Lecture In The Netherlands

While he was having he was

opposite due to Almighty God and citation will be upon the seal of the prophets and messengers.

The one selected by Almighty God to carry his legislation

and the ones selected by Almighty God to leave

an indelible legacy of character

for humanity to make reference to.

For this topic, we have prepared a PowerPoint presentation just to try to allow you to go along with the steps that I am proposing.

What I hope to discuss

is the premise of leadership in Islam,

the premise of leadership in the world itself

and to discuss a

prospective process by which Muslims will be able to engage, Muslims will be able to compete, and Muslims will be able to assume the responsibility of social and moral leadership.

I would like to say that

any speaker would not be speaking with any authority, they will be speaking from their own subjective point of view.

I have come up with these recommendations on the basis of my observation of Muslims in their own countries,

and Muslims living as minorities in western civilization.

I have come up with these observations, after making a honest assessment of myself as a Muslim. Making an honest assessment of the Muslims that I interact with on a regular basis, are trying to make an honest assessment of the Muslim world as it exists today, making an honest assessment of the societies that are wielding power in the world today, and how possibly will Muslims be able to participate? How Muslims will be able to interact? And how Muslims will be able to achieve some level of authority or leadership in those countries that are presently leading the world, in resources and leading the world in power?

I think it would be appropriate for us to understand that the Quran, it is a book of religion and doctrine, but it is also a book which sets forward for us mandates and challenges. So in one of the verses of the Quran, Allah subhana wa Tada. He says,

It is He, Allah Subhana Allah Almighty God who has sent His messenger Muhammad

peace be upon

with the guidance.

That's what it means when it says guidance. It means the guidance of God through His revelation the Quran

What do you know what this means? Islam, a complete system of faith and legislation.

In order that this guidance and this Deen this guidance and just system that it will eventually

prevail over every other system

even if the non Muslims or the non believers would hate it, well, Carrie how Muslims in another place and even if the the polytheists or the atheists

would hate it.

What Oh, Kelly, how munafo. And even if the hypocrites from among the Muslims would hate

on the premise, I would like to say

that it is.

It is the provision of God.

It is the mandate of God

that those carrying his system represented his system.

Those carry and representing

that faith that guides

those following that noble Prophet and Messenger, the Seal of the Prophets. It is the premise of God, that these are the people that should be in power.

However, Almighty God is just

and because God is just, he doesn't give people power

when they don't deserve it.

And it doesn't give them power when they're unable to execute it.

And today, even though Muslims are the carriers of the end,

and even though Muslims are the followers of the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him,

neither do they deserve.

Nor do they have the capabilities of representing executive power in the world today. That's why they don't have

one of our good scholars mentioned

that ally is just

and His justice is prevented.

So even if a non believer who is corrupt in his habits,

if he gives to the people, the nation of people,

justice,

and benefit, allow that non believer who is caught in power,

because by his being in power, he will reasonably guarantee the ability to give to the people that justice and that

when Muslims who claim to believe in Allah,

who claim to follow the Prophet sallallahu

if they are weak, and unable to give justice

and if they are dysfunctional, and therefore unable to deliver the services to humanity, allow will not give them power when they are unable to represent it from an executive point of view.

Because otherwise just so Muslims may have Taqwa, you may have also have good knowledge, but if they are dysfunctional,

and if they are weak, they will not be given executive power in the earth, because Allah is just

so we want to discuss

the present condition of Muslims.

And we want to discuss the condition of the world today.

And we want to also discuss the premise of how can Muslims begin to reform themselves? How can Muslims begin to interact with those that are presently wielding power? And how can Muslims prospectively share in that power and then compete for the assumption of power? So the premise of power in Islam is that power, sovereignty, resourcefulness lies with God and that it is given as a trust, it is given as a gift, it is given as a mandate to human beings from time to time.

Our Prophet peace and blessings be upon him, told us the importance of leadership. He said, if there are three people among you in any place, not 300, not 3000, not 30,000, not 3 million. But if there are only three people among you in any place, you should choose one of them to be the leader.

Now, what does that mean?

Does that mean that leader is absolute just means that in the case of disagreement, that leader has the veto to be able to do what make the determination between the different parties, if there is not someone who has been by consensus agreed upon to be the leader. And that person would have the ability to make a determination, either by veto or by some executive privilege. Then you will have groups of people that will be prone upon

War and civil strife. One of the things that we can see in the Western world today is that the Western world has adopted a model of government that keeps them away from civil war keeps you away from internal strife. Why, because they have a system of government where there is a leader, there may be an executive branch of government, there may be a legislative branch of government. But inevitably, there is an executive leader, that executive leader has some power of veto, that executive leader has the ability to arbitrary, that executive leader generally has the privilege and the responsibility of being the voice of that country.

However, the western civilization did not adopt this model, out of a vacuum. No, they adopted this model from historical experience, and their greatest historical experience came when they interacted with the Muslims. Because that principle, and that structure of leadership in government is the leadership in government, that structure comes from Islam.

It is unfortunate, and it is ironic that the Muslims themselves have lost this system of government. The Muslims themselves find their governments the inability to have the smooth transition of government. The Muslims in their own government find that the smallest disagreement, the Civil War, the Muslim finding their government, that one family assumes power, and then they retain the power for 50 years when that person dies, passed along for another 50 years, which is an antiquated form of power.

So what has happened is that Muslims have found themselves lost in their identity, lost in their ability to interact in the world, because the system they should be using is a system that has now been adopted in the West.

Our Prophet peace and blessings be upon him said

in so many words, he says your leader

whether he be your Eman, whether he is your, your Chairman, was, he is your President, your leader is for you, like your teacher, he is right for you like your guy, he is also your commander. And that's why in Islam, the word the highest and most classical word for leadership in Islam is the word a meal, a meal,

which means commander,

it is the leader of a different kind of leader, it is the commander, it means that that leader has the right to command what is right and to command what is wrong, or to to enjoy what is right and to forbid what is wrong. He has also the right to command the people not just to ask the people. That leader also has the right to enforce legislation that has been given to us from Almighty God. Those are the responsibilities that a leader has in Islam.

The Prophet told us that we should select the person with the best knowledge and with the best character. But he didn't have to say also select the person that has access to the greatest resources. Because if that person has the knowledge, they have access to the resources. If that person has character, then they have the two best resources for leadership, knowledge and territory.

Now we need to ask ourselves a question what are the

what are the characteristics of leadership?

And where do we find the examples?

First, the characteristics of leadership have been given to us by a number of people. One leadership

is a thinking. Leadership is an attitude. Leadership is the means of execution. Leadership is the means of high performance. Leadership is a human precedent. Leadership is a social paradigm. Leadership is about endowment. And leadership is about empowerment. Leadership is about vision. Leadership is about providing solutions. Leadership is about uniqueness and distinction. Leadership is about courage and the ability to command. Leadership is about resilience. And leadership is about perseverance. And leadership is about honor, integrity, and humility. Not all of these

qualities have historically been associated with good, profound leadership.

And most of these terminologies that I've read to you are quotations from non Muslims. This shows that there is no difference between non Muslims or Muslims in regards to the quality of leadership.

If Muslims are asked to take from the Quran, or take from the Sunnah of the Prophet peace and rest upon them, they might take a different, they might put them in a different priority list. But invariably, Muslims will come up with the same terminologies and characteristics, as I just read here, a group of non Muslims, they may put in a different

range of priority, but inevitably, they will find they will come up with the same characteristics. Why, because human beings over a period of time, they have made an assessment of leadership, and they have come to a general agreement as to what to look for in a leader. So we're not talking here in a vacuum.

What we like to say

is that there needs to be a paradigm that we can make reference to a paradigm is an example, a social or governmental or civilizational example. for Islam, we have a paradigm, we have the leadership of our Prophet Muhammad, peace and rest of the upon before the Prophet, we had the leadership of other prophets, with the Jesus, the son of Mary, john the baptist, Solomon, David, Isaac, is my

Moses, Abraham, these is the leadership of the prophets, the very best people sent from God to lead, the first went on father Adam, then after that Abraham, the father of all religion, and then lastly, the Prophet Muhammad peace and blessings upon so it is perfectly good. It is in Prophethood, that all the highest qualities of leadership are embedded in Prophethood. But as the Prophet after Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, another level of leadership was manifested to the world, that level of leadership was called khilafah.

Now in English, the Greek will call it caliphate. I don't know how you would say it in Dutch, but it means those who succeeded the Prophet peace and blessings be upon them, not in Prophethood, but they succeeded him in executive leadership. So after our Prophet Muhammad peace, be upon them, there was a generation of people representing executive leadership. In the executive leadership, we found these same characteristics. And after that executive leadership, we found another level of leadership among Muslims, I want to say to you, and share with you that the executive leadership after the Prophet Muhammad peace, be upon them, not only did it lead the world, but given the world

for a period of close to 600 years. So think about this.

The Quran was revealed over a period of 23 years, when it was revealed. There were three existing powers in the world. Rome, Amazonia,

and person that had their own distinct leadership.

150 years after the end was revealed,

Rome, Persia, and Amazonia, and the leadership

and the leadership succumbed to the leadership of Islam.

You will ask yourself, and I will ask myself as a historian, how could three powers that existed themselves over several centuries of time, that room large and vast regions of the earth? How could three powers Rome, Persia and avicennia? How could they succeed? How could they? How could they have to pray, succumb to another power coming out of Arabia, a country that itself

lived in isolation? The answer is that Almighty God endowed those atoms. He endowed them with the end. And he endowed them with a human example.

Given this human example, and given that divine legislation, any group of humans

Beans can come out of darkness, and they can overwhelm another group of human beings. Why? Because guidance of God is different from accumulated progress and knowledge of human beings. So Rome had accumulated knowledge and progress. person had accumulated knowledge in progress, as a senior had accumulated knowledge and progress. But this was knowledge and progress that was a part of their culture. But Allah, he's a universal human being. He said, a universal guidance, and with that universal human being, as his legacy, and that universal guidance we found 150 years later, the Muslims following the Prophet Muhammad peace of blessings upon those Muslims, following the legacy

of the clapper, that executive rule after the prophet SAW them, they weren't ruling the world. And how long did they rule the world, they ruled the world until around the 14th, or 15th century. So from the seventh century, to the 14th century, we're talking about a period of 600 years. And if we honestly look at what was given to the world, what contributions were made to the world, and that 600 years, it could be summed up in one terminology, it's called the Enlightenment, the Renaissance. And there were no less than 1500, scientific,

technological, phenomenal, cultural, knowledge based academic base of knowledge given to the world in that period of time, we can name them one by one that the world is still dependent upon today. The number of systems that we use today is called the Arabic numeral system. The mathematics that we use to build our buildings was based upon mathematical equations that will given by the Muslims, okay, the first AI operations done in the world was done by Muslims, the first people that sailed on the oceans and did navigation. They were the Muslims. The first people who did astronomy were the Muslims, the first people that brought water, flowing water and soap into Europe, they were the

Muslims, the first people that took paper out of China, and put ink on those paper, and then produced books, they were the Muslims, I can go on and on and say to you how many different things the Muslims contributed to humanity during this period,

prior to European enlightenment, but we don't need to live in a world of nostalgia. We just need to point those things out. Because all of that has something to do with the characteristics of leadership. Leadership brings inspiration. Leadership brings production, leadership brings industry. Leadership brings profit. Leadership brings prosperity. Leadership brings new vision. That's what leadership of Islam it did for those 600 years prior to the lightning.

Then, around the 14th and 15th century, we had another phenomenon. That phenomenon was called the renaissance of the Western world, as a result of the Western world coming in contact with Muslims, learning from the Muslims, gaining from the Muslims, and then coming out of their own sleep, they entered what is called the stage of Renaissance, new life, enlightenment. And then we found from the period of enlightenment, it went on into what is called the Industrial Revolution, from the Industrial Revolution, to the technological revolution, to our present age today. So we can see why the Western Wall is holding power, because from the time of their enlightenment, all the way to the

industrial revolution to the technological revolution, until now, they have used that knowledge to sustain their leadership. And when Muslims failed to use that knowledge to sustain their leadership, God took it from them, and gave it to another people. But it doesn't mean that when God gives it to another people, those people will keep it forever, because we can see that Western civilization today is on the precipice of exchanging that leadership to a new leadership.

It is on the precipice of exchanging that leadership to a new leadership, static, retrogressive culture based leadership

the majority of the world has moved

Beyond that kinds of leadership. Therefore that kind of leadership is not inspiring.

It's not acceptable, that people follow leadership, which themselves are static, not moving, not dynamic, and that they are steeped in cultural

steepen cultural nostalgia, or

that they are steeped in

a arrogance about themselves. No, the world today is looking for good, powerful and effective leadership. And one of the most beautiful things that we've seen happen in the last 20 years, that good, powerful effective doesn't mean what just means Black doesn't mean Arab. Just mean Asian doesn't mean Turkish just mean African good, powerful, effective leadership that the world is looking for today doesn't have color texture anymore. So nobody can say that someone should be the leader of a particular country because of their color, or because of their ethnicity, or because of their culture. No, the world today is measuring leadership on the basis of its quality, on the basis

of its power that is able to exhibit and on the basis of its effectiveness.

The problems in the Muslim world is that we have lost the edge of competition, we no longer want to compete, and therefore we are able to compete.

The Western the Western world uses a business paradigm which is called SWOT analysis. Any of you that are in business, you know what SWOT analysis means? It is Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. When we want to examine a leader, we want to examine a country, we want to examine a business, we want to examine our industry, we examine them on the basis of their feasibility. And when we look at the feasibility, we have to consider the SWOT analysis. Today, Muslims are following leaders without any examination whatsoever. Secondly, leaders in the Muslim world are ruling without any accountability whatsoever. That kind of leadership is no longer acceptable, and the progressive

world today, in the world today, a leader has to perform and Athena is accountable, he's got to be able to open his books and show what he's doing with the money, he has to justify why he should be and why he should be sustained in leadership. And so the western form of government produces better and better forms of government and better and better leaders, as opposed to just accepting the leadership of a static family, or a static group or a static person.

But there are also problems in the most in the in the Western world, the Western world, we have progress, progress in science, we have progress in technology, we have progress in academia, we have progress in business and industry almost progress there, we have the products, and we have the services to prove that. But what we don't see in the Western world, we don't see the proof of character.

We don't see the proof of integrity.

We don't see the proof of honor, we don't see the proof of honesty. We don't see this necessarily in the western form of government, because those traits are considered to be abstract. Today, Western leaders, they have to show they have to prove to their people that they can improve their economy. They have to prove to them that they can be strong as against other nations, they have to prove to them that they can act on the basis of their national interest. They have to prove to them that they will represent a material

a ideological superiority in the world to some degree. But they don't have to prove to their people that they have character that they have honor that they have honesty, that they have integrity. And because of that the leadership in the Western world has brought us to the condition that we have today, where

you got a banking crisis that we think is just a matter of the loss of some books. Somebody has not balanced the books properly. No. It is a result of greed.

leadership in the Western world has follow the dictates of the banking cartel because they had followed

the dictates of the banking cartel, then they didn't see they didn't predict what was going to happen. And now this has happened,

even though they know that the banking cartel has stolen the property of the people, what the leaders are forced to do, the leaders are forced to convince the people that we should give them more money to steal. Why, because it is no longer an issue of honor, or integrity, or character, it's no longer that an honor. It's just an issue of material performance. So brothers and sisters,

we have to ask ourselves, how can we address these problems? in the Muslim world and also in the Western world? What analysis can we use? What are the challenges? What are the obstacles? One example that I can give, I think the most profound examples that I can give, is that 10 years ago, no one would have thought that a person like Barack Obama would have become the president of the United States of America, no one would have predicted that 10 years before the Soviet Union fell, nobody predicted that. But you see, the world is not totally under the power of human beings, it is under the power of the one who gives the mandate to human beings. So when God chooses for someone

that is in power, to lose their power, they lose it. When God wants to give power and prominence to an individual, as an example of other human beings, he gives it to them. And today, America,

found in a person who would have fainted 50 years ago being classified as something, maybe a little bit more than an animal that just but they know that other human being an African slave,

the descendant of an African slave is the President of the United States of America today. Why? Because the world was looking. And America was looking for effective, powerful leadership. And if they found someone's dialectic, somebody, somebody promises somebody behavior, seeming to suggest or promise that they say, this is our land for this day, and this time. And so I say that if the world has already been shown an example, that someone can come from a far distant place and arrive at the leadership of the most powerful, sophisticated country in the world today. I say that could happen anyway.

Having said that,

Muslims need to strive for social and moral excellence, we have to look for the characteristics of leadership, we have to look for that leader, to be socially responsible, we have to develop the power of planning, we have to develop the resources that's necessary for good leadership. We have to engage in personal and professional development, we have to understand the world that we live in, as opposed to the culture that we came from. You have to be in it to win it. If Muslims living in this country, are living as religious isolationist, as absolute and confident as you are about your religion, you will not move forward. If you want to move forward, you have to participate. I'm not

talking about absolute assimilation or absolute integration. No, I'm talking about a reason a measure of assimilation, and a reason a reasonable and a measure of integration for if you want to move forward on Google people, if you want to interact with people, if you want to assume and compete with a group of people, you have to reasonably assimilate, you have to reasonably associate, you have to reasonably integrate. Now, they might ask of you an absolute integration, that's not necessary. They may require you or suggest for you an absolute form of integration, that's not necessary that we Muslim need to understand that if we want to really be recognized, we have to

participate. We have to become involved. We have to become interactive, we have to learn to compete. We have to also learn to express ourselves, we have to learn to become tolerant, and we have to learn to strive for leadership. Now striving for leadership is not something about just the aspiration for itself. It means that if I believe that I have a better way, a better product, a better service, then I have as much weight as Walmart, I have as much weight as McDonald's has.

twice as much right as Walt Disney Disneyland as much right as MGM as much right as anyone else who has a transnational corporation representing a powerful product or service, if they believe that they have a better service, a better product or a country believes it has a better way we have, if we're a part of this society, we have the right to say we believe that we have a better way. And if you allow us we will demonstrate that. But you can't expect people to sit and listen to you, when you are isolated and dependent and subordinate. You can expect people to accept that when you are taking and not giving. So I say that we must use if we want to strive for social and moral

leadership, we have to look and see how other people did. I want to just give a quick

example to there are four books there. For authors of books. Dale Carnegie wrote a book and in case you don't know who Dale Carnegie's Dale Carnegie was the mentor of some of the greatest industrial giants of the 20th century, Dale Carnegie. He wrote a book called How to Win Friends and Influence People. I suggest that all the Muslims here that you get that book

I suggested anonymous is here. If you didn't read it, I suggest that you read it, how to win friends and influence people. There is another book there, another author called Napoleon Hill, Napoleon Hill wrote a book called Think and Grow Rich, Think and Grow Rich. I suggest that Muslims get that book and read it. There's another author that called called Sun Tzu, Sun Tzu wrote a book called The Art of War. Now, various companies in the world, including Microsoft, are now rewriting some zoos out of war, use it for their industrial strategies, okay, I suggest you get that book and read it. Another author wrote a book, his name was makaveli, Machiavelli wrote a book called The prince, most

heads of state in the Western world are using this book called The prince, okay, to understand how to stay in power, I suggest that Muslims read these these authors and read those books, not because they're absolute, only because these are books that are written by individuals who have been raped by other powerful individuals who have assumed power in the world, just like we must.

And when reading

them, and we're reading about the fuller philosophy, then we're reading about other great Muslim leaders and scholars, we should read about great Muslims, we should read about an effective non Muslims, male and female so we can understand the two sides of the coin of greatness and leadership, brothers and sisters. Finally, I'd like to just end my talk by saying

that social and moral leadership is not abstract.

It's not dialectic is that reading books. It's not about doctrine. It's about the demonstration of power. It's about the manifestation of influence. It's about demonstrating leadership by consensus.

It's about demonstrating leadership by consensus. It's about showing the development of resources. It's about winning, winning, it's about victory. It's about governing.

The Alpha was about winning, it was about victory. It was about leveling.

Today,

global empowerment is open for anyone.

The window of global empowerment is open for anyone, because fiber optics and telecommunications have now made the world a global community. So the playing field has now shrunk. That means anyone that stepped onto that field, if you are well trained, if you are equipped, if you are in doubt, and if you are motivated, if you have the character traits, if you have all the things that others listen for, if you have that you have the chance to assume social and moral leadership, you can strive and you can assume for social and moral leadership, but it is not a cakewalk.

It's not something that will just fall down into your hands. No,

you strive for and you will pay the price for but it is my

perception. And my final minute to say

that what I see happening in the world today is a phenomenon.

I see Islam planted in the West as a seed and as a gift. And I see it growing, with complications, with misunderstandings with distortions and and other things.

But nevertheless, Islam has been planted in the West.

Therefore it is in the best soil to grow, it is in the best soil to be developed.

And I believe that if Islam reaches its maturity in the West, a new mentality will come to the west, our new morality will come to the west, a new set of values will come to the west. And that might allow the western civilization to project themselves another 50 or 100 years. But think about this, if Western civilization neglects, or stamps out that gift, you might be cutting off your own face. I think to myself that Islam, Islam is going to rise in the world again, it is not coming from the ruins of the applicant, or the Asian or the Arabian countries. That's not why the rise of Islam is gonna come. in my estimation, the rise of Islam will come from the west.

That's my belief.

That's my formula. And I think that when Islam starts to, to rise in the West, it will not deal with confrontation, and will not do so with hatred or with terrorism or with any of the extremism or fanaticism, no, no, when Muslims, when people in the West adopt Islam, they will use Islam as a measurement, they will use it as a guide, along with all the other tools that they already have gained in the Western Hemisphere. Ladies and gentlemen, brothers and sisters, I put it to you that

social and moral leadership is not something that is given

except by God, it is something that is earned. And if it is own his own, because it has worked for striven for, and through that people begin to acknowledge it. Any product or any service in the world today has proven to be superior, people will adopt it. And if we can prove to people that Islam is a product and a service, okay, that is superior. I believe that the majority of the people in this country, people in western civilization, if they don't adopt it, they will acknowledge it. If they don't acknowledge it, they may embrace it. And if they don't, minimally, they will tolerate it. I thank you very much for listening to my comments. And if there's anybody here who would like

to

God has made your media your presence in the society, when people say, later for you know, Muslims have to come out of their closet, Muslim how to come out of that arrogant, you see display, Muslims have to come out, Muslims have to participate. And Muslim media that is Muslim in the media in the control of Muslims have got to bring programs that the world wants to watch. Muslims have to talk about issues that affect the whole world. Because we are

not separate. We are a part of the world and we supposed to enjoy

using the materials and resources that God has given to us. Next.

The challenge of

media concerning Muslims is to create a mainstream media source, not mainstream media source doesn't mean Muslims have a TV channel in Kuwait, or Saudi Arabia, or Nigeria, or Indonesia, or Mumbai, India, okay, or any other Muslim country? No, that's not mainstream, it may be mainstream for that country. But mainstream TV is TV that everyone in the world will inevitably watch is accessible for everybody in the world.

The content is accessible.

The footprint is accessible, the feed is accessible. The reach and influence is accessible. Muslims need to compete and strive to own and control a major mainstream media source. So that we have a way to project our concepts, our beliefs, our morals, we don't ask you to give us 1000 euros, were asked to give us 100 euros, we will ask you to give you a we don't set the number. We say to you that if you believe that the kind of failure that we're talking about, if you think that this kind of video is necessary, if you believe that this kind of media is imposed, if you believe these kinds of media is achievable, if you are willing to sustain, okay, a media platform that is under development. If

you'd like to see an alternative

to Facebook challenge,

if you would like to see an alternative to, to go to the

real purpose TV is that if you would like to see an alternative to Google, you'll see that it is bad. But now you will have to, if you really want to see that, and you want to help us to sustain that, then you need to open up this envelope.

But chances are, because when you go shopping, you don't go shopping with coins. You go with currency. When you flip your automobile, you don't fill it up with coins, you fill out what

you see when there's anything of value. When you delegate an operation in the hospital, you don't bring coins, you pay for it with currency. When you buy your house, you don't do so with coins you do with currency. We're talking about a political sacrifice that needs to be made for this kind of media platform. I'm asked to everybody here has an envelope to put something that represents the future. Think about what's available. Think about what you're watching. Think about what you're listening to think about what you're reading, and think yourself that if you want an alternative, it is not free. If you want an alternative, Paradise is expensive. And also if you want the best in

life, you will defend yourself. It is also expensive. And we're asking you that the amount of money that we need just to sustain us