Risky Business

Risky Business

By Omar Suleiman - Quran Weekly

Opening

As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu, Qur'an Weekly, this is your brother Omar Suleiman.

Bismillah, walhamdulillah, wassalatu wassalamu ala rasoolillah,

Allahumma salli wa sallim wa barak ala abdika wa rasoolika muhammadin sallallahu alayhi wasallam wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wasallam tasliman kathira.

The Age of Easy Fatwas

So, we're living in the age obviously where, you know, we can find fatwas that would justify everything and especially with the internet age and things of that sort and we have this idea that you know what, forget about the scholars, forget about your local imam, forget about what's correct, just try to do what's easiest for you, just try to find the things that are most lenient because those are the things that would be easy to apply in your life.

And sometimes in that regard, you know, we lie to ourselves because sometimes people will throw out this hadith, they'll say, you know what Rasool Allah (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said:

"Let your heart give fatwa" or the heart of the mu'min (القَلْب) of the mu'min is (دَلِيلة) is his guide and they'll use that as, you know, to somehow justify always taking the easy opinion, always taking the opinion that fits their lifestyles, which in reality represents an unwillingness to change. And that's really what I'm going to talk about inshaAllah.

Don't Dress Truth with Falsehood

Allah (جل جلاله) mentions this in the Qur'an, when Allah is talking to Bani Israel, who were a chosen people, and Allah (جل جلاله) says:

And do not dress the truth with batil, with falsehood. وَتَكْتُمُوا الْحَقِّ Or hide the truth while you are very well, while you very much know, you know, what the truth is. Don't try to hide the truth when you know what it is and don't try to dress the truth with falsehood. When you see truth as truth, Allah (جل جلاله) has made you accountable by that standard.

And you know, many times we can fall into this trap and notice the very next ayah is a command:

And establish the salah, and pay your zakah, and make ruku and bow with those who bow.

SubhanAllah, as if Allah (جل جلاله) is saying Allah has not given you some distinguished understanding of the deen that has brought you out of its responsibility, that has made you unaccountable anymore, where you can sit back and you can say, I figured something out that the scholars did not figure out before, or that the prophets might have missed, and this allows more leeway and this will be easier for the people. Don't do that. You are just another follower of the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم). And so you should seek to follow the truth as it came from the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم).

The Doctor Analogy

And I just want to give you an example in this dunya, an analogy in this dunya. If you truly care about your akhira the way you care about your life, if you were to go to a doctor and you had a simple flu, and the doctor told you, look, you could take this pill, but you have a 75% chance of dying, and you have a 25% chance of actually being cured from the cold, and nothing would happen to you, what would you say in response? You would say, you know what, I'll just stick with the cold, because I don't want to give myself a 75% chance of dying.

But now let's apply that to our akhira. Sometimes it's very, very, very, very small issues, and we're willing to jeopardize our entire hereafter, our lives that will last forever after this dunya, over an opinion, and that's why the ulama, as Rasulullah (صلى الله عليه وسلم) he mentioned to us:

(Muslim 1599)

That the halal is clear, and the haram is clear, and between them الشبهات between them is doubtful things.

And when a person is constantly walking around, when a person is constantly finding himself in that gray area, then he's certainly going to fall into the haram, and the percentages will start to weigh against him, will start to go against him. And that's why the Imam al-Shawkani (رَحِمَةُ الله) actually al-'Izz ibn Abdus Salam, one of the qawa'id of fiqh, one of the maxims of fiqh:

To stay away from difference of opinion is something that's recommended.

Al-War'a - Piety in Avoiding Even the Halal

You know what, if you see an issue that's being debated, just like you would err on the side of caution, because this is something you can apply in your life. For something in this dunya, err on the side of caution for something that might just jeopardize your akhira. Why? Because you're worried about your akhira.

And this is where we find what is called by the ulama al-war'a, which is to even avoid the halal. As one of the scholars, he said, one of the members of the early generations, I don't remember if it was a sahabi or a tabi'i, he said that we left half of the halal out of fear that we would fall into the haram. We left half of the halal out of fear that we would fall into haram.

Why? Because I'm worried about what comes next. But once I find myself in a situation where I can pick up the Qur'an, and I can say, hey, you know what, 1400 years, all these scholars were wrong, maybe this scholar was right, I found this scholar who says that this is right, I found this scholar who says that this is right. And I start to manipulate ayat, or I start to ignore authentic ahadith, that have a very clear understanding. Why? Because this is more convenient for me.

The Warning Against Bani Israel's Mistakes

We look at Bani Israel, the same people who Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala commanded them:

Do not dress truth with falsehood. Or hide haqq when you know very well what the truth is.

What does Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala say later on in surah al-Baqarah? They fell into two traps. First and foremost:

They believed in parts of the book and then they ignored the things that were inconvenient to them. They started to stay away from the things that were inconvenient.

Then Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, eventually that leads to what?

A group of the people of the book threw the Book of Allah behind their backs as if they had no idea what it was. So you start to go further and further and further and delve further and further and further and imagine. If we keep on bringing the standards down in this age, imagine what they'll do a hundred years from now.

The Lowering of Standards Over Time

Imagine, subhanAllah, a hundred years ago, some of the things that we consider as halal by consensus in the Muslim communities, imams, non-imams, the common guy, the scholar, these things are halal, these things are okay. A hundred years ago, they might have been considered major sins and this is what عَبْدُ اللَّهِ بْنُ مَسْعُودٍ رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُ said to the التَّابِعِينَ. That you,تابعين this righteous generation, you definitely have a lot of good deeds, you guys do a lot. But at the same time, you do things, you consider things to be halal that we the companions of the Messenger (صلى الله عليه وسلم) considered to be كبائر considered to be major sins.

So think about that for a moment, the next time a controversial issue comes into play and you feel arrogant enough and proud enough and confident enough in that opinion to go to your Facebook status and express your fatwa on your Facebook status. Because transferring a fatwa is just like giving a fatwa by the way and saying, Hey, this is what I believe and shoving it down everyone else's throat. Because you found the minor opinion that is more convenient for you to follow.

Try to stay away from it as much as you can. The doubtful matters, not because you agree with the more conservative or the more safe opinion but because you don't want to jeopardize your akhira just like you wouldn't want to take that pill that gives you a 75% chance or even a 50% chance or even a 30% chance of dying for just a simple cold. Allah did not ask us to do much.

Final Supplication

And we would find that most of the issues that we debate about most of the time are things that are insignificant in their nature. They're not hard to apply in our lives. We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to make us amongst those who follow the truth.

We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to guide us inshaAllah. And we ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to make us satisfied with the halal so that we would never resort to the haram and never resort to the things that are doubtful.

Jazakumullahu khayran.

Wassalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh.

Quran Weekly Reminder

Quran Weekly. So do yourself a favor. If you benefited from this video, go ahead and like it and share it on your Facebook and Twitter. Because the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam said, as narrated in Sahih Muslim:

(Muslim 1017)

That whoever does something good inshaAllah ta'ala and starts it or shares it and others benefit, then he will get the reward that he has and of course the reward of anyone who followed him and that inshaAllah. So if someone else benefits from this, you get the same reward as the presenter inshaAllah and the same reward as the producer.

So go ahead and like it, love it, share it. (جَزَاكُمُ اللَّهُ خَيْرًا - Jazakumullahu khayran).

Wassalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh.