The Identity of Muslim

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knowing everything

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are hamdulillah Allah, Allah May Allah, Allah, Allah Allah Allahu Ahad Alhamdulillah. No matter who when I started in hoonah, still Pharaoh when I wrote the villa Himanshu Rudy, unforseen our women say Dr. Medina, manga de la fala Mandala woman youth live Fela De La Hoya shadow, Isla de la la sharika. Why shadow Ana Mohammed Abu rasuluh salvato la he was Salam en la la la junta, Allah finnicky Tabby Hema been about altavilla humanus shades on the regime. Woman all sudden NACA Raj Mehta Linda, I mean, about

there is a very pressuring announcement that I have to make, there is something that a message from Allah subhana wa tada that has been made clear to us from the very beginning of the Quran that might wake some of us up from some slumber that we've been in. And that is that we are not audience members in this life. We are not spectators, a lost power, Tada. He very clearly states when he's speaking to the angels, about the creation of humankind, he says that he has made or he has placed us as human beings, as stewards, as caretakers of this earth. What does that mean? That means that inherently, by being born, we have a responsibility within our souls, to take care of this society,

this community, this environment of each other of ourselves, our families, and so on. But unfortunately, things like materialism, consumerism, different ideologies, they can lo us to sleep, and allow us to think that we are just consumers, or that we are just the beneficiaries in this life without any responsibility. And if you look at society as a whole from big picture, whether it's corporations, whether it's potentially government, whether it's sometimes even domestic things at home, you find that there are two very large deficiencies in our in our society. Number one, is that the deficiency of the lack of righteous or honest leadership, we find that everybody seeks to be in

a position of power or authority. Everybody wants to be a leader, but they don't have the capability or the trustworthiness or the qualities that it takes to be a good leader. But everyone seeks it because there is some sort of nobility, there is dignity with it. And you see this even as young kids, right, kids who are 1314 want to drive the car, they want to do things that they're not qualified to do. And this is why in our tradition, we're taught to avoid leadership at all costs, especially if it's coming from a place of self safety, satiation and self fulfillment, but rather the one who is qualified and the one who knows that she or he can deliver and be a leader of

benefit, that person is encouraged to take the responsibility, not the honor and privilege but the burden of leadership. Whether it's white collar crime, whether it's any of these things, we see this gaping hole in our society, that leadership is not being held accountable. The second issue that we find in society which is directly tied to this and the Prophet Mohammed Salah Salaam, in his head, he ties these two things together in a beautiful way and will tell after is this is this deficiency of every person to some degree, being entitled, being entitled, meaning that we want to be served, we would rather be served than serve others. Right? That's the that's what the neffs the the inner

desires, they command us that people should serve us to the point where if somebody crosses the crosswalk a little bit too early, and it's our turn to drive because the light is still green or still yellow, we get upset with them, because they disrupted me. They disrupted my service, they interrupted my my journey. It's entitlement. The Prophet Muhammad Sallallahu sallam, he makes these two things very clear. In a hadith of three words, in the statement of three words, when he says say either the poem ha demo

He says the master of a people, the leader and master and authority of any people is their servant. And notice, by the way, how he didn't say hajiman combs say you go home, that a servant is a master because not every servant is a master. When you go to a restaurant, and you have your server serving you food, right? They're not going to decide what you want to eat. They're not going to change your order for you. You're the master in that situation, even though they're the servant. But what the problem I'm associating here is saying, as commentators have taught us, that if anyone truly is a leader, whether it's at home, whether it's at work, whether it's in society, whether it's in the

mosque, wherever if anyone truly considers themselves or hosts to be a sacred a leader, a master and authority, that person has to lead what is known as from behind,

don't lead from in front telling people to follow you rather lead from behind serving the group that's in front of you, and directing traffic that way.

So we're taught this from the very getgo, that Allah subhanaw taala has created human beings to take care to be leaders of this earth, but the paradigm by which we view leadership should be shifted and we find this time and time again, in the life of the Prophet Muhammad Sallallahu sallam. That servitude is true leadership, that you constantly find him serving people, his companions, serving people, and not asking for anything in return. Even when the Quran says beautifully when talking about feeding those who are needy, feeding those who perhaps don't have food. In the manual dairy milk only went to Hilah Landry, Domaine de la Shakira that we are feeding you solely for the purpose

of God alone. And we do not request or seek from you any reward, nor do we want any things. That's servitude, that servant leadership.

However, this station, this macom, this lofty position with Allah subhanaw taala of serving does not simply come to a person it isn't earned by a person simply claiming to have a relationship with Allah, but rather there are steps that must happen. And these steps are essential in forming what I would like to call the Muslim identity. The identity of a believer of someone who believes in God Almighty and His Prophet Muhammad Sallallahu Sallam peace and blessings be upon him. This identity is crucial. And it answers so many questions. It solves so many problems that we see today. Even amongst our own community are these three steps. Where do we get these three steps from Allah, Allah

Himself as God Almighty, when he revealed the quote, and in a certain order, he laid out certain steps for the Prophet Muhammad Sallallahu wasallam.

The first of these steps we all know, it's told to us in Sunday school, the first story of revelation from Angel jabril, to the Prophet Muhammad SAW Solomon allottee, hit on the first word mentioned, right to the poem, homosassa to them was excellent.

o'clock, to read a command for the Prophet Mohammed salsa lamb, to recite, and without going too deep into the story, the command and the word and the symbol itself, to read, to recite, to add a component of knowledge of understanding, this became the foundation under which our community holds on to the anchor that holds us down.

Knowledge is what is respected by Allah subhanaw taala knowledge is what a lost power without I says, the most. The people who have the most all of God, those people who are the most attached to God Almighty are those who are most knowledgeable knowledge about this world, this reality, the next life and the sacred texts.

And it's upon Allah, we find one thing that is very tragic in our community when it comes to knowledge and seeking knowledge. And that is that when someone has a reawakening, or perhaps they've always been someone who is attached to, to knowledge or to religion, we find that their expression of religiosity of religion can sometimes be pushing people away. And if I asked you the question, have you ever felt marginalized or pushed aside by someone who looked or who felt or Who told you that they were pious? I'm sure that everyone would say yes, to some degree. I remember when I was a younger kid in my in my Islamic school, we used to call all of our teachers by brother as a respect.

Brother on Moodle, brother I mean, brother, this brother that and we had Islamic studies with with one of our teachers, he was a chef.

And I remember I said on accident just because I'm a kid at the time, I was like in middle school. I said brother so and so tower, Islamic Studies teacher who was a chef,

and before he let me finish my sentence, he stopped me. He said stop.

Everyone looked up.

He said, You call me Shay. Don't call me brother.

And I can understand now as I'm older, why he was doing that to establish some other some therapy, I can get it. But as a young person, it was very difficult for me to understand why he would feel so offended that I called him brother instead of *. And all of my classmates agreed. And we find in the life of the Prophet Mohammed Al Salaam, that his increasing of knowledge because no one is more knowledgeable of the religion than him, that in his increasing of knowledge, what it led to, and this is the litmus test, this is the test for us, was more compassion for people. Even till today, the more knowledgeable a scholar of this religion I meet, the more compassionate they are for

people's circumstances, the more flexible they are for people's realities, that someone will come and seek a federal law, from a young student of knowledge, maybe someone who's in a seminary, and that person will be so rigid with their understanding myself included, rather than when you go and speak to an actual trained scholar, this religion who spent decades studying and you think they're going to be very strict, they're very flexible. And this is beautiful, because Allah describes the prophet will model sudden NACA Illa. Allah mean that you were not sent the only purpose of your sending well, man, he negates everything beforehand, I will sudden that guy in law that we did not

send you except that you are mercy. And for those of you who know a little bit of Arabic, the beauty and this is a Rama here is an Islam, which means that it applies for all times in all places. It's a noun, not a verb. verbs are locked in time, nouns or not. So a lot of saying that yet also the law or profit and for us to also take this in, no matter what time you live in, no matter where you live, whether it's Cairo, Sudan, Somalia, Boston, Dallas, Texas, Chicago, Illinois, you should find some mercy in the example the Prophet Mohammed Al sent them for all times in all places, and all people, even if you're not a believer in Islam, even if you're not an adherent to the religion, you

should be able to look at his life and find some benefit in mercy for yourself. This knowledge led to such a compassionate examples. There was once a time where a young Sahaba young companion named Ahmed or no I'm sorry, not named Amir, but he had a bird. He had a bird that was the bird species in Arabic was called a new layer. Right, a new layer. And this bird passed away.

This bird whose name was Ahmed, his bird passed away.

And the Prophet Mohammed Sol, Sol. And, you know, he's like, very busy, right? He's like this last prophet to mankind delivering this message to all of humanity has to answer people's important questions is a statesman is a social, you know, Justice reformer is a marriage counselor is a professor of religion, right? He has all these roles that he's playing, and the young person's bird dies.

And he actually, when he hears this, he goes, and he visits this young boy. And he says to him, yeah, about Oh, man, oh, father of America, the bird, man. He said, What happened to your new lab?

Asking him the question like, what happened, tell me what happened. And the young boy begins to cry. And he tells him, my bird passed away. And for any of you who have had a pet, as a child, and maybe your children have pets, and the pet dies, it can be a very traumatic experience. It can be very tough for a person to deal with.

And so what does the MSL send them do as a statesman, a professor of religion, a marriage counselor, this or that everything he does, he takes a time out of his day, an hour or two hours. And he sits and talks to this young boy about his bird dying. And he shows that compassion. And then they go out to an area and they have a janazah for the bird. they bury the bird together. And the Prophet Muhammad SAW them the entire time has his arm around this young boy, as if to say it's okay. Not to take away from that experience and say, you know, it's just the bird, man, get over it. Right? We're in the middle of desert Arabia, you think it's if a bird dies, no one cares. No, he took time to say

to him, I'm so sorry for your loss. And this is the most knowledgeable of humanity when it comes to religion, and look at the compassion that he just cannot deny.

If the Prophet Muhammad SAW them can show this compassion for a bird that passed away, then can we not show compassion to other human beings, other people.

So knowledge must lead to compassion. If you are gaining more knowledge about religion. If you feel you're becoming more religious, more attached to the religion, ask yourself one question. Am I being more merciful to people? Am I treating people better? Or am I becoming harsher with them? Because if you and I become harsher with people, then it's a sign that that knowledge that we're gaining is not working

alone.

I was on Hold on, he makes reference to the, to the sacred texts that hold on, he compares it and makes analogy and a metaphor terrain. He says that the hold on is like rain over a dry land.

And that rain brings to the earth, either one of two things, vegetation, that people can benefit from fruits, vegetables, etc, trees that can sit under the shade, or the water remains on the earth as a reservoir, and people can come and take from it.

So this called an as it hits our hearts, our dry hearts as the scholars have said, it should facilitate one of two things. Either we become people who are providing fruits of this code and for others, and we're providing shade on these very difficult days for other people or we become carriers of the end, that maybe we're not necessarily impacting their life directly. But people can come and take some knowledge, some spiritual benefit from that reservoir that has acquired accrued in our hearts, we ask Allah Spano Tata to give us that Sophia.

So remember, brothers and sisters seek knowledge we have to, it's part of our religion, and you're not always going to have an Imam or a chef or a scholar to answer the questions that you need to be answered.

If you really need to then seek them out. But we should raise the bar of knowledge in our community. I remember one time when I was a mom in Tennessee, a brother came to me. And he brought one of his co workers from work. It was a Caucasian gentleman, and I think that he just said, okay, white guy, white guy, go ahead, right? Make some turkey sandwiches, right? So

and he brings this guy to me, he says, My, my, my co worker has some questions for you. And I said, Sure, let me go and ask. Now when a person who claims to be a Muslim says that my coworker has some questions. I'm assuming that these are questions that this person cannot answer. Very difficult philosophical questions. Why does the Quran say this? I read this and this and it confused me. This this is so I'm expecting like very difficult questions. And this guy, Steve, I still remember his name. He comes up to me and he says, Hey, how are you? I said, How are you doing? Good to see you. Good morning. And he says, I have some questions for you about Islam. I said, Sure. What's your

questions? He said, who is Allah?

And I look at the brother who brought him to me, and I said, Do you know who Allah is? He said, of course. I said, so why couldn't you answer this question? He says, because I don't know enough. If you know enough to claim to be a practicing believer in adherence to this faith, then you should be able to answer the questions of those people who are curious about why you practice the way that you do. We need to raise the bar of knowledge in this community. But with that, we need to raise the bar of compassion. The second step that Allah subhana wa tada identifies in Chrono in chronological revelation

is he says, Yeah, you help Muslim men come in Laila. illa kalila. There's other you know, interpretations that say that it was Sumo death at first, but we'll take this in Charlotte today, as a lot of our data says, Yeah, you wouldn't Muslim in referring to the Prophet Mohammed Al Salim, because after that initial revelation, the prophet SAW something he wrapped himself up because he felt so scared at the event that had happened. He wasn't sure quite what had happened. He didn't know who Angel gibreel was and what was going on. And so he was wrapped up so Allah reveals to him this passage. Yeah, you had a Muslim man. Oh, you were wrapped up and shaking, filming Layla in La

cadila. Stand in the night except for a little bit, stand in the night and worship except for a little bit. And this is actually a beautiful reminder to us, that with the increase of knowledge, we must also increase and use that to increase our relationship with Allah subhanaw taala that our spirituality cannot just be through words. And it can't just be saying that, oh, my heart is this way. I'm feeling spiritual, but rather that should lead to increase in worship, that we should find ourselves more devoted to God Almighty. And we have a beautiful story from the Hadith I shall de la Han ha, where one night she saw the prophet SAW said I'm praying to hijack the MLM that he was

standing in the middle of the night. And he was praying. He had left his bed, the comfort of his bed, the comfort of sleeping next to his wife, and he got up and he began to pray. And she noticed that his feet, the heels of his feet, began to crack because of just the amount of time he was praying. And he was so in the zone that he completely forgot, you know that his that his body was hurting. It happens sometimes to athletes. When you're working, you get home, you sit down, you're like, Oh, my back was I didn't realize my back was so sore. So the problem is awesome. He's praying and his feet are incredibly sore. Now his wife, I can see this. She sees his feet swelling up, she

sees the signs of pain of toughness on his feet. So after he's done, she says to him yet Oh, messenger of God. She says Why are you

Praying so much. Why are you praying so much?

You're guaranteed paradise God Almighty has given you this message to deliver to humanity. And in return, part of your reward is that you're guaranteed paradise. She said us, we're the ones who should be praying in the night like you the amount that you're praying in the night because we don't know if we're guaranteed we're not prophets like you. And she says, or he says back to her, he says, Yeah, and he goes, is this? Is this the case? Is this is this what the truth is? That because I'm guaranteed paradise, I shouldn't pray? She said, Yes. And he said back to her flr akuna abdon Shakira,

he says, If God has given me this beautiful blessing in my life, Then should I not be a thankful servant. Should I not take that blessing and be gracious for it. So as a person begins to gain more knowledge and become more compassionate, they should also notice that they're becoming more devoted to God Almighty. And that increases them in their gratitude, not just to God, that's the first but to everybody else's. The hottie says men not misquoting as the miracle of love. Whoever does not think people does not Thank God. So when someone holds the door open for you in the question, or when your wife or husband brings home dinner, cooks dinner, picks up the kids from school, don't

just take these things for granted and walk away. Oh, yeah, they should have done that. No, say thank you verbalize. Thank you. You know why? Because lack of gratitude is one of shaytaan the devil's clear paths to try to dis dis distance us from God and other people. What did he say to Allah? He said, I'm going to come at your creation, when he was challenging God, in the court of Allah in the divine, what did he say? He said, I'm going to challenge your creation, I'm going to come and find humankind. And I'm going to surround them from the front, the back the right, the left, and he said, when I told you to settle him, shacking, he said, My challenge is that you will

find that not a lot of them, the majority of them will not be grateful. In his moment of arrogance, Satan let slip shaitan let go, his secret plan, that the key the Achilles heel to our relationship with God and other people is how grateful are we?

A sign of gratitude is that a person can get up and offer prayers. A sign of gratitude is that a person can turn to a person and say thank you. A sign of gratitude is that a person can send a gift to somebody else. So as we climb on our Stairway to God Almighty in our in our Eman, we should see our sugar also increasing. And that's why Allah Spano Tata says, He says that he will increase you, he says, Whoever is thankful well in Chicago to see the netcom He says, Whoever is grateful, Allah says, I will increase them in their gratitude and in whatever they are grateful for, we asked Allah Spano Tata to mix monks to check it in.

Then the third step to conclude the hook, but that we have

is a last moment when he says, Yeah, it will modesta

when he speaks to the muscles on again, and he says to him, now that you have gained knowledge, you have read, now that you have stood in the night and fortified your soul through worship, now get up and start to command not command, but to tell people to warm people, to give people this understanding of what your faith is to teach them going for and then stand in one.

And this is a beautiful reminder, that our lifestyle, our personal religious practice, we should see some benefit for humanity in it. And what's interesting is that the same word that is used to warn the same word that is used to warn is used many times in the court and in many different situations. But you find the predominant example, the emphasis on them gave of warning was through action, not through dialogue. He would speak at times, but he was much more of a role model for society than anything else. He was the person who would always encourage people to stop doing the vices that they were doing, not only by telling them, but by abstaining from them himself. And he forged through

this knowledge, spirituality and service, he forged the Muslim identity. What's the benefit of this Muslim identity? I'll tell you, if we can put ourselves and commit ourselves to getting there through knowledge, worship and service. What's the benefit? The benefit is that we won't have to stand up time and time again, an answer for people in garland Texas, that you won't have to defend yourself to your neighbors and your classmates about people who bomb a marathon. But you won't have to explain why your religion is not violent, but it's people who lack that knowledge, lack that spirituality and lack that service and involvement in community. They are the ones that partake in

these horrible acts. So if you

You are like me, and you are exhausted. And how Islam is being sidetracked in American society, that we are still considered the other because of these people who are also trying to make us the other than the response more so than getting up and clarifying writing press releases. Yes, those are good is to reform ourselves. That way, when people see us, they'll say, I know a Muslim at work. And that guy is nothing like that guy I'm seeing on Fox News. I know a Muslim at my school, and she's nothing like this person I'm hearing about. So this person must be on the fringe, this person must be a good example. See, following these steps is more crucial than just whether or not we're in. It's about

establishing a community and identity as believers. And this is why Subhan Allah, Allah revealed these three steps first, because without this, you can't build the society. This is the bedrock This is the foundation. We ask Allah subhanaw taala to give us knowledge, we ask Allah subhanaw taala to allow us to see truth is truth and allow us to follow it We ask Allah to allow us to see false as false. And give us the blessing of avoiding it. We ask Allah subhana wa tada to give us beneficial knowledge, knowledge that we can benefit ourselves and benefit others with in society. We ask Allah, Allah to make us people who worship him consistently, whether it's through prayer, his remembrance,

or following the example of his prophet we asked Allah spawn tada to make us stewards and servants of the earth and of everyone on Earth, that people if they know us, they know our faith by the amount of servitude we give to them. We ask Allah Subhana Allah to grant us success until you call Yeah, that was tough for Allah honey. Welcome, Lisa in Muslim in almost the manifest of Peru in Whoville of Pharaoh

hamdulillahi Rabbil alameen wa salatu wa salam O Allah emammal mbi? Well, most of inseason Mohamed Salah la vie to send them water early, he was a human, whatever your homie is sending Elijah Medina Allahu Allah, man whom I mean. So the tough news is that there's work to be done. There's tough news that individually we should all be self evaluating and saying, What can I do to gain more knowledge of my religion? What can I do to be somebody who is more worshipping of Allah and God Almighty? And what can I do to be somebody who is taking care of humanity? The work is there. The good news is that the ispcc as a mosque, as someone who travels literally almost every weekend, Mashallah

provides opportunities for each of these realms to be increased in our lives. Every week, there's opportunities to gain more knowledge. Every day, there's opportunities to worship God. And every week, I would say there's an opportunity or every day, if you want come in and serve people start an initiative be here. So we should not think to ourselves, how can I solve this problem that I have? I need to gain more knowledge to do this, we should attach ourselves to the question. And again, like I said, about those those people in garland who committed that shooting or any other atrocity act of terrorism, one key sign that was found always in their relationship with the mosque was that it

deteriorated, it went away. Because the masjid is a place that keeps people grounded. It's a place of knowledge. It's a place of rabada. And it's a place of humanity. And so this is a place to be connected to, if you want to find your faith increase, make sure that you take advantage of the services here. Make sure that you try out a plan with you and your family. Some of the best moments of seeking knowledge that I ever had on the living room couch with my mother reading Heidi's to me, because why it was my mother, the woman that I love most, teaching me about my faith, be with your family use those moments to teach each other but make sure that the litmus tests of compassion, of

gratitude and of service are not lost. If we're increasing or we think we're increasing, but we're not increasing in those three things. We're not actually increasing. We're just establishing proof on ourselves. We asked a lot to protect us. We ask Allah subhanaw taala secure all of our sick but ask Allah subhanaw taala to cure everyone who is ill to give them she fat we asked the last Parliament Allah to aid anyone who's being oppressed, anyone who is being harmed or has aggression against them, we ask God to uplift that and to relieve them from that oppression. We ask God Almighty to give everybody success in their endeavors and give everyone said in this world and the

next we asked, we asked Allah Spano Tata to give this world solace, peace and tranquility and to alleviate the world from the diseases that are causing it society physically, spiritually, that are causing it to be in a state of trauma. We ask God Almighty to give our leaders the ability to lead with clarity, with light with vision for the benefit of everybody, including themselves and the entire humanity that they served. We asked God Almighty to rejoin us with our Prophet Muhammad SAW Sutherland in paradise so that we can benefit from his company in a lahoma that occurred to who you still do not have nebby Yeah, you went live in ammonoosuc. Do Allah he was studying with us Nima.

mumps I got an email from a daughter named Mohammed comesa. Later on I brought him on early Rahim for alameen in naka hamidah Majeed Olam, abetik Allah Mohammed Ali Mohammed come about up to Allah Rahim Radha early Ibrahim Phil alameen in naka hamedan Majeed in the La Jolla motivated San Juan Ito either kotoba and Han and fascia in Montpellier. Well, about a year from now I'll come to the throne. Okay, masala