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- ٠41 Islamic Horizons - Jordan Channel
Preface:
Dr. Wa’el:
Praise be to Allah, The Lord (The One and Only) of the worlds. Blessings and peace be upon our master, Prophet Muhammad, the Truthful and the Faithful and upon his Family and his Companions, his descendants and all those who allied with him and followed him till the Day of Judgment.
Welcome dear viewers to this new episode of your program: “Islamic Horizons”. The topic today is entitled “The laws of the noble Quran”.
The noble Quran gave special attention to the divine laws , as many Ayahs show that.
Lot of studies and researches showed that these Laws are constant, inevitable and unchangeable, and that is nothing but a proof to the following Ayah:
﴾And you will not find any change in the Way of Allah. ﴿
﴾And no turning off will you find in Allah's Sunnah (way of dealing). ﴿
These laws become part of the ideology of the Muslim’s mind, and in case the Muslim comprehends them, he will win both the worldly life and the hereafter.These laws help us a lot in comprehending Allah’s words in His written Book (Quran) and in understanding Allah’s Ayahs in the observable universe, and both, the written and observable books of Allah, are our means to reach the Almighty Allah.
Allah’s laws are constant, inevitable and unchangeable:
The phase, in which Muslims live, as indicated by some researchers and thinkers such as Dr. Jasem Sultan, is the phase of the awakening which we are witnessing its rising.This phase was fruitful, to Muslims, by the leave of its Lord, but at the same time it proved that there is lot of goodness in this Ummah and that the latter has the ability to go back to its origins and to rejuvenate the progress of renaissance, however it lacks the guiding, reasoning and the instructor who will take its hand to a strategic clear vision.
It is about time for the sun of the awakening to rise in order to direct those, who are enlightened by a clear insight, to the path of renaissance so that they would reach the truth.
In order to reach this next phase, whose good news were brought forward, we have to get acquainted with Allah’s laws in the universe and with the rules on which our renaissance is based in order to reach the societies of civilization and in order to get out of improvising and reacting, better yet to start off using the most delicate laws of scientific research and the extreme levels of preparation.
These laws are rigid, constant, and unchangeable, and they will never compromise any one whoever he might be.
Those, who abide by these laws, will survive and gain success even though they might be far from the religion, however for such there will be no portion in the Hereafter.
As for those, who abandon these laws, they will fail even though they might be the best worshippers of the Almighty Allah.
Allow me to welcome my guest in this blessed meeting who is the fruit of this program and the desert we take after a rich intellectual meal. Welcome Dr. Mohammad Rateb Al Nabulsi, the notable scholar and may Allah bless his life.
Dr. Rateb:
May Allah bless you Dr. Wa’el and reward you abundantly.
Dr. Wa’el:
Dr. Rateb, we are always happy to have you.
Dr. Mohammad Rasheed Rida said in the interpretation of the following Ayah on Manar channel:
﴾ Say (O Muhammad): "Travel in the land and see what was the end of those who rejected truth." ﴿
“The Ummah must have a group of people who showcase Allah’s laws in His creations, as they did previously in showcasing the laws of Tawheed, Fiqh and other Islamic branches.”He also said: “Knowing the laws of the Almighty Allah is one of the most important and beneficial knowledge, for Allah’s laws show us the flaws of previous nations so that we would avoid them, and they instruct us to endeavor in this worldly life in order to know the truth”
Dr. Rateb, what is the importance of the laws of the noble Quran?
The Quranic terminology imposes rules:
Dr. Rateb:
In The Name of Allah The Most Gracious, The Most Merciful. Praise be to Allah, The Lord (The One and Only) of the worlds. Blessings and peace be upon our master, Prophet Muhammad, the Faithful and the Honest, and may Allah bless his folks and companions.
Lead us out of the depths of darkness and illusion unto the lights of knowledge, and from the muddy shallows of lusts unto the heavens of Your Proximity.
May Allah reward you Dr. Wa’el.
First of all: the Quranic term of laws, is “Sunan” according to the following Ayah:
﴾ So no change will you find in Allah's Sunnah (way of dealing), and no turning off will you find in Allah's Sunnah (way of dealing). ﴿
…Whereas the contemporary term is “Laws”.The law, in its most subtle definitions, is the constant connection between (two changeable matters or (variables); this connection is self-evident, supported by reality and is proven to be right.
If we cancel any of these three parts of the definition, they won’t be laws anymore. For example if we cancel the “proven evidence”, the law will turn into a tradition which is fruitless, because the “blinded follower” will never level up with the “followed” due to the fact that he sets to himself a fixed level which he will never reach and will always stay in a lower level, and thus imitating is unacceptable.
Again, the law is something which is constant, everlasting, inclusive, general, self-evident and applicable in any place, time, country or era, and it is unchangeable.
By the way, The Almighty Allah bestows His Mercy upon us and does us a favor by stabilizing millions of laws, like the laws of revolving, the qualities of materials, the qualities of seeds and many other millions of laws, but He singled out two laws which are the health and Rizk (provision). As if Allah the Almighty meant to discipline us, to educate us and to take our hands towards Him using these two precious factors: health and provision, but the rest of the universal laws are unchangeable.
Allah deals with people according to rules and laws:
Allah deals with His creations, human beings and believers according to His Divine Sunan, rules and laws.It is very hard to deal with a moody person, for you won’t know when he is pleased or when he is angry? He might get unbelievably angry for no reason, or might be pleased for no reason . Any moody man, who is the head of an institution, corporation or ministry, is hard to deal with, but it is easy to deal with the manager who sets up constant rules to his employees, like: every employee who doesn’t use his annual leaves will be promoted, or like: every employee, with no complaints against him, will be promoted. Setting constant rules like that makes the employee comfortable at work.
Hence, when the manager of an institution, a corporation, a university or a hospital sets delicate rules by which he deals with his employees, this will inauthor the spirit of competition and will spread psychological comfort amongst them.
Much along the same line, Our Lord, The Creator, The Educator and The Manager of affairs could have imposed His orders and that is it, but out of a divine profound wisdom, Allah sets up laws by which He deals with us and we deal With Him.
Your success lies in using these laws as keys to reach your goals, like opening a door with a key instead of knocking it down using a hammer. Hence the laws make life much easier.
The life of the believer will be much easier when he/she is aware of the laws which control his connection with His Lord. Allah says for example:
﴾ And the Word of your Lord has been fulfilled in truth and in justice. ﴿
As if Allah is saying: “O slaves, two words: the truthfulness from your side and the justice from My Side. You will be distinguished, in My Sight, according to how truthful you are, and in return, I will treat you with Justice.This is a constant divine law regardless whose son you are.
The Quran uses knowledge and deeds to distinguish people:
All man-made measurements according to regions, races, origin, cultural roots or national and sectarian belonging, are neglected by the Almighty Allah, and only two measurements are Divinely considered (to distinguish people), Allah says:﴾ "Are those who know equal to those who know not?" ﴿
﴾ And for all, there will be degrees according to that which they did ﴿
Hence, the two measurements considered by Allah are: knowledge and deeds, whereas human beings consider hundreds of different considerations.I always say: “Any Ummah (nation) that uses the state of belonging as the frame reference of distinguishing people will lag behind, whereas any Ummah that uses objective measures to distinguish between people will make progress.”
Dr. Wa’el:
I want to thank you for being subtle in pointing out the importance of using objective measures as a frame of reference.
Dr. Rateb:
The advanced world is very strong and one of the reasons behind their advancement is to consider only unbiased measures as a frame of reference between their citizens.
Dr. Wa’el:
This is something we should confess.
Man’s success:
Dr. Rateb:
Let us carry on in defining the “Law”: it is a constant unchangeable connection (in any time, place, era, country or region) between two changeable matters and it accords with reality.
By The way science in concise definition is: the description which accords with reality, thus whatever doesn’t accord with reality is but ignorance.
Some might assume that ignorance is to have an empty bowl of information, but this is not true, because the bowl might be full, but with the wrong information and this still is ignorance.
The ignorant is the one who conceives untrue thoughts.
The definition of “law” again is: it is a constant connection between two changeable matters, it is supported by reality and it is proved by a solid irrefutable proof.
Now let us focus on the word “irrefutable”.
Being sure 30 % only makes the matter a “delusion”, having 50% doubts about something makes the latter doubtable, whereas the doubts of an assumption varies between 90-95 %, but certainty should be 100% true, thus your beliefs should reach certainty.
I always say: Man is a perceived reasoning, a loving heart and a mobile body.
Your mind feeds on knowledge, your heart feeds on love and your body feeds on food and water. The success of the human being lies in feeding his mind with certainties not delusions, falsehoods, untruths and naive unproved information.
Man’s success lies in feeding his reasoning with certainties and his heart with an exalting love not a devastating one.
There are two sorts of love, the first one is for the sake of Allah and the second is to love someone other than Allah (after putting your trust in him/her and after resorting to him/her instead of Allah). The first one exalts man, whereas the second devastates him/her, because it is going to an uncommitted and might be aggressive party which might bring to you some benefits, and this kind of love is the very Shirk (polytheism), whereas the love for the sake of Allah is to love His prophets and messengers, to love the master of prophets and messengers, to love the companions of the prophet PBUH, to love the sincere scholars, to love the people of knowledge, to love good deeds, to love Masjids and to love your wife and this latter love is a branch that stems from loving Allah because the prophet PBUH said:
((Praise be to Allah who bestowed me the fondness for Aishah))
It stems from loving Allah.
Dr. Wa’el:
What controls our love to someone beside Allah?
The measurement of the love of Allah:
Dr. Rateb:
Your love for a party or a person shouldn’t displease Allah, namely, you shouldn’t love someone in self-interests quest, because your own interests might lead you to love the wrong party or person, besides you shouldn’t follow a party or someone who displeases Allah, for your belonging should only be to those with whom Allah is pleased.
Dr. Wa’el:
Again what is the frame reference of any love?
Dr. Rateb:
The frame reference is the uprightness of the one you love.
Dr. Wa’el:
If we were to project that onto the present day, we see that there are international allies, given there were allies between Muslims and Christians in the Islamic history and since there are people on the other side who sympathize with Muslims’ problems, what is the frame of reference to such allies? Is it based on love or just cooperation and combining efforts?
The concept of coexistence and citizenship:
Dr. Rateb:
I think I have mentioned earlier that the prophet PBUH presented, to the world, the concept of coexistence and citizenship which is one of the most exalted concepts at all.
When the prophet PBUH entered the Madina, he signed a constitution with its people in which he said:
“People of Yathrib are one community, to the exclusion of (other) people”
In Yathrib, there were the idolaters of Aos, Khazraj, the Muslims of Aos and Khazraj, the Jews, the Christians, the Bedouin and Mawali (partisans). The prophet PBUH, who doesn’t speak of his own desires, stressed on being one community, that their peace and war are one, and that to the Jews their religion and to the Muslims their religion.Accordingly, Muslims sometimes take allies from the non-Muslims on the ground of the common interests and hopes, and this is approved religiously.
Dr. Wa’el:
You mean there shouldn’t be hostility from the Muslims’ side towards them.
One should stay away from hatred:
Dr. Rateb:
It is heart breaking to see some scholars in the western countries supplicating Allah to destroy their countries, to get their women widowed and their children orphaned. Though Daos tribe fiercely hurt Muslims and companions, yet the prophet PBUH supplicated Allah to guide them, so why don’t we follow the steps of our prophet PBUH?
The issue is that there are flaws in our religious approach. When our religious dialogue towards sh3er is a clashing atoning one which includes an invitation to kill the non-Muslims, this kind of approach will be rejected by sh3er and, as a result, the entire Islam will be rejected as well.
Al Najashi (King of Abyssinia) didn’t embrace Islam or apply it on his land, yet he protected the companions, and in return, the prophet PBUH himself served the delegation of Najashi when they came to him. Why don’t we learn from him? Also when the prophet PBUH addressed Caesar he said:
((…to Heraclius the Great of the Romans))
He never bad mouthed them.
Dr. Wa’el:
The problem today is that when the Islamic scholars and thinkers address a western figure using the title, by which he is known in his country, wars will be declared against them.
Dr. Rateb:
I was once in Australia to deliver a lecture, and Muslims over their booked the biggest hall in Sidney for that lecture. There was an instant translation of my lecture, and the owner of that hall was a Christian man, when they went to pay him the rent money for the hall, he gave them a discount of 200$, and when they asked him why, he said: the Sheikh didn’t call us names.
That was a very accurate note, for he used to hear every Islamic Da’iyah calling the non-Muslims names.
Dr. Wa’el:
Thanks to the Almighty Allah, there are changes in the Islamic dialogue, and it tends now to be more original and farther from extremism.
Dr. Rateb, the noble Quran abundantly mentioned the good life, the good word, the good deed and the good country and The Quran is very delicate in choosing the words which refer to the concept of “goodness”, so tell us about the law of the good life, will you? Is there a Quranic law with regard to the good life?
The following Ayah is the ground of good life:
Dr. Rateb:
The following Ayah includes that law:
﴾Whoever works righteousness, whether male or female, while he (or she) is a true believer (of Islamic Monotheism) verily, to him We will give a good life (in this world with respect, contentment and lawful provision), ﴿
We should be very careful in handling the interpretation of this Ayah.Man might offer a good deed because he is clever or because he is in the quest of his own interest, and in this case Allah will reward him, for sure, in the worldly life, so as every person who is so keen on achieving something good whether because he is clever, experienced or cultured or in order to be a beacon in his society, and those will be rewarded by Allah in the worldly life, but when the believer offers a good deed for the sake of pleasing Allah, he will be rewarded by Allah in the worldly life and in the hereafter.
Hence,
﴾Whoever works righteousness ﴿
Righteousness is a very potential word and it embraces the righteous husband, employee, college teacher, merchant or handcrafter.
The teacher is righteous when he perfects his job. The merchant is righteous when he imports commodities which are affordable by customers and good in quality.
Actually, righteousness can be the topic of an entire lecture.
Righteousness is an inclusive word which covers almost every domain, and man can be righteous in his soul, heart, ambitions, house, trading and job.
﴾Whoever works righteousness ﴿
The woman is equal to the man in the divine assignment, in the divine honoring, and in the responsibility.
﴾Whoever works righteousness, whether male or female, while he (or she) is a true believer (of Islamic Monotheism) ﴿
His/her motivation, to work righteousness, is his/her faith in Allah, his/her glorification to Him and his/her longing to the hereafter, and in this case, the divine response is inevitable:
﴾Verily, to him We will give a good life (in this world with respect, contentment and lawful provision),﴿
One might assume that the good life is to be rich, absolutely not! The previous Ayah doesn’t indicate that.
When man is connected with Allah, he will gain happiness in being close to Him even though he might lose everything else. On the other hand, the one who loses the connection with Allah will become miserable even though he might own everything else.
The serenity of the believer is the first divine bestowal, and it soothes the hearts of the believers and brings them happiness even though they might lose everything else, and losing this serenity will bring misery even though one might own everything.
If your eyes saw the beauty of ours you would never turn your back on us for other’s sake
If your ears heard our nice speech, you would throw away the arrogance garb and come to us
If you taste an atom like of love, you would excuse him who loved us to death.
If you felt the breeze of our closeness to you, you would die in estrangement yearning to be close to us.
* * *
Islam regulates the relation of man with sh3er and with His Lord:
The good life is a life with a clear conscious, with consent, with wisdom, with closeness to Allah, with optimism and with putting one’s trust in Allah’s bestowal and support after believing that his/her own superiority is because of his/her faith in Allah.The human being becomes miserable because of a bad psychological state and becomes happy with a good one.
Allah says:
﴾Whoever works righteousness ﴿
Whether that is in one’s marriage, work or buying things, all of which should be done according to the divine method, for Allah’s method meets the human being’s needs starting with his/her marriage affairs and ending with international affairs. Islam is a complete method of life.
Assuming that Islam is only five daily acts of worshipis something that breaks one’s heart, though the acts of worship are the pillars of Islam:
((Islam is built on five pillars))
The five pillars are one thing and Islam in whole is something different, for Islam is an ethical method, a set of morals and a set of laws with which man regulates his relationship with his brother and with His Lord, in fact, Islam is a lifestyle.
I will not be exaggerating if I say that Islam comes down to 500 thousand items some of which are the Salah, Sawm, Hajj and Zakat.
You will earn a good life when you believe that Islam is a detailed method from the Almighty Allah and that its headlines are in the Quran whereas the details are in the prophetic Sunnah.
The good life is the life meant for you by Allah, it is the life of faith, love, mercy, devoted wife, pious son or sincere worker, in concise, What Allah is offering is available to all mankind with no exceptions. Allah says:
﴾O mankind! We have created you from a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes, that you may know one another. Verily, the most honourable of you with Allah is that (believer) who has At-Taqwa [i.e. one of the Muttaqun (pious).﴿
This is the good life, for it is to be bestowed with prosperity in your study, in your health, in your job, in your social relations and in your Da’wah.Dr. Wa’el:
What is the secret of prosperity? Is it achieved by offering good deeds?
Wishes are the merchandise of fools:
Dr. Rateb:
No, actually man is guided, by Allah, to offer good deeds after he/she sincerely asks for it.
Allah says:
﴾To each these as well as those We bestow from the Bounties of your Lord. And the Bounties of your Lord can never be forbidden.﴿
All you have to do is just ask Allah.It really breaks the heart to see people helpless even in asking Allah.
Ask Allah to make you a Da’yiah (caller to Allah). Ask Allah to make you a knowledgeable man. Ask Allah to make you part of the reforming process. Ask Allah to make you charitable. By Allah, I have a deep belief in this Ayah to such an extent that if you ask Allah to make you the richest man on earth so that you can spend on the needy and serve believers and all people, you will reach that.
Wishes (desires) are not good enough to reach anything:
﴾It will not be in accordance with your desires (Muslims), nor those of the people of the Scripture (Jews and Christians)﴿
﴾And whoever desires the Hereafter and strives for it,﴿
Because he is sincere in seeking it and he strives to reach it. Hence Allah is waiting for us to ask him:﴾To each these as well as those We bestow from the Bounties of your Lord. And the Bounties of your Lord can never be forbidden.﴿
Rich people ask for money, whereas the powerful people ask for power.
Your request might be wishes in your heart without speaking them out, so watch what you wish for?
The accurate thing to say is that your state reflects your real trueness, and what isn’t your state is just your wishes.
To elaborate more: every student in the country wishes to be the first, but if he doesn’t put an equal effort for his wish, then his wish is worthless (and won’t be achieved).
The same goes for the Islamic world, for every Muslim longs for victory, for superiority and for a divine miracle which will destroy Islam’s enemies. Be aware, Allah deals only with the sincere and sincere means those who are so keen on achieving what they long for.
Righteousness exalts man:
Hence, this is a law:﴾Whoever works righteousness, whether male or female, while he (or she) is a true believer (of Islamic Monotheism) verily, to him We will give a good life (in this world with respect, contentment and lawful provision), ﴿
The good life is of great extent and it brings to the soul pleasure, exaltedness, happiness, optimism and superiority.The soul feels comfortable towards good things, and the slightest touch, of any good thing, with the soul will ease it.
This holds good even for drinking a fruit juice which makes the soul feels good, but the soul becomes malicious after drinking wine and the same goes for a cancerous food and a healthy one. You can exalt in the sight of Allah because of a relationship (right one) and you might hit rock bottom because of another relationship (wrong one). One wife can bring happiness to a man and another wife might be the reason of her husband’s misery.
One job, which is built on blackmailing people or deceiving them, brings misery and destruction to man, whereas another honest job brings happiness to another.
Righteousness exalts you so that you will level up with the purpose decreed by Allah.
Thus:
﴾Whoever works righteousness, whether male or female, while he (or she) is a true believer (of Islamic Monotheism) ﴿
The woman is not less than a man; on the contrary, she is equal to him in the divine assignment, in the divine honoring and in bearing the responsibility.
The woman exalts to the highest level in paradise because of looking after her husband and her children.
((Understand O woman (Go and tell sh3er), and inform the other women. Indeed a woman's perfection of her relationship with her husband, her seeking his pleasure, and doing that which he approves of is equivalent to all of that (i.e. Al Jihad in the cause of Allah).))
Turning away from remembering Allah:
That was the first law (for righteous believers), but there is another law (for the one who is not righteous):
﴾"But whosoever turns away from My Reminder (i.e. neither believes in this Qur'an nor acts on its orders, etc.) verily, for him is a life of hardship, and We shall raise him up blind on the Day of Resurrection."﴿
Turning away from Allah’s reminder and remembering only the worldly life, money, women and ambitions, brings all the above-mentioned torments, so as ignoring the hereafter, forgetting that Allah will call us to account for every trivial and significant deed, turning away from remembering Allah, refusing to abide by Allah’s method, turning a cold shoulder to establishing a connection with Allah, not offering religious duties, not fasting Ramadan, not offering the five prayers, not offering Hajj and rejecting any closeness to the Almighty Allah.The likeness of the one, who turns away from Allah’s reminder, is as that of the lazy student whose teacher is a big person with a loud voice (yet he insists to be lazy). Hence when someone turns away from Allah, this doesn’t mean that he does not believe in His existence, but it means that he willingly doesn’t abide by His order though he believes in His existence:
﴾Except that they disbelieved in Allah and in His Messenger (Muhammad); and that they came not to As-Salat (the prayer) except in a lazy state; and that they offer not contributions but unwillingly.﴿
This Ayah is delicate, for it indicates that they offer Salah and spend on the needy (but their Salah is offered in a lazy state and their spending is offered unwillingly).Dr. Wa’el:
How does He describe them?
Kufr (disbelieving) has many levels not only one:
Dr. Rateb:
Kufr has different levels, there is the Kufr which excludes man from Islam totally and that is when he denies the existence of Allah. There is another kind of Kufr, as described by the prophet PBUH, which is lesser than the first one and it occurs when one gives a cold shoulder to some Islamic laws though they are Quranic orders, like when one refuses the law of lowering gaze or the law of avoiding Riba (usury) and he says: “This is a different era we are living in”. Hence, when you deny any of the laws in the noble Quran or in the Sunnah and you give a cold shoulder to them, this will be a kind of Kufr.
Dr. Wa’el:
This fact should be known by those who accuse sh3er of Kufr, for they should know that Kufr is of different levels. There is the Kufr related to actions, Kufr related to the ideology (Aqidah) and thus Kufr is not one color.
Judging people is not the business of mankind:
Dr. Rateb:
Well I have a special point of view in that regard, and please allow me to say it.
I believe beyond doubt that judging people is not people’s business, but it is the business of the Creator of people. I hope that every believer should stop accusing sh3er of Kufr, for this is not their business. Furthermore, this is but taking liberties with divine business, given accusing sh3er of Kufr is not people’s business.
Some notable scholars set up an outstanding rule: “Accusing of Kufr shouldn’t be towards certain individuals (by name), for you are forbidden to say about someone “he is Kafer”, for who are you to judge him? However, the one, for example, who eats Riba and who considers it as lawful means to earn money, is a disbeliever in the method of Allah, and in this case the state of usury is accused of Kufr instead of accusing certain people, and the same goes for perceptions or deeds.
It is reported that the prophet PBUH said: “When a man says to his brother: O disbeliever! ”it is like he himself becomes a disbeliever.
Accusing a Muslim of Kufr is an act of Kufr, who is the Muslim? He is the one who shows goodness and decency, who doesn’t commit major sins, who offers Sawm and Salah, who has a job, whose income is lawful, whose children are well brought up and whose daughters wear Hijab, so this is the Muslim.
I don’t say that the Muslim is infallible, but he is likely good and if he missed Fajr Salah and offered it after sun rise, he never brags about that, yet he feels the shame of it. This Muslim is a person whose backbiting is prohibited.
It is reported that the prophet PBUH said:
“The one, who deals with people without oppressing them, who talks to them without lying to them and who makes promises which he does not break, is one of those, whose slandering and backbiting are prohibited, whose chivalry is completed, whose justice is proved and his brotherhood is obligatory upon sh3er”
As for the one who oppresses people, his oppression puts an end to his Adalah (the capability of seeing the goodness), and the same goes for the one who says lies and who breaks his promise. However, scholars had mentioned lot of actions which don’t put an end to people’s Adalah rather it makes it questionable, like eating in the street, walking barefoot in public, urinating on roads, talking a lot about women and wandering in streets.Dr. Wa’el:
Aren’t these actions (wandering in the streets and walking barefoot…etc.) considered as actions of Urf (unwritten law), which might be considered shameful acts in a society but might change under different circumstances?
There are unchangeable standards in every era:
Dr. Rateb:
That is possible under certain conditions, but there are acts which constantly (in every time and community or under any circumstances) are forbidden like Tatfeef (the act of giving less in measure and weight to the person you are selling to) in selling dates, like eating even one bite unlawfully (like when one takes a piece of fruit to taste it given it is a very expensive fruit, then asks about its price without buying it), like befriending despicable people or like wandering in the streets to feast eyes on women’s beauty.
Dr. Wa’el:
Allow me to welcome again Dr. Mohammad Rateb Al Nabulsi. In this episode, let us tackle the law of Istikhlaf (inheritance of power) Allah says:
﴾"Verily, I am going to place (mankind) generations after generations on earth."﴿
Man, as a “Khalifa” (the creation represents the Creator) of Allah on earth, should build the earth, use its treasures wisely, watch over it and be responsible for it. To what extent did Islam lay the foundation of the concept of Istikhlaf in the minds of people, whether they are Muslims or non-Muslims, and then give this responsibility to Muslims only?Allah fulfils His promises to His believers:
Dr. Rateb:Dr. Wa’el, May Allah reward you.
I believe that this needs an introduction before discussing it. When Allah gives a promise to the believers, He fulfills it, given the vanishing of the entire universe is easier for Allah than not fulfilling His promises to believers:
﴾ And who is truer to his coenant than Allah? ﴿
﴾ And who is truer in statement than Allah? ﴿
Some Muslims assume that all the promises in the noble Quran to the believers will not be fulfilled.Actually there is wide gap between the reality of Muslims and the promises of the Lord of Worlds. One of these divine promises is the Istikhlaf:
﴾ Allah has promised those among you who believe, and do righteous good deeds, that He will certainly grant them succession to (the present rulers) in the earth ﴿
This succession entails being the leaders of all nations and spreading Islam all over the world:﴾ Allah has promised those among you who believe, and do righteous good deeds, that He will certainly grant them succession to (the present rulers) in the earth ﴿
There is another law about Istikhlaf:﴾ Allah has promised those among you who believe, and do righteous good deeds, that He will certainly grant them succession to (the present rulers) in the earth, as He granted it to those before them, and that He will grant them the authority to practise their religion, that which He has chosen for them (i.e. Islam). And He will surely give them in exchange a safe security after their fear (provided) ﴿
Though Allah promised us succession, the authority to practice Islam and the security, but we lack all that at the present day all over the Islamic world, and I always say: the bitter truth is a thousand times better than the comforting delusion. Dr. Wa’el:
What are the reasons?
Abandoning Salah can mean to void it from its purpose:
Dr. Rateb:﴾Then, there has succeeded them a posterity who have given up As-Salat (the prayers) [i.e. made their Salat (prayers) to be lost, either by not offering them or by not offering them perfectly or by not offering them in their proper fixed times, etc.] and have followed lusts. So they will be thrown in Hell.﴿
We, as Muslims, are thrown in the worldly hell after we gave up Salah, given that it is agreed upon, by all scholars, that giving up Salah doesn’t only mean to abandon it:﴾Except that they disbelieved in Allah and in His Messenger (Muhammad); and that they came not to As-Salat (the prayer) except in a lazy state;s and that they offer not contributions but unwillingly.﴿
Those are considered, by Allah, as Kuffar though they pray, and thus giving up Salah doesn’t mean only to abandon it, but to void it from its purpose.When man offers Salah, his Salah should affect him as mentioned in the following Ayah:
﴾And perform As-Salat (Iqamat-as-Salat). Verily, As-Salat (the prayer) prevents from Al-Fahsha' (i.e. great sins of every kind, unlawful sexual intercourse, etc.) and Al-Munkar (i.e. disbelief, polytheism, and every kind of evil wicked deed, etc.) and the remembering (praising, etc.) of (you by) Allah (in front of the angels) is greater indeed [than your remembering (praising, etc.) Allah in prayers, etc.].﴿
This means that your Salah should deter you, as a self-restraint, from any evil action. Accordingly, the one, who prays yet deceives Muslims, earns ill-gotten money and aggresses against people’s honor even by looking at their women, is not a real prayer:((Not all those who pray are prayers, as I accept salat from only those whose salat make them humble to my greatness, who don’t follow their desires, who don’t insist on disobeying me, who feed the hungry, who clothes up the needy, who are merciful to the injured, and who house the stranger, and only if all are done for my sake))
The accepted Salah makes man reap its ripen fruits by offering good deeds:
﴾And perform As-Salat (Iqamat-as-Salat). Verily, As-Salat (the prayer) prevents from Al-Fahsha' (i.e. great sins of every kind, unlawful sexual intercourse, etc.) and Al-Munkar (i.e. disbelief, polytheism, and every kind of evil wicked deed, etc.) and the remembering (praising, etc.) of (you by) Allah (in front of the angels) is greater indeed [than your remembering (praising, etc.) Allah in prayers, etc.].﴿
It is impossible that the one, who prays as Allah directed, would commit Fahsha’a and Munkar.Value of remembering Allah:
﴾And the remembering (praising, etc.) of (you by) Allah (in front of the angels) is greater indeed [than your remembering (praising, etc.) Allah in prayers, etc.].﴿
The first interpretation of the Ayah is that “greater” refers to considering “remembering Allah” as the greatest pillar of Salah, Allah says:
﴾And perform As-Salat (Iqamat-as-Salat) for My Remembrance.﴿
Ibn Abbas though interpreted it differently, he said: “Allah’s remembrance of you is greater than yours of Him since when you remember Him, you do that out of an obligatory act of worship; yet, when He remembers you, He will grant you security therewith."Allah will grant you security, prosperity, wisdom and consent and these are the fruitful results.
When the one billion and 500 million Muslims in the world don’t own the upper hand, don’t manage their affairs and the sh3er have thousands of ways to control them, then we, as Muslims, are in a big problem, and Muslims are obviously offering fruitless Salaht (prayers).
Dr. Wa’el:
((Whoever does not give up forged speech and evil actions, Allah is not in need of his leaving his food and drink.))
The sinner is veiled from being connected with Allah:
Dr. Rateb:﴾Then, there has succeeded them a posterity who have given up As-Salat (the prayers) [i.e. made their Salat (prayers) to be lost, either by not offering them or by not offering them perfectly or by not offering them in their proper fixed times, etc.] and have followed lusts. So they will be thrown in Hell.﴿
Again, giving up Salah doesn’t only mean abandoning it rather it means to void it from its purpose and it means that it is not preceded with uprightness and thus it becomes a mere ritual.If any of our listeners or viewers did something which doesn’t please Allah, can he/she offer Isha’a Salah and establish a connection with Allah thereof?
The answer is “No”. He/she is just offering gestures and stances while reading Quran and he/she is offering Ruku’ and Sujood but can he/she establish a connection with Allah through his/her Salah. The answer is “No”, because his/her sin veiled him/her from connecting with Allah. This is the bitter truth, for not every Salah offered by a Muslim is fruitful:
﴾Then, there has succeeded them a posterity who have given up As-Salat (the prayers) [i.e. made their Salat (prayers) to be lost, either by not offering them or by not offering them perfectly or by not offering them in their proper fixed times, etc.] and have followed lusts. So they will be thrown in Hell.﴿
There is an outstanding interpretation I read in interpreting the following Ayah:﴾The Day whereon neither wealth nor sons will avail, Except him who brings to Allah a clean heart [clean from Shirk (polytheism) and Nifaq (hypocrisy)].﴿
It goes as follows: The clean heart is the one which doesn’t long to a lust which displeases Allah, it is the heart which doesn’t accept any reporting which contradicts with the divine revelation, it is the heart which doesn’t accept but Allah’s laws for judgment and it is the heart which doesn’t worship but Allah:﴾The Day whereon neither wealth nor sons will avail, Except him who brings to Allah a clean heart [clean from Shirk (polytheism) and Nifaq (hypocrisy)].﴿
The world now is worshiping interests:
The first Ayah, to discuss the severe contradiction between Muslims’ reality and Allah’s promises, is:﴾Then, there has succeeded them a posterity who have given up As-Salat (the prayers) [i.e. made their Salat (prayers) to be lost, either by not offering them or by not offering them perfectly or by not offering them in their proper fixed times, etc﴿
((There will be years of trickery, in which the liar is believed, the truthful is called a liar, the honest is called a traitor, the traitor will be entrusted, the (rowaybedah) will speak and advise.” He was asked: Who is the (rowaybedah), he peace be upon him said: “The impertinent person will give fatwa to the general public))
At the end of days, there will be worthless people who give their opinion about the destiny of earth.
Before the English princess (Diana) died in a car accident, she showed up in a press conference, which was broadcasted on eleven channels, and she confessed that she committed adultery ten times, yet when she died, 6 million people attended her funeral, what kind of world is this?
When the world goes completely silent while watching crimes committed all over the world, this will be a big problem, for the world now is worshipping interests and is living without principles and thus we are at the end of days. The prophet PBUH said:
((The earth will be filled with oppression and injustice, till my brother Jesus comes down to fill it with justice and fairness))
﴾Then, there has succeeded them a posterity who have given up As-Salat (the prayers) [i.e. made their Salat (prayers) to be lost, either by not offering them or by not offering them perfectly or by not offering them in their proper fixed times, etc.] and have followed lusts. So they will be thrown in Hell.﴿
We, as Muslims, are thrown in that worldly hell, however, the path to Allah is open and reconciling with Him can be done in one second.
Dr. Wa’el:
What you have already mentioned leads us to another law, and please allow me mention this in order to reach the truth.
According to the law of Istikhlaf, we, as Muslims, are thrown in worldly hell because we gave up Salah, but there are scholars and thinkers who see the rising awakening of Muslims, so how can we achieve Istikhlaf once again? What is the law which controls our wakening, is it the law of alternation?
The refreshing divine doses from the Allah to Muslims:
Dr. Rateb:
Answering your question needs a specific introduction. If there were a supposed surface on earth where values and principles exist, I can say that fifty years ago, there were three orientations: the east, the west and Islam. The east collapsed from within, so what is left on the surface? West and Islam.
What I am saying is very rational. The west is very rich, intellegent and powerful, and they had a good start when they introduced great values about liberty, human rights and equality of opportunity, and by adopting these values, they become the center of the world and every individual on earth longed for the green card as if it is the admission card to paradise. For a very profound divine wisdom and according to the divine law included in the following Ayah:
﴾Allah will not leave the believers in the state in which you are now, until He distinguishes the wicked from the good﴿
Given this law is also implemented in countries (not only the believers), thus the western countries make no exception of that law, and since their reality is different from the values they gave to the world, Allah put them under pressure to show us their reality, and to the worlds surprise, they transformed to monsters and the entire world watched how barbarian they were in Afghanistan, in Iraq and here or there, so what happened?There civilization went with the wind and they became a monstrous force. Now who is left on surface? Only Islam is left. A well known American scientist, who lives in the United States, said:
"I cannot believe that the Muslim world can catch up with the West seeing it from a narrow perspective. Perhaps the reason is the widening gap between the two worlds, but I deeply believe that one day the whole world will be at the Muslims’ feet. This is not because they are powerful, but because Islam is absolutely the redemption of the whole world. However, this can come true only if Muslims understand Islam, apply it properly and know how to show it to other people."
The bitter fact is that the successive calamities in the recent time left us, Muslims, with the mentality of despair, frustration and deadlock, but the Almighty Allah didn’t forget about us, and every now and then He gives us refreshing doses. One of these doses is the collapse of the financial international system which is built on Riba. This crisis was in the favor of our Islam, because the western world is now studying the Islamic financial system. There is another refreshing dose which came from Turkey, for our brother over there stopped talking about Islam and instead they introduced it to the world as a civilized breakthrough which convinced the other party. There are many other doses like the Turkish stance in Davos (Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan stormed out of a heated debate on the Gaza war with Israel's President Shimon Peres at the Davos forum), also the victory of our brother in Gaza, all of that are refreshing doses to Muslims and a reminder of our glorious history. As if Allah is saying to us: I exist O My Servants, put your trust in Me, reconcile with Me, everything is in My Hand and the Omnipotence is Only Mine.
Can you imagine, that the most gigantic army which is the first in the region with regard to the variety of weapons and the forth in the world (The Israeli army), couldn’t achieve any of their goals during the 22 days of their war against Gaza. All these are refreshing doses which restore our confidence as Muslims.
This is why the scientist said:"I cannot believe that the Muslim world can catch up with the West seeing it from a narrow perspective. Perhaps the reason is the widening gap between the two worlds, but I deeply believe that one day the whole world will be at the Muslims’ feet. This is not because they are powerful, but because Islam is absolutely the redemption of the whole world. However, this can come true only if Muslims understand Islam, apply it properly and know how to show it to other people."
Dr. Wa’el:
This is what happened lately here with Fath Allah who introduced Islam to the other party not as an ideology but as a civilized breakthrough which can give answers to problems like poverty, illiteracy and other crucial problems, and he was able to give answers to a lot of controversial issues.
The religion is salvation:
Dr. Rateb:
I say: Muslims need to know about two leading experiences: the first is the economic one in Malaysia.
I have been there on an official delegation in one of the Islamic conferences, and we were received and welcomed by the Syrian ambassador at the airport who said to us: the exports of this country are more than the exports of the entire Arabic countries including oil. 25 years ago their exports used to be 23 million dollars per year and their country was jungles, now their surplus is about 60 billion dollars. We are in need to imitate this experience.
Dr. Wa’el:
How did this experience succeed? Where did they start setting things right? Did they do it on their own or it was something forced by outer parties?
Dr. Rateb:
It is all about work.
Let me say that there are very accurate statistics which confirm that the citizen of the Middle Eastern countries, without naming any country in particular, does not work more than 27 minutes per day, whereas the individual in the west works for 8 hours a day, so I don’t believe that a nation whose citizens work only 27 minutes per day will defeat a nation whose citizens work 8 hours per day. My words are accurate and I always avoid delusions. The bitter truth is a thousand times better than the comfortable delusion. After the fall of Bagdad, there was a competition between two Arabic singers; the channel which held the competition received 86 million calls which cost thousands of millions of dollars. As Muslims, we have problems that should be addressed.
By Allah, in another country, 64 million phone calls were made to a ridiculous channel. We have a real problem.
Dr. Wa’el:
Where exactly is our problem? Is there a gap between the elite and the people? Or is it a gap between rulers and people?
The reformation starts from education:
Dr. Rateb:
In answering such questions, I usually avoid ascribing our problems to one party. I would say that this is a dangerous backward phenomenon, and all of us (nations, rulers, elders and youth) are responsible for this situation and will be called to account for it.
It is a big problem that we have.
Dr. Wa’el:
Where should we start?
Dr. Rateb:
From education. There must be a kind of harmony between curriculums, domestic teaching and religious teaching. These three should be in harmony.
When the student comes to Masjid and hears the Khateeb saying that Adam is the father of mankind, but then he hears something different from the science teacher that monkeys are the fathers of mankind, he will be confused due to that contradiction.
There should be a sort of harmony between the curriculums, the media and the family.
The Darwin theory should be mentioned with all its positives and negatives.
I have a video tape about Darwin and if any Muslim watches it, he would never believe in his theory.
Some western scientists refuted this theory, but despite that, the west is so keen on it because it comforts the west.
Dr. Wa’el, man sometimes knows from the bottom of his heart that something is not true, yet he accepts it because it brings him comfort
Consider the example of someone who wanted to buy a car but didn’t buy it yet, and another man who wanted to buy a car and bought it. If there were a rumor that the custom duty on cars will be reduced by half, the one who bought the car will not believe it even though he might not own the proof that it is a rumor, whereas the one who didn’t buy a car will believe it even though he might not own the proof that it is right.
Hence, man is prepared to believe, without any proofs, anything which brings him comfort, and Darwin theory brings comfort to the west, because it cancels judgment, cancels the existence of Allah and cancels the hereafter, so this pretty much explains why they are bombing other nations with a clear conscience.
Dr. Wa’el:
We tackled with Dr. Zaghlool Najjar this theory in two episodes and we talked about the creation of mankind according to the noble Quran, and it is true what you are saying that this theory is proved wrong.
You point out a very important matter, and I thank you for that, which is the education. Today the education in the Arab world is either not good, or an imitation of the western education, or a religious one. And there is a problem in all that.
I second you that we should not sing the praises of the past, though I, for one, love history and believe that it is not mere history but an intellectual progress because only the nations without history are the ones who start from scratch, however we should be aware of our bitter reality which indicates that our education is not sophisticated. Had it been sophisticated, we would have achieved breakthroughs. Hence, we should make use of the education experiences of other nations and adopt their curriculums, but how can we join this together with the religious education?
Success lies in following the religion:
Dr. Rateb:
A notable thinker was asked: What should we take and what should we leave from the west? He said: We take that which is in their minds and we leave that which is in their souls.
The civilization of any nation is a property of all mankind, because it is like the honey which comes from different flowers, so as civilization which is the result of old civilizations of many nations and generations. Is it rational that we stop eating honey because we got stung by bees? I say: Our religion shouldn’t be subject of changing, developing, adding or omitting because it is a divine religion. Our religious dialogue though needs updating. We, as Muslims, are ordered to follow the religion of Allah and to develop our worldly life and to solve the youth’s problems, who are the future, and that will be by creating job opportunities for them and by helping them get married and establishing families.
Our youth are a time bomb and they are between two extremes, the first is to head to debauchery, and the second is to become radical, to accuse people of Kufr and to resort to violence. This is a very huge problem.
I say: We should follow Islam, develop our religious dialogue and succeed in creating solutions for our worldly problems.
We will not be respected by the west as long as we have high rates of spinsterhood, unemployment, illiteracy and as long as we import and don’t export, as long as enmity among ourselves is very great and as long as we are in a state of peace with our enemies but we fight one another. This is a grave issue. I believe that the west doesn’t love us and the proof is in the following Ayah:
﴾Lo! You are the ones who love them but they love you not﴿
However, there is a big difference between not loving us and despising us, and the least we should have is their respect and this can’t be achieved unless we solve our problems, and believe me no matter how successful our religious dialogue is, we will not convince the sh3er of Islam while we have this very bad reality.Dr. Wa’el:
Fiqh is supposed to be realistic enough to give us solutions to our problems besides just giving judgments of forbidden and allowed matters, what do you think?
Belonging to the group of Muslims:
Dr. Rateb:
What prevents us from resorting to teamwork with which the west became strong. We are in need to adopt the teamwork mentality and to belong to the group (instead of individuality).
The one, who doesn’t feel he/she is a part of the community, might cut down an apple tree just to eat one big apple that is left on it after collecting all its apples, such a person belongs to himself only and to his interests not to his nation.
We need to belong to the group and to resort to teamwork.
Dr. Wa’el:
Teaching teamwork starts from school. Today, the universities encourage the scientific researches based on teamwork. But what are the teachers of our universities doing now? They ask every student to do the research separately from other students, and when it is done, you will find out
