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بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم والحمد لله رب العالمين والسلامة على أشرف الأميين والمفسرين محمد رسول الله ﷺ صلى الله عليه وعلى آله وصحبه وسلم تسليم الكثير. أما بعد، My brothers and sisters, in continuation of the reminders on da’wah and in continuation of what I said yesterday about using Qur’anic terminology and Arabic words instead of direct translations of them—for example, using Allah instead of God and using Rabb instead of Lord—and so on.
Another mistake which is made by a lot of people is that they use the word “verse” instead of saying “ayah.” Now, first of all, some people are of the opinion that it is not incorrect to use the word “verse,” but irrespective of that, the difference between “verse” and “ayah” is enormous. A verse is a line of poetry; however, the Quran, first of all, is not a book of poetry. It’s a book of signs. Allah ﷻ said: إِنَّا لِلَّهِ وَإِنَّا إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعُونَ (inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji’un). Allah said, “In the creation of the heavens and the earth and the alternation of the day and the night there are signs for people of intelligence.” So the Quran is a book of signs. It’s a book of ayahs. It’s not a book of verses as in a book of poetry.
Now, the difference is not just semantics. The difference is that a sign has meaning, and its meaning is in a way where it either warns you of something or promises you of something. It promises something. So it’s either showing you a direction to go here or there. It might be a danger sign. For example, the easiest and simplest one is your traffic lights. So when there are signs—when the light turns red, which is a sign—you know that you should not go forward because of the danger of crashing into another car coming from another direction. So the sign has meaning. And the sign is something which is taking you towards action. So either you stop doing something, you start doing something, or you take a turn or don’t take a turn. So a sign has promises.
Either it promises something good or it warns against something which is bad. A sign points to something important which you must notice and do something about. Whereas a verse… it might be nice; it might not be nice. But there’s nothing more to be done. You listen to the verse and that’s it. Whereas in a sign, there is action. So use the words in that sense.
And then we must think and understand that the Quran Al-Kareem, when it’s a book of signs—and these signs are there from Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta’ala—then they demand action. So we need to ask ourselves also: “What am I doing? How am I acting on the signs that the Quran Al-Kareem is showing me?” So Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta’ala is showing us His signs. He’s showing us His glory and His majesty. Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta’ala is warning us about the Akhirah, about the life to come, which is a life of the hereafter, a life of the permanent life, a life forever. And what we do or don’t do in that life is of critical importance. So therefore, these are the signs which we need to think about, reflect on, and use. So Ayat or Ayah instead of words or verses.
Never debate in public. It’s not the Sunnah.
The Sunnah is to present Islam as it is. If somebody asks you a question, you give an answer. The Sunnah is to recite the Quran. The Sunnah is not to debate in public. Public debates put the opposite person on the spot, and your own ego will destroy your ikhlas. Because in a debate, it is always me versus you; win-lose. And makes it extremely difficult for the other person to accept the truth, even if he recognizes it, because the cost is too high. If you speak privately and if you keep the tone to a dialogue instead of a debate, the chances of convincing the person are much higher. The bottom line is: To ask yourself, “Do you want to win the debate or to win the person over?” If you want to win the person over, debating is the worst thing that you can do.
We have the evidence for what I am saying from the Hadith of Rasulullah regarding His advice to Mu’adh bin Jabal when He sent him to Yemen.
Rasulullah asked him. It’s a beautiful Hadith. He sent him to Yemen.
And He told him to mount his horse. And then He held the bridle of the horse. And He said to him, “He walked along and led him outside Medina.” And as they were walking, Rasulullah asked him some questions. And these questions are like an interview. It’s like a viva when you are writing a PhD at the end—you have a viva, you have a Q&A session with professors who will question you on your thesis.
And He asked him. He said, “What will you do? How will you judge if people come to you asking for judgments?” So he said, Mu’adh bin Jabal said, “Ya Rasulullah, I will judge according to the Kitab of Allah.” And Mu’adh bin Jabal was one of the most knowledgeable Sahaba with respect to the Kitab of Allah, and he was one of those who had been given the permission to give fatwa, to give rulings in the life of Rasulullah while the Prophet was alive.
So He asked him, “How will you judge?” He said, “By the Kitab of Allah.” Then Rasulullah said, “If there is something which is not in the Kitab of Allah…” So Mu’adh bin Jabal said, “Then I will look in the Teachings and the Sunnah and the Hadith of the Messenger of Allah, which also is evidence of the Kitab of Allah—that the Hadith of Rasulullah were recorded in His lifetime itself.” And then Rasulullah said, “And if there is… if the answer is not in the Hadith…” So Mu’adh bin Jabal said, “Then I will consult with others—other scholars, other people of knowledge.” And Rasulullah said, “Supposing those people are not available; if they are not there, what will you do?” And Mu’adh bin Jabal said, “Then I will use my own judgment—deductive reasoning—to arrive at an answer.” And Rasulullah s.a.w. smiled. He was very happy.
And these are the four principles of extracting rulings that we do: From the Kitab of Allah, from the Sunnah of His Rasul s.a.w., by the consensus of scholars (which is called Ijma), and then by your deductive reasoning of the individual scholar, the Mujtahid, which is called Ijtihad. Now this is not for every Tom, Dick, and Harry to do. This is for people who are qualified to do it to do it.
And then Rasulullah s.a.w. said to him regarding Mu’adh bin Jabal:
“He said, ‘You are going to a people of the book.’ Because Yemenis were at that time Christians. So He said, ‘Present to them Tawheed: La ilaha illallah Muhammad Rasulullah.’ Present to them Tawheed. He said, ‘If they accept, then teach them Salah. Tell them that they must pray, and teach them how to pray.'” And He said, “If they do that, then ask them to give Zakat and take it from their wealthy and give it to their poor.”
And the poor… so He said, “They will give first of all present to them Tawheed.”
“I say there is no God but Allah, and if they accept that…” So basically these are Christians; they believe in the Trinity and so on. He said, “Present to them the worship of Allah Subhanallah.” And He said, “If they accept that, then present to them the fact that they must pray and teach them Salah.”
And He said, “When they start doing that, then tell them about Zakat and take this Zakat from their wealthy and give it to their poor.”
And then He said something very beautiful. He said to them, “Don’t take from when you go to take Zakat, don’t take the best of what they have. Right? So, if there is a favorite—any favorite horse or something—don’t take that. So, He said, ‘Don’t take the best of what they have. Take the Zakat, the interval of the amount and so on, but take it from something which is not the best.’ So, make it easy for people.”
Please notice that here was advice being given to one of the most eminent scholars of Islam of the time and of all time. And yet Rasulullah did not say to Mu’adh bin Jabal, “Go and challenge their bishops and their priests to a debate and destroy them.” He didn’t say this. He didn’t tell them to put them on stage, right? Humiliate them and show them the error of their ways. He didn’t say all this. He didn’t talk about arguing with anybody. He didn’t talk about debating with anybody. He told them about how to present Islam in the most beautiful way possible. So, I remind myself and you: Let us learn from the Sunnah of Rasulullah and present Islam in the most beautiful way possible, which is what was taught to us by Imam Sulaiman. Rasool Allah ﷺ wa sallallahu ala nabil kareem wa ala alihi wa sahbihi ajma’in bi rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.