00:00:00:12 – 00:00:36:25
Unknown
And then he’s said, Oh my in-law, you. I mean, they’ll sell the house. Board game mean and most anime I said I want to law he bought I got to alhamdulillah alhamdulillah we praise
00:00:37:04 – 00:01:07:13
Unknown
Brothers and sisters, today you shallow to Allah. We have one question that I have been asked by many, many people, but I’m answering it today, and I will actually choose a particular questioner that came with this specific question, Brother Sajid from Australia emails and Mashaal is a radical. He’s in high school, he’s a teenager and he’s learning about Islam and he says that he has come across the fact that there are two different messages in his locality.
00:01:07:18 – 00:01:26:19
Unknown
One of them is a Sunni masjid, the one is a Shia measure, the Shiite masjid. And he says that this has now caused him confusion because he felt that Islam was for unity, that all of the Muslims are one, but he is aware of the fact that even in his own hometown somewhere in Australia, that there are different masjid.
00:01:26:19 – 00:01:57:25
Unknown
And he’s now asking that, well, how do we understand this? And also he asks me to explain what is the difference between these two groups and what should we do about it. Now, obviously this is a very, very difficult question and to my dear brother Satyajit, I will say that the answer is actually quite complicated, but I will try to address this question in a manner that is satisfactory to you and shallow to other to those others in the audience who might be more mature or more knowledgeable.
00:01:57:29 – 00:02:31:22
Unknown
Please understand that there is a time and a place and a particular language for when to be used. And our brother Sajid is a teenager. Similarly, perhaps a new Muslim, or perhaps somebody who is an aware of these things, that there is a language and a methodology to teach these very, very sensitive topics and in Charlo to this is a very basic level response that should be sufficient for those that are new to this reality or those that are young or those that are not involved in the interim Muslim issues or affairs.
00:02:31:26 – 00:02:58:17
Unknown
They need to be told an answer that is sufficient for them and other avenues exist for more detailed discussions. Sadly, the fact of the matter is that this question is already a tense question because most of us are well aware that there is quite a lot of animosity and tensions between these two segments of the Muslim Ummah and there are people who like to fan the fuel of hatred.
00:02:59:02 – 00:03:30:19
Unknown
Look where that has gotten us across the globe. From my side, I am completely against exacerbating tensions and I’m all for factual academic teaching. So today, inshallah, I will try to demonstrate that by walking into this land of mind of a question and by explaining in a manner that Inshallah, whoever listens to this answer will not be able to criticize any fact that is said to be fair and to be unbiased, and then to let the facts speak for themselves.
00:03:30:27 – 00:03:51:17
Unknown
To answer our young brother at subjects question. He is saying that isn’t the Muslim Ummah one and shouldn’t we be unified? And the response is that indeed a loss of hand with the other does say in the Koran were in Nazi on martyrdom Umut and Wahida. Well an Arab book on Sabudana this is your home. It is one home and I’m your Lord.
00:03:51:17 – 00:04:30:26
Unknown
So worship me. And Allah says in the Koran, in among all of the believers, they are brothers. They are brothers together. All of the believers are brothers. This is the ideal. This is the aspiration. This does not negate the reality. And the reality is that that ideal is sometimes not met and that there shall be differences and tensions and different understandings of realities and of truths and even of faith, unless, as in the Koran, kind of not so much in Waheeda mankind used to be one united Omar and then they differed.
00:04:31:06 – 00:04:56:08
Unknown
And because they differed for Bartholomew being associated them within a love then had to send prophets to teach and to give glad tidings to Warren to relay the message of Allah soprano style. Allah says in the Koran, What? Oh, sha Allah who let your mother waheeda? If Allah had willed, he could have made all of mankind in one nation, if allowed world a different reality that would have been the case.
00:04:56:12 – 00:05:18:14
Unknown
But that is not the case. Unless, as in the Koran, what okocha Arab Booker, Legend and Nasser, Nasser and Waheeda has. I don’t know what anything if Allah had willed all of mankind would be one, but they shall remain disunited while I as I don’t know about anything else except those who will love, has shown mercy on that they shall be united.
00:05:18:21 – 00:05:39:26
Unknown
So Allah is saying that mankind, as a rule, differs among themselves. And you know, my dear brother, Sergeant, and all of you out there, we see this reality in every single aspect of life. You say that you are in high school. The teenager don’t you sometimes play with your friends that you like and then maybe even your brothers and siblings and then you disagree?
00:05:40:00 – 00:06:10:06
Unknown
Sometimes those disagreements become very, very bitter and stuff at a loss. Sometimes they might even go more than just words, even though they shouldn’t. Misunderstandings occur. Some people have different ways of looking at the same thing. They have different priorities in life. Some people, they understand realities differently. And this is the way that Allah created mankind. Not everybody has the same angle, the same lens, the same perception, the same analysis, the same list of priorities.
00:06:10:20 – 00:06:37:04
Unknown
And the closer you are to somebody, and the more you have in common with them, the more different difficult the differences are. And that is why, if a stranger differs with you, it’s not a big deal. But when your brother differs with you, it really hurts. And so when we have two groups of the Ummah who are our brothers, when they differ, sometimes those that difference is really difficult for us because we’re so close and yet still.
00:06:37:15 – 00:07:04:25
Unknown
So this is a reality of existence that people differ. And we have to also point out that some differences of opinion are actually healthy and encouraged to a certain degree. It’s good that your flavor ice cream, that you like is different than my flavor and your brother’s flavor. We want everybody to have the exact same flavor. Some diversity is good and even in, for example, the schools, the laws, the Islamic feel, we have different positions.
00:07:05:21 – 00:07:27:03
Unknown
Usually, typically those positions are healthy difference of opinion. It is good. The Sahaba themselves differed over specific areas of Islamic law and it is said that, you know, a number of them said this difference of opinion is a mercy from a lot of know. Watada. And sometimes the differences of opinion are not desirable and we don’t like them.
00:07:27:16 – 00:08:00:29
Unknown
But we need to just tolerate and live and let live, even if we don’t like. And this is the reality of the differences that you are asking about between these two large groups of the AMA. So it is a reality that there are two large trends and it is not something that we like that this exists, but it is there and we simply have to tolerate and accept that there are people that view the world and view Islamic theology differently than us and understand that their worldview is different than our world view.
00:08:01:06 – 00:08:36:27
Unknown
Now you ask me to summarize that what is the what are the main differences? And again, this is something that much can be said. And actually this is one of my area of expertize, which is Islamic theology and the development of Islamic theology. But to summarize to a level that is inshallah useful for you to know, I’ll summarize in ten key points, ten key differences that in show low data are factually correct, academically sound and ask a lot to guide me in this we have to be fair and accurate and we have to quote the reality of what people believe without distortion, without manipulation.
00:08:37:00 – 00:08:58:08
Unknown
And you don’t understand that they have different worldviews. So the first difference is that the Sunni belief, which is our belief. You’re asking us. You’re asking me. And I’m from the Sunni belief. The Sunnis are called Sunnis because they believe in the Koran and in the Sunni. The Sunni means they believe in the Sunni. Everybody believes in the Koran.
00:08:58:23 – 00:09:24:03
Unknown
So what makes the Sunni people different is that they believe in the Koran and in the Sunni. What is the Sunni? The Sunni is the life and teachings of the prophet. So the law why they he was seldom as recorded in the famous books of Hadith. So for us, the primary source of revelation, of inspiration, of ethics, of laws, of theology, of morality.
00:09:24:07 – 00:09:49:24
Unknown
Where do we turn back to? We turn back to the Koran and the Sunni. The other group, the Shia group. They it is short for Shia to Eid or the alone or the Partizans or the people who follow ideologically, the one that for them, the primary source is the Koran and then a living descendant of ideal, or the one whom they call an imam.
00:09:50:03 – 00:10:13:05
Unknown
So there is an authority, there is a person whom they consider to be the final arbiter, the one who speaks essentially on behalf of the religion. And this person is the one who can decide, who can legislate and interpret the Koran. This is the person who can have the final say in what is to be correct and not correct.
00:10:13:08 – 00:10:40:13
Unknown
And this is a person whom they call the imam. So this leads us to the second point, and that is that the Koran and Sunnah are, of course, revelations and books. And so for Sunni Muslims, we believe that scholars are human beings who are trained to study those books and then interpret the books. There is no one scholar who is appointed by Allah to speak on behalf of the texts.
00:10:40:17 – 00:11:10:18
Unknown
There is no one person who is absolutely 100% correct. Rather, the collective group of scholarship and especially the unanimous consensus of the scholars, is what is binding and correct. There is no single individual authorized by a panel without or authorized by the prophets of the law who either who will sell them to interpret the faith. This is the belief of Sunnis, which is us, the Shia, as we said, believing in something called the imam.
00:11:11:06 – 00:11:38:03
Unknown
And so they believe that there must always be one person, that the world must have always one person who is divinely appointed and who has the ultimate and final right to interpret the faith. Hence, for the Sunnis, no human being alive is infallible, 100% correct. Whereas for the Shia, the there is somebody who is infallible. And that is the imam.
00:11:38:21 – 00:12:04:24
Unknown
This leads us to the third point, and that is that for Sunnis, leadership of the community is a political reality, not a religious one. And hence, whoever leads the community, they don’t interpret the Koran or the Sunni in any extra authority. If they’re not trained, they don’t interpret at all. The political leader is not something that is dictated by the Koran.
00:12:04:24 – 00:12:28:26
Unknown
And so the prophet system didn’t say so and so should be the leader. And the leader can be chosen by the people. And that leader can be good. That leader can be bad. Historically, the Sunnis believe some of our leaders were great and some of them were not so great. Leadership of the community is not a divinely appointed status that the revelation came down to assign.
00:12:29:21 – 00:12:56:23
Unknown
As for the Shia community, they believe that the default is that the leadership is a religious office and that the one who is the political leader should also be the religious leader and that person is appointed by God. That person is the one that wanted to be the leader by name. So there is an element of concentration of power, if you like, in one person for the Shia community.
00:12:56:27 – 00:13:15:02
Unknown
That one person, of course, is that imam. That imam should be the political and the religious authority, and that person should be the one in charge of the affairs of the community and in charge of the interpretation of the texts. And therefore, he is appointed by God himself or by the Prophet of the law, who either he would sell them, of course.
00:13:15:02 – 00:13:39:14
Unknown
As for the Sunnis, we do not believe this is the case. And so leadership, generally speaking, in the political field is not something that generally speaking, it’s a good and bad, no big deal. It is the religious leadership that is different generally. Again, this is generally sometimes you’ll have a scholar in the in the political class, such as in the first few generations, Abu Bakr, Ammar Uthman Ali.
00:13:39:29 – 00:14:13:15
Unknown
And they were scholars and they were also political leaders. But historically, the political leadership has been distinct from the religious leadership. And historically, the political leadership has not interpreted the texts. There’s simply a in charge of the affairs of the Ummah and religious clergy are not appointed by Allah. Anybody can train and become a clergy. Anybody can train and study the texts, and then once they’re qualified, they give an opinion and no one individual is divinely appointed.
00:14:13:19 – 00:14:35:25
Unknown
So this is another fundamental difference between Sunnis and between Shiites. Point number four, based upon this reality, the Shia believe that from the very beginning of Islam, the prophet’s a little love. Why? That he was seldom wanted his cousin and his son in law, Ali Ibn. I thought it would a low talent to be the leader, the imam after him.
00:14:36:11 – 00:15:05:07
Unknown
They believe this to be clear from the entirety of the CIA. Every incident involving involving a loved one for them illustrates and demonstrates that the prophet’s a little love father. He was seldom explicitly appointed ideal or the one to be not just a political leader, but, as we said, the religious leader, the imam after him. For the Sunnis, the prophecies did not appoint any such leader.
00:15:05:21 – 00:15:26:20
Unknown
And much of these incidents regarding the Alawite and the Sunnis also acknowledge and affirm, but they don’t interpret them the way that the Shia interpret them. They don’t view that the prophet, praising ideal or their loved one indicates he going to be the imam or the person in charge. They simply say that was praise for him, just like the prophecies and praised other companions as well.
00:15:26:23 – 00:15:49:17
Unknown
And in fact, Sunnis believe, if anything, when the prophet system was passing away, about to pass away, when he’s on his deathbed, the fact that he insisted on Abubakar to defraud the law and to lead the side out when he has only a few days left to live. And Abubakar Sadiq was the one who led the Salat alone for a number of days, indicates, if anything, that he wanted to give political leadership.
00:15:49:17 – 00:16:12:00
Unknown
Political leadership. But he did not say so. It is an indication. It is an assumption. As for the Shia, they say it was explicit, not just an assumption that the prophecies explicitly mandated. And he explicitly said that idea that the alone should be not just the political leader, but the imam and the religious authority. After he passed away.
00:16:12:02 – 00:16:37:19
Unknown
So this is another fundamental difference between the Sunni and the Shia understandings. Point number five, the issue of the family, of the prophet, of the father who was in the little baby through the ileal. Wait that for the Sunnis, it is indeed a blessing to be a part of the family, of the prophet, of the law. Widely, he would sell them to be biologically related to the prophet of the love.
00:16:37:19 – 00:17:02:00
Unknown
Why? That he would sell them. However, that blessing all the comes when that individual himself or herself is also pious and righteous, merely being related by blood, while the person himself is not righteous or pious is not going to help the prophet systems uncle himself is Abdullah and Abdullah. We know what his fate is by the testimony of the Koran.
00:17:02:07 – 00:17:27:26
Unknown
Simply having a biological connection does not in and of itself make a person blessed. However, if a person is good and has Taqwa and does good deeds and is also from the family of the Prophet as a little upper Islam, this is indeed a double blessing. And for the Sunnis, the companions have multiple types of blessings. There are blessings for those who embraced Islam very early on.
00:17:28:11 – 00:17:51:09
Unknown
There are blessings for those who did both of the hijras to Abyssinia and to Medina. There are blessings for those who did one to Medina. There are blessings for those who in in the battle of battle. And to be a member of the processing household, it’s also a blessing. There’s no supernatural powers that come. It’s just a generic blessing that can also be given like so many other blessings.
00:17:51:09 – 00:18:18:07
Unknown
As for the Shia, then the superiority of the family, of the Prophet of Allah holy he would sell them and the blessings of that family becomes a an integral point of theology. And they view the Albert in a light that is more than what the Sunnis view. The Sunnis, as we said, view the Albert with a blessing if they themselves are pious.
00:18:18:15 – 00:18:36:20
Unknown
But that blessing does not mean that they have extra powers or that they have supernatural powers, or that they are in any way fashion reform meant to be the arbiters of the faith or to be the political leaders of the faith. It is simply a blessed family, and we ask a law to bless the family of the prophet.
00:18:36:20 – 00:19:01:22
Unknown
So the love. Why? That he would sell them. As for the Shia, then the blessings of the Albert become second only to the Koran itself. And so because the imams themselves come from the Albert and so for them, the Koran and then the Albert and the imams that come from them are really the two most important sources, if you like, of interpretation and Islamic law.
00:19:02:02 – 00:19:25:28
Unknown
This leads us to the sixth point that the Shia I believe that this imam must be from the progeny of the prophets of the law. Why he was salaam from the Al Albert. The Sunnis, of course, don’t have any such equivalent, as we said, they don’t really believe in a figure that is the final arbiter. Now, here we have to go a little bit technical.
00:19:26:05 – 00:19:50:18
Unknown
Our brother says that he knows there’s a Shiite mosque in his vicinity. It’s clear, therefore, that he is not aware that there are even multiple strands of Sunnis and multiple strands of Shia. So Sunnis and Shia just FBI. Statistically, there’s probably around 85 to 90% of the Muslim world is Sunni and probably around 10 to 12% of the world, the Shias.
00:19:51:01 – 00:20:20:18
Unknown
And within Shiism, you have multiple strands and within Sunni ism you also have multiple strands. But of course, generally speaking, within Sunnis of the strands, generally they don’t have different mosques and whatnot. Within Shia ism, there are multiple strands depending on which imam they follow. So the majority of the Shia of the world today, the Shia of, let’s say in Iran and Iraq and in Lebanon, these are like the, you know, the common well known Shia branches.
00:20:20:28 – 00:20:44:07
Unknown
They follow what is known as 12 Shiism, 12 or Shiism. So they believe in the existence of exactly 12 imams. And this is the default when somebody says there are Shia, the default is they are 12 Shia. You should know that there are other smaller segments as well. There’s something called the five or the Zaydi Shia, and they are common in one part of Yemen.
00:20:44:07 – 00:21:04:15
Unknown
In southern Yemen, there’s also seven or Ismaili Shia, and they have small branches and pockets. You have the the Bukhara and you have the the Nizari is the Aga Khan is you have multiple strands within and there are relatively quite small. The seven are Shia in terms of numbers. So the default is that you’re talking about 12 Shia Shiism.
00:21:04:23 – 00:21:26:23
Unknown
And we’ll talk about the entire talk today is about 12 Shiism. We’re not going into the differences between the other strands of Shias and maybe another date we will do that. So we said that the Shia, I believe in imams from the late 12 were Shia, which is the default to believe in exactly 12 imams. They believe in exactly 12 imams.
00:21:26:23 – 00:21:58:07
Unknown
And these imams are all from the descendants of from the Alawite, the descendants of of the Alawite and Fatimah, the Allahu Akbar. And and other groups of Shia have other strands and other linkages that we’re not going to go into. Our next point is that we talked about 12 or Shia. And one of the key beliefs of 12 year Shia is that every single imam assigns and delegates from a loss of Hanno to Allah, the name of the next imam.
00:21:58:21 – 00:22:23:20
Unknown
So every imam authorizes the next imam. It’s a continuous chain and this is known as Nuss. Nuss means that every imam has to verify and assign passed the baton down to the next imam, the first imam, according to the Shia, was appointed by the Prophet system and that is added of the one. After him came his two sons, Hassan, and then Hassan, all the one home.
00:22:23:27 – 00:22:41:28
Unknown
And then that’s the second and third imam. And then from Hussein, all the Alawite, it is father, son, father, son, father, son, all the way down to the 12th imam. Okay. So you have father son throughout the entire chain, except for the second and third. There are two brothers, Hassan and Pacino, the who are the grandsons of the Prophet.
00:22:42:00 – 00:23:00:17
Unknown
So the idea he was Salim so this is 12 verses is, as we said, there are other strands and they basically break away from this 12 hour at various places. Some break away at the fifth. So they’re called the these the fifth fiber’s some break with the seventh. They’re called Ismailis because the seventh was Ismaili. So they have different strands among themselves.
00:23:00:20 – 00:23:31:14
Unknown
But the bulk or the predominant strand is 12 Shiism and 412 are Shiites. These 12 imams are infallible. They cannot commit a mistake. And when they speak, they speak essentially on behalf of God. They cannot commit a mistake. That’s what makes them an imam for the Sunnis. All of these imams are fallible human beings and they are not appointed by a law to be the final arbiters.
00:23:31:15 – 00:24:01:03
Unknown
It’s not something that that Sunnis believe. Interestingly, the Sunnis respect immensely ideal of the old one and has an interest of the law as being of the Albert. And they also respect especially, you know, the first two or three imams after Imam Jaffer Sadr has given a lot of respect in Sunni circles as a great scholar, as an Adam, as a as a teacher of so many other great scholars of Islam.
00:24:01:08 – 00:24:25:13
Unknown
But they don’t view them as being infallible. They don’t view them as being divinely appointed. And by the way, interestingly enough, from the Sunni perspective, these individuals are able, the eloquent Hassan and Hussein or the home and the rest of the early imams did not claim to be imams. They did not. This is the Sunni perspective, obviously, they did not claim that they were divinely appointed by God.
00:24:25:20 – 00:25:01:08
Unknown
They did not claim that they were infallible. This is something that Sunnis do not believe, even they claimed, of course, the Shia believe that they claim this and they are deserving of this. But you should know that the Sunnis respect immensely, especially the first few imams, as historical figures, as as embodiments of piety, as receptacles of knowledge and their biographies are found in Sunni literature, and their name occurs constantly in the Sunni books of history and hadith with a lot of veneration and respect.
00:25:01:08 – 00:25:24:12
Unknown
But there is no special powers given or there’s no extra status given to them that that the Shia are give so that is a historic difference between between the two. This leads us to our next point. And I’m sure by now you’re thinking about the question, well, if there’s only 12 imams and the world must have an imam, well, then where is the imam?
00:25:24:12 – 00:25:42:00
Unknown
Where is the 12th imam right now? And this is a very, very good question. So, of course, for the Sunnis, there is no concept of a divinely appointed imam. As you’re aware, we call any person of knowledge imam. Okay. I’m called the imam in my masjid sometimes. And even though there’s an official imam title, but sometimes just call me imam.
00:25:42:07 – 00:26:06:03
Unknown
So for us, an imam is not a divinely appointed office. I mean, anybody can be the imam. And for the Shia, as we said, the imam is one figure appointed by Allah with certain characteristics and certain attributes that the rest of us do not have. Most importantly, infallibility, and then also a knowledge of things that we do not have a knowledge of, and then also God given powers that we do not have.
00:26:06:03 – 00:26:32:15
Unknown
So this is the infallible imam. Now, the question arises, where is the imam for 12 years? Shia. So, by the way, you should know that both the five resides and also the the Ismaili Nazar is they have imams that they recognize that are alive and they can interact with them. That’s different strands of shares of. As for 12 year Shiism, they have a belief that the 12th imam went into hiding.
00:26:32:15 – 00:27:01:12
Unknown
This was almost 2000 years ago, almost a thousand years ago, roughly. I mean, just to be simplistic, that a long time ago they believed the 12th imam went into hiding, called a neighbor, and currently he is on earth. But nobody knows where he is. He is in hiding. He can appear whenever he wants to appear. He can help whomever he wants to help, but there is nobody that is in contact with the imam right now.
00:27:01:19 – 00:27:26:05
Unknown
And this is called Zeba. This is called the great hiding, if you like. And he has chosen to do so. This is the Shiite belief. And they believe that towards the end of time the imam shall return publicly. This is called Oduduwa. He’s going to come back publicly. He’s going to proclaim himself as the final imam, as the 12th imam, as the hidden Mahdi.
00:27:26:12 – 00:27:42:27
Unknown
And that will signal the beginning of the end of the day of judgment. That’s when it’s all going to start coming to an end. And the end of the day of judgment will come at that time. And the Mahdi, the 12th imam, will come back. The return of the imam will come. And that will bring in an era of peace and an era of harmony.
00:27:43:02 – 00:28:06:14
Unknown
And the enemies of Islam will all be destroyed at the hands of the imam. So this is what the the 12 virtually I believe that the 12th imam is currently in hiding and that he shall return towards the end of times. As for the Sunnis, they do not believe in any hidden imam in the first place, and so they don’t have any equivalent of this belief.
00:28:06:18 – 00:28:29:14
Unknown
However, Sunnis do believe that there shall be a figure towards the end of times that is called the Mahdi. And this Mahdi. They assign no supernatural powers, not infallibility, simply a good man who will come and unite the Ummah and help the world in a very difficult time and bring about the precursor to the coming of Jesus Christ.
00:28:29:14 – 00:28:53:09
Unknown
So there are some parallels between Sunnis and Shia about the Mahdi, but there is market differences as well. The main difference is that for the Sunnis, the Mahdi shall be born a normal birth. He’s not going to be infallible. He’s going to be a leader for his time in his people, and then he’s going to pass away. And for the 12 year Shia, the Mahdi is alive right now, but he’s in hiding and he is the 12th imam.
00:28:53:16 – 00:29:16:14
Unknown
And when he comes back, he and he has powers that nobody else has, and he is infallible and he has power to do things and cause damage and what not. And Allah has given him these these these powers. But he has chosen to be hidden until the time comes towards the end of this world to return. And so when that happens, then the end of time shall be signaled.
00:29:16:14 – 00:29:41:22
Unknown
And so there’s, as we said, some similarities and some differences between the Sunni and the Shia belief. This leads us to point number nine in our ten point list. And very briefly, this is a very small point, not a very big deal. You should be aware that there are some differences in how the rituals are practiced and some legal differences between the two schools.
00:29:42:14 – 00:30:00:04
Unknown
So, for example, you know, the peculiarities of the prayer. How exactly does one pray? Just like we have differences of Sunni Islam between the form and herbs. So two, in Shiite Islam they have a slightly different way of how they pray. They have different rulings for combining the prayers than us. They have different timings for breaking the fast.
00:30:00:04 – 00:30:26:14
Unknown
So for us, we break the fast. With the advent of Muslim and for them they break the fast after they pray after a little bit after the sunset. So there’s a bit of a delay between us and them when it comes to breaking the fast as well. They have a ritual. They have specific rituals that they do on the 10th of Muharram, the day of our Shura, to them, the day of Ashura becomes a day of commemoration.
00:30:26:14 – 00:30:56:06
Unknown
It is a holy day for them. It is a holy festival for them in which they commemorate the death or the assassination or the martyrdom of Hussein. Brother in law. Who died on who? The grandson of the prophets of the law. Why, he was Salim, who was martyred on that date. And that day becomes really the center of the year for them in terms of rehashing the rituals, the teachings, the theology, and also the events of the martyrdom.
00:30:56:22 – 00:31:16:05
Unknown
As for us, the 10th and from the incident of Karbala, the martyrdom of the process and it is a historical tragedy. It is not a theological one, meaning that we don’t base any theology off of it. And I have an entire lecture online, by the way, you can listen to it about the incident of Karbala and how it has been interpreted by Sunni and Shia.
00:31:16:09 – 00:31:37:02
Unknown
And it is a very lengthy lecture, and you can listen to it for an understanding of what of what the difference is between our interpretation and their interpretation of the issue of Karbala and of the martyrdom of Hussein or the old low to Allah and who both Sunni and Shia. They view the tragedy of the death of Hussein with a great sadness.
00:31:37:02 – 00:32:02:00
Unknown
And they say whoever did this tragedy is somebody who is deserving of punishment. And they say that this is an evil crime that took place. But then for the Sunnis, it is a historical crime and the religion does not change. And for the Shia, they see a lot of theology and they see in it a motif of their faith, tradition of of fighting against oppression and of dying.
00:32:02:09 – 00:32:19:15
Unknown
You know, a martyr’s death and the death of Hussein symbolizes for them many things. And you can listen to other lectures. And the lecture I have given as well to get an idea of this. But my point being, this is one of the differences as well, and that is the commemorations that take place on the 10th of Haran.
00:32:19:19 – 00:32:48:13
Unknown
It is a ritual for the Shia and for the Sunnis. If anything, we fast on that day because our prophecies, some told us to do so. But there’s no festival that takes place that is equivalent. And the final point, which I have saved for the last, because it is the most difficult one and it is the most contentious one and it is the one that causes the most hurt feelings and at times unfortunately even leads to violence.
00:32:48:27 – 00:33:14:22
Unknown
And that is the one of the fundamental differences between the Sunni and the Shia groups, is how they view the companions of the prophet. So little love why they sell them. And that’s because if you’ve been following along carefully, I hope I haven’t confused you with all of these this theology to believe that the prophets of the Lord want to do He will sell them a signed I need or they’ll want to be the leader.
00:33:15:13 – 00:33:57:28
Unknown
And then to realize that he wasn’t chosen, that he was passed over, that he was neglected and ignored. Obviously, if you believe this, then you will view those who jumped over him with a negative view. You will be angry with those whom you think disobeyed the prophet so little of why they he will sell them. And because of this, the Shia are not very favorable in how they view those Sahaba, especially the senior Sahaba in the eyes of the Sunnis, Abubakar, Sadiq, Juan Pablo, the old earth man, they’ve been out front of the alarm.
00:33:58:00 – 00:34:27:25
Unknown
And also, for example, our mother, Chateau de la Juana, that they don’t view these senior Sahaba with a positive view. In fact, it is true to point out that his stoically and especially key Shiite clergy in the past were extremely harsh towards these individuals, and even many of them would claim that they are not actually Muslims, that they are hypocrites, not actual faithful Muslims.
00:34:28:09 – 00:35:01:09
Unknown
And of course this claim is extremely painful and hurtful for those who view these companions as being the embodiments of virtue and the paragons of piety. And obviously, this is where, you know, you have different versions of history. So it is important, my dear brother, that you understand how you view early history and your narrative of early Islam is going to be based upon your sources and your sources are to be based upon which sect you are following.
00:35:01:18 – 00:35:19:15
Unknown
So the books of History of the Shia present a narrative that is markedly different than the books of history of the Sunnis. And this is not the time and the place to compare the specific details and to mention which one is right and wrong. This is something that you will have to decide on your own when you grow up and what not.
00:35:19:15 – 00:35:40:29
Unknown
Obviously, you know what I believe because I am a Sunni. So my belief is very clear in this regard. But I’m simply at this point being academic and explaining that each side is taught a narrative of history that fits in with their theology. And I’m not saying that that’s both right and wrong. Obviously, they both can’t be right.
00:35:41:00 – 00:36:06:00
Unknown
Obviously, one of them is right. One of them is wrong. Obviously, you can’t have it both ways. So if you believe that Abubakar is the Alawite, when the seniors companions knew that Admiral the one was supposed to be the Khalifa and they all united to kick him out. How would you feel about that? You would feel a great injustice has occurred.
00:36:06:08 – 00:36:25:02
Unknown
You would feel angry towards this group of Sahaba. You might even feel, as some of the clergy do, of that of that group, that they’re not Muslims. Having gone against such a key commandment. And by the way, many later voices in Shia Islam are not saying that they’re not Muslim. They’re simply toning down and they’re saying that, you know, they made a mistake.
00:36:25:02 – 00:36:59:05
Unknown
And so there is within themselves, there’s a bit of a, you know, spectrum of opinion of how this group is interpreted. But to be factual, they are not viewed with respect. Let’s that’s very clear to say. They are not viewed favorably. And obviously, a picture is painted of a type of battle between these individuals and idea that dialog loved one stories are said that Sunnis have never heard would never believe they alone physically hitting the daughter of the prophet system or trying to burn her house down.
00:36:59:10 – 00:37:21:18
Unknown
These are stories that are told by one branch and believe by one branch and not even known, much less accepted. No Sunni would ever believe that one was cut out of the along. It was disrespectful to the daughter of the prophet. We don’t have this. We don’t believe this at all. It’s not from our perspective. But obviously if you are taught to this narrative, how would you feel about anybody who disrespected a daughter?
00:37:21:18 – 00:37:43:05
Unknown
The process mean you would not like that person. Well, that is how many of the Shia feel about these senior companions. And this is the perhaps the most emotional point of contention, you know, because, you know, believing in an imam and whatnot, these are this is a big theological difference. No, no point. No, no question about that. But it doesn’t offend the sensibilities of the average Muslim.
00:37:43:18 – 00:38:09:11
Unknown
But when you say that things about one of the eloquent or about de la Juana understandably the average Muslim is very hurt. And that’s why even among the Shia, there’s a lot of discussion about rethinking through toning down. There are a number of modern ayatollahs have issued fatwas that that these Sahaba should not be disrespect did and I appreciate that effort and I encourage that effort among the Shia.
00:38:09:17 – 00:38:24:18
Unknown
Now these are some of the main differences. Before we conclude, let us also point out that, you know what? Yes, there’s some significant differences. But in the end of the day, both of these groups say that in the head of Muhammad, those of look, both of these groups believe in a loss of how to Watada as the one and only Rod.
00:38:24:28 – 00:38:45:01
Unknown
Both of these groups do believe in the Koran as the speech of a law and revelation from Allah. Both of these groups believe in the finality of the prophets of the law. Ahmadi, who would sell them, and that he was ultimately I mean both of these groups pray facing the tribunal doing will do bombing the heads to a lesser panel with two out of both of these groups faster mobile on both of these groups give charity both of these groups go for Hajj.
00:38:45:07 – 00:39:07:10
Unknown
So the five organ of Islam are all met on both of these groups. So yes, there are some key fundamental differences and it is also true to state that some of these differences are painful. But in the end of the day, what we agree upon are bigger fundamentals and they are the primary fundamentals of our faith. So what is to be done then?
00:39:07:18 – 00:39:29:17
Unknown
Well, you have some people who wish to make this difference bigger than it is, and they’re always fomenting hatred and speaking against the other group and yelling and screaming about how nasty the other group is. And sometimes that type of rhetoric has to violence in some land, civil wars in some lands. And that’s not right. We don’t want violence.
00:39:29:17 – 00:39:46:20
Unknown
We don’t want to hurt physically hurt other people because they believe in something. Even if we don’t agree with what they believe, it’s between them and alone. They have to respond to a law. We don’t want to preach violence and we have to speak out against violence. It’s not allowed to hurt a human being because of a belief that he or she has.
00:39:46:26 – 00:40:06:20
Unknown
That’s between them and a list of how to attack the for allowed the al-khattab you know the the non-Muslim to hold in their beliefs then how much more so about a fellow Muslim even if we disagree so that’s one extreme. On the flip side, you have another group of people that basically says, oh, there is no difference between the two of us and we are both one and the same.
00:40:06:20 – 00:40:50:24
Unknown
But see, even though the sentiment might be good, that’s just not true. We are not one in the same. There are some key fundamental differences. So what should we do for this purpose of this Q&A? I’ll conclude on this note that my view has been one of pragmatic tolerance. Pragmatic tolerance. We have no option but to live and let live, but we have to also be factually clear that the differences between us, while pragmatically tolerable and while still within the fold of Islam, without preaching any hatred, we really must say that the differences are significant.
00:40:50:24 – 00:41:06:07
Unknown
It’s not trivial to believe whether Allah has chosen a person or not to be that imam for the entire world. What’s a big deal? It’s something I have to come to the conclusion and then decide. It’s not a trivial thing to say. Abubakar Sadiq is a good or a bad person or supporter of the law. It’s a very big thing.
00:41:06:19 – 00:41:28:05
Unknown
So to have two different messages in your community, you have to understand why that is the case, that it is healthier for each community to be among its own. But we should not preach a hatred or exacerbate the division. And by the way, just because there is another must. I’m not saying never, ever pray there if that’s the place you’re driving by, it’s closer to.
00:41:28:08 – 00:41:44:03
Unknown
You know, this last time is going. You have nowhere else to pray. You know, you go in, you pray. There is a masjid. In the end of the day, it’s facing the bloods, worshiping a loss of hand of Watada. But at the same time understand that there is a pragmatic wisdom that, you know, the the understanding that is being taught is different.
00:41:44:09 – 00:42:06:21
Unknown
And so it’s healthy that they are able to express we are able to express that we preach and teach our theologies. But I strongly encourage both groups. I strongly encourage that they do not exacerbate the tension live and let live. And also we need to learn to come together when the situation calls for it. I’m not saying that we pray one to march together.
00:42:06:21 – 00:42:29:04
Unknown
Understandably, what we preach is going to be slightly different. But I am saying we should not preach hatred. I am saying we should marginalize the radical clerics who are only interested in division and hatred and animosity because we have clerics, both of us, that are like that. We should move them to the fringes and we should promote clerics who are pragmatic and understand, you know, what these differences are not going to go away.
00:42:29:05 – 00:42:50:12
Unknown
We have to live and let live. And I go beyond this and I say, not only is there no problem, we should come together with all of Islam to fight our bigger battles. There are times in places where we set our differences aside, and there are times in places where we acknowledge those differences. So there’s an evil politician in your community.
00:42:50:14 – 00:43:11:07
Unknown
There is a person running for the minister, the senator, the congresswoman, and she is an Islamophobe, or he is somebody who wants to ban the building of Masjid. How can we not unite with all different Muslims? How can we not rally and petition? How can we not come together and progress forces and vote that evil person out? This is the essence of Islam.
00:43:11:10 – 00:43:31:24
Unknown
And if we have to cooperate with anybody, even a non-Muslim who agrees with our values, we will cooperate with them. No problem. Our difference of opinion should not lead us to be so blind to the hatred that we can never come together for the common good. If there is a charity feeding the hungry and we are limited in the community, why can’t different masjid of different groups come together?
00:43:31:25 – 00:43:54:09
Unknown
And we say this is a public soup kitchen for Muslims on behalf of the Muslims, for all of the poor of the area, this is excellent cooperation. But understandably, if a critical mass is reached and every group is able to have its own masjid understandably understand there’s nothing wrong with this and there’s an element of healthy separation that inshallah, there’s something we understand that there’s good in this as well.
00:43:54:18 – 00:44:19:20
Unknown
And in the end of the day, our preaching and teaching should be pragmatic and full of wisdom and be factually correct. We’re not going to eliminate these differences, but we shouldn’t exacerbate them. And we should work together where we’re able to work together and agree with practical agreed to disagree with practical understanding that, you know, they have their interpretation.
00:44:19:20 – 00:44:40:21
Unknown
We have our interpretation. This is a very basic answer. Dear brother Sergeant, I hope that it was useful to you. And if you’re interested in more advanced study, then of course there are so many books, so many lectures to listen to. But I advise you to listen to those that are academic based, those that state that the facts in a truthful manner and not based upon emotional sectarianism.
00:44:40:24 – 00:45:00:07
Unknown
And the final point always make to our to a list of kind of what other to guide you and that you’ll be a role model and a beacon of truth and a virtue and of tolerance. May a lesson of Hannah Watada bless us all to the truth. I hope, inshallah, to see you next week to help set up my camera, which will lay you about to catch in.
00:45:00:20 – 00:45:28:23
Unknown
AL-MUSLIMI No, almost. NIMAH Do you want me? Nina Well, not me. 19 one or 1901. All I need to Do You. On Sunday 18 I was sworn in, Bondi was sworn meeting. I was sworn in on the one horse, you know, report. Yeah. And 140. You no other advice? You know, I am the one who doesn’t believe no one else on the party was sworn.
00:45:28:23 – 00:45:53:21
Unknown
Oh, any now. Well, sorry, Matt. When have you leaning forward or downhill one. Have you want the ones that getting along McCarthy you know what that you don’t want I don’t love no feel aren’t down. Oh Angela now the.
