The Issues of Our Times: Advice to Young Imams -Mufti Abu Layth

I think this is genuinely a very it's both an interesting question yet an importantly crucial one that what is what should be one of the key or at least an area not a point but a key area upon which modern you know I'm using the term modern to mean young young kind of Imams younger generation of Imams within the english-speaking world within the UK played predominantly and maybe a Europe or the US but what what area should they

really kind of Zone in on and focus or they should develop that is so needed especially to kind of cater for the younger generation of Muslims now I see it because there's so much I've got a kind of like when I think about things like this there's so much clutter in my mind and it's sometimes difficult kind of just quietening everything down to see to kind of like focus on the need

but I would feel that it comes down to this this area of relevance okay because and I think this in a relevant in a very broad sense and this means like why is the religion how is the religion relevant to us today how is it like if I'm a let's say I'm half my age and I was given my age but if I'm a young person in the UK growing up now around

technology so you're whether they're the Millennials or even what what do they call them I think Generation said but these young people very young people and maybe even people in their 20s or whatever and they've grown up around technology these kind of people they're slightly more distant from certain cultural practices and understandings than the generation before them then people like me even though we were British born as well but the younger people would be more distant and more removed from certain cultural

influences than than us now - then why is religion relevant like why do like on it on general beyond a genuine note why is it relevant like what does what does religion have to offer me now when you think about that you actually appears at first like a very simple question but the more you ponder over it you realize that you you kind of don't found it for an answer like you don't like what does religion have to offer because the truth is that you see there's no point saying

things like Oh in the afterlife and in the afterlife because we're not in the afterlife and nobody's seen the afterlife so and especially from these people's perspective so what does it have to offer and you could say well the offers what does it offer like it doesn't need rules laws which are irrelevant which to most people appear today out of sync they appear to many people outdated they appear to many people unethical they so like if you're gonna say Islam doesn't have ethics to

offer it doesn't have a people say of course it has a greater ethics but let's I mean look emotions aside let's just be real with the younger people you can't say Islam has ethics to offer because it doesn't know me I mean if we're not going to be emotional and we're just gonna be very genuine you see people if we're gonna be honest people growing up in this part of the world like let's take your common let's say England your common English person and people growing up here they unquestionably have far greater ethics than your common Muslim even the Muslims growing up

I mean if I am stereotyping and I hate to do so but the truth is that we ourselves see ourselves as corrupt and we don't see the common kind of non-muslim as corrupt as us and they've done it without religion and they've done it without God so this becomes a very a shocking kind of profound moment to kind of reflect that look these people so when you say well because people would say well what ethics does Islam have to offer because they are going to ask these questions and don't

think that they I am have mean so many times ask these questions now what does it and if you say well of course Islam offers the absolute right and wrong what people say what plucking your eyebrows is is an unethical Act oh not growing a beard is an act of immorality all right not like do you see what I mean like these words ethics morals no longer be relevant to those kind of rulings that people would like to present under this

kind of stuff so it becomes interesting and saying things like promoting a Sharia which none of the scholars believe is applicable today in that understanding that they promote like stuff like saying things like Oh cutting off hands and stoning people to death and all these kind of which are just seen as medieval practices so I'm just saying this as people are perceiving it now obviously some scholars would argue differently I understand that like in the past and I actually like the way ma'am Abu Hanifa Oman lost all things because he saw ethics as actually something which is developed and

understood by humans it's not the divine commandment theory it's not X is only good because God commanded it but we know what is good and this was referred to as the old taxi Mitaka via a luckily and debate and I actually liked imam abu hanifa standing of this but today we've drifted so far from this and and and I accept that many Olimar will I mean not many but certain orlimar and amongst them I'd include myself would argue that there is a trajectory hermeneutics and ethics a trajectory ethics where ethics does develop with the day and age and that

becomes so whatever is seen in the day and age is accepted and embraced by Islam too with certain parameters but but I mean that's not the majority understanding that people would have so my point is how is Islam relevant what does he have to offer me and this is a very difficult question because we start to realize well it doesn't seem to have much to offer then and when we look at the actual hadith alright so no in the hadith of the Prophet sent the companion to - to the king and asked him that will

tell him that you know that we've come with this message and he said that we have been sent in original high Birdman high by the terrible I body Mosman hey buddy buddy Eli but Eli rather terrible I but we've been sent to take people away from this worship of people to the worship of the Lord woman they said dunya a lacerated dunya will akhirah right now the thing is that the interesting thing is women they said dunya and taking them out of the closeness claustrophobic nature of this

dunya - the vastness of this dunya and akhira but the vastness of the akhira in this dunya because when islam came it came to eradicate superstitions it came to eradicate oppression it came to bring the structure and laws and morality and ethics and but over time people have caught up this is the the issue and today ironically religion with a capital R has become those very things itself like religion has become superstition it's become a sin of immorality itself for people it's become a sense of like you know all just

cultural kind of folklore demons and demonic possessions and black magic and all these feeling this and fearing that and feeling curses and oh I'm gonna be cursed and all living in guilt I'm gonna be punished in the afterlife and so if you can see that what does this have to art like when you compare that life to the life of like let's say an atheist his life is just you know it's just it just has to make sense to him or there's none of this guilt there's none of these fearing demons or feeling kind of magic

and curses and and this kind of wizardry and so if you start to what I'm trying to say is a to a person yes the younger people have some connection with Islam because they born Muslim they have questions but the ulema are not prepared to tackle the questions the the only way they prepared to engage them is by telling them off so just say yes you know it is this way because it just is well that's how long will that answer last because the younger generation now I mean the Millennials but even more so I would think with this what they're

calling the generations they do like these people I think will more and more openly renounce the faith and they will even mock it so we have to start to come up with answers we have to answer the questions I think to engage them number one is most important we have to return to reason why I keep over emphasizing this is because we are in an environment of reason we are in an age of reason everybody who is criticizing religion

will call criticize it based on the ground that it clashes with reason Islam prides itself on being the voice of reason or used to but today we have scholars saying things like who says that Islam is supposed to make sense so what exactly are you saying that believe in something that doesn't make sense is that what you're saying like not you but this is the the kind of universal you that so what exactly you know I've read this the other days people think that these more tense these eighth apostates have this kind of disease in their heart and and I read from very prominent scholars I was kind of upset to read a

very prominent scholar writing about how read there is just hard like basically it's a kind of bigotry and an arrogance that the rationality of the people that they because their rationality can't comprehend is that this is some kind of like arrogance that they ought to submit with what are you what does that mean like what would you submit to something if you don't make sense to you like if I came to you and said just accept these no don't just accept it no no no I know it doesn't understand it doesn't make any sense like if I said to you right you have to come to this place with me you can't contact any of your family members and you can't and they all all

of your family are in a different place right now and they just I don't know I gave some scenery is it oh yeah this doesn't make any sense because first of all you know half my family don't even live in this country how can they all just be here and how could I don't know if you're trying to make sense of something and I said no no no you can't make sense of it but don't be arrogant just submit to what I'm saying like you would never follow somebody unless it made sense to you and the Quran itself commands people that they make sense Allah says Cyril found the rule gave about alcohol but how did Allah begin creation how did he do this how did you

like look for yourselves why does he call us to you why does he call us to ponder why does he call us to reflect so I think today relevance is so important that people want to know how is religion relevant so how is it relevant to the questions that they have how is it relevant in providing a solution to them how is it relevant to their day and age because I definitely agree that the human being has an undeniable an unquenchable thirst for God and that's my kind of belief

people may disagree with that but I do believe that and I believe that the distance and the gap that has been created between God and creation has been really down to religion institutionalized religion as a whole and the clergy but not because of God himself so people so you'll see that in times of distress people turn to God and not the church so people do turn to pray but not to necessarily the priest so this is my point in saying that how is

it relevant people how is it relevant to me how can it help me how can I make sense of it what how can i enhance my life because one of the things we need to focus on is that Islam needs ought to be complementary to our lives and not an impediment as the Prophet said in one of the most amazing happy it's like yes Cyril well that are simple and that you know make things easy do not make things difficult but Cheryl well at interfere all that give people glad tidings welcome them to this

caravan of hope and do not ever scare them away and these are you know that is one of I wish I seriously wish that you know preachers and Imams and mallanna's and teachers would really just if they could just take one hadith to heart I wish they would take that hadith all right I hope this is of inshallah some help I mean these are some words I wish I had an an absolute solution or maybe you know just a very precise free

response to such a question but the truth is just like everybody else I - am facing all of these challenges and I'm trying to kind of respond to them in addition to facing them the counter the kind of backlash challenges from the people of religion themselves kind of opposing often my approach on things and creating further obstacles that I have to kind of go and loops are and hoops I have to kind of then jump through and get beyond - to kind of deal with the real problems that your common Muslim is

facing their loss of hano to Allah grant us all these Salah Malik