Mirza Yawar Baig – Seerah is the Answer #1

			Salam aleikum wa rahmatullah wa barakato.
		

			the smallness of means the greatness of the aim and stupendous results if these three things are the
marks of greatness, then who can compare anyone with Muhammad
		

			to long mankind he was a hero to everyone
		

			directions from the way you believe you're when you put others first, you create an environment
which is beautiful for everyone including
		

			you spoke with wisdom to everyone you show
		

			I have to stop rushing to offer opinions and advice and continue unearthing what our own inner
conflicts. That's where we are. Now let make it easy.
		

			This is
		

			man calm angry
		

			dream to the
		

			salam aleikum wa rahmatullah wa barakato Bismillah al Rahman al Rahim, Al hamdu Lillahi Rabbil
Alameen wa Salatu was Salam ala Shafi Lumbee Eva mursaleen Mohammadu rasool Allah is Allah Allah
Allah you Ali he was happy he was alarmed asleep and Kaziranga sera farmajo My brothers and sisters
Alhamdulillah Allah, we are today at the second and final day of the sera solution workshop we ask
Allah subhanaw taala to reward you for coming here to attend the workshop and we ask Allah subhanaw
taala to give us all the benefit of studying the Syrah of Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam,
and fill our lives with the baraka of his Syrah. Insha Allah
		

			as I mentioned before, two things firstly,
		

			the Sira of Rasulullah sallallahu Sallam Allah subhanaw taala sent his messenger Allah His salam for
a purpose. And that purpose was to teach the world how to live, and how to live in a way which is
beneficial for the whole world. Not not beneficial for one part or one section at the expense of the
other. So this is the whole purpose and the differentiator of Islam as compared to any other way of
being, which is that Islam seeks the benefit of everyone, not the benefit of one at the expense of
the other.
		

			The second thing is that, how do we know that the Syrah How do we know that the
		

			way of Rasul Allah is Allah salah, which he lived in, in the seventh century, can be beneficial to
us today in the 21st century. We know that by studying history, and when we study history, the thing
that we see, which is very clear, which is that
		

			the conditions in the seventh century in Makkah,
		

			were almost exactly similar to the conditions in the 21st century, as we see it here today.
		

			So, when we compare these two conditions, we are seeing that they are the same. And then when we
look at these, we see that in the seventh century,
		

			before
		

			or the or at the beginning, when the Muslims when they when they first became Muslim, they
immediately attracted the hostility of everyone concerned of all society, and therefore, they
suddenly became the least influential, the most oppressed people of all, but by applying this
method, which we know today as the Syrah of Rasulullah, Selim, in one generation alone,
		

			they became the leaders of their community, they became role models for everybody.
		

			Now, why is that important? Because it is like seeing a
		

			like seeing a pilot project is like seeing a small experiment which proves the rule and the rule is
		

			Islam works. So if Islam worked if this method worked under a set of circumstances in the seventh
century, and if the same set of circumstances define the 21st century, then it's a safe assumption
to make that the same method will inshallah work today as well. Now, when that method works, what is
the result? The result is a society that is equitable, a society that is based on justice and
compassion, a society that is not based on the exploitation of one by by the other. It's a society
that is based with dignity, with human dignity for everybody, a society that is based on non
discrimination, a society that is based on charity, where the giver of charity considers that
		

			considers his ability to give not as a favor to somebody, but as a favor on himself or herself,
bestowed by Allah subhanaw taala that they are in a position to give. So all of these are what I
call switches in the mind that we need to make if we want to live our lives according to the Syrah
of Rasul Allah Azza Rasul Allah subhanaw taala said la gana lagoon V Rasulillah. He was what on
hashanah lemon gana EULA while your Mala Hera was going to LA cathedra Allah subhanaw taala said
Truly, verily for you the best example to follow is the example of mine Abby Mohamed Salah Ali he
values Abu Salam. And Allah says that this example is the best example for anybody who looks forward
		

			to the meeting with Allah subhanho wa Taala on the day of judgment and who remembers Allah subhanaw
taala a great deal.
		

			So therefore, inshallah we ask Allah subhanaw taala to make us among those who will look forward to
the meeting with him a meeting which is inevitable for anyone, whether they look forward to it or
not, but those who look forward to it. They give evidence and this is evidence of their connection
with Allah subhanaw taala where they look forward to the meeting with him geladeira
		

			we have dealt with four of the elements of the Syrah the four things that we need to change in our
lives, the four switches, quick recap. What are the four switches? What is the first one identity
and what is the switch to move from? I am the king, to I am the Vice Chair. I'm the representative
number one just like Allah, what is the second one? Dealings dealings with people who Oh ALLAH Oliva
dealing with people? And how much those dealings be based on what on justice, no dealings, no
partiality, no giving more to one at the expense of the other, what is the third one?
		

			Culture and what is the shift in the culture, non discrimination, a culture which is based on human
dignity on equal rights are non discrimination, no racism, no economic and social barriers and
boundaries, no arrogance, no putting one before the other All human beings are equal in the sight of
Allah subhanaw taala and they are entitled to equal respect and dignity culture number four
		

			worldview and what is their worldview
		

			charity as an investment in the era instead of as a sacrifice or a favor to those that you are doing
charity for. So four things four switches that we make in our lives Inshallah, Allah subhanaw taala
will change our future. We go to the fifth one, which is the issue of money. Now money is
		

			a very important, very
		

			critical part of our society.
		

			And therefore, I believe that money is something that we should understand. From the earliest time
this is a big
		

			deficiency in our education system. And sadly, it's a deficiency in all education systems is the
same thing applies whether it's a mother, or whether it's a so called secular school, where we do
not teach children about money.
		

			Children are using money, you're giving them pocket money and so on. They're using money, but we do
not teach them about money. We don't we don't teach them what the meaning of money is. What does
money mean? What does it represent? What kind
		

			no responsibility does it bestow on me if I have money in my pocket? What am I supposed to do with
that money? What is right? What is wrong, we don't teach any of this to our children, we just give
them money. And the result is that we have developed a very irresponsible attitude towards money for
most people. Money means the ability to spend, what they spend on is whatever strikes their fancy,
as they say, the difference between men and boys is the price of their toys. So when he was a boy
used to buy dinky cars, and now when he is a man is buying Ferraris, I mean, what difference does it
make the mental the mental development is the same, from age four to age 40, there is no change in
		

			the metal in mental development. And so also the it's not only the boys, it's also the girls. So the
issue is money when we use it, with complete lack of responsibility. And that is something which is
bad now looking at money, and the similarity
		

			between the seventh century time of Rasulullah Salam, and our times, now what was happening at that
time, there were three.
		

			There are three big similarities. Number one was a banking system, a banking system, which was based
on interest based lending. It was a banking system. Again, please understand, this is not something
that the Arabs invented, the Arabs got this, from what the Romans and the Jews had been doing for
centuries before that, there's nothing new. It was it was just something that they are also and when
I say Arabs, I'm not saying everybody but the basically the business when America and others have
the Jazeera talara. This is what they inherited, this is what they learned. And this is what they
used, including, for example, at the terminal,
		

			they will not even until the the first of the helluva pneumonia, there was actually no Arab or
Muslim coins.
		

			There is no the first coin was struck
		

			from in a Muslim Kingdom long after we passed away.
		

			So at the time, they were using basically Roman currency, they were using Roman and Persian coins.
Now the way that the reason so therefore, they had an interest based banking system, you would go
get a loan and you paid an interest on that loan.
		

			Or you will or people who had money, they lend out money on interest. They had
		

			financial instruments today, which we understand as financial instruments. For example, they had the
equal amount of checks, they had the equal amounts of letters of credit, they did forward buying of
goods. Now you might say, Well, how do you know it was a check? Well, what do you call it? I give
you a note to somebody, right? For example, I give you a note in Ghana to engineer Bashir to say pay
him 100,000 dinar.
		

			So this person who i Who i Who takes by paper goes to him and he gets 100,000 dinar, that's a check.
		

			Right? Somebody gives you a check, go to the bank and cash the check, you take the money and go
home. Now that is that is a system they use. Now you might say, Well, why did they use all these
systems very simple. The Arabs, America were placed in what I call the sweet spot. And I say sweet
spot because it was the same spot, for example, that Switzerland was in this in the two World Wars.
Switzerland is a European country. The two world wars were fought in Europe. Main battles were also
fought in the European colonies in Africa and Asia.
		

			But the main Battlefront was in Europe. It was a war between European countries. I mean, they were
all except for Turkey, all of the European countries that Turkey also is almost a European country
with half of it is in Europe anyway. So the however in that battle, Switzerland remain neutral. Now,
how did that benefit Switzerland, it benefited Switzerland because no matter who you are fighting at
the end of the day, you need to park your car somewhere, you need to be able to draw money, you need
to be able to pay money. And how do you do that? You do that by means of putting all of that into a
		

			neutral country.
		

			Now again, think about this. You had Swiss banks, Swiss Swiss Swiss had the money. It is possible
that Switzerland could have been invaded and occupied by either of the parties, either by the allies
or by Germany in the earlier in the First World War, the axis, the Axis powers, but that didn't
happen. It didn't happen because both the warring parties understood the value of a neutral place
place in which they could interact with each other
		

			And they could do their financial transactions.
		

			So Switzerland benefited at the expense of both parties. If you put your money into a Swiss bank,
they don't they don't pay you interest you pay them to keep your money. That's how Switzerland makes
money is that so Swiss banks are so enormously profitable. And that's the basis of the Swiss
economy. And that is also the reason why the Swiss banks are so closed mouths about who has money
back then.
		

			There are many countries who try their best to force the Swiss to divulge details about whose money
is in their accounts, the Swiss do not give those details for a simple reason, because that is the
basis of their economy. If they give those details, it means that confidentiality is no longer the
case. That confidentiality with the money is no longer the case. And then people will not keep their
money in Sweden. So this the Swiss version of that is I don't care how you got it. That's your
problem that's between you and your country, whether you stole it or you took it earned it or
whatever you did. As far as we are concerned, once your money is with us, we keep it safe, and we
		

			keep your identity safe.
		

			And for that you pay us we don't pay you to keep the money you pay us. So you we have access to your
money plus, you also pay us
		

			now that the the Arabs do not have Swiss banks, but the Arabs were in this kind of a
		

			soft, sweet spot. So what happened was in the seventh century, the two main warring powers were the
Roman Empire and the Persian Empire. So basically the Eastern Roman Empire, the Byzantine Empire,
and the Persian Empire. These were the two major
		

			powers which were fighting each other. Eventually Allah subhanaw taala gave the Romans victory over
the portions. The Romans were at the
		

			Romans, earlier the victory was with the Persians, the Persians even carried away what is called the
True Cross
		

			to Persia. And then Heraclius, the by the time, Roman emperor, he took a vow to bring back the true
grace and Allah subhanaw taala gave them victory and he conquered Persia and he brought back
		

			what they call the true class. And he put out the fire in the,
		

			in the temple of the Rasta in Persia was called the eternal fire. Of course, it didn't end the
Persian Empire, it was that there was just one defeat, Persian Empire continue. So these were the
two battling powers. Now in the middle of these two battling powers, were the Arabs of just 02, Arab
of which the Kurdish were one of the premier tribes. So the father coloration, the North was what
today we know as Syria, which is known as a sham,
		

			which consisted actually of today in today's terms, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, Israel, all
of these together was one country. And it was, it was it was called a sham. And remember, when we
say country in the seventh century, you didn't have borders, you didn't have lines on maps to say,
This is my land, that is your land. These were large land masses, which you understood to be one or
the other. So that is, on the, in the north, in the south, you had Yemen. And Yemen was
		

			a was a was under the Persian influence. And the North was, of course, Syria. Damascus was where
Heraclius himself had his palace, that's where he's at.
		

			Now, in the middle of these two were the Arabs. The Arabs came from a land which was very
unproductive, there was no there were no crops there, there was no industry. Basically, they were
people who by themselves produce very little because they didn't have the resources. And so they
were really not worth ruling.
		

			For either of these empires. It was not worth their while to go in there and fight battles, and then
set up our administration to rule a piece of land which in the end, was incapable of paying taxes.
So they were simply an unsupportable, useless piece of land and pretty worthless bunch of people. So
they bought them neither of the empires were interested in doing dealing with them. However, this
gave them a big advantage. First of all, they were not anybody's target. And second thing was that
this gave them the opportunity to be the bridge between these two empires. Now, why did they need a
bridge because at the end of the day, goods have to be sold. Money has to be made, and you can't if
		

			I'm a Roman, I can't go to the port.
		

			cinephile, they will kill me if I have a question. I can't come to the Roman Empire because they'll
kill me. So what happens? I have an intermediary guy who's either Persian or Roman, who comes and
buys from me and sells to them. And he buys from them and sells to sells to me. So we get what we
want. And in the process, this guy also makes some money.
		

			That's basically the role they played. So they would go to the north and buy in Syria and buy in
Damascus, and they would bring that stuff down and sell it in Yemen, and they would buy in Yemen and
they would sell it north in Damascus. In between these two journeys they arrested in Makkah, which
was a geographically nicely located in the center. It was also their place, so they used to rest
there but basically the goods which they bought in Damascus, Assyria were not sold in Makkah because
nobody had the money to buy them.
		

			But they were there. However, what started happening was that over the centuries
		

			the mark Dhamaka, had the Kaaba,
		

			the house of Allah subhanaw taala the masjid built by Ibrahim alayhi salam and it's finally salah.
Thanks to the Kaaba. People used to come for pilgrimage, people would come would make the offer of
the Kaaba and to pray.
		

			Now these people came from all over Arabia, basically. Now when they came from all over Arabia, they
came to Makkah they finished their tawaf and they finished their their worship. Now what do you do?
They read what you do, when you now go to the Kaaba for Amara or for Hajj. What do you do? You go to
the malls, you go for shopping, right? That's what they did, they also went for shopping. So now the
goods that these guys these are all brought these guys brought was useful because you also had
created a market there. Now also this was the reason why the cover went and collected so many idols
I come from a country which is the which is
		

			primarily Hindu, it's
		

			the Constitution is secular, but primarily Hindu. So my country has more temples and all the world
put together. But one of the things that you can you know is that in a temple there is only one God
		

			what is called the presiding deity so in that temple if it's if it's a temple to Shiva, then this is
called Sivan coil or it's called Shiva temple and Shiva is the deity in that and there is nobody
else. And if another temple is a Ganesh temples and Ganesh is the deity, there's nobody else and so
on and so forth. The kava collected 350 of them or 360 of them why? Because the kava was not a
temple. The GABA was something else which had been user which had been taken over and converted into
a place of idols. It was never billed for an idle
		

			recap I had no idea because it was a masjid. What does the cover the cover was the masjid body
debridement I believe into Masjid.
		

			Now, how did the gods get there? Because now these people come from various places they are shopping
and so on their worship, they said, You know what, we worship this particular God in our land. Here
we find the God is not there the horizon no problem, bring the god and put him here. So they brought
the god and put him there and somebody else said no here, but what about this other one, we come
from another place, we have our God, no problem, bring the all Gods welcome. So bring the other God
also. So they ended up with all of these idols. Again, please understand, it was not a theological
issue. It was simply an issue of good economics. How do you attract the people by giving the people
		

			what they want?
		

			So we can say in our modern terminology, a kurage were very customer oriented. They were very
interested in pleasing their customers, whatever the customer wanted to do. No problem. As long as
you're buying stuff from me. You want to worship this particular God go and do your stuff. I don't
care.
		

			It was not an issue of religious tolerance. It was not an issue of Theology at all. They didn't care
one way or the other day just said you do what you want. As long as you are buying my stuff. That is
what I'm interested in. I'm interested in your money. I'm not interested in your religion.
		

			Does all this sound familiar to you today? Does anyone ask you Who are you worshiping when you go to
Disney? No.
		

			You go to the Mall of America you go to you know this bar or that mall? Does anybody get you going
to do it without Dubai?
		

			You know, most people go do it on Dubai small handbags Nigeria's go to buy suitcases. Does anybody
ask you?
		

			Well, I bless you well bless your wealth and Shala
		

			I'm not making fun of you hamdulillah but use that well fill that well. Buy a nice big suitcase,
fill it with dollars and go and distribute the knowledge to the poor people keep the suitcase no
problem.