Latest / After Maghrib 🌙 / Do ONLY Shia Muslims get to HEAVEN?! (ft. Sayed Zafar Abbas)
Transcript
- 0:00Oh yeah, don't often. Sometimes.
- 0:03It take a few minutes. I'm I'm the king, I'm the king
- 0:05waffler. Just jump in with no plans.
- 0:07Of course, that's the Allah similar.
- 0:09Good to go. Salaam Alaikum.
- 0:11Welcome back to the aftermath of the podcast.
- 0:13Hope you're well, Inshallah. I have a question for you,
- 0:16brothers and sisters. We are now at a point where we
- 0:18have 8 billion people in this planet, on this planet.
- 0:22Let me start again. I said in this planet Salaam
- 0:26Alaikumaram to Allah, welcome back to after Magadan brothers
- 0:29sisters, we now have 8 billion people on planet earth and
- 0:33within 20 years we expect that number to reach 10 billion
- 0:37people, of course of which maybe 10 to 15% of them would call
- 0:41themselves Muslims. But how can it be where you have
- 0:44a Lord? So must for like a last panel to
- 0:46Allah where the mass majority of people are punished or
- 0:49admonished for not believing in the Illah Illallah Muhammad
- 0:52Rasool Allah. This is a question which we are
- 0:55going to dive deep into today and many facets surrounding it.
- 0:59Is salvation only there for Muslims, dare I say even Shia?
- 1:03Or can others enter Paradise? And can others reap the rewards,
- 1:06the benefits of Allah's panel to Allah's mercy in this life and
- 1:11in the hereafter as well? Of course, when we talk about
- 1:14religion, we talk about truth. Truth that was sent with Islam.
- 1:18Allah says in the Quran that he created this world.
- 1:21Bill Hack and in the same way Rasulullah Muhammad sallallahu
- 1:24alaihiwalu Salaam came to this world and his primary mission
- 1:28was Huck. And in the same way when he
- 1:30stood on Jabulal Qabis and he said to the pagans, he said that
- 1:34if I told you behind this mountain was a caravan
- 1:37approaching, would you believe me?
- 1:39They said of course you are Rasulullah until Sadiq al.
- 1:42I mean, you are the the truthful and the trustworthy.
- 1:45Truth is a defining factor which we're going to be talking a lot
- 1:48about in today's discussion. So let's kick off inshallah.
- 1:52Sitting beside me as always, the man said.
- 1:55I live all the way. Salaam alaikum.
- 2:08How are you doing, brother? Al Hamdulillah Wal speaking
- 2:10about the truth, we can't not say Ali Omar al Haqqaal Ali
- 2:15Well, you mentioned the point. You said, you know there's 8
- 2:17billion people currently on planet Earth currently, right?
- 2:22So pan Allah, Allah allowed us to of the 8 billion.
- 2:26This is side by side, week by week on the aftermath of podcast
- 2:29bro that's that. Proper romantic.
- 2:33I miss you bro. I miss you too.
- 2:34Like how you keeping? I'm good, it's hot.
- 2:36I'm feeling like Floyd in this Mayweather.
- 2:38Do you know what I mean? So just trying to keep trying to
- 2:41keep cool, man. Hamdul, I can't complain.
- 2:44I'm beside for today's conversation, we have a
- 2:46fantastic guest. We do someone we've been waiting
- 2:49to bring on to after Mohab for quite some time.
- 2:52And Al Hamdallah, someone who I would, I'd say is more than just
- 2:57a scholar and a teacher to us. But in many ways, I call him an
- 3:00elder brother, someone for for over a decade I've looked up to,
- 3:03especially online. He's been educating our whole
- 3:06generation for a very long time. And that is none other than say,
- 3:10Zafra Abbas, Naki Islam, Alika, say no.
- 3:14How are you keeping so good to have you here?
- 3:18We're so on. And how was your family?
- 3:20How's the community? Al Hamdullah, Al Hamdullah
- 3:24Bilal, I mean, thank you for having me and it's an honour.
- 3:27It's an honour. Pleasure to be here.
- 3:29The honour is ours, honestly, I said, say Ali.
- 3:31Say, that's been a long time in the making, as I I call Ahmed
- 3:34said, you know, we've been trying to make this happen,
- 3:36Hamdullah. Finally the client has come and
- 3:39you know, Ahmed says something. You know, he's, he's, he's
- 3:42learnt so much from you. I can say the same.
- 3:44I still remember the old days. I think I was like my early
- 3:47teens, you know, Central Sullava, we used to come.
- 3:50He's sick of lectures. So I have great memories growing
- 3:53up. You've been part of possible of
- 3:54my spiritual growth and upbringing.
- 3:56So I thank you for that. But say you don't have a
- 3:59question. Go ahead.
- 4:01Hamdallah, you know many know you as a speaker, lecturer,
- 4:04scholar, a teacher, but for me this is new and in the last two
- 4:08years I found out that you have like a special connection with.
- 4:13Men's wear. Having, you know, one of the
- 4:16best, I'll call out Kingsman. Is that the right?
- 4:18Kingsman for fire. Yeah, and when it comes to the
- 4:21suits and the shoes and the ties.
- 4:24What is the stamp for Fashion is tennis Tenzi?
- 4:29I think like from like from a young age, like Abdullah, like
- 4:34my father was up to now Abdullah, he always dresses
- 4:39well, amazing. And I think like as far back as
- 4:43I can remember, like since I was young, I had this fascination to
- 4:48to dress well. And then obviously now you now
- 4:52nowadays everybody knows that if you if you look hard enough, you
- 4:59can find a niche on social media for anything.
- 5:02That's very true. Yeah.
- 5:04So during COVID, whilst everybody obviously was sitting
- 5:08at home and there wasn't much to much to do.
- 5:13And you know, there's only so much, so many times you can go
- 5:16on zoom and, and give lectures. So, so, so I developed, you
- 5:21know, this interest and I started reading more about it
- 5:24and, you know, doing stuff and, and it's actually.
- 5:30So I'll give you a little secret here, I'll give away a little
- 5:32secret here. And that is that everybody
- 5:34thinks that I have, I must have a lot of stuff because I'm post,
- 5:40because I've posted the but the, the thing that I learned during
- 5:43Covad whilst I was doing all this research is that the key is
- 5:47to have combinations, is to have things which go with everything.
- 5:51Okay. And so it looks like you have a
- 5:53lot of stuff, but you only need a certain amount of things.
- 5:58And you say you're trucking? They stayed.
- 6:01Have you? Have you, have you seen that guy
- 6:02on Twitter die? Work where?
- 6:04Yes. You'd like him, right?
- 6:05Yeah. I love that guy.
- 6:06You have you had this? Guy, there's Twitter.
- 6:09Hilarious. Yeah, I encourage people to look
- 6:11into it. Yeah, die workwear, like DIE
- 6:14workwear. And bro, the guy, I've developed
- 6:18a fascination on menswear. Do you remember when we had our
- 6:20event last year and I was like giving, I was like, do this,
- 6:23don't do this, do this, don't. That's all thanks to this guy,
- 6:27honestly. But you can see in that, in that
- 6:29frame over there, all suited and booted.
- 6:32So, you know, there's, there's, there's a really like the king
- 6:36of Spain he talks all the time about.
- 6:38It absolutely yes. You know, shoulders, lapels, all
- 6:41of that. Whether to wear a dealt with
- 6:42this suit, whether or not to how long to have your sleeves, your
- 6:45calves, everything. So it's the whole world, bro.
- 6:48It's like a science. It's an art.
- 6:50And it's like you can just get lost because there's so much to
- 6:54know and learn, but. You don't have to be a a a
- 6:56millionaire to dress well, right?
- 6:58You can. You can shop smart.
- 7:01And the, and the key obviously is to, you know, within your own
- 7:04budget, you have to decide how much you want to spend because
- 7:10you can spend as much as you want and of course you can spend
- 7:14a lot and still not look good. This is very.
- 7:17So what's the advice to look good?
- 7:20So the so the advice to to look good is that the most important
- 7:24thing that I think is felt like obviously it's die work where I
- 7:29post things some of some things which are a bit controversial.
- 7:32That's true. And, and many things which I
- 7:35don't, I don't, I don't really agree with.
- 7:36But anyway, obviously. But one thing which is fairly
- 7:39uncontroversial, and I think every person or everyone who's
- 7:43into fashion will agree on, is to focus on the fit of your
- 7:48clothing, you know, So no matter how expensive or lack of cost
- 7:55this thing is, if it fits you well, you, you will feel more
- 7:59confident. Of having the right alterations.
- 8:01Absolutely so it has it has to fit your body your body type you
- 8:06have to dress according to your own physique your height your
- 8:13body shape your you know all these things in in
- 8:18consideration. Obviously every single person is
- 8:20unique and this actually and obviously because clothing is
- 8:23obviously 2 dimensional and we are three-dimensional.
- 8:26So this is obviously where you know, these things come in.
- 8:28So, but we're making sure that something and, and obviously,
- 8:34and I think, you know, if you ask anyone, even someone who's
- 8:37not into fashion and you wear something and some things you
- 8:39wear and you really feel good wearing them, even if it's like,
- 8:43you know, you've had it for a long time or it's not that
- 8:46expensive, but you really feel good.
- 8:48And it's all down to the fit of that because you feel
- 8:52comfortable. And obviously, if you feel
- 8:54comfortable, become confident, then you become more.
- 8:56Confident. So you know, there's one brand
- 8:59of clothing which always fits me well.
- 9:03I like the fashion, I like the style and that is aftermarket of
- 9:06merchandise Brunsister. So make sure you go and get your
- 9:09merchandise now live on the aftermarket of website, you can
- 9:12get hoodies. We've got three different types
- 9:14of hoodies and make sure you check that out, say honey.
- 9:18In addition to this, while you're on the website
- 9:20aftermarket.com, do consider becoming a partner.
- 9:23Support Aftermarket and shallow. We can grow this platform
- 9:26together. Ahmed, what's the truth?
- 9:29So, all right, OK. So with your permission, we'll
- 9:31kick off. So look, there's, there's a lot
- 9:34in this conversation. I think a good place to start is
- 9:37maybe to, to look at a poll we did on social media.
- 9:40I mentioned to you beforehand, we just wanted to get some, some
- 9:44thoughts on what people thought about the, the term truth.
- 9:47I know truth in itself is not the theme of today's
- 9:50conversation, although it does play a big role.
- 9:52And we asked people what is the truth. 46% of people said Shiism
- 9:56is the only truth. 17% said Islam is the only truth which
- 10:00encompasses obviously non Shia, 13% said Abrahamic religions,
- 10:06Jews and Christians all have truth and 24% of people said any
- 10:11human being can find the truth. Now we, we very intentionally
- 10:15left it ambiguous. We left it black and white,
- 10:18which in my personal and humble opinion, I don't believe is a
- 10:20black and white statement. But it's something of course,
- 10:24which we wanted to look into. Now, when we talk about the term
- 10:28religious pluralism, there are different elements of pluralism.
- 10:31There's social pluralism, there's religious pluralism.
- 10:33Pluralism in itself is a concept.
- 10:35You have inclusivism, you have exclusivism and you have
- 10:37pluralism. Islam in itself may not define
- 10:40itself as pluralistic if I'm not, if I'm not mistaken.
- 10:43But the question which I had today, specifically speaking, is
- 10:47religious pluralism compatible with Shiite theology?
- 10:51Particularly when you think of, you know, different Quranic
- 10:53verses, some which talk about, you know, the the religion being
- 10:59sent for for all people. You have verses specifically
- 11:02which admonish people or verses which, which praise people of a
- 11:06certain belief system. Where do we kind of begin with
- 11:09this topic? So I think it's, I think it's
- 11:12important beginning this topic by talking about the frames of
- 11:18reference that we have to have in order to understand, you
- 11:25know, any, any kind of belief or any kind of dogma, theology.
- 11:32It's really important to know the frames of reference.
- 11:35For example, we can find Quranic verses which support or on the
- 11:42apparent support pluralism. And we can also find Quranic
- 11:47verses which go against pluralism.
- 11:50So for example, somebody might read the Quran.
- 11:52Oh, and they do. We'll come back to this.
- 11:54We'll come back, come to this later on.
- 11:56Some people read the Quran and say, or let's say for example, 2
- 12:00verse 62 says that those who believe and are Jews and
- 12:06Christians and Sabians, then they don't have anything to fear
- 12:11and nothing to worry about and so on and so forth.
- 12:13And so somebody reads this verse and says, for example, that
- 12:16means that all these people will get salvation, which obviously
- 12:20is a big jump from they have No Fear and they will not grieve to
- 12:24they will definitely get salvation and they'll go to
- 12:26heaven and so on and so forth. And on the other hand, so
- 12:29further on we go, for example, Surah 3 verse 85, which says
- 12:32whoever comes with the religion other than Islam will not be
- 12:35accepted from him, and they will be from the people who have
- 12:39lost, so on and so forth. And unless $100 or for example,
- 12:43Surah 3 verse 19, unless one does it, you know, the religion
- 12:47is only Islam, so on and so forth.
- 12:49And then there's all all these debates about, you know, what,
- 12:52what does this Al Islam refer to?
- 12:54Does it just mean submission as in the, the, the verb of
- 12:59submission of submission? Or is it talking about a proper
- 13:02noun of Al Islam being Islam, the religion and all this so on
- 13:06and so forth. So all of this is, is there.
- 13:09So you know from that's why we have to have terms of reference
- 13:12that, you know, when we're reading the Quran, what are our
- 13:18in terms of where are we getting the interpretation of the verse
- 13:20of Quran when we're reading, for example, the Rawaya generations
- 13:24from what are our terms of reference, so on and so forth.
- 13:28So this is really important, first of all, to, to to know
- 13:31before we go into whether you know, for example, does the
- 13:34Quran support X or doesn't support Y?
- 13:36What are our terms of reference? So for example, you know, if I
- 13:41am a person who is a who is a Muslim and therefore believes in
- 13:52the Prophet, sallallahu alaihi wasallam as the prophet and the
- 13:58one whose word is final. And of course he says that I'm
- 14:05leaving behind for you 2 things, the book of Allah and my progeny
- 14:09in obviously Sunni and Shia collections.
- 14:15Then obviously I can't take just the Quran or just the I have to
- 14:19take both of them. So this is my term of, you know,
- 14:23my first term of reference that whatever the Quran says, I have
- 14:27to see what do Salam say about those particular verses or
- 14:35whatever I had better name of Salaam do of course is in
- 14:38accordance with what which Quranic verse?
- 14:41How did they how did they interpret the Quranic verses?
- 14:46And that is my term. Well, my first term of
- 14:48reference. And then of course, when it
- 14:50comes to narrations, you know, how do we interpret those
- 14:55narrations? For example, in those particular
- 14:57times in the time of the Prophet Salah Alayhi Salaam, then in the
- 15:02time of the Imams Allah Musala al Salaam, then obviously we
- 15:05have issues about the, we have issues about, for example, you
- 15:09know, this situation, that political thing going on, so on
- 15:12and so forth. All we have to have all these
- 15:14considerations in mind, all these things, all these things
- 15:17that we have to have. But I think the most important
- 15:21thing is or for example, maybe we can start with, for example,
- 15:25the most important thing is, is the is the approach that the
- 15:31holistic approach that Islam takes, for example, when talking
- 15:36to the believers. So if we look for example, in
- 15:40the Holy Quran and this for example, my theme not connected
- 15:44to release pluralism, but bear with me.
- 15:45And then Inshallah will come and that will lead us to where I'm
- 15:49trying to trying to go. So for example, when we read the
- 15:52Holy Quran and it's when it's talking to believers frequently
- 15:59in the Holy Quran, when it's talking to believers, we find
- 16:01reference to the fact that unless Mohammed Allah says those
- 16:07who believe and do righteous deeds, right?
- 16:11This is a common, you know, this is a common address to those who
- 16:18believe. So it's rather Quran and time
- 16:21and time again, unless Mohammed, Allah is saying those who
- 16:23believe and do righteous deeds, OK, now what does this or why is
- 16:28this important? For example, in this, you know,
- 16:30obviously it's important generally, but why is it
- 16:32important in this conversation about religious pluralism?
- 16:36So if we see at the time of revelation of Quran, we have,
- 16:43you know, two groups of people obviously.
- 16:48Well, two groups of people from the Abrahamic faith.
- 16:51So obviously, obviously we have the people who are worshipping
- 16:54idols and of course, they also claim to believe in one God.
- 16:57They just say, you know, for example, the idols are our
- 16:59Wasila and our means to getting close to God and so on.
- 17:02But we believe in, you know, the God that we believe in is 1.
- 17:06But of course, the Abrahamic faith that exists in the time of
- 17:09the professor. And this is really interesting
- 17:13because I was reading actually a on on, on on Twitter.
- 17:18There's a professor, Professor Wood, the Christian theology,
- 17:27I'm, I'm sure you've, you've seen.
- 17:29So he, he wrote something, he wrote something comparing the
- 17:33Islamic approach and the Christian approach.
- 17:36That's not really interesting because when I read that, I
- 17:39thought to myself that this is really interesting because I
- 17:42thought, you know, I can. And when you told me that we're
- 17:45going to talk about religious person, I thought, you know, I
- 17:47can, we can talk about this because it's very, very
- 17:49interesting that. So we have the, the, the classic
- 17:56Orthodox Jewish approach at that time.
- 17:59You know, I'm, I'm being careful here because for example,
- 18:02somebody might say, you know, like now in, in 2025, we have,
- 18:07you know, this many different sects of Judaism and they have
- 18:10different approaches. But of course the Quran is
- 18:12addressing the people at that time and those people who exist
- 18:16at that time. So that approach at that time is
- 18:20that as long as, for example, you are a person who follows all
- 18:26the laws of kosher and you follow all the laws that you
- 18:32know Moses Salaam brought, then that's it.
- 18:35You're, you are fine and you will get salvation.
- 18:40And you don't need to worry about anything else as long as
- 18:43you follow all those commandments and those
- 18:46commandments. Now of course this kind of
- 18:52rigidity towards the law in in that kind was 1 aspect and very
- 19:00firm. And of course, as you know, the
- 19:03many of the Jewish people or tribes had moved from different
- 19:06places where they were to Medina because of their prophecy that
- 19:11they had read that their final prophet is coming and he's going
- 19:14to come to Medina. So this is 1 approach that
- 19:18existed at the time of the revelation of the Quran.
- 19:22And directly contrary to this approach is the other approach
- 19:26that existed at that time and even up to today, which is what
- 19:30this Professor Wood has mentioned in his article, is
- 19:33comparing Islam and Christianity.
- 19:36And in that approach, he says, you know, Christianity says, or
- 19:40even modern and traditional Christianity says that the most
- 19:44important thing for a person to have is, you know, divine grace,
- 19:51that Jesus died for our sins as, as they believe, and that as
- 19:58long as you have divine grace, then it doesn't matter about
- 20:03your actions, about what you do. So the most important thing for
- 20:07salvation is having divine grace, OK?
- 20:11So you are, on this one hand you had this approach that you know,
- 20:14you have to follow the laws and that's going to save you.
- 20:16And on the other hand, you had this approach where you just
- 20:20need divine grace and that's, that's enough for you.
- 20:23So Islam came, and time and time again in the Quran emphasized
- 20:28this point, that neither is it sufficient for a person to
- 20:32believe that divine grace by itself is going to save you, nor
- 20:37is it for a person to believe that their actions are good
- 20:41enough to give them salvation by themselves.
- 20:44OK, I see. You see and both of these things
- 20:48together. So Islam says you have to
- 20:51balance both of these things in your life together and all and
- 20:55this very it is very important why because this keeps me humble
- 21:00and grounded. That's my actions on have no,
- 21:05you know, you know, superpower in front of God, right.
- 21:11They have no reality in front of God.
- 21:12Yeah, and the the reality of my actions is that Iman that belief
- 21:18that I have. They go hand in.
- 21:20Hand right the validity of my actions are on the basis of the
- 21:26belief that I have and that yes I have to have my actions
- 21:32because hi my name is Salaam have told me that if you want
- 21:37salvation we will give you it but you have to make yourself
- 21:41worthy to receive our. So you have to meet a certain
- 21:44criteria. You have to meet that minimum
- 21:46level to be able to be worthy of getting that salvation.
- 21:50If you don't mind me interrupting, I think there's an
- 21:53especially, you know, of course, when the Agha Khan passed away
- 21:55in the last couple of months, this discussion became a big one
- 21:58and I was saved and I've discussed it on air kind of in
- 22:01reference. We've touched on this topic
- 22:02about about the the connection between belief and amala salihad
- 22:08mentioned in the Quran hand in hand.
- 22:10Because of course, when when the other hand passed away, we kind
- 22:15of had two strands of response within the Shia community.
- 22:18You had those who said, no, you know, he was a man.
- 22:20He'd look at the charity he did, the universities, the hospitals,
- 22:23the schools. We've all heard it.
- 22:25And we've all either believe in, you know, agree or don't agree.
- 22:29And then we've got the other group who say, yeah, but you
- 22:33know, he claimed Imam from the other debate of the Muslim
- 22:36ultimately. So he's not my Imam, he's
- 22:38claiming Imam. Therefore by some standards,
- 22:40he's kafat. It falls within the bracket of
- 22:42kafat. So that's another thing which is
- 22:44an interesting conversation to have.
- 22:46I think if you don't mind me sharing my opinion, and I don't
- 22:48know if it's the right time or place, but look, within all
- 22:52human beings, we have a primordial nature, OK, which we
- 22:55call the Fed law within us, which guides us as a compass
- 22:58towards the truth. Whether you're Muslim or not,
- 23:00whether you believe in a religion or not, we all as
- 23:03humans agree that the compelling factor is truth.
- 23:08Truth will always be a compelling factor for human
- 23:11beings. When we say LA iklaha fiddin and
- 23:14the there's not being a compulsion in religion, we're
- 23:17saying in some ways that the, the, the compelling nature for
- 23:20oneself is not the religious label they carry around, but
- 23:24rather is haqq. So for example, a Muslim may
- 23:27tell the truth and so may a non-muslim.
- 23:29A Muslim may feel bad to lie, but the guilt also applies to a
- 23:32non-muslim. That means that what is
- 23:34compelling to an individual is not what label they carry, but
- 23:37perhaps the truth in itself, right?
- 23:39Of course, it would also make sense.
- 23:41You know this argument that Islam is the youngest of the
- 23:43three Abrahamic religions. Personally, I don't agree with
- 23:46that. My opinion is that Islam, of
- 23:48course, unlike the other Abrahamic religions, Islam
- 23:51believes that Adam Alayhi Salam was a prophet, not just the
- 23:54first man, but was the first prophet.
- 23:56Unlikely are the Abrahamic religions who consider him to be
- 23:58the first man. And of course in, in
- 24:00Christianity, modern day Christianities, human beings are
- 24:03paying the debt. You know that you know from the
- 24:05sin that Adam did according to their belief system.
- 24:08But truth was revealed at the start of this, you know, the
- 24:13world as we know it. But then, of course, variants of
- 24:17truth had come out in the same form of like kind of Chinese
- 24:21whispers and whatnot. But one may argue, and I want to
- 24:23know what your thoughts are and obviously what your thoughts
- 24:25are, said Ali. But one may argue that, you
- 24:28know, of the 20, let's say, religions in the world, five
- 24:31major religions of the world, each religion may have an
- 24:34element, a variant of truth. Are there different ways to
- 24:38reach the top of the mountain? We don't know.
- 24:40We know in the Holy Quran Allah Spamta Allah says in Soto Saath
- 24:4361 nine Hueladi al Star Rosado who Bill Huda with Dean and
- 24:48Hakke Leo Hiroho Allah Kuladini Aladini Kuli Willow Karhill that
- 24:55he's the one who has sent his messenger with true guidance and
- 24:57the religion of truth, making it prevail over all others, even to
- 25:01the dismay of the polytheists. What you thought so it's.
- 25:05A property points that you've raised here that is fine.
- 25:11And you know, you mentioned like for example, from 20 religions
- 25:13to five religions and Abrahamic religions is going to be
- 25:15thinking. And when we talk about religious
- 25:17pluralism, does the Bahati faith fall under that category because
- 25:22they take from Moses Alayhi Salaam, Jesus alayhi Salaam
- 25:25Muhammad Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi sallam Krishna Buddha and
- 25:29you know that they end up now with a man made religion.
- 25:31For example, how far to what extent can we accept religious
- 25:36pluralism? And you spoke about the Fatah
- 25:39and I think the right to bring that into the conversation
- 25:41because it's not just about believing in a God where you
- 25:45automatically naturally have having that, but it's more about
- 25:49being inclined to the truth. And if you know lying is wrong,
- 25:53that's from your right. You'd want to find the truth.
- 25:56You know the good from wrong. You know the truth from
- 25:58falsehood. So to what extent count to what
- 26:00extent, say if maybe if I can ask, can we accept religious
- 26:04pluralism that doesn't go against your theology, for
- 26:07example, and not fall in the danger of.
- 26:11Can I add something? I think that's really
- 26:14interesting, what you mentioned. Of course, when we talk about
- 26:16truth, we have relative truths and we have absolute truths.
- 26:20We have the theory of relativism, which, you know,
- 26:23relatives believe that there is no absolute truth.
- 26:26Everyone has the truth depending on the dynamic, the culture that
- 26:29they're raising, their truth is valid.
- 26:31Their truth is legitimate. Their truth is their truth.
- 26:34They say all roads lead to God. All roads lead to God.
- 26:37This is the thing. So relativism doesn't just apply
- 26:40to God or religion or theology, but can apply to anything.
- 26:43Anything and everything, for example, right.
- 26:45So if I think that Lionel Messi is the greatest football player
- 26:47ever to live, that's true. But you might say Ronaldo is,
- 26:51and that's your truth, and this is my truth.
- 26:52That's relativism. Some may say religious pluralism
- 26:56is modern relativism repackaged into theology.
- 27:00All right, that's, that's the thought process that I had
- 27:02before the discussion. But if, for example, when you
- 27:05look at science, you know, all scientists have theories, all
- 27:09scientists have theories. Millions of scientists are all
- 27:12simultaneously working towards finding out their theories,
- 27:15their arguments on, let's say, the origin of the universe,
- 27:18where it came from, has it always been here, so on and so
- 27:20forth. But every scientist would agree
- 27:23that there is an undisputable, undivided absolute truth, which
- 27:27can never be altered, changed, or all things fall in line
- 27:32within. And that any surviving theories
- 27:34that a scientist may have is only tangible and can only be
- 27:38feasible if it is in line with absolute truth, whatever that
- 27:41is. And that their theories would
- 27:43survive trials and tribulations, would survive opposition and and
- 27:47queries and whatnot, if it falls in line with whatever that
- 27:50absolute truth is. And that parable can be related
- 27:53to Islam in many ways. So yeah, I just want to get your
- 27:56thoughts on that side. I think like, like it's very
- 28:04deep, but I was thinking whilst you're talking of of the
- 28:09conversation that that person in the battle of Jamal who came to
- 28:16Imam al Mamir Salaam and he asked him that.
- 28:21I'm confused. Oh yeah, I see that there are
- 28:26companions of the Prophet, Salah Alayhi Salaam on this side.
- 28:30And I also see that there are companions of the Professor Al
- 28:33Hari on the other side. So what should I do?
- 28:38So now it's it's very interesting because obviously,
- 28:41as you mentioned, the saying and, and this saying is, is
- 28:45really obviously very famous. That's Ali is Mali, Alko Alko
- 28:50Mali. And and of course, everybody
- 28:53knows this has been narrated by, you know, Mutafik and Ali
- 28:57amongst all the, all, the, all the, all the hadith collectors.
- 29:02But I mean, didn't reply with this thing.
- 29:05Instead he said something else. He said to this person that
- 29:10truth is not identified through people, right.
- 29:14She's really interesting because that that's not just a reply to
- 29:19that person. That's actually that's a that's
- 29:21a principle. That is that's that is what we
- 29:24said earlier that dynamic or that way or that theory that
- 29:28we're going to use in order to identify or how to interpret the
- 29:32Quran. That's Imam says that truth is
- 29:35not identified through the people.
- 29:37You, yes, you need to identify the truth like you said, and
- 29:45everybody has that capability to identify truth and then through
- 29:50the truth identify as people identify the analogue.
- 29:55So search for the truth and you know.
- 29:57Then you will know, then you will know as people, right?
- 30:00Or you, then you will recognize that you will recognize as
- 30:03people. So that means that This is why
- 30:08and that links back to or ties back to what we were saying
- 30:12earlier where Islam keeps on emphasizing about belief and
- 30:17righteous deeds. That is through these righteous
- 30:21deeds that I'm actually going to prove my adherence to, to the
- 30:27truth. Because obviously what I
- 30:29believe, what you believe or what Satan believes, we don't
- 30:33know. That's, that's within me.
- 30:35That's inside me. The only way that I can tell
- 30:39somebody about my beliefs is through my actions.
- 30:44You know, one of our teachers used to say that, you know,
- 30:50don't tell people that your beliefs are the best beliefs
- 30:54because if your beliefs can't change your own actions, how
- 30:57they're going to change other people's actions, right?
- 31:01You know, why, why are you having the need to tell people
- 31:04that my beliefs are the best belief?
- 31:06Because they're not changing me. So how are they going to change
- 31:10somebody else, right? If, if my beliefs are the best
- 31:14beliefs, if then they should make me into the best person,
- 31:19then everybody will recognize that these these are the best
- 31:22beliefs because they're making me into the best person.
- 31:27And similarly, like for all, for example, you know, all those
- 31:29hadith that you all know that for example, says, you know,
- 31:33invite people towards us to go home without the use of your
- 31:37time. What this is what he's saying.
- 31:39He's saying that you have the best beliefs, so then they
- 31:43should be reflected in the best actions, which will then
- 31:46automatically invite people to or for example, Imam Rodale
- 31:50Salaam, who says that no, Ali Manas, if people knew our words,
- 31:58then they would have followed us.
- 32:00The best of our words, then they would have, they would have
- 32:03followed us. So that means that it is just
- 32:06about living my life according to those best beliefs that I
- 32:12believe are the best beliefs that will prove that they are
- 32:15the best beliefs, right? But also coming back to this
- 32:21thing about, you know, relativism, for example, of
- 32:27course there are certain things where there are cut A, you know,
- 32:33for example, definitive truths, you know, God is 1.
- 32:39So that is cut A. It cannot be two or three or
- 32:42five or 100 or, you know, you cannot not exist.
- 32:45This is cut A. This is a true.
- 32:47There's no relativism, for example, in God being one.
- 32:50Yeah. Or that, you know, for example,
- 32:54other beliefs that we have, which are now there are some,
- 32:59for example, secondary category of beliefs that we met, for
- 33:02example, may hold where they are not in that kati.
- 33:08Maybe it can be relative for that.
- 33:10I'll share a narration. And this is a really beautiful
- 33:13narration. I think it's in the second
- 33:17volume of Al Kafi was talking about Iman about belief.
- 33:25And he says it's of or he he compares it to a ladder that's
- 33:30there are different, there are different steps of he manned the
- 33:34way there are a ladder. And then he said, and this is
- 33:39really, this is the the the beautiful power of generation.
- 33:42So he says that if you find yourself to be on a higher
- 33:47ladder to somebody else or higher step to somebody else,
- 33:52then it's your responsibility to pull that person up to and not
- 33:58to stick them off the ladder. And and thanks.
- 34:01We did a couple of weeks ago. We remember this, the same
- 34:05hadith. Yeah.
- 34:07Right. So that gives us insight
- 34:11obviously relating to pluralism. Of course there there could be
- 34:13lots of different angles to this hadith, but talking about
- 34:16pluralism, that tells us that there are some relative truths
- 34:19because obviously there might be somebody who's on that first
- 34:22ladder who doesn't understand what's on, who's on, for
- 34:25example, the 10th. So there is a sort of spiritual
- 34:28or enemy or whatever it might be hierarchy in that regard.
- 34:31Of course, for example, again, another famous generation,
- 34:35again, I'm sure all of our views I've had that, you know, the
- 34:39Prophet, Salahu and Salem says that if Abu Dhar knew what was
- 34:42in the heart of Salman, then he would have killed him.
- 34:47Why? Because he couldn't bear that
- 34:49which Salman could bear or he couldn't have that realization
- 34:55of truth that Salman could have. And we're talking about without
- 34:58who himself is on this highest level of, you know, there's no
- 35:02comparison with without with even other companions that
- 35:05alone, you know, with for example, people like us.
- 35:08But you know, even he can bear this position of which Salman
- 35:12has. So that means that there is some
- 35:15relativity between the Iman of Salman and the Iman of Abuta,
- 35:21right? And then of Makdad and then of
- 35:23Ahmad and then of, you know, for example, the rest of the
- 35:25companies. So that means that there is some
- 35:30room or some kind of pluralism that exists because of course,
- 35:34the if let's say, for example, now here we come to the, the
- 35:39question that you, you're coming to, I know, which is about the
- 35:41justice of Allah. So that means that if Allah,
- 35:44Subhanahu Adalah had made Iman for all of us, that you all have
- 35:49to have the Iman of Salman, then a lot of it unjust because none
- 35:54of us have the capability to have the Iman of we won't be
- 35:58judged on that because we have, we don't have the capacity to be
- 36:03on the Iman of Salman. Yeah.
- 36:05But yes, we have the capacity to have Iman, to have belief.
- 36:08We can strive. Well, we have the the capacity
- 36:12to. So I will be judged on the
- 36:13capacity that I have, right? And this is really important.
- 36:18Sometimes it's a bit hard for for some of us to get our heads
- 36:23around because you know, for example, we live in, we live in
- 36:26UK where we have the rule of law.
- 36:29And the rule of law means that every person is judged the same.
- 36:33Now, in a system where, for example, you know, the judge and
- 36:39the jury are ordinary people, you have to have the rule of
- 36:41law. There's no other way.
- 36:42If you don't have the rule of law, it's going to, there will
- 36:44be no, there's no semblance or no chance of having justice.
- 36:47So of course, rule of law is the foundation of democracy and
- 36:51foundation of, of, of free society.
- 36:53But of course, a loss of Hanover dollar is not limited by these
- 36:57limitations that human beings are limited with, Right?
- 37:00That's human beings have to judge on the basis of the rule
- 37:04of law. They have to judge on the basis
- 37:05of this legal system. And there can't be, for example,
- 37:08you know, one law for one person, another law for another
- 37:11person. It's not possible.
- 37:13But unless $100 can judge people each on their own capabilities,
- 37:19Yeah, Because they don't have, you know, you don't have to,
- 37:24does not have these limitations that he has to judge everybody
- 37:28according to the same the rules. No, say that's I'm sorry.
- 37:32To hear this a lot and I'm sure agree said like when we were in
- 37:35university, we still this in dialogue with different
- 37:38societies and we still have this chaplaincy in Birmingham, which
- 37:41was amazing but we used to hear this a lot about you know
- 37:45according to your books, where am I going to hell or heaven,
- 37:47for example, I believe this where am I going to end up
- 37:50according to you and you know we also hear this amongst amongst
- 37:53our peers in our own community that what about the people prior
- 37:56to Islam? What about the people who've
- 37:58never encountered Islam, those who live in the Amazon
- 38:00rainforest who were born 3000 years ago, the Cavemen that came
- 38:03of well, they will be judging the same thing.
- 38:05If they don't do will I Amidamot Manin?
- 38:07If they don't do their Naras in the mosque and they beat their
- 38:09church, are they going to be, You know, of course, this is the
- 38:12thing that say Ali and I talk about all the time.
- 38:14If Amidamot Manin is the splitter of heaven and hell,
- 38:19does that mean that the splitting determining factor is
- 38:21will IA or is it not? And if so, does that mean that
- 38:24there's, you know, a miniscule amount of human beings that fall
- 38:27on one side of the ladder or whatever the the partition of
- 38:30heaven and hell, and, you know, the mass majority are punished?
- 38:33And therefore is your Lord a Lord of punishment and a Lord of
- 38:38admonishment or a Lord of mercy and justice?
- 38:41You see what I mean? And this is something we speak
- 38:43about as well. We do, we do.
- 38:45And just to add to this, and you know, speaking, you mentioned
- 38:47the Adala of a lost one Matala, and I rang these points.
- 38:51You know, we believe for this core to our beliefs as part of
- 38:55our solid Deen. So this is this is foundational
- 38:58to to we believe in the justice of Allah.
- 39:00Now, he mentioned the example of rainforest and people might not
- 39:03take it serious, but this does happen.
- 39:04Of course there are more villages around the world and
- 39:07people who've never communicated with the outside world.
- 39:10People who don't have access to the Internet, let's say.
- 39:13Precious again. Even that our having people who
- 39:15are people who are incapacity, let's say they they are
- 39:18disabled, they're deaf, they're blind.
- 39:20Maybe they that they have a condition of some sort.
- 39:23How are they judged? These are things which people
- 39:25ask. By the way, I used to ask this
- 39:27question to my father a little as a young child.
- 39:30I still remember. So this is giving me memories
- 39:33and if I can just mention I think, I think he told me, if I
- 39:36if I say this correctly, is that a last finalist will judge them
- 39:41on the day of judgements with certain questions and see how
- 39:44they respond. But that was also I was given as
- 39:46a little child, of course, saying.
- 39:47That no, of course, and we have this in generations, but we also
- 39:50have in generations lots of things about, as you say, about
- 39:54the justice of Allah. And this was something that I
- 39:57found really fascinating as like you said, you know, this is one
- 40:00of our foundational beliefs. So this was something I found
- 40:02really fascinating. And in fact, maybe some of our
- 40:06views can probably confirm as well.
- 40:09And that was that unless Mohana Adalah's justice is to this
- 40:12extent that, for example, if a person has a deficiency in one
- 40:19capability that they have, then unless Subhana Adalah excels
- 40:22their capability in another. Yeah, yeah, we see the.
- 40:26So for example, if somebody has a deficiency, for example in
- 40:29their site, then they have very good hearing, of course.
- 40:32Yeah. Or vice versa.
- 40:34Yeah, yeah, yeah. Or smel or something or another.
- 40:37Right. Any other talent?
- 40:38Right. So, so this is part of that.
- 40:42He if, for example, there's a deficiency in something, then
- 40:45that he excels in another sense, for example or another in
- 40:49another area. Sorry to say, like we even see,
- 40:52I think in today's studies, they, they link people who have,
- 40:54for example, forms of autism. They have good memories.
- 40:59Yeah, yeah, they have excellent mathematical skills like.
- 41:02Creativity. Absolutely, absolutely.
- 41:04And, and, and also one of the arguments that's actually
- 41:08mentioned in some of the books of Kala is that this is one of
- 41:14the proofs of Alyssa Mahanavatala's Kodrat and his
- 41:18power that he has the capability to create people who have all
- 41:23these different capabilities, right, right.
- 41:26If all human beings were the same, then somebody could have
- 41:29objected. Now, for example, if a human
- 41:31being had X, how would that last $100 be able to create Alec?
- 41:37But you know, and that question, so all of these things, the fact
- 41:42that human beings, each of them are created differently and each
- 41:45of them have these different capabilities and some of them
- 41:47have deficiencies and so on and so on and so forth.
- 41:50Then these this is all part of his and part of his, the
- 41:54capability of the fact that he is powerful over every single
- 41:57thing. So coming back to the, the
- 42:00pluralism, all of these things, for example, come back to the
- 42:08Adant of Allah, Sohan Matala, that he is just and that he
- 42:12doesn't have to judge each person on the same judgement.
- 42:16And also, for example, on the interpretation of the text.
- 42:21So for example, where alas, Muhannu Atal is talking about
- 42:25Kufur, about disability or which we translate to disbelief.
- 42:31It's a very specific form of, of disbelief.
- 42:36It doesn't just mean, for example, you know, sometimes
- 42:39people think, for example, we're talking about Kufur.
- 42:41It just means every person is not a Muslim or, for example,
- 42:43not sure that no, doesn't apply for every single person.
- 42:48Where Kuffer in his definition is where a person who knows the
- 42:54truth and then rejects it or hides it or doesn't like, for
- 42:58example, acknowledge it. That is very different to, for
- 43:02example, somebody who's living in Amazon rainforest or even,
- 43:06for example, somebody who's not even living in Amazon
- 43:08rainforest. OK.
- 43:09Like, for example, you know, social media, it's all over.
- 43:13Everybody has access to it. But even up to now, there are
- 43:16places, for example, people in remote villages.
- 43:19We're not living. It's not Amazon rate France.
- 43:21There's no remote villages in Africa and India.
- 43:23You know, even in, you know, the Middle East in different places,
- 43:27there's people living in remote villages and they have no access
- 43:29to the outside world or limited access to the outside world.
- 43:33They don't know, for example, what's going on beyond that
- 43:37village that they're living in on that area or that place where
- 43:40they're living in. So that person has not been
- 43:43exposed to or has not even been presented the truth.
- 43:48So how can he or she reject the truth when they don't even know
- 43:54as far as outside of their own and bubble, if you like, or
- 43:57outside of their own play, they don't even know.
- 43:59And even actually today or today's day and age in social
- 44:04media, we can see that, you know, on on social media, most
- 44:09of us now, you know, the way that they have designed the
- 44:13algorithm are in are in our own echo chambers where we think
- 44:18that everybody thinks the same as us.
- 44:21Well, that's not the reality, right?
- 44:23If I'm, for example, following certain number of people or
- 44:28certain group of accounts, for example, on whichever social
- 44:32media platform you happen to be, then then then you are and you
- 44:38are going to get suggested those similar accounts which are
- 44:41similar to that. Yeah.
- 44:42And then eventually you're in this place where you're just
- 44:45surrounded by those opinions and those ideas which are already
- 44:51similar to you. And you, you agree.
- 44:54So now in that some ways, deciphering the truth becomes
- 44:58even more difficult. Said, Can I ask you a question
- 45:01if you don't mind, and slightly off script, but see look, I, it,
- 45:05it sounds to me like the truth is the determining factor of the
- 45:09way in one of the determining factors of the way in which
- 45:13Allah will judge us and how we have adhered towards the the
- 45:16absolute truth. If you imagine the absolute, if
- 45:19you know there's a circle being this ideological circle of
- 45:22humanity, all ideologies, all belief systems fit within the
- 45:25side, the circle in the pinpoint center, you have the absolute
- 45:28truth. People can find themselves at
- 45:31different distances dotted around and their, their
- 45:34proximity to the centre being absolute truth may be the
- 45:38determining factor as to where they stand on Yomal pyaama.
- 45:40Now, what I find interesting is, is that when we look at this,
- 45:45this notion, it, it, it makes sense to the point that you
- 45:48know, a lot of judges people based on their capacity to
- 45:50understand, a lot judges people based on the resources they had
- 45:54at their disposal. So for example, if they had
- 45:56social media in today's day and age, they may be judged
- 45:59differently in a in a world post Islam Liam Akmetu post that
- 46:05world compared to for example, someone in the pre technological
- 46:08world who had no access to monotheism, for example.
- 46:11Of course, in the Holy Quran we see Allah say that you know,
- 46:13there are signs for people for those who observe where you can
- 46:17find you can become one of the more hadean you can find Allah
- 46:20find to read just through observance of science and so on
- 46:23and so forth. But then for example, this is
- 46:26what I had a disagreement with with one of our our team members
- 46:30about this. We were having a karak Chai the
- 46:32other day, I remember saying, and we're standing outside and
- 46:35had this debate and this. Was during Ramadan.
- 46:38It was during Shah Ramadhan and my point of view was that for
- 46:44Shia, yeah, I feel that I need to wear this very carefully,
- 46:49otherwise I'm going to get cancelled.
- 46:50Basically. In essence, being a Muslim by
- 46:53name doesn't always mean anything, right?
- 46:56Or would have been Sat was Muslim by name.
- 46:58He did his Shahada team. He will be in the bottom pits of
- 47:00hell, right. And I believe that there will be
- 47:03Christians, atheists, arguably who may fall up or will likely
- 47:09be above or would have been Saturn in, you know, in in the
- 47:11Arkham makes sense. I don't think that's a that's a
- 47:14what you call it a statement, a provocative or a controversial
- 47:17statement. But in theory, what that means
- 47:19is accepting Islam on your tongue doesn't mean that you're
- 47:21accepting it within your hearts. You mentioned belief and
- 47:24actions, right? What about those who are not
- 47:27Shia? So those who have access to
- 47:29religion, those who have accepted Islam, those who have
- 47:33access to the books. You mentioned the beginning
- 47:35Haditha Thakalain and the fact that it's accepted by all
- 47:37Muslims in all books. Is the judgement for Sunnis, for
- 47:42example, going to be different to the judgement for Shia where
- 47:45they for all a non-muslim? If someone says I've accepted
- 47:48Muhammad Rasul Allah, yeah. And then at the point of the
- 47:52deathbed, that's where my religion ends.
- 47:55Or for example, where my my my interest in the religion ceases.
- 47:59Or in terms of unaltered purified masul belief.
- 48:03Does that make sense? But I think I think in some ways
- 48:06you answered your question with what you said before, which is
- 48:11that, you know, if I say I believe, say that I believe in
- 48:20Muhammad al Surallah sallallahu alaihi Wali, then I have to
- 48:24believe what he says. Yeah.
- 48:27I can't say that I believe Muhammad al Surallah, but as
- 48:32soon as he dies, that's it's finished.
- 48:34And now I don't I'm not going to listen to him anymore.
- 48:37Well, if I'm saying 10 times a day, Ashadwan Muhammad
- 48:40Rasulullah, I believe that Muhammad is the messenger of
- 48:43God. No, he was the messenger of God.
- 48:46I'm saying that I believe that he is the messenger of God.
- 48:50Then if he is the messenger of God, then that means that
- 48:53whatever he said still is what you know, what I have to follow
- 48:59and believe and, and listen to you.
- 49:01So now we've seen due to social media, you know, for example,
- 49:06maybe some of our viewers who know or do or know, and
- 49:10obviously those who know Arabic will also know that due to
- 49:14social media, lots of people who are Muslims have become or have
- 49:21found out what is actually written in the text.
- 49:25Because up to now there was, you know, for example, who reads
- 49:29books. Nowadays nobody reads books.
- 49:32For example, maybe in my, our parents generation or our
- 49:36grandparents generation, people used to read books.
- 49:38But in our generation, nobody reads books.
- 49:42And for example, you know, in our, in our parents generation
- 49:46or our grandparents generation, people were not that educated.
- 49:49Maybe like 5 or 10% or 15% of people knew how to read books.
- 49:54So those people who knew how to read, they used to read books.
- 49:56So the, the vast majority of people were not, for example,
- 49:59that educated or they didn't have access to books.
- 50:02Books are expensive. They even even now they're
- 50:04expensive. So they didn't have their
- 50:05resources, for example. So you know, their, their
- 50:12capability to access those things was limited course,
- 50:16right? It was limited to or for
- 50:17example, the books on Arabic. So now if I don't know Arabic,
- 50:22even if I can read, but I have no access to those books, let's
- 50:25say for example, or I know Arabic, but I can't read or I
- 50:30can't buy the books. Now because of social media,
- 50:34things become more accessible. You know, people are reading the
- 50:38books and they're showing you the highlighting the the the
- 50:41text and showing you on the screen that this is what it says
- 50:44in this in this text. And they're doing it in very
- 50:47differently. Obviously in Arabic has been
- 50:48having for a long time, but even older now you know, you know
- 50:51that for example, all over there's these people who are
- 50:55scholars and they are actually saying that.
- 50:59No, don't for example, just label any person who, for
- 51:04example, starts talking about the name of Salaam.
- 51:06You say this person has become Shia or this will become Rafadi.
- 51:09No, read your books and see what do your books say that the
- 51:15province of Allah said about and then decide.
- 51:20Don't for example, label somebody just because, for
- 51:23example, they're talking about topic X or they're talking about
- 51:26topic Y. No, read your books and find
- 51:28out. But but what's what this has
- 51:31done is because it made it more accessible.
- 51:33And now even those people, for example, in the past didn't have
- 51:37access to books or didn't have access to resources, didn't have
- 51:40access to what was actually being said.
- 51:43And they, for example, were like you said, that person, for
- 51:46example, that person is born a Muslim.
- 51:48Like, you know, and I'm the law where all of us here where
- 51:51people who were born in a household, which is Muslim and
- 51:54I'm the law behind me. But for example, a person is a
- 51:56boring household, which is Muslim.
- 51:58Does that person, does that mean that that person is definitely
- 52:00Muslim? I'll share a little anecdote
- 52:02here just to humor the mood a little.
- 52:05You know, I went for one time, I went to do a naka and the groom
- 52:13was Muslim Shia and the bride was a English lady.
- 52:21So some of the groom's friends, they came up to me just as we
- 52:28before we about started in a car and they said to me saying, how
- 52:33do we know that she's definitely become Muslim?
- 52:40So I was feeling a bit, you know, provocative.
- 52:45So I said to them, I said, how do I know that you're Muslim?
- 52:49Allah, Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- 52:53Other than the fact that other than the fact that you were born
- 52:57in a household of Muslims, how do I know that you're Muslim?
- 53:03So he said, well, you don't. So I said I have to take your
- 53:06word. Yes, right.
- 53:08So I said, well, if I take your word, then I'll take her word as
- 53:11well. And this is what Islam teaches
- 53:14me. Of course, Islam teaches me.
- 53:17And we have an innovation as early as you mentioned
- 53:21regarding, for example, a person who says that they're a Muslim
- 53:25and what their belief is, you know, between Islam and Iman.
- 53:29So on the basis the Imam al Islam says that Islam is what
- 53:33defines, for example, a person being allowed to marry another
- 53:36person. If this person says that they're
- 53:39a Muslim, then the guy is valid, right?
- 53:43They've met the basic criteria. They've met that criteria, that
- 53:45in front of me that person said Shadow, and they haven't done
- 53:51anything contrary to that belief.
- 53:54So I have to take their word that they have become a Muslim.
- 53:58Now. I said when I said to them, I
- 54:01said, well, why should I? I only assume that you're Muslim
- 54:04because your father was a Muslim.
- 54:08And this lady, her father's not a Muslim.
- 54:11Therefore, I can't assume that she's a Muslim.
- 54:13No, right. This is on there the the basic
- 54:17criteria. You know, the the way that we
- 54:19and this is the only way that a person can judge because we have
- 54:23to take each other's take what we there's no other way.
- 54:26Nobody knows what's inside. You can't do it.
- 54:28Right to do it right. So that, so when it comes to
- 54:33pluralism, we have to consider what, for example, how Islam
- 54:38has, you know, in some ways this is a pluralism in itself.
- 54:43Yeah, that's we have a pluralism when it comes to, for example,
- 54:46Akam. Yeah, that's when it comes to
- 54:48fiki Akam. We judge people on the basis of
- 54:50what they say, yes. But when it comes to other
- 54:53things, then yes, it's different.
- 54:56For example, when it comes to talking about salvation and and
- 54:59so on and so forth. Now, now it's different now.
- 55:01Now we have a different judgement.
- 55:03That was a different criteria to judge people, for example.
- 55:07And you know, in this narration, for example, between Imam
- 55:10Masadaf al Islam and that Syrian person is mentioned, Shahmuf
- 55:13Federaldan Latale, mentioned in Al Rashad.
- 55:16When that person comes and he says, you know, I won't come to
- 55:18debate with Imam Masadaf al Salaam and Imam al Islam calls
- 55:21Hisham and then he debates with him.
- 55:25And so at the end of the debate, you know, he says that now I've
- 55:32become Muslim and Imam Ali Salam corrects him and says, no, you
- 55:36were a Muslim because you attested to shahada den.
- 55:41But today you have become a believer because you've also
- 55:44recognized the Imam. Today you have become.
- 55:49So in reality, this is a pluralism, right?
- 55:51Yeah, yeah. That you were you were a Muslim.
- 55:54But now you've become a believer because you also recognize the
- 55:57Imam and you've recognized the fact that after the prover
- 56:00sallalahu alaihi Salam because. So this comes back to the
- 56:04criteria that after the province of Allahu, Alaio Salem, is there
- 56:08a need for people to get guidance or not?
- 56:12Of course, right. So EUS guidance, right, Yeah,
- 56:15yeah. So.
- 56:15Either there's a need for people to have guidance, or there's not
- 56:20a need. Otherwise, what the Christians
- 56:21done? But this is interesting and I
- 56:26didn't and I didn't think of this.
- 56:27You know, for example, we, for example, I've grown up, you
- 56:30know, since our young age in Madalis, in, you know, madrasa
- 56:34everywhere. These are the talking points,
- 56:37you know, is there necessity to have guidance after the province
- 56:40Salaam or not? And so, you know, since for
- 56:43example, maybe like 5 years old, we've had this so many times
- 56:46that now it's now second nature that, you know, we, we believe
- 56:50that after the province Salaam, Salaam guidance is necessary.
- 56:54And who the guidance? I'm Malayalam Salaam.
- 56:57So one day, again, another little anecdote just to mix,
- 57:00just to mix it up of it. So one day there's this guy in
- 57:05in our community and he, he says to me that I have accepted the
- 57:13ZDR belief. Oh, OK.
- 57:18So I asked him what's the, you know, what's the evidence for
- 57:23accepting ZDR belief? So he says to me that so, and
- 57:30this is where I got this idea and I actually, you know, did
- 57:33more research on this idea of before talking about any topic,
- 57:37you have to know the terms of reference, of course, because
- 57:41otherwise you're talking at cross purposes with the other
- 57:43person. When this person thinks that
- 57:45yes, I am correct because his terms of reference are different
- 57:50to my terms of reference. So I asked him, I said, what's
- 57:52the belief? So I actually said to him, I
- 57:55said to him, look, if you have this idea of belief, then that
- 57:59means that you believe and after you believe in and then
- 58:07obviously you believe in Shahid and then you believe in all
- 58:12these other imams. And so what's the criteria?
- 58:15So of course, as you know, like traditional, the idea belief was
- 58:18that, you know, the Imam has to be one who calls people to
- 58:23towards battle. And that's why there's a bit of
- 58:25debate about whether Imam Hassan is Imam or not.
- 58:28And then, for example, there's this theory that, you know, Imam
- 58:32Sajad al Salaam actually fought on the day of Ashura according
- 58:34to his idea of belief, and then he survived and so on and so on
- 58:37and so forth. Anyway, so he says to me, no,
- 58:41no, that's not my belief. That's OK.
- 58:43So I said to him that, OK, so what's your terms of reference?
- 58:45So this is my terms of reference.
- 58:47That guidance after the province allow anyone in Salem is
- 58:51necessary, right? I say either yes or no.
- 58:56If yes, after the province allowed in Salem guidance is
- 58:59necessary, then that guidance remains necessary as long as
- 59:04people are there. Yeah, of course, right.
- 59:07So once I believe that Amirul what Minina Salato Salaam is the
- 59:12successor of the province of Salaam.
- 59:14Now I don't need any more other evidence for each every Imam.
- 59:18Yes, of course we have that each Imam after one after the other
- 59:22says, you know that Imam after me is going to be, but that
- 59:26there has to be an Imam. That is already proven by Khadir
- 59:31that the province of Salaam said that's you have to have guidance
- 59:35after me continuously and Amirul Mala Salato Salaam is the one.
- 59:40OK, So he says to me, no, take my terms of reference are
- 59:42different. So this is really interesting
- 59:45for me. So I said, OK, so what's your
- 59:47terms of reference? So he says, no, my terms of
- 59:50reference are that or what we, for example, might call the
- 59:54lowest common denominator that it has to be in the Sunni text
- 59:59and in the sheer texts and in the Zaidi texts.
- 1:00:03So this is the lowest common denominator.
- 1:00:06So I said no. Why if I believe that Amir
- 1:00:10Normani Salaam is Imam so that's it.
- 1:00:12Now if he says to me after me X person is going to be imam then
- 1:00:15after me that's enough. Sufficient.
- 1:00:17Yeah, he says. No, you have to bring proof for
- 1:00:19every single one. I said no next because.
- 1:00:23My truth is my. Truth, I said.
- 1:00:26Because my terms of reference are that EDIL Gadir proves that
- 1:00:31has to be involvement in every time, whereas your terms of
- 1:00:35reference are that it has to be in each and every text, which is
- 1:00:38not. But that's your, that's your
- 1:00:40flawed argument. That's your terms of reference.
- 1:00:41So because of your terms of reference are different.
- 1:00:44That's why you're coming to different different conclusion.
- 1:00:48Yeah, yeah, it's going to be a flawed argument.
- 1:00:50Like you can't ever find that lowest common denominator
- 1:00:54denominator argument. You can't.
- 1:00:55You can't. Doesn't work.
- 1:00:56It's very. You see it more often nowadays,
- 1:00:58so panel on a lot on a lot of these YouTube channels, these
- 1:01:01new era social media channels. You see this thing now that we
- 1:01:05take from all month hubs and we take from all of them and
- 1:01:09whichever, whichever the kind of parallels we find between them,
- 1:01:13we accept. All Muslims believe it,
- 1:01:15therefore it must be true. Do you see what I mean?
- 1:01:17This is similar to the point I mentioned earlier about the
- 1:01:19Baha'i faith. To what extent do you accept
- 1:01:22religious pluralism? But you know, Ahmed mentioned
- 1:01:24the point where you you spoke about Karbala.
- 1:01:28And and it brings me also to a point we've had reference, we've
- 1:01:32referenced it on many podcasts, even as recent as the one we
- 1:01:36have on sale. Hamid Barker as we knew when it
- 1:01:38came to recognizing Imam Mehdi, like in Karbala, they you know,
- 1:01:43the enemy, the army fighting about Abdullah Hussein, Ali
- 1:01:46Salaam, they believed in Allah, Allah, Muhammad Rasool Allah.
- 1:01:50They knew he was about Abdullah. They knew he was the son of Atma
- 1:01:53Zara, the grandson of Rasool Allah.
- 1:01:56Yet they still attacked him, killed him, both of them,
- 1:01:59massacred his family, his companions.
- 1:02:04So why is it say it like I want to understand this.
- 1:02:07Why is it when someone has presented the truth, they see
- 1:02:09the truth, they can taste the truth, they can smell the truth.
- 1:02:14They are in Karbala, they're there with Imam Hussein, they
- 1:02:17know his Haq. He's fighting for Haq, he's
- 1:02:19standing for Haq. What makes someone reject it?
- 1:02:23Like if someone believes in Allah, Muhammad Rasulullah, why
- 1:02:26would you reject the truth? It's that I don't understand
- 1:02:29until today. I think that, you know,
- 1:02:32alhamdulillah Bilal, I mean, we, we are living in a time and in a
- 1:02:40place where our, you know, practicing our beliefs or having
- 1:02:46or holding our beliefs is not threatening to my life.
- 1:02:51OK. It's not, you know, I'm not.
- 1:02:53I have no direct threat to my life or to my family or to my,
- 1:02:57you know, my honour, for example.
- 1:03:01But of course that's not the case in many places.
- 1:03:04And also especially during the time of, for example, Yazid or
- 1:03:11during the time of such tyrants where there are people who
- 1:03:17genuinely, for example, they are scared.
- 1:03:22They're all they're enough is leading them towards, for
- 1:03:28example, that way, you know, we have that story.
- 1:03:30For example, after the day of Ashura, there's a person I don't
- 1:03:35want to say the wrong name, so I'll just say one person the in
- 1:03:39the right, it does actually mention that person's name, but
- 1:03:42the name is not is not with me at the moment.
- 1:03:47And this person is actually holding on to the Khilaf of
- 1:03:50Kaaba, and he's begging for forgiveness.
- 1:03:54And somebody recognizes that this is one of the people who
- 1:03:59was. Who took part in the back?
- 1:04:01Took part on the day of Ashura and that person says to him,
- 1:04:06obviously now you know Yazid is gone and the time is different.
- 1:04:10So somebody says to him that why do you think that you're going
- 1:04:15to get forgiveness from God when you took part in the massacre,
- 1:04:20in the killing, murder of the grandson of the Prophet
- 1:04:23Salahuddin. So this person says that go away
- 1:04:27from me. And you don't know that we were,
- 1:04:31you know, for example, what situation we were in or, you
- 1:04:34know, we were following orders and, you know, we didn't have a
- 1:04:38say in, for example, in in, in doing this.
- 1:04:43Of course, that was his excuse. And that was the excuse, for
- 1:04:48example, even when Mokhtar brought the people to, you know,
- 1:04:52confess for their crimes, they each each and every single one
- 1:04:57of those people whom he brought, they just the start of the
- 1:05:01conversation with this, there are no, we were just following
- 1:05:04orders. We didn't have any choice.
- 1:05:06We were just following orders. And then obviously he would make
- 1:05:09them confess and so on and so forth.
- 1:05:11But of course, we every year mention the story of horror,
- 1:05:17which reminds us, which gives us all hope that of course a person
- 1:05:22can, you know, as long as they come towards Abdullah, they can
- 1:05:26get salvation even at the last minute, even the moments before
- 1:05:30they die. But we have in the mahat
- 1:05:33generations that it's not just horror.
- 1:05:36There's other people who also left The Who deserted Yazid and
- 1:05:42came to the side of, but there's not a single person who went
- 1:05:46from the side of towards the side of Yazid.
- 1:05:50Just in itself a fascinating well.
- 1:05:52That's beautiful. A fascinating which is which is
- 1:05:55a fascinating thing to see that on the day of Ashura, you know,
- 1:05:59on the side of Imam Hussein Al Salam, there's thirst, there's
- 1:06:03hunger, There is, you know, less people, there's less resources.
- 1:06:07They know that they're all going to get massacred.
- 1:06:09They're all going to die on the day of Ashura.
- 1:06:12Yet there's no, there's no single narration, no false, no
- 1:06:16weak narration which states that a single person went from
- 1:06:21outside to you as you'd say, yes.
- 1:06:24For example, there might be some narrations that, you know, when
- 1:06:26I was selling some part of the candle, some people left.
- 1:06:30Debatable. Again, maybe a little
- 1:06:32controversial 1 here. You know, some people, some
- 1:06:34people say no, nobody left. But yes, maybe some people, it
- 1:06:37was the darkness of night. We don't know some, maybe some
- 1:06:40people left, but nobody went to the side of Yazid.
- 1:06:44Yeah, but yes, from the side of Yazid or from the side of Omar
- 1:06:48al-Assad, apart from horror, we have at least ten other people
- 1:06:52who came to the side of on the day of Ashura before the battle
- 1:06:59commenced. So really and truly that day or
- 1:07:04maybe in Monsanto, Salam's stand, it was there to show
- 1:07:08that, you know, coming back to the Huck and the identifying
- 1:07:14Huck is that Huck is asking me for sacrifice and is my nafs, is
- 1:07:23my soul willing to sacrifice? Is it willing to go through
- 1:07:28difficult? You know, how much value does my
- 1:07:31nafs, my soul have for Huck is the question that Imam was
- 1:07:35saying that Salaam is asking on the day of Ashura.
- 1:07:37So, you know, and, and of course the, the beautiful thing about
- 1:07:42this is that you've got the people who are not Muslims who
- 1:07:48are reading about Imam al Senador Salaam or for example,
- 1:07:53going to Abahin of Imam al Senador Salaam.
- 1:07:56And they are giving the testament that, yes,
- 1:08:00theologically that person is different to my faith, but he
- 1:08:06recognizes the truth because Imam Hussein al Salaam embodies
- 1:08:13and this person recognizes that, or this person recognizes to.
- 1:08:17And maybe that's an answer. For example, like you're saying
- 1:08:21that when we're young, we think of things of like, what would
- 1:08:26have happened if this happened? So what would have happened, for
- 1:08:29example, if Imam Hussein al Salaam hadn't been killed?
- 1:08:31Let's say Imam Hussein al Salaam went to Karbala, or he didn't go
- 1:08:37to Karbala, for example. He went to Yazid and he
- 1:08:39overthrew Yazid and he came in his position.
- 1:08:43Then what would have happened after some time?
- 1:08:46I was saying that Salam would have passed away, and then it
- 1:08:48would have gone back to what it was like before.
- 1:08:51Yeah, but by Imam Salah do Salam giving his life, he did
- 1:08:57something that makes every person who reads the story or
- 1:09:02hears the story pause to think that what was happening that was
- 1:09:08so severe that the grandson of the Prophet Salallahu Asylum had
- 1:09:14to give his life to in order to preserve.
- 1:09:18And how valuable must that be for him to do that?
- 1:09:23So maybe when it comes to pluralism, it's it is or the
- 1:09:33prophet Salallahu, Salaam's family and rather never Salaam,
- 1:09:36just their, you know, their presence, their, their them
- 1:09:41being there on the scene. That's that gives us insight
- 1:09:44into into into hug. I think, I think there's so many
- 1:09:51powerful ways you mentioned this.
- 1:09:53And of course, we're fast approaching the the, the blessed
- 1:09:55month of Mahadram and Inshallah, a lot of food for thought for us
- 1:09:59in terms of how we can use this blessed month coming to align
- 1:10:02ourselves with Haqq, how we can find ourselves in a position
- 1:10:06where we would be like those who join the Imam or those who never
- 1:10:10left the Imam. And you know, that's something
- 1:10:13we strive for something which a friend mentioned to me earlier
- 1:10:15today on this conversation was that one way of looking at it.
- 1:10:19And obviously we see Andrew Wyatt a lot about those who at
- 1:10:22the time of the whole of the Holy Imam of the Sharif, we hear
- 1:10:27a lot about those who are strange who will come towards
- 1:10:32Islam as well. Of course, there's Rawat that
- 1:10:34say Islam started strange and will come back as strange, but
- 1:10:37also people who come towards Islam who one would not expect
- 1:10:40to be coming towards the holy religion.
- 1:10:42And I think my own kind of reflection on, on this is that
- 1:10:47there are those who perhaps may not theologically align with
- 1:10:51their religion, but may morally and on a humanistic level
- 1:10:54aligned with the values of the Ahmed Beit al him Salaam.
- 1:10:57And I think those kinds of people will find some form of
- 1:11:01salvation. This is my personal opinion, but
- 1:11:04I believe people who do not conflict with anything which is
- 1:11:08Huck and they don't have a moral and A and a worldly confliction
- 1:11:12with any of that. And they do align to, for
- 1:11:15example, the, the core values of truth, of goodness, of dignity,
- 1:11:19of honor, things that we preach and we share with, with humans
- 1:11:22alike. Those people will find the mercy
- 1:11:27that that they're looking for from Allah's panel to either.
- 1:11:30And of course, as you mentioned saying that there's, there's
- 1:11:32different rankings and hierarchies.
- 1:11:34There's like plenty of hadith about this in, in, in the
- 1:11:38hereafter where that stands. But it's not black and white.
- 1:11:42And it doesn't matter if I say I'm a Muslim, I'm good.
- 1:11:46I can relax and chill because I'm going to go to heaven and my
- 1:11:50colleague at work won't. It does not work like that.
- 1:11:53And it, you know, but that's not something I think we can
- 1:11:55definitively says is what will happen.
- 1:11:59For sure. I mean, for example, like if we
- 1:12:01come back or to as you were saying to to to people that for
- 1:12:08example, we may not assume or may not think.
- 1:12:12So you know, on a Mac micro level, we can we can see that in
- 1:12:16our own communities. Course, we, we mentioned the
- 1:12:19example of what that, you know, this, this story, and I always
- 1:12:25mentioned this in Muharram that, you know, Salaam story.
- 1:12:28The biggest lesson I think for us in today's day and age and
- 1:12:32the way that we live our lives from this story is that the door
- 1:12:38of Imam Salaam is always open for everyone.
- 1:12:40Yeah, at any time. You know, sometimes we have this
- 1:12:43notion, maybe we don't say aloud, but you know, I'm
- 1:12:47thinking in my mind. Oh, this person, for example,
- 1:12:50hasn't come to the mosque in years and now it's shown up and
- 1:12:54I was to be involved. So what maybe yesterday or today
- 1:13:00a lot of $100 gave him to come. So, so who am I to judge and say
- 1:13:07that, you know, this person came or for example, this person got
- 1:13:11guided. You know, I just now I had a
- 1:13:14conversation, this Jamaican brother and he's been a Muslim
- 1:13:19for, I don't know, 30 odd years. So he was saying, oh, you know,
- 1:13:24you guys are blessed. You were born into Islam.
- 1:13:26And I said, no, I, I, if you ask me, I feel like you are blessed
- 1:13:31because Al Hamdi, I didn't have to do any hard work to become
- 1:13:34Muslim. I was born in Muslim.
- 1:13:36You searched and you became Muslim.
- 1:13:41You accepted Islam, you found Haq, you found a little better
- 1:13:47than was allowed to Islam, and you did that a a difficult time
- 1:13:52in your life. For example, you know, you you
- 1:13:56were in your 40s when you came to Islam.
- 1:13:59That's not easy time for a person to change their beliefs.
- 1:14:03You know, for example, somebody changes their belief when
- 1:14:05they're a teenager or maybe in their 20s.
- 1:14:08It's very different to somebody who changed their beliefs when
- 1:14:10they're in their 40s or in their 50s.
- 1:14:11Yeah. You know, so that's not an easy
- 1:14:13time to change your beliefs. You have to change your whole
- 1:14:15life, you know, because you accepted, you know what you But
- 1:14:22this is the strength of conviction.
- 1:14:25That's if a person has a conviction, they can leave
- 1:14:27everything on their past life and come to Islam.
- 1:14:30But at the conversely, like you said that you can have the
- 1:14:35grandson of the province in front of you and you give no
- 1:14:40thought to the fact that I'm I'm, I'm ruining my life because
- 1:14:44I'm not acknowledging the truth. So really, you know, it is
- 1:14:47sometimes it is those little things.
- 1:14:50It's one conversation, it's one sentence, it's one statement.
- 1:14:53It's something you said, you know, I think about 10 years
- 1:14:57ago, I was with a group on Ziara and we went to see say Sistani
- 1:15:05of the Allah. So I had the opportunity after a
- 1:15:10long time to ask him because I was doing the translation, that
- 1:15:14I had the opportunity to ask him a question.
- 1:15:17So I got my question in Ellie and I said to him that, you
- 1:15:20know, I have this opportunity to be with young people a lot.
- 1:15:27So what are some of your advice to them?
- 1:15:33And he said something really, really, you know, it's very
- 1:15:36obvious and simple. It's very powerful.
- 1:15:39He said to me that you live in a place where the majority of
- 1:15:44people are not Muslims. You live in a country where the
- 1:15:47majority of people are not Muslims.
- 1:15:48So he says tell young people that I said, and this he was, he
- 1:15:52was very emphatic that he said tell them that I sent this to
- 1:15:56them, that you live in a place where majority of people are not
- 1:15:59Muslim. And so it is imperative that
- 1:16:04your behaviour with those people who are not Muslim is better
- 1:16:11than your behaviour with Muslims.
- 1:16:13Because one thing that you say or you do could bring that
- 1:16:19person towards Islam or take them away from and you'll be
- 1:16:22responsible for whether you bring them towards Islam or you
- 1:16:28take them away from Islam. And that gives you insight.
- 1:16:32That's how deeply he as he says himself whenever you go to see
- 1:16:36him that he studies the affairs of I show you all over the world
- 1:16:41two hours every morning after he says I read about every single
- 1:16:46country where they are she are living and what's going on in
- 1:16:51their lives. Beautiful every single country
- 1:16:55for two hours. He says every night my team,
- 1:16:57they gather all the news, they translate it into Farsi and then
- 1:17:01every morning after two hours after fidget, he reads about
- 1:17:05every like a summary of each and every country what's going on.
- 1:17:09So when he gave this insight, I remember when I reflected on I
- 1:17:12said I said to him that I said that more than for young people.
- 1:17:16This is for me, yeah. This this advice you're giving
- 1:17:20to me that you know how important it is for a person
- 1:17:23who's living in a country who, where I am representing Islam.
- 1:17:27I am representing to show you. I am representing, if you like
- 1:17:31how And so that is that must only.
- 1:17:33Yeah, yeah, is is increased. Now, you know, for example, a
- 1:17:36country where everyone's, for example, Muslim is different.
- 1:17:38There's that that is not the same As for example, we're
- 1:17:42living here or and that extends, for example, on social media
- 1:17:45that I'm representing to show you I'm representing Islam.
- 1:17:48I'm representing and each and every person because of course,
- 1:17:52especially on social media, like for example, let's say here I'm
- 1:17:56dressed in a way which identifies me, that I'm a
- 1:17:59student of religion. But on social media, everybody's
- 1:18:03the same. Very true.
- 1:18:05Right. And if I have, for example, in
- 1:18:08my bio 313 or like little car or whatever, then I'm representing
- 1:18:13Toshio. So now if I'm then, for example,
- 1:18:15saying something or doing something which is not
- 1:18:17appropriate and it's in front of everybody, then that's make you
- 1:18:22know, that is, that's even greater than, for example, if I
- 1:18:25was just doing, doing on the road, because that's now.
- 1:18:28And for example, now kids nowadays are realizing that, you
- 1:18:32know, nothing really gets deleted off the Internet.
- 1:18:34If you if you look hard enough and long enough, you can find
- 1:18:38everything, even those things which have been deleted.
- 1:18:41And like, for example, these politicians are finding out
- 1:18:43like, you know, these tweets from 10 years ago, this Facebook
- 1:18:46program 10 years ago, everything is in archives.
- 1:18:49And you know, if they want to use that against you, they can.
- 1:18:52They can use, yeah. And they are using against
- 1:18:55people right right now, which which we know that, you know,
- 1:18:58post that they, for example, made like 10 years ago when they
- 1:19:00didn't even know they're going to run for office.
- 1:19:02And now this person, he gets elected.
- 1:19:05Now they both bring up, oh, ten years ago, 10 years ago you said
- 1:19:09this or 15 years ago said this is very, this is very important.
- 1:19:12A lot of the time you see these people expose, expose their
- 1:19:15their thoughts and whatnot and, and they put on that facade and
- 1:19:19they go out absolutely office or they have a public platform,
- 1:19:22they get cancelled. Yeah, it's mad.
- 1:19:24It's. Look, it's All in all, it's been
- 1:19:25a fantastic discussion, said. I feel like we've only just.
- 1:19:28Touched the surface. Yeah, we say this a lot,
- 1:19:31honestly said. But we've just truly scratched
- 1:19:35the surface. I.
- 1:19:36Think this question we we actually say this a conversation
- 1:19:39in itself, Yeah, requires a separate.
- 1:19:41Podcast we wanted to go into like, you know, cosmic justice
- 1:19:44and whatnot. We touched a bit on Adala, but
- 1:19:47there's a lot more to of course, and there's a lot more, I think.
- 1:19:50And Charlotte, hopefully people can can reach out to you.
- 1:19:52You're very active online. Are you comfortable for people
- 1:19:55to reach out to if. I'll have that, of course.
- 1:19:57Yeah, amazing, amazing. Say Ali.
- 1:19:59Any final thoughts? I just want to say thank you for
- 1:20:02sharing that advice that was given.
- 1:20:05To you, Yeah. Beautiful.
- 1:20:06I. Understand because of this
- 1:20:08absolutely, absolutely. It's very true Yanni.
- 1:20:11I I don't I don't want to take much more of your time say that
- 1:20:13about coming to think of it when when we interact with
- 1:20:17non-Muslims, they've 99% of the time never picked up the Quran.
- 1:20:22They've never read the words of Allah.
- 1:20:24They don't know nothing about Rasul Allah.
- 1:20:26They've never come across a Sierra.
- 1:20:28They don't know who this mercy to mankind is.
- 1:20:30Yeah. And how we, you know, act and
- 1:20:32how we and. Maybe and maybe, sorry to
- 1:20:35interject you, but maybe for this person you might be the
- 1:20:39only. The only.
- 1:20:41Shia or only Muslim person that they mean the whole life, the
- 1:20:44whole life. Many of times that is the case
- 1:20:48so so that increases each and everyone of us responsibility.
- 1:20:53To sent some say that may Allah protect you and bless you for
- 1:20:55her words of wisdom and gems and advice he's given us today.
- 1:20:59So much to reflect on. And Charlotte, we do reflect,
- 1:21:01you know, an hour of reflection. Equals of course. 70 years of
- 1:21:05Agatha, of course, of course said.
- 1:21:08Said, thank you again. Thank you very much.
- 1:21:10Appreciate it. You've you've taken time to be
- 1:21:13here. We prayed, Margaret.
- 1:21:15And then we start straight after Margaret and Charlotte.
- 1:21:21We see you against it. Please.
- 1:21:22Thank you so much for coming. Thank brother Sisters, as
- 1:21:26always, thank you for being here.
- 1:21:28It's been a great conversation. I'm surely agree.
- 1:21:31That said, Zafar Abbas is highly eloquent, highly intelligent.
- 1:21:34He's well versed not just in Islamic studies, but in so many
- 1:21:37other theories and, and ideologies as well, which he's
- 1:21:40looked into. So please do check his work out.
- 1:21:42And so, so many years worth of content that he's he's got
- 1:21:46online as well for us to learn from.
- 1:21:48So, Ali, be back next week. And shot Allah hit the subscribe
- 1:21:53button, become a partner buyer much aftermath.com See you soon
- 1:21:58with Salaam Alaikum Allahi.