Shadee Elmasry – The Ugly Truth About Social Media Dawah Scene
AI: Summary ©
AI: Transcript ©
When you're looking today at social media, for
example, and there's a lot of influencers and
people that are they're unhinged. Let's just be
frank. I mean, that's the the best term
I can use. They're unhinged. Somebody said to
me that why is it that you'll have
sort of young
young duaq, let's say, or some people. And
then got millions of followers, some people. Right?
And you've got your Sunni Ulema, Sunni scholars
that have studied in Madrasas,
in Egypt, or in Yemen, or in Istanbul,
or in in even in England, or whatever
it may be. But they don't have that
sort of funding. So so what's going on?
My answer to this was and I I
I I can't wait to hear what you're
gonna say. My answer was that sensationalism
is not part of the Manhaj.
That that sensationalism, which is clickbait, is not
part of the Manhaj.
If it was part of the Manhaj,
then you would see,
the the the the the the the scales
balanced. Yeah. But what would Suni or Ahmad
that have to show face to their,
Suni or Ahmad that have communities.
Mhmm.
They they would never do anything that will
ever contradict that or or in any way,
you know, put that. Not Yeah. No.
So they're not gonna get the clickbait naturally.
That's one of the reasons. How do you
1, I love to hear your comments on
that. Number
2, well, how do we because you see
what's happening now. No one cares what the
truth is. They they they just wanna go
for it. How do you navigate that when
you're saying to this young 18, 19 year
old, how do you please stop posting
sectarianism
on Twitter? Yeah. And come and study properly,
fill in all the gaps of your knowledge,
and then move along. What do you do
with these three things?
I I've noticed that,
very few interactions
will out beneficial, fruitful interactions will outweigh
tons of social media posts.
And our method our men hedge as you
said,
we have communities to show up to.
We have respectable people to live with,
who rely upon us, who trust us with
their kids.
In some cases, when they send their kids
to study with us,
acting like a clown and a buffoon,
is not something that's in our wheelhouse.
It's
not something that we can do. We have
people who,
who are also
you know, in some sense, cheering us on.
Also, in another sense, they we have to
show face in front of them. We have
to behave in front of them. We gotta
be behaved. We have, they they they have
communities of and you have to not act
like someone who's
one of these narcissists
seeking attention,
acting like a buffoon or or a clown
or or,
controversial
or, you know, gas
throwing gas on issues that really don't that
that shouldn't be brought up
in front of everybody.
But so for that reason, we can't play
that game.
But
that game is very weak.
The the the influence dies real fast,
and and the impact
is very soft.
So the impact is positive in getting your
attention, but does it convert your attention to
conviction?
Only actual studying
can do that. So,
it's not totally
empty of of of impact,
but if its impact is misguided,
I don't worry so much anymore because I
re I've actually literally have seen Shabab
go 3 4 years
in that world
of just, you know, these little 10 second
clips and maybe a whole video. But as
soon as you meet one person
of a uh-uh, who can correct this, it's
corrected.
For that reason, I don't worry so much
about
these these these huge accounts.
And on top of that, by the way,
they're not even authentic. It's purchased. Nothing was
organic anymore. But, you know, marketing people tell
me nothing's organic. It's purchased. This stuff is
purchased.
Right?
And if you actually look at a lot
of the, followers of a lot of things,
a lot of it is purchased.
And it's just nameless accounts and naked women
and all these things. And it's like, why
would these people follow,
you know, akita.com
or or whatever the the the account is.
Right? That it's not. It's fake.
Right? It's formed. But in any event,
I do recognize there is benefit. They are
drawing attention.
Are you converting attention to conviction
over the long run? And I think that
nothing is gonna solve that except
actual humans that you deal with. And even
if you deal with humans over the long
run online virtually, because not everyone has a
community.
A lot of people who love the deen,
they don't have a community, but they can
have an online community.
They can have a virtual community. Even the
virtual community will fix you
over time. It's hard to know. Like a
WhatsApp group, a a virtual community where you
make genuine friends. Maybe you meet once or
twice at or something, or you visit them
once or twice physically. And even if you
don't, but virtual
a virtual community led by scholars
can fix a lot of those,
misguided ideas that are being spread.
That's my reaction to those and my take
on,
accounts that are
misguided, I would say, in some aspects. Not
all aspects misguided. The method in which they
do it may be
that we can't do it
if you're in respectable society.
But nonetheless,
there is some benefit and and whatever is
not, I I I trust and I have
certainty could be fixed very easily
with live interactions.
Yeah. It's probably
That's why I don't I don't think there's
a need to compete in that. And secondly,
you wanna have a Dua that's online that's
not that can age.
You how how long can you be a
a a a clown online and a and
a,
you know, a rabble rouser? Can you be
60 years old and a rabble rouser? Right?
Like, how well, maybe you can. I mean,
Donald Trump is like that. Right? He's like
80, and he still
acts like that. But
as a Muslim,
how long are you gonna go with this?
Right? Aren't your kids gonna say, come on,
dad dad? Like,
cool it off a little bit. Are you
and your wife gonna be do these people
go to house invitations?
Like, how do you show up to dinner
at your friend's house? We're all couples coming
with their families.
Right? How do you show up after acting
like a clown all day online?
And and being so controversial. How do you
have friends? How do you go to eat?
I wonder how these people show up. But
the way that we should use social media
is a way that can last forever
until you're 80. You risk you know, putting
up stuff that benefits people
without compromising what we call.
Oh.
Just like dignity
and and things. That's how I think we
people should use social media.
You Now look at, Habib Ahmed to use
social media. A lot of you
a lot of you use social media, and
they don't lose their dignity. They could keep
doing that till they're 80. They're not trying
to chase,
anything. They're just putting the out there.
You know? The is the benefit.
Yeah.
But how do you know with with a
lot of, let's say, young people, naturally, they
look up to those people. They want to
be those people. And they realize, well, if
I have a camera, I don't need to
go and do the 10, 15, 20 years
of study. Yeah. You know, what a waste
what a waste of time that is. I
can just get that now. Mhmm. You know?
So all I need is a camera. If
I'm gifted in speech and I'm articulate and
I I read a little bit, you know,
I can just go for it. And I
because there's no checks and balances. If it
was a Muslim world, you know, traditionally, there'd
be accountability.
Mhmm. You know, if you had a community,
there'd be accountability. There's no accountability. So
I'll tell you one big one big problem.
You know, if a high schooler drops out
of school and he says, hey, guys. I
got a job at a pizzeria.
Look. I make $200 a week. Right? Working
at a pizzeria. Why go to school? Right?
I make $200 a week right here.
I mean, I make $1,000 a month. $800
a month at the pizzeria.
Right?
And he's looking over at his high school
classmates who are studying
physics and biology,
and they don't have $800 a week. So
he's impressed. Now next month, he's got $1600.
Month after that 2 2 months later after
that, he's got $3,200.
And meanwhile, all his friends are just studying
biology and math and chemistry and stuff.
Right? And he's every month is cemented in
him that, you know, this I don't need
to do these studies. I got money. Like
right? Well, let's fast forward in 10 years
who has money. Let's see in in 15
years
who is buying a house and who's who's
not. Right? So that's the analogy here.
That's the analogy of somebody. So I would
just say, you know what? Do you wanna
go that route? Go ahead and do it.
I don't think it's a great idea, but
do it because you're gonna learn the hard
you have to learn the hard way. You're
gonna learn after a while that everything you're
saying contradicts each other. You're gonna get flamed.
You're gonna get torn down. You're gonna get
exposed.
Right? For facades can't last forever.
And you see that outside of Islam
with,
you know, people who put themselves off as
very wealthy
playboys and businessmen, and it turns out it's
all rented.
They're all hired people.
No one is actually there with them. It's
just hired models.
It's hired houses that they are filming in
front of.
I guarantee you every Instagrammer
that's selling you his courses,
you know, I'll teach you how to get
rich, and he comes out of a beautiful
pool in Beverly Hills. Do you think he
owns it? It's rented. Right?
You know, 5 years later, it's all exposed.
That's all rented.
Right? And the business, obviously, never made money,
and the guy never made money, and the
whole thing is a grift and a scam.
Well, it's the same thing inside of, in
the world of Dawa.
Let's see. Let's see over 20, 30 years
what the product is. That's really what matters.
Yeah.
Alhamdulillah.
I think that's a really important really important
message. And I think the also, if I
if I could just say one last thing
on that, which is that
that the
everything that you said is really important.
But I also I guess, maybe take this
opportunity for myself and for other people, which
is which is also to fare Allah in
in that as well. Because I remember a
brother, he made a statement. He was on
a
a podcast. He made a statement
about the or something. I don't know what
he said. Something that they're like or something
like that. And so, you know, I messaged
him, you know, privately and, you know, and,
and I said to him, look. You know,
you,
you know, that's wrong. You know, you you
do you do know that. Right? And I
said to them, what you really what you
really need to do is contact the the
brother
that you did the podcast with, and you
need to get that removed. Mhmm. Because everyone
everyone has ever listened to you. You know?
I mean, you you made a mistake. That's
fine. That can happen. Right? But, you know,
have you studied anything in in Colombia? He
said, no. I said, do you speak Arabic?
He said, no. And so you've read you've
read something online.
I don't know where Wikipedia or I don't
know what, you know. And you've come on
and you've made a statement
that now is recorded for all eternity essentially.
And I don't mean literally all eternity. And
everyone that's gonna listen to you is gonna
is gonna take that.
So I think from that perspective and not
just that, but what's worse is if you're
if you're young and you're giving fatwa. And
you're giving and you're telling people about really
important
issues. Yeah. You know? And today, we got
big political issues from not just from atheism,
but things related
to to not just transgerderism, but just gender
in general, or whatever it may be. This
is why I give the people the example
about, you know, don't let your
your hatred for feminism
turn you into a red pill peer is
what I call them. Right? Mhmm. You know,
when you go when you go so far
that way, when you begin to disrespect,
one of the most sacred things to Muslims,
which are are their mothers, their their their
sisters, their wives, their daughters, you know. And,
so you you you can't and this is
why the prophet is the greatest role model
Yeah. You know,
alayhis salatu san. So you you don't wanna
go. Don't let your frustrations take over you.
So and the reason why I mentioned that
is because I do feel it. I feel
it inside. But, you know, you have to
be very, very careful, you know, and Allah
is it's his deen. We're all gonna
have fun anyway. Right? We're all gonna go.
The deen was Mateen. It will remain. It's
gonna be without going anywhere. It's not going
anywhere. It's not going anywhere.
But you don't wanna you don't wanna fall
by the wayside either. Mhmm. You don't wanna
be wasted.
And if you've got talents and you're clever,
why don't you just put in a few
years of good solid work? Yep. And then,
you know, who knows what could become of
you? You know? Yeah. So that's really important
for the shabaab. It's so important. Have taqwa.
Have,
have,
know that there's a process of doing everything
has a right and a wrong. And
right now, you know that you're you're it's
illegal to give financial advice to people,
without certification.
So imagine
advice for eternity. Now talking to and things
like that for eternity.
So,
it's it's extremely important. Extremely important.