Religious Voices Truth 51F03A

Question: User: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQ_3AvSodU8 Now, let's go back to the vacuum. The vacuum. When people stop seeking the truth, they seek voices that make their desires sound like religion. So, we go back to the death of the scholars and who fills the vacuum. They seek voices that sound like religion. I want to find a religion that suits me. I want to find religious scholarship or speakers that suit me. Let me say this as someone that clearly you all listen to. If I don't bring you closer to Allah and the messenger Sallallahu alaihi wasallam, if you are not challenging yourself to become better as a result of attending my durus, if you are justifying haram to yourself and becoming more complacent, please stop listening to me. Listen to somebody else. That's going to bring you closer to Allah and the messenger Sallallahu alaihi wasallam. Cuz at the end of the day, that's what starts to happen. You fashion >> [clears throat] >> You fashion speeches, speakers, scholars, priest-like figures in accordance with what you want. And so, there's a whole range of speakers and scholars that the prophet Sallallahu alaihi wasallam warned about as time goes on. The most obvious one that we already spoke about were the the Dajjals. And the Dajjals are very um unique in that the prophet Sallallahu alaihi wasallam said the 30 Dajjals kulluhum yaz'um annahu Rasulullah. Every single one of them claims to be a prophet at some point. And you start to see that graduation, by the way. Most of these Dajjals throughout history, they started off as religious cults where they said they were the Mahdi. By the time they died, they were the Mahdi, the Masih, and Rasulullah all at the same time. Right? With a little bit of Allah in there, too, for themselves. Right? Because as the cult grew and as the power grew, they started to graduate their claims as well. And Al-Masih Ad-Dajjal will graduate his claim from being a messenger of Allah to then claiming he's Allah himself. Right? So, that's one category of people. I hope no one falls for it. May Allah Azza wa Jalla protect us. Allahumma Ameen. The second group of people um comes from the the main narration where the Prophet Prophet said that there will come a time, deceptive years, where a liar will be believed and a truthful person will be rejected. And the treacherous will be trusted and the trustworthy will be considered to be trust treacherous. And the rise of Al-Ruwaybidah. The rise of Al-Ruwaybidah. Uh So, this is a very particular term. And even the Sahabah, don't feel bad even if you know Arabic. The Sahabah said, "Who are Al-Ruwaybidah? Who are Al-Ruwaybidah?" The Prophet said, "A rajul Right? A rajul at-tafih amril ammah, which is a lowly insignificant person that speaks about the affairs of the people. Basically, a degenerate that's also a public commentator but has a platform with that public commenting. Really important here. Now, when when we get into the specifics, especially when we talk about the Khawarij, you'll start to find categories. So, uh Hudathat al-Asnan, right? Sufaha al-Ahlam, uh babies, young people that also speak of big dreams and big promises. Right? So, speak big but do nothing. Right? Tend to be young people that are very aggressive, but that's in the particular line of Khuruj, of Khawarij, and people that actually lead to extremism. Which will be a separate lecture at some point but I just want to talk about in particular in one narration it's the Prophet said as-safeeh yatakallamu fi amr al-ammah. It's a foolish person who speaks about public affairs. So he said someone who's vile like who's fahish and so like you can't be a speaker of religion when you're not even fulfilling what a Muslim is supposed to talk like. Wa laysa al-mu'min bi ta'an. A mu'min is not someone who's who's who's aggressive, who curses, he's not fahish, he's not badhee, he's not foul. He's not abusive or aggressive with his language. So if a mu'min is not that then how can a person who is speaking about Islam basically violate all the principles of how a a believer is supposed to speak in the first place, right? So that's the first red flag, right? Now the thing is though is that the ulama start to go on and they and they give more explanations. So someone who's vile, someone who's arrogant, someone who's petty someone who's unqualified. Now what's the difference between ruwaybidah and sufaha? Cuz Allah talks about the sufaha in the Quran. Say yaqulu sufaha, right? The fools. The difference between the ruwaybidah and the sufaha is that unfortunately the ruwaybidah actually are listened to. They have a platform. They have a voice. They have a YouTube channel. They have an Instagram account. Right? They get a lot of clicks and a lot of views. They're on TikTok. Okay? Ruwaybidah have a platform and this is directly tied to the death of the ulama because when people of weight disappear then people who are weightless rise. Right? And the difference between a safih and and and someone who is from this category of the ruwaybidah is that a fool is dangerous to himself. Right? A safih is really dangerous to himself more than anything else. But these people are dangerous to society as well. Right? And this is something that the talk about the difference between jahil basit and jahil murakkab, someone who's simply ignorant and then someone who's compoundedly ignorant. But that's still to himself. This is a fool with a platform. Uh linguistically I was looking into the meaning of this word ruwaybidah. It's the tasghir of rabidah. And this refers to someone who remains low. Now, remains low, rabidah is lowly in their manners, but there's another element to this. Some of the said that To translate that basically in in in brief, that this is a person who sits back and comments on big things instead of taking on the weighty matters. It kind of fits the profile. Right? They're not doing the actual work, but they've got commentary on everybody else's work. Right? So like you can fire off 20 emails about the masjid, but like can you come volunteer at the masjid? Maybe pick up some trash, help us out. Right? So they comment on the work, they comment on the affairs of the people, but they don't actually serve the people. They don't actually do anything that's of benefit to the people. And of course Allah mentions this example of you know a zebed of of the foam of the sea and uh what benefits the people, what benefits the people and actually stays and and is grounded in uh the earth. So, this is a person that very similar to the the one you should cool uh when the prophet talks about the lazy person, person reclining on his couch saying follow the Quran, forget about the Sunnah, right? It's a person who has a lot of time on their hands, a lot of arrogance, and unfortunately has mastered the algorithm. To speak in modern terminology. They have a following, they've cultivated a following of like-minded people in society. So, what's the disease? That's a very attractive place to be in because you can be condescending and self-righteous without actually doing anything. Right? So, I'm going to I'm just going to make a video about something that everyone's talking about and people are searching for that and I've gotten the algorithm. Wait a minute, like I usually get 12 views on my video gaming. Now I've got 12,000 Actually, that's that's not true because apparently video gaming, those videos get way too many views, right? But like I've been getting like I've been here talking on my YouTube channel and I've only been getting this many views, but wow, like I jumped on this and I got 10 times what I usually get. Come on. Uh where is the class in that? Like this is nice. I'm onto something here. Let me jump on. Let me jump on. And then so you cultivate a following of people like you, like-minded people, right? So, may Allah protect us. This is one group of people that are mentioned, basically insignificant people that are given significance because they're loud. And that's a dangerous precedent in our community and we should never like this is a rule of thumb. Never give someone weight because they're loud. Not in the capacity of a local masjid or in the capacity of online. That should not be your CV that you just make a lot of noise and you call you stir up a lot of fitna and trouble, so now we have to consider that. No, that's not the way that this works. Someone who's mutaqi, someone who prays in the masjid, who's vested in the masjid, their opinion should matter more. Someone who is involved in the da'wah, their opinion should matter more about the da'wah. Someone who's trying to do good in some their opinion on politics should matter more. Right? But never in in our Islamic ethos do we give credence to volume. Like you're just loud, therefore we're going to have to listen to you. That's not the way that this works. Credentials don't work that way um in Islam. There's another narration, but it's it's more subtle. There's a weakness in its chain, but its meaning is uh correct. Min ashrat al-sa'ah an yamnika man laysa ahlan an yamlik wa yurfa'al wadhi'u wa yudha'a al-rafi'u. That one of the signs of the hour is that the lowly will be raised. Okay, yurfa'al wadhi'u. Uh wa yudha'a uh wa yudha'a al-rafi'u. And the uh person who's noble will be put down. So, noble people are put down and lowly people are actually elevated. Right? May Allah protect us. So, that's one group of people the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam told us about. Another one group of people that were warned about are storytellers. Storytellers. This is a dangerous category because what's wrong with storytellers? And this is one of those that like shu'ara, like poet poets, you have to break into two categories. Allah Azzawajal says, "Nahnu naqussu alayka ahsanal qasasi bima awhayna ilayka hadhal Qur'an. We narrate to you the best of stories through what we have revealed to you of this Qur'an." The accusation against the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam was what? That he's saying asatir al-awwalin, these are just stories. He's He's sharing fables from the past. So, you have this ayah, you have what the Prophet was accused of, but then you also have a category of storytellers. So, what is the difference between praiseworthy storytellers and someone who is a qasas, someone who is giving stories in a way that's not praiseworthy. The very first thing that you'll find in tafsir Imam al-Qurtubi ta'ala of ahsan al-qasas uh of the best stories is that they're true. They're true. Right? So, these are not Allah did not make these things up. The story of Yusuf is not made up. The story of Isa is not made up. Allah is giving us ahsan al-qasas. He's giving us true stories of Musa and things that only he could have known about him. His private thoughts, his private duas, how Yaqub was crying and what he was saying to himself, how Yusuf was dealing with being thrown into a well. May Allah send his peace and blessings upon them all, all of the prophets. And so, they're true revealed stories. That's number one. Number two, beneficial. Why was Allah giving us these qasas? To guide us towards action. There is irshad. Right? There is benefit in what we are being guided to. So, Quranic storytelling is number one, true. Number two, beneficial. Right? In that it guides us it it admonishes us to something that we may be doing that's wrong or towards something that is good. Right? And so, like someone who is known as like a mudhakir. Someone who gives reminders. Allah says to the Prophet fadhakkir. Right? You are mudhakir. You're someone who gives tadhkir. But it's actually not a praiseworthy category of people if there isn't proper verification done in the process of doing tazkiyah or wa'd, right? People that give wa'd, like the Quran is wa'd. It's an admonition. So, whether you're talking about qasas or tazkiyah or wa'd or this category of things, what makes it condemnable is again whether it's false, right? True or false? And number two, what it actually leads you towards. So, Imam Ibn al-Jawzi rahimahullah he talks about this in detail and he says that the the people who were known as the storytellers were people that expanded their stories well beyond what was actually documented, right? In the process of entertainment and basically gar- you know, gathering uh a following in the process. So, they take a handspan and they turn into an an arm's length. One of the scholars mentioned something like that, like about the qasas. So, uh it's it's totally manipulative and it's it's like how everyone has these weird stories of Musa alayhis salam that have circulated on WhatsApp. May Allah protect us. Sometimes you cringe cuz you'd hear them like in a reminder after salat al-isha. Sometimes maybe someone has good intentions, by the way. But the person that started the story is to blame for the story spreading, right? But the point is is like just expansive, long, weird stories. Sometimes they sound weird about the prophets, about the family of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasallam, about the companions of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasallam. So, they they mix up a lot. And so, Ibn al-Jawzi rahimahullah says, "These are people that expand the stories well beyond the actual story and they mix in not what is beneficial or relied upon, but what's going to produce more attention. So, it's like if I add in like this added commentary and throw in a few things here, it's going to make the story more compelling. And of course, in this day and age, it'll make you go more viral. Now, back in the days, storytellers would command, um, you know, places in the public square. And again, good storytelling is beneficial. Imam Ahmad Allah, he was asked about this, and and he said the one who reminds the people to fear Allah and about Al Jannah wa Nar, and is sincere in his intention, and is truthful in his narration, this is a person who I love. But he said the one who fabricates a Hadith, fabricates reports, like how did we end up with so many fabrications about uh virtues of certain surahs of the Quran? Cuz the man who fabricates that I I I saw people getting too interested in Abu Hanifah Allah's fiqh. So, I wanted to make up some stuff about the Quran. Right? Uh and Abu Qilabah Allah, he said nothing kills except for the Qasas, because a man can sit with a storyteller for a whole year and walk away with absolutely no benefits. Whereas a scholar would give him knowledge in a single setting. Right? So, if when you listen to someone tell stories, it's just like, "Wow, that was a really great story." But you're not finding anything of benefit for yourself, practical for yourself, then that's also something uh to consider. Uh there's a a narration to Zayn al-Abidin Ali ibn al-Husayn uh radi Allah ta'ala anhu, where he said that we were taught the Maghazi, which were the battles of the Prophet Allah Islam. So, the Sirah of the Prophet Allah Islam, and his expeditions, just as we were taught a surah from the Quran. Some of the scholars mentioned that in that is not just the importance of those stories, like you're when you learn Sirah, when you learn Sirah of the Sahabah, when you learn the Sirah of Ahl al-Bayt, when you learn the Sirah of the Anbiya, right? The prophets before. There's so much benefit in there. Subhan Allah, like it's so life-giving. Everything from their lives. Like there's nothing you can read from the companions of the prophet Allah Islam that's not just giving you some perspective in your own life. It's so beautiful. It's so instructive. Instructive is the word that I'm looking for. Right? But he's saying the way we were taught a sort of the Quran is not just the importance but also precision. Right? The way that these stories get passed down. And so that's why you can praise the you know, proper storytelling and you avoid the type of storytelling that the prophet condemned. There's a narration from The prophet in one narration of the town that no one should narrate the stories to the people except for a ruler meaning an authority or someone that's been appointed or an arrogant person. And the way the scholars broke that up is that that third category is not a praiseworthy category. That that third category is someone that's someone that's trying to get in there. Right? By gathering an audience in the process. So storytelling is powerful. It's necessary. It's part of our Dean but it's also a manner. It also has the trust of knowledge to it. And so it's important to actually pay attention to it. So what are some modern day categories of stories that match like when you read it talks about the beast of bliss in this regard. Right? He says what are the stories that that typically come it's it's so common. Right? Strange miracles. Right? Strange miracles of the job. What are these weird things that you're talking about? Right? And you know what that does? It discredits the whole body of knowledge. Right? It discredits the whole body of knowledge. Or entertainment. I love that Why do you love that He's so funny. By By way, that's not a knock on the Maybe he's saying some really beneficial stuff, but you're only hearing the funny stuff. We've had funny llama in the past as well. We have funny llama today. Right? So, it's not that like some hollow our Dean has different personalities, but that's why. Right? Or outrage. So, you know what outrage is? I once saw this man and he said this this this and that. So, you create like a caricature. Where you become the hero in the story or like some extreme example of out that that can stir outrage amongst the people. So, that you can then attack that outrageous story. Which gives you a sense of authority. So, probably these are the same things that modern storytellers will use. The same devices that will be employed. Right? So, it's not entertainment. Stories are not meant to be entertainment. They're not supposed to produce uh false courses of action. They're supposed to be rigorously verified and you have to be careful with this. There's a funny story I'll I'll share by the way and this is an a story from Tariq Baghdad. I have to give a source cuz I'm talking about storytellers. Imam Abu Hanifah ta'ala and he is who he is. Um you know, I talked about how my how my mother rahimahullah like laughed out of her chair the first time she heard me say the words la ya Jews. Like yeah, your parents don't really My dad's not here right now. Your parents don't really ever take you seriously. Right? You know, like in that sense. You know, they be proud of you, but it's like who are you again? It's very hard to take seriously you know, someone whose diapers you changed. Right? Imam Abu Hanifah ta'ala his mother asked him for a fatwa. This is Imam Abu Hanifah. Right? And she said, "No, I'm not going to accept it except from uh Zur'ah al-Qas." Zur'ah was like a storyteller of the time. Not in a negative way, but he was someone who used to just give stories. Like he wasn't a scholar near anywhere near the ranks. He wasn't even in the in the legions of ulama, but he used to share some beneficial reminders here and there. And Abu Hanifah's mom is like, "No, I'm not going to take it from you. I'll take it from him." Let's go ask him. Abu Hanifah like a good son takes his mother to Zura and he says that this is my mother asking you about such and such and he's like, "Why are you asking me? Like you're Abu Hanifah. You're way more knowledgeable than me. Why are you asking me? Give her the fatwa." And Abu Hanifah says, "You know, that look, she wants your answer." And he already given the answer. So basically Abu Hanifah hinted to Zura what the answer it was. So Zura repeated it and he said the correct view is what Abu Hanifah said and Abu Hanifah's mom said, "Good, I accept it." All right? So it's sort of like at the end of the day, right? There's something very compelling about storytelling, but just make sure that it comes from truth and it produces truthful courses of action. May Allah protect us. The third category are poets. Very similar. But it's basically when eloquence replaces truth. Now, Islam is not an anti-poetry religion. In fact, the prophet appreciated share. He appreciated the poetry that was decent and that was good and that was noble even from the days of ignorance. He approved of it and the Quran distinguishes between false poets and truthful poets, right? So when you have the poets that use their eloquence to solidify falsehood in society, that's a problem. When you have poets that defend truth like Hassan and Ka'b, may Allah be pleased with them. That's a different category of poets, right? So poetry with guidance is different from poetry that is intended to sway people towards misguidance. And the prophet said in one narration that some eloquence is like magic. It's like magic. Right? And so poetry it become like magic. He also said in another narration sala salam The closest of you to me and the most beloved of you to me and the closest of you to me on the day of judgement are those of you who have the best character. He said the most hated of you to me and the furthest from me are these three people. Now even the Arab speakers, I doubt you know what all three of these things mean cuz they're very heavy words. A third third one and so I am going to summarize you know even others are people that speak too much. They comment on everything and they talk too much. Prophet doesn't like them. Right? Whoever believes in Allah in the last day speak well or be silent. Learn to guard your tongue and don't talk too much. Right? So that's the first thing. And the cool are people that um rhyme and stretch and you know basically uh speak with a way in which they're showing off. Are people who are pretentious and and you know and someone who literally fills his mouth with speech. So they're condescending in their speech and many of the when they talked about versus they said they're almost identical. The point is you talk too much, you talk down to people, you comment on everything, your eloquence becomes a problem. There's or or behind it. There's showing off or pride or conceitedness behind the speech and the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam warned about that type of speaking. Uh to encompass all of this, Allah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam in the ahwa ahwafa ma akhafu alaykum ba'di kullu munafiqin alimin lisan. May Allah protect us. He said, "Indeed, what I fear most for you after me is every hypocrite who has a skilled tongue." Alimin lisan knows how to use their tongue. Cuz if you think about a munafiq and the intention of a munafiq, the munafiq will speak in a way that they will distort to the extent that they think they can distort in the gathering. And then they know when to lay off. Right? And then they'll push the boundaries further and further and further and further as the time and the place allows them to. And this was the case of the munafiqin in Medina. And if they're eloquent, then they're more dangerous. Right? Because they'll let you in on their real intentions as time goes on. And by the way, I say this so we could actually accuse ourselves as the Sahaba did not sit there and say, "Oh, I think this person is a munafiq." And this this is a very dangerous path to go down. If someone doesn't, you know, if if it's taking away from the foundations and it's not getting you then that's your own prerogative and protection. Just don't say anything. Right? Don't say anything in this regard. In any case, um at the end of the day, this category, you have a storyteller who gives you emotions. You have a way of Allah that give you uh public commentary. You have a dajjal who gives you fake revelation, right? Um you have a poet that gives you eloquence, right? And allows you to rise with that eloquence. You have theatrics that come into religion. What this speaks to is the disease of the heart. And if you are seeking comedy and seeking, you know, just someone that's going to make you feel good or something that's going to sound a certain way, then that's your fault at the end of the day, right? Because when people stop seeking the truth, then Allah Azza wa Jal replaces truthful speakers to them with speakers of falsehood that match what the desires on the inside are. And may Allah Azza wa Jal protect us from being on the giving or the receiving end of that. Allahumma ameen.