ETHICS OF THE UMMAH BETWEEN REFINEMENT AND DISSOLUTION
Friday Sermon Presented by
Dr Mahmud Abul-Huda Al Husaini
Al “Adiliyya Mosque, Aleppo, 7122007

What is said in the following poetic line is certainly true:
Nations last as long as they keep their morality.
Once they lose it, they also vanish with it.
In its contemporary evolving, ethics is a terminology that has become a synonym to the notion of righteousness in the Islamic text. The Exalted Allah said:
"Ye are the best of peoples, evolved for mankind. Enjoining what is right, forbidding what is wrong" (Al Imran, v. 110).
Righteousness is meant to refer to whatever is morally praised, and wrong is meant to refer to whatever is trivial and dispraised.
As long as the Ummah distinguishes between honored righteousness and despised wrong, and gives high esteem to whatever follows this evaluation and reforming of behavior, and as long as there is honored righteousness and disdained wrong, the Ummah will preserve its existence, its identity and its duration.
But when the Ummah moves on to a stage in which boundaries between right and wrong are eliminated, and the Ummah becomes indifferent to the difference between the two concepts, and its consideration of them becomes weaker, then, it is said that this Ummah has no more identity, because keeping its identity cannot last unless the Ummah distinguishes between the two concepts, namely, honoring righteousness and disdaining wrong.
Consequently, two ideas become conspicuous in the reality of contemporary world, namely:
-a scheme of removing the identity of this Ummah,
-and an obligation laid on our shoulders as long as we are alive on the earth.
The title of the scheme that is planned against us to cancel the identity of the Ummah is “dissolution”, whereas the title of the task entrusted to us and the obligation that we have to carry out is “refinement”. We are in a state of strife between dissolution and refinement.
Our enemies and their subordinates are with “dissolution”, but the wise, the sages and preachers are with refinement.
First: Dissolution is a camp headed by the U.S.A. by virtue of its military , economic, scientific, and industrial ascendency. The U.S.A. rulers exploit the favor the Exalted Allah has bestowed on them to live in a state of superiority over the others all over the world.
We ruled and justice was our attribute.
But when you ruled, blood was spilt in the valley.
When Islam was predominant by virtue of its power and its military, industrial and scientific ascendency, the Muslims considered all human beings as their brothers. They treated their opponents as peers. But when the U.S.A. has become predominant followed by some subordinates, they treat the world nations as the arrogant treat the weak, and as the master treats his slave.
The U.S.A. begins to spread its perverted culture by imposing globalization on the world throughout its arrogant stand, and by means of politicization and by its using international bodies that it runs.
In the Population Conference held in Cairo in the summer of 1994 C.E., and in the core of our Islamic world, they wanted to insert a document that permitet abortion without any restrictions, a homogeneous family, namely accepted homosexual and lesbian relationships in marriage, and they planned for free sexual practice for children (in the terminology of globalization, children are under eighteen or nineteen). Moreover, they planned for the recognition of illegitimate childbirth.
The above mentioned is a sample of what is planned for us.
It was a conference in the core of our Islamic world in which they intended to blow up our concept of right and wrong, such as abortion which is wrong, homogeneous marriage which is the most serious of the wrongs, unrestricted practice of sex by children, and recognition of adultery and its consequences.
Globalization conferences began to come in close succession, such as the Woman Conference in Peking – I wish you read its contents…!! – It is a conference that annihilates the concept of right and wrong, in addition to the Woman Conference in New York….
They imported to us a lot of their concepts through treaties inserted in the United Nations Organization run by the U.S.A. by prerogative. The most recent of these treaties is the Treaty of Child Right. I wish you could read the items of this treaty which blows up the concept of right and wrong in our morality in rearing up our children.
A-In dissolution, the immoral flood on space channels knocks at our doors from the interior, and this is one sample of dissolution that is imported to our country from the outside.
B-Dissolution does not stop at the stage of importing outside schemes and practices from outside the Islamic world, but we can see how dissolution appears also in different aspects inside our Islamic countries, some of which are:
1-Perversion of education and teaching curricula. Formerly, our Ummah was morally, culturally and knowledgeably consolidated, especially in the concept of right and wrong, i.e., respecting the right and disdaining the wrong. After the collapse of the Ottoman empire, and after the period called colonization, the colonizers did not get out of our country before leaving the scheme of dissolution in our Islamic countries. We suddenly woke up to find that colonization was removed, but we have still undergone cultural colonization up-till-now. the curricula we are taught in our schools do not agree with our identity, nor do they agree with our respect of the right and our disdain of the wrong, nor with the method of our Islamic education that has existed in our Islamic civilization throughout the past fourteen centuries.
Thus, our education and teaching curricula are perverted, and many values vanish whereas they are supposed to subsist to guide the generations that will be the men of Islamic culture in the future. Consequently, since the colonizers got out of our country, day by day we have lived in a state of regression on the level of education and teaching curricula.
Since recently, all that is connected with the legislation of Jihad (fighting for the cause of Allah) has been cancelled in the Gulf Countries.
Consequently, the dissolution scheme never stops. Moreover, we are living in a stage of aggravation of dissolution. Whenever one of the Islamic countries becomes ready to draw up a peace treaty with the Zionist Entity, we find many preludes to melt the morality of this country. Whenever a step is taken towards normalization, we find a scheme of dissolution prepared in advance to annihilate the values of morality. This can be seen on the level of our streets and lanes.
Did we ever witness years ago what we witness today in our streets?
We used to be astonished at the dissolute advertisements that exploited the woman”s attractions in commercial posters in the West. Then we began to be astonished at finding this immoral aspect spread in a country like Lebanon, and now, we are no more astonished to find such profanation even in our Islamic country. We notice gradation in dissolution of advertisements. What was invisible in the past year, has become conspicuous nowadays, and I wonder what shall we see in the many coming years!
A naked woman is used in ads and propaganda as we have witnessed in the West. Shall we follow their example in our country?
The above mentioned is all an indicator that predicts what might happen in the future if we give way to dissolution that floods effusively via space channels into our country, a fact which makes dissolution of morality impending in our own houses.
The greatest fortifications for our Ummah are educational institutions. When they are set right, we hope to have a prosperous future, but if the educational and teaching building is shaken from its basis, and if we lose the educational spirits related to our Islamic culture, we shall have no hope of the future and we shall be specks that follow globalization, and be run by it in whatever way it wishes. In other words, Americanism, the leader of globalization, would master us.
2-Dissociation of family the features of which are beginning to be seen in addition to the perversion of education and teaching curricula.
In the past, the family was a strong consolidated entity. Then gradually, through the indifference that befell our society, a clear breaking up of the family was noticed in the relationships among the members of the same family. The relationships that used to discipline the treatment of father to son, son to father, mother to daughter, or daughter to mother began to lose many of their values that distinguished us from the others. All this happened because of the influence of globalization and the behavior of the West.
"And We have enjoined on man (to be good) to his parents" (Luqman, v.14).
“and He has put love and mercy between your (hearts)" (Ar Rum, v. 21).
The family began to deteriorate, and at this stage another element was added to the interior dissolution, which is:
3-Overpowering admiration for the western civilization and the state of obsessing imitation that we live in nowadays.
No doubt, it is unobjectionable to admire greatly the industry of the west, their technology, their assiduousness, their punctuality and discipline of time, but when we are dazzled by their immoral habits, and by the degeneracy they call personal freedom in addition to forgetting the concept of servitude to the Exalted Allah, that is too much…!!
As I frequently said, how much trouble I used to undergo when I visited the West concerning the concept of slavery to the Exalted Allah. They refused this concept and said:
"We refuse altogether the concept of slavery even if it were to Allah, because we were reared up on the concept of freedom, and this concept is the opposite of slavery".
So they wanted to replace slavery by servitude, and instead of talking about slavery to the Exalted Allah, we were obliged to talk about serving Allah in public assemblies.
Accordingly, overpowering admiration for the western civilization and imitating them is nothing but man”s disobedience to the rule of his Lord, because according to Islam, ruling is the privilege of the Exalted Allah only.
What I have mentioned is only a little of abundance. I am unwilling to speak too much about dissolution because we live its elements daily, at every hour and minute in our lives.
Secondly: I”ll move on to speak about our duty which is the most controversial issue. It is refinement.
In such circumstances of dissolution, can we practice refinement?
When dissolution surrounds us from the inside and from the outside, can we perform refinement?
Does refinement necessarily be accomplished only in a closed cave?
Every one of us asks himself this question. Most often, the answer is: "We have given in…What can we do otherwise…The eye cannot resist the bradawl… They are like huge waves whereas we are mere hay…". Most probably, we become disparate and frustrated.
I say that giving in to dissolution means our death and our ending. It is incumbent on us to set forth wide guidelines for refinement, and if we do not do that the Exalted Allah will call us to account on the Judgment Day. We should not go on talking about the others saying: "They intend to dissolve us", and stop talking about our behavior and duties through which we should present refinement in method and behavior.
Oh you…who attend the Friday prayer now, and you who listen to us on website, every one of us is responsible for practicing refinement, but this should be done according to a comprehensive plan.
I am going to talk about eight wide guidelines as a suggestion for a refinement method.
1-We should reconsider our calculation of the building up of the family. I am not going to talk about changing of governments, nor about demonstration and burning of flags, for we are facing a great scheme of dissolution of morality, from the outside and the inside. From the outside, Americanism practices its power, whereas the regime of the Islamic countries are nearer to talking about balances of power.
We can do nothing else.
Political subordination in Islamic countries has become dependent on what is said: "It is a reality. For if one of the regional regimes opposes Americanism, it will be removed". Thus, and due to that, they argued saying, "subordination is inevitable", and this is the cause of the internal dissolution which is “applying what is dictated to us”.
No doubt, facing internal and external dissolution necessitates setting forth a method of refinement on our part. This can be done through care of the constitution of the family, which is in our hands, and this can be achieved only through a collective plan in which we present:
a-Serious care of the child.
b-Serious care of the youth of both sexes.
c-care of the woman.
Disregarding the above mentioned triplicity, we cannot talk about the constitution of the woman. In fact. We should set forth a social and cooperative plan in which all the members of society share to apply. In this plan, everyone who aims at satisfying the Exalted Allah, and realizing dignity and fixing of identity should collaborate for support.
It is incumbent on us to share in this plan, each according to his social status, his capabilities, his financial state, his writing, his intellect, his high position, his high rank, and his authority.
It is necessary to have a collective plan not an individual one, and through workshops not individual members. So the sages meet together in order to save the boat of society from drowning.
In order to constitute a healthy family, it is necessary to have a practical factual plan in which there is care for the child, for the youth of both sexes, and for the woman. But the foundations of constituting this family should be based on our culture.
2-Every member of the family, small or young should be connected with a reminder. Call him if you like an instructor, a reminder or a teacher. Thus members of the family become connected with a he or she-reminder, for when the family is away from reminding, i.e., when the family lives on habits and traditions only, we will be unable to go back to our fundaments, to our identity and our civilization.
The reminder presents two benefits to every member in the family. I do not mean that the reminder should come to the family. What is important is the family connection with this reminder. If you look through your family, you will find that the one who is fortified is the one who is connected with the reminder. The reminder has two functions:
-To help the member of family have knowledgeable promotion.
-To help him have fiducial promotion through which he can feel Divine Protection and Supervision.
When every member in the family (small, young or old) is connected with a reminder, he will get two benefits:
-knowledgeable intellectual maturity so that he would have an open mind to be acquainted with comprehensive knowledge.
-He will have fiducial fortifications through which he lives in a state of continuous control: "Knoweth he not that Allah doth see?" (Al “Alaq, v. 14); "And He is with you wheresoever ye may be" (Al Hadid, v. 4).
When the reminder is missing from the family, members of the family lose these two prerogatives.
3- Conducting friendships: because the reminder is a supporter who would make the member of the family dispense with the bad friend. So what one loses with the bad friend will gain in his relationship with the reminder.
"The Day that the wrongdoer will bite at his hands, he will say, "Oh! would that I had taken a (straight) path with the Messenger! Ah! woe is me! Would that I had never taken such a one for a friend He did lead me astray from the Message (of Allah) after it had come to me!!" (Al Furqan, vs. 27-29).
The reminder presents to you remembering Allah, whereas the bad friend makes you forget remembering Allah. Thus you find yourself facing two attracting alternatives, and the result will be yours.
When the family has the benefit of conducting friendships, its head will evaluate friends to see whether they are supporters to the reminder, or they are passive agents who will cause loss of the reminding of Allah one gains.
I used to hear people say in Aleppo the proverb: "A detrimental friend is a manifest enemy".
4- Instructing people to go to the mosque to get the educational influence of this holy place: It is necessary to make members of the family have ties with the mosque, especially when the original task of the mosque is carried out in it. I do not refer to the mosque as mere walls, i.e., to go there to pray and then come back. I rather mean, the mosque in which its real function is practiced. It is a place where you can be tied to the Holy Qur”an, to the Sunnah, to the Sirah (honorable biography of our Prophet [PBUH] ), and to the illuminations of our history and sound contemporary educational thought that will fortify your mind against perversion.
When members of the family get the four benefits from the mosque, then it can be said that the mosque has an educational influence. The four benefits are:
-to be tied to the Holy Qur”an,
-to be tied to the Sunnah,
-to be tied to the Sirah, and to the historical illuminations,
-and to be tied to a contemporary educational intellect in which there is a careful study of what is beneficial and from which you can learn what fortifies you in your contemporary needs.
5-We have to move on to selective information media. In other words, we have to take a decision. Our houses are ours, so we should allow only selective media to enter them. This is done by a decisive decision we have to take.
You may say that the youth might receive such a media from other sources outside the house. But I say that they may receive comparative information. At least, do have control of the space you will be responsible for to your Lord on the Day of Judgment.
Consequently, let us have the media, inside family and home, selective.
Why should you go on communicating with media even if they contradict your principle?
Media may adopt the principles that you do not approve of. It is permissible, to a certain degree, to have discussion in the family about certain issues, but what is impermissible is to be attached to the culture of degeneration through watching dissolute channels that have entered all houses.
Nowadays, video clip has become the most widespread industry. If we compare between the influence of the dissolute sex channels and the “video clip” that is presented nowadays on space channels, we find that what is presented in the video clip is more dangerous than what is presented in dissolute channels, because it is practiced by excitement and they put the youth before infatuation and before stimulation so that he may change his instinctive nature and behave indecently.
Notice that I am talking only about what is available, not about idealism, nor do I talk about what is impossible. I only talk about what is available to all of us.
6-Discipline of professional environment: this can be realized only by cooperation. If you are able to constitute a virtuous moral professional environment, say in a factory, in a shop, in a farm, you can gain extra benefit. You will not be the loser in a professional or craftsmanship environment. On the contrary, you are the winner on all levels, secular, religious, moral, financial. This can be achieved only by cooperation of the people of different professions and crafts so that identical morality be present among them. In such an environment, the one who lives in the family milieu full of faith will have increased faith when he lives in a professional virtuous environment.
When I was abroad, I saw may samples of the virtuous environment (related to my profession) such as hospitals in which there was virtuous environment of professionals who observe the prayer time, , treat the woman well and behave morally well and other elements of the pure environment. But the question is, can that be achieved on the individual level?
Every day a young man comes to me and says? "What shall I do? In the workshop I work with there is so and so.
I say: "Certainly, if you, the Islamic community, gather and use you capabilities to have one integrated entity, you will be able to constitute a clean environment, but the concept of indifference and surrendering to dissolution will lead you to nothing.
7-Constituing a clean social environment: Frankly speaking, and from this pulpit, depending on the concept of social freedom, I”d like to say that it has become incumbent on us to set up a clean club.
Certainly, we should not care about frightening. We are living a new stage in which we can constitute a clean community of intermediate behavior, a community that harms nobody but it preserves its identity.
A club that satisfies all demands has become a must. I do not ask you to make it a place of preaching. I”d rather you gather in such a club to practice clean swimming, literary and computer activities, and all the other social activities performed in a clean environment.
This has become our demand.
A cultural society has become our demand.
In such a clean environment, youth and all members of society will be able to be active even at the time of entertainment.
All sports activities are possible to be practiced, but this needs your cooperation by changing words into action, not to say, "Yes, it is a beautiful speech, but we wish it were realized".
Possibly, after all that has been mentioned, and as we are talking about refinement, we need a word that would not probably cause much discomfort to some. I say:
Administrative reformation is inevitable..
If the householder is a drummer,
All the household will be naturally dancers.
When the manager of the factory in the public sector is a thief…, and if the official in an institution or ministry is a liar..., how can we recommend their subordinates to be qualified by morality?
Nevertheless, whether this plan is realized or not, with the project I suggest, there will come a day when we need not say: "we want administrative reformation", because one day, the generation of civilization will emerge and they, themselves, will be the officials in administration.
8- It is inevitable to have statistical appraisal: particularly, I say that to the university students, especially, those who specialize in sociology. Social studies have become the most important concern in the West. Thus, it is inevitable for us to have statistical appraisal to observe the changes in society and see whether we are going ahead or retreating back, for any project that lacks statistical appraisal is considered haphazard and anarchic. With the statistical appraisal that observes social phenomena we can have an indicator that will reveal the success of refinement or the victory of dissolution.
Allahum…, guide us to You favorably, and make us from those who listen to wisdom and follow the best of it.
I say my words and ask Allah”s forgiveness.