Zaid Shakir – Reimagine and Rebuild With Renewed Resolve

			Assalamu alaykum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh. This is mams, a Shakira and I'm here on behalf of
Islam. And before proceeding any further, we'd like to thank Isner and acknowledge the wonderful
work they've been doing since their founding over the past several decades. And so the fact that we
can say over the past second several decades indicates Islam is a well established, mature
institution. It's an institution built on the hard work and sacrifices, the sincere wishes and the
dedication to Islam on the part of its founders on the part of its leaders past and present. And on
the part of the many people who have supported is now with their prayer, their well wishes and with
		

			their treasure. So we think Allah subhanho wa Taala, that is blessed the Muslims in North America
with this organization isn't is not perfect. So before you start tweeting out the memes at lavishing
praise on this is not is not perfect, but it is an organization it is an institution that is served
the Muslim community in North America for a long period of time, and very, very excellent fashion,
there's always room for room for improvement. And we pray that a lot Allah blesses Islam to continue
its mark march towards
		

			bigger and better as they say, but we think a lot that we have enjoyed what we have enjoyed from
this organization of the past decades. My task today is to talk about social justice, the Muslim
role in that, in that, and I will preface my remarks by stating that this subject can be approached
in one of two ways it can be approached in several ways, but man in one or two major ways. One, it
can be approached by jumping on the bandwagon of organizations, institutions that have advocated
this concept of social justice and situated in a leftist in the old Marxist framework that had at
the end of the day has absolutely nothing to do with the loss of Hannah ATOL with the human soul.
		

			Because the architects of social justice as we know it, and especially in this latest iteration is
post modernist iteration, particularly after the advent of activist post modernism, what we could
call activist, post modernism over much of the last two decades,
		

			is, has absolutely nothing to do with spiritual life. It has nothing to do with traditional
morality. In fact, one of its stated goals is to undermine or disrupt traditional morality toward
traditional religious institutions. And we should be aware of that. And that's one way we can
approach it, though, is through that frame. And that is the framework many Muslims are adopting
these days, especially those who have gone through humanities and social science programs at our
		

			major institutions, our major colleges and universities rather. And so we can approach it that way I
choose not to, I choose to approach it another way. And that's the second way. And that is a way
that looks at the idea of social justice within the framework of Islam within the framework of our
religion. And so from an atheistic
		

			postmodernist point of view. As we said, it has absolutely nothing to do with religion,
spirituality, or traditional moral values. In fact, its its stated mission is to destroy or disrupt
all of the, what I mentioned, traditional values, traditional religions, traditional spiritual and
moral institutions and standards, that is stated state admission. And
		

			therefore all there is to justice is social justice, because it's confined to the world is combined
fine to human beings. Some might extend that to animals, protecting and being just with animals and
the natural world, which is something we're not against at all. But just to say that it has nothing
to do with religion or traditional religious values. Therefore, social justice, is justice.
		

			On the other hand, if we look at it from a traditional
		

			Islamic framework, which I prefer to do, social justice is a part of a wider concept of justice. And
so to really drive that point home, you will not find in classical Islamic literature this term
social justice. It was first popularized amongst the Muslims and the book of say it kutub al Adel to
legitimate area to fill Islam social justice in Islam. So this term Adela to legitimize, you will
find in traditional Muslim sources, you will find the content CERN, for justice in society justice
amongst human beings, you will find that in terms of the idea, but the actual term, you will not
find until the 20th century. So we should be cognizant of that. When I say social justice is a part
		

			of a wider scheme of justice from an Islamic perspective. Let's situate this or we can situate this
in the context of the Hadith related by herbivore. And why dibny jabon. I have the blue channel or
the Allahu anhu mer. May Allah be pleased with the two of them. When they say that the Prophet
sallallahu alayhi wa sallam and Abby there have been well Madni Javelin or the Allahu Akuma Carla
Carla Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam at top Allah hate Boomer couldn't wait to be a Seattle
hustler. Tell her her mahali canasa behold, you can hustle. So be mindful of Allah, wherever you
are. And follow up a misdeed you might do with a good deed being weightier will wipe it out and
		

			treat people on the basis of good character. So deal with people on the basis of good character. So
here there are three realms of justice that are relevant for us as Muslims. The first is justice in
our relationship between ourselves and Allah subhanho wa Taala. Today Allah Haytham eloquent. And so
in this realm, mindfulness of Allah leads us to be just in our relationship with Allah, and that is
to convey all of the rights that are owed to Allah subhanho wa Taala. Who Okay, let, and so this
idea of conveying the right auto law has been crystallized early on in our history by an enhancement
Maha CB, the great Baghdadi was born and spent his early life and basura then moving to Baghdad, and
		

			had it and Maha CB
		

			who was a contemporary or rarey of the Imam Ahmed Rahim, whom Allah may Allah have mercy on both of
them.
		

			He wrote a book called Aria to li li hook Illa. Carefully guarding the rights owed to Allah and so
on one violates the rights owed to Allah subhanho wa Taala. One is being unjust in their
relationship with Allah subhanho wa Taala. And the greatest act of injustice in this regard is shear
or idolatry. And so a lot of Tyler mint states in the Quran in a shortcut, the Vollmann of him,
shear or idolatry is the great oppression in the shortcut level mon alvine. shirke is the Great
Depression. And again, when we don't have even a belief in a law, there is no consideration for the
rights that are owed to Allah subhanho wa Taala. And so the modern concept the postmodern very yet
		

			concept of social justice being rude in an atheistic thought, and a totally secularized thought has
no consideration for the rights owed to a law. The second realm is the Justice between ourselves and
our soul.
		

			Justice between ourselves and our soul, and this is captured by the statement of the Prophet
sallallahu alayhi wa sallam were to be received until Hasina time who here and follow up any misdeed
you do with a good deed that will eradicate it. And so essentially what mentioned being mentioned
here is Toba, or repentance, so that we do not meet a law burdened down by a mountain of sin,
because we have repented from our sins. We've we've engaged in prayer on a regular basis. We've
established regular prayer, we fast Ramadan, and so as they say,
		

			the daily prayers on a daily basis
		

			jumar to Juma from one Juma prayer to the next on a weekly, better basis, Ramadan, Ramadan, so the
month of Ramadan to the next, Ramadan on an annual basis wipes out our lesser sins. And so coupled
with repentance, we meet a lot without our soul being burdened with sin. And that's the justice and
our relationship with our soul. So again we read in Quran when men women, lamp women lemmya tober,
the Ola eco who move on the moon, whoever does not repent, they are the oppressors. And so they are
pressing their very souls. They are they are oppressing their very souls. And then the the Hadid
stays where Holly canasa behold open house and deal with people on the basis of good character. This
		

			is the realm of social justice. And so I'm not arguing that Islam eliminates social justice, I'm
just arguing that it places it in a framework that's wider than human society and human relations
and a framework were the first to justice in our relationship with the lung justice in our
relationship with our soul
		

			provides the parameters for us to understanding what are the limits of social justice. So in other
words, let's go back to the first understanding where there's no consideration of Allah tala, no
consideration of the soul, because it is an atheistic framework and philosophy. And that case, there
are no divinely revealed prophetic standards to determine what social justice might involve. When
Muslims in uncritically jump on that bandwagon. What happens? they advocate in many instances, for
policies for actions that would involve sin, therefore,
		

			angering Allah subhanho wa Taala, and fairly fair failing to convey the rights of Allah subhanho wa
Taala, which include a talk they hate the milk on, empty Thal and awareness which Tina been away,
implementing implementing the commandments and avoiding the prohibitions. That whole set of
parameters is eliminated. And an atheistic framework, which is the framework many Muslims have
adopted when they talk about and engage in what they call social justice.
		

			We so and then, secondly,
		

			they're advocating for a sinful actions,
		

			which involves declaring an what Allah has made forbidden to be lawful. And so this is something
that comes back to the detriment of their soul, and the IRA, again, those parameters are eliminated,
and it totally atheistic form of social justice. And then and so for the Muslim, those parameters
are real. And so we don't advocate for the Haram. We don't declare the Haram to be halal, because of
our concern about our relationship with other human beings or other groups or other collectivities.
And this is very important. That doesn't mean that we are wrong, deny political rights in a
pluralistic society, advocate discrimination. No, we don't do any of that. But we make it clear what
		

			we believe to be acceptable human actions, acceptable human relationships, based on the parameters
provided us by our Lord and our Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. And so those two realms justice
in our relationship with the law, Justice in our relationship with ourselves, that those provide the
parameters for us determining what are acceptable
		

			realms, and what would constitute from our perspective, social justice. So we should be very, very
aware of that. And we should avoid jumping on bandwagons and conclude bandwagons that are determined
by in many instances, atheistic
		

			anti social ideologies at the end of at the end of the day, and so we have to be discerning and
movement key is on one
		

			For fun, while our keys to lock cotton, so the same award form
		

			before the introduction of vows and diacritical marks
		

			is the same word can be k swapon. believer and McMinnville pays on Worthen
		

			are believers wise and discerning. And that same structure can be a bag of cotton, and mineral key.
So cotton. So the first is relevant, but when we are uncritical, when we don't consider the
teachings of our religion, we become nothing, we become a bag of cotton, just stuff and fluff with
no real, tangible substance to ourselves. And in that case, we were amenable to making a lot of
mistakes that not only will harm our souls, potentially, but will also bring about a lot of
instability in human society. In conclusion, as we all know, the events unfolding in Afghanistan, we
pray for the people there. And again, to just
		

			illustrate
		

			how we can jump on a bandwagon
		

			and not really think about the deeper implications that are neglected when those bandwagons we are
jumping on our idiotic, idiotic ideologically determined. And so now you rightly so don't get me
wrong, rightly. There's a lot of concern. Now, what's going to happen to girls and women in
Afghanistan, under the Taliban, we pray that a lot of the
		

			more reasonable moderate statements coming from various Taliban spokesman spokespeople about women
concerns continuing in the workplace in journalism and young girls having the ability to go to
school, we pray that those are all truthful statements, and not part of what some call it calling
our charm offensive until all of the Americans and foreign troops are gone. And then a more nasty,
uglier face will be revealed. We pray that those statements are true. So there's right justified
justified concern. But those statements now at this time.
		

			To a large extent, they're ideologically determined, and they're not part of a wider concern for
women and girls in Afghanistan. So why do I say that? If there was a wider concern for girls and
women and advancement, when our invasion and occupation and the millions of tons how long pounds of
bombs that have been dropped on of the anesthetic, when are killing women and girls amongst the men
and boys that are being killed of these bombs and discriminate when they fall on homes, when they
bomb wedding parties? The damage is indiscriminate. When when women were being dragged out of the
houses out in the countryside, in many instances shot during these night rage and dragged out in
		

			their nightclothes. There was absolutely no word. There was no mention of any concern for girls and
women in Afghanistan. Why? Because that wasn't part of the ideological framework driving the current
concern. So Well, I'm not saying there should be no concern. Now. Don't get me wrong. What I'm
saying as Muslims, our perspective should be wider so that we find all of it condemnable, anything
that's threatening, not just the lives of women and girls, but all human beings, whoever kills an
innocent human being is as it's as if they've killed all of humanity. And so the our framework is
wider. And our framework is centered on the human family, and not the man or the woman necessarily
		

			abstracted from a wider social context. And then those particular issues become the focus. The
issues are important, but they have to be contextualized. Otherwise,
		

			we'll see a deepening of the Cleveland cleavages that are tearing our society apart, tearing Muslim
societies apart. And so we see now because of the various ideologies that abstract
		

			people
		

			From a particular social context, we see the rise of the women's movement. And now the counter that
the rise of the men's movement, the red pill movement, we see the rise of black power, *,
woman power, men power, children, power trends, power, gay power. And all of these movements are
tearing our society apart. And they're destroying the foundation for having a viable social sphere.
		

			We we as Muslims have to look at things from a perspective that brings us together as a society. And
so May Allah give us the wisdom to situate everything happening around us from the movement for
social justice for from what's going on in Iran instead, or in other parts of not just the Muslim
world but the wider world The situate these things in a wider context that allows us to bring people
and societies together, and not to be part of efforts that are designed in many instances, to tear
societies apart. May Allah give us tofik and tastier. cabul metalock cept from everyone mela as we
mentioned continue to bless Isner. This is emagazine Chateau Assalamu alaykum warahmatullahi wa
		

			barakato