Abdullah Oduro – How One Man Is Inspiring Black Youth Through Stem – Iman Cave

Abdullah Oduro
AI: Summary ©
The speakers discuss issues of male excellence and unity in the community, including the responsibility of unity and social and political independence, and the importance of growing up with family members and reading books to inspire them. They also touch on the challenges faced by individuals in their roles as community engineers, including the need for discomfort to build a community and the importance of finding ways to help them. The speakers emphasize the need for humility and community presence, as well as helping elders and young men to maintain their communities and build a strong community.
AI: Transcript ©
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As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu, may

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the peace and blessings of Allah be upon

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you all.

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How's everyone doing?

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I'm Abdullah Oduro and welcome to the Iman

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Cave, where we discuss issues of male excellence

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while being grounded in faith.

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Community.

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One of the words inside community or the

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only word that you find inside of this

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beautiful word is unity.

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What is the responsibility of the man, the

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son, the father, the grandfather, the uncle, and

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the family in maintaining that unity under the

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same roof, in the same neighborhood, in the

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same village, in the same state, in the

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same country?

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Does the man particularly have a responsibility in

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maintaining the unity of people, of a people

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or of his people?

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We're going to talk about that today.

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The responsibility of unity in the community, establishing

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a community and maintaining that community.

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What are the pitfalls within that and how

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does that help in male excellence?

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We're going to do that with none other

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than, mashaAllah, as you've seen before, Brother Faizan,

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mashaAllah, mental health therapist, founder of Simpli Sukoon,

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which translates to be simply peace.

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Simply peace, mashaAllah, and that's what therapy is.

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Its goal is to bring peace to the

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soul and to the heart, mashaAllah, and to

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the people around.

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Alhamdulillah, bil-Amin.

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Today we have a beautiful guest, mashaAllah, known

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for a long time, Brother Amir Makin.

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MashaAllah, salam alaikum.

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How you doing, brother?

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Amir Makin is an electrical engineer and founder

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of AIC Publications.

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Also, he is an entrepreneur and he is

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involved in the general community here in Dallas,

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mashaAllah, tibariqa Allah, and he has been involved

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with a lot of work that we're going

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to talk about, by the permission of Allah

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subhanahu wa ta'ala.

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Firstly, when you hear the word community, we'll

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start with you, Faizan, what comes to your

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mind?

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To me, it's people coming together, generally for

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a common goal.

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And the hope is that they're aligned towards

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that goal, but it's really about us coming

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together.

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Sometimes I think of culture as well, us

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coming together over food, over common goals, common

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insights, common ideas, common values.

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That's what I think of when I think

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of community.

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Brother Amir?

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I think of social, political, and economic independence

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being established as the goal for everybody in

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that community, for the men, the women, and

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the children, in every capacity in terms of

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intellect and economics.

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So everything that is being done in that

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community is leading towards that goal of establishing

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that community from a social, political, and an

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economic independence, so that all of their resources

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are controlled and dictated within that community.

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MashaAllah, you see that answer is going to

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be articulated in some of the literature here,

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mashaAllah, tibariqa Allah, and I think from that

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answer is a segue into, we mentioned AIC

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Publications, that you are the founder of AIC

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Publications.

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If you can tell us what AIC stands

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for.

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AIC stands for Attain the Knowledge, Innovate for

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Success, and Command Your Future.

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Mmm, attain, innovate, command.

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Correct.

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Mmm, I like that, mashaAllah, tibariqa Allah, mashaAllah,

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tibariqa Allah.

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When was this established?

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I established the company in 2012, and I

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did that because I wanted my own children

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to be able to have representations that look

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like them, of people doing exactly what I'm

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talking about now, making themselves independent with their

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own resources.

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There had to have been some seed that

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pushed you to do this type of work.

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Mmm, yes.

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So if we can rewind for a minute

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and see where were you born and raised,

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and what were the seeds that were planted

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to push you to establish AIC?

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I was born and raised in Illinois.

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My mother and father married nearly 60 years

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until the day he passed, and they were

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madly in love to the day that he

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died.

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And every time that we would go somewhere,

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my father and I, especially when I was

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young, we would dress alike.

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You know, until I got bigger, and you

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know, dad, I want to kind of be

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my own thing, and that kind of stuff,

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right?

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But everywhere we would go, he would always

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introduce me as, this is my right-hand

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man.

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Even as a little boy.

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And I would always say, I'm not a

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man, you know, you're on your way to

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be a man.

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He would always remind me of that.

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Whenever we would meet anybody, he would always

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introduce me as, not just his right-hand

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man, but you know, this is, you know,

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he's going to do great things.

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You know, to the point where, you know,

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everyone in the Western Hemisphere is going to

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know.

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And I would hear him say things like

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this, I'm like, okay, I don't know what

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a hemisphere is, but I better figure it

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out.

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So, you know, go get a dictionary, and

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okay, this is the hemisphere, okay, he's talking

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about all this region, and all of that.

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And every time that I would either go

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to school, he would always want me to

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do more.

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If the school is wanting you to do

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this, when you come home, I'm going to

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want you to do this.

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And in order for you to not be

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bored, I'll incentivize you with whatever it is

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you like.

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All right?

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And I was the only boy of four

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girls, as old as, I'm the youngest, no,

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I was not spoiled.

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All right?

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That's usually what people think.

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But no, so the growing up, I think

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my father realized him being the only boy,

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he doesn't have a brother.

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So let me give him, you know, more

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of the manliness that I want him to

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have growing up.

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With growing up with your father, Mashallah, at

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the Vertical Law, and him being, I guess,

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you know, your hero in the example for

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you of what a man should be, and

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then calling you his right-hand man.

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What was it that pushed you?

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Because also, you're a board member of Masjid

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al-Islam, which is the oldest mosque in

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Dallas, and it was established in 19...

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Community goes all the way back to the

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1950s.

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So I mean, with that, as you've seen

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with the resume, Mashallah, he's established his own

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publication company, electrical engineer, entrepreneur, and also board

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member of Masjid, the oldest Masjid in Dallas,

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Texas.

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Moving on to these books, what motivates you

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to write them.

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But before that, Mashallah, I want to make

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sure that I gift you, just to make

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things clear.

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Yeah, this is what is termed as Jalaf

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rice.

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This is Ghanian.

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Oh, man.

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No, we don't want no smoke.

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We want smoke, no problem.

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Oh, thank you.

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Ghanian Jalaf rice.

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Yes.

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Not Senegalese, not Nigerians, Ghanian Jalaf rice.

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Yes, yes, yes.

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Mashallah, thank you.

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This is, I mean, this is one of

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the best gifts that can be given.

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Thank you.

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Alhamdulillah.

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I didn't know I was going to get

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this.

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This is great.

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Alhamdulillah.

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And hopefully you'll go to Ghana one day,

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Inshallah.

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Inshallah.

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As Mashallah, I'm going to join you.

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The way you're speaking makes me think there's

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competition between Jalaf rice.

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No competition.

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No competition.

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You'll see in the comments, there's absolutely no

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competition, Alhamdulillah.

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So, now, Mashallah, I really thank you for

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bringing these books, Alhamdulillah, I mean, I see

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that you have here, for instance, he has

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Aisha, the navigator.

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Parts one, he has book three, you know,

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and they're different titles.

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So Aisha, the navigator, queen of the Nile,

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you have Aisha, the navigator, trains a leader.

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Aisha, the navigator, handles the bully, one and

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handles the bully, one and two.

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Ali, the inventor, Ali, the inventor, guides city

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council, Ali, the inventor, saves the garden.

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OK, and then we have a worthy Muslim,

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Quranic tools needed to overcome oppression and imperialism

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in order to institute justice.

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So are these your two major characters, Ali

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and Aisha?

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Correct.

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These are supplementary characters that I created for

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a larger program, which is designed to promote

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science, technology, engineering, and math.

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And Ali, the inventor, uses science and math

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to solve any kind of problems.

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And Aisha, the navigator, uses understanding of history

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and geography for community building and purposes.

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OK, and the program, which is the 10

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minute engineering STEM program for gifted and talented

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education, is the larger program that I use

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to supplement those messages through the characters.

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Masha'Allah, that's beautiful, man.

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And that's that's that's another company that you

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own is Edustem, isn't that correct?

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The is AIC Publications and yes, Edustem, correct.

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And STEM standing for science, technology, engineering, engineering,

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engineering, and which is manifest through these two

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characters and how they're using that knowledge of

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those sciences to change the world.

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I mean, not to even say I mean,

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for example, so when you have Aisha, the

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navigator, handles the bully, I don't want to

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give up the trailer, but what science does

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she use in particular here to handle the

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bully or what skill?

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She goes back and understands the history of

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Queen Nzinga.

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Mm hmm.

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And she uses what she learns from that

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understanding of historical time to get over this

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bully situation.

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Wow.

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OK.

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Aisha, the navigator, Aisha, the navigator, and they

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can find this on AIC.com, AIC Publications

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dot com, AIC Publications dot com.

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Masha'Allah, Masha'Allah.

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May Allah bless you, man.

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This is this is beautiful.

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I mean, I love how you have this

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a worthy Muslim Quranic tools needed to overcome

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oppression and imperialism in order to institute justice.

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Alhamdulillah.

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So here, what was the motivation behind writing

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this book?

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The motivation there came from being able to

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try to take the language of the Quran

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and the life of Prophet Muhammad, sallallahu alayhi

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wa sallam, and indigenize it where black people

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in America can really understand how to implement

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it in their daily lives.

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Mm hmm.

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If I kept running to a lot of

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brothers that were having problems finding jobs, having

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problems finding a way to fit inside their

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community, they might be the only Muslim in

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their family.

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OK.

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And they're trying to relate the Quran to

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their family so their family could understand it.

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Or they're trying to relate the Quran to

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their daily life when they spend nine out

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of ten of their time around non-Muslims.

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So how can they go into the Quran

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and deal with a boss that may.

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They have to explain, I need to go

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make salat.

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How can I go get a prayer break?

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Well, what you may want to say to

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your boss is if Johnny over here is

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taking multiple smoke breaks, then why can't I

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take one five minute break for salat?

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I literally had to do that, man.

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Yeah, really?

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Yeah.

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I had to do that.

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When I was in the hospital, I had

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to tell them, you know, there's a time

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that I take prayer.

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Just when I was in my interview, I

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said, you know, on Fridays, if there's a

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possibility, you know, it's free either for me

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to leave at twelve thirty, one o'clock,

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depends on the time of the year, or

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I'll work Saturdays because we wouldn't want to

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work Saturday.

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So I'll work Saturdays and Friday off.

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But during the day, depending on what surgery

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it is, I used to work as a

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surgical tech.

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So I'm going to have to pray.

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And I said, well, Abdul, I said, well,

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you know, just a lot of times we

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see people go and take a cigarette break.

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It takes longer than five minutes, doesn't it?

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Right.

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I said, OK.

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So we need to just take a prayer

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cigarette.

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I mean, which one is better?

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I mean, you tell me.

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You know what I'm saying?

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So, you know, but no, mashallah, it's really

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giving those those tools.

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And I like how you mentioned, and this

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is very important.

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Sometimes people don't like to talk about it.

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And I don't fully agree with that approach,

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being that they say, OK, we're all Muslims

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and, you know, they say we don't see

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color, right?

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Islam doesn't see color, but Muslims may.

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And throughout the history of Muslims implementing their

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Islam or practicing Islam, there's glitches.

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We're human beings.

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So I notice how you have all of

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your characters, you know, Aisha is an African

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-American, she's African-American, young, young female with

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hijab on.

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Ali is an African young male, African-American

00:12:38 --> 00:12:41

young male that's helping and getting involved in

00:12:41 --> 00:12:41

society.

00:12:42 --> 00:12:43

What's the main reason you did that?

00:12:44 --> 00:12:48

In America and say probably throughout the world

00:12:48 --> 00:12:52

for the last 500 years, the most oppressed

00:12:52 --> 00:12:54

in terms of economically and the one that's

00:12:54 --> 00:12:58

been denied full rights of humanity has been

00:12:58 --> 00:13:01

black people, black Africans, black African-Americans for

00:13:01 --> 00:13:02

the last four or 500 years.

00:13:02 --> 00:13:06

And the methodology that was done to maintain

00:13:06 --> 00:13:09

that system of dehumanization started with the destruction

00:13:09 --> 00:13:11

of all our images in terms of the

00:13:11 --> 00:13:13

way we see ourselves.

00:13:13 --> 00:13:14

I'm not talking about idols, but the way

00:13:14 --> 00:13:19

we saw ourselves as providers, protectors, maintainers, guardians,

00:13:20 --> 00:13:22

independent individuals who could go into the ground

00:13:22 --> 00:13:25

and extract the resources and build up a

00:13:25 --> 00:13:25

community.

00:13:25 --> 00:13:27

All of that was denied to us.

00:13:27 --> 00:13:30

And that system was reinforced by making those

00:13:30 --> 00:13:34

destructive images of us as caricatures, of us

00:13:34 --> 00:13:37

as lazy or individuals who couldn't think.

00:13:37 --> 00:13:37

OK.

00:13:37 --> 00:13:38

All right.

00:13:38 --> 00:13:42

In turn, it produced in a lot of

00:13:42 --> 00:13:48

blacks an offset of inferior complex, while those

00:13:48 --> 00:13:51

who are perpetuating this on us get more

00:13:51 --> 00:13:54

confident in their mythological superiority complex.

00:13:54 --> 00:13:58

OK, so getting to the point of always

00:13:58 --> 00:14:00

seeing people who look like you that are

00:14:00 --> 00:14:03

doing something positive, it turns something on in

00:14:03 --> 00:14:05

your brain that says, yes, I can do

00:14:05 --> 00:14:05

this.

00:14:05 --> 00:14:06

And that's important.

00:14:06 --> 00:14:09

You mentioned that because the mythological superiority complex

00:14:09 --> 00:14:11

is not only amongst adults.

00:14:12 --> 00:14:13

It's amongst children.

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And that's why I love it when you

00:14:16 --> 00:14:20

have a young black woman, young black girl,

00:14:20 --> 00:14:26

you know, educating herself and then implementing her

00:14:26 --> 00:14:29

education to help change, make a healthy social

00:14:29 --> 00:14:29

change.

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And that's what it's about.

00:14:31 --> 00:14:34

I mean, it's bringing the theoretical readings to

00:14:34 --> 00:14:37

life, you know, and that's very, very important.

00:14:37 --> 00:14:37

Subhanallah.

00:14:38 --> 00:14:41

And unfortunately, sometimes it's the adults that impose

00:14:41 --> 00:14:43

that on the youth, like, you know, Malcolm,

00:14:44 --> 00:14:45

you know, when he was a young when

00:14:45 --> 00:14:46

he was a young boy and one of

00:14:46 --> 00:14:48

the instructors told him, he said, I want

00:14:48 --> 00:14:48

to be a lawyer.

00:14:48 --> 00:14:52

He said, no, be realistic, work good with

00:14:52 --> 00:14:53

your hands.

00:14:53 --> 00:14:54

Right.

00:14:54 --> 00:14:54

Right.

00:14:54 --> 00:14:54

Subhanallah.

00:14:55 --> 00:14:55

Subhanallah.

00:14:56 --> 00:14:58

It's beautiful because, as I was telling, you

00:14:58 --> 00:15:02

know, Faizan earlier, you know, I love you,

00:15:02 --> 00:15:04

my Muslim brothers and sisters, but, you know,

00:15:04 --> 00:15:06

there's a lot of times when I get

00:15:06 --> 00:15:07

off the minbar, you know, giving the khutbah,

00:15:07 --> 00:15:09

they say, or they say, brother, mashallah, your

00:15:09 --> 00:15:11

voice, it reminds me of Bilal.

00:15:11 --> 00:15:15

I'm like, you heard Bilal before?

00:15:16 --> 00:15:17

I never knew you were Bilal.

00:15:17 --> 00:15:18

Mashallah, you're pretty old.

00:15:19 --> 00:15:23

Mashallah, but normalizing this for youth to where

00:15:23 --> 00:15:25

it's not like, oh, black people too are

00:15:25 --> 00:15:25

Muslim.

00:15:26 --> 00:15:29

You know, it's like, no, that's always been

00:15:29 --> 00:15:30

part of the equation.

00:15:30 --> 00:15:31

I wanted to ask when it comes to

00:15:31 --> 00:15:34

these publications, mashallah, there's a level of representation

00:15:34 --> 00:15:36

for black, for black people when it comes

00:15:36 --> 00:15:40

to these professional fields, but it's also black

00:15:40 --> 00:15:42

Muslims in these professional fields.

00:15:42 --> 00:15:46

So was there an intentionality behind kind of

00:15:46 --> 00:15:50

doing this double good, not just professional fields,

00:15:50 --> 00:15:52

but also Muslim, black Muslims in professional fields?

00:15:53 --> 00:15:55

So I'm curious about the intentionality behind that.

00:15:56 --> 00:15:57

Yeah, most definitely.

00:15:57 --> 00:15:58

Most definitely.

00:15:58 --> 00:16:00

I am unapologetically black and Muslim.

00:16:01 --> 00:16:02

I'm unapologetically Muslim and black.

00:16:03 --> 00:16:06

I don't try to separate the two or

00:16:06 --> 00:16:07

to try to go out of my way

00:16:07 --> 00:16:10

to downplay one at risk of the other.

00:16:10 --> 00:16:13

You know, as I see in the society,

00:16:14 --> 00:16:18

you know, people can be who they want

00:16:18 --> 00:16:20

to be at any other way, while others,

00:16:21 --> 00:16:24

especially black people, are sometimes made to feel

00:16:24 --> 00:16:25

as if we have to kind of shrink

00:16:25 --> 00:16:26

somewhat.

00:16:27 --> 00:16:28

I'll give you an example.

00:16:29 --> 00:16:31

I was working as an electrical engineer and

00:16:31 --> 00:16:34

I left for Juma and I'd already prearranged

00:16:34 --> 00:16:36

with everybody that, okay, on Fridays, I'm gone,

00:16:36 --> 00:16:36

blah, blah.

00:16:37 --> 00:16:40

So on this particular Friday, the president of

00:16:40 --> 00:16:44

engineering decides that he wants to show everyone,

00:16:44 --> 00:16:46

all the engineers, his appreciation for everything we've

00:16:46 --> 00:16:47

been doing.

00:16:47 --> 00:16:50

So when I come back from Juma, everybody's

00:16:50 --> 00:16:54

got a beer, they've got some type of

00:16:54 --> 00:16:55

alcoholic beverage that he went out and got.

00:16:56 --> 00:16:56

Happy hour.

00:16:56 --> 00:16:57

Right.

00:16:57 --> 00:16:58

Turned into happy hour.

00:16:59 --> 00:17:01

So I come back ready to work and

00:17:01 --> 00:17:02

as soon as I come in and they're

00:17:02 --> 00:17:05

all drinking and one looks at me and

00:17:05 --> 00:17:07

he kind of smiles and smirks.

00:17:07 --> 00:17:10

One engineer like, okay, well, what's he going

00:17:10 --> 00:17:10

to do?

00:17:11 --> 00:17:13

And then the president of engineering, he says,

00:17:13 --> 00:17:16

oh, I'm so sorry, I forgot you don't

00:17:16 --> 00:17:16

drink.

00:17:17 --> 00:17:20

And I said, oh, hey, as long as

00:17:20 --> 00:17:23

you guys stay here so that I can

00:17:23 --> 00:17:26

get home safely and I don't have to

00:17:26 --> 00:17:28

worry about a DUI with one of you

00:17:28 --> 00:17:30

behind the wheel, I'm good.

00:17:31 --> 00:17:34

And that kind of like the one that

00:17:34 --> 00:17:35

had the smirk on his face, kind of

00:17:35 --> 00:17:38

it turned from a smirk to, you know,

00:17:38 --> 00:17:41

he just did not like that answer because

00:17:41 --> 00:17:43

that was an attempt, at least on the

00:17:43 --> 00:17:44

guy who had the smirk.

00:17:44 --> 00:17:46

Let me bring you down a little bit.

00:17:46 --> 00:17:48

You know, let me bring you down.

00:17:48 --> 00:17:52

And so these kinds of instances, we have

00:17:52 --> 00:17:57

to have a confidence that comes from our

00:17:57 --> 00:18:03

understanding of Koran and our understanding of the

00:18:03 --> 00:18:05

history of different people and our people that

00:18:05 --> 00:18:06

have gone through.

00:18:06 --> 00:18:07

Yeah.

00:18:07 --> 00:18:09

And no one is going to give that

00:18:09 --> 00:18:09

to you.

00:18:09 --> 00:18:12

But you, the keys to your liberation are

00:18:12 --> 00:18:13

not going to come from those who benefited

00:18:13 --> 00:18:14

from your oppression.

00:18:15 --> 00:18:15

Mm hmm.

00:18:16 --> 00:18:17

So that's beautiful.

00:18:17 --> 00:18:17

Right.

00:18:18 --> 00:18:18

That's beautiful.

00:18:18 --> 00:18:20

And I mean, that's the segue into the

00:18:20 --> 00:18:22

establishment of the community.

00:18:22 --> 00:18:25

I mean, even though AIC is a company

00:18:25 --> 00:18:27

that is there to help, dare I say,

00:18:27 --> 00:18:29

establish a type of understanding of who they

00:18:29 --> 00:18:32

are, which will hopefully enable them to establish

00:18:32 --> 00:18:33

communities.

00:18:34 --> 00:18:36

But when it came to you establishing the

00:18:36 --> 00:18:39

community, you know, within Masjid al-Islam and

00:18:39 --> 00:18:42

partaking in that, what were some of the

00:18:42 --> 00:18:43

challenges that you faced?

00:18:43 --> 00:18:45

Like you just mentioned, as an electrical engineer

00:18:45 --> 00:18:47

and as a man, you know, graduated from

00:18:47 --> 00:18:48

college and then going to electrical engineering.

00:18:49 --> 00:18:51

I mean, you're thinking about, OK, you have

00:18:51 --> 00:18:53

to take care of my family, which will

00:18:53 --> 00:18:56

be my family and establishing the community here

00:18:56 --> 00:18:57

in Dallas.

00:18:57 --> 00:19:00

How was that in the very beginning for

00:19:00 --> 00:19:00

yourself?

00:19:01 --> 00:19:05

It's very trying when you're dealing with previous

00:19:05 --> 00:19:06

generations.

00:19:07 --> 00:19:07

OK.

00:19:07 --> 00:19:16

And as generations progress, technology advances and some

00:19:16 --> 00:19:18

may want to move forward with it.

00:19:18 --> 00:19:20

Some may want to stay stuck in what

00:19:20 --> 00:19:21

they're comfortable with.

00:19:21 --> 00:19:21

Right.

00:19:21 --> 00:19:26

And you have the tasking of making the

00:19:26 --> 00:19:29

ones that want to stay back with what

00:19:29 --> 00:19:32

they're comfortable with of trying to make sure

00:19:32 --> 00:19:35

that they are still included.

00:19:35 --> 00:19:38

And the ones that are moving forward, progressing,

00:19:39 --> 00:19:40

you still got to make a way for

00:19:40 --> 00:19:43

them to condition themselves to leave the breadcrumbs

00:19:43 --> 00:19:46

for the ones that are comfortable staying where

00:19:46 --> 00:19:47

they are.

00:19:47 --> 00:19:49

So you're serving as a liaison between the

00:19:49 --> 00:19:49

two.

00:19:49 --> 00:19:49

Correct.

00:19:49 --> 00:19:52

And then at the same time, you have

00:19:52 --> 00:19:54

to realize that both are going to get

00:19:54 --> 00:19:58

mad at you because somebody went and picked

00:19:58 --> 00:19:59

up the breadcrumbs that I thought were going

00:19:59 --> 00:20:00

to be left for me.

00:20:00 --> 00:20:02

And then the ones that want to move

00:20:02 --> 00:20:03

forward, OK.

00:20:04 --> 00:20:05

I'm having to pull more people.

00:20:07 --> 00:20:10

Because these breadcrumbs are not enough for them.

00:20:10 --> 00:20:11

All right.

00:20:11 --> 00:20:13

So you have to be a liaison for

00:20:13 --> 00:20:13

that.

00:20:13 --> 00:20:15

And you got to be a sponge and

00:20:15 --> 00:20:17

be able to absorb the hits and the

00:20:17 --> 00:20:19

brickbacks and compartmentalize as well.

00:20:20 --> 00:20:22

And then you got to learn how to

00:20:22 --> 00:20:24

decompartmentalize on your own.

00:20:24 --> 00:20:25

You have to know that people are not

00:20:25 --> 00:20:26

going to like you when you're doing the

00:20:26 --> 00:20:28

right thing, but they may end up loving

00:20:28 --> 00:20:30

you later when they see the fruits of

00:20:30 --> 00:20:30

it.

00:20:30 --> 00:20:31

Right.

00:20:31 --> 00:20:33

You know, you said establishing the community.

00:20:33 --> 00:20:35

And I'm almost sure many of you young

00:20:35 --> 00:20:37

men that are boards of massage or you've

00:20:37 --> 00:20:39

gotten a new position to where you may

00:20:39 --> 00:20:43

supervise over someone your father's age, that they

00:20:43 --> 00:20:43

may not.

00:20:44 --> 00:20:46

Like you said, some of them are in

00:20:46 --> 00:20:46

their ways.

00:20:47 --> 00:20:51

And they're not ready or willing to, I

00:20:51 --> 00:20:52

don't want to use the word progress, to

00:20:52 --> 00:20:54

be introduced to new things that will cause

00:20:54 --> 00:20:57

a certain change that will require them to

00:20:57 --> 00:20:58

get out of their comfort zone.

00:20:58 --> 00:20:59

Yes.

00:20:59 --> 00:20:59

That's good.

00:20:59 --> 00:21:01

You know, and that is where, you know,

00:21:01 --> 00:21:02

you as a as a man, how old

00:21:02 --> 00:21:03

are you at that time?

00:21:04 --> 00:21:06

Probably about forty one.

00:21:06 --> 00:21:09

You know, realizing, OK, you know, you have

00:21:09 --> 00:21:10

to show a level of respect to them.

00:21:10 --> 00:21:11

Right.

00:21:12 --> 00:21:14

But respectfully disagree.

00:21:15 --> 00:21:15

Right.

00:21:15 --> 00:21:16

Right.

00:21:16 --> 00:21:16

Right.

00:21:16 --> 00:21:18

And at the same time, you don't want

00:21:18 --> 00:21:20

those ones that have innovative ideas to run

00:21:20 --> 00:21:21

away.

00:21:21 --> 00:21:21

Yeah.

00:21:22 --> 00:21:23

That's what your answer.

00:21:23 --> 00:21:24

The breadcrumbs come.

00:21:24 --> 00:21:24

Right.

00:21:24 --> 00:21:26

I think it's a beautiful point.

00:21:26 --> 00:21:28

And masculinity, because you have to know how

00:21:28 --> 00:21:31

to be the peacemaker even in the household.

00:21:31 --> 00:21:31

Right.

00:21:31 --> 00:21:32

Right.

00:21:32 --> 00:21:33

Because if you're going to be the leader,

00:21:33 --> 00:21:34

you've got to be the one that's a

00:21:34 --> 00:21:35

peacemaker as well.

00:21:35 --> 00:21:35

Right.

00:21:36 --> 00:21:38

Because those foundations are set.

00:21:38 --> 00:21:40

But there may be times to where the

00:21:40 --> 00:21:43

foundations, they may kind of the ends of

00:21:43 --> 00:21:45

it loose because they're not sticking to them.

00:21:45 --> 00:21:47

So coming back and establishing that and also

00:21:47 --> 00:21:50

the fact of, you know, people showing their

00:21:50 --> 00:21:51

displeasure with you.

00:21:51 --> 00:21:51

Right.

00:21:52 --> 00:21:53

You know, I mean, that happened numerous times

00:21:53 --> 00:21:54

with the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam.

00:21:54 --> 00:21:55

He would call people to the Deen of

00:21:55 --> 00:21:57

Islam and there would be people that would

00:21:57 --> 00:21:59

openly show their displeasure with him in front

00:21:59 --> 00:22:01

of people that looked up to him and

00:22:01 --> 00:22:02

followed him.

00:22:02 --> 00:22:04

I mean, physical, physical abuse.

00:22:04 --> 00:22:06

So I think that's a huge, a huge

00:22:06 --> 00:22:09

element of rites of passage, of learning how

00:22:09 --> 00:22:12

to deal with difficult situations from people that

00:22:12 --> 00:22:13

you thought wouldn't bring those difficulties.

00:22:14 --> 00:22:17

The thing about it is, you know, we

00:22:17 --> 00:22:19

hear the Hadith that, you know, whoever builds

00:22:19 --> 00:22:22

a house for Allah, Allah builds a house

00:22:22 --> 00:22:23

for him in paradise.

00:22:24 --> 00:22:27

But we never stop to really ponder on

00:22:27 --> 00:22:28

the fact that you've got to build a

00:22:28 --> 00:22:29

foundation in a house.

00:22:30 --> 00:22:32

You got to, you got to build basic

00:22:32 --> 00:22:34

building blocks, two by fours.

00:22:34 --> 00:22:35

You need tools.

00:22:35 --> 00:22:36

You need hammers.

00:22:36 --> 00:22:36

You need nails.

00:22:37 --> 00:22:38

You need men.

00:22:38 --> 00:22:39

All right.

00:22:39 --> 00:22:41

You need somebody that's going to be risky.

00:22:42 --> 00:22:44

And once you're starting to build that second

00:22:44 --> 00:22:45

story, okay, I'll climb the roof.

00:22:46 --> 00:22:46

Okay.

00:22:46 --> 00:22:48

So what's the safety harness so that if

00:22:48 --> 00:22:51

something happens to you, you don't hurt yourself

00:22:51 --> 00:22:52

if you fall off.

00:22:52 --> 00:22:53

Right, right.

00:22:53 --> 00:22:53

All right.

00:22:53 --> 00:22:55

So all of these things, and that's what

00:22:55 --> 00:22:57

we do in, in engineering as well, is

00:22:57 --> 00:22:59

we focus on building, but now we also

00:22:59 --> 00:23:00

have to think about the safety.

00:23:01 --> 00:23:03

How are we going to protect someone who

00:23:03 --> 00:23:07

does something out of not knowing from their

00:23:07 --> 00:23:09

own self and being endangered?

00:23:10 --> 00:23:13

So if we're building a masjid or doing

00:23:13 --> 00:23:19

something, how do we keep information that could

00:23:19 --> 00:23:24

be used in a bad way from someone

00:23:24 --> 00:23:28

that may not know how to use that

00:23:28 --> 00:23:28

information?

00:23:29 --> 00:23:30

Okay.

00:23:30 --> 00:23:30

All right.

00:23:30 --> 00:23:34

And how do we transition the ones that

00:23:34 --> 00:23:38

are comfortable where they are to this new

00:23:38 --> 00:23:40

place that we want to be without them

00:23:40 --> 00:23:43

thinking that my old position is going to

00:23:43 --> 00:23:44

be compromised.

00:23:44 --> 00:23:45

Compromised.

00:23:45 --> 00:23:45

Yeah.

00:23:46 --> 00:23:50

It's almost like this constant pushing for growth,

00:23:51 --> 00:23:55

but it's also with hikmah, with control.

00:23:56 --> 00:23:58

The ones that don't want to move, you've

00:23:58 --> 00:23:59

got to get them to move.

00:23:59 --> 00:24:00

With the ones that are moving, you want

00:24:00 --> 00:24:02

to get them to kind of hold back

00:24:02 --> 00:24:04

and temper the pace that they're moving at.

00:24:04 --> 00:24:06

And then one other thing that you mentioned

00:24:06 --> 00:24:08

that I really liked, the idea of while

00:24:08 --> 00:24:12

you're doing all this, also figuring out how

00:24:12 --> 00:24:14

to take care of yourself and decompartmentalizing.

00:24:15 --> 00:24:18

That was, I'm curious as to how you

00:24:18 --> 00:24:20

do that, because that sounds rough.

00:24:20 --> 00:24:22

There are times I don't answer the phone.

00:24:22 --> 00:24:22

Okay.

00:24:23 --> 00:24:24

You know, I don't answer the phone.

00:24:24 --> 00:24:25

There are times I won't go near a

00:24:25 --> 00:24:26

computer.

00:24:27 --> 00:24:30

There are times where I will go to

00:24:30 --> 00:24:32

the gym and just put a towel over

00:24:32 --> 00:24:34

myself and sit in the sauna, you know,

00:24:35 --> 00:24:36

and that helps clear me out.

00:24:37 --> 00:24:39

Or I'll sit inside my car and just

00:24:39 --> 00:24:41

take some me time.

00:24:41 --> 00:24:44

Or I'll get something indulgent, you know, whether

00:24:44 --> 00:24:47

it's sweet treat or G day or something

00:24:47 --> 00:24:47

like that.

00:24:48 --> 00:24:48

I'll do that.

00:24:49 --> 00:24:50

And there are times when, you know, my

00:24:50 --> 00:24:52

family looks at me and they can tell,

00:24:52 --> 00:24:55

okay, he's kind of, you know, he's, he's

00:24:55 --> 00:24:56

upset right now.

00:24:56 --> 00:24:59

So let me just go do something else.

00:24:59 --> 00:25:01

You know, he'll come down off of, you

00:25:01 --> 00:25:02

know, whatever's going on.

00:25:02 --> 00:25:04

Those are the things that I end up

00:25:04 --> 00:25:05

having to do.

00:25:05 --> 00:25:07

And I learned those from watching my father.

00:25:07 --> 00:25:09

He had a, today we call them, man

00:25:09 --> 00:25:12

caves, you know, man caves is this, but

00:25:12 --> 00:25:14

he had a basement, you know, and he

00:25:14 --> 00:25:16

built his, you know, workshop in the basement

00:25:16 --> 00:25:18

and he'd go down and build different things

00:25:18 --> 00:25:19

and just do whatever.

00:25:19 --> 00:25:21

My mother didn't really bother him when he

00:25:21 --> 00:25:22

went down there.

00:25:22 --> 00:25:25

He would have, you know, TV or something.

00:25:25 --> 00:25:27

He'd bring himself some ice cream or had

00:25:27 --> 00:25:30

a separate freezer, you know, and you knew

00:25:30 --> 00:25:31

when he was sneaking ice cream, you know,

00:25:31 --> 00:25:33

you didn't go down and ask for any,

00:25:33 --> 00:25:35

you know, or he'd make sure it'd be

00:25:35 --> 00:25:37

a flavor that he knew the kids didn't

00:25:37 --> 00:25:37

like.

00:25:38 --> 00:25:41

So, you know, so I'll do something like

00:25:41 --> 00:25:41

this.

00:25:42 --> 00:25:42

Right.

00:25:43 --> 00:25:45

So I, you know, I can do something

00:25:45 --> 00:25:47

like that, you know, you know, I think

00:25:47 --> 00:25:47

they're going to eat this.

00:25:47 --> 00:25:49

Well, you know, let me put this on

00:25:49 --> 00:25:49

here.

00:25:49 --> 00:25:50

And nobody want that.

00:25:50 --> 00:25:51

You know?

00:25:52 --> 00:25:53

Oh, you don't like to eat this.

00:25:53 --> 00:25:54

Oh, wow.

00:25:54 --> 00:25:55

Too bad.

00:25:56 --> 00:25:57

So I'm the same way.

00:25:57 --> 00:25:57

I have my cave.

00:25:58 --> 00:25:58

It's my gym.

00:25:58 --> 00:25:59

There's a refrigerator there.

00:25:59 --> 00:26:00

I just need a little television in there,

00:26:00 --> 00:26:01

man.

00:26:01 --> 00:26:01

Right.

00:26:01 --> 00:26:01

Right.

00:26:01 --> 00:26:03

You know, like you said, I mean, it's

00:26:03 --> 00:26:06

very, very important to decompartmentalize.

00:26:06 --> 00:26:07

I mean, we see that in the Cave

00:26:07 --> 00:26:08

of Hedo, in the Apostles, when we go

00:26:08 --> 00:26:09

to the Cave of Hedo.

00:26:09 --> 00:26:12

Having that time alone is so important for

00:26:12 --> 00:26:14

the man and even the woman, the mother.

00:26:14 --> 00:26:16

I mean, I'm almost sure within your therapy,

00:26:16 --> 00:26:18

you've probably talked to them, you know, the

00:26:18 --> 00:26:20

man has to have time for himself and

00:26:20 --> 00:26:22

the woman as well having time because I'm

00:26:22 --> 00:26:22

the woman.

00:26:23 --> 00:26:24

May Allah bless our wives and our mothers,

00:26:24 --> 00:26:27

man, because they give everything, you know, to

00:26:27 --> 00:26:30

where they forget about themselves, you know, and

00:26:30 --> 00:26:32

also the men, too, but in a different

00:26:32 --> 00:26:32

way.

00:26:33 --> 00:26:34

And I like how you mentioned, I always

00:26:34 --> 00:26:37

tell this in my community as well, and

00:26:37 --> 00:26:39

the older gentlemen in their 40s that have

00:26:39 --> 00:26:41

family for a while and what they would

00:26:41 --> 00:26:42

term as, and you can tell me if

00:26:42 --> 00:26:44

this is accurate, the midlife crisis.

00:26:45 --> 00:26:46

I'll never forget one of the gentlemen.

00:26:46 --> 00:26:48

He told me, man, sometimes you're just going

00:26:48 --> 00:26:50

to have to sit in your car, like

00:26:50 --> 00:26:52

you said, when you come home from work,

00:26:53 --> 00:26:54

before you go in the house, he said,

00:26:54 --> 00:26:56

go to the coffee shop, go do something.

00:26:57 --> 00:27:00

But you see, you say decompress because the

00:27:00 --> 00:27:01

family doesn't deserve that.

00:27:02 --> 00:27:03

Man, that hit me like a ton of,

00:27:03 --> 00:27:05

I wasn't even married yet, and he said,

00:27:05 --> 00:27:06

that hit me like a ton of bricks,

00:27:06 --> 00:27:09

but it made so much sense.

00:27:09 --> 00:27:11

So I can imagine when you're dealing with

00:27:11 --> 00:27:16

the elders and the youth and you're like

00:27:16 --> 00:27:18

this being pulled and you're about to be

00:27:18 --> 00:27:22

torn because you have to, you know, separate,

00:27:23 --> 00:27:25

that separation is really, really important.

00:27:26 --> 00:27:29

So what about maintaining that?

00:27:29 --> 00:27:31

I mean, also within maintaining, you know, we

00:27:31 --> 00:27:33

talked about establishing it and, you know, within

00:27:33 --> 00:27:36

the establishment, Mashallah, you just had a groundbreaking

00:27:36 --> 00:27:37

ceremony for the Masjid.

00:27:37 --> 00:27:38

Congratulations.

00:27:38 --> 00:27:42

In the process of finishing that, but, you

00:27:42 --> 00:27:46

know, the community has been established, but now

00:27:46 --> 00:27:49

I guess it's fair to say you're at

00:27:49 --> 00:27:52

a different phase of maintenance, right?

00:27:52 --> 00:27:55

Because you're trying to, I mean, Mashallah, it's

00:27:55 --> 00:27:58

a multimillion dollar project, Alhamdulillah, and you know,

00:27:58 --> 00:28:00

shout out to those that have contributed and

00:28:00 --> 00:28:02

those that have promised their contribution.

00:28:02 --> 00:28:03

Alhamdulillah, Alhamdulillah.

00:28:04 --> 00:28:12

What is it like maintaining that structure of

00:28:12 --> 00:28:18

community with those that may ask, you know,

00:28:18 --> 00:28:21

as in the Quran, when is the help

00:28:21 --> 00:28:21

of Allah coming?

00:28:21 --> 00:28:24

The help of Allah is near.

00:28:25 --> 00:28:26

What is it like?

00:28:26 --> 00:28:27

I mean, what are some of the pitfalls

00:28:27 --> 00:28:29

with the actual maintenance as the days go

00:28:29 --> 00:28:30

by?

00:28:30 --> 00:28:33

Do you see people giving up?

00:28:33 --> 00:28:35

Do you see people trying to move on?

00:28:35 --> 00:28:39

I see people that love to give lip

00:28:39 --> 00:28:40

service.

00:28:40 --> 00:28:40

Okay.

00:28:41 --> 00:28:41

All right.

00:28:41 --> 00:28:44

And then when it's time to do work,

00:28:44 --> 00:28:46

they're gone.

00:28:46 --> 00:28:50

And I try as best I can to

00:28:50 --> 00:28:56

remind them of Bani Israel, when Allah said,

00:28:56 --> 00:28:57

you know, I'm going to give you the

00:28:57 --> 00:28:59

promised land, all right?

00:29:00 --> 00:29:02

And one thing he could have done, but

00:29:02 --> 00:29:05

he didn't, he said, this is going to

00:29:05 --> 00:29:06

be yours, all right?

00:29:06 --> 00:29:08

There's people in it already, but you got

00:29:08 --> 00:29:09

to fight them.

00:29:09 --> 00:29:10

You got to go in there and fight.

00:29:10 --> 00:29:12

Now, he could have said, being it is,

00:29:13 --> 00:29:15

that's it, all right?

00:29:15 --> 00:29:19

But he made them have to fight for

00:29:19 --> 00:29:23

it because he knew, even after everything they

00:29:23 --> 00:29:26

had been through, oppression, slavery, and all this

00:29:26 --> 00:29:29

kind of dehumanization, he knew that if you

00:29:29 --> 00:29:32

don't have to fight to establish your presence

00:29:32 --> 00:29:34

in this land, then you won't be able

00:29:34 --> 00:29:37

to fight to maintain your presence in this

00:29:37 --> 00:29:39

land from somebody else who's going to want

00:29:39 --> 00:29:40

to come and take it from you.

00:29:41 --> 00:29:44

So I kind of try to reemphasize that

00:29:44 --> 00:29:47

point to the community by letting them know

00:29:47 --> 00:29:49

this is something we have to do.

00:29:49 --> 00:29:52

Allah is not, he can say, being it

00:29:52 --> 00:29:55

is, and there's the Masjid, there's a business,

00:29:55 --> 00:29:57

there's this, there's everything we need.

00:29:58 --> 00:30:00

But no, he didn't do that for Bani

00:30:00 --> 00:30:03

Israel, and they had prophetic guidance with them

00:30:03 --> 00:30:04

in their presence.

00:30:05 --> 00:30:07

So who are we to think that we're

00:30:07 --> 00:30:10

going to have it easier, even though we've

00:30:10 --> 00:30:13

already got air conditioning, we've already got, you

00:30:13 --> 00:30:15

know, three, four kinds of different beds, electric

00:30:15 --> 00:30:17

beds, we've got automobiles.

00:30:17 --> 00:30:18

We don't have to come to a camp,

00:30:18 --> 00:30:20

you know, in a camel, we've got running

00:30:20 --> 00:30:23

water, plumbing, you know, you know, we don't

00:30:23 --> 00:30:25

have to go dig a hole and relieve

00:30:25 --> 00:30:25

ourselves.

00:30:26 --> 00:30:29

So we've already got a level of ease.

00:30:30 --> 00:30:31

That's, that's a beautiful point.

00:30:31 --> 00:30:32

Yeah, that's a beautiful point.

00:30:32 --> 00:30:34

I mean, you mentioned so much of this

00:30:34 --> 00:30:37

point that, you know, there's a point where

00:30:37 --> 00:30:38

you're going to have to fight.

00:30:38 --> 00:30:41

There's no way except to, you know, I

00:30:41 --> 00:30:43

think it was Tariq Ibn Ziyad, if I'm

00:30:43 --> 00:30:45

not mistaken, when he told his people, أين

00:30:45 --> 00:30:47

المفرّ؟

00:30:47 --> 00:30:48

He said, where there's nowhere else to run.

00:30:48 --> 00:30:52

They were standing on a, he said, البحر

00:30:52 --> 00:30:53

أمامكم والجيش وراءكم.

00:30:53 --> 00:30:55

He said that the sea is in front

00:30:55 --> 00:30:57

of you, and the army is behind you,

00:30:57 --> 00:30:59

meaning that we have to turn around and

00:30:59 --> 00:30:59

fight.

00:31:00 --> 00:31:01

And that's what they call it, جبل الطارق,

00:31:01 --> 00:31:06

it was on that Gibraltar, because he was

00:31:06 --> 00:31:07

on that, on that mountain.

00:31:08 --> 00:31:09

And I love how you mentioned that, because,

00:31:10 --> 00:31:12

you know, with a man, there has to

00:31:12 --> 00:31:13

be a level of risk.

00:31:13 --> 00:31:16

And that risk brings the رزق.

00:31:16 --> 00:31:19

Like, when you have that risk, you're relying

00:31:19 --> 00:31:21

on something greater than yourself.

00:31:21 --> 00:31:24

And that's where the purpose ties in, which

00:31:24 --> 00:31:27

makes the Muslim, with his purpose in life,

00:31:27 --> 00:31:29

much more transcendent, much more greater, much more

00:31:29 --> 00:31:30

unstoppable.

00:31:31 --> 00:31:33

I mean, when you're relying on Allah سبحانه

00:31:33 --> 00:31:36

وتعالى, and you move forward, بسم الله, I

00:31:36 --> 00:31:38

mean, who's going to, there's no way that

00:31:38 --> 00:31:40

you can lose hope, because your hope is

00:31:40 --> 00:31:42

in the one that created everything.

00:31:43 --> 00:31:45

And in building a masjid, you know what

00:31:45 --> 00:31:48

I'm saying, within that process, it's important, like

00:31:48 --> 00:31:50

you said, you know, to kind of, you

00:31:50 --> 00:31:52

know, and as an engineer, it's beautiful, because

00:31:52 --> 00:31:54

as an engineer, you get to apply those

00:31:54 --> 00:31:54

principles.

00:31:55 --> 00:31:57

Look at the bigger picture, right?

00:31:58 --> 00:32:00

It's much bigger than the both of us,

00:32:00 --> 00:32:01

or this argument, or this disagreement.

00:32:02 --> 00:32:05

The bigger picture, our grandchildren, you know, which

00:32:05 --> 00:32:07

again, a man has to be a visionary

00:32:07 --> 00:32:09

and be willing to take those risks.

00:32:09 --> 00:32:11

Embracing positive discomfort.

00:32:12 --> 00:32:13

Like, this is an aspect of it.

00:32:14 --> 00:32:15

When you're building a community, there has to

00:32:15 --> 00:32:17

be a level of, okay, things are going

00:32:17 --> 00:32:18

to be a little uncomfortable.

00:32:19 --> 00:32:21

And it's okay for that to happen.

00:32:21 --> 00:32:23

Like, it's okay for that to be the

00:32:23 --> 00:32:23

case.

00:32:24 --> 00:32:25

And what you mentioned about relying on Allah,

00:32:26 --> 00:32:27

you know, one of the things I tell

00:32:27 --> 00:32:29

some of my clients is, when it comes

00:32:29 --> 00:32:34

to trusting Allah and building tawakkul, I feel

00:32:34 --> 00:32:35

like that can only be done in moments

00:32:35 --> 00:32:36

of discomfort.

00:32:36 --> 00:32:38

You can't do that when things are easy,

00:32:39 --> 00:32:41

because things are easy, then alhamdulillah, everything's going

00:32:41 --> 00:32:43

well, it's no big deal.

00:32:43 --> 00:32:45

And it's the same for a community.

00:32:45 --> 00:32:47

In order to build that sense of community

00:32:47 --> 00:32:48

and the goodness that comes out of that

00:32:48 --> 00:32:51

positive discomfort, that discomfort has to be there.

00:32:51 --> 00:32:54

You need discomfort for growth.

00:32:54 --> 00:32:56

And I'm seeing that in exactly what you're

00:32:56 --> 00:32:56

mentioning.

00:32:56 --> 00:33:00

Always doing something hard and seeking that discomfort,

00:33:01 --> 00:33:03

because you know that it's going to be

00:33:03 --> 00:33:04

some pleasure.

00:33:04 --> 00:33:05

And that's what, when you were mentioning earlier,

00:33:06 --> 00:33:07

you know, when things are given to you,

00:33:07 --> 00:33:11

the beautiful, when they said, you know, barely,

00:33:12 --> 00:33:15

we'll sit, we'll wait, and we'll sit and

00:33:15 --> 00:33:16

wait, right?

00:33:16 --> 00:33:17

You won't value it.

00:33:18 --> 00:33:19

You won't value it at all.

00:33:19 --> 00:33:20

If you don't go through those hardships, you

00:33:20 --> 00:33:22

won't value it at all, to where it

00:33:22 --> 00:33:25

was hard to establish, and I'm not going

00:33:25 --> 00:33:27

to give this up that easy, right?

00:33:27 --> 00:33:29

To where, you know, maintaining it is going

00:33:29 --> 00:33:31

to take a fight for us, for anyone

00:33:31 --> 00:33:33

to just come and take that from us.

00:33:34 --> 00:33:36

I mean, these companies you have, Mashallah, AIC,

00:33:36 --> 00:33:38

what are the future goals of it?

00:33:38 --> 00:33:40

What's the vision for it?

00:33:40 --> 00:33:42

What I really want to do, one of

00:33:42 --> 00:33:46

the goals, is I want to train other

00:33:46 --> 00:33:51

people to create similar companies, publishers that may

00:33:51 --> 00:33:51

want to do that.

00:33:52 --> 00:33:55

The second goal I want to have is,

00:33:55 --> 00:33:59

last year, certain universities have finally come around

00:33:59 --> 00:34:02

to the understanding that a lot of the

00:34:02 --> 00:34:04

entry tests that they're having to colleges have

00:34:04 --> 00:34:05

been culturally biased.

00:34:06 --> 00:34:09

Certain colleges and universities have now said, we're

00:34:09 --> 00:34:10

not going to accept those tests.

00:34:11 --> 00:34:15

They've developed alternative procedures for admitting students for

00:34:15 --> 00:34:18

different levels of majors for science and engineering.

00:34:18 --> 00:34:21

I want to get AICpublications.com to a

00:34:21 --> 00:34:24

point where we are one of those alternatives.

00:34:24 --> 00:34:27

So I want to grow all of our

00:34:27 --> 00:34:32

tutorials and guidance that we give out to

00:34:32 --> 00:34:33

get to that point.

00:34:34 --> 00:34:35

So that's my long-term goal.

00:34:36 --> 00:34:40

And we established the 10 Minute Engineering GATE

00:34:40 --> 00:34:43

program, Gifted and Talented Education program, as a

00:34:43 --> 00:34:45

way to get folks on that track.

00:34:46 --> 00:34:48

You know, and it's made for not just

00:34:48 --> 00:34:51

elementary kids, but anybody that is interested in

00:34:51 --> 00:34:53

technology, but they don't know where to start,

00:34:53 --> 00:34:55

so that they're not intimidated by it.

00:34:55 --> 00:34:59

Because for a lot of black kids or

00:34:59 --> 00:35:02

just black people that come from that environment,

00:35:03 --> 00:35:04

math is intimidating.

00:35:04 --> 00:35:05

Science is intimidating.

00:35:05 --> 00:35:07

It's looked at as a foreign language, you

00:35:07 --> 00:35:09

know, and all you see is numbers with

00:35:09 --> 00:35:12

gobbledygook presented to you by somebody who's telling

00:35:12 --> 00:35:14

you this is important, but they never tell

00:35:14 --> 00:35:16

you why or how it can be applied.

00:35:17 --> 00:35:18

I was one of them, man.

00:35:18 --> 00:35:20

I mean, I still remember, I guess since

00:35:20 --> 00:35:23

the therapist is here, the traumatic experience that

00:35:23 --> 00:35:25

I had for my algebra tutor.

00:35:25 --> 00:35:27

I still do not like algebra.

00:35:27 --> 00:35:29

I mean, I'm not going to blame her,

00:35:29 --> 00:35:32

but she has a huge contribution to my

00:35:32 --> 00:35:33

trauma.

00:35:34 --> 00:35:36

You know, this reminds me of when we

00:35:36 --> 00:35:39

were going through our master's, a lot of

00:35:39 --> 00:35:41

the research that they teach us about or

00:35:41 --> 00:35:43

teach us from is based off of a

00:35:43 --> 00:35:45

specific demographic that doesn't apply to cultural minorities.

00:35:45 --> 00:35:50

And that's problematic because the research, the way

00:35:50 --> 00:35:51

we do things, the way we do therapy,

00:35:51 --> 00:35:52

and I found that.

00:35:53 --> 00:35:56

I found that when it comes to application

00:35:56 --> 00:35:59

to a minority, to Muslims, especially minority Muslims,

00:36:01 --> 00:36:05

the methods that they use for white people

00:36:05 --> 00:36:07

is based off of white people.

00:36:07 --> 00:36:09

The methods that they use for them, they

00:36:09 --> 00:36:09

don't work.

00:36:10 --> 00:36:12

So I have to change things and I

00:36:12 --> 00:36:14

have to do things a little bit differently.

00:36:14 --> 00:36:16

And there's no, there's not much research on

00:36:16 --> 00:36:17

that.

00:36:17 --> 00:36:20

So I'm loving this, like the direction of

00:36:20 --> 00:36:22

AIC publications, if it gets to a point

00:36:22 --> 00:36:25

where testing and barriers to entry into these

00:36:25 --> 00:36:27

fields can be changed.

00:36:27 --> 00:36:30

And I wonder if even the learning process,

00:36:31 --> 00:36:33

can the learning process be changed to where

00:36:33 --> 00:36:35

it's more relevant to minorities?

00:36:36 --> 00:36:38

And maybe you would have liked algebra if

00:36:38 --> 00:36:39

the learning process was different.

00:36:39 --> 00:36:42

So all that is there, but it's just,

00:36:43 --> 00:36:44

we need someone to do it.

00:36:44 --> 00:36:45

And I love hearing this.

00:36:46 --> 00:36:50

What have you seen with the family structure

00:36:50 --> 00:36:57

because of the presence of the communities?

00:36:57 --> 00:37:00

So for instance, you see, it was very

00:37:00 --> 00:37:02

difficult to make, well, there were challenges and

00:37:02 --> 00:37:06

opportunities when establishing the masjid, for example.

00:37:06 --> 00:37:09

What have you seen with the, has there

00:37:09 --> 00:37:12

been an influx of families that have come

00:37:12 --> 00:37:15

around because of that masjid to where people

00:37:15 --> 00:37:16

will say, wow, there's community here.

00:37:17 --> 00:37:19

I want to, I want to join.

00:37:19 --> 00:37:20

That is something that's increasing.

00:37:20 --> 00:37:22

It is something that's increasing.

00:37:22 --> 00:37:25

And there are more people that steadily say,

00:37:25 --> 00:37:26

okay, how can I get involved?

00:37:27 --> 00:37:31

And they're looking for a directive to be

00:37:31 --> 00:37:32

given.

00:37:33 --> 00:37:34

Directive with deliverables.

00:37:34 --> 00:37:35

And that's the thing.

00:37:35 --> 00:37:38

And you have to have that available.

00:37:38 --> 00:37:42

So those individuals don't feel wasted on their

00:37:42 --> 00:37:44

motivation is not just dissipated.

00:37:44 --> 00:37:47

So you have to have something that they

00:37:47 --> 00:37:51

can be directed to doing, no matter how

00:37:51 --> 00:37:53

minuscules got to be something.

00:37:53 --> 00:37:53

Okay.

00:37:53 --> 00:37:55

So let me ask you, let's get a

00:37:55 --> 00:37:55

little deeper then.

00:37:55 --> 00:38:00

So when someone, a young man wants to

00:38:00 --> 00:38:03

start his nonprofit organization, he has a vision.

00:38:03 --> 00:38:06

He wants to start his organization clothing line,

00:38:06 --> 00:38:08

or he wants to start a certain type

00:38:08 --> 00:38:09

of company.

00:38:10 --> 00:38:11

He has a couple of friends that are

00:38:11 --> 00:38:12

going to join him.

00:38:12 --> 00:38:13

It's fun in the beginning.

00:38:14 --> 00:38:15

At what point would you tell him, man,

00:38:16 --> 00:38:18

you got to have a direction that you're

00:38:18 --> 00:38:18

going.

00:38:18 --> 00:38:20

And when people come on, you need to

00:38:20 --> 00:38:22

know exactly what you want to give them

00:38:22 --> 00:38:24

or else there will leave at what phase

00:38:24 --> 00:38:26

would you tell that young man that I

00:38:26 --> 00:38:27

would tell them that at phase one B

00:38:27 --> 00:38:32

one B one B and phase one a

00:38:32 --> 00:38:35

is making sure that they understand exactly what

00:38:35 --> 00:38:37

it is they say they want.

00:38:38 --> 00:38:41

If they say, I want my own clothing

00:38:41 --> 00:38:43

line, for instance, okay.

00:38:45 --> 00:38:47

Do you know how you're going to make

00:38:47 --> 00:38:48

the clothes?

00:38:48 --> 00:38:49

Where are you going to make them at?

00:38:50 --> 00:38:51

No.

00:38:51 --> 00:38:51

Okay.

00:38:51 --> 00:38:53

Let's get you understanding that.

00:38:53 --> 00:38:55

Do you know whether or not you want

00:38:55 --> 00:38:58

to be incorporated or LLC?

00:38:59 --> 00:39:01

Let's get you understanding that.

00:39:01 --> 00:39:03

Now, are you willing to do those kinds

00:39:03 --> 00:39:04

of things?

00:39:04 --> 00:39:05

You willing to get the answer to those

00:39:05 --> 00:39:05

questions?

00:39:06 --> 00:39:06

Yes.

00:39:06 --> 00:39:07

Okay, cool.

00:39:07 --> 00:39:11

Now, one B is you got to understand

00:39:11 --> 00:39:14

you're going to end up working probably 12,

00:39:14 --> 00:39:15

13, 14, 15, 16 hours a day.

00:39:16 --> 00:39:19

Are you willing to do that and do

00:39:19 --> 00:39:22

everything else that you already are responsible for?

00:39:22 --> 00:39:24

Are you really ready to do that?

00:39:24 --> 00:39:25

If you're really ready to do that, okay,

00:39:25 --> 00:39:26

cool.

00:39:26 --> 00:39:27

We can get something going.

00:39:27 --> 00:39:28

All right.

00:39:28 --> 00:39:29

If you're really ready to do that, you

00:39:29 --> 00:39:31

know what, then you know what, maybe the

00:39:31 --> 00:39:33

rent that you might have to pay here,

00:39:33 --> 00:39:35

you know what, we can, we can cover

00:39:35 --> 00:39:35

that a little bit.

00:39:36 --> 00:39:37

All right.

00:39:37 --> 00:39:39

The time that it would normally charge you

00:39:39 --> 00:39:43

for accessing this space, you know, I'll eat

00:39:43 --> 00:39:43

that for you.

00:39:43 --> 00:39:44

All right.

00:39:44 --> 00:39:46

But this is what you have to do

00:39:46 --> 00:39:50

in complication for that complimentary for that.

00:39:50 --> 00:39:53

You've got to make sure that your content

00:39:53 --> 00:39:54

or whatever it is you're going to be

00:39:54 --> 00:39:55

developing or whatever clothes you're going to be

00:39:55 --> 00:39:57

developing when we need you to develop some

00:39:57 --> 00:39:59

clothes for us and our fundraising initiatives.

00:39:59 --> 00:40:00

You got it.

00:40:00 --> 00:40:03

That's interesting because that's, that's the first, that's

00:40:03 --> 00:40:03

the first step you mentioned.

00:40:03 --> 00:40:06

But when he gets his employees or people

00:40:06 --> 00:40:07

that want to work with him, just as

00:40:07 --> 00:40:09

you get people that want to come in

00:40:09 --> 00:40:10

the mansion and say, give me something to

00:40:10 --> 00:40:13

do, you know, it's, it's, it's beautiful because

00:40:13 --> 00:40:16

he has to sit and look at his

00:40:16 --> 00:40:18

weak spots and that's going to require humility.

00:40:18 --> 00:40:21

He says, okay, LLC, S Corp, C Corp,

00:40:21 --> 00:40:22

I don't want to deal with none of

00:40:22 --> 00:40:24

this, but I'm going to have to learn,

00:40:24 --> 00:40:27

be uncomfortable to learn this because I have

00:40:27 --> 00:40:29

a vision.

00:40:30 --> 00:40:32

And I think that's, you know, when it

00:40:32 --> 00:40:35

comes to establishing and maintain that community, the

00:40:35 --> 00:40:36

vision always has to be there.

00:40:36 --> 00:40:38

I mean, constantly reminding them of the vision

00:40:38 --> 00:40:40

is something you probably got to do with

00:40:40 --> 00:40:42

the ones that want to stay with that.

00:40:42 --> 00:40:43

And the ones that want to, the ones

00:40:43 --> 00:40:45

that want to move, move, move, move, you

00:40:45 --> 00:40:47

know, with the establishment of that community and

00:40:47 --> 00:40:48

the maintenance of it.

00:40:48 --> 00:40:51

What have you seen with regards to, you

00:40:51 --> 00:40:55

know, the family man or the son that

00:40:55 --> 00:40:58

the communal effort and the unity within the

00:40:58 --> 00:41:01

family, it may be kind of shaky.

00:41:01 --> 00:41:03

What have you seen with like the sons

00:41:03 --> 00:41:07

in these households, in these communities, even, you

00:41:07 --> 00:41:08

know, what are some of the traits that

00:41:08 --> 00:41:11

they face that they're, that they're affected by

00:41:11 --> 00:41:12

negatively?

00:41:12 --> 00:41:14

When they don't have a figure to look

00:41:14 --> 00:41:20

up to, then that, they're lost, they're lost.

00:41:21 --> 00:41:24

But I like to, I like to tell

00:41:24 --> 00:41:27

them that it's not, they're not a lost

00:41:27 --> 00:41:30

cause, maybe lost for a time being, but

00:41:30 --> 00:41:32

they can find another figure.

00:41:32 --> 00:41:34

And that's why I feel like there's an

00:41:34 --> 00:41:36

importance of having that community.

00:41:37 --> 00:41:38

Because when it comes to the family system,

00:41:39 --> 00:41:42

you, yes, your father and mother generally should

00:41:42 --> 00:41:43

be the role model that you have that

00:41:43 --> 00:41:45

kind of push you forward and push you

00:41:45 --> 00:41:47

towards doing these incredible things, inshallah.

00:41:48 --> 00:41:50

But if that's not there, then there can

00:41:50 --> 00:41:52

be other people that can step in from

00:41:52 --> 00:41:52

your community.

00:41:53 --> 00:41:56

And that's why it literally takes a village,

00:41:56 --> 00:41:57

right?

00:41:57 --> 00:41:59

That's why you need people around you that

00:41:59 --> 00:42:01

are, that can be role models that are

00:42:01 --> 00:42:04

leaders that, I mean, look like you, that

00:42:04 --> 00:42:06

are doing these incredible things.

00:42:06 --> 00:42:08

And they can be the ones that can

00:42:08 --> 00:42:10

be your mentor, they can be your guide.

00:42:10 --> 00:42:12

And then they're not so lost anymore.

00:42:13 --> 00:42:14

Then things transition for them.

00:42:15 --> 00:42:15

That's beautiful.

00:42:15 --> 00:42:16

That's beautiful.

00:42:16 --> 00:42:18

So within, within the community, establishing the masjid,

00:42:18 --> 00:42:20

right, and then maintaining and then maintenance of

00:42:20 --> 00:42:20

it.

00:42:22 --> 00:42:23

What have you seen with like the mentorship

00:42:23 --> 00:42:25

programs and how important that is kind of

00:42:25 --> 00:42:27

what he's saying about, you know, the kids,

00:42:27 --> 00:42:29

I mean, you know, we can say having

00:42:29 --> 00:42:31

a hero or someone that they look to,

00:42:31 --> 00:42:33

and I always mention, it's important to have

00:42:33 --> 00:42:35

those uncles that are around that'll, that'll put

00:42:35 --> 00:42:37

them in check in the corner with nobody

00:42:37 --> 00:42:39

knowing like, bro, I saw you, man.

00:42:40 --> 00:42:40

You know what I'm saying?

00:42:40 --> 00:42:41

I saw you, man.

00:42:42 --> 00:42:42

You got a job.

00:42:42 --> 00:42:43

I remember I told him young, I was

00:42:43 --> 00:42:45

like, you don't even have a job, man.

00:42:46 --> 00:42:47

What are you trying to talk to her

00:42:47 --> 00:42:47

for?

00:42:49 --> 00:42:50

I mean, you can talk to her, but

00:42:50 --> 00:42:52

just go talk to her father and be

00:42:52 --> 00:42:53

ready to be asked some crucial questions.

00:42:53 --> 00:42:56

I mean, Islam has parameters for a reason.

00:42:56 --> 00:42:57

It's not strict.

00:42:57 --> 00:42:58

Like, you can't look her direction.

00:42:59 --> 00:43:01

If you're interested, there's a process, it's totally

00:43:01 --> 00:43:02

okay.

00:43:02 --> 00:43:04

And that's also the beauty of community, man,

00:43:04 --> 00:43:06

is that, you know, someone can look at

00:43:06 --> 00:43:09

a young man and say, man, I've known

00:43:09 --> 00:43:11

you since you were so on, so you're

00:43:11 --> 00:43:13

not, you're not suitable for her, man.

00:43:13 --> 00:43:16

She's not going to work, man.

00:43:16 --> 00:43:17

She's too strong for you.

00:43:17 --> 00:43:17

You know what I'm saying?

00:43:17 --> 00:43:18

She's too aggressive.

00:43:18 --> 00:43:18

You know what I'm saying?

00:43:19 --> 00:43:21

Or the opposite, you know, you know, had

00:43:21 --> 00:43:23

the process of advising a companion, you know,

00:43:23 --> 00:43:24

about two men.

00:43:25 --> 00:43:26

And, you know, he gave the advice.

00:43:28 --> 00:43:31

When you see that, when you see that

00:43:31 --> 00:43:32

with the young men and the importance of

00:43:32 --> 00:43:34

mentorship, is there some type of programming in

00:43:34 --> 00:43:36

regards to that as well?

00:43:36 --> 00:43:38

There are four principles that I stick to,

00:43:38 --> 00:43:41

men as protectors, providers, maintainers and guardians, PPMG.

00:43:42 --> 00:43:44

And we can do that at every phase

00:43:44 --> 00:43:47

of our lives, whether we are boys or

00:43:47 --> 00:43:50

young men, sons, uncles, friends, husbands.

00:43:50 --> 00:43:53

You know, we are we protecting money?

00:43:54 --> 00:43:55

Are we protecting physical security?

00:43:55 --> 00:43:58

Are we protecting historical knowledge and understanding?

00:43:58 --> 00:44:01

Are we protecting legacy of our elders?

00:44:01 --> 00:44:06

Are we maintaining the elders connection to our

00:44:06 --> 00:44:09

community by reminding them of what they've done?

00:44:09 --> 00:44:11

Because as they get old, they may forget.

00:44:11 --> 00:44:14

You know, it's because of you, uncle, that

00:44:14 --> 00:44:14

I'm able to be here.

00:44:15 --> 00:44:17

You know, you took the brickbacks when you

00:44:17 --> 00:44:18

were having to sit at the back of

00:44:18 --> 00:44:18

the bus.

00:44:18 --> 00:44:21

And now, because of you, I'm here.

00:44:22 --> 00:44:23

OK, so thank you, uncle, for that.

00:44:23 --> 00:44:24

Thank you, auntie, for that.

00:44:24 --> 00:44:27

You know, and it connects them to here

00:44:27 --> 00:44:29

and it lets them see they're still showing

00:44:29 --> 00:44:30

respect.

00:44:31 --> 00:44:33

I'm at ease a little bit more.

00:44:33 --> 00:44:36

I mean, those events at the Masjid and

00:44:36 --> 00:44:38

the youth are playing ball and, you know,

00:44:38 --> 00:44:40

at the end of the event, you know,

00:44:40 --> 00:44:42

the imam or the board member gets up

00:44:42 --> 00:44:43

on the microphone and makes the jokes just

00:44:43 --> 00:44:44

like you did.

00:44:44 --> 00:44:47

And it's so beautiful because now we know

00:44:47 --> 00:44:50

Sister Sakina is not, you know, everybody knows

00:44:50 --> 00:44:51

Sister Sakina.

00:44:52 --> 00:44:53

But then the young man is seeing how

00:44:53 --> 00:44:55

to appropriately deal with people.

00:44:56 --> 00:44:56

Right.

00:44:56 --> 00:44:56

Right.

00:44:56 --> 00:44:59

And that's what community really, really does.

00:44:59 --> 00:45:01

And, you know, shout out to the elders

00:45:01 --> 00:45:03

that have helped establish the community.

00:45:03 --> 00:45:06

And then the younger the younger generation that

00:45:06 --> 00:45:07

helped to maintain that community.

00:45:07 --> 00:45:09

But the maintenance and the drive that they

00:45:09 --> 00:45:11

had was from the elders.

00:45:11 --> 00:45:14

But individual as yourself serving as a liaison,

00:45:14 --> 00:45:16

it really plays a huge role.

00:45:16 --> 00:45:18

And it's all inclusive in how that strength

00:45:18 --> 00:45:18

is.

00:45:19 --> 00:45:24

What's your take on volunteership, like of young

00:45:24 --> 00:45:26

men getting involved in volunteership and what effects

00:45:26 --> 00:45:28

have you seen with that?

00:45:28 --> 00:45:31

That has been a little bit of a

00:45:31 --> 00:45:35

struggle because the young men have so much

00:45:35 --> 00:45:36

pulling on themselves.

00:45:37 --> 00:45:39

They have so much pulling them to be

00:45:39 --> 00:45:41

in every place except the Muslim place.

00:45:42 --> 00:45:44

So one of the things that I've seen

00:45:44 --> 00:45:47

that's kind of worked is giving them an

00:45:47 --> 00:45:49

opportunity to showcase what skill they have.

00:45:50 --> 00:45:53

Because a lot of them are just they're

00:45:53 --> 00:45:55

shy, but they don't want to be known

00:45:55 --> 00:45:56

as being shy.

00:45:57 --> 00:46:01

So if you kind of trick them into

00:46:01 --> 00:46:02

talking about what it is that they like

00:46:02 --> 00:46:06

to do, and then give them an opportunity

00:46:06 --> 00:46:09

to showcase it, many of them will rise

00:46:09 --> 00:46:14

to the occasion or they will be attracted

00:46:14 --> 00:46:15

to those who are doing it on their

00:46:15 --> 00:46:15

own.

00:46:16 --> 00:46:18

And they'll kind of go along with that.

00:46:18 --> 00:46:19

And this is one of the things that

00:46:19 --> 00:46:20

I've seen.

00:46:20 --> 00:46:22

There's a young man I know.

00:46:22 --> 00:46:24

He's very, very quiet, very, very quiet.

00:46:25 --> 00:46:27

And when I talk to him, I just

00:46:27 --> 00:46:28

get loud.

00:46:28 --> 00:46:30

Every time I see him, I'm like, hey,

00:46:30 --> 00:46:31

what's up?

00:46:31 --> 00:46:32

All right.

00:46:32 --> 00:46:35

And he'll come in, he'll, you know, kind

00:46:35 --> 00:46:36

of do this a little bit.

00:46:36 --> 00:46:38

And then when I, hey, what's up, he'll

00:46:38 --> 00:46:41

crack a smile and then a little bit

00:46:41 --> 00:46:41

more smile.

00:46:42 --> 00:46:43

Then out comes his hand, you know, and

00:46:43 --> 00:46:45

then he's coming to embrace me.

00:46:45 --> 00:46:47

And then he'll start talking a little bit

00:46:47 --> 00:46:49

and letting me know what he's doing and

00:46:49 --> 00:46:49

where he's going.

00:46:51 --> 00:46:55

But putting him on that level of being

00:46:55 --> 00:46:58

able to let him showcase himself like that,

00:46:58 --> 00:47:02

to know that, hey, you're not just here,

00:47:02 --> 00:47:05

but I'm glad you're here.

00:47:05 --> 00:47:06

We're glad you're here.

00:47:06 --> 00:47:08

Your presence is needed and it's valued.

00:47:09 --> 00:47:11

He may not know the value he has,

00:47:11 --> 00:47:13

but letting him know that.

00:47:13 --> 00:47:16

One young man, and you were talking about

00:47:16 --> 00:47:18

the state of Gibraltar.

00:47:19 --> 00:47:21

I call him the general, right?

00:47:22 --> 00:47:25

His namesake is Tarek.

00:47:26 --> 00:47:29

And from a little boy, I would always

00:47:29 --> 00:47:29

see him.

00:47:29 --> 00:47:32

He's just, I mean, just a ball of

00:47:32 --> 00:47:32

everything.

00:47:33 --> 00:47:33

All right.

00:47:35 --> 00:47:37

And I noticed he had a little, you

00:47:37 --> 00:47:39

know, anger problem, you know, a little kid.

00:47:39 --> 00:47:40

And one day I pulled him to the

00:47:40 --> 00:47:43

side and I said, you know what, you're

00:47:43 --> 00:47:43

a general.

00:47:44 --> 00:47:45

And I explained to him what a general

00:47:45 --> 00:47:48

was and I explained to him who Tarek,

00:47:48 --> 00:47:49

General Tarek was.

00:47:49 --> 00:47:50

And I said, yeah.

00:47:50 --> 00:47:52

And he sailed through this small little tiny

00:47:52 --> 00:47:55

passage and it was because of him that

00:47:55 --> 00:47:58

the African Islamic influence ruled Spain for 800

00:47:58 --> 00:47:59

years.

00:47:59 --> 00:48:02

And had they continued, we'd be in very

00:48:02 --> 00:48:04

different geopolitical circumstances around the world.

00:48:05 --> 00:48:07

But you are General Tarek.

00:48:07 --> 00:48:09

So if it's okay with you, when I

00:48:09 --> 00:48:11

see you, I'm going to salute you because

00:48:11 --> 00:48:13

you salute generals in the military.

00:48:14 --> 00:48:14

Did you know that?

00:48:15 --> 00:48:17

And he said, so I salute him.

00:48:18 --> 00:48:19

So I've watched him grow up.

00:48:19 --> 00:48:21

And every time we see each other, we

00:48:21 --> 00:48:21

salute.

00:48:22 --> 00:48:24

But I've watched him grow and he'll come

00:48:24 --> 00:48:25

out of his shell a little bit.

00:48:26 --> 00:48:28

You know, the anger is kind of subsided.

00:48:28 --> 00:48:30

And I asked him, and it's been a

00:48:30 --> 00:48:32

long time since I nicknamed him that.

00:48:32 --> 00:48:33

And I asked him one time, I said,

00:48:33 --> 00:48:35

do you know why I call you General?

00:48:36 --> 00:48:36

He said, yeah.

00:48:36 --> 00:48:36

I said, tell me.

00:48:37 --> 00:48:39

And he remembered everything verbatim.

00:48:39 --> 00:48:40

Wow.

00:48:42 --> 00:48:43

That's it, man.

00:48:43 --> 00:48:44

That's, that's beautiful.

00:48:44 --> 00:48:46

And that's a message to parents is make

00:48:46 --> 00:48:48

sure that your young men are involved in

00:48:48 --> 00:48:50

the communities that they're giving from themselves for

00:48:50 --> 00:48:52

something greater than themselves.

00:48:52 --> 00:48:53

And I love how you say that.

00:48:54 --> 00:48:55

I watched him grow.

00:48:55 --> 00:48:57

That's part of the maintenance of the community

00:48:57 --> 00:49:00

because we can easily give up and not

00:49:00 --> 00:49:01

want to take risks and go back in

00:49:01 --> 00:49:04

our homes, be with our families, but be

00:49:04 --> 00:49:05

separated as a community.

00:49:05 --> 00:49:07

But when we go through the hardships together,

00:49:07 --> 00:49:09

we can only get stronger, you know, and

00:49:09 --> 00:49:12

that's what's beautiful about the word unity and

00:49:12 --> 00:49:15

community because the community should be, it's kind

00:49:15 --> 00:49:19

of like an expectation of unity, which is

00:49:19 --> 00:49:20

very important for our young men and for

00:49:20 --> 00:49:23

our older men as well is that they

00:49:23 --> 00:49:26

are involved in their respective communities because they

00:49:26 --> 00:49:28

will have all that they will go through

00:49:28 --> 00:49:31

these qualities that they need to have in

00:49:31 --> 00:49:33

order to be a strong, solid Muslim man.

00:49:34 --> 00:49:36

Just this idea, the story that you just

00:49:36 --> 00:49:39

mentioned, there's, look at where you're at.

00:49:39 --> 00:49:42

All this is happening in this community.

00:49:43 --> 00:49:46

It requires the younger boy to be a

00:49:46 --> 00:49:48

part of the community, but it also requires

00:49:48 --> 00:49:51

someone from the community caring about that younger

00:49:51 --> 00:49:51

boy as well.

00:49:52 --> 00:49:53

So this is a message not just for

00:49:53 --> 00:49:56

the parents to send to make their younger

00:49:56 --> 00:49:58

children a part of the community, but also

00:49:58 --> 00:50:00

parents be a part of that community as

00:50:00 --> 00:50:00

well.

00:50:00 --> 00:50:01

There are other kids over there that might

00:50:01 --> 00:50:02

need you.

00:50:03 --> 00:50:05

And I think that just that aspect of

00:50:05 --> 00:50:07

it, just being there and being there for

00:50:07 --> 00:50:09

the community and supporting them, even if it's

00:50:09 --> 00:50:11

just giving a salute every single time you

00:50:11 --> 00:50:13

see them, it'll make a world of difference.

00:50:14 --> 00:50:15

It'll make a world of difference.

00:50:15 --> 00:50:18

And I mean, there's research and research on

00:50:18 --> 00:50:20

just the fact of how mentorship can change

00:50:20 --> 00:50:21

kids' lives.

00:50:22 --> 00:50:23

I love hearing stories like this.

00:50:23 --> 00:50:25

You know, as deep as you mentioned, man,

00:50:25 --> 00:50:27

it's because I remember one brother, he said

00:50:27 --> 00:50:31

that a young boy came up to him

00:50:31 --> 00:50:35

and started talking to him and asking for

00:50:35 --> 00:50:35

advice.

00:50:35 --> 00:50:38

The brother was like, I didn't know what

00:50:38 --> 00:50:39

to offer.

00:50:39 --> 00:50:39

I don't know who.

00:50:40 --> 00:50:41

I said, yeah, but he came to you

00:50:41 --> 00:50:43

now and he saw his face.

00:50:43 --> 00:50:46

He's like, man, I'm valuable.

00:50:46 --> 00:50:50

I have something to offer.

00:50:51 --> 00:50:51

Yeah.

00:50:52 --> 00:50:54

And take that responsibility seriously.

00:50:54 --> 00:50:54

Yeah.

00:50:54 --> 00:50:57

And because when he realized that it hit

00:50:57 --> 00:51:00

him, it really hit him like, man, I

00:51:00 --> 00:51:02

have something to give to this community by

00:51:02 --> 00:51:04

this young child that I never would have

00:51:04 --> 00:51:07

thought would come to who, what, when, where,

00:51:07 --> 00:51:08

why, you know?

00:51:09 --> 00:51:12

But it's so beautiful when you create, by

00:51:12 --> 00:51:14

the permission of Allah, that mechanism and that

00:51:14 --> 00:51:16

environment and atmosphere for all of this to

00:51:16 --> 00:51:17

take place.

00:51:17 --> 00:51:20

And it has to be essentially and ultimately

00:51:20 --> 00:51:23

men that establish that along with, mashallah, the

00:51:23 --> 00:51:25

women and sisters as a support system.

00:51:25 --> 00:51:28

But part of the masculinity and embodiment of

00:51:28 --> 00:51:32

masculinity of the man is to volunteer in

00:51:32 --> 00:51:36

their respective communities, which helps leave a communal

00:51:36 --> 00:51:39

legacy, which is a strong way of worshiping

00:51:39 --> 00:51:41

Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

00:51:41 --> 00:51:42

May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala bless all

00:51:42 --> 00:51:44

of you for tuning in to the Iman

00:51:44 --> 00:51:46

Cave and tune in for our next episode.

00:51:46 --> 00:51:50

So don't forget to leave comments, any comments,

00:51:50 --> 00:51:51

mashallah.

00:51:51 --> 00:51:53

We read them and we try to answer

00:51:53 --> 00:51:55

the questions directly or indirectly.

00:51:55 --> 00:51:56

May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala bless you

00:51:56 --> 00:51:56

all.

00:51:56 --> 00:52:00

And don't forget to go to AICpublications.com

00:52:00 --> 00:52:02

and to tune in and look at the

00:52:02 --> 00:52:05

literature, mashallah, to Barakallah, and to join the

00:52:05 --> 00:52:08

contribution in helping educate our young brothers and

00:52:08 --> 00:52:08

sisters.

00:52:09 --> 00:52:11

As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.

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