Nadim Ali – A New Normal
AI: Summary ©
The importance of acknowledging the mercy of Islam and the power of words to influence behavior is emphasized, along with the need to be mindful of one's actions to avoid causing harm. The importance of promoting Islam deity's message in its pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr pr
AI: Summary ©
Indeed.
All praise belongs to Allah, the most high.
We thank him and we seek his aid
and we seek his help and we seek
his forgiveness and we seek refuge with him
from the evil of ourselves and from our
bad actions.
Whoever Allah guides, then there's no one who
can mislead him and whoever Allah calls you
to go astray,
then there's no one to guide him.
I bear witness that there is no deity
except Allah who is unique and without partners,
and I bear witness that Mohammed is his
worshipper and messenger. May the peace and blessings
of Allah be upon him and his family
and his companions,
and those who follow them with good intentions
until the day of judgment.
All you who believe, fear Allah as he
should be feared, and don't die except as
Muslims. Again, all you who believe,
fear Allah as he should be feared, and
don't die
except as Muslims.
Oh, mankind, be careful of your duty to
Yorab who created you from a single soul
and from it created its mate, and from
the 2 of them, he spread forth many
men and women.
Be careful of your duty to Allah whom
you demand your mutual rights and be careful
of your duty to the wounds
that bore you. Indeed, Allah is over
you.
All you who believe fear Allah
and always speak the truth, he will cause
your deeds to be beneficial
and he will forgive for you your sins.
And whoever obeys Allah and his messenger, then
he has truly achieved a tremendous accomplishment.
Indeed, the best speech is the book of
Allah, and the best guidance is the guidance
of Muhammad and
the most evil of all affairs of newly
invented matters,
which has no precedence in Islam.
And indeed, all innovations are astray, and each
astray is in the hellfire.
Oh,
Allah. Save us from it, oh, Allah.
Accept our du'a.
And do not corrupt the earth
after its reformation,
and call upon him in fear and hope.
Indeed, the mercy of Allah
is near
to the doers of good.
The mercy of Allah
is near
to the doers of good.
And specifically during these times
of spiritual, societal,
and environmental changes, we have to
be conscious of that
verse that ayat from the Quran.
That the mercy of Allah
is near to the doers of good.
And we have to demonstrate this reliance on
Allah because we're living in transformative times, historically
transformative times, and it's essential that we continue
to rely on Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
It is not just about just
a total reliance in in such a way
that you don't do anything.
It's about
basically engaging in action and then but before
you engage in anything, just like before we
eat, before we travel, you know, before we
basically
do anything, we supposed to call on the
law.
And so
any actions
that are good actions that we are wanting
to engage in, we have to basically
recognize. First of all, as as as as
the Hadith says that if you come to
Allah as if if if walking, he'll come
to you as if running. You take one
step, he takes 10. So you get an
exponential
change on any action that you put in
exponentially.
And so it's about being active again
for we're living living in times that specifically
in this country and in this world.
We're living in times that are transformative.
And we can be a part of that
transformation,
create a new normal,
or we can be victimized
by the transformation
if we're not active
in in helping to facilitate a positive change
in the overall society
and the overall earth. And as it is
said, Allah says to struggle where you're at.
Struggle where you are at. So we struggle
over here. Our brothers in different countries struggle
over there.
The Muslims struggle everywhere
to bring about a righteousness on the planet.
And the law says that surely the believers
will win through.
Do you take the Quran as just some
literature?
Or do you see it as something that
is prescription
for the planet as a prescription for how
we are to live in this life and
how the life we will get in the
hereafter?
And oftentimes, those of us who follow the
sunnah
are criticized
by, other people saying you believing in this
unseen
creator.
They're very critical.
But they didn't create themselves.
And as Allah says, you don't know in
which land you will die in.
And so
what we have to look at
is that
we
accept the prescription that Allah has given us.
The prayer takes away the infections of the
heart, but we have to also engage in
positive actions.
We have to demonstrate
the total reliance,
you know, again by maintaining the belief in
our hearts and as it is said that,
you know, the the the the iman, it
it basically removes the rust from the heart
because of love. You know, the prophet said
everything will
rust. Everything will rust.
And so just like if you don't work
out,
if you don't basically engage in activity,
then your your bones will rust.
You know that those specifically those who are
runners, and bikers, or very active, if they,
for some reason, have to take off a
long period of time, you will see the
rust in their joints. You'll feel the rust
in your joints.
And so just like we can be physic
physically rusty, we can also be spiritually rusty,
if we're not engaging
in in constant worship.
And worship is not just coming to the
Masjid.
But we everything that we need to that
we do should be some aspect of worship.
The work that we do, how we deal
with people. I was listening to something the
other day, and it said how people who
speak to people because if you notice, one
of the things I noticed when I first
came to Atlanta I came to Atlanta in
1979.
And
one of the things I got used to
living in Philadelphia is that people didn't speak.
And
one of the things that I noticed
is that,
when I came here, people go saying this
thing called, hey.
Hey. And I said, what what are they
saying?
And then
found out, oh, they're speaking to you.
I called my mother and,
at that time, my fiancee. I said, I
ain't coming back.
That hate got me. And when I go
to Philly, I'm saying, hey.
You know? And so the thing is
that,
just speaking,
is is something that's is positive. And I
was listening to a researcher the other day,
a Gallup poll, and it said that people
who speak
have a better quality of life than those
who don't speak. They did they did research
on people who speak.
When you speak to people,
said that that when they measure the people
who have a tendency to speak to others,
they live longer and they have a better
quality of life.
And so,
I mean it's consistent with the Hadith
where the prophet salalahu alayhi wasalam said he
who gives the salaams first get the most
reward.
So it encourages the the the the the
walker should basically salaam the the the person
who is sitting. So it's consistent
with what the prophet, peace be upon him,
has given us and and what the law
gives us.
And so we have to hear it from
a researcher. We have to hear it from
a scientist. We have to hear it from
a textbook
before we believe what the law gave us
well over, you know, 1400 years ago.
And so we have to understand that this
Quran is a living book.
And so we have to basically
allow it to put life, real life into
our hearts. Real life, true life. Because again,
the true life begins when we leave this
life. This is just a a middle womb.
Just like when we were in our mother's
womb, that's all we knew.
Bouncing around in our mother's womb, that's all
we knew. That was our world. This is
just a bigger womb.
True life begins, and we have to believe
that because people will basically try to pull
you away from that belief that there's something
happening where there's no more time. Time dies.
Time dies.
Just
time dies. Just like we spend
8 to 9 months in our mother's womb,
we spend 80 to 90 years on this
planet at the most.
And so but we have to
say, okay. What nutrients are we putting into
our soul so that we can get the
best of the next life?
And that's praying. That's doing good deeds.
That's basically spreading this thing because people are
looking for something.
What's in our heart
is gonna be manifested
by our actions. What's in our hearts is
gonna be manifested by our actions. You have
to understand that.
And it's not about how you dress.
It's not about basically, you know, what you
look like for the most part. Although it
helps.
As, you know, it's said by the prophet,
peace be upon him, the best who are
when seen remind of Allah.
Remind of Allah.
It was interesting. Last week,
I was able
to, you know, as I'm going through just
the regular,
activities,
I was able to,
when people would see me, they I have
my long throwborn, and they say, are you
Muslim?
And within 1 hour, I I was asked
that twice.
And it was interesting, you know, because I
didn't say anything, but based on the dress
that
I I had, the attire that I had,
people ask about Islam. And and what I'm
saying to you brothers and sisters is that
people are looking for something.
If you talk to people who were formerly
of the, the Christian church or or or
some other faith,
they'll say, you know, I'm just spiritual.
You know, I'm not active.
And so
there's an opportunity
to basically
recognize
or or allow people to learn about this
way.
How much dawah are we giving?
Not just
in our
dress, but how much dawah are we giving,
you know, through our actions.
Again, the prophet,
you know, he he taught
the concept of tawheed and tawheed is the
the oneness of Allah. And all of the
prophets taught that message. All of the prophets
taught about Tawhid,
the oneness of Allah, that there is no
other deity.
All of them bought this message, but the
people
would step away from the message. He taught
that for many years.
Even during, the early days of Islam, the
people still were engaging in some of the
ignorance,
but they were able to
understand
and and and internalize the concept of Tawhid.
And then once they got it,
then it was easy to change the behaviors.
But what we tend to do is we
focus on the behaviors
as opposed to,
you know, teaching people about the faith, teaching
people that there's only one God and he
communicates through the Quran.
And so we have to basically spread that
message.
And then what will happen is,
you know, just like when the time came
when,
then when the when the the ayats was
was was sit down about stopping alcohol,
it wasn't a problem because they had a
almost a 13, 14 year detox.
And so all of the behaviors that we
see in this society, all of the ills
that we see in this society will disappear
once the people start to accept the true
worship of Allah.
And that's how we have to look at
it. Spread the message.
Spread the message.
There was a reading about the guy who
he got Dawah in a dope house.
He was shooting drugs in in
Europe. And the and the guy told him,
don't look at me. I'm, you know, I'm
a bad example of a Muslim.
And they sitting there shooting heroin together.
And when that guy left, you know, he
went and saw the mosque did, and
he got clean, and he was able to
tell that story later on.
You know, but the man told him, don't
look at me because I'm a bad example.
But this this this religion is perfect. So
we have to,
you know, look at, you know, that that
we need to promote the religion in in
its pristine form.
And and and not just
teach yourselves as the example,
but to be able to point to the
prophet
He's the best example,
and we have to recognize that. And we
just trying to basically be a microcosm
of who
he was and is.
Because
once the people start accepting this way, then
what will happen is all the ills that
we talk about, the homelessness, all of the
the the addictions, they will they will be
dissipated.
And these are some of the things that
we have to work on.
You know,
he taught this message to Tawhid,
and, you know, again, he was able to
share what his main concern was
once the Tawhid was was was was accepted.
Once the Tawhid was accepted,
what did he say?
I do not fear for you from SSHRC
or associating partners with the law after I
die,
But I fear that you will compete and
fight over worldly interests and thus be destroyed
like those who came before you. And this
is from the from Saeed Bukhari and Muslim.
So he was worried about, you know, people
because Muslims after the prophet's death,
Muslims attained great things.
Great things.
Had they conquered lands, they had great wealth.
They were the major superpower on the planet
at the time
that this country was formed.
Who was the first country to recognize the
the new United States? Morocco.
Morocco.
Because they were seen as a superpower.
The Muslim world but but again, it would
soon as decline spiritually even though they had
material wealth.
And so it's not about
how much
wealth that we have. We have to have
a wealth of deen.
We have to create a new normal.
We have to be, again, conscious of our
actions,
and we can give Dawah through our words.
But what are our actions saying? What are
our actions saying? You know, how much Dawah
are we giving through our actions?
And again, just, just mentioned about how, you
know, people would just they'll they'll watch you.
They'll observe you.
And they ask you, you know, possibly, are
you Muslim?
So are you saying or doing something
for people to ask that question? How many
times has that been asked of you?
You know, I've met brothers who weren't dressed,
in any way as, which which is identified
as a Muslim.
And,
and I would give them salons, and they
and they would say, well, how'd you know
I was Muslim? Because they were incognigro.
You know, how'd you know I was Muslim?
I said, I saw the noor on your
face.
I saw the noor. I was talking to
a brother the other day, and he said
how a brother who was homeless
gave him salaams.
And he didn't have a kufi or anything
on. He said, well, brother, how did you
know I was Muslim? He said, I saw
the prostration mark on your face.
I saw it on your head.
And so and he was able to get
a job just based on those salons. Brother
was homeless in the shelter, and he's able
to get a job. But
he gave salons first, and conversation ensued,
ended up with a job, and he's still
working for the brother.
So you never know what material wealth you
will attain
if you don't tap into your spiritual wealth.
We have to stop hiding this deen. We
have to be assertive in how we are
practicing
because people are looking for something different.
And whether the prophet
said that Islam began as something strange and
it will end as something strange and he
sent the salams to the strange because
this society, they they they they value uncovering,
we value covering. We
strange.
The prophet, salaw alayhi wasalam, send us salaams
to us.
Strange. If I said anything that's inconsistent with
what Allah has given us, I take responsibility
for that. And if I've said anything in
which you have attained some new insight, as
always, all praises belongs
to
Allah.
Abu Dhar reported
that the messenger of Allah
said,
Allah almighty says whoever comes with a good
deed will have the reward
of 10 like it and even more. Whoever
comes with an evil deed will we will
be recompensed
for one evil deed like it or he
will be forgiven.
Whoever draws close to me by the length
of a hand, I will draw close to
him by the length of an arm. Whoever
draws
close to me by the length of an
arm, I will draw close to him by
the length of a fathom. Whoever comes close,
whoever comes to me walking, I will comes
to him I will come to him as
if running.
Whoever meets me with enough sins to fill
the earth, not associating any partners with me,
I will meet him with as much forgiveness.
And again, it's Sahih Muslim Hadid, Salat Hadid.
And again,
as Muslims,
it's not
what you say, it's what you do.
As long as you don't
commit cert, there's a chance for success in
the hereafter.
Because if you come into the dean, for
those of you who are new in the
dean,
you know, you have to start working your
way
away from the ignorance
that you left.
You can't,
you know, you can't basically have 1 foot
in the in the deed and 1 foot
foot in the dunya.
You can't. It doesn't work. You know, it's
like oil and water. They they don't mix.
And so,
you know, you have to basically
start to get a good understanding
of who Allah is and study the Quran.
Get a class so that you can get
a good understanding of of what, Tawhid is
and what shirk is and and and again,
to try to avoid that at all cost.
Because as long as you have breath in
your body,
you have the opportunity to get forgiveness.
You have the opportunity to get forgiveness.
But we have to ask Allah for that.
We have to basically be of those who
are willing to create a new normal.
You know,
Allah has given us great responsibilities
for those of us who are here on
the planet.
You know, so we have to,
you know, we have to learn to to
accept that responsibility. Allah tells us, he said,
eat and drink from the provision of Allah
and do not commit abuse on the earth
spreading corruption.
In other words, we can't
add to the corruption. We shouldn't be a
part of the corruption. We should be,
you know, speaking out against the corruption, but
also
just giving people an alternative. We should be
the peacemakers.
We should be foremost in protecting the environment.
We should be foremost in helping the less
fortunate.
We should be foremost in the conservation.
Because the law says what he said, do
not waste for Allah does not like the
wasteful,
creating this new normal.
And it's not just about treating Islam as
just a ritualistic
religion. It is a way of life. It
is a comprehensive
way of life.
You know, our life is regulated
from the Adan
to the salams.
Our life is reg regulated
from the Adan
when a baby is born and the Adan
is called in the ear, to the salaam
to the right at our janazah.
So we have to recognize
that there is a lot of work
to be done between the Adhan and the
salaam. What are you doing? Visibullah? What are
you doing for a lost pleasure?
We each have to ask that on a
daily basis. Again, whether you're in business, you
know, whether you're doing, work in the society,
whether you're doing work in activism,
because again,
as we hit to
24
of the Christian era, when they get into
the political season, I always say
Muslims are gonna be on the menu.
And so Muslims need to be active. And
what happens is people
have recognized
the power of the Muslim vote.
Earlier this week, we met with the representative
of the congressman in this area.
And
they sought us out. They sought us out
because,
Malcolm mentioned this Elhad Shabalika Shabazzi mentioned this,
you know, well over 60 years ago,
that the margins between the different parties are
so thin
that
he as he mentioned about the black vote
at that time, he says you can determine
who goes to the White House, and you
could determine who goes into the dog house.
You know, he said that years ago and
so and that's the whole thing is that
you have groups who are can be blocked
voters that they're seeking seeking them out. And
so as we move closer to that, we're
gonna be having, different groups coming through,
talking to us about the importance
of of of voting. You know, I know
many people have a problem with that, but
those of you who can vote
and and want to vote, do it. And
and, and I'm respectful of a sister who
did time in prison. As soon as she
got out of prison, she has been very
active in trying to get,
felons,
the right to vote.
Because
again, there's, what they call it, there's no,
rep you know, no,
you know, the the vote should be your
voice. And so if you have a conviction,
you know, there's ways of of getting that,
you know, off the books. And so these
are some of the things that we'll be
talking about in future weeks. So we have
to
be in this society. Again, if we're going
to be here, we need to be here.
Be active because,
you know, we'll complain about some of the
laws that they put on the books about
people who vote, who people will get voted
in.
You know, they're making these laws. And so
as they say that there's no permanent friends
and no permanent enemies, only permanent interests. And
what are our interests?
And our interest is about
basically having a place where we can raise
our families and that we can engage in
trade and that that we can basically have
a peaceful peaceful environment.
And it is he who has made you
successors upon the earth and has raised some
of you above others in degrees of rank.
He may try you through what he has
given you. Indeed, your lord is swift in
penalty, but indeed he is forgiving and merciful.
You know, again, it's about
actualizing this deen and not just roast romanticizing
the deen. You know, again, we have to,
first of all, you know, follow the basics
of the deen and be attentive in salat,
making sure that that we are not getting
demerits by focusing on other things while we're
making prayer
on an external basis, but internally, we're thinking
about something else.
You know, we have to get out of
the the COVID mentality where we're not coming
to the Masjid.
We have to start to basically go back
to the Masjid because you get the blessings
of 25 to 27 times
than praying alone.
The women get the greater benefit if they
pray at home.
So we have to basically start making an
effort to come to the Masjid at least
once or twice a week. Again, as I
mentioned, not just our Masjid, but your nearest
Masjid if you're, you know, living away from
this area. But if you're in this area,
I get people all the time. They say,
oh, I was traveling. And I put in
Masjid and, you know,
they they they would come to the mosque
because they were going going to the airport,
traveling out of the country. And they found
us online and they would make an effort
to find a masthead. How much effort are
we putting in? In the early days when
we didn't have cars and we didn't have
a whole lot, I remember
having to catch the bus trying to get
over to the salon.
You know, now we can
you call Uber, Lyft,
and you can get to the mindset. We
will call Uber, Lyft for food.
But what about the food for your soul?
How hungry is your soul?
How hungry is your soul, brothers and sisters?
When
we are judged,
you know, what would be your excuse? Oh,
I was binging on something.
I couldn't go to the mountain's gym.
But the Lord give us all this technology,
what my grandson said, to the wife one
day.
Grandma, you know you can pause that,
but we can't pause our life.
And so the account the account is is
gonna be ongoing.
And so
what have we put into our account today?
What will we be putting our into our
account this evening, tomorrow? And so I'm just
encouraging you as, you know, warning myself as
well as y'all.
You have to make an effort, a stronger
effort to to be attentive in this Salat.
Ibn Numa already lahu Anhu reported that the
messenger of Allah, salallahu alayhi wasalam,
used to order the caller to say,
on a cold and rainy night, surely pray
in your homes.
And that's the only time that we allow
inclement weather.
You know, what about when the weather's good?
You know, so many of us are acting
like it's inclement weather all the time. Oh,
it's too hot, too cold. It's just right.
You know, we have to basically,
you know, stop. We the need to avoid
the exemptions.
You know, we have to be of those
who want, you know, to to be attentive
in our prayer
so therefore we can get the benefits of
the prayer.
We ask Allah to send peace and blessings
on our beloved prophet Muhammad, peace be upon
him, and his family and his companions, and
may he increase his honor and elevate his
station, grant him the highest place in paradise,
and bless him with your divine mercy. And,
oh, Allah, bless us with his intercession on
the day of judgment and forgive our sins.
The prophet also, he said that
whoever plants a tree and it matures, Allah
plants for him a tree in paradise.
And again,
it's the emphasis of of just preserving the
earth,
preserving the earth, and and doing things that
that that that can be beneficial
to the planet as well as beneficial to
us.
Our lord take us not to task if
we forget or fall into error.
Our lord laid out on us a burden
such as you did lay on those who
have gone before us. Our lord laid on
us a burden which you do not have
the power to bear and overlook our faults
and forgive us and have mercy on us.
You are our protector and grant us the
victory over the disbelieving people. He comes in
the car.