Sikander Hashmi – Be a Noble Ambassador KMA Friday Message
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AI: Transcript ©
Respected elders,
dear brothers and sisters, my young friends,
It is no secret, of course, we all
know that we live
in the capital of Canada, in the city
of Ottawa.
And because it is the capital, there are
many embassies
and high commissions
representing
other countries
in this city.
And in fact, there are over 125
embassies and high commissions
representing other countries in the city.
All of these ambassadors,
in many cases,
their families,
they live here,
and they do
most of the ordinary things
that people do, that
normal citizens and residents do in the city.
But the ambassadors
are not supposed to be here
just to enjoy life in Canada.
Rather, they are here on a very important
mission,
and that is or a big part of
which is
to represent
their countries
and to look after their citizens.
Now a good ambassador,
whether for a country
or for a brand, because there are also
brand ambassadors as well,
is constantly
working
to give
an excellent representation.
A good ambassador will be doing what?
Constantly working
to give a good representation,
to give the best representation
of what they represent.
So they will find
every opportunity
to engage
with people,
to introduce,
to educate,
and
to be there for matters
that concern their country
or their brand
and their people or their company.
Similarly, my brothers and sisters,
we
are all ambassadors as well.
Not of a country,
not of a brand,
but rather of something much more important, much
more significant,
and that is the deen of Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala.
The actual ambassadors
of the deen of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
were the prophets alayhi musaratus salam
starting from Sayyidina Adam alayhi salam. As Allah
Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala tells us in aya number
30 of Surah Al Baqarah,
there and shed blood
while we, meaning the angels, glorify
your praises and proclaim your holiness? So Allah
responded to them saying,
I know what you do not know.
Allah
responded by saying,
I know what you do not know. So
the original Khalifa
was prophet Adam alayhis salam,
then the prophet sent by
Allah who followed him till the final messenger,
sallallahu alayhi wasallam.
The rightly guided Khalifa
followed in their path,
and then those who established
authority
based on the guidance of Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala,
they also follow in their path. Now as
individuals,
as individuals and as believers,
we are to follow
all of these examples
in our individual
capacities.
And while we cannot be a Khalifa of
Allah in its truest sense,
we are ambassadors
of the deen of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
So the question then is, what is our
mandate? Because every ambassador,
every person
who has a position of represent
representation
and representing
a country or a brand or a cause
has a mandate. So what is our mandate?
Allah tells us in ayah 110 of Surat
Aliyah
says, you are the best nation, the best
community produced
as an example for mankind
or produced from mankind.
You enjoin what is right and you forbid
what is wrong and you believe in Allah.
So Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala gives us some
of the key characteristics
of
this ummah
and especially this ummah which has been chosen
by Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala as the best
or as an example for all of humankind.
You enjoin what is right, you forbid what
is wrong, and you believe in Allah
This indicates my brothers and sisters that as
believers and as members of this ummah,
we
must have a strong conscience
regarding what is right and what is wrong.
You must have a strong conscience
regarding what is right and what is wrong.
You know, a lot of times,
especially maybe in today's times,
we live in an environment where everything goes.
Everything goes.
It's all good. Everything's acceptable.
And there's very little concept,
right, of, or or a diminishing,
understanding of what is right and what is
wrong. But as believers,
we have been given
a code of ethics
which has been established by our creator, by
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and his messengers alayhi
wa sallahu wa ta'ala.
And that is and especially the Quran, right,
which is known as al Faupah. Right? Distinguisher
between right and wrong. So we must have
a strong understanding and a strong conscience
regarding
what is correct and what is
incorrect.
And we must act upon it seriously
ourselves
and try to help people live by it.
Right? So this idea that we can be
just be wishy washy and everything goes and
everything's okay and everything's acceptable
and there's really no right or wrong. It
really depends on perspective.
This is not from the qualities
of the believers.
The believers are to have a strong conscience
and a clear understanding
of what is right and what is wrong,
and the basis, the foundation of making that
distinction
and of,
of of judging anything to figure out whether
it is right or wrong is the guidance
that has been given to us by our
creator because he understands
us and knows
us best, even better than ourselves
and as has been explained and lived by
his messengers
Now literally, my brothers and sisters, when we
talk and we would think about al amrubil
maroof and nahi'an al munkar,
right, which is
commanding or,
bidding that which is right and or which
is which is good, which is maroof,
and
forbidding that which is wrong, when we think
about that,
it might only be seen as speaking,
telling someone,
pointing something out,
objecting
to someone's action or behavior.
And oftentimes
what happens
is that the focus is on secondary matters
or matters which are a scholarly debate.
There are 2 types of matters. Right? There
are the primary matters which have been established
difference of opinion
or almost, you know, there is the the
vast majority of the scholars of the ummah
have agreed upon. And then those matters, there
is practically no room for disagreement because they
are primary foundational matters. And then there are
secondary matters over which the the scholars of
the um'ah have been split or there are
legitimate differences of opinion. Sometimes there are contemporary
matters because, of course, as time goes on
and new issues come up, the chances that
there will be scholarly debates and scholarly differences
increases as well.
So there are the primary, the foundational matters,
and then the secondary matters. So oftentimes what
happens is that the focus of Amr ibn
Ma'arouf and Nahyan al Munqar is on the
secondary matters, the matters in which there are
scholarly debate. However, on a larger level, my
brothers and sisters, we can understand
that Amr ibn Maroof and Nahyan al Munkar
is
to use
every opportunity
and every tool
to move
communities,
to move societies
towards that which is true and which is
just,
which is better for them and for everyone,
and to move them away
from falsehood
and from injustice
and oppression.
And this includes
in the relationship with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
and the relationship with the creation of Allah
subhanahu
wa ta'ala.
So one is, you know, just to point
out someone to someone. Okay. You're, you know,
you're doing something wrong in a nice way.
You know, you shouldn't be standing like this.
You shouldn't be praying like this. You know,
you should be dressed this way. Whatever the
case may be, you know, this is the
better way
to do something. This is the correct way
to do something. So that is,
as it is commonly understood, at the basic
level. But what I'm talking about is on
a larger level, right, where
we take this responsibility
extremely
seriously,
and we we we use it or that
it motivates us
to bring
substantive change, to bring
societal change, to bring positive change in communities,
in societies, in the world so that we
try to nudge
and move
the the the practices
and the the the the activities and the
things that are happening and the mindset behind
it towards that which is closer to to
to that which is pleasing to Allah and
which is according to the guidance of his
messengers
And we try to reduce harm and we
try to reduce
that which is evil and which goes against
the guidance of Allah and his messengers
So the question, my brothers and sisters, is
how are we to do this? So first
of all
first of all, Allah
tells us in the Quran, Surah Fusilat aya
number 33, Allah says,
That who can be better in words than
the one who calls towards Allah and acts
righteously
and says, Waqal inna ninemina n Muslimeen,
that I am one of those who submit
themselves to Allah. I am one of those
who are or I am one of the
Muslims. I am
Muslims. I am from amongst the Muslims. Because
my brothers and sisters, an ambassador
cannot hide.
Ambassador doesn't hide and cannot hide who they
represent.
They make it very well known. Otherwise, it
goes against
their their objective. It goes against their mission.
How can an ambassador
represent the brand or the country that they're
representing if they're hiding themselves,
if they're not telling people who they are,
if they're not open about who they are
and what they stand for and what they
represent.
So
having
a a a sense of openness about our
identity as Muslims,
Not being shy and not being afraid of
being a Muslim or being called or being
known as a Muslim
is part of being an ambassador of the
deen of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. This openness
comes in different forms through words. When we
speak,
we mention Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. We mention
the fact that we are Muslims.
Right. Through our actions,
we do the actions
that are from the teachings of Allah and
his messenger sallallahu alaihi wa sallam and that
are associated
correctly with Islam and with the messenger of
Allah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam. Right? In terms
of even our names,
right, of being confident
and having a sense of pride, not in
a bad way, but having a a sense
of
of of of of of good pride in
the fact that we have names or that
we have been given names
that are associated
with the pious people of Islam, with the
messengers of of Allah
with words that have good meanings and that
are part of our Islamic vocabulary.
Having
a sense of openness, not being ashamed of
our dress code. Right? Because whether we are
men or or or woman, male or female,
there is a dress code that has been,
designated and that has been described and and
given to us by Allah and his messenger
sallallahu alaihi wasallam,
not being ashamed
of that dress code.
And the goal
is to invite to Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala,
primarily to believe but also to follow the
guidance of Allah, subhanahu
wa ta'ala. Now what should be the quality
of this invitation
and of the representation that we do as
ambassadors?
In Surah Al Nahal, ayah number 125, Allah
tells us,
Invite to the way of your Lord. Invite
to the way of your rub
with hikmah,
with and only debate
in the best manner. So the invitation
and representation as ambassadors
that we make of the deen of Allah
must have these qualities, and this is extremely
important.
In Ma'an al Fulu Quran,
it is quoted from Tafsir Ruh Al Ma'ani
that hikmah
what does it mean, hikmah? The commentators of
the Quran have given, you know, different interpretations.
But we can understand it as sound speech
which goes into one's heart, if we were
to put it briefly.
To invite to what to the way of
Allah
with hikmah,
meaning in a sound way with words, with
speech that is sound,
and that goes into a person's heart.
Meaning that it is done with consideration
of the circumstances,
which is done with consideration
of the level
audience that they are at, their level of
understanding, their level of exposure,
their mindset, their attitudes,
and present it in a way that it
touches people's hearts.
Does not mean to hide the truth. Hikma
does not mean to twist the truth. There's
this, you know, misunderstanding sometimes. Right? Or this
accusation is made that Hikma is used basically
to to subdue the truth. That's not the
case.
Right? The truth is the truth from Allah
Nobody can change it.
Nobody can change the truth, and no sincere
Muslim,
well intentioned Muslim will ever want to distort
the truth. That is not something that we
ever want to be associated with.
But hikmah means to present the truth
in a manner that is
more likely or most likely to be accepted
by the audience.
The next word,
literally means to say something in the spirit
of wishing well, in a manner that would
make the heart of the addressee softened and
acceptable to it. Right? All tuned to accepting
it. So once this is done, it will
be useful to talk about the reward and
the benefit of such acceptance
as well as the consequences, or you could
see the punishment or the ill effects of
not accepting it. Right? So there's a process
here of communicating
the message of
Allah There's a process
in inviting people towards the truth and towards
that which is better. And is already has
a very positive way. When we when to
it,
the sense that it's conveyed
is that the subject and the treatment of
this counsel should be such that will satisfy
the heart of
the person or the ones being addressed, removing
doubts,
removing apprehensions,
whereby they come to realize
that you, the person who is making this
invitation or or doing this representation,
do not have any personal motives behind your
approach and that you are only addressing them
in the interest
in their best interest
and for their good and for the greater
good. Right? So as we can understand, my
brothers and sisters,
this is a very important role, but there
is a certain approach that has been taught
by Allah
in doing this representation
and in making this invitation.
And Allah
tells us that if we need to debate,
if we need to debate we don't start
off with a debate.
What's the approach? You don't start off with
a debate. You don't go in
looking for a fight, looking for a debate.
Unfortunately, a lot of the polemics, right, even
contemporary modern day, if you look at people
on social media and the type of, you
know, discussions
people are having may probably with good intentions,
but it's like jumping right into a debate.
It's like looking for a fight. You know,
it's almost like a sport. You know? Even
with the deen of Allah
You know? Just looking for someone to say
something or anything, just jump in and just,
like, you know, just gotta gotta show them
everything that you got. But that is not
the approach that Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala has
taught us. That is not the approach
of Sayyidina Rasulullah Sallallahu
Alaihi Wasallam.
First,
you do the dawah with hikmah
and.
And then if you need to,
you debate in the best of manners,
in the best of ways because the objective
is not to show
that you know more than everyone else. The
objective is not to show that you understand
the truth better than anyone else. The objective
sincerely
is to make a fair and proper representation
in invitation
to help the person recognize the truth.
What's the objective?
To help the person recognize the truth,
to change their ways,
to lessen the harm that they are causing,
to move towards improvement,
to move towards positivity, to move towards
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, to move towards that
which is more pleasing to Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala. The objective is not to establish your
authority.
The objective is not to show off and
to put people down.
Sayyidina Musa
Harun alaymus
alayhim, they were instructed
to go to the greatest tyrant on earth,
Firaun,
as he's mentioned in the Quran.
And they were instructed to speak softly,
To speak
softly to him. Not to go in and
reprimand him. Not to go in and shout
at him and to put him down,
but rather
go in
and speak
softly. Why? Because
that has more chances of being effective.
That has a better chance
of touching his heart.
And perhaps he will understand and he will
remember,
and he will recognize the truth. If you
go in all gung ho,
the chances of him recognizing the truth
go up or down.
They go down.
Right? Because it's an adversarial approach.
Whereas the objective is not to pick a
fight or to put someone down, but rather
to help them recognize the truth. It's narrated
from Aisha
that a group of the Jewish people at
the time
had asked permission
to visit the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam.
And when they were admitted,
they said,
death be upon you.
So Aisha she says, I said to them,
rather death and curse of Allah be upon
you.
She got upset
that, you know, they're disrespecting the prophet
so she retorted,
responded in a harsh way. So the prophet
sallallahu alaihi wasallam said, you, Aisha,
That, oh, Aisha,
Allah is kind and he loves kindness. We
could say Allah is kind or gentle, and
he loves kindness, he loves gentleness
in all matters.
Most importantly, my brothers and sisters,
as
we recognize and understand that we have this
important responsibility
of being ambassadors of the deen of Allah,
we
want to make sure that we do not
become a cause or a means for mischief
or chaos
or disorder on the earth because Allah says,
Right. And this is one of the things
that the angels were concerned about. Right. This
is one of the points that they raised.
That is this humanity, these human beings, they're
going to shed blood, right, they're gonna cause
disorder upon the earth. So we don't want
to be people who cause or who even
contribute towards disorder and chaos, whether it is
in the world as a whole, whether it's
in society or in communities, but rather we
want to be people who promote positivity,
who promote goodness,
who bring people together, who promote good order,
who promote good manners, and who are the
best of example for others because
our
prophet,
who we love, Rasulullah
had the best of manners and was the
best of examples, and that is the example
and the path that we want to follow.
Now practically, my brothers and sisters, what does
this all mean as individuals?
It means that we actively seek out opportunities
actively,
not passive
not passive that we just wait and sit
and see if an opportunity comes around,
somebody comes to us,
you know, and they want to know more
about the deen of or,
you know, we just sit around for an
opportunity and it comes to us, then we
do something. That is good. Of course, we
should do something in that case.
But actively seek out opportunities
to have a positive impact
with the aim of pleasing Allah
because remember, even if you're not able to
promote the promote the truth openly
or invite towards Allah and
his guidance openly,
even reducing harm,
reducing evil is a noble act.
Even reducing harm,
diminishing evil,
bringing it down from its
its present levels,
is also a noble act, which will be
reward rewarded by Allah, Subhanahu wa ta'ala, Insha'Allah.
So my message today, my brothers and sisters,
is get involved
and find opportunities
to engage.
Right? Whether
it is
with your neighbors,
whether it is with your coworkers,
whether it is in your local community association
in your neighborhood,
whether it is at your children's schools,
in, you know, parent council, or just engaging
with the staff and the teachers,
and,
giving a a positive representation
of
our community and the deen of Allah
whether it is in politics
in every party at every level,
whether it is in business
through becoming a a a good example of
good business practices and being a leader in
your area of business
or industry,
go everywhere
and have a positive impact.
Go everywhere that is permissible,
that is,
is not prohibited by Allah
and have
a positive impact
even if it is small. Because
if, you know, if the impact that we
have, let's say, is not huge.
But if everyone does it with sincerity,
if everyone does it sincerely,
then,
it will have a tremendous
positive impact
collectively if everyone is acting with the same
mindset
and with the same positive,
objective
and with the same sincere intention.
And if you are feeling unconfident,
then recite the dua of Sayyidina Musa alayhis
salam.
My lord, uplift my heart for me and
ease my task for me and remove the
impediment from my tongue so that they may
understand
what I say. We ask Allah
to make us the best of ambassadors. We
ask Allah
to guide us in knowledge and wisdom. We
ask Allah
to grant us certainty
and belief and steadfastness
upon his deen.
We'll have Adan in a few moments to
offer for prayers.