What Does Islam Have To Do With It
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Channel: The Deen Show
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Welcome once again to our show and this is Frank Ave your host. Today we have Dr. Seville, from the econo organization and no stranger to our show. We've had a number of shows with him now, both our own shows and he shows Eddie radoslaw Vich, who is a longtime friend of mine, but a jujitsu teacher of martial arts. He has a school with the Gracie Jiu Jitsu, but today we're not discussing martial arts or politics or anything else. We're discussing the topic of religion. And besides having a Gracie Jiu Jitsu school and being a prominent martial artist in his own right, he also has a website called the deen show. And as I understand it, the dean is the way or could be translated religion
but the way in Arabic and www dot badeen show.com. Is that correct? Yes. Okay. Dr. Subala. This is your first time on our show. Thank you for coming. And it's a pleasure to have you first tell us a little bit about yourself. Who is Dr. sabol?
First of all, greetings of peace to yourself. And to all the viewers out there.
I'm Sabina Hamad, born in India moved over here a while ago. Are you breaking? What part of India are you from? From Hyderabad? Okay, yeah, it's kind of the southern part of India.
I'm married with two beautiful children, three years, and two and a half months old Kate gratulations. Thank you very much.
So I'm involved with gain peace. It's an outreach project of icna. Islamic circle of North America. Okay, and I'm the director of gain peace. Okay.
So Islamic circle of North America. And I think I have been some events. It's a court like similar organization that's like here, which is the console on Islamic Relations, which had a very big dinner that I was at some time ago with Dr. Sharif bastiani. But tell us a little bit about the organization and the project a little more on the project that you're involved with. Yeah, Islamic circle of North America, and the gain peace project that we're doing. The purpose of the project is to share Islam with humanity at large, and open up a channel of discussion between different faiths and different people. So we could get to sit down in one table as we're doing right now. So we could
understand each other better. And if there are some misconceptions between other, you know, different faiths and different communities, we could sit down and discuss as human beings. Okay.
Well, this show, we've had two shows that have been more general, more that this won't be friendly, but he wants me to ask all the tough questions today. All the misconceptions. And I think the number one, in terms of Islam is terrorism, that you had September 11 911 2001. And Osama bin Laden
is identified with many Muslims. And the United States views him very negatively as I think they should. He was the head of al Qaeda. He was in Afghanistan, where you had a Taliban government. And many people I heard that they named their kids, Osama, that it was one of the top birth names in Pakistan, that he's very popular in some parts of the world. And he committed terrorism at least 911, but possibly in Kenya, and Tanzania, other terrorist attacks.
So in many people's minds, Islam is linked with terrorism. Let's maybe start with that and start with 911. Is there a community? Does Islam or Muslims as a community have some guilt for September 11?
Well, first of all, let's answer that question. In the context of what Islam is all about. The name of the Islam itself, it means peace that comes from submission to one God, one of the names of God is peace. Okay. And when Muslims greet each other, we greet each other with the greeting of peace Assalamu alaikum.
So Islam as a whole, it has to do or revolves around the concept of peace.
Now, Islam is an ideology, it is a way of life Dean, like the dean showed that we have a better ad appear.
So according to Muslims, Islam is a guidance which is perfect. However, it was given to humanity and human beings by nature, they're not perfect.
So some people by their ignorance by the revenge factor in the tick of the war, political reasons or whatever reasons, they may act or do some things which may not be according to the tenets of Islam.
So it is very important for the yourself and for the viewers out there to differentiate what Islam is. And what Islam is not so important to distinguish the actions of Muslims from the ideology of Islam. You
Islam is perfect. Muslims are not just like in any other fate. So I'm implying what you're saying is that Osama bin Laden is not acting according to Islamic tenants? Would that be correct? Well, first of all, he has not been brought to any world code to examine the evidence from each side, I'm not going to defend him, I'm not going to support him, because we don't know all the facts. Number one, if he committed for the sake of argument, the 911, then Muslims would be the very first people to condemn it.
Because it says in the Quran, chapter five, verse number 32, that anyone who saves the life of an innocent person it is as if he saved all of humanity. And if a person takes the life of a human being, it is as if you have taken the life of all of humanity. So in Islam, sanctity of life is of utmost importance. And Prophet Muhammad peace be upon he mentioned, he prohibited the killing of innocent people. Okay. Now, I do not know all the evidence, but it seems that Osama bin Laden in his own words, he releases videotapes, primarily to Al Jazeera, but also to other he, he he's interviewed in the past for reporters that he has made statements about the United States being in
Saudi Arabia. And that is a political question, and maybe they shouldn't be in Saudi Arabia. I don't know what the answer to that is, but that he has applauded 911 claims responsibility for it, in his own words. Now, I've actually studied Arabic, but I don't speak it in any in any fluency. So.
So assuming that the English translation is correct, Osama bin Laden, in his own words, has claimed that, and he cites Islam and jihad, in his own words. Again, for the sake of argument, even if he did that, right, with the whatever translation that we have, then obviously, you know, if you did that he is not following the tenants of Islam. Okay, so we should be very fair in distinguishing what Islam teaches. Then the actions of Muslims, just like, you know, many Christians or Jews are Hindus, and they have committed acts of terrorism. So Islam is not the only faith of Muslims are not the only people. All throughout history, we have Christians doing heinous acts, you have the
crusades, you have the Inquisition, you have the colonization and the killing of the American Indians. And the Bosnian killing and apartheid, the list goes on and on. So as a fear Muslim, we should not attach these killings by Christians to the teachings of Christianity.
So likewise, it would be fair for the viewers and everyone out there to not attach the stigma of terrorism or violence with the beautiful teachings of Islam, that prohibits killing of innocent people. Okay. One distinction between Islam and Christianity is that Islam teaches a philosophy that is all pervading in all aspects of life, including government, Christianity, intrinsically does not necessarily have to deal with government. Jesus says, In the Gospel, to render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's, and to render unto God that which is God. And for the first 300 years of Christianity's existence, it was not linked with a government, however, in the history of Islam is
intrinsically linked with government, it's intrinsically linked with society, how society is run, rather than a community within a society or individuals within that society. So it's a little easier to link what an Islamic Society does to Islam than it is to individual Christians with Christianity, because Christianity is not by its philosophy, linked with government, Islam, and correct me if I'm wrong by its function is linked to government. Yes, you're right. If you want to answer that I could also add, you know, because I also want his input in what we are doing is a three ratio, I hope, yes, yes. Okay. Thank you for having me again. on your show. Frank. I wanted to comment first, on
this great misconception that Islam is about terrorism, terrifying people, Obama, Osama whatever the name, categorically, unequivocally. Islam denounces any acts of terrorism we have
in our teachings, which is not just for us is for the whole of mankind. Islam simply means surrender and submission to the Creator of the heavens in the earth alone without associates, submitting to him on his term, not your terms, his terms, obeying Him and all his combatant commands and all the good that he has invited us to. And we have the best of examples, his last and final messenger that was sent as a mercy to the whole of mankind. Now in the verbatim Word of God, the Quran, it says, God is speaking he said God does not forbid you from dealing
unjustly with those who have not driven you, out of your homes, oppressed you. So this is clear. Now there are verses in there. When you're in the battle, it's one thing, somebody comes and smacks you on the right cheek, you don't give them the left, but is better to forgive. God is saying, there are examples and tradition in the tradition of the last and final messenger, beautiful teachings of mercy.
A woman had died in the battlefield, and the Prophet peace be upon them. The last and final messenger was angry, he sent out the scouts he said there is there is no chopping down of trees, there is no killing innocent women and children, the monks, the Christians, or the Jews who are in their places of worship, you cannot touch these people. There is no system as the Islamic system that clearly defines what you can do in a battle. And what you can't, I had some interactions with people who are in some of the Armed Forces where they're trained 3000 or some 100 times a day, kill, kill, kill, kill kill. So can you imagine if you're in pet embedding this in somebody's head, when
they're on the battlefield, even if someone drops his weapon, what he's gonna do, he's gonna kill, most likely, in Islam. I'll give you a couple narration stories, authentic stories, these aren't just fairy tales, were in the heat of the battle.
A man had spit on one of the companions of the Prophet.
And he was about to kill him. He didn't kill him.
And when question later why, because he said, My intention now would have been out of my arrogance, because the man is spit on me. So he didn't kill him.
One more story, and we can go to the next.
There are
stories related of other prophets that the prophet in his teachings would relate to his companions of one prophet who got bit by an end. So he destroyed the whole home of the other ants, the whole mohill of all the other ants, God had admonished him and said, you're going to go and destroy all the ants because of one
because he beats you. So this is a story and example, that we don't go ahead and do things unjustly. There is justice in Islam, there is mercy in Islam. One more, and we'll go to the next point, when the Prophet peace be upon him was called upon by his companions, he said, curse all these people, they're fighting us remember that the Muslims were being attacked and oppressed for 13 years. They didn't live farms. And these people were people, men who were
brought up in battles. They were these Bedouin Arabs were vicious people, but they were commanded, not even to fight at all 13 years. Now, when they came to the last and final messenger, and they told him, you know, make supplication to, to Allah to the Creator, to, you know, destroy these people whatnot. He said, Look, I have cursed them. He said, I haven't been sent to curse. I've been sent as a mercy. And that's what Islam is. It's a mercy to the whole of mankind. It has nothing to do with terrorism. can add two important comments to what brother Eddie has mentioned? Four is a very big book I'm not sure if you have read the whole end or have seen the English translation you
have dead okay. It has 1000s of verses in there. Along with the harangue, we have the sayings are example of Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him. And they are like volumes and volumes of those Hadith, the Hadith, or the Sunnah of the Prophet, Muhammad, peace be upon him, right?
This is a challenge to anyone who is out there who has was attaching the stigma of Islam with terrorism, to find one single words anywhere from the harangue, or from anywhere from the 20 sayings of Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him, where the Quran mentions or the Prophet Muhammad Sallallahu Sallam mentions, to kill innocent human being to oppress innocent human being to strap the bombs or to, you know, to go out and commit suicide, all of those Not a single words anywhere, anywhere. And that's the big volumes of books out there. Right? So where I'm very surprised that you know, somebody is attaching, attaching that stigma not to Muslims, but to the religion of Islam. And
number two, that Islam not only came to bring peace, it came to destroy terrorism. Islam is the answer to terrorism. Despite what you're saying, or what the misconception is, Islam came to fight terrorism actually, despite what people are attaching Islamic. One more point just I want to make Frank I did
A show with a very intellectual scholar, it's on the deen, show calm, it goes into all the different aspects of jihad. It's on the deen, show calm. We even have the top scholars in Islam when 911 happened, the Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia, and all the different prominent leaders, they condemned all these acts. And it's surprising that the media doesn't let these things out. It's on the D show calm, we have a section, look to the left when you log on. And you see what Islam says about terrorism, click on there, and you'll see all the statements of all the scholars condemning it condemning it. So Islam is not about terrorism, terrifying people, any of these things, it's about
submission to one God and acquiring peace. Let's go back to the point that Islam, unlike, let's say, Buddhism, or specifically Christianity, is a religion that deals specifically with government. And you said that is true. Okay, whereas some religions, they don't extend it. They don't explicitly for necessarily deal with government. Sure. So if Islam is a religion that explicitly deals with government, then you do have some communal responsibility, at least historically, because at least with the caliphate, these would be people that had authentically Islamic governments aboubacar, or the subsequent, maybe I don't know, where they would decide that it breaks off. But and other
governments today that claim to be authentically Islamic, whether it be the house of Saud, or whoever, whatever governments, if you could comment on that. Islam, like we have mentioned, deals with all walks of life of a person and of a society. Because it is the dean, not just a fate, not just some rituals, since God or Allah knows, you know, what is good for us. And since human beings are not just spiritual human beings, we are physical human beings. We have to interact with ourselves, our families and society, and for a society to function in a very smooth and peaceful way. They are supposed to be certain institutions that we have to establish. Some of those
institutions could be social institutions, educational institutions, legal institutions, and governmental institutions and political institutions. So God is a merciful God, God wants to guide humanity in all walks of life. So for that matter, he has sent guidance in all of these different institutions that I have mentioned. So in that context, God also has some guidance about the political system of Islam and the governmental system of Islam, how we should govern ourselves, how we should, you know, interact in all aspects. So in that way, yes, it's in Islam, there is no separation of church and state. It's an all comprehensive guidance that Allah has provided you
brought that up, if there is no separation of churches state, there are some scholars who say that there is Dar Al Islam. And then I think it's Darla Bode. But I could be wrong in the second word, but the the realm of Islam and the room outside of Islam. So to the extent there is no separation of church and state Islam, for those Muslims who now live in a pluralistic country that has church and state, what is the role then of a Muslim? Because they're no longer and Dar Al Islam?
Well, those are those who live in Canada, the United States, or a Western European country that is either a democracy or a Christian based country or whatever it may be. Yes, Muslims are allowed to live in a non Muslim country, as long as their basic practice of faith is not compromised. Okay, there is the basic rule, but then are Muslims waiting for the day that the country becomes all Muslim?
Well, if people started to accept Islam, by Muslims, sharing Islam and living as good Muslims, then that's fine. If there is the will of God, that's good. But no Muslim could force anyone to convert to Islam because Koran says in chapter two, verse 256, that there is no compulsion in Islam. And by the statistics right now, 45,000 plus people, each year they convert to Islam. So Islam is the fastest growing faith in the world, in the US and in the world. That that's an interesting point he mentioned because with all the negative propaganda, and all the hype, about what Islam is, supposedly when you come to the source, and people who are open minded, sincere, and they look at
what the Quran actually says, they come to Muslims and they meet Muslims and they see that you know what, these people are not about making bombs and blowing things up. They come to the masjid the mosque, to hang out with us and say, Man, these are good people. They don't like to curse. They don't like to swear. You know, if I want to go have a beer, they're gonna refuse because, you know, this is something that's forbidden. They don't like to gamble. They don't like to have sex outside of marriage.
These are good wholesome things. They don't worship statues, icons men monkeys and whatever they worship one god this is something simple rational. You know what I want to be a Muslim this since you brought it up as a side note is gambling forbidden in Islam. Yes. chapter five verse number 90 of the Quran it says gambling is forbidden in toxic, it's intoxications are forbidden, though I'm aware that alcohol is forbidden. Yeah, without stereotyping, though, I see a lot of people who are Muslim over at casinos, and they do enjoy Arabs and others. Without staring we go back to the first thing separating Islam is perfect. Muslims, we have deficiency where human beings were weak, but
doesn't mean that now it takes you out of Islam. You pray you ask God, Almighty Allah to help you to have mercy on you. And eventually, because a lot of times, it's harder to leave a sin and easier to move a mountain they say. So we're human beings, we're weak, God is the Most Merciful. We implement Islam and slowly Islam is like a medicine it starts to clean you up, and you become this good human being who's a good person in society. Okay, now let's go historically, because you're saying that the Muslim faith, theoretically ideally or as a religion, in its pure state does not allow terrorism does not allow for killing. But there's a distinction between the origination of Islam compared
let's say to other religions, to that come to mind our Buddhism, you had you had Suharto, Gautama Lord Buddha, sitting and attaining what he believed was enlightenment, or you have Jesus coming in on a donkey and then crucified, but Mohammed was also a military leader. So the Islamic religion was birthed in military battle. When Muhammad came from Medina to conquer Mecca, he came with warriors.
Well, you have to look again in the context of Islam and the mission of Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him. Unlike the prophets of the past, he was sent as the last prophet, and the universal prophet. And he was also a role model for not just muslims for all of humanity. So your role model should be a role model for each single person of the society. For a president of a country, suppose Saudi Arabia or Pakistan or so, Prophet Muhammad is the role model of how he lived his life. Okay? Have you lived his life as a head of state, for a person who's a military arms of you know, a chief of staff. Prophet Muhammad is a role model of how to interact in
the battle and how to behave in the battle. For a person who is a father, Prophet Muhammad, is a role model unlike Prophet Jesus who never married.
If a person who is a son or a daughter or a you know as a, as a sibling, so we have in the life of Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, all different facets. So anyone Edie as a father could look up the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him how he behaved with his wife and with his kids. He has a good example. Okay, me as a physician, Prophet, Muhammad, peace be upon him, he used to heal people, the way that he used to heal people, the way history interact with the sick and the lepers, and all of them, I have a role model as a physician in the life of Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon. So in that context, Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him, he had lots of opposition from people because he was
bringing people to one God, some of the politics and the pagans, and the mushrikeen at the time, they did not accept his message, for whatever reason, and they started to torture Muslims, and go after the property, and he wanted to kill them. Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him did not raise your finger against them to fight them, like Brad has mentioned. For 13 long years, Muslims suffered with patience in the city of Mecca. They did not fight the enemies. So they move to the city of Medina, over there, they established the Islamic State. The purpose of the Islamic State is to show humanity at large that this is the Islamic State. And if a person accepts Islam and lives in the
Islamic State, they will find peace, society would be peaceful, and they would be peaceful with God. Ultimate reward would be paradise. Okay. So in that context, there were many enemies from outside and sometimes from within that Islamic state that wants to destroy the Islamic State. So all the battles were fought to repel those enemies, not as a form of aggression or terrorism, but just to repel those enemies in early the early history of Islam. Islam there wasn't expansionist, primarily Arab. As a couple examples, the Egyptians were a majority Christian, although there was some remnants of pagan, the Coptic, they had a distinctive language, distinctive culture, the GIS
The Coptic language and script as well as the Persians were Zoroastrians there was an Arab conquest and Islamic conquest. It's spread out that did conquer by military battle. Sure. Okay. Yes. So, Islam, in its early days certainly won military battles of people who did not voluntarily consent to Islam.
Whether it be the Byzantine Empire with a, the Battle of Mensa Kirk that started to see Asia Minor turn from Christian to Muslim, or at least under Muslim control, that these areas were not voluntarily convert to Islam, these were won by battles of an Arab Islamic expansion, show one simple correction. And you could also add whether adding
the message of Islam is for all of humanity.
So in that context, Muslims are supposed to take the message of Islam to those who do not know the message. So Islam, or not started, Islam was revived again in the city of Mecca. Because Islam was there all throughout history, brought by all the prophets, all the prophets is submitted to one God, and they were Muslims in the sense of the world. So the purpose of Islam or the Muslims at the time was to take Islam to all of humanity. Okay. say they took Islam to the country of Russia at the time, and China and India and Africa and Europe. They took Islam there, but they did not force anyone to convert to Islam. But they did conquer many of these nations by military battle, that they
were under a caliphate government. That's true. However, when they conquered, they did not force the people up there to convert to Islam, once those non Muslim people of the country, once they saw how Islamic system is, how it is better for them, how they were being taken away from the oppression of their own people, under the guidance of Islam, under the protection of Islam, and how their rights and liberties were given to them, how the woman were uplifted to the status that they were supposed to be. After they saw this perfect system of Islam, which was implemented on them. They converted to Islam in a volunteer basis. That's how country by country became Muslim. Well, why was during the
initial military conquest of these regions all the way north africa into Spain, almost away into France, from Persia on to all the way to India? Sure, one good example that I could give and you could also add brother Eddie would be in Spain, King Rodriguez was oppressing his own Christian fellow
fellow beings. There was a letter sent by those oppressed creatures, Christians, to the Muslim holiday,
saying that come and rescue us. So the Muslim ruler at the time, he sent a delegation by by the in charge of the delegation was Tarik bin Zayed. So he took his army to release the oppression from this people don't buy their own King.
So in the year 711, the delegation went, and they took away the oppressor, and the freed those people. So that's how Islam entered Spain.
Same way, Islam entered Africa and different parts of Europe and India and China in a similar way. Most of the time, it was by the invitation of the oppressed people to come and rescue them,
by their own people.
So that's how the expansion took place. It's a It's a unique situation, Frank, where you have we talk about conquering, and the only thing that Islam conquered is the hearts and the minds of people. Because when somebody really sincerely studies the life of the last and final messenger, and the message that he brought, and you sincerely objectively look at it,
there's nothing left to do. And just to submit, because that's what Islam calls you to surrender, submit to God alone. Now, when you look at all the bloodshed going on all around the world, and you add up the amount, and I'm going to give you a larger amount, but I challenge anybody in 23 years, you know, how many people from the Muslim side and the non Muslim side died and these battles because when you're trying to establish justice, you might have some criminals running around hurting innocent people. So what do you got to do? You got to lock them up. They even have jails. They have jails back then. No, this is amazing. So tell me this. How many people do you think died
in 23 years? During the Prophet Muhammad's lifetime? Yes. I have no idea how many people have we lost innocent people. Now it doesn't matter one innocent people. I'm an American born here.
I love my brothers and humanity. If somebody
dies here, or somebody dies in another part of the world is a sad thing. We should feel it in our hearts. How many people have died in wars in the last
three to five years? It's a good question. I don't know if I agree with you on the history. But let's take a break, and then we'll be back. Want to continue this, but we also want to talk about why Muslim women wear the headdress to his job, and the role of women in Islamic Society. We'll be right back.
And we're back.
We were talking about the history of Islam. I want to fast forward a little bit and I want to talk a little bit more about maybe some violence, tourism, either another show, or maybe towards the end of the show. But let's talk about the role of women.
Many people say that Islam oppresses women, that in Islamic societies that women do not have as many rights an example that is kind of a symbol for the West, either the secular west or the Americans or Western Europeans is the hijab. And I think there's even a larger hijab like the one they use a burqa like in Afghanistan.
And they are this is an example of oppression of women. Also, although I understand that it's not inherently Islamic in some African countries, where there are Muslims, you do have incidents of genital mutilation, although I understand that is not perhaps inherently Islamic Quranic, it is a leftover, tribal custom. So
what is the role of women in Islam? Is that a fair criticism of Americans or people in more Western secular nations to criticize the use of a job or a burqa? And then let me tie in one more thing, because one of the most controversial things about Islam as it is, and that goes into relations with women, as well, Mormonism, and perhaps some other sex, you've seen some in Texas and Utah, where they've arrested some people recently. Is polygamy.
That is polygamy, bad for women? Is polygamy something that is because clearly Islam permits polygamy, and if and you only need to talk about it, but my understanding is you can have up to four wives.
And that I know, you must treat them equally and there's different, but you can have four wives, so but in some of the Gulf states and some of the even in the Saudi UAE, the US ally, Saudi Arabia, they've had multiple wives, sometimes 70 wives are in Brunei, they have a whole harem. And the theorem, I think, is even an Arabic word, to have harems, you know, the I Dream of Jeannie type of thing for you know, women dancing around, etc. So is the and then let me actually one thing, and then I'll let you talk for some time is that even theologically is in some sects of Islam, there was an idea that when you die, you go to Paradise, which is beautiful woman 70 virgins, and it was
alleged in some historical Chronicles that I believe the ish my alias that they would do some kind of opium or some kind of drug, hashish, they would fall asleep, they'd wake up in this beautiful garden with a woman, and they'd say, then they'd fall asleep again. And then that this was the you know, the this was a foretaste of what paradise was a beautiful garden with naked or beautiful virgins, and, and the like. So.
And my understanding, it's not the same for a woman that her paradise or heaven is not 70 naked men or something of this nature. So what is the distinction between men and women? And is this a oppression on woman, both polygamy or the his job, or some of the other practices that are found in Islamic countries? Before we go on, I let Dr. Seville answer this, I wanted to before we went to a break, I wanted to ask you that question. You probably have a better idea how many people we discussed wars that are going on, and we feel empathy for any person has lost their life. It's a very sad thing that happens when innocent people die. Peace is what we should be striving for. So we
make this clear, and I asked you
how many people in the last three to five years would you say have died in some of the wars that are going on? Today around the world? I'm assuming millions billions. So now my question is to you, maybe 10s of millions 10s of millions Frank, how many people in 23 years have died? During the lifespan of the Prophet the last and final messenger to mankind Have mercy to the world. How many people do you think died? Have no idea I guess
it's hard for me to guess. The larger number is 4000 francs for it then this is not non Muslim. This is Muslim.
And Muslims from our sources, the higher number
close to 4000. Now, can you imagine now 23 years, oppression being driven out of your hometown?
What kind of man? I mean, we've hear all sorts of things being thrown the slander at this man, and this is nothing new. They did this to Moses, they did this to Jesus. Because when truth comes, and now people are Upon doing their own thing, say you're worshipping a fire hydrant, right? And now you come and you tell this man, look, that's a fire hydrant. Your God is the one who created the sun and the moon worship him. But this guy might be benefiting from worshipping that fire hydrant or the tree, or whatever else in the creation. Some people got upset. Some people, you know what hit their pockets. So there was conflicts. There was a time and it's confirmed Encyclopedia Britannica
confirms it says, early sources show that he Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him was an honest and upright man, who was surrounded by others who are honest and upright men. Now check this out Frank. He was known as El amin, the trustworthy Now, you might come across Johnny knuckles,
you might come across Mr. left hook, knock you out, Tony. All these different nicknames. When have you come across someone who's called the trustworthy as a this is my friend, Mr. trustworthy. That's what his name was, and is confirmed.
At a time when they would leave. Let's say you take off your Rolex, I'ma leave you a few that's honor for you isn't that something as you know, someone to leave their positions with you. They left the pagan Arabs would leave their trusted items with the Prophet peace be upon him. Now what happened? The Angel Gabriel came to him said, Look, they're plotting to kill you. So what happened he left his cousin Ollie in his place. And when they came, he left them to leave the possessions to give them back. Because some people will say you know what he set up he was in it for Robin carowinds these things. So I'm setting up to see because you're an attorney. And we see what's his
motive behind these things. his motive is calling the people to goodness cause them to worship one God, we see that what his name was the trustworthy. His nickname, the possessions when he had a chance at a time of war. They're trying to kill him and kill him plotting to assassinate him. He leaves someone there to give them their possessions back. What kind of man does this a man from God, a messenger from God. So when we look at things in their proper context, when someone comes at this sincerely, and he really wants to get close to God, they'll see that just as Jesus peace be upon him was the way the truth and the light. Nobody at the time of Jesus could get to God, you had to go
through him meaning he had the teachings, he had the blueprint, what are you going to make it up on your own, you know better than Jesus, who had the authority power of attorney, he said, by the permission of God,
I would make
the dead come to life. Look at that, by the permission of God, I healed the sick. He was the one that you had to emulate. You had to follow him. Moses, the same thing. The last and final messenger. He's the way the truth and the light to God. You can't do it on your own. How are you going to have your opinion? Right? So when you, when you when you look at these things, it starts to fit and make sense. You can't help but submit? Well, let me I want to I want to focus on the woman topic. But let me just mention one thing. And then let's we'll do when we were sort of First we'll talk about women, then we'll come back to this. But it just very briefly there. If you look at some hotspots
around the globe, and I'm going to name a couple of them. And some of them. I am a Christian, I'm Catholic. And I've learned more about I'm not of Middle Eastern heritage, but I've learned more about the Middle East and I'm going to name a couple places where Christians are getting oppressed and killed sometimes by Muslims. I've gotten some ports recently then in Mosul in northern Iraq, that both Kurds Sunni Shia.
The one thing they seem to be agreeing on is that there's some murders and pushing out of Christians in in Mosul, which can be Assyrians are called diens, orthodox, etc, of ancient Christian communities. But just a couple you're from India. I know that at one time, the Lok Sabha was taken over by, I believe, what are termed Kashmiri separatists. So you have Muslim versus Hindu in India. And just as a this is Hindu atrocity in Orissa, they had many Christians and I think I believe Muslims also are being persecuted by Hindu nationalists. And before his deal was a fairly tolerant country, Hinduism
by its nature has some at least theoretical tolerance. But there are Christians being persecuted in India, same thing in Sudan. Check it out, you know, it's a complex situation because both the Orthodox Russian as well as communism was very harsh on the Muslim champion, but there was takeovers of school. So Sudan, where there's some great atrocities maybe bordering on genocide, slavery, that you see that around the world, there's a great deal of turmoil. So you said how many so and then number of the places there are Muslims, whether or not they're practicing authentic Islam? I don't know. So that could be debated. But in a number of places of world, there's great turmoil, where
there are Muslim people, sometimes the victims, and sometimes the perpetrators, but what I want to do is let's discuss that at the end. What I want to do is reverse the order of our discussion just as a response to you and discuss what is the role of women in Islam. The job and and or the burqa is another some different jobs, the polygamy and those related issues. And either you could start
that's a very good topic and you have covered like, so many different subtopics insert. So a woman is a woman is the general topic that is general topic. Yeah. Okay. Hamdulillah, Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him, he mentioned that women are twins of men. That means, you know, they are equal level in the eyes of God. So that itself should dispel many misconceptions that people may have about suppression of women and torture, you know, and all of those things.
When it comes to the women in Islam, we should again put in the context of where they were, before Islam came in, and what Islam did to them. Before Islam was revived in Mecca, in Saudi Arabia, the status of women were just like, properties like animals. They used to be abused and oppressed, and buried alive, newborn baby girls were buried alive. That's how much you know jaha, Leah, you know, ignorance that they were about giving rights to women.
So but when Islam came, Islam uplifted the women,
not just Muslim women, all women,
to the status of a male, they were taken, as you know, right, they were given their own rights, they were given the right to vote, the right to property, the right to keep their maiden name after they get married, the right to work, if necessary, necessity arrives. And they were given the right to express themselves and to better the society.
So they were all the way at the bottom, and Islam uplifted them all the way up there. And this is at a time when all throughout the world The situation was the same.
So if you compare the right Islam gift of women compared to the rights that are they're given in this country now, Islam was far ahead by 1400 years. A question to you, Frank would be when did women over here won the right to vote? 1900s Yeah, 1920s or something like 1400 years before that Islam gave women the right to vote. Well, in some countries today, they claim to be authentically Islam, where you have the head, you caught his shots from Medina and Mecca, the holy places in Saudi Arabia. Only recently have there even been discussions of woman's right to vote. women cannot drive in Saudi Arabia, women could not vote in Saudi Arabia. And these are the custodians of Mecca and
Medina. Right. Again, we are comparing cultural Islam to the authentic Islam which is present in the Koran, and in the example of Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him.
Culturally, people could do many things and one of the things that you have brought up, you know, genital mutilation and all of those, that's not part of Islam. Yes. And I recognized at the beginning that my my understanding and my very limited research on it, is that these are cultural tribal customs.
They that are pre Islamic or non Islamic. We got to make one note again, Islam Muslim, Islam is perfect. It's a perfect system a way of life that if one implements it, from A to Z, everything, no guesswork what God wants you to do, everything's there. Muslims today.
I would say more than 50% of them don't even pray. They don't establish the first pillar of Islam. If you're not establishing the first basic pillar of praying five times a day, what do you think a lot of the rest of the things are neglecting? So again, Islam, Muslims, let's take the perfect if I have a Mercedes Benz
This is a great car. Now if I put some idiot behind the wheel, he crashes and we're gonna take it out on
The car just put the best driver behind that car. And the best driver for his lawn is the last and final messenger, the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him. Let's see how he lived Islam. That's what we go by an analogy friend that I could give, because in some of the from the medical field, suppose if you have a medication,
an example comes to my mind would be like Celebrex recently they have found out in the last three, four years, even though that medication for is for pain, arthritis and stuff, the side effect of that medication, it causes some heart problems. Right. So that was you know, propagated by the media all over the place and the sales of that medication. It plummeted all the way down.
Right now, Islam, media, all over the place, they are against Islam, they are propagating many different, you know, negative aspects against Islam.
So a logical thing would be Islam, the followers of Islam, or the conversion of Islam would be reduced, correct. Suppose if I advertised Pepsi out there day in and day out a television advertisement, all the bad effects of Pepsi, to the heart and to the mind to the society at large. Do you think the sales of Pepsi would go up or down
understate should go down, right. So despite that fact that even though there's a negative propaganda coming by different sources, against Islam, logically, Islam Muslim, the numbers should go down. However, we find that when people when they are curious about Islam, they are studying Islam, from the authentic sources and not from the media, we find that they are coming to realize that this is the truth. And because of that, the numbers of Muslims in the world and the number of convergence to Islam, it's rising up, making it the fastest growing fate on the top of it. Since we are on the topic of women in Islam, if it were true that Islam suppresses women, that means there
should be no conversion of women to Islam or minimum conversion of women to Islam. What do the statistics prove right now,
out of every three women convert to Islam, only one male converts to Islam, that means they're 75 out of the women converting two out of the people converting to Islam, 75% of those are women, Caucasian women, intellectuals and professors.
People using their mind and studying the Koran, and realizing that the rights that God has given to them.
So there is what Islam is. Okay. Yeah, well, I can recognize the genital mutilation is not part of Islam. But this Islam condemn it? is Islam teaching those people, let's say in Africa, that are doing genital mutilation, or in Afghanistan, where there's some deviations, does it go? Do Muslims say this is condemned? It should not take place? Yeah, it is mostly cultural, what they are doing, and that genital mutilation. According to my research, it is not just happening by Muslims, it is also happening by Christians, to Christians. So let's just make that thing clear that it's not just Muslim culture. It's also Christian culture in those countries. So my understanding is that
Christianity, which maybe has more of a central authority, let's say, the Catholic Church, the pope in Rome, has very clearly said that genital mutilation is against the principles of Christianity. And there's people medical doctors, like yourself that have gone out and said, No, don't do this. Sure, Muslim scholars have done the same, even though it's not brought out in the media. Even though we don't have like a central halifa like the way in the past. However, we have lots of scholars and lots of Imams and lots of leaders, and they have condemned it. Okay, now, I'm glad you brought that up. So you don't have a magisterium, let's say like you have any follow up system or a pope or, you
know, and then there's different heads of different However, you do have the Grand Mufti and Cairo certain universities, you have certain a moms that have a certain high place in different either countries or with different sects.
You know, in Shia Islam, you have Najaf and comb and certain centers of Shia Islam or certain universities that are as old as is in a University in Cairo, Alaska. So and then I remember we had
the mom even name that saddam on and he said that, in his degree he had from Professor to Professor from, you know, almost at the time of the Prophet Mohammed or maybe 100 years after
the the the lineage, lineage, as they would say, so, who are some of the key teachers in Islam that one should listen to?
Well, there are many in different countries.
Over here in North America, we have many different or very, you know, scholars a very high stature. Dr. Jamal Badawi comes to mind Okay, then in Egypt itself, use of Hardaway comes to mind in India you have
use of Islam he comes to mind. So we have scheduled Grand mathies you know many different places in Jerusalem. There's a Grand Mufti of Jerusalem in Australia, in Africa in India all over the place. We have a religious scholars, however, they don't have the authority, unlike Pope to change what is in the plan. And in the Sunnah of the Prophet.
Yeah. See, the beauty of Islam is even though we may not have the hollyford present right now, we have the same sorts, which was given to Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him. If I need to find something for my own guidance, as a father, as a medical doctor, or maybe as a leader of the country, I could go there and I could find out, but a guidance. It seems that that may be true. However, there are different interpretations. I know there have been contrary interpretations by different movies and the moms and the issue of suicide bombings, that some well respected Muftis have said that if the people are being oppressed, the idea of a suicide bomb could be allowable.
Others have said no, that some even in Saudi Arabia, a very well known Maltese have said that some of what Osama bin Laden is doing is good that it's fighting against, you know,
the non Muslim, the infidel and some have said not. So there is some contradictory issues coming out there. There has been some fatwa against certain individuals and certain other Mufti saying no, they should not have your fatwa. One example comes to mind in India since your since your Indian was the issue of Salman Rushdie and the fatwa against him to take his life because of his, his his books that he read. We
mentioned you mentioned some of the learned people you have here in Chicago, you have at the Muslim community center. We have Shaykh Ibrahim Sudan. You have Dr. Bilal Philips, you have a former Christian preacher, shake use of estas. You have Yasser cardi, you have
so many different I've had some conversations he I think he's in Naperville. Now because Sheikh Sheikh Abdullah rough man, no, facial? Hamada. Yeah, Hamada. And then there's one Sheikh, although it's a mosque that someone criticized because of the Palestinian question, especially with the issue of Hamas, Sheikh Jamal from the bridge of the mosque. So we have these learned men at the deen, show calm, they have their sections, you go on there, and we discuss all these issues, you had women in detail in great detail. Now we have this blueprint, what people do outside of the blueprint, that's a different situation. We have the verbatim Word of God.
We have the traditions and sayings authenticated, we have what no other way of life has, from a B to C linked to the Prophet peace be upon him who this man was how he lived his whole biography. If the person started losing his memory is called a weak Hadeeth. If everything links up all the way to the Prophet peace be upon him, it's accepted as authentic. So we have this and
how the people during his time his companions, Abu Bakar Sadiq Ali, Othman, these were his companions, may God be pleased with them and grant them Jenna, these were the people who knew and implemented Islam at that time. So we have when people mentioned interpretation or whatnot, according your desires, hold on, we have a problem. But if they stick and they provide us because Islam is based on evidence, Islam is not just based on following someone blindly. If the evidence is there, if this person for instance, Dr. Blah, Philips or Shaykh, Ibrahim sedan or Dr. zakhar naeyc, or shake use of estas these people are the scholars, people who have studied this day and let me let
me break in because we only got a couple of minutes I want to get to the issue of his job before we close and we certainly have to have another show. Yeah, these are very interesting topics. But there are contradictory Heidi's or they're not. No, no. If Okay, Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him, not only he received the guidance from God in the form of the horror and whatever that he used to utter to guide humanity, his own sayings, but indirectly they were also coming by God. Because since he was the role model, and they were indirectly coming from God, no authentic hadith are going to contradict each other or with the boy
You consider authentic, but there are other hobbies you have shielded
from the followers of Bali very early on in the history of Islam, and you do have hobbies from allegedly from different companions? Well, then we have to provide or you have to provide, you know, two different ideas, then we have to examine it. Because, you know, it's a very big topic, the preservation of the heartbeat and authenticity how you do it. So we have to have both of those together. And some of those are, what do you call it abolished, or they were like in the transition phase, you know, abrogation, the concept of abrogation. We only got about a minute left, very briefly, we have to do more shows on this. Tell us about his shop, or his tradition of kind of send
the burqa this Sure. Okay. Islam says modesty. And modesty is not limited to only what you wear, what you speak, what you hear, what you touch, how you walk, all of those are in the concept of modesty. modesty is for both males and females. Okay. One of the ways to be modest is what's your dress and how you dressed, okay? It cannot be tight, you have to cover things which are, you know, beautiful, especially for ladies. for male, you're also supposed to be having some way of modesty to number one. Number two, wearing hijab, if it's oppression, then the Christian Catholic nuns are they're also oppressed. Then you have Mother Teresa, she used to be very modest, was she oppressed,
then you have the mother of Jesus peace be upon them. He used to be very modest. We don't see her you know, and the things that we do, seeing today's women, she was also modest. She was also wearing the hijab. So bottom line is Islam to preserve the chastity of the person and the for the society. Give us the guidance to be modest. And modesty is not just clothing, it covers all different aspects, both for males and for females. Dr. Sybil, that's all the time we have. I do want to bring you guys back on and talk to you more about some of these issues. Eddie of his dashboard, he is the Dean show.com and Gracie Jiu Jitsu and Dr. Saviola with acna. And he's a medical doctor. Thank you
for being on our show. Thank you. So our viewing audience, thank you for watching. I hope it was educational. And I hope that we all can learn to coexist and be tolerant and learn about each other. Goodbye and God bless