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All Praise is due to Allah: We Praise Him: We beg assistance of Him: We ask Him for forgiveness. We have faith in Him: We have reliance on Him. We fly for refuge unto Him (to deliver us) from the mischief of our minds and from the evil consequences of our actions. Whomever Allah directs shall not go astray: and whomever He allows to go astray, no one can guide. We profess that there is nothing worthy of worship except Allah, and we further profess that Muhammad is His Servant and His Messenger.

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Oh you who believe! Fear Allah as He has the right to be feared, and do not die except as Muslims.

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/opt/scribd/conversion/tmp/scratch13267/65471753.doc (O mankind! Be dutiful to your Lord, Who created you from a single person, and from him He created his wife, and from them both He created many men and women, and fear Allh through Whom you demand your mutual (rights), and (do not cut the relations of) the wombs (kinship) Surely, Allh is Ever an All-Watcher over you). [alNisaa 4:1],

(O you who believe! Keep your duty to Allh and fear Him, and speak (always) the truth 70 .He will direct you to do righteous good deeds and will forgive you your sins. And whosoever obeys Allh and His Messenger (SAW) he has indeed achieved a great achievement (i.e. he will be saved from the Hell-fire and made to enter Paradise). [alAhzaab 33:70]. (Sunan al-Nisaai: Kitaab al-Jumuah, Baab kayfiyyah al-khutbah).

Brothers and sisters in Islam, living in a predominately non-Muslims country one question that often arises from non-Muslims and Muslims seeking clarity about Islam is the question What is the fate of non Muslims who have never heard about Islam? I want to spend the next few minutes looking at this subject in light of the Quran and Sunnah as understood from our scholars. First lets start by bringing to mind that one of the attributes of Allah Tala is that He is Al Adl meaning He is the Most Just. Therefore it is part of the justice of Allaah that He does not punish any people until He (Allah Tala) has first sent a warning to them and unless there is evidence against them.

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Allaah does not treat anybody unfairly. Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):

And We never punish until We have sent a Messenger (to give warning). [al-Israa 17:15]. In his tafseer (commentary) on this aayah, Ibn Katheer (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: These words, And We never punish until We have sent a Messenger (to give warning) tell us of the justice of Allaah, may He be exalted, and that He does not punish anyone until after He has established evidence against him by sending a Messenger to him. This is like the aayat in Surat Al Mulk:

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Every time a group is cast therein [into Hell], its keeper will ask, Did no warner come to you? They will say, Yes indeed; a warner did come to us, but we belied him and said: Allaah never sent down anything (of revelation), you x vare only in great error. [al-Mulk 67:8] and:

And those who disbelieved will be driven to Hell in groups, till, when they reach it, the gates thereof will be opened (suddenly like a prison at the arrival of its prisoners). And its keepers will say, Did not the Messengers come to you from yourselves, - reciting to you the Verses of your Lord, and warning you of the Meeting of this Day of yours? They will say: Yes, but the Word of torment has been justified against the disbelievers! [al-Zumar 39:71] So again the bottom line is Allah Tala is the Most Just, and we can conclude that absolutely, positively, and holistically the most minute injustice will not be done to any of Allah Tala creation. Therefore our scholars like Imam Ghazali say a person who has never heard of Islam and or the Prophet SAWS (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), and who has never heard the message in its correct and true form, will
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not be punished by Allaah if he dies in a state of kufr (disbelief). <Compare to other religions> If it were asked what his fate will be, the answer will be that Allaah will test him on the Day of Resurrection: if he obeys, he will enter Paradise and if he disobeys he will enter Hell. <Now in Islam belief is based on revelation that has stood the test of time, namely the Quran and Hadeeth, so the question to be ask where the evidence for this>The evidence (daleel) for this is the hadeeth of al-Aswad ibn Saree, who reported that the Prophet of Allaah SAWS (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: There are four (who will protest) to Allaah on the Day of Resurrection: the deaf man who never heard anything, the insane man, the very old man, and the man who died during the fatrah (the interval between the time of Eesaa (Jesus, upon whom be peace) and the time of Muhammad SAWS (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him)). The deaf man will say, O Lord, Islam came but I never heard anything. The insane man will say, O Lord, Islam came but the children ran after me and threw stones at me. The very old man will say, O Lord, Islam came but I did not understand anything. The man who died during the fatrah will say, O Lord, no Messenger from You came to me. He will accept their promises of obedience, then word will be sent to them to enter the Fire. By the One in Whose hand is the soul of Muhammad, if they enter it, it will be cool and safe for them. According to another report, he said: Whoever enters it, it will be cool and safe for him, and whoever does not enter it will be dragged to it. (The hadeeth was reported by Imaam Ahmad and Ibn Hibbaan, and deemed saheeh by al-Albaani, Saheeh al-Jaami, 881). Let us makes some point based on this hadith as understood by our scholars:
1. First point a person who has been given a true and complete

understanding of the basics of Islam and knowingly rejects it, then dies without repenting, is destined for hell. 2. Second point whoever dies without having heard the message, or having heard it in a distorted form, then his case is with Allaah. Allaah knows best about His creation, and He will never treat anyone unfairly. And Allaah is All-Seer the All hearing, the All Knowing of His slaves. 3. Third point, a person who has not received a true and complete understanding of the basics of Islam will be tested on Judgment Day. If they disobey Allah and fail the test, then they will go on
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to hell. On the other hand, if they obey Allah and pass the test, they will enter Paradise. 4. Fourth point, again recall Allah Tala attribute of being Al Adl, therefore the test that Allah subjects the non informed non Muslims will be equivalent in magnitude and difficulty to the test of choosing the true religion in this world. In other words it wont be simply that the person sees the fire in front of them the angels and so forth and therefore they will obviously believe and do as they are commanded. Again the weight or hardness of the test will be equivalent to the test of this world. 5. Fifth point recall from the Quran Surat Al Imraan ayah 85 Allah declares:

And whoever seeks a religion other than Islam, it will never be accepted of him, and in the hereafter he will be one of the losers. Therefore after the coming of Islam all religions including Judism and Christainity were abrogated, and null. Therefore the test by Allah Tala on the day of judgement is for every non-informed non Muslim, including those who identify themselves with a religion such as Jews, Christian, Hindus, Buddhist, etc and those who do not associate with a religion such as for example Atheist. Again non informed non Muslims who did not get the correct and complete basic message of Islam, Allah Tala will test them on the Day of Judgment. Therefore every human being owes to their eternal existence to know the truth, and we thank Allah for guiding us to that truth which is the way of called Islam. Part II

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We have been talking the Islamic viewpoint on the fate of the non Muslims and learned in the first part of the khutbah that according to Islamic teachings, a person who has been given a true and complete understanding of the basics of Islam and knowingly, purposely rejects it, then dies without repenting, is destined for hell. But a person who has not received a true and complete understanding of the basics of Islam will be tested equivalent in difficulty to the test of this world on the Judgment Day. If they disobey Allah and fail the test, then they will go on to hell. On the other hand, if they obey Allah and pass the test, they will enter Paradise. Now one question that could arise is what constitutes a non Muslim getting a complete and correct understanding of the basics of Islam? I mean would it be enough for one to give a beautiful speech on basics of Islam at Church for example and that would be enough for the people when at the same time they are bombarded left and right about distortions about Islam, and the bad actions of some Muslims. Some of the actions of course being true while others are used by those who choose to be ememies of Islam to distort the image of Islam. The answer to the question what constitutes a non Muslim getting a complete and correct understanding of the basics of Islam is that Allah Tala knows best. It could be that a non Muslim needs only one ayah from the Quran and that is enough for them to determine that Islam is the truth. Like Yusuf Islam may Allah keep him on Islam in which he reported that after reading the Quran immediately he began crying and knew in his heart that it is the truth. Others non Muslims even if you gave them the Quran, and the dawa Prophet Muhammad SAW they will not believe as was the case of Abu Talib the uncle of Rasullah. This gets me to the point, and that is as we Muslims have a responsibility then to make dawa. And dawa does not necessarily involve just words, but rather words and actions. Therefore when we know that Islam teaches us to live honestly and have integrity, and ethics and morals this will only be evident in us when we live as honest, ethical and moral individuals. When we tell non Muslims that Islam teaches us to pray 5 times a day, at their appointed time. This will only hit home with the Non Muslims people when
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we are in our meetings and kindly inform our colleagues that excuse me for 5 minutes I need do my religious obligation as Muslim by praying. Or when we are traveling with them and we tell them that please pull over at the next exit because I have an appointment with my Lord by doing by prayers, or when we are alone in our beds cuddled up warmly in our blankets and the time for the fajr comes, we wake up and say (dua of waking up) and you go and splash water of wudu and stand and meet Allah in Salah, and remember our roles as creations, then and only then will people naturally see an enlightened difference between Muslims and Non Muslims. And they will naturally ask what it about him or her why is he or she different, how is he or she always honest, moral, ethical, how can he or she practice his religion with such devoutness and conviction. And then Inshallah people will come to realize that the Muslim is one who practices what he preaches, is one who knows that actions speak louder than words and they are like that because of nothing else except Islam. I close with the admonish to myself and to you of our obligation to make dawa to through words and deeds, and that the guidance is from Allah, and that Allah always guides those who earnestly, and sincerely seek Him. Allah tala says:

17:125 you shall invite the way of your Lord with wisdom and kind enlightenment, and debate or dialogue with them in a way that is best. Truly you Lord knows best who has gone astray from His Path, and He is the best of those who are guided.

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