Omar Suleiman – Making An Impact No Matter How Old You Are Trkiye Special
AI: Summary ©
The Prophet servitor discusses the misunderstandings of older generation and the importance of protecting the environment and young people from evil behavior. He emphasizes the need for faith and respect in Islam, and a recent interview with Islam's source of truth is mentioned. He also stresses the importance of trusting others and not criticizing older generation. The importance of faith and respect is emphasized, and a program called "immigrational heart words" is mentioned to encourage people to practice being mindful of others. He also emphasizes the need to be firm in communication and not criticize people for their actions.
AI: Summary ©
As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa
barakatuhu.
Firstly and foremost I want to thank Ibn
Khaldun for hosting us.
I have fond memories of coming here a
few years ago.
It was one of the most notable events
that I've had in my life and I
remember the warmth of everyone that was here.
Alhamdulillah.
And mashaAllah I see many old faces or
familiar faces I should say, and new faces
as well.
So may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala bless
you all and use you all for good
at all times.
Allahuma Ameen.
I'm gonna start off inshaAllah ta'ala tonight
by giving you something to hopefully recreate the
seal of the Prophet ﷺ in your mind
with the lens of age.
If you were to live around the community
of the companions of the Messenger of Allah
ﷺ and you were to say where are
As-Shaykhan?
Where are the two Shaykhs?
Who are those two Shaykhs referring to?
Abu Bakr and Umar.
May Allah be pleased with them both.
The Prophet ﷺ called them As-Sam'u
Wal-Basr.
They are my hearing and my seeing.
And he used to say I Abu Bakr
and Umar went here, I Abu Bakr and
Umar saw this, I Abu Bakr and Umar
believe this, I Abu Bakr and Umar do
this, I Abu Bakr and Umar do that.
They were the signs of the coming of
the Prophet ﷺ and the signs of the
departure of the Prophet ﷺ.
They followed him everywhere he went.
They sat with the Prophet ﷺ, they prayed
with the Prophet ﷺ, they cried with the
Prophet ﷺ, they laughed with the Prophet ﷺ,
they argued in front of the Prophet ﷺ,
they reconciled in front of the Prophet ﷺ,
they hiked with the Prophet ﷺ, they went
to battle with the Prophet ﷺ, they shared
their dreams with him ﷺ.
These are his two companions, his two close
friends.
رضي الله عنه الصحابة أجمعين May Allah be
pleased with all of the family and companions
of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.
Now when I say put an age lens
to it, who can guess what was the
age gap between the Prophet ﷺ and Abu
Bakr as-Siddiq رضي الله تعالى عنه.
Let's start with that.
How much older was the Prophet ﷺ than
Abu Bakr as-Siddiq رضي الله عنه.
Are you throwing me a peace sign or
are you saying two years?
Two years.
And we know this because Abu Bakr as
-Siddiq رضي الله تعالى عنه died the same
age as the Prophet ﷺ, 63 years old,
on the same day, in the same manner,
in the same presentation, and bismillah ta'ala
entering the same realm and rank right beneath
the Prophets because he is the best after
the Prophets.
May Allah send his peace and blessings upon
them all.
And his Khilafah was two years رضي الله
تعالى عنه and he was 63 like the
Prophet ﷺ.
Okay, how much older was the Prophet ﷺ
than Umar al-Khattab رضي الله تعالى عنه.
Let me hear some guesses.
Ten years?
No.
At minimum, 13 years.
At minimum, the age gap between the Prophet
ﷺ and Umar al-Khattab رضي الله تعالى
عنه is 13 years.
Possibly more.
Okay.
That changes things a little bit now when
you look at the dynamic of these three
friends and how they are around.
That Umar al-Khattab رضي الله تعالى عنه
was in his 20s when he embraced Islam.
That story of Umar رضي الله تعالى عنه
marching through the streets of Mecca first wanting
to kill the Prophet ﷺ and then marching
through the streets of Mecca chanting out proudly
that he is a Muslim not fearing dying
for following the Prophet ﷺ.
The day that Umar رضي الله عنه wants
to end Islam versus the day that as
Ibn Mas'ud رضي الله عنه says was
a victory for Islam.
The first public profession and protest of the
community of the Prophet ﷺ behind Umar رضي
الله عنه.
He was a man in his 20s.
Changes things a bit when you think about
the imagination of the seerah around the Prophet
ﷺ.
His looking up to the Prophet ﷺ of
course as a prophet but also as someone
who is an elder to him.
His looking up to Abu Bakr رضي الله
تعالى عنه لقد أتعبت من جاء من بعدك
You have exhausted everyone that comes after you
who is essentially the one layer between him
and the Prophet ﷺ in terms of rank,
in terms of superiority.
His role model after the greatest role model
ﷺ.
His older brother, his khalifa Abu Bakr رضي
الله تعالى عنه And it's really interesting because
we're doing a talk on should the youth
lead and there's a young person coming up
a young man who's deciding he's going to
lead.
Give him two more years.
But in the meantime can we return him
to his parents Insha Allah.
And so it changes the dynamic a little
bit when you think about what that looks
like.
The question that I have today and I
actually want to answer systematically is should young
people lead?
You know when you talk about what's happening
with the global youth movement for Palestine when
you're talking about the encampments across college campuses
in North America when you're talking about the
zeal of young people there is a clear
energy a clear sincerity a clear redemption of
this generation that isn't afraid to stand up
to one of the greatest injustices that we
have ever seen in our time which is
the genocide in Gaza.
But should young people lead?
And I'm going to answer the question right
away and say yes.
It's actually the secret ingredient of Islam.
Umar radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu was a decade
younger or more than his two best friends
and his zeal which he is noted for
the energy, the enthusiasm that sometimes needed a
little bit of refinement a little bit of
being guided was not something that was condemned
by his elder friends rather it was appreciated
and then adjusted.
When Umar radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu himself becomes
aware of the zeal when he becomes aware
of his voice being too loud when he
becomes aware of his energy being maybe a
little bit too far placed in a certain
direction the same person salallahu alayhi wasalam who
will refine him will preface his refinement with
reassuring him that this is good.
This is good.
When Umar radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu comes into
a gathering with the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam
and the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam was speaking
to some of the women in the community
and when they heard Umar radiyaAllahu anhu coming
in they hid behind the curtains.
Why?
Because their voices were getting loud with the
Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam and Umar radiyaAllahu anhu
doesn't tolerate disrespect of the Prophet salallahu alayhi
wasalam and so when he walks in he
says, you enemies of Allah you lower your
voice or you're afraid of me but not
the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam what are you
doing?
And they shout out and they say innaka
ashadd wa aghlab you're rougher and harsher hearted
and Umar radiyaAllahu anhu was the man that
if a child told him ittaqillah fear Allah,
he immediately said what did I do?
He would be brought to tears the big
strong Umar would be brought to tears when
someone said fear Allah so he wondered, am
I really ashadd wa aghlab law kuntafadhan ghaleedha
alqalb Allah says to the Prophet salallahu alayhi
wasalam if you had these qualities then faddu
min hawlik then they would flee from you
the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam reassures Umar radiyaAllahu
anhu and tells him but you are a
man that when you take a path, the
shaytan will take another path so he reassures
Umar not to say there isn't room for
refinement but he reassures him in the process
there is a zeal, there is an energy
there is something special to be refined, but
he was guided through the wisdom of his
elders of his Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam who
was his elder and of the man who
would be closer to him than his older
brother himself, Abu Bakr as-Siddiq radiyaAllahu ta
'ala anhu when you think of Ali radiyaAllahu
ta'ala anhu before that 8 or 9
year old Ali radiyaAllahu anhu stands in front
of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam on the
day of Safa now by the way subhanAllah
in any dark episode of the Sira there
is someone who shines like Uhud is a
very is a devastating episode but Abu Bakr
as-Siddiq radiyaAllahu anhu would say that was
the day of Talha radiyaAllahu anhu he shined
and we know other luminaries shine in one
of the loneliest moments of the Prophet salallahu
alayhi wasalam when he stood on Safa and
he called the people to Islam for the
first time and his uncle shouts out to
him and curses him there is a young
boy that shines and says Ya Rasulullah ana
u'inuka, I will support you I'm here
for you now the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam
doesn't dismiss him don't you think that the
messenger of Allah salallahu alayhi wasalam who in
Ta'if did not see an 8 or
9 year old boy come forth to say
I will support you and who made dua
for the children of Ta'if don't you
think that the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam heart
was full looking at Ali radiyaAllahu anhu standing
in front of him saying Ya Rasulullah I
will support you where did he get that
from the Tarbiyah of the man salallahu alayhi
wasalam that he was saying he would support
because even though the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam
had just become a Nabi or Prophethood had
just been bestowed upon him he already trained
Ali radiyaAllahu anhu in his house on his
Sidq and Amanah on being a person of
truth who is committed to the truth and
being a trustworthy person who is committed to
maintaining the greatest trust and there is no
greater trust than the trust of Divine Revelation
he was nurtured in that radiyaAllahu ta'ala
anhu and he was looking to the Prophet
salallahu alayhi wasalam not just as a Prophet
but as a man who embodied the qualities
that he was calling the people on the
basis of you see when the Prophet salallahu
alayhi wasalam stood on Safa and he said
that if I was to tell you that
there was an army that is behind this
mountain that is coming to attack you you
would believe me the people said you are
As-Sadiq you are Al-Amin, you are
the honest one you are the trustworthy one
if you are a person who makes that
type of a claim in public the first
person who can call you out is someone
that grows up in your home and could
say are you sure dad?
are you sure mom?
are you sure you are this person that
you claim to be?
you know sometimes they always mention this that
you can read the faces of the family
of someone who is receiving an award like
at the Oscars or the Emmys and sometimes
they are applauding and sometimes as the praise
is there you can see them almost rolling
their eyes like yeah if only you knew
what I am dealing with but it was
Ali radiyaAllahu anhu who saw the Prophet Sallallahu
Alaihi Wasallam in his most intimate moments Ya
Rasulullah, I will stand with you because I
have seen what type of person you are
and I will stand with you and that
fills the heart of the Messenger of Allah
Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam continuing to break it down
we are still in Mecca right now I
want you to focus on Meccan Seerah with
the lens of age for a moment of
the ten promised paradise Al-Ashur Mubashshireen how
many of them were Muhajireen how many of
them were from the people of Mecca 1,
2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9,
10 all ten of them all ten of
the Al-Ashur Mubashshireen the ten promised paradise
were from the Muhajireen, were from the early
Muslims of Mecca now of course the Prophet
Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam gave Bushra, he gave the
glad tidings of Jannah to multiple Ansar as
well but when you said the ten Al
-Ashur Mubashshireen, the ten promised paradise you are
talking about ten Muhajireen they are all from
the ten of Mecca the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi
Wasallam heard Umm Sulaym radiyaAllahu ta'ala in
Jannah, the mother of Anas ibn Malik radiyaAllahu
ta'ala, a Madani woman Ansari woman, he
heard the footsteps of Bilal radiyaAllahu ta'ala
who is not included in the specific ten
but I mean you can't hear a person's
footsteps in Jannah unless they are guaranteed Jannah
but the ten Al-Ashur Mubashshireen now let's
look at this from an age perspective Umar
radiyaAllahu ta'ala was 25 or 26 years
old when he embraced Islam and he is
one of the last of the Al-Ashur
Mubashshireen, if not the last of the ten
promised paradise to actually embrace Islam by the
way, in terms of order of embracing Islam
Ali radiyaAllahu ta'ala was 8 years old,
Talha radiyaAllahu ta'ala was about 11 years
old al-Zubair ibn al-Awwam radiyaAllahu ta
'ala was about 18 years old the two
neighbors of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam Talha
wa Zubair my two neighbors in paradise embraced
Islam before they hit the age of 18
Sa'd ibn Abi Waqas radiyaAllahu ta'ala 17
years old according to some narrations right, and
you continue to go on, Abdullah ibn Mas
'ud radiyaAllahu ta'ala 14 years old Al
-Arqam ibn Abi Al-Arqam, whose home would
become the first house of Islam between the
age of 12 and 15 years old Ja
'far ibn Abi Talib radiyaAllahu ta'ala here's
an easy way to remember the ages of
the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam's cousins Talib is
the oldest, Abu Talib and all of his
kids are 10 years apart so there's Talib
who's closest to the age of the Prophet
Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam there's Aqeel who's second, there's
Ja'far who's third, there's Ali who's fourth
and they're a decade apart Ja'far radiyaAllahu
ta'ala the first ambassador of Islam to
Abyssinia 18 years old that speech that he
gave to An-Najashi radiyaAllahu ta'ala he
was most likely 20 when he gave the
most consequential speech in early Islam to set
the stage for Abyssinia Mus'ab, who the
Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam sent to Medina 22
to 24 years old so you have a
20 year old setting the stage in Abyssinia
you have a 22 year old setting the
stage in Al Medina our mother Aisha radiyaAllahu
ta'ala you know SubhanAllah it's interesting to
me there are all these debates about the
age of Aisha radiyaAllahu ta'ala and somehow
it becomes a source of doubt for Muslims
whereas it should actually be a source of
certainty that through this young woman thousands of
narrations of our Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam were
maintained, thousands of fatawa of the fiqh that
we have are derived from the mind of
that woman her heart and her tongue her
heart loved the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam her
tongue repeated what she heard from the Prophet
Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam her mind could think at
a different capacity and was able to derive
jurisprudence from what came to the heart and
came to the tongue of the Prophet Sallallahu
Alaihi Wasallam and look at what's been preserved
through her precisely because she was young when
she married the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam or
one of the reasons being and one of
the hikm one of the wisdoms of her
being the youngest wife of the Prophet Sallallahu
Alaihi Wasallam was that Allah Azzawajal who does
not make mistakes in his decree who showed
the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam through a dream
Aisha radiyaAllahu ta'ala as his wife that
Allah put something special in her heart in
her mind, in her attitude to preserve the
religion through her and partly through her youth
her curiosity her inquisitiveness yes, her jealousy over
the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam which is actually
endearing all of that has something to do
with how young she was and subhanAllah she
says we know that she married the Prophet
Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam after she reached the age,
she consummated the marriage after she reached the
age of puberty which is all that really
matters at that time but she says I
woke up to the world like look at
the language her tarbiyah I woke up to
the world, not I was born but like
I woke up to the world and my
parents were believing in Allah and the messenger
of Allah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam her formative memories
as a child is Abu Bakr al-Siddiq
radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu following the Prophet Sallallahu
Alaihi Wasallam around her formative her most formative
memories of her father was not the first
time he played with her or tossed her
was not the first time that most fathers
and daughters have a moment that they share
her two most formative memories of her father
was when Abu Bakr al-Siddiq radiyaAllahu ta
'ala anhu was on his way to Abyssinia
and then told to come back and he
was leading salah in his courtyard the courtyard
of their home and there was a crowd
that was forming around the house because of
the softness and tenderness and sincerity of the
voice of Abu Bakr that's one formative memory
the second formative memory is when the Prophet
Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam came into the house to
give them the news of the hijrah that
Abu Bakr radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu would be
his companion in the most dangerous mission that
existed at the time, fleeing death and she
says that he cried happy tears I get
to be with you oh messenger of Allah
I didn't think that people cry out of
happiness her waking up to the world is
Abyssinia and hijrah and her parents being believers,
that's her waking up to the world subhanAllah
don't you think that there is a genius
that's preserved there don't you think that the
Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam is showing preference to
her in public spaces who is the most
beloved to you, just like the Prophet Sallallahu
Alaihi Wasallam shows preference to his companions in
different scenarios don't you think that that was
a sign that this woman is not just
a wife but she's a leader in the
making pay attention because if you love what
the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam loves, you love
the family of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam
you love the companions of the Prophet Sallallahu
Alaihi Wasallam pay attention it shifts the lens
all together we haven't even gotten to the
hijrah these are just the Meccan youth around
the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam in the hijrah
the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam arrives in Quba
it's already a youth affair how so?
he would divide his time Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam
between two houses, he stayed in one house
in the day he stayed in another house
at night in the night time he stayed
in the house of Kulthum Ibn Al-Hadam
who was the chief of the tribe that
reigned the area of Quba, Banu Amr Ibn
Auf so he stayed with the chief, he
received the delegations he spoke to the leaders
from the house of the senior, the elder
he recognized his position so in the night
time he was there in the day time,
he spent the night or he spent the
day in a home that was called Bayt
Al-Uzzab the house of the singles the
home of Sa'd Ibn Khaythamah where all the
youth were staying so as he's negotiating Sallallahu
Alaihi Wasallam between the different tribes he's also
practicing what he preaches and spending his day
with the youth and spending his evening with
the elders, even though you could argue that
when you come to Medina and you need
to be taken seriously you should focus your
energy on building with the tribal leaders, on
building with the rabbis of Medina, on building
with the people that would turn out to
be the hypocrites because their power is being
threatened.
Why are you spending so much time with
the young people?
Why do you believe?
I mean if you think about it Subhanallah
that the dua of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi
Wasallam in Ta'if was for the youth
why do you believe so much in these
young people?
Why are you putting so much time?
How do you even have the time for
these ahadith to come?
You think about how many hadiths of the
youth are received from the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi
Wasallam while he turns around on a horse
or on a camel to talk to Abdullah
ibn Abbas and say Ya Ghulam inni wa
allimuka bi kalimat let me teach you some
words, oh young man or Anas ibn Malik
radiyallahu ta'ala anhu while he's tracking him
down as he sends him out for an
errand do you know how busy the Prophet
Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam was?
to go chase after Anas radiyallahu anhu and
to turn around and talk to Abdullah ibn
Abbas radiyallahu ta'ala anhuma what was he
doing Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam what type of genius
was he implementing we're still in Quba though
Ali radiyallahu ta'ala anhu was the last
person to arrive in Medina because he walked
from Mecca to Medina the young man at
this point now, only a teenager about to
become the son-in-law of the Prophet
Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, walking from Medina his feet
were full of blisters right now you take
a train or a bus and it's still
exhausting imagine walking and looking over your shoulder
every second in the desert to see if
your enemies have pursued you it was a
youth affair when the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam
gets there, I can go on and on
about the ages of Zayd ibn Thabit Al
-Muqdad, all of them are teenagers in their
20's the main Ansar, teenagers are in their
20's but I want to not belabor that
point but instead build on something here when
Al-Abbas Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam saw the young
men that were telling the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi
Wasallam we'll take you in I want you
to imagine the scene where he takes the
Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam to the side and
he says are you sure?
why was he saying are you sure?
is it because Medina didn't have enough agriculture,
is it because it wasn't strategic?
or was it because they're too young they're
just kids they're not ready to bear the
amanah of your mission and boy did they
prove the world wrong Al-Ansar the Prophet
Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam said if I could become
something if I could identify as anything it
would be with the Ansar but Allah Subh
'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la chose him to
be a Muhajir The Ansar let's talk about
what this means for one the Ansar were
willing to sacrifice in ways that those who
were older than them were not precisely because
they were clinging to false idols and I
don't just mean the stones that they were
worshipping they were clinging to false idols the
Ansar were a bunch of young people who
were sick of those false idols that's why
Aisha R.A. mentioned that the Bu'ath
wars where the elders killed each other off
in Medina were a gift that Allah presented
Qaddamahu li Rasulihi Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam a gift
that Allah presented to the messenger of Allah
Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam because the Ansar were young
people who didn't want that anymore they were
removed and detached from the old idols the
false ways of their parents the false ways
of their society and because of that there
was also an ability, a willingness to sacrifice
everything to the point, subhanAllah, there's the ayah
wal ladheena idha anfaqu lam yusrifu walam yaquturu
wakana bayna dhalika qawama the people who when
they spent, they don't spend too much nor
do they hold back too much, meaning they
don't overdo it and they don't underdo it
now let me give you a scene here
I'm someone that's had to fundraise for many
causes masajid, islamic projects I can't imagine someone
raising their hand and saying I'm going to
give this much no, that's too much it's
ok calm down the Ansar were so willing
to sacrifice everything that they had to be
tempered in their sacrifice subhanAllah what an attitude
they loved the people that migrated to them
to the point that they were willing to
give so much to their brothers that they
were potentially putting their blood brothers and their
own families at risk spirit of sacrifice, what
do we get in return?
Jannah, done it's there there was a willingness
to sacrifice there that's connected to their young
zeal now the scholars start to break this
down and they say that in some ways
the youth are less tainted by sinful ways
by the way I'm going to say to
the elders I promise I'm coming to the
second part of this talk so don't be
too mad at me inshaAllah ta'ala but
the youth are potentially less tainted by sinful
ways, by the false idols what does this
mean?
The Salaf had a beautiful quality amongst themselves
where an older person would see a younger
person as Al-Muzani says and he would
say about the younger person Sabaqtuhu bishar I
have preceded that person in sin, meaning I
have accumulated over the course of my years
too many sins that have made this young
person more innocent than me and the young
person would say Sabaqani bil khair so and
so has preceded me in good I can't
reach the level of this elderly person this
pioneer who has done so much good Sabaqtani
bil khair you've done so much khair I
can't reach up to you and the elder
is saying to the younger Sabaqtuhu bishar I
have committed too many sins before you and
this created the perfect balance and harmony amongst
the companions of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam
and the blessed generations that immediately followed young
people can be less tainted by sinful ways
and because of that young people are often
open to new possibilities why?
Because they're divorced from many old ways that
don't come from the deen I'm going to
give a disclaimer here it's important here not
to conflate jahliyah with good old values not
everything that is old is bad not everything
that is cultural is bad not all values
that were inherited are jahli because they're not
explicitly referenced in the Quran and the sunnah
of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam in fact
many of them align and because there is
a general wickedness that comes from generation to
generation because the best generations are closest to
the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam those that follow
those that follow and then it continues that
way if you took the values of a
non-religious person from a generation prior and
compared them to the values of a non
-religious person today it is far more likely
that the values of the older generation will
align more with fitrah, with goodness than the
values of the younger generation because that's the
sunnah of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala on
this earth so that's actually very important not
to conflate but at the same time how
do you unpackage all of that how do
you filter it's no secret that the older
that all of us get the more rigid
we get and our packages, our identities have
been formed and that's why subhanallah you know
a lot of times it's really interesting here
like one of the hadith where the Prophet
Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam mentions a person who is
ma'dhur a person that could be forgiven on
the day of judgment he mentions Sallallahu Alaihi
Wasallam a person who dies too young, like
a child who dies before the age of
maturity and he mentions a person who died
between Isa Alayhis Salaam and Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi
Wasallam because they didn't get the proper revelation,
and he mentions Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam someone who
is the pen has been lifted from them
because they can't comprehend and he mentions sheikhah
a sheikh but he doesn't mean this in
terms of a scholar but someone who is
too feeble to be able to comprehend so
too young, too old the formation is too
old to penetrate at that point by the
way this is a point of medical feebleness,
this isn't like someone that just happens to
be very old right, or else we wouldn't
condemn the old folks around the Prophet Sallallahu
Alaihi Wasallam who rejected him Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam,
but it's hard to unpackage and filter that
as you get older, now the other side
of that is the praise, imagine a person
who becomes Muslim at the age of 70
years old I know people that have become
Muslim at 70, 80 I know someone that
embraced Islam at 90 years old I'm like
Subhanallah, what an amazing person how blessed are
you your whole 90 years you got your
sins out and Allah guided you in the
last moment and you died upon that Allahu
Akbar this is someone we just say Allah
wanted good for this person Alhamdulillah for this
person, we're happy so it's not good or
bad it's what you do with the position
in life that you're in at the moment
but young people are generally more open to
new possibilities now anytime I want you to
follow this in a systematic way anytime you
embark upon new possibilities you are that much
more prone to new mistakes because the mistakes
of the old have already been recorded and
documented and you're told not to follow in
them but once you start to explore new
terrain, new possibilities you're inherently more prone to
make more mistakes because this is new you
are new and this is new now here's
where we get to the Hadith of the
Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam I want you to
remember this sentence, young people will make mistakes
will make mistakes but there's one mistake that
is disqualifying or particularly disqualifying and I'm not
talking about shirk and sinfulness, those are spiritual
nullifiers, I'm talking about something else in terms
of approach there's one mistake that becomes a
nullifier and this is where we come to
the Hadith of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam
لَيْسَ مِنَّ مَنْ لَمْ يَرْحَمْ صَغِيرَنَا وَيُوَقِّرْ كَبِرَنَا
He is not amongst us who does not
show mercy to our youth and honor to
our elders when you make a mistake, what
do you ask Allah for?
Mercy forgiveness and there are well meaning mistakes
and there are particularly sinful mistakes like there
are mistakes that you make because you were
driven by sin and you pursued that sin
and young people generally have more shahwa, they
have more desire so they're more likely to
be overtaken by the fire of that desire
and end up falling into sin but then
there are mistakes that you make in the
capacity of doing something good and it's already
hard enough to replace the desire for sin
with the desire of good and shaitan is
trying to make excuses for you so you
can continue to listen, he's the one kindling
that fire of evil like come back over
here, the muslim space is hostile, the masjid
is hostile the islamic organizations they're this those
people are too judgmental those people, come back
here feels better over here, let me warm
you up here, shaitan is waiting to make
those excuses for you and so if you've
already sacrificed that warmth and you've gone to
the fire of himmah for deen, passion for
this religion when someone is cruel to you
or someone criticizes you even if fairly it
can be crushing why am I doing this
in the first place?
I should have just done what all the
other youth are doing why did I sign
up for this in the first place?
and subhanallah that's where you find the prophet
salallahu alayhi was extremely careful with how he
corrected the youth because yes they should be
corrected but how he corrected them tell me
when the prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam said to
a young person you fool why did you
do this?
it's a word, it's a difference of approach
subhanallah abdullah ibn umar radiyallahu ta'ala and
I have to remind myself of this because
I have a son named abdullah ibn umar
and he drives me crazy sometimes if you're
watching this I love you son, I love
you more than you drive me crazy sometimes
you know it's like I'm always like I
was meant to be a girl dad you
know like daughters are easy, sons like I
love him so much gotta correct him, gotta
correct him and he's so energetic mashallah gotta
correct him, gotta correct him gotta correct him
and subhanallah because we're human like you realize
when you use a negative word especially if
you call your kids names when you think
about these hadith of the prophet salallahu alayhi
wasalam don't make dua against your kids like
don't identify your kids with something evil or
pray against them or crush their souls but
especially when someone's trying to do something good,
even when they make a mistake like how
you deal with them coming to you with
their first sin like when you catch them
with that mistake it's like how do I
deal with that is going to change whether
or not they repeat that sin or not,
you know it you know it you know
how surprised your kids can be like when
they make a mistake and you go you
know what I still love you I'm glad
that you admitted it to me now let's
work on like wait what what's happening here
but that can be the difference maker of
them leaving that sin, now when your kid
tries to do something good it's another thing
so back to Abdullah ibn Umar Abdullah ibn
Umar r.a has this dream the prophet
s.a.w. said who has a dream
who has a dream, he would ask for
the kids to share dreams and the companions
to share dreams after salah, which shows you
by the way that Abdullah ibn Umar even
though he was young he knew if he
had a dream the prophet s.a.w.
would listen to him so he wanted a
good dream so he could share it with
the prophet s.a.w. instead he had
a dream that the angels were taking him
to hellfire and then as he was going
to they didn't throw him in there, they
said this is not your place and then
they took him to jannah so it's a
good dream because the end is jannah, it's
a scary dream because he saw hellfire and
he saw people in it that he knows
terrified him, so he asked Hafsah r.a
his sister who happens to be the wife
of the prophet s.a.w. can you
ask him what it means the prophet s
.a.w. knows what he says is going
to get back to Abdullah so how does
he start off, he says ni'ma rajul Abdullah
what a good young man Abdullah is if
only he pray a little bit more at
night had the prophet s.a.w. responded
and said Abdullah doesn't pray at night Abdullah
ibn Umar would have been too afraid to
show his face to the prophet s.a
.w. probably after that it would have crushed
him but to hear ni'ma rajul builds him
up and then gives him the dosage of
correctness that he needs so that he can
build on what's already good and become even
greater imagine what Sufyan s.a.w. says
that the opposite is what we say to
each other he's talking about his day, what
we say to each other is bi'sar rajul,
what a horrible person because they do this
this and that just like the cup is
half full or half empty as people were
half full or half empty and we're more
likely to see others as half empty and
ourselves half full and so we become full
of ourselves in the full sense of the
expression but look at the diagnosis of the
prophet s.a.w. I did a lecture
about Abu Bakr r.a. if you don't
know the difference, go watch the first I
did a whole lecture about this man an
incredible young man a youth from Ta'if
who embraced Islam a young man who embraced
Islam, free slave and he becomes Muslim and
the prophet s.a.w. is praying and
he goes into rukur and we know that
you want to catch rukur, now I'll give
you two instances alright, I'll give you salatu
taraweeh, here's the mind you got the kids
that are sitting in the corner and talking
playing on their phones, at least this is
in North America, and as soon as the
imam goes into rukur, they put their phones
away and they go allahu akbar so they
don't miss the first rak'ah, so they
talk the whole first rak'ah and then
as soon as the imam goes into rukur
they go into the first rak'ah so
that they can say salam with everyone else
so their parents look at them and say
mashallah you prayed the whole salat on the
other hand you got those people that come
late to salat some of them hit three
cars in the parking lot and hopefully just
cars alright, slam the doors throw their shoes
all over the place and like they're running
to the salat because they don't want to
miss the salat now there's a person who
does this repetitively and then there's a person
who is used to being at salat early
and like this is their first time so
they're very nervous and anxious Abi Bakr walks
into the masjid and the prophet salallahu alayhi
wasalam does rukur and he's behind the rose
and so he goes allahu akbar I don't
know if the camera caught that or not
but that's what the hadith shows he entered
into rukur and then he inched up into
the rose he doesn't want to miss rukur
and he is not yet to the rose
so that was his pretty smart reasoning by
the way I can do both and the
prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam simply said to him
zadakallahu hirsan how beautiful there's like so much
wisdom in the statement like it could honestly
be a book zadakallahu hirsan may Allah increase
you in zeal I love that you wanted
to catch the first rakah so bad but
don't do that again and instead when one
of you catches the salah you catch what
you caught so if you miss rukur make
up a rakah but just prefacing it with
saying zadakallahu hirsan imagine if that's how we
corrected the youth of today and we should
assume good intentions zadakallahu hirsan like I know
you meant well and may Allah increase you
in well meaning but maybe consider this next
time beautiful it changes the entire dynamics of
a community so the prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam
specifically mentioning rahma towards the youth indicates that
they're going to make many mistakes hence mercy
will be needed and youth complain about what?
judgmentalness and people are unforgiving and people are
cruel and people are mean and this and
this and that so prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam
emphasized what's needed as diagnosis is rahma they
need mercy and the elders feel what?
disrespected made irrelevant habibi you've been working for
two weeks I've been working for 20 years
in this space who are you?
what are you talking about?
how do you brush people aside?
tell them they don't know what they're talking
about your whole life is bid'ah your
whole life is innovation your culture is this
this is not religion you don't know what
you're talking about who are you?
they honor the elders is like literally putting
a crown on the head of glory put
the crown of glory on the head you
insist on their place you insist on their
place in the majlis in the gathering you
insist on treating them the way that you
would treat your father or your mother what
a miserable culture that turns the word uncle
or auntie into something derogatory oh the uncles,
the amuls, the khaltus what a miserable twist
of fate that you turn words of honor
into words of degradation and may Allah forgive
all of us because we all at some
point grappled with this idea of dismissing our
elders it's a fact it's a fact at
least I won't make myself immune to it
at some point especially when you're young and
you're getting involved at first you start dismissing
your elders and the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam
is saying put the crown on your elders
benefit from them and lower your wing of
mercy towards them because if you take that
hirs if you take that zeal that Allah
has blessed you with against tyrants and then
you let that zeal make you a tyrant
towards your elders then it is all in
waste completely defeats the purpose Allah gave you
that strength, that courage that willingness to sacrifice
and stand up in front of a brutal
tyrant don't you dare stand up in front
of your elders with that same tyranny and
with that same rage and as you're railing
against the system railing against the system of
man the moment that you start railing against
the sunnah of the messenger of Allah Sallallahu
Alaihi Wasallam because you're shattering boundaries know that
you're in loss complete delusion and he is
Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam I am to you like
a father I teach you the minute you
start to rail against the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi
Wasallam and question and shatter is when you've
taken that quality and you've taken it to
a level that's no longer beloved to Allah
Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la you're conquering
obstacles you're transcending the boundaries of creation the
moment that you start to transcend the hima,
the boundaries of Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta
-A'la, you fall into haram and so
it's important for us to know every good
quality Imam Al-Ghazali says every good quality
that Allah has given to us has the
potential to become a bad quality and vice
versa, sins have the potential to become good
deeds, both in material as well as in
inclination the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam saw khair
in Abu Jahl, he saw good in Abu
Jahl if Abu Jahl turned his leadership the
way that Umar radiAllahu Anhu did he would
have, and side note by the way, maybe
the age factored into it because Abu Jahl
was significantly older than Umar radiAllahu Anhu right,
his insistence upon his ways but if Abu
Jahl turned that leadership into good he would
have been like Umar radiAllahu Anhu, the Prophet
Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam saw it inside of him
so every sinful quality and sins can become
good deeds and likewise good qualities have the
potential to become sin as well and so
this is the case for individuals this is
the case for communities this is the case
for generations that your greatest potential has the
potential to become your most devastating pitfall and
it's important for you to recognize that and
you account for that potential pitfall by holding
yourself accountable to Allah to his Messenger Sallallahu
Alaihi Wasallam and to those who preceded you,
the last thing that I'll say here young
people have courage there's a courage that comes
from that zeal that we have to nurture
when we see it it's special young people
can have incredible courage but courage is not
the same as recklessness what the Prophet Sallallahu
Alaihi Wasallam called us to was calculated courage
it means being sure to not violate the
boundaries of Allah as you're pushing the boundaries
of oppression and Subhanallah with that being said
how do you determine the difference?
Many would have said that the Ansar were
being reckless, not courageous many of the naysayers
in Medina, because there's an equivalent to an
Abu Jahl in Medina society there's Abdullah ibn
Ubayy ibn Sulul there's always equivalents, these personalities
in every society you're being fools you're being
reckless you're turning away from the ways of
your father, the same way that the youth
of Mecca were taunted, but it was courage
when it was connected to the character of
the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam so just as
the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam celebrated that innocence
and that idealism, and that courage of the
youth as a community, of the Prophet Sallallahu
Alaihi Wasallam we should do the same but
the elders were always honored in this community
who was the person that if he walked
into the room they said this is Walid
ibn Nabi Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam this is the
father of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam they
treated him like a father, does anyone know?
Al-Abbas radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu he was
so honored the paternal uncle was like the
father, he was so honored in the community
of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, it was
like Walid ibn Nabi Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam the
father of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam so
the whole community treated him like a father
so much so that when they entered Jerusalem,
by the way the non-Muslims thought Al
-Abbas was the Khalifa, because of how much
honor he had from those that were around
him the last thing I say is dear
brothers and sisters, one of the signs of
the end of times and this is a
warning to the youth as the Prophet Sallallahu
Alaihi Wasallam mentioned that a mother will give
birth to her master and one of the
extrapolations of that as Ibn Hajar Rahimahullah mentioned
is that children become the masters of their
parents they treat their parents like slaves and
we see that breakdown of the family as
we talk about the attack on family values
that it starts from inspiring Tughiyan, inspiring rebellion
of the children on their parents not disagreement,
you can disagree with there is no greater
disagreement than Ibrahim Alayhis Salaam with his father
the father of monotheism and a father who
makes idols Ya Abati Ya Abati my dear
father, I love you mi ma ta'budu
ma la yasma'u wa la yubsilu wa
la yugni'an kashaya why are you worshipping
these things you know la ta'budu al
shaytan inni akhafu alayk I'm worried about you,
I love you I respect you but why
are you doing this so when you talk
about the breakdown of the family it's inspiring
the Tughiyan the rebellion of the children against
the parents now what's the community manifestation of
that behavior, when you have children that don't
respect their parents of course what that means
at the community level is that the youth
don't respect their elders either but there is
an overall Inqilab a revolt, a flipping of
the affairs with the youth and the children
and that's why just like SubhanAllah you have
the young companions of the Prophet you know
who else were described as being young the
Khawaraj the generation of people that read the
Quran so much so that their eyes would
be bloodshot, that they would buzz like bees
that the Prophet said to the Sahaba tahqiroona
salatakum you would belittle your prayer when you
see how much they pray you would belittle
your fasting when you see how much they
fast wahum kilabu ahl al-nar they're the
dogs of * what are they, described us
hudatha al-isna, they were young people young
people who surrounded the house of Sayyidina Uthman
radiAllahu ta'ala anhu and thought it was
okay to set on fire the house of
Uthman radiAllahu ta'ala anhu in his 80s,
young people who murdered Sahaba, young people who
thought that they could take things into their
own hands this way so there's the young
of the Ansar who took in the message
of the Prophet and there's the young of
the Khawarij who completely misapplied it now there's
a huge spectrum in between there I don't
want you leaving, assigning yourself either as someone
like the Sahaba or like the Khawarij huge
spectrum but what it comes back to is
what the end of that narration is in
some of the riwayat laisa minna manam yarham
sagheerana wa yuwaqqir kabeerana and the Prophet said
yuwaqqir kabeerana wa yuwaqqir kabeerana and they enjoy
in good and forbid evil that's the completing
factor the neutralizer, the equalizer of the young
and the old who's more capable of enjoying
in good and forbidding evil how do we
do that together as a collective community as
a collective ummah and there is no greater
evil or greater good that is relevant to
you than your own good and your own
evil so may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
make us a community of leadership a community
that holds this amanah, this trust of this
beautiful message, a community that stands for good,
that enjoys good that forbids evil, together that
honors its elders, that inspires its youth and
may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala allow us
to continue the youth movement that started in
Mecca in the year 610 Allahumma ameen, jazakumullahu
khayran salam alaykum to continue our discussion I'd
like to ask you a few questions I
wanted to ask a lot but I'll keep
them short so that our attendees can ask
them as well so I'll kick off with
in the beginning of your speech you talked
about the global youth movement in Palestine for
Palestine and camp movements across university campuses so
in your opinion how can youth maintain their
motivation and resilience in the face of such
challenges escalating global conflicts the genocide in Gaza
particularly when the weight of these global crises
feels overwhelming and what advice would you give
to young people who are struggling with the
scale of the struggles they're witnessing jazakumullahu khayran
I actually want to say this as someone
subhanallah who is the child of a man
from Palestine who was born before Israel so
you know those signs that say I'm older
than your state my dad's one of those
people who could say I'm older than your
state subhanallah he's deeply troubled by what he's
seeing in Gaza right now and he'll actually
subhanallah it really struck me I mentioned this
in a recent talk that one of the
defining moments for me in my life was
when I was sitting with my father and
he said at the breakfast table this is
exactly how he said it he said 1948
1967 2024 just like that 1948 1967 2024
and what he meant by that was that
the scale of destruction that he had seen
that post 1967 he didn't think that he
would ever see again he's seen a lot
and we know of course there's 1987 there's
2000 there's a lot in between but he's
saying 1948 1967 2024 he's saying 2024 not
2023 because let's face it 2023 many of
us had hoped that by the end of
2023 a ceasefire would have been in place
things would have been restored to the levels
that we had seen in 2021 for example
now to me that was very eye opening
because it helped me understand the gravity of
the moment the gravity of the moment as
someone who wasn't alive in 1967 and not
1948 with that being said those people that
lived 1948 and 1967 see us and our
commitment to Palestine and recognize that we are
the fruit of their effort you know my
father subhanallah was I have these scenes of
him debating he was sitting in a university
he's a university professor English is not his
first language I have these core memories of
him debating like four Zionist professors by himself
in university panels I remember him writing and
I actually posted this on social media an
ad 40 years ago that is still relevant
today putting it in the local newspaper at
the time those pioneers those elders see us
as their fruit why are we so committed
because they did not relinquish their commitment even
though they were expelled from that land there
is also another element of this to directly
answer your question youth are more prone to
despair because we haven't seen the changing of
circumstances the way that our elders have and
so right now this feels like the end
but those that are old enough will tell
you that there were other times that felt
like the end and Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala brought life out of it not just
in regards to Palestine but in regards to
many other things personal tribulations as well communal
tribulations like I marvel at our elders who
have been committed to Islamic work for 40
-50 years it's like you work with the
Muslim community for 5 years and you're about
to lose your minds how do you go
through all the meetings and the disputes you
don't think that stuff existed back then they
had their version of social media it wasn't
social media but it was very social and
it was very impactful just like media amongst
themselves bitter disputes gossip, egos things happened these
are human conditions but they persisted and so
young people have a responsibility to look towards
that and to say you know what alhamdulillah
I look at my father and I say
mashallah you know like he's still there and
he's still standing like he'll still go out
to the protest but he gets mad at
me when I don't tell him I'm going
to a protest and sometimes I try not
to tell him because I don't want him
to have to walk all that he gets
upset with me if I don't take him
out to a protest still now, still doing
it still going strong and so we learn
from the resilience of our elders as well
that they kept committed we too should keep
committed and don't succumb to despair that doesn't
mean don't be sad you better be sad
better cry when you see this type of
torment but don't succumb to despair so that
your efforts will stop thank you so much
I think this will have to be my
last question and then I will let others
ask their questions so you talked in your
speech about benefiting from elders respecting your elders
and then the elders will have mercy on
the youth how do we do that when
the youth and elderly have a generational gap
when there's a clash of ideas when there's
arguments what can we do then?
so here's something that subhanallah I always like
this is a question that I ask when
I teach about the prophet you know the
prophet used to joke you all know that
right the prophet used to joke from his
he used to joke now do you sometimes
find some of those jokes not funny it's
ok to say yes by the way but
you smile because you know that the prophet
was smiling and joking so like a joke
loses relevance even like your parents jokes are
not funny to you and your jokes are
definitely not funny to them they're like crude
and like disgusting what are you doing this
is your laughter this is your humor now
even your jokes are shameful but you appreciate
the fact that someone is trying to joke
because you appreciate the spirit that it came
from I'm using laughter because it's the most
obvious manifestation of emotion that we have right
like someone can be sad and they hide
it but laughter has noise it has a
visual to it laughter is very obvious so
you laugh not with someone sometimes you laugh
at someone or you laugh at the fact
that they're laughing or you laugh out of
joy that they are laughing but you're not
necessarily laughing because they're laughing what does that
mean for the rest of our emotions and
our interventions I can appreciate the spirits of
what a person is bringing without necessarily seeing
so much in what they've manifested I can
honor where it came from and so someone
might have a really bad idea let me
tell you subhanallah it's painful for me sometimes
and some of you may have this experience
when you visit like an elder like I'm
talking about a sheikh a scholar who used
to be very sharp extremely coherent you know
and because of their age they're struggling to
recall like a very basic fact like this
is someone who taught you Islam and they're
struggling to like remember something very basic and
they're mixing up names and it hurts to
see that and for me my parents right
like alhamdulillah my father is still very sharp
mashallah but I'm talking about like you know
when your parents get older you hate to
see your parents slip right and I mention
that because even then the wisdom that comes
out from that elderly scholar that no longer
can recall the book reference that no longer
can recall the name that's slipping here or
there that's maybe a little slower in what
they're uttering like even then that wisdom is
so beautiful and profound and cannot be uttered
through chat GPT you understand so there's still
some hikmah like Allah is inspiring something through
them that you can benefit from so the
generation gap is solved by the hadith of
the prophet peace be upon him be merciful
to the youth honor the elders and all
of you are supposed to be committed to
enjoying good and forbidding evil not your titles
or your positions the young person is happy
to be in the first row or the
second row subhanallah one of the things that
makes the elders so beautiful like Ibn Abbas
I was a teenager when the elders of
the companions were sitting at his feet to
learn from him because they knew that Ibn
Abbas had the ilm Allah gifted him with
that knowledge Imam Al-Shafi'i was teaching
people the fiqh of fasting before he was
baligh, before he reached puberty and had to
fast himself, imagine being a 70 year old
man sitting in the halaqa of Imam Al
-Shafi'i, the kid, because you recognize the
value of what he brings, there's ikhlas there,
there's sincerity there something's coming out of this
person that I can benefit from so just
like everything else, the nafs, the ego is
the hijab between you and Allah all good
things once you remove the veil of your
ego, you can recognize the beauty of the
person that's in front of you no matter
what age they are I think we can
now open the floor for questions from the
audience, so if anyone has a question, you
can raise your hand by the way, as
we're waiting for questions I want to mention
that Alhamdulillah Rabbul Ameen, yaqeen is expanding within
Turkey, first of all, can you all give
a round of applause to your volunteers Jazakumullah
khair to all of the volunteers that put
this together in a very short amount of
time, may Allah reward you all for your
hard work and may Allah reward all of
you who came, but if you would like
to be a volunteer for yaqeen inshaAllah ta
'ala, please do see the table outside Jazakumullah
Assalamualaikum Alhamdulillah, my name is Atia, I'm from
Ethiopia, and I have some questions my first
question is like, from a religious perspective, can
a woman be a leader in society or
a prominent figure?
Yeah, I understand that women has an important
role in raising future generations, but if she
has the potential to play a positive role
in society, should she pursue that, I would
appreciate your guidance and views on this matter
and my second question is regarding the case
of Dr. Afia Siddiq so this is just
one of many issues that the Muslim Ummah
faces and many of these are unknown or
not discussed, how can we ask the youth
of the Muslim Ummah unite and find the
courage to address such issues we see that
the Palestinian issue has become easier to speak
about but not all issues are as widely
recognized or understood, so how can we raise
awareness and take action?
Thank you very much.
Jazakumullah khair Firstly the idea of permanent positions
in Islam you know, Subhanallah, I tend to
find that like, university structures borrow from our
tradition quite a bit like the concept of
endowment is taken from the waqf, the awqaf,
there's so much that's taken, the chair the
robes you know, there's this idea of honoring
someone over time too you have a tenure
track, you have emeritus professor emeritus I feel
like these are very Islamically inspired to where
someone can be honored without necessarily still maintaining
the authority of the position that once honored
them, and I find that the Prophet Sallallahu
Alaihi Wasallam handled that seamlessly to where the
elders of the sahaba were always honored, but
that doesn't mean you have to be the
emir in the next battle right, so there's
the beauty of honoring someone even beyond their
position, their tenure, and then there is the
rotation of roles which allows for people to
remain sincere and committed to the cause not
to their own credential so that's also very
important and people should accept that for themselves
like the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam tells Abu
Dharr radiyallahu anhu about leadership that innahu amanah
that it is a trust wahnu yawmil qiyamati
khizyun wa nadaman and on the day of
judgment it is regret and loss so don't
pursue leadership, that means don't ask to be
a leader, but if people find you fitting
and they push you towards that, then accept
it with humility, la tanzi' qameesan qamasak Allah
biya, don't take off a garment that Allah
put on you you pursue it with sincerity
but don't pursue it yourself right, or you
accept it with sincerity, but don't pursue it
so that idea of rotation of positions is
definitely sunnah, but honoring people beyond positions is
also sunnah the only way to honor someone
is not through a title or position, is
what I'm trying to say to recognize their
legacy as for what you mentioned of Dr.
Afia Siddiqui may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
free her and liberate her I believe that
there was going to be a table about
her plight, but there are efforts to free
Dr. Afia that are global and need people
to join that effort bismillah ta'ala she
is potentially as they say the most wrong
Muslim woman on the planet and emblematic of
zulm, of the zulm to a Muslim woman,
the oppression to a Muslim woman she has
suffered all sorts of abuse languishing in a
cell in the United States where she shouldn't
have been in the first place, if you
can dedicate yourself to that cause alhamdulillah, we
need more people to raise that voice, we
need more people to work for her cause
and to work for the cause of anyone
that you know that's oppressed to work for
their cause bismillah ta'ala whether it's popular
or not whether it's proportional or not work
for these causes of good and allocate yourself
inshallah ta'ala to these causes of good,
jazakum allah khair thank you for the post
you posted on Twitter regarding the whitewashing of
the crimes that has been committed against the
Syrian people and then you know your comments
about how every Palestinian would not be on
that side and I'd also like to ask
if you have anything to say in terms
of comments regarding the very just tough position
that the Syrian youth are facing when they
are confronted with a narrative that is just
like just from a geopolitical perspective is just
so unfair and I stress the people here
because these are where I'm talking about the
people specifically when it comes to their position
their unwavering position towards the Palestinian case, jazakum
allah khair I want to answer this sincerely
from a seerah perspective what blinded the people
of Mecca from the beauty of Islam was
their tribal fanaticism that was what prevented Islam
from entering into their hearts truly and for
faith to enter their hearts truly what distinguished
the Ansar was that they were the exact
opposite of those who were blinded by that
tribalism, they saw people that were completely different
from them from a different land who had
no attribution whatsoever to them in the tribal
sense as their brothers and as their sisters
and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala had to
temper their enthusiasm and their loving, I mean
the heart of the affair is love, yuhibboona
man hajara ilayhim and so Allah places us
all in different circumstances and it may be
the sunnah of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala,
you know I'm doing a series on Al
-Aqsa right now and I was mentioning like
the peculiar nature of Egypt and Palestine, Egypt
and Gaza in history, Egypt and Palestine in
particular uh Egypt and Palestine are interesting because
it's always a prophet running away from Egypt
to Palestine or from Palestine to Egypt, like
these two lands are married by tragedy in
that regard but the sunnah of Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala is that prosperity never stays
in one land, prosperity visits different peoples at
different times and tragedy visits different people at
different times and it may be that one
day you are yadul ulya and the next
day you are yadul sufla you're the upper
hand and the next day you're the lower
hand it may be that one day you're
al-munfiqa the other day you're al-sa
'ila you're the giving, you're the receiving you
don't know the way that rotation is going
to be and so I say without hesitation
that Islam cannot truly enter your heart and
fully encompass your heart until you see your
brother and your sister Muslim as just that,
that the sweetness of faith will not be
tasted the prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam mentioned
this they love Allah and the messenger salallahu
alayhi wa sallam more than anything else and
they love someone only for the sake of
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala if that's the
only attachment and nothing else and they would
hate to be thrown into jahiliyya like a
person would hate to be thrown into a
fire and so I'm not going to get
into like the political analysis of this I'm
going to say from a faith perspective resist
the fanaticism because it will prevent Islam from
entering into your heart, resist the fanaticism because
it will prevent you from tasting the sweetness
of faith and recognize that Allah azawajal tests
all of us in different ways we're all
being tested in different ways let me tell
you something about the Palestinian people in particular
my parents lived the they lived the refugee
experience subhanallah you wouldn't know it if you
met my mother in the streets of the
United States you met my father, distinguished you
wouldn't know the pain and the tribulation that
he's been through but till today I heard
something from my father, we refuse to be
someone else's burden like I will not let
someone treat me that way, nor will I
accept that for myself and so that's a
mindset as well that Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala has tested all of us to rise
to the occasion based upon where we are
in terms of our circumstance and this is
a matter of faith I will not give
you a political analysis I'll give you a
faith analysis faith cannot be tasted unless that
fanaticism goes and we ask Allah to protect
all of us from it all of the
Muslims from it the disease of Asabiya the
disease of tribalism and all of its manifestations,
may Allah remove it from us because how
quickly does it lead to shirk and kufr,
may Allah remove it from us, may Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala purify our hearts and
make them firm upon faith and when we
say Allahumma izzal islama wal muslimeen oh Allah
give izzah to Islam and the Muslims how
can I say oh Allah give honor to
Islam and the Muslims and then humiliate another
Muslim while making that du'a what a
hypocritical du'a then that is so when
I say Allahumma izzal islama wal muslimeen I
mean all of the Muslims, I mean the
Palestinians I mean the Syrians I mean the
Somalis, I mean the Iraqis I mean everybody
when I say Allahumma izzal islama wal muslimeen
I'm including all of them, so make sure
that your du'a is with sidq your
supplication is with truthfulness and if I said
anything wrong or anything offensive then please do
not hold Ibn Khaldun responsible or anyone else
but I say this with love to all
of you here and respecting and honoring the
energy and the sincerity of the youth that
are here may Allah increase you in hirs,
in ikhlas, in sincerity, in amal in ilm
that is beneficial and in accepted good deeds
Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh Waalaikumussalam Jazakallah khair
for everything that you do I stumbled across
Yaqeen or like the page a few years
ago when I was in like the lowest
point in my life and like after Allah,
you were a guide and your lessons really
helped me so Allah yaj'ala fia mizan
hasanatik ya rab my question is how can
we be respectful yet also remain firm in
our opinions when we're talking to people who
are older than us, let's say like your
parents or your relatives and you're having a
discussion and you feel like it's not going
anywhere because they're like firm on their opinion
and at the same time you want to
express your thoughts but you feel like you're
arguing and you don't want to argue because
that's not like a good trait to have,
just responding back but at the same time
you want to make your point clear Jazakallah
khair first of all thank you for your
comment may Allah keep you firm upon faith
and reward you for sharing that I would
say to everyone here, by the way doing
tadabbur on the Quran is not something that
only scholars can do, to reflect on the
Quran to me the verses in surah Maryam
I believe verse 40 of surah Maryam but
that portion of surah Maryam where Ibrahim is
praised, is a manhaj, is a methodology of
communication like if you study those verses and
deeply contemplate those verses, it is the methodology
of how to communicate to people ...
...
Allah praises him and says verily he was
a siddiq a person of truth and a
prophet so the scholars say his siddq, his
truthfulness shines in the way he spoke to
his father when he said to his father
...
...
oh my dear beloved father why do you
worship that which doesn't hear you, see you
or benefit you in any way he reserved
all of his critique for the idol not
for his father ...
...
...
oh my dear father there is some knowledge
that came to me like the amount of
disqualifiers in this verse ...
I didn't acquire it, some knowledge came to
me some knowledge, not all knowledge, not I
know and you don't know some knowledge came
to me that happened to not come to
you ...
so follow me and I'll guide you to
a straight way ...
...
oh my father don't worship the shaytan, verily
the shaytan is disobedient to the lord, he
didn't say you are ...
he said the shaytan is disobedient but then
he says ...
...
oh my father I am afraid, I'm afraid
for you ...
...
that punishment would come to you from the
most merciful and so you'll be a companion
of the shaytan, so I love you I
care about you, I'm not saying this to
prove you wrong or to put you down,
I'm saying this out of love for you
lesson number one you can never use too
many disclaimers and respectful phrases when you're talking
to your elders honor them with every title
they have put yourself down as much as
you can so that they can hear the
message that you're trying to give to them,
but remove the ego as much as you
can, lesson number two ...
nothing will benefit the heart unless it comes
from the heart, they need to know that
it's coming from your heart and rarely will
you speak to someone that you love and
that loves you and show them vulnerability and
hesitation like I really didn't want to have
this conversation because I love you and honor
you so much and please forgive me for
even saying this to you but I'm just
inquiring because I care about you rarely will
that be met with complete arrogance sometimes however
as in the case of Ibrahim A.S.
father what did he say?
...
I mean that's the worst response that you
could possibly get, who do you think you
are?
get out of my face I'm going to
kill you, I mean that's the paraphrasing, I
mean that's the worst that it gets so
I mean sometimes it's not going to work
because their hearts are closed but I can
tell you that rarely are we as good
as Ibrahim A.S. in our communication and
never are our parents or our elders as
bad as Ibrahim A.S. father in these
verses and so take that communication take that
approach of humility inshaAllah ta'ala and if
it doesn't work then try to find another
way and keep making du'a because Ibrahim
A.S. says that I will make du
'a for you ...
I'm going to go make du'a for
you, so even though you just threw me
out I'm still praying for you, I love
you and I'm making du'a for you
so I'll make du'a to Allah to
soften your heart in the process so let
people know that you're praying for them and
that you show that care and concern for
them wallahu ta'ala alam now we would
like to welcome Enes Yalman the director of
international office at Ibn Haldun University to give
his closing remarks salam alaikum don't expect to
tell anything about this heart to heart words
but I think that leadership is a is
a very visionary thing and Omar Sheikh Omar
is a truly leader that whatever he said
today entered our hearts from heart to heart
thank you very much we are as Ibn
Haldun University are very honored to host the
first yaqeen program today and I'm sure that
yaqeen kun ala yaqeen that yaqeen is expanding
and Turkey inshallah will be the best place
also to expand inshallah I don't want to
use more the time but I have one
request, last request that if that is ok
for you to have a short du'a
from you to close the program Jazakum Allah
khair brother Enes may Allah bless you and
reward you and by the way please make
du'a for brother Enes and give him
a round of applause as well because none
of this is possible without him so we're
very grateful to him and to everyone at
Ibn Haldun for hosting us today Arabic
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