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Bismillahirrahmanirrahim. Alhamdulillah, Rabbil ‘alameen, was-salamatu was-salamu ‘ala ashrafi al-anbiya’i wal-mursalin Muhammadur-Rasulullahi sallallahu alayhi wa ala alihi wa sahbihi salam tasliman kathiran kathiran. Afama ba’du?
I am standing on this machan in Fazlani Nature’s Nest, which is a wellness resort. It is a place where people come to undergo treatment for whatever they need using Ayurveda, acupuncture, and all kinds of other fields of medicine. Alhamdulillah, it is an absolutely beautiful place. Standing here, we can see the sunrise, and in a little while, you will also see it. The sunrise in this place is absolutely fabulous. As we stand here, I can also hear the recitation of Surat Al-Baqarah, and you can see now that the sun is rising from between the mountains. There, Masha’Allah, see how beautiful it looks. Subhanallah.
I want to remind myself and you: We started with the Three Gems of Sayyid Abu al-Hassan al-Inazawi, Rahmatullahi wa ala may Allah Ta’ala fill his khabar with nur and grant him Janadu al-Firdaus, wa ala bi ghairi hasab.
The second gem he said—the first one he said was “Never be an oppressor; rather, be the oppressed.” The second one he said was: Stay away from all haram wealth. And he said even that which is doubtful. So obviously, you have two situations: One is something which is known; you know, it is haram. And the other thing is that something which may not be—you are not sure if it is haram or not. He says stay away from that. Stay away even from that which is doubtful because to stay away from the doubtful is a sign of taqwa.
We have the hadith narrated by Al-Hassan ibn Ali Radhiallahu Anhu, the grandson of Rasulullah Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam, who said, “I heard my grandfather—and that is Rasulullah Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam—he said, ‘I heard my grandfather say, leave the doubtful for that which is not doubtful.'” So I remind myself and you that this is a very, very important and critical aspect of our Deen. It encompasses everything in our lives. It is not restricted only to actions of ibadah but, if we do our daily activities whatever they might be according to Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta’ala and according to the Sunnah of Rasulullah Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam, then those daily actions which normally we do for our own benefit, Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta’ala converts them into actions of ibadah, and Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta’ala gives us the reward for that.
Today we live in a world where the haram has become so easy and it has become so prevalent that when somebody tells you, “Leave the haram,” he is not saying it because it is his view or his opinion; he is saying it because this is what Rasulullah Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam said: “Leave the haram, leave the doubtful.” People challenge that. People don’t like that. The person saying that gets victimized, or people try to oppress the person who is saying something to you for your own benefit. Now, see the case of the Sahaba: How did the Sahaba deal with that which Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta’ala made haram? If you take the issue of the haram of alcohol…
Where Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta’ala revealed the Ayah where He said, “Ya Ayyuha allatheena amanu, al-khamru wal-maysiru wal-ansabu wal-azlamu rijsum min amali shaytani, fajta nibuh la’allakum tuflihoon.” Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta’ala said, “O you who believe, leave these things: Al-Khamr (alcohol), Al-Maysir (gambling), Al-Ansab (divining arrows), and Azlam (fortune telling/magic).” And so on. If you do that, Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta’ala said, “You will be among those who are successful.”
When this Ayah was revealed, Anas bin Malik Radhiallahu Anhu narrates he said, “I was in my house and I was actually pouring wine for some of my friends and some of my uncles—which were senior Sahaba—who were there when the Munadi, the announcer from Rasulullah Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam, announced this Ayah. He said, ‘This Ayah has been revealed.’ Anas bin Malik Radhiallahu Anhu says that as I was pouring the wine, I moved my hand so that the wine then fell on the ground; it did not go into the cup. Then he said that those who had wine in their glasses poured it out on the ground. Including somebody who had a mouthful of wine—he didn’t swallow it; he also spat it out.”
Now think about this: The Sahaba did not say, “Ya Rasoolallah, Ya Rasoolallah, this haram is okay, but show me the halal.” They didn’t say this even though if you think about it, wine making in Madina was an industry. This is nothing new; wine making has been an industry from times immemorial in any land which had crops rich in sugar.
There are all the vineyards, all the areas growing grapes, for example, areas growing dates, all of these sugar cane—all of these wine making was an industry because, I mean, how many dates can you eat? How many grapes can you eat? So they used to make wine and this became an industry. It was a source of wealth for them; it was a source of revenue for them. But they didn’t say, “Allah has prevented this, which means our entire economy is going to get affected by this, so we will leave it.” First, they asked, “Show us something which is halal.” The Sahaba did not say this. And this is the Barakah. Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta’ala then gave them what He gave them because of this spirit of obedience to Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta’ala: *Samayna wa atana wufranaka Rabbana wa ilayka al-mureena wa ilayka al-masir*.
Today we live in a world which is based on interest-based dealings. Interest-based dealings are the only thing in the entire Quran where Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta’ala declared war on the one who deals in interest—in His own name, Jalla Jalaluhu—and in the name of His Rasool Alayhi Salatu Was Salam. Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta’ala said, “Wa illam taf’alu,” meaning if you do not do this—before that, Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta’ala said, “Leave interest.” Before that, Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta’ala said, “Yamhaqu Allahu riba wa yurbi sadaqat Allah” (Allah will destroy riba and multiply the Sadaqat). Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta’ala said, “Leave it.” And “Illam taf’alu”—if you don’t do that—then Allah said, take a declaration of war from Allah and His Nabi Alayhi Salatu Was Salam.
Now today when you try to advise people about this, there are people—may Allah have mercy on them—they get offended. People don’t like it. Well, you know, it’s up to you. If somebody says, “Don’t smoke because you get cancer,” and you get offended, it won’t save you from cancer. The same thing applies here. So I remind myself and you that there is nothing whatsoever which is good or which can be good in that which Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta’ala has prohibited. So here, S.A.W., Al-Nadwi Rahmatullah is saying: Leave even doubtful wealth. So leave the haram; interest-based dealing is totally and completely haram. Similarly, different kinds of things that people do: Look at what you are doing. See where your earning is coming from and make sure that it is halal. Even if there is a doubt, leave it. Because our Rizq—who said about himself? Indeed, Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta’ala is the Rizq, and He feeds with His power. He does not need you and me to do something which is prohibited, which He prohibited, because it is harmful for us. He does not need us to do that in order to feed us. So don’t put yourself in that situation.
I remind myself and you: Let us make sure that we always earn halal and we eat halal, and then see how the Barakah of this comes into our lives. We ask Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta’ala to enable us to live our lives in obedience to Him and on the Sunnah of Rasulullah Sallallahu Alayhi Wa Sallam, wa Sallallahu ala Nabiyyil Kareem, wa Ala Alihi Wa Sahbihi Ajmain bi Rahmatika ya Rahman, Rahim.