MAS-ICNA 2013, A Roadmap for Achieving the Renaissance

A Roadmap for Achieving the Renaissance

By Omar Suleiman | MAS-ICNA 2013 (Part 2 of 3)

Opening

"You guys hear me in the back? Okay, good.

Acknowledgment and Current Events

First and foremost, I want everyone in here to bear witness, because I hope it will benefit me on the Day of Judgment, I want everyone in here to bear witness that I love Brother Muhammad Abu Talib for the sake of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And may Allah reward him and may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala elevate him and allow him to continue to benefit us insha'Allah ta'ala and allow many of our young American Muslims to come up with that same vision of combining academia, you know, and elevated academic standards and elevating themselves in Islam and in da'wah.

And at the same time, as we're all sitting here, and as we're all benefiting and talking about how to benefit the world and how to bring justice to it, I want to remind everyone that there is a young Muslim American by the name of Muhammad Sultan, and you've heard of him and you need to hear about him again, that is detained in Egypt until now, for standing peacefully in Rab'a and demonstrating the coup and the massacre that took place. So go to the Rab'a booth please, sign up, sign on to that petition, make du'a for him, and we ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to bring him back to safety.

The Comprehensive Nature of Islam

Dear brothers and sisters, I'm going to offend quite a few people with my speech, so I apologize in advance, and I ask you to, you know, if you have any issues with anything that I say, just come and deal with it before you leave so that you don't have anything in your heart against me insha'Allah ta'ala.

But it's because the topic that I have is one that is so important and it's one that's so crucial, and it's talking about the comprehensive nature of Islam. Because when we talk about religion, unfortunately we limit religion too much, we do this too often where we limit religion to spirituality and we fail to ignore all of the other aspects of deen.

And we restrict it to just a sense of worship and coming together and praying, and not doing anything else with our lives and we forget that our religion is a comprehensive religion. It's a religion in which the goals are realized through the means. It's a religion in which sleeping can be just as much of an ibadah, an act of worship, as praying if you have the right intention.

It's a religion that puts the pleasure of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in the pleasure of the parents. It's a religion that puts half of your deen in your spouse. It's a religion that entrusts you with your children.

It's a religion that applies principles to every single aspect of our everyday lives. And let's face it, if it was all about worship, then Iblis would have never been kicked out of paradise. Because Iblis worshipped Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala for hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of years.

But it was something greater than that. And many times we fail to make that distinction and we fail to apply the sunnah of the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) in our lives, and in the way that we deal with people, and in the way that we deal with our families and our communities.

The Story of Imam al-Shaybani

And you know subhanallah, when we're talking about the comprehensive nature of this, there's a great imam by the name of al-imam al-shaybani, rahimahullah ta'ala. Al-imam Muhammad al-shaybani, being one of the two great jurists of the Hanafi school of thought, was one who used to lecture frequently on spirituality. He spoke about tazkiyah all the time. But at the same time, he never wrote a book on tazkiyah.

He authored al-mabsood, he authored the most comprehensive encyclopedia of fiqh in the Hanafi school. He authored many many many books. But he never wrote a book on spirituality.

So it perplexed the students. They asked him, they said, "you know you speak so much about the diseases of the heart, and curing the heart, and getting close to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. But at the same time you've never written a book on the diseases of the heart or purification of the soul."

And he said, "yes I have." And they said, "no you haven't." He said, "yes I have."

He said, "I wrote kitab al-buyur, the book of money, transactions, trade, and no I'm not going to fundraise from you all today. But I wrote that book." And he said, "whoever deals honestly with his money has a pure heart."

The Reality of Business Dealings

And subhanallah, I mean that to me is mind-blowing. Because let's face it, how many times, and you can raise your hand, how many times have you regretted doing business with a Muslim? Raise your hand. Some of you have never dealt with Muslims before obviously.

Right? How many times did you say, "you know mashallah, that brother in the masjid, mashallah." And then quickly that mashallah turned into astaghfirullah. "And inshallah one day I'll get my money back. And I'll get my justice."

It happens all the time. Because let's face it, it's very easy to portray a sense of religion to people and in the sight of people, it's very easy to make yourself seem like a godly person.

But when it comes to your everyday dealings, who are you? And what are you? And we live in a society, not in a society, we live in a world where subhanallah, greed and self-gratification is constantly, is constantly promoted. And to forget your own family members, to forget your neighbors, to forget your communities. How many people would be willing to deal in an Islamic way with their money? And it starts off with that.

The Problem of Haram Income

And you know there's a weak hadith about the honest businessman, the honest merchant being at the same level of the prophets and the siddiqun and the shuhadat. But that was the saying of many scholars, that that person who fears Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala with his everyday dealings, because let's face it, how many of us are involved in haram money?

How many of us put families in the graveyard every single day? Because we sell them their alcohol. And we sell them the things that go and get them killed. And we sell them the things that cause them to murder other people with their cars. Until today, you see people that are crying in graveyards, and we don't know who our victims are. And why do we do it? Because we want money.

"I'll write my check to the masjid. I'll go to jummah. I'll go to a convention. Leave me alone. I do what I have to do. Don't talk to me about my haram money."

It's a fact. And it's sad. Think about it.

The True Believers vs. The People of Hellfire

It's the pleasure of the self, that animalistic desire to elevate yourself, to get everything that you can possibly get. And it doesn't matter who you're going to step on in the process. And when we look at our religion and how comprehensive it is, look at how Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala describes the believers who have a true relationship with Allah, and how Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala describes those who have no relationship with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

When Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala describes those same believers who used to worship, where Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says:

"They used to sleep little of the night. And they sought forgiveness from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala right before fajr."

After praying the night, they still would seek forgiveness from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. They had that relationship with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. But you know what else Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says?

"Right after qiyam-ul-layl, after they stood up the entire night praying and having that relationship with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, then seeking forgiveness because they knew it wasn't enough, they still spend their days spending upon people."

Spending upon the ones that are asking and upon the ones that are deprived from asking. And how did Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala describe them?

"These were people of ihsan, people of excellence, people who did not just settle with their obligations to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala or their obligations to the people. They excelled in the way they dealt with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and in the way they dealt with the people."

Whereas Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala when he describes the person of hellfire in surah al haqqa, how does Allah describe them? The complete opposites. When Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says:

And Allah عز وجل says:

"He didn't have true belief in Allah. Nor was he making an effort to feed the poor."

You see that connection? He didn't have true belief in Allah. Nor was he making an effort to solve that problem and benefit the poor. And so Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says:

"He would have no friend, no protector today, just as he made no effort to feed people and contribute to people's well-being. The only thing he would have to eat on the day of judgment would be his own pus."

نَعُوذُ بِاللَّهِ - We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to protect us.

The Hadith of the Prophet

So our deen is deeply ingrained with this concept of what the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) taught us:

"The best of people are those that benefit the people the most."

And when Rasulullah (صلى الله عليه وسلم) is asked in a hadith from Abu Hurairah radiallahu ta'ala عنه about a woman, and we all know this hadith, but you know what, I'm going to read it in Arabic because there's something that's missed here.

When he was asked about a woman:

"She doesn't just pray her five prayers. No, she prays and fasts during the day and does those acts of religion. She fasts, she prays at night, she gives charity."

"But she has an abusive tongue with her neighbors."

And you know what dear brothers and sisters, Subhanallah, time is already running out. The Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) when he heard that, he said about her:

"There is no goodness inside of her. She is a person of hellfire."

And Subhanallah, just because she has an abusive tongue with her neighbors. And it doesn't mention in this hadith whether her neighbors are Muslims. In fact most of the muhaddithin, they said these are non- Muslim neighbors. That's the context of the hadith.

So it's a sense of self-righteousness: تُؤْذِي جيرانها - She has an abusive tongue with her neighbors. And let's say they're non-Muslim neighbors. If Rasulullah (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said that woman despite her qiyam al-layl and despite her fasting during the day and despite her charity would enter hellfire because she was abusive with her neighbors, then what about a man who goes to the masjid but then goes home and beats on his wife? What about a woman who harasses other people? What about someone? What about a child that disrespects their parents?

What good is sitting in a convention or going to the masjid they're praying at night going to do if the middle gate of jannah is shut for you? If the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) is mentioning that about non- Muslim neighbors, what about your family?

The Best to Their Families

And that's why we take this hadith: