Mustafa Khattab – EidulFitr 2010 Khutba part 2
AI: Summary ©
AI: Transcript ©
The third group is
our life together as a Muslim community in
America.
The first thing, we need to be united
as a community.
Don't tell me you are Egyptian. Don't tell
me you are Pakistani. Don't tell me you
are Moroccan.
Don't tell me you are American or Latino.
We are Muslims. The challenge we face, we
face as one community.
Don't tell me you are Sunni. Don't tell
me you are Shia. Don't tell me you
are Sufi. We are one community.
If you believe in Allah as God, if
you believe in Prophet Muhammad as a prophet,
you are my brother.
Any other differences
are something between you and Allah.
The challenge we face, we face as one
single community.
After September 11th,
there has been so many challenges in this
country.
And for those of you who follow the
news, they know
every time there is a masjid built in
this country, there's a challenge
Conservative voices here and there
asking for the stoppage of this building.
And of course, the most famous example is
the
Islamic
Cultural Center in New York.
Because they say, it is only 2 blocks
away.
And they know
there are strip clubs
only 1 block away.
But the message does not honor
the memory of those who had fallen in
the September 11th, but the people who are
in the strip clubs do.
And they say that the Masjid is too
close.
You should
build it away a few blocks away.
I would should ask, how close is too
close?
Because if we try to build an Islamic
center
40
or 50 or 200 miles away in
Florida, they speak out, they say no.
If you try to build another
Masjid in Tennessee,
300 miles away,
they say no.
If you try to build another Masjid
500 miles away in California,
they will speak up and say no.
Usually, when people attack in this country
or in the West in general,
they do it for two reasons.
Number 1, to get attention
and to become famous and to become rich,
because they know that the easiest way
you can become rich and famous and wealthy
is to attack the prophet and attack Islam
and attack Muslims.
If you want to be rich,
make a cartoon of the Prophet.
Put a bomb in his head.
If you want to become rich, write a
book on the Quran.
And say that the Quran say this, and
say this, and say this. The Quran oppresses
women that the Muslims want to take over
America and do this and this.
But they never give a chapter number and
a verse number because it is not there.
Every time we want to build an Islamic
school, there is a challenge.
Every time
people try to say good things about Islam,
they're always
a challenge.
So this is number 1. We have the
same challenges, we have to stand up and
speak for ourselves.
Number 2,
we need to educate other Americans about our
values
and about our religion.
American people are not bad, they are not
evil. And I have been here
for 3 years and I know that many
of them are decent people.
They don't hate Muslims for who they are.
The problem is,
they go by what they hear in the
media, they go by what they hear in
their places of worship.
They don't read for themselves.
So this is what we need to do
to educate them about our religion,
about our values, and about our principles.
And once you teach them, they know.
As I said, there are two reasons why
people attack Islam.
To get famous,
to become rich, and number 2, to provoke
a violent reactions from Muslims.
They know that if they make a cartoon
of Prophet Muhammad or if they burn the
Quran, that the Muslims will go violent and
go wild and
destroy things and
burn houses and cars.
And we should be smart.
We should not take the bait.
You do what the prophet did.
He was insulted, people spat in his face,
people threw stuff on him, and he was
patient.
And in description
of the righteous servants of Allah given in
Surat
Subhana says, khalu salalam.
And when they are midway the khalpapa mujahilunabhalu
salalam. When they are addressed by the ignorant
and the foolish ones, they say peace.
So if they try to provoke
a violent reaction from you, say peace.
Don't get involved in this stuff and give
Islam a bad name and make a bad
image for Muslims.
Teach and educate.
You need to clarify and convey the message
of Islam and not to provoke.
And this what we Muslims believe and this
is what we stand for.
Number 3, and I'll conclude with this,
we need to have people to represent Islam
in the West and in this country.
Alhamdulillah, we have so many doctors. We have
more doctors than we have patients.
We have more lawyers than we have inmates.
We have more engineers than we have cars.
But where are the Muslim
people who work in the media?
Where are the Muslims who work as politicians?
We are tolerant
and sake of all non Muslims
who, regardless of their good intentions, make
mistakes every time they talk about Islam. They
misrepresent
us.
Some of many of them have good intentions,
but every time they speak, they make mistakes.
You can see all the documentaries
made by the BBC,
PBS,
National Geographic. They are fantastic.
But there are always a glitch in there,
In relation to Aqidah, in relation to Muslim
culture, in relation to Muslim history, we need
Muslim people
to work in the media.
And we need Muslims to work as politicians
in this country,
and they should be guided by the ethics
of Islam. To speak for
us, to represent us.
We don't want to be represented by other
people.
Those who have evil intentions and those who
have good intentions.
If we do this,
we
embody
the spirit of Ramadan.
The month that instills in us the goodness,
the charity
of being good and kind and being united.
In Ramadan, we worship the same God, we
face the same Qibla, we start at the
same time, we have been in the same
time,
and we face the same Qibla, the same
Kaaba.
So this should be our goal
and this should be our guide in this
life. We ask Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala to
accept from us and to forgive our sins,
and to give us the reward for all
good deeds according to the best of our
intentions, and to give us sincerity in everything
we say and do, and to unite Muslims
wherever they might be, and to forgive all
Muslims those who are living and those who
are dead.