Living Islam #08

shahir live in Manchester called shala smilla rahmanir rahim al hamdu Lillahi Rabbil alameen wa sallam Salli wa sallam on our sales, our lien will occur in the Vienna Mohammedan. Allah Allah He was sahibabad, Aqua Salah. All praise the due to Allah, Lord of the worlds and piecing blessings be upon our beloved Prophet Muhammad, the master of the first and the last, and his family in his companions and all those who call to his way, and establish his Sunnah to the Day of Judgment, to what follows my beloved brothers and sisters, to our students and friends, as salaam alaikum, wa Rahmatullahi wa barakaatuh Alhamdulillah. We thank Allah for another opportunity to reflect upon the

crises that we are living in today. And some practical guidelines for solutions to come out of these great challenges. And no doubt the time that we are living in now in the northern countries, and in much of the world is a transition period, we are transitioning out of the winter season and into the spring season.

And that is when the light starts to come back in the northern countries. And animals start to come back and life starts to sprout around us. But we are on lockdown. And this is a great challenge to us. So there are a lot of uncertainties as to where we should be going. And we need to have certain principles, we need to have certain issues clearer in our minds, so that we can meet these challenges in an Islamic way, for amongst the challenges that we had spoken about. And this especially is impacting the younger generation.

And that is a new threat that has popped up over the past 20 years or so. And that is the rise again of atheism and atheism, godlessness, the concepts that God has nothing to do with our life or he doesn't exist at all.

And this is spreading with the skepticism of people living in secular humanist societies and with the technologies that we are living in people are more depending upon the technologies, then depending upon the Creator.

Along with that we have a tremendous loss of traditional values. And with the widespread use of the technologies, the cyberspace, the cell phones, the internet, there's a new type of consciousness, a type of blanket that is coming over the minds of the human race, and especially the younger generation.

And it's always shocking to me, in different places that I would go to when the vehicle stops at a red light or as you're driving along and you look. And you see people standing there, and they're usually looking down into their cell phones. And this is just not in Canada or the US prints all over the place. What's happening to people what are they looking at inside of that small box

that is blocking their ability to see what is around them.

Because what is coming out of that box to a great extent is something which is created by people. It is manipulation of the sights and sounds and colors to give you a type of alternative universe. And so in that universe values are being shared.

Many of these value values will either be law, or the opposite of Islamic values. Our values of ephah of modesty and nobility are being broken down with nakedness and crudeness,

our values concerning saying the best words thinking the best are being broken down by a type of culture that praises people who swear, and people who steal and they're not trustworthy, but yet they appear to be the heroes.

It's a culture where the strong is given more respect than a week

and we are revelation means nothing to many people. And that's impacting on our families, especially the younger generation. And I can't stress this enough about the younger generation. That with the whole year having gone by with the COVID-19 and the lockdown, many of our youth have not made Juma for a whole year. They haven't been inside of a Masjid

And this unmask phenomenon that is going on is very dangerous. And what is filling the void? What is giving them the emotions to go forward? What's this spirituality, if it's coming out of the internet that we're in trouble.

And so the loss of traditional values is a very serious issue that needs to be looked at in details. Along with this, there is a rise again, of illegal substance abuse, that drugs are coming in different forms, and are being made permitted permissible by the societies, and widespread and Muslims are turning a blind eye to the use of drugs and alcohol amongst the younger generation. And that leads to so much because karma, you know, this is, you know, the mother who malherbe is, you know, as our traditions have told us, that intoxicants that's the mother of all evil and wicked things.

Next is the issues coming out of the illegal substance abuse and the lack of Islamic values. It is mental issues happening now. And mental health is a big issue when I stress these points over and over again, because we need to be constantly dealing with them, and trying to provide solutions. Also, what's happening to the youth is delinquency, juvenile delinquency, running away from their homes, disrespecting their parents, committing crimes, it's happening, it's real. And we are facing it. And also, what's coming out of this is depression. And this is one of the most dangerous issues because sometimes depression cannot be seen. The juvenile delinquent runs away, you can see in the

clothing and in the verbs, the verbal, you know, methodology,

many different points, that a young person is a delinquent, they've gone out become like a criminal, or runaway. But a depression sometimes is hidden. And you don't know when it's really hitting you until it's too late.

And so these are extremely difficult issues that we have to face. And we need to have practical solutions. Last year, I re introduced a 10 point Manifesto. That was a manifesto, to take us from survival to revival. How can we revive our faith? I called it the emergence. And you can find the whole series on my YouTube channel. That's Abdullah Hakim quick, go into the YouTube channel. And you'll see the emergence. And one of the key 10 points that we were discussing last year. And over the past 40 years I've been discussing this, and that is the fact that it is central to our survival. It is central to the revival of Islam, that we build and protect healthy, empowered

families. And these families should have an emphasis on women.

Not an emphasis on the males, but an emphasis on the women when we are building the families. And we are protecting the families. And this point has taken on new significance with the COVID-19. And with health becoming such a crucial issue for many people. Health is now one of the biggest discussion points, it's one of our greatest fears. How am I healthy? Is my immune system healthy? Am I exercising? Am I breathing properly? What will happen to me in the next few months and years? Will the COVID-19 strike me? Will my health go down?

And so healthy, empowered families and empowerment is that quality that is based upon skills development. Of course, mentally, spiritually, we are empowered by tauheed, by the oneness of Allah subhanaw taala. And the closer we get to Allah azza wa jal is the more we are actually empowered

physically and in this higher dunya that we are living in skills development, the more you're able to develop skills, and especially the young people

and the women in our society is the stronger that individual is, the more likely that person is able to overcome the difficulties and the crises that they are facing. And

since we are

In a time, internationally a few days ago, they call it International Day of women. I wanted to look at this issue because that the healthy, empowered families, with the emphasis on women, this is a crucial point in the emergence in coming back out of this pandemic, coming back out of lockdown, the Omar reviving itself is a crucial point because the families are the building blocks of the whole society. And one of the foundations of the family is the mother.

It is the women.

And so we need to be very straightforward and open with this issue.

And in looking at the issue of women,

and the crises that we are facing, I go back years ago when I was young, and traveling into the Muslim world, an innocent and trying to find out what was going on. And I realized that, although on paper we had, we have a powerful nation. We have beautiful bastions and Islamic culture and beautiful foods, and clothing. And I used to so much enjoy, to take on Islamic cultures and to see how Islam has impacted societies throughout the planet. But what I noticed in many of the countries is that the people were spending more time around graves. They were spending more time around praying to saints, and praying to people who had passed on, then they were praying to Allah subhanaw

taala. And I never forget being in one of the Muslim countries, I won't say which one it is. And I'm travelling through this major city and in the bazaar. And as I go through the Marketplace, there was a lot of red flowers. And it was like a Hindu Bazaar, although the majority was a majority Muslim country. And I'm going through and I turned and went into a famous Masjid and found right as you come in the entrance, there is a place where there is a grave of a saint.

And people were praying to the grave, rubbing it, touching it, giving it money. Not only Muslims, there were Hindus there as well and other people as well. And then the alarm went off. And when the alarm went off, and the master had a huge courtyard, most of the people, including the Muslims stayed by the grave. And myself and a few individuals went across the courtyard to the Boston area, or the front of the mastered area and made salata Lhasa, the majority was still worshiping the saint. And so polytheism, shirk is rock Billa This is one of the most debilitating dangerous qualities that has impacted our communities. And sometimes it's very hidden, because it'll come

through culture. Sometimes it's just the practices taken on from traditional religions from ancient times. Also, I found a lot of oppression,

although we have a great Sunder based upon justice, based upon taking care of the poor and the needy, still in many Muslim countries, and it's not necessarily foreigners bombing the country, there was a lot of oppression of the week and killing of the innocent. And as long as the killing of the innocent goes on, we cannot expect to have the help of Allah subhanaw taala then I also find that a quality that had come into people's lives was a type of to face witness a type of hypocrisy where they would show you one face and on the inside have other feelings and bribery. When they want to get something done. They take some money and they bribe and bribe really bribery becomes a type

of alternative economic system where some people look at the bribes, like a waiter looks at tips.

And you'll see that our waiter in our society doesn't even get the minimum wage, they get a tiny amount of money $2.50 or something.

The rest is the attempts. So in many Muslim countries the same but the rest is bribes they would get so they're always putting their hand out for the bribe. And so of the elements of success, I mentioned three. One is a strict model DSL that we understand tauheed in all its aspects and this is very practical. It's important for us to continue our study of tauheed to to see how she

enters our life, in many different ways, and in many facets of our existence. Secondly, is to establish justice, justice on all levels of society. That is the essence of Islam. It has to be feared to be just had to be straightforward. And the third point is empowerment. And when you look at early Islam, you will see people were empowered. The prophet SAW Selim himself was empowered with revelation.

He was empowered more than anybody because he was connected to Allah subhanho wa Taala. The call and the final revelation came through him. His companions came from all nations, and Allah azza wa jal empowered him, and empowered the oma, who were mostly made up of oppressed people from different walks of society, different nationalities, different form of religions. So these three key elements of access are extremely important. But in this light, I want to mention because

I was looking at the demonstrations that were going on around the world, for women's rights on the international Woman's Day, and in some countries, and it happened a couple times, a big poster, and women, mainly young women, and it said,

patriarchy is the real pandemic. Now, this is a very serious statement. And you've taken it further not patriarchy, meaning a male dominated society, is the real pandemic. It's worse than the COVID-19. It's worse than the Ebola.

And this is being portrayed by the younger generation, and people may not understand what that actually means. And so we need to look at women's issues, very straightforward. And I want to take a penetrating look at this based upon years of experience, and interacting with Muslims, in different parts of the Muslim world, we need to actually re analyze our relationships. And I can recall traveling in the Muslim world. Now, I'm not talking about male chauvinism in America, the rape of women in the the the male dominated Hollywood industry, and all of the different issues that are happening, the women's liberation movements that have been fighting for rights, right from the 20th

century. I'm talking about the Muslim world now.

Because we need to look at a practical way of our issues, and try to have something in our mind in terms of solutions. And I'm going to be very straightforward. I'm going to be clear. I'm going to hit it, like the sharp edge of the site. And I remember traveling in the Muslim world, and I'm not going to say the country, so there's no bias. I'm traveling along. These are movement people, people who are activists within Islam. And as we're driving along, they said, Our brother Abdullah, these are the addresses. Our young people are studying the Quran learning I said, Mashallah. They said these are for the young boys. And so I said, Okay, where are the addresses for the young girls? And

they said, No, no, no, no, no, no, no.

You can't have them educate. The more they're educated is the more dangerous they become.

And so they looked upon women's education as a negative thing.

And you can even see some extreme groups are in like in Nigeria, Boko Haram is like they're against books, because that's what Boko Haram books are Haram. In this case, they were talking about women's and I thought to myself what religion is this? Is this the religion of Khadija radula Juana who not only accepted Islam first, but consolidated it? Is this the religion of the sumaiya, the great Shahid, radiola Juana

Is this the religion of Aisha rhodiola Han, who who report the second most Hadith,

or the religion of ohm Salah? radula, one ha, who was the the the internal adviser of the Prophet peace be upon him? What religion is this? Because early Islam in its original, clear form, empowers women. It empowered women from being killed by men, because of the call femicide. That was happening in infanticide, killing

Young girls,

it empowered women with the ability to be educated or the right to be educated. With the right to have private property. This was unheard of, in the rest of the world, in Europe, up until the 20th century, women were only getting these rights, Islam and powered over 1400 years ago.

But this was the reality, another group, we were discussing women's issues, and one sister raised her hand. And she said, in my country, and I'm not going to say the country, we were taught that if a woman doesn't get a beating, she won't enter Paradise. I said, Subhan Allah, what religion is this? Islam empowers and protects women. But yet they had twisted around, that the entrance of Paradise is based upon her getting a beating

from her husband.

What religion is this?

And when we look at our situation, and we need to analyze this, and really sit with this, but just to give you an overview of this analysis,

when you look at the Muslim world, you will see that in the 20th century, to give an example of how things change, there was political oppression. Many of the Muslim countries were ruled by their kings, and they're small towns, and the young people, the society want to change. What was happening in Europe was a socialist change. The socialists wanted to share the wealth. We're fighting against the capitalists, and the hierarchy, and the royalty. And so the Muslim said, Okay, let's be Muslim socialists, Islamic socialism. And so they it spread in the Muslim world. But the problem was socialism has baggage. socialism brings in atheism, it brings in the lack of respect for revelation.

It is a dry, cold society in many of these socialist countries, once they destroyed the king and kicked him out. They were more oppressive than the king.

I even went to places where they were at, they were praying for the king to return because of what the socialist committees were doing to them. So from the 60s on 5060s, when democracy was coming in democracy in the sense of elections, when that came in, whenever the people had a choice, and there was a Muslim party, the Muslim party would win the election.

But the challenge is, people say, we're not we don't want capitalism. We don't want socialism, we want to slam. But is it a type of twisted Islam? Or is it the original Islam, the Sunnah, Islam, that is the challenge to be able to get justice, and equality out of the Islamic political system.

Similarly, with women, women were oppressed, although the original Islam, empowered women liberated women, but somehow, and I analyze that as a historian, in the colonial period, what our countries were conquered by the European colonial powers, the king was killed at the leadership was destroyed, and men were disempowered, they were weakened. They had no authority. And it appears that many men took it out on their women, because the only place they had left to be so tired, or the ruler was in their house. And when they started to get power, this twisted type of mentality affected even the movements that they had, when they were coming back from out of this oppression.

And so

the women then

looking for rights in the 20th century, saw that European American women had the suffrage movements, and they were struggling against oppression, for voting for property rights, the things that Muslim women needs, they say, why don't we become Muslim feminists? Let's take on this movement, and they did it. And it's still existing in our own world today. But they found out that the feminist movement has got baggage. It's got godlessness. And in many cases, in the extreme cases, it breaks up the family. It doesn't bring us together as families. It's not empowering the family unit, but it's breaking it up. And in some extreme cases, it makes a war between the men and the women.

And so, whenever suddenly, in the 60s 70s, especially 80s a job is

Coming back, all over the Muslim world when women had taken it off.

And it's still the hijab is still a symbol of Islam. Although it's not supposed to be a symbol of Islam. It is merely following the laws of Allah azza wa jal and having modesty to the point where the Swiss in Switzerland, they are banning, do the veil, supposedly for liberation. What it really is, it's a symbol of Islam. They're afraid of Islam reaching their society. And so the challenge is to get the rights of women from within our own texts within our, our teachings, and not to go out to the different man maids, isms and schisms to try to get us out of this. And this is not an easy task. And again, that sign that the the women were bringing that patriarchy is the real pandemic. So

that means patriarchy is a bit of a big word, but it basically means any society that where the bottom line the power is with men, and it may even be a strong woman society, but if family lineage is based upon the male's bloodline, then that's patriarchy.

And so it can be stretched out. And what that's going to do if you break down patriarchy, in a general sense, not the oppression, of patriarchy, but patriarchy in a general sense, you're also breaking down the Islamic system. Because the man is supposed to be the leader of the house, you're breaking it down, what we need to do is to reanalyze male female relationships. And one very important concept that we need to maybe study more together as we go along, is the concept of hierarchy versus interdependence. And what that means is for many people, our leadership is up down. Leader, follower, boss, worker,

Father, rest of the family. It's a hierarchy. It's structured up and down. interdependence is like a circle. It's like the concept of sugar. Because sugar is a circle is a leader, but the leader is part of a Consultative Committee. And they say, they used to say that the prophet SAW them that when people would come into Medina, and they will look at the Sahaba, they will say which one of you is Muhammad, because they couldn't see it. He wasn't on a throne. He wasn't wearing special clothing. He was dependent upon his companions. The revelation is coming in, but he's still reaches to them, for their wisdom, that interdependence. And there's a difference between that and a hierarchy. And

when you start to apply that, you apply that to the family, then the husband's relationship with the wife, totally different. He's not the oppressor. He's not the one who whose word is final, whether he's right or wrong. No, he is merely the one who has given the final decision when there's a deadlock. But the areas where the mother has more knowledge she should be followed, the areas where the youth have something to say they should be followed. That is what Shura really is, mutual consultation. And so this concept is extremely important concept. And so, we need to look at this at a practical way.

We started this in the 90s. Some have continued, it needs to be reinstated. And that is regular sensitivity training for the leaders

to realize what is going on you see, Woman's Day should not be just slogans. We have to go past the point where we just raise a banner, or we make a statement, we march for one day and forget about it. What can we do institutionally?

How can we really bring about change? It begins with the mind. So sensitivity training, understanding the importance of the relationships, the prophets are solid, never lifted his head, he never struck any woman in his household.

How did he deal with the women, his wives and with children. It's important for us to sensitize our leaders also.

And this is really the bottom line

to a certain extent, and that is that there needs to be

pressure that is applied by women themselves. And I say this with all respects to our community. But if you leave it to the males if you leave it to brothers, they will stay in their position of total domination and

One of the great abolitionists, these people fought against white supremacy and slavery. One of them was named was Frederick Douglass, we believe came from a Muslim family. He actually said, on one occasion, the limits of our presses is a prescribed by those whom they oppress. In other words, if somebody is oppressing you, they're harming you, they can only go as far as you let them go.

So similarly,

women have to start demanding,

demanding their Islamic rights. We stay within our Islam, but demanding in the society itself, demanding in the masjid demanding in our community. And this is extremely important. And there was the case of shacharis Mandan, fodio, rahimullah, the great African Muslim regedit that we were studying in Black History Month. And one of the great things that he did an 18th century, West Africa, is that he said that education is compulsory on all people, male and female, he put into his society when they refuse to educate women. He said to the women, this obey your husband,

and come out to the study circles that we have developed after us.

That's a heavy statement. And all of our came to him and said, How can you possibly say, something like this The man is, is to be followed, right or wrong.

And he told him what the Solomon said, lad, Todd, and Mark Luke, female, Seattle holla, there is no obedience to the creation. When the creation, dis obeys the law. This is serious.

And so within the limits of Islam, he told them, You need to come out.

So there needs to be pushed back. And women have to push back for their rights. That is the reality of this world. But as institutions as a community, we can at least set up institutions to protect and empower the women of Islam.

And we set up back in the 90s, what we call the Islamic social services and resources Association.

This was the first bonafide government recognized Islamic social service, it came out of the jammy mosque, which at that time was the largest mosque, in the GTA. And it came out of the fact that most of the problems were social problems. And so we formed this institution outside of the masjid. So it wouldn't get caught up in master politics, a safe place for women. And for us to come and talk and tell this story. We set it up and that still is needed. There's a few social services there, Israel is still there, it's struggling. There's a few social services around, but it's not given the importance. I mean, we just touched the tip of an iceberg. And this iceberg is showing itself more

and more. So the problems we are facing if you were to list them, and look at our community, you're going to find that the majority are actually social issues,

Islamic legal services, because many of our problems are being solved through a secular outlook, which in many cases does not take in the Islamic sensitivities. I'm not talking about having a law outside of the law. But I'm saying we have the right

to have a sensitivity when we're dealing within the law in this society itself. We have Muslim lawyers, we have Muslim legal people, and we need to have these legal services and agencies connected to our community and readily available

to the people within our society.

Also,

the service providers, those who are given who are helping our community, whatever it is, whether it's medical, whether it's social work, whether it's psychiatry, even teachers, to a great extent, need Islamic orientation, to understand our morals, our sensitivities, our society, and especially that the issues of women. This is crucial in our society. It is crucial for us to deal with these issues in a holistic fashion. Remember, not up down not black

Wait, it's a circle. Islam is a circle that never ends.

There is that Amir. But the Amir is part of a mutual Consultative Committee.

That is the setup of Islam.

And that is the setup of our community. And so in this time when people are talking about the rights of women, we need to discuss the rights of women from an Islamic framework. And this in many cases, when people are talking about the rights of women, they tend to go outside of the Islamic framework. And some people feel wrongly that the two can go together.

That if you're talking about Muslim, or you're talking about prophet moments, or some you're talking about an old, archaic society, it's a patriarchal domination, those are the middle E, Middle Ages, those are the Dark Ages. It's not today, we are progressive today, Islam will be progressive to the Day of Judgment, but it needs to be revived.

It needs to be brought back.

And that happens with a number of issues. One of them is the empowerment of Healthy Families, an emphasis on this with an emphasis on the women of the family, that they truly understand their rights. I remember reading hearing lectures or reading books that says the rights of men over women.

And then for the woman side, it said the duties of women to men.

Okay, what are the rights of women over men?

And what are the duties of the men to the women?

See, we have to be straightforward.

And that it is perfectly Islamic, to bring it out very clearly, to try to give to the younger generation, the people caught up in this mental spiritual crisis in society, this vacuum, which is being filled with atheism, and secular humanism, and these different concepts that have taken us away from submission to Allah subhanho wa Taala, Creator of the heavens in the earth. So I want to open up the floor for any feedback and questions. This is a very provocative topic that needs to be discussed in details needs more time.

And I want to see if there's any feedback, any questions that anybody has, you can put them into the the question section. And if there's any in the q&a, you can put some in there, or the comments.

floor is open for any questions that anybody may have.

So this issue now

is very important.

And a discussion like this should be filled with people there should be 1000 people online.

This is how serious this discussion is. And inshallah we will there's a question about the name of the scholar you mentioned.

Yeah, the name of the scholar I mentioned is Shaq with men, Dan fodio. He was a great West African scholar. And if you go to my

Facebook page, check Abdullah Kim quick, public figure, you'll see discussions, I just finished the course. And that course will be available at my website, which is Hakeem quick.com. So if you go there, you will see African sunrise. So these courses will be available for you. You can go there and see it. And you'll see discussions happening also in the YouTube channel. His name was Horace Mann den folio.

Maybe not so well known to people who don't come from North Africa and West Africa,

you know, and parts of the Americas. But a great scholar considered by many to be a regedit to be one who revived the faith, a renewal of the faith and amazing things that he did in terms of struggling for the rights of women. 18th century 1700s, right.

He was making these these moves in a perfectly Islamic way. He was a scholar of Malak effect

and he struggled for the rights of wood

floors open again if there are any other questions or comments that anybody had.

Are concerning this.

So we pray that Allah subhanaw taala would give liberation to women all throughout the planet, and especially Muslim women, to give the direction to the women of the world.

That Allah subhanaw taala has given to them and given to us. And May Allah forgive us for the wrongs that we have done. And the men who may have oppressed the women in the name of Islam will be law. May Allah forgive them will not bring justice back to the oma. Especially for those who are weak and oppress. So I leave you with these thoughts. And I asked a lot to have mercy on me Anu,

aka da 100. Allahu La Bella to me, was Salam. Wa Alaykum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh