Sikander Hashmi – Every Child Matters KMA Friday Message
AI: Summary ©
AI: Transcript ©
We begin by praising Allah
the lord of the universe,
our creator,
our sustainer,
our nourisher,
our protector.
And we begin by sending peace and salutations
upon his beloved messenger,
Muhammad, the son of
sallallahu alaihi wa alaihi
wasallam.
I hope and pray that you're all doing
well, my brothers and sisters, on this first,
Friday of,
July,
this, first,
we can't really say 1st Friday of December
break,
because,
last week, the break did begin. But I
guess we could say after the first, you
know, full, Friday 1st full week,
of the break, this is our 1st Friday.
May
Allah bless you all. May
Allah
keep you all safe. I mean,
Imagine for a second
your child, your children,
your family,
especially for those who are parents, but children
can also imagine this.
You as parents are raising and teaching and
nurturing your children
according to your culture, your values, your faith.
For the children, your parents are teaching you,
what they have learned, what they believe in,
teaching you how to live your life, teaching
you good morals, good ethics,
how to survive,
the education that you need to survive.
So you are getting all of those things.
And then
one day,
some government officials come over to where you
live, to your town, to your city, on
your street, to your house.
And
they say
to the parents that your child
must go to a
must go to a boarding school far away.
Otherwise, they will go to jail.
As a child, you're playing outside. You see
these police officers come. Government officials come, and
they say that it's time for you to
go. You can't stay at home anymore. You
have to go. You have to. You must
go
to,
boarding school with them. Otherwise,
you face
or your parents face jail.
It sounds draconian. It sounds
horrific,
but sadly,
it happened.
This happened
here
in this land that we call Canada.
18 94 to 1948,
there was a program to forcibly
assimilate indigenous children into Canadian culture.
So they were forcibly
taken away from their parents. They didn't have
a choice. The parents had to let go
of their children, and the children had to
go
to these boarding schools, these residential schools,
and only indigenous children.
And some,
you know, perhaps wanted to go initially to
learn.
Many were kidnapped.
Some perhaps even sent their children out of
desperation.
But for the most part, until 1948, it
was a forced
program. After that, it wasn't forced,
but still there were give great incentives given
to parents to send their children. For example,
they could not get a child benefit or
baby bonus
or or child,
payment
from the government if their child if their
children were not going to residential schools.
About a 150,000 children were placed in residential
schools nationally
across the country.
150,000.
150,000
children
were placed in these residential schools across the
country,
often living in poor conditions.
They were abused
physically and in even worse ways.
They were, many cases, separated from their siblings
and made to go through a program
that would alienate them from their roots. So
basically, they were trying to reprogram children. They
were trying to give them a new life,
with new traditions and new cultures. Basically, trying
to brainwash them and reprogram them.
And subhanallah,
4,000 children
up to perhaps even 6,000
died.
4000 to 6000 children
died or were killed
and were buried
in unmarked graves.
And I should say, you know, died or
killed because they may have died for various
reasons. We know that tuberculosis
disease was rampant,
in during some some of the years,
in in many cases. So they may have
died, you know, naturally due to illness or
died from abuse.
Allah knows best. May Allah have mercy.
And those children, those thousands of children
were buried in unmarked graves
near the schools,
unmarked graves near the schools. Why? Because the
Canadian government did not want to pay to
have them shipped back home,
to be sent back home, for their bodies
to be sent back home. And now they're
being discovered,
right, with ground penetrating radar. So they're not
actually having to dig up the graves, but
they have radar now that can penetrate
into the ground and they can see
how many bodies are buried.
And in moreover, in many cases, the parents
were never even told what happened to their
children. So if you talk to the the
students,
you know, the survivors,
many of them would wonder where their classmates
went, where their friends went, and they would
be told, oh, that they ran away.
They would be told that they ran away,
but they actually had not run away. Instead,
they had lost their lives. And it reminds
me of a hadith of the prophet sallallahu
alaihi wasallam.
Aswad bin Salih alaihi allahu anhu reported, I
came with the messenger of Allah sallallahu alaihi
wasallam and participated
in the battle with him.
I engaged in the skirmish that day
until some people kill children.
And the prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam was told
about it. And he said,
The
prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam was told about this.
And he said,
That what is wrong with these people? Transgressing
the limits of killing even today having killed
children.
And a person, a man
said,
a man said, a man said,
oh, messenger of Allah,
there are only the children of idolaters because,
of course, the battle was between the and
and the polytheists, the idolaters, and the Muslims.
And he said that, you know, okay, children
were killed, but there were only the children
of idolaters. And the prophet
got upset.
Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam said,
No doubt. The best of you are the
children of idolaters.
Right? The best of the Muslims. Right? At
the time, the companions, we're the children of
idolaters.
And then the
prophet
said,
beware. Do not kill children.
Beware. Do not kill children.
And then the prophet
went ahead and said that every soul is
born upon the fitra.
Every soul is born upon its natural instinct,
which is to recognize the oneness of Allah
Subhanahu wa ta'ala to believe in Allah Subhanahu
wa ta'ala with the correct belief. Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala has programmed every child
to be inclined toward the worship of 1
Allah.
And the prophet said
until it expresses it with its tongue, then
its parents turn it into a Jew or
a Christian. Basically meaning that a child is
built upon is born upon the natural disposition,
which is Islam, which is the original religion
of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala that each of
the prophets of Allah preached. So every child
is born with that natural disposition, with those
default settings. And then it is the parents,
the parental influence, which makes them go away
from that. Now brothers and sisters,
these schools,
these schools, they ran from the 18 sixties
to the 19 nineties, not even that long
ago. K. Well, it may seem like a
long time now, but for many of many
people my age, the 19 nineties seems like
it was just yesterday. Right? It doesn't seem
like it was too long ago.
And the Canadian historian, Jessica O'Neil, she had
a famous,
a viral Facebook post.
She writes that these schools were designed to
kill the Indian in the child. So the
indigenous people were called Indians,
referred to as Indians.
She said the schools were designed, quote, to
kill the Indian in the child. That was
their objective.
And the laws dictated that the families must
send indigenous children as young as 4 years
old to these boarding schools. Can you imagine
being 4 years old and being sent to
one of these schools? Or as a parent
letting go of your not even letting go
but having your 4 year old taken from
you forcefully and sent to these boarding schools.
And there were no exceptions.
RCMP officers would forcibly remove children from their
families
who would not comply.
And the schools were often in isolated areas
or on islands
as otherwise children would constantly try to escape
and go back to their families. So it
was literally like a prison. It wasn't really
a school. Right? It was out in the
woods far, far away, even on island so
that they can't come back home. They can't
escape.
And if it was geographically possible, some parents
would camp near the schools.
Can you imagine the pain in the hearts
having their children forcibly taken from them? From
these people who said that they wanted to
work with them and respect their land and
and have agreements and treaties with them, and
then they went they went against all the
treaties or most of the
treaties. Right? And having their children taken away
as young as 4. Can you imagine the
pain, the grief, and the hearts of these
parents?
So they would camp near the schools. Some
of them would camp near the schools just
to catch a glimpse of their children,
and they would be driven away by the
RCMP under threat threat of violence.
The schools were operated, as many things were
at that time, by churches.
Approximately, 50%
were Catholic, and the remainder were Protestant denominations,
including Anglican, Methodist, Presbyterian,
United, and Baptist.
Children were not allowed to speak their language
or practice any of their cultural traditions
under threat of beating.
Their religion was just used as
a form of abuse, sadly. Sadly. Today, we
are finding, which is also sad, that there
are churches that are being attacked.
Right? And any attack on any place of
worship is is tragic and should never happen.
Right? But understandably, there's a lot of anger
towards the churches
because of their role in,
in this this this immense and horrific tragedy.
And perhaps even because of some
reluctance
to acknowledge it or to apologize for it.
Right? But nonetheless, attacking places of worship
is something that should not happen. Right? So
we condemn that. That should not happen.
But the pain is understandable.
Right? The anger is understandable, is legitimate.
But places of worship should be respected.
Not because of who runs them, but because
there are places of worship.
The schools were overcrowded and often unheeded,
writes Jessica O'Neil.
Children were under fun underfed due to budgetary
constraints
and also as a form of control and
punishment.
Assaults
of the worst
kind by adults were sickening commonplace and often
doled out as punishment.
Many otherwise healthy children wasted away from depression
and homesickness.
Some drowned trying to swim home. Others froze
to death as they tried to walk home.
In 1907, the Department of Indian Affairs documented
a 40 to 60% mortality rate at these
institutions.
40 to 60%
mortality rate,
mainly from tuberculosis, from TB as I mentioned
earlier.
And the same report showed that 90 to
a 100% of children suffered from severe physical,
emotional, and other forms of abuse. But despite
this information, this was in 1907.
Despite that, the schools remained open for another
90 years.
And this is all documented fact. Right? None
of this is up for a debate. Everyone
knows that this is true. There's no debate
around this.
Now, of course, it shouldn't be it shouldn't
need to be said, but child abuse is
absolutely unacceptable.
The Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam was always loving
and kind and forgiving towards children, right? You
cannot find
a single
instance
of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam being abusive
towards anyone, but especially especially towards children, even
when it came to disciplining. The prophet never
hit anyone. The prophet
didn't even speak harshly to children. He was
always loving and kind
and forgiving because children are learning and they
will make mistakes.
Discipline, of course, is important. The prophet
would teach discipline when it was needed.
Right? For important matters, he would do it,
but he would do it with love and
kindness and wisdom.
So discipline in important matters needs to be
done, but it needs to be done wisely.
And definitely not through abuse. In many cultures,
unfortunately, this is the case.
Right? Even in Muslim societies,
right, as well. And sadly, especially in religious
in many I shouldn't generalize, but in many
religious circles.
Right?
Physical abuse and different forms of abuse of
children are common
to try to get them to straighten up
and to teach them.
You know? And that is unacceptable. Yes. There
may be, you know, a place for, you
know, some sort of light reprimand,
you know, a slight,
you know, spank
sometimes, you know, may work in some situations.
But it's supposed to have the intended
effect which is supposed to be positive. It
is not meant to be a license for
abuse. And if it is leading to abuse,
it should be stopped altogether
because it is totally unacceptable. It's tragic when
we hear the stories even today. You know?
And sometimes, like I said, in Muslim,
religious settings of children
who were sent
or, you know, who are who are sent
to teachers for for,
for for religious education. And many things have
changed for the better, so
it is not to generalize.
But when we hear such cases and and
children were abused,
and, what does it do? Does it make
them more love their religion more?
No. It doesn't. It has the opposite effect.
It has the opposite opposite effect because of
the trauma that they have experienced.
K. So, child abuse is wrong in any
form, in every form, and especially especially should
not be a means
of teaching religion or, to children or disciplining
children because it has the opposite effect, and
it is not from the way of the
prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam.
My brothers and sisters,
we must recognize
that when it comes especially to the indigenous
people of this land, a grave, grave wrong
or many wrongs have been committed against them.
And
the stark reality is the bitter truth is
that we, myself, all of us
are have and are benefiting from the wrongs
that the colonial settlers committed against the indigenous
people
of this land when establishing this country under
unseated land. They never gave up.
Even this land we are on right now,
they never gave up this land. They never
gave permission for it to be taken over
and to be built into cities that we
live in and that we function in, that
we worship in. This was not allowed. This
was not permitted. This was not part of
the agreement. It was supposed to be done
with them.
Right?
They were supposed to work together, but, no,
the colonial settlers did not honor the agreements.
And even the agreements were very one-sided.
Right?
They didn't agree they didn't,
respect the agreements. They went against the agreements,
which is a crime. It's haram.
And then they usurp this land illegally.
Right? And then they abused their children,
right, to try to change their ways to
make them more, you know, culturally,
more
culturally, you know, refined or whatever the term
was that they were they were using.
Right? So all of these things happen, and,
unfortunately, we are benefiting from it. We are
settlers.
We are benefiting
from
this the wrongs that have have have committed
here that have been committed here. Even if
they they were not even if we didn't
ask for them to be committed or even
if, you know, we we didn't play an
active role in it, we are benefiting from
it. That's just the sad reality, the bitter
truth.
So now we must push to have those
wrongs corrected as much as possible because what
happened was wrong. It was it was haram.
It was it was wrong. It was treacherous.
It was horrific. It should have never happened.
But now it has happened and and and
we are here, and we have an opportunity
now to push to have those wrongs committed,
corrected as much as possible, to speak up
for justice for the indigenous people.
Allah
tells us right? And we know these verses.
Allah
tells us,
the believers.
Allah
tells us, all believers,
stand firm for justice as witnesses
for Allah, even if it is against yourselves,
your parents, or your close relatives.
Stand firm for justice even if it's against
yourselves. If you're guilty of something, you have
had a role in something, be just. Be
fair. Even against yourself, say, yes. I am
guilty. I have played a role in this.
I have something to do with this, or
I have benefited from this wrong.
And now I have a role to play
in fixing correcting it.
Says,
be the rich or poor, Allah is best
to ensure their interest. So don't sway injustice
towards the poor, even if it is against
the poor. Don't favor the poor
just because they are poor
in their injustice if there are poor people
who are committing injustice.
Right? Or don't favor the rich.
Right? Just stand firm regardless of who it's
against, whether it's yourself or your family members,
your close relatives,
right, your parents even. Whoever it is, stand
up for what is right.
So my brothers and sisters,
while we stand up for justice, and it
is important that we do that, Right? We
lend our voices. We speak up, and don't
underestimate
the power of speaking up. Don't underestimate
the power of speaking up.
Don't underestimate it. We sometimes we think, oh,
it's just one person. Like, I'm just one
person. What am I gonna do? Or what
effect am I gonna have? No. Don't underestimate
the power of speaking up. And at the
end of the day, always remember, it's not
the results that we are accountable for. It's
for our intention and the efforts. The results
are always in the hands of Allah
So while we stand up for justice
and we serve
our indigenous peoples of this land,
it is also important, brothers and sisters, to
examine our own conduct. What wrongs are we
committing
now that we will regret later?
Because these wrongs were committed in the past,
but that doesn't mean that wrongs have stopped
altogether. People are still committing wrongs in different
ways.
But it shouldn't take a 100 years. It
shouldn't take 50 years, 75 years
for a person or for a society, for
a community to recognize
that they were wrong. So we should have
introspection, and we should be reflecting right now
to see, okay, what wrongs are we committing
now that perhaps we will regret later? Abu
Huraira
related reported the messenger of Allah, sallallahu alaihi
wasallam, said
that that
that the rights of every people will be
restored on the day of resurrection
until justice
is fulfilled even between
the hornless sheep and the horned sheep. So
there will be ultimate justice on the day
of judgment.
And
if we are victims of injustice
and for all the victims of injustice, that
is good news because that means that there
is hope. Even if you don't get justice
in this world, then certainly on the day
of judgment, you will get justice.
Right? So an oppressed person, a wrong person
is never without hope
in knowing that there will be justice
on the day of judgment.
But for the wrongdoers or for those who
have committed oppression, for those who have wronged
others,
that is also a very scary prospect
regarding the usurping of land because that is
what happened with the indigenous people.
The prophet
said
he who wrongly takes a span of land,
Allah will make him carry around his neck
7 earths.
7 times or 7 earths that wait basically,
the the burden
the weight
of that the the the burden of usurping
land will be upon that person on the
day of judgment. You'll be such a heavy,
heavy burden to carry.
The prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam also asked his
companions
that
do you know who is the one who
is bankrupt?
So they responded and they said,
that the bankrupt amongst us is the one
who has neither money with him nor any
property.
In this dunya, that is who is considered
bankrupt.
So the prophet
said the real bankrupt
of my ummah would be he will be
the one who would come on the day
of resurrection
with salat, with prayers, with fasting, with sadaqa,
with charity.
Meaning, person who has done good deeds, who
has done acts of worship in this dunya.
But that person
will find himself bankrupt on the day of
judgement on that day as he will have
exhausted the good deeds. Why? Because he reviled
others.
He brought, you know, lies,
calumny against others, slander against others, unlawfully devoured
the wealth of others, shed the blood of
others, and beat others. So what is gonna
happen?
His good deeds would be credited to the
account of those who suffered at his hands
or her hands.
The good deeds that this person walked in
with on the day of judgment, all the
prayers, those fasting, the charity, all the good
deeds, Allah
will start distributing them to the victims.
And the prophet said, if his good deeds
fell short to clear the account,
then their sins would be entered into his
account,
and then the judgment will be made. So
all of the good deeds he came with,
it will be they will be distributed
to his victims or her victims.
And then when there's nothing left,
it's not like the dunya that, you know,
you can declare bankruptcy and just say, well,
I don't have anything left now.
No.
Because justice has to be done on this
day.
Then their sins,
the sins of the victims, because every person
commits every adult, Islamically
mature person commits
mistakes,
had some sins. So those sins will then
be transferred on
to the oppressor who had walked in with
all these good deeds.
And then the judgment will be done, and
it will be thrown into the hellfire. May
Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, protect us. May Allah,
subhanahu wa ta'ala, forgive us and protect us,
my brothers and sisters. Think about your interactions.
Think about your relationships.
How many people have you wronged,
taken unfair advantage of,
perhaps even stolen from, even indirectly by lying
or by tricking them, by cheating?
Think about business transactions that you have done.
Wrong people in terms of their reputation.
So think about how you can take responsibility
and correct those wrongs. Number 1, recognize it.
That is what is happening in Canada today,
especially yesterday, Canada.
Right? There's recognition of the wrong and committed,
and there's learning that needs to be done.
And figure out the best option how to
correct those wrongs to the best of your
ability, whether it's monetary means, whether it's reaching
out and listening and apologizing,
genuine remorse and regret to Allah
and the victims,
seeking forgiveness,
making dua for them, and sincerely
helping them and wishing them well. Right? So
the action items, my brothers and sisters,
reflect upon your own actions and how you
may have wronged others and try to correct
that and fix that, but also support the
cause of justice for indigenous peoples. So speak
up. Do something.
Right? Go to a rally. Write to your
members of parliament. Just speak out on social
media to raise awareness, and all of those
things matter in the account.
Even support their businesses.
I just learned. Right? The other day on
the radio, they were sharing stories with indigenous
people, radio stations across Canada.
And I learned that even
businesses were controlled. They were not allowed to
have their own businesses even. And if they
opened a business, they would not be considered
to be Indians or indigenous people anymore.
So that was controlled for the longest time.
So support their businesses
if you know of them
and learn with humility,
right? Learn
with humility about what happened
and beware of
becoming the oppressor. May Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
grant justice to the indigenous peoples of this
land. May Allah
have mercy upon them. May Allah
remove their grief and their pain and their
suffering. May Allah
grant them justice in this world and in
the hereafter.
May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala forgive us for
our role in perpetuating
and benefiting from injustice and oppression. May Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala guide us to respond
to oppression and injustice in the best way
possible.
Oh, Allah. Oh, Allah. We thank you for
all of your blessings.
Oh, Allah. We seek forgiveness
for our role and our benefiting of the
injustices that have been occurred on this land
against this indigenous peoples.
Oh Allah, indeed a great wrong was committed.
Oh Allah,
indeed great oppression was committed.
Oh Allah, Oh Allah, please grant them restitution
of their rights, You Rabbal Adameen. Oh Allah,
please grant them justice, You Rabbal Adameen. Oh
Allah, please forgive us for whatever role we
have played in this great injustice, You Rabbi
Alameen.
Oh Allah, oh Allah, please remove their grief,
You Allah. Oh Allah, please remove their difficult
circumstances, You Allah. Oh Allah, you are the
most merciful. Oh Allah, please remove all of
the hardships
that continue as a result of that oppression,
You Rabbil Alameen.
Oh, Allah, please grant relief to all of
those who are oppressed in the world, You
Rabbil Alameen.
Oh, Allah. Oh, Allah. Please grant relief to
all of our brothers and sisters in faith
in humanity around the world who are oppressed,
You Rabbil
Oh, Allah. Oh, Allah. Please grant relief to
them.
Oh, Allah. Please remove their hardships.
Oh, Allah. Oh, Allah. We ask you for
the best in this world and the hereafter
for us and all of them.
Oh, Allah, please cure all of our brothers
and sisters who are ill, You Rabba Alameen.
Oh, Allah, please protect them from all types
of illnesses, You Rabba
Alameen. Oh, Allah, there are many brothers and
sisters who are suffering with pain, long term
injuries. Oh, Allah, please grant them relief, You
Rabba Alameen. Oh, Allah, many who are suffering
from mental illnesses. Oh, Allah, please grant them
relief, You Rabba Alameen. Oh, Allah, many who
are suffering from mental illnesses. Oh, Allah,