Meaning of Shariah
Dear brothers, its easy to describe what the Shariah is about in few words, it is to encourage good and prevent evil.
It is to preserve the 5 essentials rights of a human being, that being his deen, his life, his intellect, his offspring and his property.
After your right to practice your faith, the next is your life and your health. We all have a right to be healthy and safe from harm.
The imam mentioned a hadith in which the Prophet SAWS said:
“There is no injury nor return of injury.”
What this means is that you are prohibited from harming yourself in order to reach a goal and that you are also not allowed to harm others in order to reach a goal, no matter what it may be.
Dear brothers and sisters, the reason for this reminder today is to emphasise that we are in unprecedented times. Never before has an event like this affected us all so profoundly and so globally. The whole human race is affected by the events of the past 6 months and it is still affecting us today as you’ve seen coming to the masjid.
A lot of people have been directly impacted by the events of the past 6 months. We have lost brothers and sisters to Covid but alongside that, a lot of people have found quality time with family and time to reflect and connect with their deen and with Allah SWT.
We have experienced the first Ramadan without the lifeline of our massajids, an Eid without spending time with our loved ones from other households, and a suspension of normality in all aspects of our lives.
Only now we are beginning to see some form of normality, as of this week our massajids are reopening their doors. However, understand that this is not the same as before April. Things have changed and will continue to remain this way for a while to come.
And whilst we are all desperate for life to return, for the most part, to how it was before, we cannot take short cuts to getting there.
This is what is means to adhere to Shariah, we are encouraging good in following the rules and we are directly doing so to preserve our health and our lives. Yes, it’s inconvenient to do ablution at home, yes it’s inconvenient to bring prayer mats and your shoes in a carrier bag.
But remember, by doing this, we are practicing Shariah, we are setting an example to others and we are following the advice of our beloved Prophet SAWS when he was mentioned earlier.
By doing so, we are showing Allah SWT that we are worthy of being permitted back into his House once again and we are worthy of being labelled those who adhere to the definition of Shariah.
