Hamza Tzortzis – Standing up for Islam

			Oh, last word
		

			Smilla Rahmanir Rahim Al hamdu lillah wa Salatu was Salam ala Rasulillah. Brothers and sisters and
friends, I agree to the warmest is I mean greetings of peace as salam Wa alaykum Warahmatullahi
Wabarakatuh.
		

			So today's topic is an interesting topic is about standing up for the truth. And we're going to try
to link the story of the people of the cave to this idea. Now it is well known that we know that in
this story, that these youth had a special love for Allah subhanho wa taala. And significantly, they
had a connection to what we know as tel heat, which is affirming the Oneness of Allah subhanho wa
taala. And they were living in a time where a king was basically trying to force them to do Chinook,
which is, as you know, the greatest sin and the greatest crime anyone could commit. And these youth,
what did they do? They actually spoke to the king, they stood up to the king, and they advise the
		

			king, and they had this kind of patience, and it's the karma and steadfastness for the truth. And
what happened, as you know, in the story is that the king gave them a few days, because maybe they
will change their mind. And if they didn't change their mind, what the king would do, is basically
stone them to death or kill them. And this is basically the crux of the story. Now, what's very
interesting is what Allah subhanho wa Taala says, In the Quran, Allah says, and we strengthened
their hearts when they stood to the king. And they said, Our God is the God of the heavens and the
earth, our up. Our Lord is the Lord of the heavens and the earth. We will never worship any other
		

			gods, any other idols besides him, Allah, because if we do, indeed, we have strayed very far from
the truth. And what's very interesting is what the youth continued to say. They said, these our
people have taken for worship gods other than him. But why have they not given clear reasoning for
worshipping these idols, who are more cruel than those who have created lies against Allah subhanho
wa taala. So when they said this to the king, and they announced this, they gave a form of Dawa,
they were calling the king, to the Oneness of Allah subhanho wa taala, to the word worship of Allah
subhanho wa taala. And they knew that after those few days, those days that the king allowed them to
		

			have just in case they would change their mind, they knew that if they remained on Tao he'd they
remained on the Oneness of Allah subhanho wa taala, they will be killed. So they made the DUA, and
they said to Allah, our Lord, bestow on us mercy from yourself and facility for us, and affair in a
right way, facilitate the best consequences for us. And as you know, Allah subhanho wa Taala a few
Ayat after answered the DUA answered the call. And Allah said to go into this cave, going into the
cave was a manifestation of the Mercy of Allah subhanho wa taala. So I want to ask a question. Now.
Now we've got the background knowledge concerning the story.
		

			Is our situation in the West? Is our situation the United States of America, similar to the
situation of the people of the cave?
		

			No, it's not. And I'll tell you why. It's not because no one's being killed just because you go to a
masjid. No one is being threatened concerning their lives just because you are worshipping Allah
subhanho wa taala. Yes, we have scenarios here and there. But generally speaking, we live in an
environment where we have freedom of religion, you can worship Allah subhana wa taala. Some of the
greatest massages I have seen in my travels has been the massage in the United States of America.
Some of the greatest Islamic institutions I have experienced all around the world are the ones that
I have experienced in the United States of America. Some of the greatest Muslims I have seen, the
		

			ones who are close to Allah subhanho wa Taala have been the Muslims in the United States of America.
So from this perspective, we don't really face the same type of calamity as the people of the cave.
So I want to do a top bar here. I want to basically ponder on this story and gain some love
		

			essence, because we know the status of the people of the cave, and we wouldn't be like them. So my,
my, my pondering my reflection on this story is as follows. If our situation is not the same, we're
not really being threatened, yet concerning our lives with regards to worshiping Allah subhanho wa
taala. When if the people of the cave were alive today, if the people of the cave were alive today,
what do you think they will do?
		

			Something to think about. Now my reflection is as follows. If the people of the cave were alive
today, they would continue to go to the king.
		

			They will continue to give Dawa, they will continue to talk to people, and to show them the light of
Tao heed the light of worshipping Allah subhanho wa taala. Because we know brothers and sisters,
worship is a very comprehensive
		

			concept. It means to love Allah, to know Allah, to obey Allah, and to single out all acts of worship
to Allah alone. This is the comprehensive concept of worship. And if the people of the cave were
alive today, they would continue to make that call to the king and everybody else. So from this
perspective, we should learn a few lessons. And the lessons are that we should do what the people of
the cave were doing, which was calling leadership and the followers to Allah subhanho wa taala. Now
the people of the cave had to go to the cave, because we know in Islamic law and the Sharia, that
when your life is threatened when it comes to your own existence, then you could basically retreat
		

			from the fitna. But we don't live in those times. Yet, we have an amazing opportunity from Allah
subhanho wa taala, to convey this call, to call people to his oneness, and to call them to the light
of Tao heat. Now, there are some lessons that we recognize from the people of the cave. First and
foremost, they recognize false hold. They recognized what was false, because if you ponder what we
just talked about earlier, the people of the cave, the youth, they understood that what the king was
upon was false was actually shook. It was not based on any truth. The second point is they
understood that should had basis arguments, if you remember what the youth was saying, they were
		

			basically saying that, you know, there is no good reason for this. You have no authority concerning
this. There is no good arguments concerning your deviance you're should
		

			and if you mirror this, therefore, they knew that the truth, the Huck had profound arguments. They
also understood that the greatest evil was shook, as they said, Who's most cruel, isn't the most
cruel one, the one who invents lies about Allah subhanho wa Taala The other thing that we lesson
from the dour discourse is that they made to our to Allah subhana wa taala. They linked their
activism if you like, to Allah Subhana Allah to Allah and it's a good lesson for us actually,
brothers and sisters, because sometimes when we become activists, we basically sometimes think about
strategy and think about planning and think about political maneuvering, but we forget the link to
		

			Allah subhanho wa taala. So the made to our to Allah they made to us specifically for His mercy. So
these are some of the lessons so how do we now follow their path in giving Dawa and standing up to
the truth, just like they stood up to the king and conveyed the call and conveyed the fact that he
should not be on should it be should be worshiping Allah subhanho wa Taala with a way to stand up to
the truth in a 21st century context, brothers and sisters, is exactly the same way. All of the
prophets that up to the truth, and exactly the same way the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam
stood up to the truth. And now we is to give Dawa. If you look at all the stories of the prophets,
		

			all the stories of the prophets, they are not stories of what to wear. They're not stories of the
details of voodoo, they're not stories of any other form of activism. But they're essentially
stories of Dawa, calling people calling the masses to the Oneness of Allah subhanho wa Taala to the
worship of Allah. And this is very interesting because I would argue you will never truly have a
proper connection with the Quran, maybe even 1/3 of the Quran because some lmsc The stories in the
Quran, make up 1/3 of the Quran, you will never truly connect to the Quran, understand it in an
experiential sense, unless you're walking the path of the Quran. And this is a very potent,
		

			emotional spiritual driving force for us to start to give dower because you may know from a kind of
inter
		

			Lecture abstract perspective, the nuances of the stories, the linguistic kind of happenings in the
Quran concerning the stories of the prophets, and even the lessons learned. But when you truly
internalize those lessons, will you truly experience those lessons in an experiential way? Maybe
not. You have to be on the path of Dawa, to really understand these stories in a true way. And once
you understand them, then you connect them with the book of Allah subhanho wa taala. It's like, for
example, me trying to describe to you my mother's cooking, right? I come from a Greek background. My
mom makes really nice moussaka. And you know, I could describe how nice her moussaka is, you know,
		

			it's creamy, has potatoes, my mom's vegetarian, so there's no meat inside, maybe some corn. And
there you go. But it's really nice. But me describing her food doesn't make you taste the food. You
want to really appreciate the food, you have to experience it for yourself. And that's why one of
the key motivational aspects of why we should give Dawa is because we want to connect with the book
of Allah subhanho wa Taala 1/3 of the book of Allah is stories concerning the prophets, the stories
of the prophets are all about giving Dawa. So you may not be able to really experience the Quran
properly, unless you're walking this path, which is the path of Dawa and our brothers and sisters is
		

			calling people to Allah, calling people to the worship of Allah subhana wa to Allah and we know that
calling people to Allah is jihad and Kibera as Allah says in the Quran, it is the greatest struggle,
because Allah previously tells us that we must struggle, be he the Arabic terms here be he means
with it with what we must struggle with the Quran. This doesn't mean taking the Quran and hitting
people with it. By the way, it actually means that the concepts, ideas, narratives, values, in the
Quran, we must use in order to articulate a positive and compassionate case for Islam to the wider
community. And Allah describes this as Jihad and Kabira, meaning the greatest form of jihad, the
		

			greatest form of struggle. Another reason why we should give down and be just like the people of the
cave brothers and sisters, is that it gives us life. I really want to focus on this brothers and
sisters. For many of us, just like Alan was already said, in the, in the 11th century, in his book,
The Alchemy of happiness for many of us, you know, our lives can be reduced to the beast, two
aspects of humanity, survival and reproduction, you get a good job, it's for survival, you get PhD,
it's for survival, right? You buy your wife, a big huge diamond ring is for reproduction. Right?
You. I mean, think about it, you take it to Mexico, for great honeymoon, it is for reproduction.
		

			This is the instincts of the Human Being most of our lives, even when we get huge houses. It's just,
it's just for survival. Getting a great car with all this new technology to be safe. Again,
survival, reproduction, many of the things that we do in our lives can be reduced to this beast to
animal elements. I don't care how we intellectualize it, people. This is the fact of the matter,
survival and reproduction. You know, we're no different from animals, really from cows. That's what
they do. They eat, they made they reproduce, and they die us. And a lot of our lives, unfortunately,
is based on this level. Allah Ghazali. He said this in the 11th century, in his book, The Alchemy of
		

			happiness, he said, You think you know who you are, when you're angry, you fight. When you're
hungry, you eat when you're enraged by the passions, you make love. But this is not who you are.
You're no different from an animal. Your reality is in your inner self. Who are you? Who's Are you
for whom are you? Why are you and these are the critical questions and when you give dower it truly
gives you life. It gives you like an added purpose. Your life is not just about buying a big house,
having a car having five kids and then becoming one buffet dying. Your life is greater than that
Allah says in the Quran. Yay, you Hello, Dina Ave studypool Allah he will you do soon either the
		

			Akuma you EECOM or you have believed respond to the call Tao the code of Allah and His messenger to
that which gives you life. You know the URL Emma. The Scholars say that if you don't respond to this
call, it's like you're dead Muslim walking. So from this perspective, giving Dawa responding to this
call and Imam Bukhari he described this as responding to all that is good. Responding to this call
is that thing which gives you life brothers and sisters? Also, the rewards are immense. Absolutely.
We know the famous Hadith from the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, when he said if you call to
someone, if you call someone to something good, you will get the reward of that good so does it mean
		

			Imagine you get involved in the kind of narrative of the people of the cave, you are standing for
the truth, you're conveying the call. And as a result, one person becomes Muslim. That person will
get married right? Then say they'll have two kids. And then the two kids will get married, and
they'll have two kids each to. So that's about 10 people within one generation, you will be getting
the reward for the Salah, for the vicar for the reading of the Quran, for the sadaqa, for the Hajj,
for the Umrah, for the dua for the good deeds for all of these things for the Zika for 10 people
just because you facilitate one person becoming Muslim, Allahu Akbar, if you're in the reward
		

			business, if you're in the reward business brothers and sisters, Dawa is the call, thou is the call.
So, you know, and also dowry removes us from the shackles of the victimhood mindset. Wallahi
brothers and sisters, you know, I was brought up in a different reality. I came from a secular
humanist background, Greek tradition. And you know, my dad was very empowering. He didn't bring us
up to be victims. But when it came to the Muslim community at Hamdulillah, in 2002, although I loved
it, and I still love it, sometimes we could be victims admit, you know, we point the finger a lot
sometimes, right? Oh, it's design is? Oh, it's, you know, the Trump supporters. Oh, it's Fox News.
		

			Oh, it's that. What's his name? Bill O'Reilly Right. Rahmatullah Haley. You know,
		

			it's all of these people. We can't do anything. And we have this pathology could, it's we've been,
we've become victims. But I truly believe if you study the Sierra, the life of the prophet
sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, you will never ever be victims, because even in the state of chaos and
calamity, and in the state of basically being oppressed, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam
always used that situation, to empower himself and empower the believers. And this is because of the
belief in Allah subhanho wa taala. We believe everything happens because of the Qudra the power and
the erotica and the will of Allah. If it's true, that everything happens because of his will and
		

			power, then really, these things don't really have any intrinsic power, any efficacy. These are
things that Allah just uses to manifest His will. And we don't really know what Allah's Will is
going to be. And this lack of knowledge of knowing what Allah's Will is going to be, it's actually
quite empowering, because it creates an infinite realm of possibility for us to achieve what we can
without blaming anybody else. Because it's Allah that uses his physical causes in order to manifest
His will. We don't know His will, then we can achieve anything. And after trying our best brothers
and sisters, and it didn't go away, then it hamdulillah because it's all good for the believer, as
		

			we hear from the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, when something good happens to him, he's
thankful, and that's good for him. And when something of affliction happens to him, his patient, and
that's also good for him. So Tao is very important is the activism of the 21st century. It was the
activism of the Prophet sallallahu, alayhi wasallam. Let's just be real people. Is Islam the
solution or not? Yes or no? is Islam the solution? Or Islamic values? The solution? is worshiping
Allah the solution? Well, let's call to this. It's as simple as that. Let's remove the shackles of
the kind of inferiority complex that we have. And to stop calling to Allah. All we have to do is do
		

			in a compassionate and intelligent way. We know compassion is a key part of our tradition. Brothers
and sisters, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam told his wife, Aisha Radi Allahu anha, to be
kind and compassionate. Because when you have kindness and compassion in something, it elevates it,
when you remove it, it makes it ugly, and it degrades it. So if you're an authority, one of the
famous scholars of Islam, he said, When you give Dawa, you must do with intelligence, and you must
do will wrap MA with this intense mercy for people. And just to end brothers and sisters. The way to
give Tao is also very important because sometimes we like answering all the questions. Let me just
		

			give you some advice. If you're going to answer all the questions, you'll be here for 1000 years,
right? Why do you wear hijab? Why'd you go to bed? Why do you foster Ramadan? Why this? Why that? It
will go on forever. And I really believe that if we study, pseudo use of the tough chapter of the
Quran, Allah says is for the saline for those who inquire and look into the truth. We see so many
lessons in this chapter. Even failed, Josie, he said there are 1000 lessons in this chapter. There
are more lessons than I asked. And what's key here is the Tao strategy of use of Alayhis Salam. When
he was thrown in the prison, he was asked a question, and that question is about the interpretation
		

			of the dreams. Did use of Alaihe Salam
		

			I answer the question straight away. No, what did he do?
		

			Thou he spoke about Allah. He spoke about the Oneness of Allah, the fact that he deserves to be
worshipped the fact that we must love Allah know Allah obey Allah and single all acts of worship to
Allah alone. And then he answered the question, because brothers and sisters, we need to give people
the foundations, once they understand that our foundations are true, then whatever comes from truth
is true. Whatever comes from Huck is, Huck, and this is the strategy. Don't be on the backfoot be
compassionately assertive, and say to people, don't worry about these questions. In order for you to
truly understand them. You have to understand the concept of Islam. Do you have a few minutes for me
		

			to explain this to you? And if you think about it, I'm going to end right now brothers and sisters.
We all have different colored lenses. My lenses, maybe at the moment is pink, right? And I'm looking
at the wall and it's pink, and your lenses may be green, and you're saying the wall is green. We're
never gonna understand each other. If I say the wall is pink, and then you argue with me and you say
it's green. You'd be saying green, I'd be saying pink, you'd be saying green. I'm going to scream
pink. We're never going to understand each other. But the way to truly, intellectually, spiritually
empathize with each other, we have to exchange lenses. Same with the dour, allow people to see the
		

			world the way you see the world. Don't use your limited rationalizations for some things about
Islam, bring them to to the foundations, because if the foundations are true, then what comes from
this truth is true. We believe brothers and sisters that Allah subhanho wa Taala is Al Hakim, even
cathair he talks about this, and Al Hakim basically means that Allah has the totality of wisdom and
knowledge, we have fragmentary pieces, Allah has the picture, we just got the pixel. So to use our
limited experiences and unlimited Ockel to explain something sometimes is never going to represent
Allah and His messenger and his Deen. So all we need to do is bring them straight to the
		

			foundations, I like to call them the intellectual spiritual foundations. Once you show the true,
then whatever comes from truth is true. And just to end with an example, say, John comes up to me.
And he says to me, hi Hamza, nice booth, you have here, what you're doing. And I say to John John,
I'm here I'm talking about Islam, I think Islam is going to be good for you. And it's good for me.
And it's good for society, it's going to solve our problems. And we're gonna have a great time in
the hereafter in paradise. And then he says to me, oh, yeah, so why do you force your wife to cover
her face? And I'm like, Well, I don't. But why do you? Why do they wear this cloth on their head?
		

			Well, John, that's a very interesting question. I really empathize with you. Because I'm really
happy you came in asked me the question, and you didn't Google it. And I'm really happy you came to
me and you were so open enough so we can have a discussion. So really, what did you want some orange
juice here? Have some free oranges? Sit down for a while? You know, John, it's a very good question.
I had the same question too, before I converted to Islam, but I realized, in order for you to truly
understand the answer, you have to understand the concept of Islam. You got five minutes for me to
explain this to you. That's Tao people have conversations connect with people. We have a dowel
		

			course tomorrow. We have a dour course tomorrow at 2pm. Just check on your app for her to sleep, or
even my name is 2pm. We have adult course, turning Islamophobia into conversation. And we're going
to have 250 T shirts that says life just the game, yellow T shirts. We're going to walk to the
harbor. And we're going to spread some love to people because people need Islamic love. And what's
very important brothers and sisters. What you have to understand is this and I do apologize for
delaying you we have to understand that essentially Tao is a spreading love. Let me explain why. The
Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, let me know I had to come to you humbly. Enough. See, you
		

			won't truly believe you won't reach that level of Imam that we all want to reach. Unless you love
for your brother we love for yourself and this brotherhood means in Sani humanity. And now we'll be
the scholar is that this means human beings. Mr. Raja, but humbly in his compendium of knowledge and
wisdom said this means human beings. So what do we love the most? Don't we love Allah and the
messenger more than anything else? Exactly. So to be true believers we have to give this love to
others so Dawa is spreading love, love for a nurse what you love for yourself as the Prophet said in
Bukhari, join us tomorrow. Salaam aleikum wa Taala