Hamzah Wald Maqbul – Confronting Uncomfortable Norms Racism Rayyan Institute Online Webinar January 2016
AI: Summary ©
AI: Transcript ©
The peace and blessings of Allah be upon
him and upon his noble companions
and upon his pure wives and upon his
robotic and blessed family and progeny and upon
all of those who
follow, their path until the day of judgment.
I'd first like to thank Ground Institute for
putting on this very
beneficial and important
seminar
and reminder regarding racism
just like
any other matter
in terms of the spiritual purification of a
human being.
We need to be reminded, we need to
talk about these issues. We need to be
reminded about these issues, and we need to
have a level of introspection
a level of introspection that is,
constantly with us in order to purify our
hearts from these things. It's simply not enough
to
know a concept,
rather a person should constantly remind themselves and
remind others,
in a beneficial way.
And there's nobody who's too good for that.
All of us could use that benefit.
So what I'd like to do is talk
about
this issue within the context of
within the context
of the Kitab and the Sunnah and the
life of the Sahaba,
I'd like to define a couple of concepts
and then end out,
our discussion with some practical pointers,
with regards to how to implement,
the teachings that were,
discussed,
over here today. And undoubtedly, there will be
other practical pointers
that, you know, that other people can
other people can maybe chime in,
through the chat
or other people can
send out suggestions
through email later on and we'll see if
we can incorporate some of those things into
the recording of this
video that's posted afterward.
But as with everything else, it's important first
to have the theoretical understanding.
We have to have a theoretical understanding that's
correct, the correct understanding, a correct conception of
what the problem is.
And then based on that, you'll have solutions
that are beneficial.
If your understanding is incorrect from the beginning,
then,
you know, solutions can be suggested, but they're,
you know, right action only flows from right
thought. This is the way that this is
the way our apida is laid out, and
it's a concept that all of us need
to be, in tune with.
So we start the discussion
from an eye of the book of Allah
for mankind.
Indeed, we created you from male and female
and made you into tribes and nations so
that you may know each other. Indeed, the
most honored of you with Allah
is the one who has the most taqwa,
the one who is most god fearing. Indeed,
Allah
is all knowing and all informed.
So there's a couple of things,
I guess technical terms.
We created you from 1 male and 1
female,
which means that all of us are family.
And this is a an important understanding because
of the great emphasis the messenger,
through the teachings of the Quran and through
his own,
his own speech and his own example.
And the great emphasis that the messenger, Allah
sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, gave on keeping kinship
bonds.
It is recorded that the prophet
commanded the Sahaba that when you go to
Egypt,
give them their right because they're your kin.
And he, you know, the Egyptians were not
Arabs.
They were they were a Hamitic speaking people.
They weren't even Semitic speaking people.
He went to them and he commanded the
Sahaba that they're your relatives, so treat them
with honor.
And, how are they relatives?
They're relatives because the mother of Sayna Ismail
alaihi Salam, the Hajar alaihi Salam,
was an Egyptian.
And so,
one of the things that the Egyptians remarked
one day, when they saw that the the
Sahaba were were giving this due to kinship
bonds,
they,
they they they they remarked that this is
something only a nevi will come out to,
because the kinship bonds in question are so
distant as a normal person wouldn't,
seem to conceive of other people as brothers
and sisters.
So Allah remind us again and again in
the Quran also
that we created you from one ness, and
we created from there a male and a
female like in the first ayah of Surat
al Nisa. And like in this ayah also,
of Surat al Hujarat
that you are created from 1 male and
1 female. And essentially, people are your relatives.
Whatever good you see in them, that good
is in you also. And whatever you see
that's despicable in them, that despicability also flows
through your veins.
And,
and whatever, say that you wish for yourself,
you should wish for them. And whatever say
that you do for them will also be
something that that that you will experience as
well in yourself because we're all one family.
The word shurub is the gemma of the
word shaab. The word shurub is the plural
of the word shaab, and shaab is,
a affiliation to which many tribes,
connect.
So the word,
shaab is a a large tribal grouping,
whereas Kaaba'il is a small tribal grouping.
Allah says that we, made you into shurub
and Kaaba'il.
We made you into,
tribes and nations,
so that you may know each other.
And what does it mean here to know
each other? The primary tafsir that's given for
this word, so that you may know each
other, is precisely that so that you can
identify your kinship bonds.
We're all a human family,
and we all have the right of relations
of brothers and sisters over each other. And
the person who's closer to you in relation,
their right is, is more immediate.
And the idea is not because we don't
value everybody equally, but because,
a person who, if every person took care
of their immediate relatives,
then there would be no problems, left in
the world. If everybody financially
and emotionally
and and psychologically and spiritually took care of
their own children, brothers and sisters, cousins,
then there would be no need for zakat.
There would be no need for all of
these other things except for in very rare
instances
where somebody,
by by by circumstance
happens not to have any close relatives. And
this is, part of the the philosophy of
Islam, which is,
that, you know, human
human kindness should,
do,
tasks that in the west we,
expect government to do for us.
And and that that relationship between people should
be personal. It shouldn't be institutional to the
degree that it's avoidable.
We made you into tribes and nations so
that you may know each other.
And then Allah says, but despite that, despite
knowing that knowledge and understanding who's who and
who's from where, still in the Akramakon and
the lahi at kakon.
Still, despite that, once you know all of
that information,
know that that that information doesn't tell you
about who is the most honored or the
most noble amongst you. Because the most noble
amongst you is not the one who is
from a particular family,
but it is a person who has the
most fear and the most consciousness of Allah
Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
Verily Allah is all knowing and,
all informed.
And there's a hadith of, a hadith of
Sahih Bukhari in which one of the Arabs
came to the messenger of Allah sallallahu alaihi
wa sallam,
and he asked him, who is the most
noble of people? He asked him, who is
the most noble of people?
And what he wanted from the prophet
was that he named a tribe of Arabs,
the most noble tribe of Arabs. And,
ostensibly because he thought he knew which tribe
the prophet
would name, and so that he could then
enjoy and benefit,
the the superiority in the air of of
of superiority
that would go from being affiliated with that
tribe somehow.
And the messenger, Rawa Sallallahu
Alaihi Wasallam,
he told them he said, who is the
most noble? He said, Sayna Yusuf Alaihi Wasallam.
Because he is a noble brother, and the
brother of a prophet is a prophet,
alaihis salatu alaihis salam. He's a noble brother,
the son of a noble brother, Sayna Aqbo
alaihis salam, the son of a noble brother,
saying, Ishap, alaihis salam, the son of a
noble brother, saying, Ibrahim alaihis salam. And this,
this answer completely threw him off. Why? Because
in just in the question itself, the assumption
was that the best of people obviously have
to be Arabs.
And, the answer the answer, wasn't according to
that standard at all.
It brought brought us back to what? The
standard of deen and the standard of taqwa.
And that that was the prophet
shapings and reforming the hearts and minds of
the Sahaba
who is laying the ground groundwork and foundation
for the way that we look at other
people. Because if it was automatic that Arabs
are superior to non Arabs, the prophet
would not have,
would not have named a non Arab,
in that example.
Rather, he showed that nobility is connected to
what? Connected to your station of Allah Ta'ala,
not to your,
lineage, or or race for that matter. And
we'll talk a little bit more about that
in a minute. And it's so the prophet
is
reforming
reforming the people's,
the people's mind. And that answer wasn't sufficient
for the questioner.
And so the questioner
said that that's not what I meant Yarasulullah.
And the prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam then asked
me specifically you're talking about the tribes of
the Arabs.
And, and and he said yes. And the
messenger of Allah
still refused to answer the question in the
way that,
in the way that it was asked. He
answered the question by saying what?
That people are like metal. People are like
metal. Just like all metal is not of
the same quality, different metals have different qualities.
People are like metals. And the best of
them whoever the best of them was in
Jahiliyyah, that one will be the best of
them in Islam as long as they bother
to learn and understand the deed.
So we switch to the next,
the next text foundational text that I wanted
to,
discuss that will that's the framework for for,
for the rest of this talk.
It's a hadith, the, a narration of which
is, narrated in Sahih Bukhari.
And for those of you, myself, who have
studied Arabic grammar, you'll notice I just noticed
right now that there's a typo,
due to sloppy transcription on my part. It
should read,
So whoever's taking notes can go ahead and,
and change that. Insha'Allah, we'll change it before
we put this,
presentation up on YouTube.
He marries with the messenger of Allah
said,
indeed, Allah doesn't look at your status,
nor at your bodies, nor at your lineages,
nor at your wealth. Doesn't mean that he
can't see them.
Rather, Allah Ta'ala is aware of everything at
all times. But this is a metaphorical use,
meaning that those things are not important to
him. He could care less about those things.
He could care less about those things. I
mean, one of the things we have to
do is put things in perspective. Close your
eyes, make morakaba for a second. Think about
how big you are compared to the earth,
and think about how small the earth tiny
the earth is compared to the sun,
and think about how
small the sun is compared to other stars.
There are stars that are literally thousands of
times the size of the sun.
And there are millions of stars in every
galaxy.
And there are, likewise, huge number of galaxies
in a galaxy cluster. And there are likewise
a huge number of galaxy clusters in the
galaxy supercluster,
of which there are a great number that
make the known universe, which is the smallest
of the 7 heavens,
the 7 firmaments that Allata created the creation
in.
And the second the smallest one that we
live in, the first one is in size
compared to the second one
like a ring is in the size of
a desert.
And likewise, the relation from the second to
the third, the third to the 4th, the
4th to the 5th, the 5th to the
6th, the 6th to 7th. The 7th,
has likewise the same relationship with the auction
courtesy of
Qursi of Allah which is not a chair
that Allah sits in the heavens. Rather, it
is a
a a a, a magnificent
construction which bounds the heavens and the earth
on all sides,
made out of light, which when the angels
see it, they know the one who created
this, magnificent structure is Beyond Al Fathom.
And when you think about that, right, that
Allah
is nothing in front of him even though
in even though the 7 heavens are nothing
in front of the arsh, and we're nothing
in front of any of the 7 heavens,
much as all of them. You understand that
if you look good or if you're 6
foot tall or if your complexion is a
certain color or if you have, like, $1,000,000
or $1,000,000,000
in your bank account, means absolutely nothing to
Allah
Right? So Allah doesn't care about those things.
Allah doesn't would give a lesson to care
about those things. So what does he care
about?
It says Allah doesn't look at your status
nor does he look at your body nor
does he look at your lineage nor does
he look at your wealth. Rather, he looks
inside of your heart.
So what what are we to who
washes their hand and cries over the bacteria
they kill using by using soap? You know,
this person didn't use, you know, refer them
to Khalil Center or to another center of
psychological,
counseling because this is not normal
for a person. Who here weeps over the
the bacteria that they kill? Allah Ta'ala, our
likeness in front of him is less than
than than that of bacteria in front of
us. He doesn't care about any of the
physical stuff, but what he does care about
is
is that look, you know, there's this little
thing that's, like, smaller than a worm on
a rock in space, but that thing loves
me. And Allah loves that and he loves
that person back. So he looks at what?
He looks at what's inside of your
your heart.
Allah will be tender with the one who
has a pure heart. You are nothing but
the progeny of Adam, and the most beloved
of you to him is the one who
fears Allah the most.
And that's that's the point. That's the point
is that you should
value what Allah values. We should value what
Allah values. Right? It's a hadith of the
prophet sallallahu
alaihi wa
The one who loves for the sake of
Allah and hates for the sake of Allah
and gives for the sake of Allah and
withholds for the the sake of Allah,
that one is the one who's perfected their
ima. And so Allah is telling us through
the tongue of his messenger
in this hadith, what? He's telling us that
that those things are not important. If you
wish to perfect your iman, then know that
considering a person's
body, a person's lineage, a person's,
a person's
wealth,
and a person's status, considering those things to
be,
important
is,
something that Allah doesn't do. And if you
wanna perfect your iman, you also should not
consider those things to be important because Allah
does Haqqi is the ultimate truth.
And and against his definition of the truth,
do we measure and and and and and
and and
assess, what truth is? He's the benchmark for
what truth is and his,
wahi that he sent on the prophet and
some of this is how we know what's
real and what's not real. And so if
you wanna keep it real, then then look
to a person
what emanates from their heart. Don't look to,
don't look to these external factors. This is
very interesting. I know it's kind of an
aside and tangent, maybe even not completely appropriate.
But,
I was reading an article. Many people asked
me if I saw the new Star Wars
movie. I I didn't. Unfortunately, I don't have
time. Even if I did, I don't know
if I could see it or not. But,
again, I'm not saying that I'm so biased.
So a lot of those best, but I
didn't see it. But I did read an
article in the in the,
in the news
about the the the actress who plays princess
Leia,
that people were talking bad about her on
social media.
Why? Because they say she's aged poorly. She
looks so old now, and they were mocking
her and making fun of her. And she
struck back. She says, look. Being beautiful and
being young is not an achievement.
Being beautiful and being young is not an
achievement. If a person, Allahu Akbar, gave it
to them, they should say, but
it's not an achievement.
It's not something to be proud of. And
this is actually, one of the teachings of
Islam as well, and I I found it
very refreshing that somebody actually said something of
substance
in in the media or and or in
popular culture.
To all of our, you know, our neighbors
and friends and people who
speak the, from from those around us. And
and so we continue the we continue the
discussion.
There's a hadith,
now progressing. So we first talked about what?
We first talked about,
the fact that we recognize that there are
different
people of different lineages
and that there's a point to knowing what
your lineage is and a benefit to it.
And now we talk about the fact that
that that point, that benefit which is knowing
your kinship,
bonds with other people,
that benefit is there. But other things are
not other things are not. Other than that,
Allah doesn't, you know, could care less about
a person's lineage,
and which family they come from, how much
money they have, what their status is, etcetera,
etcetera.
And then we continue,
along this line. It's a Hadith,
narrated for those of you who are,
have some interest in the school of Imam
Malik. It's narrated by Ibn Wahab,
who comes in the chain of narration,
who is the pride student of Imam Malik
and Hadid, who,
narrates it, through his chain of narration from.
This hadith is actually narrated in the in
the,
of, Imam Ibn Abi Zayd al Bayrawani Hizrisala,
which is a,
a book of Malekisek, an inter video book
of Malekisek for those of you who are
students of the Hanafi school, which essentially the
Maliki equivalent of.
This hadith is is brought over there also
by Ibn Abizaid.
And it says,
And I I brought a narration that's a
little bit, the wording slightly different, than the
narration that Ibn Abi Zaid brings, but Hadith
is essentially the same.
And this hadith is narrated, by the way,
by Imam Ahmed
and Imam Abu Dawood, Imam Sirrudi, Imam Beyhafi,
and, Imam Tawawi and Hashash Mosheel Al Aza.
So it's a very, it's a very widely
narrated hadith.
We've
married from
that who said the messenger of Allah
said, verily Allah, mighty and majestic is he,
has driven away from you the obia of
of of the age of ignorance.
This word obia,
it can also be pronounced according to some
of the,
according to some of the, muhadid joon as
it means a burden or a weight.
A burden.
The burden
of literally, the burden of the days of
ignorance.
Some of some of the commentators on this
hadith also, they they say that,
that it's been narrated or at least it
comes through a certain manuscript copies with a
dot on the with the rain.
Al rebiyah meaning stupidity of Jahiliyyah, the stupidity
of the age of ignorance.
Verily, Allah has driven away from you the
burden of the days of ignorance
and the,
the the faqar, the boasting,
that it carried with it with regards to
your forefathers.
Meaning, this was something people did in Jahiliya
in the age of Islam. We don't do
it anymore. Allah has driven it away from
the people of iman.
You're either a a a believer
with God fearing,
or a Fajr Sha'pi, or you're a profligate,
a person who sins openly without shame,
who will have a wretched end who have
a wretched end. May Allah be our protection
from that.
You are the sons of Adam, alayhis salaam.
And Adam came from what? He came from
dust. He came from dirt. He came from
the earth.
And that's that's the lineage of everybody. Eventually,
it ends in dirt. So don't, you know,
so don't don't think that there's anything else
to it than that. Ultimately, no matter who
your forefathers are, everybody returns back to what?
To dirt. And he says,
This is very strong. This is very potent
words. These are very potent words. Because
a man might call out and claim,
certain people that he thinks are noble,
and boast about them from amongst his forefathers,
despite the fact that those people are nothing.
Those people are nothing
except for
a a coal from the coals of the
hellfire.
Protect us. Obviously, this doesn't mean that everybody's
forefathers are in the hellfire or whatnot. We'll
talk about this a little bit later if
you only get time. But, you know,
the idea of of of, you know, thinking
yourself better than somebody else based on race
or nationality or whatnot,
These things don't return to the prophet
they return to Jahiliyyah to something that's,
extra prophetic or extra revelationary.
And, what it is is that essentially people
are boasting
about a group of people who are not
a people of iman. The prophet said
it, if I said it, it would be
offensive. But if he said it, this is
the truth. We have to accept it. He
says that a man will call out,
and claim,
pride because of certain forefathers of his,
and boast about certain forefathers and certain nations
that he or nations or groups of people
that he belongs to.
And they're nothing except for coal from the
coal
coal from of the hellfire.
Or they're
Or they they are,
less
less,
important to Allah Ta'ala, or they have less
status with Allah
than what?
Than a beetle
that is that that's dragging its nose through
dung.
Imagine a person, you know, if a person
if you saw a beetle dragging his nose
through through through the dung and it touched
you, you would wash your hand because of
how how much karah, how much dislike you
have such a person,
that that person has less status of Allah
even than that needle.
So this is something important to,
important important to think about and important to
understand.
Furthermore,
we read the hadith,
of, the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam. This
is narrated in,
Sahih Muslim. This is narrated in Sahih Muslim.
That the messenger of Allah, sallallahu alaihi wa
sallam, said
This is a a a a a a
a longer narration.
The the the the part that's
relevant to our discussion actually comes as a
separate hadith even in Muslim and in other
books. I wanted to just
read the the longer narration,
without commenting on, on certain parts of it
just because it's relevant to the time and
place that we live in and the political
situation in the Muslim world as well.
But
who narrates from the prophet
whoever whoever,
leaves
leaves the obedience
of, our leaders
and separates themselves
from the gathering of the Muslims,
that person, when they die, they will die
the death of Jahiliya. For
those of you who are in Sarf, that
their death, the time that they die will
be,
done in the method or in the manner
of Jahiliya.
And this is obviously
a matter of pain for all of us
that,
really the the the time for
the political unity of the Muslims that this
part of the hadith is applicable to,
is by and large over, except for if
somebody lives in
a government,
a country that that that is run by
the Muslims, which is not us in America.
That person should be very careful before disobeying
the government.
Unless the government tells them to do something,
how long they should not disobey. And this
is the prophet
warning regarding that. If a government is not
ideal,
that's something we talk about in a different
talk. We don't have talk time to talk
about that. There is recourse to that as
well. A person is not to obey,
tyranny and oppression,
but,
you know, that's again a subject that we
don't have time to get into right now.
But the next part of the hadith is
what? And the person who fights
under the, under, the the banner of blindness
and gets upset because of,
because of their tribal,
affiliation,
or, fights because of tribal affiliation,
or comes to the aid, in in a
fight because of tribal affiliation,
if that person dies in such a state,
that person also,
his his his death is going to be
the death of Jahiliya.
And so there's two things here. Right?
Riots in EMEA, right, is
is a a a a metaphor. The flag
of EMEA is a metaphor for what?
For a fight happening between 2 people or
2 parties and you don't bother figuring out
what the fight is about or what the
dispute is about.
You just see which one of the 2
parties is my race or my family or
my country or my whatever.
And, you,
show up on the side of,
on the side of your, you know, whoever
you're, you're showing up for for reasons of
of bigotedness,
rather than for reasons of justice.
And the prophet
said that that person who dies, that person
dies the death of Jahiliyyah, which is a
very strong strong wording. It means that that
person is doing the and doing
the doing the
the the actions and the work of Kufr.
It doesn't mean necessarily that we'll make Takir
of the person. No.
But it is a really bad it's a
bad thing and it could lead to kufr.
And, if that person dies in that state,
it's true that that person will die in
a state of kufr, may Allah be our
protection.
And and this is a very stern warning
from the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam.
And why is it that racism and and
and and and and tribalistic
tribalism tribalistic bigotry?
Why is it the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa
sallam in his hadith? Why would he seem
to,
equate
or or or,
tie together that racism with Kufr,
it's because it's it's a very grave matter,
and it's a very
horrible,
an enormous matter in the eyes of Allah
So,
this is something that's established again by the
Nasr of this hadith. And then to finish
the hadith, the prophet
says, whoever,
goes out, takes up arms against my ummah
and
kills its righteous
one and its sinner, both of them, to
kill the sinner of this ummah or the
righteous one of this ummah.
Both of them are grave sins in the
eyes of Allah
Ta'ala.
And he doesn't he doesn't it just the
fact that someone's a believer,
doesn't bring any mercy into their heart,
and he's not, he doesn't fulfill the oath
that, that the Muslims made or the covenant
or the pact that the Muslims made with
their allies or with those who live under
the rule of the Muslims.
So both for killing a Muslim or for
killing a person of another faith that lives,
in safety amongst the Muslims.
That person I have nothing to do with
them, and they have nothing to do with
me. And it doesn't this doesn't summarize what
ISIS and other,
you know, frankly,
just horrible groups in the world are doing.
I don't know, you know, what will,
ISIS and Boko Haram and all of these
other,
groups.
And, that's not the, you know, the the
the thing that we're discussing right now, but
it did come in the same hadith.
And so you can take from that what
you what you will. Hopefully, maybe Rehan Institute
can talk about these other topics, at some
time.
And so I wanna kinda take a little
bit of a break from the the the
textual part of this, discussion to
kind of bring up something that at least
in North America is
is, contextually
very important for us. And that is most
of the hadith we've talked about thus far
have talked about tribalism and have talked about
lineage. They haven't talked about,
racism.
And what is the difference between tribalism and
racism? What is the difference between a person's
lineage and a person's race?
So,
I'll go ahead and say that that, really,
the concept of race,
in America
is something that's alien even to the Arabs
of Jahiliya.
Because the Arabs of Jahiliya, they understood
they understood the concept of lineage. People knew
who their forefathers were.
This is one of the things saying, Amr
during the age of conquest,
he
warns the, the Muslims about. He says, call
each other by the names of your fathers,
so and so, son of so and so.
Don't call each other by where you're from.
Right? Because there's a lot of people
have to a place name. Quran is Erafi.
Quran is Musri. Quran is, you know, Amriki.
Quran is
is is is one thing or the other
person may, you know, their their their
what what we call in English, the last
name, their last name will be
an attribution to a place or to a
trade. Then Omar says, attribute you attribute your
name to the names of your forefathers. And
the reason he said that,
whom he explains, is so that you can
keep your kinship bonds. You know, you can
know who your immediate relatives are because the
service and the honoring of your, kinship bonds
is part of Dean. It's a very important
part of Dean.
So he said that that that it's more
conducive to keeping your kinship bonds.
And so people understood lineage.
You are so and so, the son of
so and so. You belong to a tribe,
and the tribal grouping is also based on
a common ancestor that the entire tribe shares.
In America, we have this thing called race,
which is very perplexing.
Race is based on
how an average person, if they see you,
where they will guess your general,
national
affiliation or tribal affiliation should be from.
So if a man is,
you know, a person's patrilineal line is from
Europe,
but their mother, for example, is from Africa
and that person looks like an African, they'll
say that person is an African American. So
for example, they'll call Obama. They'll say Obama
is the first African American president. His mother
was a white woman.
And, you know,
not that there's anything wrong with that nor
do I have any need to,
you know,
racially classify
people, but it is interesting. You know, it
is interesting. Like, Tiger Woods, you know, Tiger
Woods, African American golfer. He tells people, he
says, look. My mother's from Thailand. I'm just
as much Thai as I am, African American.
But what is race? Race has not to
do with your lineage, but it has to
do with the the phenotypical expression of your
genetic traits or how people,
how people, you know,
experience that or or what they what they
think about it,
which is a a really flimsy a really
flimsy,
concept.
So you have like, for example, I had
a friend when I was in university.
His skin was pale white and his his,
hair was bright red. I mean, he looked
like he just,
immigrated from Ireland.
But, he his mother, was African American. He
showed me a picture of her and that
she I mean, she really looked African American.
And,
and so he says that he will be
in certain context, and it would be it
would be really awkward,
because people will assume that he's white, and
then they'll
say really derogatory things about black people.
And, and it's very tense and uncomfortable because,
if he reveals that his mother is African
American, sometimes people turn on you. And he
said that he's actually said that he's revealed
it before to people and in context like
that, and they actually physically assaulted him. Or
you have to just, you know, quietly,
laugh along and
wonder what's going on.
So this idea of race,
this idea of race wasn't a big idea
with with the the previous people.
And I think this idea of race is
the product of a society that doesn't value
kinship bonds. And so people literally don't know
who their forefathers are. So they have find,
like, this other way of, of dividing themselves
up,
for the purpose of for the purpose of,
you know,
really,
like,
corrupt and impious authority,
dividing people into different groups in order to
dominate them.
And so in America,
you know, you have things like Jim Crow
Jim Crow laws of black people, colored people,
this, and then white people, that. Well, if
you look like a white person, you're a
white person. You look like a black person
or black person. There's no real objective criteria,
that you can evaluate to see what a
person's race are race is. Whereas lineage is
different. Lineage is different because you can there's
an objective criteria
criterion by which you can
judge what a person's lineages.
So you would have that. You would have,
for example, Banu Umayya, it's Khalafa.
Some of them Banu Abbas or Khulafa. Some
of the mothers of the Khulafa were,
slaves. So someone so and so's mother is
African, so and so's mother is Berber, so
and so's mother is Turkic, so and so's
mother is,
from,
you know, some descent of
of of of of of non Arab Saq.
But because that person is the son of
the Khalifa or the daughter of the Khalifa,
that person, their lineage was,
was that of, example, Banu Umeya or Banu
Abbas or whatever
lineage, there was,
and what are status that lineage carried with
it. So we have to understand that, first
of all, if discriminating against people and,
looking at people's worth based on lineage is
is is bogus. It's something that's completely,
a lot of us are not pleased with
it. And the only reason we look at
people's lineages in order to keep kinship bonds
between them.
Then the notion of race is double bogus.
A, the notion doesn't exist,
amongst our forefathers, let's say, impious
innovation. It is a.
It is an evil
that that our people have culturally appropriated
from,
from from from other cultures that that know
neither Allah Ta'ala nor his Rasul, sallallahu alaihi
wa sallam.
And it's really a completely artificial construct. It's
just a really completely artificial construct. And if
you ask people, this is I know there
are people tuning in from all around the
world. This may be like a cultural insight,
to you for you, from America. If you
ask people over here, quote, unquote, white people,
you'll see that out of 32,
ancestors, you know, a couple of them are
not European.
And if you have black people in America,
out of 32 ancestors, a couple of them
will will not be European and maybe,
regularly, maybe 1 out of 4 grandparents is
Native American.
And, you know, a person the the idea
of what a, quote, unquote pure race is,
that doesn't even exist. It's a complete it's
a complete fable. It's a complete fantasy.
The idea of race is something that we
that that that was made up, in order
to perpetuate, like, a race based slavery, and
it's just really deep in the psyche of
Americans. And it causes really ugly things to
happen. Anyone who doesn't know about what's happening
in America and how, you know, if you're
like a 12 year old boy,
playing with a toy gun in a park,
you can get shot. You know, you can
have an entire clip pumped into you, and,
nobody even calls bothers calling the ambulance, and
you'll get off the bat for you without
even a court case happening.
Whereas if there's a 150 people with automatic
weapons who happen to be from a different,
quote, unquote, race,
that take over a fell federal building,
in Oregon,
then the government will be extremely, extremely,
I don't know how to ex describe it
except for extremely,
nurturing and and and soft with you, like
a mother is with a small child,
not not not willing to even engage with
you at all. These are all shaitaniyaat.
These are all shaitaniyaat. I think the only
thing I can find in the Quran that
talks about anything that's even close to racism
is the example of Iblis.
May Allah curse him that he looked at,
Sayna Adam
his physical form and he made a judgment
about it. He says,
I am better than him. He created me
from fire, and you created him from mud.
Whereas we see the hadith of the prophet
we
read from before that Allah doesn't care about
what your body is created out of. He
doesn't care about what your status is. He
doesn't care about what your wealth is. He
doesn't care about what your lineage is even.
What does he care about? He cares about
what's in your heart. And that was something
Sha'aban one of the many things that Sha'aban,
at least, was, not able to
understand, was not able to look into. And
because of that,
because of that, you know, he he damned
himself,
to eternal punishment from Allah
So, you know, the the the kind of,
the the syllogism I'm trying to build is
what is that the Hadith talk about lineage,
and they talk about how a person cannot,
mistreat or look down upon another human being
because of their lineage.
And lineage is still a concept that has
a reality.
Racism is a concept that is doesn't have
a reality at all. I consider it to
be race to be a type of wahama,
a type of spurious thought that comes to
people. It can be very real to us
in the sense that whatever that spurious thought
that that that's there in the minds of
people in society,
that affects us and impacts us,
in our real life. But the concept itself,
I consider to have very little reality and
therefore, very little legitimacy.
And the closest concept that we can see
to it is what? It's lineage. And even
lineage, the prophet
and Allah forbid
us from, from,
from from from looking down to another on
another person or even assessing what the person's
worth is based on that lineage.
And so,
you know, that's that's the the argument, I
intend to prove through the presentation of, the
text of the Quran for at least the
first part of the presentation until we get
to the end where we talk about practical
things that a person can do to weed
this, this disease out of their hearts and
out of their actions.
So we continue with a,
a a hadith, narrated in Sahih Muslim and
and in Ma'aruri
who is a Sahabi,
who
accepted Islam early on and made a hijrah
to the prophet
So,
so he is a person who makes multiple
hijras.
He was a person who was a
relatively,
a harsh disposition,
straight talking blunt disposition.
And and the prophet
actually alerted him to that. And he actually,
told him during his lifetime that that that
you're not allowed to be a mirror over,
over anyone.
Even if it's just 3 people, you're not
allowed to be a mirror. Stay away from
you're not allowed from being a leader. Why?
Because of the harshness he had. He wasn't
suited, you know. He used to see things
very straight and used to implement it very
straight in his life in a way that
other people couldn't handle. And this is actually
not one of his, this is not to
detract from him. This is to show what
the purity of his his his spirituality
was and the strength of his state. It
was difficult for other people to handle even
amongst the So
this is one of the stories that the
prophet, sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, you know, that
he talks about,
the prophet, sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, a correction
that the prophet, sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, administered
to him. So he used to live in
a place called Rabida
because after the messenger, Raul, sallallahu alaihi wa
sallam, died,
he had a hard time he had a
hard time living with other people because he
felt the decrease in spirituality,
that happened from the Nabi
leaving this world.
And, it was difficult for him then to
to see other people,
you know, the other people from the people
who newly entered into Islam,
how how the standard of spirituality was lower
and so he would butt heads with people,
people, I should say, would butt heads with
him. So say, not
he advised him to move to Rabidah, which
is a place outside of Medina where he
won't where people won't bother him, and he
won't get into it with others. So this
Ma'ar Ma'arul bin Swayid
comes to visit him in Rabida,
because he's a Jalilu other Sahabi. He's a
Sahabi of high rank.
And so he says,
that,
he was wearing a cloak
and, his slave the his slave,
that he had in the house was wearing
the same cloak.
And so, again, you know, I mean, when
you use the word slave, it's very loaded
term for Americans. Islam never had
slavery based on race nor did it, ever
have a slavery in which you own another
human being like property.
Rather, it was a way of dealing with
war captives.
And if a person was abused like you
have pictures from the civil war era, it's
just horrendous where a person's back is all
ripped up from being lashed and things like
that or people having dogs sipped on them
and whatnot.
In Islam, the slave could show that their
master to to the judge that a master
was
physically abusing them or even mentally abusing them.
If abuse could be proven, then the judge
would free the slave, because this is considered
a breach of our sacred law and a
a little an act of oppression.
So,
so,
That if you took,
this cloak because the cloak was very,
the cloak was very
small
and it looked like it was you know,
both of the cloaks were were were looking
kind of like
how do I say it? It looked like
the clothing of a poor person because there
wasn't enough cloth in in either of them.
So they said, oh, Abu Dhar, if you,
if you
took both of the cloaks and just sewed
one out of them for yourself,
it would have been it would have been
a a proper piece of clothing.
Mona, Hamot, do you mind, I think this
tablet has frozen. I always prefer low tech
things
over high-tech things for, like, this and other
reasons, but,
offered to let me use this tablet so
I
because of the nobility of the person who
offered it, I I I I consider it
an honor to accept.
So they said if you took the cloak
that your slave boy was wearing and the
cloak that you're wearing and sew sew them
together, it would look more seemingly
for you.
So what happened is that he he saying
Abu Abu Ghar tells a story of why
this is not a good idea to take
the cloak from the slave boy and so
on, quote out of it. He says that
in the old days,
there was,
me and a brother of mine, we had
a spat with each other. We had an
argument with each other. What Abu Zar al
Ghifari means by brother is his slave.
What Abu Zar al Ghifari means by his
brother is his slave, and we'll explain why
later on.
But he's very careful not to use the
word slave. He's very careful to use the
brother for a reason that will become apparent
later on in the hadith.
So he said, I have spat with one
of my slaves in Jahili who's what it's
functionally what he's trying to say that I
had spat with one of my slaves in
the old days. Not in Jahiliyyah, but after
he when he was in when he was
a when they were both Muslims in the
age of
Islam. And so,
because we had this argument with one another,
and his mother was his mother was not
an Arab.
Right? This this, slave that he had an
argument with with, his mother wasn't an Arab.
So I, I I I basically cursed him
out,
and,
used the fact that his mother wasn't an
Arab as a
a a kind of a vehicle in order
to,
in order to, deprecate him. Right? And and
and in more street language, in order to
dog him out,
I use the fact that his mother wasn't
a slave in order to curse him out.
And so the slave this is so beautiful.
The slave
goes to who? He goes to the messenger
of Allah sallallahu alayhi wa
sallam.
He's
be nobody else to look out for us.
And so he said that I went to
the the slave went to the Messenger of
Allah to complain about who? To complain about
to complain about a free man,
who is his who is who is his
master.
He says he says he says,
so
he goes to Rasuulullah
and he complained about me, which is something,
you know, this type of thing couldn't happen
in the South in America. I mean, it
shows us these are different people.
This is a completely different, circumstance.
He says that he complained about me for
with the messenger of Allah, be the peace
and blessings of Allah be upon him. And
so when I met the messenger of Allah
sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, next he says to
me, he says, o Abu Dharr,
you're a man, there's still Jahiliyah inside of
you. There's still ignorance inside of you, meaning
the ignorance that
came before Islam. There's still ignorance inside of
you. So I said, oh, messenger of
He says, you Rasoolullah, this is the practice
of of this is the our cultural practice
that whoever
dogs out whoever gets into a fight with
a person or argument with a person, if
he's going to if he's going to curse
a person,
that's just a figure of speech. He just
curses their mother and father. You know, I
didn't really mean it, but that's just our
cultural custom.
So many people say, oh, this is our
culture. This is our oath. You know? Just
because you know the name for something in
Arabic doesn't mean you know what you're talking
about. And just because you know the legal
term in doesn't mean that you can say
something haram and then afterward try to justify
it.
This is a this is a person who
is not a follower
of of of of of Nabuwa. This is
what the action of a person who's a
of
if they do it while they know better.
Who didn't know any better. He just said,
yeah, Surah, this is our custom.
And and what did Nabi
say to him? Those are harsh words to
say that you're a man. There's still Jahiliyah
inside of you. And so he says, well,
a person I mean, amongst us, if you
if you get in a fight with somebody
and you you you you,
deprecate them, you do so by deprecating their
father and their mother.
The
then repeated, he says,
He says, yeah, Abu Zar. You're a man.
There's still Jahiliya inside of you.
They are your brothers.
What do you say? Your your your your
your even your slaves, they're your brothers.
This is why in the beginning of the
hadith, even though he's talking about a slave
of his, he said that I had an
argument between me and my brother. After that,
he was careful. He never used the word
slave again to refer to any of his,
to any of his servants.
Rather, he would even refer to them as
what?
As as as as his brothers.
This is the and this is in this
is important. You have to understand.
Nobody who's listening to this webcast will ever
have authority over another man like a like
a master will have over their slave.
No one who's listening to this webcast will
ever have authority over another man like a
master will have over their slave.
And even even even in that case, right,
even in that case where if someone had
a right to be with the to be,
arrogant to another person, it would have been
this master over his slave.
But then then he says,
you cannot even be there. You cannot even
be arrogant there. And
said that Abu Zar al Gifari
be pleased with the
He
was so exacting after after being corrected by
the messenger of
afraid to,
referred to his own slaves as a slave.
He would call him brother. Now tell me
if someone walks into the Masjid and sees
sees someone and says to them.
These people are slaves. These people are are
are slaves.
Do you think that and they're not they're
not your slaves. They're free men. Right? And
even if they were your slaves, the prophet
said, what? Whom
they're your brothers. Right? Tell me who's who's
who's,
example is this person following? The example of
the Nabi
or the example of Jahiliya,
the example of Abu Jahal, and the example
of Abu Lahab.
This is disgusting. This is utterly disgusting. It's
not entertaining.
It's not funny. It's not a joke. It's
not acceptable. It's not it's none of that
stuff. It's what? It's disgusting.
So said, Abu Abu
Zar
said what? I got into a fight with
a brother of mine. Why? Because the prophet
said what? Because
of circumstance.
Because of circumstance, he put your hand over
their hand, meaning he puts you in a
position of authority over them.
So because of that fact, you should be
careful. And remember, feed them the same food
that you eat and give them to wear
the same clothing that you wear.
So don't and don't give them so much
work that it completely destroys their,
their,
their energy. It completely breaks them.
And if you give them work that's very
difficult, then you also work next to them.
You also do the work with them. Right?
And this is very this is very interesting.
This is very interesting. He says that that
just because you have the authority over them
doesn't mean you have the right to pinch
every every penny out of the just the
last drop out of them. Right? If you
cannot do that with a slave, imagine, can
you do that with your workers, with your
employees, or with somebody you hired to do
a job in the house? Someone is moving
from one place to the other. I can
understand if it's an old person
or a person who's injured or ill. That's
one thing. But you hire movers to come
to your house. The sunnah is what? That
you get in there and you pick up
stuff and help them even if you're paying
them. Even if you are paying them. And
if you ever if you ever ask your
slave to do a job, a slave, which
none of us have, slavery is is no
longer,
practiced in the ummah by and large. As
even even even your slave, if you if
you give them a difficult task, then you
you also have to put your hand in
it, help them, which is what? It's 2
things. 1 is it's
It is an act of kindness that you
are,
not,
that you are not
burdening them with with more work than they
can bury or lightening their load. But it's
also a practical,
a practical,
lesson to us ourselves, which is what?
We're brothers. You're they're brother, they're your brother.
The fact that you're rich or that you're
educated or that you were in a circumstance
that you can have upper hand over them
is not because of your intelligence or your
beauty or your hard work or your any
quality you have. It's merely a gift. It's
a fable from the fable of Allah.
If you cannot admit that, if you think
the reason you're in a position of, authority
over another person is because something you did,
again, you have Jahiliyah inside of you. And
it's not me saying it because Modi Hamza,
if he says something, take it or leave
it. It's Darasul
You have a problem, go to Madinah and
argue with him about it, sallallahu alaihi wa
sallam.
This is the deen of Islam. What do
you say, sallallahu alaihi wa sallam? They're your
brothers. So give them to eat what you
eat and give them to wear what you
wear, which is why
wouldn't wouldn't take that advice of taking the
the the cloak away from his slave boy
and and and sewing a appropriate cloak for
himself because of the
the the the the the the perfect perfection
of how they used to obey the commands
of the messenger of Allah
wear let them wear what you wear, give
them to eat what you eat, and,
and then after that, don't get don't give
them so much work that it completely,
juices them, and, it completely takes everything they
have out of them. And if you give
them work, then assist them in it. And
this is not, by the way, the this
is not just my,
own interpretation
of why the prophet,
you know, why why because he said they
are brothers, that's why
who said,
oh, I apologize,
said that that that I had a spat
with a brother of mine. Rather, you can
look it up in the Iqmal al Mualim
of Fadi Rial that's probably the most authoritative
commentary written on Sahih Muslim.
So this is explicitly,
said by,
by Qadhi Eyal himself. He says that the
reason that he called him a a a
brother,
a man from his brothers is because because
because he was afraid then to call them
something else,
after,
after, after
after being told by the prophet
that they're brothers.
So there's a there's there's quite a bit
more material,
that, we're not going to get to through.
We can get to it another time.
But because of time constraints and because I
wanna have some time for question and answer,
we're going to go ahead and and,
you know, jump to jump to the conclusion
of,
of of our discussion and jump to some
practical points regarding,
regarding,
regarding how you can
weed out some of the
effects of racism from your, from your life.
But,
before that,
just one last little piece in Arabic because,
I like Arabic poetry.
And, those of you who know me,
know that I have an unfortunate habit of
liking the same things as well.
It's a cause of much embarrassment for for
for people who, you know, who are associated
with me when when I do it in
public. But, I just wanted to share some
some
some verses of poetry by Sayedna Ali
So we'll read the the the in Arabic
first and then we'll translate
who says that that human beings,
in terms of their physical form, all of
them are equal.
Their father is Adam and their mother is
Hawa alai Musalam.
One nafs is like another nafs,
and one rur one spirit soul is like
another soul and one spirit, and all spirits
are in the same form.
And,
they then take the form physically of bones,
and they take the form physically of limbs.
And if there is any lineage that a
person should look to,
from their lineage and a status that a
person should look to from their status, then
let them know and boast about it, then
let them know that the forefathers of all
of us are are 2, are dirt and
water.
And,
there is no,
there is no, status,
and there's no, tabila. There's no preference of
1 person
over another
except for for the people of knowledge
because they are the guides for, amongst the
creation for anyone who seeks to,
find guidance.
And,
the
the difference between good people and the thing
that makes a person beautiful is what,
is their deeds.
And, you will find that every person,
the sign or the mark that defines them
is their deeds.
And, the enemy of every person is all
of those things that they're ignorant of. And
it's known it's known that the people of
ignorance are enemies for the people of knowledge.
I have to add that there's a a
a very long section in
this presentation,
regarding the interracial marriages of the Sahaba
And, we just don't have time to get
to it. It's better to discuss something
properly than to skip over a lot of
information and just do information overload. So maybe
in the future, through the Rayon Institute or
somebody wishes to come visit me, I'll share
that
that
material with them
happily. But,
we'll go ahead and wrap up, and in
conclusion,
share a couple of points regarding practical
practical ways a person can
weed out racism
from their life.
What can you do?
Invite somebody to your house that's not from
the same ethnic background of you or socioeconomic
background, as you. Right? What did the
say that doesn't care about your status, doesn't
care about your lineage,
doesn't care about your how beautiful or good
looking you are, and Alata doesn't care about
how,
you know, how much money you have. So
invite somebody to your house.
Really, this should be regularly.
Obviously,
you know, some people have different obligations.
And in general, we see that that that
as time goes on,
there's less barakah in our time. We have
time to check our Twitter and emails, but
we don't have time even to invite our
own family over to our house. Do it
at least once. If you're a person of
upright character and and a chivalrous character, do
it regularly
every week, you know, every day.
Guest having a guest in your house in
general is a beautiful thing. The guest brings
his own risk. He brings his own provision.
He's not eating your food. He's eating the
food that Allah had,
written for him.
He comes with his own risk, but when
he leaves, the sins of the house leave
with him. So invite somebody to your house
that's not of the same ethnic, socioeconomic
background.
And,
why? Why? Because I'm doing a a
a seminar on racism and that will make
me feel better? No.
Because
the
the worthiness of a deed to be accepted
by Allah Ta'ala
is directly commensurate with how much Ikhlas and
how much lillahiya you do it with, how
much you do it just for the sake
of Allah Ta'ala.
And, the way that you make a deed
more secure
is by cutting out conflict of interest. So
if you were to invite somebody to your
house for any other reason than for the
sake of Allah. Right? He's a person who
or she's a person that works with you
at your work or their relatives or their
people you share similar interests with or their
people that you're friends with already or whatever.
You know,
if you did that, then
you may find that there's no reward in
it or diminished reward in it because you
did it for one of those other reasons.
Whereas if you call someone over to your
house that you normally would almost feel uncomfortable
to call your house, you know you're only
doing it for the sake of Allah. And
there's a tactful way of doing it, and
not everybody is as gregarious and outgoing as
the other person. So if you call somebody
over that you have very little in common
with, it may become awkward. But invite that
person when you invite other people over so
that they don't feel like,
out of place or or whatnot. There's a
there's there's there's ways of doing it and
you're intelligent people, you'll figure it out. But,
you know,
can I get a a a a can
I get a a pledge,
even if nothing else through the chat? Just
people who are ready to do this. We're
not gonna let the the the word of
Allah and his Rasool
come in one ear and out the other
without being for it. Just say yes on
the chat, inshallah, I'll do it inshallah. So
tashqeel for those of you who are familiar
with the, with the with the jamati, inshallah.
I will do it and inshallah, I will
do it as well. May Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala to all of us.
K? The second the second,
point I wanted to bring up is,
has to do with
social conduct in a diverse,
group,
which means what?
If everybody in a group,
except for one person,
speaks a specific language and that one person
doesn't speak that language,
if everyone in the group speaks Arabic except
for 1 person, or everyone in the group
speaks, we're doing stuff for 1 person, or
everyone in the group,
you know, speaks whatever except for 1 person.
If that that that setting is isolated, it's
actually haram according to many of the for
you to exclude that person from your conversation
through your,
through your speaking, something they don't understand, if
you're able to at all avoid it.
And sometimes it's unavoidable in the sense that
someone may not speak what language that other
person speaks, in which case it's at at
least basic as of at least active permission.
Would you mind if we converse with one
another in our in our in our language?
And if they if they say yes, then
that removes the sin from it. But, you
should make a a a good faith effort
not to let anyone feel excluded. And I
know, for example, I mean, in America, we
think of America as a very diverse place.
Actually, the Muslim world is very diverse. You
know, it's a diverse place as madrasa. It's
people speaking, someone speaks Hindi, someone speak,
someone speaks Saraki, somebody speaks,
Hindu, someone speak Punjabi, someone speak Urdu, someone
speaks Pashto, somebody speaks Chitrali, someone speaks Kilkitee.
Some of these languages are related to one
another.
And even amongst those, many of them are
mutually unintelligible. Some of them are not even
related to one another.
A person who who who who looks to
their own enjoyment
and, doesn't care and is callous to the
to the, irritation or to the feeling of
being left out of another.
So be conscious of how you how you,
talk about things when other people are around
you,
and don't exclude them.
Don't exclude them based on their their ethnicity
or their race or their cultural differences.
We should have inclusiveness
in events and programs that are especially those
that are in the Western.
It's okay if, you know, the people of
a certain culture want to have a cultural
event that's, you know, allows them to celebrate
their culture or whatnot. A lot and then
we saw some never forbade people from, you
know,
accepting and and and and and and, you
know, being okay with, you know, whatever their
cultural background was.
But especially in something that is,
in the masjid, which is a space that
that should be equally comfortable for all Muslims.
Men,
women,
people of low practice, people of high practice,
people of low knowledge, people of high knowledge,
and people affiliated with different and
god knows what other affiliations.
No one has the right to make another
person another person who says,
feel unwelcome inside of the Masjid.
And, we need to be really conscious of
about that. And in the context of our
talk today,
regarding cultural differences.
So if you're having a,
a program in the masjid and speaker is
going to be speaking,
you know, Urdu or Bangla or another language
that the people of that locality, they don't
understand, you know, it's you should make make,
I'm not saying don't invite those people. I
mean, oftentimes, those people are great olema as
well.
But you have to make a a accommodation
for translation at the very least.
You should make accommodation for translation at the
very least. And it's not difficult, you know.
You know, when you translate talks,
as long as, you know, the translator when
you look for a translator, you have to
look for somebody who is
very competent in the language being translated into
and reasonably competent in the language that he's
translating from or she's translating from. It's not
difficult to have a translator. If somebody is
a a a perceptive person, they can just
sit in the back and look at speaker
and translate on the fly.
And, you know, if you have to have
a translation where the the you know, somebody
talks and then somebody translates, it's a little
bit more tedious. But at least everyone can
feel included. You don't want anyone to feel,
you don't want anyone to feel in the
Masjid space,
like, they're
just barred from from from benefit
or like they're,
you know, they're they're there's they're they're just
not welcome there or that this is something
that's for somebody else and not for them.
These types of feelings, they really hurt inside
and, not everybody is spiritually able to cope
with them. Some people can understand and, like,
sympathize with others. Some people, these types of
feelings will drive them literally drive them away
from the deen, and we'll be asked about
them on the day of judgment.
We don't want anyone to feel disenfranchised from
the house of Allah
We don't want anyone Allah protect us and
forgive us forgive us if we ever did
something like that. We have to be very
careful. So translation is a really big deal.
What's another what's
Obviously, you don't wanna have someone who's gonna
be offensive and things like that anyway and
talk bad about one race or another. That's
kind of a given. But, translation is one
thing.
It's one thing if someone is donating food
to the masjid. It's one thing if someone
is donating food to the Masjid,
in that in that sense that, you know,
it's it's something it's an act of piety
that they're doing.
But if the message is sponsoring dinner,
from public funds or from message funds, then
there's a responsibility even in food to make
it something that will be palatable for everybody,
and not have people excluded from it. Some
people eat spices. Some people eat this. Some
people eat that. It has to be kind
of a lowest common denominator,
type of thing. And really, language and food
are two examples. There's a number of other
things that could happen that would make a
person feel disenfranchised from the masjid.
And, you know, there's this discussion. Can you
refer to this masjid as the Arab masjid,
the Somali masjid, the Quraysh masjid, the Ansar
Masjid, the this masjid, the Bahamalini Masjid, Chateh
Masjid.
And, you know, this used to happen in
in in in, in the time of Sahaba
that there would be the Masjid of Banu
Fulan, the place of prayer
of so and so tribe. And so that
naming in and of itself is not not
such a big deal, but the meaning of
it should be that those are the people
who built it or those are the people
who frequent it.
But it's it's not permissible
not permissible to make a masjid that caters
only to one group of people and excludes
others. We have to be very careful about
that because the house is the house of
Allah and use the same Allah for all
of us. So you have to be very
careful not to make people feel disenfranchised or
excluded,
from
from the message left. We harm a person's
feelings and worse yet, harm a person's iman,
and then we're asked about that
and there's no way we're gonna be able
to account for it or give a good
answer.
What can you do? Marriages.
So
there's a fine
balancing act to
walk. And so hadith of the prophet
that that, you know, it's a advice for
for for young men who are getting married,
that that you should choose 4 qualities and
a wife.
Her her beauty,
her,
wealth, her her status slash lineage,
and her deen. And the prophet says, you
will be successful you will be successful by
choosing the one with deen.
And I take this hadith to mean what?
That that that wealth status and,
wealth status and, beauty are past fail indicators.
Okay?
If there's a a a person you're thinking
about as a spouse
that,
that is, you know,
they're physically look,
so unattractive to you that you shutter even
to look at them,
you should probably not marry that person. Doesn't
mean that there's something wrong with them or
that they're a bad person, but it's probably
not gonna work out. If the person there's
such a disparity in
socioeconomic
status. You know, there's somebody,
lives in a very humble apartment and was
raised in a humble apartment, went to public
school, and they proposed marriage to a a
wife who is, you know,
whatever, PhD in Harvard from in from Harvard
in neuroscience, and her family has a private
jet. And, you know, they're gonna expect things
at the wedding, and they're gonna expect that,
you know, that they have a huge house.
And so she grew up with servants in
her house and, you know, she's never operated
the dishwashing machine before.
That's maybe a gap that you can't negotiate.
But if the gap is negotiable,
then, it's not it's, you know, it's not
something that should be given priority. Right? And,
the the idea of, a status is like
that also, that if there's, you know, someone
with for example,
you know, it's impossible for them to get
immigration to America
and you, you know, one spouse lives in
America and the other spouse lives in a
different country. If there you know, if the
status, status, the gap is so much that
you're not gonna be able to make the
marriage fly, then by all means, look somewhere
else and we can go out for the
other person.
The only indicator
from this hadith
that is something that you should look for
more and more and more and more is
what is deen.
So that being said, I'm not going to
say, okay. Well, all of you unmarried people
go home and marry someone of a different
race. If it makes sense for you and
if you see compatibility in it, by all
means,
don't reject a a a good suitor based
on their based on their race if at
all you're able to help it if it's
not gonna cause compatibility issues.
That's not a commandment
more it's more just a piece of good
advice because human beings at the end of
the day, you know, what's important is inside
of their what's inside of their heart. And
just because, you know, you and your wife
like the same type of brownie doesn't mean
that, the other, you know, parts of your
life are gonna fall into place if there's
no deen there.
But, you know, that and that's different for
everybody. Some people are are kind of more
open, and more, adjustable to to people with
different,
with different cultural expectations,
and some people are not. But I want
you to note a couple of things. One
is hasab is your status and lineage. It's
not race.
So the prophet
didn't say marry someone because of how black
or how white they are.
The lineage of a person has nothing to
do with what their color are. There are
Sadas from the Anul Bayt to the prophet
that are black.
Lineage has nothing to do with where you
know, and there are sadas that are white
and there are sadas that look all different,
like the the family of the prophet is
spread throughout all the nations of the of
the world. And those people are of of
what we consider the highest of lineages,
because of the nisbah to the messenger of
Allah
and they had Allah gave them a blessing,
and then afterward, it's upon them to act
on it and to follow the teachings of
the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam. But that
being said,
what do we say? We say that,
you know, color is not one of those
things that you should choose based on.
It's it's it really isn't.
And so that's one thing to keep in
mind. So don't think that, you know, this
is this is something that that that's sanctioned
by our deen. The second thing because even
what's sanctioned by our deen, Imam Malik
he said that when, you know, when considering
kafaa who's a suitable match, race is not
part of it at all, period.
Imam al Shafi disagreed with him
and said that that's also something that can
be chosen.
But not racist. Sorry. Lineage is something that
can be chosen. But that has nothing to
do with a person's skin color, and it
has to do with their race either because
race is something that,
it doesn't have a reality like lineage does.
So be careful about that. All of that
being said, some person may be very comfortable,
living with somebody or marrying someone who's who's
out there. Same,
complete cultural background, and that's okay. That's something
that's permissible in the dean if that's if
that's, you know, what you need to be
happy in life. You know, you're not you're
not you don't have to take such a
drastic step of of, of, you know, putting
yourself in discomfort and in a marriage that
may not work out.
But remember,
you can marry whoever you want. Let other
people marry whoever they want. If you see
a a couple that the husband and wife
are from different races, quote, unquote,
you have no right to judge them. You
have no right to to look down upon
them. You have no right to pass silly
and ridiculous comments about them. You have no
you know what? If they're happy,
as long as they didn't do anything haram,
which they didn't they didn't do anything haram,
you have no right to judge, and you
have no right to to feel superiority or
disgust or any of those things
with, with people of mixed marriages. Husband is
black. Husband is wife. White, husband is Desi,
husband is Arab, wife is black, wife is
white, wife is Desi, wife is Arab. She's,
you know, husband, wife, tall, skinny, fat,
you know, muscular,
whatever it is. As long as the 2
of them are happy with one another,
that's that's, that's the only thing that's important.
As an external party, you have no right
to judge, you know. If it works for
them,
we should all make go offer one another.
This whole kind of attitude of, like, you
know,
of of of looking down on other people
and their their interracial marriages,
this is utterly ridiculous.
Or saying snippy comments about it or, like,
oh, how come you should have married this
instead of that? What's your problem?
Just pay attention to who your spouse is
and who you choose for yourself or who
you choose for your children.
Don't don't
don't make a problem with other people. Don't
hate on other people.
And the final thing I wanted to mention
before, and so I'll wrapping it up wrapping
up the presentation and opening it up for
some questions,
is when other people,
speak inappropriately,
when they they when they talk,
the talk of Jahiliya and the talk of
Iglesias,
and they speak, in a racist way, whether
it be serious or whether it be a
joke. As a hadith of the prophet,
a person may say a word from the
from the the pleasure of Allah because of
which they go so many to,
they ascend so many so many levels up
in the
in in paradise. And a person may say
a word from the,
from the anger of Allah,
and they don't even think a big deal
of it because of which they will drop
so many,
levels down into the hellfire. May Allah, that
would be be be our protection from from
from such a deed and from such an
end.
When you hear people saying something, whether it's
serious or whether it's a, quote, unquote, joke,
no. It's not a joke with Allah and
If people
are talking racism or speaking, you know, racism
or joking racism or, you know,
implying things with racist undertones,
if you're able to stop them from doing
that and and and and,
you know, point out that this is something
wrong and get them to change their ways,
you're obliged to do so. If you're saying
something to them is gonna make it worse
or they're gonna just end up punishing you
for it or they're gonna give you a
hard time, then you're not obliged to say
anything, but you should get up and leave.
You should get up and leave that that,
that majlis and that conversation until they start
talking about something that's not going to anger
Allah in
Israel And if you're not able to get
up and leave, and this happens sometimes, you
may be in a bus or in a
car or whatever,
then it is the,
obligation,
it is the obligation that's imposed upon you
from the Quran,
to what? To,
in the sunnah of the prophet
to
ignore
to not listen to what they're saying. Just
ignore. Think about something else. This is a
good time time to check your email on
your phone or whatever to, ignore what's going
on, until the the conversation turns back to
something that's acceptable and and something that Allah
is pleased with or something that Allah permits.
And these are some small advices that that
that we give,
regarding how you can,
how you can how you can,
I guess, reduce the racism that's there in
in in all of our lives?
And obviously, people of authority,
people who run Masajid, people who are, are
are ulama, people who are on the boards
of Masaz's run large organizations,
people who are in government,
people who are bosses at work, people of
authority. Those people, I really suggest that you
find, you know, a god fearing and pious
scholar and talk to them about these issues
of, like, you know, how how you can
avoid this in your in your life. Let
this not be the end of a conversation,
but of but but the beginning of 1.
Are there any questions?
Yeah. I'm looking here to see you. Yeah.
2 or 3 questions. I'll check it right
here. Okay.
Okay. Among youth, it is widely said using
the n word is a norm nowadays.
It isn't said toward black people, but toward
one's friends.
Therefore, isn't a matter of isn't it a
matter that's racially degrading or dejecting? What is
your view? Is it sinful or not?
It definitely is sinful if you use it
towards somebody in a,
in a way that hurts their feelings
whether they're present or not. If they're not
present, if it would've hurt their feelings, then
it falls under backbiting all the same.
After that, I would say that it is
it is also something that's,
possibly a sin.
Why? Because it's the imitation
of
of the Posafin Fajah.
Because, the n word is not
something that every African American person uses to
refer to every African American. Rather, it's part
of the culture
of, you know, gangster rap and these types
of things, which is basically the the the
the culture of the stop and the job.
The culture of people who sin openly because
they rap about, you know, degrading things toward
women and
and rap about, using, drugs and alcohol and
about love of money and love of the
dunya.
And, it is to to Shabbos Bint Falstaff
is also haram
to imitate the ways of of of propagates,
and and and people who are openly sinning
is also halak.
If if a person feels that there's a
context in which there's no racism, there's none
of that, there's there's no you're not hurting
anyone's feelings, I would still say don't use
it because
and knows best.
Knows best. A person's tongue is
meant for clean
clean things,
for for good things, you know. And so
you have a choice in life how you
use your tongue. If you, you know, someone
jams their toe in the wall,
you know, or in the door, they can
either curse and say this word and that
word, you know, expletive,
or they can say the name of Allah
The choice is yours.
And, you know, there's a saying amongst the
Arabs,
Every every,
vessel will only pour out that which is
inside of it. So it's your choice, you
know, if you want to
speak as if you're
gangster rapper
or do you wanna speak as if you're
a Laddus and a an inheritor of the
Messenger of Allah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam. It's
important to understand
not everything is a 5th issue.
Right? You can give the without
a shirt on according to the 5th. But
if you tried doing it, especially in the
Muslim world, you'd probably pulled off the Bloomberg's
beat. And although I cannot endorse,
something that's a violation of local state or
federal laws, but at the same time, I
can't say that you completely didn't deserve it.
Because what? Because not everything is a self
issue.
So, you know, should have some pride and
some some some honor as being a Muslim
and try to,
you know, try to try to emulate the
messenger of Allah
instead of emulating the people of of Jahiliya.
Okay. The question,
making what about making fun of race?
For example, in in India or in Pakistan,
there are a lot of jokes about a
certain race,
or certain people. And, yeah, that's that stuff's
not
that stuff is not, that stuff is not
not cool. It's not okay.
And and, you know, I won't I won't
I'm not going to be holier than thou,
or or or act like that. I'm like
I'm an angel, and I've never I've never
laughed at any of these things before myself.
But, honestly, these are these these all these
things are the words that on the day
of judgment, you know, on the day of
judgment, they're they're just gonna be a person
who's gonna regret saying them. Don't make fun
of
that that don't don't let one one nation
of people
And nation here means ethnicity.
The the exclusive text of the Quran for
Suraj Al Hajra,
don't let one group of people,
mock another group of people.
So if a joke is told kindheartedly,
and people won't take offense, then I don't
know if I can give the fatwa that
is haram.
But how do you know how another person
takes something? The madar on the day of
judgment, the standard that will be used in
order
to see if it's the word of sin
or not, is going to be is going
to be was this,
a benefit or or sorry. Was this offensive
to that person or not, whether they expressed
it to you or not? So it's something
it's a calamitous type of speech that there's
very little benefit in, and there's potentially a
lot of harm in. And, Imam Nawi, you're
right as soon as
the sunnah is what? That every word that
you say,
you've weighed in the scale panel. Is it
beneficial or is it harmful? And if it's
harmful, you don't say it.
And if it's beneficial, then say it. And
if it's, something that the benefit and the
harm is equal, then the sunnah is just
not to say it in that case,
out of out of consciousness. So so don't
don't make fun don't make fun of people.
Don't make fun of people if they their
feelings are hurt. Even if they're not Muslims,
even if they're not Muslims, they're still,
they're still human beings. Allah says in his
book
that we have made
all the sons of Adam noble.
And some of the sons of Adam, they
they are people who have honored themselves to
their conduct, and some of them have have
humiliated themselves through their disbelief and through their
poor conduct. But we are obliged to respect
the fact that Allah honored them originally. Don't
don't make fun of other people even if
they're whether they're Muslim or not or whatever.
It doesn't really make make a difference. They'll
make fun of other nations and other other
other races or whatnot.
On the East Coast of the US, part
in particular, being Caucasian American convert is a
mine is a minority, and our children feel
like outsiders in the marriage pool. I'm not
sure how to get past this in our
communities when anything related to
Caucasian is dismissed because there's already so much
disparity in regards to white people.
I think you'll find I I think you'll
find a couple of things. 1 is, not
to detract from from the difficulty of the
situation that that you described,
that that you're in and undoubtedly, many other
people are in. But one thing to remember
is that the marriage pool is
is pretty pretty pretty
fair and and,
pretty desolate for for people in general.
Look.
You know, there's some there's somebody for everybody.
It's a matter of of of of finding
people.
There are a lot of things in life.
If people are treating you badly or treating
you,
wrong,
There's really you know, it's just something you
have to you have to deal with. And
if we get stuck on judging other people
for the wrong things they do or they
say, we're going to,
plunge our heart into a pit of despair,
which is, which is, you know, something that
we're commanded not to do by the prophet.
Suffice to say, there are many, even from
our later tradition. Right? My shaykh, Sayid Nafeez
Shasab
his Sheikh, Sha'a Gulqadir Raiburi
it's said that once in his masjid,
in his in his gathering,
a man came to the Sheikh and and
and complained that nobody nobody will marry me
Sheikh. I don't know what to do.
And ostensibly, he's a person who he's a
person who, for
ethnic reasons, for racial reasons,
he couldn't find somebody to marry. And so
the sheikh actually, said, come into the back
room. Let's have a talk. So they talked
for 30, 45 minutes, and, the sheikh went
home and he brought his daughter he brought
his own daughter with him to the to
the to the to the to the Muslims,
and he,
he married he married her to him. As
a hadith of the prophet, if a young
man comes to you,
proposing marriage,
to your daughter
and you're pleased with his akhlaq, you're pleased
with his,
with his character,
then marry him. Otherwise, the result will be
facade. The result will be mischief
in the earth. And this is something we
really need to take seriously. You know, if
a man comes to you
asking your daughter's hand in marriage, let me
promise you this. I deal with these community
issues. It's very hard to find a suitable
match for your for your daughter, a a
good match for your daughter regardless what race
anyone is.
And when I say good match, I'm not
talking about somebody who is lucky mom of
Fazali who drives a Mercedes Benz. I'm talking
about I'm talking about a boy who can
pay the rent and pays 5 times a
day. Even that's very difficult to find nowadays.
Mhmm. It's very difficult.
So,
this is the example that I saw from
our masha'ik that that that's how they were.
And the man was so poor, he couldn't
afford to pay for a Wolima. So someone
someone in the asked asked the message, oh,
where's the Wolima? The Wolima is a sunnah.
And so,
and so,
the sheikh said, yes. I know how much
you guys care about the sunnah.
Right? And when it comes to reading, you
know, 4 rakaz before Assur,
everybody is like, you know, AWOL.
But when it comes to eating and drinking,
then everybody remembers the sunnah. Right? Because I
I know how much you guys love the
sunnah. So everyone go home and bring a
dish with you, and that will be the
wudimah. And that's how they they did it
with great simplicity.
These are the people whose maqams will be
higher than ours in Jannah. I want everyone
to realize that for everyone who's bulking right
now. So, oh my god, if this happened
to my sister or my daughter, we would
die of embarrassment, blah blah blah. Okay. Have
your big willy mess in the hotels
and know that these people, their will be
higher than ours in Jannah. That they will
see whose way of life was practical and
whose way of life is impractical.
I and I feel very strongly about this.
I mean, I I have to check myself
for not saying something too harsh because it
is,
at the end of the day, not haram
to have a bulimah in a hotel or
something like that. But all I can say
that this is not what we saw from
our mashaikh and from our righteous ones. And,
you know, if somebody comes to you,
with with with you know, and there's a
potential for compatibility and the person is of
good deed,
you know,
please say yes. Because ultimately, the marriage works
not because of money or because of race.
It works because Allah blesses it to work.
And if you follow the command of Allah
and sunnah of his prophet sallallahu alaihi wa
sallam,
you know, there will be barakayil.
And, I would rather have a marriage that's
according to the sunnah that doesn't work out
than have a marriage that's not according
100 years together.
But that's another that's another issue. And if
somebody doesn't understand that, maybe you can ask
one of your local what what does mean
by that.
Okay. We'll take
one more
one more question just because we've gone,
you know, for quite some time now. And
the rest of them, inshallah, if you wish
to, you can send them by email
and, and and also discuss these issues with
your local ulama as well. Because people oftentimes,
they miss out on the treasure that's next
door.
And, and and, you know, that's where you're
gonna make your meaningful bonds and where you're
gonna really get the barakah and your knowledge
is with those connections you have with your
local people who you go back to day
in and day out.
How can internalized racism within massages be, countered
in black where in UK where I am?
There are some massages that charge higher fees
for people from a different race
than the race of those who run the
masjid.
The
people I mean, I don't know if this
is true or not. I I'm hoping it's
a misunderstanding.
Maybe I didn't understand the question or maybe
someone went to the masjid and, like, there's
a misunderstanding that this doesn't really happen. If
there is a madrasa I repeat. If there
is a madrasa
in which they charge people of different races
a higher fee, okay, that madrassa is run
by Shayatin.
You can tell them I said it. You
can send me their I'll write an email
to them. I'll call them up on the
phone right now. K? This is something completely
and a 100% utterly unacceptable in Islam.
Please, for for god's sake, even if they
give the education for free
to your children, do not send your children
to such a place because you will send
your children there in order to learn the
ways of shayta.
If you're not going to accept the deen,
then then, you know, in in complete, there's
no point in being a hafir than learning
Quran from a person.
He's telling you that that came down on
the the heart of saying Muhammad sallallahu alaihi
wa sallam, the words of that the kids
are memorizing it, but on the action, they're
giving the the transmitting the sunnah of shaitan.
This is absolutely ridiculous.
This is absolutely and 100% ridiculous. I really
hope this is some sort of misunderstanding.
And I I I really I don't I
can't believe that anyone who is a a
a a an who carries the heart, the
knowledge of the prophet
inside of their heart could do something like
that. Maybe it's just a horrible, horrible mistake.
Please do not send your children to that
school so that they can be protected from
learning this type of nonsense wherever it comes
from.
And please,
you know, find a more appropriate place for
your children to study with.
If there's a way I can have a
talk with these people or someone else locally
can have a talk with Michelle Blackburn. There's
so many Alama. There's there's a large Madrasa
in Blackburn.
There's probably several of them, Bolton, all these
places around there. Please, for god's sake, have
one of the god fearing, pious will not
go and talk to them and and and
and explain to them why this is why
this is wrong or at least clarify what
actually is going on over here.
Because,
something like that is is is is you
know, if it's true on what its face
value is, then I have a hard time
believing it could be true, to be honest
with you. But if it is true, and
I'm not convinced I'm not saying that you're
lying or maybe it's just a big understanding.
If it is true, it's one of the
most disgusting things that that I've heard. It's
probably gonna ruin the entire rest of my
day just knowing that something something or just
thinking that something like this is possible. But
it's, definitely not the way of the prophet
and maybe
them
putting up a barrier to including,
you know, your children, in that program is
probably a blessing in disguise because you don't
want someone to, learn this type of nonsense,
from someone from someone in the name of
Islam and in the name of Deen. May
Allah
protect us. Whoever amongst us are, you know,
are are are struggling with these issues. May
Allah give us guidance, and may Allah, InshaAllah,
make that leap between the hearts of the
believers.
This is one of the miracles of the
prophet
that there are people who are enemies, and
there are people on the brink of the
pit of fire. And he made them into
brothers, and he made them love one another,
and he saved them from that that that
that that horrible, end and exchange in his
place, Jannah. May Allah do all the same
for all of us.
Quickly before we end. If I offended anyone
by my speech or if I said something
wrong, please forgive me. If you wish to,
you can also, again, email afterward in whatever
corrections of of mistakes that I made in
my talk. Or or if somebody, you know,
feels that I offended them, please give me
the opportunity to seek forgiveness from you. It's
not my it wasn't my my my, intention,
in participating in this, in this message.
Make us amongst those who accept and make
us amongst those that he accepts.