South Valley Islamic Community Blog

Our Obligation to God and Society – Shaykh Ilyas Anwar

A well known hadith has it that a time will come when the Muslim ummah would face so many tribulations that we would be overwhelmed and be paralyzed by them and not know what to do or how to proceed.  The Prophet’s companions and followers were reported to have asked the Prophet s.a.w. what they should do when such a time comes.

The Prophet referred to the Quran where Allah exhorts that we should not worry about what others should or should not under those circumstances but instead focused on what we should do on our own to resolve the issues and be part of the solution.

In striving to be part of the solution and not be part of the problem, we must remember two things:  One, our obligations to Allah, and the other, our obligation to our society and fellow human beings.

With regards to our obligations to Allah, we must be mindful that Allah is All Forgiving and All Merciful.  Meaning, if we failed to meet His obligations or transgress His commands in any way, we still could ask for and hope to receive His Mercy and Forgiveness.  Our fellow human beings on the other hand are less forgiving or merciful.  Thus we have a greater obligation and must put greater emphasis on our obligations to society and fellow human beings. (more…)

Al Aqsa Masjid

Shaykh Ilyas Anwar

Many of you have received an e-mail from CAIR asking that we devote this week’s khutbah to the unfortunate event that occurred two weeks ago at Al Aqsa Masjid in Jerusalem. I have briefly discussed that incident in my khutbah two weeks ago upon hearing the news through the wire service on the Internet.

The Al Aqsa Masjid has a special place in our faith. It is mentioned in a number of places in the Quran, especially in relation to the Isra’ Mi’raj, the Night of Ascension, when our Prophet Muhammad s.a.w. ascended into Heaven (see Surah al Isra 17:1). Al Aqsa is the holiest place in Islam, next to Mecca and Medinah.

In the early days of Islam, Muslims prayed towards Jerusalem, that was our Qibla then. This was later changed by our Prophet s.a.w. towards Mecca, upon receiving a revelation to that effect. That was also a test for believers at that time on their belief on the revelations of our Prophet s.a.w. (Surah Al Baqarah 2: 142-3).

Prophetic traditions mention about the special blessings of Allah for whosoever prays three consecutive Jemaah in Al Aqsa mosque.

It is indeed the supreme irony that a place regarded as among the holiest by the three major monotheistic Faiths – Islam, Christianity, and Judaism – would today be the focus of so much controversy and outright violence.

There was a time not too long ago when Muslims had the upper hand and were controlling Jerusalem as with during the time following the Christian Crusades. At that time the followers of the other faiths were allowed to live there and practiced their religion freely. It was the epitome of tolerance and harmony.

Even though we Muslims in the West are in a minority, we do have and enjoy the rights and freedom accorded to all the other citizens of the majority. As such we have a special obligation to speak out of not only against injustices and gratuitous violence occurring not only in Jerusalem but also in the greater Muslim world and elsewhere. Muslim minorities in Non Western countries like India for example not only do not enjoy comparable freedom that we enjoy here in the West, but they are also subjected to increasing sectarian violence.

To have an effective voice we must be involved in the political process so that we can influence and where possible change the political landscape. We must not tolerate violence and anarchic behaviors whether perpetrated by Muslim minorities elsewhere or imposed upon them by the tyrant majority. When we see Muslim youths go on rampages destroying churches, synagogues and the places of worship of other faiths in Muslim countries we must not hesitate in condemning them. Indeed we should go beyond simply condemning, rather we should educate them that such acts of violence especially on places of worship or indeed any act of senseless violence are not acceptable. They are not and should not be part of our tradition.

Such acts of senseless violence are abhorred in any religion. That many of our young in the greater Muslim partake in them reflects the general ignorance on their part. That can only be corrected though educating them not only to the futility of such acts as seen from our faith but also to direct them to more fruitful pursuits.

Let us at all times have taqwa, be conscious of Allah’s presence. Meaning, we must do our part to change things and events where we can, and to have the patience and to have faith in Allah and seek His help and blessings where we cannot.

By Imam Ilyas Anwar

This week we will continue to examine the various aspects of du’a. Although Allah has given us the power of the dua to seek His divine intervention, nonetheless there are certain things that cannot be changed or are beyond dua, or looked upon in another way, when our dua would be answered by Allah in the Hereafter. It is our natural tendency for us to conclude that when Allah does not answer our prayers and dua when in fact He may be deferring them to the Day of Judgment.

To enhance the power of our dua, we must ensure that our lines of communication to God must be clean and unhampered. Meaning, we must lead a life according to His commands. That aside, there are certain events and instances that Allah will not change regardless of our supplication.

Prophet Muhammad s.a.w. never failed to mention the mercy and benevolence of Allah. At the same time the Prophet s.a.w. never hesitated to tell his followers that he was also the “Warner,” to warn us of the awful powers of Allah to punish us should we transgress His commands.

There was a hadith to the effect that the Prophet s.a.w. and the Day of Judgment were like two fingers stuck together, meaning it could come any time after the prophet’s arrival. The Quran listed some of the major and minor signs that would point towards the Day of Judgment.

Thus we must at all times pay attention to those obligations that are incumbent upon us and do not worry of the responsibilities of others and whether they are fulfilling them or not. Execute them to the extent of our capability and execute them well. Do not despair if you were not able to execute all of them; suffice that we have done our best and put in our utmost effort.

Let not the inaction of others be our excuse for not doing our part.

In the Quran it is mentioned that zakat is as important as solat (prayers). It is also mentioned in the Quran that obedience to Allah means being obedient to His commands as preached by Prophet Muhammad s.a.w. The Quran and the sunnah illuminate one another.

One of the teachings of the Prophet is that we should be thankful to our parents. Someone came upon the Prophet s.a.w for advice on what he (the follower) should do. The prophet replied the young man to help his mother. The young man again asked what to do after that. Whereupon the prophet s.a.w. replied the same. The man came again the third time, and the prophet replied the same, again to emphasize the importance for us to be kind to our parents especially our mother.

On another occasion, a young man came upon the Prophet s.a.w. for advice before undertaking a jihad. Whereupon the Prophet s.a.w. replied that the young man should instead look after his parents instead of going on a jihad. We should reciprocate what our parents did for us when we were young and helpless. Jannah lies at the mother’s feet, goes a familiar hadith. Even if our parents have died, then we should remember them in our prayers and seek dua that Allah may bless them and grant them mercy. We should remember our parents who have died at least five times a day, meaning during our obligatory prayers.

If we do good to our parents, then Allah will in turn help us. We should also extend that same treatment and courtesy to our family and friends.

Transcribed by Dr. Bakri Musa

By Imam Ilyas Anwar

In last week’s khutbah, we discussed key aspects of the dua or supplication.  Allah says in the Quran to ask Him and He shall answer our prayers.  It is within the power of Allah to alter our fate.  It is through our dua that we ask Allah for His Mercy and Benevolence.

A hadith has it that believers must have faith that Allah will answer their dua.  Allah may answer our dua during our life in this temporal world or He may defer our request till we are in the Hereafter.  Allah responds to our dua in many ways.  He may answer by pardoning or obviating our sins, or by sparing us of an undesirable fate.  Allah may choose to respond to our dua in any manner He so chooses.

Another hadith has it that our dua will be more likely to be accepted if we are patient and not in any rush in making the dua.  There is a story of Nabi Musa whose prayers were not answered until at least 40 years later.  If this was how long a prophet’s prayers were answered by Allah, then us mere mortals should not be hasty in expecting an answer from Allah.  We must never utter statements to the effect that Allah does not listen to our prayers.

Our prayers would more likely to be heeded by Allah if we have faithfully followed His commands than if we have disobeyed Him.  This makes sense.  We obey Allah both in the words we utter and the deeds we perform.  We should praise Allah whenever we can and strive to do the things that He commands us to do and that would please Him.

There is a story of a man who does good to another man because the second also does good to the first.  This is to be expected, we reciprocate the good that is being done upon us.  The greater challenge however is in doing good to those who have been less than good or even evil to us.

Consider a worker who has been diligent in his work.  He regularly comes early to work and does beyond what is expected of him.  Naturally that would please his employer.  It should not surprise us that the employer would look favorably and reward such a worker over someone who always misses his work and does things that his employer would not be pleased with.  Not only would that worker not get any favorable considerations from his employer, the worker may well get punished by being fired.

Following Allah’s command and doing the things that would please Him would be one way for us to get favorable considerations from Allah, as for example with our reading the Quran regularly.  We should strive to go beyond mere reading and recitation.  We should ponder the meanings of the various ayats.  We should strive to emulate the sterling attributes of the Messenger of Allah, Muhammad s.a.w.  We express our love for him by emulating him, for those are the same qualities that would please Allah.

We must strive to reach the peak of our spirituality.  When we have doubts about what we are about to ingest as being halal or haram, we should err towards avoiding it.  If we are concerned that we are not in a purified state for prayer, then we should redo our ablution and ghusul.  Likewise in our deeds; if we have doubts about the goodness of a particular deed it is best that we refrain from doing it.  Allah is Merciful and Forgiving.  By doing the things that He commands us to do and avoid those that He proscribed against and err towards the latter, then we would hold ourselves in good stead.

There are a few practical or ritual aspects in making dua.  For example, we must be in as a spiritually pure state as possible, hence making dua after our prayers.  We should hold both our palms up and at the end of the dua we should close our palms to our face.  Consider that in reciting a dua we are making a request to Allah.  When we write a letter seeking something from our superior, we want that letter to be in the best physical form as possible, with every word tidy and the paper folded neatly.  Likewise when we are doing our dua, we too should pay attention to these little details.

Transcribed by Dr. Bakri Musa

By Imam Ilyas Anwar

By this time our pilgrims would all have returned safely to their homes
and families.  Some will have superb a memory of the entire experience
of their stay in the Holy Land, some for a variety reasons would have
less than a positive or even unhappy experience, while most will have
mostly good memories for having undertaken the journey.  Praise be to
Allah, this year the Hajj was not marred by any major tragedy.

It is well to remember that when we undertake the pilgrimage, we are
implicitly or otherwise answering the “call” or invitation from Allah.
Imagine if we had been invited to visit the home of an important
person, if we come out of it complaining of our less than favorable
experience, it is not likely we would be getting another invitation.
Likewise with our pilgrimage journey; if our experience had been
entirely negative we would not likely to embark on another Hajj.

It is for this reason that on returning from Hajj we should highlight
the positive aspects of our experienced and be forgiving of the
less-than-pleasant aspects of the trip.  If nothing else, who knows,
our positive experience would inspire others to follow in our footsteps
and be committed to undertake their own Hajj.

There is a sunnah of the prophet that after every journey he
undertook, he would on his return first visit the local mosque to offer
his two-raka’at prayers as a thanksgiving for his safe return.  He
would also often do the same thing before embarking on a journey.  Yes
in the old days undertaking the Hajj was a long and often hazardous
venture.  Today however even though our arrangements are made well
ahead of time and that traveling is now much more comfortable and safe,
nonetheless it is till worthwhile to emulate the prophet s.a.w and
offer our two-raka’at prayers at our local mosque after rerunning on
long journey, especially the Hajj.

It is said after successfully completing the Hajj, we would be
cleansed and be like a newborn baby sin wise; we would be starting on a
clean slate.  As such, our dua and supplications would be more likely
to be accepted by Allah seeing that we are in a “pure” state; thus the
tradition of asking those who have returned from Hajj to make du’a for us.

The Hajj is such a momentous journey, with its deep spiritual and
emotional impact on the pilgrims.  The hajj would affect and change us
in profound ways.  It is a spiritually and emotionally cleansing
undertaking.  Thus we should not postpone undertaking our own hajj.  We
should not have the attitude of waiting till our old age while we live
our “fun” live meanwhile, so that when we undertake the hajj we would
be cleansed of all our sins.  For one, we may never have that chance.
For another, if we have led a life or chosen a path that is not favored
by Allah all these years, chances are our habits would have become
ingrained in us and that spending a week or two at the hajj would not
change our core being, no matter how spiritually moving the pilgrimage
might have been.  For these reasons, we must commit to undertake our
own Hajj as soon as we can.

Allah is most merciful, and that if we were to ask for true
repentance, He will grant us.  It is within Allah to forgive our sins
if we are committed to change ourselves.  The Hajj would give us the
necessary stimulus for us to change ourselves for the better.

Let us then ask of the pilgrims to make dua for us and may Allah
accept their du’a.  Even if we had not undertaken our own physical
journey of Hajj this year, let us join in our fellow Muslims who do so
by committing ourselves to our own spiritual journey, our won Hajj of
the heart. In doing so we demonstrate and join in the solidarity with
the pilgrims.

Our time on earth is finite.  Let us devote as much time and effort as
possible for the purposes of bettering our family, our community, and
ourselves.

Allah has blessed each of us with our own special ways to contribute
to society.  Some will contribute with their wealth, others through
their talent, and yet others through their personal examples or wisdom.
But contribute we must, we all put in our share.

Allah in His wisdom understood that when he created us mortals he knew
that we would be subjected to the trials and tribulations of living.
Some of us would be tempted to follow the path that He disapproves of.
Nonetheless he has given that freedom to choose whichever path.  After
all if Allah had wanted us to be angels, he would have made us into
angels.  He has created plenty of angels.  Similarly, if Allah had
wanted us to be destined for Hell, He would made us all into Satan.
Allah has given us the Quran to guide us along the straight path.
However he has also given us the freedom not to pursue such a path.  We
all have to decide on our own and then be answerable to Him in the
Hereafter.
Transcribed by Dr. Bakri Musa

Agenda To Change Our Condition
By Jason Mikael Pittam

A familiar verse in the Quran (Surah Al R’ad 13;11) reads
(approximately translated), “Verily never will Allah change the
condition of a people until they change it themselves.”

Today I will talk on some practical steps we can take to change our
conditions and also the ways we can improve our taqwa, our
consciousness of the presence of Allah. I have liberally taken
materials from a book written by Shaykh Hamza Yusuf and Imam Zaid
Shakir of Zaytuna Institute, Hayward, California.

We just entered and celebrated our New Year based on the Gregorian
calendar. In a few days we will be entering another New Year based on
our Hijrah calendar. Many of us make New Year’s resolutions in an
attempt to improve ourselves. As for improving our taqwa, Allah
exhorts us to worship Him who has created us, and those who came before
us. Do not create false deities, nor should we associate any other
deity with Him. One source of false deity is our own self through our
arrogance over our abilities and capabilities.

One worthy resolution would be to commit to studying our faith. We can
do this best through the help and guidance of a competent teacher.
However, the absence of a teacher should not be an excuse for us not to
embark on such a study. We can form self-study groups among ourselves
to study the verses of the Quran, to recite and discern their meanings.

We have to commit to following the sacred laws of Allah as stated in
the Quran. To be able to do this we must study the original language
in which the Quran was revealed: Arabic, including its proper
pronunciations and enunciations – tajweed.

Another way to learn about our faith is through performing dawah or
outreach programs. In so doing we are also spreading the essential
message of our faith. As Muslims we need to allay the fears of our
compatriots about our faith.

The best dawah is for us to be the best Muslims, as we understand it to
be through following the imperatives and commands of Allah as stated in
the Quran and through the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad s.a.w. In
doing so we would be a blessing to our community. Dawah means to
engage with the fellow members of our community. It does not
mean to proselytize.

We do not need to start our own brand of new organization to do this,
as there are already many excellent existing entities already involved
in the process. In engaging the community we must keep to the essence
or centrality of the message of our faith. That is. the unity and
oneness or Tauhid of Allah.

Although there is only one Allah and we should not associate any other
deity with Him, this does not mean that there is only one and only one
path towards Allah. There are many different paths and they are in
cooperation with and complement each other.

Part of this process of recognizing oneself is to inculcate good
characters in us. By this is meant to have a sense of being in close
proximity with Allah. From this central fact arises the need for us to
respect the family, contribute our share of zakat and charity, and
reading the Quran and follow its teachings.

We must commit to taqwa, best defined as being conscious of the
presence of Allah at all times, and not just during our Eid prayers.
This means performing our daily five prayers. Our prayers can be
performed individually or (preferably) in a congregation. These are
the foundations of our faith.

Additionally we must guard our tongue against uttering untruthfulness,
backbiting, or uttering on matters that do not concern us. Then we
must guard our hand from doing evil things and writing lies and
libelous things. Then we must restrain our eyes from seeing things
that are evil lest we will be tempted to follow suit. Last of all we
must protect our ears from falsehoods. This is more difficult for
unlike our eyes whence we can simply close our eyelids to avoid evil
gaze, there is no such protective mechanism with our ears. Similarly,
we must protect our stomach and not ingest those items that Allah
forbids. Lastly we must maintain our fidelity to our spouses and maintain close ties to our friends and family.

Transcribed by Dr. Bakri Musa.

FRIDAY KHUTBA, December 22, 2006

The Blessings of the First Ten Days of Dhul Hijjah
Imam Ilyas Anwar

We are now entering the month of Dhul Hijjah.  Those who are planning
on undertaking their Hajj pilgrimage have already left.  These pilgrims
who undertake the religious journey, the fifth pillar of our faith,
have a number of obligations and responsibilities as they perform their
various rituals of Hajj.  One of them that is the mandatory stay on the
Day of Arafat atn the plains of the same name.

There are also obligations on fellow Muslims who are at home and not
undertaking their pilgrimage.  They too are to observe and make full
use of the special blessings of this month.  A hadith of our prophet
has it that the first ten days and nights of Dhul Hijjah have the same
religious significance as the last ten nights of Ramadan, those nights
of Lailut Qadar.

During these times, the pilgrims are at their peak of their religious
fervor in the Holy Land.  The last three of the first ten days are
especially important.  The blessings are higher for the ninth day as
compared to the eighth, and the tenth day as compared to the ninth.

The ritual of the Day of Arafat (9th day of the month) is the pivotal
foundation of the Hajj.  You cannot skip this particular part.   The
Hajj would be incomplete without this part on he Plains of Araft.

On the tenth day of Dhul Hijjah is when the rest of the ummah joins in
the celebration of completion of the Hajj.

There is merit for fasting on the Day of Arfat, which is the Ninth, but
not on the tenth, which is the day of  Eidul Adha.

We should strive to perform meritorious deeds and double our dua and
supplications on these days, as they are the days when Allah is most
open and forgiving.  We must recite the takbir from the 9th to the 13th
day of the month especially during our prayers.

There is one aspect of the Hajj and that is the sacrifice in the form
of the slaughter of the animals in which we attempt to replicate the
ultimate sacrifice made by Prophet Ibrahim, s.a.w. in obeying the
command of Allah to sacrifice his son.   This sacrifice of an animal is
also a manifestation of charity, as the meat would be distributed to
family members, friends and those in need.  This sacrifice or Qurban of
an animal is incumbent upon all able adult Muslims.

Today there are many services that are being offered to help Muslims
with this particular ritual of sacrifice.  Often all we have to do is
simply write the check and everything will then be done for us.
However, there is still merit and meaning for us to perform the
slaughter and partake in the actual rituals personally.  That would
bring out the significance of the sacrifice and the event.

It is a sunnah for us to eat the meat of the sacrificed animal.

Locally we have organizations like the Rahima Foundation that would
distribute the meat to families in need.  We should support such
organizations as they effectively extend the reach and effectiveness of
our charity.

We can also commit the Qurban remotely through distant organizations
who distribute the meat to needy families away abroad.  Such deeds of
charity and sacrifice have much greater meaning and significance if we
personally partake in them and also teach our children to take part in
them.

Transcribed by Bakri Musa.

Understanding the Basics of our Faith
Imam Ilyas Anwar

In the past few khutbas we have been discussing the importance of
respecting the greatness and signs of Allah. The light from Allah will
not be given to or shone upon a sinner. Meaning, we must prepare and
purify our hearts first before we can receive this light of our faith.
We do this by learning and understanding the basics and the pillars of
our faith.

A Muslim born today faces different sets of problems from those born at
the time of the birth of our faith. Those early Muslims learned about
Islam piece meal as the Prophet s.a.w. received his revelations from Allah.

Today’s Muslims have the benefit of the complete revelations compiled
in the Holy Quran in the original language. In addition we have the
guidance of the hadiths and sunnahs of the Prophet s.a.w. as well as
the teachings and scholarship of the various ulamas and legal scholars.

Those early Muslims had their practices, rituals and teachings coming
in pieces as the revelations were dispensed to the Prophet s.a.w.
Today’s Muslims have the whole corpus of practices, scholarships and
literature to fall back on and to guide us.

Apart from the Quran, the revelations themselves, we have the various
hadiths that have been collected by such early scholars as Imam
Bukhari, Muslim, and Tirmidhi. Then there are also the hadith qudzi
that are part of the revelation as thus codified in the Quran.

Thus we should expect the perspectives and also practices of those
early Muslims must of necessity be different from ours. We should also
expect that their understanding of such basic ideas and concepts of our
faith like jihad and the meaning of justice to be also different.

We can also appreciate the problems faced recent converts to our faith.
They are suddenly faced with the entire practices, customs and rituals
that have accumulated for the past 1400 years. Those can be overwhelming.

The same dilemma can also confront today’s Muslims. Today we have far
greater obligations than those early Muslims as we have the accumulated
experiences and practices of our predecessors to guide us. Our
obligation is to discern which of those are relevant and pertinent to
our age, realizing that our interpretations may also be different.

We must constantly be aware not to do or let others do something wrong,
all in the name of Islam. It is incumbent upon us to teach and guide
our fellow Muslims, especially those new to our faith so that they have
a better understanding of our great religion and thus would not be
easily mislead.

We must also be prepared to help others (non-Muslims) understand our
faith. The more they do the less there would be misunderstandings.
Thus we should apprise people of our dietary practices and on what is
halal and haram in our faith, and not hide behind such covers as
personal preferences.

We also need to expound to others, including fellow Muslims, on the
meaning of such basic concepts as justice, jihad, and halal and haram.
We should fear Allah but not in the traditional meaning of the word,
rather as a profound respect for His power and His miracles. We would
fear Allah only if we have transgressed His teachings.

Transcribed by Dr. Bakri Musa.

Celebrating Eid ul Adha
By Imam Tahir Anwar

This khutbah was originally delivered on January 6, 2006. The editors felt it would be beneficial for the upcoming Eid ul Adha.

Soon we will be celebrating Eid-ul Adha. With it coming so soon after Christmas, it is worthwhile for us to pause and ponder on the meaning of these two festivities and holy days, and to reflect on the similarities as well as the differences.

It is the hikmah (wisdom) and mercy of Allah that we can enjoy our Eid celebrations. At the time of Eid-ul Adha, we purchase an animal for sacrifice and have someone else do the slaughtering and distribute the meat to our family, friends and the needy.

Traditionally it was quite common for families to buy the young animals months, weeks or even days before Eid, and rear those animals right up to the time it will be sacrificed on the day of Eid. The significance of that experience would be that because we have become attached to these animals, their subsequent sacrifice would affect us emotionally. This would in some small manner replicate the emotions that would have been felt by Prophet Abraham in sacrificing his beloved son.

The Christian tradition in celebrating Christmas is to buy the best evergreen days or weeks before Christmas, decorate it, and then place gifts under it. On Christmas day, those gifts would be opened with great anticipation and joy. A few days later, the tree that had given the family so much joy would simply be discarded.

With Eid-ul Adha, the animal which we have reared and later sacrificed would not be wasted or thrown away. Instead the meat would be shared with friends, family as well as the needy. The meat is the gift of Eid, to benefit and nourish others.

On this Eid, let us pause and reflect on some of the rituals associated with this day. Today, because of our time constraints, we have done away with many of these traditions. Now we pay someone to raise, kill, and package the meat nicely for distribution as per our instructions. We hardly see the animal we would be sacrificing. It is all done efficiently and clinically. There is no emotion attached to the ritual at all.

As such, the meaning of the sacrifice is forgotten.

It would be good and instructive for us once in a while to revisit those rituals. We should consider bringing our family to visit the animal before it would be sacrificed and be present at the slaughter and when the carcass would be prepared. It will give us a greater understanding and appreciation on the meaning of the sacrifice. Eid will not then just become yet another holiday.

We should as much as possible try to emulate the Prophet s.a.w. in how we celebrate Edi-ul Adha. He would for example not eat anything before the congregational prayer. In fact his first bite after the prayers would be the cooked meat of the sacrificed animal.

Another tradition would be to fast on the Day of Arafat, that is, the day before Eid-ul Adha. It is said that one’s sins for the year before and after would be forgiven were we to undertake such a fast.

As we anticipate the joy of the forthcoming Eid-ul Adha celebration, we do so in recognition of our fellow believers who are completing their Hajj. Let us pray that Allah accepts their Hajj. Let us also reflect and partake in some of the traditions and rituals associated so that we may reap greater meaning and benefits to our celebration.

Transcribed by Dr. Bakri Musa.

Understanding the Basics of our Faith
Imam Ilyas Anwar

Last week we talked about the importance of understanding the basics of
our faith. This is particularly so in these days of the Internet and
proliferations of websites devoted to Islamic matters and discussions
of our faith.

Many of these websites are legitimate, meaning they are put up by
people solely interested in furthering the understanding of our faith.
Others have more sinister motives, of spreading falsehoods about Islam
despite their seemingly Islamic names. Differentiating between the two
can be difficult.

It would help greatly if we already have a firm grasp on the basics of
our faith. Then we are more likely to detect and counter the outright
falsehoods from those questionable websites. There are however genuine
websites but whose interpretations and views we do not necessarily share.

We value our freedom in this country; we are free to express our views
in all forms. The solution to those outrageously false websites that
purposely give out erroneous information about Islam is not to ban or
censor them, but for us to present our own views and spread our own
understanding of our faith.

As for those obviously false and sinister websites, sometimes in those
cases the best choice would be to simply ignore them for if we were to
click their links or in any way comment or engage them, then we would
merely highlight their visibility and give them the attention they do
not deserve.

To help understand the basics of our faith, we must revert to the Quran
and the sunnah of our Prophet Muhammad s.a.w. The hadith and sunnah do
not stand alone; they are to be interpreted and understood together
with the Quran. They help in our understanding of our faith.

The regular activities and practices of our prophet are worthy of our
emulation. Even when there are apparent contradictions in the various
hadiths and practices, nonetheless we must try to distil the basic
underlying message. This is where the contributions of our scholars
would help us elucidate the understanding of these ancient texts.

Our prophet was an exemplary human being chosen specifically by Allah.
His behaviors and practices are thus worthy of our emulation. We do
not have to be learned scholars to understand and comprehend the basics
of our religion. It is incumbent upon us to learn so as to enable us
to understand our faith. It would also put us in a better position to
assess and evaluate the flood of information that is coming out today
and put them in their proper perspective.

Transcribed by Dr. Bakri Musa.