We are the 1

We are the 1% - Dr. Abdullah Hakim Quick

Opening

"I seek refuge in Allah from the accursed Shaitan, In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. All praise is due to Allah, Lord of the Worlds, and I bear witness that there is no god but Allah, the Protecting Friend of the righteous, and I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and messenger. O Allah, send your peace and blessings upon Your servant and messenger Muhammad and upon his family and companions, all of them."

"O you who believe, fear Allah and speak a straightforward word.

He would repair your deeds, forgive you of your sins and whoever obeys Allah and His Messenger has surely gained a mighty triumph."

A Homecoming and Report Back

And so I speak to you with this spirit of qawlan sadida. Coming here to Connecticut for me is a homecoming. And what I'm about to say is in a sense like a report back because contrary to what people may think, I was not born in the West Indies, I was not born in Canada, I was born in Massachusetts, in the Boston area in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

And I grew up in a housing project in Cambridge in between two prestigious institutions. In between MIT, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University, there was an island there, a working class neighborhood where people were living in an area that's supposed to be prestigious but yet they were not feeling the benefits of the wealth that was around them. And from a young age, I sensed the dichotomy.

Understanding Our Reality: The 1% and the 99%

I could sense the haves and the have-nots. And we should never forget, we should never forget, as we are thinking about the 1%, the 99%, where do we stand as Muslims, what is happening in this country. We should never forget the trends, we should never forget what is going on outside of the walls of the masjids, in our Islamic centers.

And we need to be very sincere with each other, very straightforward, make practical resolutions and make the intention to do work in the field. In the 60s, as a young African-American, I spoke out with many people for civil rights. We wanted voting rights, we wanted education, we wanted integration, we wanted to be part of the society, but our cries were met with repression.

The Struggle for Civil Rights and Mass Incarceration

People were jailed, people were killed, and many were sent into exile. And when the 70s came, a war on drugs began in America. Our communities were flooded with drugs, crack cocaine. It did not come from inside the community, it originated outside and then flooded our communities and a war on drugs came and now we see the result of this.

We see that in America, recent studies have been done to show that there is a larger percentage of the black population in prison in America than in apartheid South Africa at the height of apartheid. The studies are also showing us that in the major cities, 80% of young African Americans have something to do, have some kind of criminal record, some relationship with the criminal justice system.

And so we find that the prisons are filled with black and brown people and we should never forget this. And as a recent writer, Michelle Alexander has written in her book, The New Jim Crow, that we are living in an age of mass incarceration, in an era of colorblindness. Because our president is a person of color, people were told to be colorblind but what is happening behind this, on the ground, is mass incarceration.

Never Forget the First Nations

And we should never forget this when we are looking at the lands projecting toward the future. We should also never forget the first nation population, the native people of these lands. Recently I went on a journey north in Canada to a city called Iqaluit. Iqaluit is in the northern province of Nunavut. It is right near the Arctic Circle, next to Greenland. And there, alhamdulillah, there is a thriving Muslim community.

We are putting up an Islamic center near the Arctic Circle amongst the Inuit people. And by the mercy of AllahAzawajal, an educated Inuit man came and said, I want to put the words of Allahsubhanahu wa ta'ala into my language, Inuktitut. This language was spoken in the Americas over 10,000 years ago. Not 300 years, not 600 years, 10,000 years ago. These are the lands that we are living in.

The Decimation of Aboriginal Peoples

And according to estimates even made by American scholars, one scholar in 1840, his name was George Catlin, he estimated that the aboriginal population at the time of European contact was about 14 million. But by his time, by 1880, he estimated there's only 250,000 left. And people knew about this.

Another writer from the early times, his name was William Bradford, he described how the Dutch, who were the rivals of the people of Plymouth, they traveled to an Indian village in Connecticut. They traveled to an Indian village in Connecticut to do trade. And this is what he wrote in his journal. He said, but their enterprises failed, for it is pleasing to God to afflict the Indians with such a deadly disease and sickness that out of every 1,000, 950 are dead.

And they described here in New England going into villages and finding bodies piled up. And you go into the village and the crops are outside, corn, which is an American product, cranberries, squash, American products, turkey, an American bird. And they go inside and all the population has been decimated and they are thanking God, making a thanksgiving and thanking God for clearing the land.

The Present Conditions of Native Peoples

But someone would say, well, that's the past, and the past is gone. It's not gone. Recent studies have been done to show that the aboriginal people, the native population, and again, if you're talking about 1%, 99%, we have to understand where we are, the Lakota people in Pine Ridge, South Dakota, it is reported that on their reservation the life expectancy for a male is 48 years.

It has also been shown very clearly this is the worst, this is the worst life expectancy in the whole of the Western Hemisphere except for Haiti. And this is in the United States. The Lakota also in South Dakota, in their reservation, 60% of the houses have no running water and no electricity.

The Latino Population

So we should never forget about the aboriginal people in these lands and the Latino people also who make up part of the aboriginal population of this country that we are in and how the Latino population suffered, came into these lands not as economic immigrants trying to steal and gain a part of the American dream. How they came here sometimes being forced to come and working in the factories, in the agriculture, prostitution, drugs, suffering on the borders. We should never forget the Latino population when we are talking about the Americas and the lands that we are living in.

Witnessing Injustice in Southern Africa

But with this in mind and with the background that I had thinking about these lands I was not prepared for what I would see in Southern Africa. Ten years in the front line states and I report back to you that what is going on there, there is a horrendous relationship between the rich and the poor. South Africa is considered to be the most unjust place on earth.

The front line states, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Botswana, Swaziland, Lesotho. As we travel through these lands and lived with the people and experienced what they were experiencing I cannot even describe to you. I had not seen it here in America. I never went to a reservation. But when I saw the aboriginal people in Southern Africa it is obscene to think that there are people living in beautiful luxury homes and there are others who are suffering from poverty. Poverty will drive a person to do the strangest things.

The Beauty of Islam: Dignity and Empowerment

And in living in that environment we also saw the beauty of Islam. The beauty that when Islam is given to an individual properly when the real sunnah of the Prophet when his example is given when the dignity of tahara is given to an individual then we see how a person is raised from the horrible conditions of poverty even though the material life still may continue to be destructive. And so we need practical solutions.

The Masakane Community Center Model

And there in South Africa we began a set of projects we called it Masakane Community Center. And Masakane is not from Arabic. You might think it's Masakin like the poor people's center. No, Masakane in Xhosa in one of the South African languages means building community. It means cooperation.

Cooperative projects were begun. A holistic approach was begun with the people there. This included not just feeding people but teaching a person how to fish. Because we need to empower people. We need to realize that the food we are giving is just the beginning. It has to continue and there has to be a process that the people go through. And we have a precedent for this.

The Islamic Imara System: A Historical Model

We have a precedent as Muslims. The Imara system. And the Islamic Imara system that we have, we should study this very deeply. I saw it in practice in Southern Africa. And if we study the Imara system of the Ottoman Turks that they put into practice between the 14th and the 19th century then we can get a practical guide and solutions to maybe what we can do to deal with this problem here.

The Imara system was based on Auqaf. It was based on Waqf. That Muslims naturally give Zakat. We give Sadaqah. We also put Waqf, a trust. So the trust system was set up and pieces of land were designated by rich individuals or maybe it could be derelict land, unused land. And this land was populated by a complex of buildings.

Components of the Imara System

The buildings included a masjid, madrasa, hospital, restaurants, bathhouse. A number of things could happen in this Imara. But what is interesting about the system that was developed is that they were able to bring together welfare, education, prayer, housing and commerce.

And so on this land business people were encouraged to come in and run their businesses on the land and the businesses helped to pay for the project so the project becomes sustainable because we need to have sustainability when we are dealing with this.

Practical Proposals for Our Communities

And so in a modern sense, in the short term, I want to propose to this conference that we begin to reanalyze and look at our centers and ourselves. That we need to start giving back. We need to give back not just with money but with our skills. If you know engineering, if you know math, give back to the community. You can do it in the masjid. We can do it in the Islamic centers. We can begin to have tutorials. We can begin to empower the people who need to come out of this devastation.

Preparing for Economic Crisis

We are about to go into an apocalypse. Many, many economists say that this country will, if there is still inertia in the government, if we can't solve this economic crisis, then we may be like one of the third world countries by the year 2020. Thousands of homeless people around the major cities.

Muslims are in a unique position. We have rich people. We have skilled people. We have poorer people. We are all in the same community. The Imara system encourages the rich that they should give their wealth and make waqf, make a trust.

Building Sustainable Islamic Centers

Buy a building. The business people come in. Run your business. Let it be sustainable. What do we do with the building? We have a masjid. We have a madrasa. But also we have education. Skills development. Skills training. And we have a food bank. We can have free medical clinic. Each area needs to do an assessment. A needs assessment needs to be done around your Islamic center to see what are the problems that the people are facing in your area.

The Bazaar System: Bartering and Trade

What also happens in the Imara system when it starts to develop, and this is the long term, is that they would even connect the Imara buildings, they would connect it with a bazaar, with a marketplace. And in this marketplace, you don't trade with dollars and cents. You trade with tangible objects. You do bartering. It's the Islamic system.

And so the time will come, and Allah knows best, when the US dollar is going to fall. This has happened all over the world. I saw it in the country of Zimbabwe, which used to be the crown of the British Empire. Zimbabwean currency was the strongest in the whole of Africa. But when it was devalued, when crisis hit them, I wanted to spend a hundred dollars, and I gave them a hundred dollars, and they said they brought me back a bag full of money, and they said, Brother Abdullah, you're now a millionaire. Because their currency was useless. Not even worth the paper that it's printed on. And so a barter system can also be developed.

Our Unique Position as Muslims

We are in a very unique position, and we need to take advantages of this. Take advantage. We will seem strange when we do this. We will seem strange when we start teaching our young people how to grow crops, how to grow food, bring ourselves together with collective systems, credit unions together, unite ourselves as a community, put the waqf forward for Allahsubhanahu wa ta'ala, and enable the community that we can really enable the poor people in this land.

Glad Tidings for the Strangers

We will seem very strange when we are doing this. Because we're not taking interest in usury. We're praying. We're fasting. We're reaching out. But I give you glad tidings for being strange.

(Sahih Muslim 145)

The Prophet ﷺ said in authentic hadith: "Verily, Islam began strange, and it will return to being strange. So glad tidings to the strangers."

And they asked him, O Messenger of Allah, who are the strangers? And he told them : الَّذِينَ يُصْلِحُونَ عِنْدَ فَسَادِ النَّاسِ "They are those who repair themselves. They repair their community when the people have become corrupted."

The Prophet's Dignity is Protected

صَدَقَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ ﷺ The time is here. And don't fear about the name of the Prophet. Don't be afraid for his name. His honor and dignity is protected by Allah جل جلاله.

When Musaylimah, the false prophet sent a message to the Prophet ﷺ saying: مِنْ مُسَيْلِمَةَ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ إِلَى مُحَمَّدٍ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ "From Musaylimah, the Messenger of Allah, to Muhammad, the Messenger of Allah, half of Arabia, I'll take the other half."

How did he respond? He didn't kill the messenger. He didn't kill the ambassador. How did he respond? He wrote back : مِنْ مُحَمَّدٍ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ إِلَى مُسَيْلِمَةَ الْكَذَّابِ "From Muhammad, the Messenger of Allah, to Musaylimah the liar."

And then with dignity, quoting from Allah جل جلالهthe Prophet ﷺ said with confidence and patience :

"This earth belongs to Allah. And He will give it to whom He pleases from His slave servants. And the best reward, the ultimate success is for those who have taqwa, those who have the consciousness of Allah."

Closing Du'a

And so I pray that Allah جل جلاله would enable us to put our thoughts into action. I pray that Allah جل جلاله would enable us to develop a system to empower the people, the poor people in this land. I pray that Allah جل جلاله would unite our ranks, break down the differences between us. May Allah purify our hearts of all the bad thoughts and bad concepts that are holding us back from uniting ourselves and dealing with our mission in this world and that is to be the khalifa, that is to be the vice-regent, the one who represents Allah جل جلاله on this earth.

I leave you with these thoughts and I ask Allah جل جلاله to have mercy on me and you.

أقول قولي هذا وأستغفر الله لي ولكم ، والسلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته