Abdullah Hakim Quick – The Emergence-Ten Tenets on Islamic Revival #2
AI: Summary ©
The importance of sharing experiences and learning from each other to reflect on the impact of the pandemic on Muslims is emphasized. The "hasn't happened" concept used in Islam is discussed, along with the challenges of bringing personal experiences to bear with them and finding the best fit for one's culture. The speakers emphasize the importance of finding the best fit for one's culture and bringing the best possible experiences to others.
AI: Summary ©
Rahim al hamdu Lillahi Rabbil alameen wa sallahu wa salli ala Sayyidina Muhammad wa ala alihi wa sahbihi Jain Salam aleikum wa rahmatullah everyone. I hope you're doing good. My name is Mahmoud Hassan and I want to welcome you all to this live stream. with Chef Abdullah Hakim quick if you can hear me go ahead and comment on where you are joining us from please just come up with the city in the country that you're coming in from Michelle data today be delayed Allah we want to do is we want to talk about
the last video that should have little Hakeem quick has produced which is the 10. We'll call the emergency sentence on Islamic revival. So last week, actually Wednesday specifically we were Saturday specifically we're talking about the first tenant which really I guess really the one that's the most important of them all. Today being the late Allah we want to talk about the second tenant in sha Allah and as we're waiting for everyone to join in, in the live data. I want to have you tell me where you're joining us from? All right, so with Abraham from Atlanta, Mashallah. I hope you're doing good brother Brahim. I hope Atlanta is just as warm as as Toronto
are actually not as not as cold as Toronto.
We have tonisha from St. Louis. Mashallah, hello.
I mean a bit use of Polycom sobre la, Virginia Alexandria, moment woman from welcome How are you? I hope you're good. Pittsburgh, martial law. You've got people coming in from all over the place. Even Singapore, Masha Allah, Allah subhanaw taala protect you all in sha Allah May Allah azza wa jal give you all genda and May Allah subhanho wa Taala gather us the same way he has gathered us here today that he would gathers in Gemini shala and gathers better than here now we're gathering virtually with agenda vidyalay data will be physically together in sha Allah Allah.
So let me go ahead and bring in our guest shahidullah Hakeem quick today inshallah so we can see how things have been in the light on
Oh, and Jeff, Mr. mahapatra is joining us from Toronto.
Yes, so now Monica. Hello. Hello, how are you? I'm doing
good. I hope you're doing well. inshallah. Yes, I'm doing 100 shift the pandemic has made, like, I guess really separated us so much, right. Like, we don't see each other physically. But at the same time, it's been kind of a blessing. Like, I mean, I'm seeing you more live on on Facebook now I'm seeing a lot more of your content coming out via video technology and so on so forth. Or you want to share your some of your thoughts with us? Well, you know, it's always important for us to look at the good and the evil within things and sometimes, you know, situations that appear to be evil are actually good. And Allah subhanaw taala knows why this is happening. This is a test to the world.
And if we look at it in a positive way, then we can see that yes, there are so many positive things coming I was just listening to a report about pollution. You know, all the air is cleaner, the animals are rejoicing, the fish are jumping up and down in the seat, because Lucian from human beings. So yeah, we have to, you know, always look at the good, you know, that's Yeah, you know, hamdulillahi Rabbil alameen Allah subhanaw taala bless you inshallah. Alright, let's talk about today's topic with the light Allah, the emergence this, this video that you've released recently, just a couple of weeks ago, and it you're talking about 10 tenants that are that you see as a sense
of You always make sure that you say that this is your opinion, this is not this is not like the five pillars as you would say. But 10 tenants that you have accumulated over the years of serving all over the world. You've been around in all seven of these
seven continents, and you've been around them all over the place. Remind us a little bit about what
This whole idea of emergencies smilla Mehta, Rahim Hamdulillah, was born on Sula, about the idea of the emergence is the type of awakening. It's an Islamic revival. And in looking at the history of Islam, and the condition of Muslims over the ages, we recognize that we have been struck with a number of calamities, we have been struck with pandemic, we have been attacked by external forces over the hundreds of years. And also on the inside, we have had trials and tribulations.
Allah has blessed us with touch de la has blessed us with
every generation, there would be revivals who would come. And that is why most Muslims would not go the route of the Roman Empire, or the ancient Egyptian Empire where you just see columns and pyramids, and but the people from those times are actually gone. No, it will be revived, the principal would be revived in New Times. And under different conditions.
This issue of emergence, now you're talking about an Islamic revival coming right now, at the end of 2020, going into 2021?
How can we emerge out of the homes that we are walking? How can we emerge out of the stagnation that has hit many of the Muslim communities and many nations throughout these 10 tenants? Actually, I'm not how the pillars of Eman, it's not cut in stone. But it is only really
the idea of sharing. It's important for us to talk hot time, and to learn how to share our experiences with each other.
And willed that over the past 40 years,
I've been able to travel to 63 countries, and to live with Muslims, and to share their problems and to reflect upon the animal kingdom relative to what they were going through. And their threads, which connect the believers over the planet. And the 1010.
Really, which is more practically It was a first set for the Western world, meaning Europe, the Americas, South Africa, even Australia and New Zealand, countries like this. But now because the world is a global village, many of these issues actually relate to Muslims in the actual Muslim world itself. So these are 10 practical points.
How can we emerge? What can we do? Because people are asking the questions. Okay, we know there's a problem. What can we do? What practical steps can we take? How can we change our world view to meet the conditions that we are living in?
Alicia, these are obviously points that you yourself have pointed out, too, that these are points that are upon individual people is they're not you're not telling us that like this is something for the for the for the oma to do as a whole. So you're talking about this, you're speaking to every single person, follow these 10 points as a whole, we would get up as an actual nation. Yes, that this is the basis the basis is the individual, the family, the community. And if Allah wills, you know that it spreads, you know, to the societies themselves. That's another level. I personally feel that the individual level, the internal level is the most important area for us today. That's the
insight as a last set in Seoul, karate will not change the condition for the people that they change.
Huh, play very good show. Last week, we were able to speak about the first pillar and that and you pointed out the fact that that first not pillar sorry, that first tenant which is the taqwa of Allah subhanaw taala. We had a lengthy discussion. Actually, any of you guys who are following us want to go back to that jela. And one of the points that you've made was about the fact that it's not easy for us to translate the word taqwa of Allah subhanho wa Taala. And it is difficult and therefore you spent quite some time and trying to determine to people this is how we actually see it as a special. Do you want to go through that real quickly, shall I just very quickly though, because we want to
move on to the next one. Yes. So the area of zyada to taqwa that that we need an increase in the consciousness of Allah. It is a central point is probably the overriding point that affects everything that that we are doing. And that is our relationship with the Creator of the heavens and the earth. And in the concept of taqwa you know the translations many times people say fear
some will relate to
Fear and hope. But there's some interesting translations and understandings that come out of the text. For instance, taqwa can refer to mindfulness, it can refer to being alert, being cautious, especially being cautious to stay out of sin. So it's that consciousness that develops. And that really is how we translated, the consciousness of Allah is that consciousness, which gives us the alertness and the awareness that we stay out of wrong. And we come closer to Allah subhanaw taala, in everything that we do, so that this is sort of like what we are talking about, and that consciousness is really crucial today in the new circumstances that we find ourselves in. In America
when I was growing up, we had a saying, it's interesting how relevant it is the same was always let your conscience be your guide.
So what is your conscience? Right, that's something coming from within, which really is connected to the top.
Okay, wonderful monocle authorship
are wonderful explanation and wonderful insight to the word itself. Now let's talk about the second tenant. Now, the second thing is in the video itself, you actually refer to when you say authentic sticking to authentic sources right now. I've been with you for quite some time, hundreds, I kind of understand what you're what you're trying to say here. But I want you to break it down a little bit to that people. Why would first of all, what is what what do you say authentic sources? What do you actually mean? Well, you know, this issue of authentic sources.
It's important to understand, you know, why how I came about this, before we go into the actual meaning, and that is traveling in Muslim countries, in the Arab world, and in Asia, and the Americas and Africa. And being with Muslims, I realized that there are a lot of folk traditions, there are a lot of cultural practices that are impacting Muslims, and sometimes actually informs them of their Islam. And what I found is that it's overwhelming. I mean, I would literally fly. One time I flew to Mali, and I was living with people in Timbuktu in that area, one of the physically poorest areas in the world, but the people are spiritually rich. Then I flew from, from Mali, to the Emirates. And
it's like an extreme, you know, two extremes you're going to, you know, and you see that, physically there are many differences, you know, amongst the people and I tried to
understand how this could actually change by the will of Allah subhanaw taala after graduating from Medina, and then serving time in Dawa in America and then for years in the Caribbean and Jamaica, I returned to Toronto, and found that the Jami mosque, which was one of the main places in Toronto they were two places in 1985 where you could worship the Jami mosque had become a hub for Islam, for the whole of the country. There were people pouring into Toronto, Toronto has about 50% of the population of Canada. So there were people pouring into the country. And literally, the Jami mosque was filled with people from so many different places. And this had been a problem for many of the
Imams. For imams preceded me, many of them left under hectic circumstances, and I came back to do a dialogue. But they asked me to be the leader of this Jami mosque. So I found over 1000 people at Juma all ethnicities, different language groups, all Islamic movements. There were also the schools of thought they were Maliki people from North Africa, West Africa. Shafi is from Somalia, and from Indonesia. They were hand bellies from Arabia. They were harpies, from Turkey and from an indo Pakistani subcontinent. Everybody's together in the same machine.
There are different Islamic movements, some of them that folk focus on tab leaf, spreading the message, some focus on spirituality, some focus on education, some are struggling against depression, and we're all housed in a building. So this in a sense is like a microcosm of the Muslim world. So I was literally
at the head of this microcosm of the Muslim world and in trying to deal with the issues. I could not come with any particular movement.
To say that the shape of this movement said this, or that the school of thought said that and so when it came time to pray,
the only way we could really solve it was to go back to the original sources from the Quran and the Sunnah. For instance, in prayer, you have Hana fees. You have Maliki's, you have Sharpies, people are going through changes because they never saw a Maliki praying, moving his finger. Like they never saw that some of the things like there's something wrong with his hand or something.
You know, many people never heard somebody. You know, when the mom said, Well, uh, Darlene, they don't say amin out loud. So this was a crisis for some people. And so we reverted to the source, where the Prophet Sal seldom said Salou, Kamara, eita, Mooney, who sadly, pray as you have seen me pray. So we learned that there were different ways that the Prophet Sal Salah made this a lot. And we understood that as Islam spread, and the teachers of Islam went to different parts of the Muslim world, they taught what they knew. And so the schools of thought that developed was not different religions. It was not like Protestant and Catholic, but it was teachers who were giving from the
center, to the people in the best that they knew. And these later on became the mother of the different schools of thought, you know, that we know. And somehow, people even went to the extreme of relating to these methods, or these schools of thought, almost like their national identity. So the way to get around it,
when I was dealing with an issue that I would bring, what did Allah say?
What did the Prophet Muhammad sell, sell them say?
How did the Sahaba look at this? How did the great scholars around the world look at it, and I would quote from all the different scholars at different points in time, and people in the JAMA, again, it was almost 1000 people at Juma. This is back in 1987. By the time it reached that they were comfortable with this, they were comfortable of the fact that they weren't being left out. Because all of the other Sunda jomar relate to the Quran and the Sunnah, and the companions as their basis, there's no problem.
So therefore, I recognized that this really is a methodology. It's an important methodology to to to rise to emerge as a jamaa to come back as a solid body, and not different sections who are coming up in different areas.
And this shelf sorry, and this is so for interrupting you. But this is not a new idea. Like even the four times that we're talking about this is exactly what they actually preached they themselves is something that we have so many things homedics shafia, and so on so forth, that every single keynote, what we are really looking for is honestly the actual authentic sayings and deeds of the prophets of Allah, that bring that bring that bring us together really in us. Yeah, I think that what you know, what was unique about what happened to me, and now is happening to Muslims, because of this mass communications, is that the cultures are sort of brought together. Like, in the past,
if you travel to Africa, you'd live within North Africa, West Africa, East Africa, you know, you would live in an African environment, and Islam is practiced. If you travel to Malaysia, you would be in the Malay world, and Islamic practice there. If you went to Turkistan, then you'd be with Turks. If you're in the Arab world, you with Arabs. Now, everybody's together in the same building. You see, this is something unique. And even in the past, when we had a Khalifa, the Khalifa still ruled from one area, but his connection. For instance, if the halifa was in Baghdad, his connection with with Muslims in China
took a long time for information to be communicated from one end to another, even at the fall, you know, of our beloved, in the 20th century with the Ottomans. There was phones of communication, but it's nothing like today. It's nothing like the virtual digital communication that we had today. And so I realized that the essence of the problem in many cases was Islam versus culture.
that everybody has a culture, you have a way of approaching things people in Malaysia, in warm climates, approach their lifestyle in a certain way. Mountain people in a certain way desert people in a certain way. Language affects culture, your folk traditions, as part of your culture. And so the challenge that we had is that
Many people unless they were scholars of Islam, they actually took their religion more from their culture than they did from the from the actual sources. And because they never knew anything else, they thought that this is
not their culture was the actual original religion. Right, and they didn't know anything else. I mean, I was praying one time, and at that time, you know, I was praying, you know, you know, with my finger and following the year, the Maliki way. And my finger was was wiggling, you know, and this young boy was sitting next to me, probably 100 feet, and he couldn't control him, somebody grabbed my finger. While I was praying, I had to sort of like, hold myself back, you know, from laughing or getting angry. And after the Salah, I said to the boy, you know, allow you to dig. You know, this is a school of thought the prophets are seldom used to pray like this. And he was surprised. Yeah, the
culture of people.
And I especially, I would see this culture come out, especially in marriage. So when time to get married, there are certain ways that people get married in different parts of the world. But then again, there's the sources of Islam. Now, you got to sort of marry the two, I'll give you an example. You know, in some parts of indo Pakistani subcontinent, when, you know, the girl is getting married, you know, and then you know, she gives permission to her family, and the way he performs the marriage, and I was performing the marriage, but within their culture, the young lady is supposed to be very sad. She's supposed to be crying, I don't know if this is something based from
Hinduism, or what it is, but she has to be crying otherwise, you know, she doesn't look good. So here I am. And you know, as the mom, I go into the woman section, you know, to ask her, you know, do you give permission for your family to give you away and the marriage, she's crying?
And, you know, according to the authentic sources, your story, something is wrong, that means that she doesn't agree it's over. So I turned to the brothers, and I said, Okay, wait a minute, she's crying. They said, it's culture.
So I understood from that still explained to the girl, what is the source, accepting her tears, she understood that she had to play the role. And she gave her permission, and then we carried on. So I realized that this issue of culture,
it is important and out of order is, you know, even recognize the customs is recognized, you know, by the alcohol, when they are making threats was, you know, the customs of the people, you know, does have an influence, you know, over religious decisions that are made to people in different parts of the world. The point is, and I'd explain it to people, that you're Islam is like a filter.
And you know, you have a glass and you pour milk through the filter, and the filter takes out the impurities, but it's still milk. So what's your culture, but Islam takes out the impurities of bitter innovation and shirk, and other wrong practices.
And so this is what people had, you know, came together to understand in terms of Islam versus culture, there's nothing wrong with your culture. But we have to recognize there are certain principles, and we have to go back to our sources, and authentic sources, we need to go back in order to be able to practice our Islam in this new environment, would you make the argument that the fact that we are actually now well connected in the fact that we live in a world where, where, you know, there's so many different mixes of schools of thoughts and feel human hubs that we're better Muslims, like, we have a better understanding of our religion as as, as a whole, in a sense,
in a sense, we do because, you know, we can appreciate more of the masses of the people can appreciate different schools of thought, whereas in the past, it would be the Aloma, it would be people who are studying fit, you know, who knew that the differences if they laugh on alcohol, and I was traveling in Spain, you know, with a group of Muslims around the world. And you know, before we came into a Masjid, I gathered them together, and I said,
this is the method of Mr. Malik. And so when he prays, he's gonna make Salaam over the right shoulder, he'll say, Assalamualaikum. And he's going to stop. He's not going to go to the left. So don't think that your salad is incomplete. And you have to put, you know, you have to do it over again, because that's the Maliki way. And even if you look at the other schools of thought, that first test lien on the right shoulder, that is the one that's compulsory. That's the original one. Yeah, second one is sooner. And so masses of people understanding that is actually a growth in terms of fit
You know that that was that was that you know only the middle that the scholars would know in the past. So when we are looking at these authentic sources in a sense, and I leave this with the brothers and sisters, you know, as a way to apply this, if you look at the hadith of gibreel
and that is where the angel jabril alleys Allah Islam, has the Prophet sell, sell them in the famous Hadith, what is this lamb? What is he man? What is sn? And this is a well known tradition. And the prophets are seldom asked about, you know, answered Islam, with the Pillars of Islam. He man with the pillars of Eman and sn, that that that you worship Allah as though you see him or although he sees you. And so, you know, there's three levels in a sense,
you know, in our Deen And so, in dealing with our Islam, with our our practices are fasting and with, you know our prayer and at the basic pillars of our Deen, we need to be able to go back to authentic sources, if there is something culturally that I'm doing, which is not part of the Sunnah, then I have to recognize that's my culture. And there's nothing wrong with leaving your culture, you know, and following Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon you. For some people that that was difficult, and it is difficult because it's something you saw to get used to. But it is crucial
to be you know, to go back to the sources tend to be able to appreciate other people in terms of he man, and that is where our belief system comes in. Arpita is coming in. In that area, we need to again, go back to the authentic sources, and see what was the belief of the early companions, what was the belief of the prophet SAW Selim, because when Islam spread to different parts of the world, it was Muslims were influenced by Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism, Christianity, whatever was the religion of the people where it spread, that affected their Islam. And now we have to be able to filter out these cultural practices, which in many cases, this is what this is where bedarf comes
from innovations. In most cases, I found this out on the ground. It's usually cultural practices that people are doing, thinking that it's Islam. Okay, so we need to be able to root out those practices in our belief systems. And finally, in the area of guess, and that some people call to solve that we have to be able to root out in our spirituality, you know, those practices that are more Hinduism, or Buddhism, or magic or other types of practices that entered into the Islamic world? And there have been many great Allah ma ma ma vasarely Rahim Allah was one of the, you know, scholars, CDR massagebook, you know, of Morocco, check us, man danfo. Do you know of Nigeria, there
were scholars, you know, who combined fit into soloff? In other words, they had spirituality, it was not necessarily, you know, a special tariqa group, you know, like you have a special group opposing others. No, it was just how do you get the spirit that sn
which is a natural part of our Deen. But what what the challenge that Allah had, is that to make sure that spirituality stays within Sharia, that it doesn't leave the borders, set up by the court and in the center. And we try to be authentic, this is what I mean, by going back to the to the to the authentic, you know, sources, when we are dealing with our three levels of faith, and I treat three levels of Islam. One of us yeah, from Allah subhanaw taala. Bless you, I have a quick question for you should I think it's really important to ask. So you've talked about dealing with people of all ages, and all kinds of I want to know, like, when it comes to the culture, or letting go of the
culture, who are easier to deal with in teaching about this authentic sources? are younger people are more prone to change or elder like I I don't know if you could just comment on that real quick. I mean, generally speaking, I would say that younger people are more prone to change. That is because with with age and time people get into habits. And so if you're habitually praying in a certain way, or if you have an outlook on the world in a certain way for 40 years, that
will call to change. Yeah. Whereas young people, especially those who are living in melting pots, that as we say, like Toronto, or New York, or London, or Paris, or even now parts of the Muslim world, because of this international communications, you know, when young people are, you know, experiencing other different cultures
Then it's easier for them to break out of the cultural chains, you know, and to take the best out of everything. You know, when I was living in Medina, just to give you an interesting example, you know, I lived in Medina, you know, for many years. And this is back in the 70s. Right. So there was no big buildings and tar roads and things and the hotjar, just the pilgrims would come literally, we would house the wijaya in our homes, because there was not enough buildings for them. And I used to go amongst the hajis. And, you know, I could distinguish between people Bengali, Pakistani, Sudan, Egypt, North African Indonesian, you're in many times people wore their clothing, like a uniform,
it's like a police uniform, or, you know, a fireman, because you got to have a certain cap with a certain type of job, or jabya.
or whatever it was, then somebody would come walking along, he would have a Nigerian hat, a Moroccan top Pakistani pants and Sudan issues, you would notice,
they would say that's an American.
You can't be one of us, right? words, that's a new Muslim.
Example show, because this is the person who's actually taking the best of what fits out of all of these places, right? It is something that that what fits him well, that what fits his liking. And it is a beautiful thing, like, there's a really beautiful example, actually, more people shouldn't be at ease. with being able to do that, you know, I like I like the salty soul by like, the sort of ease and like, everything gets fits a certain way on me and I and, and if I'm a Muslim, you know what I mean?
Then I should be able to do that I should be able to kind of freely do that. That's right. You know, and this really is the spirit of the early generations. And this, I believe, is, you know, a lot a part of the spirit that that enabled Muslims to spread Islam so far, because they were flexible with cultures. They would meet people in the different cultures, and they would intermingle with them, and then show them the way in sometimes they would intermarry. And their family would actually take on certain cultural practices of the people, but they would teach them Islam, so they can filter out the wrong cultural traditions. And that is the spirit that we need today. And that's part of the
emergence and that's point number two, to return to these authentic sources in all levels of our faith. Shahab Allah Allah Subhana Allah bless you and give you agenda this has been a really beautiful and insightful talk. I do know that we're scheduled again this Saturday believe right to talk about the point number three inshallah Allah for those of you who have just joined us, those of you who are following us go ahead and follow chabela Hakeem, click on his Instagram page that's Abdullah dot quake and also you can follow my Instagram pages to also add to this underscore moon underscore lives. You'll see them on the bottom of our screens here inshallah. Go ahead and send us
some questions if you want us to ask the chef if you want to ask us just directly can go ahead and do that on those two handles within the hit Allah and I don't know if if you want to end the shala with any comment be delighted before we go. Yes, we pray that Allah subhanaw taala would enable us in this new solar year because we're leaving December 2020. And going into January, we pray that Allah subhanaw taala would lift this by law, this this pain and suffering and this waba this pandemic, you know, from the world and from our lives, and May Allah accept the Shahada, the murders that have died you know during this COVID-19 and then the wars and and the economic recession. May
Allah help us and unite us together as one oma and clear our hearts have any negative feeling against each other. So barakallahu b hum deca Nash hadwin La ilaha illa Anta istockphoto Corona, tuber Lake, or Aqua da Juana and 100 Allahu la be louder. ni wa salaam alaikum wa rahmatullahi berikut. Now Allah Subhana Allah bless you Shaka. inshallah, we'll see you another time for all of you who have joined us just Akuma Lochhead. Make sure you follow us a shout Allahu Allah for the next upcoming baby. lightoller Somalia. Kanaka low water cut.