The way forward #4

Bismillah al Rahman al Rahim hamdulillah Hello Big Island or salat wa salam ala Shafi Lumbee are even more saline. Muhammad Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa sallam doesn't even cathedral cathedral.

My brothers and sisters, there is something worse than not having eyesight. It is not having vision,

there is something worse than not having sight. And that is not having vision.

History teaches one critical lesson.

And that lesson is only those who contribute our values. Only they have leverage.

Only they are influential, and only they have power.

Their religion or ethnicity doesn't matter.

What matters is their contribution on a local or global scale.

The world works on one overarching principle, what's in it for me? I call it w III FM.

I sometimes say there's one FM station that everybody in the world listens to and that is called W III FM. This applies to individuals it applies to people it applies to countries applies to the whole world.

That's how it was and that is how it is

our belief, our religion, our personal acts of worship, all of these add value to us individually. Because if we work for the pleasure of Allah subhanaw taala alone,

then he will insha Allah reward us in the akhira and he will put Baraka in our work in his life.

But as far as the world is concerned, it doesn't matter what we believe. If we contribute, we are valued. When we stop contributing, no matter what we did in the past, we are discarded.

Allah subhanaw taala said, quantum Hara or Merton or for rejet leanness, leanness, not meanness, or courage at Linda's that Morona Bill Murphy, what and how nadelman Curry were to me not to be left alone surrounded that I said you are the best people the best community ever raised for humanity.

You encourage good and forbid evil and you believe in Allah.

To help us understand let me ask you to list the top three

universities, libraries, research, laboratories, factories,

hospitals,

or the top three things that you use every day without which life would be impossible, or terribly inconvenient. You would like to start with your cell phone, go to Google.

Go to Siri.

Right? And so on, so on. And then ask which of these is made by a Muslim company? Or is in a Muslim country?

Ask this question. If the world wakes up tomorrow, and all Muslims and signs of Muslims and Islam,

including all contributions of present day Muslims, I'm not talking about people who contributed in the 10 century and the Turks and I'm talking about people today. All contribution of present day Muslims have vanished from the earth they wake up in the morning there are no Muslim no sino Muslims, and all contributions of Muslims of present day Muslims are gone.

What do you think will be lost for the others? What do you think they will say?

Who will mourn our passing?

Will anyone go out into the street shouting bring back the Muslims bring back the Muslims.

I asked myself and ask you to ask yourself what is our contribution to the world today

as a community as Muslims, what is our contribution to the world today?

We are net consumers, not contributors in any field.

Contributors are valued consumers are used. And that is why nobody cares about us.

The purpose of history is to learn from it.

In 1631, the foundation of a building was laid in India.

It was completed in 1653. In 1636, that is four or five years after the first building was started.

The foundation of another building was laid in America

across the world from India.

Today, both buildings exist.

The first was built by a man whose personal web, his personal wealth, his net worth, was equal to 25% of world GDP of the time.

The second was founded by a Puritan priest,

the first has to occupants, both dead.

The second, continues to contribute leaders to every walk of life in the world, and to influence society in profound and lasting ways. It has an endowment of $50.7 billion

the biggest endowment of any education institution in the world and has the biggest library in the world.

That's the story of dogma and Howard University.

There's a difference between building structures and building people.

That's why worse than not having sight is not having vision.

That is why I want us to think about the way forward

what must change with us

what must be focused on from today.

The abbazia Khilafah ended in 1258.

And the way al Qaeda in the loss in Spain ended in 1492.

When Ferdinand and Isabella expelled Muslims from Spain

after that there were three great Muslim empires in the world, in India, in Iran, and in Europe,

the Mongol Empire, the Safavid Empire, and the Ottoman Empire,

but they left no mark of their passing, except magnificent ruins

no discoveries, no libraries, no universities, no hospitals, no new technology.

No great books, no philosophy,

only palaces

and magnificent masajid only buildings

magnificent tombs.

That is why others have the world and we have the tools

and laws around it that told us who are the Lovelady

why middle Saudi had the layer stuffily fun now home field or the command staff level Latina cobbly him? What are you Makina nulla home Deena who will lead the earth Allah Allah home. While Are you Oba De La Nina home member the Hovi

Yagoona Neela you should equal and Abby Che

Guevara vida de Luca Willa Iike, whom will fasciae code ALLAH SubhanA Dallas and Zoltan Nora said which means Allah has promised those of you who believe and do good that he will certainly make them successors in the land he will give them a go by we give them some time and give them power in the land, as he did with those before them, and will surely established for them their faith, you will establish them in their faith and somebody the faith for them, which he has chosen for them which is Islam and will indeed change their fear, the state of fear into a state of our

state of fear into a state of security, provided that they worship Me associating nothing but me providing the worship only Allah and do not associate with Allah.

But whoever it is believed after this promise, it is the who will be the rebellious.

We understand that success comes from Allah alone.

And that is dependent on our obedience to Him.

So let's get that sorted out first, non Halal eat

then it means starting out with grassroots social work in our neighborhoods, in towns and cities. It means knowing our neighbors, helping them and participating in neighborhood and Town projects. It means being genuinely concerned about others, not only Muslims, but others who are different from us in every way, but are still our neighbors.

Why is the Jewish Family Service a welcoming alliance for refugee ministry one

Catholic Charities parish cupboard but no equal Muslim organization? Ask yourself this question why?

Sure we support some of these will be

The annual with some annual duration.

But that's not the point I'm talking about.

If you want to know where we stand as a community on this index, simply see how many of us turn up for our interfaith programs?

How many come for the hunger walk, or the town cleanup? Or even how many of us know the names of our neighbors, including those who pray with us daily?

How many of us what?

The truth is that you can only change the system from within, which means to participate. Today, perhaps the biggest problem we have is that we are misunderstood by others. And we face Islamophobia and hostile media.

The shortest and most powerful cure for that is to let people meet us and see real live Muslims every day, in our daily transactions with them.

This is the whole philosophy of interfaith work, it is not meant to convert anybody.

It is to give them a a template an alternate face to match against whatever they have been hearing.

And that's the reason why it's so important.

It's only when people meet face to face and get to talk and ask questions and clarify doubts and misunderstandings get resolved.

The idea is to give others a template to compare against when they hear negative things about Muslims.

You want them to say, Now wait a minute, I have a Muslim friend. And he's not like that. She's not like that at all. I'm gonna ask him or her

about what you said.

Or, let's go meet them.

Meet a real life, living Muslim, instead of listening to propaganda.

This is what the Sahaba did. And is one lie anyway. They didn't live in isolation in enclaves. They went out into the world and traded with people and made friends

but maintained their own standards and principles.

They didn't change the the

that is what changed society

and brought people to Islam.

We must stop being isolationist and showcase Islam.

It will require hard work, tears before Allah Subhana Allah in the night, constant learning the ability to work across differences and seek unity and loads of patients. It will require putting others ahead of yourself going out of your way to help people the courage to stand up for the oppressed, to give a voice to the voiceless invisibility to those who are ignored.

Ask how many times have you raised funds for black lives matter?

For BLM causes or gone out in protest when the oppressed were not Muslim?

Believe me, it's not a one way street.

If we want others to stand up for us, we must stand up for others.

The harsh reality is that we do not.

Justice will not be established until those who are not affected by injustice, are willing to stand up for those who are

believing that justice will not be established

unless those who are not affected by injustice, are willing to stand up for those who are

because when the truth must be spoken, silence is culpable.

We all know the idea

of sort of the nice Nisa where Allah subhanaw taala said Yeah, are you Alladhina amanu kono Kawa Amina Bill pasty shahada delay Wello Allah unphysical availbale Dany wala Colombina e according to vahanian overfill for LA oh la vie aubema Falletta W allow and daddy

why in dallo

outdoor Ido for in Allah kinda diva Dharma Luna hobby.

And let's run it as it all believers. Stand firm,

for justice, as witnesses for Allah, even if it is against yourselves

or your parents or your close relatives, be there rich or poor, Allah subhanho data is the best to account for them.

To do not let your desires cause you to deviate from justice.

If you distort testimony,

your witness or refuse to give it, then know that Allah subhanaw taala is certainly all aware of what you do.

It means training ourselves to have an iron control on our emotions, because it is intellect and not emotion that is necessary to solve problems.

It will require the ability to think clearly.

To think critically, to communicate powerfully, and to write inspiringly.

For this,

you must read widely and deeply.

Let me ask you, what books have you read in the last 12 months in the last one year?

For our youth, it means you need to study law, political science, sociology, mass communication, Media Studies, and history. It means learning more than one language, developing social skills and manners, learning to negotiate strict discipline and total commitment to the goal.

It means to stop living in our echo chambers and participate. It means making the tough choice when getting a great education.

Not to take a plus job in Microsoft, but to enter politics.

It means that the community was chipping in and say, We will support our son or daughter and pay them what they gave up by not taking their job. Because we have because to have one of our people in the Senate is more important than to have them in Microsoft.

A lot of Rotella made the laws of the world, one of them is result is proportionate to investment.

We need to put our money where our mouths are and get out of the magic in mindset. I call it the magic mindset.

Where we want things to happen

for us in our favor magically.

Without our effort, it means setting up a fund to send our youth into politics, it is legal, it is essential, and inshallah it will be a sadaqa jariya. For those who participated in.

It means attending Senate and House sessions as a spectator with at least as much interest as you attend Superbowl.

It means attending local court sessions.

Not because you are in the box, but as a spectator and looking forward to jury duty. Not trying to escape from it. It means volunteering at your local police and fire stations and mayor's offices.

It means volunteering in your local schools and getting elected to school boards and city offices.

We have people here who have children and grandchildren studying in these schools but not single one of them. Not a single one of you is on the school board. And then you complain

that the children are given time to pray then they don't have a place to do this. And they all unfold in the cafeteria. So it is not magic. It won't happen by itself. If you have if you don't want to make the effort for that to happen, how's it going to happen?

It means writing to your local newspaper or even better starting another newspaper.

On this takes time, make consistent effort and funding according to a plan. We need to put our money where our mouths are.

It is a long haul strategy and so the sooner we start, the sooner we will see success.

It will need the ability to work with people who are different from us, but to share our concerns and problems.

It requires tolerance, openness, inclusiveness and the ability to work across boundaries.

It requires great confidence in our religion and culture

and the ability to teach others about it in a non defensive, non apologetic and respectful manner.

It means to remember that Islam doesn't need to be changed. We need to change ourselves and live by it.

Islamism way of life that is totally relevant today.

It means setting up Islamic schools of a global standard, but children of all communities will be welcomed and

will study a global curriculum in an Islamic atmosphere, practicing Islamic ethics and values.

That is the most powerful way to showcase what Islam means in real life. Let people taste it sweetest let people benefit from it.

Then you don't have to convince anyone.

As soon as as LM was a teenager, when he went with his uncle Italia to the meeting, where the Treaty of unhealthful follow was made. It was a treaty between the leaders of Makkah, all of whom were not Muslim. And as soon as SLM was not a signatory signatory to the treaty to the treaty, he was just a spectator. He had the importance of justice as such that he held himself to the treaty, just because justice was so dear to him.

In Medina, he said, If anyone invokes that treaty today, I will support it.

Decades after the Treaty was signed,

Islam does not distinguish between Muslim and non Muslim in the matter of justice. Justice is to give everyone their rights no matter who they might be. To this we must hold ourselves accountable. It means educating ourselves on issues of justice, racism, of injustice, racism, oppression, and rights violations in all aspects, and learning strategies to combat them.

The truth is that we Muslims are not the first. And I'm not even the most oppressed of people.

But let us work to ensure that we are the last.

We are very good at firefighting and mobilizing disaster relief, but not when it comes to investment in initiatives that operate on the principle of never again,

firefighting unnecessarily but fire prevention is much better. From entry to the corridors of power. From the entry point, when you enter the profession, to the corridors of power is a 30 year journey.

That's two generations. That means if you want to save your children from slavery, you must start now.

The truth is, the world is saying to us, put up or shut up. Stop talking about Islam. Show us Islam,

the time to the time now. The time is now.

So ask, if not now, then when?

If not me, then who?

Was Allah Allah Allah Allah will carry while he was evade main them together.