Zaid Shakir – What Makes The Prophet Muhammad Great
AI: Summary ©
The segment discusses the history and significance of the Prophet sallahu, as well as the historical significance of the Bible's influence on people's political and cultural status. The sharia community faced struggles to survive against poverty and demise of Islam, and was pressured to protest. The film is a psychological warfare tactic designed to achieve political results, and the presence of God in the culture is a legacy. The film is a way to achieve political results, and the film is a way to achieve political results through psychological warfare tactics.
AI: Summary ©
Inna alhamdulillahi wa nasta'aynuhu wa nastawfiruhu wa
nastawfiruhu wa natubu ilayhi wa nabududillahi min shururi
anfusina wa min sayyi'ati a'malina.
Man yahdihi Allah fa la muddilla lah, wa
man yudlil fa la hadiya lah.
Wa ash'hadu an la ilaha illa Allah
wahdahu la sharika lah.
Wa ash'hadu anna sayyidana Muhammadan abduhu wa
rasuluhu.
Wa min yuta'illaha wa rasulahu faqad faaza
fawzan a'weema.
Amma ba'du fa inna astaqal hadithi kitabullah.
Wa khayra al hadi hadi Muhammadin sallallahu alayhi
wa sallam.
Wa shurrul umura muhdafatuha.
Fa kulla muhdafatin bil'a.
Wa kulla bil'atin balala.
Wa kulla balalatin fil nar.
Alhamdulillah.
Alhamdulillah illadhi hadana lihada.
Wa ma kunna linaf hadiha lawla an hadana
Allah.
Alhamdulillah illadhi anzala ala abdihil kitabu wa lam
yaj'al lahu iwaja.
Alhamdulillahi rabbil alameen.
All praise is due to Allah who has
blessed us with Islam.
Who has blessed us to be followers of
Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam.
As we all know the name Muhammad is
in the news.
And I say the name Muhammad.
Because the name does not necessarily capture the
essence.
Of our Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam.
We all know unfortunately.
There are many people named Muhammad.
Who are not righteous people.
The fact that they carry that noble honorable
name.
Is no reflection on our Prophet sallallahu alayhi
wa sallam.
I say this brothers and sisters.
To say when someone draws some offensive picture.
And says that this image represents Muhammad.
It doesn't represent our Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa
sallam.
It represents a figment of the artist or
the film maker's imagination.
Our Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam.
Is considered not by us Muslims.
He is by us.
Those of us who are Muslims.
The greatest human being to ever walk on
the surface of this planet.
Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam.
But this opinion, this belief.
That we believe to be factual.
Is shared by many westerners who aren't Muslims.
Many westerners when they make a list of
the greatest personalities in human history.
At the top of the list is our
Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam.
History has recorded the greatness of our Prophet
sallallahu alayhi wa sallam.
And why?
Why does history acknowledge Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa
sallam as the greatest human being to ever
live?
Single handedly.
He changed the entire orientation of his people.
When Jesus came to the world.
Isa alayhi salam.
Peace upon him.
He came to a people who were already
familiar with monotheism.
Because they were in the heartland of the
Jewish people.
In present day Palestine.
So, some Jews believed he was the Messiah.
He said, think not as recorded in the
Bible, think not that I have come but
to the Lord's sheep of Israel.
Some Jews rejected him and some accepted him.
So, there are the Nazarene Christians who were
Jews who accepted the prophecy of Jesus.
There are the Ebionite Christians.
And there are theories that propose that Waraqa
bin Nothay was an Ebionite Christian who accepted
Jesus but they still adhered to the Jewish
law.
And for this reason, when some say how
did Waraqa bin Nothay, who the Prophet went
to Khadija radiallahu anha, brought the Prophet sallallahu
alayhi wa sallam to Waraqa.
To affirm that he indeed had received revelation
from Almighty God.
But when Imam Bukhari and others record that
Waraqa read the Hebrew scriptures.
Some people say if you are Christian, shouldn't
you have been reading Aramaic?
Or shouldn't you have been reading Greek?
But some propose that the Ebionite Christians migrated
into the Hijaz.
This is a historical fact.
And even some of our scholars record their
existence there.
As late as 300 years after our Prophet
sallallahu alayhi wa sallam.
And so they read the Hebrew scripture and
they observed the Jewish law but they accepted
Isa alayhi salam as the Messiah.
In any case, Isa alayhi salam came into
the heartland of the Jewish people.
So it would have been very easy for
them to accept his message because there was
a continuity between his message and the message
of Musa alayhi salam.
There was a continuity between the message of
Moses and the message of Jesus.
Even today, most Christians, they have the Old
Testament and they have the New Testament.
The New Testament being a continuation of the
Old Testament.
Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam was sent into
a sea of idolatry.
A sea of idolatry where there is no
recognizable connection between the polytheism of his people
and the monotheism that he is preaching sallallahu
alayhi wa sallam.
In spite of that, in 23 years, he
totally reoriented his people sallallahu alayhi wa sallam.
And he made them not just into monotheists
but he instilled the seed of monotheism so
deeply within their souls that they exploded out
of the Arabian Peninsula and they took that
message within 100 years from the pyramids in
the west to the wall of China in
the east.
Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam.
This alone, this alone would merit our Prophet
sallallahu alayhi wa sallam as the architect of
one of the greatest religious, social and cultural
transformations in the history of humanity.
If not the single most impressive social transformation
in the history of humanity.
This is not the work of a madman
or a lunatic.
This is not the work of an imposter.
And his greatness sallallahu alayhi wa sallam doesn't
stop there.
Having instilled the fire of monotheism of Tawheed
into the hearts of his believers, his followers
rather.
They then took it to the far corners
of the known world at that time.
And created one of the greatest civilizations in
history.
Some will argue, was it the greatest in
terms of its intellectual output?
Was it the greatest in terms of its
geographical reach?
Was it the greatest in terms along this
or that or the other lines?
We say it is the greatest because every
civilization is confined to a geographical or a
racial or ethnic boundary.
Egyptian civilization only appeared in Egypt.
Hindu civilization only appeared in India.
The civilizations of the Sumerians or the Chaldeans
or the Phoenicians only appeared in those geographical
regions.
What makes the civilization of Islam unique?
It is based on knowledge.
It is a knowledge based civilization.
And because it is a knowledge based civilization,
it transcends geography.
It transcends race and ethnicity.
And any people who adorn themselves and beautify
themselves.
And this is what Islam does to people.
With Islam, then they have the opportunity to
share in the civilizing project of Islam.
When it came to the Arabs, you saw
the flowering of an Arab Muslim Islamic civilization.
In the heartlands of the Muslim world but
also in far away Andalusia.
With the entry of Abdur Rahman al-Dakhil
into Spain, the remnants of the Umayyad dynasty
were revived.
And some of the greatest marvels such as
Medina al-Zahra and Cordoba itself.
Cordoba.
And on the outskirts of Cordoba, Medina al
-Zahra.
One of the greatest architectural wonders of the
ancient world appeared.
And great cities like Baghdad appeared.
And Sostok which will become Cairo appeared.
And Damascus with the great Emmanouil Masjid appeared.
And then when it was passed on to
the Persians, you saw the flowering of Persian
civilization under Islam.
And you saw the great contributions of the
Persians and the cities that they built.
And the beauty of Isfahan and Herat and
Khorasan, Nisabur.
And all of these wonders that were not
only architectural wonders but were centers of learning
and scholarship.
And when it passed into the Turkish hands.
And that flame of Islam that was lit
from the light of Muhammad ﷺ.
Ya ayyuhal nabiy, inna arsalnaka shahidan wa mubashshiran
wa nabiran wa da'iyan illa Allahi biimnihi
wa sirajan munira.
O Prophet, we sent you as a witness.
And as a giver of glad tidings.
And as a warner.
As one who calls to Allah by His
command.
And as a luminous light.
A luminous lamp.
And that lamp has lit the fire of
civilization.
And when it passed through the Turks.
You saw the great Seljuq capitals.
And then culminating in the great, in the
Mamluk.
The Mamadi capitals.
The Turkish warrior kings, slave kings of Egypt.
And the great monuments of learning and culture
and civilization.
That we can still point to this day.
And then culminating in the Ottomans.
One of the longest living dynasties in human
history.
For over 500 years.
The great capital of Istanbul.
The beautiful masajids.
And hospitals.
And centers.
That testified.
Not only to the greatness of the Ottomans.
But to the greatness of Muhammad ﷺ.
Who provided the spark and the impetus.
That gave rise to those warriors.
Who turned into the architects.
Of civilization and culture.
And we can go on in that regard.
Our Prophet ﷺ was a mercy to all
the world.
وَمَا أَرْسَلْنَاكَ إِلَّا رَحْمَةً لِلْعَالَمِينَ We've only sent
you as a mercy to all the world.
And he described himself ﷺ.
إِنَّمَا أَنَا رَحْمَةٌ مَرْدَاءٌ I am a gifted
mercy to the world.
A gift of mercy to the world.
And how can we measure that mercy?
There are many ways to measure it.
But we'll measure it in a way.
That will dispute.
Or dispel rather some of the clouds of
darkness.
That have been placed over the Muhammad legacy.
And that's the mercy.
To those people who are not Muslim.
Living in Muslim lands.
The critic today will say that the Muslims
were intolerant.
There are no equal.
That the Christians or the Jews were all
second class citizens.
And that the Sharia.
It oppresses minorities.
Where when the Muslims had Sharia.
The Christians and the Jews.
And the Hindus and the Buddhists.
And the Zoroastrians.
All of those people and others who live
under the umbrella of Sharia.
Had sustainability.
And their communities endured decade after decade.
Century after century.
This is a fact of history.
Even in those lands where Muslims had the
capability.
To wipe those minorities out.
But it's not from the nature of Islam.
And it's not from the nature of our
Prophet ﷺ.
And it's not from the nature of the
followers of Muhammad ﷺ.
To wipe people out.
So their communities sustained themselves.
In Palestine.
They say that the person who's involved with
this film.
That has sparked so much controversy is a
Coptic Christian.
How many Coptic Christians are in Egypt?
And how did their community manage to survive
all of these centuries?
Because of the mercy of Muhammad ﷺ.
And if these minorities are threatened today.
They're not threatened because of the influence of
Islamic civilization.
They're threatened because of the demise of Islamic
civilization.
And Muslims being inundated by Western nihilistic and
unartistic and hegemonic ideologies.
Putting an Islamic facade on it.
And then launching.
In narrow-minded.
Attacks against these minorities.
This is a historical fact.
That we should not lose sight of.
So the Muslims had Sharia.
And the non-Muslim people had sustainability.
The environment has sustainability.
Now we have equality.
Apparently for everyone except Muslims.
In France.
Liberté.
Liberty, equality.
And fraternity and brotherhood.
But French Muslims.
The person who made these despicable drawings.
Of someone they said is Muhammad.
It's free to do that.
But the Muslims aren't free to peacefully assemble
and protest.
Under the banner of equality.
And liberty.
And fraternity.
In this country.
If Muslims are up in arms.
Which they aren't.
They're calm and dignified.
But when they protest.
Or discuss it at work with their colleagues.
Or with their neighbors.
Or fellow workers.
Or fellow students.
Then they're told, we're told.
You know just get over it.
This is freedom of speech.
We have the first amendment in this country.
But when African Americans are insulted.
There are protections.
When one of these radio hosts.
Don Imus.
On the fan, WFAN in New York City.
A couple years ago.
Called the women of the Rutgers University basketball
team.
That had made it to the NCAA finals.
Against Tennessee.
A bunch of nappy headed hoes.
He was fired.
From the radio station.
Because he reached the limits of freedom of
speech.
When Kobe Bryant.
Called the referee a faggot.
Under his breath.
But someone on the sidelines heard it.
And the homosexual community was up in arms.
And the whole Laker organization was forced to
publicly apologize.
And issue a PSA.
But had reached the limits of freedom of
speech.
In a famous court case.
In this country it was established and affirmed.
Or rather.
An argument in defense.
Of delineating the limits of freedom of speech.
That if there is no fire.
You cannot call and yell out fire in
a crowded theater.
That would be an encroachment on the limits
of freedom of speech.
But in a crowded world.
A global village.
When someone does something far worse than crying
fire in a crowded theater.
If it's Muslims go ahead and say it.
Because to paraphrase.
Judge Tony.
T-A-W-N-E-Y.
For those who are familiar.
With his ruling.
And we'll paraphrase it.
On the verge of the civil war.
In this country.
Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.
A Muslim has no rights.
In this country that a non-Muslim is
bound to respect.
And some of you know the original phrasing.
Of that.
But it's alright.
It's alright.
Because we don't need the first amendment.
We don't need the government.
We don't need the UN.
We need Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
And Allah ta'ala.
Almighty God.
Allah ta'ala says.
Proclaim Allah.
Then leave them.
In their.
Isle.
With wasteful activities.
Justfully playing around.
To go back I didn't finish.
So the Muslims had Sharia.
And the minorities had sustainability.
The environment had sustainability.
Now we have equality.
And liberty.
And human rights.
But we also have genocide and ecocide.
Human rights equality didn't stop the genocide in
Bosnia.
It didn't stop the genocide in Rwanda.
The declaration of independence.
And the principle of God given rights.
We hold these truths to be self evident.
That all men are created equal.
It didn't give the equality to the native
people of this land who are wiped out.
This is the legacy of modernity.
It's a legacy of hypocrisy.
It's a legacy of genocide.
And those who are advancing these provocations against
the Muslims.
They're endeavoring to continue that legacy.
They want to continue the war mongering.
They want to create this boogeyman they can
point to.
See these people are a bunch of crazy
wild lunatics.
That's why we have to bomb them.
That's why we have to occupy their lands.
And it's not mentioned take their resources.
Brothers and sisters don't give them any excuse.
Don't give them any pretext.
Maintain your dignity.
Maintain your world view.
Maintain your love of the Prophet ﷺ.
And turn off the news.
I was listening to a recording by one
of our great contemporary scholars.
Sheikh Abdul Hakim Murad.
He's from Great Britain.
He says what is it about Muslims that
you log on to BBC World every morning
so you can feel bad about yourself.
Oh, what did they blow up today?
Oh, here he goes again.
Turn it off.
Unplug from it.
And plug into your Qur'an.
Plug into your Ar-Raj.
Plug into your Al-Qar.
Plug into the seerah of the Prophet ﷺ.
Involve yourself in positive work.
That builds up your self-esteem.
That gives you satisfaction and contentment in your
heart.
Share this message with your neighbors.
Share it from a position of positiveness.
Positive energy.
A positive outlook.
This is our Prophet ﷺ.
Allah has undertaken his defense.
He told the early people, the early community.
Men need to deal with these big shots.
They're scheming and planning.
I have a plan.
Leave them.
For a while.
Allah will take care of this puppy.
Allah ta'ala tells his father, Allah has
elevated his mention.
This is another sign of his incomparable greatness.
No other name is on the tongue of
some human being somewhere on the face of
this earth every second that this earth is
in existence once his religion was established.
Every second as the sun goes around and
the prayer times from Fajr to Dhuhr to
Asr to Maghrib to Isha pass.
And as the Nawafil pass.
And as people during the times who didn't
pray at the beginning of the time pray
in the middle or the latter part of
the time and they make their qama.
They're saying ash-shadu an la ilaha illa
Allah wa ash-shadu anna Muhammadan Rasulullah.
Every second of existence someone is saying the
name of Muhammad the Lord who has elevated
his remembrance the Lord who has placed his
remembrance on the tongue of a human being
every second of this world's existence you think
he cannot defend his prophet?
Do you think he cannot defend his prophet?
Brothers and sisters, live a dignified life.
Work to strengthen your faith.
Because one of the psychological aspects of these
psychological warfare tactics I'm not saying they're emanating
from the government but this film is a
psychological warfare tactic.
It's designed to achieve political results.
One of those results is to take away
the aspect where the republicans can't attack President
Obama.
This is not a commercial for Obama.
And that's on national security.
Because Obama could say, I killed bin Laden.
Now they say, look, your policy is a
disaster.
Look, the Muslims are up in arms.
They're burning our embassies.
What kind of success have you had when
you went to Cairo and you reached out
to them with the open hand and they're
responding with an iron fist?
We need someone in the White House who
can undertake the proper policy in the Muslim
world.
That's one aspect of it.
And to do that, to rile up the
Muslims.
Say, see?
That's what you're dealing with.
Another aspect is to keep a climate of
tension between the Muslim world and the Western
world that will support this ongoing war that
has been launched.
The endless war.
The war on terror.
That has no end because it has no
geographical boundaries.
It has no well-defined strategic objectives.
It's against some amorphous, ill-defined concept.
And the only way to keep it going
is to say, you see, we're dealing with
a bunch of terrorists is the nature of
their religion.
This is psychological warfare.
And another aspect of that psychological warfare is
to beat down the Muslims.
And to make the Muslims doubt the integrity
of their religion.
And it's working.
You see, Muslims in this country in massive
depression.
Here we go again.
How can I go to work today?
Every time you turn on the television, it's
another crisis.
That's how they want you to think.
And that's why we say, unplug.
Disconnect.
And get into your Qur'an.
Read the seerah of your prophet.
Learn about him, sallallahu alaihi wa sallam.
Read the history.
Not only the history of the Muslims, the
history of others.
So you can see the impact of Islam
on the global stage.
And the final greatness of Islamic civilization, no
other civilization was able to do this.
Including today's western civilization.
It has managed to establish its hegemony.
But it hasn't managed to assimilate the best
qualities of the people it's crushing.
So you see people all over the world
wearing blue jeans.
All over the world, if they're not eating
at Kentucky Fried Chicken, they wish they could.
Even in Mecca.
All over the world, you see western cultural
norms imposed on people.
The genius of Islamic civilization, it was able
to take the best from the previous civilizations.
The best from the Greeks.
The best from the Romans.
The best from the Persians.
The best from the Indians.
The best from the Chinese.
The best from the Asians.
And meld it all into one harmonious integrated
unit.
That respected cultural diversity.
So everyone, even those people, abs-free, what
do they wear?
They're wearing blue jeans and t-shirts.
By and large.
But when Islam spread, people in Malaysia and
Indonesia don't dress like people in Africa.
Africa has the grand bubu.
People in Kurdistan don't dress like people in
Bangladesh.
People in Bangladesh, current to present day Bangladesh,
don't dress like people in Muslim Spain.
When Islam was there, how they dressed.
Their foods are different.
There's no equivalent of the Big Mac.
In Islamic civilization.
They all have their unique foods.
Their unique cultures.
This is Islam, brothers and sisters.
This is the genius.