Real-Time Transcription

This transcription is something Prof Umar requested quite some time ago,
I'm going to do this real-time (listening and typing in parallel) ;)

Bismillahirrahman nirrahim.

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Class of Muwatta' of Imam Malik
Topic: Knowledge

Islam stands for freedom!
Stands for the fact that every single transaction, including transactions with money,
Must agree on one condition that Allah has placed on trading.

"Tijaratan 'antaradin minkum" (Quran, 4:29)
Trade, with mutual consent

Islamic banking, is Haram!
It is an attempt to destroy Islam!

You can do something Haram, but you will deal with it.
But the people who says, the Haram is Halal, is not acceptable!
These people are corrupters!

But today I want to talk about something much more important,
Perhaps the heart of this affair.
It is knowledge.

Because, first of all, knowledge is everything!
Knowledge is what distinguishes us from the rest of creation.
Knowledge is what makes the Mu'minun!
Knowledge is what you seek.
Knowledge is the counter of every action.

But knowledge, all knowledge, comes from a single source.
All knowledge comes from knowledge of Allah.

This is the pivot.
The base, the ground.
Every other knowledge, regarding nature or mathematics or physics,
Or any kind of knowledge,
Comes from the knowledge of Allah!

This is very important,
Because, how then do you build knowledge?
You don't build it on the basis of experimental realizations of your life,
You don't build knowledge on what other people in your community has gathered,
You don't build knowledge on what your PhDs give their students
You don't gather knowledge on what most of mankind does
Because, as Allah s.w.t.says,

"If you follow the majority of mankind..you will be led astray!"

Knowledge is an individual affair.
It is private.
It is intimate, the most intimate of all affairs!
It is something between you and Allah, and no one else.
Nobody.
Because, it is not priesthood.
It is the most intimate, and the most rewarding of all affairs.
The affair is both, the means and the goal.
By knowledge...you acquire more knowldge.

Everything that you do fisabilillah,
Is to acquire more knowledge!
Our relationship with minting the Gold Dinar,
Is not because we want to change the economy or to help the people,
Because its beyond our means,

We do it because we love Allah,
And becuae we worship Allah,
And our award is knowledege,
And Allah gives you more knowldege.

You build the knowledge of everythigng else, on the basis of knowlegde,
And the basis of this knowledge is simple,
And its easy to understand.

The people of knowledge, the arifin, the knowers, they have little baggage,
All the knowledge they carry are small.
Unlike the knowledge of the scientists, which are adding and adding.
The sufis, the elite, they say,

"La ilaha illAllah"

And the elite of the elite, they say, La'.
What do they know, they say, they know La'!
They know nothing!

And what is so important about this matter, that this is, knowldge itself!
How can "La' " contain so much knowledge?
Because, all you have to say is La'.
La' to this world.
Such that it is La' to anything other that Allah s.w.t.

And from that, you'll understand something essential.
Which is what is going to make you an activist.
You will not come out of here with knowledge, without this understanding!

"La ilaha illAllah" is the definition which Allah s.w.t takes of Himself.
Allah s.w.t didn't say, "I am ...",
But He says, "Don't worship anything other than Me",
He says, "None of these, except Me".
This the the very foundation of the very thing.
This is how we relate to the world.

Rasul s.a.w said,
"Islam started as a thing that is strange, and it will become again, strange",
And another part of the Hadith he said,
"Paradise are for the strangers".
And his companions asked, "Who are the strangers?"
And the prohet s.a.w siad, "Those who forbid the evil where the people become corrupters"
They are the good people, and there are a few amongst us, compared to the corrupters.

And the Rasul s.a.w said,
"Live in the world, like strangers",
or "Like somebody passing by",
This is the "La' ",
You don't belong.

And these people, these strangers will be the ones that are able to correct,
To forbid the evil when the people have corrupt it.
"Those who correct my Sunnah when it has become corrupt by the people"

To be continued.