Islamic Studies

The Intrafaith Movement: Abdullah bin Mubarak Breaks it Down

by Suhaib Webb
March 12, 2009
1 min read

Abdullah bin Mubarak had a Jewish neighbor. The Jewish man decided to sell his home. It was said to him, ”How much are you selling it for?” He responded, ”I’m selling it for 2 thousand dinār.” It was said, ”It is only worth a thousand dinār!” The Jewish man responded,

“صدقتم، لكن ألف لداري وألف لجاري عبد الله”

“You are correct. However, one thousand is for my house, and one thousand is for my neighbor, Abdullah!”

 

when ‘Abdullah bin Mubarak heard about this, he sent for the Jewish man, told him not to sell and bought the house from him.

The Obama era brings many ups and downs. One thing Muslims should focus on is serving the poor, the wretched and the oppressed. However, before we start with visions of grandeur, let us start with something simple: our neighbors.

Invite them over, break some bread with them and get to know each other.

The Salaf of this Ummah not only learned the religion, they lived it.

Suhaib

You may also like

About the author

Suhaib Webb

Suhaib Webb is a contemporary American-Muslim educator, activist, and lecturer. His work bridges classical and contemporary Islamic thought, addressing issues of cultural, social and political relevance to Muslims in the West. After converting to Islam in 1992, Webb left his career in the music industry to pursue his passion in education. He earned a Bachelor’s in Education from the University of Central Oklahoma and received intensive private training in the Islamic Sciences under a renowned Muslim Scholar of Senegalese descent. Webb was hired as the Imam at the Islamic Society of Greater Oklahoma City, where he gave khutbas (sermons), taught religious classes, and provided counselling to families and young people; he also served as an Imam and resident scholar in communities across the U.S.

From 2004-2010, Suhaib Webb studied at the world’s preeminent Islamic institution of learning, Al-Azhar University, in the College of Shari`ah. During this time, after several years of studying the Arabic Language and the Islamic legal tradition, he also served as the head of the English Translation Department at Dar al-Ifta al-Misriyyah.

Outside of his studies at Al-Azhar, Suhaib Webb completed the memorization of the Quran in the city of Makkah, Saudi Arabia. He has been granted numerous traditional teaching licenses (ijazat), adhering to centuries-old Islamic scholarly practice of ensuring the highest standards of scholarship. Webb was named one of the 500 Most Influential Muslims in the World by the Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Center in 2010.

View all posts

Add Comment

  • please watch this video

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aU5kek3D-4I

    forbidden, 2:173, 5:3, 6:121, 6:145, 16:115

    002.173
    YUSUFALI: He hath only forbidden you dead meat, and blood, and the flesh of swine, and that on which any other name hath been invoked besides that of Allah. But if one is forced by necessity, without wilful disobedience, nor transgressing due limits,- then is he guiltless. For Allah is Oft-forgiving Most Merciful.

    Reply

  • One question which comes to mind is the concept of 'private property' and the Islamic perspective on this. In the current secular world Muslims in the west just assume that the laws regarding private property, being a landlord and renting out a house for profit are the same as Shari'ah laws. However researching the history of the development of the law and contracts regarding private property, I have discovered that land was more or less stolen by the State, this created a landless peasant class which become dependent on the land owners for 'employment'.

    http://www.mutualist.org/id4.html
    Arthur Young, a Lincolnshire gentleman, described the commons as “a breeding-ground for 'barbarians,' 'nursing up a mischievous race of people'.” “[E]very one but an idiot knows,” he wrote, “that the lower classes must be kept poor, or they will never be industrious.” The Commercial and Agricultural Magazine warned in 1800 that leaving the laborer “possessed of more land than his family can cultivate in the evenings” meant that “the farmer can no longer depend on him for constant work.” [Thompson, The Making of the English Working Class, 219-220, 358].

    I am told under Islamic law prevents such a situation because all of the land is owned by the Kalifah, who then gives it to people who use it and when it is not used or cultivated it cannot be rented out by them to others. Some non Muslims who see the secular system as inherently unjust have suggested that land and houses etc. cannot be rented out unless they are occupied, no absentee landlords….is this 'Islamic' can someone clarify the Islamic position on this for me?

    In the present climate because we have to pay huge taxes to the State, the money we use is created by a banking cartel (it looses its value through 'inflation') we have all become very 'selfish' and atomised and isolated, we need to create strong communities where we all look out for each other…and this story highlights one of the ways in which Islam can be a means to that end, but the rest of Islam needs to be known, with regard to its rules of government, its rules regarding employment, and private property.

    So far I have received a simplistic 'just accept everything and be a good boy' type explanations from my local imaams. I think these imaams lack knowledge of how the world is actually ruled today. Employers largely rob and over work their employees through the contracts, saying 'get a job somewhere else' is not really an option because the whole unfair thing has been created by the bosses and is tilted to work in their favour. If Islamic law just says yes, just accept it and 'be a good boy'…it seems to me that this is being said by the ruling class to control me and I am not required by Allah to accept a unjust system and to work within it like a slave.

    Reply

Leave a Comment