Islam 101- Session 1

if you want to go to india if you want to go to japan i can't help you because while there are some similarities my experiences for this context this american life and that's what i'll be talking about is all the underlying principles of society that we have to keep in mind when we talk about islam to someone else and then finally we'll talk about the manners of the dalai walker what should the dow what do we attribute to the one who's giving down now the next few slides i'm going to show you they're from dr sherman jackson and i saw this uh this slideshow that he gave for this presentation that he gave at the ris convention in 2015. and i was so struck by them that i asked him if i could with his permission could i take these ideas and use them in my own teaching he said sure you can so i want you guys to pay attention and think you don't have to say anything out loud but think about the question that is going to come next dr jackson said you take a look at this what is in the red box don't fall out just look think what is in the red box and then he said okay what is in this red box does anyone see that this was brilliant he says you know when you first look at it you see letters so you say oh and the red box is a g but in another context in another set of surroundings you see numbers so you call it a nine he said this is like explaining islam to people and you don't understand the context it's the same thing in the box it's the same character that's in the box but the context has changed and so the interpretation of the one who's listening to you will change if you show this person this no this character this little graphic inside the box and you're talking as if they're in a number as if they're numbers but he's thinking that they're letters is there going to be misunderstanding or not yes of course and that's why you have to know where is he or she what context do they live in and that way you'll be able to properly convey the same character the same message brothers and sisters we're not changing the demon it's the same message but we're putting it in the context that the recipient the receiver can catch it understand it and internalize it now let's move on and actually talk about what are we talking about in the world view the world view of the western society what are the principles of the society in which we live what is the context of the dollar that we're getting in this country in this day and age what i'm giving talk about right now it's not going to be for all countries and what i'm talking about right now it's not going to be for all time okay there's a specific context and this is why allah sent messengers locally to each different community so we're going to talk about this is again dr sherman jackson from ras 2015 what are some of the principles that are in the back of the people's mind when they ask you questions about islam so that when you answer the answer to their context not from your culture not from your background but from theirs so the first one that we're going to talk about the most important thing if you get nothing else out of mind out of this presentation if you fall asleep in the next five minutes please remember this autonomy is a concept that is totally permeating this society what does this mean what does autonomy mean basically it's the idea that a person an individual human being it means that there is no master above each individual this concept this concept fills the society that we live in right now now why does this make a difference because if ultimate authority is with the individual is when the one person that means there's nothing above them no one has the right to tell that person what to do or what not to do no observant jew no observant christian would actually agree with that i've taught an interfaith circle and the evangelical christians the catholic christians the the conservatives the the traditions they have the same problem they say there is a problem in our educational system they're teaching our kids that each of you is the master himself no one has the right to take but all of the abrahamic faiths judaism christianity and islam start with the fundamental principle that we owe a debt of gratitude to our creator write that down the fundamental principle of all the abrahamic faiths is that we owe a debt of gratitude to our creator therefore this debt of gratitude means we have the authority of what to do what we should not do that belongs to god that belongs to allah he does have the right to say do or don't do he has the right to tell us how to live and how we should not live what is appropriate for us to do and this is not just like i said this is not just islam it was all the abrahamic faiths what does it mean when we say 17 times a day or more means the owner or the king or the master of the day of judgment what is dane yomideen the day of d what is dane what does deen really mean it comes from the root word of dane which means debt so that means the day of judgment is the day that the debt of gratitude that you owe to your maker is going to be paid up either successfully or unsuccessfully it's the day of debt it's the day of recompense it's a day where allah comes to collect his debt from every human being do you see what that means that means that at the very basis if allah says we should do this or commands us to do that commands us not to do that we owe him obedience and this is not just islam christianity and judaism also have as their number one axiom their first principle we didn't create ourselves we are not the masters of our own destiny we have a maker to whom we owe gratitude and islam is is one of the few religions that actually says that god allah has the right to be worshipped that's his right it is his right to be worshipped not on our terms not the way we want to play or the way we want to do but the way he commands and desires for us to do that's why we have in the quran does that mean brothers and sisters it means verily my prayer my sacrifice my living my dying all of it is for allah the lord of the words and this is the first principle of islam so why does this make why do we have to know this when we're talking to people let's okay that's the theory let's bring it down to the actual reality when you're talking to people in the hallway or you talk to your neighbor you know as you're walking your your cat or your dogs if you have dogs or they're walking their dog and you're walking your children because that happens a lot what do you do when you were talking to people what it basically means if somebody asks you sister why are you wearing hijab the correct answer is not so men don't look at me the answer why we have the beard why do we pray five times a day why don't we eat pork why don't we have boyfriends and girlfriends yes there's a wisdom behind it but the reason why we do it is because god said so all right everything everything that we do and not do all of the commandments all of the lifestyle everything in islam it all comes down to that that we owe allah a debt of gratitude for him creating us and for that reason if he says this is what we should do we should do it and if this is what we should not do we should not do it the prophet said there is nothing that is good and beneficial for you except i taught you to do it and there is nothing that is harmful to you except i told you to avoid it the prophet came he was sent he was commissioned by allah to explain to his community and the general community around how can you live a pure god-conscious life how can you live a life which is good for you in this dunya and in the hereafter how can you live this worldly life so you can successfully prepare for the next life that's coming right this is something that if you talk to someone who is secular if you talk to someone who is liberal if you they don't have that peace they're gonna talk about all these other things a simple example oh why don't you eat pork oh because you didn't cook because it has diseases in it well they can genetically engineer a pig to not have any of those diseases so does that make it hallelujah no there's a wisdom behind the prohibition but it's not the reason behind the prohibition autonomy autonomy says that this the people they think that there's no master above them and this is directly contrasted with islam's premise premise means the first principle premise means the first foundation that we owe our creator a debt of gratitude and therefore we accept him as our ultimate authority we accept him as our ultimate authority so when someone people ask you why this and why that why do you muslims do this why do muslims not do that and it's about something that actually is in islam later on inshallah in the next two three weeks we'll talk about you know how to answer questions about jihad and what's going on in world events and that but for right now if somebody asks you about something that actually is a teaching of islam like the hijab or the prayer or the fasting or the gender etiquettes or any of those the first thing you have to tell them you have to set up the context you have to bring them out of their context of autonomy to your context of god's or allah's authority you have to take them you have to transition them you have to take them from this room to that room from this context to that context you have to explain to them that number one we believe in god we believe in allah that he created us with certain obligations and we believe there's a day of judgment where he is going to hold us accountable on whether we fulfill those obligations and we believe that muhammad the in seventh century arabia may peace be upon him was really a messenger from god and he taught us what those expectations and obligations are it's three steps to you tell them that there is a god and we believe in god he has the ultimate authority you tell them in the beginning we don't believe in autonomy we believe that the ultimate authority is with our creator number two there's a day of judgment that's ethereum where he our creator to whom we owe a debt of gratitude is going to hold us accountable on whether we fulfill those obligations or not and number three the important part is we believe that peace be upon him really was from god and he taught what are god's expectations therefore one of the things that we were taught modesty gender etiquette you know uh you should be you know you should honor and dignify your mind and don't fry it with drugs or alcohol that we have to stand five times a day break our worldly worldly routine to offer thanks to our creator ask for forgiveness ask for guidance you see how this now the narrative will click with whoever you're talking to because if you start talking about the wisdoms behind behind hijab or the wisdoms behind the prayer that makes you feel spiritually uplifted or the wisdom behind fasting yes the people who are diabetic or almost diabetic they know fasting is beneficial we know that prayer is beneficial we know that the gender etiquettes are beneficial we know that avoiding and not you know we know that all the rules of islam are beneficial but they're not the reason so if you are talk if you explain why muslims do this based on the benefits or the uh or the the wisdom behind the teachings you're going to get caught in endless arguments arguments arguments arguments well what about this well what about this what are the pickets genetically engineered well what if there are no men what if the men are you know genetically engineered don't you're not going to go anywhere what if you have you know i can take a drug it makes me feel just as spiritually high as your prayer you will get into this kind of argument brothers and sisters don't go there number one tell them about number two tell them and how they're related and number three that the books and the messengers came to explain those obligations so that when we meet our creator we are in good standing with him that's why we pray and that's why we fast that's why we hold to good moral ethics and values that's why we don't play around we don't do drugs we don't drink the reason you do it is because god said so okay when you use this chain of logic then you can overcome the barrier of autonomy then you can get past the assumptions that a person has about why human beings do anything it's not it's not because of your own interest it's not because i will gain some benefit yes you'll get a benefit in the year after not in this life there is a there is a benefit in this life but that's not the reason why we do that islam and judaism and christianity they all say we owe debt of gratitude and is almost right that we worship him and we worship him on his terms not ours so if he says do we do we hear and we obey one of the things that the higher authority expects me to do is this this this and this that's why we say and then say one of the things that the prophet told us we should do or not do is this all right let's move on so muslims believe that god is the master above us and this is the reason why we do what we do what is the next part the next part is a little bit easier i'm not going to spend so much time on it it's individualism what does individualism mean it basically means that the right of the individual person is higher than the rights of the community or the society and even most traditional religions including the eastern religions like hinduism and buddhism and taoism they don't believe this however this is something that is in this society this society holds that the it holds to the ideals of individual choice so there's an emphasis on being self-centered or looking out for number one doing what is good for you right priorite prioritizing yourself above others this is one of the underlying principles of western society self-interest but even the eastern religions the non-abrahamic religions don't hold to this islam and christianity and judaism and hinduism and buddhism they all contrast they say no the ideal is community welfare that the emphasis is on the society that you prioritize others over yourself this is the golden rule none of you truly believes until you wish for your brother what you wish for yourself right what would a christian say do unto others that you would have to be done unto you right this is a concept in all of the faiths all the traditional religions but this is not the context that most modern uh western societies have western societies don't have that they have the idea of individualism individualism means if i have to choose between the good of the society and the good individual i take the choice of the individual so long as there is no harm on the society but individual gets in the way of the understanding of the deep understanding of islam all right the general welfare muslim this is actually one of the principles of shariah is how we derive islamic rulings and some of these rulings they seem very strange to western audiences because we don't say everyone can do whatever they want it's always temper tempered by what is good for the society now the third principle right we talked about autonomy is number one we talk about individualism there's number two the third one is secularism now secularism is i think most people understand what that means but let's talk about how does it contrast with islam it basically says that the ethics or the rules and regulations that we have have to be divorced from religion that means any law any rule in society has to have a non-religious justification that's the idea behind secularism okay that any rule or law all laws should have non-religious justification the idea here is that if you want to say that something is right or wrong you have to find some kind of non-religious you know secular reason or justification for calling that wrong and again as muslims this is not something that we ascribe to even though we admit as muslims we believe that there is a secular worldly benefit and wisdom behind all of the halal and behind all of the do's and adults we understand that god is our creator he is the most wise he cares about us more than our own mothers and so he's giving guidelines and rules which are for our own good we believe that however the highest wisdom the highest authority like we talked about in autonomy is the one who dictates what is good for us what is bad for us so there will be rules there will be laws that a secular person doesn't understand why are you doing this and we have to go back again you have to explain just as i accept my creator as my ultimate authority i accept my creator's wisdom and laws and guidelines as my own life guidelines this is what this is about our creators laws our protections and guidelines for success even if we don't understand or see the benefits behind them so we believe that taking a break five times a day and praying is good for us even if we don't see a benefit to it more importantly when we talk about laws so the prayer is kind of a personal relationship between you and your lord but there are laws that people will ask about why does islamic law say this why does the slack law say that that's really harsh that's really whatever that's really this how do you explain that you say no there is a wisdom behind it and we accept that wisdom as part of faith as part of accepting that we are not autonomous that we have that we give our we accept the authority of our creator that means we also accept his wisdom to tell us what we should and should not do so for example when we talk about how men and women are supposed to interact there's a very big you know the most common question about islamic law why do you have these gender etiquets why do you have this this this segregation or the separation between the men and women that's that's so barbaric that's so seventh century just you know be modern be realistic and just move on with your life no it's not just that we don't want anything bad physically to happen it's that we don't want anything bad spiritually to happen that we don't want to have that internal temptation that breaks apart families right you have to show them that there is a benefit i'm sorry there is a wisdom a lot of what is considered evil or wrong or immoral in society they use this as a litmus test they say what is the physical harm what's the problem what if i have a boyfriend what if i have a girlfriend we're not doing anything that's what they say isn't it right okay the youth here they can knock their heads maybe adults they don't know this but do you know they get questioned about this what's wrong right but that's not how that's when you're explaining to somebody that we accept practices and laws based on their spiritual benefit not just their physical benefits right and this transition actually happened in this country if you were to go back in time 100 years to 1920 it used to be that if a woman had a had a child had a baby outside of wedlock it was a big scandal in the in the town in the community she couldn't show her face again she had to go move but then the times changed and the morality started started being edited and updated but then when they evolved and they said okay what if she does something like that that's on her why is there a law about this there's no physical harm and that's why this kind of behavior nowadays it's not a punishable crime like it was even in this country adultery and fornication and and having a child out of wedlock that was actually a punishable crime in this country 100 years ago it was it was a kind not just a sin it was a crime why do we still hope that it is a crime because islam says it's not just about the physical harm it's about spiritual harm it's about the social harm all of these aspects they're not non-religious they are there is a religious morality and the christians are the jews they had this too you could talk to any of the evangelical christians any of the conservative jews and they have the same issue in that they have to fight really hard to train their kids don't follow the mainstream when it comes to this kind of social interaction right that's not what we believe and so if you want to answer these kind of questions you can't just say oh it's haram no you have to talk about the social impact the spiritual impact it's about having a heart if you go down this path you will have a heart that is no longer soft and ready to receive the light of guidance from its creator it's about a heart becoming so hard that you no longer feel shamed this is a real issue in islam but it's not an issue in the secular world there is a real psychological harm that people have they're hurt their feelings are hurt and the next time they get married they're not going to be as attached and again this is going to domino effect into the families not being as strong which domino effects into the children not being properly raised or coming from broken homes which has so many social consequences it's all connected you see i'm trying to say here that when you talk about the laws of islam realize that who you're talking to only thinks on the physical level they don't think about the social or the spiritual level but islam is not just about having physical physical well-being it's not just materialism it's about having social well-being spiritual well-being social well-being and psychological well-being it's a complete picture it's the holistic human being it's all aspects of our humanity and it is a crime against humanity to reduce the human being to just a physical machine with physical wants and desires and only has to worry about the physical consequences all right let's see we're almost out of time here let's continue to see that second part the last part we're going to talk about is scientism scientism so this is an aspect of western society which is very prevalent what it basically means is that the background says it's only real if it can be physically seen felt or measured okay this is scientism scientism is basically only materialism that that only that which is physical is real so as we begin to hint about in the previous section there's more than just physical harm there's spiritual social psychological harm more importantly we know in islam that one of its one of islam's first principles is that ultimate reality includes the unseen aspects begins with this this is the book in which there is no doubt a guidance to those who have god consciousness and the first attribute of being conscious of god is believing in the unseen that there are angels there's heaven there's hell there's a spiritual price for every sin we commit there's a social price for every transgression we commit even if nobody catches you even if the cameras were off this is what you have to address when we talk to people about islam we have to realize that if you talk about there's a spiritual harm from doing this or this if they don't believe in the spirit if they don't believe in the unseen they don't mean they don't understand why that's a harm they say well your heart is pumping your brain has is firing this neuron you're all good your limbs are moving you're alive there's no soul there's no understanding of the intangible there's no understanding of the unseen but as a muslim or even a christian or a jew who is observant who is conservative who tries to hold to their traditions they believe in a soul we believe in souls we believe that there are things that science cannot measure we believe that there is a reality that influences the physical even if it can't be measured or touched in the physical all right so let's review real quickly the principles of the context of data the principles of western society autonomy and then we have individualism and then we have secularism and finally we have science autonomy the idea that there's no master above the individual individualism that the individual takes precedence over society secularism that any law has to have some kind of non-religious justification and scientism that nothing is real except what can be physically measured all right so now we're gonna actually get into you know please you know this is going to be gonna have a quiz on this inshallah at the end of today after the q a now we're gonna talk about the manners of the dad what are the manners of someone who's giving the dollar now this is a list that i've actually put together by binbes so i'm going to summarize it for you here you can all look online if you want to get more details business so the first aspect we talk about is when you're talking about islam when you're going to be explaining anything the first thing you do is renew your intentions it is very very important that you do this with sincerity that the intention is that you are bearing witness for allah for your creator it's not to win an argument this is the most important when you're talking about islam you're not trying to win an argument it's not trying to win a debate debates don't work they didn't work at the time of the prophets and they didn't work this time winning an argument does not establish truth and it doesn't touch the hearts let me say that again because this is actually a very good life lesson for our youth winning an argument doesn't establish truth and it doesn't reach the hearts okay so you have to make sure that when you're talking about islam when you're speaking you're not trying to one-up the person that you're speaking to faith or iman it blossoms in the heart and then it is accepted by the mind it's not the other way around some people they get into the wrong idea that if i can just make them understand or be convinced mentally then it'll trickle down to the heart no that never has been the way it works faith begins in the heart and then it's accepted by the mind when you start debating what you're trying to do is make you're trying to attack or address the person's mind first and then hoping that somehow it's going to get into his heart sincerity means that you are representing conveying the message with the mercy that the prophet peace be upon him exemplified that he's trying to reach the hearts of the quraish he's trying to reach out to the hearts and after they accept then he starts when the logical arguments begin the quran does both it addresses the heart and it addresses the mind but always always you can ask it always goes for the heart first because hearts are how you change behavior not minds another aspect of sincerity is that when you're talking about islam don't let it degenerate to some kind of personal uh debate where somebody says something about the prophet when he says something about islam and you take it personally you get all upset so many times we as a muslim community in this day and age we're being led like a bull by the nose they say something incendiary something really hot to get you riled up and get you upset and they just want to get a reaction out of you just like bullies they just tease you they get a reaction out of you don't take it personally when you're talking about islam you're just conveying the message it is not your job to convert it is not your job to convince you just express you just explain if the prophet himself was not commanded or not obligated to do anything except convey the message how can we be expected to do anything more represent with a cool heart keep your head on top stay cool don't take it personal because then when you start taking personal the emotions get involved and you will say something not out of the sake of allah but for the sake of your own ego and that totally demolishes sincerity totally demolishes your intention okay the next aspect is knowledge it is okay to say i don't know especially for our youth maybe you haven't been studying islam maybe you haven't gone to a sunday school or an islamic school if somebody asks you a question and you're stumped it's perfectly acceptable to say i don't know let me go look it up i'll get back to you don't start making things up or try to justify which is even worse don't try to justify well you know this is bad too and don't do that brothers and sisters be humble realize your own limitations of knowledge we have these seminars so we can help you gain that knowledge but if somebody asks you a question of which you have no knowledge it's perfectly okay to say you don't know this is something that we have to real this will help you to keep a level head to keep cool when you're talking to people about islam because nowadays people just want to see a fight you have troll wars wars on on facebook where people make really nasty comments trying to see who's going to respond to them you know because those are the kind of comments that go viral people will be in the schoolyard and they'll just say something to see if they can get a rise of you even in a corporate i work in corporate america i work in a company and sometimes we're getting a drink of water we're getting our coffee and they'll make a comment they just want to see what is that muslim going to react to they're bored they just want to see the reaction don't go there if you don't know the answer it's perfectly okay to say you don't know ignorance and wishful thinking does not build it only causes corruption it does not bring about reformation it's kind of a general rule ignorance and wishful thinking doesn't build anything it doesn't add any value all it can do is corrupt or undermine so if you have the knowledge get it whatever you have if you don't say i'll get back to the person i'll come back to you later look it up and this will be how you train yourself how you can do your own personal development so it's a win-win situation you haven't said anything wrong to the person who's asking the question and allah has opened up for you an opportunity to develop yourself to self-improve we're going to talk about gentleness gentleness is the third aspect of the the characteristics of a doubt of a dad every messenger may peace and blessings be upon them since the beginning has always been admonished by god by allah to give the message in a merciful and gentle way the most famous example in the quran is how allah instructs moses to say a gentle word a soft word to pharaoh a soft word to pharaoh brothers and sisters no matter how annoying your atheist coworker or neighbor is they're not worse than pharaoh and you're not better than musa so let's keep things real when you talk to people about islam be patient be gentle do not be hasty or harsh or argumentative and actually this is how we address the matters of the heart and this is not just for talk to non-muslims this is a very important part what if you're talking to your brother who doesn't pray but if you're talking to your son who's getting into trouble what if you're talking to your uncle who's older than you and he has some shady haram business practices don't be hasted don't be judgmental don't be harsh be gentle this concept of dawah is for all people muslim and not muslims because this is how our prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam taught us subhanallah we have the famous hadith there is a man who came into the prophet's mosque and started urinating in it and the companions they they took out their sword they're about to go behind the guy they were about to they were they're like how can you do this he said no and then very gently very calmly the prophet said this is not the place for that this is not a place for them what would happen if somebody did that in this message or unfortunately the reaction would not be the way of the noble problem we elevate our profit but we don't try to emulate him and this is the most important aspect of the problem we should be trying to emulate be gentle when you're talking to people you have to come from a place of compassion because that's how you reach the heart when you're antagonistic people's mental defenses will come up and even if they become intellectually convinced you put them in their place they can't argue with you their heart and their ego will reject it so you've lost them even if you tell him so let's get your own benefit brothers and sisters be gentle with others so that allah subhanallah will be gentle with you and the final aspect of the manners of the dying is to set an example now what does it mean to set an example setting an example it means you should act according to what you're calling to that's the that's kind of what we call the basic surface meaning okay the basic surface meaning of this it also means that we really internalize the quran when allah is amazed at the believers oh you who believe why do you say what you do not do hateful in the sight of allah that you say which you do not do so we need to get rid of this hypocrisy from our hearts that we practice what we preach we should be practicing what we preach however there's a that's the surface meaning there's a deeper meaning that i want to share with you brothers and sisters one of the toughest things i'm talking to everybody here now the youth the elderly the brothers the sisters one of the excuses that people give for not giving downward for not explaining islam for not jumping into a conversation about islam and giving your present you know giving your two cents about it is they say well i can't talk about islam i'm no better than that i need to pray my five times a day i can't talk about islam i do this i do that or i don't do this or i don't do that this is a wrong way of thinking we don't wait until we're perfect and then start telling people about islam every single day every single iman every single shift we have our weaknesses brothers and sisters i'm no better than you sheikh is no better than you imam is no better than you mawlana is no better than you every one of us is struggling with our own fitness don't let your own shortcomings be a barrier between you giving your two cents look at this elbow siddhi he accepted his step he didn't know that much and he pulled in six of his friends who were among the ten who were promised paradise because he conveyed what he knew with his heart to those that he loved that he wanted them to be saved as well now we know that abu bakr had a very high moral standard he didn't actually he was one of the few people in mecca he didn't worship idols he didn't actually drink he had his own set of virtues okay he was very strong but he had a really nasty temper we all know this it's famous he was a harsh man he used to beat people he used he buried his daughter alive he was no angel he accepted islam his tears started flowing and he started giving dawah to the people that he knew he started calling out to the people of quraish he used to say just as i was i used to beat up the muslims that that had converted i want to have a fight with anyone in korea who wants to right this is how he felt so guilty he wanted to make up for what the injustices that he did to the people who accepted islam he was challenging quraysh due to me what i have done to others you see but not all of the sahaba right not all of them were at that level of man there were sahabah who were alcoholics they were sahaba who they were very very they they had a fitnah with women they were sahabah fitna with money or with their arrogance or with their you know they were so proud of their lineage and their their heritage and you know who their parents were and the tribe they came from all of the sahaba had their own fitnah they were not angels and yet it did not stop them from spreading the islam from teaching others why is that important i'll tell you what if you get into the mentality then i can't talk about it about islam that i can't tell people about islam until i'm perfect you're following and beginning to go down the road that we see the extremists in the middle east doing right now think about it what is it that makes the people of isis or al-qaeda or boko haram or whatever group you have out there that's causing all the headlines they think they got it they think they're all done they think khalas are part of the jannah group and they look down at other people who are not muslim or muslims that they think are not good enough this is a disease of arrogance allah keeps the fitnah in your life allah keeps you making sins so you stay humble and return to him and you don't get arrogant and big that you never have this guru this heedlessness this false self-appreciation of yourself i got it let me show you what i got no you have to show the people that we can come in together why is it think about it again for isis are they winning converts for islam are people running to join them are they winning or are they fighting to get no people look at the crazy i can't do that you do this this this this and this i can't do that no one can relate to them because they hold such a high standard of strictness the prophet said don't be harsh be easy and more importantly the people that you talk to about islam they have to see you as real human beings that you're struggling islam is not a destination brothers and sisters it's a journey islam is not a destination you're never all set not me not you not not imam so-and-so not maulana so and so islam is a journey it is a lifelong struggle to align your will with the creator's will it's a lifelong struggle to do that which pleases our creator and avoid that which displeases me it doesn't matter if you got hair on your head or your bald if you got a big beard and it's white or you don't it doesn't matter if you're young or old learned or unlearned male or female no one is done until the day the angel of death takes you out of this world people have to see that people have to see that you say people ask about islam you say well here's what islam said well later you don't do that yes i don't i'm weak but i should that is so powerful to people because they realize i don't have to like you know there's not a checklist and then i can become muslim you say you're a muslim you're a muslim you've accepted to walk this path to your creator through its ups and its downs through its left turns and its back alleys you're joining the group that's going to that is seeking what's going to be this is the point that yes you want to set an example but don't let shaytan trick you that you're not good enough that you're not there yet who are you to speak who are you to talk you're the people are talking just like all the other sahaba and the teddy bear there are scholars among the teddy bearing or the tablet they have said he said if people are mentioning the ones who are righteous then just oof on me and just spit me out and this is one of the major scholars of islam he didn't have this he still saw his own weaknesses one of the sahaba i forget his name right now he said if you don't you know he was coming out of the prayer and the people were saying masha'allah you know they were giving him they said be quiet because those who give praise to dawah is the one who's trying to follow it it's a fitna if you know about me what i know about myself you would hit me with your sandals so the point is yes live up to what you know try to walk the walk as well as talk the talk but don't well do not be harsh on yourself that i can't talk about this because i still got this problem this problem this problem is from every one of us has fitnah done every son of adam every daughter of eve is a sinner but the best of sinners are those who repent so remember that you can't be an instant muslim it takes time it takes time it takes development it takes jihad it takes effort there is no building that is built except it takes time and effort likewise there is no kanbun except you have to put in the time and the effort so let's review the manners of the dawah worker those who are talking about islam number one sincerity number two knowledge number three gentleness and number four set an example all right so we're gonna go ahead and stop here my lecture is over thank you for your patience we went a little bit over time we could take q and a for probably the next uh we delay the the iso player a little bit so we take the q all yes bro it's not a question but uh foreign yes so this is a this is a concept that it makes sense right if you're not the one who's giving people the explanation about islam or offering to them an alternative lifestyle then the lifestyle that's around you is going to be offered to you right and this is one of the reasons why like i said level one basic dawah i consider it as far dying as an individual responsibility for every muslim so you have to know how to talk about them and then you're going to be naturally a recipient of all the other doubts all the other isms yes so the question was can you give an exit you said that islam gives the idea has the idea that we accept laws based on like the spiritual reality not just the physical and he wanted an example of a law that doesn't have like a secular sector okay where's the example where is this operator right here an example for the people who live in massachusetts that we have a few people connecting remotely so we're talking about massachusetts in massachusetts the state of massachusetts marijuana is legal you can go smoke get high and it's not a crime possession and use of marijuana recreational marijuana is not a crime now is it still haram yes it is why how do you explain to somebody who's secular this is under the secularism you know the secularism says every law has to have a physical non-religious justification and what happened in the state of massachusetts they ran out of of of physical justifications they said the only reason why people think it's bad is because of those christian jews and muslims right why is it hara i'll tell you why it's hard when you're explaining to your co-workers or your classmates why don't you do it it's just fun have some fun calm down a bit relax how do you explain it because we believe as muslims that one of the biggest gifts that allah god our creator has given to us is our intellect one of the biggest gifts that god gave us is our intellect our minds so if we believe that intelligence and intellect and judgment is a gift from god and because we remember our debt of gratitude that we owe to god and because we believe that our creator is the most wise and the most benevolent who cares about us even more than our mothers anything which degrades the gift that god has given us should be prohibited if i give you or no i'll say something if you give me a nice pie very valuable cake right and i take it i throw in the trash am i giving you oh my am i repaying that gratitude that i should give you no it's rude it's rude and it shows that you don't value that which the person who gave you the gift has given you same reason why suicide is not allowed allah gave you life and no matter how hard it gets it's not proper that you throw that gift away so allah says in the quran that he has given nobility to adam and his children and part of that nobility is the intellect judgment reasoning drugs alcohol narcotics all of that they toss that judgment they toss that reasoning that they toss that dignity in the trash bin and so when you take this gift and throw it on the floor like with drugs or alcohol you're not showing gratefulness you're not showing thanks you're not showing respect or gratitude to your brain to your creator does that make sense other questions yes bro when it comes to taking medicines the restrictions are a little bit relaxed but usually most pro they say if you could get a non-alcoholic like nyquil that doesn't have the alcohol it's better but if there is not one available then because of the necessity that you're in it is permissible to take so you have to drink a lot of nyquil to get drunk so that's most scholars would agree that taking uh nyquil or those kind of cough medicines which do have the alcoholic that is permissible because of the dead that went right because of medicine other questions from the sisters so i actually answered i think three questions for the rosetta answer six questions from the sisters right to be fair nobody wants to take the quiz that's why we're gonna keep this long questions from the sisters questions going twice okay so we're going to stop the broadcast and we're actually going to do our quiz what it means for the quiz is if you look at every row has one of these if you look in your folders one folder in each row has a

Channel: AMC Everett

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Id: OsRp3ww-aiQ

Length: 53min 33sec (3213 seconds)

Published: Sat Sep 26 2020