Khutbah delivered a Islamic Center of Irvine

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Abu Dawud narrates through his isnad that the Prophet said, “He who practices medicine but is not known for medicine, is liable.”
(مَنْ تَطَبَّبَ، وَلَا يُعْلَمُ مِنْهُ طِبٌّ، فَهُوَ ضَامِنٌ)

This hadith outlines for us to broad legal concepts in Islamic law: negligence and willful misconduct.

Here the inverse of the Prophet’s statement “but is not known for medicine” refers to the person qualified to practice medicine. When a person is qualified to practice a profession or offer advice in an area of expertise, they are expected to maintain decorum and adhere to the professional principles and ethical behavior specific to that profession. When they neglect standards and fail to exercise what a reasonably prudent person would take into consideration while practicing their profession, they are liable for the harm and damages they cause. The inverse of this hadith would seem to indicate that the professionally qualified person is not liable, in lieu of his qualifications. This however is not the case, as the inverse of this statement agrees with the ruling in the hadith when specified by two other evidences: other texts such as “No harm or reciprocating harm,” etc. and consensus that anyone practicing medicine who engages in misconduct and/or negligent behavior is liable.

When a person offers professional advice or practices a profession he is unqualified for, the ruling mentioned expressly in this hadith applies. This person will be liable for damages and harm resulting from their misconduct and misrepresentation, however will not be held fully responsible for death and bodily harm because they would not have been able to practice without some sort of permission from the person harmed.

This hadith is an important reminder to people who profess facts to others, spin conspiracy theories based on conjecture, and make baseless claims about issues which they are wholly unqualified to pass judgment on. Even worse is when this translates into practicing “Prophetic Medicine” without having the foggiest what that means, or warning against all forms of vaccinations, or generally promoting ideas that are harmful to our health.

Let’s remember to be responsible in all that we do and say.

“Don’t walk in one shoe…” a tradition many of us have heard right?

This hadith is narrated in Sahih Muslim from Jabir. What does it mean though? Let’s back up a minute..
Have you ever broken one of your limbs? You had to over compensate right? You’d walk a little more rigorously, grab a little tighter with your other hand, stretch a little farther to turn… do this for too long, and it becomes a norm.

Now think to yourselves about how we all do this emotionally as well. Do we lean too far looking for approval when we’ve lost it? Do we let encumbrances, setbacks, and personal failures shape who we are? Do we refuse to move forward, for fear of discomforting ourselves, even though we are comfortable now?
By allowing ourselves to remain in disparate situations, we allow our coping mechanisms to become roadblocks to recovery. We allow disproportion to define us. When it is time to get better, we feel we are “losing ourselves,” when in reality we are gaining equilibrium.
So how do you deal with emotional, physical, mental disproportion and imbalance?

Easy, take both shoes off, or put two new shoes on! Don’t allow yourself to be forced into a situation because of present circumstances. Just like you tie your shoes yourself, you can tie your hands as well.

Don’t let that happen! Reach down to whatever it setting you off course and take control. Don’t hang on to one shoe as if you can never part.
You may be anxious to walk barefoot, but soon you’ll learn to love the sand between your toes. It will lead to an ocean of comfort.
Breaking in a new pair of shoes can be stressing, but will give you an edge you never had, and push you that much farther forward in the race.
Seek balance in all you do, the physical informs us of the spiritual.
Its new shoes, or no shoes, never be afraid to walk in both!

From the beauty of Allah’s speech is the variant modes of reciting the Quran and the variant meanings that stem from them. In Surah Ibrahim verse 34, Allah says:

قُلْ لِعِبَادِيَ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا يُقِيمُوا الصَّلَاةَ وَيُنْفِقُوا مِمَّا رَزَقْنَاهُمْ سِرًّا وَعَلَانِيَةً مِنْ قَبْلِ أَنْ يَأْتِيَ يَوْمٌ لَا بَيْعٌ فِيهِ وَلَا خِلَالٌ (31) اللَّهُ الَّذِي خَلَقَ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضَ وَأَنْزَلَ مِنَ السَّمَاءِ مَاءً فَأَخْرَجَ بِهِ مِنَ الثَّمَرَاتِ رِزْقًا لَكُمْ وَسَخَّرَ لَكُمُ الْفُلْكَ لِتَجْرِيَ فِي الْبَحْرِ بِأَمْرِهِ وَسَخَّرَ لَكُمُ الْأَنْهَارَ (32) وَسَخَّرَ لَكُمُ الشَّمْسَ وَالْقَمَرَ دَائِبَيْنِ وَسَخَّرَ لَكُمُ اللَّيْلَ وَالنَّهَارَ (33)

“Say to my servants who believe: Establish the prayer; spend from what we’ve provided them secretly and openly; before a day in which no business nor friends. Allah is the One who created the heavens and the earth, and sent down from the heavens water, and with it bring fruit forth from the earth as sustenance for you. He made sea vessels subject to you by his command, so as to travel by sea, and he subjected the rivers to you. He made the Sun and the Moon subject to you pursuing their course; the night and day were subjected as well.”

He then says:

وَآتَاكُمْ مِنْ كُلّ مَا سَأَلْتُمُوهُ

This verse is read in two ways:

1-      In the genitive case, i.e.: “And He gave you everything you have asked for…”

2-      In the negative, i.e.: “And He gave you from each, you did not even ask …”

What effect does this have on how we understand the verse? After having been reminded of all the things in creation that Allah provided, we are again reminded that whatever we have, regardless of whether we’ve requested it specifically or have not asked for it at all, then it is from Allah. If it is from him, then it is a blessing that Allah has given to us. Because of his omniscience, wisdom, and love he gives us blessings that were we to be tasked with requesting, we would not be conscious enough to even recognize our need for them. Think about the creations mentioned in these verses: rain, vegetation, the sea, the rivers, the Sun and the Moon, even the night and day. When I think about these things, I automatically think about energy, how we get hydrogen generators from water, eco-fuels, oil drilled from the sea, rivers dammed up for generating electricity, and solar energy.

We did not ask for these blessings, if we leave them as they are undeveloped, we benefit from them immensely in their raw form. If we seek to develop them, they are even greater blessings!

Allah then says:

وَإِنْ تَعُدُّوا نِعْمَتَ اللَّهِ لَا تُحْصُوهَا

“If you were to count the blessings of Allah, you would not be able to enumerate them…”

The question that we should be asking ourselves here is not whether we are masters of our domains and have the ability to develop our environments to benefit ourselves, but whether we will develop them responsibly, and not waste the great blessing we’ve been given. Will we develop them in ways that allow them to be renewable sources of blessing for all of mankind, not just a select few?

إِنَّ الْإِنْسَانَ لَظَلُومٌ كَفَّارٌ

“Man is transgressing and ungrateful”

While this last portion of the verse tells us of how we are, the question is how will we be?

How do you all view the blessing mentioned in this verse, and what can we do to live up to the responsibility of us them wisely?

“ I’ve found that every affliction which comes over the heart is due to excess. This is fundamentally due to approaching this lowly life in a state of ignorance and forgetting about your true place of return after having known it. Savior from this is through leaving off everything unknown by piety and taking nothing except through certainty.

I’ve found that the corruption of the heart is corruption of the Din; do you not see that the Messenger of Allah said “Is there not in the body, a morsel of flesh; if it is wholesome then the body is as well, Read more →