Sikander Hashmi – Protect Every Child KMA Friday Message
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AI: Transcript ©
Respected elders,
dear brothers and sisters,
my young friends,
The prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam is out on
a journey,
and his companions are with him. They take
a break, and the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam
goes
to relieve
himself. During this time,
some of the companions who are with him,
they see a bird.
They see a mother bird with 2 young
babies,
2 young chicks or baby birds.
So they capture 1 of the baby birds,
something that you would expect
from
maybe young people. You know, they're bored,
perhaps they're looking for some excitement.
So the seed is baby bird, and they
capture it from, they see 2, and they
capture 1 from the mother.
The mother bird comes back
and begins to spread her wings.
She starts to show signs of distress.
She is concerned about losing
her chick, her baby bird.
Meanwhile, the prophet sallallahu
alaihi wasallam returns. He went for a short
while, so he returns,
and he says,
Return it to its mother.
Ruduwaladaha
ilayha. So the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam
instructs
that this baby bird that has been captured
and taken away from its mother be returned
to its mother. He also sees
that an ant
colony
has been burnt.
So he asks,
who burnt this?
Who burnt this colony of ants?
And the companions say
that we, Nahnu,
we did it, You Rasool Allah.
So the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam says,
That it is not proper
to punish with fire
except
for the lord of the fire. Meaning, no
one is to burn any other living creature,
and no one has the right to do
that except Allah
My brothers and sisters, this is the level
of
care that the prophet
taught us for animals
and insects. You could say, well, there's nothing
wrong with hunting, so they had captured, you
know, the baby bird.
They wanted to capture it, so they captured
it. Maybe they wanted to keep it as
a pet. Maybe they wanted to play with
it. Yet the prophet sallallahu
alaihi wa sallam
was even caring for the feelings of the
mother bird.
The prophet, salallahu alayhi wasalam,
was even
caring
for the feelings of
the mother
bird, and he, salallahu alayhi wasalam, taught us
that. So he taught us
care
for animals
and insects.
So imagine
what about for human children?
What about
for human children, for the children of human
beings, if this is the elevated level of
care
for the children of animals
and for insects?
Imagine your child, your family, my brothers and
sisters. You're raising your children. You're teaching them.
You're nurturing them. You want to impart
positive values to them, the teachings of your
faith, of your culture.
And one day,
some government officials come over, some policemen come
over, and they say that your child must
go with them
to a school far away, to a boarding
school. And, otherwise,
if you do not give up your children
to them, you will go to jail.
This
happened here
in Canada.
From 18/94
to 1948,
there was a program run by the government
to
forcibly assimilate
indigenous children
into Canadian culture.
Some sent their children out of desperation.
Some wanted them to go initially
to learn, so they actually sent their children
thinking, well, okay. They're gonna get educated. They're
going to a to a school. Perhaps it
will be a good, you know, source of
education for them, but then they were kidnapped.
150,000 children
were placed.
150,000
children were placed in residential schools nationally,
often
in poor very poor conditions.
You know? They were abused in
physically and in other ways,
separated from their siblings,
made to go
made to to undergo a program
that was intended to alienate them from their
roots so that they forget who they are.
The schools were often in isolated areas
or on islands.
Why? So that the students would not be
able to escape
just like jails are designed. You
know, jails are designed to be in remote
areas.
And if there are, you know, maximum security
prisons for or or, you know, facility
facilities for,
for, you know, of for
for bad criminals.
You know? They might be on an island
so that they're not able to escape easily.
So the same thing was being done with
the children.
And if it was geographically possible for the
parents, in many instances, they would actually camp
out near the school.
What would they do? They would camp out
near the school so that they could just
catch a glimpse of their children,
and they will be driven away by the
RCMP, by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police under
threat of violence.
4,000, perhaps up to 6000 children died
buried in unmarked graves. Why? Because the government
the Canadian government did not want to pay
to have them sent their their bodies sent
back home.
In many cases, parents were actually never told
that their children had actually died.
In 1907, the Department of Indian Affairs, as
it was called back then, documented a 40
to 60% mortality rate
at these institutions,
mainly from tuberculosis.
But the same report showed that 90 to
100% of the children, so we're talking about
a 150,000
children approximately, suffered severe physical,
emotional, and sexual abuse.
And despite this information, in 1907,
they remained open for another 90 years.
They actually the last one closed in the
19 nineties. So today, my brothers and sisters,
is the National Day For Truth and Reconciliation,
which is now a federal statutory holiday
to recognize the legacy
of the Canadian Indian Residential School System.
Aswad ibn Sari
reported, I came to the messenger of Allah
and participated
in a battle with him.
I engaged in the scrimmage that day until
he says,
Some people killed children.
So there were battles that would take place,
as you know, historically for various reasons. But
in this particular skirmish,
there were, you know, people got killed as
part of the battle, but then children were
also killed. So the prophet, sallallahu alaihi wasallam,
was told about it. And the prophet, sallallahu
alaihi wasallam, said,
What is wrong with these people?
What is wrong with these people transgressing the
limits of killing,
even having killed children?
So a man said, perhaps trying to rationalize,
There are only the children of the
mushrikoon. There are only the children of the
idolaters.
So the prophet sallallahu
alaihi wasallam
said,
He said, no doubt. The best of you
were the children of idolaters.
The best of you, meaning the best of
the companions.
Right? Some of them were were were children
of people who were who were from the
mushakin, and they accepted Islam.
Then he said,
beware, do not kill children.
Beware, do not kill children. My brothers and
sisters, there's no question that a grave injustice
took place on this land by the colonizers
of the indigenous people.
And as believers,
we are called by Allah
to stand up for justice
and to support the oppressed.
And indeed, this is what the prophet sallallahu
alaihi wasallam himself did
after he witnessed the great injustices
in his city of Mecca.
This dark and tragic part
of Canadian history highlights
the importance, my brothers and sisters, of protecting
children
and the importance
of
a good upbringing.
Children who are separated from their parents,
who are abused,
who are mistreated, who are hurt and harmed,
the effects from childhood
can last a lifetime.
Many indigenous people and their communities
have been left shattered
with numerous challenges and struggles,
numerous problems.
And among the major root causes
are injustices,
such as
residential schools.
So today, you see a group of people
who are struggling.
You see a group of people, you know,
who are struggling with various things, with, you
know, substance abuse. They're struggling with gambling. They're
struggling with all types of things.
And sometimes we just look at them and
say, oh, you know, what's wrong with these
people? You know, why can't they just go
get a job? Why can't they just do
this? Why can't they just take care of
themselves? Why are they so corrupt and so
on? But we're not realizing
the trauma that was inflicted upon them. What
was actually done to them
that has actually brought them to this point?
And while what the government did
was systemic
and it was institutionalized,
The mistreatment and abuse of children still exist
today, and sadly, Muslim communities and societies
are not immune. For example,
on individual personal levels,
in bitter divorce cases, not just in the
Muslim community, but
outside of the community as well, sometimes you
will see that one parent
tries to hurt the other parent or tries
to take revenge
by depriving them of their rights to see
their children.
But more importantly, what they're actually doing or
more tragically what they're doing is actually depriving
the child of
his or her right to visit and see
the parent. There's a reason why Allah
has designed us
as human beings to have a mother and
a father.
There's a reason for that. In some instances,
of course, there are tragedies
or there are situations where that may not
be the case after the child is born.
But the way that Allah
has designed
humans and human families and societies is that
we need a mother and a father for
a proper upbringing.
Abuse of children can happen in schools
and very sadly also in religious settings as
well or even at the hands of close
relatives. And we're talking about different forms of
abuse here.
It is an extra layer level
of moral depravity when a person
oppresses or abuses
an innocent child,
an innocent child who is unable to defend
themselves
or who is too intimidated to speak up
for themselves.
Fear
Allah
with regards to children.
Fear Allah
with regards to children,
and always look out for the well-being of
children,
your own children,
as well as the children of others.
If you notice, my brothers and sisters, if
you notice something
unusual,
if you notice
something that's that that feels wrong,
if you notice an abusive situation or a
child being exploited or in a
inappropriate
touching
in a setting with children, whether
it's
in school, whether it is
an adult,
that you know or you don't know, whether
it is in the Masjid or elsewhere, whether
it is a religious figure or whoever it
is,
do not dismiss it, but do something about
it. Report it or discuss it with someone
at the very least.
Teachers,
health care providers,
even religious leaders, people who work with children
actually have a legal obligation, a duty to
report
any suspected case of child abuse.
Okay? So we should be aware of this,
right,
for the safety of our children but also
for ourselves
because sometimes,
you know, a child a parent will say
something to a child
or will do something to a child,
and teachers notice.
Health care providers notice, and they have a
legal obligation to report it to the authorities
without telling you.
K? I had a case like that
where
a parent
had, you know,
sort of non seriously not really jokingly. Maybe
they're upset, but they said, I'm gonna kill
you.
K? They weren't gonna kill the child, right,
from the family.
The child went to school
and was telling
their friend that their dad had said that,
and a teacher overheard.
And the teacher had a duty to report
it to the Children's Aid Society.
Now the Children's Aid Society was actually good
in that case,
and, they've been great improvements.
But, you know, the caseworker actually contacted me
because I was serving as the imam in
that community
and said, I have such a case. Can
you come and help? And, we were able
to resolve that case without any without any
consequences or without any issues.
But that is not always how it ends
up.
So be aware
of what you say to your children
even if you do not intend any harm.
Be careful about,
you know, of course, not abusing your children.
Absolutely, that goes without saying.
But, also, if there are, you know, any
marks, things like that on a child's body
that are very noticeable,
things like that
can
compel a teacher or a health care provider
to file or to to to report it.
That doesn't mean it's the end of the
world. That doesn't mean that, you know, everything's
gonna go downhill from there. All you have
to do is be honest, be genuine. Yes.
You will get some visits. You will have
interviews from from from case workers and so
on. But as long as you're up front
and you are genuine and you are maintaining
a a healthy and loving atmosphere in the
home,
everything will be okay.
So be aware of this also.
Never harm a child, whether it's physically,
emotionally,
psychologically, or any other way because you may
very well end up destroying
their future. A 2003 research
study from the University of Wisconsin states
that childhood abuse
has been associated with a plethora of psychological
and somatic conditions
as well as psychiatric
and medical diagnoses,
including depression,
anxiety disorders,
eating disorders, post traumatic stress disorder, chronic pain
syndromes,
fibromyalgia,
chronic fatigue syndrome, and irritable bowel. Compared with
non abused adults,
those who experience childhood abuse are more likely
to engage in high risk health behaviors,
including smoking,
alcohol,
and drug use,
and to report an overall lower health status
and to use more health services.
So imagine
ultimately
being held accountable in front of Allah
for all the problems
you caused in their life
and the harm that they end up causing
as a consequence of your actions.
This is very, very serious,
and what's even more tragic is that people
and institutions
that were
supposedly religious
religious
inflicted much of the harm in residential schools.
Because these schools
right? This program was being run by the
government, but these schools were being run by
churches. And approximately 50% were Catholic, and the
remainder were protestant denominations.
Sadly,
today,
some
Islamic institutions
are also sometimes implicated in or at least
accused
of serious abuse
with devastating impacts.
It is not widespread,
but it is something that exists and we
need to be aware of.
Abuse and
oppression are bad enough,
but when they are committed
by people
of religion,
it can also destroy the child's spirituality
and their connection with faith.
Because when they grow up, they associate
their pain and their suffering
with religion
and with faith.
So let us ensure my brothers and sisters
that we never end up harming children
and especially not in the name of our
beautiful deen. May Allah
protect our children and all of us. The
prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam was a statesman,
a leader, a military commander,
but he was the most kind and gentle
with children,
his own children
and the children of others as well, regardless
of their religion.
He would joke
with children.
He would play with them.
He would let them play
even while offering salah. There's various narrations
where his grants his grandchildren would come, and
they would be, you know, sort of sliding
on his back when he would be in
sujood, then he would extend
his prostration. Right? Give them a little bit
of time so that they can play around.
Alright.
He was never harsh, you know, always forgiving
and tolerant.
Never harsh, never hit
a child. Says
that that I served the prophet
for 10 years. So he was a young
child, and he was brought to the service
of the prophet,
right, at approximately 10 years. Right? So he
spent a considerable amount of time
with the prophet
and he says, And he never said to
me, like, he never showed even annoyance
to me.
Right? He was a child. He would forget
things. The prophet would tell him to do
something that, you know, he went to do
an errand, and then he started playing with
the boys on the street. You know, he
started doing something else, children. Right? The prophet
never reprimanded him.
Right.
And he never said harshly, you know, why
did you do that? Or why did you
not do that? Right? That's not to say
that we should not do the tarbia of
our children. Of course, we should. Because when
the children,
even very young children, were doing something that
they should not have been doing, like something
that was haram or something that was serious
in nature, the prophet
would guide them. Right? Or even if it
wasn't to the level of haram. Right? Even
in terms of guiding them and teaching them
proper manners, the prophet
would still do that,
but he wouldn't do it in a harsh
way. He wouldn't didn't do it in a
way that was noticeable because
spent 10 years, and he didn't notice. Right?
Yet, of course, he got tarrabiya from the
prophet
Right? But he did it in a way
in such a beautiful and gentle way that
he he he didn't notice. He says he
never said anything to me.
But, of course, he got that tarbia from
the prophet
Alhamdulillahi wa sallam. Khaled, the daughter of Khaled
al Misaid radiallahu anhu, she says that I
went to the messenger of Allah sallallahu alaihi
wa sallam with my father,
and I was wearing a yellow shirt.
So the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam said,
and the narrator says that it means good.
It meant good in the Ethiopian language. So
the prophet
is trying to speak, you know, to her.
And then
she says, I then started playing with the
seal of prophethood in between the shoulders of
the prophet
So she actually started, you know, fiddling with
it and and and playing with him. And
she says, my father rebuked me harshly for
that. So the prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam said,
leave her. Leave her. It's okay. Let her
play.
And then the prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam invoked
Allah
by saying 3 times that wear this dress
till it is worn out, then wear it
is wear it till it is worn out,
wear it till it is worn out. And
then the narrator adds that it is said
that she lived for a long period of
time
wearing that yellow dress till its color became
dark because of long wear, because it was
something she had been wearing when she visited
the prophet,
and he had told her to continue wearing
it, you know, for a long time, whatever
the wisdom was of the prophet,
Point is young girl came to the prophet,
you know, as she was playing with him,
you know, in different ways. The father, you
know, got a little nervous, but the prophet
said it's okay. Let her play. There's also
instances of, you know, a child, young child
being brought to the prophet
and urinating on his lap.
Right? And the prophet didn't get upset.
Right? He was forbearing. He was patient. Right?
He was always loving and kind, especially to
our children. There's many other examples. The prophet
taught us with regards to children to make
them happy, to connect with them, inspire them
to become great servants of Allah
with love and
compassion. We ask Allah
to grant ease and healing
to the indigenous people of this land and
everyone who has suffered abuse and oppression as
a child. We ask Allah
to guide all the oppressors and to to
have them stop their oppression. We ask Allah
the ultimate protector to protect us and our
children from being oppressed and from becoming oppressors.
May he guide us to,
to adopt
the beautiful character of an example of the
prophet
especially in regards to dealing with children.
I'm here to announce couple of new programs
that we're launching. As you know, as an
organization, we have been trying to bring programs
and services that meet the needs of the
community.
And, you know, we do many religious programs,
programs.
We have schools running, but we also do
programs that benefit our kids and that brings
our community together. For example, you know, TriStar
Academy, they recently launched
a program for kids on ethical hacking
and programming languages for young kids. So it
brings the children in the in the masjid,
and they, you know, at the same time,
they're learning something that they enjoy and they
benefit from in their real life.
So in that same series, we're starting a
program called as leadership
workshop series.
So it will be a series of 4
or 5 programs run every month
targeted towards brothers and sisters from age 21
to 35.
So the first program is gonna happen, October
5th on Wednesday,
Insha'Allah, at Ridgecraft Recreation Center,
and it will be about get to know
leaders leader inside in you. So many of
the many of the young people who have
recently started jobs or who have been working
10 years now, they want to become come
become, you know, come into the leadership position,
or they're already in the leadership position and
they in their companies and where wherever they're
working to get to know themselves as leaders.
Inshallah. So that's gonna happen October 5th.
Registration is open, and it's free. You can
make a donation if you like, but, essentially,
the program is free. And the program is
run by, sister Shiraz,
who's an executive coach in a big corporation.
And she does these programs for executives in
big companies, you know, c level executives. So
she has plenty of experience
in giving coaching to professionals in this field.
The second of this series will be in
November, will be on professional networking.
It will be run by a professional networking
expert.
All he does at Microsoft is professional networking.
He runs large networks of people, not networking
as in computer networking.
Networking is people to people networking that helps
you grow, learn how to network and how
to leverage your network, how to leverage those
relationship in business
and anything, and then you grow your networking.
And that's how you succeed in jobs, InshaAllah.
And there will be more programs coming for
that, InshaAllah.
So please go online and register for that,
and it's free. Donations are, of course, always
welcome.
Similarly, I think badminton has started. Brothers,
Shafi has rented
a a,
gym on Mondays Fridays
for us to give us some healthy healthy
options
to, you know, spend our time out of
the computer. You know, every all of us
are working during the day, from our computer
at home. Sometimes we're getting bored. So get
out there, hang out with your brother, and
pray, and inshallah, play badminton
every Monday and Friday. Please go online and
register for that. That's number 2. Number 3
is about
I think October is,
Islamic history month, and a lot of programs
we are planning. The imam is planning the
team is planning here to bring people to
the masjid and reach out, talk about Islam
to people outside, you know, outside the Muslim
community, and there will be programs coming up,
Insha'Allah.
Finally,
we you know, an organization of, Muslims,
United Muslim Organization, which is a umbrella organization
of 14 mosques
in Ottawa, Gatineau,
recently met with the mayoral candidates,
and we spoke to them about
the Muslim issues.
Most of these issues have I mean, we
asked them for action
on those recommendations that are made by National
Council of Canadian Muslims. So NCCM was there,
and we were there, and we presented the
issues faced by Muslims. They're on the website.
I'm not going to detail. I've also put
it on WhatsApp.
So as a organization, we do not take
sides in election, but when we meet candidates,
we present to them our election issues.
Example, you know, I met a trustee candidate
yesterday, and I said to her that, you
know, in the schools, we need to focus
on education. There have been some agendas that,
you know, some people might have, and that's
what she's running for. So she'll be here
next, week or so.
And you can speak to her. Again, so
we do not support any candidates.
Please participate in political process,
but please keep in mind
to talk about the issues that Muslims face
and make your decision based on, you know