Essentials of Submission | Abraham, Pillars, Practices, Prohibitions

Transcript:

(0:09) Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Raheem. Speaker 1 (0:11) In the name of God most gracious most merciful. (0:15) Islam actually began with the first man, the first human being, Adam. (0:19) He was the first messenger of God, he brought to his children and grandchildren the message of worshipping God alone. (0:27) And this is Islam, submitting to God, worshipping God alone. (0:33) A series of messengers after Adam brought the same message, worship God alone. (0:40) The first commandment in the Bible, the message of Moses, the message of Jesus, the messages of all the prophets of Israel, David, Solomon, and so on, is one and the same. (0:53) The first commandment, worship God with all your heart, all your body, and all your soul. (0:59) Worship God alone. (1:01) The Quran states very clearly that the religion as far as God is concerned is Islam, so there is only one religion as far as God is concerned. (1:10) If you want to be more specific, the original prophet of Islam is Abraham, because he brought all the religious practices in Islam, and we see this throughout the Quran. (1:22) For example, in surah 21 verse 73, surah 21 verse 73, tells us that Abraham was the original source of... (1:34) of course God is the original source of everything, but Abraham delivered to us the salat prayer, the contact prayers, and the zakat charity. (1:43) This is in surah 73 verse 21. (1:47) And we see this also with the fasting, the hajj pilgrimage, all the practices of Islam came to us through the prophet Abraham. (1:57) The prophet Muhammad contributed the message, the scripture of Islam, which is the Quran. (2:11) The prophet Muhammad contributed the message, the scripture of Islam, which is the Quran. (2:17) God revealed the Quran to us through the prophet Muhammad. (2:21) The prophet Muhammad was born in the year 570 AD, and when he was 40 years of age he was appointed God's final prophet. (2:34) Prophet means he brought a new scripture, the final edition of God's message to the world, and that is the Quran. (2:45) The Quran was given to the prophet Muhammad in one night, as we see in the Quran in many many verses, in surah 17 verse 1, in surah 44 verse 3, and in surah 97. (3:03) The release of the Quran from Muhammad's soul to his mouth and his hand was done over a period of 23 years, from his age of 40 to the age of 63, he died at the age of 63. (3:18) So over a period of 23 years the Quran was being released after being placed in Muhammad's heart on the night of power, in Arabic, laylatul qadr. (3:32) The purpose of releasing the Quran over a 23 year period is to help the prophet and the believers at the time to memorize the Quran as it was being released, and this is stated in the Quran. (3:48) In the Quran it says... (3:50) to fix it in your memory. (3:53) So the release was very slowly, very gradually, and it took 23 years. (4:07) God created the universe and created the human race, and out of his mercy he sent messengers and books to tell us about him. (4:16) All these messengers and all the books that God sent to us preach one and the same religion. (4:24) The first messenger was Adam himself, the father of all humanity. (4:29) After him came messengers like Noah, Jesus, Moses, Muhammad. (4:33) Muhammad was the last prophet bringing the last scripture, the Quran. (4:39) And in the Quran we find everything we need, all the duties, obligations, commandments, prohibitions, in Islam. (4:49) The Quran is the final scripture, it is the completion of the message, because the previous scriptures were suited for that stage of human development. (5:00) The Quran came to complete the picture, and now we have the final, the complete religion, Islam. (5:08) The Quran is all you need. (5:10) In fact, because God said that the Quran is complete, perfect, and fully detailed, if you go to any other source you will be disobeying God and disobeying the messenger of God, Muhammad, who brought this Quran out of his mouth. (5:25) God brought to us the Quran out of Muhammad's mouth. (5:29) And you will be disobeying God and disobeying Muhammad if you follow any other sources besides the Quran, and specifically I mean sources like Hadith, Sunnah, and all the other books and things that the traditions and the customs invented. (5:46) If you go to any source besides the Quran you will be disobeying God, because clearly God says in surah number 6 verse 114 for example, that the Quran is fully detailed, you don't need anything else. (6:01) God says in verse 19 of surah number 6 that the Quran is what was given to Muhammad to deliver to the world, and it is the only source for religious guidance and religious education. (6:15) The Quran tells us exactly what the essences of Islam are, and they are, very quickly I'm going to go into details of these later on. (6:23) Number one, to believe in God alone. (6:27) You do not have any other idols, you are devoted to God alone. (6:32) And this is represented by the shahada, the first so-called pillar of Islam. (6:37) Let us go along with that idea. (6:39) The first pillar of Islam is the shahada, and the shahada is stated in the Quran, in surah number 3 verse 81. (6:50) Excuse me, it's verse 18, surah 3 verse 18, it says shahidallahu means God bears witness, annahu la ilaha illa hu, that there is no God except He. (7:05) And also the angels and those who possess knowledge will make this shahada, which is la ilaha illallah, or ash hadu alla ilaha illallah, this is the first pillar in Islam. (7:20) Surah number 3 verse number 18, the shahada, the first pillar of Islam is la ilaha illallah. (7:29) If you want to make it complete then you say ash hadu alla ilaha illallah, I bear witness that there is no God except Allah, the one God. (7:40) Now don't add anything else, some people who imitate old inventions and old traditions will say ash hadu alla ilaha illallah, and then they make another shahada that Muhammad is a messenger of God. (7:54) We know that Muhammad is a messenger of God, but if you inject this in the shahada, this ruins everything, because now you don't have God alone, you put an idol, Muhammad next to God. (8:06) And this is, by the way, is a very strong prohibition in the Quran, that you put any other name besides the name of Allah, the name of God. (8:16) We find this in surah number 39 verse 45. (8:21) You must say, you must devote yourself to God alone, you do not idolize Muhammad and put him next to God. (8:27) This will be going against God and against Muhammad. (8:31) So the first pillar of Islam is shahada, la ilaha illallah. Speaker 2 (8:43) So the first pillar of Islam is shahada, la ilaha illallah. Speaker 1 (8:56) The second pillar is observing five contact prayers every day. (9:02) This is the food for your soul, this is a favor that God is doing for you, you're not doing it for God. (9:10) And the five contact prayers begin before sunrise. (9:14) You must get up before sunrise in order to feed your soul, give your soul breakfast. (9:20) Your body will be lazy and will not want to get out of bed before sunrise, but for your sake get out of bed before sunrise and do the morning contact prayer, whereby you contact your Creator and feed your soul. (9:38) The second prayer, by the way the details of the prayers are given on another video tape that we call principles of Muslim prayer, so be sure you order that tape and see how the contact prayers are performed the correct way, not the traditional innovations that we see in the Muslim world. (9:59) The second prayer is the noon prayer, and it begins as soon as the sun declines from the highest spot in the sky. (10:08) That is the noon prayer, consists of four units. (10:11) The morning prayer is two units, the noon contact prayer is four units. (10:17) The afternoon contact is done about three or four hours after the noon prayer, in the mid-afternoon. (10:26) And the fourth contact prayer is the sunset prayer, or maghrib, and it is done immediately after sunset. (10:35) And the final contact prayer, the night prayer, must be done about two hours after sunset. (10:43) So these are the five contact prayers and they represent the second pillar of Islam. Speaker 2 (10:57) The third pillar of Islam is fasting, in Arabic siyam. Speaker 1 (11:04) God commands us to fast during one month of the year, and it is the ninth month of the lunar calendar. (11:15) Now I'm smiling because there is a tremendous test in this system, where the lunar year is shorter than the solar year, and this makes the month of Ramadan move about 10 to 15 days every year. (11:32) So it comes in the winter sometimes when the day is nice and short and fasting is very easy, and moves to the summer when the days are very long, 16 hours or more sometimes, and the day is hot and you can't eat or drink during this long period, and a lot of people will drop out, they will not fast, even though nobody dies by not eating or drinking for 24 hours. (11:57) But some people will drop out and you can see that the system is designed to show who will fast and will obey God's commandment no matter how long the day is. (12:09) This changing of the day from short and cold to long and hot days will show us who are the dropouts, who will fast only if the day is short and nice and cold. (12:23) So this is the second pillar of Islam, fasting during the month of Ramadan, the ninth month of the Islamic calendar. (12:31) As you see the fasting of Ramadan is also designed to tame the wild horse, your body. (12:39) See your body wants to eat and drink, and you the real person or the soul dictates on the body saying no you're not going to eat or drink until sunset. (12:50) Because the fasting consists of not eating or drinking or engaging in intercourse, sexual intercourse, from dawn to sunset. (13:01) Dawn means about two hours before sunrise to sunset. (13:06) No eating, no drinking, no sex, and this is control of your wild horse, you are taming the wild horse, your body. (13:17) And you can see that God is training you, is teaching you to be a person of strong will, and preparing you for the eternal life of the hereafter, the real life. (13:33) Because in the real life that comes after this life, God wants the people who are strong, who practice and exercise and know how to control themselves, I mean their bodies. (13:47) This also causes your soul to feed, grow, and develop. (14:05) The fourth pillar of Islam is charity, in according to the laws now, they give the charity two and a half percent of your savings above $50 that are one year old, once a year. (14:25) This is the law of charity over there, which means the poor will starve to starvation by the time you do that. (14:31) Now if you look in the Quran, in surah 6, we learn that charity must go out whenever you receive money. (14:39) Any money that enters your pocket and is yours, the net, you take two and a half percent, out of every hundred dollars, two and a half dollars, and give them away to your relatives, not to anybody else. (14:55) This is the zakat, the obligatory charity. (14:59) If you want to build a school, or a mosque, or a hospital, that is general charity, that is something else. (15:06) But two and a half percent of your net income must go to the poor immediately, which means a continuous flow of money from people to the relatives, their parents, and their cousins, and their sisters, and brothers, and so on. (15:18) That is the correct way of doing zakat. (15:22) And the Quran gives zakat so much importance, God says my mercy encompasses all things, but I will designate it for those who don't give zakat. (15:34) So this shows, in other words, if you don't give zakat, you are out of God's mercy. (15:42) It is very important, and they don't do it. (15:44) And it goes to specific people. (15:47) The Quran lists them in this priority. (15:49) First, your parents. (15:52) If your parents are rich, and these are the recipients of your charity, if your parents are rich, the second in the list are your relatives. (16:04) You give this two and a half percent, you give it to your relatives. (16:08) If they're all rich, then you find some orphans, people who do not have support, parental support, a father's support, or something. (16:19) And you give this charity to them. (16:23) After the orphans, you give to the alien, somebody who's traveling and is stranded, and doesn't have the money or the bus fare to go to his hometown, you help that person. (16:34) So the order in the Quran is the parents, the relatives, the orphans, the traveling alien, the poor, the beggars, and so on. (16:43) So there is a specific order for giving these charities. (16:48) However, there is also a general charity called sadaqa, and this is an on-the-spot charity. (16:56) You're walking in the street and you see a poor person and you want to help, then you help that person, and this is called sadaqa, or charity. (17:03) You're supposed to be charitable the whole year, all the time, you must be charitable. (17:08) But the zakat is the obligatory charity where you give it to someone you personally know, you personally know that this fellow is poor and needs help, and you give your 2.5% to these people that you personally know. (17:26) You cannot consider the taxes, for example, as zakat charity, because you don't know where the taxes will go. (17:33) They can go to fix the street or something, or to the army or something. (17:37) But the idea behind zakat is that you give it to the people that you personally know are in need. (17:45) And the Quran, as I said, lists the parents first, the relatives, you start with your own people, then you go to other strangers, in that order. (18:11) The fifth pillar of Islam is hajj, pilgrimage, to the holy land in Mecca. (18:18) And this is only, of course, for the people who can afford it. (18:23) When you can afford it, you go to Mecca and you observe hajj, and this is commemoration of the prophet Abraham. (18:33) Not the man Abraham, but his exemplary submission to God. (18:41) He saw a dream one time and he thought that God was commanding him to sacrifice his only son Ishmael. (18:49) And he proceeded to carry out this command, even though God did not order him to do it, he just thought in a dream that God was ordering him to do it. (18:59) But he was willing to sacrifice his own son in submission to God. (19:03) And of course God intervened to save Ishmael and Abraham from this tragedy. (19:10) And God substituted a sheep to be sacrificed instead of Ishmael. (19:17) And this is what you do when you go to hajj. (19:20) And hajj consists of arriving in Mecca dressed only in in untailored clothes, just a sheet or something, and seamless shoes or sandals, seamless clothes and seamless sandals. (19:36) The women dress in a regular dress that is simple, so you cannot tell the rich from the poor. (19:42) To observe hajj, you go to Mecca dressed in seamless clothes and seamless sandals, this is for the men. (19:50) The women dress modestly in regular modest dress, all white dress for example, so you cannot tell the rich from the poor. (20:02) You get to Mecca and you go around the Kaaba in Mecca seven times, then you go between Safa and Marwah, the nulls of Safa and Marwah, seven times, then you go to Arafat, Mount Arafat, and you stand there the whole day, which is the 10th day of the 12th, the last month in the Islamic calendar, the 10th day of Dhul Hijjah. (20:24) You spend that whole day on Mount Arafat commemorating God, worshipping and praying, and then you go to Mina, it's a little town near Mecca, you go to Mina for two or three days, then you go back to the Kaaba, go around it seven times, which is called the farewell circumambulation around the Kaaba, and this is it. (20:47) Now my advice to you is never to go to Medina, because people go to Medina and they ruin their Hajj, they go to the prophet Muhammad's tomb, Masalim, and they idolize the prophet, and this ruins everything, ruins the whole religion, not just Hajj. (21:02) So Hajj must be done only in Mecca, where you go around the Kaaba seven times, between Safa and Marwah seven times, you go to Arafat for one day, and to Mina for two or three days, and this is it. (21:13) These are specific steps that are mentioned in the Quran. (21:17) Now some people are fascinated by Hajj pilgrimage, and they just want to do it right away, you know, they're fascinated by the exotic country, you know, Saudi Arabia and the trip and all that. (21:28) But my advice to you is to perfect your religion first. (21:32) Believe me it is not a very pleasant trip, there's a million and a half or two million people making pilgrimage, and it is an exacting trial, instead of enjoying it, not long as a tourist. (21:44) It is a difficult process, and some people may become disillusioned when they go too early, before the faith is strong enough. (21:53) So be sure you perfect your religion first, and then make the Hajj pilgrimage. (21:59) Another thing to guard against with regard to Hajj is that some people go and do the Hajj pilgrimage, like I said before their faith is strong enough, and they come back puffed up and thinking, you know, I'm perfect now, you know, I'm cool, and nobody's like me, I did Hajj, you know. (22:16) And it goes to their head, and it brings the reverse result, they become worse Muslims than better Muslims. (22:25) So you want to go and do Hajj pilgrimage after you perfect your religion, and this must make you more humble. (22:34) And I remember the prophet that says, don't be humble, you're not that great. (22:42) Here's the first word, ladbayka, which means I respond to you, I respond to your call. (22:50) ladbayka allahumma, which means my God, or our God, allahumma, ladbayka, allahumma, ladbayka. (23:03) ladbayka, I respond to your call, la means no, sharika means partner or idol, la sharika, laka, with you, ladbayka, I respond to your call, ladbayka allahumma, ladbayka, ladbayka la sharika, laka, ladbayka, this is all you need. (23:33) And you utter this statement, you memorize it, and utter it all the time during Hajj, throughout Hajj, anytime you change direction, you climb a hill, down a hill, you meet friends, you say that, ladbayka allahumma ladbayka, ladbayka la sharika, laka ladbayka. (23:49) The details of the Hajj will be given to you by the guide that will be assigned to you as soon as you arrive in Saudi Arabia. (24:04) And by the way, all these duties in Islam came to us through the prophet Abraham. (24:10) If you look at surah 22, the last verse, number 78, you will see that Abraham is the source of, is the father of Islam, and the father of Muslims. (24:21) And if you look at surah number 16, verse 123, you see that the prophet Muhammad followed the religion of Abraham. (24:29) Islam is the religion of Abraham, he is the founder of Islam, and all the duties of Islam came from Abraham, not the prophet Muhammad. (24:39) Muhammad brought the Quran, God brought the Quran through Muhammad. (24:45) So this is why some people become confused when you tell them that God says that the Quran is complete, perfect, and fully detailed. (24:54) Because some of the old traditionalists will say, okay where is the number of rakats for the noon prayer in the Quran? (25:01) See they forget that the contact prayers, the fasting of Ramadan, the zakat, charity, and the Hajj pilgrimage, all these duties came to us from Abraham. (25:11) And the Quran says so. (25:13) If you look at surah 21, verse 73, it tells you that Abraham started the salat and the zakat. (25:20) And in surah 22, entitled Hajj, you see that Abraham is the source of Hajj, and so on. (25:29) The Quran says clearly that all duties and obligations came to us through the Abraham, and tells us in surah 22, verse 78, that this is the religion of Abraham. (25:42) The prophet Muhammad simply contributed the Quran, and the Quran is God's word that came through Muhammad. (25:49) So watch for this point, and don't let anyone trick you into thinking that the Quran is not complete. (25:58) The most important principle in Islam is God alone. (26:03) You must be devoted to God alone, you do not idolize the prophet Muhammad like the Christians did with the prophet Jesus. (26:10) You devote yourself completely to God alone, and you follow the word of God alone, the Quran alone, no other sources. (26:19) If you do, you nullify all your work, as we see in surah 39, where God says if you follow idol worship, all your works are nullified. (26:27) You may do the salat, the zakat, the charity, the hajj, the fasting, and all this, and it will be all in vain unless you are devoted to God alone. (26:38) And you declare your shahada, ash-hadu alla ilaha illallah, this is it. (26:43) So these are the basic essentials of Islam. (26:54) The prohibitions are also important. (26:59) There are four meats that you cannot eat, for example, and these are number one, animals that die of themselves without human interference. (27:08) Number two, pork, the meat of pigs. (27:12) Number three, running blood, running blood that you can put in a glass and cook or drink. (27:18) Number four, animals dedicated to other than God, that are specifically dedicated to Muhammad or Jesus or Ali or somebody. (27:27) These are forbidden. (27:29) So if you go to the market, you go to Safeway market for example, and you look at the meat, if you want to know if it is halal permitted or haram prohibited, you ask yourself these four questions. (27:41) Is this meat pork? (27:43) The answer is no. (27:45) Then did these animals die of themselves without human interference? (27:49) The answer is no. (27:50) Is this running blood? (27:51) The answer is no. (27:52) Was this meat dedicated to Jesus or to anyone else, or Saint Francis? (27:56) The answer is no, therefore this meat is halal, it's okay, you can eat it. (28:01) If you make it haram, if you prohibit it, then you are following some other religion, you are not a Muslim when you do that. (28:08) So it is very important to follow specifically what the Quran prohibits. (28:13) If you prohibit anything else, some people go to funny events like prohibiting soaps and brushes and shoes and things like that, and of course this is a religion that is not Islam, has nothing to do with Islam. (28:34) Also prohibited are all intoxicants, alcohol, marijuana, anything that will affect your mind, all intoxicants, anything that affects your capacity to think and to have a healthy brain. (28:52) So all intoxicating drugs, weeds and alcohol, all these are prohibited. (29:06) Also gambling is prohibited, don't play the lottery, believe me it will cost you more than even if you win the jackpot, you will end up a loser, believe me, because God is in control and he prohibited gambling, games of chance of any kind. (29:31) Of course the major prohibitions are listed in the Quran, adultery is prohibited, murder, stealing, cheating, lying, God wants you to be a perfect person, a nice person. (29:42) Even breaking the promise is prohibited. (29:45) You must be a person of your word, you must be a man of your word or a woman of your word, when you say something, you do it, and people must know you as such. (29:54) This is what a Muslim is all about.