Bismillahir rahmanir raheem. Wassalaatu wassalaamu ‘ala khaatimun nabiyyeen, sallallahu ‘alayhi wasallam wa ‘ala aalihi wa sahbihi wa ba’d.
Before I start I’d like to make a du’a for our brother Shamim who used to be from East London, and he came out for the last time in his short life [Shamim suffered from cerebral palsy and attended Expoislamia last year] – twenty some odd years – he came out, he had over fifty operations, he was bedridden, and he passed away. And I always remember him even if it is once a year, in this gathering. So may Allah subhanahu wa ta’aala admit him to Jannah insha Allah. Everyone say ‘Ameen.’ (Ameen)
Now, I’m going to jump out, I don’t know why there’s so much smoke – is the place on fire?! You go outside there, the brothers are smoking – what an Islamic convention! You’d think its Karachi airport. Muslim character; I don’t have much time brothers and sisters insha Allah, and I cannot top my father-in-law who’s here, and I cannot top him, or all the other speakers, and obviously the songs, brother Dash and his heart, and… (laughs) so I’m gonna try my best Insha Allah.
Muslim Character; Muslim character is built on solid grounds, not on straws. Now you have characters built on 50 cents. Now fi’y cents – you would say ‘Fi’y’ in North America – they say ‘Fi’y’ ‘fi’y’ – but if you come from Asia you will say ‘fifTy.’ And then ‘fifTy’ because his father was a dollar (laughter) so the guy he is speaking with …(Joke in foreign language)… he said his father was a dollar and he became fifty cents and his kids will be quarters. (laughter) Now – so its very popular why – to kids – because I was speaking to one, [pointing to camera] and there was the Dajjal. It keeps moving, one eye –‘Awwar – the dajjal will be ‘Awwar – one eyed. Its scaring me. You know I need time to – I have a problem beacuse, and I complain all the time and you guys have to live with it. I need time, and it keeps moving! I need time to order the block, when I get shoved in thirty minutes! Go go go! Get everything I have to say on paper, I can’t – I’m stressed right now. So – anyway, this conversation of fifty cents happened because one of the brothers from Saudi, he came, and he had fifty cents and I said ‘Akhi, ma hadha?’ I said ‘what is this?’ and he said ‘oh, hadha fifty cents.’ So I told him ‘huwa mashur fis sa’udiyyah? I said ‘is he very popular in Saudi?’ he said ‘Na’am.’ He’s very popular in Saudiyya. So this is the land of the Messenger of Allah Sallallahu ‘alayhi wasallam, where Allah Subhanahu wa ta’aala says;
‘Wa innaka la’ala khuluqin ‘adheem.’ ‘Verily O Messenger of Allah you are on an exalted standard of character.’
Anas Radi Allahu ‘anhu said that the Messenger of Allah Sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, ‘Kaana rasulullah sallallahu ‘alayhi wasallam ahsan an naasi khuluqa;’ ‘That he was the best of people in manners.’ And you can see our manners even within this convention. We sometimes can’t greet each other properly, we cannot walk properly; we bump, push. Smoking should not be allowed. If you can obey that in other places you have to obey it here. And you have to throw this trash right out, putting money into your mouth and just burning it while people are dying of starvation!
The Messenger of Allah sallallahu ‘alayhi wasallam, he said ‘raghima anfahu, thumma raghima anfahu, thumma raghima anfahu.’ Meaning that may his nose be humbled, or may he – may his face be in the dust – meaning that may he be humbled, three times. They said ‘who?’ ‘Man yaa rasulullah?’ They said who is this person, O Messenger of Allah? ‘Qaal man adraka waalidayhi ‘ind alkibr’, he said ‘whom finds his two parents in old age, ‘ahadhumaa aw kilaahimaa,’ one or both of them, ‘thumma lam yadkhulil Jannah.’ And he or she does not enter into Jannah; meaning that you did not take care of your parents. What a magnificent statement. What an opulent teaching. And what an elevated and impressive wisdom that the Messenger of Allah, sallallahu ‘alayhi wasallam, in just a few lines, stated to take care. Now you can see people at the old age homes, people are just waiting to talk. They’re just waiting to talk. Some old ladies waiting to talk. So all these things we’re talking about. Yes they’re non-Muslims, and there’s nothing wrong with that, there’s nothing wrong with being kind to anyone, because it is part of your character. Your character doing any wrong to anyone else effects you to begin with, not somebody else. It just shows how low you are. So, thanks to technology, we have people who can surf the net, but they cannot smile any longer – it’s difficult for them to smile. People who can manipulate data, they’re unfit to hold a conversation, no-one can hold a conversation, there’s always this cell-phone kind of conversation, they can’t keep attention for more than one or two minutes, and we have to actually change that. People who sit for hours under plastic and artificial light are incapable of love, because loving takes time; you have to nurture this relationship.
So brothers and sisters, insha Allah, as Brother Dash and – because maybe he’s dashing around somewhere, and all the brothers, the clean cut brothers – you know maybe everyone should get married first insha Allah, because they’re making poetry about sisters, (laughs) and is getting even the married ones saying ‘shall I take another one? What shall I do? Divorce this one? Get rid of her?’
So, uh, so get married, and tell the one you’re going to love, say that ‘I love you darling.’ Say that I love you like a toothbrush loves toothpaste. ‘Oh, how beautiful, romantic.’ Say ‘I love you like a drugstore loves a disease, because when there’s a disease the shelves are empty’ The other one, ‘like a plumber likes a leak, cos he makes a lot of money,’ meaning that’s a lot of love. And for my friend Dr Riaz who’s a really lovely person and his family, masha Allah, and another friend of mine who’s come over, Brother Nasir from Ireland – the luck of the Irish – like a dentist loves a cavity (laughs) Riaz is making ching ching; ‘Oh you have a cavity? Come straight in! you have two cavities, would you like me to do that? With plastic fillings?’ So anyhow, so this is how much you should love. Or you can say some governments, they love oil so much, ‘I love you that much darling.’ (laughs) ‘That would be too much, I’ll just destroy everything for you!’ (laughter)
Oh - was that political? Astaghfirullah, astaghfirullah.
She’ll really go crazy for you – she’ll make chai masala, everything for you if you say that.
Anyhow, Francis Bacon in 1561, he was the first man of the technocratic age, and he said, he said ‘the real happiness, – because, he never invented anything, no new hypothesis but because he was an ardent supporter of technology itself - he said,
‘the happiness of failing to understand that the real, legitimate and only goal of science is the endowment of human life, with new inventions and riches.’ And this is what we’re following nowadays. Riches and inventions, and we never even see the other side. There is more to human beings than just riches and inventions! Because we are made from flesh and blood and we have a soul. So if you don’t feed your soul you’re not going anywhere. Adam Smith, who was the father of, they call him the father of economics; I don’t know who gave him that. He told, he said ‘our species is the economic man; born with an instinct to barter and acquire wealth.’ This is what we’ve been told. To barter and acquire wealth, that’s it, ‘money money money money money money’ nothing before that. And that’s why people are going crazy these days. You don’t have time for your family, you don’t have time to talk, you can’t talk to your neighbours, you can’t even hold a smile because you’re just worried about your money, and there’s more to that, because progress has to be more. They had a statement about the woolly mammoth – it was an elephant of the pre-historic age – so one man, he killed a woolly mammoth, and they ate from it, the whole village. Then the next man came, he had another sharper spear, and he killed two. And then the other man had a brilliant design and he said, ‘ok, let us drive all the woolly mammoth of this cliff.’ And, they drove them off, and then they ate them; they gorged on the woolly mammoth, and they had plenty. What happened at the end? When the woolly mammoth’s meat finished, they all starved to death, and this is what we’re doing. We’re consuming more than we need. Everything that we need is something that we need more and more and more of; and this is not what the human being is meant to be.
Now, the Muslim character is supposed to be refined, smoothened, and is not supposed to be rough. I’m dealing with two things because lack of time; Number one is kindness. Abu Dharr al Ghifaari… (Corrects himself) The messenger of Allah Sallallahu ‘alayhi wasallam stated, that, he said, ‘laa tahqiranna minal ma’rufi shay’a.’ That, do not belittle any good thing. Any good thing that you have done, do not belittle it. ‘Wa law an talqa akhaaka bi wajhin talqa.’ That even if it is the smile on your brothers face, with a big smile. Not one of those phoney ‘assalaamu alaikum..hah’ and turn your face, you have to actually smile; ‘oh brother, how are you? Nice to see you!’ With everyone! I have, my next door neighbour, he’s a priest, and we discuss religion together, you see. And one time, the lady came out, she said - her name is Martha – she said ‘you know what Zia, you’re the… every neighbourhood should have a fundamentalist like you!’ (Laughs) I said ‘don’t say that too loud’
What do they mean by fundamentalism, what do they mean by moderation, what do they mean by moderate Muslim, what do they mean by extreme Muslim… all of these things are being played by the media, in order to put each other into the hole like this; ‘yes we love the way of moderation.’ but you don’t take any appellate that is not from anyone else except the Messenger of Allah, sallallahu ‘alayhi wasallam, so keep your words to yourself. The Messenger of Allah, sallallahu ‘alayhi wasallam also stated, he said ‘man yuhram arrifqa yuhram alkhayr.’ That he who is bereft from kindness, is bereft from all goodness, meaning it does not have goodness in it. That’s why the Messenger of Allah, sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said, ‘innar rifqa la yakunu fi shay’in, illa zaanahu’ that he said anything that has goodness, only it will increase it, ‘wa laa yunza’u min shay’in illa shaanahu.’ That anything that is decreased – anything that kindness is taken away from it – is decreased. And these are the statements of the Messenger of Allah, sallallahu ‘alayhi wasallam. Who? Which fool actually put a bomb in a cartoon, on the top of the Messenger of Allah’s sallallahu ‘alayhi wasallam character? Who did that? Who created the bomb, and who is using it? You have to stop that, that’s nonsense, that’s creating hate, and hatred needs to be stopped. Aisha, radiyallahu ‘anha, she was told by the messenger of Allah sallallahu ‘alayhi wasallam, he said ‘yaa Aisha, innallaha rafeequn, yuhibbur rifq.’ That Allah subhana wa ta’aala is kind, and He likes kindness, and He does not give on any other account like kindness. Meaning that He gives for kindness that which He does not give for any other thing. So how kind are we? Now from character you get from the word – from character, is ‘Khuluq.’ Khalaqa signifies that act of measuring because when you make a man - when Allah subhanahu wa ta’aala has made a man, He has measured him. That’s why there’s a statement saying ‘khalaq an-na’l’ meaning, that he determined the measure of his sandals, ‘faqaddaraha,’ meaning, proportioned it. That’s why Zuhayri told, in a nice statement to one of the people; he said, ‘wa la anta tafri ma khalaqt.’ He said ‘you you execute, or you cut what you have measured.’ Meaning if you have measured, if you have promised, if you have done your work, you cut it, meaning you execute it, meaning if you say ‘yes, I’m gonna go there,’ I will go there. But then he said ‘wa ba’d al qawmi yakhluqu, thumma laa yaf’al.’ meaning they can’t execute anything. Execute in terms of any promise, any good thing that needs to be done, they can’t do it.
Now, Khalq, as the act of Allah subhanahu wa ta’aala means to be creating something out of nothing. Khalaq Allahul khalq – that Allah subhanahu wa ta’aala created the creation. Rajulun taammun bil khalq – that this person is from good; meaning that Allah created him in a perfect way; in a good way; in a complete way. So ‘al-khalq’ signifies the fashion of the outer man, or the human being, and its qualities and its attributes. ‘Al khuluq’ – manners, manners and character signifies the fashion of the inner human being. That’s why the messenger of Allah sallalllahu ‘alayhi wasallam, he said;
‘Inna min khiyarikum ahsanukum akhlaaqa.’ That from the best of you… the best of you from the best of you are whom? The one with the good character; the one with good manners. So we have to have good manners brothers and sisters, even in eating, even in talking, in doing the right thing, manners is very, very important.
Secondly, modesty. We have to look at modesty, because we are changing. We are a modest people, we don’t flaunt our ways, we don’t actually do things that make us immodest. We do things that actually give modesty to our way of doing things. We don’t flaunt ourselves, and try to act every other way that everyone else is acting in life. We actually keep our composure. That’s why modesty is very important. The messenger of Allah sallallahu ‘alayhi wasallam, he said; ‘Al hayaa’u laa ya’ti illa bi khayr.’ He said that ‘hayaa;’ that modesty - shame - does not come except with goodness. And fi riwayatil Muslim, and there’s a riwayah in Muslim that says ‘al hayaa’u khayru kulluh.’ Meaning that ‘hayaa’ – modesty – is good, all of it is good. All of it is good. Now look at the Messenger of Allah, sallallahu ‘alayhi wasallam, this hadith is a very touching hadith. Even though, somebody will read it and say ‘what does this mean?’ it’s said that ‘in kaanat il amatu min amaa’il almadeenah,’ it is said there was an amah – a slave girl, a poor girl, a servant girl – from the servant girls of Madeenah, ‘lata’khudh bi yadi lnabi, sallallahu ‘alayhi wasallam,’ she used to take the hand of the messenger of Allah sallalaahu ‘alayhi wasallam, ‘fatantaliqu bihathi shaa’at.’ And she would go with him, wherever she wanted to. So you can see how kind the Messenger of Allah sallallahu ‘alayhi wasallam must have been, that she would go with him – go with a little girl that would pull him along, and he would go. This shows an immense amount of love for humanity. And we now have become presidents, and treasurers, and big people, and you know… we’re holding big positions in society, and we can’t even talk to our sisters properly, we can’t talk to our brothers properly. What position does he have? What kind of degree does this one have? Or if he doesn’t have this, throw him out. We are not looking at the criteria what Islam has brought. Look at the Messenger of Allah; a little girl pulling him. Laa ilaaha illallah. Laa ilaaha illallah, what a human being;
‘Wa innaka la ‘alaa’ khuluqin ‘adheem.’ Verily, you are on an exalted standard of character.
So that’s why, that’s why the Muslims feel hurt when you say something wrong about him, sallallahu ‘alayhi wasallam. ‘Hayaa’ comes from the same root word as ‘to Live.’
‘Alaysa dhaalika biqaadirin alaa an yuhyil mawta.’ That isn’t it that Allah subhanahu wa ta’aala can create something from death, and give it life. ‘Ihyaa’un,’ meaning revivication. ‘Haan,’ meaning rain that brings life; actually within this word itself – oh we don’t have time… this is a McDonalds kind of talk; ‘Please, I’ll have a filet-o-fish, take the cheese out, ok, go.’ (Laughter)
So, I’m speeding, I don’t know whether I’m speeding too much! But, it also deals with a cloud that actually smoothen the cloud. And smoothen– also bring together - the cloud that has rain. It has very good connotations. ‘Istihyaa,’ meaning the shame, shyness, honest shame that has come into the soul. The shrinking of the soul from foul conduct. This is hayaa; from foul conduct, the soul will shrink. Neil Paulsen stated…he said – and he’s a great scholar, he’s Jewish by the way;
‘With the gradual decline of shame, there is a corresponding belittlement of significance of manners, as shame is a psychological mechanism that overcomes impulse. Manners are the exterior social expression of the same conquest.’
Manners are the social expression – you see – of the same conquest. And this is what he’s trying to say, that you need manners to function. Somebody else is trying to tell us manners to function. And why we don’t actually take that in order to do the right thing. Everything from table manners, to language manners, to manners of dress is intended to reveal the extent to which one has learned self-restrain, because it will show you how restrained you are, when you have good manners.
He said, ‘Manners, one might say, are the social analogue to literacy,’ because if you’re literate - if you know how to read properly - you will be full of manners, if you follow the right course.
‘Both require a submission of the body to the mind.’ Meaning you have to submit yourself. Sometimes you feel angry. What they did – for example – out there, because our centres a problem, and I have to be honest. I love the IFE brothers, and Oldham brothers, I’m part of them, and I love them dearly. But I was frustrated, and I really wanted to take the table and just chuck it, because our centre now… the school has opened, and the contractors want their money, so we wanted just a table, so they gave us a table this size. I was really frustrated when I saw that, and I wanted to lose, so I couldn’t compose myself, because also I was tired from travelling, but I had to tell myself ‘you’re going to speak about manners, and take the table now here?’ You see, maybe I should… Oh, they stopped the smoke, masha Allah! Alhamdulillah, maybe I should start again and come out like Michael Jackson… Zia Ullah Jackson! da ding!
So, manners are very, very important brothers and sisters. Its free information for all; its no the right thing we are teaching our kids. Because there should be a place of shyness and shame. That’s a very good thing, even if we look at the social critics, they will tell you that. Now every ten year old knows what a fifty year old knows, so where’s the differentiation of the elder and the younger? It’s a horrible thing that we’re going through. Look at what the Messenger of Allah sallallahu ‘alayhi wasallam said, from Aisha radi Allahu anha; he said, ‘Innal mu’min laa yudriku bihusni khuluqihi darajaat…’ for what? He said – the Messenger of Allah, sallallahu ‘alayhi wasallam said verily the believer will find with his good character, ‘darajaat as-saa’im al qaa’im.’ That he will find the level of a person whose fasting in the day, and praying at night - because of his manners, because of her manners. Very, very important! Now you have people walking in the street; uncles, aunties, little guys, teenagers, and they lack manners sometimes. You say ‘salaamu ‘alaykum,’ they won’t even turn to your face. Talk to a non-Muslim now, he will turn his face and say ‘hello.’ And I’ve stated that before, when we were lost in direction, right in London itself. We asked a non-Muslim, he said, ‘can you please tell us where you’re going?’ and his bus was going, I said ‘please, take the bus. Go ahead, catch your bus.’ He said ‘no no no, I will catch the other one.’ How many of us would do that? We’d say ‘humph, he wants directions, why doesn’t he go get a map? Directions… stupid…fool.’ Anyway, they said… they had a joke from the Bangladeshi brothers, they said ‘2 pound 42’ so I said, ‘what’s that? Two pounds forty two?’ They said, ‘No, two pounds of potato.’ oh, I just lost the crowds. They’ll never listen to me again! Do I have the amber light? How many minutes left?
I just feel that we need to get half this shame and modesty, even coming on stage, and talking to our brothers and sisters, there needs to be something done better than that. Look at this hadith of the Messenger of Allah Sallallahu ‘alayhi wasallam, he said;
‘Lamma sawwar Allah Aadama ‘alayhis salaam,’ That when Allah subhanahu wa ta’aala made… - oh there’s the… is that the amber light? Huh? Or is it here? There? Ok. Did it just come on? It was on for a while? Astaghfirullah. Ok ok, I will finish this hadith and I’m done, I promise that. Wallahi I was thinking it was coming from here. The Dajjal is there, and the amber light is there, the smoke is gone, wonderful.
Ok, so when He created Adam, ‘fil Jannah,’ when He created Adam in Jannah, ‘tarakahu maa shaa’ Allah an yutarkah.’ That He left him as He willed, Allah subhanahu wa ta’aala, ‘Fa ja’ala Ibleesu yutee’u bihi.’ And made Iblees – Iblees actually went to circle Adam, seeing… ‘Yandhuroona ma huwa.’ He was seeing what is he? What I she? ‘Fa lamma ra’ahu ajwafa.’ There’s the point here; when he saw him, that he was HOLLOW, that Adam ‘alayhis salaam was hollow. he said,
‘Arifa annahu khuliqa khalqan laa yatamaalak.’ He said he knew then, that he – this creation, Adam ‘alayhis salaam – he would not be able to control himself, because he has ‘jawf.’ In Arabic ‘jawf’ means something that is hollow, that has a hollowness. What Shaytan didn’t realise; that Allah subhanahu wa ta’aala put a heart in there, and that heart is to believe in ‘Laa ilaaha illallahm Muhammad ur-rasulullah.’
May Allah subhanahu wa ta’aala forgive us, and may Allah subhanahu wa ta’aala guide us, I will take thirty seconds more insha Allah, just to say, that brothers and sisters, you know I run around for everyone, and everywhere. And brother Mahbub and the brothers from East London, they’re not an organisation Dr Riaz and Nabeel, and all the sisters from Bradford, they all out of their love and compassion, they did actually help, you know build the centre from the outside. We started doing that for the school – the second floor – and now we’re in problems. If everyone of you just gave – even gives ten, twenty pounds at the stall, but first and foremost we’re here to build the Oldham Centre, insha Allah. But you know, I go everywhere, and we’re stuck, and I just don’t want to fall into interest. That’s the only reason for making this plea, and I’m not making it for my pocket, and Allah subhanahu wa ta’aala knows I don’t need anyone’s money, I can stand on my own, insha Allah. But the problem is that we have to live, and we have to live in this life; if you..’tansur ullahi yansurukum wa yuthabbit aqdaamikum.’ If you help Allah’s cause, Allah will help you insha Allah, so please visit our stall at 104, outside door 104, an please just… fill the coffers and buy the tapes and just finish us out, because we didn’t have a table to display, so let the sisters also feel good that they did something. And may Allah subhanahu wa ta’aala give all of you Tawfeeq, I love all of you, and may Allah subhanahu wa ta’aala guide us when we’re going out, and then make us more modest, and wake up for Qiyaam ul Layl, make our five daily salaah, to do the right things, to make da’wah, and do all those things insha Allah. Allah subhanahu wa ta’aala will bless you, this smokey starting. Assalaamu ‘alaykum wa rahmatullah.
Transcribed by Nahid Mortuza
Before I start I’d like to make a du’a for our brother Shamim who used to be from East London, and he came out for the last time in his short life [Shamim suffered from cerebral palsy and attended Expoislamia last year] – twenty some odd years – he came out, he had over fifty operations, he was bedridden, and he passed away. And I always remember him even if it is once a year, in this gathering. So may Allah subhanahu wa ta’aala admit him to Jannah insha Allah. Everyone say ‘Ameen.’ (Ameen)
Now, I’m going to jump out, I don’t know why there’s so much smoke – is the place on fire?! You go outside there, the brothers are smoking – what an Islamic convention! You’d think its Karachi airport. Muslim character; I don’t have much time brothers and sisters insha Allah, and I cannot top my father-in-law who’s here, and I cannot top him, or all the other speakers, and obviously the songs, brother Dash and his heart, and… (laughs) so I’m gonna try my best Insha Allah.
Muslim Character; Muslim character is built on solid grounds, not on straws. Now you have characters built on 50 cents. Now fi’y cents – you would say ‘Fi’y’ in North America – they say ‘Fi’y’ ‘fi’y’ – but if you come from Asia you will say ‘fifTy.’ And then ‘fifTy’ because his father was a dollar (laughter) so the guy he is speaking with …(Joke in foreign language)… he said his father was a dollar and he became fifty cents and his kids will be quarters. (laughter) Now – so its very popular why – to kids – because I was speaking to one, [pointing to camera] and there was the Dajjal. It keeps moving, one eye –‘Awwar – the dajjal will be ‘Awwar – one eyed. Its scaring me. You know I need time to – I have a problem beacuse, and I complain all the time and you guys have to live with it. I need time, and it keeps moving! I need time to order the block, when I get shoved in thirty minutes! Go go go! Get everything I have to say on paper, I can’t – I’m stressed right now. So – anyway, this conversation of fifty cents happened because one of the brothers from Saudi, he came, and he had fifty cents and I said ‘Akhi, ma hadha?’ I said ‘what is this?’ and he said ‘oh, hadha fifty cents.’ So I told him ‘huwa mashur fis sa’udiyyah? I said ‘is he very popular in Saudi?’ he said ‘Na’am.’ He’s very popular in Saudiyya. So this is the land of the Messenger of Allah Sallallahu ‘alayhi wasallam, where Allah Subhanahu wa ta’aala says;
‘Wa innaka la’ala khuluqin ‘adheem.’ ‘Verily O Messenger of Allah you are on an exalted standard of character.’
Anas Radi Allahu ‘anhu said that the Messenger of Allah Sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, ‘Kaana rasulullah sallallahu ‘alayhi wasallam ahsan an naasi khuluqa;’ ‘That he was the best of people in manners.’ And you can see our manners even within this convention. We sometimes can’t greet each other properly, we cannot walk properly; we bump, push. Smoking should not be allowed. If you can obey that in other places you have to obey it here. And you have to throw this trash right out, putting money into your mouth and just burning it while people are dying of starvation!
The Messenger of Allah sallallahu ‘alayhi wasallam, he said ‘raghima anfahu, thumma raghima anfahu, thumma raghima anfahu.’ Meaning that may his nose be humbled, or may he – may his face be in the dust – meaning that may he be humbled, three times. They said ‘who?’ ‘Man yaa rasulullah?’ They said who is this person, O Messenger of Allah? ‘Qaal man adraka waalidayhi ‘ind alkibr’, he said ‘whom finds his two parents in old age, ‘ahadhumaa aw kilaahimaa,’ one or both of them, ‘thumma lam yadkhulil Jannah.’ And he or she does not enter into Jannah; meaning that you did not take care of your parents. What a magnificent statement. What an opulent teaching. And what an elevated and impressive wisdom that the Messenger of Allah, sallallahu ‘alayhi wasallam, in just a few lines, stated to take care. Now you can see people at the old age homes, people are just waiting to talk. They’re just waiting to talk. Some old ladies waiting to talk. So all these things we’re talking about. Yes they’re non-Muslims, and there’s nothing wrong with that, there’s nothing wrong with being kind to anyone, because it is part of your character. Your character doing any wrong to anyone else effects you to begin with, not somebody else. It just shows how low you are. So, thanks to technology, we have people who can surf the net, but they cannot smile any longer – it’s difficult for them to smile. People who can manipulate data, they’re unfit to hold a conversation, no-one can hold a conversation, there’s always this cell-phone kind of conversation, they can’t keep attention for more than one or two minutes, and we have to actually change that. People who sit for hours under plastic and artificial light are incapable of love, because loving takes time; you have to nurture this relationship.
So brothers and sisters, insha Allah, as Brother Dash and – because maybe he’s dashing around somewhere, and all the brothers, the clean cut brothers – you know maybe everyone should get married first insha Allah, because they’re making poetry about sisters, (laughs) and is getting even the married ones saying ‘shall I take another one? What shall I do? Divorce this one? Get rid of her?’
So, uh, so get married, and tell the one you’re going to love, say that ‘I love you darling.’ Say that I love you like a toothbrush loves toothpaste. ‘Oh, how beautiful, romantic.’ Say ‘I love you like a drugstore loves a disease, because when there’s a disease the shelves are empty’ The other one, ‘like a plumber likes a leak, cos he makes a lot of money,’ meaning that’s a lot of love. And for my friend Dr Riaz who’s a really lovely person and his family, masha Allah, and another friend of mine who’s come over, Brother Nasir from Ireland – the luck of the Irish – like a dentist loves a cavity (laughs) Riaz is making ching ching; ‘Oh you have a cavity? Come straight in! you have two cavities, would you like me to do that? With plastic fillings?’ So anyhow, so this is how much you should love. Or you can say some governments, they love oil so much, ‘I love you that much darling.’ (laughs) ‘That would be too much, I’ll just destroy everything for you!’ (laughter)
Oh - was that political? Astaghfirullah, astaghfirullah.
She’ll really go crazy for you – she’ll make chai masala, everything for you if you say that.
Anyhow, Francis Bacon in 1561, he was the first man of the technocratic age, and he said, he said ‘the real happiness, – because, he never invented anything, no new hypothesis but because he was an ardent supporter of technology itself - he said,
‘the happiness of failing to understand that the real, legitimate and only goal of science is the endowment of human life, with new inventions and riches.’ And this is what we’re following nowadays. Riches and inventions, and we never even see the other side. There is more to human beings than just riches and inventions! Because we are made from flesh and blood and we have a soul. So if you don’t feed your soul you’re not going anywhere. Adam Smith, who was the father of, they call him the father of economics; I don’t know who gave him that. He told, he said ‘our species is the economic man; born with an instinct to barter and acquire wealth.’ This is what we’ve been told. To barter and acquire wealth, that’s it, ‘money money money money money money’ nothing before that. And that’s why people are going crazy these days. You don’t have time for your family, you don’t have time to talk, you can’t talk to your neighbours, you can’t even hold a smile because you’re just worried about your money, and there’s more to that, because progress has to be more. They had a statement about the woolly mammoth – it was an elephant of the pre-historic age – so one man, he killed a woolly mammoth, and they ate from it, the whole village. Then the next man came, he had another sharper spear, and he killed two. And then the other man had a brilliant design and he said, ‘ok, let us drive all the woolly mammoth of this cliff.’ And, they drove them off, and then they ate them; they gorged on the woolly mammoth, and they had plenty. What happened at the end? When the woolly mammoth’s meat finished, they all starved to death, and this is what we’re doing. We’re consuming more than we need. Everything that we need is something that we need more and more and more of; and this is not what the human being is meant to be.
Now, the Muslim character is supposed to be refined, smoothened, and is not supposed to be rough. I’m dealing with two things because lack of time; Number one is kindness. Abu Dharr al Ghifaari… (Corrects himself) The messenger of Allah Sallallahu ‘alayhi wasallam stated, that, he said, ‘laa tahqiranna minal ma’rufi shay’a.’ That, do not belittle any good thing. Any good thing that you have done, do not belittle it. ‘Wa law an talqa akhaaka bi wajhin talqa.’ That even if it is the smile on your brothers face, with a big smile. Not one of those phoney ‘assalaamu alaikum..hah’ and turn your face, you have to actually smile; ‘oh brother, how are you? Nice to see you!’ With everyone! I have, my next door neighbour, he’s a priest, and we discuss religion together, you see. And one time, the lady came out, she said - her name is Martha – she said ‘you know what Zia, you’re the… every neighbourhood should have a fundamentalist like you!’ (Laughs) I said ‘don’t say that too loud’
What do they mean by fundamentalism, what do they mean by moderation, what do they mean by moderate Muslim, what do they mean by extreme Muslim… all of these things are being played by the media, in order to put each other into the hole like this; ‘yes we love the way of moderation.’ but you don’t take any appellate that is not from anyone else except the Messenger of Allah, sallallahu ‘alayhi wasallam, so keep your words to yourself. The Messenger of Allah, sallallahu ‘alayhi wasallam also stated, he said ‘man yuhram arrifqa yuhram alkhayr.’ That he who is bereft from kindness, is bereft from all goodness, meaning it does not have goodness in it. That’s why the Messenger of Allah, sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said, ‘innar rifqa la yakunu fi shay’in, illa zaanahu’ that he said anything that has goodness, only it will increase it, ‘wa laa yunza’u min shay’in illa shaanahu.’ That anything that is decreased – anything that kindness is taken away from it – is decreased. And these are the statements of the Messenger of Allah, sallallahu ‘alayhi wasallam. Who? Which fool actually put a bomb in a cartoon, on the top of the Messenger of Allah’s sallallahu ‘alayhi wasallam character? Who did that? Who created the bomb, and who is using it? You have to stop that, that’s nonsense, that’s creating hate, and hatred needs to be stopped. Aisha, radiyallahu ‘anha, she was told by the messenger of Allah sallallahu ‘alayhi wasallam, he said ‘yaa Aisha, innallaha rafeequn, yuhibbur rifq.’ That Allah subhana wa ta’aala is kind, and He likes kindness, and He does not give on any other account like kindness. Meaning that He gives for kindness that which He does not give for any other thing. So how kind are we? Now from character you get from the word – from character, is ‘Khuluq.’ Khalaqa signifies that act of measuring because when you make a man - when Allah subhanahu wa ta’aala has made a man, He has measured him. That’s why there’s a statement saying ‘khalaq an-na’l’ meaning, that he determined the measure of his sandals, ‘faqaddaraha,’ meaning, proportioned it. That’s why Zuhayri told, in a nice statement to one of the people; he said, ‘wa la anta tafri ma khalaqt.’ He said ‘you you execute, or you cut what you have measured.’ Meaning if you have measured, if you have promised, if you have done your work, you cut it, meaning you execute it, meaning if you say ‘yes, I’m gonna go there,’ I will go there. But then he said ‘wa ba’d al qawmi yakhluqu, thumma laa yaf’al.’ meaning they can’t execute anything. Execute in terms of any promise, any good thing that needs to be done, they can’t do it.
Now, Khalq, as the act of Allah subhanahu wa ta’aala means to be creating something out of nothing. Khalaq Allahul khalq – that Allah subhanahu wa ta’aala created the creation. Rajulun taammun bil khalq – that this person is from good; meaning that Allah created him in a perfect way; in a good way; in a complete way. So ‘al-khalq’ signifies the fashion of the outer man, or the human being, and its qualities and its attributes. ‘Al khuluq’ – manners, manners and character signifies the fashion of the inner human being. That’s why the messenger of Allah sallalllahu ‘alayhi wasallam, he said;
‘Inna min khiyarikum ahsanukum akhlaaqa.’ That from the best of you… the best of you from the best of you are whom? The one with the good character; the one with good manners. So we have to have good manners brothers and sisters, even in eating, even in talking, in doing the right thing, manners is very, very important.
Secondly, modesty. We have to look at modesty, because we are changing. We are a modest people, we don’t flaunt our ways, we don’t actually do things that make us immodest. We do things that actually give modesty to our way of doing things. We don’t flaunt ourselves, and try to act every other way that everyone else is acting in life. We actually keep our composure. That’s why modesty is very important. The messenger of Allah sallallahu ‘alayhi wasallam, he said; ‘Al hayaa’u laa ya’ti illa bi khayr.’ He said that ‘hayaa;’ that modesty - shame - does not come except with goodness. And fi riwayatil Muslim, and there’s a riwayah in Muslim that says ‘al hayaa’u khayru kulluh.’ Meaning that ‘hayaa’ – modesty – is good, all of it is good. All of it is good. Now look at the Messenger of Allah, sallallahu ‘alayhi wasallam, this hadith is a very touching hadith. Even though, somebody will read it and say ‘what does this mean?’ it’s said that ‘in kaanat il amatu min amaa’il almadeenah,’ it is said there was an amah – a slave girl, a poor girl, a servant girl – from the servant girls of Madeenah, ‘lata’khudh bi yadi lnabi, sallallahu ‘alayhi wasallam,’ she used to take the hand of the messenger of Allah sallalaahu ‘alayhi wasallam, ‘fatantaliqu bihathi shaa’at.’ And she would go with him, wherever she wanted to. So you can see how kind the Messenger of Allah sallallahu ‘alayhi wasallam must have been, that she would go with him – go with a little girl that would pull him along, and he would go. This shows an immense amount of love for humanity. And we now have become presidents, and treasurers, and big people, and you know… we’re holding big positions in society, and we can’t even talk to our sisters properly, we can’t talk to our brothers properly. What position does he have? What kind of degree does this one have? Or if he doesn’t have this, throw him out. We are not looking at the criteria what Islam has brought. Look at the Messenger of Allah; a little girl pulling him. Laa ilaaha illallah. Laa ilaaha illallah, what a human being;
‘Wa innaka la ‘alaa’ khuluqin ‘adheem.’ Verily, you are on an exalted standard of character.
So that’s why, that’s why the Muslims feel hurt when you say something wrong about him, sallallahu ‘alayhi wasallam. ‘Hayaa’ comes from the same root word as ‘to Live.’
‘Alaysa dhaalika biqaadirin alaa an yuhyil mawta.’ That isn’t it that Allah subhanahu wa ta’aala can create something from death, and give it life. ‘Ihyaa’un,’ meaning revivication. ‘Haan,’ meaning rain that brings life; actually within this word itself – oh we don’t have time… this is a McDonalds kind of talk; ‘Please, I’ll have a filet-o-fish, take the cheese out, ok, go.’ (Laughter)
So, I’m speeding, I don’t know whether I’m speeding too much! But, it also deals with a cloud that actually smoothen the cloud. And smoothen– also bring together - the cloud that has rain. It has very good connotations. ‘Istihyaa,’ meaning the shame, shyness, honest shame that has come into the soul. The shrinking of the soul from foul conduct. This is hayaa; from foul conduct, the soul will shrink. Neil Paulsen stated…he said – and he’s a great scholar, he’s Jewish by the way;
‘With the gradual decline of shame, there is a corresponding belittlement of significance of manners, as shame is a psychological mechanism that overcomes impulse. Manners are the exterior social expression of the same conquest.’
Manners are the social expression – you see – of the same conquest. And this is what he’s trying to say, that you need manners to function. Somebody else is trying to tell us manners to function. And why we don’t actually take that in order to do the right thing. Everything from table manners, to language manners, to manners of dress is intended to reveal the extent to which one has learned self-restrain, because it will show you how restrained you are, when you have good manners.
He said, ‘Manners, one might say, are the social analogue to literacy,’ because if you’re literate - if you know how to read properly - you will be full of manners, if you follow the right course.
‘Both require a submission of the body to the mind.’ Meaning you have to submit yourself. Sometimes you feel angry. What they did – for example – out there, because our centres a problem, and I have to be honest. I love the IFE brothers, and Oldham brothers, I’m part of them, and I love them dearly. But I was frustrated, and I really wanted to take the table and just chuck it, because our centre now… the school has opened, and the contractors want their money, so we wanted just a table, so they gave us a table this size. I was really frustrated when I saw that, and I wanted to lose, so I couldn’t compose myself, because also I was tired from travelling, but I had to tell myself ‘you’re going to speak about manners, and take the table now here?’ You see, maybe I should… Oh, they stopped the smoke, masha Allah! Alhamdulillah, maybe I should start again and come out like Michael Jackson… Zia Ullah Jackson! da ding!
So, manners are very, very important brothers and sisters. Its free information for all; its no the right thing we are teaching our kids. Because there should be a place of shyness and shame. That’s a very good thing, even if we look at the social critics, they will tell you that. Now every ten year old knows what a fifty year old knows, so where’s the differentiation of the elder and the younger? It’s a horrible thing that we’re going through. Look at what the Messenger of Allah sallallahu ‘alayhi wasallam said, from Aisha radi Allahu anha; he said, ‘Innal mu’min laa yudriku bihusni khuluqihi darajaat…’ for what? He said – the Messenger of Allah, sallallahu ‘alayhi wasallam said verily the believer will find with his good character, ‘darajaat as-saa’im al qaa’im.’ That he will find the level of a person whose fasting in the day, and praying at night - because of his manners, because of her manners. Very, very important! Now you have people walking in the street; uncles, aunties, little guys, teenagers, and they lack manners sometimes. You say ‘salaamu ‘alaykum,’ they won’t even turn to your face. Talk to a non-Muslim now, he will turn his face and say ‘hello.’ And I’ve stated that before, when we were lost in direction, right in London itself. We asked a non-Muslim, he said, ‘can you please tell us where you’re going?’ and his bus was going, I said ‘please, take the bus. Go ahead, catch your bus.’ He said ‘no no no, I will catch the other one.’ How many of us would do that? We’d say ‘humph, he wants directions, why doesn’t he go get a map? Directions… stupid…fool.’ Anyway, they said… they had a joke from the Bangladeshi brothers, they said ‘2 pound 42’ so I said, ‘what’s that? Two pounds forty two?’ They said, ‘No, two pounds of potato.’ oh, I just lost the crowds. They’ll never listen to me again! Do I have the amber light? How many minutes left?
I just feel that we need to get half this shame and modesty, even coming on stage, and talking to our brothers and sisters, there needs to be something done better than that. Look at this hadith of the Messenger of Allah Sallallahu ‘alayhi wasallam, he said;
‘Lamma sawwar Allah Aadama ‘alayhis salaam,’ That when Allah subhanahu wa ta’aala made… - oh there’s the… is that the amber light? Huh? Or is it here? There? Ok. Did it just come on? It was on for a while? Astaghfirullah. Ok ok, I will finish this hadith and I’m done, I promise that. Wallahi I was thinking it was coming from here. The Dajjal is there, and the amber light is there, the smoke is gone, wonderful.
Ok, so when He created Adam, ‘fil Jannah,’ when He created Adam in Jannah, ‘tarakahu maa shaa’ Allah an yutarkah.’ That He left him as He willed, Allah subhanahu wa ta’aala, ‘Fa ja’ala Ibleesu yutee’u bihi.’ And made Iblees – Iblees actually went to circle Adam, seeing… ‘Yandhuroona ma huwa.’ He was seeing what is he? What I she? ‘Fa lamma ra’ahu ajwafa.’ There’s the point here; when he saw him, that he was HOLLOW, that Adam ‘alayhis salaam was hollow. he said,
‘Arifa annahu khuliqa khalqan laa yatamaalak.’ He said he knew then, that he – this creation, Adam ‘alayhis salaam – he would not be able to control himself, because he has ‘jawf.’ In Arabic ‘jawf’ means something that is hollow, that has a hollowness. What Shaytan didn’t realise; that Allah subhanahu wa ta’aala put a heart in there, and that heart is to believe in ‘Laa ilaaha illallahm Muhammad ur-rasulullah.’
May Allah subhanahu wa ta’aala forgive us, and may Allah subhanahu wa ta’aala guide us, I will take thirty seconds more insha Allah, just to say, that brothers and sisters, you know I run around for everyone, and everywhere. And brother Mahbub and the brothers from East London, they’re not an organisation Dr Riaz and Nabeel, and all the sisters from Bradford, they all out of their love and compassion, they did actually help, you know build the centre from the outside. We started doing that for the school – the second floor – and now we’re in problems. If everyone of you just gave – even gives ten, twenty pounds at the stall, but first and foremost we’re here to build the Oldham Centre, insha Allah. But you know, I go everywhere, and we’re stuck, and I just don’t want to fall into interest. That’s the only reason for making this plea, and I’m not making it for my pocket, and Allah subhanahu wa ta’aala knows I don’t need anyone’s money, I can stand on my own, insha Allah. But the problem is that we have to live, and we have to live in this life; if you..’tansur ullahi yansurukum wa yuthabbit aqdaamikum.’ If you help Allah’s cause, Allah will help you insha Allah, so please visit our stall at 104, outside door 104, an please just… fill the coffers and buy the tapes and just finish us out, because we didn’t have a table to display, so let the sisters also feel good that they did something. And may Allah subhanahu wa ta’aala give all of you Tawfeeq, I love all of you, and may Allah subhanahu wa ta’aala guide us when we’re going out, and then make us more modest, and wake up for Qiyaam ul Layl, make our five daily salaah, to do the right things, to make da’wah, and do all those things insha Allah. Allah subhanahu wa ta’aala will bless you, this smokey starting. Assalaamu ‘alaykum wa rahmatullah.
Transcribed by Nahid Mortuza
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