Tahir Anwar – The Muslim Community is a Single Community
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We begin by praising Allah, Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala,
asking Allah, Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, for his help,
his protection, his mercy, his blessings, his sustenance,
and praying and begging Allah, Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala,
to make us amongst the most successful individuals
both in this life
and the hereafter, Aminya Rabba Alameen.
Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala
reminds us in the Quran wherein he Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala says,
That And this is addressing the prophet Muhammad
sallallahu alaihi wasallam in which he says that
this ummah of yours,
this community of yours is a single community,
which is why Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
reminds us
as people of the ummah to remain united.
Now of course, there's various different definitions of
what united can be.
But if we go back to the time
of the prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wasallam,
and I find that the American Muslim experience
is generally very close
to that of the times of the prophet
Muhammad sallallahu alaihi
wasallam. And the reason behind that is because
in the gatherings of the prophet Muhammad sallallahu
alaihi wasallam, there were people of all different
backgrounds
within that one gathering.
Of course, where people
to immigrants into this country come from when
you go to different lands,
you generally find a people of a certain
ideology, a certain specific mindset
that all attend the same kind of masjid,
or community center, or a prayer area, or
whatever you wanna call it.
But generally here in the West, and more
specific in the United States, when you attend
a masjid, you go into a community center,
people arrive there simply because they believe in
the oneness of Allah and believe in the
finality
of the prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wasallam.
That is the uniting
factor that brings
people into our Masanjid.
That is the common denominator
that brings people together,
brings Muslims together here in the United States.
And as Muslims who live in the United
States, we must acknowledge that, that this is
the common denominator.
This is the universal factor that brings us
all together.
But because many of us or our parents
or grandparents
come from different lands,
there are unique methods how we choose to
practice Islam and worship Allah.
There's different ways, people. And and the differences
are the differences are various. And we're not
talking about differences here, but in terms of
your fiqh, in terms of, you know, other
areas and so on and so forth. But
generally speaking, the things that bring us together
is that is the belief in Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala and the prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihi
wasallam.
Which is why it's extremely important for us
to be able to turn to the Quran
and the sunnah of the prophet Muhammad sallallahu
alaihi wasallam in order to
understand and find similes and examples through how
which we can live our lives here as
Muslims in the West, or as Muslims in
the United States. And the reason I mentioned
this, and this is a very common message
of mine,
and the reason I
mentioned this is because
as Muslims, we become very excited. We come
together.
But then that excitement
and that unity that brings us together,
we we tend to begin to discuss our
differences.
And when we began to discuss those differences,
we're so hard and we're so concrete
and not giving up some of the things
that we come with
that we end up instead of creating friends
and communities, we end up creating enemies.
We end up breaking our communities.
And that is a very real fact
with Muslims in the United States.
Right? People want to separate.
And as individuals,
I've I've I'm I'm in my thirties. I've
lived most of my life here. I was
born in Europe.
I grew up at a Masjid in the
United States.
I went to the Masjid.
Where my Masjid people still call me by
my first name, or they call me Beta.
But the reality is
that as I'm growing up, and I guess
my hairs are getting a little lighter than
they were a few years ago,
I'm coming to realize
that I now have children that live in
my house that are almost as tall as
I am,
and soon enough,
I'm gonna be living with other men in
the same house.
Right? It's just I'm the only man there
right now. I'm gonna have more men living
in the same house.
And as a Muslim,
as one who is
walking on this journey
to Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala,
On this journey where day in day out
in my community, I see friends and people
passing away
and coming close to their creator.
As an individual
who thrives and strives to be close to
Allah,
what is the legacy that I wanna leave
behind with my children?
What is it that I want to leave
behind with my children?
Is it going to be the fact that,
oh, my child, we are Indian Muslims. Your
grandparents are Indian, so you should be a
proud Indian.
Or is it, oh, my child, I come
from a land where the Hanafi madhab is
practiced, and that's what I practice, and you
better practice that in order to be a
successful Muslim.
What is honestly, what is it that I'm
going to leave behind? What is what is
my challenge?
What is it going to take? And this
is a very simple question I ask myself
as an individual who gets to travel a
lot.
What is it? What is it going to
take on my part
to ensure that when my children are in
their twenties thirties and they're out on a
business trip somewhere,
that they wait and they're in some hotel
where no one knows who they are, where
they are,
that they are inspired to wake up in
the morning at fajr time and pray their
salat al fajr because they love Allah Subhanahu
wa ta'ala. Not because they're scared of Allah,
but because they love Allah.
That when they're going out to eat, they
make conscious choices.
Right? They're making sure that they're not just
eating junk food.
They're not eating trash that fast food restaurants
in this country serve. That they're making a
conscious choice
to to support local Muslim businesses no matter
where they are.
What is it going to take for what
what and what what is it gonna take
on my part to pass that along to
my children?
It's a very, very simple question,
yet the answer can be a very difficult
one.
And I've come to realize,
as a school teacher,
it's not what you say that counts.
It's not what you say that counts.
It's what you do that counts.
It's what you do as a parent that
counts.
Right? These children are observing.
These children are looking at us day in,
day out.
And when I think of this,
it's an inspiration
because,
again, going back to the prophet Muhammad sallallahu
alaihi wasallam,
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala reminds us in the
Quran, the Quran, we think that, oh, it's
just the Quran. It's just Arabic. Anyone can
read the translation.
There's some very deep messages in the Quran.
Learn to not just recite the Quran, but
learn to understand the Quran.
And just because you've gone through a tafsir
of the Quran once in your life, doesn't
mean it's over. It's a continuous process. We
need to continue that study.
Right? You don't just go through the tafsir
of the Quran, 1, 7, 8 volumes, and
say, Alhamdulillah,
I've studied the Quran, and now I'm an
expert, and I can deliver a khutva.
It's not about that. It's not about being
able to deliver. It's about being able to
inspire oneself.
Allah
mentions
You find the best example in that of
the life of the messenger Muhammad sallallahu alaihi
wasallam. Peace and blessings of Allah be upon
him. What did the prophet do? The prophet,
alayhi salatu wasallam, taught, but the prophet, alayhi
salatu wasallam,
inspired.
The prophet sallallahu alayhi wasalam,
through his simple
yet noble life, inspired his companions.
And his inspiration was so strong that his
companions
wanted to be like him.
It wasn't just about hearing a message and
conveying the message. There's a lot of things
that we convey on a daily basis.
We hear all kinds. There's all kinds of
people that say all kinds of things.
They may not be morally upright, but we
still convey their message. There's great things that
they've said. There's quotes
of weird people. We still quote them because
the quote happens to be a good quote,
and there's nothing wrong with that.
But the prophet, alayhis salatu wa sallam, became
an inspiration, and he he was such a
great example
that his companions wanted to be like him.
They wanted to do what he did. They
wanted to dress what he dressed like. They
wanted to speak like what he spoke.
That's why Imam Tirmidi, and we've all know
the the collect the Shama'il collected by Imam
Tirmidi,
the life of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam,
what he looked like, what he spoke like,
what he walked like, what he talked like,
how he met people, how he met children,
how he met women.
Right? How he how he talked to people.
He didn't run away from people. He didn't
scream at children.
Right? The simple things that people do.
What what will when you when we pass
away, how will people remember us?
When I leave this dunya, how will people
remember us?
I was reading an Islamic Horizons Magazine not
too long ago, about a year or so
ago. And I was reading at the end,
you know, they have the obituaries of certain
Muslim personalities in the country that have passed
away. And there was one I remember within
the first paragraph, it was mentioned
that people remember him to smile at everyone
that he met. That's how people remembered him.
And I was inspired from that day onwards
to buy a box of chocolates and keep
them in my office. And I have a
habit that whenever young children come to the
masjid, they give them candy.
Not for them to come back to the
masjid, but this is a memory that they
will remember that as a child when I
went to the masjid, there was someone who
used to give me candy.
Right? Just kindness,
kindness all around,
being that inspiration,
not just talking about the message,
going back to our children, not just talking
about the message, but being that message. And
what did the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam do?
The prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam during his lifetime,
even in the days of Makkah, and then
even more during the days of Madinah, the
prophet alaihi salatu wasallam had companions
who became his ambassadors,
and he sent these companions to the various
different cities and towns.
Right? When the first group of people came
from Madinah Munawwara,
Musa Abib Duhamay
was part of them. What he tell Musa'ab
do Musa'ab was a young man. He was
a young man. What did he tell Musa'ab
to do?
I tell you, it's an amazing example.
He tells Musa'ab, when you go back to
your city, when you go back to your
town, when you go back to Yathrib, lead
your people in prayer. He made him a
leader.
He gave him something to do.
And Mus'ad went back, along with those 12,
13 people, back to Madinah Munawara.
Right? And their message was so strong that
they came back next year with almost almost
80 people.
Right? Their allegiance what did he do with
Mu'az ibn Jabal, radiAllahu an?
It's a it's a lengthy.
When he sent Mu'az to Yemen,
what did he tell Mu'az to do?
Oh, Mu'adh, listen. Make it easy for these
people. Don't make it difficult.
Give them glad tidings. Don't scare them.
That was the prophet's message to the people.
But when they lived and they came, many
of the companions,
many of the companions,
when they came to the prophet sallallahu alaihi
wasallam, as you and I may imagine, they
didn't live with him for years.
Most of the companions at at max
lived with him for a few weeks.
They spent a few weeks in his company,
sallallahu alaihi wa sallam. But when they left
from there, they were inspired. They were changed.
It wasn't just there's two reasons, and I'm
I'm I'll you know, I wanna bring these
two things. It wasn't just the actions of
the prophet, alayhis salaam,
because a lot of people are good. But
it was also the
of the prophet Muhammad, sallallahu alayhi wasalam.
Allah
naturally drew people closer to him
because he was close to Allah.
Allah made it easy for him, sallallahu alaihi
wasallam, to be so kind
because he was close to Allah.
He spent his nights,
He spent portions of his night in remembrance
of Allah.
That's what gave him the inspiration,
the divine power to live his days
despite the fact that those days were in
poverty, despite the fact that those days were
in difficulty. And Allah allowed him, Allah enabled
him to become an inspiration.
So as parents,
we're talking about this unity, this one ummah,
raising our children to be a part of
the ummah.
Right? As parents who are teaching them, it's
Sunday schools are great, but they're not going
to be enough.
Telling our children to do good is good,
but it's not going to be enough.
In order for us to have
children who continue to remain Muslims,
we are going to have to become Muslims.
We are going to have to become inspirations
for them.
We are going to have to take the
message of Mu'adh ibn Jabal, the message of
the prophet, alayhis salam, to Mu'adh ibn Jabal
to make things easy and not difficult.
Right? Be kind with your children. Be nice
to your children.
And, see, people say a lot of parents
this is very calm. A lot of parents
will come in and say, oh, we're nice.
We do everything for them. Yes. True.
But sometimes there's no weight in our message.
And there may be no weight in our
message because
our
our relationship with Allah
as a parent is not where it should
be at that point in time.
As we get older, as everyone gets older
you know what I mean? It's it's a
very simple thing. You've heard this a 1000000
times in the last few years, But when
we all came to this country, we all
know we had nothing, or we had a
little bit, and, you know, people grew and
so on and so forth. I remember when
I started working, I used to drive an
old car, live in a 2 on a
1 bedroom apartment. I mean, it's been 14
years. Things have changed now. Right? Masha'Allah, I
have a big house. I have 2 cars,
2 kids, and beautiful wife, and life is
good. Alhamdulillah. Say Alhamdulillah.
It's all good.
But has my Ibadah with Allah increased?
Right? So when I used to pray Fajr
and it used to take me 10 minutes,
it should be taking me 15 minutes now.
Right? Why do not why don't I wake
up in the morning before
to before, the time for Fajr comes in
for tahajjud? Why not? How come that hasn't
come in yet? In terms of dunya, everything's
coming in. It's all good.
But in terms of my relationship with Allah,
how come that hasn't increased?
Because our relationship with Allah
is a direct factor through which our our
our our interactions happen to be with people.
That inspiration, that power, that power, that
ummah,
when we talk about the unity of the
ummah, it comes through actions. It comes through
example.
Yet, it also comes through our relationship with
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
And I tell you, last night, I I
almost had an as I was boarding the
flight, I I just had this revelation.
And it was a very tough revelation.
My father is is, masha'Allah,
blessed, healthy. He's in his late sixties.
Been all he does is travel. Ever since
he retired at the age of 45,
he's a very content man. Doesn't have a
lot of money, but very content. He retired
at the age of 45.
And all he does is travel to see
friends and family.
6 weeks, 7 weeks ago, in Madinah Munawara,
he fell down and fractured his femur.
He's been bedridden for 6 weeks. For me
to see my own father bedridden,
mind blowing.
Right?
One of his very close friends last
I spoke to one of his very close
friends last Wednesday night after his cataract surgery.
I found out 2 days later that on
Thursday Friday,
he had 2 back to back
strokes.
Right? I went and see I went and
saw him at the hospital on Monday and
the rehab home on Tuesday.
As I'm boarding the flight yesterday, another very
dear friend of my father's calls me and
says, look. I know your father is ill.
I I'll let you choose when is the
right time and when is the right method
to break the news to him, but, my
cancer has come back,
and it's pretty strong right now.
And I just kinda and this was right
because he said, oh, there's a lot of
background noise. Is everything okay? I said, I'm
getting ready to board the flight. So he
goes, okay. I'll keep my message short, and
we hung up.
It just dawned on me that life you
know, these are amazing people. These are people
who I've known for 35 years of my
life,
And it's they're getting old, and things are
changing for them.
And
I ask myself that, where do I want
to be as a Muslim, as a parent,
as a community member, as a leader
in 30, 35 years
from now if I make it that far.
I I need I need to become that
example.
And in order to become an example, I
also need to increase my worship in Arba'at
with Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
These are two things that go hand in
hand.
I I need to become a successful Muslim,
one who people look up to, one who
the community, not just the Muslim community, the
community at large respects
that I have you know, there's pea I
can convey my message to the people. Yet
at the same time,
at the same time, I need to build
this relationship and bond with Allah
The bare minimum is great, but the bare
minimum won't suffice.
And I need to I need to connect
my children,
not with an ethnicity,
not with an ideology,
not with certain kinds of people, but I
need to connect my children
to Allah.
That's my challenge.
Right? Doctor Riddle Bashir, an amazing author on
children's books and social
But, you know, he I I was with
him not too long ago, and he said,
we need to connect our children to Allah
for them to be conscious of Allah, for
them to not necessarily fear, but for them
to love Allah
Alayhi wa sallam. Arhamu Ummati be Ummati Abu
Bakr Wa shaddum fee Amlillahi Ummalahu Waqqaihi wa
sallam. Waqqadahum
AAali wa Fatima wa SayyidatunisaAAil
Jannah Wa Al Hassan wal Hussain Sayyidat Shababi
Ahlil Jannah