Drill Rap, Gangster Culture, Radicalization and Muslim Identity

well known Delhi and debater and public speaker for the last few decades. So without any delays inshallah we'll listen to Asha

sulamani Rahim

Salam Rouhani Rahim Al Hamdulillah Al hamdu Lillahi Rabbil Alameen wa salatu salam ala Fatah Mala Mia was a yodel mursaleen while he was heavy Laurel, my Amin, woman Tabia homebase signing to Medina I'm about rubella is some elimina shaytani R rajim Bismillahi Rahmani Raheem. Omar Sanaka Ihlara mattala al Amin fala Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, la you have to come Hata Akona Hubballi meanwhile, he ovalo the he or nasioc Marine. Oh come on call Ali salatu salam, my respective brothers and sisters A salaam aleikum wa rahmatullah wa barakato.

Today, I will be addressing the youth in particular, and the rest of the Ummah in general.

And the issue I will be addressing today is

identity crisis.

The Muslim Ummah, in general, and our youth in particular has never faced identity crisis on this level.

Our youth,

our youngsters, Muslim youngsters around the world,

in the Muslim world, and in the Western world, are going through an identity crisis. I will explain what I mean by that. So let me highlight the problem first, and then we will talk about the solutions in sha Allah.

The problem is that our youth

today

is confused,

confused about what they are confused as to why they are Muslims.

And because they don't fully understand why they are Muslims, they end up following people. They're not supposed to be following.

And with the rise of social media, with tick tock,

with Snapchat, with Facebook, those who are elderly,

right, because Facebook has now become an elderly application. youngsters have moved on to more sophisticated things. They are creating more sophisticated content.

And they have become more sophisticated in that. So I'm talking to tick talkers, and Snapchatters and Instagramers these people

and now their inspiration is coming through through these platforms.

So they have created heroes for themselves.

Obviously, when the wind blows, it touches everyone. So globally, we have a phenomenon.

And that phenomenon is social media.

And fitna has risen in this day and age like never before.

There are there are too many temptations and digressions for us to fall into neglecting our true identity all together

and ignoring it.

And putting it aside completely in some cases. What am I talking about?

So who are our youth following today?

And how do we know that our youth are following these people? They are following rap artists, football players,

singers, actors, gangsters, and the list goes on. How do I know that? Because when I see the youth on the street, they're acting like these people.

And this has been the problem since I was a teenager, because I was a victim myself of this kind of thinking. I used to think that is cool to be gangster ish. Yeah. It's cool to be a gangster.

And I used to think that

I am Tupac.

Literally, I'm not joking.

Yeah, there was a time I used to listen to Tupac.

Those of you who know Tupac,

he was a rapper in the 90s. He died in 1996 and

I was devastated.

Right? When I heard the news that he's killed because I loved his music so much.

At that time, I used to think that I am him.

Yeah, like the prophets Allah who said Allah can be so naughty was so natural hahaha. Or Rashidi in alma de embody the provision upon you is my way and the way of my rightly guided successes who come after me.

I was following, Tupac telling me alike whom we saw besonders he was another assembler, the US hobby upon you is my way because this is what he was preaching, right. He was telling people to be like me.

He was very cool

to youngsters. And people used to dress like him follow the same fashion wear trousers like him, act like him talk like him smoke like him drink like him. And in some cases die like him.

People died like him.

And in reality, I don't want to talk bad or someone who's dead. But this is the reality died like a dog

in the street, because he was behaving in that way.

He was asking for it.

He was calling for it. He was challenging Allah. He thought he had become too big.

And he got what he wanted.

And people are very much inspired by his videos when his lifestyle, the fake lifestyle. These rappers that created in the 90s and it still still goes on. Now youngsters are found new rappers, new content, new music.

And even though some of our Muslim brothers who are young, they might come to the masjid, but when they go out, they listen to these people. This is where the real inspiration is coming from. How do I know that? Because they act like these people. They think they are them.

They behave like them. They walk like them. They talk like them. They even treat the parents like as if those parents are from the street.

So they'll go home, they'll talk to the mom as if she is one of the drug dealers on the street.

Yeah.

You agree with me? Right? Good. Because you know, I'm telling the truth. Some of these youngsters, they go from the street, they go home, they have no idea who they're talking to them talk to the mom as if she's the gangster. She's one of those gangsters or one of those drug dealers from the street.

So this becomes part of this becomes a second nature.

So you become

you love, what you love? And how do we know what you love?

We know because you become what you love. So when you start to look like someone when you start to act like someone when you start to talk like someone you start to live like someone that you are that someone simple, the professor said Man, Tasha Bobby common for her men whom that you imitate a people then you are them. Period.

You behave like a people you talk like them, even our brothers who become practicing, they bring the street with them. It is a struggle for them to actually adopt the manners of Islam that o'clock of Islam. So when they will talk, they will talk as if they industry, even in the masjid.

It's a struggle for some of us or for some of our brothers, and they need to overcome it. So this is a big problem for our youth today. Imitation of people they should not be imitating you go to some of these youngsters rooms. You see the posters on the walls.

And when you speak to them today, you ask them about Ronaldo, how many girlfriends he's had, how much money he makes, and I can guarantee you I asked my brothers here right now they will tell me who do not who you know don't always look easy. MashAllah is speaking the truth. Yeah.

This is the problem. We are facing such an onslaught of fitna and digressions and distractions, that it is impossible for our youth to avoid these things. That's why we need to start working harder on our youth to strengthen the identity as Muslims because they are found heroes elsewhere. And on daily basis, from the day our children are born. They are being bombarded with cultural influences.

They are being

influenced, conditioned, molded into thinking in a way. That is not the actual identity. So when the child is born, what do you give him? Baby Shower doo doo doo doo doo? Yes. Right?

When the child is born as soon as the child opens the eyes, what comes here?

Because I've heard this myself

instead of lai lai Allah Bismillah or maybe some of the Islamic unachieved you know,

what do our children receive? Baby shark doo doo doo doo doo Oh, Baby shark doo doo doo something like that, right? I don't know what that is. But I've heard it so much. This is unbelievable. And then when they grow up a little bit in my day and age, it used to be Tom and Jerry. Yeah, I don't know what it is today. What is it today?

Still Tom and Jerry. Still Tom and Jerry. Right. And then in Tom and Jerry, what are you learning? violence?

Violence, right. Then when you grow up a little bit more, then it shifts to something else.

And then eventually you get to Soprano's

Pablo Escobar Yeah, you get to something else, and you get start getting inspiration from these criminals who are being glorified. So this rap music you may be listening to my brothers, this is the problem. I'm highlighting the problem first. We're going to come to solutions very soon inshallah. This rap music you're you're listening to is evil. The content is evil. What are these rappers doing? They are radicalizing you. They are radicalizing you in ways you cannot imagine. They are glorifying drug dealing. They are glorifying disrespecting women. They are glorifying, violence, evil violence, they are glorifying evil behavior, evil language.

Using F word is now cool.

When you talk, you keep using that word. And you sound like a gangster. You'd sound like a bad boy. But there's nothing bad about it. Actually, there is everything bad about it. Right? There's nothing right about it rather write.

And this is what you are thinking that there's nothing bad about it. It's normal. This is our normal behavior.

So my brothers, think about it.

These influences, then they are making movies about these gangsters.

Drug dealers, drug suppliers, drug barons, right. So when you watch something like

Pablo Escobar, you know, Narcos, let's say yeah.

What are you going to go away with hatred for Pablo Escobar would love for him.

Tell me, I hope you haven't watched it. Don't watch it. Because there are documentaries on these things.

There are academic works, how these things actually influence people and their mental state of being

these programs they actually influence you.

And because there is no alternative for our youth, there is not enough Islamic content.

They will fall to this. They will fall victims to this. This onslaught social, cultural, okay.

Onslaught, which is evil, and to say the least barbaric, so there is knife crime on the streets, youngsters killing each other because they think they are gangsters, but they're nothing. They're nothing. They're not gangsters. Some of these youngsters killing each other. They don't even have five pounds in the pockets. They struggle to raise money. The thing by selling few spliffs here and there

was by selling few packets here and there, they have become gangsters. This is what they're made to think. But they're not. They are wasting their lives. And they will eventually die, either by stabbing or by smoking drugs.

Because this stuff actually damages your brain. When you consume drugs. It kills your brain cells, it makes you dumb. Literally, it makes you dumb. Your thinking capacity becomes highly affected. Those who do substance abuse, those who smoke smoke weed, or those who smoke skunk or those who sniff cocaine or consume heroin if you are unfortunate, you become dumb. Wallah. You become dumb. You become like an animal

You're no longer human. You're like a zombie.

And you don't know what's going on around you, you lose any sense of responsibility.

You become a waste, as they say on the street a waste, man.

Right? Literally, you become a waste man. Or you become a wasted man.

Right?

This is because of the influences we are being fed with through music,

through football culture,

through whatever boxing,

what are you being fed with? There's nothing positive about these things.

Instead of thinking of books, decent behavior, decent dress code.

We are thinking of ways to look cool, and there's nothing cool about this way.

This is the danger our youth are facing today. This is one of the biggest problems identity crisis because they don't know anything about the Muslim heroes. They don't have heroes to follow. They don't have heroes to look up to. They have been given Spider Man, Superman and Ironman, right? Or music artists or football players or boxing champions. This is what they look up to. Because they're not aware of how they had been bullied. They're not aware of

Imam Buhari, they're not aware of a blue Tamia. They're not aware of Mohajer they're not aware of nuclear

Nakayama Josie. They're not aware of these people. Right. That's why they're not aware of Salahuddin.

They're not aware of tuples AThon from India, big names with big legacies with big characters with big achievements.

And look how powerful media is. Look how powerful media is one series produced by the Turks. It shifted the mindset throughout the world. Which one?

Which one?

One series produced by the Turks.

Does anyone know about it?

Sorry.

October Oh,

roll. It is not even history. By the way. It is all fiction. We don't know much about the world. We don't know anything about orthogonal with certainty. Okay. But they produced a series to represent the Islamic culture of that time. So they use the character, which was a historic character, no doubt, or total was the father of as he was man.

Right. But they use the character to create

an image of Islamic societies in the 14th century or the 13th century. Right.

And they showed the world that this is how they may have lived, even though they use fiction, the story fictional, all these details you see in the series are not even real. But the culture was very much real. What they showed the the code of honor these people followed and the culture they followed and how they behaved did exist no doubt among the Turks or the Turkic tribes, who took Central Asia sorry, Asia Minor, Asia Minor, which is currently a turkey the landmass of Turkey is called Anatolia, Asia Minor, was taken in the 11th century by these Turkic tribes from the Byzantines from the Romans. So, futon, or salon, he fought in the Battle of massacred in 1071 and

defeated the Roman emperor. And this was the first time when a Muslim King was able to defeat a Roman Emperor on this scale and capture him Is this my time going down?

Allah

Subhan Allah Allahu Akbar.

So, I'm going to rush to the solutions now.

So why am I telling you about these things? We need to introduce our youth

to an alternative culture.

We need to introduce them to our civilization, our heroes from the Prophet sallallahu Sallam downwards starting with Rasul Allah salAllahu Alaihe Salam, our youth, the youngsters need to know that they cannot love anyone more than the Prophet sallallahu sallam. However, you may like someone's rap music. However, you may like someone's performance in a boxing match. However, you may like someone's performance in a football match. You cannot love that person.

More than the Prophet sallahu wa sallam to an extent that you start to imitate them and start to behave like them or look like them. Instead, rather, you need to turn back and look at yourself in the mirror and ask the question, Who am I? Where am I? And why am I? These are the questions you used to ask? Who made me? Why was I sent on this planet? Did I choose my hair color? Did I choose my birth? Did I choose my parents? If not, then what is the purpose of my life? Was I born to sell drugs? Like a dog on the street?

Was I born to make music and make few pounds or dollars from it? Was I born for this purpose? Was I born to pull girls and have relationships with them? Haram relationships? While I have the option to do things at the halal way? Is this who I am? Is this what I represent? Or do I represent a greater reality? Do I want to end up like, you know, you can never be richer the than these people, some of these people. I'll give you names.

Bill Gates, right? Big name billions, billions of dollars.

The man couldn't even hold his own wife. She left him.

She left him.

I was watching a documentary on

what's his name?

This guy Tesla.

Elon Musk, you know him? Mashallah. See, these guys have good. What do you call it? You know, knowledge.

General knowledge, Musk. I was watching a documentary about him. One of the richest men in the world, very advanced in technology. One of the most depressed people in the world, to an extent that he cannot even have a relationship with a woman

is moving from woman to woman. I think now he has a wife and he has two children. But he when you watch him talk, he doesn't look happy. There is nothing happy about the person.

And I can give you examples of these superstars, people with a lot of music and a lot of money and a lot of fame. Justin Bieber,

right? I was watching a documentary about him. I like to watch documentaries, and I can talk to the youth about these people. Do you look inside these people? Do you know what they're going through? You know how much depression they're facing? Can you be more famous than him? Can you have more money than him? Possibly by selling drugs? And listening to raps and baby like them? Can you be like them? Actually,

the reality is no. The reality is no. And they are some of the most depressed people in the world.

When you hear them talk, you think so hon Allah, these are the signs of Allah. Look at these people, they have nothing. They have everything, but they have nothing. Allah be the correlate at mine muku

is it not in the remembrance of Allah hearts find peace. You keep running after money after winning after fame after influence after power, after a seat, a chair, whatever it is, you will not find peace in these things, I can guarantee you

and your end will be eventually something very bad. If this is what you spend your life doing, precious life, precious few years, few years of your life,

you will not get anything. You will not be happy. There is only one way to happiness and the peace of the soul. Turn to Allah. And Allah will show you how happy you can become. Even though you may live in a heart. You may be sleeping on the floor. But the piece you are looking for is not going to be in that swimming pool or in that club. Or in that spliff. You may be smoking or in that music, you may be listening, you're not going to find peace in that.

You will never find peace in that peace is with Allah. Allah alone. This is why a lot of these superstar so called those of them who are fortunate they turn to Allah and they find Allah and

they find peace for the law. So many names I can give you use of Islam, Cat Stevens, he was big, very big. But Allah guided him and he found peace with Allah.

There was this Irish woman, very famous singer. She accepted Islam, and she said she wouldn't give up Islam for anything after experiencing it. There are so many other examples I can give you. Right? Peace is only with Allah and identity. Finally, my final point before I finish your identities Islam, your heroes or Muslim heroes

Learn about them, learn about the history, read about them, go and search about them. Read about the people I mentioned. And you will see, you know, there are heroes of Islam in Africa. There are heroes of Islam in Arabia. There are heroes of Islam in India, there are heroes of Islam in Western Europe, people who served Islam and they left a name behind, so that we remember them to this day, anyone who gave his life to Allah and His messenger, Allah will give him his up, Allah will give him peace and happiness. Anyone who turned away from Allah and His messenger and found peace elsewhere, or was looking for peace elsewhere, you will not find peace, you will not find peace. So your

identity, who are you is the question. Are you a Muslim? If you are a Muslim, that Allah is your Lord, and Mohammed is your leader, salallahu alayhi salam, and you follow Him. And it is a condition of Eman for you to love him. The hadith I narrated in the beginning, lie you know, I had had an akuna AHA by Les he, meanwhile he was the HE WILL NOT YET mine. You will not believe all Muslim youth listen to this, you will not believe you will not become believers, until the Messenger of Allah becomes more beloved to you, than your parents than your children and all of mankind put together all of your assumed and self imposed heroes put together, they can never match the

messenger of allah sallallahu sallam. If you are true believers, you need to ask these questions, this question to yourself, are you true believers? Are you Muslims? Do you stand for Islam? Do you want to be a hero of Islam? Then follow those who came before you and read about them and produce content about them? Instead of dancing in tic tock videos and stay saying stupid things and joking and cracking jokes and making stupid videos, start talking about some serious personalities and introduce them to the Muslim ummah so that you can inspire people using examples. Well, I I wanted to talk so much about some of these heroes of Islam so that you can actually follow them. So instead

of following Spider Man or Ronaldo, or or, you know, what's his name, Tyson fury, and these people are these rap artists. I don't know the modern ones. I don't know the names. I know only the old ones because I this is this is what I used to listen to. And Allah blessed me with this guidance of Islam.

There was a day in my life when I had a pack of CDs.

And you think you're gangsters.

You have no idea what I went through in my life. You have no idea. And I don't want to talk about it.

I have battle scars, as they say, you know,

I chose

Sheikh Omar and I will have some more if I don't stop anytime soon.

Because Omar is already giving me warnings.

So you think you're gangsters, some of you, you will last a day in our world back in the day, you wouldn't last a minute.

So stop this potential. Stop this waste of time and waste of life. Don't try to be gangster. Because gangsters are evil.

They are evil. They don't bring anything good to the world. And amazingly, if you produce a video, Allah forbid, I don't know why these videos and these rap this rap music that glorifies violence and killing and use of guns and knives, and degrading women in this music. Yeah, I don't know why this is allowed.

And it is radicalization. You know how it radicalizes you it makes you behaved in that way. That's why you see so much knife crime. That's why you see so many stabbings in London because of this evil music is inspiring the youth it is making them do things right. So this kind of radicalization is okay. It is going on. No one is stopping it. But there's another type of medic radicalization, which is not allowed. So ISIS videos are taken down. Rightly so for the right reasons.

If there are ISIS videos on Twitter on YouTube, brought down immediately straightaway, rightly so for the right reasons. But why is this type of radicalization allowed? Where Hollywood is imagine Hollywood making a movie about Auerbach karmak Dolly?

Imagine them making a movie about Baghdadi and glorifying him in a movie and putting some sad music when he's being killed when he's being grown, or when he's being shot dead or something like that. And they are playing the sad music music and there is a woman sitting next to him and crying and making people people feel sorry about him. You know, this movie would never make it to the cinemas. I know that for a fact, for the right reasons.

Because why they will say, we don't want to glorify a terrorist. Why? Because this will inspire youth out there to be like him. This is why we don't want to glorify someone like that. This is the excuse they will give. And we accept the excuse, no problem. We understand. And we agree, no problem. But why do you allow allow the glorification of

Don Corleone, Pablo Escobar?

You know, El Chapo? Right. And in some other cases, some American gangsters, right, you glorify them, you make movies about them, and you make people feel sorry for them, you humanize them, as if they are normal human beings who became victims of their circumstances, therefore, they sold drugs and they killed so many people in 1000s upon 1000s, and therefore, you know, the message is what be like them, therefore, you can be like them. This is our type of radicalization, which is unchecked.

Promoted is a multi billions, multi billion dollar industry. The moment you become a gangster, so long as you're not a Muslim, they will make a movie about you. Right? They will make a movie about you and they will glorify you, okay? It's okay to radicalize people in that way. So this is why you have to be warned that don't fall for that radicalization. Because Muslim youth is affected being affected more by it than anyone else. You are not a Chapo.

You are not Escobar, you are not a rapper. You're not you are a Muslim. And a Muslim is who

a Muslim is who what is the best of Islam when soluble Muslim una mil mil Dasani. Well Yadi

and on that note, I will stop Xochimilco here for listening we say our economy

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