Shaun King – Part 2 of We Come From Warriors Speaking in Jordan about the Martyrs of Mutah
AI: Summary ©
AI: Transcript ©
As-salamu alaykum, it's good to see you.
I've traveled this morning from Istanbul to Amman,
Jordan just for an overnight trip and I'm
in, for me, one of the most sacred
places I've ever been in my life.
I cannot wait to tell you the story
of where I am.
It's so important for where we are in
the world right now.
It's so important for our faith and for
those of you who are watching who may
say, well, Sean, I'm not a Muslim.
What does this matter?
What I'm about to tell you is a
story of one of the most important battles,
important moments in all of Islam.
So, well, Sean, why does that matter?
Well, there are two billion Muslims in the
world.
And so all of us, if you're Muslim
or not, we should understand the faiths and
religions of the world, their history.
One of the beautiful things of having lived
my life as a Christian is I understand
my way around both faiths.
I understand the history of both faiths and
they're so deeply intertwined.
And so today I am in Muta.
This was a painful, painful place for our
prophet, peace be upon him, because in this
battle, which came early in Islam, three of
the most beloved companions of our prophet, peace
be upon him, were slain here, very close
to where we are right now.
I just prayed and I've had a walk
around and I've been studying this place for
several weeks now, just in preparation for this
opportunity.
And I asked my Imam, Dr. Shadi, I
said, Dr. Shadi, if there's one place I
could go in all of Jordan, where should
I go?
And he said, Sean, you must go to
Muta.
Let me show it to you.
Please forgive any mispronunciations that I may have.
And I'll tell you what I have said
before.
Anything that I get right is really just
thanks to two people, Dr. Shadi and Imam
Omar Suleiman.
Anything that I say that's wrong or false
or is slightly off, it's all my fault.
I haven't been taught wrong.
I'm just a new Muslim.
Many of you know, I'm actually a historian
by training and, you know, my undergraduate and
graduate degrees are in history.
And so on this travel show of mine,
which I never thought I would do something
like this, but the beauty of being banned
from Instagram is it's caused me to see
the world anew and with fresh eyes.
And I'm really here today to tell you
the history of this place.
Let me show you around.
There is a beautiful masjid here now.
I'm about a little less than two hours
from Amman, Jordan, where I flew in.
And there are the graves here in this
facility that I'm in right now of Jafar
and Zaid.
And I'm going to tell you their stories.
You know, sisters and brothers, I filmed a
video just yesterday.
It's on my channel.
Please subscribe if you get a chance.
Leave comments when you can.
Share them when you can.
I filmed a video from the Topkapi Palace
in Istanbul.
And one of the things that I showed
you were swords of our Prophet Muhammad, peace
be upon him, swords of companions, Khalid, Abu
Bakr, swords from Ali, you know, just from
Omar, from Uthman, you know, just I wanted
you to see that as Muslims, we come
from warriors.
Yes, we say it is a religion of
peace because Islam gives you peace in your
heart and in your mind.
But I'm going to repeat to you what
I've said many times.
There is a Hadith of our Prophet, peace
be upon him, that's changed the way I
see the world.
I've always fought against injustice, but like most
of you, I fought against injustice in the
exact opposite way than our Prophet, peace be
upon him, actually compels us.
Like most people in the world, I first
fought injustice in my heart, then with my
mouth and sometimes with my hands.
But our Prophet, peace be upon him, says,
no, when you see injustice in the world,
first confront it with your hands.
And if you fail, then confront it with
your words.
If you fail confronting it with your words,
then confront it with your heart.
And a lot of people, when they say
this Hadith, they stop there.
But there are a few words after that.
It actually says confronted with your heart, which
is the least of all of these.
Too many of us say, God knows my
heart.
And yes, God does know your heart.
But our Prophet, peace be upon him, said,
your heart is the least of all of
these when it comes to confronting injustice.
Use your words, but use your hands first.
And so I'm going to take you now
to the tomb of Zayd.
Zayd was the son of our Prophet, peace
be upon him.
He was taken into the family of our
dear mother Khadijah, of our dear Prophet Muhammad,
peace be upon him.
Before prophethood, Zayd was welcomed into the family.
In fact, Zayd, who had been sold off
and traded in a slave market, his father
came looking for him.
And Muhammad, again, at this time, our Prophet
Muhammad was not yet a prophet.
And his father found Zayd.
It was a beautiful, beautiful moment.
His father had searched for him.
His father was a just good man.
And his father finally found Zayd.
And he said, Zayd, you know, you need
to shake off the shackles of slavery.
And of course, but Muhammad, who was not
yet a prophet, peace be upon him, said,
no, no, he is free to go with
you.
We are not holding him against his will.
And Zayd said to his father something very
profound.
No, there's something special about this man, about
this family.
They actually treat me better than they treat
their own biological children.
Alhamdulillah.
He said, I want to stay here.
His father understood.
Zayd is known as the beloved of our
Prophet, peace be upon him.
To know Zayd is to know our Prophet,
peace be upon him.
They were they were hand in hand like
this.
And for many of us who care even
about racial justice, you know that our dear
Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, was so
intentional about surrounding himself with people from all
races, nationalities, backgrounds.
Zayd was a dark skinned man, by some
accounts, the darkest of all the companions.
And he was literally the right hand or
left hand of our Prophet.
They fought side by side in battles.
They they ate together.
They they slept in the same home together.
They dined together, not dozens, not hundreds, thousands
of times.
We would struggle to find any man who
spent more time with our Prophet, peace be
upon him, than Zayd.
And so Zayd, who fought in every single
battle, was a commander, was was given was
given ownership, oversaw battalions of troops.
And when it came time to fight a
battle here in Muta, which is we're now
here in Jordan, I told you about an
hour and a half from Amman, the Byzantines
here had done a grave injustice to the
Muslims, had slaughtered an emissary that had been
sent here, just a not just a grave
offense, like it was an evil deed.
And so our Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon
him, sent nearly 3,000 Muslims to come
here to Jordan, to Muta, to confront them
over this grave injustice.
And he said, his words were, I will
put Zayd, may Allah be pleased with him,
I'll put Zayd in charge of the army.
And if Zayd falls, Jafar, I'll talk about
Jafar in just a minute, Jafar can follow
up and take the helm if Zayd falls
in battle.
And if Jafar falls, Allah forbid, if Jafar
falls, Abdullah will be here to take over
for Jafar.
And when they got here, there were 3
,000 Muslims, which is a strong, a strong
number.
And they got here, some accounts say between
100 and 250,000 soldiers were waiting for
them.
And they had to make a powerful decision,
and I want to talk about that before
we walk in.
They had to make a profound decision to
say, okay, we are 3,000, they are
150,000, what do we do?
And the brothers decided, Zayd decided, we will
honor the words of our prophet, peace be
upon him.
Zayd, we will honor the words of my
father.
We will stay here and do what we
were commissioned to do.
We fight for what we believe in.
Sisters and brothers, do you understand?
The Hadith said, when you see injustice confronted
with your hands, and you've heard me say
this, the Hadith does not say we have
to succeed.
In fact, it gives room for failure.
It says, if you fail, then use your
words, then your heart.
Zayd knew we are here to confront this
injustice with our hands.
Zayd got here, outnumbered, not three to one,
not four to one, not 10 to one,
outnumbered 30 to 50 to one.
And instead of deciding to turn around and
abandon ship, they said, no, we will fight.
And the beloved of our prophet, who, I
mean, who, I cannot tell you the depths.
I mean, you know how beloved he was
by how much responsibility he was given by
the beautiful things our prophet, peace be upon
him, said about Zayd.
As I go in here, you're going to
see the tomb of Zayd.
And I'll have to lower my voice.
I have a microphone on, but it's a
sacred place.
And so I just want you to understand
that these aren't myths.
These aren't legends.
This actually happened.
And so our dear brother Zayd, may Allah
be pleased with him, is here.
His body is here.
As we know, our sisters and brothers that
are leaving, just putting their shoes on, as
I just took mine off, that the body,
the body, the remains of Zayd, who was
wounded over and over and over again, who
was carrying the banner of our prophet, peace
be upon him, was slain right here in
Mu'tah.
But he was slain here.
Hear me.
He was slain honoring the words of our
prophet, peace be upon him.
There is no, there is no better way
to die.
Yes, as a martyr, because we believe that
this life is temporary anyway.
What better way to live your life than
honor the words of our prophet.
Sisters and brothers, let me show you where
I am.
This is the tomb of Zayd.
Again, it is our belief.
We are, hear me, we are not bodies
with souls.
We are souls first and foremost.
We are souls with bodies.
Our bodies are temporary, but our souls are
forever.
I walk around here to show you.
I so badly wish that I was smart
enough to read this.
Many of you may have heard me say,
I often have regret that I did not
become a Muslim so much earlier.
I was 16 when I first visited a
masjid and started, I was really 15 when
I started thinking about becoming a Muslim, having
just read the autobiography of Malcolm X.
16 when I first visited Masjid Bilal in
Lexington, Kentucky.
But it's, it's the timing of Allah.
Let me show you.
Security wanted me to come close.
And when I, security wanted me to show
when I put my nose here, they wanted
me to smell the sweet aroma that comes
from this.
Let me, let me show you.
Okay, so I will do it for you.
You can smell it.
It's a, it's a beautiful, sweet fragrance emanating
from, from the tomb of Zayd, the son
of our prophet Muhammad.
The family who he trusted to lead first
in battle in Muta.
Let me show you.
I will, I will try to come close
and, and get the best view that I
can.
I'll show you there's a, there's an entrance
on the other side over here and a
lock.
And at the moment I find myself here
all alone.
Me, the body of Zayd, who was slain
in battle at Muta.
Here there's a, a lock here.
And you can see where it has a,
just an enormous heavy lock and a bolt
and you could unlock it and open it,
which is a sacred responsibility of the keepers
of this space.
If I can, I'll get close to try
to show you what's inside.
It's, the tomb is covered with a green
cloth.
So if you see the green that is
covering the tomb of Zayd and the color,
there's a green cloth that has a decorative
gold design at the bottom, but it's, it's
hard to see this.
There's the, the gate here, and then there's
glass beyond the gate.
I've been in here several times today and,
but, but never alone.
And I'm, I'm honored to share this space.
It's, it's humbling because this was a man
who acted on the orders that he was
given, who trusted the words of his father,
of his prophet, peace be upon him, and
live them out.
And died fighting for what he believed in.
Sisters and brothers, I, it is my belief
that Allah did not give us the examples
of Zayd, of Jafar, who I'm about to,
I will have to hold back my tears
as I tell you the story of Jafar.
These were, these were married men with families
who risked it all, boldly carrying the banner
of our prophet, peace be upon him, carrying
the banner of Allah, carrying the banner of
Islam.
But they actually lived out the courage of
their convictions.
I say, assalamu alaikum habibi.
May Allah be pleased with you, pleased with
your decisions, pleased with your life, pleased with
your sacrifices, pleased with your days.
Oh, it's, it is the prayer of my
heart that one day we will walk together
in Jannah with Zayd.
May Allah be pleased with us, may Allah
accept us so that we spend one day
in Jannah will be a blessing.
I, I have so much more to show
you.
You know, I've always, I've always had a
tender heart as a man, but now it
is, you know, I think Gaza has made
me much more emotional because we've seen so
much trauma and so much pain.
And I find myself on some days just
weeping and security here.
Assalamu alaikum.
Yes.
Yes.
Yes.
Thank you brothers.
Yes.
These brothers are doing security and other brothers
that are visiting here.
So I'm grateful that I had that time
alone for just a moment.
But I, I'm a, I'm a gender hearted
man.
Most people know me as someone who was
so serious, but I find myself, you know,
for a while I found myself crying almost
every day at the injustices of Gaza.
And now I find myself even emotionally moved
when I find out that our prophet peace
be upon him, that he was hurt by
what happened here in Muta.
There was something for those of you who
are not Muslims, what I'm about to tell
you will sound crazy, fanciful, maybe even ridiculous.
But for those of us who believe, and
for me, it's not hard to believe because
before I was a Muslim, I was a
Christian and any person of the book, any
religious person believes outrageous things.
That's why it requires faith, right?
Well, it is, it is written by witnesses
that our prophet peace be upon him, who
was, you know, thousands of miles away from
Jordan, who was nowhere near Muta.
If you know the story, the seer of
the life of our prophet, peace be upon
him, you know that he and the angel
Jabril that many of you will know as
Gabriel had a deeply interactive, close relationship that
just blows my mind.
And it's been so profound for me because
I believe, I've always believed in the angel
Gabriel.
And while our prophet was thousands of miles
away, it was said by witnesses that Jabril
was showing him supernaturally what was happening here
in Muta.
And Jabril, Gabriel, the angel, showed our prophet,
peace be upon him, that his son Zayd
was slain and the heaviness overcame him.
But there was a beautiful man, a wonderful,
devout human being that I have just grown
to have so much admiration for.
There was a dear, dear brother named Jaffer,
who, this matters to me, it may matter
to you, who lived in Africa for 12
years, who lived in Abyssinia, which we know
is in Ethiopia, who lived there, who was
welcomed by the king.
Jaffer was not only welcomed by the king
of Abyssinia, but it was the testimony of
Jaffer who I have to pause and say,
our prophet, peace be upon him, said that
no man on earth looked more like the
prophet, peace be upon him.
They were cousins, blood cousins, genetic cousins.
There was no man on earth that looked
more like our prophet, peace be upon him,
than Jaffer and had the character of our
prophet, peace be upon him, than Jaffer.
What compliment could ever exceed such a thing?
Not just because they look just alike, but
to say that no man on earth has
the character of the prophet Muhammad more than
this man, Jaffer, who went to Abyssinia when
Muslims were being oppressed and brutalized and beaten,
went to Abyssinia on behalf of Muslims, traveled
from Mecca and Medina, traveled to Ethiopia, to
Abyssinia, and presented Islam to the king of
Abyssinia, who accepted Islam and said to the
men who came to Abyssinia to try to
sway the king to not only not believe
Jaffer and not believe the Muslims, yes, but
to kill them or to hold them or
to turn them over so that they could
be murdered.
And the king of Abyssinia said, no, no,
no, not only will I not turn them
over, but don't you dare ever come here
to do anything to them again.
And Muslims found refuge in Abyssinia.
Many stayed there for a short period of
time, but Jaffer and his family stayed there
for nearly 12 years.
His children were born there.
Just this beautiful man who was not only
physically handsome, but was known as a friend
of those who were poor and downtrodden.
And so Zayd was murdered, slain.
He was carrying the banner and the banner
dropped onto the ground.
And our dear brother Jaffer picked up the
mantle and rushed in to battle.
Gravely outnumbered, 50 to 1, rushed into the
middle of the battle and was slain.
The testimony is, and it's painful.
I'll share it as I go in.
I'll take my, take my shoes off.
There's a security here and there are many
sisters and brothers who are in here because
Jaffer is, Jaffer is revered in Islam.
As-salamu alaykum.
Jaffer rushed into battle here in Mutah, having
picked up the standard, the mantle, the flag,
if you will, of our prophet Muhammad peace
be upon him, the standard, the mantle of
Allah, of Islam.
Picked it up, rushed into battle and was
stabbed from many different angles.
Some testimonies say that our dear brother Jaffer
was stabbed over 70 times all over his
body.
But first they cut off his left arm.
Jaffer dropped the mantle, picked it up with
his right arm and continued continued carrying
the mantle into battle.
They chopped off his right arm and witnesses
say that with just the stubs of his
arms, picked the mantle back up.
Listen, let me, let me speak clearly to
you.
I don't, I'm not crying yet but when
our prophet peace be upon him spoke to
his companions and said there will be a
day where the nations of the world will
feast upon Muslims like diners at a table,
like a, like at a feast.
The companions scratched their head and said, they
were 200,000 Muslims at that point.
The companion said, will we be so few
in number that the nations of the world
could just eat us for lunch?
And our prophet peace be upon him said,
no, not quite the opposite.
We will be uncountable.
There'll be so many of us, we will
be like the foam of the ocean.
And, and our prophet peace be upon him
said, but there will be one in our
hearts.
When I saw that, I said, one, what
is one?
And I'm so, I have to laugh because
a companion of our prophet, part of the
Sahaba said, oh prophet, what is one?
That was the same question I had.
He said, weakness.
There will be weakness in your heart and
Muslims will love this world so much and
will have such a fear of death that
the nations will not even be afraid of
them.
Sisters and brothers, Jafar, his body is here.
He was, when, when Jafar came back from
Abyssinia and met the prophet again for the
first time in years, peace be upon him,
our prophet was exceedingly happy.
I mean, he said, I, I don't know
what makes me happier, just seeing Jafar or
that we've just won such a significant battle.
This is before Muta.
And soon after that, of course, when they
were sent to Muta to battle and Zayd
was slaughtered, slain in Muta.
It was Jafar that picked up the mantle,
but lost his left arm, lost his right
arm and sisters and brothers picked up the
mantle with stubs.
This is who you come from.
Do you understand me?
This is our inheritance.
This is, we, we, we come from warriors,
sisters and brothers.
We, we come from men and women who
fought for what they believe in.
Right here.
It's, this is actually just a beautiful, beautiful
monument to Jafar.
It's gorgeous.
Let me show it to you.
And then I'll tell you a little bit
more about his story.
I'll try to stand back so you can
see the size and scope of it.
There's just a beautiful high ceiling here and
just gorgeous.
And the tomb of, of Jafar is inside
this kind of empty space to the left
and to the right.
And his tomb is right here in the
middle section is covered with just a beautiful
cloth.
It from my eyes, it appears to be
a black cloth with gold and silver embroidery
and all, all over it.
The camera won't quite do it justice, but
it's, it's a gorgeous, gorgeous space fitting to
a man who gave it all.
Jafar was literally carrying the mantle with no
arms.
Here you see the lock for anyone who
ever has to go in and dust it
off or maintain it.
Um, Jafar was carrying the mantle with what
was left of his limbs, carrying it.
And as he carried the mantle with no
limbs, he was struck from behind by a
cowardly soldier and slain there on the battlefield.
And the angel Jabril showed this to our
prophet, peace be upon him, supernaturally in real
time.
And our prophet peace be upon him, having
already announced to the people that Zayd has
been slain, now stands up and announces that
Jafar, who was known as the friend of
the poor, who loved who loved just being
in the presence of poor people and would
give everything he had to them.
May we live up to this example of
Jafar.
You know, when we say the names of
these companions, we say things like, may Allah
be pleased with them.
But I'm, I'm so, may Allah be pleased
with him.
But I'm so confident that Allah is pleased
with him.
The children of, of Jafar, the wife of
Jafar were all close with our prophet peace
be upon him and his family.
And, um, they were so glad to see
him because he had to come and deliver
the news that Jafar had been slain and
Jafar's children, uh, ran up to our prophet
peace be upon him.
And, uh, he was so playful and, and
so warm and kind.
Uh, some of them literally jumped on his
back and were just, that's how he was
like family to them.
It was family.
And, um, yeah, Jafar's wife knew that something
was wrong because our prophet peace be upon
him grabbed the children and began to smell
their hair.
And it was just a different type of
countenance and behavior.
And she knew that he was there to
deliver the news.
And he told her that Jafar had been
slain.
She cried out and the angel Jibreel said
something to our prophet peace be upon him,
that he said to the family of Jafar
and the companions repeated for the rest of
their days that in Jannah, Allah replaced the
limbs of Jafar with wings.
That he no longer had arms.
He now had wings, not metaphorically, proverbially, not
just as inspiration, but he was now a
man with wings.
This is, this is the tomb of Jafar.
Sisters and brothers, who are we?
What does it mean to be a Muslim?
Did these men give their lives just for
us to name our children after them?
Just for us to be motivated, to be
Muslims, but not actually live like Muslims.
What does it mean to be a Muslim?
If not to carry the mantle of Allah,
if not to rush into battle, following the
words of our prophet peace be upon him.
Nothing has broken my heart more than seeing
our sisters and brothers in Gaza, which is
so close to where I'm standing right now.
I could be, I could be in the
West Bank in an hour right now.
I could be in Gaza in three hours
right now.
And they are asking for us.
They're saying, where are the Muslims?
Are you a Muslim?
You know, I said, from the floor of
the Hagia Sophia mosque, I said, I didn't
have the luxury of one day standing before
Allah.
And Allah said, Sean, what did you do
with your hands?
I don't have the luxury of saying, oh
Allah, but I had, you know me, oh
Allah, I have no hands.
I have no arms.
I do.
Jafar had arms and used them, gave them
to him, willfully to do the work of
Allah.
I have a little more to show you,
but they were not just two companions that
were slain, but many.
And these two men are just beloved of
our prophet.
But there's one more man whose tomb is
here.
A wonderful poet, my Imam Sheikh Omar Suleiman
calls him a warrior poet.
And he was, I can't wait to tell
you his story.
So sisters and brothers, I'm just a few
hundred meters away from the tombs of Zayd
and Jafar.
And we've gone just around the corner.
There is also a beautiful masjid here.
And here is the tomb of the warrior
poet, as Imam Omar Suleiman calls him.
And indeed he was a poet.
In fact, in many ways, he was like
a battle rapper.
He was literally writing poetry, disses about their
enemies and bragging about Islam, bragging about Allah,
bragging about his prophet Muhammad peace be upon
him.
And I mean this very earnestly, like he
was very much involved in like Islamic battle
raps.
And he was writing poetry before he became
a Muslim.
He was just writing famous, beloved poetry that
even our prophet peace be upon him knew
and recited.
There's a beautiful message from Imam Omar Suleiman
about this, where he said it is really
those words and that example that gives us
permission to support art that is not Islamic,
but does not undermine Islam.
That our prophet peace be upon him loved
the poetry of Abdullah.
Abdullah bin Rahwa.
And forgive my pronunciation.
I'm trying and I'm practicing.
But Abdullah was beautiful, famed, beloved poet, who
when he embraced Islam, became a poet for
our prophet peace be upon him.
Use your gifts, whatever your gifts are, use
them for Allah.
Use them.
I'm a talker, so I'm going to talk.
I'm a historian, so I'm going to tell
you the history.
And our prophet peace be upon him, when
he sent 3,000 Muslims to Muta, here
in Jordan, where I am now, he says,
Zayd, Zayd, my son Zayd will lead you,
as he always did.
And if by chance he falls, then Jafar
will lead and pick up the mantle.
And if Jafar falls, Abdullah will lead you.
And as we know, and as we saw,
Zayd fell.
Jafar picked up the mantle and was slain
on the battlefield, but was given wings in
Jannah.
And we are here now at the tomb
of our dear brother, companion of our prophet,
a poet, a warrior, who would recite his
poetry on the battlefield.
Alhamdulillah, to motivate, to do two things, to
motivate the sisters and brothers, this men and
women fought for Allah.
Do you understand me?
Was it just brothers?
Here is his tomb, because our dear brother
Abdullah was also slain here in Muta.
I could not imagine to see Zayd slain.
Abdullah must have known he was that much
closer to having to pick up the mantle
himself.
To then see Jafar slain, I could not
imagine.
As I told you, the prophet himself, peace
be upon him, said, no man on earth
resembles me more physically and has my character
more than Jafar.
He was slain, breaking the heart of our
prophet, who cried tears over his slain brother
Jafar, his cousin.
And then it was the duty, the responsibility
of Abdullah, the warrior poet, who was literally
in Muta reciting poetry, to do two things,
to strike fear in their opponents and to
inspire the men and women who had gathered
together to take a stand for Allah.
He is here.
Now, as we say, you heard me say
earlier, we are not bodies with souls.
We are souls, permanent souls with temporary bodies.
This is the temporary body of Abdullah.
Let me show you.
Unlike the other two tombs, here I'm able
to get close.
I will not touch it because I don't
know if it's custom or practice, but I
could if I wanted to.
There's no fence or barrier around it.
And there's something profound about that, that this
was just a man who took a stand
for Allah.
He was a poet.
He was a warrior.
He was a fighter.
He was a man of faith, of courage,
of dignity, tenacity, of integrity, who again saw
injustice and confronted it with his hands.
After Zayd was slain, after Jafar was slain,
it became Abdullah's responsibility to take up the
mantle, the banner of the Muslims in the
battle of Mutah.
Soon after Zayd was slain, after Jafar was
slain, may Allah be pleased with them, Abdullah
picked up the mantle, stormed into tens of
thousands of soldiers and was slain himself.
Sisters and brothers, Allah has not required victory
from us.
He requires effort.
Allah does not require even success from us,
but requires the commitment.
It says, when you see injustice confronted with
your hands, sisters and brothers, listen, I'm here.
There is in here just the withered body,
the withered remains of a human being, creation
from Allah here.
It was not superhuman.
Jafar was not superhuman.
Zayd was not superhuman.
They were just, they were just men with
blood in their veins, with breath in their
lungs.
I'm struck as I'm here because the tombs
of Jafar and Zayd were surrounded by a
grand fence.
Here, being able to be up close, I'm
struck by the small size, not that he
was a small man.
I'm not, it's just to say he was
just a man.
There is, I wish it was 4D because
there's a sweet, beautiful fragrance in the air.
It just hit me.
I've been in here for several, I've been
here for eight minutes and seven seconds, but
now it has hit me.
It's a moving thing.
I, when our sisters and brothers in Kashmir,
in Gaza, in the West Bank, in Sudan,
in the Congo, in India, when they call
for us, when they call for Muslims, are
you a Muslim?
Have you taken your Shahada?
Do you believe that there is only one
God and the prophet Muhammad is his messenger?
Do you believe that?
I believe it.
He believed it.
Listen, I'm not saying that he didn't have
bravery for days.
Of course he did.
But do you think that this man had
no fear?
Of course he did.
Do you think Jafar had zero fear?
Do you think Zayd had no fear at
all?
No, it's not that.
It's that your fear of death cannot, cannot
be so strong that it keeps you from
acting on the will of Allah.
Sisters and brothers, I can only quote a
few Hadiths because I only know a few.
I'm a new Muslim.
I've been a Muslim for six months.
But when we talk about, when the prophet
Muhammad, peace be upon him, said that, I
believe it was a prophecy about us today.
We are proud when we say that we
are nearly two billion strong.
There are nearly two billion of us.
I believe that prophecy about the foam of
the ocean is about us.
And sisters and brothers, you were not created
by Allah to be the foam of the
ocean.
What is the foam?
You can just bat the foam of the
ocean away.
There is no strength in the foam.
It is, it is froth.
It is air and bubbles.
It is nothing.
And our prophet, peace be upon him, said,
there will be so much weakness in the
heart of Muslims that we will be like
the foam of the ocean.
I, I cannot accept that.
I cannot accept it for myself.
I cannot accept it for you.
But you have to decide yourself.
No, no, no.
Allah did not create me to be the
foam of the ocean.
And here's the thing.
If, if that is describing us today, may
we be the generation, not our children, not
our children's children, but may we be the
generation that says, no, I will not be
the foam of the ocean.
Maybe we, we be motivated by our sisters
and brothers around the world who said, no,
no, we will fight.
We will pick up the mantle of Allah.
We will pick up the mantle of our
prophet, peace be upon him.
And we will fight for freedom.
We will fight for Islam.
We will fight for dignity.
We will not be weak.
One will not be in our hearts so
much that we will be feasted upon by
the nations.
There are too many of us for that.
Sisters and brothers, if 1% of us
decided to no longer be the foam of,
if 1% of us decided to be
warrior poets, if 1% of us decided
to be like Abdullah, to be like Jafar,
to be like Zayd, if just a fraction
of us, injustice would almost disappear in the
world because we don't stand for it.
We confront it with our hands.
I hope, I hope this has inspired you.
There's more that I'm going to show you
here on my trip in Jordan, but I
wanted to show you and tell you some
of the story of these three slain companions
of our prophet, peace be upon him and
may Allah be pleased with them.
But I've told you these stories.
I left my family in Istanbul, came here
to Turkey and I came here to Jordan
by myself because I want to inspire you
to not be the foam of the ocean.
I want to inspire you to live like
this man, to not have one weakness in
your heart.
Do you understand me?
That is not the will of Allah for
us.
Sisters and brothers, I believe in Allah.
I believe in the words of our prophet.
Let me say this.
I believe in you.
I believe in us and I believe that
we will not just be talk, not just
be heart, but that we will confront injustice
with our hands.
Even if one day someone is at a
tomb with your name on it saying, Hamdulillah.
This dear sister stood up for Allah.
This dear brother stood up for our prophet,
peace be upon him.
This dear brother, listen, one final story.
I was so moved by this that when
I read it, I literally called Imam Omar
and said, did I hear this correctly?
This was, I believe, during the last hajj
of our prophet, peace be upon him, the
final hajj of our prophet.
And as he stood at the Kaaba, which
we hold up as the holiest site in
all of Islam.
As he stood at the Kaaba, he said
to the Muslims of the day, Muslims had
come in the final hajj, Muslims had come
from all around the world.
Muslims were from many nations and our prophet,
peace be upon him, said to the Muslims,
the blood of just one Muslim is more
sacred than the Kaaba, is more sacred than
the Kaaba during hajj, is more sacred during
the Kaaba during Ramadan, the blood of just
one of us.
So my question was, sisters and brothers, if
they were coming to take over the Kaaba,
would you go defend it?
Most people said, yes, I would go defend
it.
But our prophet, peace be upon him, said,
actually, the blood of just one Muslim is
more sacred actually than the Kaaba.
Do you understand what I'm saying to you?
What I've loved about Islam is that it
is so plain, it is so clear, you
don't have to guess how to be a
Muslim.
Our prophet, peace be upon him, spells it
out.
The Quran spells it out, the Hadiths which
have been authenticated, spell it out.
And we have Abdullah, we have Jafar, we
have Zayd, we have the companions to be
inspired, to show us the way.
As-salamu alaykum.
I must go, but I hope you've learned
something, I hope it's touched your heart, and
I'll see you again, Inshallah.
Take care.