The Fear of Allah

The Fear of Allah

Opening Praise

. (الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ وَالصَّلَاةُ وَالسَّلَامُ عَلَى رَسُولِ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ وَعَلَى آلِهِ وَصَحْبِهِ وَسَلَّمَ تَسْلِيمًا كَثِيرًا) . (الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ لَا أَبْغِي بِهِ بَدَلًا حَمْدًا يَبْلُغُ مِنْ رِضْوَانِهِ الْأَمَلَ ثُمَّ الصَّلَاةُ عَلَى خَيْرِ الْوَرَى وَعَلَى سَادَتِنَا آلِهِ وَصَحْبِهِ الْفُضَلَاءِ)

Praise be to Allah. We beseech Allah to send His peace and blessings on the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) and those who follow him from his companions and family members from this ummah till the end of time. Assalamu alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh. It's an honor to be here with my brothers and sisters here in the Inland Empire.

I ask Allah to bless this masjid and to make this masjid insha'Allah founded upon taqwa and the pleasure of Allah insha'Allah. And I want to thank our brothers and sisters who came from far away. A number of people came from Irvine, masha'Allah. And I ask Allah to protect you insha'Allah and take you back to your home safely, insha'Allah, under the pleasure of Allah.

The Month of Ramadan

It's the month of Ramadan. The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: (إِذَا أَتَاكُمْ رَمَضَانُ) "When the month of Ramadan comes to you," the gates of paradise are open, the gates of hellfire are closed (وَصُفِّدَتِ الشَّيَاطِينُ) "and the devils are chained." (Sahih al-Bukhari 1899, Sahih Muslim 1079)

With that in mind, this is a month where we can, I'm sure many of us are feeling a heightened awareness of Allah, closeness to Allah. So I'm gonna talk about something tonight, maybe when you first hear it, you'll be a little bit frightened, but insha'Allah, if we can focus and try to gain some benefit from this topic, hopefully insha'Allah, will be a means of empowering us to contribute something to our society and bring good to our society. We ask, first of all, Allah to protect the people of Houston, I'm sure many of you following the news, what's going on, and also today there was a train crash here, they said now maybe 70 people maybe died, so we ask Allah to lighten their burden insha'Allah.

Introduction to Fearing Allah

With that being said, we're gonna talk about fearing Allah (الْخَوْفُ مِنَ اللَّهِ) - fearing Allah. And the word Ibadah, as Imam Ibn Qayyim rahimahullah mentioned, as well as other scholars like Imam al-Ghazali, Imam Qushayri rahimahullah in his Risalah, the word Ibadah, worship, has two meanings. The worship of the outer limbs, like salah, like charity, and so on, da'wah, and Allah, it's called Ibadat al-Jawari, worship with the limbs.

The second type of Ibadah is the Ibadah of the Qalb, the worship of the heart. And both of these have to work together in order for there to be like a good equilibrium in the life of the person who worships Allah.

Outer and Inner Purity

About outer purity, Allah says in the Quran: فَاغْسِلُوا وُجُوهَكُمْ وَأَيْدِيَكُمْ إِلَى الْمَرَافِقِ وَامْسَحُوا بِرُءُوسِكُمْ وَأَرْجُلَكُمْ إِلَى الْكَعْبَيْنِ

"[Then wash your faces and your hands up to the elbows, wipe over your heads and wash your feet up to the ankles.]"

(Quran 5:6) Then at the end of the verse, Allah says, so that Allah can purify you. So here this is the outer purity, wudu. In Surah Al-Ma'idah, the sixth verse, Allah says, O you who believe, when you want to pray, wash your faces, your hands, and so on and so forth. At the end of the verse He says, to purify you, that this was done for purity.

So this is the outer purity, the outer form of worship, which is related to purifying yourself for Salah, Quran, and Ibadah.

The Definition of Ibadah

Imam Ibn Qayyim and others, Ibn Taymiyyah also said: (كُلُّ مَا يُحِبُّهُ اللَّهُ وَيَرْضَاهُ سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى مِنَ الظَّاهِرِ وَالْبَاطِنِ) "Ibadah is everything that Allah loves from the outer and the inner acts."

So from the outer acts of worship, like I mentioned now in the sixth verse of the fifth chapter of the Qur'an, is this wudu, for example, and ghusl, tayammum. Also about the inner aspects of worship and tahara, Allah said: فِيهِ رِجَالٌ يُحِبُّونَ أَن يَتَطَهَّرُوا وَاللَّهُ يُحِبُّ الْمُطَّهِّرِينَ

"[In it are men who love to purify themselves, and Allah loves those who purify themselves.]" In Surah Tawbah, Allah says in the masajid of Allah are men who love to be pure, who love to seek to be pure. وَاللهُ يُحِبُّ الْمُطَّهِّرِينَ "And Allah loves those who are pure."

This is talking about the inner purity now, purity of the heart. Combining both, in one verse Allah says: إِنَّ اللَّهَ يُحِبُّ التَّوَّابِينَ وَيُحِبُّ الْمُتَطَهِّرِينَ

"[Indeed, Allah loves those who are constantly repentant and loves those who purify themselves.]" Allah says in the Qur'an that He loves those who repent to Him, and He loves those who seek to be physically pure. So the ulama, they said here Allah, He combined both the outer purity and the inner purity.

The inner purity is with tawbah, repentance to Allah. The outer purity is with wudu and ghusl. So the Muslim is the one who balances between both, this inner purity and this outer purity. He doesn't neglect either the other. Allah says: قَدْ أَفْلَحَ مَن زَكَّاهَا وَقَدْ خَابَ مَن دَسَّاهَا

"[He has succeeded who purifies it, And he has failed who corrupts it.]"

The Hadith of the Man Who Feared Allah

With that being said, today we'll talk about something which is known as an act of worship of the heart. An act of worship of the heart, and this is Al-Khawf - fearing Allah. In the light of a hadith which is related by Imam Al-Bukhari rahim Allah, in his collection of sahih, in eight different places. It was related by Imam Muslim in two different places. And it was related by Imam Al-Tirmidhi and Imam Ahmad as well. And this is the hadith which also is related by different companions on behalf of the Prophet (peace be upon him), like Abu Hurairah and Hudhayfa and others, may Allah be pleased with them.

The Story

The Prophet (peace be upon him) said to his companions, or he informed his companions, some information of a man who preceded them from previous nations. And he said that, this man (أَسَاءَ الظَّنَّ بِعَمَلِهِ) "He thought that his actions were nothing." He was a believer, that he has not done any good deeds. (أَسَاءَ الظَّنَّ بِعَمَلِهِ) "He thought that his actions were worthless." So he called his children together.

Maybe many of you heard this hadith before. And he said to them, as related by Al-Bukhari, he said to them, there's different wordings of the hadith. Also Abu Sa'id رضي الله عنه said to them that when I die, when I die, in one narration he said, what type of father was I? So they said to him, you were a great father. And he said to

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So, as a young person, you have an opportunity insha'Allah to be from these seven people in the shade of Allah in the day when there's no shade but the shade of Allah. So, one of those seven people, the Prophet (peace be upon him) said, (شَابٌّ نَشَأَ فِي عِبَادَةِ رَبِّهِ - shābbun nashāʾa fī ʿibādati rabbihī) is the young person who used his youth for Allah."

But also he mentioned (صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ - ṣallá-llāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam) another person who a beautiful woman is gonna call him to something forbidden. And he's gonna say to her (إِنِّي أَخَافُ اللَّهَ - ʾinnī ʾakhāfu-llāh) "I fear Allah."

Al-Qadi Iyad mentioned about this hadith something nice. He said, it's probable that he said (إِنِّي أَخَافُ اللَّهَ - ʾinnī ʾakhāfu-llāh) to the girl. And by Allah I had one friend masha'Allah from Syria, masha'Allah. He has a clothing store in Kuwait. Good buddy of mine. So he told me one time I traveled to one country. And I went into the hotel that night. And suddenly somebody knocked on my door. I opened the door, it was a woman with no clothes on.

And she said, you know, she wasn't talking about Botox. So, she said something to him and he said, I'm so happy. I said, oh man, what happened man? He said, no, I'm so happy. I said, why? I said I told her (إِنِّي أَخَافُ اللَّهَ - ʾinnī ʾakhāfu-llāh) "I told her, I fear Allah." So I hope I will be from those seven shaded under the shade of Allah, when there's no shade but the shade of Allah. SubhanAllah.

Then, unfortunately he got a phone call. And they said, what's wrong with you? All of the Muslim customers, they're like this. SubhanAllah. Non-Muslim country, man. But he said, alhamdulillah, I was able to say (إِنِّي أَخَافُ اللَّهَ - ʾinnī ʾakhāfu-llāh) And I hope Allah will make me insha'Allah from those people who will be under His shade on a day when there's no shade but His shade. We ask Allah to make us from those people, insha'Allah.

So Al-Iyad, he said something beautiful. He said, it's possible that this man, he said it to the woman. I fear Allah. Or he said, also it's possible because the power of fearing Allah, the strength of fearing Allah, the impact that fearing Allah has on the iman of a person, that actually he said it to who? To himself. In his heart, he said to himself, fear Allah and he fear Allah so he would shake himself like an alarm clock to remind himself of his responsibility to Allah.

Second Type: Fear of the Righteous

The next type of khawf is the khawf of the righteous people. The fear of Allah, which we find from those people who might not be scholars, but they have religiosity. And that's the fear of the permissible, in fearing that that permissible act might lead me to the forbidden. So this person, not only do they stay away from the haram, they stay away from what? The halal. Fearing what? That they might fall into the haram.

لا إله إلا الله So one scholar said, the heart which has fear of Allah in it will not speak about those things which don't concern it. That person, who has that fear of Allah in his heart. And the Prophet (peace be upon him) said, in a sound hadith: (مِنْ حُسْنِ إِسْلَامِ الْمَرْءِ تَرْكُهُ مَا لَا يَعْنِيهِ - min ḥusni ʾislāmi l-marʾi tarkuhu mā lā yaʿnīhi) "The best of one's Islam is to leave what doesn't concern him." (Sunan al-Tirmidhi 2317) It's not his business, he doesn't get involved. So one of the signs that someone doesn't have this khawf is they're always in folks' business.

Because they don't fear falling into something forbidden, by always talking about people, slander or something.

The Hadith of Doubtful Matters

Number two, the Prophet (peace be upon him), he gave us this example, in a sound hadith of Nu'man ibn Bashir

(Sahih al-Bukhari 52, Sahih Muslim 1599)

He related this hadith when he was about eight years old. He heard it from the Prophet (peace be upon him), where the Prophet said, indeed the permissible is clear, and the forbidden is clear, and between them are areas or issues which most people don't know about. Meaning most people don't know their rulings, the rulings of those things. Are they halal, are they haram, is it disliked, and so on.

He said, so the one who avoids those doubtful issues (فَقَدِ اسْتَبْرَأَ لِدِينِهِ وَعِرْضِهِ - faqad istabraʾa lidīnihi wa ʿirḍihī) "then he protected his deen and his honor." (Sahih al-Bukhari 52, Sahih Muslim 1599) Two maqasid from the objectives of sharia, is religion and honor, so he protected those two maqasid. So the ulema said, also this fell into this type of issue, something that's permissible, but the scholars differed over it. Those who said it's haram, some said it's halal. This type of person who reached this maqam of khawf, he will leave the rukhsah. He will leave that opinion that says you can do it, it's halal to save his deen, or to save her deen.

Third Type: Fearing Allah Himself

Number three is the fearing of Allah Himself. (الْخَوْفُ مِنَ اللَّهِ - al-khawfu mina-llāh) To fear Allah. And maybe somebody, if you look in the Qur'an, you'll find some interesting verses. Allah says: (وَيُحَذِّرُكُمُ اللَّهُ نَفْسَهُ - wa yuḥaḏḏirukumu-llāhu nafsahū) (Quran 3:28, 3:30) "Allah warns you of Himself." (إِنَّ بَطْشَ رَبِّكَ لَشَدِيدٌ - ʾinna baṭsha rabbika la-shadīd) (Quran 85:12) "The punishment of Allah is severe."

How many of you ready to stand in front of Allah right now? How many are ready to stand in front of Allah and answer for our lives? So that feeling you have, if someone came to you right now and said, when you go home, your father wanna talk to you. All of us, even me, I'm 36, we're two kids. Start sweating. Imagine, or your mother wanna talk to you, or your roommate. Someone calls you and says, I need to speak to you now. We get nervous, right? We call him back, what's going on? Start text messaging. Something happen like, No, I just wanna see if you wanna go for dinner.

Why? Because the fear of standing in front of someone and being responsible, makes that khawf that fear. So imagine, (يَوْمَ يَقُومُ النَّاسُ لِرَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ - yawma yaqūmu-n-nāsu li-rabbi-l-ʿālamīn) (Quran 83:6) "When people gonna stand in front of Allah." And we are asked about our youth and our lives and how we used our life.

Fearing Ar-Rahman - The Most Merciful

That fear that we feel, that auditing by Allah, is a tough auditing. But Allah watch and sort of cough what happens. Allah talks about His true servants, those who know Him. He says: (مَنْ خَشِيَ الرَّحْمَنَ بِالْغَيْبِ وَجَاءَ بِقَلْبٍ مُّنِيبٍ - man khashiya-r-raḥmāna bi-l-ghaybi wa jāʾa bi-qalbin munīb) (Quran 50:33) "Ya Salam." Allah says, Who fears Ar-Rahman? What is Ar-Rahman mean? The most merciful. How can you fear the most merciful?

Allah says, Who fears Ar-Rahman? Imam Ibn Ashur Al-Maliki (رحمه الله - raḥimahullāh), today we only mention Malikis. Imam Ibn Ashur Al-Maliki (رحمه الله - raḥimahullāh) said something nice. He said something very beautiful. He said, They fear Him. But because they know Him, they know that the essence of all of Allah's attributes is mercy. So even though they fear Him and they have that strong connection to Him, feeling responsible to Him, but they know that Allah as related by Abu Hurairah (رضي الله عنه - raḍiya-llāhu ʿanhu) that the Prophet said, Allah said: (سَبَقَتْ رَحْمَتِي غَضَبِي - sabaqat raḥmatī ghaḍabī) "My mercy comes before My wrath." (Sahih al-Bukhari 3194, Sahih Muslim 2751)

And that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said that Allah's mercy in a sound hadith is divided into a hundred parts. Only one part in this dunya, the other 99 in the hereafter. And he said (تَبَاقَ مَا بَيْنَ السَّمَاءِ وَالْأَرْضِ - tabāqa mā bayna-s-samāʾi wa-l-ʾarḍ) "That one part of mercy of Allah can fill everything in the heavens and the earth, the whole universe."

The Mercy of Allah in Creation

So he said (صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ - ṣallá-llāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam) that's why you see the animal, she will lift her foot for her offspring. Another hadith of the Prophet (peace be upon him) is a sound hadith. The woman who lost her baby, her infant in the battlefield. (Sahih al-Bukhari 5999, Sahih Muslim 2754)

One time I lost my daughter in this IKEA store. I start crying. Wallahi, as soon as I lost her I start crying. She was only two, she fat. (سَلَام يَا فِينْ شَفَادِي - salām yā fīn shafādī) Then I start to look for her, I can't find her. I start crying, subhanAllah.

Can you imagine on the day of judgment, even you won't know your parents and your parents won't know you, man. لا إله إلا الله يفر من أخيه "You will actually run from your brother" (وَأُمِّهِ وَأَبِيهِ - wa ʾummihi wa ʾabīhi) Quran 80:34-36) Except who? إلا المتقين الأخلاء يومئذ بعضهم لبعض عدو إلا المتقين Quran (4367) "Except the people of piety, they'll be together." You'll be with your parents, you'll be with your brothers. You'll get a little jamaat working. But those people who have issues, they're not gonna know it. I don't know who you are, man. I'm your son, I don't know you.

So I lost my daughter in the store. I start fleeing, running around. And then I remember she likes these balls. So I ran and I found her, alhamdulillah. She was playing with those balls. And then she doesn't understand. Why are you crying? I'm playing with balls.

But the Prophet said, and this is serious. He said about that woman. He said, Do you think that she can throw her because she found her child? You can imagine. If you lost your child... You lost your child there. I live in Egypt, I don't know we have Khan Khalili. You lost your child over there. You can imagine how you'll feel if you lost your child on the battlefield. So she was running. Then she found her baby. Then she began to suckle this baby.

Then the Prophet (peace be upon him) said to his companions, Do you think she can throw this baby in the fire? They said (لَا وَاللَّهِ يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ - lā wallāhi yā rasūla-llāh) "No, by Allah, O Messenger of Allah." He said, No. Then he said, (اللَّهُ أَرْحَمُ بِعِبَادِهِ مِنْ هَذِهِ بِوَلَدِهَا - allāhu ʾarḥamu bi-ʿibādihī min hādhihi bi-waladihā) "Allah is more merciful to His servants than this woman to this baby."

So those people who fear him (مِنْ خَشِيَ الرَّحْمَنَ - man khashiya-r-raḥmān) but at the same time, they know the great mercy of Allah.

The Story of the Sister Who Felt Hopeless

One time a sister came to me in my community. She's only 23. She said, Imam, I'm exed out. Exed out. She said, exed out. I said, I don't buy Xbox. Exed out. She said, No, no, no, it's not like that. I'm being serious. It's something called exed out. I heard from my parents, if I do like this thing, I'm nar, nar, nar. And then next to that, I heard after a while, it's exed out.

I said, exed out? And she started crying. Really she started crying. Because why? She loves Allah (جل جلاله - jalla jalāluhu) and she loves this deen and she's struggling. She said, I have some issues, brother. I'm dealing with some issues. But I'm trying. Am I exed out? I said, no, we don't have the exed out policy, alhamdulillah. Because the tawbah erases every ex. Then I took Riyadh Saliheen, I read a chapter about mercy and she started crying.

She said, I never heard this theology before. This is the theology of Rasulullah (صلى الله عليه وسلم - ṣallá-llāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam), not the theology of some self-righteous religious nutcases. So, Allah (جل جلاله - jalla jalāluhu) says: (مَنْ خَشِيَ الرَّحْمَنَ بِالْغَيْبِ - man khashiya-r-raḥmāna bi-l-ghaybi) "Those who fear Allah, the merciful." Because they know Him. They fear Him, but they know His mercy.

How to Attain Fear of Allah

How to attain this khawf from Allah (جل جلاله - jalla jalāluhu)? Number one is to think about Allah (جل جلاله - jalla jalāluhu) about His attributes, about His actions (أَسْمَاءٌ وَصِفَاتٌ أُلُوهِيَّةٌ رُبُوبِيَّةٌ التَّوْحِيدُ - ʾasmāʾun wa ṣifātun ʾulūhiyyatun rubūbiyyatun at-tawḥīd) - those three components of tawheed: His names and attributes, His divinity, His lordship (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى - subḥānahu wa taʿālā). And the more you think about Him (جل جلاله - jalla jalāluhu),the more you'll draw closer to Him.

The Progression in Surah Al-Fatiha

That's why I said many times in Surah Al-Fatiha, the tense changes from the third person to the first person. It changes from the third person after someone acknowledges Allah, who is Rabbul Alameen, Ar-Rahmanir Raheem, Malik al-Mideen, then switches now to the first person (إِيَّاكَ نَعْبُدُ - ʾiyyāka naʿbudu) (Quran 1:5) Because as Ibn Katheer said in Balaghal Al-Ma'ani, as Ibn Katheer he said, as you recognize Allah, like you took a step towards Him every time. Till finally, the tense of the surah itself switches to the first person.

See the way of Al-Fatiha. How many times you read Al-Fatiha? But maybe you didn't catch that. Al-Fatiha begins in the third person, switches to the first person. Where in the beginning someone is describing Allah to you, then suddenly, you talk to Allah. Why? Because you recognized Him, Subhanahu wa ta'ala. So number one is recognition of Allah (مَعْرِفَةُ اللَّهِ - maʿrifatu-llāh)

The Meaning of Ma'rifah

And (مَعْرِفَةٌ - maʿrifah) is different than knowledge. Knowledge means something which was (ثَابِتٌ - thābit).e. something that was there. But (مَعْرِفَةٌ - maʿrifah) from (عَارِفٌ - ʿārif),you know (عُرْفٌ - ʿurf), (عُرْفٌ - ʿurf) is the custom of a people. Why the custom in the Arabic is called (عُرْفٌ - ʿurf) Because it became known. After some time, it became like sociology, you know Comte and those people, C. Wright Mills, became what now? Like a hit, a trend. So people say, you know like the tipping point. What caused it to tip and become a norm in society?

(عُرْفٌ - ʿurf) in the Arabic language means something that's known and good. That's why you say (مَعْرُوفٌ - maʿrūf) for the word good. Also (عُرْفٌ - ʿurf) means the smell of perfume - (عُرْفٌ - ʿurf). Because when you smell something, what is that? Is that chapati? Is that mansaf? Is that biryani? What is that, man? That's your shoes, man. That's called (عُرْفٌ - ʿurf)

(مَعْرِفَةُ - maʿrifah) of Allah means that the (مَعْرِفَةُ - maʿrifah) before that was ignorance. So you gained cognition of Allah by knowing His names and attributes. By thinking on His names and attributes. Pondering on His names and attributes. And seeing Him in creation. Seeing the good He did. And His attributes, sorry. Seeing His attributes in creation (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى - subḥānahu wa taʿālā)

That's why it's not allowed to say (عَرَفَ اللَّهَ - ʿarafa-llāh). But we say (أَعْلَمُ اللَّهَ - ʾaʿlamu-llāh) Because if you say (عَرَفَ اللَّهَ - ʿarafa-llāh) it means He didn't know before. So Allah His knowledge (قَدِيمٌ وَالْحَدِيثُ - qadīmun wa-l-ḥadīth). (الْعَلِيمُ وَالْحَكِيمُ - al-ʿalīmu wa-l-ḥakīm). His ilm is (قَدِيمٌ سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى - qadīmun subḥānahu wa taʿālā) يعني. His knowledge was before everything (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى - subḥānahu wa taʿālā).

Second Method: Look at Your Deeds

Number two: To have this khawf of Allah is to look at the good you did fearing that it won't be accepted by Allah. To fear shortcomings in your good deeds and excessiveness in your sins. So the ulema said, we should fear the shortcomings in our actions and the excessiveness in our sins. The person who loves Allah has this good

tawheed. He's not the one who says, oh that's only makrooh. Oh that's only just like somebody told me, I had to tell my kids that taraweeh is wajib. I said, why? Fard. I said, why? They said, if I tell them it's sunnah they won't come.

Your kids are fuqaha? MashaAllah. But we're not kids, we're adults. We're not children, we're adults. So the one who loves Allah, as they say إذا أردت أن تعلم قدرتك عند الله "if you wanna know your taqdeer with Allah, if you wanna know your status with Allah, then look at the value you have for His worship in your heart." That's the answer.

So to fear, maybe my actions were not acceptable, maybe I did something, it's not acceptable. But also don't get too crazy with that. But just have that edge. And to be worried about my sins. As Anas ibn Malik he said to his students, the tabi'een, he said to them, you do sins, you guys, you look at them as like nothing. But in the time of the Prophet (peace be upon him), we used to consider them as mubiqat - from those things that would destroy us.

The Danger of Perpetual Silliness

And that's the danger now of popular culture. One of the dangers of popular culture is perpetual silliness. Everything's silly now. Everything's funny. Even religion. We have Muslim comedians. I don't mind giving a Muslim comedian about social issues, but don't make fun of salah. Don't make fun of siyam. Don't make fun of the deen. Don't make fun of the imams.

How did the colonialists work in the Muslim world? All over the Muslim world. Is what? To make the imam the blunt of jokes. Whereas before the imams were respected by people. That's why in some cultures you have the Mawlana jokes. It's like books called Mawlana jokes. And everybody reads, Ah, this is Mawlana, this is... In Egypt, unfortunately, no offense to Egyptian people here. But if you remember the movies that came out in the 40s and the 50s, how did they portray the Azhari? The guy with the red hat on, yeah? But he's the guy who killed everybody in the house. He's the one who leads the prayer. That was done on purpose to create a set of social constructs in the minds of Muslims that will cause them to devalue scholarship and ulama and not trust them.

We got played, unfortunately. We have to be very cautious of this. Now here in the West, we have to be very careful. When you go to a Muslim convention now, what's the first thing? Hey, who's singing? Who's singing? When I was back before the Paleolithic era, when I was an MSA, it wasn't about who's singing, it's about who's speaking. What sheikh is coming? Who's gonna teach us the deen? But now it's who's scratching? Who's making the fat beats? I don't have a problem with that. I don't have a problem with this. But we have to make sure that we don't become inebriated in a culture of silliness. That's my concern. And I'm saying it to you.

If you listen to my iPhone, you can probably X me out from the community, right? But what I'm saying is that everything has a time and place. And what's happened since 9-11, the aneurysm that hit our community, pre-9- 11, we were too strict. We were taught, don't be American. America's bopped it. Don't vote. 9-12-01, the same guy that told us don't vote had an American flag next to his dish on a balcony and was eating extra crispy, boneless, with some grits and some saag, some spinach.

And then suddenly they told us, be American. Be American. Be American. I want the men in black coming to my house. Be American. Be American. Don't join the MSA. No, no, no MSA. No, no, no. MBA, but no MSA.

The Post-9/11 Transformation

So what happened after 9-11, you, especially young people, you were put in a current that was like the complete opposite. That's why, sisters, 10 years ago in America, the discussion was niqab. To niqab or not to niqab? That is the question. And you found, many, many Muslim women in America thought niqab was fard, based on the Hanbali Madhab, going against the Jamhur, especially the Malikis. Then after 9-11, now what's the discussion, sisters? Not amongst you, but some sisters who are struggling is, is hijab even an obligation?

How in 10 years could you have such a massive, massive transformation because of that aneurysm known as 9- 11? And we ask Allah to make it easy for the people who suffered, the Muslims and the non-Muslims, and especially the Muslims overseas, and Muslims here and non-Muslims here, who are all suffering from oppressive policies post 9-11 in this world.

That being said, that aneurysm caused this feeling of entertainment and silliness to be kind of like a blanket, like a blanket. Many scholars in the Middle East, when the political Islamic movements failed, they ran towards Sufism, no disrespect to Sufis, it's a known fact, and mysticism to basically hide from, hide from the reality of what they were dealing with. So it became a very introspective Islam.

In America, after 9-11, to some extent we've hidden under this entertainment, funny, cool feeling, and we forgot that we are a nation that carries a message to humanity. And that's a very serious responsibility, a very serious responsibility. So great is that message that you don't even have to talk about it and people ask you about it, right? How many of you, somebody came to you, started asking you about your religion, you say, I didn't say nothing, my name is Mo here.

The Power of the Muslim Message

Because the power of that message is great, that's the message of the Prophet (peace be upon him). I know a brother in Wichita, Kansas, named Ali. He had a stereo that could break the sound barrier. Just two days. That brother, he came to the masjid, and I asked him, how did you become Muslim? He said, Muslims are cool, man. That's a first. Not that you're not cool, but just to hear someone say, Muslims are cool, you know what I'm saying, they got it going on and stuff.

I said, sit down, brother. Every time I meet a convert, it always happens to me, I have the cliff notes, then I have, you know, the Lord of the Rings, three volume one. He came to me and I said, I want the Lord of the Rings, brother. I want the whole nine yards. Although Allah is Lord of everything. See how they play with your mind games?

So then he said to me, in middle school, there were a bunch of girls in Wichita, Kansas, started putting something on their head. He said, man, I was, I flipped out. I never saw something like that before in my life. He said, I was overcome by their nobility. The nobility. I was attracted not to them sexually, a la Freud, I was attracted to them out of what? Out of a feeling of awe and reverence. He said, and I watched them from middle school to high school, through the J-Lo years. These young girls managed to keep that on their head. With all that pressure going on. And he said something very profound.

He said, something gave them transcendence. And that was the truth. He said, that's why I became Muslim. He said, I never spoke to them once in my life, man. So just watching them sisters for five to six years, and just being amazed at how they can hold it down, right? Caused me to go and get a Qur'an, read a Qur'an, and become Muslim. So your message is powerful.

So number two, we have to be very careful. It's cool to have entertainment and fun. I'm not saying it's haram. Don't misunderstand me. Don't go right on the forums, where they said, preaching mosque is haram. Preaching mosque is my boy. Okay, let's not talk about 786. Anyway. But. 187. Anyways. So. We're recording this too, huh? All right, it's my crew. It's my crew, man. It's my crew. My crew. 187 is haram though. 786. They broke up. Alhamdulillah. Anyways. Continue. Continue. We're not talking bad about them. This is my boys. They're going to listen to this and probably shoot me if I go to Detroit.

Third Method: Remember Death

Number three. A way to attain the fear of Allah is to think about your death. Think about your death. When you're going to die. Are you ready to die? What's going to happen when you die? The Prophet said: (أكثروا ذكراً)

"The Prophet said, make in abundance the remembrance of the thing" (هاذم اللذات يعني) "that kills pleasure." He said (يعني الموت) "Death." (Sunan al-Tirmidhi 2307, Sunan al-Nasa'i 1824, Sunan Ibn Majah 4258)

Visiting Graveyards and the Sick

The next is to visit graveyards and the sick. Wallahi, nothing will make your iman right like going to the graveyard. As for the women, maybe they say we can't go to the graveyard based on the fatwa of some great ulema. But the hadith related by Imam Hakim that says women and sisters need to listen to this carefully. That says that women can't go to the graveyard as this hadith is weak. So we have an axiom in Islamic law that the weak hadith cannot be used for proof.

That's it. But Prophet (peace be upon him) said: (ألا فزوروها) "Visit the graves all of you." (Sahih Muslim 977) So Imam Ibn Rushd, he said in Bidayat al-Mujtahid, when the Prophet uses this type of terminology, it means men and women both. Many women both. So this order of the Prophet is not restricted by that weak hadith. You guys understand sisters?

So you can go to the graveyard insha'Allah ta'ala, for some reason people think being pregnant, cooking, cleaning and washing is enough to keep your iman up high. It's not. Go to the graveyard insha'Allah, take a group of brothers and sisters, take one sheikh with you, somebody who can remind you of Allah جل جلاله and the death and so on. This is a good way to reflect.

Number two, visiting the sick people. And there was a parish and one of the Muslim, one of the hospitals in America that said, I have so many Muslim patients and I don't have one Muslim to visit them. I have so many Muslim patients who are dying in the hospital and no one's here to visit them. So it might be a good idea, maybe masjid or one of the organizations here, MSA or whoever, can organize a group of people that can monitor the hospitals and see if there's Muslims in there who need people to visit them. Because you'll think about, one day this could happen to me. One day this could happen to me.

Fourth Method: Increase Your Worship

The other thing that will help us insha'Allah ta'ala, to have this fear of Allah جل جلاله,is to increase our worship. People ask, how can I increase my iman? You increase your iman by increasing your worship.

The Inner Relationship as the Difference Maker

The next point is that fear of Allah and that inner relationship with Allah is the difference maker, brothers and sisters. That's the difference maker. If you wanna know what's the difference maker with people, sometimes you see them succeed, sometimes al-Azhar. We see some brothers, for some reason they're very successful, but they don't have as much knowledge as other people.

So we say to ourselves, how this brother, he doesn't know more than this other sheikh here, but for some reason Allah جل جلاله has raised him. And sometimes we discuss amongst ourselves, maybe it's because he gives sadaqa in secret, maybe it's because of this and that.

The Story of Abdullah ibn Mubarak

One time Abdullah ibn Mubarak, and this is someone that you should know in your history. Abdullah ibn Mubarak is one of the great students of the companions of the Prophet, peace be upon him, and a great scholar of hadith. So Abdullah ibn Mubarak, you good? Okay. Abdullah ibn Mubarak radiyallahu anhu, he was with his group of his fellow classmates, they were traveling. It became dark, so they stopped in a cave.

And one of the classmates said (كنت شهدت) "I used to observe Abdullah ibn Mubarak," and he said, Wallahi, I said to myself, how come everyone loves him? And how come he's so famous? (صلاته كصلاة قراءته كقراءة علمه كعلم) "His prayer is like my prayer. His reading of Qur'an is like my reading of Qur'an. His fasting is like my fasting. His worship is like my worship." I don't understand how Allah, or how he was raised in this position. It's ajeeb, because all of us basically on the same plan, same regiment.

After some time, they went into this cave and they lit one fire, and they all began to sit on the fire. And they noticed that Abdullah ibn Mubarak was missing. So he said, we began to look for him, and we found him sitting alone in the dark crying. And he told us, I'm crying, for what? He said, when I sat in this dark room, and I became constricted in this dark room, I started to think about what will it be like when I sit in the grave, and I'm in that constricted dark grave, and I begin to fear Allah and weep.

And then the person said, this is the difference between him and us. This is what made him different. This is what caused him to succeed. So the same thing in our professional field. (لا تعتمد يا أخي على بيركلي ولا تعتمد على) UCLA و USC Law School "Don't rely on Berkeley and UCLA and these things." (الحمد لله هذا) These are from the tools, which if Allah wants to employ for you, He will employ for you. But first and foremost, trust in Allah and rely on Allah. And this is difficult.

That's a very difficult thing to do. I'm telling myself, it's not easy to do. Sometime you prepare the best speech, rely on the most preparation, then it's the worst speech I ever gave. Sometimes I go somewhere, don't take this as a rule also. And I won't be prepared, and I say والله I just prepared a little bit, I leave it to Allah, and Allah puts barakah. I'm not saying that you don't make effort. Don't go home and tell your mom now, Allah's gonna take care of the dirty room for me and the laundry and my grades.

Of course we have, as Ibn Qayyim said, we're ordered to do the best we can, but at the same time, we're ordered to leave everything to Allah. So that's a successful person. Abdullah ibn Mubarak, he worked hard to be a scholar. But at the same time, he had that unique humility that he could leave his affairs to Allah. He trusted in Allah.

The Fruits of Fearing Allah

What's some of the fruit from this khawf from Allah? Number one, if someone wants to know if he has this fear of Allah, it's humility with people, to be humble with people. Imam Wallace ibn Muhammad رحمه الله عليه الصلاة who passed away on Tuesday, one thing that everybody said about him is his humility. رحمه الله. InshaAllah tomorrow I'll talk about him in the masjid banquet, inshaAllah. Ask Allah, you know what? قبره inshaAllah. (هذا . أعانه الله. وإنه إليه راجعون .inshaAllah من الصالحين ,inshaAllah راجع)

One of the things about him, you will never know, he's Elijah Muhammad's son. You'll never know that he was the founder of the Nation of Islam's son, that he used to have all this power. In fact, one of the reporters, he wrote about him in an op-ed piece, he said, the first time I met him, I didn't know it was him. This is what I remember about him. He was so subhanAllah, so easy and so simple, so subhanAllah, inconspicuous. I would have never guessed that this is Imam Wallace ibn Muhammad. MashaAllah, mashaAllah. So humility.

The Example of Imam Hasan al-Basri

Imam Hasan al-Basri was one of the greatest imams in his day. So he said one time to his students, he said, he's quoting statement, he said, there will be a man who will come from the hellfire after a thousand years. He will be brought out of the hellfire after a thousand years. Imam Hasan al-Basri said, I hope I'm that guy, man. I hope I'm him. Who would think Hasan al-Basri is gonna spend a thousand years in the fire, right? So he was saying, I hope that I'm him.

Then he said: (لقد والله شهدت قوماً) "I witnessed the people who were more scrupulous in the permissible than you are about the haram." And he said, I met a people who saw with their (قلوب) who saw with their eyes, with their hearts better than you can see with your eyes. And he said, I met a people who were more fearful that their deeds will not be accepted than you are of sins. (قدها الصالحين) This is the righteous people, mashaAllah.

MashaAllah, ask Allah to make us like those people. What did he say? I met a people who are more scrupulous about the permissible than you are with the forbidden. I met a people who see better with their hearts than you see with your eyes. And he said, I met a people who are more fearful that their good deeds will not be accepted than you are of being called to account by Allah from your sins. Ask Allah bi'l-afiyah.

The Issue of Tolerance

The last point we'll make, and then we'll stop inshaAllah, is an issue of tolerance. Because as I mentioned today in the khutbah, we have the phenomenon of the religious bully, the religious bully. And alhamdulillah, it's good to be religious. And it's good to feel when you see something wrong, that this is a munkar, and that you should address it. This is from the signs of iman, alhamdulillah. But shabaab, the methodology of correcting people is very important. It's very important. How to correct people, how to deal with people.

The Story of the Sign

Recently, in our community in the Silicon Valley, we just purchased a sign, alhamdulillah, for our masjid. After 15 years, alhamdulillah. That sign, we had a sign before also, but this sign is like, mashaAllah, five-star sign. Neon and everything. So, there was a non-Muslim man, there's a bus stop, mashaAllah, Allah has blessed us, the wonderful community there.

And we have a sister named Dian, she's an amazing sister in da'wah from Indonesia. So many people alhamdulillah became Muslim, and not only that, she ties them, or she gives them a brother or sister who stays with them for a long time after they become Muslim, and they go to classes, and mashaAllah, a lot of support and so on. May Allah reward her, inshaAllah, her husband. He's Egyptian, mashaAllah, guy, mashaAllah.

So anyways, there was a non-Muslim at the bus stop, and he saw our new sign. So he was in awe of our new sign, and he began to try to read it. So we had one Muslim brother across the street, four-lane street. He saw that man looking at the sign. So he started to scream as loud as he could. The sign says Islam. I'm not going to scream as he screamed. (إن الصوت لصوت الحمير) I start to scream really loudly, and very bluntly, and extremely rude. Hey, sign says Islam. What do you know about Islam?

So there was another Muslim brother watching this. In complete shock. Then the brother starts to walk across the four-lane street without any recognition of municipal law. Car starts stopping, and he's yelling, You don't know about Islam? The non-Muslim could not understand him because the brother was not able to articulate himself in an Obamic fashion. So he began to get closer to him, more like a governor from Alaska. So he got close to him, or maybe an ex-soldier from Arizona. But he, as he got closer to him, pow, as he got closer to him, he understood him, so he screamed back, No, I don't want to know about Islam.

Well, this is not how we should give Dawah. This is not the way that we should spread the message. And then I'm sure the guy probably went home and said, Alhamdulillah, today I delivered (قمت حج على ذلك الكافر) "I established a proof against this non-Muslim." (الحمد الله) I did my job. (أديت أمانة وضغطت رسالة) He didn't do anything.

Dealing with Muslims Who Are Struggling

Also with Muslims ourselves, sometimes we might see young brothers, they come with like jerseys on in the masjid. So what's the ruling on wearing a jersey in the masjid? Ibaha, permissibility. Sometimes we find people, they fold their pants, go below their ankles. The fuqaha, they differed about this from the age of the Salaf till now. As mentioned by Imam Ibn Hajar. Those ulema who said it's permissible, Imam Al-Nawawi, Ibn Abdul- Barr, Al-Hafidh Al-Maghribi, Rahimahullah. And other great scholars mentioned this issue.

But the way we react to people, maybe sister comes, she's struggling with her practice. How do we treat these people when they come to the masjid? We're quick to judge people. We're quick to judge people. And what's happening is, we're losing people in our community, right and left. And we're isolating them from the community.

At the same time, we have textual authority. We recognize that there are parts of our religion that don't change. Thabit. But there are parts of our religion, this usul al-fiqh, where we can have some rahma. Some ease and some respect for people.

Question About Marijuana vs Alcohol

Is smoking marijuana as bad as drinking? This is a good question, (الحمد لله - alhamdulillah). Imam Al-Dhahabi, (رحمه الله - rahim Allah), he mentioned in Al-Kabair, that smoking, although it's questionable even if he wrote Al-Kabair, but it's mentioned in Al-Kabair, that smoking marijuana is worse than drinking. Worse than drinking. Yes, my brother.

Question About Wrongdoers on Day of Judgment

The Qur'an says:

"those wrongdoers and evil people." Because this is a verse that has to be understood by another verse. Allah says: الأخلاء يومئذ بعضهم لبعض عدو إلا المتقين Surat Al-Zukhruf. Allah says, On a day where there'll be no brotherhood, no fraternal relationships, only, except those who fear Allah. So those who fear Allah, they'll be together.

وجوه يومئذ So Allah, He says وجوه He didn't say وجه. So there'll be a group. أصحاب الجنة أصحاب النار Do you understand? Sometimes verses in the Qur'an, you have to be careful. To find a general verse in the Qur'an, could be restricted by another verse or hadith of the Prophet (peace be upon him).

So you might find a general verse where Allah says, On the day that the father will flee from his son, and the mother shall not know her children. This is restricted by the verse in Surat Al-Zukhruf. Where Allah says, There'll be this fraternal relationship amongst the people of تقوى أصحاب النار They said marijuana is worse than alcohol because maybe the type of marijuana they had in his city, that scholar, he said that it makes people do things crazier than when they drink alcohol. It's an opinion.

Especially if they'd smoke like dips, you know like when they're dipping in formaldehyde. I remember when I was in high school, people used to smoke marijuana and they would dip it, they would dip the joint in formaldehyde. So I used to tell them, Brother, that's for dead brains. Right? Formaldehyde preserves dead body parts. You're putting it in your body. So my friend Dilok, who was a Muslim, who was a Muslim, right? He smoked a marijuana cigarette that was dipped in LSD and stabbed himself to death. He's dead. Yeah, he's dead, man. He's one of the people who talked to me about Islam.

Question About Saying "I Fear Allah"

Yes, actually. I can't hear you, brother. I'm sorry. No, you can say the equivalent of that. Yeah, yeah. I said that actually earlier. He's saying, you know, the hadith of the man that was approached by the woman, he said: إِنِّي أَخَافُ الله "I fear Allah." So he's asking me, do you have to actually say, I said, no, I mean, any verbiage that will get the job done, even get away from me if I, you know, call the police, right? Anything that'll work, right?

Because it's quite possible that as Qadi Iyad mentioned, that was his niyyah talking, not his tongue. And that also applies to a woman. If somebody tries to get her to do something wrong, she says, I fear Allah. Inshallah, she'll be from those people. Do we have any questions upstairs? Yeah, we have a few. Alright, let's listen.

Questions from Upstairs - Women's Jamaat

The first one was, if a group of women wanted to pray jamaat together with just the women, is either the adhan or the iqamah permissible? They can make the adhan or the iqamah as long as there's no strange men around. Okay.

Question About Being Vegetarian

And then the second question was, if somebody is a vegetarian because they find eating of meat disgusting, but they understand and acknowledge that Allah has made it permissible, is that okay? Yeah, that's fine. Yeah. And then the last question... What do you call it? Vegan diet? Vegetarian diet, right? Yeah. But the protein shake says it's not good, right? Protein shake. He says he's not getting past protein shake. That's my trainer, man. You know, I left Maliki school. I'm at Jalali school now. Right.

But as long as they know that it's not haram, they don't assume that it's haram, they just don't like it out of a personal habit, there's nothing wrong with it. Alhamdulillah.

Question About Balancing Fear and Hope

And the last question was, with all of the hadith and everything about how merciful Allah is, if somebody starts to think sometimes that how is Allah going to throw me into Jahannam with all that mercy, how do you think about that or make yourself have that fear to counterbalance against the mercy?

Those people should read the hadith like in Riyadh al-Saliheen about the hellfire, about the people that'll be put in the hellfire. Because you have to have the balance of fear and hope. I didn't have the time to talk about hope, but they're both like two wings on a bird. Ibn al-Qayyim rahimullah said, fear and hope are like two wings on a bird. You can't have one or the other.

So you have to be careful. That's why sometimes if you feel yourself that you're laxed, you have to be your own pharmacist, man. Go listen to the Rafter series of Anwar al-Awlaqi, man. Put yourself in check. If you feel that you're too down and depressed, listen to Siraj al-Hajj, you know. Something that'll motivate you, something that'll motivate you and make you feel, alhamdulillah, man, about being good, about being a Muslim, and connected to Allah, have a hope in Allah.

You have to medicate yourself sometimes, right? You need supplements, Sahih. Supplements for your iman. Seriously. Those are the supplements for your faith, right? Supplements for your faith. Come to the masjid, that's fine. Okay, 30 minutes a day, come to the masjid. That's your workout. But you need supplements. CDs, cassettes, recorders, listen to mashaykh. Things that are gonna boost you up. Y'all laughing, man.

Question About Brushing Teeth and Reading Quran

What is the Islamic ruling on brushing teeth during Ramadan after fajr? No problem, just don't swallow anything.

Also, if you read the Qur'an online, is that still counted as reading Qur'an? And don't laugh at anyone's questions. It's not good to laugh at people's questions, man. Right? People ask questions that they never ask you if you laugh at them. And that's the thing about being in community, man. Try to respect people.

Also, if you read Qur'an online, is that still counted as reading Qur'an? Or is the physical book needed? No, you can read it online, there's no problem with that. And if you do that, do you have to have wudu? You have to have wudu, but it's recommended to have wudu. Recommended to have wudu.

Question About Resources on Allah's Names

What are some good resources to use to recognize Allah through His attributes, good books, websites? Well, I have the best series that I saw is by Amr Khalid. It's in English on his website. Amr Khalid has a series on the names of Allah in English that was translated in English. Mashallah, very nice, very practical, very simple, alhamdulillah.

Because sometimes you read books about the names and attributes of Allah, those books are written for scholars. So what happens when you start to read those books, you get into all these theological debates and arguments. Common people don't want that, man. It's like one brother told me, he said, I need a theology that's gonna protect me from Beyonce, brother. I don't need, I don't know all that stuff. He said, I don't know all that stuff, man, it's too much for me, brother. I don't have time for that, I got issues, right? I'm trying to deal with my issues.

So Muslims need a theology that empowers them, empowers them. But the theology of differences and arguments, that's for the scholars, for the ulema, tulab al-ilm. So that's why the scholars in Azhar, they say: العقيدة وغرس العقيدة درس عقيدة "means to study aqeedah like engineering, like MIT." غرس عقيدة "means that the aqeedah flourishes and cultivates in the hearts of the person."

So the masses of the Muslims, do they need like dars aqeedah at a basic level? Yes, but not at a deep level. As al-Ghazali, Imam al-Ghazali said, Somebody who takes the common people into those difficult issues of creed is like someone who took a bunch of kids and huggies to swim in the Pacific Ocean and just left them. And he said like someone who took aulad to the nahar and just put them in the river and let them swim and they'll drown.

And Imam Ibn al-Jawzi, he said, Woe to the scholars who introduced to the masses these high level theological discussions.

Story of the Man on Death Row

There was a brother in the East Coast, on the East Coast, on death row, not the record company. And that brother was sentenced to die the next day, i'dab. He was on death row. So one of the imams in the community, African-American brother, went to him, to visit him. Said, Akhi, you have any problems, anything going on in your life, anything we can do for you, you're going to die tomorrow. You have debts, your wife, your children, what's going on? Anything we can do for you, brother, we're here for you. He said, Ah, I got one question. Ah, he said, What's that question? He said, Where's Allah? Where's Allah?

You're going to die tomorrow, man. You're going to have financial problems at your house, but where are lives? So we have to be very careful that we don't import a theology of complexes into the community, which has happened. But we should import a theology that's going to empower you and help you, and give you enough to go to paradise and be a good believer, a qidah of the Salaf, inshallah.

Question About Smoking Hookah

Is smoking hookah haram? Isn't it true anything that harms your health is haram? Yes, it is. There's an axiom in Islamic law. Mashallah, very good question. Anything that harms your health is considered forbidden, except in extreme circumstances. And hookah doesn't follow under any of those extreme circumstances.

Question About Selling Cigarettes

So, I'm sorry to tell you, on behalf of the entire Republic of Santa Clara, California, that smoking hookah is forbidden. Right? Absolutely forbidden. Don't listen to this makruh. Don't let shaytan come and tell you it's makruh. It's not makruh shaytan. It's haram. Because it's killing people. It's killing people. Yeah?

That's why, sorry. They're talking about banning hookah in some places, man. Not because they're anti-Arab and stuff. Not because they're anti-Muslim. They're the Muslims, man. They ban hookah. We say, hey, look at this. Look at this. They're not banning the masjid, but they're banning hookah bar, alhamdulillah. A protein bar, but a hookah bar.

So, our brothers and sisters who smoke hookah, man, I know it's a struggle. And most people, what they told me, young people who smoke hookah, I asked them, they said, actually, we just want to socialize, man. There's no way to hang out and talk and, like, you know, express ourselves. So, yes, hookah is absolutely forbidden, inshallah. May Allah protect us.

Question About Selling Cigarettes

Yes, sir? Sure. Well, you know, exactly, it's haram to sell cigarettes. According to the majority of scholars, it's haram to sell these things. It's haram to sell them, man. And then you've got people like me, non-Muslim. I know you've got non-Muslim relatives, man. They're going and buying beer and alcohol from Muslims. And they're like, hey, I saw that Ayatul Kursi above Abdullah's Mad Dog 2020.

And that's why the hip-hop community, the hip-hop community in the late 80s, early 90s, was very pro-Muslim. But now they're called Muslim sellouts, man. See, the Muslims took over where the Koreans left off, right? No offense to Koreans, but they said the Muslims came and took over all the liquor stores, and then they're trying to put the little Fatiha above, you know, the girl with the bikini on, holding a six-pack of beer.

Brother, American people don't like ostentationism. They don't like people who don't respect religion. That's something about American people. They don't like that. They see through that. They see through that, so you've got to be cautious. Yes, Akhi?

Question About Starting a Halal Business

Whether you possess is halal? Your business is halal? Well, first and foremost, brother, before he starts his business, he needs to come and talk to someone who knows. Say, look, this is what I want to do. This is what I'm trying to do. And really, the best, one of the best brothers I know is Brother Muneem Salam. I don't know if you guys know who Muneem Salam is. He's with the Amanah Mutual. Amanah Mutual.

This brother is a pro, man. You call him, he's in Seattle, Washington. Look on the website, Amanah Mutual. He's got the background. He can tell you everything about the business that you're interested in, and then go forward. What happens is brothers start businesses, and then after the fact, come and ask questions, which is also acceptable, but it's easier to start.

So you contact someone like Amanah Funds, these brothers. Also, there's this brother in the East Coast, Yusuf Talha de Lorenzo. He has the Muslim New York Stock Exchange marketing. And these brothers, man, they're on another level. They're solid. They have the religious training, and they have also the graduates from good universities. Contact those type of people and talk to them. Where? Upstairs, sorry. Yes, sister.

Questions from Upstairs - Quran Revelation

Yeah, there's a few questions. The first one, if you could clear up some confusion, that the Qur'an was revealed piecemeal and wasn't completed for a long time, but it says in the Qur'an that we have revealed the Qur'an in Laylatul Qadr, so could you elucidate that? How was it? Was it all revealed all at once, or did it start then?

So the question at hand is that the Qur'an. Allah says:

"We sent the Qur'an on the night of power." But then again through the Qur'an, we see that Allah says to the Prophet: وَنَزَّلْنَا إِلَيْكَ "We send to you, O Muhammad."

Someone can get them youngsters outside, man. It will be good, inshallah. Let's make sure there's no mixing up there, man. So we're not making a protein shake here. That's not a protein shake, is it? That's straight carbs, empty carbs, right?

So Allah says: إِنَّا أَنزَلْنَاهُ فِي لَيْلَةِ الْقَدْرِ "We sent the Qur'an here." أَنْزَلْنَا أَفْعَلَ This is called أَفْعَلَ in the Arabic language. But when Allah talks to the Prophet: نَزَّلْنَا إِلَيْكَ نَزَّلَ فَعَلَ So there's a difference between أَنْزَلَ and نَزَّلَ. نَزَّلَ where Allah says: إِنَّا أَنزَلْنَاهُ فِي لَيْلَةِ الْقَدْرِ This means we sent the whole Qur'an on the night of power. أَنْزَلَ means the whole thing.

If I said أَجْلَسْتُكَ It means I made you sit down. Every part of you. But when Allah says نَزَّلَ This word فَعَلَ Means step by step, step by step, step by step. So the ulema said, as mentioned in the hadith of Prophet (peace be upon him) Ibn Abbas رضي الله عنه that the Qur'an was sent on the night of power to what's called بيت العزة. Or what's known in Surah Torah as بيت المعمور Which is a Ka'bah, above the Ka'bah which the angels make tawaf. The Qur'an was sent from the night of power.

Then over 23 years from that point onwards the Qur'an was sent piecemeal by piecemeal to the Prophet (peace be upon him). You guys understand that? Or should I say it again? Sent on the night of power to what's called بيت العزة. The whole Qur'an. And that's the meaning of أَنْزَلَ. After that Allah says to the Prophet نَزَّلَ نَزَّلَ means step by step, step by step, step by step. Okay?

So after it was sent to بيت العزة over 23 years it was sent to the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم step by step Got it? So in its entirety to بيت العزة on the night of قدر from لوح المحفوظ. The next 23 years until the end of the Prophet's life صلى الله عليه وسلم maybe 3 or 4 weeks before he died صلى الله عليه وسلم Qur'an was sent stage by stage. Yes sister? Okay this is the last question. Huh? Who? Don't say Maliki. We're getting it down at McDonald's. Yeah. Big Mac. No Big Mac for me. Yeah sorry. Big Mac protein bar. Yes sister?

The Final Question - About Meat

D-Nickel. No? You ready? And no preservers in the meat though. No preservers in the meat though. No preservers in the question either. Okay. Thank you. Good question. Everybody hear the question? The question is about the meat. The meat. Where's the beef? The meat. Let's end it here. Let it be known this is the last time I'm answering this question. Last time. I said we should have an Eminem concert. Music and meat. And another M, mortgages. Seal the deal. That's a good question Alhamdulillah.

That's the last time I'm answering this question. If you ask me a question again next time I'll see you in the parking lot. Hide the trunk. Eat a protein bar. Protein shake is better though. Protein bar is too much fat right?

Shake for the shake.

So. Her question is the difference of the scholars about eating the meat outside. Don't say haram meat. Don't say haram meat. I'm happy how you worded the question. You a lawyer? Okay.

So. Don't say haram meat. Scholars they differ on this and they will not stop differing. And you're not going to find one answer. And this falls under what's called Al-Amr Ijtihadi. An issue where the independent usage of a lawyer's mind is acceptable to give the ruling to you.

Imam Ash-Shafi'i said this type of issue should not be forbidden. The scholars they differ because we have two opposing texts. What is called Ta'arud - Ta'arud means two contradictory texts. One text says for example in surah the sixth chapter of the Quran : (وَلَا تَأْكُلُوا مِمَّا لَمْ يُذْكَرِ اسْمُ اللَّهِ عَلَيْهِ - )(Quran 6:121)

But then we have the fourth verse: (الْيَوْمَ أُحِلَّ لَكُمُ الطَّيِّبَاتُ وَطَعَامُ الَّذِينَ أُوتُوا الْكِتَابَ حِلٌّ لَكُمْ وَطَعَامُكُمْ حِلٌّ لَهُمْ - )(Quran 5:5) He says this day and the food of the people of the book has been made permissible for you and your food permissible for them.

So now we have two contradictory verses. It's called Ta'arud. One verse says don't eat the meat. Allah's name hasn't been pronounced on. The other verse says what? The food of the people of the book is permissible for you.

The Issue of Their Aqeedah

The argument that they are different than the people of the book in those days is not acceptable. Because their aqeedah is the same aqeedah that they had. Clearly mentioned in the Quran - Don't say that Allah is three. Don't say that Jesus is the son of God. They said Maryam is the... All that's mentioned in the Quran. So their argument is not strong.

But the scholars differ on this issue. The Ahnaf, the Hanafis and the Shafis they said based on our understanding of these two verses it's not acceptable for you to eat meat that's not been, Allah's name has not been pronounced. So the verse about the people of the book is restricted by the other verse. You got it? With me? Sister?

The verse that says don't eat meat unless Allah's name is pronounced on it, restricts the generality of the meaning that you can eat from the people of the book. Okay? You can eat from the people of the book's food. So you can eat from their food as long as it's slaughtered. That's how they understand it.

The others said the opposite. That restriction doesn't apply. That order not to eat the meat that Allah's name has not been pronounced on is restricted by letting you eat the meat of who? So they understand it in the opposite direction. You with me?

Freedom to Choose

So in that situation, in that situation, the Muslim is free to choose. And there's an axiom in Islamic law says you should not go to someone and correct them for this. It's not a munkar. It doesn't fall under what's known as a munkar, according to the scholars of Usul of Fiqh. You should not go to them, although there are some immature people, maybe they are very quick to give fatwa sometime and they have a lot of zeal. They will run

to people and say this is haram meat and this or this. We should avoid it. This shouldn't even be a discussion in the community.

But because we have a community that lacks literacy, basic literacy, you find these kind of arguments taking place. So you do what you like. The Malikis, they say it's makruh, it's disliked. And that's based on the hadith of the Prophet (peace be upon him) when those people just became Muslims, sent him some food. And they didn't learn yet about the rulings of how to slaughter meat. So the companion said to the Prophet (peace be upon him), these people, they just became Muslim, they will not have said Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim. The Prophet (peace be upon him) said Bismillah. (Sahih al-Bukhari 2057)

Culture and Rulings

The third or the fourth point is that we have to be careful sometimes in saying that the culture changes the rulings. The culture changes the rulings. We're in a different culture, it changes the rulings. Because the ulema, they're different. Is culture independent source of law? No. Culture in Islamic law is like spice on the food.

So the Malikis, we have a axiom in Islamic law that says al-urfu kash-shart. That the custom of a people is like a condition for something. I give you example. Let's say that I rented an apartment from your sister, okay, and the custom here in America is that you give me the furniture with the apartment, just as an example, right. Then I move to Egypt and say you live in Egypt and I rent an apartment from you and I think, hey, you won't give me the furniture. But the custom in Egypt is not to give the furniture.

So after I make the contract with you and I pay everything, then I go to the house and I try to sit down, I fall on the floor, so where's the sofa? Then I go to you and say, hey, you played me, you trying to cheat me, where's my furniture? Now we go to a faqih, a qadi, what's going to decide this issue is the custom. What's the custom of the people? What's the custom? Like if the mahr, and this never gonna happen in America, but if for some reason we forgot to say how much is the mahr, right, what would settle the dispute is the norm of the people around us, the custom of the people around us.

So culture plays a role as a secondary source of law, not as an independent source of law. Yes, Habibi. Last question.

Question About Meat Processing

My brother worked in a meatpacking plant for about five years. My mother was a personal director of a pork corporation, okay. It is against FDA regulations to do that. You can't do that. Number two is the Muslim is not asked to go into these things. The Muslim is not, so for example, in Muwatta of Imam Malik, rahim Allah, when Amr ibn Aas and Umar came to this place of water and Amr asked him, hey, did any animals drink from this before we're gonna drink from it? And Umar said, don't answer him, don't answer him.

We're not been asked to go into these kind of issues, right. So like that doesn't mean if you go to a restaurant, now restaurants are a little different, yeah, you have to ask, you have to ask, right, but as far as these big plants and stuff, if they're doing that, they're gonna be shut down, they're gonna be shut down. That doesn't mean that, yeah, if you physically see it, that's one thing. If you want to ask, that's one thing. I mean, if you see it with your own eyes, brother.

He's asking which one is better. You cannot say which one's better here. If somebody, for example, let's say somebody, they're in their taqwa and they want to get closer to Allah, maybe it's better for him not to eat it. But somebody who converted to Islam like us and he goes home and his mother says, here baby, here's 17-ounce steak just for you. No, haram.

The Issue of Imported Fatwas

It's not better for us and that's the problem and this is where culture and custom comes into play. When you have a convert community who are given a bunch of fatwas from Najd, right, and what those fatwas do is they create, I'm teasing him because he studies in Medina, what happens is, or Azhar as well, what happens is you have a bunch of social fatwas that were given in Egypt or Saudi Arabia or Pakistan or Indonesia and then given to me and him to take home to my mother who's a non-Muslim.

Now this is where you have culture and even for you with your co-workers, if there's lax in the law that allows us to have some flexibility without violating the authority of texts, that we should have that privilege to have some, I don't use the word liberal, but some relaxing or relaxation in the law and that's why Hasan Basri said, Imam Hasan Basri, he said what? He said people, man, they have to have a time to rest and Sufian al-Thawri, rahimahullah, he says something remarkable. He said, ask for hardship and difficulty on the people, this is for anyone, but ask for facilitation and making things easy, this is the role of the fuqaha, the role of the scholars, right?

So that's where a culture comes into play when we bring in, for example, imported social fatwas, right, that don't have any textual base or based on ijtihad, based on independent exercise of the mind of a scholar, which is 95% of the rulings in Islamic law, by the way are not textual based. They're based on the mind of a lawyer and then you put that in America, now you're gonna have problems, problems. Last question.

I'm sorry brother and hey, when I leave don't come, I gotta question you, ma'am. I got no, no, no, no, no, no. We don't have questions. Right, protein shake? How long was this, how long was this little cardio workout? There you go. Stop. Yes, sister.

Question About Seafood

That's the Hanafis, man. Look, give all your seafood to us Malikis. We eat everything. Masha'Allah. Welcome to the Maliki method, brothers. Right? You Hanafi brothers, I know you don't like your shrimp. Send your shrimp to me. Lobster, send it to me. Crawdad. No, no, no, no, no. Crawdad. Yes, sir. No, no, man.

The prophet said about about when he was asked about al-bahar, he said: (هُوَ الطَّهُورُ مَاؤُهُ الْحِلُّ مَيْتَتُهُ - )"The water of the sea is pure and its meat is pure." (Sunan Abi Dawud 83, Sunan al-Tirmidhi 69, Sunan al-Nasa'i 59, Sunan Ibn Majah 386, Muwatta Malik 21) Hadith from Bukhari and Muslim. Super sahih.

May Allah bless his community. The protein sheikh said last question, okay. His brother had his hand up since... Yeah, that's the Sunnah of the Prophet (peace be upon him).

Question About Pointing in Salah

So the Prophet (peace be upon him), he's asking a question about your finger in the Salah. Sometimes you see people doing like this. Sometimes you see people doing like this. All these have some narrations. The one that

doesn't is the one people go like this. There's no sunnah for that hadith.

But what there is a base is either to go like this, is related by Imam Muslim, is sahih. (Sahih Muslim 580) And then you have the Maliki school, who also has another sound hadith that says go like this. Because the Prophet (peace be upon him) said, when you do like this, it's like you hit Shaytan. So this is an authentic hadith. But don't do it so much you disturb your neighbor, man. You're not at the club, man. You're in the masjid.

Closing

JazakumAllahu khairan for your patience and attention. May Allah make us from those who fear Him, who have khashya of Him, and who balance between fear and hope. May Allah accept our deeds in this blessed month of Ramadan and make us from those who will be shaded under His shade on the Day when there is no shade but His shade. Ameen.

والحمد لله رب العالمين وصلى الله على نبينا محمد وعلى آله وصحبه أجمعين