The Currency of the Hereafter

The Currency of the Hereafter - Imam Siraj Wahhaj

Opening Testimony and Praise

I bear witness that there is no god but Allah, alone without partner, and I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and messenger. All praise is due to Allah. We praise Him, seek His help, seek His forgiveness, and seek refuge with Allah from the evil of our souls and from our bad deeds. Whomever Allah guides, none can misguide, and whomever He allows to go astray, none can guide. We put our trust in Him and believe in Him.

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 Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى.

Introduction: The Importance of Money and Its Use

Brothers and sisters, tonight for a few moments I want to talk about a real serious topic. It's a topic that everyone 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?

Tonight I was given the topic: the currency of the hereafter. Brothers and sisters, every country you go to has their own money. I will name the place and you will tell me the name of that currency: France—Franc; Germany; Italy; Great Britain; Mecca; Pakistan—Rupee. The hereafter, brothers and sisters—what makes us separate from those who disbelieve? Those who believe in the hereafter. 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 (Quran 3:185).

The Reality of Death

139.9 million people a year will die on this planet. Every 2 seconds, 9 babies are born and 3 people die. And brothers and sisters, every moment you live, you are that much closer to the grave. The currency of the hereafter -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.

Understanding True Value

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.

I have here—what is this? Can you tell what it is? A Canadian dollar. You want it? You have it. Who would trade me my 10 Canadian dollars for your 10 US dollars? Anyone? Do I 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."

The Worthlessness of Worldly Currency in the Hereafter

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. 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. And the same way animals, countries, insects, and plants have their own value, so does Allah have His 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. When a person dies, his deeds, his works, are cut off except for three—and 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.

The Hadith: Three Things Follow the Dead Person

So we die—the door to the hereafter, the door to the unseen. The Prophet said in this very powerful hadith: "Three things follow the dead person." Now all of us read this hadith before, I'm sure. Three things follow a dead person; two things go back and one thing remains.

You ever notice the Prophet said: "Three things follow the dead person"? He says the three things that follow are: a person's family follows the dead person to the grave; a person's wealth follows a person to the grave—why did he say wealth follows a person to the grave? 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 Example of William Gates's Wealth

Brothers and sisters, does anyone know, read the Fortune magazine? Any of you read the Fortune magazine? Forbes? Okay. A 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: 18 billion dollars.

Now I wish you could have got the camera when I said 18 billion dollars. Nobody responded. You know why? Because you don't know what 18 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 18 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 121 million dollars, 7-year contract. That's more than 21 million dollars a year. Now is that a lot of money? 21 million dollars a year? Let me put it in perspective: William Gates's money compared to Shaquille O'Neal—Shaquille O'Neal making 21 million dollars a year would have to make that for 1,040 years to equal the wealth of William Gates. Now you know how much money it is. That's a lot of money.

The Necessity and True Value of Money

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 madrasah 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.

Now brothers and sisters, the lesson that we learn is this: if William Gates dies today, 18 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-Faraid, 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 do the children get? How much does the brother, the sister get? How much, how much do 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 Hadith on Real Wealth

Let me tell you how heavy the Prophet Muhammad was, brothers and sisters. Never take the messenger of Allah

"To teach you."

"And then We keep you in the womb for an appointed term."

"Then We bring you out as babies."

Look at the picture.

"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 at all of the creation that he makes by the permission of Allah.

The Reversal of Life: From Knowledge to Ignorance

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

"And then some of you He calls to die. And then some of you, if you live long enough, He sends 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 lived 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 a long 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'm finished in salat, I said: "Who was that?" One of my young girls. Wallahi, I don't remember which one. Was that the Sadaqah, Basmah, Sharifah, or Sajdah? It wasn't Sajdah. But it was one of them, right? And I said: "Who taught you that surah?" She said: "Abi, you taught me. Dad, you taught me." I said: "I didn't teach you that surah." "Yes, you did." I said: "When?" She 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?

The Ability of Children to Memorize

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 Quran, only because we don't emphasize. We don't teach them. And you know what? I went to South Africa. Went to a conference there. And we stopped for Salatul Maghrib. And they took a young brother about 19 years old to lead the salat. This recitation of this young boy—Hafizul Quran. Young man, I think 18 or 19 years old. Was great recitation. South Africa in 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 going to sit here and wait for 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 chose another brother to lead the salat rather than the other brother, I'm saying: "Man, I wanted to hear that brother recite." This brother who recited Isha was better than the one who recited Maghrib. And then another Hafizul Quran.

At Fajr prayer, got another young man, 17 years old. South Africa. Hafizul Quran 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 the Quran.

But guess what? If they live long enough, Allah is going to cause a reversal, so that after having known much, you know little. And this is Quran, 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 haram, senility, old age, to such a degree that there's a reversal."

The Cycle of Dependence

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 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're this or that, because Allah will show you as you are. You are dependent from the very beginning. Allah makes you

dependent all over again in your old age.

The Urgency of Spending for Allah Now

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. Let me show this research that I did, and then we close out, inshallah.

When I read ayat 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 lives, and another person slips on a banana peeling and dies? I actually read about a woman who fell from a plane and lived. 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 8 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.

Statistics on Death by Age

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 year old and 3.7 million were 1 to 4 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 million 268,000 deaths in the United States. 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 year old: 33,300 babies died in the United States. From 1 to 4 years old: 7,020. From 5 to 14 years old: 8,740. From 15 to 24: how many of you 15 to 24? Raise your hand. I'm talking about your category now. 15 to 24: 59,740 people died. 25 to 34: 59,740. From 35 to 44: 95,920. So forth and so on.

The Key to Success: Transform Your Currency Now

Brothers and sisters, the reason that I mention all of this is that soon, Allah will 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. And this

is why we're told in the Quran: "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 for a little bit more time. To do what? To go back. To do some more good deeds.

The Reality of Deeds

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. 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 a camel and doesn't pay zakat on the camel, that camel, those camels will punish us on Yawm al-Qiyamah. Deeds are real.

And when our family walks away and we're there in the grave by ourselves, the only thing that we'll have is our deeds.

Developing Good Habits

Inshallah, I want to remind you as I sit down that now is the time to work hard for Allah. And he said: "If a person has a habit of doing good deeds when he's sick or on a journey, Allah will 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 Salatul 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 Hadith on the Value of This World

And the Prophet said, finally: "If this dunya, all of it, equaled in the sight of Allah even 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 in hellfire, you know what they're going to ask for? A sip of water. "Oh, you in Jannah, oh, 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.

Conclusion and Call to Action

Brothers and sisters, may Allah bless all of you to go in your pockets and spend money in the way of Allah. All of you dads that take some time to spend time with your children, now, inshallah, teach them and to train them and to transform this currency into the currency of the hereafter.

Question and Answer Session

Question 1: How to Spend Money for Allah

Question: You spoke about spending money. Maybe they need to know which way—what is it we have for spending money?

Answer: Oh man, that's easy. We have an MSA here. What's an 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. 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, 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, I'm going to tell you something. Every time a mother or father even spends money, food, lawful money to spend on their family, that's for them sadaqah also. Madrasah to Islamia for schools, for jihad, for da'wah to Islamiyah. There's an infinite way we can spend our money, obviously, for Allah.

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

Question 2: Good Deeds vs. Ibadah

Question: There's a difference between good deeds and ibadah?

Answer: Actually, the difference between good deeds and ibadah—there's none. They're the same. "I've only created jinn and men to worship Me" (Quran 51:56). And so this worship—we're taught any good deed that we do for Allah 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 family is sadaqah. So even eating halal food is doing a good deed and is ibadah. And even when a man and his wife are together, that's even

Question 3: Saving Money vs. Spending for Good Deeds

Question: You're implying that when you spend your money and you donate it, it's better than to keep it in the bank. It's better to donate your money and use it for a good deed because it's going to pay for the currency in the hereafter. But wouldn't it also be positive to save the money if you have children or somebody that needs it? Do you also get the deeds for the money that you leave behind?

Answer: It's actually a good question. Brothers and sisters, we never imply that you can't save money for some things. You may save money to buy a house, for instance. You may save money for your children's education. But that's okay. We're not talking about that. And certainly, if you save money for that purpose, that's right.

The thing that we're talking about is leaving behind so much wealth. The point is that after you die, that wealth no longer belongs to you. That's the key. If you spent $18 billion while you were alive for good, then you get credit for that $18 billion. If you leave that $18 billion behind and someone else inherits that money, that person—how they spend it—they will get the blessings for how they spend that money. For the moment that you die and you're buried, that money doesn't belong to you. That's the point. And we have to be careful of hoarding wealth.

So I don't say you can't save. Certainly you can save with a plan. You have a plan. We're saving money to buy a school. We're saving money to send our children to school. That's certainly okay. The hasanat—believing that you leave more behind—you don't get it. I don't think that you can get the same amount of hasanat from spending something or something that you left behind and didn't spend it. Again, if you have the intention of, for instance, you leaving it for your children's education, then you're going to get the reward for that. But if you just leave all of this wealth behind and some of you just didn't spend, then certainly it's going to go to the ones who get it.

Question 4: Wearing Hijab Properly

Question: While wearing hijab, is it okay to allow some hair to show? I know that this is not the topic for today, but I would be very pleased if you would donate your thought.

Answer: Actually, the idea of hijab, since it's to cover—now certainly if a little strand of hair gets out there and it slips out, that's one thing. But don't go in the mirror and say: "Let me put a little bit out there." You can't do that. But we should—the hijab is for covering, inshallah. Try to cover all the hair, but if something gets out, okay, inshallah. But make the intention, inshallah, to cover all of it.

Question 5: Preventing Overspending

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

Answer: This is the way, inshallah. One of the things that, alhamdulillah, Islam always teaches us is balance.

We neither spend extravagantly, 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 6: Need for Islamic Schools

Question: I have here in Miami—I live here in Miami and I have two kids. One of them goes 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 can, we want you to encourage people, so something about this, and try to work it.

Answer: I got the idea. Let me say this: there's no full-time school in this area? Is there? Not yet. Inshallah, it's in the planning? You plan to do so? Okay, good. How far is that from here? Alhamdulillah, there will be a time, inshallah, there will be many schools in this area.

In New York City, we have 17 full-time Muslim schools. And even with 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. 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 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. Yes, brother?

Question 7: Paying Zakat on Gold

Question: If you have gold, zakat?

Answer: Yes. 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 is talk to the local imams here and figure out how much gold that our family has. Even if she has gold, yes. She has to pay zakat on that. So talk to the imam and find out how much is the minimum and what percent they have to pay. 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. Some of it is very intricate, but you can figure out, inshallah, how much to pay zakat on gold. Yes, brother?

Question 8: Muslim Student Organizations in Schools

Question: Could you hold on one second? Again?

Answer: I think it would be excellent. If you are 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 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? University of Miami. 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. All the way in the back, brother.

Question 9: Sadaqah Jariyah and Continuous Deeds

Question: [About deeds that continue after death]

Answer: Yes. I mentioned earlier that the Prophet said—I didn't tell you the end of the hadith—except for three. When a person dies, their deeds are cut off except for three.

One is sadaqah jariyah. As you know, 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 knowledge that benefits—'ilm. Knowledge that benefits. A person writes a book and leaves a tape and he instructs people, and even the brother is in his grave, but people read his book and learn knowledge from him, learn a hadith from him, learn an 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 do in this life.

Same thing—planting a tree. If 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. Okay.

Question 10: Eating Meat from Supermarkets

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. Listen. Certainly, Allah gives us permission to eat the meat of Ahl al-Kitab. We know this. No one can argue this. But sometimes we have to be careful. If you know that Ahl al-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 allows us to eat the food of the people of the book is the assumption that the people of the book are 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 Quran. We can't eat khinzir even though they're the people of the book.

Now, brothers and sisters, 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. And they got a stick. And they call the cow. And they start beating the cow. Boom, boom, boom. 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 slaughter them 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: "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 experience is, a lot of them, they don't slaughter it correctly. Especially, you have places where you have a lot of halal meat markets. Go to the halal meat market if that's possible. If it's not possible, then allahu a'lam.

So again, I don't want to contradict what Allah said.

Question 11: 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" (Quran 21:107). Look at the hadith of Rasulullah. 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 forgave her sins." One hadith said: "Enter her into Jannah" (Sahih Bukhari 3321, Sahih Muslim 2245). 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.

Brother says, you know what, I remember I gave a lecture somewhere, one city—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. And so I was coming, 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 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 doesn'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 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 the—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 was good to everybody. And maybe by our good example to people, maybe Allah will guide them to the light of Islam. Yes, if the Prophet Muhammad said: "Even Allah punished a woman who locked a cat up and didn't feed the cat. And wouldn't allow the cat to go to feed itself. And that cat died. And Allah punished that woman in hellfire" (Sahih Bukhari 3318, Sahih Muslim 2242).

Even animals-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.

Question 12: Giving Zakat to Non-Muslims

Question: The next question is a technical question. I think I know the answer, allahu a'lam, 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 (Quran 9:60). And et cetera, et cetera, what the zakat is due for. 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 a non-Muslim, I don't think so, allahu a'lam. Imam, is that correct, basically? No. No, but I'm asking: can we give zakat to non-Muslims? No.

Yes, brother?

Yes, brother? Some people might differ with that. They might argue the same ayah of the Quran that is referring to people who just became recently Muslims, to make them stronger in the deen. No, no, no, nothing for you. No, this ayah—exactly what you say—to recently, to bring their hearts to—(اللهُ أَعْلَمُ - allahu a'lam), I'm saying (اللهُ أَعْلَمُ - allahu a'lam), but jazakallah khair.

Non-Muslims, as I understood it with the non-Muslims, you know, there's one hadith, by the way, there's one beautiful hadith. There's 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 says: "Many people, they come to Islam for one thing. They may be for dunya, but soon Islam becomes more loved for them than anything."

So some people, really, I've known cases where a man, (اللهُ أَعْلَمُ - allahu a'lam), a man comes because these Muslim women are beautiful, and "I want one of these Muslim women," and they become Muslim, and they become sincere Muslim, (اللهُ أَعْلَمُ - allahu a'lam). And same thing with women, becoming Muslims. Alhamdulillah, allahu a'lam. Jazakallah khair. Yes, brother.

Question 13: Non-Muslims Entering the Masjid

Question: [About non-Muslims entering the masjid]

Answer: If anyone—one of the beautiful things about Al-Quran and about Islam is everything has its daleel. We 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.

"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, 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 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 of such a thing. And again, I'm open—if they just simply give us the evidence, we accept it. Yes, ma'am.

Question 14: The Nation of Islam - Are They Muslims?

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 their brother or 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. Black people who are not Muslims are not my brothers. They're my people. Black people, white people, male and female who are Muslims are my brothers. A Muslim is a brother to a Muslim. If a person is not a Muslim, are they our brother? 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. A Muslim is a brother. This is what the Prophet said. A Muslim is a brother to a Muslim. Only the believers are brothers. So the real question is: are they Muslim? That's the question.

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 in the Nation. He was in there from 1970. He was a minister in the Nation from 1970 to 1975. And I came in 1969.

And let me tell you something. Can I share this personal story with you? But we gotta keep it here. Be careful with that camera. I'll let you film it, but be careful. There was about three or four 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, I'm telling the truth." I said: "Well, calm down, man. You gotta calm down, man. You gotta be wise now." He went back. His first sermon was Tawheed, 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—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. And he came to visit us. What happened is that he was re-orientated 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 Salatul 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 Fard 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 him. 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. 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 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. 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 could say: "Imam Siraj, you have an opportunity to speak to millions of people perhaps." But what would happen is that I would 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 recently. Same reason, I didn't go.

Now listen to this and then we try to make us understand why it's important, inshallah. 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. Allahu akbar. 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 him.

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 du'a, by the way.

So Minister Farrakhan called me and we went to breakfast together in New York City. I said: "Minister Farrakhan, I got an extra question." Now, listen to the Quran:

"The month of Ramadan is the month in which Allah revealed the Quran."

When do Muslims fast? 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 or on a journey can make it up days later.' My people are on a spiritual journey." Sure did. Allah is my witness.

"Pray as you see me pray" (Sahih Bukhari 631).

How do Muslims pray?

How do Muslims pray?

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 makes halal and haram? Now, brother, tell—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're my people. But they're 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 majesty 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 majesty of New York."

But we can't stop giving da'wah. And we should not be, in my opinion—we have different styles of da'wah. 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 he's 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. I'm sorry. We've got a couple. I know. Yes, ma'am.

Question 15: Continuing Discussion on Nation of Islam

Question: Kind of out of topic, but what do you think of the quote concerning the theory of revolution?

Answer: Actually, it's a good question. I actually saw the question here. You wrote that question? You want to get that question, huh? Actually, I wanted to finish just Nation of Islam. I'll come right back to that. Anyone else have a point on that? I think she wanted to make a follow-up on that point. Anyone? Yes, I thought so.

Follow-up: I heard him at the beginning of his speech and he was sounding like a true Muslim. If you heard him, like he said the shahada and all that. I was surprised.

Answer: Let me tell you the problems. Two problems we have. Several problems we have. One is that when they say the shahada—

-but when they say they bear witness that there is no god but Allah, they mean Fard Muhammad. There's a difference. And number two, when they say "Muhammadan Rasulullah," they mean Elijah Muhammad is a messenger of Allah. You see? And that's the difference. And then the other thing is that—but he also bears witness of Prophet Muhammad being a messenger. So sometimes they go back and forth.

Even in the ayah of the Quran:

"And when they meet those who believe, they say: 'We believe.' But when they are alone with the evil ones, they say: 'We are really with you, we were only mocking.'"

So sometimes we have to be careful to say one thing in front of people and another thing in another way. So I want them to become Muslim, inshallah. Tayyib.

Question 16: Theory of Evolution

Question: Who has a question or point? This will be the last two, inshallah. You had a point or question? Okay, you can do it, inshallah. One, two, three. Thank you. One, two, three. Yes. Be careful. We read recently with the Pope. He didn't accept the theory of evolution.

Answer: What he actually did, from what I understand what I read into it, is that they are not necessarily a total contradiction in some aspects of the evolutionary theory. You know, for instance, you know the ayah in the Quran:

"Allah created the heavens and earth in six days. And then He ascended the throne."

Six days—what does it mean? Does it mean six days? Does it mean perhaps six thousand years? As one ayah in the Quran says: "A day with Allah is a thousand years" (Quran 22:47). Is it possible six thousand years? Or is it possible—in the ayah in the Quran it says: "The Ruh and the angels ascend to Allah a day which is fifty thousand years" (Quran 70:4)? Is it perhaps that? Allah knows best.

So if Allah created Adam, how long did it take to create Adam? Certainly you can say Allah said "Be," and it is. But does that mean that Adam occurred like this? Because look at the ayah that I talked about today:

"If you have doubt about the resurrection, consider I created you from dust, then sperm, then clot, then flesh."

So according to everything we see, it is to create things in stages. So maybe Adam wasn't just like Allah said "boom" and Adam jumped up like that. Maybe we don't even believe it that way, perhaps.

Question 17: Reading Quran for a Dying Non-Muslim

Question: Are you running down? I don't know which is your question. Just tell us basically what is it. It's just a brother, a black American brother who asked us to believe in evolution. His mother who's dying—she's dying? She was dying. She was not Muslim. She was not Muslim. He was asking us if any of us could volunteer to read Yasin on her. She's still not living. She passed. And nobody volunteered to read it for brothers. The question is there was a sister dying who was not a Muslim. And the son, he's Muslim, asked the brothers to read Surah Yasin for his mother who was dying. And he said he did it; no one else did it.

Answer: He didn't do the right thing. You know this ayah in the Quran:

"You cannot guide whom you love, but Allah guides to the straight path whomever He wills."

If you read the tafsir or the explanation of this ayah, it's talking about the death of Abu Talib, the uncle of the Prophet Muhammad, when he was dying on his deathbed. The Prophet didn't read Surah Yasin for him. But what he did say—the most important thing—"Say that there's no God but Allah. Say that there's no God but Allah."

If you want to do something for a dead person who's not Muslim, follow the sunnah and invite them to the oneness of Allah. That would be my advice. How then could we recite the Quran for a person who hasn't first accepted Allah? What would it mean? Huh? Then if she wasn't conscious, what becomes the purpose of it?

I understand. May Allah reward you for your niyah. Let me tell you why I say this. You know, especially a brother like myself who have many family members and old acquaintances who are not Muslims, and sometimes, you know, maybe they die and you want to do something for them, but you cannot disobey Allah and the messenger. And because they're not Muslims, it's different. As long as they're living, do everything you can to try to invite them to Islam, to try to treat them good. But I think things like that we can't do. I don't think that we have the right Islamically to recite surah al-Quran. Maybe someone here, imam, you can't. Yes, brother?

Follow-up: No, the person was still alive. He was still alive.

Answer: No, no. I agree with you. See, our brother making a point is well taken. Sometimes we should be careful even doing things even to Muslims that we may think is part of sunnah that not necessarily part of sunnah. But I have read some hadith where a person is alive, reading surah al-Quran, saying Muslim, yes. But not on the dead person. Yes, brother? Read it on the dead. On your dead? Jazakallah khair.

But in terms of reading it for a non-Muslim, I would say no. Everything that I know, imam, yes? Yes. Jazakallah khair.

Brother, listen to me. I don't say that to beat you and throw stones at you or anything like that. No, anyone should. But we should try to get as much as we can because we want to do the right thing. Because we don't want to be displeasing to Allah. Even Prophet Ibrahim at one point asked even for du'a for his father when he should not have done it at that particular time. We have to be careful.

Question 18: Using Images in Teaching Children

Question: And the last question. In the classroom setting when you're teaching children? Give me an example. Just a quick question. I wanted to say for the imam, inshallah. The question is: can you use images for children in teaching? Like maybe teaching a child this is a giraffe, this is a lion, so forth and so on.

Answer: I would rather the imam, inshallah—why don't you come up here, imam, and he will give us the answer. Yes, come, imam. We know each other from Arizona, inshallah. Good brother, I love him very much. And I always like to share the rostrum when I'm up here. Don't like to stay up here by myself.

Imam's Answer: I think the only images are allowed in Islam: children's toys. Prophet Muhammad made an exception for that. We read in the seerah that when the Prophet Muhammad married Aisha, she came to his house with a horse with two wings. And he asked her: "What is this?" She said: "The horse with two wings." He told her: "The horses have no wings."

So if there are toys to teach children, they are permissible. Other than that, we are not allowed as Muslims to have any images in the houses, any statues, any pictures even hanging on the walls of life, human beings or animals. Because the hadith is very clear that the angels will not enter the house or the room where there is a dog or a picture (Sahih Bukhari 3322, Sahih Muslim 2106). A picture of a living person or an animal. May Allah bless you. No problem with nature and sceneries, no problem with that.

Final Discussion on Images and Art

Question: We have one last question. I don't think there is any problem with that, but let them live in the ocean, inshallah.

Answer: Let me share this with you in case you didn't know. Again, something personal about my own life. Very few people know that I used to be an artist. I used to be, before I became Muslim, and I used to paint portraits. Everyone who came to my house, I had to paint their portrait. I painted in oil and watercolor and every

kind of medium. When I became a Muslim, when I learned that we are not supposed to make images, I had two large envelopes of pictures and paintings and I threw all of them away.

I say that to say that—let me tell you something, if no one ever told you this as an artist. You know the hadith—you read it says that a person who makes an image, Allah will order that person to make it come alive and they won't be able to do it (Sahih Bukhari 5951, Sahih Muslim 2110).

Let me tell you something that probably no one ever can tell you or never told you before. I swear by Allah, when I used to make portraits of people, I used to sit down after my work—wallahi—and sit and wait for it to come alive. It's something that you don't know unless you're an artist who makes pictures of people. There's something that does something to you when you make things like a real life person. Something happens to you as an artist—you become proud like a creator. Wallahi azeem. I swear by Allah. I don't lie on Allah. Definitely when I was an artist, I used to feel this way, and I used to paint sometimes late at night, 2 or 3 o'clock in the morning, painting pictures and waiting for it to come to life. Allah and His messenger know best. Wallahi.

Let us get out of the habit—and I know there's a lot of questions in terms of fiqh about these questions and how far do we go, images and things like that, and pictures and things like that. There's a lot of discussion on that. Maybe tonight is not the forum because I'm not an expert on that. What I would recommend is to bring some of the scholars who are proficient in that area and who could perhaps tell us the difference between photographs, for instance, and paintings and statues and what are all the hudud.

But consider this. Try your best as much as you can, as much as your ability, to obey Allah. We'll find out that a lot of times we do things simply because the people of this society do them and we become accustomed to them. Now let's face it. Come on. Look. I'm not throwing this away. Who's that guy? Who's that guy? Don't you know who this is? Washington. Come on. George Jefferson. I'm not going to throw it away. It would be much better to have money without these images on it. Much better, wouldn't it be? Inshallah, we'll get to a time where we make our own money. They have no images on them. Driver's license too. All of that. Passports. We recognize newspapers and things. We recognize all of these things.

So there's a lot of issues that we have to deal with in this modern time. Anything but those things that we have control over. Try not to get involved in those kinds of images.

Closing Remarks

Brothers and sisters, I thank you very much for being tremendously, tremendously patient.