Quran Study 31 Dec 1982 By Dr Rashad Khalifa
Transcript
0:00 Do you expect to enter Paradise without having to go through the same test as those before you?
0:16 They suffered hardships and adversities and were so shaken to their very core.
0:23 But for us, sometimes, this verse is just glossed over.
0:29 They suffered hardships and adversities and were so shaken up that the messenger and those who believed with him said,
0:36 "When is God's victory?" Indeed, God's victory is always near.
0:44 Okay, so, the idea here is to worship God alone no matter what happens.
0:53 In all circumstances, it is a matter of knowledge.
0:57 You come to the conclusion that God is one,
1:01 He's the only Master, He's the only one who benefits or harms.
1:05 He's the only one who controls the minds and hearts of the people around you.
1:09 He makes them love you, or hate you, or care about you, or not care.
1:16 And with this knowledge, it doesn't matter what happens.
1:18 Adversity or happiness is a fixed, destined matter.
1:26 And you know that, it doesn't matter what happens.
1:29 Also, we are here for the test.
1:37 And God wants to be proud of you, and wants to show you off to the angels and say,
1:42 "Look at My servant, he or she worships Me no matter what happens, without ever seeing Me."
1:51 This is the whole idea of our creation.
1:59 And the end of the verse says, "Indeed, God's victory is always near."
2:09 It must be noted also here that after the test, there is a final test.
2:17 After the final test, there is nothing but kingship on earth.
2:22 That's God's promise.
2:24 When you come to the conclusion that you want to worship God alone,
2:29 it takes a long time, the road is long and hard.
2:36 a continuous struggle, but there will come a time when you are a perfect worshipper of
2:41 God alone.
2:43 Then there is no more hardship.
2:49 And we can see this in Surah 24:55; this is one of the verses that you must remember.
3:16 God promises those among you who believe and work righteousness, that He will make them
3:21 rulers on earth, as He did for those before them, and He will establish for them
3:27 the religion He has chosen for them, and substitute for them security in place of their fear.
3:33 All this because they worship Me alone, without associating anything with Me.
3:39 Those who disbelieve after this, they are the wicked.
3:43 But what? It's a commitment on their part.
3:48 It is a settlement of mind.
3:51 Then we have no choice.
3:57 And the condition is clear for all to see.
4:01 See this, this promise is true now. Do you remember Job?
4:07 Job had not yet passed the test.
4:11 But once he passed the test, he recovered his health, he recovered his family, and even twice as much.
4:20 He recovered his wealth twice as much.
4:25 So, he was under the test for as long as he needed to be tested, to prove himself.
4:31 And the same is true here.
4:36 Also, we must think of adversity as a cleansing and polishing process.
4:42 When you commit to the oneness of God alone, you should expect some problems at the beginning.
4:47 Because with cleansing, all the past sins, all the past errors,
4:52 they can be cleansed only by paying for them, in this world.
4:57 So all the adversity that you have at the beginning,
5:00 it comes during this initial period, and you might have 5 or 10 years of adversity.
5:05 Because of the polishing process.
5:10 Polishing, you know how polishing goes.
5:13 You take a piece of rock,
5:15 and you put it in a polishing machine, very noisy.
5:20 chipping off pieces, but then what comes out is a beautiful jet.
5:26 And that's what will come out after we go through the polishing process.
5:32 Polishing is also moving.
5:37 So what I'm saying is that there is a pivotal test.
5:40 Also, if you look at Surah 65, verses 2, 3, and 4,
6:01 page 401, verses 2 and 3, it says, whoever reverences God,
6:15 God, He will create an exit for him, and provide for him whence
6:24 he never expects.
6:31 When you observe God, you sacrifice a job, or a source of income, strictly for the sake of God,
6:40 He will provide for you whence you least expect.
6:47 Surah 65, page 401, the end of verse 2.
6:54 This is the verse I wanted to remember.
6:57 Whoever is righteous towards God, He will create an exit for him, and provide for him whence he never expects.
7:05 Anyone who trusts in God, God is sufficient for him. God always carries out His decisions.
7:15 You have come to the conclusion that God is the King, the absolute ruler of the universe,
7:23 and He will carry out His promises and His commands.
7:30 You just have to believe it. You must have absolute confidence in it.
7:36 Tomorrow, there is a mandatory law, insurance law.
7:45 And we have, quite a few of us have decided that we have insurance with God.
7:51 that if you are with God, you have the best insurance.
7:59 And you don't have to believe that.
8:02 Nothing will happen to you when you have insurance with God.
8:05 This is the difference between the insurance companies and God's insurance.
8:10 If you have God's insurance, you don't have anything happen to you.
8:14 Your car, your health.
8:18 With the insurance companies, you will have an accident and the insurance company will pay for you.
8:25 You have the agony of the accident, and the inconvenience of losing your car,
8:32 or having an operation, and the companies will pay.
8:39 But you just have to have the confidence that when you have insurance with God, nothing will happen to you.
8:45 Also, you must know that if God wants to get you, He'll get you, whether you have insurance or not.
8:53 God says, they cannot escape from Me.
8:56 Also, if you deserve a pinch, or a little accident, or a little sickness,
9:02 you can't get away from it with your insurance company.
9:06 Okay.
9:08 How about when you're doing service for God, you assume that you'll get what you need?
9:13 Yes.
9:13 When you have to, then you have to. We will not
9:17 buy insurance unless we have to. But it appears
9:21 that God is already taking care of us. Because the law enforcement
9:25 prosecutors are out protesting the law
9:29 and they are making an official
9:32 statement that they will not enforce it.
9:36 They don't want to enforce it. So I called the Civil Liberties
9:41 Union myself, and I told them this contradicts our religious belief, and they didn't know anything about it.
9:49 So, we will not buy insurance until we have to. Because the Quran says if you have to eat pork or drink wine
9:57 or do anything, if you have to, without being malicious or deliberate, then you're not committing a sin.
10:10 What I'm saying is, when God says, and provide for you whence you never expect, you must know that.
10:17 You must have the confidence.
10:20 If you have the slightest doubt, it will not work.
10:26 And this insurance business, we were in it pretty much for a long time, and we had a conversation
10:37 to this extent. I told you about our friend Tariq, when a guy said, "What's with this phone number?"
10:46 He says, "I had to come to God because of this phone number."
10:54 He didn't, he just, he didn't, he wasn't thinking.
10:56 I mean, it was the natural question coming afterwards, but then of course,
10:59 he was stopped.
11:03 Because he had a pen in his hand, and the pen was there to write the phone number.
11:07 It was a tune-up place, where the card was a little bit different.
11:13 It was a kind of a message to somebody in the city.
11:21 So, God always carries out His decision.
11:24 It's the absolute truth of it.
11:26 He runs this country.
11:28 He does not just run religion. He runs the government.
11:32 And any government, anywhere.
11:34 God runs everything.
11:40 If you go to the end of verse 4, it says, whoever observes righteousness towards God,
11:46 God will make everything easy for him. Everything will go easy for him.
11:53 He will not suffer any hardship. There is absolutely no humiliation for the believer.
12:03 You go apply for a job, and you will be in the boss's seat, because your soul takes over the
12:09 place, and you see them running to serve you.
12:15 They may not be aware, but they obey.
12:21 Whoever observes righteousness towards God, God will make everything easy for him.
12:27 This is God's promise as documented here, in His final testament.
12:31 So we'll go back now to page 23, about hardship as a mandatory thing.
12:46 Over and over we see people who are immensely wealthy on the TV,
12:51 they are complaining about how unhappy they are.
13:18 And all these severe problems, earthquakes, hurricanes, floods,
13:25 all these are punishments, tests. All these things are absolutely controlled by God.
13:36 There is a statement that will answer your question.
13:59 There is no disaster that strikes, except in accordance with God's will and by the leave of the Lord.
14:10 God's will. This is the law. No disaster strikes except in accordance with God's will.
14:22 No pain, no disaster, nothing happens except by personal decree from God, because it is
14:34 It's not possible to get a simple headache just like this.
14:42 It has to be a personal decree from God.
14:46 God's design.
14:47 A doctor might blame it on a pillow or something.
14:52 They do not have that.
14:59 Do you want to answer this question, Diana?
15:04 Yes, I can immediately answer.
15:15 God is accurate.
15:18 Every drop of water is measured.
15:21 Everything in this world is measured.
15:25 Every piece of ice that fell on Denver, if you could measure it, it wouldn't be off a bit.
15:31 It was measured. Yeah.
15:33 Did you say also that, it's almost like denial,
15:35 to explain this away and make that man even more hard-hearted,
15:38 then maybe the truth will be removed from his heart,
15:41 and there isn't any room left in his heart.
15:43 Yes, everything is planned.
15:47 Every minute, the minutest detail is very carefully planned, Alhamdulillah.
15:53 Nothing is coincidental or haphazard. Nothing. As individuals, as nations, as a world.
16:04 Just think, every drop of water is measured. Exactly where it goes.
16:10 Where it's gonna fall. How many inches from an ant that's crawling, moves around. That's right?
16:36 They ask you about charities, Say: Charities shall go to the parents, the relatives, the
16:43 orphans, the poor, and the alien.
16:45 Any righteous work you do, God is fully aware thereof.
16:51 Fighting may be forced upon you, though you dislike it,
16:55 but you may dislike something which is actually good for you,
16:59 and you may like something which is actually bad for you.
17:03 God knows while you do not know.
17:06 They ask you about the desecration of the sacred month by fighting therein.
17:11 Say, fighting during the sacred month is sacrilegious,
17:16 but repelling the people from the path of God and disbelieving in Him
17:20 and in the sacredness of the Sacred Mosque, and evicting the people therefrom, are all
17:26 worse sacrileges in the sight of God.
17:29 Oppression is worse than murder.
17:32 They will continue to fight you until they revert you from your religion, if they could.
17:39 Those who revert from their religion and die as disbelievers have wasted their works in
17:44 this life and the hereafter; they have deserved hell, wherein they abide forever.
17:49 As for those who believe, immigrate, and strive in the cause of God, they have deserved God's
17:56 mercy.
17:56 God is Forgiving, Most Merciful.
18:00 There are two different subjects here.
18:03 Verse 215 talks about the charity, and it tells us specifically that the charity first goes
18:14 to those that are closest to us, that is, those we're most responsible for, our parents
18:18 and our relatives, and then next to those that really need economic help and don't have
18:27 something else to rely on: the orphans, the poor, and the traveling alien.
18:38 Here, we are given the details of how to disburse it. Let's look at
18:46 the parents, if they need it. If they don't need it, then there is no need for it. In other words, each
18:51 Each takes care of his own, and if each one takes care of his own, there will be no misery in the world.
18:58 If the relatives are rich, then you move to the orphans.
19:06 Children who have no care, or too little care, they die.
19:21 And any righteous work you do, God is fully aware of it.
19:25 And it seems that charity is more than just economic work.
19:30 It can be any kind of work.
19:32 Doing what is right in this world for other people.
19:41 We need to simply enlighten, or do anything that we try to do to make the world better,
19:53 to treat other people as we would like to be treated, with mercy for the people around us,
20:00 then God is
20:03 it's because
20:06 we want to express God's mercy.
20:10 We want to,
20:16 we desire God's forgiveness
20:19 and God's mercy
20:20 and these qualities.
20:21 And by showing our appreciation,
20:24 we desire for Him to express
20:26 over us.
20:51 The next subject is on fighting.
20:58 which I take to mean basically in a war type of situation, though it may be, well, when we think of fighting, we think of taking up arms of violence rather than just an argument.
21:15 And on another level, it could be simply not giving in to any kind of oppression, which may be
21:33 economic or political or social, but...
21:37 No, I understand what you're saying.
21:40 There is only one reason for aggression, and it has to do with the freedom
21:46 to worship God alone.
21:48 That's it.
21:50 There is absolutely no other reason for aggression, only if it's going to interfere
21:55 with your freedom of worship, the worship of God alone.
22:02 Oppression means imposing a religious view on you, or to prevent you from practicing your religion.
22:09 That's the only reason for fighting.
22:16 Fighting may be imposed upon you.
22:18 If somebody comes and says, Hey, don't pray.
22:21 You cannot pray.
22:22 You and your mother cannot pray.
22:28 But if your country gets into war with another country and you're required to go and fight,
22:34 like if you're drafted or anything?
22:35 You don't fight because of them.
22:37 You're drafted.
22:38 No.
22:39 No.
22:39 No.
22:39 No.
22:39 No.
22:40 Unless a country tries to make you not believe in God.
22:44 Like if Russia comes to invade this country for the purpose of turning everyone into atheists,
22:50 then that's in the cause of God. The only fighting is in the cause of God, not in the cause of government.
22:56 So not for whatever worldly reason or circumstance,
23:02 the fighting for land, because of borders, because of country,
23:07 is to throw away your life.
23:11 Because you did not create this body.
23:14 Only when jihad is in the cause of God.
23:17 What if you are forced to defend yourself
23:19 and somebody wants to drive you away from your own land?
23:24 Do you have to fight them off?
23:26 Or do you just, you know, stand aside?
23:29 It doesn't depend.
23:30 But if...
23:33 If it isn't in the cause of God.
23:38 I mean, what about where it says about evicting you from your houses?
23:43 What if they're fighting you, but not for religious reasons, they're not...
23:50 ...proceeding religiously, but they're, say, grabbing land or whatever, for political differences?
23:57 Can we go through the rules of war here?
24:07 I'm... I'm...
24:08 I'm...
24:08 Yeah, yeah, we did. Yeah, we did.
24:14 OK, OK, OK.
24:16 Well, then I'll re-read that.
24:20 Or...
24:21 ok.
24:21 ok.
24:22 ok.
24:24 ok.
24:24 ok.
24:37 Suppose we're sitting here worshipping God alone and somebody comes and says,
24:40 you can't, you can't banish the shirk, you can't banish the shirk.
24:44 In our instance we have to fight that.
24:46 I want to be quiet, but it's shirk.
24:50 I think it would be a crime.
24:52 Anything can happen.
24:56 We happen to have a formidable army around this building anyway, as you know.
25:01 For one, Abdullah is using up what he has
25:03 and doing his best.
25:07 There is one brother who comes and says, he was living in the Hadith,
25:12 when he comes to see us, he looks at us and says, I now know.
25:15 And anyway, what I want to tell you is that people try to deface the sign,
25:22 and that's why, because they can't measure up to it.
25:28 So there are invisible forces around, we don't need to do anything.
25:32 This age is the age of the mathal. The mathal today.
25:39 Rather than the force of lightning.
25:49 Anyway, we got to the point about that.
25:51 Yeah.
25:55 I missed your question there.
26:04 Is it part of the institution that's involved?
26:29 Is it the whole institution that's involved?
26:34 You don't earn your living by selling liquor, for example, which is breaking God's law.
26:41 They ask about joining the armed forces, but if you join the armed forces and there's no war, it's just like any job.
26:49 It's when your government gets in a war with another country and you're...
26:53 That's when you have to make a decision whether this is in the cause of God or not.
27:08 Well, suppose you're working for a big company and they're producing something, you know,
27:16 you know, maybe you're not directly involved in the manufacturing, you know, you protest.
27:29 If there's no war, it's perfectly all right, because the Quran says to prepare for war.
27:36 Prepare the maximum power that you have.
27:40 War is to repel aggression against the religion.
27:47 So joining the armed forces or making weapons or anything that is for war is justified.
27:56 And if it is war, then you have to make a decision if it is in the cause of God or not.
28:00 So it's a case of having a nuclear armory.
28:07 If we didn't have nuclear weapons in this country, we couldn't be sure Russia wouldn't be here.
28:14 What about the idea that we trust God to protect us?
28:20 Yeah, but God orders you to do that.
28:23 It's like tying it.
28:25 You really trust in God, and you have the weapons, the bombs, and you don't leave it up to the sky.
28:31 When you trust in God, you also use the means.
28:33 One of the commands is to prepare the maximum power you can possibly have.
28:38 This is a verse from the Quran.
28:40 Does that appear?
28:42 I think it's that line.
28:49 I'm going to give you the index.
28:52 I meant to talk to you about this once before because you said,
28:55 Trust in God and do not hesitate.
29:00 The preemptive strike, which is attacking the earth—they call it a preemptive strike, though—
29:08 they don't say attacking the earth.
29:14 Surah 9, verse 41: You shall readily mobilize, light or heavy, and strive with your money and your lives in the cause of God.
29:24 This is better for you, if you only knew.
29:49 Surah 8, verse 60.
29:52 Surah 8, verse 60.
30:00 This is a commandment from Surah 8, verse 60. You shall prepare for
30:11 them all the power and equipment you can muster in order to terrify the enemies of God and your
30:17 enemies, as well as others you are not aware of; God knows them.
30:24 Anything you have spent in the cause of God will be repaid to you fully, and you will not be wronged.
30:29 The very essential commandment is to prepare.
30:38 You must always have a deterring force.
30:47 No, it is not aggression, but you follow the correct steps.
30:56 It's like 272,200.
30:58 That's right.
31:00 So there was an article in which the matrix was written on numbers.
31:04 Oh, yeah.
31:04 And there was a transform that was written on numbers.
31:08 That's another one.
31:09 But their method of strategy is to look at the attack and defeat of the Israelis from a strategic point of view. They analyze the numbers of the battle lines militarily, and this is how they make sense of it.
31:32 Also, in the Battle of Yarmouk, when we defeated armies much larger than ours, and in the Battle of Qadisiyyah against the Persians, the Muslim army was seen as the best army in the world.
32:33 Oppression is worse than murder.
32:46 It's an attempt to manipulate somebody's mind and to make other people follow one's own material desires.
33:13 It's that they are not just trying to change your mind, but to make you revert to a situation
33:24 of unbelief.
33:26 In other words, the Submitters now have come, they have arrived at the Truth, all right?
33:34 And for you to go from truth back to unbelief, that is the murder of the soul.
33:44 It's not a matter of just changing your belief; it's going back to unbelief, which is terrible.
33:49 And the Quran says many times, once you have belief, many people will try to make you revert to unbelief.
33:58 So that is terrible because the punishment for unbelief after belief is greater than
34:08 just unbelief from beginning to end.
34:12 I think the Quran says that too.
34:14 It says it in the next verse.
34:17 It says those who revert from their religion and die as disbelievers, their works are in vain.
34:23 They have deserved hell, and they are there forever.
34:29 And those who believe, immigrate, and strive in the cause of God... so it's telling us, I think, that if we are oppressed and can't fight them, it's better to get up and leave and go someplace where we can practice our religion, rather than give in to their demands.
34:55 Right.
34:56 I guess it's time to fight,
34:58 if we can. If not,
34:59 God is Forgiving, Most Merciful.
35:08 and mercy.
35:12 Now,
35:14 this is a very interesting verse
35:17 because people have pointed out,
35:19 many times, I think,
35:21 they interpret this verse out of context.
35:25 How can oppression or persecution be worse than murder, they say.
35:30 But actually, if you read the whole thing, I think what it means is this:
35:34 In the long run, going to hell is worse than murder.
35:40 I think oppression, I think this is what it means.
35:43 Some people don't seem to care about this.
35:53 I don't understand why the enemies of God had to do this.
36:00 We have to take this in conjunction with the other verses that tell us about why and what
36:04 happened.
36:04 The ayah has it too.
36:06 Okay.
36:07 Something happened to me that's very important.
36:11 And we were there in Mecca,
36:12 but we had to go back in.
36:14 I lost you,
36:16 and you had to go back in.
36:18 I said, you had shaved everything, didn't you?
36:20 I said, no, I didn't.
36:21 I said, no, I didn't.
36:23 I said, no, I didn't.
36:25 I said, no, I didn't.
36:27 I said, no, I didn't.
36:29 I didn't.
36:30 Well, I don't think it's bad.
36:31 It's not bad.
36:32 It's just not good.
36:35 It's just not good.
36:37 So, you know, the throwing of rocks won't apply to you.
36:39 You can't have that first one.
36:42 Throwing rocks will not affect you.
36:44 You can't throw that.
36:47 You can't throw that.
36:48 You can't throw that.
36:49 No...
36:50 Yeah, it's a special thing.
36:51 It's not a special thing.
36:52 It's not a special thing.
37:00 But who knows? You have God on your side. God manipulates your mind and your heart.
37:07 So, when they are prejudiced, they are only hurting themselves.
37:12 So, they have a different situation.
37:15 Well, no. Instead, someone did it to you.
37:18 You saw what it was, and then you came to the point where you just couldn't use the phone.
37:23 Oh, oh.
37:25 It wasn't a problem. You could get home and use this, of course, and get away with it.
37:30 Yeah.
37:32 No, you can't do it just like that.
37:36 Yeah, you can't do it just like that.
37:39 Yeah, you can't do it just like that.
37:42 Right?
37:43 No, I bet somebody couldn't find you a good one and you couldn't.
37:55 I think the verse, I think also it's important for people, regarding the early Muslims
38:00 who were in Mecca, who were oppressed by the tribes and the pagans, and the ones
38:06 who didn't immigrate and they were being encouraged by this to immigrate to...
38:10 No, I'm not looking for it now, but I can tell you what I'm saying, because I've read it at least a few times.
38:18 The things I'm saying, I mean, look at them.
38:24 Even the people here, look at them.
38:27 Come over there, look at them.
38:29 Look at them, look at them, look at them.
38:30 Look at them.
38:31 Look at them.
38:33 Look at them.
38:35 Look at them.
38:37 Look at them.
38:38 And do you think he replies now? No. Because he's only human.
38:42 Emigration means you go to the spot where you want to go, but you don't really know what to do.
38:49 You go in the place where you don't want to go, but you don't really know where to go.
38:53 You go to a place where you don't want to go, but you don't really know what to do.
39:04 I don't know if I follow you, but...
39:07 Yeah.
39:08 There's a sheikh in San Antonio.
39:12 They make a lot of money off of getting younger ones.
39:16 There's $30 million now that they're trying to make their case.
39:22 This is the scene in which we confront them with this stuff.
39:26 They're a joke.
39:32 But you, you are also able to die alone, with Quran alone, but you cannot say this on a TV.
39:41 It's a forbidden undertaking, you cannot do it.
39:46 And if they see that you have an influence doing this, they would actually put you on trial and kill you.
39:54 That's right.
40:00 Did you say a minute ago that just that thought made the change?
40:04 Just thought.
40:05 Just thought.
40:06 You learned something.
40:07 Just thought.
40:08 It was enough.
40:10 Oh, I thought you meant that emotionally you don't have to think that.
40:16 Very good.
40:18 Very good.
40:19 The more you know, I expect more from you, wouldn't you?
40:23 In 24 hours.
40:24 Okay.
41:11 Do you have any questions on the, you know, it's a very important principle in the Quran.
41:20 You may like something which is actually bad for you, or you may dislike something which is actually good for you.
41:27 But you go apply for the job, the worship of God alone, and you don't get the job.
41:37 Why? Because it's not good for you.
41:40 Why? You go to apply for the job and you don't care if you're going to get it or not, because you know that God will give you the job that's good for you.
41:47 He will submit to that. He will submit to the omniscience.
41:50 He knows what circumstances will come with every job you are applying for.
41:57 So what you do when you apply for a job is you apply for all the jobs, and God will offer you the one that is best for you.
42:05 So when you don't get a job, it is not something that you should dislike.
42:10 But you might dislike something that is actually good for you.
42:12 It is good for you that you didn't take that job.
42:18 You can think of many things that you may like, or expect to be good for you, and you may like for people to respect you.
42:31 That's an important thing, taking advantage of the fact that you know exactly what to expect from Him.
42:47 The topic of the gathering, for instance, is what the tafsirs and jurists say.
43:05 In them is gross sin and some benefits for the people.
43:09 But their sin outweighs their benefits.
43:13 And they ask you what to give as charity. Say, "The excess."
43:19 God thus clarifies the revelations for you, that you may reflect upon this life and the Hereafter.
43:27 And they ask you about the orphans. Say,
43:30 "To reform them is best."
43:33 If you mix your property with theirs, then they are your brethren.
43:41 God is fully aware of the corrupt and the righteous.
43:46 Had God willed, He could have made things difficult. God is Almighty, Wise.
44:05 But there is a commandment in verse 90, and it's a straightforward commandment that is
44:17 it's forbidding us from having intoxicants and to do gambling.
44:24 And God says there is great sin in this, having intoxicants or doing gambling.
44:31 gambling.
44:33 The minute this prohibition was revealed, the people out there were emptying out their barrels directly, as we're told.
44:45 From one side to the other side, wine was running in the streets, sending God's message, which each one of them just couldn't
44:51 defy the law, you know.
44:53 The people out there were just breaking down the barrels.
45:14 The lottery is a perfect example of breaking God's law and what it does to you.
45:28 You, Richard Richardson, have won a million dollars.
45:32 It's not enough.
45:34 It's not enough.
45:36 It's not enough.
45:37 It's not enough.
45:38 It's not enough.
45:40 I have a need for more than that.
45:43 Okay, now in this verse it says,
45:45 there are some benefits in them
45:47 and some benefits for the people.
45:49 What could be these benefits?
45:51 Maybe you're earning some money from this thing?
45:55 I mean, that's what I said: the farmers who plant the grapes.
45:58 Okay.
45:59 Because the Quran...
46:00 Most of them are selling these things, for example.
46:02 Yeah.
46:04 Or selling wine or, you know.
46:07 It's not just promises.
46:08 It's not just prophecies.
46:10 The Quran is realistic.
46:13 This is a good point.
46:16 The Quran is accurate.
46:18 And the Quran cannot...
46:20 The Quran acknowledges the fact that some people use farmers' land to grow grapes and sell them, and there are lots of people who have jobs because of wine and all of that.
46:31 So that's the whole situation.
46:33 But God says that they have more sin than benefit.
46:37 The sin outweighs the benefit.
46:40 Therefore, if we follow God's law, we have to eliminate the sin.
46:46 May I add something? I do not deny that this is one of the meanings that it can give employment benefits to hundreds of people, as Brother Arik said.
46:58 It can also mean something else, over and above.
47:05 For example, I notice that in certain cases, when some people are feeling bad and so on,
47:13 they give them a shot.
47:13 It's given.
47:14 It could mean that also you have to patch them up very close.
47:18 It can help them temporarily.
47:20 But if the doctor is bad, it becomes a habit.
47:23 I think it's a possibility.
47:27 It's given in small quantities.
47:29 And some substance is there that is...
47:35 I was like that the other day.
47:39 Prescription.
47:40 I was like that the other day.
47:55 Prescription.
48:07 And you pay a high price for it, and you hear that the best investment is in Arizona, in the lottery.
48:15 Arizona introduced the lottery to make some money, and the state was never poor. Never.
48:20 The year they introduced the lottery, the copper market went bad, and the state had a $100,000,000
48:27 deficit.
48:30 $100,000,000 deficit.
48:32 Something that never happened in the history of Arizona.
48:35 So from the time they started the lottery, the state has been poor, and they had to have
48:41 a freezing of employment and cuts in the budget.
48:44 And I worked for the state, and I watched this happening.
48:47 I don't want to talk about it in such a way that now the officials responsible for the
48:57 lottery say, "You have a hundred-million-dollar deficit, can you imagine how much worse you would
49:02 have been without the lottery?"
49:04 So they say. They never understand. They are not supposed to.
49:09 But it is a fact, a fact of life, that the state is poor because of the lottery,
49:15 not in spite of the lottery.
49:17 And the same is true with us. If we are to break God's law and gamble in order to make money, we'll probably make some thousands and then lose it somewhere else.
49:27 Somewhere else.
49:33 The way that works. When you break God's law, you have a blindfold.
49:41 Well, it's a weak state of consciousness, they keep saying, whatever, exactly the same thing.
49:46 Exactly the same thing. Now, if they send you something you didn't ask for, you didn't apply for it, and they say, "You won this!" They send it in, but it's not yours.
49:58 Yes, because you have nothing, that's why you're asking.
50:01 Exactly, you didn't go after it, you didn't apply for it, you didn't falsify anything, but it came to you.
50:07 I don't think you will ever win a thing like that.
50:14 If God wants to send you money, He'll send it to you legitimately.
50:17 And these schemes prey on others and turn followers away.
50:24 Each one of us, by the way, has a number of dollars assigned to him or to her.
50:28 There's no way you're going to get any more.
50:30 There's no way you're going to get any less.
50:32 You cannot be short for a minute.
50:41 My sister-in-law sent my wife last week a big packet, you know, a big packet, and my
50:52 wife, in her enthusiasm, she opened it and threw the wrapping in the trash, just to find out what was in it.
51:01 And I went to the garbage can later and picked out the paper, and I was going to crush it and put it in the garbage can, or whatever we have.
51:16 Then I saw that all the stamps on the cover, you know what I mean, all the stamps on the cover were unstamped. It was about $5 worth.
51:29 So, there are many possibilities.
51:34 I personally took it as manna from heaven.
51:38 Here are the possibilities.
51:41 I could go, cut the stamps out, and go to the post office, ask my son to drive me,
51:48 it's going to cost us about $3 in gas, and say, "Mr. Postmaster, you forgot to do it."
51:55 without delay, actually, or I give it to someone, and most probably a child will get it.
52:02 Anyhow, he has a friend who would like to have it too, so he gives it to someone.
52:08 Or, I return it to my teacher, and tell her, use it for next year when you give it to another.
52:17 Or I use it for mailing, or as Kathryn would say, I put it in my stamp collection.
52:27 What is the question?
52:29 What is the question?
52:32 Something happened that way.
52:35 Yeah. Somebody made a mistake.
52:42 What is this?
52:43 You're putting me to the test.
52:47 I will consider it a gift from God.
52:50 So the Post Office, I think, they went beyond the reasonable limit in their inflation.
52:59 If you look at the inflation of the Post Office, in the country it was an average of 10% in the last 10 years.
53:08 But the Post Office went up like over 150%.
53:12 So, uh, from that point of view, I disagreed with a couple of officers, and it was a bit of a gift from God that He sent this out to me.
53:21 But, uh, they came to me.
53:24 Last week, he was reflecting that, uh, it's the fact that he's working real hard to make sure they can serve and give you extra money instead of, you know, tons of life money.
53:39 Oh, I see in that case, she is losing the money, because at the end of the day she has to count the money, and account for the money.
53:46 Yeah, she's paying for it from her pocket.
53:49 You're taking money from a person.
53:53 You're taking money from a person.
53:57 No, it's not the same. That's not what we do.
53:59 No, it's not.
54:01 Somebody who's really living, who wants to live even.
54:07 We were, two years ago, we were sending a package, a package for less than a pound.
54:14 A pound or less, for 23 cents.
54:17 That is now 63 cents.
54:19 So that's 300 percent in three years.
54:24 It's 100 percent per year.
54:26 And that's way out of proportion.
54:30 We look to find in that center itself, on our campus, we look to find some really good people.
54:38 And it's usually a valid point, for now.
54:43 So this is my, this is going to be my stop here.
54:50 That's why I think I'm done now.
54:51 But this happened last year.
54:56 You know what, I have to do that.
55:00 Several times I got the mail from the university.
55:04 Oh, from the university mail-room and the university staff?
55:08 Yeah.
55:08 I cut it, and I use it, and I use it, and I use it.
55:11 You used it again.
55:12 Because otherwise we would have done it in the first place.
55:14 I do.
55:15 That's it.
55:16 I see.
55:18 It's done in the first mailing.
55:21 I'm telling you this because I am proof for you to think about it.
55:23 I don't know if there's any fear of talking to a deaf professor.
55:31 I consider it an asset to talk to a deaf professor.
55:38 Oh, back to you.
55:39 You're talking to a deaf professor.
55:42 Okay, uh...
55:44 One more example.
55:46 The Quran, for example, uses the word `khamr`. It does not say `wine`.
55:51 No, no, it's not the same.
55:52 It's a general word that they...
55:55 It's a broader word.
55:56 A lot of people want to say, 'Oh, this is white...
56:00 ...people want to drink white wine.'
56:02 'White wine.'
56:05 'Let's drink the wine.'
56:08 The word in the Quran, `khamr`, is often talked about,
56:11 It means anything that covers the power of the mind.
56:33 Okay, there is also a statement about charity in terms of...
56:39 So, it tells us how much charity we should give of our own, you know, money or whatever possessions we have.
56:51 And God says, "the excess." You give the portion that you do not need to others.
57:00 You cannot give away from your own necessities at all in this way.
57:04 Right. You give away the things that you do not need, from the things that are in excess of your need.
57:09 Otherwise, your necessities will not be met at all.
57:15 Next question is about the orphans.
57:19 The Quran also gives the command to raise them up as Submitters.
57:25 And so we should take care of them just as we care for our own children. For both our own children and the orphans, we have to raise them up equitably.
57:47 God is showing right here the depth of His mercy again, and saying, He's so
57:54 merciful that He's saying, "I could have made a harder commandment for you," but He's
58:02 so merciful, He makes everything easy for us.
58:07 I think I see one... maybe a follow-up?
58:10 I think I see one.
58:15 Oh, okay.
58:19 .
58:22 I'm trying to remember...
58:26 Remember, the Quran tells us that you have to keep their property until they reach maturity and have the mind to manage their own affairs, then you hand their property to them.
58:38 You must be very careful not to step out of line when you are entrusted with managing their resources.
58:48 The guardian of the orphan who is very poor or in distress is permitted to take a just wage for administering the money of the orphan.
58:59 And the person who does this, it is acceptable if done justly.
59:04 I don't know if you understand what I'm saying.
59:09 I don't know if you understand what I'm saying.
59:27 Another thing, then.
59:42 They suffered hardships and adversities, and were so shaken up that the messenger and those with him asked,
59:51 They suffered hardship and adversity and were so shaken up that the messenger and those who believed with him said,
1:00:03 "When is God's victory?" Unquestionably, God's victory is always near.
1:00:11 Okay, so the idea here is to worship God alone, no matter what happens.
1:00:20 In all circumstances, it's a matter of knowledge.
1:00:24 You get to the conclusion that God is one, that He is the only master.
1:00:29 He is the only one that benefits you.
1:00:31 He is the only one who controls the minds and hearts of the people around you.
1:00:36 He makes them love you, or hate you, or care about you, or not care.
1:00:42 And with this knowledge, it doesn't matter what happens.
1:00:46 In adversity or happiness, this is the fixed, definite knowledge.
1:00:53 And when you know that, it doesn't matter what happens.
1:00:57 Also, we are here for the test.
1:01:03 And God wants to be proud of you, and wants to show you off to the angels and say,
1:01:09 Look at My servant, he or she worships Me no matter what happens, without ever seeing Me.
1:01:18 And this is the whole idea of our probation.
1:01:26 And the end of the verse says, indeed God's victory is always near.
1:01:35 It must be noted also here that after these tests, there is a final test.
1:01:43 After the final test, there is nothing but kingship on earth, as God promises.
1:01:50 When you come to the conclusion that you worship God alone,
1:01:55 it takes a long time, the road is long and hard.
1:02:02 A continuous struggle, but there will come a time when you are perfected,
1:02:07 worshipers of God alone. Then there is no more hardship.
1:02:15 And you can see this in Surah 24, verse 55.
1:02:24 These are some of the verses that you must remember, on the sheet, page 2.3, "The Great Promise."
1:02:32 Because God promises in verse 55 of Surah 24, those among you who believe
1:02:44 and work righteousness, that He will make them successors on earth, as He did for those before them,
1:02:50 and that He would establish for them their religion which He has chosen for them, and that
1:02:56 He would substitute security in place of their fear. All this because they worship Me alone,
1:03:02 without setting up any idols beside Me. And whoever disbelieves after that, then
1:03:07 they are the wicked ones.
1:03:09 After that, the debt is paid.
1:03:14 Come and be made whole again.
1:03:17 Then they will have no more fear.
1:03:22 And the ordeal is through for all of them.
1:03:27 See, this
1:03:28 promise is true. Now, do you remember Job?
1:03:33 Job had a lot of problems.
1:03:38 But, once he passed the test, he recovered, his health recovered, he recovered his family
1:03:44 and even twice their number; he recovered his wealth, and more. So he was under the test for
1:03:53 as long as he needed to be tested to prove himself, and the same is true with us.
1:04:02 Also, we must think of adversity as a cleansing and polishing process.
1:04:08 When you join the oneness of God, you are not spared problems at the beginning.
1:04:13 Because we are cleansing all the past sins, all the past errors.
1:04:18 And this can be cleansed only by paying for them in this world.
1:04:23 So all the adversity that you have at the beginning, when you come and join this group,
1:04:27 You're going to have five or ten years of experience in this polishing process.
1:04:36 Polishing, you know how polishing goes.
1:04:38 You take a piece of rock and you put it in a polishing machine.
1:04:43 Very noisy.
1:04:46 Chipping off pieces.
1:04:48 But then what comes out is a beautiful gem.
1:04:52 And that's what will come out of it after we go through the polishing process.
1:04:58 This polishing process is not a prison.
1:05:03 So what I'm telling you is that there is a final step.
1:05:06 Also, if you look up Surah 65, verses 2, 3, and 4.
1:05:32 Verse 2 and verse 3, it says,
1:05:39 It says, whoever observes righteousness towards God, He will create an exit for him from every problem, and provide for him from whence he never expects.
1:05:56 When you observe God, you sacrifice a Sadaqa or a tithe of your income strictly for the sake of
1:06:05 God.
1:06:06 He will provide for you from sources you never expected, when you least expect it.
1:06:15 This is the verse I want you to remember: whoever observes righteousness towards God, He
1:06:25 will create an exit for him and provide for him from whence he never expects.
1:06:31 Anyone who trusts in God, God will suffice him.
1:06:35 God always carries out His decrees.
1:06:40 You have come to the conclusion that God is the king, the absolute ruler of the universe,
1:06:48 and He will carry out His promises and His decrees.
1:06:55 You just have to believe it, you must have absolute confidence in it.
1:07:01 Tomorrow there is a mandatory law, the insurance law, and we, as most of you, have decided that you have insurance with God, that if you are with God, you have the best insurance.
1:07:21 And you have to believe that. Nothing will happen to you when you have insurance
1:07:30 with God. This is the assurance. The difference between the insurance companies and God's
1:07:34 insurance. If you have God's insurance, you don't have anything happen to you. Your car,
1:07:40 your health. With the insurance companies, you still have the accidents, and the insurance
1:07:47 company will pay for you.
1:07:50 You have the agony of the accident,
1:07:54 and the inconvenience of losing the car or having an operation,
1:08:00 and the companies will pay.
1:08:04 But you do have to have the confidence that when you have insurance with God,
1:08:08 nothing will happen to you.
1:08:11 Also, you must know that if God wants to get you, He'll get you,
1:08:13 whether you have insurance or not.
1:08:18 You cannot escape from it.
1:08:21 That is to say, if you deserve a pinch,
1:08:23 or a little accident, or a little sickness,
1:08:27 you can't get away, not without being a little uncomfortable.
1:08:31 Yes.
1:08:33 Yes.
1:08:38 When you have to, then you have to.
1:08:40 We will not buy insurance unless we have to.
1:08:44 But it appears that God is already taking care of us.
1:08:48 Because the law enforcement, the prosecutors
1:08:52 are all protesting the law, and they are making an official statement.
1:08:57 They will not enforce it.
1:09:01 They don't want to enforce it.
1:09:04 So, I called the Civil Liberties Union myself, and I told them, this contradicts our
1:09:08 religious beliefs, and everything. And they didn't do anything about it.
1:09:13 So, we will not buy insurance until we have to.
1:09:17 Because the Quran says, if you have to eat pork, or drink wine, or do anything,
1:09:23 if you have to, without being malicious or desiring it, then you are not committing a sin.
1:09:34 But what I'm saying is, when God says, "and provide for you from whence you never expect,"
1:09:39 We must know that. We need to have that confidence.
1:09:44 If you have a slight doubt, it will not work.
1:09:50 And this important statement, we are in it, we have been in it for a long time.
1:10:01 We had that conviction to the extent, I told you about our friend Abdullah Arik on the dais,
1:10:06 I said, "What's the number? What's the number?"
1:10:10 Where? I said I had to go to God for his phone number.
1:10:18 He was just... he wasn't thinking. I mean, it was the natural question
1:10:22 coming from him, but then of course he was,
1:10:25 because he had a pen in his hand and the pen was there
1:10:30 to write the phone number. It was a true test case.
1:10:34 Before the thought could even be collected,
1:10:38 the number was presented to me by God.
1:10:40 And I related it to him.
1:10:43 So,
1:10:46 God is always victorious in His command.
1:10:48 He is the absolute ruler.
1:10:50 He runs this country.
1:10:52 He runs the region.
1:10:54 He runs the government.
1:10:57 And any government, anywhere.
1:10:59 God runs everything.
1:11:04 If you go to the end of verse 4, it says, whoever observes righteousness towards God,
1:11:11 God will make everything easy for him.
1:11:15 Everything will go easy for him.
1:11:18 He will not suffer any hardship.
1:11:23 There is absolutely no humiliation for the servants of God.
1:11:28 You go apply for a job, and you will tip the balance, because your soul takes over the place.
1:11:35 And you see them running to serve you. They may not realize it, but they feel it.
1:11:46 Whoever observes righteousness towards God, God will make everything easy for him.
1:11:51 This is God's promise as documented here in His Final Testament.
1:11:55 So we'll go back now to page 23, about hardship and the mandatory test.
1:12:11 Over and over we see people who are immensely wealthy on the TV and they're complaining about how unhappy they are.
1:12:41 Take all these severe problems, earthquakes, hurricanes, floods,
1:12:49 All these are punishments, tests, because all these things are absolutely controlled by God.
1:13:00 There is a statement that will answer your question.
1:13:05 Surah, I believe, 54, just look up 54.
1:13:14 Surah 64, plus or minus 2 Surahs, I'm going to find it.
1:13:24 Yeah, 64, verse 11.
1:13:30 No disaster strikes except in accordance with God's will.
1:13:38 This is the law.
1:13:40 No disaster strikes except in accordance with God's will.
1:13:46 No pain, no disaster, nothing happens except by personal decree from God.
1:13:51 Because it's not simple, it's not easy to get a simple headache, for example.
1:14:06 It has to be a personal decree from God.
1:14:10 But the question is,
1:14:11 what's the difference between a balaa' and a musibah?
1:14:16 They are not the same.
1:14:19 Do you want to answer the question, anyone?
1:14:27 Yes.
1:14:29 A musibah is a calamity that strikes you.
1:14:30 It is always a hardship.
1:14:33 A balaa', on the other hand, is a test.
1:14:35 It can be through a blessing or through a hardship.
1:14:39 Well, God is accurate.
1:14:42 Every drop of water is measured. Everything in this world is measured.
1:14:49 Every piece of ice that fell on Denver was a given measure, with precision.
1:14:54 It was measured. Yeah.
1:14:57 We see that also, for example, with the Nile.
1:14:59 The whole plan is to make that land even more fertile.
1:15:02 And then when the river overflows its banks,
1:15:05 and when the flood recedes, it leaves the land fertile.
1:15:07 Everything is planned. The minutest detail is very carefully planned, alhamdulillah.
1:15:17 Nothing is coincidental or haphazard. Nothing. As individuals, as nations, as a world.
1:15:28 Just think, every drop of water is measured, exactly where it goes, where it's going to fall.
1:15:35 He knows even about an ant that's crawling on the ground.
1:15:39 That's right.
1:15:50 Okay, Clark, what are the recipients of charity?
1:15:58 They ask you about what to give for charity.
1:16:02 Say, "Charities shall go to the parents, the relatives, the orphans, the poor, and the
1:16:08 traveling alien."
1:16:09 Any righteous work you do, God is fully aware thereof.
1:16:15 Fighting may be forced upon you, though you dislike it. But you may dislike something
1:16:21 which is actually good for you, and you may like something which is actually bad for you.
1:16:27 God knows, while you do not know.
1:16:30 They ask you about desecrating the Sacred Months by fighting therein.
1:16:35 Say, "Fighting therein is a gross offense,
1:16:40 but repelling people from the path of God, and disbelieving in Him,
1:16:44 and desecrating the Sacred Mosque,
1:16:46 and evicting its people therefrom are all greater sacrileges in the sight of God."
1:16:53 Oppression is worse than murder.
1:16:55 They will continue to fight you to revert you from your religion, if they can.
1:17:03 Those who revert from their religion, and die as disbelievers, have nullified their work in
1:17:08 this life and the Hereafter; they will be companions of Hell, wherein they abide forever.
1:17:13 As for those who believe, and those who immigrate and strive in the cause of God, they have deserved God's
1:17:20 mercy.
1:17:21 God is Forgiving, Most Merciful.
1:17:24 There are two different subjects here.
1:17:27 Verse 215 talks about charity, and it tells us specifically that charity first goes
1:17:38 to those that are closest to us, the ones that we are most responsible for: our parents and
1:17:43 our relatives.
1:17:44 And the next are those that really need economic help but don't have someone else to rely on:
1:17:52 orphans, the poor, and the traveling aliens.
1:18:01 So, this is how carefully we are given the details of how submitters are to do this.
1:18:09 First, look to the parents if they need it. If they don't need it, then to the relatives.
1:18:14 In other words, each takes care of their own. And if each one takes care of their own, there will be no misery in the world.
1:18:22 If the relatives are taken care of, then you have the orphans—children who have no parents—then the poor, and then the traveling alien.
1:18:45 Any righteous work that you do, God is fully aware of it. And it seems that charity
1:18:51 is more than just economic help; it can be any kind of help, doing what is right in this world for other people.
1:19:03 This is to simply
1:19:06 enlighten us about anything we do to
1:19:12 make the world better, to treat other people
1:19:18 the way we would like to be treated, with mercy
1:19:21 for the people around us. And then God is...
1:19:26 It's because we want to express God's mercy.
1:19:33 We desire God's forgiveness and God's mercy. And by showing our appreciation for these qualities, we express them to the world around us.
1:20:12 The next subject is on fighting.
1:20:21 Which I take to mean basically in a war-type situation, though it may be... well, when we think of fighting, we think of taking up arms of violence rather than simply arguing.
1:20:38 So, at another level, it could be simply not giving in to any kind of oppression,
1:20:52 which may be economic, or political, or social.
1:21:01 No, I have to say there is only one reason allowed for fighting.
1:21:07 It has to do with the freedom to worship God alone. That's it.
1:21:13 There's absolutely no other reason for fighting.
1:21:17 Only if it's going to interfere with your freedom of religion and the worship of God alone.
1:21:25 Oppression means trying to impose any kind of religious view on you, or to prevent you from practicing your religion.
1:22:35 That is the only ground. The only reason for fighting.
1:21:38 But fighting may be imposed upon you, that somebody comes and says, "Don't pray."
1:21:44 You cannot pray. If you're prevented, you cannot pray.
1:21:50 But if your country gets into war with another country and you're required to go and fight,
1:21:56 if you are drafted or anything?
1:21:58 No, you don't fight because of land, even if you're drafted.
1:22:03 Unless they attack you.
1:22:03 Yeah, if the other country is trying to make you not believe in God.
1:22:07 But if Russia comes to invade this country for the purpose of expelling everyone who's an atheist,
1:22:12 then that's in the cause of God.
1:22:14 The only fighting is in the cause of God.
1:22:16 Not because of country and not because of land.
1:22:18 So whatever, whatever the reason,
1:22:20 whatever the circumstance—
1:22:22 fighting
1:22:25 for land,
1:22:26 because of a
1:22:28 border, because of country—
1:22:30 is all
1:22:30 a waste of life.
1:22:33 Because God did not create this border.
1:22:36 People created
1:22:37 these in the past.
1:22:39 When are you forced to defend yourself
1:22:41 if somebody else
1:22:43 wants to take your land?
1:22:46 You have the choice to fight, or you just, you know, run away.
1:22:51 Well, it's up to you.
1:22:53 It doesn't, uh, it's not a command from God to do it.
1:23:00 Well, yeah, I mean, if as it says about evicting you from your houses,
1:23:04 you evict them from where they evicted you,
1:23:07 it may be, you know, if they're simply fighting not...
1:23:11 they're not persecuting you religiously, but, say, they're just grabbing land,
1:23:16 is a political difference in...
1:23:20 Did we, did we go through the rules of war yet?
1:23:23 Because, uh, that doesn't qualify as war.
1:23:31 Did we go through that?
1:23:33 It was a great thing.
1:23:34 Yeah, yeah, we did, yeah, we did.
1:23:47 that those rules of war, they say, "Do not fight them at the Sacred Mosque, unless they
1:23:52 attack you first."
1:23:59 I don't want somebody to come and say, "You can't practice this religion," you know, this
1:24:06 is where we have to fight that.
1:24:09 I want to hear everybody's reply.
1:24:14 I didn't hear you say anything.
1:24:18 We happen to have a form of an army around this building anyway, as you know.
1:24:24 Abdullah Arik is listening, that's who we have.
1:24:27 And he is the very person who comes because he would lead you with a hadith,
1:24:34 A brother came to see us, he just had a dream and he doesn't know.
1:24:38 Anyway, what I want to tell you is that people like the details, it's fine.
1:24:49 There are invisible forces around us, we don't need to do anything.
1:24:55 This age is an age of mental, mental debate, rather than the force of fighting.
1:25:11 Anyway, you can't fight because of that, over that, or whatever you want to call it.
1:25:17 Unless you are attacked, anyway.
1:25:19 It's not a big deal.
1:25:22 No, it's not a big deal.
1:25:26 Well, aggression is one thing, and fighting is something else.
1:25:33 I mean, they join the army, of course, but they don't fight. Because that's a job, allowed by God Almighty, to earn a living.
1:25:39 It's for a living. A job is a means of supporting you to earn an honest living.
1:25:45 If you join any institution just to earn a living, you have to know what that institution is involved in.
1:25:56 Yeah, but you don't know what it is that you're doing.
1:25:58 You don't know whether you're living off selling liquor, for example, which is breaking God's law.
1:26:04 He's asking about joining the armed forces, but if you join the armed forces and there's no war, it's just like any job.
1:26:11 Well, suppose your government gets in a war with another country in the area.
1:26:15 That's when you have to make a decision whether it is for God or not.
1:26:30 Well, suppose you're working for a big company, and they're producing something, you know,
1:26:38 like, you know, or, say, napalm, which you may be working on, you know, maybe you're not
1:26:48 You're not directly involved in the manufacturing, but you are a part of that company.
1:26:52 There's no war, it's perfectly all right. But the command is to prepare for war.
1:26:58 Prepare the maximum power that you have.
1:27:02 War, that is, aggression, is forbidden; that's a big responsibility.
1:27:09 So joining the armed forces, or making weapons, or anything, is not war.
1:27:18 If it is war, then you have to make a decision if it is for God's cause or not.
1:27:22 So it's a case of having a nuclear army.
1:27:27 If we didn't have a nuclear weapon to deter someone, we can be sure there's a lot of
1:27:34 Ghengis's in the world.
1:27:37 What about the idea that we trust God to protect us?
1:27:42 Yeah, but God's order is different.
1:27:51 When you trust in God, you follow His commandments, and one of His commandments is to prepare the
1:27:58 maximum power you can possibly have.
1:28:00 This is a portion of the letter here.
1:28:08 I think it's a profound line, but I want to go through the index.
1:28:14 Yeah, I meant to talk to you about this one before, because you said,
1:28:17 Listen, guys, are we going to make an aggression?
1:28:24 Preemptive strike, which is attacking first.
1:29:22 This is a commandment to you all.
1:29:25 It is Sura 8, verse 60.
1:29:32 You shall prepare for them all the power and the equipment you can muster in order to
1:29:37 deter the enemies of God and your enemies, as well as others you are not aware of, while
1:29:43 God knows them.
1:29:46 Anything you spend in the cause of God will be repaid to you in full, without the least injustice.
1:29:50 The very specific commandment is to prepare.
1:30:00 You must always have a prepared force.
1:30:09 So it is just conduct, what you follow, on the scale.
1:30:22 That was an Arab fight in which they make up the rules and their numbers, and there was a transgression.
1:30:28 A line that read...
1:30:30 That's another one.
1:30:31 That's another one.
1:30:32 But the latter looks better.
1:30:34 The latter looks better.
1:30:35 Look it up.
1:30:35 Look it up and they are exactly the same as what we're getting.
1:30:38 And they look at it from a specific point of view, the logistic point of view, the numbers
1:30:44 of each tribe, and they try to analyze this militarily, and this is the problem, you see.
1:30:49 The Muslims defeated the disbelievers.
1:30:54 Also in the Battle of Yarmouk, when they were defending, they were outnumbered, and
1:30:59 in the Battle of Qadisiyyah, again, the Persians, the best army in the world.
1:31:56 Worse than murder.
1:32:08 It's an attempt to manipulate somebody's mind and to make other people follow one's own material desires.
1:32:35 It's not just that they are trying to change your mind, but to make you revert to a situation
1:32:46 of unbelief.
1:32:48 In other words, the Muslims now have come, they have arrived at the Truth, right?
1:32:57 And for you to go from truth back to unbelief, that is the murder of the soul.
1:33:07 It's not a matter of just changing your belief, but it's going back to unbelief, which is terrible.
1:33:12 And the Quran says many times, once you have belief, many people will try to make you revert to unbelief.
1:33:21 So that is terrible because the punishment for unbelief after belief is greater than just unbelief from beginning to end.
1:33:35 I think the Quran has that rule two times.
1:33:37 It says it in the next verse.
1:33:39 Those who revert from their religion and die as disbelievers, their works are nullified in this life and the Hereafter.
1:33:46 They are the dwellers of Hell, and they will be in it forever.
1:33:52 Those who believe, immigrate, and strive in the cause of God...
1:33:57 It's telling, I think, that if we are oppressed and we can't fight, and it is a futile cause,
1:34:04 then get up and leave and go someplace where we can follow God's commands.
1:34:19 I suggest it's time to fight if we can, if not, then try to go away from this situation.
1:34:29 God is Forgiving and Most Merciful.
1:34:37 Now, this is a very interesting verse because people have pointed out many times.
1:34:43 I think they interpret this verse out of context.
1:34:48 How can oppression or persecution be worse than murder, they say.
1:34:53 But actually, if you read the whole thing, I think what it means is this.
1:34:57 In the long run, going to Hell is worse than murder.
1:35:02 You know what I'm saying?