The Islamic Identity is one that many Muslims today have difficulty in maintaining. So what is the true essence of the Islamic Identity and how can we maintain it in these trying times we live in?
Part 1 of lecture delivered at Abu Huraira Center in Toronto.
Date: August 8, 2014 (Shawwal 12, 1435).
Bismillah Alhamdulillah wa salatu salam ala rasulillah ala alihi wa sahbihi ultramarine amabel.
In the year 92,
after the hijra of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam
under the command of Torah cribben Ziad,
the great Muslim commander,
the Muslims conquered
what is known as pain and what became known as under loss.
This was in the year 92, after the Hydra,
and many of us are aware of how they conquered
and how thorak in his yard, he told his army
as Spain was across the sea from them, so he told his army to burn their boats, once they reached
the sight of the enemy. He told them to burn their boats, because we're not going back.
And that was the beginning of
that was the beginning of
Muslim rule in Spain.
And this lasted for
780 years.
Muslim rule of Spain lasted for 780 years.
And
it was a time
where Muslim civilization and Islamic civilization thrived to the point where even
the Europeans would send their children to go and study
in the institute's that were established by the Muslims in Spain
towards the end of Muslim rule in Spain.
And precisely once the Muslims were finally
banished
from under laws in the year 1492.
After 780 years,
they were not just expelled.
There, we're not just banished from Al Andalus.
But more than that,
they were killed and whoever stayed back. He had one of two choices.
Either he would be killed, or he would have to convert to Christianity. And so this was known as the Spanish Inquisition,
in which there were several atrocities and massacres, carried out by the Spanish against the Muslims, who remained behind
who decided not to go back to the rest of the Islamic empire.
Now, there were some among the Muslims
who tried to find a way out.
They said we don't want to be killed, we don't want to leave.
Neither do we want to convert to Christianity.
They wanted to hold on to their Islamic identities.
So they remained Muslims by secret.
They practice Islam in their homes, when they would leave from home, they would act as if they were Christians,
to the point where even some of their scholars made it permissible for them to eat pork to drink wine, because anyone who wouldn't drink wine who wouldn't eat pork, he was labeled as a Muslim and he will be taken for execution.
Now, these Muslims who remain behind who try
to hang on to their Islam,
it worked for a period of time, perhaps the first generation, they held on to their Islamic identities.
Maybe the second second generation,
but by the third and fourth generations, what happened.
Eventually,
Islam disappeared.
Whatever few Muslims remained, they melted away.
To the society.
They assimilated into that society because of these conditions that they were living in.
Now, if we go back to the 19th century, the late 19th century,
Muslim started to emigrate
to these lands that we live in today.
And so the first Muslim migrants to
North America were, and they had arrived
in the latter part of the 19th century,
about 120 130 years ago.
And these Muslim families were mainly from the Balkan countries, Albania,
was Bosnia, etc.
Others were from a sham,
from Palestine from Lebanon.
Others were from Turkey.
These Muslims, they arrived
in Canada, in America, and they established the first
masajid.
And the first centers,
but the majority of these Muslims.
What happened to the Muslims in Spain, happened to these Muslims as well. What do I mean?
The first generation those who migrated
perhaps they practice their Diem to the best of their ability.
But they weren't able to pass it on to their children.
Because of the conditions that they were living in, in those times. And so many of them they worked
labor jobs,
some worked in farms, it was difficult for them to establish a society
where
their children could interact with other Muslims.
Another reason is the fact that
many of them
married the people of this country.
They married from outside of their ethnic backgrounds, and they married Christians. And so the children lost their Islamic identity.
Another reason is the fact that and perhaps this is the main reason for why the next generations did not carry on that Islamic identity is the fact that
they were cut off
from the rest of the Muslim world.
In those days, they didn't have modern technology. They didn't have what we have today.
They didn't have TVs, they didn't even have radios or telephones.
They didn't have modern means of transportation.
Nowadays, we could go back to the countries of our parents easily. In those days, they arrived here on ships.
And so they became cut off from the rest of the Muslim ummah.
These are some of the reasons for why the Islamic identity did not carry on
in the successive generations.
And this inshallah huhtala is the topic of our discussion tonight. The Islamic identity
and maintaining our Islamic identities in this society, this Western society that we live in today.
My dear brothers and sisters, Islamic identity when we say Islamic identity, what does it mean?
Who can give me an understanding of what
an Islamic identity means?
Brother says it means how much you know of Islam and how much you could teach it. That's correct. What else?
Basically, the Islamic identity. What it means is that one ascribes himself to Islam
by having a religious and ideological sense
belonging,
loyalty and allegiance to Allah, His Messenger
and to the Muslims to the oma as a whole. It also means rejection of all other religions, ideologies, and concepts that undermine, that undermine the authority of Allah,
His Messenger, and the authority of the Muslims. So this is in brief, the meaning of Islamic identity, that you ascribe yourself to Islam, but not just by name. How many Muslims do we know? who say that they're Muslims, and they say we have this Islamic identity. It means more than that. It means that you, you ascribe yourself to Islam and then on top of that, have a religious and ideological sense of belonging to this
by allowing yourself to align His Messenger and to the Muslims, by rejecting everything that opposes that, everything that undermines the authority of Allah, His Messenger and the authority of the Muslims. So, this is basically what we mean by Islamic identity. The Islamic identity has many characteristics.
It has many characteristics, among these characteristics is firstly, that it is an identity that is based on an Akita.
A belief
it's not just something that's related to a certain
culture, a certain tradition,
not just a certain way of life. The Islamic identity is based on an arcade, what is that Akita belief in Allah and belief in the messenger sallallahu alayhi wasallam.
And so our Islamic identity is as Allah subhanho wa Taala says, In her de oma to come and wider, will enter bukem Sabu.
Indeed, this oma is one oma and as a scholars have to say they say that what you're here means is religion. Indeed, this religion of yours is one.
Well, hon confab Odin, and I am your Lord. So worship.
And so this identity, this Islamic identity, is based on our belief in Allah, that he alone deserves to be worshipped. If somebody says that he's a Muslim,
and he says that I identify myself with Islam,
but he says
that others can be worshipped besides Allah.
Has he fulfill the Islamic identity? No.
That is because the Islamic identity is based on an Akita. It is based on the Akita,
the belief in Allah and His Messenger, which means that we believe only Allah deserves our worship, and not else.
from among the characteristics of this Islamic identity is that
it separates from all other identities. It is different
and has nothing to do with any other identity.
And so, as a loss of Hannah, who Allah says lecan de nukem will add
to you your religion,
the kuffar you have your religion and I have my religion. There is no such thing as mixing our identities, with
other identities with other religions with other customers. We have our religion and they have their religion.
Also the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam he said, in the who lays Amina men, Amira, be Suna to Irina,
that he is not from among us, who practices the way of others, the ways and the customs of other people.
Also, among the characteristics of this Islamic identity, is that it is all comprehensive. It is complete. It is a complete way of life. You cannot say that you're Muslim.
And then you take parts of the deen
and practice it in your life and you leave off other parts of the deen and that's why Allah subhanho wa Taala he commands the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam to say, cool enough, Swati
When Uzuki mahaya woman Mati lillahi, rabbil. alameen. Say, Mohammed, that my prayers, my sacrifices, my entire life and my death are for Allah subhanho wa Taala alone is actually killer, he has no partner in that.
And so this is the reality of the Islamic identity, that it is based on a complete way of life, not taking bits and pieces from here
and there and rejecting other parts of the D. Among the characteristics of the Islamic identity is that it is an identity that establishes honor and glory for a person.
It is an identity that establishes Eliza, honor and glory for an individual.
Many times many Muslims today the reason why they become weak, especially in this society
is because they have an inferiority complex.
They think that others are better than them.
They have no they have no sense of pride for who they are.
And so the Islamic identity, the one who has it,
it establishes in him this sense of pride. And so Allah subhanho wa Taala says, well, Allah here is what he Rasulullah he will mean, Elijah all honor. All pride all glory, belongs to who? To Allah, to His Messenger. And to the believers. Men can you realize that salaallah Hila Reza Padilla, Eliza to Jamia, whoever looks for honor, looks for pride, you want to be something?
If you want to be something then Allah says to Allah belongs all pride, all glory and all honor. And so this is among the characteristics of the Islamic identity. Bob rhodiola, who
he is famous for a very very famous quotation, he said that we were a very, very humiliated people.
The Arabs were very, very humiliated.
other civilizations had the upper hand over them.
He says then Allah subhanho wa Taala honored us with what with Islam. He says, Therefore, no matter how much we seek, Elijah, honor and glory and pride from other than that which Allah honored us through, then Allah Subhana, who Atlanta will, once again humiliate us.
And so this is the reality of the Islamic identity, that the one who has it,
this sense of pride and honor becomes
embedded in his heart.
Finally, among the characteristics of this Islamic identity is
that it bonds
its members with a very, very strong connection and bond.
And so, Allah subhanho wa Taala says in Surah Hua
in Mena,
Allah says that verily the believers
are nothing but brothers.
Now notice here Allah subhanho wa Taala, he did not say in a minute,
he did not say one minute.
He did not just say that the believers are brothers, what did Allah say,
in Malmo,
in Nima
in the Arabic language is basically exclusivity, meaning that the believers are nothing but brothers.
They are brothers to one another. This emphasizes what brotherhood
among the believers
and so the Islamic identity, it bonds, the various members of this together and we mentioned this today in the hotbed
that what is taking place today in Gaza.
The true believers, they come together in times like these, why? Because what is happening to their brothers and sisters.
No matter how far we may be, it is of concern to us. Why? Because these are our brothers.
They are more important to us than our own blood relations. And the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, and what mean una caja said that the believers are like one body
either stuck, I mean who Rolo, tada, Allah who, sir, and just that the believers
are like one body.
If one part of the body feels pain and suffering, the rest of the body will feel it.
And so we are one on that our Islamic identity, it Bond's us together,
it creates this brotherhood.
And so the one who doesn't feel the pain and the suffering of his brothers and sisters in Islam, wherever they be on the face of this earth, then he is not part of this.
Yes.
And because there is only one example. We have many other examples throughout history.
We have examples from today, that many of us are not aware of,
unless we are aware of because it's all over the media.
But how many of us have heard of the plate and the suffering of our brothers and sisters in Burma,
where, over the last year or two,
they have been ethnically cleansed, slaughtered only because of their Islam, thrown into concentration camps. And their suffering continues. But we have no idea of it, because it's not in the media. Also, we have another example.
In Africa,
in the Central African Republic,
many have not even heard of this country.
It is a majority Christian country. But there is a minority Muslim population living there.
many months ago,
Christian mercenaries started to attack our Muslim brothers and sisters, and they continue to do so. And so
if we don't have concern of what is happening to our brothers and sisters around the world, then what does it show us? It shows us that we are not truly from this.
Because if we were, then we would be concerned,
we will try to find out what's going on. We will try to do what we can to aid them. And so this is one of the meanings of the Islamic identity.
Now, the reality of many Muslims who live in this Western society today
is
that they are simply Muslims by name.
And most of us are young.
Most of us
have experienced this.
Either ourselves, or we know of Muslims, who are simply Muslims by name.
We go to school with them.
We have friends and companions
who don't know anything about Islam. They just know that they're Muslim. Perhaps they may pray perhaps they may fasted Ramadan. But that's it.
These people are weak in their Islamic identity.
They are lacking in their Islamic identity. And so that's why
many of them
when Muslims are attacked,
either here
or anywhere else in the world. You find them they try to strike a balance
between
Western values and Islamic values.
And so
they have this inferiority complex
and this defeatist mentality
when Muslims are attacked,
they try to say
that you know what?
Islamic values are no different than Western values.
If Jihad the topic of jihad comes up,
they say Jihad simply means
the Jihad of the knifes to struggle with one's knifes.
If the topic
of religion comes up, they say that everyone is free to practice whatever religion they want.
If politics comes up, they say that democracy equals Islam and Islam equals democracy.
And so you find that they try to strike a balance between their Western identity and their Islamic identities.
Others, they try to hide their Islamic identity. Why out of fear,
out of fear of what have been labeled as being labeled extremist, fundamentalist terrorists. And so you find brothers shaving their beards, you find sisters not wearing Hijab?
What is this a sign off, it is a sign of weak Islamic identity.
They don't have a sense of pride
of what it means to be a Muslim.
Out of fear others, they want to try to fit in.
They want
to assimilate into the society, why they don't want to stand out.
They don't want to stand out.
So at school, they change their names.
If their name is Mohammed, they tell the people to call their Mo.
If her name is Miriam, she tells him to call her, Mary, and so on and so forth.
They don't want to stand out.
Why? Because they want to fit in.
And this once again, is a sign of weak Islamic identity. And this is a reality of many
of our brothers and sisters, who grew up who grow up in this society.
This is the reality, and most of you are well aware of this.
It's no secret to you.
All of us, including myself. I grew up in this society. I was born and raised here. I know what it's like.
It's challenging. And it's not easy.
But as I said,
what we need to do is maintain that Islamic identity.
Now, what are the causes of this weak Islamic identity that exists among so many of us?
There are many causes. But I'm going to focus on three main causes.
The first is
a lack of proper therapy at home.
And so it begins anywhere, it begins at home. Yes,
those who we find with weak Islamic identities.
We shouldn't go far.
We shouldn't go far.
Go to their homes, and see what's happening.
The parents have left their children
to be eaten up by the society.
And this is the sad and unfortunate reality that we are facing today.
That the parents, they don't care about passing on this Deen to their children.
And so the most the children end up going to school. And that's where they get their tarbiyah from. So what more do you expect?
What more do you expect? And so
the first cause of weak Islamic identities begins from
a lack of proper Islamic phobia.
The second cause of weak Islamic identity
is the ideology, the ideological warfare
that Muslim youth face today.
And this is something that is not only exists among us, but also
in Muslim countries.
Our enemies did not suffice was simply invading our land
and controlling them
and humiliating us
and degradation us. But more than that, they said it's not sufficient to leave the Muslims to practice their religion.
That's not enough. Even if we've controlled their lands if we allow them to come
Chinnu to practice their religion, they'll once again return.
And so they waged what is known as a lover's will fuckery and ideological warfare, and so on.
And so they introduced into Muslim societies,
various opposing schools of thought,
telling us
that we must accept secularism, liberalism,
feminism, we must accept the fact that we live in a different age, where Islamic laws can no longer be applied.
They want to enforce what the New World Order upon the Muslims. This, my dear brothers and sisters, is an ideological warfare. They want to capture the mind of the Muslims. And so if it begins anywhere, it's gonna begin here.
And so
this is one of the main causes for weak Islamic identities among many of the youth. They go to their schools, their universities, and they are attacked with this ideological warfare, they are forced to accept
that justice is in the democratic way,
that the only way forward, is by accepting
the way that the West progressed, not the way of the Muslims who are backward, and so on, and so forth. And they come with this ideological warfare, which is basically basically a warfare of shubo hat.
And so, the illnesses of the heart are of two types, should we'll have to check out
the shubo hat, or the don'ts that the enemies place in our hearts, regarding a law regarding Islam, regarding the Prophet sallallahu, Alayhi, wasallam.
And the Shahada
are basically
the lustful desires,
chasing after desires of the dunya
to fulfill our desires, the desires of our neffs.
And so this is the second cause of weak Islamic identities among many Muslims.
The third cause,
is also
a very, very apparent cause.
And that is
that many of the Muslims are affected by the environment that they live in.
And so they assimilate into the society.
And this is, as I mentioned,
they don't want to stand up,
they want to fit into the society. And this is completely natural. This is the way Allah subhanho wa Taala, created, created human beings, that no matter which society you put an individual in, he will become accustomed
to the customs, the traditions of that society. Even if you were to put a catheter in a Muslim society, he will take on the customs of the Muslims.
If you were to put a person in any society, he would become, he would become accustomed to the customs or traditions of that particular society. So what do you expect? When
Muslims come to these lands?
And they raise your kids in this society?
Do you expect that they will be accustomed to the customs that
we grew up in, in our Muslim societies?
This is a question to our parents. Or do you expect that they will become accustomed to the customs of the society they live in? And so with older adults, this is one of the main causes of this Islamic identity becoming weak in the hearts of many of the Muslim youth.
And so the danger
of not maintaining our Islamic identities is severe.
My dear brothers and sisters, it's no joking matter.
In the beginning, I mentioned
The story of the Muslims of Spain,
and what happened to them
when they lived in the conditions that they lived in,
they assimilated into the society, even struggling and trying their best to hold on to those Islamic identities.
The early Muslims who came to these lands, the same thing happened.
They melted into the society,
many of them
today, you won't be able to distinguish them from other kuffaar.
Yes, I told you that the first Muslims who migrated to these lands were in the late 1800s.
From the Balkan countries, from Turkey, from a sham Lebanon and so on and so forth.
Many of them today are in their third and fourth generations.
Many of them, you won't even be able to tell
that they were originally Muslims, they have melted away into the society.
Many of them have abandoned their Deen.
Very few of them,
still have Muslim names. Few of them
actually remember something that their grandparents may have practiced of the DEA, but the majority of them have become lost in this society. The danger is
that if we do not cure this problem with our generations, the danger is the same thing happening to them.
Don't think that we live in different times. Don't think that, you know, in the times that we live in,
we have modern
means of communication, we can travel to Muslim countries and so on and so forth.
The reality is that many of the Muslim youth are melting away into the society, even though they are first generation,
even though they are the children, of these immigrants of our parents.
Many of us know of many Muslims who are in this situation
under the pressure of the society they live in, they are melting away into the society. So the question is, what will happen to their succeeding generations?
Among the ill effects, of not maintaining our Islamic identities
is firstly
ignorance of the very fundamental and basics, the very fundamental and basic issues of the deen
and so you find that many who are weak in their Islamic identity.
What has led to that is
that they are ignorant of the very basics of the deen
you find many of them, they don't even know about the very basics of our beliefs. And I mentioned a few examples of those.
Also, among the ill effects, of not maintaining our Islamic identities is
that people end up adopting and taking on wrong understandings of the deen
wrong concepts of what the deen of Islam really means.
And so, you find many of them accepting
opposing schools of thoughts.
I mentioned examples of those secularism,
feminism liberalism,
for them,
these concepts and these ideologies
do not have any opposition to Islam.
For them, there is no difference between being a Muslim and being secular, accepting
other laws besides the laws of Allah Subhana, who went to Hana
for many of them, they believe in these deviant ideologies. What is the result of that? The result of that is not maintaining their atomic identities among the elite
effect of not maintaining our Islamic identities is weakness, weakness of the al Qaeda of
the doctrine of ellowyne, our Bara.
And so part of this Dean, and part of our aqeedah is to believe in having one up loyalty to Allah, His Messenger and to the believers and to have Bharara
this loyalty, this association from everything that opposes Allah, His Messenger, and the oma.
And so you find many who have not maintained their Islamic identities.
You find them weak in this doctrine, in this belief, you find them taking on Muslim friends, non Muslim friends,
and they have no problem with that.
They love their Muslim or non Muslim friends, more than they love their brothers and sisters.
You see, that they love and take on role models,
kuffar.
Either pop stars, or sports stars, or movie stars, whatever it be. And so they have this love for the kuffaar
this is weakness in their heart, in terms of their belief in a one hour borrow, and this what it is, what did it result from, it resulted from them not maintaining their Islamic identities.
Among the ill effects, of not maintaining our Islamic identities, is the death of the heart.
And so
our hearts if we want to keep them alive,
we need to keep them alive, with the remembrance of Allah
with
remembrance of Allah subhanahu wa tada with our hearts and on our tongue.
And the only life of the heart, the only true life of the heart is that life of the heart,
which is charged with a man.
The reason why
many
of our hearts are dead, is because of not maintaining our Islamic identities.
And so many of the Muslim youth today
they have indulged in everything that causes the death of the heart.
They have fulfilled
their Shahada. Why because it's available to them.
Women are available to them.
All sorts of vices and evil are available to them.
Drugs, music, etc. Why because of the society they live in.
And so all of this leads eventually to the death of the heart. Among the evil effects, of not maintaining our Islamic identities is that many of us end up having a defeatist mentality.
And I mentioned this earlier
that they lose any sense of pride and belonging
to the oma.
And so, when Muslims are attacked,
they want to hide away and shy away.
And we see this, many of us who go to school.
If Muslims are attacked,
in the classroom, for example.
Then some of the Muslims shy away.
They will don't want to say anything.
They don't want to be associated with Islam.
And so they have this defeatist mentality.
They have lost all sense of pride and glory and honor. In the deen of Allah Subhana, who was
among the ill effects of not maintaining our Samak identities
is
that it results in imitating
the West
in their customs in their value.
In their traditions, in their manners.
And so the deen of Allah subhanho wa Taala has come, as I mentioned,
as a complete way of life. It consists of beliefs.
It consists of commands or prohibitions. And it consists of manners and etiquettes.
The result of not maintaining our Islamic identities in this society that we live in,
is that many of us end up taking the customs of the kuffaar.
And they have Western values and manners, and etiquettes.
Some of these coincide with Islam and we have no problem with but most of these are in opposition to Islam,
such as believing in freedom, total freedom, that till this day the West has not even defined for us.
What does freedom mean? To this day they have not defined it.
And so Muslims have freedom,
but it is restricted to what Allah and His Messenger have come with.
And so that is only one example of the values of the West that many Muslims have started to follow. The only results from not maintaining their Islamic identities