Navaid Aziz – One Ummah Conference 2012 The Big Picture

			And then hamdulillah Nakamoto who wants to know who won the
		

			winner of the villa Himanshu Rory and fusina woman sejati Amina Maria de la palma de La da da da da
da, wash ilaha illAllah hula hula sharika wash I don't know Mohammed Abdullah Rasulullah sallallahu
alayhi wa tada and he was suffering he was seldom at the Sleeman kathira ama bad, my dear brothers
and sisters as salaam alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh.
		

			I want you to imagine, as if you're watching a movie right now. And this is what's happening in the
movie. It's the night before AIDS. And it's a young family of four. And they're driving on the
highways of Calgary, let's just say it's Deerfoot trail,
		

			and a light rainfall starts to come down. And there's Nasheed playing on their tape deck. They're
listening to Bala Alba.
		

			And as they're driving on the road,
		

			what do you think happens next, I want you to imagine, just think to yourself, what happens next in
this movie
		

			60% of people think that this family will get into an accident. Another 10 to 15 people of 10 to 15%
of people will vision, a fatalistic incident. So for example, the movie will continue. And they're
all in the hospital and the doctors coming out breaking news to the family on the day of aid, sorry,
your family just passed away. And another individual actually said, You know what, they actually
made it to their family dinner for eight, but then a serial killer comes and kills them.
		

			And then you had like this third random guy who says, You know what, there was a shark that came and
ate them. So that's I mean, just look at this statistic over here. 60% said, the car accident and
another 10 to 15%. You're looking at about 75% of people that envision something negative happening,
something negative happening. Now looking at this final law, it's such a powerful reflection, that
what is actually going through our minds, and how do we actually respond not only to media, but to
real life as well. So for example, you have a parent that's going to walk into the room with their
children, and he watches them sleeping such a serene thing to have a smile on their face, they look
		

			so angelic, but then all of a sudden, this thought comes into their mind, what if something bad
happens to my child,
		

			or you have another individual, they've just been promoted. And they've been told you know what you
have to fly to headquarters and to get to receive your new promotion and to get your new salary and
sign your new contract. So they're envisioning this moment of happiness, this moment of getting a
promotion getting a higher salary, and they're envisioning themselves getting on the plane. But then
what do you envision next, that plane crashed? My dear brothers and sisters, this is a reflection on
vulnerability, and how vulnerable we actually are. Now, a lot of the times when we think about
vulnerability, one of the first words that becomes synonymous to it is weakness. We think that
		

			vulnerability and weakness are synonymous. But I'm here to show you and tell you that in reality,
they are not. While vulnerability at its core, is the beginning of shame. It is the beginning of
anxiety, it is the beginning of stress. It is also the birthplace of love. It is also the birthplace
of joy, the birthplace of creativity, the birthplace of faith. In summary, everything that brings us
pain in our life. It does so because it has the potential to make us so happy. And that is what
vulnerability is all about. And I want to share a reflection from the spirit of the prophets of
Allah Allah wa sallam related to this. Look at Ahmed Hassan the year of sorrow in the life of the
		

			Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. And that year, Khadija Giovanna passed away in that year, Abu
Talib passed away. In that year the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam was stoned and was exiled
from Fife. Now looking at all of these things, how did it become Ahmed Hassan, the way it became the
year of sorrow is because it was these very things that had the potential to make the Prophet
sallallahu alayhi wa sallam so happy. Do we know of any other woman that the Messenger of Allah
sallallahu alayhi wa sallam loved
		

			Khadija, do we know of any man inside of Islam or outside of Islam that protected the Messenger of
Allah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam against the Quran like Abu Talib? Do we know of any deed that made
the Messenger of Allah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam happier than a person accepting Islam. The reason
why it was Amman was in the year of sorrow is because there was so much potential for happiness in
that very year.
		

			So now leading into our discussion, we're talking about the bigger picture, the bigger picture. And
in understanding the bigger picture, I want to give you a heads up right now, my lecture is actually
a two part lecture. Part one is today, and part two is tomorrow. So the two are going to be tied
together in order to understand the lecture completely, you are compelled to attend both with Allahu
taala. So starting off, I want to talk a little bit about our history as Muslims in Canada. In order
to understand where we are going, we need to understand where we came from. The first Muslims
arrived in Canada, in 1871, in 1871, and it was in 1931, that the census in Canada first showed
		

			Muslims as an official religion, and it was 645 Muslims in all of Canada. What I what I think and
what I know for a fact what the sensor overlooked was all of the illegal you know, Somalis and
Pakistanis. And the guys that came by shipped out here,
		

			said, overlooked all those people. But in 1931, we had 645 Muslims in Canada. And then you move
forward to 1938 December 12. Such a significant day for Muslims in Canadian history. We built our
very first machine in this very province of Alberta, our Rashid mosque in Edmonton, was opened on
December 12 1938.
		

			Now, looking at this from 1938, to actually let's go back even further from 1871, when Muslims first
arrived in Canada, how far have we gone since then, you know, took them 60 odd years to build a
mosque. And then Subhana Allah, were almost, you know, 80 years later, and what are we still doing,
we're still building massagin Subhana Allah, even though you attend a lot of fudger, it's empty, you
know, smiling. The beautiful thing is that when you go for selecto Juma and you're a little bit
late, you end up standing in the back of the masjid. And you're like trying to squeeze your way
forward. But you come to slot on fudger for the machine. I mean, forget squeezing and swallow, you
		

			can have your own roll, have your own two ropes to yourself. That's how much room is left in our
massages. So this is a brief glimpse at as, as our history as Muslims in Canada more specifically,
in Alberta. Now talking about the bigger picture, I want to share some of the problems that we face
as a community. And what are going to be the results if we do not tackle these problems. And keeping
in mind while it may sound and being very pessimistic, it may sound like I'm being very
condescending. But keep in mind what I said that those things that bring the greatest amount of pain
in our lives, they do so because they have the potential to make us so happy. They do so because
		

			they have the potential to make us so happy. So I want to first start off talking about financial
institutions for Muslims. And what happens with the average Muslim, Muslim when he's saving. So for
example, when a Muslim starts saving, you'll see he's left with one of three options. He's left with
one of three options. Option number one, is that he goes to a bank, something like TDs, maybe Royal
Bank, Bank of Nova Scotia, and any other bank, you know, of out there. And he goes there he is a
practicing Muslim, she's a practicing Muslim. And she tells them that I want a bank account that
does not incur any interest in it, they try to abide by Islamic law. So the bank says Sure, we'll be
		

			happy to take your money and not give you anything back for it. And then they take your money. But
little Do you realize that the money that they are taking in from you, they are lending out to other
people, which is incurring interest on it, waging war against Allah Subhana Allah and His Messenger
sallallahu alayhi wa sallam.
		

			Option number two is that this person he goes to the same financial institution. And he's a bit
greedy, his Eman is a bit weak, or maybe he's just ignorant. So he opens up an account and it's
actually incurring interest. And he thinks, wow, you know, I put my money in there. I'm not working
and I'm getting a penny a month. I'm a big time or now. But in reality, again, what's happening to
this miskeen individual, Allah subhanho wa Taala is taking away all that Baraka from his wealth. He
is waging war against Allah Subhana Allah to Allah and His Messenger sallallahu alayhi wa sallam.
		

			Option number three. This person says, You know what? I think you know, all of these bands
		

			run by the Freemasons. I'm not going to put my money in there. I'm going to hide it under my
mattress where no one can find it. And no one knows where it is. This individual, he thinks he's
safe. But in reality, what ends up happening is that while he's saving his money under his bed, the
power of purchasing is actually decreasing. I mean, sometimes I'm in utter shock, you know, having
come from Montreal, I am truly amazed at how expensive things are here in Calgary. I mean, the
closer the more West you go, it seems they just get ridiculously expensive. I mean, buying a gallon
of milk, which is relatively cheaper, is that five bucks Do you want to buy cheese's $9 want to buy
		

			bread is $3 some kind of I remember days where you could do like your weekly grocery shopping and
like $20 nowadays and $20 you're barely looking at it, you know, milk, eggs and bread. That's it. So
your purchasing power is actually decreasing. Now this is the reality of the situation of a person
who's trying to save. And like I said, right now we're just focusing on the problems, we're going to
get to solutions later on.
		

			Let's talk about a person who actually is in debt right now. And this is the reality of the
situation again, the average student in Canada, by the time he graduates will have incurred a debt
of $30,000. And you know, let's just hope it's one of those legitimate debts that have no interest
on it. That's $30,000. Let's talk about the average person that wants to get married. The average
person that wants to get married, he is going to incur a debt of $50,000 and supine Allah, may Allah
have mercy on you if you're Lebanese or Pakistani, because that Mahara loan is going to be the
$50,000, let alone that massive volume that you're going to have the reality of the situation, let's
		

			move on to that individual that now has kids and can no longer live in an apartment, they want to
move into a house, you want to buy a house, are you carrying three $400,000 in your pockets that you
can purchase it in cash, less than 1% of people are? So what do you resolve to again, taking a loan,
and again, starting up your family with a loan of somewhere close to $300,000. And that is almost
the average debt of a family in North America. They are in debt. $300,000 Suppan Allah. So this is
just the financial aspect of it. Let's move on to another aspect of it. Another aspect is our
families, I want you to take a look at the person to your right, and the person to your left, just
		

			take a quick look at them, the person to your right, and the person to the left, you have now become
three people, you the person to your right, and the person to your left. From amongst these three
people. One of you has already been divorced, or will get divorced, potentially, because one third
of Muslim families are ending up in divorce.
		

			You guys are laughing at it.
		

			You know, at this point in my lecture, I was envisioning someone's picking up tomatoes and like
throwing at me, they're like, Why are you so negative, but I'm here to just share facts with you, I
want to share a reality with you. So that when we get to achieving problems and discussing
solutions, that within it, we carry the same energy, and we will be that change that the world
needs, we will be that positive force that could you know, knocks out that negative force with the
lights on.
		

			Let's talk about more about the family. The average family will spend more time socially interacting
on the internet than they will interacting with their own family members. So for example, the
average person, he will end up spending four hours of the day on the internet. And this is combined
with three main websites, Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook.
		

			And you know, there's actually a funny joke I'll share with you I just find this hilarious that you
know, they say sometime down the line, you know, Twitter and YouTube, they get bought out by
Facebook, and combined together they become you twit face.
		

			So again, that's the reality. So we're spending four hours a day in front of Facebook, YouTube and
Twitter, let alone checking our emails that alone other business that we're doing on the internet.
And do you know how much the average person spends with their family on a daily basis? Not even 35
minutes, we're looking at close to half an hour a day. That's how much time we're spending with our
families. So this will probably be you know, in the morning, you're having a quick break. When you
come home, they ask you how you're doing. And then at nighttime before you say goodnight to one
another, you're spending like another five or 10 minutes. So you end up spending an average of 35
		

			minutes.
		

			Let's discuss problems with the youth and
		

			panela you know, when talking about the youth, it's such a sensitive topic, because they are our
future. And when you attack our future, and makes it seem like we have no future, but again, let's
be real with one another. So again, we can talk about the solutions be the lights on.
		

			Check him out. He had a very interesting statistic yesterday, he said that if you were to take a
country like Sweden, and take the Muslim population out of Sweden as if they do not exist 95% of
Sweden's population would actually be atheist. Subhan Allah. Now you apply that something like
something like that to Canada, Canada generally is more religious, we have, you know, strong
Conservative Party, we have a strong advocacy for the church. And it's a bit less than that. But
something you notice amongst the Muslim community, is how close our youth are to the verge of
atheism. sapan Allah, you know, on average in I've only been here for about a month now. I'm getting
		

			about an email a week, you know, Salaam Alaikum. Dear brother navaid. I don't know if I believe in
Allah anymore. I don't know if Islam is the truth anymore. And Subhana Allah, Allah look at the
situation. It's not about, you know, hip hop gangsters that are emailing me. These are all brothers
and sisters who are coming to the masjid. These are all brothers and sisters who have memorized the
Quran in its entirety. These are own sisters who are wearing niqab. These are all brothers that are
wearing robes and have big beards, they no longer know if they believe in Allah subhanho wa Taala.
Or if Islam is the true religion anymore.
		

			Let's talk about homosexuality. This is a taboo subject in our community that no one ever wants to
address. Because we always think that it can happen to the other, but it can never happen to us. But
in reality, it's happening to our communities as well. Our youth are growing up thinking that
homosexuality is a valid option for their hereafter, let's not talk about their dunya because
they're juniors their decision. But in the Hereafter, it's the law of Allah subhanho wa Taala, that
it will reign supreme. So the average Muslim is now being exposed to homosexuality as something
normal, you can look at the average TV show, and you will find a homosexual couple in it. Think
		

			about any major TV show, talk about modern family, you have two gay men in it, talk about Grey's
Anatomy, you have two gay females in it, and the other TV show that you can find homosexuality is
being promoted as something normal. But again, when the Muslim youth who is distinct from his Dean,
who is not relating to his identity, this is brought to him he says, You know what I have had those
temptations, I have had those urges. And this statistic is growing in the Muslim community, that
we're not talking about having urges and not acting about them. But we're talking about Muslims who
actually identify themselves as homosexual, going to major cities like Toronto, this hitting
		

			something like 4%. So some final out of the 100 people in the room, you know, four of them might be
homosexual. And that, again, is the reality of the situation. Let's talk about their first sexual
experience. This is more of a statistic from the United States. But Canada is not too far behind.
		

			One out of three Muslim teenagers by the age of 17, have already had their first sexual experience.
And this is not because they got married young. No, it's because of the pressures of school is
because of the pressure of their friends is because of the pressures of the media that they're
exposed to. There was a statistic I was reading while I was in Montreal, and you know, Quebec,
because of its secular nature and in you know, its French inhabitants. It has a lack of morality,
compared to the rest of Canada, in Quebec, the average age of a person being exposed to something
sexual before the first time was seven years old.
		

			When I think about that, that's shocking for me, because I have a daughter that is four years old,
meaning that in three years, she could potentially be exposed to something that she should not be
exposed to. And that's such a scary thought to think about. So.
		

			Now let's talk about another danger, another potential harm for us. And that is the day of judgment
for us. That right now, we've been focusing on problems just amongst the Muslim communities. But let
us talk about standing in front of Allah subhanho wa Taala. On the day of judgment, on the day of
judgment, each and every person has to worry about their own deeds, they're going to be thinking
about and contemplating their good deeds. They're going to be worried and stressed out about their
bad deeds. So much. So some people will be drowning their sweat to their ankles, some to their
needs, some to their weight.
		

			And some completely drowning in sweat, because that is how afraid of the day of reckoning they
actually are.
		

			But something that we do not take into consideration is how people on the day of judgment will
testify against us. And that is the greater community as a whole. That thinking about the Muslim
community, what type of image? Are we reflecting for our non Muslim neighbors? What type of
presidents are we setting for them? That when they show up on the Day of Judgment, and Allah asks
them? How was the Muslim community of Calgary? Did they give you power? Did they invite you to
Islam? I want you to think about this. And this is a very real example, if you were to see someone
standing your non Muslim neighbor, and you see that there's a fire right behind them, and they're
		

			just walking away from you. Would you tell them hey, you know, Joe, Bob, or bill or john or Jill,
whatever their name is, would you tell them hey, watch out, there's a fire behind you. Clearly, we
would, because we have that humanity inside of us that we don't like to see other people get
punished. We don't like to see other people get persecuted, we don't like to see other people get
harmed.
		

			But I asked my dear brothers and sisters, that fire that they may step into, they have the ability
to jump out of it, they have the ability to save themselves from the fire and get into the pool. But
who will save them from the fire of the Ashura, who will bring them coolness and the Euro, if we do
not provide it for them in this dunya. And I believe we as a community, including myself, we are
failing our non Muslim neighbors in this community, it is no longer sufficient that we live in one
quadrant of Calgary, you know, namely the Southwest. And we just stay there and build all our shops
and build all our businesses there and worry only about the southwestern quadrant, there are a whole
		

			three other quadrants that need our support, that need our help that need our power, we need to show
them what Islam truly has to offer. And this is what the second part of my lecture is all about
tomorrow. All these problems that I mentioned right now, all these problems that I'm discussing,
tomorrow is purely about being the change that Allah wants us to be providing the solutions to all
the problems that we are facing. Now, all these problems that I mentioned, it's not just the Muslim
community that is facing them, but it is the non Muslim counterparts that have been troubled by them
as well. We have the solutions, we need to implement them ourselves first, and then provide them to
		

			our non Muslim counterparts, and then provide them to our non Muslim counterparts. I want to
conclude with one last thing. You know, one of the scariest moments that I read in the Sierra was
when Amara de Allahu anhu became Khalifa when he became halifa. One of the very, very first things
that he did was that he took Harley Davidson mobileread out of the position of General of the Muslim
army, called him the willies was no longer the general. And if you notice, you know, statistics
column, the leaders General has never lost a battle in his life as a Muslim. So why would have no
hottub pull him out? The reason why I
		

			pulled him out, was because people started to say that as long as late as our general as long as
college is on our side, we can to be defeated, we can never lose. So the Muslim stopped putting
their trust in Allah subhanho wa Taala. And he started putting their trust in Khalid Nolita de la
Han, sama Raja Allahu anhu. noticing this, he said, You know what? I'm going to put Paul Khalid
novoline out, and I'm going to replace him with someone. And you replaced him with a young 2120 year
old 22 year old boy, by the name of Al muthanna, yBnL Harris, and Nathaniel Harris, he goes into his
first battle. He has the pressure of living up to the likes of Allah who lead with that pressure
		

			with that lack of training with that lack of confidence. Do you know what happens? The Muslims lose
their first battle in something like five years, they get slaughtered, they get annihilated the
first time they're losing
		

			somebody bla bla bla No, he goes in speech to college. He goes, goes to speech.
		

			And he says yeah, I'm offender. Get your act together, man. What's happening? You know, we're not
accustomed to losing. We're always on the winning side, because we've always had a law. Get your act
together. Second Battle comes almost one of the hardest goes back into the battlefield. He's leading
the army and he's watching from the back to see what strategies to use. And again, and muthana
blowhard if he knows
		

			says that the Muslims, they're doing okay in one aspect, but this whole sector of the battlefield,
there's a group of Muslims that are just there chilling as if they're there in the desert getting a
suntan Salma phenomenal have he calls the scribe, he calls the messenger. And he says, Bring me a
letter, they bring him a piece of paper, he writes down one sentence. In this one sentence, he sends
it with a messenger and sends it to that group of Muslims that are just chilling, you know, just
relaxing, watching, as all of this is going down.
		

			The leader from amongst that group, he opens up the letter, and his jaw drops, they pick up their
sword, they pick up their shields, really run onto the battlefield. And then after the will of Allah
subhana wa Tada. They become the source of victory for the Muslims on the battlefield, they become
the source of victory for the Muslims on the battlefield. Do you know what that letter said?
		

			Find out tomorrow night with the lights on.
		

			That's what I want to conclude with. Tomorrow evening, we'll be talking about the solutions with the
lights Allah. But before I get off stage, I just want to leave you with something
		

			Nenhum de la, we have quite a few bazaars outside. And hamdulillah you're spending a lot of time
listening to lectures and walking through the bazaar, you know, someone was mentioning, it's as if
we're being neglected outside. So I want to give a special push to the bazaar outside that during
the break, please take the opportunity to go and see what each vendor is offering. You know, perhaps
they have some free pamphlets, maybe a CD or a book or something to offer them something may pique
your interest, maybe even buy a hijab or a book. So please do go and support our vendors and show
them that generosity and courtesy that the Muslims are known for. And just to incite you a little
		

			bit, I want to give you guys a free gift as well when the lights are on. I actually bought some CDs
with me. It's a CD that you know, I travel around with quite a bit. It's called who has no one has a
lot. And some of you may have seen that lecture on YouTube. But this is like a refined version of it
a better version of it with a lighter color. And not only do you get this lecture, but you get some
poetry from buena Muhammad and you get a very special surprise from Baba Ali the famous comedian as
well. So I have a couple of those CDs a very limited amount I've left them at the almost at a booth
you know absolutely free so whoever goes and gets them first will get them for free visit Knights
		

			Allah and I'll be standing there as well. So hope to see you guys there during the break. Joseph
Campbell now Karen was still a lot more cinematic and in the Vienna Muhammad wa ala alihi wa salatu
salam wa salaam aleikum wa rahmatullah