Our Duty Towards Others

hamdulillah Isla is niram

Al Hamdulillah Al Hamdulillah, Camden County, Ebony, Allah Bullock

Masada to

sleep.

I always wonder why my content in January.

And then I feel the warmth.

And I realized this is why,

despite all the cold outside

community here is always striving always much held on its toes. I know it's late. I know, as is typical, my fellow fundraisers are so energetic and so needed to go beyond time, I will try to be as concise as 15 minutes with

each other because I don't want to

do that Colombia was the people as well have things to do as well. So let me ask you let me begin our talk today by asking a very frank question. And before you answer, think about the answer. Don't just think about the answer. Was Islam spread by the sword?

I said think about the answer.

Was Islam spread by the sword?

You were saying yes.

And no.

Yes and no.

Where are you from?

Where are you from?

I'm from

Lebanon,

and your people in 600 c 11. On what Dean where they have one back then.

It was the story of Christianity. Christianity. I'm originally from India. My people were Hindus, many, many generations ago, when

they decided to invade sin under the Empire. India, India represents a threat to Arabia.

When Obama decided to invade for the state, Sham Lebanon, did the Byzantine Empire present an existential threat? were they thinking applauding to attack Arabia?

No, they weren't. They were not

the Muslims, the Sahaba. We have to be honest in this question.

They were not facing a threat from these other acts. When the US were our Egyptian brothers when the house took 4000 people and tolls are one of those. I need your permission to invade Egypt. What was Egypt doing with the Muslim?

Nothing with 4000 people out of the house went and like the dominoes one after the other until finally one generation later the Muslim mother and the next generation they crossed over and they weren't under Lucio what were under Lucien is doing such that Muslims have to go there. Let us be honest and not change the facts of history. The lands of Islam was indeed spread with force. There's no denying this, the lands of Islam. bots

were Muslims.

Forcing other Muslims to embrace the faith was the Islamic empire shoving the religion down people's throats. 40 years ago, Harvard University, the Department of Islamic studies they undertook a project is back in the 70s. They undertook a project to document when the Muslims of Egypt converted from Coptic Christianity to Islam. Because in the year 630 c roughly or the process of passing away closer to what the year 630 there were zero Muslims in Egypt 100% Coptic Christian, fast forward to 1970 whenever they did this study, right, and 90% of Egypt is Muslim and 10% is Coptic, Christian. And those statistics are still to this day. Okay. 10% of Egypt is still Coptic, Christian, JD

Harvard University. What are some groups? There's a bunch of academics right, and they had graduate students they have plenty of and why did they choose Egypt for many reasons. One of them is the political importance of Egypt and the other them interestingly enough, Egypt has one of the most documented records of the sixth, seventh and eighth centuries, more than many other lands of the region so they have access to pirates to court records to transactions so they have access to a treasure

have information. And they have techniques and methods beyond the scope of our lecture today. And I am getting by the way, it is relevant to what we're doing. Don't worry, we're getting there. So be patient with me, we're getting there. So Harvard, as we said, they did a survey of very not a survey, they did a detailed research. They were thinking, you know, what they were thinking, they were thinking they would find a particular funding for a particular ruler, who forced this 90% to come. They were thinking that Oh, we'll discover that in the year 327. Right, there was 99%, coptics. And then 328, much other than 90%, he forced Islam down the throats. They were thinking

they find something like this, this this amazing, you know, period of history that they would say, Ah, look, this is Islam. This is what the Muslims do. Do you know what they discovered? Brothers and sisters, what they discovered, they discovered that there was never Egypt in history, a spike of conversion from the beginning, up until the pre modern era, never. Rather, there was a steady but slow conversion rate from the beginning, up until medieval times, up until pre colonial times, which is when when the colonizers came, that's when basically the statistics became ossified for political reasons. But otherwise, there was a steady flow of conversion, even if something is slow, just like

the tortoise and the hare, even if something is slow, slowly is going to get from zero to one to five to 10. until they've reached that magical 90 Mark, what does that show? It shows that conversion took place organically, voluntarily, it shows that conversion took place because people in every generation, they consistently groups of them found Islam to be attractive, and they embrace and when groups of people keep on keep on keep on embracing what's going to happen slowly, but steadily that curve grows up. And this leads me to the next point. And then we'll get to the final point that that's really the point of the lecture. The next point is this is the philosophy of the

Sahaba. The Sahaba were not greedy for money. They didn't want that. The Sahaba were not really for the riches of Damascus, they didn't want to visit the pyramids of Egypt. That wasn't their motivation. The Sahaba understood, this is why we need to be careful when we talk about Islam. We shouldn't sugarcoat the truth was Islam spread by the sword we take a step back, the politics of Islam, the empire of Islam, the Republic of Islam, yes, indeed, there were military complexes. And I as a person of Indian Pakistani heritage, thank Allah that Mohammed imposter from the city of La came in the early portion of this homeless period. And he conquered portions of India and sin

because of which at some point in time, my ancestors converted to Islam. I thank Allah for that there wasn't an existential threat. But why did my ancestors convert? Why did your ancestors convert? Because at some point in time, and here's the philosophy of why the Sahaba went across an abort. You see, when you hear about a faith tradition, 1000 miles away, 5000 miles away, you don't really know what it is, you're not exposed to it. The Sahaba understood, the best way to give that love is to show the reality of Islam in the daily lives of the people. The best way to show people what this religion is, it's not just to talk about it. They could have sent preachers they could

have sent to us No, the best way to demonstrate what is the reality of Islam is when a group of people visually see they experience what it means to be a Muslim. The actions of Muslims will be a million times more effective than the talk of a tie. The action by the way of those Muslims, you see were

slowly but surely, okay. The actions of the early Sahaba they were so confident, we have the best product. And if we just show other people this product is only going to do how do we show it to people, we live amongst them. That's all we live amongst them. They will see with their eyes.

They will see the smell of Islam. There is the of Islam, the awesomeness of Islam, the compassion of Islam, they will see what Islam has done to us. And that's all we need to do. And they were 100% right 100% they were right, because that is how the conversion took place. There was never a forced conversion in every generation, people kept on seeing and converting and seeing and converting until finally 90% of the land of Egypt became Muslim. By the way this shows you there was never forced conversion because if there were one out of 10 Egyptians wouldn't still be called to think about

If there was ever forced conversion, but still to this day, one out of 10 Egyptians is still Coptic. They're still upon the original civilization pre Islam. Coptic Christianity is one of the ancient, you know, sects of Christianity and still 10%, which shows you there was never forced conversion. There was never the type of persecution that took away religious freedoms or else 10% would it still be Coptic? The same goes to historian Christians and not at all. The same goes to Maronites in Lebanon. These are the earliest sects of Christianity, by the way, way before Catholic Christianity way before Protestant Christianity. The three earliest sects of Christianity are all found in Muslim

lands. They're not preserved in the West Maronite Christianity nestorian Christianity and Coptic Christianity where do you find them in the lands of Islam? Why? Because Muslims never ever forced their populations to convert. But these are minority groups because exactly what we said these versions of Christianity saw Islam and they kept on embracing embracing the same happened in Lebanon. The same happened in Iraq. The same happened in Iran, Zoroastrianism the same thing Muslims did not force Zoroastrians to convert. And that is why the Zoroastrian religion is still alive to this day, it is a dwindling minority. But that's because of their you should not because of us. And

what does that show us brothers and sisters, it shows us that.

Really, this leads me to my final point, we really need to understand, what are we doing when we live amongst a group of people, and they're all scared of us?

What have we done wrong? When, instead of the people around us embracing because once upon a time that was happening, we all especially those of us that are above the age of 3040? You all remember the statistics, we heard that back in the 90s? What is the fastest growing religion? We all heard those statistics it was this long, isn't that correct? In the 90s, multiple surveys came out. And I've come to know that wherever we went, we're doing a little bit of a job. But for the last 1520 years time alone,

we haven't been in those statistics. And one of the reasons why. One of the reasons why to be brutally honest is because I feel and I'm self criticizing This is all of us, not just one person, I feel that we have lost track of some of some of the realities of our faith tradition. For many of us, Islam is associated solely and only with the rituals with a viaducts, and river that is a very, very important pillar, but it is not the only pillar of Islam. That is indeed a very important pillar. And to be brutally honest, you're not a good Muslim if you don't have a healthy about everybody in your life. But for many amongst us, when we decided to become religious, or our

assessment of religiosity is solely based upon the Salawat and coming to the massages and Ramadan and others of this nature, and that is not the reality of our profits in the long run. He was sending him when he came to Medina and he performed the hilldrup and when he entered the Bible Another example is Medina.

A rough guess what the process of came to Medina what percentage of Medina was Muslim? worth guess? Tell me what do you think? When he migrated to Medina, the city itself a rough guess? How much

10% 2%? Zero there were many. So how about the bathroom? Elphaba they took place? Remember, I took place, okay. Obviously, these are ballpark figures. I did my own study in the Sierra. Roughly, I would say 15% was Muslim Max 20%. Knocks. Now I want you to imagine he is coming to Medina solo, blah, blah.

And maybe at max one out of five is a Muslim.

By the time the bottle of butter takes place. Everybody's a Muslim, except for the the hypocrites that went after homework

before they began the battle. But the only groups that did convert are the three Jewish stripes, the paintings of Medina within one year, they all think about, then we should recall that because when the process of migrating, a lot of us don't think about that, they were 80% of the people worshipping idols. There was idolatry in early Medina and the apostles did not that it because he's only 20% of the people. He did not bad idolatry when he migrated. What happened in one year and obviously that is the profits. Is that what you expect? They saw him and Michelle is about to come up and they saw a little bucket and obviously what we saw in Egypt 90% in 1000 years that 90% took

place in one year, understandably, because you have those holes on US Senator Wyden won the Fuqua School of Law that is a blessing Obama gave to them. Do you know the first heavy that he said when he migrated to Medina, the first edit that he said, I guess this would be the last thing because

You guys not have dinner?

Oh, you finished dinner because if you hadn't had dinner, even bigger trouble Okay, at least you have dinner okay, but desserts, also dessert I didn't have dessert.

You save some for me, Jay in the process of migrating to Medina. First I think that we know the first hold but that he gets it looks like the first hold but that he gave when he came to Medina think about that the majority of people he's speaking to are not even by political I don't mean to domestic, I mean a lecture, a lecture. And this is recorded in a beautiful Peggy's, in Sona, Timmy do a good job of activity. And the one who narrates it, he is himself a very interesting Sahabi. And they give a lecture about him a few months ago, and he was at the time the Chief Rabbi of Medina. He was the Chief Rabbi of Medina, and one of the few yahood who converted to Islam. And of course, his

name is Abdullah he didn't set up and that is called the Hadeeth. of set up. Why? Because it's narrated by even set up and it begins with set up an ends with setup, I don't want you to understand the philosophy of this Honey, I want you to understand this is the first words that our nebby symbol lovers have spoke amongst the Muslims and the non Muslims of the city he has just migrated to he wants the people to know what the religion of Islam is. What is he saying? I mean, you know, all people, this isn't just for Muslims. He's speaking to 80% non Muslim, all people know us. And he says four things. And this is the religion of Islam of trust set up. What's up?

What's up? What's up? What's up, Lady when grassmannian the whole agenda is four simple things. These are the pillars are what I'm coming to you with. These are the four things I want you to concentrate on all mankind, this is what I'm coming to you with number one, spread center wherever you go. And this is basically o'clock. Your environment should be one with a piece, say a setup article, and always have peace be embodiments of setup of shoe setup. Wherever you go spray piece. This is basically the pillar of a flock began with a club. Number two, we're able to feed food to the hungry. Religion isn't just about your personal life. It's about what you give to your

community. It's about how you help those that are in need, feed the hungry, well.

Number three, signal or have the good to your family. Religion is never selfish, you can't be a good Muslim. If you're selfish with your own family, your own family has to see your real love and your real giving to others be good to your family, immediate and extended. And then fourth, last but not least, it is last even if it's not least grainy at night, when everybody's asleep, everybody's got to be there. nobody's saying anybody's not there. But he put it at the very end, you have to have. These are the four pillars of good religion. Number one, your personal love how you deal with other people. Number two, your Social Work your activism you're giving to other people. Number three is

family. You cannot be a good Muslim, if your family is not happy with you for legitimate reasons. And then number four, you are divided with a loss of habitat. And that is why to conclude the talk here. These types of charitable works, these types of giving to other people, it is not just something that is a supererogatory or an act, it is an essential core to what it means to be a Muslim to give to those who don't have to help those in need. If you look at the situation of the world, and how Islam spread, it was only in very few countries that Islam spread without some type of political interaction. And even in those countries, it goes back to the heart of the Muslims. The

main examples are in the Far East, in Indonesia, and Malaysia and also in the Maldives. And these countries never did an army reach Malaysia never did an army reach Indonesia never did an army reach to the lines of the Maldives. But if you look at their history, what happened. Muslim traders interacted with those people, people from Yemen and from other lands, they would go to those countries and the honesty that they saw, and the love that they saw and the giving and compassion that they saw. I visited China six months ago. We have some of the people here the ones on the China trip, I visited China

and we visited the main mosque in China, which was built 1300 years ago. Do you know the legend of that mosque? How did it come about? Do you know the legend of that mosque? When dow traders when the traders from ages they went all the way to China

And then

they started selling in a certain place in the marketplace, and their honesty and

and overall charisma and matters impressed the population so much, that when they have to close shop and pray tomorrow, they have to block a road and they pray join together, the emperor of the province said no, I will give them one of my royal gardens. And I will finance the construction of their Masjid. So he with his own money 1300 years ago, finance the building of the first mustard and she had and they say some of the students and students of the Sahaba, not Sahaba themselves most likely is with a w. w 1003. And we have, by the way, the original stone that he wrote in, you know, ancient Chinese, whatever, and he has the protection there that no one shall harm the people of this

of this temple. Why did he do that? The story state that the traders that went to that region, they display a level of honesty, and a level of luck that the people were amazed by that they lived up to their promises. They never cheated the people. They showed them the reality of the snap. And that small group of traders decided to live there until finally my Charlotte's about Nicola Shia, is I forgotten? Oh, 20 30% Muslim, no, no army went all the way there. No Khalifa established rule there. It was just the organic growth of Islam through what through the actions of the people. So to conclude, brothers and sisters, hold on to something is not right, when we are marching with a

visible minority. When a company, especially in this state, it is one of the highest concentrations of Muslims in this land. And yet the people, our neighbors, our colleagues, they don't know much about us, they fear us, they have stereotypes, something we are talking about myself, we are doing something wrong. And I think one of the things, one of the things that we're doing wrong out of many others, is that we have restricted a snap to only by that, and we don't get back to our communities, we don't show the reality of what Islam does to a civilization and people. They don't know what happens when you're a Muslim, because we are too embarrassed to show them because for some reason,

we think it is not quite Islamic, to be involved in the causes of our lives to be involved in the problems of our lands and bettering those problems to be involved in the charities of our lands and all other lands. We somehow think No, that's not what Islam wants. We need to go more to the masjid more this and that no brothers and sisters, along with Masjid, there's got to be those other things. So May Allah subhanho wa Taala open our hearts to this wisdom. That one of the main ways we gather the hearts of the people and endear them to us is by practicing what Allah told us to practice and that is by helping others giving to others who are in need, showing our flowers spreading peace

Wherever we go, feeding the hungry Wherever we go, being good to our families and role model family members and then of course of the to the healthy pillar of worship. May Allah subhana wa tada cause us all to follow the sermon of the prophets of Allah where it was said it may allow us to absorb the values of the Quran and Sunnah and to manifest them to our colleagues, to our neighbors, to our friends, to our co workers, that allow us to kind of let data allow the people around us to see the beauty of Islam in our actions that allow us to kind of without it causing us to live up to our words and not be difficult may allow us to forgive our sins exalt our rights, bless our good deeds.

May Allah subhanho wa Taala cause us to live as Muslims to die as Muslims and to be resurrected with the prophets and their companions and what a noble companionship they are, which is optimal level seven was said I've already been working with a lot of

love