Abdullah Oduro – Friday Jummah 17-05-2024
AI: Summary ©
The importance of Sharia law in controlling one's political and political behavior is emphasized, particularly in regards to one's political and political beliefs. It is crucial for individuals to be mindful of Allah's guidance and not cut off relationships with family members. The importance of knowing Allah's actions and intentions in the context of civil rights, integrity, and activations is emphasized, along with the need for individuals to practice Islam to sound more basic and reflect the message of Islam. Oppression and the need for individuals to stand for integrity in their communities are also emphasized.AI: Transcript ©
Alhamdulillah, we praise Allah. We seek his aid
and we seek his forgiveness.
We seek refuge in Allah from the evil
of ourselves and our bad deeds. Whomsoever Allah
guides, none can misguide.
And whomsoever Allah allows to be led astray,
none can guide aright. And I bear witness
that there is no one worthy of worship
except Allah, ta'ala, the exalted, and that Muhammad,
peace and blessings be upon him, as his
last messenger and servant. Oh, you who believe,
be mindful of Allah. Be mindful of Allah
and die not except in a state of
submission to him alone.
Oh, humanity, be mindful of Allah who created
you from a single soul and from that
created his mate, and from that scatters many
men and women. Oh, humanity be mindful mindful
of Allah and do not cut off relations
with your kin, with your relatives.
Indeed, Allah is Arathib. He is the monitor
and ultimate watcher over you.
A humanity be mindful of Allah and speak
the truth
in order for him to accept accept us
of our deeds and forgive us of our
shortcomings.
And whoever obeys Allah and his messenger has
indeed achieved the greatest achievement as to what
follows.
Indeed, the best speech is the book of
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala and the best guidance
is that of Muhammad. Peace and blessings be
upon him. And of the worst affairs in
our doctrinal system of Islam are the newly
invented ones. For every newly invented affair in
this situation is an innovation,
and for every innovation is a form of
going astray.
And for every form of going astray is
in the fire of * and we seek
refuge in Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala,
from that.
A man asks his dad,
young man,
dad, can I go?
A young girl
asks her mom and dad,
can I go?
Everyone is there.
A man,
young man, college student,
is looking at his older brother
saying,
we're staying here. We're not moving.
The younger brother,
he's thinking to himself,
if I stay,
I could get in trouble, meaning,
if I stay, I may lose my job
tomorrow. Meaning,
that me standing here, I have to weigh
my options.
And it's very important for the Muslim, particularly
the Muslim and the human being in general,
the responsible
person
to always look and weigh their options.
But it's important as well for the responsible
person
to know that life is full of trade
offs.
You do one thing, you may lose something
else.
And that is why it is important
for the Muslim in particular
to always, at times of trials,
atrocities,
confusion,
the fear of darkness
upon the light
is to always
activate
their iman.
What do I mean by this?
When a trial is faced,
when there is a question,
the primary concern that we hope for ourselves
at as people that believe in Allah
is to ask, what does Allah want from
me?
Is to ask, what has Allah said about
this?
It's to ask, what does the prophet sallallahu
alaihi wasallam, what did he do in this
particular situation?
Because there may be situations in our life
to where we don't it didn't exactly happen
during the time of the prophet sallallahu alaihi
wa sallam. That's where it's upon the Muslim
to ask person of knowledge. For example,
these people that were asking their parents, Can
I go?
It was asking, Can I go to the
protest?
The protest. A particular protest that took place
here at the University of Texas, Dallas,
protests that took place in Columbia University,
protests that took place in Yale, protests that
took place in different universities around the world.
And for me personally, subhanAllah, when I was
sitting at home and then I see a
video I see a picture of a girl
in Gaza smiling and she holds up, thank
you,
college students at the universities.
I told my family, let's get up and
go.
Let's get up and go.
Because it is a message that is being
sent.
Firstly,
it is a form of controlling the messaging.
Controlling the narrative.
And there are different ways to control the
narrative
that lie within the realm of the Sharia,
within the realm of the religion,
within the realm of maintaining
integrity in who you are as a Muslim,
firstly,
and then maintaining
integrity of who you are as a citizen,
secondly,
in that order.
When we have the first amendment of freedom
of speech, freedom of assembly, when this is
being done at a university,
exercising
their freedom amongst their freedoms in this country
that allows that.
Because we know there are certain countries that
don't even allow that.
Exercising that freedom meaning, it is your right
to use
the men to manifest that freedom. It is
your right to protest. But then the question
arises as it has, and it will continuously
arise even
even as it has risen during the time
of the civil rights movement.
What's the goal of this?
What is the benefit of this?
What is the outcome of this?
Is this more of an Islam? We say,
is it more of a maslaha
or a mafsada?
Is it more of a benefit
or a harm?
This requires
insight. Firstly, it requires knowledge
of Allah and his religion.
Secondly, it requires knowledge
of your locality,
and then also requires knowledge of the laws
of the locality that coincide with your values.
When these young men and women,
many of
them which who are on the cusp of
religiosity
are slend
I'm going to repeat that again.
Many of our young men and women that
are at these colleges are on the cusp
of even believing in the law.
And many of these young men and women
are those that don't even believe in a
law, meaning they're non Muslim.
But the universal
characteristic that lit a fire and lights a
fire inside of them,
universally,
is going out for a purpose.
And that purpose is to call against an
injustice of what we see of genocide of
what is going on in Gaza right now.
Just as when we look at the civil
rights movement, it was a purpose of calling
against an injustice against African Americans.
It was not the goal. It was a
tactic to reach a goal.
Within that tactic,
they must be, to the best of their
ability, organized
with specific goals.
And that's where the guidance of the older
men and women come in.
So when this man asked his dad, can
I go?
His dad as a normal father would. And
we want to make this very clear for
our young men and women. As a normal
father would. What about your schooling?
What about your degree?
As a normal mother would for her daughter,
firstly, are you going to be safe?
We hear what has happened in the universities
where some of the sisters, their hijab was
taken off. When we were at the detention
center in McKinney,
the Muslims were there. And speaking to some
of those that were locked up in the
detention center, said they heard the protest of
the Muslims outside. What does that do in
the heart of that brother
of those brothers?
When the lawyers are there and the the
police officers see that there's adequate
professional representation
saying that this is what we want
in a kind fashion,
respectable fashion
with
integrity.
And I want to capitalize on that, brothers
and sisters. When I mentioned that the atrocities,
the trials is a huge opportunity I don't
even wanna use the opportunity. Huge obligation
for you to activate your iman.
When they see this,
there is a level of honor and respect.
And what does that do to our youth?
Countless times, parents come to me
as they should. Not to me in particular,
but to someone that they trust of knowledge
that can have some level of influence
on their 17, 18, 19, 20 to 25
year old son or daughter that is passionate
about going out. And that father may say,
he's just going out because his friend is
going out.
But it's important for us to know that
they are fulfilling a level of purpose within
their lives, and this could serve as a
catalyst for them to come back to Allah.
Because ultimately, this is what we want as
Muslims.
And it could be through those means
of standing up for justice, standing up for
what is right, calling against any type of
oppression
to the powers that be.
And this is what we want to talk
about, brothers and sisters, particularly
in these times of trials. Always remember that
it is important for us to have tzadat,
to be firm on your faith. But being
firm on your faith is an exemplification
of your integrity
in your faith.
You believe in Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, in
times of ease
and in times of hardship. But it is
not only theoretical,
and it is not only when you are
alone. You believe in Allah
from your experience
when you go out there. And the fact
that there may be truths that may say
and do something
that may be illegal,
you standing up for a message with integrity,
with organization, mobilization
is that which is important.
It is very important.
The messaging. And that's the first thing that
I want to capitalize on. When activating our
aqeedah, our belief in Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala,
it's important to decipher the messaging. And that
is the message that Musa alayhi salaam said
to Firaoun.
When Firaoun
was speaking about Musa
and he tried to control the messaging about
Musa and his followers,
That they were the ones that were causing
the trials and the tribulations for the people,
and that they were the ones that were
causing distress amongst the people.
And then Firaun
had the nerve as the from the Qadr
and predestination of Allah
to say, with with the rhetorical question, meaning
that everyone knew the answer, were you not
the one that stayed under my care?
Were you not Waleedan?
Were you not a young boy that stayed
under my care?
Musa, alaihis salaam, long long story short,
when he responds because Fir'aun was saying, this
is the nirma that I have given you,
the blessings of you being under my care.
What was Musa's response?
Musa alaihi salaam understood the situation.
Musa alaihi salaam
had integrity.
Musa
Alaihi salaam
had tabbat.
He was firm on his faith,
and he was not afraid to exemplify it,
to show it, and to speak on it
and about it,
and to others about it. He said, and
this blessing
word blessing,
just as we see war versus
genocide.
Right?
They even tried to change the messaging as
though it is not a genocide. The Muslims
should stand
and say,
what?
Please.
What are you talking about?
Even with a non shalant, non emotional attitude
for you to say, let's not even continue
the conversation.
I want to have a cordial conversation,
but there needs to be education
on this issue.
Firstly,
so Musa alayhi salam said, and this blessing
that you are claiming you used the word
blessing that you are claiming that you have
given me, the blessing of
enslaving Bani Israel,
that's the blessing, framing
that Fira'an used and Musa flipped
it upon
upon him and all the people around him
to further teach us,
you control the narrative, Muslims. And going out
there with our young men, brothers and sisters,
that need our guidance,
that need the light that Allah has given
us of experience
and of integrity
and of activation of our faith,
such as trusting in Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala,
such as knowing that he is our razirk,
knowing that he is the ultimate provider.
Musa alaihi salam said, this is a blessing
you're talking about, so automatically it is known
that the fact that you have enslaved us
is a form of lessening us of a
people.
It's to say that we are lesser than
you and to treat us as slaves to
where, wow, you even said that you are
our lord, the most
high. That's the first thing brothers and sisters,
understanding
the messaging and educating
one another about the truth of the matter
and not having any
cowardice
in doing that. And there is a difference
between apprehension and cowardice.
Every
coward can be someone that has apprehension.
But just the fact of apprehension doesn't mean
you're immediately a coward.
Coward is if you know the truth and
you are not willing to speak to it
to someone
because you are afraid of what they may
think or what they may say.
And it is consistent.
That is cowardice. The prophet sallallahu alaihi wa
sallam, make no mistake,
he sought refuge.
He sought refuge.
One more time.
He sought refuge from being a coward.
So we have to ask ourselves that question.
Are we falling on the line of being
a coward or someone that is being honorable
and someone that is speaking the truth in
a way that can educate people in a
conducive fashion.
There is another
verse or another statement of Musa that I
want to mention.
So the first one is speaking about the
narrative and be able to decipher that to
the best of our ability. And if we're
not able to, we go to those that
are experienced to understand
what are they trying to say about Muslims
here.
What are they trying to frame about Palestinians
here that are dying in the 1,000?
What are they trying to say? What premise,
What blueprint are they trying to set up
to where when they are more blunt of
their message, it's easier for us to accept
because they have, quote unquote,
programmed us to think
that we may be barbaric. Program us to
think
that they are not colonizers.
Program us to think
that there is no such form of oppression
and everything is well deserved.
When we look at the other verse of
Musa, alaihis salaam,
when Musa, alayhis
salam,
was
speaking
to Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala,
and he made a dua.
And this dua is so beautiful,
because after what happened with him,
if you look at the story of Musa
alaihis salaam, when he's in a village, he's
on the outskirts of the village, living in
the house of Firaoun,
and by the blessing of Allah, the wife
of Firaoun was sentimental towards him. They took
him in. Musa alayhi salaam, as Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala sallam,
when he reached the age of strength and
discernment,
they have given him Hikman Wa'alman and given
him the wisdom and the knowledge.
Musa alaihis salaam comes into the village and
he sees 2 people fighting.
1 of them are from his people and
the other are from the Uqtubiyah, the the
Christians at that time that some would argue.
So
the man that is from his side calls
out to
him.
So he sought his help. So Musa
He pushed the other individual and the individual
died. Musa now was on the run.
He goes to Medien,
a place called Medien. He meets a man
after helping the man's daughter at a well,
supplying them and helping them, the both of
those women went back to their father. They
told their father about this man that helped
us at the well. Musa goes there, meets
him, stays there 8 to or 10 years,
and marries one of their daughters. Musa comes
back.
Upon this time, Musa alayhi salaam, within this
story, Musa alayhi salaam makes a beautiful dua
because he comes back to give
he, at that moment, becomes a prophet before
he enters Egypt.
So Musa alayhi salaam makes a beautiful, beautiful
dua. He says after Ardu, we'll never shaitan
arjeem, and I want all of us to
think of this dua and let have some
introspection
when we hear this dua.
I really want to dissect this verse because
we, each and every single one of us,
have to ask ourselves
in regards to this ask ask ourselves this
question or more than one question. Musa alayhi
salam
says,
Oh my lord, for that which you have
blessed upon me, please,
I do not want to be someone
that assists
the criminals.
Oh my lord, for what you have blessed
me with let's stop here.
As we say in Surat al Fatsis,
The blessings you have given me.
Oh my lord, with the blessings that you
have given me, please do not make me
or I do not want to be excuse
me. I do not want to be the
assistant to the criminals. So here, he firstly
acknowledges Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala's blessings,
plural, upon him.
He recognizes the blessings upon him.
Now when we couple the acknowledgement
of the blessings of Allah,
coupled with the integrity
that it ties in with acknowledgment of the
blessings.
When there is something that compromises
that message
or messaging,
it is upon the Muslim to stand up.
It is upon the Muslim to articulate themselves
that they don't participate in that or they
do participate in that or they believe that
that is wrong or believe that that is
right.
As the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam gave
us 3 darajats.
He said,
He said,
whoever sees from you any type of wrong,
any oppression, then they should change it with
their hands. And if they are not able
to, then with their tongue. And if they
are not able to, then with their heart.
And that is the weakest of faith. Brothers
and sisters, make no mistake. Each and every
single one of us fit into one of
these categories.
Each and every single one of us fit
into one of these categories.
There may be some of us that can
manifest all 3. You may fit into the
highest category at a particular time
of the day
of your life.
And there may be a time where the
3rd,
but at least hate the oppression,
hate the killing,
the fact of people changing the messaging in
your heart. At least.
But then he ends and says, and that
is the weakest of faith. He ties this
to what?
Your iman.
Your faith.
So Musa alayhi salaam says, oh my lord,
from which you have blessed me with. Whatever
you have brothers and sisters, know that it's
a blessing from Allah. We all know this.
But then he speaks about the fact of
after that recognition of the blessing,
what are you doing to acknowledge the blessing?
Brothers and sisters,
practicing Islam,
to sound very
basic,
which is basics is what all of us
need
and can't survive without,
practicing Islam, I e, praying,
reading the Quran,
being honest,
being on time at work,
these Islamic principles, practices, and morals
is the acknowledgement of the blessings of Allah.
In other words, this is how you tell
Allah, thank you.
When you try your best to pray on
time, it's telling Allah thank you.
When you reach out to the neighbors in
your neighborhood, in your community,
and you're not ashamed to articulate who you
are,
you're not ashamed to say, no. I humbly
believe it's a genocide.
And, yes, a couple of days ago marks
the day of what is called the Nakba,
and that is the day that the Palestinians
were exiled from their from their habitat. I'm
willing to speak with you about it. No.
I humble I respectfully dis I respectfully disagree.
When you're in a room full of individuals
that don't believe in the law,
individuals that are that are creating a different
narrative. You say, no, I respectfully disagree.
I respectfully disagree. And no, I won't vote
for this candidate and I will vote for
this candidate. For example,
full integrity,
this is a way of you saying thank
you to Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala because your
intention is to uphold,
to establish, uphold, and maintain
the integrity
of Islam. It is not about you.
It is about the message of Islam
that made you who you are, meaning
for what Allah has blessed you with. And
then he says,
And this word in Arabic is so
It literally means a person that has their
back.
He says, oh my lord, from which you
have blessed me with, I do not want
to be of those that assist the criminals.
And literally means back.
I do not want to be of those
that have the back of the criminals
that assist them.
We have to ask ourselves the question.
If we sit at home
and don't even share a link, for example,
on what the Nakba was, for example, The
Balfour Declaration, for example.
The messaging of what is going on and
how there's not even an admittance of certain
things that are happening in Gaza, for example.
Not doing anything.
Which one would that fall into?
When there's messaging from the other side that
is strong. When Alhamdulillah
Alhamdulillah,
by the blessings of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala,
and Muslims being active using social media,
Muslims being active on their campuses,
Muslims being active and diligent and goal and
I want to mention this very distinctly.
Goal oriented,
speaking with integrity
at these campuses,
using that fire of iman
and a slight element of anger,
but remaining
organized at these campuses,
if we don't do any of that, which
category do we fall into?
It is important that the Muslim
stands for something.
And at this time of what is going
on,
it is important that we stand for the
message
that is true in regards to our brothers
and sisters in Palestine, in regards to all
the other areas of oppression.
The oppression is universal when it happens to
any human being. But what we see that
is so prevalent now and that is going
on, and the problem is that it is
covered up as something else, that is where
the Muslim activates
their iman
and their faith.
That they stand for something.
And make no mistake,
some of us would not have come to
this country
if there was not an individual or individuals
that stood for something with integrity,
and that integrity
is couched. It is found. It emanates from.
It comes from
purpose. You as a Muslim,
your purpose is not only your watan,
not only your nationality,
though that does have a place.
As the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam loved Mecca.
He loved Mecca.
But the Meccans that did not believe in
the faith, there was a level of integrity.
The Meccans that fought against him and that
tried to change the messaging,
there was a level of integrity.
So brothers and sisters,
please,
in these days, in these moments,
even though it was a wake up call
for the 1st week of October, the month
of October, still allow that Yaqavah,
that wake up call to impact you to
do something of that which was in your
power,
exercising your rights, being conducive in this society
on a local
grassroots level initially,
and if you have the opportunity even greater
than that. And that is a huge
form
help the wicked
destitute that are all over the earth
help the weakened destitute in and
in Palestine
and in Sudan and in Congo
and in Yemen and in Yemen.
In the far east and far west parts
of the world,
Oh, Allah bless them and protect them in
their their iman,
Protect our youth and their iman,
and make us of those that call
on you in secret and in open in
the darkness
alone
A law or act upon.
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