Alima Ashfaq – Run Back to Allah

			Every single one of you are making an impact. Every single one of you are doing something of value,
however big or small it is, do it. There is no ego when it comes to service, I want you to start off
with something
		

			about something that happened two weeks ago. So on the 15th of March, I remember, I was waking up
		

			next to my children, and my husband came upstairs and he's like, Did you just hear the news? And I
was like, No. And you know, when your husband comes and tells you, what did you just hear the news?
You're assuming that something happened, and maybe some Muslims did something. And I'm like, you
know, my heart drops. And it's like, no, like, you know, the news. It's all about New Zealand. It's
all about Christ Church. And you know, your heart drops a little, you become a bit scared, you
become a bit fearful, you're picking one or two people. But when the news comes about 50, you have
realizations, you have, you know, lessons. And if you understand the Quran and Sunnah, you start
		

			going back to verses and you start going back to these. So I started reflecting back to individuals
within this era. And I started thinking about how did they deal with these challenges. And then
other dive days go on, you start to get to hearing stories about some of those individuals. And then
I thought about greatness. I said, make somebody great. I sent it here. In Christchurch, we had
ordinary people, and as you hear their stories, they become extraordinarily right. But in the scene
all we have the likes of American football, probably a lot prettier now and would you say is great,
is green, right? And I when we think about I would have been thinking about somebody who was
		

			unapologetically Muslim. You know, Alma, this conference is about run back to Allah when a woman
became Muslim. You know, he literally he ran out, and he gave the Muslims confidence. As I give you
these names. I want to start reflecting back in your community, in Scotland in Glasgow, do we have
people like that, who give us confidence? When I think of I'm a bit hotter, but only alone. I think
about Matthew Hussey.
		

			And you know, I think about convening in the House of Commons. And I was listening to his lecture
and I'm like, that gives me confidence. And then you have most I've been on a probably Allah on
home, where the prophet of allottee so that the sudden he sent him to Medina, and he said, you know,
call the people to Islam, and most of you ran to Medina, and they said that there was not one mole,
that there wasn't a Muslim. We think out of the Saber, bitcode or the Aleppo and hit and I want to
use females, you know, because we have a tendency to learn about male companions, and sometimes the
sisters they think, what about us, so you have no Siva, they said she was tending to the soldiers.
		

			She's a nurse, right? And she saw the Prophet alayhi salatu salam, he was being attacked. And they
say that she picked up the sword and she read on the bathtub. And she started defending him. And
they say, the Prophet sallallahu sallam, he looked at her and it's like, look at her Iman. Look at
her courage. And then you have O'Hurley on the heaviness the art of the Prophet it so that the
Senate on her knee, she turned around, and she said, if we were men, but nobody would dare say
something about my nephew, just speaking about the Prophet of Allah. And they say that on Ebola, he
actually passed away because he was using the proximity selectors. And when he became so angry, it's
		

			just an entree, you know, aren't you sometimes you go with get angry, and sometimes you just lash
out. And um, honey became so angry that she wounded him.
		

			Like, I'm not like, I'm not propagating that stuff. I'm like, Look at look at these individuals.
Look at that man, face, look at their courage, and then have it shared with me by a kid. You know,
she ran back to Allah with a baby with her knowledge with her that she was a worshipping Allah. And
finally, the example I want to use is Herky jerky, Allah, you know, she ran back to Allah through
her sacrifice, you know, all of these companions, they don't agree, because they weren't around the
property. Then they owe rate due to the impact that they made in their community. So now all of you
are here. And I always say that hola kind of dialect is not random. Like you're not here because
		

			your mom told you to come. Or you know, you know, if you brothers, you're here. This allows for the
dialect children to listen to something, you know, he wants to plant seeds. So you can go out and
you can do something and now going back to feed me feed that argument hooked up for the alarm and we
think about what's going on with that they are great.
		

			They are figments of the past, they in the past, one thing we learned, and what we learned in the
tragedy in New Zealand is that these people who were murdered, that their strength, their
resilience, their Eman, their courage that they agreed that we have individuals in our community
that are as great as a meeting and the greatness still remains within us and around us. So the
question, I don't want you to constantly be asking yourself questions, people come to talk, so they
leave and they don't reflect, like, why why do we have the Quran? And why do we have the Sunnah? Why
when we have teachers, what makes knowledge so pivotal is that we're reflecting and that we engage
		

			in an example is in sort of caliber of analysis.
		

			And in a very loving kindness, say, Allah, mon, some metal, let's say, you know, when you think of
Kevlar, and I think, Helen, I'm not screaming, I'm not going to, you know, you think Hello, I have
children and my, anybody who has children is you know, when they to benaco, to listen to you, so,
you know, when you try and run to a fire, you like killer, it's so loud, it's so hard, like, it's so
fearful. The Quran is a very emotional book, you know, the Sierra is a very organic, it's alive. And
we have to connect with these stories, more than just being stories that are there I'm written, you
know, every single one of you, you can be great, you can do great things, you know, by
		

			looking in the mirror and finding self worth, you know, looking in the mirror and telling yourself
that you can specialize, you can worship Allah subhanaw taala at a very high level, that you don't
have to be broken because you make mistakes, because everybody makes mistakes. You don't have to be
broken because you struggle with your Salah. Everybody struggles with their salah, there's someone
who prays five times a day and they struggling with concentration. You know, I'm a mother and my
children are foreign to like having a Salah with the flu is almost non existent. But I continue
pregnant and I know that Allah subhanaw taala will compensate my salah. So greatness is not become
		

			an omelet been hotter or become more online. You know greatness is finding what's right and what's
good for you and embracing it. So Allah subhanaw taala he says in the Quran, what made you to Allah,
what a sunnah that Allah it can I livina Marlena anomala guna it emit, or they emit? Are they, I was
I was like customer doesn't have the Quran I'm like I get mixed up on this one. So Allah Subhana
Allah says, and one main duty, Allah would assume that Allah can now under Lena and Allah, we're
only human and NaVi in was it we have been our Shahada. It was funnily enough, what has what has any
cooler it came from. So Allah subhanaw taala, he says, and this is where it's applicable to every
		

			single one of you. He says that we're amazed Allah and the messenger, whoever obeys the Prophet
alayhi salam for Sudan. They are those who will have favors the city of Phoenix, you know, the
truthful, the show her that the martyrs and the folly Hien, like you can be of the highest
companions, this area is just not reserved for the Sahaba whether or not it's reserved for every
single person who follows the clock that is so that Islam, even though it's so difficult, you know,
in the time of the Prophet valleys, that Islam I always say, you know, the massages, they didn't
have better views. There was no barrier in the prophet's mosque. That doesn't mean remove the
		

			barriers. Like that means that the Prophet Muhammad sallallaahu Salam was not concerned about
physical barriers, because the prophets on light, Islam knows that you can have masajid the
barriers, and everybody has a phone, they can still be doing stuff. He was more concerned about
creating that internal barrier. That wherever you are you fear about, like Taqwa. Like the process
of test, yeah, kind of Yeah, what was the purpose of the craft and excellently so then, because that
is what is affected. So now going back to Christchurch, like we have, you know, and the names came
out the different names and then your, your heart kind of shattered a bit more, you had an army. You
		

			know, they say that he was so courageous that he ran up to the attack color, and he fought, and then
you have Allah, Allah and Allah and again, when you look at these pictures, you know, they say that
when he passed away, and he was on the football team, so he's mixing Muslims and non Muslims. They
say like, they literally left a hole in the heart of the community. And I think and I'm like, if I
passed away today, what's my impact when you think I'm husband? You know, I think
		

			Looking to save a bit of code, she's in the women's area, right? And she hears something and she
thinks about her husband and she funds down just to see his okay. So we think nusseibeh was in the
past, we've got a limit to what that can be, but in our community, and I asked ourselves, like, are
we cultivating a must have been homemade? Are we cultivating an opera, big football? You know, are
we cultivating a Khadija decoded by Allah subhanaw taala replete with them all? Are we within
ourselves, taking that journey with Allah, you know, having goals, having aspirations, having
reflections every single day, you know, we know the Hadith of the Prophet alayhi salatu salam, he
		

			got up, like, you know, he came and Prophet someone that is Salam kept saying he has a personal
agenda. And then eventually a companion went to his house trying to discover how he's here has an
agenda. And he comes to the realization that the only thing he does is that he goes to sleep. And he
removes all hatred, of all enmity of anybody who exists. We think mental health is a new issue.
Mental health is something that existed in the time, Patti Smith's lab, because he was constantly
preparing a community that was more focused on creating an impact within that capacity, rather than
living for the dunya. Because the dunya, and yo impact doesn't. So now, that's the question I want
		

			you to ask, you know, if I passed away, who would remember me? What impact have I left? What am I
doing? How would my parents remember me? You know, and that's why going back to UCLA, and ACN, you
know, on Facebook, one of his friends is part of the football team, like for a really, really
touched me and Paul, he makes the comment that you know, any board there being racist or
Islamophobic, you know, come to me and also throughout, and he's saying but it's like a when you
have a when you how amazing and how dedicated, and how great of a Muslim he was. So and I think of
the Prophet sallallaahu Salam, who was defending the prophets, they knew the practicality that Islam
		

			was amazing, and what's great, they just disagreed with his message, saying he's like, people like a
god. They may not be Muslim, but they know they are all great character. And that's what you can be.
Allah's kind of dialogue won't ask you about the person next to you, He will ask you, how did you
treat your husband? How did you treat your wife? How did you bring up your children? How did you
treat your neighbor? When you go outside? How do you treat people outside? What message are you
sending them? So they the crops are these letters to them? What made him such a great person? He was
constantly in the service of people. And that's why if you want to follow the Sunnah of the Prophet,
		

			it said at the Senate, and that's when the brothers think and follow the Senate don't have to be in
contempt. So, you know, 10 years ago, like I remember, everybody was obsessed with ensuring that
their thought was high, you didn't touch the floor, you know, like that is the center to a certain
extent, but the center of the party status and me is that he is full of larvae that he is great in
character that he was an amazingly great human being and that should be our aim. And that's why I
say when people focus on Aki that though he the torpedo, Belaz, kind of Darla, and they this regard
the zero that would come home harsh, you know, they become unkind but when you have the Quran when
		

			you have the Hadith and when you have the Sunnah, that's where you you gain a balance. That's where
you live that the Puff Daddy Salah to say that he cried, the prophet Alex that said he felt the
metallics, let the solidity grieve the family status and he had disagreements with his wives, the
profanity lost children, the profanity status that was slandered was humiliated, but he always
turned back to Allah He was not man enough or good enough to feel so you will feel but how are you
responding to your challenges, challenges that are so inevitable challenges that will come and that
will break you but you can pick yourself up again so going back to service and I only say that
		

			people are not to try to do we lose people to drugs we lose people to you know alcohol we lose
people to gambling we lose people to bad character, we lose people to you know they abandon their
salah they abandoned they do you know every single one of you you may have people and you definitely
have people in your families that don't really some of them may be drinking alcohol even though
they're Muslim, they may be involved in drugs, you know, they will come to events like this and the
pro family status that
		

			Didn't expect people to come and listen to him because people wouldn't come. The Prophet alayhi
salatu salam went out to them. So we may have a deen, that is so amazingly great. But if the deen is
just within our four walls, there's no impact. So the question is, how are you taking this amazing
being, to your children, to your family members, to your friends? How are we as a community tackling
the issues of drugs of alcohol or gambling or a lack of solid of apathy? By the way, there are
people who are not even concerned about their pain, how are we tackling this because they're not bad
people? Because we've been there too. Every single one of you have may have come from a non
		

			practicing background and not practicing family. And you found Allah because there was someone who
was helping you. How can you be that person who is helping other people, and that's where your
restless night lights, you know, helping people within your capacity. Not everybody needs to come on
stage and give a speech. Not everybody needs to recite Quran, not everybody needs to write a book,
not everybody needs to be a doctor. But everybody needs to be something, something to them, you have
to work within your potential. So moving on is taking responsibility, because it's not the challenge
that defines you and the profit it so that the snap didn't stay within his home. And when you and
		

			I'm going to bring in the story of hedger in a small while but the profiling said this man says in
color and her wage, he say that Verily, Allah has his assigned blessings to people. Like he's given
their blessings. And he considered except lessons as long as they offer them to others, if they
refuse to give that then Allah subhanaw taala will take the blessings away. And this heavy focuses
on going out and helping others. If you are not helping others, if you are not using your blessings
to your good, if you are not using your wealth, we all have money, we all have something, you all
have something more than someone else. You know, if we are not using them, well, then Allah subhanaw
		

			taala will take them away. So we have to do our part. So now we're going to take a step back, take a
step back to the prophetic society. So not everyone in the community of the proctitis left the
Senate, as I mentioned, was great. We had an open rate, how far are we aligned? You know, he was
agreed we had an issue with LGBT kid, you know, she was into a higher limit. She was into knowledge.
She was into it by better, and more importantly, not everybody was no, so not everybody here needs a
name. But everybody was valued to the prophets of Allah. And that's why, you know, people would come
to the prosperity center center, and they work is Sahiba. You know, Sahib is something that is
		

			incredibly close. And the Prophet Allah is selected so that he was going to execute insert, you
know, buhari, and he saw a group of women, and he's like SLM Alikum, how are you? And he made them
feel so welcome. And they say the party slippers better? Nobody smiled more than the prophets of
Allah. Like, do you see how it was such an inclusive community? So going back to being No, going
back to being unknown, you know, in a city head if you need a manager, and so you can read the story
of a black woman, the black woman, she from Amazonia, and she used to clean up the masjid every
single day. So the Prophet Hadees that Islam would notice her, like she's just cleaning, she's
		

			angry, and she's old. But she's like, I need to clean the Masjid. We have uncles like that, right?
They, they like to spend their time in the masjid. So the Prophet saw a lot of sin. And for years,
he's just seeing her. And suddenly one day, she's not there.
		

			So now the Prophet of Allah, He comes the next day, and she's a nobody to the people. Just the
uncle, just beyond and the Prophet of Allah, he turns around, and it's like, where is she? You know,
they say, Oh, you have some money sit at the synapse, she passed away last night. So we just buried
her we did her funeral. And they say the profitable auto ID selectors man became so sad. He became
so upset. It's like, how come you didn't tell me? And indirectly, they're saying,
		

			she's just a woman. She's just a cleaner. Like she's not dying. And the prophet had said, he felt
it. And they say that her home was like my like a mile away. And they say the prophet had the status
that would come with a few companions. He walked all the way to her graveyard. And if you weren't
any prayed for her in the history of Islam, the Prophet of Allah alayhi salatu salam never did that
for another companion.
		

			And then he can
		

			A man, you know, he is a woman that is so unknown in the community. But she's so valued to the
prophets of Allah, because she's giving a service to the community, because she's doing something.
You know, many times I come as a speaker, and people could speak up on a pedestal but not real, by
the way, and actually get your T shirt, I get this. And I'm like, who am I? Like, we're just at the
surface of Allah like way nothing special. Every single one of you are making an impact. Every
single one of you are doing something of value, however big or small it is, do it there is no ego
when it comes to service. We are all good enough for everything. So now, just a few things quickly,
		

			is that be a caretaker and I have three examples are the examples I have on two women from a female
speaker, right? I want to appeal to you. And I want you to think that we can help our women be
something, you know, we all have to understand our priorities at home at work and stuff, but we can
still be something. So here we have argument three, you know, she established a Islamic institution
that was helping 1000s of people we have answered Omar already, you know, she's the founder of
robota. You know, she's teaching Islam to so many people, I can give you hundreds and hundreds of
millions of women who are making an impact. And their mothers, their sisters, their educators,
		

			they'd have PhDs and nothing takes anything away from them. And it doesn't take them away from their
families. They're so committed to both but they have discipline. They have taqwa, they're not
wasting their time. So the final thing I want to say is a running back to Allah, I'm ending there.
We have the example of how John Allison so heaven idcm is the wife of Prophet Ibrahim. So can you
imagine Hydra, she's in her own, and she's happy. And she's content. And then her husband is plugged
in right humanity celebrity comes to her. And it's like, we're going out. We're going somewhere. And
hydronic systems begin okay. Like, and you know, as, let's be realistic, she's thinking to excel,
		

			where are we going? And a husband like we'd go in somewhere as a wife might, I want to know where
we're going. But she gets up and she trusts her husband and her husband takes him out to a desert
property bracamonte center and he starts walking away and he doesn't just feed his wife leaves his
child. That's very difficult. And people say a lot of you WHY DIDN'T property recognized salon say
anything? Because men deal with pain differently. Many times with men when they're dealing with
pain, they have a tendency to just clamp up and I along with my husband is dealing with pain.
Sometimes I just have to let him be profitable family so that is hurting so much that he doesn't
		

			know how to tell her and then she understands because she's uh, you know, she feels alone. She
understand a lot. She has ERP. And she didn't did a lot tell you and she's like, yes. And then she's
like, okay, so running back to Allah. When hedge running Sudan is left in the desert. Does she like
be like, Okay, help will come. Allah will save me something will come no Hydra ally, Sudan when she
realizes that no human health was coming. She seeks for divine aid. And she runs does she run on
time. She doesn't write how many times she runs. Seven, you know, and they say that she should have
she would have kept running until Okay, she didn't have an apathy. She didn't suffer in silence. She
		

			got up and she ran seven times, until Allah on a die that she gave her help until she became the
custodian of Mecca, you know, until she's the one who had the key. So she was a running back to
Allah as she was running back or her family, for the children and for community health community. So
I want to end hedger it may be a woman, but her lessons are applicable for every single one of you.
Whenever you go through a test whenever you go through a challenge, whenever you assess your home
and your community and you'll find something run back to Allah in different ways, until you find the
solution. Because one of the tricks of the trick of che con is to make you give up hope, and don't
		

			let him win. It's an endless panic a lot more warming having a shadow Allah in the end was a
critical part of philosophy concepts.
		

			We