Yasir Qadhi – Racism in America and in Muslim Communities

			hamdulillah all praises due to Allah subhana wa Tada who created us from one pair and made us into
nations in diverse tribes. Not a word that we utter, except that it is written down by observant
angels and watchful scribes of His Signs is that he has created us from to rob from dust, and made
us into many different skin colors, and of His mercy is that he has united all of the believers
regardless of race as brothers, may Salatin Salam be upon the one who taught us that between white
and black, there is no superiority. For he said that ranks are raised and nobility conferred not by
skin, but by piety. Realize mere Muslims that ALLAH SubhanA wa Tada has reminded us to be conscious
		

			of and when he says in the Quran, you have Latina, Allahu Akbar, to call to whether to move on to
Mr. Moon. As to what follows. We are all painfully aware, we are all witnessing in horror, the
events that have unfolded over the last week and a half after the brutal killing in broad daylight
of yet another person of color at the hands of police. This came only shortly after a jogger was
literally hunted down once again in broad daylight and shot at the hands of people who videotaped
that deed and gloated over his death, even as they used racial slurs. But these incidents are not
random. They are not atypical. And the reality that most of us live is very, very disconnected from
		

			the reality of these stories. The sad fact of the matter is that this country has a long history, a
well documented history of racism and injustice. And while many of us and in particular those of us
who came or whose parents came from other lands, while many of us attempted to live out the American
dream. And frankly, many of us succeeded in living out that dream. Even as we have lived out that
American dream, we have failed to acknowledge the American nightmare that the African Americans have
had to undergo for the last 400 years, beginning with the forced kidnapping and brutal extraction of
what would eventually become over 4 million slaves in this land. The manifestation of American
		

			slavery was one of the largest and one of the most brutal manifestations of the institutions of
slavery in human history. And it was class slavery. It was a slavery of an entire nation in bondage
simply because of the color of their skin and their origin one class against another class and dear
Muslims, this is exactly what Allah accuses frown of, when fit out separated between his people and
between the Bani Israel which either Allah Shia and yesterday a photo of him in whom you the beard
Robina, and we start UniSA home. This is the Pharaonic evil of separating people based upon race and
skin color, and then subjugating one of them in bondage, while the other one is the superior race.
		

			The issue of slavery was the one issue that this country has gone to war over the Civil War. And by
the way, even in the Civil War, we should not idealize the northern states that fought to free the
African American slaves because that their goal was never to make the slaves equal to the other
citizens. Their goal was to create a subjugated class, a second class of citizens that could give
them cheap labor and could be taken advantage of. And that is how things continued for yet another
century, it was only in our generation or the generation before ours, that the Civil Rights which
took place barely a generation ago, many of us fail to realize that the Civil Rights is still in
		

			living memory. There are millions of people, millions of people who participated in the civil
rights, they saw themselves the America pre civil rights and post civil rights. This is living real
history. It's not something eons ago, it's not something centuries ago, the Civil Rights is
something that took place from the elders of our own generation. They were alive at that time. And
what the Civil Rights did was not to eliminate racism. No, what it did was to lift the laws that
explicitly legalized and legislated bigotry, the Civil Rights and the success of the civil rights
could not erase the actual bigotry. They could not wipe out the actual hatred and feeling of
		

			superiority that runs deep in the DNA of this country. And
		

			Therefore, even after the Civil Rights, the system of this land was set up from birth to act as
impediments and barriers to those of particular backgrounds. And there is a saying that
anthropologists and historians say in America, that zip codes decide your destiny. And what they
mean by this is where you are born in this country, it dictates much of your future. If you were
born in the ghetto wise neighborhoods, if you're born in predominantly African American
neighborhoods, then your entire life has a different trajectory than somebody who is living two
three streets away and another zip code. Most of us living in suburbia, most of us living in the
		

			upper class of this land do not understand the intentional laws that have been passed to segregate
zonally through a legal mechanism to this day to segregate blacks from whites. And if you look at
just any statistic, whether it is education and the education gap, whether it is job prospects,
whether it is exposure to crime and violence, whether it is unemployment rate, whether it is the
wealth gap, a statistic that I looked up to today, and Subhanallah day in and day out, we are
continuing to educate ourselves. I think I know a little bit about this history in life. But the
more you study, the more you are shocked today, I looked at this statistic that the median the
		

			median wealth that the black family owns in this land is a shocking 2% of the median amount of
wealth that a white family owns let that statistic sink in 2%. If the average white family owns
$100,000 2% of that $2,000 is with the surplus, the average African American family have a look at
the disparity of that gap. Yes, it is true that there are no laws in the books that can legally
discriminate now between black and white, but still the shadow of racism. But still, the effects of
300 years of bigotry are clear and palpable at every single level of society to those who have to
face it. And of course, statistics we can go on and on. Even though this line has around 15% African
		

			Americans, if you look at the prison system, 1/3 of the people in jail are African American. If you
look at the statistics of p of police stopping people on the street 80% of the people who were
stopped by the police in New York in a very exhaustive study done a few years ago 80% were African
American, and even by the way, the Caucasians who were stopped less than 8% of the Caucasians were
actually frist and interrogated there was simply asked a question, and then let's go. So what is
going to happen when this brutality continues? What is going to happen when this blatant racism
continues between people of color, and the events of the last few months have shown us that this is
		

			not a justification of the random acts of looting and hooliganism. But those Muslims who concentrate
on those random acts, and they forget the larger picture, it is exactly the same and I'm sorry for
being blunt here to concentrate on the crimes of some patent Palestinians and to ignore the bigger
problems that the Palestinians live in, does any Muslim get irritated by one Palestinian say? How
dare he have done this and ignored the system of what is causing that anger? Nobody does that then
why don't we understand the same reality we are not justifying anything that is an Islamist, of
course, it is not right to loot and to steal and to break property that does not belong to you. And
		

			that is something that is incorrect. But let that not blind us to the reality of 400 years of
oppression what is going to happen when so much oppression happens. And this is not a justification.
It is a contextualization now we can go on and on. And the reason that I wanted to summarize some
actual facts is because most of us who are immigrants or children of immigrants, we truly, truly do
live in a bubble that is very isolated from the realities of our African American brothers. And so I
wanted to bring it into the hotbar. But obviously, we're getting a Friday holds about we are all
Muslims over here. And I wanted to now link directly to one of the core teachings of Islam. Now, we
		

			all know and we have heard a million hood buzz about how Islam came to abolish racism. But I still
believe that most of us do not fully comprehend how integral this aspect was in our deen from its
very inception Maccha itself like America had its own issues of racism and classism. And when Islam
came, there is no doubt that the primary focus was the Calima and Tauheed and the elimination of
idol worship. There's no question about that. But from the very beginning of this religion from the
very beginning of the revelation of the Quran. Other aspects will also be
		

			instilled in the hearts of the followers of this religion, and one of them. One of the key teachings
that dates to the very beginnings of Islam is that all human beings are equal in the eyes of Allah,
regardless of their skin color or their ethnic origin. And we can give many Hotspurs about incidents
from the Sierra. But I wanted to give you three or four from the beginning and from the middle, and
from the end to demonstrate the consistency by which our Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam and the
Quran, it battled racism, racism was not revealed. The banding of racism was not revealed in late
Medina. And by the way, let me again, be honest here, so many of the issues that we love to pounce
		

			on and concentrate on whether it is the hijab, whether it is other things these will reveal late
Medina, the fifth year of the hijra, okay, that's good. We talk about everything, where and why do
we not encourage and talk about eliminating racism, which came with the very beginning of the
revelation, which came with the very thrust of this faith, and it was a consistent reality until the
end of this tradition. I quote you one of the most interesting aspects of this era of early Makkah,
that actually the blur Mahira and some of the senior members of the Quraysh and he is the father of
Khalid, Khalid Abdullah lead, one of the senior members of the Quraysh, one of the most powerful,
		

			one of the richest Members of Parliament, he was of the doubter, Najwa and he was somebody who was
on the fence, he was not like a Buddha Hall, and he was also not a convert and what he was somebody
who was interested in Islam, and the and he wants came to Abu Talib with another group of people
like him, and he said to Abu Talib, that oh Abu Talib, your nephew has teachings that we might
listen to, we might we might appreciate and maybe even convert, but we have one condition that we
asked you to place on him. And that is what was the condition had been his heart mentions that you
tell him that when we come into his gathering, he needs to cause Bilal and even miss Ruth and Amara
		

			vinyasa by the way, Amar was also a very dark skin, you must ask them to leave the gathering and we
will have a private gathering. Now notice here they did not say to eliminate anti racism from Islam.
They only said when we come we don't want those people over there. That was the only condition when
we entered the room. Those people have to leave we will not sit down with the likes of them that was
what they said to herbal powder. Let not out of say that we will sit with the likes of Bilal and
with Ahmad and with others and they were of course from a different ethnicity. And of course from a
different skin color. abou pondered rejoiced. He thought this was the breakthrough and he rushed to
		

			the Prophet Sall Allahu Allah, he was selling them. And he said to his nephew, that Oh, my nephew,
be reasonable your home your people have come to you with a very reasonable condition. Please don't
be hasty. Listen to it, and we will solve all this problem and the Prophet saw some himself it
appears he was thinking of this he wants to the senior Sahaba a number of senior Sahaba they said
yeah rasool Allah Bina will understand you will make him up later he tell him that he will get to a
lead biller will understand he's one of us will make it up to him later on. And perhaps many people
were sympathetic to this notion. After all, you are getting a lead and if you understand who he is,
		

			if you understand the power of a lead the status what will lead the favorable will lead if you
understand the PR benefit to have somebody like a leader. On your side, you will perhaps understand
why so many of the senior Sahaba and maybe even more than that were flirting with this idea. But
then Allah revealed not one, not two, three verses in the Quran. Think about that somebody as
powerful as Waleed and his only condition he didn't say, let Islam become a privileged status only
the white sand out of here and no, he didn't say that. He said when I come and my entourage comes
there should be segregation. That's all that he said he did not care if it was in other gatherings.
		

			He's just himself did not want to be a part of an equal class society. And remember, this is early
Maccha. Muslims are still being persecuted Muslims are still being harassed and intimidated. And yet
ALLAH SubhanA wa Tada revealed three verses about this of them is Surah teleca Huff was pure enough
second Allah De Niro la bomba Dottie what actually you need to know what Wallah i do i NACA I know
whom to read those Xena tell higher to dunya that Allah says, Be patient and stick around those
people who are making dua to Allah morning and evening for the sake of Allah. And Allah says in
surah 10 An arm. Wala toploader livina, you're the owner of Bundler that they will actually do not
		

			expel from your gathering do not expel those who are calling their Lord morning and evening. Then
Allah says Fatah through the home for takuna minute volume if you get rid of them, your US will
Allah if you keep them out of your gathering, then you would have done an injustice you would have
done something that is wrong. Subhanallah so
		

			pound Allah imagine the verse is coming down and our Prophet sallallahu wasallam is being addressed.
Do not get rid of Amar do not get rid of Milan. Do not get rid of Ibn Masaru. Stick with them and do
not worry about others that you desire the pleasures of this will to reduce Zina tell Aya to dunya
those people are worried and their ilk, they're bringing you this dunya but Allah says, No, I don't
care about that. I want the quality of Bilal the quality of a mouth, the quality of Ibn Massoud the
quality of Sohaib, Rumi, the quality of salamander, the Pharisee. That's what I want, I don't care
about the wealth of Mahira. And the fame of so and so and the power of so and so they don't deserve
		

			anything if they don't have Taqwa from the very beginning. That was the message of Islam. In the
Medina and phase. There are so many a hadith about this reality. And of course, the most famous of
them was when a Buddha, you know, the Allahu, and Bilal owed him some money and Billa was not able
to pay on the right amount of time. And of course, in this scenario, the Buddha has a right to
demand his money. But a Buddha demanded it in a manner that was not acceptable. And he got angry.
When Bilal asked for extension and delay, he got angry, and he said, Oh, son of a black woman, you
have been a soda and the Prophet salallahu Alaihe Salam was passing by. And he immediately turned to
		

			a widow. And he said, I Yatta who will be angry on me he did you criticize him because of basically
the skin color of his mother? Did you say something that was meant to demean him because of this
issue? In the camera on you are a person that still has Jai Hee Lee within you, and up with her felt
so guilty that he lowered himself in front of Bilal and begged for forgiveness and Bilal picked him
up and kissed him and forgave him. But the point being, this was a public teaching moment that
everybody should know that we will not tolerate these acts of aggression, micro aggression, racism,
we're not going to tolerate this terminology and this language. And of course, when our Prophet
		

			Sall, Allahu Allah, he was setting them Concord Machop in the eighth year of the hijra, and the very
day that he conquered Makkah, it was time for the event of acid and the Quraysh were huddled in
front of the kava, all of the senior members, they did not know what is going to happen, shall they
be forgiven? shall they be executed? They did not know and the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam
said to Bilal Oberland, it is time for the Van Gogh and give it from on top of the cab. And so
biller live in a bureau bar, he climbed on top of the cab to make the event remember, barely a few
hours have gone by since the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam has conquered Makkah, the majority
		

			of the Quraysh are still not Muslim. If one of us had been there, perhaps we would have said let's
not send Bilal is going to increase the tensions let's be politically correct. Let's choose one of
these noble men of pure blood so that this is PR political correctness Wallah he asked yourself what
would you have done? If you have been in charge? Ask yourself why did the Prophet system choose
Bilal, even though it's not obligatory for one person to give anybody can give the other and if the
prophet system had wanted, you could have told her Samantha nobleman or Omar or Abu Bakar or anybody
to say, Okay, today Billa you go to the back and we'll send somebody else forward. But no, that's
		

			not the point. He wanted to send that message and beloved stood up on top of the cab, and
immediately the Quraysh began murmuring amongst themselves wrote out even a seed said, Thank God, my
father, a seed is passed away, or else if he had seen this, he would have basically had a heart
attack and died. Thank God who's already gone. He's thankful that his father, the senior member of
the Quraysh, who died a pagan did not live to see this and hide it in his Sham, he remarked to the
person next to him a very vulgar statement. Didn't Muhammad Sallallahu Sallam find anyone better
than this black crow to give his Athan again being derogatory, so he made some remarks as well. Abu
		

			Sufian also said, you know, I'm not gonna say anything, or else Allah might reveal something to him,
meaning he's still a half Muslim. At that point that was Sophia is still flirting with this. Now
he's like, I don't want to say anything. Perhaps Allah will send Quran to the prophets of Allah who
I knew he was selling them. A bin Abbas says, a bin Abbas narrates when the Quran said this, Allah
sent Gibreel down to inform the Prophet so some about what they had said, Allah sent Gibreel down to
convey to the Prophet system, this conversation that was happening somewhere in front of the camera,
and the Prophet system is sitting where he is sitting, so he called them on the Day of the conquest
		

			of Makkah. Surely we can say there's better things to do. Surely we can say on that day, he could
have just ignored it. On the day of the conquest of Makkah. He calls the seniors that Gibreel
mentioned by name, and he said to them, that Allah subhanho wa Taala has eliminated tribalism
eliminated a favourable answer both
		

			Think about once and to ancestry in no Madonna either Taqwa all of it now rests upon piety. And then
he recited the verses a certain hoogenraad Yeah your nurse in the Halacha come in Zakat and what was
your under commercial Reuben Wakaba in a letter out in a karamba come in the law he had come, he
recited this verse a few hours after the conquest of Makkah, that all races are equal. If there is
going to be any superiority, it will be by means of Taqwa to Muslims. All of this shows us that
Islam did not just come so that we are busy in our personal rituals. We are busy in our dictionary
by dots and circles of halacha and enum, no, let us not convert this religion into something that is
		

			a suburbian type of of manifestation of a simplistic know Islam came to challenge status quo. Islam
came to cause an impact on society, Islam came to eliminate all types of evil, not just this evil,
but on one evil Islam was consistent from the beginning to the very end, the last hutzpah that our
Prophet sallallahu wasallam gave the whole battle whether I think about it from the beginning, in
the middle on the day of the conquest, and then in hijab, when he gave the largest goodbye he ever
gave five paragraphs that's it. One entire paragraph dedicated to racism on Muslims. We love this
hadith, we have it on our walls, the hot button where the eyes memorize, we love to quote things
		

			about it. Have we ever understood the consistency the context? Why on that day 1/5 of the hotbar is
dedicated to eliminating racism? Why do we not even have a fraction of the passion of our prophets
of Allah? Who are they he was set up to take an active role, not just passive, who doesn't talk that
racism and back take a genuine row and have a very difficult look around us that what can we do to
eliminate this evil and this disease as our prophets of Allah? Who are you instead of said, the idea
doesn't determine the distance another version of the whole hydrated with that, oh mankind Allah has
eliminated from you the tribalism of Jahai, the year and the boasting of the ancestors. There are
		

			only two types of people, a pious, God fearing person, beloved to Allah and an in pious, evil person
despised by Allah, a nostril Kulu, whom mean Adam, all of mankind, or from Adam, and Adam was
created from dust and once again, he recited those verses of Surah to God, may Allah Subhana Allah
bless me and you within through the Quran, and may make us of those who is verses they understand
and to implement his Halon and haram throughout their lifespan. I ask Allah's forgiveness, you as
well asked him for his the folder Rockman
		

			stuff.
		

			And hamdulillah helwa had it I had a summit, Allah de la mula, mula whatever you call local phone,
we're about to do, what are the action items that we can do? Talk is cheap. We've been hearing
hotspots about racism since the beginning of our childhoods, no Muslim in sha Allah, Allah is
outwardly openly saying I'm a racist, that would be an Islamic nobody would be. Maybe somebody is
but generally speaking, nobody thinks they are racist. What can we do given the reality of our
circumstances, a number of points, first and foremost, understand that supporting oppression against
the oppressor, supporting the oppressed against the oppressor, fighting on behalf of the oppressed
		

			against the oppressor, and fighting is done by multiple ways, sometimes physical if you're able to
sometimes verbal, and the very least that we can do is in the hearts the very least, that fighting
against oppression and violence is something that transcends religion. It doesn't matter the
religion of the volume and the volume of the one who oppressed and the one who oppresses Islam
teaches us to side with the oppressed against the oppressor in all circumstances. We talk of the
famous healthful fool all the time, we talk of the issue of the coming together of the Prophet
sallallahu ala he was set up with other people, we rarely want to implement a modern healthful food,
		

			what can we do to bring people together to fight against racism, whether it is by education, whether
it is by other means, but we need to revive the spirit of healthful food. Point number two, I
especially advise Muslims whose parents migrated to this land to get outside of their comfort
bubble, and to learn the history of the land that we live in to understand the contributions of
African Americans, this country would not be the superpower that it is, were it not for the economy
generated by slavery, the Muslims that migrated to this land, we need to understand African American
Islam has been here 300 years before immigrant Islam and the most well respected Muslims of this
		

			land are all African American Muslim
		

			Ahmed Ali Kareem Abdul Jabbar, all of them. Immigrant Muslims and children of immigrant Muslims give
due credit where it is due to the contributions of those who preceded us. Thirdly, we need to
understand the American Muslim community is unique amongst all other countries because of this
amazing diversity. No other western country has had these movements like the Nation of Islam that
paved the way for millions of African Americans to convert to mainstream and Asuna Islam. We have
millions of people that were born and raised here for many generations. And we also have millions
who came from other lands, that mixture right now unfortunately, it is somewhat dividing us. But I
		

			say we have the potential to be the strongest Muslim community in the Western world. Because coming
together, each side has strengths that the other does not. And that will only happen if we
cooperate. I encourage every Masjid to reach out to the messages that they typically don't go to and
have program that will benefit both communities. And the last point, the last point and much more
can be said but time is always of the essence here is that dear Muslims Enough is enough. Let us
eliminate all acts and all languages and all stereotypes of micro racism within our own very ranks.
It is so easy to criticize the police it is so easy to criticize pre Civil War America and pre civil
		

			rights America. How about getting an active role within our own communities? There is so much latent
racism, Muslims remember when the Quraysh were in front of the cab mumbling bad things about Bilal,
Allah sent Gibreel down to inform the Prophet sallallahu either he was sending him of that racist
language. Let me be very honest here. How can we allow snide remarks of micro racism amongst our
own? Oh people have an Arabic background stop using slurs like A B than Zuge Oh, people have a DC
background stop using slurs like cologne and other things. These are disgusting, derogatory terms.
Any time somebody uses these terms, remember a loss and Gibreel down because the Quraysh were saying
		

			bad things? Are you wanting to be on the side of the Quraysh against the side of the Muslims? Do you
not understand that just simply being in that gathering and listening to other people crack jokes
and make stereotypes that's a part of the problem. So I encourage all of you from now on to make it
a role for you that you will never be in a gathering where other people inshallah you will not do
that where other people will say something of a negative nature and you will let it pass stop that
racism and eliminate it and take an active role like our Prophet salallahu Salam did to battle
against this disease of racism. Along the nd dine for a mineral we lift our hands to Allah subhana
		

			wa to Allah O Allah, we asked you on this blessed day, that you leave no sin of ours, except that
you have erased them and no sequel of ours except that you have cured them and no one who has passed
away except that you have forgiven them and no one in debt except that you have enriched them and no
one hungry except to what you have provided for them and no one who is oppressed except that you
have aided them with your mercy Yet Allah Yara man we ask you to bless Islam and its people and the
OH May Allah make it safe and peaceful and protected from those who desire for an evil you are the
most majestic the most powerful Yara Haim raise from us display again disease and bless us instead
		

			with comfort and ease and acceptance of our good deeds. You are the Hakeem and the Majeed Our Allah
we ask you for the good of this world and the good of the next world and that you protect us from
your anger and your punishment. Oh Allah except our good deeds, Forgive our mistakes and make us on
our families from the righteous regards Allah servants of Allah, Allah subhana wa Tada has commanded
you with a command that he began with himself and then he seconded with the angels themselves, and
then he asked you all and all of us to follow ourselves for he said in the law or medical to your
saloon, and then maybe you will lead in Amanu Sallu alayhi wa sallam with a steamer Allahumma salli
		

			wa salim robotic Well, I love the Kurosu to come Mohammed was the he was like a big Marine who by
the law in the law to honor your moral bill I believe it is anyway tell you all about where you can
hide in fact Shay will will carry with you either Camilla come to the karoun Oh, the Corolla has
come wash Kuru who Yes it did. What are they called Allahu Akbar or ultimate Salah
		

			in Muslim Lima Do you want meaning Well, Mina team will quantity now look on it. The more saw the
pain I was saw the bond the one saw the Rena was Slavia right the one before she you know wonderful
she
		

			wouldn't voice hearing our voice watching I think one downside BP no downside. The party was all in
		

			It was all in
		

			one heavy Lina photo gentleman wasn't happy about it was that good enough? Guess
		

			what the guilt or? I don't know hula
		

			Wi Fi