- Seminars and Lectures abroad / ٠01 Masjid At-Taqwa- Morning lectures 1
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- Masjid At-Taqwa- part 1
Allah says: And fear a Day (of Judgement) when a person shall not avail another…
Dear brother, Allah says:
﴾And fear a Day (of Judgement) when a person shall not avail another﴿
Nepotism occurs all the time in the worldly life, so one would say about another, "This man is a red line" or "This man belongs to our group" and there are thousands of such sayings which reflect nepotism and by which someone defends another, covers his mistakes or even justifies his deviations, but all that happen only in the worldly life, while in the Hereafter:
﴾ when a person shall not avail another﴿
﴾And truly you have come unto Us alone (without wealth, companions or anything else) as We created you the first time.﴿
Nepotism also happens at the international level, where there are blocks which practice the double standard policy. For instance the Soviet dog Laika, was sent to the space in the fifties, and I remember very well how the western world flipped out because they could not accept sacrificing a dog for scientific purposes. On the other hand, 400.000 civilians were killed, 400. 000 are disabled now, 400.000 are missing and 400.000 people have been displaced. Yet, the entire world kept silent, doing nothing. Those terrible events seemed to be in the favor of westerners. Accordingly, unless we disbelieve in Kufr (atheism), we will never become true believers.
﴾Whoever disbelieves in Taghut and believes in Allah﴿
Faith entails disbelieving in Kufr. The following Ayah is very delicate:
﴾And fear a Day (of Judgement) when a person shall not avail another, nor will intercession be accepted from him nor will compensation be taken from him﴿
The naïve kind of intercession does not exist in the Hereafter, for it is not rational to forgive someone who killed hundreds of thousands of people. Thus, nepotism dose not exists in the Hereafter, and had it existed, the entire religion would have been nullified.
The meaning of Qada' (preordainment) and Qadar (predestination):
Once, a drinker was brought to our master Umar (may Allah be pleased with him), and he ordered to inflict Hadd (the legal punishment for drinking intoxicants) on him. The drinker said, "By Allah, O Commander of the Believers, I have been predestined to drink intoxicants, so Khalifah Umar said, "Inflict Hadd on him twice; the first time because of drinking alcohol, and the second one because of inventing a lie against Allah." Then he said to him, "Woe to you! Allah's Qada' never deprives you of your free will, and it never imposes things on you.
The minute man's free will is canceled, the religion will be nullified, because the Divine Reward or the Divine Punishment will be meaningless, and so Paradise or Hellfire will no more exist. Imam Ali, may Allah be pleased with him, said, "Allah, the Glorified, has ordered His people to act by free will and has cautioned them and refrained them (from evil). He has placed easy obligations on them and has not put heavy obligations. He gives them much (reward) in return for little (action). He is disobeyed, not because He is overpowered. He is obeyed but not under force."
When someone says, "This is what Allah decrees" upon having hardships or problems, such as failing in the exam, and ascribing that to Allah's Qada' instead of to student's laziness, he should know that this has nothing to do with Qada' and Qadar, but rather this is the punishment of falling short.
Listen to this piece of information: outlets in the bathroom should be safe and out of reach of children, because if the current is 220 volt, and the bathroom is wet, the barefoot man will die at once upon touching the outlets. When the father neglects securing the electric outlets in the bathroom, and his child puts an iron nail inside it and died because the bathroom's floor is wet, the father cannot say this is Qada' and Qadar. Qada' and Qadar is the things that happen, and we cannot prevent them, like having an accident on the day of the exam and being taken to the hospital. In this case the student miss his exam, so we can call that Qada' and Qadar, and this student can say that flunking the academic year is Qada' and Qadar.
Unlike this student, when another one never studies, and so he flunks his academic year, he cannot say that this is Qada' and Qadar, because his failure is the outcome of his negligence. Similarly, poverty might be the result of three reasons: it is the result of laziness, the result of pure Qada' and Qadar, or the result of spending on the poor. Our Master As-Siddeeq, may Allah be pleased with him, donated all his money to the Prophet PBUH, so the Noble Prophet said:
(("O Abu Bakr, what have you left for your family?" He said, "Allah and His Messenger."))
Becoming poor because man spends on the wretched is a medal of honor on his chest like our Master Abu Bakr, may Allah be pleased with him.
A man with a physical disability might become poor, and this poverty is due to Qada' and Qadar. However, 90 percent of poverty is due laziness, negligence, putting off things, lacking concern, postponing and lacking accuracy.
Once I visited the biggest high school in Damascus which supposed to be renewed, and while I was taking the tour with the contractor, I noticed that the door locks do not work properly. Instead of driving in its screws, they were hammered, so I said to the contractor, "This lock will fall off in two weeks", to which he answered, "Do not mind the inaccuracy". When man does not perfect his job, the entire Ummah will be lagged behind other nations and this is why westerners took the lead. In other words, westerners perfect their jobs given perfecting the job is an important part of the religion.
((Verily, Allah loves that when anyone of you does a job he should perfect it))
A Swedish embroidery machine supposed to work on certain fabrics which cost 500 or 1000 per meter, but in the Middle East they brought this same machine and used cheap fabrics whose 13 meters cost only 200, and this reflects the lack of accuracy. Listen to the following Hadith:
((Verily, Allah loves that when anyone of you does a job he should perfect it))
Therefore, perfecting your job is a crucial part of the religion, and it is obligatory.
There shall be no intercession or conciliation in the Hereafter:
On the Day of Judgment, intercession will not be accepted, nor will any sum of money be taken.
﴾ Nor will intercession be accepted from him nor will compensation be taken from him﴿
When man commits a mistake in our daily life, probably he will have to pay money in order to bail himself out of trouble, or he will resort to a powerful man to solve the problem. This is the mischief that is prevailing in most developing countries where the employee will sign the papers by taking a bribe, and if he does not do so, he will be threaten by an employee who is powerful than him, so he is obliged to make benefit from the money he takes and benefit other employees (since all of them do the same, and no one will fear the other).
The second Ayah: O you who believe! Say not (to the Messenger PBUH) Ra'ina…
Allah the almighty says:
﴾O you who believe! Say not (to the Messenger PBUH) Ra'ina but say Unzurna (Do make us understand) and hear.﴿
In order to elaborate on the Ayah, consider the example of a student whose father is a teacher of mathematics. If the father accepts to give his son a copy of the exam questions, this is considered betrayal. Instead, the father is supposed to explain to his son the things that he does not understand in mathematics:
﴾Say not (to the Messenger PBUH) Ra'ina but say Unzurna (Do make us understand) and hear.﴿
Accordingly, instead of asking to suspend all laws, try to abide by them. There is a rule in physics about the free fall, and whether you like it or not, you are satisfied with it or not and you accept it or not, it controls you. According to it, you cannot throw yourself from a plane putting your trust in Allah without using a parachute. You may not have knowledge of the shape of the parachute whether it is square, egg-shaped or rectangle, yet you can land on the ground by using it. Also, you may not know the fabric it is made of or whether its cords are made of natural or artificial substances, but you can land on the ground by using it. However, there is one piece of information that you should know and without which you will land dead; it is how you can open the parachute. This kind of knowledge is referred to by scientist as "the first thing first knowledge". A PhD biologist might not know the first thing first about religion.
Let me give you a simple example: If you give me the PCG of the heart, all I can see is refracted line. However, if this PCG is given to a cardiologist, he will tell if the patient has fast heart rates, abnormal heart rhythm, instability in the heart's electrical system or a heart failure. This PCG indicates lots of things and explains them. Accordingly, the religious scholar is illiterate in medicine, whereas the cardiologist is illiterate in religion.
The religion is a major unto itself, and having common knowledge about it does not mean that everyone is able to give a Fatwa (a ruling on a point of Islamic law given by a recognized authority.) Though this religion is available to all people to talk about and discuss, not all people have the right to give Fatwa. Similarly, not all people are allowed to prescribe a medication, but doctors since every major has its own specialists. Therefore, one cannot give Fatwa if he is not specialist in religion. Some scholars are deeply hurt as people are religiously judging right and left without acquiring the needed religious knowledge to do so. Not to mention, they defend their judgment which is mere opinion. Who are you to pass a religious judgment? Is your opinion a Shari'ah ruling? Is it based on religious rulings? Is it based on the Quran? Is it based on the Sunnah? No it is not, rather it is just an opinion:
They said, "This is not permitted for us"
Well, who are you to say us?
Believing in Allah is the foundation:
Pay attention to the following delicate Ayah:
﴾Verily! Those who believe and those who are Jews and Christians, and Sabians﴿
On earth, and besides Muslims, there are the non-Muslims, the Christians, the Jewish and the seculars, isn't that true? Allah says:
﴾Verily! Those who believe and those who are Jews and Christians, and Sabians﴿
What is the point in putting all those religions in one Ayah? The hidden meaning is that the title does not count, so whether man is born from Muslim parents, Christian parents, Jewish parents or secular parents, the difference of origin and blood line does not really counts in the Sight of Allah, but what counts is to believe and to offer good deeds as mentioned in the Ayah:
﴾Verily! Those who believe and those who are Jews and Christians, and Sabians﴿
With all these different backgrounds, only the one who believes and offers good deeds is Divinely rewarded:
﴾Verily! Those who believe and those who are Jews and Christians, and Sabians, whoever believes in Allah and the Last Day and do righteous good deeds﴿
He believes in the sense that his faith deters him from sinning.
﴾and the Last Day﴿
His faith deters him from hurting Allah's creations, and he offers good deeds, and only those:
﴾Shall have their reward with their Lord, on them shall be no fear, nor shall they grieve.﴿
The meaning of major and minor sins:
Dear brother, in Islam there are minor sins and major ones, but do you know the difference between them? The example of major sins and minor sins is like driving a car on a road with two valleys on both sides of it, so the major sins are like turning the steering wheel in a sudden move 90 degrees. As a result, you will end up in the valley, whereas the minor sins are like turning the steering wheel only one inch, so it will take a longer distance but eventually you will end up in the valley.
((No sin remains minor with persistence, and no sin remains major after Istighfâr (asking for Allah's Forgiveness).))
Muslims' problems are because of minor sins, for most Muslims do not commit adultery, do not kill and do not drink wine, yet all the Divine Promises are suspended, do you know why? It is because our minor sins are piling upon one another.
((O 'A'ishah! Beware of the sins that are belittled, for indeed they will be taken account of by Allah.))
(O 'A'ishah! Beware of the sins that are belittled, for indeed they will be taken account of by Allah.)
If we take any street in any Islamic country, the percentage of the adultery committed is no more than 1%, which means that major sins do not prevail among Muslims, but minor ones do. Minor sins block the path of uprightness. It is like a house full of electronics, such as a refrigerator, a washing machine, fans, a microwave and other electronic devices, but there is no power in the house, so all these machines are but a burden on the owner of the house, because they occupy a space, but when there is power, he can make use of all these electronics, and the same goes for uprightness; as long as there is no uprightness, Allah's Promises (to Muslims) will not be fulfilled, and this is a matter of fact.
((…and twelve thousand will not be overcome through smallness of numbers))
How many Muslims are there in the world? There are one billion and 700 million Muslims, yet they do not own the upper hand, they are controlled by the west and the latter is oppressing them in thousand ways. Thus, we should avoid not only major sins but also minor ones (in order to change our reality).
((No sin remains minor with persistence, and no sin remains major after Istighfâr (asking for Allah's Forgiveness).))
The difference between the believer and the non-believer:
I would like to discuss a very crucial point: The difference between the believer and the non-believer is in quality, not in level, but how is that? Take gold for example, the karat (or carat) is the measuring unit which indicates how pure the gold is, so we have 24 karat gold, 21 karat gold, 16 karat gold and 11 karat gold, so the difference between them is in the level of gold purity but after all it is still gold. However, the difference between gold and tin is a difference in quality, because each one is from a different nature. The same goes for believing, for the difference between the believer and the non-believer is fundamental. One of the dissimilarities is that the believer loves to give and he is humble, while the non-believer loves to take and he is arrogant. Allah says:
﴾Is then he who is a believer ﴿
When Allah says that the believer is not like the Fasiq in His Sight, this means that the comparison is between the believer and the opposite of him (i.e. the non-believer), which means that the non-believer is definitely Fasiq:
﴾Is then he who is a believer like him who is Fasiq (disbeliever and disobedient to Allah)? ﴿
The non-believer is definitely Fasiq.
﴾Not equal are they.﴿
The last thing dear brother is that according to earthy laws, and let us take the employment system as an example, in every country the official employees are classified in ten levels. Thus, earthy classifications are limited because they might overlook other factors like specialty or importance of work, and so they might not be fair to the 2 million employees in the country, and they overlook the tiny differences between one employee and another. In contrast, the Divine Classification, though it is more limited (namely everyone's rank is determined by his deeds [which makes the only considerable factor]), but it gives the specific deserved rank which match everyone's deeds exactly, without overlooking any tiny detail. Hence, the Divine Classification is just:
﴾For all there will be degrees (or ranks) according to what they did﴿
Everyone has a degree or a rank determined by his deeds.
﴾For all there will be degrees (or ranks) according to what they did﴿
Thus, your position in the Sight of Allah is elevated according to how many good deeds you offer.
Conclusion:
The last concept in this lecture is the following: Some matters in life are definite. Death is one of these matters since it has no levels, and man is either alive or dead regardless of the cause of death. When I say regardless of the cause of death I mean that death like a bulb without light, irrespective of the fact that the light goes off due to the power cut (natural death) or to the breaking of the bulb (homicide).
The main point is that there are no ranges of death; you cannot say for example this man is deader than that one. Hence, there are no comparative or superlative adjectives to the verbs that indicate definite matters. Much in the same line, uprightness is a definite matter, for man is either upright or not, unlike offering good deeds, for someone might offer more good deeds than another. Thus, offering good deeds is something comparative.
I would like to elaborate on the definite matters and the relative ones. Uprightness is definite just like the tightly sealed tank which is full of fuel. If this tank is left for 100 years, the fuel will not be leaked, whereas offering good deeds is like filling half of this tank with fuel. Hence, uprightness is a definite matter, whereas offering good deeds is a relative one in the sense that someone might spend 100 Liras on the poor, while another might spend 1000 Liras. Uprightness is definite in religion, and there are no half ranges of it, for man is either honest or dishonest, or he is either a believer or a non-believer.
