Adnan Rajeh – My Maxims #5
AI: Summary ©
The Middle East conflict has impacted Muslims' lives and the importance of acknowledging the need for a change in the generation of people who will make a difference. The speaker emphasizes the need for people to outlast the crisis and prioritize father's leads, sharing this information to make a better life and reduce waste of time. reform and rebuilding values is also important, and individuals should be humble and not give up on issues such as racist behavior and money. Support and consultation for parents who believe in themselves and serve their children is also important.AI: Transcript ©
Yesterday was the 76th
anniversary
of the Nakba.
76
long years
passed since the Palestinian people were forcefully removed
from their lands,
since they underwent one of the worst genocidal
attempts
within modern history.
Continuing all throughout these last 76 years, only
for today to be so similar to yesterday
as they try yet again
to erase
this group of people
from their
their land, the land of their forefathers that
they were living on for at least a
couple of millennium.
And
as Muslims today, we are forced to think
long and hard about this topic.
If you remember how things worked over the
last maybe couple of decades, and most of
us have been living for 100 of years
to be able to come to these conclusions,
but over the course of your life, the
way that this topic has presented itself is
that once
a part of Palestine is bombed,
their shield put on the nimble and their
faces get red and their voices get loud
and they yell at you for a while
and they got very upset about this issue
and people in certain parts of the world
will protest and walk, maybe break and destroy
a few embassies, maybe break a few lights,
maybe carry a few banners, and it goes
on for a couple of weeks until the
bombing stops. And then after that, we go
back to, to life that is normal, to
business as usual. We go back to work
at the company that support this type of
behavior, to live in the country that support
this type of behavior, and we continue to
befriend people who support this type of behavior.
And we continue to forget about it until
yet again
until again they bomb us. And now we
do the same. And it keeps on happening.
And we become very predictable.
For those who don't agree with our narrative,
we spread
a little bit farther in the parts of
the world, but don't worry about
it.
Things going on. They have children in schools,
and they have to pay for for all
these public schools, and for for all these
private schools, and for their and for their
expensive,
Yani vacations. Maybe you don't have time to
actually
spend talking about this topic. So just you
just have to outlast it. Just just quietly
outlast it for a couple of weeks and
think that don't worry about it. It'll just
be an uprise for a very short period
of time. And then the lights, we have
to give it to them. They figured us
out. Now we'll just do it for a
very short period of time. And then forget
about us. The only reason this is going
on this long is that they've been bombing
for 8 months and and and they haven't
stopped. It's been the longest time that they're
expensive bombardments of the, you know, civilian populated
areas. That's all. Now they stopped sometime in
November. I would be talking about something different
and all the flags into Kofi and all
the other stuff. We belong here behind us.
And it wouldn't it wouldn't matter anymore. It's
just because they've been doing it for 8
months that it still matters. And I'm saying
this, and I'm not sarcastic about it. This
is actually what's happening. But you're not proud
about it either. You're not proud about it
at all. And I think that's the problem.
The problem is that we are we are
failing to recognize any causes that require our
full attention or at least the full attention
of a group of monks that we have
got amongst us, that we have empowered to
make sure they continue to push and they
have our support. They're socially they have our
support socially, financially, academically,
interpersonally.
They have our support. We don't have any
of that. So it just goes back to
how it was before.
And I'm saying this because I hope that
maybe by continuously
poking up this topic, we decide to read
it differently. Because at the end, at some
point, this won't stop. It's impossible to go
forever. Nothing goes forever, but this to go
forever. It will all stop. And the question
is after it does, then what? Then what
happens?
Is there some form of or is there
is is there a plan being put together?
Do we have with our communities people who
are putting together plans for how we're going
to address this issue?
Or are we going to see just have
the same, you know, 77th and 78th anniversary,
79th and 80th? This is not the longest
time that, that the holy land has been
occupied by foreigners
during the Islamic era.
Since Islam, this is not the longest time.
It went over a 100 and somewhat years.
So this is not the longest time, so
there's no reason for you to lose hope
or anything. There's no reason for you to
look at this topic and say, this will
never be fixed. Oh, it'll
problem is with the nature of the people.
The issue is who is going to actually
fix it? What if you think about it,
what's going to
The issue is who is going to actually
fix it. What if you think about it,
what type of generation is needed to fix
this problem?
What type of generation of human beings is
going to be required for this issue to
find closure, for it to be concluded, for
us to actually figure out a way to
push back and to make some advancements and
to make progress on it. What type of
generation do you think is going to do
this? Do You think that the generation of
people who are going to make a difference,
who are going to make a difference, it
is topical, it is realm, or it is
front as Muslims. It's not just such a
lusty. There's a lot of other fronts as
Muslims that we have to talk about. There's
a lot of other problems, a lot of
injustices that continue, that occurred upon Muslims are
continuing to occur. For us to make a
difference, what type what characteristics
are needed within that generation? Did that generation
has to prioritize righteousness?
Brothers and sisters, the generation is going to
make a difference. The generation that sees Haq
and Adil and Win, they look at the
concept of righteousness and justice
and oppression and anti oppression as priorities that
they will live for. That nothing is none
of nothing trumps them. That they're willing to
lose whatever it is they have to lose,
to continue to speak out for and against
these issues.
That is the type of generation.
This cannot be some part time gig that
you pick up, some secondary topic that you're
going to show interest in. That world doesn't
change that way.
Will never change that way. I'm surprised sometimes
at how little we know it, just general
history. Not even Islamic history. Forget about Islamic
history. Yeah. He go look at history in
general. Show me a group of people that
were able to rid themselves from oppression,
transgression,
colonialism.
Show me a group of people that were
able to change their status as they were
living through poverty and through
corruption. And they did it with a group
of people who only took interest in this
issue on a part time level or they
saw it as a secondary interest for them.
Show me. No. Every time historically, a group
of people who have changed their destiny and
and and actually changed the narrative of the
world on a specific topic or a group
of people who gave their everything for it,
gave absolutely everything they had and did not
wait for anyone to compliment them or reward
them or to offer them any compensation for
it. Because I'm telling you, if you give
your life up for a just cause or
for righteousness,
you will lose almost everything and no one
will stand by you. I'm telling you this
now so you understand. No one will stand
by you, no one will thank you for
it aside from the almighty divine himself. No
one will. And you have to be okay
with that. You have to be okay with
that. And if you're not, then we wait.
Then we wait.
That's what we do, we wait.
And that's what was that was that's what
happened to Musa alaihi salaam.
Musa was ready.
Musa was ready to reclaim
what needed to be reclaimed.
When Musa said, I don't have people who
are committed. It's just me and Harun. No
one else cares about this. I can't get
their interests. So Allah answered and it it
is they are prohibited. They are not allowed
there. It's a privilege to stand for righteousness
and they are now deprived of that privilege.
For a full generation, go walk the desert
aimlessly until they all die and come back
later with a different generation. So they did.
And Harrou and Musa both died within the
30 years of aimless walking.
And it was the next generation
that made the difference and took them and
they entered the holy land and they reclaimed
that which was theirs. So it's just a
question. Are we there yet? No? Fine.
Fine. I'll I'll come back and talk to
you about the, about,
the and
the importance of using the. No problem. It's
easy. I'll I'll get a lot of, popularity
that way. I can if you're not ready,
we can just talk about something different. Tell
me, what is it that you want me
to talk about? Give me. Send me a
request. What do you want me to talk?
What are you interested in? Maybe you have
some marital problems. Tell me what they are
so I can share them to the community
so that you can you can have a
nicer, a quieter life. What else? What else?
What else? You are you bothered by something
else? Is is parking bothering
you? Is the lack of, what's what's bothering
you? Or some service that you're not getting
properly in the community? Tell me about so
I can share that. Because because it doesn't
matter really. If we're not willing to stand
out for righteousness, if if
these concepts do not trump everything else, if
we see oppression and we are not willing
to speak out against it, then what's the
point? Wallahi, what's the point?
This is this is this is a this
is a waste of everyone's time.
There's there's no there's no there's no need
to this.
There's really no no end game and there's
no point. I'm sorry to put it that
way but this is the reality of the
matter. If you want to see change then
change has to be the number one thing
on your list and you're willing to live
and sometimes die for it.
You are not required to die for it,
others are others are. Others decided that they're
not gonna leave.
They're not leaving, they're not going to be
bullied, They're not going to be frightened out
till they paid with their blood. You don't
have to do that. You just have to
you just have to live for it. You
just have to actually which is sometimes more
painful. I can tell you that. Sometimes it
can be. It is not in my opinion,
but sometimes it can be. When you leave
for something, where you see this is everything
I do in my life is directed towards
achieving this goal. Everything that I'm bringing forward
in my life, all the work that I'm
doing academically, all the work that I'm doing
socially and financially, the goal is I strengthen
this
this cause that I that our voice within
that cause is is louder, that we have
more influence, that we advocate more powerfully,
that our community comes up with better plans.
That's why I'm living my life. And that's
not why you're living your life. But ask
yourself, why are you living your life?
You see you think Allah is gonna come
and ask you what do you think he's
going to ask you about? Here's the point
that I don't think everyone understands.
And that's why
last week the the the maxim that I
I I shared with you I'm gonna share
it with you again just because I want
to make sure it's clear. Islam is about
reform. Without reform, Islam is not Islam. It's
something else. It's some mute mutant
theology that I don't understand and I don't
want to have anything to do with at
all. Islam has reform in it. Reform requires
a seeing where the problem is. For me
to come to a group of people who
have a specific deficit, and for me not
to talk about it from Islam and talk
about something else, that is a betrayal.
And that's a problem on the day of
judgement. That's why in the verses that you
heard, what they came and asked Shoaib are
the 2 questions.
Meaning, does your prayer, means, does your system?
They said meaning, your deen, what you're bringing
to us. Does it command you?
Does it come and tell you that we
have to change
whom we worship? Because every prophet came and
performed
reform regarding shirk and tawhid. This is the
first one. Every prophet came and said,
There's one God, stop worshiping idols. We just
stopped that. Every prophet did the same thing,
so they asked that question.
And then the second question was,
or we do what we want in our
in our wealth.
Because that was their problem. You see Shri
Akers said, okay, let's not talk about wealth.
Let's talk about humbleness. Let's talk about,
being kind. Let's talk about,
Dhiyafar standing in line and saying, and everyone
would have loved it. They would love Shoaib.
Shoaib would have become popular. It would have
made a lot of money.
Just don't talk about the wealth piece. The
only thing he's talking about is the wealth
piece. That's all he's going to talk about.
You are you cheat with your finances and
that's all I'm talking about. But we have
so many other good things. I don't care
about your good things. Keep them. Don't keep
them. That's up to you. There's a problem
here and it needs to be fixed. And
then we're gonna continue to talk about it
until we fix it. And And they didn't
fix
it. And didn't.
And every prophet did that. He came to
his people and he looked and he assessed
and said, here's the deficit. Here's what needs
to change.
Here's what needs to change. Yes you have
great things alhamdulillah Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. He
blessed you with other nice things going on,
good for you. This has to change. This
problem here needs to change. Noot came and
he didn't talk about anything. He didn't talk
about Ibadah. He didn't knock on Jumuah for
them. He wasn't interested in their hushua. He
was talking about the one problem they had.
He came and pointed out this has to
this behavior has to stop. Same thing for.
He came and told them the same thing.
You need to be humble. Why? You were
just mocking
you're just mocking that a second in your
shirk. Yeah. But that was their problem. The
people of Hud,
their problem is that they were extremely racist.
They were racist and they didn't see people
to be equal so that so their product
came and told them that has to change.
He didn't talk to them about finances.
Why? Because that wasn't their problem.
So what do you think you're gonna be
asked about your Multiyama? Tell me. What do
you think you're gonna be asked about?
What do you think this generation is going
to be asked about?
Yeah.
It's pretty obvious what we're going to be
asked about.
It's the law of law of law of
law of law of law of law of
law of law of law of law of
law of law of law of law of
law of law of law of law of
law of law of law of law of
law of law of law of law of
law of law of law of law of
law of law of law of law of
law of law of law. It's the occurrences
of injustice within our lives that we witnessed
and that we did very little about.
And you're gonna come and say, but hold
on, but I did this and I did
that. Yeah. Sure. What did you do about
this though?
Well, I was
Yeah. Good good for you. What about this?
I know, but I I
what did you do about this problem?
Well
and then and then you stand there. And
it turns out that that's the problem that
you may be assessed by. And you should
have known that in your life because that
was the deficit.
That was the problem that required the reform.
It's the interest in this that needed reform
and we didn't do it, and we didn't
do it.
And so that's what we're gonna be assessed
by. The people of tribe were not assessed
by their ethics. They were assessed by their
finances.
And when they didn't fix their cheating and
finances, they were destroyed.
And every poem had the exact same issue.
There's one little problem that need to be
fixed. If you didn't fix it, then all
the other merits of your community meant nothing.
Those merits are Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala blessings
upon you anyways. You don't have any reason
to brag about them. That Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala He gave you
He wants you to fix the problem.
And that goes even into into your own
personal
life. When you sit down and talk about
myself, oh, I'm good at 1, 2, 3,
4, 4 I know what you're good. What
are you not
doing right? Okay. There there is
your story. There is your story. What is
it that you're not doing wrong? What is
it that you know you should be doing
but you're not or doing but you shouldn't?
There is your story. That's you. And that's
what you're going to be asked about. And
then you come and try and play a
different game and present a different you know,
you come with your presentation and your power
point. Y'all know, here's what I did. Take
me to the point that I guess. Take
me yes. That's what I want. Tell what
do you do there? And that's your weakest
spots, but that's what he's interested in. Because
the rest of them, you were given an
advantage anyways. This This is the blessing of
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Just be just just
be grateful and you're fine. It's the deficits.
It's the problems. It's the struggles. It's the
challenges. It's where reform was required.
It's where Islam needed to come in and
wash things up.
It cleaned it all out and changed the
status of it.
And that is where we are failing.
We're focused on other stuff, and we're not
focused on this. We're not taking only when
it's happening, we feel ashamed, so we do.
But then it stops. And I guarantee you,
unless something changes in this society, which I
I pray to almighty Allah that it does,
then we will just go back to talking
about this on occasions.
On occasions. The thing is it's the 76th
anniversary.
It's been going for 76
years.
Not only in 76 years, we have not
been able to figure out anything
as communities in the West or communities in
the East or
some form of advocacy that has an edge
to it,
that has teeth, that can actually make a
difference, that we can get behind. Maori, we
haven't been able to do this.
I don't think it's a lack of wealth.
I don't think it's a lack of numbers.
I don't think I think it's just a
lack of willpower.
It's a lack of willpower and commitment and
understanding of what we're going to be assessed
based on on the day of judgment.
He says,
don't
get comfortable.
That's what means. Is when you get kinda
chummy,
comfortable, and kinda sit back. You know, you
don't feel weird anymore. Don't get comfortable to
the oppressors.
Don't become comfortable with the oppressors
because then Jahannam will bite you, then Jahannam
will take a piece of you,
and then you'll find no one to stand
by.
No one will stand by you on the
day of judgement.
And you will stand alone and you will
lack support on the day of judgement. Be
careful. Do not get comfortable with that which
you know is oppressive, with that which you
with those who you know are oppressing. You
know, you stand you stand strong, you stand
tall
and you stand clearly
to oppose that which is wrong, and to
stand by that which is correct
because that's what we're going to be assessed
by your Multiyama. I had a second maxim
I want to share with you, I'm not
gonna share it with you.
I'm gonna stick with this, this has to
be clear. This has to be clear that
Islam without this concept of Islam doesn't go
anywhere. And if you don't believe that, then
you just have to study the Quran
and they fought them on one issue.
He came Salih came to the people of
Timur to tell them you are wasteful
and you are indifferent.
And you are Musliffin, this has to change.
And they tell him, Yeshua, Yes, Yes,
Before all of this change in the yeah.
This waste for the before all this, stuff
that you're bringing us, we used to like
you. We had we had hopes for you.
You you are well spoken. People liked you.
Why are you bringing all of this? Why
are you challenging these things?
He didn't challenge other aspect. People who came
to the people of Aja and told them
you have to stop propressioning others and you
have to stop being racist.
They did the same thing in every story.
No
no nepotism.
There will be no nepotism here. We will
be I will not remove the see the
people of Muh after a 1000 after 950
years of them doing this. They finally caved.
They said fine. We'll accept your faith.
But,
I
know.
All we see, the people who are with
you, aren't they just the low lives? You
have to remove them. Like, we'll we'll sing
with you, but can you get them out?
Can you at least have 2 session 2
sessions? Have 2 for
the poor and for the rich, for the
noble, and for the lowlife. No.
Absolutely not. That's the one thing he wasn't
going to do. He would do anything else.
So I did everything. I spoke to them
everywhere. I compromised
my integrity for them, You Rabbi. I gave
them my life. I gave them every moment
of my waking day. No problem. I'll I'll
come. But but not that. No. I can't
compromise the equality piece because that's your problem.
Because that's your ethical deficit and that's what
has to change. Don't ask me to compromise
the thing that I'm here to actually fix
for you.
And as Muslims that's the assessment that we
need.
We have to assess where are our problems
and that's what we have to fix.
And one of the problems that we have
as a nation is the fact that we
are living at a time where injustices continue
to occur, and we are not taking steps
to fix them, and we are not clear
in our opposition to transgression, oppression,
and
we're just not clearly against it. We're just
not standing clearly against it. We allow things
to slide. Too many things are sliding.
Too many. And now we're in a position
where
they're we're normalizing. We're normalizing.
We're actually going we're actually breaking the words
of the Quran. The Quran is saying,
that's exactly what we're doing, and there's no
way to misinterpret this stuff.
Not because we just didn't do our job
appropriately.
And that's what I want to share with
you. Is that remember,
without reform,
I don't know what Islam is.
You may like Islam, actually dictators and they
love Islam without reform.
They just want to pick that piece out.
Just really many aspects of reform and enjoy,
have your Masjid, build a big one,
Making sure the, the roof is higher, the
sound system is better, fill the place, do
the dry, just know the form please, Just
don't speak out against what shouldn't be happening.
Don't speak speak out against dictatorship or corruption
or no. Don't don't do that. Anything else,
you're welcome. Speak whatever you want. I remember.
I used to live in Syria. I remember.
Talk about everything you want. Just not the
not not the the glaring act of
aspect of oppression and and and wound that
was occurring. Just don't speak about anything else
you want. Just not that.
But how well do you think that worked
out for us?
When we learn it doesn't work. It doesn't
work. Islam doesn't function that way and people
don't survive that way. You have to speak
out against what's wrong even if that cost
you your job or cost you your reputation
or your wealth or whatever is going to
cost us, it has to cost us. And
if we're not willing to pay for that,
then then continue to walk aimlessly before the
years, maybe the next generation does it. And
hopefully there's someone left to stand here and
say the same thing and maybe provoke a
little bit of commitment and dedication and genuineness
amongst those who are listening to get a
generation that's willing to do it. It just
takes time. One generation will do it. Why
not this one? Why not this one? Why
not have that at least start now so
that we can meet Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
We can say
that, well, yeah, we we we sparked it.
We didn't live long enough to see it,
but we sparked it. But we pushed the,
the the wheel forward a little bit. We
didn't get it very far, but we started
the push.
At least meet God with that. Because if
we don't meet Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala with
that, then I don't know what exactly I'm
going to say to him.
What am I going to explain to him?
What exactly does my life worth? What did
I do? If I didn't do this, then
I don't know there's anything worth doing to
begin with. And that doesn't mean that we
drop our educational piece within our community or
the mentorship piece or the outreach or or
the organizing of our institutions. No. But we
do it with a clear goal of achieving
that.
That's the only difference is that you connect
what you do internally on a personal level
and on a communal level to goals that
are clearly defined
that we cannot afford to ignore. And that
will cost us a little bit, or maybe
even a lot of it, but we still
have to do it. Because that's what the
prophets before us did.
I hope that was a benefit to you.
Our brothers and sisters,
on
at UW are still
ongoing with their encampment, and and they do
require some degree of support.
Even if you can't spend the night or
spend the day, it's beneficial for at some
point in the evening if you have time
to drop in. And just so show some
solidarity
with them, show them some support because they
are
standing there
demanding something from these institutions.
And the success that this has shown across
the globe so far by the way, but
within is is actually it's it's it's amazing
what students have been able to do. We
have to help our students that age group
believe that they can make a difference because
they can.
Once they believe in their in themselves, a
lot of what's happening today changes.
A lot changes, by the way, in the
world. And things will function differently once that
age group believes in themselves what they are
capable of. They discover what they can actually
do. And that requires us to empower them,
and support them and aid them, and and
strengthen their courage and their bravery as they
stand there. With wisdom, they need consultation as
well. They need people who are Akkali, people
who have experience to stand there and to
offer them advice that will actually help them
and serve them. But we need to do
that as a community.
And and I think, yeah, that's the least
we can do.
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