Hatem al-Haj – Building Blocks Who Are We

			Last summer, so a lot earlier
		

			than 10 years and time certainly flies by.
		

			It's amazing, I couldn't even believe that 10 years, because it didn't seem like 10 years.
		

			That is not to belittle the accomplishments, they were a great accomplishments of the brothers.
		

			But it certainly is sort of a good reminder for us that 10 years could actually go by this quickly,
of our, you know, lives.
		

			The brothers asked me to dress, the sort of talk about the culture of the building blocks, because
we wanted the building blocks to be a platform for people to,
		

			to contribute to the community. And instead of frustration, and the grievances that people may have,
about the Islamic organizations, or the massage, or the Islamic institutions that are established,
and how they don't know how to run their business, and how they don't,
		

			they're not inclusive,
		

			and so on and so forth, instead of having a lot of grievances and instead of being frustrated,
		

			why don't you
		

			contribute, like start your own projects, contribute to the well being of the community and the
welfare of the community, by starting your own project, you do not need to depend on an existing
organization to do good, Allah subhanaw taala did not make the way to him, contingent upon, you
know, the admission of you been admitted to the past by a particular Imam, or a particular safe, or
a particular leader in the community, the road is open, and you want to walk on it, you could even
be alone, and make a great contribution to the well being of the community, but you're not going to
be alone, you know, and hamdulillah.
		

			In the you know, in the past, some of the prophets spend their lives inviting to the cause of Allah
subhanaw taala. And they ended their career, their ministry,
		

			and via, with without a single follower, whereas individual ASMR. And some of the prophets will call
it a day of judgment without a single follower, they continued to do the work that was asked of
them, they can take continue to preach, they continue to
		

			obey Allah subhanaw taala. And conformed to his Well, he had invited the people to his path, despite
the fact that they have not had a single follower. Do you imagine what this means, like a prophet,
this prophet, probably have, like a wife, maybe have kids, maybe, you know,
		

			maybe have kids and wife maybe out, but probably did. And this prophet had parents and this prophet
likely had siblings, likely during those times, this prophet had cousins, and he spent his ministry
and did not get a single person.
		

			You know, the prophet tells us about this. So he spent his entire ministry and did not get a single
person to walk behind them to believe Him, to follow him. That's, that's amazing. That's amazing.
But they did not give up, they did their work. So don't, you know, be ever frustrated, just don't
get frustrated, be positive about
		

			a you know the reality and make the best out of it, regardless of what the reality is, make the best
out of the reality that you live. So the building blocks was meant to be a platform for people to
pull in resources, human resources and other resources, and empower the brothers and sisters to
realize their dreams for the community. If you wanted to see like some sort of project started, or
you have a good idea to be implemented, then the building blocks should be the go to place where you
could find like minded brothers and sisters that, you know, to rely on. And you could get a little
bit of help a little bit
		

			of
		

			some financial help or some networking help or some logistical help, was just a little bit of help.
I guess the for the our budget for the first year was $4,000. This is how much
		

			Write
		

			such a general know about this is he was the accountant. And so was it 4000 about $4,000, I guess
the budget for the first year, but it grew, you know, exponentially. But with $4,000 and some
winning individuals, you could do a lot of work and Hamdulillah, you could do a great work.
		

			But in order for this,
		

			like organization to have some character, there has to be some orientation for the newcomers, right?
Because you have to have some character, even though it's a platform, even though it's grassroots,
it's not hierarchical, snapped up down. It's not very regimented, it is not very structured. And it
is meant to be this flexible. But despite all of this, there's got to be some character for the
organization. Otherwise, there is no organization that could survive without having its own
character, signature characteristic, his own culture. So in order for us to basically give some
		

			light orientation to the newcomers, we put together these slides here as part of a bigger
presentation, but pre cut out most of it right
		

			here after those 10 slides, because that, you know, those are the pertinent ones, to our culture.
The first thing is certainly this is not this is a no brainer, this is not I can you know, I'm not
making this up, the first thing has to be devotion, the first thing has to be lost the fact that two
conditions for the you know, the acceptance of any deed is a floss and adherence the way of the
Prophet sallallahu Sallam claassen metabo to do that, which is right with complete devotion to Allah
right meaning according to the way of the Prophet sallallahu Sallam was complete devotion to Allah.
So, flawless is number one in terms of the culture, you know, that the first characteristic of the
		

			organization has, has to be flawless. And I truly believe because the brothers that were do this
work because of the humbleness and the sincerity of the brothers that do this work, that this
organization was able to succeed.
		

			To, some people may think, a great extent, some extent, but there was some there was definitely you
should we should agree that there was some success. And the organization succeeded primarily because
of the sincerity of many of the brothers that were involved. And
		

			ancestors, ancestors, right, okay. I know you guys know that I
		

			it's just that in Arabic, because that that's another issue with with language, it is the logic of
Arabic is that when you talk
		

			in the masculine even when you use the masculine pronouns, it automatically means everybody, it
includes everybody. That is why when our last pinata speaks and addresses the believers in the
masculine
		

			your
		

			masculine pronoun, it means everybody involved. But that does not mean I should not try to be
together because the English has a different logic, every language has its own logic. So because of
the because of the devotion of the brothers and sisters that were involved in this work.
		

			Most of the, you know, if you really analyze where why many Muslim organizations fail,
		

			the issue of egotism, the issue of, you know, personal,
		

			like interpersonal friction because of egotism because of you know, issues of Pride and Prejudice,
and so on and so forth. And, like unhealthy competition between the people is the number one factor
in the failure of institutions and organizations, whether they are Muslim or not Muslim. To crush
the ego is the most essential
		

			first step towards success of an organization of teamwork of collaborative work. And I think that
many of our brothers and sisters were able to do this, to agree to a great extent we're not talking
about angels, we're talking about profits. We're not talking about VP No, we're not. But we're
talking about good people that are trying to do their best.
		

			And I think that you know, this the emphasis on this and
		

			Focus on this did come to fruition and healthy competition.
		

			We have we say no to unhealthy competition.
		

			Because if you have, if you have real sincerity and you have real devotion to Allah subhanaw taala,
you will not can compete in intersecting lines, the competition will be in parallel lines, which
means that you do your best you try to reach your potential, but you do not wish for your brother or
sister
		

			to be behind so that you could catch up or so that you could come ahead of them. It is like a bucket
on the arm where everybody is competing to basically reach their potential. But that bobak to ever
want Omar to do less, or the armor ever wanted to buck with the trip and fall and get behind?
Absolutely now. So the healthy competition is when you try to do your best, but you're competing
against your potential. First and foremost, you are competing against your own potential to realize
the best of you
		

			to contribute the most the community and to come first in the sight of Allah subhanaw taala if you
can.
		

			The next
		

			of the characteristics of the organization is the strict adherence to the son of the Prophet
sallallahu wasallam strict adherence to the sadhana is sometimes used
		

			by by certain people that may have a rigid interpretation of the Sonata rigidity is is is not what
we are talking about here. We're talking about strict adherence to the Sunnah, with respect to the
tradition with respect to the scholarship with respect to the interpreters of the Quran, and the
Sunnah, we're not talking about each and every one of us running away with their own understanding
of
		

			the apparent meaning or apparent implication of one Hadith or this or that we're talking about
strict adherence of the Sunnah as transmitted to us,
		

			not only the letter of the signal was transmitted to us, but also the explanation that can text was
transmitted to us through
		

			trustworthy scholarship generations of trustworthy scholarship.
		

			So,
		

			the prophet SAW Selim, as you all know, some of you how many how many, Whosoever
		

			innovates or invents or originates and innovation in this matter of hours, it shall be rejected.
		

			So our actions will be should be a regular, regular, rigorously evaluated to ensure correct
correctness, you know, adherence to the Sunnah. And we should avoid controversial matters, part of
the character, you know, culture of the building blocks is to avoid controversy is to avoid
controversy. If you could do it, if you could be right, according to all of the form of hubs that
are
		

			here, you know, the sort of the most respected schools of law in suddenly traditional orthodox Sunni
Islam, why do you do it this way? Like if you're getting married, and there is controversy over the
importance of the wedding? Why don't you have the body and give it a try it according to everybody,
if you have a wedding, whatever, when anyone say that you should not have one? You know, it's not a
good thing to have, oh, well, everybody will be, you know,
		

			everybody would agree that this is a good thing to do. But do you have to have a well, there is
controversy because why don't you do it right, according to everybody, according to Abu hanifa,
Malik and Stephanie, an argument and I'm just using this as an example. But for us as a like an
organization.
		

			We don't worry, we get into controversy, unless there is a particular matter where there is a you
know, great need for a particular position that may be controversial and we discuss it and we reach
an agreement that everybody is on board, and then we proceed, but whenever we can steer away from
controversy, and you know, be correct and write according to our tradition, and according to the
consensus of our tradition, then we should try to do this. Fostering one and fostering one our
allegiance is forcing one our allegiance to the last sentence rather than having a Latina Latina
		

			What can we see are less than minimum fisheye in anomala in Edina, sobre todo, mecanim, Seon, those
who divided the religion and became into * less than 1% you have nothing to do with in the hammer
home Illa their affair belongs to Allah, Allah will decide about
		

			should be left to Allah,
		

			Allah and then Allah subhanaw taala will tell them what they used to do, we are not doing this, the
building blocks, you know, or any organization. If there is a shift of allegiance from the old man
to the organization, then that is sectarianism. And that is condensable. You know, so your brother
that is not part of the building blocks is just as as much of a brother as your brother that is
working with you in the building blocks. So, your brother decided who decided your brother who
decided to work with Muslim? What was it Muslims, Muslims,
		

			Muslims
		

			MPs instead of BB, if you're working for NBS vs BB, are you less of a brother to me than if you're
working with BB then this would be crazy, this would be crazy sectarianism. And this is something
that we have to remove from our hearts. You know, it naturally creeps on into your heart, by the
way, because he is from my group. It all goes back to what self centeredness You know, it all goes
back to egotism. It is my group, it is my family, it is my country, it is my tribe, it is my clan,
it is my my that it goes back to my me I had the end of the day. But if we said that we have to
fostering Welcome to the oma at large, but to be to love your organization through which it because
		

			a lot through this organization's opens doors for you to do good, right? So to love, the
organization that enables you empowers you to do good for the sake of Allah is valid is healthy,
there is no problem. But to make it
		

			to make it like a catalyst for the vision or, you know, partisanship within the ranks of the
believers is extremely harmful, extremely harmful. This means what that our organization does not
mean that we will not collaborate, we should always be willing to give money and human resources to
other organizations and work under their banner. It's not about banners. And if they recognize your
work that is good, you thank Allah, you say hamdulillah because every organization can continue to
thrive, you do need some recognition so that your community continues to support you. And it is
understandable that you will be looking for some recognition not for yourself, but for your
		

			organization. But don't fight for it. Don't be aggressive about it. Don't be asking for too much. If
you get it you thank Allah, because it helps your organization grow, gain recognition, recruit more
people, and so on. If you don't get it, the ultimate objective is to please Allah and to do good.
And it is not for your organization
		

			for the reputation of your organization, or the name of the your brand is not the ultimate
objective.
		

			accommodating newcomers, fostering Welcome to the online means that newcomers should win when
newcomers and the development box has been successful in this right.
		

			We have like a great turnover. Which which which, which is not a bad thing, you know, like the high
rate of turnover in companies would be bad because it means that you don't you don't have an
employee loyalty. But sometimes for volunteer ship for volunteer work, people have, you know, if I
have some time to dedicate to the volunteer work, and then I get like two kids or twins or you know,
or I get like a demanding job or I move out of the city or something of that nature, then replacing
those people with new comers should be a sign of health.
		

			And hamdulillah for the building blocks. We did not have people just walk away because they
deserted. I mean, it's not a phenomenon. If you have one or two people or like a few people that
will did that. I don't know. I don't remember any. But certainly in any organization, this will be
this will happen. But it has never been a phenomenon yet
		

			ability to get newcomers to feel at home. You know from the from day one, it means that he that your
heart is open to all Muslims. And that is the meaning of one more minute on one minute bottom idea
about the believing men and women are allies of one another. See here and the poor and the women
were mentioned, for particular purpose,
		

			continuous growth.
		

			Always seek authentic knowledge from trustworthy scholars, we shall never neglect our hearts.
without knowledge, our actions are prone to misguidance. And without purification, our actions will
be all in vain. without knowledge will be, we will be incorrect, we can be misguided. But without
sincerity, even if you have the knowledge, it's all in vain. Gone zero. It's a big zero. If you go
to a lake with a faulty net, you can get some fish out, right? You could catch some fish with a
faulty net. Right?
		

			If you go to a lake that does not have fish, with a with the best net that you have your market
you're never going to catch anything. And that's the difference between sincerity and correctness.
That's the difference between sincerity and correctness. Those who are insincere, they're trying to
catch fish from a lake that is empty.
		

			positivism oma Tikka Masala motor whatever hi Ronan Farrow, have we talked about this, don't get
frustrated, don't get become desperate, be positive, there is goodness in this ummah, that for
forever until the day of judgment, empowerment, the building blocks that is what it means you have a
pool of resources, we support one another, we provide, you know, logistical help, a little bit of
financial help, you know, and, you know, manpower, righteous governance and
		

			unrighteous governance, you know, it means a lot of things, but we don't have time to go through
this particular issue. Righteous governance is one of our greatest difficulties as Muslims, you
know, right.
		

			Like, it's not about or it's not only at the level of organizations, it's also at the level of
countries and, and everything righteous governances are one of our great, greatest weaknesses. And
we're not getting our act together on it up until now. But hopefully, with you know, sincerity is
really important. Sincerity is important is righteous governance does require a lot of sincerity and
a lot of efforts to be, but not only sincerity, but also the right the proper
		

			strategies, or the proper structure for governance, and proper methodology,
		

			transparency, and I think that this is a very transparent organization, isn't it, sometimes may be
too transparent,
		

			accommodating all on diversity.
		

			And the diversity of this organization, I think, is quite obvious.
		

			But accommodating on diversity, whenever we talk about diversity, we're only talking about diversity
in terms of ethnic diversity, we're occupied with ethnic diversity, but it is not only about ethnic
diversity, because the problem, you know, Muslims don't have
		

			was Muslims have a problem with racism, but Muslims do not have racism is not one of the biggest
problems that Muslims have. And Muslims are doing do better at this than other nations. You know, so
racism is one of the last issues that
		

			but but it is quite, it is quite known to a lot of people that massage cater to old wealthy males,
wherever it is, at least what many of our young sisters feel.
		

			Sometimes it's a perception, but sometimes it is true. So in this organization, we wanted to make
sure that we are accommodating the youth and we wanted to make sure that we are accommodating the
sisters to thrive within the organization.
		

			forbearance and forgiveness is extremely important because after you try your best to be right or to
be correct, you'll still make mistakes.
		

			And if we're not allowing, if you do not want to make mistakes, stay at home, in your bed. Because
once
		

			you leave your bed, you're you're prone to error, you're prone to making mistakes, and don't say
anything good or bad.
		

			don't contribute to any discussion and don't express your opinion about any issue. If you do not
want to make mistakes, but to have any sort of movement, you're you're prone to mistakes. Just by
by, by default by, by virtue of being a human being, you will be prone to mistakes. So, if we want
to have some movement, we should tolerate error. And we should be forgiving, and we should be
forbearing with our brothers and sisters, particularly newcomers to the organization that will make
mistakes and that will, you know, sometimes big blunders, but that's fine, we will correct it. We
will not tolerate it in the sense that we will basically allow a culture of sin in the organization,
		

			but we will allow our culture of forgiveness we point out the what is right and what is wrong. But
we are merciful and for the forgiving. Put out metal facade of love armor like Omarosa, who will
moon
		

			Shahada when a bill can be my quantum tomorrow and as Allah subhanaw taala seven swords Toba and say
act alone see your deeds and so well his messenger and the believers and you will be brought back to
the old Knower of the unseen in the sea and then he will inform you of that which you use to do.
portfolio development
		

			salons Professor