Islam in America Future Opportunities and Threats
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Channel: Yasir Qadhi
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Alhamdulillah we begin in the name of Allah subhanho wa taala, the one and the unique. It is He that we worship, and it is his aid that we seek. He is the Lord of the oppressed and He hears the prayer of the week as to what follows. It is my honor and pleasure to address you here for the very first time in your beautiful facility and masjid, and I wonder why I have not visited your Masjid before but in sha Allah, this is my first visit, inshallah will not be my last visit to a very beautiful mustard and community. And the topic that I have today is somewhat of a deep one, a somber one. It is one that every single one of us needs to think long and hard about. It deals with our presence
here in this country, the past, the present and the future. It deals with our identity, it deals with our vision. It deals with our pros and cons, our strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and threats. I wish we could do a full SWOT analysis of the American Muslim scene. But today I'm going to attempt to begin that analysis by pointing out what I feel to be some of our main strengths as American Muslims, and also some of our weaknesses. And the reason why I want to point out our strengths and weaknesses is not so that we can gloat in our strengths and to feel depressed or weaknesses. No.
We need to know our strengths because only by recognizing our strengths can we play to them. Only by knowing what we're good at only by knowing our opportunities are going to be able to maximize who we are and what we stand for. It's not arrogance to know what you're good at. It's arrogance to ascribe it to yourself if you said hamdulillah ALLAH blessed me in this manner. Alhamdulillah Allah gave me this. This is not arrogance. What am binaire Murthy Arabica for had this as for the blessings Allah has given you tell people about them, tell people about Allah's blessings. don't ascribe those blessings to yourself. So if we don't even recognize our strengths, if we don't even take the time
to understand what makes American Muslims a unique demographics, then how are we going to make ourselves even better? How will we take advantage of maximize our potential when we don't even recognize where and how we have that potential. So I'm going to list some of the strengths that I feel we have. And then in sha Allah, I'm gonna list some weaknesses. And the problem or the issue is not by listing our weaknesses, to feel a sense of trepidation of redness of all, no, it is to try to work actively to minimize those weak spots to make sure that we're not taken advantage of to make sure that our OMA continues to thrive. And we take on those challenges directly. And we effectively
work to eliminate or at the very least, minimize those weaknesses. Now, my list of strengths and weaknesses, frankly, is coming from me I'm thinking about these issues I'm reading, I'm traveling, I think Allah subhanho wa taala, I have traveled to over 55 countries, the majority of them in the western zones, I literally just came back from England. Last week, I'm going to Australia soon been to Canada and England, or more or more over 100 times been to so many states and messages I have forgotten and lost count here in America. Wherever I go. I speak to the people I see what's going on. I tried to analyze I love reading history. My second passion after theology is history. And
combining my anecdotal experience and my history, my knowledge of history, I'm trying to understand what are some of the lessons we should learn about other communities about other minorities? What are some of the strengths that we see and recognize and what are some of the weaknesses so, caveat and disclaimer, this list is from yours truly, if there's any good for hamdulillah if there's any mistake, it's from myself and I take full responsibility.
Let us begin Time is of the essence and I hope inshallah to have some time for q&a and dialogue as well. Let us begin on our strengths. What makes American Muslims unique? What makes us here in America different from if not every other country, the majority of countries in the world? I'll begin with what I believe is our number one potential number one opportunity number one positive that frankly, no other country on Earth has. And that is the strength of this country's constitution, to protect our freedoms as minorities do not underestimate. Do not
Don't underestimate the power that we as a religious minority have to simply exist and be the vast majority of countries would not allow us to even be who we are. Even Muslim countries with their dictatorial regimes with their tyrannical dynasties would not allow a thriving population, a thriving minority to be a potential challenge to them, frankly, this country because it was founded on religious persecution, because the people fled religious bigotry. This country enshrined in its constitution, a set of laws, a series of statements that effectively prohibited the government from getting involved in the private lives of its religious citizens. And we thank Allah for those
freedoms. We thank Allah that no one can legislate away my freedom to worship my god in accordance with my conscience. If you travel anywhere else in the world, look at Europe, look at Canada, as we speak. Laws are being discussed, where it will potentially become problematic to preach mainstream morality. If you understand what I'm talking about Abrahamic concepts of marriage and gender, to preach them will potentially cause you to be arrested and go to jail.
At the very least, you will be fined, you will be barred from public preaching, this is in the West.
This isn't the bastion of the birth of liberalism, the heart of continental Europe, it is only a matter of time, where in all likelihood, no preacher, no teacher will be able to preach basic morality, without the government getting involved and finding or jailing or Despairing or making sure this person never preaches again. Now in this country, there is no doubt there is the rise of that sentiment, there is the cancellation culture, you might be canceled. public speakers might have to face cancellations at public events of a generic nature. But the government cannot get involved. You can never be fined for preaching morality, you can never end up in jail for telling other
believers how they should act and preach and rituals and theology. Nobody can imprison you for teaching your faith.
And this is a massive potential, a positive that we take for granted. We should be thankful for the freedoms to be able to worship with what we're able to do in this land. There is no other land where the government is barred by its own constitution from getting involved in the private lives of its citizens and the rituals and other theologies and the moralities and laws. In fact, sometimes the most repressive regimes are our own Muslim regimes. Let's be honest here. Sorry to be politically incorrect. But let's be honest here. I could not dare stand and preach about public policy in any Muslim land without the secret police taking me aside after the whole book, throwing me in jail,
perhaps even killing me to give a generic holds about in most Muslim lands, I have to get special permission, I would be monitored. In some countries, more than 30% of Muslim countries. I have to get my heartbeat approved another 25%. Roughly, they would give me the hook but I don't even have the freedom to give my own heartbeat. The heartbeat will be generic across the entire country written by the politician for every single hottie have to say the exact same politically neutral defanged de toothed impotent speech does it so that nobody is affected in any manner.
As for me in this country, I don't need to get anybody's approval to stand in front of you today. Nobody has to vet what I'm going to say. If I give a hope. But if I give a lecture and the FBI comes knocking on my door, threatening, asking How dare you preach rituals and morality, I will sue them and I will win them in any court of law.
The freedoms we have in this country, our freedoms, we need to acknowledge, appreciate and be grateful to Allah subhanho wa Taala for especially our youth who are born and raised here, and they fantasize romanticize about other lands and I'm not saying it's all you know, it's all beautiful here. I'm not saying everything is fine here. Of course there are problems, but a lot of our youth, they really have this romance of the greenery on the other side, the grass is greener on the other side.
they think if they live in another, another land, it will be better for them. And, you know, maybe for one people out of 100, it might be but the default as we've seen, you try, go live in the Middle East go live in the Arab rich countries or any land. After a year or two, you're going to come running back here at overstock for Allah, let me just took jobs to continue living.
Go ahead and try when you have to face the dictatorships of those regions, when you can't even get your basic human services without bribes. When you can't even do any business without greasing the palms of politicians, when you're treated as second third class citizens, because you are second and third class citizens in those countries. Then you will recognize and realize, you know what, yes, this country has his problems, but Alhamdulillah it has his positives as well.
And here in this land, sure. We have to face some bigotry, no doubt. But generally speaking, generally speaking, what we find of justice here, we do not find anywhere else in this country of ours after the horrific incidents of 911. When the government when federal and local agencies overreacted, understandably, we cut them a little bit of slack. I mean, that's understandable. They don't know any better. They overreact and the most powerful police force in this country, the NYPD, the most powerful police force in this country started targeting Muslims started setting up false sting operations monitoring children's schools, Muslim schools, in one case, they would station a
police officer outside of a girls school to take note of which parents are dropping and picking up so they know which families go to that school. They started racially profiling the entire Muslim community of New York because of one big one racist high up in the department that became official policy.
This was found out six seven years ago, an internal licos accidental leak a memo was leaked. The Muslims found out hue and cry is raised. And they sued in a court of law.
A minority
different skin color, different background, different religion, a minority takes its own government to court, a minority sues its own police department. What other country on Earth could this happen? Last year, the courts ruled unanimously in favor of the Muslim community find the NYPD slapped him on the wrist and instituted a teaching program so that they're stopped being bigots and racists, the NYPD had to issue a public apology, give a sum of money to Muslim charitable causes and institute a teaching program from top to bottom. What other country could this happen in? Again, it's not perfect. But let's acknowledge the positives. This country gives us a sense of justice and equality
of freedom to be who we are, that is not found in any other country, I repeat any other country. We don't need permission to gather here today to raise funds for our Masjid to raise funds for Syria to raise funds for fall asleep to raise funds for Iraq for refugees. We don't need any permission.
There is no other major Muslim country where we can do a fraction of this without so many impediments. And so many protocols and checks and balances, that effectively will might as well not do anything, which is why you don't have fundraisers for Muslim causes, and Muslim majority countries think about it.
So number one, we thank Allah, we thank Allah for what we have of this country to be who we are, to practice our faith to cherish our identity, we had better utilize those freedoms, we had better fight for them when need be as the Muslims of New York did. And as we're doing over and over again, as we see, even in the smaller areas, we have to fight with the system using the system because the system is meant to be used by all this is the first positive the second positive that we have here.
And again, this is a partial list because again, much can be said here. The second positive that we have and hamdulillah is the American Muslim community Alhamdulillah is a diverse community. And again, as somebody who has traveled to so many countries so many lands so many places Dare I say I'm this is could be wrong if you feel I'm incorrect, correct me, but in my travels and my experiences, I have never seen a Muslim community as diverse as our own. I mean, look around you. Look around you
all of Europe
Australia, Canada, any Muslim majority country, the ethnicities by and large are at a different percentage. In this land of ours Alhamdulillah we have a mini United Nations and every single message has not been the case. We have a mini United Nations and every single Masjid Hamdulillah. The diversity of our backgrounds, the diversity of our cultures of our ethnicities of our nationalities, this is a massive strength. And not just that been another positive, a massive positive, is that again, by enlarge, our American Muslim communities are socially economically better than many other minorities across the world, especially our European counterparts. And again,
this goes back to political reasons back in the 40s and 50s, post World War Two, Europe only wanted to import, you know, specific refugees specific demographics from specific countries in order to work in the manual labor to work in the industries to work in the factories. And so obviously, that trickled down to three generations understandably, and asked for here in America, in order to come to America in the 60s and 70s and early 80s. The main mechanism to do so is education, to have a higher degree. And then once you were educated, you got a job and your visa, your student visa converted to a potential green card, etc, etc. More than half of us here came that same mechanism.
My father also came, you know, with the same, you know, the same mechanism back in the 60s. So what we have here is a group of highly talented
diversely talented I know, we think we're all engineers and doctors and lawyers, but Hamdulillah I mean, we are hamdulillah increasing the diversity, and also it's a healthy diversity to have. This diversity is not found in Europe, it's not found in any other country. So it Hamdulillah we have diversity of ethnicities, and diversity of talents and diversity of specialities and socio economically Alhamdulillah. By and large, the American Muslim population and demographics is number one amongst all Muslim demographics. We thank Allah for this, it's a strength. And again, all you need to do is look at our massager that Hampton Allah, I can assure you, the types of massage we're
accustomed to here in America, you will not find them except with rarity in Europe, you will not find them, these types of purpose built mashallah mega complexes, you know, here I have to toot my own horn of Dallas, look at Dallas and hamdulillah right, we have so many mega messages that hamdullah entire communities and messages surrounded by hundreds of houses, right, an entire mini community Hamdulillah we thank Allah, those types of places are rare and far between in Europe. So that is another strength that we thank Allah for the diversity of our talent, our socio economic background, our contributions. Yet another strength that we have as an American Muslim community, is
that we are a relatively new community.
Despite the fact that our roots go back three 400 years, this is a win win on both fronts. We have a past that goes far, far back, far more back than any European country because of the slave trade. Muslim Muslims were coming to the shores from the 16th 1700s there is no equivalent in Europe 20% of those who are forcibly brought here 20% Were of Muslim heritage and background. We have Quran is written to the Smithsonian date back 300 years, we have the well documented stories of Aruna Ma, who were taken as slaves and brought to this land. We have eyewitness accounts of Ramadan taking place on slave plantations of many hotels and events taking place when the quantity of Muslims were, you
know, a critical mass here in this land. Of course, that community was not able to pass his heritage down. But we have another positive, the legacy the shared memory, the Forgotten heritage of Islam remained in the African American diaspora. And from them came a movement. It's not Orthodox, it's not mainstream, but it brought the name of Islam into it. And it brought the Quran into it. And it brought the name of our prophets as I'm into it. I mean, here the last foundation of Islam, Elijah Muhammad, you know, that movement, Detroit began over here. It began over here. Elijah Muhammad is from this Elijah pool from this region, and he starts preaching we don't view it to be mainstream,
it is eccentric, it's fringe, but Alhamdulillah Allah blessed a miracle to happen, and his son, why did the Muhammad Allah Muhammad Allah, may Allah azza wa jal have mercy on him he was a true a true visionary a true Mujahid his son wanted the Mohammed
brought the movement into mainstream
In Islam, this is an amazing positive. We have amongst us the best of both worlds. No other demographics in the western world can claim this. We have 1/3 33% of our Muslim demographics with roots that go deep in this land. They are as American as America itself. They go back many hundreds of years. They are an anchor to us because they preceded us, they laid the way for us. And we thank Allah for that. The greatest dari to Islam, the greatest color to Islam, in this land, was no chef. He was no, he was no mufti, the one who popularized Islam and gave it more is than anybody else in this land was none other than Mohammed Ali.
Muhammad Ali, the boxer, he made his name, the name of the Prophet system, so that the name of the Prophet system becomes a respected name. And the name of his religion becomes known and admired to all Americans.
In Hollywood's Walk of Fame, and that famous treat of LA, you have all of these famous Hollywood stars, their names are on the floor, every single one of them from the 1900s onwards. And when they told Muhammad Ali, his name is going to be there. He said, No, no, no, no. I can't have the name of my prophet on the floor where people trample on it. So they made one exception. You go there you see it. Every single Hollywood star from Greta, Carbo, Clint Eastwood, all of these, you're walking on their on their names with your feet, there is only one name you have to look up to. Because it's put on the wall. There is only one name that was raised up above and placed on a plaque. And that is the
name of Muhammad Ali.
This is what you call positive Dawa.
Every single American is proud of Muhammad Ali for a right to be that Subhan Allah, we thank Allah we have that heritage. No other demographics in Europe can claim that 1/3 of its Muslim heritage is indigenous going back. And along with that we have the other positive and that is we are a Nason a new community by and large. If I were to ask you, what percentage in this audience were born outside of the country? Raise your hands who was born outside of the country?
Around 50 60%? How many were born in America? I'm one of them around I would say 30 35%. Okay, so look at this districts around 65%. Born outside 35% Here, we are a new community. By the way, if I ask this question 10 years ago, it would have been 70%. Outside 15 years ago, 80%. Outside 40 years ago, 95%. Outside, right? demographics are changing.
The baton is getting passed down.
Now the fact that we are a new community, it presents challenges, but it also presents opportunities. why and how? Because here's the point, listen to this carefully, guys, a new community, a new company, a new corporation. They're coming together with visions and ideas. They're coming together with passion zeal, and there is no old school establishment to fight.
There is no established protocol that they have to overcome. They're given a blank piece of paper, and they have the freedom to draw whatever they want on the piece of paper. You want evidence for this look around you. People come together. And they envision what is the machine we're going to be? What is the school we're going to have? What can we do here? What is the curriculum who's going to stop you? No one except insight issues. Now, let's be honest, your guidance and again, I'm sorry if this is politically incorrect, but we don't have the luxury to you know, Chip our heads in the sand and ignore in any Muslim majority country. You try opening a masjid for the youth. You try building
a new school for the next generation and you see what's going to happen, you will be shot down from within. Why? Because you're challenging the establishment, the protocol, the ossification of the minds is a reality we have to deal with. Whereas in this land, we are new. We are establishing our own visions. We're coming together as we're doing right now building new ideas envisioning new and new entities rethinking through in order to protect for our future. And there is no impediment. It's a blank slate Hamdulillah.
And here's my point brothers and sisters. You know, it's true that the first foundation of this vision was laid by our
pioneers those that came here in the first batches, right? You know, in the 60s and 70s. And again, let me get a little bit a little bit personal, not to toot my own family's background or whatever, but because I know the background, that's why let me use as an example, my father was one of the first if not the first Pakistani American to come to Houston, Texas. 1963 February he landed, one of the first there was no mosque there was no Masjid. There was no MSA. My father did not come here to be a preacher. My father does not have a clerical background. He's not a move the item he came to get a master's in education and biology, the goal back then as the goal many of you had as well,
we'll go study and we're going to go back home. Well, we all know what happens that going back home never happens. So here I am. Okay. So by the way, anybody amongst you who still has that vision, just go ahead and put it in a box and lock it up and continue with your lives. Okay, just be real floater back to Earth and get on with life. Stop this romanticization there's positives here. There's positives there. And the positives here, generally speaking, outweigh the negatives. That's the reality that I'm trying to push home over here. So my father came 1963 No idea of you know, any type of Islamic activism, your average Muslim, not something you know, he's no trains all or
nothing. But then Ramadan comes along. And it's time for Eid. By the way, youngsters here.
interesting anecdote. If you wanted to call back home, forget cell phones. You couldn't even call your family back home. I didn't know this. My father told me there's like a deck. I had no clue. To make an international call. You had to schedule a slot with a special operator in New York. Some of the elders are shaking their heads. Remember this day? I didn't see it. But I'm not that old. But you had to make a spedge sketch scheduled call. You call up the operator say we're going to call Pakistan on Sunday at 3pm. Can you please be on standby, you would then call the operator the operator would call the one fat, the one phone in your whole neighborhood in Buxton, they would know
you're waiting for that phone call, right? And the operator would call they will call your mom. So literally, it's a three step process to speak with your family back home for a few minutes. And it's gonna cost you an arm and a leg to do that.
thank Allah for cell phones as well guys. And by the way, forget Moon fighting forget II than what not, they wouldn't even find out. It's either until a week later.
Think about it, there is no communication. And guess what? My again, my dad told me this. Many years ago, I just couldn't believe this, these stories. And these stories need to be recorded. By the way, these stories you need to record them for the youth to understand the problems of the first generation to make them appreciate the struggles you went through. And let me be very blunt here. The elders amongst you that are still alive, those that founded these massages, those that were here in the 60s and 70s, honor them, interview them, record them, give them prizes and awards. They are the ones after Allah's blessings, they laid that foundation because of what they did. We were able
to stand here today.
So as I was saying, first to eat comes along and they decide they have to have read and they decide they're going to have your eat on the first Sunday after they're even Pakistan. Youngsters please don't give me filth of haram and be uncovered. Please cut some slack. It's a different world, keep your ultra fanaticism and lock that as well to different worlds. It's not ideal. They didn't have the luxury to pray or eat on the day of read. They're busy. All of them are working. They're paying for their own education. They had to pray or eat on the Sunday because back in the 60s, America was a Christian land. Everything was shut on Sundays. There was no job on Sundays. There was no school
on Sundays. So the only time graduate students are able to come together is on Sunday. And so they performed or eat forget Moon fighting the first church Sunday after they're either Pakistan. That's what it was. And my father tells me this that SubhanAllah 1963 I guess this would be August or something.
The first read of Houston takes place and a grand total of three graduate students come one from Malaysia, one from Pakistan, my father, one from Iran. And one more forget from her three and my father was there. Three people came and my father
and they had it in the public hall of University of Houston and they look around who's going to lead Salah there is no ship there is no item they look to my dad's like you call us you did the salah. My dad's like I've never let us lead on my life. Well, you call this your lead Salah.
So he led the first aid sada in Houston, Texas 1963 45 years later.
Allah blessed his son to go study 10 years at the Islamic Seminary of Medina and come back, a trained scholar and
the
The Masjid that he founded eventually became the Islamic Society of Greater Houston is GH, which now has a grand total of 45 massages under its umbrella. And is GH invited me to give the Eid hotswap when I returned from Medina, and they rented the
Rosemont Convention Center in Houston, and I gave that hotspot and my father was sitting in the first row. And I said 45 years ago, my father gave the first read hotspot in the city with a grand total of three people. And never in his wildest dreams, never in his wildest imaginations, could he have ever thought that 45 years later, my son is going to give up his engineering degree, go and study Islam overseas, come back and lead an Eid chutzpah in the convention center of Houston, forget three with a grand total of 35,000 Muslims.
In one generation, brothers and sisters,
one generation and by the way, that was a few years ago, by now the number of Muslims is probably double that. This is what I call potential potential in one generation from three to 35,000. In one generation from a masala a carpet in the university to over 45 purpose built mustards. What other country can claim this? What are their country can claim this Alhamdulillah from Alhamdulillah, we thank Allah. And you know, it's true, those that were here in the 60s, we owe them immensely. But listen to me carefully.
This generation is the last foundational generation,
we're still in that phase, we're still laying the cement on the foundation.
And slowly but surely, that foundation is going to wither away. And it's just going to be structures and a little bit of ossification. We know this because look at the statistics. 35% of you are born here. This is the only generation I'm one of them. We are fully acclimatized with our past and culture, or do baccala don't do to booty like in pity, we do have our glucose Manager Go to her. I know my heritage, I know my roots. And I'm also born and raised here. This is the last such generation, our children, my children will not understand or speak the language. They're not interested in visiting back home, my youngest daughter says to me, that's your country. This is my
country. And she's actually right. I have a little bit of attachment because as a child, my father would take me every few summers, I was born and raised here. But as a child, as you know, you go back and meet your extended family. So I have some memories growing up. None of my kids have gone back and they don't want to go back. They have no interest to go back.
And that's a reality we have to be cognizant of. It is what it is. And yes, one side of me is sad that my children are not going to understand or do as well as I do. But what's important to preserve is not order with Islam.
What's important to preserve is not our cultural heritage. It is my religious heritage. So we have here now the potential, the potential to lay that foundation.
Listen to me carefully brothers and sisters. This is the last foundational generation.
The baton is being passed down. Sad but true. The baton is being passed down the next generation that is coming up. This is the last generation that will be fully in tune with his heritage. What we do in the next 30 years will shape Islam for the next 300 years.
We are doing this right now. You're still building the institutions. You're still fundraising for them. You're still developing the curriculums across the country. We're still laying the last foundations. Yes, the first pioneers in the 60s and 70s. We thank Allah for them. But still right now we are still building and the time will come when the foundation has been ossified. Now we have to deal with the tradition of American Islam that's going to come those are a different set of challenges. But my point here, do not trivialize the roles every one of you can play. Do not trivialize the impact you can cause. This is the generation no other place on earth will give you
access to this potential to shape the future to lay the foundations and preserve the heritage of the future. No other land I can think of is giving you on a silver platter that means the opportunity
and the outline and plan here, do whatever you want, and the sky's the limit because in every arena we can carve out
Have a new foundation, whether it's in politics, whether it's in journalism, whether it's in medicine, whether it is in education, whether it is Islamic activism, we are now laying the foundations creating division, and every one of you can have a role to play that will impact for many generations to come. Do not trivialize that. Just like those that came in the 60s and 70s. Like my father, they had no such plan to do something Islamic. But you know what? They saw an opportunity and they took it. He founded the first MSA in Texas, he didn't come to found the first MSA he founded the first muster the first Sunday school. That wasn't his vision. He brought in the first
Imam and well, we saw from the room coming to Houston. That was it. He's still my shoulder. They're my first you know, Maulana teachers still there. They're my 77 years old. My father was the one that brought him there. It wasn't his plan. But you know what, there's an opportunity. Somebody's got to do it. Let's do it. Now, all of you have an opportunity as well. Now you have that potential. So do not trivialize your role right now. Allah has gifted you to be in the right time and the right place and the right generation to cause an impact. As you go to sleep at night. Don't think of Hollywood and Bollywood movies, think of your grandchildren and what you can do now to protect their Eman.
Think of what you can build institution wise, Legacy wise, Vision wise, think of what you can create to contribute to the positive Muslim space around us.
Because you have been given that blank piece of paper and the sky is the limit. These are some of the positives.
But we also have some negatives.
Of the negatives, brothers and sisters of the negatives. And I know I'm speaking, you know, here in a city or a town where how far is Amtrak from here?
20 minutes away. So you guys have a skewed reality of American Islam.
You have the unique, distinct pleasure and honor of having the only Muslim majority city right next to us, right? Well have a counselor woman Mashallah. You're a Councilwoman of the city. Mashallah. MashAllah Hamdulillah. So you guys mistakenly think all of America is like Amtrak.
We are very grateful and positively jealous of the fact that you have a Muslim mayor, majority Muslim majority council as well, right. And Muslim majority city Alhamdulillah. But the sad fact of the matter is that our statistics are a bit dismal. And we have to be aware of this. Michigan is an exception hokum has low class alysus exception.
In all of America, we are frankly less than 1%.
That is really, really, really low.
In all of America, Muslims are less than 1%. Unlike Europe,
there are places in Europe, some areas of Europe, if you go to Antwerp, you go to you know, was in Antwerp earlier this year Subhan Allah, like 30% Muslim in some of those places, 40% some regions in France and Marseille and nice and, and the suburbs of boroughs of Paris, like 80 90%, Muslim, East London that you would think you're in back in Pakistan or Bangladesh, if you've been there, right? They have quantity and percentage,
which we don't have, and that is a negative. That is a negative.
Especially in Michigan, you might think we are no, you are a majority in some areas in this state hamdulillah for that, but as a country, we are quite small, and that is not healthy, because 1% Generally speaking cannot impact the broader public. And that's not healthy. And to make things even more unhealthy. We became a talking point between the two parties of this country, and when you are less than 1%, and you become on the agenda for a voting party that is not healthy, generally speaking, when you become a talking point, and you are less than 1%. If you know your history, that is terrifying. I don't want to say more than that. But if you know your history, it's not a positive
sign overall. And we did become a primary talking point between both of the parties when Hillary has to bring her token Muslim on and show him and the other guy Let's not mention his name here. He who shall not be named. The other guy literally drags us in and says let's ban Muslims from coming here. And the crowd goes wild. I don't know these Islamic guys and I don't want them here and the crowd goes wild.
That is not healthy. Frankly, it is terrifying. If you know your history, when you become a talking point and you are less than 1%
I don't want to say more than this, but it is we have to make sure, actually for 1%, we should not be discussed by the candidates to be honest, because we are not worthy of a national debate at 1%. Really, we're not once you become 1015. Now we stopped but no 1% it should not be a presidential slogan. Simple as that. But we did become that and it is it has its negatives, another negative that we have
another negative that we have, and this is actually a negative that is really sad because we shouldn't have it. And it's not an external negative, it is an internal negative. Another negative that we have is that, despite the fact that we're only 1%. Unfortunately, we are divided amongst ourselves.
And these divisions, some of them are antithetical to our Islamic identity and heritage. And this is why it is so sad.
We should not have a Pakistani masjid and an Arab masjid and a Bengali masjid and a Bosnian masjid, we should have the masjid of Allah subhanho wa Taala where everybody comes in place.
We should not be divided along nation states, which were the irony of ironies created by the colonizers post World War One. These divisions are completely figments of imagination. And every one of you sitting here should know that brothers and sisters, the borders of Iraq and Syria, the borders of Lebanon and Palestine, the borders of Indian Pakistan and Bangladesh who drew them.
The colonizers, people who didn't even speak the language, people who are outsiders, people who ruled over us rampage, rape people who pillaged from us. And then when they wanted to leave, they took out this imaginary map drew these imaginary lines and carved and distributed and handed us out like pieces of a cake to various superpowers. And here we are. Deaf, dumb and blind. I'm sorry to be blunt, slurping up the visions of colonizers and taking pride in an invented and created heritage that is not even ours. I'm sorry, but enough is enough.
What we are proud of is our Islamic identity. And if you wish to say at Hamdulillah, I speak with no problem. But the minute your nation states becomes your primary identity, the minute you start looking down at other people's nation states Shavon has won and you have left the realm of permissibility and entered the realm of John Helia. This is the essence of Jackie Lea my tribe better than your tribe. We don't have tribes anymore. We have nation states.
And we're already 1% in this 1%. Now we're going to start dividing based upon fictitious lines. I'm sorry, we need to get rid of this. As I said, there is an element that is permissible. Yes. You know, I like my cuisine. Alhamdulillah I like my quota as I speak okay. But that doesn't make me a better person. And the minute I think my ethnic heritage is better than somebody else's ethnic heritage. This is the essence of Jehovah. I'm not saying this. The processor said it. He said four things from Jay Haley. Yeah, they're supposed to be gone. But Shavon will cause them to remain in my OMA for things. They're Jamelia, J hadiah means pre Islam, ignorance, paganism, for things should
not be in my OMA but shape I was going to keep it. Number one was what being proud of your ancestry and heritage, this is what nationalism is, we need to eliminate the disease of nationalism from our hearts come together as Muslims United stop the internal politics and the bickering of my group versus the other group simply because of an accident of birth that I and you have nothing to do with.
Also a little bit more awkward, but it needs to be said.
The divisions that are sectarian in nature. Now this is more awkward. And I'm not going to go into the details, but I'm just going to point out sectarian differences are of a different ballpark and a different nature. And no doubt, sometimes we have to agree to disagree. But even this needs to be done with wisdom and upon protocols. And I've given a more detailed series of footballs last year called dealing with sectarianism, part one, part two, part three, you can listen to them online, and I tackled the issue of sectarianism in a different manner. Even if we strongly disagree with other segments of the community. First and foremost, we have to have wise scholarship to tell us where a
disagreement is strong. Fact of the matter is, the bulk of our petty disagreements between mainstream movements should not mean anything. The fact of the matter is the majority
strands. I don't want to be too specific because I don't control. But let's just say the majority movements that we're all familiar with at the grassroots level, all of them are upon good and hair. None of them are evil. They're all upon good and head, you choose your movement and respect the other movements, no problem. We all come together to build the masjid, we all come together to build the school. Sure, sometimes there are ideas and ideologies that we disagree with. And perhaps it's healthier to have too much. It's okay. Even if we have to mustards if somebody has a deeply different theological belief about the Quran, the Sahaba about others, understandably, maybe too
much juice is healthy for the time being. But even if we have two mustards, we shouldn't preach hatred of the other.
We shouldn't make the other a priority. We shouldn't blame our woes and problems on the other, we shouldn't bring up the other over and over again, there is a way to teach positively without teaching negatively, you can teach love of the sahaba. And leave it at that you don't have to go beyond that. So we need to marginalize preachers of hate in our own ranks. We need to marginalize those who take the sectarian differences and make them the end all and be all we don't need that in our communities and societies. There's ways to disagree in a civil manner. And here's here's the difficult point brothers and sisters, at times, we're going to have to learn to work together, God
forbid for the greater good. Put aside our differences, when some evil politician is coming, when the government is going to do some ridiculous policy when the NYPD is going to you know, profile all the Muslims, we don't care whether they place their hands here, here or here. We don't care about aspects of theology, we have to learn to come together for some platforms for the greater good. And that requires a level of intellectual maturity that, frankly, is lacking, frankly, let me say this in some of our religious leadership, and for those religious leadership, we need to marginalize those voices of hatred. This is a problem that we have to deal with the problem of division. This
has another problem. A third problem we have and again, time is limited. Let me just make this and show the last one that I'll finish up and open up before for some discussion to shallow. The third problem that we have, which is indeed a difficult one.
And there's no easy solution to this.
The third problem that we have, and this problem is probably probably our biggest one. And it is existential in nature. The first two are not existential, their problems, but you know, we're dealing with them. This third one is existential meaning it threatens our existence. That problem is
the fact that our next generation is leaving the faith in percentages that are extremely terrifying. Now, I'm sorry, to be blunt. I don't want to come into another new community and talk about awkward topics. But you know,
us not talking about it is not going to solve the problem.
The only way to solve the problem is to first acknowledge it exists, to bring up a really awkward topic, to lay it out there in front of all 1000 of you. And to ask you to start addressing the elephant in the room.
When I was growing up, was born in the 70s grew up in the 80s when I was growing up, you know not everybody's going to be a good Muslim. Many of my friends went here and there did things they shouldn't have done. But the fact of the matter is, I don't know of a single person in my batch that left Islam, not a single sure when you're a young boy, young girl, may Allah forgive you do things here and there. But eventually you come back and you raise your family as Muslims and you're proud to be Muslim Hamdulillah.
But what I'm seeing of the next generation, it is terrifying me.
The stories that come to me on a regular basis, I'm the Imam of my community, there is a scholar, my community, the emails that come to me, every week, a mother or father is emailing me check. My son wants to leave Islam shift. My daughter is done in Russia, Russia, unbelievable.
Now, this is a broader problem. We're not the only people facing it, by the way. Actually, this is the problem of the West, the fastest growing religion in the West. When I was growing up, we would hear it all the time, the fastest growing Islam. I would hear it at every ISNA convention, every ethnic convention. This was the staple, they would pick up the newspaper and they were legitimate titles back in the 80s. You know, fastest growing religion is Islam. We would be say this with pride. Well, those were the good old days. No longer is the fastest growing religion in Islam. The fastest growing religion is what?
No religion
no religion
already in Europe.
In many countries, they are already officially officially majority non Christian. In some Nordic countries, more than 70% of the people surveyed said they don't believe in organized religion more than 70% Unbelievable in England
check this statistic out England has around seven 8% Muslims right that's a good number seven 8% in London is like 15% but the country seven 8% Muslim Okay, that's a good number. Anglicans are like 70% Anglican right so 70%, Anglican, another, you know, 50%, Catholic whatever. So you have like 80% Technically nominally Christian and 7% Muslim. Listen to this. The number of Muslims who pray Jumeirah quantity wise, is more than the number of Christians who go to church on Sunday. Now we say Alhamdulillah Muslims go for Juma. But the flip side what does this imply? The bulk of Christians don't even believe or care about Christianity. And here's the point brothers and sisters, we as
Muslims, we should appreciate faith.
Some faith is better than no faith. Some faith is infinitely better than no faith. We would much rather have a person as a neighbor who believes in God who fears the hereafter who has in his heart, I have to make a salad for what I'm doing. We would much rather have some morality. And I'm not saying everything is good. Obviously we know they have negatives as well. Then the narcissism the hedonism the back and alien ism that is rampant in these cultures and lands. We'd much rather have a God fearing person as a neighbor than somebody who has no desire other than his own desire for item Anita, Allahu Allah, we don't want that type of person.
And this is now happening in America, according to an article in The New York Times a few months ago.
And this is terrifying. If current statistics continue, continue, don't go worse or better just continue as they are. The youth in high school when they become grandparents, Christianity will no longer be a majority faith in this country.
They're not embracing Islam, they're rejecting God
and that is not good for us or for them.
And our children are caught up in this we don't blame them as well we need to have some sympathy is not their fault. They're born in this time and place right? Cut them a little bit of slack in the sense that you know, it's they were born here we came they didn't choose to come here. We were the ones who came and now they're going to get caught up in all these currents taking place. Although the debates evolution God morality, this and that. So we have a crises brothers and sisters, some surveys
give terrifying numbers 20% 30% Allahu Allah, who knows how can we calculate this but without a doubt, we have a crisis of the highest magnitude. For every one of us that is sitting here for 510 never come to the masjid.
I go across the country give Friday hold because you always see the youngsters brought by their parents. You see the elders? Where are the 25 Plus to 35 year old that demographic 25 to 40 Always the smallest quantity.
That demographics asked me ask any hottie as they go around the country.
The next generation are more concerned about their jobs. They can't even ask their employers for extended breaks for Jamar because the law guarantees you by and large the law will guarantee you if you want to go for Joomla by and large nine and a half times out of 10. You know your job will give you that right to do if our children don't even want to ask time for Joomla
what type of Muslims will that be? And also again, let me bring up another topic I'm sorry to be awkward, but again,
me not talking about it is not going to solve the problems.
Our youngsters marrying outside the faith.
This is a crisis that is existential to our identity.
If we and by the way, for the record, I personally, I personally do not think it is allowed for either gender to outside if it isn't my personal thoughts. Well, the concession in the Quran is when the land is the land of Islam. When the land is the land of Islam, then the Muslim can marry a Kitab iya because society and the courts will protect the children. As for non Muslim majority lands, Ibn Abbas has fatwa and Obama Hapa gave his verdict as well. I'm going to Bob said if all the Muslim men marry the Kitab a yard who's gonna marry the Muslim ladies he made it officially not allowed
Isn't that administration to looking at the goals of the Sharia this is what we need to preach to our youngsters, our young men and women marry within the faith. If they're going to marry outside the children, what's going to happen to them, your grandchildren, my grandchildren, what's gonna happen? So this is an existential threat. And we need to tackle this head on which goes back, by the way to a previous point of race and identity. Parents, parents stop bringing unreasonable conditions upon your children.
You should not care what race your children marry, you should care what faith your children marry. Eliminate this racism from your minds. Allow your children to marry within the faith of any race, welcome diversity of race, but draw the line at faith. If you are going to make the halal difficult, guess what? The Haram is accessible for your children. So parents, let me be blunt here, lower the bar. And frankly, again, let me just make this disclaimer to make this statement here. Those of you from Pakistan, from Egypt, from Bangladesh, wherever you might be, do you not understand your children have more in common with somebody of a different ancestry born here than they do with
somebody born back to where you were born? IE, a Pakistani American, like myself has more in common with an Arab American than I do with somebody from Pakistan? Isn't that the case? Our children are creating a new culture. So why should they follow your culture when it comes to their spouses, when you're going to raise the bar of Halal
they're going to turn their backs on Haram is accessible. So have frank conversations with young daughters and sons, be accommodating, allow them to choose their partners within the faith, lower the bars of marriage because Xena is everywhere? It's much better that you help them in Khaled, stop the conditions. When you were a teenager, the world has changed, right? Don't say I also went through this. No, you didn't. I'm sorry to tell you there were no cell phones, there was no internet morality was at a higher percentage back in the 70s and 80s. Things have changed. So this is an existential threat, a threat of identity, a threat of Islam, a threat of agnosticism a threat of
absorbing values counter antithetical to our religion. And we see this at every single major controversy.
And I don't have an answer. I'm sorry, I don't have an answer. What I do know we have to make a concerted efforts to address the challenges of the next generation to talk to them at a level and with a language that they understand to empathize. It's not their fault. They're absorbing the values of broader society. It's not really their fault. It's our job. And the way forward is not to demonize their questions. It's not to shut them up. It's to get down to the level and understand empathize, contextualize, and most importantly, develop Eman in their hearts you see as a deep topic here, but I have to say one thing
and inshallah after this, I'll pause and open up for some q&a. One of our issues and problems is that we don't prioritize the love of Allah and the love of his messenger. So awesome enough. And we think Islam is just a bunch of rituals and a bunch of commandments to memorize. Our mother I showed her the Allahu Anhu. She has a beautiful statement. Listen to this. She said,
if the first revelations that Allah sent down in the Quran, were to give up alcohol, and to give up Zina, and to give up gambling. The Sahaba would have said, no way we can give up alcohol and no way we can give up Zina, and no way we can give up gambling.
But I showed her the law says the first revelations were about Allah subhana wa Tada. We're about the Yama we're about Eman and when Iman was strengthen in their heart, then Allah revealed give up alcohol and the Sahaba through alcohol themselves out the streets.
Now, when I was growing up, may Allah bless my parents for the generation but for me, Islam was about McDonald's is haram. Gelatin is haram. Dating is haram. That's what Islam was. All fun that my friends are having is haram. For me. Islam becomes a list of don'ts, not even do's, don't do this, don't do this, don't do this. Hamdulillah that generation did what they needed to do and we were livid. But we can't repeat that.
If you are not going to inculcate the love of Allah in your children's hearts, then they're going to question every single commandment but
Why did Allah say this? But why did the person but why, but why, but why? And guess what? We don't have an answer for every why there isn't, you know why? And if it why do we pray five times a day? I don't have an answer. Why do we face this direction? Because Allah said so but that's not good enough for somebody who doesn't love Allah.
So rather than concentrate on the long list of don't do this and don't do this and don't do this, we need to flip the script. Why do we believe in Allah? Why do we love the prophets of Salaam? Why is he a role model for us? You begin the dialogue and discourse with love with compassion, you teach them the meaning of religion, you teach them the lack of the Prophet CISM then when Iman is strong in their hearts, then you come and tell them oh, Allah said that is haram. Oh really? Okay, if Allah said, so I have to obey Allah subhanaw taala you flip the script on them. And that requires a whole change in our discourse of religion, of how we present the religion of how we talk to up to our
youth about the religion, but again, much can be said here. But I think our biggest problem really is this existential threat of keeping our children within the faith. And that is why it isn't my final point. Inshallah. I've said that three times, but this is my actual final Punisher, Allah. This is unscripted just comes from the heart Inshallah, so I hope it goes to the heart. Inshallah, I don't know, I don't have any notes in front of me just stuff that I'm thinking about all the time.
We are here today from what I understand to, you know, see this project and to help take this project further.
As somebody who travels and studies and reads, it's projects like these that are seminal in protecting the identity of our youth. I'll tell you why. I'll tell you why. Because Islam is not just a bunch of commandments that we memorized. Islam is not just throwing your kids on Sunday school, and they memorize the two hours and they know the kind of Salah No, not at all. Islam is a lived experiential reality. Islam is absorbed via osmosis, being in the ambience of Muslims, interacting with Muslims, seeing what Islam does, feeling the purity of the faith, as you're in a gathering of Islam. Islam is going to be absorbed subliminally.
You don't need to prove Islam to somebody who's seen the fruits of Islam. And that is why dear immigrants, none of your batch, left the faith, think about it. None of your batches that came here from back home, they might have done haram they might have gone left and right. But by and large, they believe in Allah and His messenger. Why? Because they saw the fruits of Islam, they saw the lived reality of Islam society kept them in checks and balances. Well guess what? In this country of ours, we don't have those checks and balances in this country of ours. We don't have the ambience, we have to recreate we have to bring about as close as we can the ambience of Islam. How are we
going to do that? Two things. Number one, and without a doubt, this is number one. Number one, far more important than your Masjid far more important than your school far more important than your community centers. Number one is your households. Number one is you. You are the number one mechanism to keep Islam alive in this land. If you are not going to follow Islam, if you are not going to exude Islam, if you're not going to live by Islam, then whose fault is it that your children don't see Islam? And I'm sorry, dear parents, throwing your kids in four hours of Sunday school to have which they watch tick tock videos secretly when the teacher is not looking is not
going to save your children's Iman.
The number one mechanism to save your children's a man is looking at you in the mirror in the morning. You need to raise the bar in your own life. And guys, let me put it to you bluntly. You came here.
You came here.
So it's your responsibility. I mean, it's hella to come here as you have the law we're living the life hamdulillah the fact that you are here that I am here. Again, sorry to be awkward. We are in the top 1% of the globe. I mean, I'm sorry to put it to you. But we are look at our lives. Look at our lifestyles. 99% of the world would be jealous to live like we live. The cars that we drive the houses the amenities, no civil war, no bombs dropping the safety, the security our pantry is overflowing with food, clean water, you turn the tap on 99% of the globe would be jealous because we made it when Allah hungry thank Allah for that. But hey,
with privilege comes responsibility. I mean, that's the decision you made and you're living the life hamdulillah I'm living the life and listen, I'm not trying to guilt trip you I thank Allah my father came to tech I thank Allah I thank Allah was born in America, my education
Share my thought processes my opportunities for potential, I thank Allah, I'm very grateful. But with that privilege comes comes with
responsibilities. So here's the here's the sum total to all of you, you made that choice, you got to own up to it, and a part of owning up. I don't care how you were back home.
And again, let me be a little bit boasting of my own parents. My father was not the most religious person when he came. But he understood he had to become religious for his he wasn't he didn't even wasn't even married at the time. He didn't even have us. But he understood there is only one way to protect this faith. And so he became extra religious, he became somebody would go to the masjid found the First Minister to do the first football, this and that. And so my entire household childhood is associated with the messenger with the community with this, this and that. That's what happens when you have a love for the dean. That's when you owe parents, you have to make a decision
and a commitment to raise the bar in your own life. There is no salvation writing a check to your local Masjid No. Number one is you, you, you and no one else, you have to be a better Muslim. You have to raise the bar, you have to exude Islam walk the walk of Islam, and when your children absorb those values, Inshallah, tada, when they come of age, they might go through some left and right as teenagers do, they might slip up and fall then you know what it is what it is, and may Allah forgiven guide. But generally speaking, if you have left them a good role model a template one time comes for them to repeat that template, or II when they get married and have kids, the only template
they will know that was successful was yours. So they're going to return to the fitrah. And the hustle that you taught them. Remember this point Do your parents don't lose hope. If teenagers go a little bit left to right, I hope they don't. But if they do love and if they do gentle admonition, don't cut them off. If they do, the goal is not to win the war is to win the battle. The goal is long term not today. The goal is 30 years from now the goal is one year gone from this earth, they'll remember you that's the goal. Don't fight a battle just for today, fight it for 3040 years, fight it for your grandchildren think long term. And generally speaking, if you left a good
template, your youngsters will eventually return to that template. So that's number one. And number two, which is why we are here. And it is the number two I'm not going to sugarcoat because number one is you nothing replaces that. But yes, number two is this, this community, Masjid school, this ambience, you need to protect these Institute's not for the sake of the ease of Joomla not for the sake of parking, not for the sake of having nice if thoughts No, you need to again, rethink through what the purpose of these structures are. The primary purpose of these structures are fortresses of the mind for your children and your grandchildren that are yet to be born. This is the primary
purpose here. Remember this point when you come here. When you donate, when you dedicate, go back to the parents generation of the 60s go back to the elders here, they could not even imagine what is happening, but had they not done what they had done had they not build those foundations, we would not be here to rebel in the fruits of what they themselves planted. Now the baton is being passed, it is now in your hands, the cement is still being laid, the foundation is still wet, you have the opportunity to contribute to that foundation. And as I said, this is the final generation because after this hulless is going to then be a totally different set of dynamics. So my appeal to myself
and all of you my appeal. Take advantage of your potential. Take advantage of being at the right time, the right place, the right generation, the right land, the right background, and do something. Do something for the sake of your future for the sake of your asset for the sake of your children and grandchildren. What are your talents? What are your strengths? What can you contribute? Think about it. Ask yourself and then volunteer or start something or begin something or talk or do something that will give back to the community that will protect your own family and grandchildren after you brothers and sisters, brothers and sisters, Allah subhanho wa Taala ALLAH SubhanA wa Taala
has told us that we are shahada as a nurse, we are witnesses to mankind. Allah is going to ask us what did we do to preach and teach to mankind? Allah is going to ask us the role that we played. And I thank Allah that this country, this land, this era is giving me the opportunity to play a massive role. I could not imagine doing a fraction of what I have done in any other line, any other society, any other era. And if I can do it, so can you maybe not in the same field. There's no competence
mission I need you to do things you need me to do things come together as a team, we're all on the same side and that is the sight of Allah subhana wa Tada we all have a role to play. We all have a talent and strength we can give to and put together there is no other demographics like the American Muslim community, we can rise and shine and be a beacon of light not just to our fellow citizens, but to all of mankind We have that potential and that is why ALLAH SubhanA wa Tada put us here on Earth. Quantum higher on button Oakridge at the NASA we are the best of mankind and dare I say living in this not being American Muslims insha Allah to Allah we have the potential to be the best
of the best May Allah subhana wa Tada as I was to rise to that potential which is Kamala who later on was set on widecombe Rahmatullahi Wa Barakatuh.
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