two. Three. You'll find that your height will generally be about seven feet. And so for. The Muslim. The traditional Muslims measured the sun with their body. Which is again using the body. As an act of worship.

Because. Measuring the sun shadow is considered an act of worship. It's part of. Remembrance of God. And so you would go out. If you knew for instance like right now.

For me. The meridian. The Dhuhr prayer. Is my. My shadow is about two feet. So I would add to that seven. So when my shadow reaches nine feet. Asr time has come in. This prayer.

So I go out. At about five o'clock. And I measure it. And I'll find it's nine feet. That means I can pray. Asr.

Alright. So that's the. That is. The afternoon prayer. So those are the five prayers. The sunset. The evening prayer. Which is called Isha. The dawn prayer.

Which is called Fajr. Which literally means dawn. And then. The. Post meridian prayer. Which is called Dhuhr.

The Five Daily Prayers and Their Importance

So those are the prayers. That's the first pillar. What you will do. Or the second pillar. Not including the Shahada. What you will do. Is. You will. Five times a day. Stop everything. In Muslim countries. Traditionally.

People left their shops. And this is less so now. Because Muslims are being secularized. Like everybody else. But traditionally. And you can still find this in some countries. Muslims will leave their shops. Often times they didn't lock them. They would literally put drapes.

Because for somebody to steal. While somebody was praying. Even a thief had a sense of honor there. Right. That that was not a good thing to do. And it's interesting that traditionally. Many many court cases were decided. Based on what's called a oath. Where the judge would say.

Do you swear by God. That you're telling the truth. Or lying. Many many. Historically. Many court cases were solved. Because people were quite literally afraid. Of bearing false witness. Or lying in that.

And they would say. I can't say that. And that would literally end the trial. Many many cases like that. Historically. So traditionally. People did have a sense. You know that. There were certain things. Even the thief had honor.

The Story of Imam Al-Ghazali and True Knowledge

There's a famous story. Of Imam Al Ghazali. Great theologian. And scholar. Who studied in. He's from Tus in Persia. And he'd studied. In one of the great Persian cities.

And he had. Spent two years. Transcribing all these books. By hand. Because these people. You know. They weren't printing presses. You wanted books. You had to write them out.

He went to the library. Spent two years. Doing that. And on the way back. They were. Their caravan was attacked. By brigands. And. They were taking his books.

And Al Ghazali. Begged this chief of the thieves. Don't. You can't take all my knowledge. And he. And the thief laughed. And he said. What kind of knowledge. Do you have. When somebody like me. Can steal it. And.

Al Ghazali said. That he realized. That. God had made him say that. To tell. To let him know. And to remind him. That true knowledge. Was not in books.

What's that? Yeah. That's. What's that? The fifth prayer. Let's see. You would have. Maghrib. Isha. Fajr. Dhuhr. And Asr. Is the last prayer. Asr.

And that means. The afternoon prayer. Now. Just to let you know. What. The Muslims. Are encouraged. To congregate. For the prayer. But they don't have to. It's very highly encouraged. To congregate.

Women and Prayer in the Mosque

Women. Can. Can go to the mosque. And congregate. If they like. Or if they don't. It's. It's not. Encouraged. For them. The house. Is actually. Where the women. Generally pray. In most. Muslim cultures. And I will just make mention. Of certain phenomena. That you relate.

Traditionally. There was no barrier. Between the men. And the women. Praying. That is a later. Innovation. It was not the tradition. Of the prophet. The prophet did not have a barrier. Between the men. And the women. That came later. In many Muslim countries.

You still do not have that barrier. For instance. African countries. North Africa. You do not have that barrier. In the Middle East. In the Indo-Pak cultures. You will tend to find. Barriers.

So that is more of a cultural. Phenomenon. It is not a religious. It's not part of the religious. Tradition. Even this. What they call the. Masharabiya. In the mosque here. Which is this. A lattice. Woodwork.

Between the men. And the women. That is not. Traditional. That is. Well it's traditional. In terms of Muslim culture. But it is not. From the religion. The religion does not say that. That is something. That people introduced. As a cultural. Phenomenon. So.

And that is important. To remember. And there are some countries. That. You know. I think. A few. Where. There is an extreme patriarchy. There. And. You know. Women. It is really hard for them. To pray in the mosque.

And that again. Is a cultural phenomenon. Because the prophet prohibited that. He said. Do not prohibit. Women from going to the mosques. And it is a sound. Hadith.

Where? I think probably. On the Arabian Peninsula. You will find. In some of the mosques. In the villages. In Mecca. And Medina. Definitely not. There are women. Praying there.

Women's Dress and Cultural Variations

Mecca. You will look here. The black. Are generally the women. In the pictures. If you see of Mecca. The Kaaba. When you see big black. Groupings. Those are generally the women. And the white. Are the men.

Right. Because in that country. They tend to wear black. And white. They are the men. The men wear white. The women wear black. In Algeria. The women wear white. So. That again. Is a cultural thing. Of color. In West Africa. Where Dr. Nyang is from.

Women. Very. They are like cockatoos. You know. They are very. Very colorful. Lots of color. In their. Their hijab. And. Morocco. It is pretty much. Almost like a basic. Kind of unisex. Type.

They. They wear a Jalaba. And the differences would be in the colors. But the actual. Jalaba is very similar. The women wear the same dress. As the men do. Except the colors. Distinguish.

Patriarchy and Women's Rights in Islamic Law

The communities that do this. Gender separation. Do they think of it. And explain it. As being Islam. I think. I think. Mostly they do. I think most of them do. You know. And you get. You know. I mean. Patriarchy is a phenomenon. Worldwide.

And. And we're. As. We are. As susceptible to it. As any other culture. I think there's been a lot of. Artificial mechanisms. At trying to break it down. But nonetheless. You know. There's still a lot of remnants.

I'll give you some examples. In. In Muslim law. And. Ruqayyah is going to talk about this. But in Muslim law. A. A. A woman. Does not have to. Serve her husband in her house. And she cannot be forced to. If she refuses to cook. The man has to. Provide. Somebody who will cook. Or he has to cook himself.

She is highly encouraged. To do that. But it is literally. Within the Islamic law. That she has a right. To say I don't want to cook. Right. It's in. It's based on. The Hadith. And based on. The. Scholars interpretation. But this is literally. Fourteen hundred years ago. When this was. These judgments. Were being pronounced.

You know. That women. The money is theirs. If a woman earns money. She can actually go to a. If the husband takes the money from her. She has a right to go to a qadi. And. Because it's a crime. It's not his money.

Any money that comes into hers. Is hers. Whereas the money that. The man earns. A portion of it has to go to the woman. By law. So there. It's very interesting. You know. I think that. You know. The phenomenon of. The abuse. Of. Certain. Characteristics. That the man. Certainly. Physical. Which is changing in this country. But.

Generally. Most societies. Men tend to be physically. Stronger. And have been able to coerce. Women. Physically. To do things. And. There's a very interesting verse. In the Quran. Which is about Asiya. The wife of. Pharaoh. When she says.

Oh. God. Save me from my husband. The tyrant. And I just find. That's really fascinating. I mean. That's a dua. You know. It's a. It's a prayer. In the Quran. From a woman. About her husband. Who's a tyrant. Being asked to be saved from him.

And I just wonder. Historically. You know. How many women. That that has been a type of. You know. Sustenance. For that type. You know. In this culture as well. I mean. We have. We still have. Very serious problems. With domestic violence.

And we tend to really. Look at the. The public space. And not so much. We forget. About the private space. About. You know. A lot of mental. Cruelty. A lot. It's all still going on. But there's a type. Of openness. That has emerged. In the culture. Where these things. You know. People can talk about them.

Domestic Violence and Cultural Context

Mauritania. Where. Shaykh Abdullah. Is from. You know. We are talking about this. About. Domestic violence. And things like that. And it's interesting. That in Mauritania. It's impossible. For a man. To hit a woman.

It's literally impossible. One. Because of tribe. In other words. Marital relationships. Are very. You know. They're very. Related to the family. And so. For. For there to be any. Injustices. Towards the woman. It's going to. Affect. Very. Heavily. On. Relationships. Inter-family relationships.

And things like that. And the women. Generally. Tend to be very educated. From his. Group. Particularly. And know their rights. And they're quite. They're strong women. There's also no polygamy. In that culture. At all. Because the women. Put a condition. In their marriage contracts. I don't want a second wife. And they know.

That's a right. That they have. Right. They can stipulate that. In a contract. And they do that. That's. Absolutely. It's from. Again. It's. It's from the scholars. Understanding. And interpretation. And the. There are. Early community instances. Where that was. From the companions. Where that was established.

Ritual Purification Before Prayer

Did somebody ask a question? Can you speak a little bit about the ablution? Ablution? The cleansing I guess. Okay. Good point. About the prayer. There is a water cleansing. Ablution. I hate that word. I know. I think. I don't know where that comes from.

Ablution. Ritual ablutions. It's a. It's a Latin word. But I just don't. Don't like it. Is it. It's Catholic. Do you think? It's used in the Catholic church. It is. Isn't it? Yeah. I think that's where they got. I just. It's always bothered me. That word. I just don't like the way it sounds.

It's not like something bad. Ablution. Brother. Do your ablutions. The. The. There is a water purification. A ritual purification. With water. Before you pray. You should use a small amount of water. It's not meant to waste water.

It's actually encouraged to use a small amount. And. It's a. It's basically a washing of the face. The arms up to the elbows. A wiping of the head. Not a washing. Just a light wiping. And. Then. A cleansing of the feet. And. The idea is to enter into a ritual. State. You know. I mean.

All religious traditions have this idea. Of entering into a ritual. State of purity. Before you go. Into the divine space. And. That. That. That's the idea there. And. If there's. And.

The proof that it is ritual. And. Not related to actual physical type. Although it does have physical. Qualities. Is that. That you can use earth. To do it in the absence of water. So. You. Use the earth. The prophet Muhammad said that the earth. Was. The earth. Was.

Given to my community. As a. Place of worship. The entire earth. That we can worship anywhere on the earth. And. As. A purification. That the earth is seen. As a source. Of purification. And. The prophet Muhammad. Peace be upon him. Said. In a. In a. Tradition related by.

He said. Beware of your mother. The earth. That you should transgress. Or oppress her. Because. She will bear witness against. All of those who. Who have. Transgressed against her. And. There is an idea. In the Islamic tradition. Literally. The prophet Muhammad said.

That the entire earth. Is raised up on the. On the day of judgment. And will bear witness. And the prophet Muhammad said. That rocks will bear witness. That trees will bear witness. That rivers will bear witness. Against those. Who did harm to them. Without. Just cause.

Right. So. There is. Like. In the Jewish tradition. A woman. Is. Considered. Ritually. Impure. During the menstrual cycle. And she does not pray. During that period. Right. Because. That is a. Cleansing time. She does not pray. During that period. She's absolved. From the prayer. And there's nothing.

Menstruation and Purity

There's no stigma. Related to. In fact. The prophet Muhammad. Because. In. Like in the. Some of the orthodox. Jewish tradition. The woman is. You know. The man stays away. Yes. She's separate. The prophet. Knew. Because there were Jews. Living in Medina.

And he wanted to. Break that. Tradition. And it's recorded. That he recited. The Quran. While on the lap. Of his wife. Aisha. While she was. Menstruating. And he was. Letting people know. That there's nothing wrong. With the woman.

During that time. It's. It's just a period. Of personal purification. And it does not extend. Beyond her. She can cook. Like. She's allowed to cook. During that time. She's allowed to. In fact. Even. Foreplay. Is allowed during that time.

Between a male. And a female. But the prophet said. Avoid. What is between. The belly button. And the knee. In other words. Don't. Because that's a time. Was prohibited for actual. Sexual intercourse. But the prophet said. That is a time. When.

Male and female. Could have. Like foreplay. Sexual foreplay. With the exclusion. Of intercourse only. So. Any questions. Now. Just about all. That's transpired. Was there a number. Of times. Repetitions. To the evolution.

The Practice of Wudu

Good. Yeah. Three is. Is encouraged. One is what's. Obligatory. And three. Is encouraged. No more than three. It would be discouraged. After. Is there anything. To the notion. That certain. Sex. Is encouraged. No. One way. There's one way. To do it. Which is. Down like that. I'm pretty much. All the schools are.

Are the same on the. The wudu. And the prayer. The prayer. There's some difference. Like Maliki. A school. Prays with the hands. Of the side. And also the Shia. Pray with their hands. The side. The other schools. Pray with the hands. Here or here.

Some up here. So you're going to get. Slight variations. But the basic movements. Are the same. And some will move. Their finger. To concentrate. In the last part. Of the prayer. And some won't. Do they. Do the. Left hand first. And then the right. Right hand. Always right. To left.

Right Hand and Left Hand in Islamic Tradition

In the Muslim tradition. Left. You know. It's cosmological. Left. I mean. In Latin. Sinistras. Is left. Right. There's always this idea. That left. Is kind of. Sinister. It's the bad side. In the Muslim tradition. It's not. It's not like that.

There's not a stigma. Like that. About left hand. Like in. In Europe. There was a stigma. Related to being left handed. And people. I mean. My mother was. She went to Catholic schools. She was left handed.

She got. The ruler. Until she learned to write. With her right hand. Which now we know. Is actually. Damages. That's. You know. One of the things. That some people think. Are result. In learning disabilities. And things like that. Because there's a. There's a confusion.

That takes place. In the. In the body. As a result. Of that. But in the Muslim tradition. There's nothing. There's no stigmatism. Related. Like I'm left handed. Omar Ibn Khattab. He wrote with his left hand. There's no stigmatism. Attached to that. But.

People. Are supposed to eat. With their right hand. The left hand. Is used for cleaning. Like. The urine. And cleaning the feces. Right. So. The right hand. Is you. That's why. You would never shake. With your left hand. You would always shake. With your right hand. So.

In Muslim cultures. The right hand. Is very important. And one of the reasons. That the thief loses. The right hand. Is it's. When they. Break the. You know. There's a deep breach. Of the social contract. When a human being. Steals from another human being. And there is a literally.

A severing. From the. The society. That takes place. So to lose. The right hand. Is a very traumatic. Experience in the Muslim culture. Absolutely. Right. Yameen. Means. You know. It's like an oath. Is called swearing. A yameen. Right. I swear that this is true.

You're swearing with the right. And also. Yaman. Is a good omen. And she'em. Which is related to the left. Is a bad omen. So there is a cosmology. Involved in it.

Classical Cosmology and Directions

And also. The idea. In classical cosmology. Which is. Indo-European. As well as. Chinese. You know. The Chinese. In the Chinese cosmology. The south. Is yang. Which is over. And the north. Is yin. Which is under. The same in the Indic. The Dravidian.

Culture. And the Indic cultures. That the. The word for south. Is in Sanskrit. Relates to over. Or above. And the word for north. Is under. And classically. Maps. Were generally. Put the south. On the top. And you will notice.

Out there. That Al-Idrisi's map. Puts Africa. On the top. And Europe. On the bottom. There was a switch. With the European cartographers. When they kind of realized. That there's some philosophical. Implications here. Being under. Or inferior. As opposed to. Being over. And superior. And they literally switched. The maps around.

But the. The book. That a lot of European. Cartography. Was based upon. Was the book of Roger. Which was done by Al-Idrisi. For the Sicilian king. Of Sicily. Roger. And he had his maps. With the south. On the top. Which is related. To facing. The east. In the morning. So the back.

Is called. The unknown. Which is west. The east. Is called. Or facing. The radiance. Of the sun. The south. Is called. The right. Like Yemen. Means the right. It's also. The south. The southernmost place. In the Arabian Peninsula. And.

Shamal. Is from. North. Which is from. Shemal. Which means left. So north. Is considered left. To the. To the human body. In terms of. This is cosmological. In terms of cosmology. So the north. Would be under. The south. And the Muslims. Traditionally.

Did their astrolabes. With the south. As the. It was. The projection. Was from the south. Looking up. To the sky.

Reflection and Questioning in Religion

Any other questions? You said earlier. That sometimes. In cultures. It's difficult. For Muslims. To be reflective. About their religion. And I was wondering. If you could. Enumerate. Some of the reasons. Why. It's difficult.

Well because I think people. In the Muslim culture. It's just a given. That you're right. You know. Like. It used to be that way. In this culture. You know. It was just given. Christianity. Was true. Everything else. Is false. That's just a given. Of any culture. That has. A dominant.

Religious teaching. That still has. Power and influence. And certainly. Islam is still in that position. In the Muslim world. Where. To question. Or to really think. Why am I a Muslim? You know. Other than the fact. That I was born here.

That most people. Won't come to that. There would be. There would be judgment. There would be social stigma. For one. But see. I don't even think. That that should. Negate. Even if there was. It's still important. To reflect. And think. You know.

I mean. You have always had. People within cultures. That have. Have questioned. Thing. I mean. There were. There will always be one. In the Christian tradition. That remain Christians. But they could still challenge. The culture. Sometimes they were burnt. At the stake.

Other times they weren't. But the point is. That there were people. That would say. You know. Is this right? Or is what we're doing right? I mean. That's an important. Human question. And. This is just. A lot of. Non-reflective people.

And then. I think. There's a lot of. Encouragement. For. For the absence of reflection. For social political reasons. You know. I mean. In this country. You know. We're a country. Of entertainment. People. Know massive things. About sports. And basketball. And baseball.

And football. And adults. That can. Give you brilliant. Analyses of. You know. Why this team's. Going to make it. To the Super Bowl. And have all their. Stats at hand. And they don't have a clue. About the national debt. Or why we're paying over. Fifty percent.

Of our tax dollar. To interest. On our national debt. Or why our schools. Are literally. Crumbling before our eyes. Why there's. Children. Killing children. You know. Really. There's just not. A lot of emphasis. On analyzing. On thinking.

So. You know. We're as much. I think. You know. We. Americans. We. You know. We tend to delude ourselves. Often. I mean. You're all educated people. So. It's probably not the case. But there's certainly. A lot of people. Out there.

That really haven't given. A lot of thought. That they're. They're much more. Obsessed with. You know. The latest entertainment. They're. What the latest movie. Is out there. You know. The Romans. Controlled their societies. With bread. And circus. Right. Bread. Bread. Bread. Bread and circus. It's very common. Political. Way of. Maintaining. A. Okay.

Divine Wisdom and Moral Laws

Rationale. There are two things. In the. In the Sharia. That are. Understood. By the Muslims. One. Is that there are. Some things. That. That we know. Why. And there are other things. That we don't. The things that we know. Why. With absolute certainty. Are those things. That we're told.

In the Quran. Or in the Hadith. That that's why. It was prohibited. For instance. In the Quran. It says. Do not. Go near. Sexual. Perversions. Because. They are. Foulness. And they lead down. A terrible road. So. Illicit. Sexual relations. The idea is that. They will lead down. A terrible road. There's a Hadith. Of the Prophet. Muhammad.

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That perversity. Will never manifest. In a people. Except they're afflicted. With diseases. And illnesses. That were unknown. To previous generations. So. The Muslims would see that. You know. That. Breaching sexual. Laws. That. That are given. By God. From the Muslim perspective. result. There are consequences.

In other words. That the moral. Realm. Has laws. That impact us. At the biological. At the psychosocial. Level. Just as there are. Physical laws. Of cause. And effect. And things like that. So. So. Muslims see that morality. Is not this arbitrary thing. That there is a reason.

Right. And. And this is the way. The Muslims view it. And I. I think a lot of Christians. Have that feeling too. I mean. A lot of Christians point out. That if you are. Monogamous. You will not. You know. If two people. Who are. Are both virgins.

Enter into a marital. Situation. And do not. Breach those boundaries. They do not. They're not susceptible. To venereal diseases. It is. A simple fact. Of. Biology. Right. So. That. That's at one level.

Seeking Wisdom in Divine Commands

Now the other level. Is that there are things. That we don't know. Why God has said. Don't do this. And. The reason. That the scholars say. Is that there are some things. That he has not told us. Is because. It's one. A test. That will you do it. Even though your intellect.

Is not fully capable. Of comprehending the wisdom. Behind it. And two. That. It's an aspect. Of submission. Now. The scholars have always encouraged. Seeking. Reasons. Wisdoms. To. Increase people's faith. But never to say. As an absolute. This is why. Concerning pig.

Generally pig. Has been considered. An unclean animal. It eats. Unclean things. Its form. Is. Is. It's an unclean. Form. And. You know. Some modern Jews. Like. Jewish. Tradition. Some of them. Who've gone. To very liberal positions. Have pointed out. You know.

This was really for. Trichinosis. And diseases. That related. But now that we know. Scientifically. And they would actually. Consider it acceptable. To eat pig. The Muslims would never go. To that. Shellfish. Shellfish. Is discouraged. According to. Imam Abu Hanifa. But. The reason.

That it is not prohibited. Is because. There is a hadith. Of the Prophet. Muhammad. That. What comes out of the sea. Is pure. And. Halal. For you. And. That's where it comes from. But. Abu Hanifa. Did consider it. Makruh. To eat shellfish.

Because it ate. Unclean things. And that was the reason. That he gave. So that is a position. But it's not a dominant position. And again. One of the things. That the Quran mentions. That part of the Prophet's message. Was to lighten the load. Of the previous dispensations.

So that. There are actually. Some lightening. Of loads. Concerning what was. Binding on the. Jewish tradition. Because. They. From the point. That. People were getting. Weaker. At maintaining. The guidelines of God. And

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so. There was kind of. Making it easier.

For people. For this last stage. Of human existence. Because. People do not have the same. Spiritual capacities. As the ancients did. And so. There is that idea. As well. Any other. Questions about this. So we'll go on. To the next. The next. Pillar. Which is. Zakat.

Zakat: Purification of Wealth

The word. Zakat. Means. It comes from. A root word. Which means. To purify. And the idea. Is that. It is a purification. Of your wealth. Everybody. In accruing wealth. Will have some. Either. Clearly doubtful. Or even. Really doubtful. You know. Aspects. To the accruement.

Of wealth. So. The idea is. That Zakat. Is a way. Of purifying. Your wealth. And the Prophet Muhammad. Was. Prohibited. The taking of Zakat. For his own family. They cannot be recipients of Zakat. Bani Hashim. The reason is. Is that he said that. Zakat. Is like the.

The feces. Of wealth. In other words. The body needs. To let go. Of its impurities. In order. To maintain. Its purity. And Zakat. Is seen as a letting go. Of. One's wealth. In order. To purify. And make. The wealth. That it has. Grow. Literally. The recipient.

Who receives. The wealth. For. The person. It is. A purification. For. The one receiving. The wealth. It is a right. It's seen as a right. And so. It changes. Perspective. There's a shift. In perspective. In other words. The one receiving. It is not receiving. Anything filthy. Right.

It's a right. And it's encouraged. When you give. Zakat. To somebody. To not tell them. It's Zakat. So. That they don't feel. To give it as a gift. So. That they don't feel. Because some people. Have a pride. They don't want. To feel like. They're. Like a welfare.

Type state. That I'm. I need. That it's encouraging. You don't have to tell them. It's Zakat. You. It's also encouraged. To give it. Smiling. With a. You know. As seeing. That it's an honor. So. The person giving it. These are in the books. Of fiqh. Related to giving Zakat.

That you're supposed to give it. In humility. Not in arrogance. That you give it. To the person. Literally. Feeling like. You're honored. To do that thing. And the Prophet said. One of the signs. Of the end of time. Is people will consider. Zakat. Like a fine.

You know. In other words. They wouldn't see it. As an honor. But rather as. Like taxes. Nowadays. Right. Have to pay it. Really. Both parties. Involved. Both sides. Know. Kind of. What's going on. But. I mean. You don't have an understanding of. I mean. Like say.

I've given Zakat. Many times. In which the people. Had no idea. That it was Zakat. Oh really. Absolutely. Many times. How. Like. Is there any example. That you give of. Well. Muslims. I think you'd be really surprised. At. You know. The generosity of Muslims.

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The Practice of Giving Zakat

That are practicing. To other Muslims. They're. Very generous. If. Within a community. Like in my community. For instance. We had a man. Who recently lost. His job. And I found out. About it. And I knew. That he was in. A hard condition. I contacted. A few people.

And in one day. We raised. Four thousand dollars. And I gave that. To that person. Right. Just to help him. For the next couple months. Until he could. Get a job. Again. And I didn't tell him. I said. This is a gift. You know.

Now. There were people. That gave it as Zakat. But I didn't. You know. I don't have to tell him. It's Zakat. There are times. When. You will find. Things on your doorstep. That's true. You may find. A rack of lamb. You may find. An envelope. With money. And you don't know who.

Very common. In the Muslim community. There's definitely. I think. Muslims do. Still have. A sense. Of taking care. Like. Things like. Homelessness. In the Muslim world. Those are still. Real shocking. Like. The other day. We saw. A man. In. And I was with. Sheikh Abdullah.

And he didn't have a shirt on. And he asked me. First. If he was crazy. Because. In their country. You would never not. Wear a shirt. In public. It would literally. Be for them. It's a sign. Somebody was mad. And. And the same with shorts.

That's like. That's something. He hasn't. I don't think. He's quite grasped it. Yet. Just because. Their culture is still. Very. Very modest. But. We told him. That he's probably homeless. And he said. What does that mean? You know. He didn't. Literally. Didn't know what it meant.

Because. In that country. You could build a. They just build. Like a. They take. Tree limbs. And the women. Will sew. Like a. Burlap saps together. And make a little house. And you don't have to pay. Property tax. And you don't have to. You know. You just set up shop. And.

He didn't have a concept. Of like. Being homeless. And. And then. He just said to me. With all of this. Like. There's so much. Here. You know. Because. He's going to a place. Where there's nothing. And he said. How is it. That like. Somebody could be.

Without a place. To. To sleep. With all. Like. He just. It was. Something that. I don't think. His intellect. Really could quite. Grasp. Right. Very kind of interesting. Really interesting book. To read about this. Is winners. And losers. In the new world order. By Jacques. Attali.

Right. He talks about this. Phenomenon. Of increasingly. You know. People becoming. Accustomed to. Planetary boat. People. That's what he calls them. Planetary boat. People. Where you'll go. To the ATM. And the. Bums there. And. We just become. Inured to it. Because. It just becomes.

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More and more. Difficult for people. To deal with. The receiver. That's a good question. Let me tell you. Just. And I'm going to get to that. Let me tell you. Basically. Zakat. Is a local. Tax. It is not meant. To go outside. Of the community. The prophet said. Those closest.

To you. Are most. Worthy. Of your help. So. The idea of acting. Locally. Is really important. That. You know. If. If you're. If you're. Fighting for the rights. Of the Tibetans. You know. And your own community. There's people oppressed.

The Muslims would see that. As a kind of disconnection. Doesn't mean. That you're not sympathetic. With something happening. Over there. But the thing is. You begin. At home. You begin. Cleaning up your own home. So. Zakat. Zakat. Zakat. Zakat. Zakat. Zakat. Zakat. Zakat. Zakat. Zakat. Zakat.

Recipients of Zakat

The only. Non Muslim group. Are called. People. Who are. Very close to Islam. Their very interested in Islam. They're close to Islam. Those people. It's permissible to give them. Zakat money. If they're not Muslim. Then. You can. You can donate money to them. But you can not give Zakat.

Zakat is the right of poor Muslims. In. In other words, the idea that you take care of your own before you go outside. But traditionally, the Muslims in the early 19th century, during a famine in France, the Bey of Tunis and Algeria sent wheat to Europe to help relieve the famine. So traditionally, the Muslims did have a concept of helping other peoples if they had a surplus.

But first, you help the people within your community. And then also, Jewish, there's a beautiful story of Sayyidina Omar, because Jewish and Christian and non-Muslim peoples, like Buddhists and others, pay a tax to live under the Muslims. And Omar saw a Jewish man begging, an old man. And he said, why is this man begging? And they said, he doesn't have any money.

And he said, we took money from him when he was young. So we should take care of him in his old age. And so he demanded that Christian and Jews and other people, if they had no one within their community to take care of them, then there should be money taken out of what's called the Bayt al-Mal, or the collective bank of the Muslim government, to help those people.

And it's interesting that during the time of Omar ibn Abd al-Aziz in Damascus, the government actually paid for and supplied people. Not dogs, but people to take care of blind people as an employment, which is mentioned in the books.

The Percentage and Types of Zakat

Is there a certain percentage, then, that they pay? Good question. The percentage is, there are three types of zakat. Income tax is prohibited in Islam. You cannot tax people for income that they're using to live by. You can

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only tax them according to standing wealth that one year has accumulated. So if a year has passed and you still have the wealth, that's what you pay zakat on. You don't pay zakat based on what you made that year.

So if I made $50,000, but at the end of the year I have zero, which is the case of a lot of people in this country, and they actually have to borrow to pay the IRS, that you do not pay any zakat. You pay zakat at the end of a lunar year. You pay zakat on what you have that a year has transpired with.

And you pay 1/40th, 2.5% of the entire thing. So if I had $40, I would pay $1 after the whole year. Yes. Yeah, it's not a big amount. But if, uh-huh, go ahead. You may only need, let's say, a $6,000 car to get around. That will be twice as the answer. Right. I mean, you may only need, let's say, a $6,000 car to get around. But you buy a $100,000 one. OK.

Herb asked, I think, a good question. Where does want and need come into this? In other words, if I'm a wealthy person and I buy a car for $100,000, and I'm a poor person and I buy one for $500, can I just spend my money on that? Yes. Wealthy people, their money is discretionary. It is highly discouraged to waste.

And it is actually prohibited to be grossly extravagant. But the Prophet Muhammad said, Allah loves to see the traces of his blessings on his creatures. And so it's encouraged for a wealthy person to dress not extravagantly. He should wear things in order to show the blessing on him. And there's a beautiful book called Envy Towards a Social Theory, fascinating book about the disruptive aspects of envy in a culture. And one of the worst things in Islam is envy.

Envy and Gratitude

It's literally considered one of the worst things. It's one of the seven deadly sins in the Christian Catholic truism. My father was Catholic. And he said that he's unfortunately familiar with about four of them. And his friend told him, one's enough to kill you. But envy is one of the seven deadly sins in our Western tradition.

In the Islamic tradition, it's also one of the real bad things. And so the idea is that poor people should not envy rich people. It's really considered a bad thing to envy rich people. Poor people should thank God. In fact, the Prophet Muhammad said, in terms of your worldly condition, always look to people below you. And in terms of your other worldly condition, always look at people better than you.

So in terms of righteousness, piety, look at people that are superior to you, that you might never become deluded about yourself and you always want to improve. But in terms of the material world, look at people worse off than you so that you feel grateful for what you have. What was the book that you said was mentioning the effect? Yeah, it's called Envy Towards a Social Theory. And it's a German author, and I can't remember his name right now. I actually just got the book a couple of months ago, so I don't have the author's name.

If there's no income tax and zakat is determined on somebody's net. It's like a capital gains tax more. It's like capital at the end of the year. Does the zakat satisfy and fulfill the needs of the poor? Is it their foredoom? There

Zakat on Agriculture and Livestock

It's very interesting because there's also zakat of agriculture and livestock. So agriculture has one fifth. Now the World Bank estimated that if 2% of the world's agricultural crops were taxed, 2%, that there would be no hunger anywhere. Now Islam says 5% for irrigation that you did yourself, 10% for agriculture based on natural irrigation, like rain and things like that. So if you didn't work, you pay more. If you did irrigation, you pay less.

So 10% of wheat, corn, barley, all of these grains is taxed and it's supposed to be given and distributed to the poor. Also livestock. So for every five camels, one sheep is given, like that. 30 cows, a calf, 40, uh-huh?

I have a question. You were talking about the livestock and you were dissenting about people coming from Saudi Arabia and all the government issues. When all these people come and they wish to make sacrifices, how do they deal with it? They can them and they send them around to poor people around the world.

That's what they do now. The meat that's sacrificed during the Hajj, and no, like I didn't sacrifice. You don't have to sacrifice if you made a, there's three ways of making Hajj. And I made it the way that the Prophet Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam made it, where it's not obligatory to sacrifice. You can if you want to. I did not sacrifice.

But if you do sacrifice, the meat can either be eaten there, it's encouraged to distribute it amongst the poor. And the Eid, the reason that's encouraged to sacrifice during the Eid traditionally, was that poor people generally did not eat meat very often. And so the idea was on the Eid, it was a time when you brought meat to the poor people to give them meat.

Meat Consumption and Moderation

Now meat is becoming more increasingly cheaper. And so you're finding people are meat eaters all over.

Sayyidina Omar said, beware of meat because it has the addiction of wine. And he also said to one man who used to eat meat every day, every time you desire meat, you buy it? And he said, yes. And he said, I'm afraid you're going to be from the people who lose all their good deeds in this world. In other words, that you enjoy the world so much that you can't show the right gratitude.

So it was not encouraged to eat meat all the time. And now Muslims have become heavy meat eaters. But traditionally, most Muslim cultures were really more semi-vegetarian cultures. It's kind of more of a recent phenomenon, the heavy meat. And beef is very new in the Muslim world. Traditionally, Muslims were not beef eaters. They were goat and sheep.

In Muslim cultures, we're doing the 20th century where it's been said, oil is going well. How is that effective in this economy? Is it causing problems for you? That's a really good point. Yeah, there is a lot of problems.

Natural Resources and Wealth Distribution

But technically, buried wealth, there's different opinions about it. Most of the scholars say that it goes to the Muslim collective bank, what's called the Bayt al-Mal. And it should be used to develop the Muslim communities, to help the poor, to build schools, to do these things. It should not be personal wealth. Some say that no, 20%, it should be taxed 20%. And then the land of the people that it was found on, they're the ones that benefit from it.

So there are some differences of opinion. But there's definitely, in many of the countries where there's been natural resources discovered, and the Muslims do have a lot of natural resources in the Muslim communities, there's just been a gross expropriation of the wealth and exploitation of it, which is very unfortunate. And there's also been a lot of outside influences.

I mean, we know when Mossadegh, who was the prime minister of Iran, wanted to nationalize the oil, you know, there was a CIA coup that ousted him. So there's hands outside that are also impacting very seriously how the wealth is being used. People, if you know about petrodollars, then you know the fact that the vast majority of petrol wealth is literally being supplanted and invested in Western banks.

And the Western banks, in turn, are using that to finance a lot of the projects in the quote-unquote third world, which end up causing major problems because of interest payment and things like that. So very complicated world conditions. But I think they're really worthwhile bringing up to your students, you know, as communities, we just have to start thinking about this stuff, you know, we're just, we're so marginalized from these dialogues.

And I think just normal people should be participating in trying to understand what's going on. Why, you know, why are countries like Mexico, you know, paying these massive interest to, you know, there's more interest now coming out of the third world than there is aid going into it. So there's a lot of very serious contradictions going on.

And then a lot of the massive projects that are being developed, the World Bank and the IMF, encouraging these gross project, the dam now in China and Brazil and these type of things that really, if you read somebody like Suzanne George, really worth reading, Fate Worse Than Debt, Ill Fares the Land, How the Other Side Dies. She worked for the World Bank and then kind of reneged and realized that she felt that they were doing a lot more harm than good. And she's written some really, really worthwhile critiques and not from a kind of conspiratorial type, just really kind of analyzing the thing.

I think, Suzanne George, she works now, I think she's supported by the Catholic Church, actually, one of their organizations.

The Eight Categories of Zakat Recipients

Uh-huh? You said there were eight types of poverty. I mean, there were eight recipients. Recipients. Three types of poverty. Poor people. By definition, there are two types of poor people. One is called miskeen and the other is called faqir in the Quran. The miskeen is the one who doesn't even have a day's worth of their livelihood. The poor one is of somebody who does not have a year's supply. They do not have enough money to get through a year and they are accepted as a recipient for. They're deserving of more.

Yeah, that's a good point. If the person is known to use things, like if they're alcoholic or known to do things, then yeah, you should not support people that you know the money is going to go and there are more worthy people for it. That is encouraged to look for the more worthy people. And then you have the people who collect it. So there is a portion of it taken out to employ the zakat collectors. And then you have indebted people.

People who are in debt. And that is a type of debt, as long as it was not accrued through wrong actions like gambling. And it is a debt in which they're in serious trouble. The debt has reached a level where, socially, they're really being jeopardized. And then you have the, and also indentured servants. People who bonds people.

Because in Islam, traditionally, although this doesn't exist anymore in the Muslim world, traditionally, there were people who were bonds people that were under the yoke of somebody. And those people in Sharia, if they desire to be freed from that yoke, then they have a right to zakat, to pay off whatever their worth is, right? And so that's a group. And then also the, so that's five. And then you have the, what do I mean?

And then you have people, the Ibn Sabir, who is somebody who's traveling. And this is also pre-ATM, because he can be a wealthy person as well. So it's somebody who's traveling and they were robbed. And they're far away from their home and they don't have access. And it still happens because ATM isn't, right? 80% of the world still doesn't have telephones. Telephones, by the way, right? So here we forget about that, right? But it's for somebody who was traveling and they lost their wealth.

Those people are asked, they're permitted to get the, to receive the zakat. And then for people who are called Muallafat Qulubuhum, which are either near Islam or they have just come into Islam and you can give them zakat as a way of binding their hearts to the community. And then the last group is Fisabilillah, which are people who are defending the homelands.

So anybody who is defending like jihad, like the Bosnians, when they were fighting, many people sent their zakat to Bosnia or Afghanistan, for instance, right? And there are many people, I think, that support the Palestinians, viewing that as a valid struggle, things like that. So that's basically the, those are the recipients according to the Quran.

Taxes and Zakat in America

I would think that the answer to this would be no, but if you're an American Muslim and you're paying 35% income tax, you also pay 2.5% wealth tax? Absolutely. In fact, more so. Some of the scholars have said, if

you're giving 35% to the American government, which is using a lot of it for things that, that you should probably give another 35% just to counterbalance and then pay zakat on top of that. A lot of Muslims have a lot of cognitive dissonance about taxes in this country.

Particularly immigrants who, their countries are, there's just a lot of problems going on and they feel just, there's a lot of cognitive dissonance there. Because such a huge portion of our taxes go to military, I think, what, 54% is still allotted to defense and military budgets and things like that. I mean, what are we, what's education? 17%? Is it even, no, I think it's what? 17%? It's about 17%, right? So, but again, it's, if you're in a country, you have to follow the laws of the land.

So it's actually prohibited to, if you come into a country by Sharia, even though the laws are against Islam, you either have to make hijrah or you have to follow those laws. It is prohibited, like it would be prohibited for a Muslim to cheat on the income tax, given that that is a law in this country. They would either have to leave or they would have to pay it because the conditions of coming into the country, one of the conditions is that you'll obey the laws of the land.

And the Prophet said, the Quran says that fulfill the trust that you have given to its people. So when a person comes into this country with a visa or a green card or, and it says you're expected to obey the laws of the land, then you are expected to. So it's actually a breach of Islam not to. And that is something, unfortunately, some Muslims aren't aware of, you know.

Family and Zakat

I'm sorry, I heard two different things. One that it cannot be for your own family and the other that it's supposed to be for your own family. No, it can't be for your own family if it's like a trick. In other words, I give my wife my Zakat, she gives me her Zakat. No, it's to your family, if they're poor and worthy, then they should be the first recipients.

Now the government does have the right, if there was a valid Islamic government, they do have the right to collect Zakat. That is a right of the government and the government would distribute it. In the absence of government gathering of Zakat, then it is an individual responsibility on the Muslims.

How do you determine what is a valid government? Well, any government that has the authority is considered valid. If there's like, it's prohibited to go out against the government. Like revolution is actually prohibited in Islam, in the Sunni tradition, not in the Shia tradition. They do have a difference. I mean, that is an important distinction. The Sunni tradition believes that they have a right to fight and oppose an unjust government.

Whereas the Shia, the Sunni tradition says that the people should be patient and ask God to change the conditions and rectify themselves, but they should not actually physically bear arms because that would lead to a greater tribulation than the actual injustice, which is bloodshed amongst people. So in the Sunni tradition, it's

actually like what's happening in Algeria, for instance, that's prohibited by Islamic law to do that. And that is the classical Islamic view.

And the group that goes out are called Khawarij, which are the seceders. And you can find them historically. There's always been groups that have said that. But the traditional Sunni position is that you cannot go against the ruler.

Islamic Government and Zakat Collection

Any other questions? When you mentioned the legitimate Islamic government, would this be a government that has its ultimate law? Absolutely, I mean, that's the ideal. But even if they're not implementing the Quran and they don't openly say that they don't believe in it, they're still considered the legitimate government. So they would then have the right to collect the Sunni. Yes. And this could be in lieu of a welfare department or something like this.

Zakat, that's the whole point of zakat. Yeah, it's to help the poor people. It's a right of the poor people. And it's interesting because the Prophet said, take from your wealthy the zakat and return it to the poor people. So it's almost like people get rich off poor people because the vast majority of the world's population is poor. We forget that.

We really do have a very high living standard. But the vast majority of the world's population are poor people. And the wealth, even America's wealth is largely dependent on a lot of wealth from other countries. We have very cheap oil in this country. I mean, for example, for a liter of Coke is about how much? I don't buy Coke, but what are you paying there? A dollar. A dollar.

You're paying more for sugar and water than you are for a liter of oil. And sugar and water are pretty much inexhaustible resources relatively. I know there's some problems now with water and things like that. Whereas oil, you're dealing with an exhaustible resource. It's grossly underpriced. Oil is grossly underpriced.

The Price of Oil and Economic Justice

We're paying $1.40 for a gallon of gas. It'll take you 30 miles, 40 miles. And you pay relatively the same amount for a bottle of sugar water that's going to rot your teeth and give you diabetes. So it's really interesting that oil is so cheap. And I mean, oil should probably be around, what's that? I was saying four or five. At least.

I mean, my father now, that's what he's in. He left teaching, got in, because my grandfather was in the oil business. And he got in it through when he married my mother. He started working in that. And he's always going on about it drives him crazy. Because he said it should be around at least $50 a barrel or something like that.

It's just grossly underpriced. But we have the luxury of having very cheap oil. And the majors, it's hard to believe, but they actually maintain those low prices. And the exploration in this country, it's unbelievable how

Muslims and Taxes in America

I may want to cover the last couple of points here. But let me just clarify one thing. So Muslims in the United States would pay, obviously, the federal and state and city income and property taxes that they owe. In addition to that, they'd pay 2.5% of a percent. And many of them do, and many of them don't.

There are many Muslims that don't pay Zakat anymore. But there are many that still do. Because now it's just an individual thing. There are many Muslims. In my area, there are about 70,000 Muslims estimated in the Greater Bay Area. Maybe from that 70,000, 8,000 to 10,000 are actually praying.

And from that 8,000 to 10,000 of those praying, there might not be some that are paying Zakat. So it's now become more of an individual. Do you think that's a fair estimate, Suleiman? Because you're more familiar with those type numbers than I am. I reason it's about 10% generally within any given population. Do you think that's accurate? So, and Muslims often fall in very high tax brackets in this country because there's a lot of physicians, there's a lot of engineers. So they're paying a lot of taxes.

In this category, is that where you were trying to discuss the idea of lending an interest and paying interest? That's another. I was going to do that with the Sharia. But I can bring that up now, the idea of just... Yeah, let me just get through that. Go ahead. No, lost it. I'll come back. Okay, just when it comes back.

The Fourth Pillar: Fasting in Ramadan

Fasting is the next pillar, and that's one lunar year out of the month called Ramadan. It will change. Now, it's interesting also to note that the lunar year is basically... It will make a full cycle. In other words, it will go through the solar year one time every 32 years. So if a person's average lifespan is somewhere around 65, now it's a little higher in this country, but you're going to be fasting two times in all the months of the year.

So Ramadan will be in December twice in your lifetime. Now, it's very interesting because that's related to a kind of justice as well because of the different places on the earth. You will find that Ramadan, for some people, it's very long at a given part of the year, and then other people, it's incredibly short.

So in England, there are periods where it will be very long, and then there are periods where it will only be like seven hours, very short fast. And then in the middle part of the world, it's actually quite reasonable. It's usually

around 12 hours if you're near the equator. So in the winter, they're very short days. In the summer, they're long days.

Fasting is basically abstaining during the lunar month of Ramadan from food, from drink, including cigarettes, from taking anything past the throat. You can rinse your mouth and things, but anything past the throat breaks the fast. And from sexual, both foreplay and actual full intercourse. So during the month of Ramadan, those things, the Muslim is commanded to abstain from both men and women.

In my school, which is a Maliki school, it's not encouraged for children to fast. It's actually discouraged. And if they get older, like around 10, 11, then they can fast if they want to. But it's not considered something that you should force a child to do. So, any questions? Fasting is pretty straightforward.

Exemptions from Fasting

Is there any? There have been some students at my school who, during Ramadan, even though they may have been sick, and shouldn't have been drinking foods, didn't fast. Muslims, you'll generally find, are pretty rigid about that. And that has to do, sometimes, with not fully understanding the tradition. Because if you're diabetic, it's actually prohibited to fast.

If a physician thinks that it's harmful, it is prohibited by Sharia. And you would actually be doing something haram in the teaching. You would be doing something prohibited. Because preservation of the self is the second, after preservation of religion, it is the second highest priority in the Sharia. Old people. If it's difficult for them.

If they're able to, but it's hard, they have a choice. People who are traveling have a choice, but if it's hard, they're encouraged to break it. And if it's extremely hard, undue, then they have to break it. A pregnant woman, a nursing woman, and she can either decide for herself or get a doctor's opinion. And the doctor's opinion would be binding on her.

Anyone who has a physical illness, like diabetes, or they have to take medicines regularly throughout the day. Now some scholars have permitted, like asthma inhalers, inhalants, that that does not break the fast. There's a difference of opinion about that, but my sheikh gave a religious opinion that it did not break the fast. Because it went into the lungs.

And smoking broke the fast because it was unnecessary. Which a smoker would definitely disagree with that. Soldiers, right? What's that? Soldiers. Good point, yeah. Somebody who was fighting, and they needed their physical strength. Now, Hakeem Olajuwon, it kind of became national news because he was fasting during the playoffs.

And it would be prohibited, really, for him to do that, to break his fast. Because it's a sport. That's why. If it was a valid job, like it is permissible, for instance, if there was a harvest that had to be done, and they could not do it fasting, and they would lose the crop or something like that, because of that, some type of situation like that, then it would be actually permissible to do it. I mean, uh-huh?

The Times of Fasting

Fasting goes from the Fajr prayer, which is dawn, until the sunset prayer. And then you can eat, sleep, well, you do sleep in the daytime anyway, but you can eat, drink, and have relations with your husband or your wife. It's during the night time. What about getting married? During Ramadan? During Ramadan. You could.

Prophet got married in Ramadan. Ramadan predates Islam. The month predates Islam, not the fasting. But the lunar months of Islam predated Islam. What predates Islam is the rites around the Kaaba. During Ramadan. No. Ramadan does not predate Islam. Fasting in Ramadan is second year Hijrah.

Before that, the Arabs did not fast. And the Quran says (كُتِبَ عَلَيْكُمُ الصِّيَامُ كَمَا كُتِبَ عَلَى الَّذِينَ مِن قَبْلِكُمْ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَتَّقُونَ - Quran 2:183) - fasting has been prescribed upon you, just as it was prescribed upon the people before you, in order that you might learn discipline. So, it's actually considered a spiritual practice to discipline yourself.

Now, if you think about it, people who abstain from, uh, for a whole month of not eating during the daylight hours, that is, it's, you know, it gives the body, there is a very strong discipline that goes with that. It's prohibited to backbite at any time. Whether it's a Muslim or a non-Muslim, you are not supposed to talk bad about, um, people.

It is prohibited to, um, to, uh, lie. It's disencouraged to talk a lot, empty talk, in Islam. It's just not something encouraged. There's a tradition the Prophet said, Allah dislikes empty gossip. You know. Thoreau said that gossip was good in homeopathic doses.

To head back to a question I'd forgotten earlier, you said, if there were a legitimate Muslim government, then Zakat could be applied. Um, and I know that a lot of Muslims think there is not, but there are governments that claim they are. Have any of the current governments that claim to be Muslim governments started to collect Zakat? There's Zakat, there's some Zakat, absolutely, in the Emirates, in Arabia, in different places, they do have Zakat, and people can pay it through government, uh.

Can or not? No, they don't have to. Okay. Yeah. But it's for, but with a legitimate Islamic government, it would be allowed for that government to apply. To do it, yes, yeah. To require Zakat, but nowhere requires it currently. No. Okay.

The Significance of Ramadan

Could you explain why Ramadan? Is it for an angel Gabriel? Okay, good point, thank you, yeah. Uh-huh. It's Ramadan, the reason Ramadan is the month of fasting is generally it says that this Quran was revealed in, in, in, you know, a blessed time. (شَهْرُ رَمَضَانَ الَّذِي أُنزِلَ فِيهِ الْقُرْآنُ - Quran 2:185) - The month of Ramadan is the month in which the Quran was revealed.

Now, the Muslim belief is that the Quran came to the first heaven, which is called Samad Dunya, to a place called Baitul Izzah, the abode of dignity or exaltation. And then from, and that happened in Ramadan. And the

beginning of the revelation began on the 27th of Ramadan.

And then, over a 23-year period, it is being revealed to the Prophet. And in Ramadan specifically, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said that, that Gabriel used to go through the Quran every month with him, but in Ramadan, he used to go through it every year with him in Ramadan, the entire Quran. And then in the last Ramadan of his life, he went through it two times.

And he knew that that was his last year. So, Ramadan is considered a very blessed time for Muslims. And traditionally, it is encouraged for people to go out and see the new moon. And, you know, the Muslims traditionally went outside of the new moon and you would hear a lot of shouts of joy, Allahu Akbar, in the Muslim cities, they go up on the rooftops and things.

Is there, therefore, a connection between the crescent and the star? The crescent moon, interestingly enough, is a much later. It was the Mamluks that actually introduced the crescent moon. And I think it actually, you know, it was a symbol of some of the ancient moon cults. It's become to be adopted as a symbol, but it's in no way an authoritative symbol of Islam. I mean, Muslims, it's like an urf, what they call custom.

And the Prophet said, whatever the Muslims see as good, is good with Allah. So, there's an idea that the crescent moon has kind of been accepted by the Muslims, but it's not from the Prophet Muhammad. It's an interesting thing about Islam is the absence of symbols, like icons and things. There really is. You go into a mosque and calligraphy is pretty much... And then you have a lot of geometric, which is later. But there is a real... There's just an absence of a type of iconography or something like that.

I've heard it said that the Shahada is a symbol for Islam, written on it. Has somebody said that? Traditionally, the Prophet did put it on his flag. And so, it traditionally has been like... But again, when I mean symbol, I mean more like an abstract, not so much language. Language is symbols, obviously, but I mean like a cross or the Star of David, or the Om symbol, statues. In traditions, you have a lot of symbols, like Hindu tradition has many, many symbols. Christians have the Stations of the Cross. In a lot of Catholic churches, you'll see those type of things.

The Purpose and Discipline of Fasting

So, finally, Hajj. Now, just about the fasting, I would say that traditionally the Muslims viewed fasting as a time of discipline. You should control your talk, your speech, not talk a lot. Learn to control the sexual appetite. Learn to control the tongue.

It was very important. The Prophet said in a tradition, whoever guarantees for me what's between his two jaws and his two thighs, I guarantee him paradise. In other words, if you could discipline, if you could break those two desires, and really discipline yourself in those two things, then, you know... And it's interesting, the symbolic relationship between the mouth and the genitals.

It's fascinating. There's been a lot of traditions that have examined that. The idea of the createdness, that the mouth is like a womb, and the tongue is like a male organ. There's a type of... Language is a type of created... You know, it's an aspect of creativity. There's an impregnation that takes place from the mind of thought that emerges in the child of speech, and things like that. So, there's some fascinating relationships there.

The Fifth Pillar: Hajj

Let's see. Hajj. The pillar of Hajj is the fifth pillar. And I think it's really wonderful to me that, of all the pillars of Islam, even though all of these pillars are based on ability, Zakat, if you're not able to pay it, you don't pay it. Fasting, if you're not able to fast, you don't fast. Even the prayer, if you're not able to pray standing, you pray reclining.

If you're not able to pray reclining, you pray just with your eyes. If you're not able to do that, you pray in your consciousness. If you're not able to do that, you don't have to pray. But yet, the Hajj is the only one in the Quran where it says (وَلِلَّهِ عَلَى النَّاسِ حِجُّ الْبَيْتِ مَنِ اسْتَطَاعَ إِلَيْهِ سَبِيلًا - Quran 3:97) - Allah, it is incumbent upon mankind, or humankind, pilgrimage to His house, for whoever is able to make the journey.

Even though all the other ones are... It's the same stipulation, but in that one, the stipulation is mentioned. And I think part of that is because the vast majority of Muslims will never be able to make the Hajj. And so it's kind of like, just the fact that it was mentioned in there, that there's kind of an ease with that. And this is why the example that you made about people fasting, even though they don't have to, they'll still do it. Whereas the Hajj, there is definitely a limitation there, related to wealth, physical capacity, borders, even now.

You know, for some people they can't... Like for a long time, the Russian Muslims could not make pilgrimage. The communist government would not let them make pilgrimage. So, there's limitations, and yet right there in the Qur'an it says, for whoever is able to do it, the vast majority of Muslims will never do that.

If you look, there's about 1 billion estimated Muslims every year. The maximum I can imagine pilgrimage being is maybe 4 million people. Right now it reaches about 3 million. And you are packed. You're like this, doing some of the rites. There's so many people.

The Story of Abraham and the Kaaba

And it's very interesting. You know, I've made pilgrimage three times, and I've made Umrah several times. But the actual pilgrimage... I mean, first thing, it's related to the ritual of Abraham. The Muslims believe that Abraham took his son, Ishmael, to the valley of Becca, or Mecca. It's also called Becca in the Qur'an. Месса and Becca.

And he was commanded to leave his maidservant, Hajar, and Ishmael in that place. It's a barren place. And then he left them. What the tradition says is that Hajar, who was an African woman, who was the mother of Ishmael, that she went into a state of anxiety about the place. Because there was no water, nothing. And she began to run between these two hills, Safa and Marwa.

And she did that seven times, worrying about her baby. And on the seventh time, the well of Zamzam emerged.

And there's a well there that still, to this day, feeds the pilgrims of Mecca. And she drank from the well. And then some people there, who were passing through, helped them. And they become established.

And Abraham comes back, when Ishmael is becoming a man, and builds with him the house in Mecca. This is what the tradition says. Builds with him the Kaaba. Now, some say that the Kaaba was first built by Adam. And some say that Adam and Hawa met on the plain of Arafah. Which is, the word Arafah means to recognize.

And it's where they recognize each other, after the garden on the earth. Allah knows best about those things. But, the basic idea is that the Kaaba was the first house, established for the worship of one God only. And, Abraham built the house. And it's a cube. Very simple structure. Nothing there.

Entering the State of Ihram

And then, the rites that are related to it, is you enter into a ritual state, which is called Ihram. For a woman, it's taking a bath, and dressing in her normal dress. Women tend to wear white on the Hajj. They don't have to. But they tend to, just as a tradition.

The man enters into what's called Ihram, which is two pieces of cloth, a loin cloth, and then a cloth over him. It can have no stitching. It's woven, but it cannot have stitching by hand. Because you're supposed to completely, it represents complete impoverishment before God. And everybody has to be the same.

And so, it's encouraged that everybody looks the same. The rich man, the poor man, the free man, the bondsman, everybody becomes the same. And that's the idea, that humanity before God is equal. There's absolutely no differences. And so, even in clothes, a rich man, you cannot wear rings. You cannot wear any display of worldly wealth. So, somebody who normally wears jewelry, they have to take it all off.

So, you wouldn't know. You see a person, you don't know if they're rich, they're poor, you don't have a clue. They just look the same as you do. And so, the idea is literally that humanity completely strips themselves of any of their social accruement, social status. And they go there before God equal.

The Rituals of Hajj

And the first ritual is you enter into the place of Mecca and you go to the house and you do a circumambulation seven times. You go around the house seven times, which according to the tradition, is what Ibrahim did and then the Prophet ﷺ purified and renewed it again. So, after going around the house, you will kiss the black stone. The black stone is a stone that's been identified as a meteorite, but traditionally it was believed that it came from heaven.

And originally it was white and became black from the wrong actions of people that touched it. And you go and you kiss the stone and the Prophet said, the stone is like the right hand of God. In other words, it's symbolic.

Like you go and kiss the hand of the king or the Pope for the Catholics. They would kiss the ring. That there you go and you kiss the stone as a symbol of being invited to the house of the king.

And you kiss the stone and then you pray two rakats or two prostrations at the place of Ibrahim. It's called Maqam Ibrahim where Ibrahim built the house. And there is actual place of Maqam and there are two footprints in there that are traditionally considered to be the footprints of Ibrahim.

And then at that point you go, you drink from the well of Zamzam and you make prayer. It's a good place to make prayer. And then you go to Safa and Marwa and you go between them seven times. And there is a period where you actually do a quick run. It's not a sprint but like a jog which symbolizes Hajar's running through that area. And then after the seventh time you've completed that, you go to Mina.

And Mina is a place where you prepare for Arafat. So you clean yourself again and then the next morning you set out for Arafat. You will spend the day at Arafat. It's a plane that is considered to be a preparation for the day of judgment. You're literally preparing for the day when all of humanity is before God in a non-linear sense, no front, back. It's not anthropomorphic but is before God and goes naked, stripped of all of their worldly distinctions and you ask for forgiveness.

The Day of Arafat

And so the prayer of Arafat is to ask forgiveness of God to come. It's very powerful because you are literally seeing humanity there. I mean, I've been to the Vatican at times when there's a lot of people. I haven't been to any of these Hindu gatherings but I've never seen anything like it in the sense that literally there are Chinese people, there are Indonesians, there are Malay people, there are African people, there are black Africans, there are white Africans, there are Turkic people, there are European people, now there are American people, there are Mongolians, there are Chinese from different places in China, there are Cambodians, there are Thai people, Vietnamese people, Filipino people, people literally coming.

It says in the Quran (وَأَذَّن فِي النَّاسِ بِالْحَجِّ يَأْتُوكَ رِجَالًا وَعَلَىٰ كُلِّ ضَامِرٍ يَأْتِينَ مِن كُلِّ فَجٍّ عَمِيقٍ - Quran 22:27) - they will come from every deep crevice. They will come from every valley and they will come to this place and they're all there.

You just see the whole thing. You see sick people, you see healthy people, you see people crawling, you see people being carried. Some people literally carry other people on their back. You see people carrying their parents. So it's just a very, very overwhelming experience to enter into that sacred space.

Equality Before God

And the great reminder on that day, the verse that was quoted when the Prophet made Hajj, there was a black man who gave the Adhan. And the Arabs looked down on, you know, they had this racism. They looked down on and they said, you know, they asked why that man was giving the call to prayer. And so the verse came down

(يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ إِنَّا خَلَقْنَاكُم مِّن ذَكَرٍ وَأُنثَى وَجَعَلْنَاكُمْ شُعُوبًا وَقَبَائِلَ لِتَعَارَفُوا إِنَّ أَكْرَمَكُمْ عِندَ اللَّهِ أَتْقَاكُمْ - Quran 49:13) - that we have created you in peoples and tribes to know one another.

So the idea is people come there really to learn. It's a little difficult. I'm just, I'm kind of getting back into that today. So just excuse me for a second. Hajj, for some reason, I just have a hard time talking about because I've been there, you know, and I've had the experience and it just, they start coming back to me, that experience in that place. So I'll just try to get over this.

The verse just said that, you know, we have created you in peoples and tribes to know one another. And it says the noblest in the eyes of God are the most conscientious. In other words, and the one thing that the Prophet said on the Hajj pilgrimage was there is no preference over a white man or a black man or a black man over a white man.

So the idea is just to eliminate this, you know, this insidious aspect of human nature, which is the idea that some people are superior to others. And when you see everybody in that same condition, you know, the nomad and the sedentary, the rich and the poor, and they're all just there in that same basic human condition that we are bereft and we are poor before God, it's very powerful as a reminder, you know, that beware of considering yourself above this person next to you because of something incidental like color or because of something like wealth or because of something like beauty or because of something like lineage. That in that place, all of those things disappear and you're just like everybody else.

You are a naked creature that has to eat, sleep, and defecate, and urinate, and menstruate, and procreate, and do all these things. And there's something very basic and fundamental to your humanity. So the Hajj really does, and what I've noticed with people who make the Hajj is there is often a very powerful transformation that occurs in their life.

It really is a very transformative experience. You are not the same person. You don't look at other people the same way and there's just a transformation. And traditionally they said if a person comes back worse from Hajj, bad sign. They said either he went there with the wrong intention or it just wasn't accepted for whatever reason.

So the idea is that Hajj is really a time when you complete it, that you, you know, it's your life's journey and you're ready to die.

And that really is a kind of completion. So those are the five pillars and that's a very quick and general overview. So, what time is it now? Oh, it's quarter after twelve? So I went over. We started late. Now you can't do that when there's bells and things, right? So I'll just, any quick questions? Uh-huh?

The Stoning of the Pillars

The Hajj only lasts for four days. Yeah, and it's actually three and then there's the last. Uh-huh? Can you explain the part of the Hajj where they throw stones? Good, yeah, I forgot about that. There is a point where according

to the tradition, Abraham was like tempted by Satan or Shaytan and he cast stones. And the idea, I mean, the Muslims believe in an entity called Iblis, which is where we get Diablo, Diablos or Shaytan.

And Shaytan in Arabic means from Shaytana, which means to take people away from or to distance people. And the idea is that there is an entity whose role and function is to attempt to distance people from God, to separate them from God. And there are two types of Shayateen. There are human ones and there are ones that are in the unseen realm. The human ones, according to the Prophet, are worse, right? Human, like warmongers, people like that, you know, people that thrive off of creating. You know, there's actually people that will want to create wars between other people.

It's kind of hard to imagine, but, you know, there's people that make a lot of money doing things like that and they get, drive a lot of benefits. So, and it's also, I mean, I really consider in a lot of ways there's a lot of people with, you know, I read this thing called Adweek, which is really, you know, I would really recommend if you're teaching any social studies or sociology type courses, to get your students to read that magazine because I think it really wakes them up to the idea of manipulation within their culture. The fact that there are people manipulating them at very serious and psychological levels.

And Adweek is a magazine that you can't, it's very hard to find in your average store. You can get it at very good, you know, places where they have almost all the magazines. And it's a magazine designed for people who are advertisers. It's not a consumer magazine. It's designed for people. And the interesting thing about the magazine is that the commodity being sold is human beings.

That's what's so fascinating. When they put the ads out, what they're trying to sell you is an audience. And they'll guarantee you a certain percentage of sales from that audience. And they really bring really interesting things. They had one where, last month's Adweek, where they, and I'm interested just because I'm very interested in media and in, I'm interested in education. I really think that the media has been very effective at educating people in a certain way.

But they had one that said that the recent study that they did, the psychologist showed that American men, that their number one fantasy, sexual fantasy, was with nurses. And what they said was that this was very useful for advertisers because they could have like a beer commercial where a nurse comes in with a beer and the man's in the bed and they don't have to do anything overt. But for that group out there that happens to think that that would be an interesting thing to explore, there would be a type of, what they call anchoring in the subconscious.

And so there's a sexual stimulation related to that type of beer. And this is the type of thing, they really do this stuff, this type of research, and I think to just empower young people, to let them know that really that there are forces out there that do try to manipulate them for their own good. And to kind of become aware of that so that they're not such victims, that they kind of get a type of critical analysis.

Another really useful book was a PhD dissertation done, and I can't remember her name, but it's called Decoding Advertisements, which is a lot about, and it's not, there's some real crazy type about a lot of the real,

you know, subliminal type things that I think go a little too far. You know, they start reading things in that just aren't there. But these are more done at, you know, their academic, this is a very serious academic study of trying to understand really what's behind the whole ideology of advertisement.

The Practice of Stoning

So, any other questions? Uh-huh? Oh, so, what, thank you, I got off. I'm a tangent, go off on these tangents. What you do is you pick up these stones, 21 stones, and then you throw seven stones at these three pillars. And it's a purely symbolic thing. And unfortunately, some of these hajis get a little out of hand and they start thinking that really is the devil. Right? So, you get some stones.

And there was a hadith in which a man was throwing big stones and the prophet said, beware of going to extremes in your religion. The prophet actually hated extremism. He really did. He did not like, he was very wary of extremes. He was a very balanced person. He said, my way is the middle way.

He did not like people that were fasting all the time. He said, I eat and I fast. He did not like people who abstained from sexual relations. He said, I have sexual relations. He did not like people that stayed up all night. He said, I pray and I sleep.

So, he really was very wary. He saw one time there was a rope in the mosque tied to the wall and he asked what it was and he said, so and so put that for when they fell asleep that it would keep them up. And he said, take it down and tell them not to do that. He saw another man who swore that he would stay in the sun until such and such happened and he would, and the Prophet told him, he said, tell him to get out of the sun and just finish his fast for the day but not to go into the sun. So, he was very against extremes. And so, you are supposed to pick up very small pebbles and literally just throw them like this.

It is not supposed to be like, you know. So, people take sandals and throw. I mean, it gets a little crazy. The throwing is actually probably the hardest part of Hajj because people do get a little out of control. And then you are dealing with a lot of, you know, unfortunately, from the Muslim world you are getting a lot of people coming out of very ignorant backgrounds. A lot of them don't know their tradition.

They haven't learned the rules of Hajj. So, you have a lot of things. But it is amazing given the amount of people, given the space, given the intensity, there are very, very rarely any incidents. I mean, there is, I have never heard of any violent, outright violent incidences where people actually, other than, I think, there were some riots that the Iranians during the whole Iranian revolution did. But my three times on the Hajj, if somebody starts getting angry, there is all these people around them just tell them, you know, be patient, you are on Hajj, you know, and they remind them and things like that. And people respond to that.

And the same is true in Ramadan. You know, you are fasting, you know, just relax and calm down.

The Sacrifice and Eid al-Adha

Can you explain that feast at the end? It symbolizes that Abraham, alayhis salaam, that when he was told to kill his son, what the Jewish tradition calls the Akedah tradition, that he, it was replaced with a ram. And there is a difference of opinion in the Muslim tradition whether it was Isaac or Ishmael. I think most Muslims now believe that it was Ishmael. But early on, the Prophet never said which child it was.

And he said, Ishmael. And it's not really considered important to the, it's not essential to the story. The importance is the act of submission. What you do is you celebrate by sacrificing a ram, preferably, or some other animal, and then distribute that meat to poor people and things like that. And other Muslims take part in that around the world. Even though the hajis are doing it, other Muslims, like in Santa Clara, people will go out and they will sacrifice on that day.

Many people. And it's encouraged to do that. Any other? So, I think that ends the session on Islam. I hope that was beneficial. Thanks for your attention.