The Spirituality of Justice

Am I

audible administrator no regime smilla rahmanir rahim salatu salam ala rasulillah. While it may have distracted Saudi Arabia Siddeley Omri wahala, Dr. Samuel essene, of cocconi.

I want to welcome all of you today, thank you for coming out. I know it's raining, I know there's a lot of traffic, just echolocate for supporting this effort. I was sitting here during the presentation, listening to what the mlfa does, and I was blown away. Because the reality is that the United States is decades ahead of a lot of other countries in terms of the and I, I was sitting next to my husband, who's British, and he's like, we don't have this, we need something like this in the UK. And this is a blessing that we have here in the US. And this is something that we have to support. Because the reality is that we are, there is a witch hunt. And and you guys know this, we

know that there is injustice happening. And if we allow that injustice to happen, it will only grow. The thing that I love about what this organization is doing is that they're setting precedents. So they are we are sending a message, it's not okay to do these things to Muslims, one of the biggest problems that we're facing is that there's started to become, you know, in every period of time, there is like a type of discrimination and bigotry, that becomes acceptable. And there's a kind that's unacceptable. And the problem is that, yes, we've gone through time, times where it was acceptable to, to to discriminate against African Americans, it was acceptable, it was something

that people it was it was normal. And there was a time when it was acceptable to discriminate against Japanese Americans. And and so what we've seen is that throughout time, we unfortunately, as a nation, and even, you know, as a people as a race, we have, unfortunately, despite how much you know, how progressive we become and how much we've grown. And, you know, there's technology, and there's all these developments, but unfortunately, there's still that acceptable bigotry, and now it's against Muslims. It's, it's okay, and not only and I will go even further to say that it's not just okay to be biased against Muslims, but in some cases, it'll win you elections.

In some cases, it will not only is it acceptable, but it's actually its political capital, it'll actually gain you support, and will even when you elections, and when you really want to get a candidate, right, and you really want to

make a candidate lose their place in an election. What do you do? You call them a Muslim? Right? What is the worst thing about Obama? Right, the point here is that this has become the acceptable, you know, Bullseye that people have, have actually, it's, it's something that people are okay with. And so this type of work, I cannot say how important it is, I know that not everyone raises their hand. And you know, some people they want to give in, in secret mailers, panatela, reward those who give publicly and those who given secret because the law actually mentions both of them in the foot end, that there are some who gives secretly and then those who give publicly and secretly, both are

rewarded. Yeah, and we just have to set our intention for our last panel data. But those who want to give in secret, Aye, aye, aye, urge you to please give something before you leave, I just urge you to give something even if it's less than what he was asking, but give something and make your intention. For what I'm about to talk about Subhanallah, the thing that I've learned about service, the thing that I've learned about giving to others, is that in fact, when we give to others, we are ultimately And first off giving to ourselves. And that's amazing, because so often,

you know, may Allah bless him, the brother was talking about how much we can help other people. Right. And that was the push is that the focus was on how I can help someone else. And oftentimes, when people are asking you to give, you know you're at a fundraiser or you're, you know, you're there trying to appeal for a certain cause. The focus is telling you, here's how you can help another person, which is all true. That's all true. But I'm actually going to come at it from a different angle. And I'm going to say this is how you're going to help yourself. And why am I doing that? Because as human beings, we are self interested. And that's not because we're bad people.

Yeah, but that's just the way that the left panel that it created us that ultimately we do. We are motivated by self interest and we are motivated by self preservation. At the end of the day. That's how we're designed. That's why Allah subhanaw taala when he wants us to do things, he gives us rewards, right? He gives us Jenna, he tells us

Do these things, you'll get this reward. Because that's how human beings are, we do look out for our own self interest, that doesn't mean that we're selfish, necessarily. There's a difference between being self interested and human and being selfish, because a selfish person only looks out for their self interest and doesn't care about other people's interests. A selfish person wants their self interest by any means necessary. That's an awful quality, yeah. But to be self interested is to be human, that we look for what's going to give us good things that's going to help us that's going to give us happiness, that's going to protect us that's going to protect our families. This is just a

normal human motivation. All right, everybody with me? Now, that isn't to say we don't care about others. But that's our one of our ultimate one of our strongest motivators. So what I'm going to do is actually tell you that when you give to causes like this, anytime you give to another person, you are first off giving to yourself, and I'll tell you why I'm gonna, I'm just going to talk about it from two different perspectives. One is just the secular psycho psychological perspective, what the research shows in psychology about service. Now, one thing that was very interesting is they did a study, and they took, they took, they made four groups of people. And they took these people. And

what they did was they divided them into four groups, each group was told to do different things. And

one was told to do random acts of kindness, another was told to treat themselves. So we have one group who is being told to help another person, another group is told to treat themselves. A third group is told to do something that will help the world. So it's kind of like a global impact. And then the fourth was a control group, they were just supposed to keep track of their, their activities for that week. Now, the results were striking of this, of this study, only the participants who engaged in pro social behaviors. Now what are pro social behaviors, those were the two groups who helped others either on a one to one basis on an individual or a global basis, or a

global impact. Only those two groups showed demonstrated improvements in psychological flourishing. What does that mean? They were shown to have increase in their own positive emotions. And this actually increased from one week to another. What is this talking about? what this is talking about is this, that when you take people and you know, a lot of times, if you ask a person, what's going to make you happy? Actually, they've done studies where they asked groups of people, they did one study where they asked millennials,

millennials, most people in this room are millennials. Okay, millennials, Are y'all around? teenage to 20s? Yeah.

They asked millennials. What's your number one goal? What's your number one goal? More than 80% of millennials said, to make money?

Fair enough. Okay. More than 50% that to be famous.

Okay, so what's happening here is that the majority, the vast majority of people believe that what's going to make them happy? Because ultimately, what are we looking for in life, we're looking for happiness, we're looking for well being. That's what motivates human beings. So the vast majority of people believe that happiness actually is in money, and fame, that these are the things that are going to bring us happiness. But what's very striking is that when they study happiness, when they study, when they actually look at the reality of happiness, and the reality of well being, they find that it has nothing to do with wealth, and it has nothing to do with thing. There's something else

that's, that's related to happiness. And that's what I'm going to talk about what is that? So, researchers say that about 40% of our happiness is inherited. Okay, it's sort of like it has to do with your genes, etc. So about 40% in there, and about 10% is having to do with like safety food, you know, that you're okay. But that leaves 50% which is sort of controlled by us by our behaviors, by our thinking, fair enough. Now, what are the things they found that increase happiness in that 50% that we have control over essentially, more or less? One of the most decisive factors and that they found again and again, in increasing happiness is helping other people. It's pro social

behaviors. It's

It's helping a person in need. It's volunteering, it's given to another person. And the reason this is so powerful is because we often think that what's going to make me happy is taking care of me. Right? We think that so for example, we had a group in that study were that they were actually told to treat themselves, meaning goals, spend money on yourself, take yourself out, you didn't mean go to the spa, whatever it is that you want to do to treat yourself. They did not show an increase in happiness, they did not actually show an increase in positive emotion. Isn't that amazing? Even though we believe that these are the things that are going to make us happy, having more stuff is

going to make us happy, right? or treating myself is going to make me more happy. But in fact, that's not what the research shows. It doesn't make people happier. But what does make people happier is helping another person. That's powerful. Because what it shows us is that Allah, the designer, right, has put wired us in such a way that will motivate us to do what, what did I say at the beginning? What are we motivated to do to seek what self interest happiness? This is something everybody wants? Christian, Jewish, Muslim, atheist, agnostic, everybody wants to be happy, right? Allah designed us to actually feel happiness when we give to others. This is the design of a las

panatela. And that's how Allah and Latif is wiring us to be what pro social creatures, people who are thinking of others, because ultimately, it actually makes me happier. And you know how they tell you that money doesn't buy happiness, right? Do you know they lie to?

Money actually does buy happiness, and studies show that money buys happiness? But wait a minute.

Money only buys happiness when spent on others?

Isn't that powerful? That's what the studies have shown that when you have money, and you spend it on yourself, it doesn't increase your happiness. your actual well being you're positive, yes, you might have like, you might feel good for a moment, you know, but it's not. It's it's fleeting. Yeah. And it's not it doesn't it hasn't been shown to increase in positive, significant positive emotion, but spending that money on others does. And it's, it's so powerful, that even just remembering a time, they found this instead of just remembering a time that you spent on others will increase your happiness. Can you believe that? So the reality is money buys happiness, but only one spent on

others. So panela. Again, this is the design of a law. What's a law pushing us to? Do? You understand? What else? Now? What does Allah and His Messenger say about this? So I've talked to you just about secular psychology. So far, this is this is something that an atheist will be motivated to do and agnostic will be motivated to do simply because it's going to be self, it's going to benefit themselves, it's going to make them feel good right now. And this reward of happiness that comes with helping other people actually comes in this life, even before the next. So it's a reward and intrinsic reward that God has put, even in this life, even for a disbeliever. That's an overall

that's just in the design of being human is that you're going to feel good for giving to others helping others. Now, what does the lawn His Messenger say, this is now not just temporary happiness. Now we're talking about eternity. All right. I was I was really moved by many of the stories that were shared. And one of the things that that he mentioned was the Hadith where the prophets I send them tells us that your wealth is not decreased by silica, that your wealth is not decreased by silica. And I was just thinking about how powerful that is. And and I want to actually explain that even further.

You know, if you're ever having a financial difficulty, I've had people come to me and ask advice, what should I do? I'm having this financial difficulty. I'm in debt, I have this issue, right. And you know what the best advice I can think of to give that person is,

that seems a little strange, right? Because you think that if you're having a scarcity that you should hold on tighter, right? What's the panel? Ah, it doesn't work that way. Let me ask you a question.

If I were to explain to a five year old who only has $10 the concept of investing,

they're not going to understand it. What are they going to feel like? If I tell them look, look, look, look, just give me that $10 and I'm going to invest it. What are they going to feel like has happened to that $10

They're gonna think it's been lost, right? a five year old can understand the concept of investment. Right? All the five year olds sees is I have $10. Now I don't have $10, therefore, it's been lost. That's the understanding of a five year old right?

Now, if I then talk to an adult, and I tell them, Look, give me this money that you have, and I'm going to invest it, you can explain to that adult, that adult is willing to give up the $10. Why? Because the understanding that the adult has is that I'm not losing this money. I'm growing it. Do you see what I'm saying? The dog understands that. Now, spiritually, spiritually, when you give sadaqa

some people who don't have a deeper understanding may think that that's being lost, just like the example I gave of the child, right. But the people who really understand the way things work, the way things work in the unseen, realize that that money is being invested. any money that you give for subsequent any money that you give for the sake of a law, not only is it not decreasing your wealth, it's actually growing your wealth. And, and I guarantee you, anytime you give an amount for the sake of Allah, pure, pure intention, you will not just get that amount back, but it will be increased. And those of you who've done it can know from experience that that's a fact that any

amount you give for the sake of Allah Subhana, Allah grows your money, he will put Bubba in your wealth, and you will actually get back more wealth. And you'll be amazed because it'll come from places you never imagined. That is the promise of Allah subhanaw taala it's an investment. You know, one time the prophets I send them I shuttle the line her told told him that she you know, there was like,

there was a there was a an animal that she had given a portion of for charity, right? But then there was this one part of this animal that the prophets I send them specifically like, especially like, so she says to him, I gave this portion for charity, and I kept your favorite part. And you know what he said to her? This is like, eternal teaching moment. He said, No, the part you kept, the part you kept is the part that was given away. And the part that was given for charity is the part we kept. And if you get that, that he's teaching her that it's the things we give for the sake of Allah, that we are ultimately keeping. The stuff that we give for the sake of Allah is what we

ultimately hold on to. And it's the things that we hold on to that we're ultimately going to lose. You know why? Because kulu Manali has said, everything is passing away, everything in existence is passing away. Why up kawach hoorah, because all Jalali with a Chrome, there's only one thing that's remaining, and that's the face of Allah, that is what should have been. And anything I do for what to look at anything that I'm doing for a law, there's only thing that's sex remaining, and everything else is passing away. Because at the end of the day, no one goes into their grave with their wealth, right?

another lie,

you actually do go to your grave with your wealth, but which portion of it

this is deep, because the prophets I send them says that all of the actions of, of the children of Adam, are done once you die, right? Everything is done. Except there's three things that continue to go with you to your grave, there's three things that actually continue to go with you in your grave. And you know, one of them is something called so called jatiya. sadaqa. jariya is a charity that you gave while you were in this life, that continues to benefit others, even after you go to your grave. These are the types of charities where you're investing in an institution in something that even after you pass away, it's going to keep helping people, something like this organization. So the

reality is you are going to your grave with your wealth, but only the portion that you gave for the sake of alone. Isn't that amazing? But all the rest that you held on to? That's the part that doesn't go to your grave. So that's, that's a different way of thinking. And now what I'm saying to you again, now, I'm talking to you as a self interested human being because human beings are this way. What else do we need as human beings? I'll tell you something we need desperately as human beings and that is safety. Human beings need safety. Not only do we need safety in this life, but even more importantly, we all desperately need safety in the next life. Am I everyone agree?

Everyone pretty much agrees

If there's any place that we need protection, it's going to be when we stand in front of Allah soprano done. Am I right?

So if I'm as a human being, and I'm thinking, I'm thinking logically right, I'm thinking, you know what, I really need to be safe on a day when children are going to be so terrified, they're going to turn gray, when mothers are going to be throwing their own children, even the ones that are nursing. This is real. This is real. It's not just the concept, it says this is actually going to be an ally, when he talks about the day of judgment in the court and even uses the past tense. Why? Because it's certain It is, it is, it's as if it's already been, it's a certainty this is going to happen. This is a really scary day. We're scared when we see natural disasters, we're scared of the damage, you

know that the immense damage that we see from hurricanes and tsunamis. And these are signs of a loss of power that Allah showing us these signs, so that we can take heed that this is just a glimpse of the Day of Judgment. Don't think that these signs that these natural disasters just happening just because, you know, just because there was some wind and there was some water and it came together? No, these are signs. And these are reminders for us that this is a glimpse of the Day of Judgment, so protect yourself. But how do we protect ourselves? Do you know that one of the ways to protect yourself on the Day of Judgment Allah has taught us is to help a person in need in this life. A law

has made a deal with us, a law has made a deal with and this is repeated over and over and over. There is this concept that you'll find when you study the text. When you study the Koran when you study the Hadees you'll find that there is a persistent message. And that message is that how you are with the creation is how God Allah will be with you. That message that connection you'll see over and over and over in the Quran and in the Hadith. One example is in the Quran, Allah subhanaw taala revealed a verse and during the time where I shut off the line, how it was being accused. And in this area, what happened is, I will block the line he is

he finds out that one of the people spreading the slander was a relative or relative. He was financially supporting. So what does he do? He just withholds the financial support. That's all he does. He doesn't go out looking for revenge. He just withholds the financial support. Allah subhanaw taala reveals a verse and add to this. When you have

a Buddha and your fellow love aleko Allah says to him, let them part in an overlook. Why Enter to have buena and yocto level echo? Why is he being told to Parliament overlook not because the dude was was coming and begging for forgiveness? Sometimes we say well, so and so doesn't deserve my forgiveness. So and So hasn't hasn't even apologized. But this wasn't what I was saying. I wasn't saying but he apologized, but he feels bad. But he but he is remorseful. No, it actually had nothing to do with the relative he said Allah to have Buddha and your fellow local. Do you not love for Allah to forgive you? Do you see what I was teaching us here? Take the person out of the equation.

You are being good to this relative not because the relative deserves it. But because then Allah will forgive you. So this transaction now is being focused on you and Allah, it's not even about the other person

to understand, it's actually about you and Allah, you want the forgiveness of Allah Who doesn't want the forgiveness of Allah? Do you want the mercy of a law? Well, let me put something into context for a second. Do you know that no one will enter Paradise without the mercy of Allah. Do you know that no one will enter Paradise by only their deeds. And when the prophets I send them told us this the companions asked even you also the law.

He is the perfect human that existed. Yeah, the most perfect human being to walk the earth. Even him he said even me, except that a lot has mercy on me. Do you understand what that means? That means all of us are doomed without the mercy of Allah. That's what it means. It means it doesn't matter. If you think you're the best worshiper on Earth, you're not better than the Prophet seisen. You're not. It's impossible. Yeah. Agreed. Because if you think you are then we have other issues.

might refer you to someone.

But that's a different issue. We can be better than him. No matter how much we worship Allah, we will not be better than him in our deeds, and even he will not enter Paradise without the mercy of Allah. So fair enough. It's fair enough to say that we are desperately in need of the mercy of Allah subhanaw taala

Yeah, agree. How do we get it? Can I tell you how? I'll tell you the formula? Be merciful to those on the earth. This is the words of the prophets, I send them, be merciful to those on the earth, and the one in the heavens will be merciful to you. You want to know the formula?

Do you want to know the formula for getting the mercy of Allah

be merciful to the creation, the the brother and mentioned a woman who was a prostitute. She was merciful to a dog.

And she got the mercy of Allah from that. What about being merciful to a human being

a woman who didn't show mercy to a cat,

she actually abused a cat.

And she went to Hellfire for it.

So the reality that we have to understand is this. You and I need something desperately. And that is the mercy of Allah, the forgiveness of love, the protection of love. And we're being told how to get that. Be merciful to people, help people and I'll help you a lot saying this. This isn't me making a deal with you. You know what I mean? I can break my promise. I hope I wouldn't. But I'm a human being a lot doesn't break his promise. A lot doesn't break his deals. If he makes a deal. He keeps his deal, right. This is the deal of Allah, you help people, I'll help you. You're merciful to people, I'll be merciful to you. He specifically says that, if you help a person in need alone will

help you when you're in need on the Day of Judgment. I think that's reason enough.

I'm talking we're not talking about a tsunami here, right? When you're in the middle of a tsunami, may Allah protect us all. When you're in the middle of an earthquake, or a or a hurricane, you will do anything, you will give anything for protection. In fact, on the day of judgment, people will say, here's my kid, here's my child, here's my baby, just just save me. Do you know people will say that it's in the end, they will actually offer their own children, their own spouses, their own parents just to protect themselves.

And allies telling us, here's how you can get protection. That's how desperately we're gonna want protection. It's that you helped people in this life, you were someone who helped a person in need, so I will help you when you're in need.

So you see now, when you go and help someone when you go, you know, these people how I my heart broke when I heard that story about them. That boy who was abused?

I mean, when you help someone like that, can you imagine how much alone will help you? And ultimately, yes, you're helping that person, but you're helping yourself. The prophet SAW Selim tells us in a very powerful Hadith,

the most beloved people to Allah.

Now listen for a second, we'll pause there. If I asked you this question whose most beloved to Allah? Most people will think of a person who spends their nights and days in the masjid right. nights and days reading Quran, right? Who has a certain look about them, right? big beard, short pants, big Ave as long you know, I'm saying we have an image of what his righteousness looks like. And if I asked you who is the most beloved to a lot, you're gonna think of a person who lives and sleeps and breathes in the masjid. Right?

You know what Allah says, He tells us are the prophets I sent him tells us that the most beloved people to Allah, watch this are those who help and benefit others the most.

Those are the most beloved. You want to be beloved to Allah. Yeah, obviously,

be the most helpful benefit others the most. Those are the most beloved tools.

And the most beloved action to Allah now we're thinking, Okay, that's a calf. Right? We're thinking. So Law Day and night, we're thinking, fasting, right? We're thinking these things, these ritualistic things which are very beloved to a lot, but what's most beloved to a lot in terms of action? Look what the prophets I sent him said. He says that the most beloved actions to Allah is pleasure and happiness that you cause to enter the heart of the Muslim.

Look at the mercy of Allah has, that he he's saying, even over the ritualistic worship is just to be good to each other is to be is to be compassionate, to be merciful, to be helpful to protect one another. To be merciful to the creation is the most beloved action to love to put happiness in another person's heart.

And watch this, to cause to cause that happiness to enter the heart of a Muslim or to solve one of his problems. What is this organization doing this

This organization is full time solving Muslims problems. Yeah. When we support that we are doing the work that Allah loves most. And that's what this has to say, to solve the problem of another Muslim,

or to pay off his debt, or to prevent him from being hungry, or Now watch this, the prophets I send them and this is something that the brother Khalid referred to and alluded to. This this is the part of the Hadith always blows me away. The prophets I send them says that working to help my Muslim brother or sister is more beloved to me than making attic F in the masjid. And he's pointing to this message, he's not in this message, which messages he's standing in.

Message the Netherlands, you know, the one where one prayer is equal to 1000. And the other mustard that mustard, the one that we save up our entire lives, to just go once to, and people all over the world, literally, who can't even walk will go from every corner of the world, save up all their save, just to spend, you know, a day in that mess, just one prayer and that mystery. And he is saying that it is more beloved to me to help my brother or sister in need, then to do Atticus in this semester for one month, the entire month.

Do you understand now the perspective. This is Islam. Unfortunately, we've ritualistic we've made Islam very ritualistic. We've made Islam about just praying and fasting. But we have forgotten that Islam is about service. Yes, we pray and fast. This is a loss, right? But you see how Allah has put even this over that where he's he has put the service to other people even higher in his eyes than the ritualistic things. To me, that's just blows my mind. Because it shows us that Islam is not just a religion, of praying and fasting or going to the masjid or just worshiping Allah in a room. But that is snap is about service. And every messenger came. Yes, they did the rituals, but they came to

serve people. They came to serve people. And I'm gonna tell you something else. That's really the, the rituals, you'll find that when you study, for example, one of the first revelation is given to the prophets, I send them so it's no resentment. So to send with the prophets, I tell them is being told to do something he's being commanded. como la la la colina. So he's being told to stand and pray at night. Yeah, this is one of the first revelations, this is what is being told to do. This is training. como la la la kalila. And then he's been told how much and how. And then he says, In the lack of in the Hadith, Subhan. Allah, Allah says, because you got a lot of work to do in the day.

Do you understand the formula, you need to pray at night, because you have a lot of work to do in the day. It isn't about praying at night and sleeping in the day.

Make sense? We're not we're not Islam didn't come to just be rituals, so that we do these rituals. And then we go to sleep. And we say we did our part. But the panela the rituals have come to train us to do the service for people, and for the community and for the world. That's actually what we're taught. So we have to move away from this just idea of this compartmentalizing of Islam, that religion is that I'm praying and I'm fast and I'm reading the Quran, I may read it cover to cover 10 times in Ramadan, but am I living it? Am I living it? Am I going out and serving people? Am I going Am I reading the Quran cover to cover but not caring about people, not not being merciful to people

not being compassionate to people not seeing someone in need and trying to do something about then that means I've missed the point. I've missed the point of what I'm reciting. And I might have you memorized it. And I have it decorated on my wall and on my neck. Right? But I've missed the point. If I'm not using that training of those rituals, to make me a better person for humanity, to help other people to serve others to when someone is down, putting my hand out to help them. Unfortunately, we go to the massages and we read and we memorize. But then we use those things to to knock people down. You know, we see someone struggling. Unfortunately, this is a problem we have. We

see someone drowning, and all we do is we criticize them for drowning and maybe even push them down more instead of just reaching and trying to help them come back up. You know what I mean? We're very judgmental. And unfortunately we've lost the sense of compassion and the sense of service and mercy for others. But we have the comeback. What is it that Allah subhanaw taala really wants from us.

allies telling us that the most beloved person is the one who's most beneficial, the most helpful to others. And these are the most beloved actions to less pathetic, then he goes on to say,

whoever controls his anger, alone will conceal his faults, and whoever controls his ill feeling alone will fill his heart with contentment on the Day of Judgment. And whoever strives to help fulfill a need of his Muslim brother or sister, a law will make his feet steadfast on the Day of Judgment.

I think that's reason enough.

We're all going to stand on the Day of Judgment. Yeah. And we all need help on that day. And this is how we're going to get that help. You know, I was thinking,

myself, you know, when I was thinking about these pledges, or any of these pledges to help others, how I was just thinking to myself, you know, what? I'm a human being. Yeah, so I think about things in a, you know, in a way, like, Okay, this is an investment. Right? And you know, one of the things I'm just I'm being really honest here, one of the things I'm thinking when I, when I think about supporting an organization like this, I'm thinking that my intention is to help these people so that Allah can help me and protect me from any of these calamities. And that's honestly what charity does. The Prophet told us this life and then said, one of the best ways to protect yourselves and

your families from calamity is through charity. It actually it becomes a blob from calamity, if you're worried about getting I mean, I've heard the story of that mother, and my heart like sank. That should to go and see her son in that in that situation, in a pool of blood. Because the the person taking care of them decided to beat them up. I couldn't even imagine I put myself, I can't put myself I for a moment, like put myself in her place. And I'm thinking, what she's going through. And I'm thinking a woman in this elegant ICU, right? We then immediately asked a lot for protection from ever being in such a situation. And this is how we can protect ourselves. Right? Ultimately, we

want to protect ourselves in our own families and our communities from this ever happening again. So quickly. Heather, was thoughtfully welcome in Nova una Rahim. subhanak. Hello, behind that. eyeshadow en la ilaha illa. En us Dr. require to like, does that come along? Hi, Ron, I want to

I guess I think I can take a couple questions. A few moments if there's any buddy who wants to ask anything or share any reflections before we close? Yes.

When you're doing charity, it is

that it is more important to?

Well, you know, the reality is that even like I said, these people who like this woman who helped a dog, right, it's an animal, so even a human being so obviously, you're rewarded for helping any of the creation. But ultimately, obviously, our brothers you know, even when it comes to South Africa, and it comes to the cat, there are priorities, but all is rewardable. inshallah, if you have the right intention.

Any other questions or reflections? Yes.

It comes to them.

struggling so much to get young people to volunteer.

event, I asked people I asked her parents, I talked to them personally when I see them in social gatherings. And it seems like the parents and the children are just concerned with

getting into a good college so they can make money. Buy a house and the parents are indulging them this idea that in the long run, my child will be able to donate, but how can you teach them to go out with how do I help my community?

I need volunteers and we can't get them. How do you manage?

Right? Okay, well, I mean, there's two sides to this question. One side is to motivate from the perspective that I'm going from his which is to motivate the volunteer saying that this is the benefit of volunteerism. And in fact, this is actually one of the things that's been used to even treat things like depression is to go and be of service to others, one of the fastest ways to pick yourself up is to pick up another person. And that's just that's just been shown in studies. So there's that aspect of it. But I'm going to also mention there's another aspect, which is something we maybe can do more of as

institutions. And that is, and I can't say anything about your institution. But in general, I haven't always seen that volunteers or maybe given the proper respect, or maybe the proper value, and maybe we need to work from that end as well. One of the things I found in successful organizations that have a very strong volunteer, base, they treat their volunteers good. Yeah. So they'll give them incentives. Because at the end of the day, we are human. Yeah, we are. We are human. Allah knows that we're human. He created us, He gives us incentives. He says, There's jedna, there's rivers, there's, you know, what I'm saying? There's, there's honey, there's, there's a lot

of there's trees, I mean, that's incentive enough for me, right. And there's, there's all these incentives that allows plants out of business, because he knows human nature. And I think that as institutions, from institutional perspective, I think you're coming from an institutional perspective, obviously, from that perspective, like I said, the organization I've seen, that have very strong volunteers have base is that they do treat their volunteers very well, it becomes an honor to be a volunteer, and Muslim is one of them. And Muslim Institute has this, you know, this very, they know, they have this model of a lot of respect given to the volunteers. So people become,

you know, like, I'm the Amira, I'm the immediate, it's a respect that's given, even though the need in the middle are completely volunteer, this is an organization run completely every kobina is run by volunteers, these people are not paid. And yet in martial law, they take ownership over that, that work, because they're given that respect. And I think that's very, very important that other organizations, you know, I work with organization in the UK, called that guru. And again, very, very strong, you know, one of the things as a speaker, which is sometimes difficult, and and, you know, I'm just being honest, is that you go and you do your work, right, you you, you go and you give your

lecture, and you try sometimes these these programs they last, especially in other countries, they want you to be there for like four hours, and you know, say intense Yeah, and you're traveling and you're jet lagged, and it's intense. And then after that you have a book signing it, right. But then after that, they want you to go to have a private meal with the volunteers. And that's, that's something hard on the speaker, but that's because of the value that they give to volunteers. So then they won't have trouble getting volunteers, things like that will help to encourage volunteers. And so I'm just saying from a practical perspective, these are the things that that successful

organizations have have started to do to build that strong foundation of volunteerism.

Other questions? One last question. Yes. Like,

last question. He says, I'll repeat his question. He was wondering, how do you keep yourself from getting indulged in the dunya? Well, we're gonna have to make a new seminar for that.

That's like a whole other seminar, actually just get my book.

Shameless plug.

No, but for real, though.

It's a really big question. And, and in fact, that is what I write about. It's, it's a huge, it's a lifelong struggle. It's a lifelong struggle to do what to be in dunya without being overtaken by dunya absolutely a lifelong struggle. And that is actually the essence of what I write about. So both of my books are about that. It's about because it's, it's a struggle, I mean, right? I'm not, I'm not like out there talking about something I'm not in, I'm in it too. And, and one of the things that I've written about and reclaim your heart is my own journey and and and same thing with love and happiness. The bio they read was quite dated and so my new book is actually love and happiness

not within your heart that was like five years ago, but but these that's the whole thing that that I tried to teach to learn to struggle with myself and to write about so my short answer is read the book. That's my best answer because it's not something you can answer in like two minutes. But but it is the journey that we're all on and it is the ultimate struggle is to return back to Allah subhanaw taala as Allah says, yo malaria and foul men and whenever known eliminates a lot of the Colombian selling that on the Day of Judgment you know, the the the beautiful dog we brought him It will do my best to do not disgrace me on the day when everyone's brought back yo my lion foul man

whenever noon the day when nothing will benefit anyone have wealth or children because that's what benefits us here. or so it seems, right. This is how people get status and power. But the last thing on the day, Jasmine is gonna matter. No Millennium found men will ever know that that wealth and children, children was a sign of power. That's a it's a symbol of power in them, and it's a lot of carbon psyllium except for the one who returns back to a low with a heart that's sound with a heart that's healthy. And so that ultimately your question is our lifelong

struggle, which is to return back to a less planet that with a heart that sound, I asked the last panel to either to accept from all of you and for me and to forgive any shortcomings or mistakes, does echo Molo hired on was to them on a coma for too long.

It's good to see

you again. Thank you.