Note: The following transcript was generated using AI and may contain inaccuracies.
So we're going to talk about Christmas and New Year towards the end of the podcast. But for now, I just want to start with some introductory questions.
And the first one I have for you really is, What's the reason for picking this topic in the first place? Why is it even important to discuss? I'm always grateful that you invite me over. If I respond to your question, there are many reasons why this topic is very important. The first is, if you look at the reality of the Muslims today, You'll find and you'll see that the issue of imitating the non-Muslims is so high and so great.
A lot of Muslims are imitating the non-Muslims. They are following the Christians, the Jews, the atheists. Social media has now become that place where you go to even if you want to do something.
If you want to dress in a certain way, social media, you take it. There's someone on Instagram or someone on Twitter or someone on Facebook, who you'll take as your own model and you'll follow. And they will set you guidelines of what to do and what not to do.
That's one important reason why I think this topic needs it. Secondly, it's to clarify the truth. What I mean by that is, in everything Allah has commanded, there's always a people who go extreme in exaggeration and there's always people who are extreme in negligence.
There's always ifrat and tafrit. And Islam always propagates, encourages us to be in the middle path. The middle path is what Allah and His Messenger say.
It's not what you and I feel is the middle path. Someone could say for example, there's a woman who's wearing niqab and everything and she's wearing jilbab and another woman is wearing trousers and there's one who's wearing miniskirt. The one who says, I'm wearing trousers, I'm in the middle.
I'm the middle path. I'm not extreme like the one who's wearing a miniskirt and I'm not extreme like the one who's wearing niqab and she's jilbab and blacked out. I'm in the middle, I'm wearing trousers, I'm still there.
Now we say, what is middle is set by who? Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala and His Messenger. So everything Allah commands, there's always extreme exaggeration or extreme negligence. And so you find a group of people when they talk about this issue of imitating the non-Muslims, they go extreme.
And they sometimes prohibit what Allah has permitted for the people. قُلْ مَنْ حَرَّمَ زِينَةَ اللَّهِ الَّتِي أَخْرَجَ لِعِبَادِي وَالطَّيِّبَاتِ مِنَ الرِّزْقِ So they say that you can't wear this, you can't do this, you can't do this. They go overboard in the concept of imitating the non-Muslims.
And another group of people, they are extreme negligent. They're careless. What's the problem? Why can't we imitate them? So I always like to bring the issue to that middle path.
Inshallah Ta'ala, hoping that Allah Ta'ala may allow me to clarify with the evidences from the Qur'an and from the Sunnah. You see, Islam as a religion, which is the third point, Islam as a religion has tried and exerted many efforts. Our religion exerts efforts and encourages, let me use this word, Islam encourages for a person to be independent in his personality.
It's very important. Islam wants the Muslim society to be very unique. They want to make the Muslims independent from all other nations and all other groups in the Qur'an and the Sunnah.
And in the seerah of the Prophet ﷺ, you find that it's common. Bringing this personality out of a Muslim. And that a Muslim is not هَمَجٌ رَآءَ اَتِبَعِي كُلِّ نَائِكَ That he follows everybody he sees.
For example, when the Prophet ﷺ saw Umar ibn al-Khattab reciting the Torah to the Prophet ﷺ, he said وَالَّذِي نَفْسِي بِيَدِهِ I swear by the Lord, my soul is in his hand. لَقَدْ يَجِئْتُكُم بِهَا بَيُضَاءَ نَقِيَّةً I have come with this religion clear. It's a pure, clear religion.
لا تَسْأَلُهُمْ عَنْ شَيْءٍ فَيُخْبِرُكُمْ بِحَقٍ فَتُكَذِّبُوا بِهِ أَوْ بِبَاطِلٍ فَتُصَدِّقُوهُ بِهِ وَالَّذِي نَفْسِي بِيَدِهِ لَوْ أَنَ مُوسَى كَانَ فِيكُمْ حَيًّا مَا وَسِعَهُ إِلَّا أَنْ يَتَبِعَنِي حتى موسى ﷺ said, if he was alive today and he was amongst us, there would be no other path open for him except to follow me. So that's نبي الله موسى. And موسى is from the five chosen prophets.
There are five chosen prophets Allah chose. They are called أُولُو الْعَزْمِ مِنَ الرُّسُلِ according to the strongest opinion. And Allah mentions them سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى in Surah Al-Hazab.
وَإِذَا خَذْنَا مِنَ النَّبِيِّينَ مِثَاقَهُمْ وَمِنكَ وَمِن نُوحٍ وَإِبَرَهِيمَ وَمُوسَى وَعِيسَى So those are the five chosen prophets. نبي الله محمد نبي الله نوح وَمِنك مِنك means you محمد وَمِنك وَمِن نُوحٍ وَإِبَرَهِيمَ وَمُوسَى وَعِيسَى Those five are the five chosen prophets. عِيسَى is one of the five chosen prophets.
مُوسَى is one of the five chosen prophets. نُوحِس is one of the five chosen prophets. إِبَرَهِيم is one of the five chosen prophets.
And نبي الله نوح عليه السلام And Prophet Muhammad عليه الصلاة والسلام So مُوسَى, if he was amongst us, the Prophet said, there would be no other path open for him. So the Prophet was teaching Omar you have to be independent as a Muslim from following their scripture. You know, stay away from that.
Be a Muslim. You have an identity. You have a source to take your legislation from.
You have a source to take your clothing from. You have a source where you can take from how you carry yourself and the way you act. Okay, there's a couple of things I want to pick up from your answer.
So the first is you mentioned as part of your answer that this is a reality that exists in the modern world that we live in. For example, social media, and we have people imitating the Jews, the Christians. My question is, is there a historical development back like before our time? Is there a historical development to this kind of problem occurring? So this issue is not وَلِيدَةُ أَصْرِنَا It's not something that just came about this time that we're seeing it.
But rather it goes back to early stages. If you look back, Ben Israel, for example, asking from نبي الله موسى عليه السلام Speaking to نبي الله موسى And they say to موسى عليه السلام Allah mentions it in the Quran وَجَاوَزْنَا بِبَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ الْبَحْرَةَ فَأَتَوْا عَلَىٰ قُوْمِ يَعْكُفُونَ عَلَىٰ أَصْنَامٍ لَهُمْ قَالُوا يَا مُوسَى اجْعَلْ لَنَا إِلَهًا كَمَالُهُمْ آلِهَا قَالَ إِنَّكُمْ قَوْمٌ تَجْهَلُونَ موسى عليه السلام, they said to him اجْعَلْ لَنَا إِلَهًا كَمَالُهُمْ آلِهَا Make a Ilah for us like they have a Ilah In other words, بَنُ إِسْرَائِيل are imitating who? متشَبِّهِنَة وَمَتَشَبُّهَا بِالْمُشْرِكِينَ They are imitating the pagans So you can see that this is something that came very early And then he said to them, موسى عليه السلام قَالَ إِنَّكُمْ قَوْمٌ تَجْهَلُونَ You are nothing but ignorant people He gave them that characteristics of جَهَل Which inshallah we are going to revise later when we speak about some of the statements that the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم mentioned about the imitating of the non-Muslims when he referred to it عليه الصلاة والسلام حديث أبي ذر الغفاري will see that inshallah in our podcast Also, Quraysh that you see that the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم was sent to Quraysh They were upon the Dean of Ibrahim صلى الله عليه وسلم But a man came to them called عَمْرُ بنُ اللُّحَي He went to Sham What he saw in Sham amazed him and fascinated him And then he came with an idol and he brought it to Quraysh Imam Ibn Kathir mentions in his كتاب البداية والنهاية Ibn Hisham mentions in his seerah that he saw when he went to Sham something and he said مَا هَذِهِ الْأَصْنَامِ الَّتِي أَرَاكُمْ تَعْبُدُونَ What is these idols he said عَمْرُ بنُ اللُّحَي What are these idols in which you guys are worshipping What is this And they said to him هَذِهِ أَصْنَامٌ نَعْبُدُهَا These are idols which we worship فَنَسْتَمْطِرُهَا We ask it for rain فَتُمْطِرُنَا It brings rain down onto us وَنَسْتَنْصِرُهَا We ask victory from these idols فَتَنْصُرُنَا It gives us victory فَقَالَ لَهُمْ He then said to them أَلَا تُعْطُونِ مِنْهَا صَلَمًا Why do you just give me an idol from within these idols أَسِيرُ بِهِ إِلَىٰ أَرَضِ الْعَرَبِ I'll take it to the land of the Arabs فَيَعَبُدُوهُ Quraysh and Makkah جزيرة العرب I'll take it back to them And Inshallah Ta'ala They will benefit from it فَعَطَوْهُ صَلَمًا يُقَالُ لَهُ هُبَل So they gave him an idol Which they call Hubal فَقَدِمَ بِهِ مَكَّةً He brought it to Makkah فَنَصَبَهُ He placed it in front of them وَأَمَرَ النَّاسَ بِعِبَادَتِهِ وَتَعَظِمِهِ And then he told the people You know Worship this idol And glorify it So this A man who imitated the Mushriks In other words In reality Quraysh were not upon this religion They were upon a religion Of you know حَنِيفِيَّة The religion that وَرَقَةَ ابْنُ نَوْفَلٍ That is a group of people Who were known as the They were حَنِيفِيَّة حَنِيفِيَّة means مَائِلٌ عَلِى الشِّرْكِ They were far from Shirk And they were upon Tawheed وَرَقَةَ ابْنُ نَوْفَلٍ And others But this man عَمْرُ ابْنُ الْحَيْي When he came back And he gave them this And he imitated the Mushrikeen Of that time He took it And he brought it to Quraysh It made them misguided So even the Mushrikeen of Quraysh Who the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم Was sent to As a Prophet And we hear obviously Allah calling them Mushrikeen They actually only Entered into that situation Because of a man Who actually imitated The other Mushrikeen And brought it into their practices And that's the reason Why they became misguided Even our Prophet محمد صلى الله عليه وسلم At his time When he saw the people Imitating the non-Muslims Of that time He would go against them And do things different to them You know Oppose them Like بَنُ اسْرَائِل For example The Jews When the Prophet moved to Medina And the Jews were his neighbors There were three tribes of the Jews بَنُ قُرَيْضَ بَنُ النَّذِير بَنُ قَيْنُ قَاع Both بَنُ النَّذِير And بَنُ قَيْنُ قَاع And بَنُ قُرَيْضَ All three tribes of the Jews They were neighboring They were around the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم Each brought their covenant with him Of course And he fought them عليه الصلاة والسلام بَنُ النَّذِير Are mentioned in the surah سورة الحشر Is mentioned there Where Allah تبارك وتعالى Speaks about يُخْرِبُونَ بُيُوتَهُمْ بِأَيْدِيهِمْ وَأَيْدِي الْمُؤْمِنِينَ فَاَعْتَبِرُوا يَا أُولِي الْأَفْصَارِ مَا قَطَاتُمْ مِنْ لِيْنَةٍ أَوْ تَرْكْتُمْهُمْ هَا قَائِمَةً And they In everything He would try to go against them And The Jews They themselves said مَا يُرِيدُ هَذَا الرَّجُلُ This man does not want أَن يَدْعَ مِنْ أَمْرِنَا شَيْئًا إِلَّا خَالَفَنَا فِيهِ There is not a matter Except that this man wants to oppose us in it It was different to everything That we do And this is specifically talking about نِسَاءُكُمْ حَرْثُوا لَكُمْ فَأَتُوا حَرْثَكُمْ أَنَّا شِئتُمْ You know يَسْأَلُونَكَ عَلِي الْبَحِيظِ قُلْهُ أَذَنْ فَأَتَزِلُوا النِّسَاءَ فِي الْمَحِيظِ وَلَا تَقْرَبُوهُنَّ حَتَّى يَطْخُرْنَا فَإِذَا تَطَخُرْنَا فَأْتُوهُنَّ مِنْ حَيْثُ أُمَرَكُمُ اللَّهُ It's talking about when the women are on menstruation The Jews What they used to do is that When the woman is on menstruation They would push her away They would build her a tent A little hub And they would say to her stay in there You're not going to come close to anyone As though she's filth And the Prophet ﷺ What did he say to her? When his Sahabas asked him He said اِفْعَلُوا كُلَّ شَيْءٍ إِلَّا النِّكَاحِ Do everything to your wife except sexual intercourse And then this is when they said Look مَا يُرِيدُ هَذَا الرَّجُلُ This man does not what أَيَّدَعَ مِنْ أَمْرِنَا شَيْئًا إِلَّا خَالَفَنَا فِيهِ Everything he wants to oppose us in it So this shows us That this is something that was there Even the time of the Sahabas Umar رضي الله عنه When of course Islam spread And it went to lands Now the Muslims are now Interacting with other communities Other backgrounds Other people Persia You know the Byzantine Empire Is now being taken down The Persian Empire is being taken down Muslims are spreading Sham All these lands It's been taken over So Umar رضي الله عنه He said to his workers And he said to the people of the land Stay away from the clothing of the people The disbelievers And they don't wear their clothing He's warning them from this And that's The same problem That Umar رضي الله عنه Was fearing Was concerned about And had to send a letter And to remind the Muslims of that time Is the same issue that we find The Muslims have fallen into today Muslims now go to the land of the disbelievers And then when they went to the land of disbelievers You find a person is so Resembles the non-Muslims You wouldn't even know this person is a Muslim And that's not right Because a Muslim is سبغة الله ومن احسن من الله سبغة ونحن له عابدون The Mu'min is تميز التميز He's distinct Like when you see a Muslim for far That's a brother You recognize him And even when the colonies went to the lands of the Muslims And they colonized the lands of the Muslims That's what they did They tried their best to make them Become like them And act like them And be like them And then when they left They didn't leave They left behind televisions They brought corruptions in the lands of the Muslims So even though they're armies But they still They still got the community and the society Another thing I want to pick up The second thing I want to pick up from your first answer Is you mentioned that Islam places a A big emphasis on having a distinct personality Why does the religion of Islam feel so confident In and of itself To say that we don't need to follow anybody Or anything There are many things that Islam is distinct and unique in Our religion first of all it is General It's a general religion It's not restricted to a time and a place Our religion is general It's for everybody It's for Christians, it's Jews, anyone Come into Islam Allah mentions in these verses That the Prophet was sent to every single He's a rahmat for all of the people We have not sent you Allah is negating So negation And then Allah mentions Except A mercy to all mankind We send you to all of people So Nabiullah Muhammad was sent for everybody His Dawah Is not restricted to a place And a time Or it's not restricted to a nation From another nation It's for everybody The whole world Islam is meant to reach That's You know The second reason why our religion doesn't Fills the rights To not want to follow anybody Is because Our religion is comprehensive In all matters of life It solves its problems Why would it need to copy A lifestyle that's incompetent Allah says to the Prophet And also the believers Today I have completed your religion unto you And I have completed Also my blessing upon you And I am pleased as Islam for your religion Also Allah says Islam was sent down with guidance Which is beneficial knowledge He is the one who sent the Prophet with guidance Which is beneficial knowledge And the religion of truth Which is good deeds To show it to the whole religion So it's apparent upon all religions Islam is a religion Where it's Dominant over everything The third reason why Islam Our religion The only Islam Doesn't require to Follow anyone or anything Is because it abrogated every religion That came before it All the prophets that came Their legislations and what they came with It's abrogated With what Nabi Muhammad came with Abrogated over everything So It didn't just abrogate what The previous prophets came with But it abrogated all other ways of life And if This Qur'an abrogated the Torah And the Injil And the Zabur All those religions How would it not dismiss And ignore Man-made laws By the way Torah is what Allah said Allah raised the Torah with his own hand Subhanahu wa ta'ala Injil and Zabur These are abrogated And these are legislations Once upon a time That were from Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala How would it not Dismiss and ignore Man-made law by humans So This religion Is here to guide the people To take them out of the darkness Allah says in the Qur'an O People of the Book Our Messenger has come to you To make clear to you Much of what you used to hide From the Book And to pardon much A light has come to you from Allah And a clear Book By which Allah guides Those who follow His pleasure And the ways of peace And to take them out of darkness To the light by His permission And to guide them to the straight path Through this legislation What is he doing? He clarifies for you many things In which the Jews and the Christians Used to hide once upon a time From the people Also the Prophet The Prophet has come with light And a clear Book By which Allah guides Those who follow His pleasure And the ways of peace And anyone who follows it Is on a path that's blessing And pleasing to Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala Through this religion Allah will take the people Out of darknesses And bring them to light Subhanahu wa ta'ala And He guides Subhanahu wa ta'ala To what? To that which is the straight path So this religion That is why It is One that doesn't need to And doesn't have to Adhere to any other laws Or regulations Okay my final question Before From the introductory questions Before we get into A bit more of a discussion Insha'Allah Is are there any books That have been written On this topic Maybe for the advanced students Of knowledge to benefit from? There are many Kutubs even written on it Like one of the One of the greatest books That are written on it Is the kitab Iqtidaw al-sirat al-mustaqeem Li mukhalifati ashabi al-jaheem By Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyya Ibn Taymiyya This kitab of his Iqtidaw al-sirat al-mustaqeem It's actually considered To be one of the most comprehensive One of the most strongest books Ibn Taymiyya Clarified the position A Muslim should take When it comes to imitating The non-Muslims He brings many ayats He brings ahadith From the Prophet ﷺ He brings unanimous agreements Ijma'at He brings He talks about Types of tashabbuh There are He talks about The bad consequences That tashabbuh have He focuses And he talks about Ayaat al-mushrikeen And celebrating The non-Muslims festivals And their celebrations And participating in it He also talks about Issues related to bid'ah Innovations Khurafat Myths In which Muslims do In their celebrations And their festivals It was also summarized By Shaykh Muhammad Ali Ibn Muhammad al-Ba'ali Al-Hambari With the tahqiq Of Shaykh Ali Ibn Muhammad al-Imran Dar al-'Alam al-Fawaid He called it Al-Manhaj al-Qawim Fi ikhtisari ikhtisari Salat al-Mustaqeem It's a summarized version If you can't read the full version You can always go back to The summarized version And the best taba'a Of the ikhtisari Salat al-Mustaqeem So far Is the taba'a Of Shaykh Nasser Abdul Kareem al-Aql Dar al-'Asim I published it Before that Muhammad Hamid al-Fiqhi Published it And he And he worked on it He placed a content page And everything Etc But there's many mistakes In it Also There's a kitab Called Tashabbuh al-Khassis Bi Ahl al-Khamis And that is A kitab written by Imam al-Dahabi Rahimahullah Who died the year 748 Hijriah This kitab Is called Tashabbuh And some Copies Fell Into a mistake Like Bashar Awad Maroof And others They call it Tashbih al-Khassis And it's not right To call it Tashbih Grammatically It's better to call it Tashabbuh I won't go into that now Al-Tashabbuh al-Khassis Al-Khassis Is Bi Ahl al-Nasara He means Bi Ahl al-Khamis Because the Christians They believed in something Known as Al-Khamis al-Sughra And al-Khamis al-Kubra Okay Which they used to celebrate So this Jizad Is very good It's very beneficial There's a Taba'a The Tahqiq ayah Dar al-Ammar Dar al-Ammar With the Tahqiq of Sheikh Ali Hassan al-Halabi Rahimahullah Rahmatan Wasi'ah Also There's a Risalah Written by Ibn Hajar Al-Asqalani Who died In 852 Hijri He called it Al-Qul Al-Thabt Fis-Sawm Al-Yawm Al-Thabt And this Kitab is Min al-Kitab Al-Mathqud It's not actually Published We only know About it Because Hafidh Al-Hajar Mentions it In his Fath al-Bari He says So he says This issue of Tashabuhu bil-Kufar I've Collected The Ahadith Related to it And I He mentions That there's 30 Ahkam Related to this whole issue And he said All of this And other points I've written it in my book Al-Qul Al-Thabt Fis-Sawm Al-Yawm Al-Thabt Also there's a Kitab Called Husn al-Tanbihi I'm sorry Husn al-Tanabuhi Fima warada Fit-Tashabuhi Written by Najm al-Din Al-Ghazi Al-Shafi'i When it first came out Was 2012 I remember Buying it then Islamic Calendar is 1432 Hijri He passed away 1061 Hijri And it's 12 volumes Dar al-Nawadir Published it It's a very good copy This one Is the biggest Biggest book In terms of Quantity and the topic It's like a Mawsua It's an encyclopedia On this issue of Tashabuh bil-Kuffar Imitating the non-Muslims He divided the whole book Into two categories Divide the book into two The first part He talks about Al-Amru Bit-Tashabuhi Bihim The commandments That have come regarding Imitating the non-Muslims Imitating the angels He talks about Imitating the righteous people Imitating the martyrs Imitating the prophets Imitating the Prophet ﷺ In his mannerism He talks about The Tashabuh We were commanded to do The second part He talks about The Tashabuh Which we were prohibited from Like the Tashabuh Of the Shaitan And the Tashabuh Of the previous nations And then he speaks about Each prophet Like Qawm al-Nuh Aad Thamud Namrud Qawm al-Ut Shuaib Fir'aun Until he finishes The book Then he talks about Imitating the Fusak The transgressors The wrongdoers And the innovators And etc Also Shaykh al-Albani Rahimahullah In his Kitab Hijab al-Mar'at al-Muslimah Or Jilbab al-Mar'at al-Muslimah First of all He called it Hijab al-Mar'at al-Muslimah Shaykh al-Albani And then he changed it into Jilbab al-Mar'at al-Muslimah Which we had our podcast On the Niqab Shaykh al-Albani Rahimahullah When he talks about The conditions The Shurut Of the Hijab Or the Shurut Of the Jilbab One of the conditions Is he mentions That it doesn't resemble The clothing Of the non-Muslim Right? He mentions That that was One of his conditions So in there Shaykh al-Albani Each condition By the way He explains it He explains it When he comes to The Tashabbub al-Kuffar He mentions 31 Hadith So he It's also It's also There's another Kitab A final Kitab I want to mention Is the Kitab Masa'il al-Jahiliyya Allati khalifa fiha Rasulullah Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam Al ahli jahiliyya And it's written by Shaykh al-Islam Mohammad Ahmad Abdullah Rahimahullahu Ta'ala Mohammad Abdullah Mentioned 128 Things in which The Prophet Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam Went against The ahli jahiliyya This term As in If I can just Quickly just speak about it This term Ahli jahiliyya The word jahiliyya Is the opposite of The word jahiliyya Comes from The word Al jahl Ignorance And And the opposite of ignorance is, of course, knowledge, right? And al-jahl scholars, they categorize it into two in terms of its meaning. There's like jahl, which is muraqab, compounded ignorance, and there is jahl, which is basit, simple ignorance.
Jahl, which is basit, is the one when the person says, oh, yo, I don't know this. It's adam al-idaraqi bil kulliya, when the person says, yo, I don't know this at all. That's called jahl, which is basit.
Jahl, which is muraqab, is tasawwuru al-shay'a ala wajin yukhalifu ma huwa alaih. It is to perceive something in a way that it really isn't, but then you think you know it. It's compounded because it's hard to take that ignorance away from a person.
And it's powerful that Muhammad Abdul Rahab used that word, he called it masailu jahiliyya, because remember what we mentioned? So, the word jahiliyya comes in the Quran in many places, Allah used it, subhanahu wa'ta'ala. Al-jahiliyya was used in that. Also, when the Prophet ﷺ said to Abu Dharr al-Ghifari, Abu Dharr said something unpleasant to Bilal ibn al-Rabah.
And the Prophet ﷺ said, are you insulting him because of his mother? And then the Prophet ﷺ said to Abu Dharr al-Ghifari, You are a person who has jahiliyya in him. Bukhari and Muslim both narrated that. Also, the Prophet ﷺ used that word.
He said, The Prophet ﷺ said, anyone who leaves the obedience of the Muslim leader, and goes against the Muslim unity, and then dies, for verily his death is the death of jahiliyya. Muslim narrated that. The jahiliyya is two types, and I'm going to conclude at this point.
The jahiliyya is two types. There's jahiliyya which is a general type of jahiliyya, and that is, And before the Prophet ﷺ came out, we refer to that time as jahiliyya. We call this jahiliyya.
The time of the jahiliyya. It's the one Allah mentions in Surah al-Jumu'ah. That was jahiliyya before Islam.
And then there's jahiliyya which is al-juz'iyya. Al-jahiliyya al-juz'iyya means that jahiliyya is restricted to places, and times, and regions. Not necessarily the entire people don't have it.
Because Allah mentions, أَمْ تَحْزَبُ أَنَّ أَكْتَرَهُمْ يَسْمَعُونَ وَيَعْقِلُونَ إِنْهُمْ إِلَّا كَالأَنْعَامِ بَلْهُمْ أَظَلُّ السَّبِيلَ And these are ignorant people. They're like the cattle. Their jahiliyya is restricted.
As the poet said, It's a person who has knowledge of the worldly affairs. He knows the worldly affairs. He has mastered it.
But he's jahil and he's ignorant when it comes to his religion, and the issues related to that. So the point I want to mention from this is jahiliyya. We have to understand it.
There's two types of jahiliyya. Jahiliyya which is ammah, and jahiliyya which is al-juz'iyya. And that's why Muhammad Abdul-Rahab when he wrote the kitab, مسائر الجاهلية, he is discussing this issue that we mentioned.
Okay, let's go into the issue a little bit more detail then. And as always, I'd like to start with definitions. So we're talking about imitating the non-Muslims, imitating the kuffar.
What exactly does imitation mean? Generally when it comes to definition of words, I think it's very important that we understand that definitions of words, we have to take it back to كتب القوامس, يعني معاجم, dictionaries and books like that. And one of the greatest books that I encourage students of knowledge to look back to, and it's a very beneficial قاموس, is معجم مقايس اللغة by Ibn Faris. Ibn Faris' kitab, the benefit about it is that if a word has many usages, it's got many usages, what he does is that he looks for the bare minimum in which he can bottle it down to.
So if you've got a word, it's got many usages, he tries to find one common... Something that's common for all the different types of use. Yeah, just to narrow it down for the person. One, two, three, he does that, which is a very beneficial kitab for that perspective.
Ibn Husayn Ahmed Ibn Faris, Ibn Zakariya, he spoke about the word التشبخ, and he said التشبخ من شبه, comes from the word شبه, which is الشين والباء والهاء. And he says أصل واحد, it goes back to one word now, يدل على تشابه شيء وتشاكله لون وصفة. It means when something resembles something in its form, the color, the description.
يقال شبه وشبه. That's what you say. It's something resembling something, it's something looking like something.
That's what it means in the linguistic meaning. As for the technical meaning, it means resembling... So by technical you mean how Islam uses it, how the Sharia uses it. In the Sharia there are many scholars who defined it, they gave it many different definitions.
المناوي has a definition, عبد الرؤوف المناوي. Shaykh al-Islam ibn Taymiyya gave a different definition. The author of the كتاب حسن التنبؤ, نجم الدين الغزية الشافعي, he also mentions the definition.
But the definition goes back to resembling the non-Muslims in their عقيدة, in their عبادات, in their أخلاق, and in their عادات. Four things you mentioned. So four things.
In their عقيدة, what they believe. In their عبادات, the acts of worship that they do. الأخلاق, in their mannerism.
And their عادات, their norms. Inshallah ta'ala we'll unpackage each point, and what each one is. Are they all the same levels? How do you divide... Is the اعتقاد و العبادات و الأخلاق و العادات all the same? Inshallah ta'ala.
I'm hoping that we can unpackage it in the podcast. Okay, and when we say imitation, and we're obviously talking about how you mentioned at the start that Islam wants its own distinct, unique mannerisms, or whatever you want to call it, personality if you want to say, which kind of implies that it's wrong or it's bad to imitate the non-Muslims. Does that mean it's wrong to imitate them in everything, or are there types of imitation? So, this is very important.
The تشبه of the Kufar is two types. Okay. The تشبه generally, not just the Kufar, but generally the تشبه in the Sharia is two types.
There's تشبه which is المنهي عنه, which is ممنوع. It's known as تشبه which is ممنوع. You're not allowed to.
Okay, so it's حرام. Yeah, حرام. And the second one which is التشبه which is مباح.
You're allowed to. Okay. If I start with the one that's prohibited, there are only a few of them.
It goes back to four, the ones that the Sharia prohibits. It goes back to four, four, four. If somebody, Inshallah Ta'ala, watches it and adds more to it, ولله الحمد والمنى.
But I've narrowed it down to those four. The first one is التشبه بالبهائن, imitating the animals. The second one is imitating الشيطان, التشبه بالشيطان, which is the second.
The third one is التشبه الرجال بالنساء, men imitating the women, and the women imitating men. And the fourth one is تشبه المسلمين بغيرهم من الأمم, the Muslims imitating other nations, like the Christians and the Jews and the Zoroastrians and أهل الجاهلية, pre-Islamic ignorance. Those four are the types which are prohibited.
If I go through each one, for example, the cattle, or the حيوانات. As you know, as Muslims, we believe that humans are being honored. Allah honored us as humans.
Allah mentions in the Quran, وَلَقَدْ كَرَّمْنَا بَنِي آدَمَةً Allah says, we have honored the humans. Allah honored us and He honored us in many ways. One of the ways Allah has honored us is, we're able to articulate ourselves.
We're also able to think. We have عقل, we're rational. These are things Allah has honored us with.
Allah says الرحمن, in there Allah mentions what? علَّمَهُ الْبَيَان The ability to articulate our points and say what we want. If you look at the Quran, when Allah speaks about the animals and the cattle, He mentions it في مقام دم and in places where He's putting it down. Allah says, مَثَلُ كَمَثَلِ الْكَلْبِ إِنْ تَحْمِلْ عَلَيْهِ يَلْهَتْ أَوْ تَتْرُكُوا يَلْهَتْ ذَلِكَ مَثَلُ قَوْمِ الَّذِينَ كَذَبُوا بِآيَتِنَا Allah mentions the dog, and He gives a resemblance to the disbelievers in that regard.
Allah says, مَثَلُ الَّذِينَ حُمِّلُوا التَّوْرَاتَ ثُمَّ لَمْ يَحْمِلُوهَا كَمَثَلِ الْحِمَارِ يَحْمِلُ أَسْفَارًا بِسَمَثَلُ الْقَوْمِ الَّذِينَ كَذَبُوا بِآيَتِ اللَّهِ Allah says, وَلَقَدْ ذَرَأْنَا لِجَهَنَّمَ كَثِيرًا مِنَ الْجِنِّ وَالْإِنسِ لَهُمْ قُلُوبٌ لَا يُفْقَوْنَ بِهَا وَلَهُمْ أَعْيُنٌ لَا يُبْصِرُونَ بِهَا وَلَهُمْ آذَانٌ لَا يَسْمَعُونَ بِهَا أُولَئِكَ كَالْأَنْعَامِ بَلْ هُمْ أَضَلُ أُولَئِكَ هُمُ الْغَافِلُونَ Allah says, وَالَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا يَتَمَتَعُونَ وَيَأْكُلُونَ كَمَا تَأْكُلُوا الْأَنْعَامِ وَالنَّارُ مَثْوَى لَهُمْ So when you look at the cattle, generally speaking, Allah talks about it in that regard. And then there's specific animals Allah has mentioned, subhanahu wa ta'ala. Oh sorry, the Prophet ﷺ has mentioned specifically these animals.
He mentions that they are ones that we shouldn't follow. Like for example, stretching out the forearm when the person is in the middle of the prayer, in sujood. Hadith al-Imam al-Bukhari and Abu Dawood and Tirmidhi al-Nasa'i and Ibn Majah narrated from Hadith Anas ibn Malik that the Prophet ﷺ said, اِعْتَدِلُ, i.e. be straight in sujood whilst in your prostration.
وَلَا يَبْصُطْ أَحَدُكُمْ ذِرَاعَهِ اِنْبِصَاطَ الْكَلْبِ Do not stretch out your forearms like the way the dog does. Also the Prophet ﷺ prohibited us from squatting like a dog. Iqa' al-Kalb.
Abu Huraira r.a said, اَمَارَنِي رَسُولُ اللهِ صَلَىٰ وَسَلَىٰ وَسَلَىٰ وَسَلَىٰ The Prophet ﷺ commanded me بِثَلَاثٍ He commanded me three وَنَهَانِي and he prohibited me from three. وَفِيهِ نَهَانِي عَنْ إِقَاعِي كَإِقَاعِي الْكَلْبِ And from what he prohibited me from was to squat like a dog. Al-Imam Ahmad narrated this in his Musnad and Ibn Majah on the authority of Ali ibn Abi Talib.
Also not to imitate the camel. Al-Imam Ahmad and Abu Dawood al-Nasai narrated it. And Hafidh ibn Hajar in his Kitab al-Ulugh al-Maramd He said أَخْرَجَهُ الثَّلَاثَةَ That the famous hadith Abu Huraira narrated إِذَا سَجَدْ أَحَدُكُمْ فَلَا يَبْرُكُ كَمَا يَبْرُكُ الْبَعِيرُ وَلِيَضَعْ يَدَيْهِ قَبْلَ رُكْبَتَيْهِ If a person wants to go down to sujood from coming up from the ruku' and they stood up They want to go to the sujood right? The Prophet ﷺ said Do not go down on your knees Don't go down like the camel sorry So what should you do وَلِيَضَعْ يَدَيْهِ Place your hands first قَبْلَ رُكْبَتَيْهِ Before your knees That last part of the hadith There's a long discussion regarding it Is it maqloob? Is it back and forth? And the scholar Ibn al-Qayyim has a view in his Zaj al-Ma'ad It's not for this podcast right now We're not going to discuss it Even though I'm not of the view of Ibn al-Qayyim I don't think he's He got the correct view in this issue Also the third thing that we're prohibited specifically from the animals is the ghurab We're prohibited from the crow for example Packing like a crow The Prophet ﷺ In the hadith of Ahmad and Abu Dawud and Nasa' and Ibn Majah narrated in Darimi In the hadith of Abdullah ibn Shiblin He said نَهَا رَسُولُ اللهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم عَن نَقْرَةِ الْغُرَابِ The Prophet ﷺ prohibited us from the packing like a crow Also the packing of the deek as well The Prophet ﷺ prohibited us from it وَنَهَانِ عَن نَقْرَةِ كَنَقْرَةِ الدِّيكِ Ahmad narrated in his Muslim In the hadith of Abu Hurayra Also we're not allowed to be like the fox for example Looking around and stuff like that Whilst in the prayer Abu Hurayra narrated that وَنَهَانِ وَالْتِفَاتِ كَالْتِفَاتِ الثَّعْلَبِ Ahmad narrated in his Muslim This is the first type which is the animals The second type is Men imitating women and women imitating men You know the famous hadith Ahmad narrated in Hakim and Abu Dawood in Tirmidhi and Darimi The hadith of Abu Hurayra لَعَنَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ ﷺ الرَّجُلَ The Prophet cursed a man يَلْبَسُ لِبْسَةَ الْمَرْأَةِ He wears the clothing of the women وَالْمَرْأَةَ تَلْبَسُ لِبْسَةَ الْرَجُلِ And a woman who wears the clothing of men عَبْدِ اللَّهِ مِّنْ عَبَاسَ رَضِيَ اللَّهِ عَنَهُمَا Also narrated he said لَعَنَ النَّبِيُّ ﷺ المُخَنِّثِينَ The Prophet cursed the مُخَنِّثِينَ مِنَ الرِّجَالِ وَالْمُتَرَجِّلَاتِ Men who dress like women Who act like women And women who act like men The Prophet ﷺ said أَخْرِجُوهُمْ مِنْ بُيُوتُكُمْ Take these people out of your houses قَالَ فَأَخْرَجَ النَّبِيُّ ﷺ فُلَانًا وَأَخْرَجَ عُمَرُهُ فُلَانًا Ahmad narrated this So men are not allowed to imitate women And women are not allowed to imitate men Also Ahmad narrated in Tabarani عَبْدِ اللَّهِ مِنْ عُمَرٍ رَضِيَ اللَّهُ تَعَالَى عَنَهُمَا He said سَمِعْتُ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ ﷺ يَقُولُ I heard the Prophet ﷺ saying لَيْسَ مِنَّا مَنْ تَشَبَّهْ بِالْرِّجَالِ He is not from amongst us The one who imitates men Sorry the men that imitate لَيْسَ مِنَّا مَنْ تَشَبَّهْ بِالْرِّجَالِ مِنَ النِّسَاءِ The men that imitate women وَلَا مَنْ تَشَبَّهْ بِالنِّسَاءِ مِنَ الرِّجَالِ And the women that imitate men The third prohibited one is Shaytan Allah says إِنَّ الشَّيْطَانَ لَكُمْ عَدُوٌ فَاتَّقِذُوا عَدُوًا إِنَّمَا يَذْعُرُ حِزْبَهُ لِيَكُونُ مِنْ أَسْحَابِ السَّعِيرِ We were told to take Shaytan as an enemy We can't resemble, we can't want to be like him Allah also said قَالَ فَبِمَا أَغْوَيْتَنِي لَأَقْعُدَنَّ لَهُمْ سِرَاطَكَ الْمُسْتَقِيمُ ثُمَّ لَأَتِيَنَّهُ مِنْ بَيْنِ أَيْدِيهِمْ وَمِنْ خَلْفِيهِمْ وَعَنْ أَيْمَانِهُمْ وَعَنْ شَمَائِرِهِمْ وَلَتَجِدُ أَكْثَرَهُمْ شَاكِرِينَ وَلَتَجِدُ أَكْثَرَهُمْ شَاكِرِينَ Shaytan made a promise, he said قَالَ فَبِمَا أَغْوَيْتَنِي لَأَقْعُدَنَّ لَهُمْ سِرَاطَكَ الْمُسْتَقِيمُ I'm gonna sit in front of them in the Siratul Mustaqim ثُمَّ لَأَتِيَنَّهُ مِنْ بَيْنِ أَيْدِيهِمْ وَمِنْ خَلْفِيهِمْ وَعَنْ أَيْمَانِهُمْ I'm gonna come to them from all directions وَلَتَجِدُ أَكْثَرَهُمْ شَاكِرِينَ and the majority of them, you're not gonna find them thankful Allah says in another ayah وَلَأُذِلَّنَّهُمْ وَلَأُمَنِّيَنَّهُمْ وَلَآمُرَنَّهُمْ فَلَيُبَتِّكُنَّ آذَانَ الْأَنْعَامِ وَلَآمُرَنَّهُمْ فَلَيُغَيِّرُنَّ خَلْقَ اللَّهِ وَمَنْ يَتَّخِذِ الشَّيْطَانَ وَلِيًّا مِنْ دُونِ اللَّهِ فَقَدْ خَسِرَهُ سَرَانًا مُبِينًا يَعِدُهُمْ وَيُمَنِّيهُمْ وَمَا يَعِدُهُمُ الشَّيْطَانُ إِلَّا غُرُورًا and he wants to misguide them give them false delusions Allah mentions subhanahu wa ta'ala and then after that Allah says وَمَنْ يَتَّخِذِ الشَّيْطَانَ وَلِيًّا مِنْ دُونِ اللَّهِ anyone who takes shaitan as an ally from Allah فَقَدْ خَسِرَهُ سَرَانًا مُبِينًا before that Allah says فَلَيُغَيِّرُنَّ خَلْقَ اللَّهِ he will try to make you change the way Allah created you which we will speak about later he takes methods also there is something that I generally see in circles of knowledge that people generally tend to do which is that when they come into circle of knowledge as they sit down and they're listening they all scatter around they don't come together united the Prophet ﷺ told us in a hadith narrated by Abu Dawood and Ibn al-Habban and Ibn al-Bayhaqi and Isnad al-Muttasim al-Sahih and Inshallah Ta'ala from the hadith of Ta'alabah al-Khushani that the Prophet ﷺ came to the companions and each one went under a tree because these people were looking for shades I don't understand why people do it in masjids but sahabas did it because of shades whenever they see a shade they will sit there another one sees a shade over there he will sit there so the Prophet ﷺ said to them إِنَّ تَفَرُّقَكُمْ فِي هَٰذِهِ الشِعَابِ وَالأَوْدِيَةِ you disperse like this and scattered all over the place in this valley the Prophet ﷺ said إِنَّمَا ذَلِكُمْ مِنَ الشَّيْطَانِ this is only from Shaytan the sahabas رضي الله عنهم the narrator mentions فَلَمْ يَزَلْ بَعْدَ ذَلِكَ after that day when the Prophet ﷺ said that the sahabas they became all together رضي الله تعالى عنهم they all came together and the narrator went and he said لو بُسِطَ عَلَيْهِمْ if a garment was spread out and it was thrown over them it will take them all that's how tightly closed they were so if someone might be doing that and not knowing that they're actually imitating the Shaytan if someone has like a health issue and they need to sit by a wall is that okay for them to do? yeah definitely there's another thing that's commonly done by people as well which is imitating Shaytan as well which is a hadith Abu Hurairah narrated رضي الله تعالى عنهم مرفوعا حديث فقهاني صحيح مسلم the Prophet ﷺ said المؤمن القوي خير أحب إلى الله من المؤمن الضعيف that the strong believer is more beloved to Allah than the weak one then the Prophet ﷺ said وَفِي كُلٍّ خَيْر all of them inshallah have good in them then the Prophet ﷺ said a powerful statement which I say that if you are looking for the benefit personal development this is it it's just in this one sentence احرِسْ عَلَى مَا يَنفَعُكَ وَاسْتَعِينْ بِاللَّهِ وَلَا تَعَجَزْ strive to what will benefit you rely on Allah ﷻ and don't give up then the Prophet ﷺ said the powerful point that I want from it وَإِنْ أَصَابَكَ شَيْءٌ فَلَا تَقُلْ إِفَمَاتَ كَلَامَةِ بِفُولْزْ يُوْ فَلَا تَقُلْ don't say لو أني فعلت كذا كان كذا وكذا if I was to do this, this, this it would have been this وَلَكِنْ سَيْ قَدَّلَ اللَّهُ Allah has destined وَمَا شَاءَ فَعَلْ just say whenever something befalls you a calamity, something happens to you just say قَدَّلَ اللَّهُ وَمَا شَاءَ فَعَلْ whenever Allah willed happen then the Prophet ﷺ said فَإِنَّ لَوْ if you say if تَفْتَحُ عَمَلَ الشَّيْطَانِ this opens the doors of Shaytan which a lot of people do they're emitting the Shaytan by doing that also the Prophet ﷺ told us to eat he said إِذَا أَكَلْ أَحَدُكُمْ فَلْيَأْكُلْ بِيَمِينِ if you're going to eat with your right وَإِذَا شَرِبَ فَلْيَشْرَبْ بِيَمِينِ if you're going to drink, drink with your right فَإِنَّ الشَّيْطَانَ يَأْكُلُ بِشِمَالِ وَيَشْرَبُ بِشِمَالِ because Shaytan eats with his left and he drinks with his left a Muslim narrated this in Misahih okay so as for the hadith that people mentioned أَلْأَنَاتُ مِنَ اللَّهِ وَالْعَجَلَةُ مِنَ الشَّيْطَانِ like diligence is from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and hastiness is from Shaytan then this hadith that Imam al-Tirmidhi narrated and it's weak because of the narrator in there عَبْدُ المُهَيْمَنِ بِالْعَبَسِ it's weak, Tirmidhi he said many scholars have spoken about him and Imam al-Bukhari said مُنْكَرُ الْحَدِيثَ الْنَسَائِسَ لَيْسَ بِالْتِقَاتِ اِنْدَارَ قُطْنِ حَافِظَ مِنَ الْحَجَّرِ he said ضَيْف يعني being calm is from Allah and hastiness is from Shaytan the meaning might be right but to attribute it to the Prophet ﷺ is wrong the last example hadith I want to mention regarding imitating Shaytan I think this is very important for me is the hadith of مُطَرِّفِ مِنْ عَبْدِ اللَّهِ الشَّخِيرِ he said قَالَ أَبِي مِنْ شَخِيرٍ انطَلَقْتُ في وَفْتِ بَنِ عَامِرٍ I went out in a delegation of Bani Amirin to the Prophet ﷺ فَقُلْنَا we said we went with this delegation to the Prophet ﷺ and we said أَنتَ سَيُّدُنَا you are our Master or Prophet of Allah أَنتَ سَيُّدُنَا you are our Master فَقَالَ أَبِي مِنْ شَخِيرٍ the Prophet ﷺ said السَّيِّدُ اللَّهِ the Master is Allah فَقُلْنَا then we said وَأَفْضَلُنَا فَضْلًا you are the most virtuous one amongst us وَأَعْظَمُنَا طَوْلًا you have the highest and greatest position of the Messenger of Allah then the Prophet ﷺ said قُولُوا بِقَوْلِكُمْ or بَعْضِ قَوْلِكُمْ وَلَا يَسْتَجْرِيَنَّكُمُ الشَّيْطَانِ the Prophet ﷺ said some of that which he was saying or the speech that you were saying before say that وَلَا يَسْتَجْرِيَنَّكُمُ الشَّيْطَانِ and do not let Shaitan slip you and Imam Abu Dawood narrated this and it's now Inshallah it's Mutasinun all of the Rijalah are Inshallah Ta'ala Siqat as Imam Abu Dawood himself mentioned so this is the Tashabbuh of Shaitan then the last one is تَشَبُّوا بِالْكُفَّارِ imitate inna which is really what our podcast is going to be this is what our podcast is this is the fourth one which is a prohibited one and this is from the Tashabbuh which is Mamnoor it's prohibited there are many ayahs that have come regarding it there's many Ahadith that have come regarding it Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala He says in the Quran وَالَّذِينَ آتَيْنَاهُمُ الْكِتَابَ يَفْرَحُونَ بِمَا أُنزِلَ إِلَيْكَ قُلْ إِنَّمَا أُمِرْتُ أَنْ أَعْبُدَ اللَّهَ وَلَا أُشْرِكَ بِهِ إِلَيْهِ أَدْعُوا وَإِلَيْهِ مَآبُ وَكَذَلِكَ أَنْزَلَهُ حُكْمًا عَرَبِيًّا وَلَئِنِ اتَّبَعْتَ أَهْوَاءَهُمْ بَعْدَ مَا جَاءَكَ مِنَ الْعِلْمِ مَا لَكَ مِنَ اللَّهِ مِنْ وَلِيٍّ وَلَا وَاقَى The last part of the ayah is what concerns me, which is وَلَئِنِ اتَّبَعْتَ أَهْوَاءَهُمْ Muhammad, if you follow these people's path بَعْدَ مَا جَاءَكَ مِنَ الْعِلْمِ after knowledge has come to you, which is the revelation مَا لَكَ مِنَ اللَّهِ مِنْ وَلِيٍّ وَلَا وَاقَى you are not going to get any support or aid from anyone Allah says وَلَقَدْ آتَيْنَا بَنِي سَرَائِيلَ الْكِتَابُ وَالْحُكْمُ وَالنُّبُوَّةِ وَرَزَقْنَاهُمْ مِنَ الْطَيِّبَاتِ وَفَضَّلْنَاهُمْ عَلَى الْعَالَمِينَ وَآتَيْنَاهُمْ بَيِّنَاتِ مِنَ الْأَمْرِ فَمَا اخْتَلَفُوا إِلَّا مِن بَعْدِ مَا جَاءَهُمُ الْعِلْمُ بَغْيًا بَيْنَهُمْ إِنَّ رَبَّكَ يَقْضِي بَيْنَهُمْ يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ فِي مَا كَانُوا فِيهِ يَخْتَلِفُونَ ثُمَّ جَعَلْنَاكَ عَلَى شَرِيعَةِ مِنَ الْأَمْرِ فَاتَّبِعْهَا وَلَا تَتَّبِعْ أَهْوَاءَ الَّذِينَ لَا يَعْلَمُونَ that part where Allah says ثُمَّ جَعَلْنَاكَ عَلَى شَرِيعَةِ مِنَ الْأَمْرِ فَاتَّبِعْهَا وَلَا تَتَّبِعْ أَهْوَاءَ الَّذِينَ لَا يَعْلَمُونَ وَلَا تَتَّبِعْ أَهْوَاءَ الَّذِينَ لَا يَعْلَمُونَ and before that Allah mentions وَلْغَدَاتِنَا بَنِ إِسْرَائِيلَ الْكِتَابَ وَالْحُكْمَ وَالنُّبُوَّةَ We gave them all of that وَرَزَقَنَاهُ مِنَ الطَّيِّبَةِ We gave them so many things But Allah is telling Muhammad We've placed you upon a legislation You have a path Also Allah says in another ayah أَلَمْ يَأْنِ لِلَّذِينَ آمَنُوا أَن تَخْشَعَ قُلُوبُهُمْ لِذِكْرِ اللَّهِ وَمَا نَزَلَ مِنَ الْحَقِّ وَلَا يَكُونُوا كَالَّذِينَ أُوتُوا الْكِتَابَ مِنْ قَبْلُهُ فَطَالَ عَلَيْهِمُ الْأَمْدُ فَقَصَتْ قُلُوبُهُمْ وَكَثِيرٌ مِّنْهُمْ فَاسِغُونَ Here Allah mentions وَلَا يَكُونُوا كَالَّذِينَ أُوتُوا الْكِتَابَ Do not be like the people of the scripture before you Don't be like them Allah is telling the Prophet ﷺ Allah says to the Prophet ﷺ companions He says يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا لا تَقُولُوا رَاعِنَا Don't use this word راعِنَا وَقُولُوا إِنظُرْنَا Say look وَاسْمَعُوا أَنْ لِسْنَ وَلِلْكَافِرِينَ عَذَابٌ أَلِيمٌ Hafidh Mahajer mentions رحمه الله تعالى He says نهى الله تعالى المؤمنين أن يتشبه بالكفار في مقالهم وفعالهم وذلك أن اليهود كانوا يعانون من الكلام ما فيه تورية لما يقصدونه من التنقص عليهم لعين الله فإذا أرادوا أن يقولوا لَنَا قَالُوا رَاعِنَا The Prophet Ibn Hajar Ibn Kathir رحمه الله Mentions that Allah prohibited the believers to imitate the disbelievers in their statements and in their actions because the Jews they used to use words where they sometimes play with it They would say to the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم رَاعِنَا And their intent is يَرُونَا بِالرُعُيَّة They refer to رُعونَة They're using the word رُعونَة That's the word that they intend which is to belittle the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم and put him down So the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم after they would come and they would use that word the Sahabas were told don't use it because they're using it and they're trying to belittle the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم Just stay away from them Allah also says وَلَن تَرْضَ عَنكَ الْيَهُودُ وَلَا النَّصَارَ حَتَّى تَتَّبِعَ مِلَّتَهُمْ قُلْ إِنَّ هُدَى اللَّهِ هُوَ لَهُدَى وَلَإِنِ اتَّبَعَتَ أَهْوَاهُمْ بَعْدَ الَّذِي جَاءَكَ مِنَ الْعِلْمِ مَا لَكَ مِنَ اللَّهِ مِنْ وَلِيٍّ وَلَا نَصِيرٍ Allah says if you follow I mean first of all the Christians the Jews will never be pleased with you until you follow their religion and then Allah تبارك وتعالى said to Muhammad قُلْ Say to them that verily the guidance from Allah تبارك وتعالى is the true guidance and if you follow their whims and desires after the truth has come to you after knowledge has come to you after revelation has come to you then know that you have no one to give you victory and aid you Allah says وَلَا تَكُونُكَ الَّذِينَ تَفَرَّقُوا أَخْتَلَفُوا مِنْ بَعْدِ مَا جَاءُهُمُ الْبَيِّنَاتِ وَأُولَٰئِكَ لَهُمْ عَذَابٌ عَظِيمٌ Do not be like the disbelievers who disagreed had discord and differences amongst themselves Also Allah says وَمَن يُشَاقِقَ الرَّسُولِ مِنْ بَعْدِ مَا تَبَيَّنَ لَهُ لُدَى وَيَتَّبِعِ غَيْرَ السَّبِيلِ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ نُوَلِّهِ مَا تَوَلَّى وَنُصْلِهِ جَهْنَمًا وَسَاءَتُ مَصِيرًا Follows a path other than the path of the believers and takes a path of the disbelievers Finally Allah says وَأَنزَلْنَا إِلَيْكَ الْكِتَابَ بِالْحَقِّ مُصَدِّقًا لِمَا بَيْنَ يَدَيْهِ مِنَ الْكِتَابِ وَمُهَيْمِنًا عَلَيْهِ فَحْكُمْ بَيْنَهُمْ بِمَا أَنزَلَ اللَّهُ وَلَا تَتَّبِعَ أَهْوَاءَهُمْ عَمَّا جَاءَكَ مِنَ الْحَقِّ لِكُلِّنْ جَعَلْنَا مِنْكُمْ شِرْعَةً وَمِنْ هَاجَةً وَلَوْ شَاءَ اللَّهُ لَجَمَعَكُمْ وَلَوْ شَاءَ اللَّهُ لَجَعَلَكُمْ أُمَّةً وَاحِدَةً وَلَكِنْ لِيَبَلُوَكُمْ فِي مَا آتَاكُمْ يعني الله تبارك وتعالى He says محمد ولا تتبع أهواءهم don't follow these people's whims and desires then Allah says لِكُلِّنْ جَعَلْنَا مِنْكُمْ شِرْعَةً وَمِنْ هَاجَةً all of you have made you upon a legislation they were upon a legislation and you are upon a legislation and this concept all prophets took it نوح عليه السلام he said to his people إِذْ قَالَ لِقَوْمِ يَا قَوْمِ إِنْ كَانَ كَبُرْ عَلَيْكُمْ مَقَامٍ وَتَذْكِرِ بِأَيَاتِ اللَّهِ فَعَلَ اللَّهِ تَوَكَلْتُ فَأَجْمِعُوا أَمْرَكُمْ فَأَجْمِعُوا أَمْرَكُمْ وَشُرَكَاكُمْ ثُمَّ لَا يَكُنْ أَمْرُكُمْ غُمَّةً ثُمَّ قُضُوا إِلَيَّ وَلَا تُنظِرُونَ He reminded them of Allah He reminded them of Allah They wouldn't listen And then he said to them إِنْ كَانَ كَبُرْ عَلَيْكُمْ مَقَامٍ وَتَذْكِرِ بِأَيَاتِ اللَّهِ Me speaking to you about Allah Me reminding you about Allah If that's something you cannot tolerate Then he said to them Do the following thing My advice to you is ثُمَّ لَا يَكُنْ أَمْرُكُمْ غُمَّةً ثُمَّ قُضُوا إِلَيَّ وَلَا تُنظِرُونَ He said Come together all of you guys Plot against me and plan against me Do what you guys feel necessary My plan is with Allah I rely on Him Ibrahim said to his people وَإِذْ قَالَ إِبْرَاهِمُ لِأَبِيهِ وَقَوْمِهِ إِنَّنِي بَرَاءٌ مِّمَّا تَعْبُدُونَ I'm free from you And I have nothing to do with you Last point Which is Imitating the non-Muslims Staying away from imitating the non-Muslims Is a مقسل من مقاسل الشريعة It's an objective of our religion As you can see the hadith صحيح مسلم من حديث أنس من المالك ما يريد هذا الرجل أن يدع من أمرنا شيء إلا خالفنا فيه That this man Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم There is not a matter out there Except that he wants to oppose us in it You can see that this was the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم It's a مقسل من مقاسل الشريعة و لذلك when the scholars they talk about مقاسل الشريعة They first of all start the introduction by talking about How do you recognize طرق معرفة مقاسل الشريعة How do you know this is مقاسل الشريعة Then they speak about الأسس التي تقوم عليها مقاسل الشريعة The foundations in which مقاسل الشريعة stands on And then after that they mention four topics Which is part of what مقاسل الشريعة is They speak about المقصد الأعظم of the شريعة Which is تحقيق عبودية لله تحقيق عبودية لله Establishing عبودية, servitude for Allah تبارك وتعالى And then they go to the second type of مقصد Which is المقصد الكلي الكبير للشريعة Which is بتحصيل المصالح وتكميلها وتعطيل المفسد وتقليلها That Islam comes to bring about good and increase it Or it comes to repel harm or even lessen it If you can't remove it fully it lessens it And then the scholars talk about المقاصد العامة للشريعة Which is حياة القلوب واطمئنانها بالإيمان والعمل الصالح And things like that And in there they speak about مخالفة الكفار وعدم التشبه بهم And that's what Ibn Taymiyyah did in his كتاب اختضاع الصراط المستقيم He mentions from the مقاصد العامة للشريعة Is مخالفة الكفار وعدم التشبه بهم From the مقاصد الخاصة which is the fourth of the scholars talk about Of the شريعة is issues which are specific And then they mention خاتمة which is قواعد الصحيحة To act upon مقاصد الشريعة Okay, so I want to summarize just kind of what you said for the people And please do correct me if I get anything wrong So you said that imitation can be divided into two types They can be the permissible imitation And they can be the خرام or the impermissible imitation And out of that impermissible imitation You've broken it down into four categories And there's imitating the animals Men imitating women or women imitating men Imitating Shaytan And then the final one which is really what we're really going to be discussing In a lot of detail on this podcast Is imitating the non-Muslims And you brought many ayaat and ahadith to prove your claims And the final point you mentioned was that This issue of imitating the non-Muslims Is such an important issue in our religion That it's actually one of the objectives that the شريعة came to achieve Okay, I want to pick up on something you said You said before you started that You said, I came up with four If anybody out there can think of any more They can add it on What gives you the right to distinguish This is permissible, this is impermissible This is allowed, this is not allowed Is this just from yourself? No التشبه which is not allowed Is already mentioned and it's stated And it's unanimously agreed upon Which is, the شبه of the non-Muslims That is not allowed is مختصوا به That which they are uniquely known for Okay So, the شريعة prohibits us to imitate the non-Muslims In that which they are known اختصوا به They are uniquely, it's uniquely theirs For example, the priest, what he wears The clothing he wears That's clearly an act of worship Are we just talking about acts of worship? It can even be عدات if you want It can be norms If it gets known by a group of people That they wear it It's not necessarily an act of worship But they are known to wear it What's the proof of that? Why are you bringing that into it? I understand acts of worship I think most Muslims will But why are you bringing norms Even if they are just unique to them? So, first of all I need to distinguish one thing Which is, the going against the non-Muslims Is in two ways And it will all become clear The going against the non-Muslims Happens in two ways The first one is We actually oppose them in the action itself Like for example, celebrating Christmas For example Or celebrating New Years This action, in and within itself We don't act, we don't follow the means That's it We don't imitate them We can't do it because they No, this is one We're going to talk about that later on The second type is No We do it But we differ with them In the way we do it في وصفه In the way that it's being done So it's مخالفة في أصل الفعلي Or في وصفه As Ibn Taymiyyah stated An example of the وصف Is for example Fasting in general As you know, fasting in general Is something legislated for us And it's also legislated for them Allah mentions in the Quran يَا أَيُّ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا كُتِبَ عَلَيْكُمُ الصِّيَامُ كَمَا كُتِبَ عَلَيْ الَّذِينَ مِن قَبْلِكُمْ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَتَّقُونَ So How do we go against them And how do we distinguish Us from ourselves What we do is We do something That makes us different from them The Prophet told us He said فَصْلُ مَا بَيْنَنَا مَا فَصْلُ مَا بَيْنَا الصِّيَامِنَا وَالصِّيَامِ أَهْلِ الْكِتَابِ أَكْلَةُ الصَّحْرِ Imam Muslim narrated this The way to distinguish our fasting From their fasting Is the way we do it We do what's known as Suhur They don't have that So the Prophet ﷺ That's what he would do عليه الصلاة والسلام As you know We fast On that day The Prophet ﷺ He said Let's do it on the 9th Because they do it the 10th Let's add the 9th on it So this is مُخَالَفَةُ فِي وَصْفِهِ We We Go against them In the In the Description And the form In which it's done لكن Not في أصل الفعل It's legislated in our religion Now Shaykh Al-Islam Taimur Mentioned something very powerful He said أَنَّ الْمُشَارَكَةِ فِي الْهَدْيِ الظَّاهِرِ Imitating the non-Muslims From the outer appearance تُورِثُ تَنَاسُبًا وَتَشَاكُونَ بَيْنَ الْمُتَشَابِهِينَ What it does is that It makes these two people Become one يَقُودُ إِلَى الْمُوَافَقَةِ فِي الْأَخْلَاقِ وَالْأَعْمَالِ وَهَذَا أَمْرٌ مَحْسُوسٌ If someone starts to copy someone In the way that they look And everything You start acting like that person And he said This is something that's known Out of reality For example He gave Ibn Taymiyyah gave an example That everyone can relate to He said فَإِنَّ اللَّابِسَ لِثِيَابِ أَهْلِ الْعِلْمِ If someone wears the clothing Of the people of knowledge يَجِدُ مِن نَفْسِهِ نَوْعًا مِن نَوْعًا إِنضِمَابِ إِلَيْهِ He feels that he's part of a group He's part of the scholarly circle That's what he starts to think وَاللَّابِسُ لِثِيَابِ الْجَنْدِي The one who's wearing the clothing Of the jundi An army man المقاتلة مثلا يَجِدُ مِن نَفْسِهِ نَوْعًا تَخَلُّقِ بِأَخْلَاقِهِمْ And he's fighting against Which is that This imitating of the non-Muslims What would he do? It would lead us to It would lead us to Loving them مُوَالَتْ And this is something In the sharia As you know The ayats that have come regarding it And the Prophet ﷺ He would make sure He taught his companions The outer appearance Has a very powerful effect The Prophet ﷺ Said to his companions لَا يَغْلِبَنَّكُمُ الْأَعْرَابُ عَلَىٰ اسْمِ صَلَاتِكُمْ فَإِنَّا فِي كِتَابِ اللَّهِ الْعِشَاءُ فَإِنَّا تُعْتِمُوا بِحَلَابِ الْإِبَلِ The hadith of the Prophet ﷺ He said Don't let the Bedouin people Overcome you By changing the name of your prayer The Prophet ﷺ said And don't imitate them So what I'm trying to say to you Is that we have to understand That the تشبه المباح The تشبه which is allowed Is number one أَلَّا يَكُونَ هَذَا الْأَمْرُ مِن تَقَالِيدِهِمْ This is not from Their عَدَات And their symbols That they are distinct and unique Number one Not religious symbols You're just talking about their customs Even their customs And their تقاليد And their customs I'm talking about their customs Number two is أَلَّا يَكُونَ هَذَا الْأَمْرُ مِن تَقَالِيدِهِمْ It also can't be a matter of their legislation Okay Which has been mentioned That it's from their شرع And it's stated You have evidence to prove That this is from their legislation And a reliable source you have it from Either Allah mentions it Or the Prophet ﷺ mentions it Or there is a متواتر That this is their legislation Like for example The prostration of greeting It's called سجدة التحية Previous nations As you can see from the Qur'an فَقَرُّوا لَهُ سُجَّدًا Nabi Allah Yusuf عليه السلام They all fell into prostration for him This سجدة التحية Which is جائز في الأمم السابقة The early nations You find that it's permissible Adam عليه السلام Prostration was done for him They were prostrated for him This is something that is in their legislation Allowed But in our legislation لا The Prophet ﷺ said لو كنت آمراً أحداً And يسجد لأحد And if I was to command someone To prostrate for someone لأمرت المرأة أن تسجد لزوجها لأرض من حق عليها Or كما قال عليه السلام I would have commanded the woman To prostrate for her husband Because of the rights that he has upon her But no one is allowed to prostrate for anybody The Prophet ﷺ Also the third one is ألا يكون في شرعنا بيان خاص ولذلك If we have a specific ruling in this matter Then we don't definitely go to them We definitely don't take anything from them Makes sense Number four The fourth point is ألا تؤدي هذه الموافقة إلى مقارفة أمر من أمور الشريعة The following of them Should not lead any harm Or any problem To a legislation within our religion Number five is ألا تكون الموافقة في عيادهم We can't follow them in their celebrations Because of the statement of the Prophet ﷺ When he came to the city of Medina And they told him about their celebrations And then he said to them Allah has exchanged for you All of the celebrations into these two The Prophet ﷺ I want to go into that No problem And the sixth one is أن تكون الموافقة بحسب الحاجة المطلوبة Also if there has to be followed in Then it has to be As we're going to mention later Inshallah Ta'ala It has to be in issues Which there is a need for us to follow in it And we should also increase in that I'm not going to deny here And I'm not going to sit here and say You know what The Prophet ﷺ didn't follow in the non-Muslims In anything We find that he followed them In matters of the world Worldly issues For example issues of battles Do you know the term الخندق It's actually not an Arab word It's actually a Persian word Comes from the word كندة كندة And it came from سلمان الفارسي In the battle of The battle of خندق That سلمان الفارسي رضي الله تعالى عنه أهل السير mentioned it The people of Syria They mentioned that سلمان الفارسي يا رسول الله إنا كنا بفارس When we were in Persia فارس إذا حصرنا If we were sieged خندقنا We placed a يعني a trench علينا Around ourselves This was not known by the Arabs Arabs did not know it The Prophet ﷺ He said okay that's good Let's take that on Not only that They took the term as well So the term is also not Arabic And also this concept Was also not Arabic Also the concept of Using نعش Above the janazah of the woman For example Placing the Not grabbing the woman When they are carrying her body And placing her in a نعش And Imam Al-Tabarani mentions in his author من طريق خالد ابن راشد Abu Uthman He said And narrated from Dawood Ibn Abi Hindin Who narrated from Shaabi That Asmaa bint Umaysin She said أن ابنة لرسول الله ﷺ A daughter of the Prophet ﷺ Which is Ruqayya توفيت She died وكان يحملون الرجال والنساء على الأسرة سواء The men and women were carrying her فقلت يا رسول الله Oh Messenger of Allah إني كنت بأرض الحبشة So she said يا رسول الله I was in the land of the Abyssinians I was in أرض الحبشة وهم نصارى أهل الكتاب They are Christians People of the scripture هم يجعلون للمرأة نعش And they place A na'sh for the woman A coffin فوق أضلاع Above her أضلاع Her bones يقرهون أن يوصف شيء من خلقها They are scared that the woman's physique And her body might show أفأجعل Shall I not make it لابنتك نعشا مثله Can I not make a na'sh For your daughter like that The Prophet ﷺ said اجعليه Make it فهي أول من جعل نعشا في الإسلام She was the first person To make it in Islam So yes I'm not going to sit here and say We have the example The concept of تاريخ التدوين التدوين الدووين Which today is like the government's Electronic directory service For example Where all the people in that country's data Is collected in there Ibn Sa'd mentions in his طبقات That عمر رضي الله عنه استشار المسلمين في تدوين الديوان As you know Muslims were spreading the world Conquering one land after another So عمر رضي الله عنه Sat with them And he asked them What do we do with this directory service The government needs to have a directory service Where we collect all data of the people So علي بن أبي طالب He said تقصب كل سنة مجتمع إليك من مال I have an idea Ali said Ali said My idea is all of the wealth that you have Spurce it Give it all out ولا تمسك منه شهر Don't hold on to anything Don't let anything stay In the Baytul Mal Muslimin Everything spread it out عثمار رضي الله عنه He said أرى مالا كثيرا I see that wealth is too much يسع الناس It's enough for the people وإن لم يحصوا حتى تعرف من أخذ مما لم يأخذ عثمار رضي الله عنه He said I see that this wealth is too much وإن لم يحصوا Even if it's not restricted We need to know who took it And who didn't take it There has to be خشيت أن ينتشر الأمر الوليد من هشام ابن المغيرة He said يا أمير المؤمنين قد جئت الشام I came from Sham فرأيت ملوكها I saw its kings قد دونوا ديوانا وجندوا جنودا I've seen that the Sham's leaders and its kings They have the government's directory service And their polices are registered Their people are registered Everything عثمار رضي الله عنه Then said فأخذ به He said Good Even history Do you know that right? تاريخ In Islam حافظ محمد Mentioned in فتح الباري That history تاريخ Of Islam We don't have a time We have هجرية Right now هجرية Is what? It's after the Prophet Migrated to Medina Why is it starting from there Not from Mecca time? Why is it not starting From the Prophet's birth عليه السلام Where did this even come from The issue of تاريخ ابن سيرين Mentioned قدم رجل من اليمن A man came from Yemen فقال رأيت باليمن شيئا يسمونه تاريخ I went to Yemen And I've seen them Do something known as تاريخ يكتبونه من عام كده وشهر كده They have a يعني A diary Where they write Inside there This year This thing happened This month This happened And it's called history He said فقال عمرو هذا حسن فاريخ This is good They write the history So These are non-Muslims That are being It's being taken from One last final point I want to add on To prove that The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم Followed the أهل الجاهلية In some issues Which he affirmed صلى الله عليه وسلم From those things Is a مسألة That the وصوليين And the فقهة Especially the فقهة Speak about Known as القسامة القسامة Is A person is being killed A person is being murdered And There's no Conclusive evidence To point Towards Who the Perpetrator Of this Crime is They don't have enough evidence For example Little kids are saying We saw him doing it But in Islamic court Little kids are not You know A testimony Or the blood of the The The The The The The Person is on This Accused There's some Stains of blood on him That's also not Conclusive evidence in Islam All of these are not Conclusive There's no There's no There's no witnesses So the family Who lost Their loved one They have a high Speculation That this Particular person Did it to them So there's this Concept Al-Qasama That existed Before Islam Imam Muslim Narrated it In his Sahih And also Nasa'i Narrated it All of them Narrated it By Ibn Wahb He said He said He said He said He said He said He said He said He said He said He said He said He said He said He said He said He said He said He said He said He said He said He said He said He said He said He said He said He said على شخص معين it has to be a specific person because of the hadith that Imam Muslim narrated in his sahih Where he said يقسم خمسين منكم على رجل منهم فيدفعوا برمته So the 50 people from this side have to swear upon a particular person It can be even a particular group of people, but they have to name the people that they believe committed the crime also the Awliya Have to all agree, Awliya in Dawah, they all have to agree on this issue Last but not least there has to be وجود اللوث And the issue of لوث means there's a dispute, there's two قولs what لوث means Some of the Ulema they say the لوث means العداوة والظاهرة There has to be Animosity between the killed one and the one that they are accusing of killing But the strongest opinion is that the لوث means مارجح جانب المدعي في دعواه And that's the قول الرواية عن ابن محمد and also Ibn Taymiyyah chose which is that there are sides That actually point out that this person is the one who committed it So it's not just mere claim لذلك ابن حجر brought إجماعة In this ma'atah he said اتفق كلهم على أنها لا تجيب القسامة لمجرد دعاوة الأولياء حتى يقترن بها شبهة يغلب الظن الحكم بها So this concept of القسامة is one of those things the Prophet affirmed قرر القسامة على ما كانت عليه في الجاهلية It's something that the Prophet took from the pre-Islamic جاهلية And he affirmed it So I'm not denying there are things within our religion that were taken from the pre-Islamic جاهلية They were taken from them But they were modified They were corrected But not everything was taken from them So I'm going to go into celebrations and clothing in a lot more detail later on in the podcast Like you mentioned before But I just want to understand something here Because I'm struggling to get my head around this I think everyone from the Muslims would agree that we can't follow the non-Muslims in their religious things Whether that be their celebrations Whether that be their clothing Specific to their religion like the priest collar that we discussed earlier But you also said that we can't follow them in other things that are non-religious matters And then you came up with lots and lots and lots of examples of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم And his companions Following the non-Muslims in other things other than their religious matters So give me something tangible Give me a principle How can someone at home distinguish I can follow them in this but I can't follow them in that And I'm talking about custom Not talking about acts of worship But I can follow them in this and I can't follow them in that Give me a principle Okay When it comes to the previous nations There are things that are legislated in their religion And it's also sometimes legislated in our religion So they've been Given a command in this issue And so have we Allah says in the Quran For those of you who believe Fasting has been prescribed onto you As it has been prescribed on those who came before you So now we're going to do this Am I unanimously agreeing upon that? We're doing it mainly because it's Mentioned in our religion But we also clearly know that they did it as well The second one is There isn't A sahih Evidence to point out that they They did it, we don't have it from the Prophet clearly and categorically We also don't have it They didn't do what sorry? That this action is something that is part of their religion Okay, you've moved on from fasting, you're talking about general principles Yeah, so the first point was Something that is clearly and categorically Mentioned in their religion And it's also mentioned in our religion To affirm it, we'll do that one But the second one is It's not authentically transmitted From their religion That they did it It's transmitted here or there Or even say There is an authentic evidence To prove that it's a legislation for them But there is also A clear cut evidence in our religion That abrogates it And it is, our religion is saying it This one Whether of those two situations it is We don't give it any consideration Because Allah Ta'ala he told us That It was removed from us In other words, our religion Is to abrogate all of those And it's abrogated, it's sorted now The third thing is There is a dispute amongst the ulema In this whole issue Something is authentically mentioned in the Quran And it's also mentioned in the Sunnah That it's something they practice Okay, even if it has been transmitted to us Through a khabar ahad for example It doesn't matter But we don't have Something in our religion That affirms it Or proves it, we don't have it Also we don't have We don't have something that's nullifying it Or abrogating it, we don't have Majority of the scholars Are of the opinion That this type It's a hujjah There is a large amount of scholars They say the legislation that came before us In this Is hujjah We can act upon it That's a lot of scholars Or the majority I could say Ibn Taymiyyah mentions it Al-Futuhi mentions it Amin al-Shankirti also mentions it Lakin When we look at the Quran and the Sunnah From my humble research The zahir that is apparent Is that the Quran says no In this one This is Madhab al-Imam al-Shafi'i And also the call of Ibn Hazm Which is Allah says in the ayah We've all made you upon a legislation Also the prophet What did he say I was given five I've been given five No prophet before me was given And from those The prophet said A prophet was sent to his people specifically And I was sent to all people Then that prophet's legislation Is restricted to his people These are things that are not Necessarily clearly ordered I'm talking about things that are not Necessarily clearly ordered in the Quran and Sunnah I'm talking about matters of legislation In the religion Five things the prophet said Is being given to me And it hasn't been given to them And from those things He said A prophet will be sent to his people specifically And I was sent to all mankind Bukhari and Muslim both narrated that So this shows that our Sharia The Sharia of Muhammad It's not upon us To have to follow their legislation Ibn Hazm really Argued strongly on this issue In his Kitab In the second volume and also in his Nubad Page 91 I've got a hadith that might say something different Hadith from Sahih Bukhari The prophet used to love The people of the book In matters that were not ordered So this hadith is saying That the prophet used to love He used to love agreeing With the people of the book In matters where there is not a clear command For example Allah is not clearly commanding us to be different From them He actually used to follow the legislation That goes exactly against what you're saying right now This hadith narrated in Sahih Muslim That the prophet that the Prophet used to love to agree with the people of the scripture in a matter in which he wasn't commanded to do something for example, istighbar bayt al maqdisah for example, some scholars mention that and also agreeing with the yahood in fasting on the day of ashura Shaykh al Islam ibn Taymiyyah responded to this in three ways the first one is the matters which the Prophet agreed with them was at the beginning that was the early stages of islam, then it got abrogated and it was then legislated for him and he was rather commanded to not follow them because if you look at the same hadith itself that you mentioned in it is that the Prophet let his hair down in agreement to them after that what did he do? he then divided himself Imam Muslim narrated that in sahih the Prophet changed the following of them at the beginning of islam so that's an issue that I want you to understand it's not always the case as for the Prophet agreeing with the yahood of the day of ashura no, the Prophet actually used to fast before he migrated to Medina on that specific day? yeah he used to fast Aisha r.a mentioned the day of ashura Quraysh used to fast before islam and the Prophet used to fast it in Jahiliyya when he came to Medina he fasted it and he commanded the people to fast it when Ramadan was ordered or commanded the Prophet left ashura Imam Al-Bukhari narrated it Ibn Abi Shayban narrated it which is authentic which explains my point very much the Prophet said fast the day of ashura the Prophet said fast the day of ashura for verily it was a day that the Prophets used to fast so ashura the Prophet fasted it not in agreement with the Jews but rather when he did it it was in agreement with the Prophets at the end of the hadith the Prophet mentioned it we are more rightful we are more closer to Musa than you guys I want to rephrase the question I asked because I'm not talking about religious things I'm not talking about things in the deen of Islam I'm not talking about fasting for example I'm talking about things from the dunya which we know that the asal is permissible things that are from the dunya you said that we can't copy and let's not just say Jews and Christians let's bring it to the modern day context we can't copy the non-Muslims in things that are from the dunya and then you went on to bring loads of hadith and narrations for example Amr ibn al-Khattab bringing governmental systems that he saw from the non-Muslims at that time help someone at home understand they've seized practices from the non-Muslims are they allowed to copy them? how can they determine what they can copy them in and what they can't? I mentioned it to you, if this issue has become something they're known for it it became a symbol they're known for that they become distinct for but what do you mean by that? when you see that you're going to be like if I wore it for example the priest doesn't wear it because of religious reasons that's part of their religion to wear that that's why we say the priest wears it I'll give you an example when I wear the imamah today and I wear the bisht on top of it what do you think of me straight away? like a scholar this matter is not halal or haram, I'm not talking about that it's uniquely known for the ulama to wear it that's my point I might not be good with examples by the way there's an important point I think it's a fact that many of us have to know is that examples, sometimes people use it to repel a principle what do you mean? for example, a principle has been mentioned it's been elaborated or evidence has been brought for it and then someone comes and tries to push that principle based on an example here or there the poet sahib al maraqi said you can't repel a principle just because of an example I'm just giving you the example just so you understand the principle my example might not even be the most accurate one the idea is just to get the understanding close to you ok then people reject the example because it doesn't quite fit and as a result they go on to reject the principle let's just talk about the principle then you just said your principle is things that are uniquely to them what does that mean exactly? does that mean only they're doing it for example? for example, when you look at trousers do you think that's uniquely for the non-muslims? it's not just muslims are doing it it's not known for anybody it's something fine I want to look at someone wearing trousers and you want to look at someone wearing trousers but that's only become like that because the muslims took it on let me break down the issue of trousers I don't really know the full history behind trousers but let's say for example the non-muslims invented trousers it's not the fact that they invented it that's fine but so far we're allowed to follow them the fact that they invented it is not an issue they've invented trousers but my point is now that the people who are wearing trousers at that time John, Matthew, Luke, Brian these are all non-muslims Abdullah comes along now and at that moment in time only the non-muslims are wearing trousers it's only now because muslims took it on that we say trousers are not known for a particular kind of people everybody wears trousers but muslims took it on when it was actually only for the non-muslims no no no no you'd have to prove that if we say anything that the non-muslims invented at one moment in time no muslim had it because they invented it you have to prove that they invented it ok let's just say internet let's just say cars or the internet or anything like that there is something in the dunya that only the non-muslims invented let's just say cars for example the concept of inventing and the concept of them being known phrase two different things ok so define what is known being known we have to act upon the urf the urf is the custom and the norms of the people these are some issues we have to look at the urf, the custom and the norms of the people for example the shawakamis you guys wear right did i pronounce it correctly men and women both wear it right is it something known for the men not for the women no they both wear it so now nobody can come and bring the hadith of men imitating women but was there a point where it was just known for men it could change over time ok but at that point when men wore it and then the women started wearing it they did something wrong right do you see my point the people that did it are going to be sinners no doubt but those who come 100 years later we judge things based on how they are regardless of what happens yeah it doesn't matter anything that is by the way we are talking about worldly matters these are conditions in worldly matters matters of the world this cannot be these customs and symbols they are distinct and unique the second condition i mentioned it can't be from their religion this can't be a matter of their religion which we agree the third one is there can't be a specific ruling for us in this issue that repels what they are upon number four is for example us following them in this issue cannot lead to abandoning a rule from the sharia exactly fifth one we cannot agree with them in their celebrations the sixth and final point is it has to all be in line with the needs so even then when it comes to worldly issues we shouldn't try to overly do it if there is no need for it because even then we still want to have our unique things even though it is something no problem but we also still want to establish our independence as muslims and our unique existence so even that though trousers and jeans no one can make it haram but it is good to avoid it i think most of the people watching will probably agree with many of the conditions we can't follow them in matters of their religion we can't follow them if it goes against our religion but i really want to pinpoint on this thing about matters related to the dunya and i know at the end you said even then it is better to avoid but you did say it is mubakh what is the point of even discussing this someone might look at something and say i believe that is uniquely for the non muslims another person might look at the same thing and be like no i don't really think it is and therefore this is just an ishtihadi issue why are we even talking about it why not focus on just the religious bits and let the dunya just do what you want this goes back to an issue i mentioned before it goes back to the custom and the urf and the urf is not determined by one person's feeling custom is determined by what the community sees if i walked in today if a non muslim came walking to you right now with a bisht and iqal what would you say to him he never said anything to you just by seeing him i remember one time it was halloween they knocked on my door and one of them was wearing that as a costume and i said assalamu alaikum he said he is a muslim i said oh i am not a muslim the point i am trying to come to is that clothing that is unique for a people makes people start to believe you are part of those people you are one of them if i was wearing soldiers clothes if i was wearing police officer clothes it is illegal to wear police officers clothes why are you not allowed to someone is going to think you are a police officer and it is illegal you can be arrested for it the concept of your outer appearance and the way that you dress if it is in line with the non muslims but there is no tamayyus they are not uniquely known for the non muslims inshallah it is fine muslims can wear that non muslims and this can change from time and place lets go on to we have already discussed clothing i have got some very specific questions i know these are examples feel free to say what you want about that is there anything wrong with wearing a suit i don't believe it is specific to the non muslims again my humble research i don't see how that is unique for the non muslims muslims can wear it i am not saying it is haram i call it monkey suits you can wear it if you want to you can dress yourself in that way there is nothing haram about it as long as your aura is not showing your physique is not appearing no problem it is fine you said men are not allowed to wear clothing that imitates women women are known to wear dresses you are wearing a dress that is not known there is a type of clothing a type of it is known for women and the other type is not known for women explain it a bit more the clothing that is known by for example when you see a meniscus that is what women wear but then you see a scottish man you wouldn't think this is a female this is what they wear but if they go outside their land this is considered to be what? it is considered to be a women's clothing so if you saw a brother walking in front of you and he was wearing a thobe would you think he is imitating women? no but if he goes out of his land and goes to the UK are you saying he shouldn't wear a thobe based on your example? no it is not because it is something the prophet wore it is sanctioned by the prophet this concept of can you or can't you is generally used for something the prophet never wore like jeans or things like that for example if you wear jeans in one particular land it is not haram again is it sanctioned or is it just a culture for example did the prophet wear anything different to Abu Jahl or Abu Lahab? of course not they just wear the same clothes it is not sanctioned as part of a religion it was their culture in the UK it is very much known for women that is why when you go to a land and their clothing is not wrong it is fine to wear their clothing as long as you cover the whole land if I go to Indonesia I wear their clothes if I go to India for example I wear the Indian clothes if I go to Africa I dress the way the Africans dress that is fine there is nothing wrong with that for example when I went to India I wore the Indian clothes if I go somewhere in West Africa one of the first things I would ask is can you guys give me your clothing it is fine there is nothing wrong with it it is actually nice that you integrate with the society and you look like them it is fine as long as their clothing is not haram what I mean is that are they known for this clothing it is a different discussion if it is something they are distinguished by it is a problem what if someone sees something that the non-Muslims are known for and he finds it very beautiful for example and he tries to bring in the hadith Allah is beautiful and loves beauty and he says for this reason for example I want to wear the clothes of the non-Muslims that is the hadith it is placing the hadith in the wrong place Allah is beautiful and he loves beauty the hadith is like that those are general evidences someone could say Allah is beautiful and he loves beauty and a sister says I am going to wear a miniskirt it is beautiful people like it and she can use that hadith in the wrong place we have to understand the hadith in its context the shariah is there to allow us the Quran and sunnah are there to govern us to control us to tell us what and where we can do things take all the evidences together don't just take one random hadith last question on clothing wearing things like football kits you see Muslim children wearing it it has become a culture the concept of football football is a discussion it requires itself a discussion let's suspend that it is not just wearing clothes there is a concept of allegiance here there is a concept of love and hate if you wear that t-shirt but you go on the wrong side of the bench you are wearing a Chelsea t-shirt it is a game you accidentally sit down with the Manchester crowd you are in big trouble they will beat you up the point is that the clothing of football is another discussion a follow up question on football but it might be easier to answer because it doesn't require a big discussion what about people that are specific to religious symbols what if someone is wearing a football kit that has a cross on the badge that is even worse than just wearing the clothing it is levels I told you before the non-Muslims are known to do it we go against them in its asal we go against them in the description in the way that we do it we have mukhalafatul asli and mukhalafatul wasli in opposition to the asal of this thing I gave the example of Christmas or New Years this is bad it is sanctioned in our religion but we have to disagree with them in the way that we do it which is wasf fasting is something that is sanctioned it is legislated for both of us but we come here and we go against them because of the suhoor this one, if you don't do the suhoor and then you just fast it is less than the one that the asal we don't even do and even worse than that is issues which are kufriyat there is an extensive hadith that the Prophet came from specifically the issue of imitating them in issues which are kufr so there is a hadith he narrated it where the Prophet said I was sent out with the sword just before the hour until Allah is worshipped and he is not associated with partners the Prophet said my provision has been placed under my spear the Prophet's provision he took his rizq from the spoils of war he wasn't taking it from any other means then he said humility humility and the word as-sagaru he says as-sagaru means Allah humiliated them by them give them the jizya anyone who imitates a people he is from them this hadith really shows us anyone who imitates a people Ibn Abi Shaybah narrated it Ahmad narrated it Tahawi narrated it Abu Sa'id narrated it all the 6 great Imams narrated it Bukhari narrated it he narrated the last sentence which is and he mentions that last sentence Bukhari also narrated it Abu Dawood also narrated the last sentence the point is the hadith is sahih many great scholars have authenticated it Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah his hadith is very good Hafidh al-Iraqi who is the teacher of Ibn Hajar he said the chain is authentic Hafidh al-Iraqi said the chain is authentic and he also said that Ibn Hibban authenticated it he mentions that and there are 4 companions who narrated it Abdullah ibn Umar, Abu Hurairah, Anas ibn Malik and Hudayfah ibn Ulyaman all of them narrated it the Riwayah of Abu Hurairah is Mursal even though Hafidh al-Iraqi narrated it Anas ibn Malik is also weak because there is Bishr ibn Hussain Hudayfah ibn Ulyaman and Haitham except Ali ibn Ghurab so this hadith in it there is something I need to take from it which is anyone who imitates a people is from them and this is an Asl of this hadith this hadith is one of the most powerful points Sheikh of Islam Taimur says the bare minimum we can say about this part of the hadith the bare minimum we can say is the bare minimum is that it is haram for you to imitate the non-Muslims even though from the apparent how can you say that the bare minimum is that it is haram he mentions it after that he says even though from the apparent it does seem like it is leading towards that direction he brings an ayah to support it anyone who takes and disbelieves as his allies he is verily what? from them Sheikh of Islam Taimur then says he says this hadith is referring to the general imitation unrestrictedly this is the point I want from it powerful point if the person imitates the non-Muslims in a matter which is kufr then he takes the same ruling as him and that was the question you asked if he imitates them in an issue which is sin he imitates the non-Muslims by drinking alcohol if he imitates them in something good then he gets a reward something good that they did good matters you get rewarded for it if it is permissible always remember that issues which are good are always either directly or generally mentioned by our religion saying good to the people so a non-Muslim showed you how to do that you take it from him no problem in that you said earlier that obviously we can't copy them or follow them in things that are specific and known to them what if that thing that is specific and known to them is something permissible for example why are you saying that it's haram when this hadith would mean that it's permissible let's just say something is specific to them and the whole culture, everybody agrees it's specific to them this issue is specific to them but it's something permissible I'm not good at examples either if it's specific to them it can't be something permissible it's not part of their religion for example it can't be permissible it's a world issue that only they're known for let's just say it's really hard to find examples there is a non-example let's just say there's a particular field of study that only the non-Muslims go into a particular field of science I'm struggling to find an example because I can't think of anything that is specifically known to them apart from religious stuff you said that even from the dunya something specific to them give me an example, what is specifically known to them my question to you is that the priest what he wears, is that a religious thing what he puts on, the thing that the priest wears yeah, it must be because it's only the priest who wears it not the normal layman Christians I like to argue and say just because the priest wears it doesn't make it religious it's something, yes you're right it's known for the priest to wear it it's like the ulema what they wear in Saudi Arabia they're known to wear that type of clothing the bisht by the way, I remember I was in the haram one time I liked it and I thought about wearing it and then I wore it, I was in the Kaaba I had my thawb, I had my bisht, I had everything I liked the culture and I wanted to dress like that so a person pulled me over, because you know in the haram there's people who answer questions and they generally wear those clothings so a few people came running to me and asked me, we have a question, can you answer this question what's the ruling in this issue, I did tawaf and I left this and I left that and I started to realise, oh it's a bit serious I'm calling for something I'm asking for people to come and ask me questions but no one would say that this clothing that the ulema are wearing or the Saudi scholars wear no one would say that it's a religious thing it's just become known to be their clothing so anything I bring to you, if it's uniquely known by the Christians it's a religious issue, that's who you're going to flip it to difference between Christians and priests if it was uniquely known to the Christians then I would say it's probably a religious thing hence that's why it does become something they consider it I don't think the clothing he wears is a legislation from their religion I don't know by the way I'm just speaking from the top of my mind if anybody knows other than that they can bring it to our attention but the point I'm trying to say is that what really concerns me personally is not the example what concerns me more is the principle because when the example comes to me, wherever it comes to me from if after this podcast I come to know about an example I would bring it back to this general principle so what about the first part of the hadith because it's quite controversial the Prophet s.a.w. is saying that he's been sent to kill people until they believe in la ilaha illallah so your concern is the first part of the hadith the Prophet s.a.w. as you know he went through stages in his life a.s. there was the first part which was Mecca and there was a part where he was in Medina the Madani part is different to the Meccan part and the Madani part was that the Prophet s.a.w. had strength and he had power and he had ability now he was able to defend himself he was not only able to defend himself but he was able to spread his message and so when he came to Medina the stage that he was at when he mentioned this hadith was the stage where he could spread Islam and if the person didn't want to take Islam they had another choice which was there was an amount of money that they had to pay and I don't think anybody in his right mind would argue that that is injust a sensible person I'm talking about right now if you wanted to be in a certain country for example you would have to pay tax in that country the tax makes you eligible for many things you get pension from it when you grow older your tax gets turned into pension benefits come from it so this non-Muslim the jizya he pays is for his protection he's taken care of he was told to take Islam and he wouldn't have to pay that if he chooses otherwise he pays jizya and I think we're probably going to have another podcast on that where we dissect that a bit more but the reason why I ask the question is why then aren't you consistent in this hadith and the last part of the hadith why can't you say that if the Muslims are in a land where Islam is prevalent it's a Muslim country for example then I agree with you he shouldn't imitate the non-Muslims but if he's in the UK where he's weaker now and it's a different kind of period it's a different context then why can't he imitate the non-Muslims then and be consistent with the first part of the hadith because there's two masalah you're talking about it's been brought together here just because something has been brought together doesn't mean that both of these issues talk about the same point it doesn't necessarily mean the case it's a sentence by itself independent from the previous sentence it stands by itself as a sentence this is talking about the concept of jihad and we know as Shaykh al-Islam ibn Taymiyyah mentioned that the ayats that came down in Mecca and Allah says that once it was said to them hold back your hands hold back your hands, establish the prayer give the zakat, don't fight that was what was said in Mecca turn away from the ignorant ones don't fight back that was what was said in Mecca and then when Medina came Allah says that was the second stage where they were told to defend themselves so what we need to do is all of those verses Shaykh al-Islam ibn Taymiyyah says it revolves around the reality of the Muslims when the Muslims are weak, they are incompetent they don't have the strength they don't have the physical strength and they don't have the spiritual strength they go back to the ayats that came down in Mecca which is hold back your hands pray the salah, establish the zakat command the good, turn away from the ignorant people just mind your own business now but when you get strength of course you go back you go to those verses that came down okay let's talk about celebrations now which is the next part of this podcast that I want to dissect so obviously the first one that we should be mentioning I suppose because of the relevance for this particular week that this episode is going out on is Christmas many Muslims will argue the fact that Christmas is no longer a religious celebration it's actually a commercial celebration Muslims are living in the West for example and it's really just something fun for the kids there's no real religious connotation left anymore on that basis are they allowed to celebrate Christmas? Christmas was never a religious celebration it's not part of Christianity it was introduced by the the church fathers they introduced the celebration it has nothing to do with Christianity as a religion and it falls under what they innovated so it was never a religious thing atheists celebrated but it's something distinctly known for them it is something which is uniquely known for them and the Prophet peace be upon him he told us in a hadith this hadith is mutawatir Imam al-Bukhari narrated it in his sahih in two places the first one he narrated it in and also Imam Muslim narrated it in the chapter that Nawawi gave it and Imam Muslim also narrated it in his sahih all of them narrated it this hadith has come it's mutawatir it's multitude narration Amir al-San'ani mentions that it's mutawatir the Prophet peace be upon him he said there's two ways of saying it you can say by the way it was that's how it used to be was put into it so it was the original was was a word was put into it which is to emphasize on it which takes the place of and then the has a what? has a sukoon on it then the noon which has a shedda on it what's gonna happen it's two noons right? so the first noon has a sukoon and the second noon has a fatha happened here the wa was dropped out of the word both ways it can be said so this word the Prophet is swearing by Allah you will follow Ibn Hajar and Nawawi they chose the best pronunciation to be it can also be is what they chose strengthen that view as well which means span by span and cubit by cubit the Prophet peace be upon him he mentions and this is from the miracles of the Prophet peace be upon him which is you will follow them span by span cubit by cubit to the extent that if they enter the hole of a lizard the Prophet said you will follow them oh messenger of Allah also you can say the Prophet then said and who else the companions asked the Jews and the Christians and the Prophet said who else as if to say of course so this hadith shows the hadith was narrated by so there is no doubt about its authenticity but there is also Abu Huraira which Bukhari also narrated separately so I actually have the other word from Abu Huraira and it says and now this is something crucial because I've got a couple of questions on this it's a similar kind of hadith that it's talking about it goes on to say the same thing that you just said but crucially it says my question is that the Prophet peace be upon him is actually saying here that the whole of his Ummah are going to end up copying the previous nations how do you reconcile that with the fact that we also know from another hadith that there was always going to be a group from his Ummah that is upon the truth this hadith that you mentioned that Imam Bukhari alone narrated Muslim didn't narrate it with him the Prophet peace be upon him the Prophet then said this hadith by the way is authentic and it's sahih how do you reconcile that with the hadith of the Prophet peace be upon him where he said and the other wording where the Prophet said so the first one was the riwayah which was narrated by Bukhari and Muslim the Prophet said Muslim only narrated which is another wording 14 sahabas narrated this there's no contradiction that this means the majority of my Ummah the overwhelming majority of my Ummah are going to follow the non-Muslims if we have a general statement and we have a specific we have to try to reconcile it we have to always try to bring the two evidences together that we have to say Muslim narrated this two narrations is specific we have to try to bring it together the jama'ah is done in that way there's a second part of the hadith when you went on to narrate the full hadith of Abu Hurairah towards the end it actually says where the companions say do you mean the Persians and the Byzantines whereas in the first hadith you said the companions asked do you mean the Jews and the Christians how is that not a contradiction by the way this hadith has been narrated in three wordings one is the one we mentioned in the beginning which is the Christians and the Jews the second narration is and there's another one which Ibn Abbas narrated it may Allah be pleased with him and his father hadith Hakim narrated that in his mustadrak and also Sheikh Nasir authenticated it they have been agreed with it this one Ibn Abbas's one is general it's saying that You will follow the path of those who came before you.
It doesn't mention who. Fair enough. Then the one I mentioned, Hadith Abu Sa'id al-Khudriya, it mentions al-Yahudah wal-Nasara.
Correct, Jews and the Christians. And Jews and the Christians. And the third one is al-Rumu wal-Furth.
Yani, al-Rumu wal-Farith. Now, how do we reconcile between that? It's very simple. There are some explanations, Hafiz Mahajer mentions in Fath al-Bari that Karamani, what he said, Karamani is one of the Shurah al-Bukhari, what he mentioned, that this is an example, because the Hadith, what did he say? Karamani wal-Farith, sah? Yes.
What is the word in Hadith say for you? The Hadith of Abu Hayra. Kafaris wal-Rum. Kafaris wal-Rum, right? So the Kaf in there, what is what? Like, like.
Like. But what, I don't think that's convincing. Yeah.
The reason it's not convincing is because the Prophet at the end, what did he say? Wa min al-nasi illa ulayk. Yeah, correct, yeah. Who is the people except? Yeah.
The Prophet at the end, he said, wa min al-nasi illa ulayk. Wa min al-nasi illa ulayk. Wa min al-nasi illa ulayk.
Who are the people illa ulayk except these people? So it can't be tashbih or tamthil. So anyways, that which seems apparent when we're in the light is that this falls under what the Usuliyin call at-tanseesu ala ba'di al-afraadi bi-dhikri. At-tanseesu ala ba'di al-afraadi al-aami bi-dhikri.
If I say, for example, Muhammad, stand up. And I say, everybody stand up. Muhammad, stand up.
They don't contradict one another. It's because you narrow it down. The one we say, man kana qabalakum hadith bin Abbas, in general, and the hadith that mentions the Christians and the Jews and the Romans and the Persians, it's just, it's at-tanseesu ala ba'di al-afraadi al-aami bi-dhikri.
Sahih al-Muraqi, he says, wa da'da meera al-ba'di wal-asbaaba wa dhikra ma wafakahu min mufradi. And Allah used that a lot in the Quran. wal-mutalliqatu yatarabbasuna bi-anfusihna talatata quroo'in.
After that, Allah says, wa bu'ulatuhunna ahakubi raddihinna. Doesn't, Allah says, haafidhu ala as-salawati wa as-salati al-wustaa. Yeah.
Wa qumu lillahi qanitin. So it's common that the Quran does this kind of tariqa. So I think that's, inshallah ta'ala, a response.
It's not strong as well. It's not 100% sharp answer. Lakin, that which seems apparent, wal-'ilmu indallah.
So that's some of the technical aspects, the more technical aspects with the hadith. And it really shows the virtue and the benefit of getting detailed Arabic language, Arabic grammar, because it can really help you distinguish between some of these questions. However, I then want to go into the meaning of the hadith.
What exactly do you take from this? I think the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, mentioned to us, alayhi salatu wa sallam, that you will follow the nations before you, and the Christians and the Jews. You will follow them. Shibran bishibrin wa dhiraan bidhiraan hatta lau dakalu juhra dabbin lattaba'atumuhum.
You will follow them. Yeah. So it's basically a prophecy.
It doesn't say it's wrong to follow them. It doesn't say you shouldn't follow them. It's just a prophecy saying that this will happen.
Nothing wrong with it, right? Yeah, the Prophet told us, alayhi salatu wa sallam, this is gonna happen. This is gonna take place. There's no dispraising it.
It's not saying you shouldn't follow them. Would we agree? No, no, the hadith doesn't mention it, no. Okay, cool.
Okay. Okay, so we're going back to Christmas then. You said that- But there's something you're falling here into.
I'm wondering why you let me pass on so quickly. Yeah, yeah, there's a point you're falling into right now is that you're trying to take al-hukm ul-qawni, a universal ruling that the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, mentioned here, and you're trying to go against a legislated ruling. But not in this hadith, a legislated ruling elsewhere.
Yeah, yeah, so this is a universal ruling. Somebody might come and say, look, if the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, had told us, لَتَتَّبِعُنَّ سَنَنَ مَنْ كَانَ قَبْلَكُمْ شِبْرًا بِشِبْرٍ وَذِرَاعًا بِذِرْعَعٍ حَتَّى لَوَ دَخَلُوا دُحْرَ ضَبٍّ لَتَبَعْتُمُهُمْ أَمَنْ لَدَخَلْتُمُهُمْ From what you said, it can be sensed from it that you're saying that universally, this is going to happen. So why fight it? So why even argue about it? Why even, if Allah wants this to happen, in other words, He wants this.
What we say is this is something that, قبل الإسلام, from the time of the Prophet ﷺ, something that they did, they took the universal signs and they tried to use that to push away the legislated evidences. For example, the non-Muslims, they said, يَسَيْقُولُ الَّذِينَ أَشْرَكُوا لَوْ شَاءَ اللَّهُ مَا أَشْرَكْنَا وَلَا آبَاءُنَا وَلَا حَرَّمْنَا مِنْ دُونِهِ مِنْ شَيْءٍ They said, if Allah Ta'ala willed, we would not associate partners with Allah Ta'ala. We wouldn't, our forefathers wouldn't.
Allah wanted us to do this. He's pleased with us doing shirk. That's what they said.
Allah mentions also, وَإِذَا قِيلَ لَهُمْ أَنفِقُوا مِمَّا رَزَقَكُمُ اللَّهُ If they are told, give from what Allah gave you, سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَىٰ قَالَ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا The disbelievers, they say, قَالَ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا لِلَّذِينَ آمَنُوا أَنُطْعِمُوا مَنْ لَوْ يَشَاءُ اللَّهُ أَطْعَمَهُ Are we going to provide for people Allah chose them to be poor? Again, don't think to yourself that they didn't know that this is universal and this is legislated. They knew it. They were doing it out of stubbornness and arrogance and hard-headedness.
They even said, لَوْ شَاءَ اللَّهُ مَا عَبَدْنَا مِنْ دُونِهِ مِنْ شَيْءٍ If Allah Ta'ala did not will, we would not have worshipped anybody other than Him. We say that's Haqq, that's true. You're right.
Everything in this world happens بِمَ شِيءَةِ اللَّهِ تَبَارَكُ تَعَالَى Okay? All of it happens بِمَ شِيءَةِ اللَّهِ تَبَارَكُ تَعَالَى And Allah even mentions that, سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى He says, وَلَوْ شِئْنَا لَا آتِنَا كُلَّ نَفْسٍ هُدَاهَا If we willed, we would have given every soul His guidance. We believe that. But the question here is كَرِمَةُ حَقٍّ أُرِيدَ بِهَا بَاطِلٌ It's a statement which is true but it's intended for medieval.
Okay? Because we know Allah Ta'ala is not pleased with Kufr. Allah Ta'ala He says, وَلَا يَرْضَى لِعِبَادِهِ الْكُفْرُ Allah is not pleased سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى disbelief for His people in no way, shape or form. So we're not going to anyway accept a person to take a universal sign to kind of repel a Shari'i.
The Prophet is telling us here something that's going to happen which is not good. The Prophet ﷺ, he said to us in another hadith لا تقوم الساعة The hour will not strike صلى الله عليه وسلم حتى تضطرب until the legs of a woman, of the people of Daws goes to the Khalas, an idol that was worshipped at that time. Pay attention to this.
لا تقوم الساعة حتى تضطرب اليات بني دوس على ذي خلس The hour will not strike until a woman or the people will go to the idol of Dhi Khalas. Dhi Khalas is an idol that was worshipped, that was destroyed. Okay, this is going to happen.
People are going to revive this again. The point I'm trying to take from this is a universal sign. The Prophet said this is going to happen.
People are going to go back to عِبَادَةُ الْأَصْنَام Worshipping idols. Does that mean Allah is pleased with us worshipping idols? In no way, shape or form. So the Prophet prophesied it.
Okay, so going back to Christmas, you said Christmas is not a religious holiday for the Christians. And you said obviously it was never like that. And even now it's not like that.
Atheists will celebrate Christmas, etc. But you said we still, as Muslims, can't celebrate it. And the reason for that is because it is known for the non-Muslims.
And I would probably agree with that. But I would like to counter that and say that if with time, because you also said previously in the podcast that things can change over time, and they don't take the original ruling, they take the ruling as of that time and that society, if over time, which we've seen actually in the last 10, 15, 20 years, Muslims do start to embrace this holiday, then can we get to a stage where in maybe 100, 200 years time, it is no longer something that is unique to non-Muslims. It is shared and therefore we can celebrate Christmas as well.
Why? Because Eids are matters set on stone. What do you mean by Eids? Eid means celebration. Okay.
Celebrations and festivals for Muslims is set on stone. In other words, the Prophet ﷺ, when he came to the city of Medina, and he saw the companions, and they told him about their celebrations that they had, the Prophet ﷺ, he said to them, إِنَّ اللَّهَ أَبَدَّ لَكُمْ Allah has exchanged for you, سُبْحَانَهُ وَ تَعَالَى Allah has what? He's exchanged for you. Your celebrations, changed for you means, it's all of it, as Ibn Taymiyyah mentioned, that everything that you are currently celebrating, all of it has been eradicated.
And it has been changed with what? It's been changed with these Eids, Eid al-Adha and Eid al-Fitr. No problem. Also, Hold on, hold on.
Because I've got the hadith with me as well, and I'm not really sure what you're taking from that. When the Messenger of Allah ﷺ came to Medina, the people had two days on which they engaged in celebrations, for example. He asked, what are these two days? What is the significance? They said, we used to engage ourselves on them in the pre-Islamic period.
The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, Allah has substituted for them something better than them, the day of sacrifice and the day of breaking the fast. Inna Allaha qada abdalakum bihima khayran minhuma Okay, Jameel, no problem. My question is, where in this did you get the understanding that you then can't add on a third or a fourth? I'll give you a worldly example.
You have two throats for you, and I can see that they've got maybe a little bit worn out, and I say, I've replaced these two throats for you with something better. Does that mean that I've restricted you from going out to buy a third, or a fourth, or a fifth? Of course not. Nothing in my wording has restricted anything.
I just replaced it with two that are better. When the Shariah replaced it, it means we've abrogated everything else. From previous, correct.
I'm talking about new ones that come up. When I replace your throats, I've taken them away. I agree with you.
But I've not restricted you from going out to buy a third or a fourth. Why did the Shariah substitute their celebration to a new celebration? Because these celebrations, maybe they have shirk in them, maybe they've got kufr in them. The same thing, all the celebrations that Christmas has.
We just said it's not a religious celebration. Which one? Christianity. Sorry, Christmas is not a religious celebration.
You said that, not me. I'm not saying that it's not religious. I didn't say that.
I said it has shirk and wrong things in it. What shirk does Christmas have in it? They're glorifying Isaac and Mary. Okay, agreed.
What shirk does New Year have in it? What shirk does New Year have in it? Okay, but first we agree on Christmas. I agree with you on Christmas. Christmas is, by the way, when I said Christmas is not an act of, it's not an act of religious, it's not part of their religion in reality.
They do consider it to be part of their religion. They look at it as a religious festival. But the reality of the matter is, we will say they introduced this, they innovated it.
Arafat? Yeah, okay, I understand what you're saying. But still, we would stay clear of it because it is still associated with their religion, even though it wasn't part of their religion originally. It's something they did.
But I still want to go on things on New Year's, anniversary birthdays, for example. These are all permissible. And that hadith that you mentioned, to me, and we agreed that Asal of the Dunya is permissibility.
And that hadith that you mentioned has not restricted them. Issues of Eid celebrations are matters of religion. It's seen as a matter of religion.
Eid is an act of Ibad. Eid al-Fitr, Eid al-Adha. Yeah, totally, I agree with you.
No, Eid, the concept of Eid celebration in Islam is an act of a repetition of a year. You know the word Eid comes from the word Adha. Okay.
That keeps repeating. Islam is set for us. It's every celebration that was there.
By the way, when the Prophet was talking to Quraysh, he was also talking to everybody who was on the other side of the world. He's telling them, these are the only two that you guys have. And he's talking to anyone to come after.
You can't restrict. His statements are not only restricted to the people he's talking to. He's talking to everybody who comes later.
Yeah, and we agree with the statement that he replaced those two with two new ones. But nothing in the statement said that you can't. In other words, what he's saying to them is, the word is Sariha from the Prophet.
He's trying to say to them is, what was there has been removed. Correct. And now what has taken its place.
In other words, everything has been abrogated. Everything. Everything from before has been abrogated.
No problem, I'm with you. Yeah, been abrogated. One of the meanings that the word Naskh in Arabic language has, the word Mansukh.
What does that mean? Abrogated. From the wordings that it has inside it is Al-Badal. It's to change.
Substitute. Yeah, okay. Substitute.
That's the word that the Prophet used. He did, yeah. Which is that he substituted for them.
Yeah, everything from before. I'm with you. Not just before.
It's, لُؤُنذِرَكُمْ بِهِ وَمَن بَلَغْ The Aqa'id is general. It's for those to come as well. He's not.
In Arabic they say, إِيَاكَ وَأَعْنِي وَاسْتِمَعْيَا جَارَى He's talking to these people. He's talking to the companions that are sitting in front of him, and he's also discussing with those to come. To abrogate something by default, by the definition of the word, or to substitute, or to replace, however you want to term it, by default that is talking about something that already exists.
By the way, also the, yeah. It can't be talking about future things which don't exist yet. That's not abrogation.
That's not substitution. That's not replacement. The, it's not abrogation, you're right.
If it comes after, the person has to be in line with this. That's what he was meant to be with. He must have took something and added on to it.
Do you understand my point? Someone on the way had to add something on to celebration that the Prophet ﷺ never sanctioned in the first place. So what we know as Muslims is that we only have two celebrations. Shaykh Husam Timur, in his Kitab, اختضاء صراط المستقيم للمخالفة أصحاب الجحيم This is one of the points that he stuck on deeply and discussed it strongly.
رحمة الله و رحمة الواسعة So I can't recall it all, but he never brought it with me as well. But Shaykh Husam Timur has a nice Baht on this issue. Okay.
Okay. So what about the argument that this is talking about Islamic celebrations whereas going out for dinner on your birthday is nothing to do with Islam and it's not, in fact, let's get rid of that even and let's just say a non-recurring event. Let's just say, I graduated from university.
Can I go out and celebrate that graduation? Am I allowed to do that? The issue of birthday, remember, it's a reoccurring thing, so it's not going to happen once. It's not a reoccurring event. As for other than one or something happened good in your life and you want to celebrate it, it's not Eid.
That doesn't take the term Eid. It just takes a hafla. We give it other namings.
Eid is something that keeps reoccurring. For example, your son finished the Qur'an and you celebrate it and it's when the Malik used to do that, رضي الله تعالى عنه Does that make sense? But a reoccurring, yearly thing that the person keeps doing, it falls under the hadith that I was just going to mention before. The hadith of Ibn al-Bukhari narrated in Sahih in the Bab of من طلب دم مرئ بغير حق where the Prophet ﷺ رضي الله تعالى عنه أبغض الناس إلى الله ثلاثة The most hated people to Allah are three.
ملحد في الحرم The word الملحد in the Arabic language it means المائل عن الحق It's like the ayah وَمَن يُرِد بِإِلْحَادٍ بِظُلْمٍ نُذِقُهُ مِنْ عَذَابٍ أَلِيمٍ وَمَن يُرِد فِيهِ بِإِلْحَادٍ إلحاد means المائل عن الحق المائل عن القصد some scholars mentioned that as well. It's someone who is diverted from the truth. Okay? So the Prophet ﷺ mentioned in the hadith three are most hated to Allah تبارك وتعالى A person who wants to bring corruption and harm to the Haram.
The second one is مُبْتَغٍ فِي الْإِسْلَامِ سُنَّةِ الْجَاهِلِيَةِ which is the issue of bringing a pre-Islamic ignorance practice and that person tries to bring it into Islam that's what the person يَعَلِي مَن يُرِيدُ بَقَاءَ سِرَةِ الْجَاهِلِيَةِ someone who wants جَاهِلِيَة practices to remain within Islam Okay, but it's something very important you said مُبْتَغٍ فِي الْإِسْلَامِ So those, these people are a lot of people because remember, I told you already the concept of Eid is an Islamic practice The two Eids are 100% Islamic Eid is a religious practice What makes you think that? Like for example, you're talking about Eids outside of Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha How can you say it's Islamic? The Prophet ﷺ when he said that, oh Muslims every Eid, these are the only two that's been given to you guys In other words, you're only allowed these two Anyone who says I have a third one or message of Allah to add to or I've got a fourth one to add on to you have to bring evidences for that or else what you're doing is The Asal of the Dunya is Mubakhir We already decided, we already agreed that Eid is not issues of the Dunya That's what we already said, we took that out at the beginning of our conditions when we mentioned I said to you, the matters of the concepts of Eid are matters which are textually based They're not Ijtihad They're not independent reasoning There's no person looking into issue If you bring Eid, then it means you're bringing it into Islam, because it's a religious issue وَمُبْتَغِن فِي الْإِسْلَامِ سُنَّةَ الْجَاهِلِيَّةَ وَمُطَلِّبُ دَمٍ مْرِئٍ بِغَيْرِ حَقٍ لِيُهْرِيقَ دَمَةً وَمُطَلِّبُ دَمٍ مْرِئٍ بِغَيْرِ حَقٍ لِيُهْرِيقَ دَمَةً So you're saying people who celebrate their birthdays are from the most hated people to Allah? I know Okay, there's another And it's powerful because it's been mentioned under a person who wants to bring harm to the Kaaba You know, somebody who's trying to Some of the scholars, they said وَمَنْ فَعَلَ الْمَعْصِيَةِ وَهُوَ فِي الْحَرَمِ Someone who does sins in the Haram and doesn't observe the Hurma of the place that he's in then the ayah takes him وَمَنْ يُرِدِ فِيهِ بِالْحَادِ بِظُلْمٍ نُذِقُهُ مِنْ عَذَابٍ أَلِيمٍ So within this principle obviously comes anniversaries Anything that reoccurs on an annual basis or not just an annual, it could reoccur every six months or something like that What if someone says, I work in an office and every Wednesday, every first Wednesday of the month we go out for dinner celebrations, that comes into this hadith now? Repeat that again I work in an office, and just as a team building kind of thing, we say first Wednesday of every month, we go out for dinner as a celebration So it's not restricted to a particular date Yes, it is, it's a first Wednesday of every single month It's difficult, isn't it? No, it's not difficult, it's actually not difficult I'm just saying that I don't see that as to be an Eid But why can you say that and not say that about anniversaries? Eid, I'll tell you what it is An anniversary, you can bring an example I'll put another example here I'm just trying to show you there are differences as well that you need to observe Anniversaries, for example, is a particular date not day, date there is a particular date on the 27th of February that's Muhammad OK? The second one is a person has a birthday the 1st of January is the day I was born because a lot of Somalis are born on the 1st of January The 1st of January, for example you're celebrating on the 1st of January that date it reoccurs Christmas is on the 25th of December stuck to that date Eid al-Fitr, Eid al-Adha is stuck to a date on a particular date In the Islamic calendar Now, pay attention here But me celebrating the finishing of the Qur'an is not a particular date It can happen any time, I don't have control over that But I say to my team in the office on the 4th of every month the 4th of November, 4th of December, 4th of January Yeah, that's problematic You're making it very difficult on the people We're not allowed to see In Islam celebrations by the way that particular surah I need to really think deep about it But I'm saying it's different from my heart That particular example I need to look into and think about it But the point I'm trying to focus on right now and I really want to keep my focus on and not get distracted by is that which we're seeing people do I was born in this day, so I want to celebrate it No, it's not allowed There's one other doubt and question that people bring about this particular hadith and that is that this is talking about a communal celebration and it clearly says كنا نلعبوا We used to play it on these particular days The Prophet ﷺ replaced it with two These are communal As in the whole of the Muslims celebrate the two Eids A birthday is not a communal celebration It's just me and my family Me and my wife's anniversary That's a community though Me and my wife's anniversary This is not something that is for the whole Muslims We're not legislating across the whole Muslims Who said that from the early scholars of Islam? Anyone can say what they want Anybody who says something But the Asr is Mubahhar Why are you bringing it into this? No, I just said to you Eid, no Eid I said to you, no Celebrations, no Islam sets it on stone Okay, that covers New Year Valentine's Day, birthdays, anniversaries etc The next thing I want to move on to is haircuts Another controversial topic that many say Are we allowed to imitate a non-Muslim's haircut? For example, a football player He has a particular kind of haircut, looks good I want to do the same You see, the Prophet He observed the outer appearance Our outer appearance in Islam Don't you think to yourself that the Prophet never made sure he looked at his Sahabas Not just the Can I just even go to the women and then come back to the men as well However you want to do it I want to show this is both sides Humayd ibn Abd al-Rahman ibn Awf He said, I heard Muawiyah ibn Abi Sufyan May Allah be pleased with him and his father The year of Hajj Muawiyah ibn Abi Sufyan He went on the pulpit He went onto the pulpit And he started to talk And what he did was Muawiyah ibn Abi Sufyan He took a portion of hair It was in the hand of a guard It was in the hand of one of the guards He said, give it to me And he said, O people of Medina Muawiyah ibn Abi Sufyan He said, O people of Medina Where are your scholars? I heard the Prophet ﷺ saying I heard the Prophet ﷺ saying Banu Isra'ila were destroyed Banu Isra'ila were destroyed When their women took these fake hairs When their women took these fake hairs Imam Ahmad narrated this Bukhari Bukhari Bukhari Bukhari ... ... The second one Ahmad narrated Bukhari ... ... ... This hadith shows us that women are not allowed ... He said So that is for the women As for the men He said ... I came to Anas Ibn Malikin and he said I came to Anas Ibn Malikin and he said my sister Mughira told me she said either let your whole entire hair go or cut it all don't leave some and let some go because he said this is the dressing of the Jews Abu Dawood narrated this in his Sunan rahimahu allahu ta'ala, rahmatan wasi'a. So, and the hadith is hasanun, inshallah ta'ala there are some narrators in there whose khifat ad-dabt in ba'da al-rurwat, like in the hadith has al-shahid, by the hadith of Imam Ahmad al-Bukhari, and Muslim Abu Dawood, and Ibn Majah al-Nasai narrated, which is, naha rasulullahi sallallahu alayhi wa sallam al-qaza'a. That the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam had prohibited us from qaza'a.
And qaza'a means, somebody shaves part of the hair, and he leaves the other part of the hair. Okay, so if you see a haircut, for example, that is specific to the non-Muslims, we shouldn't be doing it. But if it's a haircut like we discussed earlier, that is used by Muslims, non-Muslims, whatever, it's just a style, as long as it doesn't have that qaza'a, then it's okay.
Okay, the next thing I want to go into is, obviously, me and you both born and raised in the UK, we know the situation in the UK, we know the crimes committed in the UK, we know that much of this is related to the gang culture, and with that, there is a particular way that people speak, known as slang, for example. Is it wrong for Muslims to talk using slang? Oh, definitely, of course, it's not just... But it's not specific to the non-Muslims, this is something that Muslims and the non-Muslims do. No, slang is not just seen as non-Muslims, it's also seen as the fusa'a, and the mujrimin, you're following a particular type of people, criminals and drug dealers and thugs, those are the type of people you're following.
Even an educated person, before even a Muslim, an educated person will look down at you when you start speaking in that way. You see, the fact that you speak in that certain way, they will look down at you because you're putting yourself down and low. So la shakka wa la rayb, it falls under the bad akhlaq that a person shouldn't have, and this is tashabbuh, also for the fusa'a, you can't do that, you can't imitate fasiqs, people who are criminals and thugs, imitating them, you're not allowed to do it.
So when the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, said, wa man tashabbaha bi qawmin fahuwa minhum, the qawm is not just Jews, Christians, these big groups, because he also said Persians and Byzantines, which obviously brings it down to a smaller level. So even, for example, we see that there's a particular way of talking amongst the gangsters, or let's just say the hip-hop, the musicians, the artists, the rap artists, even that is not allowed. That person, the same person who speaks slang, when he goes for a job or an interview or he goes places, he throws that all out of the window and he speaks with a standard language, he uses a standard language.
So, by the way, many people use slang, slang is not just attached to blacks or it's not just attached to Somalis or it's not attached to just Asians or whites. It's something all of the drug dealers, criminals do, whether it be white, black, Somalis, all of them, they're all in there. They're all in there.
They use that language, that's the language they use. As a person who's tahir, who's clean, who's cleansed, who's, that's not what you wanna, you don't wanna speak like those people, how the drug dealers talk to each other when they're selling drugs to each other. You don't wanna adopt that.
Look, Shaykh, we have the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam right now in the world, before I mention the hadith, right now in the world that we're in, is a person shaving his beard and grooming himself, is that something seen, like respectful, like nice? Shaving their beard and grooming themselves. Yeah, it's seen as something clean, shave your beard. That's right, right? The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam prohibited us from imitating them in that, which they consider to be beauty, and mashallah, sharp, and you look mashallah, tidy, and you look in shape, and everything looks good, everything looks right, you're ready for the job, you look ready.
Ma'a dhalika, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam say to the Prophet's sahabas, he said, khalifu al-mushrikeena waffiru al-liha wa ahfu al-shawariba, ibn Umar radiyallahu anhu, only when he would go Hajj or Umrah, he would take from his liha a portion of it. So what did the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam say in English? He said, khalifu al-mushrikeena, go against the mushriks. And do what? Waffiru al-liha, let your beards grow.
Wa ahfu al-shawariba, and shorten your moustache. Could that hadith not be turned around on you right now in the 21st century, where we see actually the Jews, for example, they also have long beards, as do the Sikhs. So should we not start shaving our beards to be opposite from them? Remember what I said at the beginning? We might sometimes agree with them in the asl al-hukmi, but then we will go against them in the wasfi, in the description.
So the Jews, they don't, yeah, the Jews don't let their moustache grow. So they let their moustache grow. We trim ours.
We shorten our moustache. We trim it. And the Sikhs also let theirs grow as well.
Yeah, so we do. So it's like fasting ashura, where you take it on, but you change it by adding an extra thing. You change some attributes, which you have to, by the way, covering, women covering up, also the orthodox Jews, they do that as well.
They do that. So we're not gonna leave it for them. We're not gonna leave that for them.
So this hadith, by the way, is sahih. Imam al-Bukhari narrated it in Kitab al-Libas. Muslim also narrated it in Kitab al-Tahara, by Haqqin Sunan al-Kubra, min tariqi Yazid ibn al-Zurai'in.
So it's authentic. Ahmad also narrated it as well now. Is there not a hadith in Sahih al-Bukhari that talks about the Prophet, salallahu alayhi wasalam, talking to an Ethiopian girl in her own language? You aware of this hadith? The Prophet, salallahu alayhi wasalam, spoke to who? An Ethiopian girl in her own language.
I don't remember that. Okay. I think some people use this to show that there's nothing wrong with talking in slang, for example, because you're talking to the people in a way, and it's a principle as well, right? You can talk to the people in a way that they understand.
So most of the people understand slang, especially people of a certain age. What's wrong with just using that kind of language around them? I haven't come across the hadith, but let's say for argument's sake that he did. Does that mean he spoke to her in slang? Not in slang, but the shahid from the hadith is that he spoke to her in her language, which she understood.
And the kids on the street, they do understand slang much better. They're accustomed to it. It's natural for them.
They don't understand standard English. They probably do, but it's easier for them. They're more used to slang.
That's not, that's far-fetched. This is a far-fetched argument. They speak it.
When they go to school, when they do their dissertations, when they do GCCs, they all speak English. But when they go sell drugs, they speak another language. And if someone says, I've been doing it for 25, 30 years, it's just become a part of me now, should they try and fight that? Of course, definitely.
Look, it's not just, look, I'm not coming at it just from the perspective of the dean as well. Morally, it's not even right. Even, it's a bad reputation for the community and the people you're in.
When they see you dressed that way, your trousers sagging, you're speaking in that way. I remember a teacher in my school used to say, when she used to see those kids in secondary school, she would come in and she would say, you all need insurance on your trousers, on your jeans. Allah is gharib jidden.
I mean, the surah that you gave, the perception of Islam, it's not pleasant. It's honestly not pleasant. So you're a da'iyah, you're someone who calls to Islam.
Allah make me one. I mean, put yourself in the UK, you're around people who are non-Muslims, you're trying to bring them into Islam. And we obviously know psychological techniques, for example, conversation skills, like for example, mirroring, where you copy the same body language, give that kind of relatability to one another.
That, and in da'wah, obviously, our main goal is to try and, after pleasing Allah, is to try and bring people to Islam. You want them to be able to relate to you. However, you're now saying that let's be completely different from them and let's isolate ourselves from them.
Not isolate physically, but let's be different from them. Doesn't that, isn't that gonna be counterproductive to your da'wah and to bringing people to Islam? And that's why many people actually see Islam as a Pakistani religion, as an Arab religion. They don't feel like it can suit me.
I'm a white British guy, for example. It doesn't really suit me because you guys have just your own culture. Can you see where I'm coming from? It's a two-edged sword.
What I mean by that is that some people might even see you as a sellout by just leaving your own Islamic heritage and the way your religion is and you're changing your name. Your name was Harith and you changed your name to Harris. And you now call yourself Michael because you've come to their country and you use the argument, actually, names are not a problem.
It's got no bad thing in there, so no problem. And you dress like them, you talk like them, all of that. Even deeply, they might see you as, well, these guys, what's he trying to do? Stick up this much? So I think it's a two-edged sword.
That's point number one. Point number two, sometimes it might even spark a nice conversation, to be honest. Oh, why are you wearing this clothes? I actually like this.
Where did you get this from? It happened to me in Toronto when I landed. Yeah, a woman came up to me, an elderly woman, maybe a grandma, you know, she was very old. And she came up to me and she said, oh, where did you get this from? It looks very beautiful.
And then from there, I just go dawah. That was it, that one. And thirdly is that the UK specifically, that we're both from, is a cosmopolitan city, like London specifically.
So that's the whole, like you see. Yeah, but you still wouldn't see many people in thobes. No, but you see Jamaicans wear their clothing.
You see the Ghanaians wear their clothing. You see the Somalis wearing their clothing. You see the Asians wear shawarma.
You see the whole city, everyone, that isn't, when you look at London, I don't know about St. Albans, but if you look at London, what is the clothing of London? There isn't like, this is the clothing that everyone wears. Everyone wears what they want. And no one really like, only a group of people have hate in their heart, you know, animosity, who wanna target Muslim women and Muslim men who know this clothing of Muslims.
They're the ones who would say what they want. But I'll be honest with you, I've lived UK nearly all of my life, subhanAllah. And I've never been targeted personally because of the clothing I was wearing.
Now, I never thought a conversation came to an end because of clothing I was wearing. If anything, it starts because of clothing. Actually, to be honest, it started.
But then again, I'm not gonna make my experience of everyone else's experience. There are people who are targeted for their clothing, what they wear, may Allah make easy for them. I mean, people who live in other parts of Europe where obviously it's not as multicultural, if they decide to wear jeans and a t-shirt for the sake of giving da'wah, sometimes you even have da'wah online.
Again, it's allowed, it's allowed. No one's saying it's haram. As long as it fulfills the criteria and the obligation to cover your awrah.
Yeah, it's not haram. But it's something I wouldn't feel comfortable. I wouldn't feel comfortable in going to, I'm not saying it's just my personal preference.
I don't wanna impose it on everybody else because my personal preference is only mine. But I'm saying that as a Muslim, I don't know, I just, as a Muslim, I wanna be different. And that might mean, that might mean me wearing Pakistani shawakamis.
I prefer that way before wearing a suit. I prefer wearing an Arab Muslim's clothing which Ulema wear or clothing Somalis wear or clothing which Africans wear. Then, you know what I mean? Then jumping on the clothing worn by, generally worn by non-Muslims.
I just wanna look different to them. Not that I'm saying that the Somali ma'wis that we wear is like somehow from the Prophet's, it's a sunnah that was made by the Prophet. But coming to the monkey suit, I call it monkey suit.
Coming to the monkey suit, don't you think to yourself that, subhanAllah, some people who wear it, we could actually say that their suits are haram. Because the trousers are so tight. It's too tight.
Yeah, and the blazer is too tight. Yeah, I think that's a potential argument. I also think that, I mean, in that situation, what is someone to do when their office mandates upon them? You can't wear a thob in the office in a corporate world in Canary Wharf.
No, but why can't you just wear a bit, you know, like. A looser one. A bit looser one.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because remember, the wad saraweel, the wad saraweel, mamlu' min as-sarf, right? The wad saraweel, it's, in the Arabic language, it's different from the wad bantalon. Trousers bantalon, what the people wear.
Okay. The tight stuff they wear. Saraweel, like, it's the one in the Indians, they wear it as well, the Pakistanis.
Yeah, yeah, I know what you mean. The big one, the leg, the bottom, the knee. But you can't wear that in the office, man.
No, I'm saying that's good. That's nice. That's very nice, because it doesn't show his fath.
It's very good. I'm not saying that. I'm saying, if you were gonna wear the wad saraweel, the monkey suit, make sure it's not too tight, because some people, they come to the masjid, they pray, and then you can see their backside.
They're out of showing, it's so tight. Even when they walk, it's like they're struggling. So, I'm talking about.
And of course, above the ankles as well. And again, it has to be above the ankles. There are things that you have to observe.
By the way, it can't be below the ankles. That's what it is. It can't be on the ankle, by the way.
Okay. We just loosely say above the ankle. Yes, so you're right.
And I think just one more thing that I'd add probably from the Dawa perspective is that I can actually see, and I've seen experiences where people actually dress, for example, in the Islamic dress, actually are more productive in giving Dawa, because there's an element of that, the person who is giving Dawa to, looks at him and is like, you really believe in what you believe, don't you? Like, it's changed your whole life. Like, it really affects you. And that kind of conviction that you can see in you can often be a means for him to really think about, am I really convicted about my own beliefs? Whereas when someone thinks, oh, for the sake of Dawa, I'm gonna wear jeans and a t-shirt so they can relate to me, they're just thinking, there's not really much difference between you and me.
You know, I can just carry on living my life the way I am. Don't you think, like, even your personal experience, don't you think like sometimes the clothing you wear has an effect on your reactions and your dealings? 100%, I've actually come from previously the corporate world where, for example, I was wearing a monkey suit, as you would call it, and it affects the way you think. It affects the way you, your action affects the way you move.
Even an act of worship, like the Salah, for example, in the masjid, wearing a suit is not the same feeling as doing it in a thobe. I just, it's hard to put your finger on it, but there's a profound effect between the clothing you wear, and I suppose this is why the sharia plays such a huge importance for me, the clothing you wear and the actions and even your mindset. I'm not gonna lie, even me personally, when I'm driving and, you know, I've got my imamah on, I've got my hat on my head, I've got my thobe on and it's visible, and a car cuts me, I'm calm.
No problem, brother, take care. Make sure you watch next time. Honestly, and I'm not the type to get angry anyways.
I don't have this road rage that people have and they get angry and they assault me, but generally I don't even have that. They cut me as just, you know, you might cut someone else and they might do something to you. But the way I react, I might not be happy with what this person does, but I never respond, I'm never vulgar, of course.
But I act more sensible, because I know I'm resembling something. I have to uphold what the Prophet shallallahu alaihi wa sallam would have done in this situation. What would he have done, alayhis salam? And I know a brother, subhanAllah, a group of brothers actually, to be honest.
They said to me that when they're in the roads and they get road rage, they get angry, they're like, whenever we wanna get at this person and assault them, we take off our hat, we put it on the front seat and we start saying things. And then when he leaves, we put our hat on. SubhanAllah, I remember subhanAllah, here, UAE, I basically was driving and I had got lost.
You know, this country, the signs are a bit sometimes hard. So the sat-nav said, turn right, turn right. I was like, oh no, I looked.
I just had, and I cut the front car. So he got angry, really took it personal. So he came, cut me, and he braked right in front of me, you know? So for me it's, I did it to you, you did it to me.
But then he came to, we came to the traffic light, he got out of the car, he got angry, came to the window, very angry, he was very angry. Because what made him even more angry is because I smiled. And I was only smiling, like.
As in, like, don't worry about it, we're so good, like, you know, to be polite. Yeah, you did to me. He thought you were laughing at him or something, maybe.
So he came out the window and he said to me, as soon as he saw me, and he saw my thawb, he saw my imamah, he saw, you know, he said, you're a practicing brother, man. Why are you doing, and I said, look, brother, I'm using this hand now, I don't know the city. I cut you, you did it to me, and I smiled because you got me back.
I have no rights to get angry. But look how it is, clothing makes people say you have to uphold a particular, do you understand my point? Yeah, it's so true. It's so true, I know, I know, but like, people in the UK, for example, it's not just limited to clothing, even the beard, for example, it will actually stop you from committing sins.
Yeah, it does. There might be people who would normally, before they grow their beard, they might be thinking about going to the club, for example, you never dare walk into a club with a beard. It's just, you know that I don't belong in here.
It's just automatic. And the kabhi will not go to a club. Yeah, so true, yeah.
Well, in any case, all these acts, the outer appearance that we have as Muslims, we have to understand it's to actually tell us in advance what we're gonna fall short in. I know a sister who fell off. I asked her a question, I said, she came to help me, I had problems.
Okay, first question. What was the first thing that happened before you, you know, and you started listening to music, you started doing this, what was first? She's like, I took off my hijab. It is a hijab, not physically, but it's also a spiritual hijab.
It conceals all these problems from you. The woman, she takes off her niqab, just the niqab that she takes off. Then the jilbab comes.
Then it becomes a khimar. Then sometimes the hair is showing. Sometimes this is, the point I'm trying to come to is the outer appearance has a strong effect on the heart.
Definitely. That's why the Arabs, they say, wa kullu ina in billathi fihi anbahu. Every vessel will swear what's inside it.
So the body, you know a person. That's why when we say, at-tashabbuh bil-i'tiqad, we wouldn't know that. Yeah, it's internal, isn't it? With that, the scholars, they say, when you imitate the non-Muslims, you don't have to intend to imitate them.
No one conditions that. The strongest opinion is that you don't condition that. Mujarradil mushabaha, just a mere.
For example, the Prophet shallallahu alaihi wasallam mentioned that do not pray at the time when the sun rises. What's the reason? Because there are a group of people who are worshiping shaytan, right? You're not intending to be like them. You're not trying to be like them.
You're just trying to worship Allah. You're doing it, you're worshiping Allah. They're worshiping shaytan, but you look the same.
You're doing it at this time, and you stay away from it. Yeah, I see, I see. So Shaykh al-Khattab emphasized on this point.
So some people will say, actually, I didn't even know the Christians were doing this. No problem, no sin on you. Alhamdulillah.
But now that you know, you have to stay away from it. Okay, that actually brings me on to the next part of the podcast, which I just want to move on to some closing questions now before we finish the podcast, inshallah. And you mentioned there's something very profound that even if they don't intend to imitate the disbelievers, it's just that they happen to be doing it at the same time or the same place.
A lot of people ask the question, during Christmas, everybody's off work, everybody's off school. Is it allowed for us just on the same day? Because of organization purposes, just bring the family around, everyone's free, and just have a dinner at the same, you know, Christmas Day dinner. They don't call it that, but they just want to have a dinner on that day because everyone's available.
No, they're not allowed to. Even though everyone's available, it just happens to be right. The Prophet, salallahu alayhi wa sallam, when the man said, Ya Rasulullah, I made a nether, I made a covenant to slaughter.
Then the Prophet, salallahu alayhi wa sallam, said, was this place a place where the people used to slaughter something? He said, La, Ya Rasulullah, I know. Then the Prophet, salallahu alayhi wa sallam, asked him, he said, if that's not the case, if that is the case, that in Alhamdulillah, no one used to slaughter here and it's not specific, then the Prophet said, fulfill your covenant that you made, the oath that you made. So the Prophet asked him, salallahu alayhi wa sallam, so Sahabas, they were new to Islam.
Muslims, new Muslims. They didn't know, they were new Muslims. Hadith Abu Waqid Al-Laythi, radiallahu ta'ala anhuma, wa radiallahu ta'ala anhu, marfu'an.
The Prophet said to him, Subhanallahi, hada kama kala qawmu Musa, ija'al lana ilahan kama lahum aliha, wallidhi nafsi Muhammadin biyadihi, la tarkabunna sunnata man kana qabalakum. Another wedding, it said, ija'al lana ilahan kama lahum aliha, make for us a ilah, the way that they have a ilah, that's what they said. No, they just said, it was that anwat.
It's a tree, right? They just wanted, sorry. They didn't actually say that. They only said that, ya Rasulullah, we just want a tree.
You know, put our weapons on there and you know, find barakah from it. The Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, he said, Subhanallah, and they're new Muslims. He said, kama kala qawmu Musa.
This is exactly what the people of Musa said. ija'al lana ilahan kama lahum aliha. Then the Prophet said, wallidhi nafsi biyadihi, la tarkabunna sunnata man kana qabalakum.
You will follow the path of those who came before you. The lafd of Tirmidhi says, okay, well, that was the lafd of Tirmidhi. The lafd of Imam Ahmad, rahimahullah, mentions, qultum wallidhi nafsi biyadihi, kama kala qawmu Musa.
Wallahi, you guys have said exactly what the people of Musa said, which is what, ija'al lana ilahan kama lahum aliha. innakum qawmu tajhaloon. And then the Prophet said, innaha sunan, la tarkabunna sunana man kana qabalakum, sunnatan sunnah.
So, these sahabas, what they said, they didn't intend, ija'al lana ilahan kama lahum aliha. That wasn't their intent. That wasn't what they intended.
They just intended to, the hadith, by the way, Abd al-Razzaq ibn Hammam al-San'ani authenticated, al-Humaydi authenticated in his Musnad, and he narrated it there. Tirmidhi also narrated it in his Kitab al-Fitan. Ibn al-Hibban al-Tabarani fi al-Mu'ajam al-Kabir, Ibn al-Jalil and Ibn al-Kathir, both of them in their tafsir, all of them through the authentic chain of Ibn al-Shihab al-Zughri, al-Sinan ibn Abi Sinanin, al-Duali, you can say it, or al-Dili, both ways you can pronounce it, no problem.
Al-Abi Waqidi al-Layti, radhiAllahu anhu. So it's authentic. The first one is Zuhri Muhammad ibn al-Shihab, Muhammad ibn al-Muslim ibn al-Ubaidullah ibn al-Shihab, ibn al-Abdullah al-Qurashi al-Zuhri is fine.
Sinan ibn Abi Sinan is al-Dili, al-Madani al-Thiqa, Waqidi al-Layti is al-Sahabi al-Jalil. So these Sahabas were not intended in any way, shape or form to follow the non-Muslims in that particular statement, in ja'al lana ilahan kama lahum aliha. Yeah, I see.
I'm just asking these questions, I know they're very common for people. What about the next day, there's a boxing day, you know the 26th of December, again it's a public holiday in the UK. It's not Christmas Day.
If people want to just gather with their family, they're allowed to do it. It's not any day that they have a celebration, they have a gathering. From the dhahil, you're not allowed to implement it.
Don't do it. Make it a week later, or make it a week earlier. Okay.
If you have a family gathering you wanna do. Okay, if somebody says Happy New Year to you, can you say it? No, you don't. We don't say anything.
Are you allowed to have New Year's resolutions? No, we don't have any of that. Muslims should have a daily resolution. وَحَاسِبُواْ أَنفُسَكُمْ قَبْلَ أَن تُحَاسَبُواْ وَزِنُوهَا قَبْلَ أَن تُزَنُواْ عُمَرَ ذِي الْعَانُ وِسَلِيهِ He said, account yourself every day.
Scale your deeds every day. Question yourself every day. Allah says, يَا إِلَّذِينَ آمَنُواْ اتَّقُواْ اللَّهَ وَلْتَنظُواْ النَّفْسُ مَا قَدَّمَتْ لِغَدٍ وَاتَّقُواْ اللَّهُ Every day we should question ourselves and interrogate ourselves and think about the day.
اليومَ نَخْتِبُ عَلَيْهَا أَفْوَاهِمْ وَتُكَلِّمُنَا أَيْدِيهِمْ وَتَشْهَدُ أَرْجُلُمْ مِمَا ثَالِ وَكْسِبُونَ Every day, we have to ask ourselves these questions before we go to bed. What have we done today? عبدالله عمر بن عاص رضي الله تعالى عنهما When he saw a man who entered the Prophet's masjid three times and the Prophet said, anyone who enters that door is Ahlul Jannah and again the man entered and then the man entered and then three times the Prophet said that عليه الصلاة والسلام عبدالله عمر بن عاص said, I want to go to this man and see what it is that made him from the people of Jannah. And عبدالله عمر بن عاص when he went to his house and stayed with him, he asked the man, Hey, what is it that you do? I looked at you, I looked at your عبادة I saw nothing special about you.
He said, before I go to sleep at night, I just get rid of any animosity or hate or rage I have for any Muslim. I clean my heart. وَنَزَعْنَا مَا فِي سُّدُورٍ مِنْ غِلٍّ إِخْوَانٍ عَنَ سُّرُورٍ مُتْقَابِلِينَ The point is, he accounted himself every day.
True, yeah. I see. Yeah.
I was wondering where you're going with that hadith. But yeah, I like it. Okay, last question for me then and then I'll give you an opportunity to summarize what we've discussed today.
How do you respond to someone who's saying you're making things extremely difficult on the people right now by having this kind of approach and you're also making Islam a very reactive religion. Some people might just have a leisure activity. Suddenly, the non-Muslims make it specific for them.
We can't do it. Oh, this thing. We can't do that.
We can't do that. It's such a reactive religion and it makes things extremely difficult in the dunya. Islam said this way before all of these people came up with these things.
And the Messenger ﷺ has said, it wasn't Europe celebrating Christmas at that time. And it wasn't like that. So we have to understand this is these celebrations that we see are not only taking place in the lands of the non-Muslims but it's also taking place in the lands of some Muslims.
So we also have to respond to it. We have to give a ruling in all these matters. Last but not least, I kind of dealt with this issue in a series that I'm doing, the contradictions, the apparent contradiction that people come with.
People tend to say that religion is complicated, it's given too much rules and regulations. But then when that same person goes to a pharmacist or it goes to a doctor and the doctor prescribes a medicine for you, that doctor tells you, take this much medicine, take this much dose, take it this particular time, eat it, take it with an empty stomach and et cetera, you adhere. And I promise you that's, for me personally, that's so much rules and regulations.
Like I have to, on one tablet, yeah. And it's this red one you take. And the white one, you don't take it.
You take that one in the morning. Okay. And the way they scribble on the papers, it's unclear for me to even understand.
So I have to keep, you have that problem? Sometimes, yeah. I have to go back in and sometimes I go back in and I say, I don't know what I need to do here. It's too much rules and regulations for me personally.
But I don't look at the doctor and say, hey, listen, doctor, doctor, doctor. You're just trying to make life hard for the people. Just give us one medicine that does everything.
Why all this unnecessary stuff? I see. It doesn't work like that. Nothing works like that.
One powerful statement I came across, which is, it's the apparent contradictions of many of us. You fly to the UK. You fly to UAE.
You're coming up. You go on a flight. Do you know the pilot? No.
Do you know who he is? No, I don't. His profession, his experience, what he knows, whether he's drunk or not. No, I don't.
You trust Emirates to make sure that you land safely in Heathrow Airport. After trusting Allah, yeah. After Allah, you put your trust in Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la awwalan.
And then after that, you believe that they're gonna do a good job, right? Yeah. Without knowing the guy, though. Correct, yeah.
Or it could be a woman as well. Yeah, yeah. You don't know who he is.
He explains himself to us like, we're gonna know who he is anyways. The point I'm trying to say is that we still trust them. And you can't trust your ulama.
You can't trust the companions. You can't trust the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him. You can't trust the Quran.
And that's a clear contradiction here. JazakAllah khair. Let's just close out the podcast with, if you want, a summary of what we've discussed today.
My summary on this argument is that the tashabbuh of the kuffar is two types. There's a tashabbuh which is al-manhiyu anhu, is prohibited. And I mentioned four.
You can go back to the podcast to watch it, inshallah ta'ala. And then I mentioned which is mubah, is permitted. And I gave conditions for those which are allowed.
It can't be religious issues. It can only be worldly issues. And even worldly issues, I gave conditions.
I mentioned a few conditions, six or seven conditions. Also what I said is that, generally speaking, the prophets of Allah, like Nuh alayhi salam, wa tu'alayhim naba'a nuhu idh qala liqawmi inni idh qala liqawmi in kana kabur a'alikum maqami wa tadkiri bi-ayati allahi fa'alallahi tawakaltu faajmimu amurakum ila akhir al-ayah, Nuh alayhi salam, free him himself from his people. Ibrahim saying to his people, idh qala Musa liqawmi wa idh qala Ibrahim liqawmi ya qawmi inni wa idh qala Ibrahim liqawmi innan ibra'un mimma ta'budun When Ibrahim said to his people, I am free from what you guys are doing.
Prophets did that. They freed themselves. So try your best as a Muslim, to live as a Muslim.
This issue of tashabbuh is really, really... I used to only think at the beginning, wallahi, when I was young, I used to think, oh, it's a topic that needs to be spoken about, inshallah, that's it. Don't press on it too much. Until I saw when the COVID issue happened, where people were dying, where people were like, are they Muslims, are they not? Because you can't.
There's no science, there's no alamat. Someone's like, I think he was a Muslim, because he was assimilated with the non-Muslims, dressed like them, talked. Look how many things you lose out.
When I see a brother with a lihya and a thawb in the street, look, what does he get from me? At least that's a reward. And then, on top of that, I might make dua for him. Akhi, may Allah bless you.
The other day I told something. My daughter, wallahi, my daughter was wearing, you know, they wear jilbabs, right? My daughters, small daughters. We tailor-made jilbabs for each one of them.
A man came walking to us, and he grabbed me in an aggressive way, and I looked, and I thought, this guy, is he going to do something to me? And he said to me, brother, I just want to say jizakallah khairan. May Allah bless you, man. I made dua with you.
And I was like, what happened? What did I do? He goes, I just saw your daughter. You know, we're rare people. And he showed me his daughter.
I was like, oh Allah. He took half of me, just clothing. Just the clothing of my daughter, jilbab.
That's it. That's where the dua came from. So, I was thinking, all through the time, I was thinking, subhanAllah.
I got a reward just by the clothing that my daughter was wearing. So, I'm saying to you, you miss out on these things. You know what I mean? You miss out on things that Muslims would do for you.
You know, and some benefits that would come to you from it. Because we're out here for each other. We're here to take care of one another.
We're here to support one another. You know, I remember, subhanAllah, it was a rainy day. It was a rainy day in London.
I was driving. And I saw a Muslim man standing in the rain. I'm not going to let that happen.
I pulled over. But how did I know he was a Muslim? So, this brother, I picked him up. And I drove him to wherever he wanted.
It was actually a really far place. I actually had to drive way out of my way. But a brother, soaking.
Soaking, sorry. He was like, I need to help you. So, I wouldn't do that for a non-Muslim.
I'll be honest with you. I wouldn't. There's a lot of trust issues and things like that.
So, my point is that when you're wearing Islamic clothing, even before the ajal and the khayr that comes with it, but the worldly benefits that you get from it, as-salamu alaykum, the brotherly love, there are many issues that come with it. It's so true. And we talked in detail earlier on the podcast about how even it impacts your mind and your actions and your thought process, which is really profound.
There was one last funny story I want to mention. There was a brother, Hafidh Bikitab Allah Azawajal, qari, muqri, mashallah, mutqinin fil uloom al-shara'i. He was very good at it.
And it was actually the first time he said to me, I actually wore a non-Islamic clothing. Again, I don't want to say non-Islamic clothing because there are some, it's hard to say that. But the point is that he was wearing jeans and he was wearing that because he had to do something.
So he came into the masjid and the imam and the khatib didn't come. And so they asked him, can somebody really do the khutbat al-jumu'ah? And he said, I couldn't just because of what I was wearing. So it even prevents you from some khair and good and a lot of things, you know.
Like would you want somebody who's wearing jeans to lead the people's salah and jama'ah and everything like that? I wouldn't want to pray behind them if I was wearing jeans personally, I'll be honest with you. Obviously not saying it's halal to pray behind them. No, I'm not saying that.
It's just your personal preference. Yeah, definitely, definitely. Because I know this position was occupied by the Prophet, peace be upon him.
It has to be a certain type of dressing. So may Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, allow us to be like the righteous people. Because we can't be like them.
The poet says, إِلَّمْ تَكُونُوا مِثْلَهُمْ فَتَشَبَّهُوا إِنَّ التَّشَبُّهَا بِالْكِرَامِ فَلَاهُ We can't be like Abu Bakr al-Umar and Uthman al-'Ali. But at least we will imitate them. Really, imitating the righteous people itself is a virtue.
Itself is a virtue. JazakAllah khairan. I know it's been another long one.
I really appreciate your time. BarakAllahu feekum. SubhanakAllahu wa bihamdik.
Ashhadu an la ilaha illa ant. Astaghfirullah wa atubu ilayk.
