10 Great Challenges Facing Every Muslim

America.

You have to study before Columbus. You have to understand about the native people who lived in this part of the world, and what they actually had. And when you do that, you will find out that there was great civilizations here.

The Native Civilizations

There were pyramids in Mexico, pyramids, high philosophy. In the United States, the Cherokee Nation had one settlement of over 100,000 people with three-story buildings. The Iroquois Confederacy was so organized politically that it is the Iroquois Confederacy's Constitution, which is the basis of the Constitution of America.

It is based on the Iroquois Confederacy's Constitution. That's how organized they were. But yet, you don't see them today except on reservations. Or if you see them in the cities, they are depressed, they are alcoholics, their culture has been destroyed.

African-American Muslims and the Legacy of Slavery

Also, African-American people. You have to understand that many people were brought here to this part of the world, not of their own free will. And they fought on the shores of Africa, they fought in the Middle Passage, and they fought and resisted when they came here. And 30% of the people who came across during the slavery period were Muslims. Now it is coming to the surface that some of the Muslims were writing texts of great scholarship.

We have Qurans written by Muslims in America. We have the works of great Maliki scholars, al-Risala of Ibn Abi Zayd al-Qayrawani, written by Umar bin Said, a slave. We have great ulema who were captured and brought here.

Ayub ibn Sulaiman, Ibrahim Abdur-Rahman, who was in Mississippi. These were great scholars, they were amirs in their area who were captured. That is the history of the African-American people.

So it is not a coincidence why so many African-Americans are coming into Islam. This is not a coincidence. It is part of a historical legacy.

The Japanese-American Internment

And you have to understand this to know what is happening in this country. Thirdly, you have to understand that in World War II, when America declared war on the Japanese, that all Japanese-Americans, or the majority of Japanese-Americans, were put into concentration camps. Even though they were loyal to the country, because their country had declared war on this nation, they became a threat to the internal security of the country.

And therefore, under special laws, they were put into concentration camps. We have to understand this.

The Freedoms in America

Alhamdulillah, one of the great benefits of this society is that there are certain freedoms here that they give you. They give you the right to speak. They'll give me the right to speak here and say some of the things that I'm saying and will say, if I said it in a Muslim country, the police would be outside the door. They might take me off the podium in some of the so-called Muslim countries.

So that is one of the freedoms you have in this country. And you have the freedom to unite ourselves. We have the freedom to develop institutions. But before that freedom is taken away, we cannot wait. We cannot be lax and lazy. And we have to start looking at each other in a different way.

The White House Scandal and Loss of Shame

The reason why I say this is because the recent incidents happening in the White House, and I don't want to go into it because we've all lived through this scandal that happened with the President. What I want to reflect on, however, is that if this is the President of the United States, we're in trouble.

If that's what goes on in the White House, then what can go on in the regular houses? What goes on in the society if people have no shame to be discussing issues like this publicly in front of their children? This is dangerous.

The Hadith About Shame

And the Prophet, peace be upon him, said in a hadith reported by Abu Mas'ud Iqba' ibn Amr al-Ansari radiallahu anhu, he said that the Prophet, peace be upon him, said:

(Sahih Bukhari 3484)

In this hadith, the Prophet, peace be upon him, said, what has come to us from the earliest prophets that has come to the people, that if you do not have shame, then do anything. You're capable of doing anything, if you do not have haya'a, if you do not have shame. This is why the Prophet, peace be upon him, said:

That modesty and shame is part of our iman.

(Sahih Bukhari 9)

When that goes from a people, they are capable of anything.

The Movie "The Siege"

In New York, the community is in a serious crisis now, and discussing and pondering, and it's now going around

America, the release of a new movie. This movie is called, The Siege.

And it is starring two of the actors who are very famous here, Denzel Washington and Bruce Willis. And Bruce Willis is the tough guy, beat him up, save America man. And this movie called, The Siege, which will be released in November, depicts terrorists in New York City.

And in the movie, they are now showing advertisements, before the other movies, and some people had a chance to review it, because it's being released by major Hollywood production companies. In this movie, the United States government sends the CIA, the FBI, and the United States Army to New York, to fight against terrorists, who are about to unleash chemical germ warfare, biological warfare, on the American population. Who are the bad guys in this movie? Muslims.

The Depiction of Muslims in the Media

And the movie, is showing police and army, kicking down the doors of the masjids, and dragging people out. This is what has come to us. Dragging sisters in khema, in hijab.

Dragging brothers out, and putting them in concentration camps. Concentration camps, that are set up for people who are dangerous, to the security of the country. What these movies do, although they claim to be fiction, the movie set the mindset, it develops a mindset, for the population.

And some people, after they see a movie, they live the movie out in the streets. Some people look at the movies and think it's reality. They don't have the sense to realize, that it's not real.

Some of them believe it. And so when they show the movie, they are trying to push the people's mentality, in a certain direction. This is a dangerous precedent, which is coming about.

The Need for Awareness and Unity

And our communities have to now become aware, of what is going on. And there is still time for us. There is still time for us to fortify our communities, to unite with other believers, to start to really educate our children, to start to really look at our problems, but it's going to need balanced leadership.

And it also needs, the type of discussions that go to what we call, the bottom line. In other words, you go right to the issue. As the Quran says, Have the taqwa of Allah, and speak a straight forward word.

Introduction to Sheikh Mohammed Al-Amin Al-Shanqiti

So in this light, I wanted to present, at the beginning of our discussion tonight, something from a text, a text of a great Islamic scholar. And I've chosen him, because he is one of the scholars, who could be considered a balanced scholar, in the 20th century, who was able to cross barriers, cultural barriers, and was respected by people, in many parts of the Muslim world. Sheikh Mohammed Al-Amin Al-Shanqiti, Rahimahullah.

He came from the Shanakata, this is in Mauritania, in West Africa. A long tradition of scholarship, coming from North Africa, and he wrote the Fiqh of Malik, Imam Malik Ibn Anas, Rahimahullah, which came out of Medina, and went to North Africa and Andalusia, and settled in West Africa, and the Sahara, and the desert.

The Scholar's Background

And so, from this tradition, Mohammed Al-Amin Rahimahullah, he memorized the Quran, before he was 10 years old. And he studied within his own home, this is another important issue, his father and his mother were scholars, his uncles were scholars. And so he studied even within his own home, that the home was not just dunya, but the home was a place of ibadah and scholarship. And so his early adab, his etiquette and his training, came from his mother and his father, his family.

And he learned in that, and he was able to become proficient in fiqh, in tafsir, in hadith. And later he traveled to the Arabian Peninsula, and he taught in Riyadh, and also Al-Madinat al-Manawarah, Medina. And he was known as one of the great scholars of Medina for many years.

The Ten Great Issues

He has a text, which I will give you an abbreviated version of, just so we can start to think about some of the areas that this balanced scholar put in front. He said, ashara masa'il idham, alayha madarat dunya. That there are ten great issues. Upon these issues, the whole world revolves. Everything rests upon these. These are ten areas.

Some of these areas are personal. And some of them are international. With this, we will begin to see and understand what is happening in the Muslim world, and also partially what is happening in our own lives.

And I want to just touch on these ten points, and then open up the floor for any questions and discussions.

First Point: At-Tawhid (The Oneness of Allah)

The first of the points that the Shaykh Rahimahullah gave us is at-tawhid. That, before anything else, one of the great issues, or the central issue that Muslims have to really look at again, and do housecleaning, is our connection with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

It's our belief, our tawhid. Because really, the real issue, the crux of the matter, what we say when we enter Islam is la ilaha illallah, Muhammadur Rasulullah alayhis salatu was salam. When we die, we pray that we would also say la ilaha illallah.

So it's the beginning of the road and the end of the road. It is what united all of the prophets. The wahdaniyya, the oneness of the Creator.

The Meaning of Tawhid

And when we say this, we do not mean only just that we believe in one God. Because the Christians also, some

Christians say they believe in one God. And I came about a situation like that.

I was in the Caribbean, and we were visiting a place, a church called Pentecostal. And we were in a debate, we were Muslims, we were dressed like Muslims, and we were delivering, we had a refrigerator, something we had borrowed from their church. And we got into a debate, and a crowd formed.

And so some of the brothers got very nervous, and they were trained in their debates like Ahmed did that school. And so they said, you people, you worship many gods, and you worship three, and you're confused in the trinity, and the people were confused. And so the minister came along, and he heard the argument, and he said, oh, no, no, no, no.

We worship one God. And everybody stopped. And then I thought to myself, I said, wait a minute. Who is that God? And he said, Jesus. So in their mind, they worship one God. But they worship Jesus, wal iyadu billah.

So they didn't see themselves as Trinitarians. They took it to another stage. And they're worshiping a man as the creator, wal iyadu billah.

The True Understanding of Allah

So the fact that we say we worship Allah is not enough. We have to reconfirm constantly what we believe. And to understand not only that we accept Allah as Rabb al-alameen, as the Lord of all the worlds, as the sustainer, the cherisher of life.

But also, that as Allah says in the Quran, There is nothing similar to Allah, and He hears all things, and He sees all things. So therefore, if anybody comes along and claims to have any of the qualities of Allah, we reject it. If he claims to know the future, if he claims to control the creation, then we reject this.

Because of our belief in Allah. Anyone who takes any of the characteristics of the creator, puts them to themselves, we reject this.

Tawhid in Our Worship

Also, our tawhid should affect our ibadah. And ibadah is a broad based term. Our ibadah, our worship should affect even how we work, where we work, the things we do, study, all aspects of life. So if the boss tells a Muslim, you can't go to Jumu'ah prayer, and Allah said, that you should run to Jumu'ah prayer:

That you should run to the remembrance of Allah, leave your business, that boss in a sense becomes like his god.

(Reference: Quran 62:9)

Fear of Created Things

Because the boss now is telling him, don't go to Jumu'ah. And Allah said to go. So who do you worship? If we are afraid of the night, afraid of the jinnis. Many Muslims today, even though they're computers and they're scientific, they are afraid of the jinn. If something goes wrong, they say, he put the jinni on me, the sahir. He did a magic spell.

We have many people, they come inside my office and they say, brother Abdullah, my head is hurting me, and it's the jinn inside of me, take him out. I said, no brother, it's stress. You got two jobs, you're working too much, slow down.

Slow down, there's no jinn inside of you. And so sometimes we're afraid of this magic, afraid of the dark, afraid of the things around. If we are afraid of a magician, afraid of the jinn, then that magician becomes like our god.

The fear is supposed to be from Allahsubhana wa ta'ala, not created things. So we need to constantly look at this oneness of the creator. How it influences our lives in all the different areas that we are functioning in.

Second Point: The Awareness of Allah's Watchfulness

The second point is a type of wa'ath. It's a type of preaching or reminder. And that is, an yulahidha al-insan anna rabbahu jalla wa'ala raqeebun alayhi, alimun bi kulli ma yukhfi wa yu'lan.

In this point, the shaykh rahimahullah said, the second issue is that we should remember and we should realize that our lord, most high and most majestic, is ever watching over everything that we do. He has knowledge of what we conceal and what we do in the open. This is a very important point.

Because if we really had this ihsan, this type of consciousness, righteousness, where we worship Allah as though He's seeing us or as though we see Him, we recognize the presence of Allah, how then could we be stealing? How could we be lying?

The Problem of Bribery

How could we take bribes? In some countries they say they're Muslims and we are a Muslim country and if you want a visa or you want your passport, then you have to give them some money. You put some rupees. Or you put some pounds.

Junaid, put it in the book and say, can you read page 38? And he turns to page 38 and says, oh yes, and your visa will be ready in 10 minutes. If we really fear Allah, how can you ask for a bribe like this? How can you do this? But because this consciousness is gone, this is an individual thing, now it's all of us. Because that's gone, we fall into traps.

And we are capable sometimes of doing things which are strange and which will lose the connection with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

Third Point: The Difference Between Righteous Deeds and Regular Actions

The third point is (الفَرْقُ بَيْنَ عَمَلٍ صَالِحٍ وَغَيْرِهِ - The difference between righteous deeds and regular deeds, regular actions). We have to realize that if we go to work, if we have a house and a family, if we raise children, even if we interact with people, we still have not necessarily left the animal kingdom.

Animals have homes. Animals go out in the day and they gather food. Insects do this.

The Complex Society of Animals

If you look at the life of bees and the life of ants, they have a very complex society. They have worker bees. They have drones.

They have a queen. And the queen does not have to go to charm school to be a queen. Out of instinct, the queen acts as a queen.

The worker bees do not go on strike. You know, we're having a strike in Canada now in the airport. There's no strike amongst the worker bees. Everybody works in the hive in perfect harmony. They work together. And so animals have a complex society.

Beavers build homes. They have dams. And they're very good builders. Very good in construction. So just because we're construction workers, we still have not left the animal kingdom.

The Three Conditions for Righteous Deeds

According to the great scholars of Islam, our deeds should have three conditions in them.

One, that they should be in line with what the Prophet peace and blessings be upon him brought. It should be in line with this. Secondly, that any deed that we do should be done:

You should do your actions purely for Allah. Purely for Allah. We should do it. Thirdly, is that the deed should be based upon a strong aqeedah. Aqeedah salima. A strong faith system helps us to get involved. If we have these three conditions, then this is a righteous deed.

All Aspects of Life are Connected to Islam

It takes us out of regular actions. And we can be involved in righteous deeds even on the job, at school, in any part of the society. If we try to keep in mind that everything we do has some influence upon our relationship with Allah.

Don't think that when you're at work, or when you're at school, that this has nothing to do with your Islam. It has everything to do with Islam. All aspects of life have something to do with our religion.

Fourth Point: Ruling by Other Than the Law of Allah

The fourth point from these (أَشْرَى مَسَائِلٍ إِذَامٍ عَلَيْهَا مَدَارُ الدُّنْيَا - The fourth point brought to us by our Sheikh Rahimahullah). This now takes us on an international level. And I told you this is the bottom line I'm gonna tell you tonight.

I'm not gonna hold anything back. The fourth point that he said is (تَحْكِيمُ غَيْرُ الشَّرِيعَةِ الْكَرِيمِ - And that is when the rule or the governing of our countries is done with other than the law of Allah). If our countries are ruled by constitutional law, by capitalist theory, by communist theory, then we will continue to have problems.

The Judgment by Allah's Law

And you can call yourself any type of leader that you want. Allahsubhanahu wa ta'ala has said:

If you do not rule or judge by what Allah revealed, you are a disbeliever. That's the bottom line.

The Example of Pakistan

And we will see this played out in the Muslim world. They will continue to have problems until they stop the ruling by other constitutions and start to deal with Islam. Many of us saw this with the partition in India.

And people left India going into Pakistan hoping to go to an Islamic state. Those who have read Iqbal and other scholars in the past who had a dream of an Islamic state. But what happened there unfortunately was something different.

Many times and we see now there is still a struggle with the constitution. It's still a struggle. Although it's called an Islamic country, it's still a struggle that Islam is the constitution.

And I'm not talking about the kind of Islam that takes us back 1400 years and leaves us back there. I'm talking about the principles of Islam in a dynamic way which can meet the challenges of the 21st century. This is what we need. This is the bottom line.

Fifth Point: Social Conditions Within Society

Point number 5 is Ahwal Al-Ijtema' Ma'a Al-Mujtama' - And this can be looked upon as being the conditions of social life within society itself. Even Allahsubhana wa ta'ala has revealed in the Quran telling to the Prophet peace be upon him:

In this ayah, Allahsubhana wa ta'ala reveals Lower your wing. Lower your wing. Take care and be easy with those people who follow you from amongst the believers.

Taking Care of the Believers

Lower your wing to them. And so part of being a Muslim and having a Muslim society is that we need to take care of the problems of the believers. If we leave these problems we will not solve our greater issues.

That the believers are our brethren brothers and sisters.

This does not mean in the mosque (السلام عليكم عليكم السلام). That's the beginning of it. But do you know what is happening to the other Muslims? Is that person sick? Is that person in need of zakat? Does that person have economic problems? Social problems? Psychological problems? Immigration problems? We have to deal with all aspects.

The Islamic Social Services and Resources Association

This is what a community really is. What we have done in Toronto which I discussed with you here before is that we developed and have continued alhamdulillah and this is now the 8th year in the office the 10th year after conception what is called the Islamic Social Services and Resources Association. This is a group of Muslim professionals imams, professionals who came together doctors, lawyers, social workers community leaders to try to deal with the issues of the community and that involves the women of the community.

Women are on the board of directors and are empowered in the organization. Dealing with the issues and when a person comes to the office we will deal with that person Muslim or non-Muslim but if the person is a Muslim regardless of their organization regardless of their school of thought regardless of their nationality then we will deal with that person to try to see what are the problems that you are facing? What are the problems? This is a crucial issue.

The Crisis with Teenagers

What is happening now in our society in some cases we are in a state of denial we are denying what is happening especially with the teenagers what is going on with the teenagers now is a crisis because of what the society is bringing.

We had a case in Toronto where a Muslim nurse was in the Toronto General Hospital and found a large number of Muslim youth, teenagers young adults who were HIV positive and they did not know how to say this to their parents. They didn't know how to say it. Because as I have mentioned to you before here the parents only saw

one face the parents only saw Bilal they saw Ali they didn't know that Bilal was also Billy and that Ali was Al and that Asia was Asia there was another personality they didn't know that and the young person with no guidance in the dunya got caught in the life of this world got caught in the life of this world and was found was caught into this terrible disease.

The Reality of HIV in the Muslim Community

Also there was a sister who was a nurse and she was working with a group called Voices of Positive Women and these are women who are HIV positive and she is a Muslim and she noticed that many of the calls that she was getting were coming from Muslims some of them are just calling in giving their names, she could tell by the names or by the accent that they are Muslims and so she brought together some of the Muslim sisters and found out a number of Muslim women within our community were HIV positive and some of the women stayed in the house all the time in total hijab some of them were wearing niqab and they were HIV positive how did they find out? when she was having a baby and they tested the blood after the time of conception they found that she was HIV positive and they traced it to her husband who had gone and played around with hayat al-dunya played with the life of this world he became HIV positive and he brought it back into the family these are real issues that we are facing now it is real and the teenagers have to go between societies they have to survive out there in the streets they have to survive some of these high schools that they are going to are like jungles even in the suburbs it is changing even in the suburbs they are smoking drugs and they are doing many things right inside the school and so they have to go in between these worlds and so as the sheikh is saying it is crucial for us to be aware of the social issues.

The Scale of the Problem

In our agency now last year we have a telephone referral service where people call in for information if they have a problem they come in and they see somebody like a doctor's office we try to counsel them last year we had over 5500 phone calls in one year that is the state of the condition when you start to realize the problems we face you realize that it is immense but it has to be dealt with and on this issue this is one of the 10 issues upon which the whole of this dunya rests.

Sixth Point: Al-Iqtisad (Economics)

Issue number 6 al-iqtisad economics this is the bottom line on an individual level and also on an international level on an individual level how do you earn your money and how do you spend your money these are important issues that all muslims have to face in some parts of the western world muslims are developing credit unions they are also developing islamic banking trying to have non-interest accounts the city bank in some places has a non-interest window where you can put your money in the bank without interest also credit unions we have to try to look at this this is the bottom line and this will influence our life.

then we came back alhamdulillah i was born in a christian family but at the age of 19 Allah blessed me and i was able to accept islam and then come in to the muslim world and that is because of studying it is hidayah, the guidance of Allah and for me it was the example of one of the great leaders of islam salah ad-din al-ayubi salah ad-din was a very famous person in history and we used to read about him and i was very impressed with him and read about his life and also some west african scholars and they helped to influence me to become a muslim.

Question About Prayer Movements

Question: When we read salah why do we make movements?

Answer: Ok when we are reading salah the prayer that we are doing was taught to the prophet muhammad alayhi salatu wasalam by the angel jibreel it is recorded in the books of seerah that jibreel used to come in mecca and he showed the prophet alayhi salatu wasalam how to pray and the times to pray and then he would follow the angel and so our prayer is the combination of all of the prophets who came before and is directly from Allah subhana wa ta'ala why we are making the movements in the way that we make them.

Question About Movies Like "The Siege"

Question: How can we prevent movies like the siege from being made?

Answer: What is happening now there is an organization in washington called care and the care organization is at the forefront in trying to work against the siege and they have contacted the production company they got them to change the script somewhat but they are still going ahead with it and so they are in leadership now in terms of resisting this and inshallah muslims will be resisting in different ways you can find them on the internet i am not sure maybe we can find their internet number but in the papers in some of the magazines you will find their internet number their website and then you can go to their website and they are keeping everybody up to what is happening on the website itself and you can download the information and the instructions as to what to do.

Question About the Mi'raj

Question: When Allah ordained 500 prayers among the people and the prophet musa told told the prophet i guess that the people weren't capable of doing it how come Allah didn't consider this before?

Answer: Ok, this is kind of a complicated question but it deals with isra and mi'raj that during the mi'raj when the prophet met musa alayhi salam and Allah ordained the salah and every time he came back to musa, musa told him that's too much 500 is too much, 100 is too much 50 is too much, even 5 he said is too much but the prophet peace be upon him said he was too shy to go back again Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala allowed this thing to happen Allah allowed it to happen and this is a lesson to us because when Allah said he is al-alim he has knowledge of all things so when things happen amongst the creation Allah allows it to happen in order that we can get ibra, we get some sort of lesson from the things that are happening around us, but Allah is aware of all

things and it's difficult to try to understand this because you cannot begin to fathom the knowledge of the creator so to try if you try to think about how does Allah think, all these things are beyond us:

There's nothing similar to Allah.

(Reference: Quran 42:11)

Question About Signs of the Day of Judgment

Question: People are saying that many of the signs of the day of judgement like the illiterate people becoming rulers children disrespecting their mothers are already happening can you elaborate on this?

Answer: Ok, basically and you can look in the section because we don't have much time but you can look in the sections on alamata sa'a the signs of the last day that comes in sahih muslim, in bukhari in many of the books of hadith there is also the signs of the last day by ibn kathir ibn kathir's book is translated into english i believe the ikna bookstore service would have this available it's the signs before the day of judgement he has translated ibn kathir's work and so what the scholars tell us is that the alamat as-sughra the small signs have been completed all of the small signs are completed it is only the major signs that are left it's the major signs this is what many of the great scholars have said that the signs are completed.

Question About the Shia

Question: Do you truly consider shia as muslims?

Answer: This is another question that really takes a long time to really deal with all i can say is that if people believe in the oneness of Allah and they accept the prophet muhammad as the messenger of Allah and they do not have any belief which constitutes disbelief they do not deny any of the major pillars of islam then they are ahl al-qibla they are the people of the qibla so the itna ashariyya come and they make hajj and they are amongst the people of the qibla some of the smaller groups that you have some of the smaller ones that the scholars have considered them outside of islam some of the smaller groups and if you want details in that your sheikh is here inshallah and i'm sure he can give you a good lesson on these different things.

Question About Muslim Scholars Getting Organized

Question: Is the muslim scholars somehow getting organized and getting ready to face some of the fitness?

Answer: There are people throughout the world who are trying to now come together and change is happening but unfortunately muslims sometimes need to have a crisis to have change that's one of our problems we wait until a crisis then we react to everything you know but we need to be proactive now before the punishment comes then we need to do something before it to create the type of institutions that would support our community.

Comment About Stereotyping

Comment: One of the problems muslims are facing is stereotyping, that the muslims themselves stereotype people that means they put people in categories and it's saying that that is one of our main problems and it's a case of practice what you preach instead of calling names to the different groups that we should practice what we preach.

Response: This is a good point because really we need to be inclusive and positive the prophet peace be upon him had so much love in his heart, even hypocrites munafiqeen that he knew was hypocrites he still wanted to pray for them that's how much love he had inside of his heart this is a very important point because we tend to want to hate people and criticize people but that's a negative thing innocent pure heart is what we want.

The Sahabi Who Had No Hatred

One of the times, one of the traditions the prophet peace be upon him spoke about one of the sahaba and he said this person will enter paradise and so when they went to the person and they said, what is it that you do? and the answer was I don't know what I do I pray like you, I fast like you I give zakat like you, but I don't hate anybody there's no hatred in his heart that's an important thing even if you're involved in a battle, you're not supposed to hate the enemy because the enemy might accept Islam you're supposed to be able to forgive those people think about that some of us, it's very difficult even to forgive each other sometimes if a brother does something against the other brother, I've heard one brother he said, this person in between me and him is janaza in other words, I won't do anything but go to his janaza I don't want to see him at all you're not supposed to be angry with a Muslim over three days so we have to learn how to make conflict resolution now.

Question About Psychic Abilities and Telepathy

Question: We reject psychic abilities, do we reject telepathy, communication? what are your thoughts?

Answer: The first point in terms of psychic abilities, it has been recognized that we only use a small part of our brain that there are other ways, there are sensitivities some people have that are more than others and when a person loses their sight their hearing becomes more sensitive, if you lose your hearing, other facilities become more sensitive and so there are people who do have some capacities in terms of communication in some cases you'll even see, if you can notice sometimes, have you ever seen a case where somebody is standing not facing you and you're looking at them and they turn around and look right at you they look right at you, how did that person know that you were looking at them there are certain things that we have the only problem is is that we don't control these capacities if somebody comes to you and he starts telling you, I see in the future I can read your palms, I can tell you what will happen next year watch out, that's a dangerous person, because these are usually people who are trying to take advantage of others they take advantage of you and they try to put fear in your heart.

Mu'jiza and Karama

But there are certain abilities, there is what is called in Islam, karama there is mu'jiza and there is karama mu'jiza is a miracle that comes to the nabi, the prophet but karama can come it's a miracle, can come to any Muslim it is reported that when the Muslims went into Persia and Umar bin Khattab radiallahu anhu was the khalifa there was an army led by a man named Sariyah and they were about to face the enemy, they were coming into the area of the enemy, and Umar was in Medina on the minbar, and he was inspired he was given the khutbah and he said:

Ya Sariyah al-Jabal - O Sariyah, the mountain!

The books report to us, he said Oh Sariyah the mountain and the people report in Persia that they heard the voice of Umar like booming, like something coming over our loudspeaker saying the mountain and they sent some people and they found the enemy hiding in ambush behind the mountain that is karama it's karama, and that is a communication that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala gave to the sahaba because of the level that they reached but you don't control those things you see, you can't say that you control it, that's the danger when the person says they control it and then they make a business out of it that is the dangerous part.

Question About Colonial Conquest

Question: Do you feel the colonizers succeeded in conquering the natives because of their propagation of God, although their methods were at times forceful and against Islam and how to give dawah?

Answer: No, the colonizers succeeded in conquering the native people, whether it be in America or whether it be any part of the world number one, because of the weakness and division of the people themselves that's the first point that the natives here were divided secondly, they used treachery and lying they make a treaty with you and they break the treaty two weeks later also they used inhuman methods they poisoned water, they killed the buffalos in the southwest they gave some of the natives in this part of the world blankets with cholera they had the cure to cholera and they knew the people did not have the cure to this and they gave them the blankets with some diseases and it spread like wildfire and millions of people died this is genocide this is how they were able to win it was not because of their belief in God, because if they were following Isa alayhi salam, they would never have been here in the first place and that goes for here or any part of the world even other parts of Europe itself.

Question About World Leaders' Support for Clinton

Question: What are your feelings of the support from the world leaders for Clinton?

Answer: Ok, I don't want to go into this Clinton dialogue discourse so much, because all of us are sick of it now, but you have to realize, politics the bottom line for a lot of leaders is money and guns if you have money

and guns if they have submitted themselves to the devil then they'll do anything they don't care what he does as long as he gives them money and as long as he gives them guns that's how some of our leaders think so they don't care what Clinton does, they don't even want to know and that's the way how many people are in the society but true Muslims, people of consciousness, even non-Muslims in this society are disgusted by the things that are going on in the White House and in the circles of power.

Final Thoughts on Being Proactive

Ok, this is just a comment that a person made and I think we're just about in time for Salat now, are there any other verbal questions that anybody has? We should become proactive and we should begin to prepare ourselves and Alhamdulillah we do have the rights in this country to do a lot of things we just don't take advantage of our rights and we should organize ourselves, come together in unity number one because we have a lot of resources in the Muslim community and also our lawyers, our imams our doctors, everybody should be together now so if you move on one masjid or on one person, then you move on the whole community.

The Example of the Jewish Lobby

You see the Jewish lobby, if you say one thing against the Jews in any part of this country, the whole lobby comes on you all of them come on you, even though they might not even like each other, but still they're united enough that when one of them is attacked, the other people in the group, they will defend that person, and so we have to learn from this and even from our own faith which is telling us this even before this example that we have to now drop some of the petty differences that divide Muslim groups and leadership and come together and really begin to appreciate each other.

Establishing Majlis Ash-Shura

And it is recommended in some cities to form what is called majlis ash-shura that you have some sort of governing body where members from all of the masjids and jamas go to the majlis ash-shura and that shura chooses its leadership, New York City has this it chooses its leadership and so some group decisions that have to be made, are made within the majlis ash-shura, and also if one group has an activity, the other people know of the activity of the other group, we need to just communicate with each other.

Using Technology for Communication

Many of us have email, but we just use it to gossip with each other, or to make jokes, but we should use the email and communicate with each other about Islamic activities some people said when a speaker comes in Miami he's in one part of the city and nobody even knows he's there, sometimes he's in the same place as them, and you don't know so we have to now communication, it's about communication this is what makes this country so powerful, it's communication, CNN that's the power they're using now communication powers.

Unity Despite Differences

And Alhamdulillah we have a lot of things that unite us together, and through what unites us and goes over our barriers, we can unite ourselves and come together and be one ummah at least so we know what each other is doing we may not be exactly the same but that's ok, even the sahaba were a little bit different some of them were more into jihad, some of them were more into ibadah, some of them were into studying whatever, everybody has qualities but you all work together in the same ummah yes brother.

Question About Media Portrayal of Islam

Question: The way Islam is portrayed negatively in the media and moving the siege and so on and so forth do you think it's ignorance on the part of the people who are doing it or is it a concerted organized effort on the part of certain elements to portray that?

Answer: Well you know, I believe from having grown up in America and watched movies for many years, that the movies and the media especially the movies it reflects the political the economic and political situation that the country is actually in when we were growing up the bad guys were usually Japanese, Germans and then Russians it was the cold war and so they would portray that in the movies now you find the bad guys are usually Spanish drug cartels or Afro-American gangs and of course Arab terrorists right, especially Muslim terrorists now, and so you have all these guys, Chuck Norris umm Arnold Schwarzenegger, this big guy everybody's, Steven Seagal with a little ponytail on his head everybody's chasing Muslims now everybody's chasing us.

The Hope for a New Enemy

And inshallah if we can overcome this and we can be proactive maybe they would begin to stop chasing us and they would go after another enemy and there is another enemy which could supersede us, hopefully, inshallah you know what that is? The aliens if they can start chasing the aliens because we're being prepared through the X-Files and through Star Trek and all these things for the coming of aliens many young people believe in aliens okay so if they can start chasing aliens and leave Muslims alone then maybe we will have a chance in this country.

Islam as a Civilization

But what you gotta recognize the real bottom line of this is Islam represents a civilization we're not just a religion we have an economic system we have a political system we have a social system and when this one falls apart communism has fallen apart there's no alternative and so if Islam comes up it can be an international alternative economically socially, politically it has the capabilities the potentiality to do that and that's the reason why there's so much effort being put now into destabilizing our countries and also producing this terrible image about Islam, this is really what is going on.

The Reality About Muslims and America

And so we will have to live with this until they realize that Muslims do not want to destroy America this is a fairy tale you go to most Muslim countries, they love America, they all want visas right they all want visas they want the jeans coke, they want to drink coke even Meccans people in Mecca, Arabians you know, from desert Bedouin, his children now has a baseball cap on, he's eating McDonald's in Mecca so they love America this is a fairy tale but it's being used by people in power to scare the masses you see, they want to scare the masses and because their system is falling apart by scaring the masses and demonizing Muslims, then they can have an enemy to attack and also they hope that they could stop the onward flow of Islamic society.

Final Closing

So I want to end on this and anything that you anything you have gained tonight is from Allah and the mistakes are mine and I ask Allah to forgive me.

"Glory be to You, O Allah, and all praise. I bear witness that there is no god but You. I seek forgiveness from You, and I repent to You."

"In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful."

"Indeed, mankind is in loss, Except for those who have believed and done righteous deeds and advised each other to truth and advised each other to patience."

"May Allah the Exalted bestow blessings upon our master Muhammad, and upon his family and all his companions."

"And the last of our call is that praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds."

"And peace be upon you, and the mercy of Allah."