Ammar Alshukry – Advice to Minneapolis Youth Masjid Rawdah

Ammar Alshukry
AI: Summary ©
The conversation highlights the importance of praying for Islam and finding one's own clarity and friendships in public settings, including history and finding friendships. It is emphasized that individuals need to have a strong identity and use their own language to create a strong identity. Prayerers are encouraged to use their unique talents and values to create change and achieve success in life. The importance of history and finding friendships is emphasized.
AI: Transcript ©
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Assalamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu, alhamdulillah wa

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salatu wa salamu ala Rasulullah wa ala alihi

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wa sahbihi wa sallimu alayhi wa sallimu ala

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kathir wa ashadu an laa ilayhi wa laa

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wahdahu wa laa sharika laahu wa ashadu anna

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Muhammadan abduhu wa rasuluh, wa salatu wa rabbuhu

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wa salamu alayhi, amma ba'ad it's a

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pleasure to be with you all in Minneapolis,

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this is one of if not my favorite

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Muslim community in the country alhamdulillah, it's always

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a pleasure to come and be with you

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all and to have Somali tea which is

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basically sugar with a little bit of tea

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in it, hope you guys are doing well

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alhamdulillah and on behalf of all of New

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York I'd like to thank you guys for

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the trade for taking Julius Randall and giving

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us cat, he wasn't doing anything over here

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anyway was he?

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So that being said my topic is navigating

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modernity as a young person and I'll just

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share with you a few points and I

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want to hear from you as well because

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I don't want to assume that I know

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what it's like to be young right now

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and what you're going through I'd like to

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hear but that being said I'll share with

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you a couple of constants that we learn

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in the sunnah of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi

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Wasallam and even before that what we learn

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in the Quran, I'll mention five or six

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points, the first if I'm going to give

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a young person any advice, who here is

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in high school?

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Who here is in high school?

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Okay and who here is in university?

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And who here is beyond that?

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Okay so I remember when I was going

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from high school to university I was 18

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years old and my father alhamdulillah was driving

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me to my campus I was going to

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go to school out of state and it

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was going to be my first time living

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alone and so my father alhamdulillah is taking

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this son of his 18 years old for

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the first time now he's going to sink

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or swim you know I'm going to send

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him to the wolves so to speak and

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he's either going to be anchored by everything

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that I've taught him or he's going to

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be swayed and so he was telling me

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a story it was a four-hour car

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drive and he said to me he said

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imam al-shafi'i had a student who

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used to attend his halaqa and then he

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disappeared for a while and so when the

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student came back the imam said to him

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where did you go where have you been

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and he said Egypt and he said well

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how was, he said Misr not Masr but

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he said how was Misr and he said

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knowledge is in Egypt and so then he

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had another student at one point in time

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who disappeared for a while when he came

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back he said where have you been he

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said Misr, Egypt and he said well how

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was Egypt and he said to him Egypt

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is nothing but a party it's just it's

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all frivolity it's just noise and so the

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imam said to him Sadaq you've spoken the

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truth and so you know you've always got

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people who are like but what about you

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said you said that knowledge is in Egypt

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and now someone is saying the complete opposite

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and you're saying that's the truth too how

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do you say both of them spoke the

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truth and he said both of them found

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what they were looking for and so the

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idea is if you go looking for trouble

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you're going to find trouble in lots of

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places and if you look for knowledge in

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school if you look for opportunity if you

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look for the expansion of your mind you're

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going to find that too and that's probably

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one of the most important lessons that I've

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learned at that stage in my life which

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is the importance of the decisions that you're

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going to make that are going to affect

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your destiny if you focus on one particular

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thing Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala will grant

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you Tawfiq and so what are some of

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these things that I wanted to begin by

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sharing as far as advices the first and

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the most important is the Salah that Salah

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that you've been told about since you were

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six years old or seven years old five

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years old maybe there will come a time

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when it's just you and Allah Subhanahu Wa

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Ta'ala there was a man I met

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in the masjid one time and he told

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me he said I tell my kids do

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you want to know when y'all be

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Muslim and his kids say to him what

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do you mean we're already Muslim and he

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says no y'all will be Muslim when

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you pray without me or your mom telling

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you to pray that's when y'all will

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be Muslim if I only pray because my

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mom says get up and pray my father

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says get up and pray my brother says

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get up and pray the teacher the sheikh

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of the masjid says get up and pray

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but when I am by myself my Salah

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is shaky then who am I really submitting

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to am I submitting to Allah Subhanahu Wa

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Ta'ala or am I submitting to the

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will of my parents because the reality is

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that those people are not going to be

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with you every step of your life there's

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going to be a time when you're separated

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from them and so the question then becomes

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who are you submitting to you are only

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Muslim when you submit to Allah Subhanahu Wa

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Ta'ala I'm not talking about the theological

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discussion I'm talking about the attitude the submission

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to Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala and so

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he says I tell my kids y'all

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will be Muslim when you submit to Allah

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Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala your Salah is because

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of Allah it's not because of anybody else

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and so that prayer is incredibly important and

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one thing I want you to know is

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that no matter what happens to in your

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life do not give up the Salah don't

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give it up Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam says

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Anas Ibn Malik says that there was a

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young man from the Ansar who used to

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pray Qiyamul Layl and during the night he

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would go and he would steal sorry in

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night he would pray Qiyamul Layl and during

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the day he would go and steal and

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so people used to come and complain to

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Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam this man is so

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strange like he prays Qiyamul Layl and then

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during the day he goes and he steals

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and so the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam said

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his Salah is going to stop him from

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what he is describing to you his Salah

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is going to stop him from what you

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are describing and so the man eventually he

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repented and the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam he

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said to Anas he said oh Anas didn't

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I tell you that his Salah is going

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to stop him from what you're describing there

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are people who they veer off of whatever

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path they're on for a period of time

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but if they continue with the Salah and

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they don't give that up the Salah becomes

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an anchor it will bring that person back

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and so whether it is you or whether

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it is somebody that you know I want

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you to be able to tell them this

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and say if you're going out tonight pray

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Isha before you leave pray Fajr when you

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come back I don't care what you're doing

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I don't care where you're going I don't

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care where you're going to participate in Inna

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Salata Tanha Anil Fahsha'i Wal Munkar Allah

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Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la says the

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Salah protects from evil and it protects from

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indecency and so hold on to this prayer

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you know I've noticed in my life that

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sometimes people will come to me and they

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will be too embarrassed to pray and they

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will say you please pray for me or

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they say I'm too shy to pray to

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Allah or to make Salah because I committed

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this and I committed this and I committed

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this and it's as if they think that

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there is some level of righteousness that they're

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supposed to reach that allows for them to

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be deserving to pray to Allah none of

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us deserve to pray to Allah there's no

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person who becomes holy enough pure enough righteous

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enough we're now okay I am someone who

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deserves to pray to Allah Subh'anaHu Wa

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Ta-A'la that doesn't work like that

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Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la allows

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for us to pray to him Allah Subh

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'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la accepts our dua

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Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la accepts

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our Ibadah not because of who we are

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he accepts it completely totally because of who

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he is it's about who he is not

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about who you are otherwise Allah Subh'anaHu

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Wa Ta-A'la wouldn't accept from anyone

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he wouldn't accept from any one of us

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nobody the most righteous of the most righteous

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nobody prays a prayer that Allah Subh'anaHu

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Wa Ta-A'la deserves and so the

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idea here is that you should not let

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shame of what you know of yourself stop

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you from praying to Allah Subh'anaHu Wa

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Ta-A'la because there is no level

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of righteousness that you're ever going to reach

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that makes you deserving of praying to Allah

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anyway so you might as well pray and

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not only that but how beautiful is it

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that one of the duas that you are

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taught to make when you enter into the

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salah counteracts that exact notion if a person

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feels too shy too embarrassed of my sins

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to pray to Allah one of the duas

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that you say when you enter into the

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salah dua al istiftah is Allahumma ba'id

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bayni wa bayn khatayai kama ba'adta bayn

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al mashriq wal maghrib oh Allah distance me

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from my sins those same sins that have

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me ashamed right now oh Allah distance me

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from my sins like you've distanced between the

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east and the west Allahumma ghsilni min khatayai

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he says Allahumma naqeeni min khatayai kama yunqa

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thawbul abyadu min ad-danas oh Allah washing

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of my sins like a white garment is

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cleansed from filth oh Allah cleanse me of

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my sins with snow and water and hail

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you're asking Allah to be distanced from these

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sins so the first thing is salah the

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importance of salah the second thing that I

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want you to appreciate as being young is

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being young you know in America they'll say

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a person's a kid the guy will be

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six foot four two hundred forty pounds and

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he's a kid he's a good kid in

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Islam we don't have that in Islam you're

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either a child before the age of puberty

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or you're an adult Abdullah bin Umar at

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13 years old 13 years old is trying

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to enter into the Battle of Badr at

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13 years old rather it's Uhud he's trying

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to enter into the Battle of Uhud at

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13 years old why because he's a man

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now I'm not a child anymore I'm big

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enough I can wrestle and so you are

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either a prepubescent child or you are an

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adult and if you're not a child then

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you're an adult obviously in our culture now

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we have all of these different stages they're

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just a teenager until they graduate from being

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a teenager and now they're an adult or

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they're still considered to be a kid 25

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year old kid 28 year old kid we

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hear it in sports they'll be talking about

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this is a great kid and the guy's

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huge but you're responsible now and I want

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you to pay attention to something Allah subhanahu

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wa'ta'ala sends in every community he sends

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prophets who are able to create the most

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good what I mean by that is that

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Musa alayhis salaam is not sent to the

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house of anybody in Egypt he sent to

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the house of whom?

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Fir'aun.

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Isa alayhis salaam is not from any family

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in Bani Israel but he's from the family

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of Imran.

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Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam is not from

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any tribe in Mecca or in Arabia he's

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from what does that mean it means that

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Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala would always praise the

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Prophets he would always place the Prophets in

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places where they're able to create the most

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change and so if Fir'aun accepts Islam

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then all of Egypt accepts Islam and if

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the family of or the rabbis of Bani

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Israel accept Islam then all of Bani Israel

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accepts Islam and if Quraish accepts Islam who

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the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam was sent

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to you see the difference Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi

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wa sallam before the Fath of Mecca the

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amount of people who had accepted Islam were

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in the hundreds and then if Nasrullah or

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a little bit over less than 2,000

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you hear about Baitul Ridwan for example 1

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,400 companions but they're in the early or

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the the few thousands who had accepted Islam

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but then after the conquest of Mecca when

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Quraish accepts Islam in those last two years

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more people had accepted Islam than the first

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21 years combined either a job or a

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tenacity at Huluna feed in Illahi of Waja

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people enter into Islam in large groups after

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Quraish accepts Islam what is my point my

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point is is that the Muslim young person

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who's growing up in the United States of

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America is not like the one who's growing

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up in Somalia it's not like the one

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who's growing up in Bangladesh it's not like

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the one who's growing up in Egypt it's

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not like the one who's growing up in

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the UK it's not like the one who's

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going up anywhere you are in the belly

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of the beast and I we are in

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the world's superpower of our time we are

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the ones who have more potential to create

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change in that sense than anybody else and

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so you can rise up to that responsibility

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or you can squander that responsibility because there

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are people all over the world who wish

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that they could engage the American people they

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wish that they could give that to the

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American people Zaka look it thank you very

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much is this is this event sponsored by

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these guys or something it's like let me

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just make sure the brand is on here

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so the fact that you're here feel that

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responsibility and wherever you see a vacuum in

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society that's an opportunity for you to go

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and fill it you know I tell people

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this all the time but I don't know

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if you have this feeling here but have

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you ever felt like the older generation doesn't

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really get what's happening they aren't connected to

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the issues of the moment yes or no

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am I speaking French yes or no okay

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do you ever feel like if we were

00:14:23 --> 00:14:26

given a little bit more responsibility if we

00:14:26 --> 00:14:27

were given a little bit of a budget

00:14:27 --> 00:14:29

if we were given a little bit of

00:14:29 --> 00:14:32

authority for us to implement our ideas that

00:14:32 --> 00:14:33

we'd be able to do a lot of

00:14:33 --> 00:14:37

good yes or no so then the question

00:14:37 --> 00:14:40

becomes why is it that almost every city

00:14:40 --> 00:14:42

that you go to you find this feeling

00:14:42 --> 00:14:45

young people saying the elders are not trusting

00:14:45 --> 00:14:48

us with letting us run projects the elders

00:14:48 --> 00:14:49

are not trusting us with this they're not

00:14:49 --> 00:14:51

trusting us with the masajid we have so

00:14:51 --> 00:14:53

many ideas we have so many different projects

00:14:53 --> 00:14:55

that we can run the best answer that

00:14:55 --> 00:14:59

I heard about this is from imam siraj

00:14:59 --> 00:15:01

wahaj hadith Allah and he gave a beautiful

00:15:01 --> 00:15:04

example he said you're basically asking for the

00:15:04 --> 00:15:08

baton to be passed past the baton to

00:15:08 --> 00:15:11

the next generation now if you've ever seen

00:15:11 --> 00:15:14

a relay race the person who's running and

00:15:14 --> 00:15:16

he's gonna pass the baton to that next

00:15:16 --> 00:15:19

person that next person what are they doing

00:15:19 --> 00:15:25

they're running if I'm sitting down and I'm

00:15:25 --> 00:15:28

saying yo pass me the baton if he

00:15:28 --> 00:15:31

comes to a full stop to pass you

00:15:31 --> 00:15:33

the time you're gonna lose the race and

00:15:33 --> 00:15:35

a lot of our community members a lot

00:15:35 --> 00:15:37

of our elders they're feeling like that they're

00:15:37 --> 00:15:40

like I'm running at full speed our community

00:15:40 --> 00:15:42

is running at full speed if you're not

00:15:42 --> 00:15:45

running if you're not doing anything if you're

00:15:45 --> 00:15:47

not showing me something then if I pass

00:15:47 --> 00:15:49

the baton to you we'll be back we'll

00:15:49 --> 00:15:51

fall back five years we'll fall back ten

00:15:51 --> 00:15:53

years and we can't afford to do that

00:15:53 --> 00:15:54

so what do I need to be doing

00:15:54 --> 00:15:56

I need to be running too and what

00:15:56 --> 00:15:58

that means is that I need to be

00:15:58 --> 00:16:01

launching projects in whatever capacity that I can

00:16:01 --> 00:16:03

and let me show them that I know

00:16:03 --> 00:16:05

what I'm doing let me show them that

00:16:05 --> 00:16:09

I I cut my teeth on these projects

00:16:09 --> 00:16:11

let me show them that I'm successful let

00:16:11 --> 00:16:13

me show them some entrepreneurship let me show

00:16:13 --> 00:16:16

them some brilliance let me show them a

00:16:16 --> 00:16:20

angle that they never saw before let me

00:16:20 --> 00:16:22

show them a service that they never imagined

00:16:22 --> 00:16:24

we could actually offer to our community let

00:16:24 --> 00:16:25

me show them grants that they never thought

00:16:25 --> 00:16:27

that they could secure let me show them

00:16:27 --> 00:16:30

different institutions or projects that they never thought

00:16:30 --> 00:16:31

or they never believed in it's okay if

00:16:31 --> 00:16:33

they don't believe in it the whole point

00:16:33 --> 00:16:34

of being a visionary is that you see

00:16:34 --> 00:16:36

something that other people don't if you expect

00:16:36 --> 00:16:37

everybody to see your vision then you're not

00:16:37 --> 00:16:40

gonna be a visionary you gotta have the

00:16:40 --> 00:16:41

vision and then you gotta lead and then

00:16:41 --> 00:16:44

when people see you leave then they're going

00:16:44 --> 00:16:46

to trust you to pass the baton to

00:16:46 --> 00:16:48

you but don't expect anybody to be able

00:16:48 --> 00:16:50

to pass it to you while you're sitting

00:16:50 --> 00:16:54

down and so feeling that responsibility Allah Subhanahu

00:16:54 --> 00:16:55

Wa Ta'ala gave all of us different

00:16:55 --> 00:16:58

talents different skill sets different potential in different

00:16:58 --> 00:17:01

avenues and I'll share this with you this

00:17:01 --> 00:17:03

is a very important hadith to know a

00:17:03 --> 00:17:06

very important hadith to know Allah the Prophet

00:17:06 --> 00:17:08

Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam says in Sahih Muslim he

00:17:08 --> 00:17:12

says he says focus on what benefits you

00:17:12 --> 00:17:15

and what benefits you is different than what

00:17:15 --> 00:17:18

benefits everybody else you have to have the

00:17:18 --> 00:17:21

you have to have the confidence to recognize

00:17:21 --> 00:17:23

what benefits you and to then to go

00:17:23 --> 00:17:25

and seek what benefits you and what I

00:17:25 --> 00:17:27

mean by that is even with regards to

00:17:27 --> 00:17:29

the deen there are different things that benefit

00:17:29 --> 00:17:31

different people there are some people who are

00:17:31 --> 00:17:34

very benefited by seeking knowledge that's where they

00:17:34 --> 00:17:37

find their spirituality they love reading books and

00:17:37 --> 00:17:39

studying fiqh and memorizing they love these things

00:17:39 --> 00:17:43

they enjoy it it gives them not only

00:17:43 --> 00:17:45

does it give them spirituality but it's something

00:17:45 --> 00:17:48

that they're good at Alhamdulillah and then there

00:17:48 --> 00:17:50

are some people who they don't find spirituality

00:17:50 --> 00:17:51

in it at all it's very difficult for

00:17:51 --> 00:17:53

them some of them they love ibadah that's

00:17:53 --> 00:17:54

what they love fasting for them is a

00:17:54 --> 00:17:57

piece of cake and so they fast all

00:17:57 --> 00:18:00

the time qiyamul layl is easy for them

00:18:00 --> 00:18:02

so they pray they enjoy the salah there

00:18:02 --> 00:18:04

are other people who they don't find their

00:18:04 --> 00:18:07

spirituality in both of these things so they

00:18:07 --> 00:18:09

do what's required of them they fulfill the

00:18:09 --> 00:18:13

obligations but where they really find their iman

00:18:13 --> 00:18:16

is in service to other people and so

00:18:16 --> 00:18:17

you don't find them in the halaqat of

00:18:17 --> 00:18:19

it but you find them in the distribution

00:18:19 --> 00:18:21

of food you find them in the support

00:18:21 --> 00:18:23

system you find them in services that people

00:18:23 --> 00:18:25

are offering to different communities you find them

00:18:25 --> 00:18:27

in homeless shelters you find them doing all

00:18:27 --> 00:18:31

of these different activities you always find them

00:18:31 --> 00:18:33

and every single one of them is upon

00:18:33 --> 00:18:35

goodness and every single one of us is

00:18:35 --> 00:18:38

required to focus on what benefits us if

00:18:38 --> 00:18:41

Khalid ibn Walid tried to be a qari

00:18:41 --> 00:18:43

of the Quran like Abdullah ibn Mas'ud

00:18:43 --> 00:18:45

Khalid would not have succeeded and we wouldn't

00:18:45 --> 00:18:47

have known who Khalid ibn Walid was and

00:18:47 --> 00:18:49

if Abdullah ibn Mas'ud tried to be

00:18:49 --> 00:18:52

a military general instead of being what he

00:18:52 --> 00:18:54

was which was a reciter of the Quran

00:18:54 --> 00:18:56

and a teacher of fiqh and a teacher

00:18:56 --> 00:18:58

of tafsir then we wouldn't have known who

00:18:58 --> 00:19:00

Abdullah ibn Mas'ud was Khalid was excellent

00:19:00 --> 00:19:02

in his role that Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala

00:19:02 --> 00:19:05

created for him and Abdullah ibn Mas'ud

00:19:05 --> 00:19:08

was perfect in his role that Allah subhanahu

00:19:08 --> 00:19:09

wa'ta'ala created him for a lot of

00:19:09 --> 00:19:11

us spend a lot of energy trying to

00:19:11 --> 00:19:13

be someone that we were never designed to

00:19:13 --> 00:19:16

be I really like how this person does

00:19:16 --> 00:19:18

that I'm gonna try to be like this

00:19:18 --> 00:19:19

person I really so you have to ask

00:19:19 --> 00:19:21

yourself the question the question that somebody asked

00:19:21 --> 00:19:23

me once he said what's your unique superpower

00:19:23 --> 00:19:28

what's your superpower and I have to figure

00:19:28 --> 00:19:30

that out what is my superpower and every

00:19:30 --> 00:19:32

single one of us has to figure that

00:19:32 --> 00:19:35

out what is your unique talent or what

00:19:35 --> 00:19:38

is your unique combination of talents because sometimes

00:19:38 --> 00:19:40

it can be a combination of things what

00:19:40 --> 00:19:42

are the things that you're interested in what

00:19:42 --> 00:19:43

directions do you want to go so that's

00:19:43 --> 00:19:45

number two which is the issue of responsibility

00:19:45 --> 00:19:48

then really importantly is the issue of identity

00:19:49 --> 00:19:57

identity and identity is so powerful you know

00:19:57 --> 00:20:01

we're not the first muslim community to immigrant

00:20:01 --> 00:20:03

to a to a non-muslim land we're

00:20:03 --> 00:20:05

not the first muslim community to immigrate to

00:20:05 --> 00:20:07

a non-muslim land and in fact Allah

00:20:07 --> 00:20:09

subhanahu wa'ta'ala tells us a story of

00:20:09 --> 00:20:11

one in the Quran Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala

00:20:11 --> 00:20:14

says am kuntum shuhadaa il hadhar Yaqub al

00:20:14 --> 00:20:17

-mout were you witnesses when Yaqub was approached

00:20:17 --> 00:20:22

by death Yaqub had migrated from the holy

00:20:22 --> 00:20:29

land to Egypt with his children and when

00:20:29 --> 00:20:31

Yaqub was dying he said to his children

00:20:31 --> 00:20:34

what are you going to worship after me?

00:20:35 --> 00:20:38

Qalu na'budu ilaha kawa ilaha abaika Ibrahim

00:20:38 --> 00:20:39

wa Ismail wa Ishaq.

00:20:39 --> 00:20:42

They said we are going to worship your

00:20:42 --> 00:20:45

god and the god of your fathers Ibrahim

00:20:45 --> 00:20:46

and Ismail and Ishaq we're going to worship

00:20:46 --> 00:20:52

them Yaqub is dying and Yaqub you know

00:20:52 --> 00:20:54

there are people who have very you know

00:20:54 --> 00:20:55

people who have good lineage they're very proud

00:20:55 --> 00:20:57

of their lineage do you guys like have

00:20:57 --> 00:21:00

like people who are very proud of their

00:21:00 --> 00:21:03

lineage in Somalia like it's like a big

00:21:03 --> 00:21:06

deal I what do they say I'm from

00:21:06 --> 00:21:09

this tribe and even within the tribe there's

00:21:09 --> 00:21:12

like really and they get very serious about

00:21:12 --> 00:21:17

it so the best lineage is guess what

00:21:17 --> 00:21:22

what's the best lineage what did you say

00:21:22 --> 00:21:29

Islam no even Ben Israel just in general

00:21:29 --> 00:21:34

no the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam was

00:21:34 --> 00:21:36

asked who's got the best lineage because the

00:21:36 --> 00:21:37

Arabs cared about that too who's got the

00:21:37 --> 00:21:41

best lineage and he said Yusuf the son

00:21:41 --> 00:21:43

of Yaqub the son of Ishaq the son

00:21:43 --> 00:21:47

of Ibrahim that's the best lineage Al-Karim

00:21:47 --> 00:21:49

Ibn Al-Karim Ibn Al-Karim Ibn Al

00:21:49 --> 00:21:51

-Khalil the noble the son of the noble

00:21:51 --> 00:21:52

the son of the noble the son of

00:21:52 --> 00:21:54

the Khalil who's got a better lineage than

00:21:54 --> 00:21:57

that none of us have a better lineage

00:21:57 --> 00:21:59

than that I don't care what tribe you're

00:21:59 --> 00:22:02

from right nobody has a better lineage than

00:22:02 --> 00:22:05

that Yaqub has that lineage Yaqub is in

00:22:05 --> 00:22:07

that chain and his son Yusuf is there

00:22:07 --> 00:22:11

and when Yaqub is dying what is his

00:22:11 --> 00:22:14

concern are you going to be you should

00:22:14 --> 00:22:16

you guys going to be Somali after me

00:22:16 --> 00:22:20

is that what he says did he say

00:22:20 --> 00:22:22

are you going to be Sudanese after me

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

are you guys going to be Sudanese did

00:22:23 --> 00:22:25

he say that no are you going to

00:22:25 --> 00:22:27

be Palestinian after me no did he say

00:22:27 --> 00:22:28

are you going to be Ben Israel after

00:22:28 --> 00:22:32

me he didn't say that he said what

00:22:32 --> 00:22:34

are you going to worship after me and

00:22:34 --> 00:22:37

some of us and I know this isn't

00:22:37 --> 00:22:38

you guys because you don't have kids yet

00:22:38 --> 00:22:42

most of you at least but a lot

00:22:42 --> 00:22:45

of our parents they kind of instilled that

00:22:45 --> 00:22:47

in us that you are this is who

00:22:47 --> 00:22:50

you are you are Somali you are this

00:22:50 --> 00:22:56

you are that that's who you are it's

00:22:56 --> 00:23:00

hard to be from a particular ethnicity when

00:23:00 --> 00:23:03

you don't have the pillars of identity and

00:23:03 --> 00:23:05

I'm going to explain what I mean the

00:23:05 --> 00:23:08

idea of your identity so identity has a

00:23:08 --> 00:23:10

number of pillars for you to have a

00:23:10 --> 00:23:12

particular identity and I'll go through some of

00:23:12 --> 00:23:16

these pillars with you the first pillar of

00:23:16 --> 00:23:17

identity what do you think is the most

00:23:17 --> 00:23:20

important aspect of a person's identity you tell

00:23:20 --> 00:23:26

me what do you think okay principles so

00:23:26 --> 00:23:28

your morality well where do you get your

00:23:28 --> 00:23:35

morality from your your religion your aqidah so

00:23:35 --> 00:23:38

very good so your aqidah becomes that first

00:23:38 --> 00:23:40

pillar of identity where do you get your

00:23:40 --> 00:23:41

sense of right and wrong from how do

00:23:41 --> 00:23:43

you know that something is right how do

00:23:43 --> 00:23:46

you know something is wrong huh no it's

00:23:46 --> 00:23:50

your theology your belief your worldview okay so

00:23:50 --> 00:23:53

I believe that the quran is the word

00:23:53 --> 00:23:55

of allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and so

00:23:55 --> 00:23:56

when I say that something is right or

00:23:56 --> 00:23:58

something is wrong why do I believe that

00:23:58 --> 00:24:00

alcohol drinking alcohol is wrong where did I

00:24:00 --> 00:24:03

get that from a harvard study no I

00:24:03 --> 00:24:05

get it from the quran I get it

00:24:05 --> 00:24:06

from the sunnah of the prophet sallallahu alaihi

00:24:06 --> 00:24:08

wa sallam right that's my theology that's where

00:24:08 --> 00:24:10

I get my worldview of how I view

00:24:10 --> 00:24:13

the world comes from this source that's the

00:24:13 --> 00:24:16

most important element of identity where do you

00:24:16 --> 00:24:19

get your sense of morality from is it

00:24:19 --> 00:24:23

from the society around you so 15 years

00:24:23 --> 00:24:25

ago something was okay or something was wrong

00:24:25 --> 00:24:28

and then 15 years later because society accepts

00:24:28 --> 00:24:30

it and now I accept it and then

00:24:30 --> 00:24:32

20 years down the line something else switches

00:24:32 --> 00:24:34

and so I accept it and I change

00:24:34 --> 00:24:37

or is it something that's coming from something

00:24:37 --> 00:24:38

that's more cemented than that and so the

00:24:38 --> 00:24:40

first is your worldview where do you get

00:24:40 --> 00:24:43

that from the second pillar of identity is

00:24:43 --> 00:24:49

your history your history in minnesota do you

00:24:49 --> 00:24:55

guys study about the california gold rush did

00:24:55 --> 00:24:57

you guys study that in in high school

00:24:57 --> 00:24:59

or middle school okay did you guys study

00:24:59 --> 00:25:02

about the boston tea party did you study

00:25:02 --> 00:25:05

about the alamo in texas remember the alamo

00:25:05 --> 00:25:08

so my question is what about in canada

00:25:08 --> 00:25:12

did you guys study um i don't know

00:25:12 --> 00:25:13

anything that happened in canada to be honest

00:25:14 --> 00:25:18

i have no zero historical facts that i

00:25:18 --> 00:25:22

can tell you about canada and the reason

00:25:22 --> 00:25:25

why we know about what happened in california

00:25:25 --> 00:25:26

and we know about what happened in boston

00:25:26 --> 00:25:28

and we know what happened in texas even

00:25:28 --> 00:25:30

though we're not from these places is because

00:25:30 --> 00:25:32

we were taught american history and the reason

00:25:32 --> 00:25:34

why we were taught american history because history

00:25:34 --> 00:25:37

becomes part of your identity and every country

00:25:37 --> 00:25:41

wants its people to have a shared identity

00:25:41 --> 00:25:43

and so for you to have a shared

00:25:43 --> 00:25:45

identity you have to have a shared collective

00:25:45 --> 00:25:48

memory which is history does that make sense

00:25:48 --> 00:25:53

your history becomes what collects you all together

00:25:53 --> 00:25:56

as one people what's my point my point

00:25:56 --> 00:25:59

is is that if you do not know

00:25:59 --> 00:26:01

your history then you can't have an identity

00:26:01 --> 00:26:03

if you don't know your history you can't

00:26:03 --> 00:26:06

have an identity and so i once in

00:26:06 --> 00:26:13

san diego i met a somali student 24

00:26:13 --> 00:26:15

years old he was doing his phd in

00:26:15 --> 00:26:19

african history and i asked him i said

00:26:19 --> 00:26:20

why are you doing a phd in african

00:26:20 --> 00:26:22

history it's so random he said when i

00:26:22 --> 00:26:24

was in high school when i was in

00:26:24 --> 00:26:27

high school that's when the somali pirates were

00:26:27 --> 00:26:31

all over the news this was around 2012

00:26:32 --> 00:26:36

all over the news somali pirates and he

00:26:36 --> 00:26:38

said i was in high school and you

00:26:38 --> 00:26:39

know kids are kind of mean in high

00:26:39 --> 00:26:41

school he said there was a a kid

00:26:41 --> 00:26:44

who asked me he said why y'all

00:26:44 --> 00:26:46

are still being pirates like 300 years later

00:26:46 --> 00:26:49

like what are y'all doing somalis he

00:26:49 --> 00:26:51

said the kid was teasing me and he

00:26:51 --> 00:26:53

said to me what have somalis ever contributed

00:26:53 --> 00:26:56

to humanity what do y'all ever contribute

00:26:56 --> 00:26:58

to humanity y'all are like 300 years

00:26:58 --> 00:27:03

late so he said the question itself was

00:27:03 --> 00:27:05

very hurtful but do you know what hurt

00:27:05 --> 00:27:09

me even more i didn't know the answer

00:27:09 --> 00:27:12

he asked me point blank what have somalis

00:27:12 --> 00:27:14

ever contributed to humanity and i had no

00:27:14 --> 00:27:16

answer for him so he said that's that's

00:27:16 --> 00:27:18

what sparked me to make my phd in

00:27:18 --> 00:27:21

african history i want to know who i

00:27:21 --> 00:27:24

am i want to know where i'm from

00:27:24 --> 00:27:30

and you know this from history that when

00:27:30 --> 00:27:33

slaves were brought from west africa they weren't

00:27:33 --> 00:27:34

slaves when they were brought from west africa

00:27:34 --> 00:27:38

but people were enslaved in west africa and

00:27:38 --> 00:27:41

brought to the united states one of the

00:27:41 --> 00:27:43

first things that they did was change their

00:27:43 --> 00:27:45

last names why did they change their last

00:27:45 --> 00:27:53

names because if this person knows somehow that

00:27:53 --> 00:27:56

he's from a family of poets from he's

00:27:56 --> 00:27:59

from a family of scholars that he's from

00:27:59 --> 00:28:01

a family of merchants that he's from a

00:28:01 --> 00:28:03

family of warriors he's from a family of

00:28:03 --> 00:28:06

of of kings and princes and queens and

00:28:06 --> 00:28:09

all of that if they know that there

00:28:09 --> 00:28:11

is zero chance that i'm going to be

00:28:11 --> 00:28:13

able to convince them that they're a slave

00:28:13 --> 00:28:14

there's no way that i can make a

00:28:14 --> 00:28:17

slave like that there's no way if they're

00:28:17 --> 00:28:19

connected to their history that i'll be able

00:28:19 --> 00:28:23

to convince them that they should be picking

00:28:23 --> 00:28:26

cotton in georgia there's no way and so

00:28:26 --> 00:28:28

i have to remove from them their last

00:28:28 --> 00:28:31

names i have to make it illegal for

00:28:31 --> 00:28:33

them to read and i have to remove

00:28:33 --> 00:28:36

any semblance of their history i don't want

00:28:36 --> 00:28:38

them to have an identity other than being

00:28:38 --> 00:28:42

a slave why is this important there are

00:28:42 --> 00:28:44

a lot of youth walking around who do

00:28:44 --> 00:28:48

not have any sense of their history they

00:28:48 --> 00:28:50

have no sense of their identity and so

00:28:50 --> 00:28:52

they're trying to find value and they're trying

00:28:52 --> 00:28:55

to find value in whatever is around them

00:28:57 --> 00:28:59

your history gives you a sense of courage

00:28:59 --> 00:29:02

it gives you a sense of inspiration it

00:29:02 --> 00:29:04

gives you a sense of self-worth and

00:29:04 --> 00:29:07

confidence i was walking in my village in

00:29:07 --> 00:29:11

sudan years ago and i was walking down

00:29:11 --> 00:29:12

the street with an eight-year-old boy

00:29:12 --> 00:29:15

and it was night time and the electricity

00:29:15 --> 00:29:18

was out and we started to hear a

00:29:18 --> 00:29:20

dog barking and the dogs over there are

00:29:20 --> 00:29:24

wild and so i said to the boy

00:29:24 --> 00:29:27

i said are you scared we're walking in

00:29:27 --> 00:29:28

the dark and you don't know how far

00:29:28 --> 00:29:31

or close this dog is and he's barking

00:29:31 --> 00:29:33

like viciously and i said to him are

00:29:33 --> 00:29:41

you scared and he said to me my

00:29:41 --> 00:29:45

grandfather killed a lion and i was like

00:29:45 --> 00:29:47

yo we don't even have lions around here

00:29:48 --> 00:29:52

where did you get this idea from maybe

00:29:52 --> 00:29:53

100 years ago there were lions i don't

00:29:53 --> 00:29:55

know how this stuff works but the fact

00:29:55 --> 00:29:57

that he had a story in his mind

00:29:57 --> 00:30:02

that made him proud and inspired him to

00:30:02 --> 00:30:05

be courageous in a moment of fear as

00:30:05 --> 00:30:08

an eight-year-old boy that's a beautiful

00:30:08 --> 00:30:10

gift that your history gives you and what

00:30:10 --> 00:30:12

i want you to know and my advice

00:30:12 --> 00:30:16

to you is ask your parents the story

00:30:16 --> 00:30:18

you have to know your general history you

00:30:18 --> 00:30:20

have to know the history you have to

00:30:20 --> 00:30:22

know the seerah of the that's your greatest

00:30:22 --> 00:30:26

history you know the children of sa'd ibn

00:30:26 --> 00:30:28

abu aqas they said our father used to

00:30:28 --> 00:30:30

teach us the maghazi of rasulullah sallallahu alayhi

00:30:30 --> 00:30:32

wa sallam he used to teach us the

00:30:32 --> 00:30:33

seerah of the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam

00:30:33 --> 00:30:38

and he used to say he said this

00:30:38 --> 00:30:40

is your honor and the honor of your

00:30:40 --> 00:30:43

fathers the fact that you have rasulullah sallallahu

00:30:43 --> 00:30:45

alayhi wa sallam the fact that you have

00:30:45 --> 00:30:48

these great sahabas man you should be proud

00:30:48 --> 00:30:51

that you have somebody like abu bakr that

00:30:51 --> 00:30:53

you are attached to that you have somebody

00:30:53 --> 00:30:55

like aisha that you have somebody like umar

00:30:55 --> 00:30:56

that you have someone like muad that you

00:30:56 --> 00:30:58

have someone like hudayfa that you have these

00:30:58 --> 00:31:05

people these are your heroes we're chasing made

00:31:05 --> 00:31:09

-up heroes i'm so mad that they gave

00:31:09 --> 00:31:12

black panther they gave him just because he's

00:31:12 --> 00:31:15

black they gave him an imaginary country wakanda

00:31:16 --> 00:31:18

everybody else they're from a real city captain

00:31:18 --> 00:31:20

america's from brooklyn you can go to brooklyn

00:31:20 --> 00:31:23

spider-man's from queens you can go to

00:31:23 --> 00:31:26

queens everybody's from a real place the only

00:31:26 --> 00:31:28

one who's from a made-up place is

00:31:28 --> 00:31:33

the black superhero it's crazy they don't want

00:31:33 --> 00:31:35

people to go over to you know they

00:31:35 --> 00:31:37

could have made them somali people would go

00:31:37 --> 00:31:39

all the way over to somalia just to

00:31:39 --> 00:31:41

to sightsee the place where the black panther

00:31:41 --> 00:31:42

is from or kenya or anything like that

00:31:42 --> 00:31:44

but no no no we'll just make it

00:31:44 --> 00:31:47

but the point is is forget all that

00:31:47 --> 00:31:49

we have real heroes we have real heroes

00:31:49 --> 00:31:50

but not only that it's not just the

00:31:50 --> 00:31:52

sahabah it's the tabi'een it's not just

00:31:52 --> 00:31:54

the tabi'een it's people throughout our history

00:31:54 --> 00:31:56

we are a home we are an ummah

00:31:56 --> 00:31:58

that's filled with heroes but we don't have

00:31:58 --> 00:32:01

storytellers we don't have storytellers we don't have

00:32:01 --> 00:32:04

anybody telling them stories those stories whether it's

00:32:04 --> 00:32:08

through art movies comics whatever it is storytelling

00:32:08 --> 00:32:11

or whether it's simply through the documentation of

00:32:11 --> 00:32:13

our history but that's number one but then

00:32:13 --> 00:32:15

number two and this is very important is

00:32:15 --> 00:32:18

that you learn your own personal history that

00:32:18 --> 00:32:20

you ask your parents where am i actually

00:32:20 --> 00:32:22

from tell me about the village that we're

00:32:22 --> 00:32:24

from tell me about the town tell me

00:32:24 --> 00:32:26

about my country tell me up tell me

00:32:26 --> 00:32:29

about these things because tell me about my

00:32:29 --> 00:32:31

parents tell me about my grandparents tell me

00:32:31 --> 00:32:33

about my great-grandparents and when they're telling

00:32:33 --> 00:32:36

you the stories when they're telling you these

00:32:36 --> 00:32:39

stories pay attention because this is your this

00:32:39 --> 00:32:41

is your identity that they're passing to you

00:32:41 --> 00:32:43

and you're not going to have them forever

00:32:43 --> 00:32:45

i would suggest that you record these conversations

00:32:45 --> 00:32:47

if you can maybe i don't understand it

00:32:47 --> 00:32:49

now at 15 or 18 years old but

00:32:49 --> 00:32:52

you know what maybe i'll be very thankful

00:32:52 --> 00:32:55

that i recorded this conversation at 25 maybe

00:32:55 --> 00:32:57

i'll be very thankful that i recorded this

00:32:57 --> 00:33:01

conversation at 45 that you make sure that

00:33:01 --> 00:33:03

you document your history and then number three

00:33:03 --> 00:33:06

the third pillar of identity is your language

00:33:07 --> 00:33:09

language is very important you see this every

00:33:09 --> 00:33:11

year when you go to a masjid for

00:33:11 --> 00:33:15

tarawih or for iftar iftar you'll find that

00:33:15 --> 00:33:17

the people who speak english sit together the

00:33:17 --> 00:33:20

people who speak urdu sit together the people

00:33:20 --> 00:33:22

who speak arabic sit together the people who

00:33:22 --> 00:33:24

speak somali sit together it's natural that people

00:33:24 --> 00:33:26

when they have a shared language they feel

00:33:26 --> 00:33:29

a shared identity and it's very important because

00:33:29 --> 00:33:31

your history many times for many of us

00:33:31 --> 00:33:33

our history is not recorded in english if

00:33:33 --> 00:33:35

i don't have access to my original language

00:33:35 --> 00:33:38

that i speak at home or the language

00:33:38 --> 00:33:41

of my ancestors the language of my culture

00:33:41 --> 00:33:43

i do not have access to the history

00:33:43 --> 00:33:46

that i have and so i need to

00:33:46 --> 00:33:48

learn my local language i need to learn

00:33:48 --> 00:33:53

the language of my origin these three are

00:33:53 --> 00:33:55

pillars of identity don't squander any of them

00:33:55 --> 00:33:59

and what i usually tell parents is that

00:33:59 --> 00:34:01

when you are trying to raise a child

00:34:01 --> 00:34:04

who has a somali identity let's say and

00:34:04 --> 00:34:07

you're insisting that your child be somali but

00:34:07 --> 00:34:08

he didn't learn his history because you never

00:34:08 --> 00:34:10

taught him that and he didn't have access

00:34:10 --> 00:34:12

to learn his history he doesn't have access

00:34:12 --> 00:34:14

to the language because he never learned it

00:34:14 --> 00:34:17

and at the same time you're expecting that

00:34:17 --> 00:34:19

they have this incredible somali identity like they

00:34:19 --> 00:34:22

grew up in mogadishu it's actually unfair because

00:34:22 --> 00:34:25

you made all of the inputs different and

00:34:25 --> 00:34:26

you're expecting the outcome to be the same

00:34:26 --> 00:34:28

you didn't raise them in mogadishu you raised

00:34:28 --> 00:34:31

them in minneapolis which i understand sometimes looks

00:34:31 --> 00:34:33

like mogadishu but it's actually it's a different

00:34:33 --> 00:34:36

part of the world and so the fact

00:34:36 --> 00:34:38

that you're trying to raise them to be

00:34:38 --> 00:34:42

someone where all of these pillars are different

00:34:42 --> 00:34:44

but guess what there's one pillar that does

00:34:44 --> 00:34:46

stay the same no matter where you go

00:34:46 --> 00:34:49

and that's your worldview you can be muslim

00:34:49 --> 00:34:52

i tell my family too you're trying to

00:34:52 --> 00:34:53

raise a sudanese person in new york city

00:34:53 --> 00:34:55

that's not going to work but i can

00:34:55 --> 00:34:58

be muslim i can be muslim allah that

00:34:58 --> 00:35:02

your theology can be can be manifested it

00:35:02 --> 00:35:06

can be ingrained anywhere in the world i

00:35:06 --> 00:35:09

can be muslim speaking only english i can

00:35:09 --> 00:35:12

speak i can be muslim knowing american history

00:35:12 --> 00:35:14

and i can be muslim knowing french history

00:35:14 --> 00:35:16

and i can be muslim knowing whatever it

00:35:16 --> 00:35:20

is because islam transfers and that's why yaqub

00:35:20 --> 00:35:22

alaihissalam to bring it back he was not

00:35:22 --> 00:35:25

insisting that they have a pillar that was

00:35:25 --> 00:35:28

identity based or ethnicity based rather he was

00:35:28 --> 00:35:30

insisting that they have an identity that was

00:35:30 --> 00:35:34

theology based theology based or iman based and

00:35:34 --> 00:35:38

that is islam the last two things that

00:35:38 --> 00:35:40

i'll mention and then we'll end inshallah as

00:35:40 --> 00:35:44

far as being young one of the most

00:35:44 --> 00:35:46

important decisions that you make is who you

00:35:46 --> 00:35:49

surround yourself with who you surround yourself with

00:35:52 --> 00:35:55

ibn abbas is the famous cousin of the

00:35:55 --> 00:35:57

prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam he's one of

00:35:57 --> 00:35:59

the most famous sahaba you guys know ibn

00:35:59 --> 00:36:02

abbas right tell me something about ibn abbas

00:36:04 --> 00:36:06

you guys said you know him so what

00:36:06 --> 00:36:08

do y'all got tell me something about

00:36:08 --> 00:36:13

ibn abbas yes okay no he's not a

00:36:13 --> 00:36:16

teacher no no my man came from all

00:36:16 --> 00:36:18

over there just to give me a wrong

00:36:18 --> 00:36:21

answer he came from outside came running in

00:36:21 --> 00:36:27

yes no ibn abbas there's people in between

00:36:27 --> 00:36:31

ibn abbas and shabby yes he's a scholar

00:36:31 --> 00:36:35

amongst the sahaba very good yes he started

00:36:35 --> 00:36:41

studying at a young age yes hadith yeah

00:36:41 --> 00:36:42

he's one of the most prolific narrators of

00:36:42 --> 00:36:44

hadith for sure he's one of the most

00:36:44 --> 00:36:47

who narrated hadith him and aisha and abdullah

00:36:47 --> 00:36:50

ibn umar and others he's from the now

00:36:50 --> 00:36:52

ibn abbas radiyallahu anhu is the son of

00:36:52 --> 00:36:53

al-abbas al-abbas is the uncle of

00:36:53 --> 00:36:54

the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam he's the

00:36:54 --> 00:36:55

uncle of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam

00:36:55 --> 00:36:57

ibn abbas when he's around 10 years old

00:36:57 --> 00:36:58

the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam died ibn

00:36:58 --> 00:37:00

abbas is around 12 or 13 years old

00:37:00 --> 00:37:05

so when ibn abbas is with the prophet

00:37:05 --> 00:37:07

he notices something what does he notice that

00:37:07 --> 00:37:09

whenever the prophet sallallahu alihi wa sallam would

00:37:09 --> 00:37:10

go and relieve himself when he go and

00:37:10 --> 00:37:12

use the bathroom he would always come back

00:37:12 --> 00:37:13

and the first thing that he would do

00:37:13 --> 00:37:14

is what?

00:37:14 --> 00:37:15

Make wubu.

00:37:16 --> 00:37:18

So Ibn Abbas notices that so what does

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

he do?

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

He sees him leave to go relieve himself

00:37:22 --> 00:37:25

so he goes and he prepares some water

00:37:25 --> 00:37:25

for wubu.

00:37:26 --> 00:37:30

The Prophet ï·º comes and he notices that.

00:37:30 --> 00:37:31

I just want to go on a quick

00:37:31 --> 00:37:32

tangent here real quick.

00:37:35 --> 00:37:40

I once was having pizza with a kid

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

who's in college.

00:37:40 --> 00:37:44

We were at a pizzeria together and there's

00:37:44 --> 00:37:47

a salt shaker and a pepper shaker and

00:37:47 --> 00:37:48

they're both covered with tape.

00:37:49 --> 00:37:50

You don't know which one is salt and

00:37:50 --> 00:37:52

pepper but there was only one.

00:37:52 --> 00:37:53

So I had a slice in front of

00:37:53 --> 00:37:53

me.

00:37:53 --> 00:37:54

I was trying to get the pepper.

00:37:55 --> 00:37:57

I look and I see that it's salt

00:37:57 --> 00:37:58

and I'm talking to him about something and

00:37:58 --> 00:37:59

I put it back down.

00:38:02 --> 00:38:03

He's sitting across from me.

00:38:03 --> 00:38:07

He notices that I had reached to pick

00:38:07 --> 00:38:09

it up and I put it back down.

00:38:09 --> 00:38:12

He realizes that I must want the other

00:38:12 --> 00:38:14

one and so he jumped up and went

00:38:14 --> 00:38:16

and he got me a pepper shaker and

00:38:16 --> 00:38:17

he came and he sat down in front

00:38:17 --> 00:38:19

of me and he just went on talking

00:38:19 --> 00:38:20

about whatever we were talking about and I

00:38:20 --> 00:38:21

said to him stop one second.

00:38:22 --> 00:38:24

I said where did you grow up?

00:38:24 --> 00:38:25

Because you didn't grow up in the United

00:38:25 --> 00:38:26

States.

00:38:28 --> 00:38:30

He said to me you're right and he

00:38:30 --> 00:38:31

mentioned somewhere in the Muslim world that he

00:38:31 --> 00:38:32

grew up.

00:38:33 --> 00:38:35

Now the question is how did I know

00:38:35 --> 00:38:36

that he didn't grow up in the United

00:38:36 --> 00:38:37

States?

00:38:38 --> 00:38:39

Because when you grow up in the United

00:38:39 --> 00:38:45

States many times people don't have social intelligence.

00:38:46 --> 00:38:47

Completely clueless.

00:38:48 --> 00:38:49

They don't have social intelligence.

00:38:50 --> 00:38:52

They don't they don't they don't notice things

00:38:52 --> 00:38:53

about people.

00:38:54 --> 00:38:58

So he notices a salt pepper shaker issue

00:38:58 --> 00:38:59

and he jumps up to go get it.

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

Not only that he doesn't wait to be

00:39:01 --> 00:39:02

told.

00:39:03 --> 00:39:04

A lot of times with people who grew

00:39:04 --> 00:39:07

up in the United States you will be

00:39:07 --> 00:39:09

choking on your food and they'll be watching

00:39:09 --> 00:39:12

you choke on your food and then even

00:39:12 --> 00:39:13

then they won't get up to go to

00:39:13 --> 00:39:15

something until you finally say to them can

00:39:15 --> 00:39:16

you please grab me that water.

00:39:16 --> 00:39:18

They're like oh sorry and then they got

00:39:18 --> 00:39:18

up and do that.

00:39:19 --> 00:39:21

So that idea of paying attention to cues,

00:39:21 --> 00:39:23

social cues, being more aware.

00:39:23 --> 00:39:24

It's the same stuff that your parents are

00:39:24 --> 00:39:26

yelling you about in the living room all

00:39:26 --> 00:39:27

the time when you have guests over and

00:39:27 --> 00:39:28

what have you.

00:39:28 --> 00:39:30

Paying attention, paying attention, paying attention and taking

00:39:30 --> 00:39:31

advantage of learning.

00:39:32 --> 00:39:33

Learning.

00:39:34 --> 00:39:36

Being aware of the people around you.

00:39:36 --> 00:39:38

Finding people who are just really smooth.

00:39:38 --> 00:39:40

If you find somebody who's really smooth interacting

00:39:40 --> 00:39:42

with people, spend some time with that person.

00:39:42 --> 00:39:43

Shadow that person.

00:39:44 --> 00:39:46

Learn how they became so smooth because these

00:39:46 --> 00:39:49

are arts that you learn from being around

00:39:49 --> 00:39:50

those people.

00:39:50 --> 00:39:52

So to come back to Ibn Abbas.

00:39:53 --> 00:39:54

Ibn Abbas notices that cue.

00:39:55 --> 00:39:56

The cue is the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam

00:39:56 --> 00:39:57

goes to relieve himself.

00:39:57 --> 00:39:58

He makes wudu.

00:39:59 --> 00:40:00

So he goes and he brings the water.

00:40:02 --> 00:40:04

So then Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam when he

00:40:04 --> 00:40:07

notices that he then makes dua for Ibn

00:40:07 --> 00:40:10

Abbas and he says Allahumma faqihahu fi ad

00:40:10 --> 00:40:11

-deen wa allimuhu al-ta'weed.

00:40:11 --> 00:40:13

He says oh Allah give him knowledge of

00:40:13 --> 00:40:15

the book and teach him the give him

00:40:15 --> 00:40:17

understanding of the religion and teach him the

00:40:17 --> 00:40:18

interpretation of the book.

00:40:18 --> 00:40:19

Teach him interpretation of the Qur'an.

00:40:20 --> 00:40:23

So then Ibn Abbas goes on a journey.

00:40:24 --> 00:40:27

When the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam dies, Ibn

00:40:27 --> 00:40:28

Abbas says to his friend.

00:40:28 --> 00:40:30

He has a friend from the Ansar and

00:40:30 --> 00:40:32

his friend from the Ansar, he liked to

00:40:32 --> 00:40:35

like race birds, like to play with birds.

00:40:35 --> 00:40:36

That's what he liked to do.

00:40:37 --> 00:40:38

They didn't have video games back then.

00:40:39 --> 00:40:41

What they did was they would play with

00:40:41 --> 00:40:43

birds and that would occupy their time.

00:40:43 --> 00:40:46

And so Ibn Abbas says to him, I

00:40:46 --> 00:40:48

think I noticed something like the Prophet Sallallahu

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

Alaihi Wasallam died.

00:40:50 --> 00:40:53

And all of the people who are his

00:40:53 --> 00:40:55

companions, they're like close to his age too.

00:40:55 --> 00:40:57

You know, when you're 13, everybody just seems

00:40:57 --> 00:41:02

old, 63, 60 years old, 55, 50, the

00:41:02 --> 00:41:03

sahabah are old.

00:41:03 --> 00:41:04

So they might die too.

00:41:05 --> 00:41:07

Why don't we spend time learning now?

00:41:08 --> 00:41:09

Let's learn from them.

00:41:09 --> 00:41:12

So that if they pass away, we've learned

00:41:12 --> 00:41:13

what we need to learn.

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

And so what does his friend say?

00:41:14 --> 00:41:17

His friend says to him, Ibn Abbas, do

00:41:17 --> 00:41:19

you think anybody cares what you know?

00:41:20 --> 00:41:22

I'm trying to be a big shaykh, trying

00:41:22 --> 00:41:22

to be a scholar.

00:41:23 --> 00:41:24

Ibn Abbas, what are you talking about?

00:41:24 --> 00:41:25

Nobody cares about you.

00:41:27 --> 00:41:28

He didn't see the vision.

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

So what does Ibn Abbas say?

00:41:30 --> 00:41:33

This is a very, very important word that

00:41:33 --> 00:41:33

he says.

00:41:34 --> 00:41:38

He says, he said, so I left him.

00:41:39 --> 00:41:41

But that's my boy though.

00:41:41 --> 00:41:42

My friend.

00:41:43 --> 00:41:44

Spend time together.

00:41:44 --> 00:41:45

We grew up together.

00:41:45 --> 00:41:46

He says, I left them.

00:41:47 --> 00:41:48

I had a dream.

00:41:49 --> 00:41:49

I had a vision.

00:41:50 --> 00:41:51

My friend didn't see it.

00:41:52 --> 00:41:52

I left him.

00:41:53 --> 00:41:55

And Ibn Abbas goes on this journey by

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

himself.

00:41:55 --> 00:41:56

It's a long journey.

00:41:56 --> 00:41:58

It's a beautiful journey of seeking a knowledge

00:41:58 --> 00:41:59

in Medina.

00:41:59 --> 00:42:02

And then when the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam

00:42:02 --> 00:42:05

passed away, and Abu Bakr and Umar and

00:42:05 --> 00:42:09

Uthman and Ali and that top tier generation

00:42:09 --> 00:42:12

of the sahabah, that elderly generation of the

00:42:12 --> 00:42:15

sahabah, remember that example of the relay race?

00:42:15 --> 00:42:18

That's not the time when you start to

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

run.

00:42:19 --> 00:42:21

Then the ummah looked and they said, who's

00:42:21 --> 00:42:23

going to be our next generation of teachers

00:42:23 --> 00:42:24

now that the elders have passed away?

00:42:25 --> 00:42:27

And they found the next generation was ready.

00:42:28 --> 00:42:28

And they were running.

00:42:29 --> 00:42:34

Abdullah ibn Umar, Abdullah ibn Abbas, Aisha, Anas,

00:42:34 --> 00:42:36

Jabir, all of these famous narrators.

00:42:37 --> 00:42:38

They took on the role of Abdullah ibn

00:42:38 --> 00:42:39

Mas'ud.

00:42:39 --> 00:42:41

They took on the role of teaching the

00:42:41 --> 00:42:41

ummah after.

00:42:42 --> 00:42:45

But he made a decision that was calculated.

00:42:45 --> 00:42:47

And that was, I have a friend who's

00:42:47 --> 00:42:48

holding me back.

00:42:49 --> 00:42:51

Let me change course.

00:42:52 --> 00:42:53

And let me change my friends.

00:42:54 --> 00:42:59

Your friends, they say as-sahibu, sahib, as

00:42:59 --> 00:43:00

-sahib, sahib.

00:43:01 --> 00:43:03

Your friend pulls you.

00:43:04 --> 00:43:07

If you pick friends that are righteous, those

00:43:07 --> 00:43:09

righteous friends will inspire you to righteousness.

00:43:10 --> 00:43:13

And if you pick friends that aren't righteous,

00:43:13 --> 00:43:14

people always ask the question.

00:43:15 --> 00:43:16

They say, yeah, but you know, I have

00:43:16 --> 00:43:18

some friends who do this and do that

00:43:18 --> 00:43:18

and do this and that.

00:43:19 --> 00:43:20

Should I still hang out with them to

00:43:20 --> 00:43:21

give them da'wah and what have you

00:43:21 --> 00:43:22

and be a positive influence?

00:43:23 --> 00:43:25

I always tell people there's two scenarios.

00:43:25 --> 00:43:27

Number one, the first scenario is that you

00:43:27 --> 00:43:30

are strong enough in character and in your

00:43:30 --> 00:43:34

effect that when you are with them, and

00:43:34 --> 00:43:36

it's time for salah, they don't normally pray,

00:43:36 --> 00:43:38

but you tell them it's time for salah,

00:43:38 --> 00:43:39

so they pray with you.

00:43:39 --> 00:43:40

Great.

00:43:40 --> 00:43:41

You're a great influence on them then.

00:43:42 --> 00:43:43

You are the leader.

00:43:44 --> 00:43:46

You're the one who dictates.

00:43:47 --> 00:43:48

If that's the case, fantastic.

00:43:48 --> 00:43:49

Spend time with them.

00:43:54 --> 00:43:57

The other scenario is you say to them,

00:43:57 --> 00:43:58

it's time for salah.

00:43:58 --> 00:43:59

And they say, shut up.

00:44:02 --> 00:44:03

And they don't pray.

00:44:04 --> 00:44:05

And you don't pray.

00:44:08 --> 00:44:10

And they do more and you do more.

00:44:12 --> 00:44:14

Those aren't people to be, if you don't

00:44:14 --> 00:44:16

know how to swim, you don't jump in

00:44:16 --> 00:44:17

to save somebody who's drowning.

00:44:19 --> 00:44:20

You're just going to drown with them.

00:44:22 --> 00:44:26

And so avoiding that, until you become strong

00:44:26 --> 00:44:27

enough, you might say, that doesn't mean I'm

00:44:27 --> 00:44:28

giving up on this person forever.

00:44:29 --> 00:44:31

But I have this particular time, I need

00:44:31 --> 00:44:34

to achieve certain goals, I need to develop

00:44:34 --> 00:44:35

myself, I need to become strong enough.

00:44:36 --> 00:44:37

And then maybe inshallah ta'ala in a

00:44:37 --> 00:44:40

few years, but my priority in life, Allah

00:44:40 --> 00:44:44

subhana wa ta'ala says, save yourselves from

00:44:44 --> 00:44:45

the hellfire.

00:44:46 --> 00:44:47

Save yourselves, that's my number one priority.

00:44:49 --> 00:44:51

And so that idea of choosing your friends

00:44:51 --> 00:44:53

wisely, I can't tell you how many people,

00:44:54 --> 00:44:59

how many people, there are a lot of

00:44:59 --> 00:45:01

people who are in prison because of the

00:45:01 --> 00:45:02

friends that they chose, nothing else.

00:45:03 --> 00:45:05

There are people who are dead because of

00:45:05 --> 00:45:06

the friends that they chose, nothing else.

00:45:07 --> 00:45:09

And there are definitely people who are going

00:45:09 --> 00:45:10

to go to the hellfire because of the

00:45:10 --> 00:45:11

friends that they chose, nothing else.

00:45:12 --> 00:45:17

Allah subhana wa ta'ala says, on the

00:45:17 --> 00:45:19

day where the person who oppressed themselves will

00:45:19 --> 00:45:20

bite onto their hands.

00:45:23 --> 00:45:25

I wish that I had taken a path

00:45:25 --> 00:45:25

with the messenger.

00:45:26 --> 00:45:27

But what else do they say?

00:45:31 --> 00:45:34

I wish that I never took so and

00:45:34 --> 00:45:34

so as a friend.

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

That's what I wish.

00:45:36 --> 00:45:37

On the day of it, I wish that

00:45:37 --> 00:45:40

so and so, I was not his friend.

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

That's it.

00:45:40 --> 00:45:41

That's all I wish for.

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

On the day where those who were led,

00:45:52 --> 00:45:54

or those who were leaders, the leaders of

00:45:54 --> 00:45:57

every group, the leaders of whoever, whatever clique,

00:45:57 --> 00:46:02

whatever, that leader will declare themselves innocent from

00:46:02 --> 00:46:03

the ones who followed them.

00:46:04 --> 00:46:07

And they will say, the ones who followed

00:46:07 --> 00:46:12

will say, if we were to go back,

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

we wish that we could go back, I

00:46:14 --> 00:46:16

could have like another chance that I could

00:46:16 --> 00:46:18

declare myself innocent from you the way that

00:46:18 --> 00:46:19

you declared yourself innocent from me.

00:46:20 --> 00:46:22

And Allah subhana wa ta'ala says, close

00:46:22 --> 00:46:24

friends on the Day of Judgment will be

00:46:24 --> 00:46:25

enemies to one another.

00:46:25 --> 00:46:26

They'll hate each other on the Day of

00:46:26 --> 00:46:27

Judgment.

00:46:27 --> 00:46:29

You take all of these ride or dies,

00:46:29 --> 00:46:31

all of these best friends, all of these

00:46:31 --> 00:46:34

whatever, they will all be enemies to each

00:46:34 --> 00:46:35

other on the Day of Judgment, every single

00:46:35 --> 00:46:38

one of them, except for the Muttaqi, except

00:46:38 --> 00:46:39

for the people of Taqwa.

00:46:39 --> 00:46:41

Those are the only friendships that continue to

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

the hereafter.

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

That's it.

00:46:42 --> 00:46:43

Everybody else becomes an enemy.

00:46:44 --> 00:46:45

I don't care how close they seem.

00:46:45 --> 00:46:48

I don't care if they're blood brothers or

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

what have you, it doesn't matter.

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

Everybody's an enemy except for the friendships that

00:46:51 --> 00:46:52

are formed on Taqwa, nothing else.

00:46:53 --> 00:46:55

And so choosing who are going to be

00:46:55 --> 00:46:57

your friends, and I'll just mention one more

00:46:57 --> 00:46:58

point about friendship.

00:46:59 --> 00:47:01

One of the greatest gifts of friendship is

00:47:01 --> 00:47:03

that friendship raises your aspirations.

00:47:04 --> 00:47:06

If you choose the right friends, man, they

00:47:06 --> 00:47:07

will inspire you.

00:47:08 --> 00:47:09

They'll inspire you.

00:47:10 --> 00:47:11

I had, I'll give you an example.

00:47:12 --> 00:47:16

I had some friends of mine who they,

00:47:16 --> 00:47:20

they wanted to memorize the 40 hadith of

00:47:20 --> 00:47:20

Imam al-Nawiyy.

00:47:20 --> 00:47:22

You guys heard of the 40 hadith, right?

00:47:22 --> 00:47:23

It's a famous collection.

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

Imam al-Nawiyy, famous Shafi'i scholar, he

00:47:27 --> 00:47:28

has 40 hadith that he considers to be

00:47:28 --> 00:47:29

the greatest hadith in Islam.

00:47:30 --> 00:47:31

It's a very, very popular collection.

00:47:32 --> 00:47:37

So my friends, they said, let's memorize the

00:47:37 --> 00:47:38

40 hadith.

00:47:38 --> 00:47:38

I said, fantastic.

00:47:39 --> 00:47:42

They said, let's memorize one hadith a week.

00:47:42 --> 00:47:43

I said, I don't think that's a good

00:47:43 --> 00:47:44

idea.

00:47:45 --> 00:47:48

Not because it's too hard, but because it's

00:47:48 --> 00:47:49

too easy.

00:47:50 --> 00:47:51

One hadith a week?

00:47:51 --> 00:47:53

How long does it take to memorize this

00:47:53 --> 00:47:54

hadith?

00:47:54 --> 00:47:56

Da'ma yuribuk ila ma la yuribuk.

00:47:57 --> 00:47:58

You think that's going to take seven days?

00:48:00 --> 00:48:01

Maybe seven minutes.

00:48:01 --> 00:48:03

Maybe, maybe at most an hour.

00:48:06 --> 00:48:08

Once a week is too, why am I

00:48:08 --> 00:48:10

taking 40 weeks to memorize something like this?

00:48:11 --> 00:48:15

My point is, sometimes your friends, they don't

00:48:15 --> 00:48:16

aim high enough.

00:48:17 --> 00:48:18

Now I want to give you another example.

00:48:18 --> 00:48:23

I met this Shaykh who was at the

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

time 16 years old.

00:48:25 --> 00:48:27

And he had come to New York to

00:48:27 --> 00:48:27

lead Taraweeh.

00:48:28 --> 00:48:31

And everybody say, where's Shaykh so and so,

00:48:31 --> 00:48:32

where's Shaykh so and so?

00:48:32 --> 00:48:32

It was Ramadan.

00:48:33 --> 00:48:35

I meet Shaykh so and so and I'm

00:48:35 --> 00:48:38

like, yo man, the guy's like 16 years

00:48:38 --> 00:48:38

old.

00:48:38 --> 00:48:39

He's got three hairs here, three.

00:48:41 --> 00:48:43

And his thobe, he's so skinny, it looks

00:48:43 --> 00:48:44

like his thobe was a blanket.

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

It was so, and I'm like, and I

00:48:48 --> 00:48:49

don't get it.

00:48:49 --> 00:48:50

Like, how is he Shaykh so and so?

00:48:50 --> 00:48:52

And they're like, he memorized the Qur'an.

00:48:52 --> 00:48:53

I'm like, yeah, that's great.

00:48:53 --> 00:48:55

But you know, I mean, how many people

00:48:55 --> 00:48:56

here memorize the Qur'an?

00:48:56 --> 00:48:56

They're not Shu.

00:48:57 --> 00:48:59

It's like, memorizing the Qur'an is a

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

great thing.

00:48:59 --> 00:49:00

Don't get me wrong.

00:49:00 --> 00:49:03

But, and then he said, well, he also,

00:49:04 --> 00:49:06

he memorized Bukhari Muslim.

00:49:07 --> 00:49:08

So there's thousands of hadith.

00:49:09 --> 00:49:11

And he did it in two months.

00:49:12 --> 00:49:16

I'm like, Shaykh, come be my friend, Shaykh.

00:49:17 --> 00:49:18

My man.

00:49:19 --> 00:49:20

But now I want you to imagine this

00:49:20 --> 00:49:23

person who memorizes Bukhari Muslim in two months.

00:49:24 --> 00:49:26

What did that do to my sense of

00:49:26 --> 00:49:27

possibility?

00:49:27 --> 00:49:29

My friends were talking about memorizing the 40

00:49:29 --> 00:49:30

hadith in a year.

00:49:31 --> 00:49:34

And this one is showing me that you

00:49:34 --> 00:49:36

can memorize Bukhari Muslim in two months.

00:49:38 --> 00:49:40

The difference in what I felt like I

00:49:40 --> 00:49:43

could do was insane.

00:49:43 --> 00:49:46

Because now I feel like I could, 40

00:49:46 --> 00:49:48

hadith, forget doing it in 40 weeks.

00:49:48 --> 00:49:49

I can do it in one day.

00:49:49 --> 00:49:50

I might be able to do it in

00:49:50 --> 00:49:51

max two days.

00:49:52 --> 00:49:53

If that's what other people are doing, and

00:49:53 --> 00:49:54

that's the point.

00:49:54 --> 00:49:56

If you surround yourself with people who aren't

00:49:56 --> 00:49:59

doing anything, then you'll feel comfortable not doing

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

anything, too.

00:50:00 --> 00:50:02

And if you surround yourself with people who

00:50:02 --> 00:50:05

are doing incredible things, then you're naturally, just

00:50:05 --> 00:50:07

by being in the environment, you're going to

00:50:07 --> 00:50:08

do incredible things, too.

00:50:08 --> 00:50:11

So be very, very careful with regards to

00:50:11 --> 00:50:12

who you let into your space.

00:50:12 --> 00:50:14

Be very careful with regards to who you

00:50:14 --> 00:50:15

allow to be your friend.

00:50:16 --> 00:50:19

And not only that, don't just befriend whoever

00:50:19 --> 00:50:20

happens to be in your vicinity, but seek

00:50:20 --> 00:50:21

out friendships that are valuable.

00:50:22 --> 00:50:24

Seek out inspiring people.

00:50:24 --> 00:50:25

Seek out mentors.

00:50:25 --> 00:50:26

And this brings me to the last point.

00:50:29 --> 00:50:31

And that is, when you're seeking out mentors,

00:50:36 --> 00:50:38

when I was in high school, one of

00:50:38 --> 00:50:41

the people who influenced me the most was

00:50:41 --> 00:50:43

a man, he was, I mean, he was

00:50:43 --> 00:50:43

in high school, too.

00:50:44 --> 00:50:45

He was like two years older than me.

00:50:45 --> 00:50:46

His name was Muhyiddin, though.

00:50:46 --> 00:50:47

Hafidhullah.

00:50:47 --> 00:50:49

Muhyiddin, we call him Muhyiddin.

00:50:50 --> 00:50:57

Muhyiddin was, he was, he was two or

00:50:57 --> 00:50:58

three years older than me.

00:50:58 --> 00:51:01

And he was one of the strongest Muslim

00:51:01 --> 00:51:03

personalities that I had ever seen.

00:51:06 --> 00:51:09

Things that were, we're all going to like

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

public schools.

00:51:09 --> 00:51:11

There's nobody who's going to Islamic schools here.

00:51:12 --> 00:51:16

And, you know, like things like dating and

00:51:16 --> 00:51:19

being a virgin, these things are embarrassing in

00:51:19 --> 00:51:20

public school.

00:51:20 --> 00:51:22

Like, you know, like you sit there and

00:51:22 --> 00:51:24

you're trying to avoid the question and stuff

00:51:24 --> 00:51:25

like that.

00:51:26 --> 00:51:28

And Muhyiddin, he was such a strong personality.

00:51:28 --> 00:51:30

Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala physically made him

00:51:30 --> 00:51:31

very strong, but he wasn't just physically strong.

00:51:32 --> 00:51:34

He was very, very proud to be Muslim,

00:51:35 --> 00:51:36

even though he was maybe 17 years old

00:51:36 --> 00:51:37

at the time, or 18 years old.

00:51:38 --> 00:51:39

He was very proud.

00:51:39 --> 00:51:42

And so he would say things like, yeah,

00:51:42 --> 00:51:43

I'm a virgin.

00:51:44 --> 00:51:45

And I want to get married at 25

00:51:45 --> 00:51:47

years old because the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam

00:51:47 --> 00:51:48

got married at 25 years old.

00:51:48 --> 00:51:50

And everybody around him, they're like, you know,

00:51:50 --> 00:51:52

even though they're not Muslim, they would tease,

00:51:52 --> 00:51:54

you know, somebody else for saying it.

00:51:54 --> 00:51:55

For him, they'd be like, yeah, that makes

00:51:55 --> 00:51:56

a lot of sense, bro.

00:51:56 --> 00:51:59

Yeah, mashaAllah, you know, because it's like Umar

00:51:59 --> 00:52:01

ibn Khattab, like who's going to say anything?

00:52:01 --> 00:52:03

He was that type of a personality.

00:52:04 --> 00:52:06

And this is something that I learned, and

00:52:06 --> 00:52:07

I'll share it with you.

00:52:09 --> 00:52:12

People are very, very, very attracted to strength.

00:52:13 --> 00:52:14

People are very attracted to strength.

00:52:15 --> 00:52:20

Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says, Allah says,

00:52:20 --> 00:52:22

oh Yahya, take the book with strength.

00:52:23 --> 00:52:24

Take the book with strength.

00:52:25 --> 00:52:29

You know, if a person speaks falsehood, if

00:52:29 --> 00:52:32

a person lies, but they lie with strength,

00:52:32 --> 00:52:39

they lie with conviction, they lie powerfully, they'll

00:52:39 --> 00:52:40

end up becoming the president of the United

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

States.

00:52:43 --> 00:52:45

Just say it with like you mean it,

00:52:46 --> 00:52:46

right?

00:52:47 --> 00:52:48

So my question then becomes, what do you

00:52:48 --> 00:52:50

think is going to happen when people speak

00:52:50 --> 00:52:51

the truth with strength?

00:52:53 --> 00:52:56

For us, we're all aware when we talk

00:52:56 --> 00:52:58

about, let me ask you guys a question.

00:52:59 --> 00:53:02

Who are the two, three, give me maybe

00:53:02 --> 00:53:06

top four Muslim personalities that you think have

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

had that American people have gravitated to gravitated

00:53:09 --> 00:53:10

to the most in the past like 60

00:53:10 --> 00:53:11

years?

00:53:13 --> 00:53:14

Okay, Muhammad Ali is one, who else?

00:53:16 --> 00:53:16

Malcolm X.

00:53:19 --> 00:53:20

Who else do you have?

00:53:21 --> 00:53:22

Mike Tyson.

00:53:23 --> 00:53:24

Now you're just naming boxers.

00:53:27 --> 00:53:30

But okay, those two come up a lot.

00:53:30 --> 00:53:33

If I ask this question, almost always, no

00:53:33 --> 00:53:35

matter what city, Muhammad Ali, Malcolm X.

00:53:35 --> 00:53:37

Tell me what was it about Muhammad Ali?

00:53:37 --> 00:53:39

What did they share, Muhammad Ali and Malcolm

00:53:39 --> 00:53:39

X?

00:53:39 --> 00:53:42

What personality traits did they share that made

00:53:42 --> 00:53:44

people gravitate towards them so much?

00:53:45 --> 00:53:51

Okay, sabbat, an apologetically Muslim, communication, activism.

00:53:52 --> 00:53:54

We have a lot of Muslim activists all

00:53:54 --> 00:53:59

over, but undoubtedly it's that attribute of strength,

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

strength.

00:54:01 --> 00:54:03

That strength that manifests in their personality, that

00:54:03 --> 00:54:05

strength that manifests in their sabbat, in their

00:54:05 --> 00:54:07

steadfastness, that strength that manifests in their conviction,

00:54:08 --> 00:54:11

in their calling people to Islam, there's the

00:54:11 --> 00:54:12

strength of their, all of that.

00:54:13 --> 00:54:16

And people are always attracted to strength, especially

00:54:16 --> 00:54:21

y'all, especially young Muslim men, always attracted

00:54:21 --> 00:54:21

to strength.

00:54:22 --> 00:54:26

Alhamdulillah, God gave me everything, tomorrow night I'm

00:54:26 --> 00:54:27

gonna smash your boy guys.

00:54:29 --> 00:54:30

Why do people love him so much?

00:54:31 --> 00:54:32

Strong, that's strong.

00:54:32 --> 00:54:34

Stand there in front of a thousand, two

00:54:34 --> 00:54:36

thousand fans cheering for the other guy and

00:54:36 --> 00:54:38

Alhamdulillah, tomorrow night I'm gonna smash your boy

00:54:38 --> 00:54:39

guys.

00:54:39 --> 00:54:42

It's legendary, but that's strength.

00:54:43 --> 00:54:44

People love strength.

00:54:45 --> 00:54:48

My point is this, is that as Muslims

00:54:48 --> 00:54:51

we have to communicate the truth with strength.

00:54:51 --> 00:54:52

Communicate with strength.

00:54:52 --> 00:54:54

Doesn't mean you have to be rude, doesn't

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

mean you have to be argumentative, doesn't mean

00:54:56 --> 00:54:57

you have to do anything, but be strong.

00:54:58 --> 00:54:59

Be strong in your conviction.

00:55:00 --> 00:55:02

Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says, we cast

00:55:02 --> 00:55:06

truth against falsehood and we break its neck.

00:55:07 --> 00:55:08

Falsehood breaks.

00:55:09 --> 00:55:10

That's why they have to have all of

00:55:10 --> 00:55:12

these systems to support falsehood.

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