Taqwa: The End Does Not Justify the Mean - Sayed Ahmed Qazwini

14 Bekeken· 24/03/23

Ahlul Bayt Center of Toledo
abonnees

Ramadan 2021 - Night 14 (4/27/2021)
Taqwa: The End Does Not Justify the Mean - Sayed Ahmed Qazwini
at the Ahlul Bayt Center of Toledo

Laat meer zien

Transcript

[0:14]muhammad last night we said that there are certain benefits to taqwa

[0:36]immunity from haram and we mentioned that the holy quran demonstrated one

[0:43]of the greatest benefits of having taqwa through the story of the

[0:48]children of adam habil and kabil they both gave offered a sacrifice

[0:54]to allah and when allah accepted the sacrifice of habil and rejected

[0:57]the sacrifice of kabil khabib we said threatened to kill habit and

[1:03]then happy habil replied with this very important line he said innama

[1:09]yet surely allah only accepts the acts of someone that has taqwa

[1:15]and we mentioned last night that this verse of the quran may

[1:22]have one of two meanings the first meaning we spoke about it

[1:25]last night we said that one of the benefits of taqwa is

[1:28]that it protects your good deeds because without taqwa we can destroy

[1:33]our good deeds we can burn them through our sins so the

[1:36]quran says that if you want allah to accept your amman and

[1:41]to count them for you be careful not to destroy them through

[1:45]sins how have taqwa because taqwa is immunity from haram taqwa protects

[1:49]you from your sins so that they do not destroy your good

[1:55]deeds this was the first meaning that we spoke about last night

[1:57]and then there's a second possible meaning to this verse the second

[2:01]meaning to namaya is this that righteousness cannot be sought but through

[2:12]taqwa righteousness cannot be sought but through taqwa you see there is

[2:18]a discussion between scholars of ethics if an immoral act listen carefully

[2:23]this is a little delicate if an immoral act leads to something

[2:27]good has a good result is the immoral act still immoral or

[2:33]can we label it as good in other words does the end

[2:37]justify the mean or not there are some scholars called consequentialists scholars

[2:43]of ethics who believe if an immoral act leads to something that

[2:48]is good that it's no longer an immoral act it is good

[2:51]so the end justifies the mean so if you have a good

[2:54]outcome if you have a good end in your mind everything is

[2:59]okay even if you lie it's okay because the end is good

[3:02]even if you cheat even if you deceive people even if you

[3:08]steal even sometimes if you torture and hurt people and kill people

[3:10]all of that is okay as long as the end goal is

[3:14]a positive and noble goal all of that is okay and they

[3:19]call this what the end justifies the me but in islam the

[3:24]end never justifies the mean the an immoral act can never lead

[3:29]to something that is good an immoral act can never be justified

[3:32]with the pretext that you know what the goal is good the

[3:36]end is good you can never please allah through immoral ways you

[3:44]can never please allah by disobeying him and imam al-sadiq he explained

[3:50]this this verse of the quran he says that one day i

[4:00]heard the people of the city are all praising someone everyone is

[4:04]speaking about someone who is so noble so virtuous so righteous he

[4:07]helps everyone in the city he had such a good reputation so

[4:13]the imam said i was curious to see who this man is

[4:14]and what he does such that everyone compliments him so he says

[4:19]i decided one day to go and follow him without him knowing

[4:23]to see what he does why does he have such a good

[4:28]reputation he says i want to follow him i noticed that he

[4:31]stopped by a bakery a bakery that's selling bread so he says

[4:34]he stood in front of the bread when the owner the baker

[4:38]could not see he looked somewhere else he quickly snatched two loaves

[4:43]of bread and he stole them said i said subhanallah this man

[4:48]that everyone praises he's a thief but then he says you know

[4:51]what let me wait i shouldn't you know rush let me give

[4:55]him the benefit of that maybe he'll come back and pay the

[5:00]baker later so he says i continue to follow this man he

[5:03]says moments later he went to his second stop he stopped at

[5:06]a fruit market he stood in front of the fruits and once

[5:10]again once the owner could not see he was busy with something

[5:15]else he snatched the imam sends two pomegranates romantine he snatched two

[5:21]pomegranates he stole them and he left once again said subhan allah

[5:25]what is this now he's stealing two pomegranates but once again ali

[5:30]imam al-sadiq said you know what maybe he'll come back and pay

[5:32]this man later said i continue to follow him until he reached

[5:38]the third stop where did he stop now he said there was

[5:42]an a sick man a sick man a poor man this thief

[5:45]he took out these two loaves of bread and these two pomegranates

[5:49]and he gave them a sadaqa charity to the sick man al-imam

[5:54]sadaq said i realize this man is robin hood i'm saying this

[5:59]of course and the imam didn't say robin hood you know robin

[6:01]hood who used to steal from the rich and give it to

[6:05]the poor and imam sadiq said this man was robin hood he

[6:09]is stealing from the rich or not even rich that baker wasn't

[6:12]even rich he is stealing from people so that he donates it

[6:15]to others he gives the asada so this is the exact story

[6:18]of robin he said when i realized this now of course when

[6:22]i say robin hood many people will think about that app right

[6:24]that you can buy the stocks with this is what we think

[6:29]about now so anyway said i was so upset this man has

[6:33]such a good reputation everyone is praising him he steals and then

[6:38]he donates it so the imam says i want to confront him

[6:41]i went and i confronted him and i told him oh man

[6:45]what did you just do the imam told this man what did

[6:49]you just do i just saw you stealing four things and then

[6:51]you give it to the poor after you stole them so the

[6:55]man looked at the imam and he told him enter muhammad you

[6:59]are the son of muhammad you're the grandson of rasulullah correct he

[7:03]told them yes he told them subhanallah you are the grandson of

[7:06]the prophet but you have not benefited from the prophet because of

[7:11]your ignorance he mocked the imam you are the grandson of the

[7:13]prophet but you have no knowledge of the prophet so the imam

[7:16]said i'm ignorant how am i ignorant he told him look let

[7:21]me explain how you're ignorant he said when i went to the

[7:24]first stop i stole two loaves of bread you're right that's haram

[7:30]act so allah gave me to say at two bad deeds and

[7:32]then when i went and i stole the two pomegranates allah wrote

[7:36]for me another two bad deeds so how many bad deeds have

[7:42]i done four but then when i gifted when i donated these

[7:44]four items to the poor these are four things allah azzawajal wrote

[7:49]me 40 good deeds why because allah says in the holy quran

[7:56]woman when you do a bad deed i will only when you

[8:03]do something bad i will only give you one bad deed for

[8:07]each act but when you do a good deed i will give

[8:09]you ten times the reward so he says i did four bad

[8:14]deeds i got i did four bad acts i got four bad

[8:19]deeds and then i did four good things four sadaqas how many

[8:21]goodies did i get 4 times 10 40.

[8:24]now it's a math equation so do the math 40 good deeds

[8:28]and then you have four bad deeds 40 minus 4 how much

[8:34]is it 36.

[8:34]so i got 36 good deeds by stealing that food and giving

[8:40]it to the poor subhanallah some methods human beings come up with

[8:43]even iblees can't understand it you steal from people and give it

[8:47]to the poor allah gives you 36 good deeds because you did

[8:51]4 bad and 40 good 40 minus 4 is what 36 when

[8:55]you heard this man's justification of how the end justifies the mean

[9:00]right because i'm giving it to the poor i can do whatever

[9:02]i want i can steal and give it to the poor ali

[9:05]said you are the ignorant one until you forgot another verse of

[9:11]the quran he said which verse he told them you forgot the

[9:16]verse where allah says what about this verse where allah says i

[9:20]will only accept the acts the acts of someone that has taqwa

[9:27]taqwa stays away from haram the one that indulges in haram steals

[9:29]allah will not even accept his good deeds so the imam told

[9:32]him let me tell you where you went wrong he told him

[9:37]when you stole the two loaves of bread allah wrote two bad

[9:39]deeds when you stole the two pomegranates allah wrote you now four

[9:43]bad deeds right and then when you took those things which did

[9:47]not belong to you and you gave them to that poor person

[9:50]allah gave you four more bad deeds not 40 good deeds you

[9:55]only get 40 good deeds if you give what's yours if you

[9:57]give what's not yours you can't steal your neighbor's money and donate

[10:00]it this is a sin in itself so when you donated something

[10:04]that did not belong to you that was four more bad deeds

[10:08]so now you're at what negative eight four times you stole and

[10:12]then four times you gave it to the poor person so this

[10:14]is the correct mathematical equation not 36 as you said the imam

[10:19]says after i explained to him this answer he just turned his

[10:23]head and he went and he never talked to me so the

[10:27]imam he says subhan allah some individuals how they justify their sin

[10:31]subhanallah they do sins haram and they justify it not only do

[10:35]they just divide they think allah will give them good deeds for

[10:38]the sins that they do this is the tazine the nafs one

[10:42]of the powers of the nafs that it does is it does

[10:45]tazin for us bad deeds it makes it good in our eyes

[10:47]shaytan also the quran says it takes he takes bad things and

[10:54]he changes them in our eyes into good things so imam assad

[10:58]showed us through this story that the end never justifies the mean

[11:04]you can never steal and then justify that stealing because well i'm

[11:07]going to give it to the poor no this is you know

[11:10]there's some people that also do this in our communities he engages

[11:12]in haram business right he engages in haram business for example he

[11:17]cheats people he frauds he engaged in medicaid fraud and i don't

[11:21]know you know insurance fraud and whatnot or for example they sell

[11:24]liquor and then they say you know what i will take this

[11:28]and i will donate to the money either some of it of

[11:32]all of it this is also like the story of ali so

[11:34]you steal money you do haram and then you justify it that

[11:38]you know i'm going to give a sadaqa allah doesn't want your

[11:41]sadaqa i will only accept the deeds of someone that has taqwa

[11:48]someone that stays away from haram if you indulge in halal i

[11:52]don't want your good deeds see how beautiful shows us this and

[11:56]during the time of amir al-mu'min alaihi there were also people that

[12:02]applied this law there are also people that applied this law the

[12:07]law of the end justifying the mean amongst them was he had

[12:14]mastered the art of the end justifying the mean he would commit

[12:19]so many crimes so much evil and he would justify it because

[12:23]you know what because i want to stay power in power because

[12:26]i want to for example establish justice for whatever reason he would

[12:30]always justify the end he would justify the means with the end

[12:34]versus imam ali he would never ever do that the greatest example

[12:39]of someone that would not justify the end that would not justify

[12:43]the mean because of the end was imam ali and that example

[12:47]is through the battle of safin just read about the battle of

[12:54]suffering between imam ali and muhammad when the battle began imam ali

[12:58]tells malik do not initiate the war with them let them start

[13:02]the war so that we defend ourselves and this is a law

[13:07]of combats that would always teach their followers any time there must

[13:11]be war if you could not get out of war of battle

[13:13]then let the enemies start the war do not start the war

[13:19]yourselves and this is what imam was saying also told his companions

[13:21]on the day of ashura so after the battle began the army

[13:28]of muawiyah they overwhelmed the army of imam ali alayhim and they

[13:31]took control of the euphrates river as soon as they took control

[13:37]of the euphrates river muawiyah he made an order he made an

[13:40]order to his troops to prevent imam ali and his army from

[13:44]drinking from the river let's kill them a slow death because without

[13:48]water you can't fight you can't have an army fight if they

[13:50]have no water they will all die out of thirst and you

[13:54]can easily defeat them so muawiyah tells his people his army prevent

[13:57]the camp of imam ali from water even though this is an

[14:02]inhumane way this is an unethical way you have a problem with

[14:05]ali you know deal with that problem like a man right why

[14:07]do you resort to any humane ways don't give them water but

[14:11]this is muawiyah so imam ali when he sees this he gives

[14:16]a fiery sermon to his troops and he tells them that you

[14:19]have to launch an offensive and retake the river so the hemp

[14:24]of imam ali they launched one massive offensive against muawiyah and now

[14:29]they take control imam ali now takes control of the euphrates his

[14:34]army his soldiers they come to him and they tell him ya

[14:35]ali now it's the time for revenge now let us prevent the

[14:42]muawiyah's army from drinking water you know what imam ali says imam

[14:44]ali says never will i do that you want me to stoop

[14:47]down to the level of ma'awiyah and never will i follow in

[14:54]the footsteps of muawiyah never will i learn from i have my

[14:59]values i have my ethical and moral values that i go by

[15:01]never will i allow myself because i have an enemy even though

[15:06]ma'awiya is the devil but i will fight him like a man

[15:10]i will abide by what values by ethical and moral standards by

[15:15]humanitarian standards thus imam ali he gave water to maui and his

[15:20]troops subhanallah you know when we read in the story of karbala

[15:24]imam hussain how he gave them water and then they killed them

[15:27]thirsty this wasn't the first time if yazid did that to imam

[15:31]hussain then then his father did that to hussain's father imam ali

[15:35]in the battle of safety so imam ali gave them water away

[15:39]was about to lose the battle maui was very shrewd he was

[15:41]very cunning like the shaitaan so he came up with a very

[15:45]deceitful tactic of how to save himself from failing in the battle

[15:50]what did he do heman amram as they came up with this

[15:53]idea let's let's take qurans copies of the quran they brought 500

[15:58]copies of the quran and they put them on the spears it's

[16:01]a famous story i'm sure you've heard about it and they said

[16:05]let's just hold the quran in front of imam ali's army so

[16:07]when they fire at us we'll tell them see you're firing at

[16:12]the quran he's willing to trample the quran just so he doesn't

[16:15]lose the battle he says this was and this act this deceitful

[16:20]act satanic act of muawiyah it made a fitnah it created a

[16:25]fitzna in the camp of imam ali and because of that imam

[16:30]ali did not prevail imam ali was about to prevail in that

[16:32]battle in suffering because of this fitna of muawiyah that he was

[16:36]willing to trample the quran imam ali did not prevail and he

[16:41]went back to when the battle finished and imam ali came back

[16:46]to kufa many of the soldiers many people they were upset at

[16:51]imam ali you know what they started to say they started to

[16:53]say that imam ali is not smart he's not a smart leader

[16:58]muawiyah is a smarter leader look at how smart he is so

[17:00]ma'awiya is shrewd while imam ali is not shrewd imam ali started

[17:05]to hear these rumors that they are talking against them see because

[17:08]you're so nice with ma'aw you give him water and then when

[17:11]they hold the quran no this is the quran we shouldn't attack

[17:13]it you lost the battle so imam ali alaihissalam came to the

[17:17]member and he gave a sermon about this and he said in

[17:22]his sermon he said this oh people do not think muawiyah is

[17:29]smarter than alibaba tramples every law every rule muawiyah has absolutely no

[17:48]red lines he will do anything to win he will trample the

[17:52]quran he will kill he will lie he will cheat he will

[17:56]deceive and if i if it wasn't for my taqwa and the

[18:05]fact that i don't want to be like mawawi i have values

[18:07]that i abide by i would have been the smartest of the

[18:12]arabs i would have defeated maui i don't think i i'm able

[18:15]to come up with these evil satanic tactics like maui i can

[18:19]but i don't want to because to imam ali the end never

[18:22]justified the mean i can never justify deceit and and and betrayal

[18:29]and and in humanitarian um tactics just to what just to defeat

[18:34]muhammad never will i do that when i fight i fight like

[18:38]a man no i will i will give them water and i

[18:41]will not resort to these tactics of the shaitaan so you see

[18:44]imam ali alayhi salaam he was bound by the quran he was

[18:47]bound by his values while muawiyah was not and that's why unfortunately

[18:54]he was criticized he was criticized by many people but the truth

[19:00]was i have taqwa i have taqwa my taqwa prevents me from

[19:04]exceeding the limit so i have to fight like a noble man

[19:08]in any battle so you see imam ali how he shows us

[19:12]through his example that the end just does not justify the mean

[19:18]because allah says allah only accepts the acts of someone that has

[19:23]taqwa if you don't have taqwa allah will not accept whatever you

[19:26]give to him now this is what this is fourteen hundred years

[19:30]ago imam ali alayhi he shows us how the end never justifies

[19:32]the mean and morawia he was the man that mastered this rule

[19:36]the end always justifies the me now brothers and sisters nowadays this

[19:42]rule this law we see also unfortunately many people applying the unjustifying

[19:47]the mean one of the most obvious examples that we saw recently

[19:50]was in the 2016 elections when trump came to power who was

[19:56]amongst the largest and biggest supporter of trump you know who the

[20:02]devout christian the devout christian evangelicals the neoconservatives who are all about

[20:09]conservatism who are about what jesus and jesus was peaceful and he

[20:14]was honest and he was a very noble man all about values

[20:18]right but subhanallah how all of a sudden they endure to the

[20:21]most corrupt man in the universe donald trump you guys are devout

[20:26]christians how do you justify endorsing donald trump the end justifies the

[20:31]means subhanallah they used to say it it's not a secret i

[20:34]would see them on their television shows well he's a corrupt man

[20:37]he's a womanizer there's so many women that have filed lawsuits against

[20:42]him right he's a racist this is obvious everything opposite of christianity

[20:46]he's a racist he's corrupt he's a liar he separates between children

[20:51]and the borders right he put sanctions on countries even though innocent

[20:54]people they were suffering because of this every immoral act in the

[21:00]book he would do why did they endorse him he said because

[21:03]he will what he will further our agendas right he will give

[21:07]us what we want so they saw him as a vehicle to

[21:11]their end he will support the state of israel this is very

[21:14]important we think that only jews they care about israel the neo-conservative

[21:19]christians they are more pro-israel and zionists more than the jews brothers

[21:24]and sisters in america more than the jews that's why they supported

[21:26]him because he is pro-israel because he's anti-abortion because he's anti-gay because

[21:32]he will what he will support our conservative values they wanted the

[21:39]most corrupt person as a vehicle to endorse to support their conservative

[21:45]values subhanallah someone who himself is morally bankrupt they endorse him because

[21:51]he will lead them to conservative values he will give them their

[21:53]agendas this is exactly the textbook definition of the end justifies the

[22:00]mean how can you endorse this man when he's so corrupt just

[22:03]because he's going to give you those goals to hell with those

[22:08]goals you've burned all of religion after you have supported what would

[22:11]the new you know the new generation of young christians say that

[22:15]our fathers the priests and the devout people they supported this man

[22:18]who was the antithesis of jesus everything you read about jesus trump

[22:23]is the opposite why did they support him because the end justifies

[22:28]the mean imam ali alayhi islam taught us that the end never

[22:33]justifies the mean if the mean is bad the end is also

[22:38]bad if the mean is immoral the end is also immoral so

[22:41]we have the ideology of its presence tell this very dear brothers

[22:46]and sisters something that is immoral can never lead you to something

[22:49]that is moral imam ali and the you know imam ali brand

[22:55]of islam the ideology of imam ali alayhi islam would never accept

[22:57]this you see someone that is a valim someone that is a

[23:01]corrupt you say i endorse him because he will take me to

[23:03]the never because he will give me my interest because he will

[23:09]for example if the vehicle is a corrupt vehicle then that vehicle

[23:12]will never take you to a right end this is a law

[23:17]that imam ali teaches us and that allah mentions in the holy

[23:20]quran if the act does not come and stem from taqwa then

[23:28]allah says i do not want this act this is a lesson

[23:32]for all of us brothers and sisters to learn ask allah to

[23:36]give us the ability and the tawfiq that we can insha allah

[23:40]benefit from these verses of the holy quran we have benefited through

[23:44]this series this is the last lecture of mine regarding taqwa we

[23:49]were able to benefit and we can apply and implement the different

[23:55]factors of how we can attain taqwa and also to never forget

[23:58]the benefits of taqwa insha allah this ramadan we are able to

[24:04]apply this in our lives and seek nearness to the almighty allah

[24:08]and alhamdulillah muhammad

0 Comments

Volgende

Taqwa: The End Does Not Justify the Mean - Sayed Ahmed Qazwini

Transcript

Volgende

Ontdek meer

Houd er rekening mee dat als u jonger bent dan 18 jaar, u geen toegang kunt krijgen tot deze site.

Volgende

Taqwa: The End Does Not Justify the Mean - Sayed Ahmed Qazwini

Transcript

Volgende

Ontdek meer

Kies een betaal methode

Taal