Fighting Fitnah Trinidad 2014

Nouman Ali Khan

Date:

Channel: Nouman Ali Khan

File Size: 10.44MB

Episode Notes

Share Page

Transcript ©

AI generated text may display inaccurate or offensive information that doesn’t represent Muslim Central's views. Thus,no part of this transcript may be copied or referenced or transmitted in any way whatsoever.

00:00:01--> 00:00:03

Salam aleikum wa rahmatullah wa barakato.

00:00:04--> 00:00:20

As hamdu Lillahi Rabbil alameen wa Salatu was Salam O Allah Ashraf al anbiya evil mousseline ala alihi, wa sahbihi womanist under the sun that he lived within a lot of Medina Minh home, Amina Xena, mano y mano solly. Hot, whatever. So Bill Huck, whatever, so the subject, I mean, yeah, but I mean,

00:00:23--> 00:00:58

what I wanted to take this opportunity to talk to you about I know, Al Hamdulillah throughout the convention, we've heard some incredibly inspirational talks, and we have had, hopefully it's, you know, opportunities to reflect and inshallah to improve ourselves and our families and our communities as Muslims to really seriously rethink what we're living our lives for. In this last session that I have with you. What I want to talk to you about is something in light of a little anchor booth as it was said a reality check in light of circle anchor booth. And this is really from the beginning of silicon uncovered the 29th surah of the Quran.

00:00:59--> 00:01:45

Allah azza wa jal says Alif Lam Meem a hassy bandas and youth Roku and Hulu, Amanda tahnoon. Now listen carefully, please. And if not mean, have people assumed I see bananas and youth Roku. Have people assumed that they are going to be left alone, that they are going to be left abandoned left to their own devices and yakou Amana that they get to say that we have believed while home yeah, afternoon and they are not going to be put through severe tests. A lot asks the question that people really think that people are going to just be able to say that they believe and then they are not going to go through some very difficult tests, what are called fatahna Latina Min coverly him. We

00:01:45--> 00:02:03

have certainly tested those who came before them. Now these arts, the term in Arabic use is fitna fitna and so I'll talk a little bit about the word fitna. First, you know nowadays we use it only in a negative sense, right. So we use the word fitna, like you see someone walking into the machine, man, that guy is a fitna,

00:02:04--> 00:02:07

right. There's a lot of fitna in the bazaar,

00:02:08--> 00:02:24

right or whatever. Don't go to Aruba. There's too much fitna, etc, etc. So we use fitline a negative sense, but actually in the original Arabic sense, the word fitna refers to a difficult test. It refers to a difficult test.

00:02:25--> 00:02:32

And the other interesting meaning of fitna in Arabic is to to be attacked or to attack.

00:02:33--> 00:03:02

So, you know, is a fraternal comb is a fraternal como common if a group attacked another group. In other words, if the attack was very strong and the other group almost died, they almost were not able to withstand the brunt of the attack. That kind of an attack would be called a fitna. Interestingly enough also fitna is used in Arabic fatahna, is used in Arabic When you purify gold,

00:03:03--> 00:03:45

when you purify gold, now the process of purifying gold. If you're not familiar, you have to melt gold at extremely high temperatures. And when you melt that gold, the impurities melt away and froth and they rise to the top and they disappeared. And this is an extremely difficult process and the only through that process, you can tell the purity or the level of purity of that goal. So the amount of carats it's going to be depends on how pure that gold is. Which means how much fitna has it gone through. Actually, that is the original meaning of the word fitna. It is actually a way of testing the purity of gold, a way of testing the purity of gold. So now, having that meaning in our

00:03:45--> 00:03:54

background, when Allah says, Do people have people assumed that we're that they're going to be left alone, after saying that they've believed

00:03:55--> 00:04:35

and they are not going to be put through the test, like gold is put through the test, when it's melted. That's the illusion made in the eyes. It's alluding to this concept of gold being purified now, as opposed to purifying you know, you know, there's, you know, in a farm somewhere in a village somewhere, there's a woman sitting there, she's got a, you know, like a big tray of rice, and she's picking out the impurities from the rice. That's the kind of purification to, that's a cleansing to but it's, it's relatively easy. When people are washing their clothes, they're also purifying that's still relatively easy, but purifying gold, you can't just sit on a corner and go with a sponge and

00:04:35--> 00:04:59

clean gold. You can't do that because the impurities are weird. Where are the impurities, they're not on the surface, they're deep inside, and you cannot access the inside until you melt it under extreme temperatures. Now interestingly enough in this ayah, Allah talked about eemaan where's the man is that on the surface or on the inside, it's on the inside, which means the impurities that can attack the semen are also

00:05:00--> 00:05:44

Resting deep inside, which means if you want to purify something deep inside, you have to raise the temperature and you have to put, you have to be put through some extreme test so that those impurities can be removed. You follow what I'm saying so far? Right. This is the concept of fitna when it comes to our eemaan, our eemaan is being put to the test by difficulty and allies saying how could you have assumed that you will be given this incredible treasure of eemaan and not be put to difficult tests. Now these ions came in the later period of the muckin struggle of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasallam. This is around the time where Muslims were starting to get tortured,

00:05:45--> 00:06:27

hubbub, and it was actually forced to lie down on burning coal. And then they stood on top of his chest until his entire back peeled off and melted off. He was horribly bruised, horribly burned. And he came to the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam and says, How can this be? How can this happen to us? And we are the people of truth. What did we do to deserve this? Why would Allah let this happen to us and the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, you're rushing too much, you're getting too impatient. And then these ions came down, did people really think they're not going to be tested? So Pamela, like he was literally melted, like gold is melted. And Allah says, Did you think you're not

00:06:27--> 00:07:10

going to be tested? Now the reason I want to start with this ayah my probably my entire talk will revolve around this ayah is that fitna changes the fitna that the Sahaba faced was different. The fitna that you and I face is different. The tests and the trials of our faith. And by the way, they're not even the same all over the world. The fitna that the people in Philistine are facing is different. The fitna that people are facing in Iraq is different in Pakistan is different in Bangladesh is different in Trinidad is different in Tobago is different, even though shekel blastocyst tomago. Okay, is different. The fitna I face in Texas, in my family faces in Texas is

00:07:10--> 00:07:53

different than the fitness and family faces in California is something else. It's different. Based on our lives based on the challenges, you know that we live in our lives, all of us have a different set of fitness. But there is one common fitness that I want to talk to you about today, one common difficult test that almost the entire online is going through in light of this ayah that I want to talk to you about. And this is not based on some academic research. This is this talk is actually inspired by countless emails over the last 10 years on exactly the same subject by 1000s, and 1000s and 1000s of people. So I want to summarize these emails for you first, here's how it sounds.

00:07:54--> 00:07:55

Brother numana. Have a question.

00:07:56--> 00:08:35

If Iran is really for all human beings, why is it an Arabic, it's not my fault that I'm not an Arab, and that I don't have the opportunity to learn the Arabic language, or that I'm not a scholar. So if I can't understand it, if it was really meant for all human beings, it should have been in every language so that it could be perfect for each of us, we could directly relate to it in our own languages. Another question along with that, this piece, you know, how, what's the point of praying if I don't even understand what I'm reciting in Salah, at least the Sahaba, at least the Sahaba, when they heard the Quran being recited in prayer, they used to cry, but why did they use to cry

00:08:35--> 00:08:59

because they understood what's being recited and they were moved by that. But the vast majority of us Muslims today, whether we're living in Malaysia, or India, or Africa or Trinidad, the vast majority of us when Salafi is being made, and the Quran is being recited even in especially in taraweeh prayer, for example, do we get most of what's being said? No, we don't. We don't connect with what's being said, at the most some of us know something that

00:09:00--> 00:09:29

very few of us actually know the Arabic language. So then is it our fault that we're not able to pay attention? And so what's the point of praying if I can't even pay attention? What's the point? You know, and why is that my fault? And this line of question on and on and on and on and on. And you know what that fit now boils down to? overwhelmingly a huge population of Muslims all over the world, including here with this is no exception. Thank you so much. But this is no exception.

00:09:30--> 00:09:33

is actually we're distance from the Quran.

00:09:34--> 00:09:41

For I would argue, no fault of our own. Not necessarily a fault of our own. We have been distanced from the Quran,

00:09:42--> 00:09:59

colonizing nation or colonized colonized nations of the world, which majority of them are Muslim. The Muslim nations of the world were invaded. I alluded to this yesterday they were invaded by foreign curricula of education and in these curricula deliberately, the

00:10:00--> 00:10:24

Arabic language was removed from the education systems of most Muslim nations. As a matter of fact, even in the Arab world today, in the free Arab world today, I went to Qatar recently, within the last couple of years. And when I went there, I was shocked to find that the youth of Qatar are far better in English, the educated youth of Qatar, they are better in English that they are than they are in plus high Arabic.

00:10:25--> 00:11:04

Arabic is even deteriorating in the Muslim world. It's deteriorating drastically in the Muslim world, I was on a flight back from the college with a Saudi woman next to me. And we started talking, it was an older lady, she was going to see her son and her son in law. And you know, her daughter and her son in law. And she, we started talking, and she told me how, you know, in high schools across Saudi Arabia, they are at the knuckle and sort of the grammar Arabic grammar curriculum is being taken out, is too hard for students. So it's not even that we don't know enough Arabic, actually, even in the Arab world, there's a massive crisis of people not being able to

00:11:04--> 00:11:43

retain the first high Arabic language. As a matter of fact, those of you that have gone to the Arabic world, Arab world to study Arabic, you know this for a fact, you cannot speak clean Arabic on the street, you'll be laughed at, there are a handful of early amatola. with serious students, you go in their circles, and then you speak the refined form of Arabic, outside Arabic is dying. It's just it's just dying. So if they're not even able to hold on to it in the Arab world, what about us? What about us across the Atlantic? What are we supposed to do? What I want to share with you in these few minutes that I have, is a strategy, a plan. I don't want to just present a problem to you,

00:11:43--> 00:12:04

I think we have a really good time talking about problems. But we don't spend enough time talking about serious solutions. We have to not just think in the ideal sense. I don't just want to tell you what used to happen at the time of typography along with on who or what happened to eight centuries ago. That's awesome. But what do we do right now?

00:12:05--> 00:12:39

How do we can't just press a button and travel back in time, it's not gonna happen. We have to not complain about the reality we live in, we have to understand the reality we live in and make the most of the reality we live in. I'll give you an analogy to express what I'm talking about. There used to be a beautiful garden, huge trees, it was just gorgeous. And one day some people came and burnt, the whole thing down, is gone. It's just completely destroyed. And it's been 20 years that we've been talking about this burnt down garden.

00:12:41--> 00:12:43

If we just spent those 20 years doing what?

00:12:45--> 00:12:45

Doing what?

00:12:46--> 00:13:05

planting some seeds, putting some water, what would have happened in 20 years, we would have had the garden all over again, right? We would have had it all over again, what have we done, we have made it a habit to talk about the problems of the oma and we want the garden to reappear instantaneously.

00:13:06--> 00:13:37

It takes planning, it takes effort, it takes patience. And it takes little growth at a time. It takes small steps at a time to be able to revitalize what was once destroyed. We can't just cry about that garden that once was we have to replant. We have to rebuild. And really, if you by the way, if you take a tree from somewhere else, and you force it into the ground, is that tree going to survive?

00:13:38--> 00:13:40

No, why not? What's the What's missing?

00:13:41--> 00:14:24

The roots are not deep, and they're not artificial. And they're not genuine. They're not genuine. So just the smallest storm and what's going to happen. It'll tip over. We want Islam to become a reality in the world. But we don't just want it to become an artificial reality in the world. We want it to be a sustained reality in the world sustainability of all the institutions that we build all the efforts that we make. Now a conference like this one where so many of you have gathered. This is not sustainable. We can only do this once a year, maybe twice a year maybe. Right. This is not something you can do on a regular basis. But we have to understand that the real thing to build

00:14:24--> 00:14:36

in this generation in this day and age, the fitna that we face of this and I'm only talking about one particular fitna, how the oma overwhelmingly is disconnected from the Quran. That's one fitna I'm talking about, of the many fitness that we have.

00:14:37--> 00:14:47

If we want to if you want to address this problem, the most important thing, the most important thing is investing in people themselves.

00:14:48--> 00:15:00

investing in people. Some people argue if we had money, we'd be able to do XYZ. If we had government, we'd be able to do XYZ. If we had, you know, infrastructure, if we had control over the media, if we had

00:15:00--> 00:15:13

This or that or the other? Listen, there are Muslim nations who have a lot of resources. There are Muslim nations who have control over many media outlets, etc, etc. But there's something still missing. And what is missing is people.

00:15:14--> 00:15:42

What's really missing is people, we have to build people. Now, I'll tell you a realistic vision that I have in my head. I don't think it's like a fantasy. I think it's realistic. Honestly, I think it's realistic. If we take a strategic plan of revitalizing bronze education, Islamic education, and actually, at the heart of it all, personally, I believe Arabic education. I am a very strong believer in Arabic education for the entire oma.

00:15:43--> 00:15:53

Okay. And I think Arabic education, by the way, is the most important part of all of this, you know, why? What does Arabic do? It connects a population directly with their book.

00:15:55--> 00:16:01

Right, which has many advantages, I'll just talk to you about a couple of them that I'll talk to you about this, the 10 year strategy or the thought that I have?

00:16:02--> 00:16:03

Look,

00:16:04--> 00:16:08

if you go to a mechanic, and you don't know anything about cars,

00:16:09--> 00:16:11

can the mechanic take advantage of you?

00:16:12--> 00:16:26

Can you say, you go in for an oil change, and he says you need a new transmission, you need a new timing belt. I think you have to replace your engine, etc, etc. Can you do that? He could. And if you don't know anything about cars, you will be taken for a ride.

00:16:28--> 00:16:31

Human beings when they have cars, he has knowledge you don't have

00:16:33--> 00:16:51

when one group of people has knowledge that other people need and they hold it to themselves, then there's a tendency that one group will be able to take advantage of another group. Now if you are if you're not an expert in cars, but at least you have a basic education in cars,

00:16:53--> 00:17:06

you know what a timing belt is, you know, what a transmission is, you know, where the, you know, the the antifreeze fluid goes, etc, etc. And your mechanic says, you need a new engine, or you need a new timing belt, you can just take a quick look at it and say, Actually, I don't,

00:17:07--> 00:17:16

I don't you it's not easy to take advantage of you. Because you have yourself at least some direct access to authentic information you will be so far

00:17:17--> 00:17:24

in the religious realm. In the religious realm, this is not limited to Islam, but includes Islam.

00:17:25--> 00:17:59

People get taken advantage an advantage of Muslims get taken advantage of just like Christians and Jews and Hindus get taken advantage of when a small group of people have knowledge. And the vast majority of people are not even minimally educated. They're not even educated in the minimum. So I depend on this shape or this Imam to tell me everything and I need to know nothing. Is it possible that we have handed too much power to one human being? And is it possible that even though they have an Islamic education, okay, okay, I like sweating. It's the thing. Okay.

00:18:00--> 00:18:27

Is it possible that even though they have an Islamic education, that there may be an element of corruption? Is it possible? Absolutely. I can tell you honestly, just because somebody studies Islam, including myself, doesn't mean we're a good person. Those are two different things. So those are two different things. And unfortunately, we know, because we have such little education, what happens, somebody makes a crazy claim on behalf of Islam.

00:18:29--> 00:18:39

And we are actually intrigued, and we think maybe that is from Islam. Maybe that is right. What I heard in that speech must be correct, because that guy clearly knows more than I do.

00:18:40--> 00:18:44

Clearly, he knows more than I do. So I must trust what he's saying.

00:18:45--> 00:18:54

Now, even though we have this religion is a religion of trust, I trust you and you have to have some level of trust in me, if you're sitting here, obviously, it means you have some level of trust in me.

00:18:55--> 00:18:59

But at the same time, there needs to be transparency in Muslim society.

00:19:00--> 00:19:08

And that transparency can only happen if the average Muslim citizen is given at least a minimal education in their religion.

00:19:09--> 00:19:50

And they have a direct access with the book of Allah direct access to the book of Allah. So that when the Imam and the sheriff is offering it to see it of the ayah, they can see what he's saying directly. They're learning something, but they're validating what they're learning at the same time. And when they hear something that they read the it just doesn't add up. It just doesn't make sense. I don't see how he came to that conclusion. You have a right to disagree. Muslims have always had a right to disagree and ask questions. We are not capable anymore of asking intelligent questions to our scholars because we don't have a minimal education. So now right now it's telling me what to do.

00:19:50--> 00:19:59

You have all the answers. I have nothing I have zero. This is not the way of the Muslim ummah. We are an inspired people and educated people. We are the nation of Icarus.

00:20:00--> 00:20:36

We are the nation of reading. And when you become when you become educated, then you hold your leadership to account and they don't get away with anything. And that is how it's supposed to be. We're not insulting our Adama, no, no, no, no, no, this is not about saying Allah are worthless, or we have to question everything they say no, but we have to be able to have an honest, open conversation with our scholarly leadership. That's supposed to be able to happen. We're supposed to be able to engage in a healthy dialogue. If the Sahaba are not some are not beyond being question. If I'm wondering, the Allahu taala who is not being a beyond being question, if the greater the mob

00:20:36--> 00:20:57

this Deen like Abu hanifa Rahim Allah welcomes critical questions and disagreements from his students. Then why did that happen to our own mind? By the way, yesterday, I talked to you about Christian history. What was the policy of the Catholic Church? What was their policy? Don't ask questions. And if you do you get an answer. And if you disagree with that answer, you're a coffin.

00:20:58--> 00:21:27

You have no right to ask questions. You are not in a position to disagree. This kind of bullying. This kind of a mafia mentality is not Islam. You know, they say the secularists anti religion, people modernists. They say that religion is the opiate of the masses or a religion is a means of control over society. It blinds people's intellect, Islam came to free people's intellect.

00:21:28--> 00:21:55

It came to free people's intellect, it came to ask you for the one of the most common demands of the Quran is for you to think of Allah, Allah, Allah Kentucky noon. So you can think we have to be a thinking society, that cannot happen within Islam, within the discussions of Islam, if the oma overwhelmingly is not directly connected with the book of Allah, and with its essential sources, with some minimal education.

00:21:56--> 00:22:31

Now you can learn from lectures and things like that, like you can take notes of an ayah you're listening to a lecture, and you're taking notes about an ayah, or a hadith. But if you don't know Arabic, is that first hand information or second hand information tells me that second hand information you don't know for sure what it says, it's second hand, because you're taking it from the person who's teaching you and you're writing these notes down. This is what the Hadith must mean, this is what the ayah must mean. And I'm sure it means that but it's really important in this Omar that this might have what, firsthand information firsthand access, you know, our religion is

00:22:31--> 00:22:59

incredibly powerful. It is incredibly powerful. It is the first time that we remove power from the intermediaries. The Christians have the church, the Pope, you know, the the Hindus have the pundit, you have to go through him and he's holier than you. You have to go to him to be sanctified. But in Islam, you and I are equal. Even the guy standing up on a podium or Manasa Nicola manda Lama,

00:23:00--> 00:23:42

in any mineral muslimeen, who could be better than the one who calls to Allah and does good things and declares I am from among the Muslims, meaning I'm not standing above them. I'm not better than them. I am from among them, I am as much subject to scrutiny and questioning and criticism as everybody else. as everybody else. That is the Society of Islam. We don't have a clergy culture, we don't have a pope defined culture. Unfortunately, it has developed in the Muslim world. It has happened and it has happened as a result of a lack of standardizing the education of the foreign standardizing the education of the Sunnah of the seal of the messenger sallallahu alayhi wa sallam,

00:23:43--> 00:23:57

because people don't know even a minimal amount, they have to kind of resort to personalities, and just hate latch onto them. latch onto this is not the way that it's supposed to be. So now,

00:23:58--> 00:24:18

a bit about the strategy. Just very quickly, I think. By the way, let me see a show of hands. How many people here work full time? work full time? Okay. How many people how many ladies here are, you know, full time moms? or full time mothers? Okay. How many teenagers in the audience? I want to see. Teenagers, college students,

00:24:19--> 00:24:29

college students, okay. There's quite a diverse demographic in the audience. Now all these different groups of people, the elders in our community, sorry, I didn't ask about the young at heart.

00:24:30--> 00:24:35

How many people with with gray beards but still young at heart? Okay, very good. Okay.

00:24:38--> 00:24:43

So I have one gray here, I feel your pain. Okay. So

00:24:44--> 00:24:59

what I'm trying to say is every segment of our population can actually be a program of education can be created for every segment of our population, based on what can actually work for them. Not everybody can give up their life and go study some

00:25:01--> 00:25:40

If we can't do that, not everybody can learn full time. Not everybody can learn overnight. Not everybody can learn within a year, but everybody should be on a journey of learning. Everybody here should be on the journey to educate themselves. And because of the advent of the Internet, because of the advent of the explosion of information, we have to take advantage of this and create the best method, the best possible methods of teaching Arabic of teaching the Koran of teaching, this era of teaching is the best we can possibly do. We have to proliferate this now and offer people a chance to grow little by little by little by little. So within within the next decade, you find an entire

00:25:40--> 00:25:55

community of people that when they stand behind the Imam and salah and taraweeh, even though they're not profiles of the Quran, when the Imam makes a mistake, they know it because they know Arabic that well, they could just tell that's not an ayah. That can't be right.

00:25:56--> 00:26:02

And that can happen within 10 years. And that can happen with part time effort. It's not full time effort, it's part time effort.

00:26:03--> 00:26:43

That is something I'm hoping to accomplish through the organization. I'm a part of I'm not here to advertise, but you know, I'm really not. I just I believe that this like step by step kind of strategic approach for every community Alhamdulillah. You know, I've given three talks here. But I think the most important conversation I had in my trip here was behind the scenes with the organizers of this conference, where we talked about how can we spread Arabic education and Quran education in Trinidad in a sustainable way? And how can we turn within the next 234 years? How can we have young men and women that are enthusiastic, charismatic, and are actually great teachers of

00:26:43--> 00:27:19

the religion and of the Arabic language within this community? How do we build talent from within this community that educates this community, so they're not waiting for another import, that they produce their own, they produce their own and they produce their own in a way that respects the the leadership that is already here, the scholarship that's already here, but is also able to reach out to the youth and is able to reach out to other segments of the population, I think there should be an army of female teachers in this community, we should be an army of them. There's not a single Muslim woman in this community, this should not be part of some kind, of course, or some kind of

00:27:19--> 00:27:28

learning, we should be celebrating education. And I personally believe in women's education far more than I do with in men's education. Because we, you know, you know,

00:27:30--> 00:27:32

we don't even take notes and stuff, we it hurts our hand.

00:27:33--> 00:27:39

Right? Women are serious learners. And you know, these people, they're gonna teach our kids, we don't teach anything, you know it.

00:27:40--> 00:27:57

They teach our kids, we have to invest in women's education. But it will not happen from the men side, we have to create these people, we have to build them from the ground up, and it's possible, it can be done. The most important investment of our time is in our people. And in our youth.

00:27:58--> 00:28:35

It's the most important investment of our times. If you have young people in your community, that are already active, trying to learn their Deen trying to serve, they're good with children. They have a nice, easygoing, personality, other younger kids gravitate towards them, you have to identify those boys and girls, and you have to invest in them. And you have to offer them the best religious and the best worldly education possible. Because we need highly intelligent leaders for tomorrow. leaders that understand their religion, and leaders that understand the world around them. You know, that's what we need right now. And that will not come from somewhere else, it will come from

00:28:35--> 00:29:05

Trinidad, you will have to invest yourself, you'll have to build that yourself. I can only help maybe through my institution in one small piece. Maybe I can make the Arabic education a little easier. Maybe I can start their journey often for an education. But the picture is much bigger than that. The picture is alert, much, much bigger than that, given all the fitna that we have here. All the fitness, what did the Prophet salallahu alaihe salam say about the jail even if you see him? What should you do? If you're planting a seed? What do you do you keep planting it?

00:29:06--> 00:29:44

You just continue to plant it. Don't get overwhelmed by all the fitna around you we have to plant these seeds and buy seeds. I mean the people but the people, if the community learns to invest in their people, 20 years from now, they are not going to be making the same complaints they are making today and that they were making 20 years ago, something is going to change. And that's what I'm hoping we can do not just here all over the world. I want to I think we can get there. I think within a 10 year span even within a decade, we can reach a point where there's like the average Muslim teenager has a pretty good knowledge of pretty good understanding of the Quran and a very

00:29:44--> 00:30:00

clear understanding of their Deen and are very fluid in the Arabic language I think we can get there. I don't think it's unrealistic and especially not for a place like here. You guys have incredible talent. You have incredibly resourceful people. You are well networked. Everybody knows

00:30:00--> 00:30:34

as everybody else, it's a well tight knit community. Even if you have disagreements you're working to you're working towards, you know, commonalities. I met, you know, imams from several different massages over a brunch the other day. I mean, there's even the leaders are starting are seeing the importance of unity. And it's a great thing, the last year's convention, I was told where the group hug happened on the stage, these are signs of something good happening. So you have to ride that wave and you have to individually individually, I'm not just giving you this to feel good. Individually, you have to think how can I contribute towards this? What can I do to further this

00:30:34--> 00:31:09

effort? What are my talents? And how can they go towards building something that 10 years from now will become a service that people just come to depend on? It's just a part of our society that just didn't exist 10 years ago, you know, when I one of the things that humbles me, it's so beautiful, you know, I've been running my school, the full time Arabic program in Texas for four years now. It's our fifth year starting this year in Sharla. And I meet little kids when I go to like, California, or New York or somewhere, and some parents will come to me and this 12 year old kid will come to me and said, you know what my dad said, He promised that when I graduate high school, I can

00:31:09--> 00:31:10

come to your school.

00:31:11--> 00:31:14

And I just sit there and go, Whoa,

00:31:15--> 00:31:20

now people are making their children's life plans. And we are part of their plan.

00:31:21--> 00:31:57

Like we became part of somebody's family, you know, aspirations. What was it? What was this effort, it was just something small on a laptop, that's all it was. And now it's some family deciding that their children part of their education will be that they're going to go through the beta program or whatever else. This is what we have to do with our institutions. And we have to check the last comment I'll make is yes, we have Alhamdulillah. The community already has massagin. already has weekend schools already have Islamic schools already has a motherless Alinea program here. You have some great institutions already here. And this is not a criticism of any one of them. But myself and

00:31:57--> 00:32:03

everybody included, if we are not constantly re evaluating our work.

00:32:04--> 00:32:47

If we are not constantly saying to ourselves, are we providing the best possible service? We can? are we providing the best possible education we can? Are we doing the most efficient work that we can if we don't constantly seek to improve ourselves, if our schools and our massage, and our institutions are not constantly changing, that means that they are happy with the way things are? And I tell you, the world doesn't stay in one place. those institutions that are refusing change are going to be left behind whether they like it or not. And if you are, I'm sitting in the audience today and our members of those institutions, please don't take this offensively. Please take this as

00:32:47--> 00:33:08

a constructive criticism. It's even for myself, if we're not constantly thinking on how to attack the next frontier, how do we reach the people that we haven't been able to reach? Maybe it's not just them, maybe something is wrong with us. And by the way, that is the ultimate disease of Muslim institutions. You know what we do when people don't come to us? These people? What is wrong with them? They don't come to us.

00:33:10--> 00:33:47

They don't come to us. They don't come to learn from us. They don't come to our Hanukkah. They don't go, No, no, maybe if they're not coming, something is wrong, not with them. But with our approach. Maybe we haven't been relevant. Maybe we haven't thought about how we can make them interested. You know, our anger is that's the same thing. Once again, how come no trees are growing over here, we'll plant a seed buddy. Maybe the seed you planted is not the right time. Maybe you need another kind of seed, you have to reevaluate that is the culture that has to be developed across the communities of the Muslims all over the world, including here and that's the message I want to leave you guys with.

00:33:47--> 00:33:55

Yes, we are in a time of fitna Yes, there are challenges but what's the surprise in that Allah says What are you just gonna say you believe in no testable?

00:33:56--> 00:34:12

No testable testers are obviously the tests are going to come. But you have to rise to the occasion. So May Allah make us of those who rise to the occasion? I'll leave you with this beautiful idea from Silicon on Kabuto. Allah azza wa jal says when Medina Amanullah Emilio Sally had no

00:34:13--> 00:34:51

idea hain the remarkable lesson, those who believe in good do righteous deeds, we will certainly enter them into the company of the righteous, we will we will inject them we will, you know, embed them in the company of good people this some of them are say talks about Gender, Women, you'll be among good people and gender. Others say no. When you do good work in this world. Naturally. Other people that have good in their heart will come to you and say how can I help and you will actually build a community of people that are trying to do good things in the middle of fitna, the people of goodwill just converge, they'll just come together naturally. And that's what's going to happen.

00:34:51--> 00:34:59

That's real community when you are united by a vision, by a task, and other people see value in what you're trying to offer.

00:35:00--> 00:35:37

They jump on board and they say, let me help you with that. I want to be a part of this too. You know, and that's what you're going to have here in sha Allah. That's my hope. And that's my route for this community that a lot as always gives you vision gives you enthusiasm, and gives you the correct thinking and strategy to be able to provide solutions for the Muslim community, in education and social services in in just raising our bar raising the bar on every aspect. Everything that Muslims do should be the best that it can possibly be, and should possibly be and I hope you guys become a model of that baby. Lotta Allah. Thank you so very much for listening and paying attention.

00:35:37--> 00:35:45

I am extremely happy to have the opportunity to be here in sha Allah, we go bust a line one day. So I'm either gonna have to learn how to code