Sami Hamdi – Path to Purpose
AI: Summary ©
The speakers emphasize the importance of trusting in Him and showing one's weaknesses in order to achieve desired outcomes. They also encourage people to use their words in a beneficial way for themselves and society, and to be grateful for their actions. It is important to show one's weaknesses and strengths in order to achieve desired outcomes.
AI: Summary ©
I've never felt the Ummah like I felt it in van in eastern Turkey
in 2008 as an 18 year old sitting there and saying, Allah Ummah at
this moment. I mean it for the first time, Ash hadu, Allah,
ILAHA, illallah, or ashadhu and Muhammad Rasulullah. You see how
throughout that process he turned to Allah?
There was an interest, right? Obviously, as she's she's
appealing to him, right? So he tried to
explain. So Allah has told you, SABR here is not to sit and do
nothing. SABR is that when me and she, Abdullah and yourself are
sitting here, and we don't know the outcome, we don't know what's
on the other side, Allah is saying, show SABR in the process,
and the opportunity will come show somebody in the mobilization, and
I will open the door, even if you can't see it. I didn't know how it
manifest. I thought it was law. Then I changed my mind, political
risk. Then it was like, is it on the media? Is it on this? Is it
Allah makes you stumble through life, positioning yourself within
Allah's plan and acknowledging that Allah's plan would be the
best plan for you.
I
Right. Assalamu. Alaikum. Warahmatullahi, wabarakatuh,
Abdullah Oduro, and welcome to the Iman cave, where we discuss issues
of male excellence while being grounded in faith. I'm your host,
along with my co host, Waleed governor, who's the VP of the M
Club, mashallah, Tabar May Allah, bless him, and I'm here with our
political analyst, Sami Hamdi, how are you doing? Sheik, good, good,
good. He's our nomadic noble. He's been around the world. Along with
William Gilbert mashaAllah. These guys have traveled so many places
and have so many experiences. If you would have been here before
the actual gathering, I got so much information, so much
knowledge. I remember when I was Subhanallah around was it 19 years
old? That
was the time that I became Muslim. I think that was the time that
real clarity came to my life. You know, I'm saying the smoke, the
smoke was clear. I understood my purpose of life and my existence,
that it was something transcendent, but around the age
of, like 3035,
you know, a couple of years younger than I am now. So it was
different. I mean, before it was like, Okay, what do I want to do
with my life? Now that I'm doing with my life, my career, or
whatever it is that I'm being involved in, it's much more
comprehensive, because now there's kids in the picture, right?
There's a lot of other things that are taking place in regards to me
being a man. Now I'm a Muslim man, and I've been Muslim man for over
20 years. So it's totally different. So with Willie like
yourself, how do you find it with you in particular? I mean, how old
are you currently, right now? Alhamdulillah, currently, right
now.
One week before I turned 39 one week before you turn 30 Yes.
Inshallah. So what have you found with with this issue of purpose
and like living your life as a Muslim, what that really means?
Right? Alhamdulillah, I feel, first, we're blessed and honored
and privileged to be in this, in this opportunity, this world of
being a Muslim. You know, we've always been a minority of the
minorities, especially when I was growing up in a
pretty much a very Caucasian town in the suburbs, in an area called
New Jersey, growing up and Subhanallah, we had to find our
faith early on. You were mentioning being grounded in
faith. I remember when I was 13, I, you know, at that time, tried
to establish my salah. Oh, really, okay, because, and that's when I
started establishing because I felt I had to separate myself and
just show and present ourselves as being Muslim, playing varsity
sports, yeah, being involved in all the school sports activities
and the like. So we always had to make it known that we were
Muslim, but we were also part of the fabric of the American
communities. Yeah, yeah, at large, yeah. So, I mean, now you're in
your 30s now, so now you're looking at kids at that age. Now,
how is it different? Everything has changed. Everything's changed.
Every day. We're looking at new trends and try and keep up with
them. I mean, I'm looking at my kids now, the father of five.
Masha Allah, yes, all the credit goes to my wife. We have to, we
have to give the kudos and the credit to amazing wives and
mothers. Of course, actually help raise and give us the the leeway
in the runway to go do what we need to do out and out and about.
You know, now my kids are coming to an age. My eldest is a
teenager, and now Subhanallah every day. I was just talking to
her this morning, and I was like, I looked at her, I said, medium.
You know what you got going on? It's like, I now, I'm at the time
is that, you know the 777, and just play with them, and then
seven, teach them, and then the next is befriend them, right? So
now I'm and the cusp of that, you know, I'm trying to actually do it
all at the same time. And you know, we're learning from them,
actually more than anything, right? And just trying to take
notes and remembering that I can read with my two year old and also
play with my 12 year old. And then.
Everybody in between, and have fun with them and try to figure out a
way to find a good balance. Mashallah, mashaAllah. So kids,
Sammy Hamdi, hailing from the UK, one week in Tunis, next week in
Australia. All right, Alhamdulillah, Land Down Under and
land down under. Yeah, and Hamilton is here with us in
Dallas. Man, so, so were you born Muslim? I was born Muslim in a
Muslim environment. And I always argue that there is a difference
between the Muslim born in a Muslim environment and the Revert,
okay? And I didn't understand the difference until I read the book
road, the road to Mecca, by Muhammad Assad, who he described,
yes, yes, when he went to Hajj. He's on the boat going towards
Jeddah, and there are a group of Yemenis who look at him, and he's
clearly European, because he's from Austria. He was a Jewish man
who became Muslim afterwards, and he's doing his Hajj. So the
Yemenis are asking him his story, because he speaks Arabic as well
with them. This way, mashallah, you surprised me when you when you
came at me straight with Arabic, I said, Yeah, where are you from?
But so the Yemenis, they came to him, and he tells his story how he
came to Islam, and the Yemenis go quiet, and they go into a corner,
and they all start whispering gardinger, and they come, they
bring him a small sum of money, whatever they have, and they say,
please take he says, I don't need the money. He goes, No, no. He
says, you're better than us, because we were brought up in a
Muslim environment. Everything was catered towards us, but you saw
the Haqq for what it is and entered it and accepted it,
knowing the price perhaps you had to pay in your own life, and that
makes you, therefore better than us. And the reason why that was
significant for me is is because when eventually you get to that
experience where you were talking about the clarity as to your role
in the Ummah, even the idea of being a man or the like, there is
you go. I think everybody goes through an experience where Islam
goes from being an inherited religion to a religion that you
adopt wholeheartedly. You choose it, and you choose it. And Aliyah
isabegovic himself writes in his book inescapable questions. He
says that during his teenage years, he flirted with atheism and
communism and these ideas. At 15, 1617, when he realized they
couldn't produce a solution of life, he went back to the Quran,
and he argues at that point, at 1819, years of age, he actually
writes. He said, at that point, Islam became my own religion as a
person. And he said, My faith was never shaken again. So when you
ask, you know what it's like growing up as a Muslim in a Muslim
environment, the reality is that, yes, you're praying. But in
hindsight, did I really appreciate what I was doing in my Salat. You
know, when you're reading it, Fatiha Rahman or him. Do you
appreciate all these things? So it was fascinating when you go
through these experiences, and we'll talk about them as well. And
that's what, that's why I asked you, were you born Muslim? Because
a lot of times when I'm with with people that are born Muslim, I
asked them, How many of you have converted to Islam, SubhanAllah?
You know, because they look at me as someone, okay, he was
Christian, but I converted theoretically, or reverted, some
would argue. But those that are born in Muslim countries or in a
Muslim household, Islamic household, you still have to make
that choice. Of course, when was it for you? Like how it was for
me, me, when I converted to Islam and then, you know, that's when I
really understood what the purpose of life really was. It was about
Allah. Everything goes back to Allah. You know, as Allah says,
I'm not created. Spirits, except that they worship Me. That's the
premise that is the everything is couched in that. When did that
verse come to light for you, like when you said, okay, my choices
and everything that I do as a man now, as a Muslim man, has to be in
light of that. How old were you? What happened when people posed
this question to me? There are two very distinct events that I
remember almost every detail of, and I always point to those points
that redefined my relation with Allah, subhanho, wa taala, and
also redefined how I viewed myself within the ummah. The first was as
a 16 year old coming back from Mecca, and I hope I have the
chance and future to go see it again in this lifetime. But I
remember coming back from Mecca and in those days when I used to
go for Amra, and this is what I want to say to every Muslim you
Muslim in that when you go to Mecca Medina, don't assume you'll
always be able to go to Mecca Medina, because when you get to a
position where you can't, you start realizing that I should have
taken more with regards to the opportunity. Should have taken
more chances. Because when you're next to Mecca, I remember this
1516, year old, okay, I'll pray the harasser there. Maybe I might
pray a share there. But you know Fajr, you know, you pray in the
hotel because you can't be bothered to get and you look back
in hindsight and you think I was such a fool, because, ya, Allah,
if you gave me one more chance to go back, I would not do it again.
I would take advantage. But going back to the point I was 16 years
old, flying back on siradeya, and I, at that time, I didn't like
flying, you know, you see the Shahadah 1000 times. I couldn't
understand why a true can fly that fast in the air, and you're
looking at the window, looks like it's going slowly. So I was
listening to surah Taha by sharim, and as a 16 year old, you're
listening to it, and when you're listening to it, you know, Allah
is telling Musa to go to Pharaoh, and Musa is, as a 16 year old,
saying it, answering back. Allah shows him two grand signs, tells
him go to Pharaoh. Musa tells him I have a stutter. I'm not sure I'm
the right person. Send Harun with me, Allah. I'm scared, and he
repeats again, I'm scared, and I realize Allah keeps reassuring
him. So there I was a 16 year old thinking that Allah punishes you
if you even show a hint of disobedience. But here he is
showing incredible mercy to Musa, alaihi salam, and the same flight
I listen.
Surat Miriam, and Maryam says, Qalat ya laitinimitu kabalah. I
wish I had died before, and she knew she was the bearing of a
miracle. So I landed back in London thinking maybe my relation
with Allah is wrong, but you only think about it for a day or two,
and you leave the defining moment for me was I played and the Yaqeen
goes worldwide, Alhamdulillah, so I played football, the sport
that's played with
the feet. So I played with the football team. And the week, we
had an
idea, one day coming back from a match that we wanted to play in
different countries against universities. Okay, so the first
year we went to Turkey. Before we went to Turkey, my mother comes to
me, she says, to me, yeah, Beni, I don't want you to go to this trip.
I said, why? Your mama? She said to me, I saw a dream that somebody
with a long chin threw you in the bathroom and locked the door on
you. Okay, our captain had a long chin, so I knew who she was
referring to. So I told her, Mama, I don't run my life based on
dreams. Okay, when we went to Istanbul, I hadn't contributed to
the fundraising because my father told me I couldn't go, then change
his mind last minute. So the agreement was, pay your ticket to
Istanbul and back, and everything in Turkey is paid for when we
landed three days into the trip, somebody whispers in my ear and
says, Sammy, check that they've booked your ticket. I said, What
do you mean? He goes, just check. I said, What? They're going to
leave me stranded here for the rest of the trip, three weeks in
Istanbul, and I'm broke, and I don't want to go to Baba and ask
him for the money to whatever they said, just check. I went, I find
they didn't book the ticket. So I say to captain, why haven't you
booked the ticket? I was he goes. Why should I ask the team, like,
let them vote on it. So what do you mean, vote to leave me
stranded in Istanbul? And what's going on here? So we entered the
restaurant in Taksim Square, and they decided to vote. Somebody
said, No, I want to do secret ballot. Secret ballot for what to
leave me stranded in Istanbul. So anyway, they voted. How old were
you at this time? 18 years old. 1816. People voted not to pay for
the ticket. Why people voted to pay for the ticket? So the team
decided we leave. Sammy here. Okay, the Turkish brother
translator comes out, and he says to me, Ali, he says, brother
mashallah, it's the first time I see democracy deciding.
And I What do you mean democracy? Ali just voted for it. He goes,
brother, my English is not very good, you know, like, so I said
they voted to leave me here in Istanbul because they don't want
to pay for my ticket to van. He said,
Brother, we will look after but the point of the story is here. So
I got on the plane with them, and we went to van, and they said,
Yeah, fine. It all got sorted out for Sammy, when I landed, the
Kurdish driver from Van says something in in Turkish to the
translator, and he says, Why is this boy not eating the food that
we provide? He says, because he's fasting. He was Ramallah at the
time. He said, tell him Iftar is in my house, and I didn't want to
cause further friction with the team. I said, guys, they'll say
he's getting special treatment. It's not worth it. So he tells him
the story what happened in Istanbul. So the guy turns around
very aggressively, says something, and the Turkish guy says to me,
Sami, he's insisting, Iftar and you stay the night at his house.
Wow. So anyway, I said, No. So anyway, he took me to his house
forcefully, and he said, I will never abandon my brother to such a
situation. The next day, another family came. They said we heard
there's a Muslim in London who is fasting, who was screwed over in
Istanbul. They stayed in dormitories. I was staying in,
like, like palaces, like flats, that kind of thing. Wow. So in
that moment, and I've given the story in brief, but I felt what an
ummah meant. They couldn't speak English, by the way, we're talking
through a translator. Wow. When they were in the masjid, people
turned up in the masjid, a good 200 people. They said, We just
want to see this Londoner who fasted in London, who fast in
London. And when I saw it, and they looked at me with a love like
a long lost brother who had just arrived, and I had read about the
Ummah like we all read about the Ummah, right? I had said Masha
Allah, about the Ummah, though we all say mashallah, but I've never
felt the Ummah like I felt it in van in eastern Turkey, in 2008 as
an 18 year old sitting there and saying, Allah Ummah at this
moment. I mean it for the first time. Ash hadu, Allah ILAHA,
illallah, Muhammad, rasulallah. And this was that turning point
after that. When I came back, I said, I want to be part of this
ummah. I want to be part of this ummah where I can go to a random
place in eastern Turkey, and it happened in Ghana the following
year afterwards as well, where they start saying,
Yeah, honestly, no man left left behind. No Nobody left behind.
Like, no man left behind either, even when we went to Ghana the
following year, yes, like, we had like, a black activist with us who
you know on the plane. He said to me, Islam is racist, and your only
example you have is Bill. And I'm Bear in mind, I'm about
to fly, and I don't like flying, so I'm sitting on the plane
thinking it's eight hours, you know, to Lagos, and then Lagos
transit to Accra.
When
we landed in Lagos, me Tahir, Nigerian brother and Adnan Bosnian
brother, we hadn't played mother of Asia. Okay, so we're in Lagos
airport. Transit 12 hours, and then we fly to Accra. So Tayyip
does the ikama. I've gone Allah. Akbar, Wallah behind us. We're
here Allahu. Akbar, okay, I did the sleep my turnaround. I find
three rows of Nigerians praying.
Behind us, brothers, where are you coming from? Wow, we're coming
from London. Muhammad, bring the food. We have guests. Black
activist is watching it, and he goes, guys, do you guys know each
other? He said, No. He goes, so what's this thing? Allah and the
Nigerian, Wallahi, the Nigerian turns out to me and says, In
Islam, we have concept of Ummah
one brotherhood. And I was a bit bratty back in this I said, Hey,
you see that racism
at your finest, honestly, but imagine, as a 19 year old seeing,
yeah, embracing feeling Yeah, you know, in Kuma, in Kumasi, and we
play the Polytechnic 430 the match starts Maghrib, 630 I'm fasting.
Very unwise decision in that humidity and he did to play a
football match as well, because Allah says went to Sumo. So I
thought, why not match finishes
implementing,
yeah. And then the match finished, and I'm exhausted. I've played 90
minutes, and I find that they finished all the water. So I say,
Guys, how long to the next place? They said, one hour bus drive. And
I'm sitting there thinking, Allah Ummah, like now I understand what
license means I should have taken and I'm sitting there, and they're
like, Oh yeah, Sam, you're like, We're sorry we shouldn't have
finished all the water, and I'm going thirsty. Ghanaian brother,
who's not associated with the team. We haven't seen him before,
runs on the bus. Wallah, as I'm telling you, Hey, I heard there's
somebody here who's fasting. That guy over there. Hey, he's over
here. Walla, they came. They bought a big bowl of Jollof rice
with tilapia on top with a big bottle of water like this. They
put it on my lap like that. The black actor sitting next to me,
and he says, Yeah. And what about us? And Wallahi, the Ghanaian guy,
says to him, he is my brother in in faith, and he is fasting, and
there is big reward to feed fasting over here, and we have to
look after him is my brother, Bismillah Allah, and I turned
around very cheekily to the guys, I said, Hey, if this ain't an area
for you, I don't know what is become Muslim, but that's the
point you were saying. When is that clarity? That was a clarity
you feel that this is part of and that changed my perspective on
marriage after because what happened is when I finally saw
what the Ummah looks like and how beautiful it is, and how everybody
said it's bleak and it's weak, and it's this and that. But then you
go out and you see how generous, even in their weakness, they're
showing generosity and looking after you, and how they work. We
have to protect him. He was screwed up in Istanbul. We have to
look after him. He will stay in our houses, in our fortresses. And
this kind of it transforms how you view the ummah. So I said to
myself, I get it now, marriage. Al Prophet sallam, he says, You marry
for four. You marry for four, the wealth, the beauty, the status,
but the best of you marries for the deen. I said, You know what?
Let me build my fortress that resembles the ummah. Let me marry
for the deen. It's okay if I don't get along too well, like I'm an
easygoing guy, whatever. But let me build my fortress so when I go
out for the sake of the Ummah, when I get too tired, I can
retreat somewhere that is the fortress. Build the fortress first
and then go out. Don't do it the other way around. You know, that's
interesting. I want to interject on that part, because Subhanallah
transitioning to the marriage. I mean, you have five kids when you
got married. I was engaged at 2021
with the katab, and then I waited for my wife to finish her medical
school. 23 we did the weddings. Well, see, because that, you know,
in the subject matter of purpose and like, the reason behind our
existence and living in accordance to that, it's beautiful because
even this aspect of life, of marriage, you automatically think
attraction. You think how beautiful she may be. That's a
that's a component of it. Like you mentioned a hadith, but apostle
Solomon says folks ought to be that to Deen. And that's
beautiful, because, you know, that's the diff. That's the
difference with the man. Is be that to Dean, the religion,
there's always a religious, quote, unquote, transcendent connection
with marriage. I think we were talking earlier, like, when I got
married, you know, in Medina, I had money before, but when the
time came, well, I had no money. Welcome to the club.
You know, I drove up to my my it's currently my in laws. I drove up
to the house, and I parked the car around the block, okay? Why?
Because it was worth $75
and he barely made it to the house. Okay, it was a gift my
brother gave me. I was a college boy. I was junior in college, not
a nickel to my name, and I went and, as you say, go from the front
door, right? And I was 20, I had nothing. I had nothing to lose at
the same time,
everything to gain, you know. So I went and I told my father, very
successful physician and whatnot, and I my mother called and invited
us over. You know, just a typical, hey, how you doing? We want to
hurt. We heard about you guys. Want to come visit. To come visit.
So anyway, we went into the house, and I sat down, just like we are
right now, and I had my father with me, and I said, we're here to
ask for your daughter, daughter's hand in marriage, okay, but you
mentioned your father as well. The family plays a big role in lending
their support as well, even for me, the same way I got married at
20 years years of age, but, but it's the family. It's the parents
who said, Okay, it's done for a good because the from the time
that I met my wife and proposed was less than four weeks, oh,
because I had, because, basically, I saw her at University and she
annihilated somebody in a
debate. Like, I need to know who this person is, you know, like,
and she.
And he said that she studies in my class. So I tried to talk to her.
I remember, she went into the university shop, okay, and she
picked up her stuff. So I went to pick up the Twix, and Nick, who's
plays on the football team with me, a soccer team. He was, he was
the guy at the checkout, you know, the guy the cashier. So I put my
Twix, and I said, Nick, all this is on me. And she went, excuse me,
this will okay. And I went, Ah. So anyway, for the next three weeks,
I tried to make conversation, but she would never really give me too
much of the time of day. No, really, no. But then one day I
said, you know, Allah, because I was khati, but the university as
well. I said, it's not good for me to get too involved in these kind
of things. I said, Yeah, Allah, I'm going to plead with you like
just sort this out, either get the feelings out the way, or give me
an opportunity to go door open. So I did this. Tikhara To raka after
Asha to foraka when I wake up middle of the night, to raka
before fashion. And I used to, you know, some people think dua has to
be very sophisticated. Allah mind, I was very simple in sujood,
Allahu AK, no, I'm not Musa Zakaria allahumanu. I'm not
deserving. I just give me an area like you give me an A career and
literally make it and on the eighth or ninth, ninth. And bear
in mind, I'm not like a Sufi Benny. Stretch the imagination. I
saw a dream that the tahiyi, who I had asked about her, brought me a
qurbani and said to me, Sammy, it's a Eid sacrifice festival. And
in the dream, I vividly, you remember Allah. I called them. I
said, Listen, go tell sumay. There's a guy called Sami. He
wants to marry her. He said, bro, what do you think this is 1500s
This is 1500s What do you mean? I said, Wallahi, she's gonna say
yes. Well. And she said yes. And she said, Yeah, I just need to
hear from him directly. I love it. And then two weeks later, I met
her dad, very terrifying figure, with a big bit yes, may Allah,
bless Yeah. And then two months later, did the Nike tab. And then
six months later, did the wedding. And we've never looked back.
That's beautiful. You know, I know there's a characteristic that you
possess, and I think you still possess it now that is very
important for a man, particularly a Muslim man, because you see how
throughout that process, he turned to Allah. There was an interest,
right? Obviously, she's she's appealing to him, right? So he
tried to,
people say, marriage, it dies, it does. It evident. No, no. So you
saw that, but you turn to Allah, because, you know Allah is the
ultimate one that's going to give it to you in the right way. And
that's what's so important for the man is to always turn it, turn
back to Allah, make sure that his purpose is, is, is that? And it's
not something that's tangible, that is of this world. It is
something that goes beyond that, as I say, transcendent. But that
characteristic that I see, and that I see with you a lot, will
eat Mashallah. You do a lot of humanitarian work. You're involved
with a lot of people. Everybody knows Waleed. That's you should
make a team. Everybody knows
everybody knows Raymond's number.
Somebody,
I think it's with that characteristic of being bold,
right? It's very important for the man to have a level of humility,
but not be afraid, but to be bold in what he does, right, and to not
have that level of lack of confidence, because when you're
not confident in yourself, how is anyone going to trust you? Because
if you're not confident, how are they going to be confident in you?
But ultimately, again, back to that purpose of being confident in
Allah. Yes, that Allah is going to give it to you, right? So
transitioning over to politics, right? Your political analyst,
amongst many other things, mashallah, sabbatical, law, other
things, mashallah
Taberna, people think that politics and religion, they're
like antagonists to each other, but for us as Muslims, politics is
a part of our faith, meaning that we get involved in it, and that is
a way that we worship, Allah, Subhanahu, Wadah. But as a man,
it's important to be bold in this chapter of life, or in this
chapter of involvement, or how I want to contribute. So what have
you seen? When was it for you that you said, you know, I want to get
involved in politics. I want to worship Allah via politics. I
think that one of the things that is worth noting first and foremost
is
that politics is the science of human relations, first and
foremost, the same way we feel happiness, sadness, despair, fear,
confusion and the like, is the same way that states feel it,
because states ultimately are run by human beings, even the way
we're interacting between each other. While you may not be
thinking it's politics, the reality, it's the way we
communicate, there we talk, the setting, it all imposes a
framework through which we communicate with each other, and
the way we navigate that is in its very essence. It's politics, and
that's why when the ALLAH SubhanA wa Taala says in the Quran
Alhamdulillah tin tahiba, Allah is trying to give you value, to say
that something you think is insignificant in the eyes of Allah
is significant, that the good word is like the tree
Usama in another area, Allah says, Wakulla, ibadi, ya Assan, say to
my believers to say that which is best. But Allah tells you why, in
the shaitana, yanza Obey Noh, that shaitan will whisper. So be
careful how you speak to people, in your mannerisms, how you
communicate. Some people say, I can say what I wish. No even.
Quran. It says, Be wary, so you don't leave room for Shaitan to
play. And that's the very essence of politics, speculation,
suspicion. The media, they said this, they said that, and that
kind of thing. And for me, the fair, the framework was firstly
established by the book wrote to Mecca, by Muhammad as and then
later by Ali azebegovic. Inescapable questions the field of
politics itself. I fell into it by accident. My father has a long
history of activism in Tunisia before he fled and went to
Tunisia. But in terms of my job, I fell into the job of political
risk, and I found that everybody was very interested in the Muslim
world, in investments, or the like. They would say, we want to
know what's going to happen, who's going to be the next king, who's
going everybody showed a really keen interest. And you would find
that where we used to think that they knew everything. I suddenly
discovered, wait a minute, they don't actually know everything.
You would see these people come and sit in the office in their
great suits, the heads of these big companies, which I'm not
allowed to name, because of NDAs, but the big companies, huge New
York listed companies, they'd come and they'd be like, we're really
concerned by an event that is happening in this country because
it might result in loss of profits. We want to know what's
going to happen. And you sit there going, we've been brought up to
believe that the West controls everything, or that America or
that it's all seeing. And here they are sitting right in front of
me, people from the State Department, I'm allowed to say
that, because they allowed me to, and some other like governments
and they don't actually know everything. And this is where I
felt so humiliated, because it's when I subconsciously realized
that while I believed in Allah, I never believed him to be all
powerful. While I believed in Allah, I never believed him to be
overarching. Because I believe that while Allah is strong also,
America is strong, while Allah is strong also, these people are
strong. And it was so such a crushing feeling inside my heart.
And the reason why I give the example of that is because even in
marriage itself, you learn a lot as you go on. So for example, my
wife, when we first got married, often in the weekend, she'd go
back to her family home. And I could never understand why every
weekend we don't spend time together, she goes to a family
home, until Subhanallah, my sister came and whispered in my ear and
said, bro, you need to try to do some romantic stuff. You know, as
in, like, you know, your marriage is also about mawat.
It's about kindness as well. And I realized the more effort I put in,
such as establishing for a friend of mine, Nigerian, he set up this
father's group where we used to sit together. He'd say, Guys, I've
decided to adopt something. Every Friday morning I go on a date with
my wife for breakfast, I said, mashallah, I'm going to do it as
well. And you see the impact that has media. And then that changes
your opinion on what it means to be a man. Because I grew up in a
soccer environment, where
football environment once you cross the water and you can change
your language, so I remember somebody in the changing room
because me and tayub, we got married younger. I got married
younger. I got married first, and thought, I'll get married younger.
And we got married. And I remember some of the brothers who weren't
married, they used to say things like, when I get married, my wife
gonna cook because my wife's gonna clean. And I remember, like, one
of the remarked him and said to him, Brother, let me just tell you
something. A meal cooked out of love tastes much better than a
meal cooked because you asked for it. Allahu, Akbar. You know, when
a wife loves you. She goes above and beyond. We use the word NIFA.
There was NIFA, and this is yeah, like her spirit, you know, when
you call soul food
and
when you go through that experience, this is what I mean
sometimes, when you realize that subconsciously, while ostensibly,
you think you believe in Allah's attributes or understand it,
subconsciously, you have these locks on your brain. So when you
go back to the seer of the Prophet Muhammad, and you realize that he
comes down from the cave of Hera, and he comes at every writer, Ibn
Al Hisham, two Martin Ling, they describe him as being frightened,
shaking and throwing himself into the arms of Khadijah. If I was to
say to the Prophet Salim, did that? Would you say that made him
less of a man? Hasher? Would you say that undermined him? Hasher,
what it was a demonstration of is what the marriage is supposed to
be about, in terms of his trust in Khadijah and how Khadija viewed
him in the elevation and how she covers him. She always embraced
them, and that changes the perspective what it means to be a
man in marriage afterwards, in that you grew up being taught that
kindness is weakness. Don't be weak in front of her. Don't let
her have her way. Don't have and you think, dude, what is this a
marriage? It's not a prison. Subhanallah, some other brothers
maybe think it's a prison, but then they gotta get out of the
jail, out of guard. Because, no, no, because I was gonna say,
sometimes you realize as well, because I have sisters, and you
realize afterwards that, you know, when the sisters for the men, you
know, we start, we have our flats, so we have our homes. It's the
sisters who come to live with us, you know, it's the woman who comes
to live with that act of the woman coming to live with you means that
she's already taken the step where she's almost put herself at your
mercy. Yes, yeah, she see she's agreed to be guardianship is
transferred in you transferred man, and she's worried what she
wants more than anything else is to be valued. A woman will support
her husband, provided the husband she feels that she's valued by the
husband. The reason women worry about marriage is because they.
Feel like the husband is going to trample all over them, you know,
cook for me,
woman, mind you. And you know, to that point is that I feel
sometimes I'm actually not doing enough to help my wife around the
house, even a simple reminder, hey, don't forget, you know, when
you get a chance, I had to go to I wasn't feeling well, just don't
forget the dishes, yeah. Or just, you know, help me clean up around
the house, because we forget the double and the triple jobs that
they're doing just to bring up our children, our offsprings, yeah,
no, no. And then we pile everything on top. And you
mentioned the word earlier. You said that impact word, so we got
to take that, you know, I look at marriage as a ROI. We look at as a
return on investment, but we're gonna call it return on impact.
There's also a point. One of the things that changed my perspective
on marriage, that encouraged me to get married young as well, was
there's an A and the Quran Wallah says he puts mud Rahma between a
husband and wife. And the reason that stopped me was because I read
that, I said, Wait a minute. So that means that I can be in a
marriage, and there'll be periods where I don't love my wife,
because Allah put mud, it means he can take away mud, and then you
see in another place where he says, even if you hate your wife,
don't oppress her. So implying that love will go and you're
married, man. You know what? Love goes up and it goes down. And
that's why, when we mentioned earlier about those who marry for
the deen, because when that love has those periods where perhaps
sometimes it vanishes. And somebody put it to me quite, quite
wise. He said, If your wife loves you, she look after you, but if
she doesn't love you, she'll still look after you, because she loves
because she loves Allah. There you go. And I give you just a classic
example, and she had done you'll know this, and you will know
because you travel a lot as well. Let's be brutally honest, like
I'll be honest, I told my wife last night. She said, How is it? I
told her so May, to be honest, it's lonely in the hotel room by
myself. I'm far away from home. I want to see Salma, my daughter. I
want to see Sulaiman, yes. Sumaya, when I go to a crowd, the crowds,
they come in droves, and each one is looking you, looking for an
answer. And I'm just a guy from Wembley, okay. Sumayyla, kamabi,
when your wife tells you on the phone, Sami Ahmed Rabbi say,
hamdullah Allah gave you this opportunity that Allah bless you.
Don't worry about things here. I've got all sorted. I've got that
reassurance, you know, the feelings that's reinvigoration
that it gives it doesn't make me less of a man. The reason that I'm
a man for it is because I accept that my wife is not an addition in
my life. She's a pillar in my life, and because she feels
valued, she acts accordingly. Inspiration, yeah, and I tell a
lot of people, I said, the only reason why I'm able to do
everything I'm doing is because I got the supporting cast. Yeah,
inspiration, right, right. But how in the world did we transition
from politics to marriage?
Because marriage is no, no, you know, I give an example. So you
know, as as happens in marriages, Sammy has an answer for that one
sometimes, sometimes you fight with your partner, sometimes you
fight with us, right? It's life, and some people have different
ways of expressing anger. My anger is keep quiet and just walk out
the door, because it's better than saying something you know. You go,
you gotta over something so stupid, you know, something so
silly. We argued about it. And this is where friends, you know,
man is on the religion of his companions. I have a friend of
mine who's been my friend since the university days. He's with me
and taking us naive Nigerian brother. One day, I sat with him
in the car after arguing with my wife, and I said to him, do you
know what it is, Tahir, like, I feel like I'm going through those
periods where the love has sort of vanished and that kind of stuff.
You know, we're fighting over little things here and there, you
know, sometimes. And he listened to me for all me complaining, then
he said to me, in his words, Kazi, when you come home, do you ever
find like the meal is not cooked? I said, No, never. He said, Your
daughter, Salma, her Quran, how much? How much of it is what you
taught? I said, 99% is what Sumaya taught Salma. When Senna goes to
school, how does she do? Is she doing very well? Would you say
she's well looked after, well looked up. How is your wife
serration with your mother? I said, they talk, and they're
always together, and she shows it really well. And he said, When you
have, like, an interview stuff for that kind of what's her reaction?
I said, she rushes with the same passion, and she gets she tells me
where this suit, where this color, where this style. Bro, Phil,
Allah,
fear. Allah, what's wrong with you? Like, why become blind and I
went snow. I wanted to hit, but I'll take but you're right. And
you go back with a different face, the way sad you know, he's come
back with a different face, going a different face, and you realize
that the kindness, sometimes you don't even say sorry to your
partner. You just said, Yeah, John, what's your movie tonight?
Yeah, I accepted it, but that, but this is politics. It applies even
between states. You know, when a prophet says, spread Salem, we
were taught. I was saying earlier in the car, when Martez was
bringing me and I said, he said, What's the difference sometimes
between UK and US? I said, when I was in LA, people be like, Hey,
how are you good morning. Whoa, the English are quite cold, yeah?
But you realize, because Prophet says, Salam says, when you look at
somebody across the street, you're just eyeing each other. Oh, he's
one of us. We're good. And you see it when you walk into a room, yes,
she Abdullah, when you walk in, when I walk into yaki language,
Sam the way you do Sami kif Hali, even in the beginning of the
intro, you know, you do that. You that kind of, I.
Feel fuzzy inside as any brother. But why? Because it's politics.
You've gone above and beyond to make me feel that way, which leads
to a response in which I'm prepared to go above and beyond.
That's politics. That's why I brought it back to the marriage,
in that if you invest in the marriage, even when it's hard, you
will get and that's why now Alhamdulillah, been married. What?
1314, years now, even when times are tough. You sit there, and I
built my life with Sumayya. I built my life this what I meant
earlier when I told people, marry young, build your fortress first.
Because when you go through the experiences, when you look back,
she's part of every experience, the hard times, the tough times
such that you leave no room to imagine a life without. So that
even when you're moving forward, you think, I can't move forward in
life without this beloved wife of mine. So even when that period
where you feel like you don't love her as much, the respect leads to
the love again. And this is where I finished on this point, you
realize that there was a love that you thought was the correct love,
but there's, it's, you know, it is. It's a different type. It's a
love where you can't be without that person, yeah, because they've
been there through so much. And I think that's the mud that Allah
talked about. And when you feel it, you say, hamdullah, no, no,
no, definitely, no. That's, that's, that's Subhanallah, so
beautiful, because that's what helps make you a man emoji, in a
particular, customized way, with her in particular, right? That
expression of love and that expression of of wanting to serve,
yes, you know, and that's where kind of transitioning over to to
when we look at politics, like, how you will eat Mashallah. How
long have you been involved in the humanitarian work? Alhamdulillah,
gone on,
almost 17 years. Allah, dealing with so many people. So what did
you learn with like, Princess and politics? Yes, if we're looking on
the general level, like, because when we think politics, we think
of nations, dealing with nations, but mashallah, the general, the
generalization that you gave, gave, it is so beautiful and
important for you when you're involved in politics and dealing
with different people and organizations and networking,
which I think Allah has really blessed you. And mashallah, you're
a connector in that book of the tipping point, you know, you're a
connector. Mashallah, what have you seen, and how does that make
you connect with your purpose, with Allah, subhana wa Taala as a
man, you know, it's all about going back. And you know, the
Nabhi salaam was amazing. He used to speak to people at different
levels. You speak with the higher ups, and they're higher up and
very prestigious. Talk to other individuals at their levels. And I
think that's where you read the person, and you figure out what
approach, which avenue you want. And I tell people sometimes, just
drop me in the middle of the room. Give me about an hour,
irrespective of how many people are there, I'll try to figure out
and talk to every single person in that room, okay, but a question,
have you made mistakes in that process? Absolutely, because
that's what you'll find sometimes with men, when they're trying to
win, growing up, you know that they make the mistakes and then
they give up. Yeah, no, this is, this is, this is the this the
internal battle, right? You got to learn to see what you're good at
and what you're not good at. And I try to like, you know, they in
leadership, right? They teach you just focus on the you should focus
on your strengths. Because you keep trying to focus on your
weaknesses, you're not really going to get far, because you're
going to dump all your time in that while you're focusing on your
strengths and your what you're good at, and especially in the
philanthropy world, yeah, and helping people globally and
irrespective. You know, in the time tough times that we're in
now, you know we learn about different opportunities in
different communities and with different people. You know you
never know who you ever spoke to that you helped inspire for them
to become the next beautiful leader of the I remember
SubhanAllah. I'll give you an example of the sister that she was
in MIT. I was given a Subhanallah, maybe, probably 12 years ago. Then
she was actually an undergrad there. 12 years later, she becomes
a manager at Islamic Relief, and she said, if you if you never came
to our school and spoke to us in the college days, and you knew we
were poor and broke, and you didn't inspire us, and you didn't
speak to us on our level, and you didn't forget about us. There was
no, I had no interest in serving Allah subhanho wa Taala in this
capacity. Wow. Subhanallah, and that's the thing. I mean, we
talked about earlier boldness and having impact on people.
Subhanallah, Sami, I mean seeing right now when you're in the
political sphere, I mean the more general, mainstream political
sphere, just upon Allah, blessed you to come on it, come on the
scene or come at a particular time. I don't know if it's a
blessing, but we get to hang out with you. Yeah. I mean, it was
funny, because when I first saw you, was it was it coincided with
that verse, well, they asked him to call him, right? And I do not
let their statements sadden you, for verily, the grace gracious is
for Allah, the magnificence is for Allah. All of it is for Allah. And
I remember you said that more than one time when people would thank
you, you would introduce that and you say, that is the grace is for
Allah. All of it is for Allah. That impact has it plays a role,
you know, in the lives of many people that are seeing you and
that are watching you,
connecting that. What do you do, as far as making sure that me
being involved in politics and me, because let's let's be honest,
you're going to say seeing things that are not going to please
certain people. Yeah. So as a man, you have to have that level of
integrity.
Right to be bold enough to go and say something that you know is
right and coincides with your purpose, but in the process of
that, you're going to displease certain people. Let's take us,
give us a small journey through that, like when you started to get
involved in the now, what's happening with husband? Man? Let's
protect our brothers and sisters and and nourish them with Amen. I
mean, I mean when you started to speak out. And I don't want to use
the term speak out when you start to speak that which is true about
what's going on, and then analyze politically, what you think may
take place from what has happened in the past, what have you seen
with the results in that in regards to human beings in
general, but the Muslims in specific. First of all, it's
important to stress that, you know, everybody who goes through
life will have this will say the same thing, that life doesn't pan
out the way you planned it when you were 16 or when you were 17,
okay? And a lot of it, you feel like you're stumbling through
life. And I think this is a mercy, because in itself, it's a
recognition that you plan. But Allah has the best of planners,
and Allah sends situations that guides you else. If you told me
two months ago that I'd be watching a guy I watch on videos,
on Instagram and the like that. I'd be sitting with him here in in
Dallas, I'd have told you, You're a madman. I'm not going to Dallas.
Why would I go to, you know, all the way to America, you know, I've
got football on a Sunday. You know, we got football on
Sunday. No, but, but honestly, like, it shows you that even now,
like, even as I'm going forward, Allah is still opening doors that
I didn't think were going to be open. The reason why I start with
that is, is because a lot of the times is when it comes to the
political analysis in and of itself, there was a period where,
you know, the videos about what's happening in Saudi Arabia, what's
happening these places, you know, some of them went viral, or the
like, some Muslims didn't want to believe what's happening in Saudi
Arabia. And you feel that isolation. You feel those doors
closing. You feel like Halas people don't want to sit and have
coffee with you, you know, because they want to do Amr, they want to
do Hajj, they're a bit concerned. And I remember, even when I was
invited to mass LA, they said, Yeah, you've been invited. Sent
the invitation, and the night before, I didn't even pack my bags
like we didn't, because I was certain they were going to
withdraw the invitation. I said, Have they not seen the videos of
Saudi Arabia, but SubhanAllah? Not only did they invite me, but my
wife said, You see, all the risk belongs to Allah subhanahu. WA
opens the doors. You're sitting there, and I'm giving an example
that's just a few weeks back to show you that even now, Allah has
to show an example in terms of dealing with saying things that
might displease the people. I think that one of the things
that's worth noting is that everybody has a certain set of
skills and talents in certain environments that when they
deploy, they are effective. But the reason Allah has did has done
that is to ensure that nobody has all the talents that a human has,
which means we rely on each other. And I'll give you a classic
example. One day, I sat depressed in my house for about three
months, and my wife said to me, why are you sitting down so
depressed? I thought, I'm a man of fitna. She said, What do you mean?
I said, all my stuff is politics, and politics is always fitna. And
I say this, and I get lambasted here. I say this, I get lambasted
here. I say this, I get lambasted. I get it. Okay, I feel I'm doing
the Haqq, but it's hard. Like she said, You keep talking about
people reconnecting memories, or they're like, why don't we also do
like travel guides, like, you know, like to take people and
travel and explore the world. So anyway, it developed, we have this
Halal travel guide, and we take people different destinations. The
reason why I mention that is, look how Allah alters your perspective
from places that you never thought. So my wife said, This is
my version of jihad, and I'm going to with the halal travel guide.
And one day, we're talking to this Ministry of Tourism in one of the
countries, and they are saying things like, we are introducing a
halal week in Korea. Why are you introducing Halal week? It's the
government subsidizing halal meat in Korean restaurants in Seoul.
Why are they doing this? Because we've calculated that November is
when Muslims rush to Korea. Yes. And I sit there going, so, wait a
minute, Muslims are like when Muslims go to countries in force.
They can force these industrial changes or that. So you start
learning these things, and you start seeing, wait a minute, there
are possibilities everywhere. I don't need to go full on here. I
can go softly here and bring this person and push on this avenue,
push this lever, push this lever. Apply pressure here. Some people
are like, we should be doing more to speak. I say you don't have to
fight every single battle. I fight this battle, you fight that
battle. We're complimenting each other. I'm the right flank. You're
the left flank. We leave other people for that center flag. And
the reason that applies back to political analysis is is that when
you go back to reading the seer of the Prophet Muhammad, sallAllahu,
alayhi wa sallam, you start realizing that one when he was in
Mecca 13 years giving dawah, Allah gives him no power over Quraysh.
Even at the end of the 13 years, Allah doesn't give him power over
Quraysh. He tells me I have to leave Mecca. And the Prophet
sallallahu makes that heartbreaking statement, Wallahi,
you are ahabu, you are the dearest land to me. And if your people had
not driven me out of you, I would have never left you. You can feel
the pain and the tears as he's leaving Mecca going to Yathrib
Battle of Badr as he's marching out, he has to look back. People
forget. They skip this in this year. It's just a sentence they
read over. The Prophet looks back and says, Ashira Alaya to Ansar,
advise me. And Saad Mohave says, Radha Manu says, As if you're
talking to asylus, the Prophet sallallahu, sallam, is looking for
reassurance. You know, the Imams who are leading from the front,
the activist leading from the front, they are sometimes when
they seek reassurance, the community says, go first, and
let's see what you do first. Here's the Prophet Muhammad. Saw
him seek English. I read it. I said, subhanAllah, let me message
Sheik Rama Sulaiman and.
Yes, sir Qadi and these others, and tell them, Go, Go. I'm with
you. You know, maybe they need to hear it as well, for you read it.
And that's how you interpret terms of the politics. You go to the
hood, they end up losing through Khaled, il Walid. But Allah says
in the Quran, well, abi, lampadhuman, hauli, if you are
tough and hard on them, they'll vanish. So I'm thinking, Wait a
minute. The ima made a mistake. The brother made the mistake. I
made the mistake analysis. But here's Allah telling me, don't be
harsh. And he says, fafwa and stuff. Allah home washe with home
Phil Amr, forgive them. And we sometimes say, I forgive, but I
never forget. Like but these they forgive, forget, and bring them
back into consultation for either as and don't worry that if they do
damage again, because put your trust in me, out, prevent him. You
go to hand. Prophet Sallam has no plan to resist the Hazrat. You
know, when we talk, we say we don't know what to do amidst this
pressure that's on us. He has no plan to resist Hazrat. Salman and
Faris, he tells him dig the trench. But when he's digging the
trench, they have no plan as to how they're going to get rid of
ahzeb, who've gathered against Medina. It's nuaymon who comes to
Him, randomly out of nowhere, and says, you were saying Sammy popped
out of nowhere. I like, I hope I am a noaman. When I come and I
say, Guys, this is what you can do, you know, for the sake of God
no, I mean, comes and whispers in Abu Sufyan and Hata fan, and they
end up retreating. I read that. I think, okay, I don't need to know
the process forward. I just need to keep going. I need to dig my
trench. I need to make sure I'm mobilizing and I'm active, and the
opportunity will show itself. Treaty of Hoda biah, we're talking
leadership, being a man right. Treaty of hudaybiyyah openly
protests against the signing of the treaty. Sahaba refused to do
the sacrifice because they're so angry that the Prophet Muhammad
and the Prophet sallam, and this is where you go back to the
marriage. He's in his tent. He has no idea how he's going to convince
Sahaba to follow him. And it's his beloved wife who says to him, go
out and sacrifice first. Lead from the front. They will follow you.
So you read all of that, and then you come to a situation like the
US with Philistine and Gaza, and you start saying, okay, Professor
Selim didn't know about haz, but that didn't stop him digging the
trench. Let me go and talk to some of these institutions and have a
strategy meeting and see what can we do. Sahaba, they refused to
sacrifice because they weren't happy with the Treaty of odebeya.
Let me go and tell them, guys, you may not be like the situation as
it is now, or the candidates that are available to you, or moving
forward, you may not like it, but guys, I'm going to go forward
because I believe this is the way forward. At least trust me and
follow me in terms of moving forward, you start seeing how the
Sira becomes a political book, and even when the Prophet finally
enters Mecca. And here's the point I want to make here in that, you
know, sometimes Muslims, we love to read ayat, and we think we
understand them, but subconsciously we don't. And
subconsciously we don't. And I'll give an example. Allah says women
assanim, and we said it very happily. The best speech is one
who calls to Allah and does goodies and says, I am from the
Muslims. A lot of humanitarian workers say this as well. I'm not
saying anything. It's true.
I didn't realize. And this is the point I'm saying, where you're
always learning and you're stumbling through life. When I was
in mass, ele last month, they did an intro where they read this, A
and A afterwards, and suddenly it clicked in my head, because they
afterwards says, what a tester would Hassan to what I say, yeah,
it FA ability. I mean, I said, Wait a minute, so that air comes
straight after Dawa. It's the good deed and the bad deed are not
equal. So when you're talking to the other side, if they are bad to
you, we don't be bad to them. We stay good to them. And Allah tells
you when to apply that. He says, When there is even if there is an
enmity between you and the other side, tomorrow they may become
your warmest ally. So when I'm looking at FASD in Ghazni, and
everybody's shouting us down all the like Allah has said that the
Dawah is not in nice, peaceful environments, it's also in
environments where you're talking to someone who's your enemy today
and Allah, who will make them your ally. But it's the last part I
want to focus on. Wama, you. Lakaha, illaina sabaru, so Allah
has told you, SABR, here is not to sit and do nothing. SABR is that
when me and Sheik Dalai lass are sitting here and we don't know the
outcome, we don't know what's on the other side, Allah is saying,
show SABR in the process. And the opportunity will come show SABR in
the mobilization, and I will open the door, even if you can't see
it. And then when you go back to political analysis afterwards, you
start, like I said earlier, when you deal with the State Department
and the diplomats are asking you about what's happening in the
Middle East. When you've been brought up to be taught that they
know everything, you start saying, wait a minute, the Ummah is not
weak. The Ummah is just under a under this illusion, under the
radar. And if the Ummah moves here and here and a little bit here,
they can actually make the difference. They have agency. And
we know when you come to that realization, shahadah, really, for
me, it was like a eureka moment. It was like ayba dala, we can do
it. Kamala Harris did a video where she's announcing a counter
Islamophobia initiative. So what, Sammy, she's scared of you. She's
recognizing the power that you have, that you can deploy. Biden
is saying Trump is going to do the Muslim ban. Oh, so what?
Why would he stop?
One was kids. He's scared, you know, suddenly it clicks in your
mind, one by one, and that's, and this is the point I wanted to make
here. That's when, when you go back, and this is where, you know,
it breaks my heart, because it makes me realize how horrible you
were as a human being, without realizing that you keep saying
that Allah is almighty, and Allah is so great, and Allah is always
in control, but you never truly believed it. And the proof is that
even at even in your 30s, you're still having these eureka moments
where, if you truly believe that Allah was always in control, it
wouldn't need to be a eureka moment. You always believed Allah
was there in the first and that's why I'm happy that Allah is
merciful. I'm happy that Allah is merciful, and he's teaching us
these lessons in this way. No. And that realization is so important,
subhanAllah that you're talking about those eureka moments, and it
kind of puts you in check and reminds you of the greatness of
him and the manifestation of all of his beautiful names and
attributes. But when you're talking about these different
situations in the Sira, it just you're talking about, yeah, Ibadan
Allah, wake up. You gotta see this.
He's given the toss. He's given the chutba man, and all of a
sudden he just starts like, yeah, ummah. Move, move. Like, do
something. Do something. Get up and act. And that's what I was
talking about, being bold. And I think that's what was felt, and
what is felt when people watch your presentation and you're
someone you know, subhanAllah with a man, as far as even in your
work, will lead you know, you have to, have to be level of competent,
competence and confidence at the same time. You can be competent,
confident, but may not know, may not have knowledge, but when you
have knowledge, you're competent and you're confident. This is what
will make the Muslim man shine and thrive and have a rippling effect
on people around also, on top of that, a lot of times, you know,
when we're usually, when we go just in attendance, I usually
attend, like almost every event out there,
just because I want to also see where the where the OMA is at,
yeah, what community where we can help, and we don't need to be on
the payroll to go help people out, right? So a lot of times, you
know, we'll even go, and you know, when we attend an event, and we'll
see even the the community struggling to raise the funds. It
bothers me, so I'll go up and say, if you don't mind, I want to make
sure we hit our goals tonight, Michelle, are you going to make
sure? And then, you know, because, because we have to, we have to,
because that, that success is our success. You know, at the same
time, we got to always see the Muslims at its finest. You know,
sometimes people are very critical about our work, and we're the most
critical people about our own work, not the outside community,
because it's the internal politics that used to hurt us more than
external so if we clean that up a little bit, we're gonna put
ourselves in a better situation. But you make a good point on that,
and this is, this is one of the most fundamental points about the
whole concept of what you started with, what it means to be a man as
a Muslim. As soon as you say that sentence, everybody imagines
strength, but the reason, what affected my perception of a man
and why? Like it used to throw me. I used to sit late at night and be
like. I'm trying to reconcile it. When we say being a man, we think
big muscles, big strength and like. And then you read the Hadith
that the Prophet said, The Strongest Man is not the one who's
strongest physically. Is the one who's able to control his
particular anger. I see the Prophet Sallam coming to Khadija,
and he's and he's, you know, cowering and and Khadija has to
cover him, you know, to reinforce him. I see the Prophet, like I
said, in these battles, doesn't have the clear strategy how to
resist them, but he still keeps going. I see that a man is not
just about strength as much as it's also about his ability to
demonstrate the kindness and the gentleness and the softness. And
that's not weakness. That's strength. When the Prophet has
entered Mecca and showed such a formidable capacity to look at
hind who had mutilated the body of his uncle, Hamza radhala, to look
at her and say, I forgive you. I don't know if n 99% of Muslim
individuals would be able to do that the Prophet saw him in his
RIF, in the kindness that he showed he gave a door for Amr. I
asked to carry Islam to Egypt. He gave a door for Khalid. I to carry
Islam to Syria. He gave a door for honor, who used to beat up his
sister, for the Quran to come and become al Faruq in the kindness
that is strength. And that's why, I think if the Muslims don't
appreciate that kindness is strength, they will never be a man
if as long as you believe that kindness is weakness. And that's
why this is what you reminded me of the A it came from what you
said when you were saying, you know, sometimes we're tough on
ourselves. Allah says in the Quran that the believers are ashadda al
kufari ul Hama, obeynum, ashadhu, Ala kufar Not in that they are
tough on disbelievers, but tough on repression, tough on
oppression. Toughen in the battle. Muslims are fierce, but between
themselves, they are gentle. When we're in the fight, we're in the
midst, we're in the political debate. When we're on Sky News or
Piers Morgan or this kind we are fierce in the battle. We are
competent in the battle. We are tough. But Sheikha dullah, you
know it, and you know it as well when you've been on the road, when
you've gone and you've told the Muslims, yay, but Allah, umah,
move when you walk through your front door at home, your reaction
is not, you know, like your action is you hang that outside. No, you
hang your jacket, and then your wife will tell you, how is you?
And I say
because in front of her, you can do that, you know, like, and she
comes and she restores your energy that doesn't make you less of a
man.
That's the man, the man who has the capacity to allow the others
to recharge him. And that's why I think that the beauty of Sahaba is
not just Sahaba themselves. The beauty is that the Allah subhanho
wa Taala reinforced his beloved prophet with people who had the
talents to carry his message after he died, to the four corners, even
to Dallas, the middle of nowhere. And I want to as much as
something. So, you know, we talk about the politics. We talk about
even leading in different capacities, in Imam level and
intellect and whatnot, and even philanthropy world, it's not for
everybody, right at the same time, you know, Allah subhanahu selects
certain individuals to do this type of work. And I tell people,
if you if Allah give you a God given talent, use it, because we
ask Allah to continue to use us and not replace us. And it's
really scary sometimes, and sometimes you know, you know, I
know you're ahead of you lead the reverts in the yakin Institute,
like in the research and the support over there And
subhanAllah, when a new person comes into Islam,
I actually start getting worried. I say, I hope that that that
person is not going to come replace me, right? So I started, I
got to work harder. I got to figure out what my next purpose
is. I got to make sure i i Get it together, you know. So we got to
always understand what our what our, why is, what is the purpose?
Yeah, you know, because, yes, being bold and and courageous and
forthcoming and whatnot. But same time. If we don't express
ourselves in the best way, shape or form, we're not expressing
ourselves as a true Muslim, nonetheless true but and you hit
the nail on the head. But also for those listening who might say in
response to what you said, How do I discover my why? You discover my
why by asking Allah what your why is. I remember as a teenager, and
I'll be honest with you, I used to say without, without. I understood
what I was saying, but didn't know how it manifest. So, you know, for
example, you know, you know, you'd be like I used to say, you know,
Allah ate Islam. Allah make me like a minaret, you know, like a
mana for Islam as a 14, 1516, year old, you know, and you'd be like
Allah Jaime. I don't know how Allah, Jani, Sultana, mobina, give
me like a Sultan. That a power that I can use. I didn't know how
it would manifest. I thought it was law. Then I changed my mind
political risk. Then it was like, is it on the media? Is it on? This
is a Allah makes you stumble through life, but it's this
concept of why, and that's why I think that when many people get
stuck on this, on the concept of why, I think a lot of it has to do
with this idea of positioning yourself within Allah's plan, and
acknowledging that Allah's plan would be the best plan for you.
And I think you hit the nail on the head where you say you don't
want Allah to replace you. That's why I think the best duayah is not
Ya Allah. Make me the one who delivers the outcome. Allah, let
me be the vehicle to try to bring about that outcome. And that's
why, when you mentioned earlier, and to be honest, I get when
people start, they say, Sami, you've done this same, you've done
that same, you've done this. But the reason I used to think that
when I heard it, I'd be happy. The reason it evokes terror is because
when you read Surat fat, and you read that a man, can you read
Allah, it's an unqualified area. There's no qualification. It's
Allah saying those who seek glory let them know all glory belongs to
Allah, subhanaw, and the terror is Ya Allah, though they are saying
Sami, I know it's from you. Allah, though they are saying Sammy,
this. Allah, Ummah, I know you put me in this position, and you gave
me the honor being the vehicle. Allah, they said they're not me.
Allah, I'm innocent of what they say. Allah, I'm just celebrating
Ahmed that you, at least you gave me an honor, that my voice was
heard when once upon a time, I used to sit on the couch and wish
I could be just a vehicle. And when you realize that you're
satisfied with that, the irony, not the irony, but sort of the
strange thing about Islam is the moment you submit yourself
wholeheartedly to Allah, the heavens open up and suddenly start
pouring on you Subhanallah, and the moment you arrogantly believe
you're doing a favor for Allah, that's when the doors start
closing, and that's why I love Muhammad Essex quote that I read
at 18 years of age that became the mantra that at least I always try
to remind myself with, it's not Muslims that make Islam great.
It's Islam that makes the Muslims great. When Muslims allow Islam to
elevate them, they become powerful. When Muslims believe
they're doing the favor for Islam, Allah humiliates them, for Allah
doesn't need you. You need Allah. And that's why the story of Yunus
alays Salam is so terrifying. A prophet who goes to his people,
gets frustrated and leaves, says these guys aren't worth it, gets
swallowed by oil when he comes back, Allah doesn't. Allah destroy
the people of Hood, people of Salah, people of median. He
destroyed the people of NUHA Sala but he didn't destroy the people
of Eunice, even though they refused to listen to him. I think
you're the only people Allah doesn't destroy, even though they
don't listen to their Prophet, because Allah was sending a
message to us. And the prophet by saying, Ya, ibad, Allah, I don't
need you. I'm giving you the chance to choose for the honor to
be a vehicle in delivering the outcome. And if you decide to
reject it, I can replace you with other people. And that's what I
mean, your heart suddenly goes Allahu, Allah, ILAHA, Illa and
ashadu, Alayah and wana, Muhammad, Abdul, qawwara, suluk and Allah.
I'm honored that you've elevated me in the status, and I know that
to keep it, I need to pray to continue being a vehicle. I mean,
he always allows to be a vehicle. Two months ago, I sit and go home
saying, You know what, Sumaya, I think all those bin Salman videos
and, you know, all these politics videos and the like.
Think Halas, I'm destined to be isolated sitting in my living
room. She told me, beware. A statement of kufr. Don't be like
that. That's shaytan, and it shows you that Allah truly opens the
doors absolutely and what, and this is the point I want to finish
here is that there. I want to say to those who are listening that
you may think that you will arrive to a point in life where you have
it all figured out, you won't, even until your deathbed, you
won't. And that's why Allah made trust in Him so important in that
no matter where you are in life, trust in Him. If you fight with
somebody, you can make a DUA and say, Allah, ease his heart so that
he forgives me for it. Allah intervenes in these things, but
you have to believe that he intervenes in these things. And I
love that Allah does so and and I said that to shahadah yesterday. I
said, sometimes, you know, everything's happening so fast,
I'm not sure even my feet are on the ground at the moment, you
know. And I am forced to be in a situation, Allah, you know, don't
let me make a mistake. I don't want these hit jobs like they do
another Imam, that kind of stuff. But Hamdulillah, Fatah, you know
what? Kafabihi wakilah, and there's no one better than Allah
subhanahu wa taala to handle the affairs. Yeah, no doubt about it.
I mean, and that's really, you know, at this age that we are now
in our 30s and 40s, really, by the time, this time of our life, of
understanding purpose and really just honing in on that and
allowing what we do. I mean, this is all responsibility, right?
Being bold, being courageous, being confident, being competent,
and using it in a way that's beneficial for yourself and for
society. That's the greatest simple example. And also last
thing to being grateful as well, and being grateful exactly,
because we're in a very we're in tough times, and Allah will test
people in their own capacity. Yeah, and I'm grateful to Allah
subhanaw taala. I know we all are that, you know he's not
challenging us like he's challenging others, right? Because
we will know how we're going to handle it, right, right? And being
grateful that we're able to serve Islam and serve Allah, Subhanahu,
taala, and being grateful for being Muslim, I think people keep
on demanding this point when Surat Al Imran, when ullul Al Bab, Al
Bab are those who know Allah. When ullul Al Bab are making a DUA,
they say, the people ULA Bab are those who ponder the creation of
Allah, standing, sitting and lying down, and they say, Rabban Iqbal.
They say, Allah, we acknowledge only you created this. They are
the ones who make the DUA. Rabban, a bad Allah, please don't guide us
out of the deen, after you have guided us. The reason that's a
terrifying ayah is if people who are closest to Allah, closer than
us, are making this dua and expressing a terror that Allah
will take them out of this. Deen, why is it that I have this
arrogance, that I assume that I will always be on the deen, and
that's where the gratitude comes in, in that to keep it, you have
to show that gratitude, and that's why, and even on the point of
courage that you mentioned, people assume courage means no fear.
Courage means that despite the fear, you keep going. And the
proof is that Surat, which I listen to Surah Sharam, and even
on recite surah Taha, I just copy, you know, like, sure, because I
love the way, like, it's just something that she Maha is that
Musa alaihi salam, there's at least three areas where he repeats
for Oh, Jesse
nafsi, Musa, as he's scared, despite the fact he's spoken to
Allah. And that's why, I think sometimes in the concept of man,
being a man, being a man doesn't mean that you don't feel fear. It
doesn't mean you don't hesitate. It doesn't mean that when you go
through tough times, you don't feel like your back is being
broken. Some people feel they have to put on a show no. Being a man
means that even in those times of difficulty, you are aware that
Allah can deliver you, that Allah can flip hearts, that if your wife
has given you grief over the fact you're broke, Allah can make her
heart patient for you if you ask him to, if you ask, and if you
show kindness to her, you can win her loyalty. So that one day, as
happened to me, once upon a time, when I didn't have any money in
the bank account, my wife realized I wasn't going to football for two
months, and I didn't. I was, I was like, No, I'm a proud man stuff.
Allah, I'm not going to say to her. And one day, Wallace, she
walked into the living room. She put 10 pounds in my hand. She
goes, go play football and stop this pride between the husband and
wife. You know, in that moment, she won me, in that moment, in
that moment she tamed the lion that's gonna be in that moment
that's gonna be I was hers. That's gonna be our part two. In that
moment I was, you know, why? Because she saw it. She identified
it. She didn't put me through humiliation of admitting it, she
literally just went, You're my husband. I care she knew what you
are. What was your ticket? I promise you that was your ticket.
Moment so vividly, because that's the moment I went, you know what?
Alhamdulillah, that's the moment when I stopped. I don't need to
impress, yeah, my fortress is built. The last brick of my
fortress is done. And that's why, when I travel and I go back. I
feel like I'm going back to my fortress. I feel I enter my gates.
The gates closed behind me, and I see my family, and they say, Come
welcome home. Let's recharge, because you're entering your
Jannah. Mashallah, bless you, brothers, man. It was a great
session. Alhamdulillah. And I think it's important that we
listen to this and that we really ponder over and let it reflect,
have introspection, see about whatever was talked about how it
is in your life, and how that helps in making you a better man,
in living your purposes. Everything we're talking about
here is manifest of what we're doing in this life, to say thank
you, Allah. And the more we keep doing that, the more we're humble.
And that's really what the humble servant is, and that's really what
the Muslim man should strive to be, illudun, except that you were.
Me and that worship is done through all of what we've seen
here. So may last one Tala, bless you brothers, may last want to
bless you all for tuning in in the Iman cave to where we talk about
male excellence while being grounded in faith as salaam
alaikum.