So when Allah says do not take the Yahoud and Nasara as awliya, it doesn't
just mean do not take them as friends. Do not take them as your guardians,
your protectors, your allies, your friends, your masters. In no way should
there be this alliance with the kuffar. Allah says they are allies, they are
the awliya, of one another. And whoever makes them a friend, then that
person is of them. Allah does not guide those who are sinful.
Now, how does the Prophet apply the meaning of that verse? Forget aligning the
Muslims with the kuffar, forget befriending them, forget taking them as
masters and partners and companions and close confidants and associates and
guardians and protectors...the Prophet instructed the sahaba (his
companions) to distance themselves and fear this alignment with the kuffar
in every way. Even to the manner of dressing.
When he was in Mecca, the Prophet would consciously oppose the mushrikin (the
idolaters) as much as possible, including the way in which he combed his
hair. The Prophet would comb his hair in such a way that he would not part
the hair from the middle...because this was the way the mushrikin would do
it. The Prophet would see a sahaba wearing a certain kind of clothing. The
Prophet would say, remove this for this is the way of the kuffar, remove
this because this is the clothing of the kuffar. Of course, some clothing
everybody shares. Muslims wear it, non-Muslims wear it. But if any
particular dress becomes a distinguishing feature of the non-Muslims, then
the Prophet forbade the Muslims from wearing that.
SO THE PROPHET APPLIED THE MEANING OF THE VERSES - DO NOT FOLLOW IN THE
FOOTSTEPS OF THE KUFFAR - IN THE MOST EXTREME WAY, NOT JUST IN RELIGION, not
just in worship.
This is one mistake that people make. They believe that when we have been
instructed not to follow the kuffar it's only restricted to religion, ie do
not worship Allah like the Yahoud and Nasara. And only in religious matters
oppose the Yahoud and Nasara. But that's not correct. The Prophet understood
this in a much wider way: not only do not follow the Yahoud and Nasara in
your worship but in every other way. Even in halal (permissible) things.
Now, Muslims are beginning to reverse protocols in everything: dress,
appearance, manner of eating and drinking, so much so that some Muslims go
to the extent, just like the kuffar, who, when they eat, use the fork with
their left hand and cut with their right hand. Muslims will do the same. WE
ARE IN A VERY DANGEROUS POSITION HERE. WE LIVE AMONGST THE KUFFAR, WE WORK
WITH THEM, WE ASSOCIATE WITH THEM, WE MIX WITH THEM. AND WE BEGIN TO PICK UP
THEIR HABITS.We are influenced by them. And anyone who thinks that they can
work with the kuffar, associate with them, mix with them, stand and sit with
them, move amongst them and not be affected, is in denial and is a liar to
himself.
There is a deep, hidden desire in us to be like them, for we are in awe of
their language, we are in awe of their fashions, we are in awe of their
trends and their culture. We wish to be like them. That's why we have to be
extremely careful, here in this country. We are so easily influenced that we
imitate them in so many things.
And deep down there's this feeling that glory, honour, respect, all these
things lie in their cluture, in their traditions. And not just the
individual, but all the way to Muslim governments.
If you look at the Muslim countries, with, until recently, one or two notable
exceptions, VIRTUALLY EVERY GOVERNMENT OF MUSLIM COUNTRIES IS PURSUING THE
COURSE OF THE KUFFAR, imitating them in every way, blindly following them
and aping the West, so much so that Muslims believe that culture is the
culture of the kuffar, literature is the literature of the kuffar,
achievements are the achievements of the kuffar. Respect and honour will be
won, glory will be won and earned, not in anything except in aping and
imitating the kuffar.
Build skyscrapers and we will bring honour to our country. Build
infrastructure like the kuffar and we will bring honour to our country. It's
become so ridiculous that in Muslim countries where there is poverty, where
Muslims in some areas are living in squalor, they build ice-skating rinks in
the desert. To impress who? Huge football stadiums. There's a city, the
population of the city is 100,000 and right next to the city there's a
football stadium with a capacity of 300,000. They have to actually pay
people to go and attend. We believe (honour) is in sport, is in football,
ice-skating rinks.
In some of these Muslim countries, that claim to rule by Islam, they have
built opera houses at a cost of hundreds of millions of pounds. For what and
for who? Muslims, Arabs, going to the opera to listen to a Frenchman singing
in Italian? That's the level to which we have stooped in imitating the
kuffar.
Many Muslims don't keep beards. Why? It's a sunnah (tradition) of the Prophet.
The clear majority of the ulama (Islamic scholars) of all the schools of
fiqh (jurisprudence) have declared it obligatory. In a clear hadith
(collected accounts of the Prophet Muhammad's words and deeds), the Prophet
says: "Oppose the pagans, oppose the mushrikin." They would shave their
beards or shorten them. The Prophet said: "Lengthen your beards and clip and
trim your moustaches." He clearly instructed the believers to do that.
