the greeting of
peace be unto you this is a greeting of
all the messengers of god we're going to
be talking about
the last and final messenger who was
sent to
all of mankind no more messengers to
come let me just bring you up to speed
real quick
islam is not a new religion brought by
muhammad a new system way of life
but it's the way of life brought by all
the messengers of god
jesus moses abraham noah they all call
the people to worship the one god
not to worship themselves to worship
angels saints etc
etc now that you understand this
we're going to be talking about the last
and final messenger who brought
the last and final testament the living
miracle the koran
he's become he's come under some attack
tax so this is something that is not
uncommon when someone brings the truth
jesus brought the truth he was a teacher
he never called people to worship
himself
moses when he brought the truth all of
them came under attack
but the honest and sincere people who
looked at their lives and how they live
they saw beyond this they saw that this
was foolishness
they saw that no way that these people
were the most humble and sincere and
they brought truth
and proof to show that they were indeed
messengers and that's what we're going
to talk about today
so you can see that muhammad peace and
blessings be upon him
was the same as moses was and jesus and
all the other messengers
and he's a teacher teaching you how to
get close to god with my next guest when
we come back
nomin ali khan on the dean's show you
don't want to go nowhere we'll be right
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
back
allah
thank you for being with us good to be
here how did you like the sign
it was excellent alhamdulillah very
funny caught me off guard
yeah the people uh they're getting to
see a little bit uh when uh
your expression when you saw the big
sign we're welcoming you here to chicago
and have you been to chicago before long
time ago long time ago about eight years
ago yeah well definitely we'd like to
have you back yeah we'd better
come back and chill yeah we enjoyed uh
talking with you and so many people are
going to get to benefit
all over the globe people here in
chicago inshallah
which means god willing see we always
got god in the equation we don't take a
time out from god
never absolutely absolutely now help us
out
there's some sincere people out there
all right and they want to know they
they acknowledge that look
i don't want to worship you know a man i
don't want to worship a cow or monkey to
son
i want to worship the one who created me
the one jesus prayed to
i want to worship him now can we do it
on our own
do we need instructors and things that
we want to get good at yes so these
instructors were
people who were teaching us how to get
close to god and the last and final
messenger he was the best instructor at
this
but there's some people slandering him
there's some people saying bad things
let's talk about uh his life a little
bit and kind of help clear up this
junk that people would put out there
absolutely i think the first thing to
understand
that you alluded to in your introduction
is the very concept of a messenger
really for most people accepting
accepting god isn't very difficult to
accept that there's a creator
who created the heavens and the earth
and is just and is absolutely merciful
etc etc
all of that is actually fairly easy
what's very difficult for human beings
to accept is the authority of another
human being and that's a natural
tendency people have you know if
for instance if you're working it's very
natural for you to resent your boss
because he's got authority over you
kids want to rebel against the teacher
he's got authority over them people have
resentment against government because
he's got authority over them
so generally whenever somebody has
authority over you or is commanding
authority over you
the the primary instinct is to rebel and
say who are you
and so one of the questions that people
have when it comes to messengers is
why do we have to listen to them i could
talk to god directly
i could speak to god on my own terms the
first thing to understand here is
we're talking about a relationship a
relationship between allah
the lord the creator the sustainer of
the heavens and the earth and myself
this is the relationship now in every
relationship there are some terms
right so for instance the analogies i
just spoke of at work
there's a relationship between your boss
and yourself
you have to show up at a certain time
you have to do certain kinds of tasks
and
you know there's a certain time you can
go there's a certain period of break you
can take etc etc there are terms
these terms are not determined by the
employee
they're actually dictated by the boss
similarly
parents and children there are terms in
that relationship similarly in you know
in what you own there are terms set by
the owner what we're trying to say then
is
if you want to have a relationship with
god you're not in charge
of dictating terms of that relationship
what does he want from you
how does he want you to live your life
how does he define what's good and bad
how does he want you to spend your day
how does he want you to go to sleep how
does he want you to wake up
these questions they're not up to you
and the moment you start saying well i
want a relationship with god
but on my terms then you haven't you
maybe
accepted the fact that he's your creator
maybe you've accepted that
but you haven't accepted that he's your
lord that he actually has authority over
you now once you acknowledge that he has
authority over you
you feel the need you have to if you're
sincere you have to feel the need
for him to give you instructions on how
to live all right make sense
he has to give you instructions because
if and actually he doesn't have to it's
a mercy from him that he will teach you
what you must do
what you must do the other thing to to
put some perspective on this again
you know simple analogies help get the
point across easy you have
for instance a job and in this job you
have 10 tasks you have to do
right your boss tells you here's a list
of instructions 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10.
you are really good at two of them and
you may be able to do the other eight
but you're not interested in the other
eight so you only
do those two tasks every day your boss
comes in and checks on you
and finds that you've been only doing
those two things and the other eight
parts of your job description have
completely been ignored
what's going to happen to your job
you're going to get fired right
and if you you know one excuse maybe i
didn't know the other eight existed
right the other may be well i only like
these two but these aren't valid excuses
because you were given these
instructions you follow
so now the question becomes these
instructions where do they come from how
do they get delivered to me
there are people that have crazy answers
to that question they say things like i
saw god in my dream and he told me to do
this this and this
or i see god or i feel god in my heart
and he tells me to do this this and this
yeah
and this is actually a delusion this is
actually a means of being self-centered
to feel like god tells you and
really what he tells you is what you
wanted to hear to begin with yeah right
so this is actually a very self-centered
and a selfish approach
to a relationship with god and he knows
better who are you kidding
you could tell me god talks to you but
you can't fool and you can't mess around
with the all knowledgeable so you're
really lying to yourself and you have to
come to terms with that we see a lot of
this going on this is there's a lot of
this going on a lot of people say well i
feel god and
god tells me that i should just have a
good time and party and you know
this sort of thing what really is their
own desires being attributed to
god himself right actually allah speaks
about this in the quran
he says
who could be more of a wrongdoer than
the one who attributes a lie against
allah
who could be worse off who could be you
know more evil
more of a wrongdoer than such a person
now
while islam while he was being called to
submit
now the question is submit to what this
is really the question
so what allah does he chooses certain
very special individuals
and he has done so historically and he
has chosen these individuals based on
their character their purity and above
all because he selected them over others
this is allah's decree
he chose certain people to deliver his
message
to them but you know this idea of a man
delivering a message to people on behalf
of god
it sounds very far-fetched you know to
the average person i mean
nowadays obviously if somebody told you
i'm here to tell you what god told me
right and god spoke to me an angel came
to me told me what god wants me to tell
you you would say this person is crazy
if you study the history of nations and
the messengers in in scripture in
islamic scripture even in biblical
scripture
you'll find that messengers were called
insane
they were called possessed sometimes
when people were really effective and
powerful
people would allege that they were
magicians that they were liars et cetera
et cetera but allegations were made
the last thing you want to accept is
that actually an angel does come to him
that revelation does come to him so
this impossible task that these
messengers were put through
they would not stop because they're not
you know there's a difference between a
philosopher
and a prophet yeah a philosopher is
obsessed with his own ideas
he wants to impress people with his
theory with his you know with how deep
and how
abstract his ideas can get etc etc a
messenger a prophet
he's not presenting his own ideas he's
actually on a job
he's been told to present ideas and
ideas so powerful and so radical that
the people around him
are actually going to call him crazy you
know the philosopher is looking for
praise
he's looking for people to say wow you
know people are writing books about me
now
and i'm being elevated and i'm being
asked to speak on these audiences
but the messenger is entirely different
he's speaking about something that is
getting him into trouble more and more
every day
which is actually a sign of the
truthfulness and the sincerity and the
selflessness of a messenger
and a prophet as opposed to a
philosopher the philosopher has an
agenda for himself
and the messenger has agenda that is not
of his self he's been given a task
and a task sometimes so difficult we
find in the revelation
that was given to muhammad sallallahu
alaihi we find his task
would become so difficult sometimes
allah would reveal consolation to him
to stay firm and continue delivering the
message no matter how
how hard it gets fast remain committed
to what you've been commanded
right so uh in in this respect first of
all we have a unique
you know appreciation of messengers in
general before we even talk about
muhammad
right before we talk about him we have
to have a unique appreciation of
messengers and how how difficult their
task was
to deliver their message great human
beings like
ibrahim al-islam abraham as he's called
musa moses is called
these messengers were incredible people
now
of them the final messenger muhammad
sallallahu alaihi
he is you know 571 a.d
he's born in the arabian peninsula a
completely isolated desert
at the age of 40 to cut cut the story
short at the age of 40 he starts
receiving revelation
and immediately his job is to start
delivering this revelation to people
before uh he got the revelation what was
his character like what was he known
around the people
we'll be right back
former bad boy gone good boy
i ran with an entrepreneur a man with an
icon in the music business
how he attained something that money
about a boy of life the success of the
records that i did
he left that life wasn't a country that
i couldn't go to i lived this good life
wasn't a country that i couldn't go to
the life that
brought him peace without the person
couldn't identify
with who i was or the songs i created
brothers and sisters get ready you're
watching the dean's show take it away
eddie what are you waiting for what are
we waiting for right now what are we
waiting for all these people to come to
islam what are we waiting for
what are we waiting for right now when
they're gonna come they're gonna come
along and bring these people
lost upon the water put in our hand the
ability to do it not do your job
[Music]
he was actually a very popular figure in
his community he was known for his
nobility
his humility most of all his
truthfulness
and his trustworthiness the arabs
especially the arabs of mecca
they in some senses they were very noble
like they would
fight to death for their nobility and
their name and you know
the honor of their tribe and at the on
the other side there were also people
that cheated
in business a lot and swindled each
other and would give each other a loan
and the
guy who gave the loan would turn around
to
ask for the money back and the other
would say well you never gave me
anything
yeah you know what i'm saying so there
was a lot of uh mistrust in business
transactions
and in this chaotic society people would
turn with their most valuable assets and
leave them with muhammad salla
because they would know when he gets it
he's going to keep it it's in a safe
place and they're going to get it back
so he was almost a safety deposit
for them in this chaotic criminal kind
of society
people absolutely transportation he had
such a reputation that when we find in
the first narration
when he called people the first time he
called people the entire town gathered
around him because they knew when he
speaks he's going to say something
important
he doesn't just speak out of whim and he
whenever he says something it's a value
to us it's not like a man who was
just committing crimes and he was
mischievous and all of a sudden he was
like reborn and said i got something to
tell you this is a person that he didn't
have any flaws or any kind of problems
from the past he didn't have a rap sheet
this is exactly true and the other thing
here is he never made such a claim
before
and this is again a difference between a
messenger and a liar
a liar is trying to come up with
something to sell it doesn't sell he
comes up with something else to sell
doesn't work he comes up with something
else to sell yeah right it's kind of
like a politician
yeah when this line doesn't work you go
to that line in that line and that until
you get voted in he didn't play these
products
he didn't play these politics he was not
interested in the power game at all and
all of a sudden he comes with a message
and did it sell right away
did people accept it right away no
people laughed at it if he's a liar what
would he do then
he'd drop it and go to something else
yeah try to impress people with
something else
but he's sticking to this message and
he's committed to this one
very difficult message to communicate to
people because he's not doing it for
himself
he has been commanded to do this so now
in
one of the things that we know note
about the character of muhammad's
honesty his integrity
his great nobility that is recognized
across the board by all of them
the other thing we have to note is his
commitment
i mean a messenger on all messengers
were people of great resolve allah
actually uses the term ululazim the
people of great resolve
the people of incredible commitment the
people of high caliber of character
so it takes a really a person with
really thick skin
really strong you know commitment to be
able to deliver such a message
in the face of ridicule and persecution
now one of the things we have to note
that is a
tremendous mercy of muhammad sallam
you know of all these allegations that
are thrown his way i want to share with
you one of the most controversial
allegations
that is put against our messenger salah
and islam generally
that your messenger was a messenger of
violence yeah that he that you know he
fought battles and he killed people and
he
you know he he invaded uh tribes et
cetera et cetera
you have a uh this messenger is being
accused of being a violent messenger
your religion preaches violence and this
is one of the big things
right and of course we can't deny that
there are people that misuse the
religion
and and manipulated to push their
political agenda or their military
agenda or militant agenda sometimes
but here i want to talk about the
historical facts
were there actually battles that he
engaged in yes
was he actually on the battlefield
fighting and killing for the sake of
allah yes it's true we don't deny that
we don't hide behind that and say no he
didn't do those things he did
but what i'm trying to present
inshaallah very briefly
is a rationale an explanation of why
what is the wisdom
the first thing we have to understand is
that message he's not the first
messenger
messengers came before him and god allah
calls it his legacy his sunnah it's
called in the quran
okay the legacy of god you won't find a
change in his legacy the way he does
things the way he deals with nations
when they obey him and when they when
they obey him what benefits they get and
when they disobey him what harm comes to
them
there's a there's a standard and there's
no deviation from that standard
many nations thought they came before
they thought they were the exception
they'll get away with it and did they
no none of them got away with it now
here's the thing here's the principle
you have a a principle of god
that when a messenger comes to a nation
like let's say
noah comes to a nation and delivers the
message to them convincingly he does his
job
there's nothing there's no shortcoming
on his part he did
everything he could to deliver the
message to people answer all of their
questions convincingly
and yet the vast majority of them still
did not believe you know what ends up
happening to that nation
that nation gets entirely wiped out it
gets
it's wiped out in its entirety but i
want to paint a picture for you
imagine the flood waters are coming
right these 50-foot tsunamis are coming
and the town didn't believe that it's
coming the town whenever
uh the peace be upon him when he said
it's coming
they would laugh at him what are you
talking building an ark
you've seen our old man was warning his
people about yes so it's laughable to
people yeah
now imagine that 50-foot tsunami tsunami
came
and then right before it crushed the
people it stopped
there's a pause button and then turns to
them hypothetically speaking says do you
believe me now
would they believe at that time oh yeah
oh yeah but does it stop
at that point no it's too late now
when the waves come when the earthquake
comes when the fire from the sky rains
when the punishment of allah starts
now you can't say oh you were right i
believe it's too late i'm in now
that's it that town is going to be
destroyed in its entirety
now muslims believe muhammad is the
final messenger sallallahu
he's the final messenger which means if
people disbelieve in him
what's going to happen to that town it's
going to be destroyed
maybe an earthquake maybe a flood maybe
a great cataclysm but that town is going
to be destroyed
but if that town is destroyed will the
message go further
no why did messengers come one after
another because the previous nation
was completely wiped out a small
minority of people believed
and then eventually even their offspring
became deviated and their teachings were
lost
so another messenger had to come then
another then another then another so if
the same thing continued with muhammad
sallallahu sallam
then what would happen if the society
didn't accept islam what would happen
what would happen is islam wouldn't go
past a couple of generations
you and i wouldn't be saying speaking of
islam today there will be no
left so as a special mercy from allah as
a special mercy now think about this
we say that if muhammad in fact says he
is in fact a messenger of allah
and the quraish the arabs of mecca
specifically that city
they disobeyed him they disregarded him
what is the legacy of god when a nation
disobeys his messenger
they're destroyed destroyed that's the
absolute legacy there's no exception
so there shouldn't be any exception with
the city of mecca
there should be a punishment but even
then we say we argue that muhammad
sallallahu salaam is the greatest mercy
to humanity
so what i'm going to try to explain to
you is what is usually considered
an attack on islam is actually if you
believe in the previous prophets and
messengers
this is actually one of the greatest
manifestations of mercy
ever to be revealed to any messenger and
let me tell you how
the punishment this time didn't come in
the form of a flood
it didn't come in the form of an
earthquake it didn't come in the form of
rain from the sky
it didn't come in any of those forms you
know how it came in it came it came with
a
massive legion of followers of the
messenger muhammad
coming to make peaceful hajj they're
coming to make the pilgrimage at the
house
built by abraham in the city of makkah
no
arms nothing they're coming to make hajj
no invading army no pillaging of every
home no rape no killing of children
nothing
they're coming to provide you know serve
the rituals
but their overwhelming numbers are such
that as they come they have actually
already
invaded the city of mecca the the enemy
forces those who had rebelled against
the messenger
have been conquered with little to no
violence at
all tell me in history of a city that's
been invaded without
violence a city that has been invaded
without violence
and these people that were criminals
against the messenger that attempted to
kill him
that killed and tortured many of his
followers these great war criminals are
there in that city
they're there in that city what what
happens to them are they brought
and executed in public are they punished
for what they did
this is the legacy of god after all
those who disbelieve what should happen
to them
they should be destroyed our messenger
goes around and says
no harm will come to you today he
pardons everybody he pardons you from
everyone
and then the ayat come but the
punishment the exception is not going to
happen you see
the punishment's still going to be there
but look at this the the ayat come and
this is considered the most violent
surah of the quran surah number 9 most
misunderstood it comes where allah says
that basically these people who have
associated partners with allah
that listen to the clear message of
muhammad sallallahu
knew the truth in him and still rejected
him these people
there should be no mercy on them but how
should there be no mercy on them
you have four months four months
go around in the land for four months
and if you want to hear the word of
allah listen to it and come to your own
conclusions
but if you still don't believe after
four months then you will all be
executed
that's the commandment now let's
understand does a nation that disobey
its messenger in this in his lifetime is
it supposed to be executed
yes by the punishment from the sky or
the earth
cracking open or whatever else this time
it's going to be executed by at the
hands of those who believe
but is it going to you know when the
punishment starts does it stop
is there a pause button and says you
have some time to think about it now no
now imagine the swords are literally at
the necks of those who disbelieve
they're already there but now god says
you know what pull the sword back
give him four more months even though
they've rebelled all this time
they have been enemies to the messenger
all this time they have been war
criminals against his followers
they've been torturers and murderers and
pillagers even then
right now don't punish them yet let's
make one
additional merciful exception that has
never been made for any other prophet
four months think about it and accept
islam
or fight you'll even get a chance to
fight back or leave the land
this has never happened this option was
never given before to a disbeliever
never before and this actually is a
mercy given to our messenger
exceptionally
right so we have a completely different
perspective and those who are true to
scripture those the people who believe
in
you know the people uh the old testament
the new testament
and know of stories of previous prophets
then you understand that when that
punishment came when moses for example
came down
and the people had worshipped the calf
and this is even in the old testament
you know the punishment was that they
should all be executed
but was there a time period no no wait
you could just repent and you can
you know pay for it four months and then
if you're still pretty bad we'll execute
you no it didn't happen it was right
away
and this is actually even in the bible
this is even in the old testament
but here we have a messenger that was
mercy beyond imagination so the point
i'm trying to make is
even in the most violent of acts that we
attribute against the messenger there's
a mercy
the last point i want to share with you
about fighting in general fighting
associated with religion
one of the most common misconceptions
about islam
is that it's only a religion well as a
matter of fact it is a religion and a
constitutional law at the same time
it is two things at the same time and a
religion
is based on personal you know rituals
like prayer
and the pilgrimage and fasting muslims
fast right these are personal things
but then islam also has constitutional
laws the collection of taxes
in the form of zakah and the thinking
from the demi for example this is a
constitutional kind of law
the the punishment of the murderer right
or the punishment of those who commit
fornication et cetera
these are constitutional laws fighting
is also like a military act
it's not an individual thing it's a
military thing it's a constitutional
thing
now every nation that has a constitution
does it have
in it a provision to defend itself and
its constitution
is there is there a permission is that
has that been a part of every
civilization
absolutely so when we look at islam as a
religion
and in the modern sense of the word
religion then the fighting doesn't make
any sense
but if you look at it as the
constitution of a civilization
and which is if you study history islam
was and
and has been an actual civilization with
its own constitutional law
does it make sense that that
civilization have fighting
or an army a standing army ready to
fight and defend its integrity and its
constitution allah absolutely
every nation has the right to do this
and the last comment about this just to
parallel it with the messengers of the
past
is fighting the is islam bringing
something new about this issue of
fighting in the path of allah
and that's given to the messenger of
muhammad is it something new or was this
there before
was moses commanded to fight was david
commanded to fight against goliath
has fighting been mentioned before in
those prophets and messengers that have
even
mentioned in the records of the people
of the book is there
when is it there whenever there's a
constitutional law revealed
then there is the the provision to
defend that law
to make the misconception clear we don't
fight as individuals so we can't say
muslims are not violent and you know
it's a complete misinterpretation that
we take you know uh
arms into our own hands and exactly as a
violent state
right this is for if if there's a state
that exists and the law has been
implemented in that state then in that
scenario
you you know you defend that land by
means of a standing army and that's the
provision there
is a few more points we're almost out of
time now if somebody
doesn't want to accept the message you
know what they want to continue
worshiping
a man god they want to continue to
worshipping an idol or the sun and the
moon
what was the leniency now if they don't
want to accept that even if you give
them all the evidences
but they want to worship their desires
they want to make god something
convenient in their mind or they don't
even want to acknowledge god these
unbelievers what does islam say about
this what did it say during the time of
the prophet peace
it's a very simple statement this occurs
in the quran
tell them are you going to teach allah
your religion and look at that statement
allah is issuing a threat to people who
think that they are in a position to
dictate terms
of the relationship between themselves
and god and he turns and says you have
the audacity
to teach allah your religion is that
what you're saying you're in a position
to do
think about that that should be enough
as a message if you have a consciousness
of god
realize you're not in the position to
dictate you're in the position to take
the instructions and live by them
may allah make us all submissive and put
the the
urge to submit before our creator and
our lord inside of our hearts
i mean all right any uh closing comments
suggestions for those now that have
gotten to
hear a little bit about islam everything
makes sense they're not confused about
the concept of the creator
and the instructions that were given to
mankind it makes sense that god would
sense
instructions and he would send
instructors those are the prophets
someone who's like okay you got my
attention uh some advice to that person
my sincere advice after you've come to
the conclusion that there is in fact a
god and that
you should be in search of guidance my
sincere advice would be
to study the life of muhammad sallallahu
alaihi
study his life but don't study it from
an author
that has written it from the point of
view of attacking him
you know if you want to know what
christianity is about talk to a
christian
if you want to know of what judaism is
about don't talk to a muslim talk to a
jew
if you want to know what muhammad's life
is about listen to read a muslim author
read someone or listen to someone who's
actually a believer of that religion
because then you'll get you know what
they say in english hear it from the
horse's mouth
let the people of a particular faith
speak for themselves
don't let you know uh your minister or
your priest or preacher or whoever else
tell you what that religion says like if
i tell you something about the bible or
or
or christianity don't take my word for
it go study it yourself
figure it out for yourself and when i
tell you something about islam look it
up for yourself but don't take
you know the teachings of one religion
from the mouth of somebody who doesn't
belong to that religion
because they won't present it in a fair
way and that's not intellectually honest
thank you for being with us again
welcome we look forward to having you
again next time inshallah god willing
yep inshallah and thank you for sitting
tight to another episode of the dean's
show
try to come back every week you got to
hear the message that
this man muhammad didn't come with
anything new he came with the same way
of life
that was taught by all the instructors
the messenger showing you how to get
close to god he didn't call you to
worship him
he didn't call you to worship any of the
other prophets he called you to worship
the one god and he was teaching you how
to get close to god he was indeed the
way the truth and the light just like
during the time of jesus
he was the way the truth and the light
you couldn't get to god except by his
teachings
but jesus wasn't god moses wasn't god
muhammad peace and blessings be upon all
of them
he wasn't god so he was indeed a mercy
to the world
teaching us how to be merciful towards
each other
towards humanity towards even the
animals look into his life a little bit
further
and come back here every week on the
dean show and we'll see you next time
god willing inshallah until then
assalamu alaikum peace be unto you
[Music]
he is the first he's the owner of mercy
he sent his messengers
to all his creatures of the great
dangers of worship
in other than allah
there is none greater
the creator