Haitham al-Haddad – How Can Muslims Make the Most of the South African Dream
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The speakers emphasize the importance of promoting Islam in South Africa and cautioning against becoming complied with one's situation. They stress the need for better education and services for Muslims in the region, particularly in regards to the rise of Muslims. The speakers emphasize the importance of being influential in various departments and areas, including government, military, and computers. They emphasize the need for unity and collaboration in various areas, including education, media, and the economy.
AI: Summary ©
My conclusion about South Africa after this visit and meeting so
many people from different countries, Alhamdulillah, first of
all, Alhamdulillah, you have a very beautiful country. Even the
non Muslim society is welcoming, and the Muslim society is thriving
and used to be a role model for other societies, for other Muslims
in non Muslim countries, is something that needs to be
emphasized and mentioned also the globally and internationally, the
position South Africa has taken, yeah, in supporting the just cause
of the Palestinians is outstanding, and many countries,
Muslims all over the world, are so happy, so overwhelmed, so proud of
South Africa.
And we ask Allah that the new government to remain on this path
as the previous government, we heard that the ANC, they made it
clear that they will not change their position regarding
Palestine. So this is something to be, you know, mentioned and
confirmed regarding my views or my advice, if I may give you an
advice or number of things. First of all, we need to put more
attention to dawah. I learned that the existence of Islam and Muslims
in South Africa, yeah, we started maybe 300 years ago. Yeah, and
you've been in this country for around 300 years ago. Now, 300
years ago, if you just calculate just a few, number of people
accepting Islam every year. And those a few number, these 10
people, everyone 10 people accept Islam, and then everyone 10 people
accept Islam. I think by now we will see half of South Africa are
Muslims. But this is not the case. Yeah, the percentage of Muslims in
South Africa, as I understood, 1.8
which means that you have just 1.5
million Muslims, or something like this, though. So this is
something, yeah, that needs to be taken seriously. And we all know
that Adela Allah. Allah says, well, Takumin Kumar to
headwauling, well, Takumin kumma yani. This is a matter of who do.
Is not a matter of sunnah or mustaha. So this is one thing, the
and the second point is, we should be careful. You should be careful
not to be complacent with your situation. How you are doing well.
Muslims in South Africa are doing well in terms of business. They
have money. They have big houses. They have, yeah, they have their
madrasas. Masajid, big masajid. We went to amazing masajid, really. I
was so shocked to see this. Masajid, some schools, Muslim
schools, they have 700 they have big facilities. Now this might
lead us to complacency and this life, nothing remains as it is.
There is no stagnancy in this life, either you progress or you
regress. If you become if you remain stagnant, it means that you
are losing. If you become complacent, then you are losing
without, yeah, without, no. This is number two. Number three. We
spoke about so called secular education. I don't like to call it
secular education. How on earth maths is considered to be secular
education to learn JAMA, apparatus, multiplying, etc. It's
not secular education. It is education that we need it for our
deen. We need it to run ourselves, to to run our country. We needed
to, you know, manage ourselves. So that's why I really want you to
pay attention to this kind of education that some people call
secular education. And you need, we need, in South Africa to have
certificates degrees, because at one point they might be looking
for a qualified people to run the country. If you don't have
degrees, they will not come to Muslims. And in one of the non one
of the African countries, Muslims, despite the fact that they are
majority, they are the least developed that they are
disadvantaged. They are the least influential. They don't have
positions in the government. Why? Because they their scholars in the
past. Yeah, they called the secular education haram education.
So people start.
Not to send their children into what to so called secular
education, to normal schools and universities so they don't have
degrees, and when they they have the independent they want people
to run their country. They did not find Muslims ready to do that, so
they gave it to non Muslims, Christians, etc, etc, they will
not give Muslims their due rights. Okay? So this is another important
point education. I would like to see more services provided by
Muslims to the wider society. Muslims, Alhamdulillah, they have
money, they have facilities. They are working together. They should
do give more services. In fact, you know, they should do it in a
way. As we always say, instead of giving people fish to eat, teach
them how to fish. This is real empowerment, and not to give them
in a way that they feel that we are higher than them and they are
lower than us. So they will continue, because this one time
will explode, one time will be disturbed. And because some young
people with this, you know, globalization of information, they
would say, why are we treated like this? Why those people are
driving, you know, Mercedes and these luxury cars, and we are in
this devastated I want, don't want them to just give me, like, you
know, an animal, to give me some food to eat. Why? So this is
really important. Okay, then, you know this parliament now the new
government, Muslims, yeah, don't have that presence in this new
parliament, a new government, as they had before. And I was talking
to some brothers, they said, now we are not that involved in
department government tells departments, I think you need to
give more attention to this, that Muslims do exist in all especially
main departments of the government. This is crucial,
especially in five areas, political, politics, or
departments that run the political life, departments that are related
to judiciary, departments that are educational departments. Education
in general, Muslims have to be influential. Yeah, in education
and the other departments, yeah and media, and then finally,
economy. These are the five influential areas in each quote,
unquote, democratic country, apart from the military and and so I
hope that you hear the democratic not to become, you know, what is
it? Autocratic or Yeah? Dictatorship, yeah. Okay, so you
need to be influential in those departments, military. It is up to
you. I don't know about that. Okay, you need to be influential
in those areas. And in order to be influential, you need some people
who have many people have PhDs in education, PhDs in law, PhDs in
politics, and people worked in that field and this field. Allah,
Jalla. Allah called us the best of nations because of our influence.
Kun tumhai, Ram matinos, Moran Abu what does this mean to be
influential, to be effective. So this is crucial, the last to
final.
If we as Muslims are not united, we will lose
well, at a tough Unity has to be among the different madhhabs.
Unity has to be across the sect. Unity has to be across what the
racial background the Prophet Sallam says Islam is the dean of
unity. We, unfortunately, some people, they look for reasons to
differ, not for reasons to do unite of a local. Okay, at least
we should coordinate. We should coordinate in these areas. We
should coordinate in politics. We should coordinate in media. We
should coordinate in education. We should coordinate in judiciary. We
should coordinate in economy. Yes, in economy, finally, yeah, be
optimistic and work hard. Don't be complacent. Either we progress or
we regress.
InshaAllah, you will continue to progress. May Allah protect you in
your country. May Allah, Allah, empower you, and you need to
empower yourself to share the beauty of Islam with everyone.
Yeah, so they they see the light of Allah. They enjoy the light of
Allah, Amin ya Rameen, and the country will be a better country
if Islam is flourishing, definitely. Yeah, I forgot one
thing, yes, regarding social interaction. And you know, you
need to find ways to make this country safer. Because everyone I
spoke to, yeah, they were complaining about what security so
you need. Don't just say my security is that I have a big
house. I have guards. I have this company, okay, security company,
etc, your or I carry guns or no. This is selfishness, okay? So you
need to account because you we don't want to have these classes,
these that are the elite. They have security. They eat the best
food, and they we have the devastated people, no security,
even finance, no food. So maybe come together, and I strongly
advise to have like a think tank, Muslim Think Tank, yes,
South African Muslim Think Tank, to deal with these challenges,
may Allah, Jalo Allah, protect you. Just.