Muhammad West – Identity – Who is a Muslim

How's it going shaytaan rajim Bismillah R Rahman Rahim Al hamdu Lillahi Rabbil Alameen wa salatu salam ala Sayidina Muhammad Anwar Ali you also have your Jemaine my beloved brothers and sisters As Salam aleikum wa rahmatullah wa barakato.

Al hamdu Lillahi Rabbil Alameen. All Praise and Worship being to Allah subhanaw taala the creator the sustainer should of Allah Allah Allah Allah we testify that there's nothing worthy of worship besides Allah subhanaw taala and we send our love and greetings salutations to beloved Nabi Muhammad Sallallahu sallam, to his priceless pure family, whose companions and all those who follow his sunnah until the end of time, may Allah bless has to be amongst them. Meanwhile, hamdulillah Al Hamdulillah at the end of a battle, one of the battles in Islam than a visa Salam and the Sahaba were coming home on their way to Medina, and the Sahaba were humans. And like all humans, they

quarrel and they can have disagreements. And it so happened that a young man from the unsolved answer of course, the people of Medina, and a young man from the MaHA JD, in the people of Makkah, they got into an argument. And while this, you know, tension started to heat up, the Ansari called Oh, answer, oh, people have answered come and help me. And the other one, the other Muslim from Makkah, is it Omaha Jeannine come and help me and support me. And it became a bit of a tense moment between the two the two camps, and that we're using now Allah subhanaw taala uses the term almajiri and well Ansara in beautiful, praiseworthy manner to be of the unsolved and to be of them Arginine

is a title which Allah praises the Sahaba have to be of a category on the piano, Allah mentions that of the best people that ever walked the face of the earth of the uncertain the arginine, but in and of itself comes out. And he hears this. And he basically says I'm still with you. And you're using titles of Janelia you're using titles of ignorance. Wow, this is the title of Allah using the Quran. There's a title which Allah praises the Sahaba with what the reason was saying, you use this title, which is a beautiful title. But to cause disunity amongst yourselves, it was not a title, to say we are better than you. These are the meta us my identity versus your identity. You've taken something

which Allah had given as a beautiful symbol of making you stand out in a good way, but you use it to belittle and demean someone else in another Hadith of Islam says of the things that will remain in my ummah, meaning amongst the Muslims until the day of Jay Lee, I told the Deaf Tiana of the things of Jerry Lee as will remain is that people will be boastful and proud and arrogant about their forefathers and they will be little the ancestry of another group of people. May oppa. And May was so great and you you people are so backwards. Yet it is part of our deen to honor your lineage and your ancestry and to honor your identity and your culture. In fact, Allah says that mean 80 of the

signs of Allah that He created the heavens and the earth was Tila for Alsina Tico Anika, that of the signs of the Eastern Allah, He created you in different shapes and sizes and colors and cultures and languages in the fidelity color ayatullah mean and in this as a sign of Allah, Allah says, of the great miracles of Allah is He created you in different forms? The angels, for example, come in one shape one mode, but humans come in different styles. So how do we celebrate to understand this diversity and our identity? In this month,

we will know they will talk about culture and heritage, the race, nationality, all these things are components of who you are and what you identify with. When someone asks you tell us about yourself. When you start, where do you start? And sometimes for UN, all of these things are part of you, what makes you you, you are a male, or female. And really, those are the only two options you have, you don't have another option. Besides that.

You are of a certain age, which tells you which generation you're born in. You know, you come from a certain ethnic background, this is a reality. Allah subhanaw taala we don't deny ethnicity. We don't say that we are colorblind. These also use the all black people and white people hamdulillah without anyone being superior to the other. You have your language. And you have in many times when we ask you to tell us about yourselves Subhanallah we live in an age where the first thing you mentioned is, I'm a doctor, I'm a lawyer. You i Your identity is based on your profession. Your identity is based on what you do. And furthermore, you identify with the groups that you participate. I see like

a Springbok, jersey. You want the world to know where I stand. Sometimes one identity figure clashes with another one. Your passport says you South African but your jersey says you are nusil

And we're confused. We don't know which side of the fence you're on. So all these different identity markers and figures is what makes you you. But ultimately, Allah subhanaw taala gave you a new one title.

Allah gave us one description to describe who you are. And their highest level of description is, Allah says was some Miko I named you, Allah says in the Quran, and I am the one that named You, muslims. I named you Muslims, this ummah and all the previous nations before that were pious and not only them the angels, and everything in creation that obeys Allah is a Muslim, a Muslim, is that ultimate your core identity? If someone asks you tell me about yourself very first thing, I'm a Muslim? And what does it mean to be a Muslim? What does it mean to be a Muslim?

A Muslim, as we know the title, it is one who submits and sitting this to his creator, that what defines me, you can change my nationality. I can be born in South Africa, but I can migrate to another country.

And after a while, eventually even the most Die Hard Manchester fan will eventually say look, I become more of a Manchester fan. I'm gonna join another team, you know, you can leave your your sports team.

You can even Subhanallah in today's day and age you can change your gender is obviously permissible, but it's possible. But the one thing that never changes, the one thing that stays with you is that you're a Muslim. And the one thing that should define you and me in every single situation, that should not conflict, there should be no conflict between your other your other factors of your life. Is that your identity as a Muslim. Even as we know, our forefathers, our parents can come and go, we already fought mela protect we are a father identify. I'm a dad today, tomorrow. Something could happen. I'm no longer father. It's possible. Your marital status. I take a married tomorrow

something could happen. I'm not married anymore.

But the one constant in your life in my life is going to be Allah subhanho wa taala. And that is what should define us as a Muslim. And that's what Allah says in Medina and Allah and Islam, that the dean for Allah the only one that he accepts is that of Islam. Islam when we say the word diems, or the religion, Deen means a lifestyle. It means the choices that you make. It means every decision that you make, it is not just what you do in the masjid is not something that you put on post deen is not something which has a time and a place and then you put it to one side and then you switch over No, Dean permeates everything. I am a Muslim when I'm in the masjid. I'm a Muslim when I'm

standing in the queue at the shop. There's an adverb and etiquette. I'm a Muslim at work, things I can do I can do when I go shopping. I look for the halal Q I'm a Muslim. What I weigh what I don't weigh, who I associate with everything I do is connected to being a Muslim, and SubhanAllah. If you think about, you know identity and culture and we come from a society we how stupid how stupid people were they divided people based on color. Of the most silly things you could divide someone on is based on color, something which you have no control over something which is meaningless, that you stand too much in the sun, then your color changes. Whereas what makes sense from a heritage

perspective, if you divide a group of people based on what they beliefs, the models, the ethics, the choices, and that's what based on the deen. That is what really differentiates with the sight of Allah. Allah doesn't see boundaries and borders or doesn't say nationality and all those things, these things change. But the thing that does not change is your deen. So if I want to be a Muslim, if I call myself a Muslim, I've joined I've ticked the box, I'm a Muslim. What does it mean to be a Muslim? As a deepish kind of question, what do I have to do to be a Muslim? You know, there's a big debate going on in France at the moment. We the ABA has become

outlawed girls, you know, that goes to school, they're not allowed to wear an abaya. And it's fine. Like it's so strange that a country will tell a secular, modern cold country will tell young girls, you're not allowed to wear a certain dress because it's not revealing enough.

It doesn't show your curves enough. You need to take it you need to take this away. And of course, there's a counter debate and say, but the buyer is the buyer and Islamic thing or a cultural thing. Ultimately, ultimately, your identity as a Muslim goes beyond the clothing that you wear. It's the choices that you make. And so what are the key fundamentals if I take a Muslim and you'll find who seems wearing different clothes, eating different cuisines, some Muslims doing haram? Some Muslims are better than others. But what are the fundamental things that I cannot take away? If I take that away? I'm no longer Muslim. What are the key ingredients to a Muslim? Well, the number one thing one

of the the number one thing that everyone says

The line that distinguishes us a Muslim from an anti Muslim, the one dividing line between Muslims and non Muslims is what? Salah,

a person that does not make salah.

The number one thing that makes you a Muslim and part of the club. The most important criteria that you need to fulfill is Salah the provinces. The line between the covenant that distinguishes between Muslims and non Muslims is Salah. So whatever leaves it has left Islam as left Islam, and that is why if you're going to prioritize anything in your life, if you're going to do anything that you're going to focus on in any area of your life is not right. This is the number one area to look at the quality and the nature of our Salah

in other Hadith interviews and says that the one characteristic that should stand out of my ummah, he says, If not, every Ummah, every nation before us had a special quality, maybe it was courage, maybe it was generosity, something good about that Uma. When people looked at them, they will say, those are people who are very honest, those are very kind people and for those of you have traveled the world, you can almost generalize so good to generalize, but somebody can generalize. You know, the people of the bootcamp the very like this, the people of Durbin a video like that, then I've even says the quality that should stand out from my ummah, is a quality of modesty. Modesty means a

sense of decorum, a sense of how you treat people a sense of how you engage that the way you present yourself, and Subhanallah This is the one characteristic that is consciously being removed across the world.

When people see a Muslim, when you and when your colleagues engage with you interact with you or me, they should know we don't sway in front of armor.

We know we don't drink and you know, you're not gonna understand this. You know, when sometimes people are joking and laughing and they going a bit out of hand and someone you know, maybe the priest or the imam or someone when elder person comes into the kind of put it to one side, you have a sense of decorum because this person is a person of modesty that nobody uses a Muslim must have that quality that people should know, we don't talk like this in front of 100 and Fathima. Not because they are superior or they are holier than thou, but because these kinds of things they don't associate with and people know, whether you're Muslim or not Muslim, you know, what is something

praiseworthy, and something which is not something an activity, which is not good, something you wouldn't want to engage in. As a Muslim, we should be the furthest away from such kind of open vulgarity open speech that is ugly. That is the bit that I'm even saying this is the quality I want for my ummah, a quality of modesty, of decorum of of good ethical etiquette and o'clock. This is what it means to be a Muslim. In another Hadith that is a solemn so we speak about a number of essential qualities that make you a Muslim. Number one, we said Salah number two, the way you dress, the way you talk, the way you engage the jokes you share, the things you watch is one that is modest

and moral. In other Hadith, Amin says, A Muslim is someone whose tongue and hand the people are safe.

A Muslim, listen very carefully, then I mean, a Muslim is somebody that the people know, they can feel safe, that you won't speak badly about them. You won't insult them, and you won't physically harm them. You won't damage the property, meaning people should feel safe, that if I'm in a Muslim neighborhood, or I'm passing by and is I'm alone, and there's a bunch of Muslims around me, I feel safe. I feel good. Even if I'm a non Muslim. I feel good that these guys, Muslims don't hurt people. Muslims don't rub. Muslims don't cheat people. It should be known. And there was a time Subhanallah when people didn't think that way. People didn't think that way. If I let a Muslim guy come to my

house and fix my plumbing, I don't have to worry that he's going to harm my wife who is going to steal or do a bad job just because he's a Muslim. So then me since he's a Muslim, is some of you want to ask yourself, Am I a Muslim? Am I genuinely a true Muslim? Ask yourself, do people fear that I will abuse them with my tongue verbally or with my hand and he says that a believer a true believer is the one who is trusted with the lives and wealth of the people. I personally have an even higher caliber people actively they look to you to be to keep their money and their well being safe. They come to you for security.

And this is the remember that hadith doesn't say he doesn't harm other Muslims. He doesn't harm any person. How you treat your fellow man that defines you as who you are. You cannot say And subhanAllah I get this many times you know, you have these conversations with people

you know, mashallah they they grew up in, you know, they grew up a certain lifestyle, they were Muslim, maybe ritualistically they're not Muslim. They don't make Salah then recite Quran, but they'll say we're good people, we we help one another and we know we feed the penguins and we look after the environment.

And, you know, we love humanity. That's good, fair enough. And they will say many times, but you know what I can't bring myself to accept that same Buddha that is holding the Mercy five times, five times in the masjid. He is the most grumpy, angry, rude, bad mannered person so I can reconcile my Islam with that. And the reality you need both you can't have, you can't have good models and you've neglected Allah. You don't make Salah that sort of Muslim and you can't be five times a day in the masjid or waking up with the hajat fasting, but then you swearing your neighbors and you backbiting this one and you cheating that one that is also not a Muslim.

How you treat the how you engage with your Creator and how you treat the creation is what makes you a Muslim than me so it's this telling us as the reason says,

the prophet see swears he says by Allah I sui you are not you do not have true Iman.

And this is the Sahaba said who is this person who does not have true Iman, he said the one whose neighbor the people that lives around you don't feel safe from his home. He abuses his neighbors, his neighbors don't like him. His neighbors feel annoyed with him. He talks in front of the house peace plays whatever is playing whether it is Kyra art, whether it's playing mashallah by an Iraqi vicar but it disturbs the neighbors, such a person that there's something wrong with his Iman, if your neighbors can't get along with you, because of your harm, then there's something wrong with you Eman in our businesses, then you are not a true Muslim, another Hadith that says you are not a true

Muslim. If your stomach is fooled, and the people around you are hungry, your neighbors don't have enough to eat for the very scary for us.

Very, very scary.

And so, in describing and defining what it means to be a Muslim,

we should remember that ultimately, these ethics and these criteria, these, this is what symbolizes us, that's fine. I want you to think about symbolism. As I said, mashallah, we have many brothers who proudly weigh the green jerseys or the, you know, black jerseys. They want to stand up as a badge of honor. This is what I stand for. And look up beautifully this religion is

when you want to stand up as a badge of honor. What does Islam mean when someone ticks a box on a Muslim, what automatically should come through is what I know about a Muslim. I know a Muslim, the sky, they pray. They tell, they don't tell lies, they're honest, they're modest. They don't harm people. That is your badge of honor, as a Muslim, that is what symbolizes us as people.

And if we are not on that path, and we're very far from wearing the jersey of Islam, if you so to speak, you're very far from waving the flag of Islam, when you don't, when we don't inculcate these things in our lives. That our business is the most complete believer in faith are those who have the best of luck, the best character, they are soft in nature. You We live in a time where it's almost weak, it's almost disliked, to be soft natured. But this is what Allah subhanaw taala wants, that was the best of you is the one with the nicest o'clock, the soft softness in nature, he is friendly to others, and and he's befriended and people seek him as a friend. He is not one of us, who is not

friendly, or people resent. Meaning you're not part of the camp. You're not part of the club. You're not part of the team. You don't you should not weigh our jersey, we almost say to you with that, take that Islam jersey off, you're not from us. If you are a human being that is nasty and rude to others, you are an embarrassment to the Ummah, you are an embarrassment to them. So each and every one of us, we carry with us our identity as Muslims, and every action, every engagement, every conversation, every email, we send, every argument we get into every traffic like we stand. Our Islam is what is shown or first and foremost, especially as a minority. Our Islam is what defines us

and when people look at

Al Hamdulillah.

As you know, I wasn't even if you notice for last two weeks, you know, I wasn't there. And I traveled to very tiny country called Gambia, not Zambia, Gambia it's, it's I think it's the smallest country in on mainland Africa. And you know, when you go to these different parts of the world, many times you can't engage you can't even speak the language.

But when you in when you get to you in touch with people that are Muslims, what's beautiful is how the uniformity. You just have to say, make the gesture of Salah and direction he knows Are you looking for the Qibla keepalives This way you want to know Halal way to eat. That's the reason for halal, whatever country you come from whatever language they speak, there are certain things that every single Muslim community holds true. And that's why the Nabil says, Whoever prays like us, they make Salah and they face our Kibera and they eat our halal food they eat halal food

is a Muslim and he's under allah and the protection the protection of Allah and the protection that to be Salam. So do not betray Allah by betraying those who are under his protection. This hadith is of a hottie beautiful. We conclude with this hadith, no matter how weak you are as a Muslim, or how weak someone is as a Muslim, or how sinful that person is a Muslim, we spoke about all the things you need to do as a Muslim. But if you don't do those things, and he identifies it ticks the box as a Muslim, it does not give me or anyone the right to take away that title. That title of Islam is between you and Allah. And if you have identified as a Muslim, irrespective of what you're doing, it

is only for Allah to remove it. And then I'll be someone's made a very, very simple criteria. If the man makes salah.

And he faces the Qibla and eats the halal food and he identifies as a Muslim, he I outwardly identifies the Muslim, maybe she's not wearing the hijab, maybe she's not wearing anything. Maybe he's in a relationship with haram. Maybe he's doing all kinds of bad transactions, he's on drugs. But if he identifies as a Muslim, and he ascribes to these very, very basics, then we don't have any right to kick him out of the club. The club belongs to Allah. The club belongs to Allah, you cannot take that journey of someone's a unit part of the team that belongs to Allah subhanho wa taala. But also, it's also to remember that these we aspire, we aspire to the highest levels of being a Muslim,

and identify as Muslims and we are any ambassador for our deen for our Quran for our last Karnataka. And so we ask Allah in this, you know, in this month of aid to teach when everyone is searching for the ancestry and the lineage. May Allah subhanaw taala make Islam our defining title? May Allah grant us to live by the code and the ethics of Islam. May be our deen might be our identity in the dunya. So it may be identity in the afterlife, that's the only thing that's going to matter who's a Muslim? Now that makes sense amongst them? I mean, I mean, it's like like, just a few quick announcements. This set Sunday, the 17th of September,

we will be having an umara course. So anyone inshallah would like to attend please So there's got to we've limited seats available, but if you'd like to 18 you can please contact the office, and inshallah we'd love to have you the Sunday morning. The 17th of September, then breakfast fundraiser for our for our plan will be bills on the trip to pee so inshallah that is that happen Saturday night timber.

That happened

last week. I wasn't here. I didn't know I wasn't invited. I'm convinced, as we say so grateful for the support. I didn't get any Baraka but no hamdulillah so it's not gonna pay for the support and we shouldn't be lost. It's a safe trip Inshallah, to Port Elizabeth. And then we've got an amazing race. Get ready for the ultimate adventure, Amazing Race. There is a book up heritage edition that is next week, Sunday the 24th. So I think if you go around the book up and you look and find clues and all these things, so in sha Allah, if you'd like to participate in this, then you can, you can let us know. And then there's the clip Cape Malay heritage revival experience, but it's open I'm

sure to everyone, even if not take Malay but insha Allah that's also the 24th of September next week at the Blue cup cultural hub in Charlotte sokola. Hi. So now what I like about it