Ammar Alshukry – Piety In Protest
AI: Summary ©
The current protests have caused people to feel alone and emphasize the need for awareness to bring people out. The speakers emphasize the benefits of protesting and bringing out speakers who do not hold dis we'd say. They stress the importance of not acknowledging racist behavior and not giving money to people who don't appreciate them. The speakers emphasize the need for everyone to participate in conversations about their actions and not let it pass, and emphasize the importance of media coverage and protecting their community. The speakers also emphasize the importance of reading the Quran for the purpose of tithbit and the use of tithbs for transformation.AI: Transcript ©
Welcome everybody to Friday night lights. Today
we are with the lion of the sunnah,
the greatest intro ever, Sheikh Kamal al Makhi
Insha'Allah.
And we're going to be speaking about piety
and protests as
students have taken to encampments
in universities all over the world now, and
we are gearing up for a big protest
in
Austin, the capital of Texas this Sunday inshallah.
Yes. We wanted to delve right into some
aspects of
protesting for the pleasure of Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala. As a Muslim, Everything that we do,
we do it seeking Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
pleasure. And so Sheikh Kamal, just right from
the get go
Right from the get go, all of these
protests that we've been seeing, what have you
what is it inspired in you? What you've
seen?
Okay. Bismillah, alhamdulillah, wa salaamu alhamdulillah.
Actually before that can I ask you something?
You know the first time I heard this
term
like encampment as part of a protest was
just last week. Like I've never heard of
this before. Like in the old days you
just marched the streets. Now we're seeing You
heard of like Al Tusam, right? Al Tusam
is an encampment. People go and they set
up shop somewhere and they don't move until
eventually they get cleared out by a security
force, so even in the Muslim world you
you see it happening. Okay, okay. I guess
I don't follow too but,
but it's like almost
as a there's an understanding that we know
what we're doing
is kinda illegal wrong
and then we're gonna get kicked out and
then the cops know that you know that
you're gonna get kicked out. So there's isn't
there some kind of understanding that we're gonna
clear you out at some point?
I don't know. I mean, there's undoubtedly, it's
understood that it's pressure on the university because
they don't want students just sitting there for
days days days weeks on end.
So there, it's it's a form of pressure,
but I don't know that they know that
they're going to necessarily get kicked out. Some
of these universities have, it's led to negotiations
Oh. Where the universities have agreed to certain
terms. So it's definitely a means of putting
pressure on the university. Okay. Either way, it's
a good way to get out of class.
But the point is that
so what I like about what's happening is
really the the awareness that it brings to
to the population of everyone.
Yeah. And even if you're living under a
rock at some point, you know, let's say
inshallah this one in Austin,
somebody,
if it's possible, who's completely oblivious to the
situation,
why are the roads blocked, what's going on,
what are all these cars, or this is
a rally for a Palestine. So what I
love about it is bringing awareness to people
and
and that in itself is good enough for
me, like because and I used to be
one of those guys by the way in
the old days.
We used to be anti rallies
and anti
protests and all that stuff. I don't know
it's just some you know you have stuff
you regret.
What was the argument for that because I
feel like for me I've been going to
protest my whole life. Yeah. I don't even
know what the good argument was it's just
weird. We used to even one time I
was telling you we had a radio show
in, Washington
and I had this crazy co host and
we were both talking about, you know, they
don't do anything, nothing comes as a result
of it,
and I went to one before in my
life and we were like chanting in front
of the White House and they told us
the president is not in, he's overseas.
And we're
like, and people are losing their their voice
over it
and and then you see things that are
kinda on, like, off, you know, and
So the the
I get what you're saying, like, a lot
of the criticisms of protests
from before was that they were ineffective,
there's simply a way of people venting, there's
a lot of haram that gets involved, ikhtalaat
and singing and dancing and all sorts of
things. Yeah. And so there's an environment that
would make people wanna avoid it. Yeah. But
now, I I mean it's undoubtedly effective. Yeah.
So just so I'm clear
that was like I was making fun of
my old position, okay?
And effective today doesn't have to be that
because we took to the streets,
policy was changed and a bill was passed.
That's not necessarily what effective is. The fact
that we're bringing awareness to the population,
that's that's good. That's, you know, you can't
argue that that's bad.
So that's good enough for me. And then
there are other points like,
the fact that
that it brings relief to people because we
don't you don't like to feel helpless. There's
nothing I'm not doing anything and I'm powerless
and there's nothing I can do and there's
so many people that this,
gazar, what's happening in gazar, put them just
on the brink of depression, just right at
the edge, they're about to slip into it
and maybe they'll go out and chant and
just feel like they did something and I'm
fine with that. You know if something makes
someone happy, I like them to stay happy.
Mhmm. If someone has a drink and they
enjoy it, I don't like to come and
give them a fact about this drink that
will make them hate it. Let them be
happy. Yeah. So it so some people it
just gives them something to do
and it takes them away from
there's some families in our community, they lost
like
they lost over 50 family members and I
I met,
like the the father of the family
and he's just like someone steps away from
slipping into something bad.
You know, maybe he'll go to Austin with
the family, chant, and come back and just
feel better,
like what's it to me? Alhamdulillah I'm happy
for him. So like just these two things
are good enough for me. And you know
that the people of Uwazda are seeing this.
That's true, that's another great point. Right. So
it's it's they're watching obviously everyone's connected through
social media so they're seeing
500,000 people line up the streets of London.
They're seeing thousands of people gather in Texas.
They're seeing
and they've communicated
how this brings them, and it makes them
feel like they're not going through this at
all alone. And if that's the only thing
that if that is, and it's not because
there's a lot more conversation that's been sparked
by all of this, But if that was
the only thing that
people would get out of it, that you,
the people of Allah, they see your support,
they see that they're not forgotten, they see
you marching in the streets, they see you
chanting for them, making noise for them,
screaming for them. That inshallah ta'ala is enough.
That's enough for me to go out. Like,
there are people that have that feel that
the whole world's kind of Walls around them.
Yeah. Or no. I mean, the people of
Gaza, they felt like the whole world they
feel like the whole world turned their back
on them. So if at least they get
to see images of people supporting them in
London and the US and what have you,
that's good enough for me.
Quick tangent. So I mentioned 3 things though.
What about what about boycotting? Since you talked
about this issue of,
you know, if you feel it, if it'll
make people happy, the idea of boycotting. So
if the entire community is moving in a
direction,
even if you're not convinced, would you still
boycott?
Yeah. So,
yeah, I mean, at the end of the
day, my wife is Palestinian so, of course,
I would boycott that. There's
no discussion there. But
it's going back to the mask analogy. Like,
even if you give me studies
this is during COVID. If you gave me
studies that indicated for sure that the mask
is absolutely useless, I will still wear the
mask. Because it's not all about you. This
is the problem in America, this over exaggerated
sense of individuality. If I'm not convinced I
don't care
what it's about the community. So if wearing
a mask even if it's absolutely useless scientifically,
but if it makes my uncle feel good
in the masjid when I'm standing next to
him Feel comfortable, feel safe. Feel safe or
lie I'll wear it.
So it's not just all about you all
the time. So the same thing with, we've
got like 2 extremes with boycotting.
You know that you've got one group, because
they boycott,
if you're holding Starbucks or moshara fries from
McDonald's, it's as if you're holding pork chops.
What? And people are dying. Oh and like
you just murdered someone and then you're eating
the pork
the the fries or whatever. To be honest
there are some people who even before Avazin
all of that if you were holding fries
from McDonald's, they'd make it seem like you're
holding. That's true. I live with one of
those people. The point is that
but so that's one extreme.
The other extreme
is,
Taib I got these fries, yeah I need,
did someone die because of this? And then
you belittle and I always tell that story,
this is an old story but basically my
wife was talking to another sister and they
were both talking about how they boycott and
they boycott coke and a sister who just
came and heard boycott and coke, ran to
the ice cooler, grabbed the coke and came
and opened it between them like
but that's all it is like I'm drinking
but drink it. Drink it. Get the sugar
in your blood. Who cares? I don't care.
But
so like just to like in your face
like that. So the 2 extremes. So I
think that's also an important issue which is
that if a person sees something as effective,
that they don't
belittle or mock or hold disdain to people
who don't think that it's effective and don't
contribute and don't participate. And at the same
time, if a person doesn't see something as
effective, that they don't hold disdain or or
try to sabotage those who do think it's
effective and they're trying. I so if I
view protesting as effective, I go and I
protest, but I don't sit there and lampoon
everybody who doesn't go and protest, for example.
Or if I boycott that I don't sit
there and hold everybody
in disregard who doesn't boycott. Right?
Everybody has their own path. But how about
some success stories like from the boycott? Oh,
there's lots of success stories. Even here not
just overseas, right? But I like that in
overseas for example, so I was in Kuwait
a couple of months ago and this guy
was telling me Kuwaitis
absolutely
love Starbucks
And every single Starbucks I looked into in
Kuwait was insanely empty, like I couldn't even
see the barista behind the counter like nobody.
And I was like that's that's great that's
great and this is a one plus for
the Kuwaitis. And I think it's also given
us like today my Khubbo is about confidence.
It gave the ummah confidence that we're able
to
engage in whatever small way that we can
and we see these success stories and that
we do have power and that we do
have agency and that we do spend money,
that we spend a lot of our money
giving it to people who who hate us
and people who don't care about us and
and and belittle us every chance that they
get. So I think that's just economics 101
that you just give money to those people
who care about you and at least they
don't care about you if they don't love
you, that they respect you and unfortunately, we've
been given our money to to brands
and companies that don't like us and don't
respect us. Big time. And on another note,
our our health also improved after boycotting.
No Pepsi, no Coke, no fries and so
on. Or just replace it with other sodas.
It's no big deal. No.
What's that sprite that all of a sudden
we've been drinking now the star starski or
something like that?
Yeah. But you know you know what's weird
though? Like I I just never ever desire
black colas anymore.
Never.
Yes, it's a racist thing.
America is so weird. Everything is racist. Yeah.
I don't like black colas.
Yeah.
I'm drinking the white stuff now.
The clear.
I only drink black colas. Only drink black
colas, I don't miss it, Amlakolas. Even RC's
on the list.
Yeah. No, no. We moved to HEB colas.
HEB, yes sir. That's how you do it.
It is. Yes sir. So there's,
alhamdulillah, I've been to a couple of,
protests, been to the encampments.
There's a lot of beautiful things that I've
seen
and I'm sure you've seen some beautiful things
as well.
Specifically, you see everything that's been said about
generation z over the past however many years.
You saw them, mashaAllah,
as far as being apathetic and what have
you, the stereotypes, you see that's actually not
the case, Masha'Allah,
they ended up
continuing till now taking this incredible stand
when everyone else before them failed, the politicians
failed, the media failed, and then the students
ended up just taking a stand and, you
know, standing in front of their universities and
risking college graduation. I've seen some of our
students get,
their scholarships
stripped away from them and all of a
sudden they're looking at a $100,000
in debt that they're not able and they're
being commanded to pay back within like 3
or 4 business days. I've seen that obviously,
the expelling or the threat of being expelled,
the suspensions,
and they're willing to sacrifice all of that
because of Palestine. So incredible, incredible,
fortitude. Mashallah, Tawarakallah. And one of the things
also that I've seen is the importance of
salah.
I've been going to protest my whole life.
I don't remember protests in recent,
like the ones that I've seen in recent
memory where
the salah, the adhan is being called regular
fashion, the salah being established regular fashion, even
in some of the encampments that I visited,
the
salah being on the schedule
of the daily program. That's amazing. This teaching,
this, this, this, asul prayer, prayer, ish prayer
like that. Or even the videos of, the
Muslims praying and the non Muslims forming a
chain around them. Yeah. Right? That's amazing also,
because someone who's not Muslim but they were
making sure that these Muslims
pray without being interrupted or disrupted.
And this is probably make a rule like
the the girls on the chain should be
in the back or something like that, not
just the case in front of you. But
Everybody everybody's fighting to lead. Everyone wants to
be in the front row but but that's
beautiful that was really beautiful and and when
you think someone who stands
like that, a non Muslim who stands to
protect the Muslim praying like
inshallah without exaggerating hopefully that person could be
an ally for the rest of their life,
you know. What are the chances they're one
day blocking and protecting the Muslim in prayer
then 2 days later they're like anti Muslims.
Yeah. It's not gonna happen. Yeah.
You know, you just reminded me of one
of the things that this protest have done
and these encampments have done is that they've
given, even for those who haven't gone
and and and don't participate, it's given them
the opportunity to at least participate in the
conversation. And I actually think that's the least
that all of us can do, is that
we participate in the conversation. So I've
I've been in conversation, for example, myself with
people who just brought up what's happening at
the university.
Like to me, non Muslims. You know what's
happening in these universities?
So I had, a rabbi who I met
who told me, he said, you know, my
community is in in such fear right now.
I said, why? He said, because he looked
at me quizzically, like, what do you mean?
Like, you see what's happening at the universities,
antisemitism and things like that.
And
I didn't let it pass. I told him,
I said, I actually see the exact opposite
of what you see. He said, What do
you mean? I said,
I've been to protest my whole life. It's
never about antisemitism,
it's about
Palestine being free.
It's not about hatred of a people, it's
about desiring the freedom and the self determination
of a people. Good. And so just that
idea of you
engaging
and describing. And I had another lady who
is,
an old an elderly white lady who I
was,
talking to on a flight
and she was actually talking to me about
the universities again.
And I I told her, I said,
this is completely the opposite of what it's
being portrayed in the media that she consumes
and that she watches. And I was able
to follow-up with her and send her videos,
displaying the occupation and what's been going on.
But the point is, is that we all
have that capacity in the conversations that we
have with other people, and we just need
to make sure that we participate
in the conversation and that we don't let
it simply pass. Absolutely. So
it opens up the opportunity or the possibility
of engaging in that conversation Yeah. And you
should not let it go. No. Absolutely.
What a waste of the chance that would
be.
Excellent. So
What what is there anything that you've noticed
as far as these,
encampments, as far as So for me, one
of my pet peeves for Since,
since all of this has been going on
over the past 7 months is you see
a lot of videos
of sisters being in the,
you know, so to speak front lines when
it comes to protests, when it comes to
I saw this horrible video
of a guy drunk walking into a masjid
and he was being racist and he was
being I mean the guy was drunk and
he was being incredibly
obnoxious and threatening
And there's a brother who comes into the
masjid and a sister
and they're both challenging
the guy, but then the brother walks into
the Musa Allah, leaves the guy, and he's
sitting there like, you know, harassing the sister.
I'm like, what are you doing?
So this idea of brothers,
kind of, you know, abdicating that responsibility. But
one of the things that Alhamdulillah, I was
very happy to see is that every time
I've attended anything here in in Houston,
the brothers are present, the brothers are engaged,
the brothers are,
they're the ones who are in the front
line, so to speak. They're protective of their
sisters. They're mindful of their sisters, alhamdulillah I've
been very happy to see that. That's true
but we're not gonna let that brother slide
we got a comment on that though. Yeah,
Bismillah.
So, if a guy walked in right now
and started threatening and what have you, these
young guys will take care of him. I'm
confident in that, But I'm also confident that
if these young guys were not here The
sisters would take care of them. Nothing would
happen to him.
Nothing would happen to him. We had an
incident here one time
and when I reviewed the cameras, we're trying
to catch I'm not gonna go into the
incident,
but I would review the cameras to see.
There were like 20 people in in the
building
and only 2 of us subduing the attacker.
Mhmm. Alright?
And I was like, there are 20 people,
like why do 2 people have to hold
them? Like if everybody, you know. Everyone grabbed
like
a a toe.
So I'm watching the yeah. Right?
Everyone grab a toe, one guy grab a
finger, halos, we're done. But I watched the
videos again and there's there was a guy
and he's, you know, a bunch of them
sitting, this was before Friday, you know, reciting
Quran.
Reciting Quran as people are tussling in the
back.
They hear the commotion, the thumping, the beating,
the whooping going on. The guy goes like
this.
Not my problem,
Not your problem. Alright. So anyways, so but
we'll fix that another day.
Okay? But long live the young guys, right?
Oh, Agbor.
Okay. So,
Sheikh, now,
when people protest, when people do anything,
They're trying to secure media attention. They're trying
to secure
support of politicians. They're trying to secure,
the support of the masses,
but the most important factor to secure is
the pleasure of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala and
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says in
if you support Allah, Allah will support you
and if you support and if Allah forsakes
you,
actually the verse is
that's the verse. If Allah
supports you then there's no one who's going
to overpower you and if Allah were to
forsake you then who's going to support you
other than him?
So even
it's very important to remember that even when
we're protesting, even when we're doing whatever it
is that we're doing, we're not even doing
it for victory.
We're doing it for Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
We're not even doing it so that we
can see the results. We're doing everything that
we're doing for the pleasure of Allah. We're
doing it for Jannah.
And so because what is with Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala is better than anything that we
can experience in the dunya. So then the
question becomes what are some of the guidelines
that we think we need
to keep in mind so that we're continuing
to seek the pleasure of Allah Perfect. Like
you said, there's media coverage
and it's it's basically a media outlet that
for the most part wants to make you
look bad. So you want to give them
as few excuses as possible to make you
look bad, as as little fuel as possible.
Even though they're still gonna try to make
you look bad no matter what you do.
Yeah. So so that means you have to
be on your best behavior.
Like from simple things like not littering,
you know, and there was this author and
he was talking about he was comparing
the occupy Wall Street,
protest to some other republican
kind of rally that happened. And he was
saying the republican rally, they were they were
they made sure that everybody picks up after
themselves. They don't litter. So they present and
they portray that we are patriots and we
care about America.
Whereas the other one, they they just littered
everywhere in the place. It looked like a
tornado went through, the city, basically. So it
leaves a negative taste, and
so,
even from some things as simple as littering
to then your behavior, your conduct watching your
mouth, what is that, police chant?
That weird police chant.
You know what?
Why? Why? Why? That would I understand.
But But you look man, that's why I'm
saying with the encampment, like, you know they're
gonna come clear you out. So why are
you upset at the police officers? Like we're
playing this little game it's a role, you
know, I'm camping, like you don't wanna live
on campus but you just and it's an
encampment, it's a statement, and then tomorrow the
cops will come and they'll clear it out.
So then you start chanting against the police
and then the police always get the the
brunt of I remember this is a funny
story.
I was in, Sudan
when the anniversary of the Danish cartoons thing
came.
So they were gonna What year of the
anniversary? Was it And year after? It was
the second the first year. Okay. You know,
the after.
So it was Friday too and they were
they said they're gonna reprint the cartoons and
everything. So I don't know why I was
so naive but I was very confident that
happened on a Friday
because all the khatibs, people are gonna go
to Friday, the khatibs are gonna talk some
sense into people. I don't know why I
thought that.
I thought they've lit it up. They lit
it up. It was the exact opposite. Everybody
went to a khutbah, the imam whose eyes
was red,
yelling and everything, and then people took to
the streets. And it was such an embarrassing
and disastrous day because, you know, kartum is
already busted and broken up, and they went
and broke it up some more
and they burnt some houses and threw rocks
at cops.
What does he have to do with this?
It's just like there's a button somewhere. I
imagine like there's a button in a room
somewhere
and these westerners are like, hey hey Johnny
let me show you something. If you press
this button the Muslims will go crazy and
tear up their old cities, and they just
do it and we just go and start
throwing rocks at Muslim cops and and burning
homes and and and not homes, cars and
stuff.
And and it was such an embarrassment, I'm
telling you. I'm watching it on TV, You
had these
guys and they're like out in,
tank tops and they're just destroying things and
they're laughing and they're happy that, you know,
on the news. And then,
this is the worst part, they were going
to go march in front of the American
embassy.
It had Danish cartoons.
America has nothing to do with it. So
they're gonna go march all the way to
the American Embassy, and that month, the American
Embassy moved from the center of the city
outside.
So they did When they discover that during
the march, they're like, that's too far. So
they went to the German embassy and burnt
it down.
What kind of sense does that make? It's
a fury.
Yeah. So And by the way, and I
understand like, you know, you get,
what's the word, like tempers flare up and
stuff Yeah. During the rally and during the
march. So then anybody walks in front of
you, the police, yalla down with the police,
then you see a firefighter, oh, and to
command the firefighters, I hate you.
EMTs come by,
chant against anybody,
you know.
But that's important because Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
says,
do
not let the hatred of a people make
you unjust.
Be just, it is better, it is closer
to piety.
And so,
it doesn't matter.
That brings up the the topic of chance.
It doesn't matter,
like,
how I feel about a people. That my
chance I have to put through the filter
of Islam and the filter of justice. And
so I don't say anything that's wrong. And
a lot of times with these movements is
that you'll find that they're absorbing chants from
other communities. And so the communists are there
and the socialists are there and whoever is
there. And so they've got these chants and
I'm just chanting along with them or I'm
using those chants for my own community and
it doesn't matter where I go, I'm a
Muslim everywhere that I go, my submission is
to Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala and I take
these values
and I I impose these values everywhere that
I go. And so it's very important that
we're just interestingly enough with the issue of
the police
is that
in Surat Al Qasas when Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala talks about firaoun,
he attributes he attributes blame
to the jinudafiraoun. Allah
says for example,
he says,
to show Haman and Firaoun
they're giving,
agency to Bani Israel and success to Bani
Israel
that he can show them and their soldiers
what they were
afraid of. And Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says
He says and
their
It's not just
but their soldiers were also wrong.
The idea of being oppressive
and
knowingly
doing that which is wrong, if a person
is a soldier, you don't get to just
say I'm following orders.
You have to engage in a way that
is appropriate and in the way that it's
that's right and so that doesn't give license
police officers to abuse protesters or to Allah
Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says
And Allah attributes arrogance to the soldiers of
Firaun. He says that Firaun and his soldiers
were arrogant. So, it's possible
that there are cops who are power tripping.
That happens too.
But still, even then Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
sent Musa and Harun
to Fir'aun who's undoubtedly the worst of them
and he says,
He says tell Fir'aun,
he doesn't say go and antagonize Fir'aun. He
says go and speak to Fir'aun with gentle
speech,
perhaps
he will remember. And so as Muslims, we're
not trying to antagonize anybody. We're not looking
for conflict when we go and we protest.
We're going to call you with the best
of terms even though you may be corrupt
because no one was more corrupt than Firaun.
In the hopes perhaps
that
some fire of of decency will be kindled
in your heart, that some fire of of
shame will be kindled in your heart, that
you'll remember
what you're doing this for, and you'll remember
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala and have some fear.
But we're a community of dawah. And so
if I can get one police officer to
accept Islam, then that's a great win for
me. If I can get one person through
my manners or my gentle speech or my
character to accept Islam or to look positively
at Muslims, then that's wonderful. Yeah.
So, I went to this one rally
and right when I got there,
this guy had lowered his he stopped his
car at the traffic light, he lowered his
window and he was yelling things at the
at the the Muslims and there were some
non Muslims also. So he's yelling some things
and it wasn't really audible, you don't know
what he's saying, but one of the Muslims
basically,
I can't remember which finger but he basically
put one of them up right in front
of his face. Was it the middle one?
It might have been that one. No, it
might have been. He put it right in
his face kiddo while that guy's talking he
just had it up like that. So I
just got there I'm like what what did
I just get myself into? So first thing
I did is I put his hand down
said like don't do that don't do that.
Just You're gonna You're losing this guy forever
and your whatever
bad image or false image he has of
you, you've just confirmed it just now. So
and we don't respond. Plus he wasn't even
using profanity. But on that note also, I
I must comment on like how we've become
as a nation. It's really deplorable.
Where there's just no respect anymore. Nobody has
any kind of respect
for women, children, people who just lower their
window,
blurt out some bad words, like they just
see that rally was or what do you
call the rally, right? It was mostly women
and children
or protest, right? It was mostly women and
children, and these grown men with gray hair
just lower the window and blurred something out,
like what what is this? But this this
is because the the concept of,
you know, chivalry and being a man,
that's not manly behavior. You know, if you
did that anywhere else, people would stalk us
at you, a man, yelling and and women
and children like that. No.
Anyways, and so much in there and some
people just lower the window and just chant
USA. Like, what does that have to do
with anything? But because they think the position
of patriotism is to support the government even
if it's wrong or what have you or,
and that's why they had they planted an
American flag and a Palestinian
flag so that it's not saying we're not
patriotic or this is anti America. Here's the
American flag, and these are Americans for Palestine.
Jimmy, I like that touch. Judy, did you
have your hand up for something? Yeah. So
what happens, like, if we go to protests
and we see people in our community, like,
vandalizing buildings.
Right? And we speak up about it and
say, you shouldn't do that. And then they
try to fight you on the spot because
you tell them not to do that. And
you tell them you're just giving
them, like, what you said. You're making them
already think of what they're saying about us.
Right? And they say, oh, who cares?
So do you think they already think this
about us?
What kind of mentality is that? They already
think this about me so I might as
well just live the role.
What kind of sense does that make? And
you've you've corrected or is it like, well,
they already think I'm a thief so I'm
gonna rob everybody here. Yeah.
Doesn't make any sense. But at the end
of the day, if there's nothing you can
do there's nothing you can do. Like all
you all the power you have is just
to advise them and if they don't accept,
I mean unless they're smaller than you then
you just
crush them. But otherwise what are you gonna
do? So that's all you can do is
give them Do you have any other solution?
Yeah. I think that you give them in
the moment if you see that they're like
they're not responsive and if you know who
this person is then when you come back
also, you can have a conversation with them
at a time when tempers aren't flaring. Yeah.
When they're calling. And also if you
if if still you're not the person to
necessarily talk to them then you can communicate
to somebody else who they respect
that you know what so and so 911.
911.
Yeah. Somebody like that. Did you tape them
have the evidence clearly there? Probably just somebody
in the community for example that you think
would be they would be responsive to and
you tell them that so and so, you
know, this is what they were doing at
the protest, then maybe you can have a
conversation with them and let them have conversation
with that person to let them know in
the future because these rallies, these protests aren't
going to stop anytime soon. Inshallah, they will.
But,
at least, that the ceasefire happens whether the
protests stop or not. But the point is
is that you want them to be able
to do better next time.
Absolutely.
So Sheikh,
anything else with as far as things that
people should pay attention to? For sure, there's
the issue of lowering the gaze
ikhta lot. Oh yeah. Mixing. How about those,
what do you call those rings when the
chains,
Yeah. In general people barricade or holding hands
or Yeah. Arms.
Do we need to go into this one,
Yani?
Make sure I wanna protect my sisters now.
Protect your sister, Protect I said. Yeah, I
know. Let make sure that you typically when
you protect someone,
they're behind you. Okay. You don't link arms
with the one you're trying to protect in
the front rows. So make sure the guy
next to you is called Abbas, the other
guy is called Ali. Alright. Is it the
Jennifer or Rosie?
Rosie.
Well, you be in the back row. Let
them protect you, Habib. Because Come on now.
We even have to get into that but
you see that happening and you know, linking
and touching and
lowering the gaze all that. You're Muslim everywhere
right? Like you said, rally or no rally.
Yeah. It's not like the the rules drop
because you're in a rally.
Yeah. Or protest. I keep saying rally. Okay.
What else do we have? I wanna give
some time for some some,
questions and comments for everybody inshallah,
but, is the the okay. 10 minutes. So,
there's a couple of aspects even when
people are at these protests
or an encampment,
the idea
of of not looking for conflict, but if
conflict happens.
So the prophet
says for example,
He says, don't look to meet
your opponent, don't look to meet an enemy,
don't look to meet conflict, basically. Don't look
for trouble. Don't look for trouble. And and
sometimes
you feel like, again, with that antagonizing
of
whether it's it's campus police or whether it's
regular police or whether it's the university staff
or whoever that that antagonizing
is that I'm looking for for them to
do something.
Whether it's for the purpose of media or
what have you. And the prophet
says don't look for trouble
and ask Allah to protect you, but if
you meet it
then be steadfast.
If trouble finds you then be steadfast.
But don't look for it because you don't
know how you're going to respond to trouble.
That being said, what are some of the
causes
for steadfastness?
If you look in the Quran, you'll find
a number of them. Number 1, and that's,
this is the most important cause of steadfastness
upon truth, is to ask it from Allah
Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. Because Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
says, even Surah Sallallahu Wa
Ta'ala says, Allah says if we didn't give
you, Muhammad salallahu alayhi wa sallam, if we
didn't give you tabbat, steadfastness,
you would have been inclined to the mushrikeen
a little bit. You would have kind of,
you know, he's, it's human at the end
of the day to want to meet people
where they are or to try to, you
know, come up with a win win or
what have you. And so Allah
says you would have been inclined to them
a little bit. And so tabbat, that steadfastness
comes from Allah
at the end of the day. So a
person should ask it from Allah.
Number 2 is to make a lot of
dhikr of Allah,
and so Allah, when he sent Musa and
Harun to Firaun, he says,
decree. He says, you and your brother go
with my signs and do not become lax
in my remembrance. It's just saying
but all of that, you know, the dhikr
of Allah strengthens the body and it strengthens
the spirit as well.
Very good.
A third would be istighfar.
Because Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says,
disbelieving people. So the idea here is that
they're asking and they recognize that there's nothing
that causes defeat like sins.
And so they're asking Allah for the forgiveness
of sins. And sheikh, you know, I always
used to wonder about that last verse of
Surah Al Baqarah, where Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
says,
pardon us
forgive us, have mercy on us,
you are our protector.
Give us victory over the dispelling wheel. I
was like where's the transition? It's going from
oh Allah forgive us, give us victory over
this, and I was like, I don't see
where one led to the other
until I understood
that there's nothing that causes your defeat like
sins. And so they're asking Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala to forgive their sins because being forgiven
your sins is a cause of victory.
And so recognizing that we might be delayed
in our victory, our
success because of our sins, and so a
person constantly making istighfar.
And then the last thing is Just on
that note by the way, we grew up
on that note like I when we were
younger every time there was a calamity somewhere
in the world the scholars would always say
everyone should go home and make a lot
of Istaghfir
because and they were always linking the collective
sins and of the ummah
with whatever calamity befalls them and if the
whole ummah goes home
and makes his taghfar and Allah forgives the
ummah for the most part, like what kind
of calamity will befallen? So there's a good
clear link there. And we have to make
sure that
our knowledge doesn't just stay information and that
we actualize it and so, a question that
we all have to ask is,
how much is tafar have I been making?
How much is tafar in the past week
have I made? What is tafar do I
make
today, on this day of Friday?
Because
if
we are able to transform
what we know to what we actually do,
then that's when the transformation that we're looking
for will happen. And the last thing sheath
that I'll mention and and you're the the
master at this is the is reading the
Quran for the purpose of tithbit,
the stories. Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says,
Allah says, we relate to you the stories
of the prophets
so that we can make your heart firm.
And so when I know
what Musa went through with Fir'aun and I
see how Fir'aun treated Musa Musa and the
manipulation
of words.
You know, I'm always amazed. Musa alaihis salami
comes to Firaun and he says,
send with me
and don't punish them. Like I want to
leave
Egypt
with my people and don't punish them. And
Firaun
says, Musa.
He says, did you come to expel us
from our land
oh Musa, with your magic? Musa is saying,
I wanna leave your land with my people.
And Fir'an is saying, No, you are coming
with your magic to expel the Egyptians from
our land. Like the complete opposite and that's
just like what we're seeing now that
people are protesting a genocide and they're saying
no, that you're you're you want to do
a genocide. These are genocidal statements against
against, Jews and Israelis. When it's the complete
opposite, that manipulation, you see it in the
Quran
and that gives you taba'at that you see
how Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
that the end is always for the righteous.
And of course You're the you're the you're
the stories of the prophets.
You got it though. But you know the
other thing also just just behave, you know.
If you wanna be steadfast, you wanna be
in the right, you you're always confident and
firm when you're in the right, not in
the wrong. And I'll tell you like
personally
when, when I was like a teenager
I
I always,
like, I hated breaking the law or doing
something that was against the rules,
not because I was afraid of this or
that but because when you do something wrong
and you get caught, you're in the lower
position.
You lower your head, you're being reprimanded and
yelled at and you
down. And I hate it to be in
that position. Yeah. Some people will argue argue
their way out of a paper bag.
Yeah and
and good for them, but they're still wrong.
They're still wrong like they're just they're worse
actually because they
are in the wrong They don't admit they're
wrong. Yeah. And they're defending their their error,
but I like to always hated the idea
of like, you know, you do something wrong
in the in traffic and then the cop
starts to yell at you and how What
kind of What did you do and and
then what are you gonna say? You did
it. I apologize.
Yeah. Yeah. You're in the lower position. So
you stay in the right position, you stay
in the firm position. That's how you one
of the ways to remain steadfast. I know
it's a weird way but it you'll be
firm as anything.
Jermaine,
so any final takeaways
for this,
trip to Austin ish all of that or
anything else?
I mean, no. Who's going by the way?
Who's going to Austin this, Insha'Allah. Let's see.
Excellent. 3 people. 4,
5, 6, 7. Very good. And there's actually
another one that's happening at the same time.
So, right here in the corner of,
you know, this and that over there, I
don't know where this is going on, but
basically right here in the corner of, you
know, this one, there's, every Sunday. This is
gonna be the 4th one,
and it's actually organized by a non Muslim
who has this beard and so everyone kept
telling him, jazakalokhair brother, jazakalokhair, and he just
kept staring at them, what is this jazakalokhair
thing? And and I found out he was
a Muslim, I invited him back to the
masjid and, you know, we gave him lunch
and everything and
so
he's
and he was telling me that he's contemplating
going to the Austin thing, but he still
wanted to do his own thing here. And
so anyone who's not going to Austin,
right here at the corner of,
this and the other,
there at at, what is it? So 3
to 6, I believe. 3 to 6 and
they stand there in the corner
right in front of NASA and El Camino.
So do what you can. Do what you
can. Do what you can.
Cool. So with that, inshallah, I think we're
done. If there any,
anybody has any comments.
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