Fiqh of Celebrations - Dr. Sh. Yasir Qadhi

SMIL alhamdulillah wa salatu was-salam ala rasulina Ali he was so happy he woman wala hama bad so this is going to be insha'Allah with the other our last Chanukah for this year of 2018 and I thought that insha'Allah I'll continue what I had done two weeks ago or three weeks ago and we did the reality of Veda and I went over a number of important categories a number of issues so please for those of you that haven't listened to part one this is actually part two for those of you that haven't listened to that please go back and listen to the reality of it ah this is actually a continuation from where we left off and we're gonna be utilizing some of the material from that lecture as well I'm not going to be covering over it again so today's topic is about essentially celebrations but in order to understand celebrations we have to link it to another topic and that is the topic of imitating the Kafar Tasha bobelcue far and that is because one of the main reasons why some of our scholars prohibit certain types of celebrations is because they link it to the issue of imitating the Kafar and they say that because it is haram to imitate the cough are there for celebrations become haram so today's topic even though it's about celebrations and the Philco celebrations because it is so deeply entrenched with the issue of teshuvah we also have to briefly talk about that obviously I always make this disclaimer every single time and I do so because a lot of times even if you've seen my comments in Facebook and Twitter and whatnot a lot of people they say oh you missed this point you missed that point I have one lecture and this topic can easily be many many lectures I can't do everything so I always make this disclaimer still doesn't matter people say I just haven't covered this or that fade and shell so let us begin today's topic is a very very sensitive one that some people some people get very emotionally charged up about they have made up their minds they're firmly entrenched in their opinions and in reality they have whether they understand it or not linked their identity really with this issue of making something Haram such that when somebody comes along and says oh maybe it's not Haram they literally feel as if their identity has now been completely destroyed as if they are no longer or practicing Muslims and that is why it is difficult to have a dialogue even I myself for many many many years I haven't given this is the first time I'm actually giving a lecture about this because I know the backlash that is caused in the minds of some practicing Muslims I merely ask you to set aside your preconceived notions or prejudices and listen with an open mind to listen with an e man filled mind I'm gonna quote you evidences from the Quran and Sunnah this isn't coming out of far left field I'll quote you our own ulema and I will explain to you that in fact a very easy argument can be made to defend both positions again it's not as if it's a clear-cut utterly issue there are two opinions as they are usually the case and the fact of the matter is that in this case one of the opinions clearly seems to be more rooted in academic knowledge than the other but inshallah let us begin with our preliminaries so what is read what is a celebration the word read is a noun that comes from the verb a doodoo and read signifies two things a regular return at a time interval and a congregation of people so Eid is called Eid our religious read is called read because it happens every year at the same time and because people gather together at that time so read means to repeat to come again and again either you do and also HTML on us people come together so the reason why our holy festivals are called Eid is because number one they occur regularly every day the first every year the first half shell wall is going to be our Idol filter and the tenth of the heart is going to be our other has a set in stone every year and then also what happens on 8-hd mountainous people come together it's a celebration it is something that people do this is why a need is called Eid and we see the and this is the technical term and we see the linguistic meaning of this in the famous hadith of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa seldom which says in arabic Asuna Nevada would lot al khabiri Rida la brie Rida don't make my cover and read don't make my cupboard and read now this hadith people easily misunderstand it the processor is saying don't make my cover read and a Muslim reads this hadith and says how could anybody be happy and festive at the cover of the Prophet SAW salem when the hadith says don't make my cover and read and when you say read in the Muslim mind you think happiness celebration sweets mitai halwa how can the uber become a need but the linguistic meaning of Eid is not festival per se linguistic meaning of read is what to come repetitively right to make it a frequent point to come there so the profit system is saying don't make my cover a regular place of visitation ie read don't either you do don't keep on coming back to my uber and make it the goal rather than the Masjid or the house of allah subhanho wa taala so using the word read over here and of course we know we have to reads in Islam the two primaries that we have it'll filter a Doha and this is something much much I didn't handle it others know every laugh amongst all the scholars our prophet saw some entered medina the first year of the Hegira as we know and he saw the people celebrating two days and he said Allah subhana WA Ta'ala has substituted your two days for two better days Riyadh filter and idul adha okay this is an important hadith memorize it he has substituted your two days with two better days reader filter and and read all all the ha so this hadith clearly indicates that we have two primary reads and it is something that is well known also we have the word read in another hadith we'll come back to this hadith as well I'm gonna quote it now and this is the hadith reported in also Abu Dawood and was an imam ahmed where a man came to the prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam and said o Messenger of Allah I made a promise a vow another to Allah to sacrifice a camel at a place called Bwana Bwana is a small coastal village close to yes rib on there on the red sea so I made another to Allah to sacrifice at Bwana so the prophet sallallaahu Holly who was seldom said was this place Bwana a place where there was an idol or a need of the reeds of jahiliyyah and the man said no so the process said in that case fulfill your vow go and sacrifice the Campbell at Bwana okay so he asked was that land and Eid and what does it eat over here mean people coming there celebrating a religious festival and the concept therefore of a place and a time being read is something well known and understood and there are the hadith we already mentioned of the prophets as I'm saying Allah has given you two better aids so he's abrogating other aids and we have as the statement of the Sahaba this isn't a hadith abdullah bin ahmad IBN al said whoever lives in the land of idolatry and builds his house in the land of idolatry and celebrates their nail who's Nowruz is a pagan festival it is still common in lands that used to be the Austrian it used to be a Zoroastrian festival the Medusa David they had no rules no rules the Dacey's because narrow is new day new year right now ruses narrows the new year new day so no lose was the festival of the Austrians and with the coming of Islam these Austrians basically left there the rest reign ISM they embraced Islam but by and large the festival remained and it still remains to this day in that region and it is a festival of just a holiday a new year now right so Abdullah banana banana I'll said whoever lives with the mushrikeen builds his house with the mushrikeen celebrates their Nowruz and their festivals he shall be resurrected with them so we have over here the author or the statement of the Sahabi that the muslims should not celebrate Nowruz okay but do keep in mind we're gonna come back to this point when is he speaking he's speaking when Nowruz is a religious festival this is in the time where those restaurants are everywhere and Nowruz has a clear religious element to it it is the festival of Zoroastrianism so the issue therefore comes that what is the Islamic verdict on celebrating festivals other than the two festivals of reader filter and idul adha so two primary reasons are given by those scholars who say that we should not celebrate festivals as you can already tell there are two opinions on this issue as always the case and we're gonna mention both of them those scholars that say one should not celebrate any festival other than filter and other ha they have a number of excuses primarily - number one they say any festival other than the towards will constitute a bid in Islam okay so they say any festival is an innovation into the religion and last halakhah that I gave on beta we went over the types of it at the categories of beta and we explained what is a beta and we say and I say very clearly any festival that is done without the intention of getting a Las reward cannot be called a beta a beta has to be in the matter of the religion ok so some scholars were a little bit encompassing they stretched the definition of beta and they basically argued that a festival is always associated with holiness and religiosity and so introducing any festival inherently is going to be linked to Veda and this is a stretch that belies experience it goes against the common experience of the world that we live in that there are religious festivals everybody knows them and then there are secular festivals that people do that or not of any particular faith so that is a bit of a stretch and we already talked about bit I'm not gonna go down that basically today's already been there essentially any non religious festival cannot be argued as being beta it is nonsensical beta can only be done when you do a festival and you think it is Islamic and even then we talked about the categories that we went over beta Alafia and all of that I mentioned that's last class in any case the next thing that they say all celebrations are held because it is imitating the Kafar this is the second reason they say the shabu Belko far imitating the kafar this is where we need to now pause the issue of celebration spend around 25 30 minutes talking about this issue of imitating the Kafar and inshallah this is basically half of today's lecture so it's gonna be two birds with one stone celebrations intimate a need to go far because they are linked together and inshallah as well the concept of imitating the kuffar will benefit us what does it mean what is haram and what not so now we begin is it true that our religion tells us to not imitate the kuffar response there are verses and a hadith that do seem to suggest some type of principle it's not coming out of thin air for example the quran says surah Baqarah verse 121 enter bow and cal yahood and nasarah had that autonomy let on the hood and the no surah will not be fully content with you read law is the highest level of contentment they're not gonna be fully content with you until you follow their Mila okay now what does Mila mean so some would say their Milla means anything to do with them so they make the argument that anything that does that is related to their ways their lifestyle their custom is their Milla so therefore Allah Azza WA JAL is saying the hood and the nasarah will not have read all with you until you follow their Milla which means you shouldn't be following their Milla is that clear very they make a generic argument from this verse and the most explicit hadith there's nothing explicit in the Quran that says don't make the shop would go far it's generic stuff like this but the hadith there is a very explicit hadith and it is authentic isn't Abu Daoud starting bihari Muslim but it's an Abu Daoud and that hadith is man tashabbaha bi qawmin for who i mean whom this is the simple hadith that everybody should memorize it is the the fundamental hadith that talks about imitation man tashabbaha bi qawmin for who am in whom whoever toshiba and toshiba means to imitate to be similar to whoever imitates a group of people shall be counted as amongst them man tashabbaha bi qawmin for who i mean whom whoever imitates a group of people shall be counted amongst them and this is the most explicit hadith that seems to indicate if you're tashabbaha with the austrians then you will be counted among his restraints if you touch a Baha with Buddhist you'll be counted amongst the Buddhist so this hadith makes a generic argument whoever toshiba whoever imitates a people shall be counted amongst them we also have two dozen a hadith a lot of a hadith is quite a lot that specifically prohibit or allow things based on not imitating the others okay can anybody think of any hadith that comes to mind there's no there's a lot what about it ex and the new example simple example the issue of Muharram fasting one day when he was told that yahood fast that one day What did he say oh I'm gonna fast two days then shows you what doing something different okay the process for example said that be different from the a Hanukkah tab let your beards grow and trim your mustache because they would let their beasts grow and grow their mustache said be different from them let your beards grow and trim your mustache the process a time said be different from the Yahoo they don't pray in their shoes so you pray in their your shoes they hood back then would take their shoes off and the process of instructed Muslims to pray with their shoes ironically the situation has changed 180 now and they would wear their shoes when they pray by and large and we are all barefooted over here okay but that we're gonna get back to this point so when the process em said this hadith the hood would be barefoot when they prayed but the point is he said be different from daya who'd pray in your shoes okay and the Sahaba for their entire lives who pray on their shoes the Masjid they walk into the shoes as you know they would pray with their shoes on back then and there are so many other things the process of said be different from the etiquette table put henna and do a spell of your beard your spouse is to put hand on your beer and he died your beard when your beard goes white which as-sunnah to die the beard we should not keep it fully white as was the custom of the sorry not that he's a honey fool machete keen sorry be different from the mushrikeen because the mushrikeen would like to have full white beard when you become older and the process and said that's not the Sunnah the Sunnah is to have the Isabel or the hen died in and the Haditha Ibaka's father as well as mentioned over here so don't imitate the kuffar die his beard die the beard so we have many other instances as I said around 20 a hadith where the process em says be different from do this be different from don't do that so we have a whole bunch of a hadith that clearly say that we should not be following the ways of other peoples and also we have the hadith and Timothy where the Prophet saws and criticized later Muslims and he said you are going to follow the ways of those before you foot step by footstep and inch by inch so much so that if they entered the lizard hole you too will enter the lizard hole now there are so many of these a hadith we should also mention one other had it before we move on and that is that all of these a hadith came in late Madani timeframe not in Mecca and not in early Medina and there is a clear reason for this and even Abbas narrates I believe I'm Muslim ibn Abbas narrates that the prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam loved to agree with the Aliki tab in all those matters that he was not prohibited from doing so and so when he migrated to Medina he parted his hair in the middle like the a helical table did hadith is embodied Muslim the al-kitab the yahood had their hair in a certain way he followed them then at some time in the Medina stage he began to make mahadeva okay so this hadith shows us that at one phase of the serie in fact the entire makan phase and some of the early Madonna phase there was no Mahadeva there was no command to make noticeable this later on and this is a key point because our professor Sam would never have done something that is intrinsically evil he never drank alcohol he never worshiped idols things that are intrinsically evil he could never have done the fact that at some stage he was one thing to copy a hella cute app shows that intrinsically it's not at all times at all places evil rather at certain point something happened and what was it that happened well I'll just mention it now and this is what very few scholars point this out the majority of scholars they just go with the flow and they just say Oh Mahalo for Mahadeva but the fact of the matter is and some scholars did point out this switch occurred and that switch indicates there was a reason and what is the reason the reason is the political landscape changed aslam became dominant and powerful it became its own civilization when Islam became its own civilization then we should set the standard and not follow other standards when Islam was being persecuted when Islam was the the one that's not you know at the top at this stage right at that stage it did not make sense to make mahadeva it would have been problematic to to oppose and the profitsystem did not oppose at that time so the concept of and one can also say by the way winking one can also say that at that stage the process and wanted to copy the allocate AB because the ala Khattab were closer to the truth than the pagans so by copying the I had a key table he is still closer to the truth than paganism now that Islam has become dominant he doesn't need to show that anymore at all and he can now set the standard and move on from that so the issue of mahadeva toluca far of being different from the Kafar is one that is yes it is something that does exist in our tradition and that many many scholars have written books about it and perhaps the most famous book ever written and definitely one of the most thorough books ever written is the book by Cheryl Assemblyman Tamiya which is called Aikido sir rotten was Mustafina Mahalo fatty Oscar bill Jaheim following the sirat al-mustaqim by going against the people of Jaheim the title of the book tells you following the sirat al-mustaqim by making Mahalo by being different of the people going to Jaheim whoever is going to Jaheim we don't want to be like them we should be other than them and that's how we're gonna be on sirat al-mustaqim okay and he establishes in this book a two-volume book it's a nice chunky volumes to volume book he is a very detailed book PhD has been written as well and some university about this came across it and the book is available in arabic and a summarized version is somewhere in english a very summarized version not the whole book at all and in this book he establishes a a psychological and theoretical foundation to make the argument that the Shabo is wrong the Shabo is detrimental to one's iman and to one's faith and he basically says i'm summarizing in the entire two volumes in three minutes he basically says that it is healthy for a community to be associated in each and every way possible outwardly and inwardly you want to be associated with the people of the truth with the people of your own faith of your own religion it is he calls it a share our a sign of islam that you demonstrate your islam and others see your islam and he gives examples like you know you feel a camaraderie when you see somebody dressed up like you automatically there's a connection right if you're in a strange land wearing your clothes you know just imagine a pakistani comes in Schwar come is early America 67 it doesn't have any other clothes he sees another Shiva come he's in the crowd what's he gonna do automatically there's gonna be that connection right that connection even timmy is saying is good to have four people of Iman what's wrong with it if your Iman and you have other people of Iman you should strengthen one another in that regard and he mentions that this is why our dress indicates our internal attitude why we dress up when we go to an event when we go to an interview we're not gonna go in our pajamas it indicates something why is there a gear or a room a code of dress for specific things so the army the military why do they dress in a certain manner when they dress up in those army fatigues they actually get in the spirit of doing and marching and whatnot it has an impact okay I go scuba all the time when I dress up in my scuba gear even if I'm not in the water I just waiting to get into the water it's just there it's human nature that you want to do that so his point is of course that Muslims should have that collective feeling and let people of other faiths look dressed in their manner let them be different and dressed in their manner and let people of Islam dress in their manner as well and of course he quotes the famous decree of ramadan kitab which is the the famous decree which has been obviously criticized roundly by many people because it goes against modern you know the modern nation-state and secularism it definitely doesn't go against it from that regard and that is that it remodeled allahu and he made it decreed that people of different faiths should wear different clothing this was in his Halawa muslims should dress like this and it is not allowed for them to wear the clothing of the ali Khattab they had the Khattab dress like this that's their clothing that's their clothing they shouldn't dress the way muslims dress so he made a ruling in this regard and it is called the ruling over omar and he had a long list of issues and by the way the ruling of omar was not universally applied throughout Islam okay it is very clear anybody who says to the contrary is simply wrong the bulk of Islamic history was not applied whether you agree with that being valid or not is a separate issue I'm just saying as a factual statement for the majority of the Oma's existence civilizations did not enforce these types of codes of conduct even though yes socially it was understood but there was no enforcement on this this was something that very rarely took place but even Tamiya quotes this as well and he then spends one volume out of two talking about celebrations basically forty percent of the book is about celebration even though it's about touchable but where does most of the tea shop will occur in these celebrations and he specifically mentions the Nowruz and the various Christian festivals and he claimed and of course says that it is not allowed to celebrate them at all um it'd been taymiyah by the way he makes a very interesting tidbit he just mentioned and then moves on and it shows you that his argument is much more nuanced than many of his later followers make out he says that these laws are contextual even Tamiya says and he says that at some times and some places the Shibboleth go far becomes MOBA or maybe even watch abhor mustahab this is a Ben Tamiya who has two volumes against the shop bow he just has one paragraph and then moves on but it is that one paragraph that interests us and he mentions at some times at some occasions - a book might be MOBA might even be mustahab maybe even it is rajab and he gives only three or four examples and he moves on because that's not the purpose of his book and of the examples he gives for example if a Muslim is living in dar el cover or dar al-harb and it is gonna cause an issue for him to dress differently in that case it becomes mustahab to dress like the people this is even Tamia who overall was very strict that Muslims should have their dress code but see here is the problem and I keep on I've said this many times before that many of the followers of event a Mia they actually tarnished the image of Tunisian Tamia and they just copy and paste his Futaba without understanding where he's coming from even Tamia is riding in Damascus of 700 Hitler he is riding when there is a powerful mom Luke civilization he is riding when there is a and glory when 90% of the city is going to be Muslim it's a very different time in place and for his followers to copy and paste snippets and then apply them in modern secular humanistic democracies in a very different time in place it's is simply wrong and that is one of my main arguments in today's lecture that some of these fatah might be valid when they were uttered by whom they were uttered but fatwas are contextual they are not permanent they're not the speech of Allah Allah did not forbid certain things certain times and places might have done so so anyway the point is that Bentham he does have this book he should be aware of it many other books were written as well I'm not gonna go over a history of these books written however realize one point for most of Islam's history Muslims lived in Muslim majority lands that were ruled by Islam there was a Halawa a Sultanate an empire whether it was the Mughal Empire whether it was the Ottoman lands where there was the mum Luke most of the time Muslims are living in Muslim dominant countries are not even countries not called countries the nation-state is a modern construct as you know it is a European construct but the point is that the concept of Muslims living as a thriving minority in a lon Muslim land was very very rare almost unheard of before modernity as well the advent of colonization changed the dynamics of Muslim non-muslim interaction so when the colonizers came and they didn't come they invaded Muslim lands when the colonizers invaded Muslim lands the issue of imitating the Kafar once again was brought up think about it you have people of other faiths coming in pillaging your country raping literally and metaphorically your peoples and your lands okay acquiring destroying this and that in that context for the last 250 years basically Napoleon basically invaded Egypt in 1790 1780 1790s and that's the beginning of colony at the beginning of official colonization before this you have unofficial colonization where you know if anyone let's not go into there anyway where was I colonisation began unofficially 1600s officially it's late 1700s and at that point in time the issue of the Shabaab elko far once again was brought to the forefront why can anybody tell why imitating the Kafar at this point in time quickly we don't have time hurry up okay so there's a sense of identity here against against them what else is a valid point what else recognize who's Muslim who's not okay what else you are being invaded do you want to copy the image invaders what does it show about your own self IRISA if the people that have raped and pillaged you are the same people you want to emulate think about that there is a dignity dignity it's your dignity at stake here have you no shame have you no dignity that the very people that have destroyed your civilization you will then put them on a pedestal okay this notion of there is of Islam came to the forefront and that is why in the last 250 years the issue of Tasha bobelcue far came to the forefront of discussions in medieval Islam it's they're here and they're bent a me I wrote one book on it is two volumes but it is not the majority he wrote literally hundreds of volumes it is not a major source of books and writings in medieval Islam it's there but it's you know it's not a big deal but in the last 250 years and especially in the era of colonization and now we're talking about this all the time it changes a lot of things and of course the issue comes as we said of dignity and RZA and this is a cross so this isn't just an event a Mia or a Salafi issue this transcends any one trend so for example the famous African scholar Northman Dan fo do who died 1817 both man dan Foley was a great alum from from Africa from the Fulani tribe and he founded the Sokoto Empire and the socotra Empire was a magnificent Empire in Africa that was lasting for 200 something years and he fought his his Empire not him himself fought against the British and this I mean is a very amazing legacy of the sukkot Empire the founders with mundane folio and he's writing at a time when the British are invading and they're colonizing and they're you know doing their things whatnot he writes a treatise called Toledo Allen Iman mentorship Bobby al quad-a would RC on warning the people of Iman from imitating the Kafar and the evil people another warning book and he at this stage he writes that Muslims should not be dressing in the style of the colonizers of the people that are basically taking us over of course it makes complete sense I mean these are the people that are literally killing you literally and you're gonna abandon your culture and abandon your people and a sense of inferiority complex and you're gonna dress like them okay complete makes completely sense and of course with mundane folio as we said it's not just any one trend of Islam he's a Maliki scholar of the ashati school of theology of Qadri Sufi and he's writing in a way that very much allies with him and Tamiya very much it's really the same spirit and it's not just medical oddity a shoddy in India when the British came again there was a very strong movement to oppose the British in everything that the British had to do this was something that was very well known and in particular the day Obon school and of course our Indian brothers all know that the Obon school and we should all understand that the Bundy school is a direct reaction to the British Invasion that the Obon madrasah was founded after the mutiny of 1857 literally it is literally caused by the collapse of the Mughal Empire so that they owe Bundy tradition over all and I say this with respect I'm not the Abunda so it's awkward whenever I talk about another tradition but I'm equally critical of all and respectful of all now inshallah no big deal point is that one needs to understand what is the mindset of the day Obon the tradition the day o bond is being established literally after the British have kicked out and exiled the last Model M Emperor and the beautiful dynasty of Islamic India has collapsed and the British have now taken over come lately what do you think is gonna be the mindset of the ulema it's going to be a very closed very angry with the British legit how would of course they're gonna be angry with the British of course there's gonna be this somewhat of a self is a mentality like I'm not gonna do anything with the British and so many fellows were given at the time that it is haram impermissible to dress like the British act like the British eat like the British learn the British language go to British schools and why should they not give such a fatwa you understand that this is now a sense of we are Muslims they have come and taken us over and sofa tours were given and at the time even it was considered Haram by this group of ulema to study in the British schools and of course the British cause at the time were missionary school so think of that as well there was an element of conversion wanting to take place as well so completely understandable okay my criticism is not to have 1857 day Obon is that 1918 the Obon hasn't changed much that's the criticism it's not that it happened when it happened but the mindset is still the same and booklets were written I came across one Maulvi Abdul high authority he wrote a booklet warning the Muslims of India from shaving their beards and from wearing coats and pants and from wearing under a donkey topi the Hat of the young Greece okay this is he gay this is something is that is Haram to wear the hat of the British you should wear the Muslim topi and not ungrazed okay topi okay not the Hat of the British and again I mean this was written 100 100 years ago more than that of course put yourself in the shoes of Indian Muslims why would you give up your land your civilization your culture and want to emulate a group of people that have destroyed them all Emperor Empire think about that makes hundred and ten percent sense and and this guy of course is a Hanafy near Bundy what not is not some you know and the reason I say that cuz some people say oh this is just a salivating the imitation to go far no it's universal in Islam and another last example attitude came along this enemy of Islam he came along he abolished the Caliphate and he forbade Muslims from wearing their Islamic headgear and he mandated in the 1920 three or four he mandated all men must wear English caps English hats cuz you know in that day Westerners all were there in their hats this is well known and you look of any any black and white movie any Westerner once the movie why are they wearing hats it was the custom of the day to wear that cap so Ataturk you should know this Ataturk legislated that every Turkish male must wear European hat what do you think the LMR gonna say tell me Haram is Haram we are Turks we have our who are you to come and tell us to wear and so a certain Atif Hodja he wrote a pamphlet in which he claimed that wearing such a hat is a sign of the one who is morally bankrupt know Iman no table so the Hat becomes the sign of moral bankruptcy and you know what I agree with that for the time and place very legitimate fatwa complete makes sense okay and by the way he himself in Hodja Hodja atif Hodja he writes in his pamphlet that he is one of the few that mentions that the Prophet SAW said him he was the one who initially he wanted to copy the hide-a-key tab then when the power balance shifted in the favor Islam then he wanted to be different from the Holika table what he's implying is that the attitude is doing the opposite that the power balance is the opposite now now you have an inferiority complex and you want to do the other way and so we have these types of treatises written in Egypt in Damascus in India in Istanbul and it makes complete sense but the issue we need to ask ourselves is is it Islamic to copy and paste those fellows from those times in places and then put them and bring them into our time and place once upon a time dressing like a European was something that only Europeans did no Muslim dressed like that and there were no Muslims in Europe in large quantities and it was a Muslim land so for Muslims in Muslim lands to give up their culture their habits their language and take on the language of the colonizer well llahi there is no doubt this is inferiority complex and we worry about inferiority complex of Iman and not just a fairly complex of civilization ok this is very clear but that was over a century ago more than a century ago and since that time and place obviously much has changed much has changed and based on that therefore our scholars themselves have also begun to change realize that it wasn't just coats and hats but words were given at the time believe it or not that wearing watches was Haram too because it was not something that Muslims did ok fat was a given are many different natures in this regard but as we said one needs to understand at that time in place to do something different from your people indicated something even Tamiya himself writes and now I quote that paragraph if a Muslim is endowed with how to pour in a land of non Muslims then in that case he is not required to appear differently from the people and then he mentions reasons and whatnot and this is something that again was understood the famous Egyptian scholar Muhammad Abdul as well he was asked more than a hundred years ago Muslims in South Africa South African Muslims they spoke about them a few months ago as well Muslims from South Africa they were wearing the European style hat and the he was asked this fatwa is it halal to wear the European style hat in South Africa and he gave the fatwa that it is permissible for them to do that because it seals them from the Sun because the situation is different etc etc now we see therefore that we do have these rules of not imitating the Kafar but looking at the texts and the context we and arrive for principals okay and these are the four principles that I will use before I move on to the final point which is the issue of celebrations firstly the primary prohibition of imitating the Kafar deals with rights of worship and religious festivals therefore anything that is religious of another religion the default is that it is Haram any ritual any worship that they do any festival that they do if a person does the religious ritual that is unique to that ritual there is no doubt they have fallen into Haram and if they do it thinking Allah will reward them then it is haram and ba'da if they do it from a religious perspective it is haram and bida and if you now go back to those twenty a hadith I mention almost all of them deal with specific rituals some of them are customs but almost all of them deal with rituals so the first rule the default is that imitating the religious rituals of other faiths is haram and this is what those are hadith primarily referred to secondly the shabu imitation can only occur to that which is unique and specific to a particular faith or civilization not when it is generic to large groups of mankind the Shabo has to be done for something whether it is an action or it is a là-bas or it is a festival that is unique to one group of people if it is done by large segments of different civilizations there is noticeable because it is generic and many examples are here any type of cuisine any type of technology any type of mechanism that people live by that they adopt from other civilizations and cultures there is no tisha bow when it is not unique to one civilization if large segments of the world are doing something such that it is not recognizable to be one civilizations then there is no tisha bow meant Asia Bobby Coleman for human home there has to be a comb that you're making fish above and there are many examples of this you know this Salman or the Alana suggestion to build the ditch where did it come from the Persians did the president say oh I'm not gonna do that no the issue came of the process of wearing a ring with the stamp on it the first time he wrote a letter to Heraclius they said to him the Sahaba said yah rasool allah it is the custom of those people that they will never accept us a letter from a ruler except that there's a wax seal on it so the president didn't say oh the shabu bill go far I can't do it he said okay make us ring for me mohammed rasoolallah as we know so I said him he made that ring he put the wax seal he sent to to Heraclius there is no tea shabu this is the culture of the world that's what everybody does so he did it okay and as so many other things as well I mean cuisine wise our process will never age rice in his whole life he never ate rice is somebody gonna say it's the shabu to eat rice no eating rice is not of one civilization it's generic food nothing the shabu in this as well so we said that the issue of the shabu it must be something that is unique to a specific faith a specific civilization also it is very important to note and if I am himself mentions this that the whole issue of looking different needs to be taken into the context that our prophesies of himself did not look radically different from his own people this is something that a lot of those who talk about the chef will go far they ignore when the process them said don't make the shabu Belko far what was he wearing the same clothes as the Qureshi of Makkah the exact same clothes he did not bring about a fashion revolution think about this is something that the the more stricter strand for example that they always want to say don't don't don't they don't understand the content even of the original hadith the Arabs dressed in a certain manner our processing was out of here's the point meant the shabiha become in for who am in home is not necessarily evil all the time whoever imitates a group as of them the process of imitated out of is he an Arab yes or no whoever imitates that out of this of them he's an out of his that a problem no see this is the point that some group of scholars again this is person I mean that they tried their best but you have to be a little bit more broad in your understanding of what's coming going on here even opium himself may this isn't some left-wing progressive talk if they of himself mentions in his book this is not in a camera with him it'll come to me know I think it's what Kareem he mentions that the as'll when it comes to the clothing the base default and the Sunnah is that the person wears the clothes of his people as long as it is halal to do so obviously if you're in the land that doesn't have clothes it's not sooner to go naked so as long as it is halal to do so our prophet says I'm dressed in the clothing of his people and he dressed up in accordance with the clothing of his people hadith that when the process and visited when dignitaries visited he had a special Yemeni cloak he would wear for them this is dressing up now who told our process of him that a Yemeni cloak is considered dressing up did he invent that or was that the custom of the time you see it was the custom of the time Yemen was a better civilization than hedges at that time and Yemen had better cloth and better you know embroidery so the Yemeni cloth the Yemeni shawl on top was a better garment so when delegations would come he would wear Yemeni the Yemeni shawl on top he is dressing up in accordance with the culture of his time so once again the problem comes these ulema who talk about - abu bakr far there is nothing with the shabu with your own people when the people's are generic like the process in himself if we want to dress up we will wear a jacket a coat a suit this is our culture and that is why I say it is Sunnah meaning Sunnah in the sense of what a processor would do it is Sunnah to dress in accordance with the culture of your peoples and it is a problem that some of our ulema make it something embedded in the minds of the people that anybody who dresses like this cannot be a person of knowledge he must be dressed and here's the irony if you want to look at where a person is coming from look at the clothing of their ulema so people of certain persuasion will dress in the Kurdish Alwar white with the turban you know and they go back to 1700 India and that's the Sunnah for them others are gonna be dressing in a Moroccan you know though with the type of turbine and that's basically 1,800 Morocco others are gonna dress like the saudi styles of the 1700 anything that is the sunnah and each one of their sunnis is essentially their founders of their own tradition and they think this is the default and they don't see the process and himself never wore the clothes that they think is this one now never not even the thought that they wear because that fine cotton that they're wearing with the nice buttons made in italy huh with the beautiful Sanwa that the way and the underwear let's not forget that as well right because again let's be honest here see and again I have to some to be a little bit facetious a little bit sarcastic because it is irritating that the very people who tell us don't do this job they fall into it I mean hey thula at the dehydration without even understanding okay look at the watches that they're wearing okay look at the Pens that they have look at where is it coming from the small things you know the the jacket even on the thobe there's gonna be a jacket where did I come from so in their own way they are taking even as they tell us living in western lands to follow them in their clothes thinking it is the Sun no it is not the Sunnah and if you understand this point then as we said the Shabbat can only take place rule number two and something that is unique and specific to a pretty killer faith or a particular civilization pants and shirts are now no longer a part of one civilization in 1750 Mobile India yes it was why would an Indian in 1700 Delhi who dressed like the angrist why no reason but times have changed and that fatwa is no longer applicable there is no inferiority complex anymore we dress up because this is the way we dress up there's no notion of that's us and them anymore the anger is have not only left India we are in their lands now okay this whole angle is is the British the engraves are no longer in India well indirectly at least but they're not directly in India we are now in their lands whole situation has changed so this is the second rule the third rule here is that there is no tisha bow without an intention for tisha bow you cannot have to shove bow without one thing to have to shove boy in other words something that's just happening something that you just do can never beat the shampoo how two points are actually would say three points number one the word - a bow means there is an extra effort because a little bit advanced tiebreaker but just bear with me - Abu Halle was not a foul the ferrule means you did something to get there - ah bow means to be similar intentionally or unintentionally the Shabo you wanted to be similar the word used is Tasha bow not the shabu and Tasha bow means to be similar our process um did not forbid - ah bow he forbade the shabu the Shabo means you go out of your way and you intend I want to copy that person anything that you do just because you're doing it because everybody's doing it that's not the shopbot also we say in them and I'm a loop in the yacht's actions are my intentions and so if there is no intention for touchable then it is not touchable and of course there's something some of the classical scholars as well said even Abidine a famous Hanafy alum he mentions in his book that the shabu is only makrooh when the issue itself is blameworthy and when the intention is to imitate when the intention is to imitate when the intention is not to imitate and the issue is generic what clothes do what food you're gonna eat there's no tisha boy in this regard therefore that which occurs naturally amongst any groups of people this might be - ABBA but it is not - a bow and Tasha boy is not Haram the shabu is Haram fourthly that which is no longer unique to non-muslims is no longer Haram to imitate something that might have been unique in the past but is no longer unique now it is no longer Haram to imitate and this is something again this isn't something I'm inventing classical drama mentioned many examples in the medieval times the problem comes and I say this would at most respect many of our ulema still their mindset is in medieval times they cut and paste those fatah wa and they stick to them without allowing their own intellects to think about the context of Zilpha Dawa and broaden not all of them but some or many of them are like this and this is unfortunately and my humble opinion listen to my lectures enough to know this is one of the reasons why unfortunately there is a disconnect between many of the scholars and between the populations of Muslims a lot of times the scholars with my utmost respect to them they are operating in their own little circles of influence amongst their very practicing very hard core conservative Muslims and the rest of the Ummah is disconnected from them and there are reasons for this one of them being again anyway so this is why my criticism here when the situation changes and it is no longer unique to the Kafar then it is no longer prohibited to imitate and this is why you see me dressed up in this manner over here whereas I myself two hundred years ago would have fully agreed with the futurus that it is haram to dress up like this because dressing up like this two hundred years ago would imply something very different in India in Ottoman Turkey in Damascus whereas now times and places have changed and again this isn't anything new for example there are many ass out of the the Sahaba some even say there's a lot of Hadid but there are I thought of the Sahaba they're definitely you know statements where wearing a certain type of cap which is called la ELISA was considered to be something not good to do however this stylistic cap was worn by the Jews of a certain place however and it resembles the type of frankly frankly the Chimel that some of those Rudy's wear these days something similar to that ok and many other cultures were okay it resembles like that but that I Odessa was considered to be forbidden or makrooh by many of the classical Rome at their first to three generations because it was something the Yahoo did slowly but surely the Muslims kept on wearing wearing wearing until it became something they themselves did even had your comments on this prohibition and he says this would only have been forbidden when the toilets are was something that was only worn by the Jews but that is no longer the case now so it is permissible to wear it this has even had your writing not some left field progressive guy and in fact one of the famous scholars of hadith was called Imam at by a lessee because he was known from a family of this he was called a mammoth i odyssey and the same goes for many other issues imam ahmed for example and some of the earliest scholars many of the early scholars even some Sahaba they insisted that Muslims wear their turbans with technique and technique means you take it over here and you take it under your beard and you throw it behind ok so this is the technique it goes underneath it and they said that it is makrooh it shouldn't be done that you don't practice technique this is the first generation this was the Hejazi style of wearing the turban let's say well as Islam spread people wore turbans in different manners and people would you know cut off the tail and wear only the turban and that version in the time of the first generations was not done by the Arabs it was done by the iGEM or other people and there are a from the early Sahaba and tap your own to not dress with the Turk there's not no hadith there's no hiding things just Sahaba the anti bein and Imams to have technique later scholars said no big deal if you do - honey ignore - hug no big deal what happened people just kept on wearing wearing one until finally it became something that is permitted so therefore it is very very clear that our scholars understood that something might be the Shabo in one time or one place or one land but it is not the shovel in another time or another place or another land and that is I think where unfortunately a lot of times when you hear this how on fatwas those scholars are not following this simple rule certain things might have been - Shabo they're no longer to shove board now this is pretty clear but let's get to the final issue before we get to the actual law the actual we haven't even done the reads that we're gonna do that in a while on the show don't worry we'll get it done today so let's get to the final issue we talked about a culture ceasing to be unique to non-muslims like Delhi bas what if a religious ritual ceases to be a religious ritual you see the difference between the Libas and the ritual what is something that used to be from the dean of the non-muslims slowly over time stopped to be from their deen and became something from their culture this is the key point here okay does the ruling is it related to the origin such that no matter what happens we will go back to the origin or is the ruling related to how people perceive it such that if it's ritual it will be ritual and if it is custom it will be custom remember rule number one was rituals or how long to imitate that's rule number one right well what if it used to be a ritual but it is now a custom and no longer a ritual okay here is where we have two camps here is where we had two schools of thought a well-known position and this is the one that basically makes these celebrations Haram is that it doesn't matter how people view it we go back to the origin and if the origin is pagan then the ritual will be pagan even if it is no longer practiced as paganism and this is the basis of which many celebrations are considered to be how long and you will read this in any fatwa that makes it Haram they will go back to its origin they'll look up some book a lot of times it's not even true sometimes it might be true it's not it's relevant whether it's true or not but the point is that the Hadean is based on its origin and they say ah what is the origin of birthdays what is the origin of Nowruz what is the origin of New Year's what is the origin of this and that and they will go and link it to something pagan the famous photo you've all heard of what is the origin of the ties even though this is a myth the origin the ties is not the cross but still the photo was given and so it's still common in our days to hear it the ties used to be a Christian symbol and therefore it is haram because the origin is a you know a Christian symbol so they will link it to the origin however I respectfully disagree with that and I say that it is very clear looking at the Sharia and that lived realities and I'll explain it is very clear and in my mind personally it is crystal clear and this is the position of frankly frankly the majority of scholars of the world beyond one strand of Islam there's one strand that is very hard core on this but the majority of scholars the world beyond that strand they they don't view it this way they say that what is considered to be a custom is a custom regardless of its origin being a ritual you look at the NIA in Amman our Madhuban yet you look at the NIA and they actually bring the evidence of the hadith of wanna remember this the slaughter of the camel they bring that back as an interesting point here in one version when the man comes and says to the process I want to slaughter a camel in bwana in one version even Maha prophet sallallahu alayhi wa seldom says do you find something of jahiliya still in your heart in Bana and the man says no so the process in that case go to Bwana notice what he linked it to do you find some of the feelings of jahiliya do you still have that veneration is that something why Babu onna what is there is that something you're linking to Jaidee said no in that case then go so Nia matters not that boy Anna might have been a pagan land a thousand years ago the man did not feel any attachment religiously to born do you have anything in your heart of jail you know okay then go to it this hadith isn't it made magic and from this I would say the majority of scholars beyond that one strand that thinks they're following him in taymiyah but I don't think they're following hey Ben Tamiya that one strand they beyond that one strand they basically say we don't look at the origin fifteen thousand years ago five thousand years ago two thousand years ago we look at the lived reality and based on that therefore they say if the people don't view this as being a ritual and they view it as being a custom then we will view it as being a custom and not a ritual and this is I would say the lived experience Ulrika man beings let us look at the issue of birthdays who in the world celebrates a birthday thinking of some type of paganism nobody even pagans who do pagan stuff don't do birthdays with the neo-paganism they go to the woods and do whatever they do they don't do birthdays rituals of paganism are gone by the way I don't even know if it is true because to be brutally honest a lot of times these fatwas they find hodgepodge type of things and they bring them and academic studies need to be done that are a little bit more thorough is it really something that is a hundred percent solely coming out of paganism but even if it is even if it is it doesn't change the fact that it is no longer done so those scholars who say let's look at the origin they will also say for example you cannot buy Nike Nike is how so unknown fatwa why is Nike Haram according to this group because the guy who you know made Nike wears the Nike guy who works here where's our Nike guy he's not here huh we have three people from Nike and our machine Michelle did you not know that did she get free free free Nike gifts at home do as well if you if you if you know them well they'll give you a free Nike shoe give them your shoe size size so they say Nike is Haram why is Nike Haram because that swoosh is the symbol of what is it the symbol of which one your the Nike guy yeah see here we have the Nike guy okay no don't worry I'm not gonna say it's Haram don't worry you can raise your hand you should know the symbol of your own company it is the Greek god of victory it is the Greek god of victory now to believe that somebody is going to buy Nike to venerate the Greek god of victory and to put the God on his shoe to venerate it I mean you tell me does this make sense to you but see this is again the problem of Allah bless all of our ummah but i have to say see these types of fat was unfortunately what they do they disconnect the masses from their ulema this is the problem they disconnect the masses from the ulema and the fatwa is baseless it's not based in academic training of Islam somebody's gonna put a symbol of a God on his shoe to respect the God what what so that's their photo they said call us it comes from there but you see these same people that say wearing Nike is haram these same groups of people they will have no problems talking about the days of the week and the days of the month which are all venerations of God's Sunday is the Sun God Monday the moon God Thursday the god of for the Nordic God Wednesday is wooden Odin the god of the Nordics wooden is Wednesday every single day of the week and I'm not this is the reality look it up the months as well every Monday on July August is veneration of somebody its veneration of a false god and we are using this all the time from there perspective it should be Haram to say Monday but who says that because they can't and so again because we have to look at the reality of how the culture is done not the origin and again I mean there are rituals in every single religion that have faded out and become culture without exception and I'll give you example from our own cultures the Mandi right the Mandi that happens in the weddings okay and for the non desi folks here there's a it is it is mandatory in our culture watch it no further in Hana fee fart you cannot have and this is something that even the most practising ultra-conservative the Abunda Salafi shaadi whatever they will all do it doesn't matter they will do the Mandi what is the Mandi it is a celebration where henna is put in elaborate designs on the body of the and the hand and the face and the feet of the of the bride okay now it is well known that the origin of the Mandi is Vedic Hindu practices it is well known look this up that the origin is to venerate the Sun by drawing symbols of the Sun that's why these intricate things are done in the color of the Sunda yellow and whatnot right and the turmeric and that all of this is done there it is coming straight out of Vedic practices in ancient Hinduism but even Hindus these days don't even do it with that it's gone and Bangladeshis have it as well right the Mandi and Nepalese and Pakistanis and Indians we all are doing it and we are Sikhs Buddhist Muslim Hindu is all gone now the ritual has lost its ritual meaning and has become something that is cultural so the verdict will be based on the culture and not on the origin man these are halal what happens in there might be Haram that's something else but the Mandi itself is Helen okay see that's the point so we look at what is going on over here so based on all of this I mentioned four rules we can summarize the issue of the shabu and then move on to celebrations in reality the shabu applies in two and only two scenarios that's it the table that is haraam only two things number one when there is something unique to a religion and the only thing that's unique to religion is the rituals and festivals of a religious nature wearing a cross is a religion okay having the skullcap is a religious thing that type of skullcap okay the Buddhist yellowish thing okay menorah is a particular religion so that's or going to the church or synagogue this is a religious ritual the Shabo and that is clearly not something we do and number two when a Muslim intentionally goes out of his culture and civilization in order to feel a sense of pride in a non in a civilization culture other than his own this is an inferiority complex that is Haram because you should take is a-- in his own people simple as that if he happens to be of those people like the Prophet system was out of like we are Americans there is no tisha book when we dressed like our own people we're not going out of our way to dress like somebody but somebody else in order and also as if in Tamiya said even if a Muslim were to be visiting their lands that he's not doing it to get ISA he's doing it to get bike through customs without people decide being dressed in a tub in a turban or something no problem there Islam's not that strict this is even Tamiya riding the same guy who wrote two volumes on if that almost stopped him but again his followers don't really read him they cut and paste from him they don't read him as I I criticize those groups of people that they only read event they mere they don't think even Tamiya they just you know they don't really understand it bent ami in any case so now we get to after all of this the conclusions of the actually reads okay so with that very necessary preload of the Shabbat we get to the issue of celebrations read and we'll mention four four aspects number one celebrating a celebration yourself celebrating a celebration yourself there are four types of celebrations the first any celebration that is personal and private that is something that is not communal and something that is not religious any personal or private celebration that is nothing to do with the religion has nothing to do with Islam Islam is not making it hotter more halal or macoraba the celebration is neutral the Sharia did not dictate personal celebrations there's nothing in the Sharia that dictates anything about personal celebrations the hadith about Allah substituting towards as we're going to come to if anything it is a communal a personal celebration cannot be a bid because there's no religion involved and the Sharia did not dictate when you can be happy and when you can throw a party and invite friends over there's nothing in the Sharia for or against this it is neutral so if you graduate and you want to have a festival go ahead if you get a new house well festive will go ahead if you're bored and you want to have a festival go ahead if you think it is the day you were born or whatever your birthday and you want to have a festival go ahead the Sharia is not telling you anything about this there is nothing in and of itself that forbids it and therefore these personal celebrations and in particular the two most famous ones are birthdays and anniversaries there is nothing in the Sharia to forbid them now the group says it is better we say with utmost respect this is the weakest argument it cannot be better because when you celebrate the birthday of your five-year-old kid do you expect a lot to reward you for that is it a part of the religion No you have not understood the meaning of bitter with my utmost respect even though you might be more knowledgeable than me and the milling one feels it can't be bitter this is just wrong number two they're gonna say oh this is the shabu with the go far so we got rid of the issue is better the say number two is - oh boy doc you fought well we already we already explained in a lot of detail that there can be no - ah buh when it is something that is done by large groups of people transcending any civilization and we said that even if the origin was pagan if nobody is understanding paganism and it is a generic ritual there is noticeable so the Shabak cannot be there there is noticeable in eating hamburgers and french fries there's noticeable and liking cheesecake there's no - ah boy in dressing like this in speaking English there is no - ah boy in celebrating birthdays cannot beat the shampoo we understood this point with that then they say oh but the origin is pagan we already explained the origin is pagan means nothing because Tuesday's also pagan and we all know what Tuesday is okay then they say oh but birthdays and anniversaries have intermixing and shut up and Haram things what do we say to this drink water don't make something Haram because of something that is obviously Haram and something else don't mix and match don't pick and choose like this way okay make it hell I'll keep it halal then do that then they say oh but there's it's rough and waste of money to which we say who amongst us is safe from that why are you picking and choosing this one battle and ignoring the is rough in your wardrobe this is often going out to restaurants they soften this and that and then you want to prohibit the five-year-old birthday if I real trans birthdays like this be fair birthdays are halal because there's nothing to make them how is that clear the default everything a hella you have to prove it huh and anything they throw at you and I've been saying this for more than a decade is nothing new for your hearing from me but because people are so sensitive in this regard it cannot be toshiba and it's ironic you are speaking to me in English wearing pant insured living in America and you're talking about birthdays being fashionable what do you come in again think about this it's not the shovel it's a generic thing that everybody is doing it's nothing to do with any paganism on top of this on top of this certain types of these celebrations can actually bring a positive goal that the Sharia wants love between families anniversaries are of the most easiest ways to win your wife's heart back Marshall it's about a cola please don't forget your anniversaries I I I say it is Sunnah meaning meaning not Sun delight so now here meaning the goals of the Shetty arson or not the process one obviously ultimately it is of the goals of the Shelia to celebrate your anniversary quote me on that no problem it is of the goals of the Sharia to celebrate your anniversary why not of the goals of the Sharia to bring love between a couple and Allah created women that way they love these dates us we don't even think about the days that's the problem right make sure you put the date in your calendar ten times like put it right now like whatever is your anniversary make there and then surprise go out have a nice party do something a lot obviously no shut up just drink some some grape juice no problem keep it holla but celebrate why not what is wrong how can the Sharia forbid a celebration between a husband and wife that will increase their love think about again those ulema didn't make it Haram based on what so we say all of this is completely there's no basis to make it how long tell you we talked about the four types a celebration of our own personal separation is number two celebrations that are of a communal nature but are non-religious fourth of July or national days and Muslim lands or whatnot so a group of scholars say that it is how long again as we as we said and they quote the hadith Allah has given you two days better than those two days I understand where they're coming from and frankly let me be frank here when it comes to joint communal civilizational holidays they have a better point because the hadith and be understood to apply to communal holidays there hadith of Allah has given you - it is better than those trades cannot be use for birthdays because it's not an eID where people come together it's your personal house or your whatever I mean you get mama it's not a communal holiday which is a need it's not the gathering of people it's the gathering of your friends a national secular day I can understand the argument nonetheless and therefore some early might say Haram other lms a makrooh and that makes sense to me and yet others say that in and of itself as long as there's no religion involved it cannot be bitter because there is no religion right and if it is done for any other goal or whatnot it becomes move our what not really even makrooh but the point is to argue that it is haram is simply a big word where did you get her on from even the hadith Allah has substituted your two days for two better days does not indicate the Hadean substitution does not indicate the heading if the process um had wanted to he could have said very easily Allah has forbidden any reads other than our two reads and that would have in that wording we could have forbidden any national secular holiday that wording but he didn't he talked about two religious festivals of jahiliya and he said those two religious festivals get rid of them and Allah has given you two better religious festivals so religious festivals we already agree we're gonna come to this as well so bottom line generic and by the way we're talking about you celebrating meaning you doing it if you are the president of the country should you endorse a secular this were talking about we're gonna come to number two which is attending we don't do the 4th of July we are we are witnessing there's a difference between do we don't do Thanksgiving we're witnessing there's a difference we're talking about you instituting that maybe it's makrooh maybe it's MOBA definitely not how long I'm definitely not watch it ok we can eliminate those two makrooh two MOBA is where I would say a secular holiday you instituting it ok number three a holiday that is uniquely religious here we have no problem saying this is where the Sharia says no we do not celebrate Diwali would not celebrate a festival to another God and we do not celebrate Christmas as Muslims we do not Institute those celebrations we don't bring the tree into our house and hang the we don't do that it's not our religion to do that that's what they do we have ours so clearly that's religious celebrations it is Haram number four is a celebration that is in between two and three that's the problem okay or one and three a little bit of this little bit of that such as Thanksgiving such as Halloween it's not clear-cut secular fourth of July and it's not clear-cut well I said thanks I'm sorry let me take the BAI Thanksgiving I would say a secular sorry let me take that back because Thanksgiving there's no there's no particular religion per se that was a mistake a slip of the tongue I didn't mean to say Thanksgiving Halloween is the example I have in mind because Halloween clearly has certain religious connotations and it was meant as a religious festival and to this day segments of mankind celebrate that day as a religious festival to this day not only that but the issue comes of intentionally wanting to dress like Sheldon and whatnot and there it's not clear-cut because you know 99% of the people who celebrate Halloween have no religion in mind but that 1% is there and there is that connotation with Shelton and whatnot and really because of this I cannot say clear-cut hollom and I cannot say clear-cut MOBA it's something that is and here's another question we gave the example of Halloween but in some lands and I predict in America even in 50 years Halloween might become a secular festival when it does there is no question that the ruling will be based upon how people pursue perceive it and now and not how its origins were but right now right now Christmas is a Christmas is a religious festival right now by and large still in America by the way I mean Europe is different some places of Europe is already becoming secular okay huh oh no no I meant Christmas sorry take that back Christmas I meant Christmas Christmas is category three in 50 years Christmas might become category two is what I meant to say scrap that scrub that rewind I was saying that right now Halloween is category for Christmas is category three is that clear category three is pure religion four is vague maybe in 50 years Christmas might become another category that's what I'm saying when it does then the ruling will be based upon that if a time comes when Christmas no longer has anything to do with the birth of Jesus Christ just like the man they no longer celebrates the Sun our sisters did not even know until I said to them that this is celebrating the Sun God didn't even know it and I know some of they're gonna feel guilty when they do it but they don't need to feel guilty nothing to feel guilty about there's no big deal so if Christmas were to leave all Christian connotations and it seems like that's heading that way then at that time the verdict will be different for Christmas and in the interim there's gonna be a great area that we are currently seeing so this is the first thing you celebrating the second thing you attending the celebration you witnessing the celebration this is much more easier because you are not doing it you are seeing it and attending so we're talking about now only religious cuz we already said personal private nothing of the Sharia going to birthday parties nothing wrong with there's nothing in the shitty I don't think do with that unless the Haram is going on there then it's true with the Haram not with the birthday party so we're talking about attending religious festivals now there are a number of a third of the stab wound and the self that discouraged attending festivals and they even interpreted a verse of the Quran well ladina elijah Dunas or they don't attend religious festivals and there's no question that most limbs should not be going to holy sites and participating in rituals of other faith traditions there is no question about this we do not go to the Ganges River how's the blood disgusting you know things happen there as we know they burn bodies and they leave them there you know it's filth for us Nadja sand and that thing is very not very clean we do not go and dip ourselves thinking is gonna be holy do we we don't do that okay we don't go to a temple and give puja to the gods I would have been there so to go on their holy day of course it's not gonna be something we do so that's very clear we do not go to the festival locations however how about going to family festivals that are meant to be in reminiscent of the religious one going to a church on Christmas to celebrate you know the festival religiously it's not the same as going to a family's house that is having a family event okay not the same thing how about going to that family event there is no question that Muslims should not institute these festivals in their houses we said this and generally speaking generally speaking we should avoid these types of festivals even on a private scale because they are primarily religious still but a number of our scholars and this is amjur which is a very conservative body have also said that if a convert wants to attend the festival of their family on that day their ruling is not the ruling of the Muslim born and raised here and he's making a Christmas in his house big difference between the two a convert that's the one day of the year their whole family comes together right you're a second cousin and your third on twice removed and your Matilde aren't whatever they come as the one day of the year they're all gonna come from across the country and they're gonna sit together and you're the only Muslim what a great opportunity to be yourself and show them who you are it is foolish to forbid a convert to go to their family's festival but with the condition that they don't participate in and what in the actual ritual and the photo is it from Amgen many bodies that the convert can go to their personal now how about office festivals office festivals are not religious even if they occur around religious holidays and everybody who works in an office knows this only summer own Emma who have never worked in corporate America think otherwise brutally honest I'm just being anybody who works in the real world knows that festivals at Christmastime in your office have nothing to do with Christmas even if the icons are there but Jews Buddhists Hindus atheists agnostics it is a festival of the office it's not worshipping Jesus Christ so there's nothing wrong with you being in that environment and there are no rituals it's not even allowed in America for them to have rituals on the employees over there you can actually you know they cause them into trouble so no problem being a part of a generic festival that happens to coincide with their one that is not religious is that clear and Imam I'm a very strict item generally speaking great scholar said and this is in the book of halal via the Mohana about wist witnessing Christian celebrations by going to the bazaar there's a Christian celebration going on the bazaar is a festive place there's gonna be you know things going on whatever you can imagine jugglers whatever going and witnessing Imam it said if they're in the bazaar and they don't go to the church I don't see a problem with that this is in my my fireworks on the fourth of July not even religion nothing wrong with that okay we are walking in the bazaar and the Macy's parade is going on on the 25th or they have the tree I'd say oh just the tree in the light you're just looking at it nothing wrong with that per se you're just seeing it you're not being a part of the of the ritual and in fact we can even say therefore there's nothing wrong with taking advantage of Christmas sales no problem lychee Islamic there's no problem an imam ahmed was asked about this you can buy bit amy i would said you can buy on their holy days it meant amy was a big trick streaky's they don't sell to them on there all the days because he was in his mind he was saying if you sell they're gonna use it in their share but in these days who does that anymore so anyway that was his photo in this regard five so that's attending a festival number three congratulating them on their festival I know we're late inshallah we'll be done in ten minutes but this is as you know a very important lecture and it needs to be given number three congratulating them on their celebrations there is nothing explicit from the Quran and Sunnah or any of the four Imams that allows or forbids congratulating them on their celebrations in opium in his famous book a camel edema he has a very harsh comment in which he says that and he's against this he says that to congratulate them for their celebrations is worse than congratulating them for drinking or congratulating them for committing murder because he views it as shirk the celebration so if you're congratulating them for their shirk then you are congratulating them for a sin that is worse than drinking and murder okay now this one I am wrote a few years ago some adolescent simpleton neophyte on YouTube these these overzealous youngsters he's in his fiery voice he said 'i'm says that's celebrating no what is he saying Merry Christmas is worse than murder and that YouTube clip went viral across the internet and like it's this you know even in okay mini tamiya their own followers have done more damage to them than anything they themselves I've ever done their own followers are just so into their own bubble and what not even Liam did not say that William wrote a very precise and actually had to clarify and and and you know explain that to defend in Belgium even if I politely disagree with MLK em but MLK M is very academic he did not say saying Merry Christmas is worse than murder he said congratulating them for their holy days is worse than congratulating them for Hamlet and murder there's a big difference between the two right and this neophyte just literally anyway so you you know my anyway so where was I so yes so even if I am definitely says you should not congratulate them for their and you know I understand it makes sense listen to the logic is very straightforward they say that believing in another God is shittaka spigen ISM it's the worst of all sins and what is a holy day other than venerating that other God whatever that guard might be hence they say to congratulate them on their festival is essentially congratulating them on their belief in another God and worshiping another god so it is a logically constructed argument it's not far left field and we respect that argument we say okay you have made a valid point do realize that it is one opinion and there are many scholars who basically agree with the first bit which is to celebrate to worship another god is and they agree with the second bit to celebrate that God is also wrong but they disagree with the third bit which is to wish somebody a good celebration does not mean that you are endorsing the first two you see this is where the disconnect comes right and this is the standard fatwa from most of our scholars outside of that one school of thought you know scholars from Azhar from Jordan from many of the other and even I know I know for a fact within the Deobandi traditions while there are two schools within this and some of the do Bundy's allow it and some of them don't allow it as well and one of the things that they mentioned is that it is well known in multicultural settings that non-muslims wish us happy reads as well and they don't think that their Christianity is compromised when they say happy read to us they understand that wishing somebody happy read doesn't mean that there now all of a sudden Muslim it's just a generic statement that they say and they also quote the scholars that allow this they quote from the self and from Imam Muhammad and others who basically said that it is allowed to wish for something good for the kafir in this world may you have good life may you have good children and they make a generic dough it's hella so they say if it's allowed to make a generic to any day why can't you say it on the day that they're extra happy you see they just make an argument like this and they also say Allah says in the Quran when somebody greets you then you should greet back the same or better so if somebody says happy read to you on you day why shouldn't you also wish them you know a happy Holi whatever they that they have now and that's a good argument to make I will say without deciding which one is right and wrong let's get out of the fell off and instead of saying Merry Christmas even though I'm not saying it is Haram and I'm not saying it is halal I am just silent about that right now but instead of saying Merry Christmas why don't we get out of the hayloft and use a generic greeting use a generic greeting may God bless you ok happy holiday good day to you whatever is your generic greeting just use a generic greeting so that you get out of the shade off of Group one okay because look I'm gonna be on it so it is a logical argument it's not coming out of again nowhere it's a logical argument why would you wish a particular holy day just be generic happy season or whatever you know you get my point you're interesting a generic greeting and you get out of the sea laughs and you know it reminds me of something even a bus said even a bus said even a bus he said if your own said to me barakallahu freak I would say what about a colonic if your own said to me may Allah bless you I would make me a lovely white why shouldn't I make go out for somebody why shouldn't I make some positive statement for him may Allah bless you okay so if somebody wishes you something you know under say so yes you know and God bless you and you know for us god bless you is good because god bless you with everything including Hidayah god bless you bismillah you know make adora god bless you yes god bless you with good health good life with guidance everything god bless you what's the problem with that you should not be any problem whatsoever so the third thing we said is to greetings and we said I'm not saying Haram I'm not saying how that I'm just saying get out and just say you know generic final thing that we're done accepting gifts because of the celebration accepting gifts because of the celebration your neighbor gives you on Christmas okay can you accept that gift or not I did all the 'allahu on Holly the famous I do heart was living in Kufa and gufa was a landowner Austrians at that time Muslims have come and one day he was gifted something and the Arabic book is called follow that all the Dacey's know what follows edges but your fallow dodge is not their fault with it they didn't have another ice cream in their file with it okay tutti-frutti okay so he was gifted something called fowl ooh that you and he had never gotten it before it was a mixture of conker it was valued at 1400 years old so go back our modern fallow Dodge is generated from that okay the Arabs have no idea followed it right you guys don't know where they have no idea right okay this is in the books of Arabic hadith he was gifted file usage how do they just still in our cultures okay it's a very nice sweet but in our time his ice cream and other things mixed up but of course back then it was different he loved it mashallah tabata Cola so he said what is the occasion why am i gifted this value that they said it is no rules for us I lead of the Allah one the man of my heart he said may every day be your no lose what does this show he liked follow that yes what's the problem in getting gifts on their day this is Ali he rhodiola one may every day before he let me get someone okay someone came to I saw the Aloha our mother and she said we have some Zoroastrian neighbors and they gift us on their Eid can we accept their gifts all right she said anything they sacrificed on that day do not eat but you may eat of their fruits and their plants now why can you not eat the sacrifice of the restraints because they're not adding it up not because it is holiday because she said eat of the others right do page any card okay but name Allah okay the Hindu sense they'll not do eat the ladoo edala do this exactly what the author is exactly what the author is right the Zoroastrian is sending his holy day food Hacha said if there's meat this is Austrian but anything else on the plate go ahead and eat it right and of course the point is that that meat is not Haddad for us to eat and so that's like that I will Buddhist that as well he would say the same thing he was living among the Sahaba overzealously me he was living amongst his rest reans I mean like when Islam was conquering Persia and he told his family as well on the day of Nowruz that anything that comes of meat do not eat but anything else you may eat of it so the same ruling coming on the loose but you may eat of it therefore anything that they gift us on the day that you generically Highland we may take it and the generic rule when we are gifted we give back so if we give back on our eat or even if it's the same day and in and of itself there should be no problem and especially if it's in an office environment which isn't even a ritual a lot of you asked me about the office gives you it's not even a ritual Auslan no big deal so with this insha allah tala we summarize by stating that unfortunately it appears that some roma may allah azzawajal reward them for their cost in their society and their desire to protect Islam in their desire to protect Islam they wanted to make certain things how long and also because these things might have been held on at certain times in places however there is no strong basis to consider these things Haram in particular festivals and celebrations of a generic nature what is Haram are uniquely religious festivals and celebrations that are meant to venerate other gods and these are things we do not do as Muslims but if we happen to witness them third hand we see the fireworks we do it of the so this is how that and if people gift us things on that day as well it is how that as long as the object itself is halal and we may give generic greetings to our friends and neighbors on that day and it's probably safe to avoid specific greetings when it comes to the actual day of the the name of the festival it's probably best to do that and there's nothing in the Sharia that encourages or discourages personal celebrations it's between you and Allah Allah did not dictate it's not something that surely I came with to dictate your personal private celebrations there is no Orin and Sunnah to allow or deny therefore the default is that it is halal things are held at thus the proof comes otherwise and with that in shallow town that time is way too late tomorrow is Thursday we will have the Q&A tomorrow in Charlotte afters on Tanisha for this very topic so come tomorrow first of all today she will have the Q&A for that cinematic more future lawyer border catcher not home didn't El Salado cinema rasullullah who either he was knocking over my baggage so for those of you attended Arizona Kshama we can begin the Q&A is [Music] yeah the problem comes with these other haram items as I said we differentiate between the religious festivals that involve rituals and between the religious festivals that involve happiness but no rituals and the rituals that are dedicated to worshiping other than Allah have a severe level of prohibition and it is the position that I advocated yesterday as Imam Muhammad said that if you're going to go to the bazaar and look at the festival there okay but don't go to the synagogue or the church so if there is a happy festival that is around there holy festival such as in your office there's the Christmas party that takes place or on campus there's the Diwali group taking place the Haram issue doesn't is not just to look at the celebration the Haram issue is what happens there and in this case there is going to be dancing and there's going to be suggestive dancing so even if it wasn't Diwali it wouldn't be appropriate for a Muslim to attend so the issue is not that it is coinciding with Diwali if they were to have a generic Diwali festival with balloons and you know things there's nothing wrong for him to just look and see what's going on like for example there's the you know the parade that takes place over here in some cities there's a parade Christmas parade the thanksgiving parade whatnot or fourth of July fourth of July a secular already said but even those who said it is haram to do it would not they didn't differentiate between doing and between seeing and there's a big difference between you're looking at the festivities versus you participating in the festivities so the issue comes in this case what takes place and not the fact that they're having a festive occasion is that clear okay on the other no again this is this is this is a complex thing so they have brought horses to your you know workplace or whatnot and they're saying come on everybody go ride the horses you know that's what they so if they're asking you to participate in the actual practice you look there's two separate elements here there's the element of happiness and joy there's gonna be free coffee there's gonna be hay rides for the kids there's gonna be that's not a problem but if you are a part of the the the actual I mean here we get to this gray area so this is a gray area this isn't a ritual per se it's not a ritual what is clearly how long is the ritual that is no question about that this parade as I said Imam Muhammad statement is very clear the person is asking can I go to the bazaar and see and the point was there is festivities in the bazaar right and there's nothing wrong therefore it's your community and the kids like to see you like to see seeing is not endorsing and generally almost everything that happens there is not related to rituals they don't do rituals and the bazaar but there's gonna be whiffs of the ritual like you said Santa Claus is there and this is there so my advice to you is to not dive in the deep end but if you see the ambience and whatnot we shouldn't be that strict you know on the cinema for example in there it's not directly relate but still it is related that oh my cinema and of course she was in Abyssinia for many years as you know married to a boy said I remember and when she came to Medina she was in awe at the churches she had seen they had never seen stained glass they had never seen magnificent monuments right and so she was describing in wonder and amazement which means she went inside the church and she's seeing everything there and she's telling the prophesy sillim and it's human nature we want to see these magnificent buildings and were struck and awe and the processing didn't there are always a bill now how could you walk there that you're out the villa didn't you hear he didn't tell her this so unfortunately sometimes we make Islam more difficult you know my position in this regard there's nothing wrong with just looking at what's going on but now if you're going to be asked to build the church no that's a different thing to paint the stained glass that's a different thing you said I'm saying Andy there should be a reasonable amount of distance so I would be hesitant I'm not saying it's Haram has a big word I would be hesitant for you to participate in the actual you know parade itself because in the end of the day there are going to be those icons there might be a cross somewhere and you know why would you then be in that particular line you see so there are levels we already said this is okay you were hit yesterday we don't know this yeah yeah yeah but what but what exactly is it it's a $25 gift that everybody gives everybody there's no ritual and you have to participate simply because it's etiquette how rude is it to say I'm not gonna participate there are Buddhists there are eight years there agnostics there is no ritual there right so it's a matter of edom now I wouldn't institute it if you were the CEO of the company say then do something else you know or I would say do it on Eid so you say okay we have this but you're not the CEO of the company shelter one day you will be a big door inshallah one day you'll be the CEO of the company shalva but until you are what are you gonna do you know I got an email today that the sisters like said that last year I said no one the whole office was like what you know why would you not participate and what's the big deal so she was very concerned like I said what do I do this right I said go ahead - no big deal there's no ritual involved in gift exchange okay miss min ago anybody else yeah wait wait wait wait I don't think I don't not sure I don't think the actual fruits that are offered to the God are taken out of the temple and given to strangers outside from what I know from what I know they give it they give it to the priests and the visitors of the temple no not just that but as a matter of ritual themselves that this is not like your average offering this is something given this is not giving gifts on the day of this is giving gifts to the gods so unless your colleague has some high place in the temple she has access to that then it makes sense that if she is that type so in that case that which was offered to the gods should not be touched okay because that was consecrated to other than allah subhanho wa taala that is separate than giving sweets on the holy day you see so if you know and by the way that's rare agree but that's rare it's very rare yeah so this is the thing she's involved with that then yes okay that's then you should not do that okay yes but outside of Christmastime so so no look look look so if it is associated with Christmas like the Christmas tree the Christmas tree is associated with Christmas it is the icon of Christmas here we do get the issue of the shovel as we said yesterday what the when does the shop will occur when it is unique to the religion or even a civilization not your own and you go out of here like why would a Muslim want to have a Christmas tree there is an element of one thing to be like that the other group the least that can be said if it's not shaved is Haram clearly right but generic lights I don't think if I see a light that's green and blue I don't automatically think of Christmas if I see it outside of Christmas you see so let's be a little bit more specific here and if you get lights on sale and you just put them outside your house every day or something like that you know I mean I don't see a problem with this but - I mean - somebody asked me yesterday about decorating around Christmas I said no it should not be done because you may decorator us at any time but for a Muslim to do it around Christmas it is an indication that you know it's not our festival as we said we don't celebrate this festival but we may observe so if we pass by somebody's house let's say and they have beautiful ornament or nervous right now ok so you have some strict parents they speed up the car children lower that lower the gaze don't look at the lights okay almost Adam I said I saw that beautiful stained glass did the process and say don't look at it I mean again sometimes you get these ultra strict or lamanna's they said I'm very very critical of them just like I'm critical of progressive because I think both of them are harming the religion in their own way the religion is livable it is an easy religion I mean you teach your children I teach my children it's like look this is Christmas you know we don't celebrate it and they believe this and that and that's their festival we'll celebrate on it will do that's it I mean what more difficult design even the four-year-old understands that okay that's there we have our eight they have there so it's so they can admire that like but now should you put lights on your house no why should you should you put that tree in your house of course not because then you are tacitly getting involved and that's not our celebration okay other questions no no no they the blessing that they give is a generic blessing this is not consecrating to a false god Christians as a that's their rituals anyway it's not just on Christmas if you go to a religious Christians house you will not start eating until they say grace and whatnot okay this is not dedicating the food to other than God this is just there alhamdulillah right this we have to be careful here Christians do not consecrate food to other than God like Hindus do like other religions do yeah so it doesn't ruin the food there You've you stick a side there you don't hold hands that what I said I'm a Muslim you guys do that okay you say your blessing no prob say and ham to recite recite our the nominations on TV okay keep on saying that okay surah fatiha okay excellent so now you okay so yeah I say yeah and so you just give a generic we thank God for for all that he has blessed us and you know it you can just give the generic stuff excellent and who knows there's not gonna be any rituals in this country don't worry yeah that is an issue now so you are an employee and as a part of your job you're going to be asked to put up these decorations right I see that that's it that is obviously a more problematic area well no and a Muslim but this is no no in a Muslim business and a Muslim business it does make it easier because even if he wants to do that you know you give him your dossier you say look get the employee to do that it's like huh yeah exactly it tell him to come speak with me then I'll I'll get you off but in a serious note if it's a non-muslim and he's asking you to do this if you are able to get another employee and you basically do favors for that look I'll do a shift of yours if you deserve or not I mean they're always you know this we all know the jams like if you're able to attend Olinda if not then I honestly say I don't see this as being Haram or in and of itself because again this is not rituals again my point is most of the what was you raised a little bit superficial they just lump everything together but it is not the case if you were asked to build a church it's not the same as your generic warehouse employees saying hang the lights here you see you're asked to hammer a cross inside the church that's a big difference and I say no it is not allowed for a Muslim to be employed to build a temple you know for other than Allah okay that's not our job to do that but in this case your employer has a generic place a house I mean a warehouse or whatever and you're just being asked to put up these various decorations it is not a ritual it is the festivity spirit of the season and it should be avoided but if you are indeed forced to do so in that you might be the only employee right and it's very I mean in this country these types of you know minimum wages you're gonna get fired you know this you know this I don't think this is a fight that needs to be done for the sake of Allah he's not asking you to drink wine does not ask you to come and shoot those were the case then yes you get fired rather than but this is not one of those things that you really need to stand your ground for for what I mean I don't see this as being to that love is that clear right so if you're asked to do it in you have no alternative this Vendetta let's go back all the way anybody from this site sisters nobody I see no way I know I'm sure good yep no prohibition there's no prohibition but the question arises should you do this for no reason let's flip it around right there is no specific prohibition and we have to realize in matka there were temples everywhere the cab itself even though the guy was Aldi so it has a separate thing but the cab at 360 idols you know the process of doing Tawaf he sees these idols what are you gonna do not obviously Mata is holy anyway but the point is there's no there's no explicit prohibition to war to go to a temple the the prohibition primarily is upon obviously the participate in the ritual but I will push back a little bit and say even if there isn't an explicit prohibition why should a Muslim want to go there for no reason if there is a reason and reasons can be trivial Oh mr. lemma wants to see the beautiful thing right and maybe most likely she must be going off ritual time just like when we visit churches typically we will not be going during ritual time we're going during off time number one number two the other reason is that you know your your colleague has passed away or his mother or whatever and you go as your token of condolence right so you show your face you show your colleagues I came and you give your condolences and you leave there's no prohibition to walk into another temple nothing in the yeah I mean I have think of walked in as well I mean I walk into altars or Walt altar you know churches I mean there again it is you are not participating you're not validating their system you're simply looking at the architecture and yeah I don't see this as a halogen now some scholars do find this problematic and again I see where they're coming from but I'll be honest I've done it and I will do it again if I if there's a need to do so I mean especially the old churches of Europe whatever I've been to so many I've been to and I'm going to Bethlehem most likely if there's time I'm gonna go to the you know Church of Nativity again I've been there you know two times I'll go again it's an interesting Church to see and to me I like to see the Christian people more than the architecture I personally benefit this to see it what not it's a sign for me you know so I go to the Church of Nativity itself which is the holiest of all the churches you know I haven't actually been in the line to go see where they say Jesus was crucified or whatnot there's a line that's like two hours or an hour and a half long especially in this season the in this season of the Christmas season literally the line is like any outside the church but you can just walk in and see the church and walk out there's no line for that but if you want to go into the chamber I haven't been there but I'll be honest with you if I got the opportunity I would walk in and see I don't see any problem I mean just seeing I want to see what's going on maybe that's where the Garden of Gethsemane was I don't know maybe it was maybe it wasn't for me is just a historical relic I it doesn't affect my iman I don't approve of what they might be doing word not but it's a curiosity for me I don't see a problem with that okay now if this is again you are not now you can live for long enough so no sorry you're not the one doing it everybody is the bigs being done to them so as soon as the the the festival finishes you'll be the first one to take it off no problem I don't think it's problematic that they do it okay sister you have a question in the back I saw a hand raised the question is gone okay back with me there is name so Valentine's is clearly not a religious one we're told we weren't over the issue even if it's pagan in origin if it's gone it's gone so Valentine's is neither there's no religious element involved the problem of course comes which is obvious here that if this is happening between a couple before marriage then that is the problem that obviously we do not we do not incite passions and flirtations before marriage okay this is not something that is done and obviously Valentine's has that token but if a couple married couple and and and you know maybe you and I don't understand this because we grew up in a different culture but maybe conference for example who every year chose Valentine's before they became Muslim okay then they converted to Islam and they kept on doing something special on Valentine's Day very realistic example okay for them for example should we tell them it is haram for you to do something on valentine's see me and you most of us here for you know 14th Feb years like doesn't nothing happens we didn't grow up like that okay but do realize we have to look at the community beyond me and you the hokum surely the Islamic ruling is beyond my culture in your culture if there are people for whom this was a day of expressing love there's no religion there's no ritual right it is a purely a religious holiday and we mentioned yesterday personal private a religious holidays the Sharia has not come to prohibit it you may do whatever you want as long as it is within the confines of the Sharia so if a couple wishes to do something special go out this and that there is no problem they want to decorate or throw cards or whatever all of this there's a Shetty I would not prohibit it okay so generally speaking mainstream Muslims invoke allah subhanho wa taala and send salat upon the Prophet SAW saw them that's not a problem there are some fringe extreme Sufi groups especially those that are involved with the veneration of graves to a very abnormal level amongst that group of people they do essentially with Hindus due to their idols they do to those grapes and they will dedicate food to the grapes and they will give sweets to the cupboard itself and obviously who eats those sweets they themselves do the people around them right so I would apply I'm not calling them Hindus but I will apply the same ruling to those food items because that was meant for the other which is different than what you're saying that there's a gathering of Vicar and there's food going to be eaten by the people and they just do a group vicar to bless the food so - so offensive levels and the more extreme matusa wafer I mean to be brutalized extreme but lvz I'm talking about their version of you know venerating the graves is a little bit beyond what I would consider within acceptability and they have the roasts and they have the forty days and they have this and that you know and they do rituals that are very similar to Hinduism around the grave and we should definitely not be supporting something that is that's extreme and I would not participate and I would and here we also have an element of that way as well like if your cousin or somebody's doing this then you can say look I just don't agree with this stuff so there's an element of that was okay there's been a final question I have to go and get ready for tomorrow yes so yesterday's class was the shabu bilko far there's actually many categories of the shampoo there's the shampoo original business a job on disability Jean men imitating women movies him and there's the shampoo Belfast's 18 right all those different categories of the shampoo and we didn't talk about it at all yesterday because that's not the topic but one of the categories is the chef's book with people of physical and in every culture and civilization since time immemorial there are certain groups that are known to be troublemakers you know just into the drugs and the women and they said I know what kind of in Medina it is art or art and you see that really when I use their home they're known it's always there so for a Muslim to go out of his way to want to look like them is also not something that is befitting obviously it's not to the level of the Sheboygan Kafar it's not to that level of to honey but it is still something that we can discourage against at the very least now we have to be careful though that fashion is not the same as with what we're talking about of evil people or gangsters let's say okay and it is possible that gangster fashion becomes hip and cool which is happening right now okay where it's no longer associated with actual evil and it because something so this is a difficult area and we look at it case-by-case and this is an evolving area there is no doubt that much of what is halal now would have been Haram at some point in time much of what is haram now might be Helen in a few generations and that's the gray area so we talked about examples yesterday of things being clear - Abu Bakr far 200 years ago and clear-cut no longer - toluca far now your clothes are no longer - sha-booyah fine whereas it would have been in your own society I would say a hundred years ago is that not correct your great-grandfather would never have seen another person of his tribe wear is that not correct yeah and if somebody at that time in place were this the verdict would be 100% right but in your time it's not now what happened in the interim did it just overnight - become Haram Tejada wasn't there a period of struggle there would have been a generation maybe your grandfather with you or your you or your father I don't know you with your son there's gonna be a struggle generation what are you doing how you do that right and the Haram is gonna be slowly slowly slowly changed until it becomes how that and by the way this isn't just now I mean I didn't talk about against so much to say time is limited wherever Islam went the people kept their clothes think about it yes the folk did spread but even the table was modified culturally but generally speaking whatever Islam went so when Islam was introduced to any civilization at that point in time there would have been this strangeness of clothes right but what happened the Indonesians have their garb then when they have their garb the the Nigerians have their mashallah very ex you know the Pakistanis have their every civilization in the men not the women have their own jobs are some of the men they have their own clothing system clearly then there must have been a time where the Muslim said oh we can't dress like that but what happened slowly but sure we have authentic narrations of the first generation that they discourage dressing like the Persians and within a few generations the Muslims dressing like the Persians okay we have authentic generation of the narrations I told you yesterday Muhammad and others Imam Malik a banana said that I didn't give fatwa in this Masjid until 70 or 80 Mohan Akeem gave me the right to give fatwa give me Jazza Mohan neck in the Mohan like we talked about it right it was the norm everybody made technique and that's why they said to not make technique is - Abu Bakr far because there were civilizations that only did the turban and did in the Sudanese turban how is it technique or dune technique with you don't know you don't know the students turban huh is their technique were no technique no time mmm-hmm they go around and they tuck it in in the back they tuck it in the middle yeah they don't go down they don't go to the Utah want the Mauritanian one the suda2 re the Sudanese one has no technique okay so my point is that and even by the thirty three four hundred years of the Hegira we have a thought from the scholars they say well the technique is no big deal now so what happened from 100 Hejira to 300 hydra the same thing that's happening now with your pants and your whatnot the same thing this is a problem for us to think that it's only pants and shirts that are changing no it happened and it's going to happen this is soon little I feel hungry it's the way things are okay and shallow with that skinny one is an issue because of our ok last question because I've really now yeah but see do they expect a large reward for this and that becomes a vida no I mean the the issue comes do you want to support them in this in this thing that they're doing and it's a case-by-case basis if you feel that and you know I mean in our lands in India box and everybody knows that some groups don't do the gallery some groups do it you can even more reason for you to give them the hour to be polite as a you know I don't do this types of thing you know invite me another day or I'll invite to another day but listen I mean in the end of the day it's a case-by-case basis I'm not saying it's how long to go I'm not saying it's how long it really depends on what his nia is what he's doing you know there are levels of gathering not every gammy is exactly the same there are levels so you use your judgment call if it is extreme and it's something that is beyond I would say and and there were where they're invoking other than Allah if they're calling out to other than Allah I think that's definitely the redline we should not do that and if it's less than this then you can make a judgement call in this room you

Channel: Memphis Islamic Center (MIC)

Views: 116,828

Keywords: islam, muslim, quran, koran, prophet, muhammad, yasir, qadhi, memphisislamiccenter, memphis islamic center, Sh. Dr. Yasir Qadhi, Bid'a, Innovation, fiqh of celebrations

Id: jL2SGeLmWpI

Length: 129min 12sec (7752 seconds)

Published: Sat Dec 22 2018