The Perfect Path

The Perfect Path

Introduction: Islam as a Complete Religion

Islam literally means submission to Allah, and it should have a group of people practicing this faith. The idea of it being a perfect religion comes right out of the Quran itself when Allah says:

"Today I have perfected for you your religion, and completed My favor upon you, and have approved for you Islam as religion."

Allah has completed for us our deen, perfected His blessing for us, and is content with Islam as our way of life.

The Meaning of Deen

Deen is a very fascinating word when you look at the Arabic etymology. It has to do with debt - a deen is a debt. It also has to do with how you behave. (مَنْ دَانَ النَّفْسَهُ - man dana an-nafsahu) - the one who conquers himself or overcomes himself. And deen also is a rain that returns again and again. The deen means an often returning rain.

Islam is like that. It is literally a heavenly source of nourishment for the earth that returns again and again. We are seeing once again the return of Islam, and the fact that this auditorium is filled with people in the United States of America is a sign of that nature, that Islam comes again and again.

The Day of Completion

That day was actually the day of Jumu'ah on the Hajjatul Wada'ah, which is the last Hajj of the Prophet ﷺ. It was done on the Friday that this ayah was announced. Now that was not the last verse in the Quran - there were some other verses revealed later, but those verses did not deal with ahkam. So literally the ahkam of Allah, or the rules by which Allah has demanded that people live their lives, is the deen. (كَيْفَ نَدِينُ بِهِ - kayfa nadeenu bihi) - how we live according to this rule of Allah, which is the shari'ah of Islam.

This is the deen, the shari'ah of Islam, and Allah has perfected it. In that perfection, Islam is complete and full, and it is an inexhaustible source of guidance until the end of time. This means that there cannot be people who come at a later date and say that Islam needs to be revised, updated, or invigorated with new ideas so that it can fulfill its function in the 20th or 21st century. We do not need a new robotized or technological Islam, or an Islam that is in harmony with the time or age.

The Protection of Islam Throughout History

This unfortunately is an idea that's been cropping up in the Muslim ummah for some time. There are many Muslims actually talking about a complete revisal, literally rewriting Islam. You will see this particularly in

some academic circles - the idea that Islam now is something that we have to look at with a fresh perspective and recognize that we've had 1400 years of, for instance from one perspective which is the feminist Fatima Mernissi type perspective, male scholars interpreting Islam and they need to be reinterpreted.

This is a completely unacceptable position in Islam because we believe that Islam is a protected deen. It was not simply protected in the time of the Prophet ﷺ, but it has had an unbroken chain of protection throughout the centuries by the rightly guided scholars of this ummah, among which were women - the vast majority were certainly men, but among which were women, and they're mentioned in many books of the Tabaqat and Tadhkirat al-Huffadh and these types of things. Certainly Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) has many fatwas and many hadiths that have come down from her, over 2000 in fact.

The Ten Aspects of Islam's Perfection

Looking at these, there are 10 things that I'd like to look at that were pointed out by this great scholar, Muhammad al-Amin.

1. Tawheed: The Foundation of Islam

The first is Tawheed. The idea that Islam, the highest and really the thing in which we are calling people to, is Tawheed of Allah before we call them to Islam. This is right out of the hadith. The Prophet ﷺ when he sent his people to call people, he used to say, call them to Allah, and if they answer you, then call them to five prayers. This is called awlawiyat - prioritizing.

You have to first call people to Allah. If you see a non-Muslim drinking and you tell him that's haram for you to do that, which from one usuli position it is (because there's a difference amongst the usuliyin: are people, including the non-Muslims, responsible for the furu' or the particulars of Islam, or are they only called to the usul or the principles of Islam - this is a valid difference of opinion), but nonetheless, you cannot call somebody to leaving wine if he doesn't understand that wine is prohibited by Allah. In other words, it does not make sense to him without a context. So the first thing that we call people to is Tawheed.

The Completeness of Tawheed

The completeness of the Tawheed of Allah is what is termed in religious studies in the West as "radical monotheism." The monotheism of Islam, the absolute unity of Allah, which is uncompromisable, is unique amongst the world religions. Although we believe that Tawheed is the essence of every true revealed religion, they have been adulterated and altered and changed as time passed. So the Tawheed of Islam is literally the pure and final manifestation of the Tawheed of the Deen of Allah since Adam (peace be upon him) until the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ.

This Tawheed is based on a recognition of the absolute unity of Allah. Allah is one. The later theologians used terminology like (اللَّهُ وَاحِدٌ فِي ذَاتِهِ وَصِفَاتِهِ وَفِي أَفْعَالِهِ - Allah is one in His essence, His attributes, and His actions") - which is actually not terminology used by the early Salaf, but is nonetheless useful in its articulation.

Surah Al-Ikhlas: The Essence of Tawheed

But really the pure Tawheed of Allah, which is mentioned in the Quran, is summed up very clearly in Surah Al-Ikhlas:

"Say: He is Allah, the One."

"Allah, the Eternal Refuge."

Completely independent of His creation. The definition of ilah in the Arabic language is : (الْمُسْتَغْنِي عَنِ الْكُلِّ وَالْكُلُّ مُفْتَقِرُونَ إِلَيْهِ - "The One that is independent of all things and all things are dependent on that.") And that is the meaning of samad.

"He neither begets."

Allah, nothing came out of Allah. Allah did not produce anything, nothing was born out of Allah. Allah creates out of nothing. (إِذَا خَلَقَ شَيْئًا - idha khalaqa shayan) - He creates that thing out of nothing by irada, by His absolute will and His power. Nothing comes out of Allah. Creation is not something that came out of Allah.

"He neither begets nor is born."

Nor did Allah come out of anything. Allah did not give birth, nor was Allah born.

Creation Ex Nihilo

This not only negates the idea of the Christian belief in the divinity of Christ, but it also negates the philosophical belief that somehow the universe is eternal, that all of this has come out of the universe. There are people now that worship literally the universe as if it was a god. Like the Christian writer C.S. Lewis said, "Mother Nature is the secularist word for God." In other words, if you look in books, wherever they write Mother Nature, all you have to do is put the word God there and it will make sense. Because Mother Nature makes absolutely no sense in terms of giving it some reality that it simply does not have.

Allah in this tawhid - the tawhid of the idea that Allah has created the universe out of nothing, what the Catholics called ex nihilo - is a concept which really the human intellect does not have access to. It cannot comprehend the idea of something coming out of nothing. Because when we look at creation, we see that

everything comes out of something. But what is termed as going back, if we continue to go back, there must have been some original point.

This is why Allah calls Himself in the Quran:

"Originator of the heavens and the earth."

Badi' in the Arabic language means to create something (عَلَى غَيْرِ مِثَالٍ مُسْبَقٍ - 'ala ghayri mithalin musbaq) - that has no previous existence. So Allah is بَدِيعُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ literally.

Human Beings Cannot Create

The word in Arabic to create, when we use it in terms of a human being, it means to lie. In other words, the human being is absolutely incapable of creating anything. We can make things - that is why we can be a (صَانِعًا - sani'an) we can be a maker of things, but we cannot be (خَالِقًا - khaliqan). That is uniquely Allah's attribute alone. So if you say (اخْتَلَقَهُ - ikhtalaqahu) in Arabic concerning a human being, it means to lie. Because human beings cannot create anything - they cannot even create a fly, like the Quran says.

All of these attempts to manipulate DNA and to make life forms and things - this is all still based on materials that exist within nature. They are absolutely not creating anything out of nothing. They are simply taking different materials, DNA from this life form and splicing it onto another, and creating a cat with leopard spots or something like this. This is (تَبْدِيعُ الْخَلْقِ اللهِ - tabdee'u al-khalqi Allahi) - it's changing the creation of Allah, but it certainly has nothing to do with creation. And it's something that in the Quran, Shaytan says that he will in fact encourage the creation, the human beings, to do that.

The Universal Acknowledgment of a Creator

So this idea of (تَوْحِيدُ اللَّهِ سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى - Tawheedu Allahi Subhaanahu wa Ta'aala) - Allah says in the Quran:

"And if you asked them who created them, they would surely say, 'Allah.'"

If you ask them who created these things, they will say God. In whatever language - (خُودًا - khoodan) if they are in Persian or India (فُوت - foot) if they are in German - they will say whatever they will say in whatever language, but they still have this idea of a creator, with the exception of a small portion of human beings who are called atheists, which is really a completely untenable situation.

In fact, Firaun, who is recorded in the Quran as disbelieving in Allah and saying (أَنَا رَبُّكُمُ الْأَعْلَى - ana rabbukum al-a'la) - "I am your lord, most high" (Quran 79:24) - Allah says:

وَجَحَدُوا بِهَا وَاسْتَيْقَنَتْهَا أَنفُسُهُمْ ظُلْمًا وَعُلُوًّا

"And they rejected them, while their [inner] selves were convinced thereof, out of injustice and haughtiness." (Quran 27:14)

They disbelieved in the truth of Allah's signs, although their own selves were certain of it. So Firaun and his people knew inside, deep within themselves, but they rejected it out of arrogance, out of transgressing. Even the atheist really is simply denying something that his own nafs is absolutely in certitude of, which is that he is a created thing, and every created thing needs that which brought it into existence.

Shirk: The Greatest Sin

Then Allah tells us in the Quran:

"And most of them believe not in Allah except while they associate others with Him."

The vast majority of human societies do not believe in Allah except that they commit shirk with Allah. Shirk has many variations, there are many types of shirk. But the dominant shirk of human societies is literally seeing that there is power intrinsic in something that Allah has not given it.

This is something completely prohibited in Islam. We do not say that a medicine cures. What we say is that Allah cures through a means or a sabab. This is tawhid - this is an essential understanding of tawhid - that Allah cures through medicine, but medicine in itself has no intrinsic power to cure. It's cured by the permission of Allah alone.

Nafi and Ithbat: Negation and Affirmation

Allah tells the human beings that tawhid itself is based on two aspects. The first is called nafi and the second is called ithbat. There is a negation and then there is an affirmation. This is also articulated in the Quran in another way as kufr and iman. The kufr is in taghut - you have to make kufr of taghut. You have to be kafir of taghut and you have to be mu'min of Allah. This is nafi with ithbat.

It is beautifully expressed in the most simple language that even a child can say. The first letter that is the easiest for a child to actually say is the lam. They are called the liquid letters. And this is the lam letter. If you look in the Arabic language, the la ilaha illallah is made up of these liquid letters, which in Arabic are called al-huruf al-jawfiyah, which are the letters of the inner part of the mouth. A child can say these letters.

In fact, in the English language, to "lull" somebody means to put somebody at peace or at ease. It comes from the idea of saying "la la la la la." This is where the lullaby comes from. This is something that is universal - women all over the world use this "la la" to rock their children to sleep, quite literally. There is a significance in that a type of tuma'ninah or tranquility comes to the heart simply through the physical expression of the lam alif lam articulation in the Arabic language.

The Difficulty of Affirmation

This is why criticism is uniquely the capacity of every individual. Everybody can criticize. Everybody can negate. But it takes effort to be constructive, to be an affirmer, to make affirmation. It's easy to find fault in the creation, to find fault in people, to find fault in our human condition. It's easy to do all these things. But it's difficult to be positive. It's difficult to be an affirmer. It's difficult to be someone who sees the good in things.

But like one of them said, if you go on looking at creation for fault, you will go on until you find no end of fault. But if you go on looking for perfection, you will go on until you find no end of perfection. These are the different ways. The kafir is an ingrate by nature - they look constantly and criticize. The mu'min by nature - the Prophet ﷺ said, that you should always be optimistic about situations and you will find things to be optimistic about.

"I am as My servant thinks I am." (Hadith Qudsi - Sahih Bukhari 7405)

If you have a good opinion of Allah, creation will confirm that opinion for you. If you have a negative opinion of Allah, creation will confirm that opinion for you. The Muslims are people that have the best opinion of Allah. Because their opinion of Allah is so great, Allah continually shows them and showers them with experiences in their lives to confirm that opinion, which is a good opinion.

Allah says that He is the companion of the one who remembers Him. That is the quickest way to have a good opinion of Allah - to remember Allah. The next thing is tawheed. This is really an inexhaustible subject. The Muslims spent centuries just writing about tawheed and it's an inexhaustible subject. Really the theme of Quran is tawheed. This is the dominant theme. Although it's considered a third of the Quran, it is really the continually returning theme of the Quran - the tawheed of Allah.

2. Wa'dh: Admonition and Awareness of Allah's Presence

The next aspect, once we understand the tawheed of Allah, that Allah is one and that He alone should be worshipped, the next important issue in terms of this perfect deen, in terms of the kamaliyah of this deen, is wa'dh. Wa'dh means admonition. It means to be in a state of awareness to be in a state of awareness or admonition.

The greatest wa'dh in the Quran above all other wa'dh is the wa'dh or the admonition of muraqabah - that Allah is with you wherever you are.

"He is with you wherever you are."

"Man does not utter any word except that with him is an observer prepared [to record]."

Allah says: We know what the soul is whispering in the internal language of the heart. And We, Allah, are closer than the carotid artery itself. The carotid artery is the source of our consciousness. If you cut off the carotid artery even for a few moments, physiologically you will put a person into a state of unconsciousness. So Allah is closer to the human being than his own consciousness, than his own self-awareness. This is Allah.

Living with Consciousness of Allah

This sense or understanding of Allah's presence is what enables tawheed to become a realized experience in the life of the individual Muslims and in the life of the community of iman. When the Muslim begins to take on this wa'dh, you cannot find a page in the Quran that you will not find this wa'dh from Allah - that He is with us, that He is present, that He is Alim, that He is Khabir, that He is Basir, that He is Sami'. All of these attributes, the presence of Allah with His knowledge, is throughout the Quran.

If you read the Quran daily, you must gain a sense of the muraqabah of Allah. Once this muraqabah is literally internalized, then disobedience to Allah becomes almost impossible. Disobedience to Allah becomes impossible. Why? Because you are in a state of presence before the King of the world, مَالِكُ الْمُلُوكِ . In the same way that an individual who has any sense at all, unless he is majnun (and the majnun doesn't have any taklif, the madman has no responsibility) - unless he is a majnun, if you are in the presence of the king, you will be in a state of wa'dh, in a dignified state, in a state of fearfulness, in a state of awareness.

You will not breach the adab or the courtesies of the king's court. You will know that if you literally in any way commit انتهاك الحرمة - defying the sanctities of the king - you will know that the king's sword is over the head. The king's sword is over the head.

"And to Allah belongs the highest attribute."

The Hadith of Ihsan

The human being when he knows this - like the Prophet ﷺ, when he was asked by Jibril عليه السلام "What is ihsan?" The answer that every Muslim should literally make the deepest understanding of Islam, because ihsan is the pinnacle of Islam.

"That you worship Allah as if you see Him, and if you do not see Him, then indeed He sees you." (Sahih Muslim 8)

The ihsan is that you worship Allah as if you saw Allah. And if you do not see Allah, you know that Allah sees you. This sense of the presence of Allah is that which enables the Muslim to maintain the deen of Islam. This is what prevents the Muslim from entering into ma'asiyah. This is really throughout the Quran. I encourage all of you and myself to literally look through the Quran from this aspect.

Excellence in Action

Another aspect of the idea of ihsan is the whole idea of hasan itself.

"[He] who created death and life to test you [as to] which of you is best in deed."

The أَحْسَنُ here is from the same root word that ihsan comes from. It's a beautiful word because it literally on the one hand means beautiful itself. It means beautiful. أَسْمَاءُ اللَّهِ الْحُسْنَى are the beautiful names of Allah. Ethics is deeply related to the whole idea of aesthetics.

In other words, wrong action is a discordant action. It is an action that does not harmonize with creation itself. This is why any discordant action that does not harmonize creates dissonance. It creates something that breaks the harmony of the society itself. In the same way in music, when the notes are harmonized, then it's something that is flowing. If somebody who understands music - if a note is introduced that is not in the structure of the music - somebody who understands music recognizes that harmony has been broken.

The Heart Recognizes Disharmony

In the same way, the one who is in obedience to Allah, when they are presented with disobedience to Allah, they recognize the dissonant nature of the action and enter into a state of disharmony. This is why the Prophet said that the wrong action is that which creates this turbulence in the breast itself. There is a disharmony that takes place inside the human soul if it is healthy.

But if in the same way that somebody like these modern people that listen to music that has no harmony whatsoever (and I don't want to go into a discourse about music or anything), but aesthetics is an important aspect because birds are - part of the dhikr of the birds is making beautiful music. The Quran is certainly recited with cadences that are harmonizing by their nature, and we're more attracted to a reciter that is reciting in a harmonious manner than one who is reciting in a disharmonious manner.

Just like the ear, the heart, if it's out of sync with the harmony of the ethics of the human being, it will not recognize the disharmony in the same way that the human ear, if it has no sense what they call tone-deaf in music - if it has no sense of harmony, then if it hears discordant sounds, it doesn't bother them. It has no effect on them whatsoever. So Allah has literally created this deen in order for us to harmonize with it.

Harmonizing Our Desires with Islam

This is why the Prophet ﷺ said:

"None of you truly believes until his desires are in accordance with what I have brought." (Hadith - Al-Arba'een An-Nawawiyyah 41)

The Muslim is the one, the Muhsin is the one who has literally harmonized with the deen of Islam. In other words, your own internal desires are in accordance with what Allah desires. When something that is disobedient to Allah enters into the picture, then the human being literally becomes in a troubled state or مُضْطَرِب

This is why Iman is based on سُكُونٌ وَإِضْطِرَابٌ according to al-Muhasibi - that the nature of Iman is سُكُون which is tranquility and اضْطِرَاب which is a type of intranquility. It is سُكُون to the obedience of Allah or to the امْتِثَال of the awamar of Allah, to following the commands of Allah. And it is a kind of turbulence to disobedience to Allah.

This is the whole idea of wa'dh, and it's really a topic that one could go on and on about.

3. Al-Farq Bayn al-'Amal as-Salih wa Ghayrih: Distinguishing Righteous Actions

The third aspect in which the deen of Islam is perfect is in distinguishing between الفرق بين العمل الصالح وغيره - the difference between a righteous action and an action that is not righteous.

If we look at two people, one of them, both of them doing wudhu, or the outward form of wudhu. The person washes the hands, takes water into the mouth, and you see him doing the wudhu. By the consensus of the scholars, if they did not have the intention of doing wudhu, that is not wudhu. Although it has the form of wudhu, it is not accepted as a purification for the prayer. It could be cooling himself off, cleaning his mouth and nose, whatever. But it is not wudhu, because the basis of wudhu is the niyyah. This is an obligation of wudhu.

Like that, righteous action - although two actions can look identical from the outward, if somebody gives sadaqah, and another person gives what looks to be sadaqah, in terms of an outward judgment, they look the same, but they are different based on the intention. So the whole idea of al-'amal as-salih, which Allah has commanded us to do throughout the Quran, is that first it agrees with what Allah has set down. This must be the basis of the Muslim's action.

Actions Must Conform to Quran and Sunnah

The actions, al-'amal, must be تُوَافِقُ كِتَابَ اللَّهِ وَسُنَّةَ رَسُولِهِ - in accordance with the book of Allah and the Sunnah. This is in many ayahs of the Quran.

"And whatever the Messenger has given you - take; and what he has forbidden you - refrain from."

Allah Has Given Us Everything We Need

Really, I mean you can sit around and complain about creation all you want. But Allah will say and says in many ayahs in the Quran that He has given us intellect. He has given us eyes and ears. He has given us an earth that's wide and vast. He has given us guidance and a deen. And He told us to follow the guidance and the deen. When we turn away from the guidance and the deen, He puts over us like al-Hasan al-Basri said.

One of them came to him and he said, (هَيَّا نَخْرُجُ عَلَى حَجَّاج - Hayya nakhruju ‘ala Hajjaj) - Let's go and make a revolution against Hajjaj. And he said (سُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ - SubhanAllah) - If you get rid of Hajjaj you're going to get pigs and monkeys over you. In other words, the state that you're in, if you bump off the ruler, it's just like you bump off Sadat and you get Mubarak. You go from a monkey to a pig. You know, literally. So it's down the evolutionary scale. What's going to be next? A rat? You know, seriously.

Change Comes from the Bottom Up

Change, historically change has never come from the top down. Even the Prophet ﷺ who was given the tawheed of Allah - He was given the tawheed of Allah. If you look, there was a ground swell that took place in that community. He literally transformed the oppressed people in that community and he made them people that could perceive the true state of affairs. That oppression is an illusion based on one's disobedience to Allah, and when one begins to turn to Allah, Allah will give them tamkeen in the earth. This is a promise in the Quran that Allah will give tamkeen.

He will establish people in the earth:

"Worshipping Me and not associating anything with Me." (Quran 24:55)

When they worship Him and they don't associate anything with Him - in other words the pure tawheed of Allah - Allah will give tamkeen. But if you want tamkeen by some coup d'état or something like that, well like Sultan Abdul Hamid said, I never saw a revolutionary build what he could tear down.

It's very easy to put a bullet through somebody's head but that unfortunately doesn't end the argument. The sira' or the conflict remains as long as the people are in the conditions that they were in that brought about that tyrant. The tyrant goes when the conditions that brought about the tyrant go. But if the conditions remain:

"Indeed, Allah will not change the condition of a people until they change what is in themselves."

The Requirements of Righteous Action

Then there has to be an agreement with the book and the sunnah. It has to be based on ikhlas. There has to be sincerity.

"And they were not commanded except to worship Allah, [being] sincere to Him in religion."

They were only commanded to worship Allah with ikhlas. But ikhlas is based on tawheed. That is why the surah of tawheed is also called surat al-ikhlas. The surah of tawheed is called the surah of ikhlas. Ikhlas only comes when the heart is free of riya, of all of these things other than Allah. This is a process that must be worked on and strived on by the Muslims, especially those working in positions of leadership of the Muslims. If their hearts are filled with riya and these types of things, then we have no success. We have no success. If it's a popularity contest, if it's let's impress such and such or so and so, then this is really a destruction.

The Example of Imam Shafi'i

It's like Imam Shafi'i (may Allah be pleased with him). The most beautiful statement I have ever seen about somebody who had no nafs, who had no ego, is from Imam Shafi'i who said: I never debated with anyone about a (مَسْأَلَة - mas'alah) - about something that involves the deen of Allah - except that I used to pray to Allah that Allah made the truth manifest on his tongue and not on my tongue, so that I could submit to it. I mean, these are men. (رِجَالٌ مِنَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ - Rijalun minal mu'mineen). That is a man. Not people that say, No, I'm right, brother. No, you're wrong. I'm right. And then it just goes on from there, until they start pulling out guns and things like that. Behaving like monkeys. (قِرْدَةً وَخَنَازِيرَ - Qirdatan wa khanaazeer)

Wallahi, it's subhuman behavior, this level of solving conflicts with violence. Violence is like one of the Persians said about jihad, that we have to take up the sword sometimes to take swords out of mad men's hands. That's jihad - we take up the sword to take swords out of mad people's hands. But violence is not something that Allah has decreed because we should be violent people. No, He's decreed it to prevent violence.

The Purpose of Jihad: Protecting Places of Worship

This is in the Quran:

"And were it not for Allah checking [some] people by means of others, there would have been demolished monasteries, churches, synagogues, and mosques."

Allah said: We defend other people in order to preserve the worship of Allah. And not simply the worship in Islam, but the right for other traditions to worship Allah as they see fit. This is the glory of Islam, that we don't just defend the masjids, we defend the churches, and the synagogues, and the temples as well. اللهُ أَكْبَرِ. I mean

what other religion has that? The other religions say, let's tear down the temples, let's tear down the masjids, because they don't agree with us. The Muslims say, no, you have a right to worship Allah as you see fit.

But we are the protectors. We are the (قَوَّامُونَ - Qawwamoon). We are the people that can establish justice, not you, because historically you have never shown tolerance except to your own self. Historically you have never shown justice except to your own self. It's like the Pax Romana, the Roman Peace - it's based on everything, all the taxes go to Rome, and everybody is persecuted except the Roman citizen. This is the Pax Americana, the American Peace. The Americans can (يَتَقَلَّبُونَ فِي الْبِلَادِ - yataqallaboon fil bilad) - they can go wherever they want, but it's at the expense of literally the destitution and the slavery of the rest of the world's population. Because all of their resources and all of their wealth goes like this centripetal force from these countries into this source so they can all have their gratuitous consumption and Merry Christmas and everything else.

Actions Must Be Based on Correct Iman

After sincerity, then it has to be based on إيمان. In other words, one's understanding of Allah must be correct. And I don't like an emphasis on عَقِيدَة - there's a big difference between عَقِيدَة and إيمان إيمَان is something that is not complicated. It can be learned. Imam Tahawi's book is a very short book. You can learn that book in literally a month with a sheikh, and that's it. عَقِيدَة is over. Then you have to work on إِيمَان. In other words, not what you articulate on your tongue, but what you live in your heart.

This whole emphasis on عَقِيدَة where it's like al-Muhasibi says: إِيَّاكَ أَنْ تَعْبُدَ اللهَ بِالْعَقْلِ - Beware of worshipping Allah with your brain, with your intellect, where it's articulation on the tongue but nowhere is it experienced in the heart or in the actions. Certainly the best behavior of somebody who has fear of Allah is that they're رُحَمَاءُ بَيْنَهُمْ - merciful to the Muslims.

4. Tahkeem Ghayr Shar' al-Kareem: Ruling by Other Than Allah's Law

The next is تَحْكِيمُ غَيْرِ شَرْعِ الْكَرِيمِ - that Allah demands that we literally have this ruling by His law. This can't be under-emphasized. In other words, the حُكْم is to Allah. And the حُكْم of other than Allah is the حُكْم to شَيْطَان to the one who took his own هَوَى

أَرَأَيْتَ الَّذِي اتَّخَذَ إِلَهَهُ هَوَاهُ

"Have you seen the one who takes as his god his own desire?"

The one who took his own هَوَى his own passion as his God, which is the God of the age. We're in the age of the idol of هَوَى . It's the "I did it my way" age. It's where everybody, if you look at all the advertising like Calvin Klein and all these things - all about no limits. Just do it. Do it because it can be done.

There's no sense of حُدُود. You'll see some guy climbing up a mountain to the top of a mountain like a madman. That's something a madman would do for no reason - just to climb up, literally put his own life in jeopardy. People die, fall to their death. There was a woman in Pakistan who climbed K2, this English woman. She left

two children in England, in Wales. She climbed this mountain to be the first woman ever to climb to the top of K2. And a big snowball came and took her down the hill. There's her two children that she orphaned. And everybody's weeping over this woman. They ought to be spitting on her grave. This is child abuse. What are you doing climbing the mountain? Go home and take care of your children. Let the mountain take care of itself.

K2, if you ever see a picture of that mountain, what that mountain is saying - what's called لِسَانُ الْحَالِ in Arabic the tongue of state - is saying: don't mess with me. That's what the mountain is saying. Don't mess with me. Really. And so, this woman who wants to prove, well, if a man got there, so can I. Why? If a man wants to go to hell, you want to go there too? If a man wants to jump off the Golden Gate Bridge - well, if a man can do it, so can I. Let's jump off the Golden Gate Bridge. I mean, let's use our intellects here.

The Age of Worshipping Hawa

This is the type of what we're dealing with in this age of worshipping Hawa, of doing whatever I want to do. And America exalts in people that do these mad things, right? Really, they just - bungee jumping and things like that. There are more interesting ways to enjoy an afternoon than jumping off a bridge with a string.

Interestingly enough, some of the MDs in the room can confirm this one of the hospitals that I worked at in the ICU, in the emergency room, a lot of the doctors on the weekends used to jump out of airplanes. Because they get into adrenaline rush. Like when you have a cardiac arrest and you have to split the chest and do cardiac massage - they like it. They start getting high. It's like a drug because adrenaline is one of the most powerful physiological drugs that we have. So these people, when they, after work's over, they go home and what's on television is not very exciting when you were just in ER. So they decide to go out and jump out of airplanes to get that adrenaline rush. This is why many of them end up on drugs and things like that. They just had an MD died of an overdose of fentanyl. They found her in the room. She had all these track marks all over. Drug abuse amongst MDs is very high in this country for a number of reasons, but that's certainly just one of them.

Taking Rabbis and Priests as Lords

So the idea of tahkeem with the ghayr shar'a - the Prophet ﷺ was told in the Quran about the Christians:

"They have taken their scholars and monks as lords besides Allah."

They took their priests and their rabbis as arbab, lords, other than Allah. When one of the sahaba (may Allah be pleased with him), 'Adiy ibn Hatim, who was a Christian before Islam - he's the son of Hatim al-Ta'i, the great generous Arab - he asked him: We didn't take them as lords other than Allah. He said, did you make halal what they made halal, and did you make haram what they made haram? He said yes. He said, then they're lords other than Allah.

So this idea of a hukum of other than Allah is a shirk in Islam, and this is one of the things that brings on the ghadab of Allah:

"And whoever does not judge by what Allah has revealed - then it is those who are the disbelievers."

Those who do not judge according to the decree of Allah, those are the kafirun. That ayah should be used carefully because a lot of people take the ayah out of context. Mujahid, who was the great student of Ibn Abbas, said: This type of kufr (لا يُخْرِجُ مِنَ الْمِلَّةِ - la yukhriju minal millah) - it's not a kufr that takes somebody out of the millah. In other words, the Jews do not rule by the rule of Allah, but we still call them Jews. There are many Muslims that do not rule by the rule of Allah, but they still go under the hukm of Islam unless they openly deny. If they say, I don't believe in Islam, then they're kafir.

5. Ahwal al-Ijtima': The Social Order

The next is أَحْوَالُ الْإِجْتِمَاعِ - which is the command of Allah to the rulers of the society where Allah says: Lower the wing of humbleness to those who follow you from the believers. This is to the best of creation, but it's to every person who has authority or has rule over Muslims - that you should be humble. This is how the ruler is commanded to be with those that he rules over.

Then Allah says:

"So by mercy from Allah, [O Muhammad], you were lenient with them. And if you had been rude [in speech] and harsh in heart, they would have disbanded from about you."

It's by the mercy of Allah that you were made soft. Had you been hard-hearted and coarse, they would have dispersed from around you. Even when Musa is sent to Fir'aun with Harun, they're told:

"And speak to him with gentle speech." (Quran 20:44)

Say to him a gentle word. So the ruler is supposed to be gentle and not be hard, which does not mean that there aren't times for severeness. We know that Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) was harsh in the time when it needed shiddah and soft when it needed lean. The same with Abu Bakr as-Siddiq (may Allah be pleased with him), who was known for his softness. But when people refused to pay zakat, he said he would fight them even though Umar said no. This is all done with the hikmah because the Prophet ﷺ was sent:

لِيُعَلِّمَهُمُ الْكِتَابَ وَالْحِكْمَةَ

"To teach them the Book and wisdom." (Quran 2:129)

To teach them not just the book but how to implement the book in their lives.

The Duty of Obedience

Then Allah tells the people under the rulers:

"O you who have believed, obey Allah and obey the Messenger and those in authority among you."

One of the beautiful subtleties of the Quran - Allah does not repeat for a third time وَأَطِيعُوا أُولِي الْأَمْرِ مِنْكُمْ - "and obey those who are put in authority over you." It's by what's called عَطْف - their *ma'toof* and the *ma'toof alayhi* is Allah and His Rasul. In other words, as long as the rulers are obeying Allah and His messenger, then we obey Allah and His messenger. When the rulers disobey Allah and His messenger, then:

"There is no obedience for the created one in disobedience to the Creator."

(Hadith - Musnad Ahmad 1095)

This is the wisdom of Islam. When Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said to his companions around him: What would you do if you see Umar going astray? And the man pulled his sword and said: نُقَوِّمُكَ بِهَذَا - We'll straighten you out with this, يَا أَمِيرَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ. And he said: الْحَمْدُ لِلهِ - that there's still people that have some guts in this ummah. This is part of the tragedy that people literally allow these tyrants to take over and not speak out.

"And the greatest *jihad* is the word of truth before an unjust ruler."

(Sunan al-Tirmidhi 2174)

The greatest *jihad* is not the *jihad* of the sword, of the physical sword, but the sword of the tongue. In Arabic, the word قَالَ is from the same root as to cut. It means to cut. The word قلم which is pen also means to cut. So the sword, the pen, is mightier than the sword because it is a type of sword. It's the sword of the intellect which cuts through وَهُم - it cuts through all of the illusion.

"When truth comes, falsehood perishes."

When truth comes, falsehood goes. That truth is the truth of the sword of Islam which is the victory of the *deen* of Allah. But it's also the sword of the arguments of Islam, the حُجَّة and the بَرَاهِين the proofs that Allah has given this ummah over all other ummahs.

Relationships in the Household

You go from the ruler to the ruled, and then you go even into the house. Allah says:

"O you who have believed, protect yourselves and your families from a Fire whose fuel is people and stones."

(Quran 66:6)

How we behave with our families - and He tells us:

"Indeed, among your wives and your children are enemies to you, so beware of them."

(Quran 64:14)

Not just wives, because أَزْوَاج in the Quran applies to husbands as well. Ibn al-Arabi in his أَحْكَامُ الْقُرْآنِ says that this can apply to a woman who has a tyrant. Just like Asya had Fir'aun over her, there are women who have tyrants over them and there are many good Muslim women who have bad Muslim husbands. So the ayah, although many translate it as "surely in your wives and your children are enemies for you," that's not what it says. أَزْوَاج applies to male and female. People should recognize that.

But then Allah reminds us in the Quran that we also:

"Take what is given freely and enjoin what is good; and turn away from the ignorant."

(Quran 7:199)

Be forgiving. You have to be merciful. You have to turn away from ignorance. You have to do these types of things. So in these أَحْوَال these states, Allah creates harmony.

Allah tells us:

"Repel [evil] by that [deed] which is better."

(Quran 41:34)

To return wrong action in the best way. Certainly the tongue gets us into trouble more than anything else. Which is why every morning the tongue is literally - all the limbs shake and say to the tongue:

"O tongue, be straight and don't be crooked because if you're crooked, we're crooked. And if you're straight, we're straight."

(Hadith - Sunan al-Tirmidhi 2407)

The tongue is very dangerous. The tongue is literally that women have to have gentle tongues with their husbands and husbands have to have gentle tongues with their women. If the women's tongues are harsh on you, then you should be like the Prophet of Allah ﷺ that was gentle with his women.

The Story of Umar and His Wife

There's a story of one Bedouin man who was complaining about his wife and he went to Umar ibn al-Khattab when he was Amir al-Mu'mineen and he طَرَقَ الْبَابَ - knocked on the door - and then he heard from inside his wife screaming at Umar and telling him what a louse he was and he said: أَسْتَغْفِرُ اللهَ. This is Amir al-Mu'mineen! I don't have anything to complain about. He started leaving. Umar opened the door and he said: What do you want? He said: الله لا - nothing I don't want anything. He said: No, no, no, tell me what you want. You came for something. He said: No, no, no, nothing. He said: أُنْشِدُكَ بِاللهِ - I'm asking you by Allah. He said: يَا أَمِيرَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ كُنْتُ أَشْتَكِي مِنْ زَوْجَتِي - I was complaining about my wife, but when I saw what you're putting up with I said, I don't have anything to complain about.

Umar (may Allah be pleased with him), who everybody knows was harsh in a lot of ways, laughed and said: يَا - هِيَ زَوْجِي تُرَبِّي أَوْلَادِي وَتَطْبُخُ وَتُنَظِّفُ بَيْتِي وَتَغْسِلُ ثِيَابِي أَلَا أَصْبِرُ عَلَيْهَا إِذَا غَضِبَتْ : He said - أَخِي This is my wife who raises my children, who cooks my food, who cleans my house, who washes my clothes. Shouldn't I be patient if she gets angry occasionally? This is so beautiful.

Really, a lot of people don't understand in the Quran when Allah says that they have what is against them:

"And due to the wives is similar to what is expected of them, according to what is reasonable."

(Quran 2:228)

They have what's against them. And Allah says: And men have a *darajah* over women. Look what Ibn Abbas, whose تَرْجُمَانُ الْقُرْآنِ says about that *darajah*. He says: It's the *darajah* of تَنَازُل - which means that while he gives her all of her rights, he doesn't expect all of his rights from her. That's the *darajah*. That he forgives his wife for the shortcomings in his rights, although he gives her her complete rights because he recognizes this woman is in *jihad*. She is *mujahida*.

She is doing تَرْبِيَةُ الْأَوْلَادِ. The Prophet ﷺ said: Whoever dies in childbirth dies a *shaheed*. Whoever raises a Muslim child in Islam has the *ajr* of a *mujahid* fee *sabilillah*. This is *jihad*. And man خِدْمَةُ الرِّجَالِ is *jihad* Now we have to recognize - the men, and I'm talking to the men here - our women are doing *jihad* and we're not.

So as far as I'm concerned, they have a *maqam* over us. Because those sitting around doing nothing aren't like those الَّذِينَ يُجَاهِدُونَ فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ. We need to really get off of our proverbial seats and get up and start doing *jihad*. Then we can start maybe complaining about the women. I know some of the men say, there he goes again about these women.

6. Al-Iqtisad: Islamic Economics

There are so many things. He's cut short my time. I wanted to go to *iqtisad* - الْاِقْتِصَادُ which is economics in Islam. SubhanAllah, this *deen* has looked at everything. From economics, there are two things that the Islamic religion looks at.

Source of Income

First of all مَا طَابَ لَكَ فِي اقْتِصَابِ الْمَالِ - that your source of income must be a good source of income. That's the most important thing - what's called the *halal*. That you take your wealth from the *halal*.

(Sahih Muslim 1015)

"Indeed, Allah is Pure and only accepts what is pure."

(Sahih Muslim 1015)

Allah is pure and only accepts the pure. So if our wealth and our source of wealth is not pure, then Allah doesn't accept anything from it. Even our own food becomes *haram*. The cells that make up our body are made out of *haram* wealth. This is why *ma'asiyah* and all these things. This is why food and guarding one's food used to be the major concern of the *sahaba*. This is mentioned in many books.

Allah tells us about *iqtisab*:

"And when the prayer has been concluded, disperse within the land and seek from the bounty of Allah."

(Quran 62:10)

When prayer is over, go out and seek the bounty of Allah. This is not like Christianity that looks down on the world. No. The world is a place for us to earn our livelihoods. There's nothing wrong when in fact wealth in Islam is not seen as bad as long as the *haq* of Allah, the right of Allah in the wealth, is used properly. There's nothing wrong. We need wealthy people. We have too many *fuqara* and we have too few *agniya*. And I mean *salihin*.

The Muslim ummah is filled with *agniya* that are just قِرَدَةً وَخَنَازِيرَ - spending their life just in their *shahwat* and *laddhat*. These people are just really - like Sayyidina Ali said about wealth: حَرَامُهُ عَذَابٌ وَحَلَالُهُ حِسَابٌ - The *haram* of wealth is a punishment and the *halal* of wealth is a reckoning.

Really, people who aren't thinking about wealth that Allah has given them to use to spread this *deen* - Khadija (may Allah be pleased with her) exhausted her wealth supporting the Prophet ﷺ. We know Abdurrahman ibn Awf, Uthman ibn Affan, Abu Bakr as-Siddiq who gave all his wealth, Umar ibn al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him), Abu Dharr al-Ghifari who brought dates for the *ghazwah*. Because he was so poor but he gave - everybody gave what they had.

If this spirit of Islam returns to this, even just this auditorium, if people took on this, it's amazing what can be done with that.

Spending Wealth

The second aspect of the *iqtisad* is حُسْنُ النَّظَرِ فِي صَرْفِهِ فِي مَصَارِفِهِ - guarding the way that you earn it and then watching the way that you spend it. Allah says:

"And do not make your hand [as] chained to your neck or extend it completely."

(Quran 17:29)

Don't make it too extravagant. It's a middle way with our wealth. اقتصاد in Arabic like in English, economical means to be kind of, to not spend. But in Arabic, it actually means to be اقْتِصَاد. قَصْد is a middle way. So the *iqtisad* of Islam is following the middle way.

Allah says:

"Then eat of what Allah has provided for you [which is] lawful and good."

(Quran 16:114)

Eat, devour what you have gained in a good way. And many *ayahs*:

"And [they are] those who, when they spend, do so not excessively or sparingly but are ever, between that, [justly] moderate."

(Quran 25:67)

Those who when they spend, they're not extravagant nor are they stingy, but between the two in a moderate way. This is the *iqtisad* of Islam.

7. Al-Siyasah: Islamic Politics

The next thing, which is the seventh one, is the politics of Islam - السَّيَاسَة. The politics is based on two things: خَارِجِيَّةٌ وَدَاخِلِيَّةٌ - external politics and internal politics.

External Politics

The external politics that Islam teaches us in the Quran is:

"And prepare against them whatever you are able of power and of steeds of war by which you may terrify the enemy of Allah and your enemy."

(Quran 8:60)

Prepare all forms in order to frighten our opponents. Now إِرْهَاب, which is taken on a very negative term in the modern language - Islam actually believes in a true type of إِرْهَاب. Not in the blowing up buses إِرْهَاب but in the إِرْهَاب that you scare people so much they don't want to fight you. This is really a preventative method to war.

This is why Allah tells us to prepare so that they don't want to fight you. The Prophet ﷺ said:

نُصِرْتُ بِالرُّعْبِ مَسِيرَةَ شَهْرٍ

(Sahih Bukhari 335)

I was given victory by fear that Allah struck in the hearts of those who opposed Him. Allah says in many ayahs of the Quran about being aware (خُذُوا حِذْرَكُمْ - watching and being aware of them). And that you should know that these people want us to be heedless and to fall into heedlessness, which is what happened.

This is the السِّيَاسَةُ الْخَارِجِيَّةِ which also is based on what's called أَحْكَامُ السِّيرِ - which are the أَحْكَام or the rules that relate to dealing internationally. We literally created international law. International law, even though the modern international law takes no look at the laws that Islam produced in international law, was called أَحْكَامُ السِّيرِ. But Islam really provided the world with its first sense of international law. This is a historical fact. Our laws are based on justice, not based on injustice like these international laws, the League of Thieves and the United Nations of Exploitation and these things.

Internal Politics: The Six Kulliyat

The السَّيَاسَةُ الدَّاخِلِيَّة is based on six things. Like al-Laqqani says:

ثُمَّ نَفْسٌ مَا نَسَبٌ وَمَالٌ وَعَقْلٌ وَعِرْضٌ قَدْ وَجَبْ حِفْظُ دِينٍ

These are called the six كُلِّيَّات. Some call them five depending on the أُصُولِي. Some put نَسَب and عِرْض in the same category. But the six things that Islam came to preserve - this is the basis of the internal politics of the Muslims. If you want to talk about Islamic State, this is what the Islamic governance is based on. It is based on preserving six things. If you know them, and you should know them.

First: Preserving the Deen

The first is دِین - that we preserve the دِین of Islam. Allah preserves that in several ways. إِقَامَةُ الصَّلَاةِ is one way of preserving it. Also the فَرَائِضُ الْكِفَايَةِ - that people have to learn the rules of Islam.

And now, I don't think this is an exaggerated statement - it is فَرْضُ عَيْنٍ on people when they're not doing it. There are not enough people learning the Islamic sciences. It is فَرْضُ عَيْنٍ on people to learn the Arabic language, to learn the rules of fiqh. One of the signs of end of time: You have lots of Quran reciters, and nobody that understood it.

Really, we have people that memorize from أَلِفْ لَامْ مِيمْ all the way to النَّاس and you ask them the meaning of the ayah, and they don't know. And this is, although الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ they're preserving the Quran, the rules of the Quran have to be preserved.

The Prophet said:

(Sunan al-Darimi 3332)

There's coming a time on my Ummah, on people, that nothing remained of the Quran except the letters. That's it. He said to his Sahaba: أَنْتُمْ فِي زَمَانٍ تُحَافِظُونَ حُدُودَ اللَّهِ وَتُضَيِّعُونَ حُرُوفَهُ وَسَيَأْتِي عَلَى أُمَّةٍ زَمَانٌ يُحَافِظُونَ عَلَى حُرُوفِهِ وَيُضَيِّعُونَ حُدُودَهُ - You're in a time where you guard the حُدُود of Allah's deen, the boundaries the شَرِيعة. And you're not - you don't - because people memorize the whole Quran, but the actual letters are not known by many of you. But he said: There's coming a time on my Ummah, many will know the letters, but they'll forget about the حُدُود So that's the deen.

Second: Preserving Life (Nafs)

Then نَفْس - and the reason there's قِصَاص: you kill somebody who kills to preserve نَفْس The preservation of life itself is sacred in Islam.

Third: Preserving Wealth (Mal)

Then the preservation of wealth - and this is why Allah has commanded to cut the hand of the one who steals, if they steal. Why? To preserve the wealth of Muslims.

Fourth: Preserving Lineage (Nasab)

Then Allah preserved نَسَب. This is why fornication is prohibited in Islam - to preserve the نَسَب the lineage of people. People have to know who they are and where they came from and who their fathers were. This is all the preservation of the deen of Islam.

Fifth: Preserving the Intellect ('Aql)

Then the . Allah has made خَمْر [harm] The مُذَكَّرَات and the مُفْسِدَات - there's two types of things that influence the intellect. مُذَكَّرَات are those things like wine, alcohol, spirits, those types of things. The مُفْسِد are drugs and those types of things like hashish, marijuana, opium, and now crack cocaine. These types of things go under the category of مُفْسِدَاتٍ. مُذَكِّرَاتٌ they're all حَرَام. All of them are حَرَام. I heard somebody say that marijuana was not خَمْرٍ or something like that. I mean that's why they call them pothead - because they're just stupid. So preserving the intellect.

Sixth: Preserving Honor ('Ird)

Then the عِرْض - which is why Allah has prohibited us to call one another names and things like that. Because the عِرْض of people - Allah says:

"And do not backbite one another." (Quran 49:12)

"And do not spy." (Quran 49:12)

Don't spy on one another. Guard the عِرْض of people. This is something people are so lax about in this age. Wallahi, people have no taqwa of Allah about the أَعْرَاض of people. If you don't know something, if you hear things about people:

"Investigate." (Quran 49:6)

You have to find out whether it's true. Most things, my advice to you is just tell them like one of the salaf - somebody came backbiting and he said: Didn't Shaytan find anybody else but you to bring me this stuff? You know, that's the way you should look at it. People just - don't you have something more to - ايش بدخلك؟ ايش بعرك؟ Don't you have anything more to concern yourself with than the news of other people?

Really. Like one man during the fitna, one of the salihin was asked about Muawiyah (may Allah be pleased with them all). Because they want to find out whether you were with Ali or Muawiyah. And he said: شَغَلَتْنِي عُيُوبِي عَنْ عُيُوبِ غَيْرِي - I'm too preoccupied with my own wrong actions to be thinking about what other people are doing wrong. This is the mawqif of the salaf.

Like Sayyidina Ali - one man asked Sayyidina Ali: Why is it all the trouble started when Uthman and you came into power? When Abu Bakr and Umar were in power, we didn't have fitna. Sayyidina Ali said: Because Umar and Abu Bakr had men like Uthman and me under them, and we have men like you under us. So that's the whole problem right there in a nutshell. That's the siyasa.

8. Tasleet al-Kuffar: Why the Disbelievers Rule Over Muslims

The next one is: Why the kuffar are over the Muslims? The deen of Islam tells us:

"Say, 'It is from yourselves.'" (Quran 3:165)

"Why is it that when a [single] disaster struck you [on the day of Uhud], although you had struck [the enemy in the battle of Badr] with one twice as great, you said, 'From where is this?'" (Quran 3:165)

When a tribulation that they were afflicted with, just like the kuffar used to be under us - and they see that as a musibah. Now we're under them. Well Allah said: You ask, why did this happen? Allah says: قُلْ هُوَ مِنْ عِندِ أَنفُسِكُمْ - It's from your own self.

Every Jumu'ah, the imam for 1400 years has been saying:

"And do not put over us because of our own wrong actions those who have no mercy and do not fear You."

The tasleed of kuffar over us is by our own self. We can't blame them. We have to stop blaming them. They're just like the dog over a dead body. You can't blame them. Just like you can't blame people that use organ transplant and things like that. If the person wrote on the thing, you can use my liver or kidney, and then the person dies, they take the liver out - don't blame them because you gave them permission. Through our wrong actions, we give them permission to come and take us over. That's the truth. So we have to recognize that sharia dealt with that as a problem in itself.

9. Mushkilat Du'f al-Muslimeen: The Weakness of Muslims

The next is مُشْكِلَةُ ضَعْفِ الْمُسْلِمِينَ - the problem of the weakness of the Muslims and how to fight them. We know that Allah has told us in the Quran that the weakness of power, material weakness - that is not the ضَعْف of the Muslims. The weakness of the Muslims is a weakness of Iman.

The reason for that is:

"And already had Allah given you victory at [the battle of] Badr while you were few in number." (Quran 3:123)

Allah gave you victory in Badr and you were weak and abased in the earth. This is what Allah told us.

In the Quran it says that the munafiqun say:

"Do not spend on those who are with the Messenger of Allah until they disperse." (Quran 63:7)

Don't spend on those who are with the messenger until they disperse. Now this is what is called in modern times economic sanctions. That's exactly what it is. It's economic sanctions. They put an economic sanction on the Prophet in Mecca. We know that for a fact. They did that. They completely tied him up. They would not allow people to sell to him anything or to his followers. They wanted to destroy them.

But Iman is over that. Allah's power is over their power. These are tests from Allah for رَفْعُ الدَّرَجَاتِ and تَكْفِيرُ الذُّنُوب. That's all they are. Allah raises this ummah up through these اِبْتِلات That's how they're raised up. But we have to respond with the right response.

Because the munafiqun are the ones that when things go bad, they turn away from Allah. The ones who:

"Worship Allah on an edge." (Quran 22:11)

They worship Allah just on the bare edge. When things are going good, they're with Allah. When they go bad, they turn on their back. No, we have to be with Allah when things are hard and when things are easy.

(Sahih Muslim 2999)

"Amazing is the affair of the believer - all of it is good."

The amr of the mu'min is all good. If it's hard, he thanks Allah. If it's easy, he thanks Allah. And that's only for the mu'min. That's the whole idea of the du'f amongst the Muslims.

Allah says:

They don't understand that Allah has in the storehouses of the heavens and the earth. If we truly believe that, then we know that power is with Allah.

"And whoever relies upon Allah - then He is sufficient for him." (Quran 65:3)

This is not a slogan. The one who trusts in Allah, Allah is enough for him. That is not a slogan. But it has to be really believed and understood in order for it to be effectual.

Allah says:

"Allah is the ally of those who believe. He brings them out from darknesses into the light." (Quran 2:257)

Allah is the Wali, the protecting friend of those who believe. He takes them out of darkness into light. Iman is based on:

"So do not weaken and do not grieve, and you will be superior if you are [true] believers." (Quran 3:139)

Don't despair and don't be weak, if you are believers in Allah. That's the condition. If you're in that conditional state of believing in Allah, once the condition doesn't exist, then what's contingent upon it no longer exists either.

10. Sabab Ikhtilaf al-Qulub: Why Hearts Are Divided

The last one is (سَبَبُ اِخْتِلَافِ الْقُلُوبِ - Sabab Ikhtilaf al-Qulub) - Why the hearts are in dispersion? Why our hearts are separate? This is a really important question. Really the whole basis of Quran can be reduced to two principles: What's called (دَرْءُ الْمَفَاسِدِ - Dar'ul Mafaasid) and (وَجَلْبُ الْمَصَالِحِ - Wa Jalbul Masalih) - putting off evil and bringing about benefit to human beings. This has to be the understanding of the Muslims.

(دَرْءُ الْمَفَاسِدِ - Dar'ul Mafaasid) is based on avoiding any harm to come to these six things that I mentioned before: the deen, the nafs, the mal, the nasab, the intellect, the good name, and these things. So that's (دَرْءُ الْمَفَاسِدِ - Dar'ul Mafaasid). And the (جَلْبُ الْمَصَالِحِ - Jalbul Masalih) is doing good things. So Allah has given us all of this guidance to bring the hearts together in Islam. If we follow that guidance, Allah would give us tawfiq to unite the hearts.

The reason:

"You think they are together, but their hearts are diverse."

You think that they're together but their hearts are dispersed. Allah says:

"That is because they are a people who do not reason."

Because there are people that don't use their intellects. The reason that hearts become different is because we're not using our intellect. Like the Moroccans say : (مَا كَانْتْ عَقْلٌ وَاللهِ - Ma kaant 'aql wallah) - There's no, they don't have any brains. This is why the Muslims are separate - because there's no brains.

Because if we recognize that our benefit is in our unity, we put aside our differences to harmonize in order to accomplish what we need to accomplish. I've said this before and I'll just reiterate it again because reminding benefits the believers: This is an age of defending the house, not cleaning the house. In other words, we're being attacked from every side and we're all inside bickering about who's going to wash the dishes. Literally the house is being bombarded. We literally have to broaden our understanding a bit and recognize that our benefit is to work together.

Learning from Our Enemies

I read a book which is an interesting book done by a missionary in a college, a professor in missiology. He did a book called The Possibilities of Dawah in America. It's a very interesting book. One of the things he said is that really the Muslims will not have success in establishing the Deen of Islam. He gave several reasons among which were - he stated the fact that their organizations rarely work together and in fact more occasionally work in antagonism to each other. That they work against each other. They love that.

There's a man sponsored by the State Department who did a PhD called Areas of Potential Trouble Between African American Converts to Islam and Immigrant Muslims. They're already looking: What are the potential areas that we can create fitna between African American Muslims and Immigrant Muslims? Because they don't want us to unite. This is the great rule of colonialism and of every conqueror: Divide and conquer. So that's what Allah tells us.

The Call to Unity

We should unite the hearts. We should really make an effort to bind the hearts together.

"O Prophet, sufficient for you is Allah and whoever follows you of the believers."

"It is He who supported you with His help and with the believers. And brought together their hearts. If you had spent all that is in the earth, you could not have brought their hearts together; but Allah brought them together. Indeed, He is Exalted in Might and Wise."

Allah is enough for those who follow the Messenger.

Conclusion

(أَسْتَغْفِرُ اللهَ - Astaghfirullah). (أَقُولُ قَوْلِي هُذَا وَالسَّلَامُ عَلَيْكُمْ - Aqulu qawli hadha wassalamu alaykum). (جَزَاكَ اللَّهُ خَيْرًا - Jazakallahu khairan)

(اللَّهُ أَكْبَرِ اللَّهُ أَكْبَرٍ - Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar)