Yasir Qadhi – Challenging The Islamophobia Narrative
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Tip number seven
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serravalle Kumar Allahu barakato
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Alhamdulillah we praise the loss of Hannah who Allah who raised the heavens and created the creation. He spread for the earth and beautified it with vegetation. And he gave us the cycle of the night and day in perfect alternation. He sent down the Quran to us as His divine speech and Revelation. And he made us the owner of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, the one who shall occupied the Praiseworthy station. Allah subhana wa Taala commands us to have Taqwa of him when he says in the Koran, yeah, you 100 Edina Armando topo la helppo to Walla, Mouton, Illa, one to Muslim moon. Dear Muslims, today's hotaka will be slightly different than
My usual ultimas and that is because we're seeing in global politics a situation that is quite honestly, something that should give us pause, perhaps even worrying. And a lot tells us in the Quran to learn from history, the Muslim is not a full, the Muslim is not ignorant, the Muslim is wise and learns and studies. Allah says in the Quran, Falco Susilo, kasasa Allah, Allah homeopathic Quran, tell them the histories of what happened so that they can think and ponder, Allah says in the Quran, therefore they can have your kasasa him are able to live in Al Bab in the stories that the Quran is saying the histories of the previous nations, there are lessons there are morals to benefit
from. So in this brief chutzpah, allow me to begin a conversation I can only do so much that I want you to continue on your own, I want you to go and further study on your own. Dear Muslims, as we speak, it is true to say that the globe is in somewhat of a crisis mode from many angles, not just the COVID crisis. And what particularly concerns us is the rise of the far right parties and movements across the globe. This is not something we should take lightly in major superpowers across the current climate that we live in, in our own land. Yesterday, our president once again, used our name brought up our religion mentioned us by name, and made us out to be the bad guys, I have banned
those radical Islam is from coming in. And this is not the first time and it won't be the last time that we and our faith and our religion has become a token in a vicious cycle of politics far beyond us. And it's not just this land as well, across the world. It is our faith that is being used and maligned. In India, in France, in Germany, in the Netherlands, and multiple regions, it is Islam and the Muslims that are being used as the scapegoat as the one item that both political parties are battling in between. and it is time for us to get out of our slumber to understand that the situation might potentially become dire. Barely a century ago, not even 100 years ago, Europe was
going down the same path, the exact same path, the same parallels that we see now. 100 years ago, the sad reality, those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it. And frankly, most of mankind are not learning from history. Barely 100 years ago in Germany, another xenophobic strand reared its ugly head, that strand of anti semitism. Another group was maligned. Another group was scapegoated for more than two decades, constant badgering of one faith, one ethnicity, one civilization, what happened, the single largest genocide in human history took place, the single largest genocide in all of human history took place. But you see, dear Muslims, that genocide could
not come out of nowhere. It doesn't just happen instantaneously, that type of hatred, that type of callousness, that type of evil, it must be repaired and nurtured for decades, until finally it shows this evil fruit. We are right now seeing that rearing, we are seeing that nurturing, and unless and until all of us Muslim and non Muslim, we come together to stop this hatred. Unless and until we realize that this path has only one end, there is only one conclusion, they used to use the term Jewish problem in the 20s. Nowadays, you hear the Muslim problem, the Islamic problem, where leaders politicians are using the word the Muslim problem, the Islamic problem, dear Muslims, what was the
Jewish solution that Hitler enacted? Do you not realize when they're saying the Muslim problem, the Islamic problem, this will require a radical solution. And when that solution is begun to be propagated after 20 years of Islamophobia, the people will be willing to accept such a plan as they were willing to accept it 100 years ago in today's brief halt, but I want to mention three or four points of similarities, and so much more can be said. But time is always limited. And the goal of this whole book is that each one of you goes and studies each one of you is motivated. The goal of this whole book is that you are
Understand that this situation requires drastic measure not based upon emotionalism but based upon wisdom and based upon long term planning, every one of us needs to be mobilized before the situation gets worse than it is. So I'm going to go over a number of similarities between the rise of the far right today, the rise of Islamophobia today, and the rise of the anti semitism that took place 100 years ago, first and foremost, the constant attention and the exaggeration that is placed upon the cultural and the religious practices of the minority, that somehow make us look totally different and alien from the others around us. 100 years ago, they stigmatized Jewish rituals. They stigmatize
the Jewish cap, they stigmatize the slaughtering of animals as something barbaric and whatnot. And these days, it is the hijab, these days, it is our personal laws and purity. These days, it is how we are living our lives, we are made to be the other we are made to be different, we are somehow not like the rest of society. So this is the beginning of the cultural battle, the first step is to attack the culture, the rituals to make us seem as if we're not normal, as if we're always different. And they did that back then, and they're doing it today. Secondly, once they begin this separation in the cultural minds, they bring in the notion of the hidden agenda, they bring in the
secret plan, a bold faced lie. 100 years ago, they claimed that the Jewish people are aiming to destroy the empire of Germany, they claimed that the Jewish people were a fifth column, that you can never trust them that their entire goal is to destroy the very country they have lived in for hundreds of years. And people began to believe that these days, the claim from the far right, explicitly mentioned on Fox News, hundreds of times politician say this without any shame. The Muslims want to implement Sharia law, they want to overthrow our Constitution. They're not here just to live their lives and worship their God. They're not here just to be pure Americans. No, they are
here in order to establish their laws, their system, they don't want peaceful living. And so this lie is thrown, that the goal of this minority is actually to overthrow the majority. Forget the fact that it is impossible. We're less than 1% of this land. But people don't think rationally. Jews in Germany were in the single digits. They don't think rationally. How can such a small groups overthrow the majority, even if they would say even if there was a truth to it, it's impossible logistically, but they don't think rationally. Because when you feed lies, when you feed stereotypes, people love to jump onto that bandwagon. It makes them feel good by stigmatizing other
people. So we have already seen this lie as well, that Muslims are not peaceful citizens, that Muslims, they only want to establish their they want to overthrow the Constitution. And of course, Fox News was well known for this 10 years ago, you should all be aware 23 states attempted to ban the personal practice of shediac 23 states attempted to ban shadia, we had to take it to court, if you remember, we had to take it to court, they wanted to ban even giving zecca they wanted to ban any aspect of Sharia, which would have included doing will do and praying, obviously, the Constitution would not have allowed that. But the very fact that in half of the states of this
country, we're not talking about France, we're not talking about Germany, in the United States of America, half of our own states attempted to introduce legislation that would explicitly ban the practice of Shetty out why because of this issue, this notion of the Muslims want to overthrow us all. This is the stepping stone to a worse strategy, which is point number three. Point number three, you get the laws involved. Once you begin the culture wars, once you throw in the issue of these people are traitors, these people are political dissidents, because they said Islam is not a religion. Remember, they said Islam is a political ideology. That's what they tried to say 15 years
ago, 10 years ago, still, they're saying the same thing. This leads them to the third point, we've seen this in Europe, and America is heading in that direction. And that is to pass actual laws that target that one faith community in Europe. 100 years ago, they began one law after another limiting the practice of Jewish faith limiting the rights of Jewish people to education. Jewish children were pulled out of schools, they were not allowed to dress the way that they wanted to. They banned the hiring of Jews in any government office, and they kept on making it worse and worse. And if you look at what is happening now, the very fact that our president is mentioning our faith and targeting
Muslim college
Trees. That's the only thing he can do. The Constitution does not give them the types of powers that Nazi Germany had. But if he could, then he would want to ban more than this. In France. They have banned the hijab in public schools, just like Germany banned the kippah 100 years ago in France, they have banned the coming of a hijabi into government buildings into government positions into the parliament. You cannot wear a Muslim garment and be in the public offices of the government in Switzerland in some provinces, they banned the building of the minaret of domestic goods. And of course, the the niqab has been banned in half a dozen European countries, despite the fact that
there are barely 1000s of Muslims in those lands wearing niqab. It's not a national security issue. It's a small miniscule percentage of our own population that decides to wear it so they have banded criminalized it and the irony of ironies in France you will be fined for not wearing a face mask, but if that face mask is a niqab you will be fined for wearing a niqab. So you can wear any face mask because of COVID. You must wear a face mask because of COVID. But if a woman is wearing the niqab, she will get fined for number one not wearing a face mask and number two for wearing a niqab. Look at the irony of ironies. Look at how Allah subhana wa tada shows the hypocrisy of these people.
So legislation is introduced that specifically targets minorities. Now in most of Europe, these legislations are minimal. But what does happen is behind the scenes, when a Muslim applies for an office, when a Muslim applies for a job versus a non Muslim, European, they will automatically prefer the one over the other. And this is already rampant in Europe. And we have to a certain segment here in America as well. And this leads us to the fourth point, once legislation has also been introduced, then are throughout all of this, you began to exaggerate the crimes that are done by one group against the other, because in the end of the day, criminal activity is going to happen.
And when you provoke and when you do all of these things, some people are going to react, and this is what we are seeing with the cartoon crisis right now. And I say and I said last week, and I say again, that we unequivocally condemn vigilante justice, we do not allow any Muslim to physically harm any person, no matter what he or she has done. At the same time. We cannot just stop over there. And we have to look at history. We have to look at history. Dear Muslims, it's not the first time 100 years ago, same things happened. A number of prominent cases occurred in Germany and in France, look up the Dreyfus affair. Look it up Dr. e YF. us were a person of a high position who was
a Jewish background was accused of betraying the country. It turns out that they planted false evidence. It turns out it was a false flag operation. He never did anything. But they made it appear as if this person who was high in the ministry, but he was of the Jewish background, that he's a traitor to the country. And it became a national scandal. And it made it easier for the population to hate on all people of a Jewish background. And of course, sometimes it's not a false flag. It did happen that once a person of the Jewish militia, he assassinated a German politician, it did happen 100 years ago, and I'm not justifying, but what is going to happen when the politics gets involved
in bands, your kippah bands, your synagogue bands, your Jewish practice, what's going to happen, somebody is going to snap it's not it's not something that we're justifying, but you cannot ignore that context. And 100 years ago, a Jewish militia was formed and they assassinated a German politician in Germany, the Nazis Hitler once again use this exaggerated it and then took even more powers and you know much can be said here, but there is two incidents again, the Dreyfus look it up and the other one please look this up. It is called the Reichstag fire, or Ei ch St. ag, the Reichstag fire this incident in 1933. Every Muslim needs to be aware of it, and it is something that
is truly shocking to hear. The German parliament was bombed, the parliament was bombed, a fire was set up. Hitler immediately said that Jews did it instantaneously. The public ran with it. The perception was that this is a Jewish plot. And because of this one incident of bombing the parliament, Hitler asked and was given unilateral powers. Like what happened 20 years ago in our own country because of one terrorist attack. Hitler asked and was given unilateral powers. I don't need to go to the parliament. I can make the laws myself the anger after 20 years of brainwashing the anger against one faith community find Hitler Go ahead. You are our Savior and Messiah. They said
you can save us go do whatever you want. So he asked to be given unilateral
No vetoes from the parliament. And the rest, as they say is history. Now historians look back at that Reichstag fire. And guess what? many prominent historians are saying that it was the Nazi Party itself that caused the fire, not some militia movement. The party itself bombed its own building in order to do what this isn't some crazy conspiracy theory. Look it up dear Muslims, I am not somebody who appreciates conspiracy theories, you know me by now. But sometimes things are not as they seem. And sometimes you have to go further. This is one of those instances that Nazi Party bombed its own parliament. And then what Hitler comes in, says those guys did it give me all the power, they gave
him all the power. And then what happened within a few months after this, he invaded Poland. And then the concentration camps began. And over 11 million, the figure that say of 6 million, this is of the Jewish people, there was at least 5 million non Jews that were also killed in Auschwitz and how over 11 million human beings were intentionally killed, because they were not on Hitler's program, I have visited Auschwitz into how I have seen with my own eyes, how evil such evil can be, I have witnessed myself the realities of those concentration camps, and how how easy it is or how, sorry, how close we are to that generation. When I visited because I went with the government
delegation, they actually brought one of the one of the still living still alive at the time, he has passed away, prisoners from the concentration camp, he pulled up his own sleeve, and he showed us the tattoos that the Nazi Party had put on him, we still have people that are alive to this day that witnessed those concentration camps. This is not ancient history. And if you think that's only going to happen in Europe, what happened here in America with the Japanese internment, intermittent camps, as well, is only one generation to get away. There are people that are alive, that were jailed in this land over 100,000, simply because they looked different and spoke different and came from a
different place. Do not underestimate the power of brainwashing. Do not underestimate what happens when all of these are coupled with economic crises and political crises, which is what happened in World War Two. And unfortunately, we are seeing some what's happening right now as well, dear Muslims,
we are being asked to condemn the attackers in nice and other cities in Paris, the Muslims that have done what they have done. And I want to say once again, yes, we do condemn, without a doubt, no Muslim should fall prey to this type of propaganda, you are walking into exactly what the French want to do. You are walking in and doing exactly what they want to do. But at the same time, I cannot just condemn a lone individual without condemning the entire apparatus that is setting that individual up. This is not an exoneration. This is not an apology. This is not a justification. But this is asymmetric warfare. This is asymmetric warfare. On the one hand, you have a powerful
government, you have an entire media apparatus, you have a majority of the population that is inciting that is provoking that is making fun of our that is trying to challenge everything that is sacred and holy to a minority. And on the other hand, you're expected as a minority to remain silent and do nothing. And if even one does something, all of us are held accountable, no will law he I cannot criticize the one individual without also criticizing the entire government and the entire apparatus that is declaring war on everything that that is sacred to us. We have to criticize both. And one of these two has the lion's share of the blame, because they're doing it intentionally.
They're the ones provoking it. And they're the ones that are in charge, who should be more responsible, who has more prerogative and privilege it is the government's and the army in the media. And yet if they're going to do what they're going to do, still, I say, we should not react emotionally Still, we have to keep our emotions in check and not walk in to the very trap that they are setting for us, dear Muslims, the hood but today is not meant to be alarmist. It's not meant to be making us terrified, but it is meant to make us wake up it is meant to make us understand that you know if we don't learn from history, we seek Allah's refuge but we have to be careful. So the
purpose of the whole book is that we understand we learn we take precautions we put our trust in Allah subhanahu wa tada May Allah subhana wa tada bless me and you wit and through the Quran and may make us of those who is versus they understand and implement is heroin and heroin throughout our lifespan. I ask about forgiveness, you as well ask him for his little for under ramen.
hamdulillah Hello I had an I had a summit Allah de la mia did one of you that want me to go loco when I had what better do what can we do? Dear Muslims? What can we do? We're such a small minority, we're less than 1% of this land. What is our solution? Three simple points. First and foremost, Renu our EMA and in Allah subhanho wa Taala Indian Sol como la sala de vida con, if Allah is going to help you, then none can overcome you. If Allah is on your side, then Allah subhana wa tada will create the creations will make the armies will send the wind and the jinn and the angels if Allah is going to help you who can possibly overcome you. Don't worry about numbers. Don't worry about
statistics. If Allah subhana wa tada deems you worthy of being helped, he will create allies across the creation and they will come to your aid as they did in butter as they did an exam. You have to put your trust in a law you have to be deserving of a laws of laws NASA and our laws help and in order to do that we renew our EMA and we strengthen our a bar that we make sure we're doing our rituals properly. We avoid the major sins we live righteous lives. Number two dear Muslims. Number two,
we have to demonstrate what it means to love our Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam who is our nebby solo la vida he was setting for us. That's not going to happen by doing acts of violence upon those that are foolish. That's not going to happen. Before we criticize them, and voila, here they are deserving of criticism. But before we criticize them, let me be brutally honest. Have I and have you lived up to the image of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam have we done our job to show our neighbors, our friends, our colleagues who our nebby is and what he means to us? Have we embodied his Sunnah. Have we walked in his footsteps? I asked you honestly dear Muslims, if the
people around us could see even an infinitesimally small amount of the sooner in our lives. Do you think they would believe the media? If they could see the character of the Navy? Salalah Solomon, you and me if they could see his Rama, his said his Amana? If they could see how he took care of the orphans, how he treated the poor, if they could see his love and compassion in me and you? Do you think they would believe anything from fox news? So before we get angry at Trump and Fox in the fall right and McCrone and they deserve anger before we do all of that, have I and you lived up to this sooner? That's a very difficult question to answer. And the last point, dear Muslims a part of that
sooner, a part of that sooner is to be active in our societies. Our Nabi sallallahu alayhi wa sallam was known to every single person in Makkah, think about that. Think about that he was not an isolationist. He didn't just go shut himself in his house and worship a lot. 24 seven, a part of that worship was to be active in society, a part of that worship was to be involved in the issues of the times of the peoples of the places, everybody, even pre Islam knew that our Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam was a solder cannon. I mean, everybody knew if they had no place to go, they could go to the house of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam every beggar who needed food knew they
could go to the house of the process of Khadija This is pre Islam. This is before the coming of Islam came and perfected it to Muslims, please, to all of us. Don't just preach a love, demonstrate that love. Don't just tell mankind I love this man. Show them why you love this man. And a part of demonstrating that love is to be somebody who is active in your communities, somebody who's involved in the issues of your time and place and you give back based upon the Sunnah of the messenger sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, dear Muslim, as much can be said Time is of the essence. I finished on one simple point. very simplistic, but again, it needs to be said, Allah has blessed me to travel
far and wide. I've been to over 45 countries in my life visited many Muslim minorities, one of the most impressive minorities to me in the entire globe of the Western Hemisphere, dare I say, the most impressive were the Muslims of South Africa. And it really shocked me how well integrated how powerful despite the fact they're very small, but how well integrated and how much society loves and respects them. And why is that the case? Many reasons, but the number one reason is that the Muslim minority there did not consider itself aloof from society. They didn't consider themselves to be a separate part of society. No, they are and they have been a part and parcel of the fabric of that
country. They took part in the anti apartheid
demonstrations. Some of Nelson Mandela's closest associates were Indian Muslims meaning third fourth generation Muslims, the one who occupied the cell next to Nelson Mandela I visited Nelson Mandela Southern Robben Island. The cell next to Nelson Mandela's it was occupied by Haldeman, Abdullah, the Muslim who was also the right hand man of Nelson Mandela, when Muslims got involved in society and racism in isn't Islamic cause health care is an Islamic cause. Being a part of society is an Islamic cause. When Muslims demonstrated that they cared about their societies, that people understood, hey, they're not some foreigners. They're not some aliens. They're not attempting to impose their version
on us. No, they are who they are, and they're also a part of our society, dear Muslims, enough is enough time Look at what is happening, the elections around the corner, we see our candidates all of them have their issues, all of them but in the end of the day, each one of us needs to do something, something whatever it is, get involved at whatever level in social causes and political causes be visible and demonstrate to the people around you what it means to follow the Sunnah of the messenger if we do so with Iman and Allah subhana wa tada withdraw to Allah embodying the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah insha Allah insha Allah, we can hope for the best and our religion tells us to be
optimistic. Aloma indeed Aminu Allahu Allah said if you had to meet him and he loves pasta Well, I have Manila forage the other day in La kobita what amor de la Ilaha feta when I see Ron Ella yes sir allama Filipina What if one in Atlanta Sara hoonah been a man What a pleasure I feel horrible. Hello ladies. Amano. robina in Nicaragua Rahim, Allah Marisa Islam all Muslim in Allahumma is an Islam and Muslim in Allah who marries an Islamic Muslim in Allahumma and Adana, our other Islam and Muslim international affairs luminesce Miro fee as is about the law in the large American family and by the bbfc within the Malacca codici will tell you how many were in say for color as important in Lima in
no law how Amanda equitorial soluna Island nebby yeah you hola Dena Armando Sol Lu la he was sending him with a steamer alarm last Sunday was sending roboticle and avocado silica Mohammed while he was off he married me by the law in the LA tada mobile it was sunny with Cordova we're young Halifax. I will tell you about it. You're able to come to the Corona, or the quarter law team at Qualcomm was Korea's a direct competitor. Tada carvaka masala