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Smilla will hamdulillah wa Salatu was Salam ala Rasulillah who Allah Allah He was happy he edge marine said I'm only gonna Allah He Barakatuh

call Allahu Allah azza wa jal vikita Begin Majeed but there will be like Muna ship on the regime. Yeah, you have Latina Amanu Kulu Amina Bill Christie Shuhada al Illa, Walla Walla and forsaken, I will validate it will occur Robin.

Allah subhanaw taala in the Quran, he

calls upon us by a particular title, repeatedly throughout the Quran. Allah says yeah, you have Latina Amanu we often have translated this as Oh, you who believe.

However, to understand it a little bit more precisely. Yeah, you have Latina Ahmed, who says anyone who has ever proclaimed anyone who has ever professed faith, belief in Allah. This is Allah calling upon them. One of the great scholars of our deen and religion Allah Maha tabi Rahim Allahu taala. He actually comments on this. He says, every single time you hear the phrase, you hear the wording. Yeah, you hear levena amanu within the Quran, this is Allah giving us an opportunity to prove what we have said.

Allah is asking us to backup our claim. He's saying you say that you believe so here's an opportunity for you to prove whether you do actually believe or not. And that's why every single time Allah says yeah you hola Dena Amano. After that. Either. He commands us to do something. Or boo do Rebecca moolah, the Halacha come worship your Lord, your master your Creator. Or he tells us not to do something. Lots of cool new Kalinina Otto Musa Don't be like those people who tormented who harassed the Prophet Moses, for example. So whenever ALLAH says your lead, then I'm gonna that's gonna be followed by a command or a prohibition. The verse that I quoted very specifically, Allah

says Kumu Kahua Amina Billa. First, stand for justice, stand for truth, stand for what's right. shahada, Allah, Allah, witnesses before God.

And the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam exemplified this. I want to tell you a little story from the life of the prophets, Allah the salam,

the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, when you study his life, there's a few segments of his life a few different eras of his life that we study.

The first 40 years of the life of the prophets, Allah, the psalm or what's called pre revelation, pre prophethood, then you have the next 23 years,

the 23 years are divided between the first 13 years which is the Moroccan period, and then the last 10 years, which is the muddiman period. Now something very interesting, you know, people talk about, you know, what have you done for me lately, remembering the most recent currents, there's an element of that here. And also there's of course, a lot more documentation about the end of the life of the prophets a lot easier versus the earlier part of his life. But the bulk of the information, the bulk of the conversation, the discussion about the life of the prophets, Allah they said, um, will focus towards the end of his life,

the Medina and period and even that more so the end of the Medina and period, you will find more detail about the last couple of years of the life of the prophets, Allah needs him than the rest of his entire life. And then the Medina and period is very detailed. Then when you get to the Moroccan period, even though it was longer than the Medina and period, there'll be a lot less discussion about the Moroccan period, and then there is close to none. There's little to no discussion about the life of Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam before Revelation, the first 40 years of his life.

Well, one of the very fascinating things that occurred in his life before Revelation, he was 20 years old at that time.

And MCCA had been suffering through a lot of chaos and disarray during that time. And they had just come out of a very brutal war

that many, many people had died with him. And they were just tired of all this. They said we need to end all of this. So what happened was that

They decided to put together an alliance to have a pact to take an oath. And it was known as helpful for dual.

This the the the honorable, the virtuous, the noble pact of social justice. And they sat together and they talked about the fact that we will grant safety and security, to immigrants to America, that we will look after the minorities, that the poor will not sleep hungry anymore, and so on and so forth.

There were only 20 people who attended the signing of that pact, attended the final meeting.

And the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam was one of those 20 people, he was only 20 years old. Why is that so significant and relevant, because in Arabian culture and Arabian society at that time, age, and seniority was a very big deal.

And a 20 year old would normally not be allowed within a meeting of this magnitude.

The prophets on sallallahu alayhi wa sallam he campaigned and he pleaded and begged his uncle, I need to come with you to this meeting. And is ongoing that I'm taking him and that's why the prophets Allah, he said when he would talk about that meeting later on, he would say that I would not trade anything in the world.

For my place within that meeting, that is till today. He said this after he became a prophet, he said till today, it is one of the things that I am most proud of in my entire life.

And the prophets, Allah Allahu alayhi wa sallam later on in the muddiman period, he would actually comment and say, load your age who la Hala jumped

a LAN low do a to na Hala jumped. He said, If today's the Quran has come, Islam is here, Medina has been founded. But even today, if the non Muslims of Makkah came to me, with the idea with the suggestion of this pact, for the sake of social justice, he said, I would agree. And I would once again be a party to it, and I would sign on to it and I would be a part of this.

This is a very important and profound lesson from the life of the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wasallam, validated by the Prophet sallallahu, alayhi wasallam, that these concerns and these causes that we see going on right now that are happening right now around us that are starting to a consciousness has awoken within our communities and our societies. And now there is some movement, there is some work, there's some concern, there is some effort that is going on. This is very, very important for us to understand and realize that this is a concern for us. This is something we need to be invested into. This is something our faith mandates

that we be a part of,

and that we fully participate in, and that we understand that we learn what's going on, if we don't already know.

And we cannot afford to sit by on the sidelines to be casual spectators and we dare not ever be any part of an opposition to any of this work that is going on. It is antithetical to our faith, to our belief, to the book of Allah to the Sunnah of the prophets a lot easier to ever dismiss, or to ever oppose, or to have reservations about or to have concerns in regards to this work that's going on.

There are three things that I want to touch on very, very quickly here in close succession. I don't want to take up too much time here. But three points I want to touch on very specifically, number one.

Number one is empathy.

The prophets allottee. Some teaches us to empathize. The Quran commands us to empathize. We need to have empathy, people who are struggling, people who are starving people who are dying.

They're reaching out to us, they're talking about their plight and their situation. We need to empathize. Empathy means you feel someone else's pain.

And empathy does not mean you agree with somebody else's pain if or you are willing to acknowledge someone's pain if you agree with it.

Empathy is to feel someone's pain and it does not have the prerequisite the pre qualifier of whether you understand it or not, whether you think it's valid or not. Our opinions are irrelevant.

Our opinions are irrelevant. When Syrians cry by what's going on in Syria, when black folks here in this country talk about what's going on here in this country,

my opinion becomes irrelevant what I think is going on what I think they shouldn't do what I think they should, none of that is irrelevant. If I have some expertise, I can try to contribute however I can. But outside of that my opinion is irrelevant. I must empathize. Empathy does not stop rationalizing people's pain and start feeling it.

Stopped rationalizing and starting feeling it. Empathy is number one. That's the first point I wanted to touch upon. Empathize, feel people's pain. The second thing I wanted to talk about is how did particularly when it comes to race relations, particularly when it comes to the issue of race. How did the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam handle correcting

race relations and racism within a society? How did he handle that?

We know how the prophets Allah ism handled spiritual apathy

spiritual apathy,

the prophets Allah they some handled it very gradually. We know how the prophets Allah the salam, the Quran, handled social habitual, evil social evils, like drinking, and fornicating and gambling, it had a method of gradualism. It slowly brought people up and through the different stages of recovery. But how did the Prophet somebody some handle racism? That's the question. How did the prophets Allah, he's gonna handle racism Allow me to demonstrate

the prophets Allah Allahu Allah, some did not use gradualism in that regard. Rather, the prophets Allah the salam disrupted the system within society. Many people I've already said, our analysis, our opinions are irrelevant. When we think about Black Lives Matter. We just need to love and we need to support and we need to fully support Oh, but Brother, do they have to do things like this or like that? Number one, that's irrelevant. Everything you're saying after that point is irrelevant. And you need to have the humility to accept that no, why why? Why can't I say something about it because you don't get to?

It straightforward.

Allah subhanaw taala told us in the Quran for saloon, let victor go when as somebody who knows you don't know.

So you don't just get to you have the right to your opinion, but you don't have the right to state your opinion and share your opinion. And I definitely have the right to not listen to your opinion. We need some humility. That's number one. But what I was saying was the in fact if somebody does want to argue methodology with me, how did the prophets Allah, the salam deal with the issue of racism, how did he correct race relations? He disrupted the system he shocked the system. He did not take a very nice and gradual and respectable approach he said this issue we can't afford it.

This issue It's intolerable. We can gradually work through it. So when the man was instituted the province a lot he set him said for who are under so to Minka he has he his voice reaches further and he did not use say on fire. He said under which means he wasn't just saying that physically his voice reaches further. He was saying spiritually his voice reaches further.

Because the prophets Allah, he said when he went on the journey of an SR with me, Raj when he toured the heavens, he heard footsteps

while turning the heavens, you heard footsteps. And he asked you breed what are these footsteps that I hear? And Gibreel said this is Bilal when he walks on the earth his footsteps they echo in the heavens.

So the prophets a lot he's it made him called the Athan when they conquered moko, God, the conquest of Mecca Funtoo, Mecca. When they went back in there he told me not to go call the Athan even belong was hesitant. He said, These are the same streets that I was dragged through. Are you sure? Go call the anon. And when below, stood next to the guy that was about to call the end of the process and said stop. He said climb on top of the Gobi stand on top of the Kaaba and called the other

end the people of Makkah said Yeah, Muhammad, you won.

You won. We get it. Do you have to rub our faces in it?

And he says you don't get it. What I'm I'm not rubbing your face in my victory in your loss.

What I'm telling you is that your ways of old

are gone. The process, some didn't take some respectability, political, all this very diplomatic, whatever other word we want to give it approach to this issue he's you he just he rubbed it in their face quite literally. He put her right there front and center in their face. This is from the Sunnah of the prophets, Allah. He said, How do you argue with that methodology, any opinion you have now is not only irrelevant, it's also incorrect.

So this is very important for us to understand.

And the third point that I wanted to make.

The third point that I wanted to make in this regard

was, and again, I am very much a student in this capacity. So please forgive me. I'm a student in all capacities. We're all students in all capacities, but particularly when it comes to this, I very much a student, I have students that I learned from in this regard. So I'm sharing with you what I've learned from many, many wise people, and experienced people in this regard.

But I sincerely fear.

And not just worry, but I call it a fear. Because it's scary, if that's how close minded and ignorant and uneducated and unsophisticated we still are. I feel that a large segment of our community, the Muslim community.

And speaking about my own background, my parents were immigrants to this country. So particularly within the immigrant

section of our community, the Muslim community here in America, I feel like there is still I fear that there is still a significant portion of that population, that still does not understand matters, extremely sensitive issues. Like why it is so disrespectful when people say things like all lives matter.

And I know that this is quite sensitive and controversial for a lot of people. But I wanted to bring it up here today because I was really giving it some thought and talking to people and feeling things out in the community. And I came to the very scary realization that a lot of people still don't understand what the big deal is.

Because they're still too caught up in again their own analysis of the issue, which is irrelevant and also incorrect, as we've already established.

But it is extremely disrespectful.

And very dismissive. And very contradictory to the Sunnah of the prophets, Allah VSAM when the profits and losses and put Bilaal on top of the Kaabah, to call the other, and somebody didn't say, everybody has a right to call the other.

And the profits along the same was there with his authority. So nobody questioned.

But today, we have to understand this.

That any extra commentary that we add any of this commentary that exists out there, this is extremely disrespectful, and very dismissive, and very detrimental and extremely harmful.

And this is something we all have to understand that we earn, and we have to understand that emphasizing the plight or one particular issue or problem. I full time am a teacher.

I was just talking to somebody very honestly speaking, I do not do relief work full time.

I do not run a masjid full time. Are those not important things? Absolutely. They're important. I'm an educator. And then within education, I don't teach children. I'm not especially if to childhood education. I conduct adult education.

I teach adults, does that mean childhood education is important. It's extremely important. I have three children.

I very much value childhood education.

But it's just a matter of understanding

the work that's going on what one's capacity is and specializing within your work

and really understanding and doing your son.

But at the same time, it does not mean that if I only conduct classes for adults, if somebody came to me and said so you don't think teaching children is important.

That'd be silly, wouldn't it?

Of course I think teaching children is important. But that's not what I do. That doesn't mean it's not important. These are very logical constructs. And most of us have the common sense to grasp this.

But this is why it's very, very important. I reiterate I reemphasize understanding the place the significance, the importance from the Quran IK and the prophetic perspective, the significance of social justice within a

Our religious framework number one.

Number two, empathize without any type of preconditions, any type of qualifiers empathize, unconditionally empathize. And number three,

learn to be humble and to listen to other people and to support without always having to have an opinion. May Allah subhanaw taala give us the ability to be humble, and to empathize and to be able to help people wherever and whenever people might need our help and our assistance which is our Kamala Hayden said I'm already going off to La