Why Mastering Islam's Basics Saves Your Soul

Alhamdulillah.

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Tonight inshallah we want to speak about something that can be viewed as basic. Often times people will dismiss the most important and critical components of Islam, the things that our very souls depend on getting right in order for us to obtain salvation. Many times people will dismiss these things as being basic or fundamental or easy. We want to start with a verse of the Quran in Alan. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala commanded us. He said, He says subhanahu waala be he has commanded us in general and specifically the scholars of this to be he said bean in the Arabic language is taken from the root word and it's taken from the same origins that the word is taken from is to cultivate something to bring it up from a seed to a sapling to a tree to a tree that bears fruit. This is called what tia rearing, raising, cultivating. Now Allah commands us all but specifically the scholars of this to be and that is that they raise the people the hearts and the souls and the minds of the people that they cultivate the people's souls and minds and hearts the same way that a farmer would cultivate a seed. You water it. You weed around it. You get rid of anything that would you know that would smother it. You protect it. You review it and you watch it grow and you help it to grow. The scholars of this they do this. They do it with the souls and the hearts of the Muslim, the rest of the Muslim. And who is the one that did this for the scholars? Because we have a principle. It's really a principle of logic. And that is someone who doesn't possess something can't give it to someone else. In order to give something to someone else, you have to possess it first yourself. Where did they get their from? The prophet sallall.aii wasallam's sunnah. And they were raised by the one who were ra by the ones who were raised by the ones who were raised by the ones who were raised by the companions who were raised by the prophet sallall.aii wasallam himself. It is a tradition. It is passed down from generation of scholarship to generation of scholarship and it is documented meticulously in their works and in their literature. And so how do we do this tba? How do we raise and cultivate and rear the souls, hearts and minds of people the same way we do their bodies. When we have a newborn, we cultivate and rear this newborn by protecting it and giving it what nourishes it. What will nourish it? Something that probably wouldn't be very nourishing to the to an adult. An adult isn't going to be sufficed by milk. An adult is not going to be sufficed with baby food. We are as adults much more sophisticated than that. Our bodies are more sophisticated. We need more nutrients and different types of food. But if we were to give our food as adults to little babies and infants, what would happen? We'd kill them. We would kill them. And so we have to nurture the hearts and minds and souls in the same way. We don't give them the major issues. We give them the basics, fundamentals. We perfect those things until people take it and accept it and swallow it and it becomes part of them, part of their spiritual body and then we add to that and we grow with them. So the statement of Allah Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala instructs the scholars to be those who raise and cultivate the people in the same way that a father would cultivate his son, in the same way that a parent would cultivate his child. and to raise them with the knowledge that they inherited from the book of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and the sunnah of the prophet Sam what does this look liked forb.

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One of the greatest of this he said in this verse they are those who teach the people the fundamentals before they teach them and go on to teach them the more major issues, the more branched out issues. What are the fundamentals? If we were to ask ourselves right now, what is the fund what are the fundamentals of our religion? Often times we dismiss them as being something that is common knowledge. We already know that we want to hear new stuff. We want to hear you know things that are new that we've never heard of, things that are amazing, things that will entertain us. This is not knowledge. Knowledge is perfecting the basics and then branching off on those basics. Even in any discipline, any discipline, not just Islamic knowledge, any discipline, if you want to learn how to fight, you begin with learning the basic structure of fighting, whatever discipline that is, you work on it until it becomes part of your soul, and then you start to learn and branch out upon that. You want to learn marksmanship. You want to learn mechanics. You want to learn engineering. You want to learn mathematics. You want to learn medicine. Any discipline, it always begins with what? With the basics. And the better you understand those basics, the better you will be able to understand the rest of the mechanics. If I want to teach a person how to be a mechanic of a modern car, a modern vehicle, I don't start them with a V12 complex turbocharged jet engine. That's not what I start them with. I start them with a very basic concept. This is these are the three components that go together. This is what this does. This is what this does. This is what this does. And everything else is built on that. This is very important. The other things may be exciting. We really love to see all those fancy things displayed for us, right? When we go to watch a basketball game or a football game, we want to see all the fancy moves. But those fancy moves only come from repetition of the fundamentals, perfecting the fundamentals. What are the fundamentals of our religion? Alhamdulillah, our prophet sallall.aii wasallam made it very clear for us. What are the fundamentals? What does that mean? In order for us to completely understand this statement, we need to understand what it means in itself, what it implies, what it entails, and what negates it. If we have to learn its contrast, what's its opposite? So what doesillah mean? None is rightfully worship but Allah. What does that entail? It entails that the worship of other than Allah is strictly prohibited and any act of worship cannot be directed to other than Allah. What does it necessitate? It necessitates abandoning the worship of all and everything else including things that come from the worship of other than Allah superstitions magic like all of these things. And what negates it? A shik a shik negates it in its many forms. Right now when we say what does that mean? Allah remember what we said forahill none is rightfully worshiped but Allah Muhammadool Allah none is rightfully followed and obeyed unconditionally from amongst mankind except for Muhammad Sam. It literally translates to Muhammad is the messenger of Allah. But what does that imply? It implies whoever obeys the messenger has obeyed Allah. What do we surmise from this? Whoever disobys the messenger has disobeyed Allah. Whoever obeys someone else other than the messenger in the same way that they obey the messenger, they have not obeyed Allah. And they have run a parallel with the messenger of Allah sallall.aii wasallam. And that is why we learn what negates Muhammad Allah. What's its opposite? We say that its opposite is what the sunnah. When we say the sunnah we mean adherence to his tradition. What negates it? What's its opposite? Huh? Innovation is its opposite. Does innovation exist? Does it? Because if you listen to anyone who practices an innovation, it's not an innovation. Or if it is an innovation, it's a good innovation. Cuz we have lots of types of innovation. You know we have good innovation we have bad innovation we and some of them we have waj innovation waj we have innovations we have mubak innovations we have mak you know it's innovation but don't really mess with and we have haram innovations and no person you have ever met who practices an innovation will admit that it is a haram innovation not one person ever. So where is it? Where does where is this innovation? Where is it? It has to be somewhere, doesn't it? What are the scales that we use to judge that something is an innovation? Well, in order to understand that, we have to understand the definition of innovation. The definition of these two, these two testimonies, they come together for a reason because they complete each other. In order for me to be completely in the religion of Allah, in order for me to be completely submitted to Allah, I have to submit to him sincerely and I also have to adhere and obey him. And so the sincerity is inahillahill. The obedience is inool. What negates? What is the definition of shik? Directing any worship or anything that is of worship to other than Allah. directing any type of worship or anything that is a derivative of worship to other than Allah. Now what is Muhammadool Allah? Its opposite is innovation. What is the definition of innovation? The definition of innovation is is to worship Allah in a way that has not been founded by the prophet sallall.aii wasallam. That's innovation. Notice the wording here that we're using to worship Allah. Sometimes, you know, you will say, well, this is innovation. People will say, well, a car is an innovation. Your cell phone is an innovation. This is so silly. It is such it it's also a very boring argument, by the way. However, when I have a phone or a car, I'm not worshiping Allah by using a phone. That's not my intention, right? I'm talking about doing something that I believe will make Allah pleased with me. That's called worship. And when I do it for other than Allah, we call it shik. And when I do it with other than the prophet's sunnah, we call that innovation. That's what innovation is. It is doing something to try to gain nearness to Allah with something that was not founded by.

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And because of this innovation is many types and the scholars have spent centuries over the centuries they have documented every type of innovation that has ever sprouted up where it came from all the way back to the original one person who came up with the idea. every innovation, everyone and where it has spread to and what other innovations have come up from it as well. It's well documented. Why is this? In order to protect the prophet's sunnah saiam because if we were to allow people to have their way with the sunnah, what does Allah tell us about giving people their way? He said, Allah says that if the truth and if Allah were to follow the lead of the people and their desires and whims, they would destroy the heavens and the earth upon themselves. Their desires are illogical. The desires of man. If we were to allow people to have their way with Muhammad's sunnah, they would not leave anything of it. You and I would not be sitting here today. If it weren't for scholars, men and women who bled for this religion to keep it pure and to bring us here today in this masid to be able to discuss the prophet's words and sunnas and even talk about his breaths and how many white hairs were in his head is because men and women bled to keep that pure. It didn't just come from nowhere. There were men that were put in prisons, men that were murdered, men that were killed, men that were whipped, men that were disgraced, people who had their entire livelihoods destroyed, men and women who had their children killed and murdered in front of them for the sunnah to preserve it, to keep it pure. And it wasn't just guys, let's not differ. I mean, what's the big deal? It is a big deal. This is Muhammad's sunnah as a big deal. Every breath he took is a big deal and we will not allow anyone to trample around it or to trample over it or to have his way with it. Imagine our prophet sallall.aii wasallam passes away. He leaves us this sunnah, this incredible trust entrustment. And then we allow every Muslim, every Muslim to add one letter or take away one letter of the Sunnah. That's it. Every Muslim in history only adds one letter to the Sunnah or takes away one letter from the Sunnah. What would have happened to the Sunnah by now? Look at the tora. If you want to see what would happen to it, look at the Torah. It's estimated that over a third of the Tawra has been changed entirely and the rest of the 2/3 has been altered. That's what they did with their book. We will not allow that to happen to our prophet Sunnah. We will die a thousand deaths before we allow someone to have his way with the prophet Muhammad's saiam. And that is how you love the prophet Muhammad. It's not just by saying it or writing a poem about him or that's not or or reading nice stories, right? But then we read all these nice stories about how great he was. We close it and then we follow someone else and we worship Allah with someone else's sunnah. How is that considered to be love of Muhammad Sam? That is not love of Muhammad. Say if you love Allah truly then follow me and Allah will love you in return and forgive you your sins. if you truly love Allah. So we have a very strict policy with regards to the prophet's sunnah sall.ai Wasam. We don't allow anyone to meddle with it. Whether he be a scholar, a saint, an angel, a devil. No one is allowed to meddle with Muhammad Sunnah. No one is allowed to be beyond reproach. Every single scholar is bound by the question is every scholar is bound by the question what is the evidence for this everyone and if he cannot provide a clear evidence for it then this is a problem and this is exactly what we call innovation but if you want something you'll find someone to tell you It's okay. You will. No matter what it is. Do you want to you want to dress up for Halloween? I could give you 10 videos now on YouTube, right? The devil's den. I could give you 10 videos right now of big scholars and Islamic ortors that will go on for an hour and two hours speaking about how Halloween is actually okay. It's not a big deal. You know what else do you want? You want to you want to celebrate Christmas? Give you evidences for that. You know, yeah, Christmas, it's not really a religious holiday anymore and most people in America aren't really religious anymore and it's more of a cultural thing. Now, you see where we're going? And then you'll have Christmas trees. And I have seen Muslims that have Christmas trees in their homes and there's no Christians living in there. It's only Muslims. And I've seen Roman trees in the shape of a crescent that is exactly a Christmas tree that Muslims have in their homes. What is this?

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Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala tells us and abandon entirely. Turn away from those who have taken their religion as an entertainment and a source of pastime. They're not of you, oh Muhammad, and you are not of them. That's not what our religion is about. Our religion is very very easy. What does that mean? It's easy. It's a very easy combination. I worship Allah alone. I worship Allah alone in the way that he has commanded. So easy. Who complicates it? Human beings when they try to stick their fingers into it. As Allah says, that if the truth were to follow people's desires, the heavens and earth would cease to be. People would end their own existence out of ignorance. Human beings desires cannot be trusted. And that is why Allah has given us a strong and formidable army of scholars throughout the history of Islam for 1,500 years and until the earth is no longer a literal army of scholars that will protect this religion until their dying breath. When we look at stories Im Ahmed, I im Ahmed Ham Malik Ib anus was put in prison for the sunnah. A he had to move his entire he had to move three countries away because of the sunnah. In order to survive, Imam Ahmed spent years in prison. Shehikh Alislam died in prison. Ib Kir was put in prison because of a fatwa on divorce. Ib the mufas Ib was imprisoned and he had to write his books by a dim little light until he went blind doing it in order to give us what he gave us. These are these men that and this is just a drop from an ocean of stories of the scholars of Islam. These are not men that were allowing people to come in and just put their fingers in the prophet's sunnah and do whatever they want with it. No way. And this whole idea of well, who's really to say what's the sunnah and what's not the sunnah? Cuz I mean the scholars all differ, right? So if the scholars differ, that means that nobody really knows what the sunnah is. So let's just be okay with each other. Let's just leave it alone. That kind of attitude, we would never have reached this point in this masid today. Look at the Christians. Look at what happened to the people who were given the book before us. Christians cannot just go to any state or any country and go to church. They are so divided and their religion is so schismed that if they choose a church, they can't go to another church anywhere else because the teachings would be so radically different. Look at their book, the Bible. Over 38 different versions of the Bible and counting. And we're not we're saying versions, not interpretations. Versions. They have extra books. They have less books. They have books thrown out. They have verses thrown out. They even differ on the most critical verse in their book that affirms in their minds the trinity. For there were three that bear witness in heaven, the father, the son, and the holy ghost. And those three are one. That verse, they differ on it. Some say it's a complete fabrication, and others say no, it's from Isa himself. from God himself. How how can you differ like that? How is it possible that scholars would be so unclear about the essence of their book that they're unsure if something was written by a devil or written by? How does that happen? That's not our history and that's not our religion. We don't have that problem because we have men and women that bled for this religion. Starting from the moment that.

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Received the words, men and women bled a continuous river of blood for this religion until today. nonstop unending to make sure that this religion is passed down to the next generation complete and unadulterated. That's our job as well. We did we can't allow people to come in and out of the sunnah it's a revolving door and have their way with it. Just we cannot allow people to have their way with the Quran. There is no difference. And the way that the person who has no argument, his reputation is always to attack the person. So if you say, "Hey, I don't think this is right. Is this in the sunnah?" They will say, "You're extreme. You're an extremist. This is extremism." That's not an argument. You just called me a name. That doesn't make it go away. Like it's a it's a it's a magic trick. you you cast a spell and the person turns into a frog. It doesn't work that. You have to actually respond to the argument because the is that nothing is allowed unless Muhammad allowed it. Sallallam. We only worship Allah in the way that Allah has allowed. That is the meaning of Muhammad S. And so we need to in closing go back to this go back to this essence in ourselves. Every single one of us we have to go back to it with strength and not be afraid of people who blame us. Allah described the true and said they are not fettered. They are not refuted. They are not weakened by the blame of those who seek to blame them. Calling them names, calling them extreme, calling them arrogant, calling them misguided. All of those names they called our prophet that sallall.aii wasallam. Do you think if he would have came to us today that you wouldn't find CNN and Fox and BBC all calling him the same names? Of course they would. They would be calling him the same thing that they called new when he was building his ark in the middle of a desert. He's crazy. He's possessed. He's sick. He's a liar. And anyone who defends the prophet Muhammad's sunnah will be called the same thing Muhammad was called. And if that is too hot of a kitchen for you, then you're in the wrong kitchen.

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I know tonight we usually have a question and answer session but we had A bit of a change of program for this evening. Inshallah, we'll continue it next week.