Lecture At Scheldemond College

No, I think a non Muslim, before they listen to what we have to talk about about the subject matter, I think they need to get a few things correct. That means we need to remove some misconceptions and some distortions. Otherwise, you might be putting this Islamic, whatever we're talking about, maybe, like, I put it this way, maybe you're because you got the wrong bank account.

Maybe you work for a year, and your money is going in the wrong bank account. That means what you had the wrong information, you had the right intent, but your money was going in the wrong bank. So at the end of the year, what do you have?

You got nothing.

So for non Muslims, I think this is best for us to understand some of these questions.

So that whatever sincere concern that you have about Islam and Muslims, you're directing it in the correct way. First of all,

Islam as a moral system,

let's take the word religion out of it. Because religion itself is kind of abstract.

You know, if I was a Catholic today, if I were a Catholic today,

I would have some serious concerns about my religion. I don't think I haven't said anything further than that.

But Christianity is a faith system. But why God sent it as a moral system. So let's use the word morality, good morality means to make something right.

A scholar he said,

when asked the question, what is Islam?

I'll say it in Arabic and translate he said at this level is to Islam and he will NPM dude open for it was rude to shirk. We'll cover what led translation discovered, he said,

well, is this lamp submission.

Islam is this lamp is made a submission to you, Almighty God, according to the rule and the specified specification of tohei monotheism.

This is what characterizes Islam from anything else that resubmitting ourselves, not to people not to mandate systems, but firstly submitting our hearts and our minds and our emotions to Almighty God and the legislation that he has sent. And when we say God, we mean Almighty God, no other gods.

And we are in obedience to God. That's what this lamb calls us to be in obedience to God, before our mothers and fathers before our country before our own desires. Islam commands us to be in obedience, Almighty God.

What am I doing with it? This means surrendering to God, in the same way that if you were at the ATM machine, and you were getting ready to deposit 1000 euros into the ATM machine, and so I came behind you, and they put a gun to your head. They said, stick out, give me the money. What would you do? You wouldn't have no arguments, what would you do?

You would put your hands up and you would submit? we Muslims, once we understand who is God, we put our hands up and we

we submit

not because God threatened us. But because God created us. Okay, because God has roadmap. The same way when you get inside your car, if you have a GPS, but you you follow your own ideas, or people who's in the backseat, or you follow the GPS?

The answer is clear. You follow the GPS because you're confident that the technology is more accurate than the desire for people in the backseat.

God gave us more than a GPS.

God gave us guidance. And that's what we found it to be apologies for having something stronger than a GPS.

The sources of Islam is very important that whoever wants to discuss Islam, they don't get it confused. Like the guys in the street said Don't get it twisted.

See, the source of Islam is not Muslims. The source of Islam is not government.

The source of Islam is not movements, the sources of Islam are to the divine revelation that came to the Prophet Muhammad has been preserved in its entirety. So the whole world can read the Koran. So I suggest the inner Muslim that was to discuss Islam First, go to your local library, or now that we have shaped Google.

Go to Google or Ghana or Google

and download the correct

and read as much as you can. So that's the first reference. The next reference is that we have a human paradigm

is that right?

Obama or Clinton, okay or not? No, we have a human paradigm that means a human being who represents that divine revelation. And so for 15 centuries,

oriented this, non Muslim scholars and others have been examining critically, the life of the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him for the last 15 centuries. And his example Stan is clear and firm and distinct. So, I would suggest that all non Muslims, whether you are lay people mean into non professional people, or you are professional people,

study something of the court and study something from the life of the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon because these are the first sources of Islam.

And what does Islam call people towards Islam calls people towards personal and social reform.

Forget about how we do it, about the steps, personal and social reform.

That's what Islam calls people towards. And that's why when human beings become reformed, inside themselves, and reformed means changing themselves to become better and better and better every day, after one we have a society does what it reformed itself, that becomes better and better every day. And when societies become better and better, then the world becomes what becomes better.

Now, how does Islam compare with Christianity? You know, Islam, compared to Christianity, because we're on this, we're going the same direction, on two different tracks.

same direction, to worship God and to follow the prophets of God, and to be good human beings. That's how Islam and Christianity, but the differences that we have is what we say about God, and the example that we're trying to follow. That's the difference. We'll have time to argue about our differences today. But all we can say is, in all the people in the world, the ones that we are the closest to, are the Christians. And we're proud to say that.

How does this differ from other faiths? Well, different things that have different expressions, you know, in the Hindu faith, you know, they follow, and they believe in 3000 4000 5000 different gods.

We don't want to make any criticism about that. But that can certainly become quite confusing.

In

America, or as us to recognize, and to obey, and to worship only one. So you can see there's a difference there.

The other thing is that most phase called people towards the institution, and the rituals. So then the face becomes dominated by rituals, and by the institution. In Islam, that is not the case.

Islam starts out as a relationship between the human being and God, and it ends up at the end,

between the human being and God, but human beings collect themselves together into families, into communities, into societies and into governments, whether they are Muslims or Christians, that also is an expression of our faith.

What are some of the most appealing aspects of Islam? Well, for me, I would say to you that after traveling around the world, 75 countries, and visiting so many cities and talking to people all over the world, and reading about the history of the world and human beings, I can say for myself that I feel

honored to be a Muslim.

It's like,

it's like a middle of room where the lights is kind of like weed down.

And I'm the only one I get to like when you feel kind of distinct.

So I'm not saying I have to like I'm saying that the Quran and the life of the Prophet Muhammad SAW Sam has provided us with a distinction, a light of guidance, but it doesn't mean that I have any prejudice towards other human beings.

What Islam emphasizes obedience, oh my god, that's what I said. Secondly, Islam emphasizes that through your rituals, through your observation, you know, through your practicing of this faith, you should I should, we should become better human beings, and who's the ones that let us know that we are a better human being? Is it as a human being? My family said we are better human beings. No, it's my neighbor that should say I'm a better human being. It's my neighbor. It's my

Coffee is my coworker, it's my like the people inside of my society, they should recognize us to be better human beings. And if people are not attracted to become Muslims, if people are not attracted towards Islam, Muslims should look at their example and not be blaming other people, in most cases, is with Muslims that are misrepresenting Islam. And most of what criticisms that I have heard, other than people like

name, a guy, his name, is just like silver ham.

Industry, but I'd say he's like the, the Nemesis, you know,

you got highly prejudicial people who are highly influential, influential, and also highly ignorant.

When you got those three things, highly influential, highly prejudicial, and also a lot of sources, you got a lot of problems. However, most of the people in in, in the Netherlands or in Europe, they don't represent that the innocent people, then good people with clean heart, clean minds, they really want to know the truth. But you have people from the side who's giving this distortions. But let's put all that to the side. And by the way, I said this before, when I first came to Holland,

if Mr. wilderness is still talking the way he's talking, yes. Well, I challenge Mr. Walters, whenever and wherever he likes, to a 60 minute dialogue, not a debate, a dialogue that is live and streaming all over the world. We can discuss what Islam is and what Islam is not. And compare that to what he thinks it is.

So I hope Mr. worlders, will get that open invitation, which I'm going to dignify discussion not much lately from a distance.

Now,

I believe that we Muslims, reformed ourselves, correct ourselves, and take the resource that we have and invest that resource into the society where we are, you'll find me that gradually, the opinions that people have will change.

How will Islamic integrate and compliment into the world today, Muslims need to study the world, its societies and institutions, and what Muslims should include when they go to school and when they worship, how they're going to take those resources, and give that and invest that into their society, into their neighborhoods, and therefore, eventually into the world. That's how Islam will integrate. That's how it's not integrated in the beginning. And that's how it's not integrated, we'll integrate at the end.

I also think that Muslims living in this country, in this particular city, you need to broaden your worldview.

What do I mean by that? Well,

one day at the Jacob Javits Center in Manhattan, a center that holds like 85,000 people, they give big presentations there. And Bill Gates came down about 10 years ago, to give a presentation on

on his new products and his vision for the world, and blah, blah. So I was invited there, and I didn't pay, I was invited, I was given a free ticket. And so

the first thing he said, when he came out, he says, I'm very happy to see so many people here,

and very honored to be here. And to be honest,

I just got a few words to say. And I could just leave, he said, what we need to do, as human beings

is to understand the world. And to think outside the box. He stepped back.

Well, you know, if I had paid $150, to come and see this guy, and I flew from another country or another state to see this guy. And that's all he had to do was say things outside the box, I would probably pick up a chair. And

that's because we didn't understand what he meant. In fact, that statement, think outside the box is probably one of the most profound statements that anyone has made in the last century. Think outside the box. That's what I tell Muslims. Think outside of yourself. Think outside of your culture. Think outside of your neighborhood. Think outside of the city where you live, the society where you live. Think about the world. Think about humanity.

To think about the problems and try to think about the solutions. That's our challenge.

Now, the non Muslims who are here today, why should you even consider Islam? Well, I can't answer all of that for you, because I don't know what your motivation was to come here today. But if you came here as a hater, you're really wasting your time.

You're wasting your time.

The example I give about haters, is like,

the movie affected or changed by wild dogs barking?

It will not.

I suggest, therefore, that non Muslims who have issues with Muslims or non Muslims, if you came here to record something, and later on from some dark place or behind a computer, you know, to further your agenda, you're really just wasting your time. Because the moon is for

what a non Muslim who came here because they are interested, or they just have some, they're just inquisitive. Or they might be motivated, because they have a family member, a neighbor, a classmate, and that him for that purpose. I say that is great. That's enough of a motivation

for you to consider this model. And for those non Muslims who have been considering Islam and reading about Islam, why should you become a Muslim? Why should you even consider becoming Muslim, for the same reason that when you graduate from the University, you should have a CV and you should bet your CV out for the same reason to get personal benefit and distinction. Having said that, I'd like to move straight into my discussion today. And I hope that

the comments that I made was not too provocative.

I'm going to change a few things in my discussion, because I delivered this talk in Washington DC, about maybe three or four years ago. As a matter of fact, it was in the same year that Mr. Obama

it was the same year that Mr. Obama was elected as the president of United States. And just to make sure that people don't think in their minds that like, wow, that was lucky. You don't mean it was lucky man, that was phenomenal. That's like a miracle that could not have happened, guess what? The same people that elected him

four years ago, what happened?

They elected him again.

So

I gave this talk in Washington, DC. And central was America. Of course, I'm using that as the backdrop. But since I'm here in the Netherlands, I'll change a few things. So it becomes relevant to society,

cynicism and mutual condemnation. Now, I do realize that some of you sitting here that you may not understand some of the terminology I'm using because, you know, I'm sorry, I'm speaking English.

But if I had a nice, beautiful Dutch wife, in a year or two, I'd be able to speak Dutch.

That's just a joke.

In the world is not really a joke.

cynicism and mutual condemnations, it is extremely difficult to convince people is really a joke.

You send some emails back and tell my wife wives what I just say.

In a world of cynicism and lethal condemnation, it is extremely difficult to convince people of the basic goodness of human beings.

And in a world where most everyone has been harmed, and assaulted or transgressed upon, it is very rare to find people willing to forgive.

In a world of bigotry, racism, and class struggle, human beings have justified why they do not have to sit and listen to whom they consider their inferiors or their opposition. And in a world of frustration, anger and great misunderstandings, it is extremely difficult to bridge differences and to accept arbitration.

This is our world. This is our society and your society.

And this is our individual and collective dilemma challenge.

In the midst of all this darkness, and this pessimism, there is a need of a great incentive.

duration and a very powerful moral vision.

But wherever humanity obtain such a vision,

persons of various philosophies and religions will claim they have the answer.

We cannot all be right. But we also cannot all be entirely wrong.

Today, I want to put forward a moral proposition, I didn't say a religious, I said a moral proposition, which is based upon an inscribed is inscribed from our divine revelation, our scripture.

The writers of the American Constitution, and the writers of the Constitution of the Netherlands,

they also share a scriptural sensitivity.

But they left it up to every citizen to preserve the moral truth, based upon their own perceptions.

This is what makes my country America a great country, I believe.

And after living in the Netherlands for a year, you know, four years ago, or three years ago,

and in the whole of Europe, I've visited now at least 19 of the countries in Europe and, and a little bit outside of Europe, Europe, Asia, they might call it, I've visited all universities, merchants, organizations, civic organizations. So I think I know the Netherlands is temperament, its people. And I can say, and I do say to people, that if there was a country that I would live in, outside of America, it would be the Netherlands.

We'll talk about why in another segment.

Because it is the this is what makes America great country, their what their willingness to have tolerance, openness, to be candid, to be transparent, and to listen to other people.

And to put the moral truth in the right places.

That's what I believe makes my country unique. And this is what I think makes your country unique. And this is why people from every place in the world are drawn to America. And this is why people all over the world all over Europe, they go on to the Netherlands. You know, people could say, well, they like the downtown area, you know, but the Netherlands to

it is the principle that toleration and mutual respect will give to every human being the opportunity to secure basic human liberty, yet provide the privilege for everyone to promote their own religious convictions. We have the witnessing this movement throughout the Muslim world to secure these basic freedoms. So I'm being very clear here, that the basic freedoms that Muslims are fighting for in their own countries, those freedoms have already been secured in the West.

In a free and democratic society, this is how visions are born, and how they are cultivated. And we Muslims, should be grateful to have this privilege. With that in mind, I want to point out a few things that may complement our role in Europe, and in particular, in the Netherlands, in particular. Now, when Mr. Obama ran for the US presidency, it was on the platform of the need for change. That was what his team was.

An Almighty God said

on the

last panel, he said

that a lot he does not

change the condition of the people from from from worse, to better, he doesn't elevate the people. He doesn't cause the people to become improved until the people improve themselves. This is the principle when people improve themselves, when people reformed themselves that oh, my God gives them all the tools in their environment to improve their condition.

Now because Mr. Obama understood that theme, and he had to, because at the end of the day, Mr. Obama's father was a Muslim from Kenya. I mean, he's a Christian. That's what he said. You know, we gotta go for that.

was a Muslim from Kenya. his stepfather was a Muslim from Indonesia. And Mr. Obama is a part of his youth

Islamic school. So let me Come on, don't you take him?

In case, Mr. Obama knew that the most important thing for Americans to focus upon was a change in their thinking. So therefore, when Mr. Obama Yeah, by the way, let me stop here for a minute.

You know, Mr. Obama

is talking on a stage somewhere.

Think about this, he has a gold ring on.

And if you zoom in on that gold ring, you find that the goal really says lat.

If you don't think that's true, go to Google. And check it out.

So that means

it has reached the White House. And there's a reason why Mr. Obama never took that ring off. It was given to him as a gift. It's like a memoir. It's something that was given to him that he has a sentiment about, but he didn't take it off, because he hadn't known before he got married. And he kept it on even if he was a president, even though he knew there will be controversy about it.

Mr. Obama articulated

that the greatest challenges facing our society and the world.

And certainly those challenges that he articulated, these are our challenges, because we are citizens, have organized open democratic societies. Yet, we have another set of challenges, which have been mandated upon us as Muslims, through the revelation of the core, and the unparalleled behavior of the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessing upon them. And this is because Islam is not simply a religion, and we Muslims, what are the citizenships that we have? We're not just simply citizens of a country. We are citizens of a country, and we should be good and productive citizens of the country where we are. But that is not all that we are. We are human beings who upon the most

profound moral paradigm in the world, it is called Islam.

And what was Obama he spoke about the issues facing America and the issues facing the society, there are also our issues. He spoke about the economy. He spoke about health care, he spoke about the environment, he spoke about energy, he spoke about crime and corruption. He spoke about education, he spoke about war, war to support and promote what he considers the ultimate good.

And when we Muslims, talk to non Muslims and other people in society, we don't need to just be talking about the religion.

That's why women in the kitchen, just keep talking about recipes.

We don't need to talk about recipes, we want to see the food hit the table.

That's like commerce, we've got 1000 acres of land, and they just keep talking about what kind of seeds they can put down and what they like to see what kind of office they like to have and how beautiful the land in the sky and all that video that we put the seeds in the ground and do the work.

Rock.

So Muslims,

in order for non Muslims in our societies to understand and appreciate our position,

we need to make Islam relevant, I believe relevant to the challenges facing humanity and in particular our society. So Muslims need to talk to people about the condition of the economy.

A lot of you said to us in the Oh, you who believe consume only the good things that we have provided for you. And if you look at the economy, one of the major things that affect the economy is how people consume things, either lawfully or unlawfully, morally or immoral.

The prophet SAW stem sent to us regarding he said, All human beings should look to five things for five things. And one of those five things is

your health, before your sickness,

your wealth, before your poverty,

your free time before you're busy your life before your death. So you see the code and the light at the bottom of it addressed everything we need to take from them.

Shed that was our society, we need to talk about the environment.

Because the environment

that the environment that we live in has its own bikes, the water has its own rights, the land has its own weight the animals have. The agriculture has its own weight, and we have to give the right to the world and this and we got to get to the earth, we got to get back to the app, because we don't, we don't be without that. And we wouldn't be without that Earth.

Things

that no human beings have the right to control.

Because it should be shared by all human beings, fire, water, and grass. What does that mean today? Fire means what? energy? No one, no, human beings have the right to control the energy of any society. Because they do that, then they're going to use it as a tool of oppression or exploitation.

No human beings have the right to produce or to manufacture or to set up an industry that pumps things into the air and into the water.

Because the water in the air is what all human beings live from. And no human beings have a right to alter or to control or manipulate the agriculture like people who are using these, what they call GMO

genetically modified foods gms

immortal, and there's a reason why they're doing it not to give benefit to the human beings, but to control what human beings are consuming. That's why by using the genetically modified foods, you find a woman starting to become active masculine, and men growing breasts.

I'm not a physicist, but you don't have to be a rocket scientist to see what's in front of you.

Regarding time and corruption, Allah subhanaw taala told us

you see, Muslims are supposed to be the champions

of what is good, what is moral was clean, what is decent.

Our challenge is to integrate these principles.

So that people come to know that we are just people that we Muslims are benevolent people. And that's why in the Juma, usually at the end of the fifth bar, the man who's going to say in

other words, what he tells them corba

he says that for the most of my thinking, because they think that he's in them, and he gives me the in the football, he gets my standard for the press, and I start getting a motion, you're not to get out the

other allies, upon what justice for anyone.

That means benevolence for everyone.

To be truly just you need some level of power.

And to be benevolent, you have to have some level of resourcefulness. And this land that promoted us to have this kind of resources.

Also a loss of power, and regarding education and knowledge, in

my words,

Allah subhanaw taala before he created the heavens and earth, He created the pen. That's what the processing told us. In the first time I came into

the house Holla Holla

Holla. And of course, first of five eyes is dealing with education. So education and knowledge and the promotion of education and knowledge. It should be tantamount to be a priority for all Muslims, and we should be competing with everybody in that field.

And regarding war,

no one in the world can rightfully blame anyone who is defending themselves or defending their family or defending their land.

Let us want to bring the point

that before any Muslims were ever called terrorists,

before any Muslims were ever called terrorists, the first time Muslims were called terrorists was in 1948.

I don't think I need to say more than that. All you need to do is go back to 1940 and find out what happened in 1948. And from that time onwards, Muslims have been

called terrorists, but the ones who committed the first crime in 1948, those is the real terrorists number in the criminal occupation of Palestine. That's a crime. And there is no statutory limits to that kind of a crime of the magnitude of that kind of a crime. And here, I'm not talking about the Palestinians, I'm talking about taking somebody's land and occupying that land. And then this was asked to know people, and they say, this is our land, that's a crime. That crime has been done all over the world, just focus upon that kind of issue. But we can make the world a better place. Because we now have the tools, we have the resources, we can make the world a better place, we don't

always have to be blaming about what happened 60 years ago, or 70 years ago, when we can change the world, right? It is from where we are brothers and sisters.

We Muslims should become familiar with these issues. And we must use our faith and our insight to offer viable solutions and or propositions to the society regarding these very serious issues. But if we want to offer propositions we have to read about these issues.

Because if you get the newspaper, and you only look to see what you can buy the coupons, and you look to the newspaper, you only look in the sports section, or you look to the newspaper, you only look to see the headlines from your credit or crime. You're not really reading what's going on in the society.

We had an audit in the corner and to feel

the greatest

that comes over and over and over is to be mindful of God to be conscious of God, God is warning us about our moral consciousness and behavior.

So we have been ordered to feel God to be mindful of God, to be mindful of His revelation, to obey Almighty God and to be conscious and to enjoy what is right and forbid what is wrong. And to be fair, and just in our dealings, we should strive to be voting, we should strive to both understand and implement the core and, and the authentic sooner of the Messenger of Allah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam within the context and the framework of the Constitution where we live in,

we should develop the thinking and the commitment to Islamic community, the organized Islamic community. And when I say the organized Islamic community, I mean that all the different influences of the Muslim need to come together into a pact, a bond, a platform, with a set of fields feels soon he or she he or whatever you want to call it, you have to find a way to build bridges, instead of blaming, because you will always be polarized and separated. And you're everybody who separated his bone.

Today, he thought he would every book is waving their own flag saying who's right and blaming the other person, you're not going to get anywhere like that. We have to make some compromises, not compromises to the sources, not compromised in our faith, but compromise with human beings who perceive things different than ourselves.

We should develop the thinking and the commitment to building an Islamic organized Islamic community, creating an organized national leadership. I mean,

if the non Muslims, whether they are the Socialist Party, or the Communist Party, or they are the they are the Liberal Party, or the Progressive Party, or whatever, they have differences among themselves. But when it comes time to vote, and to establish the institution to be accountable and to discipline themselves, what do they do?

They carry out concerted effort.

And we have to do the same thing. Why is it that Muslims living in the Netherlands have not formed our national leadership? I won't ask you the questions. We should ask the leaders that question. No leader is any better than another leader. Those leaders need to come together every 60 days

or three or four times a year.

At the National Muslim leadership,

they're going to be able to change and make some contributions on behalf of the Muslims.

Also, we have to think about development about skills and products and services.

All the time that Muslims have been living in Europe, why haven't they produced the car?

I mean, why haven't they produced a refrigerator?

Why would they produce a toaster

It doesn't make sense to me.

And we're bad people, we should be producing the best products and offering the best services.

Because that's what Islam told us to do. Well,

in the law, you need a law says and do excellence, the excellence on every level, because those who are dedicated towards excellence,

we should strongly urge, in fact, we should insist upon our respected leaders to collaborate, to cooperate, and to galvanize the Muslim community, in order to address not only their particular issues, but the critical issues of the society itself. We can no longer accept or support religious ritualism and traditions that distance us and isolate us from the mainstream society, when isolation is allowed

to join with his people, and already set up to join with the people not to separate from the people. We can change things by separating from the people.

We have to be involved, caring, and contributing to the welfare of the greater society.

We must engage in open dialogue

with people who are the most ignorant,

who are the most provocative, who have moved in framing the speech as our practice every day. We have to endure them. We have to tolerate them. And we have to do exactly what I'm saying to Mr. Mr. wilderness and the people on his level, we should invite them to public dialogue, not debate, not a debate about I want to debate about if that's the sky and this dirt, we debate about that.

We want to have an open dialogue upon what somebody perceives to be a threat. When somebody perceives to be the truth, or what somebody perceives to be false. We need to have an open dialogue. So the whole public can see what he had to say, and what he had to say or she or whatever the case might be over a period of time because whoever sincere, they can be transparent and they can be open. And that's what Islam Sidra

Allah

says that used

to come with a few

1000

we Muslims should be prepared to be open. Secondly, when we are discussing things with people, don't be reactionary. Don't let people push your buttons and make you look at a foolish and criminal.

No, be patient, be dignified, be disciplined.

We have to engage in open dialogue and interfaith discussions. We have to have public forums and projects that would allow the Islamic values to be exemplified. We should remember that we are not simply a faith based community. No, we are a community with clear mandate to establish our faith into society.

We should feel the overwhelming compulsion to preach and to teach our faith, inviting with clarity, confidence and wisdom, every human being regardless of their social status. And we Muslims, we have the right to give our opinions and our advice. But we do not have a right to go around condemning people, whether Muslims or non Muslims, saying that we are right and they are wrong. The Prophet did not do that. So why do

we not believe in the excellence of Islam and its historical capacity, to engage to compete and to prevail in any environment at any time and under any circumstances. And we must develop and sustain the belief and the certainty that the Islamic system is the best system and the best solution and the most profound vision for this society and for the entire world irregardless of place or time or circumstance.

We must be prepared to put forward this proposition and to point to a very clear irrefutable evidence for what we are saying Allah, Almighty God will hold us accountable for the privileges and the opportunities that we have been given as Muslims living in this city.

Sorry, are Muslims living in your society today? And Almighty God will ask us on the Day of Judgment, what contribution did you make as a sign of your gratitude?

When Muslims show their genuine concern, and put their hands out to work, and consider other people in your country, the Netherlands and in Europe,

they will recognize

they will see,

they will witness

we Muslims build themselves and lots of social reform movement in this country, others will listen, and some will respond. And then we can put forward some of the moral principles that inevitably will affect and benefit the society. I truly believe that we Muslims are holding keys to stabilizing this country and this society. But we can only use those keys, women, if we can think outside the box.

And we're in if our particular cultural ethnic experience could be subordinated to Islam and our conduct, and we understand and appreciate the value of our country

and its constitution, and that we understand and appreciate the opportunity and a distinction that we have, as citizens of this country and other countries in Europe in the world.

They are Muslims.

Anybody here to say?

He's telling?

What are you talking about about citizenship? Well, I think you need to wake up and smell the coffee.

Because

you see it from wherever you hear from, but not how long you been here. You might have been here for years, all your life, you might have just got here 10 years ago. And you could be still calling yourself whatever you want to call yourself. But guess what, you might go back home to visit, but you're not giving up your passport.

You've gone back to visit but you're not going back to state. Because you appreciate what you have.

To be honest about it. If you appreciate what you have, you got to appreciate the society that gave you what you have.

When Muslims show their genuine concern, and put their hands out to work and contribute, our people in this society will take notice. When Muslims commit themselves to large a social profile reform movement in this country, others will listen and some will respond. And then we can put forward a moral proposition that may save our country and the world. I truly believe that we Muslims are holding keys

to stabilizing this country and the world. But we can only use those keys when and if we can think outside the box and think outside of our particular cultural ethnic experience, and understand and appreciate the values of our country. And the opportunity and distinction that we have. as citizens of the country where we live. No doubt, there will be strong criticisms coming from various circles of self righteous Muslims and their leadership that this sounds like selling out or deviating from the Islamic ideological allegiance. In fact, I would rather

apply the terminology binding in

not selling out, but buying in

because that's what he did. When you arrived in Medina.

from Mecca to Medina, he didn't set up he bought in

the first instruction that he gave.

This was the first thing he said before he told the people go knock on the doors until the new sheriff in town.

He didn't do that. He said to

go and spread food but the people

eat with them and offer your food with them. Because when people eat together and drink together, they establish normal relationships

and give good readings.

give good reviews to those whom you know, maybe the Muslims and those who you don't know and show good behavior.

That when we take that chart this new course

that Muslims are not religious isolationists and the Muslims are not extremist and Muslims are non fanatics. But wherever

Muslims are engaged in the social and political activity of reforming the Society for the goodness of humanity. I believe that we have to be committed to preserving the constitutional freedoms.

When we want to use the word democratic or not. We don't have to be dialectical rhetorical about that statement. Generally what democracy means an open free society. And democracy is not the same everywhere. Democracy means something different in Switzerland than it does in Sweden, democracy is a little bit different. Okay. And while

you're

here in your country, that is in Germany, but they're all using terminology, open, free, and reasonably just society.

If you're living here,

nobody's forcing you to stay here.

If you don't think this is an open free society, and they offer you benefits, guess what, pack your clothes, pack your bags and leave a passport.

As you know, by leaving.

So I have to believe I believe that we have to be committed to preserving the constitutional freedoms, and collaborating with other

human beings in our society to defend our country.

Because our professors have told us that whatever country that we're living in,

we have to defend the country.

The Muslims,

the first

the king, the ruler has asked him,

he asked him if our country is attacked, would you help us defend it? He said, Yes.

See what happened.

The King of that country of Hamish because of the good behavior of the Muslims, after 12 years, he became a Muslim.

Before he died, seven of his cabinet ministers became Muslims. Not because

not because of the sheer emotional dialogue and argument in debating, but from the behavior of the Muslims, that the Muslims were businessmen, and they were agricultural people, because we were contributing to society. And there was no one to be honest, and just their behavior. So we're not expecting the president of your country or the Prime Minister of your country or we don't expect them to become Muslim. We don't expect that. But guess what? It could happen

that could never happen.