Hamzah Wald Maqbul – The Struggle to Know Episode 005 Imam Dawud Walid
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This is Mila Herahman Rahaim.
Welcome back to the struggle to know.
We are here in Canton, Michigan. Yes. And,
we have
a very
special guest today. And I will go ahead
and pass it over so everyone can introduce
themselves.
Oh, before introducing, our our, honored guest, I
wanted to, just give a couple of our
our our, honored guest, I wanted to just
give a couple of acknowledgements
and give thanks.
First of all, to brother,
Sej Shafi'i Adeen Ahmed whose equipment
we're borrowing because the Cleveland Public Library,
their equipment wasn't
available for a loan. They graciously loan us
their equipment for,
for our podcast in the past. But today,
it wasn't available. So Shafi Mancha came through.
He
has his own podcast called the Chains of
Narration podcast and we urge everybody to check
it out.
And
I'd also like to thank our special guest
today,
one of the founding members of CARE
Michigan, and one of the early workers in
the CARE movement,
and one of the pillars of the community
here in Detroit,
and a
renowned author who's written on a number of
very important topics,
and,
just a very honorable person,
Imam Dawood Walid,
who is,
who we're in his care office right now
in Detroit. So, Assalamu alaikum, and welcome Detroit.
So,
Assalamu alaikum. Welcome to our podcast. And, obviously,
we have our brother, your brother,
Musa Siggukum.
Call call him
brother
Musa Call call him Sheikh. Otherwise, I'm gonna
break your windows. And,
and, you know, I didn't actually introduce myself.
I said not to do that. So my
name is, Tristan Wheeler, and,
I am a native
Clevener
and serve on the York board,
at one of the messiahs in the city
of Cleveland. And one of the beautiful things
about our dean is it brings people together.
So not very often can you have Ohio
and Michigan come together in peace
and have a discussion with love and compassion
and thoughtfulness. Bless you all.
So, Imam Dawood,
I would like to kick off the podcast.
It seems that we we do this in
the beginning. It is very enriching for
the listeners. Maybe tell us a little bit
about yourself.
Tell us a little bit about your journey
through, life and what got you to the
point where you are in terms of your
knowledge, in terms of your spiritual growth, your
personal growth,
your activism, politics, all of these things. Maybe,
lead us to a point that we can
inshallah,
then jump off from there in a more
organic discussion
in order to benefit.
First of all, let me say it's a
honor and privilege to be on this podcast,
and I'm actually a,
a listener
and a viewer.
I may Allah reward you all for the
work you're doing as far as the the
the Dawah and also,
helping get out,
stories of of of people who are doing
contributions
to,
to this deen and doing
on behalf of Muslims and humankind. So
give you all of you
and protect you and protect your families
and protect all of those who you love.
So a little bit about my background. I
was born Detroit, but I was raised
in Central Virginia.
Took a little pit stop in New York
for a moment.
I have a so called interfaith family, meaning
that I have Muslims
on my father's side.
My mother's side is 100%
Christian.
May may Allah guide them. He guide my
mother.
My,
my influence
is,
I'll start with my father. My father,
grew up off of,
Clermont
and Linwood.
And historically speaking, this is on the west
side of Detroit.
That's down the street from Masjid Wai Mohammed,
which used to be temple number 1 during
the time of the Nation of Islam. I
do. And it was the first place where
Malcolm X,
ever spoke at Right. When he got prison.
So my father
lived in that neighborhood, and he went to
the high school that's directly across the street
called Central High. So,
his introduction
to
Islam wasn't,
Quran and Sunnah as we understand it today,
but, through the nation.
And, he listened to the Muslims,
or the Nation of Islam members speak.
And, he would also go and eat at
the restaurant, which is next door.
And after
two
times hearing the the speeches, he,
he went back to my grandmother
and,
actually,
said that he wasn't gonna eat,
pork anymore. And, the story goes that she
brought him a plate of, she made some
pork chops
and put in front of my father. And
my father being like a teenager and being
somewhat radical in his thought, he pushed the
plate off away from him onto the floor.
He said, I'm not eating that rat. You
know, because the Nation of Islam mythology, they
say that a pig is part dog, part
cat, and other part rat. So it's aggressive
animal. Right? So so,
but, just fast forward, my my parents divorced
when I was,
pretty young.
And at the age of 6, I then
went to New York
and then,
to Virginia, and I've only come up to
visit.
And the only thing that I knew about
Islam was,
a
picture, on the wall of my, cousin.
He all he all had a picture of
Malcolm X.
But not Malcolm, under the nation of Islam
Malcolm X, it was El Hajj
Malik at Shabaz
and a picture of him with his with
a beard, and that was on the wall.
And,
that imagery,
kept something alive inside me. I never really
accepted Christianity.
My mother used to send me to Sunday
school and all these things growing up.
And, what really sparked my interest
in Islam,
oddly was the,
the conscious rap music of the late eighties.
Many of them would talk about Malcolm x,
reference to Quran. Some of them were Sunni
Muslims. Most of them were part of
so called 5% nation or nation of Islam
members.
That got me interested in reading
the autobiography
of Malcolm x at 17.
Then I read
a book on the life of the prophets,
and then that's basically what got me into,
the practice
of Islam
and accepting,
the religion
or the way of life of my forefathers
was actually the bridge of that was
through actually,
rap music,
at that time. Unlike the, garbage that's out
the day that really has no redeeming,
characteristics, but there were,
some things that,
the black consciousness movement really,
was a bridge of leading a lot of
people,
in my generation,
into
into reading more about Islam and and exploring
Islam.
Then
just to just to fast forward some,
I began to take,
some, Arabic classes.
I had,
some teachers that,
began to study grammar under and saw for,
morphology,
and other books that began to be,
read.
I've been sat with some of the,
Where Michigan? Detroit? This is Michigan. Yes. Yes.
Yes. Then,
a teacher
who taught at the
Islamic,
University in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, which I studied
under him for a while. And I
read, the
with
him. And then I, I sat with some
of the in
West Africa.
I, I first went to,
to Mali
in, first the Bamako with Sheikh,
Mahmoud Jialo,
Hafidullah.
And then I spent some time in in
in Mopdi.
And may Allah help our brothers and sisters
in Mali, the French, have done a lot
of,
mischief and arming people, commit some violence.
And then, you know, I I still consider
myself a,
a student, and I don't even like to
be called,
imam or sheikh. I am more of a,
a person that tries to do a fitna
for the deen and do some. And,
I think that the only
I basically feel I'm in a position
to do Dawah simply because out of necessity.
It's not out of choice. Like, you know,
so I don't
and I'm not saying this out of false
humility. Like, I I don't see myself as
an alum,
even though I've,
set,
I've set with the scholars, but I'm not
one of them. So I'll just I'll just
leave it at that.
Well, I'll increase you in your knowledge and
make you and all of us the imams
of the. This is a du'a
of the Quran.
And it's not by choice,
but someone has to lead the prayer. So
even if there's no imam and it's time
to pray, someone has to step forward. And
usually, it's by making yourself available
by being in the front self which is
like serving
that
you make yourself
available and not by choice, but you get
pushed forward.
If
any of us are are found in that
position, may Allah make us worthy of that
and allow to fulfill the trust that that
comes with.
And if you don't mind me asking, that
whole awakening that you
had, that took place while you were in
high school? I started when I was in
high school. Starting when I was in high
school. I started when I was in high
school. Yes. Because I think I mean, nowadays,
it's important.
I I think for people to understand that,
that
that age is very important. It's very significant.
People are more mature than we realize. Our
little kids who we look at as babies
who are in high school now, they're not
babies.
And they're capable of understanding things intellectually.
And we have to stop treating them like
babies sometimes, and we have to start treating
them like mature,
intellectual, young minds so that we can shape
it properly.
And when was it that you actually started
taking that journey of, like, Arabic and studying
more seriously?
19.
19. 19. Right. But the,
the issue of, Right after high school. Yeah.
Right after high school. And,
but going back to that, and,
I remember, like, a 15 or 16 years
old
friends of mine, we would sit, and just
to show my age. We were sitting listening
to
Malcolm X on vinyl. Like it wasn't cassette.
There was a 12 inch, vinyl.
Like, it wasn't cassette. There was a 12
inch record. On one side was the message
to the grassroots.
The other side was the ballot of the
bullet. A lot of the speeches that were
given,
message of grassroots was given in in, in
a church in Detroit not far away.
And,
you still have the vinyl? I don't have
the vinyl. But we were sitting back talking
about
geopolitics
at 15 or 16 years old. Like we
were talking about I just opened up our
minds. We were talking about
COINTELPRO
and,
Jamal Abdul Nasar and,
other movements that were going on.
It opened up us,
talking about the,
the Islamic movement in Nigeria
of the Soko Taw
Caliphate
of Sheikh Othman,
Binfuri,
Like, if we were talking about things then,
that
were adult conversations that we we started to
open up. And so we were serious. You
know, a lot of us were very serious.
And,
but we were introduced
to
a discourse that was serious. And then we
also had some elders that were around might
mean my elders. I don't mean old.
Back in that time when we called someone
old head or an OG, this was someone
who was, like, in their twenties Mhmm.
That would,
wouldn't shoo away us teenagers. But at the
same time, we still gave them a a
level of deference or respect that
there were people that somewhat we looked up
to. Right? So,
that was a very special time in the
late eighties and early nineties. And were any
of those, like, old cat OGs Muslim?
Yes. Some of them were Muslim. Okay. Some
of them were. There was one brother, actually
who was a Muslim,
on the sunnah who came from New York
and had moved down to,
to to Virginia. African American? African American. Yeah.
And this is, and when I'm talking about
this, all these people I'm having discussions with
and sitting back listening to these Malcolm
X lectures or talking about,
Patrice Lumumba
and, the Algerian revolution. All of these are
are African Americans. None of them were were,
of other,
ethnic backgrounds or racial backgrounds.
How, how old were you when you traveled
overseas? And,
you know, who were your guides to
know where to go, like, to go to
Mali and go to Bamako, Moti, these different
places? So I was,
the first time that I actually went overseas,
I was actually
in my,
in my twenties.
And part of my urge of going to
Mali was twofold. Firstly,
I was reading a lot of Afrocentric
books.
Sheikh Anta
Job it's mispronounced Diap, a Senegalese,
historian and writer who actually was part of
a Tabikatul Muradiah,
the Tabikat Sheikh Ahmedu Bamba Ron Moran,
which,
talked about the great Malian Empire
and Abu Bakr al Thani,
the very well known Mensa Musa and things
like this. So,
just to keep it real, part of my
motivation
of wanting to go to West Africa was
to connect back,
which I felt that was kind of like
robbed or stolen
from my, from my family of the experience
of enslavement here.
And,
that's 1. And then also,
of a,
a Malian,
contact,
brother, Mamadou,
who actually is, friends with my father,
who, has,
connections. And, he actually is a Malian, but
he had
a connection to,
Bamako as well as,
Mopdi. So that was kind of my my
modeling connection.
How how was it? Because, like, when you
go from there, there are things that are
cool. There are things that are disappointing. There
are things that are confusing.
Like, how how did you negotiate that, you
know, like, at at that age?
Well, let me say this is in general
to anyone who's like, I'm a student of
knowledge or you're going and sitting with my
shayef like it's it's not romantic. Like don't
think you're gonna go somewhere and you're gonna
be sitting in this mesh
list. And then people gonna be walking around
with the,
and you're gonna sit with this big shake
and
everything is just gonna be,
what you think is illuminated. Right. The reality
of it is is that,
you're gonna get eaten up by mosquitoes. And
the mosquitoes in West Africa aren't like these
little cute mosquitoes in America. These are, like,
these these are real ones. For instance, I
like, for instance, they have a mosquito nets,
and I made the mistake of,
not using mosquito net. And there was this,
stuff that Avon has. It's called skin so
soft that it's supposed to help keep off
the mosquitoes. So I sprayed it on myself,
but I didn't spray my my feet. So
I woke up and these
mollian mosquitoes ate me up so much that
my feet swole to the point that I
could not wear shoes. Wow. Right? So, like,
even to have, like, these sandals I have
on now, like, my feet were swollen. It's
like I'm walking around barefoot
because my feet are just swollen for about
a
week just from the the the mosquitoes.
Right? So so that's just one,
aspect. But,
the, the beauty,
of the people there and the, the humanity.
Right? It's like,
traveling
there, I can honestly say it's the first
time I ever felt free. I do. What
does that mean?
It's hard for me to articulate, but just
saying, like, as a,
as an African American
growing up here, I always felt like I
have to, like, walk on eggshells
because of either the police
or
self policing
behavior
to not seem as a threat to white
people, just to keep it real with you.
Because
I was given that talk and growing up
in in Central Virginia,
don't drive
in these areas
after dark.
Don't drive there.
That's 1.
Never ever look at a white girl or
a white woman. Never do that because that
could cost you imprisonment or cost your life.
Like, I was just talking about things or
even the thing about Michelle and I were
told not to look at women in general.
Like, so.
Very different reasons. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Except for
your wife. Right. Right. Right. Right. Exactly.
If she's white, that's okay.
But, like, in general.
Right.
So
just the
the the the the pressure
of being black here in America.
And then,
like, being Muslim, that's just another
way of, like,
being further marginalized
of, like,
it seemed as suspect by the dominant culture.
So that that honestly, like, had
I can admit it, like, had
a toll on me as a, as a,
as a younger person.
So when I went
to Africa, it's like it's the first
time I felt free. Like, I didn't have
to worry about the police. I had to
worry about people
looking at me as a threat or because
of my skin color.
Then it's also the other spiritual reasons. Hearing
the event 5 times a day is something
that's very
healing,
just to hear,
the event,
5 times a day. And especially
in the cadence of those who are West
African and calling it according to the Maliki
Medheb where it's not like a song, but
it's like it's like a call. Mhmm. And
and it's like it's it's like almost feeling
like hearing
the depths of the souls of the
then.
It's it's it's it's hard for me it's
hard for me to kind of, like,
to to articulate
the,
the feelings. Even when I got off the
airplane, I was met by a brother,
Yobi, from the,
Muslim from the, from the Dogan tribe. So
there's different,
tribes there. You have the the, the Fulani,
of course. You have, Bambora, which is has
a connection to the Manginka tribe.
You have Dogan tribe, the Bozo tribe, the
Bobo tribe.
Each tribe and villages are known for their
specialty, the Fulenis or the herders.
Then you have some of them like the
Bozo or the fisher fishermen.
And they do a lot of bartering and
training to this day. Many people even deal
with money in the areas close to Burkina
Faisal in these areas. But when I got
off the plane,
it was brother Yobe and another brother. I
forget his name.
But, they
said, welcome home.
And gave me, like, a hug, and I
remember just
crying.
He's walking home walking home.
Never been there in my life. Walking home.
Right. You're in your element.
Yeah. Did you did you feel at home
or after that, were you like, man, these
mosquitoes don't eat my feet. I'm from Detroit.
You know? Well, the the the mosquitoes,
were just a a slight inconvenience, which I
was able to navigate that. But, no, I
felt totally,
at home. And I've and I felt the
same way
later on when, in traveling to Senegal. Like,
and there was something that was
different
yet something very familiar. And even many African
Americans there's 2 things many African Americans have
been duped about. But one is that when
you go to West Africa, you literally can
see some of our our,
our expressions that we have as African Americans
mirror West Africans. So, like, the enslavement of
the white man didn't rob us of everything.
Right? That's one thing that people we maybe
were taken away from our language and languages
in our deen, Islam, but we weren't stripped
of everything. This is number 1. Number 2
is also
the the call and response culture that we
have amongst African Americans. Yeah.
So, like, when you're
at a at a Darce or, like, for
instance of,
let's say,
Sharif,
Usman,
Haidara,
and you'll see him speaking, and he'll, like,
say some of his his his paws. He'll
he'll say some of his lecture, and then
there'll be a hype man, kinda
Yeah. Nam. Nam. And, like, it's like so,
like, everything. He'll do a sentence and then
the guy,
or, like and so it's it's it's it's
hard explain, but it it it it's it's
similar to, like, what we have, like, in,
African American music culture, even in the black
church, where the preacher is talking and the
people in the in the in the front.
Like, can I get an amen? Amen. And,
like like like, that that is so African.
Come on. Right? It's so African. It's funny.
Like, I I actually I actually felt the
same way. Like, more Italian, like, you shake
hand. You go to shake, like, the big
item of the tribe, and you shake hands
like this. Like, shake hands. And then he'll
go like Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And then you'll
be and you'll be like, wow. Like,
did that just happen? Or, like, you know,
someone will be like, like, do you think
you're suited to Dodge?
Right? Yeah. And then but it's like it's
like, wow. That's the same like, you're like,
like, you're like
you know? But even that same here, we
call it DAP. Yeah. So here, we call
it DAP, but they in in West Africa,
dap,
dap is African.
Like, is the like, people think it's African
American stuff. I mean, they saw it in
a rap video if you're not black, but
dap is is West African. Straight up. It's
straight up West African. Gotcha.
It's it's straight Mandinka. I have a question
about what you said, you know, you felt
free.
Yeah.
Did part of that
feeling of freedom
also come from the fact that you didn't
have to, like, uphold a certain standard
that we hold to ourselves as black people
in America. You know, like, like, I've mentioned
this once before in the podcast, like, you
know, the whole black card thing. You know,
like, we have that. Mhmm. We feel like
we have to be a certain way even
amongst ourselves. Yeah. Did you feel free in
the
sense that you didn't have to
like, all of that was just like you
could just let that go. It was all
gone. Like, what you're talking about, that was
that was all gone. Wow. And another thing
that you're mentioning too is that one of
the lies that we've been told is that
our people in West Africa
don't want us there. Mhmm. Always returning. Like,
this is something that's like this divide and
conquer thing. And likewise,
many Africans before they come here, they're told
negative things about us or stay away from
us. But
when I went there, I and I've gone
to West Africa,
multiple times, starting from my first time,
in in going for those
those 2 years in Mali. But,
being in Senegal, being in Ghana, I never
felt that vibe,
not a single time That's right. Where where
I was, where I didn't feel welcome. I
felt the welcome home,
vibe,
every time irrespective
of tribe. Hausa tribe,
tribe,
the Gomba tribe.
Oh, I I never felt like I was
a,
an an an outcast.
So I just have to to to say
that, and and everyone, who's Muslim, be you
black or not, I I suggest taking a
trip to West Africa
when COVID 19 looks good. There's something very,
special,
about
the people there and the practice of Islam,
the the level of humility and, like, not
like the the fake airs of fake religiosity.
Right. You can experience something a little different.
And the people there are very friendly. And,
I will say though, if you're going to
Ghana or Nigeria,
there is a level
of truth of the stereotypes
about
the issues of maybe someone trying to hit
you up for a, for a gift. Mhmm.
Being a bribe. Right? So,
I've,
I've I've I've faced that,
my first time in a crock.
Within
within the first two hours, I we were
approached for,
from
security,
agents, agents, police 3 different times asking for
for bribes. So
that that that, unfortunately,
that's that's not how it is in
Senegal or Gambia or or Mali, but the
issue of,
especially when they see that that that blue
American passport,
Mhmm. That that is a reality. There is
some,
corruption
as far as bribes. But then again, the
first time I was in Cairo, similar thing
going through security, I was asked for the
you know, we were asked to I was
with and Hamid down in Atlanta, and I
remember this. This was maybe in
about 2004.
And the guy,
saw our American
passports in the group because that was the
first time I made Hajjos with him. And
he's like,
the hush bros? Hajj bros. Yeah. He said,
ah, he said, I'm Ricky.
Yeah. I was talking to somebody. I'm gonna
take permission to just, like, dissolve it. See,
we're like yeah. We're like so a translation,
the guy said, oh, you're Americans. Where's my
gift from America? So we're like,
Subhanallah.
As the guy was like, he didn't care
about whether we were going, like, we were
going on pilgrimage.
So he he wanted that,
he wanted he wanted a ben he wanted
a Benjamin.
So, unfortunately,
he he had end up we didn't get
through without giving a guy a $100 bill.
So that's may Allah help us. I'm Because,
unfortunately,
the,
we have these issues,
in in some places amongst some people.
I'd like to be to be fair, like,
those people also suffer crippling poverty and, like,
buckle under a system that's
it's been suggested as, like,
not very not very fair. You have, like,
people you know, it's it's one thing, like,
you have people who have
degrees and studied, did everything right in life,
but still never can get a job, still
making up money to get married or whatever.
Desperation leads to whatever. It's still wrong. It
doesn't justify it, but Allah have like you
said, Allah have mercy on,
on this one. Yeah. I mean And, make
a way out for those people who are
still trying. I mean, yeah.
Another thing I wanted to ask too is,
like, so you talked about some behavioral things
that you noticed that
were similar or, like, that still persists in
African American culture.
Was there any
other things that stood out? Like, I always
wonder about foods, like, you know, if there
are any things
that African Americans typically, like, eat in our
cuisine that are similar to any traditional African
foods. Did you notice anything like that? Yeah.
I mean, I think
Not
not as much as the food. Okay. Not
as much as the food. I I sort
of Although I would say to ask. Although
there's a very popular drink,
it's known as, in West Africa, it's called
a bessap.
And I call it African Kool Aid. Basically,
it's it's it's like hibiscus.
Hibiscus?
Yeah. And
they they they call it in in Sudan.
In Egypt, they call it.
Yeah. Yeah. But That's the stuff. But it's
it's in in West Africa it's called Bissau.
So it's like I call it organic Kool
Aid. Yeah. Yeah. So it's it's it's it's
African Kool Aid. So it's the hibiscus leaves.
What they do, they they heat up the
water. I make it.
They they they heat up the water,
not to a high boil, then they put
in the leaves and let the leaves, like,
soak for for a few minutes,
to get the, the hibiscus essence out. Then
you throw in a lot of sugar
and stir it up.
And
it it's just like like the the mixed
Kool Aid. We like the cherry and the
grape. You know what I mean? But back
in the day, when you go to the
corner store, get the the cherry and the
grape when you mix it up. So that
was one of the things we had the,
Tristan, man. Basically, what he's saying is Roscoe's
chicken and waffles, that's a that's an American
bid up. That's not from Maddie. That's not
No. No. No. You're not you're not gonna
find chicken and waffles over there. Yeah. What
you will find from the,
the
the lot of Lebanese people
who have migrated,
to West Africa. So you can find, like,
a chicken sandwich. Mhmm. But you're not gonna
find, like, any,
fried chicken and and waffles unless you go
to
the fried chicken joint. Like, if you go,
like, like, in the in the other cities,
so, like, if you're, like, in Tuba
or in,
to Raleigh into Tuba? No. No. In in
the car, you will. Okay. But, like, you
won't find a fried chicken place. You're not
gonna find, like, a KFC or anything, like,
in,
in in Tuba or in, Medina Bay in
Calek or, like, in Tihuahua. And you're not
gonna find it there. But, like, in Dakar
Yeah. Car Yeah. You can find, like, a
fried chicken Okay.
Spot or, like, a hamburger spot, but that's
not really
feel like if you're in Morocco. I mean,
you can find, like, a McDonald's, but, like,
why would you even wanna waste your time
Right. When you're in Fez eating, like, at
the Golden Arches with a,
with the green. It's actually it's it's it's
actually somewhat,
with cheese. Yeah. It it it it it's
actually it's actually a Morocco in my evidence.
Actually, I was offended when I saw McDonald's
in Feds. No. I'll tell you why. Because
there's something about the the the muggerbee architecture
that were
if you see a building that has a
roof that's green,
normally,
there is
someone that's buried there who's a descendant of
Hasnib and Ali. So
Khosodashurafa
in the in the in the buildings like
Malaya, Dris or Sidi Abdul Aziz Dag, you'll
see
green roofs, whereas the other ones, they're normally
like that brownish
type of color. So, like, I'm like, what
is it? This, like, McDonald's Sharif? Like, what
is this? Right? Like, because it was it
was green. So, you know, the first thing
I thought about this is it this had
nothing to do with. Right? Like, I'm thinking
about, like, what the world is this? This
is not a love. This is a Adele
Madison. Yeah. This is
This is straight up, like like, what type
of, like like, innovation is this? Like, literally.
So
Oh, stuff will last. Of time to love.
But, Marsha, I'm gonna I'm gonna maybe cut
cut and interject just to indulge myself. Masha'a,
I had some brothers who studied with me
in Mauritania.
Yeah.
Mahmoudi from Mali. Yeah. Also, he's a Bambara
speaking brother.
And, he's right now, he runs an orphanage
in a Quran school in Sarukunda in in
in Gambia. Mhmm. So, Michelle, you're mentioning your
teacher. I wanted to mention, so please make
Dua for him. It's a big undertaking. Actually,
there's another brother who studied with us, Kimo,
from who is from Gambia
who used to who used to help run
it with him, and he,
Allah taught him very early unexpectedly at a
young age. Allah
elevate his rank. Both of them by the
way, all of the American students who in
the English England and
English speaking students who studied in Mauritania, they
made a lot a lot of
for us as well.
And if anyone wants to help out their
orphanage or whatever, you can just, like, reach
out to the podcast and, read or reach
out to me or or whatever. But,
really beautiful brothers, so I can sum up
really a little bit.
Shay, how did you then make the transition?
Because I know, like, for me personally
and, you know, there's a a an ascent
that you're studying and you're
getting freed and the shackles are coming off
and you're learning and you're immersing yourself in
this world.
And then there's, like, the crash back into,
like,
back into the dunya where like, oh,
okay. Change it back on. But now we
know too much. We can't, like, live the
way we did before, and we have to
interact with
forget about America not being a predominantly Muslim
society. We have to interact with the reality
of a depressing reality of a Muslim community
that doesn't really care about Islam as much
as recognize it. You know, like, how was
that reentry for you? Did you navigate it
easier than I did? Or
I don't know if it was easy for
I would say easy, but And on top
of that, the fact that, you know, we
talk about as Muslims
trying to, like, live in a society that
is predominantly
Muslim without interfaith. You come from the interfaith
family. Yeah. Right? So
all those dynamics. Yeah.
Well, I think that there's a couple of
things that,
perhaps help to aid me or assist me.
Number 1, I came back and I had
a fabulous,
mentor,
Imam Salim Abdulrahman,
who I
came to. I knew one thing. I I
knew that I need a more rugby. Like,
I I knew that as part of our
tradition anyway. So,
you know explain this concept? Okay.
So a Morabi,
basically, we say let's just say spiritual mentor.
So I had a spiritual mentor that was
helping to raise me up and basically check
me. Right?
When I was in my
I was in my mid twenties.
And
he helped me out,
significantly.
And when he saw me being,
with the shut the door, being, like, extreme
in certain things, he would kinda, like, rope
me in and talk to
me.
And then also
what helped too is,
I would say
my connection
to
And I just have to keep it real,
for you all is that the influence of
how
I learned
this dean and the influences that were on
me. So,
I never gotten to like that,
pseudo Salafi
cancel culture, or I wasn't gonna, like,
you know, I had no interest
on coming back declaring everyone else
that was practicing I mean
so if anything, I want to be close
to them and be kind, I mean,
so if anything, I want to be close
to them and be kind to try to
show them that this dean has done something
for me, and perhaps it could help, you
know, you too if you, like, learn about
and accept it. Right? So that was never
that was never my position
to, like,
completely, like, cut myself off.
I I I do know some people
that
went other places
and
and went to extremes. And I'll and without
mentioning his name, I'll give you the
I was mentioned there's a there's a, an
imam in this area who's African American, who's
older than I am.
He went to Umakoraha
University
in in Mecca,
and
his his brother also went and studied too.
And
when he
came back, he came very,
strict saying that everyone else was
astray.
In in a chutba
and
I know 2 people,
who are witnesses. 1 African American brother who
left his jamaah, another,
elder brother,
Abdul Hamid Vayd. May Allah
protect him.
Immigrant from Pakistan told me that they were
in the Khutba. He talked about in the
Khutba, how his mother
never accepted Islam. And he was giving,
he was trying to get his mother to
accept Islam on her deathbed.
Similar is like what we have narrated about
the prophet,
for instance. Right? So
he said that she died and accept Islam.
And he said, my mother
died at kaffirah, and
may Allah have her burn in the.
And,
You know?
So what I'm saying is I know
of people personally who,
went on a search for knowledge
and
where it took them
it it took them into
something that's supposed to be light but darkness.
And this is why,
we have the the Hadith about
Islam, Iman, Ihsan. Because just
just studying I mean, we have to study,
obviously, but to study and,
fiqh, which
I would say they don't even have San
Joselu to begin with. But and 5th but
or foundations. But
to separate that from,
right, it can lead people into some very,
dark places. So I'm not even using the
word Tesia. I'm saying,
That part of this dean is is is
is. And,
show me someone who's gone abroad to these
places
to study sacred knowledge
and was totally detached from Tisawa for Torika,
and
there's gonna be problems.
There's gonna be problems.
I mean, to be to be sure, right,
such an attitude is not
sanctioned by the deen.
You gave the example of Abu Talib,
the standard position of the alsulun al Jamaha,
which is narrated
by narrated
from the prophet
with Sahih chains many of them and said
didn't accept Islam. But you don't ever hear
the prophet
walking around. I mean, he was good to
him during his lifetime. You do hear the
prophet going around and making duh, and to
be with fire. You know, you don't hear
that. You know, you don't hear, you know,
the prophet told people to curse their their
mothers,
Yeah. In fact, the prophet
forbid people to Right. Forbid others from cursing
their fathers after they became Islam because he
says, what's the point of cursing the dead?
It just harms the living. Yep. You know?
So that's that's really
that's that's really shocking. Like, that someone would
do that about their own mother.
Maybe the brother had a good intention in
the sense that he wanted to make himself
firm on his own aqidah, but, you know,
we can't just, you know, have it our
way. We have to follow the correct
belief, but also follow the the example of
the prophet did not do that. It's a
very human thing to do. It's very. And
as a part of the blessing
that perhaps you have of having Morabi, the
spiritual mentor, to kind of keep you in
check and why that is so vital in
the life of a Muslim Yeah. Especially in
the path of learning.
Because
a little knowledge is actually sometimes worse than
no knowledge.
Once you start learning something,
it's not
if it's not framed in the right way,
then it could be,
it could cause more damage than harm. I
mean, more damage than good. No doubt. And
I and I and I have and I
have one right now. So it's like when
he when he passed away, then I got
a morabbi. And I and I tell people
this that every
and I'm not even saying this. I'm not
even calling myself this, but I said that
every sheikh has a sheikh.
Right? And there's elders, people who taught us,
knowledge and taught us things that we should
go back out of
and and and respect to to to visit
them and also to brush up on our
lessons,
but
also those that help
guide us because the the the ego,
is inclined towards self deception. That's right. Right?
And,
Sheikh Ahmedu Bamba,
may Allah be well pleased with him. And
and and and and the,
he talks about this issue of the of
the of the ego and the
and the most,
dangerous of spiritual diseases as he calls it
is
al kibber, is is arrogance. So,
I always say that,
Nabi Musa, alaihis salaam,
was a prophet,
and he had a a spiritual guy. Right?
And and and he's a prophet. Right? And
we're not getting wahi. Right? So it's like,
who do we think we are?
Because we got a little bit of a
little teeny bit one maybe not even a
drop
worth of ilm in the bottom
of of of a loom. No. Right? We
got maybe a little,
an atom
of of of a drop of water.
And nothing from the ocean.
Water vapor maybe? And and and, yeah, water
vapor. Nothing that what Musa
alaihis salam had, and he had a a
guide. So who do we think that we
are that we don't need,
some mentorship
and and and guides and teachers. It's really
it's it's it's really bizarre,
to for me to even hear people,
say that they don't they don't think that
they need to check-in with anyone or they
don't need any sort of
mentorship. This is really bizarre. I'm gonna use
this as kind of a segue towards something
also very important that you're directly involved in
Mhmm. Which is social activism. Yeah. So especially
someone in your line of work Yeah.
Where you have to represent Muslim stances. And
sometimes those can be uncomfortable. Yeah. And you
have a lot of people who are, you
know, activists, who are well intended,
but you can be well intended and misguided.
So
in that
kind of fervor to do the right thing
and speak, you know, speak the truth,
it's very easy to have some missteps.
Missteps. Yeah. Right? So how then do you
make sure
that you stay within the parameters of our
towards sacred activism. Yes. Right? Which can, you
know, almost seem like a paradox to some.
Because if you're engaged in the world, then
how is that sacred? Right?
That's what Imam Zaid was writing about your
book. I had read his little,
review on it.
And
so that's that's your your line of work.
So how do you kinda reconcile that?
Well, let me say
that
I've made many mistakes over the years,
and I probably will
make more mistakes.
It may allow protect us all. And and,
and as you mentioned too,
my
my late teacher, Imam Saleem,
I remember one day he looked at me.
We were,
in a hadith class,
and he just looked at me and he
said
he put his hand right here. He said,
He said, remember, you can be sincere and
be sincerely wrong.
You can be sincere and be sincerely wrong.
Like, having good intentions that that is,
a matter of the heart, and that is
the foundation. But just feeling sincere, and he's
like, this dean is not
based upon
feelings alone. This dean is based upon,
and
referring back and, then,
then,
he he mentioned
that the scholars
are the are the heirs, the inheritance of
the prophets. So we need to refer back
to them hadith, the authentic hadith of the
prophet, alaihis salaam.
So that's one thing I just wanted to
clear up. The other thing is that besides,
I think every activist needs a spiritual mentor
and a spiritual guide and someone who is,
not,
so called
in the trenches of the activism world and
activism vibe. Because that's like a whole different
world, really. It's it's a world within the
world.
I
the the advice of,
of Yahya
ibn Mu'al,
Rahmatullah, where
he said that
if you cannot bring benefit, then at least
do no harm. And this is something that
I think is very difficult
for people to understand that if you if
you have confusion, like the Hadith, leave what
makes you doubt, but that was doesn't make
you doubt. So when there are gray matters
and if you don't have an answer and
different people that you've made with or had
consultation
with,
regarding issues of people who are of of
of Dean,
that it's okay to sit still and to
figure things out. Like, we don't have to
share everything
or jump on the bandwagon of every campaign,
and that,
Sukhut is the default position. Like, if you
don't know what to do, then just be
quiet.
Right? And I think that and that's probably
the best advice that I can give,
for young people, especially who are thinking about
activism and all the things going on right
now with the 2020 election or
the,
the protests
down the street that if you
are if you're not sure about the issue
or about the means of how to address
the issue, because
for us, the ends don't justify the means.
Mhmm. Right?
It's okay
to
ask
Allah
for Hidayah, which we all should be doing
and to sit still for a moment and
to try to refer to those and get
advice to those
who are in the work,
but also who are coming from a prophetic
lens. And to be frank with you, they're
not really that many people
in our community
in this activism,
situation they're dealing with
the the issues
of social justice or racial justice or
Islamophobia.
There are not too many people that I
actually can point towards to that are operating,
from this from this this this, this this
paradigm. I I could point out some names.
Mhmm. But there's
okay.
My colleague, Hassan Shibley,
down in in in in Florida, CARE is
one of them. My colleague,
Besam
Alcarra,
who's in Sacramento
CARE Sacramento. He's together. We used to go
to MSA West Conferences back in the day.
Masha'allah. He's a beautiful brother.
Doctor Ramin
Nasheibi,
who runs Iman in in in Southside Chicago.
Usteda,
Ayesha Prime,
who's actually, she's in she's in West Africa
right now in the Gambia,
but who's in, in in in DMV area.
Like, so there's some people who are involved
in activism
and is not saying like, none of us
are Masoomin. Like, we all make mistakes, and
we all perhaps
maybe said certain things that are questionable. But
I mean, at least, I'm talking about people
at least who have,
Ihtiram
for the tradition,
who have a who have a a a
Morabbi or who have a sheikh and who
and who respect,
the
the the the creed
of Islam or people of the sunnah and
who,
have respect for
for for for spiritual purification and tariqa and
these things. Right? So,
there there's and I'm not saying these are
the only ones, but I'm saying there's some
people I can name. I just want to
name drop a few people. But, again,
I don't really see a a a lot
of people who are,
I I feel very uncomfortable
with,
with certain things that I've seen
from certain activists and especially those
who their organization or platform has been primarily
funded by non Muslims
who've gotten foundation money Right.
And and gotten
and gotten,
elevate to certain platforms and certain deals,
because
these people who are who are pushing them
forward and find them,
they
if I can use this term,
and, may Allah preserve, Abdullah
bin Hamid Ali.
I heard him use this term,
empanophobia.
Right? So
you have certain people on the conservative right.
They have what we may call Islamophobia,
meaning that they have a loathing
for
Muslims,
but they view us basically as like a
non white group. Like like some sort of,
like,
5th column non white group outside of what
they would consider to be whiteness and all
of those implications.
Those people don't like Muslims.
I like that. Whereas, ematophobia,
there are people who say they wanna have
so called solidarity
with the Muslims,
but they actually have a loathing
for our actual beliefs. They have a loathing
for our sharia.
Right? So they will fund us and like
us as long as as long as we
get into their so called intersectional
agenda and promote what they want us to
promote, like, promote,
abortion even towards 3rd 3rd term, to promote,
prostitution, which they have tried to relabel as
* work,
to try to
promote the LGBTQ
agenda
and
and and and have them,
stand side by side with with with lesbians
at the women's march. They'll fund that.
They'll celebrate that.
You know, you'll get on TV, and you
maybe get a book deal, all sorts of
things when you do that. Right? But,
but
they're cool with those types of Muslims. But
the actual our actual beliefs,
what's sacred,
they actually see that as
regressive,
not progressive.
From within.
And that's why,
instead of Abdullah, I first heard you something.
They have empanophobia.
So you pick your poison.
Right? And and neither one of these groups
are only, we we have to be a
little more,
smart as far as our political,
calculations.
It's interesting here. You just put out a
paper also,
about A very good paper. A very good
paper about how Muslims need to just re
reanalyze
and reassess the political landscape in America and
not to be so simplistic and simple minded.
And I'll be frank with you, you, Sheikh
Abdullah is
a man of controversial tastes and controversial takes.
Yes. Not all of his, like, things that
he says I agree with, but then again,
if you're a person who transacts in the
intellectual and not all of them, I disagree
with,
but, like, you know, a person who transacts
in intellectual currency,
that person should
look at ideas, not personalities. The judgment of
people is in the hands of Allah,
the judgment of ideas. We take what we
like and we leave the rest and we
go back and forth and explore and and
whatnot.
But, like, he does make some very solid
points in regards to this, in regards to
this issue. And,
you know, recently or relatively recently, I I
also myself put out a paper about,
the the difference between the idea that black
lives matter, which is a part of our
deen. You know, if you think that a
black person, a person is any more or
less human because of their color, be it
black, white, or whatever,
you have contravened the book of Allah and
the sun of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa
sallam as a pure philosophical issue, it's Kufr.
If you because you if you especially if
you're aware of the fact that the Allah
and Rasool Allah directly negate this idea.
But, the Black Lives Matter movement,
itself, like the people who run the website
and have the copyright and sell the merch
and all that stuff, they have the foundation
money,
it's really not even an African American movement
at all. It's it's very directly
a LGBTQ
movement.
And I I mean, like, someone might say,
well, you're not you're not African American. You
have no right to speak about this. Well,
okay. We're I'm I'm an American, so I
can shoot my mouth off a little bit.
Right? I if I was a black person,
I would be offended when somebody, like, okay.
I'm not in favor of, like, oh, look.
You're gay, so we should beat you up
in the street and, like, kill you. Right?
That's wrong. You know? You don't have the
right to do that to another human being.
Right? But if someone were to say, oh,
look.
I I, you know, this is my sexual
preference, and that's the color you were born
with, and we're on the same platform. It's
both civil rights issues. I'd be like,
I'd be really offended about that, you know,
and, like Stop. It's it's not the same.
And, unfortunately, I feel like there's, like, this
ride, like, this the issue of, you
know,
the human dignity of African Americans in this
country has been put on the back burner
for so long that there are many people,
both in the African American
on the back burner for so long that
there are many people, both in the African
American community and outside of it, now that
there's a well of, like, support,
it gets, like, some people have become almost
drunk on it. Like, they don't they don't
and feel free to, like, completely hack me
down and shoot me. That's why I wanted
that's why I like being on this podcast
because I know that I can run my
ideas about you, and you'll say the hop,
and, like, I'll I'll benefit from it. You
know? Is that, like, I feel like some
of our brothers have become drunk on that
a little bit and have ceased to, like,
hold on to their, hold on to their
their principles
because of the fear that if we hold
on to our principles in this one moment
while we still have the power to strike
and and, like, hit who we wanna hit
and do what we wanna do,
that that we might lose it. And, unfortunately,
those are the moments where you see what
your real principles are at all. So
Exactly. And that's the
that's what fitness is designed for, is to
show you what you're
really made of. And I would say to
the brothers and sisters who are watching this,
especially who are African American
or black American, whatever,
nomenclature that you prefer
is that we have to be as Muslims,
we have to be grounded
in our faith and our tradition.
And, ultimately,
Musra, our
help doesn't come from any
when we look at it, we we Yeah.
No. Party. We can't confuse
means with the ultimate cause. The ultimate cause
for success is Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. It's
not
any sort of political party or any sort
of foundation or any,
organization in of itself. So this is the
the the first thing that we have to
get clear. The second thing is
the very definition
of blameworthy tribalism
that the Sahaba
asked the prophet about Alaihi Salam
when they asked him, Ma'al Asabiyyah, Amal Asabiyyah
is narrating Sunan Abu Dawood with a Hassan
Ching.
He said,
and to in a Omakalazul.
Right? It's to help your people in wrongdoing.
Right? So
What is Oh,
is a blameworthy tribalism. Right?
So,
so so to to Asib,
or the blameworthy tribalism is to help your
people in wrongdoing. And and
from
a from a shari perspective, the first way
we understand this is when people take things
outside of their proper places.
Right?
So that that Allah intended them to function
it. So,
it's not just supporting people just because they
are black in of itself because this is
the moment, is that
if
and and we all can agree,
that
the issues of systemic
police brutality and mass incarceration, the criminal injustice
system is zoomed. No doubt about it. But
it is very possible for us to be
of a group that's
and be at the same time. I mean,
we we we can be oppressed
and still be involved in wrongdoing at the
same time. And,
we are not sanctioned according to,
the noble deen that's been transmitted by the
noble
companions of the prophet, alayhis salam, and the
tabein, and all of these,
seneid
or chains of transmission that we have, there
is no sanction for us to
openly
promote the munkarat
or those things that are hateful inside of
Allah and His Prophet
and to celebrate it. Right? I mean to
the point that we have,
Muslims
who in the name of of of Black
Lives Matter, even
before will go to parades
and and and and dance,
in in so called pride parades and
and play instruments,
sing songs playing the guitar,
and and and
and it's it's like and it's it's.
Like,
I would never thought
like, if if someone would have asked me
this in 2000,
I would have thought it was a joke.
Like like, that Muslims would be doing this
stuff now. Right? In the name of,
of of of of woke organizing
and woke,
activism. But here here it goes.
But the prophet
said,
Glad tidings to the strangers. So, may Allah
always keep us strangers
that we think this stuff is is is
just is not normal. It's not right.
But, that's
That that's where the knowledge and being connected
to people of knowledge is essential
people of knowledge
is essential. Yeah. Because it helps,
establish and identify the parameters within which we
can work. And going back to your old
concept of, like, sacred activism. Yeah. Right? Activism,
which one can maybe call mundane because it's
of the world. It becomes sacred when it's
done according to
the guidelines of our deen and our our
beloved prophet, Sayid Muhammad.
Right? And you can't
you can't
disconnect the 2. So even one of the
more famous verses which are used to,
promote activism,
the enjoining of good,
for the joining of good and prohibition of
evil
where Allah describes us
as that you are the best of humankind.
Best of all nations sent for the benefit
of humankind.
You enjoy the good, you prohibit the evil.
No. It's qualified in this that you believe
in Allah, that you have iman. So you're
not just doing that blindly or based on
your own kind of sensibilities of what you
think is right or wrong.
Otherwise,
if we leave it to our sensibilities,
people differ on this. This isn't like a
Muslim issue
issue only. People differ on these issues.
And,
in those cases now where we differ about
as as a people, as as
as human beings about what is ethical, what
is moral, what is immoral.
Where then do we revert?
Where do we where do we turn to?
It has to be within
the the understanding of iman. And iman belief
in our society, unfortunately, has been kind of
just deemed as something which is in your
heart
and something which you you believe in is
just something which you think to be okay.
Where It's loosey goosey. It's very very loosey
goosey. It's very relative. It's something very left
ambiguous and relative to the individual. Like, well,
I believe this.
As Muslims, we don't have that luxury
to say simply, well, to me, this is
what I believe.
Islam has very clear defined what it means
to believe.
And we have to align our belief with
what Islam defines as belief or don't be
Muslim.
Well, look, in so called woke space of
Sheikh, they promote this thing that Muslims
have have many Muslims have latched onto.
They say, well, you know what?
You have your truth. You have your truth.
She has
her truth. Right.
They have their truth, meaning they're not a
male or a female.
And they're and they're equally true. Which is
interesting because the Al Haqq, you know, the
truth, the ultimate truth, ultimate reality is one
of the names of Allah. No. Allah has
no partners. That's right. You know? And
we have we have, like you know, there
are many things even in the deen that
we say we don't know what the truth
is, but we acknowledge there is a truth.
And, that's all extreme. It's it's easy for
people like myself and Sheikh Musa to say.
Yeah. Actually, it's not even easy for us
to say, but it's easy for us to
say why because we primarily operate within Mhmm.
Within, like, Masjid spaces, or
political
space.
Able to function in the space that you
function
and, like, not just get, like,
like, you know, like like, a gap
you, like, shot out of the sky, like,
you know, saying these things. Like, how has
that journey been?
You know, how is it like, what advice
do you give to someone who wants to?
Because the thing is the deen is the
deen is not only, like, hemmed into the
4 walls of the Masjid or the Madrasah.
It is
it is manifested in society, and it is
manifested in politics as well as business as
well as so many other things. How is
it that that space without being, like, you
know, level 7 canceled out, like, you know,
you have been able to survive in that
space without being, like, you know, level 7
canceled out, like, you know,
space without being, like, you know, level 7
canceled out, like, you know, to the, you
know, a 100th power. Yeah. You used that
term cancel culture.
Yeah. Some people have canceled. Right. Right. But
it's okay. Right. I think there's something,
there there's there's a few things,
that I've tried to,
incorporate,
both from
my own way of doing things,
why why I conclude it very early on
years ago.
And then,
also from my own,
my own morale.
And the first of those
issues that
I always try when I go into these
gatherings,
I always present my views
in a very
direct way
from day 1, from the very moment. I
don't start off loosey goosey, and I present
my views and how I view things on
certain things
from step 1 in a and I tried
to be firm
yet
kind in my firm Why? It's because when
I have seen some people get themselves in
trouble, they really don't believe in all this
stuff. Stuff. They start off kind of
overly
apologetic or overly accommodating, I should say. And
then, okay, you made this one compromise in
this small issue where you
stay silent
and then they keep on trying to move
the yard stick further and further and further
and further back and then when you try
to put your foot down and say, no.
I can't do this. Oh, well, why why
are you doing that now? Well, you are
with us on this, this, and this. Oh,
oh, oh, you're, oh, you you're you're a
bigot.
Right? So
you put your you have
to you have to lay it down. Let
say you put your your foundation down from
day 1. For sure. And then people may
not agree with you, but they will respect
you. They will respect that. And
and and this is what we learned from
Al Hajj, Mark, and Shabbos,
People many people didn't like him,
but
he commanded their respect. And this is interesting
too even in the idiom of how we
say in English. We don't beg for respect.
We command respect is what we say. So
I I so I tried to start off
with with that.
Right? We know of the saying. Whoever
seeks
honor with other than Allah, they're gonna be
humiliated. Right? This is number 1. May Allah
preserve your and your dignity. I mean I
mean and then the and then the the
the the the second thing,
besides this is I
I just always
try to,
remind myself that
trying to represent this dean is not supposed
to make one
popular
or well liked by people in the dominant
society.
Right? And by these people
who don't have respect for Islam, Iman, and
Hassan. Right? So
whether whether whether these people who who don't
value these things,
like me or not, including many Muslims, frankly,
who are cultural Muslims only respect Islam, human,
and Islam.
What they
what they care,
what they think about me is really the
least of my concerns. And, yeah,
maybe I I don't get,
main stage or invite to some of the
Muslim alphabet,
conventions or conferences
and get the main stage. And, you know,
maybe I'm not being invited to get this
honorarium or that honorarium.
But,
and or be famous, but that's okay. I'm
not looking for that anyway. And besides,
I'd
rather be
I'd rather be known
in the Malacoot than here. I'm not. I'm
not. And
and
And and And correct me if I'm wrong.
Right? Because a lot of times I think
people understand things in extremes,
and they think that if you're not gonna
support a particular group or movement, that means
you have to be, like, completely against it
in a sense where, like,
and and youngsters have, I think, a problem.
I I think,
Rex reconciling
this this matter. Mhmm. That if they can't
accept,
homosexuals
and or their sexuality, that means they have
to hate them or that they have to
disrespect them or discriminate against them. And then
so we have other stuff in the day
to do than to try to hack somebody
else down because of what they do in
their bedroom or whatever. Right. It's not a
priority. We have our Yeah. Like, first of
all, like, we don't think we we don't
need to hear that, like, about what you're,
you know, what you're in your driveway. Life.
In the same way, I'm not trying to
broadcast
what we do in our bedroom. Right? That's
something very personal, number 1. And number 2,
like, you can still be respectful
to a human being
and without discriminating against them.
Right? Because they have a particular lifestyle. Right.
So as Muslims, we're expected to do that.
We're not expected now to discriminate against a
person because of their sexuality or because they
have some gender reassignment.
Muhammad, have to agree in the same way.
You don't have to believe that, say, the
Muhammad, sallam, was a prophet if you choose
not to. Or you don't have to believe
that you have to pray 5 times a
day, but you should at least respect me
and not discriminate against me. So, like, in
the same way as a Muslim,
right,
don't expect us as Muslims to accept everything
wholesale about what you believe or what, you
know, whatever lifestyle choices you make. And at
the same time, that doesn't mean that now
I have to, like,
discriminate against a person or hate them or
or, like, marginalize them. Right. Well, I'll give
you an example. I was in this about
a decade ago, I was part of this
fellowship,
with the Rockwood Leadership Institute.
It was, when we met in, in Minneapolis,
actually, who's part of the cohort,
is now the current,
lieutenant governor of the state of Minneapolis.
Lieutenant governor Peggy Flanagan. She's a,
First Nations woman, Native American woman.
I was part of it. But also part
of this was this
individual
who
who,
identified as being a trans woman.
And, of course, these people are,
and this happened to me on 2 different
occasions. Another fellowship that I did,
through a,
like, a graduate level thing through
a major university, which I'm not gonna mention.
So out in the West Coast,
They paired
this person up with me because, you know,
they they they wanna break the imam. So
in this particular,
Leadership Institute,
I was paired off with this
person identified as a trans woman.
The second one,
they they
they paired me off with a,
a Pakistani
lesbian Muslim who does
LGBTQ
organizing
here and in Pakistan. She actually is the
she's actually a Morita of that gay imam
in DC.
Anyway, long story short,
my
self identified trans,
peer partner asked me,
well, you know,
do you know any imams that will you
know, if they do a, a marriage, you
know, a a trans marriage? And I was
like, absolutely not.
Right? I was like, no. And she says,
well I guess, theoretically, if if it's like
a trans man and a trans woman, there
is one man and woman. So I think
that could be valid. That's true. Like That's
true. Yeah. That's true. That's true. But not
in the way that you want it. Not
the way that she wants it. Right? So
even though she's not a Muslim. Right? So
I said absolutely not. And that's a good,
that's that's a good caveat. If you yes.
If you had trans man, could marry a
trans woman.
It's actually a biological woman
and a biological man. So yeah. Yeah. That
that that could work, I guess. But I
wouldn't do it in the masjid. But,
so that question came about. So it's like,
well, you know, well, what can we work
together on? I said, look,
the the the faith of Islam in the
Quran did not justify
vigilantism
or maiming or killing people by people taking
the law in their own hands.
Right?
Right? I didn't quote that that I but,
you know, we're not supposed to just go
out and just kill or maim and harm
people. And I said that,
you know, we think that people should be
free from being be up because of hate
crimes or bullied in school.
Right? So,
based upon
if they're perceived to be gay or if
they are gay. Because sometimes
school. I don't know how it was with
you growing up, but we saw someone that
was a little didn't play football or we
thought was a little,
no more of, yeah, effeminate.
And we would call him, you know, we
call him gay in a second even though
he wasn't even gay. Because, see, sometimes
people would would would be would be bullied
or or considered like, if they like art
or something like that, they didn't play football.
So, I mean, you you a fag. So,
I mean, just right? We used to say
stuff like that. Right. Right? Which is so
that's not right for a learning environment. So
just a prime example, she says, well, this
person
if in a coalition,
we could,
be on the same page. So when there
was about
8 or 9 years ago, the strengthening
of the,
of the, anti bullying law in Michigan for
schools. And it wasn't organized by
LGBTQ group. It's organized by one group, and
they asked us to be a part of
it because there were 2 things miss missing
from the law.
It was still legal in the state of
Michigan
that there was no repercussions
according to state mandate for children
protections
for being bullied because of religion,
but also
because
of,
sexual
identity or preference.
So
we signed on to the strengthening of that
bill
and so did that
LGBTQ
group. And
when we had the press conference and ended
up being passed. When we had the press
conference,
there was, like, the pastor at the front
of the rostrum or the podium. And I
was standing over there, and there were other
people. And on the other side
was the person that identified as trans being
with
the with the,
with with that organization. Right? So,
because we don't want anyone to be beat
up or bullied in school even if they
identify as that. And we especially,
at that time,
Muslim children in Detroit,
and South Asians in particular
were
the recipients of the highest percentage of bullying
in schools in the state of Michigan were
Indian, Pakistani, and Bangladeshi
kids. So,
I mean, we were we were
you know, and I
treated that person with respect and saw them
again. I mean, obviously, I'm not gonna
endorse their
the program of their organization or lifestyle, but
that that's an example of how we were
part of a broader coalition.
And and we weren't gonna pull out just
because this,
LGBTQ
group was in it. We we we treat
the person with respect. And,
and I'm sure that individual, if they still
work for there, they can never say
that,
in any way was I, disrespectful to to
to lesbians and to people who call themselves,
trans.
And one last thing that I kinda wanted
to bring up,
talking about all of these,
subjects.
You know, you said that you listened to,
like, hip hop and rap, you know, back
in the day. Yeah. And,
you know,
there was this flipping of the situation where
hip hop used to be all about educating
yourself, empowering yourself, and then it became something
that really just dumbed people down, and, and,
kinda still persists that way these days.
Have you noticed or
have has anyone noticed that it's been kind
of the same thing that happened with this
whole subject of, like, labels? At one point,
there was this really big thing about, like,
not applying labels to people.
And then now, that is the name of
the game. Everybody's got these labels, and they
wanna use them at every instance. You know?
I just wanted to bring that up because
talking about that subject, I kinda just wondered,
like, you know, I don't know why things
get reversed sometimes,
culturally here in America. It just it seems
really weird. Like, like, one moment, it's one
way, and then all of a sudden, it
just completely reverses. It's like a 180.
But, and What do you mean by labels?
Like, labels. Like Give an example.
So for example, the whole LGBT
thing. You know, at one point, there was,
like, you know, you don't wanna be labeled
as something. Like, it was a really
strong movement of, like, not using labels to
describe people. But now it's all about that.
You know? Like, you go on Twitter and
all over the Internet, you know, you have
these things where it's like, you know, he,
she,
you know,
they wanna be identified as this and that.
So it just
it just seems like
there was a complete reversal of this thought
process of not applying labels with people, and
then all of a sudden now everyone wants
to label everything
at a certain kind of way. Of way.
It just it just came up as a
thought. But Well, I'll give a metaphysical
re and I can't know what's with with
the, the say
about this, but,
I think there's a I wanna say metaphysical,
but there's perhaps a, a spiritual
answer, and then there's a social, political one.
So
spiritually speaking,
we know that as we get closer to
the end of time and the appearance of
the Dajjal that it's it's part of the
plan that people will be confused.
And Imam Ghazali in Ihya
in the,
the or the
the the mission of the hadith. Al Iraqi
did this, but there's a section in the
in the chapter that you mentioned on
for being
evil, where it says,
how will you be when you see the
as? And how will you be when you
see the? How will you be when you
see the evil as good? And you'll see
the good as evil. Right? So we we
we have a mention of this, and we
know
as we come closer to end of time
and the sounds, the signs of the hour
are manifesting, that there's gonna
be more confusion. Right? So and,
and may align as what y'all have us
see, truth is truth and follow it. And
may align as what y'all have us see
bottle
a false citizen and stay away from it.
The the the second point is that
it's actually this reassignment is part of of
an agenda. So
when even when people use this term unapologetically
Muslim,
they don't they may not even know that
the roots of it comes from a movement
that was carefully
designed and wordsmith to try to reassign things
in order to promote certain things. So it
was it was unapologetically
gay, unapologetically
lesbian. And then so within these
identity politics, then Muslims started saying unapologetically Muslim.
But if you go back and trace the
roots
of where this so called unapologetic
comes from and it's and by the way,
once people say unapologetically
Muslim, they only mean unapologetically
Muslim with the right. They don't mean unapologetically
Muslim
about iman
with the left. Right? Right. Right. It it
it's only unapologetically Muslim is treating Muslim as
some sort of quasi ethnic
or or sociopolitical
identity.
It doesn't mean to be unapologetic about, oh,
Islam is against,
it's forbidden
to have * out of wedlock and only
a man and woman can be married. Oh,
it's it's it's permissible in Islam that if
a man can be just, he can have
up to 4 wives.
Right? That We just got canceled. Anyway, on.
No. No. That that that that
that that that that intoxicants
Yeah. Are forbidden. That gambling forbidden, and we
and we don't compromise. Is forbidden. Yeah. Riba.
Right? So usury. Yeah. It's it's really interesting
you mentioned that. Like,
even the term Islamophobia, I'm like, Islamophobia?
Like, when I first heard that, I'm like,
you have, like, homophobia and arachnophobia, and we
ain't gay and we ain't spiders. Like, what
is Islamophobia all about? You know? But it
just kinda caught on and, like, you you
gotta roll with it. You know?
Well, I I've actually stopped using that term
personally when I do writings and things or
speak, I say I'll say anti Muslim bigotry.
Right? Right. But I I stopped using Islamophobe
because really, Islamophobia, for the most part is
not fear of Islam. At best it's Muslim
phobia.
Right? Perhaps. Right. But it's it's but there
is a manophobia.
Right? And and there's and there's real. So
for those who are watching, who are activists,
they're gonna be concerned about Islamophobia. You should
also be concerned about emanophobia.
Because we're a people of Islam and iman.
It is. So Sheikh,
we've taken a lot of your time,
and we know that you are busy and
we appreciate, like, anybody who who doesn't,
you know, who wants to know why we
would say that, go check out, Imam Dawood's,
social media, his Twitter, and his,
different things that he's doing, the good work
Cary Detroit is doing,
etcetera. The books that he's written. Right? One
we mentioned was towards sacred Activism and where
is your preferred
means for them to get it? Meccabooks.com.
You can get towards sacred activism. Yeah. And,
there's also online on their YouTube page.
There is for each chapter, there is a,
a reader,
basically, or guided reading for each chapter where
basically I talk about some small points. And,
when things open back up, then I will
be,
and maybe we can do this online, but
I'll be available
to teach the class on it because I
have a whole
session of classes with PowerPoint presentations set to
actually teach the book. The book was written
really to be a primer as a short
guide, because I know that people don't read
big books these days. But it was designed
to be a class. So the first
class session we have was a weekend intensive
in Mississauga with Sheikh Faraz O'Bani. That's where
we kicked off the,
the classes and the spin.
We talked about other I think the last
thing online I did was with our
beloved brother, Sheikh Arsalan Haq, down in Texas.
Yeah. Down in Dallas that we did it
with the, East East Plano Islamic Center.
So, you know, this also, opportunity Arsalan, I
think, is in in the, not in Epic.
He's in the old Plano master.
Is in Epic. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And
then, Sheikh Arslan's in the other one in
Plano. So,
you know, there's there's also,
classes that are designed around it in in
discussion, and we've discussed
Yeah. Yeah.
Right? And Absolutely. So,
you know, we're we're open we're open to,
you know, online if you if you contact
me. We're we're 1 to, to do something.
So what is the exorbitant price of these
books? I know you're not like, he didn't
ask about this. I wanna make a point
right now. How much does the book cost?
1099.
1099.
If you guys wanna have a Muslim community
where people still write books of quality, just
go ahead and buy the book. If you
don't read it, you can gift it to
your cousin or nephew who's in MSA somewhere
dinner. People will, like we will buy,
Kanye West's Kitchen Center. We will buy, we
will buy will people pay for their Minder
subscription for god's sakes or to whatever other
iteration of
that app that they'll pay for or other
apps that they'll pay for, and that's why
those things exist. If we don't support our,
Muslim authors that are putting out quality work
that influences,
society for the better, like, we shouldn't be
people of biblio phobia, like, for the fear
of reading. Right?
Buy the books and support them,
and do attend these lessons. You know, like,
if you're an MSA, if you're a political
movement, if you're a masjid that wants to
get more involved in the community, etcetera, etcetera,
you know, if you cannot pass if,
Ibadan would come to your community and teach
the sacred activism
course and its various modules,
then at least take benefit online. A lot
of stuff is cheaper or free than sometimes.
Yeah. You know, take benefit from it. I
wanted to mention
the other book that,
I was gifted by, your coauthor, Ahmed Mubarak,
when I was out out in Rockford. Yes.
This is another wonderful book, and maybe, let
you say a couple of words about that
before jumping off.
In as much as it's a beautiful work
because
our dean,
you know, like, race in America means something
very particular for this time and for this
place.
And,
people superimposed, like, their ideas of race, what
they mean in America, like, you know, after,
like, whatever,
you know, the revolutionary war and,
you know, until now. They superimposed those things
on Dean to the point where some of
our African American,
brothers and sisters are made to feel
somehow like the dean is like a, you
know, is like going from the back of
the bus to the back of the camel
to quote, a figure that I feel is
like a very pajalic figure. And for him
even to say that I I it bothers
me, but there is somewhat of a point
where people are made to feel because
of people who talk on behalf of Islam
and misrepresent it,
that somehow blackness, what what is now associated
with the idea of blackness, if you fit
those categories that somehow you don't have,
you don't have a
something that you could see of yourself even
in the highest level level of transmitters of
the deen. You mentioned the companions or the
and the imams of the family, the prophet
etcetera. And so this book, like, I want
you to tell tell us about this book,
in in in brief and also
maybe a couple of things that someone could
say, well, I didn't know that,
that will make, our African American, or African
African, brothers and sisters
feel comfortable in their place, and also give
pause to other people who may, you know,
have their ostrich head in the ground,
that, you know, you need to, like, wise
up about, you know, what you think about
blackness. Because,
we coauthored a book called Centering Black Narrative,
Black Muslim Nobles Among the Early Pious Muslims.
And just for,
the occasion behind this book, it actually stemmed
from
some very,
unfortunate comments that are made by a public
speaker,
in the UK who's made a number of
of videos that are controversial
about
and some other things. I'm not gonna mention
his name.
But,
he made some comments. Not every not every
has one eye. Some of them have 2.
Anyway Yeah. So
and even some of them claim our medev,
unfortunately. A lot of you. But
we
we wrote this book,
in in regards to some statements that were
made,
that were anti black. And it also
because some people looked up to the speaker,
it caused them some confusion and doubts about
themselves, unfortunately.
So we wrote this book, Ustel Abdulah Ali.
Wrote the wrote the foreword or the introduction
to it. And it was done to,
show some of the noble Muslims of the
first two generations who were known to be
black
besides saying Bilal or Al Nahyan because, you
know, some of stuff. You know, sometimes when
people will say, my best friend's black Mhmm.
Or, you know, when you bring up racism,
oh, you know what? What? You
know? You know? You know? You know? Call
the event so racism is gone. It's not
literally heard that from an uncle when I
gave the clip by in Baltimore
last,
year in my heart. I mentioned that oh,
you you have to talk about this issue
of racism. You know, because it'll be now
called the,
and, you know, racism is gone. You know?
So
so, we wrote this book.
We we we wrote this book,
to highlight this and also to break the
myth
about
mutual exclusivity between Arabs
and blackness.
Because Arabs aren't a race. And the Asli
Arabs, the foundational Arabs were predominantly described as
as
brown and dark brown. So
the average out of the days of old
would look more like someone from Sudan than
someone from
Sham
or or or greater Syria, for instance. Right?
So some of those things that we we
brought out, for instance, just to bring this
up, is that
overwhelmingly,
if we look at
by, Ibn O'Jazi,
Alhambali,
for his for his book,
the great scholar,
of of history
and others,
you see the predominant,
and.
And and. May Allah be well pleased
with who's himself an ocean.
The
is normally described overwhelmingly in Islamic books as.
So let me break that down for you
all linguistically. You don't know about these words.
So in old Arabic, Adam means brown.
Shadid is intense. The same it's the same
word, by the way, for, like, our forefathers
in Adam. Alisna. And now even the scientists,
they say that human beings are originally black.
Yeah. Yeah.
Because, Adam is literally
a a a a. It's like some topsoil.
Yeah. Right?
So Adam and Shadid is an intensifier,
and is what's called the of
of of Adam.
So it is he was brown
that was intensified
upon darker brown. So basically,
is described as being like the color of,
like, dark chocolate.
Now,
the Ethiopian is described as.
So
is described as the same skin color
or let me say it reverse. Reverse.
Is described as the same skin color.
At
the lightest, you'll see,
Sinha,
Ali
described as closer
to El Odumayr, which still means dark brown.
So maybe
so at the least, he was like this.
Right? He's.
Right? Either way, Oh, wrong way.
Oh, wrong way. Wrong way. Yeah. Man, I
just came back from California.
I can get up here and see. Chaitan
puts this stuff up in here. You know,
even even, like, the black nationalist rhetoric talk
about the Afro Asiatic black man. You know,
like Yeah. We we in this together. Anyway,
go on. Right. Yeah. So that's
that's that's one example. Right?
So
he would be phenotypically
seen as a black
Albert. Now one of the also interesting And
there are people in this world who, like,
are having heart attacks and grabbing their ears
and, like, you know, pronouncing that fear that
how dare you say, was
black.
What's wrong with that?
Yeah. What's wrong with it? And he was.
Now, you know, like, deal with it. Yeah.
Deal with it. Right. The the the the
other issue is that,
that, that if we look back his lineage,
even even though he mentioned this in his,
book that's called, 10 World.
He is trying to illuminate the ignorance as
it relates to the blacks and the Abyssinians.
Right? He's trying to clarify that. So Ibn
O'Jelozi wrote
that
the the lineage he mentions
Arab normal
Arab nobles
with Abyssinian
maternal lineage.
So
the mother of Nufayo,
who is the grandfather of Omar Elokotab
Mhmm. Was
Habashia,
was African, Ethiopian.
Okay.
Then Which is, by the way, according to
American racial standards, he was black. He was
black. Omar was black. According to, like, racial
standards that were used for Jim Crow and
whatever, said Omar Elihuahu by that is is
black. Right. Then
his grandmother
was also black. So saying Omar
al Khattab,
his
great
grandmother
and grandmother
were African.
But now
what but he was still from Quraish because,
see, the Arabs didn't have this weird
racial construct like like like the the white
supremacists in America. Because, see, our so called
founding fathers,
they
gave,
they had children from enslaved black women,
but their children were considered
black.
They couldn't inherit from their fathers. And even
like that miscreant Thomas Jefferson
kept his children
in slavery
while he was alive. And there there was
no concept of, like, you give birth and
you're free. When when Thomas Jefferson died,
Sally Hemmons, who he had children by, was
sold off to another family. Oh, really? So,
like, so, like but
Omar had Abyssinian blood, but he was still
seen as an Arab
noble. Right? So just because,
you know,
he didn't lose his position in his tribe
because of his skin color or because
he had,
this African
lineage.
So it's it's it's a totally different paradigm
from the paradigm
of the of the European,
colonialists and and what they did,
stretching from the Congo and that devil,
King Leopold
to what the so called founding father, Shiatim,
did here
in America. Right? It's a totally different paradigm.
So I mean, like, it's, you know, you
can name the highway after them. You can
name you can, like, make a statue. You
say that it was about Virginia, but at
the end of the day, you know, like,
if if you do the devil's work, then
what are people gonna call you? You know?
Like Right. Yeah. So that's just a little
bit so you can get the book and
I'm I have something right now with the
editor right now. There's
another book guy I wrote,
solo that's coming out. It's with the,
it's with it's being added as we speak
with the publisher in the UK.
And it's gonna be called,
titled blackness in Islam, in which we are
going through this
further, but it's also gonna be answering some
of the questions
about from the orientalist, including the black orientalist
because they've taken certain
hadith and misconstrued them to try to say,
well,
Islam is anti black. Like for instance, the
hadith that we have that,
hear and obey the leader
even if he is,
an Abyssinian
with the with the head, the Zebibah. Like,
he's a raisin head. Right? So they They're
shrewd operation. Yeah. Yeah. So they've taken this
they've taken this hadith
or or some,
fabricated,
sayings and some of these,
books like,
and some of these things like,
don't marry a a a beware of marrying
a zen. At least your children will come
out deformed
in all of, like, this fabricated,
foolishness,
that that they Do you have a possibility
of your children coming out actually, like, probably
superior.
Yeah.
So so so, anyway, so, anyway, this this
book will be dealing with some of these
with some of these,
things clarifying certain things that We're shooting out
stuff. This is made up. Well, yeah. Well,
first is the the clips was something orientalists
have,
intentionally
misinterpreted because we have our our our scholars
like and others have have explained,
some of these traditions.
But then also some things that are completely
like
like,
for instance, fabrications,
versus his book,
he he, like, mentioned all of, like,
these anti black,
like, hadith. They are sheer total
fabrications,
and about the Zeng. And all these things
are political ring to the, to the Abbasids
in some of the the fitment that took
place during the the the Abbasid era and
and El Mahmoon and that's a whole other
discussion about the fitness of the Abbasids and
El Mahmoon and all that all of that
type of,
talk. So I'll leave it at that. So
inshallah, that should be out by November So
so that book. That book is gonna be
out in November. In November, inshallah. This book,
The Century Black Narrative Could be found on
amazon.com. How much how much is it usually
around ballpark? $20.
$20. It's not gonna break the bank. Buy
it. And don't just say, like, oh, I'm
not black. I'm not gonna buy it. If
you're if you're Shia and you say that
Ali is your imam,
do you love Ali, or do you love
whatever weird, like, a fantasm you have in
your head? Teach your children about him so
that they can know who who is this
great Imam al Adhan al Beit. Actually, they
were
They were the ones who made the the
biggest issue about us talking about saying Ali
being black, by the way. But if you're
if you're if you're if you're sincere if
you're sincere in your love, know who he
is. Right? Yeah. If you're a Sunni, if
you you know, our we I'm like, I
I don't think anybody here is has makes
any compunction about, you know, following the way
of the
anybody here is has makes any compunction about,
you know, following the way of the sunnah,
and the. The companions or the
are the transmitters of the deen. If you
don't love the companions, you're not you're, you
know, you're not in that tradition. You're kind
of freestyling out on your own. Mhmm. Know
who the companions are.
Don't try to project what you want them
to be. You know? You know, people like
I I have that's my own truth. You
don't get your own truth, and you don't
get to make up your own, like, companions.
It's not like
Burger King where you can ask people to
hold pickles or whatever. You know, like, you
gotta know who they are.
Teach it to your children as well so
that they don't have doesn't get into their
head and and, like, you know,
befoul and pollute the,
the the purity of what is the
This is the the the protection of our
and and being connected with these people. Right.
Whatever your color is, and read it to
the children too before these, like, you know,
polluters come in like befou, like what should
be pure in their minds. What are the
point? What,
how different would the paradigm be if our
children were being taught at a young age
that the first martyr of Moses Sahaba, may
Allah be well pleased with him, was
was Sumayya
Omar Yeah. Who
was described as being a black woman. She's
an African woman? Yeah. How would that change
the thing that the first person
that gave
their life for this dean, for this noble
path that we tread was a black woman.
There's so many, like, now that you mentioned
it, like,
Osama bin Zayed. Osama bin Zayed. His mother.
Okay.
There's just so much. And it doesn't mean,
like, you know, if you're not white, you're,
like, some or if you're white, there's something
wrong with you. Or if you're not black,
something wrong with you or whatever. I mean,
we just, mashaAllah, I just gave a talk
the other day about the return of Sinai,
alayhis salam. It's I'll be very honest with
you. Like, we have, like, white Jesus, black
Jesus. The Rasulullah
described him as being,
white with,
redness in his his skin. That's the beauty
about the Deen is that whoever you are,
there is something that you can see of
yourself in it. Right? And that's okay. We
should we should we need to learn that
in, like, you know, and there should be
this idea that it's all beautiful, the equality
of beauty, and not one in which some
are more equal than others or whatever. But,
like, we should just genuinely imbibe this. So
get the book, inshallah,
support, a good work to continue be being
put out. Is there anybody else who would
like to No.
Can you please
end this?
Your travelers. No. The dua
dua a lot of travelers, mister Jab.
You Allah forgive us all of our sins
on our except our having left our homes,
to meet our brothers in the path of
Allah ta'ala and to say a word of
truth and to say a word of goodness
in order that we may hear it ourselves
and benefit and that other people may benefit
as well, you Allah. You Allah reward our
honored Imam Dawood Walid,
for hosting us in such a beautiful way
and sharing with us, such beautiful things. You
Allah, whoever
participated in the Brothers O'Hare is helping us
record the ICC game, but we're using their
equipment. Brother Shafi, we're using his equipment.
You know, whoever
listens to this podcast and spreads it and
whoever
benefits from it, all of them, all of
us, you Allah, who has any participation in
it whatsoever, you Allah. Forgive us all of
our sins and write for us a good
destiny and protect us from the and from
the trials and tribulations of this world and
from the hate of the haters and from
the evil of the evil ones, you Allah.
Make us such that that that that you
reform us such a reformation that even everything
we touch also becomes reform through through the
barakah of your your father, You Allah. You
Allah, accept this from us and give us
a a a a
a better life whatever's left in front of
us and make the best part of our
life the part that's yet yet to come
and make the our best moments, our last
moments, and our best words, our last words
and
make
them.
And
accept it from us and give this and
this happiness also to our our
our family and our loved ones,
and our neighbors and our friends and those
who helped us and those who spoke good
of us and those who wished us well
and did good by us, and and also
those who spoke ill of us and did
poorly by us from our friends and neighbors,
you give us all the to be guided
and to live and die by, Islam and
by Iman and accepted from us in this
world and the hereafter.