Divine Revelation – His Gift, the Quran (Talk Show) – 54th Annual ISNA Convention
Yasmin Mogahed – His Gift, the Quran
AI: Summary ©
The importance of hard work and commitment to hard work is emphasized in modern times, particularly in light of the new norm of modernity. The Prophet Muhammad's teachings for men and women, including the belief that they are equal spiritual beings, are also discussed. The speakers emphasize the need for a "immaterial moment" that brings people together and creates meaningful connections to the world, as well as a book signing session at the Esna booth.
AI: Transcript ©
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Did everybody eat dinner?
Good. If you didn't eat dinner, that's great, then you're not in a food coma. So this session is titled The divine revelation, his gift, the Koran.
My name is Miriam, Slovak, and I am from the Chicago area and it's my pleasure to be here to host this talk show format. What we're gonna do is we're gonna have each of our speakers present on this topic, and then afterwards, we're gonna have a discussion and if there's time, we'll be able to open it up to some questions. So this topic is about the journeys Prophet Muhammad Sallallahu Sallam took throughout history. We're never far from the word of Allah as his guide. The attributions and characterization of the Quran tell not only many tales and virtues, but portray the very essence of what Prophet Muhammad lived and breathed a guide for generations and a guide for our nation. So
we're going to be ready guys, are we ready to explore the pivotal role of the Quran at the time of the Prophet?
Let's Let's hear that. Are you guys ready to learn?
Okay, so we're gonna start with Chef, Yasser Femi. He is the senior Imam at the Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Center, and is a graduate of Rutgers University and LSR University.
salaam aleikum.
I can absolutely see no one because these are the brightest I've ever experienced these lights on the stage. So I can I can't make out any faces. I'm gonna hope that people can hear what I'm saying and understand, isn't the light out of the message that I hope to impart upon all of us this evening? Some 1100 11 salatu salam ala rasulillah le or sotheby window Don.
We all know that the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam had a 23 year love affair with the book of Allah, Allah Allah. We hear all the time in our tradition from our scholars, in our teachers, in our sources, how the Prophet had this beautiful intimacy, where he lived with the pollen every night and every day and over 23 years as he's journeyed through the realm of prophecy, that Allah would send to him messages and guidance and ways about which he could find success in this dunya and be for us the ultimate guide.
But very often, we don't appreciate the fact that the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam himself was on a journey. He was on a particular journey. That was one of tremendous seeking. similar to the one that many of us are on today, all of us. We're seeking Allah, we're seeking clarity, we're seeking meaning. And very often, in this world, we struggle to find that we struggle to find understanding, we struggle to make sense with the circumstances of our particular conditions within our families, or with our spouses, or with the international political arena or the domestic political circumstances. We're constantly seeking. And the Prophet himself was a seeker. A lot tells
us in Sorrento Baja, what was the cow barn lamb for Harada did we not find you seeking and we gave you guidance, that guidance
That the Prophet was seeking for so many years, although his socio political familial circumstances in Mecca were beautiful. He was the golden boy of Mecca, everyone loved him, everyone cared for him. He had no major issues. But he knew spiritually that something was off that his identity, that meaning of existence was not being fulfilled. And so he began to see every night for so many months. Some of our scholars say up to three to four years he would go to Lord Hara, seeking guidance, seeking God seeking understanding.
And he found pleasure in that moment.
But the beginning of his 23 year love affair with the Quran happened in a particular night, in the nights of Ramadan. That was for the Prophet, a traumatic experience. You know, very often we hear about the revelation of the Quran. And we overlook the fact that it was at the tail end of a journey of seeking that culminated in this particular moment, where the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam, received revelation from the angel Gabriel. And his initial response to revelation was not, you know, the skies parted, and the birds were singing, and you know, the sun rays were out, and everything was nice and cozy. It was the exact opposite. It was a very intense experience. And we
all know the famous narration of gibreel coming, grabbing the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam, commanding him to read the Prophet being terrified, saying, I don't know how to read exclaiming, and and saying to, you know, to us in the narration, I felt that I was about to die, I felt that I was about to go faint, and so on and so forth. And so in the few minutes that I have, I wanted us to explore this particular moment, because I believe it has profound secrets for us, as we are trying to find our own revelation. We want the Quran to be for us, true revelation that reveals to us the meaning of this world that exposes to us the guidance that this portal and has ended for us that has
this guidance, this healing, this clarity that we're constantly hearing about, but I know full well many of us have yet to experience it the way that we want to. So what can we learn from those initial moments of revelation that I believe will give us an entryway and some of the essential keys to gaining access to a laws divine miraculous text? Number one,
it was the profound meaning of submission. Everything about that initial moment of revelation was about submission. And this tells you something about the secret of the Quran. Very often, when we're going to the forum, we're going to the portal and with our intellects with raw logic or intellect or intellectual capabilities. So we'll say for example, you know, I don't speak the Arabic language. Therefore, I can never access the forum meaningfully. Because the Quran was revealed in Arabic, I don't speak Arabic, I can't access the forum meaningfully. We go to the Quran with this sense of based on my intellectual capacity.
That is the only way that I can ever benefit from this book. But what we see in that initial moment of Revelation, when the Prophet is saying to the angel jabril Man,
I am not someone who reads, we're exploring the fact that the Prophet himself was illiterate, and did not actually know based on his intellectual capacity to fulfill the command. And so that's the three times of repetition where he says, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know. He's entering into this complete state of submission, intellectual submission, because Allah is telling him Yeah, Muhammad, before you can fulfill the command of read, meaning before you can engage this divine revelation, you have to say, yeah, Allah, I am humbled by your magnificence, I in comparison to you and nothing, because when the when the Prophet enter that into that complete submission, Allah gave
the Prophet the true key to accessing revelation. And that was it Cora Bismillah. Allah The HELOC, read in the name of your Lord, the one who has created you, when the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam entered into the re citation and the engagement with the Quran through bismi Arabic This
Mullah Rahmani Raheem In the name of Allah. That's when all of the bounties and the beauties and the virtues that the Quran has in store for the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, and therefore his oma began to spill forward. And this is an essential lesson for all of us, as we're thinking about the plan. I know many of us have been trying to read the Quran for 510 20 years. Every Ramadan, I tell myself, this is the year where I'm just going to immerse myself in the end. But then we try and we try kind of this very loose trial. And we go at it with our basic intellect, you know, the Quran, you know, kind of, I can't really gel with it. It doesn't really make sense. It sounds a little bit
convoluted. I can't, you know, manage the stories. But we're not realizing that the essential pathway into engaging the Quran is truly a spiritual theological one. It's not an intellectual one. It definitely the intellect plays a role. And we are an oma of Accra, meaning to uphold the fact carta de Boer. Our intellects are prime in that regard. But a part of the exercising of the intellect is realizing that we have a spiritual, theological state that we have to realize. And that's the secret of Bismillah R Rahman r Rahim that if I truly want to access the Quran, I have to do it in the name of Allah. And what that means is not simply saying Bismillah but realizing that it
is only by Allah, and through Allah, can I ever attain or find meaning in this world? That's why the letter bat in Bismillah is so essential. The grammarians and the scholars of rhetoric Bulava, they say that the letter bat has over 17 meanings in the Arabic language, and from those meanings are about esteana. Well, that was set up via whether or not a word that was either all of these are to indicate what the bag of aid the bag of support the best of the best of witness to say ultimately, Allah, as I'm opening up your divine and miraculous revelation that you give to to mankind, so that the Prophet could ultimately find meaning, and then by extension, all of us can find meaning, then
the only way we will gain access to that miraculous meaning is through you. And by you. It is only by your support and your aid, will we ever be able to gain this guidance and success? If we can spiritually situate ourselves in that humble state? As we're approaching Allah, we don't go to Allah with our egos. We don't go with Allah with our logic with our very subjective and simple logic. We don't go to Allah genuine Allah saying, you know, I have 17 PhDs, and I'm sorry, this quota and is just like any other text. If I go to Allah with that ego in that arrogance, why would Allah give me access? I go to Allah with humility, with a recognition of being so small, and so incapable. And
that's what we learn from that initial moment of Revelation. When the Prophet said, Matt, and Matt and Abby thought it might be thought he was saying, Yeah, Allah, without you, I am nothing. Me by myself, I am nothing. It is only by your support and your aid and your guidance can I ever understand? Once the prophets submitted in that humble way? Allah gave the Prophet access endless, profoundly beautiful access to the Quran, where every single night it was about reciting the Quran, being with the Quran, loving the Quran. It was about just hearing the verses of Allah and finding himself all night in tears. One night and I know I'm supposed to close 3045 seconds and I'll close
but one night that prophesize lm is is crying and crying and crying, and beloved comes to wake him up. And he says, You also don't know what's wrong. Why are you crying? He says, shouldn't I be a faithful servant? What is he La la la la in the feed help is somewhat you will have de la la anyone know how the El bourbon Latinas kurunegala pm and waku then voila, juvie. Mata Karuna, Samoa Tian Bella Maha Dr. hada belta, Allah Subhana kasatkina Adana, he said you have to learn, how can I not cry in utter gratitude and thankfulness to Allah for his bounciness and his bounty fullness upon me, where tonight it was revealed this miraculous verse that verily in the creations of the heavens and
the earth, in the alternations, and night and the day are Signs for the people of hearts, those who remember a lot
As they stand, and as they sit and on their sides, and they look into the creation and they say, yeah Allah, verily you have not created this meaninglessly or haphazardly. This is the humble servant, who when receiving a large revelation felt a sense of beauty and bounty Yala, you're finally giving me clarity. Now I understand why I exist. It is for you. It is only for you. I only seek your pleasure when you gave me this clarity of Allah. How can I not but sit there and sob and cry out of a state of indebtedness and humility and thankfulness? May Allah Subhana Allah make us of those who are submitting to Allah before they enter into revelation, where they go into Allah, His
revelation with humility, and with a state of gratitude and thankfulness. May Allah bless us all to be of the people of the Quran, and the lovers of the Quran. And the reciters of the Quran will sali la hamanasi Dena Mohammed
Al hamdu Lillahi Rabbil aalameen
thank you so much for that. Just a disclaimer, I am not texting on my phone. I am taking notes and I really hope that you guys are doing the same. If you're, if you're like me, I remember that so I have to write it down. So we'll move on to our next speaker Dr. jameela Karim, who is the author of American Muslim women negotiating race, class and gender within the oma and co author of women of the nation between black protest and Sunni Islam. Dr. Karim is former associate professor of Islam at Spelman College and holds a doctorate in Islamic studies from Duke.
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this Mila Rahman and Rahim al hamdu Lillahi Rabbil alameen Allahumma salli ala Sayyidina, Muhammad wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa sallam, so hamdulillah such a pleasure to return to esna in the spine company, Mashallah. Last year when I spoke at his afterwards, I wrote a blog post about my talk, my sister and I started a blog about a year ago, titled Hagar lives so after it has Allah has Salaam, who, as we know, was a black woman. And I mentioned that I remembered Hagar in my talk, and I explained why I remembered her.
And also, I noted in that post that whenever I take this this stage, I feel compelled to talk about race and gender.
Now, those of you who know my work, that doesn't come as a surprise, I've written a couple of books on American Muslims that deal with race and gender. And I also give a few speeches a year where I talk about ways that we can improve relations between African American and immigrant Muslims.
So given my life's work so far, I've come to the realization comes a lot that Allah subhanho wa Taala has blessed me with a calling. And that calling is to call us to unity, to call us American Muslims, the American Ummah, to become the beloved community. And what is meant by the beloved community? Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. he envisioned a community that is known for brotherhood and sisterhood. But more than that, it is a brotherhood and a sisterhood that stands out as exceptional. And why is that? Because it's unity is not easily achieved.
And why is that? Because it is attempting unity in the face of growth, racial inequality, and in the face of deep seated massage money in the face of hypocrisy, and arrogance.
Nonetheless, nonetheless, this brother and sisterhood is attainable with a powerful weapon, and that weapon is our hearts. But not just any hearts, hearts that exude the highest human qualities like love and gentleness and forgiveness, preference for others. compassion, empathy, humility, generosity, patience, hope, wisdom, balance. And all of these high virtues emanating from the highest and that is God consciousness. so hard that are constantly remembering Allah subhanho wa Taala constantly thinking of a lot turning to Allah adoring Allah subhana wa Taala fearing Allah and yearning to be with lots of planets Allah
so what community is better position
To be the beloved community, who are the people of brotherhood and sisterhood?
Who are the people that have as its leader, as its guide and teacher, a human being who exudes these human qualities, these high qualities with the utmost beauty. And as we all know, that is prophet muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam,
he is utter beauty and he calls us to beauty.
He said that I was sent only to perfect noble character.
So his calling solo Salaam was to make our hearts beautiful.
And what was his method?
He lives beauty, he radiated it and every glands and every other and in every step that he took
his beloved wife Ayesha radula, who said that he is the quote on walking.
This means that the prophets lie Selim and the Quran are mirrors of each other. He is a mercy to put on as the mercy. The Koran is a guidance. He is a guidance of Howdy, howdy. The Quran states.
all humanity indeed and advice has come to you from your Lord, a healing for what is in the hearts
and a mercy and a guidance for those who believe
this is an indication that the early Muslims needed healing. And we too need healing. Every human being needs healing.
And our healing is the prophets calling.
He was sent to make our hearts beautiful. So Beloved, becoming the Beloved Community starts with the heart. It is an affair of the heart. And we know that our hearts need beautifying because when we should be loving our brother, we are instead looking down upon him.
And when we should be caring about the condition of our sister, we turn the other way at times the valuing her struggle, and her particular concerns as a woman, therefore devaluing her humanity.
So what I want you to take away tonight is that we need each other to reach the heights of faith and beauty, the heights of Eman and ascend.
For we know that our faith is not a complete faith until we love for our brother and our sister, what we love for ourselves.
This is indeed a collective journey. Our goal is one a loss upon
the fact that we are a collective and Alma is a mercy to us. oma, the Arabic word for community originates from the same root word as womb or mother. Like the Ummah, the own is an incredible source of mercy for us.
Also, the Arabic word Eman shares the root word with
the Imam of the Ummah, the Prophet Muhammad Sallallahu Sallam is a mercy to all the world
and his wives are the mothers of the believers. And this confirms that women represent a collective source of mercy for the ummah.
Yet, how do we treat our women? Do we treat them with mercy? Do we honor and regard them? Or do we treat them as second class citizens? Do we make every effort to hear from them and learn from them? We talk highly of qualities like patience, and forbearance, generosity and service. Is there any position that cultivates these high virtues like being a mother
and women who do not have biological children, they provide a significant amount of talent, energy and resources to the Ummah without the prophets, beloved wife, Ayesha, and have for example, our knowledge of the prophets I send them and therefore our guidance would not be the same.
In our dialogue later, I look forward to exploring further, this idea that the success of the American Ummah depends on the beloved community and beloved hearts. Again, it is an affair of the heart, a collection of hearts. And we can rediscover this reality as we explore the role of the Quran as it was being revealed to the early believers and witness and the blessing being of Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam.
Thank you so much, Dr. jameelah. Our next speaker we have is Yasmin boglehead. She is the
Author of reclaim your heart and her newest book, love and happiness. She's a writer for The Huffington Post and international speaker and author who focuses most of her work on spiritual and personal development.
And Imani calm. Now the relationship honor regime. smilla rahmanir rahim Salatu was Salam ala rasulillah Allah Allah savage mine, rubbish raha southern US early embryo Hello, Dr. Melissa Annie of cocconi.
We're all on a journey. And I think that it's really great that have come to the lab, the theme of this convention is about coming back to the end for guidance and hope. And the reason why I think that's so important is that along this path, just like everyone, you know, when you get in your car, and you're going on a journey, there are many pitfalls that you may face along the way. And there's a lot of times when you get off track, and we as a community are on a journey. And part of every single journey is pitfalls, there's going to be times when we have to face struggle, there's going to be times when we lose our way. And the only chance that we have to end up where we need to be is
by having that hope and guidance. And so coming back to the quarter end is an essential conversation we need to have, what I want to do is kind of think about
what what a person needs to be successful on a journey. Now to begin with, if you use the analogy of you know, you're going on a trip, you're going on a road trip, or you're flying, you need to know if you're going on a road trip, you first enter your address into the GPS. So you have to know where you're going to where you want to end up. If you have no idea what the address is, you're not going to end up at your destination Simple as that. So we have to be very clear of our end goal. I think one of the mistakes that we make, at individually and collectively and as a community is I feel that sometimes we lose sight of the greater goal. And part of the reason why that happens, like one of
the reasons this happens is for example, when I'm part of one organization, I make my loyalty to that organization, or I'm part of a certain race or a certain group of people. And I allow my loyalty to that organization or that group of people or that race, to supersede my loyalty to the greater cause to the greater community. And that becomes a pitfall. So we have to always be mindful that yes, we have the less that we have the goal small you know lowercase g but there's always keeping in mind the greater goal capital G. We have to have that in mind. Allah subhanaw taala tells us in the end, yeah, you hola Dina am Anoka Hola, hola, thunder, nafsa, Malka, demat Lila, what the
Hola. In this ALS, addressing the believers he says all you who have believed fear have consciousness of Allah have Taqwa of Allah, because this is we can't be successful. If we're not conscious of God, if we're not conscious of the fact that there is a judge, and he's watching, you know, in any competition.
When do you put on your best behavior? Or when do you When do you really try to impress is when you know, the judges in the room, right? It's like kids when they're fighting. And as soon as the parent walks and all of a sudden, you know, they're, they, they they start to act better. And that's because they're being watched, they know that the one in charge is actually watching, having duck was this realization that Allah is always watching that he is that you're conscious of that and that changes the way you act. So unless saying oh, you have believed have Taqwa it de Hola. While Thunder enough, Samantha demetria God, and let every individual know, be conscious of what they have put
forth for tomorrow. See where we're very often conscious of what we're going to do in 24 hours tomorrow, right? We're very conscious of what we're going to do next week. We have a plan for all that, but allows reminding us to be conscious of what we have sent forth for the tomorrow, capital T. That tomorrow that comes after we leave this life. And that tomorrow, capital T. No one knows when it is that's the thing, no one is guaranteed that they're going to be in this life. And that on this date, that's when they'll face their tomorrow, capital T. No one actually knows when they're going to face their tomorrow capital T. And you know, so Pamela just in the final like a week or two
ago in my community. There was a brother he was driving, you know, so many of us. We go to theater, we have we come home, right? But this brother is on his way to theater we and he never came home. He got in a car accident and he died. And this is the reality of how fragile we actually are, is that we never really know when that tomorrow is coming. And so for us to be successful, we have to be conscious of what we've set forth for that day. And so Allah subhanaw taala is reminding us of this and then again, Allah ends the end
With what de la to show us how important taqwa is how important it is to be conscious that Allah sees us. Why letter kuno keleti Nana sola, halfa, and Sam woman, and do not be like those who forgot a lot. This is very This is key. So often we talk about identity, right? Like, what should be our identity losing identity. Allah tells us here he diagnosis why people have identity crisis, says do not be like those who forgot Allah. So he made them forget their own selves. And what happens to a person what happens to us is that when we forget our ultimate purpose, that we're actually on a journey to the capital T tomorrow, that, that that capital G goal right that end. And when we lose
sight of that, we actually forget our own selves. Because we're forgetting our ultimate purpose we forget why are we actually why are we here? And there's so many things that we strive for I know there's a lot there's a lot there's we have to make a certain amount of money, there's we have to look a certain way, there's the you know, we have to have a certain type of career, we have many goals, lowercase G, and that's fine. But what has to happen is we can't lose sight of the final, the end real end goal because when we lose sight of that, not only do we get lost but we forget who we really are, when Allah subhanaw taala is not a central part of our lives. You know when a lot is
just something of rituals, we have a lot of rituals and some of us are very ritualistic in our in the way in which we know Allah ritualistic meaning Yes, we pray and in Ramadan you know, we finished the hood and we maybe decorate our houses with a lot of beautiful calligraphy of Kota and we might even put put in on our necklaces thinking it's gonna protect us that kind of thing. Right? So we have a lot of ritualistic sort of relationship with our Deen and with Allah. But do we really have a lot at the center? Are we really conscious of our final goal? And unless we are then we will lose our our way and we'll lose our own identity. we'll forget what it is we're really doing here. And
that's Allah Subhana. Allah tells us what Mahalo to Jin Noel INS olalia. We don't see we as I mentioned before, there's a lot of things we strive for in this dunya. Everyone has different things that they prioritize things that they're running towards things that they're working hard for. But here a lot tells us that although there are many purposes that people have, there's one ultimate purpose for which we were created, well Malak to Jean Noel ins Illa Dr. Boone, this is an interesting structure. Allah is saying we have not he starts with a negation. You'll see the structure a few times and in the end, that Allah starts with a negation. He doesn't just say your
purpose is this. He says, We have not created jinn and human beings for any purpose. for any purpose. Well, math will have two general ends. And then Allah says, using this structure of first complete negation, complete, take away any other purpose, ultimate purpose, capital P. and then Allah says Illa, Leah will do. Except So what this does is it shows us there's no competing ultimate purpose. There isn't. It's just the ultimate purpose. Yes, we have other smaller purposes that we strive for. But this is the ultimate purpose. Illa, Leah Boudewijn, except to fulfill our Oh Buddha to Allah, except to know love, serve worship, God. That's the ultimate purpose, capital P.
and if we lose sight of that purpose, we lose our own selves. The prophet SAW Selim advised us to be in this life like a traveler. The thing about traveling is this many of you are traveling just now, right? We're staying at a hotel where we're, you know, we stop at rest areas. We're temporary here. Yeah, we know it's temporary. See, the mindset of a traveler is very, very different than the mindset of someone who thinks they're home. You know, you know, when you're whole, you have a very different mindset than when you're a traveler. When you're a traveler. You're never getting too attached to the place you're in. Nobody has ever gotten attached to a hotel room. Yeah. Especially
not those pillows, because they are the worst pillows ever.
You don't get attached to a hotel room, you don't get attached to a rest area. When you're driving on the highway. You're there, you know it, you may even enjoy it. You may take what you need from it, but you don't think that it's your home. You don't mistaken it for your final destination, you know that you're actually headed somewhere else. You know that your home is actually somewhere else and this is just a temporary stop. And so the profits I sell them tells us
That's the mindset we should have in this dunya. He says in a Hadith, that I'm like a traveler who stops in the shade of a tree for a while, and then continues on his journey. When we have that mindset, we behave very differently to what life throws at us, we behave very differently. And just like an example of a traveler, if you don't particularly like the bedding in your, in your hotel room, it's not the end of the world, because you know, you're leaving eventually. And so there's, there's a different way in which you, you respond to what you experience because you realize this isn't your final home, and you have a final destination opponent only had that was stuck for a lot.
He would have come in our food on Rahim. subhanak, columbium, Dec. Chateau la isla Hill and Justin Timberlake.
Thank you so much. Well, we have a lot of gems that were dropped just now. So I'm going to try to do what I can with the a lot of time that we have.
What we're going to do is we'll have some some discussions, I'll ask you guys questions, feel free to jump in if you want to add anything to someone else's question. And we'll start with Dr. Cream, you mentioned the beloved community in your talk. Can you tell us some lessons from the Quran and the prophets life that can help us to become that beloved community?
So I was thinking about this a lot, I came to a realization as I was reading the Quran, in Ramadan. And I thought, you know, to what extent have we really prioritized becoming the beloved community have? How To what extent have we actually lifted our hands into I've asked a lot to be this community of brother and sisterhood.
And, you know, if you think about it,
if you ask any American Muslim, you know, what is the struggle that we're facing? I don't, no matter what their race, gender,
they would probably tell you that we are struggling with our acceptance in the United States. And we are struggling with being actually the beloved community in the eyes of other Americans, right? We're, we're battling anti muslim bigotry, right? And so we have to ask ourselves, though, are we resisting? Are we addressing the struggle in the most effective way? The Great email alginates said that one, cannot struggle against his enemies, outwardly, except he who struggles against his enemies, inwardly, and meaning the inward enemies, meaning the ego, in the desires of the ego, and the one who has been given victory over these desires, and he has victory over his enemy, and he who
is defeated by the desires of himself, and he is defeated by his enemy. So if we do not prioritize this inward struggle, right, and as a collective, that would be the struggle for beautiful hearts, the struggle for our hearts to be united, then how really, can we effectively resist and struggle against the external enemy, in this case, again, that anti muslim hate and bigotry. And so what I came to realize I was doing my reading was that
we look back at the early Muslims, who, again, after many years of being patient, and they were persecuted and being patient. Eventually they were commanded to fight, right. But first, their hearts were made beautiful, and their hearts were united. And then they fought and won these physical battles together.
There's a very sweet story of a man, a traveler who came to Medina, he may have been one of the immigrants I'm not sure for certain, but it was a traveler, who came to Medina, and he was tired and also very hungry. And he asked the prophets, I sell them for food. But already the food in his house had been distributed to the poor. So the province I sell them asked, Is there anyone among you who you know, who can take this man and as a guest for the night, and there was a man who volunteered and said that he would do it. And so he took this traveler home with him. And in reality, though, this companion, he too, he himself was poor. And so when he arrived at his home, he went to the side
and whispered to his wife, and asked, you know, do we have any food and she said, you know, only enough for our children. And so then he thought, he said, Well, you know, what you do is, you know, busy, the children's that they're not thinking about their hunger. So the equivalent of that today would be, you know, put on a movie for the children. So they'll have them that Think about it. And then when they get really, when they hopefully by the time they're
hungry, and hopefully they're tired, or when they you know, basically put them to bed so that they don't notice right there.
So put them to bed. And then when we sit with the guests with the traveler when we sit with him, turn out a candle, turn the candle out so that it's dark, and he doesn't know that we're not eating with him. And so let him eat to his bowl. So that's exactly what they did. And then later, when the next day when they saw the prophets, I saw them, he looked at this companion very pleasingly and told him that Allah subhanho wa Taala, is pleased with the way that she treated her guests last night. And so this companion, he was one of the answer. He was one of the people of Medina and one of my favorites I in the Quran, it gives us very high praise of the people of Medina, it says that
those who already firmly established in their homes, and firmly rooted in faith, show love for those who migrated to them for refuge and harbor no desire in their heart, so what has been given to them.
And they give the immigrants preference over themselves, even if they too are poor. And those say from the covetousness of their own cells, they are the successful ones. And so this, this verse is the indication that these people already had had beautiful hearts, and and had
had love establishing their hearts.
And they had the promise and sell them in their midst. Right. So it was, it was easy for them to radiate this to move toward this. So and you know, finally answering that, that, yes, the Quran commanded them to fight. But again, how do they fight? What is the most wise way what is the most beautiful way to fight, and they have the prophets, I sell them there, as their guide, I that to approach the Quran with wisdom, we have to have that love for the prophet in our hearts, we have to have that humility that she talks about. And then we apply the Quran with wisdom. So I think that's one of the things is to really prioritize the struggle not to abandon the work that we're doing to
change the image, the image of Islam in America, that's critical work, but to prioritize the collective work to bring our hearts together.
So just to kind of shift gears a little bit, I think, sometimes when I think about even for myself about the foreign and how to apply it in our lives, a lot of young people are struggling. You mentioned identity crisis, or even a crisis and faith. So they might hear a talk like this and feel like well, it makes no sense to me like I can't even understand it. It sounds so old fashioned. So what are sort of more relevant ways that that people can embrace the throne in their life?
I think for me, having you know, grown up actually very close. I grew up in Madison, Wisconsin, so Chicago's like my backyard, having grown up in this country, how did Islam become relevant to me growing up? And what I realized throughout, you know, my development is that Allah subhanaw taala. Because if we go back to the definition of God, we realized that God is not limited by time and space, Allah, God, the Creator of all people in all time, right? This is not just the Muslim God, but is the God of all people, that he is not confined by time and space. So if God says something, it is timeless, meaning that he's not limited by time, therefore, it is as relevant today, as it
was, at the beginning of time with Prophet Adam, Allison M. There are certain principles that are timeless that God says, Now within that, obviously, there are a group of scholars who are their job is to be able to extract rulings that can be obviously relevant to that time. But there's certain principles that God tells us that teaches us through His Messenger and in his book, which are timeless, they are principles that that we can we can use today, just as they used that 1400 years ago, and before that, all the profits. Now what are those principles? And how is it going what to do with my life? Right? I think one of there's many, there are many, but one that I believe to be
something that we really, really need right now. And that is how do I cope with my struggles? How do I cope when I feel like I'm being attacked? How do I cope when I feel like I'm being surrounded by a storm? What do I do? And I believe that within our book, there are so much there's so much inspiration for that exact thing, but I'll just pick out one from the other end, which I personally have found so much inspiration for, you know, in my own life from and that's one that many of you who've heard me before have heard me mentioned it's one of my favorite stories and it's the story of
musalla his solemn when he was trying to escape persecution by Pharaoh and his army, and Allah tells us in the end that when he was escaping and he was trying, you know, as he was trying to escape, Benny Israel, he were slaves. This is a group of slaves totally oppressed, and musala salom are now they find themselves in front of the Red Sea. And behind them is Pharaoh and his army. So now they're in a situation that looks impossible. And I started to think again about this story after the last election if you know what I mean. And I felt like we as a community feel almost like this we feel like, like, almost trapped. We feel like, okay, where do we go now? And, and Allah tells us
see, this might seem like a story. It's a cool bedtime story, right? But in fact, it's as relevant today as it was, at that time. Allah says falam Moto, lgma Nicola as haobo Musa in Alamo dracoon look at the response of Venezuela he even though it's in another language and another context, it's so much like the response that we had after the last elections to be honest, that when the army saw each other so many aside when the when the groups they sideshows So, the army, the people that need to see the army approaching and have the Red Sea in front of them, they have the the army of Pharaoh behind them, and their response was in allama dracoon Indeed, we will be overtaken It was a
response, a knee jerk response of despair, of like, that's it for us. Now, you know, this, this panic, this panic that we felt, they felt that in Alamo dracoon, they said we're gonna be overtaken. And it's so powerful because you see the law, juxtapose he compares, and contrasts the response of Venezuela to that situation, and the response of Musashi Salaam to the exact same situation. He is also standing there in front of the Red Sea with an army behind him. But his response is completely different. Paula Keller, he said, Nope. No, we won't be overtaken, we will not be overtaken Absolutely not. Keller is a very emphatic Absolutely not.
And why what does he follow up his color with color color, in my era beside him, indeed, my Lord is with me, and he'll get me through this. See, that type of telecoil is not just relevant at the time of Moses and the children of Israel. That type of telescope is just as relevant today and will continue to be relevant till the end of time. He had his trust in Allah, that alone would get him through it. And you'll all know what happens next, Allah splits to see. So you might think that this is like, as you said, old fashioned. Oh, that's just, that's just a miracle that's given to profits. Yes, we're not going to have a physical CD split in half. But a law can split the seas of our
problems. Allah does, but it requires a certain formula of hope. Yeah. And, and not and not giving up. And and being a hope and trust in Allah subhanaw taala. So to those kids, for example, who are being bullied at school? Yeah, it might feel just like that, that, that they feel like, you know what, like giving up like falling into despair. And this is motivation for them, that allows indeed, with you, when you hold on to your identity for the sake of Allah, for example, the sisters that are in hijab, the sisters who refuse to take up their hijab out of fear or out of pressure, that when they choose to do that, they are following in the footsteps of Musashi Salaam, who is saying, by no
means we're not going to be overtaken in Nehemiah, it'll be sad. Indeed, my Lord is with me, and he'll get me through this. He'll get me through the school year, he'll get me through this trial.
Zack, love it. Okay, so So kind of in line with this, about how people may think
the olden days are not relevant to us. What about people who who want to change maybe perhaps sort of the meaning of the Quran to suit their lifestyles or the way things are going? Now a lot of people will say, Well, that was then and we need to change it for now. How do we deal with this? And how do we, again, I don't know if the making it relevant is the word but how can we deal with those kinds of situations?
You know, that that's a very common kind of consideration that we hear not just within the Muslim community, but you hear it within the Catholic the Christian community, the Jewish community, this constant idea of the need for reformation or change, and there's no doubt that time and place things will you have
New occurrences, new developments. You may need a new type of language to engage the particular modern moment that you're in. But what's essential, I believe in the process of engaging divine scripture because we're all believers in Allah. And we believe that Allah sent to us a divine text, the for earn, and he sent it to the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam so that in and of itself, I mean, it would require more time. That's a big deal. Right? If I were to tell you right now, if you want to know something about linguistics, go sit with Noam Chomsky. Everyone's gonna say, yeah, you know, that's a big deal. Noam Chomsky has linguistics PhD at MIT. And so what in law he will leave
us with you he'll methylone Allah, there is no comparison, the magnificence and the greatness and the grandiose pneus of Allah and His messenger. Now, the reason I say that is this is before I can judge any given matter, I have to have a holistic understanding, or at least comprehension of what this thing is, you know, the scholars, they have a principle, it's an a very essential principle that's useful in all fields of life, they say at hokku Allah shape, foreign on the soul of foreign Antasari, that to be able to judge any given issue in life. If I want to come in, assess what this thing is, and make a judgment call, I have to be have a conception, I have to at least understand,
you know, what the basics or the parameters of this thing is, so for me to come to revelation to a laws book, and basically say, from an outsider's perspective, almost before actually going in and grinding and saying, you know, what, this quote, needs to be worked around so that it's relevant to me, then basically, what I'm doing is I'm not working from within, what I'm coming is with my own subjectivity, my own biases, understandings perspectives on life, and I'm projecting them onto the hold on and if I don't immediately find them in the Quran, then I say the Quran is irrelevant. And that's a very dangerous plight to take in life. The Quran for us, as Allah says, is a source of
guidance. So what then is my responsibility, My responsibility is to dig deep into the Quran, and explore that reality, try to understand how can this quote and be my guidance, but there are as sister Yasmina, was noting there are steps for that. And one of the essential essential steps to begin to seek that out, is actually commitment to hard work, commitment to struggle. You know, we live in a moment in time, where we want everything very quick, very accessible, very easy. If it doesn't come to me in the form of a three to five minute YouTube clip. And I'm basically not going to engage it further. But ancestor jameelah, what it took to come to the point where she can attain
those PhDs and put out these magnificent works of academic, you know, output, it took a lot of work burning the midnight candle. That's why the author would say men cannot be data who
cannot be hired to whom OSHA, those whose beginning points burn, they will find a Schrock, they will find beautiful lights thereafter. Now, if you go back to my initial reflection in the beginning, I spoke about the prophets beginning experience with revelation as being traumatic. It was a very intense, and if you will, painful experience.
We know that the Prophet was terrified, so he ran to our mother Khadija, and he fell into her warm embrace. And he said in a huff, while NFC, I'm worried about myself, we know that the angels are being a father who Obama who had who Jared jabril took him and grabbed him and held him so tight, until the Prophet felt that he was going to die or go faint. So the Prophet experienced psychological trauma, emotional trauma and physical pain and trauma. What do you think the lesson in that for us is? That's to recognize that nothing that is truly virtuous and good, comes easy. Everything comes with hard work, and even pain. What a lot of postmodern philosophers philosophers
will have his belief is that pain is very bad, and you should always run away from pain. That's why we are obsessed with diluting our pain, numbing ourselves will amuse ourselves to death, as the famous author noted, will watch TV endlessly on loop Netflix until we're blue in the face and our eyes are completely dry and tired. We'll find any sources of pleasure, intoxicants, all of that because we believe that pain equals bad, but all of us know experientially in life, that there is a concept of good pain. There is a concept of good burn, that when I workout and I really build my muscle, I feel the burn and I see that's a good burn.
Similarly, when I go into the Quran, like I said in the beginning, I have to do with humility, but I have to be committed to hard work. I can go to the hole and kind of, you know, dilly dally and say, Oh, the poor and I went to it once, twice, 10 times, it really didn't I didn't find myself. And then, you know, I kind of gave up. I have to say, No, I know, because so many, you know, throughout centuries have been saying, This is the book, I have inherited this from generational generation, clearly there must be something good, or else 1.6 billion people would not be following this right, throughout the centuries. And so perhaps the deficiency is in my effort, not in the book.
Right? That doesn't mean that we don't need you know, you know, brilliant, thoughtful, creative scholarship about negotiating our times. That's one reality. But if I want to hold on to, you know, give me its spiritual beauties. Its theological fortification. I have to go into it with humility and a commitment to hard work. By the way, that's why after the command of eclub What were the first commands? Yeah, you have Muslim men? Yeah, you have a desert. Oh, you who is cloaked stand up home. You know, it was comin Coleman Laila in Laconia and is for Olympus men who kalila Allah, he wanted to, you know, stand up and pray, stand up and recite the Quran. And then it was confirmed under
stand up in Warren, it was he was the Prophet was told, yeah, Mohammed, there's no longer any time for relaxation. It's about work. And so this dunya to find any of the virtues any of the true bountiful matters of this dunya I have to commit myself to hard work, and I have to be willing to experience difficulty and pain. And when I push through it, and I embrace the pain, I will only find growth, and I will only find increase. So I believe essentially on that journey is the readiness to hard work, and the willingness to experience the good burn, and good praying and with that, may Allah subhanaw taala open up the doors of his bounties and his virtues and his lights for us, Aloma
miniato, Belladonna.
Oh, thank you. Really, when we do that hard work, right, we find that the Quran is actually more relevant. So our times than what we may have initially thought, and this especially comes up with gender, and the sense that, you know, we need to update our faith or reinterpret the Quran given, you know, some of the the gender liberation ideals in our society. And
what we find though, is that the Quran and the Prophet Muhammad like them, that they are very much advanced in this quest for women's liberation. And we know you know, we have many examples that show this. And one of my favorites, though, is the time when on Salama Guardiola, and when she said to the Prophet, she said, why is it that we are not mentioned in the Quran? To the extent that men are? And I really love this question, because often there is this idea that the faithful righteous woman is the woman who, you know, doesn't speak up. Again, a lot. We've been doing a lot of work to change that idea. But But still, you know, there was once this idea that of that, or
to sometimes we feel that women in our society don't have the right to even just ask the question, right? about gender equality. So this hurt onsala was questioning, it affirms that it's fine for us to use our intellect, it's fine for us to wonder when it seems like there's some kind of gender imbalance to at least ask right? And so after Solomon, posed that question to prophecy, sell them later, that day that it was revealed to the Prophet is very beautiful verse that I'm going to read in so many of you know, but I think it's one of the one that we love to quote more when we're talking about gender equality, and it's in Islam, that certainly in the eyes of Allah, men and women
are equal and we're equal spiritual, intellectual beings. And it's this the verse was that that was revealed was for submitting men and submitting women believing men and believing women, devout men, and devout women, truthful men and truthful women, patient men and patient women, humble men and humble women, charitable men and charitable women, men who fast and women who fast men who got their private parts and women who, who guard their private parts excuse me, and men who remember God often and women who remember
got off, and surely Allah has prepared forgiveness and a great reward for them. And so also to going back to her question, though, you know, why is it that the men are mentioned often are mentioned more. And so another thing that I've thought about and other scholars have also talked about this as well, is that, you know, one of the reasons that men are dressed more in the Quran is, again, the Quran is a guidance, right, and all of us need guidance, but it's often the men who are the ones who are, you know, sometimes transgressing these boundaries at the expense of women, but in other words, that men need to be reminded that they have to treat women with kindness and justice, because often
they're the ones who are likely to commit an injustice against women than the other way around, right? And we find that this is still the case in our society, right? That we have this these causes against violence against women, right? And so the again, the Quran is this guidance for all times, and it's relevant for all times. And I think there is a lot of space when we do the work, and we have that humility, we can find that it does fit our times perfectly.
So before we open up to questions, if you guys do have any questions, keep them in your mind, and the microphone will make its way over to you. But we do want SR Yasmine to read from her book for us.
So I'll just read a short excerpt from the book love and happiness, I just released it, it's going to be going to be doing a selling and signing right outside by the is the booth. The reason I want to read this is because the intro kind of talks about this struggle, it's very personal. Both of my books are very personal about my own struggle. As I mentioned, I grew up just around here, I had to find my own identity as not just a Muslim, but as a woman. Growing up in a society where I didn't always feel like I fit in, you know, we have our parents, but sometimes it's difficult to connect, because they grew up in a different culture. And then I have the people I go to school with, and it
was difficult to connect there. So and then. And then I went through different things in life, which
taught me about struggle and taught me about loss. And so what I've tried to do is I tried to give back through whatever I learned through my own struggle to help other people because so much of our experience is very shared, we have a shared human experience. And, you know, struggle, as the shift said, is part of it. You know, they say no pain, no gain. And yet, we sometimes forget that. And we want everything to be just perfectly comfortable. But that's for agenda. So I just want to read a short excerpt here
about why I wrote this book. So things fall apart, and they break sometimes, like many of you, my journey hasn't always been easy. Pain is very real, and so is loss. Sometimes it's hard not to let the weight of what we carry, or the memory of what we've lost take over. Many of us know the reality of struggle, and so many people suffer in silence. It is hard. It is hard not to give up when we face the repeated disappointments of life. Like some of you I have known loneliness, I have known defeat. And I have fallen many times chasing mirages and broken many bones, building castles in life's fading sense. Sometimes all it took was one solid wave to destroy what I had spent years
building. And so I decided to give it a voice, all of it, the tears, the pain, and the lessons. The things which I saw and learned and gained along my own life path, needed a voice. I wanted to give back in hopes of helping myself and others survive. But then it wasn't only about surviving. I didn't just want people to survive inside of their storms. I wanted people to thrive inside their storms. And so I wrote as I walked through my own. The words found in this book became my voice and my letter to the world. They became my deepest attempt to not only pick myself up, but others along the way. I wrote because just as we will fall in life, so will we rise. That's the thing about this
world. It never gives us only one kind of path. There is pain, yes, and loss and even darkness. But there is also light, there is hope. There is beauty. And there is also love and happiness.
Okay, so we have about 15 minutes for q&a. I'm going to ask that it's a question. So an example would be can you
elaborate a little bit more about blank? Or how does blank apply to my life? No commentaries, please. And we'll start with our first questioner. Salaam Alaikum. system. Yes, me.
I have a question about, we have Islam, and then we have cultural Islam.
What I see is, most of the time we tend to take the route of cultural Islam. And then we that's when we break rules of the real message of what Islam is, whether it's a gender or any other issues. Just touch upon that. Thank you.
Bismillah that's a really important question. And I absolutely agree with you. I think that's so much of the reason why we we stumble, in our path is because we take culture over Diem, we take what our culture tells us over what Allah and His Messenger tell us, and I can give you some examples of that. But, for example, the prophets I send them is reported to have been one to help in the home. Yeah, we A lot of us talk about Sunnah. We talk about following the Sunnah, and hamdulillah. Some of us, you know, are careful to have long beards and short pants. But we forget and we pick and choose from the sun that right for example, the prophets I sent him I he reports that he was one to help
his family in the house, he used to sew his clothes and use to help in the household chores, if you may, yeah. And then when the time for solo came, you go and pray. He had this balance. But yet in our culture's our culture's, will come and say that that's not the job of men, right? That it's degrading for a man to wash the dishes, things like that. Right? So this is just a small example of how we pick and choose from the sundown and how we take our culture because our culture told us that this isn't the job of men. And then we take our culture over the Sunnah in this is these are Swahili traditions. these are these are authentic narrations, that the prophets I send them did this.
Another example is that we,
for example, like when when when a person becomes religious, you'll find that often not always, but often, a person thinks that being religious means being very harsh, right? So the more harsh you are, the more religious you are, right? It's like this idea. And what ends up happening is that when this person becomes more and more religious, who gets the brunt of their harshness, most the family within the home? And this is how they be religious, okay. But this completely again, goes against the words and, and an example of the prophets I send them. The Prophet, for example, said, Cairo, Cairo come to LA, the best of you are the best to their families, that when a person is becoming
more religious, how do you know that it's really working, is that you're going to become better to your family, not worse, you're going to treat your family better, you're going to be more gentle and more compassionate, and have better at that and more manners and patience with your family, not less. And if you're, if it's actually the opposite, then that's an indication that there's something else going wrong, right? Because when Allah subhanaw taala, and the light and love of Allah goes in the heart, the heart actually supposed to become more soft, and more compassionate, and more merciful. When you look at the the, the qualities of Rasulullah sallallahu sallam, you find that he
was extremely soft, and he was extremely compassionate and merciful. We know many stories, right? The man who was urinating in the masjid, and he was compassionate with him, he taught him with mercy. And he's telling us that the best are those who are best to our families. But sometimes when we start to get into the deen and get into the religion, it doesn't make a softer, it makes us harder. It makes us more harsh, and actually almost just become more mean, with our families and those closest to us many examples of this. It's something we have to be careful about.
We we have to keep in mind that not to be like those who Allah mentions in the Quran, that the reason they didn't believe is because they say that we have to follow what our forefathers did. They never wanted to go away from what their forefathers did. And sometimes we may fall into that. No, no, this isn't my culture. But we have to be careful that it's okay to follow culture as long as it doesn't contradict religion. As long as it doesn't contradict what a line is messengers. Say where what you want, eat what you want, you know, act as you want, as long as it doesn't count.
Okay, we're gonna move on to the next question, if you can keep it under 15 seconds.
Okay, so I thank you for your topic, but my question is a little bit provocative. I think sticking to the Quran is not enough. We have seen people who follow the Quran become the best people in the world and at the same time, people will follow the Quran become the worst people in the world. And like it's medicine, Allah said the Quran is medicine, Shiva, Shiva. I am sick like I'm oral surgeon for example, I'm sick I'll take the whole antibiotic in one visit and one time then it might kill me. So there is a missing link here. There is something should be with the foreign you know the Quran alone there was the Prophet Muhammad a book and the teacher, book and teacher they reach the
best thing in the world. So this is the like a dangerous to say alone. The Quran will be the guide without the companionship of the righteous people were kuno ma saw the three Masada thanks so much. Maybe you can touch upon this. Yeah, I agree. Baraka low FICO. I think anyone who truly follows the Quran will obey the commands of the Quran. And one of the essential commands of the Quran is pull out to Allah will all teodora soon will remain calm, obey Allah and obey His Messenger and obey those of leadership and those of understanding and so it is undoubtedly the case that we have the revelation. But then we have the vehicle through which and by which Allah subhanaw taala manifested
that relevant revelation, and that was the person of the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, and so he was as our mother Aisha described noted earlier by our dear sister that he was a walking Quran, like kind of holed up over on the mat he was the whole and manifest and so the essential lens through which and by which we view the Quran, is through the lens of Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wasallam right Allahu jendela Allah makes it that this entire Deen this entire religion is predicated on two pillars La ilaha illAllah Muhammad Rasul Allah there is no God but Allah and Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam is His Messenger. And so when we're trying to explore
and understand and realize what the true meanings of the Quran are, we have to go immediately to the person of our beloved messenger Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam who the Quran was revealed to over a period of 23 years, were certain based on circumstance and issue and and, you know, difficulty challenge, moments of happiness and sadness and joy and struggle. The Prophet was engaging and showing us how the UN comes into to being so I fully, utterly agree that we have to be weary of those who say for example, you take the Koran and you reject the Sunnah of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam, you reject the way of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam. By doing
that, we are simply not fulfilling or obeying the commands of the Quran, we are therefore contradicting ourselves, if I say I will reject the Prophet sooner than I am rejecting the Quran. It's really that simple because Allah makes it very explicit in the Quran, Allah Juan.
Okay, we have time for one more quick question.
Okay, so now monochrome celebrity tattoo. I'm a mother of two young children, and I'm educator also dealing with the teenagers and some young young youth members. I know I feel that we are disconnected with Quran and as you are saying, you know, we have to put some efforts and make some, you know, some take some pains. So I would like you guys to give us some recommendations, you know, how we can strengthen our connection with Quran and with Allah subhanho wa Taala. So I need some recommendations and some steps to follow, please.
smilla Baraka lofi I mean, number one sister, I would say
is, you know, one of the beautiful virtues of our particular moment is that we have access to a lot of resources that can begin to help us imagine the world in different ways. And you know, many of the individuals that you see in our conferences, in Islam, economic and all of the conferences that we explore, a lot of them before the law have brought the plan into life in the English language, right for a lot of our youngsters to begin to to
Navigate and explore the beautiful stories and meanings and how it can be relevant and how it can be exciting and how it can be spiritually moving, and how it can be relevant and how it can be empowering. And so, you know, one of the benefits of this, you know, we have this, you know, revolution in technology is that we can easily access those things. And so what I would say is that from a very young age, you know, if we don't have local scholarship, and teachers that can sit down with our kids, and not just any teachers, I mean, very often, and this is no, you know, shot to Sunday schools, Sunday schools is a beautiful initiative. But very often, sometimes a child goes to
Sunday school, and they're turned off by the pool. And because maybe the person who's teaching it teaches a message that may be harsh, or difficult or scary. You know, and I see this all the time. And I encourage anyone who is a part of Sunday schools, it is a Sunday school teacher to really think about curriculums and how to better teach them for the end. But we fell in love we have so many people from all ministered a man, you know, and all of them are here. Yes of body, you know, of the NASA Jenga, all the mercy, you know, model titles, who and in our dear sister, yes, me and many others who are doing wonderful work in those spaces that you can sit your children down from a young
age, right and, and have home halaqaat invite people. I mean, when I give hope buzz, and I give Friday night classes, and so on, and they're all live streamed. And you know, there are people who live in the same Massachusetts, they live in the same state, but maybe an hour away. And what they do is they sit down as families, and they watch the live stream, and they have a conversation. But the problem for very often is and when it comes to parents now is that we wait too late. We wait until the children are have already developed an ethos about how they like to hang out how they like to spend their time how they spend their Friday night or their Saturday or Saturday afternoon. And
then we kind of take for granted the young little cute, naive child, and they suddenly become a grown up. And I'm like, Oh my god, you know, I've lost time. And I'm trying to make up for lost time. And very often it's a much harder process. And so you know, that's why the child when they're young, it's like etching a stone, right? conduction.
conduction alhaja right teaching when children are young, it's when you're, it's as if you're etching into stone. So you create those cultural experiences, when they're young age around the pull on and you make it very beautiful. You don't make the Quran a burden just about HIV, and you smack in hit and beat the child so that they can memorize that memorization is beautiful. But when it when it is attributed to pain, a lot of our forefathers grow up to have nothing to do with the plan later on. Right? And they forget that and they resent the poor because they attribute an with pain when they were younger. just memorize memorize memorize has to be a beautiful experience. I was sitting
with one of the speakers in the lounge yesterday. And he was saying you know, I although my uncle right now I disagree with him so much on so many things. But I always make dua for him because since I was a young child, he made Sala such a beautiful thing for me. He whenever he would go to the masjid, he would take me out for ice cream. He made it such a beautiful and exciting experience. Until today I love Salah because of my uncle that I disagree with on 80% of issues, but he was wise and how he introduced the foreign, the solar so similarly with the
young, be wise, be loving and bring them to sources and individuals who treat or teach the Quran in a sensible, meaningful and relevant ways hamdulillah we have many of those resources. I hope that's useful inshallah. Okay, so we have a minute and a half it's going to also add making sure that when we read the Quran that we understand that we understand the Quran at an early age I know that I don't know in our communities I was I grew up in the community of my wife Mohammed. And it was really emphasize that we read the Quran with meaning obviously we read English Koran, right. And I also know that he met Muhammad highly encouraged almost to the point where many of his followers
thought that it was required to read the whole Quran in Ramadan. So we actually saw our parents taking this on as part of Ramadan reading the Quran in our language in English, right? And so just one of the first memories I have of reading the Quran extensively, or I would say, you know, like a whole Jews was doing Ramadan and so and are ready if we've created this culture, where we know we're striving even harder in that month and thinking allows reward
and love and light and all in so then they will just see that as a natural part of that and and lastly just you know also make do while of course that Allah is the one who guides and and puts that love and light in our heart and may He make our children make us love the Quran and make us the people of the Quran. I mean, I mean, thank you so much. Well, I want to thank our panelists for coming out here tonight, we can give them a round of applause.
And just to let you guys know, since Yasmin maga head is doing a book signing for both of her books,
at the esna booth back there, so as you're making your way out, feel free to get a book and get it signed while she's here. And there's another session starting at eight o'clock, I believe. I don't know what it is. You can look in the booklet that's what they're for. And thank you guys so much again, have a good night.