Walead Mosaad – Session 1 Beautify Your Home
AI: Summary ©
The speakers discuss the impact of the pandemic on homes and homes, including the rise in divorce rates, housing difficulties, and privacy concerns. They touch on the traditional housing practices of Muslims, including the use of guest rooms and homage toiva. The speakers also discuss the importance of finding people who are true to their values and finding authentic people in community life. They emphasize the need for better communication and privacy, but acknowledge the need for loudspeaker or phone calls. The speakers also touch on the use of God in relation to clothing and the importance of finding people who are true to their values and who are authentic to their values.
AI: Summary ©
So
without further ado, I mean Allahumma salli wa sallim wa barik
ala Bucha Ratan Tata. I mean, so you didn't know more than I know,
have you been able to say?
Hi, Julian, I shared with you the bean. So it was it
was like the edge mango bat. So I'm very excited and honored that
we're starting some new sessions. It's been quite a while since I've
actually been out to the measureless in California
differently since before the beginning of the pandemic. And
we had discussed with Showhouse, Nima and Jamal, about doing
something that would kind of not just
address the new reality, as it were, but also something to think
about in terms of how do we go about actually practically,
living these great teachings and embodying these great meanings and
following this great Prophet sallallahu, wasallam and
extending the, the,
the application of these meanings within ourselves within our
families. And of course, as the course title or the sessions title
within our homes.
So
beautify your home.
And the title was, was chosen, I think, with some discussion and
thought, and I thought it was the most appropriate way to think
about it. Especially considering, you know, what some people's
impression of Islam is, is that really what Islam is supposed to
do when it's done right, is to beautify things is to make things
beautiful, is to make people beautiful, inwardly and outwardly.
And that should also be reflected in our homes, which I call
our most important space.
So a lot of people talk about space now and safe space and
entering in different spaces. And usually, these spaces are somehow
associated with particular identities,
community space, so forth, but the most important space really, the
one that kind of will define you, and will define most of your
relationships, and will define the type of person you're going to be.
And the type of person you are, is the space that you occupy, in your
home, where you live, where you sleep, where you eat, where the
people who are closest to you will be occupying that same space.
And we would not be exaggerating, if we were to say that, obviously,
this space of the home
has
changed. And, and has, you know, with the changing times, and
different extenuating circumstances has taken on
different roles. And, you know, we like to use sometimes words like,
you know, the traditional home, or, you know, what does a
contemporary home look like? And you find, for example, open any
cable TV, and you look at the channels, there are 10s, if not
more of them dedicated to improvement of the home space. And
obviously, it's kind of superficial, they're looking at
kind of the,
you know, what should I put on my walls? And where should I put my
couches? And, you know, can we change this kitchen and upgrade it
and can it be looked better and that sort of thing. But the
interest that people I think have an all that sort of thing, or the
renewed interest in it is based upon the idea that people are
recognizing, hey, I'm spending a lot of time here. And it's not
just kind of like, you know, this functional thing that I come to at
night after work and then leave in the morning, but it's actually
someplace that
I want to make me feel calm and tranquil and peaceful and safe.
And this has taken on added importance, I think with the
pandemic, as people are spending a lot more time in this place that
they call home than they are used to. You know, for some people it
used to be home was just the place where you hang your coat
and spend a few hours to eat and sleep and you leave and then
that's kind of the extent of it. But many people now are working
from home. Likely the the new reality after
COVID will remain in the sense that many jobs will still probably
be remote
You know, there's no guarantee or promise that there's not another
pandemic that's just around the corner. And maybe this is the
start of things that, you know, I don't need to be pessimistic. But
you know, that possibility is there, whatever the case may be,
there is this, I think, renewed sense of, you know, we got to do
something, and what do we do about our homes,
and anecdotal evidence as well as what I hear from some statistical
evidence shows that with the pandemic, and with people spending
more time at home,
there are more difficult difficulties that are being
encountered. So divorce rates may be rising,
domestic abuse may be rising.
People living in more difficult situations and more dire
situations may be rising.
People and counting issues with their homes, our brothers and
sisters in Texas over the past few days, who are encountering
unprecedented
cold temperatures and weighing heavily on electrical grid. And so
all these sorts of things that people didn't really think about
are kind of happening within the space of of the home.
So what does that mean for us? And as Muslims, and are there things
we should be thinking about to beautify the home? Right? Both in
exoteric way, when and that's okay, to exoteric means like, from
the outward part. And if you look, the way that Muslims traditionally
built their homes, they were they were exuding meaning, right? Based
upon interstates and well and inner understandings, and also to
serve that inner space innerspace. So the traditional home wasn't
just merely functional, right, it wasn't a concrete slab with four
walls. And then people said, like, Okay, this is the most, you know,
how they used to build apartment buildings in, you know, 70s and
80s, Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, very functional, very kind of
cold, also.
And just like, you know, block units, because that's the most
efficient way to just store people as if they were items to be put on
a shelf. But what you find in the traditional Muslim homes quite
different.
There was a recognition for the different
groups of people who would be living there.
So that children, that's husband, that's wife, and maybe even
extended family, right, like in laws and things like that. So all
of these things will be taken into consideration the way that the
home was, was being constructed, and the way that it developed
privacy for these different groups. Also, you know, the Quran
mentions how, there's an SD van,
right before entering the house, it's not yours, you do this. So
then with Tasneem, you seek permission. And you give salam,
it's like Santa Monica, you know, I mean, peace. And you know, the
traditional way of doing it was,
if you say, the Sudan three times, and nobody answers you, that means
either they're not home, or they're not ready to receive you.
So it's time to go on your way.
But that's kind of how they did it. And the traditional Muslim
also understood that having guests regularly
also was a very good practice, what's called a daily offer, right
to take in guests, and maybe even an overnight guest. And so you
often had these homes that are built in a way where you had a
guest house, or you had a room
for the guests, and usually had two separate entrances, an
entrance for men and interest for women, because it's kind of a
women's area to be separated, which would be the household area.
And then you'd have the area for men and their guests. And
sometimes even the
the thing that what's it called the hook that you knock with
the door knock would be different for men and women. And I recall
seeing this in Turkey, like it would be of a different size. So
the people inside can tell if it was a man knocking or was a woman
knocking, right? And then they would, we'd be able to make the
necessary preparation about, you know, the guests would come inside
and so forth. And in some areas where land was plentiful.
And this existence some places today I've seen this in West
Africa, for example.
They have like compound type of setup and you have different
buildings within within the same place. And so you had kind of a
place for the older boys once they grow up to be separated from kind
of the girls were in the house and kind of they have their their own
space and you'd have something like a national
Something like a guest area where guests would sit and, and so
forth. So they were functional but functional to serve the spirit.
Even you look at the way that massage mosques were built.
They were not built like office buildings, which is often the case
now in some of our mosques. But
there was an understanding that there is an allotment for the ear
and allotment for the eyes, in your spiritual space, namely the
mosque. So oftentimes, they had very high ceilings, and oftentimes
great attention was paid was paid to the acoustics of the place, you
know, you stand in a certain place where the Imam is standing. And
when he's reciting the prayer in a way that the acoustics would allow
for everyone behind him to hear him quite easily. And there would
be no need for loudspeaker or microphone. And these sorts of
things.
Even spatially, the way the Medina, the way the town would be
arranged central to the town would be the mosque. And
you had like concentric circles of people living in proximity of that
the way the marketplace was arranged, right in the marketplace
would be able to off to the side, but then the marketplace, you
would go to the same, all of the people who sold meat, the butchers
would be in one place. And all of the people who were who were
cobblers would be in one place and other people who were still
Smith's would be in one place. And you may think that sounds
counterintuitive, because then aren't they are competing with one
another? And shouldn't you make some differentiation between you
and your competitor, so they should be in a different place and
location be one of those things. But actually, they function more
as Brotherhood's that was the meaning that they understood from
their practice of Islam. And so as a result, it was not uncommon for,
you know, someone who sold linen, for example, and they had sold X
amount in their day, and they felt they got enough that they would
tell the next customer Well, why don't you go to my neighbor,
because he hasn't sold anything yet today, or he hasn't sold
enough, I've sold enough for today. Or if they didn't have the
item. And this is something I personally experienced myself in
Damascus. He didn't have the item. And he took me he walked me down
to his neighbor and said, Why don't you I'll take you to him, he
might have it. Rather than telling me come back tomorrow, he could
have bought it from him and then sold me for a higher price. He
didn't do that. He took me to him and said, This is where you can
buy. So these meetings, which are Amen, right, which are things that
people do came out of deep and profound, understood meanings
about Islam. And not just on an individual level, I would say they
were embedded within the communities within the societies
from generations before them.
This was something that parents understood in the grandparents and
the great grandparents and so forth, such as that when it gets
to them, it was kind of just the way things are, it wasn't even so
much as a
conscientious
thinking about I'm gonna live this way, but it was the way to be
lived. And it was something that was, you know,
seen before them. And it's something that they understood and
something that was easy to practice, because everyone else
was doing it with them. So, you know, those are beautiful things.
And it sounds a little bit nostalgic when we talk about it.
Considering the way that we live today. And the way that the modern
home looks like which is often built in a way to
show off, I would say. So the modern home, you walk into it, one
of the things that's so important with the modern home is as soon as
you get to the doorway, what you see the house, you want to see the
expanse of it, you want to see how big it is you want to see, you
know how much stuff these people have. And you know, in Western
culture, there's a lot of emphasis on playing, paying homage to
monuments. So people generally have things that show off like
trophies and
you know, Medallia and things like this that are an easy view of
people to say like look, I'm an accomplished person, I've done
this and, and so forth. And even you look at many Western capitals,
Paris, London, Rome.
They were built in a way to show off in a way their conquests and
the things that they were able to achieve and even in the way that
what we would consider to be the way they subjugated other peoples
but you know the the Parisian the French took the Egyptian obelisk
from Egypt and brought it there and stuck it in the middle of
their most famous square between the Louvre and Sean's did He say,
and so forth. But you don't find this sort of same. Paying homage
to monuments in traditional Muslim societies makin Medina never had
anything like that. prophesies that have never brought back
anything with him from the walk or from
far out in the Arabian Peninsula and then the whole of it after him
even though they went as far as China. Then they went as far as
the Pyrenees
in France, but they didn't bring back monuments to show like we
We've done this, essentially the way that they lived
in terms of the embodiment of the inner meanings of the Dean was the
same. And one of those inner meanings is we don't show off. And
actually, we have a level of love and respect for the neighbor, that
we don't want to greet them in any way. So by showing them that we
have something they do not, you know, that can be injurious to
them on a emotional, spiritual level. And so even that was taken
into consideration of how things how people brought things into the
home and how they cooked outside taking into consideration the
neighbors.
So, what I wanted to do
that just kind of broad overview what I wanted to do with this is
just look at
some concepts, these eight sessions in sha Allah that will go
into sort of almost the beginning of Ramadan.
Ramadan inshallah we'll vertical and a philosopher Shaban
will just look conceptually with some practical things about how
can we arrange things? What are the things that we should be
thinking about when we want to take steps to beautify our homes,
and I do have kind of a small presentation, but I feel like it
distracts people. So I rather just use it as my, my notes, and it's
kind of a work in progress, perhaps at the end,
we'll make it available for everybody. So they have something
that you know, they kind of can can look at. So, if we look at the
home, or the word that's commonly used as bait, which literally
means where you spend the night in the Quran,
it's used several different times.
The sister of Musa alayhis salam, as you may recall, when the mother
of Moses put him in the Nile, as she was received an inspiration to
do so from God, so that he would be protected from the mass
slaughter that Pharaoh was carrying out on the firstborn of
every
Hebrew household.
He moves Ali Salam as an infant and would not nurse from anybody
and that was something that Allah swapped out to put into into
musante so so one of the verses in the Quran for cartel de la Comala,
elevating the Aqua Luna who like
the sister of Musa they send older sister came to the bait the house
of Pharaoh and said, for call it * do loco Mala le bait. Should
I tell you about the people of this particular household? And
debate household or house? Yeah, karuna. Hola, como take care of
him, for you.
For Raja Elomi. So that's when
Moses was taking back to his mother, the kala taxon. Right so
that you would not grieve even though she had to give him up in
that way, but Allah returned or to him, but they were people have of
what have a home elevate? Right, the people have only had a home,
they had something that Pharaoh could provide.
Right, even though may have been the customer of the time that
babies would nurse outside of the home. But where did she go back to
to the home of his own home, the home of his mother
in another verse, or to Bukhara. When they sell the room, we intend
to build them into Who the * were like in a bit of a mini taco
what to do that mean Abu Dhabi
and it's not from righteousness, to enter the houses from the back.
Right, not from the front entrance, but somehow from another
entrance, not the front one. Well, that King is better many taco. But
righteousness is those who have Taqwa. And were to view them in
Abu Dhabi, and enter the homes from their front entrances. This
also has kind of esoteric means associated with it. So obviously,
the front entrance of a house,
right is the one designated by the people of the house, the members
of the household, is by the one that which you should enter that's
where they are ready to receive you
from the front door. Right. So if you go scuttling back to the back,
right in the backyard and see what's going on, you know, are
they back there? Let me look through the back door back window,
see what's going on. Right and there's a very strong hook
prohibition in Islam about it. He just was right about spying upon
one another and seeing what's going on with the house what's
going on inside. So, essentially, that what goes on inside the house
is sacrosanct. To the degree even if people are doing sinful things
inside the house. It is not licensed for anyone outside of the
house to come in and look for that. In other words to
investigate. They are
Not allowed to investigate what's happening inside the house.
You can't, you know, duck time, right? To enter the house from
anywhere from the roof to knock the doors down whatever people do
nowadays, when when they invade people's homes, you're not allowed
to do that. Because you're not allowed. Even if there's something
going on in there, you're not allowed to investigate it. That
would be to justice. If people bring that stuff outside, that's
something different. But as long as they are within the
inviolability of the sacrosanct city of the home, then
you're not allowed to, to enter it, except from the front and then
by the permission of the people who are actually living there by
invitation. So you enter only by invitation.
Think of that, you know, this is the place, you can only enter by
invitation. And similarly any noble place, you enter by
invitation,
we might see the mosque or the mosque is the most noble of places
how they're based Allah. So isn't it referred to as Baitullah the
house of God. So the house of God also is entered into by invitation
from whom from Allah,
from Allah subhanaw taala. Right, if Allah didn't want you to enter
that house of his, you would not be entering it.
And the popular saying, I will call Blue Bay to rob, I'll call
blue, they told Rob the heart is the house or the temple of God.
So that means also this is what I meant by kind of the esoteric
aspect, or the inward aspect. Nothing should be entering the
house that is your heart except by invitation.
So you want to be careful who you invite.
And the house FM's, right, the five senses are the guardians who
are guarding the doors to your heart, which is the house of God.
That's why we see this emphasis on people to be careful what they
look at people be careful what they hear, and careful what you
know, their environment and what they're exposed to and so forth.
Because you ever have something very precious inside of you. Right
that Allah calls his house, just like he calls the mosque, his
house just like he calls the Haram and Mackay,
the kava, his house,
enter by invitation only, and that means the members of the household
also have a responsibility upon them to invite those who are
worthy of getting that invitation.
And another verse, and this is the
the the sound of Sidna isa of Jesus, the son of Mary, when he
was explaining to the Hebrews what what he came for when he came to
do what what his mission was about. What did he say to them?
What will not be oh, can be melted coluna waneta Duffy Runa Fie,
beautiful.
What will not be welcome and I came to tell you be mad at Kulu
what you are to eat because he came with things that were made
easier for the Hebrews For many Islam. The Sharia before them was
very difficult in terms of things they were not allowed to eat many
prohibitions with a Hindu lagoon bother lady holiday Malik, Mojito,
number eight and Arabic In another verse, and I came to make Halal
that which was made haram for you before. So here's the next further
explanation of that when a bill can be met at Kowloon that we
should be eating Womack, that definitely ruin a few beautiful
and that which would you keep in your houses or you save or your
preserve in your house will matter? Definitely Runa for you
beautiful.
So house also then is seen as a place of things that we keep where
we put our valuables were things that are important to us. We will
maintain them in there. The whole
in another verse certainly set well many effleurage mean Beatty,
he will have many acknowledgement at merging Allahu Allah Sunni. So
music will also cause waka Giroux who Allah Allah. Where's the bait?
When you're Scrooge min Beatty he an over leaves or exits from his
house mohajir on emigrating to where it Allah, what also led to
Allah and his messenger filmer you recall him out, then he dies or
death comes upon him for called waka Juru. Allah Allah in other
words before he reaches his destination, so talking about the
mahadji rune, the emigres who emigrated from Mecca to Medina,
why would they leave their house? Why would they leave everything
that they know?
Only one reason? The verse didn't say Maharaja and even Medina,
even though that was the physical place, but in reality, what were
they making sure to where were they going? Mohair Jong Il Allah
wa Sudhi making him
Niger to Allah and making his euro to His Messenger Salallahu Salam.
So in that case, the reason that I would leave my house has to be for
Allah and His messenger. And if I don't reach the place that I want
it to intend to reach, but I was doing it for Allah and His
messenger for the waka Giroux who, Allah Nevertheless, the edger or
the reward will still be realized nonetheless.
And then finally, sort of unfair. Camouflage Ricardo Bukom in beta
will hack or in the video convener me Nina, la caribou. This is
talking about the moniker of better yes with better the Battle
of Feather Camera, illogical rabuka Amin Bay tikka, sometimes
Allah will make the situation circumstances such that in your
house, you have to leave.
Here in this case, they have to leave because the last one of
Allah one is this conflict. This decisive one very early in the
history of the companions and promises are seldom to happen at
this particular time. camera follows ricotta book, I mean,
basic Bill Huck isn't a huge bill hawk. So then you leave the house
leave the home Bill hack, right, by the real by the true just as
you entered it, by the real, and by the true. So yeah, there are
other verses talking about the home. But these are the like the
ones that we're looking at. That kind of emphasize, like this is a
place where we leave from and, you know, I wrote some of the things
here, it's a space of family, it's a space of privacy, it's going to
be a space of preparing and sharing meals. It's a space of
embodiment. So whenever we want to go do something, and especially
with something important, where do we leave from, really from the
home.
And it's a space of the real and the true, right? The nights that
you spend, which are most likely are going to be in your home,
many, many different meanings can be realized. And most of the
nights will be spent in the home, even if you have your type of
personal a data type of personal worship, then that time will be
realized in the home, and not necessarily anywhere else. So
all of these meanings come when we talk about the whole.
So as I said, the home, it's the most important space in our life.
It can be the source of bliss,
or the source of misery. How many other people are are happy in
their life because of what goes on at home. And how many people are
miserable in their life, because also what goes on at home.
The way that we deal with our homes, the way that we arrange
them, the way that we conduct our relationships, all those things
are very much influenced and informed by culture and by
religion. And that's something also, we're going to talk about a
little bit later.
Within the home, there is a dynamic between different and
complex relationships.
And we're going to be looking at that as well. So you have the
relationship between
let's say husband and wife, and you have the relationship between
the parents and the children, and the children and the parents and
the siblings one with another. And then you have the relationship of
people who come to the house as visitors or as regular visitors
and then maybe extended family if there are more frequent visitors,
even if they live with you that relationship as well, if there are
caregivers, if there are people who work for the household, in any
capacity, technically, they're considered part of the home. So
all of these things are going to add to the dynamic of what
sometimes can be a complex setup of what's going on in the home.
And that's why it's a crucial place for for things to go right
within the hole.
And it profoundly affects how we conduct ourselves in other spaces.
Right, if you had a bad morning at home, and then you walk into your
job, or your school or whatever, the whole day can be completely
different. How many are the mornings, for example,
that one of the two spouses was cranky, and that crankiness
affected the other spouse.
And so
that affected how that spouse dealt with everybody else that
they came into contact with, right with their colleagues at work, or,
you know, if their school teacher with the children that they teach
with the person at target that they were, you know, buying some
item with and the guidance, a little bit of a kerfuffle because
of, you know, they were a little upset from earlier. So, it's kind
of like a whole chain reaction of events. You
Because one spouse woke up in the morning and didn't say good
morning, or didn't say, How are you doing or something like that,
or is a little cranky or whatever it might be so, but then how many
are the opposite, someone who smiles when they enter into the
room, alright, and someone who could have been kind of not
feeling that great, but then the smile, changed everything. Like
the
the pleasantries and the niceties and the gentleness, and then that
kind of extended out
everywhere else. So,
you know, very important how we conduct ourselves, within the
homes within the house. And if you find yourself able to conduct your
relationships outside of the home much easier, right, and you're
able to deal with it much more gently, then with the people
within your household, then you have to question yourself, you
have to say, what is it about me that I can do this, with people I
don't have so much contact with, versus the people who I see every
day. And the cop out answer, I'll call it or the, the easy way out
and say, Well, you know, we're just not compatible, or it's their
fault. They make a library left miserable, so forth. But
the healthier way to look at it is to look at your contribution to
whatever's going on at home. Because really, that's the thing
that you should be addressing first and foremost, rather than
what somebody else is doing. And you may not realize it, but it
could be in fact, your contribution or your inability to
manage the relationship that's, that's causing that strife on the
part of the partner or the other person. So, you know, developing,
I would call them tools of introspection is also something
very much firmly grounded within, you know, a Muslim moral ethic,
you know, looking at ourselves first before we look at somebody
else and blaming them for, for the situation that we may find
ourselves in. And the most important place you need to
practice this is in your house. In fact, the prophesy said, and he
said, he made this the criteria of how good a person you are. He
said, Hi, Eurocom Eurocom, li, li,
li and the best of you are those who are best to their families.
What if I recorded it, and I am the best of you, to my family.
So he didn't mention personal piety here, I didn't mention, you
know, who gives the most subtle cot, or who praised the most or
who's in the first row at the masjid? Or who has the conference
hall named after them in the meshes center, because they paid
$100,000 For that, in saying those things. But he said, clerical, I
recommend
the best of you or those who are best to their families. Why,
because that's the day in and day out. And that's actually the real
you. This is another thing.
The people that you spend the most time with, they are going to be
the most intimate with the real you.
Not the person that you see once a week, congregational prayer
Fridays, or even, you know, on occasion, or when you're all
usually on your best behavior. But when you are tired, and when
you're not feeling it, and when you may be cranky, and you may be
upset, you can't really hide all those things, or sustain hiding
those things from the people that you live with. So how you manage
those relationships of the family, and especially those who live with
you really are going to show you who you are. And you know most of
us when we look at that we certainly have things we're not
proud of and we're not happy with and we think we can do better and
it's you know, normal for people to come sometimes snap and lash
out at the people closest to them. But
you know, I'm thinking I'm thinking of one incident of the
Prophet SAW I live witness it in our shadow on her she she threw a
plate or broke a plate. I don't want to go into why she did that
right now. But that's what happened. And the Prophet SAW
Selim, he didn't get angry with her or lash out at her all he said
to the people is like God.
You know, your mother got a little bit jealous. So she threw the
thing, okay, we'll clean it up. It's not a big deal. You know,
that, that sort of rapport with with people to be gentle. And
another way sometimes people say, you know, if you're, if you're a
lamb outside of the house and the lying within the house, something
is wrong. If anything, it should be the opposite. Right? You should
be gentle within the house. And often the seller they would the
righteous predecessors or they would describe the role or how the
man would be in the house. And they said he'd be like a young boy
because snobby
Yeah, right like gentle and playful and soaking around not
stern and authoritarian and repressive, you know, that's
people, men who who think that that's manhood and do it in their
house. Usually, that's the result of their inability to do that
outside of the house. Most people who are tyrannical in their
behavior is a result of them,
unable to get their way, or to see things progressing the way that
they want outside of the house, so then they take the weakest point,
where they feel they have the authority to do so. Namely, in the
house, generally, someone who's going to humiliate people of their
household is being humiliated outside of the house, at work by
a boss or something like that. So
look, part of maintaining a good home is also not necessarily to,
you know, not have a bad boss, sometimes you can't help that, but
to recognize when those things aren't influencing you are factor
upon you, to the degree that you are aware of it so that you can
avoid acting out from that particular thing that you find
within yourself and other people. You know, that's, that's kind of
the real meaning of SN and Teskey. And moral excellence, you don't
always overcome your problems. But the first step is to recognize
where they're coming from, right to separate the wheat from the
chaff, right to separate, you know, this is something coming
from a good, high spiritual grounding, understanding, and I'm
going to act upon it, versus it's coming from something of the ego,
something of the neffs, something of the,
you know, of anger or of
resentment, and then as a result, I bring that anger and resentment,
I bring that hurt, that has affected me, and then I go hurt
other people. So,
to recognize that within yourself, which is not an easy thing to do.
That's why, you know, our homes are not homesteads, that are these
or should not be, where there are these discrete,
you know, singular homes that are far away and not integrated with
the community around us. It really does take a village to raise the
child and to raise people of the household. So when you have
cooperating neighbors and communities around you, you can
actually form a real community, then these things become a lot
easier to, to manage and to do and to take care of, you know, if you
go to, if you're, you know, in an ideal situation, let's say, where
there's a mosque close by, and you're praying five times a day
there, and then you're going to the home, where you're bringing in
that light that you got from over there, and you bring it back to
the house. And that's also going to benefit the people of the
household. And imagine if it wasn't just the five person that
Masjid but there was actually people who are wise and people of
wit of newer and of light, and people that who can function as
mentors for you. And so when you do have certain situations that
come up, you could always ask them and inquire about one another and,
and things like this. And, you know, these levels of lines of
cooperation are happening multiple layers in society, between men and
women and men, when women and between older people and younger
people, younger people and older people, then you have a
functioning, thriving
community. But the way that we're doing it today, we're really
struggling because we're all trying to do all those things
within the single household. And it's quite difficult. So one of
the most important things that the American Muslim community, I
think, has to think about is how do we really develop these sorts
of community life communal life that has many of these essential
things, mentorship,
nurturing, tarbiyah other people helping you raise your children,
that sort of thing, extended families, friendship,
sharing meals, all these sorts of things that are quite important.
And I think from my experience, the past
3035 years seeing what's going on is most many of our Muslim
activity is focused around events. So we like to hold conferences, we
like to hold
Ramadan nights, we like to do fundraisers, but, you know, the
actual, you know, grassroots down, you know, on the level of the of
the communities work type to be done is not not nobody's doing it,
some people are doing but not really on the scale, or I don't
think of this significance or importance are attached to it.
That would
that would help us get us to a place where it would be embedded
in our generation, and then carried on to the next
generations, so forth.
So
almost out of time, I didn't want to take more than 45 minutes to an
hour in case there are questions.
But I'm just going to outline how the rest of
The course is going to look like
I have a little picture, I draw a drew here, and iPad, well, if
that's gonna show up on the camera, but
I'll describe it then. So basically, this box down here,
personal spiritual foundation, right, which is the foundation of
the house, which lot everybody gets to see, but it holds up the
rest. And, you know, this is issues of working on your own
personal spirituality, your piety, your relationship with Allah
subhanaw taala, you can't change the rest of the house or build the
home unless that is it's built upon that this is the SS, right?
This is the foundation, if you don't have that foundation, the
rest of it will be very, very difficult to build. In fact, when
you have a house with no foundation, there's no house,
right? It's just a facade and can be pushed over lockdown.
The second one, which is the ground level here is the shared
spiritual environment.
So you're bringing your space, who you are, and your understandings
and your piety and you're striving but now you're sharing it in a
space with other people. So that takes a little bit of navigation,
right. And now you want to create spaces, both physical and
otherwise, that you're going to be able to share with other people
and both of you or all of you thrive.
Okay, so
and then
on the top level relationships.
So you have your personal foundation space, then you have
the shared spiritual environment, and then all that leads to well,
how now do I conduct my relationship with others in the
home?
When all of those things in sha Allah are, I think in line and are
we all doing our best with it, then you'll have a home, not just
the house, right? You have something that's thriving and have
something that when you're driving back from work, you actually can't
wait to get home? Rather than like, Oh, God, I gotta go.
And when you're in the house is like, Oh, I gotta go to work
today. All right, rather than you can't wait to get out. So we want
to create that space for ourselves. We weren't created for
others want people to feel that way. We want people who are not
from our home to come in. And when they enter that space, they feel
like
this is the place I want to be, this is a place I want to stay
and so forth. So Inshallah, we're going to look in more detail in
each of those three things. And that's pretty much going to
comprise
the seven remaining sessions and shawl that we have with one
another. And hopefully there will be some benefit with that in sha
Allah. So I'm going to stop here. Isn't it Allah, Allah