Mohammad Elshinawy – Marvel Movies Turn People Against God

Mohammad Elshinawy
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The speakers discuss the importance of building physical presence for survival and growth, learning and finding one's true values, and finding one's true values through finding one's true values through finding one's true values through finding one's true values through finding one's true values through finding one's true values through finding one's true values through finding one's true values through finding one's true values through finding one's true values through finding one's true values through finding one's true values through finding one's true values through finding one's true values through finding one's true values through finding one's true values through finding one's true values through finding one's true values through finding one's true values through finding one's true values through finding one's true values through finding one's true values through finding one's true values through finding one's true values through finding one's true values through finding one's true values through finding one's true values through finding one's true values through finding one's true values through finding one's true values through finding one's true values through finding one's true values through finding one's true values through finding one's true values through finding one's true values through finding one's true
AI: Transcript ©
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Tell me, like give me advice.

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I'm like, don't be me.

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This is my advice to you.

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Whatever Shinawi would do or has done, don't

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do it.

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You'll be just fine.

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So proportionality, ratios-wise, you should be building

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the khair more so than you are.

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Allah Azza wa Jal only measures us against

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our potentials.

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The Quran is primarily for those who believe

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in it.

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So Allah is questioning us to not develop

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religious prejudice.

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So we have to go out.

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We have to share Islam with the world

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for our survival and theirs thereafter.

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There's a lot of healing we need to

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bring to the world.

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Unless we master this world while prioritizing the

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hereafter, we will not be able to have

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an impact on it.

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People judge books by their covers.

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Allah does not look at your faces.

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He looks at your heart.

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Our enemies fear the day that we realize

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that we're not outnumbered, we're outmobilized.

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He said to him, I love your community,

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but your community cannot keep me in this

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chair.

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That is the problem.

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So the religious director of a masjid in

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Allentown, Pennsylvania, and also one of the research

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directors for Yaqeen, could you tell us a

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bit more about your research interests at Yaqeen

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or beyond?

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Sure.

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Is this live?

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Yeah, we started.

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We started already.

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Okay.

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Bloopers.

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I was like, is this the pre-interview

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or is this the unscripted, unscripted?

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Okay.

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Yeah, alhamdulillah, I am blessed to serve at

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Yaqeen as one of the research directors currently

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for the Systematic Theology Department.

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ultimately, we're trying to present and represent in

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the best framing packaging possible the beliefs of

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the Muslim and the justifications of those beliefs

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and how those beliefs can not just be

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intellectually compelling, but also spiritually invigorating.

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It gives you that spiritual energy to move

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forward in your relationship with Allah subhanahu wa

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ta'ala and hopefully transform as a better

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person in the process.

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So I'm gonna ask you a few questions.

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I've been asking different mashayikh wherever we go.

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What's some advice that you would give your

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younger self?

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I mean, you're still young, mashaAllah, not to

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say.

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I appreciate the qualifier.

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But it's a very triggering question because if

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I can find that guy, I'm very angry

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at him.

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He knows that I'm gonna throw him a

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mean beating if I could track him down.

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Allah an-Nusta'an.

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It is the Qadr of Allah that we

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learn better out of our mistakes, I guess.

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Without taking this on too much of a

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tangent, you know, Ibn Taymiyyah, Rahim Allah, actually,

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I'm remembering now, he has a discussion in

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his book, Ubudiyyah, Servitude to Allah Azza wa

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Jal, that some people think that Adam alayhis

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salaam was blaming Qadr, blaming destiny, when he

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got into that sort of heavenly debate in

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the Barzakh with Adam alayhis salaam.

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Musa alayhis salaam and Adam alayhis salaam got

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into a debate.

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How could you get us thrown out of

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Jannah?

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I'm sort of paraphrasing, of course.

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To get to my actual regrets, right?

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But Adam alayhis salaam said, aren't you the

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one who Allah Azza wa Jal spoke to

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directly and he wrote for you the Alwah,

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the tablets with the commandments with his own

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hands?

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How could you hold against me something that

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Allah had written on me thousands of years

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before the creation?

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And so, the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam

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did not leave us to wonder who had

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the upper hand in the debate.

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He said, Fahadja Adam Musa.

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Adam out-argued Musa alayhis salaam.

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So Ibn Taymiyyah says he's not blaming Qadr,

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but once you repent, regret, reform, move past

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something, then you can consider your slip-ups,

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I guess, part of the Qadr of Allah

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Azza wa Jal, just like any other calamity.

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So there's many calamities that I can identify

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with in my younger age, but perhaps leaving

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the symptomatic ones at the core of the

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Qur'an.

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The Qur'an, until this day, I am

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still struggling to complete my memorization of the

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Qur'an.

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And of course, memorization is not everything, but

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it is such a huge thing in so

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many respects.

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And maybe this is not the context to

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speak about it, but I wish I would

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have been pushed a little harder and pushed

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myself a little harder to commit the Book

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of Allah Azza wa Jal to my chest.

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There is nothing like the Qur'an as

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a fountain.

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There's nothing like the Qur'an also to

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humble you.

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Many times we see all of the shenanigans

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that some of us in the da'wah

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get ourselves into, whether like what lurks inside

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us or how we behave on the outside.

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And a big part of that is that

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the Qur'an did not take the priority

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that it deserved.

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And so trying to continue to learn on

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the job, trying to fight off the job

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from, you know, it's preventing me from learning.

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That's a big regret I have.

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Maybe another big regret is I did not

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shut my mouth enough times on certain subjects.

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I remember sitting with Dr. Haytham El-Hajj,

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one of my mentors, and he was reminiscing

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on himself.

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And he's someone that I consider of the

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highest calibers of scholarship in our age.

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And he says, Muhammad, can you imagine?

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Can you imagine how arrogant we were?

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He's like, we used to sit there and

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say the stronger view this.

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And I think the stronger view that and

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that's the weaker view when we did not

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even know.

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I remember clearly we were sitting on the

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couch and he said when we did not

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even know the names of some of the

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sciences, the disciplines that these scholars used to

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arrive at those conclusions.

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Like you don't even know where they got

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it from or even the names of the

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instrumental sciences that were employed in this process.

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And yet you sit there and think he

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has no evidence for this position.

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And you referee between positions.

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And so if he's saying that, you can

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imagine how that makes me feel.

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I just want to crawl under a rock

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and die somewhere every time I think about

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it.

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And we ask Allah to forgive us and

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that others can, you know, oftentimes younger Shabab

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when they tell me, like, give me advice.

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I'm like, don't be me.

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This is my advice to you.

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Whatever Shinawi would do or has done, don't

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do it.

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You'll be just fine.

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I jokingly say that, but Alhamdulillah, Alhamdulillah for

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that.

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We got a few answers along the lines

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of the Qur'an memorization.

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Sheikh Abu Isa, I think he had a

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good one.

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He said, I wish I wrote down the

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Qur'an.

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That's something we can just popped into my

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head.

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He said, when you write down the Qur

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'an, it does something else to your memorization

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and makes it stronger.

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And it's like a practice in some cultures.

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Yeah, yeah, the Libyans, the Africans, I've seen

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it.

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They have these ink pots and they write

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it, even though it's not because they can't

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afford a printed Mus'haf.

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There is something there, something very special there,

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not just cognitively and even memorizing in general.

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You know, Dr. Saeed Al Kamal, a great

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Maliki scholar in our day and age.

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He says, you know, memorizing the Qur'an

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at the very least breaks you in to

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scholarship.

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Meaning when you realize the amount of work

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it takes to contain this Qur'an and

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then retain this Qur'an inside you, it

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makes you that much more likely to respect

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those that have gone much further.

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Like when you realize that memorizing the entire

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Qur'an, at least classically, traditionally, was the

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threshold to become a student.

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That's when you become a student, when you

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memorize the Qur'an.

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Before you had the Qur'an, you're not

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even a student yet.

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He said it humbles you in a way

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that few things can.

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What was a teacher or a sheikh or

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murabbi that had an impact on you?

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Can you share a story or a lesson?

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Alhamdulillah, Allah Azzawajal has given undeserving me quite

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a few.

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But I mean, I spent the majority of

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my adult life now with around Dr. Hatim

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and I can't thank Allah Azzawajal enough for

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that.

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And I learn a lot from not just

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what he says, but what he refuses to

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say.

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And also his reframing of things in positive

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ways and the big picture helps you zoom

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out of the granular stuff where everything feels

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like chaos or tense or hostile.

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For instance, I remember one time I came

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to him and asked him about a particular

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da'wah personality.

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And I was like very upset with certain

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things that he used to do and methods

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he would undertake.

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And luckily, I wasn't very well known in

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the era, so my blunders weren't as public

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facing.

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And may Allah help us all.

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But he stopped for a second and he

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said to me, number one, that these people

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have been able to reach pockets of society

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that we have failed to reach.

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So in a sense, you may be looking

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at it disapprovingly, but he has spared us

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of some of the collective sin, collective liability

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of where if we were better people, perhaps

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Allah would have allowed us to puncture those

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circles with our da'wah and so on

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and so forth.

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So stop being idealistic, be a little bit

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grateful that these people have been able to

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reach where we were supposed to and we

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couldn't.

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And he often says, you know, this is

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a statement of Nursi, the great Turkish reformer,

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and he reminds us about it a lot.

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He says we are far more in need

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of building what's absent and destroying what's present.

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Sometimes shaitan will get you caught up in

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this reactive mode, not proactively building.

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And like you don't realize that let's assume

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you're supposed to tear something down.

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Tearing it down can create a void for

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something worse to come up.

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So proportionality, ratios wise, you should be building

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the khair more so than you are.

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And this principle, SubhanAllah, applies everywhere, everywhere.

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Like, you know, Ibn al-Qayyim, hundreds of

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years ago, almost a thousand years ago, in

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the 1300s, he's saying that, you know, people

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that are ascetics, like minimalists in the name

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of piety or driven by their piety, zuhad,

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they fall into the mistake of attacking people's

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love for dunya.

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Look at just how wide ranging the principle

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is, people's love for dunya.

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He goes, that's too difficult of a transition

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for people.

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Instead, you should be building their love for

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Allah so that if their love for Allah

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becomes superior to the love for dunya, if

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they have to choose, they'll choose the right

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one.

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So like building what's absent versus, you know,

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destroying what's present, even doubts.

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Like, you know, a lot of times we

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are trying to engage with doubts and dismantle

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them.

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And it's very obvious that cultivating conviction is

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far more powerful than dismantling doubt.

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Dismantle doubt, another doubt can come.

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But when you build conviction, that's when people

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have this immunity of source that I don't

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have the answer right now and I don't

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need to.

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My faith is not dependent upon having a

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retail answer to an unlimited number of doubts.

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So this issue of, you know, be a

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builder more so than be a destroyer, be

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a demolisher.

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It's a profound principle.

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If you think about just the spectrum of

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domains and applications, you can you can be

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extended to.

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It just popped into my head.

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You know, Allah tells us that.

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If you repel, you know, someone who is

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obnoxious or a bad deed with something better,

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push back with something better than, you know,

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you could destroy, you could vanquish an enemy,

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then you have a kind of.

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But how do you transform?

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You can have a net reduction in enemy.

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But if you win him over, you get

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a you've gained an ally.

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That thing about these people, these these brothers,

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maybe in the dawah, it's we were talking

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about the other day, actually, you know, that

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we have we have a lot of criticism

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for maybe the methods and some of the

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personalities.

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But truth be told, they are, in fact,

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kind of reaching an audience or doing some

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important work that not many other people can

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reach.

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I'm just speaking to this one, the imam

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in Salah yesterday, and he said, anyone, the

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ummah right now, anyone who's working towards something

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good, we should we should try and encourage

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them and try and just be grateful that

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they're there.

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As long as they're moving in the right

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direction, generally.

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And I would much rather, I mean, you

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know, young dawah kind of personalities on YouTube

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and social media and stuff.

00:12:59 --> 00:13:02

They are, I mean, we disagree in terms

00:13:02 --> 00:13:03

of taste and stuff like that.

00:13:03 --> 00:13:05

But if I think maybe my my my

00:13:05 --> 00:13:08

nephews, young young brothers, you know, who are

00:13:08 --> 00:13:11

maybe adolescents, I would much rather them listen

00:13:11 --> 00:13:14

to those people than whatever the latest celebrity

00:13:14 --> 00:13:15

or rapper or something.

00:13:16 --> 00:13:18

At least, you know, those brothers, they have

00:13:18 --> 00:13:23

that kind of Islamic ethos and they're building

00:13:23 --> 00:13:24

a civilization.

00:13:24 --> 00:13:25

They're important.

00:13:25 --> 00:13:27

They're carrying out an important function, I think.

00:13:28 --> 00:13:29

Now, for sure.

00:13:29 --> 00:13:32

I mean, this is like there's two elements

00:13:32 --> 00:13:34

here that should solidify for us the importance

00:13:34 --> 00:13:36

of this calculus.

00:13:36 --> 00:13:37

Right.

00:13:37 --> 00:13:38

There's the pros cons element.

00:13:38 --> 00:13:40

Like if you chase them away from preacher

00:13:40 --> 00:13:42

X, are they really coming to you or

00:13:42 --> 00:13:44

are they going further down the road?

00:13:45 --> 00:13:46

That's number one.

00:13:47 --> 00:13:48

But number two, a lot of times there

00:13:48 --> 00:13:50

is there's a misunderstanding.

00:13:51 --> 00:13:53

Like is person X wrong to begin with?

00:13:53 --> 00:13:55

Or are you just a little bit too

00:13:55 --> 00:14:00

narrow minded, too sort of uninformed?

00:14:01 --> 00:14:02

Are these actual red lines or are these

00:14:02 --> 00:14:05

legitimate scholarly views that Mujtahid Imams have had?

00:14:05 --> 00:14:07

And they had a semblance of evidence that

00:14:07 --> 00:14:09

you simply have not acquainted yourself with.

00:14:09 --> 00:14:12

And so you're even creating like an artificial

00:14:12 --> 00:14:13

conflict, a false dichotomy.

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

It's like, you know, all or nothing.

00:14:15 --> 00:14:16

No, but this is part of the all.

00:14:17 --> 00:14:19

Islam is not, you know, your camp or

00:14:19 --> 00:14:20

your tribe or your opinion.

00:14:20 --> 00:14:21

Is the thing you disagree with the matter

00:14:21 --> 00:14:22

of taste, maybe?

00:14:22 --> 00:14:23

Sometimes it's taste.

00:14:23 --> 00:14:25

But even if it's not taste, it's going

00:14:25 --> 00:14:27

to break like a unanimously agreed upon.

00:14:27 --> 00:14:29

Then then we talk about the first point

00:14:29 --> 00:14:30

of the lesser of two evils.

00:14:31 --> 00:14:33

So those two elements must be front and

00:14:33 --> 00:14:33

center.

00:14:35 --> 00:14:40

Muhammad Ali, the great kind of champion, heavyweight

00:14:40 --> 00:14:41

champion of the world.

00:14:42 --> 00:14:43

By the way, my middle name is Ali,

00:14:43 --> 00:14:45

I just can't fight for my life.

00:14:46 --> 00:14:48

But we're from Pennsylvania, so we have guns.

00:14:49 --> 00:14:50

Let's just make that very clear.

00:14:52 --> 00:14:54

Yeah, he he came.

00:14:54 --> 00:14:57

I mean, everyone, everyone remembers him, loves him

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

as a legend.

00:14:58 --> 00:15:00

But in his heyday, he was he would

00:15:00 --> 00:15:01

rub people up the wrong way and he

00:15:01 --> 00:15:04

would be come across as arrogant and quite

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

edgy and stuff like that.

00:15:05 --> 00:15:08

But ultimately it was I think it was

00:15:08 --> 00:15:11

good for the Dawa and good for the

00:15:11 --> 00:15:14

I don't know, maybe the presence of Islam

00:15:14 --> 00:15:17

and the confidence of having a having a

00:15:17 --> 00:15:19

Muslim personality who doesn't kind of bow down

00:15:19 --> 00:15:22

to pressure, who who gives that kind of,

00:15:22 --> 00:15:25

I don't know, that that that confidence.

00:15:26 --> 00:15:28

And yeah, I mean, I remember seeing some

00:15:28 --> 00:15:31

of those documentaries and stuff about his his

00:15:31 --> 00:15:32

life.

00:15:32 --> 00:15:34

He was in his in his youth, very

00:15:34 --> 00:15:37

loud and maybe flamboyant.

00:15:37 --> 00:15:38

Yeah, that's a good word.

00:15:38 --> 00:15:42

So maybe people don't remember him that much

00:15:42 --> 00:15:42

for those things.

00:15:43 --> 00:15:46

They remember him as, you know, the overall

00:15:46 --> 00:15:48

impression he had on on the world and

00:15:48 --> 00:15:49

the US.

00:15:50 --> 00:15:52

And especially when it comes to, you know.

00:15:54 --> 00:15:57

People doing what, you know, according to the

00:15:57 --> 00:16:01

very limited access they have to Islamic knowledge

00:16:01 --> 00:16:03

or whatnot, could be actually doing the very

00:16:03 --> 00:16:04

best that they know.

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

Right.

00:16:05 --> 00:16:09

Like Allah only measures us against our potentials.

00:16:09 --> 00:16:11

And so if you have less knowledge and

00:16:11 --> 00:16:13

it was not a result of negligence that

00:16:13 --> 00:16:15

you had less knowledge and you acted upon

00:16:15 --> 00:16:17

a greater percentage of your pool, then you

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

are a better human being.

00:16:18 --> 00:16:23

You know, one of the mashayikh of Alexandria,

00:16:23 --> 00:16:26

Egypt, and I remember him telling his students,

00:16:28 --> 00:16:33

we must differentiate between those who try to

00:16:33 --> 00:16:36

do the right thing and failed and those

00:16:36 --> 00:16:37

who try to do the wrong thing and

00:16:37 --> 00:16:38

succeeded.

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

Yeah.

00:16:39 --> 00:16:41

Like the first one must be superior in

00:16:41 --> 00:16:43

your eyes than the second.

00:16:43 --> 00:16:46

But when everyone is the same, then this

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

is not equity.

00:16:46 --> 00:16:47

This is not what Allah loves.

00:16:48 --> 00:16:49

That's deep.

00:16:51 --> 00:16:53

How has the Dawah scene in your eyes

00:16:53 --> 00:16:54

changed over the years?

00:16:56 --> 00:16:58

I mean, generally or in your own community,

00:16:58 --> 00:17:00

your communities that you've been part of?

00:17:03 --> 00:17:05

The Dawah scene, online or offline?

00:17:06 --> 00:17:09

That's one obvious, obvious kind of big thing

00:17:09 --> 00:17:12

on online phenomenon now.

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

I mean, the information age has disseminated more

00:17:15 --> 00:17:16

information.

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

And so that has helped, in a sense,

00:17:19 --> 00:17:23

the availability, the proliferation of Islamic knowledge, the

00:17:23 --> 00:17:26

sacred sciences, the access.

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

But of course, things, when they come easy,

00:17:27 --> 00:17:28

also they're taken for granted.

00:17:29 --> 00:17:30

So it's a double edged blade, of course.

00:17:30 --> 00:17:33

But in general, there is more literacy out

00:17:33 --> 00:17:37

there and more reach for those that want

00:17:37 --> 00:17:39

to increase the literacy of this ummah, which

00:17:39 --> 00:17:40

is a wonderful thing.

00:17:41 --> 00:17:44

We are not insulated from wider society.

00:17:44 --> 00:17:46

The world has also opened up its fronts

00:17:46 --> 00:17:49

in every direction, the global village as a

00:17:49 --> 00:17:50

result of connectivity and technology.

00:17:50 --> 00:17:53

And so if it happens to be the

00:17:53 --> 00:17:55

age of rage, then there will be more

00:17:55 --> 00:17:56

tension and anger.

00:17:56 --> 00:17:58

And we have to double down in our

00:17:58 --> 00:18:01

tradition, in our revelation to protect ourselves from

00:18:01 --> 00:18:02

that.

00:18:02 --> 00:18:04

If we are in the age of the

00:18:04 --> 00:18:11

resurgence of fascism, tribalism, cultish ways, then we

00:18:11 --> 00:18:14

must really dig deep to make sure we

00:18:14 --> 00:18:17

don't pull the jahiliyyah out from under our

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

Prophet's feet.

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

He said, I've placed it, I've stomped on

00:18:20 --> 00:18:21

it, we've trampled it.

00:18:21 --> 00:18:24

But some people will continue to try to

00:18:24 --> 00:18:25

revive it.

00:18:25 --> 00:18:26

May we never be consciously or not of

00:18:26 --> 00:18:27

those people.

00:18:27 --> 00:18:29

Do you think that that's a trend that's

00:18:29 --> 00:18:30

re-emerging?

00:18:31 --> 00:18:33

I mean, what happens in the US with

00:18:33 --> 00:18:36

culture wars and, you know, populism, it kind

00:18:36 --> 00:18:38

of has an impact because of the soft

00:18:38 --> 00:18:40

power and the entertainment and media and stuff

00:18:40 --> 00:18:43

across the world.

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

So we could get some advice from you

00:18:46 --> 00:18:47

to see what's going to affect us a

00:18:47 --> 00:18:48

few years down the line.

00:18:49 --> 00:18:51

I mean, we are so interesting because I

00:18:51 --> 00:18:53

came to the UK 10 years ago, my

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

first and only trip before this one, to

00:18:56 --> 00:18:57

understand how it's going to be for us

00:18:57 --> 00:18:58

in a few years.

00:18:58 --> 00:19:00

Because you guys were here a little longer,

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

the mass migration, at least.

00:19:02 --> 00:19:03

You guys are like second, third generation, we're

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

like first, second.

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

But now you're reversing the army that you

00:19:06 --> 00:19:07

guys have Hollywood.

00:19:07 --> 00:19:10

So now we're exporters of dominant culture.

00:19:11 --> 00:19:13

And I guess there's some truth to both.

00:19:15 --> 00:19:17

I mean, some of it is actually, you

00:19:17 --> 00:19:21

know, on purpose, you get phenomena like the

00:19:21 --> 00:19:24

likes of Steve Bannon and them kind of

00:19:24 --> 00:19:29

outright kind of try to push and teach

00:19:29 --> 00:19:34

their methods to people like, you know, Boris

00:19:34 --> 00:19:37

Johnson, a former Prime Minister, Liz Truss, another

00:19:37 --> 00:19:38

former Prime Minister.

00:19:39 --> 00:19:41

I mean, she only lasts like 40 something

00:19:41 --> 00:19:41

days.

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

But she's kind of a lot of those

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

kind of right wing people, populists, they're kind

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

of positioning themselves and getting advice from, you

00:19:49 --> 00:19:50

know, Steve Bannon and the likes.

00:19:50 --> 00:19:54

And you can see this kind of cultural

00:19:54 --> 00:20:00

wars kind of thing starting to infect people's

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

minds here.

00:20:01 --> 00:20:04

No, I think we have a very serious

00:20:04 --> 00:20:09

duty, both for the survival of our communities,

00:20:10 --> 00:20:13

but also for our survival on the Day

00:20:13 --> 00:20:15

of Judgment, which is that have we really

00:20:15 --> 00:20:16

gone out to the community?

00:20:16 --> 00:20:18

You can't change what people outside are doing

00:20:18 --> 00:20:21

much, or some people will forever be diehard

00:20:21 --> 00:20:22

haters, right?

00:20:23 --> 00:20:25

They hate you for being you, not because

00:20:25 --> 00:20:26

they misunderstand you.

00:20:26 --> 00:20:30

But in general, in the modern West, most

00:20:30 --> 00:20:33

of the people that you come across, you

00:20:33 --> 00:20:35

may have stereotypes about them the way they

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

have about you.

00:20:35 --> 00:20:37

They're actually very sort of welcoming.

00:20:37 --> 00:20:39

They care about their bread and butter and

00:20:39 --> 00:20:41

their income and their family and their safety

00:20:41 --> 00:20:42

and their security.

00:20:42 --> 00:20:45

And so we owe it to them to

00:20:45 --> 00:20:46

reassure them.

00:20:47 --> 00:20:49

That we are or not a Trojan horse

00:20:49 --> 00:20:50

in your societies.

00:20:50 --> 00:20:52

And yes, there's a lot of propaganda that

00:20:52 --> 00:20:54

posits us that way.

00:20:55 --> 00:20:56

But there is also a lot of behavior,

00:20:57 --> 00:21:00

like whether it's our isolationist behavior or unethical

00:21:00 --> 00:21:01

interactions with them.

00:21:02 --> 00:21:03

You know, there's an ayah in the Qur

00:21:03 --> 00:21:08

'an, actually, that Dr. Hatim's book, Love and

00:21:08 --> 00:21:10

Hate in Islam, revisiting Doctrine of Al-Walaa

00:21:10 --> 00:21:14

Al-Baraa, he stopped that and it blew

00:21:14 --> 00:21:15

me away.

00:21:15 --> 00:21:17

When Allah Azawajal is saying they're not all

00:21:17 --> 00:21:19

the same, the non-Muslims.

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

From the people of the book are those

00:21:21 --> 00:21:22

that if you give them a chunk of

00:21:22 --> 00:21:25

gold, they'll be found to have integrity.

00:21:25 --> 00:21:26

They'll give it right back to you.

00:21:26 --> 00:21:26

They're trustworthy.

00:21:27 --> 00:21:28

And among them are those that if you

00:21:28 --> 00:21:30

give them a dinar, like a single gold

00:21:30 --> 00:21:32

coin, they will not return it back to

00:21:32 --> 00:21:35

you unless you're standing over his head.

00:21:35 --> 00:21:35

Like, where's my money?

00:21:38 --> 00:21:42

Then Allah says, وَلَيْسَ عَلَيْنَا فِي الْأُمِّيِّينَ سَبِيلٌ

00:21:42 --> 00:21:44

And the reason some of them are like

00:21:44 --> 00:21:47

that is because they say we are not

00:21:47 --> 00:21:49

responsible for anything to the Ummiyin.

00:21:49 --> 00:21:52

Ummiyin are the non-Israelites in their lingo,

00:21:52 --> 00:21:53

right?

00:21:53 --> 00:21:55

The Goyims, the unlettered, non-Jews, right?

00:21:57 --> 00:22:00

And so, of course, this is known, right?

00:22:01 --> 00:22:05

If you have a supremacist ideology, you're going

00:22:05 --> 00:22:06

to believe that everyone else is at your

00:22:06 --> 00:22:06

disposal.

00:22:07 --> 00:22:09

But what Dr. Hatham was turning our attention

00:22:09 --> 00:22:10

to is that this is not just a

00:22:10 --> 00:22:11

way to point a finger at Bani Israel.

00:22:12 --> 00:22:16

The Quran is primarily for those who believe

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

in it.

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

So Allah is questioning us to not develop

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

religious prejudice.

00:22:20 --> 00:22:21

Like, oh, they're just a bunch of kuffar.

00:22:21 --> 00:22:23

It's like, I can lie to him.

00:22:23 --> 00:22:25

I can credit card scam him.

00:22:25 --> 00:22:26

I can sort of this, that, and the

00:22:26 --> 00:22:28

third with him because he's a kafir.

00:22:28 --> 00:22:30

Well, that's exactly what Bani Israel did.

00:22:31 --> 00:22:32

And so we have to be careful with

00:22:32 --> 00:22:32

that as well.

00:22:32 --> 00:22:35

We have to own our own before we

00:22:35 --> 00:22:38

point fingers at the world, especially when that's

00:22:38 --> 00:22:40

what we have more control over to begin

00:22:40 --> 00:22:40

with.

00:22:40 --> 00:22:42

And many people out there are just looking

00:22:42 --> 00:22:48

for a reasonable proposal for coexistence.

00:22:48 --> 00:22:51

So if there's propaganda on one side and

00:22:51 --> 00:22:53

sort of concurrence on some of that propaganda

00:22:53 --> 00:22:56

internally, obviously not the terror stuff and all

00:22:56 --> 00:23:00

this, then they will continue to resist us.

00:23:02 --> 00:23:04

And I'm not saying I can't blame them,

00:23:04 --> 00:23:05

but I understand where some of it is

00:23:05 --> 00:23:05

coming from.

00:23:05 --> 00:23:06

So we have to go out.

00:23:06 --> 00:23:07

We have to share Islam with the world

00:23:07 --> 00:23:09

for our survival and theirs thereafter.

00:23:10 --> 00:23:13

And our communities need to integrate in a

00:23:13 --> 00:23:16

principled way with wider society.

00:23:16 --> 00:23:17

I don't think we have the luxury to

00:23:17 --> 00:23:18

do anything else anymore.

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

Do you think Muslims are in a position,

00:23:21 --> 00:23:25

in your experience, to take a leading kind

00:23:25 --> 00:23:29

of contributory role in culture, in these types

00:23:29 --> 00:23:30

of things?

00:23:30 --> 00:23:35

Rather than kind of just being, wandering into

00:23:35 --> 00:23:38

debate among rival kind of factions of non

00:23:38 --> 00:23:40

-Muslims and kind of taking a side.

00:23:40 --> 00:23:44

You know, you have different polarities, left wing,

00:23:44 --> 00:23:48

right wing, liberal, conservative, whatever, on hot issues.

00:23:48 --> 00:23:51

Are Muslims, in your opinion, or in the

00:23:51 --> 00:23:53

US, are they in a position where they

00:23:53 --> 00:23:57

can actually produce something which is that can

00:23:57 --> 00:23:57

lead others?

00:23:58 --> 00:24:00

And rather than, do you see people getting

00:24:00 --> 00:24:01

into kind of left wing, right wing, and

00:24:01 --> 00:24:02

these types of realities?

00:24:02 --> 00:24:03

Of course.

00:24:03 --> 00:24:05

And even this notion that there's only the

00:24:05 --> 00:24:08

left and right option, and even the notion

00:24:08 --> 00:24:10

of the Muslim community being, since 9-11,

00:24:10 --> 00:24:12

due to the duress and the very serious

00:24:12 --> 00:24:14

scares that we've been subjected to since 9

00:24:14 --> 00:24:15

-11.

00:24:17 --> 00:24:18

Us being in an abusive marriage with the

00:24:18 --> 00:24:19

left, as they say, right?

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

Or in a scary predicament, potentially concentration camps,

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

so-called, right, with Trump's first run.

00:24:26 --> 00:24:28

It's there.

00:24:29 --> 00:24:31

I do believe, in the little bit that

00:24:31 --> 00:24:34

I know about history, that you can have

00:24:34 --> 00:24:37

a disproportionately influential minority.

00:24:38 --> 00:24:42

And I think, especially the early generations, of

00:24:42 --> 00:24:44

course, the African-Americans have been there forever,

00:24:44 --> 00:24:45

but I just mean like the bulk of

00:24:45 --> 00:24:48

the Muslim community migrated there between the 70s

00:24:48 --> 00:24:49

and the 90s, South Asians first and the

00:24:49 --> 00:24:53

Arabs a decade or two later, that the

00:24:53 --> 00:24:57

majority of the Muslim community, because they're incoming

00:24:57 --> 00:24:59

with a chip on their shoulder, working hard,

00:25:00 --> 00:25:02

they are at the joints of society.

00:25:02 --> 00:25:04

So some of the little numbers I've come

00:25:04 --> 00:25:06

across, if the Muslims in New York City

00:25:06 --> 00:25:08

in the five boroughs are 9% of

00:25:08 --> 00:25:10

the population, they could be 12% of

00:25:10 --> 00:25:12

the physicians, for instance, right?

00:25:12 --> 00:25:15

So there is influence there.

00:25:15 --> 00:25:16

There is leverage there.

00:25:16 --> 00:25:18

And I think we need to be very

00:25:18 --> 00:25:19

intentional.

00:25:19 --> 00:25:20

I think there's a lot we can learn

00:25:20 --> 00:25:22

from minority communities, be it a Jewish community

00:25:22 --> 00:25:24

or be it an Italian community, the Chinese,

00:25:25 --> 00:25:28

the Catholics, in terms of them becoming known

00:25:28 --> 00:25:30

for first-class education or best-in-class

00:25:30 --> 00:25:33

education, primary school education.

00:25:33 --> 00:25:35

These things can be done and they should

00:25:35 --> 00:25:38

be done because the world needs Islam and

00:25:38 --> 00:25:38

it's not a platitude.

00:25:38 --> 00:25:39

It's not a cliche.

00:25:40 --> 00:25:41

There's a lot of healing we need to

00:25:41 --> 00:25:42

bring to the world.

00:25:42 --> 00:25:46

And, you know, unless we master this world

00:25:46 --> 00:25:50

while prioritizing the hereafter, that's the whole secret

00:25:50 --> 00:25:51

recipe, right?

00:25:51 --> 00:25:53

Master this world without it getting into our

00:25:53 --> 00:25:55

hearts, we will not be able to have

00:25:55 --> 00:25:56

an impact on it.

00:25:56 --> 00:25:58

I mean, we have to respect the Sunan,

00:25:59 --> 00:26:03

the laws of the cosmos as Allah created

00:26:03 --> 00:26:03

them.

00:26:04 --> 00:26:07

And Allah will not show favoritism to those

00:26:07 --> 00:26:07

who don't respect that.

00:26:07 --> 00:26:09

So Ibn al-Qayyim, I was coming to

00:26:09 --> 00:26:11

mind now, he mentioned something so profound.

00:26:12 --> 00:26:16

He said that when the Prophet ﷺ came

00:26:16 --> 00:26:19

to the world, very few people actually paid

00:26:19 --> 00:26:24

attention to him because of the message initially,

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

right?

00:26:24 --> 00:26:25

Like Abu Bakr as-Siddiq had such a

00:26:25 --> 00:26:28

pure fitrah that the message resonated with him

00:26:28 --> 00:26:28

immediately.

00:26:29 --> 00:26:29

Okay.

00:26:30 --> 00:26:33

And very few actually resonated with his character

00:26:33 --> 00:26:35

because you have to be really close to

00:26:35 --> 00:26:36

him to know firsthand.

00:26:36 --> 00:26:38

He said it was actually after he established

00:26:38 --> 00:26:41

his power on the ground, right?

00:26:41 --> 00:26:43

The conquest of Mecca, liberation of Mecca.

00:26:43 --> 00:26:45

I prefer the word liberation for Fatih.

00:26:47 --> 00:26:49

That people entered Islam in waves.

00:26:49 --> 00:26:53

It was called the year of liberation.

00:26:53 --> 00:26:55

And then following that was the year of

00:26:55 --> 00:26:55

delegations.

00:26:56 --> 00:26:59

People were flocking to Islam wholesale in waves.

00:27:00 --> 00:27:00

There were so many of them, they would

00:27:00 --> 00:27:03

only be able to send representatives on behalf

00:27:03 --> 00:27:03

of my people.

00:27:04 --> 00:27:06

And this is amazing because people, not just

00:27:06 --> 00:27:08

in the prophetic era, they gravitate towards strength.

00:27:09 --> 00:27:10

They gravitate towards distinction.

00:27:11 --> 00:27:12

Like I was joking with my community that

00:27:12 --> 00:27:19

the owner, the CEO and owner of Chobani,

00:27:19 --> 00:27:20

you guys have Chobani Greek yogurt here?

00:27:20 --> 00:27:22

Chobani, I don't know.

00:27:22 --> 00:27:23

It's okay, it's okay.

00:27:23 --> 00:27:24

You'll get there one day.

00:27:24 --> 00:27:24

Is it good?

00:27:25 --> 00:27:27

It's in every single supermarket in the United

00:27:27 --> 00:27:27

States.

00:27:27 --> 00:27:29

It's like a massive company.

00:27:30 --> 00:27:34

And he made top news about 15 years

00:27:34 --> 00:27:38

ago because his Muslim brother, Turkish, he donated

00:27:38 --> 00:27:43

or promised to donate and donated 10%

00:27:43 --> 00:27:44

of the shares of the company to his

00:27:44 --> 00:27:45

workers.

00:27:46 --> 00:27:48

So he said, you know, I've made it

00:27:48 --> 00:27:51

big, struck gold, wouldn't have been possible without

00:27:51 --> 00:27:51

you guys.

00:27:52 --> 00:27:53

He gave them 10% of the company.

00:27:54 --> 00:27:56

And so I was jokingly speaking to some

00:27:56 --> 00:27:58

of the young professionals telling them, so what?

00:27:59 --> 00:28:01

Like I have given 50% of my

00:28:01 --> 00:28:04

estate once and no one ever told me,

00:28:04 --> 00:28:07

mashallah, takbirallah, it was one time on Eid,

00:28:07 --> 00:28:09

I had $2 and I gave $1 because

00:28:09 --> 00:28:10

nobody cares about a dollar.

00:28:11 --> 00:28:13

Allah cares, right?

00:28:13 --> 00:28:14

I always have to put that disclaimer.

00:28:14 --> 00:28:15

Of course, Allah cares, right?

00:28:16 --> 00:28:17

But people want to see strength.

00:28:17 --> 00:28:19

No one does that in that sphere.

00:28:19 --> 00:28:21

Khabib, the Khabib phenomenon.

00:28:21 --> 00:28:26

Like so many, usually sisters, have called out

00:28:26 --> 00:28:30

people that openly speak about covering the awrah

00:28:30 --> 00:28:32

and sort of like boxing being haram or

00:28:32 --> 00:28:33

things of this nature.

00:28:34 --> 00:28:35

So even Khabib, right?

00:28:35 --> 00:28:36

There were so many people that were called

00:28:36 --> 00:28:40

out online, I remember, usually by our sisters,

00:28:40 --> 00:28:43

rightfully so, to be honest, that how are

00:28:43 --> 00:28:45

you praising someone who's not covering his awrah

00:28:45 --> 00:28:47

and he's in a sport that smashes people

00:28:47 --> 00:28:49

in the face, which is haram on the

00:28:49 --> 00:28:50

tongue of the Prophet, peace be upon him,

00:28:50 --> 00:28:51

to the end of it.

00:28:52 --> 00:28:54

But we can't, I remember one brother, he

00:28:54 --> 00:28:56

was saying like, look, lady, we need some

00:28:56 --> 00:28:56

heroes.

00:28:57 --> 00:28:58

We're parched, right?

00:28:59 --> 00:29:01

Yes, I know technically in a perfect world,

00:29:01 --> 00:29:02

that's the thing.

00:29:02 --> 00:29:03

Why?

00:29:04 --> 00:29:07

Would the world have celebrated Khabib?

00:29:07 --> 00:29:11

Would non-Muslims have shared memes of how

00:29:11 --> 00:29:12

good he is to his mom if he

00:29:12 --> 00:29:14

was 1 in 28 instead of 29 and

00:29:14 --> 00:29:14

0?

00:29:15 --> 00:29:16

No, it's because he was 29 and 0.

00:29:16 --> 00:29:17

People gravitate towards strength.

00:29:18 --> 00:29:21

Yes, Muhammad Ali, like undefeated and like then

00:29:21 --> 00:29:23

he stands that refuses to go to Vietnam.

00:29:23 --> 00:29:24

That's what made it amazing.

00:29:25 --> 00:29:26

Like even in the World Cup, I don't

00:29:26 --> 00:29:29

watch soccer whatsoever or UFC, of course, but

00:29:29 --> 00:29:32

like everyone is going crazy about the Moroccan

00:29:32 --> 00:29:34

soccer team and how they make sujood and

00:29:34 --> 00:29:35

how they sort of honor their moms.

00:29:35 --> 00:29:36

And why?

00:29:37 --> 00:29:37

Is it because they're Muslim?

00:29:37 --> 00:29:39

It's not because they're Muslim because there was

00:29:39 --> 00:29:40

many Muslim teams.

00:29:40 --> 00:29:41

It was because they were final four.

00:29:41 --> 00:29:44

So the notion of gravitating towards strength and

00:29:44 --> 00:29:45

the examples are too many to count.

00:29:45 --> 00:29:46

The opposite is also true.

00:29:46 --> 00:29:49

رَبَّنَا لَا تَجْعَلْنَا فِتْنَةً لِلَّذِينَ كَفَرُونَ Yeah?

00:29:49 --> 00:29:52

If people don't make us a trial, a

00:29:52 --> 00:29:56

tribulation for the disbelieving people, the tafseer of

00:29:56 --> 00:29:58

that was, you know, don't let us be

00:29:58 --> 00:30:00

vanquished so other people think that they're upon

00:30:00 --> 00:30:01

the truth.

00:30:01 --> 00:30:02

If it were true, God would have helped

00:30:02 --> 00:30:02

them.

00:30:03 --> 00:30:03

Exactly.

00:30:04 --> 00:30:05

So people are superficial.

00:30:06 --> 00:30:08

People judge books by their covers.

00:30:09 --> 00:30:11

And so you need to be presentable.

00:30:11 --> 00:30:14

I remember one brother in New York City,

00:30:14 --> 00:30:15

let's keep this a little light-hearted.

00:30:17 --> 00:30:19

After the khutbah, elderly man, I think he

00:30:19 --> 00:30:21

was one of the founders, he's like, Imam,

00:30:21 --> 00:30:24

I cannot tell you how proud I was

00:30:24 --> 00:30:25

of you seeing you up there on the

00:30:25 --> 00:30:25

minbar.

00:30:26 --> 00:30:28

I was like, it's like, Allah khair, you

00:30:28 --> 00:30:29

know, inshallah, you benefited.

00:30:29 --> 00:30:29

Keep me in your du'a.

00:30:29 --> 00:30:31

He's like, it had nothing to do with

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

what you said.

00:30:32 --> 00:30:35

I was like, ouch, okay, then what?

00:30:37 --> 00:30:41

He said, you don't look like you crawled

00:30:41 --> 00:30:43

out of bed in your pajamas and climbed

00:30:43 --> 00:30:43

the minbar.

00:30:45 --> 00:30:47

You look presentable, you iron your clothes.

00:30:47 --> 00:30:48

And I was like, really?

00:30:48 --> 00:30:50

Like, is that all it takes to like

00:30:50 --> 00:30:50

get your attention?

00:30:51 --> 00:30:51

I'll do it.

00:30:52 --> 00:30:53

And even Dr. Hatim once said to us

00:30:53 --> 00:30:54

something.

00:30:54 --> 00:30:55

He said, have you ever thought about the

00:30:55 --> 00:30:57

fact that the Prophet ﷺ was given the

00:30:57 --> 00:30:58

most beautiful face?

00:31:00 --> 00:31:04

When he himself said ﷺ, Allah does not

00:31:04 --> 00:31:04

look at your faces.

00:31:06 --> 00:31:06

Or your wealth.

00:31:07 --> 00:31:09

He looks at your heart and your actions.

00:31:10 --> 00:31:11

If Allah doesn't look at your face, then

00:31:11 --> 00:31:12

why did he give him the most beautiful

00:31:12 --> 00:31:12

face?

00:31:12 --> 00:31:13

Because people look at faces.

00:31:14 --> 00:31:15

Allah wants to guide people.

00:31:16 --> 00:31:18

And so he's making him visually appealing.

00:31:18 --> 00:31:20

He wants to draw more people to his

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

guidance ﷺ.

00:31:21 --> 00:31:23

So us being presentable, us getting our ducks

00:31:23 --> 00:31:28

in a row, us being successful, prosperous, with

00:31:28 --> 00:31:30

our principles and our values, that's the way

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

to do it.

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

That's the way to call attention to yourself.

00:31:33 --> 00:31:36

Not for yourself, but for what you represent.

00:31:37 --> 00:31:39

Just a second ago, did you say that

00:31:39 --> 00:31:42

Muslims are like 9% of New York?

00:31:42 --> 00:31:43

Maybe 10, yeah.

00:31:44 --> 00:31:46

So 9 or 10%.

00:31:46 --> 00:31:50

So that's obviously, that's leverage, that's potential power

00:31:50 --> 00:31:51

influence, you think?

00:31:51 --> 00:31:52

Yeah, we're not outnumbered.

00:31:53 --> 00:31:55

We're out-organized.

00:31:56 --> 00:31:57

And as one of our mashayikh, Shaykh Abdul

00:31:57 --> 00:31:59

Rahman, he says in New York City, he

00:31:59 --> 00:32:02

says, our enemies fear the day that we

00:32:02 --> 00:32:05

realize that we're not outnumbered, we're out-mobilized.

00:32:05 --> 00:32:06

We're out-organized.

00:32:06 --> 00:32:07

I met him when I went.

00:32:08 --> 00:32:08

Oh, that's right.

00:32:09 --> 00:32:09

We had dinner together.

00:32:09 --> 00:32:10

New York pizza.

00:32:10 --> 00:32:12

You've been indoctrinated, my friend.

00:32:12 --> 00:32:15

Welcome, welcome to the dark side.

00:32:16 --> 00:32:18

I mean, I'll even share a story here

00:32:18 --> 00:32:22

about how much of the details I need

00:32:22 --> 00:32:25

to fudge, because this is top secret, confidential

00:32:25 --> 00:32:26

stuff.

00:32:26 --> 00:32:31

A politician in New York City was being

00:32:31 --> 00:32:36

blasted for his stance with the Zionists, right?

00:32:36 --> 00:32:39

Since October, and he was known to everyone

00:32:39 --> 00:32:43

as being a very, very pronounced ally, a

00:32:43 --> 00:32:44

big ally of the Muslim community.

00:32:44 --> 00:32:45

And in fact, he has done a lot.

00:32:45 --> 00:32:47

But when this happened, that's it.

00:32:47 --> 00:32:49

They don't pick up the phones, they don't

00:32:49 --> 00:32:49

say anything.

00:32:49 --> 00:32:50

I don't know you.

00:32:50 --> 00:32:52

And the Muslims were blasting him for?

00:32:52 --> 00:32:55

They were blasting him for how quickly he

00:32:55 --> 00:32:55

flipped the switch.

00:32:56 --> 00:32:58

But he mentioned to one of the Muslims

00:32:58 --> 00:33:01

who shared with me privately in confidence, he

00:33:01 --> 00:33:03

said to him, I love your community, but

00:33:03 --> 00:33:05

your community cannot keep me in this chair.

00:33:05 --> 00:33:06

That is the problem.

00:33:07 --> 00:33:08

And he said to him, the Jewish community

00:33:08 --> 00:33:11

outvotes every other demographic in New York City.

00:33:12 --> 00:33:14

And of course, voting is not everything.

00:33:14 --> 00:33:16

And Thoreau says it's like the activism of

00:33:16 --> 00:33:18

the feeble-minded, and if you think just

00:33:18 --> 00:33:19

waking up once every four years is going

00:33:19 --> 00:33:21

to do something, you live in a delusional

00:33:21 --> 00:33:21

world.

00:33:21 --> 00:33:24

But 90% of them vote.

00:33:25 --> 00:33:27

And then it trickles down from one group

00:33:27 --> 00:33:27

to another.

00:33:28 --> 00:33:31

And the least participating was the Muslim community.

00:33:32 --> 00:33:34

And that's a problem because you may also

00:33:34 --> 00:33:37

not get involved, not get your act together

00:33:37 --> 00:33:38

because you think you are involved and you

00:33:38 --> 00:33:39

have your act together.

00:33:39 --> 00:33:41

You may think, oh, this is just the

00:33:41 --> 00:33:42

wrong path.

00:33:42 --> 00:33:44

No, you haven't started walking on the path

00:33:44 --> 00:33:44

yet.

00:33:45 --> 00:33:47

And so 10% of the Muslim community

00:33:47 --> 00:33:47

votes.

00:33:48 --> 00:33:48

Wow.

00:33:48 --> 00:33:51

And then they say, what's the point of

00:33:51 --> 00:33:51

voting?

00:33:51 --> 00:33:52

It doesn't make a difference.

00:33:52 --> 00:33:53

No, you haven't voted yet.

00:33:53 --> 00:33:55

That's why it hasn't made a difference.

00:33:55 --> 00:33:59

And so understanding the system, engaging the realities,

00:34:00 --> 00:34:01

there's no favoritism.

00:34:02 --> 00:34:07

You know the ayah, SubhanAllah, in the Surah

00:34:07 --> 00:34:14

Ash-Shura, Allah Azza wa Jal says, وَجَعَلَ

00:34:14 --> 00:34:18

فِيهَا أَقْوَاتَهَا that Allah placed the resources of

00:34:18 --> 00:34:21

the earth in the earth فِي أَرْبَعَةِ أَيَّام

00:34:21 --> 00:34:23

وَقَدَّرَ فِيهَا and destined into it over the

00:34:23 --> 00:34:25

span of four days فُسْصِلِح JazakAllahu Khayran.

00:34:25 --> 00:34:26

First pages of Fussila.

00:34:27 --> 00:34:30

over the span of four days سَوَاءً لِلسَّائِلِينَ

00:34:30 --> 00:34:32

equally accessible to those who seek it.

00:34:32 --> 00:34:34

Muslim or not Muslim, it doesn't matter.

00:34:34 --> 00:34:37

Equally accessible to those who seek it.

00:34:37 --> 00:34:40

So if they seek it with greater aptitude

00:34:40 --> 00:34:42

than you, then they will access it faster

00:34:42 --> 00:34:44

than you.

00:34:44 --> 00:34:45

SubhanAllah.

00:34:46 --> 00:34:48

So Muslims need to get out and mobilize

00:34:48 --> 00:34:49

more.

00:34:50 --> 00:34:50

Yeah.

00:34:50 --> 00:34:51

And of course there are different ways to

00:34:51 --> 00:34:52

do that.

00:34:53 --> 00:34:54

I'll leave each to their niche and not

00:34:54 --> 00:34:55

speak above my pay grade.

00:34:56 --> 00:34:58

But at least let us say that we

00:34:58 --> 00:35:00

are clearly not doing it.

00:35:00 --> 00:35:02

Let us say that this notion that we

00:35:02 --> 00:35:04

have the luxury of not needing to do

00:35:04 --> 00:35:05

it together is a big problem.

00:35:06 --> 00:35:07

Even if you don't agree with how some

00:35:07 --> 00:35:09

people are doing it, don't undermine the work

00:35:09 --> 00:35:09

of others.

00:35:09 --> 00:35:10

Just do your own work.

00:35:11 --> 00:35:15

That thing you mentioned earlier about don't dismantle

00:35:15 --> 00:35:17

what is, build what isn't.

00:35:17 --> 00:35:19

It applies here as well, SubhanAllah.

00:35:20 --> 00:35:22

I just want to get your views, your

00:35:22 --> 00:35:24

answer on a question I've been asking different

00:35:24 --> 00:35:24

people as well.

00:35:24 --> 00:35:27

And that is, what advice can you give

00:35:27 --> 00:35:30

for introducing Allah SWT to children?

00:35:32 --> 00:35:34

I think one of the biggest challenges here,

00:35:35 --> 00:35:37

and before I get lost in my own

00:35:37 --> 00:35:40

answer, Dr. Othman Omarovji and Dr. Hassan Alwan

00:35:40 --> 00:35:43

have a wonderful study and there are more

00:35:43 --> 00:35:45

subsequent studies going to be published by Yaqeen

00:35:45 --> 00:35:50

on what is known in psychology or psychological

00:35:50 --> 00:35:51

theory as God image.

00:35:52 --> 00:35:55

So in the psychology of conviction, motivation, attachment

00:35:55 --> 00:35:57

theory is a big subset of psychology, modern

00:35:57 --> 00:36:01

psych, what makes you want to attach, have

00:36:01 --> 00:36:02

a relationship with, and so on and so

00:36:02 --> 00:36:02

forth.

00:36:02 --> 00:36:06

So under that, there is an emerging field

00:36:06 --> 00:36:07

called your God image.

00:36:07 --> 00:36:09

How do you experience God?

00:36:10 --> 00:36:12

It was originally called the alchemy of divine

00:36:12 --> 00:36:13

love.

00:36:14 --> 00:36:17

I think a spin on Ghazali's alchemy of

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

happiness.

00:36:18 --> 00:36:20

Rahimahullah, Imam Ghazali.

00:36:20 --> 00:36:22

But in general, just look it up.

00:36:22 --> 00:36:24

It's a wonderful work and there's more forthcoming

00:36:24 --> 00:36:26

on it and it's based on over 10

00:36:26 --> 00:36:27

years of research.

00:36:28 --> 00:36:32

But the idea here is that there is

00:36:32 --> 00:36:36

a big difference between knowing Allah on the

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

theoretical level and on the experiential level.

00:36:39 --> 00:36:41

Like no Muslim that's a Muslim will answer

00:36:41 --> 00:36:42

the questions wrong.

00:36:42 --> 00:36:43

Is God powerful?

00:36:43 --> 00:36:44

Is God merciful?

00:36:44 --> 00:36:47

But how do you experience Allah?

00:36:48 --> 00:36:53

They found like roughly, don't quote me, like

00:36:53 --> 00:36:56

let's say a fifth of the Muslim community

00:36:57 --> 00:37:01

could have a almost pathological relationship or perception,

00:37:01 --> 00:37:04

experienced perception of Allah.

00:37:06 --> 00:37:08

And maybe a third of them, and they're

00:37:08 --> 00:37:09

going to shoot me if these numbers are

00:37:09 --> 00:37:13

wrong, but roughly there's like a significant minority.

00:37:14 --> 00:37:16

Let's say a third of them have at

00:37:16 --> 00:37:19

least an imbalanced, unhealthy, experienced relationship with Allah.

00:37:19 --> 00:37:21

What does that mean in practice?

00:37:21 --> 00:37:24

And so they see Allah as more of

00:37:24 --> 00:37:27

an enforcer than a caretaker.

00:37:29 --> 00:37:31

That's not it.

00:37:31 --> 00:37:32

He's not even 55th.

00:37:32 --> 00:37:35

He introduces himself to your question in the

00:37:35 --> 00:37:42

beginning of every Surah pretty much as And

00:37:42 --> 00:37:46

so where does it come from?

00:37:46 --> 00:37:48

This is a part of the answer that

00:37:48 --> 00:37:50

maybe is worthy of mentioning and then it'll

00:37:50 --> 00:37:51

be a teaser for the paper.

00:37:53 --> 00:37:56

The number one factor in the transmission of

00:37:56 --> 00:37:58

faith, whether your faith in Allah or transmission

00:37:58 --> 00:38:02

of faith across generations is actually parental influence.

00:38:03 --> 00:38:06

And still that's not the full answer because

00:38:06 --> 00:38:07

it's not whether or not the parents have

00:38:07 --> 00:38:11

introduced Allah to the child in a pedagogical,

00:38:12 --> 00:38:14

in a sort of instructional setting.

00:38:15 --> 00:38:18

The research shows that you get your first

00:38:18 --> 00:38:21

impression and your strongest impression growing up on

00:38:21 --> 00:38:23

who Allah is from who your parents are.

00:38:24 --> 00:38:26

So if your parent seems sort of like

00:38:26 --> 00:38:29

distant, seems indifferent, seems to only show up

00:38:29 --> 00:38:32

when you make a mistake, gotcha, right?

00:38:32 --> 00:38:36

If it's a stressful relationship, this can also

00:38:36 --> 00:38:39

erode the warmth of your experience with Allah

00:38:39 --> 00:38:41

SWT because that was your first semblance of

00:38:41 --> 00:38:44

sort of authority and caretaking and the likes.

00:38:45 --> 00:38:47

And then of course the culture.

00:38:47 --> 00:38:51

You get parented by your society after that.

00:38:52 --> 00:38:56

So, you know, when Umar radiAllahu anhu, he

00:38:56 --> 00:38:58

said, people are more the children of their

00:38:58 --> 00:39:00

times than they are of their parents.

00:39:00 --> 00:39:01

I believe it was Umar, it may have

00:39:01 --> 00:39:03

been Ibn al-Qayyim, I'm conflating here.

00:39:05 --> 00:39:09

Yes, أَشْبَهُ بِأَزْمَانِهِمْ مِنْهُم مِّنْ أَبِي أَبَائِهِمْ They

00:39:09 --> 00:39:11

resemble more their era than they do their

00:39:11 --> 00:39:12

parents.

00:39:13 --> 00:39:15

So then, you know, you become parented by

00:39:15 --> 00:39:17

the popular culture because literally in the ether.

00:39:18 --> 00:39:20

And so, for example, you have like a

00:39:20 --> 00:39:22

stressful upbringing with your parents.

00:39:23 --> 00:39:26

You don't feel their compassion, their forgiving nature

00:39:26 --> 00:39:27

when you mess up, when you slip and

00:39:27 --> 00:39:28

the likes.

00:39:28 --> 00:39:31

As opposed to, imagine being parented by the

00:39:31 --> 00:39:32

Prophet SAW.

00:39:32 --> 00:39:34

Like Dr. Hassan Alwan, the co-author, he

00:39:34 --> 00:39:36

actually says, picture it this way, Allah wanted

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

to introduce himself to the world, so he

00:39:39 --> 00:39:41

sent Muhammad SAW.

00:39:41 --> 00:39:44

We're not conflating creator and creation, but he

00:39:44 --> 00:39:47

is the earthly pivot of how we experience

00:39:47 --> 00:39:48

Allah Azzawajal.

00:39:48 --> 00:39:50

Through him, not just his instruction, not just

00:39:50 --> 00:39:53

the verses that we're going to memorize, but

00:39:53 --> 00:39:55

through experiencing him, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam.

00:39:55 --> 00:39:58

He is a reflection of everything beautiful that

00:39:58 --> 00:39:59

Allah loves to see in his creation.

00:40:00 --> 00:40:02

And much of that are our divine qualities,

00:40:02 --> 00:40:04

of course, in the imperfect form, in the

00:40:04 --> 00:40:05

human form.

00:40:05 --> 00:40:06

So that's the parents.

00:40:07 --> 00:40:08

Then you move on to society.

00:40:08 --> 00:40:09

How are they introduced to God?

00:40:10 --> 00:40:13

Like think of, I don't watch movies and

00:40:13 --> 00:40:15

I don't believe movies are halal for the

00:40:15 --> 00:40:18

most part, but the so-called Marvel universe,

00:40:19 --> 00:40:22

every villain is God and every hero is

00:40:22 --> 00:40:23

the person that can save the world from

00:40:23 --> 00:40:23

God.

00:40:24 --> 00:40:25

There's either a God or a demigod or

00:40:25 --> 00:40:27

some sort of like, right?

00:40:28 --> 00:40:32

And so this corroborates and crystallizes for someone

00:40:32 --> 00:40:33

this negative God image.

00:40:34 --> 00:40:36

And so your image of Allah will be

00:40:36 --> 00:40:38

blurry or will just be bad, will be

00:40:38 --> 00:40:41

just dangerous because of this.

00:40:41 --> 00:40:42

Someone waiting for you to slip up so

00:40:42 --> 00:40:46

he can punish you rather than someone waiting

00:40:46 --> 00:40:48

for you to do something so he can,

00:40:48 --> 00:40:50

an excuse to give you his mercy.

00:40:50 --> 00:40:51

Yeah, like God is not indifferent.

00:40:51 --> 00:40:52

He actually has a preference.

00:40:53 --> 00:40:55

ما يفعل الله بعذابكم What would Allah get

00:40:55 --> 00:40:56

out of punishing you?

00:40:56 --> 00:40:58

إن شكرتم وآلمنتم If you are thankful and

00:40:58 --> 00:40:59

you are faithful.

00:40:59 --> 00:41:00

And the verses are many, right?

00:41:00 --> 00:41:03

So as a parent, how do I, how

00:41:03 --> 00:41:05

would you say I can get this across

00:41:05 --> 00:41:07

to my children?

00:41:07 --> 00:41:12

So imbibing compassion, compassionate nurturance, forbearance, forgiving before

00:41:12 --> 00:41:13

anything else.

00:41:13 --> 00:41:14

That's what I was trying to get to.

00:41:14 --> 00:41:18

Introduce them through your demeanor to these qualities,

00:41:19 --> 00:41:19

right?

00:41:20 --> 00:41:21

And then speak to them about Allah.

00:41:22 --> 00:41:26

You know, some scholars have pointed out that

00:41:26 --> 00:41:29

Ibn Abbas said about himself that when the

00:41:29 --> 00:41:31

Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam died, he was around

00:41:31 --> 00:41:33

the age of puberty, which means he was

00:41:33 --> 00:41:35

prepubescent, right?

00:41:35 --> 00:41:37

When he heard any of the hadith that

00:41:37 --> 00:41:39

he narrated to us, except those he would

00:41:39 --> 00:41:40

hear later from other companions.

00:41:41 --> 00:41:43

But one hadith we know he heard directly

00:41:43 --> 00:41:46

is the hadith where he's on the camelback

00:41:46 --> 00:41:47

or the mount and he says the Prophet

00:41:47 --> 00:41:53

Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, you know, said to me,

00:41:53 --> 00:41:55

oh young man, I'm going to teach you

00:41:55 --> 00:41:57

some words, meaning memorize this.

00:41:58 --> 00:42:00

And so to memorize something, but memorize something

00:42:00 --> 00:42:04

you understand, to carve into their personality that

00:42:04 --> 00:42:05

Allah will always be there for you.

00:42:05 --> 00:42:07

Allah watches over you even when I can't.

00:42:07 --> 00:42:08

These notions.

00:42:08 --> 00:42:11

So the scholar said that this is a

00:42:11 --> 00:42:16

profound instruction, probably more profound than Ibn Abbas

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

initially understood.

00:42:17 --> 00:42:19

So there are times when you sort of

00:42:19 --> 00:42:21

inculcate in someone something and it gets activated

00:42:21 --> 00:42:21

later.

00:42:22 --> 00:42:24

Like, you know, even the, you think of

00:42:24 --> 00:42:27

when the Sahaba said, when the Prophet Sallallahu

00:42:27 --> 00:42:30

Alaihi Wasallam passed away and Abu Bakr as

00:42:30 --> 00:42:32

-Siddiq came out and he sort of anchored

00:42:32 --> 00:42:33

everyone.

00:42:34 --> 00:42:36

It was, of course, greatest calamity humanity has

00:42:36 --> 00:42:37

ever seen.

00:42:37 --> 00:42:37

It was pandemonium.

00:42:38 --> 00:42:40

And he recited the ayah, Muhammad was but

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

a messenger.

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

What did they say?

00:42:43 --> 00:42:44

It was as if it was the first

00:42:44 --> 00:42:45

time.

00:42:45 --> 00:42:47

So it was there, but it just, the

00:42:47 --> 00:42:50

moment that came later for its activation.

00:42:51 --> 00:42:53

So etching in their personality, the meanings of

00:42:53 --> 00:42:58

Allah's names, the beauty of Allah's being, as

00:42:58 --> 00:42:59

far as we can articulate it.

00:42:59 --> 00:43:01

Through the names he gave us, he introduced

00:43:01 --> 00:43:02

himself to us through these names and attributes.

00:43:03 --> 00:43:05

And then imbibing as much of that is,

00:43:05 --> 00:43:07

as is humanly possible.

00:43:08 --> 00:43:09

That's good advice.

00:43:10 --> 00:43:11

I've got one more question.

00:43:12 --> 00:43:13

We need to go for Salah now.

00:43:13 --> 00:43:15

So just make this the last question.

00:43:16 --> 00:43:17

What's your favorite masjid in the world and

00:43:17 --> 00:43:18

why?

00:43:18 --> 00:43:22

Not including the three, Mecca, Medina and Aqsa.

00:43:23 --> 00:43:24

Oh, you're going to make me sectarian now.

00:43:26 --> 00:43:27

Or are you going to say Qom or

00:43:27 --> 00:43:27

something?

00:43:30 --> 00:43:34

No, I mean, I was just in Istanbul

00:43:34 --> 00:43:38

for the second time, sort of.

00:43:39 --> 00:43:41

I've translated it about like two real times.

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

I've been.

00:43:43 --> 00:43:48

And Masjid Sultan Ayyub, Masjid Abi Ayyub al

00:43:48 --> 00:43:54

-Ansari, There is something very special about the

00:43:54 --> 00:43:55

masjid.

00:43:55 --> 00:43:57

I mean, there's something I can identify.

00:43:58 --> 00:43:59

Like it's not as decorative on the inside,

00:44:00 --> 00:44:01

which is not from the Sunnah.

00:44:01 --> 00:44:02

One of the signs of the Day of

00:44:02 --> 00:44:04

Judgment is that you embellish the masjid, especially

00:44:04 --> 00:44:04

the insides.

00:44:05 --> 00:44:06

Because the masjid is supposed to be a

00:44:06 --> 00:44:08

place where you look inward, not outward.

00:44:08 --> 00:44:09

It should be elegant, but it shouldn't be

00:44:09 --> 00:44:11

decorative, shouldn't be museum-esque.

00:44:13 --> 00:44:15

And so that's probably one of the reasons.

00:44:15 --> 00:44:20

But the sectarian point was that the grave

00:44:20 --> 00:44:22

is not inside the masjid.

00:44:22 --> 00:44:23

That made me very happy.

00:44:24 --> 00:44:27

Of course, we cannot conclusively establish.

00:44:28 --> 00:44:29

Historians speculate.

00:44:29 --> 00:44:31

And it's more symbolic than anything.

00:44:32 --> 00:44:34

The gravesite of Abu Ayyub.

00:44:34 --> 00:44:36

We know that he traveled to those lands.

00:44:36 --> 00:44:37

We know that he passed away before the

00:44:37 --> 00:44:39

liberation of Constantinople.

00:44:39 --> 00:44:42

But just what that represents, what that means.

00:44:42 --> 00:44:46

But also there seems to be an effect,

00:44:46 --> 00:44:47

an impact.

00:44:47 --> 00:44:52

Perhaps the generations upon generations of righteous that

00:44:52 --> 00:44:52

have passed through here.

00:44:53 --> 00:44:54

The purity of the wealth that was used

00:44:54 --> 00:44:55

to build here.

00:44:55 --> 00:44:57

Allah knows best exactly what it is.

00:44:57 --> 00:44:58

But there's a unique sakinah.

00:44:59 --> 00:45:00

And maybe because it was very recent also,

00:45:00 --> 00:45:02

that I find in that place.

00:45:02 --> 00:45:03

MashaAllah.

00:45:03 --> 00:45:04

Jazakumullahu khair.

00:45:05 --> 00:45:06

We have to head for Salah.

00:45:06 --> 00:45:07

Jazakumullahu khair.

00:45:07 --> 00:45:09

We'll wrap up there.

00:45:09 --> 00:45:12

Jazakumullahu khair for sharing your advice and everything.

00:45:12 --> 00:45:13

And jazakumullahu khair to you at home for

00:45:13 --> 00:45:14

watching.

00:45:14 --> 00:45:15

If you like this podcast, give it a

00:45:15 --> 00:45:16

like and a share.

00:45:16 --> 00:45:18

And let us know in the comments what

00:45:18 --> 00:45:18

you think.

00:45:18 --> 00:45:19

Until next time.

00:45:20 --> 00:45:21

Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh.

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