Yasir Qadhi – Welcoming 1442 – Lessons From The Hijrah
AI: Summary ©
The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted young couples and needs companionship and help in their lives. privacy and transparency are emphasized, as well as the importance of learning from the experience of the prophets and finding one's best way to achieve success. The shedding of certain opinions and the importance of community and unity are emphasized. respect for community and personal interests is emphasized, along with following rules and choosing a pleasing position for one's own well-being.
AI: Summary ©
I said I want to come over to Lahore Baraka to Al hamdu Lillah wa salatu salam ala rasulillah Allah Allah He was happy woman while
I am very, very honored to be a part of in shallow data which promises to be a very interesting conversation and some gems of wisdom with all of my peers and colleagues that are on this call. We haven't handed in LA chef the acid Burgess, who is a dear friend of mine. Stay we studied together in Medina, even though he was senior to me. And he is of course, the Imam of Valley Ranch Masjid. We have of course our own style, Nadeem Bashir. We have chef Omar Suleiman again needs no introduction also Valley Ranch Masjid, and we have chef de la duro, the Imam of ICC, and we decided to have a conversation in light of the fact that tomorrow is going to be the beginning of the new Islamic
calendar 1440 to 1442 years have gone by since the higit of the Prophet salallahu idea he was setting them because of the COVID crisis. We do not have live lectures in the massage. So we thought let's all come together and let's just benefit each other and inshallah tada remind each other of some of the benefits of this auspicious occasion. So when it began to show love tada with Chef Abdullah oduro shaqab de la Can you hear me? Yes, sir. Alhamdulillah so Jackalope coming on our culture center on the hedgerows tomorrow. You have any comments, any any advice for us? Oh, yeah, that was Salatu was Salam ala rasulillah he was, he was Sufi woman when I'm about.
Firstly, hamdulillah I'm pleased to be here to remind myself and all of you of this event, not particularly, to make it a certain time that we celebrate on this day. But more importantly, as we do within learning to see it all, and learning the life of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam taking the journey throughout the life of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, we see many incidents that took place or many snippets or trailers, if you will, within his whole life. That's important for us to reflect on how we act or how we plan to act or learning how to act according to the situation and circumstances. When we see the hedgerow many of us know the history of migrating
from one state to another, migrating from Mecca to Medina. But when we see the history of migration, it's very important for us to understand that the struggle of the migration of the companions of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi, wa sallam that we see with two failable nomina dosi, aboubaker, Allahu, Allahu, Allahu ala bhuvana. All of these companions, that they struggled to make the migration from Mecca to Medina, some of the most of them understanding the meaning of this migration, as to Panama, graciously puts it in rossella tibble. kiya how he in the letter to the peak of people have to book when he was writing an answer to one of his one his brothers and two book,
when he mentioned that the higit are hinted that the migration is two types of migrations. The first is that of which we know now on which we're talking about, but I don't want to talk about that. Because many of us may look at the historical context, which is great. But that should only be an introduction and a prelude to what are you going to do about that in your life? Why does it matter? And that's the beautiful thing about this video, which I want to touch upon, is how any incident or thing that takes place, we see within the within the celebrations of the conclusion of Ramadan, the conclusion of Hajj, and even within the hedgerow that we see it is all a manifestation of showing
gratitude and praising Allah subhanho wa Taala. And trusting in a lot depending on the circumstance, loving a last kind of went to Allah having mindfulness of him throughout our whole situation. So when we're talking about state to state, we're not talking about, you know, has people say now from California or New York to Dallas, you know, I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about the state of your heart, migrating to Allah subhanho wa Taala. What is the state of your heart? You know, those of us that have converted to Islam, or those of us that were born Muslim and you had an epiphany and decided to start praying. That's what I'm talking about. When you see this migration
from the person
With the province of ally there was funding from Mecca to Medina and he was the last of them to migrate. And he's with he's with the rumor mill hooked up or he's with the Abu Bakr radi Allahu anhu. And Allah subhanho wa Taala mentions the statement of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. When Abu Bakr was a Booker was afraid of the mystery. Kunal polytheists are right above them, they could see them because they decided to try to take his life so the law while he was selling them, What did he tell them? Let them in the Lucha manner, do not have any fear. Don't be sad for Verily Allah subhanaw taala is with us. So that's what we want to talk about. I want to talk about here is
where last month I even mentioned in the chapter that he asked for federal Illa and run to Allah. One thing that's important for us to know is when we run to something, we're running from something. So that migration to Allah is running from what Allah has predestined for you. As we say, y ou be coming in our door and I seek refuge in You from you. So this is a manifestation of the first pillar of Islam, which is our trust in Allah or loving Allah, our reliance on Allah subhanho wa Taala. So when we see that with the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam that he migrated from Mecca to Medina, when we see the father of Father of Abu Bakar Golan
who was an older gentleman that used to mock the deen of Islam but later became Muslim. What about you? What have we made fingertip hedger from those friends those that those people online? What are those things that we are leaving to go towards the loss of kinda went Tada. And that's the beauty of the draw the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam where he says, I will be coming with the bigger mink, you know, that seeks refuge from Allah to Allah, understanding that what Allah has predestined as such as the 13 years in Mecca, they left from that, and their hearts were conditioned, trusting and a loss of kinda with data to make that move and leaving off everything as I mentioned, all we
had was Allah and His messenger. So when you look at this hedger, and you read with your families in sha Allah, about this migration, you look at on Solomon, her struggle, struggle, and I always look at that as a, as a romantic story. You know, you see the struggle that they made. It started as even if they mentioned that the hitter to have done lesbian has to be with the hinge a little bit before they hit the migration of the bodies, a condition for that migration is the migration of the heart. Now that we are here with COVID, and we are in our homes, and some of us are out what migration that we sit and we've literally learned ourselves, learned our families, to make that spiritual migration
within ourselves because that is the most important and that is with the companion companions had well, within themselves in their hearts migrating from that state, in their hearts from polytheism. From worshipping idols, from tribalism, from even raised some of them there was some elements of racism, seeing that and migrating to the oneness of Allah, living a loss upon with Allah, everyone is equal. And with that going to Medina with that state in their hearts, so looking at our hearts and seeing what migration have we made, we ask Allah subhana wa Taala to make us to be more hydrating. Luton was still a
beautiful so beautiful reminder about the hijra is a perpetual journey of the heart always wanting to flee away from Allah has forbidden towards Allah subhanho wa Taala. And it's not just one incident but rather that sets the stage for the spiritual hedgerow. You know, sometimes people ask me like what is from the stories of the Hydra? Which which incident or which aspect? Do I find the most, if you like appealing? And that's a difficult question, because everything is very, very beautiful in the Sierra. But one aspect that I find especially pertinent when you look at the incidence of the Sierra, is that the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam was told by Allah, that he
is going to migrate somewhere, but he wasn't told where. And he was waiting for the sign from Allah to migrate, and a dream came to him. And the dream showed him yesterday or Medina, it showed him the land, but it didn't have a title on it. And Eliza just sent him multiple dreams. The first dream did not have the name of the city. The second third, fourth dream we don't know exactly what dream but eventually the city's name was revealed. So the Prophet system later on was telling the Sahaba about this, and he said, I saw the land of the hedgerow and it was a land of date palms of fertile green land, and the name was not given to him. So he said, My heart, my imagination went to Yemen, and
then it turned out to be Medina and Medina is better for us, if they only knew. Now, what I find interesting here is that when the Prophet system saw the dream, and he wasn't told exactly which city it was, his heart went to Yemen. Why, why women? Why did he envision or imagine or as
spire to Yemen which was so far away. It was because Yemen was known for its strength, its power, its stability. It was known for its righteous people because the process and prayed to praise the people of Yemen in numerous Hadith. In other words, when our Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam was looking for a stable land to migrate to, he looked to a land that was already politically established out of all of the provinces of Arabia, out of all of the lines of Arabia, Yemen was the most established Yemen was the most advanced, it had a kingdom for so many centuries. And so what we learn from this actually is very interesting, and that is that we learn here, wisdom, an acumen, we
learn here that the Muslim the Mothman is not a fool, he is a wise person, the milkman looks at all opportunities, not every opportunity is the same. And if you're given the choice, you choose the one that is the most stable, or the most conducive, or the most powerful, or whichever one will be the best for your solution. So when options were open, the Profit System, often he desired that it'd be Yemen and then Eliza just said to him, No, it's actually Medina. And once a last decision came, he said, Medina is going to be better for us, okay, whatever was my desire that secondary a last choice is better. So once the decree comes, and the doors are shot, then we accept the decree of Allah
subhana wa, Tada. That's a beautiful point that I benefited from, from the incidents of the the the the stories of the Sierra. So we're gonna move on to, um, she has a bit of just good Can you share with us as well shifting some incidents that you have from the Sierra, especially from the hedgerow and how we can benefit during this timeframe? Absolutely. And a lot of blood I mean, so la sala Baraka, Amina Mohammed, Allah, Allah, Allah slim, and I'm about to highlight if anything will learn from this experience with the COVID-19. And the circumstances many people going through today is that it really expose people and realize how unprepared we are in our life. Unfortunately, it's as a
matter of fact, it's basically kind of like, we're not even, we're not even. And we can even begin to, to start about how unprepared we are in terms of our provision, our planning, our goals, our dreams, the efforts we put in where we're putting our energy in. And really, this experience is going to teach us the importance of being ready and being prepared. Also, it exposes the misunderstanding of the meaning of having to work good on Allah subhanho wa Taala, relying on a large region, and put a trust in Allah Subhana Allah without having really proper to work on or proper preparation for that. So what I really see from the hero is one of the main aspects of the
history of how the Prophet sallallaahu taught us that the really the balance between having a trust and alliances that were dead, and also taking all the possible means are as bad as we call them, in order to make your goals come true, and make them happen. So a few things from the Sierra from incidents from this year, that actually bring that to us. inshallah, number one, the importance of companionship, nowadays and the COVID-19 a lot of people they realize the power how much I'm attached to having social life, right. You know, we live in a culture of extreme and radical individualism, self centered culture, it's all about, you know, me and me and everything revolves
around me, you can see that manifested in the social media and among young couples among young people in particular. But this COVID-19 thing, you know, realize that you know, what, living alone is not sufficient, it's not going to be fun,
when you are able to go out and so on is not preparation for that. So now people realize, you know, what, I need companionship and just to let you know, Jeff, for the past few months, I've done a lot of
new gas, and, and also done a lot of marriage contracts, because people realize, you know what, I need to get married, I need companionship. So is teaching as companionship is important when the prophets of Allah said want to go back to the city, and he kept telling him, wait, wait, oh, Becca says I want to I want to travel, I want to take my opportunity and travel and the Prophet told him wait, perhaps Allah subhana wa that I will give you a companion. And eventually he came to me and told him that companionship just happened right now. The second thing we see in terms of preparation really for the his rock, as we should be preparing ourselves in our lives, is prepared to ride for
it, the journey. See, a lot of people they don't understand life is a journey in itself. And if you don't have a proper ride for it, you're not gonna be able to cross you know, through the terrain of this life, sort of lifestyle, a lifestyle and when he came to work with some live workers to do for the lot, and it was visionary, and that's what it means you need to be visionary. And our work was to do he knew that if, if the possibility is a prophet is asked him to wait until he has a companion, he might be the one. So what did he do at the time he prepared that by purchasing and paying for two camels and got them ready for the journey? You need to be visionary you need to take
opportunities you need to also have trust and maybe it might it might materialize. Like basically put that trust in that fashion and you know, lots of power will give the profit subtle
And the privilege and the honor to be the Companion of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam because of the under sort of laser lights on them. Another thing we learned from the private being preparing for the Hydra is actually privacy.
What does that mean? You could call it secrecy, but we call to privacy. Today, we live in a life. No one is leaving anything private, you know, for themselves. Everything is online, whether you have that birthday, your birthday came, came around, you switch jobs, you did this, you do that you're making this project, that project, we're exposing all our affairs out there to the public, to everybody out there. And part of the sooner is just keep something private to yourself. And one of these major things when the Prophet salaallah salam tried his best to stay private, obviously not mentioned anything, even to his closest friend over custody of their loved one. So he went, you know
what, at that time, of the hero during the heat of the sun, when not so many people out there, they're going a different route with us, oh, but was too deep. And he got in there, covering his face, celulose and, and all of that trying his best to keep that matter extremely, extremely private, because the result of it is very important to keep it that way. So as a suggestion for many people of our time, right now, keep your life private life private, as much as you can. And you don't have to expose yourself, you know, in many, many ways that may lead to disappointment, and make poor choices in the future. As a result of that. We also learned from the prophets, Allah
subhanaw taala also the importance of having provision,
you know, you cannot just make their journey without having provision. And here are sort of lies the loss alone and over, prepared a snap into because to be able to carry that provision for them when they were hiding in the cave
of thought for some time. In addition to that, also one thing we learned from the preparation the purpose as an individual is actually collecting intelligence you could say nowadays, we would call it you know, investigation, being thorough and you're seeking knowledge and, you know, investigating what you need to do in the future. And here the practice SLM was actually also utilizing the knowledge and the expertise of our beloved because if a man who would go around in Mecca, collecting the news for the prophets of Allah send them like investigating on their behalf and bringing them the information they need to make very important decision in their life there is much more we could
really learn on this and finally the expertise of
the guide the professor listen to them, in order to lead to guide them to the desert, we always need that coach and that experts who can help us through our journey into this life so the Hydra has so many lessons, but definitely be prepared for life, especially in time like ours is one of the most important things people should prepare for in Charlotte. I know a lot on my shoulders that calaca beautiful logistical lessons from the hedgerows about our own journey to life that we don't just wander into the desert lots of precautions and planning and the meticulous care that the Prophet system undertook before he did the journey of the hegira Shahada Solomon, Mashallah, we're happy to
have you on this call as well as chef and if you can benefit us with your wisdom and gems about the hedger and some lessons from the Israel for us.
Like a lot of chefs now I come
in handy now, how bland I mean what I wanted
to tuck in Obama Sunday with cinnamon bark and avocado, silica Mohammed and sallallahu wasallam. By early he was like, we'll sell them for * kefir. It's wonderful to be here at hamdulillah with all of the beautiful faces and scholars that give so much to our community and have a lot of Blimey their last pets are always keep our hearts united, and allow us to collectively build this community in Dallas in the Metroplex, as well as with the nighttime throughout this throughout the country and inshallah tada inspire more unity, and coming together throughout the world alone. I mean, I wanted to actually share my reflections on that note of community and institution. And what that reflects
what it means when you look at the headset off from the standpoint of communication and from the standpoint of unity and from the standpoint of having something to reminisce on. And it's more of a reflection, I want us to just first and foremost appreciate that 10 years is not a very long time. The time that the Muslims spent together where Medina was established to the end of the prophets lysosomes life is not a very long time. I mean, some of us can remember our last 10 years as if they were yesterday. Right. You know, you've been with the community for the big shift. Yes, over just has probably been with Valley Ranch and have done a lot of rhyming probably for about a decade now,
if not the whole decade past machelle lots of adekola. So, you know, I'm the newbie in Valley Ranch I came
eight or nine years ago. So the point is, is that 10 years a decade is really not a long time to have the formation of a community especially when so much is going on. Right. If you think about how quickly the last six months have passed because of the COVID era. What is the era of beddit and the era of
In the era of hundreds in the era of battle after battle, and in fact, and then are they be, are they be an infection and all of the things that are developing the first hedge, and then the farewell hedge all the things that are in constant development. So, for such a short period of time, there's a lot going on in the community of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam. However, there is a beauty a particular beauty to the history of the community building its place of worship. You see in Mecca, it is purifying the place of worship, it's purifying the Kava of the idols that have been placed with it and the innovative practices, both in terms of worship and in terms of what came out
of worship. That's one thing that's purifying it, but in Medina you're starting from scratch, right? These Sahaba including the prophets liason literally carried the bricks and they built that message it and they built that community they fought off enemies from within an enemies from without, they fought off the the the largest army in the history of the Arabs and hung up. And that is a formative experience for them, they witnessed the sweetness of the victory of better than the confidence that came with that they witnessed the Wailing of a hood. There's a lot that they went through, right. And I want us to just appreciate for a moment, and I think the best way to do that, you know, one of
the things about the Sahaba of the Prophet sallallahu wasallam is that after the death of the Prophet slicin um, they would reminisce on their time with the Prophet, slice alum and many of the tambourine to them the Sahaba were these legends, and even though some of them were alive in their myths, you know, especially the young ones, the youth, they didn't, a Sahabi could pass right by them that they would have heard about and spoken about, and they wouldn't recognize that's the hobby because that's the hobby would keep such a low profile. Hence, you find the instance like that of sentimental the a lot of time when a man thinking he's just some average man, so not in fantasy, or
the Aloha animal who was that who embraced the sun in the book here with the prophets lie, some of them, the, you know, one of the first to embrace Islam and Medina. And, you know, someone just thinks he's just someone to carry the groceries for him, right? Hey, so now I'm coming, hey, he doesn't know his name come here, can you help me out with these, right, and because of the interest of the companions to keep a low profile,
they would not make it a point to make themselves known to some of these temporary, and I just thought of this, this idea that imagine, you know, one of those companions meeting a young man named after him. Right, because the Sahaba live long enough, many of them live long enough to see tambourine named after them, right, and realize that they're named after them. But that kid has no idea that he's looking at the person he was named after. There is a beauty to beginnings and Alhamdulillah. I mean, as as communities, you know, Dallas in particular is going to rapidly forming community. You know, and, and we've, we've all seen the beginnings of these massages. And actually,
if he hasn't godly, you know, you've seen him the lover. I mean, you've been with the community now and epic through the beginnings of the COVID era, and the versatility and the adjustments that will never leave us that will never leave us because of what's happened in the COVID era. And all of us will have something to look back on in sha Allah Tada. And anytime we start to feel disunity, anytime we start to feel our hearts coming apart. One of the best remedies for this unity is to sit down and reminisce, remember, when we had just started out remember when this was happening? Remember how we came together here? Remember how we came together there? And we were productive? And
we started this effort? With so many dreams? We'll look at where it's at now, do we really want to lose that and compromise it? And so I think the beauty of the hidden fee calendar is that we can always look back to the origins of this community being built, and say, let's not lose sight of how precious This mission is, and how silly some of the things that cause the mission to be lost can be sometimes there are serious disagreements, and there are things that that needs to be hashed out sometimes. But the amount of keeping this community together, the way that the prophets lie, Selim and his companions put those bricks together and reminiscing on that together and reminiscing on our
own time together. You know, if she ever just ever wants to beat me up, I can remind him of when he asked me to move to Valley Ranch, second time shift, he told me you wanted me to come here now you're trying to throw me out. You know what's going on here. I could remind him of that. Of those moments. I'm not even fighting Shut up. The little girl wants to fight I'm just saying tooked in a slump.
I'm not even fighting should have the ladder I'll call my brother lots of the fight and I'm done. You insha Allah so May Allah protect our hearts together and allow us to remember our precious beginnings and allow us to maintain our precious unity.
Honestly, that was a very, very profound message. And as you were speaking, so many the Wyatt and Arthur were coming into my mind of the Sahaba reminiscing welaka a tuna and I remember a time
When I was the seventh of the seventh Congress, I remember a time when such and such and such happened. I remember a time in the valley of the shadow, the very harsh war, we had nothing to eat, except such and such, so many of the Sahaba reminiscent of those times, so that they could remind others of the difficulties they had been through and so that they could contextualize. So that's a very profound point that the hedger always brings us back to one of the most dangerous times where the process and a worker were fleeing basically from the corporation, you know, putting their trust in Allah Subhana, WA, tada, all of this began over there. So beautiful reminder of for every one of
us to go back to those critical points individually, in our marriage, with our families, with our communities, to remind ourselves of the struggles that we've faced, so that inshallah tada we can use those struggles to look at the broader picture very, very wise point, a Muslim Mashallah our own local Emmanuel, Mashallah, can you believe because of the COVID crisis, he's in his office, I'm over here. We have to be separated because of social distancing. So we're in the same building, but not quite in the same room. But remember that the floor is all yours and hamdulillah Mr. Rahman Rahim, I can rely heavily on him. He was not he was someone that was Julio Mohammed water, it was a hobby of
mine. About First of all, I want to thank all of our guests. And may Allah Subhana, WA, tada, bless all of us. during these difficult times, most of the hunter with other protect all of us and our families and middle but I mean, so how the shift has to be just earlier was talking about something that really got me thinking about, you know, so how long the the fact that when the person was making this
migration, the fact that you have the scent of obika, rodeo logs on gathering intelligence around mcca, you know, hearing the people gathering information, exactly what they're talking about, you have a sub interview bucket or the allotted on her that she's tearing her cloth, and she's trying to facilitate for her father, and for those who also law while he was setting them. And the one thing that really got me thinking is that, you know, in such an auspicious moment in the life of the prophets of Allah body, he was ceremony, the involvement of the youth of their of their community. And, you know, this is one thing that I really think that we really need to keep on pushing forward,
which is our youth involvement in all of our communities, whether it's, it's a Masjid, whether it's a summing organization, we need to start bringing together our youth and soheila our youth are so into, they're so smart, they're so intelligent. And yet, a lot of times we see that, you know, they're given, you know, small, small tasks, that even they feel at times that they are belittled. And you know, so bahala, we're talking about at that time, obergefell, viola and does not need to train his turn so much. So he's telling his son, go and gather intelligence. Now he is smart enough at that age to go and he knows who to talk to, you know, you don't want to seem too obvious. You
don't want to seem, you know, too secretive, either. He is so smart that his father just tells him go and gather intelligence. And he's already trained enough to know how to do such a very big job that today, I think, probably no, no one of our youth can do a job of that type. I'm not trying to build it for you. I'm saying that we need to bring together our youth. And you know, we really have to empower them, give them responsibilities. And you know, so hollow one of the things that we
do son's life is that even when our youth, they make mistakes, we have to learn how to just let them go teach them, educate them, give them another opportunity. We all know about Oussama urbanization, or the allotted time, when the very famous story when there was an expedition that came back to Medina and the Prophet solahart he was somebody who was informed that was somebody who took the life of one person, despite the fact that he was singled out in a in a law and the prophet SAW laws and and very famously, we know that he said to him, how Shaka Palma Did you open up his heart and check whether he was singing? Now you know how to lower sensitivity or not, but yet despite that, we find
that at the end of the life, his own life he assigned with somebody even as a to be to be the lead of the entire expedition. So one thing when it comes to our youth is empowering our youth giving them big responsibilities. Of course they will probably make mistakes but then that is where we need to constantly guide them. The second incident I want to quickly refer to from the from the hero the prophet SAW a lot while he was setting up was the incident of oma similarly a lot on how would shift a blog doodle he had earlier reference. And you know, the one thing about homesteading My story is that we learned that ami Salama she had left NACA with her husband and her child
And at the end of the day, she was separated from her child and from her husband. And she's all by herself. And I want you to I mean, everyone, if you just think about this, a mother of being disconnected from her baby, and it was on just a day, it was on to day one books of history, symbols of speed, I mentioned it several months. In fact, some books that I mentioned, it was probably an entire year. Now think about this and connect that with our current situation with COVID, where we are separated from everyone else. We cannot be around our loved ones. We are like we're disconnected from everyone at that most important time. And one of the most difficult times left Mr. Model Viola
on how she resorted to draw. And I think a lot of times what happens is that we we make go up. And after a while we feel like that our doula is not working. Our doula is not effective. And I think that we really take from that story of Ole Miss Emma Walton had during her her job, that you have to constantly put your trust in Allah subhanho wa Taala. Our job is to make dua to Allah. It's a love decision when he wants to accept that. And so that's one. That's another lesson. And lastly, for anyone this, you know, this, this, the new year that we began from historical point of view, you know, musala show you a lot line he comes to the hobby a lot on and he's saying that we need some
structure when it comes to dates. Before that, it was always about a year this year, this happened this year, this happened, and I'm going to have you logged on. He made a decision in a way that will make life easier for the Muslims. Okay, he made life easier for the Muslims. And eventually he made Matura with everyone. And he decided to start off with he sawed off the the Islamic calendar with the higit of the province that Allah holiday he was setting them. And that's why hence every year we you know, every single year it's 1441, after higit off 1442 after his divine and so forth. And not only that, but then Muharram was also decided, because Omari macapagal villalta on who said that
when people go for Hajj in the month of the hijab, and as we know the Hadith, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam that anyone who stays away from bickering and many other things. Then Raja Yeoman when they returned as if they are a brand new, I mean their new baby, they're completely sinless, their slate is absolutely clean. And this is a fresh new start and on top of his thinking that you know, this is the fresh new start hence Mohan will be the very first month and so for all of us, this is a fresh new start. Every year when it comes to January we always talk about New Year's resolutions, we're not talking about New Year's resolutions now inshallah. So keep this in mind
inshallah and we are blessed and we make goals for ourselves and then we try to
Zechariah locker so reminder for new hijiri here resolutions every single day week we want we should always strive to raise the bar. Mashallah, Mashallah. So all of you Mashallah not only have studied Islamic knowledge and trained, but also Mashallah you have experience with communities. And you know, as I was coming up here literally an hour ago, on a whatsapp group, and somebody texted is it actually, you know, the first tomorrow or not, because today is the 29th of the hedger. And so the question came up, well, which must have been which position do you want to follow in terms of figuring out because in terms of calculations, in terms of what is put in the calendars, tomorrow is
indeed the first but in terms of, you know, watching the moon or seeing Where's inside it. So obviously, some countries have cited to some countries have not cited it. And obviously, since we're the beginning of the new year, and we're wondering about this issue, and all of us Alhamdulilah, as I said, Not only have we studied, but also there's an element of of being involved with the communities. I wanted to also move on to a very important conversation, which is, let's talk about this calendar issue. Let's have a frank conversation amongst ourselves, the pros and cons of of what needs to be done. And let me set up by just very briefly mentioning that Cipolla, I, myself, every
single year of my life have had to face this issue since Houston growing up early 90s. New Haven as the religious person over there, Memphis over here in Dallas as well. And I myself can tell you very honestly, that when I was studying in Medina, looking at the the theoretical position about what we should do, I remember I did a very in depth study of the various positions of the Roma, and at that time, late 90s, and I was in Medina. I felt that the strongest position was that we should go with at that time, local visual sighting that was the position I adopted reading the books but
As I got involved with the Houston community, and especially the the the fitting and the problems, and then New Haven, and then Memphis and then of course, every single year, something happening. Over the years, I came to realize the principle that we're all aware of as students of knowledge, everybody knows this, there's no controversy with the principle, the principle of choosing the position that might not be the strongest theoretically, but because of the context, a position that might not be the strongest becomes the strongest, right? So of course, the the the position is an affordable column or the column of the lesser position becomes the coder, Roger, not because of the
strength of the text, but because of the context that a person is in. And a lot of people think that if somebody does this, they're watering Islam down. And of course, we know that no, that's not the case. In fact, there are many examples in our books of faith, even in modern times. In fact, this is the essence of fic is when to choose a position that might not be the strongest, it becomes the strongest because of the context. And so over the last 20 years of every single year, seeing what's going on, I began to realize that you know what my theoretically ideal position wasn't ideal in the actual reality of the world that we lived in. And many, many, many years ago, more than 10 years
ago, I changed over to feeling personally that actually for the North American situation, calculations and just knowing beforehand, when the month begins and ends is really better overall, for the goals of the community, for the unity for mercy for getting rid of the bickering for the lot late night drama for the uncertainty to maximize the number of people coming for each and on and on and on. So I have been very public about my position in this regard. I'd like to ask you as well, what is your view on this issue, all of you my shoulder studied, all of you have experienced as imams who are wishes to volunteer first and just have a candid conversation about this from a fifth
and a Mikasa. The Islamic NGOs point of view.
I just have a question before we start, so this is not going to be a shifty acid shift. Yes, sir. Hello, me type of
mixture. Okay. Bismillah
says I have I have my microphone, unmuted. Anyways,
I will start with that debate right now. But I don't know with all honesty, SubhanAllah. I mean, I share the sentiment with you in regards to how you grew up, of course, in a different environment, different culture, and then you evolve with with knowledge upon on that and you you mature, and you grow with that. And I remember that, from that, that kind of confusion was in the very early time when I when we weren't studying in Medina, back in the early 1990s. I'm not sure if you remember that. But there has always been two calendars even in the school, there is the women on Korra and the actual Roja. Yeah, and there is the standard, the standard year calendar, which is the
government's calendar for the Saudi Arabia at the time, and then you still have the robia calendar. So even the mix up of dates existed in the society even as we were studying in Medina, and to be honest with you, it was something new to me because obviously coming from Kuwait as we moved to Medina to study there, we only followed the you know, the sollen calendar was the current calendar and as a result we didn't worry too much about the Hijri calendar because it's already busy established but to come to Medina and realize that two different calendars one is already been established throughout the whole year which is the government basically kind of dates to keep
everything on a special date but then you have the beginning of Ramadan you know one day before one day after from the actual calendar that is actually established for the whole year. So I never really understood that at the time because we were still young and we kind of like why this confusion why these are so called Of course realize realize that the panel are having understand that calendar for the entire year makes Of course government affairs easy for people you can't make major decisions and events based on guessing a date in the future. If this is going to be the beginning of the month or the end of the month you can't make a no party for example on a day
guessing if this is going to be the day or the day after that answer. So that's why they had this kind of like standardized you know calendar where they have all the dates already been established for events, but then when it comes to the root year, they would have it differently but then we'd have the confusion of the dates. So why can we just you know can I get over with that stuff and just put one one standard calendar with the whole year inshallah Allah and work on work with it and make it a shallow database on solid calculation that is done. So I do understand that then sentiment and many people don't realize that when it comes to Roma and for baja
Sometimes, you know, changing their opinions and even changing their mess like going from Sharpies, hanafy or hanafy. To Sharpie even like mommy daddy wrote an entire book under Obama which featured You know, my dad in that regard why because the panel it's a matter of knowledge. It's not a matter of convenience like many people they think it is or twisting you know, the source and, and the idler, it's really a matter of of understanding that the essence of knowledge and early and as we mature, it become a certain age when you become the leader of the community. When we were young, we didn't have to worry much about agreement. But when you become the leader of the community and
people look up to you right now you being that the head Imam, the senior Imam, or even you become in a higher level position in the community with people respect your statements and so on. So the everybody's looking up to you. So how are we look back like Shia hamara soco, in his words about you know the Hydra, you look back at the very beginning, how when we were young, you just kind of very passionate about certain cause or certain position you hold on to and so on. But then when you become a leader for the community, people they want to have from you wisdom and hikma, the L my knowledge of handler nowadays is available for everybody you can you can check it out online, what
they need from you is that is that as a physician, they need to do the decision making, they need to do the need for good leadership that makes their lives easy, which is basically put the work into real practice. And that's the whole purpose of if we can put it into practice, there is no meaning for it. And I think what you're referring to is a very important position that needs to be taken consideration Charlotte
gonna embarrass you a little bit by pressing one thing and also mentioning the fact that
when I first heard of Chef yasa bridges in Medina, he was a legend amongst the students. That's very difficult I'm sorry, chef and about how to do this this is that
because she has to senior to me, in age and in rank in Medina, he was using that seniority just to make yourself young.
So when I when I first heard of chef, so Bridget, so like, are you gonna beat this guy, he's the top of creativity of the college, Dr. Marshall every single year, he would be like the number one student, which is a very big deal in Medina to be the top of the entire batch. I'm gonna ask you a frank question, Chef Anna, did you also go through what I went through of initially having the position that visual was better? And then calculation? Or did you have it from the beginning calculation? What was your evolution in this issue? Frankly, I never even considered the calculation to be a physical printer to begin with, like one of I was one of those young ones who always
passionate about Of course, you know, the textual evidence and the proof of the Hadith of the prophets. Allah said, I'm thinking that the sooner can only be perceived in that kind of context. But then, of course, as you mature with your knowledge in the realm and understanding start learning the fifth element and the Arkadin and you realize Allah i mean it's
it's there's much space, there's so much space to negotiate and look into these opinions, to take them in consideration. But the decisive moment for me really in terms of changing and so on, is when you become a leader of the community.
And when it comes to becoming a leader of the community, your position is not just given federa Kadima mouth, or perhaps, they wrote books for, not for folk, but books really for for decision making.
And for Kyle Melaka, for example, and mockery and others, you know, they're just specific books are just laid down there for the man to make sure when they're affiliated with being called in the city, or party in the community, the decision of the body, not a body, but the decision of
the decision of the body, which means a judge, basically, it's in our time like a legislator, basically, that's what it is. And the legislator, the one who got like this, see what the situation is and gave it legislation, obviously, and then, because they work with Islamic State at the time, these Islamic states, of course, standard entities, they had the executive power to enforce these rules.
Today in our time, we don't have that executive power to say this is the one that needs to unify the committee to the oma, we don't have that official position of party for example. But we have the position of being an imam of the community being you know, the chef and the element, that Institute and so forth. So people have respect for you, but not necessarily that same position of authority in the society to the level where you have an executive power you can enforce certain opinions. So for me when you become an apparel line, you see people looking up to you. The first few years really, it was easy to make a decision because you just stick to your opinion. But then when you come to bigger
community, like for example here in Dallas, because when I wasn't on parcel we only went missing and and one community so it wasn't a big deal. But you come to Dallas, you have already
All these messages all these communities and in one localities, the panel that you have all this confusion, people saying, Would you go with this opinion with that opinion on this, give me that committee, you didn't have to make an executive decision as a leader. And then you know what this is hopefully shallow, bring ease to the minds of the people with regard to the subject of beginning of the year or the month of Ramadan, or otherwise. So that's just like a preference become at some point a shout out to Baraka with Allah, to help the people find ease when it comes to the beginning of the year, Ramadan, and other months of yours, Zack Allah has so this is a very, very important
point that theoretically, both of us were really on the same wavelength at the beginning. But then, as you become involved, you see that the Sharia allows more concessions, and the community needs those concessions. And when you are young, you feel that there's only How can Botha This must be the other opinion is just completely wrong. But as you pointed out, Shannon, I want to say very publicly that I consider cfsa Burgess, my senior in knowledge of the shedding of filth, he is somebody that I asked questions if I'm troubled within 50 issues. And again, to hear from somebody that really has studied so profoundly and deeply this is the sentiment that I want to express that it's really not
just a question of what the evidence is, in tech say there's also a lived reality. And the shady art does not want the community to be so divided, so fractured, so much infighting, so much drama. In fact, if a position is going to eliminate that, then the shitty I would ask us to follow that position. And this is what many of us are concluding, after seeing all of this, you know fitna going on for so many years.
I would add one last point, if you don't mind.
You know,
like I said, you know, at the beginning, when I was in a small, small community, it was easy to make a decision. Because it was just one day,
go into bigger massages with a difference of opinion and so forth, or different community at different massage, it becomes a little harder. That reminds me with the Muslim society, some areas are very monolithic in terms of opinions and culture, even metadata they follow for example, but an area for example, like Egypt, at some point, a lot of mother have, you know, ruled in that area, Maliki, Shafi Hanafi, and then other areas in the in the Sham as well to in in different places to Panama. So when you have multiple opinions within the same locality, which opinion should be the standard for the state. And as a result, when the hacker makes a decision, by taking one particular
opinion, it becomes the state decision. And that's why the ultimate they say, Oh, come on, hi, Camille facts enough. So when a political entity in this regard, like you know, have someone has an executive power in the society, make a choice or make a decision on a matter that has khilafah mandorla difference of opinion, that choice, even if it's not necessarily the strongest within the local community, the strongest in terms of opinion, it still becomes now the standard opinion that needs to be followed and needs to be respected.
Zakouma said, I'm going to show my Medina bias by moving to the other Medina panelists shall have the little doodle also surely a graduate chabela is younger than and much, much more stronger than this. I mean, I can see anything at all about anything else. I've been studied in Medina,
I think you can 2000 was accepted. And 99 graduate of the College of Sharia. So he specialized in Sharia as well. shall have them again, you are the amount of ICC you've also been the amount for so many years, you've also seen so many issues. So again, from a purely fifth or mcsa point of view, your Frank thoughts about this issue.
Salaam salatu salam ala rasulillah what Allah was talking about, I just want to touch on one
you know what you're speaking about, and he started it when he was talking about reminiscing, you know, the personality marohn that we hear, well that's what Allah says after other than that Chicano Jean. Well, I tossed him habila Hey, Jimmy, and well that's a photo and hold firmly to the rope of Allah being the Quran and Sunnah or both of them.
Jimmy and all of you together and do not separate. And then he says what Kuru Annette Mata La La comme and remember, the blessings of Allah upon you is that and when you were once enemies, for Allah for being Apolo becoming he brought your hearts together, Islam, then becoming Muslim. For us back to the net Mati Juana, and you from that reminiscing became brothers. So you know, coming closer to Allah subhanho wa Taala into song, who would be Vicar, Yanni coming closer to Allah subhanaw taala and joining as a community
is what was the method he gave you is to reminisce, it's to remember those days when you were on the brink of Hellfire will come to Malaysia.
But then remember how last month Allah brought your hearts together, and that's very, very important. And that is, you know, we talked about them across industry. I had the five or some say the six you know, from that is a HIPAA Diem
preservation of the religion, you know from that is hiddenness, the preservation of the family lineage. Because the separation of the deen can sometimes cut off the lineage which brings me to my second point, I converted to Islam. And many of the youth have the same experiences as those that convert to Islam or revert whatever you want to call it.
Context is so important in regards to the youth and in regards to people once non Muslim, or people that were born Muslim, and never practice Islam had doubts, you know, and it had no conviction whatsoever since they were 1516. And they were totally have to bring
context is so important when trying to tell them about Islam.
Context is so important when understanding why when I have a job, I cannot tell them one year in advance, I cannot tell them that I need my vacation on this day. This is the context we're living in as if you so mentioned that you know, certain massages are small, so they may have more of the old soft or the characteristics of that which was the previous days. Therefore, having one opinion is much easier. But I remember some kind of law when I went to Medina and I read the verse when the Quran is revealed, or when the Quran is recited fonsi to to be quiet. And there were different Aha, can you recite sort of the Fatiha Can you not resend sort of the Fatiha that's when I said you know
what? these opinions could come from one verse that gives a liberty to the intellect, but still within the realms and respect of the integrity of the shittier. And that integrity is maintained with consensus of the scholars. But in this issue, particularly fatsia. behind. You know, after practice recited can the congregate, recite practice silently, there's difference of opinion in that it is not permissible for you to censure the other person because there is reputable differences of opinion. And being in America. I remember coming back to Panama, every summer. It hit me one day just I should have mentioned. You know, in one Masjid, you have somebody from Indonesia, somebody
from Egypt, somebody from Nigeria, somebody that's from America, that converts to Islam, so many different contextualized realizations, experiences from each one in one song somebody makes will do and they just topped their head like this. And other persons know you it was accepted and hasn't been used to say, and God knew what to do, and God knows a lot. Right? So when you look at that, what are you going to do? There has to be some contextualization, when we look at these rulings in Islam and suppiler. When you look at the word text comes from context, the text has to be appropriately applied, the medication has to be given appropriately. Even though it says you can go
80 miles an hour, that when it's raining in asleep, you have to know how to appropriately apply that and that is the work of the image tag. So when looking at this situation, firstly, we as Muslims should understand that there's respectable differences of opinion or not amongst contemporary scholars, Scott Sahaba, scholars of the past, and with that reality, we know that it could trigger it will trickle down to all of us. But how do we appropriately handle that? Yes, there are some people to this day and I'm sitting we are sentimental towards that, that people are saying why can't we quote unquote, get it together and find out something that is universal with within all of us
that may may inshallah we hope that it happens, but due to the differences of opinion, and due to our human nature, by being staunch on one opinion, being a layman and sometimes a student of knowledge, that may we may we may not reach that. So what's left for us is to act cordially based on a difference of opinion of someone that we may know whether it's a relative, whether it's a congregant, whether it's a you know, a family member or co worker or something like that, to learn how to understand these differences because fifth what we need to remember, we you know, one of the things that I loved about Phil, from certain instructors that I had, is that they brought the
mocassin and the life and the breadth of the shooting within the opinions. It wasn't just dry. Sometimes people make fixing very Okay, there are three opinions on a few medication. Okay, what was the second one he left? What was the reason for the differences of opinion? This is where you come to Okay. Why did he see it that way and you appreciate the scholarship and I think that's last nowadays. We do not preach appreciate the effort that was made because I bow hanifa Imam Malik and I'm a shafran happening, I will phone you know all of these scouts if you're an authority, so if you have any any This was their method of coming closer to Allah.
They chose an opinion. And they felt that this was the closest when we say Roger, that which weighs heavier, doesn't mean that the other opinion is wrong. No, this one I cling to more than
I understand how you can see that, and it's a valid opinion. But I lean towards this one, because I feel this is what Allah may have wanted more than that. So it's not that your opinion is totally wrong. And I essentially, you know, it is I lean more towards this. And this is how I worship Allah that these scholars pick was how they worship Allah subhanho wa Taala, because they're telling the world, I think this is what Allah Subhana what the ultimate, knowing that the truth is only one even in these issues, but we do not ultimately know. And that's why we have beautiful, it's not the consensus, which is impermissible to differ with. But in this particular issue, there's a well known
difference of opinion nowadays. How do we handle that? as a scholar, as mentioned, we look at the Muslim half of them, which to me, and must have had to jamara that must have for do we look at that which is more beneficial to the general public. Now the public, maybe our particular state, our particular city, we don't want to talk about the issues. It's more about what are the decisions that are made? It's important for us if there's a decision in Richardson and a decision down in Valley rents, and they're different, that we respect each other's opinion. And I'll end it with the state but
a question that Abu Jafar the American atomic family, he asked them a low jalta. And he folding wide. And if you were to make, you know, the statement, or the opinion of the Muslims, just one, basically on the meth lab, have you met Malik? He said, Yeah, I mean, what meaning all the companions of the prophets, a lot of them spread off to different places. So let them have their he had and what they chosen. So understanding that when they spread to different places, there was context. And the scholar, that's why he's a scholar, because he has the tools to apply the medicine in a way that is adequate, maintaining the confines of the shittier. So I wanted to touch on that
point, because it's very, very important that we consider the context of that nine to five worker or that entrepreneur when looking at these camps, because this shitty I came with TC making it easy upon His servants. A lot of this is a very, very important point, first and foremost diversity that exists in time of the Sahaba. There wasn't just one opinion. Secondly, the fact that even great early Mr. keema Malik, when they were offered the opportunity to unify on one opinion, they said no, let there be diversity. And then thirdly, the importance of respecting the philosophy and 40 Mashallah, the point of I really like this, that every 50 position, you have to understand their
Imams, they said it because of their own context. And so we as well have our own context over here. And we also need to see if it is a graph that is allowed, and this is a fill up that major Obama have been, you know, on both sides, that we should look at our context and consider which one is better for our community? Sure, for Omar, you have been an ima Mashallah for I think, almost 1520 years. So your thoughts as well on this issue you have seen so you have been in the middle of magic, I'm sure from New Orleans and other places. So share with us your views and thoughts, inshallah.
So, yeah, I'm gonna, this is a lot of personal stuff that I'll put forth here in terms of just that experience, and then get to the summit in New Orleans. You know, we we have the east bank and the West Bank. And Funny enough, the West Bank is primarily Palestinian. So growing up, I was confused when they say we're going to the West Bank, and it was all Palestinians. You know,
sheffey acid, burgesses people set out where my wife was also from, it's like, said, why the central there, so it was a, we're heading to the West Bank. And, you know, my primary concern, I was in a community, the largest mustard in the east bank, so as large as Missouri, New Orleans as a whole. And, you know, that was staunchly upon local moon sighting, which I believe is the strongest opinion if get out from afar. And we, at the same time, wanted to find a way to unite with the West Bank as much as possible. And so it was, it was a very long,
you know, stretch there, where we were trying to find a middle ground. And ultimately, you know, it did end up just resulting in mutual respect and finding ways to unite through the eighth picnic and things of that sort, because we just could not agree upon an opinion together, right. There was a, there was an insistence on both sides, on the opinion. When I moved to Dallas, I initially moved to Richardson and Richardson Of course, the oldest, well, no measured Islam is the oldest message, one of the oldest messages is IoT. And IoT was one of the first messages in America I believe, to adopt calculations because Dr. Yusuf COVID actually,
you know, mail us pantalla protect them, of course, he moved back to Turkey, was on the fiscal Council and adopted that position of calculations and I was asked to do their eighth prayer when I moved to Richardson 2012
and it was on calculations
In my heart I was like, Yeah, well I hope that the moon sighting falls on the same day because I don't feel comfortable even doing their eats a lot if the calculations don't match the moon sighting so that's how conflicted I was, at that time when I first moved, moved here, so I want to start with just saying and I hope I'm not too long winded. So, if yes, if you need to cut me off, you can cut me off inshallah, but just by saying that it should be very clear to the will suddenly to the person who goes to the masjid So, the person who prays and is regularly in a community, you are not tasked with figuring out when and all on an eight start period. It is from an account of Sania it is from
it is it is a position that is to be taken by the the authority. And this situation where we live in these lands, that's our massages are Imams, and inshallah Tada, you will be protected, you'll be safe, and you will be rewarded for following along with the community you are not burdened with that you can disagree strongly with the position that a manager takes but at the same time, you are not tasked with choosing that position. And you are not sinful if you go with the position, even if the day turns out to be wrong right. Now, what does it mean for us as communities? And I want us to think of it in a few ways. Number one, it's important for the position to be coherent, coherent, I
have serious questions about how all methods have been practiced and implemented. I think a lot of the frustration that people have had is because of the implementation of the methods not the essence of the opinion. So for example, on global moon, citing what happens when Serbia does not announce but then Yemen announces what happens when Serbia doesn't announce but then Somalia announces what happens. If it's not seen in Saudi, but then someone sees it in, in, in South America. Right. And I'll respect by the way, and I respect all of them. But you know, what, even Manistee for example, in Minnesota is very consistent. Mashallah, on this opinion, right? You know, in terms of his his
application of global moon sighting, not to say that other scholars are not consistent, but to say that, that I respect that chiffonade and Malaysia has always tried to be, for example, consistent to the opinion true to the opinion. And I think we have to have a lot of questions about how these opinions are applied and whether or not the they are coherent, and they are being applied in the best way possible to where the desired results can come out of that opinion. And so I'll give you my hope in sha Allah Tada. I've always been even as I practice moon sighting.
I've always hoped that I you know, ideally, logically speaking, if South America is included in the moon sighting, and calculations are supposed to calculate as soon as time that the earliest time in which the moon can be seen on Earth, those opinions should line up almost always, because South America is supposed to see the moon first. And so I have more questions about how we're applying the local moon sighting, the what we're considering the muffler and then whether or not the calculations are correct, what are the what's the criteria towards the calculations. Then lastly, I think after that in sha Allah, so its coherence, consistency, and the collective, the profit slice and I'm
setting your cm is yoma to so on. The day that you fast your eat is the day that your filter is the day that you do filter your eyes, the day that you slaughter all together. If we can get as much of a collective and shot, let's add around an opinion that is applied with coherence, even if it's not the strongest opinion, or the one that I feel most comfort with. And she had someone had to actually is one of those people, or had some a lot preserve him, of course, gives us federal from Alaska, but at the same time, changed his opinion not to say that calculations is his favorite opinion, but to say that if the community will unite on calculations that the people should go with that. And that
was a, you know, something, I hope I'm not misquoting him, but I know that Dr. Hudson had written something to that effect in the last couple of years.
Let's find the coherence of those methods in sha Allah Tada, let's form the broadest collective possible around those and let's not you know, we should not pretend that or we should not allow for people who don't follow this opinion or that opinion to be deemed regressive or not enlightened or not jumping on board. You know, the goal is to unite the hearts and the goal is to bring as many people together and so, if this method is going with global moon sighting, even if they have issues with criteria and this measure is going with calculations and they have issues with criteria,
I should not pretend that that scholar is regressive and backwards and why is this person not doing that not everything is going to work for every community, but what can bring together as many massages as possible and be coherent, convenient, consistent, bring the collective that is inshallah tada I hope there will be success in that and I pray that Allah Subhana Allah allow us to come together and my hope inshallah is that if the moon sighting is allowing South America and the calculation
ones are more accurate than shallow, those positions will line up almost always anyway and shot lots on. And, you know, we'll be able to keep our community together as much as possible. And Sheldon Zack Moloch heads up will occur. Among the dim sum handle I want to ask is, well, a very, very frank question. I know that, you know, before, you know, some years ago that our own messages was on calculations, I think when you joined it was on calculations. And then it changed over to visual and then now we have changed over to back to the calculation. So I want to ask you like what you you know, you have to you when I first came actually, even before I came I remember when I met you at
some somebody's house, you were talking about this issue. And by the way for the viewers here, I can assure you every single community leader, any Mom, this is an issue that troubles us we don't we it's not a trivial thing. Please understand, we have to this is something we understand we have to answer to Allah subhana wa tada for the decision we make it's not a trivial thing. Don't think that we're doing this out of haste. No, I, I myself struggle with this position for not years for decades. I'm going back to early 90s, when I was a teenager, when I was involved the Islamic side of Greater Houston and then my Medina years and it's not an easy thing. And, by the way, before I hand
it over to shakaama, I wanted to add to your point that just like we don't accuse one side of being regressive or backward, also, we should not accuse the other side of abandoning the sooner both sides want to follow the sooner and both sides think that the position that they're doing is more meritorious and rewarding for the eyes in the eyes of Allah. And in accordance with the shitty off neither side is insincere. Neither side wants to abandon the scenario, the below the below, I have full confidence that those who are passionate about local passionate about global and passionate about calculations, all of them shall are equally sincere. And I have full confidence that all of
them have a dilemma that they look up to. So we should unite at least in terms of our brotherhood. But among the team I wanted to my tangent, I want to ask you like, I know, this has been something you have been wondering and questioning because I remember the first time I met you, you actually brought up this question and you were bouncing ideas off of me You were the one who brought it up, not me about the views of calculation and the moon setting where they know that conversation that brother's house we had, right? So I know you've been thinking about this. So let's hear it from from you directly. Like Did you as well go through various phases like all of us on this call? Or what so
what is your his summary as well then disregard?
I mean, what's what are some of those who the Mohammed water was? My bad? So chef, yes, as you were saying that when you were 1920, actually, I remember when I was seven, 810 years old.
I grew up in Arlington, and there it was just, you know, just watching how people would behave, how people would react. In the budget, I grew up here in Dallas, all my life. And I just, you know, as a as a child, first of all, it got me thinking that why is there so much bickering? Why is there so much fighting? And we would always, of course, look up to our adults, we always look up to our parents, and we would, you know, we would think that they would know how to make decisions in a rational way every year Ramadan came all the hurricane, or any, you know, it was just, I mean, it was shocking to me, well, like that, how people would behave in these kind of certain circumstances.
Of course, after studying after studying overseas and abroad, studying study, I, you know, of course, I began to understand a lot of things. And you know, Subhan Allah,
it got me thinking, you know, first of all, is that,
you know, the, as you mentioned earlier that there are opinions, even chef Homer had mentioned that there are different opinions and so forth.
I always go back to the, the one quote of Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, that when he talked about the Kaaba in itself, and he told it shall be allowed and unhappy, that we're in not for your people. And the fact that they just came into the fold of Islam, I would have changed the structure of the Kaaba. And this example, is very first of all very, very profound in itself. Because here the prophet SAW law, your son, he understands that, you know, he could change the Kaaba, and that's something that he wants to do. But he understands that as being a leader of the community, where is the muscle Aha, for the people were, in which opinion or in which decision? Is
there more Muslim? And I think that today, you know, you're right chef has said that when I first joined epic, back in 2012, I think it was a year or two and
then we actually switched over to global moon sighting. And, you know, I then met you at this particular event. And you know, it got me thinking because I've been thinking about this for some time now. That in any
Any criteria that you look at, there's always some holes, there are always some issues and so forth. And last year actually got me thinking a lot, because of this whole situation when number one, or this last or Milan when it finished and so forth. That, you know, one country said that they saw it. And then a lot of people said that, no, they did not see it. And I realized that there's so many holes in each criteria. And, of course, I was thinking about this, and I realized that
it's not about me anymore. You know, that's, I think that's something that all Imams, I wish that we could understand that it's not about me, it's not about my view, it's more about our community, Allah has put us in positions to serve our community, Allah has put us in positions to make decisions that will make life easier for our community. And if there is, if there is a phone, if there is an opinion, that does not contradict our Sharia, and is part of our city, it's not something that has just come up now, it has been a discussion amongst the automa of the past, because what people are thinking today is that this is just something that's few orlimar today have
concocted, and they are brought together, and there is no basis of this, there is no us all of this. No, there is also for this. And so I think when we start thinking more about the community, what's going to benefit the community at large, what's going to, you know, bring down that confusion. And, and I remember I called you, Chef, he said,
I remember I called you I think it was either before the Milan started, or he was I think it was when beginning of Ramadan, or it may have been the ending Ramadan, and I called you. And once again, the reason why there was so much confusion is because you would assume that the criteria is simple, but the criteria is not that simple.
And so when you look at
you know, from before exactly, you know, when, when is Ramadan, when is eat and so forth, you eliminate any kind of confusion from the community. And if it is a if it is a code, if it is an opinion, then as cephalo doodle was saying earlier on, which is very profound that is not just about different opinions, it's about, you know, applying Mufasa sialorrhea. In a lot of our decision making, a lot of times, you know, people have studies show the audio, say the different opinions, the form of dive and so forth. But they have not seen a possible cause to show. Yeah. So I think we need to understand this as a whole picture. It's not just one aspect of a picture. And then going
with that.
And, you know, as I think all this, you'll hear mentioned
many times that I think just being respectful overall, I think that's the most important thing is just being respectful. Today, unfortunately, we live in times where you know, people will disagree, that's fine, that's absolutely fine. You
agreed amongst each other, you know, when there were travel for men and women, there were some who are fasting, there were some who are not,
that's fine, Hello, this is not a problem. Instead of you know, raising this issue and making such a big issue. And finally, I'm gonna say this, you know, I think as a Muslim community at times, just looking at the bigger picture, when we focus on some of these small, small things like this, I think we lose focus on the bigger picture, we lose focus of the bigger issues in our society. We have Allah has so many issues, you all have your mom's, there are many other emails, they will say that there are so many issues in our community. And a lot of times by focusing on these small, small things every single year, and so forth, we're losing, we're losing focus of the bigger issues at
hand. We have a lot of challenges as Muslims in America already. It's not like these times, they're going to go away anytime they're going to actually, you know, they're gonna grow as we go on. So why not, you know, if you follow certain opinion, Colossus fine 100 ala, we, you know, we respect each other. And, and I think that putting this to rest, I think, you know, whatever opinion, you follow, you follow, and then let's focus on the bigger picture overall. And, you know, whatever opinion follow at the end of the day, you're, I mean, we're all Imams, we all work together, and we all come up with solutions to help the Muslims in our community. And while I was like, okay,
does that make more sense myself, we've had a very, very scintillating interesting conversation, Mashallah, more than an hour has gone by No. Just want to wind it down by thanking all of you for coming and sharing your wisdoms, the spiritual and the fifthly and Chappelle again, to reiterate that there is no need for either side to think bad thoughts of the other side. This is a position that we have. We've had it in our communities for decades and in the tradition for millennia.
We can go back to as we said at yesterday's lecture memasuki or insert a journal article from the tab your own so there's not some new position it's been there for the longest time, agreed there was no need to make it a majority position. But now given the circumstance, Mashallah so many of us you have gone through the same journey that isn't just copying and pasting from, from our tradition. Fifth is to take our tradition and then see which is the position that is the most conducive to overall the community. Now if somebody feels that the other position is better for their community, Joseph mobile had no problem from my sight from all of our sides. I know our hearts are Mashallah
full of nothing but respect, we know that you have chosen that position because you think it is the more pleasing to Allah subhana wa Tada. We asked the same courtesy in respect, none of us has a a personal benefit in choosing an opinion. In fact, we have to face backlash and criticism. In fact, we are getting ourselves into issues and troubles by by choosing a position that some of us don't like yet, I do so and I know others are doing so because we genuinely believe that in the long run, this is our belief you have you can disagree with us. But inshallah Don't doubt our sincerity. We genuinely believe that in the long run, it is better for the unity of our community. It is better
for the preservation of the man of our children, it is better so that we can shout out eventually, one day even declared this day to be a federal holiday in this entire country. We can have the day off for our children, we can make sure that people who are of wiki man not going to pray unless they can take off. They know what they read as they can come on that day. We're doing this not because we have anything personal to gain. But we genuinely believe that the oma benefits from this position. And we believe that the goals of the Sharia allow us to choose this position and it becomes the stronger position not because of the theoretical evidence, but because of the practical ability.
This is the position that some of us hold if you disagree hamdulillah no problem. We ask that our hearts remain united in the worship of Allah and then a lot of the Messenger of Allah to my esteemed guest Chuck malaco once again for coming and spending your time I ask that Allah subhana wa tada continues to bless each and every one of you to be leaders of knowledge and leaders of wisdom for your communities, as loss of habitat accepts from all of us and forgives our sins, and keeps our hearts united and all of the Muslims of this land chisako mala head Sara modicon Rahmatullahi wa barakato