 Good evening. So my name is Ronit and I am a hotelier. Well it's a pleasure to come to the Dubai Peace International Conference. So my question is, like I'm not being negative, like I'm not saying anything against over this. So but my question is like when we talk about this topic, religion of peace. So why are we particularly talking about this religion? Like why are we only particularly talking about Islam? Is it the only religion which is of peace? There's another religion as well. Thank you very much my brother. The question as I've understood it is that we're talking about Islam, the religion of peace. This is the peace convention and obviously it's an event that has invited to it so many people of all different diverse faiths. It is promoting Islam in the sense that it's an event where the truth of Islam is being beamed and the peace that stands within Islam is being beamed and the truth is like we've said and I did declare in my talk that true peace is achieved by worshipping the one who made you alone without any deities together with that. So the one who made you, that is how you will achieve true peace. The first may call towards peace. The difficulty we have is people have categorized peace and when they say we promote peace they only talking of one type of peace. Maybe if we don't have a war people might say we have peace but there is no internal peace and so Islam is the only faith that goes into every single detail of my life and yours and governs how exactly it should be led in a way that I would be able to achieve inner and outer peace peace within myself in fact the condition of my heart needs to be rectified in such a beautiful way that's a whole topic on its own and the entire condition I am at peace with my own limbs and with the entire creation around me and on top of that I promote that peace that we are talking about when it comes to the opposite of war. So my brother holistically yes Islam is the faith that promotes holistic peace and in my opinion and that of those it is the only faith that has in it every speck of detail regarding how to achieve that particular peace hence we call it the religion of peace. JazakAllah khair. Thank you. Who groups do you think deserves peace more? Internal peace more? And so this ayah is about people who attain peace in their life you know people suffer from all kinds of emotional imbalances depression, sadness, anger, anxiety you know how do you attain peace and is there a relationship between faith and peace internal peace even emotional psychological states of peace Allah says those who truly came to believe and did not disguise their truth or their faith with wrongdoing in other words wrongdoing is a disturbance in your not just on the outside when you do vulmi or disturbing something on the outside or someone on the outside but in this ayah beautifully it is as though Allah is describing that when you do wrong to someone else you've actually disturbed something inside of you and then Allah says if you're able to not do that and not wrong others and not do wrong you know not do injustice of any kind those are the people that deserve peace they'll have peace they'll have peace inside of themselves you know how many times we see nowadays that soldiers that come from war that have witnessed atrocities or in settings where there were no oversight committed atrocities or were silent witnesses two atrocities that their brethren committed during wars they come back and commit suicide or they have nightmares or they're not able to have relationships or they can't go to sleep or there are all kinds of medications you know PTSD and you name it not just from physical trauma physical trauma is something else but just from the emotional trauma of what they've experienced or what they may have even had to do or they didn't got away with well they got away with it in the sense of the authorities and the government and all of that but their insides have been damaged they don't have any peace anymore and they can't live with that there are people who commit any in all kinds of crimes not just against other human beings but people like you know for example nowadays SubhanAllah there are people that are in the entertainment industry they're in the music industry and maybe they're not even the top celebrities but people that are in a particular kind of industry that has to do with just sinning and just wrongdoing they're in the clubbing industry one of these dirty industries these people have to literally stay on drugs to be at peace because they're just they're terrible to themselves and others when they're not in that state they have to literally numb themselves away from reality to be able to cope just to be able to cope just to be able to deal SubhanAllah Allah says people who truly have found faith they've found something they could not find in a club they could not find it at a party they could not find it in a drug they couldn't find it in alcohol they couldn't find that peace anywhere you know and for those of you that aren't into these terrible things maybe you're just into entertainment you're just watching movie after movie after movie after movie after movie and it's just messing you up on the inside it's just tearing you apart and the only thing you can do is fill that empty space with more entertainment and more entertainment and more entertainment it just doesn't stop and one day you just decide and alhamdulillah Ramadhan has come so you decide to cut it at least cut it down hopefully you cut it all together in this month and then you go to the masjid and you feel this peace and you haven't felt it in a long time so you can tell the difference between the toxic waste you've been putting inside of you the spiritual toxic waste and now this cleansing just the listening to the Quran just putting your head on the ground without everybody else just those few minutes even what that does to you you know at the beginning when you've been eating terrible food for a long time healthy food tastes bad so in the beginning when people come after a long time to a masjid they're like I gotta get out of here quick so they're moving, playing nearby can I do that instead? you see a lot of people, young people especially when I hang out outside the masjid and they're all on their devices nobody's just sitting calmly this is what iman does it gives you calm, it gives you peace you're not jittery, you're not disturbed you're not just constantly in the need for some other fix whether for your eyes or for your brain for your tongue for your limbs you're not looking for that fix you're just at rest subhanAllah and they're the ones that are committed to guidance in other words Allah is saying that this without commitment it's only going to come and it's going to go you're going to have to show some commitment to be able to hold on to that peace Allah is in another place in the Quran He says you should know that by remembering Allah's hearts become calm they become tranquil they become at ease and that's what this ayah is about wallahi the world every human being on this world on this earth is looking for peace they're looking for tranquility inside of them something is bothering them and they just say to themselves you know that you can tell yourself if I just had that I'd be happy and they put it in different words I mean being happy if I just had this much money I'd be happy if I got this girl I'd be happy if I had this car I'd be happy if I had this house I'd be happy if I lived here I'd be happy if I bought that device if I had that video game if I did this if I did that we always set these goals and say I would be happy and guess what the ones you said for yourselves before and you said you'll get there and you'll be happy how long did it last and then you moved on to something else that you couldn't find satisfaction in this is the ayah that Allah Azawajal teaches us through the words of Ibrahim Ali some timeless words right if it was true back in the day it's still true today SubhanAllah the people who can truly find faith and they don't replace their faith with wrongdoing so even if you're a Muslim doesn't mean you have peace maybe you're replacing your faith with wrongdoing you need to stop doing the wrong cut that out of your life and Allah will grant you the gift of peace may Allah make us all the people of peace and may Allah make us all among the Muhtadeen may Allah bless you peace be upon you and may Allah's mercy and mercy be upon you our sheikh today is reciting Surah Al-Ma'ida and Surah Al-Ma'ida is the last of the major surahs to be revealed in the Quran it was the very final revelation in terms of the major surahs in the Quran and Surah Al-Ma'ida came down around the time of the Hajj of the Prophet SAW and in it is that very famous verse that verse that a Jewish person came to Umar ibn al-Khatab and he said that oh commander oh my leader because he was also the leader of the Jews and Christians oh our leader if this verse had been revealed to us we would have taken that day as a day of Eid as a day of celebration every year we would have celebrated that day this verse is what what is this verse that is so important that this non-Muslim said that if our religion had this verse we would have been celebrating every year the annual celebration when this verse came down it means today I have completed your religion for you the deen is and I have perfected my favors and my blessings upon you some people they mistranslate this verse that I have completed my favors no, Allah's favors are never complete we always need Allah's favors Allah's ni'mah we would not be alive today if Allah hadn't given us ni'mah right? atmemtu means I have perfected reached the pinnacle atmemtu aleykum ni'mati and I have chosen for you and I am pleased for you Islam to be your way of life this verse is so comprehensive it gives us so many blessings and points and the entire surah revolves around this verse this verse is the if you like fundamental axis of the whole surah that is because the surah came to finalize the religion of Islam the final laws were revealed in surah al-ma'idah ibn Abbas said no shari'a no law came down after ma'idah after ma'idah we just have a few verses here and there that basically complete the Quran but the final legislation was surah al-ma'idah and surah al-ma'idah talks about many different aspects of legislation one of the main themes as well is the issue of food and clothing surah al-ma'idah discusses this because this is of the finer details of the shari'a the salah has been revealed the zakah has been revealed the hajj has been revealed so Allah azawajal finishes up with the final things and Allah basically says اليوم أكملت لكم دينكم today your deen is kamil one of the most important points of this brothers and sisters and it is very important in light of the world that we live in the world that teaches us that we should always change we should always have newer versions version one, version two, version three the world that has told us that the other religions have evolved why don't you revolve Allah says this religion of yours is kamil this religion of yours is perfect and there is no need for it to evolve the fundamentals of our religion brothers and sisters will not change no matter what the world tells us our belief in Allah swt the broad basics of our ethics our morality, our laws these are unchangeable why? change means that the previous product was not perfect let me give an example of windows we all know the problems with windows and the bugs with windows and all of the updates every windows update has its bugs and flaws so what happens windows version one version two, version three version four many of us including myself remember when windows first came out we still remember that now which version are we on we've lost count why? because every product is an update is better fixes the problems of the previous product well imagine if they had released a windows that was flawless imagine if there was a windows that didn't have any virus problem or any patches needed they would not need to update now humans cannot produce a perfect product so for humans they always need to update because we are not perfect Allah Azza wa Jal has told us that today that's the day of Hajj on the day of Arafa in the 10th year of the Hijrah all of the laws have now been sealed khalas end there is no need for change there is no need for fine tuning al yawma akmaltu lakum deenakum wa atmamtu aleykum ni'mati my favours have been now perfected I have given you the shari'ah I have given you political power the Prophet's system is now in Makkah as the leader of Makkah all of the fears that you had are now gone you came and you were persecuted now I have perfected my favours that you have the entire Arabian Peninsula in your right hand you are now the undisputed leader you also have followers that will do anything for you you have attained the perfection and Allah is saying today has that perfection been reached and I have chosen Islam as your way of life and the meaning of deen we've heard this a lot of times that deen is not just a religion it's a way of life in fact this is very true the meaning of dana ya deenu the meaning of dana is to submit to this is the meaning of the verb dana from which deen comes from the meaning of dana is to submit and therefore the deen is that which you submit to it's your code that you live by it is your laws, your ethics, your values your morals every human being has a deen every human being even atheists have a deen it's their code that they live by every person has some type of philosophy some type of ruling they're going to use for us we thank Allah Allah has given us that way of life Allah has told us what is right from what is wrong and that is why in this surah there are so many laws regarding our shari'ah in this surah Allah says our Imam recited in the last raka'ah Allah Azza wa Jal says announced to mankind that the khabith and the tayyib the pure and the filthy are never going to be equal even if you are shocked at how much filth exists in the world this is a verse brothers and sisters especially in light of what is happening today when alternative lifestyles are being promoted when filth is being told that it is permissible when the haram is being made halal when if you speak out and say look this is immoral this is disgusting this is filthy you are said to be the bigot and the racist and this and that Allah says in the Quran even if the filth overwhelms you it's not going to make the filth become pure this is a fundamental reality of our religion that Allah Azza wa Jal has laid out in stone and Allah Azza wa Jal clarifies it another example again this whole surah is about fine-tuning and perfecting the laws and therefore in this surah Allah Azza wa Jal also has revealed the final prohibitions of so many things for example Allah says in the Quran this surah right now we just recited it in the second raka'a إنما الخمر والميسر والانصاب والإسلام رجسم من عمل الشيطان that drinking alcohol خمر and maysir gambling andانصاب and إسلام which means the idols and there is a way that they would worship the idols this is basically to do with the shirk Allah says gambling and drinking alcohol are from the filth of shaitan رجسم من عمل الشيطان so avoid it so that you can be successful then Allah clarifies why? and through this clarification brothers and sisters we learn why has Allah revealed the shari'a to us إنما يريد الشيطان the reason why shaitan is calling you to drink the reason why shaitan is calling you to gamble إنما يريد الشيطان and يوقع بينكم العداوة والبغطة shaitan wants you to start fighting with one another to break up to have problems the root of all evil is alcohol and drugs look my brothers and sisters the number one cause for gangs in this country the number one cause for death is alcohol related the number one cause for people doing what they do crimes and all of this is because of what? it is خمر and it is alcohol and Allah says that shaitan wants to cause problems between you he wants to ruin your relationship with one another he wants to spread evil on this earth إنما يريد الشيطان and he wants you to turn away from remembering Allah and from prayer so gambling, drinking, drugs have two problems number one a worldly problem number two a spiritual problem similarly brothers and sisters everything that Allah has made haram he has made it haram not because he enjoys making our life difficult but because the haram is harmful for us it is harmful for our souls it is harmful for society Allah has made things haram as a mercy for us and not in order to make life difficult upon us he is saying that alcohol, drugs, these gambling shaitan is using it to cause fitna amongst you shaitan is using it to make you think of things that are not important and you turn away from that which is important and that is the prayer and therefore we learn from this brothers and sisters that the whole shari'ah is a shari'ah of mercy laws of this religion are meant to better humanity not meant to make humanity worse even if everybody criticizes why is alcohol bad why can't we just drink a little bit why is sexuality wrong why is homosexuality, why this, why that we have our clear cut principles even if we don't understand Allah knows you do not know and by the way I am saying we don't understand but to Allah he brothers and sisters every scientist, every social every person who has an intelligence if they look at the things that Allah has made haram the human fitra without any PhD in sociology the human soul will say that is disgusting, that is filthy I don't want to do that how many are the converse that I have met my friends that told me that when they were in pre-islam when they were in jahiliya some of them said that I never drank and I never touched a woman because I knew this was something that is not gentlemanly it's not what a man does my mother said that I was doing it but deep down inside I knew something was wrong this is not the way we should be living just like animals yesterday I saw a YouTube video of one of our brothers who converted to Islam and he was saying that I was just living a carefree life I was drinking, womanizing this and that 18 years old and he said but it struck me, is this all there is to life? that's all I am going to do live like an animal and I kept on researching until I saw the religion of Islam say you should not drink you should not take drugs you should not womanize and I realized this is the law that my creator would tell me to do this is a law that is pure this is a law that tells us to be like humans and not animals this is what non-muslims are saying and that is the first verse that our sheikh recited today the first verse he recited is when the non-muslims who have a good heart when they hear the Quran that has been revealed to the Prophet s.a. you will find them crying out of joy, out of happiness that they know that this is the truth Allah testifies in the Quran that anybody with a pure heart when he hears this message of Islam he knows it is the true message and the primary way that we do this is by telling the truth not by hiding, not by being embarrassed next time somebody says what your religion doesn't allow social drinking your religion doesn't allow this and that we should be firm and frank yes it does not because in this is harm in this is physical harm and in it is spiritual harm a few days ago our sheikh recited the other verse in the Quran related to this and that is that Allah says Allah wants to make things easy he doesn't want to make things difficult Allah wants to make your burden light upon you the problem is we have been created weak not that the shariah is difficult Allah says Allah wants to make things easy and not make things difficult Allah says Allah says there is no difficulty that Allah has placed in this religion the religion is not difficult it is common sense it is a logical religion it is a rational religion and every single ruling that Allah has revealed we can understand the benefits and for those that we don't understand we will have to put our faith in Allah brothers and sisters in Islam the pure is clear and the filth is clear may Allah SWT cause us to live as Muslims to die as Muslims and to be resurrected as Muslims