Yasir Qadhi – joins the EPIC Community

			We thank Allah for being in the masjid. We thank Allah for our family, our health, our wealth, our
iman, every single blessing we have one big company I met in family in Allah every blessing we have
is from Allah subhana wa Taala and of the blessings of Allah is community and ummah of the blessings
of Allah is brotherhood no Hola. This is of the biggest blessings of Allah subhana wa Tada. Allah
says in the Quran, that if you were to give this entire world in trying to bring about the
Brotherhood of the Ummah, the Brotherhood of the people, they would not have happened but Allah azza
wa jal brought together of course, the references to the Sahaba but to all of the Muslims, Allah
		

			azza wa jal brought them together. So we thank Allah subhana wa Tada for the blessing of community
and Eman and I am very, very grateful and humbled and thankful to Allah Subhana Allah to Allah and
then to all of you for giving me this honor and I am not worthy of this honor of being this title. I
don't like it a resident scholar, I am one of you. We are all on the team here. Together. We are a
team and that team is TEAM Oma. The team is for the amount of Islam. That team is to preserve Islam
for us, and more importantly for our children and grandchildren. And so I am humbled to
Alhamdulillah take up residence over here in the city of Dallas. I have just literally driven here
		

			with my entourage of children and whatnot and three cars and whatnot. So the stuff is very hectic
and busy. I asked give me a few days to settle down but insha Allah I'm here now. This is now my
hometown of of Dallas and hamdulillah It's my new hometown of Dallas on returning to my roots. I'm
born and raised in Texas little bit of way Houston but I am Texan by birth and upbringing. In a
nutshell My dear brothers and sisters. I am very honored to be an a part of a team of people that
are working in this center. Imam Nadeem was started by June we have as well half as suggested and of
course I just heard as well we have our brother Lucia as well joining Alhamdulillah this is the team
		

			the likes of which perhaps no Masjid in North America has this large group of talent and this
diverse team Alhamdulillah that's great. You know why? Because every one of us as individuals, we
have our strengths but we also have our weaknesses but put together we can overcome those weaknesses
put together we can inshallah Allah just minimize those weaknesses. The saying goes that the
believer is weak by himself strong with his brothers. So I am joining a team of like minded
individuals, and even more importantly, a team of all of you because this community is not composed
of one or two people. It's not composed of the board or the Imam or the chef or the resident
		

			scholar. No, we all have a role to play you have a role to play, I have a role to play if we all
play it together for the sake of Allah Subhana Allah to Allah we will raise this bar and that is my
goal insha Allah Who Tada you will see insha Allah the bar continue to rise because of the efforts
of all of us not because of the efforts of one person and you will also find inshallah to Allah that
this team that we have of Imam Didion was stopped by Judo all of us this team will and shall bow to
our to do so many diverse programs. We will cater to every niche of this society because the OMA is
diverse. The OMA is vast, no one person can do the job of everything that was only the Prophet
		

			sallallahu I send him no one person can put in his can stand in his shoes, but a team of people can
at least do much more so in sha Allah, Allah Allah together, you will hear a diversity of voices, a
diversity of opinion, we will appeal to different people and that is good, that is hair that is
baraka because we want to attract the whole Ummah to this community and in sha Allah as long as our
goal is the same, and what is our goal, our goal is always the pleasure of Allah Subhana Allah to
Allah and because of that, and through that the entrance of Jana, that is our goal, our goal is
always the reader of Allah subhanho wa taala. That is our long term goal in the short term in this
		

			dunya for this project of the EPIC Center. Our goal is very simple. My goal my dear brothers and
sisters and I know all of you agree with this. My goal is this center has to be a role model center
of Islam and for the Muslim community of North America and insha Allah to Allah the globe, that is
my goal that this center has to become a role model, faith based community, not just a masjid, that
is the main part but it is also a Family Life Center. It is a place where our men and our women, our
brothers and our sisters, our youth and our elders, every one of them, they will be excited to come
they will want to come we want the children to tell their parents come let's go pray. Aisha, come,
		

			let's go to Juma Come, let's go to the program. That's where we want to have an excitement in this
in this community where the children and their children after them. They preserve Islam because of
what they see over here. Islam My dear brothers and sisters, it's not just a bunch of memorized
facts. It's not just something you can regurgitate. Islam is
		

			the lived experience and this community is the only community that most of our children will ever
have to see. What does it mean to live your life like a Muslim? What does it mean when the ethos the
o'clock when the ambience is that of Islam so that's the goal here is to make this community insha
Allah to Allah, a place where Iman is rejuvenated, where the soul is revived, where we feel what it
means to be a real Muslim. And that's why in sha Allah, our children, and then their children after
them will preserve the faith. And we all have a role to play. My role is very specific. And that is
generally speaking, the lectures and the hilltop, some of them will be mine, others will be our
		

			other team, as we know the gurus and Inshallah, from my side, I have a number of programs I'm going
to be offering, as I said, just give me some time to settle down, you know, I have to put my kids in
school, I have to get a driver's license, by the way, you know, everything, all of this, I don't
have any PA to go do that we all live in the same world, I have to go tomorrow in line and get the
driver's license for for Texas. So we all have to do that. Abdullah, give me a slack for a few days,
but inshallah after that, we're going to start at some programs. Off the top of my head. This isn't
an exhaustive list, but for sure, regularly we have a one one premiere program that I do, generally
		

			Wednesday night, but we'll see when it will be where it's a weekly Halaqaat. That's further public,
everybody, family, men, women, children, they will come and most likely will be doing a Quran
intensive, most likely to see Surah Yusuf, we're going to do a very exhaustive analysis. I've done
this once before, but I really have been itching to do it. I did it more than 15 years ago, I really
want to do it even more exhaustive, the most exhaustive done ever in the English language. That's my
goal. Insha Allah so I'm thinking about this most likely we'll be doing that to see you seducer for
at least a year, very, very detailed analysis of that, as well. Of course, daily, there will be
		

			hotter us but there will be tears splitting amongst the team, I believe I have two or three
quarters, most likely we're doing the other side at hand or maybe Sahadi will see in shallow data,
of course, do throughout the month, I believe to hotbars I'll be giving and the other two will be
given to our other team members as well. Of course in the month we will also have a sisters at least
one sisters, if not two, but at least one Sisters of halacha also one youth Halaqa every week as
well. One of the things that I really like to do personally every week we had one other day but a
public open q&a. So everybody knows that on this day of the week. This is the fatwa and q&a time, so
		

			they come with their questions, and inshallah we just have a very casual q&a Back and forth we can
go and you know, feel free to debate back and forth no problem because the fatawa of Islam are
diverse and the opinions are diverse. So we can inshallah have some sessions as well, as well and
shallow to Allah every few weekends will have a seminar. And the seminar will vary. Sometimes it
will be our theology sometimes will be our legal issues. Fifth, sometimes will be spirituality,
sometimes it'll be history. But these are all topics that are linked to our faith and Alhamdulillah.
We need to also go advanced, not just the stuff that is for everybody. But some people want to go
		

			and beyond that. But for that we need the classroom and a little bit more academic setting. So every
few weeks, we'll have a seminar as well and will vary the seminar, as we said, all of the diverse
topics of Islam, and insha Allah Who to other as well, I'll be launching something brand new that I
haven't done before, when in my previous center that I was, and that is, every month or two, we will
have a premier lecture I'm going to be thinking of a name, I have a number of names for it. But a
lecture sometimes myself sometimes invited speakers from around America and across the globe of
cutting edge issues, not the standard stuff that is going to be happening regularly. But something
		

			that is very, very necessary, something very important, and something that is very modern and
contextual for our youth and also for all those that were struggling struggling with and how to
really get involved with these issues and tackle them. For example off the top of my head. I mean,
LGBT for example is something we need to discuss, frankly, how do we explain to our children they're
struggling with this topic? How do we go about our daily lives with our colleagues and co workers,
something of this nature, the rise of new age atheism, these are all topics that they're in modern,
they're cutting edge, they need to be discussed. So every month or two, we'll be having a premier
		

			lecture of that nature Inshallah, to Allah sometimes myself and sometimes speakers from across
America and the globe. And so all of this inshallah is just the beginning. I am excited to be moving
to your community, I am happy that insha Allah Allah, I'll be learning from you. And I'll be
learning from your experiences and I hope if I have anything to contribute, that inshallah we can
also contribute along with the team members that are with me. Remember, we are a team together, it's
not one man show there's no such thing that's only the profits of all of us. We are a team the rest
of us we help one another you help me I help you. And together in sha Allah Allah we will cooperate
		

			for the sake of Allah to raise the bar of the East Plato Islamic center such that it will truly be
it's already epic. It's already a high bar, but we will inshallah take it to Epic squared. We're
going to take it to the highest inshallah of this country and
		

			He's going to be a role model center the evening Allah, He to Allah, that's our goal and through
that goal, we will achieve the pleasure of Allah. So I'm very, very honored and humbled and
inshallah also please forgive me if I don't remember all of your names this is a rather large
community unlike my previous one so it might take a while you might have to introduce yourself 234
Or five times but please, my memory wasn't like it used to be I am getting a little bit white in the
beard here but so cut me some slack with that. But in sha Allah, I hope that we can also not just be
on the academic side but genuine friendship and brothers for the sake of Allah subhanho wa Taala I
		

			am very humbled to be a part of your community. And I hope and pray that Allah azza wa jal always
keeps our hearts united always purifies our hearts with the best always gives us helps and him
always makes us if waffleh were to have been a filler he would enough and I pray that this is the
beginning of something excited and new and bless it may Allah Subhana Allah Allah accept from me and
from you and from all of us to Zakouma Allah who later on was set on why they can Warahmatullahi
Wabarakatuh
		

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