The Role Of Muslim Minorities
Date:
Channel: Bilal Philips
File Size: 21.05MB
AI Generated Summary ©
The speakers discuss the history and responsibility of the Muslim minority in the United States, emphasizing the importance of finding out who is in need of help and gathering information. They stress the responsibility of individuals to make themselves aware of their situation and try to change themselves. The conversation also touches on the success of their recent marketing campaign and the potential for growth in the future, as well as the impact of the coronavirus on their business and their retail store locations. The speakers express caution and caution against making too many predictions about the future.AI Generated Transcript ©
alameen wa Salatu was Salam. Al Karim,
Allah Allah. He was hobby for minister Levison, mochila, oma Dean
have raised you to align your last Peace and blessings and his last prophet muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam,
and then all those who follow the path of righteousness until the last day.
This morning's
talk is entitled The role of Muslim minorities towards the oma.
Of course,
by the look in the center,
we don't really find
Prophet Mohammed sighs, addressing
Muslim minorities per se.
Because
the status or the situation of Muslim minorities is something which is new
news new in the sense that some early times
when Islam spread
from the center from Arabia, it's spread as a whole
out.
So you didn't have a situation where Muslims were in a minority situation.
However,
if we consider that the oma as a whole
the main structure
and the minorities represent
segments of that structure.
Then we can find
in the front now, a number of different statements as well as in the crime statements regarding the Muslim ummah.
We have, for example, the Hadees reported by Bukhari and Muslim
in which from Solomon said,
He will see the believers in their mutual kindness, love and sympathy, like one body.
When a limb complains, the whole body responds to it by staying awake and fever.
You also find problems as I'm saying.
And another study conducted by both Bukhari and Muslim
men, men movements, California and
they should do bah bah bah bah.
The believer is for another believer, like a building,
each part strengthening the other.
So masaba shabaka binah Fabia.
Then problems,
interlace his fingers.
After giving that example, he interlace your fingers.
We also have
inside a Muslim,
aware of causing problems, I tell them I saying
a Muslim is a brother to me.
He does not run him, disgrace him,
nor despise him.
We also find
a Valera in a charity coaching Commons as Elena saying in the
mirror, add to it,
find the other
fan unit, and
literally each and every one of you
is like a mirror to his brother.
So as he sees harm,
he should seek to remove it.
From further said,
employees and then Timothy,
my brother in Abdullah
than problems as Elena said.
We're in the middle
Moto Z and telco Ahok diverge in Polish.
Every good deed is a charity, a form of charity
and
it is from
the good deeds
that you breach your brother
with
a smiling face
furthermore
in Abu Dhabi
relates to Thomas Russell and said
man Prakash, Allah subhanaw
taala Remo, Patel Islam,
whoever
goes away from the main body, main community of Muslims, a handspun
has removed
the mind of Islam
from his neck
of these hobbies
are usually
used to refer to the individual with regards to the community.
Any given community Gemma
is made up of individuals
and these principles have been used to apply to them. However, if we look at the oma as the Gemma,
then the various communities
are Muslims represent
like the individuals
whether they are minorities or majorities around the world separated by geographical circumstances
as a whole, they make up the oma.
So,
these headings
can be used to apply them to these minorities.
The first Hadees
spoke of solidarity, from the point of concern
that the oma is like one body
whenever harm befalls any part of it,
the rest of the body
responds
to that time by seeking to
correct it
and it remains in a state of worry until
that portion becomes well again.
So
as a Muslim minority,
being part of that body
of the oma
we have a responsibility to be concerned
about all of the other parts.
If a portion is under attack, as in the case of Batman,
Kashmir,
Somalia,
Philippines,
Burma, many portions actually today
that are our minority almost in my knowledge, our portion of the oma should be concerned about that situation.
Our concern should involve one being aware of what is going on.
We should seek to gather information about the situation and the rest of the oma
to
if we have special skills, which that portion of the oma is in need of
that we try to
lend a helping hand
by going there
Helping out.
But perhaps
the most important way in which we can help
the other five for the oma
is that we are self be healthy.
Because if we are sick,
then it's very difficult for the six to help the sick.
So
our first duty
is to
make sure that our parsh portion of the body
is well.
Another other words, then we have to establish Islam firmly here, that we wouldn't be in a position to come to the aid of Muslims in other parts of the world.
Because if we cannot help ourselves,
if we are in a situation of disintegration, and degradation,
we're unable to even get Islam to go from our generation to the next.
And then to talk about, you know, the helping here as the helping Muslims in other parts of the world
is virtually ludicrous.
Change
begins with self
as one of the things that attracted me to Islam.
In the days when I was searching, after being a communist,
being involved in momentum estates
that Islam address the individual
and required that change begin with him or her, the ones who, after the revolution,
that we would do this, and we would do that to the other. But for now, you know, it's a free for all, we can do whatever we feel like
no,
we have to strive to change ourselves.
And the Muslim minority here in North America
has to establish itself has to take the necessary steps to make itself viable, make itself
a reality. In the North American circumstance here, where Islam is being transferred from generation to generation consistently.
We have historically here as waves of immigrants
coming,
blending their children last.
We had a wave of
local, indigenous Muslims come into Islam,
beginning of the 16th
really in some number, you know, from the time of Malcolm X when the onwards
and when they came in, and that early that first decade.
They used to look at the immigrant Muslims.
I was being very negligent
because they had come a generation before and their children and blended into the society and they were lost. Their names were changed, there.
existence was erased.
We used to look at them
and scorn
and they
were negligent.
In Islam, however, after two decades have passed, from the time that we came into Islam, say the decade of 60 to 7565 to 75 or 85. Now come up to
90 for
two decades later, a chance now for that wave that came in to have children grow up
In America,
Muslim children of convert Muslims, what we find is in the course of that, those two decades
we have the same process happening to the Convert Muslims, which happened to the immigrants,
the children of the Convert Muslims leaving Islam in droves.
As they left Islam, among the immigrants,
we have also failed.
We have been unable, I'm talking about on a general scale, I'm not saying each and every
candidate Muslim loses all his children. But
if you go around the country, as I have,
and you listen to the horror stories
in the various families,
you realize that
if the average family has five children, maybe one out of the five
manages to remain Muslim. The other four become lost souls.
And this is why when we start to see the name that are mentioned in the crime that are taking place in the country today,
we're starting to see Muslim names there.
For instance, you know, struck me was when they had this the case in New York of those that group of young guys who went to the park and you know, grab this female jogger and just beat her to death and raped her, you know, almost killed her I, you know,
one of the guys name was use of Muhammad.
Musa Salaam,
uses Salah,
and
this is happening more and more around the country, you're seeing criminal people involved in crime use involving crime, having these names,
their parents who are Muslim.
But Islam was not transferred from that generation to the next. And of course, during that period of time, there's been another wave or another two waves of immigrants who have come, and the same process is happening to their children. So we see that this is a, this is a,
a process, this process of
de Islamization of families is not restricted to the immigrants, because they came to America for the junior high, they didn't come here to spread Islam, they came for a piece of the proverbial pie.
That situation is not limited to them.
It is something which is happening to all segments of the community. So what is happening then, is that we have a generation of Muslims coming in to Islam.
There are children being lost, and then a new wave
convert to Islam. So Islam is not going on from each group. It is just new people coming in, which is increasing its numbers. Similarly, in the case of immigrants, there are new, you know, waves of immigration larger and larger waves of immigration, which are increasing the numbers.
So it means fundamentally that the Muslim Ummah here in North America is in a very critical state,
unable to maintain itself.
And this is fundamentally because
we have taken the issues of Islamic community in a very haphazard and lackadaisical fashion.
When we approach other areas of our lives, which have to do with economics and a variety of other things.
We do feasibility studies and you know, we check out the situation quite solidly before we get involved. However, when it comes to Muslim community, it's every man for himself.
And this kind of approach will never been a success. Islam teaches organization
so long a time for one who calls the
Then the karma, the Imam people following you know, all the different things to suggest to Salah alone
isn't is an example of
urbanization,
systematic and deliberate.
We should learn from it that the only way
we're going to effectively establish Islam here is to tackle the issues in a systematic and deliberate way.
We have to develop strategies,
which will address
the essential issues which are necessary for the establishment of community.
This is the only way we're gonna do it.
It's very good
and very important for us to develop an ideologically sound foundation. So we concentrate, studies, lectures, etc. On Arpita, on issues of faith.
We also try to produce books, such as sunlight, such as books, which deals with
some understanding, we need more materials to deal with Islamic business and things like this.
However,
that is on an intellectual level.
We also need
physical community,
that community be a reality.
Wherein we're able to create environments, Islamic environments around the country, where young people can grow up,
feeling comfortable
about being Muslim,
with their Islam reinforced by their peer group rather than attacked daily, systematically, from the first time they enter the school until the time that they graduate.
We all get to our children.
And we
will be called to account by a lot of the Day of Judgment if we do not provide that for our children and our children leave Islam.
So
as I said, the most effective way
for us to be able to come to the aid of the other parts of the body of the oma is for us to be ourselves healthy,
strong, that we can come to the aid.
By being weak. By being sick ourselves, we are
pulling the rug out from under ourselves, making ourselves unable to help other parts of the oma.
Similarly,
if we're like the bricks, that make up a building,
each part supporting the other
if we are the weak brick, when we are leading to the crumbling of the whole building.
That's what we represent. So our responsibility again to that overall building, the deposits lm spoke about is to ensure that our wicker in that structure is in fact, pulling its own weight
is supporting the other bricks that are resting on it and is supported by bricks on which it rests.
Again, it means that we have to get ourselves together. We have to establish Islam here.
We all forget the rest of the oma
will seek knowledge and information about what is going on. And if there is anything that we can do,
to help by way of gathering funds and sending it when the calamities natural calamities or
unnatural calamities
and also sending some manpower
If we have certain specializations, etc.
However,
our main concern
has to be with ourselves
in order that we may be able to help the others
when they're in their time of need,
can we have something to offer.
So, when we look at the rest of the Muslim world,
there is a tendency amongst us
to complain.
We visit Saudi Arabia, during Hajj and we experience and bad experiences.
Or we visit Morocco and you know, some other countries, we have bad experiences, we see negative situations there. And so we come home and we take a very negative attitude towards the rest of the Muslim world.
They're out of it.
And we criticize. However, parmesan Sallam said
that we are like mirrors onto each other.
If we see something wrong, in our brother in the other communities,
rather than putting it down and speaking ill of it etc.
We should try to correct as we can.
If we can't, we should see, in fact that the there are there are amongst us
that we are no perfect example.
That we have a multitude of sicknesses and diseases in our oma in our portion of the oma that need to be corrected.
This is what
we should take
from our journeys, those of us who journey overseas, or those of us who read about the situations in other parts of the oma
we should feel sorry,
that
the ills that have befallen them, have you fallen them,
but we should take a lesson from them.
To look to our own ills, to try to correct them.
As far as I send them told us to visit the graveyards
to remember that we are going to die.
We want to see the condition of others in order that we may reflect on our own condition.
So we don't
isolate ourselves thinking that we are
the only real oma
and in
the early days of Islam in the 70s. You know, that was quite a popular kind of concept amongst the indigenous Muslims. The concept of the Western sunrise
you know, sun, Islam rising in the West
wasn't, you know, anywhere else but this is this is where Islam was coming from now.
We were the inheritors would carry Islam back to the rest of the world.
The reality is that that was a fantasy
that we had in those days. those communities that used to speak so strongly about
the western sunrise
ended up fighting amongst themselves, some of them killing each other. And their groups or organizations crumbled. MIB
Dar Al Islam,
Islamic party,
those are the organizations that main organizations of the early 70s
they no longer exist
What is your legacy?
Nothing
So, we should not delude ourselves.
We have to address the issues
that are in front of us
with regards to the community here
and to systematically approach them
in order to resolve them,
and to establish Islam here as a viable reality in this country,
whereby ultimately,
the country will have to take note
will have to include in its policy, the opinion of the indigenous Muslims, the Muslims that live in this land.
That ultimately,
if we consider that America
spearheads the efforts to keep Islam down in the various parts of the Muslim world,
the best way that we can help those various parts of the Muslim world is to force America to back off
or not to take
into interfere as it has been in the past and is continuing to do in the affairs of Muslim countries.
If the opinion of Muslims in this country
you know, has some consequence, then they will think twice in their policies externally. But if we are nothing
without wouldn't couple of guys in
like bubbles
on the surface of a flood
as it flows useless, meaningless, having no power, many bubbles, but having no power,
then, of course, we are of no consequence, we will not affect the policy in any way, shape or form. However, we do have a major potential
to affect
Islam is spreading
in the armed forces
at an alarming rate for the authorities
at an alarming rate.
It began before the Gulf War.
But after the Gulf War, there was a big upsurge because we had more than 3000 Americans except Islam in Saudi Arabia
after the Gulf War, during and after,
who came back
Muslim organization was formed the mmm Muslim members of the military
and they started to systematically deal with the establishment of prayer places in all of the
military bases around the world broken military bases established establishing the law in all of these bases, reaching out making contact with all the brothers who you know, because when they came out of the Gulf, many of them were reservists as such, we just came back into civilian life, but many others also came from different bases in Japan, in Europe, you know, in different parts in England and other parts of the world. And everyone went back almost went back continues to give Dawa to what they had found and of course, there is a domino effect you know, more and more coming into slough so much saw that the military has to recognize this mmm organization and give its president
a
an office in the Pentagon
to coordinate for the different this is their Hajin oma You know, every year for Hajj, hundreds of them go and make Hajj you know, in American transport planes, you know.
And the military he was obliged to ask the Muslim community to
present candidates for chaplaincy
because they wouldn't tolerate Christian chaplains ministering to their needs. Because of course the Christian chaplains would always be trying to find out why did you become Muslim?
Try to find out what they need. What did you become Muslim? Try to discourage them.
We have to go back. You know, it's just the pressure. It's the pressure that you're under, you know, don't make these rash decisions. And this is the approach of the Christian chaplaincy naturally.
So we so many complaints coming from the
brothers and sisters in the military.
Then the issue of Muslim chaplaincy arose. And as you all know, last year, November, the first Muslim chaplain was inducted into the
American military and more are coming in. This is a sign of the times
in terms of the spread of Islam in this country,
and hamdulillah in the military, because
military requires organization.
The brothers there, you know, are moving in a pretty organized fashion. And there is a dow office, which was set up in Georgia.
It's called dar Islam.
But they're in charge of it, his name is Mohammed
Mishra misrach.
He is a military person, his wife is military person. And they are
coordinating the Tao activities, feeding materials into the various bases, the brother does traveling stuff, and his wife travels around to the different places, you know, bringing in materials. So for those people who you know, would like to, to work with the military, their contact with military people, etc, you know, their efforts can be directed through this dour office.
So
what is the saying is that
the potential
for influence on American policy is very great.
Especially considering
that Islam is spreading so rapidly amongst the military.
The military via circumstance where people have time to think,
you know, they are not free to use all of their time in in the pursuit of things which will bring them happiness, running around
spending their wealth in different ways to achieve some pleasure in this life. They're not consumed with that process.
So they have time to reflect
that,
of course, that military machine
will a huge portion of Muslims, a portion growing every day every year is not going to be as effective as it was in the past.
Because, of course, Muslims will know that they cannot go and kill other Muslims.
You cannot use them to,
you know, fulfill policies, unjust policies in different parts of the world, they are not going to be as pliable and willing to do your
demands as they were in the past. So this is the beginning of a major effect on policy for the future.
And we should here, be aware of it, and to help to feed it to fuel it.
By helping in the process of Dawa,
helping those who are in the military, who are Muslims who need our help in different ways.
Similarly, there is a large potential in the prison population around the world around the states
when they did a survey,
similar three years back now, or two and a half years back, and they found that there are over 100,000 Muslims in prisons around America.
And most of these have become Muslims in the last decade.
This is another area where the deviant groups have exploited in the past Elijah Muhammad and farsan these people
But it is necessary for us
to utilize this, again is an opportunity when people have time,
they have a lot of time on their hands. So
they have an opportunity now to read and to reflect. And to find Islam, we should be a part of that process of channeling information into the prisons,
of helping those are working as chaplains in the prisons, in
the dramas and talks, etc, which are being done for them.
And at the same time,
we have a duty
with regards to ourselves, those of us who are out of the military and out of the prison system, to establish the community in such a way that when these people leave the military and leave the prisons, there is something they can come to see, because if there isn't for those who come out of the prisons, in many cases, they will go back to what they were into before.
Very few would come out and remain Muslims. In the past, now it is improving, because family activity is improving. So you'll find that more are coming out and staying Muslims, but still most will go back there when they come out there, there's no community, they hang out with their old friends, and they get back into whatever they were before and back up in prison become Muslims again. You know,
this is a cycles you see happening, you know, all around the country. So the best thing that we can do to help to break that cycle is to develop ourselves as community. So when people like that come out, there is a niche, there is a place that they can fit in,
in that society, and that's community.
So, the bottom line
is that
the oma
is as one body.
We, a Muslim minority is a part of that body,
we have a duty to be aware of the status of the body
and to help
other parts of the body that I need the need of help.
But our primary duty is to help ourselves to become healthy, so that we will be in a position to effectively help other parts of the body and the body as a whole. This is our primary responsibility. And I emphasize that why because very often issues from other parts of the world become primary.
And people neglect the basic issues here will become so caught up in the problems of other parts of the Muslim world, that we cannot even see the problems that we are living here.
This is a grave mistake.
A big mistake, we have to see our situation for what it is sure it has improved.
Things are better now than they were 10 years 20 years 30 years ago. However, at the same time, there is a major sickness and major disease in the midst of this oma here
a sickness which is destroying our children, our families
are sick sickness, which has divided the community on ethnic lines, you know, these are sicknesses which keep the commodity from solidifying from becoming real and becoming effective here
and we have to tackle the issues systematically. We have to plan
as we plan for other things that we consider to be important in the economic field. We have to plan with regards to community.
That is basically the thoughts I had to share on the subject with you all I hope
they
have some meaning and some benefits for you. Now inshallah we have half an hour that we can leave for questions, preferably questions on this issue. First and foremost.
issues that are related to this particular problem.
And if we're finished, then we can go on to general issues, General Islamic issues. The sisters were given
some of the questions that remain from yesterday were returned to them and to decide which ones they want to send forth. It's
one religious group, but also I just want to add, asked one question, could you give me your viewpoint on that inshallah. So that we could see what what we would want if we are in this, this particular system.
And some funds are available,
which may be utilized to help those Muslims are coming out.
But they stipulate that those who are coming to the halfway house, for example,
cannot be exclusively Muslims. In other words, you cannot say will only accept Muslims.
I don't think that should stop us.
Because if we are stopped by mainly Muslims,
and we create
an Islamic environment in our halfway house,
only the Muslims are going to feel comfortable there, or the non Muslims who want to avail themselves and have an opportunity to change.
So knows, that type of environment may serve, then to help
non Muslims who may come to it, to become Muslim to serve in $1 capacity,
as well as a non Muslim to our staff, along with the Muslims getting down. And because listen to me, the majority of the staff of the halfway house, for example, maybe you don't want to stop to be exclusively Muslim. So you get, you know, pointed out as being just a Muslim type of thing. So you have some non listeners on staff, but the only people who are people who, you know, are neutral, let people who are going to be working against your programs or people who, you know, recognize that you know, anything which is good for people in
general, anything that will help to reform or uplift people is positive and, and they would support them, even though they were not Muslim. So, those are the type of people you would hire into your situation. And then those who are coming out of the prisons who pass through, you know, you will feel you're not so much trouble those people who you know, don't want to have anything to do with Islam, they just want the wild lifestyle, they don't, you know, they're not going to stay too long in the halfway house and bid on the gun, right? Because either they're gonna, you know, come towards Islam and take some benefits from it, even if they just take some and then leave,
or they're gonna get out quickly.
So those would say and utilize the halfway house fully, will end up being a Muslim anyway.
So I think that, you know, we need to avail ourselves of such funding what since it's available, we can help to use it to help our brothers and sisters who are coming out of prison. And one of the things too, I think, that needs to be considered in terms of prison programs is that there is very little effort being made in the female populations of the prison.
Most of everything that is being done is all for the brothers
very, very little Tao and efforts being made for the female population. We have to try to rectify that in the future because that's a huge population there too. You know, that Islamic information needs to be fed in there and I'm sure if it will be fed many many many will accept Islam awesome.
Radhika hoko valuable
talking about the unity of the Muslims I know embossing rice brothers are trying to come together you know to have practice daddy and all these different communities have been opinion now I was saying to myself you know, I want you to explain to us or if you can
housing which way can we come together? Cuz I know for if we look at the lifestyle in Somalia,
many things he did was I A together they slept together, they and these kind of things they did together and the things that togetherness of it. The things I brought the house you know in a loud voice love
everything else they take to survive. So how can we establish Islam in the sense where as you know, Muslims can all come together as a one I can use it as it was studied properly Salaam Salaam Alia slaughter
The
concept of community as I mentioned, where we have actual neighborhoods of Muslims,
this is the
building blocks.
My suit is good. Muslims come together in the masjid, for prayer numa but when they leave, they're all going back out to various parts of the city, whatever, you know, living off individual kind of live really coming together at those points in the masjid. The unity
becomes
a facade. It is not real, it's sort of a temporary unity.
And the community itself also is not really
the community in accordance with the Sunnah is the one around the masjid
came to Medina, you know, he tablished the masjid and the community grew around the masjid. So there should be a neighborhood the masjid should be in the middle of the Muslim neighborhood.
The Islamic schools should be in the middle of the Muslim neighborhood. The business is such a Muslim businesses should be concentrated in these areas, you know, where they will get full benefits from the community, their funds being re channeled into the communities.
And in this way, where Muslims are actually moving that neighborhood where they're living side by side, Pakistani, you know, Syria and Egyptian American men
and their children are going to school together, playing together and so on. So, then these ethnical etc differences which exists now will start to disappear
when the community becomes
a reality,
and not just
a facade that
Mirage which appears at particular time, in the masjid on a
salaam aleikum, wa rahmatullah wa Alaykum cinema.
My brother, and I've heard of you for about seven years. 100 lads, good to see you.
Good to meet you.
My question concerns one of the many topics that you spoke about. And as to the minorities here in the country that have a small Muslim community
for 15 years a Marine Corps officer corps, one of the problems I see here in America is the leadership
especially the Detroit we're combating
for the sometimes he's Islamic though sometimes he comes off in a different spin, we have farrakhan, but more important, we have a lot of nationalists.
In Detroit, we have the eighth largest educational public school system is the largest public school system that is run and dominated by people of color.
We've got many scholars, many scholars, we're tripping over each other with organizations.
We seem to have no leadership. When certain people come up on the we have two African American Top radio stations.
is easily to be heard that the LAO era gave the Korean Solo Solo Solo Solo.
It is often heard from Muslim was that practices land correctly, that when they go to Hajj or Umrah
after still taking slaves, we see Mauritania going to some of them. These are the things that is hard to refute because of the illness in the home. So my question to you is my brother,
we see many Muslims from our shores, getting education, but they don't come back to us. It is hard for us to have a community when our leaders are not among us.
Everybody else has their leaders, they can go back to their countries. We cannot
we need one leaders to come back to us to we will lose if they choose not to come back to the setup locations so we can send our children to be educated insha Allah that is why children are leaving us. There's nothing for them to do. We're ignorant. As far as the knowledge of Islam, we need leadership. That's the first thing we're sola, sola Halima
Seven,
leadership. I know that's when the military, no leadership, how can you keep your flock together?
Very good point, mothers raise the issues of leadership.
Ultimately,
the community produces IT leaders.
Leaders are not necessarily individuals who have taken the initiative to go
and study externally or whatever it is are not necessarily the leaders,
they may have the knowledge to be part of the what we call the Shura, the consultative body, which
helps the leader guide the community.
But the leaders are produced fundamentally by the community.
They choose their leaders.
If we don't have
Islamic or Muslim neighborhoods,
then
it's very difficult to establish real community and real leadership.
So
I think
if we look at the situation Detroit, that there is a large enough population
of Muslims who
are about real Islam. No, we leave the other fringe groups aside, we talk about those who are about real Islam.
That amongst them,
are individuals who have
a desire
to establish Islam in Detroit, then it is for them
to come together.
All the concerned brothers from the various groups etc, to come together. And to decide on a strategy.
When they come together, they can choose one amongst them as me
to spearhead
this effort to establish community.
And
the group of concerned individuals then lays down the strategies necessary to achieve that particular goal. To choose an area of Detroit,
our the potential for growth lies, properties are not super expensive, but they're reasonable. It's not an area which is high drugs and etc, etc. but yet it is not so far in the suburb that, you know, the average person cannot afford to get into that situation. And we have to channel Investment and Development in some area of community focus for developing a neighborhood, Islamic neighborhood or neighborhood.
The issue of people, you know, going and getting knowledge and coming back.
In all honesty
95% of those who have gone to study have come back.
I know people to see me and they automatically think oh, he didn't come back and think this is the case of everybody.
I'm a minority.
The vast majority of brothers are back here
in different parts of the country, but they cannot be effective.
Because brother comes back after six years of study, and there is no community structure for him to drop into slop into to to educate the people. He should be involved in the ceramic schools and the whole education system of cruelty, but there's no community. So he comes back. He's got a wife. He's got four or five kids, and what's his immediate concern, how to put food in their mouth. So he comes back he becomes a furniture salesman.
After six years of study in Medina, he comes back here and he's a furniture salesman.
Oh, he's working in the prisons as a chaplain.
That's the situation of the brothers who graduated and come back and I can
List 10 brothers here, they're either furniture salesman or of the likes,
or their chaplain, the vast majority of chaplains in the prisons. And it's also says, chapter in the prisons are good No, put the chaplain in the prisons, who is teaching people how to make the door shut to Allah, hey, do you need to study six years in Medina to come back and do that.
So it means that brother's knowledge is being wasted, underutilized.
And it isn't his job to create the community is the job of those here to create the community that he can slot into, because he may not be a leader.
Most of the brothers they may, you know, they are they're individuals, but individuals are a desire to get the knowledge, familiar with desire to teach, but they're not leaders in the sense that they have
charisma, or they have a way of speaking, which will motivate people sososo
majority maybe not like that way at all. But educator, yes. So for educators, networks, fundamentally, those the ones that come back to their educators, then we must provide a structure in which they can come in and function as educators, where they can come in and put their energies into that and not be concerned, you know, 95% of the time, we're just trying to put food in the mouths of their children.
So the issue, I mean, to look at it fairly, is not just that brothers are going overseas, and they're the leaders and they're not coming back. And the problem is here.
The problem is here,
we here have to come together, laws were serious. And there are serious people from all of the various communities that exist, no serious people need to come together, put their heads together, and start to systematically established the necessary infrastructure for community. So we can utilize the knowledge etc, of those brothers who are going elsewhere to get these, you know, skills, etc. You know, we don't have Muslim clinics. So brother, he has a choice between bringing his wife back here, and having her she has to go to a clinic and expose after living in Saudi Arabia, where you're into, you know, hey, job,
your wife doesn't go, you know, she goes to female nurses, female doctors, everything, and he comes back here, and he's got to go to a male doctor.
He has a choice between that. So keep it away from this, you know, you're putting his back up against the wall, you have no Muslim school, his children are and you take his children out of, you know, the east, for example, where they're studying and within schools and was relatively Muslim environments, and go and throw them into the public school system, you know, you're putting his back up against the wall.
So the infrastructure has to be done here. And this is one of the things that I tell the brothers all the time to, by the way, come back and say, Brother, you create the community for me. I'll be glad to come back. I'll be one of the first to come back.
You know, but for me to come back here and start working in the prisons is foolish. I realize it's foolish, it would be a disservice. Having spent 10 years studying the dean, for me to come back here and become a chaplain teaching in a womb in the prisons is nonsense. So I prefer this to settle myself in a in a particular place where I'm involved in Islamic work, giving Dawa, you know, to many people, people who are coming in those who came in the military after the war, and I was involved in that situation. You know, now in the UAE, where I am in the dollar center, you know, we have
every every month 1015 people coming into Islam, there are there are most of the people are Filipinos, but Philippines is another area. For our that matter of fact, outside of America, the largest group of people coming into Islam now are Filipinos, out of every 100 people accept Islam, you know, in Saudi Arabia, 80 out of them are Filipinos, you know, so Philippines right now is a very ripe fertile ground for Islam. So in Abdullah enough, I feel that you know, I don't feel that my efforts, you know, that I'm not involved islamically in terms of Dawa terms of education. So So and then being there. I have a chance to write the books, which are educating the brothers here. You
know, how many brothers came to me here and told me, you know, brother, I was going to be a dancer, but your book saved me.
You know, the brothers who are here, who came back, studied and came back. They were so involved in just trying to put food in their mouth, they had no time to sit in the right.
So hamdullah you know, by staying on that side, I had the opportunity to write and bring them information.
We're here to help provide a literary foundation for correct Islam here in America. So, you know, we all have a part to play. You know, I'm, and don't think that you know, I'm not I'm very much concerned and in favor of working in this environment here too. But I also have a responsibility to my family, knowing that I cannot throw them into a situation which would cause their destruction when I have another option.
So I choose to remain on that side, though, still trying to come back and encourage people towards establishing the community, the infrastructure and garden establishing, writing, you know, lecturing and, and currently, I'm trying to work with some of the other brothers who are graduates as well as brothers who have, you know, high academic qualifications to try to set up a
correspondence,
college level, or diploma level courses for Arabic and Islamic Studies. For United States, we need to do this, this is something which really needs to be done because vast majority of people can't go overseas and study. But there are many people here would like to be involved in some courses of study. Now, immigrant Muslims have come here and tried to do it for us, but it's never succeeded.
Because always the immigrant concerns are foremost. So the Slavic University in
in Chicago, it was how many people really benefited from it, very few, it became a means for foreign students coming over here wanting to learn English, they channeled through there, before going into their various other programs, the
branch of remembers the South University of Washington is all Arabic. So the vast majority, nobody here, you know, of the indigenous Muslims can benefit from it, you know, all the people who are going there and when they are studying are Arab.
Americans,
or Arab immigrants who are here going and not really doing not benefited. So it is necessary for us
who know what our needs are, to set up institutions here, that can be a more universal benefit.
So this is what I'm presently working, currently working with some brothers here to try to set up the structure necessary to have such a, an open university type situation of correspondence where people can take different courses on Islam, you know, through correspondence.
Okay, we'll take a question from the floor, and then we'll take another.
Yes.
Just two quick points. I'll call for many attempts, and correct me if I'm wrong. And if you could briefly reiterate this particular point that you were talking about when the when there was this big migration of soldiers to the Gulf area, you mentioned the fact that I believe, and again, correct me if I'm wrong, that Christian chaplains boss, whomever, converted to Islam during that time. But that's not my main point.
Talking about the brothers come out of the prisons, a lot of them who go back to the old ways, their problems are usually on drug addiction, alcohol and things of this nature.
If you are familiar with an uncle boss will comment on any efforts to address this within the people who have accepted a slam. So they are once again attracted to this. I'm familiar with one particular
small group in my town of Boston, and I've heard of one in San Francisco that attempt to address this, because the only other alternative that some of the people go to address this addiction problem. These are na groups or these eight groups whose primary poisonous idea is that your higher power can be anything that you choose. I mean, and for me, that automatically just makes it no good. I was wondering if you knew anything, or anybody who has had an effort in this area? Well, I've met in the course of other
conferences, that you hear in different cities, and others in Washington and elsewhere, who are trying to set up no drug addiction programs in Philadelphia, you know, and this information we need to this is where the the the
network, computer network type situation needs to be developed properly across the country. So people who are making such efforts can pull the efforts, benefits from each other's experiences, you know, to be able to develop programs which will help those who are coming out to have the drug problems, etc. so that I could dismiss the sound that I've heard other people. I can't give a specific name here, but I just in Atlanta when I was done Atlanta, two brothers, one from Washington, one from Philadelphia was speaking to me about this, you know, and they were suggesting they want to send the program that they had developed to me, I gave him my address.
To look it over and see, you know, give them some suggestions or make sure that what they developed was consistent with Islamic teachings.
The other issues concerning the chaplains, yes, we had recorded in our particular center 11 chaplains who had converted to Islam
as well.
Two quick issues in terms of
how
some brothers in Russia recently of equality amongst the rest of the world, in terms of stashing,
could you touch on this visibility of this theme of Democrat or Republican Muslim touch on that really quickly, in terms of fighting? too far?
miscibility of this as a clarify for the brothers, why it's okay. To be in the army. You know, what's powerful democracy.
Okay, brothers to issues brothers and sisters.
Say it again, for the sisters who couldn't hear one first issue was concerning the concept of voting in elections, you know, being a democrat or republican Muslim. And the other one was the permissibility of Muslims being in the military, you know, and serving an army, which has
its own policies, which fundamentally are not Islamic. So they are serving have committed themselves to serve a non Islamic
system.
With regards to the voting,
as far as I
could see,
voting
may be a means
of
helping to choose the lesser of two evils.
Not that our solution, the solution for problems in America lie in voting,
that we are going to elect the president.
I mean, this is something very far fetched.
But if we see two disbelievers struggling amongst themselves for leadership, leadership of a country in which we live, and we have a means to
help one defeat the other who is a lesser evil than the other, then this principle of trying to minimize the
possible harm that can come to the community is a valid principle.
Right?
You know, as far as actually becoming
a representative of one of the parties and one, you know, this is another situation. And because once you get into the system itself, you know, there are so many restrictions that you become useless. You're just a figurehead, even if you say you're a Muslim, whatever, you can't really work on behalf of Muslims. However, in the voting process,
adding votes to the lesser of the two evils in terms of those who are seeking leadership.
In my view, I don't see any harm in doing that, because you just try to avoid a a greater evil
in terms of the military, and that means then that you know,
that you're not you don't as I said, you don't become a part of the party or you're campaigning for the democrats or the you know, getting caught up in that process. No, I'm not. I'm not suggesting that. But I'm suggesting that for example, in a given Muslim community, the Imam or people who are knowledgeable there may either make pamphlets or explain to people, the two issues that are involved, you know, if one there is, it is it is it is more in the interest of Muslims to support by voting for one party over another, then this is explained to the community. Those who wish to do so you know,
The standing that it is just trying to avoid the lesser of the two evils as opposed to joining the party and campaigning for the party. You know, it can be done in that way. something to that effect. The yeah to
the point is that reference labels
are the approaches, because our people come
to view with
the lesser of two evils is still evil, we're supposed to enjoy the good
that we know about his Senate, you know, the
response to this idea of lesser of two evils is that the lesser one is still evil.
But
is the anybody who has understood
principles of Islamic law.
This is a principle which is well known in the science of Islamic law,
that view
where there are two circumstances most of which are evil.
For you to try to avoid the greater evil
is well known. For example, if a person has a choice between
fornication and masturbation, most of which are to do
Islam does not promote or recommend masturbation attractive, but if one is put in this situation, was this greater evil, fornication or masturbation? No, every Muslim scholar will catch most of it.
Is this something which is not you know,
a principle which is not got many, many other applications. For example, when
when was ineligible, was being tortured to death? Right. And his his masters were calling on him to say the words of Cooper to say that mom is our solemn was a magician, you know that his gods are Latin.
Right? he said.
And when Francois Salim learned about it, and he asked him was your heart filled with the man? And he said, Yes. We said, if they do it to you again, say it again. Okay, evil, the evil to say problems, I sell them the magician. Their allies, not our Lord. Right, I say evil for the greater evil to lose your life.
So to to prevent that good to evil, you do that lesser evil. There's a principle I said it is throughout the city, your stars is not something I know theoretically, God is still evil, but
the fact of taking the lesser one to avoid a greater one is a fact of Islamic law.
Okay.
The other point in terms of the military,
some scholars hold
in all fairness, some scholars hold that Muslims should not be in the military of another country
understand the country or have an Islamic system.
Right? For example, in Egypt or any other country, Sudan or any other country where Islam Islamic law is not the law
then
most of them should not be a part of its infrastructure okay and traditionally, the Muslim scholars etc used to avoid You know, when the made
kings to power
Muslim scholars fled from this from the centers of leadership would not be a part of the structure the infrastructure in general this is the early policy which led to the rise of
the appearance and the rise and flowering and
proliferation of markups.
However,
again,
you have also a large body of Muslim scholarship which hold that it is permissible.
You are here in this country.
As an American
there are certain things expected of you.
You have a choice to do them or not to do them.
Your position inside of the general society or your position inside of the military, you know, are quite similar.
We need people who should be trained
militarily, to fight on behalf of Muslims to help Muslims.
We had 100. Now, after the Gulf War,
we had brothers who had accepted Islam would come back with that military left the military went to Bosnia. And we're training the Bosnians
helping them in their struggle.
And dow has to become, you know, can be conveyed in all of the various facets of the society.
And
to do it effectively within the military, it needs to be done by people in the military. So for our purposes, for training purposes, for
just the purpose of being within the system, a system to be able to know what is going on and to be able to, to be able to feed information to the community when it needs to be fed, etc. to hover a touch, you know, it's like people within
who can benefit the community, from the point of view of information from financial protection as well as from point your dollar is is important.
And on the basis of that, I mean, and I tell you, honestly, I've spoken to leading scholars, you know, like, Chef, Benji Breen, who is considered, you know, one of the leading scholars of Saudi Arabia on this issue, because I worked with the Saudi Arabian Air Force headquarters, stomach affairs department, I was director of the dollar section sector sector of it. And so I was dealing with the military people, people coming into this vibe and these type of problems. And I sat with
some of the leading scholars and ask them what you know, was their opinion, with regard to those in the military.
And
the opinion and number of a number of the level, I won't say all, but opinion of a number of them, the majority of them was that it was permissible to this is what happened actually, for example, in Saudi Arabia itself.
The religious people used to avoid the military.
And the police would avoid it in Saudi Arabia, because these were dens of corruption.
Right? Most of these people that came over trained over in America, etc. And they brought back all the corruption with them. So drugs and all these kind of things is known amongst the military people in Saudi Arabia and the police.
However, she happened some years back about
16 years ago, he made a fatwa that the religious people should join the military
and join the police. Because, as he put it, if religious people didn't come in, then it's only going to get worse, he's not going to get better the situation will never improve.
Just getting from worse to worse. And they become you know, in in Muslim countries and countries in general, the military, the police and the military, is what's used ultimately to enforce refreshing you know, on the people you know.
So it's very important that these instruments be infiltrated for the protection of the masses of the Muslim.
So what has happened for example, I know in the Air Force now, where it was considered unheard of,
for people to be praying and growing beards, and all these kind of things now at the headquarters where I was when the summer comes, everybody's, you even have, you know, certain brothers who go out and check the offices and people who are found that praying they get in trouble for not going down and making some
you know, this is the After Effects I mean, we set up dollar centers and other bases and the brothers were the head of the dollar centers and I got one and the head of the dollar centers the two brothers who headed these are
tornado pilots. You know, captain's put tornado pilots, you know, with full beards. And, you know, very dynamic weather wasn't our before as you know, the general who's the head of mind section that told me say when he first came in, you know, the parade Sergeant would come up next to them and rub his hand on their cheeks and if you found any kind of resistance, means they hadn't shaved, you know, clean as a whistle. He had them running around the parade.
scooping and doing push ups.
That's all changed.
I mean, it's not to say that the beard means that this is law, but it is it is a, it is a point that the system there is backing off.
And Islamic values etc are coming in, you see all of the brothers who who are involved in the South Wales department sososo, and many of them out in the Air Force, they're wearing their pants, there are shorts, you know, above the ankle.
I mean,
they had under their belt, you know, this insignia of eagle and that they all broke it off.
As far as they did that, you know, 10 years ago, that would be big problems. But, you know, the military is backing off, these things are slowly but surely, you know, change is taking place within that military structure. And so if, for example, sometime in the future, you know, there is a move for change in terms of leadership or whatever, the military will not be a tool, a ready tool of that leadership, to repress the masses of people write, for example, in Algeria, because the fact that Muslims are not infiltrated the, the Algerian military system sufficiently, I mean, it doesn't say no efforts will be made, some efforts will be made, but it had not manifest itself to right up to
leadership type positions. So that military, they were able to just catch the few who are religious people who put them off in concentration camps out in the desert, and then the rest of the military went to work on the population.
So, this is a it is very important, I mean, especially in situations like this minority situations, that the we utilize whatever
segments of the infrastructure can be utilized for the benefit of the Muslim community, that we utilize it. For example, we can also even get into issues of for example, being a lawyer,
a lawyer, a lawyer in the system, meaning that you are judging by other than what a law judge
does, he also I discussed with scholars,
the vast majority of them agreed
that, yes, it is permissible for Muslims to become lies in the system,
in order to, to protect the Muslim community community from greater harm. Because if you don't have Muslim liars, and we have to go to
normal
interest is just money and whatever Are you compared to most and will do it for you, you know, so it's a whole, you, you will not be able to Muslim community will be at a loss, it will not have people who are going to be looking out for the interest within that legal system. So we do need to have the slides but of course, a Muslim lawyer, he is limited in the scope of his practice,
you know, person is going to go into law should know that he's not going to end up a millionaire like these other characters, you know, he's not going to make 200,000 because he can't take any case that comes to him, those he knows the guy is a criminal, and he's gonna defend him. He does, he cannot, you know, drugs, and you know, all these different all the things which he knows to be wrong, he cannot defend.
He either defends the rights of Muslims, or you can defend the rights of non Muslims where actual rights are involved. These people have been oppressed, you know, Hamas come to them. He's defending their rights. But to take the side of a criminal because he's saying your fat salary. No, you can't do it. So this was the Maya is limited in the scope of his practice.
Similarly, you know, other
areas within the infrastructure, here we are here, either we are leaving or who plan to stay, then we have to
be involved, to the degree that is necessary to protect the interests of the community. We have to be careful about our intentions in going into these different things that we go in with that intention of protecting the Muslim community.
Our time is getting away from here. We're actually supposed to stop at 12 for lunch. It's now caught after we have a few questions from the sisters here. We could go on and on and we say
okay, we can answer a couple of the questions and then the session that we're having later, which was the dollar session was basically a question and answer session anyway, because people were supposed to bring questions pertaining to dollar in. Right. I hope you all have been writing down some questions to bring
into that session, and there, you know, we can address general questions. So we will have a whole hour,
hour and a half from 430 to six, which will just be for questions and answers inshallah. So this time we'll ask, we have some assistance here.
Well, let's take we'll take if we can give me given quick answers, and we can answer all three, but it's gonna take some time. Let me just answer one of them.
I'll do the,
put the microphone closer so that they can hear the question, as you're reading
says, This lecture is one of the reasons I want to make him go to an Islamic country.
This lecture is one of the reasons I want to make him go to an Islamic country to protect myself and to male children. Is not that I want not to work on our illness here are illnesses here, but it is very little that is accepted from women.