Yassir Fazaga – Success Through Dawah – Why It’S The Key To Our Success
AI: Summary ©
The conversation covers the social struggles of Islam, including the decline of people attending churches and the rise of alcohol consumption. The speakers emphasize the importance of addressing these struggles and addressing the negative impact on society. They also discuss the theory of deification and the use of alcohol in political and cultural settings, as well as the importance of bringing together spiritual rejuvenation and social presence to avoid negative behavior. The speakers emphasize the need for companies to avoid these types of events and emphasize the importance of practice and deception to avoid becoming evil.
AI: Summary ©
already let me show it on the regime's level hamdu lillah wa salatu salam ala Rasulillah in the Name of Allah, Allah compassionate, the Most Merciful All praises due to Allah and make his peace and blessings be upon our beloved prophet muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam begin by greeting your all Salam aleikum wa rahmatullah wa barakato wabarakatuh.
There is something really interesting in the in the Quran. When you look into the concept of dharma, there is this notion of how the messengers of Allah they all come with a home holder, or they are called Marula hula, I recommend a law unto the people of God. We sent their brotherhood Alehissalaam with the message, worship none but Allah. Will Ilan Sermo that Aha home saleha Bala vulnerable to law and the pupil of ThermoWood. We sent the brother Salalah alayhi salam was the message worship none but Allah Welaka Arsal nanohub ala oh me he
was a production and Oh, honey la cama he in the in any any la caminhada zero movie in Allah Abu illAllah. And We have indeed sent no alayhis salam to His people that I am indeed a clear warning to you, that you worship none but Allah subhanaw taala
where Allah Medina home Shriver, Allah commerical de la NIDA community la Henrico and to the pupil of Meridian, we sent their brother Schreib Alayhi Salam. So there is this idea of Allah Subhana Allah sending messengers, and the main message that they go with is the cause of of Doha,
the Oneness of Allah subhanaw taala.
But here's the interesting part. These messengers came, they came with the message of tau heyde. But along with Dr. docread, they also addressed the social ills of the people that they were sent.
This is really, really important.
So Musa alayhis salam was sent to the people was the concept of the lead worship none but Allah. But during his time, there was a lot of political oppression that was going on. And you could not be heedless about the social ills of the people that you're trying to give Dawa to
Dr. Ali salaam was sell to people. But there was a lot of financial exploitation that was taking place. And you cannot be heedless about such a big huge problem impacting a big segment of society. And you don't say anything about it.
Lo Bala his alarm is sent to the people. There is a message of hate. But there was also a lot of immorality that was taking place during this time, and you cannot pretend to be blind about what is going on.
Or you Sally Salam Jesus is sent to his people to reestablish the message of hate. But there was so much materialism going on during his time, that there was no being blind about it, there was no there was no option. It is as if the Quran is saying that when the messengers of Allah, they are sent for the sake of spiritual rejuvenation,
and social reformation.
And these two are very crucial, spiritual rejuvenation.
La ilaha illAllah. No one is worthy of worship, but Allah subhanho wa taala. And then along with that, there is also short social reformation. And many times, people are interested in the spiritual rejuvenation as the result of the social information that is suggested. Sometimes people may really not care about God, they may not care about Allah subhanaw taala. But there is a message that resonates with them.
And then when they look into that message, and they really appreciate the message, and then they look into the source of where that message is coming from. And they see that that message is coming from this bigger concept called Islam with people calling to Allah subhanaw taala. And people tend to appreciate it because of this. And that's why for example, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam would always mix both Illmatic earners and Mohammed or Muhammad what is it that you call people to the prophet for allah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam was say, I don't know whom La La ilaha illallah who economic life? Well, the real Valley they are called people to La La
Lola, I also call them to honor their guests. I also call them to honor their parents, I call them to Tino showing
kindness and compassion to the poor and to and to the needy.
And remember that both of these, they go together hand in hand, spiritual rejuvenation, and social deformation.
There was a report that was just published, not just published, but they've been talking a lot about the decline of people attending churches in the United States.
You know, they used to say that back in the 1960s, on any given Sunday, 63% of adults attended church 63% of adults attended church, that's a big huge number. Nowadays, it is down to 37% of adults are doing this.
Before 2000s, you know, people are talking about 94%, or 92% of people in the United States confess that they believe in God.
That number is coming down to the 70s at this point.
And people are looking into what what is what is turning people away from the church, what is turning people away from believing in God? What is turning, again, the same story is in the synagogues, people are looking into the membership, and synagogues are also going down. And had it not been for immigrants and refugees coming, we would have also been seeing a decline in the number of people attending massage, as well.
So part of the success that we hope for is to share that with those who are with those who are around us. And the way that we do this is by having both the know how, and the courage and the boldness, to identify the social ills of our time, and be able to address that, you know, that same people don't care how much you know, until they know how much you care. And many times the way that we express how much you care is by willing to address the social ills of the people that you are living in their in their mitts. That's why the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, you know, initially the people that really appreciated love the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam, were those
in the community that were voiceless, those who were downtrodden, easily forgotten, that nobody paid attention to the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam became their voice, Islam became their voice. And the Prophet sallallahu alayhi salam brought their concerns to the to the forefront.
And that is where you will find a lot of the beauty of Islam, you know, be it in the form of, for example, Malcolm X, what was it about Malcolm X? Why was the Nation of Islam so successful initially, and when you look back, you will see that their success simply was because the idea of restoring a sense of human dignity and integrity in the minds of individuals, that you monitor, that you are important that you are valued, that you're appreciated, and you know, sometimes people are really deprived of these words, and when they hear them, that really does something to people.
Similarly, Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam comes to people, and there is just the amount of social ills that were taking place. One of my favorite topics to talk about, every time I go and speak in colleges, there is one part that I spent so much time on, and that is how Islam feels about
alcohol. College students consume more alcohol than they do milk, soda juice combined.
Did you hear what I said?
College students consume more alcohol than they do juice, soda and milk combined.
You look into this and he say that is something really, really bad.
67% of the people who die in fires, they die because they were too drunk to skip the fire.
Looking into this, look into what it does to the to the system to the economy to the body. There was a study that wanted to identify
What is like the worst drug out there?
And alcohol was number one. It was before cocaine, it was before heroin before ecstasy before marijuana, you just name it. Wait a minute, how can alcohol be worse than, than cocaine and heroin and ecstasy, we'll see what they did is that they have 10 different categories. And they will identify impact on the body impact on the family impact on the workforce impact on this in 10 different categories. Now, heroin and cocaine may have scored more when it spoke about the impact on the body. But then they say that overall, when they collected all of these scores, the different categories, alcohol scored the highest. That's where the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam says 100
with alcohol is the mother of all evil,
you know, speak to people, and I will be saying this, these college students say, you know, as Muslims, we are not allowed to not only drink alcohol, we cannot serve it, we cannot sell it, we cannot deliver it, we cannot advertise for it, we cannot even be in the vicinity where alcohol is consumed.
Now, Allah He almost every single time, after any of these lectures, there's going to be at least five students who would come and say, You know what, I really appreciate your religion and the stand that it has against alcohol. I promise myself, I will never drink alcohol, because I know what it has done to our family. And we will be saying this because people appreciate that. You know, many times, you know, many of us here in sha Allah, all of us people who say, might have never touched alcohol in my life before.
Anybody like that people say like, I've never touched alcohol in my life before. I've never bought alcohol in my life. Every time we go to the store, if both sides of the aisle are alcoholic beverages, we don't walk in between. Why don't we do that? Because the Quran said, veg, tiny boo
shun it, keep away from it, even if it be that both sides of the aisle are alcoholic beverages. You don't walk in between
such a puts this big, huge psychological barrier between you. And the idea of consuming, consuming alcohol. And that is very telling.
Remember, one sister she came and she said she you know, she's a domestic and she's accepting Islam. So what's the story? She said, Well, we were at the work. And you know, it was Christmas time. And, you know, we were told that the company has prepared different gifts for the people. And the most expensive was the champagne. And there was this Muslim guy that was going around telling people that if he gets the champagne, he's willing to exchange it, just give me whatever you get. I just don't want to touch the champagne. I don't get it. You know, if I get it, you take it.
And if you wait a minute, everybody is hoping that they get the champagne and you're telling me that if you get it, you don't want it and he said yeah, why is that? Um, I am a I'm a Muslim. Remember, it was not necessarily the theology of Islam that attracted this person to Islam. But it was these types of teachings that initially attracted people to the to the deen or you're following what is what is going on. So there is this notion of spiritual rejuvenation, and social re formation.
Give you another example since we're talking about our, our time
*
gets more visits than Facebook
and Twitter
combined.
more hits than Facebook and Twitter combined. Their numbers are in the billions every single year. Because that's another L that we also have in our days today.
The University of Toronto wanted to make a study on college students their brains are going to study you know, college students who watch * versus college students who did not watch *. And the results were mind boggling.
They couldn't hold the study.
They did not find enough students that did not watch *.
It has gotten so bad. This is you know, this is a topic that I absolutely love to talk about. So part of what I do is
Right. I'm a * therapist, I do * therapy.
And one of the most common sexual disorders that we're seeing, seeing in the practice nowadays, something called * induced erectile dysfunction.
And basically what that means that people have watched so much *,
that they have lost the ability to get an erection and the damage is irreversible.
Let me tell you what that means. When I say the damage is irreversible, there is no amount of *, there is no amount of * that you can take to even address that the damage is irreversible.
Talking about marriages going bad. Talk about young people who call him complaining about depression or anxiety. The first question that you know, amongst the assessment is, what is your * consumption? Like? Share? You know I am and and there is this association link between watch *,
depression,
anxiety are going to be there.
So what I'm saying is, we cannot be blind about the social ills of our times and pretend that it is the theology that is going to attract people into into the deal. I'm not saying that the theology is not important.
But what you will see is, when people see that what Islam has to offer to them, is actually good for them, then they become interested in knowing more about the theology of the deen.
And that is the area where I believe we have actually really, really neglected one last example because before we start our drill session was Sheikh Hassan.
Speaking about about
exploitation, financial exploitation.
If you go to poor neighborhoods,
what do you see most important neighborhoods like what kind of you see liquor stores? You see pawn shops. And you see a lot of payday loans.
Payday Loans, you see lots of them.
The other credit card, what's the average APR that they charge? Annual Percentage Rate?
No credit card
20 420-590-1780 units around that.
She got to these payday loans. What is that APR? How much do they charge? 466.87%?
What are you talking about? 466%. That is how much they charge? What do you mean, we're gonna lend you you write us a check for $300 We're going to give you $255 cash. And that is for 15 days. So they're charging you $45. to loan you $255 Over a period of two weeks, you do the math that comes to 466%.
I remember when I went to the store, I said to the manager I said oh, so most of your customers are just one timers. She looked at me she said no. Most of our customers are actually regulars. They come here every single month, because that's the only way that they can make ends meet.
Sometimes we are so removed from what these things do to people give you one final example about this about this topic.
So the government of Uganda pays the equivalent of $2 a month per citizen for their health care system.
The government of Uganda pays the equivalent of $11 a month per citizen to cover the loans and the interest on the loans that they have taken
from the WMF and all these places are the IMF
the way that it is Wallahi Oh god, there's never coming out of poverty.
There is no way that maganda is coming out of poverty because they have employed a system that only benefits the rich
They don't need to invent. They don't need to manufacture. You don't need to do anything, you have money, you just give it and that money is going to give birth to a lot of money perpetually, just keep going, keep going. There are some African countries that borrowed money from the day that they got their independence back in the 1950s and 60s, they will never be able to borrow the money that they have paid back the money, the money that they have,
the money that they have borrowed, it is just not coming to an end. So when you look into, you know, when you see these social ills, the point is not to curse them. The point is that there is so much opportunity because there is real pain that is taken place as a result, as a result of this man that in our, in our deen, the men are supposed to lower their gazes. But what I said earlier about this idea of self discipline, how a woman dresses is irrelevant, because the responsibility is upon you, believing man to lower your gaze. And remember that the Quran commanded men to lower their gaze, before it commanded women to put on the hijab.
You're following the Quran commands meant to lower their gaze, before it commanded women to put on the hijab.
What does that mean? See, if a woman dresses in a way to be provocative, to get the attention, and you give her that attention. You at that point, you're not only complacent, but you are rewarding a negative behavior.
And when you reward a negative behavior like that, you know, any behavior that gets rewarded is a behavior that will be repeated. So what do you do grant sets to lower your case? You're talking now, I was reading about in some of these big companies, because they don't know what to do with all the sexual harassment that are taking place. Now the suggestion is, we want to ban handshake in the workplace.
Now they're talking about we want to enforce some kind of a dress code, because you just want to make sure that you know what this is, this is this is just becoming an unbearable, unbearable place. And then you look into
what has happened is, and I hope Insha Allah, the intelligence of my brothers and sisters here. See, when you're constantly waiting for the others to validate your own Dean, we'd be making a big mistake.
We would be making a big mistake when you wait for others to validate because we get excited. You know, 1400 years ago, Islam said no handshakes. Why didn't you say that earlier?
Why did you wait until these big companies started enforcing it? And now you're saying, oh, you know, we Islam, you know, that was the case? 14? Yeah, because it was not popular. Remember this? If the thing about fixing social social ills, that this is not a popularity contest?
No, you're not supposed to gain popularity by addressing these issues, or talking about this. We're talking about these issues. Initially, people will reject it. They may even fight it. And then eventually what happens?
People will accept it.
People will eventually accept it because they see the benefit of what it is that you are offering.
Look into Latino communities, African American communities, our own communities, you know, speak about what drugs do to people speak about when babies are having babies, and how the Dean brings this to, to an end.
You know, speaking about the other day we spoke about
the United States is the country with the highest number of fatherless families.
23% 23% of us families are fatherless.
One thing that 85% of people in prison have in common is that they all grew up in fatherless homes.
75% of the people who dropped out of school.
One thing that is common amongst them is that they all grew up in fatherless homes.
You
Most teenage pregnancies take place. When the father is not around.
They speak about what it means to be a father at home.
Poverty is much higher, when the father is not, is not at home.
Drunk drug use, delinquency is much higher when the Father is not at home.
Now the country with the least fatherlessness in the world is
one person, only 1% of families are fatherless in this particular country. It's actually a toy, two countries in the world,
Mali in West Africa and
Afghanistan.
They are the countries with the least homes without a father.
Number two is Turkey by the way, that 2%
Now see, when you when you, you know, the idea of bringing these things, remember many times the social deformation may be more attractive to people than to theology.
And if the idea is to, you know, save people, not only in this life, man, but also saving people in the, in the here after as well. You know, do it in these ways in and you know, do it so boldly. And in sha Allah, you know, this type of Dawa. And this is not to belittle any other form of Tao. Some people, you know, convert simply because the theology of whatever religious beliefs they have, is not satisfying to them. It's not intellectually, you know, satisfying Hamdulillah.
But what we saying is that, in sha Allah, the combination of spiritual rejuvenation, and social deformation, when given that one, I believe that would be the best combination. Well, Lavaca, Allah, Allah, Allah, Allah subhanho wa Taala knows best for the revolution.
Companies
you recommend?
Which Oh, that's a good question. Did you hear the question? I don't care. Um,
so So the question is, what about?
What about when companies hold parties? And what about restaurants that serve alcohol?
So maybe the question of the restaurant is easier. When people speak about, you cannot be in an area, you cannot be in the vicinity where alcohol is consumed, they're talking about your own banquet, is there alcohol on my, on my table, there is no alcohol on my table, then some people would say, This is what's meant this is your vicinity. And as long as your facility is halal, then this gathering is a halal gathering, what happens on this side or this side in front of you or behind you, it is your banquet, your immediate table, your immediate vicinity, there is no harm in it, then they would be, they would be okay with that.
As far as the company and when they have these types of when they have these types of events. Most of the time, actually, companies don't necessarily,
you know, force people to attend these events. And sometimes people are willing to say, Look, man, I would have loved to be there. But the presence of alcohol makes it not possible for me to be there. I remember this brother,
they had a company, they had the you know, they had the device, and the company was bought for at least $75 million.
And these are normally like a good 810 people that started the company and they were really, really excited. They sold the company. And you know, they invited all the families to come and you know, they spoke about you know, how they're going to have an elaborate party. 75 million is a lot of money.
And then they spoke about, you know, who's bringing home and, you know, they came to this guy, Omar, I know his mom.
And I'm gonna say, I can't I can't bring anybody. Why can't you bring anybody when you say, Well, you guys are serving alcohol. And the first question my mom was really excited for me and the first question that she asked
was,
are they going to serve alcohol? And I said, Yes. And my mom said, I'm not coming.
And the people in the company, they all sat together and they said, Well, we really want your mom to be there. Maybe alcohol is not that important.
You will know about what happened in Qatar in the World Cup. That was beautiful man. That was really, really beautiful.
So the Qatari said, we're not selling alcohol in the stadium. And there was an uproar. How can you enjoy a soccer game and not serve alcohol? How can you do it, people started watching the games. And what happened as a result?
First people that were really excited about it were women,
women, especially English women, British women, they came back and they said what said, you know, for the first time, I actually enjoyed a soccer game, football game, call it without being sexually harassed.
Other people said, the absence of alcohol made it a very family friendly atmosphere. And by the way,
this time in Potter, for the first time in the history of the World Cup, when was the first World Cup
1930 Wait.
In order boy, this is the first time in the history of the world cup. And check this out. The first time in the history of the world cup that not a single English fan was arrested.
Well, why not a single English fan was arrested. Why was that?
Absence of alcohol.
People went back. And what are they saying? They say actually, what made this more fun was the absence of alcohol. Now they went back to England, and they're trying to push if they can ban alcohol from the Premier League.
That's that's really, really,
that is hilarious, was an African American brother who was invited to watch the Super Bowl, neighbors who happen to be Muslims. And after the game, he made a really, really startling statement. He said, he said, you know, this is the first time for me in 25 years, they've actually watched the Super Bowl, and I enjoyed it so much. And there was no alcohol involved in the process.
We will have never experienced something like that you really do not need alcohol to, to have fun. The other day, I told the story. You know, Christmas time Muslims happen to hold all these conventions and all these
conferences during Christmas time. And this guy, you know, was a member of serving the people. After four days of the conference, he just came in, he said, I want to be a Muslim. And people said, Oh, you've been listening to the lectures. He said, You know, I didn't hear any lecture. Why do you want to be a Muslim? He said, You want to have been here for four days. Men and women were not mingling. You did not play any music. And you did not have any alcohol. You must be doing something right.
concede to them? The idea is so foreign. Put him in for four days. What did you do? Or just listening to lectures? Yeah, and oh, that was listening to lectures. Where were you Memphis? You ate good food? No, that's actually not good. You know? MMIC wasn't always good. Or the music was good. No, man, not a single What do you mean? So you didn't do not know music? Notice all but it was a lot of good. You know, the checks. Were there. No, no, no, no, there wasn't mingling, going. So what just happened? Because people, you know, to them, they've associated this and then all of a sudden, you're saying you actually don't need that to have fun. You don't need this to enjoy yourself. You
don't have to be like that to enjoy. And people really appreciate these experiences anyways, you'll exactly love him.
As far as that question goes, you're going out to eat somewhere if it's an establishment that predominantly sells alcohol, stay away from it. But you know, like, for example, like a bar club, it might serve foods but they're already known for their main sources, alcohol and all that other stuff that we're not going to be around but maybe there's a restaurant that is you know
I said then that was that was the assumption
in question, and that is you go to a restaurant, you're not going to a bar,
stepping into a bar to begin with predominantly alcoholic beverages. This is what you do. It's like, you know, you can go to give me a name,
McDonald's, but you can go to Hooters, for example.
I hear somebody saying, oh, released for a new game. Yeah. So so stepping in a place like this would be in principle is unacceptable. Stepping into a bar, in principle is unacceptable. Stepping into a liquor store, in principle would be unacceptable. Are y'all for Y'all follow me what is what is what is going on? But what happens if I go into a place that serves the food that I want? And also on this side, they have they have alcohol given sorry, took long here, but so the other one was about the question.
One more question
what was the other one?
This is actually asked a lot about
the * addiction, how would
actually address it?
Like when it comes to as college students, what are ways to have prevented adventures?
So that is, you know,
the question is regarding *, addiction, then remember, these are real, real questions. You know, even though see the thing about *, unfortunately, amongst young, practicing Muslims, most common addictions are * and marijuana.
Why can you say they're practicing and addicted to *? Because it really is possible. You know, we all have demons that we fight. During the time of the Prophet salallahu Alaihe Salam, there was this young man who was brought in paraded in domestic several times because he was caught drinking. And as he was being paraded in you know, people are slapping him people are kicking him, you know, taking off their shoes and hitting in operating him to the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam and then one person decided to go religious and you know, yell learn at Allah Ali Max automation will come with the curse of Allah be upon this person. How often is he drinking? And then the Prophet
sallallahu alayhi wa sallam was very upset and he said, Luxilon do not curse this man. For in the hole you hate Billa Hawa sola. Despite his weakness, despite his addiction to alcohol, this man loves Allah and His messenger.
Believers are not perfect.
We all have our weaknesses. Remember, this is not to promote or to justify. But our job is to our job is to inspire each other to become better people.
So if you're addicted to *, it's not all doom and gloom. That's what shaitan wants you to think.
And what happens to things like when people are addicted to *? See, * is not just the impact of it is not just sexual. The impact of it is not just * induced erectile dysfunction.
Part of what makes * problematic, especially in the Muslim community is loss of self respect.
What happens is that people will be telling you that I'll be watching *. And simultaneously, I'm already feeling guilty. Because I'm not really supposed to be watching it, but I am doing it. I'm feeling guilty. So I'm never fully enjoying it because I know what I'm doing is wrong. But I can't really stop because I'm addicted to it, but I can't really enjoy it. And then as a result comes frustration. As a result comes depression as a result of this. And then there is loss of self respect. And people start losing their team. You know, I watched last night, I did what I did. I didn't make it for Fudger this morning. But then I had to go to school very quickly. It was wartime.
I didn't pray because I said to myself what God is praying for if I didn't already pray, Fudger then comes by the end of the day, and I say, Well, I didn't pray any of these prayers. Why should I pray Russia? Comes Friday and say well, what good is me going to Friday? Because I haven't really been praying and then comes from what on? What God Is my fasting if I have not been prayed shaytaan wants you to think like that.
It's almost like necessitating that you'll be perfect.
Before you can practice your deed we practice our deen in pursuit of excellence not in pursuit of, not in pursuit of,
of perfection. So what we do is, number one, please don't even begin.
You know, when you look into the steps to
addiction, the first one usually starts with curiosity.
And especially when it comes to these things, you know, in our tradition, I promise this will be the last thing I say. They have to stop in sha Allah. See, what happens is mean think about it this way. You've got a Muslim kid, when is the person ready to be sexually active nowadays At what age?
12 with the wrong answer,
when is a person like ready to be sexually active?
1450 would you say 1415?
What is the average age that this Muslim young man or woman is getting married?
I said average, not ideally average.
28. So you are ready to be sexually active at the age of 14. But you really did not practically become sexually active until the age of 18.
Then there was somebody on the other side, non Muslim, or non practicing Muslim. They were ready to be sexually active at the age of 14. And they became sexually active at the age of 14. This Muslim who chose not to, they became sexually active at the age of 28. The 14 years in between, we refer to them as 14 years of *.
And during this time, you have a lot of sexual frustration that takes place. In fact, this is not natural. Admirable,
but it's not natural.
This side is natural. But definitely this agree with the way that people decided to carry out their sexual energy. This is admirable, but this is not natural.
So what do people most people say? Watching * is a lesser evil than me committing Zina fornicating
that may be technically true, but here's what people forget
the lesser of two evils
Is this the evil
and in this case, the evil is real.
Again, this is an another course that we teach on Islam and sexuality the Quranic approach to * and sexuality and that is one part of Subhankar ethics
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