Maryam Amir – Strengthening Muslim Identity
AI: Summary ©
The speaker discusses various struggles and struggles with addiction, mental health, and the spiritual warrior. They share their own experiences of struggles and struggles with external struggles and feeling
the need to be a spiritual warrior. The importance of finding a safe space in the internet to connect with and empower people is emphasized. The speaker also discusses the struggles faced by the Muslim and non-immigrant community and the use of their agency of voice to bring change to their communities.
the need to be a spiritual warrior. The importance of finding a safe space in the internet to connect with and empower people is emphasized. The speaker also discusses the struggles faced by the Muslim and non-immigrant community and the use of their agency of voice to bring change to their communities.
AI: Summary ©
Oh, let's move on to our first speaker this morning, which is
ustadha Mariam Amir Ibrahimi. Mariam Ibrahimi, Amir Ibrahim
received a master's in education from UCLA, where research focused
on the effects of mentorship rooted in critical race theory of
urban high school students of color. She holds a bachelor's in
child and adolescent development from San Jose State University,
where she served as the president of the Muslim Student Association
for two consecutive years. Currently, she is pursuing a
second bachelor's degree in Islamic studies through a other
university,
marine, spent a year studying the Arabic language in Quran in Cairo,
Egypt, and has memorized the Quran. She has presented, been
presented the Student of the Year Award by former California
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, and holds a second degree black
belt in Taekwondo. So if you want to have an argument with her,
maybe have something to think about. Mariam frequently travels
to work with different communities and addresses a variety of
societal issues and writes about topics related to social
realities, women's studies and spiritual connections on www
virtualmask.com
so without further ado, can I welcome sister Miriam on stage.
Last week, a Muslim sixth grader asked me, he said, What do I say
when one of my classmates tells me that I'm going to get you a
grenade for your birthday. A Muslim sixth grader right now, a
lot of us are dealing with the pressure of Islamophobia when we
go to school, work internally, when we're sitting in the metro,
when we're getting on an airplane. We hear about people being killed
in Quebec. We hear about Muslims being shot point blank in Chapel
Hill. We hear about the arson and different masajid in the West, and
we hear about the hate crimes that happened here and in a number of
places. And sometimes, because of everything that we hear, we just
begin to feel overwhelmed. Some of us start becoming very afraid.
It's understandable. It's traumatic to constantly feel like
we have to be on guard for our identities and who we are just
because of the faith that we just we ascribe to, just because of
believing in Islam, because of being Muslim. Sometimes that
pressure is so intense. But then you add on top of that, having to
deal with the concern for Syria, the concern for the East African
famine, the fear of what's happening in so many places, of
this ummah and what they're going through. And then on top of that,
we have what's going on internally. Some of us are dealing
with depression. Some of you might know someone who's tried to commit
suicide or who has cut themselves over and over and has no idea who
to turn to, because that's not something they can tell their
families. Some of you might be dealing with family issues where
there is so much happening with your with your parents or with a
spouse or with your children, and because sometimes taboos are not
mentioned in our community, because it's not okay to talk
about these issues in a public space, sometimes the message that
we receive, sometimes when we're going through our personal
struggles, when there's doubts of faith, when we have questions
specifically related to issues that have to do with our with our
religion, when we have these concerns dealing with the reality
of the contemporary issues that we're facing, and yet what seems
like traditional Islamic scholarly awareness, when we have those two
things coming together and we're not sure who we're supposed to go
to, when we have questions, when we deal with types of addictions
that are a reality in our community, there's so much that
when we face all of this, sometimes we feel like we don't
know Where to go. We don't know who to turn to, and hearing all of
these issues when we feel like we go into the masjid. And the
message that we receive is that believers do this, believers look
like this. Believers are only one type when we are specifically like
this. That's a way to Allah. The message that we receive sometimes
that ALLAH SubhanA wa Taala is not accessible for those of us who
struggle.
And in reality, Allah subhanahu wa taala God Almighty. He is the one
who we can turn to. He is the only one who is our safe space when we
don't hear about these issues, to the point that we feel like we can
be ourselves when we're struggling. We can go to someone
to ask for support in these situations. We hear sometimes that
we're taboo, but in reality, there's no taboo with Allah, he is
open to hear our struggles, to hear our frustrations, like Yaqub
alaihi salam turning to Allah and saying, I only complete.
Into Allah.
I complain with my sadness to Allah. How can we as a community
of individuals who are struggling with the external, with the
internal, with the concern, how can we fortify ourselves, taking
Allah is our refuge and feeling like we are able to move forward
with the frustrations of today, but having the strength to be able
to face them, and not only face them, but to come out of it
transformative. How can we do that? Inshallah, we're going to
talk about four ways.
The first one is being a spiritual warrior.
How many of you have felt at times like you're a hypocrite.
Have there ever been times where you're doing something and the
whole time you're thinking, but I don't really want to do this, have
there were Have there been times where maybe you are doing
something that other people are seeing and they're saying, oh,
mashaAllah sister, oh mashaAllah brother. But you're thinking, If
only you knew what I struggle with.
Have there been times when you're doing something and the only
reason you're doing it is because you know this is what Allah is
asking you to do, and yet you don't want to do it, but you do it
anyway. And the thoughts that sometimes plague us, the way that
we sometimes feel like we're not good enough because we don't even
want to be doing this, but we're doing it, that doesn't make us
hypocrites. That doesn't mean that you're a weak believer. The
Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam told us that the Mujahid,
the spiritual warrior, in this sense, is the one who strives
against his or her soul.
Ibn Hajj explains that this is someone who does the right thing,
even though they don't want to that, even though internally, you
might be struggling with it, but you do it anyway, because you know
that's the right thing to do, the fact that you're doing it anyway,
that is what makes you a spiritual warrior. This is somebody who's
elevated in the sight of Allah because you're struggling against
yourself. What greater struggle is that? What greater struggle is
there than struggling against yourself to do the right thing? So
being a spiritual warrior, recognizing that when I'm facing
all of this frustration, all of this difficulty externally,
internally, that I am not somebody who's going to stop I'm not weak,
I'm struggling. But that makes me a spiritual warrior. And we have a
number of narrations of people who are spiritual warriors. In the
time of the Prophet sallallahu, alayhi wa sallam. We have a number
of individuals who we can take from who did the right thing
anyway. There are people who made mistakes, but they did the right
thing anyway.
When we look at today, specifically when it comes to
Muslim woman, how many times sisters do me a favor, raise your
hand, and then we're going to look around the room and see how many
people we have up. How many of you have heard a hadith or a verse and
it's used in a certain context that you don't completely get and
you're like man Subhanallah, that just doesn't sound like something
the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam would say. And then you
hear that it's an authentic hadith, and you're like, I don't
know how to reconcile that with what I know of the Prophet
sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, raise your hand. Look around the room.
Raise them really high. Look around the room. Of how many
people's hands are up right now. There have been so many times.
Thank you for raising your hand where I heard something growing
up, and I was like, I just don't know how that's empowering to
women.
Aya Subhanallah, learning the context of that, recognizing what
that actually means, is what made me realize that these things that
are sometimes used against our community when it comes to women
are the very things that truly empower us. But yet it took time
for me to take that and process it and understand it, and that was
part of my spiritual struggle as a woman. It wasn't just dealing with
the fact that I'm visibly Muslim outside and the people are saying
things. It was internally having to process what does this ayah
really mean as a woman, what does this hadith really mean? But the
process of studying those things help me understand that we have
some of the greatest scholars in our Muslim Ummah, who were
females, who taught men and women, whose legacy has continued until
today. And the reason that they are there, the reason that they're
so prominent, and the reason that our our Torah, our history, has
been embellished by them, is because of the foundations of the
Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam laid the Prophet sallallahu
alayhi wa sallam, how many you have heard had had you know a
specific day where he would teach women? Raise your hand if you've
heard that before. He would teach he would teach women specifically.
But that wasn't because that was the only time they had access to
him. Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, the Prophet sallallahu sallam, was
available. Women were a part of the society. That's why we have so
many narrations from women about what happened. But they asked for
a specific time where they could ask their intimate questions,
where they weren't in the presence of men who could hear the
questions that they had. The Prophet saw them. He laid the
foundation of women scholars.
Ship, and that's why it's so important for us today, when we're
becoming these fortified individuals, to recognize that
when we face the issues that we deal with within a religious space
internally, that sometimes the practices are not what's from the
Prophet SAW. Some of them's time. It's not necessarily the way the
Prophet, sallAllahu alayhi salam, wanted to empower not just half
the Ummah, but the half that raises the other half as Ibn I
mean, mentioned. So
the first point is recognizing that when we look at the time of
the Prophet, sallAllahu, sallam, we have an example of how we can
be when it comes to dealing with society. How many of you are
individuals who write poetry or who are really creative with your
words? Raise your hands.
Do you know that there is somebody the Prophet saw them praised in
terms of poetry? Give me a name?
Yes. Hassan RadiAllahu. An Is there someone else? Though,
anyone,
there is a woman. Her name is Khan. Said, we study her when it
comes to Arabic language. And the Prophet saw them praised her
poetry. Those of you who are able to work with your words, this is
the time when it comes to social media, writing, op eds, educating
individuals. Khan sa was a sahabiyah. She was a woman who was
around the Prophet sallallahu, alayhi wa sallam, and he praised
her words. He praised her ability to express herself. You have in
her example, someone who fortifies you when you're dealing with the
onslaught of Islamophobia and what you can do. How many of you are
into medicine? How many of you are doctors Muslim community, we have
a lot of them. How many of you are into things that I do with just
like the sciences rufadel Islamia, she was a female companion who was
considered a surgeon. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam had
her so that he could she could Doctor Saad Ibn Murad Roan when he
was injured. This is one of the greatest sohabis who was doctored
by the boss of medicine during her time. And that was because the
Prophet sallallahu Sallam recognized that she had something
in a necessity, in an unnecessary situation where you need to make
sure that somebody is between life and death and needs to protect
them. She was the best at it, and so the Prophet sallallahu alayhi
wa sallam encouraged her in finding her, in being able to find
her field and help the Companions Royal. We have individuals in our
community who need the support of mental health counselors. How many
of you want to be psychologists or counselors? Raise your hands.
Can you give me an example of someone in the time of the Prophet
sallallahu alayhi wa sallam who acted as that for the Prophet
sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, who was somebody who gave the Prophet
saw some counsel.
Radi Allahu anha. He goes to her in pain, fear, terrified. She
gives him counsel. She validates what he's going through, and then
she tells him that Allah would never leave him. She gave some
specific reasons of what's going why, why Allah wouldn't leave him,
and she tells him what to do. Um Salama, rodi Allahu, Ana, in the
Treaty of hudaybiyyah, the companions were so overwhelmed,
and yet he comes into the tent, and the um Salaman listens to
what's happening, and she tells him, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam,
what to do so the other believers would follow. She acted as a
counselor to the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam in
that time, and we know that there were women like Nuba Nuba om
Atiyah. She goes by different names in the Battle of Ohad, when
the Prophet sallallahu, alayhi wasallam is physically being
harmed from so many directions, and yet he says that he would see
her Abu, he's from the right to the left everywhere, and she's
defending him, and he didn't say and she shouldn't have done that,
and she's the only woman who can do this. Now this is a specific
situation. It doesn't apply to our time, really. But the point is
that we have examples of women who, not only physically, were a
part of protecting the Prophet sallallahu, alayhi wa sallam, and
protecting believers who were being hurt at that time, and
protecting the greater society. But we have individuals who today,
whose example we can draw from, who were women.
So being spiritual warriors looks like finding something that I'm
passionate about and seeing how I can use that for the greater
community, just like the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam used
laid that same example, laid those foundations for our time.
How many of you, especially as women, want to become somebody
who's knowledgeable about Islam, someone who wants to seek
scholarship, raise your hands. Keep those hands up. If you've
sometimes found it difficult to find access to the type of
knowledge that you're seeking, keep your hands up. Look around
the room. How many women's hands are up right now. This was also my
struggle in the United States, finding individuals who would be
willing to.
Teach me, And Alhamdulillah, Allah, subhana wa taala, after
many years, opened the doors for me. I would make so much to offer
years and years. Oh, Allah opened the way for me, and he blessed me
with individuals to study through. But the message that I got
sometimes was that scholarship isn't as much for women, it is as
it is for men. And yet, look at our history that Fatima Al just
Dania, she's, excuse me, that was the wrong name, Fatima, rodila
anha, a faulty ma rahmatalla aleha, she studied under the
greatest scholar of her time for the books of Hadith. Do you know
who that was? Who was the greatest scholar of her time, who she
studied under,
any ideas? I It's a great guess, radila Hana, but she wasn't a
companion. This came out. She came afterwards.
Okay, she studied under Fatima Justin. I gave it away. I said the
name of the first but the point is that this was the greatest scholar
of her time. Dr Akram nadewi, who you all Masha Allah have access to
here, Dr Akram nawi talks about the fact that men and women will
go to study under her. People would travel to study under her.
And where did her example come from? It wasn't under out of a
vacuum. Ibn Taymiyyah Rahmatullah Ali, what if his greatest students
was a female named Fatima roll the Allahu anha, we have so much
scholarship in our history. And excuse me, when we look at the way
that today, we are sometimes unsure of how we can deal with
Islamophobia. It's number one, being strengthened in the fact
that Islam is a religion for us as women. And secondly, I can use
this as a man or a woman. I can use whatever qualities that I
have, that Allah has blessed me with, personally, to help change
the society for the for the better, just like the companions
did themselves. Islam only isn't about only becoming a scholar of
Islam. Scholarship is in so many different ways when I use that to
benefit other people, and the most important place that I can start
with that is myself and my family, and then Inshallah, using that, I
can use that to benefit the society around me. So number one,
being a spiritual warrior. Sometimes when we struggle
spiritually, we are not sure where to start when it comes to our
relationship with Allah. How many times have you felt confused like,
Okay, I want to come closer to Allah, but I'm not exactly sure
where I'm supposed to go. I go into the masjid, and I feel like
what I heard actually hurt me more than it benefited me. Have you
ever walked into the masjid heard a message and it actually hurt
your heart more than it helped it? Raise your hand if that's been the
case,
really high. Okay, look around. That's a number of us where
sometimes we're like, oh, Allah, I need you. And then sometimes we
hear something that is very, very painful, but in reality, the
process of seeking Allah, all of these sometimes conflicting
messages that we hear through the process are inshallah means of
helping us become better in the end. So what is one way that I
myself can fortify myself in this time, when it comes to my
relationship with Allah, you all find different ways of worship
where you feel more comfortable with, with with being able to do
this one thing for me, it was seeking the Quran. I didn't know
if I wanted to be Muslim. I wasn't sure if I believed in Islam, and
reading the Quran in the English translation, because I'm not Arab.
I didn't have access to Arabic at that time, before I learned
Arabic, reading it in the translation changed my life. It
made me want to start looking at Islam and recognizing it as a
religion. For me that it would affect my heart, finding a
specific amount of Quran that I could read every single day in the
translation, that is what helped fortify myself and my heart before
starting the process of seeking dawah or being able to be involved
with my community, the Quran is what grounded me reading five
pages a day in the translation is what changed my life for you. What
is one thing that you can do to seek that safe space with Allah,
where you go to him, where no matter who is saying anything to
you, or no matter who looked at you in a certain way or what you
hear about in the news, and you're overwhelmed. How can I stand in
front of Allah in that moment say, oh, Allah, need your help. And in
that moment, what can I use or fortify myself?
Find a verse in the Quran that speaks to you that you can feel is
your connection with the one who will never judge you in that
moment, we're all going to be reckoned by Allah, yes, but he
recognizes the struggles that we're going through. In that
moment, he is the one to turn to. We run from Him to turn to Him. We
flee from Allah out of fear doing something that displeases Him, to
run to His mercy and His love, knowing that he understands what
we're going through, and that he is the one who can support us
through the process of finding ourselves and feeling fortified in
these difficult times.
So becoming a spiritual warrior. Number two is loving our society.
Sometimes we may feel like we don't necessarily belong in the
same way.
Right, that sometimes others around us might feel who aren't
Muslim, and it's incredible, because Allah talks about
messengers being sent from their people. Allah sent messengers from
their people, who spoke the language of their people, who
would walk in the in the Swachh, in the markets, they would eat,
they would beat people from their people, because in order for
people to feel like they can relate to you, to hear your
message, you have to be from them.
In order for them to feel this connection, they have to recognize
that I'm a part of you, and that's okay if you have a crazy intense
difference that might make you seem different, but we still can
connect, because we're the same. So how can I be from my people?
Allah tells us that the messengers were sent as individuals, not as
Mela. I can not as angels, the Quraysh, as the Prophet,
sallAllahu, alayhi wa sallam. Why didn't Allah send an Angel to be
with you? And Allah says that if, if you were angels walking, he
would have sent angels.
But we're not angels, and that's why sometimes in the Dawah, we're
terrified of making a mistake. But in reality, being human, being
you, is what helps people look at Islam. There is somebody in
America whose boss asks, How can I be like you? What do you do that's
different? I want to do exactly what you do. And so she went to
the masjid because she just wanted to become what this person is, a
woman in San Antonio. It's in Texas. It's considered like Trump,
Trump area, San Antonio, specifically, not but Texas in
general. So she told me, she said I used to stand on the picket
lines against the masjid when it was first opened. I protested the
masjid being opened, and yet, now, years later, I'm standing in the
masjid asking people to come in. Why? What was that shift, meeting
people who are incredible individuals, who, yes, make
mistakes, but are aware of wanting to be closer to God. These people,
we have the opportunity to change the way that people look at Islam,
and not only Islam benefiting the community in general, because
that's what Muslims do. So the Prophet sallallahu, Sallam in
Ohad, when he is facing so much pain. He's facing his companions
being killed. There's confusion. People are running, and he's
saying, oh, Allah, forgive my people for they don't know. He's
praying for people. He's still praying for people in that
situation. So the biggest thing number one is loving our people
and praying for them and seeing how it can be of benefit for the
community. So for example, in America, we have a huge problem
with police brutality when it comes to black Muslims and non
Muslims. How can I be a part of the Black Lives Matter movement
when it comes to dealing with police brutality and supporting my
brothers and sisters? Here you have men. This is the opportunity
for us to be involved in an organization like this, where I
can give back, where I can set up days for the homeless, like
somebody mentioned to me yesterday, incredible, where they
set up days for the homeless, and what they do is bring out
individuals who can cut hair and dress them in a beautiful way for
the homeless community, and then provide a source of some type of
monetary support for that day. What are specific ways that I can
get involved love in my community? The third thing is having agency
of voice. Asmaa bint umis rodeo, laho anha, she was a companion who
migrated for the first migration to Abyssinia, and then afterwards
she migrated to Medina, and she's sitting with Hafsa, rodi Allahu
anha. And Hafsah is the daughter of Amr radila Huan. So AMR walks
in, he walks in, and he sees Hafsa, and he's like, trying to
figure out who is this? So he asks her, and when she recognizes this
is Asmaa bint Umesh, that she is the daughter, excuse me, she's the
woman who migrated from Abyssinia. So this is years later, after the
companions have been in Medina, what does he tell her? He says we
migrated here first. So he's talking about Medina. So we have
more of a right to the Prophet sallallahu, alayhi wa sallam than
you do. This is in Bukhari.
How many times have you heard this message? You are immigrants,
you're refugees, you're outsiders, you came here later. You're first
generation, second generation, third generation. How many times
have you felt like the other because you were not here first?
Raise your hands if that's been a feeling that you've had before,
that sometimes we are not a part of the space as much as other
people because we didn't come here first, even though there are so
many indigenous Muslims in so many lands,
what did Asmaa radila Hanta say? She didn't respond with, I'm going
to Canada. She didn't respond with saying, I'm going to be out. Oma
radiah lahuan, who is a person of paradise and.
Example for us, someone who we love, who we cherish, who we want
to be like, but he's a human being who made a mistake when he's
talking to Asmaa radila anha. She could have been intimidated. She
could have said, this is ummah. She could have felt like she can't
speak back. And yet, in that time, she said, By Allah, the Prophet
saw them would feed the hungry of you, he would teach the ignorant
of you. And yet they were far they were outcasts in a different land.
And she didn't stand and say, I'm just going to accept it. What she
said is, I'm going to go to the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa
sallam, the legislator. I'm going to go to the Prophet SAW I'm going
to say it like you said it to me. I'm going to tell it like it is.
She went to the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, and when the
Prophet saw them, heard what she said, he replied and said, Omar
doesn't have more a call and his companions from from me, than you
and your companions. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam told
her that you and your OMA radiallahu anhu, him and his
companions migrated once. But for you and your companions, you've
migrated twice. You get the reward of migrating twice. Abu musalah
Ashari, he's a great companion who so many of us know his name, him
and the Companions who migrated with him, with Asmaa, kept coming
back to her over and over, asking for her to tell him and tell them
about what the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, they kept
wanting to hear this over and over, for the comfort of knowing
that we could double the reward that that effort, that that
struggle, that feeling like we're out of place for so long in two
different places, of feeling like we came later, of the frustration,
of the pain of not Being understood. All of that was not
for nothing, that you get double the reward. And she didn't just
support herself in that moment. She didn't stand up to Omar Aldi
Allahu, Anhu. And so Asmaa was the one who just dealt with the
situation for her own self. She went to the legislator. She got
involved with the political system of the Prophet sallallahu, alayhi
wa sallam, by going to the legislator to help create a change
for her community. And that's why her community kept coming back to
her, asking her to hear this over and over in America, we are not
the only ones who've dealt with struggle. And many of you here in
the in
the UK, I'm sure you know of situations where communities have
been dealing with racism, of dealing with policies that affect
them. We've had Japanese Americans being interned. We know that
Native Americans have dealt with so much pain until today, dealing
with the North Dakota pipeline access. There's been so much that
other communities Latino American, not Americans, Latino Americans or
Latinos are dealing with when it comes to being undocumented and
waking up the next day and not being sure if their mother or
their father is going to be taken from them. These are realities
that Muslim and non Muslim, Native Americans, Latinos, Japanese
Americans, black Americans, deal with on a constant basis. We are
not alone in the struggle that we face. And that's why, when we
think about Asmaa radila anha, and how she used her agency of voice,
how she stood up against the the the moment of feeling like I'm
being held to be made inferior, when she stood up, she not only
stood up for herself, but she stood up for her greater
community, and in her example, that's something that we can take,
that when we use our voices when we speak up and we go to create
policies that make change. It doesn't just help us, but it helps
our greater community. And so when I studied
my master's, it was in critical race theory. What that basically
means is using parts of your identity that sometimes people are
made to use to make you feel inferior looking at those parts of
my identity and seeing how I can use those pieces of my identity to
draw strength from it and to benefit other people through it.
And UCLA, we do research on this. This was Asmaa bint umais rodi
laho anha. She's an example of what Critical Race Theory looks
like in the time of the Prophet sallallahu, alayhi wa sallam. It's
standing up for myself and my greater community, and in that,
that is where we can use our agency of voice. A lot of times,
we feel like we're not sure why we are here in this moment today. Why
do we have to deal with the types of pressures that are happening? I
wish I could be in the time of the Prophet so the law or they will
send them. I wish we lived in the golden era where all of the
scholars were there, where the Muslims were so beneficial, people
were traveling to Muslim lands so that they could study sciences,
and they could study medicine, and they could study all of these
different areas, so that we could be this great ummah. Sometimes we
feel like we wish that we could be a part of that. And yet, look at
our history, there are people who came from times of struggle and
toil. Salaha Deen, Rahmatullah alai, he's the one who opened
Palestine so that Palestine could be a place of protection, of
freedom. There was so much oppression happening in Palestine,
not just to Muslims, but to people of other faiths. And Salah Haden,
does anyone.
What race he was.
He was Kurdish, he wasn't Palestinian, yet he was so he was
committed to the cause of social justice. He was committed to the
cause of social justice. And that's why he made a change,
because he recognized that in order for me to be able to change
the shape of the world, I need to I need to be in a place where I
can be of benefit to people, not just to myself, but to the greater
community. And he came from a line of people. He wasn't just Salah
Hadid born in a vacuum. He came from a line of people who set that
up for him. Today, we might not see the types of changes we want
to see in the world that's going to be transformative and empower
people and benefit people all over the world, but we are the people
who set up those pillars so that inshallah down the line, while our
names might be forgotten by people, they're not forgotten by
Allah. They're not forgotten by the one who knows the struggles
that we went through so that we can positively benefit the world
at that As the world continues, Nana Asmaa, who's heard of Nana
Asmaa before,
someone whose name we might have forgotten. She's a Nigerian
princess who was a scholar of Islam. We might not remember her
name, but the people in her community, she set up a traveling
School of women who would go around to rural villages, and they
would teach them education. They would teach all these different
women educational information that had to do with Islam and other
sciences so that they could benefit their own communities. And
this is someone who was a princess. She didn't have to
engage in her society. She didn't have to be involved in the issues
of people who were class wise, lower than her, but she she took
investment in that because she recognized the importance of it
benefiting Nigerian society. How many of you have heard of SIBO
way?
Yeah, a couple of people. SIBO way, he wrote al Kitab. It's the
book of Arabic language, and he was Persian, but he wrote the book
of Arabic language, and it's a book that's used to help non Arabs
and even Arabs learn Arabic. But he was Persian.
How many of you sometimes feel like you don't have access to
sciences because you don't speak Arabic, because you're not Arab?
Raise your hand if you've ever felt like you have to deal with
this inferiority complex because I'm not Arab. I've gone through
that I'm not Arab, and I've definitely felt so many times
before I learned Arabic, like someone could just say something
in Arabic, and all of a sudden I have no idea what to say about
because I don't understand what you said, but I know it's
religious because it wasn't Arabic. And yet, looking at the
way that someone who is a Persian wrote al Kitab gave me strength to
realize that I don't have to be a certain way, born a certain way,
with a personality that's specific in order to make these changes in
my ummah. Allah created me in this way for a reason, because he knows
that whatever He created you in is the best way for this time to make
a change. Musa alayhis salam, when he is given the message he had a
speech impediment, and when he is given this task of going after own
the greatest tyrant in history, forget today the greatest tyrant
in history, he's slaughtering baby boys. I mean, imagine, God forbid,
slaughtering baby boys. And we see slaughter of children today, and
we think who could do that? Someone whose policy was to kill
every single boy
he's raised in his household. He's given the message. He's given this
task to give the message to firao, and he's afraid, and he responds
to Allah, and in this moment, he's recognizing his deficiency.
We have so many of our own faults. We have so many of our own issues.
And Musa alayhi salam, he knows that Allah knows what he's going
through, but he still says to Allah, what He has that's wrong
with him, that he's afraid that they're going to point out,
and he doesn't say so instead, take my brother, because he
doesn't have this speech impediment, he says, Bring my
brother. Let my brother come with me to strengthen me in this
message. He recognizes that even with what people might see as a
fault, he has the strength of his community to be able to go on and
give and deliver that message
just like us. Allah tells us in surat al Hajj, huajita bakum, he
has chosen you. Imam Al Tabari mentions that chosen is somebody
who's chosen for a quality that Allah recognizes in you, that you
might not even see in yourself, but he recognizes it in you, and
that's why he's chosen you to be a part of this ummah.
He chose Musa alayhi, salam for a reason, and he's chosen you in.
This time period, in this moment, because of something he sees in
you that can bring change and benefit to our community today,
where maybe your names will be forgotten, but Allah will never
forget the good that you've done.
There are a number of ways that we can change the world, but it
starts with us, here, in our hearts and in the ways that we
interact with people, don't forget that Allah didn't create you with
your personality, with your strengths, with your weaknesses,
because he expected perfection. He created you because He loves you
and he wants a relationship with you. So in those moments where I'm
terrified, where I'm worried, where I'm concerned, with how am I
going to move forward? Remember that there are people who have
struggled, whether it's from our history or today, Muslim and not
and yet, with all of these struggles, they've recognized that
in order for me to help create some a place where I can bring
this change. Inshallah, it's going to start within. Finally, some of
us think that acts of paradise need to be enormous. But there is
a scholar who, after he passed away, his student, had a dream
that he was in paradise. And he asked him, what got you to
paradise? And the scholar responded with, I used to go and
teach a woman who was illiterate. She was an older woman who
couldn't read. I used to go and I used to teach her. Surat Al
Fatiha, this is a scholar who would teach hundreds of 1000s of
people, who would lecture, who would just constantly be in a
space of knowledge, seeking knowledge, giving knowledge. And
the act that raised Him in Paradise was teaching an
illiterate woman how to read Surat Al Fatiha.
How many of us can be that individual
who does something so small, and yet it changes the face of the
world? You've been chosen for a reason, and in sha Allah, let's
make that intention to act on the reason that we've been chosen. May
Allah, bless you all. It's been an honor to be here. Thank you so
much for your
time in tackling this area of Islamophobia. One of the biggest
problems we have, really is not the EDL or governments or Donald
Trump, it's actually ourselves. Apathy in the Muslim community is
the biggest problem we have, and I think her words really spoke to
that issue. You