Omar Suleiman – Keynote Speech Renaissance Academy Lunch Banquet 2013

			kids aren't hearing their wheels
		

			are stolen.
		

			First and foremost, I don't know about you all, but it feels more like a graduation than it does a
fundraising.
		

			Our rocking, enjoy each and every single moment that I've been here. And one of the I really want to
say that I'm impressed. I'm extremely impressed by principles system a lot. I'm extremely impressed
by all of you.
		

			All of the performances that you guys put on, and you read a confidence, and that's what I love.
From the very first moment on sister hospital began to MC. And she said she was a student here, I
was impressed. Because usually, you know, there's a stigma that Islamic school kids are going to be
socially awkward, and you're not going to know how to speak in public and they don't have confidence
and they don't love their Deen. And they don't, you know, it's all just been forced on them and
they're being holed up into rooms and being forced to rock back and forth memorizing for them.
		

			We don't see that a company knock on wood. I mean, I want to begin with a little recitation of the
poll. And I know that we have had to recite it very beautifully. I must not love people who spoke
much more eloquently than I can speak and spoken word and poetry, but there's never enough of that.
And really as hard as sitting there and gathering my remarks and thinking of what I will say today,
I remembered these items are lost.
		

			In
		

			the last one
		

			answer to
		

			this BC,
		

			Nina,
		

			Tina raga.
		

			These ions are so beautiful and so profound because they call to contemplation and introspection
allows parents to have a sense in the creation of the heavens and the earth and and the alteration
of night and day. There are signs for people of reflection. People who think people who contemplate
people have pure thoughts, people that are not that whose brains whose minds are not constantly
attacked by useless things whose hearts are free from empty desires.
		

			And those people who remember the last time he was standing, sitting and laying down contemplating
upon the heavens in the earth and saying, oh, a lot of us exhaust create this for nothing. You did
not create all of this invent Suppan? And how perfect Are you talking about when we ask you
protection from any form of punishment. In essence, there's a sense of urgency that's placed on
people, introspection and people of reflection. As a lot, you know, we cannot ignore the incidents
that are taking place around the country right now. I just received the very unfortunate text
message actually, from a sister and another community, who was talking about how she was attacked in
		

			a store today for wearing crappy job and yelled up, and kirsta and decided if you're not going to
dress like an American go back home. And we're engaged in a battle of hearts and minds. Let's face
it, we are engaged in a serious Battle of hearts and minds right now. But the first hearts of minds
that we need to win our hearts and minds in our own community. And somehow I see these types of
schools and the brother mentioned that he didn't have the chance to go to an Islamic school. Not
only did I I went to public school to I've grown up, I'm born and raised in a public school. I have
seen what it's like to be in an environment where Islam is not appreciated, to say the least, where
		

			being a Muslim is not something to be proud of. Where being a Muslim as a reason to be ashamed.
Where you're limited is constantly attacked on an intellectual level, but more so on a cultural
level than anything else. That's how I've lived that I've seen it. And when we talk about this
battle of hearts and minds again, it starts with our own hearts and minds.
		

			The man who can play for people who want he said something very beautiful in that regard. He said
that if the hearts are pure than the minds will also be here.
		

			The hearts are here, the minds will also be here. And so it starts off with the purification of the
heart, we know that the prophet SAW long enough ingested the most part, the very there's a lump of
flesh in the body. If it is pure, if it is free of fault, then everything else will be okay. And if
there is something wrong with it, if it is defective, then everything else will also be defective.
And allow us to kind of emphasize this enormous amount of complications that was talking about.
		

			Oh, man, don't they think about before an Amana, Hulu
		

			for their hearts locked, blue.
		

			They have hearts that don't think because the heart is corrupt, the fog will also be corrupt, you
will not be able to produce true Muslims and true believers of clarity of thought if we don't talk
about their hearts. And that's why I Lost Planet. Allah says on the flip side of that, when I was
talking about a group of Muslims
		

			that made a faulty judgments and a faulty decision. And the last kind of driver says the opposite of
that when I can no longer have data enabled with email was any other movie. What cowboy hat
		

			was made, beloved to you email, a lot of a fake beloved team, I think beautified it in your hearts.
And he made you to hate corruption and rebelliousness and all forms of lewdness. And verily those
are the people that are running the guy that they make the right decisions. They make the right
calls on life. And what I'm seeing here today now about me is that this school is about building
character. And I really see much I'm so impressed. I can't I just can't stress that enough. So
Pamela hydrosol impress. I go to Islamic schools around the country all the time, I did not see
students like you ever shot like I want to right.
		

			Now the brothers and sisters, again, it goes back to the Battle of our own hearts and minds tunnel,
I don't want to go too long, because I know that we are way behind schedule. And I appreciate it the
appreciation that was shown to the principal as the old Arabic saying goes man, I'd have any help
from continental Africa, the delivery controller, whoever has taught me one letter than I am to that
person, his servants have a lot and they owe their principal a lot. But really what I want to talk
about I want to focus on this a lot. What we see that's happening many times with our youth and what
we see what's happening with youth around the country is that we're not producing thinkers in the
		

			Muslim community anymore. We're not producing people of strong character as a whole community now.
That's how I want our youth to have that strong connection to a loss of power to Allah and the
hearts are small. And they're concerned with real things. I mean, I just want you to understand, I
just want you to really recognize that Jesus witness. you witnessed a sister in Austin, Texas,
pouring your heart out over Syria.
		

			Think about what
		

			he says check out the amount of time assessing authenticating the Muslim man. Check out to
		

			the customer the economy. There is a man who complained to the prophet SAW a lot of money that his
heart was hard for.
		

			The Prophet slicin told him well, you need to accompany and orphans. This isn't about you reading
World War map. You don't need to listen to more lectures guess reading more and softens the heart.
Yes, listening to both buzz and lectures and sermons softens the heart. There's no doubt about it.
But you really want to soften your heart then accompany an orphan.
		

			In essence, acquaint yourself with real issues. acquaint yourself with true suffering with the true
causes. And when the heart is pure, the thought will also be curative. And I want you to think about
this when we sit in our gatherings many times. You don't have a lot of documents or humor. Hello,
one of my personal heroes, one of the people who really actually brought me to his lap. I grew up a
Muslim, and I spent time away from Islam. And this is what he was one of the peoples of how I
admired Malcolm X so much that this man who really who literally threw through Islam, went from
being a prisoner went from being a nobody a criminal to being one of the most influential men in
		

			this country. And he said that generations go through phases, and he described this he was I was
listening to one of his old sermons was an mp3 clip. Obviously, it's not the wasn't the videos
listening to one of his old lectures and one of the things he was saying, and he said that
generations go through transitions. First you have the people of action and speech. Then you have
the people of speech. Then you have the people
		

			With no action or no speech
		

			about myself, that is exactly in correlation with what I do all the time who started when I give up
the love of time mo became the leader of
		

			this nation. And he said, You are in need of a people have acknowledged a lot of people of action.
Not a lot of people have applied or people who just talk. Now think about this generation is
transitioning from this to this to that, in essence, you have people that are passionate about
causes, people that strive that go through hardships, that have to earn, you know, the hard way that
have to really, you know, make a name, they have to build their own race than have to build their
presence in countries and, and live as minorities live under oppression and break their way out of
that.
		

			And they are people of speech and people of action people who lay the foundations of greatness. As
it transitions on you have the kids of those people, they talk about that greatness, they talk about
real issues, then you have the kids of them, and they forget the day forget everything. They forget
what's important. In essence, they become complacent. And I want you guys to listen very closely in
particular, especially the youth in here. And the adults also something that might be alarming. You
know, when people are sitting in a room when you go to your gatherings and things of that sort. What
are the adults talking about?
		

			Possibly talking about politics, right?
		

			Sometimes cricket or soccer, too, there's no doubt about it. They talk about sports and stuff like
that, too. But talking about politics, talking about issues around the world talking about how to
solve these types of things that most of the time when you see their kids, what are their kids
talking about?
		

			All right, Justin Bieber and LeBron James. Period, meaningless things, sometimes absolutely
meaningless things. So I was I remember growing up and I was that sportsmen, avid sports fan. And we
never used to care about polystyrene and Palestine, yummy. And we would do these types of things.
And you would say these things. But at the same time, there wasn't a real carrier for social justice
and conduct and causes and things of that sort. It was just, you know, we were talking about sports,
and our parents would talk about what's going on all over the world, and about crisis ease and
things of that sort. That's a problem we used to mock the older generation. Then as I grew older, I
		

			started to realize, at least they were talking about something real, at least they were talking
about something meaningful. Right. And that's, that's the the dilemma that we have something that we
have in this country right now is that where we're at many, many points, we're not producing
thinkers, Abdullah, efforts like this help produce thinkers, people that are acquainted, well
acquainted with the struggle of Muslims and non Muslims, innocent people all over the world and
cause the social justice here and abroad, people that are acquainted people that have passion, that
have purpose, because I've got news for you, if you are more upset, and this is for adults, youth
		

			alike, if you are more upset at the injury of your favorite sports player, for the divorce of your
favorite celebrity, than you are of 300 people that have been massacred in Syria today, then you
have an issue and you're the man, you have an issue in faith. That's disconnect. We don't want that
in our society. We don't want that in our community, we want to produce this. We want people with
purpose people have fought, I don't just want these sisters to become extreme, extremely well, you
know, well acquainted, and, you know,
		

			you know, founders of msps. And for the most productive members of their MSA, I want these sisters
to go out and to done their job and to also be leading efforts of social justice in this country
and, and other student organizations also, to lead by example, and to show what Islam has done for
the power build their character, acquainted them with what is really going on, and made them people
of purpose and made them people have good closets. Because when the heart is purified, the mind will
also be clarifying. Now, that's the Battle of the hearts and minds within as far as the outside is
concerned. And this is really what we're struggling with the longest novel phobia and things of that
		

			sort.
		

			And you have to recognize the incident that I just mentioned, mentioned about the beginning, you
know, in another city, or these people like Pamela Geller and things of that sort that are
constantly shouting out Islamophobic terms and that are constantly trying to tie terrorism and
violence and these types of things to snuff to tarnish the faith. They are not appealing to people's
minds. They're appealing to people's hearts. This is a blind hatred that we have towards Islam Now
sometimes. Right? This is not an intellectual movement against this not the intellectual movement
against Islam as in the academic circles and things
		

			That sort of, but let's face it, I mean, Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity rush limbaugh, not a single one of
them has a college education. That's a fact. They might dominate 42% of public opinion, but they
don't even have a college education. They're not scholars of anthropology. They're not scholars of
history. They are not scholars of theology. They're idiots. But still, somehow, they dominate public
opinion. And somehow, this isn't an intellectual battle here.
		

			Are you young Muslims who are growing up in this lab cannot defend the faith against people like
that we have an issue. And I've seen people's remember when I first started off the New Orleans, and
how a lot as the amount someone came to the office. And you know, this was someone that I've seen,
you know, a family who comes from the residents, active investment, he was going to med school, he's
about to go to med school. And he said, I've decided to leave the snap, said, Why? He said, because,
you know, I read in this book, and he mentioned a book against the prophets, I saw them, I read in
this book that the Prophet did this, and other Prophet did that. And this is immoral. And this is
		

			not, you know, I can't accept this. And I said, Alright, well, what's that book, so he pulled out
the book, and he pulled up the references, I said, we're in the library, let's pull out the actual
books of Ceylon. And let's look at the context of all those incidents that you're mentioning. So we
pull out a book by book by book.
		

			And somehow it was me sitting there and his eyes are wide. And he realizes that he's been speaking
as a fool, so kind of a lot. But he's been lied to. But he's been brainwashed. Because he hasn't
given he hasn't been given a chance to learn his own faith, to learn why his own faith is so
special, to learn why his faith is not backwards. But rather This is a faith that gave birth to a
civilization that otherwise would not have been a civilization, and then turned around to become a
civilization that gave birth to most of the world civilizations, including the one we're in right
now.
		

			How can this face did not make anyone backwards. This is Faith has not made countries backwards.
This faith has does not make individuals backwards. This is a faith of progress. This is a faith
that develops real human beings, people that are dedicated not only to bettering themselves, but
bettering everything around them. And we have to win that battle with our own youth, we have to
protect their minds, we have to protect their minds. That doesn't mean we isolate them from every
intellectual challenge and challenge to stop No, but at least give them a chance to learn their
faith.
		

			So that whenever they hear these challenges, they can realize how flawed the arguments against the
snap mind. How flawed is a snap. sama phobic attacks are they can respond confidently and say you
don't know what you're talking about. And this is what it really says, This is what the poor and
really says. Because let's face it, you're not always going to be able to text message and email
along Turkey's very accessible, right, you're not always going to grab someone who knows what he's
talking about. And that is a sign of weakness. This is not a battle of hearts and minds. This is not
an intellectual argument against the stuff. It is. It is vicious, it is Savage, and it can be
		

			defeated with two things. Number one was building confident youth who knows that faith well. And
let's look up how a lot you know, most of the speakers that you find today, has gone through very
difficult phases of their lives, because they did not have institutions like this, including myself,
have gone through phases of doubts and questioning and things of that sort and had to find it the
hard way. We don't want that for you. And the other one is the Battle of hearts, the battle for
hearts. And that's how sometimes we have to recognize that that comes through building these
extraordinary characters. That's how they'll win them over. Because that's how the complex of a lot
		

			more than once so many of his enemies over. There's a story that I mentioned that I always remember
in the seal, and it's so relevant to this to this entire cause. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa
sallam one day during a lot and there is a man by the name of Ilana. And colada was upset because he
heard that it's not was coming to change the culture around Islam was fighting against his value
system. In essence, he fell victim to the Islamophobia this time. And they're coming to change our
ways, and they're coming to take it over and they're coming to implement the Sharia law, and then
come in and do this. They're coming to do that. So he decided to kill the messenger. There's a lot
		

			of it.
		

			So he put a dagger under his garden. He went to the Canada. He saw the province lies when they can
fall off. He may pull off behind the profits all along. It was
		

			after the first round the prophets I saw them turned around completely looked that up. And he said,
Yeah, full blown and he smiled and he said, Yeah, a lot of people have to have different upset What
are you talking to yourself?
		

			You're mumbling
		

			What are you talking to yourself about? So the honest little mama
		

			said O Messenger of Allah, I'm just making more often and recovering a lot
		

			from that, okay, fine, kept walking around second round with a lot of camera, but profits lifestyle,
turned around completely again and looked at and said, Well,
		

			what are you talking to yourself about? The other soul, blah, blah, I'm just a messenger of Allah
making the long run remembering a lot. Third time prophets lie. Selim stops him again, complex on
turns around, he looks at and he says,
		

			What are you talking to yourself about? So the honestly, a lot of a lot of I'm making the laugh, and
I'm remembering the love.
		

			And he said the problem so a lot of someone walked up to me. And he put his hand on my chest. And he
started to make draft for me rubbing his hand and the front, alternating between the front and the
back of this call, so
		

			and he said that before he did that, there was no face no name, no mention that was more hated to me
in the world than the name of Mohammed
		

			said after that one act, there was no name no mention no face that was more beloved to me than the
face name and Russian of
		

			the province. Nobody was coming to kill him.
		

			He didn't fight with him with the same dirty tactics, he didn't attack him first. He didn't pull out
a knife and stab them first. The problem twice, I'm going to tell the companions Hey, crowd jumpin
use these up to no good. The profits lifestyle also did not try to engage in a debate with him.
Because he understood it was something here. You haven't seen the beauty of Islam yet. You haven't
seen the beauty of this lab, reflected in a Muslim Yes. And who could reflect the beauty of this
lab, more than the one upon holding the whole animal was revealed. And it saw the alarm has said
		

			he was a walking for the profits.
		

			That's what I want you guys to do. And that's what I want these institutions to produce. People of
conscience and people that you know what, when they get that rude person, that person that looks
down upon them, that person that you know, that person that walks by you and makes a smart comment,
that Professor that might not be looked at that might mean you know, a little rough with you, that
waiter or waitress at the restaurant, that's obviously not smiling as much as the smiling or he's
smiling with the other customers, that you kill them with love. You show them your care. You show
them what your team is about. You're proud of your team, you don't just make it an ego versus ego
		

			conflict and say, Hey,
		

			who do you think you are?
		

			Who do you think you are to look at me that way, you don't do that. It's not the lucky accident that
either learning
		

			to
		

			respond to evil, repel evil with that, which is good. And you will find that the one between you and
him. There was enmity, there was enmity not that they were neutral towards you, someone hated your
guts, and considered you an enemy. But because of your character, because of the way you carry
yourself, that person turns out to be your close friend, and someone who guards and someone who
stands up for someone who says they're not like that.
		

			We need to produce those types of people, we need to be those types of people. So that when
something like this bombing in Boston, this terrorist attack in Boston takes place, most of them,
people, Muslims will counter that accusation with their character, a person who's a neighbor to a
person who goes to school with one of you, a person who knows you somehow in some way, shape or
form, will say I know what Muslims are really like, I know who these people really are. And that
comes through again, we that comes through again us building our own characters and purifying our
own hearts, purifying our own intellect, thinking about the bigger picture, championing the causes,
		

			not just with Muslims with non Muslims in this country, and becoming what was lost.
		

			In vision us to become becoming a people of substance becoming of people, not one and not not a
people of speech and the people of action. And how a lot unimpressed. I can't keep saying I can't
say that enough. I am completely blown away. I'm so proud of you almost of luck. You know, sometimes
you get pessimistic because you see what's going on in the world and things that
		

			we cannot forget the company that we're running, we do have young people coming up in this
generation that cared deeply about their faith that cared deeply about their about what Allah has
given to them, and that will carry out to the next generation and that will be
		

			torches, and that will be ambassadors for Muslims and for Islam, to all of the people around them.
		

			You know, we're still okay, it's not over yet the world's not over. And we have to continue to
support and build institutions like this that produces students like this and shot. And we asked the
last I asked one last panel to allow each and every single one of you to not only be a good Muslim,
not only to be an Indian, not only to be a person who is individually connected to the last panel,
it's a person who connects others around them to their Creator and betters, the environment around
class philosophy, to grant you all of us all certainty in our faith, firmness, that and to make us
guided and to guide through us and to make us righteous and to write through us loving me.
		

			To all of you, thank you so much for having me be a part of your function today. I'm blown away.