Omar Suleiman – Are Boycotts Islamic

			Ricardo
		

			has a bit of summary administrators in Sinhala manmohini hamdu, lillahi, rabbil, Alameen whatever go
on la ba and I mean without Kiba too much screen Allahumma salli wa salam Avada Abdi Cora suka
Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam on early he also he was salam to Steven kathira. So I actually
wanted to use tonight and shot lots at it to talk about a very particular subject that has been
brought up a few times, and particularly within the discussion of what our religion allows or
doesn't allow, or what our religion encourages, or doesn't encourage and that is the topic of
boycotting. Now obviously, when you say this word, depending in what part of the world you are in,
		

			this has different implications. Right, so if you're talking about boycotting as in the
normalization that has taken place between Israel and multiple Muslim countries, then obviously
that's something that we have an obligation those of us that have the ability to do so from afar, to
speak up against that. And we hope that the public pressure inshallah to Allah will actually serve
as a means of rolling back, what are essentially arms deals that have been validated in the name of
Ibrahim, Arnie SNAM, under the title of the Abraham Accords, and have led to the further erasure of
the Palestinian people.
		

			But if you talk about boycotting on a very personal level, what it means for us as Muslims,
especially with the laws that are becoming more and more restrictive, and in an increasing
surveillance states, threatening us even in our personal capacity in our personal freedom to boycott
products that go to serve, the harm that we see being perpetrated against our brothers and sisters
on a daily basis. So I wanted to talk about this from an Islamic perspective and situate it within
the seat of the Prophet slice I'm in and hopefully inshallah Tada, we can look at it with a renewed
personal lens. And the first thing that I'm going to say is that in our religion, we have a
		

			principle that an Oslo, Felicia and Eva, now when it comes to all things, anything is permissible,
unless there's evidence to deem it prohibited, with the exception of what acts of worship or acts of
worship needs to be proven to be rooted before you are allowed to act upon them. Whereas when it
comes to anything outside of the realm of worship, it is neutral, unless there's something that
makes it prohibited or praiseworthy. So when you look at any political strategy, or you look at any
action that we have before us, you're not going to be asking the question about whether or not it's
prohibited on the basis of trying to prove that the prophets lie, some did it, you're going to be
		

			looking at the implications of that action. And if there are obvious or ambiguous things that come
with it, that could that could potentially be in violation of the religion, or if there are elements
of it, that go to serve a noble and a lofty goal. Hence, if practice with the right intention could
actually be rewardable. So this certainly falls within that category of something that you don't
have to prove to be from the Sunnah. But you're going to analyze at the strategic level, and at the
level of its spirit, and its practice to see how we can make it both useful and faithful living in
Lehi town.
		

			The next thing that I'd say here, which is really important is that sometimes things are not to
emanate simply from the reading of a text, but there is the courage, the sincerity, the natural
sense of honor that Allah puts inside of you, that sense of dignity for your brothers and sisters,
that should cause you to naturally feel an aversion to certain things, or feel an affinity to
certain things on that basis. And so I want you to, for example, imagine if you were living in
Mecca, and you were a Muslim, and the prophets lie, some had made his way to Medina already, and you
were a secret Muslim in Mecca. Or you were a Muslim, who for whatever reason had protection. Would
		

			you still do business with Abu jihad? Would you still do business at that time with Abu Sufyan?
Would you still do business with the same people that were harming the Prophet? Salallahu Alaihe
Salam, if you had a choice, would you really treat an ibis and Abdulmutallab and Abu Lahab the same
exact way? If you are a Muslim that was living in Mecca and the prophets lie some had already
settled in Medina and you knew that you would be potentially enabling a type of harm or that even in
spirits, engaging in a friendly type of transaction with someone who is directly implicated in the
harming of the Muslim community? And I think that we all know that the answer is absolutely not that
		

			without an order coming from the Prophet sly, send them to the Muslims in Mecca that do not deal
with these people and do not deal with these people. We would know inside of us that something feels
wrong about this, that going to the marketplace and dealing with this
		

			The most aggressive enemies of the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wasallam as if it's neutral, something
feels off about this without having to hear a single Hadith from the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa
sallam, because that's an Islamic sensibility. Even if it's not a scriptural command, it's something
that Allah subhanaw taala puts inside of us. You know, the text that immediately came to my mind,
was actually an incidence in Medina, with none other than I'm Habiba little the Allahu Taala Anna,
the daughter of Abu Sufyan, the wife of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, when I was Sofia
and was still not a Muslim. So Abu Sufyan comes to Medina
		

			to ask the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa salam, to basically overlook the violation of sutra Devi of
the Treaty of Arabia to renew the terms after they had violated that truce violated those terms on
Habiba is the daughter of the enemy of the Prophet, slice Allah, and she's the wife of the Prophet
sallallahu alayhi wa sallam and for whatever reason, this is the text that came to my mind about
Sophia and went to the house of Habiba when he came to Medina, while the Allahu anha and the Prophet
Seisen was not home, when he walks into the home of the prophets lie someone on Habiba, she folds up
the mattress, they used to sleep on a mattress, right, that would be used as a couch of sorts during
		

			the day, and then they would sleep on it as a bed at night, it was the same, the same mattress that
was used by the prophets laying Salem, and his family. So what she does is when he walks in, after
all these years, she hasn't seen her father, but she knows what her father does to Islam. She knows
what her father does to the prophets lie. Some of the prophets lie, some did not give her any
orders. But what does she do? She takes that mattress and she folds it into into one piece where she
sits on it and she leaves the other side there.
		

			So that when he sits down,
		

			he won't sit down on that same mattress.
		

			And others have the answers to her, says his daughter. He says yeah, buena Yachty, out of liberty
behind the philosophy I need to be and who are you protecting that from me? Are you protecting me
from it? Like, what are you doing here?
		

			And she says, No, I don't find it be fitting for you to sit on the mattress of the Prophet's life.
		

			You're not fit for it. That wasn't scriptural. That was, I have a sense of dignity, that you are a
man who's causing great harm. To the prophets lie Selim, you're not worthy of his mcbomb and you're
not worthy of his mattress, you don't get to sit on the same place he sits, nor should you occupy,
or even come near his rank, while you're in this state of being an aggressor against the messenger
sallallahu alayhi wasallam. That's not scriptural. But it's something that we take a lot of lessons
from,
		

			that sometimes this stuff comes from the insight that I don't want to knowingly participate
		

			and put my hands in the hands of someone who's harming now we have the issue of what are taxpayer
dollars, which we'll get to inshallah to either later on anyway. But where it's where I have an easy
choice, there is a sense of dignity. I don't want to put my hand in the hand of an aggressor, I
don't want to put my hand in the head of an oppressor if I have a choice, even if it's $1. And it
doesn't seem to make that big of a difference. This is at a personal level, I don't want my dollar
to be the one that's being used to contribute in any way whatsoever to the harming of Islam, or the
Muslims or the innocent or whatever it may be in this regard. Right? So how do we build on this?
		

			At a personal level, number one, I want you to think about it from your own personal excuse before
Allah subhanaw taala and your own personal spirituality,
		

			and how you also nurture your kids. And I know we have a lot of families here.
		

			Your kids aren't going to like for example, if you cancelled Disney plus, and I apologize to the
kids in advance if your parents do that, because they heard it from me.
		

			But you know what? We're not going to eat at this restaurant. I don't know why your kids will be
drinking Starbucks anyway. Right? We're not doing Starbucks. We're not doing McDonald's. We're not
doing Disney plus these. This is what's being targeted. For example, this is not the official
position of the Valley Ranch Islamic center.
		

			Because you know how the laws are coming, you know, for example, right? But we nurture in our
families, a sense of dignity. And you know what I know it's inconvenient. I know you don't like it.
		

			I know that this means that you're not going to get to enjoy a certain privilege that you used to
before. But Baba, Mama, do you see what's happening? Are you aware of what's happening in the world?
Don't you want to have a connection? Don't you want to feel a sense of solidarity? There's a
personal level to this. And by the way, that's the type of stuff that builds character. That type of
stuff will benefit them later on and Charlotte's idol and they grew up in the same way that you take
		

			Take them out to be a part of righteous causes the same way you take them out to serve the poor,
that type of stuff builds character and builds Islamic character builds consciousness. So do it, do
it and explain why, and get their buy in as well and shouts out that this company just now is a
company that is openly showing its aggression towards our brothers and sisters, we see that
aggression we're disgusted by maybe it's not going to make a huge difference. But let's show our,
let's show our personal connection to this and show lots on. So nurture that type of character and
take it from that personal level. The second thing that I'll mention here
		

			is the very powerful statement that's been narrated by Andromeda and overall the Allahu anhu, where
he said talking on this Valhalla that we left off half of halal and by the way, there's actually a
more authentically way of this term model, the Allahu anhu, where he says Tanakh notice it shattered
hella, that we left off nine tenths of Helen 90% of Khaled Mahathir to rebel, out of fear of falling
into Tibet, usury that has that can be pondered upon for a very long time, by the way, just in terms
of ethical consumerism and spending and it's up Allah hostile towards them fearing Allah as much as
you can. But the greatest Ribba is the honor of your brothers and sisters. That's the greatest
		

			transgression. So a person says to himself, you know what?
		

			Matter the law 10 it out, I've become just as a as an excuse before Allah and at a personal level,
and to nurture that type of a mindset and a consciousness and to build character in my house. We
don't we have standards for how we spend our money for ethical consumerism, and him did a lot of
what I mean, by the way, this is not just for the Palestinians. This is not just for the Palestinian
cause I'm talking about in general, right? Accompany shows hostility towards any group of people you
got, you know, a racist, tyrannical, whatever it may be some sort of corporation and I know that
seems to be
		

			a broad spectrum. But someone that's particularly aggressive and you say, You know what, we're going
to take a stand and we're not going to be a part of this. So that's number one. On a personal level
number two, there is one narration which is very important here, which is the narration of
phenomenal the Allahu Taala and how that they're written, that have been discussing in the Muslim
world and it's a very pertinent one and I'll show you why. Or I'll tell you why. I think it exactly
applies to our situation today. So Mama was the man who the prophets I seldom
		

			tied in the masjid or captured in the masjid as he was hostile. He was trying to harm the prophets
lie some he was one of the staunchest enemies and opponents of the prophets license, he was the
chief of the tribunal Hanifa.
		

			And he was captured, but the prophets lie some didn't do him harm. He let him stay in the masjid for
three days and then he let him go. And as a result of the kindness of the messenger, salallahu anti
Muslim phenom actually became Muslim. He saw the kindness the the magnanimity of the benevolence of
the messenger slice on the way the prophesy some did not take revenge on him, the beauty of how the
Muslims interacted amongst themselves in the masjid, and he became Muslim.
		

			He also became the first one to go do her own law in this particular state, while the Muslims were
in Medina and not allowed to go to Mecca and to perform the pilgrimage. And so he goes to Mecca with
the permission of the prophets lie some to do it O'Meara
		

			and when he goes to Mecca and he announces his Islam, the Mexicans are terrified of him because of
his economic power
		

			because of his economic power, and he says the statement, he says, will lie Isla de comida Liana
Humberto him Putin had yet than a female Rasulullah sallallahu
		

			he said I swear by Allah that you will not receive a grain of wheat from your mama until the
messenger of allah sallallahu Sallam gives me permission to give you a grain of wheat. I'm placing
Mecca under boycotts. Yamama is where the wheat comes from. If you want wheat go back to the man
that you ran out of Mecca, to let wheat come back to you. And this caused great panic in Makkah.
Now, by the way, number one from a pure American perspective, from a ruling perspective, the
legality of it the prophets lie sometimes not objecting to that is a sign of its permissibility the
fact that the prophets isin did not admonish Sumana in and of itself or tell him that what he did
		

			was wrong, is a sign of a crock of him agreeing with the action Salallahu Salam or letting it pass.
That's number one. But you know what I was thinking about some really profound look at the
difference between how the people of Makkah boycotted the Prophet sai Simon, the Muslims and how the
Prophet size Sana boycotted Mecca
		

			What did Abuja had to do and what did the people what did quotation do to the Muslims? They took the
entire let's use let's use the terms of today's civilian population. Put them in a What's this this
camp right? Put them in shear might be thought of in the valley, right? In concentrate?
		

			ration camp style, and starved all of them did not let anything get to any of them until right. Many
of them encountered death due to the lack of resources. In fact, it's believed that Khadija will be
alone and her would pass away as a result of some of the effects of that boycott. So it's starving
the whole population, punishing everybody. What phenomenal was doing
		

			was he was sending a message to the invincible elites of Mecca,
		

			who cared more about their money and their trade than anything else,
		

			that you will not be able to bully without consequences. He is literally using his economic power,
when he has of economic power,
		

			to get them to act more honorably. In regards to the man SallAllahu, it was to them that they had
been oppressive, and to the community of the prophets lie, some they have been impressive. I
actually can't think of anything that is more poetic and in line with what it is to hold a
superpower. That is an apartheid regime that is shielded from accountability from the country that
we live in accountable, putting the power back in our hands collectively, what more powerful than
that, than to actually have meaningful consequence, when people come together around the world, and
actually send that type of a message, and actually are able to have meaningful consequence. And if
		

			you don't think it's meaningful, then why else? Would there be such panic and such mobilization at
the legal level to try to shut down your ability to do it? Why do you think there are laws on the
books of 38 states? Why do you think it terrifies the apartheid regime so much, because it does have
an effect. And what's so terrifying about it to them is that it is fully in the hands of the people,
meaning if you're able to raise the consciousness of enough people, and have a strategic enough
boycott of a set of companies, you can actually make a difference.
		

			You can actually suddenly have a viable political voice.
		

			And so if you take what what what thermometer, the Allah Tala and who was doing, and you bring it
back to us, in that regard, what we have,
		

			then Subhanallah, we have a means by which we can actually hold a regime accountable. And try to
bring back some semblance of justice with what Allah subhanaw taala has given to us.
		

			And you can read the news articles you can read about its effectiveness, you can read about its
impact, and that in and of itself, should be enough of a reason for us to actually step up. And for
us to actually think on a personal level on a family level on a community level, how we can do this
better. So the first question becomes, is it effective? Is it doable on the prophets, like some
says, membre, I'm in convaincre, whoever amongst you season evil for the euro euro will be ready,
that I'm changing with his hand if he can't do something with his with his tongue. And if he can't
do so than hate it in his heart, and that is the weakest of Eman. This is one way, one way in which
		

			you can do more than simply speak out. One way in which you can actually collectively have some sort
of an impact on the global scene when it comes to these things. Now, when it comes to familiy,
Sunday, he you know, a lot of times people talk about, well, where's the impact? I want to see the
impact. It's like, you've got to see the instantaneous connection, or the instantaneous output of
some sort of an action in order to judge whether or not is effective, someone might say, what's the
point of all the protests that are happening around the world? What's the point of all the protests
around the world? Well, look, we're not political scientists. Right. But to read about the impact of
		

			it, then protests are successful if they are sustained. And if they're part of the bigger strategy.
		

			Protests are successful, if they are sustained. And if they're part of a bigger strategy in and of
themselves. So be the assignee, who you hate something with your tongue, you have the ability to
speak up, you have the ability to put public pressure, and you better believe that the public
pressure is getting into the ears of different people, and it's putting pressure where it needs to
be put, then you have to ask yourself, are you going to be able to do this in the long run? Or do we
have protests fatigue, which is you show up in the beginning of this? Because Israel is counting on
people to sort of tune this out at some point to become desensitized to it? Is it going to be
		

			sustained and is it part of a broader strategy? Is it something that's being utilized as part of the
strategy not looked at as the strategy in and of itself? Now, when it comes to boycotts themselves,
boycotts serve effectively in two ways. Number one, they threaten revenue. Number two, they threaten
reputation. Boycotts actually serve as part of the approach
		

			To us, if you read about them at the political level,
		

			it brings a meaningful form of rejection
		

			that becomes embedded in the consciousness of a people and expressed in the public domain that can
also have impact in terms of revenue if it is done, right. So it has to be strategic. How do you
make boycotts strategic? Well, for one, here's how you make boycotts not strategic at all. You say
everything is owned by Israel anyway. So what's the point, you tell someone, you're not allowed to
eat this, you're not allowed to drink this, you're not allowed to use this and someone's like, I
don't even know where to get toilet paper from anymore. I don't know how to buy a bottle of water
anymore, right? This is too much. And it's just like, I can't do this. And so the way that they
		

			become strategic is that it becomes two or three companies two or three things that you boycott at a
time. And that's how you read the effectiveness of particularly South African anti apartheid
boycotts, and how they functioned. So one of the things was reputational. So the first work of
apartheid, as they said, was to attack the economy of South Africa was to actually show a global
		

			a global sense of people power in regards to the economic business of South Africa, but then to
actually target 234 companies with boycotts that were most complicit at the time. So we know that if
we were to look at all of the companies who CEOs have donated to Israel, in the wake of its this
latest barbaric assault, we'd get pretty exhausted. But to take three or four of the most complicit
companies, you send a message, you send a message,
		

			that this is not going to be acceptable behavior in the future. And it does impact the business of
the day the law Kitana. And that's something that we need to try to do. So it's not one of those
read everything, and do all of this. It's taking 234 companies at a time and being very strategic
about that, and following the guidance of those that do this are those that organize this most
effectively. The last thing I want to say here, your brothers and sisters, is in regards to our
taxpayer dollars. I've been asked this question, and I'm going to be very honest with you, I think
all of us should feel a great sense of
		

			not just disappointment, but disgust with the fact that our taxpayer dollars are being used to
commit the very violations that are causing us to lose sleep at night.
		

			Now, this is one of those things where truly, you know, like you have the fifth of it. The fifth of
it, the fifth of it, the Fetzer of it, if you will,
		

			is that
		

			when you are at the mercy of the authority,
		

			you are not responsible, or you are not accountable for how the authority carries out their
authority. So long as at the bare minimum, you express your opposition to it if that avenue was even
there, too, but you're not going to be held accountable for how
		

			the governing body or authority in your life carries out there business. You're accountable in
regards to your transaction to that authority and the way that authority does their business, that
that is something that they're accountable for right separate of you. So am I going to be
accountable for every single dollar that I pay of taxes and how it's used?
		

			We hope not. We pray that Allah subhanaw taala, forgive us, because we don't we don't have that
authority over that. And there are plenty of corrupt Muslim authorities in the past, right, Muslim
authorities that would use the money that was coming from beta to man to harm Muslims and to do you
know, evil things and corrupt things. And, you know, some of the most righteous people that ever
existed on the face of the earth had to raise their hands to Allah subhanaw taala. Yeah, Allah. I
don't know, I can't do anything about this.
		

			But what I would say is that exhausting every political avenue that we have, so that Bismillah
heeta, Allah, those taxpayer dollars are not used to harm our brothers and sisters, then that is our
son. And that's something that in Charlottetown, our consciousness, this goes back to sort of what's
awoken inside of you.
		

			And what do we do intelligently, collectively as a community, to make sure inshallah to Anna, that
we usher in a different way of thinking in this country, and you never know, you know, maybe people
in this country will get sick of their taxpayer dollars being used to fund in the billions, hundreds
of billions of foreign government while people can eat and drink over here, maybe at some point,
people will hopefully awaken to that reality and even if they're not in it for the righteousness of
the cause, or in opposition to the oppression of our brothers and sisters and Philistine, at least
at that level that would
		

			wasn't at the output level, to object to such a thing. And that's something that is added extra for
us if we can do so, at the end of the day, this is where it comes back to you. And so I do want each
and every single one of us as this sort of goes on, to ask yourself, what do I bring to the table?
What do I bring to the table? And so I'll just put some things out there, right? How do we, if I'm
in a particular space of influence in my fields? How do I mobilize people in that same space,
		

			to make it more equitable, and to find a way to insulate
		

			people who are able to raise their voices for Philistine and to actually, you know, have a financial
impact on the way things are carried out? We've heard stories in the last few weeks of companies,
right Muslims that work in companies and people of consciousness in companies where, you know, a few
weeks ago, there was a huge donation to the IDF. And then enough noise was raised within to where an
equal donation is made towards humanitarian aid in Gaza. Is it the same thing? No, but it is
something it is something that paves the way towards something. We have enough Muslims and important
spaces, and people have conscious and important spaces, to where all those people that are getting
		

			fired from their jobs, for no other reason, but expressing
		

			their concepts on this thing, or having their law firm offers rescinded? Is there a way for us to
galvanize to actually find those people jobs? Are you are you able to contribute in legal defense?
Are you able to contribute where you are in sha Allah Tada. So this is where it is every single
muscle looking in the mirror and asking themselves sincerely, what can I do? What's my role in all
of this? What am I uniquely equipped to do? And if all you have is your DUA, and all you have is
your participation in whatever community actions are called towards and all you have is that in my
house, you know, we're going to be very intentional about what we consume and what we don't consume
		

			and all I have is my neighbors and my little sphere hamdulillah to excuse before Allah subhanaw
taala that's your excuse for for Allah subhanaw taala So I pray that Allah subhanaw taala open our
hearts, open our eyes, open our thoughts, open our our intelligence, open our collective strategic
thinking to pathways that are pleasing to Him and that can uplift our brothers and sisters in
Philistine and I pray that Allah Subhana Allah allow us to be amongst those that are used to uplift
the cause of the oppressed everywhere and protect us from oppressing and destroy those who are
oppressing our brothers and sisters Allahu wa Salam wa sallam die kind of beat on Muhammad white
		

			early or SOFIA dreamless and I want to go outside the country.