Between the Lines

Between the Lines

Ustadh Nouman Ali Khan

Opening Prayer and Greetings

As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu.

Alhamdulillahi rabbil alameen. Wasalatu wasalamu ala sayyidil anbiya wal mursaleen wa ala alihi wa sahbihi ajma'een.

Thumma amma ba'd fa a'udhu billahi minash shaytanir rajim.

Afala yatadabbaruna alqur'an amma ala qulubin aqfaluha

rabbish rahli sadri wa yasirli amri wahlul uqdatan min lisani yafqahu qawli. Amin.

Introduction: A Difficult Conversation

Ya Rabbil alameen. InshaAllah in the session that I have with you now, I'd like to have a pretty difficult conversation and I hope that you can keep up with the ideas that I want to share with you. This is not the kind of speech that I usually give.

Some of you are familiar with the kind of talks that I give. So I'm giving you a heads up ahead of time that I would really appreciate if you guys can keep up with the things that I'm saying. In the course of my talk, I will ask you some rhetorical questions so you can repeat what I said just so I know you're still alive.

Because they make sure that the lighting in here is extremely romantic so I can't tell what's going on back there. So the only way I will know that you're still with me is by you repeating yourselves after me, inshaAllah. So there are three parts of my talk.

Part One: My Problem - Growing Up with Islam

The first part of my talk is the problem. I like to call it the problem. And here what I'm gonna talk to you about is what I felt growing up as a Muslim towards Islam.

And what I learned from Muslims, from the mimbar, from the imam, from the khateeb, from whatever lectures my dad used to watch on VHS tapes, or whatever. I don't come from a very religious family. I come from a very average family.

And the only exposure to Islam I had is much like many of you've had that are similar in age. But as I grew older and I became a teenager, and then I started going to college, there were basically four attitudes that developed in my mind. And I've talked about that previously when I came here, but I'm gonna go further, inshaAllah.

First Attitude: Islam Appears Extremely Harsh

But I'll review those four attitudes. The first of those attitudes is that this religion is extremely, extremely harsh. That it has a lot of punishments. That this is haram and that is haram. If you're in doubt, chances are what you're doing is probably what? It's probably haram. And you're probably gonna get in a lot of trouble for it.

And the punishments are pretty extreme. I mean, cutting the hand, or stoning to death or something. There's some pretty extreme punishments in this religion.

I'm not talking about Christians doing propaganda against Islam or watching Fox News or whatever. I had that impression, just being a Muslim, hearing about Islam from Muslims. Now, that was my first impression that the religion is pretty harsh.

Second Attitude: Islam's Best Days Are Behind It

My second impression was that this religion, it seems like the only time they talk about good times is when they talk about ancient history. And the only time they're talking about bad times is when they're talking about right now. So we're all really bad and people that came a long time ago were really what? They were really good.

And so that makes me feel really terrible about myself because I just... And the more I hear about the people of the past, I realize they were so much better and they were so much more awesome. I'm never gonna be that anyway. First of all, this religion is harsh.

Second of all, it seems like its best days are behind it. Now we're just living in bad times where we can feel bad about how terrible we all are. How we're just not good enough.

Especially when we compare ourselves and I would hear stories in khutbahs and lectures about people who prayed tahajjud all night, who recited the entire Qur'an every 48 hours, or who fasted every other day and who did this, this, this. And they were still not good enough. I'm like, that guy wasn't good enough? Oh, I'm so going to jahannam.

You know, like... So there was this intimidation almost of this religion. It felt like it doesn't even belong in this time. It only belonged in ancient times.

Third Attitude: Nothing Will Ever Be Good Enough

And as a matter of fact, the people that I saw that were religious, they dressed and they talked and they looked like they belong 8 centuries ago. Like they didn't look like they belong in... you know, back in the 90s even. They didn't look like they belong.

They looked like they wanted to look like ancient Arabia. You know. And even subconsciously built this idea in my head, if you want to be serious about this religion, you have to pretend that we're living at least a thousand years ago.

You cannot accept that you're living now. And if you do want to save yourself, then you have to create an environment, a bubbled environment that cuts itself off from all the modern world because everything modern is fitna. Everything modern is corrupt.

And you have to cut yourself off. And if you live inside this bubble, then you will be safe. You'll be able to save your iman.

Just go to the masjid and go home and just, you know, dress in traditional clothing and only meet with Muslims and don't deal with anything outside and, you know, just save yourself. So my first impression was I forgot. I can't remember.

Harsh. Second impression. Belongs in ancient times.

My third impression was no matter what I do, it will never be good enough. I have heard so many lectures about how I'm probably a hypocrite. How my wudu was probably not good enough.

How my salah was probably missing something. How my hajj even probably wasn't even good enough. So all the doors to forgiveness are pretty much closed in my face.

And no matter how much I do, I keep getting reminded that it's just not enough. So I think to myself, this religion is so harsh. It belongs in ancient times.

And on top of that, I can never get anywhere with it. I'm still made to feel like a bad person. As a matter of fact, anything I do seems like a sin.

Fourth Attitude: Complete Surrender

Everything I do seems like a sin. So why am I even bothering? And that leads me to my fourth and final most deadly of all impressions. And that impression basically was I give up.

I just give up. I'll just stay Muslim because my mom might have a heart attack. I'll go to Jumu'ah if I have to.

At least I'll show up to Eid prayer. I'll do some ritual things. I like Eid because they give money.

Ramadan seems to be okay. It's like a fun time or whatever. But other than that, I don't really see a reason to hold on to this thing.

I don't see it. I don't see why someone would have all these problems and still hold on to this religion. That was not because some non-Muslim did propaganda against Islam for me.

This was not because I was convinced of Islam or against Islam by some atheists. These were thoughts running in my own head about the religion by the time I was 17, 18 years old. And then my father was because of work, he left the United States and my sister and I stayed back, you know, and I was living on my own.

So the one reason I had to hold on to the religion which was what? My parents is no longer there. And I'm living in New York City all by myself. So I basically had no reason to hold on to this religion for any practical purposes.

Realization: A Universal Problem

Now, this is the first part of my talk which was called what? The problem. I came to realize I've been in this line of work of trying to learn the religion and teach some things about it, teach some things about the Quran for some time now. It's been almost 15 years.

And in my line of work as I've traveled all over the world I've talked to so many, so many, so many young people. And when people ask me questions, they just remind me of myself. I realized those attitudes were not my own.

There are millions of people around the world who have the same exact attitudes. Somewhere in the back of their head. One way or another.

They feel like the religion is too harsh. They feel like they're never gonna be good enough. They feel like what's the point? They feel like it's always talking about ancient times.

How is it gonna work together with the modern world? They have the same exact concerns that I had. So it wasn't personal. And so I realized this is something we openly have to talk about.

And I've been thinking over the last couple of years about why that is. Why did I develop these attitudes? And how can we help prevent these attitudes from going further? Here is my second part of my speech. The first part is over.

Actually I'm gonna change the title of the first problem. The first speech. It's my problem.

Part Two: Their Problem - Those Who Teach Islam

And the next part of my speech is their problem. Now we're gonna talk about their and who are they, I'll tell you. People who talk on behalf of Islam. People who teach us Islam. Some of them are amazing. Some of them are really messed up.

They're just really messed up. They messed me up. All I had, the only Islam I could get was from them.

And so here's my analysis. You are completely free to disagree with me. But I'm going to share with you three kinds of presentations or discussions or discourse about Islam that is very popular in the Muslim world.

First Problem: Angry Discourse About Islam

Three kinds of conversations. The first kind is when we talk about Islam but we're so angry at what is happening in the Muslim world. We're so angry at the political situation.

We're so angry at the media attacks against Islam. We're so angry against the insults to the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم). We're so angry at the blood that is being shed all over the world that our discussion of Islam itself is angry. And so we make Islam sound like something that is perfect for angry people.

We quote things from Islam that justify our anger. And we make it sound like the mission of Islam is to annihilate the enemies of Islam. The goal of Islam is to destroy the kuffar and to gain the ultimate victory.

This is what real Islam... And anybody who emphasizes anything else is a hypocrite. They're a sellout. Because Islam came to dominate.

And it's a very powerful discourse by the way. When you hear that kind of speech and you're a young frustrated man, you're going to find it very powerful. And he's got all the dalils too.

They've got all the dalils too. They've got all the ayat lined up, all the incidents from the seerah lined up. And it sounds really compelling.

And it's very empowering. And you're frustrated anyway so it makes you even angrier. That is one kind of discourse that's very popular in the ummah today.

An angry discourse on Islam. Unfortunately, it is our anger. It's like you put these shades on that make everything look angry.

And then you put these shades on and then you study the Quran. And then you study the seerah. It's tainted.

It's tainted. But it's very popular. It's extremely popular.

because their acts aren't good enough, where do you expect them to develop their iman if the doors of the masjid are closed to them?

I was shocked when I went to Malaysia and I saw how open access the women and men have to the houses of Allah. I was amazed because when I travel across the United States, I go to masjid in American Muslim communities where if a woman was to walk in, there would be istighfar all night. What are you doing? No, no, no, we don't have those here. This is a huge fitna.

You know, put them somewhere else. This is one issue, but there are hundreds of issues. Hundreds of issues where we've been told, this is the Islamic position, but when you do the digging, it's something else.

Third Problem: Overly Literal Reading of Texts

By the way, there were three problems, this is only the second. The first problem was overly angry Islam. The second one is a very rigid Islam which doesn't even represent the tradition.

And the third one, probably the most dangerous, is a literal reading of the text. In other words, this is what it says, this is what it means. Done.

Finished. We don't have to dig into this any further. Like for example, I'll give you another women's issue example, because that's what I studied with Dr. Akram recently.

The Misunderstood Verse About Testimony

The Qur'an talks about... You must have heard this, and raise your hand if you've heard this. The testimony of a man is twice the worth of the testimony of a woman. You've heard this before? Okay, good.

The ayah belongs to surah al-Baqarah. The ayah belongs to surah al-Baqarah. It's the longest ayah of the Qur'an.

And in the middle of it,

Fa in lam yakuna rajulayn fa rajulun wamra'atan mimman tardawna min ash-shuhada'i an tadilla ihdahuma fa tudhakkira ihdahumul ukhra - If you couldn't find two men, then one man and two women from those whom you approve of as witnesses, so that if one of them errs, then the other can remind her.

This ayah, by the way, is about business transactions. Business transactions. It's a madani ayah.

There's a long context to this ayah. And this ayah, some have used to extrapolate that because in the context of these business dealings that were happening in Medina, it must be a universal principle that women testifying is half the worth of a man testifying. Based on this ayah.

I only have one problem with this. Simple problem. If you have a business transaction worth a hundred dollars, it's worth a hundred dollars.

And recording it is important. If you have a deal, you should write it down.

Ya ayyuhal ladhina amanu idha tadayantum bidaynin ila ajalin musamman faktubuh - O you who believe! When you contract a debt for a fixed period, write it down.

Fine. How much is the transaction worth? A hundred bucks. Now tell me, what is a hadith of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم worth? And if you need witnesses for a hundred dollar transaction, shouldn't you have far more powerful witnesses for a quote directly from the Prophet of Allah صلى الله عليه وسلم? Isn't that more valuable? As a matter of fact, priceless? How in the world is it possible that in the scholarship of Islam, Aisha radiyallahu ta'ala anha takes a huge chunk of hadith narrations from a single woman narrator? Why isn't her testimony half that of a man? How come nobody ever raises that problem? Our entire tradition disappears if you do that.

It doesn't even make sense. There's a very limited context in which that applies. And we took that and made it into something entirely different.

The Gap Between Scholarship Levels

That is the rigidity of some people. And by the way, this has been dealt with in scholarship. I'm not coming up with this now.

This is already sitting there. But you know what's happened? There are people, and I'm gonna sound insulting, but I have to say what needs to be said. I'm sorry.

I really am. I'm sorry only a little bit. I'm mostly not sorry at all.

You know, when you study law, you can get an associate's degree, you can get a bachelor's degree, you can get a master's degree, you can get a PhD. Yes?

And even after you become, you know, a bard as a lawyer, you can be a lawyer, you can be an appellate court judge, you can be a district court judge, you could be a supreme court judge. Yes? Is there a difference between these people? The guy who's got an associate's degree in law cannot be compared to a supreme court judge.

You understand the difference between these two? You know what's happened? The people that are talking about Islamic law today, the people that are describing these issues to us, the vast majority of them are no better than an associate's degree. So what they talk about is at this level. But when you go to scholars at the highest level, you get a completely different picture of Islam.

And you're like, why don't we go to these top scholars? And here's the reason. Because top scholars spend too much time studying and reading and researching, not explaining and talking. And even when they do, because they are such amazing, amazing researchers, they happen to be nerds.

They happen to be very... like, they're just lost in the book. So when they speak, most people, what do they do? That's what happens. We don't listen to them because they're too scholarly.

That's what happens. There's a gap between the Muslim population and the actual intelligent, the brain trust of the ummah. There's a gap between them.

The Need for Change

And this is where we're gonna talk about the solution. You see, when an unintelligent, shallow reading of Islam and of the Qur'an and of the sunnah, when an angry reading of the Qur'an, Islam and the sunnah, when a literal reading of Islam, Qur'an and the sunnah, when that's presented, no wonder people are turned off from Islam. No wonder they're pushed away.

No wonder it doesn't seem to meet with the fitrah. It doesn't seem to meet with reason. But you know what? We have to solve this problem.

Part Three: The Solution - Bridging the Gap

And so, the last part of my talk is the solution. How do we get nuance, intelligent thinking about the religion back on track for this ummah? How do we expose the ummah again to what makes the sunnah truly beautiful? So they don't have to wonder, well, I accept it because it's a hadith, but it makes me uncomfortable. I know it's in the Qur'an, but I just, I can't really, it doesn't sit well with me.

I don't want that to be the case. Every word of our Messenger صلى الله عليه وسلم,every word of Allah should be beloved to us. We should love it from the bottom of our heart, not begrudgingly accept it.

That's not faith. Faith means we love everything that's been revealed. That's what that means.

The Pharmaceutical Company Analogy

So what is the solution? I'm gonna start with something that seems completely unrelated. I know it's not gonna make any sense, but it will eventually. Okay? So here it goes.

You guys are familiar with pharmaceutical companies, yes? So, a pharmaceutical company spends millions, if not hundreds of millions of dollars in research on, let's say, a medicine for migraines. Okay? Like Tylenol or something. And they spend all this money and all this research and all these people in lab coats are doing their work.

These biochemists and these researchers are doing their work in a lab and they're collecting piles and piles and piles of data, yes? And after four or five years of research they finally have themselves a pill. Now this pill, it doesn't just sit in the lab. That pill goes from the lab and it goes into the marketing department.

And these lab executives, these lab researchers, they sit on a round table with marketing executives. And the marketing executives know nothing about chemistry, nothing about biology, nothing about physiology. These guys say, so what does this pill do? Well, it releases certain... No, no, no, no, wait.

Say it in English. What does it do? It gets rid of your headache. Oh.

Is it better than Advil? How long does it take? Within an hour? Good. Write this down. And then they package this thing, don't they? They pick the right colors for it.

They even negotiate with CVS and Walgreens which level shelf the item will sit on. They figure out which days and which television shows and which online programs to advertise their medicine in. And they go on this blitz campaign.

And their goal at the end of the day is there's a farmer in Lahore, like on the outskirts of Punjab somewhere who has a headache and said, I want Tylenol.

Like that guy doesn't speak a word of English but he knows what Tylenol is. Yes or no? Now that guy, that farmer, did he ever read those research papers? No.

It had to be packaged in a way that anyone in the world can process. You understand what I'm saying? This product is the result of a lot of research. But that research is not relevant to the people.

What is relevant to people is tell me what it does in my language. You understand?

The Gap in Islamic Scholarship

Now there's the gap. You have the highest intelligentsia of the Muslim world who've got the solutions to much of these problems.

It's already sitting there in their conversations. But the problem is their conversations are happening with four or five dedicated students around them who are also as nerdy in their conversations as they are and nobody else has any idea what's going on. And I happen to have one foot in this world and one foot in the other world.

So when I go in the scholarly world, I sit with these incredible scholars with 600 ijazat at a time. I go, how come the world doesn't know this stuff? People need to know this stuff. Well, if they try to tell, it doesn't happen.

So what do we need to do? We need to learn to package things. We need to take the best of our minds. We have to decouple these two things.

Now, please keep up with me. This is the plan. InshaAllah.

How do we get to... for people to see in between... You want me to stop, don't you? Yeah, I'm gonna take two minutes. I'll be done.

The Strategic Plan for Change

Here's the plan. Here's what we need to do. It's really simple. Right now we expect one person to be everything.

We expect the sheikh to be the top intellectual, the best speaker, the best this, the best that. We want all of those to come together in how many people? One person. Listen, that happened in the Prophet's time, with the Prophet himself.

And yes, there are some incredible individuals in the ummah, that's fine. But if we're gonna survive as a civilization, we have to understand that we can departmentalize. There can be the people that are the really super smart people, the brain trust, the researchers, the thinkers, that have the solutions to these problems.

And then there can be the people that can be like Jon Stewart on the camera. That can actually reach millions and millions of people. And communicate what these scholars are saying in language that a dummy like me can understand.

And think about. And change my attitudes. We need to take these ideas and then even start influencing film.

Influencing Modern Media

Influencing cartoons. Influencing movies. TV shows.

Talk shows. And I'm not talking about Islamic talk shows. I cannot stand Islamic cartoons.

They are the most boring thing I've ever seen in my entire life. Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. What is that? Why would I wanna watch this? Why would I wanna put my kids through that? Put some Tom and Jerry on or something.