Johari Abdul-Malik – Muslims Politics and Power
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Assalamu alaikum.
I just want to first, it's good to
be good to be home. But I just
want to,
take a moment to remind all of us
about our
civic duty.
I want to take you just for a
minute back into the seerah of the prophet
during
the period of
Makkah in the Jahiliyyah.
Before his prophethood,
there's an event
in history we call Helfel Fudul. Am I
right?
What was Helfel Fudul? What was it?
What was happening?
Somebody, anybody?
What was happening?
Good times, bad times.
Bad times, it was rough.
That, alhamdulillah,
in that, Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wasallam,
joined the people of Mecca even though
some of them they were drug dealers, they
were selling prostitutes, they were slave owners.
Am I right? They were racist.
And Raulullah sallallahu sallallahu sallallahu sallallahu sallallahu sallallahu
sallallahu sallallahu sallallahu sallallahu sallallahu sallallahu sallallahu sallallahu
sallallahu sallallahu sallallahu sallallahu sallallahu sallallahu sallam joined
them in the Confederacy
of Medina Haffudur
for the coming good.
The companions of Rasulullah, sallallahu alaihi wasallam, they
asked him
when he lived in Medina.
And in Medina,
the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam
wasn't just a regular person like he was
in the time of Mecca.
He was
the religious leader.
He was the rasulah of Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala.
He was the legislator.
He was a judge, he was the general.
And in that circumstance,
they said, You Rasool Allah.
If
they came to you now, these same people,
and they asked you to join them in
a confederacy
to
to bring some some benefit to the society,
would you join them
now that you're a prophet?
Wallahi, according to the hadith they he said,
even as I am a prophet, I will
join them
for the coming good.
So I'm saying that to you now because
we have some elections coming up
and some of you might be wondering,
as a Muslim, what should I do?
And I'm saying to you, alhamdulillah,
to do what you can do
in the way that you can do it.
Politics
affects every part of our lives.
Every part of our lives. If you want
to have a masjid, you have to have
a permit.
If you want to build something, you need
a construction approval from the county. If you're
going to operate, you need a certificate of
occupancy.
If you're an immigrant, you need certain laws
to allow you to come in. If you're
here, you need laws to let you stay.
Legislation is a part of everything that happens
to us in this community.
Some of us
are parents.
What happens to the school board determines
whether our children
have to go to the cafeteria
during the time when other people are eating
their fasting.
We were able to prevail
to politicians
to say our children
shouldn't have to be exposed to the cafeteria
while they're fasting Ramadan. They should be able
to have a place to pray inside the
school. That's called politics.
Because we had enough power
to compel the elected officials
to do what we wanted to have done.
By the way, don't forget that politics in
America,
not only affects Americans,
but what happens in the politics in America,
affects other people around the world.
And you usually
in a way that we don't like
because we haven't established
the political relationships.
Brothers and sisters, I'm gonna tell you something
that maybe somebody else won't tell you.
Politics is about
power.
Politics is about power.
Malcolm X said in his speech, he said
politics means that you control
the politics and the politicians
of the community that you live in.
And
I'm a paraphrase what he said,
In the north,
they are slick.
They're he call them political foxes.
And in the South, the southern racist is
a political wolf.
Both the wolf and the fox are dogs.
He said, but you can determine who will
go to the White House and who will
go to the dog house.
That is what politics
can do for you.
The politics in our local community,
we ought to be controlling it.
There are enough Muslims in our area
that we ought to be able to control
some of the politics that goes on in
our neighborhood.
I'm gonna share with you
something that maybe we haven't talked about before.
There are 2 things
that politics
has involved.
1st, what is it that the politician wants?
You know the politician wants something from you.
Now for those of you who don't know,
I'm gonna give you a word called move,
m o v e e.
Politics, politicians want from you money.
They come to your masjid because they want
your organization.
They come, v, they want your vote.
E, they want your endorsement if you have
political
organization.
And they want your engagement.
Because when something goes down, they wanna have
a rally and have people come out and
say, yeah, I'm with it. So that then
they have coverage.
M o
v e e, move.
Unfortunately,
in many communities,
all that you get is moved on.
The politician comes in.
They collect some some donations.
They leverage your organization. They get your vote.
Your endorsement, your engagement.
And then you ask yourself later, well what
did we get out of it?
What we get out of it? I know
that some some people already have a fundraiser
at the house. What do we get out
of it?
Let me tell you what you're supposed to
get.
And by the way, Anna Amriquez Asli.
You know what I'm saying?
I'm an original. I know what I'm I
know this country.
What you're supposed to get
from your move
is politics will give you policies
and regulations that are favorable to your interests.
Did you hear me?
Policies and regulations
that are favorable to your interests.
There are a lot of people who are
cab drivers
in the Muslim community.
There might
will
that will be favorable
to the businesses that we're in.
Some Muslims are doctors.
There ought to be policies that are favorable
to the Muslim doctors, so that they can
practice their trade without being, impacted negatively.
That was
p.
What we need?
P a c a j. Repeat after me.
P
a
c
a
j.
Now, this is phonetic spelling. That word spells
package.
We need a package from the politician.
Policies and regulations that are favorable to our
interests.
Appointments.
Do you know that in the county that
you live in, there are many boards and
commissions that control regulations?
The politician can say, we want
Abdullah and Fatima to be on that board.
Do you know there was a community was
trying to have a Muslim,
funeral home?
The funeral directors blocked it.
All of them were appointed by political
officials.
No Muslim was on the board and all
of them blocked the Muslim funeral home because
they said it would cut into their business.
Because the Muslim doesn't want to be embalmed.
They said if you have a funeral home,
you have to have embalming.
We had to use our
politics
to change the regulation
and put a Muslim on the board
of the funeral directors
so that then we could get what we
needed past, appointments.
The third thing,
every road, every highway, every bridge, every school
that's built, every, community center that goes up,
it's a contract, Mohammed.
Who gets the contract?
People who have political relationships. That's who get
the contract.
Now it's not, by the way, it's not
a pay to play. What it is is,
you don't even know about the contract.
Because you don't have anybody on the inside.
The next A are appointments.
I mean,
what appropriations.
We have around the country, and right now,
Muslims have put on,
state,
regulations,
halal bills.
Around the country and Muslims spent money and
worked with politicians to get halal bills on
the the laws of the state.
But they didn't get a dime
for appropriations.
So there's no money to check
to see whether or not the person selling
halal,
even though they certified by the government, is
it really halal?
There ought to be appropriations
just like Jews have appropriations
for the kosher.
Somebody goes in and inspects them and trains
them and certifies them.
That's your money.
Those appropriations
ought to be determined by us who's gonna
get appropriation.
And the last of jobs. You look around
the state and around the county,
politicians can say, I wanna hire you, you
gonna be my, deputy director for so and
so and so. Or we need an IT
specialist and I can, I can just say
I wanna hire,
Ibrahim? That's who I that's who I want.
Well, Lahey,
the package that we want from politicians, I'm
closing,
Policies and regulations that are favorable,
appointments,
contracts,
appropriations,
and jobs. That's the package.
When you go out and vote and the
community leaders, I believe they're the ones who
should tell you.
By the way, don't go out and say,
oh, you know I like so and so
as my candidate.
Because I saw them they were real they
would look very friendly.
And the way they said, Salaam Alaikum when
they came was very authentic. I'm a vote
for her.
What I learned, there is no Islam without
a community.
There is no community without a leader and
there are no leaders without followers.
In politics, if you want to have power,
you need to follow the leader.
So you find out who the leadership in
your community says is the person that we're
networking with to get our own package
and then vote for them.
And you could ask all the questions you
want, but on election day,
look at how the country is so divided.
Any group,
that's organized and and is
focused
can make the difference in an election.
Look how many candidates the Democrats have. If
every one of them voted for whoever they
want to, the blocked vote of Muslims
could make the difference in the election.
If you'll get behind the leader.
So, Wa Alhamdulillah,
I'm saying to you today,
Iddija An Nasr Allahi Walfat.
Do you wanna see the help of Allah?
When we come together