Today’s topic is about the two extremes and the middle path. Allah the Almighty, The Creator of this universe, has praised us as Muslims, in the holy Qur’an, by saying, “You are the best of peoples ever raised up for mankind.” And Allah also talks about us in the holy Qur’an by saying, “Thus we have made you a just, a balanced nation.” So this is what a Muslim should be. You have to be balanced and you have to be on the middle path. If you look at the Hadith of the Prophet (Salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam), he told us that his followers, his ummah will be divided into 73 factions, sects, all of them will be in hell, except 1 {and I pray to Allah Azza wa Jall that He makes you and me amongst this particular one}, only 1 will be in Jannah.
So the companions said, “Which one, who are they?” And the Prophet (Salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam) said, “It is the Jama’a.” It is the unity and not in the sense of numbers, because if you look at us Muslims, we are great in numbers but we are not a unity, we are not a Jama’a. Ibn Mas’ood, the servant of Prophet (Salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam), who used to carry the water for his ablution, who used to carry his sandals, who took more than 70 chapters of the Qur’an directly from the Prophet’s mouth; so Ibn Masood says, “Unity is whatever corresponds with truth, even if this meant that you were to be alone.” And look at the times of Abraham, peace be upon him. He was alone and the whole population of earth was against him but at that particular time he was the Jama’a, he was doing what Allah Azzaz wa Jall had told him to do, he was worshiping Allah alone and that made him the Jama’a.
Therefore for us to know and analyze whether we are from the Jama’a or from the remaining 72 factions and sects, we have to know. We have very limited time. Life is too short. Look at the years that have passed and look at the remaining years. Life is too short for us. We have to identify which sect is on the correct and middle path. The middle is usually a point in the centre with equal lengths from all sides. That is why when you have a centre of a circle, this means you are in the middle of it and this means that if there is a fire it’s going to eat and consume the outskirts of the circle and to reach at the very end to the centre so by you being in the centre, you will be away from all calamities, from all problems, from all bad things that may happen.
If you look at Islam, you will find that it is a religion that deals with Fitrah {nature, proper nature} it deals with balance because it addresses your body and it also addresses your soul. And whoever takes care of his soul will elevate to the level of Angels and whoever descends like an animal, following his desires and lusts, he will be next to the level of animal world. It was reported in the Sahih of Muslim, that Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) once met a companion of the Prophet (Salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam) called Hanzala {Hanzala Ibn Abi Aamir was another companion of the Prophet Salla Allahu alahi wa sallam who died as a martyr on the day of his wedding night; Prophet (Salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam) saw him being washed for sexual impurities, from janaba, between the heavens and the earth by the Angles. He was astonished so they went to his house and asked his bride and she said, “Last night was our wedding night and in the morning he was called for Jihad to defend Madinah and went and died as a martyr in the Battle of Uhud, defending Islam and defending Madinah.
So the Angels washed him.} This is Hanzala Ibn Usaidi and when he met Abu Bakr, Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) is looking at him and asked, “What’s happening?” He said,” I have become a hypocrite!” Abu Bakr said, “Aztaghfiru Allah! This is a great offence, being a hypocrite, rejecting Islam; you will be in hell forever! Why is that?” Hanzala said,“ Abu Bakr when we are in the company of our Prophet (Salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam), Masha Allah we hear the Qur’an, we hear the zikr, we hear about the knowledge, we see the Prophet (Salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam) and we feel as if we are next to the angles in faith and belief but the minute we go back to our homes and we sit with our wives and play with our children, we look after our farms and trade, we do not recognize our hearts, it’s not the same heart!!” Abu Bakr(may Allah be pleased with him) paused for a while and said, “Well if this is the case, then I believe I have become a hypocrite myself! Tell you what, we have big problems! Let’s go and meet the Prophet (Salla Allahu alaihi wa sallm).”
Imagine this, Abu Bakr, the second in command, the second best man who ever walked on earth after the Prophet (Salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam), may Allah be pleased with him {Abu Bakr} and join us in paradise with him. Aameen! Abu Bakr and Hanzala went to the Prophet (Salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam). The Prophet (Salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam) looked at Hanzala and asked, “What’s going on, what’s happening?” Hanzala said, “O Prophet of Allah, I have become a hypocrite!” And he repeated the same allegation and the Prophet (Salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam) smiled and told him, “Hanzala if you were in the same state at your home with your wife and children; with your farms and trade, as you are with me, By Allah, you will find, on the streets of Madinah, the Angles shaking hands with you; eye to eye!” It’s an elevation, it’s a level; it’s a status of belief that once you reach it, it’s possible, if you reached it, you would see the Angles; because you are so pure that they will shake hands with you. “But Hanzala,” the Prophet (Salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam) says, “An hour and an hour” Which means, an hour to your lord in worship: in Zikr, in remembering Allah; and an hour to your heart, you have to have some sort of relief, permissible relief. Nowadays the brothers and sisters have an hour for The Lord, for Allah and an hour for Satan. And a lot of brothers I know have an hour for Allah and 23 hours for Satan (may Allah have mercy on us)
Our religion is the religion of balance; it’s the middle way. It was reported in an authentic Hadith that Salman Al Farisi, “The Truth Seeker” (may Allah be pleased with him) and he is a topic on his own, when he came to Madinah, the Prophet (Salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam) joined him with a companion Abu Darda. He made them brothers {just after the migration from Mecca to Madinah Prophet (Salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam) made each migrant from Mecca a brother of an Ansar from Madinah. They were treated just like blood brothers, sharing everything, even inheritance}. So Salman went to his brother Abu Darda’s house and saw his wife not wearing properly, in the sense that she wasn’t taking care of herself {she didn’t do any make up and she didn’t do her hair} This was at the very beginning of the migration when hijab was not a law so women had the power and had the right to go without wearing the hijab. So Salman looked at his sister-in-law and said, “Umm Darda why are you doing this, why are you not taking care of your looks?” She said, “Look at your brother Abu Darda, he is useless. He prays to Allah all night and he fasts during the day, what time is left!” So he said, “Ok, no problem.” When Abu Darda came, he saw his brother Salman and brought food to him as a gesture of goodwill, you know, like, if you have guests you feed them. So Salman said to his brother, “Eat!” Abu Darda said, “I am fasting, I can’t eat.” Salman said, “By Allah you will eat otherwise I am not going to eat as well and I am your guest!” So Abu Darda said, “Ok, since this is a voluntary fast, I will make it up some other day.” And he broke his fast.
After Isha prayer, when they were supposed to sleep {they didn’t have a guest chamber and another one for guests coming from abroad and a third and a fourth, they had only one room to stay in}, Abu Darda stood up and wanted to pray night prayer after Isha, this was his usual routine, from 9pm until 5am or 6am it’s all standing and praying; this was the norm for companions and for righteous people. So Salman told him, “Go to bed.” Abu Darda said, “But I want to pray.” Salman said, “Go to bed.” So he left and went to sleep. An hour later Abu Darda looked and sneaked out wanting to pray; Salman saw him and said, “Go to bed, not now.” And just before Fajr prayer, about an hour or half an hour before Fajr, Salman told him, “Now we can pray.” So they stood up prayed until Fajr prayer. After they finished Salman gave an advice to his brother, he told him, “Abu Darda, Allah The Almighty have rights over you, your wife has rights over you, your friends or visitors have rights over you and even your body has rights over you. Therefore give each one their due rights. This is the balance in Islam.” Abu Darda didn’t buy this and went to the Prophet (Salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam) to check things out and the Prophet (Salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam) told him, “This is exactly the truth and you have to follow what Salman (may Allah be pleased with him) told you.”
If you look at the imbalance in our lives, it’s overwhelming. You will find people {this is the majority of Muslims} spend almost their entire lives as if there is no Aqirah, as if there is no Hereafter. They work for this life, they live and die for this life; they spend all their time trying to make money. This is all what they care about. They live and die for their lust and desires. And on the opposite side you will find people who think that they are being good in the sight of Allah; so what they do is they stay in their Masjid, they stay in their houses of worship, praying to Allah, fasting, doing good things on the surface but they don’t work; they depend entirely on people to support them. So this farmer comes at the end of the day and gives them 2 or 3 Rupees, 5 or 6 Dollars. And they say, “Yes, this is our right. I am worshiping Allah; I am devoting my time to Allah.” And this again is unislamic. Nowhere in Islam it tells you to devote your time to Allah in the sense that you don’t work, you don’t have a family, you don’t flourish on this earth that Allah Azza wa Jall has given us.
There was a man by the name Sahnoon but he was known as Kassab, The Liar, he thought that he was very close to Allah and fully devoted to Allah. Once he was praying and said, “O Allah, test me, try me, do whatever you want with me and you would find me a strong believer, that I am patient to whatever you test me with.” So Allah Azza wa Jall tested him with urinary retention; he could not urinate. He would drink water but couldn’t urinate; it’s an illness, it makes people squeeze inside of them. So the guy used to walk and wherever he finds children, he would go to them and say, “O children, pray for your uncle, The Liar, I prayed for something and I was lying and I am not able to withstand with what Allah is testing me with.” And this is true: never ever test Allah’s might; you need to be humble, be submissive; and never ever test the power of Allah the Almighty.
Islam is a religion of balance between this life and the Hereafter. But it tells you clearly that whenever there is a conflict you should choose the Hereafter. And this is something that a lot of us don’t understand. We are good Muslims as long as our salary is in our bank account at the end of the month. I am a good Muslim as long as my wife is ok and my children are doing fine or doing well. But if there is a calamity: if I had to make a choice between this life and what pleases Allah Azza wa Jall, I would be like: Allah is Ghafoor ur Raheem, He is the most Forgiving, the most Merciful, but my boss is not so I have to please my boss!! Allah the Almighty says, “But seek with that wealth which Allah has bestowed on you, the home of the Hereafter and forget not your portion of lawful enjoyment in this world and do good as Allah has been good to you.”
As stated earlier, this Ummah, the followers of the Prophet (Salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam) will be divided into 73 factions or sects. But which one is on the winning end, which one is the one to go into paradise. Islam came to change the convictions of people. It came to change the perspectives; how you look at things. Yet this is something that not a lot of Muslims are at good terms with in the sense that, I will give an example: we consider our lives to be a big picture; I have a wife, I have children, I have my desires, I have my hobbies, I have my house, I have lots of things; it’s a big picture. Islam is a frame that we should not look at anything except through it. So if you are a proper Muslim, if you are a REAL Muslim, a balanced one, you will come to this frame and you’d put it on the picture and you’d start cutting the edges from your life. So you ask yourself, “Girlfriends?” “No, this is not lawful in this frame.” “What about whiskey, intoxicants?” “No!” “Gambling?” “No!” Riba! “No!” “Being unfair to people?” “No, all of this is not accepted.” So at the end of the day you will have a frame which fits the picture 100% like a glove fits a hand: beautiful! If this is the case then you are a proper Muslim. What a lot of us do nowadays: we bring the picture, Masha Allah it’s very big; we bring the frame, it’s too small. What do we do, “I will break this edge a little bit, I will try to put some plastic here, I will extend the edge a little bit and I will put superglue here and at the end of the day I have a frame that is not a proper frame.”
Your life and mine is exactly the same, we are not proper Muslims in the sense that Allah wants us to be, because our priorities are far different from what they are supposed to be. Now to be a balanced nation, to be on the middle path: this is something you cannot know without looking through the Qur’an and the Sunnah. Why is that? Because everyone of us have his own logic, his own means of measurements; for example, if I meet someone from Scandinavia, a guy who is 7 feet tall and I tell him, “Did you see X Y Z?” He’d be like, “Which one; the tall person or the short one?” His way of identifying tall and short differs from a man coming from, for example, Japan who might be 5 feet tall. If you bring someone from the NBA; a basketball player, he would look at me and say, “Look at this midget!” {And I consider myself to be a little bit tall} And if I look at someone who is 4 feet 8 I would say, “Hmmm, look at this midget!” It can continue on and on and on. So what is the logic? The origin of all of this is the Hadith of the Prophet (Salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam) where 3 men visited his houses and checked about how he used to pray, worship, fast. So they asked the mother of the believers, the other mother of the believers, {the wives of the Prophet (Salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam)} “What’s the Prophet’s conduct?”
So they told them. Now these 3 guys sat down and said, “I believe that he is the Prophet of Allah because Allah has forgiven all of his previous and his coming sins and he has nothing to worry about. So let’s do something really strong in Islam.” So one of them said, “Ok, I will never marry!” He wanted to live a life without getting married or having sex. The other one said, “Well I will never sleep at night. Immediately after Isha prayer I will pray until Fajr prayer!” And the third one said, “Well for me, I will never break my fasting. I will fast every single day! This way we believe that Allah will forgive our sins.” The Prophet (Salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam) heard about this; he was furious, he was angry and he came on the pulpit, praised Allah and said, “Why do I hear people, from my followers, from my companions say so and so and so. By Allah, I pray the night and I sleep; I fast the day and I break the fast and I marry women, this is human nature and whoever chooses a path other than mine, he’s not considered to be from my followers!”
Look at this balance. This is how we should look at things. One would say, “No I want to kill myself, doing this or that; I want to go to the extreme.” No, if you are not following the Prophet’s (Salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam) path then you are not considered to be among his followers. And what is the cause of this imbalance? Why do people go to the extremes? The answer is very simple. Who do you think is among the best to know the human soul other than Allah of course, the Creator of human souls? Now if you ask, “Who do you think the best who knows the human soul?” One would say, “It’s the Prophet (Salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam)!” No. The best person who knows the human soul more than anyone else is the Satan. WHAT? Yes; Satan. Satan knows you quite well to the extent that if you ask me for my CV, I would give you a 21 year long experience while Satan has thousands of years of experience of luring people and seducing them. Satan comes to one of us and he tests our faith and if he sees that I am strong in faith then he will make me go to the extreme. And if sees that my faith is weak and I am lenient, he will take me to the extreme of leniency.
Take the Wudu for example, and every Muslim performs ablution; Wudu. The minimum is once for every limb and the maximum is thrice, so Satan looks at me and if he sees that I am a strong Muslim and a very tough person then he says, “Listen you did thrice, maybe you missed something, make it five times.” And I go on washing my limbs 5 times every time I perform ablution. After 3 or 4 weeks I would say, “Alahamdullilah, water is free, why not take a total bath for every prayer; it is cleaner, it’s better and Allah loves cleanliness.” And somewhere down the line Satan comes to him and says, “Listen, when you pray in the Masjid, this man coughs, that one’s socks smell and this guy next to you moves a lot and this is causing you not to concentrate so close your eyes and pray closing your eyes.” Two or three weeks later he comes back to him and says, “Why not pray at home? You pray at home, you are on your own; Alhamdullilah, you are contemplating, you are concentrating and your submission to Allah is to the max.” Three or four weeks later, “Why not turn off the lights? Turn off the air conditioning, no fans, so that there is no noise and you can pray alone!” And four or five weeks later he will abandon prayer completely and who is happy by all this? The Satan!
Now towards the other extreme: Satan comes to those who are not so strong and belief and says, “Washing your limbs in wudu once is enough.” This guy will be like, “But this part of my hand is still dry.” The Satan will say, “Come on, Allah is generous, Allah is most forgiving.” The guy will be like, “Yes; will Allah punish me for this tiny spot that I didn’t wash? Oh, come on!” After a little while, instead of praying on time he delays the zuhar prayer and prays it just before Asr, then zuhar and Asr he prays after maghrib and if there is not enough time he prays them at the end of the night. 8:05pm, he forgets and sleeps and if he does not pray any of those, Satan will say, “It is okay, tomorrow is a new day.” And he keeps on doing this until the brother abandons Islam through this imbalance.
Islam is a religion of balance and even in your fear of Allah, there is balance. Because you wish and hope for Paradise (Jannah) and you fear the Hell-Fire, and even in this there has to be balance. Umar (Radi Allahu Anhu), the second caliph of Islam and the father-in-law of the Prophet Muhammed (Salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam), whose daughter was Hafsa (Radi Allahu Anha), said, “If someone calls over the Earth, that all the population of Earth are in Paradise except one, this one is in Hell, I would be afraid that I might be that one. But if someone calls that everyone is in Hell except one who is in Paradise, I would have wished and hoped that I would be that one.” It is just a matter of balance. Balance in your belief. Balance in the ways you follow the Qur’an and the Sunnah. We have people who go to extremes. On one extreme we have people saying, “You have to follow one Madhab, that is, one school of thought”, even if it is different from the Qur’an and the Sunnah. Even if it’s crystal clear that it is against the Qur’an and the Sunnah. “Follow it with all its good and bad, and if you don’t, you are sinful.” And on the other extreme, we have people saying, “It is forbidden to follow any school of thought. You have to follow the Qur’an and Sunnah”. But if someone says that he is not qualified to understand the Qur’an and Sunnah on his own, they say, “Regardless, you have to follow it, right or wrong.” So this is again extreme.
One of the characteristics of the balanced way or the middle way is the easiness of Islam. Our religion is the religion of easiness. The Prophet (Salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam) sent two of his Companions to Yemen, Mu’adh ibn Jabal and Abu Musa Al Ashari, may Allah be pleased with them all. And he gave them a word of advice, “Try to make things easy and do not make things difficult for people. Try to give the glad tidings and do not turn people away from Islam .Try to cooperate and do not disagree, because disagreement is evil, when it arises among Muslims.” And a great misconception amongst Muslims arises due to quoting only the first part of the Hadeeth and leaving the rest. A famous Hadeeth by Mother Aisha, may Allah be pleased with her, she said that the Prophet (Salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam), whenever he was given a choice between two things, he would always take the easy thing among the two. One of them is more difficult than the other; he would always take the easy thing. This is what we usually quote. So whenever there is a need to make a choice, people tell you take the easy way. Why? Because of the above mentioned Hadeeth! They never complete the Hadeeth. Whenever the Prophet (Salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam) had the choice between two things, he would have always chosen the easy thing, PROVIDED there was no sin involved. Because if there was sin in it, he (Salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam) would have been the person furthest from it.
A lot of the brothers and sisters usually quote scholars saying so-and-so, though it is in opposition to the Qur’an and Sunnah. So when you tell someone that Allah the Almighty says so-and-so, he tells you well So-and-So Sheikh says the other thing; the other way. When we say to him “But Allah says this in the Qur’an, you can read it,” he doesn’t like it. He says that he follows the Sheikh rather than follow the Qur’an or the crystal clear Sunnah. And it is part of being imbalanced to apply things to you that may harm you. Even if you love this religion, even if you love worshipping Allah, if this leads to harming you, Allah says that do not kill yourself. Allah is Most Forgiving and Merciful to you. So if someone is sick and he fasts, knowing that this would harm him, he is sinful. If someone has an injury, a wound or some other form of illness in his body and he has to take a total bath, which would harm him or kill him, if he does take a total bath, he is sinful. He should perform Tayammum. This is part of the easiness of Islam.
We were told to be balanced, even in expenditure. So don’t spend all of your money and become poor and needy, but also don’t be a miser and tie your hands to your neck. Be in between. And now some would say, “Doesn’t this conflict with Abu Bakr’s way of life.” Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) gave away all his wealth in the Cause of Allah three times in the time of the Prophet (Salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam). Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said that every time he raced Abu Bakr in doing good deeds, Ma Sha Allah, he always came first. But once, Umar said that he is going to be the first. He went to the Prophet (Salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam) with a large sum of money and said that this is for Allah and His Prophet (Salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam). The Prophet (Salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam) asked him, “What did you leave for your children?” He replied, “Half of it.” That is, he took 50% of what he owned and gave it to Allah and the Prophet (Salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam). So the Prophet (Salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam) said, “May Allah bless you.” Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) came with a larger amount and he put it in front of the Prophet (Salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam) and said, “This is for Allah and the Prophet (Salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam).” So the Prophet (Salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam) asked him the same as he had asked Umar (may Allah be pleased with him). Abu Bakr replied, “I left Allah and His Prophet (Salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam).” That is, he gave away a 100% of what he owned; everything! Can you imagine just leaving yourself with what you are wearing and giving away everything else for the Sake of Allah? Now this does not contradict with the balance because Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) was a merchant and he knew that he will be getting more and more. He was healthy; he could work and get double that which he gave for the Sake of Allah. But this balance applies to us, we have a fixed income and if we spend everything, a week or two later we say we are begging people for money. This is completely unacceptable.
We have to also keep balance when we enforce virtues and deter and prevent evil. This is one of the signs of the believers. Whenever the believers see a reason to enforce virtue; they advice people; but we have to be balanced; in the sense that, if we can enforce it, if it is legal for us to enforce it, then it’s a must for us to do it. If you are a Law Enforcer, if you are a ruler, if it’s in your house and your kids are doing something wrong, you have to enforce virtue and prevent evil. But if it’s in a public place or with a co-worker and you can’t enforce it with your own force as nobody will accept it, then you have to do it by talking and speaking and advising. But if you can’t even do this; neither by force nor by speech then you have to do it with your heart. As in the case, if you go to a place and if you find someone drinking alcohol and he is drunk and you know that if you say to him things like “Have fear of Allah” or “Intoxicants are Haraam”, he will shoot you, then Allah tells you not to say this as this will lead to more vice. So we should just avoid this and prevent it by heart by not accepting it {by feeling in your heart that this act of drinking is Haram}
Also some people, while advising others, go to the extreme in wanting to enforce their own opinions on others. You have your right to believe what you want and I have my right to believe in what I want. But if I come to the conclusion that you have to be the same way that I am; this is imbalance. Imam Shafi’ee (may Allah have mercy on him) says, “My opinion is correct with the possibility that it might be wrong and my opponent’s opinion is wrong with the possibility that it might be right.” So there is always room for discussion without cutting the edges and saying, “No, here is where we stop and you are definitely wrong and I am definitely right.”
Even when you teach someone, sometimes you have to teach some people in a different way than you teach other people. A person who is ignorant is different from a person who is arrogant. For example, once the Prophet (Salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam) was with his Companions when a nomad man came to the Masjid, the most Holy Place in Madinah, lifted his garment and started to urinate, in the Masjid, in front of the Prophet (Salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam) and the Companions! The Companions were hot-blooded. So they immediately stood up and wanted to beat this man. But the Prophet (Salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam) told them to leave him until he finished, and this was wise of the Prophet (Salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam), because if they would have frightened him, the man would have splattered urine all over the Masjid while running away from them and he would also have got it on his body and his clothes. So they left him until he finished, then the Prophet (Salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam) ordered them to pour water over it and said to the man, calling him ‘his son’, ‘his brother’, ‘his nephew’ that these Masajid are not made for such filth. They are made for prayer, for remembering Allah, for reciting the Qur’an. And the man was so happy, he said, “O Allah, have mercy on me and on Muhammad” and excluded all the others present from that mercy, to that extent, because he was overwhelmed with the Prophet’s (Salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam) kindness. So the Prophet (Salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam) told him that Allah’s Mercy is much more than this and it should include all of us.
But in another Hadeeth, the Prophet (Salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam) wasn’t so lenient, he wasn’t so soft, especially with those who had knowledge. Once he (Salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam) came to his Companions and he found one of them wearing a gold ring, when for men it is forbidden to wear anything that has gold in it, whether it be a ring, a pen, a key holder or whatever. So he (Salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam) was furious and angry, he went to his Companion, took the ring from his finger and tossed it to the earth. And he (Salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam) said, “Subhanallah, glory be to Allah, would one of you put a stone of fire on his finger?” And he (Salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam) left. The Companions went to that man and told him to pick up the ring and sell it or give it to his wife. He said, “By Allah, I would never take something which the Prophet (Salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam) tossed away”. The Prophet (Salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam) didn’t tell him its Haraam to use it {he just forbade men to WEAR anything made of gold} but the man out of complete obedience to the Prophet (Salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam) left it, he didn’t need it anymore.
There are lots more things to be discussed but I believe that if we are fair to Muslims, we can be balanced. Without fairness, we will never be a balanced Ummah, an Ummah on the middle path. We have to be fair with the non-Muslims but before that, we have to be fair with our wives, with our children, with our neighbors, with our co-workers. Whenever you see a Muslim being unfair to someone on the road, and this is what they call ‘road rage’, just because he did some mistake, he wants to stop him and beat him and wants to harm him. This means that you are not from amongst the balanced Ummah. The more we try and strive, the more Allah the Almighty will make us from amongst this balanced Ummah.
And finally, is it a choice for us to be balanced, is it something that someone can say that he would like to be balanced and someone else says that he would like to be an extremist? No, it is not a choice. It is an instruction from Allah the Almighty for us to be balanced and to be on the middle path. Otherwise, we would not qualify to be from that sect that is following the Prophet (Salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam) and his Companions, that would receive salvation and be saved from the Hell Fire. And I pray to Allah Azza wa Jall that He would benefit us from what we have heard and that he would join us on the Day of Judgment with the Prophet (Salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam) and his Companions. Aameen!
Q/A:
1. Brother Khan Afzar {please forgive any error in writing the name}, Science Graduate: “In our society, everyone says that we are on the True Path, then how can we know which one is on the True Path and which one is following the True Religion?”
Answer: “Well this is again coming back to the Qur’an and Sunnah. Generally speaking, you have what is known as the acid test. Everyone claims, so you bring their claim and put it to the acid test. You can tell by the fruits of each religion, you can tell by the teachings of each religion. And believe me brother only one religion will stand this acid test. If you are an objective person, if you are not biased, if you are a logical person, you will find that Islam is the ultimate and the only solution. And look at the number of people accepting Islam, even with all the accusations of terrorism, of extremism, with all the poverty worldwide, yet people are accepting Islam in millions. And the number of people rejecting Islam is negligible. You cannot see them, even with a microscope. So there are so many ways to prove that Islam is the true religion. You have to scrutinize and test each and every religion and compare one with the other, holistically, and then you will come to the conclusion we came to.”
2. “Assalamulaikum wa Rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu. What does Islam have to say about abandoning Faith?”
Answer: “If a person does not have Faith, he does not have Belief then what is the difference between him and an animal? They all eat, they all drink, and they all mate and reproduce. But without Belief, what are you? There is Wisdom behind us being created here. Those who do not have a belief, they say, ‘There is no Wisdom. We were just created like that and then we leave and we come back again and again we leave and we don’t remember anything from the past.’ If an atheist says that there is no wisdom behind their existence, we ask this atheist whether the shoe which he wears, does that have any wisdom behind it, and he says, ‘Yes, it protects my feet.’ Subhanallah! A shoe has the wisdom of being there and you, in this vast, huge universe, with this perfection, you and your body are here without any logical reason?! I fail to see the wisdom behind this.”
Jazak Allahu Khairan!