 الحمد لله الحمد لله رب العالمين والسلام والسيدنا محمد وعلى آله وصحبه وسلم أجمعين اللهم سلي وسلم بارك على سيدنا محمد نورك الساري ومددك الجاري وجمعين بكل أطواري وعلى آله وصحبه وصدم يا نور يا أيها الذين عاملوا اتقوا الله اتقوا الله قد تقاتل ولا تمتن إلا وانتم مسلمون الحمد لله one of the aspects of living in a certain type of society is that we start to adopt the good and many times the bad of that society the people that you and I are around regularly are the people that we begin to imitate they're the people whose habits, whose approaches we begin to absorb and this is not just true for us in the time that we are living in this has been prevalent for human beings throughout history that the human being will adapt to the situations that they're in the human being will adapt to the society that they're in and many times that adaptation starts to become more than this adaptation the human being begins to conform to whatever norms of the society that they're living in to whatever norms of the place that they're living in and so let's say that someone, I'm sure all of us here we're here in Silicon Valley back in the days when we were going to our offices there used to be a time you dress up suit and tie, show up to work and now we can just wear our jeans and t-shirts and that's become the norm for many of us especially if you're working at a tech company or in a startup environment but if you're working in New York or in the financial district you're still going to have to dress up in that kind of old school style it depends on the norms of the people, the culture of let's say the company that you're in you begin to conform regardless of whatever personal clothing choices that one may have had for the more you surround yourself with certain types of people the more that conforming begins to happen and it's not any different with Haram with things that we are not supposed to be doing in our religion the more we see people doing them and the more we see them being taken lightly so we begin to think it's really not that big of a deal everybody else is doing it this is just how the society runs and that has happened for us as a Muslim community in a lot of ways but specifically with regards to the area of interest with regards to the area of Reba that in the society that we live in we live in a society that is laden with interest but the foundations of this society are continually built on interest every single financial instrument that we try to engage with interest is there every human being or the majority of people in this country are caught up in some type of debt that's only growing and growing not because of the amount of the loan that they took out but because of the APR or the interest associated with that loan and one of the sad aspects of this is that as Muslims living in the United States as Muslims living in the West we have begun to take that idea and stop taking it as seriously as Allah took it in the Quran whereas the Prophet ﷺ warned against taking interest in the Hadith we say it's really not that big of a deal what could be so bad about it because they package it nicely they put it in proper documents it's not called what it is they package it with APR it's an annual percentage rate they make it seem like it's not that big of a deal it's a monthly payment that we just pay and we set it and forget it but that doesn't take away the Haram components of that instrument that we're engaging in and that doesn't make it any less weighty in the eyes of our religion and so we have to examine and sometimes ask ourselves the difficult questions in our life of what are we doing that God would not appreciate all of us if we had ourselves or our family members if we knew somebody was drinking we would know hey that's not cool right there somebody was eating bacon we know that's not something that we should do with Muslims if we had our children or if ourselves if we were engaging in adultery engaging in affairs we would know and we would feel the effects too the negative spiritual effects there's an immediate effect that one feels when they sin we would know hey this isn't something I can do if someone was selling drugs and making all their money either selling drugs or using drugs we would know that money is Haram we would know that money is not permissible that money does not have Barakah in it and yet for some reason a sin that Allah outlines in the Quran as being higher than the things that I just mentioned as being worse than adultery as being worse than drinking as having more of a negative effect on us than all of these other major sins that we do we've started to take very very lightly and it's because it's just happening in the unseen you can't see this stuff you can't see you know you can physically count the amount of money that you pay for something but we can't actually see it because it's just happening in our bank account it's just the money is just going and we're just paying these types of payments and so let's just talk a little bit about this this is a topic I feel that is not covered nearly as often as we need to remind ourselves of what exactly is interest any type of loan that we take that demands that you pay back more than that loan amount and has an APR associated with it or has an interest percentage associated with it that qualifies as interest and regardless of how that's packaged regardless of what that instrument is if the contract stipulates that there's interest in it there's interest in it no matter how impressive the terms and conditions may be now in this society that we live in they make it seem like oh you have to do this stuff you've got to get $1,000,000 $2,000,000 $3,000,000 home you've got to get the $100,000 part you've got to get a huge student loan in order to get to the absolute best school oh you just did undergrad you're nothing until you have a master you're nothing until you have a professional degree just keep taking out loans keep taking out loans and keep paying to further your what I'm called progress in society meanwhile our spiritual progress begins to deteriorate we're not progressing spiritually but we think we are we're progressing materially but in fact we are being harmed in the areas that matter to us and that are going to matter to us in the end in the next life so let's just understand this in a little bit of detail the dangers of interest what are some of the dangers of interest what are some of the warnings that Allah has given us Allah tells us no Quran don't even get near this stuff don't even don't even mess with with Reba Laden Loan don't don't don't go near it and he says in the Quran that Allah describes interest of all blessing of all barakah but he blesses charity and then he relates this he says he loves not the ungrateful sinner the sinner who is ungrateful to him and he's associating this now with taking out interest and then he's saying that he deprives of all blessing now what does that mean let's examine that a little bit being deprived of blessing being deprived of barakah doesn't simply mean that we are going to see the effect in the next life Allah especially for the people who He loves and we know this in the hadith of the Prophet ﷺ told us that the Muslims are tested most in this life he begins to show them the impacts in this life when your life doesn't have barakah in it more fighting is happening at home more arguments are happening more problems are coming up more issues with children more negativity a lack of tranquility an overall trepidation in the heart increasing levels of anxiety increasing levels of depression increasing levels of stress these are just the tip of the iceberg of what happens when barakah is removed from a life a life with barakah doesn't mean it's a life without problems no the Prophet ﷺ had the most amount of tribulation the Prophet ﷺ are tested the most but in that tribulation he had a sakina to him in the tribulation for the people of Allah they are able to maintain a state of tranquility that Allah descends upon them but for the people who don't have barakah in their life the tribulation becomes all consuming and more and more tribulation start to come that removes the blessing in one's life so we have to really just understand this concept that when we engage in certain things in this world that are not permissible we have a direct impact and you might not see that impact today or tomorrow that impact God forbid and we hope this never comes but according to the way Allah is described in the Qur'an it can come it comes later on in life and then he says in the Qur'an and this is a very scary verse he says old believers have taqwa of Allah and give up what is still due to you from the interest if you are truly believers and if you do not do so then take notice if you do not give up these interest factors then take notice of war from Allah in his Messenger Allah is warning to the believers take notice of war from Allah in his Messenger you can examine throughout the Qur'an you are not going to find many verses where Allah is telling you to take notice of war it's just not the case Allah says He doesn't like this sin to not do this sin Shaytan is with you when you do certain types of sin but show us where Allah says He and his Messenger from Allah is giving you the warning of waging war we have to examine that we have to think do you and I want in our life at some point or in the lives of our children war from Allah in his Messenger because of the decision that we are making have we ever examined our problems many times we get into this state where we blame everybody for our problems do we ever look down inside and wonder what sins am I doing that I might not even think our sins that might be causing the problems that I am facing in my life and so you know you read this and you think oh you know this is only for the people who are like making millions and millions of dollars from each if I give you $100,000 alone and I make you pay pay me back $150,000 I'm the one being described in this verse that's only for those people right what's the big deal if I'm just taking a loan and paying somebody 3, 4 percentage points of interest what's the big deal everybody's doing it I don't see anything happening or the Prophet ﷺ warned us harshly about it now the Prophet ﷺ says that the the receiver and the payer of interest are cursed the one who records it and the witnesses to the transaction he says they are all a life in guilt immediately negating anybody who says that it's just a person who's actually making significant monetary benefit from the interest he's saying the person who's paying it is also in this bucket describing this because look you can't have a system right if you're trying to sell me something and there's no buyers guess what the demand side is gone you can't just have supply the demand common economics right basic economics so if you do not have the people who give demand who purchase these loans they're not going to have the people who supply these loans so this is we have to wonder how much am I engaging in and then we're going to say you know what's the big deal I mean I've been you know maybe I've been doing this for my whole life I'm not seeing any problems well the problems might not come in this life this is the issue if Allah loves somebody you might show them in this life but for the promise of some said I'm recording in the collection of Ibn Maja that Riba has 70 segments the least serious of which is equivalent to a man committing adultery with his own mother this had been shocking when I read it I really did not imagine that you would have wording this strong condemning something the least serious interest has 70 segments he said the least serious is equivalent to a man committing adultery with his own mother and another hadith says that it's worse than committing adultery 36 times with somebody you and I we have family members we know ourselves we have children if any of our children our daughters our sisters ourselves our sons if we were caught committing adultery that's it all hell would break loose we would never accept it yet we're engaging in car loans in mortgages and all these other things that we're relating with interest and we don't realize the significant negative impact that this could be having on us and the impact God forbid that we're going to feel in the next life and another hadith that the prophet he said Allah would be justified in not allowing four people to enter paradise or to take this blessing the one who drinks habitually the one who takes interest the one who steals and who serves and orphans property without right and the one who is un-dutiful to their parents two things in this hadith we very much take lightly at least I know I do drinking a lot is a problem and stealing somebody's property especially in orphans is a problem and how many of us are taking interest at their level a prophet is comparing it to someone who's drinking all the time and he's saying Allah could be justified in not allowing that person to even taste the blessings of paradise these hadith these are just some of them the hadith tradition has many hadith where the prophet talks about the Islamic economic system and he's giving us an example of the negative impact that you and I engage in seen or unseen that we know of but we don't know of having an impact in the next life and so let's just talk briefly and what are some of the common types of interest that exist first and foremost the biggest one the American dream everybody wants to own a home more give it right it's very very common in the society we live in we think it's okay because we live here right and so we want to get the benefits associated with owning a home and we want that right but we have to think what kind of society are we living in that you have people who take out multiple more give it we'll get one home then we go and we take out another one so we can go buy an investment property and make the rent money and then go and buy another property and then keep buying and keep buying and we think it's all good meanwhile we're taking interest in accruing sins according to the hadith which are significantly damaging to our hearts and we don't understand why I'm always fighting at the house let's examine how many major sins are we committing how many of us would be fool making selling pounds I mean now we eat as legal year but you know ten years ago I wasn't selling pounds and pounds in marijuana taking that drug money and using that money to make invest in things nobody would be okay with that but we think it's okay to go and take a giant loan pay some corrupt institution lots and lots of money so when you do buy these then you will not be heading for a money we're not coming together to buy so much damn but I'm writing I just oh so so but and so I've I've paid now I had had I'm وبالنسبة to the small sins that we commit and leaving the big ones. The prioritization is very very important. The next type of major loan that we take out of car loans. There are so many options in this society. You have something called leasing of car. You have a 0% APR option for many cars. But we got to drive the nicest luxury Benz. You know we got to drive the biggest car so we don't take out a $40,000 loan. Well guess what? إذا كنت لا تحتاج لأجل شيء ، فأنا سأترك على سيارة بحيث إذا كنت تحتاج لكي تصل إلى أجل هذه المساعدة التي نحن فيها لكننا لا نحتاج لها، فقط want to live the big ballard luxury life right and live beyond our means ونذهب فوق ونقوم بأسأل عليها وكيف ستجد إمكانك أن تقول لك حسنًا عن ذلك؟ كنت أخبرت أنه في هذا المساعدة وقد يمكنك أن تسأل هذه المساعدة وقد يمكنك أن تأخر إلى هذا المساعدة في 0% APR لذا لماذا تأخر إلى 1% على 2.49% APR؟ بس أبو! أعطيها بالمستخدم لكل فتورة مني علينا filing جميعنا الفئران إلى ما هو قد يتبع القضاء قد يضع ديما من الجدرات كنت هنالك تفعل أشياء تفكر الأجراء كأن تفكر الجزيمة كأن تفكر المشيئاء وكما يمكنك ان نستطيع الحياتة هذه الرئيس لن يوجد إ Surprisingly لاحظن أن نطلب مجموعة الثلاثة flowers الامرية مهمة لتحدث عن أولئات هذا الشخص يفعله لأننا يفعل أن يجب أن نأخذ الأجهزة في وقت مدينة جداً ونقوم بإمكانه بالنسبة لفتحة المجموعة التي نحصل فيها وندخل فيها في مجموعة مجموعة لن نحن لم نستخدم وقت المال ونحن نجد أجهزة المجموعة لكي يستطيع أن نقوم بإمكانها بقاعدة مخلق بسيطة في هذه المجموعة لن يعتقد فيها في مجموعة ويقول أنه لأحد أحد يجب أن أعرف بشكل مجموعة أنه يجب أن نتخطي الناس وكم نعقل المفاتحة الل together and organization where we do college admissions guidance and one that not all about going to college going to the best colleges. نعم that's all true. نجب على it but we have to do that but we have to think what's the price types that we're willing to pay right our people are taking $1,200 going to college going to the best colleges. نعم نعم نعم نعم نعم نعم نعم نعم نعم نعم أهلاً شبتح شائن. شكل من العالم الذي تقوم بهذا. من المرحلة المستخدمة المستقبليات التالي عملية المستخدمة المسيحية you know that you're not a guy who's participating in this event, you know, you're not a guy who's the one who's the one who's not that person. And you know that's a great question to do. So then I think what you guys have to do is to get that one ready to go and سوف يكون هناك المشاكل من قوك ليحظة الله الحمد لله حمد لله رب العالمين مصلقة الله ورحمة الله وبرك رحمة الله ورحمة الله وعالية ورحمة الله يا يولدين عامن إتفظ الله حق سيخاطي ولأ ش bestenنا إلا وأن صمس في مموت إذا كامل ما كان هناك منون يتجربون has been trying to make some room بأن يضهر الصناوط في نظيف بأن يستهر الصناوط بأن يستغفون في نظيف that would be very nice ليس that people don't get completely soaked أم لا يجب أن نتجرب بالسحل الحديث أنا لا اتخيل أن نخبر صحيح ولكن فقط سأجعل حقا أن نتجرب بحقق أم لا إذا الآن، المكطف is أم نحن نخرج من هذا العBAق الأول ب that we have to keep in mind is that we have to realize how serious the problem actually is وهذا أم لا نستطيع تصفيق أمي أكثر The provinces are on set in the hadith The Halal is clear The Haram is clear لذلك نعرف ما يجب أن يكون جداً الثالث ما يجب أن نفعله is if we spend our time engaging in some type of interest نجب أن نتعرف وأن نجب أن نجعل كوبا منه مثل ما يجب أن نجعل كوبا إذا كنت تجربة أو إذا كنت تجربة أيضاً نجب أن نجعل كوبا نجب أن نتوقف يجب أن نساعدنا على أن نفعله ولكن يجب أن نفعله بشكل كبير إذا كنت لا تحبه ولكن نجعله بشكل كبير نجب أن نجعل كوبا ونقوم بحيثنا ثم الثالث نجب أن نتوقف لن يخرج من هنا يجب أن نقوم بفعله الله يقوله مقرآن إذا كان يطلق الله يجعله ومخرجه أي من يقوم بروح الله يجب أن يخطأهم يجب أن يخطأهم من خلال أجهزة لذا الآن ما يجب أن نفعله ونحن نحن نعرف لن نفهم نحن نفعل حقاً نحن لا نذهب في بعض الأجهزة إذا كان it a mortgage أو خارس أو خلال أجهزة يبدو أن نجعله و Get the way out Don't take this lightly The last thing you want to do is meet Allah on the Day kg And when something was very clearly warned against Just because we live in a society which takes it lightly we started to take it lightly Get out If you have a mortgage Refine 반 an Islamic mortgage It's not difficult It doesn't cost anything more It's very very easy to do It's a good time for us to do it If we have a car loan Start paying it off quickly كي أجد أن أستطيع أن أساعد مدى بأعطين أكثر من بلد أو لست أستطيع أن أساعد كذلك إذا كنتم باستيقية بالضبطل أو إضافة إلى هذا المكان لكي أصبرت حديث من المدى تبدأ to think deeply about what are the different strategies that could happen for you to saving money for you to either to wait a year or two going into a community college because it's much more affordable and then going into a proper institution and then saving my money in order to be able to finance college لكن لا يستطيع أن يقوم باستعمل شيء حرام لكي يمكنك أن تقوم باستعمال البخيرة و هذا المجنون يقول لا يمكن أن يقوم باستعمال ببخير محاول. فلن تصدقوا بأن سيارة في قوة اجوانه و ذهبه و ذهبه و ذهبه لأجواني فاستعمال بحركة امريكية و كتابة و كتابة فقط لطاقة كل هذا و تقوم باستعمال بحركة الاصلامية لا يمكنني اصبح شيء حرام لا matter what impact it's going to have و سأعتقد أن الله ستعوى بي طريقة الهاتف سأقوم بعيداً لأنه مفتاح جداً يقوم بعمل كرد ماهذا يجب علينا الكرد في المجموعة علينا أن نتوقف أن نقوم بمرأة يجب علينا أن نتوقف أن نمع مجموعة وقال الوصول الصلاة إلى مجموعة ونفعه ونصف كما يبدأ المجموعة في المجموعة يجب علينا بدء ستمر لجميعنا ومن المجموعة ومن المجموعة ونماً لا تفعل الأشياء ونحن لم نستخدم yet فهذا مثل إذا كاننا لدينا عبرتيون لدى تلك theoraphone to go to graduate school , medical school NBA ,مر than it is but we know that there the major price been associated with them we can't pay it there is a very little justification one could give for saying I'm gonna engage in 200000$ of loans that I have interest associated with them so that I could go and become this profession and maybe my intention is to help people but in Islam the ends be not justified in means the means must be halal and permissible and the end must be halal and permissible لذلك يجب أن نبدأ التجربة ونظر على طريقنا. هناك الكثير من الطريقات التي يمكننا أن نفعل ذلك. لا نستطيع أن نفعل ذلك لحظة الوقت. ولكن في الوقت نحن نستطيع أن نستخدم our brains to think كيف يمكنني أن نجد طريقات من هذه الحالات؟ وكيف يمكنني أن نجد طريقات من هذه الحرام؟ ومن ثم when we do have a major loan. ولكن we also have savings accumulated. أعلم أن الناس who have car loans but they got like $50,000 to $100,000 sitting in the bank. وأن they're still having a car loan because we just didn't set it in forget-it payment mode. فقط even financially, not even Islamically, it doesn't make sense when you have money to be borrowing from somebody else. بارع from yourself and then pay yourself back to $500 a month in payments but get rid of that interest loan. Do that for student loans. Do that for more because whatever we can to reduce that amount if we can't eliminate it, reduce it. If someone can't quit drinking altogether they should start by drinking less and less and less. It doesn't mean that you either stop drinking altogether or you're an alcoholic. Same thing with us. It doesn't mean that we have to leave it altogether if we can't. If we're not ready to, if we don't have the ability to, if we don't have the strategy to. But it doesn't mean that we just keep engaging in it. We have to start slowly coming up with ways and lastly we have to trust in Allah. This life is not our goal. All these desires, all these things we covet, all these financial instruments that we want, all this success that we want, if it's making us do things that aren't permissible it's not going to be barakah in it. Just take some time to step back and examine what am I compromising in order to get this thing and don't ever compromise your being and don't ever compromise Allah and His Messenger إِنَّ اللَّهَ وَمَنَا إِسَلُونَ عَنَا بِيْ يَا يُهَلَّ بِيْنَا عَمْنِ يِسَلُونَ عَلَيْ وَسَلُونَ مُسْلِمَا أَلَوْمَ اَسَلِي وَسَلِمَا بَارِكَ محمد وعالي صحيح فلم الحمد لله رب العالمي باقينا السلام