Fatima Barkatulla – The Art Of Thankfulness – Recognize Source Of Authority
AI: Summary ©
The speakers discuss the loss of Khadija's life during the COVID-19 crisis and the importance of black privilege, including being a black woman and the privilege of being a Muslim. They emphasize the importance of seeking black status and working for it, as well as the need for preparation for tough times. The conversation also touches on Khadija's struggles, including her da absorption and struggles with rubbish and garbage removal, as well as her use of her talents and resources for Allah's sake.
AI: Summary ©
Bismillah, alhamdulillah, wa salat wa salam ala rasulillah,
dear brothers and sisters of America, assalamu alaykum
wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.
I want to start by saying to you
my dear American brothers and sisters that I'm
so honored to be able to speak to
you today.
This is the first time I've come to
America and so you are the first American
audience that I've ever had the pleasure to
speak to and so really I want to
first of all acknowledge you.
I want to acknowledge you my American brothers
and sisters for being the standard bearers of
family values and morality in America at a
time when shaitan has been seeking to sink
his claws into our children.
I want to acknowledge you for standing up
against oppression and injustice with what's going on
in Palestine at the moment.
Especially I want to thank the American Muslim
students for the role you've played in enjoining
the good and forbidding the evil within your
institutions.
I want to acknowledge you my American brothers
and sisters for staying the course during the
last 10 to 20 years where you as
Muslims were being targeted and demonized and attacked
in the media.
You stood true to your values when for
some of you I know holding on to
your deen, holding on to your faith was
like holding on to hot coals.
I know you wanted to give up but
you persevered.
I want you to know that the world
is watching you as American Muslims and when
you rise, when you stand your ground, when
you hold on to your principles, even when
it's hard to do so, you win our
respect and you inspire us and people all
over the world.
And with that I will move on to
the topic for today and that is the
topic of privilege.
Now my talk is actually about our mother
Khadija and the privilege that she had.
But of course we are inspired with the
topic of privilege through the Prophet Suleyman alayhi
salam.
Because Suleyman alayhi salam was very conscious of
the fact that he was very privileged.
Allah says in the Quran وَلَقَدْ عَاتَيْنَا دَاوُودَ
وَسُلَيْمَانَ عِلْمًا Suleyman alayhi salam and Dawood they
knew they had this special knowledge from Allah.
وَقَالَ الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ الَّذِي فَضَّلَنَا عَلَى كَثِيرٍ مِّنْ
عِبَادِهِ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ And they both said الحمد لله
who has blessed us, who has given us
privilege over many of his believing servants.
They also acknowledge in Surah An-Naml that
we have been taught the language of birds
and on us has been bestowed all things.
Allah has given us everything we could ever
want.
This verily is an evident grace from Allah.
This is a privilege from Allah they said.
So I want to ask you my dear
brothers and sisters what privileges do you have?
And I actually want you to actually you
know note down when you have some time
this question.
What privileges do I have?
What are my unfair advantages?
And there's a brilliant book on this topic
unfair advantage by a brother called Hassan Kubba.
I encourage you to look it up.
Every single one of us has advantages.
Every single one of us has privileges whether
we recognize them or not.
Your passport could be a privilege that you
have.
Even just coming here to America you know
I got my wonderful ESTA visa.
You know being a Brit you can just
get fast-tracked through.
Another brother Egyptian brother unfortunately he was held
for hours.
Subhanallah the privilege of a passport.
Maybe your privilege is your family, your lineage
or the reputation of your you know your
family in your community.
Perhaps your privilege is your accent.
By the way I've heard that Americans think
British people are clever because of our accent.
I don't know if that's true.
I intend to take full advantage of your
perception of me with my accent today.
Your social status might be a privilege that
you have right.
Your being a Muslim could be your privilege.
Who understands what I mean by Muslim privilege?
You know we talk about white privilege right?
People talk about white privilege.
I'm not saying there's no such thing as
white privilege of course.
Britain and America with the history of colonialism
and slavery and all of the things that
come with it.
Of course there are systemic ways in which
you know white privilege might present itself.
But have you ever thought to yourself that
actually I have Muslim privilege and what do
I mean by Muslim privilege?
I mean this is my definition of Muslim
privilege.
The confidence and the resilience that comes with
having Allah's guidance in your life.
Truly that is a privilege that many and
that most of mankind do not have.
Brothers and sisters say alhamdulillah.
So I want you to think about what
privileges you might have.
You know what sorts of things that we
have are privileges.
Maybe the city that you were born in.
Now I'm gonna turn to a woman of
privilege and I'm gonna give you five lessons
from her life that we can internalize and
inshallah we can act upon.
The woman that I'm talking about is Khadija
and as brother mentioned I wrote a book
about Khadija.
So I had the privilege of researching her
life and five big lessons really spoke to
me when it came to our mother Khadija.
The first live for a vision beyond your
own life.
Live for a vision beyond your own life.
Khadija what was her privilege?
She was from an upper-class family in
Mecca.
One of the most connected cities in that
region.
Okay she had the biggest caravan in Mecca.
One of the biggest.
So we're not just talking about a little
corner shop.
You know she has literally like a corporation
that she's running.
She had wealth that she had inherited from
her husband and she had status.
She was like a celebrity in the city
of Mecca and yet what do we see?
We see that everything she went through in
her life she did so without seeing the
fruit of that effort manifested in its full
form.
What do I mean by that?
Khadija died, passed away in Mecca.
She lived and she toiled and all of
the work that she did was during the
Meccan period.
This was a time of difficulty, a time
of oppression, a time when when the Muslims
were really persecuted.
So in a way you could say she
died, passed away at a low point for
the Muslims just before the Hijra.
She never got to see Islam flourishing in
Medina.
She never got to see the establishment of
the first masjid.
She never got to see the conquest of
Mecca and yet she did the work anyway.
And yet today all of us sitting here
today we are thousands of miles away from
Mecca and yet we are the fruit of
Khadija's efforts.
Are we not?
Khadija, the one who bankrolled the dawah of
Islam.
We are the fruit of her efforts.
Imagine how happy she'd feel to see that
Islam had spread to the four corners of
the world.
She never got to see that.
The message for us is we might not
get to see the fruit of our efforts
in our lifetimes but we must do the
work anyway.
We must do the work anyway.
The second lesson from Khadija's life in the
way that she used her privilege is to
seek your status with Allah.
Seek your status with Allah.
When the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam came
down from the mountain and he was confused
about what had happened, he went, she took
him to Waraqa bin Nawfal.
And what did Waraqa say?
Waraqa bin Nawfal, her cousin, he said to
the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam and Khadija,
the two celebrities, the celebrity couple of Makkah,
he said to them, I wish I was
a young man.
I wish I was a young man so
that I could help you when your people
throw you out.
And the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam and
Khadija, they must have looked at each other
in that moment.
Because Khadija and the Prophet were loved.
They were beloved people of that city.
And yet they looked at each other and
the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, are
they really going to throw me out?
And Waraqa says, yes, anyone who has come
with a message like yours has always been
persecuted.
Now in that moment Khadija had a choice.
She didn't have to stay the course.
She didn't have to stand by the Prophet
sallallahu alayhi wa sallam side, if you think
about it.
Nobody was forcing her.
Yet she chose not the status that she
would have in this life of being the
most celebrated woman of Makkah.
She chose her status with Allah.
And yes, she was persecuted for it.
Yes, she lost some of her status with
the people of Makkah for a short time.
But eventually, look at us here today.
We're mentioning our mother Khadija.
She is on the lips of all Muslims.
You know, when we think of the seerah
of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam.
So ultimately, she gained her status in this
life and with Allah.
The message for us, do not fear losing
your status in this life.
You know, sometimes people, they don't want to
wear hijab or they find it difficult manifesting
the fact that they're Muslims.
They might be embarrassed to pray in public.
They might be embarrassed to tell their boss,
you know, there's certain things I can do,
certain things I don't want to do.
Why?
Because they sometimes, it's because they fear a
loss of status.
So the message for us is, don't fear
losing your status.
If you put Allah first and your status
with Allah first, not only will he give
you status in the next life, he will
also give you the status in this life
in a way that you could never have
imagined.
The third lesson, patiently persevere in the face
of ignorance.
You know, Khadija radhila anha, she had a
house where there was a courtyard.
I did research into this.
There was part of her house that was
without a roof.
And Abu Lahab and his wife used to
send the street urchins and the slaves of
the city to go and throw rubbish, or
I should say garbage, okay, over the walls
of Khadija's house.
And we're talking about rotting, disgusting things, the
carcasses of animals and things like this.
So just imagine, Khadija radhila anha, she's sitting
in her home with her children and suddenly
all this rubbish, garbage is thrown over the
walls of her house.
She had to go through that patiently.
When Khadija radhila anha's baby passed away, imagine
you're going through that difficulty of a child.
It wasn't a very small baby.
Some scholars say he was a few years
old.
A baby that you love, a child that
you love, passes away.
And then the entire city is mocking you.
They're making up poems about you.
They're calling your husband abtar.
Muhammad is abtar.
Sallallahu alayhi wasallam.
And then of course Allah reveals in the
Qur'an, inna shaniaka huwal abtar.
They are the ones who are cut off.
You're not the one who's cut off.
Your lineage is not cut off.
Imagine going through that.
That is true Islamophobia, isn't it?
The hatred that you're getting from your society.
If the best of people had to go
through that, then we too, brothers and sisters,
must be prepared for tough times.
As Umar bin al-Khattab said, ikh shawshinu,
toughen up.
Because good times don't last forever.
Be prepared for the tough times, as our
mother Khadija was.
The fourth lesson, be a tool for Allah's
sake.
Be a tool for Allah's sake.
Khadija, what were the talents that she had?
What were the resources that she had?
She had money.
She had wealth.
She had a company that could support her
husband.
She had status, so she could invite people
to her home, to invite them to Islam.
She used the resource and talent that she
had for the sake of Allah.
Every dinner that you hear that the Prophet
ﷺ organized for the Meccans, you should think
about Khadija being one of the people who
was behind that.
The key person who was behind that.
Every bit of support that she gave him,
in the unique way that she could.
The lesson for us, brothers and sisters, is,
how can we use our talents and resources
for the sake of Allah, in the way
that Khadija did?
Every single one of us has resources and
talents that we can use.
Not necessarily monetary.
Maybe it's the way you write.
Maybe it's your voice.
Maybe it's a particular skill that you have,
or a particular role that you see that
people keep calling on you for.
That's your talent.
That's your skill.
Use it for the sake of Allah.
And the final lesson from the life of
Khadija, be the backbone of your family.
And I say this to the sisters in
particular.
Who was the one who used to climb
up a mountain to give food to her
husband, who's gone there for days on end?
Who was the one who the Prophet ﷺ
found comfort in?
When we talk about Khadija as a businesswoman,
we're not talking about a woman who used
to put her high heels on and go
out to work every day.
That's the kind of impression that people give,
right?
She was a mompreneur, if you like.
She was a mother with many children, and
she had people managing her business for her.
But the key role that she had, the
thing that sometimes we don't acknowledge, or people
don't like to acknowledge or cheer about, is
that she was a loving wife and a
supportive homemaker.
Somebody who the Prophet ﷺ needed, he said,
I was, he said, I was nurtured and
enriched with her love.
And he said about her, she had faith
in me when people rejected me.
She believed in me when people disbelieved me.
She supported me with her wealth when the
people prevented me.
And Allah blessed me with children through her
and not through any other wife.
So, the message from that for us, especially
as sisters, is that we have a great
power in being the most influential person in
the lives of our children, in the lives
of our families.
We get to set the culture of our
households.
Any work that our husbands do, that the
menfolk in our families do, if we support
them, we do not get any less reward.
We get that reward too.
So to recap, number one, live for a
vision beyond your own life.
Number two, seek your status with Allah.
Number three, patiently persevere in the face of
ignorance.
Number four, be a tool for Allah's sake.
And number five, be the backbone of your
family.
I pray that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
allows us to recognize the privileges and blessings
that we have and to use them in
the short time that we have on this
earth, brothers and sisters.
Time is short.
In a hundred years, there will be a
whole new generation here.
And the greatest blessing we have is the
blessing of Islam.