Muslims Without Vision

Adnan Rashid

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Channel: Adnan Rashid

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Hello, radio hungry low salatu salam ala

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COVID sisters, ladies and gentlemen, thank you so much for attending this talk. This is the first time I've come to Canterbury.

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Believe it or not, I've been in this country for nearly 15 years and never had the chance to visit.

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So when I was given this responsibility, I was told the University of Kent

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Okay, I know Kent is in Britain, but where it can be. So I know sex can and other other counties in this country Middlesex where I live. So I checked on the map. And then I checked the University of Kent and it was right next, it is in Canterbury, I was very pleased to see that it is in Canterbury, and I was intending to come and see the cathedral as well. Canterbury is a very special place in British history. It has been for a very long time, the Archbishop of Canterbury is effectively the mom of the what we call the head of the Church of England, in the spiritual sense.

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Of course, there was always there was always, you know, friction between spiritual leaders and temporary leaders, kings and priests, or demand or people's religion have always been in a contract. Not always but very often. But Cantabria is a very special place. The Archbishop of Canterbury is effectively the main guy or the main person in the Church of England. Currently,

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I don't remember the name of the official Canterbury, but they were gone before

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Archbishop Rowan Williams, who was a scholar par excellence, who is a scholar, and he is alive. And he has written many books on Christian history. And one of them I

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looked at was arianism, on the Christian heresy, as the orthodoxy sees it in the early fourth century. So Canterbury is a very special place for I don't want to lecture Canterbury in his virtues. But it's a very special place. And I'll see if I can get some time afterwards to look at theatre as well. So it's the first time I've been here. And it is a very

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important topic I'm going to address tonight. And the topic I've been given or agreed to get delivered is Muslims without a vision.

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So this is a very unique topic, in my opinion. You may have had lectures before where people come and talk about Islam and its place in the world, what Muslims are going through in the West, in particular, and in the world in general, this is a very, very interesting period in our history, where a lot of problems have occurred in the Middle East in particular, and they are affecting the Muslims around the world. And then we have the problem of extremism, the problem of terrorism, the problem of reactionary movements, people where a lot of atrocities are being committed from all sides, I'm not saying only one side is responsible from all sides, all people have lost the plot.

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For some reason, there is something wrong with the world at the moment, you will even the day before yesterday, or not, some couple of days back Security Council tried to bring some resolutions to stop what's happening in Aleppo, in Syria, and because of one power, you know,

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this power vetoed any resolution. So

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take place, unfortunately, nothing to stop the war in Syria could happen. So I don't want to turn this lecture into a political lecture, but this is the situation I mean, everything affects us as humans, we live in on this globe on this planet. And when we talk to each other, when we converse with each other a lot of things are, you know, mentioned

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in discussions, some will knowledge, some without knowledge,

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without prejudice.

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So we should as Muslims primarily or as humans, generally, you know, should try our best to be as objective as possible as understanding as possible, and as

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you know, responsible as possible when it comes to our own duties. So the topic I because mostly, I'm assuming most people here are Muslims. So I will talk about this topic Muslims

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without a vision, so what do I mean by a vision vision is something that you look to the world you look what you want to do in life, you want it

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Come to something or you want to do something you want to achieve something in life, something great. Hopefully, that you want to become, let's say, when you start your education at university, you want to do something with it, okay? You, you should have a vision, if you don't have a vision, then you should shoot, you should stop thinking of revision, because a lot of the times what happens in Asian families in particular, because most Muslims in this country comes from from the Asian background, Pakistani, Bengali, or possibly Indian. And then other lands, of course, the Arabs,

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a lot of the families, a lot of people, a lot of the parents, they choose your careers for you, you know, your parents tell you as to what you should study,

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it's not the other way around, I came across a very funny image on Facebook, once that there was a child with a very angry face, it's like a newborn baby. And the child has a very angry face. And there's a caption on it. And a lot of people do these means are called means.

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So they put a caption on it, the child is saying brah, I was only born 10 minutes ago, and you want me to be a doctor or engineer. Right? So as soon as the child is born, the parents are discussing as to what the child will be, what we want the child to do what we want the child to study, the family, we want the child to get married in, you know, all these discussions are taking place. Right? So uncles and aunts turn up and so she or he will get married to my child, okay, childhood has no idea what's going on. So this is a very common occurrence. And it's quite cultural, unfortunately, in our cultures, but something should be changed. This attitude must change. We should allow our own

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children to choose their careers, choose the future, choose their vision. So when you educate yourself, primarily the first question, I want to address this, educate yourselves for the mind, not for astronomers. A lot of the people come to university, they want to study because they want to get a job. Eventually, everyone is talking about a career everyone is talking about getting a job, I want to be able to find a job and then make good money and then buy a house and buy a car and eventually get married. If you find a partner.

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And then live your life happily ever after. Yes, happily ever after. That's what people think will happen.

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But if you study something, without interest in it, that you may not fully benefit from that subject. I have learned this from experience when I was a teenager.

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In those days, it was an upcoming field with a lot of money involved in it. People were getting ridiculous amount of money for working in the IT FEELS one of my cousins, he was on 50 pounds an hour. And everyone was like, Oh, look at that guy. Everyone should study it, because he has such an amazing job is driving a Porsche and he bought a Porsche

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in the late 90s, and crazy. So I tried it, I failed. I failed because I had no interest in it.

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So I always loved history. And I started to read history. And then I went to the uni and studied history, and they were like a walk in the park because I had so much passion for my subject. I loved it. I never felt pressure, or burdened by my studies because I loved it. I loved I loved what I was I was doing.

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And likewise, my brother He loves, loves wildlife. And he loves watching documentaries on wildlife in Africa, lions and giraffes and zebras. And he will tell you exactly how many types of Tigers we have in the world. Siberian tiger and the features about it and then the smarter tiger and the Bengal tiger will tell you all about that. And he hasn't been to university to study this. And sometimes I really get, you know, fascinated by his level of knowledge in this field. So when it came when when his time came to join the university, everyone for law, go and study law because barristers are making a lot of money. They're making a lot of money. So go into law. So I told him

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now, don't go into law. If you don't like law, if you have no idea of lawyers don't study law. Go and study zoology and everyone started laughing.

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You want him to become a vet or something? He said no, this is what he loves. This is what he likes. This is what he has passion for. So let him do it. And he tried his luck in law for a year and he dropped out naturally. So this is what I'm trying to explain that when you study, make sure you study what you want to study.

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And then you will benefit from it. So, first thing is have passion for your field. And if you have no particular field,

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you have passion for if you have no passion for a particular field of studies, then try to create some passion for the field you are already studying, because you are in a university right now, and you have chosen your subjects. So, try as much as possible to to instill some passion within your minds, for the fields you are already studying, and Excel, and Excel.

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So, what

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can you do with your education is one of the questions I want to address.

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Education is the solution. To my knowledge, in my opinion, according to my experience, I've been around the world have traveled around the Middle East and in some parts of Africa.

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I've been to over 30 countries, I've met many people, many academics, many politicians, and many leaders, been to many universities around the world. And I believe that education will solve our problems. The more we promote education in the world, the more we will live in prosperity, and this is what our legacy is Islam. Because the Muslim history, the first revelation, the Quran,

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was about education. Prophet Muhammad is a man who has never been to a school, never been to an academy. He doesn't know what a school looks like. He's never been taught in any particular field of knowledge. And he is in this cave. So are we told in Islamic literature in this case, and he receives the revelation from God, the first revelation that came to him is chapter 96, of the first five verses. And the first commandment is what? Read,

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read in the name of the Lord. And then we are told in the same book that he is foretold. Prophet Muhammad was actually foretold in the previous scriptures, and this is how we Muslims, this is our perspective. The Quran makes a very clear point in this regard in chapter seven, verse 157, Koran the foreign states, your new home October,

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October in the Torah, while in jail, they find him mentioned with them in the Gospel, Torah.

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So, this debate has been taking place for the last 14 centuries since Islam has emerged on the global scene and Muslim scholars have been debating Christian scholars and Jewish scholars throughout the history of Islam whether

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is actually truly mentioned in a previous scripture or not. So there are some passages we point to on one of those passages is very interesting, which is in the book of Isaiah, Isaiah was a prophet who lived somewhere around ninth century BC or eighth century BC, okay. And there's a book called The Book of Isaiah in the Old Testament, and

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the scripture of the Jews, as well as the Christians.

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In the book of Isaiah, we have chapter 29, and the verse 12 states literally, and I quote, when the book is given to the one who is not learned, and it is said to him read, he will say, I am not learned, I am not learned. So the Muslim scholars claim that this passage in the book of Isaiah is actually referring to Muhammad Sallallahu Sallam and what happened to him in the cave. So when he was in the cave of Hara when he was 14, the angel appeared to him. So are we told in our literature in our tradition and inquiry to be more precise, and Kitab below at the very first chapter of Buhari, the book of Revelation, and, as we all know, if you don't know I'll tell you that Buhari is

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the most authoritative book for Muslims, after the Quran itself, okay, and the first chapter because it's a prophetic tradition, it has

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things from the prophet and about him. So people, his companions have transmitted knowledge about Prophet Muhammad, what destroyed him what they heard from him, and what they saw him agreed to.

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So he wasn't the kid and the agent women said to him have read and he said ma VFR in the Arabic language, which means exactly I cannot read, I have not learned I am not learning I am not read, okay. And then five verses are given to him as a revelation. So this is this is how

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The civilization of Islam began. This is exactly what the beginning of Islam is really proclaim recite. Okay, and they started to read. Now a book is given to a man who has never been to a school never been to university. And a book is revealed to him and he's reading it every single day. And he's teaching it to his companions, his immediate companions, who are learning the book directly from him, and they are now reading they become a book lead person from being a book less person, because the Arabs prior to this particular event,

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had a very strong literary tradition, which we know as the Arabic poetry, the pre Islamic Arabic poetry to this day, it is the best poetry in the Arabic language, okay. And it is also known as a collection is known as monocot Wanaka, Osama

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seven collections, you the word one, that actually means hanging, okay, so why are they called La la carte, because in the Kaaba, the century of Mecca, where we all go for pilgrimage, even today, in the pre Islamic Arabian culture, they cherished the points, the Arabs loved the points and the point.

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So some of the best points, their collections were actually hung on the wall of the car.

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They were hanging in the cover in the actual century, so that people could read and learn and memorize. That's why they were called more undercard, the hanging literature, basically. And there were seven in total, seven collections or seven collections of points. And they were memorized.

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But they had no written culture as such, the Arabs are not completely people, they did not carry books, they did not read books, they did not indulge in book reading.

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On the other hand, we had the Byzantines in the land of Syria and beyond. They were a very vocally people.

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The Christians had a strong, rich tradition of writing and reading books.

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So what we know today as Codex form, you know, when you pick up a book, if you have one here, it was called Codex, you know, between two covers, you put pages and you stopped reading and writing. Prior to that the system was based upon scrolls. The Jewish people were using scrolls. So the alexandrian and, and even the Egyptians were using scrolls, they did not qualify the books, Christians started to codify books, and they started to read and write. So the Arabs are not a bookie people, you will not find any trace of any books written in the Arabic language prior to the program, no trace whatsoever.

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None non existent.

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And then this books come, then this book comes to them this culture, these people, they stopped reading, they start writing, start memorizing kids as young as 564, going to what they call the madrasa or does not the mother as of today, unfortunately, the word mother side has become very negative today.

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And there are reasons for that, and we should blame the Muslims are to blame for that, as well. I don't take the blame away from Muslims.

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for Europe, because mothers are in the Middle Ages, or in the medieval period, was known as something great. Early universities, they were known as college universities, there was a scholar called George DC, who has written extensively on this topic how as as to how the Arabic mothers are model inspired the modern European school or college system, right. And universities or institutions of higher learning, were actually inspired by what was taking place in Spain, during the Middle Ages. So

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so the madrasa system at the time, during the Middle Ages, when it started was something, something different to what we have today. Okay, names are exactly the same, but the reality was different.

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So these kids were going and they were learning and then they became the torchbearers of knowledge and

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ethics and morals and

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kind and compassionate behavior throughout the world.

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The Muslim civilization

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cannot be separated from the Quran

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before and

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is at the root of the Muslim civilization what we know today as the Islamic or the Muslim civilization, and if you want to envision the Muslim civilization, start talking about London.

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by example, the Golden Age, even for the Jewish people, some of the most prominent figures in the Jewish history came from London was from Spain, on the from the Arabic Spain and the Arabs for the Muslim parts of Spain for almost seven centuries.

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For three centuries, they governed majority of the Iberian Peninsula. And then, for several centuries, almost some parts of it because lands were taken and then re conquered and locked and then re conquered. So wars were taking place between northern Europeans and we are in the south of Spain.

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So, this period is known even in the Jewish history of the Golden Age, because some of the most important and learned Jewish scholars are born

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under the umbrella of

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Islamic Spain. Okay, one of them is Mousavi Mahmoud, also known as my manatees.

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In the Jewish tradition, he is known as Rambam. Okay, I know that's the name doesn't sound very

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pleasant, but this is how he was known in the Jewish tradition. And he's also known as the second Moses, because he's so important in the Jewish history as a rabbi as a traditionalist

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that he is given the name second motive and he wrote in the Arabic language, okay.

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Some of the best Jewish points are born in London, Judah halevi is is a very famous for some of the best politicians and intellectuals people like Samuel hoggett was born in

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Canada, Granada,

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which was the last

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state Muslims lost in in Spain, was lost in 1492. The very year Christopher Columbus landed on the Americans, although he didn't land in America. Well, he was at, you know, there's a there's

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a hurricane in Haiti. You, Robert, you watch news? Yes, you. You watch news.

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Please do. It is very important to know what's going on what's going on Haiti has been hit by a very severe hurricane called Hurricane Matthew. I don't know why it's called Matthew. But

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many people have died and 1000s have been made homeless. So if you can help them in any way, now, I will come to the vision. Now, this is where the vision comes in Muslims without a vision, right? So the vision is coming, right? I'm going to talk about the vision. So what what I'm doing right now is the introduction. Okay, the foreword to the book. Okay. So

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this was the Islamic civilization put it in a nutshell, all the universities, all the hospitals, all the great work on philosophy in science, theology, poetry, history, you name it, Muslims were writing books and accumulating libraries. To give you one example, how come the second one of the Muslim kings in Spain had the largest library on the planet accumulated to the date today, so today, okay, so he was alive in the 10th century, okay. He had a library of 400,000, volumes, and Cordova. Okay. 14 volumes alone. 14 volumes are known, documented the names of the books he had in his library.

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And he had agents running around the world in Baghdad and Damascus, and in as far as India, collecting books for him, because he was a rich man. He was a king, he had the money, so he had agents running around collecting books for him. Right? Same was happening in the in the ninth century, when maamoun initiated the Translate translation movement, and established an institution called beta, the house of wisdom, why would it call the house of wisdom because all the works of Greek philosophers, Indian mathematics and Chinese wisdom was being translated, not that the, the there were a lot of wisdom at the time.

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But it was curiosity. It was curiosity, we should learn great things from other cultures. That was that was the attitude. And that's why many people were

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put together in this place in this institution to start translating the books. And this is how many works of Aristotle are preserved. Many works of Aristotle are only known in the Arabic language. They have been lost. The origin of the Greeks have been lost, and the Greek words have been lost. And what we do have our Greek translations made

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The Arabic language. And as total was completely unknown to the west, completely unknown to the west, he was really introduced to the west.

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I'm talking about the Middle Ages, of course, he was gone to the west when he was alive. And there was a rich tradition, even after that, but the Greeks stopped influencing the western thinking.

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Emperor eyes, Christian scholars or Christian leaders looked down on Greek philosophy and it was rejected. And there are many stories I can tell in this regard. But they brought it back and commentaries in the rush, valuable scene and even the fees sorry, not even the fees.

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Name.

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Okay, if the name comes back to you later on, okay, so there are many names like that people who criticize the Greek philosopher, they wrote original works on philosophy, they presented their own philosophy in the Islamic garb. So, philosophy was taken from Greeks and Indians, and then it was Islam ified and then given to the Muslims, and many Western philosophy has also benefited not people from Britain, people from Britain from this very Island. We're traveling to the Muslim lands such as Syria,

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Egypt, as well as Spain to to accumulate knowledge. We have people like a lot of bars, that this man was alive in the 12th century. He had traveled to the Middle East and he was an arabist. He had learned the Arabic language, came back and taught philosophy here in Britain and science and science. There was another man called Daniel of Norway, who had traveled to Spain studied in Toledo. Toledo was predominantly a Muslim city during the Middle Ages until it was taken by

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the Catholics in 1086 1086, was the year when Toledo was taken back. And then what happened lo and behold, a huge library was found in Toledo, and some Christian scholars who are latinus. They came in and they started to translate these Arabic works into Latin. So many translations in the hundreds were made for the rest of the Europeans. So there was a man called Robert of Catan, who was also an English man.

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He translated the works of Jabir bin hayyan, who had written in chemistry, on chemistry, and Robert of Catan was the first person to have translated jobbers works in Latin.

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Then we have another man called Robert Scott,

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from the Navy, you can tell he was mad. So he had translated many Arabic words into liking. The first ever Latin translation of the Quran was made by a Robert of Catan.

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And

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Peter, the venerable, who was a bishop in France, had requested from Robert to translate the for an introduction so that we can read what's in the Koran, to have a view on Islam, an accurate view on Islam, so that we can understand and criticize Islam. Because, you know, because of the crusades, there was a lot in between the Muslim world and the Christian world at the time, and Christians are wanting to understand the opponent, right. And there are books written on this very topic is a fascinating topic, how the West saw Muslims and Islam. And one of the books I strongly recommend is by a British scholar called Daniel Norman, Daniel Norman has written a book titled Islam in the

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West, making of an image, a masterpiece, an absolutely amazing work of

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history,

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written with a

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high level of integrity, and

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objectivity. So I strongly recommend this book, those of you who are interested in this.

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So this is how the Muslims brought a lot of positive to the world. And I'm only giving you a few examples passingly the details have to be found. In some of the books I mentioned, there's another book I strongly recommend. For those who are interested in this topic. It is titled The matter of araby in medieval England.

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The book is titled again, the matter of Arabic, Arabic spelled with a as a are a B, one

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in medieval England, and the author is

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Dorothy, Dorothy messalonskee.

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She has written this book and she specifically deals with how Muslims and English callers during the Middle Ages were interrupted. So a lot of the rhetoric you hear on the news and on the tongues of some very

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unfortunate, ignorant people that Muslims have suddenly emerged in this country in the 50s. And, you know, they have suddenly become a problem for our country. That's not the case, Muslims, Islam and Muslims have been around from the very beginning of England, and I say England, England, in particular, coffee, Britain consists of four countries, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, and England. But England, of course, is where the capital, London is this way, most of

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the people are the population of England is a lot more than Wales and Scotland and Northern Ireland. So, England is for that reason, has been very important historically.

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So, when English identity started to form the Muslims out there,

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and Muslims helped shape this identity, this is something you have to know living in this country, we have to study the tradition and our contribution as Muslims to the society and to the history and to the well being and to the academic excellence and the intellectual history of this is land, we have to understand it so that we can actually explain to our, our counterparts that this is what we have done.

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And we are not someone Of course, in large numbers we turned up in the 60s in the 50s. No doubt, but we have we have always been there from the day one. So one of the most powerful English kings, let's talk about English identity now.

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The English people actually come from

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predominantly two tribes. angles and Saxons, right. That's why that's why these people are known as Anglo Saxon. Right? angles and Saxons and Saxons came from Germany, understandably so, Saxon is in Germany, right? angles came from Scandinavia, right? So this is why, when you look at the features of the English people, they look quite different to the Welsh, the Welsh or the Celts, the Celts were the actual original people of this land, and they were driven westwards by the migration of Anglo Saxons, okay. And this happened after the Romans were head okay.

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So, Anglo Saxons came together into marriage and then a new identity arose

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and people started refer to themselves as angles, angles, right. And then it became angle land, England was not England it was angle land, okay angle and turn into England when I

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okay, i n g l, A and D. And then I turned into E, later on, it became England, that this part we are talking about, of the British Isles, right? So one of the most powerful English kings who was alive in the eighth century, almost a century after after Prophet Muhammad passed away, right, the first person to mention in England

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The First Person person to mention Muslims in England was a man called beat the venerable, have you heard of beat

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he was writing in seven 13. He had noticed that the Muslims, he used the word Saracens are not Muslim Saracens was the word used for the Arabs or the people. They have appeared in France. So he noticed he heard the Saracens have appeared in France. And he was possibly talking about a battle that took place in place for tours, the Battle of

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frontier between Charles Martel and some of the the Arabs who came from Spain, right between

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then we have offer King offer who govern from the year 756 to 796. So how many years is that?

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40 years? Yes, 40 years. So this was one of the first English kings to have accumulated a lot of power and influence. So he governed a province of a small chunk of land called Mercia, Mercia, right, and invented coins,

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and the first gold coin ever minted by an English king.

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The first gold coin ever mentioned by an English King was a copy of an ambassador dinar.

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So if you picked up an ambassador dinar from Columbus or dinar of the case, for example, or Harun or Rashid, for government in Bhutan, the first English gold coin ever minted in history can be an Islamic dinar with the formula. Now listen carefully the formula with the formula Muhammad Rasulullah, written clearly on it.

00:35:35--> 00:35:48

And the coin can be found in the British Museum. If you go to the British Museum in London to go to the money gallery. You asked for office coin, it will be shown to you the coin

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

gold coin of almost

00:35:53--> 00:36:03

just over four grams of gold. And it has a formula written on it Mohammed rasulillah Okay. And if you turn it upside down,

00:36:04--> 00:36:11

it stays off Rex and blockchain which means Kingdom off. So this is a very interesting

00:36:13--> 00:36:18

appearance. This is the first evidence of some Islamic influence we see in the British Isles.

00:36:20--> 00:36:25

And this is when English identity was being formed or even the British identity will be important.

00:36:26--> 00:36:27

And it doesn't stop there.

00:36:32--> 00:36:44

There's a book written by a lady I forgot her name. She has written a book specifically public Islam and Anglo Saxon Islam and then what happens is we start to find

00:36:45--> 00:36:51

hoards of coins, Islamic Durham's buried

00:36:53--> 00:36:58

all over East Anglia, Euro Eastern years. Is this part of the standard?

00:36:59--> 00:36:59

No.

00:37:02--> 00:37:04

Saying no as if you know the geography of

00:37:06--> 00:37:07

but I think this is this

00:37:08--> 00:37:18

is a nice idea. No knowledge nor TV's done. Yeah. No knowledge in East Anglia, okay. Although this is East it is history.

00:37:19--> 00:37:22

So it started okay.

00:37:24--> 00:37:27

All over Easter nearly finding holes of coins.

00:37:28--> 00:37:36

And these coins are brought by in some cases by Vikings who were invaded invading East Anglia. Every now and then.

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

You know, there was a place called Lindisfarne.

00:37:40--> 00:37:51

And it's known for gospels written there, there was a there was a monastery there, the Lindisfarne monastery and many monks have written some absolutely amazing

00:37:53--> 00:38:33

manuscripts, and they can be found in the British Library. If you go there you will find some of the Gospels written by them in beautiful writing beautifully illuminated bindings and some beautiful work they were destroyed by the Vikings, the Vikings were coming in, and Vikings were bringing these coins with them, and transfer and other things to the middle easterns in return for money and coins, a lot of the silver Islamic journals By the way, minted in Baghdad, in some cases, minted in places like McDonald's, they were found buried in Britain in East Anglia. So, Islam has been there and then Middle Ages this continues when Muslims established educational institutes and in Spain, a lot of

00:38:33--> 00:39:16

English scholars are travelling there and English the Arabic language became the lingua franca of the world at the time for almost five centuries, if you did not know the Arabic language, you could not be seen as an educated person, just like the English language has become the lingua franca of the world today, the English language is the most commonly spoken language on the planet amazingly, okay, you go anywhere in the world, you may you know be able to speak to someone in the English language because even in India, believe it or not, in India, the Indians Do not talk to each other in Hindi, they use the English language. So, someone from the north India,

00:39:17--> 00:39:34

when he when he when he or she goes to the south of India, you know, because the southerners do not know Hindi, they don't know how to speak in the language, they don't have to know the English language. So they talk to each other language. So, English language has become the lingua franca.

00:39:35--> 00:39:45

Now, coming to the vision, now my introduction has gone to law it my introduction has become the entire book itself. Right. So let me do the first chapter now very quickly. Wow.

00:39:48--> 00:39:59

So this is what Islam has done in the past. There's a lot I can talk about. If you want to talk about poetry. You want to talk about literature, science.

00:40:01--> 00:40:06

Books chunky volumes written on these subjects in particular, even on literature.

00:40:07--> 00:40:16

There is a there's a lady who has written a book on how Muslim the Arabic poetry inspired European

00:40:18--> 00:40:33

political tradition known as the true tradition. Her name is Maria Rosa Malakal. She is an Arabic, Spanish arabist and she has found direct links between the Arabic poetry in fashion in Spain and the European troubadour tradition

00:40:35--> 00:40:51

in Europe and even chose her Geoffrey Chaucer was directly inspired by troubadour tradition and Shakespeare and was inspired by Joseph in return. So, there is a lot of link there there's a lot you can find even more he will adopt it

00:40:52--> 00:41:09

in a way technologies, how languages formed. So, even in the English language, we have words that come directly from the Arabic language directly from the Arabic language, any examples Can you give me an example? Anyone who knows? Maybe you have never thought about this before

00:41:13--> 00:41:14

the word capital

00:41:15--> 00:41:15

is

00:41:17--> 00:41:24

the word capital is it in Arabic language? The word earth the planet Earth, it is

00:41:25--> 00:41:28

it okay. So,

00:41:29--> 00:41:30

the word sugar

00:41:32--> 00:41:34

Okay. Anything else?

00:41:36--> 00:41:38

Any other words can you can think of sorry

00:41:40--> 00:41:40

okay.

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

Okay. Okay, what is Mirror

00:41:46--> 00:41:55

mirror in Arabic language okay. So, do the English language. So, if you ever come across someone from VDO

00:41:56--> 00:41:57

or

00:41:58--> 00:42:12

Britain first or people like that, who are running around protesting in front of mosques and telling the Muslims that you are, you know, so take them on the side calmly and our discussion

00:42:13--> 00:42:17

and ask them to stop speaking the English language.

00:42:18--> 00:42:36

Stop speaking the English language because the language itself has borrowed so much from the Arabic language. And the Arabic language is more for much from other countries, not something peculiar for the English language. The Arabs have a Koran had words in it, which do not come from the Arabs. The word in

00:42:37--> 00:43:17

it is actually evangelos. It is Greek the word is usually the narrow Bible version of the word evangelist, right? The word torah. It is Hebrew, okay? Firstly, the Hebrew and the Arabic and Aramaic language, languages are sister languages. These are Semitic languages, they're very similar to each other, right. But the Arabic language has adopted words from other language. And when those words have become Arab eyes, they become the Arabic language, right? Likewise, the word Earth is the English language. The word sugar is the English language, but it has come from another language. So when you study the topology of these words, come to realize that these words have come from. So this

00:43:17--> 00:43:27

is why cultures always influence each other people influence each other, sometimes positively, sometimes negatively. And I'm talking about positive things Islam has done

00:43:29--> 00:43:31

for not only Britain for the rest of Europe and

00:43:32--> 00:44:18

for the world, at large. So when people throw this thing at you, out there that you somehow because you work a job or you have a bid, you must sympathize with something happening in the Middle East, or you may be one of these people will look at you with suspicion, we must spy on you, we must look at you. So you need to talk to them. Firstly, you need to educate yourself about your own contribution, what you have done. You know what, what's happening now in the Middle East, it only came about five years ago. Right? It started to happen five years ago, we have a civilization that goes back 1000 years ago, right? The Islamic civilization is at least 1000 years old. Right? So

00:44:18--> 00:44:29

let's stop talking about that. If you want to talk about Islam and what Islam has done globally in the world, historically, let's start talking about the great things Muslims have achieved. And this is what we look up to. So now come to vision.

00:44:30--> 00:44:36

Muslims without a vision today, because we lack knowledge of our history,

00:44:37--> 00:44:49

we have no vision. Generally speaking, the Muslim masses, I'm not talking about individual I'm not talking about exceptions. I'm talking about the norm. I have traveled from Morocco,

00:44:50--> 00:44:51

Pakistan,

00:44:52--> 00:44:59

by Pakistan, because I cannot go to India. This is too far. Okay. So I would mention Bangladesh as well because it's

00:45:00--> 00:45:07

Was this the other end of the Muslim world? Right? So I have traveled throughout these Muslim countries and I see a problem.

00:45:08--> 00:45:39

I see a problem. I see a lack of vision. Muslims simply lack knowledge of the history, I have no idea what was achieved in the past. And because they have no idea as to what was achieved in the past, they have no desire to do similar things in the future. Because if you are completely ignorant of your past, you will never have a desire to do those great things in the future. Does that make sense? Does that make sense?

00:45:40--> 00:45:48

That's why Malcolm X. He said if you want to oppress suppressed or abusive people, just take the history away from them.

00:45:49--> 00:45:52

Take the history away from them and they will never know

00:45:53--> 00:45:55

what they should do in the future.

00:45:56--> 00:46:06

Because they have no idea about the past. So for this reason, past is very important, you know, and when I talk about vision, visual education, what does this university specializing?

00:46:07--> 00:46:11

Science, law, law, okay, law, and

00:46:12--> 00:46:14

Sorry, sorry, what?

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

Okay.

00:46:18--> 00:46:21

So let me start, what why are you doing?

00:46:25--> 00:46:27

psychology? Okay, great.

00:46:32--> 00:46:33

Computer Sciences,

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

same

00:46:36--> 00:46:47

business. So okay, there is this diversity, right? There are a lot of subjects you are studying in this university. And one, one thing I would like to really, really, really

00:46:49--> 00:46:51

show share with you very quickly, because you have to

00:46:53--> 00:47:17

always respect your teacher, or teachers, okay, never mock your teachers never think ill of them, or never look down upon them. Whether it is based, whether it is based on religion, culture, or race, never, ever make that mistake. Because the first point in knowledge

00:47:19--> 00:47:23

is to respect authority, and is to respect your teachers.

00:47:24--> 00:47:27

And this is the lesson we learned from our profits.

00:47:28--> 00:47:36

Okay, anyone who does not respect or did not respect his or her teachers will never be able to benefit from his or her knowledge.

00:47:37--> 00:47:39

Never. That's the first point,

00:47:40--> 00:47:42

maximum respect and honor.

00:47:43--> 00:47:52

I've been taught by a number of different people, I'm still being taught at the University of London. Some of my teachers are some of the greatest people

00:47:54--> 00:48:05

primarily because of the way that each one of them is Dr. Hugh Kennedy. And I'm really inspired by this character and his passion for his field. He teaches at the university,

00:48:07--> 00:48:17

School of Oriental and African Studies, and he's teaching history. And he just makes you fall in love with the subject, right. But even if you do not like the style of the teacher,

00:48:18--> 00:48:20

do not give up, continue.

00:48:23--> 00:48:24

And when you learn

00:48:26--> 00:48:29

your knowledge, when you take your knowledge, you have accumulated

00:48:30--> 00:48:44

a considerable amount of knowledge. By the time you have your degree, you will be on a level where you can actually do something. Now what is the question? This is the point I want to address. This is where the vision comes in. And I will be ending very soon.

00:48:45--> 00:48:50

Now, what is the point? Once you have your decree in your hand?

00:48:51--> 00:48:59

Do you want to be one of those people who stand and say I have no idea what I'm going to do with this piece of paper. I've done a degree in science, I'm going to go in sports.

00:49:00--> 00:49:11

I've got a degree in law, I'm going to go and work in a chip shop. I'm going to sell fish and chips, right? I've got my degree in psychology, and I'm going to go and work as

00:49:13--> 00:49:19

let's say what can you work? If you have a degree in psychology, right? I'm going to go and work as

00:49:21--> 00:49:22

a barber

00:49:23--> 00:49:59

or a bus driver, right? Yep. Is that fair with your knowledge and your education? So if you do not have a vision on television, now, let me tell you about we as Muslims, when you look at the world at large, okay. You look at organizations like Greenpeace, you look look at major charity networks. Although Muslims are some of the most charitable people in Britain, especially in the month of Ramadan. We give hundreds of millions of pounds in charity product, right? But we what we do is we have an attitude. We give charity and we sit back

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

We don't indulge, we don't actually go and take part physically ourselves. Now, this is where vision comes in your degrees are not for you to fill your stomach. That's not the purpose. That's not the purpose, your degrees.

00:50:16--> 00:51:03

The purpose is to enable you go and do something in the world. Something global, something not not something local. Okay, stop thinking your dinner table. Stop thinking your bedroom, stop thinking, stop thinking global, stop thinking countries, stop thinking, solving the problems out in the best way possible, positively contributing positively. There is a lot of negativity in this world. Unfortunately, today, we have too many negative things happening. And they are having a very negative effect on our minds. When we turn on the news you get depressed, right? Wrong. Yes, you get depressed. Okay? Do not be afraid Do not be.

00:51:05--> 00:51:07

Do not allow these things to

00:51:08--> 00:51:09

change your future.

00:51:10--> 00:51:11

For the worst.

00:51:12--> 00:51:30

Future for the best. And how can you do it? You have a degree now you should know how to use it. To make this world a better place. I can give you a few options. This is what I'm talking about vision. Do not just die. A big stomach. Sitting on a sofa watching TV having popcorn and watching what?

00:51:32--> 00:51:44

What movie? Mission Impossible 15 number 15. Because they don't stop they keep coming up yet a James Bond, something like that, you know, because everyone isn't, you know, watching something like

00:51:45--> 00:51:48

a program together diaries Olympic weight ticket.

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

Okay, something like that.

00:51:53--> 00:52:10

People are spending time in watching football, they will sit and we had to go through the displeasure of watching the debate the day before yesterday, the American presidential debate also disappointed. I was so disappointed at this what we have?

00:52:12--> 00:52:20

Are these the people who are going to run the most powerful country in the world with the most powerful resources in this world?

00:52:22--> 00:52:23

Is this what we led to it?

00:52:24--> 00:53:00

Again, depression, I don't want to depress you. So the point is, what are you doing as an individual? Okay, don't blame that power, this power or this institution and that institution? What are you doing with your degree? Did you have it? Take it for having popcorns and living your life working at a desk for the rest of your life? Which is fine, you can do it if you have a vision. What is your vision in life as an individual? I want you all to think before you leave this room tonight. What do you want to do with your education and your life?

00:53:02--> 00:53:03

How do you want to die?

00:53:06--> 00:53:09

There are children on the streets of Sao Paulo

00:53:11--> 00:53:12

and Rio de Janeiro.

00:53:15--> 00:53:21

Half a million, almost half a million children orphans walking around sniffing glue.

00:53:22--> 00:53:24

Some of them are on drugs.

00:53:25--> 00:53:32

And if I was to give you more details, you wouldn't be able to take them what they go through on a daily basis.

00:53:33--> 00:53:34

There are children

00:53:35--> 00:53:43

sold into prostitution as young as five and six. Not only in Brazil, in India, in India,

00:53:45--> 00:54:14

there are half a million children. I'm only talking about children. I haven't mentioned other problems we have fought we have a lot more problems in the world. And Britain is one of the most powerful countries in the world, it has more education, more resources, more means for us to go and make a difference in the world right or wrong right. You can travel right you have no travel restrictions. You can use your travel documents the British passport to travel around the world you are not

00:54:15--> 00:54:24

of course you are Muslim. So it is it is very likely that you may be stopped. And you know like I have been

00:54:25--> 00:54:44

I've been this is this is the problem the Muslims do face. Let's be Let's be, you know, be straight about let's be honest. And it's not something I'm bringing up. You read news every single record we carry raw gameplay raw and independent and all these newspapers. Have you seen Shahrukh Khan was dropped in the UFC?

00:54:46--> 00:54:48

Yes, of course you do.

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

And there's this guy. This one was his number one watch.

00:54:59--> 00:54:59

He was stopped

00:55:00--> 00:55:04

held for hours, right? This so this is something normal, but don't let this

00:55:05--> 00:55:13

stop you from doing good work. You can go to Africa, people are dying just because they do not have paracetamol.

00:55:14--> 00:55:22

They do not have simple medicines. I've been to Africa in many countries and Malawi, and Mozambique, in Tanzania and Uganda.

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

They do not have simple things, just because someone with a degree, left the university had a party and then went about his own business didn't care about what's happening in the world. You know, this world is a vessel, you know, vessel. Yes, it's a vessel and we are all riding it. We are all in it together, right or wrong, right? Yes. Now we have a problem. You know, this, this man called

00:55:56--> 00:55:59

Leonardo DiCaprio. Yes, you know him right.

00:56:02--> 00:56:41

DiCaprio is going around the world and he is looking at the problem of global warming. Have you come across his his work? Right? And this is one of the biggest problems with AC What are we doing about it? positively? What are we doing about it? Right? How is your degree going to contribute towards making this world a better place? How is your person when you leave this university going to contribute towards making this world a better place? Whether it is something small or big is not in your hands? What you do may be very small,

00:56:42--> 00:56:51

or what you may do in the future, very small. You may make a very small contribution. Now, have you heard of a man called William Wilberforce.

00:56:54--> 00:56:55

And you all know DiCaprio.

00:56:59--> 00:57:17

William Wilberforce was a British MP in the late 18th century 1700s 1790s. He died in 1730 to 40 1832 if I'm not mistaken.

00:57:18--> 00:57:32

Okay. Wilberforce was a single voice in the British Parliament, are the most, the most prominent voice not the only voice definitely the most prominent voice in the British Parliament.

00:57:33--> 00:57:55

Standing up for the rights of slaves who were picked up from Africa, taken across across the Atlantic Ocean, put into slavery in the Americas, and average lifetime of a slave. An African slave or West African slave was 24 years.

00:57:56--> 00:57:58

You could take a strong

00:58:02--> 00:58:08

Mandingo man with giant muscles, someone looking like who

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

are you from West Africa.

00:58:19--> 00:58:32

Do contract, take a strong guy from Africa for him into sugar plantation in Jamaica or in Bahamas or in Barbados or in Brazil, he would die within two to three years.

00:58:33--> 00:58:46

He would be worked to death. So who was standing up for the rights. So William Wilberforce and Britain started the process. He said this is this is an absolute travesty. This is

00:58:48--> 00:58:51

oppression of the worst kind.

00:58:52--> 00:58:55

And the abolition movement started.

00:58:56--> 00:59:39

It became very prominent in the British history at that time. And he didn't give up. Majority of the British parliament was against him. You know why? Because most of them had investments in the Caribbean. In sugar plantations, they were making money from it. So they could not they knew what they were doing was evil. It was wrong. It was immoral. It was unethical. It was murder of the worst kind. It was one of the biggest genocides in the history of humanity. Everyone talks about the Holocaust. Everyone talks about other catastrophes rightly so in the history of humanity, no doubt, rightly so we should write, but the biggest catastrophe in the history of humanity, which was the

00:59:39--> 00:59:59

Atlantic slave trade, which continued for four centuries, and it reached its peak during the Enlightenment period. You know, what is the Enlightenment period, the 18th century, the mid 18th century. It reached its peak at that time, and that's when William Wilberforce stood up and he did what he did.

01:00:00--> 01:00:10

That to see what he did. I strongly agree. I know most of you may not have the stamina to go and read a book, ironically, out of all people, believe it or not, you know William Hague,

01:00:13--> 01:00:15

William Hague, Who was he?

01:00:19--> 01:00:50

Right? Ironically, all of out of all people. He's the one who wrote who wrote one of the biographies of William Wilberforce. I don't understand how, what he learned from that biography is very difficult for me to comprehend. Because his later actions don't make sense because he knows what justice and what morality is having studied and read and written about someone like William Wilberforce. Right. But anyway, there is a movie called Amazing Grace. Has anyone watched it? Anyone?

01:00:52--> 01:01:16

You've watched it. You have amazing grace, right? I strongly recommend this movie. amazing story is historically accurate, as far as I know. And it is a story of William Wilberforce his struggle. So I'm giving an example. Look at this man, one man, in the late 18th century, in Britain, who was repealed,

01:01:17--> 01:01:24

even pushed around by his own colleagues, and mocked for trying to do something that was undoable,

01:01:25--> 01:01:40

undoable, you will never succeed, you are trying to change the global system of the global economic system, because a lot of major economies depended on slave trade.

01:01:41--> 01:01:44

For a number of reasons, I want to turn this lecture into a

01:01:46--> 01:02:04

story of slave trade. But he was out to do something undoable, and by the year 1807. By the year 1807, he had managed to abolish slavery in the British domains.

01:02:05--> 01:02:13

That meant a large part of the planet, Britain had become a huge power by the early 19th century.

01:02:14--> 01:02:20

And abolition of slave trade in British Britain and British domain meant

01:02:21--> 01:02:29

abolition in nearly half the time. Okay, this one man, William Wilberforce,

01:02:31--> 01:02:33

you think you can't do it?

01:02:34--> 01:02:48

There's no more I mean, not that slavery, we still have slavery still exists in the world. Believe it or not, it still exists in the world. In some cases, you're going far, far, far worse, or worse than we had with the Atlantic slave trade.

01:02:49--> 01:03:04

The reason why I gave this example is that you people can also achieve similar things when you start, don't think you're alone, you're small, you cannot achieve great things in life. So some of you may come and take care of a city

01:03:06--> 01:03:56

and take all the orphans under my custody or under my supervision, you can do it. You can do it. If you want to do it. If you have the will, you will do it. Let's say and you may start with one city, let's say take Brazil, as an example. You do not want any more children to be sold into prostitution in Brazil, that's your mission in life is an example. isn't a good example. Yes, it's an example. Is it doable? I am only 21 years old girl or boy, I've only left the university, I don't even know where to go. But having a vision doesn't mean that you are going to achieve it in one or two or three years. No, no, it means a lifetime commitment. in your lifetime, you may be able to do

01:03:56--> 01:03:57

something

01:03:58--> 01:04:00

which others could not do.

01:04:01--> 01:04:17

We have many examples, many, many examples I can give in the history of the world, right? Where people stood for the best for the right, and they achieved it. And if there's not achievement as a lifetime, it was achieved after that

01:04:18--> 01:04:19

it was achieved all

01:04:20--> 01:04:20

right.

01:04:22--> 01:04:29

So, when you die, leave a positive legacy behind in this world, so that you are remembered.

01:04:30--> 01:04:36

Like I am talking about resilient Wilberforce today, he died nearly two centuries ago.

01:04:37--> 01:04:59

Right. But I have deep respect for the man. And we have many Muslim examples. Many, many books must give examples of scholars who have written chunky volumes, having sleepless nights, some of them going blind writing books for you to study. And we put them on shelves so that they look beautiful. And then every now and then remove dust, but don't pick up and read.

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

Then,

01:05:01--> 01:05:03

so that we can take inspiration from them.

01:05:05--> 01:05:17

I've talked for a very long time, I think I hope I have made my points very clear. If you go away tonight, forget about all the other gibberish I may have talked about. Again,

01:05:18--> 01:05:39

if you go away tonight, with one point in mind that when you leave this university, you will have a vision. And you will stick to that vision for the rest of your life. And you will do whatever you can in your capacity to contribute positively to the well being of humanity at large.

01:05:42--> 01:05:49

If you walk away with that point in your mind, I have achieved my purpose of visiting, contribute to this platform.

01:05:54--> 01:06:02

And this is what Islam stands for. This is what I have learned from Islam. This is what I have learned from the Prophet. I do not believe in

01:06:04--> 01:06:21

living a purpose less life, brother, I would love to live a purposeful life. And what I'm doing right now is my vision. I want to go around the world and talk to people about visions, and every single vision they have, as a result of me,

01:06:23--> 01:06:27

sharing my vision with them, I will be rewarded for their visions to be agreed.

01:06:29--> 01:06:29

Thank you for listening.

01:06:40--> 01:06:41

First want to pose the question?

01:06:44--> 01:06:47

Because the first question kicks off the process.

01:06:49--> 01:06:51

Yes, no, I don't have anybody

01:06:52--> 01:07:02

to say you raise really good points. But one thing Muslims have in mind constantly is how do I get the balance? So how do I get the balance of chasing the vision of

01:07:03--> 01:07:07

doing good with my degree, but at the same time?

01:07:09--> 01:07:09

Dean?

01:07:11--> 01:07:14

What you mean by Dean is religion, right? Our faith? Okay.

01:07:15--> 01:07:20

Antonia is our world we live in, basically, our how we live in the world.

01:07:22--> 01:07:30

Dean is for the dunya By the way, this is what people don't understand. D is for the student. Okay? So

01:07:31--> 01:07:47

the dean conditions you your face, for example, when you go to the masjid to the mosque and you pray five times a day? What does God want from you? Is it just ritual going bang your head on the floor five times a day and you go home? And, and, and not take any lessons from your brain?

01:07:48--> 01:08:35

Is that what it is? And unfortunately, that that's what it has become? We have completely lost the meaning of prayer. So what are you actually reading in the prayer? Right? A lot. You see this? Is it on the day of job because we believe in the Day of Judgment. We as Muslims, we believe I believe God exists. And we will face them when we die with our actions. Right. So on the day of judgment will be asked Did you read your prayers? Yes, I did it but did you read in it? Or did you read it? I went on hamdulillah iraq bellami Rahman Rahim Malik human being okay, what did you read off for that? are at the moment the follicle lhaviyani Oh, god, what I do a lot on in the scheme. Do you not see those

01:08:35--> 01:08:46

who denied his face? Do not feed the poor and do not take care of the orphan? Oh, you read that? Yes, I did. Y'all I did read it. When I read it. Did you do anything for the poor and the orphans?

01:08:48--> 01:08:52

Now I could count. Okay. So what case do you have?

01:08:53--> 01:09:05

What case do you have in front of a lot? You're reading these verses every single day without knowing the meaning of what you're reading? And if you don't know the meaning, if you don't contemplate on the meaning, how will you ever act upon it?

01:09:07--> 01:09:33

How will you ever act upon it? So the Quran is full of vision, it is all vision. Koran is giving you directions, okay? You can do this, you can do that. You can do this. You can feed an orphan. You can take care of a widow, you can feed someone for around the corner or maybe another country, okay? You can make this world a better place by educating the world. You can do so many things with your life. So your dean is actually for your dunya

01:09:34--> 01:09:50

to make this world a better place. If your faith your belief in a law is not making your life better, or is not making this world a better place through you. Then your faith is not benefiting you. Sorry.

01:09:52--> 01:10:00

Sorry to burst your bubble. It is not benefiting you. It is not ritual. Islam is not a ritual. It's not good.

01:10:00--> 01:10:43

In washing and washing property, or maybe one corner has least not probably it's not wet enough. Let me wash it again five times. Right? People are more worried about how, you know, my room is tidy whether, you know whether there is a spot in my room or not. It's like people who came some people from Iraq. They went for Hajj, the pilgrimage, right and you know, it is not allowed to kill anything on the Hajj even apply, you know that right? Yes. Some people went to Abdullah bin Omar, one of the companions of the Prophet and they asked him, is it allowed to kill a mosquito? Right isn't allowed to kill a mosquito on heart. And he asked him, Where did you come from? Is that we

01:10:43--> 01:10:44

have come from Iraq.

01:10:45--> 01:11:14

He said, look at you people. You killed the grandson of the prophets on the loudest and did not ask questions. And today you're asking me about whether you can kill a mosquito? Are you joking? So this is the condition we're in today. Right? We cannot see orphans dying in Brazil. We cannot see people dying in in Syria, or Africa, or even places like Honduras.

01:11:15--> 01:11:18

Places like have you heard of Nicaragua?

01:11:20--> 01:11:22

I bet you don't know where it's on the map.

01:11:24--> 01:11:27

I bet you don't know where it's on the map you wouldn't know.

01:11:28--> 01:11:28

Right?

01:11:30--> 01:11:31

Sorry.

01:11:32--> 01:11:34

Of course isn't America. Where?

01:11:37--> 01:11:41

America Central America. What next? What country?

01:11:43--> 01:11:43

Exactly?

01:11:45--> 01:11:47

close close enough.

01:11:48--> 01:11:52

This part you know there are people suffering there. There is a drugs problem there.

01:11:54--> 01:11:58

There is violence. What can you do? How can you make that place more peaceful?

01:11:59--> 01:12:09

It's not my problem. I'm a Muslim. You're not Muslim? No, they are your problem. You are the mercy to the words right? Remember the Quran? What does the Quran

01:12:11--> 01:12:20

Allah mean? We sent you not accepted the mercy for the words, right? I use the mercy for the words. Right? Okay. Is it only the Muslim world?

01:12:21--> 01:12:26

Is the world only Muslim? Now, there are other people there, they need your help, go and help them.

01:12:28--> 01:12:37

So this is something we need to learn, you know, thank you for that question. That this this faith, our faith, and Islam is for the dunya it is not making you a better

01:12:39--> 01:12:47

Shepherd, Islamic potamia. He said that if you do not have paradise in this world, you will not have paradise in that world. What does he mean by that?

01:12:48--> 01:13:02

What does he mean by that? If you could not make your life better, mentally, psychologically, spiritually, if you're not at peace in this world, because Paradise is actually primarily More importantly, peace, right?

01:13:03--> 01:13:24

You won't see a war in paradise. You won't see any disputes, any bickering, any backbiting any fighting any, you know, anything negative, you don't have that sense of tranquility, spiritual peace in this world, then you may not have it in that world.

01:13:27--> 01:13:56

So this is why it's very important to attain peace by giving peace. And when you get peace. That's the best way to get peace. give peace to people, share love. These, share compassion, through your knowledge, through your credentials through education, your money, whatever you do have a vision in life. Okay, you may have a vision, I'll take care of one more. Last no problem. So beautiful vision. At least you're doing something in life, make your life when I leave this university.

01:13:58--> 01:14:17

I'll focus on one orphan maybe can often and I'll make a mission on my life. And other things you may do in your life. I will make sure that these orphans have a good life. Good education, good features. And then you give them 10 more visuals and they will do the job for you.

01:14:19--> 01:14:26

This is it. This is why the Islamic civilization was so special. There were people of vision. They were not lazy bunch of

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popcorn eating movie watching.

01:14:30--> 01:14:38

Football watching so he told me maybe you so you guys might love football, right? But that's not that's not

01:14:40--> 01:14:44

fine. Have your phone and go have parties, a lot of ones

01:14:46--> 01:14:47

and watch football.

01:14:48--> 01:14:51

Watch movies halaal once

01:14:52--> 01:14:59

because once they're okay, but don't lose focus. You have been given a purpose.

01:15:00--> 01:15:01

Right, What's your purpose?

01:15:02--> 01:15:07

fulfill your purpose. Your purpose is to worship Allah and find the best way to worship

01:15:08--> 01:15:09

for yourselves.

01:15:10--> 01:15:13

And amazingly, when we look at the life of the Prophet

01:15:14--> 01:15:20

most of the time and Jenna paradise has promised it just to social things. Have you noticed?

01:15:21--> 01:15:26

When who was promised janak a number of times are the companions of man.

01:15:29--> 01:15:45

Why, why doing social things of man gave a wealth of water for the people of Medina, the professor who will buy this well and give it for the people. Right? And this man said, I will do it and he was promised Gemma that

01:15:46--> 01:16:03

the professor lies on every promise Jana, especially especially for praying five times a day, although we know the reward is Gemma for that we know. But did he ever specially say because this companion of mine prays five times a day, every day? He's probably gentle.

01:16:04--> 01:16:29

Can you find me an example? No. But you will see him saying he did charity. He will be done. He took anyone who takes care of an orphan. The Prophet sallahu wa sallam said on our coverage of evil Jen Naka, Hatim I am the one who takes care of one orphan one one orphan will be paradise like this, this close. One orphan can take one orphan.

01:16:31--> 01:16:43

So Dave, is anyone else? Yes, please. You mentioned two books. One was the metro by Dorothy mentioned escape. Yeah. And another one.

01:16:45--> 01:16:46

I mentioned few.

01:16:47--> 01:16:50

Which other one was the one right before you?

01:16:54--> 01:16:55

Did anyone noted

01:16:57--> 01:17:04

Islam in the West Islam and the West, Islam and the West making of an image Norman Daniel.

01:17:05--> 01:17:09

There is another one called Islam in the West. It is by Christopher.

01:17:10--> 01:17:15

It is a very interesting book, I forgot the name of the author of crystal Islam and the West.

01:17:16--> 01:17:21

It's another one. But his first name is Christopher I don't remember his second name.

01:17:24--> 01:18:01

Okay, anyone else displeased? And I know that one thing I know we've heard it said tonight inshallah, if if God wills it, and I'm not Muslim, but I i understand that for people who are Muslims, particularly if you're a Sunni Muslim, the will of God is really important. And sometimes people say, in Islam, there's what they say is determinism, the idea that Gods makes happen and predetermine the things that happen in the world. Now, you said you've traveled in parts of the Muslim world, and sometimes you're,

01:18:02--> 01:18:43

you're not happy because you see a lack of a lack of vision or lack of fulfillment? Do you think the inshallah attitude sometimes can get in the way of people fulfilling their vision? Is there a tension between people saying, oh, maybe it's God's world, I sit eating popcorn watching the movies, rather than rather than fulfilling their their vision? In other words, is there a theological problem? That's a very, very good question. And this very question was put to the Prophet himself, that now that we believe in the destiny of God, right, everything has been decreed, shall we now sit back and do nothing,

01:18:44--> 01:19:05

and not even prayed for our situations to change? And the Prophet responded by saying that even you raising your hands in prayer has been predetermined? In other words, that even your initiative has been pre determined. So it's not that we should not take initiative to change a situation to the contrary, in Islam.

01:19:08--> 01:19:09

Action,

01:19:10--> 01:19:22

because a man in fact, undo the very basic definition of demand, which which we mean, which means faith in God, what is faith?

01:19:23--> 01:19:31

There is Christian understanding, and there is Islamic understanding. And I don't know what the Jewish understanding of the word faith is. But faith to Muslims is

01:19:33--> 01:19:39

it comes in three dimensions, and I will state them in Arabic and then translate them column will disarm

01:19:40--> 01:19:45

actually declaring it from your tongue, or on your tongue, right.

01:19:47--> 01:20:00

What does Deacon Belgian and accepting it wholeheartedly, you just can't say something you're not you don't believe. So. You have to accept it. You have to accept accept it wholeheartedly. You have to be

01:20:00--> 01:20:39

sincere about your declaration. So it is saying believing, and then when I'm alone will come acting upon it. This is the man in Islam. So, if you believe and do not act, you do not actually believe islamically speaking. So, this is why the issue of pre determination is very often misunderstood even by Muslims even by Muslims. So, inshallah, the word inshallah has actually become a joke in the Muslim world, you know, when when some of the Arabs actually say, inshallah, it means they don't actually mean to do what they said they would do. Right. So.

01:20:41--> 01:20:46

So it's, it's just one of those common things we mentioned when we're talking, right.

01:20:47--> 01:21:28

So when we say something, it has become habitual, rather than actual, is not we don't actually mean it anymore, unfortunately. So when we say I'll see you in a week, inshallah, okay, that inshallah does an excellent. inshallah, I definitely intend to meet you next week, at this time, in this place. No, it doesn't mean that inshallah has become a habit. It is just a habit now of people saying it. Okay. They don't actually think about the belief of it, they don't actually contemplate on the words, most people most Muslims on the planet, non Arab Muslims don't even understand, don't even know what it is. They don't know. It's just one of those things you say, culturally, or

01:21:28--> 01:21:36

traditionally, when you make a promise or when you intend to do something. But the issue of predetermination is not a problem, because we have a very clear

01:21:37--> 01:21:51

explanation from the prophet in this regard, that you do not leave things to roll themselves rather, you take initiative, and even your initiative has been created. But you are not aware of what God has determined. Okay.

01:21:53--> 01:22:03

So God has His predetermination no doubt God. And in what sense? In what sense does, how does that predetermination work? God has knowledge of everything.

01:22:04--> 01:22:41

God knows what's going to happen, okay. But that doesn't mean that he forces you to do your actions. him having knowledge of things does not mean that he forces you to do your actions, right. So because he has knowledge of things, and we don't have knowledge of what he has knowledge of, doesn't mean that we don't do nothing. We continue doing the good deeds, we do. Stop, stop changing the bad things into good things. And God knows what he has determined for us. Results are only known to God, not to us. So we do our best and leave the rest of this is how we act. I hope that makes sense.

01:22:42--> 01:22:43

Anyone else?

01:22:45--> 01:22:48

You were saying earlier about having

01:22:51--> 01:22:59

so much going on around us and phosphates. And sometimes your vision could get a bit blurry.

01:23:02--> 01:23:07

So can you give us any practical examples of things that you have done to help

01:23:13--> 01:23:17

other human beings and problems in life?

01:23:18--> 01:23:21

Anyone else? I have many issues.

01:23:22--> 01:23:23

big family.

01:23:24--> 01:23:29

things come and hit me every now and then someone has died in the family, someone is ill.

01:23:31--> 01:23:34

One of my kids is not feeling well. All these things happen to me as well.

01:23:36--> 01:23:57

Even when I've watched the news, it hurts me a lot. When I watch what's happening in Syria, how many people have been killed, is doing anything in the world. When I say anything, I mean effective enough, there are people with a lot of power. They are not bothered. They don't they don't want to stop, I believe a world took action and time, we would have had

01:23:58--> 01:24:12

million millions of more Jews in the world today. During the Second World War, 6 million Jews were killed or the Jewish people were killed by Hitler, because the world did not take action in time.

01:24:13--> 01:24:24

Like, likewise, there's a genocide taking place in Syria, the world is sitting in watch kids being pulled out of rubble with missing bits The world is watching.

01:24:26--> 01:24:33

So not enough is being done. It disturbs me so much, I still do not lose my focus. I know I do not have power to change those things.

01:24:34--> 01:24:43

And I will be questioned about what I would do in my power. What can I do? The question is what can you do with your degree? That's the question got, don't think about

01:24:44--> 01:24:59

the earthquake in, let's say, you know, in Haiti or in Turkey or in Pakistan, or why why didn't you stop God on the Day of Judgment a lot and not ask you as to why you didn't start the earthquake. You can't

01:25:00--> 01:25:04

But you will be questioned about what did you do for those?

01:25:05--> 01:25:13

What do you do for those people? Could you do something in a larger capacity? You know your capacity? Right? So where do you come from originally?

01:25:14--> 01:25:21

Somalia, your country needs you. So people need you to go and fix the situation in chaos.

01:25:22--> 01:25:30

Every single place, Richard, we are living in Britain, Britain has problems. It has social issues.

01:25:31--> 01:25:36

Do you know there are people who died in winter in this country? Of course, did you know that?

01:25:37--> 01:25:38

Did you know that?

01:25:43--> 01:25:45

Even down south

01:25:46--> 01:25:47

people die.

01:25:49--> 01:25:58

They found a dead body in both of your Bournemouth, right? They found a dead body of a woman. She was in there five years.

01:26:01--> 01:26:12

She was rotting in there five years. And when the bailiff broke down the door because the bill wasn't paid or something like that. We found the money. It wasn't the news.

01:26:13--> 01:26:18

Why? Because the neighbors do not know each other.

01:26:19--> 01:26:37

They don't know what's happening next door. Because we're selfish. Because we are selfish people. So here in Britain, you can do so much. You can go out looking for people who need help. There are so many elderly people pensioners, who can't even go and do their own shopping. You have heard the story of the Jewish woman.

01:26:38--> 01:26:54

A worker would come and clean her house. She was blind. She couldn't do her work as a worker, the leader of the Muslims would come and clean the house without her realizing who is doing it. She would not have been doing it, but she will know who's doing it.

01:26:56--> 01:27:00

So there are examples like that. This is the legacy we

01:27:02--> 01:27:14

inherited. Are we actually doing justice to it? No. So there are so many things you know, so don't lose focus in life, have a focus, you will be hit on the right cheek on the left cheek.

01:27:15--> 01:27:24

From behind, you will be hit from the front. You know with all kinds of things happening in your life. Your car broke down, the tree fell in your car

01:27:25--> 01:27:34

or someone in the family something happened. Don't lose your focus. remain focused. Look at the profit side. Look at his life.

01:27:36--> 01:27:39

He was in the Battle of butter. His daughter was dying in Medina. Did you know that?

01:27:41--> 01:27:43

Man was not in the Batman.

01:27:45--> 01:27:47

Fan was not in the backlog. Why?

01:27:48--> 01:27:56

Because his wife was dying. The Prophet left him with his wife to take care of her. When he came back. She was already buried.

01:27:58--> 01:28:19

Did he lose focus? His daughter was dying. Because wife died because of the boy. He was thrown out to the city of Mecca for three days. You know the shotgun we thought it boy for three years thrown out. Boiling choose boiling water from issues have no has no food. Boy, eating dead camels.

01:28:20--> 01:28:21

Eating live from trees.

01:28:24--> 01:28:51

You know it is easy for me to say no to say the word is easy for when you are put through the situation for three long years with his wife. You know, someone who is very strong. You have very strong nerves, you can take difficulties, but you cannot watch your own wife and your children suffer. Very few people. Very few people would be able to see their own. His wife was dying in front of him.

01:28:52--> 01:28:55

And what was the demand for preaching Islam?

01:28:56--> 01:28:58

In Islam, that's all you have to do.

01:28:59--> 01:29:05

He said it is not my choice. It is not my choice. I cannot stop

01:29:06--> 01:29:32

so he didn't lose focus. He had problems. So problems you're not here whether the problems in Syria in Brazil or in Africa. You should not focus so long as you live you continue to focus, have a focus stick to it. You may change your focus, you may change your vision if you want if your interest if it's not working, change your strategies, change the ways be flexible about doing things. Do them positively do them the right way. All

01:29:35--> 01:29:36

the time is

01:29:41--> 01:29:41

gonna be closed.

01:29:46--> 01:29:48

And I don't know.

01:29:49--> 01:29:50

gonna come back.

01:29:52--> 01:29:54

So thank you so much for listening. Thank you

01:30:00--> 01:30:02

Good morning.