Haifaa Younis – Interview with Sh Omar Suleiman at Jannah Institute – Women Education Center

Haifaa Younis
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The speaker discusses the importance of Islamic education in shaping people's minds and bringing faith to their hearts. They emphasize the need to nurture faith in a structured way and encourage parents to focus on the beauty of Islam. The speaker also addresses questions about the age of students and the importance of learning about all faiths to encourage them to pursue their passions.

AI: Summary ©

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			As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.
		
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			We are in Jannah Institute, Women Education Center
		
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			that we opened recently and Allah subhanahu wa
		
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			ta'ala blessed us with the presence of
		
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			Sheikh Omar Suleiman.
		
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			Jazakumullah khayr for coming.
		
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			A pleasure to be here.
		
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			Absolutely.
		
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			I know it's a tight schedule so we're
		
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			going to do this.
		
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			The most important thing we want to talk
		
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			about is the importance of Islamic education in
		
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			the United States and having Islamic institutes for
		
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			that.
		
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			Alhamdulillah, As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.
		
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			SubhanAllah, we often think about how to build
		
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			bricks, how to build places, how to put
		
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			the next chandelier on or carpet the next
		
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			space or accommodate the cars, but we don't
		
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			think enough about generational faith and how we're
		
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			going to pass that down from generation to
		
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			generation.
		
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			Alhamdulillah, we're starting to see the birth of
		
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			many institutions and many educational institutes that are
		
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			focused on nurturing faith in people's hearts.
		
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			We've been focused, Alhamdulillah, quite a bit on
		
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			how to integrate efforts, how to make sure
		
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			that we're complementing efforts, inshaAllah ta'ala, that
		
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			we're working together to bring people closer to
		
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			Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, embody the messenger
		
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			of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, Sunnah, in
		
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			the best way possible and to make faith
		
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			a lived experience bi-idhnillahi ta'ala.
		
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			Why the youth should and parents should focus
		
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			as they focus on secular education.
		
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			I think that the happiest moment for me
		
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			in seeing this place was not seeing the
		
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			place itself, but was seeing the age of
		
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			the kids that are here.
		
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			A lot of times we wait to teach
		
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			people the seriousness of faith after they have
		
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			already reached a critical point in their lives
		
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			and they're already off to college and that's
		
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			when we're trying to reach them.
		
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			Alhamdulillah, I mean by teaching the serious concepts
		
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			of faith in a way that's compelling and
		
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			in a way that's palatable from now, you
		
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			ensure inshaAllah ta'ala that they have those
		
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			concepts in place to protect themselves and also
		
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			to practice and preach the religion in the
		
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			best of ways, no matter what environment they
		
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			go into.
		
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			So the first question I got asked by
		
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			a young man, mashaAllah, in your class was
		
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			Umar, another Umar, mashaAllah.
		
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			I don't know his age, I don't want
		
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			to guess, he's 12, mashaAllah, and he asked
		
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			about evolutions.
		
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			So alhamdulillah, these questions are being asked, but
		
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			they're also being answered from an Islamic paradigm,
		
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			from an Islamic perspective.
		
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			So I think that we have to change
		
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			the mindset of trying to fix and correct
		
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			and recalibrate later on to trying to nurture
		
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			faith as early on, bismillah ta'ala, in
		
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			these kids' hearts inshaAllah, and teach them the
		
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			beauty of Islam in a structured way.
		
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			May Allah bless Jannah Institute for working hard
		
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			to teach people of all faiths and all
		
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			backgrounds about the beauty of Islam and all
		
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			ages, alhamdulillah, I mean about the beauty of
		
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			Islam.
		
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			May Allah azza wa jalla allow this institute
		
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			to flourish and to be a means by
		
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			which you enter Jannah and all of us
		
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			enter Jannah as well, allahumma ameen.