Omar Suleiman – How Do I Stand Against Evil When ItS Mainstream

Omar Suleiman
AI: Summary ©
The speaker discusses the importance of affirming the reward of sticking to the truth during difficult times. They stress that people should embrace the challenge by knowing the reward and learning the reward. The speaker also discusses the impact of COVID-19 on people's faith inquiry and how it has changed people's views of Islam.
AI: Transcript ©
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So one of the questions,

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raised,

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is asking, so what do you do when

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evil is a mainstream,

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basically flavor of the day?

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It's everywhere. You see it everywhere. You try

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and combat it, but it's so prevalent that

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it's difficult,

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to actually try and stand up against it.

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You know,

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you have to think of the greater incentive.

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Allah says those who embrace the message early

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on, who

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struggled, who strove, who spent

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blood, sweat, and tears, and wealth,

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at a time when it was unpopular,

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are not like those who came afterwards.

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Everyone has their individual reward, but those who

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struggle

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when it is most inconvenient, those who uphold

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truth,

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when it is most inconvenient to uphold truth,

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are those who are rewarded the most. And

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so, as people,

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we have to embrace the challenge

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by

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affirming the reward.

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What's the reward of sticking to the truth?

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If you're the only person doing so.

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That means that just as you affirm the

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truth, even if you are alone, you will

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be rewarded in an exclusionary and special manner

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on the day of judgement.

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Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala will reward you accordingly.

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And so you have to think about the

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reward of it. Now here's the thing, many

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people

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prefer

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comfortable ignorance

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over uncomfortable clarity.

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Comfortable ignorance over uncomfortable clarity. I'd rather not

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know. It's like when someone asks me a

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question, Is this Haram Sheikh? And if I

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say it's Haram, just have to be like,

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do you want me to really answer that

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question?

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If I tell you it's Haram, are you

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actually going to abide by it? Or are

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you just going to go find another Sheikh

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and ask him, Until you get the answer

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that you're looking for.

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Right? So a lot of people will be

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like, I don't want to know what's actually

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impermissible or what's permissible because it it might

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be an inconvenience

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for me. I'd rather

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instead go with the mainstream.

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The majority of people want to go with

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the majority,

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but we as believers want to be from

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Al Khalil, from the few.

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When Umar radiAllahu ta'ala anhu was walking around

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the cabin, he heard a man making dua,

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Allahumma jalim minalqaleeb. Oh Allah, make me from

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the few. So what kind of dua is

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this?

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He said that, doesn't Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala

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say,

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Only a few of my servants are gonna

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be grateful.

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And he said, SubhanAllah. Everyone is

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more knowledgeable than Umar. Everybody gets it but

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me. Right? What a beautiful answer. So we

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take

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pride, not kibr. Pride

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in being amongst the few who are grateful,

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who are humble, who are

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pursuing the truth, and seeking to be sincere,

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and seeking to be fast, and we're humbled

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by that reality that Allah has made it

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clear to us even when

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there are many many ways

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of misguidance, and there's an incentive

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to follow

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erroneous ways of error around us. So

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embrace the challenge by knowing the reward. Embrace

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the challenge by knowing the reward. And know,

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by the way, that when you stick to

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the truth, despite the difficult storm,

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eventually you'll find other truth seekers that will

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join you in your cause. This is the

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sunnah of Allah

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It starts off really really really hard and

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eventually

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the mainstream is impacted by you.

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Because you refused to succumb

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to the mainstream.

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Eventually, people will search what is real. I'll

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share this mamhallah with covid. So we saw

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2 waves of people embracing Islam. Covid and

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Gaza.

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Covid and razzah.

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At Yaqeen Institute, we actually study

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inquiries of faith. We actually look online. We

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do data studies as to what are searching

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about religion, what people are searching about faith,

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what people are searching about Islam.

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We saw the inquiries completely change in 2020.

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It went from very Islamophobic

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questions, to people actually asking, Is Islam a

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solution to my seclusion? To my loneliness? To

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my emptiness?

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People stopped looking at Islam with suspicion. They

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started looking at it as a possible solution.

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Faith inquiry changed. Because at the end of

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the day, when I needed something real to

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to lean on,

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I wasn't finding it fulfilling

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in any other product.

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Islam offers me something that I can actually

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lean on, that I can find meaning on.

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It's not polemical. It's purposeful. It's something that

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I can actually find nourishment in. At the

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end of the day, when people face real

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challenges, they're going to look for real solutions.

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And they will find that Islam, the truth,

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despite all of its inconveniences offers clarity.

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And in that clarity there's conviction. And in

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that conviction,

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there's the comfort of knowing that you are

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upon the side which Allah

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will favor. May Allah make us a people

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who are not deluded, and make us a

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people who are sincerely upon truth.

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