The Ethical Foundation of Sharia (Islamic Law)

The Ethical Foundation of the Sharia (Islamic Law)

Introduction: Understanding the Sharia Beyond Legal Rulings

This particular series, which should endure several weeks, is called the Ethical Foundations of Shari'ah. It's actually given at MCA, maybe someone was there. Nothing's ever the same, even if you do it twice.

And so, what it's designed to show is that the Shari'ah, our Shari'ah, which we should all take great pride in, because it involves one of the greatest projects in human history, and it also involves the sum total of the divine design for human life in this world. So, we should take pride in it. So, we'll explain what we mean by the Ethical Foundation by looking at the definition of the terms.

Ethics Begin with Spirituality

So, the Ethical Foundation of Shari'ah, our ethics provides a standard for right and wrong. And as Muslims, our ethics begins with spirituality. If there's no spirituality, there's no ethics, because without spirituality, there's no God.

There's no knowledge of self, because knowledge of self isn't knowledge of this. That's part of it. And by knowing that, we can see the wisdom of Allah in creating this, by giving us hands with the ability to grasp and the ability to manipulate fine instruments, unrivaled in all of creation, and the eye, the eye itself and the miracle of the eye.

So, we can see within ourselves indications of Allah's purpose, and Allah's wisdom, and Allah's ability to create in the most perfect fashions. But knowing this, per se, will not, in and of itself, lead us to know Allah. So, it can be a means, but ultimately, knowing that inner aspects of our being, what some of our scholars call, al-jawahir al-ruhaniyah, so the spiritual jewels that we possess.

The Spiritual Jewels Within Us

And those spiritual jewels are sometimes referred to as the aql, the qalb, the nafs, the ruh. Those are the things that allow us to really know our Creator, because those are the things that transcend physicality, and our Creator transcends physicality. So, our physical nature will only take us so far in terms of really knowing Allah.

So, we can know Allah, and then we can know Allah. But we can't see Allah, so our physical eyesight will only take us so far. We can see the signs of Allah, of the power of Allah.

Look at the effects of your Lord's mercy. So, we can't see Allah, we can't see His mercy. We can see the effects of His mercy, all around us.

And that can lead us to belief, but in terms of really actualizing our belief تحقيق الإيمان ربوبية والوهية - actualizing faith, actualizing our awareness of Allah's divinity, actualizing our awareness of Allah's Lordship, that moves into a realm beyond physicality. Because we can't see Allah, we can't touch Allah. With our physical senses, we can't hear Allah, per se.

We're not Musa alayhi salam. And so our physical senses only take us so far. But through our ruh, through our nafs when it's refined, through our qalb, not this physical lump of flesh, but the subtle properties that are associated with it, through that we can actualize our knowledge of Allah. And by actualizing our knowledge of Allah, we can have an agreed upon standard of right and wrong.

Metaphysics and Universal Morality

So metaphysics, moving beyond physicality, in terms of our nature, unlocks the access to the spiritual world.

The world of the ruh, that came from Allah, not a part of Allah, but came from Allah. And unlocking that allows us to know Allah. And in knowing Allah, we can come up with an agreed upon standard of morality.

And that's an aspect of tawheed. And one of the aspects of shirk is a plurality of ethics. Do you believe something's right based on your intellect and your understanding? The next person, the next person.

The Nazis believe it's right and proper to kill off not only the Jews, but the Jews and the gypsies and the Poles and the Russians. Far more Russians died in the Second World War as a result of the Nazi atrocities than Jews. But all of these people, Hitler, they're right. I'm right to kill them. They're inferior people. They don't deserve to live if they can't survive on their own merits.

So it's very important for us. And then the next person, oh, Hitler's wrong. And the next person, well, I don't know what's right or wrong.

And so we began to, a plurality of ethical standards, this is one of the byproducts of shirk. Because people have a plurality of gods that they worship. So one person's morality is defined by money. I'll do anything to get a dollar. Whatever brings me a dollar is right. And whatever leads to my dollars being taken away is wrong.

And nations structure foreign policies on that philosophy. Another person is sex. I'll do anything to have a sexual thrill. We have pornography, bestiality, sodomy. And that defines right or wrong for that person. But metaphysics allows us to know Allah so we have a universal access to a universal standard.

Beyond Legal Rulings: The Comprehensive Nature of Sharia

It usually prospers without the statement. And we have many historical example of that. So when we associate sharia with the equivalent of constitutional law, then we distort what sharia is by emphasizing legal rulings only.

Now, let me be clear. Legal rulings are part of sharia. So we have to be clear about that. But sharia is more than just legal rulings. So these anti-sharia people, they try to present sharia as this law that's going to replace the constitution, which they don't believe in anyway. Especially when it comes to Muslims.

And these people are a bunch of hypocrites. That's why Muslims should never back down or feel inferior or be put on the defense by these ruthless hypocrites. They believe in constitution.

The Hypocrisy of Constitutional Rhetoric

What happened to the Holy Land Foundation? Their lives were ruined. They're charitable for giving charity to the same organizations that the Red Cross and the USA gives charity to in Palestine. And then they're

exonerated. So we try them again. And the second trial will bring an anonymous Israeli who's not even a U.S. citizen. It could have been a robot. It could have been the male voice from your GPS. We don't know. Who testified against them in secret.

So their Sixth Amendment rights were thrown out the window. Sixth Amendment. An accused has the right to confront and question their accuser. They had no right and the accuser wasn't even a U.S. citizen. That's the extent these hypocrites believe in the U.S. Constitution. They're hypocrites.

Human rights. Human rights. Right? Human rights. Do Palestinians have human rights? What's happening this week in the Palestinian context? We should talk about it. We've been beat down so bad. We're thirsty. We're leaving. Time to go. All the kids go. It's bedtime.

The Palestinians are making an appeal to be recognized as a non-member state in the United Nations. They have the status of the Vatican. If they're a non-member state, they become a member of the International Criminal Court in The Hague. If they're a member of the International Criminal Court in The Hague, they can prosecute Israel. Prosecute Israel for their brutal, inhumane, genocidal treatment of their people.

So what's the United States doing? They're blocking it. They're saying we're going to veto it unless you drop membership in the International Criminal Court. That's what these hypocrites are doing. So these are the people. Oh, Sharia is bad.

Historical Conflation of Sharia with the State

Pro-conflation of the Sharia with the state. How did this come about in the Muslim world? We have a Muslim state. We have to have Sharia. The two are conflated together. It was Ibn Taymiyyah. And through Ibn Taymiyyah, this is not being prejudiced. Ibn Taymiyyah was a great scholar. But it's just looking at a historical fact. Then from Ibn Taymiyyah, the Wahhabi movement. From the Wahhabi movement, 20th century reformers like Abu Ala al-Mawdudi.

So Ibn Taymiyyah, he wrote a book called As-Siyasata al-Sharia. As-Siyasata al-Sharia, or you could say divinely legislated politics. And through that prism began to conflate Sharia with the state. There were writers before him.

When Mawardi or Abu Ya'la al-Mawsudi wrote about the political structure of the Muslim state, what did they call their books? Before Ibn Taymiyyah. Called their books Al-Ahkam al-Sultaniyya. Al-Ahkam al-Sultaniyya. Rulings associated with power. With political power. Rulings associated with political power. There's no Sharia in there. As opposed to Al-Siyasata al-Sharia.

Muslims Thriving Without an Islamic State

So this conflation wasn't always there. Now we mention this for the following reason. If a Muslim cannot follow Sharia outside of an Islamic state, how did Muslims exist in China for 1400 years as a minority? Who never had political power. But they prospered generally. Especially under Yuan and Ming dynasties. And in more recent years as a community.

They weren't Muslims. They weren't true to Islam. They weren't adhering to the best of their ability to the ideals of Sharia. They were building masjids. They were maintaining regular prayers. They were slaughtering their animals according to the rules put forth by Muslim law. They were reading Quran. They were going to Hajj. They were paying their Zakat. But they never had a state. For 1400 years.

We don't have a state here. We're not living a Muslim life. There are things we're not doing. But as a minority community we're not enjoying to do them. Because those things are associated with Ahkam al-Sultaniya.

They're associated with a Muslim ruler. And not with the laity. So another conflation. So Sharia is often times conflated with the state.

The Problem of Conflating Sharia with Hudud

Another conflation is conflating Sharia with the hudud. What is the hudud? Divinely legislated punishment. The hudud. If you look at a book of fiqh. Now the fiqh books are called fiqh books. They're not called Sharia books. Al-fiqh. Al-madhab al-arba'a. It's not called Sharia. Al-madhab al-arba'a. Fiqh al-sunnah. It's not called Sharia al-sunnah. Al-fiqh al-manhaji. Al-madhab Imam al-Shafi'i. If you look at one of these compilations.

Let's say the Hashiyat ibn Abidin. Which madhab is that? Hashiyat ibn Abidin. Imam Shafi'i. No, Hanafi. Hanafi. These are long. These are pages. These are numbers. How many volumes?

How much of that deals with Hudud? This is Kitab al-Tahara. Was-Salah. Was-Siyam wal-Zakah wal-Hajj. Wal-Nikah wal-Talaq. Wal-Jihad. Wal-Buyur. Etcetera. How much of that deals with Hudud? So, punishment for adulterer. Punishment for the wine drinker. Punishment for the thief. Punishment for Hiraabah, the highway robber. How much of that? Five pages. Maybe, maybe not five. Maybe more than that. Maybe this much.

So, all of the Sharia. The ideal that this book represents. All of this becomes conflated. The problem should be obvious, I mean. All of the wisdom. All of the scholarship. All of the intellectual endeavor becomes conflated with a very small fraction. And then interpreted based on what? Based on some fools in Pakistan or Nigeria or somewhere halfway around the world. Right? That's a problem.

What Gets Lost in These Conflations

Because what gets lost? What gets lost is legal philosophy. What is the philosophy governing all of that? That gets lost. Legal scope. So, the scope of legal thinking isn't just that. It's all of that. So, that scope gets lost. Legal flexibility.

So, even in this regard, you never hear some anti-Sharia person talking about how Omar suspended the punishment for theft during the time of famine. Or if a person hasn't stolen a certain quota above a certain limit, there's no punishment. Or how the judge is encouraged to push away any punishment by any ambiguity at all that exists in the case.

So, all of the legal flexibility is lost. So, the conflation of Sharia and the state, what gets lost? Reason. In other words, this is a rigid mechanical relationship. And there's no role for reason or any intellectual input so that gradualism is lost.

The fact that people have to learn. Students of fiqh, there's some here, you read over and over that this ruling is applicable except for someone who's new in Islam. So, they don't know this. So, this is inapplicable for them. So that gradualism is lost. Pragmatism is lost. So, the practical nature of Sharia which involves wisdom, that's lost.

And the biggest thing is ethics. The understanding that this system is built on a foundation of principles whose ultimate objective is to guide our actions so that we do that which is right and avoid that which is wrong based on the standards of our Lord. Not based on our standards. This is something Muslims have always understood.

The High Fives: Five Essential Frameworks

So, we're gonna move now into some specifics related to our topic. We call these the high fives. As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullah. As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullah. We're going to continue, inshallah, with this presentation. The ethical foundation of Sharia.

Now, we reiterate and emphasize that the whole point we're making is that the Sharia system is wider than rulings. So it's part of a larger system. So this is the point we're trying to make last week in our introductory remarks. And so we're not denying that law and specifically legal rulings are an integral part of Sharia. So we're not dismissing that. But what we're saying is that these rulings, they occur in a context.

And unless we understand that context, then it's very difficult to understand the nature of the rulings. So what people here, critics of Islam and the society do, they take a ruling but they take it out of its context. And because it's taken out of its context, it's very difficult to understand and it can even lead to confusion or it can even, it can lead in some instances to repulsion.

So people are repulsed by a particular ruling that's taken out of its context. So the contextualizing of the rulings that are integral part of Sharia are based on what we're referring to as the high fives. High five. All the little kids, they know the high five. They don't want to talk to you, they say, high five. And then they start smiling and they open up.

The Five Categories

So the first are the five pillars of Islam. So we're all familiar with these and we'll come back to those. That's obviously the Shahada, the Salah, Zakat, Ramadan, fast of Ramadan and the Hajj to the pilgrimage. So this is the first of the fives. So we have five pillars in the religion.

We have five legal values and again we'll come back to these, but very quickly the five legal values being that something is either obligatory, it's highly encouraged, it's permissible, it's highly discouraged or it's forbidden. So five values and we'll talk about those in great detail.

Then we have the five universals and again we'll come back to these. Harm is to be removed. Hardship calls for facilitating ease. Custom and convention has legal weight. Affairs are judged based on their objectives, their ultimate objectives. And there's another one. But we're going to come back to this in detail.

We have the five, actually the five universals are the preservation of life, preservation of deen, religion, life, intellect, family and private property. Some say honor. Then the five legal maxims actually what I mentioned.

The Five Pillars: Foundation of Our Actions

So we start with the five pillars. The five pillars are the foundation of our actions. So when the angel Gabriel, Jibreel alayhi salam, came to the Prophet ṣallā Allāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam, he asked him about four things. He asked him fa akhbirni. If he asked about five, we could have included it in the high fives. But then there would be six fives. So he asked him about fa akhbirni anil islam.

Inform me about Islam. Or in other words, what do I have to do to be a Muslim? So someone comes, I want to know about Islam. You have to pray. Muslims, we pray, we fast, Ramadan. We do certain things. We don't eat this, we don't eat that. So what can I do?

Fa akhbirni anil iman. Inform me about faith. What do I have to believe? So Islam, the actions. Iman, the beliefs. Fa akhbirni anil ihsan. Ihsan, the state of being.

In other words, when the Prophet ṣallā Allāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam said in response, fa akhbirni anil ihsan (أَن تَعْبُدَ اللَّهَ كَأَنَّكَ تَرَاهُ فَإِن لَّمْ تَكُن تَرَاهُ فَإِنَّهُ يَرَاكَ - an taʿbuda Allāha kaʾannaka tarāhu fa-in lam takun tarāhu fa-innahu yarāk) (Sahih Muslim 8) - that you worship Allah as if you see Him and if you fail to see Him, be mindful that He observes you. In other words, this is the description of a state. I'm in a state of awareness. So ihsan is about those states that a believer should be in.

And then he said, fa akhbirni anil saa'ah. Inform me about the doomsday, the end. And again, this is, so Islam, what we have to do. Iman, what we have to believe. Ihsan, what we have to embody in terms of our internal states. As-saa'ah, what do we have to prepare for? We have to prepare for the end. We have to prepare for our death. We have to prepare for this hour.

So anyway, the five pillars, these are the foundation of our actions. So we all know the first of these is the shahada, declaration of faith, which is the action of the tongue. This is why it's included. So this is the action. We have to say it. If a person believes it but doesn't say it, they're deemed or judged to be a believer with Allah. But their ruling in this world is the ruling of a disbeliever, because they didn't utter it.

And tash'hada (أَشْهَدُ أَن لَّا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللهُ، أَشْهَدُ أَنَّ مُحَمَّدًا رَّسُولُ اللَّهِ - ash-hadu an la ilaha illallah, ash-hadu anna muhammadan rasulullah) - I bear witness that there is no deity worthy of worship except Allah, I bear witness that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, ṣallā Allāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam.

So the salah, the formulaic prayer, as opposed to the dua, where we pray or supplicate. The salah is a certain formula, what we say, movements that are done, and sequence, the zakat, or the poor due, the sawm, the fast of Ramadan, and the hajj, or the pilgrimage.

Building Upon the Foundation

Now these are the foundations, these are, what are these called? We usually say these are the pillars, or in

Arabic, the arkam, arkam al-islam. So the pillars are the foundation. We build on that foundation. So that foundation is not the house. We should always remember that.

The foundation, if we're sincere and we do these things diligently, and our intention is pure, with Allah's mercy, insha'Allah we'll enter paradise. But if we want to embody in our actions that which is built on these foundations, we have to do more.

So for example, they're not foundational, but are ethical practices. In terms of, not ethical, I should say, our character traits, if you will. So (أَيُّ الإسْلامِ أَفْضَلُ - ayyu al-islami afḍal) - So the Prophet ṣallā Allāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam is asked, which manifestation of Islam is best?

So he ṣallā Allāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam said (تُطْعِمُ الطَّعَامَ وَتَقْرَأُ السَّلَامَ عَلَى مَن عَرَفْتَ وَمَن لَّمْ تَعْرِفْ - tuṭʿimu al-ṭaʿāma wa taqraʾu as-salāma ʿalā man ʿarafta wa man lam taʿrif) (Sahih al-Bukhari 12, Sahih Muslim 39) - that you feed people, those you know and those you know not. So he says, this is a manifestation of Islam, a manifestation of action.

So all of the hadith of this type, or verses in the Qur'an, where it's describing something associated with Islam. So ayyu al-islam, which manifestation of Islam, afdhal, is best? So this is an aspect of Islam, but it's not foundational, but it builds the house on top of the foundation. So all of us should be about the work of building the house.

The Five Ethical Values: Foundation of Religious Consciousness

The second are the five ethical values that we can mention here. And then, faith we didn't mention because, number one, it's not an action per se. And so therefore, it's outside of the purveyance of law. Whereas, feeding people, all of those are actions, so those will be included and governed by shari'ah.

Whereas faith, we use shari'ah and aqidah, and then haqiqah. So these two wings, the bird needs to fly, shari'ah. So the law, but all of the things that contextualize and give meaning and purpose to the law. Aqidah, the beliefs and the system of beliefs and things a believer has to affirm. And then haqiqah, one cultivating their inner state to provide the balance.

And the hadith of Jibreel mentions that when he says (أَن تَعْبُدَ اللَّهَ كَأَنَّكَ تَرَاهُ - an taʿbuda Allāha kaʾannaka tarāhu) (Sahih Muslim 8) - So this shari'ah is what governs our actions. This is belief, aqidah, what governs our belief. This is our state of being, this is haqiqah.

So those things related to those metaphysical aspects of our being. So when he says, ṣallā Allāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam, (أَن تَعْبُدَ اللَّهَ كَأَنَّكَ تَرَاهُ فَإِن لَّمْ تَكُن تَرَاهُ فَإِنَّهُ يَرَاكَ - an taʿbuda Allāha kaʾannaka tarāhu fa-in lam takun tarāhu fa-innahu yarāk) - that you worship Allah as if you see Him, and if you fail to see Him, be mindful that He sees you. As we said, this is a state, but that state of awareness is focused on Allah.

So it's focused on worship Allah (أَن تَعْبُدَ اللَّهَ - an taʿbuda Allāha) as if you see Him, and if you fail to see Him, be mindful that He sees you. So it's Allah, Allah, Allah, these pronouns refer back to Allah. So this is an indication that this aspect of being, if you will, takes us to a level within our hearts and within our souls, that opens the door to the true experienced knowledge of the reality of Allah.

Because it takes us back to the spirit which Allah placed in us, and it's beyond this world. It's not a part of Allah's creation. It's not in the past, pardon me. It's an incident, a new creation. But it's from Allah. He breathed

into Him something of His spirit, the spirit that He created. That's beyond this world. That is the pathway for us to know Allah, who is beyond this world. So it's not a part of Allah, but it's a key within us. And so that's another realm beyond this world.

Cultivating Religious Consciousness

The five ethical values are the foundation of our religious consciousness. So when we talk about the things we'll mention, something being forbidden, highly encouraged, permissible, highly discouraged, our observing and living a life in the light of our awareness of these values cultivates a religious consciousness within us.

To make that clear, the average person who's not a Muslim and is not a believer in God, or they might say they are, but their belief doesn't impact on their life from moment to moment, that person has no religious consciousness. So when they do something, they don't think about whether it's permissible with Allah, with Almighty God, or if it's impermissible, if it's haram or it's halal.

So a true believer, their first thought is, is this permissible? Is this forbidden? Whereas someone who has no religious consciousness, they might say, is this going to hurt me? Or is it going to hurt someone else? Or am I going to get caught if I do it? So there's no consciousness of Allah, there's consciousness of self. Is this going to hurt me? There's consciousness of the police. Am I going to get caught if I take this off? Anyone watching? Are there any cameras in here? There's consciousness of the camera, but there's no consciousness of Allah.

So when the believer, so a person goes to the store, they say, oh, persimmons. They say, are they ready to eat? They squeeze on them a little. The believer goes to, or am I allergic to them? Will they give me a stomach ache? The believer goes to the store, picks it up and starts reading the label. Is it halal? That's consciousness, that's religious consciousness. That's religious consciousness. Is this pleasing to Allah or not?

The Five Ethical Categories Explained

So we mentioned these five values, the obligatory, the wajib. And why is it ethical? Ethical are principles that establish right and wrong for us. Principles that govern right and wrong. So if something's obligatory, we know it's fit and proper, but also it has a reward. And that reward indicates that it's something good to engage in.

So the obligatory, if we do it, we're rewarded, and if we leave it, we're punished. So a lot of you have been through this before. That which is highly encouraged is mustahabb or mandub or sunnah. So if one does it, one is rewarded, but one leaves it, they're not punished.

So, for example, the duha prayer. It's highly encouraged. But if you don't pray your duha prayer, you're not punished, you're not judged to be sinning. So it's definitely an important part of our religious regimen, but if we leave the duha prayer, no one says, Oh, you're sinning, and you're liable to be punished.

The permissible, mubah, this has no reward or punishment associated with it, in and of itself. But it can become something that's rewarded, if something permissible. So it's permissible to eat persimmons. Alhamdulillah, for this wonderful gift. I love persimmons. We all do. I've never found a person that doesn't like persimmons.

Squirrels also like them. And birds.

So, if I just take one of these bismillah and eat it, it's permissible. I'm not rewarded for that, or I'm not punished for it. But if I take one of these and I say, Ya Allah, I intend through eating this to strengthen myself so I can worship you more vigorously, now it becomes rewarded. Because with my intention to use it as a means to worship Allah, it becomes an act of worship.

So, as the scholars say (بِالنِّيَّةِ صَارَتِ الْعَادَاتُ عِبَادَاتٍ - bi-n-niyyati ṣārat al-ʿādātu ʿibādāt) - with good intentions, ordinary actions, such as eating persimmons, become acts of worship. And then they become something that's rewarded.

And then something permissible, if we overindulge with it, can lead us also to something highly disliked. So, it's like people who excessively watch television. Sooner or later, you'll see something forbidden to look at. So, based on the ruling of those who say it's permissible to watch television, some have more strict ruling, especially when it first came up.

So, it's mubah, but one watches and they're watching fornication, they're watching people's aura, they're watching all of these things forbidden to look at. So, that permissible thing leads them to that which is disliked or possibly forbidden. And so, therefore, it can become something discouraged.

The Danger of Makruh Actions

The makruh, or highly discouraged, is something that, if we do it, we're not punished, but if we leave it, we're rewarded. So, it's the opposite of the mustahab. Mustahab, if you do it, you're rewarded. If you leave it, you're not punished. Here, if you leave the discouraged, highly discouraged thing, one is punished and one is rewarded, rather than if one engages in it, one is not punished.

But we should be very, very careful with makruhat, because if we know Allah, when we say makruh, makruh inda man, for example, with whom? Say, hadha makruh. Who dislikes it? Allah. So, what are we doing to our hearts when we constantly engage in something we know Allah dislikes? We're hardening our hearts. We're hardening our hearts.

That's why one reason is said (لَا صَغِيرَةَ مَعَ الْإِصْرَارِ - lā ṣaghīrata maʿa al-iṣrāri) - there's no lesser sin if you persist in it, because you persist, you persist, and the heart becomes hard, then one falls right into the major sins, because one's become immune to one's disobedience. One develops immunity.

Like the drug addict. They keep using the drug, using the drug, using the drug, and then it doesn't affect them anymore. And that's one of the tortures of addiction. The addict needs more and more and more just to get the same jolt. And then eventually, there's nothing. There's no jolt. They just need the drug so they don't go through cold turkey, through withdrawal, the pain.

And so, the same with sin. We sin, we sin, we sin, even though it's a minor sin. But, bigger and bigger sins start to work their way in, just as the addict needs more and more of the drug. More and more sins inundate our heart until our hearts die, and the haram becomes easy to engage in.

Shaitan's Strategy: Starting with the Permissible

And this is how shaitan, shaitan, he doesn't try to get us. Most people don't. Shaitan doesn't start here. Because he knows most Muslims aren't going to eat a pork sandwich smothered in bacon with bread made with lard

shortening. Like, shaitan is not going to get you to eat that. Shaitan isn't going to get you to eat a pickled pig foot. He knows it. He's like, hey Muslim, here's a pickled pig foot. Yummy, yummy. So, he doesn't start here.

He starts here. With the permissible things. Why? Because if he can get us to just spend our time watching television. No sin. He says, no sin. But we're not doing something that will earn us a reward. So, Yawm al-Qiyamah, we come up a little bit short. Man, I wish I was reading Quran while I was watching football all day on Saturday and Sunday.

Watch the college games all day Saturday, the professional games all day Sunday. Shaitan is like, keep going, go 49ers. And then Monday night, and now they have Thursday night, right? They have Thursday night. And take the hours, week after week, for like, what, 20 weeks? Week after week. How many hours?

So, Shaitan is like, yeah, it's the haram. It's the haram. And then we come up with, so he tries the haram, but he said, no. He'll try to get us with the discouraged to harden our hearts so we'll fall into the haram. But he says, no, this is a tough one. He'll just get them with the mubah.

So that the hours go by and we're not doing anything to earn ajr and reward for our souls. And Yawm al-Qiyamah, we might come up three hours short, five hours short. Wallahu alam.

So, we should be very aware. The bottom line, though, is that as we live our life in the awareness of this scheme, it cultivates a religious consciousness because we don't, I don't want to do haram. This is very important because our environment and our society pushes us to discard this sort of arrangement.

So we don't think. We're just caught up in the spirit of the society, the spirit of consumerism, the spirit of possession, the spirit of selfishness and egoism. And so we're only thinking about me, myself and I, what I can own, what I can buy, what I can possess, what I can affix to the labels on my clothing.

And that comes to dominate our consciousness. And so we have materialistic consciousness. So this scheme also in creating a religious consciousness, it connects us with that metaphysical world, that world beyond this. So we're not reading the labels, is this halal? Is this halal? Can I eat this? For any material outcome. We're reading the label because we're thinking of Jannah. We're thinking, we'll stand before Allah.

(وَأَمَّا مَنْ خَافَ مَقَامَ رَبِّهِ - wa amman khafa maqama rabbihi) (Quran 79:40) - The one who fears the time, they will stand before their Lord. (فَإِنَّ الْجَنَّةَ هِيَ الْمَأْوَى - fa-inna al-jannata hiya al-maʾwā) وَنَهَى النَّفْسَ عَنِ الْهَوَى (Quran 79:41) - So that living a life in this awareness of these things, it connects us to the world beyond the physical.

But when we discard this, then we become slaves to the material. And we forget the metaphysical because we're so chained to the physical. And it's significant, it's significant that when Allah at the beginning of the Qur'an (الَّذِينَ يُؤْمِنُونَ بِالْغَيْبِ وَيُقِيمُونَ الصَّلَاةَ وَمِمَّا رَزَقْنَاهُمْ يُنفِقُونَ - alladhina yu'minuna bil-ghaybi wa yuqimunas-salata wa mimma razaqnahum yunfiqun) (Quran 2:2-3) describes the believers - The first thing he says about those people, they believe in the unseen. And one of the things that keeps our consciousness connected to the unseen is this system.

So this is why he says the foundation of religious consciousness. Then we have the five great universals. So these are, and so this is the foundation of our legal philosophy.

The Five Great Universals: Foundation of Legal Philosophy

In other words, the law system, the system of rulings. What is the philosophical underpinning of that system?

So this is one of those philosophical underpinnings, these five things. Because they tell us what the logic of the law is. And we'll illustrate that inshallah ta'ala.

So the first and foremost is preserving religion. (حِفْظُ الدِّينِ - ḥifẓu ad-dīn) - This is before every other consideration. Even before the preservation of our lives. Because if we're called on to die for the sake of our religion, then we readily make that sacrifice.

A person like, puts us in a situation. This is a situation where it's lawful to dissimulate. So taqiyyah becomes lawful. But there could be a situation where a person couldn't hide in any way. So they say, you know, I'm ready to die. (فِي سَبِيلِ الدِّينِ - fī sabīli ad-dīn) - And then what's happening? No one's going to live forever. An example of deen before life.

Preserving Life

So we put the second, preserving life. If someone puts a gun in our hand and they say, you shoot that person who's totally innocent or I'll shoot you. What do we give preference to? Preserving our life or a religion that we shouldn't take a life unjustly?

Even though they're interrelated. But we say, you'll have to kill me. And then we'll be a shaheed. So, not directly, the indirect consequence of our decision is the preservation of another's life. But the direct consequence is our observation of the commandment against killing innocent people.

So, my preserving the religious commandment is given a greater priority than my preserving my life. Even though in this example, I've preserved a life. So it gets a little murky. But preserving religion is the number one. Because why would we give priority to religion over life? Anyone? Or why has Allah given priority to religion over life?

It's gonna affect the community. It's gonna affect the community, but more directly. Because without religion, we don't have a life worth living.

- What did Allah put us on this earth for? That's why we're here. We're put here.

We live to worship Allah. And if we don't worship Allah, because we've been programmed to worship, we're going to worship something else. And the difference between the two, when we worship Allah properly, on the basis of knowledge, and on the basis of prophetic guidance, we're elevated. And this leads to our happiness. It leads to sa'adah. Ultimately, as-sa'adatul abadiyah. Eternal happiness.

When we worship something other than Allah, we're debased. And it becomes harmful. If someone worships money, what's going to happen? They worship money. They'll do anything to get it. And doing anything to get it, they debase themselves.

If someone worships money, and the only way they can get it is to sell drugs to people and destroy people's lives and families, sell alcohol to people, destroy people's lives and families, or even sell their bodies to get money, what happens to that person? They're debasing themselves. They're debasing themselves.

Preserving Intellect

If a person worships clothing, you have to have the latest article, the latest fad. I saw on the Yahoo! homepage, they had sneakers on the computer, the new Air Jordans. Anyone see the new Air Jordans? You zip them up. And so it says, it's an athletic footwear and a fashion statement. So someone who worships, and it's the Air Jordan number 28. I guess it's 28 years since Michael Jordan started the Air Jordan.

If someone worships that, what are they going to do? If they don't have any, they don't have money, they'll go steal something. They debase themselves. Then they get caught, they're thrown in jail, they're debased. Or they'll rob somebody. Give me your sneakers. Seriously. You read periodically in the paper, a person gets robbed for their sneakers.

You hear about it. You keep your ear to the ground, you hear people robbed for their sneakers, their jackets, their throwback jersey. And it debases that person. When a person commits a crime, they're not just harming the victim, they themselves are victims. And they themselves are debased.

And then it's debasing them because a human being is an intelligent, is distinguished by intellect. A person who is chasing a fad has no intellect. They only respond emotionally to things. And they debase themselves. They buy something, they throw it out, five years later, it's back in style. If they had intellect, they would have kept the one they had, just put it in the closet, wait for it to come around again. It's debasing. Allahumma stan.

Preserving Intellect

Preserving intellect. To demonstrate just the, how this works in terms of being a philosophy of religion, preserving life is the number one priority, so shirk and kufr have been forbidden. Preserving religion, rather. So, kufr is a threat to religion, so it's forbidden. So, there's a prohibition, but there's a philosophy or a logic to it.

Shirk, polytheism is forbidden. So, why? Because it undermines religion. And it also undermines our ability to live a life of fulfilling life. Because if we have, one of the consequences of shirk is divided loyalties. And divided loyalties lead to internal conflicts. And so, by focusing one's devotion to Allah, one resolves the potential for internal tension and conflict. And we can examine that at different levels.

Preserving life, therefore, murder is forbidden. Abortion is forbidden in Islam. So, these things are forbidden to preserve life. Preserving the intellect, so to preserve the intellect, alcohol, drugs, all of those things that undermine the intellect are forbidden.

You say, OK, then our educational system should be forbidden also. Because it's a threat to our intellect. You can make an argument. But it emphasizes how important it is for us as Muslims to actively be involved in cultivating our intellect and the intellect of our children and those under our responsibility. Because the religion has been instituted amongst other things to preserve intellect.

And so, alcohol, drugs, all those things that erode and destroy the intellect, those things are forbidden. Acting in a state of anger or working to remove anger, this is a function of the preservation of our intellect. Because if we perpetuate our anger, we perpetuate the loss of our intellect.

So, the qadi can't rule in a state of anger. Why? Because in that state, he or she wouldn't be ruling on the basis of their intellect. So, there's a principle that's translated into law. So, that's the relationship between these universals and the system of sharia.

Preserving the Family

Preserving the family. So, to preserve the family, adultery, fornication, homosexuality, all these things are forbidden because they're threats to the family as we know it. So, as we know it, someone might say, well, they've redefined the family to accommodate certain societal trends.

As Muslims, one of the things that we try to do is to get society to conform to a higher standard as opposed to bringing religion down to our standard. Because religion is lofty and we can be debased. (ثُمَّ رَدَدْنَاهُ أَسْفَلَ سَافِلِينَ - thumma radadnāhu asfala sāfilīn) - Then we debase them to the lowest of the low.

So, if we bring the religion down to our standard, what's going to happen? In two generations, we're not going to have any religion. Because I'll do away with this ruling I don't like. You'll do away with that one you don't like. And she'll do away with that one that she doesn't like. And then, before you know it, the whole thing is gone.

So, what we're trying to do is elevate ourselves. That's the goal of real religion. It's to elevate the human being. When we talk about the legal maxims, probably next week, those maxims aren't there to become the basis for this system of doing away with fundamental rulings in the religion. They're a basis for us to begin to understand the relationship between principles and rulings.

But not the basis to avoid every hardship. Because dealing with hardship is an integral part of religion. When you say, (لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللهُ مُحَمَّدٌ رَّسُولُ اللَّهِ - lā ʾilāha ʾillā-llāhu muḥammadun rasūlu-llāhi) - you're saying, I'm prepared to deal with some hardship.

And if one doesn't deal with hardship, or one looks for every escape, every fatwa to justify getting away with this, and a fatwa to justify with getting away with that, where's the struggle? Allah mentions in the Qur'an,

- So, struggle in the way of Allah as shall rightfully be the case. In other words, give everything you have. Because we'll never fulfill the right.

ḥaqqa jihādihī - If Allah just mentioned (وَجَاهِدُوا فِي اللَّهِ - wa jāhidū fī-llāhi) - then we could say it's subjective. In other words, we could define the struggle based on our circumstances. But Allah says (وَجَاهِدُوا فِي اللَّهِ حَقَّ جِهَادِهِ - wa jāhidū fī-llāhi ḥaqqa jihādihī) - Now it becomes objective. Like, in other words, everybody give everything you have to your utmost.

Why? Because ḥaqqa jihādihī - as you should rightfully struggle based on the haq that Allah has over us. Who could ever fulfill that right? But Allah has given us life. He's given us limb. He's given us health. He's given us wealth. He's given us shelter. He's given us well-being. He's given us clean water. He's given us eyesight. The miracle of the eye.

You know, this camera. You have to change the memory chip. You don't have to, like, put something in your brain, like, twice a day. Oh, chip's full. Some people's chip is full. They have to go couple hours. But we can take in, take in, take in. Never need to change the memory chip.

The film and the old cameras. Right? You have to change the film. The digital camera. You have to change the chip. Your eye can film for 70 years and you never change the film. 80 years, 90 years. Some people, blessed, have good eyesight, 100 years old. They can still see everything. They never change the film. How much do we owe Allah for that?

Then it gives us smell. And the smell, what? Most harmful things have bad odor. Most. And we know it's not right. So if this were, like, rotten and spoiled, like, Oh, man, I didn't need that. Why'd they give me this? Trying to kill me. But the smell tells us and so we pull back, right?

So what if we didn't have the smell? Oh, it looks nice. Go for it. But we have the smell. We have the taste. You taste a little taste, right? The milk went bad. You put it in your mouth, spit it out right away. Why? Because of the taste. How much do we owe Allah for that? How much harm are we able to ward off from ourselves?

- And so it's a struggle. Then what does he say? (هُوَ اجْتَبَاكُمْ - huwa-jtabākum) - He's chosen you. We've been chosen for this struggle because this is the process of what humanizes us. This is what makes us human.

And you see the humanity of many of you from other countries. Periodically you go home, right? And you see that person who's had a hard life. But that hard life that they've been patient they've never complained they can still smile and you see what? You see so much humanity in that person. You're awestruck, right?

The little kid in the marketplace holding down the stall is like 10 years old. You know how much you need. Put the weight in, weigh it up for you. Take the money. He's like SubhanAllah. When I was 10, I was still dealing with Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck. This young man this young lady is holding down a business. And so you see their humanity that came as a result of their struggle.

So it's a struggle but it's an honor. So Allah says (وَجَاهِدُوا فِي اللَّهِ حَقَّ جِهَادِهِ هُوَ اجْتَبَاكُمْ - wa jāhidū fī-llāhi ḥaqqa jihādihī huwa-jtabākum) - He's chosen you. So we've been chosen for this. Why? Because we've been chosen for this great honor. We've been chosen. And when we accept that So I accept I've been chosen. I accept that it's an honor to be able to engage in this struggle for a higher purpose then it becomes easy.

And so what does Allah say (وَمَا جَعَلَ عَلَيْكُمْ فِي الدِّينِ مِنْ حَرَجٌ هُوَ اجْتَبَاكُمْ - wa mā jaʿala ʿalaykum fī ad-dīni min ḥarajin huwa-jtabākum) - He's made no difficulty for you in your religion. It's all in how we see it.

If we say Alhamdulillah it's a struggle but it's an honor then it's not a struggle anymore. But if we don't see it as an honor but as a burden I have to do this and why do I have to do that this is a drag I've got to get up in the summertime 4 in the morning why can't it just be winter all the time get up at 7 make wudu real fast and pray go to work I get up at 4 in the morning and I can't go back to sleep but the person Alhamdulillah what an honor to be a believer mashallah get up 2 in the morning if you had to Bismillah.

(وَمَا جَعَلَ عَلَيْكُمْ فِي الدِّينِ مِنْ حَرَجٍ هُوَ اجْتَبَاكُمْ - wa mā jaʿala ʿalaykum fī ad-dīni min ḥarajin huwa-jtabākum) - He's made no difficulty for you and your religion.

Preserving Property

And then preserving property so one of the foundations of the sharia is the preservation of private property so again why is this part of the topic ethical foundation so to preserve private property theft usury, monopoly hoarding inside trading all these things are forbidden in Islam they all existed in the time of the Prophet ﷺ sallallahu alayhi wa sallam he forbade them they were forbidden by Allah directly in the Quran or through his Prophet ﷺ sallallahu alayhi wa sallam so to preserve private property.

But in Islam the preservation of private property is not an absolute value is not an absolute value so and just as preserving the intellect isn't an absolute value so in other words we'll never do anything to threaten our intellect the only absolute value is the preservation of religion.

So if I have to drink wine which is going to alter and affect my own intellect to preserve my life then I can drink the wine if I have to eat pork I'm starving there's nothing to eat except pork I can eat pork just enough to preserve my life so the intellect is undermined by the wine but life is preserved then I can do that so preserving the intellect is not an absolute value preserving the life is not an absolute value preserving the family in some instances is not an absolute value preserving private property is not an absolute value.

Meaning that there are things that have a higher priority than the preservation of property so to preserve your property doesn't come at the cost of stealing from others or rather at the cost of not sharing with others and so Allah makes that clear (وَفِي أَمْوَالِهِمْ حَقٌّ مَّعْلُومٌ لِّلسَّائِلِ وَالْمَحْرُومِ - wa fī ʾamwālihim ḥaqqun maʿlūmun li-s-sāʾili wa-l-maḥrūm) - In their wealth is a well-defined right for those who ask and those who are prevented by their shyness or other factors from asking they have a right.

- sadaqa here meaning zakat is for the poor and the needy so my preserving my wealth is an absolute sometimes I have to give it away so these are the five universals and so they're the foundation of our legal philosophy, so the foundation of how we think about the principles and the wisdom that underlies the law. And all of these things are built on, as we mentioned, in one way or another.

So, the religion, there's a fundamental level, which is preserving the power. And in most circumstances, that's something voluntary, but it could be obligatory in some situations. Preserving my life is obligatory, but I also have to extend that to work to preserve the lives of others.

And so Allah challenges us in many situations in the Qur'an, that why don't you fight for those who are oppressed? (وَمَا لَكُمْ لَا تُقَاتِلُونَ فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ وَالْمُسْتَضْعَفِينَ مِنَ الرِّجَالِ وَالنِّسَاءِ وَالْوِلْدَانِ - wa mā lakum lā tuqātilūna fī sabīli-llāhi wa-l-mustaḍʿafīna mina-r-rijāli wa-n-nisāʾi wa-l-wildān) - What's wrong with you that you don't fight for men, women and children who are oppressed?

And then, possibly you lose your life in that path, but you've preserved someone else's life. So, we build on that. So, preserve my life first, but willing to lose my life to preserve someone else's life. So, these things, they can all be built on in that sense.

Questions and Answers on Defending Oneself

We'll stop here very quickly. Are there any questions or comments? Yes? So, in preserving life, you gave an example. If you take the innocent man out of the picture, will you still, should we still say religion over life? Always religion is given preference over life.

Even if you're defending yourself? If you're defending yourself, and you die in that path, then you're a martyr. There's a hadith of Prophet ﷺ, a man came to the Prophet ﷺ جَاءَ رَجُلٌ إِلَى النَّبِيِّ صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ فَقَالَ أَفَرَأَيْتَهَا إِنْ جَعَلَ رَجُلٌ يُرِيدُ أَخْذَ مَالِي - What if you see a person comes to me, he wants to take my wealth, my money.

فَقَالَ صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ لَا تُعْطِيهِ مَالَكَ - Don't give him your wealth. أَفَرَأَيْتَ إِنْ قَاتَلَنِي - What do you see if he fights me for it فَقَاتِلُهُ - then fight him back, defend your wealth. What if he kills me? أَنْتَ شَهِيدٌ - You're a martyr.

أَفَرَأَيْتَ إِنْ قَاتَلْتُهُ - What if I kill him? (فَهُوَ فِي النَّارِ - fahuwa fin-nar) (Sahih Muslim 140) - He's in hell. So, he said defend your wealth.

Why? Because, and there are nuances, there are situations. But, in preserving religion and or principles, again, we preserve the basic framework that makes us human.

Because once our principles go, then we're just animals. Because principles, as we mentioned earlier, they emerge from our intellect. Or they emerge from our spiritual nature. And so, they emerge from those things that distinguish us from the brutality. Once we let go of principles and we're no longer working on the basis of our intellect or our spirit, our ruh, or our soul, then we're working on the basis of our flesh and we're just like the rest of the animals.

And so, Allah says about people in that state (هُمْ كَالْأَنْعَامِ بَلْ هُمْ أَضَلُّ - hum kal-an'ami bal hum adallu) (Quran 7:179) - They're like cattle, nay, they're even more astray. So, the principles that define our humanity, those things are worth dying for. Because if we don't die, as Martin Luther King Jr. famously said, a person who has nothing worth dying for has nothing worth living for.

And so, these are the things that humanize us. And these are the things that we pass on to our progeny. We pass on more than just physical existence to our children. If we're really concerned about their well-being, we pass on principles and ideals and values and morals. And that gives them a life worth living. But if we don't pass that on, then their life isn't going to be worth living.

And their whole human civilization will collapse. And this is the great Egyptian poet, Ahmed Shawqi, (إِنَّمَا الْأُمَمُ الْأَخْلَاقُ مَا بَقِيَتْ فَإِنْ هُمُ ذَهَبَتْ أَخْلَاقُهُمْ ذَهَبُوا - innama al-umam al-akhlaqu ma baqiyat fa in hum dhahabat akhlaquhum dhahabu) - And people are none other than the ethical system that supports them. When that goes, they will soon follow.

And so, what the crisis in this country, people look at the principles that made America great, they're being thrown out of the window. And as a result, people say this country is going to fall in terms of being a leader in the true sense of the word.

Now, anything else? Philadelphia, they turn on the tap and they can light what's coming out. Because all these chemicals are going into the ground water and then the ground water is becoming polluted and they can literally ignite it. So, we have to say no, that there are things greater, greater than profit, greater than our ego, greater than our carnal lust.

At the end of the day, a lot of our non-traditional, what they're called, sexual mores are rooted in our carnal lust. And we won't elaborate on that. Protecting wealth within an Islamic framework must be encouraged.

So, here again, as you mentioned, in the case of the housing policies, people's wealth being literally stolen from them, in many instances. The check cashing places and quick loan places with 200, 300% interest. People going into debt for the rest of their life over a $200 loan.

You have a $200 loan and it's 200% interest and then you miss two or three payments and the interest is compounded. Before you know it, you're going to owe $2,000. And a person working at McDonald's whose car broke and unfortunately the baby got sick at the same time. And McDonald's doesn't give you any medical plan because you're working there 20 hours a week.

So the person has to choose between fixing the car or buying medicine. They buy medicine, they have to borrow $200 to fix the car, to buy new tires. And so they go to one of these places and now they're in debt for the rest of their life after they miss a few payments.

Discussion on Islamic Finance and Contracts

Nam, yes. Just there, the house is owned by a third party so they're buying the house from the third party as opposed to... So interest is in kind. So money for money, wheat for wheat, gold for gold, silver for silver, salt for salt. So if you're paying money for a house and not money for money per se, even though the arrangements to pay that back are structured in a way that you're paying more than you actually took out.

Essentially what you're saying is you're buying a house for $200,000. But essentially you're saying you're paying more so you can get around paying the interest. It's a contract. Right. Right. Right. And... No, I think... Well, you're trying to... No, no, you're not fooling yourself. No.

But at the end of the day, you're... If you're saying... If you're saying, I'm going to take my money, enter into a transaction where I'm going to buy money for $100,000 and then I'm going to pay $200,000, then that's a usurious transaction. If you're saying, at the end of the day, though, I'm paying $200,000. All right.

And if you say, I'm going to take my money and I'm going to buy this house for $200,000, even though its market value right now is $100,000, so you're saying that at the end of the day, no matter how you slice it, I'm going to pay $200,000. So if I get paid $200,000 and avoid interest, then I'll do it. That's all you're saying.

You're not fooling yourself. You're saying that I will pay more than the market value to avoid falling into sin. So that's not fooling yourself. That's saying I'm willing to sacrifice to avoid something that's sinful.

No, no, no. That's totally different. If the car is 0% financed, that's what you're talking about? No. That's something else. Actually, the dealer makes all kinds of fine deals. You pay upfront $20,000, divided by five years, no interest, but... The other guy can bargain this thing with $80,000, but he's already taking $200,000.

(الْأَعْمَالُ بِالنِّيَّاتِ وَالتِّجَارَةُ بِالطَّرْضَا - al-a'malu bin-niyyati wat-tijaratu bit-tarda) - Business transactions are based on the buyer being pleased. If someone's pleased with buying a car, if they say, this car that you're going to buy, a 1996, get out and push.

So if they say this, then all right, you don't want to pay interest, Mr. Muslim. So I tell you what, the interest will make this car $30,000. So instead of charging you interest, I'll just let you make payments. When you finish making those payments, it's $30,000. And you say, okay, good, I'll do it. That's tijara, that's a lawful business transaction.

And you say, why would you do it? Because I don't want to take a loan that I'm going to pay interest on. So I'll just pay you straight up, even though the payments are going to be inflated. That's a business transaction based on pleasure because I'll willingly accept that hardship to avoid what I consider to be sinful.

That's the essence of religion. Why don't you eat pork? It might taste good. But some would say, I'll bypass it to avoid sin. Why do you buy halal meat? It costs more money than the normal meat. That's the excuse some people use not to eat it, right? They say, why should I pay more money for halal meat? Because I don't want to eat carrion. That's why.

The Three Types of Patience

So hardship is the essence, is a part of what it means to be a religious person. Like sabr, there's three types of sabr. Sabr, ala ta'a, patience, and dealing with the hardship that comes in and worshipping Allah. So some people in the summertime, they don't want to get up for fajr. But they say, no, if that's what it takes to worship Allah, just get up four in the morning to pray. And next year to fast, or next Ramadan.

So some people just sleep. They say, no, it's too much, Allah understands. No, seriously. So they get up at their normal time, 6 o'clock, the sun came up at 5.30, and they say, you know, Allah understands.

So it's in this system that we're in, it is a lot of manipulation that's going on. But this is trying to arrive at a solution that's acceptable. And so that believer accepts that hardship, accepts getting ripped off. So he or she can meet their Lord and say, you know, I tried to avoid the haram to the best of my ability.

Yes? Yeah. Right. Right. And these guys are doing the same thing. It's sinful activity. It's sinful in that they've entered in, they got to pay you back the 12%. Right. They're profiting. They're profiting. Right. Right. It's forbidden. They're both wrong. It doesn't matter. If it's 1%. Regardless, it's bad. That's what I'm saying.

So that's the second one. We said there's patience in obeying Allah. So you patiently endure the hardship of getting up 4 in the morning in the summertime. And not eating until 9 o'clock at night. So you endure that hardship because that's what it takes to obey Allah.

And being patient and dealing with the hardship that comes in avoiding forbidden things. So this guy says, you know what? I'm making money, hand over fist. But it's haram. So I'm not going to do it. And so as a result, I can't get the house I want. I can't get the car I need. But I'll just deal with it. But he didn't finish. Okay.

Exactly. You can't justify haram. Because you entered into a forbidden transaction to get the money in the first place. You borrowed at 12%. That's forbidden. So everything after that collapses. Because it's built on a false foundation.

And then what he's doing, if he's making 30-40%, he's shortchanging someone somehow. And they're both in danger. Allah knows best. They're both in danger. Because they're both doing something forbidden. I can't enter into a forbidden transaction, then do something that's forbidden, but because it's helping my family, I can justify it. Or do something forbidden and then do something lawful. Because the foundation is forbidden. So everything else collapses after that.

Yes. In the same scenario, you're lending that money paid to you. So then it's a different scenario, right? If these two guys who are making a transaction, so right now he's lending money and he's asking for 12% interest. So if he gives that... I understand. It's the same thing as just to show you Allah. Just manipulate it differently to say, hey listen, I'm not going to charge you 12%, but I'm going to give you 100,000, but give me back in five months 112,000.

But that's totally different. No, because that's... This is money. That's money for money. This is money for house. Interest is only in like commodities. There's no possibility for interest here. If you're using that to pay off

this house, if you're using this to pay off this money, even at 1% increase, that's where the interest comes in because it's like commodities.

So this is what I'm saying, to avoid this situation, you're entering into this situation. Can't be like for like. Exactly. It could be something else, I'm sorry. Yeah, exactly. So instead of the 12,000 in my pocket, give it to me in real time. I don't know. I just need that one. I can't save people.

Alright, alright. But who's to say that house is going to be worth 200,000? Guys, we've got five minutes. Alright, listen. Do you want me to apologize? No, no, no need to apologize. I see two diverging from here. No, no. It's a good issue. We'll have a separate discussion on this issue.

The Five Great Legal Maxims

But in the interest of time, we have five great legal maxims and we have five minutes. Then we have three weeks of not being here. So these legal maxims are the foundation of our legal thinking. So each set of five was foundational in a particular area. So these are, the affairs are judged by the ultimate objectives, which is similar to the hadith (الْأُمُورُ بِمَقَاصِدِهَا - al-umuru bimaqasidiha) - Harm is to be removed.

So this is why we say, after we know the harm, detriment of cigarette smoking, that is haram, because we know it causes cancer, which the first early scholars didn't know. Not early, but those who gave fatwas saying it's makruh, they didn't know it causes lung cancer or heart disease, throat cancer, etc.

Hardship justifies ease. So, hardship, and this goes back to the eating pork or drinking alcohol to ward off hunger or thirst. So, the hardship of starvation or dying of thirst justifies easing rulings. Just to deal with the hardship, not as an ongoing permanent principle, which is very important.

Certainty is not removed by doubt. So if you know you made wudu, and you're not sure if you lost it, you still have wudu. Why? Because you're certain about making it, and you don't know if you broke it, so you still have it. Also, at a higher level, the principle that we know here, a person is innocent until proven guilty. We're sure of their innocence. We don't know if they did the crime or not, so until we have certainty about their committing the crime, doubt cannot remove certainty. Certainty is not removed by doubt.

And custom has legal consideration. So, custom and convention that doesn't violate any shari'i conventions is legally considered. So, for example, if someone says, can I wear a coat like this, which is a Western coat, because people here wear these coats. So, no one can say, no, that's a Kafir coat. Why? Because it's customary dress, it doesn't violate any shari'i convention, not so tight, or it's not transparent, it's not made out of pig leather.

So, the custom is valid, so a Muslim can follow that custom, because it's not violating or contradicting with any principle or ruling in shari'a. So, and then, there's more to say about that, but just in the interest of finishing.

The Five Great Messengers: Ulul Azm

Then we have the five great messengers, and these are Ulul Azm. Nuh, Ibrahim, Musa, Isa, Alayhi Salaam, Muhammad, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, wa alayhim ajma'in. So, these five great messengers, they're at the top, the pinnacle, of the messengers that Allah sent to the world. And we emphasize the messengers, because they're the foundation of our guidance.

They're the ones who brought us this thinking about the rulings that Allah sent to guide humanity. And so, their heritage is what we're trying to preserve. The scholars are the heirs of the prophets. (خَيْرُ أُمَّةٍ أُخْرِجَتْ لِلنَّاسِ - khayru ummatin ukhrijat lin-nas) (Quran 3:110) - You're the best of communities raised up for the service of humanity. But raised up under whom? Under Muhammad, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam.

So, that's the conclusion of that. Then we had the five great challenges to Sharia. But other than rushing through, we just do it when we come back, Inshallah. So, those challenges being, we just list them. The secular discourse, pluralism, Western ideas of gender equality, the nation state, and global finance.

Then we can go into that subject, Inshallah. So, it's time for Isha. So, as opposed to rushing just to finish, to say we finished, Inshallah, we'll save this for that time. In fact, we'll go back to the messengers and even we'll go back to here. Because there's more to be said here, but there's no more time to say it. So, as opposed to just rushing through, we'll come back to here in three weeks, Inshallah.

Reassessing the Five Great Universals

Yes. Alhamdulillah. So, this is where we left off last week. We discussed these five great universals and we mentioned that they're the foundation of our legal philosophy. In other words, how do we think or understand the wisdom that supports the system of rulings that the Sharia involves. So, those rulings don't exist in isolation.

So, we mentioned before that some people try to extract the rulings, look at them in isolation, divorce them from a larger system and by so doing distort the very nature of the Sharia. So, what we want to do is to provide the context that allows us to look at various rulings in a larger philosophical, a larger intellectual, a larger ethical context. And the ethical context being the primary focus of this presentation.

So, last week we mentioned that these five great universals are the preservation of life, the preservation of religion, the preservation of life, the preservation of intellect, preservation of the family, preservation of private property and that these are arranged, they're prioritized. So, religion is first, then life, then intellect, then family and then private property or ideas.

And this system provides us with a foundation to begin to involve ourselves in a more sophisticated form of legal thinking. So, by way of example, we mentioned if your life is in danger, then you can drink alcohol if you're going to die of thirst and there's nothing else to drink. There's no water, there's no juice, there's nothing lawful to drink. One can drink alcohol.

Why? Because alcohol is a threat to the intellect and life has a higher priority. So, if alcohol is the only thing we have to preserve our life, then we drink it to the extent necessary to preserve our life and until we find something lawful to drink. So, why? Because preserving life has a higher order than preserving intellect.

We mentioned preserving religion has a higher order than preserving life and that's why we have the concept of Shahada, of martyrdom, which is another word that's been dirtied up by contemporary developments. You say martyrdom and people think of some guy going into the middle of a market and blowing himself up. They say, .So, he's a martyr - العملية الاستشهادية

He's not a martyr, he's a murderer. He's also a person who committed suicide, which is a major sin. So, true martyrdom is being killed for the defense of faith and so faith has a higher priority for life. So, if we have to give our life up for the faith, we gladly do it because the faith has a higher priority and of course, there are nuances in terms of is a person allowed to dissimilate to preserve their life?

That is a permissible thing, but as a general rule, as we mentioned in the example last week that we gave in terms of the person being robbed who gives up his or her life, they're defending a higher principle that is demonstrating there are some things worth dying for and we mentioned in that context the saying of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., a person who has nothing worth dying for has nothing worth living for.

So, these are things that humanize us. To just give another example that will be slightly more controversial on the surface is I would argue that in light of the drug wars in Mexico, most of which are focused around who controls the marijuana trade, that it will be preferable to legalize marijuana here and some Muslims say, what?

When you say legalize it, does it make it halal? It just means that people who are possessing marijuana or in the privacy of their homes using it or they can buy it in the store like alcohol. So, if we say, oh, you can't do that, then why can't people sell alcohol and we're not objecting. The fact that you can in this non-Muslim country sell alcohol doesn't make it halal and doesn't make it permissible for Muslims to use.

But even in a Muslim majority country that's governed by Sharia, Christians who aren't, whose Sharia allows them to drink wine, they can make wine in their homes, they can drink it, they can't sell it publicly or publicly display it, but in the privacy of their homes they can consume it. There's no justification for someone kicking their door down and taking them all to jail. And that's a well-known fact.

They can raise pigs. We can't eat pork. Muslims, they can eat pork. They can raise pigs in their backyard and they can have their ham for turkey, for Christmas rather. I don't know how ham got associated with Christmas. I don't know. You have to ask a Christian. But in a Muslim country they can do that.

So the fact that it's lawful for them doesn't make it lawful for us. But in the case of, one second, the marijuana, 60,000 people have been murdered in Mexico in the last six years behind these drug wars in the most brutal ways. Most of them are innocent people. And so preserving life in this case, which is threatened by these wars, by making this legal when it's a threat to the intellect and would eliminate the foundation of that violence would be preferable to saying this is outlawed and then you have these thousands of people being murdered as a result and a lot of other illicit activities going on.

So this would provide a framework. We could argue preserving the intellect and the marijuana is a threat to the intellect is a lesser priority than preserving life. And the illegalization of marijuana is leading to massive loss of life. Now saying that, I reiterate, that doesn't make it halal. That just, and the overall legal structure of this society will make it available for those people who feel they're allowed to consume it, which isn't Muslims.

And then there are other studies that argue that legalizing drugs such as heroin and Switzerland doesn't increase the consumption of it. So someone might counter-argue you're going to make more drug addicts, but research hasn't shown that to be true. But that's just an example of how this provides us a framework to begin thinking in ethical terms and ethics, again, what's right or wrong.

So is it right to have all these people dying because legally this particular product is rendered illegal? So what's more right? What's more wrong? And so we began to get into an area of jurisprudence, which the Fuqaha call the fiqh al-tawazun, or the fiqh, the jurisprudence of weighing and measuring.

Ibn Taymiyyah's Example of Weighing Harms

An example of that, and then we'll come to your question, is, we mentioned this before, Ibn Taymiyyah, rahimahullah, was walking with a group of his students in Damascus where he taught and died and is buried, in fact. And some of the Tatar soldiers who had invaded that region during the Mongol invasions, they were drunk in the street and they were laughing and talking loud and behaving in a riotous fashion.

So the students of Ibn Taymiyyah said we should stop them from drinking. Alcohol is the mother of all, of the major sins. In other words, alcohol is the thing that gives birth to the major sins and they're defiling our sacred city. And Ibn Taymiyyah said, leave them, let them get drunk. Because he said, when they're drunk, they act like fools. When they're sober, they rape and pillage.

So, which is worse? So, is weighing out harms and benefits. And this is an aspect of our divine law. And this is one of the schemes that the Fuqaha use to make those assessments.

Yes, Fenton, what were you going to say? Well, I mean, if you legalize it, you don't have to go to the back alley and you just go to the local drugstore. So, there wouldn't be so much to fight for. Well, the market could be regulated. Well, there wouldn't be money to fight for anyway. Unless you're the mafia running the government.

Because the government will control and regulate the trade. So, you take, it's like prohibition. You have prohibition, you have Al Capone and you had all these gangs that were fighting to control the illegal trade. Once they legalized alcohol again, ended prohibition, then the government became the regulatory agency and all those gangs were put out of business.

Why would someone meet someone in the woods to get at a still that's being run by the mafia to buy a jug of illegal alcohol when you can go to your local supermarket? So, that takes the criminal element out of it altogether. That's the point. It's debatable. Or some people say, like honor. How so? Right, artificially.

You could argue that. You could argue that. In terms of those being, short on, they would be unlawful contracts. Because someone is lying. Either the buyer is lying about his zero income, the bank is lying about the terms of the mortgage or disguising the real terms or engaging in fallacious advertisement to weasel homeowners, such as elderly people, out of their home by convincing them to refinance.

And then you have a variable rate mortgage that looks handsome initially, but then it goes up two-thirds in 18 months and they can't pay it anymore. And so they have to foreclose. They pay the house off. They owned it outright. They refinanced it to get money out of the bank they were sitting on. And then in two years they don't have a house anymore.

So you could say to preserve their property, definitely those sort of regulations would be called for in an order that's controlled by Sharia, which would be attractive to a lot of people. Yes, pervase. Usually it's a sixth or it's in the place of the mal, the wealth. So some scholars present it as a number six or some leave it at five and they substitute the honor for the wealth.

Yes. Any in what sense? Religion is honor. Maintaining religion is maintaining honor. For you, but does that prevent someone from saying, yeah, you're such an idiot or spreading rumors about you, slandering you on non- religious grounds. So your religion is coupled with your honor in the sense that if you are adhering to the teachings of religion, you close the door for people to rightfully attack your honor.

And so, (الْحَلَالُ بَيِّنٌ وَالْحَرَامُ بَيِّنٌ وَبَيْنَهُمَا أُمُورٌ مُشْتَبِهَاتٌ - Sahih al-Bukhari 52, Sahih Muslim 1599) - So the lawful is clear, the unlawful is clear and between them are doubtful matters. Most people don't know their rulings. (فَمَنِ اتَّقَى الشُّبُهَاتِ فَقَدِ اسْتَبْرَأَ لِدِينِهِ وَعِرْضِهِ) - Whoever avoids the doubtful matter escapes with their religion and their honor intact.

So we mention many times the example if we're not sure if this is alcohol or fruit juice. So we smell it and, oh, it smells like fruit juice that's getting a little old, starting to ferment. If we leave it, no one can say you violated religion by drinking alcohol. No one can say, what kind of Muslim are you? You drink alcohol, the average Muslim doesn't do that. You're supposed to be some student of knowledge. What kind of person are you?

So now they can attack. But if you drink it, then someone says, you just drank Livermore's finest wine. I thought it was fruit juice. You thought, didn't you smell it? I saw you smelling it. It smells like alcohol. What kind of person are you? Now your honor and your religion are exposed to being lessened. So in that sense, they're linked.

But in the sense of preserving them, there are bases and foundations for people assaulting, assailing people's honor for non-religious purposes. So in that sense, they're not linked. So what this scheme allows us to do is to reassess certain issues that prevail here in the West.

Reassessing Human Rights Through an Islamic Lens

So for example, reassessing human rights. So as a Muslim, it's our religion that is at the core of our humanity.

So if we've been created to worship and preserving the religion is the number one priority in our lives, then an aspect of human rights that should be protected are the rights to worship Allah, for a person to worship. And this has to be the number one priority.

And there can be no meaningful human rights scheme without the preservation of religion. And you see this playing out, in a sense, in Egypt right now, where the secularists are saying the Constitution can't be based on religion. And the Muslims are saying it has to be based on religion.

But the Muslims have to have the wisdom to present to the people that because it's based on religion, it doesn't violate fundamental rights for minorities especially. So Sharia will protect the rights of Coptic Christians to freely worship any other, to worship in the way they choose, as it has for 1,400 years since Islam first went into Egypt.

That's why there's so many Christians left there in the first place. The Muslims could have wiped out the Christians, forcibly converted everyone generations ago. And the people there now would never even realize that there was a Christian presence. But that's not permitted in Sharia. But worship is the number one priority. Therefore, human rights have to be an integral part or rather the right to religion and acknowledging our creator has to be at the top of any human rights regime. Usually now it's at the bottom or not mentioned at all.

Environmental Wholesomeness as a Human Right

The second is environmental wholesomeness must be encouraged as a fundamental human right. Why is that, sisters? Sisters are quiet. Brothers are asking all the questions. Why should environmental wholesomeness be encouraged? Preserving the environment as a fundamental human right based on what we just said.

You're not a sister. Your beard is too big. Yes, how so? Right, if we can't breathe the air, if we can't drink the water, if all of our... there's no more organic food left, seeds left, and we don't know the long-term health consequences of genetically modified seeds, you're just a sore loser because Prop 37 went down after $47 million pumped in by Monsanto and Dow Chemical. But we'll get them next time.

But there's no basis for life. There's no way we can live. And so if the Sharia argues that one of its fundamental underlying principles is the preservation of life, then we have to consciously work to preserve the environment which supports life. Whereas now, capitalist system, the bottom line is supported.

And so all of these companies who are spending the money to work against any meaningful environmental protection, they're doing so because they see it as a threat to their profits, which is very short-sighted. So if we have to put a filter on our smokestack, it's going to cost us X millions of dollars. That's coming out of our profit.

So we'd rather spend a few million lobbying against such regulations and protections than many millions to put these filters on our smokestacks. And so the environment doesn't figure into the calculation at all. But as Muslims, we have to say it has to figure into the calculation because if we destroy our natural home, then our life is threatened and Sharia is established to preserve life.

Developing True Intelligence as a Human Right

So developing true intelligence must be encouraged. So what are the implications of that? Developing true intelligence and protecting and preserving intelligence. This comes from the third one, preserving the intellect. What are the implications of that?

So we have to encourage education as a human right, not as a privilege for the wealthy and not as something that is geared towards feeding the proper skills into the industrial and corporate sector, but as a fundamental human right available to all equally because everyone is equally human.

So our current policies moving towards privatized schools, moving towards charter schools, which is inherently unequal because wealthier neighborhoods will have more advanced charter schools because they have a higher income bracket, they have a higher spending per capita on children. Some of the disparities, if you look at the disparity between what's spent on the education of a child in Oakland and what's spent here in Pleasanton, you see a huge discrepancy and you're talking about, what, 20-mile difference.

And many of the people in Pleasanton are making their money in Oakland if you follow the rush hour like I just did and some of you I'm sure did. So we have to say, no, this is a fundamental human right that every child has.

Yes. We're just generalizing here in terms of intelligence. Intelligence generally is associated with the reasoning process or faculty in a human being whereas aql is reason coupled with the ability to know one's creator. And so

it's associated more with the heart than with the brain or the mind per se. But I'm generalizing and conflating between the two, inshallah.

Preserving Traditional Marriage

A preserving marriage between a man and a woman as a fundamental human right. So this world is saying human rights demand same-sex marriage. Otherwise, you're denying the homosexual the rights that the heterosexual has.

Whereas as people who believe in revelation and who believe in common sense, we're saying, no, marriage is a union between a man and a woman consecrated by God. And one of its purposes is physical procreation. So if you encourage a system where marriage is divorced from procreation and it's also divorced from scripture and what has been given to us by the prophets, then you're setting up a situation of zero population growth.

And it doesn't take a large percentage and so some parts now here in America, if you take away the immigrant populations, you have zero population growth. In Europe, even with, you have negative population growth. In Europe with the immigrants, you have negative population growth. And part of that is the erosion of traditional marriage.

And so we should be very, very careful not to buy into this current scheme, which is based on a concept of human rights that number one, doesn't aim at preserving the family. And number two, eliminates God as a source of human rights.

So by preserving God, we preserve scripture. By preserving scripture, there are certain, we believe, God-given principles governing marriage. And one is between a man and a woman, khalas. And secondly, that this is something that's been revealed to us and handed down to us by a series of prophets. And so this is why we say reassessing human rights.

So looking at this scheme, so yaani, hifz al-nasal, preserving the family. That has implications in terms of how we interpret something like human rights. So these are fundamental, foundational issues that as Muslims, we should be very, very cognizant of. Because we're trying to preserve something in the world. And if we lose it, we enter into the realm of social experimentation. And we don't know where it's going to lead.

So they're doing all these things. Same-sex marriage, GMO food, dump anything into the environment. Like now, hydraulic fracking, fracturing, fracking. So you pump all these chemicals into the aquifer, into the ground, to force out the natural gas.

Some people, there's a documentary, Gas Land, which two years ago would have won Best Documentary. The gas industry lobbied Hollywood and threatened them to cut off all funding if that documentary won the Best Documentary. But it looked at hydraulic fracking. People in some states in Wyoming and in the West, but now they're doing this back East in New York State. Hey, come here. Okay.