Mohammed Faqih – Orphans Of The World
AI: Summary ©
The speakers discuss the history and causes of orphaned Muslim households, including the Prophet sallati's death and ongoing conflict, as well as the struggles of children being orphaned. They stress the importance of caring for people in a sense of compassion and helping them grow up to be healthy individuals. The speakers also emphasize the importance of establishing programs and setting standards to achieve change, and emphasize the need for acceptance and empowerment for those who want to adopt. They suggest contacting an organization to establish programs and foster care for those in Pakistan, Pakistan, and the Indonesia, and Turkey, and emphasize the importance of empowerment and addressing issues such as abuse and abuse.
AI: Summary ©
There is a Hadith that the best house among the Muslims is one
where an orphan is well treated and the worst house among the
Muslims is the one where an orphan is treated badly. So it's assumed
that Muslim households should have what,
especially back then, during the time of the Prophet sallallahu
sallam, due to wars and stuff like that. You know, there were many
that were orphaned. The Prophet sallallahu alays himself. A lot of
people don't realize that some of his marriages actually were
primarily to take care of and provide for orphans.
SallAllahu sallam. So when Abu Salama, who was his milk brother,
passed away, the Prophet salallahu, alays salam proposed to
UMW Salama, after she was done with her Idah and married her, and
Osama told the Prophet, sallAllahu, I'm too old for you.
And the Prophet SAW said, I'm older than you.
And the the one of the reasons was so that he can take care of the
children of Abu Salim,
sallAllahu, sallam. Lot of people don't realize when the Prophet
Sallam is cousin Jafar RadiAllahu Anu. Jafar was killed in Mutta. He
left behind three children
with his wife Asmaa bintur Amaze
Abu Bakr RadiAllahu. Anhu married her,
with whom she had two children. She was actually pregnant when Abu
Bakr Ravi Allah Anu passed away,
and then after passed away. Now she has the three children of
Jafar and two children from a Waqar Rabbi Allahu, an Aliyah
RadiAllahu. Anhu marries her,
her former brother in law, Ani, her first husband's brother,
and now he's taking care of all five of them, his own nephews and
niece, as well as Abu Bakr as two children, and then with whom, with
Ali Rana, she had three more.
So now they were all
siblings,
Ravi Allah, so this, this, this was common practice. Nobody
objected to it. It wasn't an issue. Some of us are sitting
here. We're like wondering, really, okay, yeah, who dares now
to do anything like this? No one.
We have broken societies
now,
children, I mean, the major causes for orphan, and someone might say,
Okay, why do we have, obviously, conflict, conflicts and war. Many
Muslim majority countries experience ongoing conflicts. We
have one going on right now. Islamic conflicts actually
genocide in Philistine many children are being orphaned, and
death and destruction is not stopping in other places in the
Muslim world, still happening, whether it's because of, you know,
internal fightings or, you know,
militia forces, you know, abusing the people, but it's an ongoing
thing. In Syria didn't stop. The bloodshed didn't stop. The people
are still dying. Same thing in Iraq and Yemen and other places
still happening. The other major reason is diseases, epidemics like
HIV and AIDS in the sub Saharan African regions, orphan millions
of people. Other diseases like malaria are causing that as well.
Many people don't realize, even covid
took, you know, took, you know,
there was a big toll that came out of of those two years. The third
primary reason is poverty, widespread poverty, you know,
resulting in, you know, in a stable Muslim, you know,
households and people cannot care for their children. So there are a
lot of children that are abandoned.
You know, there's also another reason sometimes children are
abandoned, which is, you know, children that are born out of
wedlock,
and they're they're just abandoned. They're left in front
of masajid, they're left next to dumpsters. They're left in front
of hospitals, because, you know, no one is going to be able to
raise them.
So this is another reason. Another major reason is natural disasters,
earthquakes, flooding, may Allah, subhana, taala, ease the
devastating flood, floods that are taking that that happened in
northeastern
regions of India and hit, you know,
severely Bangladesh was was affected by them. I'm still.
To
to pull them out of these
circles.
Now,
subhanAllah, I was doing some research on, you know, using non
Muslim, you know, search engines and resources and all of that. And
they listed prominent organization Muslim that have great initiatives
in the Muslim world. The top three that they, you know, that came up
were Muslim hands, which I'm not very familiar with. But then
number two was Islamic Relief. Islamic Relief has great,
you know, programs in multiple countries, in Africa and in Asia.
And then the third one was the organization that we actually went
to visit one of their locations, and that is zakat foundation.
Again, I'm not getting this from Muslim sources. I'm getting this
from non Muslim sources.
So zakat foundation and SubhanAllah. It happened that the
the orphanage, or the center, the orphan center that we visited in
Gaziantep, close to the Syrian border, was actually run by zakat
Foundation,
and they were very grateful, because they were recipients of
some donations from this community,
and I tell you, it's going to make a huge difference for you, for you
as an individual or as a contributor or as a community
member or as an activist, to go yourself and see and examine, You
know the kinds of services that are provided, as well as really
get to know these individuals, as opposed to just signing up for for
something and sending someone that you don't know what they look like
or what they're, what they sound like, money to for someone else to
take care of them. So it's, it's, I would urge you to actually try
to get involved in some of these efforts and and go yourself, there
are other organizations that are doing great work that are also
named, as you know, having, you know, great services in Pakistan
and Indonesia and Turkey and in other places as well. Inshallah,
we'll talk about that in the future. But the idea tonight was
just to shed some light on the plight of orphans, especially in
the Muslim world,
and to remind ourselves of the importance of really caring for
them. I tell you, if Muslim, if the wealthiest Muslims, as a
matter of fact, not even if 1% of the wealthiest Muslims
were to do their their part
and give, there's a cat, or deliver, there's a cat where it's
supposed to be delivered
in a matter of I would say less than 10 years.
I would comfortably say in five years, if we were just to fulfill,
as a matter of fact, not all of us, if only 1%
of those who are liable to paying Zakah
were to manage and deliver their Zakah properly.
We will be able to eradicate, this is just my we will be able to
eradicate
orphanhood or not. Orphanhood, poverty amongst orphans, the
orphan population in less than five years, but for sure, in less
than 10 years. But according to my estimation, in less than five
years, there will be no orphan on the face of this planet that
Muslim or non Muslim, that would need to be taken care of. They
will be set and secure for the rest of their lives. And it's
these individuals that are going to go tomorrow, grow up,
especially in Muslim countries, and bring about positive change,
because they they were surrounded by loving and caring people that
gave them second chance. And they will grow up to love Allah
subhanahu wa put compassion in the hearts of these individuals, and
they will grow up to love these individuals, and they will grow up
to love this ummah, and they will grow up to love this religion that
that that encourages people to do this, and these individuals are
going to become an unstoppable force to to bring about change,
because they they know what it feels like to be deprived from
some of the basic blessings that many of us take like or took or
take for granted. So they they're going to grow up to be healthy
individuals that care and want to to to create a better world, a
safer world for everyone.
And as I said, there's 150
million of them out there. You.
So imagine, within five years to 10 five to 10 years, what can can
happen if we just, if we spread like if there is awareness, if
there's all of a sudden this, just this massive movement within the
Muslim population worldwide to really pay attention to the plight
of orphans and start, you know, either,
maybe adoption may not be the right word, but sponsor you know
someone, and give them a chance and care for them, or contact or
establish some work, establish something.
Obviously the easiest thing for us to do is to contact any of these
organizations, individually or collectively as a community, and
reach out and say what programs we have. We would like to contribute
to this, and obviously be proactive and not wait until
something happens and then, you know, someone comes. Or the better
thing for us to do is to really, you know, put our efforts together
and say, Listen, we would like to contr we would like to do
something
exemplary. So one of the suggestions that I have, and I see
plenty of people here that seem to be very enthusiastic, one of the
suggestions that I have is for us as a community to come together
and really establish
an orphanage, or help establish an orphanage somewhere in the Muslim
world that sets a good example and provide high level care for the
orphans that that sign up or that are
and
help them actually get better education, because now what is
happening in most of these orphanages? You know, by the time
the child is 15 or 16, they just want them to go get any job so
that they can support themselves in the family.
But there are few individuals that I know that started small
orphanages where they actually know, they tell them, No, you have
to finish your education and you have to get a college degree. And
maybe we will help, if you do very well, we will help you get some
sort of scholarship somewhere and go to a very, you know, good
institution or university and and become a professional. And some of
these individuals that started their work 10 years ago, they were
able to help individual, you know, people become engineers and
doctors and NGO, you know,
workers and and that's what we want to do. I personally, this is
my dream before I leave this world. Help establish an orphanage
that does that,
that provides the members of that orphanage with an opportunity that
is not any less than what we provide for our own children
most of these, as I said, most of these orphanages are overcrowded,
underfunded, and they they don't get, you know, much, much help.
Some of them, they just teach them Quran and some basic skills, and
then they're like, go. You need, you need to leave, so that we can
accommodate other people.
So maybe as a community, we can come together and say, Listen,
let's see where we can actually, you know, establish something
that that will have high standards. We will choose some of
the best and the brightest who will take these opportunities
seriously and and work very hard to Inshallah, to Allah become
something, and then go back and help their society or their
community in sha Allah, that is what I had for you tonight. And I
ask Allah, Subhanahu, taala, to guide us to that which is most
pleasing in terms of Hana Hotel. Yes.
JazakAllah, I just wanted to put a plug in we have as a head Africa,
health, education, development. We've been taking care of 110
orphans every day. We don't refuse anyone. It's entire region.
Brother Mahmoud, as you know, very well known in the community. You
know, we provide food twice a day, education, eat clothes and
healthcare in basically, in the Sahel region, nabic has 400
orphans. So like, it's very hard to style an orphanage without
corruption, abuse and other things. Our programs are fully
available for anybody to inspect. And for example, in Sahil, you can
sponsor an orphan for $250
it's in basically tarka region, Indonesia.
Air, which is the poorest country in the world, and it's a poor
area. And middle class in Niger means people can eat like they
have food security. That's what really middle class is. So these
orphans, I have videos of them, they said their life changed
because they don't have to think about food. They go to school. You
know, we provide eight clothes that they choose from the vendors
locally. So, I mean, I would say like Annie, if there's anybody's
interested, I'm happy to talk to them. Brother Mahmoud can talk
like if you guys want brother Shipley is here. They have 400
orphans in Bangladesh. These other programs are good, but I can say,
for ahead, for example, I'm sure it's similar for navic. We have no
overhead, because we pay overhead out of pocket. We, as the board,
pay for any administrative expenses. So every dollar you give
goes to a program. And we have orphans that are going to, for
example, nursing school and other like, you know, we have programs
like that.
So we're talking about Michelle, is that one? Okay, that's
beautiful.
Anyone else has a comment or a question?
Okay? Technical point, sometimes people ask, okay, adoption in
Islam is not allowed. Let me just allow me to stand here. Adoption
in Islam is not allowed, right? You can't adopt someone, meaning
you cannot claim them to be your own child and give them your last
name and right, yes,
yes, yes or no,
okay, but sponsoring or caring for for a child,
not only is it allowed, it's actually highly encouraged and
recommended.
So now, if the most adequate way for you to care for a child is to
legally adopt them, but not consider them your child, if
that's the only way you can do that, then
then be it. Nobody says that in order for you go through the
adoption process, that you have to give them your last name, do you?
You don't have to give them your last name. They can maintain their
last name. You don't have to give them, but you can still go and
become their legal guardian. Go through the proper process,
whether you're adopting a child from Yemen or from Philistine or
from Morocco or from wherever, go through the process, but your
intention is not to make them your own child, because they're not
your own child. So you can't claim them as your own and as long as
you and they have that understanding right, that you're
not claiming them to be your own,
but you're just adopting them, because that's the legal
terminology. And you go through the whole process and you become
their legal guardian. There's nothing wrong with that,
so just keep that in mind.
So just in case, this is,
you know, deterring or stopping some people from doing it. And I
personally know, in California, we had a, you know, a couple of
initiatives by some of the, you know, brothers and sisters to
encourage and you know people to do that. And they went through the
process. And Alhamdulillah, they were able to adopt someone from a
Muslim child from overseas. And I would say, start with the Muslims.
Computer sometimes say, Well, can I adopt a non Muslim and give
them? I say, we are. I will. Let's start with a Muslim from a Muslim
country or from even if it's locally here, start with a Muslim.
Start with, you know, some of us, maybe we can get into foster care,
you know, create a foster care system and awareness. We did that.
And maybe shout Allah, will talk to Sheik ASA about this, and do
maybe one night, talk about, you know, becoming foster foster
parents, because there are Muslims. As our community grows,
we're going to have more and more of these issues. Again, we are a
small community, but in communities, larger communities,
where there is high, you know, density, you know, where they had,
you know, larger and older communities.
This is a problem. This is a problem. Muslim children ending up
beginning,
going through foster care, you know, and ending up with non
Muslim families.
So that's, you know, because we didn't have enough Muslim families
that were either willing or that were that went through the proper
process to become foster parents. So this is something that we need
to be proactive about and start really talking about and prepare
for here in the greater Memphis area in sha Allah town. So just
wanted to address that issue from a 50 point of view, we ask Allah,
subhana Taala to
accept the Word.
Deeds and forgive our sins. And may Allah subhanho wa Taala grant
relief to anyone who is in distress. May Allah subhanho wa
Taala ease the trial of our brothers and sisters in
Bangladesh. May Allah subhanho wa Taala strengthen the people of
ghaza and bless them and give them decisive victory over their
enemies. And may Allah subhanho wa Taala bring his wrath upon those
who torture and abuse and transgress against
innocent civilians, anywhere in this, on this, on this planet, I
mean Abu Dhabi,