Mirza Yawar Baig – AI World #3

Mirza Yawar Baig
AI: Summary ©
The importance of limiting social media exposure and avoiding false information is emphasized, as it is crucial to understand the negative effects of certain things on one's heart. The speaker advises against watching videos and distracting from social media, and emphasizes the importance of learning to differentiate from information presented. The importance of being proactive and not reacting to the situation is also emphasized, and the need to be proactive and not give up on one's ability to deal with people face to face.
AI: Transcript ©
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In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most

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Merciful, Praise be to Allah, Lord of the

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worlds.

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And peace and blessings be upon the most

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honoured of the Prophets and Messengers, Muhammad, the

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Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon

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him, and upon his family and companions.

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Peace and blessings be upon you.

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My brothers and sisters, the key thing is

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to understand how to combat and how to

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deal with the changes that AI directly and

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AI related things are bringing into our lives.

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The first and foremost of them is to

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look at social media.

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Social media is one of the biggest influences

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in our lives.

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Every single one of us who has a

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smartphone is addicted to social media, without exception,

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including myself.

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And we have to keep on checking ourselves

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to ensure that this addiction does not become

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toxic.

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And the important thing to understand is that

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no addict considers his addiction or her addiction

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to be toxic.

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So the minute you say, I'm not addicted,

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that is the sign that you are addicted.

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And I don't care who you are, that

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is the reality.

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So the first thing to do is to

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restrict our own social media exposure.

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So get off every social media platform that

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you are on.

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Don't add on new ones.

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I feel a bit hypocritical saying this for

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reasons which my close friends will understand.

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But anyway, I still have to speak the

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truth.

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Even if I'm not practicing everything that I'm

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preaching, helps me to remember that I need

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to practice as well.

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So get off all social media platforms, except

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something which is critical.

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And something which is critical is not Instagram,

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it is not X, which is erstwhile Twitter.

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It's not any of those.

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Maybe LinkedIn for a professional connection.

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I don't know how really valuable LinkedIn is,

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but anyway.

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Maybe one chat program, either WhatsApp or Signal

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or Telegram or something, so that you can

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keep in touch with your relatives and so

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on, because it gives you the option of

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making free telephone calls.

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But other than that, get off everything, completely.

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So that's the first thing.

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Number two, even the program you are on,

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turn off notifications.

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So it's not constantly beeping.

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Believe me, even if you turn them off,

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you still will have this overpowering urge to

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look at the phone, if it's in your

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pocket, to pull it out and see what

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happened.

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That's the whole FOMO thing, fear of missing

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out.

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So this will happen, but presumably if you

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keep off it long enough, then you will

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be able to detox.

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Third thing is that keep yourself separate from

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the phone.

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Don't take the phone into your bedroom, don't

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bring the phone to the dining room, don't

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take the phone into the masjid, leave the

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phone at home, leave the phone in your

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car, don't even come into the masjid with

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the phone, because we have this funny thing

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where as soon as you do salam, salam,

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after salah, immediately you pull the phone out.

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Sometimes I jokingly ask people, did you get

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a message to say that your salah is

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accepted?

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Why are you pulling the phone out immediately

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after saying salam, without even saying Astaghfirullah, without

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reading Ayatul Kursi, nothing.

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Just pull the phone out.

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For what?

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Who is sending you a message?

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Are you getting a message to say your

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salah is accepted?

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What is the issue?

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What is the urgency?

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But if it is there, it will happen.

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If the phone is with you, it will

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happen.

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So don't keep it, just put it in

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the car, leave it in the car.

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Even if you have not lived as long

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as I have, and you don't know a

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time when there was a world without these

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phones, believe me that world was there and

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frankly that world was nicer than this world.

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So get off social media.

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Second thing is that anything that you get

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on this one chat thing you will have,

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you will get a lot of videos.

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Now understand that there was a time when

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we used to say pictures don't lie and

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seeing is believing.

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Now what AI has done is to turn

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that upside down.

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You can say really only pictures lie and

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seeing is not believing.

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Now if that is the case, then there

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is no point in seeing.

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So don't watch videos.

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No matter who forwards you what, don't watch

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the videos.

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The other thing also is that seeing whether

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what you are seeing is true or not,

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it has an effect on you.

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It has an effect on your heart.

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The eyes are the doors, doorways to the

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heart.

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That's why there is so much of emphasis

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in Islam about guarding our eyesight.

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Where do you look?

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Look down, look down.

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This look down is not only to do

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with not looking at non-mahram men and

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women.

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It is to do with a lot more

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than that.

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Today looking at videos which depict violence, which

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depict bloodshed, which depict cruelty, all of this

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stuff, this is very, very, very harming.

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It is toxic.

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It is destructive to the heart.

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So please don't watch these videos.

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There is nothing good that can happen out

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of you watching the videos.

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You might say, see what they are doing

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in Philistine, see what they are doing here

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and there.

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At least when we see that, we feel

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for them.

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Believe me, don't fool yourself.

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You are not so completely dumb and your

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heart is not made of stone that you

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have to watch a video in order to

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feel.

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We know what is going on and we

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should feel.

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The only thing that we can do positively

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as ordinary human beings is to make dua

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to Allah.

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You don't have to watch a video to

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make dua to Allah.

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So please don't do this to yourself.

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It is literally like taking a knife and

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chopping off pieces of your body.

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It is worse than that.

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Because as they say, as Garfield says, what

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is seen cannot be unseen.

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So it is like that.

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Once you see something, it has an impact

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on your heart.

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It does things.

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It is toxic.

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It is like eating poison.

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This poison has no antidote to that.

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So do not watch those videos.

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When you are listening, don't listen to things

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like that.

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Don't watch such films.

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It is very, very toxic.

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It is really harmful and do not do

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that.

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So shut your social media down and don't

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watch these videos and all that.

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Then learn to differentiate.

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Learn to understand the information that you are

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being presented with.

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What exactly are you being presented with?

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When you are looking at, for example, data

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about the free market, what really are you

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looking at?

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When you are looking at how things are

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interpreted, when you read news headlines, when you

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read further news articles and so on, what

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exactly are you hearing?

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What exactly are you reading?

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For that, knowledge of history is very critically

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important.

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So read history and don't read cherry-picked

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history which doesn't tell you anything negative about

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people.

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This is one of my biggest complaints about

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how Islamic history is written, especially by Muslim

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scholars, by Muslim historians, which give you a

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very distorted picture of history.

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They do the opposite of what many of

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the Orientalists did, which is that the Orientalists

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and Western European historians, they tend to ignore

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and they tend to hide all the good

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that Muslim rulers and Muslim empires and Muslim

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times, the good that was there and they

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look only at the negative and Muslim historians

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and Muslim writers do the opposite.

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They cherry-pick and they portray Muslim kings

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and Muslim empires in the period of Muslim

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dominance as some absolute heaven which was completely

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and totally free from everything negative.

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Both the pictures are wrong.

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Muslims were as human as anybody else and

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Muslim rulers were as human as anyone else

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and except the Rasul of Allah, everyone is

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capable of making mistakes and everyone made mistakes.

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So therefore, it is very important if you

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want to, there is only one use of

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studying history and that is to learn from

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it and if you want to learn from

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history, you have to look at both the

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negative and the positive.

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When you do that, inshallah, you get to

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learn.

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So everyone, they did some fantastically good things

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and they also did something, something which were

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wrong, which were not good and the key

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thing is, don't fall into the trap of

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making excuses for them and being apologetic about

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it and saying, oh but you know, this

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or that.

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Objectively study what happened and then say, what

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can I learn from what happened?

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That is the way to do that.

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Study what happened and say, what is the

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way, what can I learn from what happened,

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right?

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Take the, even if you want, even remove

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the names of the people from your studies,

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say X did this and Y did this,

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if you want to do that, do that,

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so that you don't fall into the trap

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of getting your emotions hooked into that.

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Please understand, if your emotions are hooked into

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your thinking, you cannot think straight.

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No conflict can be resolved.

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No matter can be understood.

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If emotions are hooked into that thing, you

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will always make mistakes.

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You will always be trapped into an emotional

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bind.

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So don't do that.

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Do not let your emotions get hooked.

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Look at the incidents, look at what happened

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and then do what if thinking and say,

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well, what if instead of what they did,

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what were the possible options available open at

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that time?

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This could have been done, that could have

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been done.

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Instead of fighting a battle, so and so

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could have sat down with so and so

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and said, look, let us resolve this matter

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without that over a cup of tea or

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something.

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And let us see how can we resolve

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this matter.

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Let us sit down and think.

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Let us work together.

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This was also a possibility.

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No matter how difficult it might seem, that

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is always a possibility.

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In the life of Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam,

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we have seen this.

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He practiced it and he showed us and

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he demonstrated to us.

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You might say, well, so and so harmed

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the other person and they were only retaliating.

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Well, we have the example of the Nabi

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Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam who did not retaliate, who

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chose not to retaliate and all the goodness

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that came out of it.

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So think about these and say, what are

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the other options which were available, which could

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have been exercised?

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And if that option had been exercised, what

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would the end result have looked like?

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Don't fall into the trap of saying, oh,

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no, no, no.

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But you see, if I say that I'm

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criticizing this person, that person, that person is

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so holy, I can't criticize them.

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We are not criticizing anybody.

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We are not criticizing anybody.

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We are looking at incidents and we are

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saying this incident was handled in this way.

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This was the result.

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If the incident had been handled in a

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different way and that way also was available

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to the people at the time, how can

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we, the result would have looked different.

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Now, the reason to that is that today

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in my life, when I look at an

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incident which is happening, what are the options

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available to me?

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So do I sit back instead of immediately

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reacting?

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Do I sit back and say, OK, give

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me a break, give me a half an

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hour.

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I'm going to put some things on paper

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and say, these are the options available to

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me.

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I can do this with this person.

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I can approach it in this manner or

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in this manner.

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And then you say, well, if I think

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it through, think it through.

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This is the whole meaning of critical thinking

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or critical analysis.

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Think it through and say option one, A

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plus B equals C.

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Option two, X plus Y equals Z.

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Option three, J plus T equals D.

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Right.

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So these are the three options.

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Now, out of these three options, which is

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the best one?

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I'm going to do that even if it

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is something which is very different from my

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instant or immediate reaction.

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I'm not going to react.

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I'm going to proact.

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I'm going to respond, not react.

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And if I do that response, then what

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will the outcome look like?

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Right.

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This is very important to do this kind

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of analysis.

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This is what will make sure that you

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don't get fooled.

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Remember, the idea is what people, what the

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environment and those who run the environment, the

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owners, those who own you, whether you like

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it or not, they own you because they

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own your mind.

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They are thoughts steering you.

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They are thoughts steering you.

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They are steering your thoughts in the way

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they want you to vote, in the way

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they want you to buy this or that

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product, in the way they want you to

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think about yourself, as well as about this

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one or that one, this group or that

00:14:45 --> 00:14:45

group.

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All of these thoughts are being steered in

00:14:48 --> 00:14:52

directions that the thought steerers want them to

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be steered.

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And you and I are victims of that.

00:14:57 --> 00:14:57

Right.

00:14:57 --> 00:14:59

We have become victims of that.

00:14:59 --> 00:15:00

Don't become a victim.

00:15:00 --> 00:15:02

Don't fall into that trap.

00:15:02 --> 00:15:04

Don't be a victim of that.

00:15:04 --> 00:15:05

Be proactive.

00:15:06 --> 00:15:08

Respond with thoughtfulness.

00:15:09 --> 00:15:09

Right.

00:15:09 --> 00:15:10

This is very, very important.

00:15:10 --> 00:15:12

And this is the way to deal with

00:15:12 --> 00:15:15

the onslaught of AI.

00:15:15 --> 00:15:18

Then finally, meet real people.

00:15:20 --> 00:15:21

Don't don't look at videos.

00:15:22 --> 00:15:24

Don't look at forwards.

00:15:24 --> 00:15:25

Don't look at Instagram.

00:15:25 --> 00:15:29

The worst possible way to learn about others

00:15:29 --> 00:15:33

is through Instagram and Facebook and anything that

00:15:33 --> 00:15:35

is in that realm.

00:15:35 --> 00:15:38

I'm not bashing Instagram and Facebook.

00:15:38 --> 00:15:40

I'm just saying that anything in that realm

00:15:40 --> 00:15:43

which is virtual, you don't even know what

00:15:43 --> 00:15:44

is real.

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Go meet people face to face.

00:15:48 --> 00:15:51

Believe me, I have, you know, I mean,

00:15:51 --> 00:15:56

like, for example, one of the common impressions

00:15:56 --> 00:16:00

that is given to us, meaning Muslims from

00:16:00 --> 00:16:02

the Middle East and this is and so

00:16:02 --> 00:16:05

on, is that Americans have no values.

00:16:06 --> 00:16:07

Americans have no manners.

00:16:08 --> 00:16:10

This morning I was outside my house.

00:16:10 --> 00:16:12

I was, you know, taking something out.

00:16:13 --> 00:16:19

And my neighbor, husband, wife, wonderful people, very

00:16:19 --> 00:16:22

good friend of mine, their little grandson was

00:16:22 --> 00:16:23

about two years old.

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He is on his little contraption, the cycle

00:16:28 --> 00:16:30

kind of thing, which is all he sees

00:16:30 --> 00:16:30

me.

00:16:30 --> 00:16:32

He says, good morning, Mr. Big.

00:16:32 --> 00:16:35

I was I was absolutely flabbergasted.

00:16:35 --> 00:16:38

I said, this little kid is like two

00:16:38 --> 00:16:39

or less.

00:16:39 --> 00:16:40

He said, good morning, Mr. Big.

00:16:41 --> 00:16:42

So I said, good morning.

00:16:42 --> 00:16:43

And I shook his hand.

00:16:44 --> 00:16:45

His grandmother was standing there.

00:16:45 --> 00:16:46

He said, you know, I have taught him.

00:16:47 --> 00:16:51

He must not address adults by their name.

00:16:51 --> 00:16:52

He must say Mr. So and so.

00:16:53 --> 00:16:53

Imagine.

00:16:55 --> 00:16:56

Mr. So and so.

00:16:57 --> 00:17:00

And today we have Muslim kids.

00:17:00 --> 00:17:01

The father says something.

00:17:01 --> 00:17:03

He says, oh, what's that?

00:17:05 --> 00:17:06

He's talking to his father.

00:17:08 --> 00:17:10

Please don't fall into stereotypes.

00:17:11 --> 00:17:12

Don't fall into stereotypes.

00:17:13 --> 00:17:15

Go meet people face to face.

00:17:16 --> 00:17:16

Right.

00:17:16 --> 00:17:18

Talk to people face to face.

00:17:18 --> 00:17:20

And you will be surprised that the world

00:17:20 --> 00:17:22

is not such a nasty place as we

00:17:22 --> 00:17:23

like to think.

00:17:23 --> 00:17:25

There are good people everywhere.

00:17:25 --> 00:17:26

We need to meet them.

00:17:26 --> 00:17:27

We need to talk to them.

00:17:28 --> 00:17:30

And they will be surprised, Inshallah, if they

00:17:30 --> 00:17:31

find you as a good person.

00:17:31 --> 00:17:32

They say, oh, this is what we used

00:17:32 --> 00:17:33

to think about Muslim.

00:17:33 --> 00:17:35

But, you know, here's a Muslim.

00:17:36 --> 00:17:39

Here's a live warm body, Muslim body.

00:17:40 --> 00:17:42

And this person is different in a positive

00:17:42 --> 00:17:47

way from whatever stuff that has been fed

00:17:47 --> 00:17:50

to me through whatever social media that I

00:17:50 --> 00:17:51

am following.

00:17:51 --> 00:17:55

This is what presents the beauty of Islam

00:17:55 --> 00:18:00

through your behavior, your manners, and also open

00:18:00 --> 00:18:03

yourself to the beauty of other people and

00:18:03 --> 00:18:06

other cultures and the people who follow them,

00:18:06 --> 00:18:07

who live them.

00:18:07 --> 00:18:09

Go meet people face to face.

00:18:10 --> 00:18:12

That is the way to do it.

00:18:13 --> 00:18:17

Ask Allah SWT to open our eyes and

00:18:17 --> 00:18:19

to keep these conversations going.

00:18:19 --> 00:18:22

The idea of telling you all of these

00:18:22 --> 00:18:24

things about AI and so on is not

00:18:24 --> 00:18:26

to, you know, frighten you.

00:18:27 --> 00:18:30

It's not to say that, therefore, shun every

00:18:30 --> 00:18:31

piece of technology.

00:18:31 --> 00:18:34

That's the fastest way of destroying yourself.

00:18:34 --> 00:18:36

Because if you say that, you know, I'm

00:18:36 --> 00:18:40

afraid of drowning, therefore, I will never go.

00:18:40 --> 00:18:42

I will never sit in a boat.

00:18:42 --> 00:18:43

I will never go on the sea.

00:18:44 --> 00:18:46

Well, that is an option for drowning.

00:18:46 --> 00:18:48

But supposing you are living on an island

00:18:48 --> 00:18:53

and you had to go across the water

00:18:53 --> 00:18:56

for every need of yours, then the only

00:18:56 --> 00:18:58

option you have of not drowning is to

00:18:58 --> 00:18:59

learn how to swim.

00:19:00 --> 00:19:01

Not to say I will not sit in

00:19:01 --> 00:19:02

a boat because you have no choice.

00:19:03 --> 00:19:04

And that's where we are living.

00:19:04 --> 00:19:05

We are living in a place where we

00:19:05 --> 00:19:06

do not have choice.

00:19:06 --> 00:19:08

So we need to learn to deal with

00:19:08 --> 00:19:10

it, not to run away from it, not

00:19:10 --> 00:19:12

to hide, not to say, well, you know,

00:19:13 --> 00:19:16

I'm going to homeschool my child completely and,

00:19:16 --> 00:19:17

therefore, I will protect my child.

00:19:17 --> 00:19:18

How long will you do that?

00:19:19 --> 00:19:21

Teach your child to live in the real

00:19:21 --> 00:19:23

environment, in the real world, to deal with

00:19:23 --> 00:19:24

real people.

00:19:24 --> 00:19:25

By all means, homeschool.

00:19:26 --> 00:19:27

No problem with that.

00:19:27 --> 00:19:30

But make sure that their social skills, their

00:19:30 --> 00:19:34

communication ability, their conflict resolution ability, their ability

00:19:34 --> 00:19:36

to deal with people and so on, is

00:19:36 --> 00:19:40

developed and it is at a high level

00:19:40 --> 00:19:42

because no matter how much you want to

00:19:42 --> 00:19:44

protect them, one day they are going to

00:19:44 --> 00:19:44

be on the street.

00:19:44 --> 00:19:46

One day they are going to deal with

00:19:46 --> 00:19:46

people.

00:19:46 --> 00:19:49

One day their success or failure in this

00:19:49 --> 00:19:52

world will depend not on how much they

00:19:52 --> 00:19:54

know, not on the knowledge that their heads

00:19:54 --> 00:19:57

are filled with, but with their ability to

00:19:57 --> 00:19:58

deal with people.

00:19:58 --> 00:20:04

That is the single most important skill or

00:20:04 --> 00:20:07

ability that anyone can have.

00:20:07 --> 00:20:07

John D.

00:20:07 --> 00:20:09

Rockefeller, if you don't want to believe me,

00:20:09 --> 00:20:09

believe Rockefeller.

00:20:10 --> 00:20:10

John D.

00:20:10 --> 00:20:15

Rockefeller famously said, I will pay more for

00:20:15 --> 00:20:21

the ability to deal with people than for

00:20:21 --> 00:20:23

any other ability under the sun.

00:20:24 --> 00:20:25

And the man was right, right?

00:20:25 --> 00:20:29

So therefore, please, let us do these things,

00:20:29 --> 00:20:29

Inshallah.

00:20:30 --> 00:20:31

Keep the conversation going.

00:20:31 --> 00:20:33

We ask Allah to help us to do

00:20:33 --> 00:20:34

that which is pleasing to Him and to

00:20:34 --> 00:20:35

save us from that which does not please

00:20:35 --> 00:20:35

Him.

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