Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth | Session 24

Oh. Are we live? Let's see. All right. Mhm.

All right, people. As-salamu alaykum warahmatullah wabarakatuh. Uh given the cue. So, if you can all hear me okay. Right. Shukran Junaid. Shukran barakallahu feek Rizwan. Ahlan wa sahlan big All right.

So, let's Can you all Can you hear me fine? Is that Do tell us more of Sheikhul Islam ibn Taymiyyah. Oh. Have I been speaking about ibn Taymiyyah? I I've not Let's get started anyway. Right.

So, let's take some of these questions. Well, we've got a few that have already come in. Look at that. The eagerness, people. The eagerness. Right. So, Yasser wa alaykumu s-salam. Yeah. Trimming down a bit Abu Rumaysah, trimming down and then trying to bulk up with lean muscles.

I have to say it's shocking. I've um cut out I've cut out um just junk food. Just pure junk. I mean, not everything that's you know, super healthy, but I mean I've just cut out the junk that I was general junk that I was eating.

And it's shocking that I'm struggling struggling to keep on weight. Honestly, I I'm like the and in something like 6 weeks, I must have lost so much weight that I'm actually having to struggle with myself now, fight with myself. It's probably been over 8 weeks now. Yeah, probably about 8 weeks just to keep on and retain weight. I'm really um it's become a challenge.

And that's just by cutting out junk. So it's amazing actually. What What actually happened was Go on then, I'll share it with you guys. What the hell. is uh over Christmas and the New Year and the New Year I had ordered some uh some kind of uh I was ordering a whole several sets of uh kind of trousers, jeans, and things like this.

So, I ordered loads of them. And whilst I was ordering them some of them were so that they were they they weren't available in the right size. So, I thought, well, I know, I'll just go a inch above. So, I mean, a lot of the G-Star jeans, for example, they were doing them in 33, which I normally just wear 32. So, I thought, well, what the hell, go on then, 33.

I mean, what difference does it make? And when it came, I remember wearing them, and they were tight. And I thought, what the hell has happened? How could How could Have they sent the wrong size? And then it hit me, oh my god, I've been just munching so much junk and not really So, all I did was just cut out junk. I obviously I mean I'm hitting in the gym anyway, but I just slightly upped on the cardio and boy, I've been since struggling.

Like the amount Like now, my regular jeans have become like loose for me. It's like I've got to be like, what the hell? The So, anybody trying to lose weight, I'm telling you, you all you got to do is just cut out cut out the junk. And it then you're just going to struggle with trying to retain the size. So, you're going to be like, god damn it, where Where's the protein shake?

But anyway, let's get on with some of that some nasiha for people maybe trying to lose weight or trying to bulk up through lean mass. So, let's see what are some of these questions that we've already got. Now, some people had fired in with some intensive um some intense stuff. So, let's see let's see what we can handle.

Mhm. Jamal Saqib had asked a question that is sugar a drug? Is caffeine a drug? I mean, I can't tell whether this is a soliloquy or is this a question. So, you know, the soliloquy, you just talk you're speaking aloud and just So, is marijuana a drug?

Why does sugar and caffeine get a pass and marijuana is condemned? Okay. I think you've got the wrong guy here. I don't sit on the Ministry of Health and I don't sanction and and and do things like that. So, you've got the wrong person here. Right. So, my thing I can't pass laws for you, I'm afraid. So, you've got to present that to Parliament.

I'll leave you to it. All right. Next question. Has Jamrock has asked a question saying uh the Hadith which says Allah created Adam in his image. Is this a fabricated Hadith? Well, that's interesting because it's in Bukhari.

I believe the Hadith to be incorrect. Um and this was one of the They say it's one of the things that Imam Malik condemned as well. Was this Hadith of Allah creating He created man in his own image. And this is uh in in Allah Adam Allah surati or fi surati Rahman in some of the riwayat.

And a lot of people have twisted and and they've kind of interpreted this Hadith because they've said, "Well, what um fi suratihi here, the he is going back to Adam and not to Allah. So, Allah created Adam in Adam sura. Which you know, you might be able to get away with. It's a bit of acrobat, but you might be able to get away with it.

The problem is um Um the problem is the the transmissions that say fi surati Rahman that Allah created him in the image of the most merciful. And you can tell really that this is clearly a verse from the Bible in Genesis about God having created man in his own image. So, I think there's um I mean, I don't know.

I'm not Uh in my understanding, Imam Malik rejected it. I don't do not accept that Hadith. Uh I feel that it was um from the Israeliat um that has filtered through those things which were from biblical sources that have come through. Right. Okay. Next.

You often refer to the voice of reason preached by some ulama and do'at including yourself. Could you define what you mean by that? Okay. So, mhm. I'm not asking you to name people you wouldn't recommend. I mean, I'm not Right. Okay. The voice defeats the purpose when you have to define reason.

That's like uh okay. It's You see, when when things are that bad that the person is asking you, "What does reason mean?" I mean, well, uh okay. This Buckle down. This is going to be a bit of a a difficult ride. So, the voice of reason. What do we mean by reason? Well, we mean things that make sense, things that add up, things that are rational, things that uh are logical to the mind, things that uh that make sense.

I mean, I don't I don't know. Things that are coherent, things that come together through reason, through your cognitive faculties. I don't know how else to really explain that. Um most people will understand the word reason. They understand what reason is. So, when you say reason, most people understand what that means. So, I'm not sure how better to respond to that question.

And what is the opposite of that? Hmm. You often refer to the voice of reason preached by Omar. Could you define what you mean and what its opposite is? Its opposite, I guess, is to condemn reason. So, if you find people condemning reason, well, I'd be wary uh about people like that. And then, you see, people they they kind of play a scaremongering game.

So, they'll kind of say, "Well, you see, what they'll say is uh They'll say things like, "Well, oh, if the dean is to be defined by reason, then oh, then this it whose reason? And uh that's an easy one because, I mean, the sense of whose reason, we're talking about an intersubjectivity, which people would generally say is something that is understood as reasonable.

There is usually a an intersubjectivity, a collective societal understanding of what is deemed reasonable. So, people will say, "Oh, well, in that case, praying salah is unreasonable, and this is unreasonable, and this That's not what reason means." I hate to break it to these people. I hate to kind of break that uh

You see, a concept can be reasonable or unreasonable, a concept. As to its particulars, you can you can So, for example, is the concept of worship unreasonable? The concept of worship is not unreasonable. It is acceptable by reason. To say that worship, with a capital W, is not that that is something that the reason would accept.

Okay, that reason has no problem with the concept of worship. Now, we're talking about certain particulars. So, if you were to say something like worship in an excessive way, which now So, for example, a person has to worship 20 hours in a day. Reason would not accept that. Okay, so but the concept of worship is not anti-reason.

So, people say, "Oh, so to pray salah is unreasonable." No, it's not unreasonable. Can you demonstrate how it's unreasonable? Because the concept of worship is not uh against or antagonistic to reason. So, anyway, but the problem is people scare away they scare people away from reason. So, they say things like, "Oh, if anybody is preaching from the intellect, you should or if they're speaking from the intellect, you should be wary of these people." That is usually very kind of closed-minded and cultish kind of

people. The reason they do that is because they know that if they allow people to engage reason and the intellect, what that will do is it will put them under attack, and it will present them with challenges that they cannot respond to. So, if they feel that look, I can't answer these questions. If people start asking me all sorts of questions and I can't answer them, then where will I be?

So, one preemptive strike is to kind of scare people away from reason. Oh, if you follow your reason, you will go astray. I mean if you just pause for a moment and even contemplate, reflect over what's being said. What somebody is saying is that Allah has distinguished you from creatures with a faculty, but if you actually pay attention to that No, pay attention to it in everything except in religion.

Which is so dumb because that's to say, "Well, everything should be valued by this faculty which makes you so awesome." Except religion. Which completely goes against the the message of the Quoran. The Quoran is addressing the the Muslim the non-Muslims at the time only about reason. It's telling them, "Look, don't you reason?

Don't you see this? Don't you look, reflect? You know, are you not people, you know, in the valley of Abra? If only you are people of intellect, I follow you do you not use your intellect? Do you not see the way the cosmos is created? You know, I'm going to get a and I'm going to get a gun. Were they created from nothing? Where is their reason? Think about it.

Are they creators themselves? Allah says, "Do they not look at the the way the camel? You know, do they not look at the You know, do they not look at the the earth? Do they not look at the heavens? Do they not see these things? This is constantly Allah is reminding them about reason. Ibrahim saying to the the people when he smashes the idols, "Oh, you know, why don't you ask them?

You know, I felt what's wrong with the statues? Why aren't they speaking? But the problem is people say that's okay to read in the Quran, but to really think like that is wrong. Which is dumb. So what is Allah trying to misguide you by telling you these stories and inviting you to reason? Is he trying to misguide you?

That's the question. So anyway, right? Research shows that when first cousins marry and have children, loads of these children suffer from very serious illnesses. Following the principle of trajectory hermeneutics, would marrying cousins be considered haram? I don't know about being considered about considering it haram. But I think it would definitely be discouraged within the Sharia.

I mean, I think uh um these kind of things of uh are very I've said this before and I've answered it in much detail before that these kind of cousin marriages are really I mean as a one-off, if people do it, okay, but I think the way for example the Pakistanis generally tend to do it is um it's uh the incestuous is the least of the concerns.

It's it's it's it I mean I I don't and it's so claustrophobic. Anyway, I don't know how people hack that kind of stuff, but anyway, and somebody said last time, "Oh my god, uh uh uh uh said no Ali uh uh uh married the prophet's daughter, they were cousins. Uh how can you mock cousins? Well, uh well, if you weren't an inbred, you would be able to understand.

This is why cousin marriages are bad because they produce people like that. Right, so the thing is you see, unlike the way it happened in the time of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam or in some of the Arab you have another cultures where they also sometimes marry cousins. It's that they're so diversified.

So people are always marrying different people. So a one-off marrying a cousin is still has enough diversity in it. So for example, the father is is completely unrelated to the mother. They have a child. Now let's say for example, the father's brother who is married to somebody completely unrelated to these people who has a a child and then these two children get married.

That is still that's how for example, it may takes place sometimes in some of these other cultures or in the lifetime of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam or you've got people doing things like that. That's not the same that's not how it happens with a lot of the Pakistani community. So they've got just like cousins cousins cousins cousins cousins and everybody's bloody brother and sister brother cousin sister cousin sister cousin brother cousin cousin cousin cousin until the DNA turns around and goes like what the you guys you guys taking the mickey here like I mean, do you want me to do that?

Can you give me some room to play here? Can you give me some maneuverability? The DNA go DNA goes the chromosomes go is it you or we just looking into a mirror here? Is it Does it look like we're looking into a mirror? Always lost in Anyway right and this isn't to mock people by the way that are stuck in these relationships.

Sorry, did I say stuck? Sorry, slip of words there. This isn't to mock people who are in these relationships. It's just to say look for future choices people should be slightly open-minded, that's all. Okay? Uh anyway, moving on. Oh, one I want to ask a very important question. Salma Khan is asking, "When is Eid?" I mean, how on earth is that very important?

Is it when we see the moon? Is it when we see Saudi see the moon? Or is it whenever we can have time off work? Well, Salma, if you check out my Fast and Fiqh series, which is available on YouTube, I believe, and it was on Facebook as well, you can run a search for it. Now, I did cover this about when about the moon sighting in considerable detail.

So, if you just watch that there, inshallah. Solomon says, "As-salamu alaykum. How are you? All right. Que te cuentas, Suleiman? How you doing? How you doing? Is it possible for someone to follow one madhhab and be Sufi? Or this is not important or something more? For example, I converted a long time ago.

Um so, he used to I'm not sure I fully understand the question. Yes, she stopped to practice It's okay. So, he back to be Catholic. And for example, he dies. What kind of ceremony I can do for him? I'm not quite sure I fully understand the question. I think there's a few parts here. One part is well, about following one madhhab.

Of course, I mean, following a madhhab is common sense. I do not believe I've answered this in more detail before that following a madhhab is an obligation. I do not believe that. But, uh it is common sense. And what other than the school of Medina Uh you know that, people. Right. So, the thing is but um about being Sufi, I think Sufism is separate Not I think, I know so.

It's separate to the madhhabs. It's got nothing really to do with the madhhabs. And uh so, people of all madhhabs can be Sufis. And or they don't need to be Sufi. I mean, that's a separate thing running parallel to the madhhabs. Uh it's more a spiritual kind of practice. Right. As to your father um you mentioned that he took Islam to be after 4 years he stopped to practice.

So, he went back to Catholic. I'm not sure I fully understand. I think what you're saying is your father converted to Islam and practiced it for a while. Uh Right. So, the thing is uh Right. Did I just hear you ask for the No, I don't think so. But So, the thing is if you He practiced Islam for a while, then he stopped practicing, and then he may have gone back to uh becoming um Catholic.

I'm not sure how openly became Catholic. If he didn't openly become Catholic and just stopped practicing Islam openly, then maybe from husn al-zann, from having a good um kind of intention, you can still consider him Muslim, and you can do the janazah. If he openly denounced Islam and and said, "You know, I've got nothing to do with Islam anymore. Now, just I'm clearly a Catholic." Uh then I guess in that case you can perform the rites uh of whatever funeral rights in accordance with Catholicism.

Okay? So, I hope that helps, inshallah. Um, Yaseen Sharif, all right, our raqi. Right, I'm still waiting, by the way, uh, Ustaz Yaseen, who's heavily involved in, uh, doing things like ruqyah and and exorcisms. I'm still awaiting to be invited to an exorcism, but it has to be the biggest and the baddest of the exorcisms.

It has to outdo Emily Rose. Right. Then, inshallah, I'm awaiting um, I'm awaiting that, okay? So, you've mentioned this here about Musa alayhis salaam. The hadith was a very modest person who kept himself covered. Uh, some of the bunnies, right? Right, okay, this is in Bukhari. Yep, I know I know what you're talking about. This hadith in Bukhari is to do with Musa alayhis salaam being people alleged that Musa alayhis salaam had some kind of defect.

Now, the thing is the wording that appears in certain some of these narrations is Hmm, all right, okay. So, this is past the watershed anyway, people. So, the thing is that they say he had some kind of testicular defect. Okay. Now, this is the narration that you find in Bukhari. Uh, I'm sorry, it's the same story.

You've got different narrations, but this is in Bukhari as well. And they say, well, what happened? And some of them mentioned more than others, that he would always bathe with something wrapped around. So, people used to be like, come on, why can't you be like a real man and just just rip it off and just come in with the rest of us, like, yeah, real men. But, so, they said, oh, we know that, you know, he's got a testicular defect and one of his testicles is so small and the other is deformed or something and so anyway, and the other is so swollen and deformed or something.

But anyway, the point is so one day when he's coming out, the rock this not not the wrestler The Rock. That would be strange if The Rock happened to be there at the time of when Israel But the the rock that there was a rock which he put his clothes on that that rock gets up and then runs off with his clothes and then Musa chases after this rock, right saying, "Where the hell are you going?" And then he beats the rock, right?

And and whilst he's running, everybody sees him naked and they go, "Ah, it's all right. He's he's normal." I mean, this this is nonsense. Utter nonsense. Right? This Hadith is fabricated. It is not true. There is no way on earth distorted. At best, it may be a distortion of something entirely different. Okay, so um So the thing is that these Look, people we don't need to be These This Hadith is clearly um

not valid. Okay, it is not sahih. I mean, it is by chain authentic, but it is not valid. Okay? And there are several ahadith like this in Bukhari as well. So the thing is look, you have to remember something. I keep highlighting this and you can refer to my previous sessions that the preservation of Hadith has been an excellent job. And that the ulama have really worked hard to preserve the Sunnah through Hadith.

What they have not done is an infallible job. Nobody can do that. So the problem is when we start to fall into this uh this misconception of infallibility, we start to think, "Oh my god, because it's sahih, it must be infallibly accurate." That it can never be a mistake in it.

They themselves never said that. They themselves said, "It's when a chain is sahih with the precision and the meticulous job we've done, it's unlikely to find weak hadith. Unlikely, not impossible. So, in each book, so let's say you take something like Bukhari, which I don't know, you're going to put anything between 5 to 8,000 hadith in there, right? With the repetitions and things. Now, I don't know, finding 10 hadith out of that, 20 hadith even out of that that do not match up to the requirement, is still an excellent job.

It's an amazing job. But, the problem is when we start to say, "No, no, no." That this there can't even be one that is wrong. But, uh I'm afraid there are. So, uh like I've proven on many accounts, like the hadith in of Isra, to do with the night journey, is clearly false. Clearly false. Gets the date entirely wrong. Says that the prophet went on the night journey 3 years before he became a prophet, which is nonsense.

Everybody knows that's nonsense. So, the point is that don't be surprised when you find one to incidents that are a bit Another one which I don't want to go into today, or maybe at another point, is to do with the prophet having magic done on him. Once again, nothing but nonsense. And just uh and know that this and this hadith of Musa alayhis salam and these kind of things are all blasphemous.

They are all an insult to the honor of the prophets and the messengers. And it's interesting to note that in aqidah, we are actually taught that you are not allowed to attribute anything that may even slightly be denigrating to the prophet to the extent that the ulama write. So, for example, even people like Jalaluddin al-Suyuti in his al-Fatawi, other ulama write that you they generally say you shouldn't even be teaching people that the prophet was a shepherd.

They actually say this. You shouldn't even be saying that the prophet was a shepherd because that's something that people look down on. So, to say things like, "Oh, the prophet, you know, oh, he didn't he was clumsy. He didn't know what he's doing. He was like, 'Oh, he was he became sexually impotent. Oh, he thinks he's had sex, didn't know he's had What kind of What kind of insult is this to the to the best of creation?'" And then, people get worked up that I CHALLENGE IT.

WELL, HELL YEAH, I'm going to challenge it. If it You bring nonsense, it gets challenged. That's the thing. So, right now All right. Have you always been a Maliki? Okay, a bit of a personal question. No, I've not always been a Maliki. I like my rest of my fellow uh compadres, the thing is I generally, like most people from an Asian from Pakistani background, was Hanafi.

Uh I chose the school of Medina myself when I went off to study in the '90s when I went to Damascus, and I lived with some Malikis. But prior to that, I had been made aware of the school of Medina, and I was very fascinated by this concept of the practice of the people of Medina that Imam Malik, you see, it was a lived tradition. It wasn't just something he learned. It was something which he um which was lived in Medina.

And that's how the deen was transmitted. So, I was kind of overwhelmed with this concept and the commitment and dedication Imam Malik had to Medina kind of all It was all striking for me. So, that's where the seeds were kind of planted, and then they I don't know, they started to take form whilst I was in Damascus. The road to Damascus, people. That was it. So, right.

Um the story behind the Karbala, I've answered these kind of things before previously. I'm not going to really go into that right now. So, what's the difference between a classical Mufti in say the Ottoman times and the modern Mufti like yourself? Have you got any political or social roles similar to them? I think Muftis are are Muftis.

They're not um I don't think there's much differences in terms of I I mean I think there's huge similarities, and naturally there will be some differences due to contextual and time differences. So, we are in a different era. So, you know, I'm not part So, me, I'm not part of an administration. I'm not part of I freelance. All right, as a Mufti. All right, people.

That's the way, huh? Be your own boss. So, the thing is I don't work But there are people today who are Muftis, they work for Dar al-Ifta, so they are salaried as a Mufti. They you know, that's their job, that's their salary, they get paid to do that. So, that still takes place today. It's not extinct. Um um I obviously don't do that. I my interaction is all voluntary.

It's all myself. I I use social media as a medium. I'm sure people in the past, the Ottomans, didn't really use Facebook, so that's a key difference. Plus, I mean even in their time, they would have been the same kind of thing. You would have had people who were freelancing, and you would have had people who had uh roles and jobs and you would have had statutory kind of um um enlistments kind of statutory positions as well.

So, the state would have a mufti, a province may have a mufti, a city may have a mufti, an official mufti, but they will be regular people as well that are you know, just muftis but they're just freelancing. They're not really um employed by the state or employed by um institutions and things like that. I think the challenges are are similar that we in the sense that we are trying to deal with challenges of our age.

So, whatever were the challenges of their age, they were dealing with them whatever are the challenges of this age, I'm trying to deal with another people are trying to deal with. I think we need to stop being a people that just regurgitate. We need to have a strong connection with our tradition, but we need to use that tradition to kind of propel forward or push forward a a thick a an understanding of the deen that's that is relevant for where we are, for the issues that are our challenges.

So, so for example, and that's in all sciences. So, fatwa today, the fatwa need to reflect our age. They need to reflect our context. Um aqidah needs to reflect our challenges. So, I mean, I'll come to this aqidah point. I actually want to answer a question on that. Somebody raised a point, but I'll just finish this. So, I think it's important we reflect our own era.

There's no point us just being verbatim like reading out of a book because those scholars, I mean, obviously it's important that we read out out a book, but we don't restrict ourselves to that. So, the scholars who wrote these books are, for example, if you take Mukhtasar Khalil or I mean, that's okay, written in very small code, but let's just say you took a an ex- an expansive commentary on some fiqh book.

Now, if you went to Imam Malik's time, they weren't He wasn't dealing with it in the same way because his time was different. So, what these scholars were doing was keeping the roots, but they were dealing with the issues of their age. They were coming up with terminology for their age. They were changing the rulings in accordance with their age. They were even challenging beliefs in accordance with their age.

So, all of this was happening. So, we need to carry on doing that. The deen is something which is relevant for us as well. It's not just for the medieval times. So, just saying, well, okay, whatever the medieval people exactly Exactly, why don't we just replicate them? That's not what the deen was about. Okay, so the challenges of So, anyway, I'll come back to So, that answers that question, I hope. And there are huge similarities, and this thing of ijtihad Ijtihad means that you are trying to come up with opinions, your understanding.

You are trying to create. And if you look at the the thinking skills, so for example, if whether you have you know, knowledge, understanding, knowing something, understanding lower order thinking skills, and higher than that, whether you'll have things like analysis, application, synthesis, and then creation. So, to create something, to synthesize views. Now, this is seen as ijtihad.

The thing is that we today have just become so You see, like we've become weird. Like we say, "Oh, nobody can can come up with new information. Nobody can do ijtihad. Because to do ijtihad, you have to be a a quantum computer. You can't even be a regular computer. You've got to be a quantum operating computer.

So, you've got to be a genius in all these things, and you've got to be surpassing in in this, and you've got to be surpassing in that. And so, nobody can do this. What nonsense. What That means the deen is redundant. That's not true. The Imam Ghazali and many of the people spoke about tajazzul ijtihad. That ijtihad can take place in certain portions.

So, if you are dealing with fiqh, it doesn't mean you have to be a master in hadith to specialize in certain aspects of fiqh. Likewise, you can you could be dealing with ijtihad within a certain bab within fiqh. So, all of these things have been discussed under tajazzul ijtihad. Now, people today have just become so kind of obsessive and control freaks, that oh my god, nobody can be a mujtahid.

People in the past used to use these terms interchangeably. So, if you look at the usul fiqh books, like let's say al-Juwayni and people like that, they will say al-faqih is al-mujtahid. Who is al-hakim. So, "These things are interchangeable," they will say. But then later on, people started to come up with all these categories.

"Oh, to be a mujtahid, you have to be of this category." And then there are seven categories. And you think, "Oh, really? Who the hell told you? Oh, I'm sorry, is that your ijtihad? Oh, I thought you're not allowed to do ijtihad. Oh, no, no, this is You know, it's so And then they say this They say, "Look, oh, you can't do ijtihad. You're not capable of doing ijtihad." Well, I say to them, "The thing is, since by your own testimony, you're not qualified to assess it, how can you tell whether I can do ijtihad or not?

Because you yourself admit that you're inept to to assess it. So, you're unqualified to be an assessor. So, if I am doing ijtihad, or other people are doing ijtihad, how do you know? Because you, by your own testimony, are inept. So, you can't come to the discourse and discuss this. So, I find this very nonsensical.

All part of the institutionalization of this deen. Honestly, the greatest one of the greatest calamities that has struck so many things, and unfortunately, even Islam couldn't you know, wasn't saved wasn't kind of protected from uh from this calamity, was institutionalization. Cuz once something becomes institutionalized, it's all about control. It's all about like empire.

It's all about dominion. It's all of It's nothing about the deen anymore. It's just about controlling people. And having And that's what happened with the church. And that is what many people have attempted to do with this plan. But no, no, no. We no let that happen. So, the thing is, you guys can go and institutionalize whatever the hell you want.

But the last time I checked, this wasn't your dad's deen. So, you can you can keep yourself to yourself. I have no interest in what you think. These kind of control freak mentalities are for insecure people. If you have confidence, if you have security, if you feel sure about yourself, come forward, challenge things, promote thinking, promote free thought.

Anyway, are there any methodologies for akal and nakal? This is a um a complicated question. You see, because once again, it goes into You see, it says Imam Ghazali said, he said, "Wa yurafu sidq al-shara bil akal." That the validity of the sharia can only be known through the intellect. Now, people here then just go into all this oh how do we know?

Then people are going to say, "Well, the intellect teaches us that uh Islam should be a I mean, they come up with all these kind of argue things from an absurd perspective, but the point is, are there clear-cut defined rules? They ain't like that, because these things I mean, I I wish they were, but they ain't they ain't. You know, they are not like um you're not going to get like a list saying, "Okay, you can use reason as long as a b c d e." I mean, you will get people trying to say these things, but they're not divinely written.

Anybody can say, I mean, you can come up with a list of rules on how to use the akal, but it doesn't mean that that is the way. Now, people may disagree with you. Right? It's not what God has said. So, the point is, through your reason, you will come to understand that Islam is valid and the truth. Once you accept that, you will submit to accepting religion.

Now, when you accept it, you are in this parameter. So, then you won't say, you know, people say, "Oh, but then you'll say things like, oh, I don't want to pray." Yeah, but you wouldn't say that, because if you cuz you wouldn't embrace the deen then. It's stupid. You see, this is like people who say, "Oh, you know, it's like saying I say to somebody, "Oh, I want to play football." So, they say, "Okay, let's play football." And then I stand there and say, "Oh, but I think this is stupid running around after a ball.

I think this is this this this this I'm going to use my free will and I'm going to stand still." I mean, but what but you yourself, by your own submission, wanted to play. You want to be a part of this. So, it doesn't make Nobody does things like that. They only challenge religion, the religious rulings that come contrary or that that seem to not fit in with the greater context.

And Imam Malik has been doing this. Imam Malik has taught us this. Imam Abu Hanifah used to do this. So, this is how our legacy was built. So, what is wrong with questioning? How else are you supposed to know whether something makes sense? And a great example of this is the Hadith that is in um It's the Hadith uh by um

uh Is it There's a Hadith by one of the Sahabi I I think it's Abdullah ibn Hudhafah, but the There's a companion anyway who is dispatched as part of a kind of battalion, as a group they go out. It's in Sahih Bukhari and they've been sent out on a mission. Now, whilst they are out there, um they they get into some dispute amongst themselves.

So, the They've been told that obviously, when they go out, they have an amir. An amir is a um the person in charge, the kind of captain of the group. And you have to obey the amir. So, the thing is, whilst they are out there, um I believe Abdullah ibn Hudhafah, but the thing is whilst they are out there, the the they get into this debate, this discussion, and the Amir says, "I don't believe that to be true." And they say this, and he says, "Okay, I know how this can be decided." He's he he he kind of he he he

he lights a fire, this big massive fire. He lights it I mean they had a fire anyway, but he makes it quite large. And he says, "Okay, I want you to jump into this fire. If you are truthful, Allah will save you. And if you are not truthful, then you you won't get saved." Now, the Sahabi narrating this says, "I said, 'No, I won't.'" He said, "Because that sounds dumb." "Why on earth would I jump into a fire?" And his words were that, "We came to Islam so Allah could save us from the fire." Why he said, "I'd be an idiot to jump

into fire." Think about it. At this position, he has an instruction from the prophet to obey his leader. But he refuses to obey him based on reason. He says that look, this doesn't make any sense. Then he goes back to the prophet and he tells the prophet alayhi salaam. He says that that they told me to do this. I said, "I won't do it. It doesn't make any sense." And the prophet said, "La ta'ata li makhluqin fi ma'siyat al-khaliq." That there is no obedience to a the creation in disobeying the creator.

Now, people say alhamdulillah, but the prophet said it and now it's a command. Yes, but he acted on this before the prophet said it. At the time, he only had a mandate to obey. But he said that it doesn't make any sense. Why should I So, when things don't make sense to you, it is right to question.

Otherwise, your whole deen may collapse. Right, let's move on. Next question. Do we have to move our finger in Tashahhud? Right, you don't have to Kahan asking, you don't have to move your finger in Tashahhud as Ibn Abi Zaid Ibn Abi Zaid Al-Qairawani says in the You see, the Maliki, the school of Medina kind of put the So, they have it like that, a bit like a trigger. They go trigger happy.

So, they kind of So, you've got This is how the school of Medina kind of do that and they and they do it like this. So, or you can just point. And this is from the virtues of salah. It's not an obligatory act, but Ibn Abi Zaid says and he says You know, you can you can move it And he says regarding moving the finger, he says there's two positions or two opinions that you can move it or leave it still.

And he says It's all fine. There's no big deal, really. Right, so that was a an easy quick question. All right. The Hanafi, by the way, do it as in they kind of when they say illallah and then they kind of drop it. That's the Um but the school of Medina non-stop right from Tashahhud all the way through till the end.

They move it and that's based on the Hadith that the Prophet you have to that he would move the sababa this this finger, the index finger, he would move it. He would be happy to do his dua, make his dua with it. So, they do it right till the salam. Next question, Salma Khan asks, uh will good non-Muslims go to hell?

Last time I checked, I wasn't the gatekeeper. Look, the prophet said in the Hadith that nobody goes to heaven. Nobody goes to by their actions. It's all by the grace of God. Allah can send whoever he wants to heaven, inshallah. So, none these kind of questions of who goes to hell, who goes to heaven, this isn't really for us to sit on earth and play God.

These things don't really make much sense. Right. Muftee Tas Hussein asks, "Can you combine Maghrib and Isha as a traveler knowing well you will get home at a decent time in order to pray Isha?" Why not? What What did that other scholars Of course you can. Of course you can. All right. So, the thing is, yep, you can indeed, inshallah.

As the Hadith says, the prophet said, "Inna Allah alaykum, Allah gave you a gift. Faqbalu sadaqata." So, accept his gift, his charity from you. Shorten the prayer when you go. And in fact, the school of Medina says that shortening a prayer is a sunnah, a sunnah which the messenger never left. So, they say if you were traveling and there was a jama'ah taking place, but you had to pray complete or you pray on your own and shorten, they actually say, according to the school of Medina, that you pray on your own and you shorten.

Because this was a sunnah that the prophet never ever left. Although if it's going to cause any discord or disunity or a problem, then sure, by all means pray with the group. Right. So, right. Ah, what are we What would you consider the work of Sheikh Ahmed al-Shanqeeti representative of the school? What of his commentary on uh al-Murshid al-Mu'in?

Um the thing is I I I'm not actually sure. I haven't actually studied the works of Sheikh Ahmed al-Shanqeeti closely, so I can't really I'm not in a position to really comment on that. There are many other commentators out there, many other commentaries, many of the Maliki here. So, in fact, that reminds me of another question that I was asked about would I consider Ibn Ashur the most in our recent times the most kind of I don't know.

Uh forward-thinking kind of legendary Maliki scholar of the last century. I think he would definitely be amongst them, definitely. I think he was part of an entire movement. It wasn't just him. Uh there were other people with him, people junior to him like Sheikh Muhammad al-Aziz al-Ja'it of Zaytuna, other people with him, um con- uh slightly senior but contemporary like Sheikh uh uh Salim Bou Hajib, uh his their teachers Sheikh Riahi uh his grandfather Ibn Ashur, um Sheikh

Makhlouf, you had Sheikh Nakhlah, um all of these people from that Zaytuna legacy that were kind of had this thing going on. You had in Egypt, these were all Maliki, but you people like Sheikh Khidr Hussein, um people like um uh Sheikh Khidr Hussein was obviously also very forward kind of thinking. If you go a bit further, I mean, if you come a bit to the east, I suppose, with Egypt, people like Sheikh Muhammad Abduh, who wasn't Maliki but was of that same kind of thinking, forward thinking.

His student Rashid Rida, uh other contemporaries, I suppose, their student Muhammad al-Ghazali, and this kind of and they were very locked in with Zaytuna. They worked closely with people like Sheikh Ibn Ashur. They actually even wrote for some of the um um they they were they had a a risalah called al-Urwah al-Wuthqa and I think it was even presented in in part of the Zaytuna edition or something.

They they even included it, but but they attended Zaytuna and lectured as well as visiting scholars. You had people if you if you go further out west in Morocco, people like Sheikh Allal al-Fassi, an amazing scholar, contemporary once again, a bit earlier, all into the Maqasid thing, has a book on Maqasid, eventually becomes I think he set up the Hizbul Istiqlal or something.

I think the the kind of democratic party in Morocco, which still continues till today, but I think he was the one who initially set it up. But prior to having done that, he was a lead scholar, a graduate from al-Qarawiyyin. People with him like um or prior to him as well, but legends of that kind of era, maybe just slightly senior to him like Sheikh al-Wazzani, amazing scholar, very forward-thinking.

Who who who who gives ijazah to Sheikh Abd al-Hayy al-Kattani, who then gives ijazah to Sheikh Sidi Bel Khubza, who has given me ijazah. All right. All right, people. So So the thing is this chain, this kind of legacy. So you have huge people people like Sheikh al-Faqih Yahya al-Wulati from Mauritania.

All of these people are part of a a kind of legacy, which is in the last 100 years. They are all part of the 20th century. And going from the early 20th 20th century, you know, may I don't mean right up to the 2000s, but maybe up until the '70s, '80s. These are all people that kind of span that time frame And they all have this kind of mindset of trying to challenge the or trying to deal with the challenges that have risen.

So it is important to to learn about these people and to have that connection with them. I think Ibn Ashur was definitely an amazing outstanding figure amongst them. Um Obviously, I mean he he authored significantly. That's what makes him so amazing as well and he wrote in Maqasid and he has his 30 volume tafsir.

But I I suppose Allal al-Fassi has his book on Maqasid but then Sheikh Wazzani has his book in several maybe 15 volumes or so on fatawa nawazil contemporary fatawa where he's really forward-thinking for his day and age and so and even people like Sheikh Yahya al-Wulati who wrote on stuff like he summarizes and this is the time by the way that the Muwafaqat of Imam Shatibi has been brought back into print.

In their time and these are the commentators on it. And these are the people so Sheikh Yahya al-Wulati has a rendition of the Muwafaqat of Shatibi speaking about the Maqasid the objectives of the Sharia. He speaks all about is very forward-thinking about things like how punishments should change and all these things should change according to the age. Anyway, so I hope that shed some light on that.

So I I I think all of these people are amazing. Definitely Ibn Ashur is amongst the most outstanding of that era especially from the Maliki tradition. Um Otherwise, people I mean they all were outstanding. Okay. Can you please how does Right. Oh sorry. Can you please explain the concept of risk? A lot of people say, "Wallahi, bro, no matter what you do, if it's not written for you, you won't get it." Okay, this is a reason why many people do not pursue goals.

Right, this risk is something that inshallah we believe Allah will bring to us, our provisions. But what are those provisions? They are in line with your choices that you choose in your life. Okay, so if you I've explained this before, our concept of destiny is like a computer game.

If you choose you see the whole game has been designed by the designer. Every possible outcome has already been selected. Where you get to will be based on your uh All right, if Neanderthals existed pre-Adam, is impossible for us to have any cuz we are children of Adam.

Could it be that we just share Sorry, I want to come back to that question. Who's asking that? Noor Khan. Okay, anyway. So, the thing is now uh Right, yes, so risk. Now, where you get to in this game will be will depend on your own ability and your choices. So, that's how you should picture it as a video game.

Okay. Now, you can't change the game. You can't if you're playing one particular game now you just turn it into something else. I I don't play many video I've got the arcade machine which it's retro, so it goes back to the the '90s really, late '80s, '90s, that kind of stuff. So, it's not I don't modern games are just too I could never really get into them. Too complicated for me.

All these kind of buttons, I can't too old school, I guess. So, the thing is now you can't change the game, but you where you get to will be up to you and what you gain along the way. Your risk will be determined by your choices. Okay. So so it's important to remember that and understand that. So, when people just sit down and say, "You know, if Allah wills it, it'll happen.

I know. Let me just sit on my lazy butt over here and Allah will bring greatness to me." Maybe he will, maybe he won't. The way you're going, you'll soon enough find out, inshallah. So, I think look hard work or it doesn't even have to be hard work, but work as in effort, even mental effort or choices carry repercussions and carry consequences and carry results.

So, let's not be a lazy people. Although we all me included, we're all lazy at times, but I mean let's not be lazy based on this excuse of qadar. Okay. Right. How does a transac- transsexual live their life? Well, funny you should ask me. Say it, FX.

I mean, could you tell that I was wearing heels? I thought I was hiding them away over here, but when I gave that fatwa for nail polish, who did you think it was for? It was obviously for myself first. Right. So the thing is uh how does a transsexual live their life?

Uh if he was a man and has surgery to look like a woman, um I mean, the thing is whatever they are now now in now time, it's all about the now. And that's what they'll live by. Okay, so if they are a So, whether they are post operation or pre operation or whatever they If they are Nowadays, they can get the surgery, they can get the the kind of the assistance medical assistance to make that shift uh smoother and clearly once they do make that shift,

they will So, if it's a woman, so let's say it I don't know what else to say, so I'm just going to say it. Right, so if it is now a woman, then she's a woman. Simple as. Treat her like a woman and respect her as a woman and she shares all the you know, if this is a women's changing room, she goes into the women's changing room.

Uh If toilet, she goes into the women. If she prays, she prays with the women. She's a woman. Simple as. If it's a man, it's a man. Simple as. Okay, so So, I think uh Right. How uh how do I Right. Shukran shukran. I appreciate I appreciate your kind and supportive words.

Right, so that's what um that's how a transsexual And people should I think people I've said this before that they should really learn to respect uh people like that are that are in those positions, okay? And you have to understand that it's that certain things You see, you know what it is? People struggle with ambiguity. They're so used to categories in life that everything must fit a category.

So, when something doesn't challenges that kind of binary perception of life, people struggle. And they don't know how to react. And the easiest of and most predictable of all human reactions is anger. So, they just get angry. So, they I don't beat up this person. I saw this clip on Facebook the other day, people beating up a transsexual in um in some country, foreign country, and it was despicable.

Utterly despicable. I'm not saying they weren't Muslim. They weren't Muslim, alhamdulillah, but this kind of stuff happens in Muslim countries as well. It happens in places like Pakistan. It happens in other countries. They target these people. Um and it's really it's it is clearly, categorically haram to be targeting these people. They have just They have every right to live uh with the full quality of life as everybody else.

And I think they have enough challenges as it is. So, people shouldn't really And I have said before, I do believe that Islam gives them the right to get married. Islam gives them the right to live a full life. Um people have ignored their rights along throughout history. I don't feel that I feel that was a shortcoming of people and not Islam. Okay, so um Somebody said here, "Kusare get a good hiding." I mean, that's that's my point, you see.

And And I feel that this kind of stuff has to it's intolerable. Okay, we cannot kind of tolerate really that kind of behavior of allowing people to kind of condemn and attack and and there was you're right there was a video a while back actually what am I saying there was a video a while back not this recent one I spoke of and where that Pakistani transsexual girl had been beaten really bad and gang-raped and things like this.

And you know what it is? Honestly, tell me you know what you could say I'm wrong in this and I hope I'm wrong. But really it's just because they're so perverted and they have the these people that attack them really they they have all this sexual frustra- frustration and they just really just want to violate them sexually and and at the same time be able to justify to themselves that we're doing it as a to kind of punish them.

And it's just a it is definitely a sickness that is in their own in their own head. It's not in So and that I actually believe that that that's one of the insecurities and that that they can't one that they can't handle the ambiguity and two that they are actually insecure one about maybe their own sexuality, two they just are sexually perverted and want to vi- they want to engage sexually with this person but they do it as a violation so they can kind of huh I did it to kind of punish.

And anyway, let's move on. Let's move on. All right. I asked because there are some unexpected opinions such as forbidden is a woman asking her husband for divorce. This a woman can ask for divorce. There's nothing wrong with a woman asking for divorce. If a relationship has broken down yes you know, it's always good to try to seek mediation or reconciliation if possible, to do the common sense thing common sensical thing.

If it's not working and the relationship has broken down, even if it's from one side, it's broken down, then they should just seek divorce. They shouldn't be We've got too much of a taboo in our communities and people suffer for decades based on that and they shouldn't have to. All right, so Okay, what are the rulings on masturbation? Muhammad Abdul naughty naughty

You naughty naughty. Is that Of course, of course, for pure academic reasons. We One One must One must engage. For for purely academic purposes. Oh, I must say rather Right, well won't you be glad to know, Muhammad Abdul

Right, that actually actually it is permissible. Okay, it's not haram. Masturbation is not haram. Okay? And in fact, many of the salaf right, used to Ibn Hazm brings chains going back to the salaf as a need that many of them used to actually instruct their youth to masturbate in order to keep modest.

So, he brings that in his book in the Muhalla. Nothing wrong with things like that. I'm not saying you need to go and instruct people to do it, but it's it's it's permissible. It's not haram. So, I know I know tonight's session will have brought a smile to somebody's face. Well, Muhammad Abdul, we do hope that you'll be joining us for the rest of the session as well. And

Right, anyway, so um Sa- salaam alaikum, Sarah. Mm mm mm mm mm Mm Mm Mm Mm Mm Mm says, "Any advice for us all on how to maintain a Muslim identity whilst living in a minority Muslim country?" You see, this is the thing. What does uh Somebody Nicholas says, "The point of Ibn Hazm was to avoid greater sins like zina." Uh, Nicholas, I've got news for you.

Ibn Hazm is very clear on his point. Uh uh uh uh uh That's not his point. He's actually very clear that there's nothing in the Quran or Sunnah to say this is haram. And he says that to claim something is haram uh is to to is without Allah having made it haram is haram. So, he says that people are actually perpetrating a haram by trying to make something halal haram.

And And so, he he doesn't bring that as Other people have taken that path of saying, "Oh, it's okay to prevent um zina and stuff." But, Ibn Hazm and other people that took his route in saying these things are just permissible. Uh And amongst them was uh people like Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal, by the way. Just to throw in, since we're name-dropping.

All right. So, Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal as well said it wasn't haram. There's noth- They saw You know I'm sure they're natural things. All right. So As long as uh it's not on webcam. So, anyway, the thing is right now what do other respected scholars think of your modern Sorry, just answering the question for Sarah there about Muslim identity.

Look, if we take a look at what the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam said about identity. When the Prophet was asked, he said, like what did the Prophet actually say? It's okay what your local Imam says or that Mullah says or this person. What did the Prophet say when he was asked about identity? He said, and that's when it was really important. Identity was such a big thing. Um because Muslims were at such a small minority in the world then.

He said that man man istaqbala qiblatana wa salla salatana. So, whosoever faces our qibla, prays our salah, wa akala dhabihatana, eats from our meat, like halal meat, fa dhalikal Muslim. That is a Muslim. Okay. That's in Abu Dawud. Now, you see, the Prophet, he he defined two things.

One, he defined worship. That how do you know somebody's Muslim? Wow, oh, I've seen him pray. He points to a unified direction on this globe. And the other was a social custom of food. It was not dress. It was not looks. It was not you all wear like a white, you know, white thobe and and the women wear this black bloody I can't stand those things, seriously.

But anyway, the But they they this kind of but not to I I I mean, I'm sure the people of Saudi and the Gulf love their culture, but it's I don't really take a liking to it. So, the thing is now, they this is not what the Prophet said. So, so I read somewhere the other day somebody saying, "Look, um in fact, recently read saying that look, when Islam is under attack, scholars ought to become more strict in an attempt to preserve the deen." And yet we find people becoming more

liberal. I'm sorry. Uh let me re-enter Let me just re-translate what you just said. Uh in a time when Islam is being attacked, right? People ought to start inventing what Islam is and start to falsely attributing to Allah what he did not attribute to himself. Uh I don't think so, right? I'm sorry.

Just because Islam is getting attacked, you don't need to start lying on behalf of Allah. He doesn't need you to lie on behalf of him. He's already told you what is obligatory. He's already told you what isn't obligatory. Why are you making things obligatory that he did not say, right? Why are you saying Islam has a uniform? Why? Because we're being attacked. Uh no. I'll tell you why you're being bloody attacked. Part of why you're being attacked is because you keep making a point of being so different.

Why don't you be normal? Why don't you be a part of your environment? Why are you so stubborn about wanting to make political statements about being a different entity that is not you know, that appears suspicious? Why are you trying to do that? Why are I don't understand why people think it's Islamic to look like you you've just migrated from the Gulf to London or to the UK or to the US.

Why? I mean, I've got Okay, you can do it. There's There's no harm in doing it, but from an Islam but it's not Islam, but people think it's an Islamic Oh, I'm now Muslim because Look, I'm wearing this white and here they don't say Here they don't say "Man tashabbaha bi qaumin whosoever imitates a people, tell me, what what do non-Muslims call they call it a frock? They say, "Oh, why is he wearing a frock?" I mean, it looks like a woman's dress, but but here it's okay.

It's okay, it doesn't matter about imitation. Normally they say, "Oh, anybody who imitates, you can't do anything that women wear or resembles women's dress." But here and they make such a point about stamping things. And I gave this example so often, people you breed hostility. And I'm not trying to say, "Look, the Islamophobes, many of them are bang out of order. What they do is wrong.

But what you shouldn't do is give them a reason. You shouldn't do that either. You shouldn't be giving them a reason. But it doesn't justify their actions. Two wrongs do not make a right. Okay? That's my point. So, look, be normal. Dress normal. Look normal. And people say, "Should I blend in?" Well, you ought to have I mean, you you are part of the thing. Why are you not blended in already? I mean, why why would you think that you're not The prophet did not introduce a uniform in Islam.

He did not introduce a dress code. He did not This is why I kind of don't like this. I have this strong Seriously, like people as soon as they Like something has to be Islamic, they say, "Oh, I know. Get the women all dressed in black and may make them wear these things and the men all dressed in these white." Why? Just be normal. Be a part of who you are, where you are, and let people appreciate. Oh, and there will always be haters.

There will always be Islamophobes. There will always be and to them we need to stand tall, stand strong against that. Okay? And there are many people doing good work, activism, opposing Islamophobia, creating an awareness, and that is great and it needs to be supported where it can. But what we should not be doing is giving more reasons for people to hate Islam.

Shouldn't No, people say, "Oh, uh uh Somebody says, "Look like you." You don't need to look like me, just look natural. Okay, you don't need to walk around in in a T-shirt like this or you need to wear a chain like this. You don't need to do that. This is me. I'm being me, you be you. You understand? Like So, I'm sure you probably wouldn't have this dress sense. You probably wouldn't have a hairstyle or a goatee like mine. You probably have your style thing.

But just be you. You don't need to be me, but just Right, okay. Was female circumcision part of the Amal of Medina? No, female circumcision is not a religious thing. So, the thing is the Hadith where the Prophet Sallallahu alaihi wasallam spoke of Khafad. They call it Khafad and they call that Khatan.

Okay? The male circumcision. The female circumcision, as in many of the books like in the Suluki and Tardid and the expansion upon Khalil and things like this, that they explain and even in Muwahib ul-Jalil, he explains that this was more cosmetic. This has been misinterpreted. So, the Maliki Madhhab, the school of Medina, the Hanafi Madhhab do not recognize female circumcision as anything as a religious act.

I know the Shafi'i do. And this is why it's a bit of an issue in the Shafi'i countries, I think in Indonesia, Malaysia, and in East Africa. Uh and and it leads to female, you know, FGM, so mutilation of the female genitalia. And the thing is that this is a misunderstanding of the text because if you read the Hadith, the Hadith is speaking about a kind of cosmetic angle.

Now, in the commentaries, the ulama write that certain tribes and certain geographical uh regions, certain ethnicities, that what they would have, and they actually write it, and they say ka afa dik, that they would have that certain clitoral clitoral protrusions. So, a certain amount of kind of anatomy would protrude almost unaesthetically.

That the it would just be And even in this part of the world and in contempt, people actually go and they get surgery, cosmetic surgery, at later ages to kind of They have like labial kind of surgery and other surgery to kind of reconstruct and to make it look more aesthetic. But, what they would do in certain regions, uh certain ethnicities or certain tribes, where they had this as they kind of build, that they would kind of trim that at that age.

And this is why the prophet said, "Oh, it's more pleasing to the husband." Like, because why is it more pleasing? Like, what what Because of the aesthetic aspect, that's what they were speaking about, and the hygiene aspect. And he says, "And it is better for intimacy." Better for intimacy. Tell me, the the kind of mutilation they do in some of these place, they destroy some of the They just chop off the bloody You know, like What the hell that's That's zulm.

I mean, that would completely That's like just for circumcision, just chopping the whole the the head off off for the male. I mean, that's what it's like. I mean, they would That's where the center of sensation is. So, uh that that would be complete mutilation and zulm in the name of Islam. Okay. I don't You see, I think there has been a difference of opinion within the Shafi'i madhhab, but I do know it is practiced widely in certain in some Shafi'i countries like I think Indonesia and Malaysia, it is widely practiced and it has been challenged because it has led

to and in East Africa and certain parts, it has led to kind of mutilation. Okay. Right. Okay, let's get some of these other Oh, what time did we begin? All right, we're running way too Guys, I think I need to start wrapping this up, I think. Let's see what kind of questions have we What can I fire through?

Right. Shukran Shukran Hassan saying, "Hey, looking on put Shukran Shukran barak Allahu feek." Uh Fatwas sometimes find multiple opinions in one madhhab. You see, Hamza, I do believe that a person can follow an opinion that makes the deen more convenient and compatible with their life. The deen is of ease that inna hadha deen that yusra as the prophet said, and he said inna khaira deenakum aysarahu, the best of your deen is that of more ease.

That is not following your desires. Okay. Uh just curious what happened with Saracen786. I have no idea what happened with Saracen786. I did say that at the time, look, I'm not interested in a person or a kind of thing. I don't want to set up some kind of like a a pen pal saga going on. I'm interested in certain topics that have become a controversy of the time that have led to Islamophobes attacking Islam and denigrating the messenger of Allah.

It is our duty as Muslims to honor the prophet Islam and to see that his honor is not challenged. People say, "Oh, about I know a lot of people didn't don't accept the I did my research and presented it on my video of uh the age of Aisha. A lot of people don't accept it and they say, "Well, what's wrong with that?" Or uh well, there is huge wrong with I mean, there are many things wrong with that that because you see, people are and people say, "Yeah, but that's the West today." No, but it is today people, even Muslims, have an issue with that.

So, you are saying the best of creation who ought to know best is doing something like this. And that is problematic for people. So, first of all, is it even true? The when we investigate it, we find out, "Wait a minute. This doesn't even look like it's true." So, that's why I put that up there. However, I did ask a question about spirituality versus religiousness.

I think that's interesting because I'm not You see, what is spirituality? Spirituality is a kind of it's your experience. Okay, it's an experiential thing of feeling a sense of closeness to Allah. Does spirituality mean I sit around doing zikr all day? For some people, maybe. For other people, spirituality may be seeking knowledge.

For other people, it may be engaging in in kind of intel- intellectual discourse or dialogues. For some people, spirituality there is no monopoly on spirituality. Now, when Imam Malik's student, Ibn Wahb, was uh he was he was sitting in front of Imam Malik and the adhan went.

And he left his he was about to he was closing his book to get up to pray. And Imam Malik said, "Alarislak." He said, "Yo, whoa, hang up the ease up there. Ease up there, blood." So, he said to him, "Look, just just" He said to him, "Al arislik, like just chill out a bit." And he said to him that, "Look, he said, what you're going to do, like going to pray, is not better than what you were already doing." Meaning that this You see, he said and when somebody tried to criticize Imam because Imam Malik never used to pray a lot of nafl and he never used to keep a lot of voluntary fast and he was known

as somebody like that. So when somebody criticized him, he said, "Look, Allah has divided worship." He said, "There is seeking" He said, "amongst his servants." He said, "For some, they pray at night and they fast all these voluntary fast and that's amazing." And he said, "And others" He said, "Me" He said, "I seek knowledge and I teach it and I learn it." And he said, "Kull alaina ala khair, we are all upon goodness.

Just chill out with you're trying to preach to me." So I think you know, sometimes even just thinking about Allah, thinking about death sometimes, thinking about trying to come to terms with the deen, thinking about trying to understand how great Allah's creation is. You know, the other day I was just I was listening to this lecture on um once again to do with the whole cosmos and they were breaking it down and these physicists and they were speaking about just just a whole thing and explaining it and from certain perspectives, the

universe and answering several things, inconsistencies that now you can see the amazing nature to it. And I was just contemplating that, "Wow." That and and the key thing that they were saying is that there is simplicity in the universe. But simplicity not meaning like a like a dumbness, but meaning like as as as DaVinci had said that it it's the highest form of sophistication, but in a simple way.

And I was thinking it's so amazing how Allah has done that. Just thinking about things like this. I ask you, is that not spirituality? So, each to their own. I don't think preaching and just acting pious and being strict to me is not necessarily spiritual or even religious. Not necessarily. I mean, to people it may be, but not to me.

Do you believe in the use of capital punishment within our times? Uh This is going to be a lengthy discussion. We'll have to go into this. I think I've answered part of this before that I do believe as uh as many of the Maliki have previously including people like Abu Qasim al-Burzuli, who 700 years ago said that in his day and age the punishments ought to change to reflect his age, and people after him including Sheikh Khujul, including uh you had um Zarrouq, you've had Arabi, al-Fasi, you had uh people coming right through um to uh Sheikh Yahya al-Wulati, and many of these people were

proponents of this position that uh the Sharia changes certain aspects certain aspects of the Sharia reflect the age including the punishments. So, I I too am of that understanding, but that will require a greater depth and elaboration. So, I do not believe in capital punishment in this age that uh and I don't believe in any system that pushes capital punishment any state, and I do not believe that we can be certain so as to take life.

Okay, life has a sanctity to it. I believe in punishments for people, but um I do not believe in killing people. Okay, so I am uh opposed to that. Uh even in So, if people like in Pakistan or these countries, when they kill people or in in America when they offer capital punishment, I find all of these things repulsive. And I feel that um that the system has been proven on certain occasions to be faulty.

And that margin of error alone demonstrates that to take even one life is to have taken the life of humanity altogether. Okay. Right. So, how long do you sleep? Junior? Am I supposed to reciprocate by inviting you?

I don't know how this works. All right. Uh So, the thing is, what's your view on people advocate for a caliphate in this day and age in this part of the world? Are you Maliki? That's nonsense. Um uh obviously, there is not going to be a caliphate, I'm afraid. I hate to break it to the people, but I've answered this previously in more depth, so you can refer to that there. Mortgages, I've answered that in quite a bit of depth, so you can refer to that there.

Bro, you feedo dido you feedo dido. No idea what that means. So, no more Coke. Pepsi's right here, folks, mixed with that energy drink. It's right there. Uh if God is real, why are kids with cancer and other bad things happening? I've answered this before that look, things like this um children cancer, this kind of stuff, evil in this world.

You have to understand, this is not Allah is not doing this. Okay? This is a system that Allah has So, for example, Allah has set the laws of nature. Allah has set certain laws of biology in place. Now, we as human beings, let's say for example, we produce children, they carry DNA. Now, sometimes DNAs can they can carry certain genes.

As part of the reproduction as DNA cells are reproducing they can mal reproduce. It can go wrong. That's where you get cancerous cells. This is not Allah punishing that child. This is unfortunately the cells whilst they're replicating go wrong. Why did they go wrong? It could have been because of the environment, the food, what the radiation they've been exposed to. It could have been that they inherited certain genes that that trigger these kind of things.

Okay, it is wrong to blame Allah for this kind of stuff. People then and then all they do is they chase God away. They chase people away from God by this kind of stuff saying God is responsible. And it's Allah is not responsible. Right? It doesn't mean You see, then people say, "Oh, does Allah have no control?" Obviously he has control. But then then then nothing can go on in the world.

Then Allah ought to intervene at every stage with everything. Then what is the purpose of Allah in in having faith, sorry. What is the purpose of faith? Because if you say, "Oh, well, Allah should prevent suffering." Well, do you mean by that divine intervention? So he should stop his laws of nature and intervene? Then he should stop suffering at every stage. Why just at your stage? Why not with animals, too?

Do they not suffer? When when a lion is hunting a deer, is the deer not suffering? Should God not prevent that as well? So at what So what So either God allows nature to and the laws of nature to play out or he doesn't. So this is uh and I've answered this in more depth previously.

So you can look back there, inshallah. Let's see. People say Guru Nanak was a Muslim. Uh I'm not sure if Guru Nanak was a Muslim. I know he was close. Uh one of his best friends, Mardana, was a Muslim and Guru Nanak does so part of his teachings, the Guru Granth Sahib today, which although has been documented after him, but that does contain the name of Allah on several several tens and I think up to 40 plus um, occasions it mentions Allah and it does have the teachings from certain Muslim uh, mystics in there as well.

Kabir, for example, and other people are in there as well. But I don't I'm I don't think he was Muslim, but Allahu Alam. If God is real, why Okay, I've answered that. I've answered the risk thing. Um, I'm right. Some of these uh, Walid saying, "You look very handsome." Haha, naughty naughty. Shukran, Walid. Shukran. Shukran. Just gracias.

Just gracias. Um, I'm honored. Right, what is your opinion about people can see jinns? This people can't see jinns, okay? So, this kind of stuff people who are saying that are just blacking or they're delusional. Right, so the thing is uh, Right, can you give hadith an explanation about the relationship between male and men and female in men and women in the society of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam? Well, I look I I can't go into it too much, but it was natural, okay?

They were they they were shared space. This term free mixing, I hate this term. It's a an Indo-Pak kind of word that they've created in English. It doesn't exist in English like that. Um, the word for it is shared space between the genders was shared space from the mosque from the masjid to the marketplace in the time of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, okay? And no, I don't care what anybody says, nobody's more pious than the Prophet.

Okay? And the Prophet did not deem it uh, reasonable to place barriers within the mosque, so I don't care what other people have to say. Is Baazigar a good movie? Naughty naughty. All So, uh is it okay to become a Okay, so this is going to That's going to take too many uh I got to kind of shoot, so I can't answer uh another question on transgender.

I'm really lonely. I'm the only Maliki in Leeds almost. Don't worry about it, man. There'll be floods of people coming to the School of Medina. But inshallah, study your fiqh. That goes out to everybody. You should be studying your fiqh, people. Learn your Arabic. Is it permissible to eat pork? Uh no, it isn't. It isn't permissible to eat pork. Okay. So, all right.

Um raising the hands during dua or Jumu'ah khutbah, yes or no? Uh you can During dua in general, you can raise your dua You can raise your hand. During Jumu'ah, there's a difference of opinion amongst the scholars. A lot of the the ulama felt like the School of Medina generally felt that you just sit there and let the Imam do it. But if you did it, it's no big deal. It's not such a uh it's not like a oh my god, your Jumu'ah is impacted.

It's not at all. I mean, it's no big deal. If you want to, you can. Otherwise, you can just stay still. Um All right. Okay. How good is your Arabic? Better than native Arab speakers. Well, ana atahaddath bil fus'ha faqat uh Hamza, so afwan. Native Arabs, they tend to speak their ammiya, which I do understand from different countries. But my Arabic is is all right. I don't want to don't want to boast, but it's it's all right.

It's all right. Don't worry about it. Are you a Maliki to avoid zakat on gold? I I don't actually I don't wear gold. I mean, obviously men don't wear gold, but that's not why I'm a Maliki. All right. But you're right. There isn't um zakat on jewelry according to several of the madhhabs, non-Hanafis. All right. Okay. the Hadith on Sahih Bukhari, how can you explain how it's not necessarily Sahih?

Hamza, if you watch my Aisha video, the age of Aisha, in the beginning I explained one of the the premises is all about Sahih Hadith. So, if you Did Imam Malik ever meet the Sahaba? No, he didn't. He met the students of the Sahaba, the Tabi'in, and he was a Tabi' Tabi'i. He was from the students of the students. All right, so Afia for your dedication. Shukran, barak Allahu feek, Farida. Uh when a husband passes away, can the wife see the face?

Whoa. Of course they can. People, we need to stop being so weird in um in these kind of things. Of course they can she can see the face and vice versa. All right, so people All right, on that there was something to do with uh Neanderthals uh Neanderthals, sorry, that was said earlier on. I You see, the thing is we are not uh All right, maybe next time I'll answer in more detail, but the thing is we generally they say share anything approximately 99.7% DNA with Neanderthals, but I'm not

Neanderthals. Okay, so their DNA is very It is categorically different, enough to be a different species, part of the same genus, Homo. So, they were humans, but what is interesting is the evidence now shows that there has been hybridization. Uh and most especially because Neanderthals, they were around much longer than uh modern humans or Homo sapiens or Homo sapiens, they were around for what approximately 300,000 years.

So, they had a lot of time to diversify and they were mainly in uh Europe. I mean, that's where they kind of spread out to Europe, uh maybe parts of Siberia, Middle East, that kind of region, maybe even went further east. That's where they predominantly were. And then Far East you had and and also Central Asia you had Homo erectus was there from much earlier.

Probably the longest-living kind of human Homo uh which had been around almost about 2 million years. Now, Neanderthals were very similar to to us. So, except I mean slight They were all very similar, but they were kind of a bit advanced as well. Had some rituals. They believed they had language. And there was some interbreeding that took place. Okay, so non-Africans, so those because the migration about 60,000 years ago that takes place where Homo sapiens kind of come out of Africa and there's only a small group of people that come out, but everybody today on

Earth is a descendant of them. So, this group that set out, they're only two to 300 people that come out. And they then end up colonizing the entire globe. And they also go back to Africa. But those that went back to Africa and stayed there, they did not mix or meet Neanderthals. So, they carry zero uh no DNA from Neanderthals and no Neanderthal genes.

All humans other than non-Africans today usually carry anything between 1 to 4% Neanderthal genes. And what's interesting is they make they contributed, I believe, to things like a straight uh you know, like straight strong hair, like straight hair. That is uh a result of of of mixing uh with Neanderthals and stuff like that. So, especially as so they'll say things like in East Asia anyway, the kind of hair that a lot of us Asians have, for example, one straight and kind of the way it is, that is a result of they say it's is like 70 60 to 80%

a result of the genes inherited from Neanderthals. And also skin variation, although Neanderthals were kind of varied as well because they've been around a lot longer, but they feel blue eyes and things like this were inherited from Neanderthals as well. But anyway, the point is that the hybridization is kind of rinsed out.

So it does come, but it it's kind of like reduced. And today there's only a certain amount of genes. So there was some hybridization, but it wasn't like everybody was having babies with Neanderthals. But there was a certain amount that gets into the genes and survives and carries on. But you can read up about all of this, but we are not them. Okay, so there's a clear distinction.

They were not just Homo sapiens. They were not. Um And obviously just as we are not Homo erectus and we are not But these kind of things all add to that story. And I don't think as Muslims we need to be scared or insecure about this kind of stuff. I think we should embrace it. Wallahi, that's what I think. I think it's it's amazing. It's incredibly exciting to see this story of how Allah kind of brings about this human.

And I think it's so amazing. Seriously. And and it makes like you see you can almost picture you can almost picture the like that the the verses where the angels are objecting and saying will you are you going to place on Earth what will spread mischief and shed blood?

Like what they were observing with these other homos, these other humans, hominins. But this in turn was to be something so different. That And Allah says, you see, in me I love Allah Talaam. That you don't know what this human is capable of. And look at us today. They have Do you know, to a billionth of the second from the Big Bang, a billionth of the second, they have got knowledge up to that point.

Wow. Now, tell me, is is hum- I mean, is that not something? Wow, the scoping the universe, coming out with you know, unifying the whole the the heavens and the earth with their theories of physics and every This little creature on earth, which is appears so insignificant and so weak.

And that that is what Allah created, you see. And I think I think it's to celebrate that. And I think, in a way, Allah wanted to demonstrate this. And that's why he says that I will place in them, you see, in insan, that what you don't know. And this gift that he gave to Adam. People say, "Oh, he gave" He doesn't say he taught Adam Kalam, because today it's emerging.

You see, this is interesting. It's emerging today that these other hominins had had language. And Allah doesn't say Al Allah Mahul Kalam. He says Al Allah Mahul Bayan. He taught him expression. Allah when he says about the knowledge, "Oh, you know, what is the name of these things? Tell the angels, ask the angels." Angels say, "Oh, we don't know." And Adam teaches them.

And they think, "Well, what Angels think, "What's so special about that?" You know, because La ilaha illallah Muhammad Rasul Allah. Obviously, if you told us, we would have told you. You told him. So, he told you. What's What's the big deal? Like, what is the big deal? Like, think about it. You have told Adam these things. Then, you're telling him to tell us. La ilaha illallah illallah ma alamtana. If you told us, we would tell you.

But, Allah says, "No." You see, what this creature has is the ability to create knowledge. He will use the faculties and this core knowledge that he has, and he will exponentially create knowledge. And, he will continue to do so until he will have explored not only the cosmos, but the quantum world.

And, he will reign above these things. I mean, this is what insan will do to the extent that Allah says, "Wa daraba lana mathalan wa nasiya nafsah." That he will then give examples for Allah, meaning that he will even eliminate God out of the equation. That's the heights to which insan will reach.

That he will get so He will reach such points that he will be able to explain everything and even through his remove God from the equation. And, that is almost from the kind of almost the kind of arrogant genius capacity that Allah has placed in insan.

And, in a way, you see, this is the test towards embracing that geniusness that we still remain humble to Allah. That is the test. And, Allah wants that to play out. Like, let people reach those heights that they can even remove God from the picture and explain everything.

I think I think it's amazing. I people get so insecure with all this stuff. I love it. To me it's a testimony to what Allah has said in the Quran. That when they see the signs in the cosmos and in the quantum world, at that stage Allah says it will become manifest that indeed it was the truth.

So people inshallah with that, I'm going to leave you to it inshallah. Right, keep your studies strong, keep learning. If you're learning Arabic and if make sure you keep it strong and if you're not doing it, get on to it, god damn it. We need all the the the reason based ulama and students of knowledge we can get. Start studying. If you're not doing fiqh, get on to it. If you've got any questions, reach out to me. Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat Malcom 2014 inshallah.

I'll see you all next week. I may do a show, I don't know. I'll assess the situation maybe on Thursday about something. So till then people, take good care of yourselves. Remember me in your dua. Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi ta'ala wabarakatuh.