Coca Cola Muslim Generation
Date:
Channel: Abdurraheem Green
File Size: 33.55MB
Episode Notes
How much has the Muslim community been affected by Western ideologies? Is copying the Western way necessarily harmful? AbdurRaheem Green comments on this topic and offers insight regarding the strange phenomenon of the Coca-Cola Muslim Generation.
AI Generated Summary ©
The speakers discuss the use of Coca Cola in people's minds and their behavior, including their desire for satisfaction and a sense of pleasure. They emphasize the importance of surrounding oneself with material possessions and finding one's passion for oneself. The segment also touches on the history of the church and the fundamentalists movement, including the holy eye and the holy mother and holy father. The speakers emphasize the importance of being emotional and not just knowing who is pleasing to Islam, and stress the potential for a deathly joyful life.AI Generated Transcript ©
When I was Villa human surely unforeseen a woman say it I'm Elena Maria de la who Fela mudan de la Wilma youth lil Fela her Jalla wa Chateau La ilaha illallah wa Chateau Mohammedan AB de hora, Sulu about
Pharaoh hadiza Bala hiren had the had the Mohammedan sallallahu alayhi wa sallam was shuttle Amorim after to her wakulla mostert in VEDA wakulla beta Tindall Allah, Allah, Allah, Allah and For now,
we begin by praising Allah, we praise Him, we seek his help, and we ask for his forgiveness. We seek refuge with ALLAH, from the evil of ourselves, and from the evil consequences of our evil actions.
Whomsoever Allah guides, there is none to misguide.
And whomsoever Allah leaves to go astray, there is none to guide.
And I testify and bear witness that Allah alone is worthy of worship, and then Mohammed
Mailer's peace and blessings be upon him
is the servant of Allah and His final messenger.
After that,
the best speech is the book of Allah.
And the best guidance is the guidance of Mohammed.
And the worst of all the affairs of those matters that have been newly introduced into the religion.
And every matter that is newly introduced into the religion of Islam
is termed as a VEDA or an innovation. And all of the innovations are misguidance. All of the misguidance is going astray. And all going astray is in the fire.
Here it is.
Coca Cola.
What is this drink coca cola? Let's read it. What does it say? prepared and bottled by Coca Cola
amatil was given us the address that's nice.
And it tells us the contents of this fantastic drink.
The dynamic ribbon device and the contoured bottle contains carbonated water.
carbonated water means fizzy Water, water with gas in it. Gas
sugar,
color 150 food acid flavorings and of course,
the modern replacement for the original ingredient which was cocaine is now caffeine.
I think it's very interesting because of course today's talk is not about Coca Cola itself. But it is about
what Coca Cola symbolizes
and what Coca Cola stands for.
Of course, Coca Cola symbol
sizes and stands for the American culture.
The American culture.
If there is one symbol, we could say
that identifies American culture, it is Coca Cola. And really, it's incredibly appropriate that this drink symbolizes that culture.
Because
the Coca Cola culture
is a culture of materialism.
It's a culture of consumerism.
It's a culture that tells us that in order to enjoy life,
and in order to get the best out of life,
you should feed your passions, and your desires, and your appetites.
That the way to be successful and the way to be happy
is by surrounding yourself with the material possessions of the world.
By this by that, have this have that
what you feel like do it
what you feel like eating, eat it
the way you feel like behaving behave like that.
The things you feel like doing in life,
do it
the God that is worshipped.
The thing that is submit the thing that the human being
is to submit to and surrender to and obey
are the passions and the desires,
the nuts, what we call the knifes and how are
the passions, the self, the desire.
And this Coca Cola symbolizes that pretty well.
It symbolizes not only
this
attitude and this mentality in this philosophy of life, it also gives us a pretty good idea of what is the real effect of living your life in that way. Because what is Coca Cola do for you you drink it,
it gives you a immediate, almost immediate response. The immediate response is a feeling of satisfaction, gratification, and a boost of energy.
This is what Coca Cola does you drink it
satisfaction, you get a boost of sugar from the
and a boost from the caffeine.
And probably a burped soon afterwards from the gas.
But the reality is that very soon, you follow a downward spiral.
You follow a dial downward spiral. And soon after, as you felt high, you soon feel a low. And in order to try and reach that high again, then you're going to take some more of this drink or some similar drink in order to reboost yourself.
So in order to try and maintain yourself on this constant high, then you're drinking more and more and taking more and more. And this is the reality of the person and the people who worship their desires and worship their passions and worship themselves. In fact, it is illustrative of the whole manner in which Western society exists. exactly that.
There is no long lasting satisfaction. satisfaction is temporary. It is a temporary boost a temporary moment of joy. It is followed by an equally
low moments.
And in order to try and bring back that moment of happiness, we consume more.
We find more avenues in order to satisfy our desires. But the reality is the passion and the desire can never be satisfied. This is a statement of facts about the human being.
The Prophet Mohammed May Allah peace and blessings be upon him said
if the son of Adam was given a value of gold, he would desire another one. If the son of Adam was given a value of gold, he would desire another one.
Nothing will satisfy the desires of the sons and the daughters of Adam, except the dust of the grave.
Nothing is going to satisfy our desires, the only time that our desires will end is when we are dead.
So you see a civilization if we can call it a civilization, or a philosophy or an ideology that teaches us that the way to be happy in life is by satisfying your passions and your desires, by following your cravings, physical and emotional, an ideological,
that success in life is by surrounding yourself with material possessions. The reality is, we know that this brings no long lasting satisfaction.
We buy something nice, we buy some new clothes, we get a new house, we get a new car. But how long does the joy and the pleasure of that last?
A few hours, a few days, maybe a few years. But before long, we are craving for something more expensive, more beautiful, more fast, faster.
If our we get our kicks from adrenaline,
then we try this sport and that sport. But always we are looking for something that is going to give us more of an adrenaline kick similary some people satisfy their passions and their desires
through sexual encounters,
promiscuity but there is no satisfaction. Because once you have tried everything, then you need something else to excite you. You need something else to stimulate you. So people go further and further down the road.
fetishes
Oh, geez.
same sex relationships.
Or it's not enough anymore, that you have your own wife, you have to go, and you have to enjoy yourself with another man's wife.
That's how you have to get your kicks.
Because this is the reality, you're never satisfied. It doesn't matter how much money you have. You want more.
It doesn't matter how much fame and success you have. You want more. It doesn't matter how beautiful you are, you want to be more beautiful.
This is the reality. So when we look at Western society, what do we find?
We find something pretty horrifying.
We find a whole culture completely obsessed with consumerism
and what is the result? And what is the consequence of that?
What is the result and the consequence. The consequence is
that we have a very minute portion of the world's population
consuming a huge portion of its resources. 17% 17% of the world's population consumes 70% of its resources.
One 717 percent of the world's population consumes 70% of the world's resources.
We know that the rain forests are being destroyed. We know that our environment is being polluted, we know that there is starvation.
The people are dying. People do not have basic sanitation. People do not have basic access to clean water, to food to basic medical medical care. But where is this taking place?
These things are taking place in the so called third world but if you look to the so called third world you will find something very strange.
You'll find these people are actually exporting food.
They are export although the people are dying, they are exporting food.
Although they don't have sufficient medicines, they are exploiting the ingredients to make the medicines.
They don't have sufficient
resources to close themselves. The people do not even have clothes, yet they are making clothes for other people.
Where is this food being exported to where are these
ingredients and these resources and these minerals being exported to where are these clothes?
These fashions?
Where are they being exported to who is consuming all of these things?
The West America, Australia, Europe, that small percentage of the world's population controlling, consuming
and exploiting the resources of the world. Why?
Because
of a way of life,
the Coca Cola culture
that teaches you that the way to enjoy your life is by following your passions and your desires and satisfying your base animalistic instincts.
This is the reality.
And in order for this
society, this culture
to continue to exist,
it is necessary
that large portions of the world's population lives in poverty and is subjugated politically, economically and ideologically.
Because the western capitalist materialistic system
depends on being able to exploit people.
It depends on being able to acquire food, and minerals and resources and labor at the most minimal costs.
And to be able to repackage it and resell it at the maximum cost.
This is the reality of the Coca Cola culture.
This is the reality of
the materialistic philosophy that is now dominating the world in which we live.
And the reality is that the Western world will stop ultimately at nothing.
Was instigating wars inventing was
murdering people, bombing them, killing them, it is all not really important
in order to achieve the ultimate goal
of dominating the world, economically and politically and militarily, why, as they say, to God, our precious way of life, that's what they say. That's what george bush told us, to God, our precious way of life, their precious way of life means that we are free to follow our passions and our desires, that the way to be happy is to have as many material goods as you can, and it doesn't really matter if the rest of the world suffers as long as we have our precious way of life.
That's the reality.
So what is this got to do with the Muslims? Why therefore, do we choose this title?
The Coca Cola Muslim generation,
what is taking place here of course, is
a war.
A conflict,
not a conflict, mind you necessarily have arms and weapons, but it is an ideological conflict. It is a war of ideologies. It is a war of worldviews. It is a war, a battle concerning
what is the nature of the human being?
What is the purpose of life? Why are we here? And what is the reason for our existence? And what is the means for the human being to achieve true success and true happiness?
This is the wall This is the conflict that is taking place.
So what we find is another worldview, another ideology,
another concept
and that is Islam.
Islam teaches something quite different.
Islam teaches that the way to success and happiness
is not by acquiring material possessions.
It is not through,
seeking to satisfy your passions and your desires and your lusts
and following your whims
and your inclinations.
Rather,
the needs of the human being are quite different to that.
Islam teaches that those who follow this path who worship this God, because it is a type of God, it's a type of deity. When you worship your passions and your desires, there's a type of religion in reality, it's a type of worship. It's a type of deity.
That this is a false god, it is a false deity.
Islam teaches that this is not the way through which human beings can achieve the real success, because that is not the nature of the human being.
Rather, Islam teaches
that there is a creator,
one God,
who has bought this universe and everything into everything in it. He has bought it into existence for a reason and for a purpose.
Everything has a purpose,
everything has a reason.
And this begs the question,
this begs the question,
what is our purpose? What is the reason for our existence? Why are we here? What is the purpose of the existence of the human being?
We have now discussed already something about the idea of the Coca Cola culture.
The materialistic viewpoint, but what does Islam say? What does the Quran say?
The Quran teaches us that God
has created us for a noble purpose.
The Quran says we're mahalik tool, Gina will insert it early on.
This means that God is telling us in the Quran, that he has created us to worship Him.
Some people say Is that it? I mean, the purpose of my existence is just to worship God.
And that's because they have a very narrow concept of what worship means. They think of worship in the secular materialistic term that has been defined by the Western society. Worship means maybe, you know, you go to the mosque five times a day, or you go to the church once a week, you perform some rituals, you perform some acts that is considered to be worship.
However, the term ibadah in Islam, which we translate as worship, has a very, very deep, rich meaning. It is something much more than some mere formal actions that you perform.
Worship in Islam is a total way of living. It is something that is supposed to occupy the human being,
throughout all of their life, from the moment they wake up,
to when they go to sleep, and in fact, even whilst they are sleeping.
Worship is supposed to occupy all of your life, and how does it do that? How does worship occupy all of your life? if we, if we look to the definition of the term ibadah
and this is what God has created us for ibadah
what does it actually mean? The word ibadah can be, we can explain it as meaning
everything which God
loves, and is pleased with everything which God loves. Everything which God is pleased with is a bother
everything which God loves, and everything which God is pleased with his worship, he bother or we don't use the word worship wills just say he bother.
Whether it is from the actions of the heart,
or the actions of the limbs.
What are the actions of the heart, people think what is the action of the heart, actions of the heart the things like love, hope fear
reverential all trust, reliance, intention, sincerity. These are all examples of actions of the heart. So you have to try to make every action of the heart an action that God loves, and is pleased with.
And the actions of the limbs are things like, well, everything that you perform with your limbs, it could be prayer, it could be fasting, it could be the relationship between a husband and his wife.
It could be how you walk, how you talk, all of these things are actions of the limbs. So you try to make every action that you do an action that God loves, and that God is pleased with.
And it is in doing this, that the human being and only in doing this, that the human being finds real peace, tranquility, happiness, and satisfaction, only in this
everything else is like the Coca Cola, you drink it, it'll give you a quick buzz, it'll make you feel good for a short time.
But that is not going to last long.
In fact, just as it made you feel good, soon, it will make you feel bad.
And in reality, it will never ever satisfy you. It gives you the illusion, temporarily of happiness. Anyone who has been addicted to drinking alcohol, or has been addicted to smoking marijuana or taking drugs, they will experience this on a more severe level.
This is something that anyone who has been down that path knows
when you drink alcohol, or when you smoke marijuana or whatever other thing it is, you get a moment, it may be in the case of heroin, for example, it may last 24 hours. In the case of smoking marijuana, it may last It depends, you know, a few hours,
you have a moment you have that time, where you feel a sense of peace, you feel a sense of happiness. But the problem is, is it wears out.
And the other problem is that in order to get back that feeling, you have to take more and more and more. In fact, it gets to a stage that it doesn't even affect you anymore. But you are now addicted, you're addicted to the habit and you continue even when you know that this is no longer bringing you any benefit at all. But you are upon this path of almost self destruction, you have reached you have become an addict. And the fact that it doesn't seem to do anything for you. In fact, now, even the feeling of happiness is gone. But you are down that path and it is almost impossible sometimes to leave it. This is the reality.
So it may seem that people
who do not worship God, who did not follow that path of righteousness, who do not try to do everything that is pleasing to Allah, it may seem that they are happy, it may seem that they experience moments of happiness, and you may see those moments of happiness. And you may think, Oh, these are happy people, these people have a good life, they have a good quality of life.
But this is only the temporary outward appearance. In fact, if you observe the situation for long enough, and you observe it deeply enough, and you observe it critically enough, you will see that that is not the case.
You will see that they do not stay happy for very long.
An example of this, that came to light recently in England,
was that
the Minister for Health
made an announcement that
many young women were beginning to drink excessively. So problem in England, many young women were beginning to drink excessively, especially what they call binge drinking.
And they were worried because and one of the immediate effects that they could notice is that this was causing a great deal of liver damage.
It was causing a great deal of liver damage. And interestingly enough, I came across an article in a newspaper written by two young professional girls went off
good jobs, and they confess that
they were binge drinkers.
But the interesting thing was Why? Why were they binge drinking? What caused them to binge drink?
They said that our life is so empty and boring.
Our life is so empty and boring. And we feel a state of depression.
And the only thing that seems to bring a moment of release is unabated hedonism.
Meaning just indulging in our passions and our desires and doing whatever we feel like, and then for a moment, we get a relief.
It's what she said, it's what they were writing.
How is it that people who have good jobs,
nice income,
beautiful flat house things?
They have all the food they want to eat?
Their clothes, they want to clothe themselves with? How does these people feel therefore empty and depressed?
What is them? What is there for them to feel empty and depressed about?
So if you look at this, and this is one case, and you'll find many cases like that, you will find the same story again and again. And again. One has to wonder why, why does so many rock stars
go on this path of self destruction, drugs, drink, committing suicide, killing themselves in many different ways. If fame, beauty, money is supposed to be the means to achieve happiness, then this should be the most happy of all people.
But that's not the fact. That's not the way it is.
There's something wrong.
That's what I'm saying. When you look at the issue deeply, you'll find that although these people appear on the outward surface, to be happy to be enjoying themselves, the reality is something quite different.
That this way of living produces no real sense of satisfaction, or happiness at all. It is very temporary. Sometimes some people can string enough moments, and acquire enough things to make it appear as if they have happiness in their life.
But that is not the reality of their situation.
Islam teaches
that the way to be happy
is completely different.
It is as we have already mentioned, through
making your actions, actions that are beloved and pleasing to God. This produces within the soul of the human being within
the depths of the human being a deep sense of well being and happiness and contentment.
And the person who has acquired this could be subjected to the most horrific
types of physical and mental deprivation.
They could live in extremely poor conditions, they could be deprived of what we might think of basic necessities, you would find these people experience a state of bliss and happiness.
In fact, some of the
some of those Muslims, and some of those people who have embarked upon
the spiritual path, if we want to call it
have put themselves in a situation where they are deprived of many of the so called physical necessities
because they consider them to be in some respect, an impediment, a barrier between them reaching that state of true bliss and true happiness that comes from being a complete and true worshipper of God.
Now the thing is this.
This way of life Islam, on an ideological level,
therefore is
a competitor,
a threat, a danger to the materialistic
consumer
philosophy, the Coca Cola culture. Why? Because in reality, there is something very sick about this culture.
And the sick thing is that it actually depends and relies upon you being miserable for its existence.
The Coca Cola culture actually needs people to be unhappy, because unhappy people consume unhappy people need to fill their miserable lives
with fashion, music, the fantasy of Hollywood,
drugs, alcohol, sports.
They the miserable people need to fill their miserable lives with all these trinkets. And these things give them these moments of happiness.
so miserable people consume. That's the reality. It is not people who are deeply content, and feel a deep sense of well being and happiness internally. Know, these people are not good consumers.
These people don't care whether they have this or they don't have that if they have it, they're happy. If they don't have it, they're happy. It's the same to them.
This is actually the state that the Muslims should be. If we have material possessions, we thank Allah, and we are happy. If we don't have it, we still thank Allah, we're still happy.
So how do you persuade people like that to consume? These are not the people who will be buying your products, buying your magazines, listening to your music, going and seeing your movies. They're not good consumers.
Therefore, the reality is that these people ideologically and in fact, even economically, they are a threat.
Because their whole culture and society relies upon people being miserable, depressed, and discontented.
So a way of life that is going to give them peace and tranquility and happiness. And you don't have to drink a bottle of Coca Cola or go and watch Steven Seagal kill 1000 Muslims to make you happy, right? Okay. You don't have to listen to some music or go to some rave and dance all night to make yourself feel good. You don't have to go and buy some Gucci Armani, you know, Pierre cada Chanel, number five, whatever, right? Because, you know, doesn't bother you. These people are not good consumers. In fact, that is a direct ideological threat.
It is a direct ideological threat.
So what we have to realize here is that there is an ideological battle many of us they have we haven't, as Muslims, and non Muslims as well, normal people, we haven't realized that. This is something however, I am absolutely sure. The intellectual elite of the Western world have realized that, and certainly, the multinational corporations, they realize that
they see that threat.
And this is why Islam really poses a threat doesn't pose a threat to the normal people living in the world, not at all. In fact, quite the opposite is the means to human beings, a tree achieving true peace, true tranquility and true happiness.
But it is a threat to the vested interests of a few people.
Not only that, but because Islam is not a religion that is based, or is not a way of life or an ideology that is based in the material.
Then even on a political and military level,
Islam becomes very difficult to deal with.
What do you do with the people who don't really care whether they live or die? In fact, they'll be happy to die? If dying is something that is pleasing to God.
And then they're happy to do it. What do you do with a people like that?
What do you do with the people
who you can't really bribe them? Because wealth is not their concern.
You can't threaten them
with economic sanctions and so on and so forth, because wealth is not their concern.
Then you can see
Therefore, that even though these people may not have the latest military hardware, they may not have the latest equipment.
But they are therefore, militarily and politically also a great threat.
And this ideology also,
this mentality is a very liberating one. It is a very liberating one. It is something that gives people the courage and the conviction to stand up against
Western political and economic and ideological domination, it gives people the courage to stand up for themselves.
Not to worry so much about the consequences. Because what is important to these individuals is
not the pleasure of their desires and their passions, but the pleasure of their load.
Now,
I want to go back in history a little bit.
And I suppose this part of the lecture, I have to say is maybe a little bit more oriented towards the Muslims.
If we go back in history bits,
we'll find something very interesting. We'll find many things actually very interesting that took place. In fact, it's a sad thing that Muslims do not study history and do not learn the lessons of history. But the particular thing that I want to focus today is on the spread of Christianity.
Christianity
started
as
a small
we could say, sect,
inshallah, as we Muslims believe anyway, it is the true sect, a small sect in Judea, or what is now no Israel or Palestine. But at the time it was Judah, occupied at that time by the Roman Empire.
There was a man, a prophet,
as we believe, he is a prophet and a man he is not God or the Son of God. His name is Jesus, or Isa, In Memoriam, Jesus, the son of Mary, who was the Messiah, to the Jews, the Messiah, meaning the Anointed One,
he came to call them back to the true Pure religion of God, that they should worship god alone and submit to His commandments.
Today we have a religion called Christianity, which, according to many Western scholars, and certainly this is affirmed by the Quran
does not resemble in any way shape or form. What Jesus or Isa in the Merriam taught,
it is a completely different religion.
It doesn't teach that we should worship God and submit to His commandments. Rather, it teaches that we should worship Jesus, that we should believe he is God. And that salvation comes by believing that he died on the cross
for our sins. You know, it's not my proposal today or my intention today, to go into a long theological and historical discussion about that.
But anyone who has the time and takes the interest
will find something very remarkable.
You will know that in the year 345, a pagan Roman Emperor, Constantine held a council in a city called my sia which is in present day Turkey.
It's the famous Council of Nicea, which took place at about 345 years after the time of Jesus.
In this council, convened by a pagan Roman Emperor.
The bishops or some selected bishops of Christianity,
were forced and compelled to come to a decision about what is the creed? And what is the belief? And what is the scripture upon which the whole of the Christians should unite upon?
Why would a pagan Roman Emperor living 1400 years living in that time, nearly 2000 years ago, why would he do that a pagan Roman Emperor? Why because Christianity was a very, very, very powerful force in the Roman Empire at the time.
Constantine realized that as long as the Christians were disunited, and arguing and bickering with one another, then the strength and the power of his empire was going to be sacked. So his idea was now to unite the Christians upon a single doctrine. What happened to come out of that Council was, for the first time, Christians were actually forced to believe,
a particular doctrine. This became known as the Athanasius creed. And that is what we know today as the concept of the Trinity,
that Jesus is God, and that he is of one essence with God. And from this council, also, the so called full canonical gospels were chosen.
But what actually happened?
Rome became the center of Christianity. In fact, it became known as the Holy Roman Empire.
But what really took place? And this is the interesting thing.
Is it really that Christianity took over the Roman Empire?
Or is it that
the Roman Empire romanized Christianity? In other words, was it Christianity that took over? Or was it really the Roman empire that took over Christianity?
If we look at it, you will find it is the Roman Empire had more of an influence on Christianity than the original teachings of Jesus had on the Roman Empire.
In fact, I remember when I was being brought up a Catholic, and I was studying Roman and Greek mythology. I remember thinking, as I was studying it, this is amazingly similar to what I believe is a Catholic.
The Romans had a trinity of gods. So eternalists, Solon, Leviticus, and Mithra.
Mithra was the Son of God, and He was God. And he was the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. And he was born on the 25th of December.
It was believed that by Mithra, and by being a devotee of Mithra, that your sins
will be forgiven.
And this is the way to achieve salvation. The Romans also had a pantheon of gods, which they worshiped. And they called upon for different needs. So if you needed something you will call upon this God, if you needed something you call upon that God, just as the Catholics, if you lose something you pray to St. Anthony, when you're going traveling, you pray to St. Christopher, if you're going to do some art, you pray to St. Louis, the patron saint of arts, just as the Romans had their different gods for different things. I said, this is very similar.
What my religion teaches me Catholicism is so similar to that. And it's only later when I began to study the issue, I realized that in fact, what had happened was that Christianity had become pagan ized that in fact, there was no difference. The theology is exactly the same.
The basic fundamental teachings if you boil them down to what they are saying, The paganism of the Romans and the Christianity of the Christians was very, very similar.
Hardly different at all.
And that leads me now to the Coca Cola Muslim generation.
Because we have heard people say
Mashallah
difficult to translate our one brothers trying to translate Mashallah.
Mashallah, you see, even though what happened on the 11th of September was very bad. But you see, many people now have become Muslim.
It's true. That has been an incredible number of conversions. And I've seen this myself in England. And I've heard it reported from America, that many people have come to Islam after the 11th of September. Why? Because it, it led them to research into Islam, to read the Quran to look about what Islam is teaching. And then they realized, this is not what these people are saying is this religion is not a religion of terror and war.
people realize that this is the truth. This is from God. So they embraced Islam.
But when I stood back and I analyzed and I looked at what is going on, and I looked at the statements of many Muslim
In Muslim leaders and Muslim scholars, and I looked also at the position and the attitudes of many Muslim leaders and many Muslim countries,
then a thought came to me.
Are we actually seeing the people of the West coming to Islam? Or are we actually observing
the westernization of Islam? Is it that the people are becoming Muslim? Or is it that Islam is becoming westernized? Is it really that we have growing up amongst us?
Muslims
upon Islam, or is it as we call it, the CocaCola Muslim generation? In other words, they say they are Muslim. They outwardly profess Islam, they say they believe in the Quran, they pray maybe even five times a day, they fast the month of Ramadan, they give the Zakah. But, and this is the but when you start to examine their attitudes, their beliefs, their motivations, you will find what is taking place is a mixture.
They've taken some of this, and they have taken some of that.
Are they really now motivated? by seeking the pleasure of Allah? That to make every action an action that Allah loves? And is pleased with? Or are they now trying to make a compromise?
Trying to find a compromise? How can we say we're Muslim? And then still be consumers? How can we can we still now run off to the things of this world.
And this, I believe, brothers and sisters is exactly the disease that is taking place amongst the Muslims now.
And it is a disease, that
the ideological competitors are very, very happy to propagate it and to spread it. And that is why they have now divided us into two groups. You have the moderate Muslim,
and the fundamentalist Muslim? You see, we don't have a problem with the moderate Muslims there, okay, because the moderate Muslims are the Coca Cola Muslims.
The Coca Cola Muslims, they say we're Muslim, we pray, but you'll find what we're happy to accept the concepts of democracy, we're happy to accept the concepts of the unity of the religions, we're happy to say that polygamy is an outdated thing. And it's not for these days, we're happy to follow all these ideas in the eye, we're now going to liberate women. And we're now going to, according to what they say is liberation of women. That's another topic anyway.
We're happy to take interest and take mortgages and get insurance and enjoy music and movies and, you know,
Coca Cola Muslims,
and the others are the fundamentalists.
What do you mean, the fundamentalists?
If you really look at it, and you examine it, the so called fundamentalist, and there's no doubt, there are people who are extremists amongst them. There are people who go beyond the bounds of what Islam allows. There are people who commit acts in the name of Islam. And it is not from Islam. I am not trying to justify any of that. So you have to understand what I'm saying here. But this group that is termed the fundamentalists, what is the real objection? If you go down and you look and you examine what is really taking place? What is the problem with these fundamentalists? What do they say? They say, Islam is a whole way of life. We have to be real Muslims. We have to establish Islam,
in our family life, our personal life, our family life, our political life, our economic life.
Being a Muslim is not only about praying five times a day, but it is about accepting everything in the Quran.
That we have to try and make everything we do. And everything we think and everything we say something that Allah loves and is pleased with, and and that includes
the laws and the rules by which we live, criminal law, Family Law, international law, all of these things are covered
in Islam,
the core and teaches all of these things.
Because Islam is a whole way of life. Now these are the ones that are considered now to be dangerous. The
fundamentalists, these are the ones that they realized are the real ideological competitors,
the so called fundamentalist Islam, because the reality is the CocaCola. Muslims are the ones they have really, it's not so much that they have bought Islam to the west that Islam has, that the West has westernized them. And now you find a new westernized version of Islam coming out.
And this is something you find very widespread. Even people who might say, I'm a fundamentalist Muslim, you will find often they are very deeply
affected by the ideas of the Western society. In fact, I dare say, to be completely honest, if you asked me, I'm probably I have a bit of Coca Cola Muslim in me as well. No, I'm serious. I'd be honest about myself. I actually thought when I'm giving this talk, is it fair, many of the things I might criticize people for maybe I have some faults myself, maybe there are some things I enjoy. In fact, I'll be quite frank, there are many things I enjoy, about the western life.
And maybe that's not entirely good. Not that those things, you can't enjoy them in Islam, Alhamdulillah. It's a beautiful religion, it's a balanced religion, you can enjoy the beautiful things of life, you can enjoy the beautiful things.
You can enjoy the goods and the things of this world, you're permitted to do that. You can have a nice car, you can drink Coca Cola, it's not actually around forbidden to drink Coca Cola.
You can wear Nike shoes, you can do it. You can wear Wrangler jeans, if you want to. It's not forbidden.
It's not forbidden. But the point is this, and it goes back to what I mentioned
is that this is not what we believe, is the source of our happiness in life.
In other words, if I have it, that's fine. If I don't have it, that's also fine.
If I have the nice car, well, Hamdulillah, I thank Allah and I praise Him, if I don't have it, I still thank Allah and I praise Him and I am content.
But the reality is brothers and sisters, with most of the Muslims today, that is not our condition. That is not our condition. If we don't have that nice car, we're not happy. If we don't have our house, that we own it. We're not happy. If we don't have that good income coming in. We're not happy, we don't have those nice clothes, we're not happy. And this is a real sign
that we have been overtaken ideologically.
And this is the condition brothers and sisters, in which we find ourselves.
And this is something actually that the Prophet Mohammed may allow us peace and blessings be upon him.
he prophesied he warned about it. He mentioned. He said that the thing that he feared most for his nation, for this Omar was that Allah would open up the doors
of material possessions and open up the doors of goodness meaning the material things and that because of it, we would vibe with one another, compete with one another not for the pleasure of Allah. But in order to acquire those things.
In fact, the prophet Mohammed said, and he prophesied something that we find taking place today.
He said, soon the nations will gather together to take from you, in the same way that you invite people to come and share in a feast.
So the companion said, O Messenger of God,
is that because we are small in number is that because we a few because they imagined that the only way the enemies could come and take our lands and take our possessions and take out things is because we're too few to defend ourselves. This is how the companions imagine we must be so few. And our numbers must be so small, we couldn't defend ourselves. But the prophet SAW Some said no. He said you will be many
like the form on the sea, like this form that you'll be so many, but you will be like the rubbish that is carried down by the flood.
Meaning your numbers will be many, but you will be rubbish you will be really of low quality.
And then he said an Allah will take the fear of you from the hearts of your enemies, meaning your enemies won't be afraid of you anymore. And into your hearts. He will cost one and they said oh my god.
danger of Allah, what is wahan
and the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, for dunya. Will Korea to remote love of the world love of life and fear of death?
Meaning, as we can see, that as Today we are 1.6 billion Muslims on the face of the earth, it is now the largest religion in the world. One in every five people on the earth surface is now a Muslim.
Like the foam on the sea,
yeah, what do we find?
What do we find?
We find that our enemies have made our lands a feast for themselves. They help ourselves to our oil, to our resources.
They control us politically, they control us economically. In fact, probably, we could even say, they are now very beginning to control us ideologically as well.
Why?
Why because in reality, we have become like them, we have given in and we have begun to follow their way of life, we now begin to love the life. And we look forward to the life and we enjoy the life. And we now begin to think that this life is the be all and end all. And this is where the pleasure lies. And this is where the happiness lies. This is the condition Exactly.
in which we find ourselves.
Whereas the reality is, of course, that this world is a very temporary about our stay upon this planet. Our stay in this life is very, very short. And the life to come in reality is the one that is enduring. And that is long.
So
I wrote down a few things
that I thought was symptomatic. Some of the things that we can see
some of the qualities that we have, that are
a hallmark of what we could call the Coca Cola, Muslim. One of the things I thought I wanted to do, right, I'm not going to do it, I was going to shake this bottle of coke up right?
Then I was going to open it. And I think you will know what happens when you shake up a bottle of coke and you open it right?
You know what happens? goes everywhere, all the coke spills out, and you have about this much left. And it's all of your clothes, and it's very sticky, and it's pretty horrible. And then all you have is a little bit of flats,
really pretty revolting. Liquid left at the bottom.
That's the first problem.
When Muslims like that someone comes along, he gives a nice talk, he gives a lecture, he gives a soul stirring inspirational, you know,
lecture and everyone gets all excited, and they get all excited, and they get all excited. Like that.
And then, three days later, three months later, or whatever, what's left, nothing.
Nothing, nothing of any benefit. Nothing that even tastes nice. And that's how we become just like the people in the West. It's how they get you they get all emotional live a band aid, you know, help this help with that. Get them all emotional Simson songs, this and that. Like that, you know, whatever, three weeks later, they've forgotten it. What's the next thing? What's the next piece of news? What's the next thing they forgot? Nothing permanent. You know, we get all emotional, we go with a changed environment, we've got to do something we've got to you know, we've got to make the world green again. And we get excited for a few days. And we put a few cans in the recycling bin and
that's it, man we give up.
Yeah, that's how it is. So they always now have to bring new adverts and new campaigns and new things and it's just like that coke you shake it, shake it, shake.
What's left? The Muslims have become just like that emotional, react to everything emotionally. We react to everything emotionally. And unfortunately, sometimes that emotional reaction is extremely violent.
But this is not the way of Islam. This is not the way of Islam. The Muslim is not supposed to be emotional.
The Muslim is supposed to be guided by the book of Allah, by the sayings of the Prophet Mohammed. Emotion does not really come into it. We are only seeking what is pleasing to Allah. Maybe we have to be subjected to many
trials and many tests are many tribulations. But if we are supposed to be patient, and that's what Allah wants, we will be patient. If we are supposed to resist, then we resist, but it's according to what Allah teaches and the way that Allah teaches it. But that's not how we our brothers and sisters were people become emotional people. And that's the fact I'm sure all of you know, when they put when they put bosnia in the news, oh, we will raise that money for Bosnia. And we drove I don't know, in Europe, people drove trucks and convoys, and Bosnia, they still having lots of problems in Bosnia, but no one cares anymore. Because now then it was Kosovo. And then Costa was in the so we
will react to that. And then it was Chechnya. And so we reacted to that, and then it was, and then, and that's how whatever they put in front of us, we react.
This is emotion.
This is not the way a Muslim is supposed to be. And this has to do with our great lack of knowledge and our deep insight we have really become so ignorant even about our religion as one of the first problems. And I must admit, I'm just picking some things here. Another thing I'm sure you will relate to this is marriage. Our idea of marriage. What do we think marriages? I put a little quiz at the back we're gonna mention it quickly. Right? Are you a Coca Cola Muslim? So I mentioned that at the end, are you a Coca Cola Muslim?
If you are, let's let's let's let's go through the let's go through the question. So you can all see now whether you're a Coca Cola Muslim, right, number one, question number one, right to see if you're a Coca Cola Muslim, right. Number one question. Does your diamond your diamond means?
Again, that will be another lecture we're gonna say what the Muslims know. Anyway, what your mind is we loosely translated as faith. Does your Eman go very high and very low and very high and very low. That's the first question. Does the Eman go up and down and up and down? A lot like that? Is that what you find? Does your faith go up and down? If it is yes, that's one point for being a Coca Cola Muslim, right.
Number two.
Number two, this is not an order of priority by the way. Do you think a man should only have one wife? Not in order of priority?
If you think a man should have only one wife put a tick for being a Coca Cola Muslim.
Do you think of marriage as a match held together by love or a working relationship trying to build a better Muslim nation?
If you think that marriage is a lovey dovey, you know Hollywood Bollywood affair, then put a big tick for you being a Hollywood Hollywood Muslim or Coca Cola Muslim.
Number three.
Number three, are you planning to have two or three kids at the most and give them the best? Or are you hoping for a football team?
If you are hoping to have if you are planning to have one or two kids and give them the best you are definitely in the Coca Cola Muslim League.
Absolutely. That is a big sign of being a Coca Cola Muslim, conquered by the West ideologically when you hear a speaker when you speak when you hear a speaker a lecturer and you like what he says Do you want to get his autograph?
If it is yes Coca Cola Muslim another point for being a Coca Cola Muslim.
Do you prefer to get your knowledge from audio tapes and videos? Or do you think that and do you try to sit with a scholar and memorize and study if the only way you get your knowledge is by videos and tapes then definitely another point for Coca Cola Muslim
Are you a member of blockbuster movie lands?
Or any other video store?
If if you are
a chick you're that's another point for being a Coca Cola Muslim.
Do you wait for the latest J Lo M and M
or whatever other music CD? Or do you wait for the Islamic latest Islamic books?
Or both?
Or both? If you wait for the latest JLo m&m and music CDs forget it you're not even in the Muslim League right now inshallah you're still a Muslim But anyway, you are still a Muslim but
that's not good that you have to get two points for being a Coca Cola Muslim that if if the latest Islamic books, then Okay, no problem. If it's both definitely one point for being a Coca Cola Muslim because that's the Coca Cola Muslim. They take a bit of this and they take a bit of that. So if it's both
Then you get a give yourself a tick. Do you spend more time reading Vogue? Hot for did you say?
That's the first car magazine? They told me Cleo, Dolly or any other hobby or thing that interests you. So do you spend more time reading that or do you spend or watching? I can't say footy? I'm split. I have to say footy. Yeah, that's right. footy. We'd say in English footy.
So what do you spend more time doing? Do you spend more time reading those magazines and pursuing your hobbies and watching footy?
Or do you spend more time reading the Quran and studying books of Islamic knowledge if you spend more time with the hobbies more time I'm not saying hobbies are haram but if you spend more time, then you have to put a tick Coca Cola Muslim.
And the other one is would you prefer to take a mortgage or be content with rent.
If you want to take a mortgage definitely brothers and sisters, you have to give yourself 510 15 ticks for being a Coca Cola Muslim. So anyway, in sha Allah, that was my brief guide to whether you're a Coca Cola Muslim or not. inshallah, I hope all of us didn't score too many points in that regard.
I won't tell you what my score was.
But inshallah we hope Allah subhanaw taala guides all of us to what is best for us. Although we left it on a lighthearted note, of course, brothers and sisters, the talk has a very serious note to it, and a very serious tone to it. So brothers and sisters, this is something although we made it lighthearted at the end, please, something that we should really think about. And we should really reflect about because at the end of the day, this is about our theater. It's not only about our theater, about whether our destination is the place of joy, or the place of torment, the place of bliss, or the place of misery. But it is also about the real condition of our hearts and our souls
in this life. Will we be from those people who are really happy, really content really peaceful? Or are we just going to be those people who experience some fleeting moments of joy, but in reality, our life is just a downward spiral of misery, where we consume more and more and self destruct ourselves and self destruct our societies and self destruct our world. And we seek refuge with Allah from that Allahumma salli ala Muhammad he went early, he was happy he was Salaam which is aka hell was Salam Alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh