Does Islam Need Reform? Shaykh Mustafa Abu Rayyan

Opening — Khutbah al-Hajah

إِنَّ الْحَمْدَ لِلَّهِ نَحْمَدُهُ وَنَسْتَعِينُهُ وَنَسْتَغْفِرُهُ وَنَعُوذُ بِاللَّهِ مِنْ شُرُورِ أَنْفُسِنَا وَمِنْ سَيِّئَاتِ أَعْمَالِنَا مَنْ يَهْدِهِ اللَّهُ فَلَا مُضِلَّ لَهُ وَمَنْ يُضْلِلْ فَلَا هَادِيَ لَهُ وَأَشْهَدُ أَنْ لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ وَحْدَهُ لَا شَرِيكَ لَهُ وَأَشْهَدُ أَنَّ مُحَمَّدًا عَبْدُهُ وَرَسُولُهُ وَصَفِيُّهُ مِنْ خَلْقِهِ وَخَلِيلُهُ أَرْسَلَهُ اللَّهُ إِلَى النَّاسِ كَافَّةً بَشِيرًا وَنَذِيرًا فَصَلَوَاتُ اللَّهِ وَسَلَامُهُ عَلَيْهِ وَعَلَى آلِهِ وَأَصْحَابِهِ وَمَنِ اهْتَدَى بِهَدْيِهِ وَاسْتَنَّ بِسُنَّتِهِ وَدَعَا بِدَعْوَتِهِ إِلَى يَوْمِ الدِّينِ

أَمَّا بَعْدُ — أَحِبَّتِي فِي اللَّهِ، my brothers and sisters, I start by praising Allah Almighty and sending blessings and salutations upon our beloved messenger Muhammad ﷺ. I also counsel myself and all of you with the taqwa of Allah and with ihsan, for indeed Allah is with those who have taqwa and those who are doers of good.

The Perfection of This Deen

My brothers and sisters, something that none of us should doubt — and all of us should believe in — is the perfection of this deen: that it is complete, that it is perfect, and that it comes from Allah Almighty. Allah says in the Quran:

Allah said to our messenger Muhammad ﷺ — in a verse that many of our scholars have said was the last to be revealed — "Today I have perfected your religion for you, and I have completed My favour upon you, and I am pleased for Islam as your religion."

This deen, إِخْوَانِي فِي اللَّهِ, is perfect. Why is it perfect? Because it comes from the perfect Allah Almighty. This is something that should be intrinsic in what we believe — it should be part and parcel of us. No one should doubt this fact: هَذَا الدِّينُ كَامِلٌ — this religion is perfect.

What is imperfect sometimes is the understanding of some people, or the application of the Muslims — this might have flaws. But the religion itself is perfect. So when Allah says in the Quran:

The speech of your Lord has been made complete — صِدْقًا وَعَدْلًا — in truth and in justice. صِدْقًا بِمَعْنَى فِي الْأَخْبَارِ — it is truthful in its statements: whenever Allah tells us something is going to happen in the future or has happened in the past, it is true, we believe in it. وَعَدْلًا فِي الْأَحْكَامِ — and whenever Allah commands us to do something, tells us to stay away from something, prohibits something, it is justice, it is good, it is correct.

The Call to Reform Islam — and Our Response

Now why am I saying this? Because sadly there is a call — for now years, decades, if not more — for a reformation of this religion. People are asking us to change our religion: "Islam needs reform, Islam needs to fit in the 21st century, it is old, it is outdated, it must get with the program." This is something that is being said and has been said mainly by external actors — people that are not Muslim to begin with — asking us: "Your religion, we don't like it, so can you please speed things up, just like we did with Christianity and other faiths?"

This is something that is being said. But sadly, now you have within the Muslim Ummah the same call — people asking: "Should we change certain aspects of our religion? Maybe it is time for us to reform Islam." This is a dangerous statement. For why do you assume it is Islam that needs to change? The assumption here is Islam needs to fit in because something is wrong with Islam. And what did we say earlier? No Muslim is allowed to believe that.

You are a Muslim — someone that submits to God's law, to Allah — and you believe in the perfection of Islam. So you cannot then say, "Perhaps we should change X and Z and this and that about Islam." But sadly it is something that some people are calling for, and it is something that we must respond to. And the answer is: no, Islam does not need to change.

This is extremely important. Now this concept of change — they will sometimes argue that some scholars change certain fatawa, some things that were deemed to be allowed were later said to not be allowed, and they will use these statements. But what you have to understand is many of the people that call for reform are not people that are happy with Islam. They might say so, but they are not.

What you have to understand is our religion consists mainly of commandments from Allah. What are we going to change? Are we going to pray six times or three times instead of five? What are we going to change? Is it the way we dress — the way we dress our womenfolk or they dress? Are we going to change what has been established by Allah? Are we going to change what we deem as morals — the morals that we have been taught by our Prophet? What exactly are they asking us to change?

And the fact of the matter is: this deen is from Allah. We benefit from it, we believe in it, we act upon it, we call towards it. We have no right to change anything. Who are we? What do we even know? Allah is the Creator — He knows what is best for us. And this is something that we must go against: this call to change the deen. This is something that is very, very important.

Islam Is for Every Time and Every Place

You might hear the statement sometimes from some scholars: this religion is good, it is meant for every time and every place. Whether you are in Africa or in Europe, Islam is good for you. Whether you are in Saudi Arabia or you are in New York, Islam is good for you. It is applicable everywhere, it is meant for everyone. It is not a religion for only the Arabs or one specific people — it is the deen for everyone. Allah said to our Prophet:

"And We have not sent you except as a mercy to all of mankind." And when correct Islam is established, everything flourishes. This is something that we must preach and teach.

The Statement of Imam Malik

Imam Malik had a beautiful statement, and this statement is something that I hold dear personally, and I hope that all of you take this statement and really think about it. He said — Imam Malik, the great Imam, Imam of Dar al-Hijrah — he said:

(A well-known statement of Imam Malik ibn Anas, reported in various classical sources)

"The last of this Ummah will not be rectified except by that which rectified the beginning of this Ummah" — meaning the Prophet and the Companions, the Quran and the Sunnah. So instead of doing away with the Quran and Sunnah, we need to take the Quran and Sunnah. The reason so many things are going wrong for the Muslims is not because they are holding fast to the deen — it is because they are going away from the deen. This is something that we must understand, أَحِبَّتِي فِي اللَّهِ.

The Dangers of Playing With the Commandments of Allah

Now another thing that is very important is to understand why we keep saying this: Islam, this deen, is perfect and should not be changed. Because the moment we start playing around with the commandments of Allah, you will get extremism. The moment people start interpreting the deen the way they want — this is the problem of extremism. We allowed people to understand the deen the way they felt like, and then they start killing indiscriminately.

Similarly, you will have the opposite: people that will just do away with everything, and they will tell you the bikini is also a hijab — it technically covers the awrah. If we let everyone interpret the deen the way they want, this is the problem. This deen must be preserved, and Allah will preserve it. And the way it is preserved is through our scholars — فِي صُدُورِ الَّذِينَ أُوتُوا الْعِلْمَ.

Thawabit and Mutaghayyirat — What Can and Cannot Be Touched

This is why another very important point is: are there some minor details that are open for discussion among scholars? Of course there are. But the major foundations should never be touched. The five pillars — they can never be touched. No one can come and say fasting is just something that we can stop doing; we cannot do that. The five pillars — no one can touch them.

Our methodology of understanding right and wrong — our methodology of using what is evidence: following the Quran, the Sunnah, the consensus of our Muslim scholars, and the qiyas that is sound — these things cannot be touched. They are what is known as thawabit. We do not mess with them. The moment we do, we go astray.

We have what is known as usool and furu'. Usool, my brothers and sisters, are the major foundations of our religion: Who is Allah? What is our theology? The existence of the world of the unseen, the angels, the things that we believe in — those cannot be touched. Because Allah told us, and what did we say earlier? صِدْقًا فِي الْأَخْبَارِ — everything Allah tells us is true. Everything Allah and His messenger tells us is true. Everything they warn us about is harmful to us, and everything they tell us to do is good for us.

This understanding, once it is solidified, once we are happy with it — yes, because of modernity, because the world has changed, because there were so many advancements in science and technology, certain discussions are allowed to be held by the scholars — not everybody. And some of these discussions are being held, and I will give you an example. Now with travel being very different than the way they travelled during the time of the Prophet ﷺ, some scholars are discussing the rules related to travel. Whether those rules are the rules of breaking a fast or not breaking a fast, the rules of not having a mahram — these discussions are being held because of these advancements and these changes that we are witnessing. But no one is denying the fact that whatever the Prophet ﷺ said is correct. No one is arguing against the deen. And if you do, you will go astray.

True Belief Requires Submission to Allah's Verdict

Allah says in the Quran:

Allah said: "But no, by your Lord, they will not believe until they make you, O Muhammad, a judge over what disputes arise among them, then find within themselves no discomfort from what you have judged, and submit in full submission."

So we go back to the Prophet ﷺ, to the deen, to the Sunnah — and after that, whenever the Prophet ﷺ would give a verdict, and in our case whenever we find a verdict in the Quran and Sunnah, ثُمَّ لَا يَجِدُوا حَرَجًا فِي أَنفُسِهِمْ — they do not find any dislike towards it in their hearts. So anyone that doesn't like the verdict — that something is wajib, that we must do this or not do this, that this is haram, this is halal — and you don't like the fact that it's halal or haram, you have to assess your heart, for Allah is saying: you haven't truly believed.

This verse came down because of Zubayr ibn al-Awwam and — I believe — Hatib ibn Abi Balta'ah. These two companions had two farms next to each other. The water would start from a higher level at Zubayr's farm and then descend later, so Zubayr would keep the water for his crops to grow and then let it go later on to this companion. The companion complained to the Prophet ﷺ, and the Prophet gave a verdict that seemed to Hatib to be favourable to Zubayr ibn al-Awwam, who is the Prophet's cousin. So he said, "He is your cousin," implying that the Prophet tried to give his cousin more. Then this ayah was revealed — meaning: the moment you doubt the verdicts of the deen, you haven't truly believed.

Those who are asking us to change our religion — we say to them: no, we will not change this religion, we will not reform the deen, it does not need any reform. It is perfect. Rather, it is you who must adapt yourself, change your understanding, and look back into your faith and your iman.

I say this, and I ask Allah to forgive me and you and the rest of the Muslims of all sin — for He is the Forgiving and Merciful.

Second Khutbah — Tajdeed: Revival, Not Reformation

All praise is due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah. I want to finish with a hadith of the Prophet ﷺ where he mentioned that every hundred years Allah will send someone for the Ummah to revive the matters of its religion:

(Sunan Abi Dawud, Hadith 4291)

So every hundred years, every century, Allah will bring forth people that will make tajdeed of the deen. Now the word tajdeed is used a lot — and misused, if you will. So this revival that the Prophet ﷺ spoke about, this renewal that the Prophet ﷺ spoke about, is very simple. It is referring to: whenever the people go astray, whenever there is more misguidance than people upon the guidance, the scholars of this Ummah will stand up and they will revive, reawaken, and restore the faith that was established by Rasulullah ﷺ. This is what it means.

This is what the four imams did. This was the restoration that we are talking about — the revival that the Prophet ﷺ is talking about. Scholars from then until today are working to show the perfection of this religion by getting rid of the things that are wrong: such as hadith that are not authentic, such as ideologies that are wrong, such as decrees that are incorrect. This is what is meant by the revival — a restoration of what we had, not an establishing of something new.

Conclusion — Be Content With Your Religion

It is very important that you appreciate and understand that you must feel content with your religion and believe it is perfect and it is good. And if you ever find that you misunderstand something, the fault lies within you and your lack of understanding. But the deen of Allah Almighty, our Lord, is perfect, is good, is correct — is for everybody and for everyone. And our job is to apply it, live by it, and call towards it.

I ask Allah Almighty to forgive all of our sins, and to make us those that act upon the deen, those that appreciate the perfection of this deen, and call towards it the way Rasulullah ﷺ did.