Friday Sermon 11 Feb 1983 By Dr Rashad Khalifa
Transcript
0:01 I seek refuge in God from Satan, the rejected.
0:15 We are extremely fortunate that our beloved Martha has been able to have the blessing of the Quran,
0:25 the proof that the Quran is the word of God.
0:28 And we come to the conclusion that salvation can be attained only by worshiping God alone.
0:36 No.
0:39 I'm already committed.
0:47 Yeah.
0:55 No, you're not.
0:58 Yeah, I'm not.
0:59 We're rooting for you, my friend.
1:02 Oh really?
1:03 Yeah.
1:20 We come to the conclusion, after that miracle, that we must be absolutely, positively worshipping
1:30 God alone, and we must realize that only God possesses the power to benefit you or harm you,
1:37 that only He is worthy of worship, that everyone else in past generations is dead, helpless,
1:44 powerless. Whether it is Muhammad or Jesus or Mary, they are dead, they are useless,
1:49 they are powerless, they are helpless, and this is what the Quran says. We came to that.
1:55 And we had some strange opposition because of that. In reality, the little support that we get, this one is really enthusiastic.
2:20 and I look forward to meeting you and those of us who discover it.
2:26 It is in my humble opinion the most important event in the history of Islam in the last 1000 years.
2:32 So we do need this support once in a while.
2:35 However, I'm surprised because it's not supposed to be appreciated until about
2:41 three or four generations from now. The present generation, and contemporary
2:45 generations, usually do not appreciate great discoveries. But I claim no part of it.
2:54 It was God's will to bring it to the world at this time. Now, we come to this
2:59 conclusion as a very small minority, to the extent that this is probably the
3:04 only mosque in the world that only commemorates God alone, and no other names are mentioned
3:13 with God. Which is in agreement with the commandments of the Quran that the mosques belong to God,
3:21 and you shall not call on anyone else with God.
3:23 وَأَنَّ الْمَسَاجِدَ لِلَّهِ فَلَا تَدْعُوا مَعَ اللَّهِ أَحَدًا
3:26 With God, do not call on anyone with God.
3:28 Ma'a means with.
3:31 This, since we are such a small minority, and the vast majority of Muslims are not in
3:38 agreement with us, at least the ones who haven't read.
3:41 By the way, the only opposition we ever have is from people who did not read the
3:46 Quran, who never read it.
3:48 The people who do not know.
3:51 This has been the only opposition.
3:53 And these very people, the minute they read it or know about it, they completely...
3:59 they become the exact opposite, because they want to make up for their past opposition,
4:03 so they become enthusiastic supporters, alhamdulillah.
4:07 But the question is, are all those millions of Muslims wrong, and you are right?
4:13 This is the important question you must face, this is the question that will be asked of you.
4:19 All those ulama, those scholars, millions of Muslims and generations of Muslims,
4:26 Are they wrong to follow Hadith and Sunnah and not the Quran alone?
4:30 And you are right?
4:32 This is the question I want to address to you.
4:35 And there is an equally important question.
4:39 And the millions upon millions of Christians
4:42 and Christian scholars, are they all wrong?
4:46 when they say Jesus is Son of God, or Jesus is God, or Jesus is part of a Trinity?
4:51 You are right, and all those millions of Christians and millions of
4:56 generations of Christians. Are they all wrong? An important question, isn't it?
5:05 Before I go any further, I want to tell you one thing. If you worship God alone, you can never be wrong.
5:10 Because this is the whole purpose of life. On the other side, we can say they may be right.
5:19 Maybe they are right. But this is a maybe. And to find out if it's a maybe, right or
5:25 maybe wrong, we have to wait for the hereafter to find out. Now if you're willing to take
5:30 that chance, I am not. So the question we want to deal with now is, are those millions
5:36 upon millions of Muslims wrong, and you are right? Are those millions upon millions of
5:41 Christians wrong, and you are right? Let us look at the Quran. We're going to open
5:46 Let's go to Surah 7, verse 18.
6:11 Let's go to the top of the page, page 103 at 14, this is the fall of Satan.
6:17 Satan. Satan said, respite me till the day of resurrection. God said, you are
6:25 respited. Satan said, since you willed that I go astray, I will always lie in wait on your
6:32 straight path and mislead them, that I will come to them from their front, from
6:37 behind them, from the right and from the left, and you will find most of them
6:41 unappreciative. God said, you are evicted therefrom despised and debased. Those who
6:48 follow you will join you in Hell. Now, let's move on to, we have Satan's
6:55 pledge to mislead us all. And he is very powerful. I want to tell you a little idea as to
7:01 how powerful, I think he can hold the whole earth in his hand, the whole planet
7:06 earth in his hand. He was God's assistant, he was in
7:14 God's presence and served God. So God gave him a lot of power. This is what made him think he can be a God with God.
7:21 I think, I'm not sure, that he can manipulate the thoughts of every human being on earth at the same time simultaneously.
7:28 That's how powerful Satan was. And he pledged his vow by God's dignity to mislead us all.
7:35 He is very strong. We are up against a terrible enemy.
7:38 But also when you join La ilaha illallah, the worship of God alone, He cannot touch you.
7:43 For God puts guards on you, who are more powerful than him, than Satan.
7:47 And they keep him away.
7:50 You know that from the Quran.
7:51 But let us go on to Sura 11, verse 119.
7:57 11, 119.
8:04 page 155.
8:07 Except for those endowed with mercy from your Lord will not dispute.
8:12 and this is why He created them for.
8:14 Your Lord's decision has already...
8:17 I don't know why I'm a couple of verses off.
8:20 We'll go back to page 116.
8:28 I'm going to see if I can find what I'm after here.
8:31 If only the previous generations had some intelligent people who enjoined them from corruption,
8:37 they would have been saved.
8:38 But we saved a few of them, while the rest pursued their material things and became sinners.
8:45 Your Lord never destroys any community unjustly, while the people are righteous.
8:54 Had your Lord willed, He could have made all the people one congregation.
8:59 They could have been all believers.
9:01 But as it happens, the majority are not believers, or they are believers who fell into idolatry.
9:08 As your Lord willed, He could have made all the people one congregation, but they would always dispute.
9:14 Only those endowed with mercy from your Lord would not dispute, and this is why He created them for.
9:20 So the purpose of our creation is to differ.
9:23 The decision of your Lord has already been made that I will fill Hell with both
9:30 jinn and humans.
9:31 This is the fact I want you to hear.
9:36 That your Lord's decision has already been made.
9:39 God already saw the Day of Judgment and He saw that the vast majority of people are going
9:44 to Hell.
9:46 This is in studying the question: are those millions of Muslims right, or wrong?
9:53 Are those millions upon millions of Christians right or wrong?
9:59 The Muslims fell into the same trap as the Christians.
10:03 That is the same problem.
10:04 They cannot worship God alone.
10:07 They have to mention other names with God.
10:11 Next I want to look at 12:103.
10:13 These are the famous verses that you know.
10:15 12:103.
10:17 Repetition helps you remember these
10:19 so you can discuss it with anybody.
10:21 103 says, and the verse states, the majority of people will not believe.
10:27 It says the majority of people, no matter what you do, will not believe.
10:32 So this is the majority of people we start with.
10:35 The minority will believe.
10:38 Alright? Let's go on.
10:40 Even though you do not ask them for any wage,
10:43 for this is a message to all the people,
10:45 and even though the heavens and the earth are full of signs,
10:49 they pass by them totally heedless. And now listen to this, the majority of the
10:55 minority, a minority of the minority attains salvation. So now we see the
11:01 majority of people disbelieved, and now we have a minority of believers.
11:06 The majority of believers are going to Hell. This is what the Quran says.
11:11 And the majority of those who believe fall into idol worship.
11:16 وَمَا يُؤْمِنُ أَكْثَرُهُمْ بِاللَّهِ إِلَّا وَهُمْ مُشْرِكُونَ
11:21 These are famous verses that you should memorize by heart, you know, 12:103 and 12:106.
11:26 That the majority of people will not believe, and then the majority of the minority,
11:31 the majority of the believers will fall into idol worship and will go to Hell,
11:36 because idol worship is not forgivable. And I want to clarify here,
11:39 I mean idol worship at the time of death. If the person dies in a state of idol worship,
11:46 he cannot be forgiven. But if you discover that you are an idol worshipper and you repent
11:53 and you pledge you'll never do it again, then it is wiped out. But this is the whole idea
11:57 of our existence is to come to the conclusion that only God is to be worshipped.
12:06 These are shocking facts.
12:11 Now, the millions upon millions of Muslims who do not believe God when He says the Quran
12:16 is complete, they believe in God, they really do, and they pray the five prayers, they pray
12:23 them to God.
12:25 But they idolize saints or the prophets, they have fallen into idol worship, and this is
12:31 a statement of fact in 12:106, that the majority of believers will fall into
12:36 idol worship. So you have to be in an extremely fortunate minority. An extremely
12:43 fortunate person in an extreme minority to really make it. That's what Satan did to us.
12:52 Let's go on to 32, verse 13.
13:04 Verse 32:13, that's at the bottom of page 283.
13:11 Had We willed, We could have given guidance to everyone, but it is already predetermined
13:18 that I will fill Hell with jinn and humans altogether.
13:23 Another statement that says it is already predetermined, God already saw the Day of Judgment,
13:28 Are you not aware that the majority of people end up as disbelievers, and the
13:32 majority of believers end up as idol-worshippers.
13:38 Let's go on to 36:7.
13:50 It is already predetermined that the majority of people will not
13:55 believe. And we go on to 38:85. 38:85, page 313. I will fill Hell with you and all those
14:16 who follow you. Let me go back to
14:22 78.
14:28 75. Let's go back to 75. God said,
14:31 O Satan, what prevented you from prostrating before My creation?
14:35 Are you too arrogant, or much too high? Satan said,
14:39 I am better than he. You created me from fire, and created
14:43 him from clay. God said, Then you must get out, for you are rejected. You have
14:50 deserved My curse till the Day of Judgment. Satan said, My Lord, respite me till the
14:55 Day of Resurrection. God said, You are respited until the specified time. Verse 82,
15:02 Satan said, I swear by Your majesty that I will mislead them all, except Your
15:08 servants who are absolutely devoted to You alone. These are the ones that
15:13 Satan cannot touch. Because the minute you decide God alone, and you decide to
15:18 believe God, you have guards on you who are more powerful than Satan, and they
15:22 will keep him away. So let me read this again. Verse 83. Except Your servants who are
15:30 absolutely devoted to You alone. God said, The truth is, and the truth is all I utter,
15:36 I will fill Hell with you and all those who follow you.
15:40 And unfortunately, as you saw in Surah 12,
15:43 that's the vast majority of people.
15:45 Millions upon millions of Christians and Muslims will too.
15:55 So you see in the Quran that it is a statement of fact.
15:58 So when you think in your mind, when I tell you,
16:00 those millions upon millions of Christians,
16:02 are they wrong and you are right?
16:04 God tells you, yes, they are wrong. If they idolize Jesus, they are wrong. If they idolize
16:10 anyone or any saint or anything, they are wrong. And if they die in this state, they
16:16 go straight to Hell. And this is what we are told in the verses that we just looked at. And
16:22 the same is true with the Muslims. Millions upon millions of them do not believe God when
16:26 He says the Quran is complete. And we are told in the Quran that seals are put on them,
16:32 deafness falls in their ears and they cannot hear the message. They are not allowed to understand the Quran.
16:41 And we have people here saying that you have to know Arabic to know the Quran, the other way around.
16:46 And I showed them a verse in the Quran that says no, you don't have to know Arabic.
16:49 Whether it is Arabic or non-Arabic, it is available only to the believers, the sincere believers.
16:55 As for the disbelievers, they are blind and deaf to it. This is Surah 41, Verse 44.
17:01 41:44. So it has nothing to do with language. God puts the Quran in the person's heart.
17:12 Now, those millions upon millions of Christians and millions upon millions of Muslims, is
17:19 God unjust? Why are they all turned away? Why is God saying, it has already been determined
17:24 I will fill Hell with all of them. We know God is gracious and merciful. God calls
17:31 Himself Arham Al-Rahimeen, the Most Merciful of all the merciful ones. God is the most
17:36 merciful. So why have all these people gone to Hell? Is He unjust? God says in the Quran
17:45 that He does not inflict an atom's weight of injustice. You see, this is the people's
17:51 choice. In fact they insist on it. God puts fences between them and Hell and they go up
17:58 the fence. They insist on climbing the fence. God puts barbed wire on top of the fence,
18:03 and those fences make it impossible for the human being to go to Hell, and they insist
18:07 and they go, they scratch themselves and go up the fence to jump in Hell. That's what
18:11 they do. You're going to see it right now. Let us look at 19:71 and 72.
18:25 The instinct that people have, Sura 7:172, page 116.
18:35 Our natural instinct. Recall that your Lord gathered all the descendants
18:42 of Adam before creation, and had them bear witness on themselves, saying, "Am I not your Lord?"
18:48 They said, "Yes indeed, we bear witness." Therefore, you
18:55 cannot say on the Day of Resurrection, we never knew about this. Nor can you say, it
19:01 was our parents who set up idols, and we just followed in their footsteps. You know, this is what they
19:07 taught me. This is what my parents taught me. This is what we were taught, but that is not an
19:12 acceptable excuse. So God put an instinct in us to worship Him alone. Just like the
19:22 bird. Who taught the bird to sit on the eggs until they hatched? Do the birds go to school?
19:31 What makes the mother bird and the father bird come back and feed the baby?
19:36 You know, they sit in the nest with their mouth like this.
19:40 And they call to mother with open beaks. What makes them do that?
19:44 They didn't go to school, they have no certificates, but God put the instinct
19:48 in them. And God put in us the instinct to worship Him alone.
19:52 So God is just. When we idolize
19:56 Muhammad or Jesus or Mary or saints, we go against our instinct.
20:01 Have you tried to chase a bird away from the egg?
20:06 It refuses it, because that again is its instinct; its instinct is to sit on the eggs until they
20:13 hatch.
20:13 And you go chase it away.
20:15 If you try to take the eggs, they will come and peck you, especially if it's a big powerful
20:20 bird.
20:23 So it is their instinct.
20:25 And to prove it once again, let's look at Sura 30.
20:28 Sura 30, verse 30.
20:36 Let's go back to page 277.
20:42 Under the subtitle, monotheism is natural instinct. Let's start at 28. God cites here
20:49 an example from among you. Would you share your assets with your servants to
20:54 the extent that you become equal and to the extent that you respect them as they
20:58 respect you now? Think of your boss at work. He's gonna give you enough
21:05 responsibilities that will make you equal to him? You equal to him? We thus explain the
21:13 revelations for those who understand. Indeed, the wicked follow their own
21:18 opinions without knowledge. Can anyone guide those misguided by God? No one can
21:23 help them. Thirty. This is the one we want to look at. Therefore, you shall devote
21:28 yourself completely to the religion of monotheism. This is the natural instinct.
21:32 This is the natural instinct that God implanted into the people. Nothing can
21:38 change such creation of God. This is the perfect religion, but most people do not know. Did
21:45 you see that? Instinct? This is the natural instinct that God put in us. Is God just?
21:52 Or is He not just? This is why God says that He does not inflict an atom's weight of injustice.
21:59 Because He put in us the instinct before we came to this world.
22:04 He put in us the one God, the one God.
22:08 And when we go and idolize Jesus or Muhammad,
22:10 we are going against our instinct.
22:21 Let us look at 7:179.
22:23 Verse 179 says, we have assigned to Hell multitudes of jinns
22:37 and humans.
22:38 This is how the verse starts.
22:41 We have assigned to Hell multitudes, millions upon millions, of jinns and humans.
22:46 They are the ones who have hearts that do not understand, eyes that do not see, and ears that do not hear.
22:55 They are like animals, no, they are even worse, they are unaware.
23:01 So, they do not think.
23:04 What's with us in this masjid?
23:07 We used our brains; that's all. We thought.
23:10 We did not accept what was given to us from our parents, our ulama, scholars, and so forth.
23:15 We use our brain. And this is a commandment of the Quran. In Surah 17, verse 36, let's look at it.
23:23 Surah 17, verse 36.
23:33 Verse 36.
23:37 It says you shall not accept anything which you yourself cannot ascertain.
23:43 You are given the hearing, the eyes, and the mind in order to examine and verify.
23:49 You are responsible for using them, and you will be questioned about them. So remember the verse,
23:55 which says they have hearts with which they do not understand, eyes with which they do not see,
23:59 and ears with which they do not hear. And here God is telling you, you shall not accept anything until you are positive that it is correct.
24:05 Because you are banking your salvation on it.
24:08 It's your neck. You are the one who will go to heaven or to hell.
24:15 So when you hear anything from anyone, you have to ascertain and make sure that
24:20 it is right. Whether it is your parents, your ulama, your president, your wife, your husband,
24:26 whatever it is, you must ascertain, you must be absolutely positive, because you...
24:31 You are the one who will go to Heaven or Hell. It is your neck.
24:36 The relations we have here, mothers, fathers, children and all this, is just a means of
24:40 reproduction here.
24:41 But we are all independent individuals when we are in the Hereafter.
24:51 Now, let me give you one example, okay, of using our minds.
24:57 And it has to do with our particular situation here, whether we follow or not follow Hadith
25:02 or Sunnah.
25:04 We take for example, the Salat, the most important worship.
25:11 There are millions upon millions of Muslims who pray the noon and the afternoon silently.
25:16 Raka'ahs number 3 and 4 are silent in Maghrib and Isha.
25:21 Ok?
25:22 This is millions upon millions.
25:24 If you go to a famous mosque in Cairo and pray the Noon in a loud voice,
25:28 you will have 20 people come up to you and tell you you're wrong.
25:32 Anywhere, anywhere in the Muslim world. You go right here in Tucson to the Islamic Center
25:36 and pray the Noon in a loud voice, they will come and correct you.
25:42 Anywhere. This is the only mosque in the world where we pray the Noon in a loud voice.
25:47 Not in a loud voice, but in an audible voice.
25:51 Now, why? When you ask them why
25:56 do you do that, we've asked them that question, and they come up with their
26:01 'prophet said,' and 'the scholars said.' They give you that Sunnah and Hadith religion.
26:08 So now, God gave us the brain, and he gave us eyes and ears, as you see in this verse,
26:16 17:36. We have to think. There's a commandment of the Quran that says you shall
26:21 not pray silently. You shall not pray too loud nor silently, but seek an intermediate
26:28 tone.
26:30 وَلَا تَجْهَرْ بِصَلَاتِكَ وَلَا تُخَافِتْ بِهَا وَابْتَغِ بَيْنَ ذَٰلِكَ
26:34 سَبِيلًا
26:34 So the verse, لَا تُخَافِتْ, do not be silent. Now, we see in the Quran in several
26:40 verses, the Prophet says, I am afraid to disobey my Lord, I am afraid of the retribution
26:46 of a Great Day.
26:47 إِنِّي أَخَافُ إِنْ عَصَيْتُ رَبِّي عَذَابَ يَوْمٍ عَظِيمٍ
26:50 Qul innee akhaafu
26:51 So the Prophet himself is ordered to say,
26:54 therefore, and also rationally, the Prophet will not disobey God, will he?
27:00 See, they are the people who claim to follow and love the Prophet.
27:02 The Christians claim to follow and love Jesus.
27:05 And the Muslims claim to follow and love Muhammad.
27:09 But they are the first ones who ridicule him and disobey him.
27:12 Will he disobey God?
27:14 This is the commandment in the Quran, Surah 17, verse 110,
27:18 "You shall not pray silently." A commandment.
27:22 Is it possible at all for the Prophet to disobey that and pray silently?
27:27 So we have to use our brains.
27:29 This is why you see in Surah 7, verse 179 that these people are going to hell
27:35 because they have hearts with which they do not understand,
27:39 eyes with which they do not see, and ears with which they do not hear.
27:42 It doesn't take too much thinking, using the brain, to know that it's impossible for the
27:48 Prophet to disobey God.
27:51 They disrespect the Prophet.
27:54 I didn't intend to say this, but while I'm at it, one of the things that they say, and they
28:00 say it's a religious order, is that polygamy is limited by four.
28:06 Now, the Prophet was the Prophet, but he had nine wives.
28:09 Now how do you explain that?
28:12 They really, of course, couldn't explain that.
28:14 Because polygamy is not limited in the Quran.
28:16 There may be situations in the future
28:18 where polygamy must be,
28:19 everyone must have a hundred wives.
28:21 I don't know.
28:24 We don't know what the situation may be.
28:27 Polygamy is not limited in the Quran.
28:32 Anywhere in the Quran.
28:33 But they limit it.
28:34 They have hundreds of hadiths telling you
28:36 that polygamy is limited by four.
28:37 And they forget, they forget that their idol—the deification of Muhammad against his will—
28:46 they forget that he left nine wives when he died. How do they
28:51 explain that? And then they turn around and say he knew the future. Well, some
28:55 will tell you he married these before the commandment came, which is not true,
28:59 because the verse that they abuse in the Surah of The Women, that says "two, three, or four,"
29:07 Because the verse says "or four," this is not a limitation, because the verse is not going
29:12 to say two, or three, or four, or five, or six, or seven, or eight, or nine, or 10, or 11, forever. It will stop somewhere.
29:18 It is not saying it is limited by four. But when they date this, that verse came early
29:24 in Medina, and the Prophet married women after that, in fact most of his wives were married after
29:28 that verse came down. So they have no way around it. But they are the people who insult,
29:35 insult the Prophet, and disrespect him, and disobey him. One more thing that I didn't intend to say,
29:42 the other day they were fielding a question: "You follow the hadith of the Prophet?"
29:46 Anyways. When you pray, you read Al-Fatihah, and this is hadith of the Prophet.
29:54 Now, you have to be very alert here. It's true. We follow the true hadith of the Prophet.
30:01 Al-Fatihah came out of Muhammad's mouth. We follow the Quran. This is the proven hadith of the Prophet, the only hadith, and the Quran says that.
30:09 So this is the only hadith. We do follow the hadith of Muhammad that came out of his mouth, the Quran.
30:16 Now what they think is the hadith of the Prophet, are things that are attributed to the Prophet. I'm laughing because yesterday we grabbed one of the books of hadith,
30:25 and read a hadith that the sun rises between two horns of the devil, so don't pray.
30:31 This is in Bukhari.
30:34 So what they think is hadith, and of course we went through the series of narrations
30:39 with all the funny names in it, you know, that we heard from this person,
30:44 that he heard from his father, that he heard from his great great uncle,
30:48 that he heard from somebody that, that the prophet said, he said what the prophet said,
31:06 Yes, we do follow the only hadith, the only acceptable hadith, which is the Quran, nothing
31:12 but the Quran.
31:12 You guys are following the hadith of narrators, storytellers, who told you that Muhammad said
31:20 this, more than 200 years later.
31:42 One of the things that they will try to get you with is a classic one.
31:47 They'll tell you, you worship Rashad Khalifa.
31:52 And the object is, you want to prove to them that you don't worship Rashad Khalifa,
31:56 if you want to go and beat him up or some, you know, rip him or shoot him or something,
32:00 to prove that you don't worship him.
32:02 But this is an old one.
32:04 Because it insults your pride, you know, your ego.
32:09 And it also uses the same thing we're using.
32:12 We say, do not worship anyone but God.
32:16 But you know something?
32:18 Worshipping the imam or the scholar,
32:21 there is an established...
32:23 Idol worship, it is a fact.
32:26 People do worship their scholars,
32:30 or imams, or priests, or rabbis,
32:32 or whatever, or their leaders,
32:34 whatever you want to call it.
32:36 I'm not putting myself in any of those categories,
32:38 but I just use it to answer their arguments.
32:40 Now I want you to look, to see it in the Quran, Quran 9 verse 31, 9 verse 31, the top of page 129.
32:59 They have taken their priests and rabbis as lords besides God, as well as Christ the Son of Mary.
33:05 while they were commanded not to worship but the one God, there is no God except He,
33:11 much too glorious to have partners.
33:14 So how do we know we did not fall in this same trap?
33:18 One thing we do in this life is we test the questions, we test the issues,
33:22 and we attack them and we obliterate them.
33:26 It doesn't matter what the issue is.
33:30 And this is the essence of freedom.
33:32 You must be free to face any questions and solve them.
33:37 You must never have any doubt in your heart. Now how do we know that we didn't fall in this trap?
33:42 They have taken the priests and rabbis, and I can add to this,
33:47 and imams and scholars and all of that, as lords besides God.
33:52 So, does this mean that they fall prostrate
33:56 before the priests or rabbis or imams or scholars.
34:01 Because, you see, some people think that the words mean that they bow before them
34:06 and prostrate to them.
34:08 But that's not it.
34:11 The criterion is that we must know and we must distinguish whether we fell in that trap
34:16 or not.
34:21 If the scholar, or the priest, or the rabbi, or the imam, or the alim, or whoever it is,
34:28 If a scholar is saying something that is exactly identical to what God says, and you follow
34:34 that, you are not taking the scholar, or the imam, or the priest, or the rabbi as a judge.
34:40 You are not worshipping the priest, or the rabbi, or the imam, or the scholar.
34:48 But if a scholar, or the imam, or the rabbi, or the priest says something that is
34:56 different from what God said, and you follow that, instead of following God.
35:01 Then you accept the Imam as a god besides God. Not only that, you accept the Imam or the scholar
35:07 or the priest or the rabbi as a god instead of God. And a good example is what I mentioned
35:13 in the first book. Now God said, you shall not pray silently. And the scholar said,
35:18 you shall pray silently. Now who is your God? Do you see what the verse says?
35:27 If the Imam or the scholar is saying something different from what God said, and you follow
35:33 that, then you are worshipping the Imam or the scholar.
35:36 This is your criterion.
35:40 But when the scholar or the priest or the rabbi or the Imam is saying something that's
35:45 identical to what God said, your province is to obey.
35:49 Obey. Absolute obedience is required, as you know from the story of Moses and his people.
35:53 Moses, a prophet. And we can show that a prophet, not just any human being,
35:56 was the greatest, and that absolute obedience
36:01 was demanded. Because if any one of us
36:06 is sent, he is to say, "You shall worship God alone."
36:11 Now, you have two choices. You either obey
36:13 Him or her. Or you disobey Him or her.
36:18 If you obey him or her, you will worship God alone.
36:23 If you disobey, this means you will worship somebody else besides God.
36:26 So this is why absolute obedience is required.
36:30 And it is not worshipping that person at all.
36:35 You are worshipping God.
36:37 And you are following those words because they are the words of God,
36:40 not because they are the words of a scholar or a man.
36:44 So, the Muslims, millions upon millions of them, have taken their scholars as gods besides God.
36:50 I can give you hundreds of examples, which are right here in the Quran.
36:56 And this one is a good one, the one that was introduced the other day, it's something that you do.
37:01 Why do you pray the noon and the afternoon silently, when God says you shall not pray silently?
37:07 Because they have taken their scholars as gods, besides God.
37:13 So, when they tell you you're worshipping Rashad Khalifa,
37:19 but they're really looking in the mirror.
37:20 It's what they do.
37:22 Something that they are doing.
37:24 They have taken their scholars and their imams,
37:27 as gods, besides God.
37:33 They would always try to
37:37 This is a classic, and we're going to go fast through this verse, 7:90.
37:44 You have to get used to them getting you in many different ways.
37:49 Look at 7:90 for example, page 109.
37:54 The elders who disbelieved among his people said,
37:57 "If you follow Shu'ayb, you will be losers."
38:04 And even more profound, Sura 40 verse 26, 40, 26, we are going to laugh at this one.
38:19 Okay, page 323, what verse did I say?
38:27 Pharaoh said, "Let me kill Moses, and let him implore his Lord. I fear, lest he alter your
38:34 religion or spread corruption on earth."
38:37 This is Pharaoh speaking.
38:39 He is afraid Moses will alter the religion of the Egyptians, or spread corruption in the
38:46 land.
38:47 And they will always tell you that.
38:48 They will tell you, if you worship God alone, you are going to be a loser.
38:53 You are going to corrupt your religion.
38:55 You are not a Muslim.
38:56 They will go to that extent.
38:58 You are not Muslim.
38:58 You worship God alone.
39:01 You are not a Muslim.
39:02 It is a heavy duty.
39:12 They deified their prophets Jesus and Muhammad
39:15 against their will.
39:17 And the Quran comes with the answer.
39:19 Surah 25, verse 30, that Muhammad was despondent on the Day of Judgment.
39:25 And we learn from Matthew, the Bible, 7, verse 23, that Jesus was despondent on the Day of Judgment.