Omar Suleiman – Re-Humanizing The De-Humanized

Omar Suleiman
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AI: Summary ©

The speakers discuss the importance of fearing God's guidance and protecting people's lives in the face of abuse. They also talk about the dehumanization of the single woman and the lack of records on her name. The stories of Anne Frank and Hamza reflect on the struggles of Muslim countries and the importance of highlighting the importance of stories in one's experiences. The speakers stress the importance of avoiding political prisoners and finding a connection to a political prison group.

AI: Summary ©

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			Allah is the Greatest, I bear witness that
		
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			there is none worthy of worship except Allah
		
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			I bear witness that there is none worthy
		
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			of worship except Allah I bear witness
		
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			that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah
		
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			I bear witness that Muhammad is
		
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			the Messenger of Allah Come
		
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			to Prayer Allah
		
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			is the Greatest, Allah is the Greatest, there
		
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			is none worthy of worship except Allah In
		
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			the name of Allah, the most Beneficent, the
		
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			most Merciful We praise Allah, we seek His
		
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			help, we seek His forgiveness, we seek His
		
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			guidance We believe in Him, we put our
		
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			trust in Him and we seek refuge in
		
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			Allah from the evil of our souls and
		
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			from the badness of our deeds Whoever Allah
		
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			guides, no one is misguided, and whoever He
		
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			misguides, no one is guided I bear witness
		
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			that there is none worthy of worship except
		
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			Allah His is the kingdom and the praise,
		
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			He gives life and death, and He is
		
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			Ever-Living, Never-Dying In His hand is
		
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			all that is good, and He has power
		
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			over all things I bear witness that Muhammad
		
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			is His servant, His Messenger, His Chosen One,
		
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			and His Friend He fulfilled the trust, and
		
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			conveyed the message, and advised the Ummah, and
		
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			exposed the darkness And He left us on
		
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			the white path, its night is like its
		
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			day, nothing escapes it except destruction So upon
		
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			Him is the best prayer, and the completion
		
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			of submission And upon His family and companions,
		
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			and those who wait for His Sunnah until
		
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			the Day of Judgment O Allah, make us
		
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			of them, and of those who believe, and
		
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			do righteous deeds, and associate with the truth,
		
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			and associate with patience I believe in the
		
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			Lord of the worlds, and I advise you
		
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			and myself to fear Allah And He has
		
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			commanded us with the truth, and said, O
		
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			you who believe, fear Allah as He should
		
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			be feared, and you will not die except
		
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			as Muslims O you people, fear your Lord,
		
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			Who created you from one soul, and created
		
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			from it its wife, and spread among them
		
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			many men and women And fear Allah, with
		
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			whom you ask, and the wombs.
		
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			Indeed, Allah has been a watcher over you
		
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			O you who believe, fear Allah and say
		
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			a firm word that will amend your deeds
		
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			and forgive your sins
		
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			And
		
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			whosoever obeys Allah and His Messenger, he has
		
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			certainly attained a great triumph Allah SWT says
		
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			in the Qur'an, لَقَدْ جَاءَكُمْ رَسُولٌ مِّنْ
		
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			أَنفُسِكُمْ عَزِيزٌ عَلَيْهِ مَا عَنِتْتُمْ حَرِيصٌ عَلَيْكُمْ بِالْمُؤْمِنِينَ
		
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			رَؤُوفٌ رَحِيمٌ That verily there has come to
		
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			you a Messenger from amongst yourselves You know
		
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			Him, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, and He knows you
		
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			He is fully human, Alayhi Salatu Wasallam, yet
		
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			fully Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam He feels pain
		
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			that you feel and more He cares about
		
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			your well-being And He is especially concerned
		
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			over you, Alayhi Salatu Wasallam And kind and
		
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			merciful to the believers I want to come
		
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			back to this ayah at the end of
		
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			the khutbah, bi-idhnillahi ta'ala And I
		
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			actually want to begin with a quote that
		
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			The lawyer for Dr. Afia Siddiqi, may Allah
		
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			Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la free her
		
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			from captivity and all of those who are
		
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			wrongly held, Allahumma Ameen That Clive Smith, her
		
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			lawyer, likes to share And it's a quote
		
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			that gets attributed to Stalin As a tyrant
		
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			who sort of understood the playbook, the psychology
		
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			of torture and the psychology of tyranny From
		
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			the side of the tyrant, even though there
		
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			isn't a way to really pin down the
		
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			author of this quote But it makes a
		
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			lot of sense and I want you to
		
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			ponder over it A single death is a
		
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			tragedy A million deaths is a statistic A
		
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			single death is a tragedy A million deaths
		
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			is a statistic Now from the perspective of
		
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			the oppressor, from the perspective of the tyrant
		
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			That means that if you kill too many
		
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			for them to keep up with Then they'll
		
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			never be able to grab on to a
		
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			story Because it'll just be a number And
		
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			if I were to tell you a year
		
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			ago That we'd be looking at the number
		
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			200,000 From the people of Gaza, may
		
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			Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la accept
		
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			all of their dead as shuhada And may
		
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			Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la preserve
		
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			and protect the living Cure them, heal them
		
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			and give them victory, Allahumma Ameen The number
		
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			200,000 is overwhelming 186,000 is what
		
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			was quoted in the medical journal a couple
		
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			of months ago How is that even possible?
		
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			From the perspective of the oppressor and from
		
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			the tyrant If you kill too many for
		
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			the living to keep up with If you
		
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			imprison too many Then they won't be able
		
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			to attach themselves emotionally to a single story
		
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			Because another story will show up and quickly
		
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			divert their attention In the case of the
		
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			people of Gaza Another child whose head is
		
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			blown off Another disgusting scene And the end
		
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			result of that is apathy Or becoming numb
		
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			to the numbers Or desensitized But the point
		
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			is that it just becomes a number And
		
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			oppressors understand that psychology very well A single
		
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			death is a tragedy A million deaths is
		
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			a statistic Think about Muhammad al-Durra 24
		
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			years ago May Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta
		
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			-A'la have mercy on him And what
		
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			that single image did for us And think
		
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			about how many Muhammad al-Durras there have
		
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			been since Muhammad al-Durra That you can't
		
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			name Because a single death is a tragedy
		
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			A million deaths is a statistic Clive Smith
		
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			who is the attorney for Afia as we
		
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			said Who likes to share this quote Often
		
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			talks about the dehumanization of the single woman
		
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			Who is rightfully called by some the most
		
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			wronged woman on the planet Her number in
		
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			prison is 90279054 90279054 When you're in prison
		
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			that's the number that you hear that represents
		
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			you You actually have to learn your number
		
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			Because you will no longer be called by
		
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			your name when you're in prison And so
		
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			you can imagine that for the last 14
		
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			years And we're marking the anniversary this week
		
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			And that's why there's a protest this Sunday
		
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			This week and lawsuits being filed on her
		
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			behalf This week because we have not forgotten
		
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			her That Afia with everything that has happened
		
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			to her Has to know that when you
		
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			hear in prison 90279054 That means you, you're
		
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			no longer Afia You're a number Malcolm X
		
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			al-Hajj Malik al-Shabazz rahimahullah Wrote in
		
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			his autobiography in the chapter Satan Speaking about
		
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			the satanic system that he was in He
		
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			actually writes I can't remember any of my
		
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			prison numbers That seems surprising even after the
		
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			dozen years since I have been out of
		
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			prison Because your number in prison becomes a
		
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			part of you You never heard your name
		
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			only your number On all your clothing every
		
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			item was your number Stenciled, it grew stenciled
		
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			on your brain You're a number You become
		
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			a statistic Our dead are a statistic Our
		
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			imprisoned are a statistic You're a number not
		
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			a name You're a statistic not a story
		
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			That is one of the peak ways in
		
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			which you have dehumanization I just came back
		
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			from Washington DC There was supposed to be
		
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			a hearing on Wadi al-Fayoumi Imagine a
		
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			6 year old American boy Just remove the
		
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			Palestinian part A 6 year old American boy
		
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			That was stabbed 26 times to death His
		
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			mother sitting in the front row She was
		
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			stabbed 12 times and strangled Miraculously alive And
		
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			you imagine that your cold heartless politicians Could
		
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			not even look at her Could not even
		
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			say We're sorry for your tragedy Before they
		
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			jumped into their APAC talking points Immediately she
		
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			doesn't exist It became a hearing on anti
		
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			-Semitism on college campuses And the intifada and
		
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			all of that That's what it became immediately
		
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			Because you're not supposed to be a story
		
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			You're not supposed to have a name You're
		
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			not supposed to have a memory Your name
		
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			can't be mentioned Because otherwise people just might
		
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			connect to you as a human being So
		
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			we have to keep you a number Because
		
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			numbers are cold Cruel And they represent exactly
		
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			what they think about us SubhanAllah if you
		
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			look in this country Many of us grew
		
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			up reading in school As required reading The
		
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			diary of Anne Frank Some of you might
		
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			remember The diary of Anne Frank in your
		
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			schools Over 30 million copies Were sold Of
		
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			the diary of Anne Frank It's been translated
		
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			into over 70 languages It's required reading in
		
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			most public schools And it's considered by the
		
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			way The most preserved document in Holocaust history
		
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			When you say Anne Frank It has so
		
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			much more meaning Than 6 million Or 1
		
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			million children Or the statistics that are thrown
		
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			out About the Holocaust Because the single connection
		
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			That you're allowed to develop To a human
		
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			story Is that much more reshaping Where is
		
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			our Anne Frank?
		
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			Is it Wadi' Is it Hind Rajab Shot
		
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			over 300 times in a car And we
		
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			have the instruments To preserve the legacy of
		
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			a person The story of a person That
		
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			are far greater now Than what existed 60
		
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			years ago You have her phone call Begging
		
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			for her life You have the images of
		
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			the car That she was shot in You
		
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			have all of this historical documentation But they
		
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			fear that story Because one story Of Hind
		
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			Rajab Is enough to reshape If it's told
		
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			right and told enough Is enough to reshape
		
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			The narrative far more than saying 200,000
		
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			Or trying to come back with statistics When
		
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			this genocide Is brought up in your face
		
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			If you go back down memory lane In
		
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			this country And you read the history of
		
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			the media Instrumentalization Of Elian Gonzalez Some of
		
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			you might remember In 1999 the story of
		
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			the Cuban boy Being whisked away By an
		
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			American soldier Dominates the international media cycle It
		
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			was the single Most observed story In the
		
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			entire world The story of a six year
		
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			old boy And it was so compelling That
		
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			it not only colored American-Cuban Relations for
		
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			most Americans But some political historians even say
		
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			That it was a major factor In swinging
		
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			the election to George W.
		
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			Bush In the year 2000 One story Why?
		
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			Because the story was told right By enough
		
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			people Put in front of people And a
		
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			narrative Was crafted out of that story While
		
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			we continue To become numbers Numbers Numbers Statistics
		
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			Statistics Not a single story from the Iraq
		
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			war Not a single name Not a single
		
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			name of a drone Victim In Yemen or
		
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			Afghanistan Not a single name Why?
		
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			And how do we Start to tell the
		
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			stories right And not wait For them to
		
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			humanize us But to humanize our own I
		
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			want us to consider this from The way
		
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			that we read our own History as Muslims
		
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			And the natural psychology of this If you
		
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			were to speak To the average Muslim and
		
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			to bring up The battle of Uhud How
		
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			many people were martyred On the day of
		
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			Uhud from the Muslims You would hear 70,
		
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			72, 73 But if you were to ask
		
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			the average Muslim Who was martyred On the
		
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			day of Uhud Naturally The only name for
		
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			most Muslims that would come up Is Hamza
		
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			radiyaAllahu ta'ala Anha A story that we
		
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			connected with Maybe Hamza and Musab radiyaAllahu ta
		
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			'ala Anha And if you were to ask
		
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			them To name more than Hamza and Musab
		
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			Most people could not go past those two
		
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			Stories because that's how we are As people
		
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			We connect to someone When we know how
		
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			they got there Before they were killed And
		
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			that's us as Muslims And when you think
		
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			about The way the Quran tells us the
		
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			story Of the oppression of Bani Israel By
		
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			Firaun through Musa radiyaAllahu ta'ala Anha We
		
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			connect to Musa radiyaAllahu ta'ala Anha The
		
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			story of Sabr through Ayub radiyaAllahu ta'ala
		
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			Anha We connect to that story of Ayub
		
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			radiyaAllahu ta'ala Anha Yusuf radiyaAllahu ta'ala
		
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			Anha And that story of Musa radiyaAllahu ta
		
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			'ala Anha Immediately juggles certain thoughts in your
		
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			mind Immediately invokes Certain sentiments Why?
		
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			Because that's who we are And you wonder
		
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			why they're trying to make sure That the
		
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			names like Bisan And Waal And Mu'taz And
		
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			all of these names that are becoming popularized
		
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			now Are not present And you wonder why
		
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			they're trying to make sure That the stories
		
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			of Hind Rajab And Wadi Al-Fayyumi And
		
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			all of these victims Of an American-Israeli
		
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			genocide Are not being told And you wonder
		
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			why there's complete apathy In regards to something
		
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			like Al-Sudan And the crisis in Al
		
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			-Sudan SubhanAllah If you were just to familiarize
		
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			yourself With one person We have brothers and
		
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			sisters In our masjid, in our community Who
		
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			have relatives That have been directly impacted You
		
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			tell the story of a single woman And
		
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			subhanAllah Just as an exercise If I was
		
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			to start here and to quote statistics About
		
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			what's happening to our brothers and sisters In
		
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			Sudan You'd likely forget it by Asr But
		
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			I tell you one story Of a sister
		
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			named Rawdah Who is 40 years old 9
		
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			months pregnant And displaced and every single member
		
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			Of her family was killed And because of
		
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			the rapid displacement in Sudan Going from place
		
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			to place Just talks about how she had
		
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			to carry Her child, 9 months pregnant At
		
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			the age of 40 and put another kid
		
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			On her back And walk from place to
		
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			place You might remember that May Allah subhanahu
		
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			wa ta'ala Be with our brothers and
		
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			sisters In Al-Sudan, Allahumma ameen And may
		
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			Allah forgive us for the global apathy In
		
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			regards to our brothers and sisters In Al
		
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			-Sudan, Allahumma ameen That's the point dear brothers
		
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			and sisters So what does this mean for
		
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			us at a practical level?
		
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			Number one No one is going to learn
		
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			and tell our stories Other than us It's
		
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			important for us To constantly highlight In whatever
		
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			space that you are in In whatever profession
		
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			you are in If you're a doctor, find
		
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			the names Of the doctors that have been
		
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			killed Tell the stories of those doctors If
		
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			you are someone in education Tell the stories
		
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			of the university professors That have been killed
		
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			And their lives as educators before they were
		
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			murdered Whatever space you are in Whatever space
		
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			you occupy Amplify these stories Lend your voice
		
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			to these stories Because these are the only
		
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			things That are going to stick with people
		
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			Otherwise we give in to the cold statistics
		
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			That have been used to dehumanize us as
		
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			a community So that's number one Number two
		
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			There's a chance to make this so much
		
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			more real For all of us when you
		
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			think about the refugees From all of these
		
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			places That are already here in our backyard
		
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			SubhanAllah It's devastating when you think about How
		
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			every single Refugee organization struggles Not just to
		
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			get donations But to get volunteers Every single
		
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			Refugee organization In Dallas, we have one of
		
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			the largest Muslim Communities in the country Struggles
		
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			to get volunteers Struggles to keep the attention
		
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			On sets of refugees From every single cause
		
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			that was once Popularized for the Muslims Some
		
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			of them you have thousands of refugees From
		
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			a single country in your backyard And they've
		
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			completely Been forgotten Do you understand the impact
		
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			that it would have On them if more
		
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			of us just volunteered With them, just spent
		
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			some time Speaking to them There are a
		
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			multitude of these organizations saying Hey what can
		
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			I do, can I bring my family On
		
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			the weekend, can we do something To just
		
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			take a family out Yes, touch one family,
		
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			take them out Can we just sponsor one
		
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			Family, there are now at this point Over
		
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			50 families from Gaza In the United States
		
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			that have made it out For some sort
		
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			of medical treatment It's not just receiving them
		
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			in the airport For a celebration It's following
		
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			up Afterwards and doing The research to find
		
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			out which organizations Are working with those refugees
		
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			And getting yourself involved And developing a personal
		
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			connection With these people And it might be
		
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			through that single connection That you develop a
		
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			greater Attachment to that cause Because you can
		
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			see yourself in the victim Of that cause
		
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			And so find out How you can support
		
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			your local Refugee organizations How you can actually
		
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			make a connection Let your kids be on
		
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			a first name basis With children that are
		
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			their age That have been expelled from those
		
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			same places You get on a first name
		
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			basis With people that are in that situation
		
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			And that will reshape things for you Far
		
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			more than the statistics And the third thing
		
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			One of the saddest realities of our community
		
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			Is the abandonment of political prisoners We have
		
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			no one to blame but ourselves For the
		
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			abandonment of political prisoners In our community We
		
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			get scared, we shy away from them Because
		
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			no one wants to be associated With someone
		
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			who's been associated With a group like ISIS
		
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			or Al-Qaeda No one wants to be
		
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			associated In this climate With a prisoner who
		
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			has been stained And falsely tainted with those
		
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			types of charges No one wants that to
		
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			show up On a watch list And then
		
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			be used against them by their employer I
		
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			get it, it's dangerous But we have to
		
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			remember Those political prisoners Who are in prison
		
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			Are in prison because they were political Meaning
		
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			what?
		
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			Their conscience refused them To ignore the plight
		
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			Of millions of other people What does it
		
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			say about us As a community When we
		
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			now ignore their plight So someone says Hey
		
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			look, you know, Dr. Afia Kind of a
		
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			lost cause, right?
		
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			HLF-5, kind of a lost cause, right?
		
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			These are kind of lost now Imam Jamil,
		
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			lost cause, right?
		
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			I want you to know That Clive mentioned
		
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			After his last visit with Afia Last week,
		
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			that she knows When the protests are there
		
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			That to me is enough The letters that
		
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			are written to these prisoners Just letters of
		
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			compassion and solidarity That's all How long does
		
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			it take you to write a letter To
		
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			a political prisoner Or to make a call
		
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			To someone's office Just to lend your voice
		
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			When the Prophet ﷺ says وَلَأِنْ أَمْشِيَ مَعْ
		
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			أَخِي فِي حَاجَةٍ For me to walk with
		
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			my brother in need Is more beloved to
		
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			me Than so many of The actions that
		
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			we know Than tahajjud or itikaf In the
		
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			masjid of the Prophet ﷺ It doesn't take
		
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			much To do those things But you avoid
		
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			Becoming complicit In the system that turns them
		
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			into Casualty counts, numbers Abandoned, prisoners And the
		
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			last thing I remind us with You are
		
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			not a number to your lord The beauty
		
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			that we have In our relationship with Allah
		
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			Subhanahu wa ta'ala is that Allah azawajal
		
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			Gives each and every single one of us
		
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			Access to him وَإِذَا سَأَلَكَ عِبَادِي عَنِّي فَإِنِّي
		
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			قَرِيبُ When my servant asks you about me
		
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			I am close to him أُجِيبُ دَعْوَةَ دَاعِي
		
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			إِذَا دَعَانُ Allah azawajal responds to the call
		
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			of the caller Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
		
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			Responds to the individual Allah subhanahu wa ta
		
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			'ala does not respond Only to a priest
		
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			class, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala Does not
		
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			respond only to political elites Every single person
		
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			has access to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala,
		
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			every Muslim Every believer and has the potential
		
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			To become more sacred in the sight of
		
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			Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala Than the Kaaba
		
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			or Al-Masjid al-Aqsa even if they
		
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			get lost in the crowd That's something that
		
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			we revel in That we're not just numbers
		
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			to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala We're not
		
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			numbers to our Prophet salallahu alayhi wa salam
		
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			لَقَدْ جَاءَكُمْ رَسُولٌ مِّنْ أَنفُسِكُمْ عَزِيزٌ عَلَيْهِمَا عَنِتُمْ
		
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			حَرِيصٌ عَلَيْكُمْ بِالْمُؤْمِنِينَ رَؤُوفٌ رَحِيمٌ He was deeply
		
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			concerned For his Ummah salallahu alayhi wa salam
		
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			Those that were immediately in front of him
		
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			And those that were distant from him Those
		
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			that lived in his time And those that
		
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			lived after him Salallahu alayhi wa salam He
		
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			had a deep concern and connection For every
		
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			single person In this Ummah If we are
		
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			not numbers to Allah and his Messenger Salallahu
		
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			alayhi wa salam Then how do we let
		
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			our brothers and sisters Become numbers to us
		
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			May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala be with
		
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			All of our brothers and sisters In Palestine
		
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			and in Yemen And in Sudan and in
		
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			every Single place where they struggle May Allah
		
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			subhanahu wa ta'ala be with them May
		
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			Allah azawajal grant them victory May Allah subhanahu
		
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			wa ta'ala turn Us towards the efforts
		
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			that are productive For them, may Allah subhanahu
		
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			wa ta'ala Allow us all to be
		
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			brought back to him As a result of
		
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			these global events May Allah azawajal increase us
		
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			all in righteousness And may Allah subhanahu wa
		
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			ta'ala protect us From the wickedness that
		
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			brings about harm On our brothers and sisters
		
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			Allahumma ameen Dear
		
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			brothers and sisters, it is of course a
		
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			call to Dua, dua for your brothers and
		
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			sisters All over, you're following the news In
		
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			Palestine, you're following the news in Lebanon You're
		
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			following the news in Sudan And your brothers
		
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			and sisters That are local, all I'm asking
		
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			you Is don't wait for Juma khutbah Don't
		
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			wait for someone to tell you what's happening
		
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			Do your best to find out what's happening
		
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			If you're interested enough inshaAllah ta'ala You
		
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			will find those pathways We ask Allah subhanahu
		
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			wa ta'ala to guide us to those
		
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			pathways Allahumma ameen Arabic
		
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			Arabic Arabic Arabic
		
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			Arabic Arabic Arabic Arabic Arabic Arabic
		
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			Arabic Arabic Arabic Arabic Arabic
		
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			Arabic