Suhaib Webb – Negligent Opulence Hotdogs and Hunger
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Send peace and blessings upon our beloved messenger,
Muhammad, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, upon his family,
his companions, and those follow them until the
end of time. Abdul Rashid.
Hope you're doing well.
It's nice to be with each and every
one of you. And I hope to be
able to do live more often.
And tomorrow night, we have a a program
again around the same time with, Adam Soltani,
who's the executive director of care in Oklahoma,
where I'm actually from. And many of you
may be aware that Oklahoma,
the state in the United States,
achieved statehood in 1907,
has passed a
a law
that teaching
the bible
in public schools is now mandatory.
And the superintendent
of Oklahoma, he he threatened to punish,
teachers,
and those who do not,
teach the bible. So we'll be talking with
Adam because Adam is on the ground in
Oklahoma. He's
a professor at a university. He's doing his
PhD in Islamic studies,
and he's very active,
in taking on
things which are going to violate not only
Muslims'
rights, but also the rights of of others.
Tonight, what I wanted to talk about, as
you can see from the title, is negligent
opulence. And and we know that negligence is
is a reason
for why prophets were sent to people
and, ultimately, why people,
god will intervene historically and bring about his
wrath upon them.
And when they forgot what they were were
were reminded of and what it means here,
they're reminded of prophetic morality.
We opened up the doors for them to
everything they wanted. It was called.
Oftentimes, people think that material gain,
as Joel Osteen sort of pushes that the
got the prosperity gospel, that material gain
is parallel to someone's spiritual state.
Right? So
if I'm living well, I have
monetary success, I have money, I have everything
I want in life,
That is indicative of,
according to this theory,
that
god almighty,
Allah
is pleased with me. However, in Islam,
we look at things very differently in our
theology, and that is that
many times a blessing can be a curse,
and many times what we think may be
a test is a blessing.
And it's not about what we have
or what we don't have. It's about
what we do with what Allah has given
us because Allah is a razik,
the one who gives everything. And Allah mentions
this in the Quran. This was something that
the Quraysh actually parroted,
in front of Sayna Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa
sallam in Mecca.
When when they,
you know, would flaunt the idea of having
wealth,
and they would flaunt the idea of of
actually
being opulent. In fact, they they made fun
of the messenger of Allah when his son
at the age of 17 died. We know
all of us in
the.
This chapter was sent
When that happened,
when he ridiculed the prophet.
And
yesterday, I was in Las Vegas. A friend
of mine, there was a family gathering there,
very good Muslim brother, to
be the manager of of Mike Tyson.
And my wife was with me, and we
were walking,
down the street, and we saw this massive
gathering of people.
And we stopped and I looked and it
was this huge bar and people were just
drinking. I mean, they were drinking like you
you would think. They were coming out of
the desert. It was a famine.
And on the screen, as they were drinking,
was this hot dog eating contest.
And, you know, I I put the video
up on my Instagram and on my YouTube
page as well as on my TikTok.
And subhanAllah, it was it was like a
a massive celebration of opulence.
People drinking, which, of course, we we believe
is is
a sin.
And then watching an individual
stuff
hot dogs in his mouth
with such expediency that he was eating and
regurgitating
at the same time.
And that kind of opulence is actually
designated
as
in the Quran.
Allah says that we will we will bless
them. And is the is
a chair is a stair.
So the idea here is that
the
the stairs
to one's
imminent
doom
are
the stairs of opulence which is unregulated
and lived within a way which is irresponsible.
So opulence is not a means of reflection.
Opulence and blessings
are a means of of a sense of
comfortability.
We find this in the Quran addressed in
numerous ways. We we mentioned 1 with children,
you know, the people ridiculing the prophet, peace
be upon him, when his son passed away
at the age of 17.
We also find it, you know, in the
Quran
Right? That they know everything about the dunya.
They know everything about this temporary world, but
about the hereafter, the negligence.
So I I
thought about what we were watching and I
thinking about where
America is in its decline
and its its unfortunate
moral,
decline
and and spiritual decline. And that that demands
that we think,
and and think theologically and think critically
because our job is to call people to
the truth.
And our job is not only to bring
good news to people, but also to warn
people.
Right? How many times did the prophet say
in the Quran, I fear for you of
grievous punishment.
And then I started to research this, hot
dog eating contest. I guess it happens every
July 4th in America, and I was astonished.
You know, the scene was absolutely incredibly insane.
And as Muslims were taught, again, as I
mentioned earlier, that that blessings
are only blessings
if they're coupled with a sense of responsibility.
And blessings are only blessings
if if they're coupled with a sense of
prophetic moral duty and responsibility.
And that that that touches everything we have
because everything is from Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
That the Quran says, we gave you everything
you wanted. Everything you could ask for, we
gave it to you.
And and welcome to Islam.
Sister Khadija, who's new to Islam. May
Allah bless you, and we welcome you to
the community. And
I hope that your experiences on social media
have been kind,
and patient and loving.
Khadija is an example. She accepted Islam. She's
a blessing
for herself, but she may be a test
for Muslims. How do Muslims interact with her?
How how do Muslims treat her? How do
Muslims love her? How do Muslims, you know,
welcome her to the community?
That's a test.
And that's something to think about. That one
person's blessing could be another person's curse. One
person's test could be another person's blessing.
But what I want I want to get
at here is that the idea
of tying
material
success as being intrinsic to someone's
value
and someone's iman
and someone's place in the hereafter
is a mistake.
And it's not about what we have, but
how we use
and how we employ what Allah has given
us.
And that's why, he
says
something really beautiful.
He says, you know,
do not allow
do do not allow
do not allow the goodness that Allah has
given you to deceive you while you are
being
wrong with God. Yesterday, I heard a a
great khatib in Las Vegas, an elderly gentleman
who said, Allah has given us everything.
What are we giving back to Allah?
In the sense, Allah doesn't need, of course,
but like with what Allah has given us,
what are we giving back?
So I heard that, and then I saw
this hot dog eating contest, and I used
to live in New York City. Many of
you know, I lived in New York City
for around 6 years. I was a professor
at NYU.
Alhamdulillah. It was a great experience.
And I began to research because I knew
this was in Coney Island. I knew I
knew where the contest happened was in Coney
Island, and I remember,
living in New York City, that there are
a large number of underserved people
in Coney Island. We tend to think on
a global level, but let's just think about
where America is now. We have 2 potential
presidential candidates that are both
car crashes.
The inability to bring younger leadership to lead
the country, to resteer
and direct the country towards moral,
you know,
a lack of more hypocrisy.
And so this is interesting.
The person who won yesterday's or or July
4th, sorry, the hot dog Indian contest on
Independence Day
ate 56
hot dogs in 10 minutes.
56 hot dogs in 10 minutes.
That is equal to £7
of hot dog.
Beef hot dogs for those of us who
are thinking about this.
And
the woman who won ate 51
hot dogs,
subhanAllah, in 10 minutes.
They were vomiting,
eating, and vomiting. And I think that's kind
of a a great metaphor for where America
is. It's fascination with with wealth, it's fascination
with opulence. It's it's somehow many American people
see the idea of shining in the dunya
equates to shining in the hereafter,
but that's not prophetic.
We know that in the Quran, some of
the most wealthiest people were punished.
Is excellent story of someone who fails to
use
what Allah
has given
in the right way. Pharaoh,
a story which all of us know. Many
religions know the story. Some of that had
incredible opulence, had an incredible
had incredible wealth
but used that wealth for the wrong reason.
Then we find the opposite in the Quran,
people who have limited means. And Allah says,
that
and I appreciate you giving salaams.
That that the
the
they they prefer
others to themselves even though they have needs.
Right? They sacrifice for themselves even though others
around them don't have needs. And we know
that the reason this verse was sent is
that there was a prized piece of meat
in Medina, and it would pass. It passed
from each home,
from one home to another. People preferred others
to themselves even though they need they had
need. They preferred others to themselves.
And
until it came back to the first home
it started from.
Until it came back to the first home
it started from.
So we have countless stories that Ekrama, the
son of Abu Jahal, dies on a battlefield.
People bring him water. He says, no. Give
it to the next person. They give it
to the next person and it comes back
to Ekram and he died as shahid. And
each one of those people preferred the other
to themselves, and each of them passed away
and were accepted as as as as saintly
people.
That type of ether is not something that
we see.
So
I I did research on the hot hot
dog eating contest. The actual record, world record
for eating hot dogs is 69.
I think his name is Jason Chescutt, and
he was actually kicked out this year because
he is now doing beyond hot dog, like
a vegan type hot dog. He aged 69
hotdogs, and to put that in perspective,
69 hotdogs
is around 4 liters
of hot dogs, man, hot dog meat. And
his stomach
expanded to the point that it was equal
to the impact on his organs
to
a a woman who was 9 months pregnant.
So in 10 minutes, he ate so many
hot dogs that his stomach
had become that of a a and Allah
bless all of our mothers who are expecting
a 9 month
pregnant
woman. Like, subhanAllah, like, how much can you
eat?
But the concern is that Coney Island,
this is incredible. Out of all of the
boroughs in New York City, Brooklyn, Coney Island
is part of Brooklyn,
the
number of citizens within Coney Island
who suffer,
may Allah bless your wife, Thomas.
They're gonna make Duaa, Thomas's wife just delivered.
May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala make your child
the blessings of your eyes.
Imagine
that 20%
of the citizens
of Coney Island, listen to this,
suffer from food insecurity.
Suffer from food insecurity. So while 20%, that's
a large that's a massive number of people.
The average, as I remember living in New
York, of most boroughs was around 15%, which
is ridiculously high. Those of us who lived
in New York and left New York, we
know how much groceries cost, how much food
cost in New York City. Rent and food
will take up the average New Yorker around
75% of their income.
But the the the negligence here
of wasting these hotdogs,
wasting this food, this opulence.
Allah says,
Right? Eat and drink and don't waste.
And we know that the prophet, peace be
upon him, he said, a third, a third,
and a third, that's enough for you as
far as food and drink and air. And
we know that the prophet,
peace be upon him, he said that,
you know,
a believer does not go to sleep
knowing that his neighbor or her neighbor is
in need.
So you're having this massive
celebration of hot dogs, and people are consuming
them so fast that they're regurgitating
them. They're eating them and regurgitating and eating
them and regurgitating. And Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
in the Quran
beautifully encapsulates this dangerous type of opulence as
being a symptom
of a community which is untethered from prophetic
morality,
untethered from prophecy.
And that is he says,
they says,
yeah. They eat like cows.
And and and the hellfire is for them.
So I I found this incredibly contradictory and
incredibly emblematic of where America is today.
That people are celebrating and drinking in Las
Vegas. They're having the time of their life.
They're looking at the screens. This guy's vomiting
and eating hot dogs. You know, it's it's
like a it's like a dystopian
cocktail from *.
And nobody's thinking that right there in the
strip in Las Vegas
are people asking for food.
Right there in New York City, on every
major
intersection,
there are people there asking for food.
And then we expand this to what's going
on in in the Congo,
into Sudan,
and then into Palestine. Because Palestine and Sudan
are man made famines.
And these are largely sponsored by the inadequacy
of moral power.
Right? We don't question Americans military power. We
don't question,
you know, those who have military power, their
military power. What we question is their prophetic
power.
That they do not have prophetic moral power.
And without morality, that is the sign of
rot and blight that begins to infect and
and weaken empire. Just look through history. Look
at the Romans.
You know, there there's an interesting story, you
know, in the time of the Roman Empire,
there was there was massive riots happening in
Rome.
And
they asked the leader of Rome, his generals,
should we
feed the people or let them watch gladiators?
He said, you idiots. Let them watch gladiators
and give them free liquor. They'll forget about
their hunger. And that's what happened until, ultimately,
things kinda went awry.
In America, the largest number of people who
suffer from food inadequacy and food insecurity
are under
13 years old,
are children.
So I
want to encourage
myself and you,
no matter where we are,
to be proud
and to be connected to prophetic values,
and to live
prophetic morality. Because humanity is on a precipice
here.
That that people are celebrating
wanton greed. That if you're wealthy, suddenly you're
an expert. If you have wealth, you are
now suddenly an expert on every given topic.
Just look at the podcast out there.
And there is a hatred for,
specialization,
academic prowess. There's a hatred for being,
honorable, for caring about others. Now in the
United States, the Supreme Court just passed,
you know, now it's a law where
homeless people are basically militarized. They are blamed
for their poverty. They are blamed for their
difficulties.
In Islam,
we call them
and I want you to think about something
because
is from
which is a knife.
Because someone is cut by poverty and they're
incapable of moving.
But also, if a society,
and pay attention to this, if a society
does not responsibly look after the needs of
of the underserved,
it will come back and cut society,
and it will expose wounds within that society.
Prophetic wounds,
more wounds,
wounds, political wounds, and that's what we're seeing
now in this country.
So the prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam
taught us a number of things that we
can do as Muslims
to make sure that we do not
fall into this global monoculture
of opulence and gluttony,
which is antithetical
to the people of Jannah,
the people of paradise.
And there's a great opportunity to coalition build
with other people of other,
faith, of other,
social have other social concerns.
As Sayidina Amr Al Makhatab, he said, if
if I could, I would kill poverty.
If poverty was a man,
I would order for his execution.
Poverty is something very serious.
And that's why you know the hadith of
the prophet, salallahu alaihi wa sallam.
He said
that Allah will ask people in the day
of judgment, I was sick and you didn't
take care visit me. I was hungry and
you didn't feed me. I had no clothing
and you didn't clothe me. Of course, this
is a metaphor for not serving,
as best we can,
people in our society.
But to celebrate
opulence,
to eat 7 liters of hotdogs, while children
in Palestine
don't have water, where people in Palestine don't
have the basics of survival.
People in America,
American citizens
who pay taxes,
they are suffering from a lack of food,
adequate medication,
a lack of infrastructure,
and so on and so forth. So this
is a pause.
The lack of leadership,
not not military leadership,
not the leadership of physical power. That's easy.
But when Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala talks about
and he made Talut a leader, what did
he say?
Allah
increased him in knowledge and ethics
and physical strength. It's not just physical strength.
Imam ibn Hazem says, if you have physical
strength without wisdom, there's no difference between you
and a rhinoceros.
Right? There's no difference between you and a
ferocious animal.
So what we see now happening in Gaza
is is a level of ferocity,
a a a level of of of of
carnivism that you you can say against humanity,
which is indescribable.
And we see Israeli citizens,
especially the soldiers,
celebrating this.
And then here in America, where our government
is giving 1,000,000,000 and 1,000,000,000 and 1,000,000,000 of
dollars to drop bombs on children, to violate
the
same, international law that America, especially after World
War 2, World War 2 ends the age
of occupation,
ends the age of the land grab, so
to speak, sets up international bodies to protect
the most vulnerable from these things. Now America
is violating all of those
and demonizing
the United Nations, the the the demonizing the
International Criminal
Court. That's another sign of gluttony and opulence,
the inability to accept sincere advice.
So as Muslims, there are some things I
think we have to think about,
especially as we we look at a country.
Imagine the Biden administration
celebrates
an infrastructure bill.
I just I just want you to think
about what that means. Celebrates
an infrastructure
bill.
We pay taxes.
We
pay taxes,
and
that is our right to have an infrastructure.
That is our right to have decent roads,
safe bridges.
You know, now in Washington DC on on
July 4th, interestingly enough, we had a boil
water alert. Can you imagine? In the nation's
capital, we we are commanded
by the government to boil water before we
drink it. I experienced that when I lived
overseas many years ago
in places that had no infrastructure
that time.
And they want us to celebrate
an infrastructure
bill? Where's the clean water?
And think about this. Say no.
When he was told that, you know,
he said as a leader, I fear even
a donkey
tripping on road.
Like, talk about infrastructure?
Say, na'amroz khatab radiAllahu. I know he's worried
about animals,
let alone
human beings.
Animals.
So quickly, I don't wanna take too much
of your time because tomorrow night, we have
another live with Adam Sultani. We're going to
be talking about
the Oklahoma Bible bill. Right? The violation
of the very foundation of this country now
is going to force
teachers to teach Bible
in public school,
no matter the religious,
dedication of those students.
Right? No no matter their dedication,
they are they are now going to be
instructed in Bible, Muslim, Jewish, Hindu, atheist,
whatever, nondenominational.
They are going to be taught Bible in
public schools.
We'll talk about that tomorrow. But what are
some things we can do,
in the face of the blight and rot
that we see happening in America now?
Number 1 is we should recenter ourselves on
the idea of.
Is is one of the key principles of
Islam. And what does
means means to use whatever you have, whatever
Allah has given you
for good,
and to be
indifferent
to opulence.
This is a very important thing. The word
means to
leave.
So the zahid is the one who is
indifferent.
Indifferent to those worldly attachments which are going
to impede
a person's
path
to paradise.
That's zud. It's not about how much you
have.
Because we know there are some people who
do not have, but they're very arrogant,
they're very harsh. Right? They're they're they're rude.
They're even a hottie. They treat others badly.
They may not have, but they're very arrogant
with what they have. Then there are people
that are opulent, who are negligent with what
they have, what Allah has given them, and
they're also not being zahid. The opposite of
being someone of zuhid is to be a
ghafid,
to be negligent,
to be focused so much on this
shallow, short, temporary world that we forget the
hereafter.
We forget our purpose as Muslims. And unfortunately,
you look at many of the Muslim countries
now, it's about the bling. It's about the
shine. It's about foregoing religious,
commitments to healing a fractured world
and being focused on falling into the western
monoculture
of your intrinsic value is determined
by what you have
by what you have. That's concerning.
So the first is to bring back the
sense of zud, and I'll teach a course
on that in the future. But it's not
about what you have. That's why ibn Ummiym,
he says something remarkable about zuhid.
Zuhid means to be indifferent to unhealthy attachments
of the world.
And he says
that if Zuhid was about what you have,
then what do you would you say about
prophet Suleiman, prophet Solomon, peace be upon him,
prophet Solomon has more than anyone else.
He has more than anyone else. He has
more than anyone else, but he is the
most zahid
indifferent to the unhealthy attachments of this world
than anyone else.
That's why Imam Ahmed ibn Hanbal, somebody asked
him if I have a $1,000,000, quote, unquote,
could I be said, yes. If it's in
your hand and not in your heart. If
it's not consuming you, if it's not defining
you, if it's not leading you,
your guide is the Quran and sunnah.
It's not the prophet with an f. It's
a prophet with the p h.
That's what we're about. Prophets,
alayhi, mus salaam.
The second,
and this may sound somewhat contradictory, but stay
with me, is that the hadith to say,
appreciate you, Morgan. Thank you.
That the
the
the the prophets,
taught us something very important,
and that is that we should seek sufficiency,
not opulence.
Like, we should seek sufficiency,
not opulence.
And that is in the hadith of Imam
Atir Midi where the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa
sallam has said, the
best of you
who God has given them sufficiency.
What does sufficiency mean?
Sayed al Mu'aw Sayed, one of the great
early early Muslim scholars, he says sufficiency means
the following. Number 1,
enough money to protect yourself and your family.
Enough wealth or assets
to protect you and your family.
Right? If if mesquite means to be frozen,
then sufficiency means, as we like to say
in Sling,
the ability to make moves.
People asking questions, especially on TikTok, I wanna
give you a little advice.
Act like you would if you were in
a live classroom. Right? Talk and ask about
the subject.
Don't ask about
things that have nothing to do. That's a
sign of your inadequacy
as a student
and your your sort of anemic moral compass.
Nobody goes to someone and says, what's your
aqidah? This is ridiculous. I'm sunni
So number 1. And number 2 is we
should seek sufficiency. And what is sufficiency enough
wealth to When I became Muslim, I knew
that I could not rely on my family.
They weren't Muslims. So I had to
earn to protect my iman. I had to
earn to protect myself so that I can
make moves. I wouldn't be miskeen. I wouldn't
be cut.
Right? So the ability
to have enough assets or wealth
to preserve
myself and my family. And preservation means
religion,
education,
family,
honor,
and wealth. The 5 Ma'asir Sharia.
The second thing that Syed al Musayev said
about sufficiency is that one has enough wealth
to
protect his or her community.
Because this this type of,
like,
the need that we have now as Muslims,
the need that we have as a community
to to protect each other is real.
And one of the best ways that we
protect each other is supporting, like, for example,
here in the the US,
context
is
is the
the need to support groups like CARE
and others
because they're working on the front lines to
preserve and protect Muslim rights to support politicians
who are committed
to to protecting Muslims and others. Right? That's
how we can. Number 2, as Sayed al
Musayeb says,
enough wealth, enough influence
to protect ourselves.
The third thing is to protect Muslims across
the globe.
And
and and that's very key now.
We see that
in India, the elections didn't go. People thought
they were. They thought BJP was going to
win. They were,
you know, mediated to a certain degree.
We see now what's happening in the Congo.
See what's happening in in in Sudan. We
see what's happening in Palestine.
Right? There there's going to
to to be a need
in Pakistan and Afghanistan where the global climate
change is wreaking havoc. The legal community, our
Rohingya brothers and sisters.
We we we know that, subhanAllah,
these people
are are people who who are in need.
Are in need of support, are in need
of
assistance. So we we are all we see
now in the UK, in the United States,
like so much
generosity
across the board to support and sustain.
The third point that I'll make is that
we wanna think about the broader idea of
wealth.
Wealth isn't simply money.
As we saw students in the United States,
we saw educators in the United States. We
saw people who have gathered around to voice
and amplify what's going on in Palestine. They
are using
their wealth.
Right? Their wealth is not necessarily money. Allah
says
here we see something beautiful.
That Islam opens up
the the doors for participation.
It's not just about money. It's not just
about assets.
The strength that someone has, physical strength,
the the charisma that someone has. We see
a huge number of influencers,
young people,
That's what they have. They have their TikTok
accounts, they have their Instagram accounts, they have
their Facebook, they have their YouTube, They have
their roles on campus. They they're using the
wealth that Allah has given them
to to serve. So in Islam, we expand
the idea of wealth beyond money. That's why
the people came to the prophet, sallallahu alaihi
wasallam, and they said that the rich people
have taken all the good deeds.
Like, the rich people have taken all the
good deeds. They're the foremost because they have,
you know,
military they have monetary freedom, if you will,
to do good. And then the prophet said
to them, every time you say, it's
a charity. Every time you say,
it's a charity.
Every time you say La Ilah Hillellah, it's
a charity. Look how the prophet opens the
door so that everyone in the community
feels that they can participate. This is one
of the beauties of Islam. We have people
unfortunately, we see a few of them. They
were in the comments, but they they were
kicked out by our bouncer,
who want to limit
and attack like imams and teachers. Right? Where
they've accomplished very little themselves. Right? But they
wanna divide and and and and sort of
compartmentalize
us so that our collective power is not
brought together and we can break change. And
that's the sign that they may be the
victims of of unruly elements in the community
that are corrosively
misguiding them.
But the prophet
expands the idea of wealth, not just to
be about money and assets,
about a dhikr, even saying SubhanAllah, even saying
Alhamdulillah,
even saying La ilaha illa. Like, if you
see what's going on in the world and
you can't affect change, say Alhamdulillah.
La ilaha illallah. SubhanAllah.
Allahu Akbar.
Allah says, fafkuroni, afkurukum. Remember me. I remember
you.
And also the talents that we have. Painters,
artisans,
you know, people who have the ability to
to to lead direct actions,
people who are able to communicate effectively, good
writers, people who help me design websites, help
me with my TikToks, help me with my
Instagram. Right? We all have different roles to
play here.
Umar ibn Abdul Aziz, radiAllahu anhu, said that
I could not be a scholar, but I
could support scholars.
I could not be a scholar, but I
could support scholars. And we know that the
prophet said,
whoever equips a soldier
for battle is like someone who went in
battle.
Whoever equipped someone to do something became like
that person.
So the third point is, I want us
to realize that we should not
frame, and that's why I believe in our
fundraisers,
we should not simply fundraise for money.
We should also fundraise for volunteers.
We should vol fundraise for people who have
talent in certain areas, so that we can
locate them
in different places in the community to serve
the broader community. And then also, those people
find value. Those people find meaning
beyond maybe their inability to donate financially.
The last two points that I'll make, and
and I I would just sort of,
recap them quickly. But one is is is
I haven't made yet, and that is the
importance
of worship.
Right?
Do not underestimate
the importance of worship in these times.
And asking Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, to accept
your worship
as a means
to assist
and and and help
people, you Allah. Like those 3 men that
were in that cave in the rock,
that huge stone blocked their cave.
They
besieged Allah
by
their good deeds, and the rock was
moved.
Now, subhanallah, we should think about what good
are we doing.
We should beseech Allah, You Allah, remove the
plight of what's going on in Palestine. Give
the Palestinians
victory. Give them justice. Give them their own
right
to humanity. As one Palestinian told me to
be Palestinian is to ask for the right
of the right to be human. Like like,
it's it's not to ask to be treated
as a human, it's to ask to be
given the right to be treated as a
human. Like there's steps to this, unfortunately.
The last is the point that I made
in the very beginning to revisit
the idea of zuhud.
And to look at our lives, you know,
I know our sister, Masha'allah. She did something
remarkable, man. And this sister is someone who
has incredible wealth.
This sister is is
her family are almost billionaires.
And it's it's easier to say I wouldn't
do something when you don't have
the temptation. You know what I mean? The
scholars used to say that they were they
were jealous of Omar Ibn Abdelaziz because he
had wealth,
but he was disciplined with his wealth. Like,
it's easy to say,
I'm a person of piety.
I'm a person of zood if I don't
have.
But if I have the test in front
of me, that's even in a greater test.
And so this sister,
for 1 year,
she did not buy anything except essentials
for 1 year.
It's one of my it's actually one of
my relatives. May Allah bless her and and
bless her children and bless her family.
And I asked her,
after a year
of of not buying anything except essentials,
right, how did you feel?
You know what she told me?
She said,
liberated.
I felt liberated.
I felt that I was able to escape,
because we are all culturally defined, whether we
want to admit it or not,
by the pervasive,
corrosive influence of Western morality.
Our social media is
basically, you know, sort of leading us down
a trajectory
of buying into that morality.
We're not escaping it. So for her to
do that for 1 year, the only thing
she bought was essentials for herself. Then for
her family, it was different. You know, food
and and anything that was essential, medicine and
those kind of things. But for 1 year,
she didn't
make one trip to Sephora, man. For 1
year, she didn't make a trip to any
of of the stores where they sell purses
and none of that, man. Shoes, none of
that, unless it was essential.
And her response
was, I felt liberated,
and I felt lighter in my worship.
Because you have to think about it. The
global monoculture is a current
which is pushing against your ability to be
the slave of Allah.
Like, that's just the reality. We can't escape
that global current. It's it's everywhere. We're drowning.
We're submerged in it.
But we can be disciplined. Yeah. She's a
queen. We can be disciplined.
We can be structured. And the more we
orient ourselves in orbit around prophetic morality, we
will not find ourselves
negligent of our social responsibility, the social contract
that we have
with people
around us.
So what did I talk about today? I
talked about how,
you know, I was in Vegas, which, of
course, in Vegas is something else for a
wedding. And,
Muslims who live there, great, great Palestinian family,
man,
from and,
and Janine.
And,
as I was walking with my wife, we
saw this massive bar, you know, from the
street. It was just crazy, and they were
watching these people
eat hot dogs.
It was a hot dog eating contest, and
they were eating them so fast that they
were regurgitating them. That that's a sign of
opulence and wealth that is endemic of someone
who is completely untethered from prophetic morality.
Completely, we should feel sorry. We should call
these people to the haqq. Like, we shouldn't
just curse people. You if you don't make
dua for people, then you can't curse them.
We We did not punish the people till
we sent a prophet to them. We now
are extensions of prophetic office. We have a
responsibility
to warn and remind people of who they
are, to remind them of that they are
the servants of Allah, the Abd of Allah.
The the fitra that Allah has given them,
they have to reconnect to that, or they're
going to become, as we said earlier, those
people of Istidraj.
Then the first thing we talked about is
the idea of
of zuhid being indifferent
to unhealthy attachments.
Being indifferent to anything that will take me
from Allah. And that's where Filk is telling
us what's halal, what's haram, what's makru, what's
mubah.
And you know, it's very interesting. The Arabs
were geniuses, man. The Arabs, what did they
name wealth? Mad.
Because mad means to to lean
away.
I lean from you.
Because they understood that one day wealth is
gonna lean away from you.
They called gold.
Means went.
Because one day when we die,
the gold will the gold will go. It
will be gone. They named fill silver fitba
because,
right,
means something that will perish. They knew that
wealth was was transitory.
They knew that that that wealth was something
temporary. They were smart enough to even before
the time of of the prophet, sallallahu alaihi
wa sallam.
The second is that we should seek sufficiency
because we don't want to use religion as
a as an excuse to be weak.
We need wealth.
We need sufficiency as the prophet mentioned. The
best of you are those who have sufficiency.
And if Allah blesses us with wealth, Alhamdulillah,
it's a it's a test. We should make
sure that we use that wealth for the
right reasons. Years ago, I was traveling in
Kuwait, and there was a man by name
Sheikh Ali Abdulwaheb Al Mutawah, who's a great
businessman. He had a furniture store. And I
was told to go see him.
And so I went to he was during
Ramadan. And I went to go see him.
This is in the nineties when I was
memorizing the Quran and Masjid Fatim and Bahia
if you're from Kuwait.
And
I went to his store right before Iftar,
and there was
literally
blocks of people. Like, how people line up
for a Taylor Swift concert here or something,
it was lined up like that. And I
got to go in because I had an
appointment with him, so I went in.
I went
in, and I met him. And I asked
him,
who who are these people?
And he said, these people come to me
every night
for donations.
I was shocked. Like, how could one man
donate to this he and, of course, not
everybody had to research, and if they had
projects, had to make sure they were legal
and everything.
Then he said something to me that I
will never forget. I was in my twenties.
I was very young. He said, I started
poor.
I started this business with nothing.
And the more
I gave,
the wealthier I became.
To the point he told me he was
in his last years of his life, Aleic
Hamel.
He's he's he's he's a
a gem of Kuwait. You know?
He told me something, man.
He said, I no longer fear the profit
of my business,
as I fear
failing to donate to people.
Because by Allah,
the more that I have given,
the more my business has grown
to the point
that I have to check my intention
behind my donations,
not because people will see me, but because
I know that every time I donate,
Allah increases me. SubhanAllah.
SubhanAllah.
SubhanAllah.
Imagine.
The third thing that we we talked about
was
the idea of
building collective power
and our unity.
And then the last thing that we talked
about,
the last two points was expanding the idea
of wealth. It's not just money and assets
that we give,
Raising our children,
being good to our neighbors,
showing up at at demonstrations,
being part of direct actions,
calling,
you know, your representative
to press them on the
this this public execution of the Palestinians that
we're witnessing today, and the Sudanese, and the
Congolese.
So we all have wealth.
It's what we do with our wealth.
And then finally, the last thing we said
is don't underestimate the power of your worship.
Don't underestimate the power of worship. The prophet
said that there will come a time where
the sweetest thing to the believer on the
face of the earth is
The sweetest thing.
And the last few young people, you know,
I appreciate you being here. We have a
large number of people on our different platforms.
If you young people are very impressive, and
I wanna say to you, thank you.
The work that you're doing to change the
narrative
has been incredible. You have, by the grace
of Allah, used your wealth
to create a social, political, economic,
cultural,
platonic shift
in 9 months.
In 9 months.
And I pray that Allah
will continue to bless you
and increase you and bring you light
tomorrow night at 11:30
PM New York City time.
My my brother who from Oklahoma, we've known
each other for years. Adam Sultania will be
here. We're gonna be talking about
the Bible bill in Oklahoma. And then all
this week,
on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, we have our
night madrasal with myself and my school, Swiss,
teaching 3 courses,
throughout the week.
On Tuesday is Islamic belief. On Wednesday is
a contemporary issues contemporary issues. And this week,
we're gonna be talking about,
Muslim women marrying non Muslim men. It's a
question that we get a lot. Why is
that prohibited? Why is that prohibited?
And then if we have time on Thursday,
we're going to talk we're going to read
from really beautiful text
by Imam Al Muhasibi
on how to focus on Allah.
I guess we live our life and we
go through the different currents and challenges that
we face.
How do we maintain that focus on Allah?
So that will be on all of these
social media outlets.
Tomorrow night, 11:30, and then,
Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday at 11 PM. May
Allah bless you. I was really shadow banned,
man, on TikTok. Those of you on TikTok,
it was crazy. They actually sent me a
message 3 days ago
and told me that they had limited my
reach and that they were actually monitoring
every one of my posts.
So I really need you guys to, like,
amplify things for me in a way that
it's helpful.
I don't like to ask that. And Instagram
too. And then finally, it was crazy. They
sent me this message saying that.
And then they sent me a message in
my email that said, would you like to
partner with us as an influencer,
you know, to sell stuff? I'm like, what
am I gonna sell for you, man? Are
you selling, like, halal meat? Like, what are
you what are you selling? But then I
wrote back to them and said, why are
you why are you shadow banning me?
And then the same day, they never responded
to me. Everything went back to normal.
So don't underestimate,
you know, the power of commenting, sharing, liking,
because that creates
a community voice. They can shadow ban me.
They can't shadow ban the light of the
Ummah. They can shadow ban Omar Suleiman. They
can shadow ban the light of the Ummah.
They can shadow ban doctor Yasukad, and I
was on TikTok and on Instagram. They can't
shadow ban the light of the. Our light
is too bright.
So just as you earnestly hope that we
will be there to support you, that's how
you can use your wealth now. Right? Your
strength
to support us. May Allah bless all of
you and increase you.