Before you make a statement like that please know the Quran.

Follow this link to see all of the ayahs where Allah (swt) describes Himself (swt) as Severe in Punishment…..

http://quran.islamicnetwork.com/search.php?q=severe+in+punishment&Search=Search&lang={%24lang}

You will see that there are several ayahs where Allah (swt) describes Himself in this way.

Allah (swt) also says in many more ayahs to have Taqwa of Him, why would He (swt) say this if He is not Severe in Puniushment?

The problem with brother Shuaib’s speech is that is he is trying to create an Ummah complacent with herself. Yes it is true that there are many in the Ummah today who commit major sins. But that does not mean that we should accept it, and say that Allah (swt) is Forgiving and then move on. Rather we have to strive to change ourselves. We will never reach this level if we keep hearing from people like him that Allah (swt) is Forgiving.

There should be a balance. Yes we should be reminded of Allah’s Mercy but also of His Wrath. I never hear the latter from brother Shuaib. May Allah (swt) guide him and us.

I think that we need to remember that the Quran says over and over “Allah is most gracious, most merciful.” This means that Allah wants us to understand that He IS kind. Allah does not repeat again and again how strict He is in punishment.

We should do things out of LOVE for Allah, not FEAR. When we love Allah, we work hard to please Him. We should also remember that ALLAH LOVES US A THOUSAND TIMES MORE THAN OUR OWN MOTHERS LOVE US.

There is nothing wrong with focusing on Allah’s mercy. We Muslims should believe that Islam is a mercy from Allah.

Brother Abd Rahman, you should listen to more of Shaykh Suhaib’s lectures.

Of course he knows riba is a major sin (he has mentioned this in his previous lectures and posted articles on his website), but the reality is that many Muslims collect riba. How we should we deal with these brothers and sisters? Of how should a new Muslims deal with the interest he/she collected in their account before they were Muslim? Do we just ignore them? The scholars of the past have answered this question in books of fiqh.

Anyways, this was not a major point of his lecture; he was making the point of the need to address the issues that Muslims in America are facing, instead of denying them and living in a false sense of reality.

It is always best to give our teachers the benefit of the doubt before suspecting their knowledge and intention.

For example he said “what shall we do with the interest in our savings account”. Does not he know that he interest is one of the worst of sins? Why did he not mention that? The Prophet (saw) said that the lowest form of riba is a greater sin that committing zina with your mother inside the Kabbah.

Living a “contempary” Islam does not mean an Islam that comporomises on Allah’s Law. The people must change for the Din and not the Din for the people.

May Allah (swt) guide him and us.