Muhammad West – A Brighter Tomorrow

shaytaan rajim Bismillah R Rahman Rahim al hamdu Lillahi Rabbil alameen wa Salatu was salam wa sherfield mursaleen Sayyidina Muhammad in WA early he was at the edge Marine, respected president of the MJC respected shapers and fellow panelists, esteemed guests and colleagues, I beloved brothers and sisters in Islam Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi, wabarakatuh.

are y'all doing

Alhamdulillah I'm very pleased that I've been bumped up the order. Because in Ramadan, we operated about 50%. And as we get closer to Melbourne, if we go into negative, so Alhamdulillah, I've got the prime slot Alhamdulillah I'm very fortunate to have that. And as our chairperson of the satara mentioned, I'm here to speak a little bit about the youth, as one of the youth and I'm very happy that I'm still regarded as a as a youth. If it agrees that I'm one of the youth and hamdulillah I'm not a to have a different opinion. Alhamdulillah today, insha Allah, I just would like to share with you two points. The first point insha Allah, if I can tell you about the first point, I want to tell

you about the scariest job that I have.

So far, by mentioned, I, we have few coffee as a few hats. But there's one job in particular, it's very scary for me, you know, in my role as an accountant, if I don't perform well, in my job, my boss will have no choice but to fire me. And I have to watch what I say because my boss usually comes to these events is a wonderful boss, great person, but you will have no choice but to fire me if I don't perform as an accountant. Similarly, berhanu islamize sheep have a wonderful committee, I love them so much. But if I don't perform as an Imam, they have no choice but to let me go. Chef Alexander knows what I'm talking about. Right? Even my wife, if I don't do and play my part as a

husband, she will have no, no, you know, no option, but let me go. But one job that I can't get fired from. And this is the scariest job. That job title is daddy. Because if I don't do my role as a father, there's no one that can replace me as the father of my children. And then I look at the world. I read the headlines in the newspapers, children being abused. The violence that's out there throughout the world, the wars, how do I prepare my kids to face this ugly world one day? And I'm sure as parents you go through the same kind of questions. How do I prepare them to face crime and corruption? How do we make sense of the divisions the modality of the six? How would I explain this

to them one day, so that they will make the right choices and not fall into the traps in the pitfalls? What lessons Should I teach them? What books should I read to them? Are they old enough to start memorizing the Hebrew hardy? These are the questions that keep any parent up at night. So how do we prepare them for this world? How do we prepare our youth for this world? And as simplistic as it might sound? And if we look at the Quran and the Sunnah of NaVi salam, Allah subhanho wa Taala encourages us with basically one thing that I love

to have Taqwa

taqwa that sounds so simplistic. How do we face this world's challenges simply with taqwa? Well, this concept of taqwa we hear about it quite a lot. And sometimes we refer to it as being afraid of Allah. I don't want my children to have Tierra when they think of Allah, or all the taqwa is that relationship with a law, that no matter where I am, what I'm doing, I have this bond with Allah. And that's the best we could do as a parent, that if they have this relationship with Allah,

that things will change. But Allah will be the constant in their life, that every decision they make must be based on the relationship with Allah subhanho wa Taala, the friends will come and go, the schools will change. The parents might even come and go, but Allah will be the constant and if they make every decision based on that relationship, then they will make the right choices inshallah. They won't fall into the pitfalls. They won't go off track. If they asked themselves, what would my relationship with Allah be? So that one day when they choose a profession, insha Allah, the partner, they're going to get married to? What? You know what circles to offerings to belong to, they should

ask is this good for my taqwa? And if they constantly asked that question about kids, your kids asked that question all the time, then inshallah they'll be safe.

This reminds me of the hadith of unibus rhodiola. And when abyssal Salaam was riding on a camel with a much younger Sahaba, even Abbas was a young boy and the prophets of Salaam could have, you know, offloaded so much information on him. And he gave him a simple Hadith he said, Yeah, hula mo young boy. Let me teach you some words of advice. Remember, Allah be mindful Allah and Allah will protect you. Be mindful of Allah and Allah will be in front of you. He'll always guide you

Your way, when you ask only ask of Allah when you need help only seek help from a lot, that if all the world was to come together to benefit you, it will not benefit you except that which Allah has prescribed for you. And if all the worlds were to come to harm you, no harm will afflict you except that which Allah has prescribed for you, the pain is lifted and the pieces have dried. So we cannot point out I cannot point out to my kids every division and sixth and pitfall in this dunya but I can give them this compass inshallah, of taqwa that if they stick to it, they will always be on the right course in sha Allah. And that's one of our jobs as parents, perhaps our primary job. So that's

the first point I'd like to make. Try to encourage our kids a sense of taqwa. And how do we do that the same way we get them to love maths, reading our favorite sports team, we make it part of their life, we speak about Allah, we let them hear about Allah, read about Allah listen to lectures about Allah subhanho wa Taala. That's how we develop him. The second point I'd like to make inshallah, and I would like to speak to our young people directly to our young people, our youth directly. as Muslims, we don't believe in accidents, mistakes, no one is here, by chance or by luck. Every one year you and I sitting here have been put here for a reason. And for a purpose. A lot put us here

for a reason for a purpose, I'll put you here for a reason and for a purpose. And we believe that every single person has been given something special to contribute to this oma something amazing, something wonderful. It's your duty, your responsibility, especially as a young person to pursue that potential. To find out what is it that Allah has given me that can change this world, you know, maybe you have the ability to cure a disease. But you'll only find that out. Once you start working in your biology class in high school, you might have the ability to write something amazing a book, but it begins with your English essay in high school. And some of you might feel well I have, I'm

good at nothing. I'm not good at academics or sports, or whatever it might be. Some of the greatest minds of the century have been people that have failed, and I've continued to possess the Einstein, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, some of the greatest people of the century of people that were seen as failures. So you might be failing, but yet, you might have the greatest potential of all the most special gift of all something which we need and harness, and you owe it to yourself and this oma to find out what it is. If you are between the ages of 15 and 25, you are in the most amazing decade of your life. in that decade, you will determine what job I'm going to have for the rest of my life.

You probably and we hope you're going to choose your spouse will be with you for the rest of your life. You will choose the man and a woman you want to be in this decade. And the choices you make in this decade are not just important for yourself, but it's for the oma the lessons you learn

in your classes in university will shape this oma in years to come. what you learn in school will determine if we will liberate Palestine tomorrow. What you learn today in your high school university will determine if we will cure cancer tomorrow, we will solve poverty.

We will be a strong and better oma How will you know when our challenges going forward? It depends on what you do today in your high school and university. And I know the challenges facing young people today are great and he means perhaps more so than ever before the fitness on the phone in our rooms. You can't hide from it. You can't defend yourself from it. All you have to do is face it with a sense of taqwa and a pursuit of your potential. But that should not no matter how bad the fitna are, it should not stop you from pursuing your potential. last letter hamdulillah berahino Islam we're very fortunate we have our annual orphan program. We bring the orphans from the different

Muslim orphanages, give them a star, take them out, have a word with them. I mean, you know, just at one table, two amazing people, but other than that, he didn't have the homes that we have parents that we have. But he has a scholarship to study at one of the best schools, high schools here in Cape Town. 22 just have a sister Michelle, 14 years old, didn't have the homes that we have, but she just completed a quote on last week's panel law. So people are pursuing their potential in spite of the challenges that's out there. And that's our duty and our responsibility. As older generations when I sit on these panels, and we talk about the youth, it's never in a good context, right? It's

what the youth are doing wrong, what the mistakes they're making. Older people complain, young people are obsessed with trivial things. They are reckless, they uncompromising uncooperative. Well, these are the talents and the gifts we need to harness because these are the agents of change. That obsession with the trivial can be used and harnessed to be obsessed with learning new things, discovering new things, that recklessness can be the courage would give those who are unable to speak for themselves, the voice they need. Being uncooperative is good when you stand up against the status quo when the status quo is wrong.

as Muslims, we don't unite on everything. We have principles and values which we stand for. And we don't agree with things that if things are wrong, we don't agree with him. We stand up for those things. For example, we are committed to the heathen worshipping Allah alone. We are committed to the supremacy of the Quran. In spite of the views in the modern world that may seem outdated. We are committed to the love of the prophets of Salaam, his family and his companions. We stand out against groups that call for violence against innocent people, because they differ from us against government corruption and abuse of power. We stand up against that, and it requires young people to

take those challenges forward. It takes young people to bring about those changes.

And if you are a young person, and I know a lot of our panelists will speak about changing a society constructively to our young people. I would like to say something to you that if you want to change something in your community, your messages your madrasa you Institute. Step number one, be part of that Masjid, be committed to that Masjid, criticize with love and key.

Avoid controversial areas and issues. Youth is the time to acquire and learn. focus on the things that are clear that every group denomination must have religion can affirm as being good focus on that. Don't be quick to judge and come to conclusions. Chances are the conclusions you have today will change 10 years from now and 10 years later. Don't judge people and don't even think as right as you are and as wrong as the other person is that you can be disrespectful. Never was ever an AVI of Allah disrespectful, even w Moosa was required to be respectful to fit on.

Young, you know, so one of the other issues that our elders like to mention about the youth is Look, the radicalization of youth going to certain groups and six becoming extreme. They say they ask controversial questions. They have radical views, radical goals, they are extremely pursuits. And while that is a danger, a bigger danger for us as an oma, are the many, many millions of youth that are not asking enough questions that have no goals and no pursuits that's far more a danger to us. As,

as our chairman mentioned, one of the Hadeeth me I shared with you is the Hadith of the Muslim body, that the Prophet Allah says the oma is like one the believers are like one body, that if one part of the body is injured, the entire body suffers from the pain and the fever, or we are one body and at a time like this when the room is bleeding, we should all be suffering. But very importantly to our young people. If one organ in our body isn't functioning, then the whole body is sick. We are completely disabled. The youth You are a major part of the soma, and we have lost too many generations of youth not coming to the party. The oma scholars agree. One thing they all agree on is

that the oma is not in a great shape. And we need our youth to play this role in the oma, this was part of the sooner of NaVi salam, you would be you would struggle to think of a companion older than the prophets of Salaam. Most of us are probably younger than him, he empowered and inspired the youth.

And they played the role. They are the ones that took this oma forward. And this oma has a history. It's written with people who pursued the potentials and overcome difficulties and took the soma forward.

If we look at our own society, our little part of the oma and Cape Town, we are a miracle we shouldn't be. We came as exiles and slaves faced oppression, tyranny, colonialism, apartheid, all those systems are gone. And yet, here we are, we remain. And we've built a society, the legacy of our parents, they both massage in schools, modalities, halaal, institutions, universities, radio stations, CEOs of the base camp, the top companies in South Africa, members of parliament, judges,

captain of our cricket team.

This is what our forefathers did, when this little community here in Cape Town. And the question is, what will your contribution be? What diseases are you going to kill? What problems are you going to solve? What inventions are you going to discover? Young people are doing this today? colleague of mine in high school went on a few months ago to discover a cure for a disease that might save many, many lives in Sharla. A young man in the crowd Yeah, I will mention his name because he will help me today. In his 20s, he started a website, Muslim Central, biggest website on earth of Islamic English audio lectures on Earth. You're in Cape Town, same skills, same abilities, same opportunities like

me and you, but they pursue that potential to change the world. What contribution will you do as a young person if you are in your teens, or in your 20s or 30s? Don't think that this is a problem for the AMA, or the committee or the chairperson? No, it's a problem that

You must have an abyssal Salaam gave responsibility to his to the youngsters. A beautiful story I'd like to narrate to you about the prophets of Salaam when they conquered Makkah. Bilbao gave the Adhan for the first time in Makkah, and you mentioned the scene without getting on the car by giving the other one of the youth of Mecca who wasn't a group of youngsters missing around the herd below they started mimicking and mocking below, secretly, but the prophet SAW some heard them when he came in and asked him who was that that teased and made fun of below? Now everyone is quiet, right? No one is the tough guy now. And he tasted the one by one, you will give the time you give the other

and you give the other until he found the guy who did it. And he said, You know what, you have a nice voice. And in theory, it says the Prophet has taught this young boy to build out word for word, the oven and the column and he said, I appoint you the Dean of Makkah, you will give the Adhan in the harem from going forward. panela he took a delinquent youth, gave him responsibility empowered him, gave him position. First of Makkah headhunted me. So what will be your legacy? What will be the thing that you leave behind for this? Oh, man, what impact will you have? I said all along. Point number two was to pursue your potential. I don't say fulfill your potential. Because Allah doesn't

require us

to bring about the results. Allah says spinned whether the masjid gets built to the hospital gets built, that's up to him, you just give your best. Allah says call people to the path whether they accept or not, it's not your concern. You do the hard work. Allah sees make jihad in the civilian law, whether we succeed or fail in the battle. The point is you make the struggle. So the effort is what's counted. And you need to ask yourself, where's my effort being where's my effort going to? as an owner, we can't allow our efforts and our talents to be wasted in front of the television, the Xbox, sports teams, whatever it might be.

If we combine as a young people combine taqwa as our guide and our compass, and our effort and our pursuit and the talents that Allah has given us, in Swan en la, this oma has a bright future. The ideas, the possibilities are endless, and the impact this generation can have on this oma, we can't even begin to dream about it.

But we could be the generation that future generations will look back on that our kids 40 years from now, when they give this talk will say our pain and solve the crisis in the Middle East. they solved global warming, they found new sources of energy, they kill diseases. That's what our parents gave that future generations should look back at our generation and say, we want to be like them. They are the standard we want to aspire to be, we can do it. And I make dua in sha Allah that Allah subhanho wa Taala blesses each and every one of us, our young and our old Allah have mercy on those who have passed away. May Allah accept from us what we have done this final Ramadan, and grant is

only the best of what remains. I thank you so much for your time with sola satana. Mohammed assalamu aleikum wa wabarakatuh

Mashallah Sheikh Mohammed waste a very beautiful, very inspiring talk here today very overall comprehensive talk on a youth perspective opening up the function here today. Sunny mentioned before I call upon our second speaker, Radio 76 also has a sister station in Pretoria