Why Black History Month

Abdullah Hakim Quick

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Channel: Abdullah Hakim Quick

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The terrible conditions in India. May Allah ease the burden on the Muslims may Allah make them strong. Give them the patience to come out of this test

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and give us the ability to come together as an ummah, that we feel the pain of each other,

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that we consider that all things should be important in our lives.

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Oh, you who believe

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in this month of February, we recognize that it has been designated by the United States government in 1976, as Black History Month

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in 1995, was designated by the Canadian government also.

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And this came about with an understanding that major oppression happened within the lifestyle of people in the Western world. But still skeptics would say, and especially in the Muslim community, would say, what is the purpose of Black History Month?

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What is the relevance of this time to us as an Oma? There is no racism in Islam.

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We are an international community. So what

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relevance doesn't have to us.

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I want to bring to you three critical points for us to consider. Number one,

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that one of the greatest crimes committed in the Western world, in this hemisphere after the genocide of the indigenous people, and the enslavement of African people, in order to build up the society economically.

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One of the greatest crimes was the crime of omission.

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It was the distortion of the history of people, what is happening in this part of the world. And when the Spanish came in the 15th century, to the Americas, they would not only struggled to defeat the leadership and the military, but they would burn every book they could find.

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Any writing that they could find, they would destroy it. Why would you destroy the writings of people. And I remember some years ago in the Bosnian conflict, when the Serbians came into Bosnia, they were not only killing people that they were trying to find educators, they were going to the libraries, they were going to the institutions, and an intelligent person came and said, what is happening is not just the destruction of the people, but the destruction of the memory of the people. And when you destroy the history and the memory of a people, you are destroying the very inner part of that individual. And you can then make a real slave. You can make somebody who's

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dependent upon you, not only physically, but mentally and even spiritually.

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And so therefore, with this great evil in front of us, it is incumbent upon Muslims to understand what it is and to stand against it. And this falls under amuru Bill my roof wanna hear Mancha, calling to the good and forbidding evil,

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and the Prophet sell sell them as Sierra tells us, as a young man around 12 years old, witnessed a struggle in Mecca, horrible fija a sacrilegious war. II was a young man, and they were fighting each other. And it finally ended in an alliance, very positive Alliance helpful for dole. And in this alliance, the leading tribes in Kodesh pledged

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that they would suppress violence and injustice.

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And that they would vindicate the poor and the destitute, they would come to the aid of the poor and the destitute.

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When the Prophet SAW Selim had become the last messenger, after the prophet hood, they asked him, What about Hilson for do.

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And He is quoted to have said in words, that if I, if it happened today, I would attend that meeting,

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I will become part of that alliance,

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knowing that some of the people were not even Muslims, but it is a struggle against evil, suppressing injustice and violence.

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And so it is a it is a duty to understand this. Number two,

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understanding the crime of omission

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that one of the greatest crime is not to just lie about somebody, it just to wipe them out of history, they don't even exist.

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And it is so clear with what happened to African people in this part of the world, completely wiped out of the history.

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And by raising this consciousness amongst ourselves and society, we are opening the door to the crime of omission of Islam and Muslims. Because the basis one of the basis of Islamophobia is ignorance, that people do not understand that what historians called the Dark Ages was actually the golden age of Islam. If they understood that the basis of their society came from us, they would have a different understanding, but the crime of omission, wipes it out. So this opens up the door for very important change that society needs to go through.

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This situation is so serious that right now in America in the United States, there are states within their union who are banning books

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They are stopping certain history books from being used officially. And you would think that that's something in the Middle Ages, you would think that it's the Spanish way back in the 15th century. Now, they are banning books that talk about the true history of what happened in the founding of these countries. Number three of the important reasons why this month is very important for us

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is that tribalism and racism exist amongst ourselves. And we have to come to grips with this. If we do not come to grips with this, we are blocking from ourself, one of the important elements of our unity,

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what will bring us together as an ummah?

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What the questioner would say, what delille Do you have? What proof do you have? What proof do you have from Islamic scholars about this issue of standing against colorism, racism and tribalism? I want to take you back to the 13th centuries.

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And the 13th century, the 1200s This was a hectic time in the Muslim world, because in 1258, the Mongols sack Baghdad, and we all know that the trauma that happened to the Muslim world in the 13th century. And so during this, this this this apocalyptic time, one of the great scholars Shut up Dr. Mann Epinal Josie Rahim Allah.

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He wrote in one of his books, a very interesting report. He said, I saw a group of eminent Abyssinians is talking about East Africans.

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Eminent meaning they were scholars, I saw a group of eminent Abyssinians who were disheartened because of their color.

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I explained to them that respect is granted in accordance with good deeds, rather than your appearance.

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Thus, I wrote this book to recall the virtues of a great many of the Abyssinians and the blacks. And this book was 10. We're all Habash fathers today, Sudan. Well, Habash, he wrote this text illuminating the darkness

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in the virtues of the Abyssinians and the black people.

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Why would he write this? Why would somebody as important as Eben Josie in the 13th century, recognize the danger of colorism and tribalism amongst us

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and

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surprisingly enough, and is important for us to speak a straightforward word, it is happening today.

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There are incidents amongst us that is happening right now. And so this time period is important to us. It is critical to us to look at this issue.

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What is dividing us up? Because how you were born, the color of your skin, the texture of your hair,

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the shape of your nose, your body height, that is from Allah subhanaw taala and Allah has made every race every individual, as beautiful as the other.

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It is the creation of Allah azza wa jal.

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But human beings are weak.

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And we tend to love what we see in the mirror. So if something looks like us, then we want it to be the best. So tribalism and racism as it has come into the Muslim world. I'm not even have to talk about the general world.

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We discussed this this week, in one of our discussions concerning this month.

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And we tried to ponder what really is the basis why would somebody hate somebody or look down on somebody or prejudge another individual, even in our community, based on the color of their skin? Why?

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When we look at history, we realize one of the main reasons is exploitation.

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If you succeed in raising your group and lowering another group, you can exploit them. The greatest example of that is the caste system of India.

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Where the Brahmins, the lighter skinned people exploited the darker skinned people on the Indian subcontinent, look at the castes, and you will see race in it and they went as far as even dealing with

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The next life coming in and coming back out of the life and you cannot move. If you're born a certain color, you can't move. This is the most extreme form of racism that has probably ever existed.

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But another reason in our community is ignorance. It is ignorance of each other of our history, ignorance of our feelings,

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blocking ourselves off a type of cultural Islam. When our Islam is based upon tribalism, our family and what we were taught in our village, or in our language, we're missing OMA consciousness. Omar consciousness takes all groups in and Allah chose the Arabic language, classical Arabic to unite all of the Muslims. And so we are equal under allah under the classical Arabic revelation of the Quran. We are equal under the Sunnah of the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam.

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But people do not necessarily follow this. In our discussions also, it came up that if a person has an ill feeling against another person, or Muslim, really, it is a weakness of faith.

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It's a lack of Taqwa that really is the bottom line.

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Because everything that we do, is based upon our consciousness of Allah. And the closer we are to Allah azza wa jal is, the better chance we have to come out of tribalism, racism, exploitation, all the different negative aspects of life. And so, I want to bring a scholarly look at Taqwa itself because the bottom line is taqwa in our community, we can study the history. We can stop calling people names.

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We can take away systemic racism, but if our hearts are not connected to Allah subhanaw taala if we have not purified ourselves, then even the studies will be of no value.

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How do we increase our top line?

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Number one,

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we should make our intentions in everything that we do sincerely for Allah subhanaw taala to ask Allah sincerely, to take hatred and ill feeling against another group out of our hearts. Three, increase all forms of worship.

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Next, observe the Sunnah. Try to put sunnah in our lives and everything that we do, not just to ERCOT sunnah.

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But there's sunnah in the business, the Sunnah in the family, the Sunnah and education, there's so no in every aspect of our life. Next, recite the Quran, with meaning,

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not just reciting it, just to recite this, there is blessing in that, but recite it with meaning this can raise our chakra

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busy ourself with good deeds, the more good deeds we do have Sadat, it will wipe away the sage yet has a net the good deeds wipe away bad deeds. Seven.

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Be humble, Be humble, and focus on the good deeds and the Prophet SAW Salem has said clearly that he came mainly to bring the best in character.

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Number eight, seek knowledge. All of us should be teaching, studying, constantly seeking knowledge when we think that we know when we think we don't need knowledge that means we have become ignorant.

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Number nine, try to be around people who remind you of Allah. The more you are around individuals who remind you of Allah, it will raise your consciousness in different venues of life. Number 10. Try to be as pious in secret as you are in the open.

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It's easy for us to be pious when other Muslims are looking at us. But what about when we're by ourselves? Number 11. Be alert at what may divert you from Taqwa. Because this test coming in, that will take us off the path. Number 12. Do everything to please Allah the things that we do in our life, even economically, should be for the pleasure of Allah and not the pleasure of our pockets. Number 13.

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Focus on the main purpose of life.

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And that is a bad

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and 14 Remember death. Remember that death is close to us.

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If we remember death, then that will keep us for the last point, which is to keep our eyes on the price. And that is Jenna. And we pray that Allah subhanaw taala will help all of us to clear our hearts, clear our minds and help us all to enter agenda. We pray that Allah subhanaw taala would enable our Muslims to stand throughout the world and those who are dying in the cold those who are dying and suffering May Allah give them the highest part of Jannah and may Allah forgive us for we are not helping them in the way that we should accrue locally Heather while stuck for Lolly welcome. Well decided he Muslimeen them in Coulee Dam been iStockphoto in the hole over photo right.

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