Zahir Mahmood – Challenges of Muslim Identity – Lessons from History – Birmingham
AI: Summary ©
The conversation covers the history and culture of Islam, including its use in various countries and the importance of rethinking one's approach to religion. The speakers emphasize the power of maktab systems and the importance of investing in men and women to build a legacy. The conversation also touches on racism and the importance of rethinking one's approach to religion.
AI: Summary ©
In all honesty, I don't really know why
they've invited me to give a talk.
I'm sure many of you saw me last
week on Ladypool Road, if not Ladypool Road,
Allamoch Road.
I think they had time, they had a
gap, and they needed somebody to fill it.
So I think that's why I've been invited.
But Alhamdulillah, Tayyib, MashaAllah, gives me the opportunity
to speak to my locals about something I
think we all need to really think about,
and that is our existence in this country
and the longevity of our existence in this
country.
And I want to elaborate and I'll take
some excerpts from a talk which the famous
India subcontinent scholar, Sheikh Abul Hasan Nadwi Rahmatullah
Ali, gave in 1982, which is, if my
math serves me right, around about 40, is
it 40 years plus or is it 30
years plus?
40, 40 years plus.
And interesting, listen, this is where he gave
it.
He gave it in Dewsbury Maracas, so you
know the Tablighi Maracas in Dewsbury, where they
generally speak about the six points.
Sheikh Abul Hasan Nadwi Rahmatullah Ali happened to
be there, and he said, and he was
there at the inauguration of this masjid, and
he said, I want to speak to you
about something very important.
And he said, I could praise you, Allah
has given me a fantastic vocabulary, and I
could shower many, many other praises upon you,
but I want to speak to you from
my heart today.
And he said, this is about your existence
in this country, 1982.
He said, if you look into the seerah
of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, you will
see that the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam gave
dawah for 20 years plus.
Only a handful of people embraced Islam, but
from the 7th to the 10th, the last
three years after Fateh Makkah to the demise
of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, many people
embraced Islam.
What was the reason for this?
So Imam Zuhri Rahmatullah Ali mentions that this
was the time where people had the ability
to see Islam for what it really was,
not the stereotype.
People had the ability now to interact with
the Muslims, speak to the Muslims, engage with
the Muslims.
So Shaykh says that you derive a lesson
from the seerah of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi
Wasallam that as believers, listen to this very
carefully brothers and sisters, that as believers you
cannot live an insular life.
You cannot live in your areas.
Your Islam cannot be limited to your masjids.
Islam must be seen in your lives.
It must be seen in the marketplace where
you work in your areas.
Everybody must see your Islam because the mushrikeen
saw the Islam of the sahabah and they
entered the deen of wajah.
Army upon army.
Army upon army.
And then Shaykh says if you live an
insular life, in the talk he mentioned insular
four times.
He said if you live an insular life
and the day comes that the host community
start disliking you, racism is the flavor of
the year, religious bigotry is the flavor of
the year, then he says I fear that
your existence in this country will be untenable.
Brothers, sisters, you've seen for the last 20
plus years how you and I, the Muslim
community, have become the fifth columnist.
I want to ask you a question.
I don't care if you're a millionaire.
I don't care if you're a doctor.
I don't care if you're an MP.
I don't care if you're a Shaykh.
All of you are regarded as fifth columnists.
All of you are regarded as the boogeyman.
How?
Let me ask you a question.
How does it work?
A Christian choir singing Rwandan boy unfortunately stabbed
some girls.
They don't go after Rwandans.
They don't go after Africans.
They don't go after Christians.
They burn your masajid.
They go into your areas.
They go after the Muslim community because they
were praying.
Many were praying that it is the Muslims.
Unfortunately, it wasn't the Muslims, but they still
think who can we bitch slap?
Who are the easiest targets?
They said the Muslims.
The Muslim community.
And they go for the Muslim community.
You saw what happened in Netherlands with the
Maccabee football club.
This is a club which is known to
be hooligans.
They come into the Netherlands.
They are chanting genocidal rhetoric.
The locals, the local Muslim community stand up.
And what do the local politicians say?
They say that if we find out that
anybody, any Muslims, any Moroccans who are involved
in this are dual nationals, we will remove
them from our country.
You know why they say this?
You tell me in the history of Europe,
recent 20, 30, 40, 50 years that this
has ever happened, that the government goes against
his own residents, own people, and sides with
a hooligan football club.
Why?
Because you and I, unfortunately, are regarded as
fifth columners.
And therefore, you and I now need to
understand that this is history repeating itself.
Never, never believe that your existence in this
country is permanent.
There were places, as Shaykh Abul Ahsan Adwi
says, which were far greater than your places,
far greater than these majma, far greater than
your masajid, far greater than your madaris.
And he speaks about Spain, you know Muslim
Spain, you know Qurtuba.
How many guys have been to the Qurtuba
masjid?
Put your hands up.
A few.
You know the Qurtuba masjid, once upon a
time, was the second largest masjid in the
world.
The only masjid which was larger than the
Qurtuba masjid in the world was the in
Mecca.
The greatest scholars of the time came from
this place.
The imam Qurtubis, the imam Shatibis, the imam
Hazm, Ibn Abdulbar, the famous Maliki scholar, never
left the shores of Spain to seek knowledge.
The greatest scholars of the day came from
this place.
Then came a time that there was not
one Muslim there.
Today you go to the Qurtuba masjid, you
know, and you can't even pray two rakats
in the second largest masjid in the world.
You know how advanced Spain was?
Qurtuba had street land before London and Paris,
not 10, not 20, not 30 years.
700 years.
The whole of Europe had no concept of
baths.
The whole of Europe had no concept of
gardens.
They had small libraries, where Spain had huge
libraries.
So what happened brothers?
What happened?
What happened is that people got very comfortable.
People thought that they were going to live
there for eternity.
And then the time came that not one
Muslim existed in that place.
And Sheikh Abul Hasan Nadwi says, I sit
here, we see Islam, wallahi, I go all
over the world.
And everybody speaks about the Islam in the
UK.
Because you live in a global society, everybody
sees your dawah movement.
And we praise Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
We see the masajid, we see the madaris,
we see the shabab here.
But never become complacent.
Because a day may come, subhanAllah, that your
existence in this country may be untenable.
And then Sheikh says, he says, find your
place in this country.
Contribute positively.
Don't just work.
Don't be leeches, don't be parasites.
Add value to the community.
I want to ask you guys from Birmingham.
I'm sure many of you are from Birmingham
around areas.
We are the people where half our deen
is cleanliness.
We are the people who are organized.
Go into the inner city areas.
Go into Alamrock, go into Sparkbrook, go into
Small Heath, go into all the Muslim areas.
Defunct areas.
Drive from the Salt Lee roundabout up to
the old rock pub.
It takes you half an hour.
It should take you two minutes.
Double parking.
Double parking.
Every time I go up there's some bus
stuck there.
You go into our areas.
Most dirtiest areas.
You got Porsches Park there.
You got Range Rovers Park there.
And you look at the state of the
areas.
Why?
Because you and me don't care about community.
And that's a reality.
As long as your cousin's safe, as long
as your uncle's safe, you have no concept
of community.
Zero concept of community.
And then you talk about Ansar and Muhajirun
and the community that the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi
Wasallam created.
You're divided on every issue.
Divided on your religion.
Divided on your race.
You know when the government, the Islamophobes make
a policy against you.
Do you think they see Somalian?
Do you think they see Afro-Caribbean?
Do you think they see Pakistani, Bengali, Arab?
No.
They see one, and that is Islam.
The only people who don't see one are
the Muslims.
The only one.
You think Priti Patel, Indian.
Suwaila Brabhaman, Indian.
When they make a policy they say, you
know what?
Want to discriminate against everybody besides my Indian
Muslims.
Do you think she says that?
They all see you as one.
But we don't see ourselves as one.
Masjid divided.
You know Sheikh speaks about the masajid, the
great masajid in Spain.
You got now, subhanallah, masajid divided.
Either it belongs to this group or belong
to that group.
And if it don't belong to that group,
it belongs to the Somalians, it belongs to
Pakistanis, it belongs to Bengali masjid, it belongs
to Arab masjid.
Even the house of Allah are recognized by
the race of our race.
And then what happens?
These masajid.
And I'm not giving a fatwa here.
But I want you to think about something,
brothers and sisters.
The Muslim community last year spent a billion
pound in charity.
The average Muslim is four times more generous
than the average Brit.
But the question is, if you spent a
billion pound last year, where did that billion
pound go?
See, all our charity, much of our charity
goes abroad.
Now, it should go abroad.
Alhamdulillah, Syria, Palestine, Somalia, Rohingya, all need your
help and need more help.
But what about this country?
What about your longevity in this country?
Where's your think tanks?
Where's your masajid which actually work for the
community?
So I'm not giving a fatwa.
Dare I give a fatwa?
But I'm giving a suggestion.
Suggestion.
You know, next time you're in Jummah, and
you and the bucket comes around, before you
put your money into the bucket, think about
the fact, what does this masjid do for
my community?
What does this masjid do for my youth?
What does the masjid do for our women
folk?
What transparency does this masjid have?
And if you see nothing, then get off
your backside, go to another masjid and give
the money to that masjid.
Because what you are doing, you are perpetuating
the stereotype.
You are carrying on.
There's no transparency.
You don't know how much is in the
account, but you're still giving money.
And I'm not giving a fatwa.
I don't want people now to make this
excuse for not giving.
What I'm saying, give.
But give to those who will do something
worthwhile with your money.
Give to a Sufi Institute.
I'm only joking, yeah?
Give to those masjids, which will invest.
Because that money, the sunnah of the Prophet
sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, that he would spend
money wisely.
You know, when the Messenger of Allah came
into Medina, you know who the economy, the
economy was in the hands of the Jews,
although they were a minority.
So the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam told
the sahaba, he said, find a place where
we can establish a marketplace.
So the sahaba find this place, the Messenger
of Allah goes there, and he erects a
tent.
Kab ibn Ashraf comes, and he kicks the
tent.
And he said, Muslims will not have their
marketplace here.
Then the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam tells
the sahaba, go somewhere else.
So then they find another place.
And the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam went
there, and he slammed, like this.
And he said, this will be our marketplace.
The Muslims established their marketplace.
The Muslims would deal with each other initially.
Money would go around in their community.
And then the mushrikeen saw the manners of
the Muslims, and the akhlaq of the Muslims.
And they said, listen, forget working with, forget
buying from those other people.
These Muslims are something else.
These Muslims are something else.
We're gonna, we're gonna buy from the marketplace
of the Muslims.
Question today, brothers.
Wallahi, I don't say this out of any
happiness.
You employ a Muslim to do work, he's
got no ethics, he's got no morals.
Often, often.
And then you have, you are forced to
hire a non-Muslim.
Subhanallah, where's all our teachings gone?
Where's all our teachings gone?
You know, every time, masjid, yeah, masjid.
Let me come back to masjids.
You know, every time a masjid has an
issue with another masjid, so the committee break
up, what do they do?
They open another masjid down the road.
Who pays for that masjid?
Question.
I really want to ask you, who pays
for that masjid?
You do.
He's had beef with the other committee members,
and who's paying for it?
You are.
Because they know they can do that.
We are the only community who have masjid
which are million pounds, opens half an hour
before salah, closes half an hour after salah.
You pay more for your minarets and your,
and your, and your sajjadas and your musallas
than you would pay your imam in 20
years.
So what do you invest in?
You invest in carpets.
You invest in bricks, like if anybody got
guidance through a minaret.
But you're not ready to invest in people.
As I'm, as I've started, let me just
finish.
Hands up.
All those guys, brothers and sisters who have
gone to the maktab system, the five to
seven, either every day or weekend, hands up.
Only two, three.
Hands up.
Come on, don't be shy.
I'm going to batter you.
I know you're scared of the maulana sahib.
Hands up.
In your lifetime, when you were kids, you
went to the maktab system, five to seven.
Okay, now mashallah, mashallah.
See, your problem is you've been traumatized by
the maulana.
See, we were also, in our old, we
are 40 years, you know, some of us
still have the physical scars.
Maulana sahib had a bad day, he just
slap you.
And if we don't have the physical scars,
we got the psychological scars.
But my question is this, this is really
important.
Weekend maktab, and I really, wallahi, this one
really hurts me.
How is it that we are the only
single community, no jews, no christian, no hindus,
no sikhs, have a madarsah system besides the
muslim community?
Literally every single individual, either weekends or weekdays,
for seven to eight years, goes through the
maktab system.
Then how is it that you're five percent
of the community, and you're 17% in
jails?
How is it?
How is it you spend, and I'm not
blaming you guys, I'm blaming our system, the
way we teach.
How is it after seven years of that
guy coming into the masjid five days a
week, only community, muslims, learning about the deen
of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, and he
ends up a drug dealer, ends up a
social misfit, ends up a nuisance to society.
You know why, brothers, I'll tell you why,
brothers and sisters, I'll tell you why.
Because honestly, we need to really start rethinking
how we approach our religion.
And how we teach our religion, and how
we teach our priorities.
The maktab system for me is the most
powerful thing that we have in the UK,
if taught rightly.
Seven years you go to the masjid for
five days a week, how is it after
spending so much time learning the deen of
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, you're 17%
going up all the time in jails.
So let me come back to my favorite
topic, the masajid.
Guys, when you go to the masjid, when
you invest in a masjid, invest in those
masajid which will add value to your community,
not divide your community.
You know in the time of the Prophet
sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, there were these munafiqeen,
and these munafiqeen decided to build a masjid.
So they said to the Messenger of Allah,
come to our masjid, and stay in our
masjid, pray two rakats in our masjid.
The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, I'm
going on an expedition, once I come back,
I will come to your masjid.
So the Messenger of Allah comes back, and
they invite him to the masjid, and the
Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, the verse, Those
who take their masjid as a source of
harm, and a source of disbelief, and to
divide the believers.
You know what Shaykh Shaarawi says here, He
says, those individuals who decide to make another
masjid, because they don't get on with the
members of the committee, and they decide to
build another masjid, they fall into this category,
the frequent bain al mu'mineen, they divide between
the believers.
We still have masjids, Habibi, we still have
masjids, where the constitution says, to be a
member of this committee, you have to be
Somalian, you have to be Pakistani, you have
to be Gujarati, you know, this is a
jeep, I'll tell you why it's a jeep.
Imagine, I go into a masjid, I'm Pakistani,
I go into a masjid, which says, the
constitution, I don't know if any Somali masjids
have that, I know that, maybe they do,
just say they do, their constitution says, to
be a member of this masjid committee, you
have to be Somalian, money come, they bring
their bucket around, I drop a tenner inside,
I am giving a masjid money, which is
being racist towards me.
Now, understand something, and make this clear, my
talk is not about you not start giving,
because people want excuses not to give, isn't
it?
They want excuses, oh look, Maulana said, this
masjid, I ain't giving no masjid until I
read the constitution, and you're never going to
read the constitution, you know you ain't going
to read the constitution, so I ain't giving
no money, but what I'm saying, brothers and
sisters, if you, wallahi, I've never seen this,
I was around when they were racist towards
the blacks, 80s and 90s, against the Irish,
but I've never seen the way they've been
racist towards the Muslim community, it's 25 years
now, and it gets from bad to worse,
and the only people who are going to
change the situation is you and I, you
have to be that person, where Allah says,
you are the best of people, taken out
for who?
Allah doesn't say, Allah says, that humanity must
see your good, reflect, reflect about yourself, in
your community, in your masjid, in your homes,
with your wife, with your children, with your
parents, are you that person?
Are you that person, that people say and
say, yeah man, that's what I want to
be like, this is a Muslim, Muslims add
value to our community, but wallahi, when I
look around, it hurts me, I'm not here
just to run everybody down, I'm a part
of the problem, but if you don't talk
about the problem, as Shaykh Abul Hasan Adwi
says in his talk, he said, I could,
I could talk about something else, but I'm
going to be plain with you today, because
you might never hear what I have to
say, and then right at the end of
the talk, Shaykh Abul Hasan Adwi says, you
can see online, it's an amazing talk, everything
he says, is coming to pass, he says,
I could have given you a talk on
the virtues of the dhikr of Allah, because
he's in the tablighi marqas, but he says,
I don't want to, because maybe, you will
never hear these words again, and brothers and
sisters, my request, if you really care about
the longevity of your existence in this country,
because history never waits for somebody, and you
care about your children, then start rethinking, where
you invest your money, give abroad, give plenty
abroad, give more abroad, because the more you
give more Allah will give you, but invest
in here as well, invest in men and
women, make your legacy, may Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala preserve you all, may Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala give you brummies and everybody
around, may Allah give you strength, may Allah
strengthen your communities, may Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala make this a source of khay for
us in the dunya and akhira, like Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala has united us here,
may Allah unite us in Jannatul Firdaus, barakallahu
feekum, salamu alaikum wa rahmatullah.