Abdullah Oduro – Iman Cave – Bravery, Tawakkul, And Risking It All For Allah
AI: Summary ©
The speakers stress the importance of bravery in various situations, including crisis situations, challenges, and complex situations. They stress the need for strong bravery in protecting one's health, privacy, and community involvement, as well as setting firm rules and trusting Islam. Accommodity and belonging are crucial for achieving success in difficult situations like the coronavirus pandemic, and renewing intentions to achieve goals is crucial for renewing intentions. A book on finding one's own values is recommended, and advice on renewing intentions is offered.AI: Transcript ©
Need to be brave enough to defend my
sisters even if I wasn't gonna go to
that protest also. And, like Even if I
don't agree in Even if I don't agree.
Right? This will happen at UCLA. Right? You
know, we got text messages at midnight. Yeah.
We know people are saying, our sisters fear
are fearing for their lives. Super. And so
hundreds of Muslim men literally drive an hour
or 2 hours away because a woman has
said, hey, I'm I'm in fear. What would
you tell the parents of these youth in
the encampments? We want to tell the parents
don't try to fix it. Right. How can
the Muslim who believes that Allah is a
razzak,
is the provider, the ultimate provider,
not be out there? The protests have shown
us, again, people who believe the pro the
police are here to protect us. They're not
here to protect us. They're here to protect
the state. But literally, we saw this. Right?
Again, at UCLA, we're like, police
watched a 150 thugs beat up. Shoot fireworks
after. Shoot fireworks, you know, bear spray, mace.
It's good we experience these things, so Allah
is kinda shaking us and being, like, get
out of your false sense of security. Right?
And then get up and do something yourself.
Assalamu alaikum.
The peace and blessings of Allah
be upon you all. Hello, everyone. I'm Abdullah
O'Duro, and welcome to the Imancave, where we
discuss issues of male excellence while being grounded
in faith.
The prophet, peace and blessings be upon him,
had a beautiful statement that we have many
of us have heard over numerous years, different
occasions, different times, different situations.
We usually hear it on the basketball court
or on the football field or in some
type of physical engagement where he said, sallallahu
alaihi wa sallam,
The prophet
said the strong believer
is better in the sight of Allah than
the weak believer, and both and in both
of them are good. The rest of the
hadith
continues. This is what we say a lot
of times for the person that is strong,
and many scholars have explained that strength
emanates from iman initially because it's an al
mummin, the one that has the belief, and
that strength ultimately should emanate from that. It
doesn't deny the fact that someone is physically
strong. But the question is,
is someone that is brave
necessarily strong?
Is someone that is physically strong
necessarily
brave?
I think there is a convolution between the
2, but we are here today with the
beautiful brothers to talk about bravery.
Why is bravery important in the life of
the human being, but particularly
in the life of the Muslim man? We're
going to discuss that today inshallah
with none other. Firstly, with our beautiful cohost,
brother.
Entrepreneur,
youth enthusiasts.
And also, we always have to remember to
mention,
because you will find him at a food
truck near you. Inshallah,
May Allah bless you.
Thank you so much. And to your left,
you have none other but the one and
only brother-in-law
of the
of a lifetime.
How are you doing?
Doctor Mohammed Shannawi,
We go way back. He's been the he
is the director of systematic theology here at
Yag'in Institute, and you will find a lot
of videos for him online,
particularly those of the proofs of prophethood. You
find the books, the proofs of the book,
the proofs of prophethood,
and it's part of the curriculum that we,
have for the high schoolers that speak about
the life of the prophet
and the proof of his prophethood along with
many other papers from them being to know
him is to love him, to speaking about
the names and attributes of Allah
And he is the imam of the Jesus
son of Mary mosque in Allentown,
Pennsylvania.
Welcome, Sheikh Zazakal. Hey, And there was a
lot more to say.
And to my right, we have none other
than a doctor
Usman Umarji.
How are you doing, Shay? I'm the left.
How are you like? Hello. Doctor. Umarji.
There's a lot about him too. He's the
director of the cycle spiritual studies department in
Yaqeen Institute.
Moshala, director of survey research. Moshala, he's a
professor at the, College of Irvine, California,
and he's been heavily involved
in Irvine, California, in Orange County, if you
will, Cali.
What's so beautiful
about this gathering today is, we all go
way back.
But to my right, in front of you
to your left is someone
that has been on the campuses
in California, in Irvine. The Irvine 11, he
was there. He's gonna speak about it,
And to my left, to your right, is
someone that's been on the campuses
in, the East Coast in general in regards
to what is going on in Gaza. May
Allah,
relieve the suffering of our brothers and sisters
in Gaza and all around the world.
But, particularly, we want to talk about this
issue of bravery
in this issue of Gaza and even outside
of that. What is it? Why does it
matter?
And the lack of it, what does that
mean?
Before that, I want to start with the
particular
statement that that Ibn Al Qayyim mentions in
his book, al Furusia and Muhammadiyah, which would
translate to be what would mean? Prophetic chivalry.
For chivalry.
This is why he's a translator of numerous
books.
At the very end of this book, if
you have the opportunity to look at it,
he speaks about the characteristics
of shajah. And shajah is bravery,
and he makes that difference between shajah and
quwa. And he says
Shaja is as he termed
a.
It is to be firm and solid in
times of calamities.
And the distinction that he makes is so
beautiful, and I want y'all to expound upon
this, Insha'Allah. We'll start with that,
is he gives the example of Abu Bakr.
All of us know
all of us know that Umar ibn Al
Khattab was.
He was stronger than him physically with his
body and his stature. But Abu Bakr
was the bravest after the prophet sallallahu alaihi
wasallam. And Ibn Uqayin goes down the line,
Rahimullah
down the line in the situations
in Islamic history
when Abu Bakr
exhibited his bravery. And there were times where
Khattab needed Abu Bakr to remind him of
stay strong in the times of calamities.
That's very important. Bravery, a thabbat in the
Noazil, is being firm in times of calamities.
So starting off with you, sheikh, doctor Saman.
What do you
see as bravery? How would you define bravery
in the life of the Muslim man?
So like Ibukai mentions that just to start
off with like just being physically strong is
not enough to be brave. Right? So the
necessity here, we're talking about in times of
difficulty when one may even feel fear, when
one one may feel these negative emotions that
might be telling them don't do something,
that is what being brave means. It's at
that time you're able to
conjure up that strength that you have, that
spiritual strength and that physical strength and bring
it into action.
And so it's not this theoretical or abstract
strength, but it's something that's come to life
in the situations that mandate it. It's reflective.
It comes off,
almost as habitual in many ways. Right? Someone
who has trained themselves in a certain way,
that bravery just emerges without even thinking about
it because you've trained yourself spiritually
and physically so that when you're in a
situation that mandates it, you're just like, I'm
ready to go. I'm ready to do what's
right, and you don't even think about the
consequences
because you know that this is what Allah
demands from you.
Training. Those of you who don't know,
we have 2 jujitsu specialists here, so I
feel very safe.
We feel safe with you, No. That's
the just me. But, I mean, we don't
know in my brain when the time comes.
Of course. Condition myself, you know? You never
know, Sheikh. But we we can have assumptions.
God bless you. I'll be behind you any
day,
sir. How long you I'm gonna be behind
the Ninjutsu. Oh, right here, man. Ninjutsu. Ninjutsu?
Ninjutsu was a long time ago, but we
have
very loose gun laws in Pennsylvania, so all
of you guys should feel safe right now.
And you got the crossbow too. Really?
So, Mohammad, how would you define,
shajah or bravery? When you hear that word,
what comes to mind? Yeah. I
mean,
shajah is huge. Right?
Like, bravery is very, very big. I mean,
that's why even in the Qayyim himself elsewhere
in, in Madadah jiste'adekien,
he speaks about how fund foundational shajah is,
bravery is. And he says that all good
character's traits
boil down to 4. They stem from 4.
If you don't have these foundations, if your
foundations are rocky, you won't be able to
build on them, character.
And so he says,
patience.
He says,
which is sort of like having integrity and
the ability to restrain yourself from, like, sticking
your hand out to others or reaching for
what's not yours or humiliating yourself for the
for the sake of some material gain or
ugly gain. And then the third one is
is is bravery. Mhmm. And I believe the
4th one is
knowledge. You gotta be able to identify. Rights
and wrongs,
discern, make moral judgments. But in terms of,
it is why is it so foundational? Because
so overarching. Like, he even mentioned Abu Bakr
Sudeik, Radi Allahu'an. Abu Bakr Sudeik,
certainly, certainly in moments of fear,
in moments of of horror,
he stood his ground. And that is part
of what Shaja is. Mhmm. I mean, when
the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam passed away, no
one loved him more than Abu Bakr, radiallahu
an. And yet he was the one that
stabilized everybody else Allah. When it hit. Right?
And so he is the hallmark of bravery.
But, also, what may even come to mind
before
those moments of horror,
are moments of need. Right? When people need
you, it takes great bravery
to put yourself out on a limb for
others. Right? Yeah. And so and that's the
hallmark of a Buqavam before anything else, which
is generosity. Right? And generosity is bravery.
Yes? Mhmm. Yes. And so,
Abu Bakr,
I left for them Allah and his messenger.
Allah. And that's a big part of what
bravery is. You know, bravery even, like, think
of entrepreneurs. Like, they're able to imagine a
different reality and embark onto the unknown and
take the risk, whether it's sort of charity
philanthropy or sort of like business commerce or
otherwise. That takes a lot of bravery. Right?
I'm willing to accept the fact that this
could go south, and I'll take a few
hits before, you know, I guess on the
uptick. And of course,
this is inborn on some level, but you
need some training. With experience, it builds, but
there is no greater
feed for it than your faith. Right? They
say, like, feed your faith and your fears
starve to death. Right? Mhmm. And so you
need it, like, to stare death in the
eye, if you will. Right? When you face
horrors, you need bravery. You need it to
be generous
because, like, stinginess is in a sense cowardice.
Right? Yeah. It's a form of cowardliness. Mhmm.
You need it also to be
to be manly in in the gendered sense
because these 2, of course, are for everybody,
male male and female. Right. But to accept
the fact that I may be rejected
by her father, and I'm still gonna approach
him first and not slip into the DM
or approach her. Right? Mhmm. This is bravery.
Yes. Right? And so it's foundational. I know
that for a fact. You know, here it
is. Come on, bro. We gave you our
sister, and you'll start pulling out any laundry,
bro. I know. I know. I swear you're
in the nose. He's gonna see this. You're
now, Valai. It's the most intimidating moment of
my life, you know, meeting meeting, Hajjali alayhi
alhammayra. I mean, Allah, it's Yeah. Well, it's
No. Just overarching. Right? Power. Yeah. Just leave
leave it there. You know, sabr, to be
honest, without sort of splicing this too far
and splitting hairs, sabr is everything. Patience is
everything. Right?
People even think, like, the dean is half
patience and half gratitude. Mhmm. And that is
true if you mean, like, patience,
in hard times Mhmm. And gratitude in good
times. But in in the wider sense
of the word, patience is everything. Because even
being patient upon gratitude is a form of
patience. Right? Right. And so Shejaah
is like a subset of patience to be
able to persevere, to be able to stand
your ground, to be able to stay pay
to to be able to,
remain at your station. Right? Don't waver. That's
what Shaja'a is. It's a subset that Allah
singles out in the Quran
using the word ribaat, actually. Right. And maybe
you should you can speak to this. You
gave a beautiful Khaldabaat this Sheikh Osman at
the Encampments. When Allah said in the end
of Surah Alaihi Amraan, he said, Isbiru Wasaabiru.
So be patient. Mhmm. And then he said,
and continue being patient. I'm not talking about
a moment's patience. Mhmm. Then he said, and,
like, anchor yourself. Mhmm. That's that one. Right?
Yeah. But even though they're subsets of
because them getting lost in the mix is
so dangerous, Allah singled them out to highlight
them. They're indispensable. You know, it's beautiful. I
think
it's
the. Like, yourself should be patient, but
is to help and assist in making the
others patient because within this time frame, it
is very these calamities can cause one
to lose focus and lose sight. Unravel? Right.
Yeah. And then unravel. Exactly. And then, Rabbi,
too, is how do you implement that patience
with, you know, standing your ground and, and
particularly, like, you mentioned in the encampments. And
that's what I want to move on to,
Inshallah.
Both of you, all of us here, have
had an experience at the college campuses. It's
funny. We're in the south, and we have
the west and the east here. In the
west and the east. Right. Are we gonna
throw gang signs in that? Exactly. We do
it. I was literally about to. Yeah. Then
I remember this podcast, so I can't do
that.
So, doctor Usman, what have you seen?
If you could start out with the Irvine
11, and we all we also have an
interview, with the brothers in Irvine 11. Check
it out on the on the on the,
YouTube channel, Inshallah. When you were there during
the time of the Irvine 11, what are
some things that you see the similarities
from then till the Encampus that you see
now? Yeah. So,
I mean, the Irvine 11 issue was, was
was a big issue at that time, but
but it was preceded by a lot of
other activism, which I wanna speak about because
it's about Sabiro.
Like, you're doing this with groups of people.
Mhmm. So when there was Tabat from the,
you know, the the late nineties and the
early 2000 when the Muslim students on the
West Coast began to speak up on behalf
of Palestine, we're very small and very few.
There were like a dozen, maybe 2 dozen,
and everyone else was just looking at you
like you're crazy. But we didn't care because
it was the help. So that gave momentum
for another generation to come 5 years later,
which is the the Ravana 11 were, and
be like, hey, these guys did it. We're
gonna do it, and we're gonna do it
even more. Mhmm. Right? And so they were
able to excel and even over you know,
do more, you know, of of exhibit more
bravery than we did. So in their situation,
right, the Israeli ambassador to United States came
to give a speech at the university,
and, you know, he's spewing his lies. And
they said, look. We're gonna do some, you
know, we're gonna speak out against him. And
because he is who he is, right, all
11 of them were arrested as they spoke.
Literally, they said, like, you're a liar. Mhmm.
And the police grab him, cuff him, take
him out. Right? Hit them with a misdemeanor.
Right? Take them to court demeanor. Oh, yeah.
Take a national spectacle out of it. Right?
Try to ruin their lives. But they knew
there were gonna be consequences, but they were
like, this is the time to stand up
and be brave. This is not the time
to worry about your dunya. This is not
the time to worry about, you know, all
the other things that Shaitan might be getting
into your mind. Mhmm. And just to continue,
what we got to today, where the students
are in the encampment, that history is what
gives them courage to do what they're doing.
Hello. Right? So courage is like contagious shit.
Yeah. Absolutely.
Contagious. Sajah is contagious. No. Perhaps, like, you
know, one of the barakah of of being
brave is
is you kind of spreading it to others
who have this, like, untapped potential bravery.
You get what I mean? That's what we
kinda like spew around. Absolutely. Somebody stands up
and they see you, and they're like, man,
I could do that too. It's like we
take the example of a Bakr he went
to, you know, when, like, is a great
example of this. Right? Where it's like, everyone
is wavering, you know, the prophet has died.
Awesome. And everyone's like, what should we do?
And he's like, look, there's these guys that
wanna pay zakah, and everyone's like, let's take
it easy. Let's take it easy. And he's
like, I don't care what you guys think.
Oh, lord. I'm a do what's right. And
everyone else is like, I'm a fall into
line. He's the bravest of all of them.
Let's all continue this. Right? That's why they
say, you know, he was one of the
most, you know, important figures in the history
of Islam Wow. Bringing people back to the
faith. Right? So No. And that's so important.
I mean, when we talk about these characteristics,
just to, we've all mentioned it already, but
it's important to remind ourselves that these characteristics
are transcendent, that it's for a purpose, that
Allah,
the creator of the heavens and the earth,
that's the anchor to where all of this
comes about. Yeah. Right? And that's what really
gives me the the, the like you said,
the untapped potential.
Because if I see my Muslim brother or
my mentor, that's most of myself, and we
both believe in the creator of the heavens
and the earth, that
I'm trusting in Allah and I seek help
in him. That is what's going to make
me brave to the degree that, you know,
death is not something that's going to make
me stop. And that's why it's beautiful. The
whole concept of death when the prophet
mentioned, you know,
is to increase yourself in the destroyer of
pleasures
Because that is just the stage moving on
to another stage. Right? It's a it's a.
You're going to move on to another stage.
Right?
He said, I sought death where you would
expect it most. This is like his famous
monologue as he was dying. He was reflecting
on his life as a warrior.
He said, of course, not sought death. Obviously,
it's not suicidal ideation. Islam is not a
death cult. These tired sort of accusations, we've
given out disclaimers for them. Let's get to
the inspirational part of this.
We don't fear death. How do you defeat
a people who don't fear death? Mhmm. It's
something that has been surfacing and deserves to
be celebrated. Right? Right. He said, as he
was dying, how
crazy it is that I have basically
thrown myself in harm's way throughout my life
where death would be expected most
and I never die. He said, and here
I am today. There's not a a spot
left on my body, except that there's a
scar from a
arrow or a spear or a sword. And
yet here I am dying on my cushion,
on my bed, the way a lamb dies
in its pen. Then he said,
He said, may the cowards never find any
sleep. Like, you lost so much sleep
over your life or your livelihood,
and it didn't lengthen your life. Mhmm. And
I didn't lose any sleep over this. And
look at me anyway. I still didn't die
there. Mhmm. Right? What hit you wasn't gonna
miss you. What missed you wasn't gonna hit
you. And if you die, believe anything else,
you don't qualify for paradise. Can you imagine
I don't know. Like Islam requires you, requires
you Mhmm. To armor yourself with confidence
in his destiny.
And that's what bravery does. Bravery is confidence
in Allah
because you know that you're you're standing up
for something that is much more than this
physical this physical life. And that's what makes
it so beautiful. Can someone without bravery have
true tawakkul?
That's a is that a is that a
question we could pose or an ocean? Can
someone without bravery have trust in Allah? Trust
in Allah. Can you truly trust in Allah
without,
like, because it is it requires,
bravery
to say, you know what, no, I'm I'm
not gonna get poor. No, I'm not gonna
die right now. No, I'm not. Whatever is
written is going to happen to me. Right?
That's what tawakkul is. So like, maybe we
could explore some of that interconnection. Yeah, it's
interesting because Because tawakkul is a big part
of. Yeah. Tawakkal is confidence. It's it's yeah.
It's confidence in Allah's beautiful names and attributes
that they will manifest when he chooses. Right?
Exactly. But then, I guess, and y'all can
elaborate on this. The manifestation of that trust
in different times will require bravery to stand
up to those that may question your decision.
If that is like, for instance, you know,
the husband when we first get married and,
you know, you may be asked questions by
not the wife, maybe other family members around
and say, how you do this? Are you
gonna do this? And the reason you're doing
it is because you trust in Allah.
It's not a no overzealous type just where
you're doing
where it's not something that is,
I don't wanna say not logical,
but it is not, let's say, 51 to
100% reasonable
decision.
It will in my humble opinion, it's best.
It will cry a little bravery. So there
has to be bravery when it comes to
implementation
of that tuakul and that trust in Allah
Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. I think the idea of
bravery being
evaluated
after the onset of fear
is very valuable. Right? Yeah. So for example,
we don't believe in superstitions in Islam. Right?
We have good assumptions of Allah always. We
don't care about seeing a black cat. We
don't care about walking under ladders. We don't
care if there's a 13th floor or the
Friday lands on the number 13 on some
Gregorian calendar
or or a Israeli one. Right? Yeah. But
Ibn Mas'ud radiAllahu anhu, he says something very
profound.
He said a tira, which is like to
to notice something that is interpreted by everyone
as a bad omen and so sort of
like makes you pause. Mhmm. Right? Like a
discomfort, an anxious pause. He said this happens
to everybody.
He said as for the believer, you'd have
to have a tawakkul. Mhmm. He insists on
dismissing it with tawakkul. Right? Mhmm. And also
the hadith narrated by Ahmed Rahimahullah,
where the prophet
said, shaitan, the devil, of course, he sort
of incites fear all the time. Right? Evokes
and elicits fear. He said he sits on
every path for the son of Adam. Mhmm.
He decides to become a Muslim,
and he tells him you're gonna leave the
religion religion so he defies him and becomes
Muslim. Mhmm. And then he decides to migrate.
He's gonna say you're gonna leave your homeland
and your livelihood, and he defies him and,
you know, migrates. And then the time for
jihad comes, and he tells him
she's gonna remarry, and your kids are gonna
be and he defies him, and he does
it. Right? And so the issue of
it's gonna hit. Right? It's get you're gonna
get some tough questions when you knock on
the girl's door. Right? Mhmm. But I I
have, Shajai, I'm gonna sort of put my
best foot forward, put my trust in Allah,
and I'm gonna brave the storm. That's what
I think Yeah. People, you know, they they
have this idea of, look, is that the
answer to my staghra? Like, any sort of
friction or discomfort or, like,
is that a bad sign? Right. That's where
bravery is tested. It's after you take that
stuff. Feel. That's amazing. Another question. And I
want you to speak on what you've seen
at the campus as well, but, you know,
I think there's a misconception
when we speak about
bravery as though there is there was no
fear that preceded the bravery.
But was Musa was scared. You know?
Right? You I fear that they that they
would transgress the bounds. Right? So is it
if someone is scared,
is
that unmanly?
What do you all think of that? If
someone is brave so let's say that someone
is brave and they're a brave person. Let's
say Khaleem will lead. I would say, okay.
He was fearless,
or was there an element of fear? Is
it okay to have fear
as a brave person? Yeah. Absolutely. I mean,
without a doubt, and I think you mentioned
it well. I mean, Musa, alayhi, Salam, is
the exemplar for us in the Quran. The
words that are used over and over in
almost every situation,
if you're right, and many other ones.
The situation Allah says,
Like, it's specifically put there to say that,
look. In this situation, Musa had fear, but
it's always followed up by it, but he
still did the right thing. Or he still
did the right thing over and over and
over. So I would say that,
fear is a human,
you know, emotion that one cannot escape. Mhmm.
Right? And so rather than think that, like,
you know, eliminating fear is a goal, actually,
it's not. It's overcoming the fear, which is
a goal. And that is the sign of
in many cases. Right? I have the trust
in Allah
that this fear that I have, if I
put my trust in him, the outcome is
gonna be good. Right? The outcome the outcome
will be in my favor in this life
or in the next. Right? Mhmm. We're not
trying to eliminate fear. It's not the goal.
Mhmm. But
when you're in the situation that is fearful,
you will have far less fear than probably
the people around you who might wanna run
away. Right?
And it increases. It's a muscle. Yeah. Exactly.
It's a muscle. Yeah. You know, I'm acting
like I'm I'm mister brave over here. I'm,
you know,
like It's like, yeah. You got a shirt
cut out? No. But, like, I I I
remember one time, one of the masha'ikh, he
said to me something that was really cool.
He said there was a guy in a
Muslim army. Right? And, of course, like, this
bravery is not just about sort of battle
the battles, even though the Muslim man, especially,
should be battle ready and ready to protect
his family more so than anyone else. Right?
That hinges on him and is expected of
him. But he's in this in the army
and he's like
panicking. Like, I really hope this war doesn't
happen. Like, I hope, you know, like, they
send a messenger envoy emissary saying, you know,
we're calling it off. We're gonna do it
after Christmas, not right now or something. He
says and, like, every day they're inching closer
and closer, and he's just fretting at this
point.
And he says, like, they send a volley
of arrows
from enemy lines, and it just misses his
face.
And it lands by his, you know, right
behind him and kills a snake that was
like camouflage in the sand right under him.
Wow. Awesome. So
it just hit him like, wow. Why? Why?
Why? Why? Why all this fear? Like Mhmm.
It was his time, not mine.
So let's not over, you know, calculate this.
I love it. We're gonna be a little
bit pragmatic. Right? But let's not over calculate.
And little by little, you know, I remember
doctor Hamid Samu Alqatin, one of our, masha'ikh
and psychiatrist actually.
He says he used to always tell the
students of knowledge never belittle
anyone because perhaps Allah put a certain person
through so many bouts of fear in their
life even like a traitor. He subjected himself
to bankruptcy so many times, perhaps, unintentionally, of
course. And so he developed more bravery
and trust in God than someone who's picking
it up at a theoreticals in the books
and giving lectures about it. Mhmm. It's about
living it, living it. Prashant, what about it's
about the odds as well, you know, because
sometimes
there's fear,
but there's also intellect. Like a person
can understand the repercussions
of being brave in this situation.
Right? Okay, this is going to happen to
me. I know this is going to happen
to me. I know,
I might get denied my credit, I might
get fired from my job, I might go
go to jail, I want, I, like this
might happen to me.
What
balances that out? And in my opinion, it's
always it's always the. It balances everything out.
The moment you understand the reward from Allah,
that's it. If everything should, like, it should
tip the scale. Mhmm. You know? Because the
other day, I was I was talking to.
Okay.
And I had, hamdan, the opportunity to speak
in, one of the protests here in UTD.
Mhmm. So they went and they, so Hamdan
and I prepared hamburgatis. We were talking about
University of Texas. Yeah. So we made a
100 hamburgatis, and then we went out,
to feed them there in the in the
college campus.
Right? And just to just to feed them.
And then when I I was on the
way, and then they're like, oh,
they took a bunch of our our
our, like,
you know, the shabab, you know, they took
them to to prison. I'm, like, they took
them to jail. They took them to jail.
They took them to jail. They took them
to jail.
Right? So I'm, like, in jail? Where at?
So, like, everybody, the protest is gone.
So there's nobody there? They're like, yeah, they're
all in,
they're all over there in, like, McKinney where
McKinney. Where that that was happening. So we
went out, and Sheikh Ababa, you were there.
Right? Yeah. Yeah. So, yeah. We went out,
and,
it was it was pretty cool. I was
talking to one of the Shabaab, like, you
know, one of the greatest that I had
there was
when the prophet said the greatest form of
striving for Allah
is a word
of truth in the face of an oppressor.
Right? And we could imagine striving
in all of its forms,
and how
tiring and how straining and how stressful it
could be. Right?
And how it could take a toll on
everything in in you. Right? But but a
word was equivalent to all that and greater.
Mhmm. So I think, you know, just knowing
that
makes a it gives console, like, okay, yeah,
I'm gonna do this, but I'm doing the
greatest form of striving. Right. Like, what I'm
doing is the best thing I can be
doing right now. Right. Right. Right? So I
think knowledge,
just
and and just knowing what the reward is.
Knowledge and knowing what the reward is, and
that remembrance of the reward and knowing that
that reward may not come in this life.
Yeah. And the reward of the next life.
Right? It's it's It's true. It's much more
everlasting. I know. So, Sheikh Mohammed, what have
you
what would you
tell the parents
of these youth in the encampments? Right? Because
I've been in situations, you know, what's going
on now.
You know, the son is like my dad
won't let me go out
because he fears
that I, you know, you know,
my I'll lose my my opportunities to continue
to complete my education.
But I this is how I want to
exemplify my religion. This is what I feel
that I can do. I feel that I
haven't been I haven't done anything, and this
is an opportunity to do that.
What would you say to that parent and
what would you say to that student?
You know, before I even say that, allow
me to say that these sons and daughters,
these
youth that are in the encampments and of
course there are faculty there and there are
community members there.
Mhmm. You started the episode saying how like,
where East Coast and West Coast, both in
the encampments on both sides of the country
and things like this. Mhmm. But the the
truth is,
that
pales in its bravery
compared to what these youth are doing, 1st
and foremost. Because
our careers are not on the line as
sort of religious leaders and Muslim communities Right.
By showing up in these places. Right? We
might actually get a raise or something.
Like, oh, man. And he's into social justice.
Right? Like, my stock might actually climb from
this.
But these youth are are their lives are
just taking off, Mhmm. And they are sort
of, a contingent that is in the mainstream,
that is on the cusp of being in
Mhmm. Corporate America or whatever it's going to
be. Their their livelihoods,
presumptively. Right? Their careers, everything is on the
line, and they're doing it. There's a lot
of reasons why they're doing it. Mhmm. Of
them is the sense of purpose, even if
you're not Muslim. Mhmm. Like, the sense of
purpose is huge. Right. Right?
And I think the vacuum of purpose in
modern life, the very felt flatness of the
secular age is a big part of that.
But for another time, irrespective though,
being young
makes you braver than the elderly. The elderly
would not accept the change, the bravery it
would take to get canceled by following the
prophet.
It was the youth. Right? The youth. Yeah.
And so this is expected of the youth
and extremely brave of the youth.
And we want to tell the parents don't
try to fix it. Right? Mhmm. I I
sort of tried to lean in a little
bit as respectfully as I could to the
parents in Jamaal last week. And I said
to them the kids aren't doing anything wrong
you know our dean celebrates
those who speak truth to power
and
the country in which we live enshrines
in its constitution.
Right? This right to assemble and and speak
freely. Right?
And
the people are also all out there. Like,
it's not just the Muslims. Right?
The Jews that are against genocide and the
Jews that are for peace and the faculty
are out there. And the the the the
ethnic minorities who have, you know, great economic
challenges usually ahead of them, right, are out
there.
And the 70 80 year olds who helped,
you know, push the needle forward until Vietnam
became unfavorable came out 50 years later and
they're out there. Mhmm. So how can the
Muslim who believes that Allah is a razzak,
is the provider, the ultimate provider, not be
out there? And so
it would
be a concern that we should have
that
we don't condemn
those trying to silence them. That's the real
problem. Mhmm. And I said to them that
Al Imam Ahmed Rahimahullah,
he was asked by one of the prison
guards,
You make dua against the Valimin, the oppressors,
and,
Awan of Valimin, the assistants, the aids, the
advocates of the oppressors.
He said, am I one of them? He's
like a jail guard. Mhmm. He's at the
door.
He said to him, no. No. No. The
one who
aids the oppressor is the guy who tailors
his clothes and cooks his food. You're one
of the oppressors.
You're not category 2. You're category 1.
Right? Like,
so may Allah protect us from ever being
that. That was the promise that Musa, alayhis
salam, made to Allah.
Because of the great favor you've conferred upon
me, I will never be a supporter. Right?
And silencing those doing the right thing is
in fact supporting those doing the wrong thing.
That's a very important point. That Please. I
think for, parents to realize that the academic
Islam is not what really lights the fire
of faith
in people's hearts. Oh, love. Instead of experiential
Islam. Right? And so the experience of being
on a campus is the most important,
identity solidifying moments of one's life. A parent
does not allow their kid to participate. They
are stripping them of an opportunity
to really latch onto a firm Islamic identity
Mhmm. Because they will never forget this for
the rest of their lives. Yes. Right? I
mean, I I'll be personally in my own
life. You know, it was my college activism
that really lit my my faith on fire,
made me realize Islam as a living, vibrant
religion that actually is here to change the
world. Mhmm. Right? It's not just something for
me to go into my my bedroom and
go do the Quran.
Right. All the ayaat that they're hearing, like,
in the Dourus, all these things, they're all
theoretical. Yeah. Until you get out there and
you realize,
okay. This is the real world. Mhmm. And
all these ayats that were 1400 years ago,
I'm seeing them in front of my eyes.
Suhar. Right? And so that that that that
you get, right, you you cannot replace that
with sitting in a classroom and any other
experience. It's not about not sitting in a
classroom, but it's about allowing them to do
both. Right? And I go back and I
think about the prophet and the and the
Sahaba, the Muhazirun. They remind the young ones
especially. Right? The prophet allowed them to be
in some of these circumstances
like Abdul Bas'ud when he goes to the
Kaaba and he recites the Quran out loud.
He's a young man and the sahaba did
not see him as very physically strong. But
he goes and he recites Surah Rahman, and
he gets beat up for it. And he
comes back, and they're like, you know, we
told you to get beat up. He's like,
I've never had more contempt for the enemies
of Allah than today. And he goes, if
you want me to, I'll go again tomorrow.
Oh, Lord. And they're like, look. Like, you
you made them angry. You did your job
for today. Right? But I just think about
his the the rest of his life,
when he becomes who he becomes. Right? And
and the the famous Avraham Mus'ud. It's that
experience as a young man in Mecca
that has given him a certain identity that
cannot be shaken. Right? Yes. And so we
don't wanna take those away from our youth.
Right? Yeah. Because, SubhanAllah, as we're seeing and
as we've seen, SubhanAllah, they feel I mean,
all of us, to a certain degree, have
felt a little helpless in what is going
on now. So when I see that that
effort, I mean, countless times I've been asked
before these encampments is, like, what can I
do?
I feel horrible
watching what's going on on television, and I
can't do anything about it. Right? Without going
and taking any means that is not conducive
to Muslims here or Muslims there, but trying
to find that middle course without just being
someone that is or
not and not
at the same time. Right? We're finding that
middle course and, subhanAllah,
the lack
of bravery. Okay. Let's say that
the Muslims didn't
go out
in these encampments. What would you because there's
a level of bravery. I mean, the level
of fear that we've seen to where they
actually went out and said, you know, they
looked at their friend. Are you gonna go?
Okay. Let's go. It's been that moment where
it's like, let's go. Yep. Yep. Yeah. Just
hypothetically speaking or not even hypothetically speaking, there
are probably still some out there that are
not that may be condemned going out there,
for example. As you mentioned, that could be
any.
It could be someone that is assisting in
condemning those that are trying to manifest a
religion in a positive conducive fashion. The lack
of this bravery, what would you see? I
mean, what would it look like? The lack
of the manifestation of this bravery Yeah. No.
I can speak about it in our own
community, in Irvine. I mean, so like Muhammad
mentioned, like, it's these youth who have put
a lot on the line,
and they're being very brave, but
the success of the encampments depends on the
bravery of the community
to support them. So in our situations and
you're see we saw at UCLA. I was
there at UCLA when the police rioted. Right?
And we had to go out there and
many other campuses. At UC Irvine, the the
faculty themselves and other, people on the campus
said if it was not for the Muslim
community and the Muslim men on the campus
surrounding the encampment to protect them, this would
have been gone.
Right? So that's the that's that's what's at
stake here. If we sit at home, it's
like, you know, my paycheck, you know, and
this and that, and my sleep They would
have been overrun, you said. They would have
been overrun. And what is that loss? Possibly
100 of 1,000,000 of dollars of divestment money.
Right? Changing of the public narrative. Right? So
this is not like a small like, the
cost of not being brave is is tremendous.
It's tremendous. I honor brothers and sisters. Right?
You know? I mean, literally about 1,000,000,000 of
dollars of money in weapons industry that we
can divert
if we stand strong and we're brave. And
if we don't, right, then we're gonna bear
the consequence of that. Right? You know how
we're always thinking,
doctor Osman, how how
we can help
our brothers and sisters there who are grieving,
who are sad, who lost loved ones?
How many videos I've seen on social media,
on, like, different social media outlets
of brothers and sisters and husbands are coming
out and thinking. Exactly.
The boys I do. Skin with a smile
on their face. They probably lost 60 people
in their family, and they're smiling because they
see you protesting or encamping because of them.
It, like, isn't that enough of, like, okay,
you can't send a dollar, you can't guarantee
anything's getting there,
but at least you're making them happy. They'll
be Gotta love it. Yeah. It's there. You
know that that hadith said
that smiling is charity.
Like, we be a little bit. Right? And
then you see these kids holding up the
signs saying thank you so much. UCLA,
Columbia, NYU, it's like, what type of this
is. Right? Well, I'm gonna be totally honest,
transparent. Like, I saw one of them, and
I was sitting there with my family. I
saw that. I said, get up. Let's go.
Yeah. Exactly. Like, when I saw that, I
showed my daughter my son. I said, we're
we're going. Let's let's go. Yeah. And they
appreciate it. Yeah. And there's so much of
it. Yeah. And just imagine
imagine
their dua'a, you know, The dua of the
people who are being tested,
and the dua of the, the oppressed, is
the closest dua
to Allah. Right? You know, in the hadith,
there's no hijab, there's no cover between it
and Allah.
And imagine out of everyone,
they're making
from there
for the people
that are
coming out for them. So It's like just
by being there, you're automatically Oh, SubhanAllah.
All those dots. Yeah. You know? That's a
very very good perspective. That's where the of
Allah is is is being
bestowed. And another thing I think a lot
about is that what is what is the
consequence? In many ways, it's it's unknown, but
we have precedent. Right? When Musa alayhis salaam
is taking Bani Israel and saying go into
the sacred land, What did
he say? You guys go. We're gonna be
cowards. So what is the punishment?
40 years. 40 years. Right?
Right? And cowardice has a punishment too. It
does. Right? It does. And we may not
and
Quran's gonna come down and tell us that
we're being punished for it. Mhmm. But how
much longer will Palestine be occupied
if in this moment,
we don't get up and do something about
it. Right?
And we don't know the answer to that.
All we know is that y'all be I'm
gonna throw myself out there. I don't care
about the consequences. I don't believe that most
of the things we're being threatened with are
real cause that's how shaytayvon works. Right? He's
gonna threaten you with all these things, but
the reality is almost none of them go
back to 11. They threaten them with you're
never gonna get a job and get a
misdemeanor and you're gonna get this. Guess what?
They go to Harvard Law School. Right? They
go to University of Minnesota doing their PhD.
They run AMP. They work at Google. They
go here. They go there. Like, Allah shows
us these things just to be like, oh
Muslims, you have no excuse. Mhmm. Right? All
these theoretical fears, let me show you a
living example
of how.
There's
no fear upon me in this situation. This
is beautiful. And if Raza is showing that
bravery, how can we not? Of course. Yeah.
And that's where we're getting this inspiration. Right?
I mean, that's and the biggest cowards in
this whole thing are the
the the ones who failed to just come
out and have a just say a statement.
One statement,
you know,
of like just being a human. Right? Just
that's it. And this is all done with
1 Well, there's a bigger coward. Oh, there's
a bigger yeah. Yeah. It's a Zionist. Who
will not even go out, right, unless they
have police officers behind them to protect them,
right, from counter protesting. Right? So they are
the biggest cowards. So how do you fear
a coward? Right? That's something which is not
within our our our our our Aqdid. Aqdid.
You know, like, using the term Judaism very
widely. Of course,
Zionism
by testimony of so many Jews
and Jewish scholars is a departure from Judaism.
Right? So at least that much without getting
into sort of theological discussion that's out of
context here.
Look at what it breeds right
it it breeds
this Zionist paranoia. Right? They live with the
victimhood mentality. Mhmm. And so many of these,
like, mutations. Right? Spiritual sort of diseases that
latch on to people when they let their
faith get compromised.
Mhmm. I'm not even pointing at Zionists anymore.
I'm telling you the Quran
said
be careful of becoming
that person. Right. The person
whose faith
falls into shambles
and therefore they are captives of their fears.
They miss out on this world, they miss
out on the next. Right? Mhmm. That is
the danger. Like,
bravery breeds faith and cowardice can actually eat
away at your faith. Mhmm. It can erode
your faith. There's so many in the Quran
about, you know, for example, nifaq, the disease
of nifaq, hypocrisy, which is sort of a
faith as it's dying. Right?
Yeah. Right? They presume that every noise is
about them. They're always looking over their shoulder.
Right?
The other ayah that that says,
they let the prophet
go fight. It wasn't just Musa, alayhis salam,
and his people. Right? Sometimes, in time the
prophet, alayhis salam. Even in the presence of
the prophet, meaning everyone's gotta make their own
decision. You can even be surrounded by the
prophet. It's not gonna help you. Salallahu alaihi
wasallam.
They said after Uhudwat.
Alright?
You know?
You
know? Even if you remained home, those destined
to die would have went and met their
place of death. You would have went out
there for some business. You would have went
out there to use the bathroom. That's where
you're supposed to die. Right? And so the
fear
needs to be shaken off on some level.
Yes. We're going to be pragmatic. Yes. We're
going to sort of try to measure things
as best we can. And I also I
always need to say I don't
categorically
classify as cowardly or cowardice
not going to a protest. I do conceive
of, but
not to be involved at all in this
moment,
I think requires some honest introspection
and scrutiny for every single one of us.
Yeah. I mean, the process of even saw
refuge from Yeah. The Jupyuni. Yep. I can
build on your point here. It's, there's a
difference also between one who is gonna go
on their own accord and for different reasons
didn't go. Mhmm. But then the Muslims have
gone,
our brothers and our sisters, and then our
sisters are in need and they're being attacked.
And then and this is a whole different
issue now where it's like I need to
be brave enough to defend my sisters even
if I wasn't gonna go protest also. Even
if I don't agree and Even if I
don't agree and Even if I don't agree.
Correctly.
And I think this is such an important,
like, issue for us like the Brit. Like,
this is part of our, like, of our
of our of our manliness in Islam. Right?
It's part of our being, you know, right,
of of of being able to protect our
women.
And
in a moment's time, like, if, you know,
if sister says, you know, I'm in need.
Right? This is what happened at UCLA. Right?
You know, we got text messages at midnight.
But, you know, people were saying, our sisters
fear are fearing for their lives. So how
long? Hundreds of Muslim men literally drive an
hour or 2 hours away because a woman
has said, hey. I'm I'm in fear. Right?
And I think of that
story of. Right? Yeah.
Or. Yeah.
Right? I know. And this is why these
stories are so important because they give us,
like, these roadmaps for who we are. Right?
You know, like, who who do we wanna
be like? Alright. And so you have, you
know, famous
sister. One sister was like, oh, come and
help me because she's wrongfully imprisoned. He said,
I must send the whole army after you.
Right? You know? Yeah. So we need to
revive this in our spirit because or else
we got sitcoms,
we got all this other, you
know, unbefitting behavior of men that's being promoted
everywhere. And, and we need to go back
to who we are. Right? Yeah. Yeah. It's
I mean, you you think about it. You
asked the question. I mean, even to make
it general is,
okay. You mentioned you touched on that before
and Ibn al Faiman mentions it as well.
The shajah is the one that helps and
defends someone that they don't even
know. Right? They're generous with with their
with their strength and with being honorable
and and fighting the oppression. As Musa did
alayhi salaam with the. Mhmm.
Therefore, he fled to Even someone you don't
agree with. With. Yeah. Like, forget the sister
doing what she believes is right at a
protest. Like, as a Muslim, if I were
to see,
a woman being assaulted on the street,
that man maybe isn't even her husband.
She may not be dressed properly at all.
All of those are not considerations at that
moment, that particular moment.
Right? And this is important because particularly in
the East Coast I'm gonna give you a
situation that happened to me.
I was headed to, Mashitaka in Brooklyn. I
said, man, I'm gonna go to Mashitaka to
see Siraj. It was the first time.
So as I'm taking I think I was
leaving Harlem, and I was I was heading
there. I'm on the subway, man, and I
was sitting there,
and there's some some some females sitting right
in front of me, you know, facing. You
know, I'm from the south. I'm not used
to the subway.
Right?
And there's but there's a guy standing above
them holding onto the rail Mhmm. Onto the,
the post here. You can tell that he's
high
as a kite.
He is, like, so high.
His pants On spirituality, I mean.
We're not high on him now.
This guy was
intoxicated. Yeah.
As the subway's stopping and moving, stopping and
going well, mind you, this guy is, you
know, his pants are sagging and he has
a backpack.
Right?
And as the subway's stopping,
he's, like, leaning over. He can barely hold
himself up.
Everybody can see I mean,
Ray Charles can tell his guy's high. Right?
So I don't know if this generation knows
Ray Charles is a blind this is the
one. He's a blind pianistator.
As as the the subway stop and go
on something, you get the the women are
like this. The girls are like
I'm like,
in my mind,
I'm like, okay.
If he falls on what is in his
back? My main concern is what is in
his back? Because
if something goes down, I have to do
I have to do something. Right? Right? Nobody
else I'm a Muslim,
but I have to do something. Allah does.
Yeah. Allah.
So he's he he eventually falls on the
girl's boat.
Mhmm. And I'm hoping he doesn't he wasn't
vulgar. He didn't become vulgar or anything like
that. Falls on the girls, and it's so
funny because the girl is just sitting like
this. She's, like, so still. She doesn't wanna
move, and he's just totally out of it.
So I say, hey, man.
Just come on. Just just just get up.
If he gets vulgar, if he gets violent,
whatever happens, happens. Because in my mind, I'm
like, what is in his bag? But then
I was as I was leaving, I was
thinking to myself,
you know,
protecting his honor, his family, his money, that
he is a martyr. In those situations,
the Muslim, particularly even in that area, when
we look at the history of Masjid Taqwa
even, even the history of Masjid Taqwa.
Right? How they had to stand up for
oppression and willing to fight those that were
that were, you know, that were bringing the
community down and not helping and improving the
people. You know, the Muslim, it's important. They
cleaned out all the drug dealers. They cleaned
out all the drug dealers. With, physical therapy.
With the dawah. Right? That's what it was.
Physical therapy. We do a favor. That's what
we call it, man. But
Actually, let me tell you. The man who
led that project, Ali Abdelkareem, he was the
head of security measures at Dhaka. Ma'am Saraju
had his right hand man.
This man
was an icon of the The law and
bravery. And preserve. Rahim Abu Dhabi.
And,
we buried him last year. Subhanallah. This man,
when we sued the NYPD
for discriminatory policing,
a few years prior he came to me
and said to me, Mohammed,
when your father was wrongly accused after 911
actually before 911 they were actually accused in
the 1993 world trade after bombings and I'm
Saraj as well
So called unindicted co conspirators.
My father was with him. Mhmm. And he
said, I was there in their courtroom and
SubhanAllah. And I fast forward 30 years, he's
standing by me in the courtroom.
Right? He said, I'll tell you one thing,
Muhammad. Don't ever let them see fear in
your eyes.
And, alhamdulillah, like, I I prayed my staghara,
and I know it was a very, very
difficult thing to to embark on this lawsuit,
file this lawsuit because
of many factors. But he said to me,
don't change nothing.
Shave your beard. Don't walk any different.
Don't act suspect. And he shared with me
a story.
Mhmm. He said to me,
I he he actually has his own private
firm as a private investigator.
He he clocked someone following him around a
few blocks. So he pulls over, acts like
he's going to a store, and he loops
around and he face he stands in front
of the guy and the guy's like, yo
man, be easy, be easy, stand down. He's
also the head of the ninja ninjitsu program,
Mejia Zappa.
He's a killer martial artist. Mhmm. Yeah. And
so,
the guy's like, yo, B. He's like, listen.
I don't know who you are. I don't
know if you're Feds. I don't know if
you're Musa'd. I don't know who you are.
He's like, listen, man. Just calm down. Lower
your voice. I just
wanna tell you one thing.
You're not my god. Do you understand that?
And the guy was horrified by how
unflinching
Ali was.
Right?
This is important. That's why it's anchored in
faith. You know, and when Sahid al Jabayr
was told by Hajjaj,
like my life is in your hands. He
said, if I believe that I wouldn't have
worshiped anybody but you. Mhmm. Like, don't get
it twisted because I don't have it twisted.
You're not my God. Mhmm. Right? I have
a duty to my God and he is
worthy of my fear.
So with that, I mean, that example
and of our companions
You mentioned you mentioned this earlier. It's not
something that just comes haphazardly. It comes immediately.
If you're someone that has not
trained yourself or conditioned yourself with the worship
of Allah,
compliance in the religion, practicing the Sharia. When
that time comes,
you may be brave, but it may be
in. Right? And that hadith is very important
as well.
You know, the one that fights just so
it can be said that he is
brave.
Right? But rather, it's to do it for
the sake of Allah.
And I think that distinction is very, very
important, particularly for the one that believes in
believes in the law
and believes in the creator of the heavens
and the earth. That that is the motivation
and the destination.
Right? So when you see someone like our
Sheikh,
you know, that lack of fear, and then
you can you can feel that energy.
You know, it's something particularly speaking to our
Shabaab now, that remember that it's for the
sake of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. Tied to
what you're doing and finding meaning and purpose.
Tied to doing it for the sake of
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, knowing that he's giving
you the faculties to do it and continuing
on, bismillah, for the name with the name
of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. Like testosterone is
something that's that like we don't talk about
a lot. Right? Mhmm. And it's a necessary
component of men and actually we've been seeing
actually for the last 30 years,
if not longer that, you know, young men
in this society have lower levels of testosterone,
which is we found related to the lifestyle,
the diet, the lack of exercise. Right? They're
sitting and playing video games all day long.
So so much, like, when you want to
be brave, but you live a lifestyle that's
anti bravery, like, you're not gonna be able
to enact the bravery. Right? So Okay. Again,
this goes back to preparation. Right? You live
this active lifestyle where you are exercising, you
are running, you're lifting weights, you're playing sports,
you're doing competitive sports. All of this develops
a natural testosterone. So when you're in a
situation that you need it, like, it's ready
to go. Again, all those parents who are
just like, you know, sit down and do
your homework all along, that's a path to
success in life. This is a recipe for
disaster. Right? Wow. Yeah. You know what's interesting?
I read that Ibn Khaldun said.
He said
that people that live out in the country
are braver than city people.
And I thought I thought I was surprised.
He's like, yeah, it's because the people
in the city depend on,
like, the government,
right, to protect them,
to to maintain everything for them, to guarantee
that they're going to get their their their,
you know, their risk and everything, their safety
and whatnot. He's like, but the one who
lives out rural,
you know, gotta fend for themselves, gotta always
be prepared to to defend themselves so they
develop more bravery than the city. What do
you you think that has anything to do
with that shit? I do. And I think
if we go even deeper, I would say
that it it actually breeds a different type
of.
Think about somebody who lives in a city,
and you get, like, a paycheck every 2
weeks.
How different is my guaranteed paycheck?
And then I have my AC, and I
control my my temperature. I have my GPS,
and I control every like, this level of
control and certainty over your life,
is very different
than somebody who lives out in a situation
where, like, it's rough. Yeah. I don't know
if it's gonna be hot today. It's gonna
be cold today. I don't know if I
wanna make any money. I don't know if
my crops are gonna grow this season if
they're gonna grow. Coyote just Exactly. Right? So
all this breeds a different sense of of,
number 1. And number 2 is acceptance of
what happens. Right? Like, in the city life,
you become so accustomed to things being a
certain way. You go to the grocery store,
the apples are out of stock, you throw
a fit.
Right? Because you've been used to apples as
always being there, rather than be, like, no,
apples are seasonal. Sometimes they grow, sometimes they
don't grow. Right? Or I'm doing, you know,
business, and some days I make money, some
days I don't make money. So I I
would say it's not just, city life, but
it's more of the technology around us. The
dependency on this technology is what makes us
weak. It makes us, like, intellectually weak. It
makes us spiritually weak. It makes us physically
weak. Right? Sometimes the notion of self selecting
hardship
is a really important part of developing,
you know, the type of bravery that we're
speaking about. Right? And as it's self selecting,
that's why we go and we do things
like like martial arts. Right? You know, beat
me up in a controlled setting. Right? Let
me go camping for 20 miles in the,
you know, in in the forest. Right? You
put yourself in these situations.
So when you're when you're when you're in
that situation not by choice, you can deal
with it. Right? Exactly. Right?
For good times and always last. Right? You
you train it like a muscle. Right? So
coming back to this whole issue, if we
talk about
what do we wanna do with our kids,
Right? Our young boys in our community. We
need to put them through these hardships
just like Allah
put the m b f of these hardships.
Exactly. Right? They couldn't be grown up in
the palace. Right? You grow up in the
palace, you're gonna end up being soft. And
you get out, you need to rough it,
you need to be a shepherd. Right? And
then when you come back, you can deal
with, like, you know, the situation that you
have at hand. Right? So part I think
being a good father, being a good
being a good youth director, being a good
mother, whatever it might be, is I wanna
put my kids in hardship, get them out
of the sedentary life, get them out of
the the comfort
because I need to build these men up.
Right? So
Right.
And,
it's beautiful how you connected to testosterone or
lack thereof
with, potentiality
to
lack of bravery. You know, It's the kind
of something that Allah
with the manifestation of his creation has put
within us to prepare us for certain situations,
but we still have that responsibility
of nurturing it in a way that is
conducive for our development for for ourselves and
for those around us.
Those that we know and those that we
don't. Like every virtue, by the way, bravery
being a virtue, a foundational virtue, it always
lies in the perfect middle between 2 extremes.
Right? So with bravery, there's recklessness,
presumed bravery. It's just like Yes, well someone
is reckless and there's cowardice. Right? So that
was important. I really appreciate the issue of
considering the holistic approach. Right? The the luxury,
you know, good times create weak men type
of thing. Mhmm. Weak people in general. Right?
And then also outsourcing
our security to the state, outsourcing our provision
to the supply chain that creates an illusion
of control that puts you under this notion
that I don't need to prep for hard
times. Mhmm. So I actually have a really
good book on that, so I don't spend
any time on it. The King of the
Castle,
he speaks a lot about how the Industrial
Revolution has revolutionized the world view of people
in a very dangerous way. It sets them
up for because it's just not reliable. I
mean, the protests have shown us, again, people
who believe the pro the police
are here to protect us. They're not here
to protect us. They're here to protect the
state. Right? They're actually very happy to attack
us,
as long as it it suits the needs
of the state. Right? So literally, we saw
this. Right? Again, at UCLA, we're, like, police
watched a 150 thugs beat up and try,
you know, to attack with chemical weapons, all
these things, like, you know, callers Shoot fireworks
at them. Shoot fireworks, you know, bear spray,
mace. Actually, we had one of our imams,
right, in San Diego, you know, who got
mace. Right? You know? But standing up for
the protesters. So it's good we experience these
things. So Allah is kinda shaking us and
being like, get out of your false sense
of security
and have some agency. I have to walk
in Allah,
not in the state. Right? And then get
up and do something yourself. Right? So What
I wanted to add in addition to these
3
was
something you alluded to and I if we're
talking about raising our boys right and even
our girls, but the issue
of getting robbed for your
bravery, meaning imagine we actually build bravery right
and then it becomes pointless. Right? Mhmm. Because
every single one of us, especially teenagers and
young adults, you're you're looking for acceptance, you're
looking for belonging, that's natural, that's fine. So
you're looking for a currency that you can
sort of trade off to get belonging from
people. Right? So
like
someone muscular like myself. Right? Mhmm. Who's gonna
flex that on people. Someone doesn't have muscles
like yourself. Right? It's gonna flex their wrist.
Don't worry. A few push up, Zaki, you'll
be fine. You'll get there. You'll get there.
But the idea is we're all looking for
something. And so if someone is able to
actually grab bravery, even that can be sort
of,
you can rip out of it its value.
We started talking about how foundational it is,
but even that,
when when the first three people to enter
the * fire, one of them is gonna
be a person who spent his life trying
to get celebrated for his bravery. Mhmm. Imagine
of all the things, right? That's right. The
first three people, one of them is Liukal
Jari. So he'll be it would be said
about him
fearless,
right? And
it was said. So you're going to be
condemned for your misuse of? Mhmm. You were
actually brave, but it's pointless. It's just like
physical strength. Mhmm. You know, what is the
point of physical strength if you use it
sort of harm the the helpless and the
weak and the vulnerable?
What is the use of bravery
if it is used towards
shallow ends? Right. And that's that's that's so
beautiful. Masha'Allah. Subha'l al Khwariz Khalil. And that
that
that is important
because a lot of,
you know, social media
plays a big part of this, you know,
spreading the word and and letting everybody know
that, like, you know, I'm at the Encampment,
God, you know, renewing your intention
before letting everybody know, before recording yourself and
streaming live, and x y z, you know,
you're sending all your friends, yo guys, you
gotta come out here. You don't want to
do it with the intention to just show
off and be like, hey, I'm out here,
rather do it. Okay. I'm for Allah, and
I want everyone to come out to help
this cause because I do see this as
a way to help our brothers and sisters.
Right? Yeah. So, like, I think it needs
a lot of renewing.
Like, every I think every post needs an
intention. Right, Joe? No. No. You're definitely right,
man. You're definitely right. I mean, like you
said, renewing the intention just to get back
and anchored to your ultimate purpose. Exactly. The
law.
For this beautiful, beautiful inside. We could stay
here in the cave and
sleep here and talk about it. From the
cave. That was how we can Let's cuddle.
Let's call it oxymoronic, bro. No.
That's not brave. That's not brave at all.
I could only pretend for so long.
For coming by. This is. They had a
a researcher,
a director's research retreat, and just pulled him
and said, you know what? Let's talk about
this issue and
for coming through,
Beautiful brothers, I love you for the sake
of Allah. Subhanahu wa ta'ala
bless you in your endeavors and
use you as a means to to to
motivate
and keep these brothers and sisters consistent along
with their parents and,
following along with this beautiful, beautiful means of
worshiping
Allah and have a rippling effect
on those around them. And for all of
you out there that are watching this, Insha'Allah,
please say take take this as a message
to remind you of the importance of this
particular
manifestation of worship. Because without a doubt, when
we tie this attribute
of bravery to the one that has given
us the faculties to be brave, this is
where it can become worship. Whether you're out
there in the camps, whether you're at home,
may Allah bless you for your effort and
your intention. May Allah bless all the brothers
here for coming here and talking about this
beautiful topic topic.
May Allah
make you of those that are brave for
his sake.
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