Hosai Mojaddidi – An Agenda to Change Our Condition (Session 7)
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hamdulillah Santa Monica Murat Allah here but to get to Bismillah
R Rahman r Rahim Al hamdu lillah wa Salatu was Salam, O Allah MBI
mursaleen se then our Mo Lana, where have you been to Muhammad
sallallahu alayhi wa sallam for Allah Allah, he was talking about
Olympus women cathedra as salaam alaikum, Warahmatullahi
Wabarakatuh. Welcome and hamdulillah to all of you,
brothers and sisters who are out there tuning in to our official
second Holika here or session on agenda to change our condition. It
is a text that we have been covering, actually for a few,
several weeks now. But we started a little differently with the
appendices in the back of the book. And so we're now reading the
actual text. So if you don't have the text, I highly encourage you
to get it. It will be easy to follow along with me but I do have
slides prepared, which I will bring up in just a moment. But
here is the book. Again, for anybody who's new tuning in. It is
a text that is written by Sheikh Hamza Yusuf and Imam Zaid Shakir
and it is called agenda to change our condition. And again, this is
our second official reading. So we're very early on into the text
Alhamdulillah. So I'm going to go ahead and pull up my slides here.
And that way, we can begin Inshallah,
if I have one minute here, or one moment, okay. Bismillah.
So, here we go.
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me a message. Okay, Inshallah, then we're good to go. I
apologize. I was getting a very strange error message I've never
seen before. So I'll have to do that. Alright, let's go ahead and
begin. So, again, the last week or last time, it's been about two
weeks now, since we meet every other week, we started reading the
text. We were very much in the beginning of, you know, of this
text.
I'm sorry, one more second, I'm going to fullscreen it so that we
don't have any issues with the display. Okay, so now in Shaba, we
should be good to go. Anyhow, Alhamdulillah, we started reading
this text together. And, you know, I said there's so much to get
through, we ended up only getting to a few pages. So we're we're
where we are right now, if you have the text is we were talking
about the the rapid changes in the Muslim world due to you know,
imperialism, colonialism, a lot of Western influence that came into
the Muslim world, we began to see and so in the text shumsa here and
the introduction, he describes all of these very rapid changes, he
describes changes to the cultures and many Muslim countries, food,
clothing, language, even the infrastructure and architecture of
Muslim lands started to change and become more westernized
institutions. And many other things had just started to
transform away from the traditional Muslim architecture
and design and just, you know, the way that the cities and towns were
built and more and more western influences were coming in. So he
talked about that. And then on page four at the very bottom of
the text, he says here, one need only look at the photographs taken
by the first Europeans in the lands of Islam 100
years ago, to see the nobility of Muslim dress. The American poet
Ezra Pound remarked that he had no idea of the force that was
unleashed from the Arabian Peninsula in the seventh century,
that led to 1000 mosques in Cordoba, Spain, until he caught a
glimpse of it in the way a Muslim walked in 10th. Year in 1913.
Compare that image to the current Muslim cities teeming with
desolate youth looking for a ticket out of their empty lives to
anywhere but home. So again, he's just describing the contrast of
what where we were,
to where we are now, you know, the stunning architecture he described
on page five gardens parks, that engendered awe in the eyes of all
who gazed upon them. Right, those were suddenly transformed. And
more commercial buildings with, you know, just brick buildings or
stone buildings with very little color or dimension or design took
their place, right. And then he goes down, and he talks about the
schools, the medina says, where the love of Allah and His Prophet
sallallahu sallam was instilled in the hearts of the students, along
with a rich understanding of the deen of Allah, and with
memorization of his book have been replaced by secular institutions
that instill in people a disdain for the past. And a boredom that
lingers long after the last empty book is closed, and an equally
empty career begun. So you know, all of this is to really help us
to see why we're in the situation that we're in the text is about
changing our condition, and we cannot help ourselves or heal from
where we are, if we don't first diagnose ourselves and see where
the problems began. And so the problems, in many instances began
with, with these things that were introduced into the Muslim world,
right? The government systems that we have currently, right, many of
them are abusive systems of power of rule. And so he's describing
all of this at length on in the very early pages of page four and
five. And so then he goes on, let me just change the slide here.
Just
give me one minute, okay, my too far.
So then he goes on. And he says, On the next page on page six here,
he says that, you know, if Muslims were truly living Islam, our
greatness would dispel any negative influence from the West,
in the traditional lens of Islam. And he quotes the famous historian
Arnold Toynbee. He said, he said that he recognized Islam as a
spiritual power that could help reinvigorate the dissipated state
of society, and its life threatening social ills. So other
people recognize the power Islam had, but unfortunately, we lost
appreciation for our own tradition in many ways, because we were so
quick to replace it. And that's really what he's pointing out
here. And then he talks about how Subhan Allah I mean, today first
of all, I didn't mention it Forgive me, but it's, you know,
the first day or now it's the second night of reveal Oh, the
month of the birth of the Prophet. So I said, I'm so Mubarak to all
of you who are out there, but important to reflect on the the
prophesy Saddam and his experience. And so in the middle
of page six, he talks about how the prophesies, I'm asked only one
thing of the Quraysh. Right. All he said is, let me be that I may
invite people to Islam, he wanted them to just leave him alone, so
that he could do his Dawa and do what he was meant to do. And they
didn't, they were relentless, and they were brutal. And they didn't
give him that opportunity with you at all, he had to of course,
overcome them. But he or she comes out here says we on the other
hand, are given leave to invite people yet we do not. You know,
and again, this is symptomatic of the fact that we have lost
appreciation and value for our own tradition. And we have in many
ways become preoccupied with with the world and the dunya and
acquiring wealth and materialism and all the other things that this
dunya can delude us with right.
So then he goes on and he on again, we're on page six here, and
he talks about he says we on the other I'm sorry, he says this is
not to deny that there are some who oppose the spread of Islam
amongst such people are those who will not sit idly by and allow
others to invite people to Islam, without attempting to undermine
Muslims cause dissension in the ranks of believers and place ops
trickles along the path. They ultimately manifest disbelief in a
very real way. And their existence is a test from Allah to
distinguish real believers from hypocrites. However, our prophets
Allah, Allah Hollywood, salam, in a sound Hadith said, do not seek
confrontation with your enemies, but when an occur, but when it
occurs be steadfast. So again, he's just, you know, giving us
some insight into the current dynamic of our community where you
have some people are just really disconnected and disengaged, and
other people who are, you know, they're being obstructive. And so
we have to be steadfast, and continue to do what we're meant to
do, which is spread this tradition value this tradition, that's what
our responsibility is. And so he goes on, I'm on the same page. And
again, let me pull up the slides. So those of you who don't have the
text, can at least read along partially here with us.
If you give him a moment, there's always a bit of a delay. He says
here, that true Muslims, so now he's, you know, defining for us
where we all should be, because we're clearly confused, we're
lost, we've lost value. For our tradition, we're seeing it all
over the Muslim world. And in many cases, those of us who are living
who are Muslim minorities living in non Muslim lands, we're also
reflecting the same problem of just not really appreciating our
faith tradition as we should, because we're too caught up in the
pursuit of the material or world, right the material world. So he's
reminding us here that where we all should be. And he says, true
Muslims, love peace, obey the law, but are also commanded by Allah to
be witnesses unto humanity in and in order to fulfill this, we must
first be witnesses unto ourselves. So he's, you know, making us hold
ourselves to account here, you know, we can enjoy the privileges,
the opportunities that we have here, Alhamdulillah we live in a
time and place and many of us where we do have immense
privilege, and so we can certainly, you know, enjoy what
else path that has given us. And we should do our best to be the
best citizens wherever we are. But our ultimate objective, we can't
lose sight of it, which is to worship Allah subhanaw taala and
also to bear witness as Muslims, that this is a true faith. And to
live this deen and to teach it is you know, when when we can when we
have the opportunity. But he reminds us here that in order to
do that, effectively, we have to first not forget our own selves,
we have to hold ourselves to account and so here in this ayah
from Surah Baqarah, at that moto NASA will vary with and so on and
fossa calm, right? Do you command people to righteousness and forget
yourselves. So this is really about not becoming a hypocrite,
you know, you can't espouse the beauty of Islam, all of these
amazing things that are true, Huck, but then you don't live it
yourself, you have to have consistency, you have to have
truth. And so, you know, to this is the starting point, know what
your objectives are, but hold yourself to account and have the
balance, you know, be in the dunya. But also know that you have
an important, very important role in this dunya. And now he's going
to introduce what that is. So, in the next page, we're actually
excuse me the next section, again, if you're following along in the
book, the very bottom of Page Six, we now have a section titled inner
and outer transformations. And so here, so let me just check if I
skipped. No, I didn't, okay, I thought I skipped a slide. So
inner and outer transformations here. He says that the path for us
and now he's speaking specifically to the Muslims who are in western
lands, okay, so he says, the path for us in these western lands is
twofold.
The first is inner transformation through spiritual struggle. You
know, I'm so sorry. I think I did skip a slide. Let me see if I put
it somewhere else. Where did that slide go? Here it is. I don't know
how this slide got all the way at the end, forgive me. But I knew I
definitely skipped over this. So here we go. So he talks about
inner and outer transformation. So he says that the first is the
inner transformation. It's this is the spiritual struggle with the
soul right? This is the very first part of our path here in the West.
The second is the outer transformation. And this is
struggle with the vices and degrading aspects of society. This
means working toward the realization of social justice, and
a culture that embodies moral comportment protects children and
enhances family and community life. Now, again, you know, this
book was
written several years
years ago and published in 2013, as a text, but it was written even
prior to that. And so when you think about where we are now, this
is such incredibly relevant advice. I mean, I just gave a
parenting started a parenting class yesterday. And we talked a
lot about some of the struggles that parents are having with their
families. And so, and one of the things that I hear a lot from
people are the fears, legitimate fears that they have about raising
their children in this society, and in other parts of the Western
world as well, because so many of the things that are now acceptable
and normalized in these societies are completely antithetical to our
creed, our belief. And so it's very difficult to try to navigate
well, how can we live in these societies, when every thing that
you see out in that, again, is acceptable and and even
encouraged? Is, is pulling people away from their faith? And so you
have natural fears from parents and
about future generations about their children? Now, you know,
what's going to happen to them, when they get a little older? Are
they going to be able to maintain their faith? These are all very,
very legitimate
fears. And so this, you know, part of the text is really for us to
contemplate, where are we with both of these aspects of our path?
Where are we with our own inner transformation? Right, where are
we with our own Mujahidin? What are we doing? Are we living this
Deen as much as we can? Or have we sort of just given up in certain
areas? You know, are we are we not really striving to be better? Have
we become stagnant and stale? And we're just kind of going with the
motions? Are we making efforts at all, you know, and the best way to
really gauge that is to ask yourself, Where were you? You
know, just a few months ago, where were you last year? Where were
you? 10 years ago? Five years ago? What major changes have you
committed to in terms of your spiritual, your own individual
spiritual identity, your own individual spiritual path? Are you
having the same problems? Or have new problems emerged? Like, were
you better five years ago? Or have you really overcome a lot of your
struggles? But where are you right now, and this is something we all
have to do individually and independently, and have those
really honest conversations with ourselves. Because it absolutely
impacts the second part of it. I mean, again, the whole book is
agenda to change our condition. And we know from the verses in the
Quran that Allah subhanaw taala says he will not change the
condition of the people until they change themselves. So if we want
to see our community, healing our societies and proving, we cannot
expect that to happen if we're not first willing to look to
ourselves, which is what the entire purpose and the majority of
this book deals with, it deals with really the inner the inward
lens that looking inward and trying to figure out what all of
us have to do differently. Because if we don't do that, then it's
very likely that we're not going to have success when it comes to
all of these other things outside of us that we so desperately wish
we could control. Right? So these two things, you know, for all of
us again, just to give us perspective, very important
to to reflect on. Now I'm gonna go back because the slide got out of
order. So just bear with me a moment while I find my placing
here.
But let me go
back this.
So this is the slide that should have come next. So here on the top
of page seven,
we have a quote from the greatest scholar 11th century, professor
and scholar of Arabic, Ravel ispahani. And she has a quote here
that he gave us two main reasons or in his opinion, there were two
main reasons why Allah subhanaw taala created the human being. The
first is to worship Allah subhana wa Tada. Right. And so here we
have the verse, right. Well, Matt, O'Meara Illa Ali, Abdullah
Himachal Hasina, Lucha Dena when affair, they were only commanded
to worship Allah with purity, making the religion solely for
him. So this is again a reminder that this is part of our creation.
The second reason is to cultivate the world, right? Who are in share
a communal rd was stem was that my route was that mitochondria. So he
brought you forth from the earth and has caused you to cultivate
it. So this idea of first recognizing our own purpose, we're
here to worship Allah subhanaw taala. That's solely our purpose,
but then also, there's the other side
out of the equation, we have to cultivate this dunya that, that
we've inherited, that we're a part of, and how do we do that? So then
the rest of the text, he now describes that so he says here,
again, if I can get to the next slide.
This fella
I went for, okay, so here so what Cultivation means. He says here,
cultivation here means to sow seeds that produce both temporal
fruits, as well as eternal ones. Such cultivation entails building
schools, hospitals, farms, roads, bridges, and cities and towns,
where in Allah is worshipped and the sanctity of the Earth is
preserved. In order for us to realize our God given potential
within our lifetimes, we must break the cycles of stagnation, by
abandoning methods that have proven any effective in fulfilling
our responsibilities as people committed to a slam, we can
accomplish this only by changing our current condition. This
requires courage, commitment, and above all, critical introspection.
So I mean, look, yeah, that's a pretty tall order, right? If you
think about what we're supposed to be doing, and what we're all
actually doing, many of us and I can speak for myself as well, it's
very easy to get caught up in our own individual goals and pursuits
and forget the bigger picture.
Right? You we all work, we have families to take care of, we have
children to take care of parents, in laws. And so we can just kind
of get caught up in that routine, and then lose sight of the fact
that we should also be looking towards the future because our
children, what are they going to carry forth if we're not also
trying to help in some way. So whether that means we actually get
involved with institution building or supporting institutions and
organizations, some way or another, you can do that
financially, you can, you know, volunteer and work you can serve
on to committees or boards, some part of us should feel compelled
to do that. I think that's what the point is here, that we, you
know, we should look to the benefit that will that all of this
will bring for generations to come, as well as for our own
progeny, our own children, our grandchildren, they are going to
reap the benefits if we prioritize these things. But if we just get
caught up in our own material, worldly pursuits, you know, just
making money and buying homes and cars and vacationing and eating
the best foods and buying, you know, all the clothes that we
want, and just, it's all about what we benefit from for
ourselves, instead of looking at these other very important, big,
big picture things, then we have no one else to blame, but
ourselves when we see that our children, for example, are not
really interested in being part of their community, right? If we
don't take them to the masjid and have them appreciate, for example,
what a great resource and what a great blessing it is to have you
part of a community and to have a community center to have teachers
to have classes regularly. And you know, we understand I mean, it's
understandable that you're we're not going to always be able to
attend every single event or lecture but at least to value it
at least to have appreciation for it. So that when you get that
email from the masjid asking for some support some donations that
you don't just roll your eyes and become cynical, and, and you know,
act as though it's just here we go again, but rather, you know,
instead of spending money on on whatever big purchase you might
have had your eyes on for a while that you you see the bigger
picture that it's better to pay it forward for your the benefit of
your community, the benefit of your children and grandchildren
inshallah so, really thinking big picture, but to think about all of
these things, this is what cultivating means that we actually
invest in schools and hospitals and building institutions and
improving our world in our society and taking that seriously. So
civic engagement, you know, getting involved with what's going
on in local government, and actually being a part of that is a
big part of the role that we should have as Muslims here living
in the West. So and have that really great powerful reminders
for all of us to reflect on. And that last line is so important,
right? We can accomplish this only by changing our current condition.
This requires courage, commitment, and above all critical
introspection. So we have to be willing to think critically about
our own culpability in why we are in the state that we're in as a
community, because we all do have some part in it. And that's, you
know, again, a very subjective individual
process, but we have to start there. And that's what the whole
objective of Mujahidin and, and really trying to change your
condition is it's a matter of let me first again, diagnose the
problems look inwardly look outwardly analyze the situation,
make sense of it. And then from there, figure out what I have to
do next. So it's an essential part of the process. Now the next slide
here, this Mullah.
Give me a second here.
Okay, so the next section on page seven at the bottom,
he has titled The importance of family. So here, he says that the
family is the first and most important unit of society and is
designed to nurture and prepare the young to carry on the
civilizational enterprise. It is in serious crisis throughout the
world, and our children, whether in Muslim households, or those of
other faiths, and beliefs are suffering everywhere. So I mean,
this is just an absolutely true statement. And you can
look at research, whether it's from different academic
institutions or scientific institutions, journals,
psychologists, therapists, there's a lot of people who are looking at
what's happening with our youth. And it's very concerning Anxiety
disorders are on the rise globally. And mostly in amongst
the youth, you know, teen, teen demographic, young adult
demographic, we're seeing a lot of mental health issues. And there's,
it's just, it's getting worse and worse. And there's a lot of you no
thought and analysis on why what's happening. But the bottom line is,
is it is happening, and it's everywhere. And we have to hit
pause for a moment and just try to at least figure out, what are some
of the potential reasons why kids are suffering so much more today?
Maybe than ever, in human history, Allah knows. I don't know if we
can make specific or exact claims. But when you do look at the data,
of how many teens are reporting problems, you know, suicidal
ideation, cutting a lot of anxiety, as we said, disorder,
social anxiety disorders, depression, these are not, we
shouldn't take them lightly or accurate. Oh, this is just a
reflection of typical teenage angst. And you know, all teens go
through that. And they can be dramatic. And you know, sometimes
people get very cynical, these millennials, these Generation Z,
they're also spoiled, and they're just brats. And that's not how we
should stop a lot of talk about people. I mean, comping people,
you know, those types of generalizations is never a good
thing. But especially when it comes to young children. I mean,
that I think, is just deflecting, because, as adults, our it's our
duty to protect them and to take care of them. And so when you see
children, engaging in really risky behaviors, whether it's, you know,
drugs, alcohol, premarital relations, all the things, the
risk factors and the fears that every parent has for their child,
when you see them doing those things, and doing things that
maybe you couldn't even think of doing when you were their age,
instead of blaming them and making it sound like they're just
inherently flawed. I think it's more effective to look back on
where did we as adults failed? And how did we feel them? What did we
do that led to this problem, you know, in terms of society and
culture, the messages that they're getting the access to a lot of
this thing, these things that they're getting, we have to look
back to ourselves, for example, I mean, very simple, you know, thing
to look at is, again, access, like when I was in high school, and
even you know, throughout my childhood, and in well into even
my college years, my parents had very strict rules. And I'm sure
many people of my generation can relate about curfew and about, you
know, who we could be around. And there were rules in terms of what
we had access to. And so that built in maybe, you know, just an
awareness that was an hamdulillah with us, even when our parents
weren't there. We just knew we couldn't do certain things,
because very early on, those things were understood and
communicated. And they were, you know, there were consequences. So
when we are vigilant as parents and we can implement those types
of rules and really, you know, be be vigilant and be firm, our
children will naturally fall into line but a lot of what's happening
is that we aren't as vigilant and I can say that
Because the structure of our homes are different, you know, when you
have at least one parent in the house, and they're stable, and
they're consistently there, and they are present and watchful over
the children, you have, you know, less likely chances of things,
you know, passing through that are getting children getting away with
things. But when both parents are disconnected and just really
distracted, I should say, because of other obligations, and it
doesn't always necessarily have to be work, it can just be, you know,
personal other things that are that come up or, you know, roles
that maybe a parent plays in terms of other family members, you know,
I see some I've seen some friends and people that I know, who are
very consumed by other obligations in their life due to other family
members maybe or other things going on. So the point is, is,
when we don't have that type of vigilance in the home, then you
see a lot of things happen. And kids, of course, the world that
they're in,
they don't really have to go very far to get access to some of the
worst, most toxic, dangerous, poisonous elements of society,
it's all within reach within seconds, because of social media
and devices, and all of these very dangerous things that our children
do have access to. So vigilance isn't always necessarily where our
children are going outside of the home. And watching I mean, that's
part of it, certainly who they're spending time with who their
influences are. But I think
in, you know, from our generation and previous generations, it's the
opposite. Now it's inside the home, what are the influences that
our children have? You know, are they watching a lot of television?
Are they watching a lot of Netflix, and all of these other
streaming services? That may seem like not a big deal, because oh,
they're in the home, it gives you kind of like a false sense of
security, if you think about it as a parent, oh, they're just in
their room, you know, they're watching something with their
friend or their sister, you know, they're just watching a movie. But
if we're not being vigilant to know, what are they watching? And
do we follow up? You know, do we have measures in place to be able
to know what they're watching? You know, or do we just give them all
access passes? To a lot of these, I mean, HBO, there's Netflix,
there's like, there's all these streaming services that do not
have very good content at all. And the, the sad thing is, is that
their generation, the shows that are tailored for their generation
are some of the worst, some of the worst shows that you could
possibly imagine, are made for, and presented to as, as you know,
as, as,
as entertainment for for the teen demographic. For example.
There's a show on HBO, I mentioned euphoria, if you don't know this
show, know that your teens most likely know about this show,
because it's very popular in that demographic. And I believe it just
won an Emmy. I'd won some award recently. And it was very, you
know, received a lot of words, I believe. But the point is, is that
show if you watch even a few minutes of it, as a Muslim, it
should absolutely fill you with horror, because every type of
debauchery you can imagine is shown in that show, from the get
go. It's like, you know, just within a few for a few minutes,
there's many other shows as well that are like that, but they
celebrate ideas that are not part of our faith. And yet they are
marketed specifically to teens. And so as parents are not aware of
the, again, the shows, or the music, look at the music industry
and how much it's changed in the past, I'd say 1015 years, even
when I was younger, much different lyrics and just different type of
content that teens and young children were exposed to Now, if
you're paying attention at all to what's going on at, you know,
social media, anyhow, you have on tick tock, for example, there are
so many trends with young children forget, you know, older teens who
are, at least you could say, you know, from our tradition, they're
young adults, right? Because if they have accountability, I'm
talking about young children like 789 who are dancing in very
provocative ways to songs by someone like Cardi B, you know,
it's like really horrific. But this is the world that our kids
are in right now. And so we have to pay attention and this is where
the onus is on us as parents to know that it is a very difficult
time for children but we have to stand vigilant and make sure that
what
is coming to what they have access to the we know what it is. So all
of those, you know, those systems that you can find whether it's
online, you know, just security systems or, or apps or whatever it
is that will allow you at least some level of control over what
they're, what they're taking in and consuming is essential, we
can't take it like for, we can't assume that just because they say
that they're going to do not getting to do something or going
to do something that that's going to be the case, because temptation
is real. We all know what peer pressure is, we all know that
young children and teens do not have
very strong ability to regulate their themselves. Because those
those functions aren't fully developed yet and not part of the
brain. So we know these things. So we shouldn't assume that just
because they're good kids, and they're, they're sweet. And we
love them, that they won't fall. I mean, the we know from from just
reading, you know, our history that some of the best people have
fallen. And so that's just naive to think that a young child just
because they're good, that you can necessarily trust them to not, you
know, get curious to not want to look to not want to do something.
And also aside from that there's predators that are very good at
grooming, and luring children into traps. And so the bottom line is,
is we have to be very serious about the crisis that is
unfolding, and has been unfolding in front of us with regards to our
children, and to really be worried we shouldn't be worried if we're
not worried. There's a problem anyway. I mean, that's my personal
opinion, because I work a lot with teens. And I deal with a lot of
issues that I think would really,
to be honest, just startle freak out, and make a lot of parents
just fall into deep, deep despair and depression, because it's like,
how can this be happening to our young children?
Unfortunately, it is. So you know, here, I think that's the point
that he's, he's making here is that it's, it's children are
suffering, and they're, and we really do have to help them. And
then he goes on to say, now he's he's, you know, giving us some
insight into also another area that we have to be
aware of. And he says here on the bottom of page seven, he says
schools once meant to nourish and enhance the intellects, bodies and
souls of our youth, now dumb them down and prepare them for a life
of mediocrity and civility, in many instances, to perform
meaningless jobs that neither benefit humanity, nor help the
individual grow morally, and spiritually.
You know, there's a lot of, there's a lot more content here
just regarding
the government, and just different ways of how these things are
influencing our ability to parent our children, privacy issues and
other things. But I think that point about schooling is something
we should also take very seriously as Muslims, because, you know, as
someone who is a, you know, who went to public schools my whole
life when I was growing up here, and who's visited public school
since then, you know, I've spoken at many public schools, for on
Islam and other topics, I am shocked. think the last time I
went to a public high school was a year ago. And to give a talk, and
I just remember immediately from the get go, being totally shocked
by my experience, because it was so different than anything that I
remembered or experienced in my own. In my own life. For example,
one of the things that immediately I saw was police, cars, vehicles
in the parking lot of the school that I went to, and it wasn't
necessarily a dangerous neighborhood or anything like
that. I came to find out that that's pretty much, you know,
standard now in many schools, across public schools across, you
know, the country we're in maybe maybe in major cities or close to
major cities, and maybe more, but the point is, is I was shocked
that there were so many police vehicles in the parking lot and
all the school entrances were gated, completely gated, and they
I mean, it was a very tight knit security system, which to be
honest, it felt like a prison. I'm not exaggerating, because they had
metal bars throughout every entry and exit point of the school, the
perimeter of the school. And so I just remember going, how do the,
you know people working in these institutions?
Asians and attending these, how do they feel peace, because in my
short visit, I did not feel peace, I actually felt very anxious.
Being there. And I remember, I was walking, you know, being someone
who is an adult and you need all these passes, I had to go from one
part of the parking lot around the building. And there was
a kid he was, you know, high schooler behind me, but he had his
backpack on in a very strange way. And he was very close, Lee walking
behind me and I remember feeling like fear, why is he so close to
me, and his backpack was in front of him. And he was like, doing all
these weird things, it just felt very uneasy. So then I thought,
Wow, here I am a visitor, and I'm feeling so uncomfortable. Imagine,
this is every day for the students. So the point is, is, you
know, public schools have just changed so much, due to all of the
violence and the risks that are out there. And, you know, we're
not,
I mean, this is just reality, you know, that, that many people have,
have have experienced, unfortunately, some really
horrific things at the schools on site, you know, what, and I'm not
speaking just about terrorist attacks, or any type of school
shootings necessarily, but bullying, I mean, bullying is such
a big part of a lot of teens, everyday experiences, which is why
you see, so much, you know, depression and so many other
mental health issues is because a lot of kids are, are traumatized,
from from bullying behavior, and then just exposure to other things
that are, when you think of teens and how vulnerable they are, and
what a
difficult time it is in their life, to have to on top of
managing their own emotions and all the changes that are happening
to them physically, mentally, emotionally, all the fears of
their future, you know, you have, what am I going to be? What am I
going to do? How well am I going to perform in school am I going to
go to college, all of these very legitimate concerns that they have
the pressures that they have, from their families, on top of that, to
have to go into an environment where they are judged very harshly
and critically for their appearance, girls are anywhere
girls, of course, we know, are judged very harshly for how they
appear for how they look immense pressure boys as well for not just
how they look it up here. But you know, how whether or not they
measure up, there's a lot of very
just close minded narrow definitions of what it means to be
a boy or you know, I mean, toxic masculinity, you just look it up,
and you'll see what I'm talking about. But all of those things are
real. And so a lot of our teens experience daily anxiety and
pressure, because they are going into environments where those
things are just that's there every day for 810 hours a day. That's
what they have to deal with. And then on top of that social media,
which is just an extension of the school school now, because
everybody's online, everybody's connected. And so a lot of these
behaviors, follow them even after they go home, right. And, you
know, I know right now we're in quarantine. So this may not
seem to be relevant in the moment. But if we're just speaking
generally, about life before quarantine, and likely what's
going to happen when things resume, this is the reality that
the public schools are very toxic environments that we have to
protect our children from. And so here she comes, as well speaks
about that. And he says that we must raise our children outside of
the modern schools that are designed to make them no more than
functional literates. So um, and this is, I would say, also a
moment of pause for many of us who may have become so
wrapped up in the what we've been conditioned to think is the
script, you know, that you parents work, whether it's one income,
double income, children go to school, we come home, we have our
meals together, and then weekends, we do things together. That's very
typical for a lot of American or Western families, because we work,
you know, 40 hour plus work weeks, and their schools are, you know,
morning to afternoon and then the you have all these other
extracurriculars. So there's not a lot of time in between for
families to really connect. But I think that's the point is that,
that being status quo isn't good. And it's actually causing a lot of
these problems. So just because everybody is doing it, we should,
you know, be able to step back and see that there's harm and the harm
is, is obvious when you look at what's happening with parental
authority over children and just the the
A total lack of respect that a lot of teens have for parental
authority. If you look at Dr. Leonard Sachs his work, he really
does a phenomenal job about describing the breakdown that is
happening in the what he calls the collapse of parenting in America.
But this is affecting Muslim families as well, there is
definitely
a problem with, with teens just being so disconnected from their
family, because they're not spending enough time with them.
That when it comes to parents, trying to establish authority,
it's just falls flat, I have literally worked with many
families and spoken to many parents who are completely at
their wit's end, they have lost hope, they just don't know what to
do, they feel like they really don't have any options anymore,
because their teens or their even college students have lost total
respect and value for the family. And they are, you know,
rebellious, they're just doing a lot of things that the parents
don't know how to how to control. So these are the, you know,
symptomatic of the fact that we are not spending enough time with
our children and our families need that bonding time. And so we have
to prioritize that. And if schooling and the the model of
schooling and, you know, I'm speaking now very specific, maybe
to where I am, which is in the Bay area of California, and it's a
very highly competitive area, there's immense pressure on
parents and teens to not only excel in their school, but then
beyond school to have to be scheduled, you know, basically
until they zonk, out at midnight, or even past midnight, because
they have all these extracurriculars. And it's all
about getting into the best schools and getting into this
system and that system or whatever, dream, you know, career
path that they may have, but the pressure that that puts on the
teens, and then of course, the the how the effect of that pressure on
the family, the family dynamic is real, it's very real. And so we
have to step back and say, Is it worth it? Is it worth it to push
our kids so hard, so fast, and so intensely into that direction, if
it's at the compromise of the family of their faith, identity,
of their identity in general, because, you know, this is,
you know, their, when they're exposed to so many different
groups, or messages, and, you know, different paths all at once.
It can,
it can affect their ability to really discern what is in my best
interest and what isn't, and this is why, you know, we have to study
about teens, for example, like their peer group, at a certain
point has more influence over their decisions than their family.
So if we're not even aware of who their peer group is, because they
just go to the, you know, a school and then they after that they,
once they get their license anyway, they can, you know, drive
themselves to wherever, but if we're not aware of the influences
that our children are exposed to, we shouldn't be shocked when they
come home and say, I don't want to do this anymore. I want to do
that, or I identify as this, and I want to explore this lifestyle, we
shouldn't be surprised, because that is their, what their you
know, what their environment is for the majority of their day.
They're spending time with, with people who have different maybe
views than you do. So I think the point here is that we have to step
back and say, Is this model effective? Well, clearly, it's
not.
We're seeing a major problem with youth culture in this country in a
lot of a dust from the school system from social media. So let's
step back and see what our alternatives are. And that's why
he offers here. Again, in the same text, he says, We must remove our
children from state schools. And then the onus is back on us. So
it's like, okay, you see, the problem is in these public school
systems, or these systems that, again, do offer or influence and
condition and indoctrinate children. It's just a fact. If
there's a problem within those systems, and you're aware of that,
pull them out, because that's your duty, but then at the same time,
you have to work towards what we talked about earlier, the
cultivation, it's your obligation, to be part of that to be part of
the building of institutions that are actually going to help your
children and other children. So design, build support, life
enhancing places of learning and Hamdulillah. You know, I
personally am so grateful because I actually know, people who did
this exact thing and you know, if we look at here in the Bay Area,
we haven't hamdulillah
Islamic schools that were that were started grassroots from
nothing from like one classroom, one teacher, a handful of students
meeting in a very humble, humble beginnings. But mashallah, because
of the sincerity of the people involved and their vision and
their ability to see the long, you know, the longer picture and
wanting to work towards that. They made it happen to where now we
have institutions like North Star school, for example, it is
mashallah one of the most successful schools in our
community peace, terrace Academy of airways, we have, of course, we
have the longest, I believe it's the longest established aesthetic
school in the Bay Area, the MCA, you know, high school and school
system. So we have 100, great models, but all of those were
started by parents who did not want to just, you know, let their
kids fall into the system, but actually saw the problems and that
were there and they decided to do something about it. So that's on
all of us to be actively trying to fix the problems that we see
instead of just ignoring them, sweeping them under the rug, or
just, you know, saying oh, well, kind of
acquiescing to, again, the status quo, that this is what everybody
else is doing, I guess I should do it, too, we have to be thinking
about the consequences of these things. So that, you know, is a is
for maybe parents who are contemplating or have having
children or have young children, and they're thinking about their
future, I just got a message actually, recently, I think it was
yesterday or today about about that, you know, moms who are
worried about the schooling of their children who are younger
now, and that's good, it's good that, you know, they're worried
because that's where inshallah some, some good changes will come.
It's that fear of the unknown, the fear of the risks and the desire
to not want your kids to suffer, that will hopefully, inshallah
lead you down the path of protecting, which is our number
one job as, as parents, right. So alhamdulillah, you know, he really
emphasizes this point a lot about moving kids from, from those
school systems. And then this last point is also very important, we
must abandon cruel and punitive child rearing techniques, as this
is the primary source of social dysfunction and hypocrisy, we all
need to be reminded of this message because, unfortunately,
some of our cultures and some of our family
you know, philosophies of parenting that maybe we receive
from our, our own families are really broken systems are just not
there, they actually contribute to so much of the suffering of
children and so much of the dysfunction that we see in
society, because if you come from a culture or family that condones
abuse of any type towards children, this is we should be
very clear about it unequivocally state to everybody out there, that
there's no room for that, in our tradition whatsoever, as a good
Muslim is a God fearing Muslim. You do not strike you do not abuse
you do not. You're not harsh, especially with young children,
and, and those that are, are weaker and smaller and who are
dependent on you, you don't do that. I mean, Subhan, Allah, the
Prophet, I sent him so many of
his the Hadith that we learned from him, he defended the rights
of animals who were being mistreated. So what about
children, of course, you know, he rebuked any type of abuse towards,
towards the innocent creation. So we have to be very careful about
allowing ourselves or justifying ourselves,
you know, to do that, because oh, we think that this is going to get
them in line, and they'll respect us, and they have to listen, and
some children are so unruly, and they don't learn the easy way. So
we have to teach them the hard way. Those are all just excuses
that you're making to justify your abusive behavior. And you're not,
you know, willing to actually do the hard work, which is to maybe
take them to the professionals who can help determine why they're
acting out if there are actually legitimate behavioral issues that
you have to deal with. But that is what the parent does the parent
who's responsible and who understands that the child is in a
manner from Allah, and that they will be held accountable for their
treatment of that child doesn't look at the child as a burden. And
as you know, just this nuisance that they have to deal with, but
they look at it like this is a trust from Allah and I have to
take care of it. So when I see that child, unable to regulate
themselves or their emotions acting out speaking out or doing
something they shouldn't be doing. I want to fix it, right? That's
different than I want to just subject them to
Have some sort of punishment, and shut them up and get them out of
my face. That's a total different attitudes off the line. So we have
to go back and really, again, have these internal dialogues where we
hold ourselves to account about the choices we make with regards
to our children and protecting them. Because our families, as you
know, shumsa mentioned here, it is the most important unit of our
society. So if we see, our families are breaking down, we
have to determine what the sources are, if our children are not,
again, you know, ping respecting us following our the rules of our
home? What is the reason? Is it because we ourselves are failing
in some capacity? Are we being hypocritical? Are we establishing
the prophetic model of parenting? Or are we just, you know, being,
you know, authoritarians, who are wielding our power and abusing our
power in some cases, and then we're expecting our children to
listen to us? This is a broken system, our kids being influenced
by external sources? And what are those sources? Do we know what
those sources are? Are they from media? Are they from social media?
Are they from, you know, friend groups that that are toxic to
them? How are we protecting our children? Do they? Are they going
into schooling systems that are detrimental to them spiritually?
What are we doing to protect them, so all of this is on us to
determine and to really take seriously because again, the
importance of the family cannot be overestimated. It is the most
important unit. So we have to do everything in our power to protect
it. But it's, it's really a matter of, of doing this type of internal
introspection, analyzing, thinking and holding ourselves to account
So Alhamdulillah this is the end of
today's class, I think, yeah, there's more Inshallah,
that I invite all of you to independently read in those in
that section, the introduction, and then inshallah in two weeks,
when we rejoin, we will start with chapter one, which is on taqwa,
its definition and benefits. So alhamdulillah will, will actually
start the the official text next week. But you know, we did the
introduction on that we did the dependencies. So I look forward to
our next meeting. And I'm going to quickly get out of screenshare
here and see if I see any questions. I think I did go over,
I apologize. For those of you who are
tuning in, but let's see if there are any questions that I can get
to if you give me a moment.
100
Thank you. I see some comments.
Thank you. I believe they came earlier when I began asking about
my screen. So I don't see anything on a Facebook group. But I'll
check the YouTube page as well, because I know we have people
tuning in on different platforms. So I again, don't want to miss any
questions. So bear with me real quickly.
Oh, I hope it doesn't play here. I don't want it to play. I just want
to see if there's any questions. Okay. Alhamdulillah.
So we have a question here. From I think if SR Anjem Can you please
give me an example of raising children outside modern schools?
That's a great, great question. Hamdulillah. You know, we do see a
lot of alternative school systems, a lot of coops, a lot of charter
programs, a lot of
private schools. And people I think are getting even more
creative now that the pandemic is fully underway and they're losing
their maybe patients with with the online virtual public school
systems. I think there are people who are thinking of other ways I
know some people who have actually opted to homeschool. Not
necessarily through a charter or you know, any any government
program, but actually independent homeschooling where they take full
control. And you know, as a as a homeschooling mom, and someone who
has sort of explored all the different options. I think there
is a lot of misconception and fear around homeschooling,
unfortunately and it's sad because when you're actually
you know, come to this side and you see that your children thrive.
Um, and of course, it's hard work, I'm not going to simplify it, you
have to do a lot of the legwork to find the proper resources and the
curriculum and all the stuff that is required to keep your child
active and engaged and tailored for him or her. It takes work but
it comes out we have so many amazing resources. I'm very
fortunate enough to know many, many homeschoolers. Alhamdulillah
we have, you know, there's Kinsey Academy, we have,
let's see, there's I'm trying to think off the top of my head. But
there's a lot of different programs here anyway, that they do
work with parents who are interested in exploring
alternative options. But we have, you know, the East Bay here in the
Bay Area, we have the East Bay homeschooling group, we have the
Silicon Valley homeschooling group, which is based in the
Silicon Valley, we have well, I was part of the Southern
California community for many years, and they have a very large
homeschooling community. Many sisters who've mashallah
successfully homeschool their children from, you know, young
age, I mean, preschool all the way through college, and successful,
amazing stories really, really done a phenomenal job. And they're
available to talk to you and to get ideas from. And they have a
lot of resources online. So I think that the, the fear, we have
to, you know, help people overcome that. It's not like maybe what it
was 2030 years ago, I understand, you know, there, there's certainly
a time or maybe I myself may have looked at the homeschooling and
thought what that sounds so strange, but you know, I'm a
teacher by profession. So I've never really shied away from
teaching, but I know people who tell me, I just don't think I
could ever do that. But from that I've also heard from people who
are fearful and never in a million years thought that they would find
themselves as homeschoolers, but then I'll have
a lot open their heart to the idea and they began to do it. And
suddenly it's they're so overjoyed by all the strides and the
successes that they've seen with their children. So I think every
parent needs to make that decision. But the point I think
that Showhomes was making that Texas to empower parents to start
thinking about their choices, and to see the consequences of some of
those choices and to know that they're all our alternatives. So
that's really what we should take from that, you know, that there
are other options and now 100 Allah, maybe because of the fact
that so many people are exposed to a different form or model of
education, even though it's not necessarily always ideal through
the virtual system, but at least it's something different that
parents can start to think you know, what, maybe I don't need to
rely on this system that I thought was the only option and rather
look at other options because my children their mental well being
their physical well being their safety, their you know, their
their spiritual well being that's the most essential thing is is the
most important thing to preserve and so I need to do my job as a
parent to make sure I can I can do that for them. So in sha Allah,
thank you for the question sister. And I don't know if there's other
questions but I'm assuming because I don't see anymore that that is
all that I have kept you five minutes past the hour but thank
you so much and forgive us for the technical delays. We try every
session to come early figure all of it out, but there always seems
to be something and hamdulillah it's humbling but I appreciate
your patience inshallah. We will see you in two weeks. We will
begin inshallah chapter one on Taqwa. So please if you would like
read ahead, and we'll see you there because I couldn't allow
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again I'm gonna be an hour Mubarak to all of you. Inshallah, we'll
see you in a couple of weeks said I want to go to LA he will that I
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