Omar Suleiman – Social Justice – Episode 40 – Incremental Change vs. Radical Reform

Omar Suleiman
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The upcoming class on Islam covers topics like social justice, the presence of justice, and the importance of decency in enacting change. The Prophet peace be upon is a common thread throughout history, and the importance of faith in the Prophet's peace be upon his message is discussed. The importance of graduality in religion is emphasized, and the need for individuals to be smart and wise is emphasized. The importance of trust in God and not taking actions that lead to harm is emphasized, and the need for change and a better understanding of political and moral behavior is emphasized.

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			All right. So now when it comes to library cattle,
		
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			we now have the last bottle somewhere so lonely early, he was talking to Manuela,
		
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			I want to welcome you all to this final class. So we started this class in February of 2017, and
hamdulillah. Here we are now at the very final session of this class on the 40 Hadith on social
justice, I want to welcome all the guests, I think this is the largest number of guests we've had
for this class, I want to welcome all of you to our community, those of you that are joining us
today.
		
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			And I also want to remind everyone that there are 39 classes that precede this one. So if you feel
like there's a gap in something that I'm saying, then please go back and watch all 39 of the
previous lectures, and then I'm happy to address any gaps or concerns, you may feel there are, as a
result of that. This has been for me a personal journey,
		
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			you know, of just a really drawing deeper on some of these traditions, I pray that this will be a
series and shadow that will be used for years and years to come hopefully, and that people will be
able to draw benefit from and that will allow us to start drawing on some of these paradigms, I also
don't plan to stop exploring some of these subjects deeper from from from an Islamic perspective, as
time goes on.
		
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			Just because we cover this set of subjects is sort of like a primer on how we deal with social
change. And social justice as Muslims does not mean that there aren't many more topics, and much
more to be done with the topics that we've already covered. So this series will continue just not as
the 40 on justice. So this is the last of the 40 on justice, if anyone can name all 39 previous
talks, and go ahead. Alright, what are we talking about last week, though? So stop there. What did
we talk about last week,
		
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			returned to principles can be more specific.
		
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			And you remember what we talked about last week?
		
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			no justice, no peace, the easiest one in the world. So we talked about this concept of justice, the
presence of justice being an essential requirement for peace. Right. And then in the q&a. We talked
about what we would speak about this week and sort of as a conclusion of this all, well, at what
point? Do you disrupt the peace for the sake of justice, for example? So how do you actually enact
meaningful change? At what pace Do you enact meaningful change? And what is the priorities? Or what
are the priorities that we should address in the process of change? So the title of the very last
class is incremental change versus radical reform, the prophetic way of enacting change, we drew on
		
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			paradigms some of those classes might have seen, might have might have been perceived as being
overly idealistic, like you're talking about this, these lofty ideals of how you're supposed to
treat your environment, how you're supposed to treat the people around you. And what change looks
like we can't even get to this basic level of decency. Right? So this seems too lofty. This seems
like you know, it's the pie in the sky concept. You're not really getting anywhere. So what is the
prophetic way of enacting change, incremental change versus radical reform? Now, let me clarify. And
we have a lot of guests today, as well. And I'm sure people watching online, and some people will
		
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			read the title, when Muslims use radical doesn't always mean violent.
		
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			No one's talking about violence here. So radical in the true definition of the word radical
transformative, denoting a sense of rapid change, radical change, or radical reform versus
incremental change. And there are a few things that we'll address number one, there's a difference
between a goal and a process. Sometimes you see someone that acts in accordance with a radical
agenda. in a positive sense, once again, every time I use the word radical, it's in a positive
sense, you have a radical agenda, but meaningful steps that are being taken to enacting that change,
right, and towards that agenda for change. And some people see it as too slow. And think, you know,
		
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			and some people view
		
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			you know, meaningful steps, sort of playing the long game as being, you know, escapist, as being
passive, as, as you know, sometimes even viewed as cowardice, right? There are very, there are some
ways that you can interpret steps that are taking meaningful steps. So let me just be very clear
that there's an agenda for radical change, if you will, that's achieved through meaningful steps.
And there's the Hadeeth. That's going to start
		
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			This all off the tradition that we look at from the Prophet peace be upon them is a narration from
our beloved Massoud. May Allah be pleased when we said that the Prophet peace be upon him said there
is no prophet whom Allah sent to any nation before me.
		
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			But he had disciples and companions from among his nation, who followed his path and obeyed his
commands. So starts off with that every prophet that came before had disciples and companions.
Sometimes a prophet had one follower, some had 10 some had 100, every prophet every nebby Mammon,
Libyan
		
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			bathala, Fiamma Tim cobley in Canada who mean Matty, he Howdy, Yuna was hub. No Prophet came before
except that Allah gave him prophet companions or disciples from among his nation who followed his
path and obeyed his commands. Then after them, it's a long tradition. So I'm not going to read the
whole thing in Arabic, then after them came generations, who said what they did not do, and did what
they were not commanded to do. So after them came hypocrites, after every prophet, and in fact, most
prophets encountered hypocrites in their own time. Right? It was the norm for a prophet to encounter
those who would twist the message in their own time. There were those that outright rejected
		
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			prophets. And there were those that took the messages of the prophets and started to twist them even
in their own times. And there were prophets that were rectifying what was twisted from a prophet
that came before them. So if you look at largely what was a Sati Salaam what was Jesus peace be upon
him combating Jesus peace be upon him was combating people who twisted the message of Moses of Moses
and Moses peace be upon him. So he's combating a form of deviated religion. Right? Or Isa Islam, you
know, has a very interesting task ahead of them. So sometimes you have those that are actually
fighting, hypocritical interpretations and skewed interpretations of religion. But every prophet had
		
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			companions and disciples, and then those that came after them. You had amongst them those that said
what they did not do and those that did what they were not commanded to do. So you had hypocrites.
Then the Prophet peace be upon him said whoever strives against them with this hand is a believer,
whoever strives against them with his tongue is a believer, whoever strives against them with his
heart as a believer. Beyond that there is not even a mustard seeds worth of faith. This is in Sahih
Muslim. It sounds very similar to another narration that we covered before where the Prophet peace
be upon him said, I'm in C'mon carpha Jiro who Brd whoever amongst you season evil, let him change
		
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			it with his hand, but in your stickler for bt Sonny, and if he's unable to do that, then with his
tongue, and if he cannot do that, then let him at least hate it with his heart, let him at least
find internal revulsion from the evil around him. And that is the lowest of faith. There are a few
lessons to take from this as we start to break down some of these concepts. And of course, this does
serve as a summary lecture of all of the all of the Hadith, the traditions we covered in regards to
justice.
		
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			Number one, the prophet peace be upon him directly connected a person's attitude towards evil with
faith.
		
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			And that's in direct contradiction with those who use faith for evil ends, if that makes sense. And
that's what Imam Ali Baba, we may Allah be pleased and upset about that first narration. He said
that, you know, talking about Jesus peace be upon him is not undoing the deviance of those who
twisted the religion. And the way of Moses Pierpont of Mossad is similar, that the Prophet peace be
upon him directly connected faith with what you do, or your attitudes to your attitude towards evil.
And that is indirect, or that is the direct opposite of those who would actually use faith for evil
purposes. The other thing the Prophet peace be upon him said, and this was a theme that read that
		
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			that was a recurring theme throughout all of these traditions, and throughout all of these classes,
that just because you're unable to make a dramatic change, does not give you an excuse for making a
change with that, which is within your capacity. So because something is outside of your capacity,
or because things seem overwhelming, and there is an entire gorilla, right, that you know, that
needs to be changed. That doesn't mean you don't do what's in your capacity. So the Prophet peace be
upon him saying that Allah will ask you about your capacity. He's not going to ask you about the
things that you are incapable of changing. For the things that you were incapable of changing, Did
		
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			you at least internally, feel a revulsion towards those things that you were unable to change? So
you find yourself incapable but but still, internally, the prophet peace be upon him is saying this
should not be normal. You should not accept evil as normal. Right? You know, when they tell you
		
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			Keep telling yourself this is not normal. This is not normal. This is not normal. Right? You know,
if you think about the images of evil that are constantly plastered across our screen, and there are
various social and justices that we see, and you keep on seeing them over and over and over again,
at some point, you become desensitized. Seeing the bomb falling on top of children, playing and
doing nothing becomes normal, you just press share, you send it with your words of outrage, but
internally, it's
		
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			another one, right? Things become normal. So whether it's a moral evil, or whether it's a form of
oppression, things become normal, this should not become normal. Okay.
		
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			The other thing that we learned from the Prophet peace be upon him
		
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			is that the goal is to bring things back
		
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			to their pristine form of guidance to the way of the prophets that came before.
		
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			So you almost want to peel back the Prophet peace be upon him is saying that there were prophets
that were sent before and they were all seeking to establish a singular message. And this is really
a profound point here. And this is why I chose this Hadeeth to start this off, to be honest with
you, it was hard to come up with the narration to illustrate, or to sort of encapsulate everything
that I really want to cover in tonight's class. But it's really interesting here, if you think about
it, a lot of sense in our tradition, 124,000 prophets.
		
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			All right, from Adam, to Noah, to Abraham, to David, to, to Moses to Jesus to Mohammed, may Allah
peace and blessings be upon them all, he said, Prophet after prophet after prophet.
		
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			The Essentials of monotheism and morality that was in accordance with that monotheism did not change
it was a consistent message across across all 124,000. We talked about this last week, the message
of Moses often being presented as a contradiction to the message of Jesus, right? So for example,
Moses said, an eye for an eye, Jesus said, turn the other cheek, as if these two men were acting out
of opposing moral frameworks rather than properly contextualizing those two messages, right? All
124,000 of those prophets had the same theological message, worship one God, right, and act and you
know, act in obedience to that one God and the divine revelation that he sends you. They had the
		
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			same standard of morality, they had the same elements of prayer and connecting the spiritual with
the material connecting the personal prayer, with the with, with collective societies benefit, right
connecting all of that there might have been differences in jurisprudence, there might have been
differences and how one prophet prayed versus another prophet. There might have been differences in
some of the recitations, there might have been differences in some of the rulings so they all for
example, fasted right? So for example, Allah mentions in the for an quotevalet, camassia, mocha,
mocha, teavana, Medina, and publikum, Lando competitor, one, fasting has been prescribed upon you,
		
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			as it was prescribed upon every nation that came before you, so that you may gain piety and God
consciousness. So they all fasted. They all had seasons of fasting. But maybe there were some
different rulings within those fasting, but the lesson of fasting, the goals of fasting, the goals
of prayer, the goals of monotheism, the all of those things were coherent across all 124,000
profits. So here's a question, why didn't a lot just send one and just get it over with?
		
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			All right, why didn't a lot just send one and get it over with? And if these profits were so
perfect, which we believe the profits were infallible? We do not. as Muslims, we don't we do not
allow for attributions to prophets that are unbefitting of godly people of major sin and decency and
all those types of things. We reject those attributions. Right. So if those prophets had miracles,
and had such exemplary character, and had a perfect message, and we're given divine aid, how is it
that 124,000 times people went astray after those profits? You think about that, right? over 100,000
profits were sent. And still people found a way to go straight people found a way to veer off of
		
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			that path in human history. Right? So bringing it back to a coherent message that all of these
prophets preached. We as Muslims do not believe that any Prophet was immoral or had an immoral
message or a message that sanction oppression.
		
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			So it's not like the prophets before were deficient or incomplete and that's why Allah sent the
Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him to to fill in what
		
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			All the other prophets had done before wrong. No, none of the prophets heard. They didn't make an am
talking about that the theology, the methodology, the the message was the same. Right? The Prophet
peace be upon him was undoing the evil that was done by those who failed to stick to the principles
of the prophets that came before. Right. And that's there's a beautiful, you know, when you think
about the complete house, perfection is never achieved in this world, but the way the Prophet peace
be upon him is, you know, described in that Hadith, right, like, think of the prophets as a house.
All right, and they're all bricks. And so you're walking by that house, and you see there's one
		
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			brick missing, and you say, there's that brick, so that brick comes in, and that brick was the
Prophet peace be upon them. The point is that they're all acting in accordance with
		
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			a singular theology, with differences only in the legislations and the jurisprudence and going back
to that pristine divine guidance, and that goes back to something we stated in halaqa. One, which
I'm sure all of you remember, all right, that we were created upon fitrah upon goodness, we were
created with natural dispositions of goodness, we corrupt that. So how do you go back to that
original sense of good? Not an original sense of evil, original sense of good, so then it goes. So
there's the question again, why didn't allowed to send one profit? And just get it over with? Right?
Why 124,000 profits? Why so many profits? Why so many nations? Alright, so we first start off with
		
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			gradualism, as a son of Allah as a tradition of God Himself. How the scholars mentioned that Allah
could have created everything in an instant, but he wished to establish the graduation of events as
a tradition in his universe. A lot could have made conception and birth instantaneous, but he wished
for humans to understand the wisdom by which their lives must be governed.
		
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			Think about it, a lot could have created everyone the way he created. Jesus peace be upon him,
configure and be in it is. But instead, there's a process, right? And you witness that the Divine
Wisdom of Allah, in the way that things proceed gradually, Allah could have sent angels to eradicate
the opponents of profits before they resisted, but he wished his example to be human and replicable.
With all that entails of prudence and perseverance. So Allah teaches us patience, are the examples
of the profits and steadfastness otherwise, it could have all ended in the first year in Mecca.
Right? You know, the persecution could have ended a lot could have sent those angels and just done
		
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			away with the opponents right away. But we allow wants us to see an example of people that
persevered. People that strove that even the prophets of God, even the Prophet, peace be upon him
has to strive and has to exhibit patience and is shaken. But eventually, with hardship, comes ease.
So there is gradualism in the creation of Allah subhanho wa Taala. There is gradualism, gradualism,
in the center of a lot in the tradition of the way that Allah allows things to function. There's
gradualism with our personal acts of worship with our personality about that we're talking about
incremental change here okay. So for example, the prophet peace be upon him said this religion in
		
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			Edina use this religion is one of ease
		
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			this religion is one of ease and none will overburden himself with the religion except that it
overwhelms him. So seek a middle path and draw near to perfection as best as you can. And be hopeful
of Allah and seek help and being consistent through the morning hours the afternoon and part of the
late night so the Prophet peace be upon him teaching us even in the way that we develop our own
relationship with a lot our personal change, if you will, that if it's not meaningful, calculated
incremental than a person you know goes in quick and comes out just as quick right becomes
overzealous tries to take it all in at one time and then burns out really fast. So change at the
		
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			personal level is realized through what you look at this religion which is a notion and you think
Alright, well how do I start and the Prophet peace be upon him saying a demon use the religion is
easy, and anyone who will who overburden himself with the religion will be overwhelmed by it, not
because the religion is off. But because the way you approach the religion is off the way that you
approach change is off. It's not about the religion being hard. It's about you making it hard for
yourself because you approach that wrong. The standard is there, but don't try to take it all in at
one time. So the Prophet peace be upon him said seek a middle path drop
		
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			As near to perfection as you can and be hopeful of Allah, Allah, it's amazing that that hope, that
component of Hope is what's going to actually keep you progressing. So that you don't despair.
Because here you are, you're starting to make your, you know, you're starting to take your steps and
change on a personal level. And then you see someone else who's so far ahead. And you're like, well,
I'm never going to get there. Hope, right, that hope allows you to make continued progress. And part
of what the scholars say that part of what overburdening yourself with religion is, is undertaking
what is not currently sustainable. I'm gonna I promise I'll get back to social justice and all that
		
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			stuff I'm talking about now personal change and how we connect that the public change part of
overburdening yourself with the religion is undertaking what is not currently sustainable.
		
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			The Prophet peace be upon him said, undertake of actions what you can bear, for a lot does not give
up rewarding you until you give up seeking undertake of the religion, not at the point that what
you're capable of doing undertake of actions what you can bear for a lot does not give up rewarding
you until you give up seeking it. So there that's a direct connection between the two. There's
gradualism with the way that religion is taught. So for example, we find from
		
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			from the great companion it may Allah be pleased with him. He said that don't give people things
that they're not ready for. Because you might actually cause them to disbelieve in God. Don't give
people things they aren't ready for because you might cause them to disbelieve in God. The great
scholar Ibn taymiyyah may love mercy on me said if a person being commanded or prohibited is
currently in capable, whether due to his ignorance or his negligence, and removing that ignorance or
negligence is isn't possible. Perhaps it would be better to abstain from commending him or
prohibiting him. as some have said silence is the best response to some issues, just as the law
		
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			giver initially kept silent, regarding certain certain commands and prohibitions. So sometimes you
look at the prophets the way they acted, they acted with wisdom.
		
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			The prophets all came with calculated messages.
		
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			Jesus peace be upon him didn't start flipping tables right away.
		
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			He got to that point
		
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			at some point right. But that's not the first way that he saw Islam the Jesus peace be upon him
approach corruption in in the temple, Mossad Islam Moses, peace be upon him didn't split the seas
right away.
		
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			All right, it got to that point. So it's not like he didn't show up to fit around. He didn't show up
to the Pharaoh and say, I'm about to drown you in this palace.
		
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			What did Allah say? Allah said, speak words of gentleness lenient and wisdom,
		
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			so that maybe he will comprehend.
		
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			Allah gave Musashi Salam hope in Freetown in the pharaoh knowing that for the most evil person he
ever created on the face of this earth, but try, give it a shot. Talk to him. Maybe he'll wake up,
maybe he'll comprehend. Right? So Moosa and Harun Moses and Aaron peace be upon them both. We're not
responsible for the reaction of the Pharaoh. Right? How does fit own respond the way he responded to
everything else? mutilate people, kill people humiliate. That's the way that Pharaoh responded
because of an ugliness inside of him that made him incapable of responding to positive change. So
whether Moses Nam spoke words of wisdom,
		
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			or gentle words, or if he spoke confrontationally right away, and without him, that wasn't going to
change the outcome, but Allah still tasked him with that. Allah still tasked him with that he still
had to do that. Right? So there is that, that approach in the teaching of the religion as well. And
that's again, starting with the very first narration that we started with. This is something that
all of the prophets did. All right. They came with divine commands, and they taught divine commands,
with Divine Wisdom. And it is known that the messenger peace be upon him would only convey what
could be comprehended and practiced. The Prophet peace be upon him conveyed, what could be
		
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			comprehended, and what could be practiced. And there's a saying in Islam, that if you wish to be
obeyed, only instruct that which is feasible.
		
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			So as those who are acting on behalf of the lawgiver of God, God's messengers if you wish to be
obeyed, only instruct I'm sorry, only instruct that which is feasible. Okay. So that's why in Islam
as well when someone first becomes Muslim, there is a graduation of responsibilities.
		
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			All right. That's why the Prophet peace be upon them allowed for certain concessions for certain
tribes. When someone first accepts the religion, they don't they don't take it all in all at one
time, there's a sense of gradualism, right? You don't, you don't get overwhelmed with the religion.
There's a saying that,
		
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			that a believer is guided by the light and extremist is blinded by the light, right? And I thought,
that's a very powerful, very powerful when you try to take it all in at one time, and you end up
		
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			going crazy, literally, and making everybody else crazy for that matter. So the Prophet peace be
upon him a lot for concessions for tribes, people, when they first start to undertake this journey
of faith. How do you start? How do you take that on, in a gradual sense is really interesting,
because there's a tribe of bento hanifa, for example, that when the Prophet peace be upon him, came
to them with religion, they said, Look, we can't do this prayer five times a day. So how much can
you pray? So we can do once a day? Maybe three times the Prophet peace be upon him said fine.
		
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			And then eventually, you know, our main lobby pleases them was very energetic. He said, Well, wait a
minute, how are you going to let them? Are you telling them that that prayer five times a day
doesn't exist? He said, No. He said, they're going to end up praying anyway. They'll get there.
They'll get there. And they got there, right? Because if they taste the sweetness of faith, and
eventually, they'll take it in with it's very, you know, in a mature fashion, they'll adopt in a
very mature fashion. There was there's political gradualism, that we that we learn from this and
incremental change in the political sense. Now, many of you might be familiar with the very famous
		
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			treaty of her day via the peace treaty of the Prophet peace be upon him with the people of Mecca.
You've got to understand the psyche of the Muslims in Mecca. We've been killed, persecuted, our
families have been tortured. We were run out. And now we're getting into a peace treaty. Why should
we get into a peace treaty with these people? And then not only that, but some of the conditions
they're placing upon us are unfair. Now, if you're witnessing that,
		
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			if you just look at the tenor of some people, or the behavior of some people, you might make the
mistake of judging a person's integrity or dedication by their outward enthusiasm.
		
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			So for example, the prophet peace be upon him is going into a peace treaty with these people with
the people of Mecca. And when they went when the treaty is being written, says Bismillah R Rahman
Rahim, the Islamic way of addressing God in the Name of God, the Most Compassionate, The Most
Merciful.
		
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			What is the Mexican Ambassador say said I don't recognize Ottawa Kanaan Rahim, the most
compassionate, the Most Merciful. erase that. Right? Mohammed Rasool, Allah, Mohammed, the Messenger
of God, he said, Well, I don't if I recognize you, as a messenger of God, I wouldn't be doing this
to you. So he said, erase that too. And the Prophet peace be upon him tells ID of the Aloha, it may
be pleased to erase it, go ahead and erase it.
		
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			And he was unwilling to eraser
		
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			couldn't bring himself to do it, because that seemed to him.
		
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			As if, you know, that seemed to be cowardice, that seemed to be compromise, right? We can't do that.
Okay. Now, whether they erase it or not, was that going to affect the faith of those people that
were there? No. Profit Prophet peace be upon him said go ahead for the sake of that treaty.
		
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			Go ahead. Do it. All right. For the sake of that treaty, Omar, you know, last goes around and he
says, aren't we on the truth? Aren't they on falsehood, we should be fighting.
		
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			Right? Forget about this. compromise. Forget. He's literally going around saying a lesson our other
half, aren't we on truth? Aren't they on falsity? Aren't we on truth? Aren't they on falsehood? So
we should be out there fighting? Right? If you're watching a bucket and armor that day, a bucket
who's calm, who's on you know who's seeing things, the way the Prophet peace be upon him is seeing
things the long term of this treaty and what it brings. And you're seeing all more than you might
think to you might make the mistake of assuming that all Medicare is more
		
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			that Ahmad may Allah be pleased with him? Has it right? That why is he pulling out? Why is he
showing this this? You know, what, why are they being this way? Why? Why aren't they doing anything
about it? But look what ends up happening as a result of the Treaty of her baby. Right as a result
of that treaty that took place even just from the grander scheme, if you look at the faith itself,
right.
		
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			for 18 years of persecution,
		
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			the number of of followers of the Prophet peace be upon him was 3000 people, right? It tripled to
10,000 in less than two years. Because when there was no longer persecution,
		
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			right, then there was the free exchange of ideas. There was the ability to show the beauty of faith
and what you ended up having as a result
		
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			That that quote unquote setback led to what Allah described fatahna Medina led to an actual victory.
It wasn't *. It wasn't. It wasn't exciting, right? It wasn't, it wasn't this, this grand shake
up. But at the same time it was meaningful. Again, Jesus peace be upon him didn't flip tables right
away, he got to that point that was his last time to Jerusalem. Mossad, Islam Moses peace be upon
him was addressing Pharaoh was addressing for their own and not just advocating on behalf of his
people who were enslaved, but giving a message that would have been to the benefit of everyone.
Right, trying to find the best way to deal with the situation. What ended up happening is that you
		
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			had this complete, you know, this complete
		
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			revulsion on the part of those who were perpetuating that evil. And then you obviously had different
steps that were taken in that regard. And there is particularly the wisdom you know, you look at
some of these different things, you look at the wisdom of a man that existed in the, in the society,
Medina, whose name was Abdullah and obon said, Oh, this was a man who, who was actively trying to
plot against the Prophet peace be upon them and actively, you know,
		
00:31:20 --> 00:31:29
			causing chaos in that society destabilizing the society pitting people against each other. And what
do they tell the prosecution on? Like, can you do something about him?
		
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			He says, nope.
		
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			The Prophet peace be upon him didn't do anything about him. hurt him. No.
		
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			He said, I don't you know, then people are gonna say that the Prophet peace be upon him kills his
companions. I'm not gonna kill anybody. Right? No, I'm not gonna kill him. I'm not gonna hurt him.
Leave him alone. And Omar is pushing the Prophet peace be upon him and there's a very there's a very
interesting and by the way, how I've loved it events have been salute died a natural death and the
Prophet peace be upon him, clothed him with his own with his own cloth. Right, even though he was
the chief of the hypocrites, those the men destabilizing society. It's really interesting because
the Prophet peace be upon him highlighted that wisdom to have the love and obey been settled. He
		
00:32:13 --> 00:32:23
			said, Oh, I'm sorry to Alma. He said, Oh, Alma. Now the same people that would have rose up against
us for killing him, would now willingly do it themselves.
		
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			What did the Prophet peace be upon i mean by that, if the Prophet peace be upon him, acted, you
know, on that on that impulse,
		
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			and took them out because of what he was doing to society, right, it would have caused more
division, more bloodshed, more violence,
		
00:32:41 --> 00:33:21
			the prophet peace be upon abstains for the sake of a greater communal goal. As a result of that the
Prophet peace be upon him saying to all of our people eventually saw the evil of our beloved obey
been sorted, the same people that would have rose up against us in a feudal society and tribalism,
and pounced on us, now they would want to take them out. But the prophet peace be upon them didn't
go that route. So sometimes acting on the impulse is wrong. And that's where you find again
incremental change, to realize a greater agenda. The Prophet peace be upon him responding to the
frustration of his followers, and Mecca as they were persecuted. And the true mark of these prophets
		
00:33:21 --> 00:33:25
			of God is that they don't respond to evil with evil.
		
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			There's a saying and one called law you yrb Moncure evil cannot be changed with evil, right? Evil
cannot be changed with evil. So for example, if a terrorist group exploits a legitimate agenda, with
an illegitimate tactic, if you listen to the language, they kill our children so we will kill
there's evil does not justify evil and evil is not changed by evil. In fact, evil is compounded and
perpetuated by evil. So if you look at hubbub coming to the Prophet peace be upon him, his back, is
missing all of its skin because of the torture that they encountered in that first decade in Mecca.
And he says, aren't you going to do something about it and the Prophet peace be upon him, says to
		
00:34:10 --> 00:34:11
			him, that you're being hasty
		
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			that you're being hasty, but there were people that came before you that were tortured and much more
grievious ways what I cannot come to start doing but you're hasty. you're impatient with God. Right?
That didn't mean we're not going to try to change our situation. We're not going to try to fight
persecution. When the Muslims in the later part in Mecca when a man came to, when the followers said
to the Prophet, peace be upon him, let's go out at night and let's start attacking them. And the
Prophet peace be upon him said we were not commanded not to be valid. We were not commanded to act
that way.
		
00:34:47 --> 00:34:49
			If you sacrifice your principles
		
00:34:51 --> 00:34:55
			as a result of an impulse, if you partake in evil,
		
00:34:57 --> 00:35:00
			supposedly saying that the end justifies the
		
00:35:00 --> 00:35:00
			means,
		
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			if you partake in evil saying that you're really changing evil, you're really just becoming a
product of that which you claim to detest. Right. And that's something that, that ties directly to
this lack of lack of the lack of trust in God. And it's really interesting because sometimes trust
in Allah trust and God is used to shut down legitimate means of change.
		
00:35:24 --> 00:36:05
			To say, You know what? We're metaphysical. We believe that everything will come from Allah. So let's
just pray. Right? And the Prophet peace be upon him did not just pray, he did more than that the
prophets did not just pray they did more than that, right? But at the same time, they didn't lose
hope. Because if you despair, in the one who truly enact change, then eventually your methodology of
change will be hijacked by something that is not godly. Okay, so that's something that we take from
the Prophet peace be upon him, as well. So there's the importance of not you know, and this is sort
of the last couple of points rebellion and revolution. And, and what, you know, what does that
		
00:36:05 --> 00:36:42
			actually mean? And how did how did Islamic scholars grapple with that subject of stability versus
change? Right? are, you know, when you see a clear evil, and not doing anything about it, and how
did they grapple with all of those subjects? Well, the way that they looked at it was that you
always looked at Masada and Mufasa, you always looked at the greater benefits and the greater harms.
So sometimes, people had very legitimate concerns and did things about very legitimate grievances,
but because they were not prepared properly, with their estimations ended up doing more harm than
good.
		
00:36:43 --> 00:37:12
			Sometimes you do more harm than good when you're unprepared. Even if everything is legitimate, you
didn't partake in evil, you did not do anything. I mean, you are acting in accordance with a a
proper methodology with a proper understanding. And you're trying to do that which is good but
because you're unprepared remember the the way the Prophet peace be upon them taught us to to, to
address our private journeys, undertake that which you are capable of doing.
		
00:37:13 --> 00:37:47
			God does not tire of rewarding you until you tire of seeking his reward. What that means is when you
are unprepared and you take on something that you're unprepared to do, sometimes you do more harm
than good. And it's unintentional. You're not like the person trying to change evil with evil. But
still, you should have paid more attention to preparation. The one of the greatest revivals In fact,
you know, he's looked at an Islamic history, as a reviver for many reasons, the first Majed did was
omitted bin Abdulaziz, bin Abdulaziz
		
00:37:48 --> 00:38:30
			was the true reformer that we find in our nation in many different ways, rectified many social and
justices did away with many of the much of the corruption that had occurred in previous governments.
And he encountered these things very wisely. And he was only 38 years old when he when he took his
position when he assumed his leadership. And he had a son by the name of Ogden Malik, who was very
pious, and often Malik used to press him to accelerate decisions of reform. And then Malik would get
on him every single night. And tell him how can you sleep at night, when the orphan remains in the
street, when stolen money remains in government's possession, when and he would just go on and on
		
00:38:30 --> 00:39:06
			and on and on and on about the disease would not be able to sleep at night because his son would
literally scold him. Because he said, You're not doing enough, you've got to do more, you've got to
do more, you've got to do more. So he would say to him, oh, my father, why are you not executing
matters, you are delaying things that I imagined you would have completed on the day of your
inauguration before nightfall, the by a lie, wish you would do that, or do this, even if that meant
that you and I would boil for it in the kettles, what that meant is you undertake these massive
reforms. And I would rather that you do this on the first day, even if they throw us in kettles, and
		
00:39:06 --> 00:39:48
			they boil us meaning even if the people revolt and kill us, because we try to do we try to do too
much at one time. Right now Omar was was in a very sticky position. Why? Because Ahmad was assuming
governance after his family members who were corrupt. And so he was taking his family members to
task in the Umayyad dynasty. He was taking his family members to task for government corruption and
things of that sort. And eventually, he was poisoned and killed for doing right. So he had two years
of reform, two years of taking government to task radically altering the way that governance worked
in the oma and his son is saying, you should you know, we should be doing more and it's okay, let's
		
00:39:48 --> 00:40:00
			just go forth with it. Even if they kill us now, a sun is coming off as brave, right? But that
boldness and haste and fearlessness of young age, sometimes can be the
		
00:40:00 --> 00:40:04
			The greatest sabotager of reform, if Obama would have listened to his son,
		
00:40:06 --> 00:40:41
			then he would not have been able to effectively enact much of the change that he was able to enact.
Right? It would have it would have left it would have left the the Muslims in a very exposed
position it would have left many of those people that he was claiming to advocate on behalf of it
would have left them in a horrible situation. But again, if you're watching that you might think to
yourself, Well, hey, you know what, all of a sudden, has a point. You're watching this on the
outside you're like, you know what, almost son has a point. Go for it, do your thing. So I'm going
to bin Abdulaziz responded, he said, Oh, my son.
		
00:40:42 --> 00:40:56
			Alongside the great Sarah that Allah has portion to you, is talking about righteousness. He said,
alongside the great share that Allah has portion to you of righteousness, you still carry some of
the qualities of young people.
		
00:40:58 --> 00:41:41
			But you're still young. So even though Allah is giving you a lot of righteousness, you're still a
little young. He said, Oh, my son Do not be hasty. Or Allah had this praised wine twice in the Quran
and then prohibited on the third occasion, meaning what the prohibition of drinking alcohol in the
Koran came in three stages. The first two, were ambiguous in a way, the second one prohibited
drinking wine before you came to the mosque to pray. And the third one was outright prohibition. So
he said, even Allah dispraise, that twice before he outright prohibited it. They saying even Allah
employed a gradual approach. He said, I fear and this is one of the most profound statements by the
		
00:41:41 --> 00:42:23
			way, that you find from a bit of an odd disease. He said, I fear committing them to the truth
altogether less, they rejected altogether. I fear committing them to the truth altogether less, they
rejected altogether, meaning I impose all of this at one time, they'll run away from it, all of it
at one time, not going to work. seems great. It's it's these are great ideals, we have to come in
with these ideals. But at the same time, there is a process, he said, I cannot present them. And
this is particularly now with teaching the religion properly so that I cannot present them with any
part of the religion, except while offering some worldly benefit alongside it in order to soften
		
00:42:23 --> 00:42:24
			their hearts.
		
00:42:25 --> 00:43:08
			So as I teach them properly, they have to see the benefit of that teaching as well. So their hearts
become soften to it out of fear that they would erupt against me in a way that I cannot repel. He
said, Does it not please you that not a day passes by your father, except that he revives a sooner
destroys a bidder except that he revives a prophetic, prophetic tradition and destroys an innovation
does not please you that every day that goes by in my rule, there is some reform that's taking
place. I know it's not at the pace that you want it. But But I'm getting there. Right. And what ends
up happening as a result of that, by the way, in two years, Amata bin Abdulaziz reinstates the
		
00:43:08 --> 00:43:33
			purest justice that has ever been seen in the oma, a justice that resembles the coming of Christ
Himself. Right. So the things that happen under omnibenevolent Aziz, in terms of reform, you can
find people to give charity to because he had, you know, he eliminated that disparity. He made sure
that corruption didn't take place, when almost eliminated corruption, they couldn't find people to
accept his account anymore.
		
00:43:35 --> 00:43:51
			He reinstated such a pure justice in those two, two and a half years, two years in a few months,
that the oma benefited from it for years and years and years to come. Okay. So basically, what we
take from this is that reforming a society
		
00:43:52 --> 00:44:29
			is, in some ways, like reforming the individual. That's what the prophet peace be upon them taught
us in some ways, they vary, and in some ways they don't. Okay, so some will not, you know, as an
individual, you don't reform from a vise at once, but instead you take baby steps. And in the case
of societal reform, you also take steps with the goal of expelling the greater evil. But as you
can't get to expelling the greater evil, you continue to make strides with the lesser evils until
you're able to remove it all. Okay, so you don't give yourself an excuse to not do anything.
		
00:44:30 --> 00:44:53
			But at the same time, you keep things in perspective. And it's very important here that that
Ahmedabad disease was not as radical as his son wanted him to be, but he was too radical for the
oma, which is why he got poisoned anyway. So his agenda of reform was too radical anyway, for some
people, even though to his son, he wasn't doing enough. All right. So the verdict is always going to
be very subjective
		
00:44:54 --> 00:44:59
			as to what type of change you're making, and a lot of times it's a lot easier.
		
00:45:00 --> 00:45:42
			As we learned with our previous president, to talk about change sometimes than to enact change at
the, at the, at the pace that you want to enact it, okay? It's just the way that things unfold,
unfortunately, many times. So I'm going to these did ruffle feathers. The Prophet peace be upon him
did discomfort people even though the Prophet peace be upon him had the greatest wisdom and the way
that he approached things around him but at the end of the day, he was revolutionary, right again,
even though he saw Islam, you know took time to flip tables, he did flip tables. Eventually, they
knew when to act in that way they knew when to employ certain steps in their certain times. Okay, so
		
00:45:42 --> 00:46:07
			the Prophet peace be upon him, spoke up very early on not just against idolatry, but he spoke up
against female infanticide, he spoke up against tribalism, which had serious backlash, okay.
However, the prophet peace be upon him did not allow his companions to take up arms and self defense
in Mecca, even though it would have been moral for them to do that it wouldn't have been smart. And
that's the problem that we make sometimes that we conflate those two things.
		
00:46:08 --> 00:46:43
			No one could have said to the people of Mecca, the Muslims in Mecca and a decade of persecution took
up arms against those that were persecuting them, no one would have been able to call them
oppressors or said they were wrongdoers. They would have been justified, but it wouldn't have been
smart. Okay, it wouldn't have been smart, I'm talking about if they would have fought their
oppressors. Right and employee took up arms against their oppressors. And that's why we find a lot
as he mentions it in Medina, that Quincy Valley Community tell him Allah has prescribed fighting for
you now, even though you detest it, meaning Allah knows that you don't like to fight, you don't want
		
00:46:43 --> 00:47:25
			war. But at this point, now, this is the time for you to defend yourselves. This is the time for you
to take up arms in defense. So the Prophet peace be upon him did not allow them to take up arms and
self defense, okay, even and the Prophet peace be upon him did not allow them to curse the idols,
the way that they were being insulted. And later on the Prophet peace be upon him, of course, did
allow them or rather allow them to take up arms and defensive and defensive themselves again, by all
standards, it was moral. Likewise, when the Prophet peace be upon him, if you just read about the
conquest of Mecca, and I hate using the word conquest, because conquest implies, right, you know,
		
00:47:25 --> 00:47:28
			heads rolling and blood in the streets.
		
00:47:29 --> 00:47:32
			If the Prophet peace be upon him, came back to Mecca,
		
00:47:34 --> 00:47:41
			and kill those that had killed so many Muslims run him out. No one could say that was immoral or
unjust.
		
00:47:42 --> 00:47:45
			But the prophet peace be upon him had vision
		
00:47:46 --> 00:47:55
			farsighted, okay? He didn't have a tunnel vision, he was farsighted. And look what Allah made out of
them instead. So here's the final lesson.
		
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			With all of that being said, the standard should always be maintained and not ambiguous. Even as we
take baby steps to the truth. People must always know what the truth is. This is an important, an
important lesson for people that have a set of principles that they're bound by, because they
believe them, they hold them to be divine. So all aspects of our faith. We cannot be ambiguous about
our principles. But we can prioritize and be wise about how we carry out agendas to enact meaningful
change. The truth, however, cannot ever be ambiguous. What that means is that the Prophet peace be
upon him. Even before he was 40 years old. Everyone knew the Prophet peace upon him, didn't worship
		
00:48:43 --> 00:49:25
			idols and didn't believe in idols. They knew that about him. But they weren't threatened by his
message of monotheism yet, because the message of the Prophet peace upon his message of monotheism
meant that they could no longer commodify and profit off of their gods. Right, but there was there
can't be ambiguity about where you stand about where your principles are, regardless of what that
principle is, regardless of what that truth is, meaning the standard the ideals always have to
exist, there always has to be that we're trying to get here. Okay, just like in our personal acts of
worship, yes, the prophet peace be upon him gave people concessions and allowed people to proceed at
		
00:49:25 --> 00:49:59
			certain paces. But the prophet peace be upon them never blurred the standard. Okay, so whether that
standard, of course, for the sake of this class, we're talking about social justice, the ideals that
we talked about, I know some of you, you know, as we were going through some of these classes are
going oh, that's, you know, that's that's so wonderful, how the Prophet peace be upon him cared for,
for animals and, and the environment. And that all seems so great, and it's all rosy, the standard
has to remain theologically socially, politically, the standards cannot be blurred, the standards
remain. So just as a personal agenda for change, you've got your long term goal and you've got your
		
00:49:59 --> 00:50:00
			short term.
		
00:50:00 --> 00:50:52
			goals, you work in a way that you remain inspired. But with tools that you can continue to aspire
with, you have to balance those two things. So when it comes to social change as well, you do the
exact same thing. The other thing that we take from this is that when you think about a holistic
agenda of reform, hearts needs to be reformed. Right? They are in Islam go hand in hand. Right?
Complete reformation of the heart, the hearts and minds of people goes hand in hand with the
reformation of policy, okay with the reformation of societal standards and societal injustices,
moral rectification and justice go hand in hand. The reason why you could trust the Prophet peace be
		
00:50:52 --> 00:51:34
			upon him, when he told you that this is bad for your hereafter, is because the Prophet peace be upon
him protected you from what was bad for this world, bad for you in this life. The Prophet peace be
upon him proved that he loved people and wanted good for people in this life. So when he spoke about
the Hereafter, he was trusted. Okay. What that means is that moral rectification the more
comprehensive sense and justice go hand in hand calls for justice should go hand in hand. We don't
belittle any of these things. Dawa and Islam go hand in hand amendment of Azadi. May Allah be
pleased with him, wrote the the famous. The famous collection of Azadi is considered one of the
		
00:51:34 --> 00:52:14
			greatest scholars and mystics in the history of Islam. He wrote a very famous collection called
Luma. Dean, the revival of religious sciences, while Muslims were facing massacres at the hands of
Mongols and at the hands of Crusaders. And these people were still teaching religion, they were
still teaching spirituality, they were still thinking about writing books that people will read 1000
years later, while at the same time defending themselves while at the same time, you know, trying to
better their world. And in a comprehensive sense, none of these things were exclusive to the other.
It all works together. And by the way, one of the things we do wrong, is we try to place all of this
		
00:52:15 --> 00:52:17
			on every single individual.
		
00:52:18 --> 00:52:25
			Okay, meaning what, if you're doing too much good in this regard? You're not doing enough of it
here.
		
00:52:27 --> 00:52:29
			All right. So we tear down people
		
00:52:30 --> 00:52:41
			that are enacting change in a meaningful sense in a way that is true to text because we say, well,
you're not doing enough. And those that are usually saying you're not doing enough, are doing
absolutely nothing.
		
00:52:43 --> 00:52:53
			All right. That's that's, that's usually the way these things work. Those people existed even in the
time of the Prophet peace be upon them. They were called the hypocrites. They sat back and they
said, it's hot outside.
		
00:52:54 --> 00:53:25
			They sat back, and they tried to paralyze any type of good any type of movement, because they
weren't they were unwilling to take part in anything that actually required from them labor or
movement or doing anything. All right. So not everyone, just because all of these things work hand
in hand for comprehensive reform, right? in a way that's theological, political, moral, all these
things, just because all of it works together doesn't mean that any individual is tasked with doing
all of it at the same time.
		
00:53:26 --> 00:53:45
			We specialize, we don't undermine one another. Right? We don't tear down each other. Some people
work on speaking to legitimate grievances that people have other people deconstruct the illegitimate
agendas that take advantage of those legitimate grievances that people have.
		
00:53:46 --> 00:54:28
			They work in tandem, they work together the theological, the moral, the social, the political. And
so you know, in conclusion of all of this, gradualism cannot be an excuse for inaction, and
foolishness often masquerades as courage. So we create pressure, we create a sense of urgency, we
work we do I mean, you necessarily have a quote unquote, again, radical agenda. And how you achieve
radical positive change theologically, politically, socially, morally, right, is through being smart
and being wise and that usually comes through what the what Allah says in the Quran, or amerihome
should have been at home that they consult with one another, that they work together that they think
		
00:54:28 --> 00:54:56
			about how how to enact again, meaningful steps towards the ideal, while never losing sight of the
ideal. So that is unhemmed Ilan hamdulillah Al Hamdulillah that is the end of the 40 Hadith on
social justice. I'm not going to do another class for a year and a half now because this class took
a year and a half. I'm just playing shall I'll get started right when I get back from Hajj in
September inshallah, but I do want to thank everyone who has been a part of this, follow the notes
online.
		
00:54:58 --> 00:54:59
			Go back and review
		
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			Whatever it is that you missed, I hope that inshallah we'll be able to create some more content out
of this content, put it together in more and more formats that people can benefit from inshallah, if
I said anything wrong in this entire class, then it is from myself, and from the from the evil of
shavon. I seek refuge in a lot from from my lower self and from the shape and if anything good was
said or taught, than all the praises are due to Allah. Only the mistakes belong to me. And we asked
a lot to send us peace and blessings upon His Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam to allow us to
aspire towards that which he taught us to aspire to Allah Ameen.