Suleiman Hani – What do we need today – 3 Lessons from Salahuddin Ayyubi
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AI: Transcript ©
The most important thing for us to consider
is a question of what we are in
need of as individuals, families, communities, and as
an ummah.
And many people today in the ummah, if
we were to wonder what do many people
want. They wanna be rescued from oppression. They
wanna be relieved of the responsibilities
of the time that we are in. Many
people want a hero or a superhero,
and we look back at times and romanticize
the history that led to great achievements.
And oftentimes we hear of people referencing certain
names like the name of Salahuddin Al Ayubi
Rahimahullah.
Amanda's famously known for a specific moment in
his life, the liberation of Al Aqsa in
many of the nearby lands. May Allah allow
us to see a free
We think of this reality.
When people ask, when someone says, where is
today? Where is the of our times? We
have to remember 2 things.
First, every generation, for every zaman, there's a
specific type
of leader and follower,
specific circumstances
that will differentiate the people of our times,
and the leaders of our times, and the,
facilitators of goodness in our times from those
that came before. So you may be very
young, you may be old, you may have
no experience, you may have a lot of
experience.
Men and women from all walks of life,
every ethnicity amongst our ummah around the world,
and you could contribute to the goodness of
the ummah in different ways. And the second
thing to keep in mind, oftentimes when people
say, where is
the or where is this person who will
save us? And the reality is we should
strive. We should initiate goodness. We should not
wait for others to save us from oppression.
We should be relieving others of oppression.
And oftentimes when we shift the responsibility
external to us and our families and our
local communities and the entirety of the ummah.
We tend to then delay the goodness of
that ummah. We tend to delay the potential
goodness in the children of the ummah who
grow up with great ambitions, who grow up
with that tarbia. The mothers and the fathers
who spend countless hours sacrificing for their children.
That is the next leader of the ummah
but it's going to be in a different
form. When we look at the legacy of
Salahuddin, there are 3 main things I wanna
share very quickly that are timeless lessons for
the day of Eid in light of what's
happening in Palestine today. Number 1,
was known for political things, strategizing as a
general. But what many people do not know
is that he cared a lot about
He cared a lot about knowledge, knowledge with
understanding,
knowledge that raises the standards for the ummah.
He used to surround himself with the people
of the Quran, he used to be praying
qiyam and making dua. So it's not about
one aspect of the ummah, a protest or
a vote, those are important. No, but it
is about a comprehensive
connection to Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
As Muslims in this country,
we have a responsibility
perhaps than most of the when it comes
to certain aspects
of understanding Islam, practicing Islam, teaching Islam to
the non Muslims around us. That when we
engage politically,
we understand what it means to be part
of a system that is corrupt but we
hope to reform and change in different ways.
A long struggle and a long vision, not
a short term goal. But I also wanna
emphasize
this, for all the amazing parents, may Allah
bless them all. The mothers and the fathers
around the world who are teaching their children.
It is important that if a child is
given 12 years of secular education,
and then another few years of secular education
in college,
and they end up with only a year
or 2 of Islamic education, it is a
problem.
It is a problem in terms of priorities
not because of the former. There's no problem
with Muslims specializing
in every single field, doing well and excelling.
But it is important for every Muslim who's
excelling in those fields to also have a
minimum standard of a minimum standard of understanding
what is Islam, what's my duty, what's my
role, what are the essentials, the basics of
Islam that every one of us has access
to today.
It also means
reminding our youth and reminding the adults as
well but especially the youth.
Although there are differences amongst Muslims within the
ummah, there are different
different understandings in aqeedah
that we know when to talk about our
differences and how. Because when someone comes to
kill
and slaughter a community of Muslims, they do
not ask, are you Sufi, or Salafi, or
Ashari, Mataridi, or Athari, or anything else? They
don't care about your madhab. And it's not
to say that we do not care. It's
not to say that we don't seek truth,
but it's to say to know when to
emphasize differences and how that we should not
cause greater divisions.
Of Islam should be bringing the ummah together,
especially in times like this. The reality of
Islam is that it is so simple. You
do not need any complicated philosophy, any advanced
language, it's the pillars of iman, who is
your Lord, what is the final message, how
do you worship Allah? These are the things
the overwhelming majority of the ummah are in
need of. And when we raise that standard,
so that every Muslim in all of their
fields also
has a standard of We will find benefits
when people come together with their different specializations
benefiting the ummah as well. So once again,
remember, the legacy and the liberation of certain
individuals. It's not about that singular moment. It's
also about what came before it. The second
reminder from the legacy of salahuddin Ayubi Rahamalullah
is that of unity. And Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala gives us many commands in the Quran.
Hold firmly to the rope of Allah, the
covenant of Allah, and do not divide.
Do not become divided. We know the problems
of division. We are living in that generation,
that era. We see what happens when someone
who's coming from a certain nation state, a
modern nation state, will look down on someone
from a nearby neighboring nation state. Is that
Islam? That is not part of Islam. The
reality of the situation that we are in
is that divisions
are constantly used against us to weaken us,
and we see this. And the the command
of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala can be seen
historically.
What a lot of people do not know
is that Saladin Ayubi
was able to bring what they said at
the time, Ibn Shaddad and other historians,
The Muslims of the Arab background, the turkiq
background, the Akra, the Kurds. He was able
to bring them together under his leadership
because he knew that unity was important. Unity
was strength. We know this today. In this
country alone, we are the most diverse religious
group in the United States of America. And
you look around the world, 2,000,000,000 Muslims, the
nation states, the modern states do not matter
to us. What matters to us is the
truth. What matters to us is justice. What
matters to us is what is good. At
the end of his life, Saladin Ayubi was
actually on the defending end of the 3rd
crusade.
Richard, the so called lion heart, tried to
come back and attack Al Aqsa once again.
And when he came to the area outside
of Jerusalem and he saw that Saladin fortified
it, and he asked his, his people, his
army, what did Saladin do? And they told
him and they told him he's actually alive,
and he's in Jerusalem, refused to leave.
He said,
this is a city that cannot be besieged
so long as salahideen is alive and the
Muslims are united, and the Muslims are united,
and the Muslims are united. We look at
the state of the ummah today. And if
we say we feel frustration that the ummah
is divided, then let's take the first step
within our homes. The husband and the wife,
children with their parents,
siblings with relatives and one another. That we
are people that when there's a problem, we
don't run away, we don't make the problem
bigger, we look to solve the problem. Shaitan
is the enemy in these situations trying to
divide between us, our organizations,
our individuals, our amazing movements out there all
across the world. There's a lot of in
our ummah, a lot of goodness, but we
have to be wiser than the traps of
shaitan and the traps of those who seek
to divide and to conquer. May Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala grant us unity, Allah And the
third and the final reminder,
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala commands us,
Call upon me, I will respond to you.
The night before the battle of Badir, the
Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam was begging Allah,
begging Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala for victory.
We might think, well, make dua for a
little and then move on. No. The prophet
kept repeating the
dua over and over and over. And on
the day of Badir to the extent Abu
Bakr radiAllahu an came up to him and
he pulled at his hand and he said,
you have begged Allah enough You Rasulullah
Meaning you made all the dua that you
could.
The night before the battle of Hakim and
the night before the 3rd crusade,
was
seen by the and Ibn Shaddad making dua
and crying,
begging Allah for victory.
We remind our students,
study, study, study, study for that success that
you desire. Those who want to succeed in
their jobs, work hard at your job. Those
who want to have a flourishing marriage, make
sure you are investing in your marriage. You
are giving. And so we're always emphasizing doing,
doing, doing, and sacrificing.
This is the month of sacrifice. Today is
the day of sacrifice.
And And we talk about Ibrahim alaihis salaam
and sacrifice.
Likewise,
one of the means of success
is to really make du'a.
The same way for those who have been
to Hajj or have seen the videos and
pictures of Hajj, the same way the people
at are begging Allah.
In the last hour especially everyone is making
dua, people are crying, you no longer care
who's watching you, you're no longer awkward or
shy. Why? Because you know how important dua
is on this day. And you know the
reality is what?
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala's response
is nearby wherever you are. You do not
need to be a Hajj. You do not
need to be Arafah for you to make
dua like you are at Arafah.
Every single day and every single night begging
Allah for victory, for success, for forgiveness, for
guidance, for your own situation, for your own,
relief as well. May Allah make us a
people who really put our trust in him.
Dua
is the weapon of the believer. Dua is
a fortress for the believer. May Allah
make us a people of dua who are
consistent with it throughout the days and nights.
There are many other lessons. We don't have
time to cover but remember
this, the standard of in our ummah will
determine what happens in the following generations.
Number 2,
to unite and not divide, and start with
yourself and your family. If you can criticize
the ummah for being divided but you can't
bring your family together because of you, there's
a problem in terms of implementation. So let
us take advantage especially on this blessed day
as as our hearts and our minds are
with our brothers and sisters, our family members
around the world, we're also trying to take
advantage by worshiping Allah through happiness, worshiping Allah
by bringing the hearts together, worshiping Allah by
forgiving
the people who wronged us, worshiping Allah by
bringing happiness to the children, the youth and
even our neighbors as well. And again, the
third point is constantly go back to Allah
in dua. Put your trust in him, put
your trust in him, and do not wait
for other people to initiate good in your
community, the the emotion, you take the action,
start yourself, Insha'Allah,
with what is good and do not wait
for other people to relieve you and others
of oppression rather rescue others from oppression. May
Allah alleviate the affairs of our brothers and
sisters in every land and place
Allah is the awe forgiving, the ever merciful.