Dealing With Differences

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We all as human beings have pride and we love it when important people or figures speak about us in a positive way.
And that's a natural human instinct for people to look for. And if your name is mentioned by a very famous personality
and it's mentioned publicly and it's mentioned in a very good context, it makes you very proud.

So keep in mind that by mentioning the name of Allah, your name will be mentioned by the king of the universe, Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala. And the audience that is listening to him is a better audience and that's the audience of the
angels. So by mentioning the name of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, Allah will be mentioning your own name in front of a
better gathering.

So we ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to make us of adh-zakirina wa adh-zakirat, the ones who remember the name of
Allah. Dear brothers and sisters, our topic is about tolerance. Quran, a book of tolerance.

Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, O you who believe, be witnesses in the sake of Allah and be just. And fair. Even if you
have an animosity between you and other people, don't let that animosity get into the way between you and being fair
and just.

So for a Muslim, it is justice and fairness with friend and foe. That is the rule. That is how Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
expects us to be.

And when we are dealing with the topic of tolerance, there is two forms of it. There is tolerance among ourselves in
dealing with our differences and then there is the tolerance between this ummah and other nations. Between Muslim
and non-Muslim.

So these are two distinct types of tolerance and we should have both. We should be tolerant among ourselves and
then we should be also tolerant with other faiths or other religious groups. If I would like to talk about Muslims being
tolerant toward others, we first of all have to look into this.

Do we need to talk about it or not? And the reason why I say do we need to talk about it is because if you notice
throughout the lives of the prophets of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, you would find that the prophets of Allah would
focus on the diseases that their people are suffering from. They would not waste their time talking about irrelevant
sins or forms of evil that do not exist among their people.

So when Shu'aib a.s. was presenting the message to his people, his people were corrupt in their business dealings.
Therefore Sayyidina Shu'aib a.s. he focused on this even though it drawed upon him a lot of resistance and it brought
upon him a lot of harm. Usually people like to hear about other people's mistakes.

But we don't like to hear about our own mistakes. The anbiya of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, the prophets of Allah, they
would confront their people with their sins. They are not going to talk about the sins of the neighboring village or
neighboring town.

These are your problems. So they would focus on that. Now, is there such a problem among the Muslim community of
intolerance towards other faiths?

Well, to some extent there is. To some extent there is. However, when one is dealing with the issue of tolerance,
usually the party that is asked to be tolerant is the party that is in power.

The party that is in control. However, when a people are suffering and oppressed, it is not easy or it doesn't even make
a lot of sense. To bring up the issue of tolerance.

Therefore, with the Muslims of today, since the Muslim ummah is sort of like in a state of helplessness. When we want
to talk about whether we are tolerant or not. I think we should look back into stages of history when the Muslims were
in a stable condition.

When the Muslim state was in power and in authority. And then see how the Muslims dealt with others. And if we look
throughout our history.

Take for example the relationship of the Muslims with the Jews. Let's look at the history of this relationship. Which is a
pretty old relationship.

It goes back to the time of the messenger of Allah, Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. When Muhammad
sallallahu alayhi wa sallam went to Medina. When he migrated to Medina.

There were three Jewish tribes living in Medina. Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, the messenger of Allah,
Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. He approached them with an open heart.

With goodwill. He entered into a pact or an agreement with them very early on. When he entered into Medina.

And the terms of this agreement revealed that he is treating them as citizens of Medina. And they have the same
obligations and they have the same rights. And he says that it is a duty upon the Muslims to defend the Jews.

And it is a duty upon the Jews to defend the Muslims in case there is any danger. We are all in Medina together. We
have to stand up and protect it together.

And Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam had so much good expectations from the Jews. He desired that one day they
would be his followers. One day they would stand up and adopt and embrace Islam.

That was his expectations because he felt that since they are the people of the book. They have the scripture with
them. They are familiar with the verses of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

That would make them inclined towards embracing Islam. And then after that, whenever the Muslims in the early days
of the Islamic expansion. Whenever the Muslims would enter into a land that had Jewish people.

You would find that the Muslims would offer them protection and rights. And defend their religious rights. That
happened with the Jews of Yemen when Islam entered into Yemen.

And it happened with the Jews of Jerusalem. And it happened in other parts of the Muslim world. And then when the
Muslims arrived in Spain, the same thing happened.

When Spain fell and was taken over by King Fernandez and Queen Isabella. The Jews of Spain had to flee from
Christian persecution. And they moved into North Africa.

And a big portion of the Jewish population that was living in Spain. Ended up moving to Istanbul. To be close to the
Muslim Sultan.

Right in the capital of the Islamic Khilafah. So that is the history of the Muslims with the Jews. Now the other side, when
it came to the Jews.

Even though Rasulullah s.a.w. approached with this good will. And this desire of cooperation. We find that the payback
was that the Jews attempted to assassinate Rasulullah s.a.w. not once. But a few times. And every time that was
exposed. That the tribe of Banu Quraizah committed treason.

Against Rasulullah s.a.w., against the messenger of Allah. In the battle of Al-Khandaq, in the battle of Al-Ahzab. And
nowadays we find that the Palestinian people are suffering.

Under the Israeli government. And that suffering has been going on for 50 years. And it's not getting better, it's only
getting worse.

And the Palestinian people have endured this suffering for so long. And they've been quiet. And now when they're
starting to stand up and ask for their rights.
The media immediately accuses them of being the aggressor. So not only is the government of Israel oppressing them.
But it's also changing the facts.

And deceiving the world in this big lie. Nowadays, when it comes to the Muslim Ummah. There is suffering, there is
very widespread suffering.

And if one would look at it objectively. And see the suffering that the Muslims are going through. An outside observer
who would look at this fairly would say that.

Rather than the Muslims being intolerant. It shows that the Muslims are having actually too much tolerance. When you
have 1 million plus dead in Iraq over a period of 10 years of embargo.

That is enforced by the United States and Britain primarily. And you have a million people are dead by now. The
majority of them are children.

The Muslims are silent. When you have the Islamic people around the world living under despotic governments. That
are supported primarily by the West.

And whenever the Muslims try to change that condition in these countries. You would find that Western money and
arms would flood in to support and help. So the condition now of the Muslims.

And in fact there is an author his name is James Reston. He wrote a book about Salahuddin and Richard Lionheart.
Talking about the history of the crusade wars.

He said that in the conflict between Salahuddin and King Richard. Salahuddin was winning in one battle after another.
But then whenever Salahuddin would conquer an area and win.

He would end up releasing the soldiers. The crusader soldiers. And letting them free.

He would get appeals for mercy and help. And he would just let them go. Even though they were just fighting him a
day ago.

And these soldiers ended up gathering in the city of Tyre. And they are the ones who were able to turn the tables after
Salahuddin died. And to take over the coastal cities of Lebanon and Palestine again.

So the assessment of Reston was that the problem with Salahuddin. Even though he was winning in these wars and
battles against the crusader armies. But his problem was that he was too tolerant and kind towards his enemy.

And that tolerance and kindness ended up affecting him. And it was the reason of his demise. Therefore, one needs to
move on to the form of tolerance that we really really lack.

And that is tolerance of different views among us. That is the area where we have a significant problem. There is
intolerance among us of having different views.

And that is quite clear and prevalent in the different sects and groups that we have. And the problems that are
erupting between these different points of view. And that is an area that needs to be dealt with.

ْ ُ ‫ﺤﻜ‬
And it's an emergency. Because Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, ‫ﻢ‬ َ َ‫ﺸﻠ ُﻮا وَﺗ َﺬ ْﻫ‬
ُ ‫ﺐ رِﻳ‬ ْ َ ‫ وََﻻ ﺗ َﻨ َﺎَزﻋ ُﻮا ﻓَﺘ‬Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, Don't have d
َ ‫ﻔ‬
among you, otherwise you would fail. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said, the end result, the consequence of having
differences among you will be your failure.

How can we deal with these differences among us? Number one, we have to learn and study an area of fiqh which is
called fiqh al-ikhtilaf. The fiqh of difference of opinion.

How do we deal with the differences of opinion? We're learning all types of fiqh, but we're missing out on this form of
fiqh. How to deal with different points of view.

Some of us have a tendency that the truth is only what I believe in. That's the only right way. There cannot be a
different point of view.

There just can't be any different form of view. There can't be anything else. Well, the truth of the matter is, the
differences of opinion existed all throughout, even in the time of the sahaba radhiallahu anhu.

Even the sahaba had differences of opinion, but the point is to learn how to live with those differences of opinion, to
learn how to deal with them. The two advisors of Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, Abu Bakr and Umar, on almost
every issue, they would have a different opinion. On almost everything.

Abu Bakr would say black, Umar bin Khattab would say white. It was always different. And that's why they were two
excellent advisors of Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, because they always gave him a different point of view.

And that was absolutely fine and acceptable, and that's the whole point of making shura. When you are making shura,
consultation, the point is to get out the different points of view, and to discuss them, and then to adopt one point of
view, or to try to find a way to bridge between the different views. That's the whole point of shura.

If we all have the same opinion, then there is no need to have shura in the first place. And Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi
wa sallam told Abu Bakr and Umar, because Abu Bakr was very soft, and had such a tender and merciful heart. Umar
bin Khattab, he was firm.

Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, that the similarity of Abu Bakr is Nuh alayhi wa sallam and Musa. So Abu
Bakr is similar to Nuh and Musa. Nuh and Musa were firm.

And then Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said that Umar is similar to Nuh and Musa, while Abu Bakr alayhi wa
sallam is similar to Ibrahim and Isa. Ibrahim alayhi wa sallam and Jesus, Isa, they were very lenient and tender and
soft. So Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said that Abu Bakr is similar to Isa and Ibrahim, while Umar bin Khattab
is similar to Musa and Nuh.

So Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, the messenger of Allah, approved of this difference of opinion. So the first
thing that we need to learn is that differences are there to remain. The point is how to deal with them.

How can we deal with these different points of view without that ending up causing division among us. That's number
one. Number two, we have to learn fiqh al-awlawiyat, the fiqh of priorities.

What are our priorities? So that we could minimize the areas of contention. What are the areas that we could focus on
and sort of put behind our backs other things that are trivial or are not a priority at this particular moment of time.

There are issues for us Muslims that demand immediate attention and demand care from everyone. The situation that
the ummah is going through today, what is going on in Palestine, what's going on in Iraq, what's going on all over the
Muslim world. The condition of the Muslims is something that demands immediate attention.

Therefore we don't have place, we don't have any place for differences and divisions among trivial issues and small
issues like where for example one would like in the fiqh of salah, there would be some fine details in the fiqh of salah
or in the fiqh of zakah or in the fiqh of hajj of what particular opinion I would follow here and there. In issues that don't
even, are not even considered to be our can of the ibadah itself. So we shouldn't have any place of division in those
areas.

Fiqh of priorities is something that is important for us to learn. The third area which should increase the tolerance
among us is that we approach each other with a clean heart. If we have suspicion towards one another, naturally that
will be a fertile ground for differences and divisions.

Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, he said, he was with the sahabah, and he told them, right now a man would walk
in and he belongs to the people of paradise. So all of the sahabah were looking at the gates and they saw this man
coming in. This man wasn't very known, wasn't very famous.

His name wasn't even mentioned in the hadith. Nevertheless, Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said that he is in
jannah. The next day, the sahabah were together with the messenger of Allah, and he told them, a man would walk in
and he belongs to jannah.

The same man came in. The third night, the messenger of Allah said the same thing, a man right now will come in and
he belongs to paradise, jannah. And this same person walks in the masjid.

Abdullah ibn Amr radiallahu anhu, he wanted to know what's special about this man. What makes him different? How
come the messenger of Allah for three consecutive days, tells us that he is in paradise, even though he is an obscure
person, we don't even know who he is.

What makes him special? The sahabah radiallahu anhu were very keen in learning. He wanted to know what is special,
what is making this person so close to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, that he was granted jannah by the messenger of
Allah when he was still in this world.

So he went to him and he said, I have a problem with my father, so I can't stay at home. Would you allow me to spend
the night with you? So he said, of course.

So Abdullah ibn Amr spent the night with this brother. So Abdullah ibn Amr, by the way, Abdullah ibn Amr was known
as one of the worshippers, al-ubbad. Abdullah ibn Amr, his father, Amr ibn al-As, complained to Rasulallah sallallahu
alayhi wa sallam about his son.

He told the messenger of Allah, my son is killing himself in this ibadah that he's doing. He's doing too much. He's
fasting continuously, he's praying the whole night, he's not getting any rest.

So the messenger of Allah called Abdullah ibn Amr and he told him, you need to do less than that. He told him, how
long does it take you to make khatmah of Quran? How long does it take you to complete Quran?

He said, I do it in one day. He reads Quran every day, from cover to cover. Rasulallah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam told
him, how about you read Quran once a month?

He said, no, messenger of Allah, I can do more than that. So now Abdullah ibn Amr is bargaining with Rasulallah
sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, he wants to do more. So the messenger of Allah told him, well then how about you do it
over a week?

He said, no, messenger of Allah, I can do better than that. Please, let me do more. Rasulallah sallallahu alayhi wa
sallam told him, the minimum you can do is in three days.

Because if you do it in less than three days, you will not comprehend it. And that was what Abdullah ibn Amr continued
doing until the end of his life. He would complete Quran within three days.

So Abdullah ibn Amr now is visiting this man, and he is having all these expectations in his mind, what he is going to do
at night. So Abdullah ibn Amr thought that as soon as he gets into the privacy of his home, he is going to say Allahu
Akbar and start praying. But he didn't do that, he went to sleep.

Abdullah ibn Amr said, what's going on? How come he is sleeping? And then he continued sleeping until it was right
before Fajr.

He woke up, prayed a few rakah very fast, and then went to pray Fajr. Abdullah ibn Amr said, well he must be fasting
then. But he had breakfast.

Now Abdullah ibn Amr is at loss. I mean he didn't pray at night, he didn't fast during the day time, what's special about
him? He said, maybe this day he is not feeling well, maybe tomorrow is going to be different.

The next day comes, he goes to bed at night. Early in the morning he has breakfast. Well maybe the next day he will be
different.

The third day it was the same thing. He goes to bed, wakes up before Fajr, prays maybe Witr. And then goes and prays
Fajr, comes back home and has breakfast.
Abdullah ibn Amr was confused. So he went to the man and he said, listen I'll tell you the truth. I didn't have any
problem with my father.

The reason why I came to stay with you is because Rasulullah s.a.w. said that you are in Jannah. And I heard this from
him three times, so I wanted to know what's special about you. And to be honest with you, I didn't see anything special.

So how come Rasulullah s.a.w. said that you are in Jannah? Tell me what it is about you that made Rasulullah s.a.w. say
that you are in Jannah. So the man thought for a while and said, what you see is who I am.

There is nothing special. Abdullah ibn Amr gave up and he walked away. But then the man called him back and said,
whenever I go to bed, before I sleep, I cleanse my heart.

So when I sleep, I do not have any hatred in my heart towards any Muslim. Abdullah ibn Amr looked at him and said,
that is the thing that we are not able to do. We pray, we fast, we do all of that ibadah.

But sometimes we fail to have our hearts clean. This man was not very active in his form of ibadah. Nevertheless
Rasulullah s.a.w. said that he is in Jannah. Why? Because he had a clean heart. No matter what people did to him, no
matter how much harm they caused him, he still goes, when he goes home and he is preparing to sleep, he forgives
everyone.

And that is something that was great enough to grant him Jannah. And to make Rasulullah s.a.w. a witness on that in
dunya. To tell us how valuable and important that is.

So if we approach each other with such a good expectation, with good will, then many of the divisions among us will
diminish. Finally, some of our actions, the way we approach others and the way we approach actions, also has an
effect. Rasulullah s.a.w. says that there are some people who are mafatih lil khair, maghaliqa lil sharr. The Messenger
of Allah says that there are some people who are keys of good. And they are locks for evil. While there are some people
who are mafatih lil sharr, maghaliqa lil khair.

Some people are keys of evil and they are locks for good. What Rasulullah s.a.w. means by that is as if some people are
carrying with them keys and locks. Whenever they find something good, they unlock it and they release it.

And whenever there is something evil, they lock it up. So wherever they would go, they would leave behind them a trail
of good. While there are other people, wherever they go, they are troublemakers.

They are going to cause problems wherever they are. Sometimes they intend it, sometimes they don't. That's how they
are.

And these are people who are carrying with them keys of problems. Wherever they go and there is a problem, they
would unlock it and release it to everyone. And if there is any good, they would lock it up.

So if anybody has such a nature, it needs to be changed. Because it is detrimental and it harms others around you. And
there is an Arab poet.

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