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Salam Alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh
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Alhamdulillah Alhamdulillah Hilary Donnelly has a woman Kundalini Sadia, Lola and Haddon Allah. Wa
Salatu was salam wa Jalla wa ala alihi wa sahbihi woman was a bad and the Sahaba Imam Al Bukhari
Rahim Allah who to Allah, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam told us of a very beautiful
narration, very beautiful incident that happened many 1000s of years ago, involving a Christian monk
by the name of George, George, meaning George, as we say in our times, but George is the classical
name. This Christian monk, as was the custom of the monks of old, had cut himself off from society,
and would worship Allah subhanho wa Taala. Constantly, the monks of old, they would literally devote
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their entire lives for the worship of Allah, nothing except pure worship, Vicar, ibadah, Salah,
reciting their holy books, that's all they will do fast every day. And they would cut themselves off
from this world where the worst of garments, cut themselves off from any enjoyments and pleasures.
So this joy age was one such monk. It's so happened that his mother, who was an old lady needed him
for some chores for some help in her house. And so she came to this monastery where God had
established himself It was a monastery just for God. And she could not enter the monastery because
the fifth of the classical, not the classical, the fifth of the previous nations before Islam did
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not allow women to enter the holy place. Women could not enter their messages in their mosques of
all of course, Islam has a different ruling. So the mother of Judah, called out and she said, Oh,
George, I need your help come to me. George was right at that time praying.
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So he thought to himself, oh, Allah, should I prefer my salah and continue? Or should I respond to
the call of my mother, George continued in his salah and ignored his mother, he was praying, had he
not been praying, it would have gone out. And by the time we finished the prayer, his mother had
left. The second day, his mother came again, and said, Oh, your age, I need you please come out.
Once again, he was standing in prayer. Once again, he said, Oh Allah, should I choose my mother over
my prayer, I'll choose my prayer, thinking that this is piety and righteousness. For the third time,
the same incident happened July 8, once again, continued in the Salah, and neglected his mother. And
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his mother then became enraged three days in a row, she wants help from her only son, she's not
coming out to help. And so in that anger, she makes a dua against her son. And as you know, the
daughter of the parents, for and against their children, is accepted against as well meaning if your
father mother gets angry at you, and makes against you, then really are always a bit less equal, as
refuse because that will take place, make sure your parents never make the law against you. So she
said, Oh, Allah, make sure jurij never dies until he sees the faces of prostitutes meaning, make his
reputation go to nothing, allow him to be seen with prostitutes and her anger. This is what she
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said, he has this good, solid reputation. Everybody loves and respects him, destroy that reputation.
And so a lot of xojo responded to her death. And it's one of the beauties of the incidents and also
saved Julian's reputation at the same time. And it's a long story have to summarize it because the
point is only one sentence, it'll come to you in the end. So a prostitute offered herself to the
town, firstly to George, and George ignored and neglected her and basically told her to, you know,
leave him in his worship. So in her anger, she went to the townspeople and said, Do you want me to
basically seduce George and get him into trouble? And they said, Yes. So she applied it in plan but
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God Germain immune to her temptations, until finally, once she could not find a way to judge, she
got pregnant with another man, a shepherd, a farmer. And she then claimed to the townspeople, this
is the child of July. July, you're supposed to be a chase to holy man never touched women supposed
to be a worshipper of God. Now this prostitute comes and says, This is the child of George. So the
townspeople got so angry, even though they were the ones this is the way how people are the villa.
They want to see some action. They were the ones who enticed the prostitutes. Well, when the
prostitutes successful, they now take their anger out to enjoy rage. And so they went to his
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monastery, and they broke it down, and they destroyed it. And they started beating him with shoes
and sticks and stones stoning him saying, How could you do this? George?
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George said what what did I do? They said
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This prostitute has accused you of fathering her child. And so he immediately remembered that of his
mother. And he said, this is the daughter of my mother happening in front of my eyes, that I have
been accused. Now this is the face of the prostitute that I'm seeing what I have been accused of
doing this immoral deed. So to make a long story short, it was about to be executed by the
townspeople, he said, allow me to pray to the cat. So he prayed to the cat. And then he poked the
baby the child and said, speak, who is your father? And so the child, one of the few children, every
one of the few babies ever to speak in the history of mankind. Another one obviously, who was the
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other baby, that's all from their credo. Everybody knows the Prophet sallallahu sallam. And there
are other narrations as well, maybe three, maybe four at max that we know of the spoke from, from
the cradle. So the child said, My father is the shepherd. It's the other person. And so when the
people saw this, they apologize to George and they saw that a miracle that occurred and they said,
We will rebuild your monastery with golden silver. They said no, build it with mud and sand as it
was and let me continue in my worship. Now of course, there are many benefits of the story, one of
them being that even though Allah azzawajal accepted that though out of his mother, he also saved or
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dredgers reputation in the end both came out Victor's if you like, but the point that I wanted to
really emphasize here in one version of the Hadeeth in one narration of this Hadith, the Prophet
sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, Rahim Allah who Georgian loca Locanda for keihan. java on may
Allah have mercy on George, if only he had been Athene, if only he had knowledge, he would have
responded to his mother, instead of continuing in the prayer, he would have saved himself all of the
hassle, if only he had knowledge. And this is one of those ahaadeeth there are many others, one of
those ahaadeeth that proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that the knowledgeable scholar far exceeds
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the status of a continual worshipper. Here is George fasting, praying, reading Vicar cut off from
the world. But in his worship, he didn't have knowledge. And that was to his detriment at the end of
the day, even though because of his knowledge, Eliza just saved him from those evils. Yet another
indication of the superiority of knowledge, over acts of worship, even though acts of worship are of
course busted and holy, but of the holiest acts of worship after the photo, it is knowledge. Yet
another indication is another story from the children of Israel. And that is the story of the mass
murderer, the mass murderer, who had killed 99 people with his own two hands, strangled him to
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death, chop them up with his own two hands, he had killed 99 people
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in the history of the modern world that we know, we don't know of any mass murderer in modern
history, mass murder, meaning with his own two hands, who would probably the streets and killed more
than 3040 people jack the Ripper, they say had 20 something. And this is considered a huge number,
this guy had 99 to his own credit or discredit, if you look at in their paveway 99. He then repented
and he went to a monk, once again, the same monk type of thing, just worshiping and worshiping and
worshiping. And he said, I have killed 99 people with these two hands. Can Allah ever forgive me? As
a monk said, 99 people, a lot can never forgive you. So in his anger, he made the 99 100 via the
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mock,
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meaning he killed the mock.
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he repented again. And he then went to a rabbi, a scholar. And he said, Oh scholar, can Allah
forgive me? I have killed 90 Excuse me. 100 people, 100 people I've killed can Allah forgive me? And
the scholar said, and who is there who can come in between Allah and His mercy? Who can who can be
so powerful as to prevent Allah's mercy from coming to you who is there that can prevail over Allah
Rama? Of course Allah can forgive you, but you are living in an evil land. You're living in a place
where these murderers and these evils are made alluring to you? We're obviously there was no law
that's why he could get away with it. were no shady I was being established, so on so forth. So he
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said, immigrate, do hijra to a pious land the land in such and such a place and go worship Allah
there. And the Hadith goes on, he met his death on the way there, the angels of mercy the angels of
punishment argued over who should take him until finally it was the angels of mercy who took his
soul because he wanted to repent, even though he didn't get to the land of repentance, but Allah
azza wa jal saw his intentions, but the Hadith and this incident once again proves to us
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the superiority of knowledge over mere worship. It is knowledge that is needed before worship. And
that is why mamod Bahati in his sahale, which is the most blessed book, after the Quran, and the
most authentic book after the Quran, in one of the chapters, he says, the chapter of knowledge
before actions and speech, you need to have knowledge before you open your mouth, you need to have
knowledge before you do anything, the chapter of knowledge before doing anything, or saying
anything, an entire chapter dedicated to proving this point. Yet another illustration of the
blessings of knowledge. And this is a profound illustration, a profound example that we have in the
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Quran, is that when Allah azza wa jal decided to create man, and he told the angels I'm about to
create this creation, that will die one after the other and leave successors. In other words,
hollyford the proper meaning of Khalifa here is those who will leave one generation after the other,
the angels, they don't die, they will only die the Day of Judgment, the same angel that was alive
from the time of pre Adam will be the same Angel until the trumpet is blown. They don't procreate.
They don't have children, they don't die. Angels are in that sense, they have very, extremely long
lives. So Allah says, I'm creating a new creation, they have something called free will. And they're
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going to have generations after generations. The angels said, Oh, Allah, how can you create a
creation that is so evil, it's going to shed blood? It's going to do this, it's going to do that? We
are so pure, we're not going to set the Home Depot. No, but the story is in the first few verses, we
praise you all the time. We worship you all the time. Why do you want to create another creation? So
Allah azza wa jal wanted to show the status of this creation, he wanted to prove to the angels that
mankind when they are pious and righteous, they are in fact, better than the angels. And this is one
of the points of theology about either that a righteous man, or Rajan saw they are worthy of Allah
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azza wa jal, he actually has a status above that of the angels, of course, the faster than the evil
person, that's a separate story. He has a status below that of animals, as Allah says, in the Koran,
but the righteous man has a status above that as the angels. How did Allah prove this? Did he make
Adam taller than the angels? Did he make Adam broader than the angel stronger than the angels? Did
he make Adam go run faster than the angels? Quite the contrary, angels physically, are much better
than us. They can travel extremely fast, long distances quickly, they have the power to do this. And
that Angel gibreel with one of his wings only managed to do with the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah,
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what he did, he tapped the city with one of his tips of his wings, and the entire city flipped up
and turned upside down as the head he tells him one Angel, and that's just one tip of the wing. The
angels are huge in their creation. They are extremely beautiful, extremely handsome in their looks.
They have been preferred over us and all of these things, and yet, we are preferred over them
overall. How did Allah prove this? All of you know, why I lemma Adam and
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a lot taught Adam in the knowledge that the angels didn't have. He taught Adam the knowledge of all
of these things, the names of all of these things. And then he asked the angels Do you have this
knowledge? Can you tell me what these things are called? Do you have a knowledge that Adam doesn't
have? And when the angel saw with their own two eyes, the angels do have two eyes, when the angel
saw with their own two eyes, that Adam had been given a knowledge that they have not been given.
They realize Allah has preferred this being over us. And they said so Hannukah la even Medina, Elana
Adam, Tana, we have no knowledge exalted you are, Oh Allah, we have no knowledge other than the
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knowledge that you have taught us through knowledge, the superiority of Adam alayhis salam and his
pious progeny was shown over that of the angels. And that really allowed this point to sink in, that
when a lot of zoa jen had to choose one characteristic to show the superiority of Adam over the
angels. It was not height, it was not color, it was not physical strength and prowess, it was not
looks, it was knowledge. And so through knowledge, the superiority of Adam was shown over that of
the angels. So many ideas in a hadith tell us about the blessings of knowledge and the importance of
knowledge. We can only quote a few of them here of them. Allah azza wa jal says, In nema yaksha la
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hominidae by the hidden roadmap, that indeed, the only beings who truly fear Allah, from all of his
creation, are there odema out there Mr. mentioned by name, the only beings who truly fear Allah
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Are there odema? That's it. Nobody can reach that level of pure knowledge of Allah and fear of Allah
and love of Allah than the aroma. This is because the worshiper might do the outward acts of
worship, he might pray, he might fast you might avoid the sins. But it is that on him who
understands the spirituality behind it, who understands the wisdoms behind it, who is more conscious
in that worship, then the person who doesn't have that.
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Likewise, in the entire Quran, Allah azza wa jal only commands the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa
sallam to ask for one thing in a large quantity. Not money not Allah doesn't tell the prophets I
send them older sutala asked for more money. He never tells them ask for more health ask for more
wealth. Nope, only one thing. And that is what could rob busy Dini and say, Oh, my Lord, increase me
in my knowledge. The Prophet system is being commanded by Allah to make regular to and this is that
a suit of Allah? Oh Allah give me more knowledge, I will not increase my
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Likewise, the Eliza just tells us that the very status that our soul has, is primarily due to the
knowledge that he has been given, as Allah says in another verse ones that Allahu Allah Kitab but
when he committed what I lemma commanded him to contact them, what kind of football logic Allah,
that Allah azza wa jal has given you the book and the Wisdom, meaning the Quran and the Sunnah. And
he has taught you what you don't know why lemak Madame de Quintana, and because of that, the
blessings of Allah upon you are very manifest and great. Through the knowledge, the status and
superiority of Adam was shown, as it was shown through the status and superiority of the Prophet
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sallallahu alayhi wasallam as well. He has that knowledge that none of us have. He was blessed by
Allah with blessings, many blessings more than just only but have the greatest of them is the
blessing of knowledge. Likewise, we'll return to the Hadith of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa
sallam, once again, there are a huge quantity of a hadith that instruct us that guide us that exhort
us to learn knowledge of them is the famous Hadith in Sahih Bukhari where the Prophet sallallahu
alayhi wa sallam said, Man you really love we'll be hiring you photography Dean, whoever Allah
subhana wa Taala once good for
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he gives him you fucky who have this knowledge of this religion, he gives him an understanding of
this religion. If Allah desires Good for you, this translates into you having knowledge of Islam.
It's that simple. This is what the Hadith means. If Allah wishes Good for you, then he will give you
knowledge of this religion. The converse also applies. He who has no interest in Islam and Islamic
sciences, it is obvious that his share of blessings has been diminished and reduced. If Allah azza
wa jal loves you and wants to show that love, it will be done primarily through your knowledge of
this religion. And of course, knowledge a part of knowledge is acting upon it as well that is
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another topic in and of itself. Yet another beautiful Hadith of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa
sallam is that knowledge is one of the few things that benefits us even after we die. Once we are
dead, our Sadat comes to an end or is that God comes to an end or fasting comes to an end. A lot of
the good that we used to do is cut off. Only a few things remain, and have them the prophets Allah
sent him said, in one unified will be he knowledge that is benefited from that this person taught.
So this person taught somebody how to pray. As long as that person prays,
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the initial teacher will get some of those blessings. Because you taught him how to pray. And the
one who prays his blessings will not be diminished a lot. He doesn't need to be like he is not
stingy. Eliza l Kareem and Alma, Nan, he gives an he gives an he gives. So the one who prays will
get the full reward. But the one who taught you how to pray will also get a reward for every prayer
that you do. Every rocker that you pray, your teacher will get one reward of that, and you will get
the full reward as well. Every time you recite Surah Al Fatiha, whoever taught you through that if
it was if it was your mother, if it was your father, if it was your teacher or chef, whoever it was,
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he or she will get reward as well. Not just that the teachers teacher will get the reward for the
teachers actions and your actions as well. And the teachers, teachers teacher, and so on and so
forth, because it's like a domino effect. It's like a domino effect. Every single Domino that fell
because of you even if you're 10 generations away. You are
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part and parcel of that Domino falling by the blessings of Allah. So you will get some of the
rewards, even if it occurs centuries after you have died, because you're the one that elect chose
you to pass that knowledge down and spread it to people. Many are the Hadith and the ayat we can
quote about the blessings of knowledge. Many. The purpose of this talk, however, is to talk about
knowledge in North America scholarship in North America. What do we do to gain this knowledge? It's
all fine and dandy to talk about Quran and Sunnah and how it praises knowledge. What do I do as a
college student, as an engineer, as a doctor, as an accountant? What do I do in this country to gain
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some of this knowledge? And of course, it goes without saying that the knowledge we're referring to
is primarily Islamic knowledge. This is the knowledge that is praised in the Quran and Sunnah. As
for secular knowledge, that is, of course praiseworthy in its own right. But these blessings that
we've talked about this is Islamic knowledge, knowledge of the Quran, the sooner fifth of seer added
all of these things and because Allah xojo tells us that of the worst of mankind are those. Yeah,
and Mr. Nava here a minute hated dunya What am I going to Mojave Don't they know plenty about this
world, they know plenty about engineering, medicine, science, physics, they know plenty about it,
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but about the knowledge of the Hereafter, about the real knowledge, they are completely ignorant.
And likewise, the Prophet salallahu it he was sent them told us that of the worst of people, men
shiradi, one of the worst of people in this world, are those who spend their lives in the knowledge
of this world, but neglect the knowledge of the hereafter Oh come upon a Heidi's do this, meaning
that they waste their entire lives, waste because the knowledge that they've gotten might be useful,
but there is a far more important knowledge that was neglected. And that is a knowledge of your
religion and your Lord and your Creator, and your purpose of life. So the question really is, what
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do I do here in North America, to further my knowledge, and to increase it.
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The response to this is manifold, there are many things that can be done. First and foremost, as a
small introduction to how exactly to attain knowledge.
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I want all of us to appreciate one thing, and that is that
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we, as a second generation here in this country, are growing up. And it's inevitable that leadership
will be passed down to us as well. And we have plenty of complaints about the old school, our
fathers and mothers and their generation, we have plenty of reasons to complain as well, we have
plenty of complaints about our moms in our messages that they can't speak English, and they don't
understand our problems. And this and that, and they don't speak relevant hoppers and this and that.
And you know, all of these points are valid. We all understand and realize the need for students of
knowledge and Alana, to speak English to be American. We all understand that. But the sad reality of
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the matter is that when the time for leadership does come to change, when the torch is passed down
to you here sitting in this room, and those of your age, ask yourselves, are you ready to receive
that torch? All of your complaints that you have religious and invalid, I share those complaints.
I'm just a little bit older than you don't get fooled by the beard. I'm not that old. I share your
complaints. I too would go to the masjid and there's this Imam speaking in either accented English
which you can understand or talking about a topic which has no relevance or worse, talking in
Arabic, you have no clue what he's saying. And weeks go by and turn into months and years and you go
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to the mosque and you don't really care about it because you don't feel relevant there. And you hear
any hope in English and it's amazing. It's a breath of fresh air. The guy might not even be a good
speaker, but just because he's speaking English on the member, you go feeling happy hamdulillah I
heard one IR one Howdy. We all understand brothers and sisters the need for a scholarship. But who
amongst us is ready for it? we criticize these imams? Are we ready to stand in their place? Are we
even qualified to lead the prayers properly? Do we know how to recite the Quran? With the property
suite? Can we stand up to give a basic basic holds about about any topic? Do we have the tools
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needed to research anything out? Brothers and sisters, I am honestly scared of a possible crisis. I
am optimistic that you here and people of your age will be much better and community development and
building relations with the people out there and fostering harmony in getting rid of a lot of their
racial stereotypes. And a lot of the negative things we had from the first generation are very
optimistic about that. I think inshallah, without it from that perspective, we will have better
messages in that regard. better schools, better civic responsibilities and agendas. I'm very
optimistic. But what I'm pessimistic about and I pray that a lot so what did proves me wrong? What
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I'm scared about? Is that Islamic
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We're nowhere close to the level of scholarship we need. In order for any community to go forward,
you need to have odana from that community, scholars from that community. And that is why Allah
subhana wa tada that says in the Quran, we have never sent a messenger, except that he was from the
same people that he was sent to.
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You have to be from your community. If you're not, how do you expect the Pakistani molvi to
understand your problems? With all due respect, if you went to Pakistan, you'd make a bigger fool of
yourself, then the MacBooks anymore, we just in your machine, you'd have no clue as to what the
youth are facing and their problems and realities. Give him some slack. The reality is when it comes
to your turn, are you willing? And are you ready to be in his place? Can you really and truly be a
mentor, a guide, a spiritual leader, a fucky, a Mufti? A hoppy and a mom? Are you ready to take on
this responsibility criticisms aside? Where is the substitute, and as long as we have to continue to
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import our odema and import our do art forever, the progress of American Islam will be impeded. We
need to strike a balance, we need to have some of us studying the engineering and the medicine and
all that that's all fine and dandy hamdulillah. But we need to have a healthy percentage interested
in Islamic Studies, a healthy percentage, not 100%. Obviously, not not 90%, not even 80%. Only a few
of the Sahaba actually reached the level of factor of a staff during the life of the prophet SAW
most of them not that many, only a few of the Sahaba became the main narratives of Hades less than
12, who were the main coordinators of heavy, but they had them that's the point. We don't have that.
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And that's the worry that I have that until we continue to import scholarship. Really, and truly,
we're not looking at a healthy Islam in North America, until we have American rula odema that have
really and truly studied Islam properly. And they're fully American. They speak English without an
accent, they understand where we're coming from, they sympathize with our situation, they're not
living in another alternate reality until we have plenty of such edema, not just one in every city
one in every Masjid. Really, and truly, we are facing a crisis of national proportions as an oma in
North America. And I'm very scared that Allah Allah knows what's going to happen when, you know, as
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I said, When leadership is passed on to us, that's what I'm worried about. So in order to solve
these problems, we really truly have to get reintroduced to our religion. Now, much can be said
here. And perhaps in the question answer, we can elaborate even more, much can be said here. But a
number of points first and foremost, brothers and sisters, in is not an on off switch is not that
either you have it or you don't know. There are millions of shades of grey in between. There will be
some Alaska which blesses them, that they can drop everything, give up their secular education, and
go and study in Azhar in Medina, in Indonesia and Islamabad going steady all over the world spend
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decades. But those are the exceptions. If you can be like them, and hamdulillah If not, the first
point that I'm going to say, don't just throw in the towel. Don't just say, Okay, well, I can't go
to Medina. I can't go outside. I can't go I'm just going to sit here and do do nothing in Islamic
Studies. No, there's a lot you can do. sitting right here. Now, a lot you can do to better yourself
intellectually in the Islamic sciences. So don't have an either or mentality. Either I become the
shift and move to North America, or else I'm gonna remain as giant as M for the rest of my life.
Sorry, brothers and sisters doesn't work that way. We only need one Mufti for North America, maybe
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five 600 are good. That's all we need. But we need hundreds and 1000s of basic Imams, hundreds and
1000s of students of knowledge, and you can get to that level without ever traveling abroad you can.
Secondly, once you realize there are Shades of Grey, and I need to just improve a higher shade.
That's not that easy to do. Once you realize this, sit down and say okay, what time do I have? And
trust me, every one of us has plenty of time. Every one of us has the same 24 hours a day. Nobody
has any more any less. This is one blessing as a scholar say mankind has been given it the same in
terms of you know, the time that we're living, everybody has one second right now, nobody has more
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or less of that one second, of course, you have different lifespans, but in terms of time as it goes
by, okay, tangential time is the same with everybody. Everybody has the time. Look at your schedule,
what do I do? Do I drive to work or do I take the bus or whatever, I have time to listen to CDs and
mp3 is I have an iPod I have this and that instead of listening to music, or instead of wasting my
time listening to things that have no relevance and add value to me, let me buy a series about the
Sahaba let me buy a series about the profits. Let me buy a series about fifth series or variable
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important because you build, it's not just talks here and there. And every day, I'm going to listen
to these CDs and these talks every single day until I finish the entire collection. And then I'm
going to listen to them again, to solidify what I know, time when I wake up in the morning, what do
I do, I surf the net for 20 minutes before leaving, I don't really need to, I can cut that down to
five, that gives me 15 minutes. Let me read some, some interesting book about Islam. Let me build up
my knowledge of my religion. So time you need to find out how much time you have and schedule in
knowledge you need to schedule it. And thirdly, you need to find a mentor. This is necessary. Why?
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00:31:11
Because if you don't find a mentor, you have no clue what to study, and how to study and what books
to buy, and what CDs to listen to. You're just going to be, as they say, in Arabic, how to be ln,
which means somebody goes out at night and just collects all types of firewood, he might collect a
scorpion and a snake he has no clue what it is because it's in the dark, you don't collect firewood
in the middle of the night. You just gather whatever you can know, you need to have somebody who's
more knowledgeable than you doesn't have to be the biggest shift around. It's difficult to get in
touch with some of them. Somebody who's preceded the path and is higher than you and you say what do
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00:31:50
you recommend? What do I start with? Where do I go once you've done that you'll take you to a
different level and so on and so forth. Fourthly, certain things you need to study without any
exception, the most important of them are on instrument. This is something you need to do. This
should be a daily routine every day read some Quran in Arabic and then his translation English, no
exceptions. You need food to live. You need Quran and Sunnah for your soul. The food for your soul
is the word of Allah and the word of the Prophet sallallahu I sent him if you don't have this food,
your heart will die every day, injecting some time to read the Quran in Arabic that's the Baraka and
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00:32:28
then understand it in English and then some books of Hadith one handy today, I recommend you to
books and I encourage everybody to have these two books and read them at least one Hadith a day the
first and then the 40 hadith of knowing read this book cover to cover very the most useful Hadith
for the layman and then once you've done the 40 ideas you know we move on to Rio de Sala hain. Also
by mmm no we, this book was written for you literally. It is, in my humble opinion the most
practical and the most useful book of Hadith for the layman, the other side of him gardens of the
righteous many translations in English, Bengali or do every language in the face of desert. It has
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00:33:12
been translated into gardens of the righteous. The third thing you need to study after Quran and
Sunnah Sierra, the life of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, make sure you know the life of
this man. Brothers and sisters. It is really a sad testament to our knowledge. How much filth we
know how much fascia and corruption we know how much evil we know about everything. How much useless
information we know about music, about movies, about sports, some of which is hard on others of
witches MOBA, none of witches bless it. It might be Haram, it might be neutral. None of it is bless
it. It is a shame that we have so much crammed in our heads. And I'm sorry for daunting you in this
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00:33:49
lecture like this. But that's the reality. Okay, it is a shame that we have so much knowledge,
really, if we did a quiz of the latest movies and who started what and what are the latest? I can't
even say these things. hamdulillah I plead ignorance. And I'm proud of this ignorance, who are the
latest rappers and the musicians and whatnot. You know so much about them. So much even statistics
about sports crammed in our heads, if only we had as much knowledge of our own religion and the
Sahaba and the taboo and the great scholars were wouldn't be now. So prioritize, prioritize, make
sure you have nobody's saying cut off all the sports and anything else that's MOBA permissible,
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00:34:27
fine, spend some time doing that as well, but also spend some time with this religion. Lastly,
lastly, Alhamdulillah there are many institutes that have now formed brothers and sisters when I
started practicing in the sense that I was always practicing but meaning interested in knowledge.
When I started getting interested in knowledge in the early 90s. There was nothing out there nothing
that I could go to to sit and study. There were no students of knowledge that were active all over
the country, you know, preaching and teaching advanced levels. There were a few cassettes here, a
few books here. There was a time when pretty much any good book on Islamic Studies, I had it under
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00:35:00
my shelf in the early 90s. Now I handed it up, there is a plethora of books, hundreds of cassettes,
and you know mp3, you know, files, I mean hundreds and 1000s of them. There is no dearth of choices,
just what do you want to listen to? So one aspect that hamdulillah we have now in North America, we
have many Institute's many Institute's that are teaching and preaching advanced Islamic Studies. of
them, of course, is a Muslim Institute which I'm affiliated with, but there are other Institute's as
well. There is Sunni path which is short for us Rabbani is affiliated with there is
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00:35:34
Deen intensive, there's RM courses, there's a tuna Institute, many Institute's are out there that
are offering advanced Islamic Studies, find the one that you like the most you're the most
comfortable with. And then study your religion. know the basics of your brothers and sisters, the
sad reality we're lucky we don't even know how to do we'll do properly. We don't even know what
factors break, but we'll do. Don't you think that I mean, and I'll tell you for myself, I felt
disgusted at myself once upon a time that when I started studying stuff, and here I am, I remember
clearly. I mean, it was like an organic chemistry book that thick you guys all know, organic
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00:36:08
chemistry books, right? How they are. And then how I did it. I mean, I got A's in the classroom and
memorize all these equations and all these mechanisms and all that. And I thought to myself, ooh,
Billa, I know this entire material. But I don't know the book of Allah, even a fraction. As I know
this, I don't know, the sooner that I felt into it, I speak for myself, I felt disgusted. And that
was one of the turning points as I went through a whole chemical engineering degree I graduate, I
just couldn't take it anymore. How much am I going to cram in and remain ignorant about my religion.
Now, as I said, brothers and sister, you don't have to drop everything and go abroad 100 and that
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00:36:41
that's not for dying. It's not at all. But what is dying upon all of you is you know the basics of
your religion, how to pray, how to fast how to, you know, do the will do properly, what factors
break the will do whatever business you're going to, if you're a businessman and a trader, you need
to know the fifth of economics. If you're a doctor, you need to know what is permissible, what is
impermissible, whatever field you go into, you need to know the basics of that field. And all of
this is available in English now 100 in that, so brothers and sisters, there are now these
Institute's out there as well. And they're active in many communities, along with the books, along
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00:37:17
with the CDs along with the lectures, along with personal tutelage, if you can find people in your
locality and community, try to avail yourself to this opportunity, which I have handed in that this
is a blessing from Allah that you brothers have, I didn't have it when I was at your stage, we
didn't have that opportunity. Now this knowledge is being brought to you at your doorstep. You don't
have to go abroad to study if you do no doubt that is the best you can't beat that quality. You're
surrounded by real are them. As for us, I speak for myself, I'm not an island. We're just minor
students of knowledge that allows the widget has blessed to be in the company of a redeemer. Now we
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00:37:54
come back and we give you some tidbits here and there. If you can go with the viola hamdulillah. If
not, there are plenty of opportunities, plenty of students of knowledge, plenty of centers, plenty
of Institute's that are out there helping the community Do what you can make dua to Allah subhanho
wa Taala put your trust in Allah and bit by bit slowly but surely, you will rise up in these shades
of grey and you will really benefit and contribute to the North American Islamic academic scene. I
pray that Allah subhanho wa Taala grants us the motivation to study his religion. He grants us the
sincerity to really truly give it the right that it is due. And He grants us that the field and the
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patience and the determination to then put that sincerity into action will go to that one and in
hamdu Lillahi Rabbil alameen wa sallahu was setting out about a karate Mohammedan while he was so
happy he Marian was said Amara Kumara La Hoya barakato