Adnan Rashid – Think big, do big
AI: Summary ©
The importance of protecting data and ensuring it is not overused is highlighted, along with the political involvement, education, and media as solutions to protect it. The importance of Islam's guidance on Dawa, which is a duty for every single Muslim living in the United States or in Britain, Australia, or wherever they are, is also emphasized. The importance of living in a " blame for" world and not just focusing on one's own interests is also emphasized. The global outlook on life and the importance of protecting oneself and protecting others is emphasized, along with the need for fifty- to sixty- journalists, social work, and coordination in order to ensure the safety of the people of Canada.
AI: Summary ©
political involvement, education, media, coordination, social work and our manner. These are the six points I will be addressing as solutions, or the way to protect our data whose word is better than the one who calls to Allah and does write his deeds and says I'm one of the believers. Allah specifically teaches us how to do Dawa. Allah did not leave us without instructions having declared Dawa a collective obligation of the Muslims and an individual obligation for Muslims living with non Muslims. They start to think of the world because the vision that came to them was a great vision. Oh Mohamed, we have sent you not accept as a mercy for the words and the Prophet is telling his
companions those of you who are present listening to me take this message to those who are absent the left everything and they went out they had a vision they had to fulfill which was a global vision. It wasn't a local vision. No.
No way. Oh
my god.
This one later Amanda Rahim Al hamdu lillah wa salatu salam ala Rasulillah Mama, I will do Billahi Samir alumina shaytani R rajim Bismillah R Rahman Rahmani Raheem Omar Hassan Naka Ihlara Mata Lila al Amin magala Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam la you know Hadoken Hatha Hakuna hubba Alayhi midvalley de are one of the human RCH Moline.
Oh come up Allah Allah salatu salam respected Brothers and Sisters in Islam.
I am honored to be here today. And it was a busy week Alhamdulillah. And at times, I will asked as to where I was, and I said, I don't know.
Because I was going around so much. So many flights I've never taken in my life and Alhamdulillah It was an honor to be here to be able to serve and be of us Inshallah, potentially. Today my topic is a very important topic, not because I am here to deliver it. It's just the nature of the topic. The topic is critical solutions of critical thinking as to how we can strengthen our data and protect it. I have a few points I want to address very quickly.
I want to cut to the chase. And the points I want to address in this regard are
political involvement, education, media, coordination, social work, and our manner, the way we treat people or deal with them. These are the six points I will be addressing
as solutions or the way to protect our data. Firstly, what is Dawa Tao is basically
technically speaking in Islam is to call people to Allah called people to Islam.
Allah tells us in the Quran, Allah will do bIllahi min ash shaytani R rajim Bismillahi Rahmani Raheem Ordoro Odori la Sabella Big Bill hikma well mo or ASA till Hassan Elijah del homebuilder to hear axon also Allah says I want to be live in a shutdown regime, woman Asana colon member NDA in Allahu wa Milla Saleh and or call in an email Muslimeen. So, whose word is better than the one who calls to Allah? And says, and does write his deeds and says I'm one of the believers. The first verse tells us call to the way of your Lord with wisdom and beautiful preaching. And if you have to argue then argue correctly, argue with the best of manners. So Allah specifically teaches us how to
do Dawa in the Quran, Allah did not leave us without instructions having declared Dawa to be an obligation a collective obligation of the Muslims and individual obligation for Muslims living with non Muslims, in which case Muslims living in Canada and Britain, in the USA in Australia wherever you are or if you live with non Muslims, then it is an individual obligation especially when you are a minority you have to indulge in Dawa Tao becomes an individual obligation for every single Muslim living in non Muslim territories.
And I am not in any doubt about that. This is a very, very clear obligation in Islam. So what is hikma? When Allah says Odori law severely Arabic will hikma okay hikmah is in simple terms, wisdom. And what does wisdom mean in Islam? Wisdom in Islam is basically I'll call him on acid, Phil Wachtell bone acid, Phil McConnell Mullah when I said the right word said to the right people at the right time in the right place. Okay, this is wisdom
And imagine if you go to a wedding and you see the bride and the groom, and it is a happy occasion. And you go to the bride and the groom and you say in La La he was in LA Rajaram.
Well, that makes sense. Even though you are making a statement statement from the Quran, the meaning is not bad, that we come from Allah and we return to Allah. But that statement for the occasion was not correct. Because we usually say that when something happens to something bad happens to you, you say in la la, he was in LA Rajang. So this is a happy occasion. You don't say in la la, he was in LA Rajon This is against wisdom. The right word said at the wrong place. Would you agree? Now imagine if you go to a janazah you see
the adjusted or the body, the dead body of the disease and you say Alhamdulillah Mashallah. Tabata luck? Okay, people who say, this is Hold on a second is this guy, okay? In the head? He's not. So the point is wisdom is doing the right thing at the right place, at the right time with the right people. And looking at that, in that light. These are
the six points I want to address to make our Dawa successful and to protect it, especially when we live in the west and Islamophobia is a reality. It is no longer a controversial notion rather, it has been well acknowledged globally, academically, that Islamophobia is a reality it does exist people have written books on it, and it is basically affecting our lives.
It is affecting our life on daily basis. And one of the reasons is lack of indulgence in Dawa when it comes to the Muslim masses living in the West, in particular. So lack of indulgence, we simply do not indulge in Dawa. We came with visions, personal visions, to these countries to work, to drive taxis to build restaurants and build businesses, in some cases, build skyscrapers, cars, skyscrapers, hotels, and then eventually, the mindset we have is we're gonna go back, we're gonna go back, and that going back never comes. It never happens. And I have seen with my own eyes, members of my family who came to Britain to live there to return the died in Britain, and they got buried in
Britain.
And now we have the fourth generation. So what is our vision for our future? Is the question.
Where do we want to be in the next 50 years? We're not going anywhere, Canada is home, Britain is home. Right? And if that's the case, then what is our vision for the next 50 years? How can we even proceed? Or how can we even go forward with our lives in a country like this without a vision, and I don't mean a personal vision, because personal visions vary from place to place from person to person from time to time, one person, for example, may have a vision that he wants to become a scientist, okay, you may well become a scientist, another person wants to have five restaurants, he wants to own five restaurants and buy a mansion with a swimming pool in it and have a Ferrari parked
outside. Okay, that's a vision, a personal vision, you may acknowledge one person wants to travel abroad study and come back and do the work of Islam. That's a personal vision. What about the collective vision of the Muslims living in Canada in particular, and other parts of the West, or Western nations?
What is the collective vision is the question.
And I have been talking about it lately, that if you go to a poultry farm, you see chickens running everywhere. You walk into the poultry farm, you see chickens running into unknown directions, they don't know where, why they're running into that direction. Right. And sometimes that they change the direction suddenly.
And this is how, unfortunately, we are behaving as a community, we are running into our individual directions without having a collective vision or collective direction. And this is why I want to help you today to have a vision for the next 50 years. You don't have to follow it. You don't have to follow it one word by word, letter by letter, but it is a roadmap. It is like a blueprint. You can change it. You can add to it, you can take out from it, and get your leaders to work on it. So once you have a collective vision for the community, you will prosper. Your dollar will prosper. Your Dow will succeed as I've already clarified that it is not an option for you to not do our Dawa
has to be done in your personal capacities and in your collective capacities. You have to indulge in Dawa every single
One a few. How you do it, you choose, but you have to do it. But how do we protect our once we know that we have to do Dawa and it is an obligation? How do we protect our data as follows politics, you indulge in politics, and don't even come back to me telling me that. Oh, there are so many challenges. There are so many problems. This is haram that's haram. This is haram. I know all the Haram 's and hulls. Okay, because I'll Hala Luba Yan will haram obey you and we know that the Hadith of the prophets of salaam I'm not talking about haram options. you indulge in politics in Halal Ways. Find your ways find your options, Haram is not an option for the Muslims. So I'm talking about
thinking pragmatically optimistically, rather than being a pessimist. And before we begin a project, we start talking about the challenges and problems that will come our way and then we end up doing nothing because of the mindset. The mindset has to be solution driven, driven, not problems driven. Okay, if you start thinking about problems and problems and problems, then all you will have our problems.
But if you start thinking positively about the future pragmatically, if you are an optimist like the Messenger of Allah Azza wa sallam was, What did the Prophet tell us? What did the Prophet Tell us? Tell Allah, Allah Salam, he was a pragmatist. He was an optimist, right? He encouraged people he never put people down. Okay. When people came to him with a noble endeavor, with a noble thought, with a noble prospect, he never put them down. He never put them down. This is why the prophets are Salam said, Bashir, Rue, wala tuna Pharaoh, okay, but shiru Allah to not fail to give glad tidings to people. Don't put them off.
And just say who want to ask you to make things easy for people don't make them difficult. So what is making things difficult? When we start talking about a prospect or project, we start thinking about the negatives. Okay, what's going to happen if we do this what's gonna know you think pragmatically you think optimistically you think of the goals you want to achieve, and how you achieve those goals will come to you. Once you remain focused, and you are dedicated and you're sincere, it will happen. So indulge in politics, politics is absolutely crucial for your survival in any society, you ignore politics, laws will be made against you, your data will be cut down, you
will be restricted, you will have problems you will be misunderstood. You will be brutalized, possibly, like what's happening in India today.
Look at the situation in India, the Muslims in India are very, very marginalized. The reason is, they ignored politics for the last 70 years.
Even though there are some political leaders, they're now defending the Muslim cause, or the Muslim case, but we don't have enough. And the outcome is
you can see the controversies every single day, something new coming out from India. And that can happen everywhere else in the world. If we do not indulge in politics, and speak to politicians and take our position take a role. I mean, play a positive role to make this country a better country to contribute positively. Okay. So that you can become indispensable. That's the word indispensable, you have to be as a community indispensable. You cannot be someone who can who is not needed, who's not necessary. You're just a liability. We can't be like that we as Muslims cannot be liabilities, we have to be indispensable in every single field. So politics is absolutely crucial. So I'm going
to come to the vision. How do we define a vision and how do we follow it is the point I will address having gone through these points. So you indulge in local politics in national politics and not only that global politics, think big.
Have a have a great outlook on life. Don't think local. Don't spend your time thinking of your carpet in the masjid in the tap is not working and politics inside the masjid and beyond. Don't think like that Think big. Look at the messenger of allah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam what he did to these people, these Arabs, the desert Arabs. No one wanted to know them. No one was interested in them. Okay, the Persians didn't want to be part of the desert. The Romans didn't care. It was a barren land, with people with certain traditions. And they were confined within their spaces. And they lived on camels and goats and in some cases agriculture. They were known as a semi Bob arised
or semi civilized people, depending on
Now, you know, you look at things right? And then comes a prophet to them with a book with a message. And the message does something to them, something happens to them. It conditions their minds in a way that now they have a global outlook on life, these shepherds, these very ill equipped people, these very basic or simple people, they start to think of the world because the vision that came to them was a great vision. We're MA or Sana Illa Rahmatullah al Amin, we have been sent, O Muhammad, we have sent you not accept as a mercy for the words. And the prophet is telling us companions, that now those of you who are present listening to me take this message to those who are
absent. And they went, they went these very people from Arabia, who loved their families, their children, they had wives, their parents, they left everything. And they went out because they had a global outlook on life. They had a vision they had to fulfill the vision was the vision of the Prophet salallahu Salam, which was a global vision. It wasn't a local vision. It wasn't your street, your city, your town, your living room, your house or something like that. It was the globe, the word we have been sent for the world. So we have to go in something about do go and do something about the world. So look at these people. They went to places like Azerbaijan,
they went to places like North Africa, some of the companions of the provinces of them are buried on the borders of Pakistan, in Afghan territory, others are buried 13 automata in the students of the sahaba. And their students are buried in France, some of them in French territory.
What were these people doing there? Especially when they were no jets to fly around? There were no planes.
There was no one coming with a trolley to them. Do you want coffee? You want to drink in the plane, like we have been facing for the last week? Right? There was nothing like that these people went on foot on horses on Camelback, because of the global vision. They had all the obstacles in the ways they could talk about challenges. You know, when the Prophet told them go and take this measure to those who are absent, they're gonna Jarocin Allah, how are we going to get out of Arabia, there are stones there are rocks, there is sign there are storms, there is no water. We don't have clothes, we don't have rides. We don't have shoes to where you are to suit Allah. And this is how these people
were, by the way, there's a hadith in Bukhari, as a hobby came to the Prophet sallallahu sallam, he said Ya rasool Allah, is my prayer unacceptable in one piece of cloth. And the Prophet was surprised the the question, he said, our liquid LUCAM throw ban, do all of you have two pieces of cloth? Most of you have only one piece of cloth. This is the companions of the messenger of allah sallallahu sallam. So their vision, the outlook on life, the pragmatism, okay? And the optimism took them to heights and lens, no one ever reached before in human history. How can we claim to be the followers, while Allah has put us in situations where we just have to open our mouths and we don't do that. The
Prophet was stoned in the city of five.
And he was stoned so that he can bring this message to those who don't have it. And while we live here, with comfort and ease, we don't open our mouths. So politics is absolutely crucial you have to indulge and the professor solemn, he commanded his companions representation is very important. Imagine, imagine Rasulullah Salallahu Salam
was questioned about things. Did he remain silent? Or Did he represent his community and his people and his way? So when Abu Sufyan having killed many Sahaba in the Battle of Ohad, he said, today is the day of hobo.
The professor's themselves respond to him. Tell him we have Allah and Allah is a Molana. Allah is a Protector, you have no protector. You have no protector. And he said, A man for a man today we have avenged, then the professor respond, and they said, are dead are in paradise and you're dead are in jahannam. In the land of Habesha, the first migration of Islam takes place. The Qureshi send the envoy to bring these fugitives back so that they can be tortured. And the case comes in front of the king. So the Muslims are two options, remain silent, suffer silently, passively, and go with the flow like we are collectively unfortunately, or stand up for your rights and Speak for yourself and
tell people who you are and what you stand for. So Jaffa, the cousin of the prophets, Allah Islam stand politically, this was a political domain, the court of the king, the court of the king is a political domain. So the case is being
heard in this political domain and Java stands in this political domain and starts to defend his community and his people, oh king. We are a people who were worshipping idols eating dead meat, killing each other over petty things. And then came this noble man from a noble family with the true message, he told us to pray to give charity. And we became his followers. And because we started to pray and do charity, and stop worshipping idols, these people have become our enemies. Are we doing anything wrong? Oh King.
And then they play the game. They said, No, look, oh king, you're a Christian. And these guys have some erroneous ideas about your religion.
Another attack came. So the Jaffa remain silent. No, he said, No king, we don't believe in anything wrong. This is our belief. And he reads verses from Surah Meriam. And the king cries Allahu Akbar, just because Jaffa stood up for his community and his faith and defended his position politically, in a political domain. Muslims survived. Muslims survived. So political activism, speaking when you need to speak, defending your community and your work and your ideology in your civilization, is absolutely crucial. And you cannot do that in political domains. Unless you're present to do it. And you have to be there. And I'm talking about the hull always point to education. If you are not
educated, you cannot defend yourself. You will never be taken seriously. So you need to acquire education. I'm talking about more than education. I'm not only talking about religious education, which is an absolute must, no doubt, we must understand our theology, our law, our way our book, the Quran, and the prophetic tradition, the Sunnah of the Prophet SAW Salem, before we indulge in anything else we need to understand and recognize who we are, what do we stand for? Right? Once we know who we are, then we educate ourselves in other necessary fields, to protect ourselves, right? To shield to guard ourselves. So Rasulullah sallallahu sallam, he valued education so much that from
the prisoners of Bible,
he said, those of you who teach Muslims how to read and write, you will go free. We don't want your money, teach them how to read and write, and you will go free. And they did that. The first commandment in Islam in the Quran, the first revelation from Allah was what read, read. And this was for two centuries before the Prophet salaallah Salam was born, that they will come a prophet when the book is given to him. And it is said to him read and he will say I am not learned. And this can be found in the book of Isaiah chapter 29, verse 12, in the Old Testament, these are the words that when the book is given to the one who is not learned, and it is said to him read and he will say, I
am not learned. And when O'Brien said to the Prophet SAW Selim read in the prophets of Ma, and I'm a party and I have not learned, and the first five verses of the Quran were given, that are directly about reading, seeking knowledge, and the Muslim civilization become became the most educated civilization in human history, with the largest libraries with the best scholars, with the most eloquent people and the poise and the thinkers and the philosophers and scientists. You name it. The list goes on and on from Spain to China, Muslims created a civilization of an unprecedented scale, because of read. We were the most Bookly people in the world, the biggest book producers, book
writers, book collectors, and book distributors for 1000 years. And we have now unfortunately, become the most bookless people in the world. And this is why we are the way we are globally speaking. So education is a must. Not only your religious education, which is a basic for any Muslim, right, but education in other fields, you need to have philosophers thinkers, you need to have people who have degrees and PhDs in science, you need to have professors at universities teaching your own history, your own philosophy, your own civilization, you have left it, left it to others, and that's why we have no representation on that scale. So education has been neglected by
us.
And education for a purpose, not to feed your stomach. So I want to highlight this very quickly. My time's running out, education, not to feed your stomachs. Don't think from your stomachs. Think from your minds, the purpose of education is not to fill your stomach. So today, when we go to seek degrees at universities, what are we thinking of? I'm going to get a job, I'm going to get a house I'm going to get married, I'm going to die. That's the vision. That's the vision we have no, that's the wrong vision. education's purpose is not to fill your stomach. It is rather to fill your mind so that you can make this world a better place.
So education is a solution for us collectively. So we need to have a vision for education also, next media media, we as a community have criminally neglected the use of media and its power.
And this is the front, we are being beaten badly. Islamophobia is a result of media.
People misunderstand us because of media. People don't like us because of media, because they are being told on the media that these people cannot be trusted. And I don't have to prove that point to you. Turn on the news channels. Watch the news. Okay. And you will see for the last 20 years, and there are brothers who have done research on that very topic, our our beloved brother Bucha, YouTube, he has done amazing research on that topic, having studied news reports, since 911, and all that and look at the way Muslims are being painted. And why is it important that the Prophet neglected? Did the Prophet ignore it? What was the media at the time of the Prophet salallahu Salam
who was going to tell me who was going to help me what was the media?
Jarrah the points? The points were the most powerful tool, tribes, kings, rulers, amuse sheiks used to present the case to the public, right. And points when they were born in a tribe, they would celebrate a feast, they would bring other points, because points glorified the tribes, the leaders, the warriors, even horses, are being praised the beauty of the women, everything you read Arabic poetry, it is absolutely amazing, right? And it was very powerful. It was used as a source of inspiration, a source of information. So the Prophet salallahu Salam, did he ignore this form of information, or reaching out to people when the professor Islam was criticized by disbelievers in
the poetry, because they knew the power of poetry. So there are two examples, Abu Sufyan min Hadith, one of the relations of the promises of evil one of the relatives of the province of Salam, he uttered poetry against the professor, so I'm trying to degrade his character, trying to paint him with negativity, and then carbon I should have there was another man in Medina, who was writing poetry or uttering poetry against a professor Salam, to tarnish him. What did the Prophet do? Okay, let them do it. We don't have to do anything. We don't have the power to do anything. We're not going to indulge, we're not going to know the Prophet put his point on remember, the Prophet SAW
Salem, he responded to the threat with a similar response with a similar tool with a similar powerful message. And he put his point on the member Hassan was far better and he said Ya Allah help him through Jabra inspire him. And then he came up with this powerful poetry these powerful words were asked and I'm in column Takato hiney were Ademola min column tally Denisa. Who Holika Tom Oberon min Coolio. Hi hyvin, a Naga got the collectorate Kumar the shadow, that the province of Salam is the most beautiful person to walk the planet, my eyes have not seen a more beautiful person than this, a woman has not given birth to a more beautiful person like this. And he's so amazing
that as if he was telling Allah how to create him, Allahu Akbar. So he praised the promises of me defended the Prophet in response to all those people that were attacking him using the most powerful media tool at the time, poetry. So we the Muslims, how can we be the followers of that Prophet and ignore media ignore media, and the power of media. So we need to have journalists, we need to have people who speak on the media, we need to invest in that we need to have 50 100 200 journalists, you can count Muslim journalists on your fingers and, and especially in the mainstream media, we don't have media hubs. We don't have companies that produce content, news content and things like that, we
need to start investing in that otherwise, we are doomed when you will allow your enemies to speak about you and for you, you will be tarnished and misrepresented coordination.
And these are again to remind you these are solutions to strengthen your Dawa. Think critically and have solutions for your data. So politics, education, media, coordination, you have to coordinate with each other. If you do not coordinate, you are doomed again. You have to work with each other like these brothers, mashallah throughout this week had been working with other brothers in other cities. So this coordination is absolutely beautiful. It's a breath of fresh air Allahu Akbar, this is so beautiful to see. You have to coordinate if you don't coordinate if there's no, it's the hard, banal Muslimeen if the Muslims are not working together for the common good of not only humanity,
but the countries you live in. To make these countries a better place. You have to really indulge in coordination, social work, social
Work is absolutely important. You cannot ignore social work you need 3020 organizations, humanitarian organizations who are working on people in Canada, not only sending money to Palestine and Gaza and and other needy places for the Muslims, we need to work at home here, we need to help the people of Canada, I'm pretty sure that our poor people are the indigenous people who need your help. There are people from the Canadian background or the white Canadian background, let's say you know, they need help. And I've been saying this in Britain that all of you British Muslims collect 100 million pounds every Ramadan in you send it abroad to help you brothers and sisters noble,
beautiful, amazing. But what about where you live? Right next to you, there is an elderly person who needs help you go to these Council states, I don't know what you call them in Canada, we call them council estates, right? These residential areas are poor, poor, poor people live who cannot afford basic things in life, who's going to help them who's going to remove snow from the so social work is absolutely needed, it is absolutely crucial for our well being, for us to be seen in positive light, no one will point fingers when when you when this Abdullah Qasim and Mohammed goes with bags full of food to a poor household. And when you give food to these people, those kids who will be looking at
your behavior and your character giving food to the family, they will never grow up to be Islamophobes Do you agree? They will never grow up to be Islamophobes they will look at you as a solution not as a problem. Finally, my time is up manners. Fix your manners. Dawa is done to your behavior as well. So don't behave in ways because you have the biggest telescopes in the world upon you. Right? You are judged by a different standard, you have to behave differently. And by Alhamdulillah, we say Alhamdulillah for that because people expect better from us the Muslims, right? So we have to behave in that way. So our manners are very important. So last few sentences
very quickly. And I've been saying that.
So last few sentences. You don't have a vision, you have no future. You don't have a vision, you have no future. So what do I mean by vision? For the next 50 years? I want the Canadian Muslims to get together, join your heads and start thinking, Where do you want to be in the next 50 years? Okay, how many scholars you need, let me give you a number a realistic number. We need 50 scholars in the next 50 years. It is realistic, it is doable. We need 20 Social Work organizations, we need 100 journalists in the next 50 years. We need 30 barristers take the numbers down, no one's writing, take the numbers down. This is a vision for the next 50 years. We need 30 barristers to defend our
cause to speak for us. We need at least three prime ministers in the next 50 years Prime Ministers of Canada. Now you may be thinking, this guy has lost his mind. He's lost the plot. He's thinking too big. Absolutely. I'm thinking big. And I know this can be done. If Jugni Singh can be there. So can you so can you you can also be there, you can do it. So we need at least three prime ministers of Canada in the next 50 years. Okay, the Constitution allows it. The Constitution allows it, we need at least 30 MPs or members of parliament in the next 50 years. And this is a very realistic and a very minor kind of vision for you to have. We need at least 500 doctors working as social workers.
We need 1000 human rights activists in Canada produce you can produce them. If you start working on this vision. If you disseminate this vision throughout Canada, you will see people will take it up and say okay, I volunteer to be that social worker, I volunteer to be that doctor, I volunteer to go into politics, I volunteer to become a barrister, I want you to do this. And before you know you will have the numbers and your vision will be in process it will happen. And if you don't have a vision if you don't think like this if you don't have solutions. And if you keep crying about problems, problems, problems, newspapers, media Islamophobia, you're gonna keep crying for the next
50 years as we have been for the last 50 years. So on that note, thank you so much for listening to me, and I hope I have stimulated your minds into a direction and thinking into a direction that you may not have thought before. But this is the solution in my opinion. Kamala Harris was salam aleikum wa rahmatullah wa