Yasir Qadhi – Five Strategies for Islamic Activism – MUNA Keynote Speech
AI: Summary ©
AI: Transcript ©
We
thank
Allah for every single blessing that he has
given us. Alhamdulillah
for this beautiful, magnificent,
amazing gathering.
I am so honored and pleased
and humbled
to be amongst all of you today.
I am sad to admit this is my
first munna convention, and I do apologize for
delaying. This was the first time I'm able
to come. And
Islam unites all of us.
Right before on stage, we had doctor Al
Taf Hussein, even though he looks like me,
but we are 2 different people. He dresses
like me. We are 2 different people. And
doctor Al Taf and myself and you all,
we are all from slightly different places in
the same Indian subcontinent,
but Islam unites all of us.
And even though
my ancestors were from another place in the
Indian subcontinent
and I have to be very careful about
politics. Because
when I am an outsider, I have to
be very careful about internal politics.
So let me just say generically
that I am so happy
to be at this
particular week
because I saw some images online
that, wallah, he made my heart jump for
joy.
I saw a,
a,
a.
I saw a tyrant
flee for her life.
I saw somebody whose actions were far from
beautiful
even if her name means beauty, but her
actions were far from beautiful.
I saw somebody run for her life.
And wallahi, my heart jumped for joy.
My heart jumped for joy.
And this is the sunnah of Allah.
And this is the sunnah of Allah.
Allah does not allow.
Allah does not allow tyranny to flourish.
And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
always takes into account the injustices
of the tyrants and the evil people.
The amount of blood that was shed, the
amount of innocent prisoners,
the amount of pious people whose lives were
unjustly taken.
Wallahi, for the last 10, 15 years, we
were crying when we saw what is happening
there. But the events of this week made
our hearts filled with
joy, and we thank Allah
to see such a bright day. And we
make dua for the people of the land
and for the protesters on the streets.
Brothers and sisters, my talk today will be
short and sweet,
and it will be extracted straight from the
Quran.
Surataha
verse 42.
Memorize it, and we will extract from it
a 5 step strategy
that Allah tells the prophet Musa alayhis salam.
The prophet Musa was chosen by Allah to
go to his of his time, the firaun
of his time, the tyrant of his time.
And Allah said to him very few phrases.
These are 7 words. And from these 7
words,
Allah is telling Musa 5 strategies,
5 points,
5 methodologies.
Do 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 in order
to succeed. And we will, from this verse,
extract
the five strategies of Islamic activism.
So please make a note of this, make
a point of this, go back and study
this verse, and look at how Musa alayhis
salam applied it in his life so that
we can apply it in our lives. The
verse is as follows.
You and your brother go forth, go to
Musa, go to Firaun.
You and your brother go to Firaun.
And go armed with my signs
and never give up. Never become lazy.
Constantly do my dhikr and worship me.
In this simple phrase,
in this simple ayah,
Allah instructs Musa alayhi salam with number 1,
Go stand up and challenge Firaun.
Do not be scared of Firaun. Do not
cower in silence.
Islam
is not just about the private worship of
Allah. We must stand up publicly
and preach against tyranny and injustice.
When you see a firaun, you need to
become a Musa.
When you see tyranny, you have to stand
up and preach against it. Islam tells us
whenever there is Firaun,
you need to follow in the footsteps of
Musa. You need to go to Mus Firaun.
You need to stand up in front of
Firaun. You need to try to stop the
evil, the injustice of Firaun.
Become active.
Do not become lazy. Do not become cowards.
Do not become scared. You have to do
something. You have to challenge evil. All Muslims,
our religion
is a religion of activism.
Our religion is a religion of service.
Our religion is a religion of community.
It's not just about worshiping in the masjid.
It is also about bringing good in this
dunya.
And a part and parcel of our mandate
from Allah
is that we must spread
as much peace as we can,
as much benefit as we can. We cannot
allow injustice.
We must stop tyranny.
Be active.
Don't just sit in your house. What was
the first revelation
of our Prophet salallahu alaihi wasallam after Iqra
came down? You ayuhalmu
zamil. You ayuhalmudathir.
Oh, you who's covered up in a shawl,
stand up and go outside and preach.
Stand up.
Be
active.
O Muslims,
the Quran is full of activity verbs. Go,
do, pray, fast, be active. Whatever you do,
do something.
Do not just sit and give up. Do
not just sit down and be lazy.
Go do something. We see the tyranny around
us. We see the tyranny in our own
land. We see the tyranny in America. We
see the tyranny in Israel.
If heb, be active. Do something. Don't just
sit around. Now what can you do? Everybody
has a different role to play. Some people,
media, journalism, social media. Other people, political lobbying.
Other people education and preaching. But something, you
have to do something, and Allah created all
of us with different talents.
Some of you shine in some fields, others
shine in others. Whichever field you shine in,
whatever you're able to do, do something,
and do not trivialize the good that you
do. Wallahi, if the only thing that you
can do is to help preserve the iman
of the next generation, to raise a good
family, to contribute to your masjid, to volunteer
in the Sunday school. That is good enough
because somebody has to do this job. But
you must do something beyond yourself, beyond
go out and do something. So the first
commandment
that Allah says to Musa, go out and
be active.
Engage with the broader public. Do something. Let
yourself become visible.
Do not just lock yourself in your houses.
All Muslims,
we cannot
afford to be selfish about the religion of
Islam. The religion of Islam must be shared.
The religion of Islam must be made public.
And the only way to do that is
to be active in our public spheres.
That's the first commandment. And we translate this
as be active.
Number 2,
you and your brother.
How many people did Firaun have on his
side?
How large were the armies of Firaun?
How many ministers did Firaun have? What is
the size of the elite force of Firaun?
Marines, navy,
royal guards,
all of this becomes irrelevant
when you stand up with your community,
even if it's just 2 people. You and
your brother, oh Musa, you and Harun, you
have to get other people involved and then
stand up and preach the truth. We learn
from this ayah that a part of Islamic
activism
is to gather the Muslims together, is to
help bring about a sense of community.
Allah says in the Quran,
cooperate together in good activities. So the second
commandment,
we have to get other people together. Whatever
your project is, whatever your good idea is,
you wanna start a charity, you wanna build
a Sunday school, you wanna raise awareness about
Palestine, you wanna bring about a better system
of government in your home country, well then,
you need people to help you. As long
as you have people, quality is more important
than quantity.
You and your brother, just 2 of you,
but you're gonna begin the revolution. You're gonna
begin preaching against Firaun. You're gonna begin a
trickle down effect that will bring about an
entire change. And so the second commandment that
we learn from this is activism at a
communal level. You need people, and you need
volunteers,
and you need helpers. You need an organization
because all things require multiple groups to come
together. And in order to do so, you
will have to build bridges. You're gonna have
to win the approval of people, and this
is the reality of any group activism.
Subhanallah.
In all of human history, yes, you have
great leaders, but those leaders require followers. Those
leaders require people behind them. Those leaders require
the the helpers behind them, the Ansar and
Muhajirun.
You need a team. You need to surround
yourself with people that will help you. And
so that's why when Allah task Musa to
go to Firaun, Musa, the first thing he
said, You Rabb, I need my brother, Harun.
I need an adviser. I need a helper.
And so Allah gave him Harun. We learn
from this that
activism requires community.
Activism requires groups of people to come together
so that a change can be affected. And
once again, what is that change? Every one
of us has a role to play. You
decide what can I contribute? Bring together like
minded people and then get focused and go.
Point number 3,
with my signs,
with my miracles.
Don't go unprepared.
Don't go without a plan.
Don't go without studying.
Don't go without knowledge.
The ayaati.
You need to have the ayaat of Allah.
Now for Musa and Harun, the ayaat were
divine miracles. Well, we do not have that
type of divine miracle, but we have the
ayaat of Allah meaning the Quran.
And the ayaat of Allah meaning the dhikr
of Allah. And the ayat of Allah meaning
all of the knowledge that the prophet salallahu
alaihi wa sallam came with. We have those
ayats. So before we undertake a project,
before we go out and engage,
we must arm ourselves with knowledge, with the
Quran, with understanding what we are doing. We
must must be prepared
academically, intellectually, physically.
We cannot walk in and challenge Firaun without
having what we need. And Musa and Harun
had what they needed. So when we are
going to take on our projects, when we're
gonna start our whatever projects they are, we
need to have a preparation idea.
We need to know what we are doing.
We need to have an agenda. We need
to have a plan. We need to prepare
ourselves with any preparation necessary. And this is
what Allah is telling Musa and Firaun.
Learn the religion. Learn the Quran.
Learn the seerah. Have the ayat of Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala before you engage. And as
you engage, follow those ayats. Follow the knowledge
that you have. Do not do something without
knowledge. Because if you do it without knowledge,
without ayat, you will end up destroying yourself.
You will end up not benefiting, but rather
harming. You must proceed with knowledge and ilm.
You must proceed
knowing what you are doing. And that's what
Allah is telling Musa and Firawn.
Go, you and your brother, with my ayat.
Never give up.
Never become lazy.
Never throw in the towel.
Do not falter.
Whatever you do,
do not give up. And this phrase tells
us an amazing reality.
Allah will reward you
not based on the results, but based on
the effort.
Allah will reward you not based upon the
end, but based upon the procedure.
Even if you do not see the end,
as long as you tried, you are successful.
As long as you don't give up, you
keep on doing and doing and doing, then
alhamdulillah,
you are successful.
How many were the Sahaba who passed away
before the conquest of Makkah?
How many were the Sahaba who never saw
the fruits of what they had done? How
many died tortured in Mecca? How many in
the battle of Badr, the battle of Uhud,
the battle of the Khanda? How many died
throughout all of those years?
Are their lives in vain? No. Of course
not.
They are just as successful
as those who conquered Mecca.
Allah is not asking you to see the
result. Allah is asking you put in the
effort.
Never give up. Whatever you do, the goal
is bigger than you. The project is longer
than your life. Falasdeen
has been a project of the ummah for
more than 80 years.
3 generations
have gone by, and Allah is telling us
never give up.
Do not give up. Keep on trying. Keep
on striving. Try one tactic and then another
and then another.
The goal indeed is the liberation of the
land. But whether we see it or not,
as long as we put in the effort,
Allah will bless us. So once you have
decided your project, once you have a group
of people behind the project, and you have
an agenda and plan, you have vision, you
have strategy,
then Allah is saying, do not give up.
Success
might be long term.
Success might be beyond your life. That's all
fine.
Even if you don't see success,
if you tried, you are successful.
Understand this point, sisters and brothers. It doesn't
matter if you see success.
It doesn't matter whether you're alive when Makkah
is conquered or not. If you put in
the effort, you put in the struggle, you
tried your best,
Allah will reward you as if you actually
finished the project even if you didn't finish
the project.
Never give up. In fact, the whole seerah
demonstrates this for us. The prophet
never gave up. He continuously
strive one issue after another. No matter what
happened, when the battle
of Badr took place, and then Uhud, when
the hijrah took place, when the incident of
Taif took place. He didn't know what the
next step was gonna be. But he kept
on trying, kept on knocking at different doors.
And this is the reality of our faith
and tradition.
We live in very difficult time, coming very
hostile to us. Islamophobia is on the rise.
The far right parties are all becoming more
and more popular.
In Europe, as we speak, the far right
is becoming the most popular in so many
countries.
This very week, more than 12
were attacked in England. More than a dozen
were attacked in England. A sister had acid
thrown on her simply because she wore hijab.
Multiple sisters had their hijabs pulled off. This
is in England, whereas, you know,
large percentages of the land is Muslim.
SubhanAllah.
What is the way to respond? Allah is
saying,
Do not give up. Education,
preaching, tolerance,
showing the reality of Islam. We have to
fight Islamophobia
through our actions. We don't know which tactic
will be successful. We don't know which political
party will be the most successful, but we
have to engage. We have to try. We
can never give up.
This is the reality of our faith. Din
and dunya combined. Religion and spirituality
combined. And then the 5th and final point,
Never give up and especially
never stop doing my dhikr. Never stop worshiping
me. And this least,
it is last on the list, but it
is definitely not least on the list. And
that is the constant worship of Allah
Activism
must
always have worship and ibadah, dhikr and du'a,
salah and Quran.
You cannot have activism.
You cannot have political engagement.
You cannot have public engagement with the religion
without private worship, without a strong connection with
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. No matter what you
do, make sure you are practicing Islam in
your daily life. Make sure your salah, your
zakah, your sayam, your hajj. Make sure your
dhikr, your tahajjud.
Make sure your Quran and your ibadah is
down solid. And that is why the first
commandment given to the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam.
Oh, you who is covered up, stand the
night in tahajjud.
Stand the night in tahajjud. The first commandment
given, you had better do your prayers on
time. There is no Islamic activism
without Islamic worship.
There is no public engagement
without private taluk and connection with Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala. You must have the zikr of
Allah and the ibadah of Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala when you engage in public activism. Now
this ayah mentions
these 5 points here. Let us now extrapolate
reality wise. What do we do therefore in
America, in Europe, across the world? As I
said, 1st and foremost, you need to decide
what am I the most qualified to do?
Where does my passion lie? What do I
wanna do to contribute to the ummah? What
do I wanna do that is beyond my
job, my career, my family, my bank account?
How can I benefit the ummah? That is
the question you need to ask yourself.
How can I benefit the ummah? And only
you can answer that question because the ummah
needs benefit
in many different fields. The ummah needs benefit
in every single capacity.
Whatever your job, your career, your family is,
there are things you can contribute.
Even if you have no public speaking skills,
even if you are not good in engagement
with the broader society,
if you are visibly Muslim in your field,
if you are the best scientist in your
lab, the best engineer in your corporation,
if you're the most honest businessman in your
entire entourage of business people, and everybody knows
you to be a Muslim, that is a
contribution. Right there is a contribution.
Your contribution
doesn't have to be public speaking. It doesn't
have to be something that is in the
limelight.
It can be behind the scenes as long
as you are contributing something to the ummah.
Once you know your passion, once you know
what you're interested in, number 2, get the
people behind you. This doesn't mean you need
a large multinational corporation.
It doesn't mean you have to found Munna.
Munna is doing great work, but you can
do also great work with or without a
large corporation, with or without a nonprofit. But
you need a team. Sometimes that team is
only your close friends. Sometimes it might even
only be you and your spouse raising a
children. That is a project, and that is
great for the ummah. If that's the only
thing you do, that is a successful project,
and people need to do that. But you
have to have that vision and team. So
you and your team, and then make sure
you know what you are doing. The ayaati.
Study what Islam says about this project. If
it is corporation,
if it is NGO, if it is charity,
if it is political activism, if it is
journalism, whatever it is, find out what does
the Sharia say about this aspect. What do
I need to do to make it halal?
What do I not need to do so
I don't fall into haram? You need to
learn the sharia.
Arm yourself with what Allah wants you to
know. If
you're raising a family,
know how to raise a family. What is
the Islamic methodology?
What does the Quran and Sunnah say about
children? And by the way, it's not as
if you only have one project. No. We
have all of us
simultaneous
projects that we are doing. We have projects
in our work, projects with our family, projects
in our personal lives, projects for the broader
community.
We all have different projects, and for all
of them, we can follow these five points
here. So you and your workers
find out what is the Islamic solution.
Become active.
Never give up. Never give up. That is
not a part of our trajectory,
not a part of our vernacular.
We will always strive
to bring about positive change. We will always
try one tactic after another. And if one
tactic doesn't work, we'll move on to a
different tactic. But we will never lose sight
that we have a broader goal ahead of
us. And, subhanAllah,
look even at the activism around us. Look
even at the reality of politics
in this in this country and in other
countries.
30 years ago, 40 years ago, who could
have imagined the Muslims of this land, masha'Allah,
thriving to this level? It was not even
in our wildest dreams Islam could be like
this, but still people strived.
People had some vision. They laid some foundation.
And based on that,
here we are. Go ask the founders of
Munna. When the 1st Munna convention happened, how
many people came? And ask them, could they
ever imagine a crowd where 10,000
people have gathered together for the Munna convention.
Alhamdulillah.
That's what you call vision. You plan and
you plant the seeds, and Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala will allow those seeds to come to
fruition. You have to think generations
ahead. Or Muslims, the projects,
not every project will be solved in your
lifetime. Projects sometimes take a century or 2.
Projects are sometimes beyond you.
He came after 97
years
of Aqsa being under crusader control.
97
years.
Was the one who planted the seed.
Did not see
the conquest of Al Aqsa. Nur ad Din
did not see the freedom of Al Aqsa,
but he planted the seed. And that seed
became sala ad Din alayubi, and sala ad
Din liberated Aqsa. We need to think like
Nur ad Din al Zangi. We need to
think long term and strategy. We cannot be
so shortsighted
that immediately we will find a solution. No.
Gradual
victory
is better than no victory.
Gradual change is better than no change. And
change must be done gradually and organically from
within. And before I move on, I need
to make a blunt plea especially to my
brothers and sisters of Bangladesh.
Learn from the mistakes of the Arab Spring,
oh people of Bangladesh.
Learn from the mistakes of the Arab Spring.
See what happened. Our hearts were with the
protesters. Our hearts were with what the people
did. We were all against the tyrants and
rulers, but unfortunately,
that entire region has been immersed in anarchy
and chaos.
We need to learn from the mistakes of
what happened there, and some gradual steps, and
some freedoms
is better than none. So be careful, be
cautious, and do not attempt too much change
at once because it's going to backlash on
you. Learn to speak to the people at
their level, and bring them slowly but surely
with you. And do not become a tyrannical
regime like your predecessors were because we see
what happens when the realities are changed. Oh,
Muslims, be careful
of your own ranks, fomenting
hatred and backtracking.
And, subhanallah,
I know sometimes
external forces are planted within us. They are
not a part of us. And external forces
are planted so that Islam is made to
look bad. We have seen video, image, and
footage of some minorities
being harassed in Bangladesh
by people who claim to be Muslim.
We have to uncategorically
state,
it is not a part of our religion
to harass innocent civilians.
It is not a part of our religion
to break down temples of other faith traditions.
It is not a part of our religion
to harass and intimidate people on the street.
We all know this. And if somebody from
our ranks does this, we need to stop
them. And we need to come in between
them and tyranny and injustice.
Even if their intentions are good, their actions
are bad. And as we all know, sometimes
these people are not even amongst us. They
have implanted
so that we have to make men look
bad. So be careful, all Muslims. We do
not divide amongst ourselves. We are all against
tyranny and injustice. We have to be united
in our battle against tyranny and injustice. And
then the final point, as we said,
is never ever forget your ultimate victory is
always in your connection with Allah Subhanahu wa
ta'ala. Even if you do not get this
dunya, the people of Palestine,
over 50,000
of them have lost their lives. Today,
100 people died in an attack against a
school.
Every time we think Israel cannot stoop any
lower, and it goes even lower. Every time
we think the red line has been crossed,
they cannot do it, and they do something
even more evil. 100 people lost their lives
today, subhanallah.
And yet still, these are a people these
are a people Allah has chosen them.
Even though 50,000 people have died, they have
inspired 5, 10, 50,000,000
people around the world. People are embracing Islam
because of the sacrifices of Gaza. Around the
world,
Islam is now becoming something that people are
interested in. The the the izzah of the
people of Gaza has been gained by the
sacrifice of the people of Gaza. Their sacrifice
has brought them that izzah, which shows you
you have to put in some effort, and
you have to sacrifice
in order to get that blessing and barakah
from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. The iman of
the people of Gaza is so strong.
Even though their lives have been gone, their
iman shines in spite of their death. And
they have inspired
and they have inspired the entire ummah.
Never have I seen the ummah united as
much as it has been over Gaza.
Never have we seen the emotions of the
people rise up because of the people of
Gaza. And this shows you our strength
is not in body counts. Our strength is
not in physical. Our strength is in iman.
Our strength is in ruah. Our strength is
in taqwa. And the iman of the people
of Gaza has shown around the whole globe.
And this is what iman does. Follow that
reality
and under says iman of the heart more
than he blesses the strength of the body.
The people of Israel, the armies of Israel,
the IDF, it has more weapons. It has
more evil tyranny, and yet the whole world
has turned against them. Why? Because Allah has
written that he and his followers will be
victorious.
So be on the side of victory. Be
on the side of taqwa. Be on the
side of the people of iman and learn
from this reality. O Muslims,
alhamdulillah,
thumalhamdulillah,
we live at times where Allah has blessed
us to be able to be active, to
be able to preach and teach, to be
able to bring about change. Allah has blessed
us to be in a land. It has
a lot of negatives, but it also has
a lot of positives. Yes. There are negatives.
Our country supports the apartheid regime of Israel.
That should make us very angry, and we
are angry. At the same time, our country
also allows us to be active. Our country
allows us to be a part of this
country, allows us to influence the system.
Let nobody
let nobody
make you feel guilty when you take your
own heritage and your right. Those of us
who are Americans, and I'm an American citizen,
those of us who have nationality,
those of us who are part of the
system,
we must, for the sake of our Lord
and for the sake of our country, be
a part of this system. We must try
our best to guide the system to what
is to be more moral, what is to
be more better, what is to be more
noble, and let nobody make you feel guilty
for doing that. This is our god given
right, and it is our constitutional
right. We are Muslims. We are Americans.
Both of those things put together means I
don't want my country supporting genocide.
I don't want my country supporting bombs. I
don't want my country getting involved in killing
children.
How can I sit by and I see
my country do this? I have to stand
up,
and go to the White House, which is
embodying Fir'awn, and I have to speak out
against that White House, and I have to
come together with as many people as I
can. And I have to gather my forces
with the ayat of Allah, with the knowledge
of Allah, and I have to influence the
system. I might fail in my lifetime. I
might not see the results, but I'm not
allowed to give up. And as I do
all of this, I must constantly worship Allah.
I must constantly have a strong connection with
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. And if we do
so, brothers and sisters, change takes a long
while. Change is slow. Change is organic. We
have to be in it for the long
run. It's not a short term victory. And
I say to you again, we are so
happy that your tyrant is gone, but be
careful because in the Arab Spring, one tyrant
left and another came in its place. We
don't want that. Wallahi, we don't want that.
If we don't want that, then learn from
what happened there and understand
some progress is better than no progress, and
some victory is better than no victory. Be
gentle. Be easy. Be tolerant. Be compassionate.
Follow the sunnah of the prophet sallallahu alaihi
wasallam and take the people with you as
you go. Oh, Muslims, Alhamdulillah,
our religion teaches us
that nationalities
and borders are not as important to us
as our faith are. I might be from
a different background than you. My my people
might be from a slightly different region than
yours, but what combines us is much more
than what separates us. What unites us is
what makes us powerful and one. Inna hadihi
ummatukumummatilwaeda.
We are 1 ummah. We are 1 people.
We are 1 nation. And together, insha'Allah,
we will fight against all types of tyranny
and injustice.
Together with the banner of Islam, with the
methodology of the prophet, salallahu alaihi wa sallam.
We will strive to make the world a
better place. We will strive to minimize
the effects of firaoun. We will strive to
see justice fulfilled. We will strive to see
freedom for all peoples on earth. And as
we do this, we must constantly worship Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala. That is what our religion
teaches us. That is what the sirrah of
Musa alayhi wa salam teaches us. And that
is what the Seerah of our prophet sallallahu
alaihi wasallam teaches us. Oh, Muslims, I wanna
finish my talk today with
a celebration
of seeing the end of tyranny in the
land of Bangladesh.
A celebration
that indicates how much we love our Lord
and creator. A celebration
that indicates that we love Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala
more than anything.
I want us all to join together with
a loud takbir
that is gonna demonstrate to the world around
us. We are so happy at what has
happened in our land. We are celebrating for
joy. Allah is greater than any tyrant. Allah
is greater than any taghiyah. Allah is greater
than any evil person. Allah is indeed the
greatest. So let us join together and let
us from the depths of our heart, celebrate
the praises of Allah with a loud takbir.
Are you ready brothers and sisters?