Yasir Qadhi – EVERYTHING Starts With Knowledge

			Hamdulillah we begin by praising Allah subhana hooter, Allah, the One and the unique, it is he alone
that we worship, and it is his aid that we seek. He it is who revealed the Quran to the Prophet
sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, and He taught Adam how to speak. He it is Who hears the dua of the one
who is oppressed, and he is the one who answers the plight of the weak. So may Salatin Salam be upon
the one who was chosen to embody the prophetic peek as to what follows we're all aware that the very
first revelation that Allah revealed was if Quran in a society and a land where people did not know
how to read if inside then as the MacArthur reports that there were probably 15 People in Makkah
		

			that could read and write and Makkah had a population of roughly 3000 You do the math, that is point
5% literacy rate of Arabia, in a land where there was not a single school in a country or a region
that did not have a library, there was no library in that entire Arabian Peninsula. Allah subhana wa
Tada chooses to send down the final book upon the final messenger and he begins the revelation of
that book with a word that we have all memorized if caught up. And our Prophet sallallahu either he
was sent them is terrified and shocked he's confused and agitated. What do you mean if kura ma Anna
because it I don't know how to read How would I know how to read what's education was there there's
		

			no Madras for me to learn no child is taught how to read and write how do you expect me to read if
Cara manner because it could not be thought it I don't know how to read? And then Gibreel says to
him no, yeah rasool Allah, your Cara is not going to be from the readings of men. Your camera is a
different camera. Your camera is the only camera where when you don't know how to read and you are a
Nabil or me for you it becomes an honor and appraise and for anybody else it would not be an honor
and appraise because you you're a sweat Allah, you don't need to read from an encyclopedia. You
don't need to read from the writings of men. You don't need to read from the latest theologians and
		

			scientists. On the contrary, ya rasool Allah, You shall read if Quran Bismillah Rebecca lady Hello,
your recitation will come from Allah by Allah through Allah your recitation is linked directly to
him who needs the writings of men when you are connected to him. So our Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa
sallam was told you don't need to read and write the writings of men. You ya rasool Allah shall read
and write, your recitation will come directly from Allah. If Quran this smear robic with the name of
Allah, the blessings of Allah, the baraka of Allah, that's where the Quran is gonna come from. But
then Allah subhana wa Tada in the same revelation underscores another type of camera and that camera
		

			is a camera that is different from the first one if Quran whare book Allah Karim, Allah the eye
lemma Bill Kalam, I lemon in Santa Madame Yeah, Adam, in this revelation of five verses, Allah
mentions two types of two types of knowledge, two types of reading the first knowledge the first
reading, it is divine, if Quran Bismillah big, that is the revelation, that's something that is
going to come from Allah through the prophet system to us, and he doesn't need the knowledge of men.
But there is another knowledge and that knowledge, Allah has gifted all of us, Allah has gifted it
because he is a chrome he wants to be generous by nature, He is Generous, There is none who is more
		

			generous than him. And his generosity was manifested in the knowledge that he allowed us to acquire.
And then he allowed us to build upon what our predecessors have acquired. You see, we take knowledge
for granted. We take reading and writing for granted. But imagine just imagine a world where every
single generation had to start from square one where you didn't know what the research of the last
generation had given you. Imagine you had to rebuild the world from scratch every single generation
and you couldn't pass knowledge down where would we be the reason why we are standing where we are
standing today. The reason why we have reached the pinnacle of technology and of scientific
		

			achievement and of medicine is because the Quran has taught us a mechanism of how to cumulatively
accumulate knowledge how to pass knowledge from one generation to another, from one civilization to
another, from one mind to another. When we write it is literally almost like magic. You know, the
Mongols, Chingiz Han the Mongols. They were so scared of writing that they would execute every
writer and they would burn every book. Why? Because they said this must be magic. How can somebody
communicate from his mind to the mind of another person? This must be magic. It is not magic. It is
		

			a crumb who taught us who taught us and no other species, no species, the animals talk. Yes, the
animals talk hours previous speaker told us the plants talk everything talks, but only one species
rights. Only one species records that knowledge. A Corolla Bukal, Karim, Allah, the middle column,
he taught us the column, he taught us how to read and write, he taught us so that I remembered in
Santa Monica, Mia, Adam, we can learn what Allah wants us to learn. And we can take the knowledge of
the last years of the last centuries of the last generations and keep on building from them. And
because we can build from previous generations and previous scientists, engineers, therefore we can
		

			go higher and higher, every single era. And we're now living in an era where Allah azza wa jal knows
what the future will hold. So these verses mentioned two types of knowledge, divine knowledge, and
what we call secular knowledge. The both of them are gifts from Allah, but the one is direct and
protected and sanctioned, and the other is indirect and trial and error. The one is infallible, the
other is fallible. The one has a direct communication with our Creator and the other Allah allows us
to experiment with the creation. And Allah allows us to go as far as we can sometimes fallible,
sometimes with mistakes, and sometimes we get it right, these two knowledges both of them come from
		

			Allah. And if Quran these five verses, they reminded the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, and
through him, all of us, that Allah wants us to have both types of knowledge is the first revelation
mentioned both of these knowledges it is as if Allah is saying Everything starts with knowledge,
everything starts with him. And that's why Imam Al Bahati in his famous books I heard Behati he has
a chapter in the very first book, he has a chapter, Bob, Pablo Amman, the chapter of knowing before
doing the chapter of learning before speaking, you have better learn in and then you do your Amman.
Everything begins with that knowledge. And that is exactly what our Prophet sallallahu alayhi
		

			wasallam did. He began teaching and preaching the very first madrasa if you like, the very first
system of learning, it was our Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, and the university that he
founded was the university in his own Masjid. It wasn't a physical University. It wasn't a
structure, but there was tarbiyah. And there was knowledge and the Sahaba understood, they have a
task ahead of them, and they would eagerly flocked to the Prophet sallallahu. Either he would send
them they would study they would memorize or would have been a hot tub. He had a person who would go
with schedules one day he would go one day, his neighbor would go and they would swap information
		

			and they would do business one day and learn the other day, why they've been troubled. And as
symptomatic some of these famous graduates, Ibn Omar says, We learned to memorize five verses from
the prophets of Allah or either you would send them and then we would understand those verses before
moving on to the next five, we wouldn't just memorize in our era we memorize which is fine, not a
problem, per se, but the Companions understood that the Quran wasn't just meant for memorization, he
said, we memorize five verses, then we stopped and we did not continue until we understood and acted
upon them. Then we moved on to the next five. And by the way, do you know how many Sahaba memorize
		

			the Quran and the life of the prophet Sallallahu either he was seldom you will be shocked to
discover hadith is in Makati, for people, for people because they understood the responsibility of
what it entails to memorize the Quran. They thought it's such a big task that they would rather do
it piecemeal bit by bit and then understand it and then make comment upon it. So our Prophet
sallallahu alayhi wa sallam taught the best generation of students from that university graduated
the best of the best workers so the top Earth man don't know rain. The Allahu and all of them
graduated from that university. The Prophet system produced movers and shakers leaders. This is that
		

			mark of a true leader, a true leader produces leaders and every single major companion became a
leader in his own right, every single companion contributed in some way to the Ummah, the true
leadership of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam nurtured the talents of different Sahaba what
you saw in one he didn't see in the other. So he nurtured that and therefore he didn't what he is
not known for narrating a hadith, he had a task to play, and he did it. Abu Hurayrah is not known
for battleship. That's not what he's meant for. He did what he was assigned to do Hassan Ibn sabot,
the official poet of the Prophet, sallAllahu, Sena, he had a task to do, and he did it the best.
		

			That's what the leader does. And that's what the University of our prophets of Allah, why do we send
them did those Sahaba after the process have left this dunya they went their different ways. And
each one began their own madrasa. It wasn't a madrasa like ours. It wasn't a physical structure, but
they
		

			carried there even with them. They understood this religion is everything about him. Everything
begins with knowledge. This is how our religion is going to be preserved. And so even Massoud moves
to Kufa, Kufa was the nether regions. Kufa was the faraway land the very last city on earth that was
still Muslim, even muster with booze the farthest away and he opens his own school again, not an
actual school and he graduates students after students, even Abbas moves to Makkah, they didn't
Sabbath stays in Medina, different people go different places, and each one begins graduating
batches upon batches throughout our history. Those people of knowledge have been the ultimate
		

			backbone of the OMA, not politicians, not leaders, not put. How many of you know the whole effort of
the Obama years and Abbasids under oath and the Ottomans, they did their job, but every one of you
knows him Ahmed Bukhari, every one of you knows Imam Shafi. Every one of you knows Imam Abu Hanifa.
These are the people who preserved our religion is the backbone of our religion. Yes, it's good to
have a nice Khalifa. Yes. We love the OMA Yes. And Abbas is an Ottomans for the good that they did.
But Islam is preserved through him. It Cora so when these Sahaba graduated students slowly but
surely, the concept began, we need to begin to codify scholarship, the Sahaba didn't have manuals
		

			that they would teach. They didn't have textbooks, it was impromptu what you would expect. But
eventually, second, third century, people began writing down Imam Malik said, let me write a book of
Hadith. And that began an entire trend of Hadith scholars of seers, that let me compile the seal
scholars of language Cebo 150. He said, let me write the first manual of Arabic grammar. He wrote,
The first manual scholars of language began writing dictionaries. So knowledge began to become in
different disciplines. And this happened in early Islam. So then the idea became, why don't we have
different specialities these specialities the process and didn't have a Halaqaat intercede a halacha
		

			filter? No, he was everything together. But then later on, the specialities began, because knowledge
began to be codified. And so in the second, third century, we have this this specialization
beginning. And so a student of knowledge, realize, if I want to become a scholar, I need to go from
teacher to teacher spend two, three years with a scholar of Hadith, and then travel to the scholar
of Tafseer, then go to the scholar of fifth so that I can become a well rounded scholar, and this
happened in the second third century. At this time, as well, this, the rulers began to realize that
we need to protect our scholars, because scholars they have a difficult time, you know, living and
		

			fundraising, they have a difficult time with students. And so rulers understood that it is our
responsibility to help and therefore some of the most famous rulers of the Abbasids of the Seljuks
of the hundreds that was the visit our land of India Pakistan of understand the US nervous, began
sponsoring, Madeira says this was the first time around the third century of the hijra, where people
understood if we really want scholarship, we can't expect somebody to just start a Madras on their
own. There were no fundraisers back then the way we have them. There was government money, there was
money that the government had, and the government realized if we want to defend Islam, we need to
		

			have scholarship. And by the way, the scholarship was every for every group, the Fatimids of Egypt.
This is an smilie group. They weren't Sunnis, the Fatimids of Egypt in order to spread their Dawa,
they founded a university called Azhar, as her became one of the first universities founded back in
350 Hijra. They did it in order to spread their ideology and Dawa until Salahuddin came in and of
course, made it into a Sunni institution. The point is, the rulers understood that if we want to
support Islam, we need to support scholarship. It was also at this point in time when the idea came,
why not? How can students go from teacher to teach her and then spend a decade Why don't we bring
		

			all the teachers under one roof and have the students study different subjects and have the first
people to do that was known as almond milk, the famous the famous general there, the Prime Minister,
you can say that one of the most famous Prime Ministers of the entire Ummah, almost everybody has
heard the name does almond milk, right? There's almond milk, he was of the Prime Minister of the
Seljuk Empire, the Seljuks were the predecessors to the Turks, the Seljuks were the first Turkish
dynasty and then from them, the Ottomans came so the Seljuks when they took over Ms. Almond milk was
their chosen Prime Minister and as onlinne was made an institutional reform that was to forever
		

			change the course of Islamic history and Islam and monk understood we need to found Madras says we
need to counter these wrong ideologies coming at the time there was Mandakini ism and all these
different other isms coming other false ideologies. He wanted to defend Islam. And so what did he do
for the first time in Islamic history? And some say in human history? There's a bit of a controversy
is this the first human or only the first in Islamic
		

			He decided why not found what we now call a university bring together different specialists of
different fields under one roof, and then bring together the top students so that they don't have to
travel place to place to place. No, they can be in one place, and they can study the sciences. And
hey, if we're gonna do this, let's have a curriculum. Let's have an actual set subject, how many
hours of fit how many hours of Tafseer and so Muslim and Mark began a university that was named
after him in honor of him than Islamia colleges. And he founded the first one in his land of Nisha
pool. He was from NESHAP pool. And then he wanted to build the grand the grand one, the Ivy League
		

			One, and he did this and of course, the capital of Baghdad, he did into the capital of Baghdad, and
he said to his friend, his great mentor from his childhood, his name was your mama joinI, a great
scholar of the SHA three in the shadow tradition. He said to Mr. Giuliani, I need a young, dynamic
person to make the rector of this Ivy League university in Baghdad. It's the heart of the heart, the
capital, the choicest land is going to have the best creme de la creme Give me your best student.
And so his almond milk, asked him on a journey and join he said, I have just the guy for you. And
that was Imam Al Ghazali. Imam Al Ghazali, was then sent from Nisha poor all the way to Baghdad. And
		

			the rest, as they say, is history that is on me. It was replicated in at least eight different
cities, the same curriculum, the same syllabus, it proved to be such a success, that it was exported
to other lands, even in India as well. You had the dynasties before the Mughals. What was the
dynasty before the Mughals who knows?
		

			Before the Mughal is the famous No, not the Lord is
		

			the Delhi Sultanate very good the Delhi Sultanate the Delhi is salted at copied this type of
curriculum and then import it into India from them. Eventually the foreign key mahal opened up and
they had their own curriculum from them that they opened came. So it's all a chain reaction, all
going back to this almond milk and then Islamia and therefore the notion of having one institution
that caters to all the sciences, it really began within the Islamic tradition, a very famous
orientalist, a non Muslim expert of Islam, George Makdessi, who used to teach at Yale before I came,
he passed away before it was accepted. He was in the generation before me, George Makdessi, wrote a
		

			book you can find on Amazon, the rise of colleges in Islam. That's the title of the book, the rise
of colleges in Islam. And his thesis is very simple. And it's actually pretty solid. His thesis is,
Muslims were the first to institute colleges and universities. And they were the first to have
different levels. And back then there was a basic level, which we now call undergraduate, and there
was a higher level called graduate. In fact, according to him, the PhD was actually based upon
ijazah, to release the license to be able to teach that once you have reached a certain level, the
shift says you have the license to narrate that's a bachelor's degree. But if you go higher and
		

			higher, the shareholders say you are now an independent person, you have the right to hold your own
opinion. This quote was called ijazah, Teddy's and this is the equivalent of the PhD, the point
being within 100 years of the time of the Sahaba, the landscape of the Muslim world had changed from
literally literacy being 0.5%. in Makkah, it's one two, and it went to unprecedented levels. We
don't have exact statistics, some have said at 90%, which is a fair estimation point being from
0.5%, you got illiteracy rate of almost 90%. In the Muslim world, for the first time, children are
going to a madrasa called the maktabah. To this day, across the world, children are taught mucked
		

			up, as we know even in the most rural villages, even if the child does not get an education in the
sciences, they will be taught how to read and write, they will be taught how to write the Arabic and
understand the Arabic and this is the reality that no civilization did before Islam, no
civilization, raise literacy to the level that Islam did. Why? Because it corrupts the foundation
the backbone of our religion is education and both types of education. There is no doubt religious
education is the more spiritual one. It's what's gonna get you to Jannah no question about that. But
Islam wants you to be educated in the secular sciences. If Quran Bukal Karim, Allah is Karim, he
		

			wants you to know this Allah the unnamable column is an insane amount of Muslims understood this
from the beginning, there was never this dichotomy of science versus faith, as was the case in the
Western tradition. We never had the equivalent of a Galileo being threatened by the Grand Mufti. If
you dare research more will burn you at the stake. That never happened in our 14 and a half
centuries, not once was a scientist threatened by the clerics, the clerics understood they
		

			have a role to scientists not just do they have a role. And generally speaking, generally speaking
once upon a time, our older ma were educated to a basic level in the sciences. And our scientists
were educated to a basic level in the sector in the Religious Sciences. There was no dichotomy by
the way, this was even the case in the Western tradition. The Ivy League's, you know, the eight Ivy
this of America, Harvard, Yale, Princeton, all of these, what were they do know, initially they were
Christian colleges, when they were founded. There were colleges for Christian missionaries, though
the emphasis was on the Bible and theology and then you had the arts and the sciences. All of this
		

			changed in the last century. Where did they get this from? According to George MK to see this is
coming straight from the Islamia is coming straight from our tradition, this merging of religious
sciences and secular sciences. And that is why Subhanallah it's so sad to say this, but once upon a
time, it's so sad to see in light of our current situation, Europeans would go study medicine in
Muslim lands. This is well known in Toledo later in Toledo in Spain. Toledo fell in the 11th
century, to the conquest before before Granada did but Toledo was half Muslim, half Christian. And
so because it was half Muslim, half Christian, they didn't expel the Muslims. They kept the
		

			institution's the mantra says, and students began flocking from Europe, from England, from Germany
from France to study especially in Toledo, because Toledo in particular they had Christian
atmosphere along with the Muslims there. And we know this very well because the first time the Quran
was translated into a European language, the very first time it was done by somebody called Robert
of Catan. From Catan as a city in England, Roberts of Catan this Robert of Catan. In 1114. He
translated the Quran, the Pope told him to translate the Quran, the Crusades had begun. The Pope
wanted to get a translator, he traveled to Toledo because Toledo was the place where people would
		

			study Arabic. Christians would study Arabic why? So that they could study medicine, right? Just like
now we traveled to America or somebody who came to America to study medicine, you had to learn
English, and you studied English to study medicine. Once upon a time, people would travel to Toledo
learn Arabic so that they could study the Kitab shifa have even seen, and they could become doctors.
So this Robert of Catan was a British person who spoke fluent English, fluent Latin, fluent Arabic,
and the rector of the university said to the Pope, this is our brightest student. And so the pope
paid a medical student Robert of Catan was a doctor, he paid him a stipend to go and translate the
		

			Quran, which we still have to this day. The first translation of the Quran was done by a medical
student from England who was studying in Toledo and whose seat availbale he actually used to sit at
a bill that we will find the footnotes there that he took from the elevator lobby to understand the
Quran. And his story was what a medical student learning Arabic to become a doctor, and he has to
study peekaboo shifa, which was the medical textbook for 400 years, you all know Kitab, Shiva of Ibn
Sina, the 17 volume book for 300 years, it was the standard textbook of medicine across Europe. It
was one of the first books translated into Latin from where to where do Muslims from where to where,
		

			once upon a time, and I don't say this with a false sense of nostalgia, with a with a mythological
past, and a romanticizing No, the fact of the matter for 1000 years, for a millennia, we lead the
world, in every single field, in technology, in physics, in astronomy, in chemistry, in medicine, in
personal hygiene, everything we we were the ones who were leading the world, what happened in the
last three 400 years that the situation has changed topsy turvy, that is a topic of another lecture
altogether. But my point is, where did it all begin? There isn't an era. And now when we look at the
Muslim situation, subhanAllah how things have changed? Where does one begin to highlight the
		

			problems? One of the fundamental problems is the splitting up of the secular and the Religious
Sciences. This is a fundamental problem that we have so many people who studied the Religious
Sciences are completely unaware of the world and how the world works. And so when they speak about
the world, those that study the world, kind of sort of dismiss them. What are you talking about? How
can you say that and so many people who study secular sciences and who are masters or PhDs in their
fields are completely ignorant of the most basic things of the deen Wallahi. This is a problem. It
goes against the first revelation of the Quran, we're supposed to merge the two together, the divine
		

			along with the secular that's how we formed the Muslim identity. That's how we become who we were,
there should be no division. Once upon a time, our Allama were taught the basics of logic of
chemistry of physics, and then they specialized in the sciences and our scientists studied of seed
and Hadith and then they specialize in what when what they wanted to specialize in. But when you
have this dichotomy, then you're going to get a lot of
		

			problems and solve those problems. And I speak as somebody who has lived in both worlds. Many of you
probably know I was a chemical engineer once upon a time, I have a degree in chemical engineering, I
worked at Dow Chemical I used to devise computer programs to simulate polymer reactions. I mean, I
have some time in corporate America, and then I've done what I've done. So in sha Allah, allow me
some slack, I have the right to say this. And I say this not to criticize, but so that we can change
so that we can bring a solution. One of our fundamental problems is this wide gap between the
secular Muslims and the religious aroma and the clerics and this gap. Frankly, there's a lot of
		

			blame on both sides. But because I'm speaking to a particular audience, let me shift the blame into
our cap more our meaning the people sitting here. Yes, it is true that many of our Obama, many of
them don't quite understand the world that we live in. And so they're fatawa seem a little bit
backward and disconnected. But let me throw that burden back on you. Let me put the ball in your
court. Since when did our top notch students go to the Madras us and become scholars who goes to the
Madras says and becomes a llama? Which type of child do we send? There are Muslim countries I'm not
going to name them but the government assigns which college you go to if you get above a 90 free
		

			pass to the to the medical above an 80 You go to engineering 70 accounting what not if you fail, the
only option you have is what who can tell me madrasa and have school this is a Muslim government. So
do you blame when you you know, in engineering we have you know, the input and output you literally
calculate input and output if your input is going to be failed students, what do you think your
output is going to be? I speak to you and allow me to be a little bit harsh because we don't have
the luxury will lie It's not meant to be on you personally but on a community and I speak as
somebody who's also amongst you Inshallah, your own children going to the best of schools right
		

			where you want them to go to the ivy League's good for you, but out of every 10 that go to the Ivy's
can't just send one to go and study Islam the best and the brightest minds because that's when
you're gonna get a different type of scholarship. That's when the Alim will come out understanding
the dean and the dunya when the secular Muslims the upper class, the elite, the nobility, ie all of
us here, when we understand we need to send our kids to go study Islam, we need to send the best and
the brightest, the highest SATs scores, the best MCAT scores, let 10 go to medical school and send
one or two to the Islamic mantra says that are going to then re change and that's where Al
		

			Hamdulillah from Al Hamdulillah we're seeing the beginnings of this change with Institute's like
miffed duck with Institute's like so many others that are happening across North America.
Alhamdulillah change is beginning but it is too slow. It has to become faster and faster if we want
Islam to flourish in North America. Our scholarship has to be from within North America. It's as
simple as that. Brothers and sisters I grew up I was born in Houston, Texas, my father came 1962 So
one of the first Pakistanis to come he founded is God for Nigeria is one of the founders of ies, GH,
my father came back then there was nobody there. Of course he builds the first Masjid who is going
		

			to be the Imam fully understandable. He brings somebody from Pakistan. He was my first you know, by
the Noorani a teacher my for what do you expect? Okay. hamdulillah one of the reasons I decided to
go to Medina in 1993 One of the reasons I decided I didn't understand the hotbar not a single hot
buyer understand it? Because either they don't speak Arabic or if they try to speak English you'd
rather they speak or do anyway, you know, like, is complete disconnect. And I felt I don't know my
dean. This is pre internet pre books in English. If you remember that I was in in the 90s Very
different. I felt an emptiness I wanted to go study. There was no nothing for me to do to understand
		

			this Deen. Now for how long? Are we going to continue to import our odema they did their job Allah
here I'm not criticizing them. What else could they do? They did the best they could we had to bring
Rhoda MA from Karachi from Cairo. May Allah bless them. We're standing on their shoulders. We're not
I'm not critical of them. They did the best they could. But for how long are we going to continue to
import? When we've reached critical mass, we have critical mass here of Hamdulillah. So you're going
to continue to have people come in from overseas, your child will not be connected to them, your
child will have nothing in common. Even if they learn English, the content of their hobas is not
		

			going to be relatable to your child. Do you blame your child for saying I don't want to come to the
masjid. You need to have role models that your child can actually look up to religious role models
that your child can look up to. And that's where it becomes so necessary. If we truly want to plant
the seed of Islam so that it flourishes in this land. That seed will begin with a reason we need to
make America we need to make this land a place where we have our own scholarship. Like every Muslim
land had its own scholarship you know, brothers and
		

			Sisters, Spain underdose there was a time when Muslims were less than 10% of Andalus. In the
beginning, in that stage, they founded some of the most prestigious madrasahs. In October, the
madrasa was there. 90% of the population is Christian, but they realize they need to found a madrasa
and underdose produce some of the most amazing minds of the Muslim empire. Some of the most exotic
minds of course, will be a shout to be Ibn hasm You find these amazing atypical minds if you study
Islamic history, frankly, unnoticed is just a hotspot of eccentric and get original thought. Why?
Because it was a place where different minds mixed together. You had Jews, you had Christians, you
		

			had Europeans, you had Arabs and Muslims all coming together. So you had a different type of
thought. I say, we have the potential in America to recreate an under Lucien mindset and under
Lucien paradigm, we have the best of the best, we have the brightest minds. We have the most amazing
talent in this land, but we don't have an Islamic scholarship for how long are you going to import
you must bring something from within your teachers have to be from within your students have to be
from within and then inshallah Tada, we're gonna see a flourishing. You don't have an interesting
anecdote. How much time to have a boy.
		

			Okay, let me just finish them. Shall I have an interesting anecdote here telling me finish up
because I handed back to our esteemed host Alhamdulillah. Allah has blessed me to travel many
countries, I think 5055 countries have forgotten how many I've been to. And I like to absorb. I like
to see what's going on. I like to ask questions. One thing that terrified me when I was traveling
the world was to realize that almost everywhere, where Muslims have been a minority for 100 plus
years, almost everywhere, they have lost their Islamic identity. This really terrified me. South
America is the classic example. Even here in North America, the first batch of immigrant Muslims,
		

			not the slaves, the immigrant Muslims that came, came here to Detroit, and Flint and Idaho and
Calgary. 1900. You had batches of, you know, Ottoman Syrians, they came here, by and large, by and
large, many of them have lost their faith. You now have fourth fifth generation Muslims in these
lands that have lost their faith. And I'm speaking to you here in Detroit in Dearborn. Right. I have
met members of your community, whose great, great, great grandfather's came, and the only thing they
knew, and Wallahi I swear to you, I hear this was the only thing they knew. I know I'm a Muslim, and
I don't eat pork. I asked. This was a sister that came to me. I asked, Do you know the Kalima? She
		

			said, What's that?
		

			She did not even know that Kalima, but she knew she was a Muslim. And that's why she came to the
masjid saying, I know I'm a Muslim. I want to learn more. What do you know about Islam? How are you
a Muslim? Complete? I thought she was a complete Caucasian. No, no, actually, I'm originally you
know, automotive Syrian or whatever. Well, what's your story? My great, great, great grandfather
came what do you know of Islam? I know we're not supposed to eat pork. Well, what else do you know?
Nothing. And it's something eye opening to me across the globe. South America is another example.
You had 10s of 1000s of Muslims around 1900 1910. Go to Argentina go to Brazil. Where are they now?
		

			The previous president of Argentina, Carlos Menendez, Carlos Menendez, his great great great
grandfather was Muhammad something come from came from Syria, right. And when Carlos Menendez was
born, he had a Muslim and a Muslim has a look it up but I forgot. You can look it up. He had a
Muslim name, but there's no Islam. He turns 18. He goes to university. He enters University
politics. This is back in the 50s. He changes his name to Carlos mon and this. The rest, as they say
is history. Slowly but surely the rise begins he becomes the president of Argentina, Muslim blood.
Muslim lead, by the way footnote here. There was an article that when he passed away the week he
		

			passed away, he told his children bury me in the Muslim graveyard, Carlos Menendez was buried in a
Muslim graveyard. And his child actually said there's an interview with that towards the end of his
life. My father started reading the Quran again. Subhanallah so it hamdulillah eventually it came
back but nobody knew for his whole life. He was Christian Carlos Menendez, whatnot. This is the
reality of Islam. 100 years from now, there was one land which was a complete exception, complete
exception. And that was South Africa.
		

			The first time I've been to South Africa, South Africa many times the first time I visited South
Africa. It was just surreal. Fourth, fifth, sixth generation full beards hijab? No Gujarati Punjabi
Urdu all forgotten Okay, except roti dal. They still remember Okay, and the food was spicy
Alhamdulillah Alhamdulillah that we need to preserve guys. We cannot ever let go of our spices guys.
You agree with me? Okay. Are half of you Arab? Sorry. Okay, that's it.
		

			When
		

			I visited South Africa and I was honestly shocked at how vibrant Islam was, they are percentage wise
similar to us six 7% 5% But you go to Durban right you go to Cape Town mashallah Tabata Allah, you
go to the cities and mashallah the only western country in the 70s or 80s that was sending karate to
Egypt in the national Quran competition. The global was South Africa, the only country back in the
70s and 80s. And I was shocked. How do you guys preserve your Islam for 100 years? I've never seen a
country like it, not a single country in the Western world except for you. And we'll the first time
I went was 2006. I think seven and I met an elderly lady. 93 years old, she's passed away a lot
		

			hammer. She wrote a book about her own life. I have it at home. 93 When I met her, and her
grandfather had come do the math. Her grandfather had come from rural India. So I said, Auntie, I
have a question to ask you. This is before I did my research, what she said I backed it up with
research, but this was anecdotal. I asked her auntie I have a question to ask you. I've traveled the
world. I've never seen Islam preserved as much as it has been in your land for the last 100 years in
any Western country. What was your secret? How did you do this? instantaneously? I swear to you, she
said this without thinking twice, instantaneously, she said, The madrasa.
		

			My grandfather came from the village, whatever. And he opened before even the Masjid. He opened the
madrasa and I remember going to that madrasa and as well, Auntie Holland, your father, grandfather
came from India. And he opened the madrasa for you as a lady. You do realize I said to her that
there were no mother assists for ladies back in India. And she she said to me, yes, I know. But my
grandfather understood that if we want to preserve Islam, we have to educate the boys and especially
the girls.
		

			So
		

			the fundamental difference between South Africa and other places was the madrasa system. So here we
are today.
		

			Plan planting one of those important seeds and what to seed mashallah Tabata, Allah, masha Allah
Tabata Allah
		

			a few years ago, this place would have a place where, you know, with all respect to them nothing I
have nothing against. May Allah bless any religious person in this era that we live in some religion
is better than no religion will light some religion is better than no religion. Few years ago, this
was a place where other than Allah was worship. We don't like that. But there was some religion
here, that religion declined, as all religions are on the decline in America, but at hamdulillah
from Al Hamdulillah, our iman is still here.
		

			And I find this to be in sha Allah, somewhat symbolic Insha Allah, a symbol of optimism, because
this isn't the first church slash mosque that I have visited in America. It's pretty common Al
Hamdulillah. But this particular church slash masjid, masha Allah, what a gift to your community.
What a gift, walk around this campus, acres 100,000 square feet, how can you not support this
institution, this institution and this facility and the family that is behind them, Baraka Allah,
Baraka, Nora, Nora Hamdulillah, Al Hamdulillah. So I am not here today to make any case the case has
been made in front of you. I'm simply here to be a part of the baraka that Insha Allah, we are going
		

			to see brothers and sisters, what this generation does, in particular, our generation, because we
are the first generation, our generation that is fully acclimatized east and west fully, and we are
the last such generation, Z Evangelia Jayegi, a generation Gibberd, macadam, OBC, Z Avanade, at the
door generation, kahini, Kahina, door generation at maximum one and a half generations, it goes,
zavon goes away immediately. The outcome is you understand within two generations, you're not going
to be speaking Arabic Your grandchildren, it's going to go away. That's the reality. We cannot
afford our religion to go away. We cannot. This generation, our generation, whatever we do, it will
		

			have a ripple effect for at least 100 to 100 years. Because this is the generation of planting that
seed the next generation it's too late. So whatever we do, this generation in our understanding of
Islam and our protection of our heritage, and our planting the seeds for the future. This is what
will be the main factor after Allah's blessings to preserve our deen So I pray that Allah subhana wa
Tada opens up our hearts and our minds to understand that responsibility and that Allah guides us
and God
		

			others through us and that Allah subhanaw taala utilizes us and that Allah protects us and protects
our children after us. I pray that Allah subhana wa Taala allows us and our children to be of those
who established us Allah, I pray that our children become better role models than us. I prayed that
the Kadima is descended down generations to generations for as long as our children live, I pray
that Allah azza wa jal blesses our children with the love of the Quran and the love of the Prophet
Muhammad Sallallahu I knew he was setting them I pray that Allah Subhana Allah to Allah causes all
of us to live as Muslims to die as mins and to be resurrected with the prophets and the companions
		

			and what a noble companionship they are, which is Allah who was said to Allah he will
		

			either
		

			be Ermis the heathen dogs seni one tells
		

			me what to feed
		

			the what
		

			feels cool to me.
		

			Journey Jenny dasa, down
		

			down