Be A Light In The World

Be A Light In The World

By Imam Zaid Shakir

Opening: Divine Guidance

There is no one to guide, there is no one to lead astray.

And the one Allah leads astray, there is no one to guide. Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar Kabira.

Allah Has Made Us Lights

Allah has guided us to this way, brothers and sisters. And He's made us lights, as we recently mentioned. He's made us lights to guide others.

Unfortunately, many sincere Muslims, who pray and fast, feel they have nothing to offer to the wider society. Or, a more optimistic view, they have something to offer, but there is no one who is willing to accept it. After all, people look at Muslims, or so some people rationalize as violent people, as barbaric people, as backward people, as people who are obscurantist in their view of things.

The Power of Light Over Rationalization

So, who wants to listen to me? Perhaps, there are many who would not be guided by your words. But you might find the light you possess to be irresistible. In other words, sometimes guidance or error are not related to rational processes.

As Imam Ghazali mentioned, faith is a light that Allah cast into the heart of the believer. And this was after a lifetime spent rationalizing and trying to understand at an intellectual level, various proofs for God or various arguments for this or that aspect associated with the Divine. Then concluding, it's all about the light that we have, brothers and sisters.

Islam's Superior Ideas on Wealth Distribution

It's not necessarily about a superior idea. Islam has many superior ideas. Islam is amazing.

We recently read the report of Oxfam that 62 individuals control more wealth than half of humanity. The top 62 wealthy individuals control more wealth than the bottom half of humanity. What does Islam say about that?

Islam says many things about that.

And we might think as Muslims we're too weak or too poor to distribute enough wealth amongst people to even that divide. No, it's not about how much wealth we have, brothers and sisters. It's about how much light we have.

The Three Sources of Light

It's about how much light. We mentioned recently in another video that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in the Quran,

He states

- Allah is the light of the heavens and the earth. And He described His messenger.

- There has come to you from Allah a light. Referring to the messenger as Imam Tabari mentioned. He means by the light Muhammad by which Allah illuminated the truth.

And He describes the Quran. So Allah describes Himself as light. And of course that's an incomparable light. And He describes His prophet as light. And He described His scripture as light.

Magnifying the Prophet

- Those who believe in Him, the prophet, and they magnify Him. But then He says, They magnify Him. Ask yourself, brothers and sisters.

And we've left Rabi' al-Awwal and the time of mentioning the virtue of the prophet. Some people celebrating his coming into the world. Others commemorating. Others ignoring. Seeing that of no special significance to be commemorated or celebrated.

Whatever the case may be, ask yourself a simple question. Do you magnify the prophet? Do you extol his greatness? Do you hold him to be great? Great enough to tell people about him? Great enough to follow his example? Great enough to want to walk in his footsteps? Great enough to want to defend him against the lies and slanders and distortions directed at him?

The Best Defense of the Prophet

And not defending him. Some people might say, well I'm not a writer, I'm not a scholar. No, the best defense is to live as he lived.

The best defense is to love as he loved. The best defense is to show the mercy that he showed. The best defense is to approach children the way he approached children. The way he approached al-Hasan and al-Hussain. And the other children from the Sahaba. The best defense is to make sure your household is like his household.

And not just some mentioning a litany of his virtues. He mended his own clothes. He repaired his own sandals. He swept his own room out. Are we repairing our own clothes or the domestic equivalent? Are we mending our own sandals? Are we sweeping our own room? Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam.

The best defense is to have the patience he had. To have the forbearance he had. To have, to strive to have, we'll never attain it, but to strive to have the strength of the connection with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala that he has. That's the best defense of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam.

Creating a Qualitative Change in the World

Because if we do those things as a community, and there are millions of us in this country, and over a billion worldwide, there'll be a qualitative change in the nature of this world. There'll be a qualitative change in the nature of this world. You're an employer. Treat your employees the way he treated his servants. The equivalent of his employees, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. La ilaha illallah.

That's the best defense.

- And help him. In the way that we just mentioned. If we magnify him, we will help him. We will defend his honor. We will stand up for his honor. We will repulse and respond to the slanders and distortions against him, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam.

But the point...

- And they follow the light that was revealed to them. That light is the Qur'an. That light is the Qur'an.

Knowledge as Light

And then the knowledge of the religion that comes from those three lights, from the light of Allah, that shines through his messenger, and shines through the Qur'an, which contains his eternal speech. What is that knowledge called?

When Imam al-Shafi'i, rahimahullah, was complaining of his memory becoming dim. And he wrote a couple of couplets:

He complained to Waqi', his teacher, my memory is getting a little dim. He had to read something twice instead of once to memorize it. If only we could have that problem. He instructed me to leave off all sinning. And he thought and thought and thought, and you know what his sin was? He remembered he was walking in the marketplace, he saw a lady's heel, the heel of her foot from under the bottom of her dress. And he repented from that, and his memory came back to strength.

But the point here, he instructed me that knowledge is a light. The light of Allah that he doesn't give to a sinner. Knowledge is light. The Quran is light. The Prophet is light.

We Are All Meant to Be Lights

And brothers and sisters, all of us are meant to be lights. All of us are meant to be lights. We are the ones who illuminate the darkness. We are the ones through following those lights, provide lights for humanity. We are the ones and so we should be praying that Allah makes us light as the Prophet taught us.

When he made a prayer, it's a prayer he's making for himself, but he's also making it to instruct his ummah. And so he prayed:

(Sahih Bukhari 6316)

- O Allah, put a light in my heart. And we should all pray for that.

- And in my vision, put light in my vision.

- And put light in my hearing.

- Light to my right.

- And light to my left.

- And light before me.

- And light behind me.

- And light above me.

- And light beneath me.

- O Allah, make me a light.

So we should be praying that Allah makes us a light. And makes light in our heart, in our hearing, in our seeing, in our speech, to our right, our left, before us, behind us, above us, beneath us. So that we can be guides, brothers and sisters.

Light, Not Wealth, Addresses Inequality

So as I said, it's not about how much wealth we possess in terms of making a contribution to address these gross inequalities of wealth. It's about how much light we possess so we can direct people to start thinking in different ways. This situation is a direct result of people thinking in certain ways about wealth. It's a direct result. It's a direct result of people being distanced from the teachings of the prophets.

Be that, at the time of Christ, who the Christians refer back to, being distanced from the teachings of Christ, who forbade usury. The Catholic workers' movement, started by Dorothy Day, the whole movement was built on taking seriously the prohibition of usury because this mid-20th century movement in the United States saw that most of the economic problems in this society were rooted in usury.

The Problem of Modern Charity

Religious teachings forbade that. Religious teachings encouraged charity. And you say, well, those billionaires are charitable. Bill Gates gives away $2 billion a year. Okay, if we accept that, the reports that he has $60 billion, and a lot of that is invested in these hedge funds, and say he's getting a 10% return, that's $6 billion, and he gave away $2 billion, he's still profiting $4 billion. Who is the charity in that? Who is the charity in that?

It's a direct result of people being distanced from the teaching of God. So we have to instruct people, not give your wealth away, that might address the problem for a day or two. But we want a long-term resolution. Don't look at the wealth as your wealth.

Wealth Belongs to Allah

So what does Allah tell us? Allah tells us

- Give them from the wealth of Allah that He's given you. This is God's wealth, it's not your wealth. You didn't bring it into the world with you, and you're not going to take it out of the world with you.

And you know that. So it was a result of people being oriented and moved by Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to give the wealth in your hand as a trust. It's Allah's wealth. It is not your wealth. You're a trustee. You're a trustee of the wealth.

The Rights of the Poor

And being a trustee, you have to honor the rights and responsibilities that come with the trusteeship. And amongst the greatest of those rights, those who have less wealth than those 62 individuals, those almost 4 billion people.

- In their wealth is a well-defined right for the beggar and the deprived. That's a right in the wealth that they're custodians of.

Because Allah, they say, render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's in the Bible, right? And render unto God that which is God. Islam says, Caesar and what Caesar possesses belongs to God. So at the end of the day, it's all service to God. That's all from Caesar. And from those under the authority of Caesar. And for Caesar's wealth, and the modern day equivalents

- There's a well-defined right.

- Those who ask and those whose circumstances prevent them from even asking. They shouldn't have to ask, in other words. Because the right they have is recognized.

Offering the World a Different Way of Seeing Reality

That's what we offer the world, brothers and sisters. That's what we offer the world, a different way of seeing reality. But it starts with us seeing reality differently. It starts with us even recognizing the nature of reality. And that there is no reality without Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. There is no reality without God.

That's the first, most fundamental concept, idea associated with understanding reality. It's tawheed

- There is no god but Allah. And when we acknowledge that, when we recognize that, we understand that the wealth in reality is Allah's wealth. The rights that the poor people have were rights established by Almighty God. The responsibilities that the wealthy have are rights established by Almighty God. Looking at things differently.

Shaytan Removes Allah from the Equation

And what shaytan is trying to do is to remove Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala from the equation. And when we remove Allah from the equation, then we're left with base human behavioral patterns. Evil is not a function of a political system. We have to understand that. Economic justice is not a function of a political system.

The Failure of Political Systems

Right, the capitalists, as the emerging bourgeoisie came to power, what did they say? We're going to create an equal distribution of wealth that the kings and the monarchs have not created. They hoard their wealth and then they pass it down. And they claim that the power, the authority, the wealth they had is a God-given right. The divine right of kings. We're going to change that. And the suffering that results, we're going to change it.

And so what do we have? We have capitalism. And there's 62 individuals. Having more wealth than the bottom half of humanity is a direct result of capitalism.

And so the communists came. And they said, we're going to be just. We're going to end the capitalist state and the associated exploitation. And what happened? They were just as corrupt. Their inequality was just as great as

under the capitalists. Look at the old Soviet Union. The communist party.

Look at communist China today. That's still their name. Look how much money the heads of the party have and the business people who are loyal to them. Look at how much money they have. And look at what the average Chinese factory worker has. And it's communist China. Just as corrupt, just as great inequalities as the capitalists. And the same is true in the old Soviet Union. It's brothers and sisters.

It's About Changing Ourselves

It's not about the system. So we'll have an Islamic state. We'll have the Islamic Republic of Iran. Look at somebody like, we won't say any names. A school teacher who became the prime minister and enriched himself and his whole family. Iranians here know who I'm talking about. Just as much corruption.

Look at the Islamic state. Look at the political oppression in the so-called Islamic state. People being killed indiscriminately. The people's wealth