Where do we begin

Where Do We Begin?

Opening Praise and Introduction

(بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ - bismillahir-rahmanir-rahim)

We praise Allah. We invoke Him to send His peace and blessings upon the Prophet Muhammad, his community, his family, his companions, and those who will follow him until the end of time.

Alhamdulillah, it's great to be here with everyone. It was wonderful to receive this important invitation and we're very honored to also visit you here, alhamdulillah. And very encouraged by the work we're seeing Muslims doing in the professional field.

The Three Foundational Questions

Alhamdulillah Rabbil Alameen. The topic that I was given was where do we begin? Where do we begin? And what I'll do is focus on a few issues. Number one, how do we begin with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala? How do we begin with God? Number two, with the Prophet. Number three, with Islam itself, Sharia Islamia.

Some important points, especially for us as people who are working in the professional field. Some misunderstandings I think that may exist and then we'll take time for questions and answers inshaAllah wa ta'ala.

Beginning with the Obligatory Knowledge (Al-Wajibat)

We begin with what the scholars traditionally called al-wajibat, al-wajibat. And some of these wajibat you know as Muslims, especially Malay Muslims, you even have really cool songs about these things. You know Malays, you like songs alhamdulillah. And now maybe it will help you appreciate these songs.

Because these songs initially were taught for a very serious reason: Allah wujud qidam baqa mukharafatuhu lil hawalidin qiyamuhu bi. So these beautiful songs, actually in America now we have like rap music. Maybe you, I know the audience is a little older, so I'm not going to, not too old, but I see the younger, you know it's weird, each role gets younger, I don't know why.

But even now we have some ulema in America who wrote like raps, raps for our kids. And the Arabs did this also. The classical scholars actually used poetry. Because historically when I studied in Al-Azhar University, and I studied actually with a blind man, Arabic grammar and rhetoric and so on, and he was a poet. So I asked him, how did you become a poet? Not to be disrespectful, but you're a blind man. So he said, my mother was a poet.

And my mother was illiterate, but the level of literacy at that time in the society was such that my mother just became a poet. And then I learned from her. So, you know, you'll find even in the classical text, these kind of

things were written in poetic verse to emphasize their importance.

Understanding the Poem of Attributes

So listen, he says:

It's a poem, if you understand that song that you just sung, you can understand what he's saying. This is from Murshid al-Mu'een, classical, one of the most important books taught in the Maliki Madhhab. I'm trained in the Maliki Madhhab.

Initially, I studied some Fiqh, al-Shafi'i and al-Azhar also. But we actually had to memorize this because of its importance, right? So we talk about beginning steps, right? Some of the things you already have is my point, right? Some of the things are already there, right? We say the elephant in the room, it's an idiom in the English language, right? It's the elephant in the room. But the eye, if it doesn't pay attention, it will miss things.

And the heart, if it doesn't pay attention, it will miss things.

The Concept of Ma'rifah (Acquired Knowledge)

So we start with what the scholars call al-Ma'rifah. I don't know if Bahasa has used the word Ma'rifah. But Ma'rifah in Arabic is different than ilm, ilmu. Ilm means something fixed, something concrete, something definitive. And now we're talking about theories of education.

My degree also, alhamdulillah, from the States is in education. The theories of how the mind works and how knowledge is acquired by classical scholars, absolutely incredible, and have been somewhat neglected, unfortunately. But they had a system of what was called ilm and Ma'rifah.

And ilm is something which is definitive. They said الْعِلْمُ مَا لَا يَسْبِقُهُ جَهْلٌ - Scholars of Islamic logic said, ilm is something which ignorance did not precede it.

Ma'rifah, this is really cool in the Arabic language, is from the same word as arf. Arf, A-R-F. Arf means to smell. This is called عَرْفُ النَّشْرِ - arf al-nashr. We say the scent that spreads. It's arf al-nashr.

The Example of Arf (Scent)

So if you woke up one morning, your brother and your sweetheart, she cooked breakfast. And you got the day off, right? You have to go to work, alhamdulillah. So you prayed Fajr, then went straight to sleep. Then you woke up. Oh, wow. Is that Nasi Lemak? Is that Roti Canai? Or maybe vice versa.

Although it's rare, at least for me. Maybe we actually tried to cook something for our wife, alhamdulillah. You woke up and you're like, wow, is that an omelette? This is called arf.

That scent is called arf. And when you smell it, maybe you come downstairs, you walk into the kitchen, you see the pots, you see the ingredients. And then you gain the smell. When that smell hits, that causes your mind to make a hukum. When that smell enters into your nostrils that Allah created, and your mind says, it's this. That's called ma'rifah.

That's why ma'rifah and the word smell come from the same root. Because ma'rifah is a term which implies cognition. Acquired knowledge. Acquired knowledge. And that's why we don't say about Allah, Allahu a'rif. But we say, Allahu a'lam.

Because Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, He did not acquire knowledge because His ilm is qadeem. Now you understand the song that you sing. Helps you to appreciate and understand His sifat.

Our knowledge is hadith. Meaning it's acquired, we learn throughout our lives alhamdulillah. So it's a process of engagement of knowledge.

The Obligation to Think and Reflect

So the ulama said, there are certain ma'rifah, certain acquired knowledges, which are an obligation for you to start the race. To start the race. And that's why Imam Ibn Aishah said:

He said in this poem, right, that it's an obligation upon everyone who's mukallaf to learn certain things. To learn certain things. And actually what's interesting, and this is why we have a lot of people becoming Muslim in the west, is because there wasn't this divorce between logic and religion. In the sense that Islam encouraged us to think.

To think. So he said here that, and this is agreed upon with the Shafis and the Hanafis also, that the first obligation of any human being is to think about God. To think about Him. An-Nadr. To ponder. Not to shut their mind down and just simply listen to what's told to them.

And that's why we say لَا تَقْلِيدَ فِي الْعَقِيدَةِ - We say that it's not allowed to make taqleed in issues of Allah. Because every person has the responsibility of using their mind. And engaging reality.

Islam Encourages Critical Thinking

And this is the beauty of Islam. So we find, especially in America, this historical battle between the church and the west. Between the mind, and following blindly a religious leadership in issues of faith.

Right? Not in fiqh, in faith. We find that when people come to the mosque, they're actually shocked. They would expect, they expect Muslims to be like the most rigid, the most conservative. You have to just be quiet and understand. Like what I used to learn every Sunday morning in my church. But when we tell them no.

A brother one time he came to the mosque I was in, and he said, I have 18 questions. I said, ask your 18 questions. So he began, and then Alhamdulillah we have a brother there, who answered the questions.

And he said, this is the first religion that I was even able to ask the questions. He said, usually, he said, I went to the church, I went to the synagogue, I went to the temple. And every time I tried to ask a question, they told me, you know, you have to make an appointment or something.

He said, but I came to the mosque, and this imam told me, sit down, ask. And then a few questions that he asked, the brother told him, I don't know. He said like, I'm impressed that you said you don't know.

You know, usually people try to swerve the answer. And then I told him, I was listening to the conversation, I said, Islam encourages us to use our mind. Imam Ibn Jawzi, Rahimahullah, said, the greatest gift Allah gave someone after faith is the mind.

The Mind: The Greatest Tool

And the scholars of rhetoric say, which means, tools are honored because of their objectives. So for example, the tool that cuts the diamond is respected. Because why? It cuts a diamond.

But what about the tool used to know Allah? Subhanahu wa ta'ala. So you know, Jawzi said, for that reason, the aql is the greatest tool that has ever been given to anyone.

The Twenty Attributes of Allah

So with regards to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, where do we start? We start with what's obligatory for us to know about Him. These 20 sifat that you memorized since you were small. This is why you have these 20 sifat.

Because these 20 principles, as you will, are anchors that are going to help you GPS your life.

And it's important that these principles are taught in a way that is relevant also. That's relevant to our reality. So we say, meaning Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala exists.

The First Attributes: Existence and Eternity

What's the proof of His existence? Is that everything else is what's called hadith. Hadith means, was created and will be destroyed. That's why we say, Hadith.

So we believe that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala exists. We believe that in His existence, there is no beginning. He has no beginning. So we say, Al-Qidam. And also, He has no fana. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will not pass away. But Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, al-baqa.

We say, Mukhalafatuhu lil-hawadith, meaning Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is not like His creation. And this means two things. That nothing is similar to Him. And that He is not similar to anything else. Right? And we believe, Qiyamuhu bi nafsihi. In the Quran الطَّاعِمُ وَلَا يُطْعَمُ Quran 6:14) - the one who feeds and he's not fed.

The Impossible Attributes

And after that, anything that's the opposite of these sifat, Anything that opposes these attributes that I just mentioned, we say, It's impossible for us to attribute to them Allah, to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

Knowing Allah Leads to Self-Knowledge

What does that mean? That throughout your life, if you really understand, and I really understand these attributes, where do we start? We start with Allah. مَنْ عَرَفَ رَبَّهُ عَرَفَ نَفْسَهُ - Who knows his Lord will know himself. Who knows Allah, will be a better person.

And that's why the Prophet, when Ibn Abbas said that, Jibreel came to him and read the Quran twice, at the end of his life. What was the result of that? He said,كَانَ أَجْوَدَ فِي شَهْرٍ رَمَضَانَ )Sahih Bukhari (6) - That the Prophet was more generous at that time. He was not as generous as he was in the time of Ramadan. Why? Because he sat with his Shaykh, Jibreel, and he increased his knowledge, and that knowledge led him to be more, what? More generous.

Knowledge Transforms Character

So the knowledge, this ma'rifah as we'll talk about later on also, creates a personality that we can measure ourselves by. We should be people of altruism. We should be concerned about others.

We should have feelings for those around us. Knowledge is not for the sake of knowledge only. That's a problem that we have. Cognition is not for cognition. Cognition, information is for transformation. Not just information.

That's why Imam Malik used to say, He used to say, knowledge is not like a lot of, I know this, I can narrate this, this, this, this. He said, But it's knowledge, it's noor, which Allah put in the chest of those who He loves. This is knowledge.

Imam Ibn Abbas radiallahu anhuma, who was asked what's knowledge, he said, To be reverent to God. And you'll find that usually, when the sahaba were asked about the meaning of knowledge, they would answer it with a good ethic. Because they tied knowledge and faith into ethics.

Faith Tied to Ethics

And that's why the Prophet said, "Whoever believes in Allah and the last day, let him speak well, or remain silent. Whoever believes in Allah and the last day, let them be generous to their neighbor. Whoever believes in Allah and the last day, let them be generous to their guest." (Sahih Bukhari 6018, Sahih Muslim 47)

He ties faith and knowledge into generosity and being someone of fidelity.

Beginning with the Prophet ﷺ: The Qualities of Prophets

Number two is with regards to the Prophet ﷺ. We believe certain qualities about the anbiya. We believe that they have what's called al-amana. They were trustworthy people. Al-fatana, they were extremely intelligent people. Tabligh, that they conveyed the message which God ordered them to convey to humanity.

That they were people of good character, the best character. And the Prophet ﷺ, when we talk about this, we have to qualify it. Unfortunately, we're good at sloganeering.

Beyond Slogans: Evidence and Proof

How many of us we heard the Quran is the miracle of the Prophet? But what does that mean? I can come to the dato and say, I'm the greatest publicist ever. I can say it a thousand times. But eventually he's going to say, where's your CV? Because the CV will tell the tale.

Not only where's your CV, do you have any work experience? Can anyone give you any references? And then even if I start working, probably they'll tell me, you have like, at least in the States, you have like a six month grace period. If you can't hold it down, we have to let you go. So as Muslims also we have to be careful.

We say, Muhammad ﷺ is the last Prophet. What does that mean? We say that the Prophets had Fatana, had intellectual prowess. What does that mean? Move beyond platitudes.

The Quran is the final miracle of God. What does that mean? How do you prove that to me? It's very important.

The Prophet's Relationship with the Quran

So let's take a few examples that the Prophet ﷺ and our relationship to him. Where do we start? Why do we follow him? And how we should understand him? That he ﷺ, his relationship with the Quran is that of someone who explains it. That's why we say the first Mufassir of Quran is Sayyidina Rasulullah, Sayyidul An'am. And that's why Aisha said (كَانَ خُلُقُهُ الْقُرْآنَ - Sahih Muslim 746) - His behavior was the Quran.

Understanding Universals and Particulars

But the scholars say, scholars of Sharia, that the Quran and Sunnah have provided us also with universals. And that's why people have to study logic.

Logic was taken out of the American curriculum in the 1920s. And then that's when we have Lady Gaga. Because we're not logical anymore.

I mean honestly, if I drew a picture of Lady Gaga and showed it to my daughter, she wouldn't go to sleep. Is that in my closet? (الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ خُرَافَاتٍ) Right? Like Shamsul's movie. I saw that movie by the way.

Long story. But, point being, no one in the world would want to look like that. She wore a dress made out of meat, man. She wore a dress made out of dageen. (لا رَنْدَانْ) You know? If she came here, would have ate the dress.

Right? With some nasi.

The Corruption of Fitrah

But the point is, illogical way of thinking. And that's why the scholars of Sufism said, the greatest sign that the heart and mind are corrupted is when the absolutely detestable becomes beloved to someone. Something that if they really thought about it, if they really thought about it, I was watching in the States a program.

Now they have a lot of reality TV shows in America. And there's one about drug addictions. Very interesting show.

And they show people that like have very successful careers. People that graduated from Columbia. People that graduated from Harvard.

And they became drug addicts and lost everything. Right? I mean how many of us just to go to Harvard, Kennedy School of Policy. MashaAllah.

I'm there. Right? Forget the LRT. I'll take a rocket.

But here we see people because of addiction. And there was a woman who lost everything. Finally she acquired Hepatitis B and C. And she's like 25, 26 years old.

And they asked her how. She said, Well, my husband, he taught me always to use clean needles. But I lived in this compound and there was no clean needles.

So I would even find needles on the ground and inject. So stop and think about what you're saying right now. Needle on the ground in your body.

It's not logical. Even a child. Watch out.

So then the reporter was asking her, Are you aware of what you're saying? You put needles from the ground in your body. She's like, Yeah, but it's an addiction. This is what the scholars meant by this losing the Fitrah.

(ثُمَّ رَدَدْنَاهُ أَسْفَلَ سَافِلِينَ - Quran 95:5) (فَأَلْهَمَهَا فُجُورَهَا وَتَقْوَاهَا - Quran 91:8) - Means that someone turns away from the natural Fitrah which Allah gave them.

The Prophet ﷺ as Rahmah (Mercy)

So the Prophet ﷺ, we believe the Quran is a book of particulars and some universals. And the Quran also by the agency of the Prophet ﷺ is either particularized or left as a universal. And I'll explain to you what this means here.

And this is why we say he's Rahmah. Rahmah. Number one.

The Correct Understanding of Success

The Prophet ﷺ and the Quran teaches us the correct understanding of success and being successful. And now in America we've had with the rise of Joel Osteen. If you heard of Joel Osteen.

What they call now the theology of becoming rich. Where he says, you know, Jesus wants you to be rich. So consequently he has like the biggest church in America because everybody wants to be rich, right? It's great to be rich.

Then someone asked me, does Islam encourage poverty? Or does Islam encourage us to be like dervish, you know dervish? Like you call the boomer, boomer. Like the guy who lives in the jungle just walks around and doesn't do, boomer, boomer, right? No offense to any boomers. I know they have a union now.

But I'm just saying like that lifestyle, right? Without any disrespect. So I said actually no, the Prophet ﷺ encouraged us to become successful but responsible. Successful but responsible.

Because success doesn't come without responsibility.

The Universal of Balance (Wasatiyyah)

And the example of this that we find this universal in the Quran is how Allah explains the reality of dunya to us. And that's why Allah says:

We made you the balanced ummah.

This ayah, by the way, is in Surah Baqarah. Watch this, pay attention. It's, with all respect to the older people, it's verse number 143 in Surah Baqarah. Surah Baqarah is 286 verses, man. So the verse that's right in the middle of the surah is the verse that says, you're a balanced ummah.

Islam and Globalization

What does it mean by balance? It means balance in these universals that helped me as Orang Bote Dari Kampong America to come here without any problem. For you to treat me as your brother, without any problem. That's why some sociologists say that globalization didn't start in the mid 90s. They say the ideas of universalism, which is Al-'Aulamah, we have Al-'Alamiyah, came with Islam, without all the negative baggage.

Because Islam was the first system, if you will, using their terminology, that empowered the intermingling of societies and languages in a way that was never seen in history before. And that's why till now you go to Месса, Have you ever met a Saudi rabbi who looks like he's Malay? And you're like, Abu Khabar b'alai, dari mana? He's like, Ba'ulaka ya maulana, ana min hana. And you're like, what the heck? But you look like you're from Karachi or something.

No, I'm from Mecca, I'm not from Karachi. Subhanallah. In Egypt, you had like blonde-headed Egyptians, man.

Universal Principles for All Times

So the idea of Al-'Aulamiyah, how did that come, Al-'Alamiyah? Because the Muslims were given general principles, when the founders of the American Constitution laid it out, they said we need to use the most universal concepts, justice, equality, right? That will allow the Constitution to last. They were very smart people. Now they're saying, if the Greeks would have done what Alexander Hamilton did, you know, actually what America did after the Civil War, we wouldn't have the financial crisis that we had here, that we're experiencing now, at least in the West.

I don't know about the East. Everybody's watching Greece. They said Greece founded Western Civilization, and it may well destroy with this crisis.

But in the Quran, we find massive universals, given to us through the agency of the Prophet, to empower us to function at any place, at any time, and anywhere. And this is a rahmah of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And I'll give you a few examples.

The Universal of Maslaha (Public Good)

One of them is the universal of what's called al-masalih, or al-maslaha, the good of people. And in fact, Al-Aziz ibn Abdus Salam, a great Shafi'i scholar, he said, Shari'ah, and I told this to the Tea Party people in America, those who want to Shari'ahize, I call it Shari'ahize, not terrorize, Shari'ahize America. I told them, what's the goal of Shari'ah? They told me to kill Americans.

I said, well, I'm alive. They said, well, I said, no, what's the goal of Shari'ah? They had no idea. I said, if you study any major book of Islamic philosophy, old or new, legal philosophy, the first universal taught to Muslims is to seek what benefits and to prevent what harms.

And this is called al-istiqra. The scholars developed this theory because they surveyed all the evidences of Quran and Sunnah. And this is called (جَلْبُ الْمَصَالِحِ وَدَرْءُ الْمَفَاسِدِ - jalb al-masalih wa dar' al-mafasid).

Evidence from Ibn Abbas

How did they come up with this? Look what Ibn Abbas said, he said, never will you find in the Quran, ya arang arang bar iman, O you who believe (يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا - ya ayyuha alladheena amanu), except after that is an order to bring you benefit or an order to keep you from harm. Try it when you go home. Read the Quran, ya arang arang bar iman.

See, is there an order that's bringing benefit or an order to keep you away from harm. So he said, we understand from the Sunnah of Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, is that what He has asked us to do, either will benefit us or protect us from harm.

Examples from the Quran

So Allah says, fasting was prescribed for you so that you can achieve taqwa. It's a benefit. Allah says, O you who believe, don't ask about things if made known to you will harm you. Preventing harm.

O you who believe, O you who believe, if a rebellious person comes to you with information, right, this is the media organization, you can respect this, right? Make sure you affirm the information before you spread it. Because you might harm someone. You might harm.

Allah said, (وَلَا تُمْسِكُوهُنَّ ضِرَارًا لِتَعْتَدُوا - Quran 2:231) - Don't hold your wife to harm them. Allah said (وَلَا يُضَارَّ كَاتِبٌ وَلَا شَهِيدٌ - Quran 2:282) - Don't let the one who writes the contract be harmed.

We see here a pattern now. Benefit, harm. Benefit, harm. Benefit, protecting people from harm.

The Prophet's ﷺ Application of Universal Principles

So the Prophet ﷺ, he taught us this universal through his example. So, for example, one of the things he took into consideration was the state of people. The state of people.

Dealing with Converts and New Muslims

Sister asked me about converts in America. One of the problems of converts in America, when they convert to Islam, people expect them to be like Imam Shafi. First of all, his name is Steve, not Shafi.

And even with our younger generations, they're not raised in the Pondo or the Kampong. They're raised in KL. It's a whole different ballgame here than it was when you lived in the neighborhood of 80 people.

Right? It's a little different scenario. So we see the Prophet ﷺ with the convert, with Jubair ibn Mu'tim when he became Muslim. As related by Imam Muslim, the Prophet ﷺ taught him, when you hear someone sneeze, say, Arhamakallah.

The Story of the Bedouin in Prayer

So he got excited. Okay. This is right before Asr. The time of Asr came. This is the first thing he learned from Sayyidina Rasulullah. And in Asr prayer, someone sneezed. So consequently, he said what? Arhamakallah.

And he was a Bedouin. He wasn't soft, easy, nice guy. He's rough. Arhamakallah. Like that. And then the person didn't respond to him.

So he said, Arhamakallah. In Salatul Asr. Who's the Imam? Sayyidul Awwalin wal Akhirin. Then finally he said, people, people stopped like paying attention to me.

So he said to them, in Arabic, it's very harsh. He said, I wish that your mothers had miscarriages with all of you. Because he's from the Bedouins. He's rough. He's a desert guy. Then he said, people turned to me.

They started to beat their hands like this. And I realized they were telling me, you know, be quiet. Sorry.

After Salah, he said, the Prophet called me. And the Prophet didn't tell him, you know your Salah is invalid because you talked and you have to pray again. The Prophet told him, listen, listen, you know, the Salah is Tasbeeh and Takbeer.

Right? There's no talking in Salah. Please don't do it again. He said, I never saw anyone better than the Prophet in teaching me. (Sahih Muslim 537)

He said, he didn't hit me, he didn't insult me, and he didn't even look at me badly. He said, he just taught me. So here, why? To protect his faith. To protect the Masaleh. To keep him from harm.

The Story of the Bedouin Who Urinated in the Mosque

When the man comes in the Masjid of the Prophet and urinates, all of us know this Hadith. I bet some of us read it and we're like, what? If you went to Shah Alam Mosque now, some guy walked in, not, not here dude.

He would get hurt. You know. He's like, I'm not Muslim, that's even worse.

Right? So this man comes into the Masjid. The Fuqaha took no less than 113 legal axioms from this Hadith. Can you imagine that? 113 principles in Sharia taken from this Hadith. (Sahih Bukhari 6025)

Which was related by a lot of Sahabi. Why? Because it was big news man. Someone did what? Where? You know, you can imagine.

So, but the Prophet said (دَعُوهُ - da'oo) - leave him alone. So commenting on this, the ulema said, why? Because the Prophet is concerned about a number of things. It's really cool.

Number one, most of the Sahaba only had one pair of clothes. So if they were to tackle someone who's you know, he might get on their clothes. It's true.

Secondly, if they were to tackle him, he might do it all over the mosque. It's a problem. But thirdly they said, he just became Muslim. He's a jahil. Like he's gila, you know. Like wild, right? So the Prophet, he wants to protect that experience for him.

The Ka'bah and Consideration for New Muslims

When the Prophet came to Medina, to Mecca, after he conquered Mecca, he had the opportunity to rebuild the Ka'bah on the foundations of Sayyidina Ibrahim. But he refused to do so. And he said, as related by Aisha in Sahih Muslim, if it wasn't that your people just became Muslim, I will order the Ka'bah to be destroyed and built again. (Sahih Muslim 1333)

Why? Imam al-Nawawi al-Shafi'i said, here the Prophet looks after what's greater, the greater benefit for people, the greater benefit.

More Examples of the Universal of Benefit and Harm

Why the Prophet forbid us to kill the leaders of other religions in jihad? Because even though we don't believe those faiths to be the truth, still there's benefit in faith in general. A society that has faith, even if we don't agree with their faith, right, will still be morally upright to some degree.

Also it's just plain wrong. Why does the Prophet forbid his soldiers from poisoning like the waters and destroying the crops of the people? Because of the harm that it can incur. Why did he forbid us to use fire in jihad? And why now you have contemporary Fuqaha who said, this also applies now to nuclear weapons.

If the Prophet forbid us from using fire, what would he say about Hiroshima? And that's why also Fuqaha took this universal of the Prophet. Watch the fatwa. They said, if the Prophet forbid his armies from poisoning the environment of their enemies, then we say it's not allowed to use like furnace based factories and other type of pollutants that will destroy the environment to people who are not even your enemies. So here you see this universal of bringing good and preventing harm, bringing good and preventing harm, bringing good and preventing harm.

The Use of Evidence and Reasoning

The Quran and the Prophet left us with universals, which mashaAllah till this day inspire people. When I was in Egypt working, it was called Dar Iftah. We had a court case that came to us about a woman who said somebody raped her.

And she wanted to use DNA to prove paternity. So there's a big discussion amongst people, you know, can you use DNA to prove this, astaghfirullah al-azim, you know. She has to have four, how can a woman be raped and have four witnesses, man? Oh, by the way, can you come and watch and then tell the police for me? In the Shafi'i books of Fiqh, there's a difference between the law of personal injury and hudud.

This falls under personal injury law. In the classical books, rape, istighsab. So one of my teachers, someone asked him, show me in the Quran and Sunnah where you can use DNA, man.

The Wisdom from Surah Yusuf

Like very belligerently. So the Shaykh, he said, okay, open Surah Yusuf. So I start thinking, man, where in Surah Yusuf is DNA? No? And this man is an 80-year-old man, he's a scholar, right? So he said, read the verse about the shirt, about the qamis.

So he read, if it's torn from the back, you know, she's guilty. If it's torn from the front, he's guilty. (Quran 12:26-27) And his old Shaykh, he said, if the shirt can be used as secondary evidence to prove the innocence or guilt of Yusuf, then I say DNA can be used to prove his guiltiness.

I said, oh, that's where it was in Surah Yusuf. I knew it all the time. How? Of course, he's a gifted scholar, right? He's a very talented old man.

The Prophet's Mercy Toward Sinners

We believe that the Prophet loved the sinner. Something that we find a problem now in our communities. People struggling, man. In Malaysia, every time I come to Malaysia or even in, like, Saudi Arabia, don't think that borders protect us from mistakes. And in America, constantly questions about sexual mistakes, drugs, hitting up the clubs, I listen to Usher, you name it.

You name it. And then people feeling guilty, which is actually a healthy guilt, as long as it doesn't shackle them. How did the Prophet deal with the sinner, man? It's easy to destroy someone who is weak.

Building People, Not Destroying Them

But building something is harder than destroying it. If you want to wreck the company now, you can wreck it with one or two phone calls. Sell the stock to Tony Fernandez.

Bad joke. The same, right? Whatever. I know what's going on with, you know, certain things.

But, whatever. To Warren Buffett. But how long did it take you to build this company? Have now 1,500 employees.

If one employee blows it, there'll be a systemic, you know, reaction that touches the rest of the company. So, the Prophet, he didn't destroy the sinner, he built the sinner. And that's why the sinner used to trust him.

The Drunk Man Who Came to the Prophet

Now, I remember when I was young. The last place I'll go to is the church or the mosque, man. Are you crazy? Guy's gonna hurt me or something. Whereas in Sahih Bukhari, the drunk man, the first place he comes is to a Sahabi who's drunk. The first place he comes is to the mosque of the Prophet.

And who does he ask for? Abu Bakr or Omar? No. He's drunk and who does he ask for? Muhammad. Where's Muhammad? Why? I got some issues, man. I need some help, y'all. And the Prophet, he didn't tell him, A'udhu Billah, Astaghfirullah al-Azeem, brother.

You know, go home. The Prophet told him, sit down. Tell me what's going on.

He told him. Then he was punished. Then some of the Sahabi began to tease him, right? Rebuke him.

And the Prophet said, don't help Shaytan with him. (Sahih Bukhari 6780) Now, the narration of Tirmidhi is even more beautiful because after everything happened and the Prophet sat down in the masjid, where do you think the drunk man went? He went and sat next to the Prophet. He was like, man, I screwed up, you know.

Sorry. Right? He empowers. He empowers people. He inspires them. Inspires them.

Our Relationship with Islam as a Community

Now, that takes us to us as a community now and our relationship with Islam. I believe that we have to quit using conspiracy theories. Once in America, there was a brother who was late for Salat al-Fajr and the light turned red and he said to one of our convert brothers, this is the Jews, man. It's a Jewish conspiracy.

He said, what are you talking about? You woke up late. He said, no, they built the light, man. They put it right here in front of the masjid.

Conspiracy Theories Destroy Ethics

We say that a community of conspirators or people who constantly believe in conspiracies will lose their ethics. Conspiracies are an excuse to lose ethics. Once in Malaysia, I was at a restaurant with some young brothers and they started asking me about the arrivals and Illuminati and Jay-Z and Beyonce and Kanye and all these movies and Tarantino.

I said, man, wallahi, I'm from America. I have no idea what you're talking about, bro. He said, no, but if you look at the album cover, right, you can see like Mar Hussain, he's like in this strange position.

I said, Mar Hussain's my friend. He's not in the Illuminati, dude. Stop right there.

But then there was a man outside of the restaurant begging for food. So these brothers flapped their gills for like an hour about the Illuminati and all this stuff. Then we went out.

The man, he was like, can you give me food? And they said no to him. I said, subhanallah. For an hour, you talked about global domination, what is it, the new world order, Illuminati, Jay-Z, the blueprint, and you can't even feed this hungry man? I said, your conspiracy theories are an excuse to be lazy and not have ethics.

Becoming the Best Ummah

So as a Muslim community, we can no longer talk about we are the best ummah, but we have to become our best first. This sloganeering is a problem. We are the best ummah, inshallah.

But that doesn't mean that we can take a day off. Doesn't mean that we can say, okay, we're the best ummah, fine. Bill Gates, who knows when Bill Gates retired.

Bill Gates retired when he had 60 million in the bank. He said, why? I don't feel comfortable. I have things to do.

Now, for you and I as Muslims, we have to be very careful that the greatest ummah theory doesn't become an excuse not to do anything. Because in order for us to be effective as Muslims, we have to live inspired lives.

And inspiration comes from ma'rifah.

Ma'rifah Leads to Action

That's why I began talking about that earlier. Now, I got a job offer in Boston. It's a $40,000 raise.

You think I consider moving? Heck yeah, it's $40,000, man. It's not four, it's four oh. Right, times two, that's 80,000 something ringgit.

Hello, I'm on the train. You know, right? Because ma'rifah, when a guy came and said, look, $40,000 raise. I said, nah, huh? Ma'rifah, why? I got bills.

I got babies. I got a mama. When I go home, I'm not Imam Tuan Guru.

I'm Ani and Baba. Right, so that ma'rifah creates an action. And that's why the stronger the yaqeen is, the stronger the yaqeen is, the better the actions are.

The Dignity of Islam (Izzah)

Now, as a community of Muslims, we have to continue, and this is one of the beautiful things about Malaysia, and I'm not saying this to make you feel good. One of the things out of many that you have to appreciate in Malaysia is that you feel Islam has Izzah. That Islam is dignified.

Whereas in other parts of the Muslim world, if you go, for example, to the schools that are the Islamic colleges, they're the most run-down, decrepit, disgusting buildings in the country. Not UIA. I mean, I was in Azhar.

I came to UIA, I was like, hmm, can I transfer? Like, wow, they got like a debit machine here and stuff, man. You know, wow, you feel Izzah. That's not to say that you should become relaxed, but that's to say at least you're able to live.

The Universal of Ihsan (Excellence)

And this is from one of the important universals that the Prophet teaches us. When he said, when you make wudu, make wudu properly. Allah said, when you slaughter, slaughter properly.

Allah says, when you speak, speak the best. Ihsan. Ihsan is another word for inspired.

Izzah comes through inspiration.

The Power of Inspiration: Muhammad Ali

In America, the most beloved Muslim is who? Who do you think? In American society, non-Muslim, and if you were last night at the lecture, you can't answer. Muslim and non-Muslim.

Who do you think the most beloved Muslim figure is in America? Alive. Exactly. Muhammad Ali.

He's black. It don't matter. Because he has inspired people to look beyond his blackness.

He's Muslim. It doesn't matter. He's inspired people.

He has transcended these prejudices because of what he brought to the table.

Now, there was an incident in his life that made him beloved to America, and it wasn't when he knocked out Sonny Liston or George Foreman. It was when he refused to go to Vietnam because American society likes heroes, like any society.

We got John Wayne, Sylvester, well, not Sylvester. You know, Jason Strahan or whatever. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

No, not Arnold Schwarzenegger. He was my old governor. Kennedy.

Nancy Reagan. Really? When Muhammad Ali Clay stood for something ethical, people loved him. And that has carried with him.

Transcending Through Inspiration

You're talking about someone who hits people in the face for a job. I mean, imagine if I walk, you say, what do you do? Oh, I hit people in the face. Well, brother, it was great having you.

Inshallah, please, you know, have some tea, Tariq, and go. How was he able to transcend all of those things?

Because he lived and he inspired people.

Now, the early Muslims were people who inspired others.

Why People Accepted Islam

Because one of the points I want to make is that people did not become Muslim in the Arabian Peninsula strictly because of theology. You have to understand this point. It wasn't only Tawheed that brought people to Islam.

It was they were inspired. The Prophet corrected the mistakes that they had that plagued them. Their way of getting married was horrible.

Social Reform and Inspiration

When the Prophet went to Medina, to Mecca, after he conquered Mecca, one of the first things he did was drain the swamp in Medina. Because it was a health risk. He instituted an economic system that got rid of Riba and raised the status of poor people and even instigated what would now be called free market ideals in the system of the Arabian Peninsula.

Economically, and this inspired people. It wasn't simply because of theology that people became Muslim, but also sociology. They were inspired.

So you would find narrations of people coming and saying, I've never seen anyone as generous as this person. You'll find Abu Sufyan when his daughter Umm Habibah married the Prophet. This was at the height of Abu Sufyan's hatred for him. And people came to Abu Sufyan and said, Do you know who your daughter just married? Who? Muhammad.

Abu Sufyan said, I can think of no one better for her to marry than him.

What? Because he transcended even being his enemy. Because he was Ameen before he was Nabi.

Trust: The Foundation of Leadership

And that's why as Muslims, we have to appreciate the office of trust before the office of prophethood. They asked Forbes. They gathered 10 of the most influential CEOs in America.

And they asked them, What's the most important quality a leader can have in the corporate world? They said, trust. People have to feel they can trust. And you look at Sayyidina Rasulullah. He was trusted before he had prophecy.

And that applies to us now. Sometimes in America in particular. We believe that because we're Muslims, we are given a certain right to act a certain way. But we forget that the prophet earned that by gaining the trust of the people. By trust. Maslow in education says, One of the pillars of education to teach anyone is they have to trust you.

They will not allow something to enter their mind until they trust you. And that's why the prophet was Ameen before he was Nabi. And that inspired the early Muslims.

Confidence vs. Arrogance in the Corporate World

And as I finish, this is important for you at the corporate level for a few reasons. Number one, his ability to inspire, cause people not to confuse arrogance with confidence. One of the problems that we have in America with our young brothers and sisters now who enter the corporate world is in the States, you got to be kind of aggressive to function in the corporate world.

You can't go into the corporate world like, Alhamdulillah, I'm here. I have some ideas. If you do that, you're gone.

But then they ask me, Abang Suhaib, right? How do I succeed? So I told them, your problem is that you mistake arrogance with confidence. The definition of arrogance by the prophet is to deny the truth and look down on people. That's arrogance. (Sahih Muslim 91)

The Example of Umar's Confidence

Not to have swagger. Would you say Omar had swagger? Like how did Omar make hijrah? Then he said like, okay guys, I'm going to go. Someone said that, you know, if you watch me, I'm going to go.

Omar bin Khattab went out and said, I'm going. If you have a problem with it, you can die now. Bye.

And then actually he said in Arabic, who wants their mothers to cry over them, follow me. Nobody said, oh, astaghfirullah, Omar, you're so arrogant. Like, God, like, I don't know.

Hassan ibn Thabit: The Prophet's Poet

When the Prophet commissioned, there was a mixtape made against the prophet. I don't know if you know what mixtapes are. But there was a, excuse me, there was a record made against him by the people of Mecca.

So he called Zayd and Muthabit and other people and said, get, amass our poets. So everyone wrote some poetry. It really wasn't that good.

Quality control, man. And then they had like a meeting amongst, you know, the managers, Omar and Abu Bakr and others. You know, this poetry is not going to cut it.

Let's get Hassan. And you know, the prophet had a non-Muslim poet, by the way. So he brought Hassan ibn Thabit to the gathering.

Hassan is the poet of the prophet, official poet. And Hassan, watch this. He comes into the boardroom, right?

And he sticks out his, remember Michael Jordan, how he used to stick out his tongue? Hassan starts to stick his tongue out.

And he's like, I'm going to get him. I mean, literally in Arabic, it's very emotional. You feel like Hassan is like, what? He's like, I'm going to get him.

I will tear them like leather is torn by a knife. The prophet didn't tell him, oh, astaghfirullah. The prophet told him, do it.

And Jibreel will help you write it. So we should not confuse success in dunya and excellence in the corporate world and trying to be an example for others in your role with arrogance.

The Power of "I Can" vs "I Can't"

Number two, the prophet inspired us to be people who are inspired. You look at the early generation of Muslims, they didn't ask, I can't, I can't. They said, I can. Yes, we believe.

Yes, we can, 2008. But now, many times when we come to approach a creative idea, what one modern western sociologist called the problem of the Muslim conscious. He said, the problem of the Muslim conscious is that because of certain factors that have taken place historically, recently in the Muslim world, the creative impulse of Islam has been dampened.

So that the Muslim will constantly say to himself, I can't, I can't, I can't. And in some societies, if you're a woman, it's a double can't. Unfortunately, unfortunately.

Well, the prophet inspired people. And let me give you a few examples as we finish.

Creativity in Islamic History

Creativity. Imam Al-Shafi'i rahimahullah. In his lifetime, there was the philosophy of Islamic law that was taught orally. Imam Al-Shafi'i said, you know what I want to do? I want to codify this in a book. So he wrote a Risalah.

Risalah was preserved by this creative effort of Al-Shafi'i. But it went beyond that. Even serving society.

The Guide Dogs for the Blind

The Muslims in Baghdad in the 7th, 8th century CE encountered a very difficult problem. That was that there were a lot of blind people in the city. So the ulama, they decided, you know, Baghdad is a dangerous place.

You could fall in the Tigris, the Euphrates. You know, it's not a place to be walking around if you're blind. So they decided to employ a means of finding something that could help the blind.

So they started to look. And actually this would make a great children's book. They started to look at different animals.

And the discussion is hilarious. Like a chicken, it won't work because a chicken is dumb. A chicken might take him into the ocean or something.

Elephant, for obvious reasons, can't store it. Hey, I'm home. Watch out for the elephant.

Snakes, of course. So they settled on a dog. The inventors of the seeing-eye dog were not the Germans, were the Muslims.

And even though they had very strong fiqh opinions about the cleanliness of a dog, they allowed those to be pushed to the curb in order to see that people in society lived a dignified existence, even if they were blind. So they invented what they called a Kalbul Ra'i, which means a seeing-eye dog. The dog that sees for you.

The Maliki Doctor and Music Therapy

The Malikis, we are extremely strict about music. Right? It ain't no Sami Yusuf. Ain't no Maher Zain.

It is nothing. Right? I don't really go that way. I'm kind of a washy, washy Maliki.

But in general, in this 8th century in West Africa, there was an incredible Maliki jurist who was also a medical professional. He was a doctor by trade. So he lived in Qayrawin, Qayrawan.

And he discovered that poor people don't have access to medicine. Because in those days it was like iron and heavy instruments. You know, use like a caravan to bring them somewhere.

So listen to what he wrote. And actually this is in a handwritten book. It's not published yet.

He said, I wish I could powderize medicine. I wish there's a way I could like turn medicine into small powder and put it in things people could carry in their pockets. This guy's talking about tablets, man.

And he said, I just don't know how to do it. I can imagine it. But I don't know how to make it.

So what he started to do was actually treat the poor people, the Bedouins, the Berbers and people like that. He actually devoted his life to treating them. Because to teach is to learn twice.

Any great teacher, the greatest teachers are those who when they teach, they learn. So he's an absolute genius.

And then he started to talk about something he called a Dukht.

Dukht means stress. People have stress. He's like, I don't know what it is.

People get like 40 years old. They have too much work. And they start to have problems.

They get headaches and pains in their bodies. And he didn't know what high blood pressure was. As a Moroccan jurist, he's a little bit limited when it comes to medicine.

But what he wrote about is actually unbelievable. He said, I noticed that music relaxed them. So he created a therapy using music.

He actually developed, he had like a clinic where he used music to treat people, to calm them down. And he was a Faqih. So he'd go, what about Salah? What about Dhikr, man? That'll calm them down.

He'd look, man, I'm a scholar. Just step off me, dude. Not everyone is at that station of life where they have it like that.

But what's more interesting is in our legal text as Malikis, you'll not find one scholar who censored him for this. Not one. Why? Why? Inspired by God, inspired by the Prophet, inspired by revelation, brings good to people.

Even a Faqih, scholar of Fiqh, he's a doctor. And he's like, medicine? I wish I could put it like this, but I'll use music. And he had a whole theory about it that he wrote about how it helped him, right? Still it's in makhtoub form, in what's called handwritten form.

Engaging Religion for Inspiration

So as I speak to you now, where do we begin? Number one is as individuals, we should engage our religion, not simply to engage it as some kind of historical artifact in a museum. This is, I think, the problem sometimes. And that's why I say contemporary scholarship is more important to us than classical scholarship.

Because classical scholarship spoke to an era. Contemporary scholarship allows you to contextualize religion in your context, in your era.

So, for that reason, your approach and my approach towards education should be to seek inspiration. To seek what will help us accomplish some of these universals we find in the Quran. The universal of being good.

The universal of being equitable. The universal of being just.

The Balance of the Sahaba

How just were the sahaba? And I'm gonna call myself out on this. One of the students of the sahaba said, they were never out of shape. He said, I never saw a sahabi who was out of shape. Physically out of shape.

So I worked out today, I'm okay then. Umar ibn Khattab one time he saw a fat man. And he said to him (مَا هَذَا يَا رَجُلُ - mā hāḏā yā rajulu) ? What's that? He said (بَرَكَةٌ مِنَ اللَّهِ - barakatun mina Allāhi) It's barakah. Umar said it's (عَذَابٌ - 'aḏāb) (punishment). What? He said, you're not balanced.

You lost that balance.

Learning from the Past to Inspire the Future

So, inspired lives lead to inspired gifts to humanity. And I believe as Muslims, we have to re-approach our curriculum. Not simply to learn about the past for the sake of the past. But to learn about the past to be inspired for the future. When women come to me and say, you know, the imam in America, at least some imams won't even speak to us, they won't teach us.

I said, subhanAllah, read the examples of the early Muslim women. The greatest scholar of Sahih Bukhari in the 10th century of the Muslim world was Fatima from Herat, Afghanistan. So, by going back to that history, pre-colonialism also.

Because colonialism led to some reactions in the Muslim world that made us kind of extremely strict. This is not our discussion here. But pre-colonialism, you'll find inspired people.

Inspired by revelation. May Allah make us inspired, inshaAllah, with our Prophet ﷺ.

Closing Remarks

It was an honor to be here with each and every one of you. A little bit tired, forgive me. Because actually I recorded 26 episodes of Reflections in 5 days. Right, so it was like a marathon. I feel like Usain Bolt or something.

Then, yesterday we had at KGPA, Alhamdulillah, and then today. So, I'm like, slowly, you know, my trip in Malaysia is coming to a close. I'm going to take a few days and relax.

But it is an honor to be with you and I encourage you to stay inspired.

The Importance of Media

Do not undervalue the importance of media. What is the first thing the Prophet did in Mecca when Allah ordered him to proclaim his message? Where did he go? He went to Mount what? Mount Safa. Because that

was the CNN of his day.

That was his BBC. That was the best means of proclaiming a message. We learned that from the seerah.

See how the past can be used to inspire for the future. So, when a Muslim tells me, Astaghfirullah man, TV Alhijrah, they use digital HD man. Astaghfirullah Azeem, this western influence.

I said, brother, what are you talking about man? Where did you get this from?

Inspiring the Next Generation

Or maybe they say, why does your magazine have such nice pictures and even the women look nice? What do you want the women to look like? Not nice? And then my daughter, who as a young Muslim girl has to struggle with dressing like a Muslim woman. Don't you think if she sees Wardina or some other, you know, iconic Muslim woman figure, don't you think that's gonna help her aspire to be a better Muslim woman? My daughter wore hijab when my wife brought around her friends who wore hijab. My daughter didn't wear hijab because she said, my father's tuan guru and he told me if I don't wear hijab, he's gonna be mad at me.

La, I never said that to my daughter. It's her choice. But when she mixed with other people who inspired her, ding.

So now what about the magazines that you publish, pictures of beautiful Muslim women, regal Muslim women in hijab or even women who are not hijabis but are successful professional women. Don't you think that's gonna inspire a generation of young Malaysian girls? Instead of looking at Beyonce, they got Wardina. And that's why you have to understand your role here is extremely crucial.

Right? Because media creates social rhetoric. And social rhetoric creates inspiration.

Final Du'a

So may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala bless you and your efforts and I appreciate the datos for allowing me to come here. Alhamdulillah. Shabba khair to everyone. Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh.