Mirza Yawar Baig – Understanding our World
AI: Summary ©
AI: Transcript ©
My dear respected brothers, sisters, elders,
the title of my chutba today is understanding
our world.
And the reason I say understanding our world
is because our reactions
and our responses
to anything
don't depend on what is happening. It depends
on how we understand that,
because things can be happening in ways.
If you don't understand the reality of that,
then you will be fooled by it.
We are today living in what we call
the parable of the boiled frog,
and the parable of the wild frog is
that if you take a frog
and put it
into a pot of hot water,
the frog will jump out.
Immediately, it will escape.
But if you take the same frog and
put it into a pot of water at
normal room temperature, let it get used to
that, and after that, light a small fire
under the pot, and gradually, we heat the
water, the water gets hotter and hotter and
hotter.
And frogs are cold blooded animals, so the
animal gets now more and more flaccid, more
and more incapable of reaction until
the water is boiling
and the frog is boiled.
And that is why it is very important
for us
to understand that this is the state of
the Muslim moment today,
k. And that is the reason why we
must get ourselves
educated,
not merely trained to make a living.
Just ask yourself,
which books and I don't mean your textbooks
if you are in university. I don't mean
the newspaper.
Which books have you read in the past
1 year?
And you will have the answer about whether
you are a boiled frog or not.
Without reading
and without the skills of reflective observation,
introspection,
and abstract
conceptualization,
you are totally open to being manipulated
to believe and act
the way
that those in power want you to act.
Now if you don't know what these three
terms mean,
come and I will teach you.
It's not osmosis.
It won't happen if you walk around. You
have to learn.
Only real education
can save us from being mentally enslaved and
manipulated
by the puppet masters
for their benefit.
There are two things that distinguish the enslaved
from the free.
1,
the willingness to take responsibility
for oneself,
and 2,
to focus on contribution,
not consumption.
In one word,
participation.
Rasulullah SAWSALAM mentioned this in the hadith where
he defined the ummah.
Nawaan bin Basheer
reported that Rasulullah SAWSALAM said the example of
the believers in their affection, mercy, and
sleepness and
fear.
That is the meaning of participation,
not spectators.
Get involved.
We Muslims, as an ummah, counting backwards
from the nation states post World War 2
all the way to the Khalifa Rashidah, which
was our first
experience of statehood for Muslims,
we have lived in empire
in one form or another.
What is empire?
One ruler with absolute power.
People must obey.
No participation
in decision making.
Change of leadership,
almost
always violently.
Franticide,
killing your brothers,
was the norm
and even declared legal
by Soleiman al Khanhoni, the Ottoman ruler,
yet another reason to study history.
Our history is the history of conquest
and its economics.
Though actual conquest stopped over 300 years ago,
but the angle remains.
Our Muslim country economics
has gone the same way.
We have replaced state income from spoils of
war to oil revenues.
Local people
never had to produce or show enterprise.
They were on their toll, and they remain
that way.
Our wealthy countries are bank accounts, not economies.
We compete in building structures,
not minds.
Ask for example how many of our speakers
talk about conquests and wars and bravery?
How many of you want watch Ertugrul
like an addiction?
And how many talk about social work,
industry,
creating products and services,
invention?
How many?
We live in the past
as if the present does not exist.
I believe that we must wake up
and get out of our empire mindset
and realize that it may have been a
glorious phase in our history, but it's over.
Today, we must draw inspiration from the use
of knowledge,
technology,
systems,
markets.
We must learn a whole new set of
skills and contribute in new ways
to be viewed as productive
and contributing
members of society.
Power and influence
are derivatives of contribution, not consumption.
We must actively learn from our great history
by interpreting it in in the modern context.
It is not about regression.
It's about progress
standing on the shoulder of giants.
I submit to you that most of what
is happening to us today is because of
our isolationist,
myopic, and insular attitudes.
We live as if there is nobody else
in the world.
Let me give you some metrics.
Measure for yourself.
Ask
how many of us greet
people first,
and how many ask fatwa about whether it
is permissible
to say
to a non Muslim who says.
Whenever they ask me that, I I ask
them one question. I said, who told you
not to greet him first? You put yourself
into this mess, now you want to come
ask Fatwa. Is it?
Where are you at Haqqlaq?
How many of us speak the language of
the country? Whether it's America, whether it's wherever,
France, Germany. How many of us speak the
language of the country fluently enough to be
able to represent
ourselves in public fora? I'm not talking about
speaking in Costco or,
Home Depot. I'm talking about being able to
stand on a public platform and present yourself.
How many speak the language fluently enough to
do that?
Even though you have lived in the country
for 20, 30, 40 years,
how many of us sit on school boards
and other boards
where all our children study,
but somebody else makes decisions for them.
How many of us
are in local government?
Just to give you an idea,
Muslims came to this country recorded
in 16/27.
In 16/27,
Suleiman the
Magnificent was the Ottoman emperor,
and Babur had just in 1626
1526,
conquered the First Battle of Panipat, and the
Mughal Empire was being established.
1527,
1 year later, Muslims landed in America.
From 1527
to 2004
not to that. 2,000 what is it? 2024.
2024,
only 4 Muslims have ever been elected
to US Congress.
1527
to 2024,
only 4 Muslims.
How many of us
volunteer for protests
against different social evils,
like drugs and racism and gun violence and
global warming and wars and nuclear weapons?
How many of us participated
in the Black Lives Matter marches?
How many of us participated
even in the pro Palestine protests?
And how many debated
whether it is halal or haram to protest?
How many of us vote?
And how many of us debate about voting?
How many of us have local people as
friends?
I don't mean the ABCDs
or the ABCAs.
American born confused deceased or American born confused
Arabs.
I'm talking about local people, African American,
Caucasian American, meaning white,
and native American.
These are local people.
Friends,
not somebody who sell cigarettes to in your
convenience store.
Friends as in somebody who called you, you
call them, you consult them, they consult you,
they have problems, they come to you. Friends,
how
many? How many of us attend jury duty?
And how many of us
attend local town hall meetings?
I can add to this list, but I
suggest you sit down seriously and add to
this list.
Shall I also ask you how many of
us drive too fast in residential areas because
we are late for Juba,
and we park on people's lawns and across
their drivers?
My brother and sister's power and influence
are the result of consistent contribution,
not consumption.
Nobody cares what you own.
They care about what we give
to those indeed.
Please remember, understand,
power comes with territory.
Contribution
defines territory.
You want power?
Contribute.
Today, almost everything that is happening to us
in this country and globally
is because we are seen as net consumers,
not contributors.
To give you an example,
in the 2011
motor show in Qatar,
the star attraction
was the Volkswagen Touareg
with custom 22 inch wheels,
roof rails, and rough strips, and other details
all plated in 24 karat gold.
Volkswagen is a high performance vehicle, but what
was on show was not engineering, was bling.
Ask why.
This is not only about rulers and other
countries.
Just look around you. Look around us here
in West Springfield
and ask,
what is the Muslim contribution to general society?
I'm not talking about how much fund you
raise here for Palestine. I'm saying, what is
Muslim contribution
to general society? People are not Muslim.
What is the answer?
Isolation
breeds ignorance.
Ignorance inspires fear.
Fear results in violence.
And that is what we are seeing in
different parts of the world today.
Our isolationist,
exclusivist,
noncontributory
attitude,
combined with the fact that we are visibly,
racially, culturally, ethnically different,
and can't or don't communicate with local people
is the ideal combination
for the Islamophobic
gryst meal to generate hatred
using the material that we contribute generously and
freely.
They don't have to invent anything. We give
it to them.
I remind you and myself, it is not
a physical fight. It's an ideological,
psychological
battle where the dominant narrative
must be countered with an experiential narrative that
people can compare to, which cancels and contradicts
the narrative of hate.
When people see anti Muslim things on television
or social media or somebody tells them, their
experience are Muslims,
our manners, our communication,
our contribution,
our helpfulness
must contradict that message.
Only we can create that
because it affects only us.
As they say, a picture is worth a
1,000 words,
an action is worth a million.
Only actions
can drown out the cacophony
of anti Muslim propaganda, not words.
Allah
ordered us to get involved with the general
community,
not only with Muslims,
and to work for the promotion of good
and the prohibition of evil, or ham.
And this applies to all good and all
ham that happens in society. Allah
Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala
said,
Not.
Allah said, you are the best community ever
raised for
humanity.
You encourage good, you forbid evil, and you
believe in Allah.
My brothers and sisters and elders, there are
two things that we must learn to do
urgently.
First, we must learn to appreciate and show
gratitude to Allah
and to the people
for what we enjoy in these lands.
In this country, for example, we can dress
in full Islamic costume,
pray anywhere in peace,
say anything we want in our servants,
eat our halal meats,
insist
that Pizza Hut cuts our pizza with a
clean knife, which is not contaminated by
cutting any other kind of meat.
We receive world class medical treatment.
We receive we study and our children study
at world class universities,
open to everyone,
regardless of race or religion.
And we have a host of other freedoms.
In this country,
universities
have
directors of spiritual
welfare,
and they have Muslim chaplains.
I am the Muslim chaplain in 2 universities.
The dining halls have halal fort.
The university pays for prayer spaces
and for prayer mats,
and they host iftar parties.
Our daughters can go to class
in full burqa and hijab.
Compare this to what happens even in Muslim
countries.
I don't need to elaborate,
but I'm sure
that all of us are well aware.
Ask yourself and I ask myself, how many
times have we thanked Allah for this?
How many times have we shown gratitude to
the people of this country? And I'm talking
about the world wherever we go
in countries like this.
The second thing we must learn is how
to present our culture
to westerners.
For this, we must learn
to communicate,
learn the language, and learn how to use
the language.
The 2 different things.
It is not about converting people.
It's about helping people understand how Islam continues
to remain as relevant and valid today
as it was 14 centuries ago.
It is to help them to see Islam
as a solution to modern problems and a
bull walk against social evils.
It is to help them to see how
the Islamic way will make them successful in
this life while creating a society that is
based on compassion,
sharing,
justice, and equality.
It is to introduce Allah
to them in ways that touch their hearts
and bring tears to their eyes.
It is about winning hearts,
not arguments.
It's about dialogue,
not debate.
It's about collaboration,
not competition.
It's about presenting to them the beauty of
the Islamic way in all that we say
and do
in our spaces, both public and private, which
will attract them and change their opinions.
It's about educating the ignorant and opening the
eyes of the blindfolded.
Today, the youth of this budget are going
to have a unique opportunity to do that
in Vermont,
where we are all going for a weekend.
Whether we leave that place
with people
being
influenced by Islam,
positively or negatively depends on us.
Keep that in mind.
It's not an opportunity to have fun. It's
an opportunity
to change hearts.
The great
and the teacher of of Imam Malik, said
that Islam spread the fastest
after Fatima because
for the first time,
the non Muslim
was able to see the life of an
ordinary Muslim. He's not talking about the life
of the great Sahaba
Ordinary Muslim. He said for the first time,
the non Muslim was able to see the
life of an ordinary Muslim up close.
People came into Islam not for wealth and
power or because of complex theological debates
or because they were forced,
but because they were impressed with the grace
and harmony and tranquility in the life of
the ordinary Muslim. I asked myself,
what has changed?
How is it that we live among non
Muslims?
We enjoy all the benefits of their societies
and systems,
yet what do we do to win hearts?
This must be a conscious effort on our
part,
a part of our normal behavior,
a part of our conscious training of our
children
and those in our circle of influence.
I keep giving you metrics so you can
measure it for yourself.
You don't have to answer me, but how
many of you know the name
of your non Muslim neighbor? Just
the name.
I remind myself, I knew that we must
build bridges, not walls.
For that,
it is essential to monitor our conversations,
especially our internal conversations
when we speak to ourselves.
Do you hear the voice of division
or joining?
If you think and speak about people disparagingly,
it becomes impossible
to respect them and their ways.
Remember that there is much good in everyone.
Huge amounts of good.
There will be places and points of disagreement,
but those must not become triggers to trash
everything.
When we do that, we choose to become
ignorant bigots
just like those we criticize
for trashing us and our religion, our culture.
In conclusion, I want to point out that
exclusivity
comes at a price which is always paid
by the minority.
The result is isolation,
suspicion,
othering,
and demonization,
which in terms of stress can result in
violence against us.
Participation is critical to survival. And in a
country where you can do that with total
freedom
while retaining your culture and religious norms,
it is essential to participate
or risk others
deciding
our fate.
It is essential to participate in society and
become valuable and irreplaceable.
We have a religion which is relevant for
all times, which promotes all that is wholesome
and good and prohibits all that is destructive
and toxic.
Islam came to change our focus
and to guide us to the truth
that in the
end, we will pay for what we did
or chew or chose
not to do.
The mindset we need to create
is to move from what can I get
out of society
to what can I contribute to society,
because return
is proportionate
to contribution,
not to consumption?
I remind myself, I knew that when we
meet Allah
we will not be asked what happened.
We will be asked
what did you do.
It is for that day that we must
prepare ourselves,
and that day must be
our focus.
Before I end,
I request you to make dua
for
the mother of our
Sheikh,
His mother passed away.
I was thinking to myself
that if I wanted to see an example
of somebody who
created a
stream of goodness for herself.
It is
this wonderful lady.
Imagine
she's with Allah,
and the sadaqa jariyah that she has created,
only one of them
is Muftar al Nagri.
And thanks to his work and thanks to
all those
who
are introduced to Allah
and through him,
all of that will going to agree. All
of that is in our record.
All
that bless
and forgive
the mother of sheikh Mkhutar,
and fill her cover with noor,
and grant her the highest
stations of with you,
and be pleased with her and reward her
in keeping with your majesty and grace.
Oh, now for you all of our elders
and youngsters and all those who passed away
before us,
Fill their core with noor, forgive their sins,
and raise us on the day of judgment
with
and give us the shade of your ash
on the day when there would be no
shade except no shade,
and grant us the meeting of Muhammad
on his house
and grant that we take the the cup
of
from his blessed hand and grant that we
pass over the Sirat
in your protection behind him and enter And
grant that we are given the company of
to sit in his presence, in his
at his feet,
and listen
to
the Quran.
And allah grant us the best of the
best of the best of your niamat,
which is your and
your
and to see you,
and to listen and hear your
announcement that
told us that you will make. That, oh,
my slaves,
today I am pleased with you,
and I will never be displeased.