cultural baggage custom and tradition
which prevented them from accepting The
Message of
[Music]
Islam break the shackles of custom and
tradition break the shackles of desire
to please ourselves and to please others
free our minds so that we can become
true Muslims
[Music]
Muslims
Allah
Allah in the name of Allah the most
merciful the most compassionate I greet
you with the greetings
of
at this time I also send my prayers
and blessings upon Allah's last and most
noble Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihi
wasallam upon his companions his family
wives and those who follow right
guidance ladies and gentlemen today's
lecture by Dr Bal Phillips will be on
shackles of the mind I would like to now
give you a brief introduction and it is
truly a brief introduction because I I
would take up all the speakers time
where I to go through a full
introduction of our brother and Dr
Sheikh Abu Amina belal
Phillips he was born in Jamaica West
Indies and grew up in Canada where he
accepted Islam in
1972 he completed his ba from the
College of Islamic disciplines that
is at the Islamic University of Medina
in
1979 and an MA in Islamic theology in
1985 at the University of ROV College of
Education in
1994 he completed his PhD in Islamic
theology or AKA in the department of
Islamic Studies at the University of
Wales from
1994 until the year 20 1 Dr balal
founded and directed the Islamic
information center in Dubai the United
Arab Emirates and the foreign literature
Department of Dar fata Islamic press and
Chara United Arab Emirates in the year
2001 Dr balal established the Islamic
online university the first accredited
Islamic University on the internet he
was a professor of Arabic and Islamic
Studies at the American University
University in Dubai and Ajman University
head of the Department of Arabic and
Islamic Studies at Preston University in
Ajman United Arab Emirates and he is a
lecturer and head of the Sharia advisory
committee at the C guest Center in
dohaqatar he is currently the dean of
the Islamic Studies Academy in Doha more
information can be gained from
www.is Islamic Studies
academy.com for more information on Dr
Bal Phillips you can look for his
website
www Bal phillips.com that's one word b i
l a p i
ls.com he is also hosting the website
www Islamic online university.com where
you can sign up for classes on Islam and
listen to lectures watch videos and also
have DVDs downloaded to your computers
ladies and gentlemen with no further
waiting inshallah shackles of the Mind
by Dr balal
Phillips
alhamdulillah all praise is due to Allah
and Allah's peace and blessings beyond
the last messenger of
Allah the topic shackles of the
mind is one
which most of us would find somewhat
strange I'm sure you're probably
wondering what am I going to talk about
under this
topic and to be honest when it was given
to me I was wondering myself what was I
going to be talking about
normally when we think of shackles of
the Mind meaning shackles are chains
chains on our minds for what purpose
what is the point of these chains
chains which would prevent us from being
true
Muslims this is the take which I took
from this title what are the shackles
what are the
obstacles which would prevent us from
actuating our
faith making our faith a living faith as
opposed
to the
typical understanding of
religion where
people go through rituals they do group
festivals
and they socialize all in the name of
religion but are they really practicing
that
religion
no we can see it with the religions
around us in the world today one only
has to look at Christmas to see a
classical case of religion turned into a
social event besides the fact of Truth
or falsehood with regards to Christmas
but just look at the event of Christmas
what does it have to do with
religion where is religion there and
this is not something I'm saying as a
Muslim relative to Christianity this is
what Christians say themselves Christmas
has become so
commercialized that the religious
element has been
lost and that's why
anybody except Muslims can celebrate
Christmas it doesn't matter what you
believe you can celebrate it we do also
even find some Muslims doing it but they
shouldn't be but uh that's what it has
become something and the religion in
general has become something which is
social to certain degree this has come
happened for Muslims
too whether it is the event of Hajj
which is the major Gathering of
Muslims
or it is the event of the eids the
festivals to a certain
degree we have ritualized them so much
so that anybody could participate and
that's why you will
find non-muslims participating in our
eids and they don't have any problem
with it because to a large
degree except for
salid the Eid itself has has lost its
religious character the fact that there
is Salah there that is a reminder for us
that we begin the celebration of Eid
with
Salah that is to keep us on
track that Aid is
fundamentally a
religious gathering a gathering in which
we worship Allah and everything else
that takes place should be an extension
of that
worship but is it that's the question
so going back to the
shackles the mental
shackles which prevents us
from
actualizing our
faith when I reflected on this
topic what what came to
me by Allah's
Mercy was Surah Al
F Surah Al
fa which we repeat 17
times every
day if we are praying five times a day
which we are supposed to
be in that
Surah Allah speaks about out the
shackles of the
mind which prevent the Believers
from
actuating their faith where you might
ask you have read the translation of
Surah fa and there's no mention of any
shackles in
it shackles of the mind so where did I
get that
from well if we read the last verse
Surah FAA we know begins with the praise
of
Allah
then recognizing his
Mercy recognizing our responsibility
Malik that we are accountable to
Allah then
affirming the purity of our faith
[Music]
you alone do we worship and from you
alone do we seek
help then we ask Allah teaches us to ask
for the most important thing in our
lives and that
is show us the straight path and
then we describe drive that
path the path of those who you have
blessed because it is only with the
blessings of
Allah that we find that
path and what is that path it is the
path
which is not followed by those those on
whom is Allah's
anger nor those who have gone
astray two
categories of
people who are
prevented From the
Path the straight
path the path of Allah two people two
groups of people those those on whom is
Allah's anger and those who have gone
astray Prophet Muhammad wasallam
explained that those on whom is Allah's
anger refers primarily to the
Jews and those who have lost their way
who have gone astray primarily are the
Christians
now what is it about the Jews and the
Christians that Allah would put them
here in Surah fa the Jews when we see
them described in the
Quran Allah described them describes
them as those who do not act on their
knowledge and the
Christians are described as those
without without true
knowledge and we should keep in mind
that whenever Allah describes a people
in the
Quran he is describing them to the
Believers for them to understand the
lesson the lessons to be
learned from these
people it is not so that we can
say Allah's anger is on the Jews the
Christians are
astray well that's
true but Allah wasn't clarifying these
points for us to say
that he was clarifying in Surah fa these
points so that we
beware we beware of falling into the
same
pitfalls and into the same
traps the satanic
traps which causes one to be of those
who know and don't
act on the
knowledge or to be
ignorant and to be acting on false
knowledge and thus to be
astray so the main two
pitfalls the main two
shackles
which chain our
minds in such a way as to prevent us
from becoming true
Muslims
Muslims who have
knowledge and who act on that knowledge
the main two
shackles are one not acting on
knowledge and
two not having
knowledge now if we put them in
order starting with knowledge first we
have to
understand that there is a difference
between between knowledge and
faith we have to understand first and
foremost that there is a
difference between knowledge and
Faith was this is an area that people
become confused about they
mistake knowledge for
Faith they mistake knowledge for
Faith Knowledge from the Islamic
perspective must precede
Faith knowledge must precede
faith for Faith to be correct and
real knowledge must preced it if faith
is preceded by
emotion and we know that emotions
blind as they say love is blind love is
a powerful emotion it blinds
us so where
we address our faith from an emotional
perspective not preceded by
knowledge then it is likely that we are
on the wrong path where're we on the
wrong path we are very emotional and
strong about
something that we really have no
knowledge
of
so knowledge should precede Faith as
Allah
[Music]
said
know that there is no God worthy of
worship but Allah
we should know
it without that knowledge if we're just
repeating
it we don't really know what it
means we are acting
on
something probably most probably in the
wrong way if we were to act on it and we
don't really know what it means then the
likelihood is that we'll be acting on it
in the wrong way so
knowledge Prophet Muhammad sahu alai
wasam enshrined knowledge in
Islam following Allah's
instruction ask those who know if you
don't know if you don't know ask those
who
know only
the
knowledgeable truly fear
Allah Allah has laid that Foundation
already that without real knowledge one
cannot truly fear
Allah
and the way to get knowledge is to ask
those who know whenever you don't know
so Prophet Muhammad wasallam made it a
pillar of
Faith a
pillar of Faith a pillar in
Islam meaning a foundation one of the
basic foundations for our Islam to seek
knowledge it's not of the five pillars
of Islam or the six pillars of Iman no
I'm not saying that of those but under
underneath the five pillars of Islam and
the six pillars of Iman is the pillar of
knowledge Prophet Muhammad wasallam
said seeking knowledge is compulsory for
every
Muslim how can we implement the five
pillars of Islam or the six pillars of
Iman without
knowledge so knowledge is the
foundation so Prophet Muhammad wasallam
made it a
far what is a
far something
obligatory if you don't do it you're in
sin so the prophet s wasallam in that
Hadith made ignorance
sin made it sinful for those who have
the opportunity to gain the knowledge
and don't do it it is
sinful it is something this pleasing to
Allah it is something which can lead us
to
Hell destroy this
life very serious that's why he made
seeking knowledge and
obligation on every Muslim according to
his or her ability
naturally what is required of a child is
not required of an
adult what is required of somebody going
to to make Hajj is not required of
somebody not going to make
Hajj so different
circumstances May demand of us knowledge
which other circumstances don't
but we are obliged to have the knowledge
of whatever is obligatory on
us whatever is obligatory on us at this
point in time right now we are obliged
to have the knowledge
of so if we are going to make
Hajj we are obliged to have knowledge of
Hajj before we go to make
Haj what do Muslims do commonly they go
and make Hajj and then they come back
and they ask people well she molana
should I have done
that no not when you came came back
that's not the time to find out what you
were supposed to have been doing
everybody was doing this thing and I
went and did that was that
okay no this is not the time to ask the
time to ask was before
going the time to ask was before going
we had the fast of Ashura
yesterday this was an opportunity which
Allah gave
us to
remove from us sins of the past one who
fasts
ashur removes from
himself some of the sins of the
past depending on the level of his
fast it may be
many they may be
major or it may be few and they may be
minor how many of us fasted yesterday
put your hands up
oh okay maybe in
India uh you are going according to
different calendar so you've calculated
Ashura to be
today today is
Ashura 9th
today wof you're two days
off you're always two days off okay we
have a knowledge problem here anyway
those of you following
the general understanding based on your
own calculations here uh for Ashura
being
tomorrow inshallah you make the
intention to fast
tomorrow and you should try make the
intention to fast today you should have
known before today
that fasting on the tenth alone
is not sufficient it's rewarded you do
get a reward for it but the best fast is
to combine the ninth along with the
10th T and
Ash the ninth and the 10th why because
Prophet Muhammad s Ali wasallam though
he only fasted on the
10th and the last year of his life said
if I live to the next year then I will
Fast a day before along with it some
narrations mentions a day after most
commonly a day
before in order to
go along another path other than
those who only fast on the 10th who were
the Jews
y they fast on the 10th so to clarify
the difference that Muslims are
conscious of the difference he said fast
another day along with it and we should
know what is the significance of that
day and I won't go into it because
that's another lecture in and of itself
fasting
Ash and what it means really to fast but
that knowledge because of the fact that
asur is before us an opportunity which
Allah has placed in the year for us to
earn for
ourselves addition
blessings it is obligatory on us to have
that knowledge so as to get from that
practice the full benefit if we don't
have that knowledge we will miss the
ninth today we won't be fasting today
when we should have been and tomorrow
the 10th we will do it in a fashion that
we have always done it before without
really knowing why do we fast on ashur
or how should we really fast you know
and we just make ifar and we have a nice
little gathering
and another Ashura passes without us
getting from it the benefit which Allah
has put in
it
so Prophet Muhammad s Ali wasallam made
the seeking of knowledge obligatory on
every
Muslim of course first and and foremost
it is Islamic
knowledge
what prevents us
from achieving
that
today one of the
biggest mental
shackles which prevents us from
realizing knowledge of the religion
seeking that knowledge is is cultural
baggage what do I mean by cultural
baggage tradition and
custom tradition and custom which
opposes the
truth tradition and custom which opposes
the truth what do I mean if we go to MAA
fifth chapter of the Quran verse
104 Allah said to the prophet
wasallam if you
Muhammad alai
wasam call the
people to
Allah and to
what the prophet
yourself offers
them they will say to
you what our parents were
doing is sufficient for
us 1,400 years ago when Prophet Muhammad
sallallahu alai wasallam called the
people toed to
Islam the people said what we found our
parents
doing what we found our parents
doing was sufficient for
us that is cultural
baggage custom and tradition which
prevented them from accepting The
Message of
Islam preventing them from Gaining the
knowledge
and applying that
knowledge Abu Talib Uncle of the Prophet
sallallahu alaihi wasallam on his
deathbed after having protected defended
supported the prophet Sall alhi
wasallam on his deathbed when Prophet
Muhammad s Ali wasallam invited him to
accept
Islam what prevented him from accepting
Islam
his brothers were around him saying are
you going to give up the way of our
forefathers are you going to dishonor
our family are you going to uh
disregard our parents our grandparents
traditions and he
submitted he
submitted to the
idol of
culture today many
Muslims submit to the idol of
culture so they can't find
out true
Islam
because they are
prevented by the idol of custom and
tradition
so that
topic the importance of seeking
knowledge is a massive topic but enough
for us to know that in order for us to
not be astray we must seek knowledge it
is obligatory not only is it obligatory
it is
I it is the foundation of worship and it
is in itself wor worship Prophet
Muhammad wasallam
said whoever takes a path in which he or
she seeks
knowledge Allah will make the path to
Paradise easy for them and believe me
whatever makes the path to Paradise easy
has to be
I has to be worship doing what is
pleasing to Allah cuz that's the basic
definition of worship basic definition
of worship is doing what is pleasing to
Allah so that is one major shackle and
its sub
shackles the other major
shackle is that of not acting on
knowledge and that is as much a problem
perhaps even a bigger problem than the
problem of not having
knowledge in some respects it may be a
bigger
problem because a
person may be
excused in their ignorance
maybe ignorance is not necessarily an
excuse before
Allah if we had access and means to get
the knowledge then ignor is not
acceptable but if we didn't have access
we didn't have opportunity and Allah is
the one who destines
our circumstances of life then of course
he is not going to hold us
accountable there is an excuse
here
whereas acting on the knowledge once you
have
it the only
excuse is you're being unable to act and
99.9% of the times when we don't do what
we know we should be doing it is
because we have chosen not to do
it only
1% or less than 1% are we truly unable
to do
it
truly if we look into ourselves honestly
of course we always say I can't the
circumstances we make all kinds of
excuses why this you know I'm
forced but if we really stop and look at
it it is not about being
forced it is not about being forced it's
it is about choices that we
make and these
choices are very dangerous
choices
choices which are in fact to do what is
displeasing to Allah and preferring that
over doing what is pleasing to
Allah and what does that say about
faith what does that say about faith
itself when we choose to do what we know
is displeasing to Allah over what is
pleasing to
Allah yesterday in my
talk I spoke about Muslim
dress when we see
sisters who are not dressing according
to Muslim
dress and we ask them sister why don't
you dress Accord according to Muslim
dress after the knowledge has come to
you she will say it's not pleasing to my
husband it's not pleasing to my family
it's not pleasing to the
society my
neighbors at my people at work or at
school or whatever the society doesn't
like when I dress that way so I dress
this other way the traditional
way and the same thing with the
brothers when we ask them brothers you
already know that
Salah is not acceptable if your hour is
exposed the brothers say well you know
my job they require me to dress like
this yeah I know I shouldn't but it's my
job or you know that kind of dress is
look down on in the society you know
people look at the person as being
backwards you know they're dressing like
people dressed 25 years ago 50 years ago
baggy pants and these kind of things you
know it's it's not smart
looking it's very
serious because
because as I said yesterday every school
of
thought hanafi Maliki shaf H all
say that one of the conditions for the
acceptability of
Salah after facing
theah praying in a clean
Place having a state of
Purity to
is covering the private
parts and for a man that is between the
navl and the knee and covering does not
mean Simply Having cloth on it because
if that cloth is
seethrough but if you wore a pair of
pants of a see-through and believe me a
time is
coming a time is coming when that will
be in fashion
to walk around with seethrough
pants if you wore see-through
pants would your houra be considered
covered
no your AA would not be considered
covered we all agree on that
one if you wore
pants which are Spanish fex Fant fandex
is like what the bicycle the guys who
ride bicycles and bicycle races and what
people are wearing now in the Olympics
that's why we shouldn't be watching the
Olympics cuz the runners what are they
wearing what kind of shorts are they
wearing now these are shorts which are
sprayed on spray on
shorts skin tight exposing the a can you
pray in such
pants no
prayer would not be acceptable and of
course that requirement is not only in
Salah it is whenever you're outside in
the
public when your AA should be
covered so it's not just Salah because
some brothers will say when the time for
Salah comes at work I have a longi you
know I put on my longy and I make my
Salah a covered alhamdulillah that's
better than not
alhamdulillah that is better than not
because at least for your Salah you are
protecting your Salah to that
degree but still after you take the long
off is Allah only watching you when
you're in
Salah outside of
Salah you are still under the command to
cover your a this is part of the male
hijab
so what stops
us and know Allah
said in Surah
Assa 61st chapter verse
three all you who
believe why do you not do what you
say why do you say what you don't do you
say that is compulsory covering your
privates is a obligatory but you don't
do
it it is a great sin in the sight of
Allah that
you say what you don't
do that you say what you don't
do that was the curse which fell on the
Jews which made them
and all of us that do that we fall under
the same category of
the and
know that the main shackle sub shackle
which prevents us from acting on our
knowledge is what
desires
ha and as Allah said have you not seen
the one who makes his desires his
God have you not seen the one who makes
his desires his
God that's what we have
done how did Satan get Adam and Eve to
disobey
Allah they were in a garden filled with
trees they could eat from any of the
trees but one
tree Allah said don't eat from
it one tree how did Satan get them and
Allah warned them about Satan how did
Satan get them to eat from that tree he
played on their desires he said as is
mentioned in Surah 7th chapter verse
20
[Music]
he said to
[Music]
them your
lord
only prohibited you from eating from
this tree so that you would not
become like
Angels or that you would be
eternal that you would not become like
the
Angels completely good free from any
sin or that you be of the eternals you
never
die with
that Adam and Eve ate from the tree he
played on their desires and that's what
we do isn't it Satan plays on our
desires our desires to want to look good
our desires to want to please family
please friends please our boss please
this one please the other one so in
doing that we choose to please our human
compatriots people in this life human
beings we choose to please them over
pleasing Allah
and what is
that but
sh what is that but
shik it is
shik so though as Muslims we say we
don't practice shik that's what the
others do in fact we are committing shik
in this act I'm not saying that we've
become
mushrik right because not every Act of
shik makes a person a
mush it is an act of idolatry but it
doesn't mean you become an idolator so
I'm going to call you an idol worshipper
no but understand that in its Essence it
is
shik choosing to please human beings
over pleasing Allah meaning choosing you
to please human
beings and displeasing
Allah
is
sh and it is caused by our worship of
our desires our submission to our
desires this is the
challenge this is the challenge before
us
today for us to actuate Islam to make it
a living
faith we must have knowledge of that
faith we must know Islam not as it has
been handed To Us by our parents because
our parents were not
sahabah they did not learn Islam fromo
alaih wasam so that we can say but
that's what our parents told us
no we are obliged to follow Islam which
was brought by Muhammad sallahu alaih
wasallam that's the Islam so if our
parents weren't sahabah then we can't
use the excuse well that's what my
parents taught
me so we are
obliged to seek the correct knowledge of
Islam and secondly when we acquire that
knowledge we are obliged to act on it to
earn the pleasure of
Allah to make it
worship to turn that act of seeking
knowledge into
faith we have to act on
it to earn the pleasure of
Allah the reward for practicing the dean
we have to break those
shackles break the shackles of custom
and
tradition and
habit
break the shackles of
desire to please ourselves and to please
others free our
minds so
that we can become true
Muslims this is the challenge before us
today my brothers and sisters it is a
great
Challenge and it is what distinguishes
between us
and the first
generation that
generation which prophet Muhammad
wasallam called The Best of
generations the best of generations the
best of people are my
[Music]
generation then those who follow them
than those who follow them the first
three generations where the best why
what made them the best because they
sought
knowledge they sought Knowledge from the
sources they gained it from the Pure
Source and they acted on
it they acted on that
knowledge that was what distinguishes
them from us
but each and every one of us has the
ability to rise to their
level they each and every one of us has
the ability to rise to the level of the
sahabah with regards to
knowledge and
practice with regards to knowledge and
practice we cannot equal them in the
sense of seeing wasallam maybe we might
see him in a
dream and the prophet wasam told us that
if we see rasool Allah in a dream he
sees him in a dream then he has seen
rasool
Allah but there are issues concerning
that very few people are blessed with
that so we can't equal them in that
sense in general but we can equal them
in the sense of seeking knowledge in
fact the knowledge has been gathered for
us in a way that it was not for them
when you read about the lives of Imam
Abu hanifah Ahmed H and the early
Scholars those who gathered Hadith Imam
bukari and that they struggled they
strove they traveled to get that
knowledge now we have it all together in
books CDs it's all
there so it is much easier for
us and then there is acting on that
knowledge and everybody is equal in that
regard you can act or not act you can
choose to act or choose not to act so in
that sense we are all in a
position to achieve the
status of the sahabah with regards to
our
faith and that's why
Scholars are
agreed that though Prophet M wasallam
said the best of generations is my
generation the sahabah it doesn't mean
that there were not individuals from the
generation after better than those of
his
generation he spoke about the generation
as a
whole but they were of different
levels so there can be in the
generations after individuals who were
greater than those who were of that
generation
not greater than Abu Bakr because the
prophet s wasallam said about him that
he was the best of his Nation but of the
general
sahaba who were on variety of different
levels it is
possible but you will find Scholars
living amongst us in this generation
today who are on a level greater than
them it's possible as
individuals so the challenge is there
the challenge of faith faith is there
for
us to break the shackles on our
minds to free
ourselves from the Satanic
chains which prevent us from making our
faith a living real
faith
Dr B phips inah for the
lecture ladies and gentlemen and now
we'll go into the question and answer
session there are a few rules which I
will briefly mention in order to do this
and then in an orderly manner we have
two microphones placed in this Hall one
here in the front for the brothers
microphone number one and in the front
of the sister section microphone number
two I ask that when you approach the
microphone you stand in one line forming
a queue and do not Bunch up around the
microphone follow any instructions given
to you by the microphone
attendance you may ask one question and
one question only your question should
be on the topic if you have a second
question please go to the rear of the
line and if you come back to the
microphone you may ask your second
question written questions will take
second priority
so if you write down your question it's
better to try and find someone else to
ask the question for
you as always in these events we
encourage the non-muslims to ask
questions to make comments or to give
some kind of comments you know
criticisms that they may have heard in
the talk and may have
misunderstood sometimes and I'm talking
now to the
non-muslims what you think think would
be a criticism that we would object to
it's sometimes it's something that we
would actually agree
with anything that you say will be taken
in a spirit of kindness
and mutual Interfaith dialogue and no
one will become angry with you we will
not become angry with you because of
something that you asked or said in
order to gain clarification that's what
the purpose of us inviting you to the
microphone
is ladies and gentlemen inshallah
we will begin now I encourage anyone
who's sitting next to a non-muslim to
please try to motivate that non-muslim
to uh ask a question and for the
non-muslims here in the audience if you
have a question simply go to any of the
volunteers which you'll find in the
aisles or in the center aisle and tell
them you have a question they will
assist you in getting to the front of
the line so that you may ask your
question okay you don't have to wait in
the line just make sure one of the
volunteers helps you and you'll come to
the front of the line and you may ask
your question with no further delays
inshallah if our speaker is ready we'll
start question and answer could you
please state your name and occupation
sister asalam
alayum my name is Asma and I'm a teacher
how do I react to my friend who says
that ignorance is better than gaining
knowledge and not acting on it because
gaining knowledge and not acting on it
is a greatest
sin okay there is a famous saying in the
west when I grew up people would say
ignorance is
bliss that's how they put it ignorance
is bliss when you don't know what is
required of you then you're not
required so you can live a easy life you
don't know you have to pray five times a
day you don't have to pray makes life
easy doesn't
it but this is a satanic statement this
is one of the ways that Satan deludes
people into not seeking correct
knowledge no if you are able to seek
knowledge and you choose not to you
carry the full sin so don't think that
because I didn't find out because that
that happens sometimes you want to tell
somebody about something which is wrong
and say no no don't tell me don't tell
me I don't want to know CU if I don't
know then it's okay I can keep on doing
what I'm doing right doesn't work like
that right if you are are driving down
the
road beyond the speed
limit and there were sign posts there
were posts which said what the speed
limit was the police stop you can you
say I was ignorant I didn't see the sign
post you know they say no ignorance is
not an excuse before the law that's what
they tell you and know that it's the
same thing before Allah ignorance is not
an excuse before Allah if you had the
means to get the number knowledge
brother could you please state your name
and
occupation
I I'm doing my master degree in computer
applications uh my question is uh what
kind of knowledge we need and what we do
to get to perform our Salah with
concentration
okay we are sort of off the topic a
little bit but anyway uh what kind of
knowledge is
should be given priority it should be
obviously religious knowledge because
that is for both this life and the
next included in that knowledge that we
need to seek is also knowledge of this
world as you're seeking computer studies
it is something that we need for the
functioning of society functioning of
life here today so it is a valid area to
seek knowledge in
also how to seek correct knowledge about
Salah in in order to make make uh the
Salah the best way well Prophet wasallam
said pray as you saw me pray so we need
to know how did the prophet Salli
wasallam pray
externally that's where we start from
externally how did he
pray now it may involve some small
things that we might say
well that's not so big now some people
when they're going to raise their hands
they raise it and touch their ears right
as if they want to make sure that their
ears are still on the head right you
touch your ear or something like this
before of course there is no mention in
the description of the prophet's prayer
that he touched his ears you
know no mention it just said he raised
his hands to the level of his
ears or to the level of his
shoulders and this is just an example
I'm giving right and one might say but
you know what's the big deal if you
touch your ears or you put your hand
here what's the big
deal well the prophet Salli wasallam
said pray as you saw me pray if it
wasn't important he wouldn't have said
that right that's what we have to
believe it is important because he
didn't say things which weren't
important he was sent by Allah to tell
us the important things so if he said
pray as you saw me pray then that's what
we should do isn't it so we don't say
this is not important no if he said what
prayers you saw me pray then we try to
do it as closely as possible
externally and
internally so he gave us advice in terms
of when we're praying if things happen
which might distract us from our prayer
what we should do and so so we read
about the prayer we study the prayer we
should should know the prophetic way of
prayer because it was the best way to
pray okay so thank you for the question
sister your name and occupation yeah uh
my name is Sabrine I'm doing mechanical
engineering I just wanted to ask it's
relating to the topic only that one of
the biggest shackles that youth face is
uh being attached to this world and the
possessions of this world so anything
that s alhi wasallam said in his Hadith
regarding refraining from you know what
can we do not to be attached to this
world of course it's personal Jihad but
something else you know with that thank
you okay Prophet Muhammad s
wasallam had warned
us about how we use our time he
said there are two blessing thingss
about which people are
deluded most people are
deluded
a good
health and spare
time
so what we need to help the
youth is to get them involved to be
involved in activities which would make
use of their health while they're
healthy they can do
things and make use of their time so
they don't have so-called spare time
time to
kill you know as they said that the idle
mind is the devil's worshop right you
have spare time then Shan will come and
give you things to do which are not good
things so we try to occupy get them
involved in activities find ways and
means to have them actively occupy in
beneficial things if we're able to do
that then we're able to help them a long
way but it's when we are too busy we
don't have time we leave them with the
television you know we leave them with
whatever hanging out with their friends
just running out and playing outside
wasting time you know in a bad
environment this is where they go astray
because that environment is calling to
materialism to be caught up in it to
love it to sacrifice for it you know to
make it very dear to the heart so I
would that's my advice in terms of
utilizing time effectively so we talk
about time management for our children
we can't leave it up to them to manage
their time they're children and it is
the nature of children to waste time in
foolish Pursuits whatever pleases them
they're young so we have to guide them
we have to find for them Alternatives
cuz it's not just just don't do this
don't do that don't do that don't do the
other no we have to say instead of doing
this let us do this instead of doing
that let us do the
other thank you brother could you please
state your name in occupation asalam
alaykum my name is m Ahmed I'm a tax
consultant my question is the educated
people can seek knowledge as they know
from where to seek the knowledge but for
a common person when I advice to a
common person as you said they simply
reject me so how can I reach them well
now you're addressing an issue of dawa
that is the issue of dawa how do you
give dawa to people you know how do you
invite people to knowledge there are a
variety of different principles
governing it one very important
principle that you have to win over
Hearts because when you're dealing with
ignorant people then you have to win
over their hearts they have to feel
confidence in you they have
to have a love for you to be able to
listen to you if they don't know you
from any
place they don't have any special
concern etc for you then your words are
just words they don't want to hear it so
when you're working with people who are
from not an educated level then you have
to work on an emotional level you have
to establish a bridge between yourself
on them and that is one of love that you
treat them in a nice way you speak to
them in a nice way you build a
relationship with them and then you try
to introduce that knowledge to them
gradually but if you just come to them
no
Haram sh so and so then of course you
will not be very
successful thank you for the question
sister could you please stay to her
question please asalam alikum brother
this is a question from a non-muslim
sister she asked uh when a man can get
married to many women why not a woman
can do it okay this is this is an issue
of knowledge here um why a woman cannot
marry many
men because it is the
nature
fundamentally of men and
women that Allah created
them in such a way that the woman
attaches herself to one
man and men can have
the attachment to more than one woman
that is a part of their nature that
Allah has created them with and that
nature matches the reality of a surplus
of women in the world and a minority of
men which is the norm in the world so it
it is a
characteristic
which matches a societal
need also IT addresses the basic need of
a person desire of a person to want to
know who his parents are if a man has
four wives they all get pregnant and
they all have children every one of them
can say I'm your mother and that is your
father but if a woman has four husbands
she gets pregnant has a child what does
she say to the child I'm your mother and
one of these four guys is your
father
naturally he's going the child is not
going to feel good with that one of them
how do I decide which
one people might say oh we have DNA
testing no DNA is for a very small
proportion of people in this world the
vast majority of people have no
opportunity to have DNA testing to see
who could have been and who couldn't
have been so that's normal and
natural so polygamy was instituted by
God to serve a need in the
society serve a need which is basically
to absorb Surplus women into family
Halal family circumstances and to avoid
them falling into corruption in order to
fulfill their natural desires of wanting
to have love and to have family to have
husband
Etc okay
we ask Allah to bless us with knowledge
and the courage and Faith to act on that
knowledge
alikum be
one