Moutasem al-Hameedy – Castles Of Faith Conference Day 1

			to call our chef, our Imam Sheikh from AutoSum and Habibi will shortly and briefly go over the
different topics we will discuss during the conference for a little further mesh Cora Maduro.
		

			Salam aleikum wa rahmatullah wa barakato. And hamdu lillah wa salatu salam ala Rasulillah. While
early he was a happy woman, wider wombat.
		

			So in sha Allah, this conference, as you know, is titled castles of faith, how to preserve our iman,
in times of doubt, and fitna. And I believe this is a topic of extreme importance to every Muslim,
not only Muslims in the West, all around the world, because the doubts and the Phaeton are
widespread everywhere, mainly online, you'll find them even in educational institutions, schools,
universities, you'll find them on the media. So the Muslims are bombarded with so many
		

			doubts, so many
		

			accusations that really get after like, they sort of build up where a person reaches a stage stage
where they could sometimes question their faith and their Eman because we're human beings. We are
human beings. And when there are so many doubts around around us when our faith is always under
attack, sometimes this actually leaves a dent on our hearts. So if we don't learn how to protect our
hearts and these castles of faith, then we won't be able to preserve our iman and no one as
		

			a Moroccan Abdullah Aziz Rahim Allah Daddy says man, I mean Allah Allah, dini. heatall, Fatah union
SallAllahu Iya. Any person who feels so safe and secure when it comes to their faith and Eman, then
Allah could take their Eman away from from them. Why? Because a Muslim is always supposed to be
vigilant and careful about the faith to preserve it. They always feel anything could take their
email or could affect their Eman. So they're always on the lookout for any threat that is there in
order to learn how to defend themselves against it and protect their faith and the Eman the metaphor
castles of faith is taken from one of the great scholars of Islam and alien. And actually, he takes
		

			it from his teacher, even Taymiyah. When he says that the heart of the believer is like a castle.
It's like a castle. And they believe it has to open a nation or people have a castle, they have to,
you know, keep maintaining it. Because some walls will start falling off, some of them will start
going, you know, wearing out. So you need always to renew and maintain this castle in order to keep
it strong, there will be always attacks. And
		

			you know, it's the target, your castles of faith are always the target of the enemies. So you are
under threat you're under attack. You're an easy target to your enemies. So he says if you do not
keep strengthening your iman and repelling the doubt, and strengthening these castles of faith, then
all of these doubts and all of these shots that you are receiving might penetrate into your heart
and start causing damage to your faith. So this is where the metaphor came from. So we want the and
we wanted the title of the conference to be more optimistic and more on the positive side, rather on
the past rather than on the passive side on the passive side. Okay, yes, we have doubts. We have a
		

			lot of accusations we have a lot of problems and challenges to deal with. But we don't want to just
dwell on the challenges and the problems. We actually want to see how we can build our Eman,
strengthen our Eman so we want to take it from a positive perspective. So thus we call it
		

			castles of faith. Meaning that our starting point is that our Eman is stronger faith is strong our
religion is so powerful has so much potential. But maybe sometimes we don't tap into the full
potential of this religion. So the topics we will be talking about I won't be going over them one
after the other but generally speaking, I will talk about the
		

			the framework and the main titles that we will be addressing. So we will be focusing on the sources
of doubts the sources that could cause some Muslims to question their faith or start, you know,
having issues with their faith. So for example, here we will address educational institutions, the
schooling that our kids go through. Sometimes they hear a lot of things from their peers from their
classmates. They hear some stuff from their teachers and all these things affect them. They also
hear some things on the in the media
		

			So, and the educational process that our students go through, there's a lot of stuff that is given
to them. And sometimes, or most of the time, it's presented from an Islamic point of view. Because
science has to be presented through a framework, there is nothing as pure science, there is nothing
such as pure science at all. There's nothing like that. It's all a human interpretation. So when
curriculums when teachers, they present their the information, they have to put their own twist on
it, that's a human experience. So if the Muslims do not Muslim institutions, Muslim teachers and
scholars, if they do not provide the Muslim perspective on the sciences, then we have left the scene
		

			and the field for people from a non Muslim background to dominate that area. And then our children
will see science as essentially, in contradiction to religion, and that these two cannot really
meet. So this, this is one thing that will be addressed the schooling system, the educational
system, and what our kids are exposed to, from an early age. And then also we will address our
environments in the masajid. Or they can do Civ to our youth and to our adults, to really come and
practice their religion and benefit, and also also develop as human beings, do we have welcoming
environments? Or do we have off putting environments that push people away from the masjid? And how
		

			is this strengthening people's faith or weakening it, we need to, you know, see our mistakes, and
also see the good things we're doing so that we can increase in the good and sort of treat our
mistakes and try to avoid them before any serious damage happens. Other issues that we will be
addressing
		

			is the family, a very important institution, because the child grows mainly within a family. And a
lot of the stability in faith and religion depends on the emotional development of the child of the
person. So if a child is brought up in a balanced family, where they are not deprived of the love
and the affection of their parents, so they're being appreciated in the house, they have a healthy
relationship with the Father healthy relationship with the mother. And there's a lot of education
and connection within the family. Most of these children grow up to be resilient, and well grounded
in the faith, and they embrace their identity. But when the child grows in a dysfunctional
		

			household, where the parents have issues, the child is deprived emotionally, and they don't feel the
attachment. On the contrary, they might sometimes feel some animosity and his hostility towards some
of their parents, they don't feel that they belong to this family, they can start, they're going to
start searching for a sense of belonging somewhere else in school, in the street, maybe sometimes
online, people are going to make virtual friends, and they're going to bond with them and open up to
them and seek advice from them and take it to heart. And they would not be turning towards their
parents to benefit. So these are important things, factors that either strengthen our faith, the
		

			environment on either strengthens our faith, or weakens our faith and the faith of our younger
generation. We will also be addressing some of the aspects of Islamic education, the way we present
Islam. You know, in a world that where there's a lot of stimulation, most of the younger generation
and even the adults now are, are the target of extreme and enormous stimulation. They play video
games, social media, a video one minute video has so much in it so much information, so much
stimulation, so much imagery in it, that is very captivating. So when we do our Islamic education, a
lot of people are complaining that the classes are boring, that the classes are they do not address
		

			everyday realities and problems. There's so disconnected from reality. When we teach fake and we
teach Arcada some some Muslim teachers, they don't make the connection clear between what they are
teaching and the challenges that are faced by every human being on a daily basis. So if we cannot
capture the problems or our daily reality within our Islamic education, because Islam addresses
these problems, and provides powerful solutions, but sometimes, we are not able to bridge that gap
and show the connection where people can see how Islam can truly benefit them not only in religious
matters, but even worldly matters because Islam is designed to actually set everything right matters
		

			of the heart and matters of the dunya practical matters of this life. So a lot of the topics will be
Chawla addressing such issues, we'll be delving into some specific areas. So some problems and
challenges will be highlighted and some problems or some actually opportunities and some
recommendations and advice will also be shared. So my recommendation to you is that pay attention
and anything that is should try to
		

			to read it into your life, does it address some of the issues you face in your life, maybe with your
own children, maybe with your own siblings, for the younger ones, maybe in your own life, sometimes
we have doubts, but we don't realize it, just because we haven't put a label on it that this is a
doubt. And some of this, because inshallah we'll be highlighting some of the red flags, or the early
signs of some of our youth having serious issues with their faith.
		

			But usually, we dismiss these signs, as just, you know, a matter of a young boy or young girl. And
this is just gonna pass like anything, everything that went before. But sometimes issues are
serious. And there are patterns. So if we do not pay attention to them early and address them early,
it might escalate where some of the children might have a serious faith crisis. So the point here
behind behind the whole conference, is to raise awareness among ourselves, and to be able, at least
to understand what challenges you know, we are going through as a Muslim community in the West, and
also what challenges our younger generation are going through the children, the teenagers, because
		

			sometimes we're so disconnected what the this social media has done on all of this development in
technology, what it has done is that it has escalated the frequency and has shortened the life cycle
of a generational gap. So now, you know, people who are 20 years old, and people are 30 years old,
they see these, they are actually like two different completely different generations in the past
that will take about 3040 years, to between one generation and the other. But now with all of this
lifestyle in the social media, what is happening is that sometimes even five years apart, marks a
complete new generation, a complete new generation. So sometimes we disconnected we don't know
		

			what's going on with the younger generation because we assume it's the same as what we went through,
when it's actually completely different. So some of these points, inshallah will be highlighted to
help us just develop some kind of awareness, understanding, and hopefully Inshallah, if we see
something in our own lives and or see some symptoms in the people around us, maybe we're able to
seek help, maybe we are able to address some of the problems and take them seriously before they
escalate and it gets, you know, far beyond our reach. So insha Allah what I would say, listen
carefully and Hamdulillah we have a good lineup of speakers. We have people who are in the field
		

			people with good experience.
		

			will obviously we have Chef Phillips who's got a long experience mashallah in the Dawa field and in
education, and I would say this man has a lot of wisdom mashallah so seize it benefit from it. Don't
miss out on this opportunity. We have also Sheikh Mohammed Ali Masha Allah, he's involved with the
youth in the UK, they have similar challenges and different challenges. And I know that he's
involved heavily with the youth. So there is much wisdom that we can take from him, Chef Alberty
Masha Allah has come and wisdom and His I would say, empathy towards the listeners can add a lot of
perspective and passion in sha Allah, to us addressing these problems. So what I would say, take
		

			them seriously, Inshallah, take the talk seriously, benefit from them, take notes, if something
registers with you, and try to see how they apply to your life. This is not entertainment, hopefully
it will be entertaining. But the point here is really to highlight these issues, and Shala benefit
from them and maybe share perspective, if you have something to contribute as well. There will be
open sessions there will be q&a. So if you have something to contribute, please, by all means, share
it, because this is how knowledge grows. And this is how different points of view come together by
sharing and discussion. So you're invited to heavily get involved in this insha Allah and I hope and
		

			I pray that Allah Subhana Allah makes this conference a beneficial time for all of us, and learning
experience for all of us. And hopefully we will see the fruits of this Desikan La Jolla was Allah
was an MSA no Hemudu early he also himself