Hamzah Wald Maqbul – The Beard and Hijb Isn’t for Sale Wayne State 022202017
AI: Summary ©
AI: Transcript ©
Staying grounded, what does it mean? Who here
is taking physics?
What is ground?
What do you mean like What is ground?
In in physics? What is ground? 0. Axis.
0. Electrically, it means to be connected
to a grounding source like the earth. Right.
If you have a current
either flowing through you or you have a
static charge, that means that when you physically
contact the
earth sufficiently,
the electrons will travel from you to the
earth or vice versa depending on your balance.
Yeah.
What I remember what I remember from physics
is what? It is more succinct most succinctly
defined as it. Basically, what the brother said.
Most succinctly defined as what? An infinite an
infinite
theoretically infinite source of positive and negative charge.
Theoretically, all the electrons will come into it.
It can suck in all their electrons without
itself being being affected. Technically, the earth isn't
infinite in its electrical charge, but it might
as well be on scale. Practically speaking. Right?
So the idea is with staying grounded is
what?
Ground is
this thing. It's not affected by what's
other than it. It is a constant. Other
things are in flux. The ground is what
stays the same. The day will come. The
night will come.
There are different,
but still the fundamental reality of
where you are and what's going on. It
remains fundamentally
unchanged.
And this is the whole idea about deen.
Deen is what? It is your connection with
Allah as a point of aqidah. Allah
is as he was
and will always be.
Is not affected by time. To ask where
and when with regards to Allah
is an incorrect question because time and space
themselves are his creations. We are caged inside
of time and space, but he is not.
Rather, it is one of his creation just
like what we are, one of his creations.
He doesn't
he's enveloped by it. Rather, he envelops all
things.
The deen that comes from Allah
is what? It is a deen of wahi.
It is a deen of revelation. Revelation, and
revelation tells us about universal truth.
It tells us about what? Universal truth. We
alluded to in the previous talk that if
Allah
had wished, he would have sent down a
Quran, which was what?
Wake up at 5 AM in the morning.
This is what you do at 505. This
is what you do at 5:15.
This is what you do at 5:47,
etcetera, etcetera. If you wish to, he could
have sent a Quran like that. But, a,
he chose he he it was his choice,
his decision not to send it like that.
And, b, if he sent it like that,
it would've the deen would've not been successful
because we wouldn't it wouldn't have been suited
to us for us to understand that message,
that a message wouldn't have engaged with us.
Why?
Because the Quran is a book of teachings.
The sunnah is a corpus of teachings that
are primarily
geared toward universals, not toward particulars.
What is a universal? A universal is a
precept that is always true.
It is something that allows you to understand
no matter what situation you're in,
no matter what situation you're in, no matter
what your circumstances are, whether you're rich, whether
you're poor, whether you're married, whether you're single,
if you're black, white, purple,
blue, whatever you are. Right? Person can turn
blue if they they're not breathing so well.
Right? Purple if they're not breathing so well.
Whatever
situation you're in, there are certain things that
will never change.
There are certain things that will never change.
The first, the Cartesian origin. You remember what
origin Right? 0?
The Cartesian origin of existence is what? It's
the reality of If
you don't have that reality, you're free floating
in space.
What's true? What's false?
What's old facts? What's real facts? What's real
news? What's fake news?
You know, you have your your,
you know, version of stuff. I have my
version of stuff, and everybody is just, you
know, living in this, like, pointless fruit salad
of existence
that started from nowhere. And there's nowhere right
now, and is going to an even more
messed up nowhere.
This is not the world view we have.
This is not the teachings of the deen.
If someone's knowledge leads them to this, then
their knowledge is leading them from a lesser
ignorance to a greater ignorance. The point of
knowledge is what? To go from a state
of ignorance of not knowing to a a
state of knowing what's going on. If you
don't understand anything, if what you're teaching and
learning is just increasing your confusion,
then what's the point?
And this is what I want to first
put forth to our brothers and sisters,
which is the idea that universals, you must
understand them first. And then based on those
universals, you will be able to
chart a course of action that is reasonable
and beneficial
for you and for others in this world
and in the hereafter.
You'll be able to chart a course for
yourself and for others as individuals and as
a group in this world and the hereafter
that is reasonable and that is beneficial.
Whereas, if you don't know universals and you're
mired in particulars,
you may be a person who has a
whole lot of information,
but you have absolutely no knowledge whatsoever.
This is part of our deen. We alluded
to it in the previous talk as well,
which is what? We believe
in a spiritual existence.
We believe that physicality is not all that's
there in this universe.
People who believe that the only thing that
exists in the universe is that which is
physical, they are empiricists,
they are reductionists. Empiricists means what? The one
who only believes in the things that can
see, smell, taste, touch, something that they can
physically interact with or interact with on a
sensory level.
Are there things that are that are not
physical, but they're real?
Is there anything that's not physical, but it's
real? Love.
Love.
A little tie over from marriage talk. Such
an important thing. Yes?
The more interesting
physics discussions you look at on YouTube,
discuss how physicality doesn't actually exist anyway.
Because when you reductionists start taking atoms apart,
which the word atom means indivisible,
but they can divide it.
They find other particles, and they try and
take those apart. And at some point,
they get down to fields of potential reality
that cannot be defined as an object.
Nothing actually exists.
Well, I I would I would like to
differ with that, but the idea is what?
The the idea that that is what is
that physicality is not the apex of existence.
Rather, it's the
lowest form. Spirituality is an existence that is
more real than physicality.
There are many things that are real, that
are not necessarily physical. Another another example is
0
0 being a philosophical concept. Without 0, you
cannot do any calculations, thermodynamic
calculations, load calculations,
electricity,
understanding, any of these things. They all become
impossible with 0. Can someone show you 0?
We can show a circle, but that's not
0. That's actually something. Right? It's a symbol
that represents
literally nothing.
Right? Mathematics, when you're doing 2 accent, what
is this x that you speak of? What
is it? Is it actually something that exists?
It's pure symbolic manipulation. You're talking about nothing.
You're talking about things that don't exist.
And
the ideas that you
understand
by being able to transact in that world
of abstraction,
Those ideas are what? Those ideas are things
that allow you to manipulate the physical world
around you in a way that physicality cannot
teach you about that realm. Because water, you
know, water flows
uphill, downhill.
Everything, is a gradient in a direction in
which things go. They go from a higher
state to a lower state. Physicality is the
lowest state of existence.
However, we are surrounded by a people who
say, what? If you cannot see it, taste
it, smell it, touch it, doesn't exist. So
we would say, we respect you as human
beings. We honor
look out and pray for your well-being. But
with all due respect, this is something that
doesn't make sense to us. This is something
that we disagree about.
Now what happens is when you have the
of a people, when you keep the company
of a people,
your
trades rub off on them, their trades rub
off on you.
So there are many people who never spent
time trying to understand what the teaches.
The teaches you how to the the revelation
teaches you how to engage your mind. This
is called the. Almost no one's read it.
We
said
from
before,
the
center
of
where
intentions
are
formed.
That,
we said from before, the center of where
intentions are formed.
That you engage through a a a science
of, of of the deen known as
and then the limbs,
you engage that through, which is what? Your
through through the law, which is your ritual
law,
your your transactional law, your
your,
laws with regards to human relationships.
This is a holistic way of looking at
life.
It's not reductionist.
It doesn't just say you're just a physical
being and to heck with everything else because
it doesn't exist because I can't smell it.
Right? What does it what does it what
is it? It is a holistic way of
approaching
a person's being.
That is not going to be
affected properly
or affected at all except for on the
heels of universal understandings.
Those universal understandings will come to you from
revelation.
Those universal understandings will come to you from
revelation.
So I'm not saying that what's in the
sensory world around you is a an invalid
source of information. It is a very valid
source of information. Every time you touched fire,
it burned you. So by all means, be
my guest and don't touch fire again.
Every time it was negative 30 degrees outside
and you didn't have a shirt on, you
almost died of hypothermia. Please don't do it
again.
Okay? Every time when you're hungry, you ate
food and you felt better, please, next time
you're hungry, eat something as long as it's
not haram.
Right?
A second source of information is what is
what your rational rational information, your ability to
form analogies,
whether whether they be a priori. Right? What's
a a priori analogy?
A priori analogy is,
you know, if 2 is bigger than 1,
then 3 must be bigger than 1 because
3 is bigger than 2.
Right? It's it's analogies like what? That the
whole of something is necessarily bigger than its
part.
Right? This is why we respectfully disagree as
Muslims. We respectfully
I respectfully disagree as a Muslim with my,
neighbors and respected friends and neighbors,
you know, of, you know, of the Christian
faith. Why?
Because Jesus alayhis salam, he was a part
of the earth.
He's a part of the earth.
God created the earth. God is greater than
the earth. How can a part of the
earth be be be equal with something that's
greater than it doesn't it doesn't make sense.
Right? Rational knowledge is also a source of
information about the world around
But just like, for example, rational knowledge allows
us to understand
things about the world around us that experience
doesn't, that that that the sensory knowledge doesn't.
Right? A shark, if you if you if
you touch it with something cold, it will
feel cold.
A,
a bunny rabbit, if you put fire to
its well, don't ever do it, please. It's
not nice. Right? But if you were to
hold a little bunny pod to the fire,
it'd be like, ah, like, that's you know,
it wouldn't say it because it can't speak,
but it would feel the sensation of burning
and know that that's something that's something that
you don't that that I don't wanna do
as a bunny rabbit.
Animals and us are equal or very similar
at a very similar level in our engagement
with this level of reality, this source of
truth.
On top of it, you have this rational
faculty. Some animals have this rational faculty. But
being.
Just like
we have all this knowledge of the world
around us, all this knowledge of the world
around us because of our our perfection and
good use of our rational faculties
that gives us a a bigger and a
quicker source of attaining knowledge
than the, use of sensory perception does.
Just like that on top of that, Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala as a gift to his
creation.
Having understood completely and intimately everything in creation
inside out, which is so much which is
so much none of us ever could understand
it.
What is a galaxy? How can a person
fathom a galaxy in non abstract terms? You
cannot do it.
What is how many, you know, how many
atoms are there in an apple?
You can't do it. And like the brother
pointed out, the subatomic particles within that atom
are so many that you couldn't even figure
that out as well.
All of the realities in the world and
this is just the physical world. All of
the physical realities, spiritual realities, intellectual realities, all
of these realities,
the one who could understand them is Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala. He boiled them down to
certain precepts and he gave them to us
for our benefit.
Just like the bunny rabbit doesn't have I
mean, it has a brain. Like we have
a brain, Anatomically, brain is very similar. The
processes in the brain are very similar, but
it's not equipped to be able to process
all that information in order to be able
to figure out how to make a skyscraper.
Even a a a greater stretch of an
analogy than that is what is that a
human being is not going to understand reality,
not going to understand existence without the help
of this wahi that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
gave us. Now does this mean that sensory
rational knowledge is bogus and we should, like,
suspend our,
suspend our mind, rational knowledge is bogus and
we should, like, suspend our, suspend our mind
and, like, suspend
rationality and just take, you know, take God's
existence on faith?
No. Not at all. As a point of
that, we consider rationality to be a valid
source of knowledge. We consider to be a
valid source of knowledge.
We accept that Allah exists on a rational
basis,
not on a not on a empirical basis,
not on a sensory basis. Why? Because Allah
ta'ala, there's no one like unto him.
He's unlike his creation. So to see, taste,
smell, touch, it doesn't make sense. It violates
one of our own first principles that we
laid out from the beginning that Allah Ta'ala
laid out for us.
The the the visions will not see him
even though he sees all the visions.
However,
rationally, we know he has to exist because
everything in the world of causes and effects
needs a cause to to to to bring
it into effect.
Nothing happens from nothing.
So, well, who created God then? We said,
God is not a part of the the
the the realm of causes and effects. Allah
time,
see the sequentiality
of time,
a space, things being next to each other,
the order of of space. These things are
all creations of his. That he's not caged
inside of them. Rather, he's the one who,
he's the one who built them for us
to be housed in.
So
coming back to what we're talking about staying
grounded,
does it matter if democrat is president?
Does it matter if republican's president?
Doesn't matter if we have a president at
all or a prime minister or a chancellor
or a, an emperor or a king or
a prince or god knows whatever. And we
have a CEO running the country. It doesn't
matter. None of those things matter.
None of those things matter in the universal
the realm of the universal.
They may matter for a visa that
I need. They may matter for the price
of of of gas at the pump. They
may matter for,
you know, how easy it is for me
to get a job or how affordable health
care is or any of those things.
They may matter in particular,
but in terms of the universal level of
knowledge, they have no impact whatsoever.
Universals, they govern particulars.
Particulars don't tell you anything about universals
in isolation, nor do they govern universal
are. Is to engage with the universals and
let the universals guide how you deal with
particulars
and not the other way around.
Not the other way around. So what happens
in the in our community, we have scenario
like this. Okay? Our community is under under
attack by certain people,
and x y z people who we disagree
with on some moral principle
helped us
out. So we should help them out because
they helped us. What is it? There's a
particular scenario in your backward engineering
how you're going to behave based on the
particular whereas, how should you have, how should
you have,
done your actions that you did?
Based on what? Universal principles. Based on what?
Universal principles. What's the difference?
If you are only focused on the physical
and you are only focused on the particular,
what is different between you and between other
people? As Muslims, what what what is different
between you and them? Absolutely nothing whatsoever.
If we are going to follow the
same model of behavior and the same model
of viewing the world, then it makes sense
for us to abandon Islam altogether
because our Islam is an impediment to our
well-being in this country. It is an impediment
to us getting jobs. It is an impediment
to us,
earning a living. It may be an impediment
to our freedom one day. It may be
a cause of us being put in internment
camps and jails and all of these other
things one day. It may be an impediment
to us staying here. We may be deported.
The place we're deported to, it may be
an impediment to us living. We get droned
because of it. What's the point of all
of it if you're gonna, at the end
of the day, do the same thing that
other people do?
The reason for this Islam is what? Is
that it will garner for us
a respectable life in this world whether it's
fun or not fun. Right? And I think
fun is overrated. There are many people who
have fun their whole life and end up,
dying heartbroken.
Whether it's fun or not fun, it will
give us
a respectable and honorable
life in this world.
And bigger than that, greater than that, more
important than that, what will it do for
us? It will earn for us salvation in
the hereafter that we can show a face
in front of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. That
we we we we we recognize
you. We put our hopes in your mercy.
We put our hopes in your forgiveness. We'd
never put our forehead on the ground neither
physically nor intellectually nor politically nor in any
other way. We never put our face to
the ground and submit it to anyone other
than you, you Allah.
That's what the point of the Islam is.
If we're going to behave like other people
are going to behave, then our likeness is
like that of Banu Israel,
who
Allah saved them from
Pharaoh, saved them from his armies, saved them
from slavery,
delivered them from, their enemies. They watched, and
they saw literally
those armies
crushed and drowned
in the, in the Red Sea right before
their eyes through a miraculous process. And then
after having survived all of those things, what
did they do? They said to say the
the Musa alaihis
salam. When they saw other people worshiping idols,
give us a god like these people have
a god.
Is this a good thing or a bad
thing?
It's a horrible thing.
The point of these stories in the Quran
is not so that we laugh at other
people.
The point of these stories in the Quran
is what? Is so that we can take
a lesson from other people's mistakes. It's a
hadith of Rasulullah sallallahu
alaihi
wa
sallam.
The happy person and happy here doesn't mean
like, oh, I'm happy. It means what? The
person who's happy forever, meaning the one who
make it on the day of judgment. The
happy person is who? The happy person
the one who takes a lesson from other
people's misfortunes rather than having to be afflicted
with all of them themselves before learning the
thing that they could have figured out without
having to go to go through the hardship.
If we are going to allow our particulars
to govern the way we behave as Muslims,
I submit humbly that our Islam has no
point whatsoever.
Who are the people though that we who
are the people that we look to for
inspiration as Islam, who are our heroes in
Islam?
You can start from Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam
to
the Sahaba radiAllahu Alaihi Wasallam. What happened? Abu
Talib, his uncle,
who had given him protection, who loved him
and who he
loved. He was dying.
And the people of of Quresh, the mushrikeen
of Quresh, the patrician
and in in franchise class of Quresh,
they said make a settlement before you leave
this world between us and your nephew.
And what does he do? He calls the
prophet
say, I'm your uncle. I did so much
for you. I loved you so much. You
love me. Have a settlement with them. Make
some sort of compromise. You worship their gods
on one day. They worship your gods your
god on one day. You follow their way
on one day. They follow your way on
one day. Throw them a bone so we
can make some sort of compromise. Throw them
a boat like the Quraysh are mercantile people.
They're negotiators.
But you know the problem misunderstanding was? The
misunderstanding was Islam is not a business. It's
not a shop. We're not selling anything.
Despite the fact that we see many Muslims
falling prey to this misunderstanding,
and they're ready to be for sale.
The turban is not for sale. The beard
is not for sale. The hijab is not
for sale. This is the way the best
of our forefathers were. What did they say
to Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam?
He said, make some sort of compromise with
them. He said, my dear uncle, and he
was crying. He was weeping. Why? Because he
loved him so much. It's not like he's
like a a callous person. He sees this
is his uncle. He did so much for
him. If there's someone he owed, he owed
him.
If there's someone he wanted to do something,
and he's dying. If you if there was
anyone he wanted to do some for and
to do a favor for and make happy,
it would have been him.
It would have been him. What did Rasulullah
salallahu alaihi wa sallam say? So, wala, if
they put the sun in my right hand
and they put the moon in my left
hand,
I still I still wouldn't wouldn't be able
to give them anything. Why? Because this deen
comes from
Allah It's his commandment by which we follow
it, and it's with him that we seek
the reward, not with the patrician,
Kibal, Jahiliya, of Quresh, or of anyone who
comes after them.
The
the the the beard is not for sale.
The hijab is not for sale. We are
people who transact in universals.
Whoever
submits to Allah, ta'ala, does so for their
own benefit,
and their reward was with him. And whoever
rebels against Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala does to
their own detriment. And even if all of
us were to get together and show gross
ingratitude to Allah Ta'ala for all of the
and all the blessings and mercy that he
gave us from the time he created us
until,
until the time we return to him, it
wouldn't harm him in one bit. It's only
for our our own benefit.
What is the what is the principles? What
inspires us in these principles? Jump from saying
it in our Rasulullah salallahu alayhi wa sallam
until this time, this era, this age.
Right? Anyone know who Muhammad Ali is?
Right? Muhammad Ali is a person there's a
saying in Arabic. They say in Arabic,
true virtue is that thing that one's own
enemies bear witness to that. Yeah. This guy
was a good guy.
If one's friend said it, you would say
they say they said it out of love.
Right? That that that that love blinds a
person and makes them deaf. You know? Your
every mother thinks that their son is the
most handsome in the world even though,
you you know. So the the the idea
is what?
The idea is if your enemy is there,
there's no conflict of interest for them to
say something good
about you. So more likely than not, he's
going to say something good about you.
There were those who even refused to allow
him to be called Muhammad Ali, just the
name that Tasmiyah offended them so much. They
refused to call him by his Muslim name.
They kept
offended them so much. They refused to call
him by his Muslim name. They kept calling
him by his slave name. Now tell me
something. Why does Muhammad Ali inspire us?
Because he went to corrupt and immoral people
and compromise with them?
Because he was, you know, watching polls and
seeing, you know, what's gonna make people around
me happy?
No.
What did he say? They tried to draft
him to go fight in Vietnam.
There are other leaders of his own community
who are saying to him, take this opportunity.
You will fight in an integrated unit. It
will show that that we are the black
people and white people are equal to one
another.
This is a big chance to showcase. They're
not even gonna make you do anything that
dangerous. They're just gonna take you for a
photo op and take some pictures of you.
They'll use it as a recruitment tool for
other people. You won't even have to do
anything.
It's so easy. It's so easy. And then
our people will will will make advancement. Our
people will be advanced through this. Remember we
said part part particulars
particulars versus universals.
In front of universal, any particularity is all
infinitesimal. Whether it has to do with 1
person,
creator, everything particular is almost nothing compared to
him. Which side did he take? What did
he say? They told him go fight in
Vietnam. What did he say?
Ain't no Vietcong ever called me a nigger.
You hear the words, it sends like electricity
through your heart. And it's not just because
you pray 5 times a day. There are
people in this country, they hear this and
they see this is this is not from
this world.
This speech is not from this world.
The one who has the strength and the
honor
and the
the intellect
and the the the the heart to say
something like that. That inspiration doesn't come from
this world because everybody else is trying to
make a buck. Everybody else is trying to
ingratiate themselves.
Everybody else is trying to be, you know,
get by. Everybody else is trying to indulge
their own,
desires, indulge their own, hunger and their thirst,
and indulge their own and their own passions.
And this is a man who his
basar, his his his vision was.
It was
cast away from particularity and toward universality.
And he said, what? He said, I have
no need to fight these people. These people
didn't do anything to me. This is another
man's war, and it's an immoral war, and
I'm not gonna take part in it. I'm
not gonna take part in it. There are
people to this day who disagree with him.
They say we're fighting communism. It was this
big threat. Maybe they have kind of a
point. Maybe maybe they do. Allahu
Alem.
But to look at the gall of a
man who did what he thought was right
without worrying about it, they stripped him of
his title and they sent him to jail.
And while Lal Al Aleem is being stripped
of his title and being sent to jail,
he was given honor. He was given honor
by Allah in the eyes of the creation.
The 10 titles and being free for a
1000 years wouldn't have given him.
You you you you know, you remember the
weakest?
It was cool to be Muslim in this
country. It was a fleeting moment, admittedly, but
it was cool to be
why? Because these other Muslims, man, they're trying
to make a buck. They're opening liquor stores
in the hood.
They're, they're like, my name's Mohammed, but you
can call me Moe.
Right? They're trying to they're trying to they're
trying to hide their jobs and shave their
beard and, like, you know, do whatever to
get by,
but this guy is not like them. He's
not like why?
Why? Because he has heart. Because he sees
something that other people don't see. He has
vision. He has this this this message that
is universal. Even if you don't like him,
the only person who's gonna disagree with it
is somebody who doesn't like virtue,
somebody who doesn't like fairness, someone who doesn't
like justice is something that everyone can appreciate.
This is not something that he came up
with himself.
This is a great tradition that we have.
This is a great tradition that we have
that starts with with with with with Sayna
Adam alayhi salam, with Sayna Ibrahim alayhi salam,
the idol breaker.
This start it starts with the prophet,
sayna
Sayna Musa Alaihi Salam. It starts with these
people. These people who you know Musa Alaihi
Salam. Why is he the most mentioned prophet
in the entire Quran? Why is Moses the
most mentioned prophet in the Quran? More so
than even by name the prophet Muhammad sallallahu
alaihi wa sallam. Because his story is an
archetypal story. He is a man who has
empty hands. He was literally sentenced to death
before he was even born.
And Allah miraculously
protected him and still gave him his mother,
still gave him his sister. Allah
in the palace of Firaun, in the palace
of pharaoh,
the the den of his enemy.
That that the den of his enemy, Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala raised him up. Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala gave him.
Allah ta'ala gave him insight and then said,
that that that danger you were saved from,
now this is the time you and your
brother go and say the haqq. Go back.
Who in their right mind would go
back? Who in their right mind would go
back? Allah said, no.
This truth, it has its own attraction. It
has its own spark in it. It has
its own its its own, attractiveness. It has
its own, you know, gravity that pulls a
person to it. The one who loves it,
it pulls them. The one who hates it,
it pulls them. Nobody, neither of them can
sleep at night because of their this truth.
The one who loves it, they can't sleep
at night because they wake up and they
pray tahajjud. They raise their hands in front
of it in submission. And the ones who
hates it, they can't sleep at night because
of how disturbed they are from it. Nobody
can ignore it. No matter if you're a
king or you're a peasant, nobody can ignore
it. Say the Musa alayhi salaam, go back.
Say the haqq to this firaoun. You are
the lowest of the low. You are the
weakest of the weak. Your people are barely
humans in their system.
Your people you wanna talk about slavery? Your
people are barely humans to them. Your people
are like animals to them. Your people are
to be killed, kicked,
squashed. Your children are to be massacred mercilessly
in front of them. You're nothing in front
of them, but with Allah ta'ala or something.
Go, the 2 of you, with my dhikr.
Go and and stand and and say the
truth to them. And what happens? They get
by
Right? Here's my here's my miracle.
You throw your stick, it becomes a snake.
You remove your hand.
Please come. This is this is,
one of our local Detroit. You didn't even
know
it. Please come sit in the front.
You know how all these people talking?
His father-in-law is one of the first,
graduates,
graduates,
in North America, in the seventies, he went
to study, and he's, he's African American. He's
not desi. So, you know,
and he's
accepted from him.
What do you say? Raqwas is a he
came with the right message. It makes sense,
and he even came with a miracle as
proof.
He came with a miracle as proof. Then
the then the crap show starts. Then the
the the the the little the the the
the little game start.
This, oh, he's just a he's just a
sorcerer. Right? What do we we have facts,
and then we have all facts.
Right? So get the okay. Yeah. This is
the old facts. Let's let's get get going
with that fraud. Right?
So Farah was like, I could kill him
right now on the spot, but then everyone
will know he only killed him because he
told the truth. So let's try to, you
know, let's try to dance around this this
this issue, this problem.
So what happens? We're gonna go call the
sorcerers,
and, we're going to make
it. It will be like a Eid. Everybody
come. You don't need to get dressed up
and go early in the morning and it's
gonna you're gonna have a you know you're
gonna have a fun day. Let's go. And
the is, like, they say to Firaun, what
if what if, what if, you know, we
we do this work for you, you know,
when you pay us, will you yeah. Yeah.
You'll get this. You'll get that. I'll make
you you can come and go from the
palace anytime you want to. You'll be like,
we'll be homies. We'll be tight. You know?
We'll we'll be tight. That's it. Because the
the sorcerers are like, you know, it's just
a job. To us. It's just a job.
You know what I mean? They don't even
know about none of this and all this
other stuff. Right? It's a magician. A magician
is not known to be, like, a great
source of morality in any society or immorality
for that matter. They're just trying to they're
just trying to hustle a buck like everybody
else is. Right? So what happens? They they
they show up on the thing, and they
start doing their little magic show, and it's
so cute. And they their little sneaky things
are like moving around. And and then and
then said Musa, he he throws his staff,
and it's actually a real snake, and it
destroys all of their magic. They're like,
this just got a little too real. Right?
You're not really supposed to be able to
do that.
You're supposed to make it look like you're
doing that. This guy actually did something that
that's completely, you know, out of our frame
of reference that this is even possible. And
so they said, man, this guy's this guy's
reference that this is even possible. And so
they said, man, this guy's this guy's telling
the truth. He even his message you know,
we were trying to, you know, like, political
or nothing like that. We're just trying to
make a buck, but his message made sense.
And, like, this that. We're just trying to
make a buck, but his message made sense.
And like this guy just actually did this.
Something else is up right now. So what
do they do? They make sajdah in front
of
Allah Infuriating
firaan is that, did you did you did
you change your deen in front of me
without my permission?
I will make an exemplary punishment because now
he can't do nothing. All he can do
is what he can what he can do.
He just start killing people.
What happened to Malcolm?
What happened to to Martin Luther King?
At that point, you can't do nothing. You
just all you can do is just just
kill them. Just whack them. That's
it. Done. What happened? He said, cut their
right arm off and and cut their left
leg off and crucify them as an exemplary
punishment for anyone who would think about anyone
who would think about saying anything to me.
Still didn't deter Sayidam Musa, alayhis salaam.
It still didn't deter deter. What is the
lesson Allah is telling telling us? What is
the lesson Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, is teaching
us? You stay with the haqq. They said,
said, what? Go ahead and kill us. All
you can do is kill us in this
world.
The thing that's on the other side that
where that whole thing that we just saw
came from, that thing will never end. That
thing is something that will that that thing
is something you can't touch. All you can
do. Right?
Do whatever. Make whatever order you want to.
You can only boss people around in this
life of this world. This is temporary. There's
a higher life than this.
The akhirah is better than this world, it's
more intense than this world, and it will
last forever.
What is it? You stay with the haqq.
You were ordered to be killed as a
child, and they ended up raising you. Just
stay with the haqq. You were you fled
from them,
because they're gonna kill you, just stay with
the haqq. Go back.
Tell them the truth, stay with the haqq,
you'll be okay. They won't touch you.
Go to the go and deal with their
sorcerers. Just stay with the haqq, Allah ta'ala
will protect you. Even the sorcerer is new.
Even if he kills us, what can he
what can he he can't do anything to
us.
After that,
Allah ta'ala gives
Musa alayhis salam.
That say your prayers and wait for my
order, and then by the early part of
the the the morning by the early part
of the morning, take them to the sea.
It's time to leave.
The host of
bear down on them. Right? What did they
leave? Canoes and Maqam and Amin, they Janat,
all of these things. They have their beautiful
houses, their entire civilization, these people left from
they picked up arms, and they thought we're
going to know. This is the day we're
gonna squash these bugs. That's what they were
to them. They're bugs. This day, we're gonna
squash these bugs.
And then afterward, what happened,
even Musa Alaihi Salam, his own people, some
of his own people. Right? He was a
person. He's a nebbi. He's a person of
iman. His own people that not all of
them were people of that level of iman.
Many of them, we don't just say that
they're all evil or many of them were
oliya of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, the highest
order. Yusha bin Noon al Kalib were actually
MBIA alaihi muslam after him.
But the people, the riffraff were were grumbling.
And can we blame them? We have less
imam even than they do. Can we blame
them? What did this?
This is it. There's the sea in front
of us, the army, the host of pharaoh
is coming down behind us. That's it. He's
get he he's got us. It's done. Jig
is up. Game over. Done.
What does Sayyidina Musa alayhi salam
a
No. My lord is with me. My is
with me. He'll show me what to do.
He'll show me what to do. Allah gives
him the the the order that you strike
your your your your staff into the ocean.
You know,
who here knows who
is? He's a he's a old Muhadith, old
school Muhadith in Makkamukarama.
He wrote, like, just a like, a very
almost unbelievable number of books. He was a
great Muhadith and.
He actually wrote a small
and a piece about how,
having a stick with you.
That that that that that carrying a stick
with you is a a sunnah of the
prophet salayahu alayhi wasalam. He talks about what
the benefits of it are and whatnot. That's
why it's a sunnah. Sometimes some massages people
are too cool for the sunnah nowadays. But
back in the day when the sunnah was
cool, the the the Khutba was always given
with the with with the the staff in
hand for a number of reasons that we're
not gonna go into right now.
So you hear the story of Saddam Hussein
Alaihi Salam who's quite cool. Like, I wanna
carry a staff as well. Right? They don't
like it at the airport, so I
just I leave it at home. But right?
And it's definitely not the most important thing
in your deen either. But it is cool.
One day when someone say to Musa, you
hear about him, then you're like, that was
that's that's cool.
What did he do? Allah commanded him. He
said, strike your staff into the ocean, and
then a path will open for you. A
dry path. It won't even be wet or
soggy. A dry path will open open for
you. And then both of the both of
the sides of the the sea, they stand
like mountains
waiting for him. And so what happens? They
go through, and they're in the sea, and
the host of Fir'aun enters in as well.
They come out. The the the waves crash,
and they
was a man of so much.
Was a man of so much arrogance.
He's a man of so much arrogance. Literally,
the Mufassir didn't say that the angels were
filling his mouth with water as he was
drowning there, filling his mouth with water so
he could not say anything so that he
couldn't say anything out of fear that he'll
say
before he dies and that he Allah that
will forgive him even for that.
Which should be what?
Should be a lesson to us of how
valuable this
is. When you have it, go ahead and
say it. It's okay if you looked at
something bad on the internet, or you smoked
some weed, or you, you know, whatever. All
these things there. It's not okay to do
those things. Don't do them. But if you
made a mistake in the past, then call
Allah Ta'ala's name. He's the one who waits
for the for the for for for the,
for your
for your for your for your for it.
He loves your
for it.
The angels are filling his mouth with water,
filling his mouth with water. This Khabis better
than this disgusting person
better not. Say before it's time to take
his because this is the prize that belongs
to Jahannan. We're not gonna let anyone take
it away from us this day.
This is what the one who keeps his
his his,
and his connection with the haqq.
I don't say don't be an activist.
I don't say don't have a political position.
I don't say don't,
you know, take up up social justice issues.
I I myself have positions on these things.
I myself feel very passionate about them.
And maybe my ideas about them are different
than your ideas, and maybe your ideas are
better than mine.
Because I'm not a nabi that everything I
say is correct.
Maybe I have some knowledge in one thing,
and you have knowledge in another thing, and
your knowledge is better than mine. But universal,
what is a universal?
The universal is what?
Allah commands you that you should you should
correct me if I read the wrong. Right?
Allah commands you to return
the return the, trusts to the ones that
trusted you. Someone trusted you with something, you
return that trust. Meaning, if someone said, hey.
Can you keep this $100,
you know, and I'll get it back for
you later? You don't get a chance you
you don't get to spend it and be
like, oh, I'll just give it, you know,
later to someone or whatever. You don't have
the right to do that. You don't have
the right to do that. Rather, Allah commands
you that you should preserve people's trust and
return them to them. And the other tafsir
of this is the trust that Allah gave
you. Your eyes, he gave you as a
trust. Allah forgive us for having abused them.
Our ears, Allah gave us as a trust.
Allah forgive us for having abused them. Those
every finger in your in your both hands,
imagine if a person stops or hits another
human being, Muslim or not, without Haqq. And
it's almost never with Haqq.
Every every every small part of every finger
that hit that person, it's a trust you
violated from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
Your tongue is a trust. Every time you
make fun of somebody, every time you mock
somebody, jeered at somebody,
and you didn't have a right, and we
almost never have a right to do that.
It was what? A violation of trust. Allah
commands you to keep his trust for him
and return it to him clean.
Not like someone says, I'm gonna park my
car in your in your driveway, and you
take it for a joyride like, you know,
it's like Ferris Bueller 2017
and then trying to drive it backwards after
when you're done and all this other nonsense.
Right? It's not that's not that's not what
the that's not what this is about.
And when you judge, judge with justice.
Justice is not justice for people for for
Muslims only.
That when it's time to, like, when it's
time to, like, whatever they're banning us or
whatever, we're gonna go and, like, yell and
scream at the airport. And then when they're
deporting other people, they're like, yeah. I
got homework this week.
Judge with justice. Why? Turban is not for
sale. Hijab is not the beard is not
for sale. It's not for the one who
reads the Quran
the Quran and prays this salat, praise these
5 times daily salat, that person is not
for sale.
How many a time how many a time
has there been a a a case adjudicated
between either Rasulullah or one of his companions
between them and between a person of a
different faith? And Sayidina Ali radiAllahu anhu gives
the the hukum in favor of the other.
Sayidina Rasool Allah gives a hukum in favor
of the other.
Why?
Because this is what? How you apply this?
This is up to you. You may know
better to how to apply it than I
I do. Maybe I know better how to
apply. Maybe 9 times out of 10, you're
right. Maybe one time out of 10, I'm
right. Allah knows best. As we go from
universals to particularity,
then it's less clear what's the hot and
what's not.
But the universal, these things live in our
heart as an aatida that we love justice,
we love the people of justice, and we
love the people that are trustworthy, and we
hate the people of injustice, and we hate
the people of treachery. Whether they call themselves
a Muslim or they call themselves anybody else.
Saddam Hussein,
the former ruler of Iraq.
In the Reagan administration,
the CIA
director was asked asked because they he was
a big ally of this country at that
time.
And I suggest he wasn't good in those
days, and he wasn't as evil as they
make him out to and and afterward. But
he was a person, and he did many
wrong things as well. But he also maybe,
you know, he's not like the incarnation of
evil that people make him into. Every human
being is has part part of what they
do is good and part of what they
do is bad. And when you allow someone
to teach you that anyone other than the
prophets are a 100% good, you've been made
a fool out of. And when you allow
someone to teach you that anyone is completely
pure evil more than shaitan, then you've allowed
them to make a fool out of you.
This sadaam, he gassed so many of his
people. The Kurds, he gassed so many of
the people who were put Allah that put
in his in his in his trust.
He gassed them. He killed the men, women,
children, he gassed them. And they asked the
CIA director under,
Reagan Reagan administration.
Like, this guy killed so many different people
and whatever. What do you say about him?
He's,
he laughs. He goes, he's son of a
bitch, but he's our son of a bitch.
We do not we are people of god.
We may be imperfect ourselves.
We may have a lot to work on
about ourselves.
We may have a lot to repent to
Allah for.
Our neighbors may not may may not give
a good report about us on the day
of judgment. Our family members may not give
a good report about us on the day
of judgment. We have to work on that.
There's no one we can shirk it off
on. But I tell you right now as
a witness against myself and a witness against
you,
that we do not subscribe to the our
son of a bitch,
and our the our son
alaihi wa sallam loves him, And the people
of Allah love him
or her. And the person who is with
the falsehood,
his beard can be award winning. Her hijab
can be the the hijabis of hijab and
whatever.
Right? They can be they can be slick
talking wonderful. CNN may love them. Fox news
may love them. That person may be like
just this wonderful everyone, like, loves that person.
But if Allah loves them, what's what what
love is there left? That person is completely
as if they're unloved.
Just like the person, if the entire universe
should hate them, if Allah loves them, then
that person is so enveloped with love. There's
nothing that can touch that person, neither in
this world nor in the hereafter.
So if you want to stay grounded,
don't worry about what's happening on CNN.
Don't worry about what's happening on BBC.
Don't worry about what's happening on Fox News.
Don't worry about what's happening on NPR.
You can listen to the news if you
want to. That's fine. But what did Rasulullah
say, oh Allah, do not make the dunya
our the greater part of our concern nor
nor nor we ask you nor should you
make it the extent of our knowledge. Rather,
if you wanna watch those things, watch them.
Use the information you get from them to
the degree it's useful, and after that, shut
it off.
Use the information you get from them in
order to make your decisions in the dunya
based on what's best for you and and
your family and your loved ones in this
world and in the hereafter.
What is the greater source of your knowledge?
Go back to the book of Allah Ta'ala.
Whoever doesn't hear whoever doesn't know how
to read Arabic properly, or they learn the
letters, but they don't know how to join
them together, or they, join them together, but
it's hard for them. Make a in your
heart right now that I'm gonna go I'm
gonna go and sit with the children if
I happen to sit with the children in
the masjid. This is a priority. I'm going
to learn to read the book of Allah.
The one who doesn't know Arabic,
which is not just Desi people, also are,
the
good brothers of the Shonak and the public
and the, public and whatever.
You know, they also we're talking about classical
Arabic. It's a different language. It's a similar,
but it's a different language. Right?
Learn learn that language so that you can
understand the book of Allah and the sunnah
of Sayna
You can understand their their their tongue. It's
not rocket science. I'm not the smartest guy
in the world. I figured it out. I
know I know a lot of people who
figured it out.
People who have full time jobs doing other
things, they figured it because it's what they
made time for.
Sit in the
the people who sat with those people, who
sat with those people, who sat with those
people, who sat with the with
the Muhammad Ali Salam, sit with them.
You will receive some of of the
the prophet by sitting with them.
If one of them says something you don't
like, or one of them you don't like,
then just sit with the other one.
So many people. You have so many. This
is the city of and
etcetera.
If you don't if you wanna, you know,
if you wanna play, politics, you got you
got you got white. You got black.
You got this. You got people born here.
You got people born people somewhere else. You
have
people's superior accents,
that are absolutely wonderful.
And they're actually there for your service. Actually,
they're for your service as MSA member. I
didn't have no MSA chaplain. I you know,
I I we I have to literally leave
this this,
continent in order to learn the things that
are delivered to you at your finger
tips. If you cannot sit with Rasulullah salallahu
alaihi wa sallam, sit with the ones who
sat with the ones who sat with them.
Because they breathe the same air that the
people breathe before them, that the people breathe
before them. That your anfaas, your breath will
meet with Rasulullah salallahu alaihi wa sallam. Here
the hadith of Sayna Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam.
The one who couldn't meet him in person,
let him meet him through his hadith. Meet
the
The heirs of the prophet salallahu alayhi Musa'at
wa sallam. If you want to know about
somebody and that person died, you'll know more
about them by visiting their children
than you will by visiting anyone else because
they know them for their entire life. They're
the ones who literally have their physical artifacts.
You can go
see
them. May Allah rectify their how and give
them strength in Himma and increase their numbers
and make them people that people listen to
and accept from. Those ulama are there. You
can meet them. Not all of them are
the fancy pants ones that, like, you know,
are at big conferences and, like, cost a
lot of money to visit them, and they
won't give you their email address. There are
some of them, they're not really slick talking
people like myself, like a some kind of
spiritual used car salesman,
hocking like paradigm
and narrative and cultural references and all this
other nonsense on you so you can be
entertained and, like, maintain enough, like, a spiritual
attention span. There are some of them, maybe
they don't speak real fancy, but the universals,
they understand them inside out. Go sit with
them. Go sit with them. Take that how
from them. Drink it in your mind. Drink
it inside of your heart. And when the
mind and the heart are in tow, the
body has no choice except for to go
with. The body will be restless at the
time of Fajr. The body is going to
hate to consume the haram. The eyes are
going to want to look at the haram,
and the heart's gonna say, no. Not today.
The ears are going to want to hear
the haram, but it's not. That beat's not
gonna be jamming like it was yesterday. Why?
Because the heart is not into it. The
mind is not into it anymore.
It's it's it's done. It's withering away. Its
effective grip on you is weakening.
Be people
your and your
your concentration
and your aspirations
are focused not on the many, but on
the one.
Allah
will keep you in his protection as long
as you're written to be in this world.
If that's more time,
And if it's less time, then whoever dies
with what's in front of him is always
better than what's behind him. Nobody ever wants
to go back.
The angels come to him and give
him the glad tidings
Allah The the the blessings that he's prepared
for you. Here, they'll show they'll literally show
them to you. Nobody's going to want to
go back. However, long you are in this
world,
if you are the one who take the
Haqq as a friend, as a wali,
takes you as his wali. And even if
you and I are not very good friends
to our friends, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, once
he befriends a person, he never lets them
down. Allah ta'ala never lets them down. Allah
ta'ala never abandons them. Even if you may
go through some difficulty, you will live to
see with your own eyes and feel with
your own heart. Why that thing that was
a something that was a a a disappointment
to you? Actually, it was the best thing
that could have happened. It was the best
thing that could have happened to you. Be
a person who is is with the Haqq
and just like
Musa and Bani Islael.
Allah Ta'ala will take you from point a
to point b in the most miraculous and
unexpected of ways possible. And if you wanna
sell out in order to chummy up with
Fa'aun, then don't blame Mawlana Hamza when you
end up in the bottom of the sea.
Don't blame anybody. Don't make a documentary
about why you ended up in the bottom
of the sea. Don't don't don't complain about,
Oh, you know, Masjid was inaccessible, and it
was unfriendly, and blah blah blah. This that
Don't blame anybody else other than yourself.
Every single difficulty you go through in your
path to Allah
is rewarded
richly. And the one who his talab is
sincere. The one who's seeking is sincere. Allah
will make the means for that person to
be successful even if they don't exist and
even if it's in the most extraordinary way
possible. Allah
give all of us tawfir that he he
he himself take it upon himself
to take us into into his own hands,
to take us into his own
that we be the shepherds of that he
be the shepherd of us, we be part
of his flock, that we stay in the
the the the the the hima of of
of his deen with his
and
with
his
and
with his and with all of those that
he loves, that we should be people that
wherever we go, the Haqq goes with us.
We love to see the Haqq. We love
to hear the Haqq. We love to we
love to speak the haqq. We everything about
the haqq, we love it. We love that
it should sit in our minds and in
our hearts, and that our body should then
be dragged to it even if by force.
May Allah make us people who are people
of Haqqan. Cleanse our eyes and ears and
our tongues from the bottle, and make us
people who are not for sale because we're
priceless rather than make us people who are
sale for sale. And then Shaitan and Fir'aun
and all of these, lackeys of this age
can argue with one another over, over who's
gonna get a cheaper price and a cheaper
bargain when they buy us forever. Allah ta'ala
protect us from such an end. Allah make
us a people with value with him even
though we have no value of ourselves. But
if he values us, then there's nothing more
valuable than us in this world.