Iqbal Gora – Truth & Reconciliation Muslims, Colonialism & Knowing Islamic History
AI: Summary ©
The speakers discuss the history and importance of colonialism in Canada, including the use of language learning for cultural reasons and the importance of understanding one's own culture and civilization. They also touch on the historical importance of learning to counteract any new colonialism and the importance of education for one's own well-being. The speakers emphasize the need for knowledge and understanding of the history of Islamic culture to build a stronger Islamic identity and address the importance of learning the Sira of An confidential's life to gain knowledge of its proper meaning.
AI: Summary ©
Last week in Canada,
there was a stat holiday on Saturday,
and that was for truth and reconciliation.
Now on this particular
day, for those that are not aware of
it, many of the youth would be and
many of us would be somewhat aware of
what this particular
holiday or what the reason why the country
started to implement this on a yearly schedule.
For those that are unaware of this, this
was in lieu of the fact that many
of the Native Americans
of Canada
were forced to go to residential schools, and
they were forced to learn English, and they
were not allowed any communication
through their own language. And over time, the
intention was to remove the Indian from the
Indian, to civilized and uncivilized
people.
And years went by and people discovered the
atrocities which happened in those schools. They discovered
and uncovered unmarked graves, and much of this
is understood by many of those individuals who
go to school. We learn about this tragedy
in our country.
The first point to understand in regards to
this is that our job as Muslimen,
as Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala defines in the
Quran is he says,
That, oh you who believe, stand firm to
justice,
establish justice wherever it might be. As Muslimin,
whenever oppression happens, we should be at the
forefront
of ensuring that that justice no longer remains.
And our job as muslimin
is also as Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala mentions
in a hadith Qudsi. The prophet salallahu alaihi
wa sallam mentions that Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
says
That I have made dul, I have made
oppression haram for myself. Wajalatahu
bayinatunmuharumah.
I've made it between each and every one
of you also haram fa laatwalaalamu
do not oppress each other. That is something
which is understood.
However, in today's Khutba,
I want to approach this idea of truth
and reconciliation and the history behind colonialism in
Canada from a different angle. And that is
to understand that a person might have the
perspective that why should I care about what
happened to the native Americans. It does not
concern me as a Muslim. And today's Khutba
will shed light on the fact that the
same method by which colonialism
affected the native Americans of this country affected
Muslims in the exact same time frame on
a global level.
For those that are unaware of the time
frame in which this took place,
it happened around the 18 eighties, the late
1800,
in the 19th century,
in which
the Canadians here in this country took the
native Americans and put them in those residential
schools seeking to eradicate any memory that they
had of their own identity.
At that exact same time, and by the
way, this lasted all the way up until
1997,
not too long ago. In that exact same
time frame, did you know that the French
were also in Algeria?
Did you know that the Dutch were also
in Indonesia?
Did you know that the Italians were also
in Libya? Did you know that the Italian
and English were also in Somalia? Did you
know that the British were in the entire
Indian subcontinent?
And we can go on and on and
on in terms of the fact that colonialism
also affected Muslims
on a global level to this degree. Did
you know that the Philippines at a certain
point prior to that used to be entirely
Muslims, until the Spanish came there and did
the exact same thing that colonialism
did to the country of Canada. And again,
this was in the exact same time frame
of the late 1800
up until the mid 1900
as well.
Now there are many lessons that a person
can understand and derive from what happened in
the past,
And one thing that we can also understand
is that if you wish to destroy a
people, the first thing you go after is
their education
and the knowledge of their own understanding of
their culture and civilization.
One of the principles in Islam, which is
a beautiful principle, enacted by the Prophet
Ramun Khattab after him was the oqaaf system.
Essentially, this was a public endowment
by which you might have to have some
property which belongs to everyone. And many of
the teachers who are teaching the Arabic language,
who are teaching Islam and the traditions of
Islam, they were financing themselves through these public
endowments in all of these Muslim lands in
our history. When the French, for example, came
into Algeria, one of the first things that
they abolished
was they destroyed this public endowment system. And
in the time that they were there from
18:30
all the way up until
1960s.
They murdered over 1,000,000 individuals.
Not only this, they forced them as we
mentioned previously
that the Canadians here wanted to remove the
Indian from the Indian, the native American qualities
from them. They wanted to remove also at
the same time the Islam from the Muslims.
And in all of those particular areas, they
were forced in North Africa to learn French.
That is why we know in that area
they speak French. Also, in all of these
particular areas, this happened after country, after country,
after country.
Now it could be
it's interesting for a person to look back
upon all of these instances, but we also
need to understand what is the way forward
for us as a Muslim and what are
lessons that we can derive from these particular
instances
in our history.
One thing we know for sure is that
in many of these locations, among those that
stood firm and fought against this type of
colonialism
were the ulama.
In 19 in 17/99
when Napoleon first went to Egypt before the
English went there. And again, when they went
there, they wanted people to stop learning Islam,
stop learning the Arabic language, but instead learn
these other languages and adopt that type of
identity instead. When they first went there,
among the first things for them to do
was to eradicate
and destroy Al Azhar University. That was one
of their first intentions, and they succeeded at
that time in doing so. And the purpose
of this and the result of this as
well was the diminishing influence of Islam being
spread throughout that particular society. Similarly, when it
comes to India, they did the same thing,
and the Ulema of Dioband were among those
that wanted to hold fast to their religious
identity, and the teachings of the Quran, and
the sunnah of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam
in face of the British that came there
and wanted to implement new teachings. Now, we
can go and mention a lot of these
details in our history. We can mention a
lot of these details in our history. And
by the way, just as a side note,
this becomes important and relevant in today's context,
including within Canada.
By the way, another point to also realize
is that unlike Canada that actually tried to
make reparations
and acknowledge their mistakes of the past, many
of these countries have not done so and
refused to do so. As an example, one
of them being France, that despite the fact
that they murdered all of those people
and wants to push their secularism upon Muslims
as well, even up until today, today's time
as we know it, the Abay ban in
France and the hijab ban in Quebec within
our own country, and trying to act as
though they are moral. We also understand that
they were one of those countries that refused
to acknowledge,
refused to make reparations,
and account for any of the atrocities that
they did in Muslim countries. The reason to
understand this, we will get to in a
second.
All of this comes from our history. Now
many individuals might be unaware of these particular
instances which happened, and there's a reason for
which a person needs to understand
and learn about history generally and about Islamic
history specifically.
When it comes to solutions
of going forward, there are essentially 3 of
them. 1 of them is knowledge. 1 of
them is knowledge.
The second of them is to build for
yourself a stronger Islamic identity.
And the 3rd version or third way by
which a person moves forward is to also
understand
modern forms of colonialism.
In today's time, they don't go into Muslim
lands, but there's a different type of colonialism
which is a colonialism
of the mind.
All of these three things can be countered
by simply one thing, and that is to
understand and learn about our own history.
One of, these scholars, a contemporary scholar who
wrote a book on Islamic history, at Tariqul
Islam, his name is Ragh I Basarjani. He
mentioned at the very start of his book
something which is really critical and interesting
wherein he says,
That history is the memory of a nation.
History is the memory of a nation, and
that is something to consider and think about.
There was a time in which we did
not exist. Allah
mentions in the Quran,
There was a time in which you were
not here, not even something worth mentioning.
But at the same time, you had a
history. There's a way by which you are
Islam to there's a way by which you
are Muslim today. There was an ancestry or
there was, there were people that came to
your people in history who made it such
that you are able to say the Kalima
today. And in the same manner that a
child goes through life and has experiences and
through trial and error, he understands the correct
way to go forward and what not to
do. When a person understands and learns history
and Islamic history, the same exact thing will
be applicable to him. Otherwise, he would be
a person that is driven left or right
and has no inclination or idea where it
is that he is going. The other point
as well
is that as interesting as it is for
a person to hear about stories,
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala made it such that
even as a young child when you tell
them I'm going to tell you a story,
their ears perk up. This is the way
that Allah Subhana Wa Ta'ala created us. We
love to hear stories, but there is a
reason for which a person needs to learn
stories in history, and that is mentioned in
the Quran. Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala mentions,
that narrate stories so that a person may
be able to think. Because history is not
simply knowledge of the past, but rather it
is knowledge of the present and of the
future as well. Through this, you are able
to see the mistakes of nations and the
success of nations as well. Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala says,
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, he reminds us in
the Quran that he is the King of
Kings, he is the owner of all kingdoms,
and he gives kingdom to whoever he wills,
and He takes it away from whomever He
wills, and He honors whomever He wills, and
He destroys whomever He wills, and that is
from Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, He's able to
do all things. Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala also
mentions in the Quran
that those are the days that you have
one nation on top and another nation thereafter
later on on top. And when a person
understands and learns Islamic history,
then you have an understanding and capacity for
you to be able to understand where it
is that you are going. All of this
starts
from knowledge
and that is why the prophet sallallahu alaihi
wa sallam, the first ayah in the Quran
was ikhura, read. And that is why Allah
subha tari mentions in the Quran,
Are those that have knowledge the same as
those that do not? Certainly they are not
the same capacity. Allah subhanahu wa also mentions
in the Quran,
We have raised those that believe and above
them another level are those that have knowledge.
The prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, he also
mentions in a hadith that certain times Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala can take knowledge away from
a nation as we mentioned in these particular
instances in history. But Allah Subhana Wa Ta'la
when He does this, He does it in
a certain way.
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala does not remove knowledge
by snatching it away from the memory and
minds of people, but rather he does so
by taking away the ulama. Those that took
the time and initiative to study the deen
of Islam and through this understand the path
way to go forward, the pathway to go
forward.
The third point here is that history also
tells us about the mistakes of nations, and
it also tells us about how to counteract
colonialism of the mind. Because as we have
mentioned before that historically they may have gone
into Muslim countries, but nowadays it is a
different type of colonialism.
There is a global culture and that global
culture wherever it goes, it eats up any
other type of culture. And among the only
cultures to resist this is that of Islam,
is that of Islam. So we need to
understand methods by which this type of new
colonialism
exists, and there are a number of ways
that we can mention or look into how
this actually goes about.
The first point to understand
is that in these residential schools, an interesting
point
is that children were being taken away from
their parents and being indoctrinated.
Now think about this for a second for
those that say that parent parents don't have
the right to their own education. We mentioned
this before that Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says,
koo and fusakumma ahlikum naroah. Save yourselves and
your children from the father- from the fire.
And Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, he also mentions
through the prophet salallahu alaihi wa sallam, Waqulukum
ra'il waqulukum masqoolun anroayati.
Every single one of you is a shepherd,
and all of you are responsible for your
flock. And we also understand that even according
to secular ideology,
in the United Nations Charter of Universal Rights
and Freedoms, article 26 states that parents have
the prior right to the education of their
own children. Now the first point to understand
here is this, is the fact that we
need to come to the realization,
we need to come to the realization
of the importance of education
and having a say when it comes to
the education
of your own children. But another point here
as well is that on the point of
colonialism of the mind and ways by which
this happens, In history, whenever a nation colonized
another nation, then that nation that was color
colonized was always made to have an inferior
or inferiority
complex,
in respect to the nation that colonized them.
That their self esteem would be diminished. That
when people say you are a Muslim, you
have a certain notion, or don't feel proud
about your identity as a believer, even though
this is the greatest thing that Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala could have gifted you with. And
the unfortunate reality is that this idea persists
up until the present day, wherein Muslims don't
feel proud about their own identity.
If you were to go into history and
see what Muslims have accomplished, the morals of
Muslims from the time of the Sahaba through
the Talbiy'in and up until today's time, you
would understand what a great nation that Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala raised you among. However, the
issue is
that many individuals
who are antagonistic
to Islam would bring up certain talking points,
and on account of a certain agenda, say
that Islam promotes violence for example, or Islam
promotes,
is unequal,
or Islam
or Islam promotes other ideas or notions which
might have you think in your mind that
through all of these ideas and the way
that they are being presented, Islam is an
oppressive religion. However, we need to understand
that this is a mistake.
This is a mistake. And one of the
mistakes that we as human beings make, one
of the general mistakes that we as human
beings make is the fact that when you
see another civilization
that is more advanced than you when it
comes to technology and when it comes to
science and when it comes to their architecture
and building, sometimes you think automatically they have
to be right, They have to be right.
And there are many proofs of why a
person might think this way.
The prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam came as a
messenger to where? To the Arabian Peninsula to
Makkah tul Mutawla.
Makkah was a city that was a city
of Tawhid when Ibrahim alaihi wasallam left his
son Ismaeel alaihi wasallam. And he made it.
It was
initially nothing that was there. And Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala blessed that particular place to the
point that the first house of Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala was raised in a particular location.
Now, the question becomes from the time of
Ibrahim alayhis salam and his son Ismaeel alayhis
salam. From that time till the prophet sallallahu
alaihi wasallam, we know that idols came into
the Arabian Peninsula. Now the question is, how
did these idols arrive there? This is a
very important question.
An Nabi salallahu alaihi wa sallam he mentions
in a hadith that is in Sahih al
Bukhari
that a particular individual
would be he saw him in jahannam because
An Nabi salallahu alayhi wa sallam,
Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam does not speak
on account of himself, but rather what he
says is revelation from Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala,
especially with respect to the events in in
Al Akhirah. And Nabi salallahu alaihi wa sallam,
he says that he saw a particular individual,
and this person
was dragging his in his entrails, his intestines
in the fire of Jahannam. Now who was
this person? This person was a man by
the name of by the name of,
Aamir ibn Luhay al Khuzari. Aamir ibn Luhay
al Khuzari.
And what was the characteristic about this particular
person that made it such that he has
this punishment in Al Askira? He was the
first individual
to introduce idolatry
to Makkatul Mukarumah. And how did this happen?
'Amr ibn Luhay al Khuzai
was a person from Banu Khuzaa.
And Banu Khuzaa was a tribe that when
Ibrahim alayhi salam and Isma'il were there. Hajar
alayhi salam after the discovery of the well
of Zamzam, there were people that came in.
And these people were people from the tribe
of Jurhum.
And Jurhum was intermarried with Ismail alaihis salam,
and that's how Mecca began.
After some time later on, another tribe came
and fought against Jurhum and basically took over
leadership of Mecca. And this was Khuzaa. And
one of their leaders was a man by
the name of Amir,
Amir,
Ibn Luhay Al Khuzah.
This particular individual,
he, when he was traveling to a sham,
he saw another type of civilization,
the Amalekites. They were called the
they were called the Amalekites.
That is what they were particularly referred to.
And these particular individuals
were people that were, number 1, extremely tall.
They were 7 feet or 6 feet 5,
or they were very tall people, Al Amaliq.
And these individuals were also those that had
a lot of power, meaning they were strong
when it came to their civilization.
Anir ibn Nuhay al Khuzarin, when he went
there he asked them certain questions,
and one of the questions he asked and
he was inquisitive about was how they got
that strength.
And they said that when we want rain,
we worship these idols and rain comes down.
When we want help, we worship these idols
and help comes.
So, Adir ibn Uhluzai,
he said that I want something like this
as well. So he said, can you give
me an idol? I will bring it to
the Arabian Peninsula so they can have the
same. Where did this come from? This came
from an inferiority complex.
He thought that they have something which is
less. On account of the civilization that he
saw with the Amalip,
and on account of that, idolatry was brought
into the Arabian Peninsula. This idol was the
first idol of of the Kaaba, which was
called Hubal, which is called Hubal.
So the point being here is that don't
ever think that just because another nation is
more advanced in technology, that they are the
the the forbearers
or the benchmark of morality.
Also, we find
that in the Quran itself,
in the Quran itself, there's a particular dua
that seems strange when you read it.
Oh Allah, do not make
do not
make us a fitna for the disbelievers.
O Allah, do not make us a fitna
or a trial for the disbelievers.
Now when you hear this, why you would
think to yourself, isn't it supposed to be
that we make the dua, that the disbelievers
don't become a fitna or a trial for
us? Why are we making the dua that
we are not a fitna for them? One
of the famous Mufasirun
among the earliest, Ibn Jaleel of Tawri, he
mentions in his tafsir of this ayah. He
says that what is intended by this is
that if Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala gives the
non believers, or disbelievers, or non Muslims more
might and more power, in this dunya. They
might think on account of that power and
might that they are also the forbearers when
it comes to morality and right and wrong,
and obviously this is the furthest thing from
the truth. So the point being here
is that Muslims over centuries, we have a
type of inferiority
complex.
Even though if a person were to understand
Islam
and learn the life of the prophet sallallahu
alaihi wa sallam, he would understand the greatness
of Islam.
The Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam he mentions
in a hadith something very important. He says,
Islam is superior, nothing is superior to it.
Islam should be something which dominates, it should
not be dominated.
And even in today's society,
wherein people allow Muslims to practice Islam, it
is still somewhat seen as though you're kind
of under us. There is secular liberalism, and
Islam is somewhat allowed certain parts of it
under this umbrella. However, this should not be
our understanding as Muslims who truly understand our
history. So to conclude,
there's an extremely important,
reason by which a person should study history.
And this all of this starts, number 1,
from the history of Islam, which in reality
is the history of the Prophet SAW,
his Sira. The Sira of An Nabi SAW
is extremely important.
When a person understands this, they will get
knowledge of Islam, how Islam is understood or
supposed to be understood correctly.
Many youth, they waste their time on debates
online, and they don't have a firm grasp
of what Islam actually is. If a person
wants to understand al Islam, the
correct Islam, start off by learning the Sira
of An Nabi sallallahu ahi wa sallam. And
many individuals, they would want their children to
learn the Quran and send them to Quran
classes.
However, and we'll conclude with this final quotation.
It is mentioned very interestingly
from Ali ibn Husayn ibn Ali radiAllahu an.
Ali radiAllahu an, he had his son, Husayn
radhiallahu an. He in turn had another son
who he named Ali. He is also known
as Zain al Abideen,
and he says something really critical and key.
He says,
We were taught the Maghazi, meaning the battles
and what happened to the prophet shalallahu alaihi
wa sallam, his Sira, just as we were
taught the Quran. And the question becomes how
many of us want our children to learn
the Quran, and memorize it, and recite it
beautifully? But how many in turn of us
do our want our children to learn the
details of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam's
life? Because this will serve as a guidance,
not only for them in their life, but
also for the Ummah and how to go
forward. It becomes
a means of us understanding
the correct way to give dawah, the correct
way to deal with people, and all of
these ideas that we have mentioned. We ask
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala to make us an
Ummah, an Ummah of knowledge. We ask Allah
Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala to make us an Umma
that is proud and understands and learns about
our history. And we ask our Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala to make us an Umma that
understands these details of Islam. For if he
wants to sever a nation, if he wants
to destroy a nation, George Orwell, he says
that if he wants to obliterate
a nation, then destroy their understanding of their
own history. If he wants to destroy a
nation, obliterate their understanding of their own history.
And another,
non Muslim,
historian and scholar he mentions
in the same breath, His name was Alexander
Solhinitzen.
He says that if you want to destroy
a nation, then sever its roots. How do
you separate your roots their roots? By making
people not understand
those individuals, those great individuals that came before
them as what happened to the native Americans.
Many of them lost their language. Many of
them lost their culture, and you see what
happened to them. Let us not let us
taste take this as an example of what
not to do for our children, and we
ask Allah to make our children from those
that continue with Islam until the day of
judgment.