Muhammad West – Surviving as a Minority
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AI: Transcript ©
My beloved brothers and sisters.
Always and forever, we begin by praising
Allah. We testify that there is none worthy
of worship besides Allah,
and we send our love and our greetings
and our salutations to beloved Nabi Muhammad
to his pious and his pure family, to
his companions, and all those who follow his
sunnah until the end of time. May Allah
bless us to be amongst them. Ameen.
Been a busy week.
And,
the country went into we voted on on
on Wednesday, and we asked
accept from us. And, while we are still
in that
stage of not knowing who would be what's
the outcome with all these certain trends and
we will discuss, We make dua Allah
bless us with good leaders.
One of the greatest niamas Allah can give
to a community is that it has good
leadership
from the top and, you know,
in all spheres.
Allah says hadith which we'll talk about. Allah
is pleased with the community, and Allah wants
good for them. He gives them leaders which
are good. And so we make dua that
whoever is in charge, whoever is,
given the the the sulta, they fulfill that
Amanah and that they do good for for
for for us as a country.
And may Allah guide them and assist them.
Part of
what and subhanAllah, if you look at the
hadaks when you, you know, in the adkar
when you make dua, you always make dua
for
our leaders.
Part of
the the tradition of the Muslim is that
he makes du'a for the leadership, for the
ulama.
Because if they are misguided, if they are
lost, the leaders, the political leaders, the ulama,
then we as a community are misguided.
And it is a sunnah actually in it
as when you have a Khalifa,
every Jumuah, the Khalifa's name is mentioned. You
make dua for the Khalifa by name in
the Jumuah. It was the case when Allah
grant us to have
that time again. Amin. So
today's Khutba is I think there's also a
reality check
about our tiny
minority.
We must
I think we've taken for granted
our significance.
We are only
2 to 3% of this country.
And
in in numerical terms, we are technically a
nonentity.
Although we know our presence is felt, we're
given recognition, we're given honor, we're given given
privileges
that far exceeds what you would think 2.2
or 3 percent of the country's
population.
And that is why before we talk about
the details,
we go back and realize that we are
living in a very, very privileged situation.
Unlike any minority
or Muslim minority in the world, there are
certain freedoms and liberties that you and I
have that is not felt.
Whether you are a Muslim in India, 100
of millions of Muslims have been there for
over 1000 years. They don't have the liberties
we have.
Millions and millions of Muslims in China, whoever
your minority Muslims minority
Muslims, you ask yourself what is their position
versus our position? And Muslims in Western countries,
France, you can't read hijabs,
We have never felt as outsiders.
We have never felt as
fearful. I was in Australia when, that shooting
happened in the in the Masjid in New
Zealand. I was in Australia at the time.
And the interviewer asked, do you as Muslims
fear going to the Masjid?
And I said, to be honest, the only
thing we're scared about is someone's gonna steal
my shoes.
That's the only fear I have when I
go to the Masjid. I don't even feel
scared that my work is gonna put me
under pressure. We've and we've taken this for
granted. We almost imagine this is how it
normally is. When I have a function, it's
just gonna be halal. I don't even have
to ask. It's just there. And these privileges
did not come easy.
And for a community that is only 3%,
tiny minority, our interest should not be taken
taken note of as it is. And so
we thank Allah for that privilege, and Allah
reminds us a a ayah which usually is
used to bash or used to make people
feel guilty, but it's an actually an ayah
that we see Allah's mercy. Allah says,
Allah says, for every person,
there is a legion,
there is a troop of angels in front
of you and behind you protecting you by
the decree of Allah. Allah has said every
moment in time, Allah has delegated
This is the part that you know. Allah
says, indeed Allah will not change the condition
of a people until they themselves have changed.
Meaning, Allah will not take you out of
a position of favor, out of a position
of privilege unless you do something wrong.
Usually it's saying Allah Allah's not gonna change
your until you change yourself. Allah say no,
you are in a position of privilege. You
are in a position of protection and if
you keep doing the right thing, Allah is
not gonna change that. Allah is not gonna
change that. Why and then Allah
says, but if he intends some calamity upon
a people, then there's no way you can
avert it. Allah's affliction, Allah's calamity will reach
you no matter what it is.
And Allah says, and you have no protector
ultimately. These angels are not your protectors.
Allah is your protector.
And so we thank Allah that he has
given us
this privilege that we can come to our
Masjids, we can open our madrasas, our girls
can wear their hijab, we can make salah,
and we don't not even
we don't feel fear,
let alone experience
experience it. May Allah never change this situation
that we have.
Amin,
the Nabi says, whoever of you wakes up
in the morning feeling safe in his in
his belongings, in his home, his body is
healthy, and he has enough food for that
day, then Allah has made you a king.
Allah has given you yes. There are many
things that you want, holidays
and things that we dream about. But Allah
says if you have these things, you're not
being persecuted,
you're not sick in the hospital,
and you are not starving. Alhamdulillah, you're a
king. And we thank
Allah for those blessings.
Now let's take a reality check.
We are now entering uncertain times.
Most likely the ANC,
the ruling party who has been dominating politics
for the last 30 years, who has been,
as we said many times, very friendly and
very accommodating to the Muslim community, will not
be the will not have an outright majority.
Would they still be the ruling? Most likely
they will still rule, but they will go
into some kind of coalition.
And with a new
change, a change in leadership,
where does that put us? This is uncharted
territory. We don't know what's going to happen.
And now
without causing anyone panic, we should remember and
remind ourselves that we are an endangered species.
2.323%
is a very small number, and we have
always been on the brink
of being from the history,
May Allah grant that we stay here for
another 3, 4000 years,
but it's not beyond
our conception. You look at Spain, a country
which we ruled for 800 years. It disappeared
very quickly.
Many Muslim minorities disappeared. South America, North America
disappeared.
Alhamdulillah, we have survived and thrived, but we
are still an endangered species.
And while we've survived the impossible
odds and we even punched well above our
weight, where our influence is not the influence
of 2%. Our influence is much, much bigger,
politically, financially.
Privilege?
What gave us this platform?
It was hard earned,
and it was through a lot of effort
from our previous generation. Our previous generation, our
parents and grandparents,
fought off the risks to this community and
built a platform which we have now almost
taken for granted. And if we forget those
lessons,
we can easily become, once again, not only
endangered, but extinct. And so today, there are
4
imperatives. It's not even
nice to haves. These are things that you
and I must do to ensure that Islam
survives in this country, a
Muslim
a Muslim
identity, a Muslim community in this land. Whoever
rules, that's in the hands of Allah. Allah
will decide that, but we need to make
sure our house is in order.
If it's a Muslim friendly government,
we
use that opportunity to excel. If it's a
government that does not give us the privileges
and is not as open and friendly
as as as as we've enjoyed, we need
to be ready for that. We need to
be ready for that. And as I said,
many times, people feel this is impossible.
Situation can't change where I feel under
threat. Ask our Muslim brothers and sisters in
India.
More than a 1000 years. In fact, Islam
ruled India for a 1000 years. There was
not a few million. There are 100 of
millions of Muslims
in that country,
and they feel as if, though, I don't
know if I'm going to survive as a
Muslim in a land which they've lived
for millennia for almost a millennia.
So we should not take our vulnerable status,
and and as for granted.
The first thing that our if I look
at our last 400 years of presence, what
did we do well? What did our forefathers
do successfully
that made them made us where we are
today?
Number 1, Alhamdulillah, and this is important, and
it's something which we are losing,
is that our identity,
our allegiance,
our first
vote is I'm a Muslim and my allegiance
is to Islam.
That was
nonnegotiable
whether it was through apartheid, whether before that
through slavery or colonialism, even when they said
it is illegal to be a Muslim. Whatever
you say and throw at us,
our home is the home of Islam,
and our agenda is that of Islam. And
we are a community of Muslims and Ummah.
The Nabi's says in a hadith,
very famous hadith, one of the one of
the, you know, here the 4th year of
Imam Nawawi, the 4 primary hadith on which
our religion is built on. This is one
of them. The Nabeel says, this religion
is your commitment to,
number 1, your com and this Sahaba said
to whom, rasulullah, who is our commitment to?
Our allegiance. Number 1, to Allah.
Our allegiance is to Allah, Allahu
Akbar, and our allegiance is to the Quran
and to the messenger of the Rasulullah SAWSALAM
and to the rulers of the Muslim Ummah,
to our Ulama, and if we have a
Khalifa or sultans, we don't have unfortunately those
people. But to the leadership of this Ummah,
first and foremost.
So when we make a decision,
first, my decision is for Allah and then
to his Rasul and to his book and
to the leadership of the Muslims and then
to the masses of the ummah. That is
our allegiance. That is our
party. That is our where we stand. That
is what our allegiance is. And Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala also reminds us.
Allah says, and strive hard every single Muslim.
Make your striving for Allah Subhanahu
Allah chose you and He has selected you
and favored you and given you a religion
which is easy.
The religion of your father, Mila Abikum Ibrahim.
It's the religion of Nabi Ibrahim.
And Allah says, and I have given you
a label.
I have given you a title. He called
you Muslims. The only religion on earth where
Allah has given you an identity, a religion.
You won't find the word Christian in the
bible.
You won't find the word Hindu in the
scriptures. Allah says, I have labeled you as
Muslims. I have chosen your identity.
And
so whatever you do in the world, you
become a CFO, you become an engineer, a
lawyer, a doctor,
your first home is the home of Islam,
and your allegiance is Islam. And our so
in a time and I and I want
you to understand this. We are entering a
world
where there is no clear majority.
There are many, many players and fish in
the sea.
The small ones are not gonna survive.
We need to also be a fish on
our own. We need to be a player
on our own, that we work as a
group, as a block. The lone sheep is
the one that's gonna be eaten up by
the wolf. And so Allah
reminds you that you are all collectively as
Muslims. Yes. You have your differences, but first
you are Muslims. And then he says,
and if you truly are a Muslim,
you can't just say I'm a Muslim, I
tick a box, that's it. Then there's something
we need from you. You need to prioritize
your salah,
and you need to give of your money
to this community.
And then hold fast to Allah. He is
your mawla. Now in these uncertain times, Allah
says, he will protect you.
Allah says, and he is your protector and
he is none that can protect you better
than him. So in these uncertain times,
cling to the
the rope of Allah. Cling cling to the
things which will remain forever. Allah and His
book will remain forever. Islam will outlast all
of us and the ummah is bigger than
all of us. When we cling to the
ummah and we cling to Allah
we will survive, and that is what our
predecessors did.
And they survived, and it's a tried and
tested formula. They out they outlasted
the Dutch Empire. They outlasted the British Empire.
They outlasted apartheid. They outlasted all these rulers
that came. They tried to eradicate them. They
gone. This Umma is still here. Or this
community is still here because it was a
community of Muslims.
The second thing, and it goes hand in
hand,
now we unite not because it's a good
thing, but we need to unite
as a means of survival.
We will have different views
whether it is the Labarang issue, whether it
is the Halal issue, whether it is the
moon issue, whatever issue, tabli whatever issue you
have, there's so many issues. But at the
end of the day, when the outsider looks
at you, he does not look at
a Sufi Muslim, a Salafi Muslim,
a Shafi or Hanafi Muslim. This breaks Shafi'at,
he sees you all as one.
And while we are dividing amongst ourselves and
cutting our 2% into 0.2%,
this exposes
us to being eaten up. And Allah says
in the Quran,
a slogan which we know, and it shouldn't
just be a slogan.
And hold on to the rope of Allah
and obey Allah and his messenger
and do not be divided.
Otherwise, you will lose your position of strength
and you will lose your courage.
Allah
reminds us that if you are divided
and you argue and your debates
result in division,
if we can't get our act together
as a united group,
we will be eaten up.
We will disappear.
And unity becomes it's not the job only,
yes, the ulama have their job to to
create unity,
but unity in your masjid. How many masajid
are disunited?
How many families are disunited?
How many people in your own capacity were
not talking to one another?
If we are going to split ourselves up
and and, SubhanAllah, look at this. There was
a ruling party.
They broke and fractured, and eventually,
your enemies don't need to do anything. Your
enemies have to sit back and watch you
eat yourselves up alive. While they have the
United States, the European Union, the United Nations,
every single one is I'm a Hanafi,
Shafi'i,
I am this Masjid.
While they unite and they understand the the
the strength in unity, we believe I'll go
it on my own and you will disappear
like that.
So unity becomes a matter of survival. It's
not a nice to have. It is essential.
As a minority, unity becomes essential, and we
must demand and and and require
our leaders, our imams, we want to see
this unity.
We want to see you bring about unity
and reconciliation in our community. And that brings
to the 3rd point,
leadership.
Our pre our pious predecessors, the
my place in Jannah. It's amazing. We keep
on thinking how they did this, how they
formulated a plan, a strategy
from the point of extinction
to a point where we are the only
country in the world internationally
that stands up, where even Muslim countries can't
speak out. We speak out. Where we can
criticize from the member, the president,
we're 2%, and I'm talking to the president,
corrupt, blah blah blah blah, without fear.
How did we get here, subhanallah?
It didn't just happen.
It didn't just fall into the into our
laps. We were not the we are not
the most pious people in the world that
Allah
gives us to us. There was a strategy
and a plan, and it came about by
good leadership.
Good leadership and leadership now because we don't
have
sometimes we think we need a messiah,
Imam Mahdi to come, and he'll fix all
our problems. No.
Leadership
across
the spectrum.
Every Masjid in this city
was not set up, and that's a good
thing, was not set up by 1 billionaire
that came in and built the Masjid and
he walked away. No. It took a community
of people to build that Masjid. Every institution
took a community of leaders to build build
it. So not just the ulama or the
business people or the,
you know, intellectual people. It requires
every single person to play their role, And
so we need good leadership. And look at
this hadith,
particularly
3 types of people. Allah says the prophet
says, when Allah wants goodness for a people,
he appoints over them the most tolerant,
the most gentle, the kindest
ones
as their rulers. Those who have political leadership,
they care about the community.
They have a sense of.
I'm there to serve the community. Allah chooses
your political leadership, those who have authority, they
use it for the service of the people
and they choose and Allah chooses
the most,
the ulama,
the intelligent ones,
people of learning to judge between their disputes.
Allah choose qualified competent ulama to handle the
affairs of the deen
and he bestows wealth on generous people. So
3 types of people need to come to
the party now.
We need those who have authority.
If you have you're an executive, a director,
Umah. This 2, 3% needs you. Authority, you
need to play a role in this ummah.
This 2, 3% needs you. And if you
and Ali Mawlana Sheikh, you need to come
the party in Mawlana's. The olema fraternity, you
need to get your act in order. This
ummah, this tiny community needs you. And if
you're a wealthy person, Allah has given you
more than you require. You need to use
your wealth in the service of his deen.
And if you have a skill,
you have some knowledge which Allah has taught
you, given you a qualification,
you cannot just use that for your next
holiday.
You need to use your competencies and your
expertise to fix this. Who's gonna fix it?
We all complain about the problems.
Who's gonna fix your masjid? Who's gonna fix
the school of your kids? Who's gonna fix
the madrasa?
Who's gonna fix the problems we have locally?
The ANC is not gonna do it. The
politicians are gonna do it. If you as
Muslims can if we as Muslims cannot fix
our own problem, we don't have the will,
the desire to fix it ourselves, it's not
gonna be fixed. And that's how we disappear.
And we have to build
long lasting institutions.
It was part of a a, you know,
a a conference where they spoke about Islamic
finance.
And so one of the things that we
failed as Muslims
compared to our previous ulama, the previous generation,
the previous ulama, they built Madahib.
It wasn't based on Imam Shafi Abu Hanif.
Once the Imam died, he had a a
structure in place that maintained for a 1000
years. We built waqfs. We built institutions
that outlast one person. Many of our mosques
committees around one great person, one great man,
you know, he brings people together. When he
disappears, the whole thing falls apart. We need
to build things that will out lost as
institutions.
And something which I'm so proud of and
I'm sure you didn't know because I didn't
know this. The
Halal, the MJC Halal Trust, they're not punching
the MJC Halal Trust. I know I work
for them, work with them. The MJC Halal
Trust
is the oldest Halal institution in the world.
The UN the United Nations
in the publication of halal, they did some
study. They said in 1945,
the first official halal authority in the world
is the MGG Halatas in Cape Town. That
is something I didn't know.
And it just recently became got a certain
certifications,
the most, recognized certified in Africa. This is
an institution which was built generations upon generations
that made its presence felt globally.
That is why you and I as a
Muslim can go to any shop, and I
can buy with confidence and ease. An institution
that was built not by 1 or 2
people, but by a community, and it serviced
an entire generation and going forward. This is
what we need.
We need people that have forward thinking. Where
do I want to be as an Umma
in 50, 100
years' time? What for my grandchildren? And it
requires us to build long lasting institutions. And
the only way to get there
is through community contribution. And the halal is
a good example.
We would not have had
halal certifiers
if we didn't have a community that cared
about halal.
We would not have madrasas and masjids if
we didn't have a community that cared
about these things. We would not have the
entire
corporate world
knowing well that on 12 1 o'clock, 2
o'clock on a Friday, Muslims are not in
office. They're going to Jum'ah if we didn't
have a community that insisted on this. And,
therefore, that 2%
is small, but it has power to make
change when it works together. And that is
where
this is a call for everybody. Yes. We
can point the finger at the ulama, and
the ulama have a big
role to play in this. And we can
point our finger at our billionaires in our
community. Where are you? We see people with
a Zionist agenda. They use their money to
control things. Where are you? Where are you,
billionaires?
To push forward our agenda. But it's not
just them.
Because Allah
looks at us as a community also. And
so every single one of you, whether you're
young, old, whether you're the auntie Mekongu sisters
or the young TikTok star, you need to
make a contribution to this community.
Abu Dhar was a hadith which you mentioned
so many times. Abu Dhar asked an abi
salam and just to summarize along hadith, he
says, what is the best deal I can
do, You Rasulullah? What can I do? Give
me advice. I wanna do good. So the
Nabi salam says, the best person is the
person who goes out
believing in Allah and he fights jihad with
himself.
I see a problem and I throw my
entire life into that struggle.
I take that struggle upon myself even if
I must die. That is the best person.
Whatever the challenge is, you own it, you
fight for it, you die for it. He
said, yeah, Rasool Allah, if that is too
much, I can't do that. Then the Nabi
sun says, you contribute financially.
I can't invest my entire life to that.
Commit to it financially.
So he says, yeah, Rasulullah, what if I
can't do that? I can't I can't give
money to the masjid. I can't give money
to the madrasa.
Number 1, I can't give time to it.
I can't give money to it. What next?
So the Nabi says then help those who
are doing it.
Many times, unfortunately,
those who
are doing, they're doing, Alhamdulillah,
but they spend more time fighting the critic
the critic who's doing nothing. The critic who's
doing nothing is breaking down the good that
the person was doing.
Then support the ones who are doing. Go
and say to the committee, you know what?
I don't have time to attend your meetings,
and I don't have time I I don't
know I don't have enough to EFT you
some money,
but what can I do to help if
there's just something? I'm a plumber. I'm a,
you know, I'm Ecosysters. Can I help you
in some way? Here's my services.
Use me where I can.
So Abu so the Nabi says then do
that. Help those who are doing the good.
So he says, what if I can't even
do that, sir Rasool Allah? I can't even
contribute anything. I can't bring anything to the
party. Then the nabism
says, then look at this hadith, then desist
desist
from doing
mischief. Don't make the situation worse. If you
can't bring unity, don't create disunity.
If you can't help build the Masjid, don't
break down the Masjid.
If you can't be part of the committee,
don't bring the committee down. If you're not
happy with the ulama, you can't fix them,
don't break the ulama further. Don't kick us
when we're on the
ground. And that will be and he said
in the lobby, he says, and that is
your sadaqa. That is your on the day
of qiyama, Allah is gonna ask, what did
you do?
A platform. I gave you 400 years of
legacy. Disappeared. Where were you? What did you
do? Yeah, Allah. I didn't do anything, but
at least I didn't make it worse. I
didn't make it worse. And that insha'Allah will
be enough, but we obviously want more from
all of us. May Allah protect us as
a community. May Allah bless us. May Allah
grant us to be focused focused. May Allah
be focus grant us to survive
the difficult
and and and vulnerable times ahead. May Allah
bless our leaders, our ulema,
our our business people,
our politicians. May Allah bless them to do
what is best, guide them, and grant us
leadership that we can be proud of Amin.
Quick,
just to mention, it's Hajj time. So Quran
time for those who would like to Quran.
No better deed you can do in these
days is to Quran. So put a talip
at the back who are taking the Qurban
orders. And our Hajj guide is available. I
think some people asked me last week, but
the talip also has a few books with
him. Excellent gift to give to somebody. Make
duh make dua for me 60 rand. Make
dua for me on Arafa.
May you get of the 3 words. Amen.