Suhaib Webb – Friday Sermon Hearing Malcolm’s Voice
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AI: Transcript ©
Before we begin, if the, brothers can scoot
forward, inshallah, that will be appreciated.
As the Quran says, you know, when there
are gatherings that are crowded, you have sahila,
hula kum, you know, like if you make
room, insha'allah, Allah
will make room for you. And every inch
that you pull forward is a sadaqa.
MashaAllah.
MashaAllah.
May Allah increase our sadaqa. Now, mashaAllah,
that worked.
These are important days. This is Black History
Month, and we know that
subhanallah, the ummah of the prophet rest on
2 incredible martyrs,
both of who were black.
We know also that the strongest
reports are that Sayidna Adam from Udam, which
means black, and also that the prophet sallallahu
alaihi wasallam, he describes Sayidina Musa as being
a black person.
And we know that our community still faces
the incredible
hypocrisy of its own anti blackness.
Its inability to accept blackness and love blackness
as a whole.
Yet Allah
continues to send
spiritual and social, political, and economic
agitators to wake us up
from being intoxicated
with the dunya
and reminding us of our purpose.
Jannah is not for the unjust,
and Jannah is not for bigots,
and Jannah is not for racists.
And during these days, especially yesterday,
we call to mind one of our greatest
heroes
in the annals of American Islam,
who subhanAllah
countless numbers of converts regardless of their
color or social economic
background
have been able to find incredible spiritual motivation,
political bravery,
and commitments to
adjust economy.
And of course, we're talking about Al Hajj
Madika Shabaz,
Rahimullah,
Malcolm X.
So I think it's very important
during these times, if you haven't read the
autobiography
by Alex Haley,
that is, like,
highly commendable to do.
Just in your own trajectory as a young
person
because there's so much there, Masha'Allah.
And we know that great spiritual figures, we
tend to own them in a selfish way.
That's what makes them exemplary. That's what makes
them great. We all
in our own shortcomings, there may be drops
of
intersectionality
between us and those people.
And before we talk about
this person
in brevity,
It's very important to remember that every hero
and shero
in the Muslim Ummah
is just a drop
from the personality of Sayna Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi
Wasallam.
And that's why Ahmed Shoke,
the great poet said,
He said, you know, Jesus, your brother, O
Muhammad,
he called
like the dead
to life. Like physically Allah blessed him
to bring resuscitate the dead. Right?
You
Allah.
He said, but oh,
you or Muhammad,
if Sayyidina Isa brought
resuscitated
people physically,
it is you who resuscitated
generation upon generation upon generation of people
from spiritual death
to becoming.
That's why Allah, when Umar ibn Khattab accepted
Islam,
Allah describes his Islam,
Allah says in Sultan Al A'am, for the
one who is dead. Ibn Qayyim said, Omar,
he wasn't physically dead, he was spiritually dead.
So we brought him to life. We resuscitated
him with iman.
There's a few lessons we can take from
the life
of our brother, and we know that narratives
are very important. Tomorrow,
at 11 o'clock,
going to be hearing from some brilliant black
authors.
It's very important to be a listener that's
why the first quality of the Sahaba
We hear and we obey. Now people
Nowadays, it's like I got something to say,
maybe I'm gonna listen to you, maybe not.
But the best
the best generation,
It's very important that we listen to black
narratives because
in their narratives of trauma and success and
love
and the right to be angry,
there's a lot of intersectionality
now with what we're facing through Islamophobia.
And our Islam in America rests
through that narrative.
But there's a few lessons we can take
and Allah reminds us to remember people.
Remind them, Surah Ibrahim, of the days of
god.
Remind them of the days of Allah.
So there's a few reflections I'll share. I
heard yesterday,
our brothers, Zahir Ali, from the Brooklyn
Historical
Society last night in Harlem
talking about the autobiography and it was, like,
incredibly moving and powerful.
But there's a few points that I want
to share that I heard.
The first
is that
oftentimes,
the drama that you're going through,
and the madness that you're experiencing,
and the trauma that surrounds you,
that drama
is just preparing you to be a director.
And we think about the prophet
if you wanna look at it socially,
the odds are stacked against him. He's born
without a father. He loses his mother.
Allah
says, We found you an orphan.
What was the percentage of survival of orphans
during the time of the prophet salallahu alaihi
wa sallam.
And the prophet salallahu alaihi wa sallam loses
his family,
his grandfather. I mean really the opening of
the Seerah
is how to manage tragedy.
The sierra doesn't start like a Harry Potter
story
where everything's gravy
and life is awesome,
and you're this special snowflake
who doesn't have to work hard for anything,
but because you're so awesome,
you achieve awesomeness.
The Prophet's
life starts with the odds
stacked against him.
To the point that he becomes a shepherd,
which was kind of looked down upon
amongst the aristocracy of Mecca.
But we know he says later on every
prophet was a shepherd. So every moment of
tragedy that Malcolm experiences,
the difficulties that he faces through systematic and
state
sponsored
disruption,
just prepares him to be who he becomes.
And that's why Allah says in the Quran.
Allah says, maybe you love something, it's bad
for you.
Maybe you hate something, it's good for you.
Allah knows and you don't know.
So the first lesson
is that difficulty
in drama.
Nas came from Queens.
Shakespeare came from England,
Right? Our greatest lyricist,
Kendrick comes from Compton.
Our most well equipped,
skilled users of the English language
didn't go to prep schools.
They went to the school of hard knocks.
So we see that drama and hardship and
difficulty,
perhaps we can appreciate the fact that Kada
is like our personal trainer, and it's just
building our capacity
for greatness Insha'Allah.
The second lesson that we learn
from his life
is that leadership demands preparation.
It just doesn't happen.
It's not just a hashtag.
So we see somebody who never allows that
drama to be used as an excuse as
his daughter says, but he used hardship as
a means to catapult him to be even
more on his game,
to be more serious,
to be more focused.
The more difficult the defenses are thrown at
him, the better he gets with his crossover.
If they push him to the right, he
learns how to use his left hand.
I heard from his daughter that basically he
like memorized the dictionary
in prison.
He didn't allow
difficulty to be used as an excuse.
SubhanAllah. Now we live in a time where
people use success as an excuse.
And that's why Imam Ibnu Ta'ala said,
You know, take time out to prepare yourself.
Dig yourself, he says, in a deep deep
earth.
Plant yourself there.
Because what's not planted, what's not given time
to grow and develop skills
and foster
the tools needed for the future
will not bring fruit nor will it be
ripe.
So it's certainly commendable for us
to constantly be looking to improve ourself,
to constantly be updating our skill set.
Saydah Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam said, whoever
hasanah
Islam,
whoever takes the time to improve their Islam,
their rewards will be amplified like anytime in
their life. In another narration he said,
whoever improves their Islam, I promise
a home in the highest levels of Jannah.
So the idea of
constantly using things around him that may have
been negative
as fuel for his passion
and then investing in himself and preparing himself
for leadership.
It just doesn't
happen.
There's a few other lessons that we can
take quickly
inshallah because they're very important to who we
are. And again these are personal reflections that
tend to be of course from my lens.
It doesn't mean they're the truth. History is
a construction.
But one of the things that he did
I think that we fail
to appreciate is that he denounced idolatry.
As a community, we are commanded by Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala to call every single person
if possible to
That is the best thing we can do.
First and foremost, Allah tushikoo bihi shayah. Every
prophet said it. And of course there's different
ways, don't leave here now and go to
halal guys and start yelling at people that,
that, you know, there's only one god and,
you know, give me the special sauce.
Of course there's different ways to communicate that.
But whether it was through
his initial denouncing of the white god that
was crafted
through Western Christianity
to continue to impose white supremacy on people
in ways which are incredibly maniacal. That's why
idolatry is forbidden because idolatry opens up the
door to oppression.
And it does things to people's psyche.
So initially, he unconditionally
denounced
a white god. I remember growing up, I
asked my mom, How come at our church
god is white and at their church god
looks like
Neo?
And she's like, I don't understand. I said,
No, like every church has a different color
for God. And she's like, Oh well you
know that's not really God, that's just like
God.
What? And we know it's very clearly mentioned
in all sacred texts that there should be
no imagery of God
because it leads to facade.
And then later on, as he
embraces
Tawhid,
he denounces also the idea of a black
God.
He continually
sets forth a message which roots
social emancipation
in spiritual emancipation.
And that's what ibn Ajeeba the great Sufi,
he said, The greatest outcome of
being a servant to Allah is Horiyah,
is freedom from dunya.
How many of us were rocked by the
dunya but were not rocked by missing fajr?
How many of us, like, will lose our
life
if we can't play a certain game with
our friends or we miss a sports game
or
something like that. Last night, I was watching
the Celtics almost win.
And you know, my wife was talking to
me and for a moment I was like,
man. But they realized, this is my wife,
man. I don't care about Kyrie.
Right? So luckily I caught myself before.
There would have been Yomokayama up in my
house, man.
But I'm saying
the dunya
and idolatry
messes with priorities.
The third thing that he teaches us through
the idea of embracing black love
is Muslim love. We don't love each other.
We have been so conditioned
by the negative narrative
that we believe we are not good.
But in the face of tremendous odds,
in the face of white supremacy which was
running unabated, and by the way is progressing
in this country.
Nobody should think the white supremacy is done.
No. No. It's metamorphosized. It's now like on
steroids.
But Malcolm in the face of that, in
the face of J Edgar Hoover, and
Conteil, and everything that's happening
is able to embrace the love of his
people.
And that's very important
because the next lesson is the problem of
the exemplary.
The problem of being talented.
The problem of being successful.
The problem of being unique.
Because uniqueness tends to drift someone away from
his or her community.
And in fact, we may say, yeah I
used to live in that neighborhood but now
I live in Brooklyn Heights.
I used to live in that neighborhood, now
I live in the Hamptons.
But if someone loves their people,
they will not allow their talents to be
co opted by anybody.
And they will understand that when people say
as Malcolm said, you know, I like this
person. He's responsible. She's a responsible leader.
No. They're not responsible to anyone but God
and their community.
So he's able through success
to maintain the ability to go to Oxford
and speak,
Stanford
and speak, but still go to Harlem and
speak,
and talk to people.
And this is prophetic.
The prophets are said to Firaun,
and the prophets are said to the poor.
Allah commands the prophet,
stay down with those who are not even
Arab.
Stay down with those Bilal and Salman
who are not of the rich. The prophet,
Alhamdulillahi laddisabbarani. You know, praise be to Allah
who gave me the patience to be with
those who are vulnerable.
So the prophet's excellence,
the prophetic office is not about using talent
for individual
or
career agency.
It's about fostering my talent
to serve the people as best I can
and be true in my message
to god.
And that's why the prophet said,
The best people are those who benefit people.
I was told by
Ella Collins' son, of course, we could never
talk about Malcolm's story without mentioning the incredible
black women that surrounded him.
His wife, Betty, is often lost,
but there's a beautiful
biography on the life of Betty Shabazz that
people should read. His wonderful daughters who live
in New York City,
and Ella Collins his sister.
When Malcolm, his her son, Ella Collins' son,
Yusuf told me that when Malcolm
came to her and said, yo, I'm a
be Malcolm x. You know? Like, I'm getting
ready to do this.
She made him take a vow of poverty.
And that's the other lesson.
Who are the interlocarism
mentors in your life, man?
It can't just people that
be around you and amplify what the dunya
has to offer.
That's a delusional friendship.
Real friendship are those who call me to
Allah,
who remind me of my greater purpose, the
secret of everything that moves
is.
So his
sister,
when he comes and
discusses the idea of being Malcolm,
commands and will not actually leave their home.
I sat in the chair he sat in,
it was incredible, in their home where he
lived in Boston.
And she said,
You must take a vow of poverty if
you're going to lead the downtrodden.
Because we don't want you bought.
Allah says, I have purchased the lives of
the believers,
and I have purchased it for jannah.
Not for a nearness to power
or a cool banquet where you're eating some
prawns and halal roast beef
and being told how responsible of a leader
you are.
No. No.
You care for the people. You think about
how the military industrial complex is being used
by powerful states to destroy Yemen.
You can't sleep at night because you understand
that the majority of people incarcerated in America
for life have been incarcerated because they have
not committed crimes that are violent.
That bothers the believer.
So Malcolm's soul is stirred,
but it's facilitated by the people around him.
I was told last night by a historian,
and now we see money coming into the
American Muslim community from outside,
from outside this country.
Do you think that money is gonna come
to your pocket without conditions?
Do you think that you're gonna be invited
to palaces without being expected to tow the
line and sell out?
You're delusional, man.
He said to me that a foreign state
approached Malcolm
in 1962
or 63,
and offered him a $1,000,000,
and he refused.
A $1,000,000
in 1963 is like 10 mil now.
That's like keto money.
Like that's big dough.
But he refused because he understood that he
would be forced to compromise
his call.
So there's a number of lessons we can
take,
but those are just a few I think
that are very important now, as the Muslim
community sails through tremendous turbulent time, the tempest
known as Donald Trump,
and all of the challenges that we face
internally.
And let me again emphasize the fact that
he taught black love
in the face of incredible,
incredible odds.
And we will not succeed as the prophet
prophesied
unless we truly love each other.
You will not enter paradise until you believe,
and you will not believe until you love
each other.
Ask Allah to
reward
the family
of our brother,
our leader, Imam Malik Shabaz.
Ask Allah to bless his wife, Betty,
to illuminate her grave.
Ask Allah to bless his daughters and his
extended family.
We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to bless
him with the highest level of Jannah,
the level of being a martyr for the
truth. Ask Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala to help
us learn
from the lessons of racial supremacy
and the evil of power
and anti blackness to hear the voice of
Malcolm as it settles in our heart to
be allies
against those things.
Another important lesson that we learned from the
life of this incredible
leader and again,
I encourage each and every one of us
to take some time to listen to some
of his talks,
to
reflect on the autobiography,
but not hold the autobiography
as revelation because there as yesterday, one of
the historians said to us
that there's great lessons to be learned in
the silence of the autobiography
As there are lessons to be learned in
the voice of the autobiography.
But one of the great lessons that we
take, from the life
of this person is hope.
And oftentimes, we find ourselves as a community
buying into
the notion that somehow we're not doing good
or somehow we should give up like fatal
fatalism, and we should lose any type of
hope in ourselves.
But one of the things that he helped
us understand is the importance calibrating hope through
strategy
and action.
And as long as there was action, there's
hope.
So Takaf
finishes this way.
You know, whoever hopes to meet god, then
let them do good.
The last lesson, and this is something that
I plan to talk about in the beginning,
but I felt it was important especially what's
going on this weekend in New York.
There are attempts to
decarcerate New York,
to review the bail laws which
unfortunately out of the 25,000 people in jail
right now,
70%
can afford to pay their bail.
You know, Imam Al Khortibi, one of the
great great jurist, he said that it is
an obligation upon a community
to provide people money who need to get
out of jail if they don't have that
money. SubhanAllah.
This is all this also the statement of
Ibn Taymiyyah.
Rahimullah and Imam Malik has a very famous
statement of course where it is a communal
obligation,
followed by kifaya,
to help people be freed from jail. SubhanAllah.
And that is that
we need to be very careful about judging
people,
especially based on their past. That's why the
sunnah of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam
is that you should not ask someone, min
ainajit?
Like where did you come from? Because maybe
they did something that was bad, and before
they met you, they reformed themselves with Allah.
Maybe
they made Tawba before they saw you.
And we have to be weary of a
prison industrial complex, we'll speak about this in
the Khutba in the future,
that the intersection of politics,
economics, and bureaucracy come together
to fashion a state now that, believe it
or not,
prisons are now being publicly traded in America.
There's personal equity in America. There's private equity
in America.
Target
benefits from the prison industrial complex. Starbucks
benefits from the prison industrial complex.
Read about it, and it'll it'll really impact
you. And you may come to the conclusion
now of understanding why the projects
are called the projects,
because it's a project.
And for anyone who claims, as doctor James
Cohen talks about, to be someone who's a
believer,
it's not possible that they could divorce themselves
from social responsibility
and being dedicated to justice. This country, unfortunately,
is being ran by corporate interest, and those
corporate interests have made it fashionable
to incarcerate, especially young black men and people
of color in this country in order to
make money.
That's horrible.
And then we understand the power of social
conditioning.
Why are we, at the age of 4,
introduced to shooting bunnies in pink suits and
blasting people's heads off and listening to music
whether death metal or other, that encourage us
to call women the worst names in the
world, to disrespect our parents,
to turn against our own values,
to become people who are groomed now
for incarceration.
How does that play out in a world
of investment
and money?
We gotta wake up, man.
But can you imagine if Malik,
Shabazz
was on Minder right now?
And his history was there, I used to
go by Detroit Red.
I worked in Detroit, had some odd jobs,
did some jobs in a train between Boston
and New York City, worked in Harlem for
a minute as a street peddler,
how many people would swipe right?
How often do we judge people who come
into our community because of their pasts?
Whereas we leave their past to god.
The prophet said that everyone is forgiven in
my ummah except those who expose themselves. That's
why even in marriage, when someone ask you,
can you tell me about the dirt you
did? Absolutely not.
That's between me and god. And then what
happens is, well, I wanted to be honest.
I wanted to tell him, and then you
tell him, and then it's like, he's not
responding to my text anymore. I don't know
why.
Or vice versa. She like, she unfriended me.
And now I'm even blocked.
It was just a misdemeanor.
But that's why the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam
said, Your past is between you and God,
and communities should be there to help people
secretly heal from the pressures of their past.
But we don't judge people from their past
Because as one of the scholars said, the
prophet said that Tawba
changes the past,
and doing good changes the past. And we
assume that Allah has turned their as
mentioned in Surat Al Furqan
to Hasanat, our own and others. Look how
he uses them in a prophetic way to
protect him from future mistakes,
inspire him to greatness,
and to serve as a GPS for his
life.
Satan tries to destroy us with our past
because he knows,
insha'allah,
that we have a great future.
We ask Allah who to
bless us insha'allah with iman.
Ask Allah to make us people of justice
and integrity and fidelity.
Ask Allah
to help us appreciate
that our community is not just a linear
historical community, but that our community is one
sanctioned
by the one who exist beyond all physical
laws.
Subhanahu wa ta'ala.
Ask Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala to give us
the bravery to love one another.
Ask Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala to give us
the bravery to have good suspicions and assumptions
of one another.
Ask Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala to give us
the power to forgive.
We ask Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala to help
turn our past mistakes
into the energy used to rectify the future.
Ask Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala to bless our
students, inshallah,
to ease their struggles and their challenges,
to provide them, insha'Allah, with the mental
faculties for success.
Pray for our brothers and sisters who may
be struggling on the job with who knows
Michael Scott on steroids.
May Allah
protect you and bless you from that situation.
We pray for our middle age single brothers
and sisters who go through a tremendous amount
of mental anguish.
May Allah bless you to find insha'Allah a
wonderful spouse.
May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala ease your sense
of loneliness and replace that insha'Allah.
We ask Allah to bless us to be
sincere
and honest servants to Allah.
Ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and you give
us tawfiq
to guide us insha'Allah.
Ask Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala