Global Tawbah

Global Tawbah

Introduction and Welcome

Alhamdulillah, ladies and gentlemen, now this earlier was the introduction without the sheikh, now is the introduction with the sheikh, alhamdulillah. And as I was saying earlier, in fact, with the sheikh himself, the last time we were together in fact in Abu Dhabi as the guest of the foreign minister there, and every action is by intention, and every man and woman will get what he or she intended. So I was just only pulling Sheikh Hamza's leg, so to speak, when I met him the last few months. He said, well, you must come to Malaysia and do something actually. Alhamdulillah, ladies and gentlemen, he is here. So without further ado, indeed, this night of Laylatul Jum'ah, Malam Jum'ah, so we have this intellectual dhikr tonight, alhamdulillah, to replace our spiritual dhikr there.

Please Sheikh Hamza. Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh. Salamat petang. Apa khabar? That's the extent of my Malay. Although I will say, (بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ - bismillahir-rahmanir-rahim), we took a Malay word from you via the English. In America, when people go crazy, they say, he ran amok. So amok is, yeah, amok. Which is from ahmak, the Arabic.

Opening Supplications

Alhamdulillah wa salatu wa salamu ala Sayyidina Muhammad wa ala aali wa sahbihi wa salam tasliman kathira wa la hawla wa la quwwata illa billahi al aali al azeem. Allahumma la ilma lana illa ma alamtana innaka anta al aalim al hakeem. Allahumma alamna ma yunfa'ana wa yunfa'ana bima alamtana wa zidna ilma. Wa salilahum ala Sayyidina Muhammad wa ala aali wa sahbihi wa salam tasliman kathira wa la hawla wa la quwwata illa billahi al aali al azeem.

The Purpose of Human Existence

The Metaphysical Question

Alhamdulillah, I want to talk inshallah about just a few things. One of them is the purpose of human beings, which is a metaphysical question. And then I also want to talk about the, how we're doing as human beings. And then finally I want to talk about what perhaps we should be doing as human beings.

The first question is, what is the purpose of human beings? Unfortunately, for the first time in human history, there are civilizations that do not really have any answer whatsoever to this question. This is actually unique in human history, because human beings have always had some reason for existence.

The Western Existentialist Problem

Whereas the current dominant model in the western civilization is really untenable metaphysically. Because the

argument that you will find amongst western people is essentially what they would call, in their term, an existentialist problem. In other words, that each person has to work out what the meaning of his life is for him or herself. That nobody's going to tell you what your life means. You simply have to work it out for yourself. And this is why suicide is actually a very serious option in that culture.

We recently had, in the country I'm from, we had a very famous person commit suicide, and there were actually articles arguing that this was his choice and people should be allowed to have this choice. And you can't refute that argument unless you have a metaphysical argument to counter that argument. Camus is a good example in the west. He was a French-Algerian philosopher. He's famous for a book called The Plague, The Myth of Sisyphus also. But he also eventually committed suicide. And so in essence, the philosophy, the dominant philosophy that is in many, many parts of the world is actually a philosophy of nihilism. It's a philosophy of what the Arabs would term Adamia. That there's really no purpose to existence.

Islamic Understanding of Purpose

"We only created humans and the spirit world for Ibadah."

And they would actually believe that this was essentially the purpose of our existence is Ibadah. But there are other reasons that our scholars gave from the Quran for human existence.

Because if somebody was not a conscious worshipper, then that would mean essentially that their purpose would be null and void. And this would mean that people outside of the faith, whatever the true faith would be at the time - at one time it was the way of Moses, at another time the way of Jesus, at another time perhaps the way of Buddha, if he was a prophet, as some have argued. We have no absolute evidence, but there are some that have made that argument in the past. Isfarayini is one of them.

The Concept of Isti'mar (Cultivation)

But if the final way the prophetic way is the way of the Prophet Muhammad, then his way actually describes different reasons for the creation of human beings. In the Quran, one of them is isti'mar. That Allah created us from the earth and then (اسْتَعْمَرَكُمْ فِيهَا - istaʿmarakum fīhā) "He gave you isti'mar in the earth." (Quran 11:61) And what that means is he asks that you do umran, that you actually build and cultivate the earth. This is called umran.

And the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, he came as a prophet of the city, first and foremost. He's a prophet also of the Bedouin, he's a prophet of the farmers, but first and foremost he is a prophet of Al Medina, the city. And the reason for that is because the last phase of human existence would be an urban phase, that people all over the world have increasingly flocked to cities.

The Modern City and Islamic Guidance

And the city is it's an ancient concept, but the modern city is a very new concept. The idea of a megapolis, this massive city which allows for anonymity, it allows for people to do things that they would not normally do if

they were in a small village where everybody knows who they are. So if you look now, the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam came to a city, Al Medina, and he taught people how to live and behave within that context, and then he also taught the Bedouin how to live and behave.

And for that reason, one of the unique aspects of our fiqh, the jurisprudence of Islam, is that it actually deals with people in isolation. It teaches you how to be, even if you're one person living on a mountain, you can be a Muslim. Robinson Crusoe can be a Muslim whether or not Friday, Jumu'ah comes to the island.

Islam as a Collective Religion

So this is one of the interesting aspects of our religion, but primarily Islam is a collective religion. It's a religion of a group of people, an aggregate of people that are bound together in a millah or a jama'ah. Allah loves the group. He loves unity. Allah Himself is One. And He loves unity. He loves unity through diversity.

Just as His attributes are diverse. He's Rahman but He's also Muntaqim. He's the merciful but He's also the avenger of wrongs. And these aren't contradictory, they're diverse attributes, but He is One. And in the same way, the Muslim civilization is diverse, but is essentially One.

Unity in Diversity

So if you go to Malaysia, there's a certain flavor to Islam here. Your women wear colorful dresses. Muslim women have done that in the past. You go to other places, and the Muslim women wear very plain dresses. If you go to Nigeria, the women wear very colorful dresses. But the essence of the modesty is there. Whether it's colorful or whether it's black and white, the essence is there. And this is the beauty of the Islamic tradition is that it has this diversity.

So one of the reasons is isti'mar, is actually to cultivate the earth through umran, which is the term that Ibn Khaldun in his great work Al-Muqaddimah uses for civilization.

False Civilization vs. True Umran

One of the signs of the end of time is the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam said, there would be the destruction of civilization and the civilization of destruction. In other words, a nihilistic civilization that tears down to build up. This is called the Hegelian dialectic. Destroy and tear down to rebuild, to build up. And this is one of the phenomenon that we see around the world. Wars come in, they destroy everything, and then people make a lot of money rebuilding those places.

The real umran is cultivation. The Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam was not a revolutionary in that sense of the word that he turned everything upside down. In fact, the Qur'an says (إِنَّ الْمُلُوكَ إِذَا دَخَلُوا قَرْيَةً أَفْسَدُوهَا وَجَعَلُوا أَعِزَّةَ أَهْلِهَا أَذِلَّةً - ʾinna l-mulūka ʾiḏā dakḥalū qaryatan ʾafsadūhā wa jaʿalū ʾaʿizzata ʾahlihā ʾaḏilla) "The Sabah, the Queen of Bilqis says that kings, when they enter into cities, they turn everything upside down. They make the high people low. They make the low people high." (Quran 27:34) And Allah confirms that (وَكَذَٰلِكَ يَفْعَلُونَ - wa kaḏālika yafʿalūn) "Like that, they do." (Quran 27:34)

The Prophet's Approach to Transformation

So Allah actually confirmed what this woman said in the Qur'an. The Prophet, when he went into Mecca, he said, (مَنْ دَخَلَ بَيْتَ أَبِي سُفْيَانَ كَانَ آمِنًا - man dakhala bayta ʾabī sufyāna kāna ʾāminan) "Whoever enters the house of Abu Sufyan is safe." He took the Aziz of the Quraysh, and he held him in that position. When he took the keys of the Kaaba and the Abdar family, Banu Abdar, these were the Abdadar people. And Talha ibn Amr came to him and asked for the keys. Allah commanded him (إِنَّ اللَّهَ يَأْمُرُكُمْ أَن تُؤَدُّوا الْأَمَانَاتِ إِلَى أَهْلِهَا - ʾinna l-lāha yaʾmurukum ʾan tuʾaddū l-ʾamānāti ʾilā ʾahlihā) "Give the keys back to the people who have the sacred trust." (Quran 4:58) And he gave the keys back to Talha, and he said, no one will take these keys until the end of time. This is how the man became Muslim.

So the Prophet did not turn everything upside down in Mecca. He purified. He made tahdhib. He said (إِنَّمَا بُعِثْتُ لِأُتَمِّمَ مَكَارِمَ الْأَخْلَاقِ - ʾinnamā buʿithtu liʾutamima makārima l-ʾaḫlāq) "I was sent to restore, to complete the good character of the Arabs." The Arabs had good character. Islam did not come into an ethical vacuum. It actually came into a society that had very, very high qualities. And this is very important to remember.

The Foundation of Mercy

That Islam cannot function in an ethical vacuum. In the same way that it cannot function where there's mercy is absent in the hearts of people. When the Prophet kissed one of his grandchildren, one of the Bedouin desert Arabs said (أَتُقَبِّلُونَ الْأَوْلَادَ - ʾatuqabbilūna l-ʾawlād) "You kiss children?" He said, I have ten children and I've never kissed one of them.

The Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم - ṣallā-llāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam) said, do I have anything in my religion for somebody who has no mercy in his heart? In other words, if you're a cruel person, this religion has nothing for you. It has nothing for you. Because it's a religion based on Rahmah. It's a religion based on Mahabbah. And those things are the things that unite people.

The Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم - ṣallā-llāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam) told us that Allah شَقَّ اسْمَ الرَّحِمِ مِنْ اسْمِهِ الرَّحْمَانِ "He derived the womb from his name, the Rahman." And this is why kinship bonds bind us. First and foremost as Bano Adam (كُلُّكُمْ مِنْ آدَمَ وَآدَمُ مِنْ تُرَابٍ - kullukum min ʾādama wa ʾādamu min turāb) "All of you are from Adam and Adam is from Turab." He's from dust. So, outwardly we're all the same. There's no superiority of one group over another group.

Fulfilling Divine Purpose Through Work

So, this is استعمار is very important. This is why anybody that is cultivating the earth, that's doing something beneficial is fulfilling a divine function. He has a purpose in life, whether he's worshiping or not.

The Second Purpose: Istikhlaf (Stewardship)

The second reason is استخلاف. Now استخلاف has a couple of different meanings but one of them is, I'm taking this from the great ethicist, Raghib al-Isfahani. He was also a mufassir of Qur'an. One of the teachers through books of Imam al-Ghazali. Raghib al-Isfahani says that the second reason that Allah created human beings was for استخلاف that they actually are replacements for the previous generation. So, as a new generation comes they

Intellectual Inversion of Reality

And this is why my own teacher said, (الْمُلْحِدُونَ كَاذِبُونَ - al-mulḥidūna kāḏibūna) "The atheists are liars." Non-existence cannot bring existence. Anarchy or chaos cannot bring order into existence. Ignorance cannot bring knowledge into existence. And then he said (هَذَا انْقِلَابٌ عَقْلِيٌّ - hāḏā inqilābun ʿaqlīyy) "This is the inversion. This is an intellectual inversion of reality." Like somebody who's walking on his head and his feet are in the air.

That this is something that humans have never believed. And this argument now of the modern atheists. This is an ancient argument. Atheists have always been around. In fact, atheists were actually more sophisticated a hundred years ago than they are today. And this is the truth. Because a hundred years ago they were well versed in philology like Nietzsche. They were well versed in profound philosophers. Even at the time of Socrates there were atheists.

People forget that Marx who was an atheist. He did his PhD dissertation was on the materialist. The Greek materialist. So he had studied materialistic philosophy. So this argument. This modern argument is not a new argument. It's a very old argument. And our scholars dealt with this argument extensively. But people don't read their books anymore.

The Importance of Theological Training

And one of the simplistic views of some of these modern Muslims that deny theology and the tradition of theology. They have no response to these new atheists. They have no response. Other than to say kuffar. But this is not enough. Because Muslims have always dealt with these things intellectually in a tradition called (رَدُّ الشُّبُهَاتِ - radd al-shubuhāt) Which is refutation of the obfuscations that are brought out by the atheists. So it's important for us to remember that. That we were created to adore Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. But to know him through ma'rifah. And this is through the intellect. First and foremost.

And our intellect is a spiritual concept. The intellect is immaterial. It's not of this world. And this is why we don't know where we go when we dream. But we know that we leave this place. And we enter into another realm. Because we're in a realm that's immaterial. So this is important for us to remember. That now as our young people are exposed to a lot of these ideas. We need to address these ideas in sophisticated ways. If we don't have trained intellects that can address these problems metaphysically.

True Civilization vs. Monetization

The second thing that I wanted to talk about. So in terms of our tradition. The human purpose is cultivation of the earth. Which is also true civilization. Not a pseudo civilization. Not the civilization of monetization. To use a word that is very popular in corporations. Of how we monetize everything. Muslims did not monetize everything. There were things that Muslims actually did for altruistic purposes.

The Lie of the Selfish Gene

Now the dominant belief. If you believe in evolution. You believe in the selfish gene. That everything a human being does is for his selfish nature. That people are not altruistic. This is not true. This is a lie. This is one of the lies that they teach. Human beings have a dual nature. We're nafis and we're munafis. We are precious. But we're also and munafis. We relieve people of their troubles. But we're also munafis. We're competitive by nature.

All of this is taken from the same root of the soul. So the human soul has (مُنَافَسَة - munāfasah). It has competition. It has (تَنْفِيس - tanfīs). It has relieving the sufferings of others and helping others. And it has (نَفَاسَة - nafāsah). It has preciousness. This is the human nature. Allah has made us a hybrid creature.

The Three Faculties of the Human Soul

We have three components. We have the (قُوَّةُ الشَّهْوَانِيَّة - quwwatu al-shahwāniyyah), (قُوَّةُ الْغَضَبِيَّة - quwwatu al-ghaḍabiyyah) and the (قُوَّةُ الْعَقْلِيَّة - quwwatu al-ʿaqlīyyah). This is what Allah. And Imam al-Ghazali adds a fourth and he's unique in human history as far as I can tell for departing from that traditional model. He added the just the (قُوَّةُ الْعَدْلِيَّة - quwwatu al-ʿadlīyyah) or balance. That balance was a necessary faculty of the soul.

The Appetitive Faculty

These three faculties. If you look at the appetites. Human appetites. The human appetite is insatiable. The Prophet (صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ - ṣallā-llāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam) said that (لَوْ كَانَ لِابْنِ آدَمَ وَادِيَانِ مِنْ ذَهَبٍ لَأَحَبَّ أَنْ يَكُونَ لَهُ وَادِيًا آخَرَ - law kāna li-ibni ādama wādiyāni min ḏahabin la-aḥabba an yakūna lahu wādiyan ākhara) "If the son of Adam had a valley of gold, he would love to have another valley." (Sahih Muslim 1048) (وَلَا يَمْلَأُ فَاهُ إِلَّا التُّرَابُ - wa lā yamlaʾu fāhu illā al-turāb) "The only thing that will fulfill the mouth of the son of Adam is the dust of his grave." That's what will fulfill.

So the appetites are endless. And that's why people that pursue the appetites will literally destroy themselves through that pursuit. And they will degrade themselves because they will take their hawa, their appetite as a god beside Allah and it will take them to utter despair. And this happens many many people.

The Irascible Faculty

The second aspect of the human being is the (غَضَبِيَّة - ghaḍabiyyah) which is the irascible nature. Human beings have an irascible nature. This is put there for a purpose. Just like the appetites are put there to preserve us. We have an appetite for food and drink which preserves our bodies. And also for sexuality which preserves our species.

But these can be perverted. And they can go into perversions that lead to overeating or sexual incontinence where people begin to do things that are harmful. That cause diseases to be brought upon themselves.

And then the irascible nature, this (غَضَبِيَّة - ghaḍabiyyah) which is where anger comes from. This is there to protect us from harm, to ward off harm. And this is an important quality.

The Rational Faculty Should Rule

And then he's given us a rational, the (عَقْلِيَّة - ʿaqlīyyah). And this should be the ruler. This should rule. But what's happened on our planet is the appetites and the anger have ruled. And this is what the Prophet said (دَبَّ إِلَيْكُمْ دَاءُ الْأُمَمِ - dabb ilaykum dāʾu al-umam) "The disease of civilizations will creep into you." (الْحَسَدُ وَالْبَغْضَاءُ - al-ḥasadu wa al-baġḍāʾu) "That envy, the appetite for more. And (بَغْضَاء - baġḍāʾ) hatred which comes out of this other." (Sunan al-Tirmidhi 2510)

These will creep into you. And then he said (وَالْبَغْضَاءُ هِيَ الْحَالِقَةُ - wa al-baġḍāʾu hiya al-ḥāliqah) "And hatred is a destructive force." And he said it literally shaves everything. And he said, I don't say that it shaves hair. It shaves the religion. It will remove your religion, this hatred.

The Disease of Hatred Among Muslims

And you can see this now in amongst Muslims where this disease has entered into their hearts. They no longer have mercy. They no longer have compassion. They take innocent people and chop their heads off out of this anger. And then they say, well this is what they do to us. Well they're not our teachers. They're not our teachers. No matter what they do to us, we don't do what goes against our Prophets.

Don't be like those who harmed Musa." (Quran 33:69) In other words, don't harm the Prophet Muhammad (صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ - ṣallā-llāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam) by besmirching his good name, by attributing deeds that are not from his religion to his religion. Don't besmirch the name of the Prophet Muhammad (صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ - ṣallā-llāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam). (وَمَا أَرْسَلْنَاكَ إِلَّا رَحْمَةً لِلْعَالَمِينَ - wa mā arsalnāka illā raḥmatan lil-ʿālamīn) "He was sent as a mercy to all the worlds." (Quran 21:107) He was sent as a mercy. He wasn't sent as a terror. He was sent as a mercy to all the worlds.

The Khawarij of Our Time

And these people misquote the Quran. The Prophet (صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ - ṣallā-llāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam) said at the end of time there would be young men. He said (حُدَثَاءُ الْأَسْنَانِ - ḥudaṯāʾu al-ʾasnān) "They're young in age." (سُفَهَاءُ الْأَحْلَامِ - sufahāʾu al-ʾaḥlām) "They have empty intellects." (لَا يُجَاوِزُ الْإِيمَانُ حَنَاجِرَهُمْ - lā yujāwizu al-ʾīmānu ḥanājirahum) "Iman will not go past their throats." And in a riwayah (يَقْرَءُونَ الْقُرْآنَ وَلَا يُجَاوِزُ حَنَاجِرَهُمْ - yaqraʾūna al-qurʾāna wa lā yujāwizu ḥanājirahum) "They will read the Quran, but it won't go past their throats." (Sahih al-Bukhari 3611)

In other words, they won't understand it. (يَقُولُونَ مِنْ خَيْرٍ قَوْلِ الْبَرِيَّةِ - yaqūlūna min khayri qawli al-barīyah) "They will speak from the words of the best of creation." (وَيَمْرُقُونَ مِنَ الْإِسْلَامِ كَمَا يَمْرُقُ السَّهْمُ مِنْ رَمْيِهِ - wa yamruqūna min al-ʾislāmi kamā yamruqu al-sahmu min ramyih) "They will pass through Islam like an arrow shot from its bow." (Sahih al-Bukhari 3611)

And he said in a sahih riwayah, he said, whoever can kill them, let him kill them. Because in killing them is a reward from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. This is the situation that we find ourselves in.

Times of Tribulation

Everywhere there is fitan. The prophet said (سَتَكُونُونَ أَحْدَاثُ وَفِتَنٌ وَفُرْقَةٌ وَاخْتِلَاتٌ - satakūnūna aḥdāṯu wa fitanun wa furqatun wa ikhtilāṭāt) "There will be events, momentous events. There will be tribulations and civil strife. There will be sectarianism. There will be differences." And he

said, (إِنِ اسْتَطَعْتَ أَنْ تَكُونَ الْمَقْتُولَ لَا الْقَاتِلَ فَافْعَلْ - ʾini istaṭaʿta ʾan takūna al-maqṭūla lā al-qātila fa-fʿal) "If you're able to be the one being killed instead of the one killing, then do so."

In fitna, what is the point? What is the madness? All this madness that's going on. Human beings that have lived for centuries together, suddenly they're being driven from their homes. Look at all the people fleeing.

The Blessing of Security

And you're lucky. And we believe in luck. حظ is a blessing because God gives it to whom He pleases. Health is something that God gives to some and deprives others. You're very fortunate in Malaysia because you have been blessed with relative security. Nothing is secure in this dunya.

(أَمِنتُم مَّن فِي السَّمَاءِ أَن يَخْسِفَ بِكُمُ الْأَرْضَ - ʾa-amintum man fī al-samāʾi ʾan yakhsifa bikumu al-ʾarḍa) "You feel so secure that God won't open the earth and swallow you up." (Quran 67:16) And we know about sinkholes now which is a sign of the end of time. The prophet said that there will be sinkholes swallowing people up. So you shouldn't feel so secure. But you have relative security. This is a blessing.

Protecting Blessings Through Obedience

The way you protect the blessing is obedience. If you're outside of obedience, you lose your blessings. You have the blessing of a uniformity of faith. I just came from Turkey. It's one of the few countries where you go into masjids and they pray the same way. It's a great blessing to have uniformity of faith.

This is the way that they used to be in North African countries. When I first went 30 years ago, people prayed the same way. Now everybody prays different ways. Because all these different factions and ideologies have come in. And people read the hadith directly and they think they can derive the hadith just by, oh, I follow Quran and Sunnah, brother. As if Imam Shafi'i didn't follow the Quran and Sunnah.

The Importance of Scholarship and Methodology

The Depth of Islamic Knowledge

Did you go and study 17 years? Did you go and study 17 years the Arabic language to follow the Quran and Sunnah like Imam Shafi'i? Imam Shafi'i went 17 years. He was amassing knowledge. He was one of the greatest scholars of the Arabic language. That's why he was able to write his great book in Usul al-Fiqh. Because Usul al-Fiqh is based on language. It's based on understanding the nuances of language. On what the ba is.

In wiping your head. What is that ba? What type of ba is that? Is it tab'eed? Is it for ziyadah? What is it? This is the debates of the fuqaha. There are many hadith. You have to know what min means. There are many types of min in the Quran. (وَنُنَزِّلُ مِنَ الْقُرْآنِ - wa nunazzilu mina al-qurʾān) "And We send down from the Quran." (Quran 17:82) That's min al-bayan.

Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, (مَنْ صَامَ رَمَضَانَ وَأَتْبَعَهُ سِنًّا مِنْ شَوَّالٍ - man ṣāma ramaḍāna wa ʾatbaʿahu sinnan min shawwāl) "Whoever fasts Ramadan and follows it with six from Shawwal." (Sahih Muslim 1164) The ulama said that's

min from the tab'eed. In other words, six days of shawal. Imam Malik said no, it's min al-ibtida. It's the initiative min. In other words, it means beginning in shawal you can do it in any other month before the next Ramadan comes. These are valid khilafat. But who knows these things now? Who studies in Mughni al-Labib of Ibn Hisham and masters that book before they can talk about this.

Understanding Context in Hadith

In the hadith, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam - Hind, in the Sahih collection, Hind comes to the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam and says to the Prophet that Abu Sufyan withholds money from me. And the Prophet said (خُذِي مِنْ مَالِهِ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ - khuḏī min mālihi bi-al-maʿrūf) "Take from his money in what's the norm of your people." (Sahih al-Bukhari 5364) In other words, for your socio-economic class take the money that you need.

And that means without his knowledge. The ulama differ on that. Because any hadith, the Prophet is acting as a qadi, as a judge, or he's acting as a mufti, giving a legal position, or he's acting as a hakim, as a ruler, or he's acting as a mubaligh just giving revelation, or he's acting as nasih, he's giving advice.

These are determined through usul al-fiqh. And the usuli scholars differ about these things. Now every ignoramus, every Tom, Dick and Abdullah picks up the Qur'an and picks up the hadith and they say (هُمْ رِجَالٌ وَنَحْنُ رِجَالٌ - hum rijālun wa naḥnu rijālun) "They're men and we're men." We follow the book and the sunnah. As if Malik didn't follow the book and the sunnah.

The Great Imams

Imam Shafi'i said إِذَا ذُكِرَ الْعُلَمَاءُ فَمَالِكُ النَّجْمُ "If you mention the ulama, Malik's the star." The Prophet predicted Imam Malik, Abu Hanifa, and Imam Shafi'i, and Imam Ahmed, all of them were mentioned by ishara in the hadith literature. Our ulama agreed on these four. The sunni scholars agreed on these four. Without sinad, without councils, nothing.

The Unity of Islamic Tradition

One Unified Quran

Our Qur'an is one book. We have no other book. When you heard this qari reciting he learned the seven qiraat. If you go to Morocco they recite with riwayat warsh, an-naafi. If you go to Libya they recite with qalun an-naafi. If you go to Iran they recite hafsa an-asim. If you go to Malaysia, hafsa an-asim. They're all sound riwayat.

How did they all agree on these? Because of isnad. All of them came from the same source. No other religion has a unified book. No other religion. The Christians differ on the Bible. The Jews differ on their Bible. The Buddhists differ on their scriptures. The Hindus differ on their scriptures. No tradition, except Islam, has a unified scripture.

Unity in Recitation and Practice

Not only that, we recite it the same way. If you're in Malaysia, you learn the makharij al-huruf are the same as they are in America. If I teach makharij al-huruf, the huruf al-halq are the same ones. You teach the same ones. Huruf al-jawf are the same ones. Huruf al-lisan. All of them are the same. The khayshum, it's the same. How is that possible? How? Because all of them came from the same source.

No other religion has the unity of this religion. If you go to Mecca and Medina and you go into the masjid, at maghrib time, you will have an ibadi next to you. You will have a shi'i next to you. You will have a hanafi, a maliki, a shafi'i. You'll have a zaidi. All of these different groups. And yet, they all pray three rakats. They stand, they go into ruku, they stand back up, they go into sajda. Some of them might move their finger. Some of them might keep it flat. Some of them might put their hands here. Some might put it here. Some might put it here. But the prayer is the same. No other religion has that uniformity.

Warning Against Division

Preserve Your Tradition

And there are people that are coming into your country that are starting to confuse your people about your religion. You have a good, solid foundation. The people that spread Islam in this country, they knew Islam. If they didn't know Islam, you would have never accepted Islam. And the thing about a lot of these modern people, people flee from them. You look at all the people fleeing from the cities in Iraq. When they come into town, people run away.

"It's a mercy from Allah that you were gentle with them. And if you were harsh and hard-hearted, they would have fled from around you."

And this is a proof that these people have nothing to do with the way of the Prophet Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم). Nothing at all. Nothing whatsoever to do. Because his way is a way that brings people in. It unites people. It makes ta'leef.

The Way of Unity

"If you spent all that is in the earth, you could not have united their hearts, but Allah united between their hearts." Allah will unite the hearts if you follow the Prophet.

"But woe unto you if you go against his way. If you go against his way." "They will be afflicted with a fitna. A horrible tribulation." "Or a painful chastisement."

The True Way of the Salaf

And his way is the way of the ahlul-ilm. The salaf as-salih. Not how people interpret it today. No. The Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said: يَحْمِلُ هَذَا الْعِلْمَ مِنْ كُلِّ خَلَفٍ عُدُولُهُ يَنْفُونَ عَنْهُ تَحْرِيفَ الْغَالِينَ وَانْتِحَالَ الْمُبْطِلِينَ وَتَأْوِيلَ الْجَاهِلِينَ "This religion is carried in each generation by its trustworthy ones. They will negate the extremists. And they will negate the decontextualizers. The people that take his religion out of context. And they will negate the interpretations of the ignorant ones."

Those adul are the people of sanad. The people that took from the people that took from the people that took back to the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم). This is our tradition. And this is the tradition that was in Malaysia.

A Sincere Warning

And so I'm warning you as people. I am warning you. I am a warner. And I'm telling you because the Prophet is Bashir al-Nadheer. And his people should be people of Bishara and people of Nadhara. They should give good news. But they should also warn people.

If you allow these seditious teachings into this country, you will see factionalism. You will see sectarianism. You will see your houses divided. You will see religion become a source of fitna and tribulation. You are shafi. This is your tradition. Your aqidah is a sound aqidah. And you believe in tazkiyah. This is your tradition. Hold to your tradition. And don't let people pervert your tradition.

The Need for Renewal

And all traditions need reassessing. This is the job of the scholars. You have to reassess things. Always. There's tajdeed. You need renovation. Things get in that maybe should not be in. That's true. All that is true. But don't let that be an excuse to throw the baby out with the bath water. No. Don't let that be an excuse.

This is my warning to you because the people of Malaysia are good people generally. Everybody has bad people and all of us have some bad qualities in us. But generally I've been here three times. I'm amazed at the kindness of your people. I'm amazed at their thoughtfulness. I'm amazed at your adab. I'm amazed at your gentleness. Wallahi I'm telling you the truth. And you still have smiles on your face despite what's happening in the world.

Hold Fast to Love and Unity

You hold on to what you have. Hold on to the love in your hearts. This religion is about loving each other. The Muslims are brothers and sisters. We're in solidarity. And anyone that wants to sow division and strife, be reminded of what Imam Ali said. That the group with its impurities is better than the sect or sectarianism with its purity. Did you hear that? The group with its impurities is better than sectarianism with its purity.

So woe unto those people that tell you that we're following the the firqah najia. That we're the only people that are rightly guided. All these people are astray. No. These are Muslims. They say la ilaha illallah muhammadur

rasulullah. They deserve dignity. They deserve their honor. Some of them are astray. They mix good and bad. That's true.

The Chosen Ummah

"We have given this book to those we have chosen from our people, from our servants. Amongst them is he who wrongs himself." (Quran 35:32) He's wronging himself. He's still Mustafa. He's still from the chosen. وَمِنْهُمْ مُّقْتَصِدٌ وَمِنْهُمْ سَابِقٌ بِالْخَيْرَاتِ "And amongst them are the moderate, and amongst them are the outstrippers." (Quran 35:32)

All of them are from this ummah. And we should love all of them. And care about all of them. And have rahmah in our hearts for them. And want to see them make tawbah.

The State of Our Planet

And now in conclusion, tawbah. If you look at this planet, everywhere you look we have strife. Everywhere you look we're seeing environmental degradation. You're a fish people. Historically Malaysia has lived on fish. We've lost 80 to 90 percent of the fish in the oceans that people eat. 80 to 90 percent. The fish have been completely depleted from the ocean.

The Metaphor of Jellyfish

There's a - the foremost expert on jellyfish lives nearby in New Zealand. Nearby relative to where I'm from. She did her PhD at UC Berkeley and she wrote a book called Bloom about the jellyfish that are taking over the ocean. The jellyfish are now taking over the oceans. Jellyfish are spineless mindless. They have no brain and they have no spinal cord. And they're consumers. They just eat plankton. They're taking over the ocean.

Because this is the ocean is metaphysically representative of human consciousness. And this is what's happened to the human being. We have become spineless mindless consumers. Like jellyfish. We're like jellyfish. And just as the jellyfish are taking over the oceans the spineless mindless consumption is taking over the ocean of consciousness.

Mindless Consumption

People now without thinking they consume they don't think about future generations. All of this all of this that's happening on the planet it can't go on. You cannot keep producing the garbage that you're producing. We cannot keep consuming at the levels we're consuming. If people consume at the level of the average American around the globe we will need three earths to supply all the goods. We represent 5% of the population. We consume over 20% of the world's natural resources.

And Allah says that those who are extravagant are like brethren to the demons. They're like brethren to the demons. We should be turning away from this. Fortunately we have people in the United States that are speaking out against this consciously. We have people that are now, where I come from we have people that are

downsizing. That are going to small houses. That are getting off the grid. We have people going back to simple farming techniques because they realize this is untenable. It can't continue on but they're not enough.

A Global Community

And this is why you here in Malaysia you have to think all of this affects all of us. We're a global community. The part and the whole cannot be separate anymore. And those that are polluting in one place the pollution is affecting others in other places. We have now radiation has affected us. We know that the Fukushima what happened in Japan it's affected us. The radiation levels have increased. There's a massive - the size of Texas there's a garbage pit in the middle of the Pacific Ocean between you and my country. Is a massive garbage pit the size of Texas. This is what we're doing to the planet.

Divine Warning Through Consequences

"And this is in Surah - in the chapter called the Romans. That corruption has manifest on the land and in the ocean. Because of what humans are doing with their own hands. And Allah allows that to happen in order to let them taste the harm of what they were doing that perhaps they might make tawbah, that perhaps they might turn to God."

We have problems all over the planet we need a global tawbah. We need people to turn back to Allah. We need people to understand we cannot continue. We have children. I have children. I think about my children's future. I think about the world that they're going to inherit. But not just my children. I think about children all over the world.

Global Injustice

I travel all over the world and I see education levels in Africa are abysmal. Education levels in Ferguson America in Missouri are abysmal. There are people that are neglected simply because of the color of their skin. There are people that are neglected because they don't have that socio-economic status. These things are wrong.

The Role of the Muslim Ummah

And we need to work as a community the Muslims should be شُهَدَاءَ عَلَى النَّاسِ "shuhada ala al nas. We should be the witnesses unto humanity." We should be the one showing the world. That's what Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala كُنتُمْ خَيْرَ أُمَّةٍ أُخْرِجَتْ لِلنَّاسِ "You are the best ummah that came out for humanity." (Quran 3:110) Not for yourselves. He didn't say kuntum khaira ummatin ukhrijat li anfusikum. He said lil nas for humanity.

Why? تَأْمُرُونَ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ وَتَنْهَوْنَ عَنِ الْمُنكَرِ وَتُؤْمِنُونَ بِاللَّهِ "Because you enjoin what's right. You forbid what's wrong. You condemn vice when you see it. And you believe in Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala." (Quran 3:110)

This is the function of our community. We should be condemning what's wrong. We should be encouraging what's right. But the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) warned us. He said مَا أَنتُمْ إِذَا مَرَجَتْ دِينُكُمْ وَسُفِكَتْ دِمَاؤُكُمْ وَظَهَرَتِ الزِّينَةُ وَشَرُفَ الْبُنْيَانُ "He said what are you? He used ma. He didn't even say man. He said what are you? If

your religion becomes confused and you start shedding blood and you're luxurious and you manifest all your luxury and your buildings become exceedingly tall. What are you? Ma antum." Are you fulfilling your purpose?

The Call for Global Tawbah

This planet needs global tawbah. There was a time in my country in the United States where the presidents used to tell people when they had difficulties to fast. They had days of fasting that were actually national days of fasting in the 19th century where they told everybody to fast and to ask God forgiveness. This is the United States of America. It's no longer a Christian country. We don't even know what it is. I don't know what's happened to my country.

Cultural Breakdown

All I know is when I was a kid nobody had tattoos. Now everybody has tattoos. When I was a kid everybody got married. Now people don't get married other than homosexuals. Nobody gets married. The only people that want to get married are the people that used to not want to get married.

Annie Leibovitz brilliant writer from New York Annie Leibovitz was asked about that. She's a lesbian. She was asked about it. She said when I was young that's why you were a lesbian so you didn't have to get married. And she said or you said you were a homosexual just to get out of the army. He said now that's what everybody wants to do.

Warning to Malaysia

So I don't know what's happened to my country. It's changed a lot. And you're going to get the same diseases in this country. You will get the same thing if you allow these things in without thinking about what you have. Your families will break down. You'll start building old folks homes. Instead of taking care of your parents you'll just put them in to let a caretaker take care of them. This is already happening in some Muslim countries.

This is what happens because the western civilization is a package deal. Don't think you can just take part of it. Arnold Toynbee said it doesn't work like that. You get the whole thing. And that's why you're a creative people. You need to be more creative. Really you need to be more creative. You need to think about Malaysia being a model country. You're one of the best Muslim countries. There's a few Muslim countries on this earth that I go to and I think Alhamdulillah there's some Muslims that are actually normal and they're functioning and Malaysia is one of them. And may Allah bless you and keep that. Wallahi. May Allah bless you and keep that.

The Path of Sincere Repentance

So Imam An-Nawawi in his famous book called Riyad al-Saliheen he has an introduction. The first Baab is Ikhlas. That's the first chapter. It's sincerity. We need sincerity. But the second chapter is Tawbah. We need a sincere Tawbah.

Ending Jahili Hatred

The Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam told us he gave all the diseases of the world in his final address. He said that the blood of Jahiliyyah is over. There's no more revenge in my religion. The first blood he put down was Rabi'a Ibn al-Harith his own family. So if anybody was going to take vengeance it would have been his family. He said no. And then he said, so this Jahili hatred, it has to end.

Islamic Principles of Protection

And in our tradition we have the ability and Dr. Al-Afifi who's one of your Muftis here will confirm this. The Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam said that it was permitted for a Muslim to give security to anybody. He can give security to people but these people don't know the Sunnah of the Prophet. If we give security then they're supposed to honor that and let those people go. They don't do that anymore because they don't know the Sunnah.

This woman who went on on YouTube to speak to these people that are holding her son hostage, she had a better understanding of Islam as a non-Muslim than these people in Iraq have. She said, I studied your religion and your religion says that one soul is not held to account for what other souls do. And she said, my son's not responsible for what American foreign policy does. And then she said and then I read that your Prophet Muhammad he had amnesty and he forgave people so I'm asking for my son back. She said, I just want to hug him.

The Suffering of Muslims

Now that's one woman and I know that Muslims have untold suffering. I know that. If you look at what's happened to the Iraqi Muslims at the hands of these people it's worse than all of the Christians. But they only talk about the Christians. I'm aware of that. I'm very aware of that. And it should all stop.

Protecting the Honor of the Prophet

But for me the most important thing in this religion is the preservation of the honor of our Prophet. When we harm each other that's what we do amongst ourselves. But when we harm people from other religions and other cultures, it harms our religion. It harms our religion. And that's why it's so odious to me. All of it is bad.

What the Jews in Israel have done to the Palestinians is heinous and condemnable. It's heinous and condemnable. But what Muslims who claim to be Muslims are doing to people in these places is to me, more

heinous. Because when an Israeli attacks a Muslim, it doesn't affect the religion of Islam. But when these people attack innocent people it makes our Prophet - people think that his religion was a cruel religion.

Closing with Beautiful Patience

And I want to end with a quote by Amir Abdul Qadir Al-Jazairi, one of the great Muslims of the 19th century who died in 1883. He said, when we think how few men of real religion there are how small the numbers of defenders and champions of the truth when one sees ignorant persons imagining that the principles of Islam are hardness, severity extravagance and barbarity, it is time to repeat these words (صَبْرٌ جَمِيلٌ وَاللَّهُ الْمُسْتَعَانُ - Beautiful patience, and our help is with Allah.)

Jazakumullah khairan wa salamu alaikum.