Omar Suleiman – Social Justice Ep 16

			halaqa is going to be building off of what we talked about last week. And it deals with this notion
of strength. Now I know that it's been, you know, seems like an eternity since we covered the
ahaadeeth. On seeking leadership and seeking power. And what that means, but particularly this idea
of showing strength, displaying strength, even when you're vulnerable, displaying strength, showing
strength, as a community, and seeking strength, even when you are vulnerable, actually covering up
your vulnerabilities and insisting on strength, insisting on power. Now, what do I mean by that
there is a very famous Hadith where the Prophet sallallahu wasallam, he said that the strong
		

			believer is more beloved to Allah subhanaw taala than the weak believer. So there is a concept of
strength being preferred. There's also the Hadith of the Prophet sallallahu wasallam, Alexander
earlier hyaluronan. And the other side of law, the upper hand is better than the lower hand and the
other one, the upper hand is the giving hand. And on the other similar, the lower hand is the
receiving hand. So the prophets lie Selim giving preference to the upper hand to the higher hand to
the giving him this idea of seeking out financial strength, physical strength, and what mineral
karoui there is a physical strength to that there is also an emotional and mental strength to that,
		

			if you think about what it took to push the Sahaba through all of the years of disappointment that
they faced there all of the hardships that they faced and the persecution, how does a man like I
modeled the hospital, the Palatine Hill, who watched both of his parents slaughtered in front of
him, rise up and remain motivated, despite what he has seen. So there's, you know, a strength that
displays itself in renewed motivation, not you know, refusing to despair. There is strength in in
influence. You know, I don't know if any of you remember that the hope I gave after the passing of
Muhammad Ali Rahim, Allah to Allah, where I mentioned that, you know, some of the Messiah, some of
		

			the scholars said that a lot of law, that there should be Genesis prayed for him all over the Muslim
world. There were scholars in the Muslim world that were saying this. And some people said, Well,
why because you know, he's, there are scholars that passed away that are more religious, religious
in the sense of their people of knowledge and things of that sort. But the only person the Prophet
slicin ever prayed a lot to the heart and for salah and alive janaza prayer
		

			for without being present was no joshy was the ruler of Abyssinia even though the biography of
Najafi suggests that he was a barely practicing Muslim, but the influence and the good he brought to
Islam with his strength made him so beloved that jabril came to the profit slice of them the day
that he died 1000s of miles away, and so that you should gather and you should pray janazah for him,
even though he is not present amongst you. So Mohammed Ali Rahim Allah, for example, you know, what
was he able to do for Islam? What was he able to do for the Muslims with his strength and with his
influence one sentence from Mohammed it is more effective than 1000 members, right than 1000
		

			pulpits, of Imams, you know, a man speaking. So there's the strength of influence. So this idea of
strength, and displaying strength, displaying resilience, and not showing your vulnerabilities. So,
you know, recognizing that people respect a sense of strength and a sense of resilience. So which ID
are we covering here to really start off this discussion? It's actually the very famous Hadith and
it comes in two narrations. One is Allah, Islam, Islam, be a hurdler amaray Allah, give victory to
Islam for one of the two armors The other one is Allah maricel Islam be a habit or morainic Allah
give victory to Islam to the more beloved of the two Omar's to you. This Hadith you've heard it many
		

			times probably because we speak about a very famous man through this hadith and that is honorable
hobble the alongside and who's the other Omar here?
		

			Abuja Ahmed Abu Hassan Ahmed Nishan. Now why did the prophets lie Selim make your app for one of
these two people to become Muslim, and he made their app for this when the Muslims were oppressed.
He made the app for this when Muslims were unable to proclaim their Islam publicly. And he made
their app for two of the most hostile people to Islam. And the Prophet slicin. I'm asked a lot to
guide the more beloved of them, the more beloved of them to him Now obviously, this is after they
accept Dean that allows pelletized sees hide some goodness in some people. So even while they're in
a state of rebellion, Allah knows what they're capable of and that their ending will be good. And
		

			that's why the you know, the prophets lie Selim. Though sometimes he cursed people. Sometimes he
invoked curses on people. For the most part the habit of the prophets. lysozyme was to pray for
guidance.
		

			Rather than to pray for destruction, because there's still a potential of good, but why these two
men? Why them in particular? Now a lot of times people
		

			confuse Abu lahab and Abu Jihad
		

			who was closer to the Prophet slice I'm Abdullah Abu Jihad
		

			will not have Bula Havas uncle Abu lahab slaughtered animals to celebrate his birth Abu lahab two of
the sons of Abu lahab were engaged to two daughters of the Prophet sallallahu wasallam. Abu lahab
was his neighbor, Abu lahab was far closer to the profit slice and more beloved to the Prophet slice
lm. Then Abu Jihad are honoring her poem,
		

			but the Prophet sallallahu wasallam and he was a man of influence. He was a man of great strength
and influence, but the prophets lie sometimes saw something very particular about Ahmed Ibrahim
Sham, and I'm gonna hop that there is something about those two men that their qualities can be used
for the sake of Islam. So let's start with Abuja, Abuja. By the way a lot of people don't know this,
his sister was the mother of honorable hapa. So Buddha has actually almost caught his maternal
uncle. He was about the age of the Prophet slice alum Amaro de la Han, who was in his 20s when he
accepted Islam. So that whole thing the story of the people gathering behind a whole lot was 25 or
		

			26 years old, young men, Abuja had on the other hand, was senior, he was closer to the profit slice
of an age, maybe a year or two younger than him, and he's almost uncle, about gehele comes from a
famous tribe and it was a tribe that would compete with benu Hashem and that was a Muslim. ban on
Muslim. So benoa zoom and bento Hashem, we're always in competition for the royalty or for the elite
status of Mecca. Amaro de la annual his father was some banner ad but of course he has affiliation
to bento magazine because his mother is the sister of Abuja. So there's there's possibly that to
bring to get to bring someone from the opposing tribe that the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam,
		

			wishes to show that this is not a religion of general Hashem. This is not a religion of venerable
enough. This is a religion of all people. And so the prophets lie some wished for someone powerful
from another tribe, particularly a competing tribe, to accept Islam because that would automatically
dispel what was common to the Arabs, that religion and practice and culture and superiority were all
based upon one's tribe. And also last why some wanted to shed that and you know, you don't need to
look further than the fact that the first false prophet
		

			was masala and Calvin will say them as a liar, the first false messenger to arrive in this oma who
caused great trauma and fitna to the oma. And what was his call? His singular call is that I'm from
bento hanifa. They're from Ben Ohashi.
		

			So there is a point to this, that there's something good about wanting someone from an opposing
tribe or rival tribe of influence to come to Islam, which would unite the people and bring them
together and show that Islam is not constricted to any tribe of Buddha. His nickname before a Buddha
was also What does anyone know?
		

			About heckum, the father of wisdom, he was a man who was extremely wise. He was a man of poetry. He
was a man that was learned that was literate. He was a man who had many you know, who had many
skills and qualities so he's he's a learned man and the prophets lie some like that about Abuja. And
that was unique. For that time. However, the Prophet slicin um, said that it's a sin to call him a
bill hacker actually said whoever calls him over to hack him, but he has stuff that Allah should
seek forgiveness from Allah subhanaw taala, because there is no wisdom, and there is no knowledge in
the way that he reacted to the message of Rasulullah sallallahu wasallam. So there's that concept,
		

			the father of wisdom, he was strong, he was the same stature as Alma, a huge, huge men in the Battle
of bed that when he died of the love and Massoud literally had to climb up a Buddha, like stand on
his chest. And Buddha had a sudden law kitamura concern when you're when
		

			you're climbing a huge mountain, you Shepherd of sheep, you know, he was prideful, even as he was
laying down, huge stature. So he's, he's strong, and mentally, he's a learned man. He's a person
from an opposing or the rival tribe. He's a person of influence. He's a person of physical strength.
He's He's someone who takes great pride in his people. He's also the greatest threat to the profit
slice of them.
		

			Hence, he earns the distinction. The Federal owner
		

			This oma is the Pharaoh of this oma, that, you know, if you think about all the characters that
existed from the enemies of the Prophet slice alone, to get the title, the Pharaoh of the oma,
that's, that says something about you but think about he murdered the first Muslims. He was the
first one to actually murder people that accepted Islam and he murdered them in the most horrific
way. So he was the first person to murder the Muslims for saying that he was the one that imposed
the boycott, on bento, Hashem and venerable palette. So he had the power to impose the boycott on
the prophets lie Selim and his families which led to the deaths of Khadija on the low anna and i
		

			will pile up on the suffering of the Muslims. And he was the one who plotted the assassination of
the Prophet sallallahu wasallam. There was a lot of evil under his belt. He's the one who riled up
the troops for better and who had the audacity when the prophets lie Selim was making do out on the
day of bandit Abuja had made a counter
		

			like he was he mocked the prophets lie Selim. So this is a man who, who contains many strong
qualities. He's a great threat. So the prophets lie Selim sees that this is a man that if he was to
become Muslim,
		

			imagine what he could do. Look at some of the peers of Abuja, college elite, when he became Muslim,
look what he did look at, look at us, while the Illa Juan what he did look at economic his son, what
he did all of them, you know, fought and strove for the sake of Allah subhanaw taala and did and
went on to do amazing things. So Buddha had had qualities had he used them for good, had he used
them for good, he would have been an amazing Muslim. And it shows you the heart of the prophets
lights on by the way, that the prophets lie Selim did not let the hatred that was being shown to him
by Abuja had stopped him from making draft for his guidance, because he still saw at the end of the
		

			day, this would be beneficial to the public and to society, and to the dean if he was to come and
become a Muslim. So he didn't let that hostility that was being shown to him by Abuja stop on top of
the law and similar, right, very smart, very wise, very learned, physically very strong. He was a
little bit more raw than Abuja, because he was younger than Abuja, but because of his strength, and
because of his pride, because of his skill, he, he ascended the ranks very quickly, but a long time
and has a lot of these qualities as well. He's the flagbearer of Ben Hardy, and his mother's from
bedroom zoom. And he's someone that everybody feared, so a lot of time and who was a feared man. And
		

			what happened the day that he became Muslim. The day he became Muslim, I beloved Mr. Little the
Allahu tada and who said that the Islam of Omar was there is it was honor, it was victory. It was
dignity. Why the Muslims used to be holed up in these little houses, you know, trying to you know,
these weak people that were slaves and former slaves and, and people without tribe and people that
belong to the lowest class and all the allow and who comes in, he becomes Muslim. He says, All of
you get behind me. They walk out proclaiming that Illallah Muhammadan rasul Allah, he goes to Abuja,
his house, knocks on the door and says, Hey, I want to let you know, become Muslim,
		

			and fights people. And even Massoud describes that day, the first day that Omar became Muslim. He
said that we went out before, like shortly after sunrise. And he said that the people jumped on
Amaro de la I know and what he laid them all out by Muslim. Like he fought them alone, one by one
through them all over the place. knocked him out. I mean, at the end of it, it was almost standing
and a bunch of people laying down and a bunch of people that ran away. That's, that's strength.
That's honor, that's Amaro a lot of time. All right. And then, of that strength meant something to
us, and it only took one, it only took one. So Pamela is awakening, it meant something to the weak
		

			to the poor. To those that didn't have tribes that didn't have the status of armor that they could
literally hide behind him. They could literally hide behind him and Amato the law and who would take
take care of the people that would stomp on them and burn them and whip them. They stood behind the
armor, but armor strength after Islam was combined with humility that was unprecedented.
		

			So for example, this proud strong men, what it used to call Bilaal, when the Allahu tada animal he
used to humble himself to belong. And he used to say our master who was freed by our master biller
was our master who was freed by our master because of Wilbekin all the allowance add on who freed
him, he would humble himself to have been Miss route. You know, he would
		

			literally have to get on his knees, to be face to face to be II with some of these people. But
somehow this was the humility of alma tained his power, attained his strength so he only exerted it
for good but the prophets lie some of them making up for that shows you something, it tells you
something about how the messenger ad slot was set up views, strength, and what was almost motto, you
know, all model the law and when he came in to Islam, he said, Wait a minute, aren't we on truth?
What are we hiding for? Right, and sometimes that led him to mistakes as well. Because on the Treaty
of the day via the law 100%, less than half were on the truth. They're on falsehood, let's go fight.
		

			But the point is, is that almost all the alojamento always saw this he had this great sense of
pride. We're on the truth, we don't have anything to shy away from and there is a
		

			that Amato the allowance is
		

			made, and it's a very, very, very powerful, it's actually really hard to translate. But he said
Allahumma inni escuela alayka, Hamza thika what Zelda till facha Allah in the squat, illegal arms
are thicker with gelatin.
		

			Which means it's a hard thing to translate. I know we we've got some people that would make an
attempt. But it means
		

			a lot I complained to you of the incompetence or the weakness of the of the trustworthy people, of
people that are people a fuckup people have truth, I complained to you of their incompetence to
their weakness, which
		

			is, is the the the strength of the wicked, that a wicked person is proud. And a person upon truth is
either weak or incompetent and incapable. Abs is of course, a sense of being incapable. So I'm gonna
hold the alarm on who did not feel like we should ever feel weak, or we should ever feel incapable,
no matter what our circumstances are. And he and he wanted that to show itself in every in every
context and he himself is the greatest embodiment of and the prophets lie some saw great good. And
the coming of Islam to Islam of our model, the Allahu tadhana. So the appearance of strength,
showing strength, showing power. There are many different examples of this. You know, in the Battle
		

			of
		

			Abu Jana on the allowance, Iran home, he came out and he was struggling.
		

			He was struggling, he was showing off his his moves. And the Sahaba felt like it was it was it was
arrogance. It was boasting, a lot of people are looking outwards agenda like the prophets lie. Selim
can't be happy with this. He had his red bandana on he was out there showing off taunting the enemy.
He literally was struggling. And the prophet SAW Allah hardy who was fellow he said that Allah lodes
Allah hates this type of struggling, except in these circumstances.
		

			So right now it's all good.
		

			Allah subhanaw taala does not like this type of behavior that type of, of showing off in a way and,
and taunting and boasting except in the circumstances that Abu Jana was basically showing the enemy
we're not afraid. We're not scared of you. Right. And that's something that you know, Xavier do a
lot of there is a lot of stretching, you got to calm down with the stretching.
		

			But but that's something that's very powerful that the prophets I seldom appreciated that and there
is a puranic precedent to that as well. What does the law say? What do thou must apartamento you
know, that doesn't mean fight them. It means into law, Mr. bartleman Chua strike fear by showing
strength, it's talking about in the context of battle, show them your power, show them your
strength, show them that you're not afraid, line up in a way that shows that would intimidate them,
you know, literally means intimidate them. And in these situations, obviously in battle, you don't
want to be weak. So as humble these Muslims who were standing up at night, making their you know,
		

			asking a lot for victory that were so humble. And some of them had, you know, like these, these
excuses for swords to fight with. Or when they stood in battle, they stood with their best clothes,
they stood with pride. They look like they were ready. And they were completely unafraid. And that
was something that Allah subhanaw taala prays, there's one incident that took place actually was
going to do a lecture at ICANN. This is where my knife to change my my speech.
		

			Just because I felt like this was such a powerful incident that took place in the Battle of qadisiya
		

			with which was the Battle of the Persians. The Persian Empire used to employ elephants in battle. So
they literally would bring forth these elephants that would stomp on the opposing army.
		

			Okay,
		

			stomp on the opposing army. You know, and some had a lot with this, if you you can just imagine the
scene at that time, how do we deal with elephants that are trained to go mow down an army.
		

			So while the Muslims were trying to figure out their plan to deal with the elephants, and caracara
de la and one car car, abnormally great companion, a man who had who was a very strong man,
		

			he came up with this idea. He said, You know what, camella home theater nos nanofiller they have
elephants, we need to figure out a way to make elephants. Like what are you talking about? So he
took the camels, and he did he did something with the camels and dress them with something put
something you know, puts like some kind of structure to hold on top of them was the the hut that
used to carry people then put some sort of cloth on top of it. And he made the camels look huge. And
so when the camels came forth, the elephant's turned around and ran away, because they didn't know
what those things were.
		

			So they were terrified of these beasts, because we've never seen any piece like this before. And it
worked in battle. So this is what it is, you know, come out, just like they have elephants, we need
to make elephants, if as Muslims were feeling disadvantage, you know, and, you know, the irony is
not lost on the Republican and Democrat symbols here. But we need to come up with a parent, we need
to show an appearance of strength. And that was that's a methodology, it worked. They said, you
know, what, we just got to figure out a way to turn them away, to show that we're not intimidated.
So that appearance of strength also showed itself most predominantly there in,
		

			in battle. So, you know, strength is something that as we mentioned, has to be governed with
strength, first and foremost against yourself, to make sure that you yourself, do not become unjust.
That was the beauty of our model the allot of time and that his strength did not lead him to to a
place of to a place of arrogance, but instead it led him to humility, and he knew when to exert that
power and exert that strength and showing that strength and displaying a lack of vulnerability is a
manhunt. It's a methodology. What are some other contexts in America Rahim Allah, he thought he
talked about the Abba Shara. The aventura
		

			translation of the abishola would be flashy clothes I guess are the clouds of fame? The clouds of
power. Okay, so person where is distinguishing clouds? And in America Rahim Allah used to wear the
best clothes and he wanted imams as well. And this was also the way that he member hanifa Rahim
Allah remember hanifa not only used to wear the best clothes, and remember hanifa would buy clothes
for his students. He buy their shoes he buy their clothes. I'm not remember honey for not neither
nor will I buy you any shoes. Alright, just to make that very clear. But he used to buy clothes he
used to buy shoes he used to spend on his students because he had that much money because he was a
		

			merchant. Before he before he took the journey of knowledge. And after the mathematic Rahim Allah
was asked about the Abba Shara. This, this this, the look that he had the wearing of certain clothes
that indicated status. And he saw that it was important for the scholars to be respected. So to him,
he saw that it was important for the scholars to to be revered and to wear something that would
distinguish them. Of course, that didn't mean that they were to be arrogant that this has to come
with modesty. This doesn't justify extravagance. But it means something almost all the time on home,
raised the salaries of all government workers when he became the halifa. And the scholars, because
		

			he did not want them to have to be, I don't know, bribable is a word, all right. But he didn't want
people to bribe them. And so he wanted them to be well off and self sufficient so that they can
display a sense of dignity. When the scholars are beggars, it's going to lead to an opposite
extreme. Right? And we see the effects of that, by the way. All right. And so you know, how I'm not
gonna talk about which Muslim countries, but I've been in many Muslim countries where because the
Imams and because the scholars are so that there's they're so low in terms of their salary and they
pay, they can be bought, or that, you know, they're forced in a position of compromise. So the
		

			Prophet slicin wanted scholars and he wanted he moms and he wanted people that had responsibility to
be able to display some sort of some sort of self sufficiency, not to become extravagant not to, not
to become you know, businessmen, but to be independent. And that that was an important part of the
way that these people used to think.
		

			And you know, you think about and this is actually something very powerful of the loving Latika,
Rahim Allah
		

			who was a great scholar, one of the greatest
		

			of the generations following the companions of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, and he was
extremely wealthy, because of what he used to do before he became a scholar. And he continued being
a merchant, even after he became a scholar. And because of that, you have Sophia even arena, Sophia
Othello authority, Amanda Blue selama, Amanda Museo alvalade have not yet married him earlier, these
are people that are of the greatest scholars of the oma. He used to spend on them. So basically, he
used to give them all their money. But they didn't have to worry about that so that they could worry
about doing the work of and he used to say, that Lola hat without matter, Jones, he said, if it
		

			wasn't for these six people, I would not work anymore. But I do it so that these people can focus
and that they can be dignified, and that they can be strong, and they can be independent, and they
can be respected in society.
		

			Likewise, on a community level as on a societal level, and I think I mentioned this already, but
just because it fits with the topic with Amata bin Abdulaziz Rahim Allah to Allah, when I'm going to
bin Abdulaziz assume that hereafter. And he, he wanted to strip the mustard, the massages have all
of the ornaments and all of the different structures and things that were there. And some of the
scholars told the omelet of knob disease, it's important for us to be on par with the churches and
the other places of worship that we're interacting with. So we don't have to be extravagant. We
don't have to get a chandelier from Turkey that has to be hand delivered or carpet that's made in
		

			muska to cover the entire messages. And you know, there's there are no spaces were okay. But at the
same time, this idea of having a place that looks respectable, having a place that that shows that
shows strength that shows dignity, that means something and that's why the Muslims took their
architecture very serious in history. And the scholars encouraged that, but the Muslims were
pioneers, they were architects of architecture, right? They showed the beauty of architecture, with
Islamic themes, because they understood this notion. How does this play out in many different
contexts, the prophets lie some some of the scholars mentioned in this idea of displaying strength,
		

			you know, and making use of strength No matter what, that the prophets lie, some of them had his he
had the swords that were made in Rome and Persia. So the prophets lie, some only had the best
swords, the prophet sly Salaam, made sure that that he equipped himself with whatever was at his
disposal, and that the prophets lie, some had the best of everything. So prestige can be harmful.
Strength can be harmful power can be harmful, all of these things can be harmful. But it is not for
the Muslims to put themselves in positions of vulnerability, or to display weakness and
vulnerability.
		

			Now I go back to Muhammad Ali, or him Allah, I think the most beautiful and dignified moment of
Muhammad Ali, it brings tears to my eyes, every time I watch it is when he's standing. And he and
he's This is during the anti war stance that he took when he refused to be drafted. And he responded
back. And he said, You're my opposer. When I want freedom, you're my enemy when I want freedom, and
he and he just completely shot it down. And here's this man that's bankrupt that had his titles
taken away from him that was being denigrated in the media that was about to go to prison. And you
would not know it, he showed strength, he showed that he was unfazed. Now his family knew his family
		

			knew that he was very hurt by everything that was going on, he was feeling very vulnerable. But he
continued to display that strength. And as Muslims, we should always we should try to display that
strength for the sake of those that are that are that are even more vulnerable than us and try to
uplift those that are vulnerable. And we should always seek the means of strength and the means that
would allow us to be in a position of influence in a position of power, where we can better adjust
policies where we can better move society. So I'm not sure if that was all coherent or not, I hope
it was. But this is the concept of racism, the concept of dignity and honor that we find from the
		

			Hadith of the Prophet slice Allah Allahu Allah is Islam. We have been writing like a lot give
victory to Islam honor to Islam with the with the more beloved of the two honors to allow them
questions.
		

			Yeah.
		

			Yeah, so the idea that Omar killed his daughter is a fabrication and it's a very famous fabrication.
		

			And it's one that a lot of people will say it's one that I used to say as well just because you hear
it in so many