Currency of the Hereafter

Currency of the Hereafter

Imam Siraj Wahaj

Opening and Gratitude

As-salamu alaykum, (بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ - bismillahir-rahmanir-rahim), alhamdulillah, alhamdulillahi rabbil alameen, ahmadu wa nasreen, wa nastaghfiru, wa nu'minu bihi, wa natwakilu alayh, wa n'udbila min shuriya anfusina min siyati ahmalina, wa yahdi la, wa fala muddila, la fama yulla, wa fala hadiya la, wa nashadu wa la ilaha illa Allah, wa wahdahu la sharika la, wa nashadu anna Muhammadan abduhu wa Rasulu wa Mubarak.

Brothers and sisters, I'm very thankful to Allah the Almighty to have the great privilege to be with you here tonight. I pray that He, the one whom we worship, will bless us and I'm especially happy to see you tonight on a Monday night and to come out of your homes together to worship for Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

The Topic: Money and Wisdom

Brothers and sisters, today, tonight for a few moments, I want to talk about a real serious topic. It's a topic that every one of us should be interested in. It's a topic about money and it's a topic about the use of that money with wisdom.

I guarantee you, every time you go to the marketplace, every time you go to a store, the question that you hear over and over again is, how much does it cost? And you have to make a decision whether you buy that house, that car, that suit, that dress, those shoes, how much does it cost? Everything has a price and the question is, are you willing to pay that price?

Currencies of the World and the Hereafter

Tonight, I was given the topic, the currency of the hereafter. Brothers and sisters, every country you go to have their own money. I will name the place and you will tell me the name of that currency.

France? Frank. Germany? Mark. Italy? Lira. Great Britain? Pound. Mecca? Rial. Pakistan? Rupee. The hereafter.

What Separates Believers from Disbelievers

The hereafter. Brothers and sisters, what makes us separate from those who disbelieve?

(Quran 2:3) - Those who believe in the unseen.

One thing that we all have in common tonight is that we bear witness that everybody is going to die.

- Every soul shall taste of death.

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139 million people a year will die on this planet. Every two seconds, nine babies are born and three people die. And brothers and sisters, every moment you live, you are that closer to the grave, the currency of the hereafter.

The Foundation: Two Hadiths

What would it be after we die? I would like to focus today's talk on basically two hadith of the messenger of Allah. It will be the basis of my discussion, the currency of the hereafter.

When you look at this money that we have, this dollar bill has no intrinsic value of its own. This by itself can't help you. You can't eat it. It has no real value except that we give it a value. And we exchange this money for something of real value.

We give somebody a dollar and we get bread. Bread to eat to sustain our life. Bread has value because it can give us life. A dollar bill has no real value except in our minds we accept it as a value.

The Example of Currency Exchange

I have here, what is this? Can you tell? What is it? A Canadian dollar. You want it? You have it. Who would trade me, my 10 Canadian dollar for your 10 US dollar? Anyone? Do we have any such people in the audience tonight?

This money, if you go to the store in Miami to buy bread with this, they won't accept it. They won't accept it because it's not the right currency. If you go to Canada and use this money, it's good and you can buy goods because it's the right currency.

So every country you go in, they have their own currency. And in order for you to use this, you have to stop in the exchange, the money exchange, and say, look, I'd like to exchange this so that I can have some currency in this country so that I can buy the things that I need. Fair?

This has no value to a bird. This has no value to an insect, to an animal. Water has value. Air has real value. But I want you to see tonight, brothers and sisters, that this has no real value. Sometimes the money devalues. And you can't buy what you used to buy with these things. It fluctuates. It changes.

Different Forms of Value

And every kind of life has its own things of value. A fish, an insect, an animal, a plant, all of them have different forms of value. In the same way, animals, countries, insects, and plants have their own value. So does Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has its value.

And so tonight we want to talk about, I think, one of the most important topics. And that is the currency of the hereafter.

The First Hadith: What Follows to the Grave

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(Sahih Muslim)

The Messenger of Allah said: When a person dies, his deeds are cut off إِلَّا مِنْ ثَلَاثٍ - Except for three. Maybe we'll talk about that later.

So we know death is important because death is the door to the hereafter. What separates this life and the life of the hereafter is death. You can't go there except through death. And everybody will experience death sooner or later.

And by the way brothers and sisters, before this talk is over, I'm going to share with you some research that I did based on an ayah of the Quran. So, we die. The door to the hereafter. The door to the unseen.

(Bukhari 6514, Sahih Muslim 2960)

The Messenger of Allah said: Three things follow the dead person: his family, his wealth, and his deeds. Two return and one remains. His family and wealth return, and his deeds remain.

Brothers, I know some of you are saying, hold on, the Prophet said wealth follows a person to the grave? Yes, that's what he said. No, wealth don't follow a person to the grave. Wealth follows a person while they're alive. Why did the Prophet say, wealth follows a person to the grave? There's wisdom in that.

And He said His works, His deeds. His family, His wealth, and His deeds. Family go back, property goes back, and the only thing that remains in the grave of that person is His deeds.

The Wealthiest American

Brothers and sisters, does anyone know, read the Fortune Magazine? Any of you read the Fortune Magazine? Forbes? Okay. Couple of months ago, brother, they had the wealthiest people in the world and in America. Did you read that article? You did? Who read it? Who's the wealthiest American?

William Gates. How wealthy is he? Hold on to your seats. Eighteen billion dollars.

Now, I wish you could have got the camera when I said eighteen billion dollars. Nobody responded. You know why? Because you don't know what eighteen billion dollars is. No, you don't. You don't. Wallahi, you don't. You haven't got a clue. All you know is a lot of money. That's why I said eighteen billion dollars.

But let me put it in perspective for you. Not far from here, Orlando, there was a basketball player. He left that team and went to Los Angeles. His name is Shaquille O'Neal. He signed a contract with the Los Angeles Lakers for a hundred and twenty-one million dollars. A seven-year contract. That's more than twenty-one million dollars a year.

Now, is that a lot of money? Twenty-one million dollars a year? Let me put it in perspective, William Gates' money compared to Shaquille O'Neal. Shaquille O'Neal making twenty-one million dollars a year would have

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to make that for one thousand and forty years to equal the wealth of William Gates. Now you know how much money it is? That's a lot of money.

We Need Money, But Understand Its Value

But you know what? All of us need money. You need money. You know why? Because you're a human being and you live in the dunya and you need money. Yes you do. Don't let nobody tell you you don't need money.

You have to live in a house. You have to pay rent. You have to buy a house. You have to buy a car. You have to buy food and clothing, education for your children, a masjid, a madrasa to Islamia, a school. We need money. But we have to understand the true value of money. And it is not money, but what the money can do for you.

When Wealth No Longer Belongs to You

Now brothers and sisters, the lesson that we learn is this. If William Gates dies today, eighteen billion dollars, from the moment he's buried, no longer belongs to him.

If you study Al-Quran and if you study Sunnah, you will see there's a whole chapter in Sunnah and Hadith called Al-Fara'id. Al-Fara'id, Al-Wasiyah. When a person dies, where does the wealth go? How much does the mother get? How much does the father get? How much does the children get? How much does the brother, the sister gets? How much? How much did you bequeath to somebody else?

Because the moment that you die, money is taken out of your wealth to bury you. But after you're buried, what's left over is no longer your money.

The Reality of Your Wealth

Let me tell you how heavy the Prophet Muhammad was, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. Brothers and sisters, never take the messenger of Allah for granted and anything that he says is light. Everything that he says is deep because he's guided by Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

He says, Ibn Adam, the son of Adam he said يَقُولُ مَالِي، مَالِي - my wealth, my wealth. And the Prophet Muhammad, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, gave us the reality of your wealth.

He said, your real wealth, that which belongs to you is what you eat and consume. If it's laying around, a piece of bread, it doesn't really belong to you until you consume it. Your clothing, what you wear, and it's worn out. And the sadaqah that you spend, that you send out ahead of you, that belongs to you.

Let me tell you what I'm talking about. This dollar in my pocket, if I pay tonight sadaqah, I spent a dollar for Allah, that's mine. I will see it on yawm al-qiyamah. But as long as it's in my possession, it doesn't really belong to me. It's not really mine. The reality of wealth is what you do with it.

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Visualizing Death

Now brothers and sisters, let's come to our point, inshallah. And then we try to open up for questions and answers.

I want you right now, brothers and sisters, to... All the brothers that are married, raise your hand. Okay. I want you now to think about your wife. They gotta think about you sometimes, right? And sisters, I want you to think about your husbands. You got them in your mind?

Now think about your mother and your father. You see your wife, your mother and father? Some of you? Now think about your children. You love them? Love your wife, love your children? You love your mom and dad?

Now I want you to think about your own death. And I want you to see yourself going in the casket. And I want you to see somebody picking you up over their shoulder. I want you to see somebody washing you and shrouding you when you can't wash yourself and you can't shroud yourself.

And I want you to see the picture of them taking you to the grave. And then I want you to see and visualize them putting you in the grave and putting the dirt over your face. Can you see it?

And now I want you to think about your wife walking away from you. Your husband walking away from you. Your mother and father walking away from you alone in the grave. Your children walking away from you.

I want you to think about your computers. And I want you to think about your fine houses. And I want you to think about all your nice clothes and your shoes. And I want you to think about all the education that you have. And I want you to think about your bank account.

And I want you to start thinking now. And oh, oh, it's all over. It's finished. And now, now I am in the grave by myself. And everybody walk away.

The Story of the Man Buried in His Car

So the prophet said, three things follow you. Two go back. Your family members. No matter how much they love you, they're not going down there with you.

You know, years ago I read a magazine called Jet Magazine. You ever hear of Jet Magazine? Could you imagine there was a rich guy that died. They actually buried the fool in his car. You remember that, right? See, I'm not making it up. He had a Mercedes Benz, I think it was a Mercedes Benz. And buried the fool in the car.

And I'm sure someone dug that thing up. That car. Because the reality, brothers and sisters, it don't work. Where we're going, it has no value.

Exchanging for the New Currency

And the key is, in order to get some value, we have to exchange it now. And all I want to do tonight and remind

The Stages of Human Creation

Now brothers and sisters, I want to conclude with this ayah from the Quran that really touched me.

O people, if you are in doubt about the resurrection, consider that we, Allah, created you from dust. Dust. Even the scientists bear witness that man comes from the earth. Think about that.

ثُمَّ مِن نُّطْفَةٍ - Then a sperm. I mean brothers and sisters, think about it. Think about man. The man with all of these scientific advancements. Where does he come from? From dust. He come from sperm.

ثُمَّ مِنْ عَلَقَةٍ - Then a clot. Now man is growing.

ثُمَّ مِن مُّضْغَةٍ مُّخَلَّقَةٍ وَغَيْرٍ مُخَلَّقَةٍ - Formed and partly formed, a piece of flesh. So now man is growing from dust and from sperm and from a clot. And then man continues to grow.

And then Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala revealed لِنُبَيِّنَ لَكُمْ - To teach you. وَنُقِرُّ فِي الْأَرْحَامِ مَا نَشَاءُ إِلَى أَجَلٍ مُّسَمًّى - And then we keep you in the womb for a fixed term.

ثُمَّ نُخْرِجُكُمْ طِفْلًا - Then we bring you out as babies. Look at the picture.

ثُمَّ لِتَبْلُغُوا أَشْدَّكُمْ - So that you reach that age of strength. Look at these brothers here. Strong. Some of them play football. Some of them run track. Strong. Women reach the age of maturity. Beautiful. Strong. By Allah's permission.

What did He do? He brought them from a baby. Now look at them speaking. You have doubt about the resurrection? How you speak? Dust. Sperm. Water. Clot. Now look at Allah's creation.

And now this man becomes a scientist. And he makes planes. And he goes in space. And he makes telescopes and microscopes. And he has his mind. And he grows. And look all of the creation that he makes. بِإِذْنِ اللهِ - By the permission of Allah.

The Reversal in Old Age

And then this is the verse I want to share with you.

Subhanallah. And then some of you, He calls to die. And then some of you, if you live long enough, He send you back to that abject age. So that after having known much, you know little.

You know once, about seven years ago I was home. And I live with my family in Salat. And while I was praying, I can hear one of my children reciting along with me. And I was reciting along surah. And I'm reciting and I'm hearing them right along with me. As I'm reciting, they're reciting along with me.

When I finish the Salat, As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu, As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu, I said, who was that? One of my young girls. Wallahi, I don't remember which one. I don't... Was that the Sariqah, Basmah, Sharifah, Sajdah. It wasn't Sajdah. But it was one of them, right?

And I said, who taught you that surah? He said, Abbie, you taught me. Dad, you taught me. I said, I didn't teach you that surah. He said, yes you did. I said, when? He said, I heard you recite that before. And I learned it.

She heard me recite it once. And she learned it. And she was reciting. My child, not Arab. I don't think. African American. How she do that?

Brothers and sisters, you'd be surprised what your children can learn. So many of the children out there learn hip-hop music and can't memorize ayatul Qur'an only because we don't emphasize. We don't teach them.

The Young Huffaz of South Africa

And you know what? I went to South Africa. Went to a conference there. And we stopped for Siratul Maghrib.

And they took a young brother, about 19 years old, to lead the Salat. This recitation of this young boy, Hafizul Qur'an, young man, 18, I think 18 or 19 years old, was great recitation. South African, Cape Town.

And I said, man, this young man's recitation was so good that when the Salat was over, I was so excited. I said, listen man, I'm gonna sit here and wait to Isha. Because I want to hear some more of this recitation.

And when Salatul Isha came, they chose another brother to lead Salat. And I have to confess, I had an attitude. Can you imagine an imam, right? Just because they choose another brother to lead the Salat rather than the other brother, I'm saying, man, I wanted to hear that brother recite.

Wallahi Azeem, this brother who recited Isha was better than the one who recited Maghrib. And then another Hafizul Qur'an. At Fajr prayer, got another young man, 17 years old, South Africa, Hafizul Qur'an, recited, he led the Salat in Fajr.

They had about 7 or 8 of them at camp. And you know what? All of them memorized Qur'an. But guess what? If they live long enough, Allah is gonna cause a reversal. So that after having known much, you know little. And this is Qur'an, by the way.

And whoever we extend their life, we reverse the life. Reversal. And this is why the Prophet used to say:

O Allah, I seek refuge from harami, senility, old age, to such a degree that there's a reversal.

The Dependency of Old Age

Think of mother. Think how when she gives birth to the baby, how she attends to the baby, she feeds the baby, she nurses the baby, she changes the baby, she teaches the baby. Say, say daddy. Training the baby, teaching the baby to walk, teaching the baby to talk.

But then the baby gets older and independent and strong and wise. But then if Allah allowed him to live long enough, it starts to change. Hair gets gray. It falls out. Teeth fall out. Back bent over. Beautiful? Her form will change. Let her live long enough. This is the way of Allah.

Why? So you never get proud. Never think you got it made. Never think you this or that. Because Allah will show you as you are dependent from the very beginning. Allah make you dependent all over again in your old age.

So what's the key? The key is, if you want to get somewhere in the hereafter, you can't wait too long. You got to spend it now.

Research on Death Statistics

Now brothers and sisters, let me show this research that I did and then we close out, inshallah. I, when I read ayahs from the Quran, I like to read and study it. And then study what's happening around. Look at this ayah.

No soul can die except by the permission of Allah. It's written in the book.

How come a person is shot 15 times point-blank range and live and another person slips on a banana peeling and die? I actually read about a woman who fell from a plane and live. Yeah. Fell on some real soft mud and lived. Why? It's Allah.

You see, the tendency with young people to think that death is the monopoly for old people. But according to this ayah, Allah takes people at different stages. How come a woman carries a baby eight months and maybe

have a miscarriage? Or a baby is born and lives for one day, one month, one year. Some people die at 2, some at 5, some 15, some 20. Another person lives to be 120. Why? Allah.

So let me tell you what I studied and found out. The World Health Organization estimates that in 1990 about 13.1 million children under the age of 5 died in one year. Monopoly. Death. Not for old people. Of this total, 9.4 million were less than one years old. And 3.7 million were one to four years old.

He said, oh, but that's for the developing nations. Not like a country like America. Well, let's look at it. Look at this. Last year, the last time this figure was taken, approximately 2,268,000 deaths in the United States. Right? Wouldn't it be nice to figure out of those people that died, what ages did they die? I did the research, and let me share this with you before we close out.

Under one years old, 33,300 babies died in the United States. From 5 to 14 years old, I'm sorry, one to four years old, 7,020. From 5 to 14 years old, 8,740. From 15 to 34, how many of you 15 to 34, raise your hand. Raise them up high. I'm talking about your category now. 15 to 34, 59,740 people died. From 25 to 34, 59,740. From 35 to 44, 95,920. So forth and so on.

The Call to Action

Brothers and sisters, the reason that I mention all of this is that soon Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is going to take us. Or, he's going to make us live a long, long time. The key to the success of life is don't wait, change right now the currency that you have in this world, and change it over to the hereafter.

And how we do that? Inshallah, is work for Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And this is why we told in the Qur'an, Spend out of what we have provided for you, before death comes, and there's no more spending. And on that day, inshallah, all of us will ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala for a little bit more time. To do what? To go back, to do some more good deeds.

Deeds Are Real

Now brothers and sisters, I want to let you know tonight that deeds are real. Deeds, both good and bad, are real. And I want you to go back to the words of the Prophet Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم). If a person has gold, and didn't pay zakat on that gold, on Yawm al-Qiyamah, Allah will melt that gold, and brand the people with that gold.

If a person has camel, and don't pay zakat on the camel, those camels will punish us on Yawm al-Qiyamah. Deeds are real. And when our family walk away, and we're there in the grave by ourselves, the only thing that we have is our deeds.

Work Hard Now

Inshallah, I want to remind you as I sit down, that now is the time to work hard for Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

And he said, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, if a person has a habit of doing good deeds, when he's sick, or on a journey, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala reward him as he was when he was home and well.

For instance, let's say you get up every morning at four o'clock to make salat al-tahajjud. Every morning, four o'clock, and then you get sick, and you're sick for three weeks. Do you know that if you had a habit of making tahajjud, Allah will reward you as if you made those tahajjud? Because you had the habit of doing that. Or if you traveled.

So what I'm saying today, inshallah, is transform all of these things of this dunya into something of meaning. And that is something for the akhirah. Some good deeds, inshallah.

The Value of This Dunya

And the prophet said, finally, if this earth, if this dunya, if this dunya, all of it, equaled in the sight of Allah, even a drop of water, if this, and I'm sorry, if all of this dunya equaled a wing of a mosquito, all of this dunya, if it equaled a wing of a mosquito, Allah wouldn't give a disbeliever even a drop of water.

You didn't hear what I said. If all of this dunya equaled in the eyesight of Allah to a wing of a mosquito, then Allah wouldn't give a kafir in it, even a sip of water. If all of this dunya together, if it equaled in the eyesight of Allah, a wing of a mosquito, Allah wouldn't give a kafir a glass of water, a sip of water.

You don't think it's true? On Yawm al-Qiyamah, the people of Hellfire, you know what they're going to ask for? Huh? A sip of water. Oh, you in jannah, please just give us a sip of water. And they're going to say, it's haram for us to give you even a sip of water. Why? Because you had an opportunity to do it now in this life.

Closing Dua

Brothers and sisters, may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala bless all of you to go in your pockets and spend money in the way of Allah. All of you dads, to take some time to spend with your children. Now, inshallah, teach them and to train them and to transform this currency in the currency of the hereafter. Alhamdulillah rabbil alameen.

Questions and Answers Session

Question 1: Using Our Faculties Before It's Too Late

Question: How do you use faculties for prevention? Especially what you were speaking about before.

Answer: I'm not quite familiar with the Hadith that you're talking about. Use faculties, basically to use the hearing, to use the eyesight, the ability to speak, the use of the hands, to use it all before it's too late. Well, I don't know exactly what Hadith you're speaking about, but it's true. We have to use everything we can before it's too late. But I don't know exactly what Hadith you mean, but no problem, brother, inshallah.

Question 2: How to Spend Money

Question: You spoke of spending money. Inshallah, brothers, maybe they know which way we have to spend it.

Answer: Oh, man, that's easy. We have an MSA here? Where's the MSA? I'll tell you how you can do it right now. You can spend some money on an MSA. They need some money. So the first thing you can do is go in your pocket. Do we need any money tonight? A little donation? If somebody, inshallah, could donate to...

Let's donate tonight, inshallah, because if we do this, this will go to our account on Yawm al-Qiyamah. In fact, do you have a bucket? Let's get a bucket. Let's get a box. Let's get rid of some of this dunya here. No, I'm serious. Let's get rid of some of this money in our pockets and let's donate it to the MSA. That's the one thing we can do.

Another thing we can do, brother, inshallah, and sisters, and obviously, how many masjids do we have here in this area? Five? Obviously every masjid, I'm sure, needs money. And really, just to keep the masjid operating every week requires money. That.

Brother, every time a mother or father even spends money, food, lawful money to spend on their family, that's for them sadaqah also. Madrasa to Islami for schools, for jihad, fisa bilillah, and for da'wah to Islamiyah. There's an infinite way we can spend our money obviously for Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

So let's go. Let's go now. Start with me first. You gotta always start with the speaker. So please, brothers and sisters, I don't see anybody going in their pockets. Just make a donation, inshallah.

Question 3: Difference Between Good Deeds and Ibadah

Question: Actually, the difference between good deeds and ibadah, there's none.

Answer: They're the same.

- I've only created jinn and men to worship me.

And so this worship, we taught any good deed that we do for Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is actually ibadah. And ibadah in the formal sense is salat and siyam and those kinds of things. But there are many hadith where the Prophet taught us even giving, feeding our families is sadaqah.

So even eating halal food is doing a good deed and it's ibadah. And even when a man and his wife is together, that's even is ibadah because we're doing it the halal way. So we don't ever want to think that we want to limit in any way this ibadah. It's actually worship. Okay?

Question 4: Saving Money for Children

Question: But isn't it, wouldn't it also be positive to save your money if you have children or somebody that needs the asset? Do you also get the deeds for the money that you leave behind?

Question 5: Hijab and Hair Showing

Question: While wearing hijab, is it okay to allow some hair to show?

Answer: No. I know that this is not the topic for today, but I would be very pleased if you would donate your thought. Thank you.

Actually, the idea of hijab, it's to cover. Now certainly if a little strand of hair get out there and it slips out, that's one thing. But don't like, you know, go in the mirror and say, well, let me put a little bit out there and put it up. You can't do that. But we should. The hijab is for covering, inshallah.

So sisters, when you wear hijab, try to cover. Try to cover all the hair, but if something gets out, okay, inshallah. But make intention, inshallah, to cover all of it.

Question 6: Overspending on Clothes

Question: How can a person stop himself from overspending clothes, even if he gave charity to help people?

Answer: Ah, good question. This is the way, inshallah. One of the things that, alhamdulillah, Islam always teaches us is balance. We're not the spin trips, or we go to the extreme and hoard money somewhere in between.

So one of the ways that can help, inshallah, to spend the money on many worthy causes, and alhamdulillah, we have a lot of worthy causes here in the Miami area.

Question 7: Islamic Schools in the Area

Question: Okay, I have here in Miami, oh, I live here in Miami and I have two kids. One of them go to school. My only hope is that my kids go to an Islamic school, but nobody is interested in working for the first thought. If you, if you can, we want you to encourage people, so something about this, and try to work it.

Answer: I thought I had bad hand writing. I got the idea. Let me say this, there's no full time school in this area? Is there? Not yet. Inshallah, it's the planning? You plan to do so? Okay, good. How far is that from here? Alhamdulillah.

Brothers and sisters, there's gonna get a, there will be a time, inshallah, that there will be many schools in this area. In New York City, we have 17 full time Muslim schools. And even 17 full time Muslim schools in New York City, you should ask me the question, what percentage of our youth go to those full time Muslim schools? What would you think? Less than 5%. That means even 17 full time schools is not enough in New York City.

What I would suggest to you is this, Alhamdulillah, make it in your Niyah, because I think, brothers and sisters, that we cannot do without full time Muslim schools. Personally, I believe that. And that even the citizens of this country have tremendous complaints about the public schools.

But what we did in New York City before we could afford a full time Muslim school, we had what was called Project Prelude. We found the best, what we thought the best public elementary school. I think it was PS 173. And we went to the principal and said, listen, we have a lot of Muslims. We'd like to send them to your school. And we sent about 70 Muslims to that one public school.

And as a result of that, they hired two Muslim teachers. We had a classroom that they gave us for Salat, for Islamic studies, for Arabic. And we, they bused them to that school every day and took them home. And on Fridays, they would go home early to go to Jumu'ah prayer service.

You may say, well, what's the benefit of that? The benefit of that is that in the classrooms, instead of having only one Muslim or two Muslims in the school, we had seven and eight Muslims in each classroom. So they got a chance to be together. In the cafeteria, they were together. So until we had a full-time school, we had what's called Project Prelude, where we were able to inshallah get some benefit until we were able to get our full-time Muslim schools. Okay.

Question 8: Muslim Charitable Organization

Statement: A Muslim charitable organization incorporated, has been established. My body needs help, or anybody needs help, or want to make a donation, I got you. A Muslim charitable organization incorporated has been established. Anybody who needs help, or want to make a donation, please call Dr. Hussain.

Question 9: Zakat on Gold

Question: If you have gold, zakat, yes?

Answer: Yes, we have to pay in fact, one of the most intricate Kitab al-Hadith Kitab al-Zakat in detail, in what item, gold, silver, cows, to pay zakat, inshallah. So what I would suggest you do to talk to the local imams here and figure out how much gold that our family have, even if she has gold, yes, she has to pay zakat on that. So talk to the imam and find out, you know, how much is the minimum and what percentage they have to pay.

You see, using it as you mean as jewelry? Yes, of course. Yes. But what I suggest you do, again, talk to the local imams here and you can get it trying to figure out, some of it is very intricate, but you can figure it out, inshallah, how much to pay zakat on gold. Yes, brother.

Question 10: Muslim Groups in Public Schools

Question: Could you hold on one second? Again. Again. Yes.

Answer: I think it would be excellent. If you are, if you're in a public school and there's Muslims there, I recommend strongly that you get together in some kind of group. In the colleges, they call them MSA. In the junior high school and high school, alhamdulillah, you can do the same thing. They may call them some kind of fraternity group, but the purpose of that is to come together to worship Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and strengthen each other.

I definitely recommend that you do that. And brothers and sisters, let's face it, it's very difficult for our children to be in a public school and not surrounded by Islamic models and things like that. So definitely, brother, I recommend.

What school do you go to? High school? Do they have such an organization in your school? Oh, Allah Akbar, University of... Jamaica one. Great. Maybe, inshallah, the next time I come, you let me know about it. I'm going

to ask you about it. What's your name? Samir, yes, Samir, inshallah.

Question 11: The Three Things That Continue After Death

Question: All the way in the back, brother, yes.

Answer: Yeah, I mentioned earlier that the Prophet said:

(Sahih Muslim 1631)

- I didn't tell you the end of the hadith. - When a person dies, their wealth is cut off except for three.

One is صَدَقَةٍ جَارِيَةٍ - When a person spends money in sadaqah that continues. He builds a masjid, for instance. And a person continues to get benefit from that masjid. As long as that person, people continue to benefit from the masjid, if he helped to build it then he gets some credit for it, even though he died.

And a knowledge that benefits. Knowledge that benefits, a person writes a book or leaves a tape, and he instructs people, and even the brothers in his grave, when people read his book and learn knowledge from him, learn a hadith from him, learn a ayah from Quran, then that person gets reward.

Also, righteous offspring who make du'a for their parents who have died. Their deeds continue to grow, inshallah. And there are other things that we we do in this life. And like, same thing planting a tree. You plant a tree, the Prophet Muhammad said, everything that eats from that tree, even if someone steals from that tree, you get some of the reward, even though you may be dead, inshallah.

So these are ways that if a person is smart, that they will continue to try to get some good deeds, even though they have died already.

Question 12: Eating Meat from Non-Halal Sources

Question: How come every time we go to a program, someone asks us this question. Is it permissible to eat that meat from the supermarket and restaurants that are not halal?

Answer: Brothers and sisters, listen. Certainly, Allah gives us permission to eat the meat of Ahlul Kitab. We know this. No one can argue this. But sometimes we have to be careful.

If you know that Ahlul Kitab, the people of the book, they do not slaughter the meat properly, you can't eat it, even though Allah gives you permission to eat the food of the people of the book, meaning that the reason Allah allow us to eat the food of the people of the book is the assumption that the people of the book is doing the right thing.

Can we eat, for instance, a Christian invites us to his house and he serves us pork. Can we eat the pork? No. Because it contradicts an ayah from the Qur'an. We can't eat khinzir, even though they're the people of the book.

Now, for instance, you go to a Christian's house, right? People of the book. And they go in the backyard, right? And you're watching them in the backyard. They got a stick. And they call the cow. And they start beating the

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cow. And then they slaughter the cow and serve it to you. Can you eat it? Some of you have doubt? Of course not. You can't eat a thing that's beaten to death.

Anyway, as long as the people of the book, if they slaughtered correctly, it's no problem. The Jews, Orthodox Jews, no problem. Kosher meat, no problem. In my opinion, in my opinion, Allahu a'lam, I tried to follow the hadith of Rasulullah: (دَعْ مَا يَرِيبُكَ إِلَى مَا لَا يَرِيبُكَ - Leave off that which is doubtful for that which doesn't cause you any doubt.

I don't say that the meat in the supermarket is haram. I don't say that. That's not my position. I'm saying I don't eat it. Only because I have serious doubts about how they slaughtered it. I don't eat it. I can't say that it's haram. I'm not saying that. I'm saying that my experiences, a lot of them, they don't slaughter correctly. Especially you have places where you have a lot of halal meat market.

Go to the halal meat market if that's possible. If there's not possible, then Allahu a'lam. So again, I don't want to contradict what Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said.

Question 13: Helping Non-Muslims

Question: What if you help the needy but they are not Muslims? Do we get thawab?

Answer: Well, subhanallah. Look at the ayah from the Quran.

I've only sent you, O Muhammad, as a mercy to all of the worlds.

Look at the hadith of Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam. A woman, prostitute, went in the well and drank water. And when she came out, she saw a dog that was thirsty. A what? Dog, kalbun. Dog that was thirsty. And she went back in the well, put the water in the shoe, put the shoe in her mouth, climbed out of the well and gave a dog water.

And the prophet said, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala forgave her sins. One hadith said, enter her into jannah. A prostitute gave water to a dog. Not water to a prophet. Not water to a mu'min. Not even water to a human being. But gave water to a dog. Certainly.

Brothers and sisters, you know what? I remember I gave a lecture somewhere. I can't remember which city. And I was running from my room, my hotel room, to go to the lecture hall. And I had to go up these long escalators. I had my books in my hand and there was an old woman right next to the escalator. And I said, excuse me, madam. And I went on the escalator and I went up.

And I'm going up. And as I was going up, something made me to look back. At that old white woman. She wasn't a Muslim. And I said, you know what? That woman is trying to get up here but she don't know how to do it. And so I went all the way up and I went down and came back.

And I said, madam, are you trying to get up there? She said, yes, sonny. I said, listen, you take my arm. I'll help you. Come. And I took her up. And she got to the top. She thanked me. Oh, thank you very much. Thank you

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very much.

Now someone might say, but Imam Siraj, she's not a Muslim. How could you help her? I help her because I'm Muslim. You know when I'm on a plane? Every week I'm on a plane. Two or three times a week. And you know what? You ever see people struggling trying to put their luggage in? Right? So I see a lady struggling, right? Trying to put her luggage up. Excuse me, madam, are you Muslim? Because if you're Muslim, I'm going to help.

The Prophet Muhammad alayhi salatu wa salam was good to everybody. And maybe by our good example to people, maybe Allah will guide them to the light of Islam. Yes, Akhi.

If the Prophet Muhammad alayhi salatu wa salam said, even Allah punished a woman who locked a cat up and didn't feed the cat. And wouldn't allow the cat go to feed itself. And that cat died. And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala punished that woman in hellfire. Even animals, Akhi. Even we're taught as Muslims to be good to animals even.

So yes, inshallah it is a reward for doing good to anyone, inshallah. And one of the best things that we can do for non-Muslims is to invite them to Islam. Yes, my brother.

Question 14: Giving Zakat to Non-Muslims

Question: Jazakallah khair. The next question is a technical question. I think I know the answer, Allah knows, but if the Imam can help me, inshallah. Can Zakat money be donated to non-Muslims?

Answer: I don't think so. It is categories, Allah gives us categories in Quran (إِنَّمَا الصَّدَقَاتُ لِلْفُقَرَاءِ وَالْمَسَاكِينِ - Quran 9:60)... As far as I know, one of the things that Zakat is given for is for people who recently come to Islam to help them, inshallah. To help them to get their hearts closer to Islam. But as far as giving Zakat to non-Muslims, I don't think so. Allah knows. Imam, is that correct basically? No? No, but I'm asking can we give Zakat to non-Muslims? No.

Yes, brother? The same ayah of the Qur'an that is referring to people who just became recently Muslims to make them stronger in the deen. There is a person that recently accepted Islam and the Prophet Muhammad gave him a valley of sheep and he went back to his people he says, yeah people become Muslims because Muhammad he gives in a way that you never fear poverty yeah he went to all his people, you should become Muslim.

And one sahaba say, many people they come to Islam for one thing they may be for dunya but soon Islam becomes more love for them than anything so some people really, I've known cases where a man, allahu a'lam a man come because these Muslim women are beautiful and I want one of these Muslim women and they become Muslim and they become sincere Muslim, allahu a'lam and same thing with women becoming Muslims alhamdulillah, allahu a'lam. Jazakallah khair yes brother.

Question 15: Non-Muslims Entering the Masjid

Question: If anyone, one of the beautiful things about Al-Quran and about Islam is everything has its daleel we

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may have evidence, proof we may have difference of opinion about different things but the beautiful thing about it is everyone must bring their daleel.

Answer:

O you who believe, obey Allah obey the messenger and those charged with authority among you if you differ with anything refer back to Allah and the messenger if it is you believe in Allah on the last day.

If someone tells you that a non-Muslim is not allowed to go in the masjid they have to give you some evidence from Quran and Sunnah what evidence would they give? And we have to be the kind of people that alhamdulillah we accept evidence, we accept daleel no problem brother you say a non-Muslim cannot come into the masjid please give me some daleel.

According to what I read of history even the prophet Muhammad alayhi salatu wasalam received non-Muslims in the masjid I've seen many cases like this and I don't know any scholars that say a non-Muslim can't come to the masjid I don't know such a thing and again I'm open if they just simply give us the evidence we accept it inshallah yes ma'am.

Question 16: Calling Nation of Islam Members "Brother"

Question: I had a discussion earlier about the nation of Islam and I'd like to know your opinion about calling members of the nation the brother versus the sister.

Answer: Oh boy what a question she said they had a conversation earlier about the members of the nation of Islam how many heard about the nation of Islam? She said what is your opinion about calling them my brother? Good question let me give you the technical answer first the believers are brothers.

Now black people who are not Muslims are not my brothers they're my qawmi they're my people black people white people male and female who are Muslims are my brothers Muslim is Muslim a Muslim is a brother to a Muslim right? If a person is not a Muslim are they our brother? What? You act like you're not sure? No there's no doubt they're not brothers.

Allah has given us a new definition this definition is based on deen Muslim is a Muslim a Muslim is a brother this is what the prophet said a Muslim is a brother to a Muslim Allah says only the believers are brothers so the real question is are the believers are they Muslim? That's the question.

My brothers and sisters by the way I'm an expert on the nation of Islam ask me why I was a minister in the nation of Islam and there was a very famous minister of the nation of Islam many of you may know him Jeffrey 12x any of you hear of him? That was me like my brother there he was in the nation from 1970 a minister in the nation from 70 to 75 and I came in 1969.

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And let me tell you something can I share this personal story with you but we got to keep it here there was about 3 or 4 years ago in New York City one of the big ministers of the nation of Islam over one of the temples I invited him to my house him and one of his lieutenants and we spoke and spoke and spoke at 3 o'clock in the morning I gave them both shahada this was a minister in the nation of Islam in Brooklyn over a temple took shahada him and his lieutenant.

And the brother was he said oh man tell the truth I said calm down man you got to calm down you got to be wise now he went back his first sermon was Tawhid the oneness of Allah the people were so upset they called minister Farrakhan I don't want to say his name because I don't want to get anybody in trouble said something wrong with the minister think Siraj did something to him.

And the lieutenant left and became Muslim this minister the minister Farrakhan brought him back to Chicago and he stayed there for a long time to re indoctrinate him he came back called me on the phone Imam Siraj I want to speak to you I was at the masjid he came to visit us.

What happened is that he was reorientated into the doctrine of the nation of Islam and he was kind of like debating with me and we were talking he brought two of his people from his temple and it came time for salat to Isha I'll never forget this called the Adhan and I said brother we have to stop and make salat he said I know and he got in the ranks.

He just finished telling me that God came in the person of master Farad Muhammad telling me Elijah Muhammad is the messenger of Allah I went to him and said minister please come before I made the salat I invited I said minister please come and the two brothers please come.

I said minister I want to ask you a question do you consider me your brother he said yes Imam I do I said now you ask me the same question he said don't you consider me your brother and I said no but let me tell you why the same thing that I'm telling you it hurted me to have to do that but I cannot have people standing in the ranks who when they pray they pray to a man and not to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

I couldn't do it and even though my heart felt like I wanted to embrace him hope to bring him I couldn't violate our principle by breaking the ranks and let such a person let such a person pray with us.

To answer your question honestly truthfully let's be straight up straight up no we cannot and let me tell you why by the way brothers and sisters it is my opinion and Allah knows best and I was speaking to a brother earlier that most of the members of the nation of Islam in my opinion will become Muslim.

Let me tell you why I believe that anytime an organization is headed by the charisma of a leader usually when that leader dies the movement dies in 1975 when Elijah Muhammad died the nation of Islam effectively was dead minister Farrakhan himself and most of the people in the nation of Islam including Muhammad Ali and many many left the teachings and the doctrines of Elijah Muhammad and became Muslim many of them including myself alhamdulillah.

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And so with his death then the movement had died three years later Farrakhan decided to raise up the nation of Islam again a couple of things minister Farrakhan calls himself Muslim I can't take that away from him if he calls himself Muslim but we have to be honest with each other.

Some of the Muslims around the country became disappointed in me because minister Farrakhan invited me to speak at the Million Man March and I refused to go he said publicly that he wouldn't even go unless I went with him why didn't I go because if I go and went to the Million Man March you can say Imam Siraj you have an opportunity to speak to millions of people perhaps but what would happen is that I would authenticate authenticate him and his movement because he would say see Imam Siraj was there so I couldn't do that.

In the same way he invited me to speak in the UN same reason I didn't go now listen to this and then we try to make us to understand why it's important you know one day I was with minister Farrakhan we had breakfast together and we're close he comes to New York he calls me I go to Chicago I go to his house I see him every time I see him Allah knows I invite him to Islam because I think by the way that if this man became a Muslim I think Islam will grow rapidly in this country.

He's skillful to such a degree a couple of years ago World Series Baseball game in Atlanta Georgia the same night that the Braves played World Series Farrakhan spoke in Atlanta Georgia and outdrew the Atlanta Braves 90,000 people came to hear him speak who else do you know what Muslim you know who can attract the kinds of crowds as minister Farrakhan you don't know.

So even as Allah guided Umar Ibn al-Khattab and Islam became strong as a result of Umar Ibn al-Khattab perhaps if minister Farrakhan becomes a Muslim that he can do all of that for Allah this is my dua by the way.

So minister Farrakhan called me we went to breakfast together in New York City and I said minister Farrakhan I got to ask you a question now listen to the Quran:

The month of Ramadan is the month in which Allah revealed al-Quran when do Muslims fast when do Muslims fast month of Ramadan I said minister Farrakhan please tell me if Allah says in Quran that we should fast in the month of Ramadan why are you fasting in December good question.

Can I tell you what he told me are you ready he said Imam Siraj he says in the Quran it says those who are sick are on a journey can make it up days later my people are on a spiritual journey sure did Allah is my witness.

(Sahih al-Bukhari 631)

- Pray as you see me pray.

How do Muslims pray? Allahu akbar allahu akbar how do Muslims pray? Sallu kamara itumuni usalli pray as you see me pray make sajda they don't pray like that in the nation of Islam in the nation of Islam they turn to the east and they go like this.

I can tell you a thousand and one things brother can tell you too the differences between the nation of Islam and Islam do you know in Islam only Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala makes halal and haram now brother tell me he will stop me from lying in the nation of Islam it was haram to eat peanuts how many of you eat peanuts oh oh and you couldn't eat peanuts nor its derivatives peanut butter.

Now when I was a young boy I used to love peanut butter and jelly when I left the nation of Islam the first thing I did made me a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

So brothers and sisters yes they are my people but they are not brothers and we have to be honest and you don't mean you have to be hostile to them no I'm not I talk to them straight up and I try to be honest with them and alhamdulillah we've given a number of them shahada.

Even the same minister the same minister in Brooklyn recently told me imam we like to be the ministers in New York in the nation of Islam would like to be a part of the majlis shura of New York the imams I said minister come and we will meet and we will discuss the criteria to become a member of the majlis shura.

But we can't stop giving dawah and we should not be in my opinion we have different styles of dawah but don't be hostile toward them invite them in a nice way and you'll see inshallah maybe many of them will become Muslim I don't know maybe minister Farrakhan himself you know he's 60 something years old I think 66 years old he's going to die one day and what's going to happen to his followers many of them will come by you be prepared to meet them when they come treat them good inshallah when they come inshallah they will be coming.