2. Islamophobia

Santa Monica,

good evening to all of you.

I'll begin within a traditional Arabic phrase that is customary for Muslims to do when they speak. It's the purpose of it is to bless any speech that we do and produce good out of it. And that is a good example. So that was

it, he was

I was asked to speak to you folks,

for 30 minutes, which seems to me like a daunting task. But I will try and speak here and the topic that was given to me rather scary, it was called the sama phobia.

which you may not know what that is essentially, an irrational fear of Islam.

Muslims that are in this audience are probably more sensitive to that reality than non Muslims are, of how that fear has grown over the years, and how just the way we're perceived generally in society has changed. You may not realize how their perception perception has changed if you're non Muslim, but certainly as Muslims, we have seen a very strong or very rapid exponential progression in how Muslims are perceived, I happen to travel quite a bit. It's slowed down now to once a month. But I practically traveled every weekend, for the last six or seven years, I've had my share of airport adventures over the last six or seven years. And my share of strange looks like bored planes and

things like that. But I'd rather talk to you today about some very fundamental basic things, and present my thoughts in an organized fashion. So when we do get to the questions and answers, I hope to address some of my thoughts that that you may like to get further clarification on. And essentially, I'd like to break up our understanding of Islam into a few things. And the first distinction I'd like to make is Muslim behavior versus Islam. And that is essentially true of any ideology or any faith system that there's there has to be a distinction made between behaviors of people, and the actual teachings of religion itself, the ideals, the text, whatever, whatever you

may have, the sources you may have, they may be two very different things. And certainly, that's the case in the Muslim world, the ideals that are presented in the Koran, the ideals that are presented in the body of literature, but it's called Hadith, which essentially is a sacred explanation of the Quran, may very well be different from the practice, you might may find prevalent in the Muslim world. And that actually, for many aspects of the Sun happens to be the case today. At the same time, another distinction I'd like to make within the masses of Muslims, the Muslim population is a distinction between the fanatical among us, and the vast majority of Muslims. And that's true,

again, of any population of people, in any group of people, you will have a small minority minority of crazies, that's just a reality of how society functions, there's always going to be some outliers that don't represent the vast majority. And one of the things I'll try to present to you is that to justify and to propagate hate mongering against Muslims, what is used as justification is the televising and the politicizing of this fringe element within the Muslim community. And they're forced as the ambassadors or their representatives of what all Muslims think like, and what all Muslims are about. So that's, these are two things that I'd like to discuss with you in some detail.

Finally, I'd like to talk to you about a little bit about Islam itself. And the reason I can actually I'll start with that. And the reason I think it's important to start with that, at least the basic definition of Islam is some essentials about it, is because there's all this talk about what Islam represents, that you have probably already heard, I mean, it's kind of impossible that you haven't heard what Islam is about. And you're sitting in this room as college students or beyond, right? It's probably impossible, because it's pretty much the context of discourse. It's in the content on the radio, it's on TV, it's in the news, it's even in entertainment media. So you

heard something or another about what Islam is, what its essentials are. And probably already even if you hear the word Islam, there are a few key words that immediately pop up in your mind. And there are a few images that immediately trigger in your mind that you've already associated with Islam. And that's not your fault. But that's just it's essentially what you've been exposed to. But very rarely do we get an opportunity for a Muslim, or Muslims in general, to speak on behalf of their religion. Except, like I said before, the ones that are the the representations of a song that are publicized, are those that don't represent the majority that actually represent a crazy fringe

element, and they're televised, and therefore we all look kind of crazy, and because you know, they have beards and I have a beard. So it's very hard to make that distinction because, you know, a fifth of the world's population.

So, so, this is the first thing I'd like to talk about essential essentials of Islam, the essentials of Islam.

A little bit about this man, well, Hamlet solo, but we say the Arabic phrase when we say his name Mohammed, we add subtle but mighty. So it's an Arabic expression, may God's peace and blessings be upon him. That's what we send a prayer every time you say his name, and that's an obligation on all Muslims. And incidentally, we do this for all Prophets and Messengers that we believe in. So for instance, when I say, Adam, the Muslim audience here is obligated to say, what are they sit down with me, peace be upon him when I said, he said, which is the Arabic word for Jesus? What are we obligated to say? Peace be upon him. So we send prayers upon all prophets and messengers, when we

under their name, it's a sign of respect, and a sign of odd regard that we have for all of these noble prophets and messengers, representatives have God's message, essentially, just a little bit about this prophet, Muhammad, that you may have heard some pretty crazy things about.

But I want to share with you some very, very basic things. I won't give you a synopsis of his life, except to tell you that the revelation as Muslims believe began coming to him at the age of 40. And it stopped coming to him at the age of 63. So that's a total of how many years it's a total of 23 years that this message was being proliferated in Arab society in tribal, Arab society in the middle of the Gulf region is known today, the ancient term for it is the Hejaz region, region. So he starts propagating this message as a messenger of God at the age of 40. And he dies at the age of 63.

And, of course, he starts when somebody makes the claim to be a messenger of God, and makes the claim that an angel comes and gives him revelation, as all prophets did. By the way, all prophets claimed legitimacy of their message. by stating that they are not getting this is not something they're making up on their own. This is actually the inspiration revelation given to them by a higher power. And now it's hard for you and me to imagine some of our neighbors coming over and knocking our door and saying, Listen, an angel came to me last night, and shared this really important message that I'm obligated to share with you. It's kind of hard for us to swallow. The

first thought that would cross your mind would be What did you have for dinner last night? Right. So it's not, it's not rational to think that, you know, an angel came to you and such and such. But I want you to just picture that scenario, a man at the age of 40, well respected in this community, a good businessman, people associate honesty and ethics with him. He's fairly well known.

Isn't it also known as one of the more intelligent So historically, when disputes occurred within the Arabs, one of the people that they would resort to define to say, this guy, not only is intelligent, but he's also a neutral party. So we'll go to him whatever decision he says we'll go with. So they will resort their matters to him because they saw him as one of the intelligent of their community. This man is now all of a sudden out of nowhere, claiming to be a messenger publicly. And he's claiming that revelation comes to him from a higher authority. And not only that, that's that's hard enough to believe he's asking something board. He's asking people not only to

believe that that's true that once they believe, they have to understand that whatever he's saying, because it's not his own words, it's the words of God. It's the words of the highest authority, that they have to submit to those instructions without question, because questioning those words will be the same as questioning God Himself. That would be the idea of a messenger. That is exactly that a messenger is delivering a message. Now, as hard as it would be to believe, even harder, you would have to argue it would be to submit your life to someone like that, to just say, I'm going to eat what you want me to eat, I'm going to sleep when you put me to sleep. I'm going to look at what you

want me to look at. I will live my life the way you want me to live my life. And by the way, as soon as I believe you, it's only logical that the vast majority of the community including my own family, what are they going to think about me? What's the first impression if I accept this man's claim right now and say hell with you? That is a messenger? And I'm willing to change my life entirely for him. Obviously, what reaction will the family have? He's going crazy.

I mean, the other one, he was 14 was so normally yesterday What happened?

All of a sudden this crazy talk about angels and messengers and afterlife and you know, don't do evil and pray and be good to your neighbor and I understand to be good to your neighbor, heart and soul messenger but is a little too crazy. You know? And then now my own son, my daughter, my neighbor, that one became a symptom That's crazy. It's spreading. This cult is growing. This is insane. And so this concern began in the community this first article fact and the first few things that were said about Bahamas were exactly this. He's insane. He's insane or he has some ulterior motive, for which he is trying to capture the attention of the the Naxos muscle Fermin intellect

among us. He's trying to catch the you know the let's just say the easily

What's among us, and he's taking them under his wing, etc.

But you'll find something very interesting beyond, let's just keep the claim that he is a messenger aside. What else does he claim? What else is he talking about? Besides the fact that he's a messenger? So we'll refer to them. What else? Is he proliferating to people? What? What does he have to say? I mean, if he's asking people to change their life, what is he asking them to do anyway? Well, the first thing he comes in claims is that is that there is a God. But not only that, he is God. But he has a direct relationship with you. And that no one can come in between you and him. There can be no intermediary between you and him. You don't answer to anyone else who can answer for

on your behalf to him, you have to answer to him directly. You owe him a direct obligation. And the first phrases of the are not in terms of sequence. But if you open up the audio for them, the first phrases of the bride, I was actually just teaching this to my kids the other day, the first phrases of humbleness,

which means praise and gratitude, in its absolute form belong to God.

Interestingly, I want to mention here, on a side note, I don't know if everybody here got a chance to see this video. But it was released a couple of days ago by hiqnet. tv. And there was a fundraiser being held for homeless people, by a group of Muslim groups in Los Angeles, they were doing a fundraiser for

the homeless in the area. And there was huge protests outside, right. And they were saying all kinds of really hurtful things. But one of the things they said really struck me, they said is we worship God, not Allah. Somebody screamed that out really loud, we worship God, not love. And I was really struck by that. Because my assumption I don't know this for sure. But I'm, I'm guessing that that was a Christian, I'm guessing. I don't know that. But if it was a Christian, and I don't know that it was, but if it was a Christian, I'd like to ask a very simple question. Or I'd like you to ponder about something very basic. You know, the, the Christian faith is an ancient faith. It's not a new

religion. And it predates the advent of Mohammed, some of them, it predates it by six centuries. So it's six centuries older than the Prophet himself.

And Christianity came to the Arab world, centuries before Islam came to it.

So Christian Arabs, are some of the oldest Arab or oldest Christians in history. They're some of the oldest Christians in history. And the, of course, the original Bible, which we don't have much of anymore. But the original original Bible in Hebrew or Aramaic, as it's argued by different scholars, is the original. And of course, now we have it in European languages like Latin and German, and even in English, etc. But one of the earliest renditions of the Bible, pre Islamic renditions of the Bible, one of the earliest transit translations of the Bible is in Arabic, because one of the oldest, oldest oldest versions of the Bible, and guess what name for God is being used in the Arabic

Bible?

A lot.

The word ally is being used by Christians, centuries before Muslims are using it forgot, centuries before Muslims are using it. So when somebody screams out, it is God, not a lot, the word God comes from the German origin good. And it came into Christian tradition far later. So if you want to talk about a name that is original, the Christian or more original Christian teaching, and of course, the Hebrew term used, if you look at Hebrew sacred texts, Elohim evoking which is closer in origin to the Arabic word a lot, these are sister languages, right? Now, what is the word alarming the entity worthy of worship and obedience. That's what that means. That's what the word itself means. So you

know how far we are, and how, you know, when we don't know the simple things, you know, some really crazy fact it's a very famous word. So it's not hard to look up its origin, or its history. But yet, we can honor these kinds of things without even giving them a second thought. But that was a tangent, I want to come back to the subject itself.

All praise all gratitude belongs to God. In other words, you can have two kinds of idols and idolatry, setting up an idol setting up any kind of intermediary between yourself and God, worshipping, appreciating thinking, praising anyone other than God would be considered a form of blasphemy, according to this messenger. And he claims This is exactly what all messengers taught, have this direct connection with God, and he actually even claims that he's fulfilling the legacy of Abraham. That's what he claims as well. Or instead of me, peace be upon him, right.

So now, there are two kinds of models, he argues, that is argued, essentially, there are external items and their internal items, the external idols, maybe there's some deity in some theology, maybe, you know, be it. They had different kinds of idolatry in the time of the Arabs, and they had different gods for different things like the God of wealth and the God of Prosperity and the god energy children etc, etc, etc. and

Depending on who you put the doughnuts and coffee in front of and pray, you know different prayers get fulfilled etc. They have different you know theologies. Now those gods, those guys, those are external idols. But the Quran came and attacked internal idols as well, the idol of one's own ego.

So when something good comes to you, you claim that this is because in the

end the answer Yes, I have acquired all of this because of the knowledge that I possess is because of my degree that I got my job. It is because my incredible credentials, it is because my excellent professionalism that I got my promotion, etc, etc, you give credit first and foremost to yourself, you've set yourself up as an idol of appreciation and worship, you're completely self indulgent. And there the comparison need is between yourself and the pharaoh know, the pharaohs. Right? The the epitome of being self indulged, that's the comparison made. And so that's the, that's one call, not setting up an internal or an external idol between yourself and when praise and credit is to be

given. Whatever ability you and I have,

is actually not our own. It's a gift. And so when we're able to do something with that ability, the first credit should be given to the gift giver. And then we should, you know, this is not it's not evil to take pride in what you've done, after you've shown gratitude to the right source first.

So, you know, even I give silly examples just to get the point across sometimes, but you know, when people have babies, and you go over their house and see the new baby, we just had a baby sometime a baby, right? She's almost a month old. You can look at how cute right?

And you know what Muslims generally do? Just we don't even think about it, we just do it. Oh, so cute. And then when we add Mashallah.

Oh, whatever God wills, pleasing Glory to God.

In other words, that cuteness is that the mother sometimes acts like she had something to do with

Photoshop.

She had nothing to do with it.

This is one of the fundamental causes of Islam. And actually, that society even had a major problem with that I already told you, accepting him as a messenger is a major problem. But accepting the fact that all praise and gratitude should go to God and we should accept Him as our master, and accept his authority and appreciate him too, before appreciating anything else. And then nothing can be nothing can be between us in them. That was a serious problem for that society. And I need to tell you why. Because religion, before Islam in Arabia was being used, essentially, as an industry, as an industry as it is today, by the way, including some, some uses some Christianity, Judaism,

Hinduism, as an industry, it's a money making field for some people. And how was it being used that essentially that there was this Mecca, which you probably heard of the house built by Abraham, according to Muslim theology and interesting historical discussion about that, but I won't go into and they have all these idols around and these different idols were from different tribes of Arabia. So all these different tribes would make a sacred pilgrimage to come to Mecca, to pay homage homage to their own God, because the place to keep your Gods would be Mecca.

What are all these different tribes which were essentially warrior tribes, what they lived off of was beating each other up? It was a thing that none of them would mess with the mccanns none of them would mess with the people that lived in Montana what you wonder why not? Why would they have free passage the Quran even talks about it that he that he was slaves, they could go on a caravan in the winter or in the summer? Why Why would he say that? Because you know, most of the time to be safe for business trips you take your caravan because you don't have you know, one way flights back then when you take your caravan your candles and stuff you will fly either in the intense summer or the

freezing the most freezing winter. Why? Because if you go into tough climate, it's hard for bandits to kind of be in the road and wait on you and stuff. So they would have to go and do intense journeys, but the Arabs would pick and choose well this is the best season to go here and that's the best season to go there and they would have no fears why because if you mess with us you know your idol back there.

You know we're gonna do with it when we get back

you know, so nobody would mess with it. This call comes in says you don't need it.

You don't need an intermediary. You can have a direct relationship with God this entire system the seven ways people come in and of course when people come what comes with them? Money it's a tourism industry. I mean, after all, what is Orlando without this the world?

Think about that, right?

So who would want to come here in the desert, there's no attraction except this, this religious site if we lose this

The interest of all the Arabs, we have no special status left, and the money that is coming in year round is gone. So you see there's a direct, right? There's just this belief in a god directly is a direct thing. They make the connection between that and what they're up to. But the Quran goes even further. And what it does is something really powerful, and I dare use the word radical. And I this is the main point I want to share with you today, though there's tons of stuff on my mind is when I get these 30 minutes to at least hear something coherent with you.

So this call is made. And one aspect of this call, the Koran goes after this messenger, who is at this point being deemed crazy. He has a very few people are following him. And there's basically warnings going out, Don't listen to him and he's insane, etc, etc. People are ridiculing, ridiculing him industries, etc.

Part of the call that's given to him is to directly warn those that are the most powerful in that society, about what they're doing.

You know, the Arabs had certain some really messed up practices back in the day. For instance, they thought that having a son is a sign of manhood. And having a daughter is a blemish on your manhood. It's like a shame that you had a daughter. So a lot of Arabs, when they would have especially higher to higher ups in society, if they would have a daughter. I think the Muslims here know what they would do. What would they do?

They bury the baby girl alive. It was a practice by the elite of that society that existed at that time. Now that this band is being claimed to be insane, claimed to be, you know, just brushed aside. This passage is revealed to him and he recites it out loud in public.

You know, it's a shampoo, it's a passage about the Day of Judgment, when the sun is wrapped up, with a new duvet cover, and when the stars start falling apart, when wild animals are herded together, when the ocean boils over, when the earth is stretched, when when people start coming out of their graves, the graves are, you know, turned topsy turvy.

And all of a sudden, in the middle of this discussion about Judgment Day, and this really cataclysmic stuff that's going to happen was mentioned in the middle, what you don't know who that will be.

And on the day when the baby girl will be asked, What crime were you killed for? For what crime was she killed? In the middle of this discussion about Judgment Day?

There is this talk about the evil that is happening in that society and nobody dare question. Nobody dare question it before these verses, and starts directly challenging those, for example, another guilty practice was the orphan is has no backing.

It was the orphan as of that time was like, basically, the illegal immigrant has no right to do whatever you want with it. You don't have to pay him, what's he going to do?

You want to stay in this country to work, maybe I'll give you some water. You know, you can abuse the rights of those who don't have a certain status. And in tribal society, having parents having tried having some backing, family backing is your legal status. So in this tribal society, orphans, were just pushed around. orphans were like the worst kind of victim. The person comes and starts calling people out for pushing the orphans because it can lead to lower acuity, what kind of prayer does he make, you know, these religious, the economic elite, they have to show people that they're also very religious, because that's what gave them their legitimacy. And then they could do whatever

filthy practices they had. So the Quran talks about them praying to show off, and then they push the orphan around at the same time. What kind of prayer is this prayer supposed to soften your heart, and this is what you do with an orphan?

You know, under the uniform, your own happiness, my own, there's so cheap, they don't even give a little bit of charity. That's what their reality is. Why is it that you don't you find them, talking to people about religion, their religion and calling about their God, but you never hear them talk about the rights of the poor, and the rights of the needy, because they themselves are the oppressors. The point I'm trying to make is one of the first and most offensive calls made by Muhammad Sallallahu on insulin in his lifetime, that is recorded history is that he called for social justice.

And he didn't separate a belief in God. With a call for justice, he combined these two things. It was as though if you believe in God, there is no other way, but to do what God demands. And the God God is a just merciful God. And so we have to have a just merciful society here. What do you want what he has in the heavens should be here. That's what it's called once. And that's what, you know, shook the Arab world. And here's what I'm leaving you with my 30 minute swing, even though I told you I'll talk about my other stuff, but I won't. I'll leave you with this. How many years did I say the revelation came to him? And he made this call 23 years. And I've given you some sort of a

picture of what kind of society This was 23 years ago

within 23 years, with

In 23 years, the economics, the politics, the sociology, the way women were treated, the way inheritance was delivered, the way baby girls were treated, the way children are treated the relationship between husband and wife, the relationship between people of different races because there was extreme forms of racism in our society at the time, the way different races were treated. All of it was completely transformed. I mean, completely transformed. If you've ever seen a Muslim prayer, just to talk about racism for a moment, if you ever seen a Muslim prayer, a Muslim prayer is Muslim men standing in a row,

based on ethnicity, age, for the race, what's the what's the standard? there? Was there standing at this time?

Okay.

Okay.

I've done this enough. Okay.

So you go to any go to any average mosque in the area, for example, in Dallas, Dallas is less cosmopolitan, I come from New York City originally. And New York, when you go to a mosque or Masjid, you'll find like 50 nations represented in every role. It's extremely diverse. It's extremely diverse, right? Even prayer represents they go to Hajj, the pilgrimage, every year, you might see some clip footage of it here and there, you know, on CNN or whatever, right? People from all over the world, all walks of life, that are sharing the same thing, and that are considered equals, just in regards to faith. You know, these are, you know, in 23 years, this transformation takes place.

It's not that people carry his message and give it strength and establish it in society way after he's gone. That's what happens with many philosophies By the way, a philosophical ideas generated, it's, it's presented to society, society, chooses on it for a couple of years, maybe decades, maybe centuries, and eventually becomes a reality in our society. This is almost an unprecedented, historical incident, with a man presenting the ideals. The man presenting the claim himself, in his own lifetime, within two decades has established a society based on those claims, based on those principles. And the sensitivity to justice these people had, what we as Muslim children, what we

read about these, the first generation of Muslims is incredible.

I know I said this last thing, we should have quick story with you. I promise I'll stop after a bride who's not even here.

That's a challenge. Okay? The aura hasn't reached you yet. Okay. So I will show this really quick story with you. So one of the one of the closest companions of the Prophet, very high up, very highly regarded in the community ended up he was living in Medina, and he ended up in a dispute with a Jewish man. He was walking by, and he saw the Jewish man hold a shield, you know, sword and shield back in the day. He looks at he goes, that's my shield. I've been looking for that for months. And the Jewish man goes on the smasher. What are you talking about? So they get into it, and they go to the ruler was, of course, nothing. They were.

They go to him, and they say, you need to, you know, we need to go to this take this trial before you the ruler back in the day was also the judge. So they're at the supreme court at this point. And the Jewish man is standing there. And he's standing here, of course, Omer knows which one really, really well at this point.

He doesn't know the Jewish but he knows are you and they go way back, they fought in battle together, they live, you know, they've lived many years together. They've been by the side of the Prophet together, they're very close. And in in the Arab world, one of the ways to give people a nickname is to call them by their son's name, or father of so and so.

Okay, so for example, so instead of calling it he calls via a backhoe, saying, Yeah,

so what's the deal, father, a person. And that's the way that's a term of endearment. It's a term of endearment. So he, obviously because he knows that we use that term.

And he tells them a story, tell someone his perspective is the shield is mine, I lost it, this guy had it, it clearly it's mine. You know, I you know, he can make this case. Now he goes to the Jewish guy. And so what's your story? What's your story? And he stops and he goes, wait, you called me by LinkedIn?

Why did you say to him, Hey, what's your story?

You should call it by an attempt to

you're not just I don't want this case you will fluctuate

and walks away. They're sensitive to justice. They are, this is what we're taught as children, about how how sensitive you have to be the principles of justice, how sensitive you have to be, because that is the backbone of this religion. What gave it its strength in the very beginning? Was these two things could never be separated. You couldn't be a strong believer in God, and then not be just because you have to answer them. There's a day of justice coming. You know, one of the words for judgment in Arabic is you would be the first one. It would be the means when everybody gets exactly what they deserve. Exactly. Can you pretend you what they deserve? So Muslim is cognizant of that?

And becomes extremely worried about delivering justice to others. Don't do justice to this, this dark heart of the religion, it's at the heart of the religion. And this conversation, unfortunately, I'll be honest with you, isn't common, not among Muslims and not among novels. And it's a tragedy to the religion itself. I started by saying there's a distinction between Muslims and the religion, the text itself, the sources themselves, and our study of the texts. And our study of the text yields a very different picture than what you may be used to seeing. So I would encourage all of you to take some time out and read about the book, read about the Koran, on your own time on your own terms, on

your own terms, and make up your own mind. Instead of you know, when somebody already has a mark has a conclusion made, I will present the religion from a point of view of faith because I'm a firm believer in it. So I have what you call a faith buyers. But at the same time, somebody who hates Islam is going to talk about Islam, and he has a hate bias, biases bias, so you need to come to it. Leave us aside and read up on it yourself. Make up your own mind. Don't let anybody else make your mind up for you. And one of the one of the books I'd really like to recommend to all of you written by a wonderful professor of Youngstown University in Ohio, is select passages from the Quran. Select

passages from the easy reading. It's published, I believe, by the University of Michigan, I could be wrong about that. But it's an excellent book, an easy read, it's not preachy at all, it's just talking about the world from the literary point of view. So those who are interested in a book as a primary as a first time reader, that would be a phenomenal resource. I sincerely thank you for paying attention, even though food was here.

And I apologize for taking over my time after the food is being delivered and you're munching away then I'll I'll welcome any questions that I'm able to answer. Thank you so much.