The Definition of Sin

The following is an excerpt of His Holiness Younus AlGohar's speech.

Maybe what I am telling you today will disturb your intelligence, your master degrees and your humanity. But I bet you can never reject or have any doubt about what I am saying.

A sin does not necessarily have to be a bad act. If something is a sin, it doesn't mean it is something bad. There are some things which are considered to be sins according to one religion and the same things, according to another religion, are not considered as sins. If it was bad, why does one religion allow it and another doesn't? A sin is a policy from God, [in accordance with] your nature; it doesn't necessarily mean it is a bad act. According to the laws today, if a man and woman enter into an intimate relationship with mutual consent, the law cannot say anything; the law allows this. But the religious law of any religion doesn't allow it. According to the religion, you are not allowed even with your consent.

In some matters, the law of the religion dictates upon human beings. You don't do things your way; you do things according to the religion that you follow.

We are living for centuries in a very hypocritical society. The beliefs of a religion are verbally accepted but practically rejected.

Islam and Judaism have a very strict law and so many things are very common in both religious laws. There is one thing I couldn't understand for many years [about practitioners of religion]: for example, many Muslims do easily consume alcohol, however they are very cautious about consuming pork. Both are Haram (prohibited) in Islam. Adultery is not an ordinary sin; it is a mighty sin. People can commit adultery and consume alcohol, but having done both these things, they will want to eat Halal (permissible) food.

In this world, every single human being today is God. We have developed a new hypocritical society in collaboration with the religious society, which has emerged with the label of religion. Underneath that label, there is no religion. 'La Ilaha Illallah' (the Declaration of Faith in Islam which translates to 'There is no other creator but God') is restricted to the tongues; but beyond the tongue, they practically say, 'Who is God? Who is Prophet Mohammad? I am God, I am the Prophet and I am the Messenger.' If that is not true, then why do you sin?

The law tells you not to do certain things because the only concern of the law is that when you do something wrong, you will be depriving somebody else of his or her rights. The law tries to protect the rights of individuals.

For example, you cannot force somebody to have an intimate relationship with you. If you do it forcibly, then you are depriving them of their rights; therefore, it is against the law. However, if both partners enter into a mutual agreement, then nobody is depriving anybody of their rights and therefore the law does not have a problem with this.

Morality is a law of courtesy. If you do something immoral, you are under no jurisdiction either religious or legal.

Religion to a certain degree closes its eyes on rights of individuals.

For example according to Islam, if your wife is worshipping and you want her to sleep with you, then she must go and attend to the call of the husband. If she doesn't, the angels will curse her all night long. So according to the religion, the rights of the individual are not protected, they are completely ignored. You have to have a very profound understanding to have this knowledge sink in your head. If you look at the religion, you will find so many things against your rights. For example, religious law says, 'Help your neighbour.' You may have eaten food and saved some for the next day; so you ate the food and slept. But according to Islam, one cannot be a true Muslim if his neighbour sleeps with an empty stomach. In a way, the religion is a dictator.

People in Pakistan who raise slogans of democracy and then call themselves Muslim Scholars - like Tahir ul Qadri - don't have brains in their head. Democracy is to be able to exercise the rights of individuals. Democracy is, 'You can do what you want to do and I can do what I want to do.' For example, 'Should there be any Capital Punishment in England?' Who will decide? No Supreme Court or government can decide this. The people will decide this. Whoever is in majority will have his vote implemented. The Labour Party in England is talking about Capital Punishment, so whoever wants Capital Punishment, they should vote Labour.

There is no escape from the obligations of the religion. If you are ill and you can't stand, then you have to lie down and offer Salat (a type of worship in Islam). This is total submission to God. People don't understand the word, 'Islam', they just claim to understand. Islam is totalsubmission; if this is not total submission to God then it is not Islam.

This is why God said in Quran, 'Enter into Islam completely.' [Quran 2:208]

Before you become a Muslim, you must bear in mind you have no life. You will live the way Islam wants you to live, the way the Quran wants you to live and the way God wants you to live. You have no rights.

Total submission: whether you are eating, sleeping, marrying, dying - whatever you are doing in life has to be dictated and you cannot say, 'This is right,' or 'This is wrong. 

There are so many things which are known as sins. For example, there used to be two different types of Sajda (prostration) according to the Quran: Sajda-e-Aboodiyat (Prostration to God) and Sajda-e-Tazeem (Prostration out of Respect). Sajda-e-Tazeem is not permitted in Islam; however, God ordered all the angels to perform Sajda-e-Tazeem to Adam Safi Allah and it is mentioned in the Quran. That prostration was not to say that Adam Safi Allah was God, but rather to say, 'He is greater than us.' Today, Wahhabis say, 'If you kiss the grave of Prophet Mohammad, it is shirk (to make one a partner of God). If you respect and stand in respect in front of a grave of any Saint or Prophet, it is shirk.' What was that when the angels were bowing before Adam Safi Allah and upon whose orders was that shirk performed?

In Islam, Sajda-e-Tazeem is not allowed; but does it mean that it is a bad act or that it is shirk? It's simply not allowed in Islam but it does not mean that the act is bad in nature. If it is, then it wouldn't have been mentioned in the Quran. It was not permitted in Islam because of the cultural in Ancient Arabia; this is why Islam demolished their egos so that this culture could come to an end. There was a lot of racism between Arab and Ajaam (non-Arabs).

But just remember what Prophet Mohammad said on Hijat ul Widah, 'No Ajaami (Non-Arab) is greater than an Arab and no Arab is greater than an Ajaami. I crush all these things under my feet.' There is so much intensity in these words. The Prophet Mohammad said, 'The only thing which will make you a great man in the eyes of God is Taqwa (how purified and clean you are).'

A sin itself has no classification; it depends on the religion. Certain acts are known as sins in certain religions. Maybe what Islam declares as a sin, Christianity or Judaism doesn't declare it as a sin. What is a sin then? A sin is a legislation of the religious law – it doesn't necessarily have to be a bad act. If God doesn't want you to do certain things and you do it, it's a sin. Sitting down or standing up is not a sin; but if God says, 'Sit down,' don't stand. If you stand up, it's a sin.

In other words a sin is an act of disobedience. If someone is a sinner, it does not mean he is a bad person because not all sins are bad.