Mustafa Khattab – Humanity
AI: Summary ©
AI: Transcript ©
About
the
concept of Lazaf or al Insaneen.
And
this concept basically means to
be considerate
and to be courteous
and to have the sense of humanity.
And
if you look at human beings
over the last centuries or
for
a long time,
we started to learn a lot of things.
We started to swim like fish, and we
started to fly like birds,
and we started to build dams like beavers,
and we started to fight like crocodiles.
And during that time, we forgot a very
important thing.
We forgot to,
to live
and to feel like human beings. We forgot
our humanity.
And this is the problem. If you look
at this universe,
you look around you, we are probably the
last addition of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
Because if you look at other animals and
birds and everything,
like the squirrel you see in the street,
like the lizard you see in your background
or the cats you have in your house,
they existed like 1,000,000 or 1,000,000 of years
before us. So when we came,
they were already there.
Then we started to destroy everything.
If you just look at the
the magnitude of the destruction in this world,
only in the last century, just 100 years,
more than half of the species in the
world are gone, they're at stake, or they
are on the verge of extinction.
You see the damage that has been done
to the environment. How many people have been
killed?
Just in World War 1, World War 2,
other fights here and there. More than a
100,000,000
people have been killed in the last century.
That's probably more than all the people who
have been killed since the creation of Adam
alaihis salaam. Just think about it. Where is
the humanity?
Where is the humanity?
Where is this feeling when you see someone
suffering around you? Where is that feeling? How
many people now care about the people who
are dying in Palestine or the people who
are dying in Syria or in Iraq
or the people who are killed by drones
in Pakistan or even Yemen and and all
these places?
Very few people care. And the fact is,
we are watching these numbers in the news
every day, so it becomes part of the
news.
The only difference is, when we look at
the news every day, the numbers are different.
Like, yesterday,
500 people were killed. Today, maybe 750
people were killed. Maybe the day after,
250 people are killed. So, the only difference
every day is only the number of the
people who are killed.
A lot of people don't care about the
suffering of the homeless
or the people of
special needs and so on and so forth.
Where is the humanity?
So this is something that Islam talks a
lot about in the Quran and the teachings
of the prophet
in an effort to,
restore this feeling and this sense of humanity.
So he was afraid. He was terrified.
Then Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, because this man
was wealthy
and
every time someone owed him money, he would
ask his servants,
It's okay. Leave him. Give him more time.
Give him more time. No foreclosures.
No foreclosures.
No 25%
interest. No. Give him more time. Drop some
of the debt as a charity.
So this is what the person's debt to
Allah
said, okay. Leave him alone. Just like we
forgave people in this world because of the
humanity,
I'm gonna forgive him as well in this
life because I have more right
to courtesy and grace than this person.
The stories are so many, and this is
why when you read the Surah Al Kahf,
who spoke about not hurting people's feelings and
caring about them, Surah
18 of the Quran as read every Friday.
You come across this story that sometimes you
don't stop and think of what the Arabic
man says in the story.
When his friend
or his companion gives him asking for charity,
he says, I have more money than you.
He heard his skills. He scratched his dignity.
He said, I have more wealth than you.
I'm superior to you in wealth and in
manpower. At the end
At the end of the story, what happened?
His
money was destroyed. His property was destroyed.
And there was no manpower there to to
protect him.
Why? Because
the humanity was not there.
The king was not there.
So in Islam,
Qadr,
in in said in can, the perfect human
being, the person who has the sense of
humanity.
So this is the perfect human being in
Islam.
This person who
the more,
knowledgeable this person becomes,
the more open minded he is or she
is.
The more good things they do,
the more,
concerned they become, the more worried they become.
Because maybe these good deeds are not accepted,
because maybe they are not doing them for
the good reasons. Maybe the the, you know,
they do them with bad intentions,
or maybe
they do them to show off, and so
on and so forth. And this person, the
more,
the stronger they become,
the well cared they become, the more humble,
and the more caring they are. So this
is the definition of a human being, the
perfect human being in Islam.
So Islam teaches
kindness
to everything around you.
This is the definition of a Muslim in
Islam. Every time Allah tells us in the
Quran,
those who have faith
and do good things.
They have faith in relationship with Allah and
do good things in relationship
with human beings
and by way of its analogy
to everything in the creation,
in the creation of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
So, for example,
how many times have you come across a
Hadith in the Quran SAWSAA that a person
was walking in the desert
and that person came across
a dark that was starving in the desert
and he or she, or a different narrations,
gave water to the dark to drink. And,
therefore, Allah
has given paradise to that person.
Because of the dog, how many times you
read a tsuk
that
if you are about to kill an animal
for meat, you're not supposed to kill an
animal in front of another animal.
You're not supposed to kill an animal in
front of another animal. You're not allowed to
sharpen a knife in front of the animal
before you kill it. This this is what
Islam teaches about being killing an animal.
Humanity,
and so on and so forth. The examples
are so many.
In human relations,
dealing with Muslims and non Muslims, there has
also to be a sense of humanity when
you deal with the people.
You read in the story of and the
Shata'a alayhi Allah, when he was walking in
the street one time and he saw a
man and all men begging
and that was not dignified. So Umar alayhi
wa a'am said it's an authentic story. He
said, what's wrong with you? What is the
problem? He says, I'm a Jewish man and
I owe that I don't have money and
I'm begging people for food. So, Umar alayhi
Allahu Akim says, nala safnaka.
So, Umar alayhi Allahu Akim says, we are
not fair to you. We have not been
fair to you. We took taxes from you
when you were young. Now we are all
Babbi scared for you. And he made a
law that for poor poor people, regardless if
they are Muslim or non Muslim, they receive
welfare from the state. We're talking about over
1400 years ago.
You were even in the Hadith inside Muslim
and it's in the fit the Khalif that
the prophet was sitting with the Sahaba one
day and a funeral precision passed by and
the prophet stood up. And the prophet said,
why are you standing? He's not Muslim. So
the prophet said, isn't
it a human soul? So the prophet stood
up for the procession.
So it is not permissible in Islam to
abuse a non Muslim or anyone for that
matter. Muslim or non Muslim.
You read in the hadith
and the stories of kindness of the Muslims
That they have to be kind to one
another. You are not allowed to hurt any
human being by words or by actions.
So you see in the hadith of the
Quran says that the
Allah subhanahu wa'ala. This is in the hadith.
Allah subhanahu wa'ala will shower his mercy when
a person who is kind,
who treats people to be mainly when he
buys and when he sells and when he
asks for something from the people. And so
on and so forth. Kindness to the people.
There's this story,
one of the righteous people, Asarihullah,
the people who care for us,
it says,
He
said,
I never regretted
saying Alhamdulillah.
Pray praise be to God. He said one
time. I said Alhamdulillah and I regret. I
regretted what I said.
He said, there was a plaza.
There are stores,
several stores, and I have one of them.
My store was the last one.
So there was a fire overnight and all
the stores were burnt. So when I received
the news in the morning someone came to
me and said that all the stores are
burnt overnight except yours. So I said, and
I thought and he said, they're talking about
the other people. Then he started to cry.
He said, I'm very selfish because I thought
of myself and I'm thanking Allah for saving
my store, but I have no feelings
for other people. So, this is the concept
of humanity.
And I am doing that. As I said
at the beginning, some people started to lose
that sense of humanity.
There are so many good examples. I'm gonna
give a few of them.
About a couple of months ago,
it was an old Arab sister in our
community.
She had to,
use the Hugo office and all the stuff
from her son in the US.
And, she was all by herself. There was
no one to help her. And, it's a
whole day work for 4 or 5 people.
So, I posted the the the announcement on
and 5 brothers from the community, from the
Kurdish community.
So they went to the sister's house and
the whole day they were working
and they didn't even charge anything for that.
So she is someone from a
Yeah. We're all Muslim, but she is someone
from another community. But still they went and
they helped and they didn't take anything.
A brother in the community was coming to
the Masjid of food.
Another brother gave that brother a bike so
he can bike to the Masjid for for
prayers.
I have a whole,
computer in my office.
So I gave it to one of the
brothers to fix it.
So then they surprised me, that brother and
a group of brothers in the community, maybe
sisters, I don't know. They got together and
they decided to buy a new computer and
they put it in the office. Well, I
never asked them. And may Allah's kind of
I rewarded.
Every time there's something in the mashem, like,
we need help for a project or something,
financially or otherwise,
you'll always see the Pakistanis in the front.
You'll see the Indians in the front. The
Arabs in the front. The Bengalis in the
front. The Kurdish in the front. The Bosnians
in the front. And I I hope I'm
not forgetting anyone. So this is the sense
of humanity we need.
Moving to the larger community,
I used to serve on a masjid in
Edmonton.
It was built in 1938, the first masjid
ever built in Canada.
Of course,
the movement was led by some Lebanese ladies
who came together and they decided we need
to build a masher for our families. Ladies,
the largest contribution that came from outside the
Muslim community in 1938
came from the Jewish community.
The 2nd modest contribution. That was back in
1938.
Last year in London, Bradford,
there was a synagogue, a Jewish synagogue that
wasn't lost to to be closed
foreclosure because they didn't have enough money to
renovate the the synagogue.
So,
the closest synagogue was 20 miles away. So,
the Muslim community said, okay. We need to
do something and they fundraise
and they raised over a £100,000
and that money was related to the synagogue.
You read about
a Muslim community in Connecticut,
in the US. They didn't have a masjid.
They had enough Muslims, but they didn't have
a mosque to pray.
So at
church,
over their basement for Muslims, so they can
turn it into a mashem and they pray
there.
There's an initiative here in the community. I've
been talking to some, church leaders and also
the Jewish community.
So contributions can be made, so we raise
enough funds, so we can feed the poor
and the homeless in the winter in this
in this city.
So this is the concept of humanity. This
is the sense of humanity.
Just forget about everything. Forget about the races,
forget about the backgrounds, forget about anything.
What matters at the end of the day,
as I said before, it is not what
which God you worship
because this is something between you and Allah's
power. What matters is how humanly you deal
with me. This is what matters at the
end of the day.
A stronger believer is better than a weaker
believer, and there's goodness in both.
When people read this hadith, they think it
is not only about physical strength, how
much power and how energetic you are and
the muscles you have and how cold and
big you are. But this is not the
only thing that should be understood from Hadith.
The problem is that he's talking about strength
by all means in different forms and ways.
So, So, of course, he's talking about physical
strength.
He's talking about spiritual strength. He's talking about
financial
strength. He's talking about social
strength. He's talking also probably about political strength.
We spoke about this before, and hamdu li'l,
Muslims are the 2nd largest community in Canada.
This is the 2nd largest faith in Canada.
There are more Muslims in Canada than Jews
and Buddhists and Hindus put together.
But still, as I said, our contribution to
politics is not up to the expectations.
We need to care more about this. We
need to get more involved.
Last week, we were visited by Mark Stevens,
And today, I think we have 2,
candidates, Walter. And I think Jeff should be
here or maybe he's here somewhere. Yeah. He's
in the back. So please talk to them.
Go to the websites and see their programs,
what they are offering, and what they can
accomplish.
And please go and vote and participate.
We're living here. We're not living back home.
And I know I mentioned this before.
As a Muslim community, we are here to
stay. Canada is our home now. Canada is
not a hotel
for Muslims. We're not here for just a
day or a week or a month, and
they will be. We are here to stay.
We have families. Some of us are grandparents.
We have families and children here in this
country, so we are here to stay. We're
not going anywhere.
Okay. So please participate,
look at the photographs, and if you see
someone who represents you, someone who speaks for
you, someone who is able to accomplish what
they promised, and they are good for the
Muslim community and the Larder community,
the people who turn this city into a
better place to live,
then inshallah for them and show participation and
show care. That's all.