Sadullah Khan – 25th Shawwal 1443 27th May 2022
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In the name of Allah, most gracious, most
merciful,
all praise is due to our creator, our
cherisher, our nourisher, and our sustainer.
We bear witness. There's none worthy of worship
but Allah.
We bear witness. We believe in all the
prophets who came throughout history.
And we bear witness that prophet Muhammad
is the final of all the emissaries of
Allah.
Beloved brothers and sisters and elders and youth,
I greet you with the Islamic universal greeting
of peace at this auspicious hour of Jum'ah.
I
greet you
The headlines
that currently dominate global and local news
clearly indicate that we are in the winter
of discontent.
And many are wondering
whether we can be hopeful
of even anticipating
a spring
in which we can shed the gloom of
the tribulations
which human beings are facing all over the
world.
In the current week,
what we are witnessing globally and locally,
the senseless killing of 19 innocent children slain
by an 18 year old gunman
in Uvalde, Texas in US. By the way,
in the US alone.
There has been 212
mass shootings
in the last 144
days
in this leading country supposedly of the world.
It's not a matter of gloating or belittling.
It's just to indicate where the world is
right now.
The ongoing war in Europe between Russia and
Ukraine
that is impacting on food and fuel prices
worldwide.
The continued war by the richest Arab countries
against
the Arab world's poorest country, Yemen,
which the UN has declared as the world's
largest humanitarian
crisis.
The deliberately targeted broad daylight killing
in Jenin of a respected
American Palestinian
journalist,
Shareen Abu Akleh,
by an armor piercing bullet
shot by a soldier
of an occupying army.
On the local scale,
on the local front,
government's
decision to spend 84,000,000
rand
to demolish the stadium
in Chuaneng,
a building which
84,000,000
to demolish
cost a 140,000,000 to be built and was
never ever used.
Then the tragedy locally in our own area
of the kidnapping of a young capitol mother,
Shireen Isok, which remains unsolved.
There are 5,455
carjackings
in the past year in South Africa.
15 every day
Becoming a norm.
4,100
children are kidnapped annually,
which means somewhere
in South Africa
a child goes missing every 5 hours.
How does it happen?
How is it allowed to happen?
We are living on the African continent
and by the way, this is not meant
to be
a negative chart. It's just for us to
deflect because none of this has to be
so.
And all of this are due to human
error.
We are living on the African continent
blessed with gold, with diamonds, with oil, with
platinum, with gold, with uranium,
iron ore, and other valuable resources.
And despite all of this, the inhabitants of
Africa continue to be among the poorest people
most mired in poverty.
Why does a continent with such an abundance
of natural resources
yet its wealth
has so little effect and impact
on the quality of the life of people
who live in Africa.
We are living in beautiful South Africa.
The freest country in the world by far.
Freedom of religion,
freedom of expression, freedom of association,
a country with a lauded constitution,
a country with a majestic legacy
of struggle that produced
magnificent stalwarts
in the liberation struggle and in the freedom
and freedom fighters.
Yet we remain the most unequal country in
the world.
The elite
controllers of the world economy,
governments met
in Davos
as they do every year
And this exclusive global elite got together in
Davos this week for the World Economic Forum.
Oxfam, an organization which tries to end injustice
and poverty.
Oxfam
published a book called profit profiting from pain.
And
in that, they indicate
that since COVID 19 pandemic started,
there arises a new billionaire
every 50 hours.
Masha Allah.
But
every 50 hours somewhere in the world a
billionaire is created. A new billionaire comes into
being
or comes to the fore
while simultaneously
every 53 hours a million more people go
into poverty.
1,000,000 people more going to poverty.
Tomorrow
by Assar from now till tomorrow by Assar
or tomorrow by Isha, a 1000000 more people
would have gone into poverty.
None of these really make sense.
Yet all of these impact each of us
in some way or the other.
And in in all of these undermine
our common humanity.
The question is
how do these things happen unabated?
And the ironic tragedy is
how come
we are all allowing this to happen.
Not all of us can all the time
be incapacitated not to do anything.
Is there any move on the part of
some of us or all of us
individually or collectively
to prevent this?
We have to pause.
We have to think.
Numerous ayaats in the Quran and exhorts.
Understand, reflect,
use your intellect, observe reality,
engage with the world,
be observant.
Amal bin Abdukais was a Tabia, one of
those who saw the companions of the prophet
salallahu alaihi wa sallam.
He was a Tabia
who died in who lived in Basra, died
in Damascus, but he was from Basra. He
said
I've heard not from 1, not 2, from
more than that, 3 or 4 of the
companions of the companions of the prophet
indicating to me that indeed
the radiance of the life of faith is
the reflection,
introspection,
contemplation.
And little one one day the prophet great
great grandson, Imam Jafar al Sadiq
said,
reflecting for an hour is better than worship
for a year.
We have to think.
We have to reflect.
What is my role as an individual
and our role as a collective
in a troubled world
at a difficult time.
I have not even mentioned COVID.
I haven't even mentioned deaths.
I haven't even mentioned loss of job, loss
loss of people's income, loss of lives. I
haven't even mentioned it
Which is the most dominant thing throughout the
world for better or for worse in some
ways.
There is a dire need for introspection
and the necessity
for honest critical self evaluation.
Is our leadership whether political,
religious, or academic
engaging the reality that we are facing
in a practical
and in a pragmatic manner?
Are they actually addressing these issues at all?
Are they even really aware of it?
It was so disappointing about last week that
Shireen,
lady was killed in Jenin.
So somebody,
a journalist said,
the martyrdom of,
Shareen.
A whole host of Ulema responded.
How can you call a Christian a a
a a a
a shayid? They are kafir. You can't call.
Is that the debate? Yet none of them
have listened to those points. None of them
even condemn the attack or the killing for
example? We're missing the point all the time.
We sent you making issues of something which
are non issues and the major major issue
continues unabated and unaddressed
because
we need to look whether they are addressing
these issues,
political, religious, or academic leaders. Are they even
really aware of it?
Because we go where our leadership leaders
reflect on how noble our heroic struggle for
liberation was in this country
and look where self serving corrupt and incompetent
leaders have landed us.
How did you get from the likes of
Robert Shubuque,
from Steve Biko,
from Rahima Musa, from Imam Harun. How did
you get from there to where we are
today?
You see true leaders as we know are
likable,
are lovable,
are respectful and respectable.
Have the capacity to unite,
not to divide.
Have the ability to simplify
rather than complicate.
Are practical,
are realistic,
are relevant,
and pragmatic.
And therefore,
they are loved
and worthy
of our following.
In the words of the greatest leader of
all time,
If we are not vigilant and conscientious,
then we may unfortunately
end up getting disliked leaders that we deserve.
People doing the same thing in the same
manner
without enhancing the people that are being led.
It was Albert Einstein
who pointed out
that if an experiment does not yield
the desired result. You make an experiment and
you don't get the result you want.
Simply repeating the same experiment won't give you
a different result.
If you keep getting what you always if
you keep doing what you always did, you
keep getting what you always got.
Many people appear to be to be oblivious
of this fact
and continue to be guilty of what we
call
repetitive actions in their social, religious, political behavior.
By indulging in the same process of thinking,
same process of action while hoping for different
outcomes.
It's not practical
nor is it logical.
If we want to play a truly constructive
role in repairing a damaged world,
we can be preoccupied
with focusing on the same secondary
issues that are of little consequence
and which may partially affect a few of
us while overlooking or ignoring major issues that
affect all of us. We carrying a deen
that came to resolve the problems of the
world.
We're making the deen a problem for ourselves
by infighting among ourselves about the deen itself.
Whether Hanafi can
pray with the twenty. What about the Salafis?
We are busy with us all the time
people. All of it irrelevant.
We are facing a crisis of survival here
of humanity.
Even if you're worried about fiqh, as I
always say,
how much kind of water do you have
as you've at least kun for Abdas? There
won't even be water in times to come.
We witnessed part of it in the past.
Future wars will not be fought over oil
people. It will be fought over water. You
won't have water for the basic wudu you
argue about, even if you want to be
purely involved in fiqh and not in politics.
So we must review
our paradigm.
What has been paradigm I mean how we
look and we perceive the reality around us
and how we engage that reality.
There's definitely a need for a paradigm shift
and this especially for each of us in
light of the fact that Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala has placed us
and placed upon us the responsibility of Khalifa
to life of the
human
beings as a
as a representatives, as a manages of affairs
of Allah on
earth. Okay.
Allah has made the world beautiful and orderly
and he has put you in charge of
it and he's carefully observing how you are
dealing with it.
So
the human being in the Islamic world view
is Khalifa to life in earth. Each one
of us. Not the Maulana or the Sheikh
or the leader, all of us. But if
there are leaders who are leading us we
will make sure that because we are following
that these objectives are met.
And
part of the decision and the management of
the face on the world is the Amana
that we have to fulfill the
responsibility.
And human beings have taken on the responsibility
and been granted that
position and authority
and a major part of that
Allah has availed to you the utilization of
all the resources in the heavens and the
earth.
Allah has availed to you the utilization of
resources
throughout the heavens and the earth.
All that from him, from
him. He has garnered you.
Surely in this their signs for those who
reflect, those who contemplate.
The world with all these provisions,
with these resources,
the opportunities,
our abilities,
all of these are to be used without
abuse or misuse.
To be terrorized
and not to be exploited.
And furthermore,
we are to ensure that part of the
trust
will not cause corruption
and disruption on Earth.
Because the exploitation of resources,
the oppression of people, the corruption of systems
on earth
is solely due to man's misuse of resources
and the abuse of authority and power.
Corruption is manifest on the land because of
the deeds of people.
So to affect a paradigm shift requires awareness.
It entails
perspective. It demands
conscious action.
And this brings me to a concern where
we and especially our youth who are the
future generations,
they seem to be missing in action.
There appears to be an increase in disengagement
with reality.
Relating to the world in indirect manner.
Not through meaningful
direct personal engagement,
but through a device that hinders our perception
of reality
and how we deal with people with issues
in impersonal matter,
impersonal manner.
Fantastic, great device.
Please use it.
But don't become enslaved.
This is not the world.
It's a means of connecting, it's not the
reality.
We live in an information age which is
great and efficient. Alhamdulillah.
But constantly looking at our cell phone screen
and engaging distant people while ignoring the people
in front of you, this is how rude
you become. When the phone rings, I speak
to the person who's not there and I
ignore the person who made an appointment with
me. Why?
It's a new culture of disrespect.
Someone makes an appointment to see me and
I'm busy speaking to someone who just by
the way phone me. How are you?
And therefore we've developed a new thing what
they call fubbing. Fubbing, you know phone snubbing.
You snub the people in front of you
because of the phone.
Fubbing.
Phone snubbing the people
who are in your presence.
This apparent
enslavement to a screen
where we barely give ourselves the opportunity to
think of ourselves because we are constantly connected
and influenced by an endless stream of media
and technology, which in itself is not bad,
but the endless stream is the problem. Keeping
us continuously in touch via text messages and
WhatsApps and emails, not a problem in
itself. But engaging the world mostly through social
media
as if little if that little screen
providing us a false sense of connectiveness
as if the screen is our world.
You can be,
just you and reflect.
If you are constantly engaged in responding
and being focused on a screen.
You could truly be in a position of
the
if you try and allow yourself to be
you and to be silent for a moment.
Because in silence there's wisdom.
In seclusion that's why is so important. Why
did the Rasul before coming to the world
and give the message going to Halwa?
Creating a perspective
not to be affected by too much other
information.
Constantly other people's opinions. Something not important. Hey,
you know what? What was going to say?
I don't know. I don't know. But he's
got a sale. Now I suddenly check what's
in sale now. Why I want to buy
some post those. I never needed it but
now suddenly I'm also going there
now.
We are over consumed
in consumerism
and consumption of information
and some of it of little value.
Think for yourself,
contemplate about reality
and reflect productively.
Allah has created each one with a purpose.
Nothing was created without a purpose.
Subhanah, glory to Allah was not created anything
without purpose.
What to speak of the best of creations.
So what is my role and your role
in a troubled world? We are all capable
of having views
or forming opinions,
but we don't always make good judgments.
And therefore,
we minimize the potential for our positive impact
on the world.
And by good judgment, I mean the analytic
skill, the mental and emotional ability
to consciously observe
to consciously observe the reality for yourself around
you.
To use the information we have
and that we get.
To exercise our wisdom to choose the best
option in making the wisest decision.
That is good judgment.
People who normally make good judgments
are usually people who think sensibly,
who listen carefully,
who appreciate reality
and who act practically.
You see?
Whatever the problems I've mentioned,
whether of crime of corruption of leadership,
political, religious or otherwise.
We have to all think this notion of
thinking of the fact.
But think strategically,
you see usually,
even in religious arguments and discussions and debates.
80% of the problem
arise from 20% of an issue.
80% of our problems
arise from 20% of an issue. If we
can find the essential 20% of the cause
we can effectively fix 80% of the problem
very efficiently.
So let's use our talents, let's use our
skills, let's use our positions, let's use our
wealth, our influence, our authority,
our personal relations and our social media connections
to be of the
to be of those
who resolve problems.
Not to be of the subabul mashakil
of those
who are the causes.
And the contributors to problems.
May Allah protect us all from the ongoing
trial of this pandemic.
Grant recovery to those who are healing,
Freedom to those who are oppressed.
Victory to those who are fighting for liberation.
Paradise for those who are deceased.
And guidance for each of us
to be a source of healing
for the many ailments affecting the world.
Realizing
that if we are truly dear to Allah,
Then Allah causes you to be an instrument
to aid the well-being
of humanity.
Inshallah, there's a few announcements, inshallah.
The of,
brother Ishmael just down the road here by
us, will take place at 3 PM, inshallah,
this afternoon at the Majid. That is
a of brother Hajj Ishmael Peterson
of 121 4th Avenue.
And in the heart of the families and
friends.
And then, inshallah, we'll be starting with our
on Thursday evening coming
this coming Thursday evening inshallah after Maghrib. We'll
start inshallah. We'll start off inshallah once a
month and see how it goes from there
inshallah.
We shall also make dua for the mother
of,
A long, I think.
A long,