Yasir Qadhi – ICNA-MAS Convention 2022

			Oh
		

			Alhamdulillah
		

			Alhamdulillah Masha Allah to Baraka Allah.
		

			Say Alhamdulillah, guys
		

			Alhamdulillah it's so nice to be back and hamdulillah Al Hamdulillah we thank Allah say
Alhamdulillah
		

			we thank Allah for all of his blessings, and especially the blessing of gathering here after three
long, enduring years, after three years of enduring a crises, the likes of which none of us could
ever have predicted, who amongst us has not been affected by the COVID crisis Subhanallah brothers
and sisters, every one of us here today and I speak as well for myself, we have lost family and
friends in the last two and a half years, may Allah subhanho wa taala, forgive all of them and grant
them to those and grant them at the death of a Shaheed Inshallah, to Allah. But Allah has chosen us
to move on, our times will come by the way, all of our times will come. But Allah has chosen us and
		

			a parts of appreciating those blessings that He has chosen us to continue is that we appreciate and
thank him for all that we took for granted. Muslims appreciate those small blessings that we didn't
even recognize as being blessings, family gatherings, who could have ever thought that family
gatherings would be taken away from us, coming together in these large congregations, the hustle and
bustle the chaos of life that we typically did not like when it was taken away from us. We realize
that was a blessing that we wanted back and that hamdulillah we're on our track to normalcy, so we
thank Allah for that. But dear brothers and sisters, a part of acknowledging the blessings Allah has
		

			given us is to also acknowledge our brothers and sisters who don't have those blessings. A part of
being thankful to Allah is to see around us and those who don't have it to make dua for them to feel
for them. Otherwise this will lead to arrogance. So as we are gathered here today, masha Allah
Tabata Kola I've been told almost 10,000 Strong over here, and in the gatherings and in the masala
and in the rooms outside one of the largest gatherings of Muslims in North America, as we're
gathered here today.
		

			As we're gathered here today, brothers and sisters and Wallahi we are thankful that we are here. We
also have to remember that there are those who are not able to display their Islam. There are those
who are being persecuted simply for the crime, quote, unquote, of reading of the Quran of growing a
beard of going to the masjid of having gone for Hajj and Umrah 1015 20 years ago. I speak Dear
brothers and sisters of our Uighur brothers and sisters in China. I speak of mass persecution, the
likes of which has not taken place since World War Two. What we are seeing here it is an ethno side
not to genocide an ethno site, the United Nations has documented the reality of what is what is
		

			happening. Over 1 million people, Muslims Uyghurs have been gathered up and thrown into what they
call concentrated what they call education camps, which are nothing but concentration camps. They
have been separated from their families. Children have been taken away from parents and put into
households of the Han Chinese. Our young sisters have been taken and forcibly married into the
broader population. And those children, our sisters, the people in the concentration camps, they are
forbidden from anything that is remotely religious, no Quran, no Salah no Kalama. They're forced to
eat pork, they're forced to drink alcohol. They are being deprogrammed in order that they don't want
		

			them to be killed. That's a genocide. What is an ethnos side brothers and sisters pay attention to
this an ethno side. You don't want to destroy the bodies. You want to keep the bodies for your
national for your national GDP. You want to keep the bodies to be workers in your country, but you
want to destroy the souls you want to destroy their culture. You want to destroy their religion.
This is called an ethnos side. What happened in World War Two was a genocide that killed the people
what's happening in China right now. It is an ethnos side they want to kill the spirit of Islam.
They want to kill the
		

			Religion of these people and for the last decade, they have been doing this right under the noses of
the entire world, brothers and sisters. After World War Two, the world came together and they said
never again. After World War Two, the great superpower said not under our watch since World War Two,
nothing like this has happened. And yet here we see it. Where are those slogans of Never again? What
happened to not under our watch? To give you one simple example. Recently Russia invaded Ukraine.
And no doubt that is something bad we don't like any loss of life. Immediately the NATO superpowers
got involved boycotted Russia, put against them taxes Levite fines increased the price of oil have
		

			many restrictions. People in Russia can choose their regular credit cards, PayPal, they did not like
this. They took action they put in soft pressure. Do you know what has happened with China? Not to
single thing? Why brothers and sisters? Why? Is certain blood cheaper than others? Are certain
ethnicities not as important as others? So please spare me the slogans of Never again. We all see
through the hypocrisy. We don't expect much from them. But we as Muslims cannot forget the plight of
anyone who is persecuted for the Kenya My dear brothers and sisters, our weaker brothers and sisters
are a case study. The only reason they are being persecuted is the Kalima, that's it. They haven't
		

			done any crime. They haven't done anything illegal, they're being persecuted, because they have an
identity, a religion, a value system that is different from the dominant majority. What will our
reaction be the least that we can do as we gather together, we thank Allah for our blessings, the
least that we can do is to feel the pain of our brothers and sisters to make dua for them to point
out the double standards and hypocrisy to constantly bring up this in social media. That's the least
that we can do anything less than this, honestly, SubhanAllah. It's a weakness of Eman, the least we
can do make dua and bring up these issues so that people don't forget. Also, while we're talking
		

			about issues of the globe, let us also not forget other places that we need to be cautious about
other places where things are happening that are extremely problematic. As we speak. Another power
has already risen up a power that is similar to Nazi Germany ideals, an ideology of far right
ideology that is actually directly linked to Nazis. You know what, when we talk about regimes, we
like to say, Oh, these are Nazi type regimes. When we talk about dictators, we say, Oh, these are
like Hitler. And we're correct. A lot of times the current country that I'm talking about, and the
current political party that I'm talking about, this isn't just not z like, it isn't just Hitler
		

			esque. No, factually speaking, what we are seeing with the BJP in India, it is directly linked to
the Nazi Party of Germany.
		

			Let me explain. Let me explain. Brothers and sisters, we need to stand up and educate the world
what's going on
		

			the Nazi Party of Germany back in the 1920s. It got some of its ideals and some of its motifs and
some of its slogans and even some of its symbols, you know, the the four stars that they have it got
it from a radical strand of Hinduism, the notion of Aryan purity, that, you know, four stars that
they have, where's it from? It's from a radical strand of Hinduism. And that's why Hitler was
talking about the purity of the Aryan race. The Aryan race is actually allegedly an ancient Indian
race. Why is Hitler talking about the Aryan race? Because there were certain people from that Hindu
mythology that he got this from that same mythology it gave rise to an organization called the RSS
		

			look this up, RSS was active in the 30s and 40s. They had a direct relationship with the Nazis of
Germany. One of the members of the RSS was the one who assassinated Mahatma Gandhi, Mahatma Gandhi,
the one who didn't want to fight because he was a pacifist. They felt Mahatma Gandhi had betrayed
the Hindu religion had betrayed Hindu ideals. So a Hindu radical who belonged to the RSS
assassinated Mahatma Gandhi. The RSS was dissolved for a period of time another party was created to
take up those ideals. That party is the BJP party that is currently in charge of India. So the BJP
is literally no exaggeration. It is literally a younger cousin of the Nazi Party. There is no
		

			exaggeration to say this and both Nazism and
		

			BJP, they have three things in common, both Nazism and the BJP, they have three things in common
memorize them, number one, number one, a warped, ultra nationalist ideal of race and of race purity.
They're obsessed with race and racial identity, like the Nazis wanted pure Germans. So the BJP has
this notion of pure Indians. Number two, they have combined the worst aspects of a fanatical
interpretation of religion. The Nazis were a type of Christian. The BJP is a type of Hindus, they've
taken the worst on elements of bigoted religion, and they've combined it with the worst elements of
nationalism. And number three, they take a minority of a different religion and a different race.
		

			The Nazis took the Jews and everybody else and the BJP takes the Muslims and the Christians, and
they blame all of the problems of the world and all of the problems of their country. They blame it
on their minority. When you have these three things together, ultra nationalism of your race,
bigoted religion, and hatred of a minority. This is the recipe of genocide. You cannot have genocide
without these three things together. We see this in Nazi Germany in the 1930s. And now as we speak,
the drums of war have been beating in India, beaten by the BJP, and especially their main drummer,
Mr. Modi, who we know from the Gujarat massacre of 20 years ago, he has been thirsty for blood since
		

			that point in time, he has shown his true colors. He's not somebody new and unknown. Under his watch
1000 Muslims, innocent Muslims, people in the trains were pulled aside and brutally killed and what
did he do nothing. He encouraged the police to participate. This is when he was a governor. In this
country, he was banned for a decade because his blood was his hands were dirty with Muslim blood. He
was banned in America as an instigator of terrorists when he was a governor. When he became
president. All of a sudden he's welcomed with open arms, brothers and sisters. As we speak, the
situation in India is deteriorating, and will law he it is very, very terrifying. I plead to all of
		

			us, especially from a background of that subcontinent. I have to be explicit here. Indian Muslims,
Pakistani Muslims, Bundler, Muslims, Nepalese Muslims, that is our land, that is our culture. Those
are our people, we have been shaped by the identity of that land, if we're not going to take up that
cause if we're not going to stand up and preach the truth, if we are not going to preach truth to
power that who else is going to do that? So this is yet another cause that we have to stand up for
brothers and sisters The list goes on and on. Wallahi sometimes sometimes shaytaan comes to you
makes you feel depressed even what are we going to do further Steen wama at the raw comm I fell
		

			asleep when will follow Steen ever be solved since I was born? We're hearing God fell asleep I'm
about to enter now my fifth decade still fell asleep is fell asleep Kashmir. Other countries Wallah
he shaytaan calm says what are we going to do? And here's where our faith comes in brothers and
sisters. Our faith comes in. Why is this because Allah did not create us to live Jana on Earth. This
is not down to Salam. Doudou Salam is the next life. Allah created this dunya to be down on YB Tila
Dowdell ftbl Tao will empty Han. And so you know what, even if we were to solve the BJP issue, even
if Palestine were to be solved right now, even if Kashmir became peaceful, I guarantee you other
		

			problems would come why? Because this dunya this world this abode, it is a place of tests and
trials. So the goal is we try our best to eliminate the tests and trials if we're successful at
Hamdulillah. If not, we continue to do what we can and so we meet Allah and we say Ya Allah I tried
Yeah, Allah I paid attention. Ya Allah, my heart was affected. Yeah, Allah gave of my time and my
money. This is the goal. The goal is not necessarily it's not necessarily I'm saying it's not the
immediate goal, many of the Sahaba they died before the conquest of Makkah, they died before the
conquest of Mecca was their death in vain. Did they not see the the the wisdom of their suffering?
		

			No, they had a role to play. The people who entered Mecca had a role to play. And by the way, after
the conquest of Mecca, the Muslim ummah had other trials and tribulations and it will continue to
have trials and tribulations. So the goal is not necessarily to solve the problem immediately. The
goal is to listen to me carefully attempt to solve the problem. The goal is to be clear
		

			Careful to be concerned. The goal is to have a heart of Eman. The goal is to genuinely feel the pain
of others and then be affected. And then try to eliminate that pain such that when we meet Allah we
say, Yeah, Rob, I tried my best. That's the goal. But those who don't try those who have no hearts,
Allah who was Stein, Allah protect them. And by the way, it's not just political time is limited. I
don't have time to go into every single thing. Obviously, it's not just political, we're issue where
we're concerned with no, as Muslims, we're concerned with every single problem that humanity is
suffering with. As Muslims, we take on the challenges, especially those in our own culture. And you
		

			know, last week, and I have to mention this because I'm from the state 300 miles from where I live a
few days ago, a brutal massacre occurred of innocent children. 19 innocent children were senselessly
murdered for no reason whatsoever, along with their two teachers, this incident in this country,
sadly, it's not unique, and it's not rare. In the last 10 years, brothers and sisters in this great
land of America, over 1000 mass shootings have taken place on school campuses. There is no other
country on Earth, where this statistic even comes close. Wallahi it is mind boggling. And I had to
actually make sure this statistic is true. And I challenge you to look this up as well. The
		

			statistic that I'm about to tell you look it up yourselves, the number one cause of death of
children and teenagers in this country, the number one cause of death of children and teenagers in
this country. It's not drugs. It's not car accidents. It's not cancer, it's not falling sick. The
number one cause of death of children and teenagers in the United States of America is gun violence.
No other country on Earth has this statistic.
		

			Now brothers and sisters, we as Muslims, we can't just sit back and say, Oh, that's their problem.
Firstly, What world are you living in? Don't your children go to the same schools? Don't you live
here as well. Secondly, when we live with the people, when we live in a society, their problems
become our problems. These are our people. That's what the prophets have demonstrated, you feed the
hungry, you take care of the poor, you give shelter to those who have no shelter, you sponsor the
orphan in all of this, it doesn't matter the religion of the one you feed, it doesn't matter, the
religion of the orphan, it doesn't matter the religion of the one sick will Allah He, if you have to
		

			ask the religion of the one who is sick, it is you who are sick, and not the one who is sick. This
is the fact of the matter. Our religion transcends other religions when it comes to helping them. So
when we're talking about this endemic gun violence, one way to tackle it is to talk about
legislation with guns and fire weapons. And there's no doubt that needs to be discussed. But this is
not my area. I'm not a politician. I'm not somebody who deals with you know how to do with gun
violence and what not all I'll say, look at other Western countries, New Zealand, Canada, Australia,
and look at what they have done and the success rates. That's one tangent, but I want to bring up
		

			another tangent. And I know brothers and sisters, that this tangent is highly highly sensitive. I
know that what I'm about to say might cause some people to jump on this clip and spread it and say,
Oh, this guy is saying this and that. But you know what? Me not talking about your gun problem. And
gun violence is not going to make it go away. Somebody has to point out a brutal reality, before we
jump to the gun violence before we jump in trying to legislate why a young man shouldn't have a gun,
which to me makes complete common sense. Before we even get there, I have a very difficult question
that all of us have to ask ourselves, and that is the following. Why in this particular country, why
		

			are so many young men wanting to commit mass violence against innocent people? I mean, a 17 year old
should not be thinking about harming 20 school children. A 17 year old should be daydreaming about
his future, his job, his family, his children, yet the highest number than the rate of depression
and of teen suicide. The rate of violence in that age group has reached proportions that are
unprecedented in human history. Before we get to controlling gun violence, we have to ask ourselves,
where is this evil dastardly vile, committed notion of
		

			killing innocents coming from. And I will tell you one statistic, just one, do your research. There
was a number of studies done profiling the mass shooters of the last 10 years, I read a number of
them to statistics stuck out to me to statistics. Now, I'm not blaming everything on this, but
statistics speak for themselves. Statistic number 180 5% of mass shooters in this country had zero
affiliation with any religion. 85% have nothing to do with God with church with synagogue with
mosque 85% have no spirituality in their lives. And statistic number 270 5% of mass shooters come
from broken homes where one or both and typically the father is absent. 75% of mass shooters come
		

			from broken homes. I'm sorry to be blunt about this. And I know some people might take this clip and
read into it. But me not talking about this statistic is not going to change the endemic violence
that is rampant in this country. When you are going to make fun of religion than religion, kick
religion out of every single sphere, when you're going to make your media such that being religious
is considered backward and abandoning religion is cool. Well, then, what else are you going to do
except take the most important thing that a person should have, and leave it with nothing but
emptiness.
		

			Also, when it comes to the family, and oh my god, how much can be said about the family. This
society and culture and I have to be blunt, and I'm a part of this society and culture. I was born
and raised here, but I have to call a spade a spade. They have destroyed the foundation of society
by completely tearing apart the traditional family structure that have opened the door for hedonism
for promiscuity, for easy *, they have made everything permissible, even that which was considered
immoral is now considered moral. What do you think is going to happen? When you destroy the bedrock
of society, you can talk as much as you want, you cannot change biology. And biology teaches us that
		

			a child needs the love of a father and the love of a mother. That is the default.
		

			When you break this apart, and you take a father away, or you encourage other alternatives, quote,
unquote, there are going to be repercussions. Now, I'm not saying all of this is directly linked
only to these two causes. No, there are other causes as well. But to Allah He I will say these two
causes are self evident. You don't have God and you destroying family, what is going to happen?
These young men will have no purpose in life. They have no conscience, they have no positive role
model. They don't even care. They kill their own grandmothers, can you? I mean, well, like I mean,
I'm speechless. How can a 17 year old turned against the very person that raised and then go and
		

			massacre innocent children? Where does this come from these ideas don't even cross the minds of 99%
of normal human beings. And yet in this country, it is becoming mainstream and normal. So before we
get to gun violence, and before we get to legislation, which should also be done, I understand that
we have to get to morality, religiosity, spirituality, family and religion. And this is where
brothers and sisters we as Muslims, as American Muslims, we have a role to play. We have a role to
play in this broader society, this country and it is our country. When I criticize it, I live here
this is my people, my children are here, this is my country. So my criticism should not be taken as
		

			that of an outsider. My criticism is because I want this country to be better my criticism because I
want to raise the bar, not because I want to despise it. No, this country has gone down the path of
moral bankruptcy. It has gone down the path of moral bankruptcy, where night becomes day day becomes
night, then the basic definition of male and female is being tinkered with no civilization in human
history ever said this. And yet here we are saying this right now, when you're going to go down this
route, there will be repercussions. So dear Muslims, what is our role? Our role is to remain sane
when everybody else seems to be going mad.
		

			Our role is to stand up and speak the truth when it is politically incorrect to speak the truth. Our
role is to demonstrate what it means
		

			To be people of faith, when nobody around us is a person of faith, our role is to show what it means
to have a family, a husband and wife and children. What happens when you have a loving faith based
family so that the people around us eventually returned to their fifth rose to their sanities to
their common sense, which they will do Inshallah, to Allah, if we stand up to that role. This is
what our role is brothers and sisters. And I'm not the one saying this is in the Quran. It's in the
Quran, Kuntum, Hira, rigidly nurse, you are the best of almost brought out for mankind. Why? Because
you believe in Allah you command what is good, you forbid what is evil. Dear Muslims, my time is up.
		

			But let me finish by stating certain facts. Brothers and sisters realize that religion is the only
thing that gives us hope and an otherwise hopeless world. Recognize that emaan in Allah gives us
meaning for existence in an otherwise meaningless world. Without Allah, our lives become
meaningless. Know that the Quran is the ultimate source of guidance and there is no guidance other
than the Quran. Otherwise, if we leave guidance to the whims of mankind, then we see what is
happening. What is halal today becomes haram tomorrow, tomorrow, what is permitted today becomes in
permitted tomorrow, we cannot leave guidance to the hands of men. Allah has revealed the guidance of
		

			the Quran acknowledged dear Muslims, that our Shetty teaches us values when mankind's values
continued to change with time, Muslims. The bottom line is very simple. It's very simple. Islam
gives us nobility. Islam gives us nobility. And without it, we have no nobility.
		

			Brothers and sisters, as is always my habit, and Allah had so good to resurrect this habit at every
Akena convention for the last five years. And I've been speaking at Ignite conventions for I think
14 years now and Hamdulillah. By the way, my first convention I attended was 29 years ago, when I
was a teenager, I attended the first Akena convention with my parents when it was in Buffalo, New
York. And here I am speaking on stage and Hamdulillah, after so many years, as has been my habit for
the last few years when we conclude the echonet convention when I conclude the echonet convention,
now that we've gathered mashallah almost 10,000 Strong, how can we not show the world what we
		

			believe? How can we not demonstrate to mankind with the core essentials of our faith? Let us join
together in acknowledging that Allah subhanho wa Taala is the greatest that Allah is the grandest
that Allah is the most important that Allah is the most significant entity in our lives. I want us
all to come together to say a tech, a tech B that comes not just from the tongue, not just from the
vocal cords, but from the depths of the heart from the core of our soul. I want us to say Allahu
Akbar and mean it that nothing is worthwhile other than Allah, nothing is more majestic than Allah.
Nothing is greater than Allah. I want us to come together and say that we're in one unified voice.
		

			Are we ready to do that?
		

			Raise the bar raise the bar Hi, Jack.
		

			One more time when the walls of this convention to shake deck beer, Allah Akbar.
		

			Allahu wa barakato