Yasmin Mogahed – The Quran’s Purpose, Primacy and Promotion

			This Jasmine has just launched her brand new book love and happiness, which is available at this
event and at the end of the session actually she will be signing some of her books along with her
other book which is reclaim your heart, which is received international acclaim. She is currently an
instructor for a motive Institute, A writer for Huffington Post, international speaker and invited
lecturer at Oxford, Harvard, Yale, Stanford, and many other universities around the world. Without
further ado, I will go ahead and have her come up and speak to you guys inshallah.
		

			Santa Monica
		

			out with a relay human a shaytani r rajim Bismillah R Rahman r Rahim salatu salam ala rasulillah who
Allah Allah savage mine, a Bish rally Saudi Arabia Siddeley Omri wahala, locked as Emily's any of
Gokhale.
		

			So what I wanted to talk about today, first of all, I want to say that I was really happy to see
what the theme was for this convention. And that was coming back to the quarter and for hope and
guidance, I think that now is a time where we need this more than ever. And I want to talk just
briefly about how the Quran can be a source of transformation for us. We just have the delay
completed the month of Ramadan, the month of the Quran, it's a month where people who don't
typically maybe aren't as exposed to the book of Allah are are even just by going to throw we are at
the masjid will be exposed to the book of Allah subhanaw taala but see one thing that happens a lot
		

			of times as we go into Ramadan, we come out of Ramadan and we're the same as we came in. We haven't
changed inside Yes, we have read a lot of power and we have prayed a lot of records. We have fasted
a lot of days, but many of us leave Ramadan completely unchanged. We we leave Ramadan as we entered
Ramadan. And if we are leaving Ramadan as we entered Ramadan, that means that there was something
missing. See, the Quran essentially was not revealed just for us to decorate our walls with or to
put on necklaces. The Quran was revealed to change us the Quran was revealed to transform us. And
the Quran was what transformed people at a time when the same people who used to be so barbaric that
		

			they would bury their girls alive, they were able to transform through this same book that we have
into some of the best people to walk the earth. And this this process of transformation can only
happen when we interact with the hood and in the way that Allah intended for us to interact. So what
I want to say is I kind of what I have a brief, you know, period of time to speak to you. So I want
to just focus around one area and NACA and in which Allah subhanaw taala says in the Lucha Allah,
you know, maybe Coleman had the, you know, maybe unfussy him that Indeed Allah does not change the
condition of a people until they change what is inside themselves. The reason I want to talk about
		

			this area is because we are experiencing a time right now, where we want to change our condition. We
are experiencing a time right now of a lot of suffering, of a lot of pain, we are seeing suffering.
You know, down the street, we're seeing suffering across the ocean, we are seeing suffering in our
own homes and our own lives. We are feeling pain, we are seeing pain every single day on the news,
we are seeing pain on our news feeds every time we open social media. It's not just hijab tutorials
anymore, right? Now it's talking about what all the all the pain that's happening, all the suffering
that people are going through. And so we have to find a way to be able to not just cope with this,
		

			but understand what is it Allah subhanaw taala wants from us? What type of transformation does Allah
want from us. And here in this area that I just quoted, I'll repeat it in the La hyla yoga mat, Bill
Coleman had the vitamin D and footsy him, this area is about change. This area is about it's a
formula. It's not just a formula, but it's a divine formula, right? Because you can get a formula
from a doctor, it's called the prescription right? You can get a formula from a scientist. But this
is a divine formula. So it's from God, telling us how to change telling us that the formula, the
divine formula for transformation, and that is that our condition, our external condition, you know,
		

			that condition that we want to change so badly, our political condition, our economic condition, our
social condition, our emotional mental health can all these conditions that our condition,
externally will not change until we change what's inside ourselves. Now, there's going to be a lot
of people at this conference and Alhamdulillah they're going to talk to you about activism. They're
going to talk to you about the action that we need to take and
		

			That is a conversation we need to have. We need to talk about how to get involved, we need to talk
about helping and getting involved with our neighbors and with, you know, and creating bridges, and
we need to talk about that. But there's another discussion which we need to have. And that is, what
do I need to change within myself? How do I need to change? There's something that you noticed in
Ramadan, and that is all of us know that the the Hadith of the Prophet sallallahu Sallam that tells
us that in Ramadan, the shayateen are chained. Right? We all know this. And many people ask this
question. Well, okay, so how can we don't all become angels? Right, the shelter in our chain? So how
		

			can we don't all become angels? Did anyone transform into an angel for a month? Absolutely not?
Absolutely not. And you know why that is? Because we have something that is even more difficult to
tackle than the shaitan. And that's the neffs. The, our own selves. You know, it sounds like a funny
question. But my mom sent me this, this article about, someone asked a question, something that
actually might not occur to most of us, but was a very interesting question. And the question was,
when Shai bon disobeyed Allah, who was his shavon?
		

			You get me, the question is basically saying, well, he had no one to whisper in his ear. Right? Do
we have an excuse? Right, our excuses, but shaitan made me do it right. shaitan is whispering
shaitan and, and his plots and plans. But when shaitan disobeyed Allah, there was no one whispering
in his ear. It was his own self. And the the neffs This, this, our own self, the human being, and
the jinn have this, this, this part within ourselves that we have to tame. And a lot of times we
focus as Muslim so much externally on what we have to tackle, right. Yes, there are problems
externally. Yes, there are political problems. Yes, there are social problems. Yes, shaitan is a
		

			problem. Okay. But what happens is so much we have so much focus on, I need to fix what is outside
what is external, you know, what I mean? It's Israel's fault, right? It's, it's the West, that the
problem is always completely external. But we very rarely stop to look internal and say, What do I
need to change? You know, and and you'll see this just every time you listen to a lecture, you know,
how when you're listening to a lecture and the speaker saying stuff, and you're just thinking, Oh, I
really wish my husband was listening, or I'll really wish my wife, you know, what, I'm going to tell
this to so and so. And the whole, the whole thinking process is that person needs to hear this, that
		

			person is this way and that way, but we never really stop and think, am I that way? Right? Is this
something I need to think about? Is this something I need to change? And so I want to bring it
internal for a second. And I want to emphasize this is not mutually exclusive from the external
work. No one can say I'm only going to work internal, and I'm going to neglect the external you
can't Allah subhanaw taala told us that the two go together and levena Amma no Whammy lasagna had
those who believe and who do righteous deeds and these righteous deeds are both internal working
internally and working externally. So I just want to you know, emphasize that but I want to focus
		

			right now for a moment on the internal because Allah subhanaw taala told us that on the Day of
Judgment, nothing else is going to matter. Except for the one Allah subhanaw taala says this is on
the tongue of Ibrahim Ali Salim in a very beautiful extended door. I would like to see neoma you
bassoon yo mela young foul man on? Well, I've been on 11 atolla have the Calvin Selim, do not
disgrace me on the day when everyone's brought back the day when nothing will benefit anyone of
wealth or children because these are the things that we use as currency in this life to benefit us.
But alas Singh on that, in that life, none of these things will be of any value. It's like Monopoly
		

			money, right? You collect it, it's fun during the game, you have some power, right? Because you have
the most money, but event but ultimately that money is useless. So this wealth and children
ultimately will not benefit anyone. But what will benefit us and that's the question we have to ask
because we're on a journey. We need to know what's gonna benefit us in them and at Aloha, Biff
Calvin Selim, except for the one who returns back to a law with a healthy heart with a heart that is
sound with a heart that is healthy and sound. Calvin Saleem. And so I want to just sort of shift our
focus for a moment and not to neglect the external battle and the external work and the external
		

			struggle, but but to shift it internal because ultimately we will not see real change
		

			If we're only working externally, we have to do both we have to work internally as well as
externally. So how then and of course, I mean, this is a, this is something people spend their lives
scholars have spent their lives studying. How do we talk about building a sound heart? How do we
talk about parliamentarian? I probably have about, I don't know, 65 seconds, how many seconds do I
have to tell you?
		

			Okay, I have more than 65 seconds. So okay. First, let me just very quickly define collarbone
selling what is a healthy heart, called Boone Saleem is a heart that does not have a competitor with
Allah inside of it. So what does that mean? It means that there are things in the heart that we love
more than we should love. There aren't things in the heart that we fear more than we fear Allah.
There aren't things in the heart that we depend on. More than we depend on Allah, you understanding
what I'm saying? This is essentially to hate to hate what is La ilaha illallah wa la la la la have
asked you what does it mean? Everyone will say there's no God but Allah, that's how most of us will
		

			translate this word, this statement. But let you know, the meaning of trailhead is more than just
saying that just saying there's no God but Allah, yes, there's no God, but Allah, yes, there's no
creator, but Allah. But it's beyond just that. That is part of it. But it's also saying that I don't
love anything, as I love Allah. I do not fear anything, as I fear Allah. And this one is tough. Our
dependence. This is a very deep discussion. Where do we put our dependence? I just recently had a
question that I answered, we have these like,
		

			little clips where we're answering a question, putting it online, and MongoDB is doing this
initiative. And the question was, my parents want me to take off my hijab, because they're worried
about my safety and my job. Fair, fair enough question. Yeah. And it's very relevant right now. And
this is something that's happening on the ground. And the question is, what do I do?
		

			And before I talk about
		

			the question itself, I want to actually go back to the root of the question. And the root of the
question really has to do with, from where do I get my provision? from? Where do I get my
protection?
		

			This is part of toe hate, is the understanding. Yes, Allah subhanaw taala does not tell us to put us
put ourselves in harm's way. Allah subhanaw taala does not tell us to put ourselves in harm's way.
But I want you to dig deeper for a second and really ask yourself, what are we dependent upon for
our protection? What are we? Yes, we put on our seatbelt when we drive? Yeah, yes, we put in our
effort to find a job. But ultimately, where does our protection come from? Is it from the CFO? You
understand? Where ultimately does our risk or provision come from? Is it from our employer? Yes, we
have to go and work. Yes, we put on and we take the the means. But, but ultimately, it's a law who
		

			protects us. And ultimately, it's a law who is providing for us. And so we have to be very clear on
this. Because when we get unclear on this, and we lose focus, that's when we fall into debilitating
fear, debilitating fear, I always warn about this one thing. And that is be careful what you focus
on. Right now we're getting a lot of bad news being spread. And it's it sort of spreads like
wildfire, you know, you get a spark. And then it just spreads you know what I'm saying with like
gasoline very, very quickly.
		

			Be Be careful what you're focused on. If you are a person who is focusing only on bad news, if that
becomes most and all of what you're reading about most or all of what you're listening to most or
all of what you're talking about, then you are actually going to become your your understanding of
reality is going to become skewed. That's number one. Darkness, see, what happens is that what you
focus on it grows. And so if we focus on darkness, if we focus on darkness, it grows. That's the
thing about focus. So we have to be very careful, yes, we need to be aware, and we need to care
about what's happening. But be careful that that's not becoming your ultimate focus. Our focus still
		

			needs to be Allah. It should not be all the horrible things that are happening. We should not lose
focus from the protector and just focus on the fire. You understand. And this is a subtle point. But
if we focus too much on it, this is when we become paralyzed with fear. And then that fear then
leads to thoughts like Well, I think I should go hide. I think I should take off my hijab. I think I
should be called
		

			Mo, right? The idea is that because the fear grows as you focus on it, be aware, but be mindful what
your focus is on calling Callie Heather was stuck for Lani. Welcome. innovaphone Rahim subhanak
Elohim Dhaka Chateau de la bella and istockphoto to Monica Santa Monica Monica de la Helvetica.