Morality in Islam

But the idea is, it is known to be an STD, a sexually transmitted disease. And we can see how it is publicized nowadays. For example, where I come from in California, there is a city, San Gabriel Valley, they call it.

It is the valley of pornography where X-rated movies are made and the average is 10,000 movies a year are made. 10,000 movies a year that glorify pornography. Now remember, like we said earlier, there is nothing with sex per se in Islam.

However, what Islam dislikes and what Islam abhors is the way sex is commercialized. The way sex is limited to be an animalistic act only. And that is why the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam said, you earn a Sadaqah by satisfying your own personal sexual passion.

So it is not sex that Islam is against, it is the immorality, the wickedness that is associated with sex. And many times it gets to be very sad. It is not only when you have got the consent of the two adults or whoever it is that is engaged in it, but when sex becomes a means of transaction.

You all know about UNICEF and what they have done in West Africa. The workers that work for UNICEF, the United Nations mission that is supposed to be helping the children of West Africa, the workers would hold on to their food. And they would say, if you want food, then what do you have to do? You have got to give us some sexual favors.

And you also see how sex is used in wars, where to deal with the enemy, to demolish the spirit of the other party, constantly women are raped. It is literally used as a weapon to destroy the spirit and degrade and dehumanize and humiliate the other party. You look more into it, Subhanallah, and you see even more wicked consequences.

Societal Impact of Immorality

For example, in Uganda, I said this briefly the other day, but what happens is you have a young boy or a young girl that was living with their parents. One of their parents becomes infected with HIV AIDS. Then they can no longer work.

So now these little children will have to leave the school and support their family. Another uncle or aunt dies, and then they have the children of the other uncle or aunt coming in and moving with them. They are so poor, and now they are becoming even poorer.

Or look at it the other way. You have a teacher that contracts HIV AIDS. He can no longer come to school. So a class of 50 students does not have a teacher anymore. So now the teachers are not coming to school. The students are not finding anyone to help them in their schooling.

So now schools are closing down because of such an action. But please remember, it is not the sex part that Islam abhors or Islam is against. It is the way it has been practiced.

And you can see again the way it is being publicized, be it in the form of pornography, be it seen, be it in the form of pictures, be it whatever it is, it has gotten so low and it has gotten so wicked, it is

unbelievable.

I was listening the other day, and they caught or they arrested this big huge ring, not of any kind of pornography, but they were involved in children pornography. And now people are asking, is it the constitutional right of people whether they want to practice something like this or they do not? Simply because of this.

Individual vs. Societal Rights

See, in the West, what happens is that there is so much that is given as a right to the individual at the expense of the society. As an individual, you have got so much right, but your rights are affecting the overall moral caliber of the society. Now in Islam, it does both.

It respects your right as an individual, but not at the expense of the moral aspect of the overall society. So drinking in your house is one thing, but being drunk in public is something else.

What happens is, and this is a very interesting point, Islam wants enormities, major, big, huge acts of wickedness to remain as such in the eyes of the public.

And that is why the Prophet peace be upon him said, if you are guilty of something, do not come and publicize it. It is a form of hypocrisy by the way. It is a form of hypocrisy, no argument there.

However, this form of hypocrisy is a lesser evil than the society losing its respect or the way it feels about enormities.

For example, you have got, nowadays it has been happening all over the U.S. You know what happened with Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky. Now the argument is used at school.

You know, when scientists, sociologists, they go around in high schools, they are asking questions, you know, they want to see the average age of a boy and a girl being sexually active, and they ask, what do you do? And they all refer to Bill Clinton as, you know, doing what he has done. And the argument that is used is, if the President can do it, then I can do it.

Now what happens is, let's say if the Imam or the Sheikh or the Scholar is guilty of something, people will say, oh, the Scholar is guilty of this? The Imam has done this? The Sheikh has done this? I must not be bad at all.

Because if these people are doing it, then I must not be the terrible person that I thought to be. So what happens is, for enormities to stay as enormities, they must not be publicized. And that is how society keeps itself on a check of morality.

Because again, if you say, well, this person has done so, this person has done so, what happens is that we become very desensitized. We become very numb. We become very cold towards it.

For example, nowadays, and it's funny because the way people do it is usually they use very fancy words to do that. If it is known that people cheat on their wives, it just happens so many times, oh, he's cheating,

he's cheating, he's cheating. Then gradually what happens is that it becomes expected.

It's no longer a surprise to most people. Why is this? Because people became very desensitized by it.

The Standard for Believers

And that is why the Prophet (صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ) tells us about our measurement, a measurement or a standard, a reference point that we can use to see whether we are faithful or not.

He said, whoever sees منكر، منکر is immorality. It could be in the form of injustice, in the form of wickedness, in the form of whatever it is. He said, whoever sees immorality, they should do something about it.

They should either eradicate it with their hands, they should either speak against it, and if they're not able to either eradicate nor are they able to speak against it because of their circumstances, what do they do? Nothing? No. He said they should at least denounce it with their heart.

When was the last time you passed by a wine shop and you denounced it? Almost all of us, we have seen a wine shop. Now when was the last time you saw a wine shop and you just became so irritated by that because of what you know alcohol is doing to people?

But the idea is, why do you think that is happening? You pass by it every day. You see it's a wine shop. You see people standing in line by it. Then what happens? You get used to it. That is the nature of man. If you, what happens is that when you are constantly bombarded with it every day, every day, every day, you tend to accept it.

Or it no longer has the effects on you than it did before. And you've seen that. People usually know this.

See they don't give you an enormity all at once. Rather it is done very gradually. You know you can see it with TV. It does not start right away. But rather they wean you into it like they wean a baby. Little by little, gradually here and there, so that you become at least if you are not fully accepting it, at that point you become a complacent with it.

You know it no longer bothers you. And that is why Islam says that it is not enough that you only be a moral person, but you should also be an advocate of morality and you should stand in front of immorality. Be proactive and do not be passive.

You cannot say it's wrong and then do not do anything about it.

Community Destruction Through Immorality

So the Prophet shallallahu alaihi wasallam will speak about communities and how they are going to lose, how communities are destroyed as a result of this kind of immorality. Like for example the Prophet shallallahu alaihi wasallam said that the destruction of the children of Israel started with what? He said that it started with immorality.

You know the relationship between men and women. And in Islam we believe that there should be a gap between men and women. There should be a distance, an emotional distance as well as a physical distance.

Not that we are afraid of one another, it is just the nature of men and women, where women are attracted to men and men are attracted to women. And Islam is a very pragmatic, it is a very practical religion. It does not wait for things to happen and then advocate, you know, for the illness to take place and then prescribe the medicine.

Better than waiting for the illness to take place is that you try to avoid it before it takes place and that is why Islam advocates what it does advocate.

Other Forms of Immorality

But immorality is not only in the form of lust and the desire. The Prophet shallallahu alaihi wasallam goes on speaking of the consequences of immorality and then he said, in the same hadith, in the same prophetic saying, he said, and then whenever people are not honest in their measurements when they are doing their plan and action, Allah is going to give the domination, Allah is going to make their enemies prosperous and their enemies are going to get a hold of what these people possess.

Let me say this one more time. So that whenever people are not honest in their transaction, in any form it comes, be it in the form of money, when you are selling, when you are buying, because it is immoral. You should be as honest as possible when you are selling or buying or there is any transaction that is taking place.

He said whenever people become guilty of this, what happens is that, and people know about it, they all become complacent to this immorality that is going on. They don't do anything about it, it is their enemies that are going to be prosperous at their expense. He said, they will take some of what these people possess, they could have been enjoying it.

It could come in the form of oil, it could come in the form of cheap labor, it could come in the form of intellect, where instead of you spending it on your own place, your own country, it is going somewhere else.

But here the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam is speaking of a different kind of morality that people usually don't pay attention to. When we usually speak of immorality, it has to do with our behavior towards the other sex.

But that's not where it ends. Islam takes it way beyond this point, my brothers and sisters.

Injustice and Leadership

And then also the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam speaks of injustice. And he said whenever people rule by other than what Allah has revealed, then he said that the people who are going to lead will be

amongst the most oppressive. They are going to be amongst the tyrant and they are going to torture the people that they rule.

Again simply the question now or the point is this. You see immorality, you have an obligation towards it, my brothers and sisters.

The Mission of the Prophet

And Islam and Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam stands for morality. You know it is so beautiful the way the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam spoke and advocated for Islam and he said:

Muwatta Malik, Hadith 1614

I was sent by Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala to complete the perfection of good character or the perfection of good manner or the perfection of morality.

He is summing his mission. He said my mission is about spreading morality in all aspects. And again we said the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam whenever he speaks, he speaks in these general terms so that any act of goodness will be considered to be a religious act.

No matter how secular it may be, no matter how personal it may be, the idea is about morality. So it is not enough that you only be moral but make sure that we are advocates of morality.

Hidden Immoralities in Community

Let me tell you about some of the immoralities that are out there in the community but people are not aware. And remember we are not talking about the obvious because they say that which can easily be seen by the eye is easily usually is easily missed. It is not seen. It is so close yet it is so far.

You know we mentioned some of it. Be it with the issue of divorcees. Be it with the issue of honor killing. And again it really does not matter who is guilty. It really does not matter whether these people are Muslims or non-Muslims. It does not matter.

When you see wrong in your community, unless you do something about it, it is going to creep into your own community. You cannot say these are the problems of the non-Muslims, these are the problems of this party or this part of the nation. That is not Islamically acceptable.

Because it does not concern you, it does not mean that it should not be corrected. Rather, whenever you see wrong, you've got a moral and an ethical obligation with regard to that.

We said about the divorcees and how they are dehumanized. About the widows again and how they are unwanted. Of AIDS patients and how they are outcasted by the community. About the reverts that do not necessarily sometimes receive the same amount of respect as other people do.

About prisoners that are being put wrongly and unjustly for political gain and the community is not doing anything about it. What about them? Who is speaking on their behalf? Today it is him or it is her but then what happens tomorrow when it is your turn or her turn? Who is going to speak on your behalf?

And that is again why we say morality is not just you being moral or you being good. You must be an advocate of that goodness. You must embark that mission my brothers and sisters.

You know maybe we have repeated this so many times but we said that as a Muslim, with pride it means that you are a holder of right. Part of the obligation that you have as a holder of right is that you see into it that you contribute positively to humanity.

And there is nothing better, absolutely nothing better than help the area around you wherever you may be in making sure that you are a strong advocate of justice and you are a strong advocate of morality.

Prophetic Advice

And the Prophet shallallahu alaihi wa sallam would say:

(Jami' at-Tirmidhi, Hadith 1987)

Be conscious of Allah wherever you may be. There is not nothing. You are traveling, you are at home, what have you.

For morality is not what we do in public. Morality and ethics is what we do when no one else is looking.

And if you are ever guilty of doing something bad then make sure that you rectify for it by doing something that is good. And this, the Prophet shallallahu alaihi wa sallam said, will wipe it away.

So as a Muslim you are always engaged constantly in the concept of (إصلاح), rectifying. Be it a mistake that you yourself is guilty of or be it the mistakes of other people that are guilty of and that is the concept of (إصلاح)

And then finally he said:

And then he said that whenever you deal with people make sure that you have got the best of manners when you are engaged with this.

This was the advice of the Prophet shallallahu alaihi wa sallam. This is the advice that I give to myself and this is the advice that I give to my brothers and sisters.

Understanding Fahisha and Munkar

منكر ، along with فاحشة ، for example he talks about salat.

What is the difference between فاحشة and منكر? It is a beautiful question. You know, Arabic is an extremely, extremely rich language. It is so rich, Arabic is so rich that we do not have synonyms in Arabic.

Can you believe this? The language is so rich that there are no synonyms. Not two words mean the same thing. That is a very, very rich language.

Let me say this one more time. No two words in Arabic mean the same thing. They may be talking about the same thing, but they never mean the same thing.

Every single word has an additional meaning that the other word does not have. So generally speaking, فاحشة and منكر، they talk about the same thing. It is about immorality, it is about wrong, it is about injustice.

But فاحشة means the following. When you say that something is فاحشة ، meaning that it is either publicly, meaning that it is taking place publicly, it is public immorality versus منكر being an isolated immorality. One is publicized and the other one is private.

So Allah says the prayers, the five daily prayers that you do, they are supposed to purify you from being guilty, whether it be in public or being guilty, whether you be in private. And that is the difference between فاحشة and منكر when they are used in that sense.

And amazingly also, whenever Islam speaks of these rituals that we perform, it does not praise it because the salah itself. Salah is not praised because of it being salah, but rather it is praised because of the expected and potential consequences of salah.

So he said be engaged in salah for salah will help you in cleaning yourself from both public and private wickedness or immorality.

And that is why Abdullah ibn Mas'ud used to say:

If your salah does not help you to abstain from منكر and فاحشة ، from public and private mistakes, wrongdoings, he said that it only takes you away from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

Now this is not to say that we expect perfection, but the idea is there has got to be consequences for your good deeds. If your good deeds, you do them in action, but they become only very mechanical, they become only ritualistic, you're only bothered about the goodness of the appearance of your ritual, then at

that point Abdullah ibn Mas'ud is making the statement that it is only taking you away from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

So now the idea is any act of ritual in Islam must have a what? It must have a moral consequence to it, making you constantly a better person.

Zakah, soften your heart. Siyam, makes you restrain your lust and your desires. Again with the issue of salah, like we said, it helps you abstain from, you know, these acts of wickedness and Allah knows best.

Q&A Session

Question about clapping in congregation:

Brother: Assalamu alaikum, I'm Muhammad Faddu Rahman Abdullah. I've seen so many times in the congregation wherever there is a moment of praiseworthy, people do clap. I would like to know whether it is permissible in Islam or if it is not, then how do we celebrate these moments?

Answer: Give him a big hand please. Jazakallah khair. Now people have different ways of expressing appreciation to what they hear or to what they see. And depending on the culture that they belong to, so long that what they do does not go against the teachings of Islam, it is accepted.

For example, some people use to praise Allah, they say Takbir. If you go into Egypt for example, and you've been to Egypt, every time someone does something, you know, everyone screams, you know, and it is a beautiful way of rejoicing.

But in his fatwa, Sheikh bin Uthaymeen, may Allah bless his soul, he passed away, he said that there was nothing wrong with clapping if that is what people are used to in showing their appreciation. Jazakallah khair.

Question about marriage in Islam:

Brother: Assalamu alaikum, my name is Yogananda. The soul expresses thanks to Allah, so the soul wants to ask the one question, that is, the concept of the marriage at the point of view of Allah and at the point of religious point of view and the philosophical point of view in Islam, what it is?

Answer: Very quickly, Islam sees marriage as a contract, meaning that there is a proposal in the contract, there is an acceptance of the proposal in the contract, in the presence of witnesses with a mahr that is given, once that takes place, then the man and the woman are seen as a husband and a wife.

However, Islam makes the following point, and that is, the whole concept of marriage is made so simple in Islam. If two people want to be together, then Islam says, be together. And what the marriage license does, or when they come to the Imam, what that does, is that it adds an ethical value to the relationship. And that is how marriage is different, you know, when people have relationships.

There is an ethical value, because the marriage license is nothing but a documentation of the event, that so and so person on so and so date in the presence of so and so person, given the dowry of this, have

agreed to get married. It is really documenting the event, and that is it.

However, it is not in the legal value that that marriage license is important, rather it is in the ethical value that marriage is important.

For example, when a husband is marrying a woman, what do they say? They say that I am marrying you according to the Book of Allah, and according to the Sunnah of Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam.

Now, I have attended some non-Muslim weddings in the States. I really don't know what people say here in India, but people in the States, what they do is that they exchange vows.

What they say is, I promise to love, to honor, to nourish, to respect this person until death do us apart. Undoubtedly, these are beautiful words. You know, when you give the person your assurances, I promise to love you, to honor you, to respect you, to nourish you, and what have you, these are beautiful words.

However, the belief in Islam is this, when you are saying that I am making Allah my witness, that I will take care of this woman. It is not what we do in public that matters most, but what happens when we are by ourselves alone.

So you tell the woman, don't worry, I made Allah my witness that I will take care of you. And the woman is saying back, don't worry, I am making Allah my witness that I will take care of you. So this way, there is that added ethical element into the whole concept of marriage.

Also in Islam, it is not enough that the technicality of marriage are followed and that's the end of it, where we have this and we have that. It just makes it legal, it does not necessarily make it moral, it does not necessarily make it happy, and that is why I said earlier, marriage in Islam is not about two people getting married to be happy, it is about two people getting married to make each other happy. And that's a very important point to make.

So Islam speaks of marriage and he said that the point of marriage are two things. He said that, He said that Allah has prescribed, it is mentioned in Surah Ar-Rum, but what happens is Allah speaks and says, Of his signs is that he has created you of dust. And then the following verse said, And of his signs is that he has created maids for you. And then the third verse says, the following verse says, And of his signs is the creation of the heavens and the earth.

Now remember this, the sign of marriage is mentioned before the sign of the creation of the heavens and the earth. That Allah is telling us, this is indeed a very important matter.

Allah says in the Quran:

O ye who believe, fulfill your vows, fulfill your pledges. If you made a promise, make sure that you carry it on. And the best vow that we made, the best pledge that we made is our pledge with Allah subhanahu

wa ta'ala that we worship none but Allah. And the second most important one is the contract of marriage.

Question about Islam from a non-Muslim:

Brother: I am right-hander, non-Muslim. I want to ask a question that, what is Islam?

Answer: To begin with, thank you for coming and we loved having you here with us. We do appreciate you being here with us today. Today and we know that it took a lot of courage, so thank you for spending some of your day with us here today.

Islam is derived from the root verb (سَلِم or أَسْلَمَ) which means three things.

To be in the state of (سلام) means that you be in the state of peace. And we said that there are three aspects to this peace. Peace with your creator, peace with yourself and peace with the creation of God.

Also Islam means to surrender or to submit. And at that point we are talking about surrendering and submitting to the will of God. So you are acquiring peace and contentment by surrendering your will to the will of God subhanahu wa ta'ala.

Also the word Islam could be, because Arabic is a Semitic language and it revolves around root verbs. One of it is (سلم), which means that which is in the state of wholeness or that which is in the state of completeness.

So when I greet a Muslim brother or a Muslim sister, I say (السَّلامُ عَلَيْكُمْ). May you be in the state of wholeness, the state of completeness, where there is no deficiency in your life, in your health, psychologically or emotionally.

And a person that adheres to the religion or to the teachings of this religion is called a Muslim. I hope I answered your question.

Question about mosque loan:

Brother: Assalaamu Alaikum. I am Dr. Salahuddin. First of all I would like to acknowledge, appreciate the wonderful motivation speech made by brother Yasir Fazah. I wanted to just find out from brother Yasir, if the loan has been taken for construction of a mosque from a bank, is it permissible?

Answer: Yes, I did mention that as part of my speech. You did hear me correctly. Unfortunately that is what has happened. It was a building that was purchased and later on the people wanted to convert it to a masjid. But initially it was just so when I got there, the loan was already taken and the building was already purchased.

And probably the reason why the brother is asking is that taking a loan from a bank means interest and that is we wanted to clear the building of any interest as soon as possible. And Alhamdulillah once we came in, within exactly 45 days the loan was paid back to the masjid. Alhamdulillah.

Closing

We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to make us among those who hear the speech and follow the best of it. May Allah guide us all to the straight path and make us advocates of morality and justice in our communities.