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salam aleikum wa rahmatullah wa barakato.

hamdu Lillahi wa Salatu was Salam ala Milena via by the AMA back.

When I was in my teens growing up in Houston, Texas, this is back in the early 90s. The first

major crises that I had of a global nature. The first Muslim crises that I was exposed to, was the war in Bosnia, which you're aware of, I'm sure, but I lived through that, and I was coming of age in that timeframe. It was the first time that

images were coming of concentration camps, tortures, massacres, and that galvanized me and made me want to do something for the OMA. I had never felt that feeling before because I was young. I mean, this is my first exposure. I was 1617. At the time, when the Bosnian conflict begins. I had never heard of Bosnia, never knew there were Muslims in Europe, right. And you find out that people are being killed because they say the Kadima the atrocities that were taking place, the graphic details that were being spread, we didn't have that much video footage is still the early 90s. But we had plenty of pictures. We had speakers come who are of Bosnian origin here in America, raising

awareness and funds and whatnot. And that was one of my first exposures to Islamic activism.

I felt I couldn't just sit back and do nothing.

I had to get involved raise awareness. In fact, the first editorial ever wrote in my life, the first letter to the editor, I still have it somewhere in my files. I was 17 years old, I wrote to the local newspaper, and I still have it over there about, you know, trying to raise awareness for the Muslims of of Bosnian, you know, the United Nations at the time, had vetoed, had vetoed a resolution that was going to provide aid to the Muslims, America, the United Nations, the via America had vetoed that and said, No, we're not going to provide more aid and more weapons, because that's helping quote unquote, the Civil War. So essentially, they allowed, you know, the people to be

massacred. And so I wrote a letter protesting that, you know, as you know, however, whatever I could muster at that stage and aging, and I'll never forget one time, you know, I was at college, university of Houston. And we did a presentation about the Bosnian conflict. And these graphic images that resembled the concentration camp images that we're used to from World War Two, you know, the textbook images that we see what happened in World War Two, the Nazis, the same images of emaciated prisoners, the same barbed wire, but this is in color. This is real footage. And I thought after I gave that presentation to this class, that was majority actually in all non Muslims. I

thought there's going to be this mass mobilization, there's going to be this protest because I had been spoon fed the narrative never again, I had been grown up on this doctrine that hey, you know, if you see something, say something you have to speak out against against evil and, and do something to stop oppression. But as soon as the class ended, and the bell rang, it's as if the whole presentation fell on deaf ears, and everybody just went around their life.

And as the Days turned into weeks, and the weeks turned into months and years,

it slowly dawned on me that

my idealistic notions of wanting to stop that conflict, were two were far too broad. They were far too distant for me as an individual to actually have a meaningful impact. I was naive enough at the age of 17. I was naive enough to think that, perhaps single handedly, right I could begin a tidal wave of dissent and change bring about a cataclysmic shift to public opinion. All I needed to do was to become involved and then the world would change. And you know, when you set your goals, too high, too unrealistic, and you don't have the wisdom or the mentorship to temper you down. In all likelihood, you will burn out very quickly, because you will think of yourself as a failure, because

you set your goals to be unrealistic. I learned that the hard way. And since then, obviously, it's been more than 35 years of hamdulillah of Islamic activism and Dawa. Since then I have had the time to reflect and get involved in many other aspects and many other projects. And in today's brief lecture, I just want to summarize for you my own end

alysus of how every one of us should be viewing viewing the world, and how we can and we will inshallah to either make a difference. There are five areas of activism that every one of you should be aware of, I'm going to go over them one by one, your mom would just quickly write this down and then fill in the blanks in your own lives and see what you can do. There are five areas that you should be connected to at the intellectual and spiritual level. The first of these is the global arena. And this is the arena where we hear about the most, this is what's in the news. This is what people are talking about the global arena of the Ummah, you need to be connected to that arena, you

need to be aware of what's going on. Right now, as we speak. There's pockets of conflict around the globe. In some areas, that conflict has reached proportions that are frankly, unprecedented since World War Two, the United Nations has said what is happening in China right now of the mass incarceration of our weaker brothers and sisters, this is the United Nations official report. It is unprecedented since the Nazi extermination camps of World War Two. We haven't seen mass incarceration of this level since the 1940s. And what this regime is trying to do to our Muslim brothers and sisters, it is not a genocide of the bodies. It is a genocide of identity. This is an

identity genocide. It is a genocide of their spirituality. Cruel, they want to preserve the bodies of the Uighurs. They want to preserve their biological shapes, and they want to eliminate their theology, their Arpita their o'clock, they want to eliminate their ethnicity. And so they're indoctrinating them for weeks and years on end will Lahoma Stan, of course, that's just one example of the global conflict as we're speaking right now. We see the rise of a NEO fascist regime, not just the rise, we see the success of a neo Nazi Party in India, the BJP, this party, whose very slogans hearken to Nazi Germany of the 1930s and 40s. This party whose ancestors and this isn't just

a stretch or a figment of speech, the BJP comes from an organization called the RSS and the RSS were active in the 20s 1920s. They were banned eventually. And then they come back and forth. But they were banned for a while because the Indian population and the Indian Congress decided that this party is too extreme, they are fundamentalist to the point of militancy. In fact, the RSS was the one who assassinated Gandhi, Hindu fundamentalists assassinated Gandhi, that's the same RSS party. The BJP is a product of the RSS you know what else was a product of the RSS? Literally no exaggeration, the Nazi Party of Germany, took its ideals, took some of its metaphors and took the

slogan, you know, that slogan of Nazism. It comes from a perversion of Hindu doctrine. The RSS, the slogan of the Nazi Party, comes from the RSS slogan. So a party that literally has ties to the Nazis of Germany is now in charge of one of the largest quote unquote democracies in the world. And multiple agencies have warned of an impending doom and impending genocide, the rhetoric, we see the videos taking place, our hearts need to be attached. We cannot scroll over those news items, we must read painstakingly the details of what's going on those appalling video footages those WhatsApp videos of mobs literally hacking Muslims to death. Just yesterday, I saw you know, a pregnant lady

lost her child because a mob beat her up. We saw that video online. We cannot just gloss over those news items. This is our first arena and that is global. Now I'm going to be blunt here, perhaps individually, we cannot stop the BJP, me and you, perhaps individually, we cannot change the Palestinian conflict and bring them peace that they need. Perhaps individually, there's not much I can do to help the Uyghurs. But you know, the least that that can do is to incentivize us in our personal lives, to do something in an arena that we can contribute to. That's where I'm going to come to Don't ignore global media. Don't gloss over global conflict understand us individually. We

can do minimal. I'm not saying we can do nothing. We should raise awareness. We should raise funds, we should whatever we can, but I'm being pragmatic and realistic, that if we think or if I think that I single handedly

I'm going to solve the Kashmiri conflict. And I set that as my goal when I don't achieve that, that might lead to a type of failure, a sense of exasperation. So I need to set my goals practical. So we began the first arena, which is global. And I say, be aware, be in touch, be incentivized, but then use that legitimate anger. Use that sense of how can this be happening, because that passion needs to find an outlet, that sense of injustice, that sense of unrighteousness I need to make the world a better place that much is healthy. You should live lives that are beyond just your own existences, you should contribute to something greater than the sum total of your own existence. Islam is not

about Neff see enough, see. So take that grievances, take that anger, look at the global situation, and then move on to other arenas, even as you contribute partially to those global arenas. The second arena, in which you have a little bit more, if you like. Ownership is the arena of your own country, your own national issues. We've all lived through the time of rising Islamophobia. All of you are young enough and old enough to remember just a few years ago, how dangerous that rhetoric became, perhaps some of you remember 10 years ago, 12 years ago, 22 states of our own country attempted to ban the practice of Sharia. For the first time in our national politics. Islam became a

token of both parties, the Democrats and Republicans were both invoking the term and the name. And the Democrats had their take on it. And the Republicans had their take on it, we became part of the national conversation, generally in a very unhealthy fashion. Once again, how can you just sit back and look this is your country and your land? How can you allow this misinterpretation misunderstanding to take place? So once again, you look at the national discourse, and you take a stand, and you look at what can I do to contribute and here, your contribution has to be more than the global because this is at your national, this is at your country level. Here, you can do

something more, perhaps not as much as what you can in other realms as we're going to come to But still, how can you stand by when your country is being invoked in an irrational fear of Islam? We, as Muslims of this country, are around one to 1.5% of this land, we're less than 2%. In the very best case scenario, realistically, we're probably closer to the 1% Realistically, don't be fooled mashallah, by our national conventions, we thank Allah that we have all congregate, but when you look at the entire country, 350 million inhabitants, we were probably around the 4 million mark that's around 1%. Realistically, right? So we have a job, if every one of us has to cater to 99

people, if every one of us has to change the hearts and minds of 99 people, that's a lot of work cut out for us. So make sure that we understand that point that is the second arena. So from international, we move to national, and we're going to keep on going closer and closer to home. National, what can you contribute, look at what's going on and have a percentage over there. The third arena that we all must be cognizant of, and once again, our ownership is going to increase. So as you see already, as we change arenas, as we change our playing field, our contribution will increase as well. The third arena where we have steak, and we have ownership, and we're able to

contribute effectively. It is the arena of our localities, our massages our communities, our neighborhoods, not at the national level, but rather at the community level. What can you do in your own local Masjid in your own high school? What can you do in your own zip code and your own neighborhood? There must be so many aspects that you can help out with volunteer in your Masjid be a Sunday school teacher, start a local chapter, the MSc in your high school give local Hulkbuster the teenagers over there something you can do that is within your talents within your expertise within your own passions. What do I want to do, that must be done at the community level. And once again,

there's a whole array and spectrum of what you can do in your own Masjid. You must be a part of that Masjid. Even if it is just at the part of participation. Your heart has to be attached to the masjid. You must be praying there at a bare minimum a few times a week. There must be an attachment to the house of Allah. That's your spiritual reenergizing go and pray shall go and pray for

should be a part of a halacha. So that you see there is a world beyond Neff see enough see, and if you're able to give back then give back at the community level. And as I said, there must be things you can do at the community level that are within your talents and your passions. And here you can see a difference. Very, very market, perhaps even more than any other that we've seen so far. So in your own neighborhood neighborhood, in your own locality. What are the issues of concern? Do your neighbors know who you are? One of the simplest things I keep on bringing up every time I give up a lecture or conference to a large crowd, do your Muslims even do your do your neighbors, even though

you're Muslims, do your neighbors even appreciate your Islam, why not use read as an excuse to go knock on their doors and give some sweets to them, nobody's gonna turn down some, you know, some nice baklava or even you know better than this, you know, give some good abdomin or something, nobody's going to turn that down, make it into an ethnic event, oh, today's our holy day or yesterday was a holy day. It's Ramadan, we finished. And we just you know, as a part of our our fifth semester, we want to give, you know, sweets to you just that small bit of Dawa, that people know you're a Muslim people know you're interested in their community. So this is giving back at the

community level, giving back at the local level at your zip code level. This is arena three, arena four. So again, we're working our way inwards, starting from national, international, the National then local. Now, the fourth area where you can contribute is your immediate circle of influence your family and friends, the people you associate with, at a personal level, every one of us we are interconnected with dozens of people, on average, you know, the people who studied these things, say on average, the average human being is very close to around half a dozen people. And they're fairly close to like 1520 people. And then they have a circle of acquaintances around 50 to 100. This was

on average, what the you know, those people who studied these things tell us this circle. You are the only person in the world that has that unique circle. Nobody has the exact same circle as you. So what is your contribution to that circle of influence? What are you doing with your own family? If you're a brother, if you're a sister, if you're a father or mother, if you're a husband and wife? What are you doing with your immediate family? What are you doing with your actual friends whom you invite over and they invite you over? What impact are you causing in their lives? How are you improving their religiosity and how are they improving your religiosity? Are you fulfilling the

rights of Allah upon this elite circle that is your inner circle.

This is another area of contribution and frankly, this area now becomes far Dine, the previous 345 People have to do it but not individuals, not everybody has to get involved with the Palestinian conflict. Not everybody can change the Uighur situation. The same goes for national. The same goes for even local, not everybody can do something here. But now when you get to your own circle of influence, it becomes part of the Iein on you. You must, you must make a difference. According to the Shetty of Allah in the lives of the people around you. You must be a proper father or mother, a good brother or sister, a Islamic friend. This is now wajib upon you, this is what your rights are

going to be asked about. So study what is obligatory on you and give back to your immediate circle of friends. And then the fifth and final point. These five areas I'm talking about the fifth and final. You yourself

your own relationship with your Creator, your own level of spirituality. Your own sense of this kiya to enough's. How righteous are you? How pure Are you? How good are you in your own relationship with your Creator? Where do you stand? How is your Salah? What is your sadaqa? How pure is your heart? Are you harboring grudges? Do you have animosity and jealousy? So that is the fifth and that is yourself your own heart. Now these five areas global, national, local, and then your own sphere of influence and then you yourself. The problem comes frankly, that most of us we go in this order. Most of us we go in the order I just went in.

But Allah subhanho wa Taala wants you to go in the exact opposite order.

Most of us concentrate on other people and other causes. Most of us get involved in correcting the other and that's number 543 or two. But you begin with yourself and work your way out towards and if you set your goals in this manner, then all of a sudden you will

See changes daily and weekly and monthly. If you set your goals in a reasonable fashion, you will be empowered to continue to raise your goals. Once you've changed one aspect, you move on to another, when that is accomplished, you move on to a third, and so on and so forth until you continue to set one goal after another and accomplish one goal after another. These five areas are not mutually exclusive, nor are they chronological, you don't master number one, then you move on to number two, no, that's never going to happen. You're never finished number one till you die. You're always working on yourself. You're always trying to better yourself, but the primary thrust of your own

emphases your own your own efforts has to be first and foremost within your soul. Concentrate on your own mistakes before the mistakes of your brother. Better your own self before you try to better other people. But then don't forget even if I'm not perfect, I need to move on to stage 234 And five stage to my family, my friends. What can I do with my children? What can I do with my spouse that is going to make them closer to Allah subhana wa Tada What can I do with my immediate circle that I will be a blessed person and their companionship. And then as you give a good percentage to your family and friends then move on a little bit to the community as well because you see brutal

honesty, if you are Mr. Pious in the community, if you are mashallah Mr. McDuffie in the community, and your own family hates you and despises you, and your own family knows you to be a hypocrite, well, then something is wrong, something is wrong. And how many of us unfortunately, we know people like this because we know their family, friends or whatever. Or maybe even May Allah protect us within our own family or households or maybe even a stock foot Allah we ourselves, that people who don't know us that well have a certain perception of us. And those who know us intimately have a totally different perception. And this is why Islam says you begin the other way around. The Cedi I

teaches us the most important person you need to change is not your brother or sister it is yourself. Allah says yeah, you already know Ahmed, or ILA, come and Fusa calm? Are you who believe, take care of your own selves? Are you who believe you are in charge of your own selves? You will begin with your own self. Look at your own faults, how can I be a better person in my own life? Don't look at other people's faults and then say, Oh, the whole room was being destroyed because that brother backbite this sister does this. Begin with yourself How is your own relationship with Allah improve on that, then, as you're improving on that, give a little bit to those around you, and

then society and then nation. And then as we said, the entire globe. Now I'm going to leave you with some specific advice because the lecture title is about how we improve ourselves. I'm going to give you some specific key things that insha Allah Allah will help us along this way. Allah subhana wa Tada says, Yeah, you are Latina Ahmed, who is studying you know, the slavery was sada or you who believe seek the help of Allah via Sobor and via salah. These are the two main powerhouses that will help us navigate the difficulties of Dawa the difficulties of preaching and teaching the difficulties of giving back to community sober and salah. Sober is the realization that life is not

going to be easy. You're going to face obstacle after obstacle. Nobody in the history of the world ever started a positive cause and then the people began embracing it and mass nobody every change begins with that struggled every prophet of Allah had an uphill battle to fight so you to when you began change, you're going to need solver and Salah Salah what is Salah gonna give you Salah is going to give you a personal connection with your Lord sunnah is going to give you a sense of religiosity and a sense of peace that you will need because the world is full of chaos. The world is full of evil, the world is going to give you headaches. What is your antidote to that headache? It

has to be a connection with Allah subhanho wa Taala forget about correcting anybody else when your own Salah is suffering when you can't even master your Salah How can you help anybody else so begin with yourself and I will advise myself in all of you have one particular Salah that is especially important of course the five data saltwater watch, that must be done, but one particular Salah will help you in the struggle and it will cleanse your heart of any evil and it will give you the power the strength that you need to face the problems of life and that is salata. tahajjud that is the Salah and

In the middle of the night, there is no Salah that is more blessing after the fivefold than the salah of tahajjud. In fact, if you look at the zero, the second revelation that Allah revealed, literally the second revelation. You heard him was Zim mill. Homie Leila Illa Kalia. The second revelation when the process and rush back to Khadija XNB Looney deathy Rooney when he rushed back to Khadija, Allah azza wa jal revealed, yeah, you have Muslim mill, or you who's wrapped up in a cloth, who may lay there in kalila. Stand the night in Salah, except for a little bit for your sleep.

If you were to make this a regular habit now pause here by regular ideally every night but that's not possible. Regular, even once a week is regular, even once every two weeks but you put into your schedule every second week, every third week, I'm going to break tahajjud my genuine advice to myself and all of you if you want to be a worker for the sake of Allah subhanho wa Taala you want to carry the the burden of doing something for the Ummah, to ease that burden to lighten that burden. Allah subhanho wa Taala himself revealed to the Prophet system, pray at night, because when you pray at night, you will automatically get a sense of spiritual reboost of energy. You're gonna get a

sense of courage and patience. When everybody's asleep, you stand up and you show Allah I am sincere. Nobody's watching me, this isn't a camera moment to selfie moment I'm going to post online, nobody's aware of this. When everybody's asleep, you stand up and you go to the corner you do will do and you pray to Allah subhanho wa taala, even if it's Torah, God, even if it's five minutes, but pray as regularly as you can. That is the time where the angels come down. That is a time where Allah listens to your dua that is a time where Iman is distributed, that is the time the last third of the night where everything you ask Allah shall be given to you. How can you want to change the

OMA and you don't take advantage of that private time literally, this is private time with you and Allah, this is like office hours. This is divine office hours, you want to change the world. Begin with yourself. Ask Allah for that help, and ask Allah in that last third of the night for that help. And brothers and sisters. To conclude, again, I spoke there's about five arenas, but don't conclude on one point which is disconnected and yet still the core of what I'm talking about these five arenas, not all of you can do all five of them. But all of you must begin with yourself and all of you must help your family and friends. And then through the third, fourth, and fifth, if you're able

to do that do that. But here's what I want to conclude with what I find truly

amazing.

Allah subhanho wa taala, gifted all of us differently. And Allah created all of us differently. And Allah gave all of us different opportunities. We were all born the same. We weren't all given the same perks at birth, we weren't all given the same wealth, the same status, the same bodies, the same physical strength, we weren't all given the same IQ some of us have given more and less, some of us have wealth, others don't. Some of us have access to education. Others don't know two people in the entire history of humanity are exactly the same. This is a miracle from Allah subhana wa Tada some are born to kings, and they become kings, some are born in the slums and their opportunities

are different. So no two of us has the exact same opportunities in this world. No two of us has the same opportunities in this life. But in spite of all those differences, in spite of all the diversity, there is one thing that we all have in common. And that is, no matter how we were born. No matter what the circumstances of our upbringing, no matter what our education and degrees, no matter what our wealth, status, no matter how diverse we all are, no matter how different our lives are. amazingly, amazingly, every single one of us in spite of our differences, we can aspire to achieve Jannah tool for those and we can achieve gender to for those regardless of our life

circumstances. That is amazingly powerful. Allah leveled the playing field, it doesn't matter who your parents are, it doesn't matter your wealth. It doesn't matter who you are your own level of intelligence and IQ and and endless circumstances of life and everything is now level. You have no excuse. When it comes to Allah's pleasure. You have equal opportunity, if you make the best of your situation, if you better yourself and you try to be better for your family and friends. If you make an impact in whatever circle you can, not everybody can do all five but if you can perfect the first and the second, do your best and the third, do your best. And then the fourth and fifth, whatever

little you can do. Amazingly amazingly. Allah subhana wa Tada has guaranteed you for those who are

The regardless of all our differences in this world, we cannot all aspire to the same thing of this world, not everybody is going to be a king, not everybody is going to be a multimillionaire, not everybody's gonna get an Ivy League education doesn't matter in the eyes of Allah in the eyes of Allah, all of us are in the exact same playing field, we can all aspire equally to the biggest prize, the most blessed prize, and that is the prize of the highest level of Jannah. And that is the ultimate equality of mankind. There is no superiority of any two people amongst us, regardless of our backgrounds. So brothers and sisters, these are the five areas concentrate on yourself, then

give back to your family and friends. Be active in your localities do what you can at the national level, use the international to incentivize you and if you do so insha Allah hooter, and you will achieve the blessings of this world and the next Docomo Allahu Clara said I'm why they come from a toolbar here. rahmatullahi wa barakato