When one stands for something that is right
and is the truth,
there are going to be obstacles that face you.
Among these obstacles is social pressure
and peer pressure.
Have you ever been subjected to such situations?
Sometimes we feel that if everybody does something
or says something they must be right.
Something happens to our minds.
What used to be immoral and completely shunned away by every person,
suddenly become normalized.
That's what social pressure does.
That's what social media can sometimes do if we follow the wrong place.
How many a time when you lived a moment where you knew that something was wrong,
immoral and only a few years down the track everybody seems to think that it is moral and good and right.
It's called classical conditioning.
When something is repeated to your mind and you see it over and over again,
you begin to forget how bad it is and how wrong it is,
and becomes normalized.
Another word is desensitized.
So be careful especially the young people.
Allah gives us the example of prophet Ibrahim (Aleihi salyam) at a young age, a teenager.
And the society in those days was not very different to the society of today, brothers and sisters.
Yes it was about 4000 years ago but they were also very materialistic,
very advanced in their technology.
But they had a hierarchy and they controlled the people in a different way.
The elites on the top made these false beliefs
and convinced the people that they're standing up for something really important.
But Ibrahim (Aleihi salyam) could see right through it for he was part of those people.
As he started to talk about to the truth and teaching people that you can get your freedom from this,
his people approached him.
They sent to him young people like himself
and some of them older and they presented to him some flimsy arguments
they kept repeating the same thing over and over again.
Saying:
What's wrong with you?Yyou became weird.
Everybody says this, everybody does that.
Ibrahim (Aleihi salyam) then presented them with questions,
he came from a strong background of knowledge and experience.
He said to them: "Don't you think for yourselves
if whether what you're believing in is the right way or not?
Perhaps there are those who are trying to convince you to believe in such a thing to control you in some ways.
All I see is that there are people at the bottom of the pyramid who are being controlled
and you're giving up your dignity and morals,
even your families are doing things that you shouldn't actually be doing."
But these people said to him:
And we're only going to follow that.
Ibrahim (Aleihi salyam) found that there was no room to try and teach these types of people
with just merely intelligence and argumentation or debate.
He said to himself: "Maybe there's another way."
As Allah says in the Quran – he whispered to himself the following words.
There was a day of celebration
and the people brought out their gods and their statues,
a great god called Murdoch and it was the day when the king has to come out and believe it or not,
they used to slap the king and if the king cried,
they thought that the gods are choosing him.
Anyway Ibrahim (Aleihi salyam) thought of a plan.
Right in front of them he looked up at the stars
and he formulated a type of hidden message.
He said to them:
In their beliefs they thought that the stars can give you certain silent messages.
Among those messages is that if it is a bad message like a sickness,
they thought that they had to run away from that person,
because the gods are giving a message that you shouldn't be around this person,
otherwise you will suffer the same consequence of what this person is going to face.
So they ran away.
And Ibrahim (Aleihi salyam) what he meant by that was a bit of a pun.
He didn't mean exactly what they thought.
In his mind he thought – I'm sick of your beliefs,
I'm sick of what is actually happening
and at the same time he thought maybe they can make sense of it,
by saying – I am sick and when I find out later that is not really what they thought.
Maybe their beliefs about their gods and the stars was actually false.
Perhaps they will return.
In islam you are allowed to use such a strategy.
Ibrahim (Aleihi salyam) was left alone with the gods in that place of worship.
There were about eight different gods, small ones,
and the big one, right at the front.
The story goes that he brought the sledgehammer and he bought some food,
he faced the little gods and this is the nature of Ibrahim (Aleihi salyam)
he talked to himself before he acted.
He said: "Why don't you eat?
Can you not hear? Why don't you respond?
Oh my people of worshiping something false."
So he began breaking all the idols one by one,
destroying them but he left the big idol ready.
And he put the sledgehammer onto the idol's neck
and he walked away.
Now brothers and sisters, we're not allowed to go into people's houses
and places of worship and break things
but for Ibrahim (Aleihi salyam) he was part of that community,
his father made those idols,
he was one of the elites actually.
And this was his last resort to save the people out of slavery,
because it wasn't just about beliefs here,
it was about what the elites were doing with that belief and destroying their own dignities.
My brothers and sisters,
the priests next day came to their place of worship
and when they found their gods destroyed, they screamed:
What they mean is that – who is trying to destroy our kingdom and our power?
Who's trying to expose our plots and secrets?
That's what they really meant.
They said there is a young man named Ibrahim,
he's talking bad about our own idols,
bring him and let's bring him to a court.
They held him accountable and they brought some people to witness.
They asked him the question of whether he did this to their gods
and he replied: "Well I think it's the older one
or the bigger one that did it,
why don't you ask the big statue, the sledgehammers around his neck."
And they immediately realized
that they were saying things that are nonsense.
They whispered to him very closely without people hearing
and they said: "Oh Ibrahim you know that they cannot respond to us.."
In other words they realize that he has recognized and worked through their plots.
But he didn't allow them to manipulate him or the people.
He looked up and said:
In other words – Oh people they're trying to manipulate me,
I will expose you.
So how did they respond – with a threat.
They said: "Burn him and save your gods if you want to be activists, support of out movement,
support our activism and be part of the noble movement"
Of course they were lying to their people but that's how they controlled them.
Classical conditioning.
Ibrahim (Aleihi salyam) was now faced with the most torturous situation.
He had to now face the punishment that they had in their common law
and that is anyone who stands up against their beliefs or their authority,
they had to put him to death by burning him.
Ibrahim (Aleihi salyam) was now faced with yet another test.
The test of being burnt alive and the threat of physical torture.