Mirza Yawar Baig – Interfaith meeting – Social Justice

Mirza Yawar Baig
Share Page

AI: Summary ©

The speaker discusses the concept of social justice and how it is essential for everyone to have access to opportunities, resources, and privileges. They stress the importance of acknowledging the consequences of speaking out against injustice and the need for everyone to be aware of their own actions. The speaker also mentions Emily Collins' "stedling of hope" and encourages people to stand firm for justice.

AI: Summary ©

00:00:01 --> 00:00:08
			Thank you very much for inviting me to
		
00:00:08 --> 00:00:12
			speak today on the topic of social justice.
		
00:00:13 --> 00:00:17
			Social justice is the idea that everyone should
		
00:00:17 --> 00:00:21
			have equal access to opportunities, resources and privileges
		
00:00:21 --> 00:00:21
			in society.
		
00:00:23 --> 00:00:28
			This requires fairness and non-discrimination, equal access
		
00:00:28 --> 00:00:32
			to opportunity, respect for human rights which includes
		
00:00:32 --> 00:00:35
			the right to life, freedom from torture, freedom
		
00:00:35 --> 00:00:38
			of expression and the right to work and
		
00:00:38 --> 00:00:42
			education and equality in legal rights and access
		
00:00:42 --> 00:00:45
			to redressal where they are violated.
		
00:00:46 --> 00:00:49
			This must be available to every single person
		
00:00:49 --> 00:00:54
			irrespective of caste, creed, culture, race or gender
		
00:00:54 --> 00:00:57
			or any other division.
		
00:00:57 --> 00:01:01
			To live means to choose knowing full well
		
00:01:01 --> 00:01:04
			that the freedom to choose doesn't free us
		
00:01:04 --> 00:01:07
			from the consequences of the choice.
		
00:01:08 --> 00:01:12
			To choose the side we want to stand
		
00:01:12 --> 00:01:15
			on, the side we want to support and
		
00:01:15 --> 00:01:16
			uphold.
		
00:01:16 --> 00:01:19
			Understanding that there may be a price to
		
00:01:19 --> 00:01:23
			pay for speaking out against injustice but the
		
00:01:23 --> 00:01:25
			cost of silence is higher.
		
00:01:25 --> 00:01:29
			I recall the famous words of Pastor Martin
		
00:01:29 --> 00:01:34
			Naimola who said, first they came for the
		
00:01:34 --> 00:01:37
			socialists and I did not speak out because
		
00:01:37 --> 00:01:38
			I was not a socialist.
		
00:01:39 --> 00:01:41
			Then they came for the trade unionists and
		
00:01:41 --> 00:01:44
			I did not speak out because I was
		
00:01:44 --> 00:01:45
			not a trade unionist.
		
00:01:46 --> 00:01:48
			Then they came for the Jews and I
		
00:01:48 --> 00:01:50
			did not speak out because I was not
		
00:01:50 --> 00:01:51
			a Jew.
		
00:01:51 --> 00:01:53
			Then they came for me and there was
		
00:01:53 --> 00:01:55
			no one left to speak for me.
		
00:01:56 --> 00:02:00
			Injustice to one is injustice to all.
		
00:02:01 --> 00:02:05
			That is Islam and that is why Islam
		
00:02:05 --> 00:02:08
			orders us to stand against injustice.
		
00:02:09 --> 00:02:12
			Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala ordered us to
		
00:02:12 --> 00:02:16
			stand against injustice no matter who commits it
		
00:02:16 --> 00:02:19
			and defend the victim of injustice no matter
		
00:02:19 --> 00:02:21
			who that might be.
		
00:02:21 --> 00:02:23
			Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala commanded us and
		
00:02:23 --> 00:02:53
			he said, Allah
		
00:02:53 --> 00:02:55
			subhanahu wa ta'ala said which means, O
		
00:02:55 --> 00:02:59
			believers, stand firm for justice as witnesses for
		
00:02:59 --> 00:02:59
			Allah.
		
00:03:00 --> 00:03:05
			Even if it is against yourselves, your parents
		
00:03:05 --> 00:03:08
			or close relatives, be they rich or poor,
		
00:03:09 --> 00:03:12
			Allah is best to ensure their interests.
		
00:03:12 --> 00:03:16
			So do not let your desires cause you
		
00:03:16 --> 00:03:17
			to deviate from justice.
		
00:03:18 --> 00:03:23
			If you distort your testimony or refuse to
		
00:03:23 --> 00:03:26
			give it, then know that Allah is certainly
		
00:03:26 --> 00:03:29
			all aware of what you do.
		
00:03:31 --> 00:03:35
			I quote also one of the greatest fighters
		
00:03:35 --> 00:03:37
			for justice who paid for it with his
		
00:03:37 --> 00:03:41
			life, Martin Luther King Jr. He said, There
		
00:03:41 --> 00:03:44
			comes a time when silence is betrayal.
		
00:03:45 --> 00:03:48
			Our lives begin to end the day we
		
00:03:48 --> 00:03:51
			become silent about things that matter.
		
00:03:51 --> 00:03:55
			In the end, we will remember not the
		
00:03:55 --> 00:03:59
			words of our enemies but the silence of
		
00:03:59 --> 00:04:00
			our friends.
		
00:04:01 --> 00:04:04
			He also said, cowardice asks the question, is
		
00:04:04 --> 00:04:05
			it safe?
		
00:04:06 --> 00:04:09
			Expediency asks the question, is it politic?
		
00:04:10 --> 00:04:14
			Vanity asks the question, is it popular?
		
00:04:15 --> 00:04:19
			But conscience asks the question, is it right?
		
00:04:20 --> 00:04:22
			And there comes a time when one must
		
00:04:22 --> 00:04:26
			take a position that is neither safe nor
		
00:04:26 --> 00:04:30
			politic nor popular, but one must take it
		
00:04:30 --> 00:04:32
			because it is right.
		
00:04:32 --> 00:04:35
			I say to you, O people of conscience
		
00:04:35 --> 00:04:38
			everywhere, the time has come to speak out
		
00:04:38 --> 00:04:39
			against all hatred.
		
00:04:40 --> 00:04:43
			Hatred is fire and the result is always
		
00:04:43 --> 00:04:44
			ash.
		
00:04:46 --> 00:04:50
			Speak out against all forms of racism and
		
00:04:50 --> 00:04:50
			extremism.
		
00:04:53 --> 00:04:58
			Speak out against Islamophobia, antisemitism, all forms of
		
00:04:58 --> 00:05:00
			racism, all forms of extremism.
		
00:05:00 --> 00:05:04
			Speak out against all ideologies which tell you
		
00:05:04 --> 00:05:07
			that land and power and oil and energy,
		
00:05:08 --> 00:05:11
			that anything is more valuable than human life.
		
00:05:13 --> 00:05:16
			Speak out against all ideologies that seek to
		
00:05:16 --> 00:05:19
			differentiate the value of human life based on
		
00:05:19 --> 00:05:22
			color and religion and race or nationality of
		
00:05:22 --> 00:05:23
			the human being.
		
00:05:23 --> 00:05:26
			I say to you that every human being
		
00:05:26 --> 00:05:31
			is exactly as valuable as every other human
		
00:05:31 --> 00:05:31
			being.
		
00:05:32 --> 00:05:35
			And anyone who seeks to devalue one human
		
00:05:35 --> 00:05:37
			being has devalued us all.
		
00:05:38 --> 00:05:43
			That injustice anywhere is injustice everywhere.
		
00:05:44 --> 00:05:48
			That is what we must all pledge to
		
00:05:48 --> 00:05:48
			fight.
		
00:05:48 --> 00:05:52
			Because when we are called upon before the
		
00:05:52 --> 00:05:56
			one from whom nothing is hidden, we will
		
00:05:56 --> 00:05:59
			not be asked what happened, we will be
		
00:05:59 --> 00:06:01
			asked what did you do.
		
00:06:03 --> 00:06:07
			I want to conclude with Emily Dixon's lovely
		
00:06:07 --> 00:06:09
			poem called Hope.
		
00:06:10 --> 00:06:14
			She says, Hope is the thing with feathers
		
00:06:14 --> 00:06:18
			that perches in the soul.
		
00:06:18 --> 00:06:23
			And sings the tune without the words and
		
00:06:23 --> 00:06:26
			never stops at all.
		
00:06:28 --> 00:06:32
			I repeat, Hope is the thing with feathers
		
00:06:32 --> 00:06:35
			that perches in the soul.
		
00:06:36 --> 00:06:40
			And sings the tune without the words and
		
00:06:40 --> 00:06:42
			never stops at all.
		
00:06:43 --> 00:06:44
			Emily Dixon.
		
00:06:45 --> 00:06:46
			Thank you.