Islam and LGBTQ

Salam Alaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh everyone snowed him the Nile salatu salam ala Rasulillah while he was so heavy woman Wella will be slightly Saudi. We are silly Emery looked at me Sonny. If Kahuku Dali, Lama Amin hamdulillah Grameen welcome to the last webinar in our ethics series in Hamlet, and I'm blessed to be joined today by Chef obey the law chef, most of us sister Sodom Hamdulillah. And this webinar, if you've been following along, has been planned for a few months now, we finished a webinar last year on post modernism, which was a very beautiful webinar, and he did a lot of blogging and then this year, if you tuned in last week to the webinar on ethics and

humanity and why humanity needs Islam, which, of course has been part of an ethics series that Dr. Wayman Anjem has been putting together at him did a lot of our I mean, he's already released a couple of papers, and he's been working within the ethics series. And as we're sort of tackling the entire theme of ethics in Islam in a comprehensive and holistic way. You know, one of the things that of course, distinguishes us is that for us, there is no ethics without divine revelation. There is no guidance or instruction without divine revelation. So you might have noticed that other than the bullet the proofs of prophethood of the prophets of the lice and on the series by Sheikh

Mohammed, the Shinobi, which had him that we finished as a book now, that's part of our ethics series, because we ground our entire understanding of the world and the guidance that was sent by the Lord of the worlds to the best of all creation Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. So now we're coming to a very specific topic. And if you tuned into Quran 30 for 30 in Ramadan, which has Mustafa Omar and hamdulillah Abram he's been working on this and he's still promises to publish his first set of papers and shelling lots out of this year. I want you to hold them to it if you didn't watch it and 30 for 30 and send him a really annoying email then I want you to send him an email now

and say look, it's it's getting late. Sheikh Mustafa was supposed to be done before June man it would have would have been great to have this before June 5, but I love the pressure may show

now you don't have until next June. So if you got until like let's say September I got the text is clear, your wedding is clear.

Have you look Allah so check my stuff is working on some papers and so along with various models for our inshallah and that will of course continue within the overall ethical framework that is being built out, you know, with with the series of papers and handed by which we hope to then turn into curriculum and show lots of them with some of the specific areas and then of course, still building out the overall framework. So there are a few major areas that we want to cover here in sha Allah Tada. One of them is of course what is Islam is unique, ethical framework and how do we as Muslims live with our own ethics in a society that becomes increasingly hostile towards them. So this past

Friday, in my Facebook, for example, you know, I spoke about this idea of being uncompromising with the dean, I mentioned of course, the the incident with Denisa gonna gay, the Senegalese soccer player in France, who has been, you know, mistreated and, you know, blasted for holding on to his deen and I know that there's some other foot leaves that spoke almost entirely on the subject of LGBTQ. So Schiff, most of our being one of them, I believe, up in in California as well. The forehand is very I know, Dr. Todd Wyatt gave a whole talk on pride in Islam. So it was something that was addressed from the men but in many different places around the country that haven't been

long running this past Friday. So that's sort of number one, which is how do we build the ethical framework? And number two, from an ethical perspective? How do we specifically deal with the broad range of LGBTQ issues that are evolving and exposing our children to all sorts of questions at younger ages? And I want to say from the start here that, you know, we're in sheetlets, out of working on resources, but they're already really some amazing resources that have been published and humbled and honored. I mean, in recent months, if you go to muscle matters, you know, mashallah they put together a hub of resources on their website, that's really a good start, and have that and I

hope we can show us how to contribute to the growing conversation around this issue. So I'm gonna start off with insha Allah Allah

10 things to sort of put the Hukum or make clear the HUKUM the ruling on this issue insha Allah to Allah first and then 10 issues that I think we still need to address which Sheikh Mustafa Ahmed is going to address all 10 issues in sha Allah to Allah in the webinar and in his papers I keep messing with you now now like this is this is not this is not okay. Right. So I'll leave you alone, so

don't worry about it. But in Salah between the webinar in between the paper of course, hopefully we'll be able to address these issues. So first and foremost, inshallah Thai let's start with the hokum, the ruling in Islam, and this is sort of the core

clear and unambiguous and something that no Islamic scholar or mainstream masjid or institution would deny. Number one, that in Islam any sexual relationship outside of Africa, between a man and a woman is haram. Number two desires are not sinful, nor should people be identified or ostracized by desires, but instead, every Muslim is defined by Islam, which is submission to Allah with those desires. Number three, same sex actions are unequivocally haram. Number four, the one who acts upon those desires as sinful, but within the fold of Islam, so long as they don't justify those acts. Number five, the one who does not act upon them, is actually rewarded by Allah subhanaw taala for

their moja, meaning their striving. Number six The one who denies its prohibition denies what is Lumina deem the dura. I think we just released the lecture that I gave on its mouth and Matt alumina deemed Laura which means that which is known by the religion by necessity, so the one who denies its prohibition denies what is not human at the end of the Baroda, which takes one outside of the fold of Islam. Number seven to celebrate or support what Allah has prohibited is a form of silk and cannot be done in the name of social cohesion or political mobility. Number eight we have an always will condemn mistreatment and violence against people on the basis of orientation, lifestyle or

belief but that condemnation should not be conflated, with making Khaled what Allah has clearly made haram. Number nine, we should still be the best of neighbors and colleagues and show all people the beauty of the prophetic way with our character. Number 10. We should always anchor our understanding of any issue in the Quran and the Sunnah and Jamar and our scholars, of course, use the US use analogy when necessary to deal with any matter. Everyone's good with those times I assume chocolates out I think y'all disappeared from the screen, but I believe that inshallah Tada, that's obviously just sort of a bear, I got a thumbs up so a bear sort of, you know, minimum and just covering the

hook on the ruling. Now, with that being said, there are various resources and approaches and questions that still need to be answered. And this isn't Charlotte, what we hope to touch upon in the webinar and of course answer in subsequent papers in sha Allah to Allah and hopefully curriculum that follows number one, how do we properly support young Muslims with same sex attraction pastorelli as Imams counselors and families, while still opposing the political pressure. So we don't want to hurt young people in our congregations and condemned them to where they can't find a way to reconcile their feelings with their faith. So that's number one. Number two, how do we

protect our messages and Islamic schools legally from being penalized for merely practicing their faith? Number three, how do we express our dissent with our kids in schools that, you know, there's there's this hyper sexualization, right, where they're being sexualized as children. And of course, this is not just with LGBTQ curriculum, but it's a problem we faced in general, that is compounded with some of the more recent developments. So I think, you know, many Muslims would be uncomfortable with scantily clad women dancing provocatively, or reading to our children. And of course, you know, with that, we also have an issue with drag queens doing the same, and this definitely extends into

the children's space outside of the school. You know, when we look at the movies that are now being played, the cartoons, the curriculum, sort of that seems to be followed within the media space. And, you know, there was a really insightful talk that Chef Joe Bradford gave on pink capitalism at econo, which I found very profound that comes along, he talked about this idea of expensive surgeries being the only way to happiness, nor kids also, by the way, just did a really beneficial program with whether movie invade for parents in this regard. So that's number three. Number four, how do we have a unified Muslim organization response across institutions and Imams that is clear

and doesn't leave individuals more vulnerable than they already are in their workplaces or in the Justice arena? You know, I think it was a few years ago that in the UK, the imams in the UK, were able to come together and put a statement together in response to some of the curriculum there. Michelle, a really well articulated statements. And recently, I just came back from Canada, and Canada, you also had emails that came together and put together a statement from the law also, you know, really articulate and both of these statements can sort of be leaned on in the future as well. And they give some sort of clarity and some sort of parameters. So I think we need some clarity in a

unified and well articulated way from our mountain institutions. And these position statements are not going to be perfect, but inshallah Tada, you know, imams and institutions can put their differences aside and articulate thoughtful position statements on LGBTQ issues and more. And I think we can all agree that it would be wonderful if we could draw from some of our senior scholars in the United States, you know, shifts a lot. So we have a whole lot shift. I mean, why do I have you the other scholars that we can draw from that can help us sort of as students of knowledge as Imams,

institutions with that shutter a guidance. Number five, how do we protect activists who are trying to uplift causes of fighting oppression, from falling into hell armed themselves by uplifting an Islamic causes shift that would lead of course, you know, I think wrote probably the first book in this regard on sacred activism. And I quote him quite a bit in my own paper on a sunnah framework. And I also had a really nice discussion with him online called sacred boundaries, it was on Facebook, and I think it was on YouTube as well, that you could look up. And I know from experience how difficult this arena is, and I pray that Allah subhanaw taala, forgive me, for the mistakes I've

made in this regard. And I pray the same for everyone else who has erred in this arena. So how do we get sort of the activism down? Right, and I think that that's something that we can inshallah to, to start to build out with as well. Number six, how do we deal with young people who want to go into politics and make positive change, but will be asked to sponsor what goes against their conscience? Obviously, at different layers of government, you have to participate in some of these objectionable areas sometimes and how do we give young people those those boundaries and those parameters in that guidance and Charlotte's on? Number seven? How do we then deal with Muslim politicians that we

support in some ways, but we oppose when they veer into celebrating or uplifting? Hold on? I think we can all agree that it's much less complicated when it's non Muslim politicians that we conditionally support or support in specific limited capacities. Like other politicians, right when they're doing something good, or they're being targeted for their support for Palestine, which is very common, but it becomes understandably confusing to the community when it's a Muslim politician that's in a parade or that sponsoring legislation that seems to go against the deen. And that forces us to have some pretty difficult conversations with our youth. Number eight, how do we give young

Muslims that aren't personally struggling with their identity, but are struggling with how to deal with their friends and environments that are interrogating them or making them feel inadequate because of their convictions? So this is also a part of this. Number nine, how do we start to tackle some of the deeper philosophical questions and framings just like many secular liberal underpinnings from the left are not going to be consistent with our faith foundations, many of the social commentators from the right are not going to fit our Islamic ethos. And if I'm a Muslim, I don't want to be Bill Maher. I don't want to be built Ben Shapiro. I didn't watch the documentary at the

Matt Walsh documentary, but I'm sure while many Muslims would, you know, feel like you know, he's making some good points. They don't want to be Matt Walsh. You know, at the same time, we just want the Quran in the sun, right? We want what's built upon the Quran and the Sunnah. And sometimes it'll agree at the outcome level with people on the right or the left, but we need our own authentic framing something that's beautiful, that's consistent, that's comprehensive. That makes sense. And one of the people by the way, I know who does this profoundly Masha Allah beyond some of the authors we've already mentioned. And Chef Mustafa Here is Dr. Sharifah, totally from from Brandeis, Masha,

lots of other delights and gifted brother and handed it out who's who's I've enjoyed every one of his presentations, where he really just talks about the Islamic worldview in this beautiful, comprehensive way. And you can find some of his work online bidding and Navitat. Lastly, how do we work with other religious groups on these issues. And this does not suggest that we should only work with minority faith groups, because obviously, there are people of faith across the spectrum that find themselves sort of in this conundrum of, you know, being people of faith, but at the same time, trying to be people for the community. But I think it's especially true with minority faith

communities, some of those from the AME Church, the black church in general, and, of course, specifically the AME church. You know, I know many friends from there that have expressed you know, they feel stuck a lot of, you know, Latino Catholics, Orthodox Jews, even Mormons, panela, who don't, they don't fit neatly into the culture war and the right left schism in America. And you start to see the subgroups and the sub approaches that are forming amongst them, you know, that still believe in traditional forms of marriage, but at the same time, they might still change their views and for for those that are stuck in between and that are frustrated, how do we work with them,

while also not, you know, adopting some of the problems with those subgroups, and with those sub framings you know, like I was reading about like, different got a side Christians beside Christians and messy grace, but a lot of them anchor sort of this, this shift in identity, which is deeply problematic to us as Muslims and Charlotte's and we'll talk about here. So how do we work with other religious groups, but at the same time, you know, continue to insist that look, we have in our in our community, we have a tradition that is unable to be superimposed upon with some of the other internal religious disagreements that are happening. And this is sort of Scripture and faith for us

and we're looking for a way forward but the nighttime, so that was a long introduction. I apologize. I didn't it didn't seem that long when I when I wrote it out.

I apologize for

So it's all of the guests that are here. But, you know, in any case, I think we can all agree that look, we need to have conversations for the sake of our community. We need these conversations, and they need to be conversations that are uncompromising, forthright, but at the same time, you know, speak to the Lamb of the prophets of Allah, and he was setting them and what he has taught us of mercy and compassion and clarity, and we need to be able to articulate an Islamic position on the many issues that were just brought up in the night, which I hope we'll be able to do. And I'm not suggesting that we're going to solve this with one webinar or one paper, though Sheikh Mustafa, if

your one paper solves all of these problems for the Muslim community, and hamdulillah no pressure again. But you know, at the same time, I pray that you know, this is the start of a conversation in sha Allah or joining again, where other blessing brothers and sisters have already started the conversation in the nighttime. So that being said, we got our three guests today that all have unique vantage points. Insha Allah to Allah, and I'm gonna start with Obaidullah Evans. Sheikh Obaidullah is the resident scholar at ILM in Chicago, and handed it a beautiful, wonderful friend I got to reconnect with recently and hamdulillah at miftah after COVID, the long, you know,

estrangement of the pandemic.

But you know, Chef obeyed the law, someone I've known for 100 I know at this point over a decade because we play basketball together and Valley Ranch in 2011 or 12. So

I'm the doula and Chef obey the law. And you know, you said Keep it keep it light on the introduction. For the sake of the audience, you know, and this is something that I admire is that I have rarely found anyone who just loves Islam more than chef obey the law. Or I can just tell loves the deen Ma sha Allah may Allah make you to this is a version of keeping it light, keeping the light man you know this is keeping it light. I could go further but you're like the king of one Gemini. So you gotta accept it. But may Allah bless you you know your your love for your passion for the deen your love of the lost parents or your love of the prophets. I'm I pray that's true of you and more.

But your love of the deen and this idea of like, look, we have nothing to be ashamed about. We have nothing to be worried about. And that was a talk that you gave to our community about a decade ago, which which greatly resonated Hamdulillah. So I guess my question to you, you are a person who had embraced Islam and you know, put, you know, Islam before everything else, and you speak about this idea of our identity being anchored in a snap, right, or coming into the head, Jaya. Ibrahim is the ultimate Muslim in that regard. Right. And at the same time, you know, you started out as a university, you live in Chicago, you talk about will soon and you talk about a changing world. So

how do you come at the subject of ethics and the subject of LGBTQ plus, specifically, as a scholar and as someone that has experienced these two worlds in that regard, this may lead a lot of men or him. First, I would like to thank Sheikh Omar Sheikh, most of

Surah, for giving me an opportunity to speak to such an important issue.

You know, as a point of departure for my remarks, I chose the Hadith of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam but Islam or even what are your rules or even come up for two, but there's a lot about Colin Nebia Allah Who so that was salam that Islam began is something strange, and that it will certainly return to being something strange the way that it began. So blessings are the strangers. This entails this, embracing this a lot about embracing the strangeness entails that when we speak to pupil of our ethics, when we speak to people in our moral language, we take consolation in the fact that they might not understand us and this is prophecy.

You know, we have a worldview that is based on submission, submission to God, Islam first. And many people in the postmodern context. See that the honor the dignity of the human being, is in being an unencumbered chooser. So these are these are different moral languages so we understand that we might not be understood, however, we still seek to understand our neighbors. We are followers of the Prophet Muhammad Ali was salam he was inside of camel, the complete human being and nothing human should be alien to us. You know, when Allah to add a talks about humanity, and how we relate to our place to our situatedness here, he says, we'll start model comfy and we situated you in the earth,

which means that we shouldn't at all feel

alienated by what's taking place around us. And so I wanted to offer a few explanations, a few,

you know, explorations of what's taking place around us and hope to bring some, some, some balance to what we see in the contemporary discourse. When Muslims talk about, for instance, human sexuality, we're not talking about something that is a part of the hardware of the human being, we're talking about something that is a part of the software of the human being. We're talking about discretionary moral actions. And it occurred to me some time ago, when addressing a young brother in the community, half of the Hola, who was experiencing some same sex attraction that I was talking about his actions, saying, you know, giving the standard Islamic position on those actions, and even

telling him that, you know, there is reward as Sheikh Omar beautifully opened the program with reward in the Mujahidin reward in the struggle. But none of this really resonated with him, because he wasn't asking me about his actions. He was asking me not, am I contemplating doing something haram? He was asking, am I haram. And I sat with that, and I said, subhanAllah, if someone told me that having dark skin was

disliked by my lord, or impermissible in my faith, the dissonance of carrying what is an essential characteristic of who I am with the knowledge that it is disliked by my Creator, it probably would have torn me in half. So what I thought was most important in the case of this young man was trying to convince him that we're talking about your actions, in terms of who you are your core identity, you are a servant of God, You were created to worship

everything else. These are actions. When our actions are good, we praise Allah, if our actions are bad, we repent to Him. And I think I hope certainly, but I think through that line of discussion, he was able to gain some silence because okay, we're talking about my actions in the struggle that I have to engage in to bring my action into conformity with what God wants. We're not talking about whether or not I am haram. That's the first thing.

The second thing that I wanted to address in these issues, and I think I can speak to this as a convert to Islam.

You know, becoming Muslim, entailed embracing what at that time was a religion. My family regarded as strange, my friends regarded as strange.

Many of our neighbors thought that I had lost my mind. Some people thought, Oh, he's, you know, going through some, this might be a psychotic break, all because as a young man, at the age of 16, or 17, I decided that I wanted to practice Islam and I wanted to worship Allah, and to any Muslim attempting to articulate the position of Islam visa vie many of these hot button contemporary issues that finds that people, deem them inadequate, or people blame them, or people castigate them or people ostracize them. I'm just offering you what I hope are words of encouragement, to stay strong, stay committed, and articulate your positions, but do them with prophetic grace and prophetic mercy,

that this is the position of my religion, and it does not entail okaying the mistreatment of any other person. It does not entail O'Kane the dehumanizing of any other person, but this is my religion. And we have a legacy as Muslims of holding our religious truths and principles in pluralistic societies without being chauvinistic without being,

you know, intolerant

of anyone else. And lastly, I want to offer this just as way of some social commentary about many of these issues that we're discussing in the contemporary context. You know, when you observe society, where society is is always in

Action two, or sometimes a continuation of where society has been. And

in the US,

you know, discrimination has been a big problem, right? Racism has been a big problem. These are some of the, I will even turn them cardinal sins of our nation. And so now the pendulum is swinging, right, we've recognized the

the immorality, of much of that earlier, discrimination, much of that earlier racism. And so now the pendulum is swinging. And we're coming to a place of

almost uncategorizable embrace of everything. And it reminded me of the statement of city limits is a rule that every extreme is followed by its opposite. But if a person was extreme in their condemnation of people for things that people shouldn't be condemned for, if a person was extreme in their

discrimination against people for things that people should not be discriminated against, for, then maybe the extreme now is that we can't say anything about anybody's moral choices. Right? This is where this is kind of where we've arrived to now. And the thing about our religion is that we are the fate of the middle course. We don't think that anyone should be mistreated, as Sheikh Ahmad said, on the basis of their orientation, lifestyle, creed, belief, etc. But we don't think that saying the truth about more choices, entails mistreatment of anybody. And we don't feel perhaps this overriding guilt that we need to atone for, for having done that to people, because that isn't our

story. And I'll just speak the last thing I'll say about this just just personally, is,

you know, as someone that grew up in the African American community,

the presence of people that were gender non conforming

people that practiced, you know, homosexual acts, this was,

I'll even go as far as to say, a regular feature of my childhood, we there were people like that, that we went to school with family members, friends of the family, and we always understood them to not be expressing the highest values of our Christian faith at that time. It did not mean that we mistreated them. We certainly did not insult them. We did not.

We can physically accost them. So the idea that I would feel the need now to go against the clear principles of my religion in celebrating something that God has clearly deemed morally unacceptable. I don't, I don't like I don't, I don't, I don't feel the need to do that. Because I don't I don't have an experience of ever having mistreated anybody like that. I feel as though I'm very comfortable stating the principles and then reinforcing my commitment to

you know, the fair and kind treatment of all people. And Allah knows best.

For me, the one beautiful reflections. I think, you know, we, as we're basing everything from the Quran and the Sunnah, obviously, we start from this position of luck on the unicorn Wailea Dean right that even when there are two things that are so inconsistent with one another as belief systems right as creates like them Dino camellia, do you have your religion I have my religion you have your way I have mine. Now, just like with della,

that doesn't mean that we're not going to challenge and I think that's also where, you know, I got some some pushback in a personal conversation and I actually appreciated the pushback. You know, very recently I was talking to a brother I said well look we don't support we don't support you said okay, but can you can you also say we oppose Can you also say we disagree? Are you allowed to actually challenge Are you allowed to express your your dissent like in a civil way isn't that also part of the American promise not just be pressed or wrong for holding your ways but also that you're able to challenge so just like with that, you know, we can have good relationships with people and

still challenge creed we can still challenge

moralities and worldviews and things of that sort. So

Zack Lakeisha COVID love beautiful reflections. I'm gonna go to Chef Mustafa. You've got 60 minutes 60 minutes to get it all done. You got to answer all those questions and much earlier a half it so you memorize all right.

I'm like afraid to come to California now and see you chef isn't

He's gonna He's gonna like hurt me for all this stuff.

But since most of Alma is of course, you know, recently joined the team come to life. He's foreign president of the California Islamic University,

the religious director at the Islamic Center of Irvine, not Irving, a lot of people mix the two Irvine.

And he's also an executive member of the fifth Council of North America. So you kind of speak from a broad range, right? You sit on a board Council, you know, you're a grassroots person, you're an imam. But you're also in my mind. You know, when I think back, I'm like, this is the guy that's been talking about this the longest amount of time, like you use, you've been speaking about this issue and the importance of Muslims sort of getting ahead and not lagging behind and addressing this in a holistic way, in a prophetic way so that we don't simply wait for others to address it and then try to latch on to like someone else's talking points or someone else's faith crisis or someone else's

worldview and try to put some Quran and Hadith on it. Like I remember you Sheikh Mustafa giving collectables about this before YouTube was a long time ago, man, like a lot of people that are watching this, don't you remember? Like, like, what was without YouTube? Was that thing cultivos? Before YouTube? So my question to you, Chef Mustafa, as he talks about this, I have a few questions, right, but I'll try to merge them into one. And I'm trying to build off of whichever way the largest mentioned here.

You know, is revisionism possible and we've already answered that the, you know, that's not really possible in Islam with the Quran and the Sunnah niche map, but can you speak to the attempt to revise, right? And the attempt to just say, Well, look, let's just reinterpret the verses. And not only is it is it, you know, is it possible or not, which is what I'm asking you, but also have you as an imam. And I think that's also the point, the position that you've been able to assure, is like, you work with people and those of us that work in communities, we see people a different levels. And I think all four of us deal with people like real people, parents, children,

communities, the legal, the social, the political, we're constantly dealing with people. So as an Imam, have you felt like the only way to help someone is to revise. So I guess the first question is revision necessary? The second question, or the second? First question is, is revision possible? The second question is revision necessary to you as an imam to be able to actually help people in our community that are striving? Sure, great questions. You know, just like my law firm Bismillah Alhamdulillah wa Salatu was Salam ala Rasulillah. So just the first I'll address both of these points. But you know, this idea of the urgency and the need to speak about these issues, you know,

it was really difficult for me talking about these issues, because my first heard on this topic, I think, was probably around 2008. And people thought it was really strange. They're like, you know, why, why even addressing this in a hot button lecture? And then I said, Okay, let me give it a little bit of time. So then I gave another about it in 2012. And the same issue people are like, kind of football was that that was just strange. Why are you why are you talking about this? Like, we don't need to address this. And it's funny, like one of my friends, you know, a few years later, he was a former DJ. He's like, you know, let's, let's turn this lecture into the first audio CD. I

don't know if people use CDs anymore. Probably not, you know, but let's turn this into an audio CD. So he mastered it. And he like, you know, did some editing and all that this was like the first and only, you know, lecture that I've ever had on a CD. And we replicated it. And we tried to sell it inside the machine lobby, you know, to raise some funds for the masjid. And people were not buying it. And I was just like, you know, okay, maybe some people just don't like the way that I speak. So I checked with them. I said, you know, it's just, you just don't like my speaking style. That's okay. They're like, No, no, just, you should have done any other topic, we'd be interested in buying

a CD from you. But on this topic, like, Muslims don't, this is not relevant to us. So I'll just like, okay, you know, this is, I guess, people are still not interested in this topic from the community. And then I think it was around like, 2017, I was attending the object conference. This is the assembly of Muslim jurists of America. And there's like about 200 Imams presents, I believe, you know, you were there at that one, as well.

And I brought up the idea of let's address, you know, homosexuality, and let's address transgenderism as well. And most of the people, they just laughed in the audience. They're like, you actually want that to be a topic that like we talk about in detail. These are these are Imams, these are scholars, and I remember a few of them, they came and said, you know, that might be some issue you guys have in California over there. You know, we don't need to deal with that. You know, and the only reason why I bring this up is it's essential that Muslim thinkers and intellectuals and Imams and scholars and even the general public, they should always understand the context in which we

live. Right? We can't be late to the game on topics like this topics like you know, cryptocurrency

New abortion methods, cloning, lab grown meat, you know all of these things. And what we're talking about today, addressing sexuality as a spectrum, addressing gender relativity, right, we need to be on top of these topics. So at the same time, we got to be proud of our religion. But we got to understand that it's our responsibility to be researching new issues properly. And we need to discuss old issues with the proper nuance, and framework that's needed for people in our day and our time with the current challenges that we have to understand it correctly to understand it properly. So let me let me move to this idea of revisionism that you mentioned. So basically, revisionism is

kind of like the idea of trying to reinterpret what Islam said, and the way that it's been understood for a long time. And when it comes to homosexuality, the foundation of what Islam teaches about homosexuality is in the, in the story of profit, loot, or profit lot. And it's mentioned several times over several verses over 100 verses profit loot is His story is mentioned in different places in different sorrows. Now, if you read the text, it's crystal clear that he's openly criticizing his people for engaging in same sex acts, or what we call today homosexuality, right. But there's some people they want the Quran to say something that it doesn't actually say. So this

new theory emerged at some point in time, and quite a few Jewish and Christian groups, they have accepted this theory, and they tried to explain the story of profit, loot, or profit lot in this new and part of the reason what happened is because there's a secular liberal idea that, you know, love is love. As long as your relationship is consensual, you know, there can't be anything wrong with you're not hurting anyone else. So you know, it's this can't be wrong in any moral sense. So some Muslims jumped on the bandwagon. And they're like, yeah, that's, that's what we're looking for. We're looking for that same kind of theory. And the theory is this. They're saying that the people

of profit loot, were engaging in non consensual relations, meaning they were aging and rape. And that's what loot was criticizing. He was criticizing the fact that there was no proper consent. Now, there's a few problems with this theory. Right? There are significant problems. Number one, it defined it defies the clear wording that Prophet Luke used in the Quran that the Quran is mentioning, says in the Quran, Allah do not reject the shahada mean doing this loop said, he said you desire men instead of women. You know, why would he mentioned that? Why? Why would he mention specifically desiring men rather than women? Rape is evil, regardless of the gender, it doesn't

matter who you're forcing yourself onto. Right? This is problem number one. Number two, is Luke called it fascia. He used this word, which means something that's shameful, something that's wrong, something that's immoral. And the third thing is he said that no one else is a community has ever done this before on a massive scale. Maybe there was a few individual cases or something in history, but as a as a community as a city, to have this normalized is something that had never been done before. And he said you you commit this shameful deed that no one has ever done before as a community, right? So if you just ask these questions, you read it and you say, Could he really have

been referring to rape or you know, this idea of forcing yourself on someone else? It's, it's very clear that you cannot twist the Quran to that level. If you do, you're being disingenuous. Now, the other problem is that there's something called consensus are called HMR. And, you know, Sheikh Omar had mentioned that you mentioned it, you know, just a little while ago. Each mark or consensus is like peer review,

in any academic setting, but it is peer review by people specialists in the field, but it's got to be unanimous peer review, and unanimous peer review over 1400 years, you know, since the Quran was revealed. So we look at it from that perspective. Every single scholar in history, understood that these verses were referring to conceptual same acts, they were not referring to some type of forced same sex acts that's taking place. So this idea of edema or consensus what it does it, it helps us to identify Is there any gray area in this verse? You know, clarity, some different opinion? Can I reread it? Can I look at it in some different way? Even the slightest shade of ambiguity or some

gray area in an Islamic texts? Can I somehow more, modify it a little bit? To understand it in a different fashion than people have understood it before? It's like like alcohol. Alcohol is forbidden in Islam. The texts are clear cut. Pork is forbidden in Islam. The texts are clear

gambling forbidden in Islam in the Quran is clear cut. So if you look at it, there's Iijima, there's consensus from Muslim scholars who've been saying that you know what, these texts are not open to reinterpretation. There's no way to do that, with while while being sincere with the words of Allah with the words with the words of God, like five prayers, you know, the prayers are mentioned fasting, the whole month of Ramadan, rather than half of it or something like all of these things are clear cut. And there's unanimous consensus among scholars throughout time. So maybe some individual Muslims, they want the Quran, to say something that it doesn't say, usually because of

some preconceived notion that's already there, or some desire that they have in their hearts to do something. But the forbidden remains forbid, the Haram ROM and the clear terrain clear, and Allah is going to get each and every single one of us now, as to, you know, your question about

how we deal with these cases, you know, as an Imam, you know, I get dozens of cases of people who talk to me about the same sex attraction that they have, and a few cases of, you know, gender dysphoria that people have had as well. And the more I hear stories, like people, these are people who are practicing, these are people who are praying, these are people who are struggling, you know, the more I feel compassion, you know, some people, they're praying, you know, an hour of tahajjud prayers, you know, every single night. So, I mean, the more you hear the stories, if you're a person who cares about others, you know, you can't help but feel compassion. People struggle with drug

addiction, people struggle with porn addiction, which is like a type of drug addiction, actually, people resist temptations, at school temptations at work. And it's really tough. It's really difficult. But it's doable, right? It's tough, but it's doable. And what people need to hear is they need to hear the right framework, they need to have the right mentality. And, you know, let me just present you know, just just two cases. And one of the most interesting cases that I had was a girl named Kelly. I was giving this Islam one on one presentation at one of the university campuses, and she was present in the audience, and she was there with her girlfriend. And they're holding hands.

And I'm thinking, in my mind, you know, are they are they not? Is this like, is this or is a lesbian couple, I'm not sure what's going on. You know, it's oftentimes there's LGBT groups, they go in, they openly support Muslims on college campuses. Now they protest against Islamophobia. And they're usually very supportive of, you know, Muslim causes. And that's due to this theory of intersectionality, where they say all minorities should support each other. Because we need to support each other against this power structure, regardless of what whatever they're promoting. So, anyways, she might have been there with her girlfriend for political reasons, you know, just to

support the Muslim because she happened to be, you know, she happened to be gay. And I remember while I was giving this presentation, you know, after I confirmed later on that, you know, this, this was a lesbian couple that was there. In the audience. I was thinking like, I don't know if you know, someone someone's gone that far. I don't know how genuinely interested they'd be in Islam. You know, these thoughts come to your mind sometimes always keep an open mind. Anyways, long story short, a few months later, she kept on reading about Islam, she kept on learning. She watched a few videos post YouTube era. And she converted she accepted Islam, she took her Shahada. And not only

that, she started doing everything, she started wearing hijab, you know, the head, headscarf and the cover and dressing properly, modestly. She kept up her prayers. She was doing everything. And he said later on, she's like, No one wearing hijab was easy. Giving a pork was easy. The prayers, everything else fasting, all of that was easy. She said, The most difficult test I've ever faced in my life, was to stop acting on those same sex desires. But she said, I did it for Allah. Because she read the verse she said, I read that verse where it says Allah will never test you with more than you can handle. So she's like, I believed in that promise. And I knew I could do it. And I did it.

You know, and her story is something that was very motivating. For me, even on a personal level. It's something that I always remember. I'm like, if someone can deal with that, right, then we can deal with many of the other challenges that we face. Right? And it's something that most Muslims, they know, in theory, but when you go through it in practice, it's a whole nother thing. So, you know, there was another brother I met, his name was Ibrahim. And, you know, he was actually he never felt opposite sex attraction in his life. And you know, a lot of people they have past traumas, they need to accept themselves they need to heal from other things that are going on once they start

feeling more

confident, you know, in their masculinity or in their femininity, they start to develop opposite sex attraction after they're dealing with some of the other things they're going through. And brother Ibrahim was was one of those people, they may not be the case for everyone. But people have different tests, and they're gonna have different rewards in the next life, especially when they're, you know, correct under faith, and they're doing what they should be doing, and they're doing what is pleasing to Allah. So, you know, it really saddens me that a lot of people are struggling, and they have so few resources to actually get help. And some people don't even believe that there could

possibly be any help. And that's why I just really want to mention this brother. We're hate Jensen, he's got this amazing podcast, which I recommend to people, it's called a way beyond the rainbow. And he's got like about 80 episodes or something like that, you know, have like four interviews in there. And he really explains, hey, if someone is dealing with same sex attraction, or even maybe gender dysphoria, what should they do? How should they deal with it, someone has a family member or friend or something like that, they should listen to these episodes and try to understand what he himself has same sex attraction. So when he speaks, he's speaking as someone who's dealing with the

issue, and he's dealt with it in an in an Islamic framework. And people who are struggling with it as well, they need a support group, there's this awesome website that he's also part of, it's called straight struggle.com. And it's like a worldwide community of people who want to follow Islamic teachings, and how to deal with these desires, rather than going with thee. This is what defines me identity route. So I think this is a great, you know, resource for people and one of the few resources for people that can actually help them a lot

of stuff.

I think there are a few things that you brought up, obviously, for the sake of time, I can't go into each one of them. But maybe as a segue into SR Saltos. Park, there are a few things that you mentioned that I think are important. One of them is this idea of you know, revisionism being the only route and that this is the only way to sort of deal with the topic. And that this kind of becomes a precursor for dealing with the Muslim community in a certain way. And Muslims being accepted in a certain way, I think we're going to live with a reality where you're going to have people that say, I'm Muslim, and I don't believe this to be the case anymore. And you're going to

have messages that are going to form as a result of that you're going to have institutions now probably, you know, relatively small for now and will grow over time. But I think one one thing that I would posit back is one of our complaints as a Muslim community is we've been tokenized. So frequently, right? You don't want to actually listen to the Muslim community, you want the convenient Muslim checkbox, because it's a nice, it's a nice tool against Donald Trump right now. Right? It's a nice tool against the right wing right now.

As as Muslims, we don't require people to believe in our worldview in order to treat them with dignity. And you know, and we're serving the homeless and doing kick them out to society. And, you know, we're talking about major issues in America, that sort of cut across all classes and cut across all divides, like as Muslims were coming to the table sincerely, right, in that regard, but also with our data and also with our principles. And so if someone then says, Well, I'm just going to engage with the Muslim that is going to give me everything that's more convenient to my poster to my checkbox, then you have to actually say back to that person, are you really sincere that you're

engaging with the Muslim community? So I think that's number one. The second thing here on a pastoral level Subhanallah I don't want to take from too much of the time of sister sada but I've had many of those experiences myself, where it's like, you're saying to someone, look, you're not like this broken human being you're not a messed up person, you're not a you're not a, you know, some sort of animal. And I think that's where, like, we really have to get this right. It's easy to tweet stuff. But it's another thing we have in a one on one conversation, I remember the countless sister came to Ramona with me. And I didn't know you know, that she actually was living with her

partner at the time. And for her, this or home that I that she was taking was a step towards Allah subhanaw taala. And it was sort of towards the end, we did office hours for our own a group. So we kind of let everyone come and ask questions. And she said, You know, I was embarrassed to tell you this, but you'd asked about why it took me so long to do too often, you probably made assumptions, right? That she wasn't in the hot so she couldn't do throw off and she was like, I didn't know if Allah would accept me.

I didn't know if Allah would accept me and will lie. It was it was like I get very emotional thinking about it. Because I remember what that the look in her in her eyes. Like I didn't know if Allah would accept me. And I told her, I said, Sister, this is the place of Ibrahim already set up. This is the place of sacrifice and you're coming to a lot as a tatoeba. As someone who's repenting as someone who's turning to a lot like everyone else. We are identified by Islam. were identified by snot, you have your unique struggle but were identified by Islam. Right and which the vacuum was the maximums were people of Islam, and so long as you're coming to Allah with that, like, you don't need

to feel this way And subhanAllah you know, she she she reached out

After some time, after it happens it had made that turn her lifestyle had had become you know, someone who was well not like, you know, someone that was able to, to actually get married practice of celibacy but but really loves her it's not. And that was something that's very profound to me. So I think we all have multiple stories like that. And that's part of the on the ground interaction. So that being said, Sister Sada, you're our last speaker, but definitely not least, and I think you can bring it all together, being a therapist and a licensed counselor for over 10 years, right, someone that has taught in Islamic Studies taught in therapy and counseling, and deals with the community at

a very, very different level, in a very involved level. How do we deal with the discomfort we have with this discussion? different stakeholders, different people? How do we deal with the discomfort that we have in discussing this properly? With our Islamic ethos and framework guiding the way

just when I was allowed with salam ala Rasulillah on and he was so happy when Manuela does that, can I fit into all three of you for the beautiful points that you've shared? There are several key things that I want to get across that builds upon what our HSU have shared, and then also emphasizes the personal human side of this issue, based on my experience, in working with Muslims, who struggled with same sex attraction in therapy, and also within the framework of what is is sonically permissible, and our Islamic value system. So, you know, to reiterate, the point that we have been talking about is the idea, and this is why it's so uncomfortable for us to talk about this issue.

Sexuality is naturally an issue that's very personal, which increases the discomfort or in talking about it, but also in realizing that the normalization thing doesn't equate the correctness of that standard, because the standards of people are constantly changing. And so we as Muslims hold on to the one standard that actually is constant, which is the standard of Allah subhanaw taala. And so, you know, the idea of like the beautiful Hadith that was quoted about Islam, being something strange and becoming something strange again, so give glad tidings to the strangers. Right now, for those of us who don't agree with the normalization of certain lifestyle choices, we feel like strangers, and

that's very uncomfortable. And going with the flow is not necessarily the right thing we, you know, we see in the Quran when Allah subhanaw taala talks about the majority of people versus the few, right we look at when Allah is prophetic talks about most people in the Quran, he says, and however most people do not know. And most people do not show gratitude, and most people do not believe. But when he talks about the few illustrations that I says about them, and few of my servants are grateful. But none had believed with him except a few, in the gardens of bliss, a large company of former people and a few of the later people, right. So this idea of being a stranger is not a bad

thing. After all, holding on to a view that might be unpopular is not a negative thing. As long as this is the view that's most pleasing to us Pat data. And just because we disagree with something that the majority of people advocate for, it doesn't mean that we're wrong. It doesn't mean that we're hateful, for sure. It just means that our standards, and our values might be different than other people's standards and values, and being able to coexist with people who have different values, different standards, different opinions, that's part and parcel of being human. Right. And so psychologically when I'm thinking about the discomfort that we feel right, of, even though we

know that there is good in the Command of Allah subhanho data in the standard of elicit cantata, sometimes that doesn't always feel good. Sometimes that can be very hard. So how do we deal with the discomfort of having different values, especially when these values are seen in a negative light? And unless passata speaks so beautifully on this and sort of said Bacara where he describes a group of people as those who would dedicate their lives to Allah's pleasure, and Allah is Ever gracious to His servants and he tells us all believers enter into Islam wholeheartedly, and do not follow in chiefdoms footsteps. Surely He is your sworn enemy. Right? So we see Allah's paths that are

describing this group of people, as those who submit as those who put Allah and His standard before themselves and their own desires. But one of the things that I think is so helpful whenever we are trying to sit with the discomfort of obeying Allah subhana data, despite things around us and people around us and different standards around us that might make that challenging is to realize that when we prioritize a loved one we put a love before ourselves. We

are in fact choosing ourselves to that worshipping Allah subhanaw. Taala allows us to prioritize our ultimate purpose and who we truly are at our core, it's not a favorite to illustrate that it's a favorite to ourselves, even if it doesn't always feel that way, realizing that our feelings and our emotions are transient, right, and they fluctuate, but the reward of Allah subhanaw taala, is permanent. So when we keep that in mind, it can really help us to sit with some of that discomfort. And I want to also talk about some of our brothers and sisters who are struggling with same sex attraction. And I want to just mention a few points that I think are important when considering when

considering this because this is a very, very difficult test. It's an incredibly difficult test. And we've heard our speakers talk about that. And I know, in my work with my, with my clients, seeing the pain and the struggle, and the sacrifice that comes with that. It it really, you know, subhanAllah it, there's so much empathy, and so much admiration that I have, for the people who I have worked with, who are struggling with this, and choosing not to act upon it, it is an incredible test. And so I want to mention a few points geared toward my brothers and sisters who are struggling with this. The first being that it's important for all of us to realize that sexual attraction in a

lot of us can fluctuate and there are so many factors that can impact who we are attracted to.

And we see this now even more we see this amplified also in our youth, where in our with our youth, it's a time with physical, emotional, hormonal changes. The issues with pornography, hyper sexualization of our society, have all contributed to this. But the reason why I'm bringing this up, the fluctuation that can sometimes come is that when someone let's say a girl, adolescent, notices another girl, and finds herself attracted to her.

That doesn't mean that that is going to dictate her entire life trajectory. But socially now, we're taught that once you experience these thoughts, you're immediately supposed to identify based on a particular label as a lesbian, but that's not necessarily true. And for those, for those who struggle with this, being able to accept that the thoughts are there reiterating to yourself, you know, I might be attracted to her, but I'm more intent on pleasing Allah subhanaw taala. So I choose not to do anything about that attraction, not pushing the thoughts away, right, because pushing thoughts away as if they don't exist as if they're shameful, which they are not, which they are not,

these are naturally occurring thoughts. But the more that we push them away, the more power we give them, but accept them as a passing thought. That's not necessarily a huge deal, that don't dictate who you are, and in a lot of circumstances may not even dictate your sexuality. Like I think about how the Companions, little soy sauce and them came to him. And they shared that they were having really, really negative thoughts like kind of blasphemous, blasphemous thoughts about illicit parent data, right? They said, that we struggle with these thoughts that we find in ourselves that are too terrible to speak of. And the problem has Hasulam ask them, Are you really suffering from that? And

they said, Yes. And he responded that that is a sign of clear faith, that refusing to allow yourself to turn that whisper to turn those passing thoughts into action, is a sign of clear faith. So if that's the case, when a Muslim has really negative thoughts about Allah, that doesn't mean that they're no longer Muslim, that doesn't take them out of the fold of Islam. You are, who you choose to be. Your thoughts don't dictate who you are. And that's a prime example of this, as well. And then also realizing that Islam differentiates and separates between the desire to sin, and the sin itself. In every realm of life, Islam recognizes that we as Muslims, as normal human beings, have

the desire to commit sense that the premise of the concept of this like inner battle that we have between a good inclination and a bad inclination, between short term gratification and long term gratification, this is something that is part and parcel of being human. And that if the thought itself was haram, ALLAH SubhanA, Allah would have told us that but it's but it's not. And so on this path, Allah tells us, we'll have a nap on an edge Dane, right that he has shown us the two ways that when we're confronted with two roads to take when we're confronted with a desire that's not aligned with our values, that we have the choice do we give into temporary pleasure? Or do we look forward

to the river

Word from Allah's past data to stop ourselves from doing that.

And then finally, I want to make a point about the importance of whenever somebody is going through a struggle like this through any struggle really. But with this particular struggle, because it's such a difficult one, it's really important to reframe it.

For many people who face same sex attraction, it might not be black and white, right. But for those who are tested, especially with the unwavering attraction to the same set sex, it is a very, very difficult test, but can also be viewed as an opportunity, if it's viewed if we choose to view it in that way, right? That we know that also salam tells us that if Allah loves the people, then he tries them. And this is an extremely difficult trial. But one thing to keep in mind is that there is no greater honor the LS patata can bestow on someone that being guided to Islam. And that the gem of Islam that exists within your heart is not in conquer with with the thoughts that are going through

your mind, or the feelings that are that are going through your heart or the desires that you're experiencing your faith, and those desires can coexist, and that you are honorable, in the sight of Allah sopressata, no matter what your struggles, because of your belief in Him and your choice to be a Muslim. And so never forget that despite your struggle, you're honorable. And actually, in fact, because of your struggle, you have the opportunity to be honored even more in the eyes of Allah subhana data. In a beautiful Hadith, the prophet has seldom talks about all of the different ways that shaitan tries to change our path, and our choices and the ways that we can reject his whispers

and disobey the Shavon. And he ends the Hadith by saying, Whoever does that has a right upon Allah

to enter Jannah that he will enter Jen that he or she. So when we're faced, and some are harder than others, right, like this one, then we have the ability to make a choice in each moment that brings us closer to Allah upon our data. And to realize that our words are incredibly powerful, there's a difference between accepting a struggle and identifying yourself based on a struggle, right, that, that if you are struggling with something, right, some people might say that by calling yourself gay or calling yourself a lesbian or bisexual, right, that it shows that you're not in denial, and that you've taken a step forward in accepting this part of yourself. But in reality, it can also be

disempowering, because you're denying yourself the ability to formulate your identity, based on something that is within your control, rather than something outside of your control. And so when we identify ourselves based on something we're struggling with, then we look at ourselves only through that lens, and it can weigh us down. Right when someone leaves an abusive relationship, we don't call her a victim, we call her a survivor. When we sin, we don't identify ourselves as sinners, we can identify ourselves as repentance, because if you're a sinner, then what motivates you to stay away from sin, since it's already an inherent part of you. But if you define yourself as a repenter,

then what could come between you and Allah's path data. So what we call ourselves speaks very strongly to how we identify and perceive ourselves. And so being able to create our identities, based not on something that if acted upon would be sinful, but based on something that makes us feel honorable, that makes us feel like so much more than just our struggles, that allows us to make a choice that the core of our identity is to choose a less pathauto over that desire, and that you're activating the core part of who you are your choice to be a Muslim, and to please Allah Subhana Allah so that you can imagine yourself in sha Allah, as a person of Jannah, somebody who is willing

to give up so much in order to gain the pleasure of Allah Spadina. And somebody who truly lives by the verse that indeed my prayer, my sacrifice, my living, and my dying, are all for Alas, pathauto, the Lord of the worlds and I ask Allah Subhana Allah to bless you, and reward you, especially all of my brothers and sisters who are struggling with this. And to make it easy on you. And to keep you on the straight path does that

officer Susana, so we're right at the after wrap up in like three minutes in silence. So before that, I have a one minute question for you in sha Allah.

Because it's something that I've actually seen sister come forward. There's the mental pressure and the struggle that you've alluded to. And there's the struggle as well of, you know, the current day you mentioned in the very beginning, a sister comes from school, she says, on the one hand, I've got this guy that pulled off my hijab and mocked me for being a Muslim and told me to go back home. And then the same teacher that, you know, chastise the guy that pulled off my hijab, chastised me and sent me home because I didn't want to participate. And something that I felt like was again

That's my religion. This isn't a little bit I don't know what it is right? If this isn't being strange and being caught, I don't know what is. So what's your one minute sort of advice to your younger sister in this regard? Who's watching the webinar?

How long it's hard to do in one minute.

As you can tell by how long I went with my other portions, but

you know, I think that knowing that your strength doesn't come from other people. And it comes from the core of who you view yourself to be. And knowing that every single bit of struggle that you're going through is going to be weighed on your scales on the Day of Judgment is something it doesn't take away the pain and I think that's really important is to allow yourself to grieve for the struggles that you're going through and to realize that this is not normal. This is very hard, and anybody in your shoes would find this hard.

But to also to also realize that through that pain, you're inshallah going to get that tremendous reward and that you are choosing the hereafter in all of those moments. I think that that reframe can be inshallah very helpful.

And salata for everyone are the hedges series, which starts next week in Sharla. Ties about Ibrahim ani has Salam and sacrifices, it's actually going to be called attached to Allah. And Sister Sato will be joining me we actually have discussions with people on 10 things that people gain attachment to, and how they reframe those attachments to a loss of Hannah Montana, in light of Brahim it has sacrificed and so it's going to be a different type of series than the one we're usually accustomed to. So please do tune in next week in Charlottetown. For that, I want to give chef Mustafa chef Obaidullah any last remark you want to you want to share then just another floor is yours. And if

not, then I'll close off with Dr. Charlottetown.

On defer to shake most of the first.

And the largest closing just be that, you know, I think we were chatting now yesterday night about this. And I think the position of Muslims in the position of Islam should really be when it comes to our religion, we should be uncompromising on things which are clear cut, yet compassionate at the same time. And I think that's the balance that we were trying to draw. And I think that is something that's my advice that I have for all Muslim leaders and for all Muslims on a topic like this.

No, I definitely second those sentiments. And I

I think it's important to emphasize that, you know, this struggle that we've been speaking off, it's a very real struggle, and we have to express compassion fraternity sorority, and make sure that our community isn't a place of tribunals and investigations and but rather, equipping people with the tools necessary to engage the struggle at any level that they need to and just being supportive. Zack, obey the law. So

I think what we can all agree upon SubhanAllah. And this is just a summary, which I found from this, in case someone doesn't feel like listening to the full 90 minutes or so as much as we push back on worldviews, and political and the politics of it all that, that come towards us as Muslims, we don't want to push people away within our communities. And so finding that balance, which is a balanced and Charlotte's honor to where we actively hold our principles, and so when someone asks, you know, what's your position on LGBTQ or any issue our position is the position of Allah and His messenger. So I said that my position is the position of the Quran and the Sunnah. And then from there, insha

Allah Tana, we have to as a community help each other. We got to help our institutions, we got to help our activists, we got to help our Imams we got to help our counselors, we got to help our people, we got to help the Muslims that are being ostracized for having these attractions or, or whatever struggle they may have that we've spoken about. And we've got to help the Muslims that are being ostracized for just trying to hold on to their demon for holding on to their worldviews and chocolates and with that, show people the brilliance and the beauty of Islam and we pray that inshallah Tata will be able to do that. We ask Allah Subhana Allah to accept as I can all feed on

our banana republic Mina and Nick Anta Samira Nemo to Ballina INEC Anta tillable Rahim Allah Medina I'm happy to help our TBR Arenal belterra melting I was looking at the knob for banana to the food and it had eaten our herbal and I mean, I don't know I can tell Wahab probably not in academia and so to me knowing Buffy in Allah hilariously funny add, or banana to ask is not enough. Xena. Robinette would attack me that I didn't know you're still on camera Hamilton who? I mean Polina Robin wala to HeMen mana Takata Lana white for Anna Waterland our internal and Alfonso narrative common care

Green. Allah we ask you to guide our hearts we ask you to guide us to the truth. We ask you Oh Allah, to guide us to the divine revelation we asked you Allah to guide us to that which is most pleasing to you. We ask you, oh Allah to anchor us in the Quran and the Sunnah. And we asked you, oh Allah to make us amongst those that follow the way of the earliest generations of the sabe coin. And we asked you Oh ALLAH to join us with the savvy coin with the sloth noon, with the with the MBR with the righteous and the highest level for those in Atlanta. We asked you, oh Allah to forgive us for our shortcomings. We asked you Oh Allah to guide us as communities as individuals. We asked you all

to unite our hearts to unite our ranks upon that which is just upon that which is right upon that which will enter us into a fitted dose and honor we asked you Oh ALLAH to not let our tragedy be in regards to our deen. We asked you Oh ALLAH to not let our tragedy be in regards to our deen and we asked you Allah to alleviate the suffering in this dunya especially for our brothers and sisters in Palestine and India, wherever they are, that are suffering due to their Deen right now your anatomy we asked you a lot to alleviate their oppression sto Allah to make us a community. That is like the Prophet sallallahu alayhi salam said, as one building as one unit, each part of it reinforces the

other Oh Allah allow us to reinforce one another. With that which is pleasing to you. Oh Allah, keep us sincere, keep us steadfast. And forgive us for our errors and send your peace and blessings upon your beloved Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, and his family and his companions and those that follow along I mean all solid land was owned by the economy and hammered run early. He was arraigned on our feet on panic long handed Kushtia do a lot of stuff. We look at what I do with eco Santa Monica. Welcome to La Hayward Academy.