[Music] now before we examine the criteria for an Imam let's briefly talk about the sh over here because you will find other schools of thought when it comes to the position of IM of who an Imam they will tell you that we have the principle of sh mentioned in the Quran therefore when it comes to choosing the IM or Theif or the successor the Quran has instructed us to engage in Shah what does shur mean in English consultation meaning you the umah gather and decide who the IM would be we have to address this very
important argument that other schools of thought have mention before we examine these two verses of Shah we have a very valid question here if the way to choose the IM and the Khalifa is by sh then why is it that none of the first three kaiths became cffs through sh how is it that you're teaching Muslims in history that you guys need to choose your IM through consultation but none of the first three calefs were actually chosen through the system of consultation isn't that a joke let's briefly elaborate on that as for the first Khalifa
Abu Bakr he was not chosen by Shah initially five pledged him Allegiance then they intimidated others to follow you think there was a referendum in Medina oh people come let's do Aura and choose you know this next no a group of people they happened to gather Under the Tent of sakif and it just quickly happened what about other Villages and neighboring areas how come they had no part in this Shah he was clearly not appointed by the sh and the biggest proof that it wasn't sh in bukari and other sources when describes om when he
describes how Abu Bakr was pointed when he describes the first caliphate you know what word does he use to describe it f what does Fela mean s slip something that suddenly happens without preparation that's the meaning of f and he says you know God really protected us from the slip wait a minute wait a minute why are you describing the caliphate of Abu Bakr using a word like that does that mean there was really sh and it was an instruction of the Quran or it's something that you guys cooked and suddenly happened and he says
Omar this should not be repeated again it's a fter it should not be repeated again wait a minute if it's a quranic principle why don't you want it to be repeated again in fact you should tell Muslims just like we chose our first Khalifa you guys should do the same we don't see that in fact if Abu bak's caliphate and how he was chosen was according to the principles of Quran then those who selected him like Omar should come out and proudly say yes that is how you choose aifa and you teach the new generation
of Muslims to do the same that's something you should be proud of this is something you should teach other generation of Muslims but do we find that no instead what do we find no he's like it was you know a Fel it was a slip it was something that just happened without any preparation and it should not be repeated again and that's why they did not repeat it again that's the second argument here how was the second Khalifa chosen apped he was appointed by who what happened to the Shah where's the sh just threw it
out the window what happened to the sh thirdd Khalifa how was he appointed by six people how many Muslims were there in the Muslim um thousands tens of thousands by that time why only these six who came up with this criteria anyway that you only have these six people what kind of Shah is this and by the way if really choosing the Khalifa is supposed to be through Shah and consultation don't you think the prophet sallallahu alaih should have explained to us what are the limits of this Shah who's involved in it who's qualified who
should be part of it he just leaves it open-ended like that at least tell us do do the people of Medina count do we have to ask other Villages okay in Medina you've got thousands of people who's qualified to be part of that sh everybody all companions half of the companions those with these qualities I mean when you go to to any country to any organization and they have an election system you in their bylaws they have rulings on how this election is to be conducted right do you find an institution which says yeah yeah
yeah you should have elections but I don't have a way for you to conduct elections I don't know just go and do it however you want that's a joke so if really it was sh how come we don't see the prophet explaining to us the procedure so that in itself tells us and is not by and the biggest proof is that those first three KS they did not even Implement sh when it came to their they want others to implement them you guys should be role models for Muslims if you didn't implement the sh other
Muslims are going to implement the sh and that's why exactly and that's exactly why throughout history you have dictatorships in the Muslim um where's the sh because those three set the precedent that it's by dictatorship it's not by sh that's a problem now let's briefly examine these two verses of the Shah the first one is verse 159 of Surah Al Iman the third chapter in the Holy Quran 3 159 Allah says God is commanding the prophet consult them in the affair that's the meaning of this verse some of them have cited this verse to say
yes see you have to consult so when it comes to choosing the khif you have to consult let's technically analyze this verse this verse is speaking to an authority who is the prophet sallallahu alaih Al whose authority has already been established we know he's been chosen by God then the verse is telling the prophets you who are in authority and you are the leader consult your companions when it comes to some issues it's not saying that when it comes to choosing that leader and the one who has Authority you take the path of consultation and
Sh where in the verse does it say that the verse is talking to someone who's already in Authority who's a prophet whose authority has been already determined by Allah subhana wa ta'ala now that you've been chosen by God Allah is telling him consult in some matters that's all that's all the verses saying where in these words do you understand that and the one who succeeds the prophet should be by consultation where is that in the verse the verse is not addressing that aspect and I'll honestly ask you right now look at this verse three words
consult them in the affair do you really between you and God do you see this verse talking about an important position like who's going to succeed the prophet do you do you see that in the verse do you see a clear instruction in the verse about this about such a critical matter do you see that or no if you do we we can discuss it that's fine so our argument is that this verse cannot be the basis for sh when it comes to selecting the khif who represents the prophet and then and then that same
verse says to the prophet you consult them but in the end the decision is yours because after that the verse says the verse says yes consult them but then once you want to make the decision you not them once you're making the decision rely on Allah and just do it that means in the end how many people are making the decision one so really this is just a moral instruction to the prophet in the end you have to call the shots you're the prophet just consult them respect them make them feel important make them feel
that their opinion also counts that's all in the end you're making the decision not them which is even proof that this verse is about someone whose authority has already been established who already has Authority from God and he's going to make the decisions he just has to consult his companions just to show them respect that's all that's the first verse the second verse verse 38 and their Affairs is a matter of is a matter of consultation between them so they're claiming thata is part of the Affairs of these people and therefore it's subject to consultation
very brief point over here very brief objection the verse is saying those Affairs which belong to them should be subject to consultation and Shah question and the caliphate is that the people's Affair or the affair of God does the verse does this verse say anything about that no why are they assuming to begin with thata is from the Affairs of the people themselves then it would be subject to consultation no maybea is is as we shall see later is the Dominion of God not the Dominion of people so using this verse like the verse of
the Shah and applying it to the caliphate is a logical fallacy over here because they're assuming that is is part of the Affairs and the Dominion of the people then that means they can consult about it no it could be the Dominion of God I'll give you an example let's say the Constitution says the people the citizens of this state they decide and they elect on their Affairs and then you have the Supreme Court now in our country who directly appoints the Supreme Court Justices who appoints them pres the president now can people come and
object and say no wait a minute the Constitution said We the People decide on our Affairs why is the president choosing and you know selecting the Supreme Court judges when the Constitution says you decide on your Affairs that means those Affairs that have been established to be your dominion and you can vote on them but if something has been assigned to the president that's not your Dominion anymore that's the president's Dominion same thing over here when it comes to we have quranic evidence and prophetic had which says is the Dominion of Allah subhana tala he
chooses so you can't subject that to the consultation in any case upon objectively unbiasedly examining the verse of consultation we see no clear reference to the prophet did not talk about it and the limits of it none of the first cffs implemented it and you want us to believe that thisa is by consultation show us a historical pres precedent from The Prophet's life from even the ciff's lives fine we accept that from the Cal's lives there isn't such a precedent that means can cannot be by consultation there is no evidence for that so next we
are going to examine then how is the Imam chosen is there anything in the prophet's life that tells us more about how an Imam is chosen this is a very very sensitive discussion it's a very critical discussion too because most Muslims in history have not taken this evidence so it's very important for us to discuss this and analyze this and what about the verses of the Holy Quran when it comes to the words and positions like imif what does the Quran say about them are they by the designation of God or Allah T leaves it
for the people to decide the IM and Theif this is something that we will examine next week inshallah in [Music]
