Nadim Ali – Self Peace
AI: Summary ©
The importance of Islam as a gift given to Muslims is discussed, as it is a gift given to those with a unique deity. The speaker emphasizes the need to practice Islam and obtain peace, while also reminding individuals to commit to their faith and commitment to their deity. The importance of teaching about Islam and fasting to increase sleep, and managing one's anger and reestablishing community is emphasized, as it is a gift given to those with a unique deity. The speaker also emphasizes the need to avoid violence and reestablish community, and to learn and share diversity to avoid racist and racism.
AI: Summary ©
In this particular
ayat,
Allah says in the Quran, he is Allah.
There is no god except him, the king,
the most holy,
all perfect,
the source of serenity, the watcher of all,
the almighty, the supreme, the might, the majestic,
the glorified
is Allah. And far above what they associate
with him in worship.
And when we look at
this this particular ayat, you know, Allah is
describing himself.
You know, I know in the programs I've
worked with,
in the field of addiction,
and one of the concepts of AA, it
says that God as you understand him. And
so they're having people
basically make their own concept of a higher
power or a deity.
But when you look in the Quran, Allah
describes himself. When we look at Ayat al
Khorshid,
when Allah describes himself in Ayat al Khorshid,
He describes himself
in this particular ayat. Again, he is the
king, the most holy, the all perfect, the
source of serenity, the watcher of all, the
almighty,
the supreme, the might, the majestic, glorified is
Allah,
far above what they associate with him in
worship.
Because you have people who worship trees, you
have people who worship animals, you even have
people who worship themselves.
So this is the thing that we have
to recognize as Muslims, that Allah has given
us a special gift. A special gift. He's
given us this deen that we talked about
in in the Eid kutbah. We talked about
when we have this perfected deen as the
prophet
was given the verse. He said, this day,
Allah says, this day
have I perfected your religion and bestowed upon
you Islam as your way of life. And
so we have to look at Islam as
a gift for the Muslims.
Many of us who were raised in the
church and many of us who didn't have
any type of concept of a religion,
You know, when we come to Islam, it
is it is from an invitation.
You can give dawah to people all day,
but if it's not in their heart, if
Allah has not invited them, then
they they may not come to Islam and
you might have somebody you might talk to
them just a few minutes. And they've been
marinating and trying to find some type of
spiritual path for many years. And you just
basically put the icing on the cake.
And you and you hear the words of
Islam and they come to Islam.
So
we don't make Muslims.
There's the law who makes Muslims.
But we have to be the best example
of Muslims that we can possibly be.
And that means, again, not only,
just practicing this way, you know, the rituals
of the deen, the dress,
the prayers, the fasting, all of these things,
they are very important in this deen. But
as I mentioned all the time that the
prophet
said, he only came to change character.
If we look at a thief of 1400
years ago, same as a thief today.
A liar 1400 years ago is the same
as a liar today.
He would be engaged in corruption 1300 years
ago, and he's the same as a person
who's engaged in corruption today. So we have
to be of those who recognize
that character is timeless.
People of the past who we we value
based on their character, they sought to change
the world.
Many people.
And so we have to understand that
when we are passed from this place the
phase of life,
what will people say about us?
Will they say we were honest people? Will
they say we kept our words? Will they
say we are those who basically put Islam
before everything?
Put Islam before everything. So we have to
look at how,
you know, we are as Muslims.
Aisha Redi Lahuanha reported that when the messenger
of Allah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam finished his
prayer,
he would not sit long enough to just
say, oh, Allah, you are peace and from
you is peace. Blessed are you, oh, Allah,
the majestic and noble.
And so we have to understand
that even the prophet, peace be upon him,
who was guaranteed gender, he was guaranteed paradise,
he still continued to petition Allah.
And so those of us who don't have
that same guarantee,
you know, what what keeps us from petitioning
Allah?
Allah who knows when every leaf falls,
when every soul who was born and who
will be born
then comes into existence.
He is the all known. He is when
we say Allahu Alam, he knows all.
These are some of the things that we
have to look at. And first of all,
you know, most of all, Allah asked us
to bring peace because Muslim is one who
submits to Allah and peace.
And we are supposed to be at peace.
You can be in the middle of a
war zone and be at peace.
Or you can be in a in a
tranquil forest, and if you're not at peace
inside, if you don't have the the essentials
of peace inside, you can have a great
deal of anxiety in a tranquil forest.
And so the road the goal is to
for us to attain that type of peace,
to attain the type of of of of
serenity, the sakim,
that only Allah can give.
The prophet
said there's a morsel of flesh, that when
it's bad, the whole body is bad. When
it's good, the whole body is bad, and
that morsel of flesh is the heart. That
morsel of flesh is the heart.
And he also says that everything rusts.
Even the heart can rust.
And he said the remembrance of Allah
has removed the rust from the heart.
And so these are some of the things
that that we have to just internalize, brothers
and sisters. We have to do this to
be at peace,
internal peace.
And it's also based on your submission to
Allah. We don't just want to be, again,
Muslims
by just,
by name. We want to be Muslims by
commitment.
And what what are we committing to? We're
committing to,
first of all, the worship of Allah.
We're committing to the fact that the prophet
Muhammad, peace be upon him, is the last
prophet. He's the seal of the prophets. There'll
be no more prophets. You have people calling
themselves prophet this and prophet that, and they
put an eye in the prophet. They just
want a profit.
They want a profit from people's vulnerabilities.
They want a profit from the weakness. They
want a profit from the the people's lack
of a spiritual understanding of a concept of
the tawheed, of the oneness of Allah.
These are some of the things that we
have to look at. These are some of
the things that we're battling against. As I
mentioned earlier this week,
many people don't even accept any religion. Many
people just call themselves spiritual. What are the
rules for spirituality?
But in Islam, we have a greater concept
of spirituality
because we have rules for how we are
to worship Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
We have to be of those to carry
this message,
not only to our families, but our neighbors,
but everywhere.
The message that Allah is 1.
The the message that Esa, alayhis salam, Jesus,
he taught that same message. He taught the
message that Allah is 1.
Moses, alaihis salaam, he taught that message that
the law is the one.
So we have to
stop
making Islam something
foreign and strange, but it's the same message
all of the prophets, peace be upon them
all, taught
that Allah is 1.
And I mentioned
before in the past how when I wasn't
yet a Muslim, I remember seeing a post
in Philadelphia,
and it was just a simple message.
It says that, you know, Adam named all
the prophets all the way to the prophet
Muhammad, peace be upon him. And he said
that
from the poster, like a concert purse concert
poster,
said all of these men
were prophets.
Why aren't you?
And that struck a chord in my heart.
And so we have to use the technology
that Allah has given us, the digital technology,
the social media, as opposed to just spending
our countless hours just just just wasting that
time that we're going to have to give
account for.
Let's use it to give the dawah.
Use it to spread the word of Islam.
When you're talking to people,
there'll be a Dawah moment.
Seek a Dawah moment. Don't cross a boundary
and impose it on them, but to look
for opportunities to to teach about Islam.
And then when people ask you,
you know, what gives you so much peace?
A dawah moment.
Say I pray at least 5 times a
day. I fast.
Not only Ramadan, but I fast, you know,
sometime, you know, a couple of days a
week.
You know, I I keep myself away from
from from from from people that basically that
that that mean ill towards me,
and I so associate with people that basically
bring me closer to the creator.
And not only just in behavior, brothers and
sisters, we have to eat right. We have
to eat right.
One of the quotes Imam Jamil was fond
of from the c ever coup. He talked
about how the Americans are digging their graves
with their teeth.
And so throughout the Muslim world, you have
high rates of hypertension,
high rates of diabetes, high rates of cancer.
We can control
these types of things just from
the things that we eat.
We have to basically
follow the dictators of law, says eat of
the things that are good and pure.
I mean, just because it's halal don't mean
that, you know, it's we we had to
eat a whole table full of food. Buffet.
Eat the whole buffet.
You know, just because it's halal, it doesn't
mean that it can't cause you certain illnesses.
As the prophet
said, you eat because we don't follow that
rule either.
1 third food, 1 third water, 1 third
air. That's how we should eat in moderation.
Don't be gluttonous.
So we and that helps to give us
peace. These are some of the things that
we have to work on, brothers and sisters.
You know, we have to also not only
just eat right, but we also want to
make sure that we're getting the proper amount
of sleep. Because if we don't get the
proper amount of sleep, then we're not the
best people that we can be. We're going
to be irritable. You know, we have to
work on again
all the time getting that internal peace.
As the prophet
said, verily, your own self has rights over
you. So fast and break your fast and
sleep. So he talks about the importance of
sleep. You know, we talk about the sooner
nap after Asr.
You know, so
these are some of the things that I
want to share with you, brothers and sisters,
not only,
the peace external,
because we should be of those to be
of the of the peacemakers
in this in this country, Not only in
this city, there's an epidemic of violence.
So we need to look at ways of
of
bringing peace to the warring factions. We've done
that in the past.
The Muslims helped to bring about
peace treaties with with the some of the
major gangs, the Crips, the Bloods, and all
of them. So we have to basically not
be like the proverbial ostrich and stick our
heads in the sand. We have to be
of those who are concerned
about our neighbors. Again, the prophet
said, your neighbor is 40 houses in any
direction.
People are dying.
And young people, you can make a decision
today. You can make a decision today
that can impact you the rest of your
life.
When I was a teenager, I didn't even
think I was gonna make it to 21.
And some of you in this floor may
be thinking the same thing. I didn't think
I was gonna make it to 21 based
on the the violence that was going on
in my city of Chester.
So we have to
basically mentor you again because we didn't have
us.
You have us OGs to talk about, you
know, how you can get over this hump,
get past these teenage years
Because
young people are dying
all all throughout the country.
And so we have to make healthier decisions.
You can go left, or you can go
right.
What is your 10 year plan? What is
your 1 year plan? What is your one
day plan?
So we have to be of those who
seek the advice from those who have have
have been where you are because you haven't
been where we were, where we are at
this time.
And so we have to be of the
peacemakers, brothers and sisters. We have to get
with the people who are trying to
to
to to make significant changes in the society.
Has thou seen him who maketh his desire
his God?
And Allah sendeth him astray purposely and sealed
up his hearing and his heart
and set it on his sight as a
covering, set on his sight as a covering,
then who will lead him after Allah has
condemned him? Will you not then heed?
Again, as the law says, those who take
their own desires
as their lord, something that feels good to
them,
that's that's what they worship. They put it
above the law.
You know, we have to manage our desires
and emotions. We have to manage our anger.
We have to manage our anger because, again,
anger is shayton's intoxicate.
It's shayton's intoxicate. It's just like when you
get angry, you get an adrenaline rush, and
when the anger subsides, you get an endorphin
release. So you
got, again, meth on one end, and you
got heroin on the other end. All created
by your brain.
So we have to basically
work on our anger. As the prophet sallallahu
alaihi wa sallam, when he was asked the
man asked him, advise me. What did he
say? Don't get angry. Advise me. Don't get
angry. He said again, advise me. He said,
don't get angry.
And again, if you get angry, you know,
again, sit down. If that doesn't work, lay
down.
You know, we have to recognize
what are what emotions are taking us away
from our worship of Allah.
And we can't allow ourselves to just be
self centered individuals.
As Muslims, you know, we are supposed to
be about community,
whether it's a physical community or whether it's
a spiritual community.
And so we have to work on reestablishing
the concept of community, brothers and sisters, not
just living together but also working together. These
are some of the things that we need
to be doing, you know, as Muslims.
And so because we are going to be
challenged
if you look around the world,
right wing philosophy is just overcoming Europe.
All parts of the world. Right wing philosophy.
And this is seeping here as well. And
as as Muslims and Islam, we stand as
a barrier against that that philosophy.
We stand as a barrier. And that's why
so much hatred was put towards the Muslims
over the past decade.
Because they understand that if the people come
to Islam,
then it takes that racism out of their
heart. Elhad Malik El Shabazz, Malcolm x, he
taught that, what, 50, 60 years ago. In
in that 4 1964, 65.
He said that he met European Americans or
Europeans
in On Hajj who didn't have that that
whiteness that he found in America, the the
the racism, basically.
There's a brother that wrote a book. It's
based on on the book that Elijah Muhammad
wrote, the message to the black man in
America, brother Sheikh Halim. He wrote a book,
Says the message to the white man in
America.
And he wrote it using that template, but
he's basically inviting white Americans to Islam.
White Americans to Islam. They're the majority in
this country,
and Islam is not a private club.
And so we have
to be welcoming to all the races.
Allah says that he has made us into
nations and tribes that we may get to
know one another, not that we despise one
another.
And so when people come to Islam, just
like when we came to Islam, we had
a lot of nationalism, black nationalism, worshiping black.
And then
the Islam basically taught us to be able
to recognize people who didn't look like us
as brothers and sisters.
This is the work that we have to
do. We have a complete program that people
go to college for PhDs
to learn diversity and all of that. Islam
gives it to us wrapped in a nice
package. And that package is the Quran.
But we have to read it. We have
to read it and heed it and understand
it and internalize it, brothers and sisters. These
are some of the things that that we
have to
be conscious of. The prophet
said, lurking towards
towards another is diseases of the nations before
you. Envy and hatred are razors.
I do not say they shave hair, but
rather they shave the religion.
By the one who in whose hand is
my soul, you will not enter paradise until
you have faith, and you you will not
have faith until you love each other. Shall
I tell you what can affirm that for
you?
And he said, spread peace between yourselves.
And there is no vessel which the son
of Adam can fill that is worse than
his stomach, for it is enough for him
to take a few bites in order to
straighten his back. Yet if he is unable
to do so, then he may fill it
with a third of food, a third of
drink, and a third for his breath. And
these are some of the things that we
have to look at taking care of ourselves
from a mental perspective,
physical perspective, and spiritual perspective.
And as as the law says, the prophet
said, Allah loves those who seek to purify
themselves. And if I've said anything
in which
it was inconsistent with the law has given
us and the prophet
has taught us, I take full responsibility for
that. If I've said anything in which you
had gained some insight, as always, all praise
is due to Allah.
Our lord, take us not to task if
we forget or fall into error. Our lord,
laid on lay not on us a burden
such as you did lay on those who
have gone before us. Our lord, laid not
on us a burden which we do not
have the power to bear and overlook our
thoughts and forgive us and have mercy on
us. You are our protector and grant us
the victory over those who disbelieve.