The Confused Muslim Today

sometimes we make life so difficult for everyone. I give you one more example.

Something that will point straight at us. A lot of us would be guilty of this. Allahu Akbar.

May Allah protect us. Someone is interested in your daughter. MashaAllah.

Alhamdulillah. Others are struggling to get married. So firstly thank Allah.

Remember this. Look at it that way. Others are struggling to get a decent guy.

Others are struggling to get married. But someone is interested in your daughter but because his family lives across the river and we live on this side of the river or we come from a city and they come from further down south or up north. We say, No.

I don't want. Why? Don't you know where they come from? Is that Islam? Come on. Where did you come? So now when there is depression in your home, blame yourself.

Don't blame Islam. When there is chaos and everyone doesn't talk to you, I would rather the child make a mistake to marry the wrong person than to lose the child's mind. Because today, it is our fault.

We blame religion to say, You know Allah has taught us this and that. When we don't understand what we have done, we have just been selective. We choose what suits us.

Because we are worried about our own reputation and prestige. How can my daughter marry this man when he doesn't really have anything? To be honest, your grandfather had nothing. Allahu Akbar.

The Proper Islamic Approach to Marriage

There was a time my brothers and sisters when we got our children married. Or they, should I say not we because it's hardly happening now. This is what we are trying to inshallah cure by the will of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

But they got their children married knowing that this man is responsible, he has deen and akhlaq. That's all they looked at. And slowly, 20 years later, they purchased their house.

Or they bought their first car after 15 years. And that too was a little Mini Cooper. Allahu Akbar.

I thought about it because nowadays Mini Coopers are very expensive. But at that time they were a little bit cheaper. Subhanallah.

So, today we have a new type of looking at things where you don't get them married unless and until he's a rich man. So what happens? You go to him. What do you have? What do you own? He says, I just have a job, a decent job.

Not good enough. Come back when you own a house. By that time, there is chaos, confusion.

If someone proposes to your daughter and you are happy with his deen and character, then marry him off. If you don't do that, there will be great chaos, corruption, confusion on earth.

Jami' at-Tirmidhi

The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam says, if a proposal comes in your direction and the person happens to have decent character, then let him get married. If you don't do that, there will be great chaos, corruption, confusion on earth. This is what we are noticing now, confusion.

Confused Muslim, why? Because of something that is quite simple that we've made difficult.

The Consequences of Our Choices

Then you have a depressive mode, subhanallah, where because of the way we have chosen to bring up our children, when we face reality of the result of our own choices, we quickly blame Allah, and we quickly blame the deen. But you the one who sent your child to that school, you the one who decided to live in that neighborhood, you the one who decided to do this for your child and that for your child in the name of love and whatever else.

And now when the result of it has come, your child for example would like to marry a person from the same community or from the school they went to, and they were bombarded with people of the opposite sex every day. You are the one who comes and say no, and you don't even know what's going on in society. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala grant us ease.

May Allah open our doors. Remember something, what differences we may have in terms of where I was born and you were born, they become irrelevant when it comes to the deen and the akhlaq of an individual. You look at that.

If they are responsible, and if they are upright, no matter how they are living, they will look after your daughter as a gem. There are so many people who are extremely wealthy, who have treated their wives like slaves. Or without any form of respect, no respect, they have no trustworthiness within them.

Whereas there are others who perhaps would not be able to afford the luxuries of the world, but they treat their spouses with utmost respect. And they are so happy living in a hut. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala grant us happiness of the dunya and the akhira.

This is something we really need to look into very deeply.

The Third Major Confusion: Rejecting the Sunnah

Then what happens? Now going back to learning the Qur'an and studying the message of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, it will lead us to the sunnah of Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. Great confusion today.

People say, this is the Qur'an. That's it. I take it, it's a revelation.

Yes, I've heard the verse of the Qur'an. Allah says:

Will they not ponder very deeply over the verses of the Qur'an? Or are there locks on their hearts?

We say, no, alhamdulillah, I'm the one who's going to look into the Qur'an and see its meaning. But as for the sunnah of Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, I don't want to look into it.

Why? Because it's confusing. What is so confusing about it, my brother, my sister? If you read the Qur'an correctly, it will lead you to the sunnah of Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam.

Whatever the messenger has given you in terms of instruction, follow it. Whatever he has prohibited, stay away from it and fear Allah.

What that means is, the messenger too has come with revelation from Allah. Don't let someone fool you and confuse you by saying this is the Qur'an and we are going to sit with it, and whatever is not in the Qur'an, we don't want to take it, because that Qur'an leads you to certain other things.

So much so that the Qur'an leads you to asking those with knowledge. What about the Prophet? Allah says:

And you will find this verse in more than one place in the Qur'an. Ask those who have knowledge, who have knowledge of revelation, if you don't know.

The Importance of Seeking Proper Knowledge

And this is why we say, my brothers and sisters, when you are reading the Qur'an and you have a question that crops up naturally within you regarding a certain verse or what Allah has said, don't attempt to just answer it on your own without seeking clarification and deeper understanding from those who have been taught by a chain of narrators going down from Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam and they have solid knowledge.

Then they will be able to tell you, listen, if this is the confusion, then this is how you should look at it. And if you want, ask a few more people, because today sometimes we could be making a few errors in our understanding.

So ask those with sound knowledge. Get some knowledge, listen to what they have to say. Whoever backs themselves up with revelation, whether it is the Qur'an or the Sunnah of Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, they are more worthy of following than those who don't do that.

Remember that. So this is why we say, don't allow yourself to insult Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam while claiming to be a follower of the Qur'an. Like Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says:

Whoever is going to dispute with the messenger, whoever is going to fight against the messenger and from what he has declared.

After the guidance has come to him, after guidance has been made clear to him, and he follows the path which is separate from the path of the true believers. Then Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, he has engaged in something very grave. Do you know the meaning of نُوَلِّهِ مَا تَوَلَّىٰ? It has several meanings.

One of them is, we beautify that which is not beautiful for him, so he looks at it as that which is beautiful. So the truth is made to be looked at as false, and the falsehood is made to be looked at as good and true. Why? Because they have fought the messenger.

They did not want to respect the dignity and honor of the messenger sallallahu alayhi wasallam. No. So Allah says, for them is a really difficult abode in hellfire.

We don't want that to happen to us. Allah says, what a bad place to be returned to or to go to. We wouldn't like to go to a bad place.

But remember one thing, part and parcel of the respect of Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wasallam is to study his sunnah as well. And inshallah we will be talking about the sunnah of Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wasallam in one of our talks. An important topic, a matter that we need to look into very deeply.

May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala cure us of the confusion that people have today. Or people are trying to promote and they say, just take the Quran and that's it. How will you understand the message of the Quran if you haven't looked at the way it was explained by the one whom it was revealed to in particular.

Imagine you have a constitution of the land and the people who have made the constitution are not consulted as to how exactly to interpret it. Do you expect the others to know better? So you say, I accept

the constitution but those who wrote it or those who brought it forth or those who have come up with it, we don't even want to look in their direction. We will come up with our own little understanding.

No, it's not fair. We need to know how to look at it. And we need to understand that Allah has instructed us to follow Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam.

May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala bless us.

The Fourth Major Confusion: Hypocrisy and Arrogance

My brothers and sisters, as we progress studying the Quran, shaitan comes to try and confuse us. Another major confusion, what is it? The issue of hypocrisy where shaitan confuses us by making us feel that the minute I have outwardly turned to Allah then I do not need to worry about the inside.

I don't need to develop my character. I don't need to look at others with respect. So we become very arrogant.

Why? Because I am a Muslim who is in salah five times a day. The others are not here. So much so that, okay, we do have a hadith that warn us about not fulfilling salah.

We know that. We all know that. If I were to ask you, how many salah are there in the day? Every one of us would say five salah a day.

We would all acknowledge that. And we do know that it is very detrimental for our very iman and belief in Allah if we were to abandon even a single one of them. So become strong my brothers and sisters.

However, whilst becoming strong, we should treat others in a way that we understand where we were ourselves and where we would like them to get.

The Problem of Religious Arrogance

And this is why one of the issues of confusion is, when a person has been rightly guided at the age of 40, they see the light. A lot of us, sometimes 25, 30, 35, 40, sometimes 50, 60, we begin to see the light.

And when we see the light, we become so hard with everyone else that we expect them to see the light in five seconds. Five seconds. But my brother, you took 40 years to come to the deen.

My sister, it took you up to the age of 50 to realize you've got to cover your hair. And today I know, we desperately seek to guide others. But remember, your duty is to deliver the goods and that's it.

Your duty is to try to convey the message and that's it. The rest is in the hands of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. We begin to hate people whom we think are not on the same religious level.

That alone is a confusion of the devil who makes you think you are religious when in actual fact, you are worse than those maybe whom you are looking down upon. So don't underestimate people. This is why

Oh, let's go. Next thing, plop, the date comes down. And you're having the date.

What do you think? No, the date didn't come. When I refused, subhanallah, I told him, no way. He says, but this jinn I have, he's a sahabi.

Sahabi. He's a Muslim. He has met so and so, so and so.

And so many different companions. And he has taken hadith directly. Okay.

So I said, so now, he said, so he's given me narrations. And you know how it says, An-Abi Hurairat radiallahu anhu and their name, chain of narration and so on. This man says, bugger all that.

It's me through the jinn to the prophet. Straight. So you can add and subtract in your deen as and when you wish because a certain man told you that he saw the prophet through a jinn or he saw him in a dream and he forgot 50 hadith and he quickly gave them to me.

Subhanallah. I'm shocked that people can believe that. If that was the case, we can all start dreaming.

And everyone of us will say, well, I had a dream. And you know what? There was a message that was forgotten at the time. So now what has happened is, it was given to me.

Don't you read the Quran where Allah says:

This day I have completed your faith. I have perfected your deen. I have completed my gift upon you is total. It is complete. There is nothing to add and subtract in the deen.

It's all done. The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم asked the companions, have I delivered the message? They said, yes, you have. He says:

Oh Allah, bear witness. I conveyed it. It's over.

We bear witness. And they bore witness that he sallallahu alayhi wa sallam has delivered the message. And he has delivered the امانة, the trust that was placed on his shoulders.

But subhanallah, here comes a man who tells you, this jinn is a sahabi. So I told him, do you know what? Let me tell you that the jinn are liars. They lie.

Don't believe even one word. Not even one. And the Qur'an says:

Read about what Allah says regarding the jinn and the ins. Mankind and jinn kind. Allah says, oh jinn kind, you have now made enough fools of mankind. One of the translations.

You've got a lot of your followers amongst mankind. We follow Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. So on the day of judgment, you will find the two of them, or jinn kind and mankind, separating ways.

The Danger of Blaming Innocent People

And this is why Allah says:

Powerful verse. Where Allah says, on that day, they will say, you know what, we just enjoyed each other's company for a while in this world.

And we enjoyed the give and take between us. But Allah was forgotten. The message of Allah was removed from the equation.

So as a result, Allah says النَّارُ مَثْوَاكُمْ. That fire is the abode. May Allah protect us. Who wants to go into the fire? Who wants to be entering Jahannam? We hear about it, may Allah protect us from Jahannam.

If you want to be protected from Jahannam, you need knowledge of how to be protected from it. Don't just believe anything and everything.

The Issue of False Accusations

People tell you, that you know what, and this is another very very serious issue.

I firmly believe that 100% of the time when someone tells you that someone has done black magic upon you, and they issue you with a name, the name is wrong. You may have black magic, you may be a possessed person, but the name they gave you is absolute nonsense. Totally nonsense.

And there will be a little bit of politics between you and that person. Because the jinn gives the name to whoever it is. He can be a sheikh, as pious as he might be in terms of reading salah in the first saf.

But believe me, the confusion is he thinks the jinn are telling the truth. The jinn are telling you a lie. Total lie.

Complete false. They want to create chaos amongst you, your family members especially. The jinn, one of their main aims is to destroy your family.

So 9 times out of 10, when you are affected by something, here will come a big sheikh, and he'll tell you, you know, you are possessed. Maybe that might be right. We still give credit sometimes maybe to that.

And then he will tell you, one of your own relatives did it, and he might even give you a name, but that name will be of someone who's close to you in relation or in friendship. Why? Because go to the Quran, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says:

This is what the devil teaches people how to split between a husband and his wife.

Why? Because the core, if the core is split, there is confusion in the rest of the family. I don't talk to my sister. For 20 years someone told me.

Why? Because some sheikh told me she did magic. And believe me, the sister is the furthest away from being accused. And another thing is, one day you saw the sister driving past a certain village.

And you said, what was she doing there? She went to see the witch doctor in order to engage in the magic. I seek refuge with Allah. Shaytan is confusing you, playing with your mind.

Do you not believe in Allah? Don't you know why the last two surahs of the Quran were revealed? They were revealed to protect yourselves from this type of item and ourselves as believers. So, why don't you recite it? Why don't you have conviction in Allah? Allah will cure you. You will continue in the correct path.

Don't fall by destroying relations with those who are totally innocent solely because one man claimed to know the unseen. Believe me, like I said, he got his information from the jinn if he did. And the jinn, they lie.

And they are laughing now. Laughing to say, wow, we got them exactly where we wanted to get them. Where? Well, the brothers accusing the sister and the in-laws and so on.

And these people are accusing each other. And the ummah is now in chaos. Why? Every one of us accusing the other.

You look at the sister, innocent person with a lot of goodness and sincerity. And you run in another direction as a sister in Islam. Subhanallah.

Because you have a dirty belief in your heart regarding someone who's totally innocent. Why? You just believe the jinn. So, where is Allah in the equation?

Where is Allah? These are innocent people.

And I know people who are affected are so passionate that even what I'm saying now, they'll say, this man doesn't know. Because we are passionate. We desperately need to blame someone.

The Problem of Negative Speculation

I give you another example. We have said and we continue to say that negative speculation is haram. Do you know that? You know, a few days ago I said regarding the aircraft, may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala grant us a miracle.

I'm going to talk about it because it's the topic of the day. It's a current issue. And we will say that which is responsible, inshallah.

I said speculation is wrong. So someone says, well, you have to speculate in order to try and find out. We are not talking of that type of speculation where you are thinking of probabilities in a decent way.

We're talking of dirty, negative speculation that is full of filth. That's what we're talking about. Now what has happened to us? We find ourselves wanting so desperately to blame someone for something we really don't know.

So we accuse innocent people in the process. And this is what happens. And we call it, you know what, subhanallah, yes, yes, yes, it's fine.

That must have happened. Tomorrow someone will do the same to you. Then what? Then what? How can your desperation make you be unjust?

An Example of Unjust Blame

Imagine a person stole at your house.

You don't know who stole. So you stand by your gate and you look at the people and you find a man from Nigeria. And just because you think that, okay, this man is Nigerian, let's now just blame him, he's the thief.

Whereas some of the most pious people come from that country. Do you know that? When I visited, I was shocked to see the masajid which were full choking choco block. And I was shocked to say, subhanallah, look at how beautiful these people are.

I learned to love the people and the place so much so that I would go back there any day, subhanallah. But because we have sometimes become confused by the devil, in our desperation to blame someone for our problem, we start doing the wrong thing. Remember this, it's wrong.

And the same way, as I was mentioning a few moments ago, we begin to believe the devil, literally the devil, shaitan, iblis' army. And they come to us and say, this person did that and that person did this, and this is why you are sick. And then what they say is, look, I will do something and you will be cured.

So, subhanallah, we go and they do something and we are cured. Well, if what they did was outside of what Allah has asked us to do, outside of that which was permissible, then remember, no matter how cured you have become, you failed your test.

The Driving License Analogy

Some people get their driver's license just because they bribed the examiner.

No matter what, you are the one causing the accidents on the road. Allahu Akbar. May Allah grant us goodness.

I don't think it happens in this country. Okay, the laughter means something else. Allahu Akbar.

I still believe it doesn't happen in this country. Allahu Akbar. But in some countries it does.

May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala bless us all. May Allah protect us. You might pass your examination, but in reality you failed and you know it.

You know it, you failed. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala help us really to understand the plan of Allah. May Allah cure us.

May He make us those who have sound knowledge. Without sound knowledge, we will not be able to be from those who understand what's going on. We won't.

Because you need knowledge.

Indeed, the cure of ignorance is to ask, to seek, and to seek from the correct source. And in order to protect yourself from chaos and confusion, go back to what Allah has revealed.

The Importance of Reading Allah's Book

Can I tell you why? I'm going to meet with Allah and so are you. Don't you agree? Aren't we looking forward to the day when we meet our maker?

Subhanallah. Today we get excited when we meet someone who might just be a little bit popular and so on, and we get excited.

Wow. The one who made me and you. We are more excited to see him.

But when we see him, will we be able to say, I read your book which you sent for me. Will we be able to say that? Allahu Akbar. You know, I'm just a mere mortal.

I'm just a human being. Perhaps one of the worst of the lot here. But I tell you something.

Sometimes people embarrass me by saying, You know what? Ah, sheikh, how are you? I've seen all your videos and I've this. Relax. Take it easy.

I'm just a human being. But have you read the book of Allah? And they say, But my sheikh in the masjid told me it's haram. So when you meet Allah, will you say, Ya Allah, I really wanted to read your message to me, but my sheikh told me that it's haram.

So does your sheikh own paradise or hell? He doesn't. You need to understand. Yes, we will respect him and we will take from him the good.

But when they are making a mistake, that's where we differ. You read the word of Allah, that is Allah's message to you. You are brought into existence.

You are such a powerful person. You have a mind and a brain that is so sophisticated. You have a health system that operates far more sophisticated than any apparatus in existence.

Subhanallah. And yet, with that mind that now is so technologically advanced, you still want to say, I'm not going to read the word of Allah? Come on, come on. It's not going to confuse you.

It will remove your confusion. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala bless us. May He grant us ease.

The Final Major Confusion: Misunderstanding Jihad

My brothers and sisters, as you can see, the issues that confuse us are many, many. I want to end with one, serious one. I spoke about it last night, I touched on it.

But I need to talk about it because it's the problem across the globe. One of the biggest confusions is people think that all the non-Muslims need to be killed. It's a confusion.

In fact, in reality, it is created by the devil. And sometimes we think we're so pious that those who don't think exactly as we think do not deserve to be living. That is not Islam.

That is unacceptable. That is definitely deviation, the height of deviation. Subhanallah.

We are passionate to convey to the masses the true message of Rasulullah (صلى الله عليه وسلم), of tolerance, of hope, of reaching out to people, different people, different faiths, different belongings, different inclinations. Reach out even to the enemy in a positive way. And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will open your doors.

The problem with us is we don't reach out to people. And we feel, okay, because this person has hurt me, it's over, it's over. I'm going to make sure that I destroy this and destroy that and do that.

What are you talking about? No religion preaches that type of behavior. Remember, you resolve the matter. Resolve the problem.

Talk about it. Make sure that you reach out to people tomorrow. And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says it very clearly in the Quran.

"But if they repent, perform as-salah (the prayers), and give az-zakah, then they are your brothers in faith."

Those hypocrites and the enemies, we're talking here about open outright enemies. Allah says if they turn, repent, they fulfill their salah, they engage in the good deeds, they automatically become your brethren in faith. They become your brothers in faith.

Subhanallah. After a person was my enemy, how can he become my brother? Allah says, yes, he becomes your brother in faith. And this is why Allah says:

"Perhaps Allah will put affection between you and those of them whom you hold as enemies. And Allah is All-Powerful; and Allah is All-Forgiving, Most Merciful."

Allah is all capable and all able to create love between you and the one you hate.

That's what Allah says. You dislike someone with a passion, your enemy. Allah says, I have the capacity to create love between the two of you.

It has happened, it does happen, and it will always happen. Allah says (وَاللَّهُ قَدِيرٌ - wallahu qadir). Allah is all able. (وَاللَّهُ غَفُورٌ رَّحِيمٌ - wallahu ghafurur-rahim). Allah is most forgiving, most merciful.

Look at Abu Sufyan (رضي الله عنه). Look at Khalid ibn Walid (رضي الله عنه)

Inshallah, we'll be speaking about the companions of Rasulullah (صلى الله عليه وسلم) and their sacrifice. But to be honest, those were enemies of Islam.

Enemy number one. And what happened? They became related powerfully through the deen and even through marriage. Allahu Akbar.

So this is why those who don't look at others with the correct eye have not understood the message of the deen. We are peace-loving, peaceful people who have been spreading the deen in a beautiful way through our character, through reaching out to people, different types of people, of different inclinations. They have seen the goodness in the deen through that.

And we ask Allah to continue to use us in this positive way rather than become people who are so negative and so closed that even amongst us as Muslimin, if I have two or three differences with you, I immediately call you a person who's going to Jahannam. And without a joke, I've seen it happening.

I gave a talk sometime back and I made mention of it.

Once I was with someone and every little while we pass people, he looks at them and says, [pointing to hell]. And I'm thinking, hey, relax. Are you the gatekeeper here of hell or what? Subhanallah. You own this hell? May Allah grant us ease.

That is the wrong way of looking at people. You will never solve matters. You will never be able to resolve the issues that you are trying to resolve.

In fact, it shows that you are not serious about helping mankind. It shows that you are not serious. But slowly but surely we need to understand, if we love one another for the sake of Allah, we will be able to reach out to one another in a beautiful way.

Correct one another in a way that we get each other thinking. We get each other thinking. Today we've spoken of a lot of items.

I hope and I pray that you think about it very seriously and deeply. And I've tried to be as respectful as possible. Although I was passionate when it came to the issue of blaming people because I've seen it overtaking us.

Conclusion: The Path to Perfection

And it overtakes us with a good name in the sense that in inverted commas, people think, oh, that good man told me something. But if the good man told you something bad, then that is his human weakness or it is his mistake. That's what it is.

A bad man tells you something good, subhanallah, it's possible. And a good man tells you something bad, that's also possible. None of us are perfect.

Perfection is for Allah. And Rasulullah (صلى الله عليه وسلم) was granted that in terms of the perfection of the message. And even the individual (صلى الله عليه وسلم). We had a perfect individual, perfect example in Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم).

As for the rest of us, we will be heading towards perfection the more we turn towards Allah and His Rasul (صلى الله عليه وسلم). And we will be drifting further away from perfection the more we drift further away from them.

I say what you hear. And I ask Allah's forgiveness for me and for you and for all Muslims. And peace and blessings be upon our Prophet Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم).

And peace and blessings be upon you all.