Madrasahs & Seminaries in Islam History & Relevance

bank can tiny bank at time even can tiny Ana them be

to mean Kirby.

Lee

jolly

call le europei Ernesta Hey, Tasini wanna show Amina long turvy?

Alhamdulillah we begin by praising Allah subhana huzzah Allah, the One and the unique, it is he alone that we worship, and it is his aid that we seek. He it is who revealed the Quran to the Prophet sallallahu it he was sending them and He taught Adam how to speak. He it is Who hears the dua of the one who is oppressed, and he is the one who answers the plight of the weak. So may Salatu Salam be upon the one who was chosen to embody the prophetic peek. As to what follows we're all aware that the very first revelation that Allah revealed was if caught up in a society and a land where people did not know how to read even sardinas turbocad reports that there were probably 15

People in MCCA that could read and write and MCCA had a population of roughly 3000 You do the math, that is point 5% literacy rate of Arabia, in a land where there was not a single school, in a country or a region that did not have a library, there was no library in that entire Arabian Peninsula. Allah subhana wa Tada chooses to send down the final book upon the final messenger, and he begins the revelation of that book with a word that we have all memorized, if caught up, and our Prophet salallahu it he was sent them is terrified and shocked. He's confused and agitated. What do you mean if caught up? My honor, because I don't know how to read How would I know how to read? What

education was there? There's no Madras for me to learn. No child is taught how to read and write. How do you expect me to read if Cora Manoj Bukhari, a Cora and because I don't know how to read, and then Djibouti and says to him, no yado swill Allah, your camera is not going to be from the readings of men. Your camera is a different camera. Your camera is the only camera where when you don't know how to read, and you are a Nubian or me for you, it becomes an honor, enter praise and for anybody else, it would not be an honor and a praise because you you're rasool Allah, you don't need to read from an encyclopedia. You don't need to read from the writings of men. You don't need to read from

the latest theologians and scientists. On the contrary, ya rasool Allah, You shall read if Porat this Mira Baker lady holla your recitation will come from Allah by Allah through Allah. Your recitation is linked directly to him who needs the writings of men when you are connected to him? So our Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam was told you don't need to read and write the writings of men you your rasool Allah shall read and write, your recitation will come directly from Allah if caught up this smear of big with the name of Allah, the blessings of Allah, the baraka of Allah, that's where the Quran is going to come from. But then Allah subhana wa Tada in the same revelation

underscores another type of Kira and that Cara is a Tara that is different from the first one if caught up. What a Bukal a Quran Allah, the Allah Bill column, Allah Al Insana, Madam Yeah, Adam, in this revelation of five verses, Allah mentions two types of Tara, two types of knowledge, two types of reading the first knowledge the first reading, it is divine, if Quran Bismillah robic, that is the revelation that's something that is going to come from Allah through the prophet says unto us, and he doesn't need the knowledge of men. But there is another knowledge and that knowledge, Allah has gifted all of us, Allah has gifted it because he is a crumb, he wants to be generous by nature,

He is Generous, There is none who is more generous than him. And his generosity was manifested in the knowledge that he allowed us to acquire. And then he allowed us to build upon what our predecessors have acquired. You see, we take knowledge for granted. We take reading and writing for granted. But imagine, just imagine a world where every single generation had to start from square one where you didn't know what the research of the last generation had given you. Imagine you had to rebuild the world from scratch every single generation and you couldn't pass knowledge down where would we be the reason why we are standing where we are standing today. The reason why we have

reached the pinnacle of technology and scientific achievement and of medicine is because the Quran has taught us a mechanism of how to

cumulatively accumulate knowledge how to pass knowledge from one generation to another from one civilization to another, from one mind to another. When we write it is literally almost like magic. You know the Mongols, changez Han the Mongols. They were so scared of writing that they would execute every writer and they would burn every book. Why? Because they said, This must be magic. How can somebody communicate from his mind to the mind of another person? This must be magic. It is not magic. It is a crumb who taught us who taught us and no other species, no species, the animals talk. Yes, the animals talk hours previous speaker told us the plants talk, everything talks, but only one

species rights. Only one species records that knowledge. Ikura Bukal Akram Allah the Alabama Bill column, he taught us the bottom, he taught us how to read and write, he taught us so that I lived in Santa Monica. And then we can learn what Allah wants us to learn. And we can take the knowledge of the last years of the last centuries of the last generations and keep on building from them. And because we can build from previous generations and previous scientists, engineers, therefore we can go higher and higher, every single era. And we're now living in an era where Allah azza wa jal knows what the future will hold. So these verses mentioned two types of knowledge, divine knowledge and

what we call secular knowledge. The both of them are gifts from Allah, but the one is direct and protected and sanctioned, and the other is indirect and trial and error. The one is infallible, the other is fallible. The one has a direct communication with our Creator and the other. Allah allows us to experiment with the creation. And Allah allows us to go as far as we can sometimes fallible, sometimes with mistakes, and sometimes we get it right, these two knowledge is both of them come from Allah. And if Quran these five verses, they reminded the prophets of Allah who it was sent Him and through Him, all of us, that Allah wants us to have both types of knowledge is the first

revelation mentioned both of these knowledges it is as if Allah is saying, everything starts with knowledge, everything starts with him. And that's why Imam Al Behati. In his famous books, I heard Bahati, he has a chapter in the very first book, he has the chapter, Bob in cobalamin, the chapter of knowing before doing the chapter of learning before speaking, you had better learn in and then you do your Amman, everything begins with that knowledge. And that is exactly what our Prophet salallahu it he was setting them did. He began teaching and preaching the very first madrasa if you like. The very first system of learning, it was our Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, and the

university that he founded was the university in his own Masjid. It wasn't a physical University. It wasn't a structure, but there was tarbiyah. And there was knowledge and the Sahaba understood, they have a task ahead of them, and they would eagerly flock to the Prophet sallallahu. Either he would send them they would study they would memorize or would have been hooked up. He had a person who would go with schedules one day he would go one day his neighbor would go and they would swap information, and they will do business one day and learn the other day more either. bingeable as symptomatic some of these famous graduates, Eben Omar says, We learned to memorize five verses from

the Prophets Allah or either he would send them and then we would understand those verses before moving on to the next five we wouldn't just memorize in our era we memorize which is fine, not a problem, per se. But the Companions understood that the Quran wasn't just meant for memorization, he said, we memorize five verses, then we stopped and we did not continue until we understood and acted upon them. Then we moved on to the next five. And by the way, do you know how many Sahaba memorize the Quran and the life of the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, you will be shocked to discover editors in Behati for people for people because they understood the responsibility of what it

entails to memorize the Quran. They thought it's such a big task that they would rather do it piecemeal bit by bit and then understand it and then make an appointment. So our Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam taught the best generation of students from that university graduated the best of the best Oba Caruso de moda top Earth Amanda no rain Audio The Allahu and all of them graduated from that university. The prophets are some produced movers and shakers leaders. This is that mark of a true leader, a true leader produces leaders and every single major companion became a leader in his own right. Every single companion contributed in some way to the OMA the true leadership of the

Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam nurtured the talents of different Sahaba what you saw in one he didn't see in the other. So he nurtured that and therefore how did they build what he is not known for?

Reading a hadith he had a task to play and he did it. Abu Hurayrah is not known for a battleship. That's not what he's meant for. He did what he was assigned to do. His son Eben sabot, the official poet of the Prophet sallallahu, wasallam, he had a task to do, and he did it the best. That's what the leader does. And that's what the University of our prophets of the law, why do you send them did those Sahaba after the process have left this dunya they went their different ways. And each one began their own madrasa. It wasn't a madrasa, like ours. It wasn't a physical structure, but they carried their in with them. They understood this religion is everything about everything begins with

knowledge. This is how our religion is going to be preserved. And so even Massoud moves to Kufa, Kufa was the nether regions Kufa was the faraway land the very last city on earth that was still Muslim in must route moves the farthest away and he opens his own school again, not an actual school and he graduate students after students. Even my boss moves to Makkah, Zaida Mesaba stays in Medina, different people go different places, and each one begins graduating batches upon batches throughout our history, those people of knowledge have been the ultimate backbone of the Ummah, not politicians, not leaders, not Hooda How many of you know the Khalifa of the OMA years and our buses

and the and the Ottomans they did their job, but every one of you knows the Mohammed Buhari, every one of you knows Imam Shafi every one of you knows Imam Abu Hanifa these are the people who preserved our religion really is the backbone of our religion Yes, it's good to have a nice Khalifa Yes, we love the OMA years and Ibis is an autumn is for the good that they did. But Islam is preserved through in it caught up. So when these Sahaba graduated students slowly but surely, the concept began, we need to begin to codify scholarship, the Sahaba didn't have manuals that they would teach. They didn't have textbooks, it was impromptu what you would expect. But eventually,

second, third century, people began writing down Mr. Maddock said let me write a book of Hadith. And that began an entire trend of Hadith scholars have seriously Let me compile the seal scholars of language SIBO 150. I said, let me write the first manual of Arabic grammar. He wrote, The first manual scholars of language began writing dictionaries. So knowledge began to become in different disciplines. And this happened in early Islam. So then the idea became Why don't we have different speciality is the speciality is the process and didn't have a Halaqaat intercede a Halakhah field No, he was everything together. But then later on, the speciality is began because knowledge began

to be codified. And so in the second, third century, we have this this specialization, beginning. And so a student of knowledge, realize, if I want to become a scholar, I need to go from teacher to teacher spend two, three years with a scholar of Hadith, and then travel to the scholar of the sea, and then go to the scholar of fifth so that I can become a well rounded scholar, and this happened in the second third century. At this time, as well, the rulers began to realize that we need to protect our scholars, because scholars, they have a difficult time, you know, living and fundraising, they have a difficult time with students. And so rulers understood that it is our

responsibility to help and therefore some of the most famous rulers of the ibises of the the cell jokes of the husband. The husband is in our land of India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, there has never began sponsoring. Madras says this was the first time around the third century of the hijra, where people understood if we really want scholarship, we can't expect somebody to just start a minute or so on their own. There were no fundraisers back then the way we have them. There was government money, there was money that the government had, and the government realized, if we want to defend Islam, we need to have scholarship. And by the way, this scholarship was every physical, every

group, the Fatimids of Egypt. This is an Israeli group, they weren't Sudanese, the Fatimids of Egypt in order to spread their Dawa, they founded a university called Azhar, as her became one of the first universities founded back in 350 Hijra. They did it in order to spread their ideology and Dawa until Salah didn't came, and then of course, made it into a Sunni institution. The point is, the rulers understood that if we want to support Islam, we need to support scholarship. It was also at this point in time when the idea came, why not? How can a students go from teacher to teacher and then spend a decade Why don't we bring all the teachers under one roof and have the students study

different subjects and of the first people to do that was known as almond milk, the famous the famous general there, the Prime Minister, you can say that one of the most famous Prime Ministers of the entire Ummah, almost everybody has heard the name is almond milk, right and as almond milk he was of the Prime Minister of the Seljuk Empire. The subjects were the predecessors to the Turks, the Seljuks were the first Turkish dynasty and then from them the Ottomans came so the cell jokes when they took over massamba mode was their chosen time.

Minister Islamic made an institutional reform that was to forever change the course of Islamic history and Islamic MOOC understood, we need to found Madras says we need to counter these wrong ideologies coming at the time there was many Kenya ism and all these different other isms coming other false ideologies. He wanted to defend Islam. And so what did he do for the first time in Islamic history? And some say in human history? There's a bit of a controversy is this the first human or only the first in Islamic? He decided, why not found what we now call a university bring together different specialists of different fields under one roof, and then bring together the top

students so that they don't have to travel place to place to place? No, they can be in one place, and they can study the sciences. And hey, if we're going to do this, let's have a curriculum. Let's have an actual set subject, how many hours of film how many hours of Tafseer and so Muslim and milk began a university that was named after him in honor of him, then Islamia colleges. And he founded the first one in his land of Nisha boo. He was from Nisha pool. And then he wanted to build the grand the grand one, the Ivy League One, and he did this and of course, the capital of Baghdad, he did into the capital of Baghdad, and he said to his friend, his great mentor from his childhood, his

name was Mr. Joy and he a great scholar of the Shaftesbury and the Ashanti tradition, he said to me to join me, I need a young, dynamic person to make the rector of this Ivy League university in Baghdad. It's the heart of the heart, the capital, the choices land, it's going to have the best creme de la creme, give me your best student. And so there's almond milk, asked the Imam of Giovanni and join he said, I have just the guy for you. And that was Imam Al Ghazali. Imam Al Ghazali, was then sent from Nisha port all the way to Baghdad. And the rest as they say is history that is on me it was replicated in at least a different cities, the same curriculum, the same syllabus, it proved

to be such a success that it was exported to other lands, even in India as well. You had the dynasties before the moguls what was the dynasty before the movers who knows

the before the moles the famous nominate the Lord is

the Delhi Sultanate very good the Delhi Sultanate the Delhi is salted it copied this type of curriculum and then imported it to India from them. Eventually the foreign key mahal opened up and they had their own curriculum from them, the deal been came so it's all the chain reaction all going back to the Islamic world and then Islamia and therefore the notion of having one institution that caters to all the sciences, it really began within the Islamic tradition, a very famous orientalist, a non Muslim expert of Islam, George Makdessi, who used to teach at Yale before I came, he passed away before it was accepted. He was in the generation before me, George Makdessi, wrote a book you

can find on Amazon, the rise of colleges in Islam. That's the title of the book, the rise of colleges in Islam. And his thesis is very simple. And it's actually pretty solid. His thesis is, Muslims were the first to institute colleges and universities. And they were the first to have different levels. And back then there was a basic level, which we now call undergraduate, and there was a higher level called graduate. In fact, according to him, the PhD was actually based upon ijazah, to release the license to be able to teach that once you have reached a certain level, the sheriff says you have the license to narrate. That's a bachelor's degree. But if you go higher and

higher, the shareholders say you are now an independent person, you have the right to hold your own opinion. This quote was called ijazah studies. And this is the equivalent of the PhD, the point being within 100 years of the time of the Sahaba, the landscape of the Muslim world had changed from literally literacy being 0.5%. in Makkah, it went to and it went to unprecedented levels. We don't have exact statistics, some have said 80 90%, which is a fair estimation point being from 0.5%, you get illiteracy rate of almost 90%. In the Muslim world, for the first time, children are going to a madrasa called the macabre. To this day, across the world, children are taught mucked up, as we know

even in the most rural villages, even if the child does not get an education in the sciences, they will be taught how to read and write, they will be taught how to write the Arabic and understand the Arabic and this is the reality that no civilization did before Islam, no civilization, raise literacy to the level that Islam did. Why? Because if crop, the foundation the backbone of our religion is that ucation and both types of education, there is no doubt religious education is the more spiritual swing is what's going to get you to Jenner. No question about that. But Islam wants you to be educated in the secular sciences. If not, what are Buccola

Quran Allah is Karim. He wants you to know this and let the I lemma Bill column. I lived in Santa Monica. Yeah, no Muslims understood this from the beginning, there was never this dichotomy of science versus faith, as was the case in the Western tradition. We never had the equivalent of a Galileo being threatened by the Grand Mufti. If you dare research more will burn you at the stake. That never happened in our 14 and a half centuries, not once was a scientist threatened by the clerics, the clerics understood they have a role the scientists understood they have a role. And generally speaking, generally speaking, once upon a time, our Ma were educated to a basic level in

the sciences, and our scientists were educated to a basic level in the sector in the Religious Sciences. There was no dichotomy by the way, this was even the case in the Western tradition. The Ivy League's, you know, the eight Ivy, there's America, Harvard, Yale, Princeton, all of these, whatever they do know, initially, they were Christian colleges, when they were founded. There were colleges for Christian missionaries, though the emphasis was on the Bible and theology. And then you had the arts and the sciences, all of this change in the last century. Where did they get this from? According to George Makdessi. This is coming straight from the Islamia. It's coming straight from

our tradition, this merging of religious sciences and secular sciences. And that is why Subhanallah it's so sad to say this, but once upon a time, it's so sad to see in light of our current situation, Europeans would go study medicine in Muslim lands. This is well known in Toledo Toledo Tila in Toledo in Spain. Toledo fell in the 11th century to the to the Reconquista before before Granada did but Toledo was half Muslim, half Christian. And so because it was half Muslim, half Christian, they didn't expel the Muslims. They kept the institution's the Madras says, and students began flocking from Europe, from England, from Germany from France to study especially in Toledo because Toledo in

particular they had Christian atmosphere along with the Muslims there. And we know this very well, because the first time the Quran was translated into a European language, the very first time it was done by somebody called Robert of Catan. From Catan as a city in England, Robert of Catan, this Robert of Catan. In 1140. He translated the Quran, the Pope told him to translate the Quran, the Crusades had begun. The Pope wanted to get a translator, he traveled to Toledo because Toledo was the place where people would study Arabic. Christians would study Arabic why? So that they could study medicine, right? Just like now we traveled to America or somebody who came to America to study

medicine, you had to learn English, and you studied English to study medicine. Once upon a time, people would travel to Toledo learn Arabic so that they could study the Kitab shifa or even Siena, and they could become doctors. So this Robert of Catan was a British person who spoke fluent English fluid Latin, fluent Arabic, and the rector of the university said to the Pope, this is our brightest student. And so the pope paid a medical student, Robert of Catan was a doctor, he paid him a stipend to go and translate the Quran, which we still have to this day, the first translation of the Quran was done by a medical student from England who was studying in Toledo and who used to sit availbale.

He actually used to see that bill that we find the footnotes there that he tricked, took from the elevator lobby to understand the Quran. And his story was what a medical student learning Arabic to become a doctor and he has to study Kitab, Shiva, which was the medical textbook for 400 years, you all know heatable, Shiva, a weapon Sina, the 17 volume book for 300 years, it was the standard textbook of medicine across Europe. It was one of the first books translated into Latin, from where to where do Muslims from where to where, once upon a time, and I don't say this with a false sense of nostalgia, with a with a mythological past, and a romanticizing No, the fact of the matter for

1000 years, for a millennia, we lead the world, in every single field, in technology, in physics, in astronomy, in chemistry, in medicine, in personal hygiene, everything we we were the ones who were leading the world, what happened in the last three 400 years that the situation has changed topsy turvy, that is a topic of another lecture altogether. But my point is, where did it all begin? There isn't an IF Cora. And now when we look at the Muslim situation, subhanAllah how things have changed? Where does one begin to highlight the problems? One of the fundamental problems is the splitting up of the secular and the Religious Sciences. This is a fundamental problem that we have so many people

who study the Religious Sciences are completely unaware of the world and how the world works. And so when they speak about the world, those that study the world kind of sort of dismissed them. What are you talking about? How can you say that? And so many people who study secular sciences and who are masters or PhDs in their fields are completely ignorant of the most basic things of the deen

Well Lajitas has a problem. It goes against the first revelation of the Quran, we're supposed to merge the two together the divine along with the secular. That's how we formed the Muslim identity. That's how we become who we were, there should be no division. Once upon a time, our dilemma, we're taught the basics of logic of chemistry of physics, and then they specialized in the sciences. And our scientists studied the seed and Hadith. And then they specialize in what, what, what they wanted to specialize in. But when you have this dichotomy, then you're going to get a lot of problems and of those problems. And I speak as somebody who has lived in both worlds, many of you probably know,

I was a chemical engineer, once upon a time, I have a degree in chemical June, I worked at Dow Chemical, I used to devise computer programs to simulate polymer reactions. I mean, I have some time in corporate America. And then I've done what I've done. So in sha Allah, allow me some slack, I have the right to say this. And I say this not to criticize, but so that we can change so that we can bring a solution. One of our fundamental problems is this wide gap between the secular Muslims and the religious Allama. And the clerics and this gap. Frankly, there's a lot of blame on both sides. But because I'm speaking to a particular audience, let me shift the blame into our camp more

our meaning the people sitting here. Yes, it is true that many of our AMA, many of them don't quite understand the world that we live in. And so they're fatawa seem a little bit backward and disconnected. But let me throw that burden back on you. Let me put the ball in your court. Since when did our top notch students go to the Madras and become scholars? Who goes to the mother says and becomes a lemma? Which type of child do we send? There are Muslim countries, I'm not going to name them but the government assigns which college you go to, if you get above a 90 free pass to the to the medical above an 80 You go to engineering 70 accounting, what not? If you fail, the only

option you have is what who can tell me madrasa and have school this is a Muslim government. So do you blame when you you know, in in engineering, we have, you know, the input and output, you literally calculate input an output, if your input is going to be failed students, what do you think your output is going to be? I speak to you and allow me to be a little bit harsh because we don't have the luxury Well, I It's not meant to be on you personally, but on a community and I speak as somebody who's also amongst you Insha Allah, your own children going to the best of schools, right? We want them to go to the ivy League's good for you. But out of every 10 that go to the Ivy's

catcher said one to go and study Islam, the best and the brightest minds, because that's when you're going to get a different type of scholarship. That's when the Alim will come out understanding the dean and the dunya when the secular Muslims, the upper class, the elite, the nobility, ie all of us here, when we understand we need to send our kids to go study Islam, we need to send the best and the brightest, the highest LSAT scores the best MCAT scores, let 10 go to medical school and send one or two to the Islamic madrasahs that are gonna then re change and that's where Al Hamdulillah Al Hamdulillah we're seeing the beginnings of this change with Institute's like myth duck with

Institute's like so many others that are happening across North America. Alhamdulillah changes beginning but it is too slow. It has to become faster and faster. If we want Islam to flourish in North America. Our scholarship has to be from within North America. It's as simple as that. Brothers and sisters I grew up I was born in Houston, Texas, my father came 1962 see one of the first box needs to come. He found it is God who annoys you. He's one of the founders of ice God. My father came back then there was nobody there. Of course he builds the first Masjid who is going to be the Imam fully understandable. He brings somebody from Pakistan. He was my first you know, by the

Noorani a teacher my first What do you expect Okay. hamdulillah one of the reasons I decided to go to Medina in 1993 One of the reasons I decided I didn't understand the whole TVA not a single hold by I understand it, because either they don't speak Arabic or if they try to speak English you'd rather they speak to do anyway. You know, like, is complete disconnect. And I felt I don't know my Deen This is pre internet pre books in English. If you remember that I was in in the 90s Very different. I felt an emptiness I wanted to go study. There was no nothing for me to do to understand this Deen. Now for how long? Are we going to continue to import our odema they did their job Allah

here I'm not criticizing them. What else could they do? They did the best they could we had to bring them up from Karachi from Cairo. May Allah bless them. We're standing on their shoulders. We're not I'm not critical of them. They did the best they could. But for how long are we going to continue to import when we've reached critical mass? We have critical mass here Alhamdulillah. So you're going to continue to have people come in from overseas, your child will not be connected to them. Your child will have nothing in common. Even if they learn English. The content of their whole Buzz is not going to be relatable to your child. Do you blame

Your child for saying I don't want to come to the masjid. You need to have role models that your child can actually look up to religious role models that your child can look up to. And that's where it becomes so necessary. If we truly want to plant the seed of Islam so that it flourishes in this land, that seed will begin with there isn't we need to make America we need to make this land, a place where we have our own scholarship, like every Muslim land had its own scholarship, you know, brothers and sisters, Spain, under those, there was a time when Muslims were less than 10% of Andalus. In the beginning, in that stage, they found at some of the most prestigious mattresses in

Cordoba, the madrasa was there. 90% of the population is Christian, but they realize they need to found a madrasa and under those produce some of the most amazing minds of the Muslim empire, some of the most exotic minds, I'll call it will be a shout to be even hasm you find these amazing atypical minds if you study Islamic history, frankly, under this is just a hotspot of eccentric and yet original thought. Why? Because it was a place where different minds mixed together. You had Jews, you had Christians, you had Europeans, you had Arabs, and Muslims all coming together. So you had a different type of thought. I say, we have the potential in America to recreate an under Lucien

mindset and under Lucien paradigm, we have the best of the best, we have the brightest minds. We have the most amazing talent in this land. But we don't have an Islamic scholarship for how long are you going to import you must bring something from within your teachers have to be from within your students have to be from within and then insha Allah Tada, we're going to see a flourishing you don't have a interesting anecdote. How much time to have a toy.

Okay, let me just finish. Shall I have an interesting anecdote here? Let me finish up because handed back to our esteemed host Alhamdulillah. Allah has blessed me to travel many countries, I think 5055 countries, I forgot how many I've been to. And I like to absorb. I like to see what's going on. I like to ask questions. One thing that terrified me when I was traveling the world was to realize that almost everywhere, where Muslims have been a minority for 100 plus years, almost everywhere, they have lost their Islamic identity. This really terrified me. South America is the classic example. Even here in North America, the first batch of immigrant Muslims, not the slaves, the

immigrant Muslims that came, came here to Detroit, and Flint and Idaho and Calgary. 1900. You had batches of, you know, Ottoman Syrians, they came here, by and large, by and large, many of them have lost their faith. You now have fourth fifth generation Muslims in these lands that have lost their faith. And I'm speaking to you here in Detroit and Dearborn. Right. I have met members of your community whose great great, great grandfather's came, and the only thing they knew, and Allah He I swear to you, I hear this was the only thing they knew. I know I'm a Muslim, and I don't eat pork. I asked. This was a sister that came to me. I asked, Do you know the Kalama? She said, What's that?

She did not even know that Kalima, but she knew she was a Muslim. And that's why she came to the masjid saying, I know I'm a Muslim. I want to learn more. What do you know about Islam? How are you a Muslim? Complete? I thought she was a complete Caucasian. No, no, actually, I'm originally you know, automatic Syrian or whatever. Well, what's your story? My great, great, great grandfather came what do you know of Islam? I know we're not supposed to eat pork. Well, what else do you know? Nothing. And it's something eye opening to me across the globe. South America is another example. You had 10s of 1000s of Muslims around 1900 1910. Go to Argentina go to Brazil. What are they now?

The previous president of Argentina, Carlos mentioned this. Carlos Menendez, his great great, great grandfather was Muhammad something come from came from Syria, right. And when Carlos Menendez was born, he had a Muslim and a Muslim has a look it up but I forgot. You can look it up. He had a Muslim name, but there's no Islam. He turns 18. He goes to university. He enters University politics. This is back in the 50s. He changes his name to Carlos Menendez. The rest, as they say is history. Slowly but surely the rise begins he becomes the president of Argentina, Muslim blood. Muslims. i By the way, footnote here, there was an article that when he passed away the week he

passed away, he told his children bury me in the Muslim graveyard, Carlos Menendez was buried in a Muslim graveyard. And his child actually said there's an interview that towards the end of his life, my father started reading the Quran again. SubhanAllah. So hamdullah eventually came back, but nobody knew for his whole life. He was Christian Carlos Menendez, what not? This is the reality of Islam. 100 years from now, there was one land which was a complete exception, complete exception. And that was South

Africa

the first time I've been south, south africa many times the first time I visited South Africa it was just surreal. Fourth, fifth, sixth generation, full beards hijab? No Gujarati Punjabi or to offer Garten Okay? Except roti doll. They still remember Okay, and the food was spicy Alhamdulillah Alhamdulillah that we need to preserve guys. We cannot ever let go of our spices guys you agree with me Okay, or half of your Arab Sorry. Okay, that's it

I visited South Africa and I was honestly shocked at how vibrant Islam was. They are percentage wise similar to us six 7% 5% But you go to Durban right you go to Cape Town mashallah tip otic Allah, you go to the cities and mashallah the only western country in the 70s or 80s that was sending a rod to Egypt, in the national Koran competition. The global was South Africa, the only country back in the 70s and 80s. And I was shocked. How did you guys preserve your Islam for 100 years, I've never seen a country like it, not a single country in the Western world except for you. And the first time I went was 2006. I think seven and I met an elderly lady. 93 years old, she's passed away a lot

hammer. She wrote a book about her own life. I have it at home. 93 When I met her, and her grandfather had come do the math. Her grandfather had come from rural India. So I said, Auntie, I have a question to ask you. This is before I did my research what she said I backed it up with research. But this was anecdotal. I asked her auntie I have a question to ask you. I've traveled the world. I've never seen Islam preserved as much as it has been in your land for the last 100 years in any Western country. What was your secret? How did you do this? instantaneously? I swear to you, she said this without thinking twice, instantaneously, she said, The madrasa.

My grandfather came from the village, whatever. And he opened before even the masjid he opened a madrasa and I remember going to that madrasa. And as we were anti Holland, your father grandfather came from India, and he opened a madrasa for you as a lady. You do realize I said to her that there were no madrasahs for ladies back in India. And she she said to me, yes, I know. But my grandfather understood that if we want to preserve Islam, we have to educate the boys and especially the girls.

So

the fundamental difference between South Africa and other places was the Madras system. So here we are today

planting one of those important seeds and what to see mashallah diabolical.

Masha, Allah Avantika la

a few years ago, this place would have been a place where, you know, with all respect to them, nothing I'm nothing against May Allah bless any religious person in this era that we live in some religion is better than no religion will lie. Some religion is better than no religion. Few years ago, this was a place where other than Allah was worship. We don't like that. But there was some religion here. That religion declined, as all religions are on the decline in America, but Alhamdulillah fumble Hamdulillah. Our Eman is still here.

And I find this to be in sha Allah, somewhat symbolic Insha Allah, a symbol of optimism, because this isn't the first church slash mosque that I have visited in America. It's pretty common Alhamdulillah but this particular church slash Masjid Masha Allah, what a gift to your community. What a gift, walk around this campus, acres 100,000 square feet, how can you not support this institution, this institution and this facility and the family that is behind them, Baraka Allah, Baraka, Nora, Nora Hamdulillah, Al Hamdulillah. So I am not here today to make any case, the case has been made in front of you. I'm simply here to be a part of the baraka that Insha Allah, we are

going to see brothers and sisters, what this generation does, in particular, our generation, because we are the first generation, our generation that is fully acclimatized east and west fully. And we're the last such generation Zubaan jelajah gi a generation God McKenna won't be said Zubaan needed Theodore generation cany kahini. Doe generation, maximum one and a half generations, it goes Zubaan goes away immediately. The Arabs you understand within two generations, you're not going to be speaking Arabic Your grandchildren is going to go away. That's the reality. We cannot afford our religion to go away. We cannot. This generation, our generation, whatever we

Do it will have a ripple effect for at least 100 200 years. Because this is the generation of planting that seed, the next generation it's too late. So whatever we do this generation in our understanding of Islam in our protection of our heritage and our planting the seeds for the future, this is what will be the main factor after Allah's blessings to preserve our deen. So I pray that Allah subhana wa Taala opens up our hearts and our minds to understand that responsibility and that Allah guides us and guide others through us and that Allah subhanho wa Taala utilizes us and that Allah protects us and protects our children after us. I pray that Allah subhana wa Taala allows us

and our children to be of those who established us Allah I pray that our children become better role models than us. I prayed that the Kadima is descended down generations to generations for as long as our children live, I pray that Allah azza wa jal blesses our children with the love of the Quran and the love of the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, I pray that Allah subhana wa Taala causes all of us to live as Muslims to die as mins and to be resurrected with the prophets and the companions and what a noble companionship they are, which is awesome Allah who later on was Salam Alaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh.

Gu Li

Zanjani.

Co.

Op. Mr. Hayden Dawsey nee

Amina LA. He wants to feel

guilty. What

feels cool Ruby mimma Janita

down