Khalid Yasin – Reform Revival
AI: Summary ©
The community is critical in addressing issues such as poverty and addiction, struggles with homeless people and negative impacts of alcohol and drugs addiction on society, and addressing issues with homeless people and negative impacts of alcohol and drugs addiction on society. The speakers emphasize the importance of empowering people to reform their community and achieving their goals, while also acknowledging the need for leaders to commit to fixing themselves and their pockets to achieve their goals. The community is critical in driving change and achieving financial goals, and the speakers express their desire to establish a community and encourage others to join.
AI: Summary ©
In Alhamdulillah, Hamdan
bin Mubarak and Fie
Alhamdulillah wa Salatu was salam wa ala Mustafa
Muhammad Rasulullah
sallallahu alayhi wa sallam
was early he was happy he was YG he was among wala
Baba.
My dear, respected
brothers and sisters,
friends and neighbors.
Ladies and gentlemen,
we praise
Almighty God.
Because
it is almighty god that is responsible for our creation and for our sustenance.
We praise Almighty God.
And we asked for his guidance
and the preservation of our
society.
We thank Almighty God for the opportunity
to share a moment
or
a short space of time
with the people of Trinidad and Tobago.
And we should be clear
what our intentions are, at least let me be clear,
because the Messenger of Allah, Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, in the mallamma lovin yet
every action will be judged and examined on the Day of Judgment, on the basis of the merit and the purity of the real intention. So if some people came out here tonight, to be entertained, that's all you will get.
And if someone came to entertain you,
that's all they will get.
Your Enthusiasm, your accolades, and your remembrance, Have a nice evening.
But let me be clear,
I did not come to this country, to be stoked or to be poked or to be patted on my back or to be given some special accolades. I don't need that.
Because the one who created us is the one that will give out the real rewards on the Day of Judgment.
And I did not come to entertain
or to just occupy your time.
Tonight,
I would like to speak about a subject
that, in my opinion, is one of the most important issues for us to consider.
It is an issue that surrounds us, it is an issue that sustains us.
Yet many of us go through our entire lives, without ever giving any serious
for our consideration
to this issue.
It is not a sophisticated issue is not one that requires technical knowledge.
Like the water that we drink, and the air that we breathe, most of us
will not address this issue until the lack of it
like water and air disappears and we don't have access to it.
We will not address this issue until it threatens our lives
or our personal welfare.
The issue that I'm speaking about
is the community that we live in.
As a result of fiber optics and telecommunications, the world
has become a global community
30 years ago,
most people in this part of the world would be concerned about the Caribbean.
The islands in the Caribbean, the countries of the Caribbean,
they will be concerned about Trinidad.
Maybe they would be concerned about the Western Hemisphere
because they would not have had any view or any communication or any contact with the rest of the world.
But today,
headlines, news, fax, phone telex, mobile phones Bluetooth, read to whatever kinds of communication that's available for us. Cinema screens, preoccupy us with the world.
And as we become more and more preoccupied with the world and what's in it, we become less and less preoccupied about ourselves,
about our families,
about our communities, about our society.
fiber optics, and telecommunication has made the world a global community.
Yet we cannot escape or deny the realities and dynamics of our local community.
From the macro to the micro,
our lives are interconnected
and intertwined by the community that's around us.
It is the attention of or the neglect of our community that will inevitably determine the actual quality of our lives.
Sometimes,
you and I,
we are so preoccupied with our personal acquisitions,
our personal interests, our personal status, our personal attainments that we cannot see beyond ourselves, we cannot even see across the street,
we can't see
beyond the concern of ourselves,
we fail to see the connection, or the impact of that homeless man
or that homeless woman
because we cannot ever imagine that we could become like them.
Because our houses are too big.
Our jobs are too secure.
We rest too well, and we eat too much. And we buy what we want. So we cannot imagine we cannot empathize with that homeless man or that homeless woman, but part of their homelessness is your responsibility.
And part of what you eat is part of what they are unable to eat.
And part of how you live is the reason why they are living in the street.
Because they are part of the community, but they have become invisible.
So that we pass them on the street.
We pass by and look through them.
Because there's no place for them. In our personal lives.
We fail to make a connection or to understand the impact on our lives of the homeless, of the wayward of the disadvantage of the fatherless.
The poverty stricken, the confused and the frustrated people. Why? Because we don't like to think about them. It doesn't make us comfortable to think about them. Because to think about them too long, makes us feel guilty. And we have to give something we have to do something and we are so preoccupied, we don't got nothing to give, and we ain't got no time to offer. So we look and pass through them.
We fail to understand we fail to intervene, we fail to empathize.
With this segment of the society, because we want to think in our own minds, that they are the way they are the frustrated the homeless, the way with the drug addiction, the the alcoholic, we say they're in that condition, because they put themselves in that tradition. That's not true. They had something to do with it, they made some choices, but you and me, we have,
we have thought,
they are conditioned.
We have fortified a place for the homeless, just like the people who are oppressors.
In order for them to be rich,
and continue to be rich, in order for them to continue to own press, they have to have a class of people that are poverty stricken, who themselves can be exploited, because they have nobody else to be able to sound their oppression upon. So you and I,
we wouldn't call ourselves oppressors.
And you probably would say, Oh, I'm not really rich.
But yet you are.
There's not a person in the stadium, probably that has seen a day in their lives, that they have been hungry.
Hungry doesn't mean you missed lunch.
Hungry doesn't mean you missed a day, eating or drinking.
Hungry means that you haven't you don't know where you will eat tomorrow. And perhaps you haven't had a full meal in months, that's hungry.
And when you cannot imagine that, sometimes you think to yourselves,
how can somebody be in that kind of a condition?
their brothers and sisters of the Trinidad society?
I want to say to you that because we
fail to realize
the impact of the socially disadvantage.
We fail to analyze and understand how people have become socially dysfunctional.
Now, when we talk about being socially dysfunctional, what do we talking about?
We're talking about alcoholics. We're talking about drug addicts. We're talking about criminals. We're talking about juvenile delinquency. We're talking about prostitution.
We're talking about people addicted to gambling.
These people have become socially dysfunctional. But I asked you
where does the alcohol come from?
The people that drink alcohol every day and have become addicted to it, they did not manufacture it.
The people that take drugs every day, they don't manufacture it.
The woman that prostitute,
they didn't come to prostitute just simply because one day they woke up and said they just like to have * in order to make money.
The people that do violent crime, they didn't just wake up one morning and said, I want to be like, Scarface.
I just want to kill people. I just want to kidnap people. I just want to shoot people. I just want to rob people know, they started out like your sons and daughters.
They started out just like you and me. But at some point
they were neglected. At some point. They became frustrated. At some point, they made
a knee jerk decision
or decision that did not allow them to come back to sanity. And that's why you and I have to be very careful of the decisions that we make. Because sometimes we make a decision that does not allow us to return back to normalcy, not to return back to credibility, not to return back to functionality.
My brothers and sisters,
these dysfunctional people.
We don't think about them until
somebody in our family
He becomes an alcoholic.
until somebody in our family becomes a drug addict
until one of our daughters
become a prostitute
until you are, come home and find our house broken into
until one of us or one of our loved ones get carjacked,
or kidnapped, or shot or stabbed, then all of a sudden,
all of a sudden, we become so very concerned about these kinds of people. But just the day before, a week before
you pass by that part of the newspaper,
you weren't that much concerned about that. But today, you are preoccupied about it, because you have become part of the statistic
that is the selfish part of the human being. And that is the part of the human being that fact that does not allow you and I
to help to reform our community.
The brothers and sisters,
suddenly, we realize that our that regardless of our status in life, of our cultivated stations, we are all part of a greater community. And if we want to improve the quality of our lives, we most certainly have to improve the quality of our community.
This brings us to our chosen topic,
the enhancement and the empowerment of our community. Now, I'm speaking generally, I understand that 85 or 90% of the people sitting here are Muslims.
But here, I'm speaking more directly to the people of Trinidad.
And for the non Muslims, I'm speaking more directly to you.
Because the issue of community doesn't stop at religion.
We are all in a boat together. Christians, Hindus, Muslims and others, we're all in a boat together. And my being here, as a visitor puts me on your boat.
The boat is called Trinidad.
And Trinidad is on a boat, the boat of the world.
And we all have to be concerned about what goes on on the boat.
Because if some people on the bottom of the boat,
they get aggravated, and they get frustrated, and they get jealous about what's going on in the top of the boat. So they say we can drill holes in the boat to get our own water.
If the people on the top, let the people on the bottom drill holes in the boat, everybody in the boat is going to drown.
So this society is facing
some major social problems. It's not hard to see
when I ride out in the suburbs, and see these luscious, beautiful homes
and these big messages and these beautiful women and rich men and vibe and a net cause and the highways it makes you think to yourself, Trinidad is such a beautiful country. When you sit with the people and you live and you eat 24 of the 57 different kinds of fruits and all kinds of food that they have make you feel to yourself. Oh man, this place is almost like paradise.
But when you go downtown
y'all know what downtown means.
When you go to a site, what do you call it? Daigo
was the call.
They go man.
Loving till
when you go to some of these places, that's when you see another face of Trinidad.
And I hear a lot of people say this. Those those pitiful criminal minded people, those scum of the earth people don't people killing and kidnapping and selling drugs and gambling and prostitution. They their day to day the scum of the earth and they have brought a bad reputation to this country and we need to do something about somebody do something about them people, those people your people
Well, I say
that those people have as much right
to the wealth of this country as you do.
And they have as much right to enjoy the resources of this country, as you do.
And the reason that your country is facing some major social challenges is because some of you have become so complacent in what you have, that you have allowed the meaner elements of the society to take over
the brothers and sisters?
How can we enhance and empower our community? Some people will answer this by saying
that we need to address and upgrade the institutions that deliver services such as schools, hospitals, and housing, some people will say that we need to improve the municipal infrastructure. Some people will say that we need to fix the roads and the transportation and the social services. Others will say that we need to reduce taxes, and others will say that we need to deal with crime and unemployment all that's correct.
I say that all who say these things are right. However, I can remember the status
of these same things and the statistics 50 years ago,
people were saying the same thing 50 years ago.
This is because
real enhancement and genuine empowerment is not achieved by material acquisitions and influence. On the contrary, today, the level of technology and institutional progress in the western civilization and Trinidad is unsurpassed in any country of the world. But in every community, big or small poverty level or upper class, we find chronic, emotional, psychological, and social disorders that have reached uncontrollable proportions. And if we make a pathological assessment, we will discover the root of the dilemma for different diseases that have our society, your society and Western society. On the edge
of disintegration. You say to yourself, what is this man talking about?
We put up big buildings. We live in large, we making big progress. What are you talking about on the edge of disintegration of the society? Well, I tell you, people look at the history in 1975. In 1980, no one predicted that the largest government conglomerate in the world, the USSR, which was called the Soviet Union, nobody predicted that it would disintegrate. It has.
It has disintegrated.
Brothers and sisters, there are four evils and four characteristics of disease that is threatening our society. stress, anxiety and confusion of one set in morality and corruption is another set. The burden of debt and overtaxation is another one, spiritual deprivation and gross materialism is the fourth.
A wise man once said, Oh God, I seek refuge in You from anxiety and grief, from lack of strength and laziness,
from neighborliness and cowardice from being overpowered by debt and the oppression of men. Oh God, I asked you to suffice me what is lawful to keep me away from what is unlawful and with your grace and your power and your benevolence make me free and independent of everyone and everything except you.
Now those Muslims here should know that do I that invocation, but those non Muslims that are here never heard it, you need to learn it.
Because that do i is the DA against the evils of the society.
It is the DA which helps us to be conscious of the evils that start inside.
That wise man was the Prophet Muhammad peace and blessings be upon him.
These are the
diseases that attack the mind. These are the diseases that attack the heart and the spirit of the human beings and therefore debilitating the society and eroding the very core of the community. These are the diseases that interfere with our thinking process, our sensitivities, our mutual respect for one another, and our sense of morality, every society in history
that allowed itself to develop this pathology found itself on the precipice of the civilizational concept on the civilizational collapse. Every community that fails to reform itself, and restore its moral balance will suffer, what we see our communities are presently suffering. I say to you, that this country,
this society, and its communities, just like the one right here
50 years ago, had no problem with prayer in school,
had no problem in speaking about God, even in a public forum by politicians. But now what have we come to? What price have we paid for technological progress? In most western countries in the world, we cannot even mention God in the classroom.
In most western countries in the world, politicians dare not reveal what their real religious sentiments are. Because if they were to take a moral stand, they would have to say that I am against prostitution. I am against homosexuality and lesbianism.
I am against alcoholism, I am against drug addiction. I am against gambling.
But they don't want to say that because they're too much revenue that come in from gambling. They don't want to say that because
the pink power, the pink dollar, the pink vote of the so called alternative life, people can determine they have been in office or not. So therefore their moral convictions, they put it down, and they never even mentioned it so that we find the alternative people, the pink people, the alternative lifestyle people, they start getting so bold,
that now we find Congress, we find the Senate, we find the parliament, we find the presidents, we find the chairman's, we find the prime ministers, they cannot even speak against Mommy, mommy families, daddy daddy families where women married women and men married men, they can't say nothing, because they are afraid of losing their positions. What about their positions on the day of judgment? What about their position is in front of God? What about their positions in front of their children? What about their positions in front of the society? What do they think the society will become if the men start marrying the men and the women start marrying the women, what will happen to
the family structure and what will happen to the fiber of the community?
A wise man once said, Almighty God will not change the condition of a people until the people change the condition inside their own hearts. That wise man was the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him.
I say to you, that every society in history that allowed itself to develop this pathology found itself on the precipice of civilizational collapse. And every community that fails to reform itself and restore its moral balance will suffer what we are suffering in our communities. I say to you, that this country, this society, and its communities, just like this, one must stand up for what is right. You must stand up for what is moral, you must stand up for God and bring God consciousness back into your lives and back into your communities and back into your families and back into your own mind and your own heart. We must begin to reform ourselves and reform the society because if you
don't, the filth that you ignore, will soon be at your door.
The corruption that you ignore, that you are the beneficiaries of some of you will say I'm not a beneficiary of corruption. I say you are.
You are enjoying a special type of lifestyle that you don't want to change and that's why you ignore corruption.
And you ignore godliness. So therefore you become a beneficiary of godlessness and corruption.
I say to you,
we must ask ourselves what has happened to the mentioning of God at our dinner table? In fact, we have to ask ourselves, where are the tables with families sit together and eat together and talk about God and morality today, a statistic that I want to share with you.
Only one in 15 families in the Western societies
eat together with their families once a week.
Only one in 15 families in western civilization, eat with their families once a week, and only one and 120 families that eat together once a week ever mentioned God at the dinner table.
So what has happened to us? What is going on with us? So the Muslims who say, Oh, shit, that don't apply to us, we say Bismillah every time we eat.
Yeah, but you say this midlaw over your food. But you say Bismillah to the rest of the people.
So you are just as guilty as the rest of the people. And you are just as mindful as the rest of the people. Because you eat over your own food, and you bless your own food, but neither do you share your own food, nor that you share your prayers with the rest of the people who have become godless.
Their brothers and sisters.
In fact, the dinner table has disappeared.
Most of us now eating fast food.
We want to eat at McDonald's. We want to go to the food court. We want to eat it or That's right. McDonald's didn't make it in Trinidad. I'm sorry.
But Burger King is still here.
Yeah, you like KFC? You should ask yourself what KFC what it means.
You must ask yourself, what is it doing to your society? You must ask yourself why Muslims want to go out? Why do people want to go out and eat it is because they don't want to sit down and face each other at home.
And because of that,
the dinner table is disappearing. Right now. If you've got a dinner table, or dining room table in your house, I'll guarantee you this.
It has almost become an antique.
Because maybe mom and dad might sit at that table every now and then you might get a guest once a month to sit at that table. But mom and dad and the children, they don't sit at that table anymore.
Tell me That's the truth.
And if you don't sit at the dinner table anymore, to look across the table at your children, and look across the table at yourselves, then God has left your house.
And most of the blessings of your prayers are never really cultivated inside of your house. Your blessings and your prayers are just on your tongues. Something you say inside the mosque. Something that you read when you read the book. When you go to church, it is just something that you say. But the real blessing, the real illumination, the real inspiration, the real education, the real system of discipline and respect among the people. It has disappeared. Because the dinner table, or the breakfast table has given way to McDonald's, Burger King, Pizza Hut, KFC, or whatever you want to call fast.
We have sacrificed the family for fast food. We have sacrificed the family for fast money. We have fat sacrifice the family for fast life, fast *, fast pleasures, we want everything fast. And because of that
we have put ourselves on a fast track to the deterioration of our society. And we need to step back for a moment we need to slow down. We need to ask ourselves, we have to bring godliness back to our homes. We have to bring godliness back to our lives, Godliness back to our communities and godliness back to our family and ourselves. And when we bring God back to the family into the home, we will bring God back to the society and we bring godliness back to the society. We will be on the road to reforming and addressing the problems of this community and this society.
A wise man once said,
Take care of five matters. Before five other matters.
He said, peace and blessings be upon him. Take care of your youth, before your old age,
take care of your health, before your illness, take care of your wealth, before your poverty, take care of your free time, before you become busy, take care of your life, before your death.
That wise man was the Prophet Mohammed. So a lot of us are on peace and blessings be upon him.
All Muslims, we have to call the people back to God in Scripture.
We have to call the people back to God and scripture.
And we have to be unafraid of their criticisms about that matter.
We have to remind the Prime Minister of this country of his moral obligation to bring prayer and the reading of Scripture to his office, and also to his actions, and also to his political platform, he must speak about God and scripture and morality, if he wants to bring reform back to this country. And it doesn't matter that I'm speaking about the Prime Minister of Trinidad because it could be the Prime Minister of England, or it could be the Prime Minister of any other country, it would mean the same and we Muslims have to have enough courage to speak to the Prime Minister butcher write letters to the Prime Minister. And to remind him just like Moses reminded Pharaoh.
Now I'm not comparing your prime minister to Pharaoh.
I'm only saying that the people, the common people like ourselves, we have to remind those who are in elected positions, in selected positions in prestigious positions and influential positions, we have to remember, they are ordinary people in extraordinary positions. And they have extraordinary responsibility in front of the people and also inevitably in front of God.
And they will be questioned by God. But while they're living there, people who keep them in office must also question them about the issue of morality, because if you don't question them, other people are slipping that envelope and making your country more and more immoral.
Because that envelope is very difficult to turn away.
When those people come down here, and they want to build a casino, where they want to build a gambling casino, that's gonna ruin the lives of all the the older people and the younger people, when it comes down to the build that Casino in order to bring more gambling, addiction to your lives. When they bring that casino down. Here, they come and down here with about 50 million or 100 million US dollars to build that casino, and they got to get permission from somebody,
they got to get permission from somebody on top. So you know, before they build that casino, then spend that 50 million, they bring in five or 10 million in some kind of envelopes to try to influence somebody to get that land in your community in order to exploit you. I say we got to tell them no.
Because when they build that 50 million US dollar casino, you're gonna wind up having at least 500 holes, prostitutes, drug addicts, and others who's gonna be there working on the fringes, getting some of that money from the people that love to gamble, because gambling go along with prostitution, and gambling go along with drug addiction, and gambling go along with alcohol and gambling go along with all the sins of the society and whoever accept that money and who have allowed him to come is a beneficiary of it. And you have to say no,
because it's ungodly, it is immoral. There is no real benefit, don't come to the society. The benefit is gonna be short lived. And the society is gonna be further towards the precipice of immorality, and it's gonna be further towards its conscious collapse as a civilization if you don't say no.
We have to call ourselves
Back to morality and godlessness and godliness. Yes, even the Muslims, you have to ask yourself, Am I a traditional Muslim? Am I a cultural Muslim? Am I an ethnic Muslim? Am I a personal Muslim, because all those kinds is like trash.
If you pull something out the container,
if you take something and open up the can and take it out, where you put it, that you put it in the trash, and your culture needs to be in the trash and your ethnicity, on the scale of God remains in the trash. So Muslims by culture, and Muslim by ethnicity, and personalized Muslims, you need to put your personal, cultural and your ethnic Islam or your lamb into the trash.
Because that is not what God intended for Islam. God intended Islam to be a treasure to be shared, to be spread, to be seen, to be benefited by everybody, all the non Muslims of this society, whether they are Hindu or Christian, or don't even have a religion, they also have a right to see and benefit from what Islam has offered. So you Muslims need to ask yourself to come back to morality because morality means consciousness. Morality means unselfishness. Morality means sacrifice. Morality means concern. Morality means environment with the society, not just being Muslim, saying some words and wearing some clothes and being knowing that you are Muslim by cultural ethnicity or
personalized know, your Islam has got to be seen, and it's got to be smelled, there's got to be heard. It's got to be felt, then you will bring godliness back to this society.
We cannot give in to the immoral minority.
Yes, I say the immoral minority. I don't believe I don't believe anywhere I go. that the majority of the people are no good, that they are on immoral people, that they are corrupt people that they are ungodly people. No, I believe, and I have a feeling. And I have a conviction that basically inside of the human being, they are basically good, and they bought good, but they become overwhelmed by the immorality of the minority.
the morality of the minority,
because the way in morality comes it comes to pleasures.
When in morality come it comes to self benefit.
When morality comes, it comes in the form of technology. When morality comes, it comes in the form of mortgages. Within morality comes it comes and it gives us the promise of green grass in our front yard, in our backyard, two cars in every garage, and two chickens in every pot, and more and more for me and for me, and for me, that's how in morality comes, it comes in through the desires and the people who are greedy, who are selfish, they are just as immoral, immoral, as the prostitute as the drug addict, as the as the alcoholic, as the thief as the criminal, as the murderer, as those who take the envelope. They are justice, immoral, the Muslim, the Christian, or the non Muslim, or the
Buddhist or the Hindu, the black or the white, or whosoever you are, if you are like that you have contributed equally to the immorality of this society.
We cannot
give into complacency and frustration. We can't just say to ourselves, Oh, I can't do nothing about it.
Or it's somebody else's problem.
It's not happening in my neighborhood, because I live in a gated community.
Had a sound nice.
A gated community. You just as stupid as you can be.
You think cuz you got a little gate out there with some little black guy inside a little booth who said that people come in or go out you think you got some protection or immunity from the corruption? Yeah, you say that until you drive outside of your little gated community and you get yourself caught jack. Then you say, oh, now it's our problem. Look what's happening in our society. Now all of a sudden is our society.
No brothers and sisters, don't be complacent.
Think about
imagine,
examine
reflect upon what's happening to your society,
outside of your gated community, outside of your, your comfort zones, outside of the areas, you know, where your people, your family living, where you grew up in, where you get your green grass in the front and the back end, drive outside, go see the rest of your community. Because that rest of the community is the holes in the boat.
And it makes me
it makes me sad to see the disproportionate disproportionate wealth in this society.
Somebody talks about the middle class, you know, I only see no middle class here.
I see the very, very poor.
And I see the very, very rich, I see the very, very needy and disadvantaged. And I see the verb greedy, and taking full advantage
as the people who are hungry,
devastated.
This functional, sad, frustrated, don't know which way to go. And I see other people educated with big bellies, big cars and big houses. And they want to live two, three times a day.
That's called disproportionate wealth. And don't be blaming your prime minister. And don't be blaming your president. Because the only reason you blaming him because you want something like he got.
You ain't blaming him, because you see that he live in any different than you. Because I say that most leaders, like your prime minister and your president
are basically just like you and I, ordinary people with an extraordinary position of influence, and you have to pray for them. Yes, I say Muslims, you got to pray for your prime minister. You got to pray for your president. You got to pray for their cabinet. I don't say pray like they pray. But you got to pray, you got to ask God to influence their lives, you got to ask God to help put morality in the presidential palace, if that's what it's called, or the house of the Prime Minister, or your Senate, or whatever you want to call it or the parliament, you got to pray to God at some of them, when they go home at night that they will read Scripture.
And you got to pray for your country.
Don't just pray for yourself.
Muslims, don't just pray for your family. And don't just make dua for the Muslims. Now, make dua and ask a law to bring heat into the country, bring heat to everybody ask God that the Hindus in this country that even though we don't agree,
we don't agree with the Association of partners with Almighty God, we don't agree.
But if you have a Hindu neighbor, you don't agree with his worship, because we are angry at what God is angry about. And that is associated with partners with God. And that is taking others along with God or adding names to god that's not his names, or adding partners to God or making more than one God, we are angry about that. And God is angry about that. But they're still our neighbors, and we must treat them well. We must interact, we must talk with them. And we must collaborate with them in order to do what to offset the corruption and the morality in this society. Muslims cannot become isolationist Muslims cannot become self righteous. Muslims cannot just say themselves, or dumb
Hindus, or dumb Christians, or dumb blacks, or dumb those or whatever. Because whenever you point, and you blame at one person, you three fingers is always pointing back at you.
And part of the blame
is you and I. Because we don't take our faith. And we don't take our convictions outside of our house, outside of the mosque outside of the madrasa outside of ourselves. We are complacent, and we are selfish. We want to keep the treasure of Islam in our house, in our car printed on the radio inside the madrasa inside the budget and we think to ourselves by doing that God is gonna be pleased with us. How is God gonna be pleased with selfish and greedy people? How is God gonna be pleased?
With them know, when the wrath of a law comes down on a godless society, it will come down on the heads of those who did nothing about it.
I say
that the scholars of the Muslims in this country come out of their high places.
Let them come out of their comfort zones. Let them come out of their ecclesiastical places, let them come out of their message, let them come out of their mattresses, let them come out of their homes and let them be the example for the Trinidadian people. Let them be transparent. Let their morals be examined that their life be seen. And let them be clear about their commitment to a new Trinidad into a new moral society and let people be able to compare what they say and what they preach with the real way that they are living.
You see the Messenger of Allah, Muhammad, the prophet of Allah,
what he ate, everybody knew what he was and how we own it. Everybody knew who his wife was, whether she was a Christian, or Hindu or Muslim, everybody knows. But today, we don't know.
When people got big titles, when people got big positions, when people got long beards, when people got prestigious positions, they can build walls around a family and around a life. So we don't really know what's going on.
But I see what's going on.
I see some of them girls walking around in the malls, with all a bus and booties out. I see them and some of them is the daughters of these prestigious scholars.
Some of the women
in this country who has married Hindus, Muslim women, who's marrying Hindus, Muslim women who's marrying Christians, Muslim women who don't pray in Muslim women just walking around looking like prostitutes. They are the daughters and the Sisters of some of the people who call themselves scholars.
Some of the people who call themselves scholars is living in houses that they bought from the bank.
Some of the people who are scholars, they never been outside that community. They never been out. They never looked down to see no poor people. They never gave no set of codes, no poor people, they never came down off the mimbar. They never came out of the madrasa. They never quit and talk to alcoholic or to give addict or to a criminal and ask them, How can I help you to reform your lives because they too righteous.
When you get to righteous, you don't want to get your hands dirty.
When you get to righteous you don't want to get your clothes dirty. You don't want to be walking down the no dirty streets. You don't want to be walking, sitting down with no dirty people, you don't be going to no dirty areas where the dirty streets and the dirty people and the dirty areas is where Jesus Christ and where Mohammed sells them. And where Moses. As I say, if the scholars don't want to walk down there, they get on that path.
Bring your teaching, and bring your preacher and bring your your recitation and bring your knowledge and bring your sophistication and bring your righteousness, bring it out front where everybody can see it. Let your life become transparent. So you can be the beacons of hope and the beacons of reform for this society. So the society can see that our scholars, they are the ones who carry the torch for the Reformation and for the reconstruction of society, because that was the mission of the Prophet Mohammed. So a lot of us have them. The Messenger of Allah Azza wa sallam said,
Verily, Allah subhanho wa Taala
caused me to be born among the poor, and I love the poor.
He said, I love to sit with the poor people.
I love to be surrounded by the poor people.
Because when you surround yourself with poor people, when you sit with the poor people, you are reminded that they are part of humanity that must be addressed. And you are reminded of the blessings that Allah gives you. And when you get to the point where you can't be down with them poor, disadvantaged, underprivileged, criminal, dirty, socially dysfunctional people, I say that you are also as a scholar, as a student of knowledge as a righteous religious Muslim. You are also been this
dysfunctional
because it is the religious people,
the Christian religious people,
the Hindu religious people, the Muslim religious people, they have an obligation to shine their lights of guidance on the society. I say, I say that a group of the most prestigious Hindus, the most prestigious Christians, the most prestigious Muslims, they need to put their differences to the side, and they need to write a letter, and they need to march straight to the Senate, straight to the parliament, straight to the presidential palace. And they need to make an appeal to bring back morality to this society.
We cannot give into frustration and despair. We cannot ignore or procrastinate about our situation or our circumstances. Because I'll tell you, if you procrastinate. And if you ignore these circumstances, then I'll tell you what a dentist says. He says in his office, he got a sign up there. And he says, just leave your teeth alone, and they will go away.
You see, just ignore your teeth.
And they'll fall out.
And then you'll have to come to me to get some other teeth, that God didn't give you that I made some dentures. So just ignore your problems.
Just let them go by.
And I'll tell you in another 10 years, this country will be almost in total collapse.
But you know about collapse, I'll tell you about it. Why, why it's so dangerous. I'll tell you about collapse. If there's anybody here that knows about scientific theory, you will know that when you see a shooting star across the sky,
that shooting star is a sign of a star that has died. But it did not die when you saw the light. It died 1000s of light years away. But the light only reached us now.
And brothers and sisters, Western civilization is on the precipice of collapse. It's on the precipice of civilizational collapse. And you and me, we are in the middle of Western civilization. It's on the verge of collapse with all its sophisticated institutions. With all its sophisticated technological advancement from a moral point of view, from a quality of life point of view, our civilization as we know it is on the verge of collapse. Because you and I, we keep on procrastinating. We Muslims have the responsibility to collaborate with every good person, and every good agency in order to preserve the integrity of this society. For us, enjoying the right and
forbidding the role is a fundamental part of our social responsibility. And we should ask ourselves a few questions. I'm talking to the Muslims here. And we'll come back to the non Muslims. Let me talk to the Muslims here for a moment.
Let's ask ourselves a few questions about community.
What is the community?
Do we know what a community is? is a community a group of people that never certain place that have a certain idea is a community of certain people who have a certain religion? Is the community a group of people that are the same color that speak the same language? Is that your understanding of community? That's not my understanding? That's not the Islamic understanding of community is a community of human beings
who are organized in a certain area to fulfill their basic needs, the needs for their spirit, the need for their mind and the needs of their body, and they develop institutions to fulfill those needs. And they live in a certain geographical location. They could be black, they could be white, they could be tall, it could be shot. They could be male or female. They could be Muslim, Hindu, Christian or other but they are one community and that's what Trinidad is. It is a community of people.
The Muslim community is part of the Trinidadian society. You are not a separate group of people. You may be distinguished by Islam, but you are not a separate group of people. You cannot isolate yourself away from the problems of this society. No, you are smack dab in the middle.
And God is going to ask us on a day of judgment. What did you do to serve that society?
How does the Islamic community interact with other communities? We interact with other communities as the Messenger of Allah. So last time he said, he said to me, Tom, what chakra Salaam men are after woman lanta. If this was the prophet SAW stem said, he said, give food, share food with the people and take an accept the invitations of the people, give them invitations and accept their invitations to be able to talk to them, and give them guarantees of peace.
Give them greetings. Give them good salutations.
When others
whom you know, like yourselves, and whom you don't know, like your neighbor, like your colleague, and like your co worker, and like those dysfunctional people in your society.
How does the different components of the Islamic community identify and interact with one another? That's a good question. You know, I would, so far, I've prayed in about nine different messages here. I understand you got about 160.
You got 160 messages, and they don't interact with each other, you got 160 problems.
And if you got 160 liters of those 160 masjids. And those 160 liters, they don't meet together at least once a year.
You got 160 people, that's not worth it to lead nobody.
Because Islam is not like that.
Islam believes it. Sure.
Islam believes in consultation. Islam believes that leaders don't matter how tall they are, how knowledgeable they are, how prestigious they are, how powerful they are, how rich they are, how many people they got, how big their matches are, where they studied from, that doesn't matter, they are still obligated to meet with other leaders in order to deal with the problems of the Muslims and the problems of the society. And I asked you Muslims who sitting here tonight, when the last time you heard that the 160 leaders of this country met together to discuss the problems of the society and the problems of the Muslims. And don't blame them, because I'm not blaming them, they will be
blamed, and they will be chained on the day of judgment and drug on their faces. I'm blaming you and me. Because we put them there.
And we pray behind them. And we don't have enough courage to say, Hey, brother, Mom, Hey, brother, Amir, Hey, brother, mowlana, Hey, brother, move t Hey, brother, so and so because they just human beings now. I mean, they're not no Malaika. They're not people who cannot be approached, they're not people who cannot be asked. They're not people who are not accountable. They're not people who you can talk to, yes, they are like you and me, they eat and drink and put on their clothes and their socks and their pants, just like you and I. So they can be approached and talk to but you and I, because we sew into so much rituals. We just pray behind them. And then we go because we don't want
to be accountable to them. See this alpha code, we choose leaders, but we don't follow them.
And when leaders realize that they got groups of people, that ain't really following them, just people that listen to them on Juma and go.
People who only come to them for marriage problems, people come to them for social problems, people come to them to get a blessing people that come to them when they in need, they realize that so they realize that they got people who don't hold them accountable. So they also don't hold you accountable. So think about that.
Two groups of people, the leaders and the followers of the Muslims, who are not responsible, and who are not accountable, how can you address your problems? And how can you address the problems of this society? I say that the leaders of this country must be responsible to the people, the leaders of the Muslims in this country must be responsible to the people and the people must be accountable to the leadership and we have to draw a referendum to the leaders and the leaders got to sit down and listen to our referendum. If we got to get 50,000 signatures, if we got to get 100,000 signatures and put them in front of leaders and say Hey, brother, your mom. Hey brother, Amir. Hey brother,
maulana. Hey, brother, Mufti, you got to come together with the rest of these leaders.
Otherwise we can petition you to be out of that seat that you enjoy.
Then when those leaders come together because of the pressure that we put upon them, when they come together because of the fact that we tell them that they are responsible for us, because they have knowledge, and because they have positions positions in front of Allah, when they do come together, and they form a Madras assura of measures of leadership, and they didn't tell us what we need to do to respond to their leadership, we have to respond, and we have to be accountable. So it's a two way street.
It's not a street. This religion is not dependent upon scholars.
This religion is not dependent upon people with titles, this religion is not dependent upon followers. This religion is in need of people who are capable, capable scholars and knowledgeable people, capable scholars, and people who follow them who themselves will obey. People who will follow and commit themselves
are Muslims.
We have to ask, How are decisions reached? And what is the source of regulation and discipline of the Muslim community? When a brother when a man, a Muslim man, beats his wife, and kicks her out of the house, or breaks her arm? Or does what he wants to do? How is that addressed?
When a Muslim woman leaves her house and leaves her children are just go out in the street and sleep with some man. What do we do about that?
When a Muslim child becomes a drug addict, or drug dealer, alcoholic, a gambler of criminal, do we hide it? Or do we deal with it?
How are regulations?
And how are decisions reached in the Muslim community?
I say to you
that yesterday, I sat with a new Muslim sister. I won't mention her name. I'll just talk about her situation. And let you see how sad we are.
I sat with a sister who took her Shahada 11 months ago.
And she was a Christian before. She has a good husband, and a good marriage and a good family. She took Shahada almost a year ago, but she has been living and sleeping with that man who is not legal to be islamically legal to be her husband for a year.
And all these 160 leaders in Trinidad
probably didn't even know about her, and probably doesn't even care and probably goes asleep and wakes up in the morning and making their prayers and making that dualism dead Vickers and would give a damn less.
Because she's just a new black woman who accepted Islam. She's just a black woman from some society who just accepted Islam. And she ate from one of those ethnic cultural communities that we see and care about. She just saw a black Trinidadian woman that accepted Islam, and why should we care about her sleeping with a man that's not legal to be her husband.
And we sat with her and her husband, and talked about their family, and talked about their options.
And her husband
said in our company, when we talk to him about God and responsibility in his family, and he cried,
this is a non Muslim,
and non Muslim. When we rehearsed the eyes of Allah, when we told him about what the last room said, we told you about the decision of his wife, when we told him about this matter. And he thought about his children and his marriage and himself. And I asked him, Do you believe in God? He said, Yes. I said, Do you believe in goodness, yes. And do you see this woman as a good woman? He said, Yes. And don't you realize that you need to make a decision your life you say yes. And he cried.
Why does somebody got to come from the outside and sit with that lady and her husband, about their children? Because 90% of the Muslims in this country, or 80% of the Muslims in this country that are influential.
They wouldn't even know about it and they don't care about it. And then you got no time for that. Even if that woman came at a time when you would Lyman
If we say why she would go to the mosque, I called him and call him out Lana, I'm in Costa Rica, we can deal with that.
Because we don't want to be disturbed. And we don't want to be inconvenienced, because to be disturbed and to be inconvenience. That's what Islam tells us to be. And I say to you, that problems like that is your problem. It is a problem of your society. It's a problem of your communities. is the problem of your mom's your motherland is your is your Amir's, your leaders, your scanners, it is their problem to solve because the messenger of Allaah sells him before law made him a prophet in a messenger. He was a social worker.
He was a social worker,
before law made him a prophet and messenger, he was a social worker, and after law made him a messenger, the prophet, he was still a social worker, and a social worker has a heart and has a mind and have feelings for the people
are Muslims.
What are the assets of the Muslim community? What are the liabilities of the Muslim community? How can we work to cultivate and participate in this community? What is the Gema?
Most of the Muslim leaders and scholars in the influential Muslim who say we are no Sunda, Sunda, well, Gemma We are the people of the Sunnah. And the people of the Jamaat, I say, yeah, we understand the sooner we understand the actions and the words of the Messenger of Allah. So awesome. Yeah, we understand that. But I asked you, where is the Gema?
Oh, no, I'm not talking about Jamal muslimeen. I'm not talking about no particular group of Muslims here. The Jama is the organized body of Muslims, whoever they are with their leaders in Trinidad in North America, and Asia, in Africa, in Europe, the Muslim wherever they are, this is the oma, this is the JAMA and you and I have got to see ourselves as part of the global Jamaat of the Muslims, following the Quran and the Sunnah.
What are the prospects for Islam in this country? Let me tell you what I see.
And I don't care.
Listen, this might be my this may be one of many talks I give in this country. Or it may be the last don't make no difference to me.
Because I ain't got no popularity thing. I didn't come up here do no moon walk across the stage.
I signed no signatures. And I heard brother in Cheyenne say that whatever revenue that we able to raise 50% will go to shake cow that you're seeing his organization. Well, let me make that clear.
None of it gone to college yet seen.
It is going for us to be able to do what we do in here all over the world.
And when we rent stadiums, when we buy equipment, when we get people that work as staff, to put on the lights and to have cameras in, you know, to bring you a quality presentation, and to have security and all the assets, this tool that we are doing is going to cost about 250,000 Trinidad in Dallas.
By the time we finish this tool, what we estimate is that it is going to cost us to bring you qualitative presentations, to bring people down here to host him to drive back and forth to do this, to get licenses to buy the equipment and to have staff people and so forth and so on to rent these stadiums and places and to fly here and go here it's going to cost 250,000 Trinidad in Dallas.
And I say to you, this is not the burden. This should not be the burden of the Islamic broadcast network. This is the burden of you and you and you and you. It is the burden of all of us sitting here today. Because if we got 3000 people here today, I say if each one of you people sitting here today was to give up $100 just $100 suddenly you will spend when you go to a restaurant, something that you will spend when you go into a store and buy a Gil bap when you go into a store and buy pay for your phone, pay for your mobile when you go and pay for your groceries when you go and pay for your cable when you go and pay for whatever foolishness that you don't even need
that $100 is what you need.
To give to IBM, so IBM, IBM does not have to shoulder the burden of what they're trying to do to reform the society. I say that each one of us should swear by a lot right now. And we should start fixing ourselves and fixing our pockets and getting our hundreds and 200 ready, because we don't ask for it.
And I don't care. I heard that the last time I came, and I talked to people about sacrifices for Islam, and about given for Islam and supporting Islamic work. I heard that IBM they got some faxes, and they got some emails and they got some old lazy, stingy, greedy, breezy Muslims telling them why to shake why he asked him for money for dour, I mean dour, supposed to be free. Yeah, reach inside your frigerator and see what you got an ad is free, get in your car and pull up to the, to the petrol place and ask them for some free petrol, you go inside to value and ask them for some free groceries, go to the mobile place and ask them to give you some credit for free, you go to cable
place and get free cable, you go buy your clothes in a free place, I asked you what is free in life, nothing.
These brands that are being they have made a sacrifice to be the first Islamic broadcast in the Caribbean, they have done it. And they are the first one broadcasting Islam in the Western Hemisphere. And I say yes, they got a long way to go, they gotta get better. And they're spending money. And they're buying new equipment every day to make it better for you and make it better for Trinidad and make it better for the Western Hemisphere. And we are here to join them.
We are here to join them. Because we're gonna take IBM, and we're gonna take in, we're gonna take it to the satellite, cuz that ain't enough for us to be on cable, we're gonna take it to the satellite. And when we take it to the satellite, it's gonna go to the world. And we're gonna take it to the webcast. So everybody everywhere in the world, if they don't have a TV, if they can go and get a computer, they're gonna see our programs. That's what we go do with your help.
And I told the brothers, if the brothers and sisters in Trinidad, if they don't want us to ask for their support,
then you can put me on a plane right now because I want to go somewhere else.
I don't care nothing about no palm trees and coconut water high and come down here to do no lineman or sliming.
I come down here to be no do no chillin, or no Elon with no backwards, stingy, greedy, breezy. People who are selfish don't want to give nothing for a slam and don't want to do nothing for nobody. All they want to do is talk and complain and point the finger just because they're greedy and don't want to share and do their part.
And that don't make no difference to me. If you got a big turban
and a long beard.
Don't make me Don't give you got big cars and big houses. I don't care. Put me on a plane and send me somewhere else. Because wherever I go, I'm gonna tell Muslims that you are responsible to support this activity. Good this activity. This is entertainment. This is our This is education. This is bringing the revelation of Allah subhanho wa Taala to this country as a form of inspiration. This is a way for us to penetrate the minds and the hearts and the concrete of the presidential palace.
We went to see the president the other day.
You're good president, we went to see him. And the first thing he said to me.
Welcome to Trinidad, shake your scene. And I have listened to some of your programs. And I have been duly guided. And we really appreciate the work that you're doing. No, no kudos to me. But get a kudos to Allah subhanho wa Taala say Allahu Akbar,
say Subhana Allah. And after that we should thank the hard work and the initiation and the courage of IBM because whatever work we doing, nobody would know about it if it wasn't coming on that screen.
The other thing I want to tell you
is that since IBM has been on the air,
more than 300 people have accepted Islam.
Can you imagine that?
People is listening to a program, a Hindu, a Christian
a no religion. They listen
into a program they watch in a program, and they get inspired. And they pick up the phone and say I want to be a Muslim.
And that's when the Muslims, they didn't do nothing.
What about if we was doing something?
I tell you, brothers and sisters that I believe, from what I can see that this country is a country of godly people. They do have God in their lives, they might be confused, they might be on the wrong path, but they do have God in their lives, most of them. And if they could only see if they can only hear if they can only know if they can only understand what Islam is, what the core and is at KU Mohamad philosophy is, I believe that one out of every 100 people in this country will become a Muslim.
How many peoples in this country
1.3 million people? Is that what it is? 1.4 million people. So one in every 100? How many people would that be that come to Islam 140,000. That's what I see. I see the potential of 140,000 Muslims entering this people entering Islam. And I say to you, that if 140,000 people enter Islam, along with the 8090 100 or 120,000 already here, you're gonna wind up with about 250,000 Muslims in this country in the next couple of years.
And 50,000 people that are thinking morally, that are following a massless assura that are not that are understand the respected leadership that is thrown to the Quran, and belong to the Jamaat and having a single vote, they will determine who will be the next prime minister and president of this country.
If you want your prime minister, if you want your president to sit up in his chair, and recognize what we said, I say, give the dollar
because when they realize that there are 250,000 people in this country that are Muslims, they would be a fool. And they are not fools. Politicians are not fools. They might be involved in foolishness, but they're not fools.
No, these are educated people. These are ordinary people. These are people who are chosen people who are selected and people who are elected by people just like yourselves. And do you know what a prime minister or president or Chairman, do you know what they would do? In order for them to secure 250,000 votes, they will do a backflip.
In fact, they might even take Shahada
and I'll say no, don't say that ain't gonna happen. Because their heart is like mine. And their minds are like yours. They are just people like yourselves, and this door, this Islamic message the core and and the life of Mohammed. It can penetrate them just like anybody else, just like Bluetooth.
You know how you send a message via Bluetooth.
And it just go to the air and just penetrate houses and concrete. When a dow is going penetrate houses and concrete and minds and hearts. And maybe more than 140,000 people will accept Islam in this country the next five years you don't know.
But at the end, has that kind of aspiration. It's not on us to make Muslims to make Muslims is that right or wrong?
But our job is to deliver the message, deliver the goods, that's our job, have the best example have the best words, do the best that we can be sincere and share the treasure of Islam and let it be known.
All Muslims.
We have a void. We have a vacuum. We have a lack of understanding. We have a general disregard. We have a failure to articulate we have precedent, we have preferential treatment towards individualism. We have religious isolationism, we have spiritual stagnation, we have acceleration of morality, we have fragmentation and sensationalism and extremism among the Muslims.
We Muslims must think above please, we must think above race. We must think above culture and think about religion. We must think about and be genuinely concerned and working for the goal and the good of humanity and our society. We must become community.
oriented Muslims, the creator of the creator of this world said,
I was a bit late to the gym while I sit in the law, your headphone was sitting. He said, Well, I flew in Aloha, your headphone mostly. So do good.
Do good to the human beings. Verily Allah loves those that bring good and excellence to the human beings, the creator of this world. He said, Well,
the owner didn't hire.
What Amanullah What? And
he said, You are people, all Muslims, you have been chosen as a Ummah inviting towards what is good
and adjoining what is right and forbidding what is evil.
We Muslims must provide a good moral example and a source of goodness and guidance and inspiration to address the problems of this society. The Prophet sallallahu Sallam said, rarely, I have been raised to perfect good manners.
He wasn't raised just to be bowing down five times a day, he wouldn't been raised just to be reciting some book, he wouldn't been raised as to talk about religion. He wouldn't raise the wage war or know people he wouldn't have been raised, isolate himself into the corner, he was raised to perfect good manners and bring those good manners that are human beings.
We Muslims cannot justify stinginess, selfishness and prejudice against any people. We Muslims must share. We Muslims have to interact, and we have to tolerate all the people of Trinidad and all the people of the world and let our Islam let the treasure of Islam. Let the light of the guidance of the Koran and let the sooner the example the human example of Mohammed saucer, let it be seen through you and me.
In fact, the platform of our dour,
the platform of our dour, it does not television, the platform of our door, it ain't magazines and booklets and pamphlets, the platform about our microphones and screens, the platform of our door. It is not the masjid or the madrasa, the platform of our dollar. Where our dollar is launched from is our own conduct and behavior.
how you interact with your neighbor, how you interact with your coworker, how you interact with your colleague, how you deal with the people around you and your society. That is how people are going to understand Islam. When Muslims are dirty when Muslims are criminal. When Muslims are greedy, when Muslims themselves are ugly in their behavior, then people see Islam to be dirty. People see Islam to be ugly. People see Islam to be like that. But I always tell people before you go see Muslims
come to understand what is Islam?
Don't go see the Muslims first, study Islam, find out the meaning of the word. Find the meaning of the Quran, find out who is Muhammad Sallallahu wasallam before you go see the Muslims, then you can judge the Muslims by the court and and you can judge the Muslim by the standards of Islam. And you can judge the Muslims by the sooner the example of the Messenger of Allah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam.
The platform of our dour is our behavior. No one will be convinced of the beauty of Islam when the conduct of Muslims are ugly.
Although we Muslims believe that Islam is the very best proposition for this world, for this society, and for our families, we believe that but we have to convince the people of this with our own example. The fruit will always fall close to the tree.
What did I say? I say the fruit will always fall close to the tree.
For the non Muslims of Trinidad, and especially those with us this evening, I want to say
that you must be genuinely concerned about the overall conditions of your society.
You must not be complacent about your aim in life. You must read and research every aspect of your life and your chosen system of life. If you are a Hindu, if you are a Christian, if you don't have no religion, you got to ask yourself why? You got to examine and ask yourself is the vehicle that you are using to get to the hereafter if the vehicle that you're using to worship God is
really satisfying your life. Now, if you are really satisfied, if you are really inspired, if you are really committed as a Christian or Hindu, then Alright, stay like you all, because I don't never tell nobody to leave something that they satisfied with.
But if you got some questions about God, if you got some questions about your life, if you got some questions about your family, about your direction, if you got some questions about your society, if you've got some questions about creation and disposal, I say to you, that Islam and the Quran and and Muhammad son loves them, they are the ones that will answer those questions.
You may be a Christian, you may be a Hindu, or you may not have decided upon any religion or system of life.
But you must determine if your system of life or your religion is fulfilling you. And your family, you must be clear, and you must be sincere.
Does your religion or your system of life answer the critical question? What is the critical question? It is? What is the purpose of our lives? If your religion or your system of life doesn't answer that question, then you got to be honest that you float around in space.
You really got no direction, you ain't got your feet on the ground. You don't know where you're headed. You don't know where you came from, then you need to start rethinking about your life before you die.
I say to you, this is the most critical question of life, the critical person for you and me the critical question for the society and the world. What is the purpose of our life? Where did we come from? And where are we going?
Now Islam is the system, the complete and final system. I say to you
just compare, like you women go to the supermarket. And you compare the different vegetables and fruits, you compare the prices, I say to you, just like you men, you go by car, and you ask all kinds of questions, you want to see the blue book, you want to see the history of that car, you want to understand how fast you want to understand how reliable it is, you want to understand what kind of motor it got, before you spend your money. You want to check that out. I say we all have to check out God and check out life, check out Islam, check out the code and check Muhammad some awesome and compare the same way. And I dare you.
I dare you non Muslims, as here I dare you to read the Quran.
You ain't got to buy one. Anyone that's a Muslim here, just let us know you want a quote and we don't give you one.
Last year, we distributed over 50,000 quarter ends all around the world and 37 languages. And we'll distribute anybody in this country. Anybody here in Trinidad wants to call and we'll mail two and three, and you'll get it in about 10 days. Just tell us you want one and I dare you to read it. I dare you to read 10 pages of it. I dare you to read the life of the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him read about this man. The most the most illustrious, the most profound, the most
complete
human being in the history of the world. I dare you read this man's life. And anybody here that wants to read his life. There's a book that has been published called no the messenger.
No the messenger. So a lot of us them and we will distribute 200,000 of those books this year. We will distribute those to anybody that wants them. If everybody in Trinidad if you want one of those books, they understand who this man is the most profound human being in history, we will send it to you free of charge. And I dare you read that book. Because if you read the Quran, and you read who has Mohammed's last name, I tell you, your life will never be the same again.
I say to you, the Quran is the inspiration. It is the revelation, and it is the legislation from Almighty God. I say to you that Mohammed, the Messenger of God, the final prophet of God, this is the most profound human being in the history of humanity. I want to appeal to your heart, your conscious and your common sense the non Muslims that are here. I want to appeal to your heart, to your mind, to your common sense.
I want to invite you to consider
to examine it
Islam, or to embrace Islam, in order to complement your lives, in order to reconcile your life with God, I want to invite you for your future and your welfare. This is one of the best propositions that you will ever get in your lives
for you, your family, and society. And before we continue, I'd like to ask if there is a Muslim, non Muslim in this crowd, if there's any non Muslim in this crowd, who accepts that there is none to be worshipped except God, raise your hand.
Let me see any non Muslims here to accept that there's none to be worshipped except the Almighty God, raise your hands? Let me see 123456.
Then I'd like to ask you, if you would accept
that one out of five people in this world testify that Mohammed is the most profound human being in the annals of history, and that he is the final prophet and messenger of God, and that he is a man, but he was a prophet and a messenger, and a good man, and a good husband, and a good man and companion, and a good example for humanity. Is there any non Muslim in this crowd here, who would also accept that Muhammad is the Messenger of God? Raise your hand 123456. I say that those people who just raised their hands, please come down here with me. Come join me, please.
Just come right down here.
Just stand right here, my brother.
Now I understand that sometimes, when people want to change their lives or change direction, it's hard for them to do it in a public.
Because it means
that they are being open and sincere. They say to everybody that's sitting here, I need a change in my life. And I believe that the direction of Islam is good for me. That's what they believe. But everybody can't come out and say that in public, some of us, we got to keep it inside. That's all right. So if four or five people want to keep it inside, and you're not prepared to come down here, that's all right. I'm gonna ask these brothers. And there's a few more, I think that's it, isn't it? I want them to come on down to the rest of them to come on out where they
just come right down, it was rested, it came through here before, please ask them to come over here.
Please come out of your system.
Because when they testify, they will testify for those that don't have the courage to come down right now.
They can testify because they are just like any other person in Trinidad. And I believe that there are 10s of 1000s of people in Trinidad that they want to change their life. They want to be Muslim, they read some of the Quran, they heard about Mohammed sauce, and they saw the example of some Muslims, and they feel that Islam will change their lives. But nobody took the time to invite them.
No one took the time to invite them.
So I want to take the time to invite
these young men
and just courageous sister here
because they just like a salmon that go upstream.
They understand that when they accept Islam, that their families, their friends, their colleagues, their co workers, their neighbors, their husband, girlfriend, boyfriend, whatever they're gonna say to them, what in the world have you done?
Some people don't say, did you join a religion of terrorists?
fanatics?
extremists?
Are you following Arabs?
Asians? Are you abandoning the culture? Are you abandoning the religion? Are you abandoning? Are you becoming this loyal to your family? I say to you, that when we embrace God
When we embrace what's right, when we take a path to change our lives, when we say that there's going to be worse if except the Almighty God, and that Mohammed is a messenger of God, then we take the same position that the prophets and the messengers took before. And they had families Is that right?
They had husbands and wives, and they had children and neighbors and colleagues, and they took a stand because of the command that God gave them.
But they weathered the storm. And I say to you, always righteousness will prevail.
Your convictions will take fruit. And one of the good things that you should understand is that all these Muslim brothers and sisters, then this year, they become your Muslim brothers and sisters today.
Now to embrace Islam, it ain't no difficult thing, we ain't got no pool in the back.
We ain't got no holy water to spread on nobody. You ain't got to speak in tongues, and you ain't got do no backflips or nothing. It is just simply saying that there is none to be worshipped except Almighty God, and that Muhammad is the Messenger of God, do you understand that?
If you understand that, I'm going to recite the words that you recite after me, they simple words, it just like a formula. It's like putting you you know, you caught in to the what that machine they call it.
The ATM machine. And after that ATM machine, tell you what,
put your put your code in. If you got the wrong code, you don't get no money.
So this is the code. This is the formula. And when you say this code and formula, you get mercy, you get forgiveness, you get the promise of Paradise, and you get freedom from the hellfire. I say that's the deal, just to say some small words. But after you say those small words, you got to do your best to do the actions, because it's the actions that really count. So, you say these words, I'm gonna say the formula in Arabic, just like the doctor, he writes the prescription in Latin. And you don't know what the prescription is say, right?
You don't know what the prescription says, what did I hear somebody say something?
You don't know what the prescription says. When the doctor writes that Latin, but you got confidence in the doctor, and you take it next door to his cousin, the pharmacist.
And the pharmacist he fills that prescription right. And then he tells you what it is and how to take it is that right? Well, I'm giving you a formula today and I want you to trust me that what I say in Arabic, it is simply only what I'm going to explain to you in English.
The words is simple.
It is a word of testimony. And then it is a word of declaration.
Please say with me.
Are all Zoo
Billahi
min ash
shaytaan Nero rajim Bismillah R Rahman
r Rahim La Ilaha Illa law, Mohammad Rasool Allah salla Allahu alayhi wa sallam. Ash hadoo. Allah Illa Ha. In law law, what?
law sharika lahu. wash her do? An Muhammadan Abdu, who wore rasuluh salla Allahu alayhi wa sallam. Now I want you also to recite, and I bear witness.
I bear witness
that Jesus Christ
is the prophet and messenger of God.
And the son of Mary,
a spirit and a word
given to Mary, by the power of God. I mean, what you said is,
I seek the protection of Almighty God from every evil thing. In the name of Almighty God, who's the most compassionate and the Most Merciful. There is none to be worshipped except the Almighty God. And Muhammad is the prophet of God. Do you accept that? Then you said Peace and blessings of God be upon him. Then you said, I bear witness. I declare, I testify openly. That there's nothing
To be worshipped except the Almighty God, and that he is one, and without any partners. And I testify, and I bear witness and openly declare that Muhammad is the messenger and the final prophet of God and His servant and his slave, you accept that. And you said, Peace and blessings of Allah be upon you.
That's what you said, in Arabic. And that's what you said, in English. If you believe that, if you accept that sincerely, than any wrong you did before today, God has wipe your slate clean.
It's only what you do after today.
Of course, if you owe somebody some money,
you still got to pay that.
But as for your sins that you did against God, whatever they are, and God knows, he wiped out. So you start off today, nice to see you born again, Christian, born again Muslim, Ain't we ain't got no thing like that You ain't born again. Because it's clear, ain't nobody here, no babies.
But you have been reformed, you have been elevated, because you have stepped forward and accepted the responsibility of serving God.
And I want to thank you, and I want to commend you for that, because it is not easy. And the one I want to commend the most is the sister here.
Because it ain't easy.
For a woman in the public, just to stand up, come down here and sit in front of these people here that take courage to do that. So I believe that when a woman does that,
it means that she will be a good way for somebody
if she's not already married, and if she is already married, the person she already married to should understand how valuable that she is. And they should make some adjustments in their life to keep her up.
And as for you, young brothers here,
I want to say to you that we are very happy,
we are privileged,
we are honored to receive you. And not only are we going to give you these gifts, but we go share with you something that we don't do today, we're gonna raise some money, and give each one of you something that you can spend, because you can spend those books.
There might be something you need in your life. Maybe you got a bill to pay, and you don't know what you're gonna do. Maybe you got to eat, maybe you got a child, maybe you got something that you need to buy for yourself. We're gonna raise something, and we're gonna give you something today. I know you're expected and I know some of you gonna say I don't even need that. But we're gonna give it to you as a gift anyway, along with these books, is that right Muslims?
Because the Prophet sallallahu Sallam piece of blessing upon always said, give gifts, gifts, because they increase love inside the hearts. So I mean, what better gift can people get to some cash money?
What's your name? Brother? Huh?
novel novel.
May I
take your package? What's your name? Brother?
Asha. May Allah bless you as you take your package brother. What's your name? Brother.
Ah
bless you carry yourself Take your package, brother. What's your name? My brother. Richard. Richard. Your name is from Abdul Rashid Rashid Abdullah see beautiful. Serve another witness several of the most got it Yeah. What's your name brother? Jr. May Allah bless you. I shall okay take your package. Sister. What's your name? I won't shake your hand but I just said what's your name says
Vidya Joe May Allah bless you Sister, please take your practice inshallah. Brother was the name
Dale, Dale. Now you got a beautiful beard that down. Now Lord bless you brother. Take that package. Look May Allah bless all of you, may he empower you may cause you to do the right thing in your life inshallah.
Thank you very much. please escort the sisters and brothers back and now brothers and sisters. We want to take care of a small piece of business here.
We have a small task. I will sit with these non Muslims when this is over when we have a special session is that right? So we'll get a chance to sit with them and some of the non Muslims as here that didn't want to come down in the public. You come on and sit with us in that private room up there. You know, like that that upper room.
You know, like the upper room that Jesus had when after the Last Supper. Y'all come
That upper room.
So we can talk and maybe in private, maybe 234, or five more people might accept those that I counted that didn't come down here. But for Muslims,
let's see if we can take care of some business right now.
Brothers and sisters, we have about 3000 people in this stadium.
And from what I understand
rbn
the goal that it set for itself this year
was that it needed to spend at least 2 million Trinidadian dollars, in order for it to reach its goal for this year.
It might be more, it may be a little bit less, but 2 million is not easy to get hold of.
But for the goals and objectives that they have in mind, they need to raise this money. And we can't expect nobody to give it the government ain't got no grants for no Muslim stations.
We can't ask Saudi Arabia, we can ask no other countries to give us no money. If what we're doing has set a historical precedent. And we want it to continue and spread, I say that each one of us need to reach into our pockets. And we need to pull out one or two, or three, or these kind of dollars right here.
See, that's what we need to do right now. Each one of us need to pull out one or two, or three or more of this color data.
Right here.
I don't care if people get an attitude with me why to shake ask them for money? Because I'm gonna ask for money every time you come.
Because KFC asked for money every time you come.
I'd like to ask how many people in this audience in the stadium right now can bear witness that the work that IBM is doing is phenomenal. How many people can raise their hand and say that?
Yes.
And I say to us that if we do our job, and if we make the sacrifice today, I say that the job they're gonna do is more phenomenal than what you have seen. But you got to give now. You got to write a check. You got to dig down inside your wallet. You got to go in your back pocket. Yeah, sacrifice something that you are getting ready to buy sacrifice something that you were saving, make a sacrifice tonight, and you're gonna see what's gonna come from that sacrifice.
Now understand that 100 Trinidad in Dallas, this is only 10
Sterling pounds. That's all it is.
But I don't want to compare the Trinidadian dollar to the sterling pound. Because the people of Trinidad is better than the people in England.
So when you give 100 or when you give 200 or when you give 300 Trinidad in Dallas, more or less, it is just like you gave a million because you got to give from your heart.
And Muslims, this is the time this is the opportunity. You got to take this time and you got to take this opportunity Brother, please come get this money and put it back in my pocket in a minute. Just like other people just take this money right now.
Take that money
because I don't want to hesitate and I don't want to procrastinate. And I don't want none of you to hesitate or procrastinate because we got businessmen in this crowd. We got women wearing gold in this crowd. We got people that own beautiful houses and nice cars and you know people got nice furniture we got all everybody in this crowd here got $300 that they can give up if they want to. I say give one give to give three or whatever you can but the the blue ones
I seen the red ones
are the ones say 200 300 500. I've seen them yet.
That you got them
100 of the time is beautiful. So we want to see blue going in that box.
Now there's somebody here that's visiting from the US or from the UK. And you got you know, UK Sterling, or you got US dollars. That's good to put some of them Benjamin's in the box.
Brothers and sisters, we really want to thank,
we want to thank
one more Shahada where you come from?
Well, yeah,
there's another Shahada come, somebody said,
we want to really find
all the Muslims of Trinidad.
We want to thank,
we want to thank the President of your country, who received us with dignity, what protocol as a VIP, and I no VIP, nobody. But he received us like we were somebody.
And we sat. And we talked eyeball to eyeball, we talked about issues.
And he made some
commitments.
He made some
observations. And I believe that if the Muslims of Trinidad would show their gratitude, write a letter to your President, and thank him for receiving the CEO
of IBM, thanking him for his work. And saying that he will do his best through the influence of his office, even though his office does not have legislative powers, he will use the influence of his office to try to facilitate the work that IBM is doing. I think that's something good for the President to say.
I say when you take in China smile, away from breaking barriers, when you take him away from the camera, when you get him one on one, and you talk about his family, and you talk about his vision, and you talk about his ideas, and he talks about his commitment, I say to you, you brothers have a pearl, you system, brothers have a pearl and the CEO of IBM, but you got it, but you got to take care of him.
You have to take care of him.
You have to support him.
Because he is an ordinary person, in an extraordinary set of circumstances.
I want to thank the hard working staff of IDN. The brothers and the sisters, those working in the background, those working in the foreground, those doing security, those doing administration, those are doing technical work, and they are working most of them without salaries, they work and for the commitment, and for the future of you and Trinidad. And for Islam, I say we should thank Allah for them.
We should thank Allah subhanho wa Taala for the Muslim leaders who have received us who have supported this station, who are interacting with this station, we need to thank the the business men, the people in the business men and women who are in the industry who are supporting at the end with commercials and sponsorship of this event and other things, we need to thank them also.
We need to thank the mothers
and the daughters and wives of the people who are sacrificing for this channel to make it real because they see less and less of their husbands and their sons and their fathers because they too are sharing the burden of this sacrifice.
And of course, we want to thank the 150 or 200 or, or less or whatever number of non Muslims who were willing to come out here and sit with us and hear this and I want to express my thanks and my gratitude to the mom that spoke before me.
mm alameen Abdul Latif, we've known each other for over 35 years.
We start looking like each other.
He's my mom.
He's one of the most trusted personalities in North America,
who has been on the station of leadership and counseling, and advising Muslims to form communities to be responsible and gathering the leaders of the Muslim together for them to tell the Muslims and guide the Muslims and because of his being consistent, he has forged a legacy that I admire. And that's why I asked him to come here to share this responsibility with us. And he has come and I heard his address to you and I want you to remember it. It is the address.
Establishing Islam, establishing the community,
committing yourself and sacrificing for it. Thank you brothers and sisters, may Allah bless all of you. Oh, I have to, I left out to people.
That's my son,
Abdul Hakim, that little curly haired boy you see running all around everywhere.
I want to thank him because he has been the Mecca, he had been everywhere with us. He'd been all around the world on the planes and the boats and the trains up and down and everywhere since he was born, and he never cried about traveling. And that's why he's afraid to know people because Allah made him put inside of him already the willingness to sacrifice and deal with the people. I think a lot for that. A lot has brought inspiration to me through him.
But I want to also tell you,
like you say, behind every angle sip a good man because I don't know.
But behind every man who has accomplished anything, there is two good women.
I say to wives now
to good women. My mother, who is a Muslim, and my wife, Omar Abdul Hakim. May Allah bless her because she has made the work that I'm doing easier. Because the prophets Lawson said that the best commodity that a believer could have is a righteous woman who feels a loss of power to Allah. I want to thank her for that because she had relieved me and comforted me in the stress of the work that I do. And I hope that some of the women here we'll get a chance to interact with her. So that her commitment as a new Muslim woman, that you will understand that and will also inspire you.
CEO
boss in Shan was yet
Thank you so much. And IBM staff. Thank you, brother and sister so much in the security team. You've done a wonderful job. And you people here who came out May Allah bless all of you. Thank you so much sapochnik along with the Hyundai Kona Chateau and la isla inland want to start Furukawa tulelake was Salam alaykum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh