One Message, Many Messengers

One Message, Many Messengers

Opening Praise and Testimony

Alhamdulillah, we praise Him, we ask for His help, we ask for His forgiveness, and we seek refuge in Allah from the evil of our souls and the evil of our deeds. Whomsoever Allah guides, none can misguide him, and whomsoever He misguides, none can guide him. I bear witness that there is none worthy of worship except Allah, and that Muhammad is His servant and Messenger.

Introduction: Common Ground with Others

The title of this talk is One Message, Many Messengers. I was expecting actually a lot more non-Muslims to attend, and I was thinking about some of the things that we have in common with some of the Christians and Jews and also the atheists that might come. And I thought to myself, and I said, you know what? Atheists are half-Muslims.

Atheists are half-Muslims. You might wonder, how can atheists be half-Muslims? When you think about the message of the messengers, they all came and taught, La ilaha illallah Muhammadur Rasulullah - (لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا ٱللَّٰهُ مُحَمَّدٌ رَسُولُ ٱللَّٰهِ - La ilaha illallah Muhammadur Rasulullah). There's no deity worthy of worship except Allah.

La ilaha illallah - (لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا ٱللَّٰهُ - La ilaha illallah) there's no deity. That's what the atheists believe. And then all they have to do is take the other half and they're Muslims.

Except Allah. So la ilaha - (لَا إِلَٰهَ - la ilaha), negation. We have two parts of the shahada, which is the declaration of faith.

When you say you become Muslim, la ilaha - (لَا إِلَٰهَ - la ilaha) affirmation. Negation, sorry, you negate. La ilaha - (لَا إِلَٰهَ - la ilaha) there's no God.

We have that in common with the atheists. Illallah - (إِلَّا ٱللَّٰهُ - Illallah) except for Allah. So, this particular topic is very important because we're living in America.

The Reality of Islam in Contemporary Society

As Muslims living in America, and in the society that we're living now, in the times that we're living now, there is not a single religion on the face of this earth that is more detested by more people right now than Islam. It's just the fact of the matter is, that's how it is now. We know that in the media, we see it, we read it in the newspaper, on TV, everywhere.

People are bashing Islam left and right. And there's so much misconceptions and misunderstandings about Islam that you can just spend hours and hours and hours just mentioning some of the misunderstandings and misconceptions about Islam that people have because of the environment

that we're living in, and the society that we're living in, and the events that occurred. And so, even though we have all this Islam bashing, that people are talking about Islam, and Islam has become synonymous with terrorism or suicide.

Like Islam, you ask them, what is Islam? They'll say, oh, it's the same as terrorism, or the same as suicide bombing. It's become to that point nowadays. So, even though there is so much misunderstanding about Islam, Islam is still the fastest growing religion in the United States.

Islam's Growth Despite Opposition

In fact, it is the fastest growing religion in the world. And after the fall of Communism, Richard Nixon, he came on TV, this is like prime time. After the Cold War, people thought that there was going to be peace, and everything was going to be okay, and there's nothing else afterwards.

He came in prime time, you know what he said? He said, the biggest threat to the society right now is Islam. Like, this is not just a regular person. He's not saying it in his backyard, in his room by himself, no.

In prime time on TV, he said, this is the biggest threat to society is Islam. So, it's like, Islam is another word for the boogeyman also. Like, this is how it is nowadays.

The Importance of Understanding True Islam

So, there are a lot of misconceptions, and as Muslims living in this society, we have to know how to speak to non-Muslims, and non-Muslims also, they have to really understand what true Islam is. What does it exemplify? And, why do we need to know about Muslims? And why do you need to know about Muslims? Why? Because, well, there are many statistics that have been mentioned. We're not talking about Muslims mentioning these statistics, but non-Muslims.

And many have come out on TV and in news and so forth, one of which is, they said by the year 2300, one in every three people in America will be Muslim. That means one third of America. If it continues just the way it is, I don't think it will continue at the same rate.

It will probably increase, Inshallah. So, in 2300, one in three, if it continues just by this rate, one in three will be Muslim in the United States.

Islam's Appeal Across Demographics

And, of course, even in the armed forces, people who are fighting Muslims, it's the fastest growing religion in the armed forces. In fact, they're fighting, they're in the Muslim countries, and they're accepting Islam. And to add on to that, most people think that Islam oppresses women.

But the rate of most of the people who accept Islam, there's a large percentage of non-Muslims who accept Islam are women. Now, why is this the case? You have to really reflect upon it. Why is this the case? And we ourselves, as Muslims, sometimes we feel bad because Islam is being talked so badly about.

Divine Wisdom in Every Event

And we don't realize that everything that happens, there's wisdom in it. There's wisdom in everything that happens. In the time when the Mongolians, Genghis Khan and his men, when they came and conquered the Muslim empire, the Muslim countries during their time, during that time, they came and they burnt libraries.

They threw books in the rivers and they killed thousands and thousands and thousands of Muslims. So much so that the river became black and blue and red. What the blood and the ink, because of the books and because of the bloodshed that they caused.

Historical Lesson: The Mongol Invasion

Ibn Athir, the historian during that time, he said, I spent two years thinking about this incident and the calamity that has befallen upon the Muslim empire. I spent two years and I couldn't get myself to write about it. If you were to say that from the time of Adam until now, there hasn't been a calamity that has afflicted the Muslims as great as this, you would be correct.

And it was so difficult because all the killings and the Muslims were being massacred left and right. He said, I couldn't even get myself to write about it. Because he was so sad.

The Ultimate Victory of Truth

But you know what happened? He didn't live until the time that followed. Those people who were killing Muslims, later on, what happened to them? They conquered the Muslims with their swords. Islam conquered their hearts with La ilaha illallah Muhammad Rasulullah - (لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا ٱللَّٰهُ مُحَمَّدٌ رَسُولُ ٱللَّٰهِ - La ilaha illallah Muhammad Rasulullah)

And they became Muslims. He didn't live to see that. And so sometimes when people are speaking about Islam, especially in this particular time and age, they will bash Islam and say things about Islam.

The Path to Understanding Islam

It's just lighting the curiosity in people's minds. And so they will start to learn more about Islam. And when they actually read and learn more about Islam, they find out, you know what? It's not what they are speaking about in the news, in the media.