2015-02-13 - Friday Prayer - Sheikh Asil Khan

Understanding Sharia Law: Purpose, Goals, and Misconceptions

My respected elders, honourable brothers and sisters in Islam, the ayah that I have recited — Allah says:

Truly, the religion with Allah is Islam. Islam means peace. Islam means total submission to the will of Allah. And whoever seeks a religion other than submission to the will of Allah — other than Islam — it will never be accepted of him. And in the end, in the life of the Hereafter, he will be one of the losers.

We have to be thankful to Allah that He has made us Muslim and that He made us part of the Ummah of Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم.

A Misunderstood Topic: Sharia Law

Brothers and sisters, today one of the topics — one of the subjects — that is misunderstood, misinterpreted, and misused is what is called Sharia law. Because of social media, or because of a lack of understanding, because of a lack of knowledge, whenever we talk about Sharia law, the picture that comes to mind is: to cut off someone's hand, or to kill someone, or stone to death, or capital punishment. This is the understanding, and this is the picture that is presented to the people by social media.

First of all, being a Muslim, we have to understand — we have to gain knowledge about Sharia law. What is it? Sharia law is a way of life. Sharia law is following Allah and His beloved Nabi صلى الله عليه وسلم.

Whoever obeys Allah and the Messenger has indeed achieved a great triumph.

The Best of Creation

Allah created human beings and placed them on earth, and He did not let them live by themselves — because the human being is the paragon of creation, أشرف المخلوقات. It is the paragon of creation, the best creation.

Allah created the human being in the best shape — the best creation. So we have to live as human beings. Allah legislated how you live your life. Based on this, Allah legislated the principles and the rules that we have to implement in life in order to get peace, in order to live a peaceful life in this world.

And why did these legislations take place? Why did Allah set up principles and rules for us? Not to make things difficult — to make things easy for us.

Allah wants to make things easy for you, and Allah does not want to make things difficult for you.

The Literal Meaning of Sharia

What is Sharia? The literal meaning of Sharia is: path, road, way. In Arabic terminology, the path that leads to the right place — this is called Sharia. And in the Quran, Allah says in Surah Al-Jathiyah:

Our Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم was placed on a plain way — a Sharia — and was commanded to follow it. So Sharia is a way of life. Sharia is to follow the commandments of Allah and the Rasul صلى الله عليه وسلم. This is for us.

The Maqasid al-Sharia: The Ultimate Goals

For example, in Sharia — when we talk about the ibadat and the ultimate maqasid, the ultimate goals that we have to achieve, the purpose that we have to understand — for example, Allah said: Aqeemus salah, establish prayer. So what are the maqasid? The goal we have to achieve:

Verily, the salah will prevent from all kinds of indecent activities and indecent actions. This is the ultimate goal and purpose. And when you stay away from indecent actions and the munkar, you will get peace — you will be connected with Allah.

And when we talk about zakah — zakah is not a burden. The ultimate maqasid are:

To purify your remaining property, to keep clean your remaining property. And the second objective:

So that the wealth should not stay only with the rich — it should be rotating, should not be with only one family, with one person. Otherwise, you know what happens? The rich become more rich and the poor remain poor. So the maqasid al-Sharia we have to understand, we have to know.

Ibn al-Qayyim's Definition of Sharia

The best interpretation — the scholars of Islam: al-Shatibi, Ibn al-Qayyim, al-Qarafi — رحمهم الله تعالى أجمعين. Ibn al-Qayyim has explained beautifully what Sharia is:

(Ibn al-Qayyim al-Jawziyyah, I'lam al-Muwaqqi'in, Vol. 3)

What it means: the structure and foundation of Sharia is based on hikmah — wisdom — and the common good of mankind. And Sharia is all about adl — justice. And all about mercy. And all about wisdom. And all about common good. And any opinion or discussion that is taken away from being adl — from justice — towards injustice; or from mercy towards cruelty; or from wisdom towards something that makes no sense; or from common good towards mischief — this is not Sharia. This is something else. Even if someone interprets it as such, this interpretation will not be accepted.

That's why I am saying this — it is misunderstood, misinterpreted. Some of them misinterpret it as well. What is not good is not Sharia — it is something else, even if it is interpreted as such.

The Five Essential Objectives (Al-Daruriyyat al-Khams)

Now, the maqasid al-Sharia that we have to understand — these are the ultimate goals and ultimate purposes we have to achieve. The first category is called daruriyyat — the necessary, the essential. It is for everyone.

1. Hifz al-Din — Preservation of Religion

The first is Hifz al-Din — preservation and protection of one's deen. This is primary. This is the top, this is essential. None should be worshipped other than Allah. The ultimate ahkam come from Allah. So we have to preserve our deen. It needs more detail, but time is limited. We have to check our deen, our iman, the fundamental beliefs and fundamental practices — we have to focus on them and preserve our deen. And we practice, and at the same time we convey the message of truth. It has many ways and needs a whole separate time to discuss how we preserve our deen.

2. Hifz al-Nafs — Preservation of Human Life

The second is Hifz al-Nafs — the preservation and protection of human life. Unfortunately, when Sharia is discussed, the first thing that comes to mind is qisas, or cutting someone's hand, or stoning to death, or capital punishments. But in fact, in Islam, qisas — retaliation — has life in it. There is wisdom behind this — a hikmah behind this.

What is the wisdom behind this? People are killing each other. Unfortunately, Muslim life has become so cheap — anyone can kill. Just recently, in North Carolina, three Muslims — young people, young Muslims — got killed. Muslims are killing each other. If this rule is established, it would become very difficult — no one will try, no one will have the courage to think about killing anyone else.

Wherever you kill even one person, it is as if you have killed all of mankind. So when these rules are established, the remaining human life will be well preserved. Not only human life, but nature — natural resources — whatever Allah created. According to the Islamic way of life, the rights of everything are well preserved. This is one of the things we have to focus on: Islamic Sharia is about creating peace, not destruction.

3. Hifz al-Aql — Preservation of Intellect

Protection of intellect — you know what happens? Just in the United States — this was once in Baghdad, but right now you can check it — every year around 15,000 people die because of car accidents, because of drunk driving. Because they lose their sense, because of intoxication. So Islam legislated: do not touch alcohol. Alcohol is prohibited. Any kind of intoxication is prohibited — in order to save your life, in order to save your intellect. This is called Hifz al-Aql — protection of your intellect. This is what Islam talks about.

4. Hifz al-Nasl — Preservation of Progeny and Family

When we talk about progeny — in Islam, the family and family life have a great value. That is the reason if you would like to protect your progeny, if you would like to protect your family — the right way, the legal way in order to continue the human species, is to get married. Outside of marriage, the children will not be considered part of the family — and this will go on and on. So Islam tells us right from the beginning: if you would like to protect your family, the right and legal way is to get married. All kinds of activities outside of marriage are not encouraged, are not allowed. That is what Islam tells about, what Sharia law tells about. How many children are there who do not know who their father is? So this is a beautiful law of Islam — to protect your family.

5. Hifz al-Mal — Preservation of Wealth and Property

And the last: protect your wealth and property. No one is allowed to take away anyone's property unjustly. No one is allowed to rob anyone. No one is allowed to take away someone's property without his permission.

Now — in a society, if your life is not secure, if your dignity and honour are not secure, if your property is not secure — do you think this society will flourish? Will this society rise?

The Universal Message of Islam

And unfortunately — when they study the Quran and when they study Islam — there are only a few ayahs that they focus on. You know how many ayahs are in the Quran? More than 6,000 — 6,666 according to one count, 6,631 according to another. More than 6,000 ayahs. And out of 6,000 ayahs, how many are talking about capital punishment? Only a few. Whatever the rest of the Quran talks about — it talks about rahmah, it talks about hikmah, it talks about adl. And that is the universal message of Islam: peace, love, brotherhood, sisterhood, equality, and justice. That is the poetry — the beauty — of Allah.

But what happens when we do not understand? Unfortunately, in one typical Muslim country, when the people were asked about Sharia, 80% replied: "Sharia means to beat your wives." Unfortunately. We do not know what Sharia law is. And because of our lack of understanding, we have also not educated others. And people have a hatred — whenever they hear this beautiful thing, they immediately react: "We don't want Sharia law here."

Muslims as Minorities and Our Responsibility

No one is going to implement it — it is just like when the Muslims migrated from Mecca to Abyssinia: they were not implementing Sharia law there. We are immigrants here. We are in the minority. The Sharia is for us — wherever we are, whether we are in the United States, in Pakistan, in the subcontinent, in the Middle East — wherever we are, these golden rules, the teachings of the Quran and Sunnah — this is the way of our life.

And we are not asking — I don't know who started this — "You are going to implement Sharia law in the courts." No. Unfortunately, this is a misconception.

And our responsibility is first to know ourselves. There is one ayah — and if you go and check Surah Al-An'am, from ayah 151 to 154 — Allah laid down the principles and the rules that we need to understand and educate our community, our co-workers, our friends, and those who do not know.

Insha'Allah, time will come when the misconceptions will be removed and there will be no hatred. And now because of hate crimes, because of hatred, our Muslims are humiliated. And it is our responsibility to think about this, to learn, and to educate.

Closing Du'a

O Allah, aid those who aid the religion of Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم and make us among them. O Allah, abandon those who abandon the religion of Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم and do not make us among them.

O servants of Allah, may Allah have mercy on you —

Indeed, Allah commands justice, good conduct, and giving to relatives, and He forbids immorality, bad conduct, and oppression. He admonishes you that perhaps you will be reminded.

Remember Allah and He will remember you. And the remembrance of Allah is the greatest.