Suleiman Hani – Islam, LGBTQ and Sexual Ethics Shaykh

			Bismillah Alhamdulillah wa Salatu was Salam ala Rasulillah while Ernie he was Sufi woman, Bala
salaam, Alaikum, Washington Well,
		

			we begin in the Name of Allah, the oft forgiving the Ever Merciful, the Creator, the Sustainer, the
maintainer of the heavens and the earth and all that is in between. And we ask Allah to send His
peace and His blessings upon His prophets and his messengers and his final prophets and messenger,
Muhammad Sallallahu Sena, peace be upon him and all who follow Him until the other times along with
me, I want to begin with a few. Just disclaimers and maybe gentle warnings. This is obviously a very
sensitive topic, and there are some sensitive things we're going to be talking about Charlo Tada, we
will save some time at the end for questions and answers. This is a topic that actually hasn't been
		

			addressed many times in many places in many communities over the years and many courses and classes
and for those who are looking for it, they've heard about this many times. But of course, there is a
pressing need now, to emphasize topics that many people are neglecting or perhaps are in need of
navigating appropriately and effectively in society. I do want to add a few additional disclaimers
inshallah Tada, the first. It's a sensitive topic. The second, obviously, these are the kinds of
discussions that bring about a lot of emotions. When we think of human experiences. It's not always
about logic. It's not about facts. It's not about your academic discussion, your stance as a Muslim.
		

			What do Muslims believe it's sometimes very emotional, because of human experiences. But this is not
a counseling session. This is not a debate. This is not a place of argumentation. This is important
for us to address because oftentimes, when the topic comes up in a workplace, online or offline, in
schools, with friends, doesn't really matter where sometimes people do not distinguish between a
pastoral approach and an academic approach. If someone is asking a Muslim, what is the Islamic
stance on X, Y, and Z? We're answering her an intellectual question, academic question. The Islamic
stance in terms of fifth jurisprudence is such and such and such. But oftentimes, these
		

			conversations do not come up online or offline, in which someone is looking for just the clarity or
clarification on a stance rather, most times these conversations come up there is a heated
discussion, or there's someone struggling with something of a desire. So they're looking for help,
they're looking for advice, or they are venting in that situation, or someone is venting about
Muslims, or Christians or others as well. So it's very important for us to distinguish in our
everyday lives, wherever we are, when these conversations arise on any topic, including and
especially a sensitive topic like this, the difference between the pastoral, the academic, and
		

			sometimes, of course, there's an intertwining of the two. The third disclaimer,
		

			many times when we talk about these issues, people will will ask about something else. They'll say,
Why are you talking about this matter why he was so obsessed with this issue of sexuality, and
they're ignoring you know, all these other problems in society of poverty and racism, police
brutality and many other things. Healthcare System being corrupt, so people will bring up other
topics. And in short, this is a very weak thing to say in any situation. Because if your family if
somebody in the household says, Can you please take out the trash? And then like, 10 hours later,
you didn't take out the trash and ask you, why didn't you take out the trash? You know, you said you
		

			were going to it would be very odd. If you were to say, Well, you got pulled over last week. Well,
you are failing in your exam. What are you talking about? This is what people call it. What about
ism? It's I don't like this term very much. It's a logical fallacy. It's a red herring, it's a
distraction. If we're talking about this one issue, it doesn't mean we're not addressing other
issues. It doesn't mean we're ignoring social justice causes because in fact, we are some of the
most active community in this country, when it comes to addressing all types of injustice is because
it's the foundation of Islam justice is a foundation. So yes, we address racism, we address
		

			inequalities, we address many other problems in society. We address environmentalism, we address all
these things. But now we are addressing this topic today, because we need to clarify a number of
things in Charlottetown. The fourth is oftentimes people don't allow you as a Muslim, and
oftentimes, the conversations don't really, they're not very fruitful. They're not very effective.
They don't allow you to even talk about this topic. As soon as you begin. There's already some
emotion or a misconception, a misconception about what Muslims believe. So there isn't any room for
progress. And for us to really clarify our stances and for us to also understand it more
		

			To listen to something in its entirety, because there are many facets to what we're about to discuss
in sha Allah Tala, some of which there are valid criticisms, in terms of, let's say, our general
communities, there are some valid things we should be addressing in terms of methodology. And this
brings me to the fifth challenge on a disclaimer or preface, if you will, before we start.
		

			Oftentimes, people talk about the truth, what is the truth in terms of what you believe, versus the
method, the methodology of delivering a message. And this is a really crucial final preface. Why?
Because how we address this topic, and this has taught us a lot of lessons in this country, how we
address this topic is sometimes more important and impactful to the recipient, the recipient to the
receiving audience, then the the substance itself, meaning what, if somebody were to ask you the
ruling on, you know, * or something like this, if somebody were to ask you a fifth question,
it's not that difficult to provide a fifth answer. But if we are to address it in a very, let's say,
		

			harsh manner or unsuitable manner for that audience, or that individual or that situation, and there
isn't a sense of Dawa, or wisdom with a seven year old, becoming Hekmati when our relative has an A
call people to the way of the Lord with wisdom and good speech. So sometimes what we actually are
focused on more than anything else, is the methodology, the delivery, rather than the actual issue
itself. And what ends up happening here is once again, a distraction from what we're actually trying
to address. And so an example of this, I'll give three situations, how would you address a Muslim
who tells you or confides in you or a child, a son or daughter, a friend, whatever it may be, that
		

			they can find in you, or they tell you that they are struggling with SSA, same * attraction, I'm
going to use this acronym for the rest of the talk controller? How would you address a different
setting a non Muslim? Who's asking you about this matter? And they're asking me about Islam? What
does Islam say about their personal desires? And the third is how would you address a situation in
which a non Muslim of any background is attacking Islam for having a specific moral stance on this
matter of sexuality. So different situations call for different approaches. And sometimes we
conflate and we mix up the approaches, or we kind of utilize one approach for everything and it ends
		

			up leading to some problems. Over the years, at least here in North America. There have been
countless classes, seminaries, programs, lectures, perhaps less so footless, but a lot of different
scenarios that I can think of in which people have addressed this scholars have addressed this
humans have addressed this, sometimes in a very effective manner, perhaps other times, not so much.
And scholars themselves are not always in agreement about the methodology. How do we explain this
topic? How do we navigate this issue? Because as we'll see shortly, Inshallah, tada there's going to
be an intertwining of our beliefs with the political situation, the legal situation, a corporate
		

			setting, and educational setting. one's own children, there are a number of things that we have to
address Inshallah, tada. There are many famous droughts, there are many students of knowledge, there
are many mountains Islamic Studies, teachers with taught this matter in a very effective and concise
when it's been very beneficial for our communities. Having said that, we have to keep an open mind
in terms of analyzing our approach and criticizing ourselves with a positive critique, for the sake
of, you know, constructive feedback, to make sure that if there is room for improvement in how we
address any situation, whether this matter of you know, LGBTQ and others, or anything else, that we
		

			go back to personal the primary sources, we understand what it is that we believe we make sure there
isn't any distortion, any noise, any tangents any distractions in general, we go back to the context
of Oslo and the Maxim's in Islam, we make sure that everything is clear with the foundation. And
then there's the figuring out of the methodology, what is suitable now, what was suitable in 2015
and 2016, perhaps in some settings reasonably So, some people found a different approach in terms of
talking about Islamic sexual ethics and the stance of Muslims on you know, certain movements like
LGBTQ and others. So, perhaps at a time in which people are dealing with one thing, one major
		

			problem, they are less focused on a specific issue or they are addressing a different way. And in my
subjective, humble opinion, there are a number of mistakes that maybe some portions of our
communities have made, and they are random individuals, these are often bodies of scholars, these
are not scholarly councils in any way whatsoever. But sometimes we we do not address this matter.
With its do right, and we we sometimes also bring about a greater
		

			disdain for Islam, both within our community and outside of our community, because of our approach.
So our approach is a big part of the discussion, if approach did not matter than Allah subhanaw
taala would not have addressed it. And sometimes when we start with this preface, already, someone
is about to have an idea, okay, I see your perspective. I know what kind of speech this is going to
be. I know what kind of lecture this is, you are liberal, you are conservative you are this will
give you a label. And they'll automatically assume what what stance you have, because you've already
expressed that wisdom is a necessary element in talking about these matters. If it's not important,
		

			Allah subhanaw taala would not have mentioned it. If musante Salam did not have to speak with gentle
speech with one of the worst people one of the worst human beings in history, it would not have been
addressed in the Quran. So the approach absolutely matters. Otherwise, we all know, we would not
have an entire discipline to discuss an unmitigated model when the yarmulke command is good and
forbidding evil, that there are conditions for it. We don't just go around saying everything is
either halal or haram in this matter. Rather, you give advice, and I'll see how there's an entire
arts to giving advice that you for example, you know that it's not going to lead to greater harm,
		

			you know, when you come on good, but it's going to eliminate some amount of harm or all of the harm
you know, when you give advice that you're not intending to insult or hurt, you know that your
information is accurate. So there are a lot of conditions. I'm not talking about them right now. My
point is that it is a central part of what's happening now, in this very divided society in a
society that will never, frankly never be united upon anything moral, or rather anything of a moral
stance. So what we are talking about now is truth and methodology of truth. And we are inshallah
Tada The reason I started with this, we are separating the two so we can start with the truth.
		

			First, what what is the summit stance? On this matter of sexuality and sexual ethics? We begin with
worldviews. Every human being has a worldview. A worldview, is your view of the world. And in
philosophy, a worldview is broken down into different components. For example, your worldview
includes what you think about God, ontology, what's your perception of the Creator? Another part of
our worldview, as human beings is morality? Where do you get your morality from? morality? Meaning
what Right and Wrong, Good and Evil, these labels that we put on different things. So when people
say abortion is good, abortion is evil, alcohol is good. Alcohol is evil. These labels, where do
		

			they come from? They come from your moral reference point. Where's your moral reference point?
Where's that stemming from? And this is a very important element to keep in mind, because the
entirety of this conversation on sexual ethics is a moral stance. It's a moral issue, and it is
intertwined with other aspects of a worldview. Another part of your worldview, is your belief in a
way your belief about the purpose of life and what's happening when you die. Another part of your
worldview is how you govern politics. So you have morality, but then how do you govern a society?
What about a society in which there are different types of people? It doesn't ideal Islamic Society
		

			allow for a Christian to exist to worship to have a church, for example? And the answer is yes. But
are there other situations like this other other groups like this? And how far does that extend? So
a worldview is extremely important? And the most important question that we start with, so where do
we get our worldview from? How do you know your worldview is true? Or Correct? What would you say?
If you want to summarize in one sentence, how do you know your worldview is true with a capital T is
correct, versus let's see any other worldview in society? What are some short answers we may share
in Charlottetown it
		

			what is it Quran? The Quran okay, how do you know that's true?
		

			Faith, okay.
		

			But people can have faith in many things. Some things are true and some things are false.
		

			So where does that worldview come from? So we believe it I'll put out but why the Quran?
		

			Yes. Because, like it comes from the person who created the world.
		

			Excellent. This is true, though. I'm pushing this to to prove a point. How do you know that? Federal
Okay, so that could be one part of it. Some people's withdrawals are corrupted. So how would they
find the truth logic? Okay, so there's logic there's months there's an athlete, but how do you know
the Quran is true? And creation around you? I mean, okay, so as a proof, you need to hire reference
there is impossible to know the truth from the correct and certain aspects. It's impossible. Just
see the higher reference, what's the reference that the Quran is true? So what's the field call?
		

			evidence, evidence, what kind of evidence the natural metal thing. It's a miracle. Okay, so a more
detail is a miracle in English, but in English, a miracle in Western philosophy is not the same as
more
		

			What is that in its in its Islamic theological perspective. If somebody were to ask you how do you
know Islam is true? You might say the Quran they might say how do you know the Quran is true? The
Quran is miraculous. It's a proof and I can prove it from let's say, 1015 20 different ways that the
Quran cannot be man made speech. It is divine. And here's, let's say an article. Here's a video
series us on a discussion on the Quran. The second part of it is the one who conveyed it. Prophet
Muhammad sallallahu alayhi salam, there is an intellectual and rational and spiritual and historical
proof that he is truly the messenger of God so long how he was set up. And that discipline is della
		

			Enugu with approves a prophet, it's an entirely usually an entirely intellectual conversation. So
you have an entire series of papers and articles and books just on these two topics, because they
are central to answering the question of why Islam? How do you know your worldview as a Muslim is
true? And are you justified in believing it? And I know, this is not the discussion that we're
having today. But the reason I started with this is to emphasize again, that's a summary a very
condensed idea of what it is that we believe, to emphasize that a worldview is not for us, something
that is fluid, meaning what a worldview is built on evidence. And yes, the filter is requiring
		

			because of the filter, or the natural heart, the state that we were created with, if there's
arrogance, if there's pride in the heart, then no matter what evidence intellectual or not, somebody
provides, we won't accept it as human beings. If there's pride blocking us from evidence, it doesn't
matter what you offer of a proof, but every prophet and every messenger, they were sent by units.
Now, while subpattern made this clear in the Quran, so that no one can say that's an imposter. And
that's a real prophet, and not have the proof for it. No, the prophets had proves every prophet
Halle proof. And it was a proof that people could not imitate or deny. That's what Marxism means is
		

			that you cannot imitate it as a human being. So clearly, it's coming from Allah subhanaw taala.
		

			We start with this to emphasize that, as Muslims, we prioritize the truth, the matter of truth is so
important to us. It's literally central to our worldview, that we are not able to within the realm
of Islam, we are not able to justify taking out a maxim of truth and saying, my desires are more
important. This is what people want. This is what I love. This is why we're starting with this verse
knowing why Islam the Quran, or the miraculous nature of the Quran proves a prophet. And then the
second point, which is that every human being has to prioritize something. And there are groups of
people that are known for prioritizing certain things. There are people who will openly tell you
		

			that what I'm looking for is to fulfill my desires to be a happy human being, and they will conflate
happiness with physical desires. So we start with this and we give the example of the story of
Prophet LuPone he said, um, you know, the story you don't have to go into it's in the Quran, it's
explicit, it's clear, you cannot reform reinterpret the story. It's very clear that Prophet little
Dynein cinema, he called people to worship Allah subhanaw taala. This is the message of all the
Prophets and Messengers. And in addition to this, they were committing major crimes, major sins,
amongst them the sin of practicing same * attraction. Again, I will be careful with my words and
		

			the acronyms that we use just for the sake of the audience, inshallah Tada. But this has to be very
blunt discussion as well. They said to him, what we've emphasized in many lectures and programs,
they said clearly back to him, regardless of the proof, regardless of your evidence, what you know,
kanatal, level manual need, you know, what we desire. And then it got to the point where they did
not want him to preach what he was preaching, that you cannot basically have relations as men with
one other. So they said, kick them out of their lands, take them out of these homes, if you don't
stop, that will kick you out. In other words, we are intolerant to your claim, we are intolerant to
		

			what you're preaching, we are not after the truth, our way of life, our lifestyle, what you
connected and autonomous man read, you know, desire, what we want what we need, we're not after the
truth. And the reason we start with this is because in all of our conversations, we emphasize as
Muslims, the most important thing, the foundation of everything is that we are following what is
true, that it's not based on desires, it cannot be based on subjective things. It cannot be based
off of emotions, we have to always prioritize and help the truth in every setting. But for some
people, the truth does not matter. The desires for them are their way of life. And this,
		

			unfortunately, is the trend in many societies today since the 1700s, to the present day, there has
never been in history in all of human history. There has never been an influx like this in terms of
the number of movements of ideologies, of offshoots of liberalism, in some forms, classical and
modern and postmodern, different types of liberalism, different types of movements, in which people
identify with desires and are looking for the thing that fulfills them, meaning physically here,
even if the desire could be harmful, and we can give a very subtle example a very light example it's
not very serious when it
		

			comes to food. There may be in every family here, there may be somebody in the family who's like
super healthy. And then there may be somebody who just loves junk food. Or it may be that the
parents are eating junk food and their children are now aware of like all the harms that come with
it. So the children are advising their parents. Or the other way around, there may be a child who
was given, unfortunately, a small taste of sugar and chocolate at a young age. And now they're like,
really want it and you cannot take it away after two, three years. So they want more and more and
more of it. And apparently, this is harmful for you. So the point here is we have desires, we all
		

			recognize as human beings, some desires are beneficial, like your desire for something healthy, like
a salad, which maybe you'll install, that family member was always eating sounds, some people have
desires that are harmful. But at the end of the day, why do you refrain from giving that four year
old additional candy bars in that day or that night? Why do you refrain from eating junk food? If
you refrain from Jonathan, why do you work out and refrain from allowing your body to basically
deteriorate in terms of your health, we have desires, if we were to take our desires and put them on
a pedestal and say, whatever my body wants, this is what makes me happy. We already know even
		

			medically, that's not a healthy thing to do. We know psychologically, it's not a healthy thing to
do. The The point here is what is good and what is bad in terms of desires. And that is where the
academic discussion comes in and all the time. So again, 1700s, to the modern day, there have been a
number of groups, and this is pretty much mainstream. Now in many Western countries, in which God is
no longer part of the equation. There are many people who don't want to believe in God submit to God
submit to a higher power, some of them will want to believe in a spiritual being some of them will,
wanting the benefits of belief in some kind of entity, some kind of deity because they cannot deny
		

			the origins of the universe, the origins of life and all of this, but rejecting God, now the focus
is on the human condition, what do I desire. And the second is rather than focusing on life after
death, now there's a pursuit of desires in this life, rather than thinking there's a life and a home
in which there's eternal bliss, Lahoma show and Athena, when the day nemazee They will have whatever
they desire, Allah says about the people of Paradise, and with us is more now there's a focus on
here. And now, I want things and I want things. Now, I want this and I want this now. And if anyone
or anything gets in my way that is intolerant, to me, that is something that is harmful to me. When
		

			in reality, that desire itself, or any kind of desire may be extremely harmful to that individual,
whether from a medical, psychological or religious perspective, once again, the summary of this
introduction, morality, good and evil. These labels, they have to come from somewhere, if they come
from human beings without any revelation that we what we are talking about here is subjective
morality. It's not objective subjective meaning it's my opinion, in your opinion, it's relative
objective, meaning it's a fact. And a very easy way to start a conversation with someone about this
is to say, for example,
		

			is it a factual evil? Is it objectively wrong for let's say, there's a news story for this man who
killed 20 Children in essential and he just went around and killed 20 children? Is that evil? First
of all, is that evil? Yes or no? Yes. Is it factually evil? Is that just your opinion? Is it
factually? Most people, most people will say, Yes, it will be very odd, even with many atheists and
agnostics and others, it would be very odd if the first reaction and response to that question is
no, it's not a fact. It's my opinion. There's a very odd thing to say. Most people say yes, that's
factually wrong. The problem is, and we won't go into this tangent too much. The problem is when you
		

			now explore without, let's say, atheist or agnostic, when you ask them, How do you know it's
factually wrong, they can't prove it's objectively wrong. Because their opinion is not rooted in
something external to us. Our beliefs about facts when it comes to morality, come from Allah
subhanaw taala. So something that transcends us. It's objective, it doesn't come from us. We're very
subjective. As human beings, we want to agree on very simple things. People debate anything from
Pepsi and cola to and those are both bad options alongside two sports teams to what's a fair
punishment? What's the how do you discipline a child and many other things in between? How about
		

			crime? Are we soft on crime and hardened crime? So a lot of examples in which were very subjective.
So the reference point for something factual, has to transcend human beings. And it has to come from
a source of goodness from Allah subhanaw taala, a source that cannot
		

			command evil. So when we talk about morality, we have to understand that the predominant trend for
many people in the world today in Western countries and let's talk about our continent, here in
North America, for many people, it's fluid. It's subjective. It's not rooted in Christianity. For
most people, even those who identify with Christianity. There are many who admittedly do not
actually believe that there is a timeless, fixed way of looking at morality it changes and this is
why Christianity has seen some of the biggest losses in following because it has constantly changed
in order to accommodate
		

			New trends and new movements, new ideologies, new moral values that contradict what they claim to
believe. And this is, these are the words of Christians and Christian scholars and academics. These
are not my words. So when we understand that most of society today, does not believe right and
wrong, are facts, that they are trends, they are an exploration, they are opinions, they are
subjective, you run into a number of problems. Historically, people as a society used to justify
certain things that now we're being criticized. So with the Africa, transatlantic, African slave
trade, as an example, there were people back then in America, in this country who used to justify it
		

			from a moral lens. Now, the very same generations that follow are criticizing them, say, how could
you have ever justified the treatment of people that way? How can you ever torture people like this?
And so when you hear this criticism, you ask, How do you know it's factually wrong? If morality is
subjective, if it's everyone's opinion, if you base it off of society, that all people in a nation
or country said we want this to be law, that this is a good thing, or this is bad? How do you know
this is factual? If in 20 years, people will change their opinions and say you're wrong. So it's not
a fact anymore? It's subjective. We're looking at a society that went through what's called the
		

			sexual revolution. Again, I mentioned in the beginning, we have to be very explicit with some of the
things we're talking about children Tada. And this is a disclaimer for parents. If you have
children, when the 1960s, in the United States of America, there was what was called a sexual
revolution for approximately a decade and a half, in which there was a stronger rejection of
Christian values Christian morality, again, we said 1700s, the age of secularity, what's called age
of enlightenment 1700s. To the 1900s. We saw in the world a shift in terms of belief in God is a
reaction to Christianity, and mostly because of political things that happened, but it became
		

			theological, a rejection of God rejection of Christianity was a rejection of all of these matters of
tradition. And in this country, there were a number of people started to openly express their
reaction to refutation their response to Christian moral norms regarding specific things,
specifically around *, gender, and sexuality. These three topics intertwine with marriage, among
other things starting to be discussed more openly. And in fact, movements were centered around this.
So there was a separation of morality, your moral values, and * and gender, reproduction and
marriage, these topics started to be separated. Why is this important? Previously, like in
		

			Christianity, as is the case in Islam, they are intertwined. But when you separate them, and now
they are observed, and practice and preached and dismissed as separate matters, family can be
separate from your sexuality. Your practice as a human being can be separated from your family,
reproduction does not have to be limited to a family anymore, it can be outside of the family, and
you started seeing a rise in Xena and many other things. And with this, of course, according to many
sociologists, family started to break apart in larger numbers than before, they were, of course,
experiencing this, the family started to break apart more than before, and this can be backed up.
		

			fatherlessness actually increased in the United States of America during this time, delinquency, a
lot of single mother poverty increase in many places, and cycles of trauma and abuse at times. I'm
not saying these did not exist before, what we are seeing is that they increased with what's called
the sexual revolution. And now there was a greater visibility and a prominence of homosexuality in
terms of media in terms of normalizing these things. There were movements, gay rights, liberation
movements, and they would ride on the coattails of what was called the sexual revolution. So there
was an intertwining of multiple things. And oftentimes, when do you see what's happening with
		

			regards to social justice movements? What many people don't notice, and this is why Muslims have to
be very cautious is an intertwining of many topics at once. So you see people moving forward and
addressing the cause. And you'll notice what behind the scenes we're actually supporting multiple
things, or the movement itself is actually calling for the rights of X and Y, and Z and everybody
else when you thought previously I was only coming to a pro Palestinian protest. Now it turned out
that no, we are advocating for the rights of x y&z and many other things as well. This is what
happened 1960s And in fact, many movements historically found impact and they found efficiency in
		

			utilizing momentum in society. Hey, everyone around us is talking about rights. Let's address those
rights and let's bring up our rights. And this is a very common tactic that's used in the world
today many places. So what happened here 1960s Put a lot of especially Christians at the time, a lot
of religious and Orthodox movements and groups and demographics in North America in what seems to be
a difficult position. I want to break this down a little more inshallah Tada. Modern Western culture
separates three things that from our perspective as Muslims are actually combined, they are
		

			tightly bound together in terms of nature, and in terms of religious law. So there's the moral. And
there's our belief about the fifth row. And these three things. Just to clarify, once again, it's
the topic of reproduction, and * and marriage and morality together marriage, morality,
reproduction, and *. On the other hand, modern Western culture combines three things that
oftentimes are separated when you look at it from a theological perspective. So these three things
are separated, what are they you have desires, Shahnawaz, we all have desires, you have actions,
your actual armor, and this is what we're judged for. And then you have identity. So desires,
		

			actions and identity are now intertwined. When in fact, you have these three from an Islamic
perspective separated, for example, if somebody as a Muslim says, Hey, I'm really struggling to,
let's say, stop smoking and causing damage to my body, and you believe that it's prohibited is
haram, because you're causing this immense amount of harm to your body. If you suddenly said, My
identity is a smoker and a part of the smoker movement, and I actually advocate for smoking in
society, because I'm noticing people are not smoking anymore. You're combining desires, actions and
identity. We don't say this to elicit, you say somebody who tells you I'm struggling with a sin.
		

			Well, that's a desire, and then there's the action, but you don't identify with it. We never
identified with a desire. And historically, we find overwhelmingly in every society, that people
generally found themselves identifying with certain things, but it was not based off of desires, it
was not based off of desires. In fact, the people of Luca Nissan, he says to them, you're doing
something that nobody did before you, this was the first major mainstream society that normalized
that particular desire of solving in homosexuality. So, again, modern Western culture, and this is
important for us to keep in mind inshallah Tada, tie up together, * and reproduction, and marriage
		

			in Marathi. So these three are separates these three things that are actually supposed to be bound.
And instead of separating, they find that they are binding together desires, showered with actions
with identity, when it comes to kind of a side topic, and it does come up. And this is not the main
point of HR data. In terms of gender, I don't want to get too much into it, because we will be going
on a long, long tangent. But in short, you can find a number of great and excellent well articulated
and research papers. One of them is published by Dr. Carl Shetty on elite Institute's website, it's
a very long paper, he has a four hour PowerPoint presentation on YouTube, you can watch this, he
		

			gets into the concept of gender, the creation of the male, a female, we believe in these two
genders, Allah, it made it clear, this is not something we ever had to bring up. As a society.
Historically, it was so obvious these are not social constructs, biology speaks to this psychology
and many other things. But that's not really what we are talking about today. This is not the thing
that we want to clarify. So let's get to what we're actually talking about in terms of homosexuality
in terms of Islamic perspective on LGBTQ and other movements like this. We believe that when a
society or individual identifies with a desire that's considered sinful, and they are acting upon
		

			it, we believe no doubt whatsoever that religion cannot be changed to accommodate this. And this is
why Islam is seen as the most resistant to secularization. There are a lot of movements that do not
like Muslims. And if they don't tell you this to your face, there are a lot of people who do not
like Muslims, and will never like Muslims and accept Muslims if they knew what we actually believe,
which is what that revelation and law morality is that Sharia in general, it's fixed. There are
areas of jurisprudence that yes, are they change from time to place, but they are not the
foundational things. There are things that cannot change. And this is because we prioritize
		

			revelation that it is preserved that it's not my truth to be changing. We all believe as post
modernists believe that true distributed subjective, we believe there is a way to prove that
something is clear something is true. And so we distinguish between someone's desires and someone's
actions. And oftentimes, people ask, How do you respond to a non Muslim who asks, What does Islam
say about homosexuality usually want to use this term to say, what does Islam say about LGBTQ
they'll mention a movement and mention a different type of label or SSH, same * attraction. And
again, we separate between
		

			desires between actions between identity and we emphasize that when a Muslim is struggling or
anonymous, and when someone is struggling with a desire, regardless of what the desire is, first and
foremost, there is a pastoral response. And then there's an academic response. If someone told you
they were struggling with desire for the opposite gender, and that they could not refrain from Zina.
When you then like put this person on blast and kick them out of the folds of the stone and make
them feel like there's no hope for them that the dirty people and you're repulsive. We wouldn't do
that. I
		

			I would hope we would not do that. In fact, and I've been mentioning this example somehow for a long
time. There is a story in the CBOE in which, and you know, you know, for example, the prohibition on
alcohol, intoxicants, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi, wa sallam, he mentioned that Allah He mentioned
10 different types of people who are cursed by Allah, for facilitating the consumption of alcohol in
society. It's not just the person who gave you the drink. It's not the person who only took the
drink. It's the number of people who facilitated evil in society, and it's considered one of the
worst types of evil. So the Prophet salallahu Alaihe Salam with all that he taught a morality. A man
		

			came to him once who was struggling with the desire and the addiction to alcohol. Do you think in
this situation, do you think the Prophet salallahu Alaihe Salam should insult the man and kick him
out and tell him basically outside the fold of Islam, there's no hope for you and everyone who's
liked the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, he heard one of the companions curse this map, that
companions who were there they heard about them and situation, one of them started to say, May Allah
curse you, why does he drinks alcohol? May Allah curse you. And the Prophet sallallahu wasallam
forbade that you're not cursing, the Prophet sallallahu wasallam for being that, in fact, when you
		

			curse someone who struggles with a sin, sorry, with a desire for a sin. When you curse someone, in a
way you might be supporting their devil against them, rather than helping them. And this is what the
Prophet saw us and taught us. This is what I've been loving, Massoud said. So when someone is
struggling, and they tell you, I'm doing this, I'm falling into that I have this desire, whatever
the desire is, whether this topic or any other similar topic, your reaction, I hope would not be
from an Islamic stance, May Allah curse you, or this is reprehensible, you have to figure out a way
for your message to reach this person with the hope the sincere hope, that if this person is looking
		

			for help is looking to change is looking to do what's right, rather than what they desire, that this
person will enjoy the time to be receptive to your advice. So we again, we talk about this because
oftentimes, unfortunately, unfortunately, because of personal
		

			desires, because of personal preferences, sometimes a Muslim will react, or type or say something
about this topic, especially this topic, in a manner that does not really benefit the one who is
listening. It just expresses what you find disgusting. And it doesn't help at the end of the day,
for you to say this is disgusting to me. That's not what the person is telling you. That's not what
they're complaining about. That's not what the person is saying. And in fact, in many situations,
they are asking very different types of questions. What's what's wrong with the love? Why do Muslims
preach hate? Why are those things intolerant? These are the questions that were being asked. It's
		

			not, Hey, are you disgusted by this? What is your stance on this? Because, again, going back to what
I said earlier, liberalism doesn't care about what you think if everyone is happy, they're doing
things in their homes and society accepts and that's fine. That's acceptable. Obviously, we don't
agree with us. We believe that all of society is harmed when we normalize something that is
prohibited. And that's something we have to make clear, even as minorities in this country that we
hope, and we wish for all people to follow what is good for them, what is pleasing to Allah, what is
beneficial for their athlete, and we wish this for everyone. And that will require us not to push
		

			people away, but to figure out how to reach different people, whether it's a Muslim who comes to you
and says I'm struggling with this or a normal civil asks, What's your stance stance on, let's say,
LGBTQ movements?
		

			Islam does not categorize people based on desires. We don't categorize people based on their
specific sin. What I mean by this is that it's not an identity, if a sir not understand, but their
internal thoughts, their lust, their desires, we don't categorize people, for a desiring to drink
something, to eat something to do something we don't categorize people like this. Rather, we
separate between what they're desiring and what they're acting upon the second, we always emphasize,
for the many Muslims who do come forward who do send emails for the many parents who reach out say,
my son, my daughter actually expressed to me because we have a good relationship and a very open
		

			what, that they are struggling with a same * attraction. Oftentimes, it's coming from religious
families, it's coming from people who otherwise would not expect that their sons and their daughters
are struggling with this. Their first reaction is, well, you're out of the house, we banish you
you're exile, you're what what does that do for them? What does that do for for the issue at hand?
If your son or your daughter God forbid, or sorry, if a son or a daughter in the community, what do
you say to their parents, I have fallen into Xena. So it's not what I thought about Syria? Would you
kick them out of your home or you figure out a way to give them let's see her figure out how to help
		

			them figure out how to change the situation for the better. I know they are not exactly the same.
And I'm not saying that they are. But these are examples of two major sins that if they are to be
acted upon, it's a very different conversation than someone wants to tell you. I'm struggling with
this design. Because when someone a young man says I'm trying to get married, so I will fall into
Xena if your responses just deal with it. Why are you so disgusting? What's wrong with you? That's
not a reaction any
		

			One hope anyone has to their sons and their daughters who say I want to get married, so that I don't
fall into haram. So that I'll have a home relationship. That's not a justification, of course. But
this is expressed as a desire. If that's expressed, and you don't emphasize that you need to have
them nuts, you need to strive against your desires, that Islam is all about self discipline about
being the best possible human being you can be. And that means at times, you may have a desire for
something that you cannot act upon. That means at times, you may have to look for support groups,
like the many of Hamdulillah, that many SSA support groups that we have Muslim, yes, Muslims have at
		

			times, same * attraction, they have to help each other and advise each other. And this is coming
from doctors and psychologists and Imams, and others who are helping with these groups. And there
are groups like this to support those who are struggling, and many who are attempting not doing well
in terms of their Iman, and they are not justifying what they are desiring in terms of action.
They're not trying to change his name from within, they're not trying to reinterpret the Quran,
we're not talking about those types of movements, those are self identified progressive movements,
we're not talking about this.
		

			In addition to this, we say that for those who don't understand, like what's happening in society,
especially with every subsequent generation, this conversation is more more normalized. These things
are normal in society, and anyone who does not realize this, and I think everyone here is probably
aware that it is extremely normalized in society, to the extent that it's part of movies or TV
shows, it's part of pretty much schools, politics, everybody who are here who works in any corporate
setting, it's probably part of your diversity inclusivity training, and it's part of Pride month now
and Awareness Month. And so, somebody asked, why are there more lectures about this topic now in our
		

			community, then before since there are many issues we address why now obviously, why now, because
now it is trending more. Now it is affecting more people. Now, more and more listeners are asking
what do I do if I have a desire that I cannot act upon? Now, Robertsons are asking what do I do to
navigate this for my children or for my community, or in my corporate space, or for my job
professionally speaking, but once again, for many people who have told us they struggle with this,
it's not something that they can just simply turn on and off, this is a desire. And it's something
that will require it's a deeper thing. And it's a discussion beyond this. And beyond my scope in
		

			terms of psychology, it's something that requires Yes, some support some self discipline, other
things, and other people will struggle with other desires, they cannot just simply be turned on and
off. The point here is not to normalize it, because it's not allowed to be normalized. In Islam. The
point is not for us to normalize at action that is prohibited. The point is for us not to sugarcoat
what we believe to be true, but to figure out how to convey it in different settings, and to
understand that we are human beings, and people's emotions do matter, and that we don't want to also
push people away from a conversation which they could have sought help or clarification from me on
		

			what Islam says. But we also have to avoid falling into desensitization of what's happening to the
extent that someone who has no foundation in what Islam says about this is watching TV shows and
movies left and right binge watching every show that comes out. And anybody who has watched any
mainstream TV show any popular show in the last, I don't know, five to 10 years, you know that there
has to be, at least in every show at least one good character. And I'm not saying this from my own
experience. I'm saying this literally from all these studies talking about the sociological trends
in media, what does that say? I'm not talking about the movements efforts, I'm talking about what we
		

			watch what we consume, the more we watch and see, the more we start to feel that things are normal.
And there's a really important point here, our community at times, and many parents, and I apologize
if this offends anyone at all. Our community at times, will make some issues huge, and they are huge
in some contexts. And we'll ignore all of the other issues affecting them and affecting their
children. And I'll give a very obvious example. What's worse than the acting upon SSA is shift. And
I'm not saying that we're comparing for the sake of saying one is not bad, and one is good. No,
these are both terrible things for an Islamic moral perspective. And this is the academic view.
		

			There's no doubt about this. However, most Muslim parents do not care and say most not all, but
there's something there daughters have no foundation strong foundation when it comes to our Theta
Who is Allah subhanaw taala the love of Allah the proofs of Islam, and he doesn't put on the lead
the rule and watch me consuming so many things that normal I should insulting God mocking religion,
and a secular public education that in fact is me secularism. By the way, a side point here. A
secular public education does not mean it is truly neutral. There is no such thing as a truly
neutral public education system. A secular education system that teaches science or teaches
		

			evolution in terms of not macro or micro in terms of the first human beings that teaches cosmology
that teaches physics that teaches history and humanities in general secularity and secularism in the
US and our public education systems is a religious stance.
		

			and it's one that actually opposes what Islam and Christianity and others say. So let's not ignore
the normalizing of shifts and disbelief and rejection or loss of power data, and the mockery of
religion and religious stances, and say that this issue of LGBT is the only issue. And all these
other things are not that important for my sons and my daughters. Because most people who struggle,
most people who struggle and actually leave the folds of Islam, when they say that they have SSA
have in fact struggled for years with the normalization of shift in their homes, and their parents
did not care at that point, parents had no idea what was going on, their parents did not consider it
		

			to be a priority. But because of personal preference, and personal disgust at times, to certain
discussions, they had a stronger reaction to this conversation than to other things. And again, I'm
not trying to compare for the sake of saying what is good and what is bad. Rather, both of these
things, which are obviously sins in Islam should to the extent that he cannot be forgiven after
death, meaning the afterlife that we ignore the normalization of many things, and we shouldn't,
let's address things in our homes, let's build a an open relationship with our children terms of
talking about what's right and wrong and teaching rather than just preaching, teaching, why we
		

			believe certain things we are living in a society that challenges all things, criticizes critiques,
and is very skeptical of tradition, is very arrogant, and I mean, generally arrogant towards
religion. And this is because sometimes some people, mostly Christians have had really bad
experiences as Christians. And they will justify leaving Christianity because of those experiences.
And some Muslims have said the same, unfortunately, even though it's not a justification.
Unfortunately, we forget that our actions, our delivery, our message, our Tobia has a huge impact on
our children and our society, we forget how important it is, in fact, Yanni, forgive me for saying
		

			this, most parents ignore the rights of their children, their religious rights, and they focus only
on the financial, that I want to raise my son and my daughter to have a good home of hundreds of
very comfortable shelter, living in a safe city, in a secure country to have a secure job, a career
of marriage, I want to build you up for your future, and I want you to be successful. And what they
mean is materialistically. When it comes to the afternoon, it's oftentimes very little effort or no
effort at all. And when we say very little effort, to the extent that there are many, many
university students, and this is primarily my area in terms of working though, many university
		

			students in many other cities, many students who are expressing 101 different types of struggles
that are a symptom of the issue of parents having not addressed this sooner, we shouldn't be having
these conversations, and sometimes they are very difficult. We should be having these conversations.
And as we know, now at a younger and younger age with our children, because what people are being
exposed to it's no longer based on in person conversations all through the internet, through social
media, through phones and devices through friends, elementary school students are being exposed to
not just LGBTQ, but they're being exposed to shift at all times. So let's open up the doors of
		

			conversation in terms of athlete in terms of morality, in terms of the proofs that assume is true.
And also navigating things I want to suggest for those who are writing notes, a resource one of the
best resources that has been utilized by so many people in the last three years. It's a podcast
series called a way beyond the rainbow, by Dr. Wade Jensen. He's a doctor and he struggles with SSA
he's a Muslim, he's married has children. He struggled with SSA for many years. And he talks about
this openly not to normalize, but to show how to navigate how to strive how to have self discipline.
We also need to emphasize inshallah to Allah utilizing the resources that we have in their entirety.
		

			Because sometimes we see this is not addressed enough, somebody will reach out to the machine
saying, Why is this topic not being covered? We have so many resources online that are mashallah
well produced, and they are rigorous they are academically sound, they have been peer reviewed, we
have video series, you have so many programs, we need to take advantage of them channel data as we
continue to address what is relevant, what is impactful when it comes to our approach to LGBTQ, we
cannot be shy. We're living in a society in which the waves of liberal movements emphasize that
anyone who disagrees with them is intolerant. And for anyone who who who is interested in
		

			philosophy, there are a number of wonderful books and dissertations and articles about the
intolerance of liberalism, about the illiberal ism of liberalism, of movement, and your suit just to
be clear, a movement that generally portrays itself as inclusive of everyone and this is why it's
all about inclusivity. But in reality, as soon as you express a moral theistic view, as a Muslim or
a Christian or others, you are no longer considered tolerant and accepting our woman. In fact, you
are cancelled immediately. You're not allowed to talk about these things. And this is the reason
there are many people in many places, whether corporate or Imams, or others who did not talk about
		

			this issue for the last 2030 years, especially in the public spaces because there have been people
have been banned from traveling certain countries, speaking at universities, speaking in certain
places fired from their jobs. This is a very common thing.
		

			So we are living in a time in which I do not mean to sound pessimistic at all, but rather realistic,
that if we are to stay silent as Muslims, if we don't address things as they are in society, if we
do not speak our views and address our basically what we believe to be truth, what happens to a
society that is pushing for a morality, from our perspective is that it will only get more immoral,
you will not want to solve the problem for future generations by saying, I'm just going to be quiet
as a Muslim, it really won't solve the problem. In fact, it creates greater harm, because now
there's a confusion for many youth who asked, well, what's the Muslim stance on this? What is our
		

			perspective? How do we deal with these issues that are very real to us on campus, real to us in high
schools, real to us at workplaces? When Nobody's talking about it's because we are, let's say
ashamed of saying, We believe this. And we believe that if somebody of any background is doing
something immoral, and they are not ashamed of it, and they are vocal about and advocating for a
pushing for it, we should have a greater desire and pride to push for what is true, to push for the
revelation of Allah Subhana Allah as a solution to the problems that we deal with. We all have
struggles, we have desires, we have a sins, we have flaws, we don't look down on other people, we
		

			don't want to push people away. But at the same time, this requires us to understand that tolerance
does not mean accepting that something moral that you disagree with is correct. And this is
something that everyone will agree with. But they will not always admit that even someone who says
that they support, let's say, LGBTQ or identify with the movement, they will have limitations on how
much liberalism is acceptable, how much they will allow of inclusivity No, no, you're an evangelical
Christian, we don't agree with your conservative views. You're an orthodox, Sunni Muslim, or any 2
billion Muslims in the world. If we knew what you actually we don't, we don't really we don't
		

			actually agree with you. And this is what many people are facing in their workplaces in education
many other places as well.
		

			Another just a few more points. Inshallah. Tada, we do have a lot of work to do. When it comes to
actually trying to help people in society navigate what seems to be one of the greatest trends and
changes when it comes to something that was always considered objective was something that was
considered normal, that now it has changed to the extent that we need to actually be more vocal and
active and have more think tanks and publications and movements that deal with these matters of
sexual ethics for the sake of all of society. Now, a lot of people ask, and may have just a few more
points in genitalia, a lot of people ask, what's the problem with love? So really, really
		

			interesting question. Usually when we mentioned what Islam says about the LGBTQ movement about
sexuality that even within a marriage, some things are prohibited or haram like *, illegal, of
course, all these things, I apologize. We have to be explicit here. Even when we say there are moral
rules with these matters. You will have people asking you what's wrong with love? What's wrong with
them?
		

			Are we against love? Are we like pro hate anti? Like, are we like, you know, anti compassion, anti
love anti tolerance? Of course not. You can ask and I have asked many people, we've had one on one
conversations on these topics, atheists, agnostics, and many others.
		

			If you love somebody, you're single you love somebody who's married and they're happily married. Are
you allowed to act upon that love and ruin basically? Are you allowed to be homewrecker? No, you
cannot. Even an atheist, so no, excellent. I think that's unethical. So you have a limitation of
what you find to be your desire. Maybe Infatuation is a better word, your love of that person, that
lady, that man you had love for them, you could not act upon it, you know, acting upon it was
unethical. But where did you get that reference point from our reference point, going back to the
very beginning, our reference point you have to understand we believe is justified intellectually,
		

			it's miraculous nature of the Quran, that are in a woman. So we believe love in the heart is one
thing and acting upon it is another thing. I can have love of a chocolate cake, and I can't act upon
it. Because I don't want my children. I can have love for this not to act upon. These are examples
of food. I know it's not the same. But you can think of several examples in which people might love
other people, but they cannot act upon that infatuation or design is prohibited, ethical, immoral,
or even in a country illegal. And there are some countries that have normalized and made legal, some
things that are prohibited here in the United States of America. And I don't want to give too many
		

			other explicit examples, but one of the more obvious examples for the last 30 years in this country
in terms of lust, desire, and action and law, and I apologize, I know these are sensitive topics.
But if we didn't, if we didn't address this properly, we would be missing some things, some points
based reality. I don't have to define this for those who know what it is that this country was legal
in many places, and most people their initial reaction, even if even if they are a part of the LGBTQ
movement, or any other movements or Muslim numbers, most people's initial reaction is one of disgust
		

			What most people their initial reaction is? See, that's disgusting, that's immoral. That's not
something anyone should be allowed to do legally. They have a limitation, there's a limit to
boundary on what people are allowed to do in society. Now, they might tell you Oh, it's because of
consent and animals and all that. No, that's not always what it's about. You have a feeling of
disgust towards something. So you might say that shouldn't be allowed in society. And yet, it was
permitted. And it is permitted some European countries, by the way, it was legally it was made
illegal in the state of Washington. When there was an incident, I'm trying to be very cautious with
		

			my words, there was an incident that took place with an animal brothel and somebody was injured,
went to the hospital and ended up dying. And maybe six to eight months after this, Allah was passing
he was making illegal My point is that people do have an opinion on where the lines are drawn. Our
lines are drawn based on what Allah subhanaw taala stores. We're not preaching hate. We're not but
we preach that if you have a desire, we believe that acting upon it could be good, it could be evil,
and our reference point unbelievers moral, its objective, it is revelatory from the loss of hundreds
intellectually justified, at the same time. We don't want people to be pushed away from Islam, but
		

			we will not sugarcoat or lie about what we believe to be true. We don't speak on behalf of Allah
subhanaw taala in correct fashion, we don't lie on behalf of what is true. And that leads Muslims to
the everyday conversations in which people will ask how can you not accept me for who I am? How can
you not accept my identity? My exist? Are you against my existence? Why existence? Why identity?
Because once again, tying in together things that are supposed to be separate identity with desires
with actions, I'm not against the identity, or the existence the human existence of somebody who has
same * attraction. No, but I believe that this is something that is immoral. We believe from an
		

			Islamic perspective, it should not be acted upon. Obviously, we will never preach violence against
people we have never preached violence against somebody random to go attack. Have you ever heard a
Muslim saying every time you go attack them and kill them as vigilantes, everybody drinking alcohol
go and burn down their personal we don't do this. We're living first of all, as minorities, we're
living as a religiously pluralistic society, where people of all backgrounds here, we have people
who are allowed to in Islamic law allowed to have churches and they're committing schicke. By having
these churches in, in Medina in Mecca, the Christians, the Jews, and the Prophet sola Wiseman had a
		

			charter between them, but there are limitations to what kind of charters and alliances that are
permitted in that kind of ideal society. And so, we are not allowed to justify this. We are not anti
love, but we believe love is defined in different ways. And we believe acting upon love, everyone
will have their own opinion ours is coming from generally speaking as Orthodox mostly a very
extensive, a very extensive boundary that is objective. We believe that some forms of infatuation
desire, love cannot be acted upon even from a legal perspective. So again, going back to the
question of where do you how do you know what you don't? Where do you get your morality from? And we
		

			believe generally speaking, that listens do need to be vocal about what we believe but in the right
way, and the right situation, the right time with wisdom, because at the end of the day, just as
some of us are advocating against alcohol in society and decreasing the age of drinking in America
from 21 to 16, which is the case in many European countries we don't want this year. In fact,
obviously, we don't want alcohol in general. The reality is, we need to be consistent in our
strategizing, we need to figure out how to address different issues different times different
places. But if Muslims do not show up, if Muslims do not show up to their schools, if Muslims do not
		

			show up and speak to their, basically their employers, if Muslims do not show up to trainings and
talk about what we believe and what our religious rights are, that we don't want our rights
infringed upon, we cannot be forced to say something do something that contradicts our religion, at
least as of yet, in America, at least at this time, there is still some notion of freedom of
religion, to the extent that many Christians who for now are at the forefront of addressing these
matters. And sometimes they will have 1,000,001 Other problems as a movement as a political party as
others, they will have a number of other issues we may disagree with just as and again, I'm using
		

			these terms very loosely, liberals and others in this in this country will have many issues we
disagree with or agree with. But when it comes to sexual ethics, when it comes to morality, this is
something that we have to strategize and we have to work on consistently. We have to be very kind.
We have to be very firm. And there's no contradiction between the two they're not mutually
exclusive. Because for you to be tolerant does not mean you have to accept that everyone drinks
apple that * is okay that this is okay. But that's okay. And yet we will not harm physically
another human being we will not we do not allow vigilante justice. We don't want Muslims criticizing
		

			and assaulting for the sake of insulting there's no benefit in that. We want people to talk about
these things in a wise manner in every setting, suitable for that setting in sha Allah to Allah and
the last point here inshallah Tada is not when you talk about this.
		

			Unfortunately, you're going to realize that
		

			It's going to get worse in this country in terms of the ideological conflicts. And the reason I'm
showing this is not to sound pessimistic, we are optimists as Muslims. But we are realistic. If you
look at the trends in every single Western nation, you will find like Canada, which is considered
the number one country in the world for anyone who identifies with LGBTQ. And now schools, by the
way, I don't know if you guys are everyone here is following what's happening in one of the
elementary schools, middle schools or high schools where children are seeing certain things that
they should not have to be exposed to at a young age, * and sexuality is being discussed at a
		

			younger and younger age, which is something that people are not signing up for, you'll find that
corporate places, a lot of people are being fired or forced to say things or stay silent about
things because they don't want to lose their livelihood. Sometimes rightfully so you will find
Muslims in many settlement cases, many lawsuits as well. So it's not going to get better in the
short term. And I don't see this to sound sinister or ominous. It's not going to get better in the
sense that this country philosophically ideologically is not united upon anything. And the trends
now the more you will see a push from what's called liberalism or the left, the more you see that
		

			push with these matters, you know, X y&z let's say, three different issues, the more you will find
Christians, Muslims, and yes, Jews and others pushing back and saying that contradicts our religious
views. The question is what's going to dominate legal what's going to win at the end of the day,
who's going to allow their idea of of sexual norms and ethics to basically become part of their
corporate training to become part of what's taught in school? So you must be now saying I teach. And
I'm being told that I have to teach certain subjects that are considered prohibited in Islam. What
do I do? Muslims are asking, what do we do with our children in public schools. And it may sound
		

			maybe unreasonable to a lot of people,
		

			we are going to have to and we are long overdue for a
		

			at least a dozen or so strong Islamic schools in every single state. And if we are in a situation in
which we don't have academically and religiously, the strongest schools in the state, we are not
reaching our potential as Muslims, because all our parents say, I see what's happening public
schools, and that's not going away, it's not going away. It's not going away anytime soon. In fact,
it is only going to become more and more immoral. And their ship taught in schools or many other
things taught at schools, children exposed to by the way, a lot of other problems, because this is
not the only issue. But if you care about your identity, and your children's identity, your faith,
		

			your children's faith, we're going to have to make decisions that are going to affect people 100
years from now, not just for our directors, we are going to have to build foundations and training
and management and vision for the strongest. And in fact, not just the strongest Islamic schools and
private schools, but schools that accommodate people of different backgrounds, as is the case of
hundreds of Christians attending summer schools, because they want their children in that Islamic
environment. We have many other people as well. But what we're constantly hearing is there are not
enough Islamic schools. And they're not strong businesses, that many of them are struggling
		

			academically, or are extremely expensive, or kind of skipping all the certifications that are
required. And I don't say this to talk about any school at all, I'm saying in general, across North
America, these are the complaints that we hear. So if we find a gap in our cities, our states, it's
all of ours, it's our community. It's our open, it's our children, whatever gaps, we find, let's
fill those gaps. Let's build those foundations. Because if you care about the testimony of a child,
and you don't want them exposed to certain things, you cannot assume and expect a society that is
very liberal now, but also very secular. And that's a religious stance, to teach your child the
		

			correct things. That's just not going to happen. And it also it's unreasonable. It's unreasonable to
assume that a public school in this country is going to accommodate everything for a Muslim, it's
unreasonable to an extent, there will be things that are taught that we don't agree with and that
have affected many children. And they are much bigger than the topic that a pan of LGBTQ and if we
don't think ahead with preventative measures, rather than trying to fix things after the fact that
reacting to movements and Pride Month and all this, we're going to just find ourselves talking about
another issue in five or 10 years and saying why didn't we build institutions environments? Why
		

			don't we come together as parents stronger Co Op homeschool, there are so many parents now, in the
last three years, homeschooling more than ever before many of them actually working together in
different cities, we have a lot of work to do. And it should be something that excites us because
when there's a need, when there's a need especially I'm talking especially to the younger Muslims
who are here to the students, when there is a greater need and a challenge, the reward for those who
work towards it as much greater though the reward for those who address it. And they deal with it
head on and they are willing to lead the way amongst their peers amongst their classmates amongst
		

			their MSCs amongst even the schools that we have. The reward long term of Southern Virginia is
wanting so much greater. We ask Allah subhanaw taala to guide us, protect us forgive us and protect
our communities. We ask Allah subhanaw taala to make us a people who are in
		

			My goodness and morality and demonstrate that morality in a wise manner. We ask Allah subhanaw taala
to heal our hearts and to heal our initiatives along that needle so they know not to, you know,
commit early SEIP