Our Vision For The Future 1
Date:
Channel: Khalid Yasin
File Size: 42.51MB
Related
- Karim Abuzaid – Know Your Lord Audio Book 01 00 – Introduction
- Nadim Bashir – Post Ramadan Reflection; Angels will Descend Upon Them
- Ibraheem Menk – The Lord Of The Worlds – Episode 1
- Ibraheem Menk – Deaths Around The Messenger
- Ali Hammuda – Never underestimate your potential
- Akram Nadwi – Thursday Q&A 17-09-21
- Omar Suleiman – The categories of patience according to its condition 2
AI Generated Summary ©
The speakers discuss the importance of individuals as leaders in achieving a vision for a better society, avoiding Yo-yo pride and celebrity. They stress the need for forgiveness and finding one's own values based upon God or inspiration from God. The speakers also emphasize the importance of creating events and conferences to highlight issues of the environment and empower people. They stress the need for privacy in events and collaborate with leaders to address critical issues of the society. The importance of building institutions and creating a global movement for Islam is emphasized.AI Generated Transcript ©
In Alhamdulillah Hamdan cadherin
for Eva Mubarak can feed
a hungry la vaca Pharaoh Salatu was Salam Allah say you didn't Mustafa
Muhammad Rasulullah
sallallahu alayhi wa sallam them
while early he was happy he was was he woman wala wahba
for in Azteca Hadid keytab Allah
wa hiral hodja hodja Mohammed in some law Allahu alayhi wa sallam
was shahrul More,
more data to her wakulla more data Jin VEDA Baku Lupita attended Allah
wakulla de la Latin for now.
Are you an aquatic Iran?
Well, I forgot to say you're dead
as salaam alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh.
My dear respected Muslim brothers and sisters and to the
to the non Muslim guests
who was so kind to,
to come here this evening to hear this presentation.
We ask that Almighty God will
open your heart and open your mind
and allow you to appreciate the
sincere advice that we offer.
And hopefully to share the vision
that we hope to impart.
And we say
peace be upon those who follow the guidance.
My comments today
is titled A vision
for an improved society.
Because all of us can stand some improvement in our lives.
No matter who we are,
what our occupation is, how successful we think we are or how successful other people say we are.
Whatever philosophy or religion that you profess, each one of us
can stand some improvement in our lives. And if each of us are willing to accept that, that there is room for improvement in our lives,
then that justifies
the proposition that I wish to make this evening a vision for an improved society. Because individuals
comprise of makeup families
and families make up communities and the communities make up the society. So if we as individuals can stand some improvement in our lives and certainly our society
can stand some improvement, but for anything to get better.
To increase the quality of life,
for an individual, for family, for a community, for society. It calls for some kind of introspection. You have to stop
for a moment
and think,
reflect
and be honest
and if you
stop often, and think
frequently, consistently
You will come up with some conclusions. And you will gradually develop a vision and a commitment for yourself.
And if you share if you are courageous enough to live that vision, and to share that vision with others, you can change
not only your own life, but you can change the life of your family,
your community,
and inevitably, the society.
And I will not pretend, I will not
think to myself,
that this vision that I have is something special. It's not something special.
It's personal, because
it's from me to you.
I take it personal.
But it's not exceptional, it's not special.
But I do realize that in the world we live in today
the more
progress that we make in fields of technology and science,
the more preoccupied we become with
earning
our living and
accumulating wealth
and trying to sustain or or to obtain a quality of life that is similar to others, whom we think are enjoying a certain comfort zone, the more we move towards that, the less time we have to think
qualitative qualitatively. And because of that, you find that
human beings today
in the
fiber optic telecommunication, equipped societies, they tend to read less,
they tend to think independently,
less,
they tend to take time out,
to reflect, to evaluate, to assess
before moving on to other things less.
And so that means that someone
on behalf of the society
should take that time to do the research,
to read, to write,
to reflect, and then have the courage
to share that, even when it is not popular.
Because that's the challenge.
When we have a vision, or a commitment,
if it's in us, if it's in the form of a, a song, it's easy to import, because people like to be
sung to.
We like songs.
If it's in the form of a movie,
it's easy to import because all we have to do is sit and watch. And at the end, we know that it's just a movie. We don't have to do anything.
But when you listen to a vision
that may
affect or it may reveal, or it may address issues that make you a bit uncomfortable, cause you to think about things you don't want to think about
causes you to
be emotionally or morally
challenged or pushed up against the wall of life.
We don't like that sometimes that makes the one who speaks unpopular.
And this is why
speaker
has got to determine
very clearly,
do they want to be popular?
Or do they have a mandate
to deliver their message irregardless of the reaction, irregardless
of the impact,
and irregardless of the loss of popularity, and you know, popularity is dangerous.
Because it borders on hypocrisy.
Because to remain popular, you usually have to say and do things that people are pleased with, or you at least have to pretend. And that is hypocrisy.
So
I want to step out of this
expectation that some people might have.
And I want to say some things that when I'm finished, it may change your feelings of celebrity or
appreciation, status, it may change. And you may leave here, having a different feeling
or evaluation about myself, or what I have to say.
But that doesn't matter.
Because life is like that
will matter is that when life is over,
the one who has given us life.
That assessment on that day,
the assessment of our conscience,
the assessment of our hearts
the assessment of our call to duty,
our sacrifice, that is what will matter on that day. And if we are popular on that day, then we have succeeded.
But none of you, none of us would have anything to do with grading that level of popularity on that day.
So please bear with me.
As I tried to navigate through this vision,
which I've written
as a combination of the lectures that we've given,
we've delivered approximately,
since last month, when I first came to Trinidad, we've delivered a total of approximately 18 lectures.
And for me, that is no small undertaking, because
it is my habit that I don't write, I don't speak
except that I write first. And I don't simply write before I do some kind of research, because I have found that that is the most effective way to deliver your thoughts after you have organized them and rehearse them to yourself.
So whatever I say I am accountable. And I mean it. I won't apologize to anybody for what I say. Because I mean it.
I read it, I researched it.
I wrote it, I rehearsed it to myself and rehearsed it to you
and let the pieces fall where they may.
Now, I want to first extend what I consider to be a vision for the general society via Trinidad
or any other place that human beings live an organized life
and afterwards that I want to get a little more particular
and address what I consider to be a vision for the Muslims.
Now some of you may have went to other lectures the one on campus
The one on leadership or empowerment, or in one of the local messages or organizations, all of them will relevant.
So here I will try my best to
package it,
summarize it,
and allow you to go home with what I consider to be a vision for an improved society.
In a world of cynicism,
and mutual condemnation,
it is extremely difficult to convince people of the basic goodness of human beings.
Most of us, we don't admit it, but we don't we have lost along the way, our basic confidence
and conviction of the goodness of human beings.
human brains are frail, human beings do forget human beings do make mistakes, human beings have a tendency to go to extremes, human beings, if you put your trust in a human being, they will always fail in some respect, because that's the nature of a human being.
But I believe,
as a human as a human being as a Muslim, as an individual,
I, in spite of all my experiences and travels and exposure,
I do believe in the basic goodness of human beings, because to think otherwise, what is to think negatively.
And when you think negatively, you cannot develop a vision, vision is wide.
One of the things you have to develop if you want to have a vision, you have to look beyond the frailty, the faults, the conditions, the thinking of human beings. And you've got to think in your mind, somehow, there is some principles that can override and overcome and go beyond.
And so, I do believe in the basic goodness of human beings.
In a world where
most everyone
have been harmed.
Most everyone have been insulted. Most everyone have at one time or another been transgressed upon.
It is rare to find people who are willing to forgive.
How many people here have what they consider to be an enemy or more than one?
Someone who they believe justifiably means to harm them, has harmed them, undermine them, conspired against them, hurt them, stole from them, threaten them, whatever I say, everyone in here probably.
Because that is one of the tests of living with human beings.
And the challenge is the real challenge in your your relationships. The real challenge in all of your relationships, is how you deal with that person, persons whom you would consider to be a threat or an enemy or
an adversary. Do you have the capacity to forgive? If the answer is no,
that is a very tragic situation.
Chances are, that feeling inside of you
will not allow you to rise to the highest levels of human consciousness. Because the devil or evil in the world, always threatens us with that. That's natural. So anyone can hate. Anyone can sustain energy anybody. And of course, we always have justification. But how great is it? How great is the individual who in spite of justifiable hate or envy or enmity or being threatened or insulted or transgressed upon is able
To forgive.
As we continue to talk, I want you to keep this issue of forgiveness
in the forefront of your mind,
because whomsoever is not willing to forgive, then the reciprocation of that, then God will never forgive you.
Don't believe
that you will die, hating someone, and somehow another, you will find forgiveness on the Day of Judgment. No.
Unless your hate is only for God, and your love is only for God. That's a different kind of love. And that's a different kind of hate.
In a world filled with bigotry,
racism, and class struggle,
human beings have always justified, while they do not have to sit and listen to whomsoever they consider to be their inferiors or their opposition.
This has always been the case
as a because of bigotry, bigotry, that's just pure prejudice.
you dislike somebody because of who they are, you don't even know them, you just dislike them.
They represent a different race or a different ethnic group or a different religion or a different philosophy or they're on a different side or they beneath your station or the way they looked at you or whatever it is, you have been conditioned, most bigotry is taught at home. It is a conditioned response, bigotry,
racism, it is a conditioned social response. It is not something that people just develop by themselves. No, it is reinforced, it is taught, reinforced, cultivated, insisted upon
bigotry, racism, and class struggle.
We never seem to be satisfied, where we are
we looking at the Joneses
or the Johnsons or the rathmines, or the cdkeys. We always looking at somebody else who's on another level.
Then when we get to that level, we want to get to another level
and because of that those levels, sometimes those levels become promised,
they become fixed, we become entrenched into a certain level, either from a historical pattern or from a just a social preference, we become locked, entrenched in certain class patterns. Sometimes it's because a condition of religion required that or a philosophy required that or a government requires that and we as human beings, we fall into those knee jerk requirements.
So in a world of bigotry, racism, and class struggle, human beings feel justified. Yes, human beings just like you.
Just like me, and others.
In other parts of the world, they feel justified, why they do not have to sit and listen.
something simple like that. Do you know most wars, killings, ongoing rivalries, hatred, vengeance. Most of these could be arbitrated if the people or persons would simply be willing to humble themselves above their justifiable bigotry, racism, class struggle, and sit down. Sit
and listen.
That is listen to the other one. And the other one, listen to you, and then someone
that is somewhat neutral arbitrator. And then the two people humble themselves to that arbitration.
In a world of frustration,
anger and great misunderstandings. It is extremely difficult to bridge different
rinses and accept arbitration.
How many issues in this world in your society
developed,
exploded,
spread through the society as a result of frustration,
anger and great misunderstanding.
A wise man once said,
Don't get angry.
Don't get angry. He said it three times, don't get angry. And if you're angry while you're standing, then sit down.
And if you're still angry, when you sit down, lay down.
And if you're still angry, get up and wash yourself. Take a bath, pray, and see if you're still angry.
Try that formula.
Muslim, Christian, Buddhist, Hindu, atheist, communist, wherever you call yourself, try that formula.
Because it is a solution and a medicine for anger, and frustration and great misunderstandings.
This is our world.
This is our society.
And this is our individual and collective dilemma, a dilemma, something that we haven't figured out
a paradox, a set of problems, a challenge. This is our human dilemma.
In the midst of all the darkness and pessimism, there is a need of a great light,
the need for a great
pervasive light
and a broad, powerful vision.
And the history of human beings have been marked
by individuals,
great, profound individuals who themselves by revelation from God, or inspiration, through education, or through the implementation of legislation they have imparted to the world.
Great, tremendous light and broad, powerful visions.
That's how important it is for us to dream.
Don't be afraid to dream.
When you dream, the only loss that you can incur
is patience. That's all. But if you fail to dream, the loss you incur is the following of other people's desires and your own.
Don't be afraid to dream and don't be afraid to be called the dreamer.
But where I ask
where will humanity obtain such a vision? Where
from whom
persons of various philosophies
and religions will claim
they have the answer
we cannot all be right.
We cannot all be right. But
we also cannot be entirely wrong. You see,
if a lot of people make a claim have made a claim will make a claim they all cannot be right. Some of them who are making the same claim can be right. But some of them are wrong.
But no one
is entirely wrong. That means there is some right in everybody
and in the worst of individuals in the worst of circumstances, in the worst of situations. There is something that we can get from that if we are wise. Always try to think to yourself
How can I get the worst out of the How can I get the best out of the worst of situations and circumstances, then you always will be a winner.
There is an ultimate truth
that opens a vision for us. There is an ultimate truth. And I believe, I know that ultimate truth. That's my belief. That's my particular individual.
conviction, I think I know, I think I have observed, I think I have read, I think I have seen, I think I am experiencing a part of
an inspiration, a part of an inspiration of that ultimate truth. And I have a right as an individual, to say that
there is an ultimate truth
that will open up a vision for us.
But that truth
is arrived that through many roads, and many experiences, you see, ultimate truth
is something that you can have the conviction of, but you should keep in mind that every human being may come towards that truth, through different roads, and different experiences. When they arrive at that truth, and submit themselves to that truth. It is one system and one truth. But we as human beings, have been programmed from creation, from birth, to follow different roads that lead us towards that
ultimate truth.
toleration and mutual respect,
will help us on the road
that we're on toleration and mutual respect, will allow every human being
the opportunity to travel the road of their own choice.
And every human being
should have the right to choose and determine for themselves, what they consider to be the road towards ultimate truth.
toleration and mutual respect,
will provide all of us the privilege and extend to everyone the privilege
to promote
our own convictions.
In a free and democratic society, where we live,
where we are privileged to live, and Muslims or non Muslims.
Don't ever take for granted
the privilege that you have
to make choices.
Because some of us,
sitting in the stands today, have come from environments where there were not many choices offered or permitted. Then, when you arrive in a society that arrives at most public decisions, through
choice, the privilege of choice,
the choice to move from one place to another, the choice to be educated in an institution of your determination, the choice to live, where you want to live, the choice to own property, where you like the choice to choose your friends, the choice to choose your religion, the choice, move to another part of the earth and come back in safety. This is a special privilege. And only 37% of the world's population enjoys those kinds of privileges. And if we are not satisfied
at the governmental institutions under which we live,
and we should not necessarily be satisfied. If we don't think that that government is meeting its mandate of morality, or fairness or justice. We should not be satisfied, but we should still be
Be grateful
if that government is preserving for us that privilege.
With that in mind,
I want to propose a vision that may compliment this society in particular
one,
and above all other things.
We must have God consciousness. Yes, those people that believe in God,
whether they are weak in their belief or deviant, in their belief, confused in their belief,
irregardless, those who believe in God,
and have some God consciousness, what does that mean? That they refer certain principles and values of their life
to God.
And they insist that their neighbors, their co workers, their countrymen,
their colleagues, at least respect reasonably, these standards of values, this is God consciousness.
And we should not make enemies of people that believe in God. No.
I didn't say they're not part of the opposition.
I didn't say they can't be adversaries, but not enemies. Because as long as the person believes in God, there's a chance we can arrive at divine arbitration, divine regulation and response, there's a chance.
And your society in particular, is a unique society. Because most people living in Trinidad, if you ask them the question, do you believe in God?
Just ask arbitrarily, anywhere? Do you believe in God? Don't ask them? What God how when What? No, just do you believe in God? Probably 90% of your society, it may be more,
they will be a bit surprised that you even asked that question.
In fact, they may be a bit insulted.
It should be a matter of fact. And this is a great blessing. Because we have a place to start from. And that start starting point is God consciousness.
And if we are God consciousness, it means that our thinking our values are based upon some kind of Scripture, some kind of Scripture
or writing, which came from God,
or revelation that came from God, or inspiration that was set by God, a legislation that was ordered by God, let's start there. in this society, God consciousness, let all of us review
our respective scriptures. Let's start there,
from the Prime Minister,
all the way down
to the person digging a hole on the highway.
The full range of the society, let us all agree
that when we argue, when we disagree, and we differ about whatever,
before we go to war,
before we settle it with but
let us before we condemn anybody, for whatever. Let us first search ourselves, our own God consciousness, take a look at our own scriptures.
Number two,
we should encourage
the government
the institutions of the government,
our elected officials,
the private citizens, we should encourage the setting up and the execution of forums and seminars to respectfully discuss the most critical issues because if citizens of a country will simply create forums and seminars to discuss critical issues
with some parameters,
then they may not agree, but they will at least agree to it.
honorably disagree.
This will improve our quality of life.
We should hold these forums,
around issues of industry, how we can make our industries better,
more profitable, more beneficial, more far reaching, more accessible.
We should hold such forums and seminars about crime.
What kinds of crime? What are these crimes originate from? Where are the pockets of crime? How can we address as a private citizen, as an elected official,
as a law enforcement person? How can we address crime in our society, we need to talk about it, don't leave it up to the police, don't leave it up to the law enforcement, don't leave it up to the elected officials, because this is our society.
We should talk about the economy
as about how the wealth is distributed, all of us have a right to know.
Government has a responsibility to be transparent.
And we have a responsibility to be accountable.
We can make the economy better if some of us wasn't so selfish, and some of us wasn't so greedy, and some of us wasn't excessively ambitious.
We need to talk about education. How can Trinidad How can your society compete with other nations of the world in education? I mean, compete in every level of education, with an idea in your mind that Trinidad, Trinidad as a society, if this is where you live, that
on a scale of one to 10 in all the educational subjects, our country can never go below six or seven.
that calls for a conviction, or commitment, or national mandate. And we need to talk about that. How can we improve the environment of the schools or the universities? The the syllabus, the tools that we use? How can we improve it? How can we improve the commitment? How can we make our syllabus and our schools more attractive? How can we create educational environments that our children can function within
the issues of health.
And of course, the issues of the environment.
You can know the nature of a country by how they treat the environment.
When the people have no respect for the environment. This is like a child that has no respect for their mother. You know, if you curse your mother, you know, if you hit your mother, you know, if you defile your mother, you know you have no worth no chance to evolve in life. You can't have no respect among no places. And if you defile the environment, this is the common mother, the environment that we all share. And if we don't protect the environment, the environment will one day collapse.
And we need to talk about that.
How do all of us become environmentally conscious?
We need to hold summit conferences.
summit, high level
conferences for various levels of leadership and professionals. Yes, leaders and government. Leaders in industry leaders in science leaders and education. Leaders in business leaders from all walks of life need to meet within the spectrum of their particular field and hold yearly or quarterly semi annually summit conferences to discuss issues relative to leadership.
And professionals
need to come together and discuss
the goods and services that they represent. To make them better, to make them more accessible,
to make them better,
but less expensive,
more efficient.
We need to hold camps and retreats for our youth
to interact with each other. You see a kid
It's a beautiful place, because young people who have a tendency to enact to imitate the conditioning that parents give to them
when they're in a camp environment, or retreat,
in most cases, they act normal.
They love each other, they interact with each other, they talk to each other, they play with each other, they grow together, they build relationships and friendships, they make commitments to each other, they bond together.
And we need to create those environments. Otherwise, our children will simply mimic and imitate the bigotry and the prejudices and the conditioning that we have cast upon them. They need an environment
where they can share their real feelings.
Because parents, don't be deceived, that your children talk to you about everything. They don't.
They don't.
In fact, a statistic, a study was done. And when a child was asked 20 different questions. Out of those 20 different questions. It was found that more than half
of those questions that a child has, they never asked their parents.
But they will ask another child
who probably themselves don't have the right answer.
Captain retreats where they can share their feelings and document their opinions. I said, Yes, our children should be taught encouraged to document their opinions, because the opinions of little people
are not that little.
We should ask our children to keep a diary.
Ask them to write their notes, put a suggestion box in your house and see what children will tell you.
They need to document their feelings. So they have a feeling of self worth inside the family inside their school. Inside this society.
We need to establish a recruitment of a think tank. Now here, I don't think that private citizens themselves have the power
to recruit a think tank. I think government does. institutions, not for profit agencies
should recruit an established think tanks. These are individuals who are selected for their academia, for their empirical knowledge,
for their integrity, for their influence for their accomplishment, and they are paid. They are remunerated because they are recruited
to become part of a research team, another name for a think tank. And what will this Think Tank do? It will prepare white papers, research papers
and recommendations that they will give to government and elected officials. Because brothers and sisters don't think just because somebody got elected to an office, that they have a clue about why they are there.
In many cases,
people who are elected to office out of popularity are just ordinary people chosen or elected for an extraordinary job. And they begin to pretend that they know what they're doing once they get there.
And they pretend and lie
because that's what you want them to do because you put them there.
So we should not have disdain or doubt about their ability. But we can augment their ability by creating fake tanks, research teams that will submit to them from time to time, papers, recommendations on our behalf.
We need to establish
we need to solicit from the government from private foundations, funds to set up empowerment programs, empowerment programs.
In order to
provide opportunities for the socially disadvantaged, because when you do not provide adequate empowerment, opportunities for the socially disadvantaged, the socially disadvantaged will become angry,
irritated,
abusive,
frustrated, rebellious, and criminal.
So part of the criminal element in your society is part of our share of the blame. Don't just say that someone who acted criminally, but they did that, independently, I'll tell you, seven out of 10 of the blatant criminals in your society, or any other society, or from the socially disadvantage.
And the worst thing about it is that governments and societies, they build in principles and dynamics, to keep them in that condition. In order that those fat gets the most privilege will remain in that position. It's a balancing act.
But when we recruit from the government and from private foundations and wealthy individuals on their own, when we recruit and solicit from them on the basis of programs that we have written and submitted, we set up empowerment programs to provide opportunities for the socially disadvantaged, the physically challenged, and the people who are disenfranchised.
Now, these are my thoughts,
and my advice to the non Muslims of this society or for the general society, and I would like to continue with your permission, with a more particular set of ideas for the consideration of the Muslim community. And I said that originally. So I want to embark now upon a particular set of advices for the Muslims,
the faith community that I belong to.
We Muslims have been ordered in so many places in the court and it Taku la
la,
Jai Zuma
the promise was then said what a year
will have Tim who was
the Holo King has an in the process and he said,
Fiala
Be mindful of Allah, wherever you are, and follow up a bad deed with a good one that will wipe it out, cancel it, and after that have good behavior towards the human beings.
This is the principle.
Throughout the Quran, Allah says Allah Fiala, be mindful of Allah, that means in your acting, in your speaking in your thinking, in your planning, first bring God to mind.
Because when we bring a lot to mind,
we become God conscious.
Then we enjoin what is right, and we forbid what is wrong.
And
we are fair and just in our dealings. That's what taqwa God consciousness does for the mature, effective Muslim.
It's a matter of Adam
is a matter of luck,
a matter of ethics, a matter of behavior.
So, if your faith is not manifested in your behavior, if it is not manifested in your conduct, your ethics, then you have no faith.
And when from time to time, you and I we become outside of ourselves. That is we act in a non faithful manner, our adult our artwork becomes bad, then we should do what follow that up with a good deed.
Say I'm sorry, apologize, repaired, make some restitution of some sort. And then after that, don't repeat that action, but move on to good manners. good conduct.
consistency in your behavior.
The Messenger of Allah, some of them said, I, volley I have been sent into this world to perfect, good manners. So if anybody wants to know, what is the object of being a Muslim? Somebody will say paradise. Yeah, ultimately, that's right. But how are you gonna get that?
paradise? That's the objective. But what's the highway? What's the conditions in law have either have a clock, because the process is often said, verbally I have been sent to perfect, what good manners?
Who is the witness? And who is the proof of our manners? Your neighbor?
asked the neighbor of a Muslim? Does she or he with them? Meet them, talk with them?
advise them, seek their advice from time to time, share food with them, ask them about their health. Ask them about the family, look and see about their condition respond to their needs, their pains, their emergencies, because that's what the prophet SAW last time. Did. We somehow think as Muslims, the only ones who's supposed to greet Muslims,
me, Muslims, it would Muslims respond to Muslims
go to visit and hospitals, Muslims now. You're not following Mohammed Salim Islam, you follow somebody else.
Because Allah subhanaw taala said in the Quran, what I see new in the law, you need to know so do good. Perform excellence, to the people. Very law loves those who do good and perform excellence to all the people
are Muslims. We should strive to both understand and implement. I said, understand theory, theoretically, theologically,
spiritually,
we should strive to understand
Islam.
But we should also know that understanding is not accepted without implementation. Because throughout the code analog says in levina
Well, I mean, a man Well, I'm not a man. That is faith, commitment, belief, an ammo practice, implementation. That's the balance. That's the yin and the yang of the life, our faith called Islam. We should strive to both understand and implement the Quran. And the authentic sunnah of Rasulullah he's a Muslim, don't merely follow, mimic, obey
what somebody told you, no such no for sure. Be confident in your understanding, implementation of the Quran, in your understanding and your implementation of the authentic sooner.
Emphasis on the word authentic, because sooner to somebody could be S o, n er,
some people practicing the sooner
sooner for me, and later for you
know, so now, that is the actions, the speech and the approvals of the Messenger of Allah. So law says that can be authenticated.
documented, then we follow.
We should develop the thinking and the commitment to Islamic community. I said what the thinking
and the commitment. How many people here honestly, ever thought seriously about what is Islamic community?
I mean, you say you belong to an Islamic community. Like people say I belong to people come and ask me all the time, shake what mosque you belong to. Now think about that.
Allah subhanaw taala says in massage de la Burley the masjid the houses of worship belong to
Allah, so how am I belong to a Masjid?
But we become conditioned to think like that. We don't belong to a Masjid. The Masjid belong to Allah. The message is an institution inside of a community. So where is your community? Now? I'm not talking about your geographic community. I'm not talking about your theological community. I'm not talking about your math heavy community, your ethnic community, your cultural community, I'm talking about the organized body of Muslims, following quote, an and Sunnah under leadership that they have agreed upon. That's community. So now, let me rephrase the question again.
The statement, again, we should develop the thinking,
and the commitment to Islamic community. And therefore, Islamic leadership,
and the development of all the skills, products, and services that will empower ourselves and complement the greater society.
It's very important for us to understand because this is the whole purpose. This is the whole man hedge.
This is the whole methodology of Islamic implementation, thinking and commitment
to the Islamic community, to the Islamic leadership, and the development of skills, products, services, and wireless,
physical from yourselves from your money, your wealth,
that will empower ourselves and compliment the society.
We should, as Muslims, strongly urge, in fact, we should insist
that our respective leaders
collaborate,
cooperate, and galvanize the Muslim community in order to address not only their particular issues, but the critical issues of the society. I want to repeat that because you see, this is the two way street.
Respect for the community for the leadership, sacrificing. But now the other side of the street is if we do that, if we commit ourselves to the community and the leadership, and we spend, and we sacrifice, and we reasonably obey, then there is a responsibility for the leadership.
Because we don't have a priesthood.
We don't have a priesthood, we don't have a religious hierarchy. We don't have some people sitting up in some high places, waving some wines, and throwing some some holy water on us, and making some kind of religious decisions for us. We don't have nothing like that in Islam. We have people who are servants of the community, the messenger was an author from one of the companions, and after from one of the companions said, Men have demons, man, nice to
see you.
Whoever
is the servant of a people, is also their master.
And whoever does not serve the people, he doesn't deserve to be their master.
So
we must you and I must strongly urge. In fact, we must insist upon our respective leaders to collaborate, to cooperate and to galvanize the Muslim community, in order to address not only their the Muslims particular issues, but the critical issues of the society, we must ask them, we must urge them to go to the presidential palace, go to the government agencies on our behalf, and work out issues and problems and share our resources with the government and society because we have some of the answers for them.
And we pay taxes. Therefore, we do our share of those resources.
We can no longer accept or support, religious ritualism religious traditions that distance us and isolate us from the mainstream community. That's not why Allah sent prophets and messengers. That's not how Allah sent this Deen. That's not how Allah ordered us to be among the people in isolation with empty rituals, just practicing our own particular traditions, no, we should involve ourselves with the people.
Show the people what we have share with them, what we have illustrate to them manifest for them, the answers the solutions, that the Quran and the Sunnah give to us,
we must engage in open dialogue.
Even when we strongly disagree,
we must engage in open dialogue, interfaith discussions, what I mean by interfaith discussions, I mean, of course, we believe the Quran is the word of philosophy. Allah will convince you that and that the Mohammed Salas lambs behavior is the very best behavior, but we cannot impose that upon others. And we have to listen to them. Because one of the ways that we will communicate with them as as the last ones Allah says, He says, although lsvt, Big Bill hikma, well, no one has done that, what
he
did, he ends by saying, Surely your Lord knows best, who goes astray. And he knows best, who is guided, this means we have to have a spirit of dialogue.
We have to have public forums that we put together,
and projects that will allow the Islamic values to be seen,
we should remember that we are not simply a faith based community. Rather, we are a community with a clear mandate, not to just have a faith base, but to establish, to establish to establish our faith in the society.
Not enough to be recognized by the government as a faith based community. But we must be distinguished as the community that has established its faith in the society.
We should feel the overwhelming compulsion to preach and to teach
our faith
to preach and teach and the way we do it,
each one,
teach one.
Every Muslim has the capacity, young or old, has the capacity to teach and to preach, and to put into practice, the Islamic ethics.
And we should feel a compulsion
to preach and teach our faith, inviting with clarity, with confidence and wisdom. Every human being that was standing there status. That's right. We should give down to everybody.
indiscriminately, of course with wisdom, with clarity, but from the Prime Minister, all the way down to the man digging in the ditch, every human being should
be exposed to the Islamic dour to the Islamic invitation.
We must believe
as Muslims in the excellence and the superiority of Islam, the excellence and the superiority because the law said Who are the our Salah Rasulullah who built who that what Dino ha ha ha Allah Dini Cooley voluntary capital.
It is He Allah subhanho wa Taala who said his messenger Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam with the Huda the guidance but didn't have
the religion, the system of truth, the use of Dina Cooley and all of that it may prevail, be seen to be excellent
overall
Other systems, even though the people without faith
would hate it,
we must believe in the excellence of Islam and its historical capacity, to engage, to compete, to engage, to compete, to engage and compete.
And ultimately, to prevail
in any environment, at any time. And under any circumstances. That's our commitment as Muslims.
And finally,
we must develop
and sustain the belief and the certainty that the Islamic system is the best solution. And the most profound vision for this society and the world.
That's my vision for the Muslims as my mandate for Muslims.
Now Muslims,
talk is cheap, talk
is cheap.
It's easy to say it's easy to pray.
But making sacrifices, it is not easy.
I would like to take five minutes of your time,
in closing,
to remind you
of the commitment
that we have tried to make clear to you throughout this tool,
a commitment that Muslims have to support
Islamic work.
Muslims have to build masjids Muslims have to build schools, Muslims have to build institutions, Muslims have to take care of their families. Muslims have to be make investments into the society. That is how people know that Muslims are there. And that's how people will respect us. And that's how we will become independent.
That's how we will become able to influence other people.
In that respect.
Want to talk to you
a little bit about the Islamic television trust.
You know,
throughout this tour,
I have had a paradox, a dilemma
where
the colleagues that I work with
brothers and sisters that claim to respect and be committed to Islamic work, brothers and sisters, like yourselves, who have come out day after day and week after week, to support and to listen.
But at the end,
when we make an appeal,
to ask you to sacrifice something, and I mean, sacrifice something tonight, last night, last week, last month, and next week and next month, because that's what life is about.
We've been getting
emails,
comments, criticisms,
people telling us shake trinidadians we don't like that.
That's like, you know, that's like beneath us. You know, this, handing out boxes and passing bags and giving money in the public. We don't do that. You know, that's like,
you know, that's like to us. That's like, bad taste that's distasteful.
Well, I'm not gonna argue with that.
I won't argue with that.
But the work
that we are
embarked upon.
This is not based upon Trinidad,
or your thinking. This is a global movement.
This is a universal undertaking, and our messenger of Allah, Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam when he was all at Biola
to go out and fight and die and be wounded, what he did, he gathered the people, and he made a public appeal.
And at that public appeal, the women and the men.
They did what some of you tell me is culturally distasteful.
They took off their earrings, their bracelets, the men brought their gold and silver aboubaker odilo amarinder companions with home, the prompts awesome, asked him, go home and get what you feel that this religion warrants.
publicly, not privately. And I'll remind you, at that time, there was no banks. So there wasn't passed around, no pledge slips.
Because some people said shake, the more dignified way to do this is to give the people some pledge slips. And then they can you know, at their own convenience, just write something from their bank or send something to your bank, or whatever the case might be. But I'll be honest, we do have bank account, Islamic telogen Trust has the bank account. Islamic Information Network has a bank account, Islamic broadcast network has a bank account, but we should not be so sophisticated. When it comes to given for Islam. We get so sophisticated and we get so refined when it comes to given for Islam, and so insulted when we pass on some boxes and bags. But when you go to the malls, you ain't right,
no pledge slips.
You pay your rent, you write no pledge slips. So brothers and sisters, you can blame me IDN did not ask me to press out no boxes, they didn't. It's not their fault.
send the email to me.
Send me special sky, special sky, that guy special [email protected] curse me out. Blame me condemn me, call me names, say what you want to say to me, blame me. But
what law he
if I talk to 10 people, or 100 people, or 1000 people, or 10,000 people, if I have breath in my body, I will always ask and encourage the Muslims to give.
And if you think that's wrong,
then don't give.
Just don't give It's okay.
We're not begging, we are appealing for legal organize dignified support for the projects that we are engaged in.
Because it is the worst worthy cause.
a worthy cause
a cause that either lives and dies, by your support
lives or dies, by your support. And so you must always be the judge.
And please remind me please, I'm reminding you don't blame IBM.
They did not ask me to do that.
I took it upon myself. And if I go somewhere else, and I'm working with some people who is called bi n,
I'm going to do the same thing or otherwise they can tell me to go home. Because I don't think that Islam should be offered or given for free. Because messages are not built for free. Even though people that walk in and out. Sometimes don't give nothing for years. It's not free.
You walked into the stadium for free. That wasn't my decision. That was somebody's decision. But while you're here, and every time you come and if I'm become unpopular by doing that, it's alright. Trinidad is just an island.
You don't have to invite me to come back because if I come back, I will ask you to give again.
We are very grateful. We are very thankful to Allah subhanaw taala that we have completed
this tour.
It has not been easy.
Not for myself not for the sponsors nor for the IBM team but we have done it we completed it.
We have applied the best ethics that we could to complete it
and we ask you that if you
You are not satisfied.
If you have complaints or criticisms,
send them to us. But be open and be clear about it. But also understand
that to do something better than what we've done, the first thing you got to start out with is
a sacrifice. Because nobody can do anything better, unless First they spend.
We asked Allah subhanaw taala to accept from us.
Our work,
our contribution, our energy, our thoughts, our prayers,
I want to share with you,
a young man came to me,
a young man came to me while I was upstairs, or downstairs,
he said, shake.
I came to two of your lectures.
And I'm a Hindu.
No. And, of course, my family is also Hindu. But most of my family have passed away my mother, my father, whatever. And I live with my mother.
And shake. I'm convinced after reading the code, and
I want to be a Muslim.
But I don't know how I can break that news to my mother.
So I said, Listen,
I know your mother spent a lot of time effort made a lot of contributions for you.
put you through school and suffered and everything. But if you get mixed up with the wrong company, and you turn out to be a drug addict, or alcoholic or thief or robber, or fornicator, or gambling and stole all the money, or whatever the case might be, do you think that your mother will stop loving you
know, she wouldn't.
She would be disappointed, sad. She may even talk bad to you.
But your mother will still love you. Because even the mother of a serial killer, a serial murderer.
Like Jeffrey Dahmer, who after he killed 37 people, he cut them up, put them in plastic bags, put them inside a refrigerator, and over a period of nine months, he ate them.
But when he was convicted,
when he was convicted, and given the death sentence, his mother stood up and said, Oh, my baby, please don't harm my baby.
Because that's the instinct of a mother. So I said to him,
your mother will love you. And your mother will stand by you. Regardless of what you do, it will just take time.
That young man
has already taken his Shahada, but he just couldn't do it publicly.
So you contributed to that.
Because he came in a gathering, just like here.
And he came here tonight. But he said he couldn't stay, because he promised his mother
that he would come back.
And he said, I also my mother also asked me something on the way out of the house. She said Son promised me. I know you read Nicole and I saw it. But please promise me son, that you will not become a Muslim.
He said shake. I didn't lie to her. I just said Mother. I can't promise you.
And so he didn't know exactly what to say. I said, Okay, good. When you get back,
say to your mother, say Mother, I love you. And I want you to promise me you will never die and go away.
And she can promise you that. Then you promise her what she asked for?
He's a shake. That was a good answer.
So here
we really did not
deliver to any audiences are purely Islamic, dour message, because it would have been inappropriate in my estimation.
In every gathering 95% of people was Muslims.
So we couldn't give no purely dowel oriented message, because you Muslims, you didn't bring one non Muslim with you at least to balance it out.
So what we tried to do was to deliver a moral message
of naseeha to you and see her to them. And every single lecture
we gave, she had us
at one particular lecture 15
every single lecture, even when we didn't even talk about no doubt, this is how people in your society are responding. Some of those hadas came because people have been watching IBM.
See,
the power of media.
This is what we're sacrificing for. Because I believe and I said over and over, one out of every 20 people in your country, I believe that they are ready for Islam, but it is you and i that is standing in the way.
What is one out of 21 point 3 million people, that's approximately one out of 20 means one out of every 20 people in this country.
That means approximately
50,000
maybe 65,000
people in this country are ready to take Shahada right now, right now, your neighbor, your colleague, your coworker, some people are ready to take Shahada right now, but you and me, we didn't invite them. We didn't speak to them.
We assumed that they were Kaffirs, non Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, whatever. So we don't even talk to them.
We keep it to ourselves. But you're wrong. Those 65,000 people in sha Allah, by the grace of Allah, they will become Muslims.
And if Allah wants, he will replace you
by them.
Because that's the way law works. Now there are a few non Muslims in the audience a few.
And I know we didn't give a lot of talk about Islam, we just talked about vision.
But if there is a non Muslim, who has read the Quran, or know certainly about the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessing upon him, oh, has a Muslim friend, colleague, coworker that they trust, or they have been listening or reading or something. And in their hearts, they would like to become a Muslim, please come down now.
There's a non Muslim
who believes that in their hearts, they would like to be a Muslim. They would like to embrace Islam.
We had one inside, before I came out, maybe there's another
will just give one minute of silence and see if there is a non Muslims
that would like to embrace Islam. Now, of course, there could be a lady or man that wants to be a Muslim would consider being a Muslim, but they don't want to come down here, because it's just a little bit too imposing for them.
Well, if so, then we'll talk to you inside
with some privacy,
brothers and sisters and the staff of IBM and
the Islamic organizations that may be present.
Any of the non Muslim agencies including the media that may be here
to all of you who have
supported us and come to these lectures. It has been very engaging,
inspiring,
educational, we learned a lot about ourselves and about other people.
We were able to touch the hearts of some people and hopefully we touch the minds of some of the Muslims. In any case, I asked Allah subhanaw taala that there are more people who will pray for
Then we'll
criticize
that will appreciate our investment. Then we'll look at our mistakes.
We ask Allah subhanaw taala to preserve and bless
others brothers and sisters on the IBM team, who volunteers
who have sacrificed their time to cause this to happen in Sharla. And we ask Allah subhanaw taala for the long life and sustenance of the IBM channel,
and to guide and preserve the energy and division of the CEO, brother, his smile, brother engine,
his smile, and his staff.
And I want to
thank my mom and my fellow colleagues for over 35 years.
mm alameen abdullatif, who spoke before me and spoke before me after me and each one of these lectures who came from America along with me to join me and help me and support me in this effort. And I want to thank also our colleague and good brother committed brother, Malik, Abdul Karim, who sacrificed himself and his family and his children to accompany the Imam and myself in this journey.
I want to thank our hosts, the people whose house houses that we have resided in, who cooked for us and cleaned for us and brought us into their houses and treated us like family. May Allah bless them, especially because they made a huge sacrifice. The people who drove me every place up and down, the people who listened to my demands or complaints or whatever the case might be.
We say supersonic Allahumma what the huntik when a shadow in La Ilaha Illa and one a sub Furukawa to bow Lake wa Salaam Alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh