Note: The following transcript was generated using AI and may contain inaccuracies.
Alhamdulillahi Rabbil Alameen, wassalatu wassalamu ala rasoolillahi sallallahu alayhi wasallam amabaad. Ustad Abdur Rahman Hassan, salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu.
Wa alaykum assalam wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu. JazakAllah khairan for joining me once again on the Hotseat podcast. Last time we were here, we discussed the topic of homosexuality and navigating through the LGBTQ movement within the religion of Islam.
One of the things that came up through that podcast, naturally, was the issue of living amongst the non-Muslims in the West. And it was actually one of your proposed solutions to deal with the topic in its entirety, was to leave. And that's why today what I thought would be relevant would be to discuss the topic of is hijrah obligatory? So the question that I want us to answer together is not whether hijrah is a good thing, it's whether it is obligatory upon the Muslims.
And I'd really like to focus our conversation around that point in particular. I want to start again by giving you the floor and allow you to open the conversation the way you deem fit. Alhamdulillah rabbil alameen, lahu alhamdul hasan, wa thana ul jameel, wa ashhadu an la ilaha illallah wahdahu la sharika lah, yaqulul haqqa wa huwa yahdi al sabeel, wa ashhadu anna muhammadan abduhu wa rasuluh, salallahu alayhi wa ala alihi wa ashabihi, wa attabi'ina lahum bi ihsanin ila yawmi al deen amma ba'd.
Before I go into speaking about ujub al hijrah min biladi al kufri, migrating and leaving the lands of the disbelievers and migrating to the land of the believers, I want to inshallah ta'ala talk about something very important that's connected to the concept of hijrah. And that is the concept known as al wala wal baraa, love and hate, association and disassociation. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala gave a description for the believers, whether they be male believers or female believers.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said, the believing men and the believing women are ba'duhum awliya'u ba'd. Some of them are allies to the other, they are allies to one another. They are to each other guardians and they are protecting friends to one another.
Allah is describing us with that description. They call each other to the good and they prohibit one another from the evil. They establish the prayer and they give the zakat and they obey Allah and His messenger.
Allah says these are the ones who Allah is going to bestow upon them His mercy. Verily Allah is aziz. When He wants something to happen, it will happen the way He wants it to happen.
Hakim, wise. So Allah is almighty and all-wise. The beginning of that verse, it says the believers, both men and women, are what to one another.
They are guardians, they are also allies and they are protecting friends. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala warned us from giving that characteristics, that traits, that quality to the non-Muslims. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says in the Qur'an, O you believers, Allah is talking to the believers, do not take the disbelievers as allies instead of the believers.
And then Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said, Do you want to give Allah a solid proof against you, for Him to punish you? Also Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala referred to it as hypocrisy, to give this quality of allying, taking close friends, protecting friends, guardians to the non-Muslims. Give good news of a painful punishment to the hypocrites. What is the reason? Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said, They chose disbelievers as allies instead of the believers.
And then Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said, Are they seeking honour and protection and power? Are they seeking that besides the believers? Is that what they are looking for? Then Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said, Verily, all honour and power belongs to Allah. The honour that they are looking for, the power that they are looking for, they can get that from Allah and their brothers and their sisters in faith. Why would they look for it in the non-Muslims? If you ponder that last part of the verse, where Allah says, عندهم العزة.
Are they looking for honour and power from the non-Muslims? The majority or a large quantity of the people who have gone to the lands of the disbelievers, they've gone there to get honour, power. Power and honour comes in different forms and shapes. Sometimes it could be through money and etc.
People going there. أَيَا بَتَغُونَ عِنْدَهُمُ الْعِزَّةِ Are you looking for honour? There's no harm in trying to get money from those lands and that's not my argument. But what I'm saying is that if that is in the cost, that you're losing your religion, you're losing your faith and your Iman, definitely you'll fall under this ayah.
And that's a big if that we need to discuss. If that is the case, that people who go there are definitely going to lose their Iman, their religion. I want to dissect this introduction a little bit and I think Al-Walaa wal-Baraa deserves its own episode on its own.
But I do want to go into a little bit more detail in terms of this word Awliya which came up in many of the ayat that you recited. What does that mean exactly? The word Awliya has many many meanings. That's why whenever I was translating the verse I kept saying allies, guardians, protecting friends, giving victory, aiding, supporting.
All of these meanings, the word Awliya has those meanings. For example, the ayah يَا إِلَّذِينَ عَمَنُوا لَا تَتَّخِذُوا أَمَا لَا تَتَّخِذُوا الْكَافِرِينَ أَوْلِيَاءً مِّن دُونِ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ Here it means do not take the non-Muslims, the disbelievers as your allies. Whereas Allah when he says وَالْمُؤْمِنُونَ وَالْمُؤْمِنَاتَ أَوْلِيَاءُ بَعْضُهُمْ أَوْلِيَاءُ بَعْضٍ Here it means they are guardians for one another.
And they are protecting friends for one another. So that meaning of the word Awliya is a very general meaning. And Hijra is a form from the forms of Al-Walaa wal-Baraa.
What do you mean by that exactly? The word Al-Walaa wal-Baraa is a very general term. It comes in different forms, different ways. Hundreds of different forms fall under Walaa.
They are all not the same ruling. But remaining in the lands of the disbelievers when you can't implement your religion, staying with them, the scholars they add it to the chapter of Al-Walaa wal-Baraa. It falls under that concept of association and disassociation, loving and hating.
And that's hence why I chose to speak about that as an introduction before we even go to the concept of Hijra. Because this concept of Al-Walaa wal-Baraa is what's died out in many Muslims' hearts. Many Muslims don't have it.
And with that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala He mentioned, He says, لا يَتَّخِذُ الْمُؤْمِنُونَ They do not take. The believers don't do this. It's not a trait of the believers.
That they take what? يَتَّخِذُ الْمُؤْمِنُونَ الْكَافِرِينَ أَوْلِيَاءَ مِنْ دُونِ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ That the believing man takes an ally as a disbelieving man. Allah then says وَمَن يَفْعَل ذَلِكَ And anyone who does this, who takes the non-Muslims as allies, protecting friends, guardians, Allah says فَلَيْسَ مِنَ He has nothing to hope for from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. أَنْ لَسْ إِلَّا أَنْ تَتَّقُوا مِنْهُمْ تُقَى The exception here given is that you are being precaution against their tyranny.
And if you're doing it because they put you under duress and they coerced you, then you're forced to fall under this with them. And then Allah says وَيُحَذِّرُكُمُ اللَّهُ نَفْسَ And Allah warns you about Himself وَإِلَىٰ اللَّهِ الْمَصِير And everyone is going to be finally returning to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. I just want to mention one particular hadith.
The Messenger ﷺ after the battle of Khaibar, the Prophet ﷺ appointed the Noble Companion Abdullah ibn Rawaha to go and divide and make sure the dividing of the crops were done correctly. The Jews and the believers that the crops were done correctly. So the Prophet ﷺ he delegated this responsibility to the Noble Companion Abdullah ibn Rawaha.
He said go and you check if these people are doing a good job in dividing the crops fairly. The Jews they thought deeply about this issue and so what they did is they tried to bribe Abdullah ibn Rawaha. They said to him we're going to give you, rather they collected the jewellery from their women and they bought it to him.
And they said this is for you, from now onwards don't look at when we scale and we bring you the measurement. Don't double check it. Just turn a blind eye basically.
So they bribed him. And Abdullah ibn Rawaha he responded he said O Jews, you are the most hated people to me. I hate you guys so much.
You guys have killed the Prophets. The Prophets of Allah you killed them. And you have lied about Allah.
And my hate for you will not in any way shape or form make me be unjust towards you. I will not deal with you in an unjust way. So again us hating them doesn't mean that we're going to oppress them.
We're going to wrong them. We're going to harm them. It doesn't mean that.
It just means this is a creedal thing for us. You guys have disbelieved in Allah. You have lied about the Prophet ﷺ and insulted him.
You have disbelieved in Allah. But our hate for you will not make us do anything unjustly towards you. And Imam Malik narrated that in his Muwatta in Kitabul Musaqat.
Ahmad narrated it in his Musnad. Basically he's acting upon the ayah. وَلَا يَجْرِ مَنَّكُمْ شَنَآءَنُ قَوْمٍ عَلَىٰ أَنْ لَا تَعَدِلُوا إِعْدِلُهُ أَقْرَبُ لِلتَّقْوَى So Allah Ta'ala He says وَلَا يَجْرِ مَنَّكُمْ شَنَآءَنُ قَوْمٍ An animosity that you have for people or a hate that you have for people.
Do not let it stop you from being just towards them. I think that's a really good introduction and I appreciate that. To bring it back to the matter at hand and the topic that we're discussing today.
Just like you said now, our hatred as you put it, our hatred for the non-Muslims doesn't stop us from being unjust to them. My argument would be it also doesn't stop us from co-existing with them, living in a society with them. And the reason for that is because we've seen it at the time of the Prophet ﷺ. We also see it in the land of the Muslims now.
It's not like there's a country on the face of the earth that's only of Muslims. There are non-believers there as well and we all co-exist. And I don't particularly really see the relevance of just having hatred for someone.
It doesn't mean I have to leave their land. Why can't I co-exist with them? What I want you to understand is that we've seen it. You've lived in the UK.
I've also lived in the UK. When we go to these countries, we stay with them. These verses that we're talking about, these verses are clear cut.
They are nusus which are muhkama, crystal clear texts. These texts will generally be abandoned and dismissed. In other words, you go to school.
You work with Mike and Steve, John or Daniel. He's a colleague at work. Some sort of love will go into the heart of yours towards him.
By the way, this man who believes in Allah, he doesn't believe in your Prophet to be a true Prophet sent from Allah. How does your heart give you? Again, it doesn't mean when we say that you do not love these people, it doesn't mean we hurt them. It doesn't mean we insult them.
It doesn't mean we're unjust towards them. It means I cannot come to love someone who Allah and his Messenger are not their first priority. But you're acting like the alternative solution is to be in a land where you don't have to interact with non-Muslims at all.
And that's not the reality either. We also live in a Muslim country right now, Alhamdulillah. Before we go into the concept of whether we go to the land, whether we're going to find a land where we can.
My first point that I want to stress on is that this happens, that these ayats that I recited, these nusus that I read, you can't generally implement it. I had a class one time I was teaching and it was a group of students of mine and what's his name? Stephen Hawkins passed away and I did a khutbah on this issue. I spoke about it and I was informing the Muslims that we have to understand if a person dies as a non-Muslim, we don't say rest in peace.
We also have to understand that the ayats and the verses in the Quran are crystal clear that the non-Muslims are not going to go to Jannah and etc. So I had a class before that Friday khutbah and I was informing them that this is what my khutbah is going to be about. I was honestly taken aback when I found bright students of mine in that class who have been studying with me for a very good time when I opened up to them and they also they opened up to me and started to discuss these issues with me.
They said look I have friends in my class you know I've got fulan and fulan and fulan and fulan in my class and these people are very nice to me. They're named non-Muslim people. They're very nice to me.
They care for me. I love them. Why do I care about their religion? What's the problem with their religion? They can believe what they want.
In other words this Muslim sister or this Muslim brother, the concept of turheed, the oneness of Allah, Allah being worshipped alone in the face of this earth, the sin that he has, the earth is about to crack because of that statement. And it's big to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to be said that he has a child. Imagine the one who doesn't even believe Allah exists subhanahu wa ta'ala.
Those people, can they say that turheed will settle in their heart properly? Will they come with these ayahs that we recited? يَا إِلَّذِينَ آمَنُوا لَا تَتَّخِذُوا بِطَانَةً مِّن دُونِكُمْ And the word bitana by the way, it means do not take an intimate sincere friend. That's what the word bitana means. Allah says that subhanahu wa ta'ala that do not take them as sincere friends, revealing to them your secret thoughts.
These people they talk to them, socialize on them, with them in groups. So before we even go into the concept of hijra or not, the concept of alwala wal bara, within the lands of the non-Muslims and coexisting with them, staying with them, it weakens this concept. Allah says, وَلَا تُطْعِ الْكَافِرِينَ وَالْمُنَافِقِينَ وَدَعَ عَدَاهُمْ وَتَوَكَّلْ عَلَى اللَّهِ وَكَفَى بِاللَّهِ وَكِيْلًا Allah says do not yield to the disbelievers and the hypocrites.
Overlook their annoyance and put your trust in Allah, for Allah is sufficient as a trustee over our affairs. And Imam Al-Alusi commented on that verse and it really touched me, ponder here. And Imam Al-Alusi he said, نَهَى عَن مُدَارَاتِهِمْ فِي أَمْرِ الدَّعْوَةِ He said the ayah, وَلَا تُطْعِ الْكَافِرِينَ do not obey the disbelievers.
Allah is telling Nabila Muhammad in Makkah, do not obey the disbelievers who are requesting for you to stop preaching. Allah says وَلَا تُطْعِ الْكَافِرِينَ and don't obey them. وَالْمُنَافِقِينَ and don't obey the hypocrites.
وَدَعَ عَدَاهُمْ Overlook their annoyance and what they're doing to you, rely on Allah. Allah is enough for you Muhammad. Imam Al-Alusi he's saying نَهَى عَن مُدَارَاتِهِمْ The Prophet was prohibited from trying to please them in leaving off what they want him to leave off.
فِي أَمْرِ الدَّعْوَةِ وَلِينِ الْجَانِبِ They wanted him to be soft towards them. فِي التَّبْلِيغِ وَالْمُسَامَحَةِ فِي الْإِنْذَارِ They were like, Muhammad, look, your message is a bit too strong. It's too hard.
Soften it and weaken it for us. I know people in my university that I studied in, my school, we wouldn't preach to these people. We all know like, you know, it's long, let's not do that.
They didn't believe what they want. Not only that, we feel pressured into hiding even our, some people who are practicing have to hide their salah and they don't come out to do it in public or they don't say, look, bro, I need to go to pray. Even the ones who pray, they don't.
So there's all of those factors before we even go to the concept of hijrah that's there. Okay, my last question on the issue of al-wala wal-bara before we move on to the topic of hijrah in a bit more detail. And what I'm trying to do is separate your personal experiences.
Like you said, I had some students that told me I had this, I experienced this in university. Just because you've had these experiences doesn't mean that the whole of the UK is like this as you, I'm sure you'd admit. My question is, do you think that maybe based on your personal experiences, you're taking this a bit extreme in the sense that there are obviously different levels of love.
You love your family, your mother in another way, your wife in another way, your friends in another way. Love is of different types. And just, it doesn't mean you don't have to take disbelief as an intimate, close, loving friend, advisor, sincere advisor.
You don't have to do that. But at the same time, it doesn't mean you jump on the other end of the spectrum and say, I cannot live in the same country as these guys. That for me is like jumping from one extreme to another.
Surely there's a middle path that can be achieved here. So now this moves us swiftly onto another point, which is the concept of hijrah. Um, which is somebody might say, okay, you know, all those verses that you spoke about, I agree, but I can be in a land where I lived with, live with these people, but I have hate for them.
I don't like them. I say that is at the time that we're living in today is very, very hard to claim that. And the concept of, because the, the, the Western countries now are working towards assimilating the Muslims with the non-Muslims.
They're not, you see, there's the concept of, integration and assimilation. A lot of Muslims believe I just, you know, integrate with society. I, you know, I do my part in society.
I have my beliefs. They have their beliefs. I don't necessarily have to agree with them.
They don't have to agree with me. But that's not the case anymore. It was maybe many years back, but right now it's become a different story.
Now it's about assimilating with society. They're forcing you, they're forcing you to accept the British values. Even they don't have a, got a definition for what British values are, but they're imposing onto you saying that you have to accept the British values.
And Muslims are being put in situations where they're asked, are you a Muslim first or you're a British first? But these are easy questions to answer. I'm a Muslim first. Like what's the issue? But that's you not being loyal to the country that you claim to be from.
You see, that's what Muslims are now. By saying that statement, you're a foreigner from us now. Again, that's very extreme.
That's what I'm saying. Like there's extreme thoughts going around your head about the way the UK is. For example, when I know many Muslims, and again, I don't want to talk about my personal experience, but there are many Muslims who live in the UK, have a nine to five job.
They go to the masjid, Maghrib, Isha, Fajr. They're practicing their religion. And I think that's really where the crux of the issue is.
Because you mentioned this before, hijra becomes obligatory if you are unable to practice your religion. Is that understanding correct? Yeah, yeah. Okay.
What's the evidence for that, first of all? Okay, let me now take a step back and then I'll come back to your question without dismissing your question. First of all, we have the concept known as hijra. What does hijra actually mean? And Imam ibn al-Arabi al-Maliki, Rahim Allah, defined the term hijra.
He said that hijra means, first of all, if I go into that definition of Ibn al-Arabi, hijra is three, first of all, because whatever type we're talking about, the definition is going to be for that. So there's three types of hijra. There's hijra of amalus-su.
You do hijra from evil action, which we did in our previous podcast. We spoke about the concept of innovation once. We spoke about the issue of, we spoke about homosexuality in our last podcast.
So these are evil actions that we need to boycott and stay away from. That's a type of hijra. The second type of hijra is hijra to balad al-su.
Migrating from an evil land. Just so you know, Allah is the one who created this land, this world that we're in, and parts of it, Allah virtued a part over another part. And in the world, the earth is not all the same to Allah.
But in that, Imam Muslim narrated in Sahih bin Hadith Abu Hurairah, أحب البلاد إلى الله مساجدها وأبغض البلاد إلى الله أسواقها that the most beloved places to Allah on this earth is the masajids. And the most hated places to Allah is the markets. So one can't say, how's that fair? Allah created the whole entire world.
How can Allah chooses? وَرَبُّكَ يَخْلُقُ مَا يَشَاءُ وَيَاخْتَارُ He chose land. This place is better than this place. And this place is better than the place.
The third type of hijra is hijra to ashab al-su. Migrating and leaving and staying away from evil people. And the evidence for that is وَصْبِرْ نَفْسَكَ مِعَ الَّذِينَ يَدْعُونَ رَبَّهُمْ بِالْغَادَاتِ وَالْعَشِي يُرِيدُونَ وَجَاءً Be patient with the righteous people.
And be with the righteous people. And all the evidences that talk about befriending the righteous people. المَرُوءَ عَلَى دِينِ خَلِيلِهِ The persons of the religion of his friends.
So look at who you take as a friend. All of those evidences apply. But we here are going to be speaking about two types of hijra.
And that is hijra to balad al-su. Migrating from the evil land and also migrating from the people who are evil. Ibn al-Arabi explained what it means to do hijra from an evil land.
Or to do hijra. He said hijra means the type of hijra we are talking about is from the land. He said that type is called al-hijra to balad al-su.
هي الخروج من دار الحرب إلى دار الإسلام. It is to leave the land of the disbelievers. By the way دار الحرب is referred to as كل بقعة.
It is every part of the earth where أحكام الكفر فيها مظاهرة. Where the rulings of the non-Muslims is apparent. It's not a state of war.
دار الحرب. No, no. It is not necessarily.
What does حرب mean? It is used as دار الحرب because the Muslims, if they don't have a covenant with you and you are not paying money. So there is no ahad written for you. And there is also not a, you are not paying the money that you need to be paying.
There is no contract. And there is no money being paid. Then the only third option is دار الحرب.
Whether there is an actual حرب going on or not بغض النظر. If it is not a contract between the two lands or there isn't one non-Muslim land that is not paying a fee and is not paying the money. Then it is considered to be دار الحرب.
A lot of people think دار الحرب only means when there is an ongoing fight between those two lands. No, not necessarily. It doesn't mean that.
So you do هجر from that land. You leave it and you walk away from it. To a land of Islam.
Ibn al-Arab al-Maliki carries on saying وَكَانَتْ فَرْضًا And it was an obligation في أهد النبي at the time of the Prophet ﷺ وَاستَمَرَّتْ بَعْدَهُ And it carried on لِمَنْ خَافَ عَلَى نَفْسِهِ The one who fears for himself. So this became an obligation to leave the evil land you are saying. Who said that? Ibn al-Arab al-Maliki.
But the Prophet ﷺ said لا هجرة بعد الفتح He clearly said there is no hijrah after the conquest of Mecca. I'd rather listen to him than Ibn al-Arab al-Maliki. The Prophet ﷺ when he said لا هجرة بعد الفتح ولكن جهاد ونية وإذا استنفرتم فانفروا or كما قال عليه الصلاة والسلام لا هجرة بعد الفتح means there is no hijrah after the conquest of Mecca.
To Mecca. From Mecca. Ok where are you getting this from Mecca for? You are just adding that into the narration.
The Prophet ﷺ is the same issue that you are saying. The Prophet ﷺ responded to it. The Prophet ﷺ said لا تنقطع الهجرة حتى تنقطع التوبة ولا تنقطع التوبة حتى تغرب الشمس من مغربها or كما قال عليه الصلاة والسلام The Prophet ﷺ said hijrah will not stop until the repentant stops.
And the repentant won't stop until the sun comes from the opposite direction. So why is it ناسخ المنصوخ that one came first and then the conquest of Mecca happened and then he came with this narration saying that there is no hijrah now. The scholars they say والجمع واجب المتى ما أمكن إلا فللأخير نصحي بوينة If we can bring the two evidences together that takes precedence over the concept of abrogation.
One says there is no hijrah and one says hijrah will never stop. There is a way to reconcile it. So this is the way to reconcile it.
We say لا هجرة بعد الفتح there is no hijrah after the conquest of Mecca from Mecca. There is no hijrah that someone needs to do from Mecca anymore لأنه صار دار الإسلام I mean Mecca has now become a land of Islam. It's considered now to be a Daru Islam.
The Muslims conquered it and took over it and now it's Daru Islam. So no one has to migrate from Mecca like they were before. But the hijrah is like consistent and it's forever going.
Also the great Imam Zakariya al-Ansari al-Shafi'i scholar in his Kitab Asna al-Mataalib He says تجيب الهجرة The hijrah is obligatory من دار الكفر from the land of disbelievers إلى دار الإسلام to the lands of the believers على مستطيع لها إن عجز عن إقارة دينه He mentioned two conditions that you asked. The one who has the ability and is unable to practice his religion So now here the question is Two conditions when they are present the hijrah becomes wajib meaning you are a sinner to stay in that land. The first one is you can't practice your religion.
The second one is you have the ability to leave that land of the disbelievers. Okay, let's go into that first condition. You are unable to practice your deen.
Beautiful. Places like China for example, the Muslims are being oppressed openly, they're being put in concentration camps. I agree with you.
That is a place where you are unable to practice the deen. But to put that on places like the UK and the US, where you can openly pray, you can fast, you can do all of your obligations, how are you now saying that it is obligatory to make hijrah from those places when it doesn't even meet the first condition? So what does it mean, the concept, or what does it mean, if you can show your religion, you can practice your religion, what does it mean? Great scholars have explained what it means. It means two things.
The first one is that you can symbolise, you can bring it to the open, the symbols of Islam in its totality, not portions of it. Like the adhan and the salah and the siyam. The adhan, I'll ask you now, can in the UK we do the adhan in the open? There are some masajids that can, yeah.
But in the whole entire UK? In the whole entire UK, no you can't. The masajids that can I only know of, maybe there can be other masajids, I'm not saying there isn't, but there's only one masjid I know in the UK that does it. East London masjid.
Do you know any other masjid? No I don't know any other. So we have in the entire United Kingdom for now, as much as me and you know, only one masjid that's basically open to do the adhan. That's considered sha'air, the symbols of Islam.
That's the biggest symbol. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ, he was never one who would wage war to a land or a people unless he heard the adhan from them. When he heard the adhan from them, he would then wage war on that land because it would be considered a land of the disbelievers.
Wait, he heard the adhan from them and then he'd wage war? He wouldn't. He wouldn't wage war, okay fine. So the Prophet ﷺ would listen to that land, he would wait if there's adhan done for salah.
If he realised that these people, they've done adhan for people, he wouldn't wage war on them. So the first symbol that implemented Islam is the adhan. Ponder here, we can't do it.
Whilst the church is over there, and by the way keeping in mind, the UK now is not a Christian country, it's a secular country. But the churches are allowed to still have their bells. Lakin the masjids don't.
Okay how does that affect anybody other than the mu'adhin? I'm a normal, I can go to bed, I can wear a thobe, I can live my life. No but you said that you can implement your religion. Yes I can implement my religion.
I don't care about the adhan being called, I can implement my religion. I'm not calling it the adhan. It's nothing to do with me implementing my religion.
I have a prayer timetable, I know when the prayer is, what's the need? You implementing your religion means that you can hear the adhan in the open. A land where you can't hear the adhan in, you can't hear it from the open, that land, I just said to you, is not a land where Islam can be practiced. So I live in a Muslim country and I'm living in the desert, there's no masjid near me, I can't hear the adhan in the open and suddenly I'm deficient in implementing my religion and I have to leave that part of a Muslim country which is Dar al-Kharab.
The Prophet told the Sahabi, he said if you go to the desert and you're alone, the Prophet said you do the adhan. I can do that in my house and you can. But that's my point.
You're doing an analogy with two situations which are totally different. Why? A person who's in the desert who has no other way and no one's stopping him, do the adhan, it's your choice. If you want to get a microphone, shout it if you want, scream if you want, no one's stopping you.
They're in a masjid where it's told, it's built for the sake of Allah, constructed, constructed sorry, for people to pray, they're told you can't have your adhans loud. Sheikh Ibn Baz was asked, it wasn't just him, it was Lejna Daima, a question was put to them from the United Kingdom. The question was Sheikh we live in a land, the UK, it's a non-Muslim country and we do not have the adhan loud.
Are we sinners for that or are we not? They were expecting you're a sinner or you're not a sinner. That's what they were expecting. They were not expecting any other answer from the Sheikh.
By the way, the Ulema are not just Ibn Baz. It was actually Ibn Baz, Abu Bakr Abu Zaid, Sheikh Saleh Al Fawzi, the members of the Lejna. The fatwa came back to them as what? You staying in that land in the UK is wrong.
Sheikh Ibn Baz was a noble scholar but with all due respect to him and the other scholars that are part of the Lejna, they don't know the reality of the West and that's part of the issue. They're trying to give a fatwa about a region, a place in the world that they don't really know the reality of it. What reality does he need to know, Sheikh Ibn Baz, about whether this land is a land of Islam or a land of disbelief? Is it different from what the Prophet went through in Mecca than the Muslims that are living in the West right now? I'll give you an example of what context can do.
If you're going to go down the route of the Ulema, you're going to fall into trouble because there are other scholars who actually visited the UK and for them, they obviously have more knowledge of the UK than someone who's never visited the UK. That's just common sense. Sheikh Saleh Al Suhaimi, for example, he visited the UK and he told the people do not make hijrah.
Stay here. It's fine. I would much rather listen to him who's actually got experience of visiting the UK, seeing the UK, walking on the UK, than someone who's never been to the UK.
That just makes sense and that's a scholar that you affirm is a Salafi scholar, someone you look up to, someone you respect. So why are you going to pick and choose your scholars now? Okay, the point I first want to speak about is the issue of knowing whether you should do hijrah from a land or not. The scholars already, Sheikh Abu Rabaz or Sheikh Bakr Abu Zaid or Sheikh Saleh Al Fawzan or any other scholar, them having to travel to the UK is not a masalah you could use as an argument.
The point being, it's not an issue that changes over time. There are issues that you're right, I would say, you know what, fair enough. This particular issue, the tasawwur of the masalah, it needs more.
The scholar hasn't seen it. He needs more perception of it. But Sheikh Abu Rabaz was put to him a question from the first simbol as a Muslim, after he said there is no god but Allah and there is no can't be done loud.
He already, from there, he knows that Islam cannot be put. Islam is not present. But Sheikh Saleh also knew that and he ruled otherwise.
So how do you reconcile that? So what we say is that if great scholars, people of knowledge have a discussion on an issue, we say no one person's statement is a hujjah, proof. Sheikh Abu Rabaz, if he says something, we look into it, we agree with it, if it's in line with evidences or not. I'm now going to ask you.
The scholars are unanimously in agreement. By the way, this ijma' was transmitted, so ijma' is different. Abdul Latif, Ishaq, both who are the children of Abdul Rahman ibn Hassan, Hamad ibn Atiq, Muhammad ibn Ibrahim, Abdul Rahman Nasir al-Saadi, Ibn Katheer transmitted the ijma' as well.
Also, al-Badruddin al-Ayni transmitted the ijma' that if a person cannot symbolize Islam, that that land, you can't show your religion in that land, it falls under not being able to implement your religion. Look, they transmitted a consensus. The question here is practicing your religion is a very broad statement.
The question before that is how do you know if this ijma' but Sheikh Salih al-Sukhaimi doesn't know of this ijma'? How did that happen? I cannot speak for what the Sheikh understands. I cannot speak on what the Sheikh knows or not. Again, it's not my responsibility.
I'm not the only one by the way, you know that right? I thought when the man came to the UK as well. So I'm not enforced to, I'm personally not enforced to follow an opinion of a scholar merely because he gave that fatwa. That's important for you to understand.
His kalam is not a hujjah. Kalam al-ulamai yuhtaju la wala yuhtaju biha. Sheikh Ibn Ubaid's kalam is not a hujjah in and within itself.
I agree. Wala Sheikh Salih al-Sukhaimi, wala Sheikh Fauzan, wala ghairuhum. Other than them, I agree.
What I'm saying to you here, we have an ijma' pay attention here. We have a consensus from those scholars I mentioned like Abdul Latif Ibn Abd al-Rahman Ibn Hassan al-Sheikh. We have Ishaq Ibn Abd al-Rahman Ibn Hassan al-Sheikh.
We have Muhammad Ibn Atiq. We have Muhammad Ibrahim al-Ishaq. We have Abd al-Rahman Nasir al-Said.
We have Ibn Kathir and we have Badruddin al-Ayni. All of whom said the first condition where hijrah becomes obligatory is adamul qudrati ala idhari deen. They all transmitted a unanimous agreement.
Sheikh Salih al-Sukhaimi or somebody else said this land you can still stay here. We say practicing Islam is still not present here. Why is it not present here? Because the first thing that determines a land to be a land where Islam is practiced or not is the adhan.
That's the first thing. Like sha'airul Islam. The first sha'ira of Islam is the adhan.
I'm going to come to all the other points that prove that Islam is Muslims can't even practice. But I don't want this one to be taken very lightly. There are many other points I can bring but those are the the proof is on the side of those scholars who have said.
Are you sure they're talking about the adhan out loud not just the adhan in the masjid. Someone proclaiming the adhan in the masjid is still. I just said to you lejna daima by the way don't just give a fatwa like that.
They revise an issue. They get researchers to send them detailed research. Lejna daima are not just ulama that have come together.
The verdict it's considered official. Government stated. It's legalized.
But regards of their fatwa I'm talking about Ijma. No but I'm saying to you ministers countries don't just you know countries don't just pass laws. They revise this issue the consequences but they've got lawmakers they've got all of this in place.
These ulama don't just they don't just give a fatwa on UK and America and etc. There are people who bring these information to them deeply and I and you and I both know more than any alim who visits the UK that Islam cannot be fully practiced in these countries. That's qadiyah musallam.
Many examples I'll give you. By the way the second condition I didn't mention it which is Ibtaludin al-mushrikeen you've been able to speak against and condemn and critique the belief of the disbelievers whether it be their secular belief whether it be their religious beliefs. You can say you're wrong.
It's wrong. It goes against this. It goes against that in the Quran.
You can in places like the UK where they have the freedom of speech act. That's not an issue right? They've got that act written but when it comes to really boots on the ground are people actually feeling that freedom? No that's that's not that's not the truth. A lot of people are prevented from saying certain things.
Masajid in the UK for example the charity commission will shut down the masjid. The charity approval of that masjid if there's a certain khatib who comes. He hasn't said anything violent by the way.
All he has said is that we Muslims believe this regarding maybe better than homosexuals or feminists. We believe this regarding this or we believe the concept of or whatnot. But again you're talking about a very small percentage of people like the duaat the khatibs who are actually giving lectures but then take that ruling just because he's restricted in what he says for natural reasons like hate speech which obviously is not a good thing.
For reasons like that to generalize a ruling to the general normal person who is not required to be on the pulpit and say that he also has to leave the country that's like extremism. Don't you understand that the Muslims the Muslim community who are living in the UK they can't live without the duaat and the mashayikh who are giving da'wah for them who are reminding them of Allah and the day of judgment. If they're silenced so the people are just going to live their lives based on what they drink, what they eat, the income they make.
What about the life of this you know the life of their hearts and the iman the khutbah are important components for the community. They don't have to speak about those controversial topics but they can give reminders about the rest of Islam about good deeds, praying, fasting. They want to speak about all matters of religion.
Allah says enter Islam in its totality. I mean we don't speak about we believe some of the verses and we abandon the rest. We don't.
We explain Islam in all of its totality from beginning to end. We say everything. So you can't speak about their values.
Why are they right now pushing for people to assimilate? It will all become one. The whole concept of I believe this, you believe that. Let's agree to disagree is what they're fighting against to be honest.
You know like I know we're going to go and I want to personally go into the issue of the Muslim countries a lot more because obviously if you're going to identify a problem you have to have a practical solution and I want to go into a lot more but just one thing that comes to mind right now. In the Muslim countries it's even harder to give dawah. You have to have all kinds of approvals.
You don't have this freedom of speech. For me isn't that more of an issue in a Muslim country where you're restricted in what you can say about calling to Allah and his deen than in a western country where you're open to give dawah as well. I disagree unequivocally with that.
I believe Muslim countries are more open for you to give dawah as long as your dawah is not causing violence. That's basically what the UK say. But that's not what it is.
Then their concept is Islam is the problem. It's a cancer in the community. I mean I can name so many different du'as who are not violent, who will never accept violence, who never kill or harm an innocent person, who would spend their time and their energy speaking extremism, fighting.
They are banned from particular places. They're told they can't do lectures here. I mean this is a haqiqa, a reality.
We know we've lived it. We've seen it. Okay so what you're saying is that the scholars are unanimously agreed that if you are unable to practice your religion it is obligatory to make hijrah and the definition of being unable to practice your religion breaks down into two.
Number one that you have to be able to show the symbols of Islam like the Adhan for example and number two that you have to be able to point out the falsehood of the non-Muslims in that country. And from your perspective countries like again let's leave countries like China to the side but you're actually saying countries like the UK and the US you're not even able to do either of these things. My question goes back to the person who is living as an average Jew or an average Muhammad in these countries.
I'm not required to call the Adhan out loud. Are you saying that I'm sinning for being in this country just because I can't hear the Adhan and I don't need to go on a minbar and talk about homosexuality but I can do this. I can pray.
I can fast. I can raise my children the right way. I can read Quran.
I'm not restricted in any of my acts of worship on the apparent and you're telling me that I still can't practice my deen. That's hard for me to swallow. The answer to that question of yours is in the statement of Allah.
Allah says Allah mentions in this verse a group of people who oppressed themselves the angels will take them and they will say to them What were you upon? What were you in? What's your story? The angels want to know why these people have ended up going to the hellfire. Why are you heading to the hellfire? So you know about the hellfire. You've not heard of the hellfire.
You know it's a very serious place. It's not something a person would want to go to. So what's your story? They say We were subjugated.
We were oppressed. We were wronged when we were in the earth. We were seen as a second-class citizen.
Then the angels would say Wasn't the land of Allah not vast so you can go and travel? Then Allah mentions Their final abode would be the hellfire and what an evil place for them to be. Allah gave them an exception A people who don't have the ability. Remember we mentioned you can't implement your religion and also you have the ability then you have to migrate.
The ones who don't have the ability the ayah mentions These ones inshallah Allah will forgive them Here I want to mention a point. Going back to your question. There was a reason why this verse came down.
And it was that a group of Muslims were living with the non-Muslims in Mecca. They did not migrate with the Prophet and his companions when they migrated from Mecca to Medina. They stayed in Mecca.
They remained in Mecca. So the battle of Badr happened and the non-Muslims said okay now you have to come with us. You guys have to come with us to fight Muhammad.
So they were forced and they were dragged to the battlefield. And they know that those are their brothers so they don't want to fight. But these Muslims who were with the Prophet whenever they threw their arrows it would then hit the chest of those Muslims because they wouldn't know who's who.
And then it would kill him. Here there is a mentioning of something which is a group of the Muslims They were increasing in the population of the non-Muslims. Doesn't that clearly show that this is an issue if the countries are going to go to war because you increase the army, you increase the number of the non-Muslims, and you're going to have to go on the battlefield to fight the Muslims.
But if that condition is taken out, there's no war, then what's the issue with living amongst them? Your argument would really be strong if the statement of Ibn Kathir on this ayah. Look what he said. Ibn Kathir says this ayah, this blessed verse is general.
Anyone who stays within the midst of the non-Muslims and has the ability to migrate And he's not able to establish his religion. This person is wronging himself. And he's doing a major sin by unanimous agreement.
There's no difference of opinion. All the madhabs believe this. There's no difference of opinion.
And then he said And also even this verse is evidence for us. حيث يقول تعالى Because Allah said إِنَّ الَّذِينَ تَوَفَّاهُمُ الْمَلَائِكَةُ ظَالِمِ أَنفُسِهِمْ أَيْ بِتَرْكِ الْهِجْرَةِ They left the migration, not they partied. By the way, the ones who were dragged in the battlefield, they didn't want to fight.
They didn't want to fight. And they were not fighting. They were avoiding the fight.
The reason why the ayah is talking to is:
أَيْ بِتَرْكِ الْهِجْرَةِ Ay, bitark al-hijrah – i.e., due to abandoning migration.
قَالُوا فِيمَ كُنتُمْ Qālū fīma kuntum – They (angels) will say: “What state were you in?”
أَيْ لِمَا مَكَثْتُمْ هَا هُنَا وَتَرَكْتُمُ الْهِجْرَةِ Ay, lima makathtum hā hunā wa taraktum al-hijrah – Why did you stay here and abandon the Hijrah?
Why did you remain in Makkah and leave off Hijrah?
Their response would be:
قَالُوا كُنَّا مُسْتَضْعَفِينَ فِي الْأَرْضِ Qālū kunnā mustaḍ‘afīn fī al-arḍ – They will say: “We were oppressed in the land.”
We were weakened and we were:
أَيْ لَا نَقْدِرُ عَلَى الْخُرُوجِ Ay, lā naqdiru ‘ala al-khurūj – i.e., we were not capable of leaving.
We weren't even able to leave:
مِنَ الْبَلَدِ Min al-balad – from the land.
وَلَا الذَّهَابِ فِي الْأَرْضِ Wa lā al-dhahāb fī al-arḍ – nor to travel through the land.
Your final abode is the Hellfire.
They had the ability.
لَا نَقْدِرُ عَلَى الْخُرُوجِ – It doesn't mean they didn't have the ability; it means they preferred the dunya (worldly life) and the glamours of this dunya over what? Over migrating and going through the hardship of returning.
Ākhī (my brother), let's be honest, Shahid. Let's be frank and honest with one another.
The largest Muslim community in the UK are people who've come from either Pakistan, Somalia, Bangladesh, India, Africa, etc. The reverts that are in the country are very few in number.
The overwhelming majority of people can go back to their old countries. Not always the case though – that’s not always the case. Sometimes you're so deep-rooted in the UK. You're a third-generation Muslim in the UK. You don't have any ties. You don't have the ability to go back.
Shahid, that's the same argument that the Prophet ﷺ—he stayed in Makkah for 53 years. That’s his city. That’s his land. That’s where he was born. 53 years he lived in Makkah, and Allah ﷻ commanded him to leave. He told him: go and leave.
And the first Hijrah was not even to a Muslim country. For the Prophet ﷺ, where did he go first? He went to Abyssinia, and then Medina.
And what about the Hijrah before that? Hijrah can be done to a place where you can practice your religion—even if it's a non-Muslim country. But it’s an area within that non-Muslim country where you can practice. That still counts.
So Birmingham, for example. Someone moves to Birmingham—that's Hijrah.
When I said that in the UK you can't practice your religion—and also the overwhelming majority of Western countries that we know of—there might be exceptions here and there—but the overwhelming majority of Western countries that I know of (America, Canada, UK), the concept of acting upon your religion—ḥabībī (my dear one)—that’s far-fetched.
It could be Birmingham which is the best—by the way, Birmingham has the largest Muslim population in the UK. Doesn’t mean Islam is practiced.
You know what Birmingham is like. Everyone's wearing a thawb (Islamic garment). Everyone’s got a beard. Niqāb (face veil) is everywhere.
I'm not denying there are symbols of Islam present in the UK. See my argument here: in no way am I arguing that Islam is fully eradicated from the UK—there’s no sign of Islam. I'm not saying that.
But I'm also saying, on the flip side, no one can claim that Islam is—the symbols of Islam are present in the UK, and that’s what the condition was. To stay in a land, sha‘ā'ir al-Islām (symbols of Islam) have to be present.
That’s what the ‘ulama (scholars) transmitted.
The Prophet ﷺ said in a hadith—ḥadīth Samrah ibn Jundub, Abu Dāwūd narrated it:
"مَنْ جَامَعَ الْمُشْرِكِينَ وَسَاكَنَهُمْ فَإِنَّهُ مِثْلُهُمْ" "Man jāma‘ al-mushrikīn wa sākana-hum fa-innahu mithluhum" – Whoever lives and settles among the polytheists is like them."
“Like them” here doesn’t always mean he’s a disbeliever. “Like them” can vary.
Like the ayah:
"يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا لَا تَتَّخِذُوا الْيَهُودَ وَالنَّصَارَىٰ أَوْلِيَاءَ ۘ بَعْضُهُمْ أَوْلِيَاءُ بَعْضٍ ۚ وَمَنْ يَتَوَلَّهُمْ مِنكُمْ فَإِنَّهُ مِنْهُمْ" “O you who believe! Do not take the Jews and the Christians as allies. They are allies of one another. Whoever amongst you takes them as allies, then indeed, he is from among them.”
It doesn’t mean you’re like them in belief. The ruling could be in terms of punishment—you might be punished like them.
The Prophet ﷺ freed himself—look at this—the Prophet ﷺ said:
"أَنَا بَرِيءٌ مِنْ كُلِّ مُسْلِمٍ يُقِيمُ بَيْنَ أَظْهُرِ الْمُشْرِكِينَ" "Ana barī’un min kulli muslim yuqīm bayna aẓhūr al-mushrikīn" – I am free from every Muslim who stays among the polytheists.
They said:
"قَالُوا يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ، لِمَ؟" Qālū yā Rasūl Allāh, limā? – They said: O Messenger of Allah, why?
The Prophet ﷺ said:
"لَا تَرَاءَى نَارَاهُمَا" "Lā tarā'ā nārahumā" – Let not their two fires be seen together (i.e., be that close).
Imam Abu Dāwūd narrated it. An-Nasā’ī narrated it. Shaykh Nāṣir (Al-Albānī) رحمه الله authenticated it. Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Ḥajar commented on this hadith:
"أَنَا بَرِيءٌ مِنْ كُلِّ مُسْلِمٍ يُقِيمُ بَيْنَ أَظْهُرِ الْمُشْرِكِينَ"
What does it literally mean? He said:
"وَهَذَا مَحْمُولٌ" "Wa hādhā maḥmūl – This is interpreted (i.e., carried to mean)"—and this is right because of the ijmā‘ (consensus) transmitted from Ibn Kathīr:
"عَلَى مَنْ لَمْ يَأْمَنْ عَلَى دِينِهِ" "‘Ala man lam ya’man ‘ala dīnihi – upon the one who is not secure in his religion."
What’s the most valuable thing that Muslims have today? Their religion, right?
If that religion of yours has even been questioned, even a small percentage of it, how can you still have the…
Let’s even say for the sake of argument that it’s not wājib (obligatory)—and I’m saying it is wājib—all my evidences that I provided are clear-cut.
But even then, why would you want to be in a land like that?
You know the ayah:
"وَمَنْ يُهَاجِرْ فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ يَجِدْ فِي الْأَرْضِ مُرَاغَمًا كَثِيرًا وَسَعَةً ۚ وَمَنْ يَخْرُجْ مِنْ بَيْتِهِ مُهَاجِرًا إِلَى اللَّهِ وَرَسُولِهِ ثُمَّ يُدْرِكْهُ الْمَوْتُ فَقَدْ وَقَعَ أَجْرُهُ عَلَى اللَّهِ"
“Whoever migrates in the path of Allah will find much earth to reside and plenty. And whoever leaves his home migrating to Allah and His Messenger and then death overtakes him—his reward is indeed upon Allah.”
This ayah was revealed about a man—he stayed in Makkah. He looked right, he looked left. He couldn’t see Nabiyyunā Muhammad ﷺ. He couldn’t see Abū Bakr, ‘Umar, or ‘Uthmān. Couldn’t see the senior sahabah. Kufr was being spoken in all corners. His heart couldn’t accept it.
So he got his riding beast ready. He mounted on it and he went—until he came to the middle of the desert. When he was not close to Makkah, and not close to Madinah—death came close to him.
The man looked up. He hit one hand onto the other and said:
"اللَّهُمَّ هَذِهِ بَيْعَةٌ لَكَ" “O Allah, this is a pledge of allegiance to You.”
And then again:
"وَهَذِهِ بَيْعَةٌ لِنَبِيِّكَ مُحَمَّدٍ" “And this is a pledge of allegiance to your Prophet Muhammad ﷺ whom I haven’t reached.”
And then:
فَوَقَعَ عَلَى الْأَرْضِ بَيْتًا He fell to the earth (dead) in a moment.
And then the ayah came down:
"وَمَنْ يَخْرُجْ مِنْ بَيْتِهِ..." Same ayah. The scholars said: the reward is not even mentioned here, because Allah is saying “it is upon Me”. And when Allah says that—it means the reward is immense.
Even the way the sahabahs thought—their mindset—was totally different from the way we think.
Yeah, but not all of them. Some remained in Makkah, right?
Even the ones who remained in Makkah—were they sinning?
Even the ones who stayed in Makkah, when they realized—raḍiyallāhu ‘anhum—what they lost out on, what they went through, and what they did to themselves by staying in Makkah, that's when the ayah came down:
"إِنَّمَا أَمْوَالُكُمْ وَأَوْلَادُكُمْ فِتْنَةٌ ۚ وَاللَّهُ عِندَهُ أَجْرٌ عَظِيمٌ" “Indeed, your wealth and children are a trial. And Allah—with Him is a great reward.”
And they even tried—they got angry—and they were going to harm their children. Because of their children, they remained. Out of fear for their children, they were about to harm them.
And Allah instructed them: Don't harm your children. Don’t cause your family any problem. But they regretted it later.
But the companions—from whom we take our religion—it clearly shows it’s not a clear-cut issue. If they had ikhtilāf (differences) between them—
What do you mean?
Some companions made Hijrah. Some didn’t. If it was obligatory, like you’re saying, and you’re making it so clear-cut—
I’m saying ability. A lot of the sahabah—they had the ability, right? They just chose not to.
I can’t speak for every single companion. I haven’t revised every situation of every companion.
But you just said they regretted it and were going to harm their children—because that’s the reason they stayed.
Whether—but it could be even because they didn’t take the recommended version of it, the obligation.
Like the old man—who finally couldn’t take it anymore. He felt like, “Even if I have the rukhsah (concession), I still can’t do this.”
You see, for example—there’s a rukhsah today right now: COVID-19. Some people prayed at home because they believed that if they go to the masjids—and there’s a fatwa from some scholars that you don’t have to go to the masjid.
Okay, that being said, some people couldn’t. Their īmān (faith) didn’t allow them. “I’m still going to go to the masjid. I’m still going to pray in the masjid. I’m not going to miss a...”
What’s so fascinating is that the Prophet ﷺ said in a hadith—Ibn Ḥibbān narrated, Shaykh Nāṣir authenticated it:
"لَا يَقْبَلُ اللَّهُ مِنْ مُشْرِكٍ أَشْرَكَ بَعْدَمَا أَسْلَمَ عَمَلًا حَتَّى يُفَارِقَ الْمُشْرِكِينَ إِلَى الْمُسْلِمِينَ" “Allah does not accept an action from a polytheist who committed shirk after accepting Islam until he leaves the polytheists and joins the Muslims.”
And Ibn Hibban narrated, and Shaykh Nasir authenticated. Ibn Ubaid: Not only that, but the Messenger (peace be upon him) reached a point where he would give the conditions of the bay'ah (pledge of allegiance). The condition was that you would migrate from the non-Muslim lands to the lands of the Muslims. Abu Nukhailat al-Bajali said, قال جرير: أتيت النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم (Jarir said: I came to the Prophet ﷺ). He was giving the bay'ah. I said, يا رسول الله أبسط يدك (O Messenger of Allah, extend your hand) so I can give you the pledge of allegiance. The Prophet ﷺ conditioned on me and said, أبايعك على أن تعبد الله وتقيم الصلاة وتؤتي الزكاة وتناصح المسلمين وتفارق المشركين (I give you the pledge of allegiance on the condition that you worship Allah, establish the prayer, give the zakat, sincerely advise the Muslims, and separate yourself from the disbelievers). You leave their land; you walk away from it.
Imam al-Nasai narrated that these are scary verses and hadith for people who are living in the West right now. You're talking about the Prophet ﷺ freeing himself from people. You're talking about deeds not being accepted. You're talking about people being driven to the Hellfire. Are you now saying that the 2.6 million, 2.7 million Muslims in the UK, the 3.5 million Muslims in the US? Between those two countries, you're looking at about 6, 5, 6 million Muslims, excluding the rest in Europe and other non-Muslim countries. You're sitting here and saying now on camera that those people who have the ability to leave — which obviously excludes some of them, but not all — are sinning every single day they're there, and they are at risk that their deeds are not going to be accepted? The Prophet ﷺ is going to free Himself from them, and Allah is going to throw them into Hellfire? Is that what you're saying?
I'm saying any Muslim who has the ability, the ability to migrate — the concept of whether Islam can be established or not, we already know that. We don't need to hear it from them. We already know that in these Western countries, you cannot establish your religion. If it's hard with deen (religion), establishing your religion is not there. The second concept, which is the ability or not, is up to everyone. Anyone who knows that they have the ability to migrate, to go to their home country, where they originated from, where they will be welcomed, where their community and families are ready to take them back in, and stays in the lands of the Muslims, is sinning by remaining in that land. By the way, every single day that they stay in that land, they are sinning.
Keep in mind, we are talking about this discussion all this time. What I was talking about is a man staying in these countries. The story changes when it's a mother and kids. It's a different game. What do you mean? How does it change? When you raise children in that mist now, it gets worse. We were talking about those evidences; we’re talking about the Sahabah (companions of the Prophet). One person, the Prophet ﷺ is giving the pledge of allegiance. Now the story changes when you have left your Muslim country and you ran to the lands of the non-Muslims, and you brought your children here. You raised your children in this land. You gave your children to them. Antony and Samantha are nurturing your daughter Zahra, Amina, Aisha. They’re nurturing your children for you. Wallahi (By Allah), you're going to be questioned on the Day of Judgment because Allah says in the Qur’an, يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا أَنفُسَكُمْ وَأَهْلِكُمْ نَارًا وَقُودُهَا النَّاسُ وَالْحِجَارَةُ عَلَيْهَا مَلَائِكَةٌ غِلَاظٌ شِدَادٌ لَا يَعْصُونَ اللَّهَ مَا أَمَرَهُمْ وَيَفْعَلُونَ مَا يُؤْمَرُونَ (O you who have believed, protect yourselves and your families from the Fire, whose fuel is people and stones, over which are angels, harsh and severe; they do not disobey Allah in what He commands them but do what they are commanded).
The verse Allah says, Those of you who believe, protect yourselves and your families from the Hellfire. By taking your children to them, Wallahi, you’re not protecting your akhira (Hereafter) or your children's akhira. You are giving your children to who? To the enemies who are going to destroy your child's mindset and thinking. Why? Why are the Muslim communities staying in these countries for? Why are they remaining here? The reason for it is dirhams (money) and dinar (money). Not necessarily. There's another reason for it.
And you brought many hadith and many verses to support your argument. I want to bring one of my own. And this hadith is found in Sahih Imam Muslim. The Prophet ﷺ said, Whoever sees an evil, let him change it with his hand, and if not, then let him change it with his tongue. And if not, let him hate it in his heart. And that is the weakest of faith. The Prophet ﷺ actually linked the weakest of faith to just hating it in his heart. But leaving that and letting the evil take place, actually running away from it, and leaving it is even less than just being there and hating it with your heart.
How are you going to say now that the people who are staying here are only doing it for the sake of money? Why can't you make excuses for them and say, actually, they want to change the country? Because we agree that not everybody will be able to make hijrah (migration). There are always going to be people who fall into that verse who are unable to. Why can't we stay in the West, make it a better place, get politically and actively involved, change the society so we're making it better for those Muslims who have to remain there because they have no choice?
I unequivocally disagree with that as well. The reason is because statistics show the opposite: that they're working more on you than you're working on them. They are changing you more than you are changing them. They're guiding you to misguidance more than you are guiding them to guidance. A research was done by Coventry University on the 25th of October, 2019. This research showed that there are approximately 4,500 Muslim heritage children in care in Britain. This is the UK, not any other country. If I broadened my research and looked at Europe, or America, the statistics would be very high. But in Britain, there are 4,500 Muslim heritage children in care in Britain. These children are Muslim. Keep in mind, these are Muslim children. They’ve been taken from their families. And their reason for this is that the child has gone through abuse and neglect, family breakdown, a parent or child's illness or disability, a lack of family support. And then they say the vast majority are removed by social services on account of harm or profound risk of harm.
This child, they're saying, has been taken from his parents, maybe because she was forcing him to pray Salah (prayer) at Fajr (dawn prayer) time, maybe because she was abusing him. Rightly taken away from the mother. Maybe, if the mother was abusing the child, in Islam, in a Muslim country, who would most likely take care of that child? Another Muslim person. So it's a win-win situation. You're an abusive individual. Listen to this, this is the most shocking part: the child was taken from social services, took the child, took the child from that parent because of their belief, of course. But by the way, the act of harm and profound risk of harm is nothing compared to what they describe it as, how we Muslims understand it.
Now, according to government figures, there are 4,560, so it's more than the research by Coventry University. Pay attention to this. Since the removal of ethnicity from the Children and Family Act 2014 was passed, social workers are no longer required by law to match religion and ethnicity when finding families for children. In other words, this child, who’s Ahmed, he can be taken care of by an LGBT family. You've gone to such a small sample. You have 4,500 kids. I actually know right now a girl called Safiya. She's been taken care of by two men.
It's not a case. Again, again, again, look what we're talking about here. Look, we're talking about a ruling for everybody in the UK, all the Muslims in the UK, for example. Even wider than that, US, Europe. And we've taken the sample size of 4,500 people, some of whom were taken away from their parents, and from them, some of them went into a non-Muslim household. Like you're talking about a really small sample size, and using that to say everyone’s got to leave the country. No, I’m not saying anything. By the way, the honor of one Muslim is great to us. Don’t dismiss one child, one Muslim child who’s taken by a non-Muslim. It hurts our hearts. Today, are you telling me right now, if you saw online a mother crying, I can, Wallahi, I can show you extensive videos. In cases I’ve seen, I've seen mothers coming to the masjid to break down because she must have lost one child, and all her other remaining children were taken. Of course, it would hurt. But I don't base rulings on emotion. I'm not going to then say everybody has to leave the country now because of my emotion. I’m emotional. I’m feeling like, "Oh, wow, that really hurts." I’m not going to tell everyone to leave the country. No, I’m not. Not necessarily. A one peculiar situation, did this happen?
But it gives you the understanding that you don't even own your own children. You can't do tarbiyah (nurturing) of your children the way you see fit. This is what I’m coming to. Look what the Prophet ﷺ has said. Let’s be straight and frank with one another. Our Messenger ﷺ said, مُرُّوا أَوْلَادَكُمْ بِالصَّلَاةِ وَهُمْ أَبْنَاءُ سَبْعِ سِنِينَ (Command your children to pray when they are seven years of age). وَضَرِّبُوهُمْ عَلَيْهَا وَهُمْ أَبْنَاءُ عَشَرِ سِنِينَ (And discipline them when they are ten years old). Let me be even more frank with you. The word doesn't say "discipline" (as in just advising them). وَضَرِّبُوهُمْ means beat them.
Just the other day, without any names mentioned, a family was about to lose their child. I don’t want to tell you, but someone very reliable to me told me that a family member was about to lose their child, and the social services had this hadith written on their case study of this whole situation. Do you know what happened?
The child just went to school. He said to the other child something about, "My father will hit me if I do this." The teacher called social services. They got involved and were ready to take the children into care. What I mean is that I am not in any way, shape, or form saying children can be beaten and destroyed. No, that's not what I'm saying. All I'm trying to say is that if a parent is not fit to take care of their child, the 2014 Act passed by the government states that you no longer have the right to choose where that child goes and who looks after them. The whole community can come together and say, "We want social services to have their rights." They can decide where the child goes, even if they don’t want to place them in a Muslim family, depending on how social services see fit. This is a child your wife carried for nine months. She gave birth to him, his name is Abdullah, and he's being raised by a non-Muslim. The point I'm trying to make is that your own child is in a situation you can't control.
The Prophet ﷺ told us in a hadith, which Imam Muslim narrated: "When the children of Adam pass away, their actions are all disconnected except for three: ongoing charity that you give, which will carry on your righteous deeds for you; beneficial knowledge that others benefit from; or a noble child, a righteous child who makes supplication and dua (prayer) for you." I’m saying that these children, who were nurtured in this environment, Islamic history shows us that we’ve never seen anyone who changed Islamic history who was nurtured by non-Muslims or grew up among non-Muslims. We've never seen that. Rather, the rule is that anyone who grew up upon something is most likely going to turn out to be that.
The Prophet ﷺ’s parents were non-Muslims. He changed the entire world. He came from a family of non-Muslims. His father—We can go on and on about this. The companions, many of them came from non-Muslim households. Again, how can you say that statement? Again, the Prophet ﷺ was a total exception to this situation because he was guided by Allah and chosen by Allah. And by the way, he wasn't nurtured by his mother or father; neither of them nurtured him. Both of them died when the Prophet ﷺ was very young. His father died when he was in his mother’s womb, and his mother died when he was only six years old.
So, the Prophet ﷺ’s upbringing wasn’t typical. Keep that in mind. Another point I want to bring up, which you just reminded me of, is that the West is not just a clash of religion; it's a clash of morality. There were things that they held on to, even though they were idol worshippers who called on other than Allah, which was a religious conflict. But there were also things they held on to that were good morals. They also had bad morals, like burying their daughters alive. I’m not dismissing the fact that the UK also has good morals. But this is the same situation.
Yes, but this is my point: the West today, we have an issue with morality and dignity. Take homosexuality, for example. It's an issue of morality. It's also an issue of religion. No, put religion aside. A Christian, even if they don’t believe in our religion, will say to you, "This is despicable; it’s abhorrent; no, we don’t accept it," because their religion tells them so. There are secular people, who don’t believe in religion, who will also say, "This act just does not make sense. It’s filthy to me." It's an issue of fitrah, as we previously mentioned in our podcast.
Now, your child is in a land where his suluk (behavior) gets destroyed, his morality is killed, and also what? His religion is killed. I just want to show you how scary this is. There was a brother in the UK who had a child. His child is literally mentally unstable. So, he takes his child to the doctor. They inject him and give him medicine. The father holds his son down, almost to the point where the child is going to destroy things and jump around. His child is insane. So, he went to the doctor to visit him, sat in front of the doctor, and the doctor says, "Let him go." He goes, "What do you mean? If I let him go, he’s not going to be alright." The doctor says, "You think this is Africa? What do you think you are? He's a free man. He can choose what he wants." We’ve reached that level.
Okay, you brought up some very strong arguments. I want to go back to my question, and let me rephrase it in a better way. The hadith I quoted: "Whoever sees an evil, let him change it with his hand, if he can’t, then with his tongue, and if he can’t, then with his heart." The Prophet ﷺ never said, "Whoever sees an evil, run away." That’s my point. He said to change it. Let’s stay here and change it. Let’s work on this society. The overwhelming majority of Muslims in the UK are not learned enough to even identify what is a munkar (evil) or not. You’re talking about the laymen, the general masses. That’s what I said to you initially. A more fruitful discussion would be: Can the duaat (callers to Islam) and talabah (students of knowledge) go to these Western countries to give dawah? Let’s talk about that then. That would be a discussion.
And another point: Should a da'i (caller to Islam) take his family, his children, and live in these countries? There’s a book, just as a side benefit, I want to encourage people to read. There’s a sheikh, his name is Sheikh Muhammad ibn Abdillah al-Surayl. He was the khatib (sermon giver) and the imam of Masjid al-Haram. He was also a member of the committee of senior scholars in Saudi Arabia. And he’s also the khatib and imam of Masjid al-Haram. By the way, during the time when the so-called false Mahdi was taking over the Kaaba, he was actually the man leading the prayer, and he had to be taken out of the masjid (mosque) with a hijab to cover him and take him out. It was Sheikh Muhammad al-Surayl.
Sheikh Muhammad ibn Abdillah al-Surayl has a kitab (book) called "The Ruling of Taking Citizenship from a Country that is Not Muslim." He breaks this issue down and brings it back to the first point we were talking about: We think right now that they’re not allowing us to practice our religion the way we want, that they’re questioning our method of disciplining our children, because they believe they’ve given your children citizenship. They’re the ones who educate your children. A large number of Muslim families—Somali, Pakistani, whatever ethnicity they are—receive a handout from the government. They give them money, and all of this gives them the entitlement to feel like they have the right to choose for your children what they can or can’t do.
So, telling me that the Prophet ﷺ said that if someone sees munkar, they should stop it? Yeah, I’m talking about people who see pubs in the UK, people drinking. They know alcohol is munkar. They know it’s wrong, so they can’t change it with their hands—they don’t have the ability—but at the very least, they can work on something together and try to rectify it.
Is it fair to say that they're running away? Is it fair to say... Is it fair to say, like, I sometimes, you know, some things are just... Well, there was a poet who said, "It is not befitting for the mind if the sun needs proof." That sun over there, I have to prove it to you so it can be seen.
In the UK, you and I both know the largest crime rate that's taking place right now is done by whom? The Muslims.
The Muslims.
Yeah, I mean, I don't know about the largest, but yeah... What munkar (evil or wrong) are they going to stop? Disproportionately, what is the largest group? The Muslim community.
Okay, what munkar are they going to stop? They can stop things like alcohol. They can't even stop their own children.
I know these statements I'm going to say are probably going to offend some people. But I had a conversation with one guy who was an extremist, a right-wing person, who believed that Muslims are here to take over the UK.
I said, "You think highly of us, man!" So, you really think highly of us, man, to think that we want to take over the UK? We can't even take over our own households. Parents are...
Wallahi (by Allah), I went to Canada, and I was very emotional when I went to Canada. For the first time, I saw with my own two eyes—I've never seen that in the UK by the way—I saw in Canada kids carrying cartons of alcohol on the lift going home, and their mother had reached a level where she set a section in the fridge for them.
Somali mothers (referring to a specific cultural group) were setting a part of the fridge and saying to them, "This section is yours; put your alcohol here."
And when I spoke to that mother, I said, "Why are you doing that?" She said, "I prefer that he does it here than outside, because someone's going to murder him. Someone's going to kill him if he's on the streets. I might as well just tell him to have it, but in your room. Don't take it outside." She locks the fridge for him.
The point is that the communities, the Muslim communities, the way that they have become... I'll tell you something else that shocked me. The rate of abortions done by teens—Muslim teens: Amina, Fatima, Nafisa—all these Muslim names you see, going to the NHS to get abortions done, and they're 17, 18, 19.
I know a girl who hasn't reached... and I want to say the age is so scary... She hasn't reached the age of puberty in the UK, and for the first time, I ever heard, I didn't even know this existed: what they call Sugar daddy.
A man owns that young girl. Muslim. He owns her. Wallahi (by Allah), she hasn't reached the age of consent, and he owns her. He’s a 40-year-old man, married, a non-Muslim, a Kafir (disbeliever), not even a Muslim, and he owns her. He gives her money every month, he puts money in her account, she goes over to him.
This is a Hadith, wala haraj (no harm). And to be honest, over the years of giving da’wah (inviting others to Islam), I came to the conclusion—it might be a very harsh conclusion, but I came to the conclusion now—that the da’wah in the UK is damage control. It's not stopping what's going to happen. The people... What you gain from there and what you lose... What you lose is more.
Okay, you're talking about the du'aat (those giving da’wah) now. Let's talk about the du'aat. Because the prophetic tradition is not to run away from the lands of the non-Muslims, but it's actually to send people into them, like the Prophet ﷺ (peace be upon him) sent Mu'adh ibn Jabal.
Let me just conclude that before you move into this one. There was a man who killed 99 people. The Prophet ﷺ told us in the Hadith (narration) of Imam al-Bukhari, narrated from the Hadith of Abu Sa’id al-Khudri:
إِنَّ عَبْدًا قَتَلَ تِسْعَةً وَتِسْعِينَ نَفْسًا A man killed 99 people.
ثُمَّ عَرَضَتْ لَهُ تَوْبَةً Then he wanted to repent.
فَسَأَلَ عَنْ أَعْلَمِ أَهْلِ الْأَرْضِ So he asked about the most knowledgeable person on earth.
فَدُلَّ عَلَى رَجُلٍ He was directed to a man.
فَأَتَاهُ He came to the man and told him. And the man was a worshipper. He said:
إِنِّي قَتَلْتُ تِسْعَةً وَتِسْعِينَ نَفْسًا "I killed 99 people."
فَهَلِّ مِنْ تَوْبَةٍ "Can I repent?"
And the man said to him:
بَعْدَ تِسْعَةٍ وَتِسْعِينَ نَفْسًا "After 99 people you've killed, you want to repent?"
The man took out his sword and killed him, making it a hundred.
فَأَكْمَلَ بِهِ الْمِئَة Now he killed a hundred people.
I don't know on this earth, I've never met anyone who killed a hundred people. Have you ever met someone who killed a hundred people? This man killed a hundred people.
Then he asked about:
فَسَأَلَ He asked:
عَنْ أَعْلَمِ أَهْلِ الْأَرْضِ The most knowledgeable person on earth.
By the way, this man is struggling to find somebody knowledgeable.
Worshipper, this has been pushed toward him.
So then what happened?
فَدُلَّ عَلَى رَجُلٍ He was pointed toward a man, a knowledgeable man.
He said:
إِنِّي قَتَلْتُ مِئَةَ نَفْسٍ "I now killed a hundred."
فَهَلْ لِي مِنْ تَوْبَةٍ "Do I have repentance?"
He said:
وَيْحَكِ "Destruction be to you."
مَنْ يَحُولُ بَيْنَكَ وَبَيْنَ التَّوْبَةِ "Who's stopping you from repentance?"
You can repent if you want to, but the first thing he instructed him as well:
أُخْرُجُ مِنَ الْقَرْيَةِ الْخَبِيثَةِ الَّتِي أَنْتَ فِيهَا "Leave this filthy land that you're in."
Then the scholar is in this land, but he's telling him to leave. He's telling him to leave. You shouldn't be here. He goes, "Leave this land." The man made a decision:
فَقَرَجَ يُرِيدُ الْقَرْيَةَ الصَّالِحَةِ He left to go to that blessed land.
فَعَرَضَ لَهُ أَجَلُهُ Death came to him.
فِي الطَّرِيقِ While he was walking.
فَاخْتَصَمَتْ فِيهِ مَلَائِكَةُ الرَّحْمَةِ وَمَلَائِكَةُ الْعَذَابِ This is a dispute now between the two angels, the angel of mercy and the angel of punishment.
Then Iblis (Satan) said:
أَنَا أَوْلَىٰ بِهِ "I am more entitled to him."
He said:
إِنَّهُ لَمْ يَعْصِني سَاعَةً "This man never disobeyed me for even a second."
Every time I told him to do something, he did it, so he's mine.
فَقَالَتْ مَلَائِكَةُ الرَّحْمَةِ The angel of mercy said:
إِنَّهُ خَرَجَ تَائِبًا "He came out repenting."
Then Allah Ta'ala (Exalted is He) pulled the earth in favor of him.
And what saved that man? His hijrah (migration), leaving that land.
And that story shows the difference in the types of people. Because the alim (scholar), he stayed in the evil land, but the one who's committing murder and he's engrossed in that...
I mean, since I agree with you, these people leave the lands of the non-Muslims. Make hijrah. But to make it unrestricted and say every single person in the UK has to leave is more of a stretch than that.
My question to you is:
You proved—I can honestly say—like honestly, you've actually proved that it is obligatory for those people, the general mass in the UK, US... I'm not going to dispute that. We're going to talk in the second half of this podcast about the practicality of where they go and how they go, and is it even practical in the modern world?
But theoretically, you proved that.
My question is: Is it permissible for someone to give da’wah in the UK and the US and to remain there, giving da’wah, calling to Allah, trying to help the people, trying to correct the non-Muslims, guide them to Islam, trying to help the Muslims who are there, because they just don’t have the ability to leave? Is that person also sinning every single day he's there?
Now, this brings me to the concept of remaining in the West. A person... We spoke about the land where you can stay and where you can't. We spoke about the conditions for that. Now, the person... There are three conditions. If these three conditions are met, and the conditions that we mentioned before, you can implement your religion and you don’t have the ability to leave.
If these three conditions, with extra on it, are found, you can stay in that land. For example, you have enough knowledge to repel the doubts that are thrown at you. The second one is: also, you have enough religion, a strong religion, that stops you from fulfilling your desires.
And the question here is: Is that just for that person, or is that person and his family members? Everyone?
No, no, no. If his family members, his wife is strong like that and his kids are strong like that, they meet these conditions, they all have to meet the conditions. It's not like the man can be upright... no, no, no. But his kids are strong... no, no, no. He should leave. Yeah. These children can’t be... because they don't have enough religion, because they're young. They don’t have that. The doubts are always going to be stronger than them.
And the third condition is: He really needs to travel to that land. Maybe it might be for medical reasons. Maybe it might be even for education. There’s a certain type of knowledge that he can’t find in the land of the Muslims. He needs to go to that land, acquire that certificate, and come back from it.
A situation like that... If he has ‘ilm (knowledge) to repel the doubts that are thrown at him, and he also has dīn (religion) that prevents him from desires, then insha’Allah (God willing), he is allowed to travel to the land of the disbelievers. And he’s not scared.
Wallahi (by Allah), what I’ve seen is people came from Muslim countries who go to my university, by the way. I know they come from Arab countries, and guess what? Some of them will come up to you. They weren't in class for two, three, four days. They weren't studying. For weeks, they haven’t come. And whenever they walk in, they see you, and they come up to you. They say, "Hi, I wasn't here. Can you help me? I need you to help me." So the question is: Where were you? What happened?
Oh, I was clubbing, meaning I was dancing, going to places, doing all of this. So, this person traveled from a land of Islam and came to this land. He doesn't have, he doesn't know anything. He doesn't have enough religion to prevent him from the desires. So, these types of people coming here is wrong. And the overwhelming majority of Muslims who came did not have this. Let's be very frank. Our own parents, when they came, the majority of us didn’t have enough knowledge to repel the doubts I brought against them, nor did they have the religion that would stop them from the desires. Now, pay attention. Imagine now, what's scary is, imagine now, with that said, if you have religion, you're strong in your religion, and your wife is not, and you brought her to this country, and then you went separate ways. You went your separate ways, she went this way, you went that way. It's life; people may not get along. Hey, what's going to happen? She loses her religion. By the way, the West, they hunt those types of women. They give her empowerment, "Believe in yourself. You can do it." So, they empower her falsely, giving her this false illusion. They pick her up and drop her. One time, she goes on depression pills, and she thinks what they said is real. It's not. The children, they are nurturing the children for you. My mother told me a story. My mother told me, she said, in 1991, there was a Jamaican woman speaking to my mother. She said to me, "Oh, where are you from?" I said, "Somalia." So, us little kids were running around. She goes, "Oh, these are your kids, huh?" She said, "This is the first generation of Somalis." First generation. She said, "I'll tell you something. We, Caribbeans, came to this country way before you. Second and third generation in this country, these kids might make it through. But the ones they give birth to and the ones after that… basically, she said, ‘Woe be to them! Destruction!’" And my mother, every time she mentions that story, reminds us of that story. Like, SubhanAllah (Glory be to Allah), that woman. Every time I see it, Somalis didn’t even reach. My community didn’t even reach the second generation of suffering, forget the third. And we were like, “Yeah, no, I understand.” Okay, so just to summarize what you're saying, I want to make sure I got it right. Please correct me if I'm wrong. There are certain things you can travel to the lands of non-Muslims for, for example, education, which you can't find in the lands of Muslims. A lot of people do it; they go for university, business. Is that one of the conditions? Is that one of the things that you can choose? If there's a Hajj (pilgrimage), but there are—but for that person to go there, then he must meet two conditions: Him and everybody he takes with him must meet two conditions. Number one, he has to have enough knowledge to repel the doubts, and number two, he has to be strong enough in his Deen (religion) to repel the desires.
Yeah, keeping in mind, Shahid (martyr), those three conditions we're mentioning are to travel to the lands of the non-Muslims, not to live there. No. What about living there? No, you can’t live there. But education could take three, four years. Yeah, that's you. For that time, you can. As soon as you get your degree, bam, back. You can’t stay there afterward. What about career opportunities? Are there better career opportunities there? Muslim countries, but there's not as good career opportunities. But that's… look, what are you looking for? What is it you're trying to attain? To provide for my family, which is an obligation upon me. Your issue is the dunya (worldly life), right? No, to provide for my family, which is an obligation upon me as per the religion. The Prophet ﷺ (peace be upon him) Ibn Umar narrated, the Prophet ﷺ said, “Whoever’s concern is this world, Allah will scatter his affairs, place poverty before his eyes, and he will not receive from the world except what has been written for him. And whoever’s concern is the Hereafter, Allah will gather his affairs, make his heart content, and the world will come to him, running.” (Hadith from Zayd ibn Thabit) The truth of the matter is that richness is really, Wallahi (I swear by Allah), not pennies and pounds. Wallahi, it is the richness of the heart, the contentment. Akhi (my brother), I know not one, not two, I know a nice number of brothers who’ve literally packed their bags, went back to their country. Somalia is a third-world country. It’s a simple country. They went there, and Wallahi, they’re living better than you and I in terms of dunya. It’s also a dangerous thing, like there's not as much safety there. Akhi, say that to the mother who lost her child. This young girl right now, recently, Allah Yarhamuha (May Allah have mercy on her). Her name is Shukri Abdi, a young Somali girl. You might have seen her online. She died. Shukri Abdi was murdered. The truth of the matter is that the girl was killed. That's how it shows. The storyline seems like that. She was thrown into the river. This girl couldn’t even speak English. She just came from her home country. She got murdered not in Somalia, she got killed in Manchester. Somali kids are more dying in the UK than they're dying in Somalia. The bombings that happened in Somalia, there are more kids dying—Somali kids dying—in Canada than the youngsters dying in Somalia. Let’s be honest. Let’s be frank. It’s just that. And I… it’s this feeling that we’ve been given, this belief that we’ve been given. People are suffering, Akhi. I’m telling you, Wallahi.
Okay, so I’m a layman Muslim. I can only go to these places if I meet those two conditions which we mentioned before, and as soon as I get what I intended, i.e., a degree, I have to leave straight away. Okay, I want to really pin you down on this. Someone giving da’wah full-time in the West, living there, giving da’wah... I want to go back to this individual. Permissible? Impermissible? Someone who's living in the UK to full-time give da’wah to them. Again, if he has enough knowledge to repel the doubts, and he’s also strong enough in his Deen (religion) to not fall into the desires, he can stay in that land to give da’wah because what’s he doing? His whole life. As long as it takes. Okay? The reason for that is because he's bringing assets to the Muslims. See, we don't want to lose. What’s happening to us now is we brought all our children, our family, our kids. We guide two or three guys to the masjid (mosque), and he says, Ash’hadu an la ilaha illa Allah (I bear witness that there is no god but Allah) and Ash’hadu anna Muhammadur Rasul Allah (and I bear witness that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah). And we take shahadah (testification of faith) from another guy, and another guy, and twenty of our children are being taken from us. And we look at those four or five that came into Islam, which is good, no doubt, we're not going to deny that. But what about the thousands that you're losing on a regular basis who’ve been brainwashed into thinking that they are British Muslims and their values are British? They've got nothing to do with... Those children of yours, you have to look into.
Okay, what about part-time da’wah? Because I think a lot of people would fall into this. I’m a person who’s got a nine to five, I work, I have a family, but on Saturday, Sunday morning, I open up a da’wah table in the high street, and I’m calling people to Islam. Can I stay in the UK because of that?
The Da'wah The concept of da'wah can be, Ya'ani (i.e. you don't have to have a table to give da'wah). You don't have to have a microphone to give da'wah. You don't have to be a khatib (preacher) in a masjid (mosque) to give da'wah. That was a multifaceted thing, to be done in many different ways and forms. An Uber driver can be a da'i (one who calls to Islam). Now you're opening up to many people who stay in the UK. No, but I'm narrowing it down. Go on. Which is, this is another problem. In these professions, you're not allowed to preach. It's against the law to talk about religion. You've got every high street, main high street, you've got a da'wah table talking about Islam. No, I'm not talking about those ones. I'm saying to you, I'm trying to open the door wide and show you that the West doesn't allow us to implement our religion the way we want. Muslims are not allowed. I mean, I have Uber driver brothers, and I know I'm friends with them. I always ask them, "Hey, how's everything?" Akhi (my brother), when you're driving Uber, you must get into the concept of religion. He goes, "No, I can't, man. It's very sensitive, unless the person opens up to me and wants to hear it." And because he said, "I've..." Yeah, but that's not the government imposing it. That's his own nafs (self) imposing it. No, no, he said to me, and I said, "Well, what's stopping you from that?" He goes, "The issue is that when I first came on, I started to preach. They complained to Uber. Once they complain, I get in trouble." Okay. So, the issue of da'wah like that doesn't really work. And even this, Wallah (by Allah), I'll tell you, Akhi (my brother), this is my point. The Muslims' presence in the West is actually not giving a good impression of Islam as well. The Muslim community is all over the place. Wallah (by Allah), the truth of the matter is, the Muslim community, to a high extent—I’m not going to say all of them—are all over the place. The Somali community and what they're doing on the streets, the gangs and the killing, and the murdering, and fighting over drugs and whatnot, it's not a good impression for Islam. The gang grooming that we're seeing—why young girls are being gang groomed—it's not a good impression for Islam. We can try to get around argumentations here or there, but the truth is, we're not presenting Islam in the way that Islam should be. So that's why retreat. Right now, retreat. Muslims, you have countries—Wallah (by Allah), imagine this. If the Pakistani community went back to Pakistan and they built their own country, how many engineers do you guys have in the UK who studied in these universities? How many doctors do you have? How many scientists do you guys have? If all of you guys went back, what kind of country can you build? All these Somali brothers just packed their bags, now educating, went back to their countries, stayed. How much can they do for their country? Okay, theoretically, I'm with you. Theoretically, I can't really dispute what you've been saying. Practically, this is where the game changes. This is where I bring my arguments. Because to be honest with you, theory is one thing, and on paper, you brought some good points, but it's impossible to implement that in the real world. You want to go to this idealistic Muslim country where there's no munkar (evil, wrongdoing), and everyone's practicing. You know, there's no clubbing, you know. These are points that you brought, by the way. There's no clubbing, there's nothing. There's no non-Muslims there because you see the fire of the non-Muslim. You brought in the hadith (prophetic narration). Nowadays, in a Muslim country, there are clubs. There is alcohol. Even when you send your kids to school, they're non-Muslim expats. You're living next door to a non-Muslim in an apartment building. All of your argument falls down because there's no practical reality to it. Where should Muslims go? Where? So this, I... Again, Phil, it comes from someone who has really felt being in a Muslim country. It's totally different. You see munkar happening in a place where Islam is there, and munkar is happening. That's been present even at the time of the Prophet. Munafiqeen (hypocrites) were living in the midst of the Prophet. Not everybody was doing what was required from them. Things munkar is going to happen. We're not saying there's going to be a place where there's munkar free. No, not at all. Like in places, Islam is a place of khair (goodness), a place of religion. You have the upper hand as a Muslim. We're all together. I'll give an example. In the UK, I had a conversation with a lot of non-Muslims. And how are you? How's everything? Have you ever looked into Islam? "Yeah, I have, but it's not for me, man." The second you really go deep with him, he goes, "Bro, if Islam is so good, why don't you guys go back to those Islamic countries?" Which is a real valid point, Wallah (by Allah). You're Muslims, glory, happiness in this world, that Islam will give you a better life. He says, "Okay, you know what? Why does it not give you a better life? Why did you have to come here for?" That point is not... When it's a paradigm shift, when you're in the... The tables are turned. Okay, I've had da'wah opportunities with non-Muslims in this UAE (United Arab Emirates). The country I'm in, Sheikh (a title of respect), it's different. They tell me, "Man, I meet them very often because I work in an Islamic da'wah organization, which is solely purpose is to bring people into Islam. Wallahi (by Allah), every one of them I meet, I am so thankful I've left the UK." These are Steve, Michael, John, and Daniel. "I'm so thankful I've left that country. Headache, this, that... The opportunity of Islam is very high. You'll listen. You know, all of this. Put that aside, put the dunya (worldly life) aside. What's your purpose in life? Why? You've received all of this. What do you want?" Sheikh (a title of respect), it's different. It's totally different. Recently, there was a guy who was playing music around my area, and he played loud music. I went around the block. I said, "Look, excuse me. Do you want to listen to music? You can do if you want to, but we don't want to hear it." It was an English guy from the UK. "All of us don't want to hear it. If you want to hear it, close your windows. Listen to yourself. Don't impose it on everybody else." You know what he did? He closed the window, he put the music down. That's nice experiences. And he was a nice guy. He's not a nice guy? No, that's not my point. He was a nice guy, but the point I'm trying to come to you, I can never do that in the UK because it's not... It's their law. I'm the guest here. I have to just be like, "Okay, okay, okay, I'm a guest." And that's the waqia (reality). You see, the Quwat Shaytan (the power of Satan) is different. I can give another example. A police officer pulled me over because I was driving fast. I'm just trying to show you the differences here. And he said, "What's the reason you're going fast for?" I said, "Honestly, really, I'm trying to go to the masjid (mosque)." And it was... Wallahi (by Allah), that was the reason I was going to the masjid. I said, "Look, this is my reason. I'm going to the masjid because it's still not a good reason. You shouldn't do that." What really touched me... Okay, and I... This is, for me, priceless. Wallahi (by Allah), no money can buy this for me. The fact that the police officer comes out of the car and he says to me, "As-salamu alaykum" (Peace be upon you), and I say to him, "Wa alaykum as-salam" (And upon you be peace). You know the feeling of that? Do you understand it? And he talks to me, we have that conversation back and forth, and I can tell him, "It's because of Salah (prayer)." And he feels the weight of Salah (prayer). And he looks at me... Wallahi (by Allah), even if he gives me that ticket, which I deserve the ticket, I just got the 30 reward from "As-salamu alaykum" (Peace be upon you), and all of these things. I'm just trying to show you, it's a Muslim person you're dealing with, it's a Muslim country you're dealing with. The other day, there were two guys in the supermarket. One pushed over the other guy. The other guy goes, "Allah yada alayk" (May Allah be pleased with you). He's angry at him. In the UK, it would have been F word, B word, Hani. You know what I mean? Like, "Allah yada alayk" means, "May Allah be pleased with you." The truth is, Wallahi (by Allah), the honest truth is that there is nothing like a Muslim country. But even now, the Muslim countries have become so westernized, so liberal. Like, surely there are some Muslim countries that are worse than some Western countries.
No, I wouldn’t. I would never. Never. Every single Muslim country is better than any Western country. That’s unfair, that’s injustice, that’s wrong. But people go on holiday to these places, like Dubai for example. They go on holiday, they realize it’s so liberal. Women are dressed appropriately. Again, it’s unfair to say that, because the UAE is a very restricted, particular part of where you go to. And you get all of that—that’s a particular part. You go there. I don’t go there. Do you go there? I don’t even know that side of the world. Just the same way that you are arguing that the UK doesn’t allow you to impact your religion, there are places in the UK you can go to. And there are also places where things are good. I mean, UAE has this road and this road—whichever road you want to take.
My point is, the Adhan (call to prayer) is on for me. The guy’s looking for Munkar (evil or wrong action)—he’s going to get his Munkar. The Adhan is there. I have it. The practicing of my religion, I mean my Deen (religion), no one’s stopping me. No one’s imposing me and saying, "Your child has to love LGBT, and your child has to agree with LGBT, and your child has to..." No one’s forcing anything on me. It’s a beautiful picture, but it’s going to come to an end, because none of these Muslim countries give you visas and citizenship. And ultimately, you and your family are going to have to end back in the UK.
Who said Hijrah (migration) is something very easy? Who? Where did we say that? In order to do Hijrah, countries have to let you in, and no, it’s not easy. By the way, we have countries we can go to. We can go to our countries. By the way, who said Hijrah has to be to one Muslim country? It can be any Muslim country. I can keep traveling through different Muslim countries, you see? So, if I get kicked out of one Muslim country, I can go to another Muslim country, and another Muslim country. But Wallahi (by Allah), there is nothing like any Muslim country. May Allah protect all the Muslim countries from harm, including this country right now that we’re in. Wallahi, it’s nothing like it in terms of what the UK has. I saw brothers go to Egypt, and they were insulting the country. Wallahi, they didn’t—Wallahi, they don’t really understand what they’re saying. Wallahi, they’re speaking with ignorance. They’re comparing Egypt and the UK together. I see it as ignorance. Haqiqat (truthfully), what I see is ignorance. It’s nothing the same.
Okay, I want to return back to the point of those people who are unable to leave the lands of the non-Muslims, for example. It’s not just a simple case of "Your original ethnicity is from this country, you go back to that particular country." There are people who have deep-rooted family ties, businesses—second, third-generation Muslims in the UK, the US—and their life is built around them. Uprooting that and moving to a Muslim country is not an easy thing. And I know you just said, "Who said Hijrah would be easy?" But my point is that the people who are able to do that are very, very few. And therefore, you issuing a ruling on all of the Muslims because of what a few of the Muslims can do, that seems unjust.
There’s an Ayah (verse) in the Qur’an where Allah Ta'ala (Allah the Almighty) connects Hijrah with Jihad. You can imagine the weight of that. Allah Ta'ala says:
“Those who believe, migrated, and fought for the sake of Allah Ta'ala—they are the ones, and those who gave shelter and victory, they are the true believers. They have the forgiveness from their Lord and provision from Allah.” (Qur'an 8:74)
It’s amazing that Allah mentioned Rizq (provision) and that He’s going to provide for them. Hijrah is not an easy issue. It’s a very powerful issue. Many of the Islamic acts that we see— for example, the concept of Salah (prayer)—Quraysh (the tribe of the Prophet ﷺ) had that already. The concept of Zakat (almsgiving)—Quraysh already had that. These concepts were already present. The concept of Hajj (pilgrimage) was already present. These were concepts that were there. The concept of fasting was already there. These were concepts that were present before Islam. One of the things that Arabs could never accept themselves to do was the concept of Hijrah. Because it was accepting defeat. That’s why the Hadith (narration) used the example of Hijrah—because it’s hard. It was not used for Salah, Zakat, Sawm (fasting), or Hajj, but it was used for Hijrah.
Hijrah is hard. Very hard. The Prophet ﷺ, when he got up and had to leave Mecca, he looked back at Mecca and said, “Wallahi, I love you, Mecca. I love you. If my people were not to kick me out of this land, Wallahi, I would never have left you.” That’s his place. This is his land. He loves it.
You previously mentioned that a lot of the crime being done in the UK is by the Muslim community. You now want to take these Muslims and put them into Muslim countries. Guess what’s going to happen? The Muslim countries are going to go down. They’re going to get worse and worse, and due to globalization and the advent of the internet and social media, they’re already on that path of following the West anyway. You’re going to now drag them down to the same level as the West. What have you really achieved?
Which one finishes first, the broom or the earth?
What do you mean by that?
If you keep brushing the earth, which one’s going to finish first?
It’s going to wear out.
The broom.
Yes, because the earth is bigger.
Yes. You can come to a community, you might do things here or there, but you’re just going to wear out. The people are going to melt inside the community. The community is more. Hence why we’re saying to the people: Leave the UK. Because however good you are, they are more than you. They influence you. The ocean takes you. However strong you are and you pin yourself down, it will move you.
And coming to these Muslim environments, a lot of us are on the concept of what? Peer pressure. We actually do things because other people are doing it. We get influenced by other people. I’m not saying in any way, shape, or form that the Muslims around the world in Muslim countries are better, and they are so good. There are, you might find a Muslim who memorized the Qur'an in the UK, and one who is a Shaitan (devil) in a Muslim country. That’s present. There’s no denying of that. But what we’re saying is that a Muslim country and a non-Muslim country—Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala (glorified and exalted is He) says:
“Are we going to make the Muslims like the Mujrimun (criminals, non-Muslims)? What’s wrong with you? How do you judge?” (Qur’an 37:158)
Are we going to make the Muslim and the non-Muslim the same? Or the criminal? Are we going to make them both the same? No, no, we can’t. The believer is better. The land of the believers is better, whether there are sins, whether there is this, whether there is that. It’s a Muslim country.
Okay, I want to wrap up our discussion and give you a chance to summarize it. But just before I do, I’ve got a few nuanced questions. These are questions that I imagine people have on their minds. The first one is: Someone might be watching this and be really scared of the Ayat and the Hadith that you mentioned about not making Hijrah, and their position on the Day of Judgment. If they make a Hijrah from an area within a non-Muslim country—let’s pick the UK—an area within the UK to a better area within the same country, for example, Birmingham. Is that classified as Hijrah? And are they now free from those Ayat and those threats that you warned about from Allah and His Messenger, or something?
So, if a person leaves a place where he can't practice his religion and goes to another land where he can't practice his religion, and that may even be a Muslim country or a non-Muslim country where he can practice his religion, he can practice his religion. If we accept that he can, and he also has the ability to migrate, so he has the ability to migrate, but he can practice his religion, it is recommended for him to leave. We encourage him to leave, on the condition that he can practice his religion.
So that's actually a second question: that's really someone from a non-Muslim land to another non-Muslim land. Let's say China, for example, where the Muslims are really being oppressed, to the UK. But obviously, that doesn't really stand because in the UK they can't practice their religion. I'm saying that you're right, the level of not practicing your religion varies. Yes. Some countries, the UK, to be honest, and let's be fair, and let's be honest, the UK is the best Western country where I know you can practice your religion. Okay, the best so far. But even then, it doesn't reach the level that where it is... it doesn't meet that criteria that was set by the ulama (scholars) and that which they mentioned. It can't meet it.
Okay, so someone who goes from another non-Muslim country to a Muslim country, it's not hijrah. No, it's not hijrah. And the same applies for someone in the same country, let's say from London to Birmingham. It doesn't make it. These people are still under the threat that we mentioned earlier about the ayat (verses) and the hadith (narrations).
Okay, last question: You have multiple obligations over you. For example, you make hijrah as an obligation. For someone in the UK, they go to a Muslim country, but their parents are stuck in a non-Muslim country, and it's not easy, they’re not able to move. They're actually excused due to the ayat (verses) that they’re not able to move. They now have two obligations on them. They want to live in a Muslim country because it's obligatory upon them, but they also need to look after their parents, who are becoming elderly. What takes precedence? Because they can't do both.
A large number of scholars mentioned that if a person cannot leave the land of the non-Muslims, and included in that is that he can't leave his mother there, or he's either got a court system where the government has taken his children, and he has to stay in that land in order, or his wife and him have gone separate ways, and she doesn't want to leave, and the children are still in the UK, they can't leave. A lot of the scholars believe that this is إِلَّا الْمُسْتَضَعَفِينَ مِنَ الرِّجَالِ وَالنِّسَاءِ وَالْوِجَالِ الَّذِينَ لَا يَسْتَطِيعُونَ حِيلَةً وَلَا يَحْتَدُونَ سَرِيبًا (except for the weak among men, women, and children, who cannot devise a plan nor are they directed to a way) [Quran 4:98]. They can't travel, there's no way to go, no place to go. And that did happen to some of the people who lived in Mecca. They couldn't leave because the Quraysh were holding them down, bribing them, conditioning things on them: you can't leave unless you do this. So some of them couldn't travel, and they stayed because of that. So maybe that person might fall under إِلَّا الْمُسْتَضَفِينَ مِنَ الرِّجَالِ (except for the weak among men). Even if you've got like parents, and you fear for them that they might turn sick, they might turn ill, so you're waiting around just in case that happens. But that's again, it comes back to the issue of: Do your parents literally depend on you? Do they actually depend on you? Or are they doing their thing? They've got their life carried, they've got jobs, they're doing things, and you have your own children. You have your own life. Can you stay in that land to destroy your children, when in reality, you know, maybe your parents may not live for too long, 10 years, but your children grew up here and they're now used to this lifestyle?
Okay, final, final question before I get on to the summary, and again it goes back to a practical question for some people who might ask. Many people, as you've seen, travel to the lands of the non-Muslims for education purposes, and we mentioned this before that there are three conditions:
- There's a genuine need that you can't find that education in the lands of the Muslims.
- The person has got enough knowledge to push away the doubts.
- He's got enough practice in his religion to push away his desires.
What is your evidence for those three conditions? Number one, and number two, who decides if I've got enough knowledge to push away the doubts? If I've got enough deen (religion) to push away the desires, is that the individual himself who just takes that decision? Or, you know, how does it work?
You see, these people are coming from Muslim countries, so they're coming from Muslim countries. They're coming to non-Muslim countries. There's always senior people they can refer back to: their mashayikh (scholars), their teachers, their parents. These are the people they genuinely go back to. Like, "Dad, I want to travel to this country," or, you know, my local imam, who I respect and love and who knows me, who's known me when I was young. So they go to the shaykh and look: "Am I fit to go to these countries?" Are they? Also, the person knows himself. The person knows himself. You know if you have enough knowledge to defend yourself and if you have enough religion in you. If you're in your own country, you were watching movies, and you were so taken back by Western culture, then of course, you can see from there. But if you go to these countries, the ocean will take you. And if they go to those countries and they suddenly find, they think that they do have enough knowledge and enough to repel the desires, but they go to those countries and they start feeling themselves drowning, they have to move back. They need to make their way back.
Also, the concept of staying away from any place where fitna (trial) or fasad (corruption) that you're scared of. These are what the whole entire Qur'an is about. The Qur'anic discourse: Allah commanded the Prophet ﷺ to stay with the righteous people and to be around them, and also He told him to stay away from those who are criminals and the wrongdoers. If you see those people indulge in our verses, they're bringing doubts or they're bringing problematic issues, Allah is to turn away from them. Also, the nusus (texts) that show that the believer is commanded to befriend righteous people, to be with the righteous people, so he can influence them. So all of those nusus are the concept of not presenting yourself to doubts or even not sitting in a place where you know you cannot prevent that issue.
One of the strongest evidences for that is the issue of Dajjal (the Antichrist). The Prophet ﷺ said: "إِذَا سَمِعْتُمْ بِهِ فِي أَرْضٍ فَانْأَوْا عَنْهُ" (If you hear of him in a land, then turn away from that place). Fitna (trials) come. We run away from it.
So that's the evidence for your religion and your knowledge to defend the doubt and the shahwa (desire) and shubuhat (doubts). Those are the evidences that you need to stay away from places where you fear that.
Let's conclude by giving you the summary of the discussion. Some of your final thoughts, someone who's lived in the non-Muslim lands, someone who's lived in the Muslim lands, someone who's involved in da’wah (inviting to Islam), speaking to many people: What are your thoughts as a khulasa (summary) of this issue?
Well, I want to say Allah's statement where He says: "يَا عِبَادِيَ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا إِنَّ أَرْضِي وَاسِعَةٌ فَإِيَّا يَفْعَبُدُونَ" (O My slaves who believe, indeed My earth is vast, so worship Me). Allah says: "إِنَّ أَرْضِي وَاسِعَةٌ" (Indeed, My earth is vast). "فَإِيَّا يَفْعَبُدُونَ" (So worship Me). Travel. Dajjal (the Antichrist), He mentions. He's al-Umiru bil-Hijrah (He was commanded to do hijrah). They were commanded to do hijrah from a place where they cannot worship Allah and where they can't change that. So hijrah, that you leave that land إلى حَيْثُ يَتَهَيَّؤُ لَهُ أَنْ يَعْبُدَ اللَّهِ حَقَّ عِبَادَتِهِ (to a place where you can worship Allah the way He deserves).
Ibn Kathir (may Allah have mercy on him) also said regarding that verse: "This ayah (verse) is a command from Allah to the believers to migrate from the land where they can't establish their religion إلى أَرْضِ اللَّهِ الْوَاسِعَةِ" (to the vast lands of Allah). Well, I've seen so many people who've left the lands of the non-Muslims. They've come to Muslim countries. They went to Saudi Arabia, they live there, they came to the UAE, they went to other Muslim countries, Malaysia, these beautiful Muslim countries. And guess what they did? The first thing they said is: "Well, I was living in a hole, I was living in darkness. Wallahi, it's actually green on the other side."
And I also want to say, brothers and sisters, wallahi, if you have children, it's even worse for you. Wallahi, if you have children, save your children. Wallahi, they're targeting your children. They're going to destroy your children.
The Prophet ﷺ told us in a hadith, إِنَّ الرَّجَلَ لَتُرْفَعُ دَرَجَتُهُ فِي الْجَنَّةِ ("A person’s level will be raised in Jannah"). فَيَقُولُ ("The person will then say"): أَنَّ هَذَا ("How did I earn this place in Jannah? How did I get this position?"). فَيُقَالُ ("It will be said to him"): بِاستِغْفَارِ وَلَدِّكَ لَكَ ("You got this because of your child making dua for you, asking Allah’s forgiveness for you").
Ibn Umar narrated this من حديث أبي هريرة ("from the hadith of Abu Huraira"). Shaykh Nasser (may Allah have mercy on him) authenticated it.
If you want your children to benefit you when you die, take them out of these lands. Taking your children to nursery and letting these people… What’s very problematic is that you're taking them to nursery, and they’re being taught there, but when they come home, you're putting Teletubbies on, you're putting this cartoon, that cartoon, and you spend no time with your children. And when they turn 18, and your child starts having problems, you come to the imam and say, "Shaykh, imam, help me. I have a problem. My son doesn't want to listen."
قَلْ قَيْتُ فِي الْيَمِ مَكْتُوفٌ وَقُلْتَ إِيَكَ إِيَكَ أَنْ تَبْتَلَّ بِالْمَأْيِ ("You’ve tied him back, tied his hands from behind, and threw him into the ocean, and then you said, 'Be careful, do not let the water touch you.'"). In other words, you threw him into that society. You did not equip him with enough knowledge, and then you say to him, "Be careful, don't let the society harm you."
Wallahi, the nursery rhymes that we memorized in school are still in our heads. And what they did, and he… Wallahi, when I was growing up and I used to go to school, when Christmas would come, there was a Christmas tree in the school. There was a Christmas, there was a… there was a post office box, the red post office box in the school where people would put their cards wherever they wanted to give them. Wallahi, I would look forward to that, because I would compare Eid with Christmas. Eid wasn’t anything you would look forward to, because Christmas... Merry Christmas everywhere! Half price! Iceland has half price, Sainsbury’s has half price, Asda has half price! Subhanallah. Those were the times when things were so tight that my mum would buy the uniform from George Asda. George! That’s where she would get it.
The point I'm trying to make is: All of this has an effect on the child. All of that has an effect on the child.
So, my statement I said might please you or not, but take it with an open heart and mind. It’s for your own betterment. I’m not getting money to promote a particular Muslim country, but I’m trying to be as honest and fair as I can with you. May Allah allow all of us to have our children grow in the lands of the Muslims. Ameen.
Shaykh al-Bani (رحمه الله) said: "One of the du'as I make for my father…" Shaykh al-Bani is saying this, and I never ever forget making du'a for him. He said: "The best thing my father did for me was that he took me from Albania and brought me to Syria. The best thing, he said, he did for me."
Shaykh Muhammad Ali Adem (رحمه الله) in Ethiopia, he ran away from Abyssinia, from Ethiopia, because of the communist party. He said: "Rahimahullah ta'ala rahmatan wasi'a." He wanted to go for Umrah, but they were controlling the people. They said only 40 people could leave from the city or the village, and he was the 37th person. He made his way to Umrah and never went back. He came back after everything got better. Look at what he produced! Look at where he taught!
So, the people have to understand: No one’s saying hijrah (migration) is easy. You've got a country, you’ve got a land, many of us have homes—not just one home we’ve built. And when we go back to our land, we’re royalty. Don't stay in a place where you're seen as a low, pathetic person, when you could be in a place where you're highly respected. That’s all I wanted to say.
Anything I’ve said that was wrong, I attribute it to myself and Shaytan, and Allah and His Messenger are both free from it.
Subhanaka Allahumma wa bihamdihi, ash-hadu an la ilaha illallah, astaghfirullaha wa atubu ilayh. (Glory is to You, O Allah, and praise, I bear witness that there is no god but You. I ask for Your forgiveness and turn to You in repentance.)
